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diff --git a/old/10703.txt b/old/10703.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..bdf7e64 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10703.txt @@ -0,0 +1,20481 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The History Of Rome, Book III, 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 III + +Author: Theodor Mommsen + +Release Date: May 4, 2004 [eBook #10703] +Most recently updated March 16, 2005 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: US-ASCII + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF ROME, BOOK III*** + + +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, + Drittes Buch: von der Einigung Italiens bis auf die Unterwerfung + Karthagos und der griechischen Staaten, is in the Project + Gutenberg E-Library as E-book #3062. + See https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3062 + + + + + +THE HISTORY OF ROME, BOOK III + +From the Union of Italy to the Subjugation of Carthage and the Greek +States + +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 III: From the Union of Italy to the Subjugation of Carthage + and the Greek States + + CHAPTER + + I. Carthage + + II. The War between Rome and Carthage Concerning Sicily + + III. The Extension of Italy to Its Natural Boundaries + + IV. Hamilcar and Hannibal + + V. The War under Hannibal to the Battle of Cannae + + VI. The War under Hannibal from Cannae to Zama + + VII. The West from the Peace of Hannibal to the Close + of the Third Period + + VIII. The Eastern States and the Second Macedonian War + + IX. The War with Antiochus of Asia + + X. The Third Macedonian War + + XI. The Government and the Governed + + XII. The Management of Land and of Capital + + XIII. Faith and Manners + + XIV. Literature and Art + + + + +BOOK THIRD + +From the Union of Italy to the Subjugation of Carthage and the Greek +States + + + + +Arduum res gestas scribere. + +--Sallust. + + + + +Chapter I + +Carthage + +The Phoenicians + +The Semitic stock occupied a place amidst, and yet aloof from, the +nations of the ancient classical world. The true centre of the +former lay in the east, that of the latter in the region of the +Mediterranean; and, however wars and migrations may have altered the +line of demarcation and thrown the races across each other, a deep +sense of diversity has always severed, and still severs, the Indo- +Germanic peoples from the Syrian, Israelite, and Arabic nations. +This diversity was no less marked in the case of that Semitic people +which spread more than any other in the direction of the west--the +Phoenicians. Their native seat was the narrow border of coast bounded +by Asia Minor, the highlands of Syria, and Egypt, and called Canaan, +that is, the "plain." This was the only name which the nation itself +made use of; even in Christian times the African farmer called himself +a Canaanite. But Canaan received from the Hellenes the name of +Phoenike, the "land of purple," or "land of the red men," and the +Italians also were accustomed to call the Canaanites Punians, as we +are accustomed still to speak of them as the Phoenician or Punic race. + +Their Commerce + +The land was well adapted for agriculture; but its excellent harbours +and the abundant supply of timber and of metals favoured above all +things the growth of commerce; and it was there perhaps, where the +opulent eastern continent abuts on the wide-spreading Mediterranean +so rich in harbours and islands, that commerce first dawned in all +its greatness upon man. The Phoenicians directed all the resources of +courage, acuteness, and enthusiasm to the full development of commerce +and its attendant arts of navigation, manufacturing, and colonization, +and thus connected the east and the west. At an incredibly early +period we find them in Cyprus and Egypt, in Greece and Sicily, in +Africa and Spain, and even on the Atlantic Ocean and the North Sea. +The field of their commerce reached from Sierra Leone and Cornwall +in the west, eastward to the coast of Malabar. Through their hands +passed the gold and pearls of the East, the purple of Tyre, slaves, +ivory, lions' and panthers' skins from the interior of Africa, +frankincense from Arabia, the linen of Egypt, the pottery and fine +wines of Greece, the copper of Cyprus, the silver of Spain, tin from +England, and iron from Elba. The Phoenician mariners brought to +every nation whatever it could need or was likely to purchase; and +they roamed everywhere, yet always returned to the narrow home to +which their affections clung. + +Their Intellectual Endowments + +The Phoenicians are entitled to be commemorated in history by the +side of the Hellenic and Latin nations; but their case affords a +fresh proof, and perhaps the strongest proof of all, that the +development of national energies in antiquity was of a one-sided +character. Those noble and enduring creations in the field of +intellect, which owe their origin to the Aramaean race, do not belong +primarily to the Phoenicians. While faith and knowledge in a certain +sense were the especial property of the Aramaean nations and first +reached the Indo-Germans from the east, neither the Phoenician +religion nor Phoenician science and art ever, so far as we can +see, held an independent rank among those of the Aramaean family. +The religious conceptions of the Phoenicians were rude and uncouth, +and it seemed as if their worship was meant to foster rather than to +restrain lust and cruelty. No trace is discernible, at least in times +of clear historical light, of any special influence exercised by their +religion over other nations. As little do we find any Phoenician +architecture or plastic art at all comparable even to those of Italy, +to say nothing of the lands where art was native. The most ancient +seat of scientific observation and of its application to practical +purposes was Babylon, or at any rate the region of the Euphrates. It +was there probably that men first followed the course of the stars; it +was there that they first distinguished and expressed in writing the +sounds of language; it was there that they began to reflect on time +and space and on the powers at work in nature: the earliest traces +of astronomy and chronology, of the alphabet, and of weights and +measures, point to that region. The Phoenicians doubtless availed +themselves of the artistic and highly developed manufactures of +Babylon for their industry, of the observation of the stars for +their navigation, of the writing of sounds and the adjustment of +measures for their commerce, and distributed many an important germ +of civilization along with their wares; but it cannot be demonstrated +that the alphabet or any other of those ingenious products of the +human mind belonged peculiarly to them, and such religious and +scientific ideas as they were the means of conveying to the Hellenes +were scattered by them more after the fashion of a bird dropping +grains than of the husbandman sowing his seed. The power which +the Hellenes and even the Italians possessed, of civilizing and +assimilating to themselves the nations susceptible of culture with +whom they came into contact, was wholly wanting in the Phoenicians. +In the field of Roman conquest the Iberian and the Celtic languages +have disappeared before the Romanic tongue; the Berbers of Africa +speak at the present day the same language as they spoke in the times +of the Hannos and the Barcides. + +Their Political Qualities + +Above all, the Phoenicians, like the rest of the Aramaean nations as +compared with the Indo-Germans, lacked the instinct of political life +--the noble idea of self-governing freedom. During the most +flourishing times of Sidon and Tyre the land of the Phoenicians was +a perpetual apple of contention between the powers that ruled on the +Euphrates and on the Nile, and was subject sometimes to the Assyrians, +sometimes to the Egyptians. With half its power Hellenic cities +would have made themselves independent; but the prudent men of Sidon +calculated that the closing of the caravan-routes to the east or of +the ports of Egypt would cost them more than the heaviest tribute, and +so they punctually paid their taxes, as it might happen, to Nineveh or +to Memphis, and even, if they could not avoid it, helped with their +ships to fight the battles of the kings. And, as at home the +Phoenicians patiently bore the oppression of their masters, so also +abroad they were by no means inclined to exchange the peaceful career +of commerce for a policy of conquest. Their settlements were +factories. It was of more moment in their view to deal in buying and +selling with the natives than to acquire extensive territories in +distant lands, and to carry out there the slow and difficult work of +colonization. They avoided war even with their rivals; they allowed +themselves to be supplanted in Egypt, Greece, Italy, and the east of +Sicily almost without resistance; and in the great naval battles, +which were fought in early times for the supremacy of the western +Mediterranean, at Alalia (217) and at Cumae (280), it was the +Etruscans, and not the Phoenicians, that bore the brunt of the +struggle with the Greeks. If rivalry could not be avoided, they +compromised the matter as best they could; no attempt was ever made +by the Phoenicians to conquer Caere or Massilia. Still less, of +course, were the Phoenicians disposed to enter on aggressive war. +On the only occasion in earlier times when they took the field on the +offensive--in the great Sicilian expedition of the African Phoenicians +which ended in their defeat at Himera by Gelo of Syracuse (274)--it +was simply as dutiful subjects of the great-king and in order to avoid +taking part in the campaign against the Hellenes of the east, that +they entered the lists against the Hellenes of the west; just as their +Syrian kinsmen were in fact obliged in that same year to share the +defeat of the Persians at Salamis(1). + +This was not the result of cowardice; navigation in unknown waters +and with armed vessels requires brave hearts, and that such were to be +found among the Phoenicians, they often showed. Still less was it +the result of any lack of tenacity and idiosyncrasy of national +feeling; on the contrary the Aramaeans defended their nationality with +the weapons of intellect as well as with their blood against all the +allurements of Greek civilization and all the coercive measures of +eastern and western despots, and that with an obstinacy which no Indo- +Germanic people has ever equalled, and which to us who are Occidentals +seems to be sometimes more, sometimes less, than human. It was the +result of that want of political instinct, which amidst all their +lively sense of the ties of race, and amidst all their faithful +attachment to the city of their fathers, formed the most essential +feature in the character of the Phoenicians. Liberty had no charms +for them, and they lusted not after dominion; "quietly they lived," +says the Book of Judges, "after the manner of the Sidonians, careless +and secure, and in possession of riches." + +Carthage + +Of all the Phoenician settlements none attained a more rapid and +secure prosperity than those which were established by the Tyrians and +Sidonians on the south coast of Spain and the north coast of Africa-- +regions that lay beyond the reach of the arm of the great-king and the +dangerous rivalry of the mariners of Greece, and in which the natives +held the same relation to the strangers as the Indians in America held +to the Europeans. Among the numerous and flourishing Phoenician +cities along these shores, the most prominent by far was the "new +town," Karthada or, as the Occidentals called it, Karchedon or +Carthago. Although not the earliest settlement of the Phoenicians +in this region, and originally perhaps a dependency of the adjoining +Utica, the oldest of the Phoenician towns in Libya, it soon +outstripped its neighbours and even the motherland through the +incomparable advantages of its situation and the energetic activity +of its inhabitants. It was situated not far from the (former) mouth +of the Bagradas (Mejerda), which flows through the richest corn +district of northern Africa, and was placed on a fertile rising +ground, still occupied with country houses and covered with groves +of olive and orange trees, falling off in a gentle slope towards the +plain, and terminating towards the sea in a sea-girt promontory. +Lying in the heart of the great North-African roadstead, the Gulf of +Tunis, at the very spot where that beautiful basin affords the best +anchorage for vessels of larger size, and where drinkable spring water +is got close by the shore, the place proved singularly favourable for +agriculture and commerce and for the exchange of their respective +commodities--so favourable, that not only was the Tyrian settlement +in that quarter the first of Phoenician mercantile cities, but even +in the Roman period Carthage was no sooner restored than it became the +third city in the empire, and even now, under circumstances far from +favourable and on a site far less judiciously chosen, there exists and +flourishes in that quarter a city of a hundred thousand inhabitants. +The prosperity, agricultural, mercantile, and industrial, of a city +so situated and so peopled, needs no explanation; but the question +requires an answer--in what way did this settlement come to attain +a development of political power, such as no other Phoenician +city possessed? + +Carthage Heads the Western Phoenicians in Opposition to the Hellenes + +That the Phoenician stock did not even in Carthage renounce its policy +of passiveness, there is no lack of evidence to prove. Carthage paid, +even down to the times of its prosperity, a ground-rent for the space +occupied by the city to the native Berbers, the tribe of the Maxyes or +Maxitani; and although the sea and the desert sufficiently protected +the city from any assault of the eastern powers, Carthage appears to +have recognized--although but nominally--the supremacy of the great- +king, and to have paid tribute to him occasionally, in order to secure +its commercial communications with Tyre and the East. + +But with all their disposition to be submissive and cringing, +circumstances occurred which compelled these Phoenicians to adopt a +more energetic policy. The stream of Hellenic migration was pouring +ceaselessly towards the west: it had already dislodged the Phoenicians +from Greece proper and Italy, and it was preparing to supplant them +also in Sicily, in Spain, and even in Libya itself. The Phoenicians +had to make a stand somewhere, if they were not willing to be totally +crushed. In this case, where they had to deal with Greek traders and +not with the great-king, submission did not suffice to secure the +continuance of their commerce and industry on its former footing, +liable merely to tax and tribute. Massilia and Cyrene were already +founded; the whole east of Sicily was already in the hands of the +Greeks; it was full time for the Phoenicians to think of serious +resistance. The Carthaginians undertook the task; after long and +obstinate wars they set a limit to the advance of the Cyrenaeans, +and Hellenism was unable to establish itself to the west of the desert +of Tripolis. With Carthaginian aid, moreover, the Phoenician settlers +on the western point of Sicily defended themselves against the Greeks, +and readily and gladly submitted to the protection of the powerful +cognate city.(2) These important successes, which occurred in the +second century of Rome, and which saved for the Phoenicians the south- +western portion of the Mediterranean, served of themselves to give to +the city which had achieved them the hegemony of the nation, and to +alter at the same time its political position. Carthage was no longer +a mere mercantile city: it aimed at the dominion of Libya and of a +part of the Mediterranean, because it could not avoid doing so. +It is probable that the custom of employing mercenaries contributed +materially to these successes. That custom came into vogue in Greece +somewhere about the middle of the fourth century of Rome, but among +the Orientals and the Carians more especially it was far older, and it +was perhaps the Phoenicians themselves that began it. By the system +of foreign recruiting war was converted into a vast pecuniary +speculation, which was quite in keeping with the character and +habits of the Phoenicians. + +The Carthaginian Dominion in Africa + +It was probably the reflex influence of these successes abroad, +that first led the Carthaginians to change the character of their +occupation in Africa from a tenure of hire and sufferance to one of +proprietorship and conquest. It appears to have been only about the +year 300 of Rome that the Carthaginian merchants got rid of the rent +for the soil, which they had hitherto been obliged to pay to the +natives. This change enabled them to prosecute a husbandry of their +own on a great scale. From the outset the Phoenicians had been +desirous to employ their capital as landlords as well as traders, +and to practise agriculture on a large scale by means of slaves or +hired labourers; a large portion of the Jews in this way served the +merchant-princes of Tyre for daily wages. Now the Carthaginians +could without restriction extract the produce of the rich Libyan soil +by a system akin to that of the modern planters; slaves in chains +cultivated the land--we find single citizens possessing as many as +twenty thousand of them. Nor was this all. The agricultural villages +of the surrounding region--agriculture appears to have been introduced +among the Libyans at a very early period, probably anterior to the +Phoenician settlement, and presumably from Egypt--were subdued by +force of arms, and the free Libyan farmers were transformed into +fellahs, who paid to their lords a fourth part of the produce of the +soil as tribute, and were subjected to a regular system of recruiting +for the formation of a home Carthaginian army. Hostilities were +constantly occurring with the roving pastoral tribes (--nomades--) +on the borders; but a chain of fortified posts secured the territory +enclosed by them, and the Nomades were slowly driven back into the +deserts and mountains, or were compelled to recognize Carthaginian +supremacy, to pay tribute, and to furnish contingents. About the +period of the first Punic war their great town Theveste (Tebessa, at +the sources of the Mejerda) was conquered by the Carthaginians. These +formed the "towns and tribes (--ethne--) of subjects," which appear in +the Carthaginian state-treaties; the former being the non-free Libyan +villages, the latter the subject Nomades. + +Libyphoenicians + +To this fell to be added the sovereignty of Carthage over the other +Phoenicians in Africa, or the so-called Liby-phoenicians. These +included, on the one hand, the smaller settlements sent forth from +Carthage along the whole northern and part of the north-western coast +of Africa--which cannot have been unimportant, for on the Atlantic +seaboard alone there were settled at one time 30,000 such colonists +--and, on the other hand, the old Phoenician settlements especially +numerous along the coast of the present province of Constantine +and Beylik of Tunis, such as Hippo afterwards called Regius (Bona), +Hadrumetum (Susa), Little Leptis (to the south of Susa)--the second +city of the Phoenicians in Africa--Thapsus (in the same quarter), and +Great Leptis (Lebda to the west of Tripoli). In what way all these +cities came to be subject to Carthage--whether voluntarily, for their +protection perhaps from the attacks of the Cyrenaeans and Numidians, +or by constraint--can no longer be ascertained; but it is certain that +they are designated as subjects of the Carthaginians even in official +documents, that they had to pull down their walls, and that they had +to pay tribute and furnish contingents to Carthage. They were +not liable however either to recruiting or to the land-tax, but +contributed a definite amount of men and money, Little Leptis for +instance paying the enormous sum annually of 365 talents (90,000 +pounds); moreover they lived on a footing of equality in law with +the Carthaginians, and could marry with them on equal terms.(3) +Utica alone escaped a similar fate and had its walls and independence +preserved to it, less perhaps from its own power than from the pious +feeling of the Carthaginians towards their ancient protectors; +in fact, the Phoenicians cherished for such relations a remarkable +feeling of reverence presenting a thorough contrast to the +indifference of the Greeks. Even in intercourse with foreigners it is +always "Carthage and Utica" that stipulate and promise in conjunction; +which, of course, did not preclude the far more important "new town" +from practically asserting its hegemony also over Utica. Thus the +Tyrian factory was converted into the capital of a mighty North +-African empire, which extended from the desert of Tripoli to the +Atlantic Ocean, contenting itself in its western portion (Morocco and +Algiers) with the occupation, and that to some extent superficial, of +a belt along the coast, but in the richer eastern portion (the present +districts of Constantine and Tunis) stretching its sway over the +interior also and constantly pushing its frontier farther to the +south. The Carthaginians were, as an ancient author significantly +expresses it, converted from Tyrians into Libyans. Phoenician +civilization prevailed in Libya just as Greek civilization prevailed +in Asia Minor and Syria after the campaigns of Alexander, although +not with the same intensity. Phoenician was spoken and written at +the courts of the Nomad sheiks, and the more civilized native tribes +adopted for their language the Phoenician alphabet;(4) to Phoenicise +them completely suited neither the genius of the nation nor +the policy of Carthage. + +The epoch, at which this transformation of Carthage into the capital +of Libya took place, admits the less of being determined, because +the change doubtless took place gradually. The author just mentioned +names Hanno as the reformer of the nation. If the Hanno is meant who +lived at the time of the first war with Rome, he can only be regarded +as having completed the new system, the carrying out of which +presumably occupied the fourth and fifth centuries of Rome. + +The flourishing of Carthage was accompanied by a parallel decline +in the great cities of the Phoenician mother-country, in Sidon and +especially in Tyre, the prosperity of which was destroyed partly by +internal commotions, partly by the pressure of external calamities, +particularly of its sieges by Salmanassar in the first, Nebuchodrossor +in the second, and Alexander in the fifth century of Rome. The noble +families and the old firms of Tyre emigrated for the most part to +the secure and flourishing daughter-city, and carried thither their +intelligence, their capital, and their traditions. At the time when +the Phoenicians came into contact with Rome, Carthage was as decidedly +the first of Canaanite cities as Rome was the first of the +Latin communities. + +Naval Power of Carthage + +But the empire of Libya was only half of the power of Carthage; its +maritime and colonial dominion had acquired, during the same period, +a not less powerful development. + +Spain + +In Spain the chief station of the Phoenicians was the primitive Tyrian +settlement at Gades (Cadiz). Besides this they possessed to the west +and east of it a chain of factories, and in the interior the region of +the silver mines; so that they held nearly the modern Andalusia and +Granada, or at least the coasts of these provinces. They made no +effort to acquire the interior from the warlike native nations; they +were content with the possession of the mines and of the stations for +traffic and for shell and other fisheries; and they had difficulty in +maintaining their ground even in these against the adjoining tribes. +It is probable that these possessions were not properly Carthaginian +but Tyrian, and Gades was not reckoned among the cities tributary to +Carthage; but practically, like all the western Phoenicians, it was +under Carthaginian hegemony, as is shown by the aid sent by Carthage +to the Gaditani against the natives, and by the institution of +Carthaginian trading settlements to the westward of Gades. Ebusus and +the Baleares, again, were occupied by the Carthaginians themselves at +an early period, partly for the fisheries, partly as advanced posts +against the Massiliots, with whom furious conflicts were waged +from these stations. + +Sardinia + +In like manner the Carthaginians already at the end of the second +century of Rome established themselves in Sardinia, which was +utilized by them precisely in the same way as Libya. While the +natives withdrew into the mountainous interior of the island to +escape from bondage as agricultural serfs, just as the Numidians in +Africa withdrew to the borders of the desert, Phoenician colonies +were conducted to Caralis (Cagliari) and other important points, and +the fertile districts along the coast were turned to account by the +introduction of Libyan cultivators. + +Sicily + +Lastly in Sicily the straits of Messana and the larger eastern half of +the island had fallen at an early period into the hands of the Greeks; +but the Phoenicians, with the help of the Carthaginians, retained the +smaller adjacent islands, the Aegates, Melita, Gaulos, Cossyra--the +settlement in Malta especially was rich and flourishing--and they kept +the west and north-west coast of Sicily, whence they maintained +communication with Africa by means of Motya and afterwards of +Lilybaeum and with Sardinia by means of Panormus and Soluntum. +The interior of the island remained in the possession of the natives, +the Elymi, Sicani, and Siceli. After the further advance of the +Greeks was checked, a state of comparative peace had prevailed in +the island, which even the campaign undertaken by the Carthaginians +at the instigation of the Persians against their Greek neighbours on +the island (274) did not permanently interrupt, and which continued +on the whole to subsist till the Attic expedition to Sicily (339-341). +The two competing nations made up their minds to tolerate each other, +and confined themselves in the main each to its own field. + +Maritime Supremacy +Rivalry with Syracuse + +All these settlements and possessions were important enough in +themselves; but they were of still greater moment, inasmuch as they +became the pillars of the Carthaginian maritime supremacy. By their +possession of the south of Spain, of the Baleares, of Sardinia, of +western Sicily and Melita, and by their prevention of Hellenic +colonies on the east coast of Spain, in Corsica, and in the region of +the Syrtes, the masters of the north coast of Africa rendered their +sea a closed one, and monopolized the western straits. In the +Tyrrhene and Gallic seas alone the Phoenicians were obliged to +admit the rivalry of other nations. This state of things might +perhaps be endured, so long as the Etruscans and the Greeks served +to counterbalance each other in these waters; with the former, as the +less dangerous rivals, Carthage even entered into an alliance against +the Greeks. But when, on the fall of the Etruscan power--a fall +which, as is usually the case in such forced alliances, Carthage had +hardly exerted all her power to avert--and after the miscarriage of +the great projects of Alcibiades, Syracuse stood forth as indisputably +the first Greek naval power, not only did the rulers of Syracuse +naturally begin to aspire to dominion over Sicily and lower Italy +and at the same time over the Tyrrhene and Adriatic seas, but the +Carthaginians also were compelled to adopt a more energetic policy. +The immediate result of the long and obstinate conflicts between +them and their equally powerful and infamous antagonist, Dionysius +of Syracuse (348-389), was the annihilation or weakening of the +intervening Sicilian states--a result which both parties had an +interest in accomplishing--and the division of the island between +the Syracusans and Carthaginians. The most flourishing cities in +the island--Selinus, Himera, Agrigentum, Gela, and Messana--were +utterly destroyed by the Carthaginians in the course of these unhappy +conflicts: and Dionysius was not displeased to see Hellenism destroyed +or suppressed there, so that, leaning for support on foreign +mercenaries enlisted from Italy, Gaul and Spain, he might rule in +greater security over provinces which lay desolate or which were +occupied by military colonies. The peace, which was concluded after +the victory of the Carthaginian general Mago at Kronion (371), and +which subjected to the Carthaginians the Greek cities of Thermae (the +ancient Himera), Segesta, Heraclea Minoa, Selinus, and a part of the +territory of Agrigentum as far as the Halycus, was regarded by the two +powers contending for the possession of the island as only a temporary +accommodation; on both sides the rivals were ever renewing their +attempts to dispossess each other. Four several times--in 360 in the +time of Dionysius the elder; in 410 in that of Timoleon; in 445 in +that of Agathocles; in 476 in that of Pyrrhus--the Carthaginians were +masters of all Sicily excepting Syracuse, and were baffled by its +solid walls; almost as often the Syracusans, under able leaders, such +as were the elder Dionysius, Agathocles, and Pyrrhus, seemed equally +on the eve of dislodging the Africans from the island. But more and +more the balance inclined to the side of the Carthaginians, who were, +as a rule, the aggressors, and who, although they did not follow out +their object with Roman steadfastness, yet conducted their attack with +far greater method and energy than the Greek city, rent and worn out +by factions, conducted its defence. The Phoenicians might with reason +expect that a pestilence or a foreign -condottiere- would not always +snatch the prey from their hands; and for the time being, at least at +sea, the struggle was already decided:(5) the attempt of Pyrrhus to +re-establish the Syracusan fleet was the last. After the failure of +that attempt, the Carthaginian fleet commanded without a rival the +whole western Mediterranean; and their endeavours to occupy Syracuse, +Rhegium, and Tarentum, showed the extent of their power and the +objects at which they aimed. Hand in hand with these attempts went +the endeavour to monopolize more and more the maritime commerce of +this region, at the expense alike of foreigners and of their own +subjects; and it was not the wont of the Carthaginians to recoil from +any violence that might help forward their purpose. A contemporary +of the Punic wars, Eratosthenes, the father of geography (479-560), +affirms that every foreign mariner sailing towards Sardinia or towards +the Straits of Gades, who fell into the hands of the Carthaginians, +was thrown by them into the sea; and with this statement the fact +completely accords, that Carthage by the treaty of 406 (6) declared +the Spanish, Sardinian, and Libyan ports open to Roman trading +vessels, whereas by that of 448,(7) it totally closed them, with +the exception of the port of Carthage itself, against the same. + +Constitution of Carthage +Council +Magistrates + +Aristotle, who died about fifty years before the commencement of the +first Punic war, describes the constitution of Carthage as having +changed from a monarchy to an aristocracy, or to a democracy inclining +towards oligarchy, for he designates it by both names. The conduct +of affairs was immediately vested in the hands of the Council of +Ancients, which, like the Spartan gerusia, consisted of the two kings +nominated annually by the citizens, and of twenty-eight gerusiasts, +who were also, as it appears, chosen annually by the citizens. It was +this council which mainly transacted the business of the state-making, +for instance, the preliminary arrangements for war, appointing levies +and enlistments, nominating the general, and associating with him a +number of gerusiasts from whom the sub-commanders were regularly +taken; and to it despatches were addressed. It is doubtful whether by +the side of this small council there existed a larger one; at any rate +it was not of much importance. As little does any special influence +seem to have belonged to the kings; they acted chiefly as supreme +judges, and they were frequently so named (shofetes, -praetores-). +The power of the general was greater. Isocrates, the senior +contemporary of Aristotle, says that the Carthaginians had an +oligarchical government at home, but a monarchical government in +the field; and thus the office of the Carthaginian general may be +correctly described by Roman writers as a dictatorship, although the +gerusiasts attached to him must have practically at least restricted +his power and, after he had laid down his office, a regular official +reckoning--unknown among the Romans--awaited him. There existed no +fixed term of office for the general, and for this very reason he was +doubtless different from the annual king, from whom Aristotle also +expressly distinguishes him. The combination however of several +offices in one person was not unusual among the Carthaginians, and it +is not therefore surprising that often the same person appears as at +once general and shofete. + +Judges + +But the gerusia and the magistrates were subordinate to the +corporation of the Hundred and Four (in round numbers the Hundred), +or the Judges, the main bulwark of the Carthaginian oligarchy. +It had no place in the original constitution of Carthage, but, like +the Spartan ephorate, it originated in an aristocratic opposition to +the monarchical elements of that constitution. As public offices were +purchasable and the number of members forming the supreme board was +small, a single Carthaginian family, eminent above all others in +wealth and military renown, the clan of Mago,(8) threatened to unite +in its own hands the management of the state in peace and war and the +administration of justice. This led, nearly about the time of the +decemvirs, to an alteration of the constitution and to the appointment +of this new board. We know that the holding of the quaestorship gave +a title to admission into the body of judges, but that the candidate +had nevertheless to be elected by certain self-electing Boards of Five +(Pentarchies); and that the judges, although presumably by law chosen +from year to year, practically remained in office for a longer +period or indeed for life, for which reason they are usually called +"senators" by the Greeks and Romans. Obscure as are the details, we +recognize clearly the nature of the body as an oligarchical board +constituted by aristocratic cooptation; an isolated but characteristic +indication of which is found in the fact that there were in Carthage +special baths for the judges over and above the common baths for the +citizens. They were primarily intended to act as political jurymen, +who summoned the generals in particular, but beyond doubt the shofetes +and gerusiasts also when circumstances required, to a reckoning on +resigning office, and inflicted even capital punishment at pleasure, +often with the most reckless cruelty. Of course in this as in every +instance, where administrative functionaries are subjected to the +control of another body, the real centre of power passed over from +the controlled to the controlling authority; and it is easy to +understand on the one hand how the latter came to interfere in all +matters of administration--the gerusia for instance submitted +important despatches first to the judges, and then to the people +--and on the other hand how fear of the control at home, which +regularly meted out its award according to success, hampered the +Carthaginian statesman and general in council and action. + +Citizens + +The body of citizens in Carthage, though not expressly restricted, as +in Sparta, to the attitude of passive bystanders in the business of +the state, appears to have had but a very slight amount of practical +influence on it In the elections to the gerusia a system of open +corruption was the rule; in the nomination of a general the people +were consulted, but only after the nomination had really been made by +proposal on the part of the gerusia; and other questions only went to +the people when the gerusia thought fit or could not otherwise agree. +Assemblies of the people with judicial functions were unknown in +Carthage. The powerlessness of the citizens probably in the main +resulted from their political organization; the Carthaginian mess- +associations, which are mentioned in this connection and compared +with the Spartan Pheiditia, were probably guilds under oligarchical +management. Mention is made even of a distinction between "burgesses +of the city" and "manual labourers," which leads us to infer that the +latter held a very inferior position, perhaps beyond the pale of law. + +Character of the Government + +On a comprehensive view of its several elements, the Carthaginian +constitution appears to have been a government of capitalists, such as +might naturally arise in a burgess-community which had no middle class +of moderate means but consisted on the one hand of an urban rabble +without property and living from hand to mouth, and on the other hand +of great merchants, planters, and genteel overseers. The system of +repairing the fortunes of decayed grandees at the expense of the +subjects, by despatching them as tax-assessors and taskwork-overseers +to the dependent communities--that infallible token of a rotten urban +oligarchy--was not wanting in Carthage; Aristotle describes it as the +main cause of the tried durability of the Carthaginian constitution. +Up to his time no revolution worth mentioning had taken place in +Carthage either from above or from below. The multitude remained +without leaders in consequence of the material advantages which the +governing oligarchy was able to offer to all ambitious or necessitous +men of rank, and was satisfied with the crumbs, which in the form of +electoral corruption or otherwise fell to it from the table of the +rich. A democratic opposition indeed could not fail with such a +government to emerge; but at the time of the first Punic war it was +still quite powerless. At a later period, partly under the influence +of the defeats which were sustained, its political influence appears +on the increase, and that far more rapidly than the influence of the +similar party at the same period in Rome; the popular assemblies began +to give the ultimate decision in political questions, and broke down +the omnipotence of the Carthaginian oligarchy. After the termination +of the Hannibalic war it was even enacted, on the proposal of +Hannibal, that no member of the council of a Hundred could hold office +for two consecutive years; and thereby a complete democracy was +introduced, which certainly was under existing circumstances the only +means of saving Carthage, if there was still time to do so. This +opposition was swayed by a strong patriotic and reforming enthusiasm; +but the fact cannot withal be overlooked, that it rested on a corrupt +and rotten basis. The body of citizens in Carthage, which is compared +by well-informed Greeks to the people of Alexandria, was so disorderly +that to that extent it had well deserved to be powerless; and it might +well be asked, what good could arise from revolutions, where, as in +Carthage, the boys helped to make them. + +Capital and Its Power in Carthage + +From a financial point of view, Carthage held in every respect +the first place among the states of antiquity. At the time of the +Peloponnesian war this Phoenician city was, according to the testimony +of the first of Greek historians, financially superior to all +the Greek states, and its revenues were compared to those of the +great-king; Polybius calls it the wealthiest city in the world. +The intelligent character of the Carthaginian husbandry--which, as was +the case subsequently in Rome, generals and statesmen did not disdain +scientifically to practise and to teach--is attested by the agronomic +treatise of the Carthaginian Mago, which was universally regarded by +the later Greek and Roman farmers as the fundamental code of rational +husbandry, and was not only translated into Greek, but was edited also +in Latin by command of the Roman senate and officially recommended +to the Italian landholders. A characteristic feature was the close +connection between this Phoenician management of land and that of +capital: it was quoted as a leading maxim of Phoenician husbandry that +one should never acquire more land than he could thoroughly manage. +The rich resources of the country in horses, oxen, sheep, and goats, +in which Libya by reason of its Nomad economy perhaps excelled at that +time, as Polybius testifies, all other lands of the earth, were of +great advantage to the Carthaginians. As these were the instructors +of the Romans in the art of profitably working the soil, they were so +likewise in the art of turning to good account their subjects; by +virtue of which Carthage reaped indirectly the rents of the "best +part of Europe," and of the rich--and in some portions, such as in +Byzacitis and on the lesser Syrtis, surpassingly productive--region +of northern Africa. Commerce, which was always regarded in Carthage +as an honourable pursuit, and the shipping and manufactures which +commerce rendered flourishing, brought even in the natural course of +things golden harvests annually to the settlers there; and we have +already indicated how skilfully, by an extensive and evergrowing +system of monopoly, not only all the foreign but also all the inland +commerce of the western Mediterranean, and the whole carrying trade +between the west and east, were more and more concentrated in that +single harbour. + +Science and art in Carthage, as afterwards in Rome, seem to have been +mainly dependent on Hellenic influences, but they do not appear to +have been neglected. There was a respectable Phoenician literature; +and on the conquest of the city there were found rich treasures of +art--not created, it is true, in Carthage, but carried off from +Sicilian temples--and considerable libraries. But even intellect +there was in the service of capital; the prominent features of its +literature were chiefly agronomic and geographical treatises, such +as the work of Mago already mentioned and the account by the admiral +Hanno of his voyage along the west coast of Africa, which was +originally deposited publicly in one of the Carthaginian temples, and +which is still extant in a translation. Even the general diffusion of +certain attainments, and particularly of the knowledge of foreign +languages,(9) as to which the Carthage of this epoch probably stood +almost on a level with Rome under the empire, forms an evidence of the +thoroughly practical turn given to Hellenic culture in Carthage. It +is absolutely impossible to form a conception of the mass of capital +accumulated in this London of antiquity, but some notion at least may +be gained of the sources of public revenue from the fact, that, in +spite of the costly system on which Carthage organized its wars and +in spite of the careless and faithless administration of the state +property, the contributions of its subjects and the customs-revenue +completely covered the expenditure, so that no direct taxes were +levied from the citizens; and further, that even after the second +Punic war, when the power of the state was already broken, the current +expenses and the payment to Rome of a yearly instalment of 48,000 +pounds could be met, without levying any tax, merely by a somewhat +stricter management of the finances, and fourteen years after the +peace the state proffered immediate payment of the thirty-six +remaining instalments. But it was not merely the sum total of its +revenues that evinced the superiority of the financial administration +at Carthage. The economical principles of a later and more advanced +epoch are found by us in Carthage alone of all the more considerable +states of antiquity. Mention is made of foreign state-loans, and in +the monetary system we find along with gold and silver mention of a +token-money having no intrinsic value--a species of currency not used +elsewhere in antiquity. In fact, if government had resolved itself +into mere mercantile speculation, never would any state have solved +the problem more brilliantly than Carthage. + +Comparison between Carthage and Rome +In Their Economy + +Let us now compare the respective resources of Carthage and Rome. +Both were agricultural and mercantile cities, and nothing more; art +and science had substantially the same altogether subordinate and +altogether practical position in both, except that in this respect +Carthage had made greater progress than Rome. But in Carthage the +moneyed interest preponderated over the landed, in Rome at this +time the landed still preponderated over the moneyed; and, while +the agriculturists of Carthage were universally large landlords +and slave-holders, in the Rome of this period the great mass of the +burgesses still tilled their fields in person. The majority of the +population in Rome held property, and was therefore conservative; the +majority in Carthage held no property, and was therefore accessible +to the gold of the rich as well as to the cry of the democrats for +reform. In Carthage there already prevailed all that opulence which +marks powerful commercial cities, while the manners and police of Rome +still maintained at least externally the severity and frugality of +the olden times. When the ambassadors of Carthage returned from Rome, +they told their colleagues that the relations of intimacy among the +Roman senators surpassed all conception; that a single set of silver +plate sufficed for the whole senate, and had reappeared in every house +to which the envoys had been invited. The sneer is a significant +token of the difference in the economic conditions on either side. + +In Their Constitution + +In both the constitution was aristocratic; the judges governed in +Carthage, as did the senate in Rome, and both on the same system of +police-control. The strict state of dependence in which the governing +board at Carthage held the individual magistrate, and the injunction +to the citizens absolutely to refrain from learning the Greek language +and to converse with a Greek only through the medium of the public +interpreter, originated in the same spirit as the system of government +at Rome; but in comparison with the cruel harshness and the absolute +precision, bordering on silliness, of this Carthaginian state- +tutelage, the Roman system of fining and censure appears mild and +reasonable. The Roman senate, which opened its doors to eminent +capacity and in the best sense represented the nation, was able +also to trust it, and had no need to fear the magistrates. +The Carthaginian senate, on the other hand, was based on a jealous +control of administration by the government, and represented +exclusively the leading families; its essence was mistrust of all +above and below it, and therefore it could neither be confident that +the people would follow whither it led, nor free from the dread of +usurpations on the part of the magistrates. Hence the steady course +of Roman policy, which never receded a step in times of misfortune, +and never threw away the favours of fortune by negligence or +indifference; whereas the Carthaginians desisted from the struggle +when a last effort might perhaps have saved all, and, weary or +forgetful of their great national duties, allowed the half-completed +building to fall to pieces, only to begin it in a few years anew. +Hence the capable magistrate in Rome was ordinarily on a good +understanding with his government; in Carthage he was frequently +at decided feud with his masters at home, and was forced to resist +them by unconstitutional means and to make common cause with the +opposing party of reform. + +In the Treatment of Their Subject + +Both Carthage and Rome ruled over communities of lineage kindred with +their own, and over numerous others of alien race. But Rome had +received into her citizenship one district after another, and had +rendered it even legally accessible to the Latin communities; Carthage +from the first maintained her exclusiveness, and did not permit the +dependent districts even to cherish a hope of being some day placed +upon an equal footing. Rome granted to the communities of kindred +lineage a share in the fruits of victory, especially in the acquired +domains; and sought, by conferring material advantages on the rich and +noble, to gain over at least a party to her own interest in the other +subject states. Carthage not only retained for herself the produce +of her victories, but even deprived the most privileged cities of +their freedom of trade. Rome, as a rule, did not wholly take away +independence even from the subject communities, and imposed a fixed +tribute on none; Carthage despatched her overseers everywhere, and +loaded even the old-Phoenician cities with a heavy tribute, while her +subject tribes were practically treated as state-slaves. In this way +there was not in the compass of the Carthagino-African state a single +community, with the exception of Utica, that would not have been +politically and materially benefited by the fall of Carthage; in the +Romano-Italic there was not one that had not much more to lose than +to gain in rebelling against a government, which was careful to avoid +injuring material interests, and which never at least by extreme +measures challenged political opposition to conflict. If Carthaginian +statesmen believed that they had attached to the interests of Carthage +her Phoenician subjects by their greater dread of a Libyan revolt +and all the landholders by means of token-money, they transferred +mercantile calculation to a sphere to which it did not apply. +Experience proved that the Roman symmachy, notwithstanding its +seemingly looser bond of connection, kept together against Pyrrhus +like a wall of rock, whereas the Carthaginian fell to pieces like a +gossamer web as soon as a hostile army set foot on African soil. It +was so on the landing of Agathocles and of Regulus, and likewise in +the mercenary war; the spirit that prevailed in Africa is illustrated +by the fact, that the Libyan women voluntarily contributed their +ornaments to the mercenaries for their war against Carthage. In +Sicily alone the Carthaginians appear to have exercised a milder rule, +and to have attained on that account better results. They granted to +their subjects in that quarter comparative freedom in foreign trade, +and allowed them to conduct their internal commerce, probably from the +outset and exclusively, with a metallic currency; far greater freedom +of movement generally was allowed to them than was permitted to the +Sardinians and Libyans. Had Syracuse fallen into Carthaginian hands, +their policy would doubtless soon have changed. But that result did +not take place; and so, owing to the well-calculated mildness of the +Carthaginian government and the unhappy distractions of the Sicilian +Greeks, there actually existed in Sicily a party really friendly to +the Phoenicians; for example, even after the island had passed to the +Romans, Philinus of Agrigentum wrote the history of the great war in +a thoroughly Phoenician spirit. Nevertheless on the whole the +Sicilians must, both as subjects and as Hellenes, have been at +least as averse to their Phoenician masters as the Samnites +and Tarentines were to the Romans. + +In Finance + +In a financial point of view the state revenues of Carthage doubtless +far surpassed those of Rome; but this advantage was partly neutralized +by the facts, that the sources of the Carthaginian revenue--tribute +and customs--dried up far sooner (and just when they were most needed) +than those of Rome, and that the Carthaginian mode of conducting war +was far more costly than the Roman. + +In Their Military System + +The military resources of the Romans and Carthaginians were very +different, yet in many respects not unequally balanced. The citizens +of Carthage still at the conquest of the city amounted to 700,000, +including women and children,(10) and were probably at least as +numerous at the close of the fifth century; in that century they were +able in case of need to set on foot a burgess-army of 40,000 hoplites. +At the very beginning of the fifth century, Rome had in similar +circumstances sent to the field a burgess-army equally strong;(11) +after the great extensions of the burgess-domain in the course of that +century the number of full burgesses capable of bearing arms must at +least have doubled. But far more than in the number of men capable of +bearing arms, Rome excelled in the effective condition of the burgess- +soldier. Anxious as the Carthaginian government was to induce its +citizens to take part in military service, it could neither furnish +the artisan and the manufacturer with the bodily vigour of the +husbandman, nor overcome the native aversion of the Phoenicians to +warfare. In the fifth century there still fought in the Sicilian +armies a "sacred band" of 2500 Carthaginians as a guard for the +general; in the sixth not a single Carthaginian, officers excepted, +was to be met with in the Carthaginian armies, e. g. in that of Spain. +The Roman farmers, again, took their places not only in the muster- +roll, but also in the field of battle. It was the same with the +cognate races of both communities; while the Latins rendered to +the Romans no less service than their own burgess-troops, the Liby- +phoenicians were as little adapted for war as the Carthaginians, and, +as may easily be supposed, still less desirous of it, and so they too +disappeared from the armies; the towns bound to furnish contingents +presumably redeemed their obligation by a payment of money. In the +Spanish army just mentioned, composed of some 15,000 men, only a +single troop of cavalry of 450 men consisted, and that but partly, of +Liby-phoenicians. The flower of the Carthaginian armies was formed by +the Libyan subjects, whose recruits were capable of being trained +under able officers into good infantry, and whose light cavalry was +unsurpassed in its kind. To these were added the forces of the more +or less dependent tribes of Libya and Spain and the famous slingers of +the Baleares, who seem to have held an intermediate position between +allied contingents and mercenary troops; and finally, in case of need, +the hired soldiery enlisted abroad. So far as numbers were concerned, +such an army might without difficulty be raised almost to any desired +strength; and in the ability of its officers, in acquaintance with +arms, and in courage it might be capable of coping with that of Rome. +Not only, however, did a dangerously long interval elapse, in the +event of mercenaries being required, ere they could be got ready, +while the Roman militia was able at any moment to take the field, but +--which was the main matter--there was nothing to keep together the +armies of Carthage but military honour and personal advantage, while +the Romans were united by all the ties that bound them to their common +fatherland. The Carthaginian officer of the ordinary type estimated +his mercenaries, and even the Libyan farmers, very much as men +in modern warfare estimate cannon-balls; hence such disgraceful +proceedings as the betrayal of the Libyan troops by their general +Himilco in 358, which was followed by a dangerous insurrection of the +Libyans, and hence that proverbial cry of "Punic faith," which did the +Carthaginians no small injury. Carthage experienced in full measure +all the evils which armies of fellahs and mercenaries could bring upon +a state, and more than once she found her paid serfs more dangerous +than her foes. + +The Carthaginian government could not fail to perceive the defects +of this military system, and they certainly sought to remedy them by +every available means. They insisted on maintaining full chests +and full magazines, that they might at any time be able to equip +mercenaries. They bestowed great care on those elements which among +the ancients represented the modern artillery--the construction of +machines, in which we find the Carthaginians regularly superior to +the Siceliots, and the use of elephants, after these had superseded in +warfare the earlier war-chariots: in the casemates of Carthage there +were stalls for 300 elephants. They could not venture to fortify the +dependent cities, and were obliged to submit to the occupation of the +towns and villages as well as of the open country by any hostile army +that landed in Africa--a thorough contrast to the state of Italy, +where most of the subject towns had retained their walls, and a +chain of Roman fortresses commanded the whole peninsula. But on the +fortification of the capital they expended all the resources of money +and of art, and on several occasions nothing but the strength of its +walls saved the state; whereas Rome held a political and military +position so secure that it never underwent a formal siege. +Lastly, the main bulwark of the state was their war-marine, on which +they lavished the utmost care. In the building as well as in the +management of vessels the Carthaginians excelled the Greeks; it was at +Carthage that ships were first built of more than three banks of oars, +and the Carthaginian war-vessels, at this period mostly quinqueremes, +were ordinarily better sailors than the Greek; the rowers, all of them +public slaves, who never stirred from the galleys, were excellently +trained, and the captains were expert and fearless. In this respect +Carthage was decidedly superior to the Romans, who, with the few ships +of their Greek allies and still fewer of their own, were unable even +to show themselves in the open sea against the fleet which at that +time without a rival ruled the western Mediterranean. + +If, in conclusion, we sum up the results of this comparison of +the resources of the two great powers, the judgment expressed by a +sagacious and impartial Greek is perhaps borne out, that Carthage and +Rome were, when the struggle between them began, on the whole equally +matched. But we cannot omit to add that, while Carthage had put forth +all the efforts of which intellect and wealth were capable to provide +herself with artificial means of attack and defence, she was unable in +any satisfactory way to make up for the fundamental wants of a land +army of her own and of a symmachy resting on a self-supporting basis. +That Rome could only be seriously attacked in Italy, and Carthage only +in Libya, no one could fail to see; as little could any one fail to +perceive that Carthage could not in the long run escape from such +an attack. Fleets were not yet in those times of the infancy of +navigation a permanent heirloom of nations, but could be fitted out +wherever there were trees, iron, and water. It was clear, and had +been several times tested in Africa itself, that even powerful +maritime states were not able to prevent enemies weaker by sea from +landing. When Agathocles had shown the way thither, a Roman general +could follow the same course; and while in Italy the entrance of an +invading army simply began the war, the same event in Libya put an +end to it by converting it into a siege, in which, unless special +accidents should intervene, even the most obstinate and heroic courage +must finally succumb. + +Notes for Chapter I + +1. II. IV. Victories of Salamis and Himera, and Their Effects + +2. I. X. Phoenicians and Italians in Opposition to the Hellenes + +3. The most precise description of this important class occurs in +the Carthaginian treaty (Polyb. vii. 9), where in contrast to the +Uticenses on the one hand, and to the Libyan subjects on the other, +they are called --ol Karchedonion uparchoi osoi tois autois nomois +chrontai--. Elsewhere they are spoken of as cities allied +(--summachides poleis--, Diod. xx. 10) or tributary (Liv. xxxiv. 62; +Justin, xxii. 7, 3). Their -conubium- with the Carthaginians is +mentioned by Diodorus, xx. 55; the -commercium- is implied in the +"like laws." That the old Phoenician colonies were included among +the Liby-phoenicians, is shown by the designation of Hippo as a +Liby-phoenician city (Liv. xxv. 40); on the other hand as to the +settlements founded from Carthage, for instance, it is said in the +Periplus of Hanno: "the Carthaginians resolved that Hanno should sail +beyond the Pillars of Hercules and found cities of Liby-phoenicians." +In substance the word "Liby-phoenicians" was used by the Carthaginians +not as a national designation, but as a category of state-law. This +view is quite consistent with the fact that grammatically the name +denotes Phoenicians mingled with Libyans (Liv. xxi. 22, an addition to +the text of Polybius); in reality, at least in the institution of very +exposed colonies, Libyans were frequently associated with Phoenicians +(Diod. xiii. 79; Cic. pro Scauro, 42). The analogy in name and legal +position between the Latins of Rome and the Liby-phoenicians +of Carthage is unmistakable. + +4. The Libyan or Numidian alphabet, by which we mean that which was +and is employed by the Berbers in writing their non-Semitic language +--one of the innumerable alphabets derived from the primitive Aramaean +one--certainly appears to be more closely related in several of its +forms to the latter than is the Phoenician alphabet; but it by no +means follows from this, that the Libyans derived their writing not +from Phoenicians but from earlier immigrants, any more than the +partially older forms of the Italian alphabets prohibit us from +deriving these from the Greek. We must rather assume that the Libyan +alphabet has been derived from the Phoenician at a period of the +latter earlier than the time at which the records of the Phoenician +language that have reached us were written. + +5. II. VII. Decline of the Roman Naval Power + +6. II. VII. Decline of the Roman Naval Power + +7. II. VII. The Roman Fleet + +8. II. IV. Etrusco-Carthaginian Maritime Supremacy + +9. The steward on a country estate, although a slave, ought, according +to the precept of the Carthaginian agronome Mago (ap. Varro, R. R. i. +17), to be able to read, and ought to possess some culture. In the +prologue of the "Poenulus" of Plautus, it is said of the hero of +the title:- + +-Et is omnes linguas scit; sed dissimulat sciens +Se scire; Poenus plane est; quid verbit opus't-? + +10. Doubts have been expressed as to the correctness of this number, +and the highest possible number of inhabitants, taking into account +the available space, has been reckoned at 250,000. Apart from the +uncertainty of such calculations, especially as to a commercial city +with houses of six stories, we must remember that the numbering is +doubtless to be understood in a political, not in an urban, sense, +just like the numbers in the Roman census, and that thus all +Carthaginians would be included in it, whether dwelling in the city +or its neighbourhood, or resident in its subject territory or in other +lands. There would, of course, be a large number of such absentees in +the case of Carthage; indeed it is expressly stated that in Gades, for +the same reason, the burgess-roll always showed a far higher number +than that of the citizens who had their fixed residence there. + +11. II. VII. System of Government, note + + + + +Chapter II + +The War between Rome and Carthage Concerning Sicily + +State of Sicily + +For upwards of a century the feud between the Carthaginians and +the rulers of Syracuse had devastated the fair island of Sicily. +On both sides the contest was carried on with the weapons of political +proselytism, for, while Carthage kept up communications with the +aristocratic-republican opposition in Syracuse, the Syracusan dynasts +maintained relations with the national party in the Greek cities that +had become tributary to Carthage. On both sides armies of mercenaries +were employed to fight their battles--by Timoleon and Agathocles, as +well as by the Phoenician generals. And as like means were employed +on both sides, so the conflict had been waged on both with a disregard +of honour and a perfidy unexampled in the history of the west. The +Syracusans were the weaker party. In the peace of 440 Carthage had +still limited her claims to the third of the island to the west of +Heraclea Minoa and Himera, and had expressly recognized the hegemony +of the Syracusans over all the cities to the eastward. The expulsion +of Pyrrhus from Sicily and Italy (479) left by far the larger half of +the island, and especially the important Agrigentum, in the hands of +Carthage; the Syracusans retained nothing but Tauromenium and the +south-east of the island. + +Campanian Mercenaries + +In the second great city on the east coast, Messana, a band of foreign +soldiers had established themselves and held the city, independent +alike of Syracusans and Carthaginians. These new rulers of Messana +were Campanian mercenaries. The dissolute habits that had become +prevalent among the Sabellians settled in and around Capua,(1) had +made Campania in the fourth and fifth centuries--what Aetolia, Crete, +and Laconia were afterwards--the universal recruiting field for +princes and cities in search of mercenaries. The semi-culture that +had been called into existence there by the Campanian Greeks, the +barbaric luxury of life in Capua and the other Campanian cities, +the political impotence to which the hegemony of Rome condemned them, +while yet its rule was not so stern as wholly to withdraw from them +the right of self-disposal--all tended to drive the youth of Campania +in troops to the standards of the recruiting officers. As a matter of +course, this wanton and unscrupulous selling of themselves here, as +everywhere, brought in its train estrangement from their native land, +habits of violence and military disorder, and indifference to the +breach of their allegiance. These Campanians could see no reason why +a band of mercenaries should not seize on their own behalf any city +entrusted to their guardianship, provided only they were in a position +to hold it--the Samnites had established their dominion in Capua +itself, and the Lucanians in a succession of Greek cities, after +a fashion not much more honourable. + +Mammertines + +Nowhere was the state of political relations more inviting for such +enterprises than in Sicily. Already the Campanian captains who came +to Sicily during the Peloponnesian war had insinuated themselves in +this way into Entella and Aetna. Somewhere about the year 470 a +Campanian band, which had previously served under Agathocles and after +his death (465) took up the trade of freebooters on their own account, +established themselves in Messana, the second city of Greek Sicily, +and the chief seat of the anti-Syracusan party in that portion of +the island which was still in the power of the Greeks. The citizens +were slain or expelled, their wives and children and houses were +distributed among the soldiers, and the new masters of the city, the +Mamertines or "men of Mars," as they called themselves, soon became +the third power in the island, the north-eastern portion of which they +reduced to subjection in the times of confusion that succeeded the +death of Agathocles. The Carthaginians were no unwilling spectators +of these events, which established in the immediate vicinity of the +Syracusans a new and powerful adversary instead of a cognate and +ordinarily allied or dependent city. With Carthaginian aid the +Mamertines maintained themselves against Pyrrhus, and the untimely +departure of the king restored to them all their power. + +Hiero of Syracuse +War between the Syracusans and the Mammertines + +It is not becoming in the historian either to excuse the perfidious +crime by which the Mamertines seized their power, or to forget that +the God of history does not necessarily punish the sins of the fathers +to the fourth generation. He who feels it his vocation to judge the +sins of others may condemn the human agents; for Sicily it might be a +blessing that a warlike power, and one belonging to the island, thus +began to be formed in it--a power which was already able to bring +eight thousand men into the field, and which was gradually putting +itself in a position to take up at the proper time and on its own +resources that struggle against the foreigners, to the maintenance +of which the Hellenes, becoming more and more unaccustomed to arms +notwithstanding their perpetual wars, were no longer equal. + +In the first instance, however, things took another turn. A young +Syracusan officer, who by his descent from the family of Gelo and +his intimate relations of kindred with king Pyrrhus as well as by the +distinction with which he had fought in the campaigns of the latter, +had attracted the notice of his fellow-citizens as well as of the +Syracusan soldiery--Hiero, son of Hierocles--was called by military +election to command the army, which was at variance with the citizens +(479-480). By his prudent administration, the nobility of his +character, and the moderation of his views, he rapidly gained the +hearts of the citizens of Syracuse--who had been accustomed to the +most scandalous lawlessness in their despots--and of the Sicilian +Greeks in general. He rid himself--in a perfidious manner, it is +true--of the insubordinate army of mercenaries, revived the citizen- +militia, and endeavoured, at first with the title of general, +afterwards with that of king, to re-establish the deeply sunken +Hellenic power by means of his civic troops and of fresh and more +manageable recruits. With the Carthaginians, who in concert with the +Greeks had driven king Pyrrhus from the island, there was at that time +peace. The immediate foes of the Syracusans were the Mamertines. +They were the kinsmen of those hated mercenaries whom the Syracusans +had recently extirpated; they had murdered their own Greek hosts; + they had curtailed the Syracusan territory; they had oppressed and +plundered a number of smaller Greek towns. In league with the Romans +who just about this time were sending their legions against the +Campanians in Rhegium, the allies, kinsmen, and confederates in crime +of the Mamertines,(2) Hiero turned his arms against Messana. By a +great victory, after which Hiero was proclaimed king of the Siceliots +(484), he succeeded in shutting up the Mamertines within their city, +and after the siege had lasted some years, they found themselves +reduced to extremity and unable to hold the city longer against Hiero +on their own resources. It is evident that a surrender on stipulated +conditions was impossible, and that the axe of the executioner, which +had fallen upon the Campanians of Rhegium at Rome, as certainly +awaited those of Messana at Syracuse. Their only means of safety lay +in delivering up the city either to the Carthaginians or to the +Romans, both of whom could not but be so strongly set upon acquiring +that important place as to overlook all other scruples. Whether it +would be more advantageous to surrender it to the masters of Africa +or to the masters of Italy, was doubtful; after long hesitation the +majority of the Campanian burgesses at length resolved to offer +the possession of their sea-commanding fortress to the Romans. + +The Mammertines Received into the Italian Confederacy + +It was a moment of the deepest significance in the history of the +world, when the envoys of the Mamertines appeared in the Roman senate. +No one indeed could then anticipate all that was to depend on the +crossing of that narrow arm of the sea; but that the decision, however +it should go, would involve consequences far other and more important +than had attached to any decree hitherto passed by the senate, must +have been manifest to every one of the deliberating fathers of the +city. Strictly upright men might indeed ask how it was possible to +deliberate at all, and how any one could even think of suggesting +that the Romans should not only break their alliance with Hiero, but +should, just after the Campanians of Rhegium had been punished by them +with righteous severity, admit the no less guilty Sicilian accomplices +to the alliance and friendship of the state, and thereby rescue them +from the punishment which they deserved. Such an outrage on propriety +would not only afford their adversaries matter for declamation, +but must seriously offend all men of moral feeling. But even the +statesman, with whom political morality was no mere phrase, might ask +in reply, how Roman burgesses, who had broken their military oath and +treacherously murdered the allies of Rome, could be placed on a level +with foreigners who had committed an outrage on foreigners, where +no one had constituted the Romans judges of the one or avengers of +the other? Had the question been only whether the Syracusans or +Mamertines should rule in Messana, Rome might certainly have +acquiesced in the rule of either. Rome was striving for the +possession of Italy, as Carthage for that of Sicily; the designs of +the two powers scarcely then went further. But that very circumstance +formed a reason why each desired to have and retain on its frontier an +intermediate power--the Carthaginians for instance reckoning in this +way on Tarentum, the Romans on Syracuse and Messana--and why, if that +course was impossible, each preferred to see these adjacent places +given over to itself rather than to the other great power. +As Carthage had made an attempt in Italy, when Rhegium and Tarentum +were about to be occupied by the Romans, to acquire these cities for +itself, and had only been prevented from doing so by accident, so in +Sicily an opportunity now offered itself for Rome to bring the city of +Messana into its symmachy; should the Romans reject it, it was not to +be expected that the city would remain independent or would become +Syracusan; they would themselves throw it into the arms of the +Phoenicians. Were they justified in allowing an opportunity to +escape, such as certainly would never recur, of making themselves +masters of the natural tete de pont between Italy and Sicily, and of +securing it by means of a brave garrison on which they could, for good +reasons, rely? Were they justified in abandoning Messana, and thereby +surrendering the command of the last free passage between the eastern +and western seas, and sacrificing the commercial liberty of Italy? +It is true that other objections might be urged to the occupation of +Messana besides mere scruples of feeling and of honourable policy. +That it could not but lead to a war with Carthage, was the least of +these; serious as was such a war, Rome might not fear it. But there +was the more important objection that by crossing the sea the Romans +would depart from the purely Italian and purely continental policy +which they had hitherto pursued; they would abandon the system by +which their ancestors had founded the greatness of Rome, to enter upon +another system the results of which no one could foretell. It was one +of those moments when calculation ceases, and when faith in men's own +and in their country's destiny alone gives them courage to grasp the +hand which beckons to them out of the darkness of the future, and +to follow it no one knows whither. Long and seriously the senate +deliberated on the proposal of the consuls to lead the legions to the +help of the Mamertines; it came to no decisive resolution. But the +burgesses, to whom the matter was referred, were animated by a lively +sense of the greatness of the power which their own energy had +established. The conquest of Italy encouraged the Romans, as that of +Greece encouraged the Macedonians and that of Silesia the Prussians, +to enter upon a new political career. A formal pretext for supporting +the Mamertines was found in the protectorate which Rome claimed the +right to exercise over all Italians. The transmarine Italians were +received into the Italian confederacy;(3) and on the proposal of +the consuls the citizens resolved to send them aid (489). + +Variance between Rome and Carthage +Carthaginians in Messana +Messana Seized by the Romans +War between the Romans and the Carthaginians and the Syracusans + +Much depended on the way in which the two Sicilian powers, immediately +affected by this intervention of the Romans in the affairs of the +island, and both hitherto nominally in alliance with Rome, would +regard her interference. Hiero had sufficient reason to treat the +summons, by which the Romans required him to desist from hostilities +against their new confederates in Messana, precisely in the same way +as the Samnites and Lucanians in similar circumstances had received +the occupation of Capua and Thurii, and to answer the Romans by a +declaration of war. If, however, he remained unsupported, such a war +would be folly; and it might be expected from his prudent and moderate +policy that he would acquiesce in what was inevitable, if Carthage +should be disposed for peace. This seemed not impossible. A Roman +embassy was now (489) sent to Carthage, seven years after the attempt +of the Phoenician fleet to gain possession of Tarentum, to demand +explanations as to these incidents.(4) Grievances not unfounded, but +half-forgotten, once more emerged--it seemed not superfluous amidst +other warlike preparations to replenish the diplomatic armoury +with reasons for war, and for the coming manifesto to reserve to +themselves, as was the custom of the Romans, the character of the +party aggrieved. This much at least might with entire justice be +affirmed, that the respective enterprises on Tarentum and Messana +stood upon exactly the same footing in point of design and of pretext, +and that it was simply the accident of success that made the +difference. Carthage avoided an open rupture. The ambassadors +carried back to Rome the disavowal of the Carthaginian admiral who +had made the attempt on Tarentum, along with the requisite false +oaths: the counter-complaints, which of course were not wanting on +the part of Carthage, were studiously moderate, and abstained from +characterizing the meditated invasion of Sicily as a ground for war. +Such, however, it was; for Carthage regarded the affairs of Sicily +--just as Rome regarded those of Italy--as internal matters in which +an independent power could allow no interference, and was determined +to act accordingly. But Phoenician policy followed a gentler course +than that of threatening open war. When the preparations of Rome for +sending help to the Mamertines were at length so far advanced that the +fleet formed of the war-vessels of Naples, Tarentum, Velia, and Locri, +and the vanguard of the Roman land army under the military tribune +Gaius Claudius, had appeared at Rhegium (in the spring of 490), +unexpected news arrived from Messana that the Carthaginians, having +come to an understanding with the anti-Roman party there, had as a +neutral power arranged a peace between Hiero and the Mamertines; that +the siege had in consequence been raised; and that a Carthaginian +fleet lay in the harbour of Messana, and a Carthaginian garrison in +the citadel, both under the command of admiral Hanno. The Mamertine +citizens, now controlled by Carthaginian influence, informed the Roman +commanders, with due thanks to the federal help so speedily accorded +to them, that they were glad that they no longer needed it. +The adroit and daring officer who commanded the Roman vanguard +nevertheless set sail with his troops. But the Carthaginians warned +the Roman vessels to retire, and even made some of them prizes; these, +however, the Carthaginian admiral, remembering his strict orders to +give no pretext for the outbreak of hostilities, sent back to his good +friends on the other side of the straits. It almost seemed as if the +Romans had compromised themselves as uselessly before Messana, as the +Carthaginians before Tarentum. But Claudius did not allow himself +to be deterred, and on a second attempt he succeeded in landing. +Scarcely had he arrived when he called a meeting of the citizens; and, +at his wish, the Carthaginian admiral also appeared at the meeting, +still imagining that he should be able to avoid an open breach. But +the Romans seized his person in the assembly itself; and Hanno and the +Phoenician garrison in the citadel, weak and destitute of a leader, +were pusillanimous enough, the former to give to his troops the +command to withdraw, the latter to comply with the orders of their +captive general and to evacuate the city along with him. Thus the +tete de pont of the island fell into the hands of the Romans. The +Carthaginian authorities, justly indignant at the folly and weakness +of their general, caused him to be executed, and declared war against +the Romans. Above all it was their aim to recover the lost place. A +strong Carthaginian fleet, led by Hanno, son of Hannibal, appeared off +Messana; while the fleet blockaded the straits, the Carthaginian army +landing from it began the siege on the north side. Hiero, who had +only waited for the Carthaginian attack to begin the war with Rome, +again brought up his army, which he had hardly withdrawn, against +Messana, and undertook the attack on the south side of the city. + +Peace with Hiero + +But meanwhile the Roman consul Appius Claudius Caudex had appeared at +Rhegium with the main body of his army, and succeeded in crossing on +a dark night in spite of the Carthaginian fleet. Audacity and fortune +were on the side of the Romans; the allies, not prepared for an attack +by the whole Roman army and consequently not united, were beaten in +detail by the Roman legions issuing from the city; and thus the siege +was raised. The Roman army kept the field during the summer, and +even made an attempt on Syracuse; but, when that had failed and the +siege of Echetla (on the confines of the territories of Syracuse and +Carthage) had to be abandoned with loss, the Roman army returned to +Messana, and thence, leaving a strong garrison behind them, to Italy. +The results obtained in this first campaign of the Romans out of Italy +may not quite have corresponded to the expectations at home, for the +consul had no triumph; nevertheless, the energy which the Romans +displayed in Sicily could not fail to make a great impression on the +Sicilian Greeks. In the following year both consuls and an army twice +as large entered the island unopposed. One of them, Marcus Valerius +Maximus, afterwards called from this campaign the "hero of Messana" +(-Messalla-), achieved a brilliant victory over the allied +Carthaginians and Syracusans. After this battle the Phoenician army +no longer ventured to keep the field against the Romans; Alaesa, +Centuripa, and the smaller Greek towns generally fell to the victors, +and Hiero himself abandoned the Carthaginian side and made peace and +alliance with the Romans (491). He pursued a judicious policy in +joining the Romans as soon as it appeared that their interference in +Sicily was in earnest, and while there was still time to purchase +peace without cessions and sacrifices. The intermediate states in +Sicily, Syracuse and Messana, which were unable to follow out a policy +of their own and had only the choice between Roman and Carthaginian +hegemony, could not but at any rate prefer the former; because the +Romans had very probably not as yet formed the design of conquering +the island for themselves, but sought merely to prevent its being +acquired by Carthage, and at all events Rome might be expected to +substitute a more tolerable treatment and a due protection of +commercial freedom for the tyrannizing and monopolizing system that +Carthage pursued. Henceforth Hiero continued to be the most +important, the steadiest, and the most esteemed ally of the Romans +in the island. + +Capture of Agrigentum + +The Romans had thus gained their immediate object. By their double +alliance with Messana and Syracuse, and the firm hold which they had +on the whole east coast, they secured the means of landing on the +island and of maintaining--which hitherto had been a very difficult +matter--their armies there; and the war, which had previously been +doubtful and hazardous, lost in a great measure its character of risk. +Accordingly, no greater exertions were made for it than for the wars +in Samnium and Etruria; the two legions which were sent over to the +island for the next year (492) sufficed, in concert with the Sicilian +Greeks, to drive the Carthaginians everywhere into their fortresses. +The commander-in-chief of the Carthaginians, Hannibal son of Gisgo, +threw himself with the flower of his troops into Agrigentum, to defend +to the last that most important of the Carthaginian inland cities. +Unable to storm a city so strong, the Romans blockaded it with +entrenched lines and a double camp; the besieged, who numbered 50,000 +soon suffered from want of provisions. To raise the siege the +Carthaginian admiral Hanno landed at Heraclea, and cut off in turn the +supplies from the Roman besieging force. On both sides the distress +was great. At length a battle was resolved on, to put an end to the +state of embarrassment and uncertainty. In this battle the Numidian +cavalry showed itself just as superior to the Roman horse as the Roman +infantry was superior to the Phoenician foot; the infantry decided +the victory, but the losses even of the Romans were very considerable. +The result of the successful struggle was somewhat marred by the +circumstance that, after the battle, during the confusion and fatigue +of the conquerors, the beleaguered army succeeded in escaping from +the city and in reaching the fleet. The victory was nevertheless of +importance; Agrigentum fell into the hands of the Romans, and thus the +whole island was in their power, with the exception of the maritime +fortresses, in which the Carthaginian general Hamilcar, Hanno's +successor in command, entrenched himself to the teeth, and was not to +be driven out either by force or by famine. The war was thenceforth +continued only by sallies of the Carthaginians from the Sicilian +fortresses and their descents on the Italian coasts. + +Beginning of the Maritime War +The Romans Build a Fleet + +In fact, the Romans now for the first time felt the real difficulties +of the war. If, as we are told, the Carthaginian diplomatists before +the outbreak of hostilities warned the Romans not to push the matter +to a breach, because against their will no Roman could even wash his +hands in the sea, the threat was well founded. The Carthaginian fleet +ruled the sea without a rival, and not only kept the coast towns of +Sicily in due obedience and provided them with all necessaries, +but also threatened a descent upon Italy, for which reason it was +necessary in 492 to retain a consular army there. No invasion on a +large scale occurred; but smaller Carthaginian detachments landed on +the Italian coasts and levied contributions on the allies of Rome, +and what was worst of all, completely paralyzed the commerce of Rome +and her allies. The continuance of such a course for even a short +time would suffice entirely to ruin Caere, Ostia, Neapolis, Tarentum, +and Syracuse, while the Carthaginians easily consoled themselves for +the loss of the tribute of Sicily with the contributions which they +levied and the rich prizes of their privateering. The Romans now +learned, what Dionysius, Agathocles, and Pyrrhus had learned before, +that it was as difficult to conquer the Carthaginians as it was easy +to beat them in the field. They saw that everything depended on +procuring a fleet, and resolved to form one of twenty triremes and +a hundred quinqueremes. The execution, however, of this energetic +resolution was not easy. The representation originating in the +schools of the rhetoricians, which would have us believe that the +Romans then for the first time dipped their oars in water, is no doubt +a childish tale; the mercantile marine of Italy must at this time have +been very extensive, and there was no want even of Italian vessels of +war. But these were war-barks and triremes, such as had been in use +in earlier times; quinqueremes, which under the more modern system of +naval warfare that had originated chiefly in Cartilage were almost +exclusively employed in the line, had not yet been built in Italy. +The measure adopted by the Romans was therefore much as if a maritime +state of the present day were to pass at once from the building of +frigates and cutters to the building of ships of the line; and, just +as in such a case now a foreign ship of the line would, if possible, +be adopted as a pattern, the Romans referred their master shipbuilders +to a stranded Carthaginian -penteres- as a model No doubt the Romans, +had they wished, might have sooner attained their object with the aid +of the Syracusans and Massiliots; but their statesmen had too much +sagacity to desire to defend Italy by means of a fleet not Italian. +The Italian allies, however, were largely drawn upon both for the +naval officers, who must have been for the most part taken from the +Italian mercantile marine, and for the sailors, whose name (-socii +navales-) shows that for a time they were exclusively furnished by +the allies; along with these, slaves provided by the state and +the wealthier families were afterwards employed, and ere long also +the poorer class of burgesses. Under such circumstances, and when we +take into account, as is but fair, on the one hand the comparatively +low state of shipbuilding at that time, and on the other hand the +energy of the Romans, there is nothing incredible in the statement +that the Romans solved within a year the problem--which baffled +Napoleon--of converting a continental into a maritime power, and +actually launched their fleet of 120 sail in the spring of 494. +It is true, that it was by no means a match for the Carthaginian fleet +in numbers and efficiency at sea; and these were points of the greater +importance, as the naval tactics of the period consisted mainly in +manoeuvring. In the maritime warfare of that period hoplites and +archers no doubt fought from the deck, and projectile machines were +also plied from it; but the ordinary and really decisive mode of +action consisted in running foul of the enemy's vessels, for which +purpose the prows were furnished with heavy iron beaks: the vessels +engaged were in the habit of sailing round each other till one or the +other succeeded in giving the thrust, which usually proved decisive. +Accordingly the crew of an ordinary Greek trireme, consisting of about +200 men, contained only about 10 soldiers, but on the other hand 170 +rowers, from 50 to 60 on each deck; that of a quinquereme numbered +about 300 rowers, and soldiers in proportion. + +The happy idea occurred to the Romans that they might make up for +what their vessels, with their unpractised officers and crews, +necessarily lacked in ability of manoeuvring, by again assigning a +more considerable part in naval warfare to the soldiers. They +stationed at the prow of each vessel a flying bridge, which could be +lowered in front or on either side; it was furnished on both sides +with parapets, and had space for two men in front. When the enemy's +vessel was sailing up to strike the Roman one, or was lying alongside +of it after the thrust had been evaded, the bridge on deck was +suddenly lowered and fastened to its opponent by means of a grappling- +iron: this not only prevented the running down, but enabled the Roman +marines to pass along the bridge to the enemy's deck and to carry it +by assault as in a conflict on land. No distinct body of marines +was formed, but land troops were employed, when required, for this +maritime service. In one instance as many as 120 legionaries fought +in each ship on occasion of a great naval battle; in that case however +the Roman fleet had at the same time a landing-army on board. + +In this way the Romans created a fleet which was a match for the +Carthaginians. Those err, who represent this building of a Roman +fleet as a fairy tale, and besides they miss their aim; the feat must +be understood in order to be admired. The construction of a fleet by +the Romans was in very truth a noble national work--a work through +which, by their clear perception of what was needful and possible, by +ingenuity in invention, and by energy in resolution and in execution, +they rescued their country from a position which was worse than at +first it seemed. + +Naval Victory at Mylae + +The outset, nevertheless, was not favourable to the Romans. The Roman +admiral, the consul Gnaeus Cornelius Scipio, who had sailed for +Messana with the first seventeen vessels ready for sea (494), fancied, +when on the voyage, that he should be able to capture Lipara by a +coup de main. But a division of the Carthaginian fleet stationed at +Panormus blockaded the harbour of the island where the Roman vessels +rode at anchor, and captured the whole squadron along with the consul +without a struggle. This, however, did not deter the main fleet from +likewise sailing, as soon as its preparations were completed, for +Messana. On its voyage along the Italian coast it fell in with a +Carthaginian reconnoitring squadron of less strength, on which it +had the good fortune to inflict a loss more than counterbalancing +the first loss of the Romans; and thus successful and victorious it +entered the port of Messana, where the second consul Gaius Duilius +took the command in room of his captured colleague. At the promontory +of Mylae, to the north-west of Messana, the Carthaginian fleet, that +advanced from Panormus under the command of Hannibal, encountered the +Roman, which here underwent its first trial on a great scale. The +Carthaginians, seeing in the ill-sailing and unwieldy vessels of the +Romans an easy prey, fell upon them in irregular order; but the newly +invented boarding-bridges proved their thorough efficiency. The Roman +vessels hooked and stormed those of the enemy as they came up one +by one; they could not be approached either in front or on the sides +without the dangerous bridge descending on the enemy's deck. When the +battle was over, about fifty Carthaginian vessels, almost the half of +the fleet, were sunk or captured by the Romans; among the latter was +the ship of the admiral Hannibal, formerly belonging to king Pyrrhus. +The gain was great; still greater the moral effect of the victory. +Rome had suddenly become a naval power, and held in her hand the + means of energetically terminating a war which threatened to be +endlessly prolonged and to involve the commerce of Italy in ruin. + +The War on the Coasts of Sicily and Sardinia + +Two plans were open to the Romans. They might attack Carthage on the +Italian islands and deprive her of the coast fortresses of Sicily and +Sardinia one after another--a scheme which was perhaps practicable +through well-combined operations by land and sea; and, in the event of +its being accomplished, peace might either be concluded with Carthage +on the basis of the cession of these islands, or, should such terms +not be accepted or prove unsatisfactory, the second stage of the war +might be transferred to Africa. Or they might neglect the islands and +throw themselves at once with all their strength on Africa, not, in +the adventurous style of Agathocles, burning their vessels behind them +and staking all on the victory of a desperate band, but covering with +a strong fleet the communications between the African invading army +and Italy; and in that case a peace on moderate terms might be +expected from the consternation of the enemy after the first +successes, or, if the Romans chose, they might by pushing matters +to an extremity compel the enemy to entire surrender. + +They chose, in the first instance, the former plan of operations. +In the year after the battle of Mylae (495) the consul Lucius Scipio +captured the port of Aleria in Corsica--we still possess the tombstone +of the general, which makes mention of this deed--and made Corsica a +naval station against Sardinia. An attempt to establish a footing in +Ulbia on the northern coast of that island failed, because the fleet +wanted troops for landing. In the succeeding year (496) it was +repeated with better success, and the open villages along the coast +were plundered; but no permanent establishment of the Romans took +place. Nor was greater progress made in Sicily. Hamilcar conducted +the war with energy and adroitness, not only by force of arms on sea +and land, but also by political proselytism. Of the numerous small +country towns some every year fell away from the Romans, and had to +be laboriously wrested afresh from the Phoenician grasp; while in +the coast fortresses the Carthaginians maintained themselves without +challenge, particularly in their headquarters of Panormus and in their +new stronghold of Drepana, to which, on account of its easier defence +by sea, Hamilcar had transferred the inhabitants of Eryx. A second +great naval engagement off the promontory of Tyndaris (497), in which +both parties claimed the victory, made no change in the position of +affairs. In this way no progress was made, whether in consequence +of the division and rapid change of the chief command of the Roman +troops, which rendered the concentrated management of a series of +operations on a small scale exceedingly difficult, or from the general +strategical relations of the case, which certainly, as the science +of war then stood, were unfavourable to the attacking party in +general,(5) and particularly so to the Romans, who were still on +the mere threshold of scientific warfare. Meanwhile, although the +pillaging of the Italian coasts had ceased, the commerce of Italy +suffered not much less than it had done before the fleet was built. + +Attack on Africa +Naval Victory of Ecnomus + +Weary of a course of operations without results, and impatient to put +an end to the war, the senate resolved to change its system, and to +assail Carthage in Africa. In the spring of 498 a fleet of 330 ships +of the line set sail for the coast of Libya: at the mouth of the river +Himera on the south coast of Sicily it embarked the army for landing, +consisting of four legions, under the charge of the two consuls Marcus +Atilius Regulus and Lucius Manlius Volso, both experienced generals. +The Carthaginian admiral suffered the embarkation of the enemy's +troops to take place; but on continuing their voyage towards Africa +the Romans found the Punic fleet drawn up in order of battle off +Ecnomus to protect its native land from invasion. Seldom have greater +numbers fought at sea than were engaged in the battle that now ensued. +The Roman fleet: of 330 sail contained at least 100,000 men in its +crews, besides the landing army of about 40,000; the Carthaginian of +350 vessels was manned by at least an equal number; so that well-nigh +three hundred thousand men were brought into action on this day to +decide the contest between the two mighty civic communities. +The Phoenicians were placed in a single widely-extended line, with +their left wing resting on the Sicilian coast. The Romans arranged +themselves in a triangle, with the ships of the two consuls as +admirals at the apex, the first and second squadrons drawn out in +oblique line to the right and left, and a third squadron, having the +vessels built for the transport of the cavalry in tow, forming the +line which closed the triangle. They thus bore down in close order on +the enemy. A fourth squadron placed in reserve followed more slowly. +The wedge-shaped attack broke without difficulty the Carthaginian +line, for its centre, which was first assailed, intentionally gave +way, and the battle resolved itself into three separate engagements. +While the admirals with the two squadrons drawn up on the wings +pursued the Carthaginian centre and were closely engaged with it, the +left wing of the Carthaginians drawn up along the coast wheeled round +upon the third Roman squadron, which was prevented by the vessels +which it had in tow from following the two others, and by a vehement +onset in superior force drove it against the shore; at the same time +the Roman reserve was turned on the open sea, and assailed from +behind, by the right wing of the Carthaginians. The first of these +three engagements was soon at an end; the ships of the Carthaginian +centre, manifestly much weaker than the two Roman squadrons with which +they were engaged, took to flight. Meanwhile the two other divisions +of the Romans had a hard struggle with the superior enemy; but in +close fighting the dreaded boarding-bridges stood them in good stead, +and by this means they succeeded in holding out till the two admirals +with their vessels could come up. By their arrival the Roman reserve +was relieved, and the Carthaginian vessels of the right wing retired +before the superior force. And now, when this conflict had been +decided in favour of the Romans, all the Roman vessels that still +could keep the sea fell on the rear of the Carthaginian left wing, +which was obstinately following up its advantage, so that it was +surrounded and almost all the vessels composing it were taken. The +losses otherwise were nearly equal. Of the Roman fleet 24 sail were +sunk; of the Carthaginian 30 were sunk, and 64 were taken. + +Landing of Regulus in Africa + +Notwithstanding its considerable loss, the Carthaginian fleet did not +give up the protection of Africa, and with that view returned to the +gulf of Carthage, where it expected the descent to take place and +purposed to give battle a second time. But the Romans landed, not on +the western side of the peninsula which helps to form the gulf, but on +the eastern side, where the bay of Clupea presented a spacious harbour +affording protection in almost all winds, and the town, situated close +by the sea on a shield-shaped eminence rising out of the plain, +supplied an excellent defence for the harbour. They disembarked the +troops without hindrance from the enemy, and established themselves +on the hill; in a short time an entrenched naval camp was constructed, +and the land army was at liberty to commence operations. The Roman +troops ranged over the country and levied contributions: they were +able to send as many as 20,000 slaves to Rome. Through the rarest +good fortune the bold scheme had succeeded at the first stroke, and +with but slight sacrifices: the end seemed attained. The feeling of +confidence that in this respect animated the Romans is evinced by the +resolution of the senate to recall to Italy the greater portion of the +fleet and half of the army; Marcus Regulus alone remained in Africa +with 40 ships, 15,000 infantry, and 500 cavalry. Their confidence, +however, was seemingly not overstrained. The Carthaginian army, which +was disheartened, did not venture forth into the plain, but waited to +sustain discomfiture in the wooded defiles, in which it could make no +use of its two best arms, the cavalry and the elephants. The towns +surrendered -en masse-; the Numidians rose in insurrection, and +overran the country far and wide. Regulus might hope to begin the +next campaign with the siege of the capital, and with that view he +pitched his camp for the winter in its immediate vicinity at Tunes. + +Vain Negotiations for Peace + +The spirit of the Carthaginians was broken: they sued for peace. +But the conditions which the consul proposed--not merely the cession +of Sicily and Sardinia, but the conclusion of an alliance on unequal +terms with Rome, which would have bound the Carthaginians to renounce +a war-marine of their own and to furnish vessels for the Roman wars +--conditions which would have placed Carthage on a level with Neapolis +and Tarentum, could not be accepted, so long as a Carthaginian army +kept the field and a Carthaginian fleet kept the sea, and the capital +stood unshaken. + +Preparations of Carthage + +The mighty enthusiasm, which is wont to blaze up nobly among Oriental +nations, even the most abased, on the approach of extreme peril--the +energy of dire necessity--impelled the Carthaginians to exertions, +such as were by no means expected from a nation of shopkeepers. +Hamilcar, who had carried on the guerilla war against the Romans in +Sicily with so much success, appeared in Libya with the flower of +the Sicilian troops, which furnished an admirable nucleus for the +newly-levied force. The connections and gold of the Carthaginians, +moreover, brought to them excellent Numidian horsemen in troops, +and also numerous Greek mercenaries; amongst whom was the celebrated +captain Xanthippus of Sparta, whose talent for organization and +strategical skill were of great service to his new masters.(6) While +the Carthaginians were thus making their preparations in the course of +the winter, the Roman general remained inactive at Tunes. Whether it +was that he did not anticipate the storm which was gathering over his +head, or that a sense of military honour prohibited him from doing +what his position demanded--instead of renouncing a siege which he was +not in a condition even to attempt, and shutting himself up in the +stronghold of Clupea, he remained with a handful of men before the +walls of the hostile capital, neglecting even to secure his line of +retreat to the naval camp, and neglecting to provide himself with +--what above all he wanted, and what might have been so easily +obtained through negotiation with the revolted Numidian tribes +--a good light cavalry. He thus wantonly brought himself and +his army into a plight similar to that which formerly befell +Agathocles in his desperate adventurous expedition. + +Defeat of Regulus + +When spring came (499), the state of affairs had so changed, that now +the Carthaginians were the first to take the field and to offer battle +to the Romans. It was natural that they should do so, for everything +depended on their getting quit of the army of Regulus, before +reinforcements could arrive from Italy. The same reason should have +led the Romans to desire delay; but, relying on their invincibleness +in the open field, they at once accepted battle notwithstanding their +inferiority of strength--for, although the numbers of the infantry on +both sides were nearly the same, their 4000 cavalry and 100 elephants +gave to the Carthaginians a decided superiority--and notwithstanding +the unfavourable nature of the ground, the Carthaginians having taken +up their position in a broad plain presumably not far from Tunes. +Xanthippus, who on this day commanded the Carthaginians, first threw +his cavalry on that of the enemy, which was stationed, as usual, on +the two flanks of the line of battle; the few squadrons of the Romans +were scattered like dust in a moment before the masses of the enemy's +horse, and the Roman infantry found itself outflanked by them and +surrounded. The legions, unshaken by their apparent danger, advanced +to attack the enemy's line; and, although the row of elephants placed +as a protection in front of it checked the right wing and centre of +the Romans, the left wing at any rate, marching past the elephants, +engaged the mercenary infantry on the right of the enemy, and +overthrew them completely. But this very success broke up the Roman +ranks. The main body indeed, assailed by the elephants in front and +by the cavalry on the flanks and in the rear, formed square, and +defended itself with heroic courage, but the close masses were at +length broken and swept away. The victorious left wing encountered +the still fresh Carthaginian centre, where the Libyan infantry +prepared a similar fate for it. From the nature of the ground and the +superior numbers of the enemy's cavalry, all the combatants in these +masses were cut down or taken prisoners; only two thousand men, +chiefly, in all probability, the light troops and horsemen who were +dispersed at the commencement, gained--while the Roman legions stood +to be slaughtered--a start sufficient to enable them with difficulty +to reach Clupea. Among the few prisoners was the consul himself, who +afterwards died in Carthage; his family, under the idea that he had +not been treated by the Carthaginians according to the usages of war, +wreaked a most revolting vengeance on two noble Carthaginian captives, +till even the slaves were moved to pity, and on their information the +tribunes put a stop to the shameful outrage.(7) + +Evacuation of Africa + +When the terrible news reached Rome, the first care of the Romans was +naturally directed to the saving of the force shut up in Clupea. A +Roman fleet of 350 sail immediately started, and after a noble victory +at the Hermaean promontory, in which the Carthaginians lost 114 ships, +it reached Clupea just in time to deliver from their hard-pressed +position the remains of the defeated army which were there entrenched. +Had it been despatched before the catastrophe occurred, it might have +converted the defeat into a victory that would probably have put an +end to the Punic wars. But so completely had the Romans now lost +their judgment, that after a successful conflict before Clupea they +embarked all their troops and sailed home, voluntarily evacuating +that important and easily defended position which secured to +them facilities for landing in Africa, and abandoning their +numerous African allies without protection to the vengeance of the +Carthaginians. The Carthaginians did not neglect the opportunity of +filling their empty treasury, and of making their subjects clearly +understand the consequences of unfaithfulness. An extraordinary +contribution of 1000 talents of silver (244,000 pounds) and 20,000 +oxen was levied, and the sheiks in all the communities that had +revolted were crucified; it is said that there were three thousand of +them, and that this revolting atrocity on the part of the Carthaginian +authorities really laid the foundation of the revolution which broke +forth in Africa some years later. Lastly, as if to fill up the +measure of misfortune to the Romans even as their measure of success +had been filled before, on the homeward voyage of the fleet three- +fourths of the Roman vessels perished with their crews in a violent +storm; only eighty reached their port (July 499). The captains had +foretold the impending mischief, but the extemporised Roman admirals +had nevertheless given orders to sail. + +Recommencement of the War in Sicily + +After successes so immense the Carthaginians were able to resume their +offensive operations, which had long been in abeyance. Hasdrubal son +of Hanno landed at Lilybaeum with a strong force, which was enabled, +particularly by its enormous number of elephants--amounting to 140 +--to keep the field against the Romans: the last battle had shown +that it was possible to make up for the want of good infantry to some +extent by elephants and cavalry. The Romans also resumed the war in +Sicily; the annihilation of their invading army had, as the voluntary +evacuation of Clupea shows, at once restored ascendency in the senate +to the party which was opposed to the war in Africa and was content +with the gradual subjugation of the islands. But for this purpose +too there was need of a fleet; and, since that which had conquered at +Mylae, at Ecnomus, and at the Hermaean promontory was destroyed, they +built a new one. Keels were at once laid down for 220 new vessels +of war--they had never hitherto undertaken the building of so many +simultaneously--and in the incredibly short space of three months +they were all ready for sea. In the spring of 500 the Roman fleet, +numbering 300 vessels mostly new, appeared on the north coast of +Sicily; Panormus, the most important town in Carthaginian Sicily, +was acquired through a successful attack from the seaboard, and the +smaller places there, Soluntum, Cephaloedium, and Tyndaris, likewise +fell into the hands of the Romans, so that along the whole north coast +of the island Thermae alone was retained by the Carthaginians. +Panormus became thenceforth one of the chief stations of the Romans +in Sicily. The war by land, nevertheless, made no progress; the two +armies stood face to face before Lilybaeum, but the Roman commanders, +who knew not how to encounter the mass of elephants, made no attempt +to compel a pitched battle. + +In the ensuing year (501) the consuls, instead of pursuing sure +advantages in Sicily, preferred to make an expedition to Africa, for +the purpose not of landing but of plundering the coast towns. They +accomplished their object without opposition; but, after having first +run aground in the troublesome, and to their pilots unknown, waters of +the Lesser Syrtis, whence they with difficulty got clear again, the +fleet encountered a storm between Sicily and Italy, which cost more +than 150 ships. On this occasion also the pilots, notwithstanding +their representations and entreaties to be allowed to take the course +along the coast, were obliged by command of the consuls to steer +straight from Panormus across the open sea to Ostia. + +Suspension of the Maritime War +Roman Victory at Panormus + +Despondency now seized the fathers of the city; they resolved to +reduce their war-fleet to sixty sail, and to confine the war by sea +to the defence of the coasts, and to the convoy of transports. +Fortunately, just at this time, the languishing war in Sicily took a +more favourable turn. In the year 502, Thermae, the last point which +the Carthaginians held on the north coast, and the important island of +Lipara, had fallen into the hands of the Romans, and in the following +year (summer of 503) the consul Lucius Caecilius Metellus achieved +a brilliant victory over the army of elephants under the walls of +Panormus. These animals, which had been imprudently brought forward, +were wounded by the light troops of the Romans stationed in the moat +of the town; some of them fell into the moat, and others fell back +on their own troops, who crowded in wild disorder along with the +elephants towards the beach, that they might be picked up by the +Phoenician ships. One hundred and twenty elephants were captured, and +the Carthaginian army, whose strength depended on these animals, was +obliged once more to shut itself up in its fortresses. Eryx soon fell +into the hands of the Romans (505), and the Carthaginians retained +nothing in the island but Drepana and Lilybaeum. Carthage a second +time offered peace; but the victory of Metellus and the exhaustion +of the enemy gave to the more energetic party the upper hand +in the senate. + +Siege of Lilybaeum + +Peace was declined, and it was resolved to prosecute in earnest the +siege of the two Sicilian cities and for this purpose to send to sea +once more a fleet of 200 sail. The siege of Lilybaeum, the first +great and regular siege undertaken by Rome, and one of the most +obstinate known in history, was opened by the Romans with an important +success: they succeeded in introducing their fleet into the harbour +of the city, and in blockading it on the side facing the sea. +The besiegers, however, were not able to close the sea completely. +In spite of their sunken vessels and their palisades, and in spite of +the most careful vigilance, dexterous mariners, accurately acquainted +with the shallows and channels, maintained with swift-sailing vessels +a regular communication between the besieged in the city and the +Carthaginian fleet in the harbour of Drepana. In fact after some +time a Carthaginian squadron of 50 sail succeeded in running into +the harbour, in throwing a large quantity of provisions and a +reinforcement of 10,000 men into the city, and in returning +unmolested. The besieging land army was not much more fortunate. +They began with a regular attack; machines were erected, and in a +short time the batteries had demolished six of the towers flanking +the walls, so that the breach soon appeared to be practicable. But +the able Carthaginian commander Himilco parried this assault by giving +orders for the erection of a second wall behind the breach. An +attempt of the Romans to enter into an understanding with the garrison +was likewise frustrated in proper time. And, after a first sally + made for the purpose of burning the Roman set of machines had +been repulsed, the Carthaginians succeeded during a stormy night +in effecting their object. Upon this the Romans abandoned their +preparations for an assault, and contented themselves with blockading +the walls by land and water. The prospect of success in this way was +indeed very remote, so long as they were unable wholly to preclude the +entrance of the enemy's vessels; and the army of the besiegers was in +a condition not much better than that of the besieged in the city, +because their supplies were frequently cut off by the numerous and +bold light cavalry of the Carthaginians, and their ranks began to be +thinned by the diseases indigenous to that unwholesome region. The +capture of Lilybaeum, however, was of sufficient importance to induce +a patient perseverance in the laborious task, which promised to be +crowned in time with the desired success. + +Defeat of the Roman Fleet before Drepana +Annililation of the Roman Transport Fleet + +But the new consul Publius Claudius considered the task of maintaining +the investment of Lilybaeum too trifling: he preferred to change once +more the plan of operations, and with his numerous newly-manned +vessels suddenly to surprise the Carthaginian fleet which was waiting +in the neighbouring harbour of Drepana. With the whole blockading +squadron, which had taken on board volunteers from the legions, he +started about midnight, and sailing in good order with his right wing +by the shore, and his left in the open sea, he safely reached the +harbour of Drepana at sunrise. Here the Phoenician admiral Atarbas +was in command. Although surprised, he did not lose his presence of +mind or allow himself to be shut up in the harbour, but as the Roman +ships entered the harbour, which opens to the south in the form of +a sickle, on the one side, he withdrew his vessels from it by the +opposite side which was still free, and stationed them in line on the +outside. No other course remained to the Roman admiral but to recall +as speedily as possible the foremost vessels from the harbour, and to +make his arrangements for battle in like manner in front of it; but in +consequence of this retrograde movement he lost the free choice of his +position, and was obliged to accept battle in a line, which on the one +hand was outflanked by that of the enemy to the extent of five ships +--for there was not time fully to deploy the vessels as they issued +from the harbour--and on the other hand was crowded so close on the +shore that his vessels could neither retreat, nor sail behind the +line so as to come to each other's aid. Not only was the battle lost +before it began, but the Roman fleet was so completely ensnared that +it fell almost wholly into the hands of the enemy. The consul indeed +escaped, for he was the first who fled; but 93 Roman vessels, more +than three-fourths of the blockading fleet, with the flower of the +Roman legions on board, fell into the hands of the Phoenicians. It +was the first and only great naval victory which the Carthaginians +gained over the Romans. Lilybaeum was practically relieved on the +side towards the sea, for though the remains of the Roman fleet +returned to their former position, they were now much too weak +seriously to blockade a harbour which had never been wholly closed, +and they could only protect themselves from the attack of the +Carthaginian ships with the assistance of the land army. That single +imprudent act of an inexperienced and criminally thoughtless officer +had thrown away all that had been with so much difficulty attained +by the long and galling warfare around the fortress; and those war- +vessels of the Romans which his presumption had not forfeited were +shortly afterwards destroyed by the folly of his colleague. + +The second consul, Lucius Junius Pullus, who had received the charge +of lading at Syracuse the supplies destined for the army at Lilybaeum, +and of convoying the transports along the south coast of the island +with a second Roman fleet of 120 war-vessels, instead of keeping his +ships together, committed the error of allowing the first convoy +to depart alone and of only following with the second. When the +Carthaginian vice-admiral, Carthalo, who with a hundred select ships +blockaded the Roman fleet in the port of Lilybaeum, received the +intelligence, he proceeded to the south coast of the island, cut off +the two Roman squadrons from each other by interposing between them, +and compelled them to take shelter in two harbours of refuge on the +inhospitable shores of Gela and Camarina. The attacks of the +Carthaginians were indeed bravely repulsed by the Romans with the help +of the shore batteries, which had for some time been erected there +as everywhere along the coast; but, as the Romans could not hope to +effect a junction and continue their voyage, Carthalo could leave +the elements to finish his work. The next great storm, accordingly, +completely annihilated the two Roman fleets in their wretched +roadsteads, while the Phoenician admiral easily weathered it on +the open sea with his unencumbered and well-managed ships. +The Romans, however, succeeded in saving the greater part +of the crews and cargoes (505). + +Perplexity of the Romans + +The Roman senate was in perplexity. The war had now reached its +sixteenth year; and they seemed to be farther from their object in +the sixteenth than in the first. In this war four large fleets had +perished, three of them with Roman armies on board; a fourth select +land army had been destroyed by the enemy in Libya; to say nothing of +the numerous losses which had been occasioned by the minor naval +engagements, and by the battles, and still more by the outpost +warfare and the diseases, of Sicily. + +What a multitude of human lives the war swept away may be seen from +the fact, that the burgess-roll merely from 502 to 507 decreased by +about 40,000, a sixth part of the entire number; and this does not +include the losses of the allies, who bore the whole brunt of the war +by sea, and, in addition, at least an equal proportion with the Romans +of the warfare by land. Of the financial loss it is not possible to +form any conception; but both the direct damage sustained in ships and +-materiel-, and the indirect injury through the paralyzing of trade, +must have been enormous. An evil still greater than this was the +exhaustion of all the methods by which they had sought to terminate +the war. They had tried a landing in Africa with their forces fresh +and in the full career of victory, and had totally failed. They had +undertaken to storm Sicily town by town; the lesser places had fallen, +but the two mighty naval strongholds of Lilybaeum and Drepana stood +more invincible than ever. What were they to do? In fact, there was +to some extent reason for despondency. The fathers of the city became +faint-hearted; they allowed matters simply to take their course, +knowing well that a war protracted without object or end was more +pernicious for Italy than the straining of the last man and the last +penny, but without that courage and confidence in the nation and in +fortune, which could demand new sacrifices in addition to those that +had already been lavished in vain. They dismissed the fleet; at the +most they encouraged privateering, and with that view placed the war- +vessels of the state at the disposal of captains who were ready to +undertake a piratical warfare on their own account. The war by land +was continued nominally, because they could not do otherwise; but +they were content with observing the Sicilian fortresses and barely +maintaining what they possessed,--measures which, in the absence +of a fleet, required a very numerous army and extremely +costly preparations. + +Now, if ever, the time had come when Carthage was in a position to +humble her mighty antagonist. She, too, of course must have felt +some exhaustion of resources; but, in the circumstances, the +Phoenician finances could not possibly be so disorganized as to +prevent the Carthaginians from continuing the war--which cost them +little beyond money--offensively and with energy. The Carthaginian +government, however, was not energetic, but on the contrary weak and +indolent, unless impelled to action by an easy and sure gain or by +extreme necessity. Glad to be rid of the Roman fleet, they foolishly +allowed their own also to fall into decay, and began after the example +of the enemy to confine their operations by land and sea to the petty +warfare in and around Sicily. + +Petty War in Sicily +Hamilcar Barcas + +Thus there ensued six years of uneventful warfare (506-511), the most +inglorious in the history of this century for Rome, and inglorious +also for the Carthaginian people. One man, however, among the latter +thought and acted differently from his nation. Hamilcar, named Barak +or Barcas (i. e. lightning), a young officer of much promise, took +over the supreme command in Sicily in the year 507. His army, like +every Carthaginian one, was defective in a trustworthy and experienced +infantry; and the government, although it was perhaps in a position to +create such an infantry and at any rate was bound to make the attempt, +contented itself with passively looking on at its defeats or at most +with nailing the defeated generals to the cross. Hamilcar resolved to +take the matter into his own hands. He knew well that his mercenaries +were as indifferent to Carthage as to Rome, and that he had to expect +from his government not Phoenician or Libyan conscripts, but at the +best a permission to save his country with his troops in his own way, +provided it cost nothing. But he knew himself also, and he knew men. +His mercenaries cared nothing for Carthage; but a true general is able +to substitute his own person for his country in the affections of his +soldiers; and such an one was this young commander. After he had +accustomed his men to face the legionaries in the warfare of outposts +before Drepana and Lilybaeum, he established himself with his force on +Mount Ercte (Monte Pellegrino near Palermo), which commands like a +fortress the neighbouring country; and making them settle there with +their wives and children, levied contributions from the plains, while +Phoenician privateers plundered the Italian coast as far as Cumae. He +thus provided his people with copious supplies without asking money +from the Carthaginians, and, keeping up the communication with Drepana +by sea, he threatened to surprise the important town of Panormus in +his immediate vicinity. Not only were the Romans unable to expel +him from his stronghold, but after the struggle had lasted awhile at +Ercte, Hamilcar formed for himself another similar position at Eryx. +This mountain, which bore half-way up the town of the same name and +on its summit the temple of Aphrodite, had been hitherto in the hands +of the Romans, who made it a basis for annoying Drepana. Hamilcar +deprived them of the town and besieged the temple, while the Romans +in turn blockaded him from the plain. The Celtic deserters from the +Carthaginian army who were stationed by the Romans at the forlorn post +of the temple--a reckless pack of marauders, who in the course of this +siege plundered the temple and perpetrated every sort of outrage +--defended the summit of the rock with desperate courage; but Hamilcar +did not allow himself to be again dislodged from the town, and kept +his communications constantly open by sea with the fleet and the +garrison of Drepana. The war in Sicily seemed to be assuming a turn +more and more unfavourable for the Romans. The Roman state was losing +in that warfare its money and its soldiers, and the Roman generals +their repute; it was already clear that no Roman general was a +match for Hamilcar, and the time might be calculated when even the +Carthaginian mercenary would be able boldly to measure himself +against the legionary. The privateers of Hamilcar appeared with ever- +increasing audacity on the Italian coast: already a praetor had been +obliged to take the field against a band of Carthaginian rovers which +had landed there. A few years more, and Hamilcar might with his fleet +have accomplished from Sicily what his son subsequently undertook by +the land route from Spain. + +A Fleet Built by the Romans +Victory of Catulus at the Island Aegusa + +The Roman senate, however, persevered in its inaction; +the desponding party for once had the majority there. At length a +number of sagacious and high-spirited men determined to save the state +even without the interposition of the government, and to put an end to +the ruinous Sicilian war. Successful corsair expeditions, if they had +not raised the courage of the nation, had aroused energy and hope in +a portion of the people; they had already joined together to form +a squadron, burnt down Hippo on the African coast, and sustained a +successful naval conflict with the Carthaginians off Panormus. By a +private subscription--such as had been resorted to in Athens also, +but not on so magnificent a scale--the wealthy and patriotic Romans +equipped a war fleet, the nucleus of which was supplied by the ships +built for privateering and the practised crews which they contained, +and which altogether was far more carefully fitted out than had +hitherto been the case in the shipbuilding of the state. This fact +--that a number of citizens in the twenty-third year of a severe war +voluntarily presented to the state two hundred ships of the line, +manned by 60,000 sailors--stands perhaps unparalleled in the annals of +history. The consul Gaius Lutatius Catulus, to whom fell the honour +of conducting this fleet to the Sicilian seas, met there with almost +no opposition: the two or three Carthaginian vessels, with which +Hamilcar had made his corsair expeditions, disappeared before the +superior force, and almost without resistance the Romans occupied +the harbours of Lilybaeum and Drepana, the siege of which was now +undertaken with energy by water and by land. Carthage was completely +taken by surprise; even the two fortresses, weakly provisioned, were +in great danger. A fleet was equipped at home; but with all the haste +which they displayed, the year came to an end without any appearance +of Carthaginian sails in the Sicilian waters; and when at length, in +the spring of 513, the hurriedly-prepared vessels appeared in the +offing of Drepana, they deserved the name of a fleet of transports +rather than that of a war fleet ready for action. The Phoenicians had +hoped to land undisturbed, to disembark their stores, and to be able +to take on board the troops requisite for a naval battle; but the +Roman vessels intercepted them, and forced them, when about to sail +from the island of Hiera (now Maritima) for Drepana, to accept battle +near the little island of Aegusa (Favignana) (10 March, 513). The +issue was not for a moment doubtful; the Roman fleet, well built and +manned, and admirably handled by the able praetor Publius Valerius +Falto (for a wound received before Drepana still confined the consul +Catulus to his bed), defeated at the first blow the heavily laden and +poorly and inadequately manned vessels of the enemy; fifty were sunk, +and with seventy prizes the victors sailed into the port of Lilybaeum. +The last great effort of the Roman patriots had borne fruit; it +brought victory, and with victory peace. + +Conclusion of Peace + +The Carthaginians first crucified the unfortunate admiral--a step +which did not alter the position of affairs--and then dispatched + to the Sicilian general unlimited authority to conclude a peace. +Hamilcar, who saw his heroic labours of seven years undone by the +fault of others, magnanimously submitted to what was inevitable +without on that account sacrificing either his military honour, or +his nation, or his own designs. Sicily indeed could not be retained, +seeing that the Romans had now command of the sea; and it was not +to be expected that the Carthaginian government, which had vainly +endeavoured to fill its empty treasury by a state-loan in Egypt, +would make even any further attempt to vanquish the Roman fleet He +therefore surrendered Sicily. The independence and integrity of the +Carthaginian state and territory, on the other hand, were expressly +recognized in the usual form; Rome binding herself not to enter into +a separate alliance with the confederates of Carthage, and Carthage +engaging not to enter into separate alliance with the confederates +of Rome,--that is, with their respective subject and dependent +communities; neither was to commence war, or exercise rights of +sovereignty, or undertake recruiting within the other's dominions.(8) +The secondary stipulations included, of course, the gratuitous return +of the Roman prisoners of war and the payment of a war contribution; +but the demand of Catulus that Hamilcar should deliver up his arms and +the Roman deserters was resolutely refused by the Carthaginian, and +with success. Catulus desisted from his second request, and allowed +the Phoenicians a free departure from Sicily for the moderate ransom +of 18 -denarii- (12 shillings) per man. + +If the continuance of the war appeared to the Carthaginians +undesirable, they had reason to be satisfied with these terms. It may +be that the natural wish to bring to Rome peace as well as triumph, +the recollection of Regulus and of the many vicissitudes of the war, +the consideration that such a patriotic effort as had at last decided +the victory could neither be enjoined nor repeated, perhaps even the +personal character of Hamilcar, concurred in influencing the Roman +general to yield so much as he did. It is certain that there was +dissatisfaction with the proposals of peace at Rome, and the assembly +of the people, doubtless under the influence of the patriots who had +accomplished the equipment of the last fleet, at first refused to +ratify it. We do not know with what view this was done, and therefore +we are unable to decide whether the opponents of the proposed peace in +reality rejected it merely for the purpose of exacting some further +concessions from the enemy, or whether, remembering that Regulus had +summoned Carthage to surrender her political independence, they were +resolved to continue the war till they had gained that end--so that it +was no longer a question of peace, but a question of conquest. If the +refusal took place with the former view, it was presumably mistaken; +compared with the gain of Sicily every other concession was of little +moment, and looking to the determination and the inventive genius of +Hamilcar, it was very rash to stake the securing of the principal +gain on the attainment of secondary objects. If on the other hand +the party opposed to the peace regarded the complete political +annihilation of Carthage as the only end of the struggle that would +satisfy the Roman community, it showed political tact and anticipation +of coming events; but whether the resources of Rome would have +sufficed to renew the expedition of Regulus and to follow it up as far +as might be required not merely to break the courage but to breach the +walls of the mighty Phoenician city, is another question, to which +no one now can venture to give either an affirmative or a negative +answer. At last the settlement of the momentous question was +entrusted to a commission which was to decide it upon the spot in +Sicily. It confirmed the proposal in substance; only, the sum to be +paid by Carthage for the costs of the war was raised to 3200 talents +(790,000 pounds), a third of which was to be paid down at once, and +the remainder in ten annual instalments. The definitive treaty +included, in addition to the surrender of Sicily, the cession also of +the islands between Sicily and Italy, but this can only be regarded as +an alteration of detail made on revision; for it is self-evident that +Carthage, when surrendering Sicily, could hardly desire to retain the +island of Lipara which had long been occupied by the Roman fleet, +and the suspicion, that an ambiguous stipulation was intentionally +introduced into the treaty with reference to Sardinia and Corsica, +is unworthy and improbable. + +Thus at length they came to terms. The unconquered general of a +vanquished nation descended from the mountains which he had defended +so long, and delivered to the new masters of the island the fortresses +which the Phoenicians had held in their uninterrupted possession for +at least four hundred years, and from whose walls all assaults of the +Hellenes had recoiled unsuccessful. The west had peace (513). + +Remarks on the Roman Conduct of the War + +Let us pause for a moment over the conflict, which extended the +dominion of Rome beyond the circling sea that encloses the peninsula. +It was one of the longest and most severe which the Romans ever waged; +many of the soldiers who fought in the decisive battle were unborn +when the contest began. Nevertheless, despite the incomparably noble +incidents which it now and again presented, we can scarcely name any +war which the Romans managed so wretchedly and with such vacillation, +both in a military and in a political point of view. It could hardly +be otherwise. The contest occurred amidst a transition in their +political system--the transition from an Italian policy, which no +longer sufficed, to the policy befitting a great state, which had not +yet been found. The Roman senate and the Roman military system were +excellently organized for a purely Italian policy. The wars which +such a policy provoked were purely continental wars, and always rested +on the capital situated in the middle of the peninsula as the ultimate +basis of operations, and proximately on the chain of Roman fortresses. +The problems to be solved were mainly tactical, not strategical; +marches and operations occupied but a subordinate, battles held the +first, place; fortress warfare was in its infancy; the sea and naval +war hardly crossed men's thoughts even incidentally. We can easily +understand--especially if we bear in mind that in the battles of that +period, where the naked weapon predominated, it was really the hand- +to-hand encounter that proved decisive--how a deliberative assembly +might direct such operations, and how any one who just was burgomaster +might command the troops. All this was changed in a moment. The +field of battle stretched away to an incalculable distance, to the +unknown regions of another continent, and beyond a broad expanse of +sea; every wave was a highway for the enemy; from any harbour he +might be expected to issue for his onward march. The siege of +strong places, particularly maritime fortresses, in which the first +tacticians of Greece had failed, had now for the first time to be +attempted by the Romans. A land army and the system of a civic +militia no longer sufficed. It was essential to create a fleet, and, +what was more difficult, to employ it; it was essential to find out +the true points of attack and defence, to combine and to direct +masses, to calculate expeditions extending over long periods and great +distances, and to adjust their co-operation; if these things were not +attended to, even an enemy far weaker in the tactics of the field +might easily vanquish a stronger opponent. Is there any wonder that +the reins of government in such an exigency slipped from the hands of +a deliberative assembly and of commanding burgomasters? + +It was plain, that at the beginning of the war the Romans did not +know what they were undertaking; it was only during the course of the +struggle that the inadequacies of their system, one after another, +forced themselves on their notice--the want of a naval power, the +lack of fixed military leadership, the insufficiency of their +generals, the total uselessness of their admirals. In part these +evils were remedied by energy and good fortune; as was the case with +the want of a fleet. That mighty creation, however, was but a grand +makeshift, and always remained so. A Roman fleet was formed, but it +was rendered national only in name, and was always treated with the +affection of a stepmother; the naval service continued to be little +esteemed in comparison with the high honour of serving in the legions; +the naval officers were in great part Italian Greeks; the crews were +composed of subjects or even of slaves and outcasts. The Italian +farmer was at all times distrustful of the sea; and of the three +things in his life which Cato regretted one was, that he had travelled +by sea when he might have gone by land. This result arose partly out +of the nature of the case, for the vessels were oared galleys and the +service of the oar can scarcely be ennobled; but the Romans might at +least have formed separate legions of marines and taken steps towards +the rearing of a class of Roman naval officers. Taking advantage +of the impulse of the nation, they should have made it their aim +gradually to establish a naval force important not only in numbers +but in sailing power and practice, and for such a purpose they had a +valuable nucleus in the privateering that was developed during the +long war; but nothing of the sort was done by the government. +Nevertheless the Roman fleet with its unwieldy grandeur was the +noblest creation of genius in this war, and, as at its beginning, so +at its close it was the fleet that turned the scale in favour of Rome. + +Far more difficult to be overcome were those deficiencies, which could +not be remedied without an alteration of the constitution. That the +senate, according to the strength of the contending parties within it, +should leap from one system of conducting the war to another, and +perpetrate errors so incredible as the evacuation of Clupea and the +repeated dismantling of the fleet; that the general of one year should +lay siege to Sicilian towns, and his successor, instead of compelling +them to surrender, should pillage the African coast or think proper to +risk a naval battle; and that at any rate the supreme command should +by law change hands every year--all these anomalies could not be done +away without stirring constitutional questions the solution of which +was more difficult than the building of a fleet, but as little could +their retention be reconciled with the requirements of such a war. +Above all, moreover, neither the senate nor the generals could at once +adapt themselves to the new mode of conducting war. The campaign of +Regulus is an instance how singularly they adhered to the idea that +superiority in tactics decides everything. There are few generals who +have had such successes thrown as it were into their lap by fortune: +in the year 498 he stood precisely where Scipio stood fifty years +later, with this difference, that he had no Hannibal and no +experienced army arrayed against him. But the senate withdrew half +the army, as soon as they had satisfied themselves of the tactical +superiority of the Romans; in blind reliance on that superiority the +general remained where he was, to be beaten in strategy, and accepted +battle when it was offered to him, to be beaten also in tactics. +This was the more remarkable, as Regulus was an able and experienced +general of his kind. The rustic method of warfare, by which Etruria +and Samnium had been won, was the very cause of the defeat in the +plain of Tunes. The principle, quite right in its own province, that +every true burgher is fit for a general, was no longer applicable; +the new system of war demanded the employment of generals who had a +military training and a military eye, and every burgomaster had not +those qualities. The arrangement was however still worse, by which +the chief command of the fleet was treated as an appanage to the chief +command of the land army, and any one who chanced to be president of +the city thought himself able to act the part not of general only, but +of admiral too. The worst disasters which Rome suffered in this war +were due not to the storms and still less to the Carthaginians, but +to the presumptuous folly of its own citizen-admirals. + +Rome was victorious at last. But her acquiescence in a gain far less +than had at first been demanded and indeed offered, as well as the +energetic opposition which the peace encountered in Rome, very clearly +indicate the indecisive and superficial character of the victory and +of the peace; and if Rome was the victor, she was indebted for her +victory in part no doubt to the favour of the gods and to the energy +of her citizens, but still more to the errors of her enemies in the +conduct of the war--errors far surpassing even her own. + +Notes for Chapter II + +1. II. V. Campanian Hellenism + +2. II. VII. Submission of Lower Italy + +3. The Mamertines entered quite into the same position towards Rome +as the Italian communities, bound themselves to furnish ships (Cic. +Verr. v. 19, 50), and, as the coins show, did not possess the right +of coining silver. + +4. II. VII. Submission of Lower Italy + +5. II. VII. Last Struggles in Italy + +6. The statement, that the military talent of Xanthippus was the +primary means of saving Carthage, is probably coloured; the officers +of Carthage can hardly have waited for foreigners to teach them that +the light African cavalry could be more appropriately employed on the +plain than among hills and forests. From such stories, the echo of +the talk of Greek guardrooms, even Polybius is not free. The +statement that Xanthippus was put to death by the Carthaginians after +the victory, is a fiction; he departed voluntarily, perhaps to enter +the Egyptian service. + +7. Nothing further is known with certainty as to the end of Regulus; +even his mission to Rome--which is sometimes placed in 503, sometimes +in 513--is very ill attested. The later Romans, who sought in the +fortunes and misfortunes of their forefathers mere materials for +school themes, made Regulus the prototype of heroic misfortune as +they made Fabricius the prototype of heroic poverty, and put into +circulation in his name a number of anecdotes invented by way of +due accompaniment--incongruous embellishments, contrasting ill with +serious and sober history. + +8. The statement (Zon. viii. 17) that the Carthaginians had to promise +that they would not send any vessels of war into the territories of +the Roman symmachy--and therefore not to Syracuse, perhaps even not +to Massilia--sounds credible enough; but the text of the treaty says +nothing of it (Polyb. iii. 27). + + + + +Chapter III + +The Extension of Italy to Its Natural Boundaries + +Natural Boundaries of Italy + +The Italian confederacy as it emerged from the crises of the fifth +century--or, in other words, the State of Italy--united the various +civic and cantonal communities from the Apennines to the Ionian Sea +under the hegemony of Rome. But before the close of the fifth century +these limits were already overpassed in both directions, and Italian +communities belonging to the confederacy had sprung up beyond the +Apennines and beyond the sea. In the north the republic, in revenge +for ancient and recent wrongs, had already in 471 annihilated the +Celtic Senones; in the south, through the great war from 490 to 513, +it had dislodged the Phoenicians from the island of Sicily. In the +north there belonged to the combination headed by Rome the Latin town +of Ariminum (besides the burgess-settlement of Sena), in the south the +community of the Mamertines in Messana, and as both were nationally of +Italian origin, so both shared in the common rights and obligations of +the Italian confederacy. It was probably the pressure of events at +the moment rather than any comprehensive political calculation, that +gave rise to these extensions of the confederacy; but it was natural +that now at least, after the great successes achieved against +Carthage, new and wider views of policy should dawn upon the Roman +government--views which even otherwise were obviously enough suggested +by the physical features of the peninsula. Alike in a political and +in a military point of view Rome was justified in shifting its +northern boundary from the low and easily crossed Apennines to the +mighty mountain-wall that separates northern from southern Europe, +the Alps, and in combining with the sovereignty of Italy the +sovereignty of the seas and islands on the west and east of the +peninsula; and now, when by the expulsion of the Phoenicians from +Sicily the most difficult portion of the task had been already +achieved, various circumstances united to facilitate its completion +by the Roman government. + +Sicily a Dependency of Italy + +In the western sea which was of far more account for Italy than the +Adriatic, the most important position, the large and fertile island +of Sicily copiously furnished with harbours, had been by the peace +with Carthage transferred for the most part into the possession of the +Romans. King Hiero of Syracuse indeed, who during the last twenty-two +years of the war had adhered with unshaken steadfastness to the Roman +alliance, might have had a fair claim to an extension of territory; +but, if Roman policy had begun the war with the resolution of +tolerating only secondary states in the island, the views of the +Romans at its close decidedly tended towards the seizure of Sicily +for themselves. Hiero might be content that his territory--namely, in +addition to the immediate district of Syracuse, the domains of Elorus, +Neetum, Acrae, Leontini, Megara, and Tauromenium--and his independence +in relation to foreign powers, were (for want of any pretext to +curtail them) left to him in their former compass; he might well be +content that the war between the two great powers had not ended in +the complete overthrow of the one or of the other, and that there +consequently still remained at least a possibility of subsistence for +the intermediate power in Sicily. In the remaining and by far the +larger portion of Sicily, at Panormus, Lilybaeum, Agrigentum, Messana, +the Romans effected a permanent settlement. + +Sardinia Roman +The Libyan Insurrection +Corsica + +They only regretted that the possession of that beautiful island was +not enough to convert the western waters into a Roman inland sea, +so long as Sardinia still remained Carthaginian. Soon, however, +after the conclusion of the peace there appeared an unexpected +prospect of wresting from the Carthaginians this second island of the +Mediterranean. In Africa, immediately after peace had been concluded +with Rome, the mercenaries and the subjects of the Phoenicians joined +in a common revolt. The blame of the dangerous insurrection was +mainly chargeable on the Carthaginian government. In the last years +of the war Hamilcar had not been able to pay his Sicilian mercenaries +as formerly from his own resources, and he had vainly requested that +money might be sent to him from home; he might, he was told, send his +forces to Africa to be paid off. He obeyed; but as he knew the men, +he prudently embarked them in small subdivisions, that the authorities +might pay them off by troops or might at least separate them, and +thereupon he laid down his command. But all his precautions were +thwarted not so much by the emptiness of the exchequer, as by the +collegiate method of transacting business and the folly of the +bureaucracy. They waited till the whole army was once more united in +Libya, and then endeavoured to curtail the pay promised to the men. +Of course a mutiny broke out among the troops, and the hesitating and +cowardly demeanour of the authorities showed the mutineers what they +might dare. Most of them were natives of the districts ruled by, or +dependent on, Carthage; they knew the feelings which had been provoked +throughout these districts by the slaughter decreed by the government +after the expedition of Regulus(1) and by the fearful pressure of +taxation, and they knew also the character of their government, which +never kept faith and never pardoned; they were well aware of what +awaited them, should they disperse to their homes with pay exacted by +mutiny. The Carthaginians had for long been digging the mine, and +they now themselves supplied the men who could not but explode it. +Like wildfire the revolution spread from garrison to garrison, from +village to village; the Libyan women contributed their ornaments to +pay the wages of the mercenaries; a number of Carthaginian citizens, +amongst whom were some of the most distinguished officers of the +Sicilian army, became the victims of the infuriated multitude; +Carthage was already besieged on two sides, and the Carthaginian +army marching out of the city was totally routed in consequence of +the blundering of its unskilful leader. + +When the Romans thus saw their hated and still dreaded foe involved in +a greater danger than any ever brought on that foe by the Roman wars, +they began more and more to regret the conclusion of the peace of 513 +--which, if it was not in reality precipitate, now at least appeared +so to all--and to forget how exhausted at that time their own state +had been and how powerful had then been the standing of their +Carthaginian rival. Shame indeed forbade their entering into +communication openly with the Carthaginian rebels; in fact, they gave +an exceptional permission to the Carthaginians to levy recruits for +this war in Italy, and prohibited Italian mariners from dealing with +the Libyans. But it may be doubted whether the government of Rome +was very earnest in these acts of friendly alliance; for, in spite +of them, the dealings between the African insurgents and the Roman +mariners continued, and when Hamilcar, whom the extremity of the peril +had recalled to the command of the Carthaginian army, seized and +imprisoned a number of Italian captains concerned in these dealings, +the senate interceded for them with the Carthaginian government and +procured their release. The insurgents themselves appeared to +recognize in the Romans their natural allies. The garrisons in +Sardinia, which like the rest of the Carthaginian army had declared +in favour of the insurgents, offered the possession of the island to +the Romans, when they saw that they were unable to hold it against the +attacks of the un-conquered mountaineers of the interior (about 515); +and similar offers came even from the community of Utica, which had +likewise taken part in the revolt and was now hard pressed by the +arms of Hamilcar. The latter suggestion was declined by the Romans, +chiefly doubtless because its acceptance would have carried them +beyond the natural boundaries of Italy and therefore farther than +the Roman government was then disposed to go; on the other hand they +entertained the offers of the Sardinian mutineers, and took over +from them the portion of Sardinia which had been in the hands of the +Carthaginians (516). In this instance, even more than in the affair +of the Mamertines, the Romans were justly liable to the reproach that +the great and victorious burgesses had not disdained to fraternize +and share the spoil with a venal pack of mercenaries, and had not +sufficient self-denial to prefer the course enjoined by justice and +by honour to the gain of the moment. The Carthaginians, whose troubles +reached their height just about the period of the occupation of +Sardinia, were silent for the time being as to the unwarrantable +violence; but, after this peril had been, contrary to the expectations +and probably contrary to the hopes of the Romans, averted by the +genius of Hamilcar, and Carthage had been reinstated to her full +sovereignty in Africa (517), Carthaginian envoys immediately appeared +at Rome to require the restitution of Sardinia. But the Romans, not +inclined to restore their booty, replied with frivolous or at any rate +irrelevant complaints as to all sorts of injuries which they alleged +that the Carthaginians had inflicted on the Roman traders, and +hastened to declare war;(2) the principle, that in politics power +is the measure of right, appeared in its naked effrontery. Just +resentment urged the Carthaginians to accept that offer of war; had +Catulus insisted upon the cession of Sardinia five years before, the +war would probably have pursued its course. But now, when both +islands were lost, when Libya was in a ferment, and when the state was +weakened to the utmost by its twenty-four years' struggle with Rome +and the dreadful civil war that had raged for nearly five years more, +they were obliged to submit It was only after repeated entreaties, +and after the Phoenicians had bound themselves to pay to Rome a +compensation of 1200 talents (292,000 pounds) for the warlike +preparations which had been wantonly occasioned, that the Romans +reluctantly desisted from war. Thus the Romans acquired Sardinia +almost without a struggle; to which they added Corsica, the ancient +possession of the Etruscans, where perhaps some detached Roman +garrisons still remained over from the last war.(3) In Sardinia, +however, and still more in the rugged Corsica, the Romans restricted +themselves, just as the Phoenicians had done, to an occupation of +the coasts. With the natives in the interior they were continually +engaged in war or, to speak more correctly, in hunting them like wild +beasts; they baited them with dogs, and carried what they captured to +the slave market; but they undertook no real conquest. They had +occupied the islands not on their own account, but for the security +of Italy. Now that the confederacy possessed the three large islands, +it might call the Tyrrhene Sea its own. + +Method of Administration in the Transmarine Possessions +Provincial Praetors + +The acquisition of the islands in the western sea of Italy introduced +into the state administration of Rome a distinction, which to all +appearance originated in mere considerations of convenience and almost +accidentally, but nevertheless came to be of the deepest importance +for all time following--the distinction between the continental and +transmarine forms of administration, or to use the appellations +afterwards current, the distinction between Italy and the provinces. +Hitherto the two chief magistrates of the community, the consuls, had +not had any legally defined sphere of action; on the contrary their +official field extended as far as the Roman government itself. Of +course, however, in practice they made a division of functions +between them, and of course also they were bound in every particular +department of their duties by the enactments existing in regard to it; +the jurisdiction, for instance, over Roman citizens had in every case +to be left to the praetor, and in the Latin and other autonomous +communities the existing treaties had to be respected. The four +quaestors who had been since 487 distributed throughout Italy did not, +formally at least, restrict the consular authority, for in Italy, +just as in Rome, they were regarded simply as auxiliary magistrates +dependent on the consuls. This mode of administration appears to have +been at first extended also to the territories taken from Carthage, +and Sicily and Sardinia to have been governed for some years by +quaestors under the superintendence of the consuls; but the Romans +must very soon have become practically convinced that it was +indispensable to have superior magistrates specially appointed for +the transmarine regions. As they had been obliged to abandon the +concentration of the Roman jurisdiction in the person of the praetor +as the community became enlarged, and to send to the more remote +districts deputy judges,(4) so now (527) the concentration of +administrative and military power in the person of the consuls had to +be abandoned. For each of the new transmarine regions--viz. Sicily, +and Sardinia with Corsica annexed to it--there was appointed a special +auxiliary consul, who was in rank and title inferior to the consul and +equal to the praetor, but otherwise was--like the consul in earlier +times before the praetorship was instituted--in his own sphere of +action at once commander-in-chief, chief magistrate, and supreme +judge. The direct administration of finance alone was withheld from +these new chief magistrates, as from the first it had been withheld +from the consuls;(5) one or more quaestors were assigned to them, +who were in every way indeed subordinate to them, and were their +assistants in the administration of justice and in command, but yet +had specially to manage the finances and to render account of their +administration to the senate after having laid down their office. + +Organization of the Provinces +-Commercium- +Property +Autonomy + +This difference in the supreme administrative power was the essential +distinction between the transmarine and continental possessions. The +principles on which Rome had organized the dependent lands in Italy, +were in great part transferred also to the extra-Italian possessions. +As a matter of course, these communities without exception lost +independence in their external relations. As to internal intercourse, +no provincial could thenceforth acquire valid property in the province +out of the bounds of his own community, or perhaps even conclude a +valid marriage. On the other hand the Roman government allowed, at +least to the Sicilian towns which they had not to fear, a certain +federative organization, and probably even general Siceliot diets +with a harmless right of petition and complaint.(6) In monetary +arrangements it was not indeed practicable at once to declare the +Roman currency to be the only valid tender in the islands; but it +seems from the first to have obtained legal circulation, and in like +manner, at least as a rule, the right of coining in precious metals +seems to have been withdrawn from the cities in Roman Sicily.(7) On +the other hand not only was the landed property in all Sicily left +untouched--the principle, that the land out of Italy fell by right of +war to the Romans as private property, was still unknown to this +century--but all the Sicilian and Sardinian communities retained self- +administration and some sort of autonomy, which indeed was not assured +to them in a way legally binding, but was provisionally allowed. +If the democratic constitutions of the communities were everywhere +set aside, and in every city the power was transferred to the hands +of a council representing the civic aristocracy; and if moreover the +Sicilian communities, at least, were required to institute a general +valuation corresponding to the Roman census every fifth year; both +these measures were only the necessary sequel of subordination +to the Roman senate, which in reality could not govern with Greek +--ecclesiae--, or without a view of the financial and military +resources of each dependent community; in the various districts +of Italy also the same course was in both respects pursued. + +Tenths and Customs +Communities Exempted + +But, side by side with this essential equality of rights, there was +established a distinction, very important in its effects, between the +Italian communities on the one hand and the transmarine communities +on the other. While the treaties concluded with the Italian towns +imposed on them a fixed contingent for the army or the fleet of +the Romans, such a contingent was not imposed on the transmarine +communities, with which no binding paction was entered into at all, +but they lost the right of arms,(8) with the single exception that +they might be employed on the summons of the Roman praetor for the +defence of their own homes. The Roman government regularly sent +Italian troops, of the strength which it had fixed, to the islands; +in return for this, a tenth of the field-produce of Sicily, and a toll +of 5 per cent on the value of all articles of commerce exported from +or imported into the Sicilian harbours, were paid to Rome. To the +islanders these taxes were nothing new. The imposts levied by the +Persian great-king and the Carthaginian republic were substantially of +the same character with that tenth; and in Greece also such a taxation +had for long been, after Oriental precedent, associated with the +-tyrannis- and often also with a hegemony. The Sicilians had in this +way long paid their tenth either to Syracuse or to Carthage, and had +been wont to levy customs-dues no longer on their own account. "We +received," says Cicero, "the Sicilian communities into our clientship +and protection in such a way that they continued under the same law +under which they had lived before, and obeyed the Roman community +under relations similar to those in which they had obeyed their +own rulers." It is fair that this should not be forgotten; but to +continue an injustice is to commit injustice. Viewed in relation not +to the subjects, who merely changed masters, but to their new rulers, +the abandonment of the equally wise and magnanimous principle of Roman +statesmanship--viz., that Rome should accept from her subjects simply +military aid, and never pecuniary compensation in lieu of it--was of +a fatal importance, in comparison with which all alleviations in the +rates and the mode of levying them, as well as all exceptions in +detail, were as nothing. Such exceptions were, no doubt, made in +various cases. Messana was directly admitted to the confederacy of +the -togati-, and, like the Greek cities in Italy, furnished its +contingent to the Roman fleet. A number of other cities, while not +admitted to the Italian military confederacy, yet received in addition +to other favours immunity from tribute and tenths, so that their +position in a financial point of view was even more favourable than +that of the Italian communities. These were Segesta and Halicyae, +which were the first towns of Carthaginian Sicily that joined the +Roman alliance; Centuripa, an inland town in the east of the island, +which was destined to keep a watch over the Syracusan territory in its +neighbourhood;(9) Halaesa on the northern coast, which was the first +of the free Greek towns to join the Romans, and above all Panormus, +hitherto the capital of Carthaginian, and now destined to become +that of Roman, Sicily. The Romans thus applied to Sicily the ancient +principle of their policy, that of subdividing the dependent +communities into carefully graduated classes with different +privileges; but, on the average, the Sardinian and Sicilian +communities were not in the position of allies but in the +manifest relation of tributary subjection. + +Italy and the Provinces + +It is true that this thorough distinction between the communities that +furnished contingents and those that paid tribute, or at least did not +furnish contingents, was not in law necessarily coincident with the +distinction between Italy and the provinces. Transmarine communities +might belong to the Italian confederacy; the Mamertines for example +were substantially on a level with the Italian Sabellians, and there +existed no legal obstacle to the establishment even of new communities +with Latin rights in Sicily and Sardinia any more than in the country +beyond the Apennines. Communities on the mainland might be deprived +of the right of bearing arms and become tributary; this arrangement +was already the case with certain Celtic districts on the Po, and was +introduced to a considerable extent in after times. But, in reality, +the communities that furnished contingents just as decidedly +preponderated on the mainland as the tributary communities in the +islands; and while Italian settlements were not contemplated on the +part of the Romans either in Sicily with its Hellenic civilization or +in Sardinia, the Roman government had beyond doubt already determined +not only to subdue the barbarian land between the Apennines and the +Alps, but also, as their conquests advanced, to establish in it +new communities of Italic origin and Italic rights. Thus their +transmarine possessions were not merely placed on the footing of land +held by subjects, but were destined to remain on that footing in all +time to come; whereas the official field recently marked off by law +for the consuls, or, which is the same thing, the continental +territory of the Romans, was to become a new and more extended Italy, +which should reach from the Alps to the Ionian sea. In the first +instance, indeed, this essentially geographical conception of Italy +was not altogether coincident with the political conception of the +Italian confederacy; it was partly wider, partly narrower. But even +now the Romans regarded the whole space up to the boundary of the Alps +as -Italia-, that is, as the present or future domain of the -togati- +and, just as was and still is the case in North America, the boundary +was provisionally marked off in a geographical sense, that the field +might be gradually occupied in a political sense also with the advance +of colonization.(10) + +Events on the Adriatic Coasts + +In the Adriatic sea, at the entrance of which the important and long- +contemplated colony of Brundisium had at length been founded before +the close of the war with Carthage (510), the supremacy of Rome was +from the very first decided. In the western sea Rome had been obliged +to rid herself of rivals; in the eastern, the quarrels of the Hellenes +themselves prevented any of the states in the Grecian peninsula from +acquiring or retaining power. The most considerable of them, that of +Macedonia, had through the influence of Egypt been dislodged from the +upper Adriatic by the Aetolians and from the Peloponnesus by the +Achaeans, and was scarcely even in a position to defend its northern +frontier against the barbarians. How concerned the Romans were to +keep down Macedonia and its natural ally, the king of Syria, and how +closely they associated themselves with the Egyptian policy directed +to that object, is shown by the remarkable offer which after the end +of the war with Carthage they made to king Ptolemy III. Euergetes, +to support him in the war which he waged with Seleucus II. Callinicus +of Syria (who reigned 507-529) on account of the murder of Berenice, +and in which Macedonia had probably taken part with the latter. +Generally, the relations of Rome with the Hellenistic states became +closer; the senate already negotiated even with Syria, and interceded +with the Seleucus just mentioned on behalf of the Ilians with whom +the Romans claimed affinity. + +For a direct interference of the Romans in the affairs of +the eastern powers there was no immediate need. The Achaean league, +the prosperity of which was arrested by the narrow-minded coterie- +policy of Aratus, the Aetolian republic of military adventurers, and +the decayed Macedonian empire kept each other in check; and the Romans +of that time avoided rather than sought transmarine acquisitions. +When the Acarnanians, appealing to the ground that they alone of all +the Greeks had taken no part in the destruction of Ilion, besought +the descendants of Aeneas to help them against the Aetolians, the +senate did indeed attempt a diplomatic mediation; but when the +Aetolians returned an answer drawn up in their own saucy fashion, +the antiquarian interest of the Roman senators by no means provoked +them into undertaking a war by which they would have freed the +Macedonians from their hereditary foe (about 515). + +Illyrian Piracy +Expedition against Scodra + +Even the evil of piracy, which was naturally in such a state of +matters the only trade that flourished on the Adriatic coast, and +from which the commerce of Italy suffered greatly, was submitted to by +the Romans with an undue measure of patience, --a patience intimately +connected with their radical aversion to maritime war and their +wretched marine. But at length it became too flagrant. Favoured by +Macedonia, which no longer found occasion to continue its old function +of protecting Hellenic commerce from the corsairs of the Adriatic for +the benefit of its foes, the rulers of Scodra had induced the Illyrian +tribes--nearly corresponding to the Dalmatians, Montenegrins, and +northern Albanians of the present day--to unite for joint piratical +expeditions on a great scale. + +With whole squadrons of their swift-sailing biremes, the veil-known +"Liburnian" cutters, the Illyrians waged war by sea and along the +coasts against all and sundry. The Greek settlements in these +regions, the island-towns of Issa (Lissa) and Pharos (Lesina), the +important ports of Epidamnus (Durazzo) and Apollonia (to the north of +Avlona on the Aous) of course suffered especially, and were repeatedly +beleaguered by the barbarians. Farther to the south, moreover, the +corsairs established themselves in Phoenice, the most flourishing town +of Epirus; partly voluntarily, partly by constraint, the Epirots and +Acarnanians entered into an unnatural symmachy with the foreign +freebooters; the coast was insecure even as far as Elis and Messene. +In vain the Aetolians and Achaeans collected what ships they had, with +a view to check the evil: in a battle on the open sea they were beaten +by the pirates and their Greek allies; the corsair fleet was able at +length to take possession even of the rich and important island of +Corcyra (Corfu). The complaints of Italian mariners, the appeals for +aid of their old allies the Apolloniates, and the urgent entreaties +of the besieged Issaeans at length compelled the Roman senate to +send at least ambassadors to Scodra. The brothers Gaius and Lucius +Coruncanius went thither to demand that king Agron should put an end +to the disorder. The king answered that according to the national law +of the Illyrians piracy was a lawful trade, and that the government +had no right to put a stop to privateering; whereupon Lucius +Coruncanius replied, that in that case Rome would make it her business +to introduce a better law among the Illyrians. For this certainly not +very diplomatic reply one of the envoys was--by the king's orders, as +the Romans asserted--murdered on the way home, and the surrender of +the murderers was refused. The senate had now no choice left to it. +In the spring of 525 a fleet of 200 ships of the line, with a landing- +army on board, appeared off Apollonia; the corsair-vessels were +scattered before the former, while the latter demolished the piratic +strongholds; the queen Teuta, who after the death of her husband +Agron conducted the government during the minority of her son Pinnes, +besieged in her last retreat, was obliged to accept the conditions +dictated by Rome. The rulers of Scodra were again confined both on +the north and south to the narrow limits of their original domain, +and had to quit their hold not only on all the Greek towns, but also +on the Ardiaei in Dalmatia, the Parthini around Epidamnus, and the +Atintanes in northern Epirus; no Illyrian vessel of war at all, and +not more than two unarmed vessels in company, were to be allowed in +future to sail to the south of Lissus (Alessio, between Scutari and +Durazzo). The maritime supremacy of Rome in the Adriatic was +asserted, in the most praiseworthy and durable way, by the rapid +and energetic suppression of the evil of piracy. + +Acquisition of Territory in Illyria +Impression in Greece and Macedonia + +But the Romans went further, and established themselves on the east +coast. The Illyrians of Scodra were rendered tributary to Rome; +Demetrius of Pharos, who had passed over from the service of Teuta to +that of the Romans, was installed, as a dependent dynast and ally of +Rome, over the islands and coasts of Dalmatia; the Greek cities +Corcyra, Epidamnus, Apollonia, and the communities of the Atintanes +and Parthini were attached to Rome under mild forms of symmachy. +These acquisitions on the east coast of the Adriatic were not +sufficiently extensive to require the appointment of a special +auxiliary consul; governors of subordinate rank appear to have +been sent to Corcyra and perhaps also to other places, and the +superintendence of these possessions seems to have been entrusted +to the chief magistrates who administered Italy.(11) Thus the most +important maritime stations in the Adriatic became subject, like +Sicily and Sardinia, to the authority of Rome. What other result was +to be expected? Rome was in want of a good naval station in the upper +Adriatic--a want which was not supplied by her possessions on the +Italian shore; her new allies, especially the Greek commercial towns, +saw in the Romans their deliverers, and doubtless did what they could +permanently to secure so powerful a protection; in Greece itself +no one was in a position to oppose the movement; on the contrary, +the praise of the liberators was on every one's lips. It may be a +question whether there was greater rejoicing or shame in Hellas, when, +in place of the ten ships of the line of the Achaean league, the most +warlike power in Greece, two hundred sail belonging to the barbarians +now entered her harbours and accomplished at a blow the task, which +properly belonged to the Greeks, but in which they had failed so +miserably. But if the Greeks were ashamed that the salvation of their +oppressed countrymen had to come from abroad, they accepted the +deliverance at least with a good grace; they did not fail to receive +the Romans solemnly into the fellowship of the Hellenic nation by +admitting them to the Isthmian games and the Eleusinian mysteries. + +Macedonia was silent; it was not in a condition to protest in arms, +and disdained to do so in words. No resistance was encountered. +Nevertheless Rome, by seizing the keys to her neighbour's house, had +converted that neighbour into an adversary who, should he recover his +power, or should a favourable opportunity occur, might be expected to +know how to break the silence. Had the energetic and prudent king +Antigonus Doson lived longer, he would have doubtless taken up the +gauntlet which the Romans had flung down, for, when some years +afterwards the dynast Demetrius of Pharos withdrew from the hegemony +of Rome, prosecuted piracy contrary to the treaty in concert with +the Istrians, and subdued the Atintanes whom the Romans had declared +independent, Antigonus formed an alliance with him, and the troops +of Demetrius fought along with the army of Antigonus at the battle +of Sellasia (532). But Antigonus died (in the winter 533-4); and his +successor Philip, still a boy, allowed the Consul Lucius Aemilius +Paullus to attack the ally of Macedonia, to destroy his capital, +and to drive him from his kingdom into exile (535). + +Northern Italy + +The mainland of Italy proper, south of the Apennines, enjoyed profound +peace after the fall of Tarentum: the six days' war with Falerii (513) +was little more than an interlude. But towards the north, between the +territory of the confederacy and the natural boundary of Italy--the +chain of the Alps--there still extended a wide region which was not +subject to the Romans. What was regarded as the boundary of Italy on +the Adriatic coast was the river Aesis immediately above Ancona. +Beyond this boundary the adjacent properly Gallic territory as far as, +and including, Ravenna belonged in a similar way as did Italy proper +to the Roman alliance; the Senones, who had formerly settled there, +were extirpated in the war of 471-2,(12) and the several townships +were connected with Rome, either as burgess-colonies, like Sena +Gallica,(13) or as allied towns, whether with Latin rights, like +Ariminum,(14) or with Italian rights, like Ravenna. On the wide +region beyond Ravenna as far as the Alps non-Italian peoples were +settled. South of the Po the strong Celtic tribe of the Boii still +held its ground (from Parma to Bologna); alongside of them, the +Lingones on the east and the Anares on the west (in the region of +Parma)--two smaller Celtic cantons presumably clients of the Boii-- +peopled the plain. At the western end of the plain the Ligurians +began, who, mingled with isolated Celtic tribes, and settled on the +Apennines from above Arezzo and Pisa westward, occupied the region of +the sources of the Po. The eastern portion of the plain north of the +Po, nearly from Verona to the coast, was possessed by the Veneti, a +race different from the Celts and probably of Illyrian extraction. +Between these and the western mountains were settled the Cenomani +(about Brescia and Cremona) who rarely acted with the Celtic nation +and were probably largely intermingled with Veneti, and the Insubres +(around Milan). The latter was the most considerable of the Celtic +cantons in Italy, and was in constant communication not merely +with the minor communities partly of Celtic, partly of non-Celtic +extraction, that were scattered in the Alpine valleys, but also with +the Celtic cantons beyond the Alps. The gates of the Alps, the mighty +stream navigable for 230 miles, and the largest and most fertile plain +of the then civilized Europe, still continued in the hands of the +hereditary foes of the Italian name, who, humbled indeed and weakened, +but still scarce even nominally dependent and still troublesome +neighbours, persevered in their barbarism, and, thinly scattered over +the spacious plains, continued to pasture their herds and to plunder. +It was to be anticipated that the Romans would hasten to possess +themselves of these regions; the more so as the Celts gradually began +to forget their defeats in the campaigns of 471 and 472 and to bestir +themselves again, and, what was still more dangerous, the Transalpine +Celts began anew to show themselves on the south of the Alps. + +Celtic Wars + +In fact the Boii had already renewed the war in 516, and their +chiefs Atis and Galatas had--without, it is true, the authority of the +general diet--summoned the Transalpine Gauls to make common cause with +them. The latter had numerously answered the call, and in 518 a +Celtic army, such as Italy had not seen for long, encamped before +Ariminum. The Romans, for the moment much too weak to attempt a +battle, concluded an armistice, and to gain time allowed envoys from +the Celts to proceed to Rome, who ventured in the senate to demand +the cession of Ariminum--it seemed as if the times of Brennus had +returned. But an unexpected incident put an end to the war before it +had well begun. The Boii, dissatisfied with their unbidden allies and +afraid probably for their own territory, fell into variance with the +Transalpine Gauls. An open battle took place between the two Celtic +hosts; and, after the chiefs of the Boii had been put to death by +their own men, the Transalpine Gauls returned home. The Boii were +thus delivered into the hands of the Romans, and the latter were at +liberty to expel them like the Senones, and to advance at least to +the Po; but they preferred to grant the Boii peace in return for +the cession of some districts of their land (518). This was probably +done, because they were just at that time expecting the renewed +outbreak of war with Carthage; but, after that war had been averted by +the cession of Sardinia, true policy required the Roman government to +take possession as speedily and entirely as possible of the country up +to the Alps. The constant apprehensions on the part of the Celts as +to such a Roman invasion were therefore sufficiently justified; but +the Romans were in no haste. So the Celts on their part began the +war, either because the Roman assignations of land on the east coast +(522), although not a measure immediately directed against them, made +them apprehensive of danger; or because they perceived that a war with +Rome for the possession of Lombardy was inevitable; or, as is perhaps +most probable, because their Celtic impatience was once more weary of +inaction and preferred to arm for a new warlike expedition. With the +exception of the Cenomani, who acted with the Veneti and declared for +the Romans, all the Italian Celts concurred in the war, and they were +joined by the Celts of the upper valley of the Rhone, or rather by +a number of adventurers belonging to them, under the leaders +Concolitanus and Aneroestus.(15) With 50,000 warriors on foot, and +20,000 on horseback or in chariots, the leaders of the Celts advanced +to the Apennines (529). The Romans had not anticipated an attack on +this side, and had not expected that the Celts, disregarding the Roman +fortresses on the east coast and the protection of their own kinsmen, +would venture to advance directly against the capital. Not very long +before a similar Celtic swarm had in an exactly similar way overrun +Greece. The danger was serious, and appeared still more serious than +it really was. The belief that Rome's destruction was this time +inevitable, and that the Roman soil was fated to become the property +of the Gauls, was so generally diffused among the multitude in Rome +itself that the government reckoned it not beneath its dignity to +allay the absurd superstitious belief of the mob by an act still more +absurd, and to bury alive a Gaulish man and a Gaulish woman in the +Roman Forum with a view to fulfil the oracle of destiny. At the same +time they made more serious preparations. Of the two consular armies, +each of which numbered about 25,000 infantry and 1100 cavalry, one +was stationed in Sardinia under Gaius Atilius Regulus, the other at +Ariminum under Lucius Aemilius Papus. Both received orders to repair +as speedily as possible to Etruria, which was most immediately +threatened. The Celts had already been under the necessity of leaving +a garrison at home to face the Cenomani and Veneti, who were allied +with Rome; now the levy of the Umbrians was directed to advance from +their native mountains down into the plain of the Boii, and to inflict +all the injury which they could think of on the enemy upon his own +soil. The militia of the Etruscans and Sabines was to occupy the +Apennines and if possible to obstruct the passage, till the regular +troops could arrive. A reserve was formed in Rome of 50,000 men. +Throughout all Italy, which on this occasion recognized its true +champion in Rome, the men capable of service were enrolled, and stores +and materials of war were collected. + +Battle of Telamon + +All this, however, required time. For once the Romans had allowed +themselves to be surprised, and it was too late at least to save +Etruria. The Celts found the Apennines hardly defended, and plundered +unopposed the rich plains of the Tuscan territory, which for long had +seen no enemy. They were already at Clusium, three days' march from +Rome, when the army of Ariminum, under the consul Papus, appeared on +their flank, while the Etruscan militia, which after crossing the +Apennines had assembled in rear of the Gauls, followed the line of the +enemy's march. Suddenly one evening, after the two armies had already +encamped and the bivouac fires were kindled, the Celtic infantry again +broke up and retreated on the road towards Faesulae (Fiesole): the +cavalry occupied the advanced posts during the night, and followed the +main force next morning. When the Tuscan militia, who had pitched +their camp close upon the enemy, became aware of his departure, they +imagined that the host had begun to disperse, and marched hastily in +pursuit. The Gauls had reckoned on this very result: their infantry, +which had rested and was drawn up in order, awaited on a well-chosen +battlefield the Roman militia, which came up from its forced march +fatigued and disordered. Six thousand men fell after a furious +combat, and the rest of the militia, which had been compelled to seek +refuge on a hill, would have perished, had not the consular army +appeared just in time. This induced the Gauls to return homeward. +Their dexterously-contrived plan for preventing the union of the two +Roman armies and annihilating the weaker in detail, had only been +partially successful; now it seemed to them advisable first of all to +place in security their considerable booty. For the sake of an easier +line of march they proceeded from the district of Chiusi, where they +were, to the level coast, and were marching along the shore, when +they found an unexpected obstacle in the way. It was the Sardinian +legions, which had landed at Pisae; and, when they arrived too late to +obstruct the passage of the Apennines, had immediately put themselves +in motion and were advancing along the coast in a direction opposite +to the march of the Gauls. Near Telamon (at the mouth of the Ombrone) +they met with the enemy. While the Roman infantry advanced with close +front along the great road, the cavalry, led by the consul Gaius +Atilius Regulus in person, made a side movement so as to take the +Gauls in flank, and to acquaint the other Roman army under Papus as +soon as possible with their arrival. A hot cavalry engagement took +place, in which along with many brave Romans Regulus fell; but he had +not sacrificed his life in vain: his object was gained. Papus became +aware of the conflict, and guessed how matters stood; he hastily +arrayed his legions, and on both sides the Celtic host was now pressed +by Roman legions. Courageously it made its dispositions for the +double conflict, the Transalpine Gauls and Insubres against the +troops of Papus, the Alpine Taurisci and the Boii against the +Sardinian infantry; the cavalry combat pursued its course apart on +the flank. The forces were in numbers not unequally matched, and the +desperate position of the Gauls impelled them to the most obstinate +resistance. But the Transalpine Gauls, accustomed only to close +fighting, gave way before the missiles of the Roman skirmishers; in +the hand-to-hand combat the better temper of the Roman weapons placed +the Gauls at a disadvantage; and at last an attack in flank by the +victorious Roman cavalry decided the day. The Celtic horsemen made +their escape; the infantry, wedged in between the sea and the three +Roman armies, had no means of flight. 10,000 Celts, with their king +Concolitanus, were taken prisoners; 40,000 others lay dead on the +field of battle; Aneroestus and his attendants had, after the Celtic +fashion, put themselves to death. + +The Celts Attacked in Their Own Land + +The victory was complete, and the Romans were firmly resolved to +prevent the recurrence of such surprises by the complete subjugation +of the Celts on the south of the Alps. In the following year (530) +the Boii submitted without resistance along with the Lingones; and in +the year after that (531) the Anares; so that the plain as far as the +Po was in the hands of the Romans. The conquest of the northern bank +of the river cost a more serious struggle. Gaius Flaminius crossed +the river in the newly-acquired territory of the Anares (somewhere +near Piacenza) in 531; but during the crossing, and still more while +making good his footing on the other bank, he suffered so heavy losses +and found himself with the river in his rear in so dangerous a +position, that he made a capitulation with the enemy to secure a free +retreat, which the Insubres foolishly conceded. Scarce, however, had +he escaped when he appeared in the territory of the Cenomani, and, +united with them, advanced for the second time from the north into the +canton of the Insubres. The Gauls perceived what was now the object +of the Romans, when it was too late: they took from the temple of +their goddess the golden standards called the "immovable," and with +their whole levy, 50,000 strong, they offered battle to the Romans. +The situation of the latter was critical: they were stationed with +their back to a river (perhaps the Oglio), separated from home by the +enemy's territory, and left to depend for aid in battle as well as for +their line of retreat on the uncertain friendship of the Cenomani. +There was, however, no choice. The Gauls fighting in the Roman ranks +were placed on the left bank of the stream; on the right, opposite to +the Insubres, the legions were drawn up, and the bridges were broken +down that they might not be assailed, at least in the rear, by their +dubious allies. + +The Celts Conquered by Rome + +In this way undoubtedly the river cut off their retreat, and their way +homeward lay through the hostile army. But the superiority of the +Roman arms and of Roman discipline achieved the victory, and the army +cut its way through: once more the Roman tactics had redeemed the +blunders of the general. The victory was due to the soldiers and +officers, not to the generals, who gained a triumph only through +popular favour in opposition to the just decree of the senate. Gladly +would the Insubres have made peace; but Rome required unconditional +subjection, and things had not yet come to that pass. They tried to +maintain their ground with the help of their northern kinsmen; and, +with 30,000 mercenaries whom they had raised amongst these and their +own levy, they received the two consular armies advancing once more in +the following year (532) from the territory of the Cenomani to invade +their land. Various obstinate combats took place; in a diversion, +attempted by the Insubres against the Roman fortress of Clastidium +(Casteggio, below Pavia), on the right bank of the Po, the Gallic +king Virdumarus fell by the hand of the consul Marcus Marcellus. But, +after a battle already half won by the Celts but ultimately decided +in favour of the Romans, the consul Gnaeus Scipio took by assault +Mediolanum, the capital of the Insubres, and the capture of that town +and of Comum terminated their resistance. Thus the Celts of Italy +were completely vanquished, and as, just before, the Romans had shown +to the Hellenes in the war with the pirates the difference between a +Roman and a Greek sovereignty of the seas, so they had now brilliantly +demonstrated that Rome knew how to defend the gates of Italy against +freebooters on land otherwise than Macedonia had guarded the gates of +Greece, and that in spite of all internal quarrels Italy presented as +united a front to the national foe, as Greece exhibited distraction +and discord. + +Romanization of the Entire of Italy + +The boundary of the Alps was reached, in so far as the whole flat +country on the Po was either rendered subject to the Romans, or, like +the territories of the Cenomani and Veneti, was occupied by dependent +allies. It needed time, however, to reap the consequences of this +victory and to Romanize the land. In this the Romans did not adopt +a uniform mode of procedure. In the mountainous northwest of Italy +and in the more remote districts between the Alps and the Po they +tolerated, on the whole, the former inhabitants; the numerous wars, +as they are called, which were waged with the Ligurians in particular +(first in 516) appear to have been slave-hunts rather than wars, and, +often as the cantons and valleys submitted to the Romans, Roman +sovereignty in that quarter was hardly more than a name. The +expedition to Istria also (533) appears not to have aimed at much +more than the destruction of the last lurking-places of the Adriatic +pirates, and the establishment of a communication by land along the +coast between the Italian conquests of Rome and her acquisitions on +the other shore. On the other hand the Celts in the districts south +of the Po were doomed irretrievably to destruction; for, owing to +the looseness of the ties connecting the Celtic nation, none of the +northern Celtic cantons took part with their Italian kinsmen except +for money, and the Romans looked on the latter not only as their +national foes, but as the usurpers of their natural heritage. The +extensive assignations of land in 522 had already filled the whole +territory between Ancona and Ariminum with Roman colonists, who +settled here without communal organization in market-villages and +hamlets. Further measures of the same character were taken, and +it was not difficult to dislodge and extirpate a half-barbarous +population like the Celtic, only partially following agriculture, +and destitute of walled towns. The great northern highway, which had +been, probably some eighty years earlier, carried by way of Otricoli +to Narni, and had shortly before been prolonged to the newly-founded +fortress of Spoletium (514), was now (534) carried, under the name of +the "Flaminian" road, by way of the newly-established market-village +Forum Flaminii (near Foligno), through the pass of Furlo to the coast, +and thence along the latter from Fanum (Fano) to Ariminum; it was the +first artificial road which crossed the Apennines and connected the +two Italian seas. Great zeal was manifested in covering the newly- +acquired fertile territory with Roman townships. Already, to cover +the passage of the Po, the strong fortress of Placentia (Piacenza) +had been founded on the right bank; not far from it Cremona had been +laid out on the left bank, and the building of the walls of Mutina +(Modena), in the territory taken away from the Boii, had far advanced +--already preparations were being made for further assignations of +land and for continuing the highway, when sudden event interrupted +the Romans in reaping the fruit of their successes. + +Notes for Chapter III + +1. III. II. Evacuation of Africa + +2. That the cession of the islands lying between Sicily and Italy, +which the peace of 513 prescribed to the Carthaginians, did not +include the cession of Sardinia is a settled point (III. II. Remarks +On the Roman Conduct of the War); but the statement, that the Romans +made that a pretext for their occupation of the island three years +after the peace, is ill attested. Had they done so, they would merely +have added a diplomatic folly to the political effrontery. + +3. III. II. The War on the Coasts of Sicily and Sardinia + +4. III. VIII. Changes in Procedure + +5. II. I. Restrictions on the Delegation of Powers + +6. That this was the case may be gathered partly from the appearance +of the "Siculi" against Marcellus (Liv. xxvi. 26, seq.), partly from +the "conjoint petitions of all the Sicilian communities" (Cicero, +Verr. ii. 42, 102; 45, 114; 50, 146; iii. 88, 204), partly from well- +known analogies (Marquardt, Handb. iii. i, 267). Because there was no +-commercium- between the different towns, it by no means follows that +there was no -concilium-. + +7. The right of coining gold and silver was not monopolized by Rome +in the provinces so strictly as in Italy, evidently because gold +and silver money not struck after the Roman standard was of less +importance. But in their case too the mints were doubtless, as a +rule, restricted to the coinage of copper, or at most silver, small +money; even the most favourably treated communities of Roman Sicily, +such as the Mamertines, the Centuripans, the Halaesines, the +Segestans, and also in the main the Pacormitaus coined only copper. + +8. This is implied in Hiero's expression (Liv. xxii. 37): +that he knew that the Romans made use of none but Roman or Latin +infantry and cavalry, and employed "foreigners" at most only among +the light-armed troops. + +9. This is shown at once by a glance at the map, and also by the +remarkable exceptional provision which allowed the Centuripans +to buy to any part of Sicily. They needed, as Roman spies, the +utmost freedom of movement We may add that Centuripa appears to +have been among the first cities that went over to Rome +(Diodorus, l. xxiii. p. 501). + +10. This distinction between Italy as the Roman mainland or consular +sphere on the one hand, and the transmarine territory or praetorial +sphere on the other, already appears variously applied in the sixth +century. The ritual rule, that certain priests should not leave Rome +(Val. Max. i. i, 2), was explained to mean, that they were not allowed +to cross the sea (Liv. Ep. 19, xxxvii. 51; Tac. Ann. iii. 58, 71; Cic. +Phil. xi. 8, 18; comp. Liv. xxviii. 38, 44, Ep. 59). To this head +still more definitely belongs the interpretation which was proposed in +544 to be put upon the old rule, that the consul might nominate the +dictator only on "Roman ground": viz. that "Roman ground" comprehended +all Italy (Liv. xxvii. 5). The erection of the Celtic land between +the Alps and Apennines into a special province, different from that of +the consuls and subject to a separate Standing chief magistrate, was +the work of Sulla. Of course no one will Urge as an objection to this +view, that already in the sixth century Gallia or Ariminum is very +often designated as the "official district" (-provincia-), usually of +one of the consuls. -Provincia-, as is well known, was in the older +language not--what alone it denoted subsequently--a definite space +assigned as a district to a standing chief magistrate, but the +department of duty fixed for the individual consul, in the first +instance by agreement with his colleague, under concurrence of the +senate; and in this sense frequently individual regions in northern +Italy, or even North Italy generally, were assigned to individual +consuls as -provincia-. + +11. A standing Roman commandant of Corcyra is apparently mentioned in +Polyb. xxii. 15, 6 (erroneously translated by Liv. xxxviii. ii, comp. +xlii. 37), and a similar one in the case of Issa in Liv. xliii. 9. +We have, moreover, the analogy of the -praefectus pro legato insularum +Baliarum- (Orelli, 732), and of the governor of Pandataria (Inscr. +Reg. Neapol. 3528). It appears, accordingly, to have been a rule in +the Roman administration to appoint non-senatorial -praefecti- for the +more remote islands. But these "deputies" presuppose in the nature of +the case a superior magistrate who nominates and superintends them; +and this superior magistracy can only have been at this period that of +the consuls. Subsequently, after the erection of Macedonia and Gallia +Cisalpina into provinces, the superior administration was committed to +one of these two governors; the very territory now in question, the +nucleus of the subsequent Roman province of Illyricum, belonged, as +is well known, in part to Caesar's district of administration. + +12. III. VII. The Senones Annihilated + +13. III. VII. Breach between Rome and Tarentum + +14. III. VII. Construction of New Fortresses and Roads + +15. These, whom Polybius designates as the "Celts in the Alps and on +the Rhone, who on account of their character as military adventurers +are called Gaesatae (free lances)," are in the Capitoline Fasti named +-Germani-. It is possible that the contemporary annalists may have +here mentioned Celts alone, and that it was the historical speculation +of the age of Caesar and Augustus that first induced the redactors of +these Fasti to treat them as "Germans." If, on the other hand, the +mention of the Germans in the Fasti was based on contemporary records +--in which case this is the earliest mention of the name--we shall here +have to think not of the Germanic races who were afterwards so called, +but of a Celtic horde. + + + + +Chapter IV + +Hamilcar and Hannibal + +Situation of Carthage after the Peace + +The treaty with Rome in 513 gave to the Carthaginians peace, but they +paid for it dearly. That the tribute of the largest portion of Sicily +now flowed into the enemy's exchequer instead of the Carthaginian +treasury, was the least part of their loss. They felt a far keener +regret when they not merely had to abandon the hope of monopolizing +all the sea-routes between the eastern and the western Mediterranean +--just as that hope seemed on the eve of fulfilment--but also saw +their whole system of commercial policy broken up, the south-western +basin of the Mediterranean, which they had hitherto exclusively +commanded, converted since the loss of Sicily into an open +thoroughfare for all nations, and the commerce of Italy rendered +completely independent of the Phoenician. Nevertheless the quiet +men of Sidon might perhaps have prevailed on themselves to acquiesce +in this result. They had met with similar blows already; they had +been obliged to share with the Massiliots, the Etruscans, and the +Sicilian Greeks what they had previously possessed alone; even now +the possessions which they retained, Africa, Spain, and the gates of +the Atlantic Ocean, were sufficient to confer power and prosperity. +But in truth, where was their security that these at least would +continue in their hands? The demands made by Regulus, and his very +near approach to the obtaining of what he asked, could only be +forgotten by those who were willing to forget; and if Rome should now +renew from Lilybaeum the enterprise which she had undertaken with so +great success from Italy, Carthage would undoubtedly fall, unless the +perversity of the enemy or some special piece of good fortune should +intervene to save it No doubt they had peace for the present; but the +ratification of that peace had hung on a thread, and they knew what +public opinion in Rome thought of the terms on which it was concluded. +It might be that Rome was not yet meditating the conquest of Africa +and was as yet content with Italy; but if the existence of the +Carthaginian state depended on that contentment, the prospect was but +a sorry one; and where was the security that the Romans might not find +it even convenient for their Italian policy to extirpate rather than +reduce to subjection their African neighbour? + +War Party and Peace Party in Carthage + +In short, Carthage could only regard the peace of 513 in the light +of a truce, and could not but employ it in preparations for the +inevitable renewal of the war; not for the purpose of avenging the +defeat which she had suffered, nor even with the primary view of +recovering what she had lost, but in order to secure for herself an +existence that should not be dependent on the good-will of the enemy. +But when a war of annihilation is surely, though in point of time +indefinitely, impending over a weaker state, the wiser, more +resolute, and more devoted men--who would immediately prepare for the +unavoidable struggle, accept it at a favourable moment, and thus cover +their defensive policy by a strategy of offence--always find +themselves hampered by the indolent and cowardly mass of the money- +worshippers, of the aged and feeble, and of the thoughtless who are +minded merely to gain time, to live and die in peace, and to postpone +at any price the final struggle. So there was in Carthage a party +for peace and a party for war, both, as was natural, associating +themselves with the political distinction which already existed +between the conservatives and the reformers. The former found its +support in the governing boards, the council of the Ancients and that +of the Hundred, led by Hanno the Great, as he was called; the latter +found its support in the leaders of the multitude, particularly the +much-respected Hasdrubal, and in the officers of the Sicilian army, +whose great successes under the leadership of Hamilcar, although they +had been otherwise fruitless, had at least shown to the patriots a +method which seemed to promise deliverance from the great danger that +beset them. Vehement feud had probably long subsisted between these +parties, when the Libyan war intervened to suspend the strife. We +have already related how that war arose. After the governing party +had instigated the mutiny by their incapable administration which +frustrated all the precautionary measures of the Sicilian officers, +had converted that mutiny into a revolution by the operation of their +inhuman system of government, and had at length brought the country to +the verge of ruin by their military incapacity--and particularly that +of their leader Hanno, who ruined the army--Hamilcar Barcas, the hero +of Ercte, was in the perilous emergency solicited by the government +itself to save it from the effects of its blunders and crimes. He +accepted the command, and had the magnanimity not to resign it +even when they appointed Hanno as his colleague. Indeed, when the +indignant army sent the latter home, Hamilcar had the self-control +a second time to concede to him, at the urgent request of the +government, a share in the command; and, in spite of his enemies and +in spite of such a colleague, he was able by his influence with the +insurgents, by his dexterous treatment of the Numidian sheiks, and +by his unrivalled genius for organization and generalship, in a +singularly short time to put down the revolt entirely and to recall +rebellious Africa to its allegiance (end of 517). + +During this war the patriot party had kept silence; now it spoke out +the louder. On the one hand this catastrophe had brought to light +the utterly corrupt and pernicious character of the ruling oligarchy, +their incapacity, their coterie-policy, their leanings towards the +Romans. On the other hand the seizure of Sardinia, and the +threatening attitude which Rome on that occasion assumed, showed +plainly even to the humblest that a declaration of war by Rome was +constantly hanging like the sword of Damocles over Carthage, and that, +if Carthage in her present circumstances went to war with Rome, +the consequence must necessarily be the downfall of the Phoenician +dominion in Libya. Probably there were in Carthage not a few who, +despairing of the future of their country, counselled emigration to +the islands of the Atlantic; who could blame them? But minds of the +nobler order disdain to save themselves apart from their nation, +and great natures enjoy the privilege of deriving enthusiasm from +circumstances in which the multitude of good men despair. They +accepted the new conditions just as Rome dictated them; no course +was left but to submit and, adding fresh bitterness to their former +hatred, carefully to cherish and husband resentment--that last +resource of an injured nation. They then took steps towards a +political reform.(1) They had become sufficiently convinced of the +incorrigibleness of the party in power: the fact that the governing +lords had even in the last war neither forgotten their spite nor +learned greater wisdom, was shown by the effrontery bordering on +simplicity with which they now instituted proceedings against Hamilcar +as the originator of the mercenary war, because he had without full +powers from the government made promises of money to his Sicilian +soldiers. Had the club of officers and popular leaders desired to +overthrow this rotten and wretched government, it would hardly have +encountered much difficulty in Carthage itself; but it would have met +with more formidable obstacles in Rome, with which the chiefs of the +government in Carthage already maintained relations that bordered on +treason. To all the other difficulties of the position there fell +to be added the circumstance, that the means of saving their country +had to be created without allowing either the Romans, or their own +government with its Roman leanings, to become rightly aware of +what was doing. + +Hamilcar Commander-in-Chief + +So they left the constitution untouched, and the chiefs of the +government in full enjoyment of their exclusive privileges and of the +public property. It was merely proposed and carried, that of the two +commanders-in-chief, who at the end of the Libyan war were at the head +of the Carthaginian troops, Hanno and Hamilcar, the former should be +recalled, and the latter should be nominated commander-in-chief for +all Africa during an indefinite period. It was arranged that he +should hold a position independent of the governing corporations +--his antagonists called it an unconstitutional monarchical power, +Cato calls it a dictatorship--and that he could only be recalled and +placed upon his trial by the popular assembly.(2) Even the choice +of a successor was to be vested not in the authorities of the capital, +but in the army, that is, in the Carthaginians serving in the array as +gerusiasts or officers, who were named in treaties also along with +the general; of course the right of confirmation was reserved to the +popular assembly at home. Whether this may or may not have been a +usurpation, it clearly indicates that the war party regarded and +treated the army as its special domain. + +The commission which Hamilcar thus received sounded but little +liable to exception. Wars with the Numidian tribes on the borders +never ceased; only a short time previously the "city of a hundred +gates," Theveste (Tebessa), in the interior had been occupied by the +Carthaginians. The task of continuing this border warfare, which was +allotted to the new commander-in-chief of Africa, was not in itself of +such importance as to prevent the Carthaginian government, which was +allowed to do as it liked in its own immediate sphere, from tacitly +conniving at the decrees passed in reference to the matter by the +popular assembly; and the Romans did not perhaps recognize its +significance at all. + +Hamilcar's War Projects +The Army +The Citizens + +Thus there stood at the head of the army the one man, who had given +proof in the Sicilian and in the Libyan wars that fate had destined +him, if any one, to be the saviour of his country. Never perhaps was +the noble struggle of man with fate waged more nobly than by him. +The army was expected to save the state; but what sort of army? +The Carthaginian civic militia had fought not badly under Hamilcar's +leadership in the Libyan war; but he knew well, that it is one thing +to lead out the merchants and artisans of a city, which is in the +extremity of peril, for once to battle, and another to form them +into soldiers. The patriotic party in Carthage furnished him with +excellent officers, but it was of course almost exclusively the +cultivated class that was represented in it. He had no citizen- +militia, at most a few squadrons of Libyphoenician cavalry. The task +was to form an army out of Libyan forced recruits and mercenaries; a +task possible in the hands of a general like Hamilcar, but possible +even for him only on condition that he should be able to pay his men +punctually and amply. But he had learned, by experience in Sicily, +that the state revenues of Carthage were expended in Carthage itself +on matters much more needful than the payment of the armies that +fought against the enemy. The warfare which he waged, accordingly, +had to support itself, and he had to carry out on a great scale what +he had already attempted on a smaller scale at Monte Pellegrino. But +further, Hamilcar was not only a military chief, he was also a party +leader. In opposition to the implacable governing party, which +eagerly but patiently waited for an opportunity of overthrowing him, +he had to seek support among the citizens; and although their leaders +might be ever so pure and noble, the multitude was deeply corrupt and +accustomed by the unhappy system of corruption to give nothing without +being paid for it. In particular emergencies, indeed, necessity or +enthusiasm might for the moment prevail, as everywhere happens even +with the most venal corporations; but, if Hamilcar wished to secure +the permanent support of the Carthaginian community for his plan, +which at the best could only be carried out after a series of years, +he had to supply his friends at home with regular consignments of +money as the means of keeping the mob in good humour. Thus compelled +to beg or to buy from the lukewarm and venal multitude the permission +to save it; compelled to bargain with the arrogance of men whom +he hated and whom he had constantly conquered, at the price of +humiliation and of silence, for the respite indispensable for his +ends; compelled to conceal from those despised traitors to their +country, who called themselves the lords of his native city, his plans +and his contempt--the noble hero stood with few like-minded friends +between enemies without and enemies within, building upon the +irresolution of the one and of the other, at once deceiving both and +defying both, if only he might gain means, money, and men for the +contest with a land which, even were the army ready to strike the +blow, it seemed difficult to reach and scarce possible to vanquish. +He was still a young man, little beyond thirty, but he had apparently, +when he was preparing for his expedition, a foreboding that he would +not be permitted to attain the end of his labours, or to see otherwise +than afar off the promised land. When he left Carthage he enjoined +his son Hannibal, nine years of age, to swear at the altar of the +supreme God eternal hatred to the Roman name, and reared him and his +younger sons Hasdrubal and Mago--the "lion's brood," as he called +them--in the camp as the inheritors of his projects, of his genius, +and of his hatred. + +Hamilcar Proceed to Spain +Spanish Kingdom of the Barcides + +The new commander-in-chief of Libya departed from Carthage immediately +after the termination of the mercenary war (perhaps in the spring of +518). He apparently meditated an expedition against the free Libyans +in the west. His army, which was especially strong in elephants, +marched along the coast; by its side sailed the fleet, led by his +faithful associate Hasdrubal. Suddenly tidings came that he had +crossed the sea at the Pillars of Hercules and had landed in Spain, +where he was waging war with the natives--with people who had done him +no harm, and without orders from his government, as the Carthaginian +authorities complained. They could not complain at any rate that he +neglected the affairs of Africa; when the Numidians once more +rebelled, his lieutenant Hasdrubal so effectually routed them that +for a long period there was tranquillity on the frontier, and several +tribes hitherto independent submitted to pay tribute. What he +personally did in Spain, we are no longer able to trace in detail. +His achievements compelled Cato the elder, who, a generation after +Hamilcar's death, beheld in Spain the still fresh traces of his +working, to exclaim, notwithstanding all his hatred of the +Carthaginians, that no king was worthy to be named by the side of +Hamilcar Barcas. The results still show to us, at least in a general +way, what was accomplished by Hamilcar as a soldier and a statesman in +the last nine years of his life (518-526)--till in the flower of his +age, fighting bravely in the field of battle, he met his death like +Scharn-horst just as his plans were beginning to reach maturity--and +what during the next eight years (527-534) the heir of his office +and of his plans, his son-in-law Hasdrubal, did to prosecute, in the +spirit of the master, the work which Hamilcar had begun. Instead of +the small entrepot for trade, which, along with the protectorate over +Gades, was all that Carthage had hitherto possessed on the Spanish +coast, and which she had treated as a dependency of Libya, a +Carthaginian kingdom was founded in Spain by the generalship of +Hamilcar, and confirmed by the adroit statesmanship of Hasdrubal. +The fairest regions of Spain, the southern and eastern coasts, +became Phoenician provinces. Towns were founded; above all, "Spanish +Carthage" (Cartagena) was established by Hasdrubal on the only good +harbour along the south coast, containing the splendid "royal castle" +of its founder. Agriculture flourished, and, still more, mining in +consequence of the fortunate discovery of the silver-mines of +Cartagena, which a century afterwards had a yearly produce of more +than 360,000 pounds (36,000,000 sesterces). Most of the communities +as far as the Ebro became dependent on Carthage and paid tribute to +it. Hasdrubal skilfully by every means, even by intermarriages, +attached the chiefs to the interests of Carthage. Thus Carthage +acquired in Spain a rich market for its commerce and manufactures; +and not only did the revenues of the province sustain the army, but +there remained a balance to be remitted to Carthage and reserved for +future use. The province formed and at the same time trained the +army; regular levies took place in the territory subject to Carthage; +the prisoners of war were introduced into the Carthaginian corps. +Contingents and mercenaries, as many as were desired, were supplied +by the dependent communities. During his long life of warfare the +soldier found in the camp a second home, and found a substitute for +patriotism in fidelity to his standard and enthusiastic attachment +to his great leaders. Constant conflicts with the brave Iberians and +Celts created a serviceable infantry, to co-operate with the excellent +Numidian cavalry. + +The Carthaginian Government and the Barcides + +So far as Carthage was concerned, the Barcides were allowed to go on. +Since the citizens were not asked for regular contributions, but on +the contrary some benefit accrued to them and commerce recovered in +Spain what it had lost in Sicily and Sardinia, the Spanish war and the +Spanish army with its brilliant victories and important successes soon +became so popular that it was even possible in particular emergencies, +such as after Hamilcar's fall, to effect the despatch of considerable +reinforcements of African troops to Spain; and the governing party, +whether well or ill affected, had to maintain silence, or at any rate +to content themselves with complaining to each other or to their +friends in Rome regarding the demagogic officers and the mob. + +The Roman Government and the Barcides + +On the part of Rome too nothing took place calculated seriously to +alter the course of Spanish affairs. The first and chief cause of +the inactivity of the Romans was undoubtedly their very want of +acquaintance with the circumstances of the remote peninsula--which was +certainly also Hamilcar's main reason for selecting Spain and not, as +might otherwise have been possible, Africa itself for the execution of +his plan. The explanations with which the Carthaginian generals met +the Roman commissioners sent to Spain to procure information on the +spot, and their assurances that all this was done only to provide +the means of promptly paying the war-contributions to Rome, could not +possibly find belief in the senate. But they probably discerned +only the immediate object of Hamilcar's plans, viz. to procure +compensation in Spain for the tribute and the traffic of the islands +which Carthage had lost; and they deemed an aggressive war on the part +of the Carthaginians, and in particular an invasion of Italy from +Spain--as is evident both from express statements to that effect and +from the whole state of the case--as absolutely impossible. Many, of +course, among the peace party in Carthage saw further; but, whatever +they might think, they could hardly be much inclined to enlighten +their Roman friends as to the impending storm, which the Carthaginian +authorities had long been unable to prevent, for that step would +accelerate, instead of averting, the crisis; and even if they did so, +such denunciations proceeding from partisans would justly be received +with great caution at Rome. By degrees, certainly, the inconceivably +rapid and mighty extension of the Carthaginian power in Spain could +not but excite the observation and awaken the apprehensions of the +Romans. In fact, in the course of the later years before the outbreak +of war, they did attempt to set bounds to it. About the year 528, +mindful of their new-born Hellenism, they concluded an alliance +with the two Greek or semi-Greek towns on the east coast of Spain, +Zacynthus or Saguntum (Murviedro, not far from Valencia), and Emporiae +(Ampurias); and when they acquainted the Carthaginian general +Hasdrubal that they had done so, they at the same time warned him +not to push his conquests over the Ebro, with which he promised +compliance. This was not done by any means to prevent an invasion +of Italy by the land-route--no treaty could fetter the general who +undertook such an enterprise--but partly to set a limit to the +material power of the Spanish Carthaginians which began to be +dangerous, partly to secure the free communities between the Ebro +and the Pyrenees whom Rome thus took under her protection, a basis +of operations in case of its being necessary to land and make war in +Spain. In reference to the impending war with Carthage, which the +senate did not fail to see was inevitable, they hardly apprehended any +greater inconvenience from the events that had occurred in Spain than +that they might be compelled to send some legions thither, and that +the enemy would be somewhat better provided with money and soldiers +than, without Spain, he would have been; they were at any rate firmly +resolved, as the plan of the campaign of 536 shows and as indeed could +not but be the case, to begin and terminate the next war in Africa, +--a course which would at the same time decide the fate of Spain. +Further grounds for delay were suggested during the first years by the +instalments from Carthage, which a declaration of war would have cut +off, and then by the death of Hamilcar, which probably induced friends +and foes to think that his projects must have died with him. Lastly, +during the latter years when the senate certainly began, to apprehend +that it was not prudent long to delay the renewal of the war, there +was the very intelligible wish to dispose of the Gauls in the +valley of the Po in the first instance, for these, threatened with +extirpation, might be expected to avail themselves of any serious war +undertaken by Rome to allure the Transalpine tribes once more to +Italy, and to renew those Celtic migrations which were still fraught +with very great peril. That it was not regard either for the +Carthaginian peace party or for existing treaties which withheld the +Romans from action, is self-evident; moreover, if they desired war, +the Spanish feuds furnished at any moment a ready pretext. The +conduct of Rome in this view is by no means unintelligible; but as +little can it be denied that the Roman senate in dealing with this +matter displayed shortsightedness and slackness--faults which were +still more inexcusably manifested in their mode of dealing at the same +epoch with Gallic affairs. The policy of the Romans was always more +remarkable for tenacity, cunning, and consistency, than for grandeur +of conception or power of rapid organization--qualities in which the +enemies of Rome from Pyrrhus down to Mithradates often surpassed her. + +Hannibal + +Thus the smiles of fortune inaugurated the brilliantly conceived +project of Hamilcar. The means of war were acquired--a numerous army +accustomed to combat and to conquer, and a constantly replenished +exchequer; but, in order that the right moment might be discovered for +the struggle and that the right direction might be given to it, there +was wanted a leader. The man, whose head and heart had in a desperate +emergency and amidst a despairing people paved the way for their +deliverance, was no more, when it became possible to carry out his +design. Whether his successor Hasdrubal forbore to make the attack +because the proper moment seemed to him to have not yet come, or +whether, more a statesman than a general, he believed himself unequal +to the conduct of the enterprise, we are unable to determine. When, +at the beginning of 534, he fell by the hand of an assassin, the +Carthaginian officers of the Spanish army summoned to fill his place +Hannibal, the eldest son of Hamilcar. He was still a young man--born +in 505, and now, therefore, in his twenty-ninth year; but his had +already been a life of manifold experience. His first recollections +pictured to him his father fighting in a distant land and conquering +on Ercte; he had keenly shared that unconquered father's feelings on +the peace of Catulus, on the bitter return home, and throughout the +horrors of the Libyan war. While yet a boy, he had followed his +father to the camp; and he soon distinguished himself. His light +and firmly-knit frame made him an excellent runner and fencer, and a +fearless rider at full speed; the privation of sleep did not affect +him, and he knew like a soldier how to enjoy or to dispense with food. +Although his youth had been spent in the camp, he possessed such +culture as belonged to the Phoenicians of rank in his day; in Greek, +apparently after he had become a general, he made such progress under +the guidance of his confidant Sosilus of Sparta as to be able to +compose state papers in that language. As he grew up, he entered +the army of his father, to perform his first feats of arms under the +paternal eye and to see him fall in battle by his side. Thereafter he +had commanded the cavalry under his sister's husband, Hasdrubal, and +distinguished himself by brilliant personal bravery as well as by his +talents as a leader. The voice of his comrades now summoned him--the +tried, although youthful general--to the chief command, and he could +now execute the designs for which his father and his brother-in-law +had lived and died. He took up the inheritance, and he was worthy of +it. His contemporaries tried to cast stains of various sorts on his +character; the Romans charged him with cruelty, the Carthaginians with +covetousness; and it is true that he hated as only Oriental natures +know how to hate, and that a general who never fell short of money and +stores can hardly have been other than covetous. But though anger and +envy and meanness have written his history, they have not been able to +mar the pure and noble image which it presents. Laying aside wretched +inventions which furnish their own refutation, and some things which +his lieutenants, particularly Hannibal Monomachus and Mago the +Samnite, were guilty of doing in his name, nothing occurs in the +accounts regarding him which may not be justified under the +circumstances, and according to the international law, of the times; +and all agree in this, that he combined in rare perfection discretion +and enthusiasm, caution and energy. He was peculiarly marked by that +inventive craftiness, which forms one of the leading traits of the +Phoenician character; he was fond of taking singular and unexpected +routes; ambushes and stratagems of all sorts were familiar to him; +and he studied the character of his antagonists with unprecedented +care. By an unrivalled system of espionage--he had regular spies even +in Rome--he kept himself informed of the projects of the enemy; he +himself was frequently seen wearing disguises and false hair, in order +to procure information on some point or other. Every page of the +history of this period attests his genius in strategy; and his gifts +as a statesman were, after the peace with Rome, no less conspicuously +displayed in his reform of the Carthaginian constitution, and in the +unparalleled influence which as a foreign exile he exercised in the +cabinets of the eastern powers. The power which he wielded over men +is shown by his incomparable control over an army of various nations +and many tongues--an army which never in the worst times mutinied +against him. He was a great man; wherever he went, he riveted the +eyes of all. + +Rupture between Rome and Carthage + +Hannibal resolved immediately after his nomination (in the spring +of 534) to commence the war. The land of the Celts was still in a +ferment, and a war seemed imminent between Rome and Macedonia: he had +good reason now to throw off the mask without delay and to carry the +war whithersoever he pleased, before the Romans began it at their own +convenience with a descent on Africa. His army was soon ready to take +the field, and his exchequer was filled by some razzias on a great +scale; but the Carthaginian government showed itself far from desirous +of despatching the declaration of war to Rome. The place of +Hasdrubal, the patriotic national leader, was even more difficult +to fill in Carthage than that of Hasdrubal the general in Spain; the +peace party had now the ascendency at home, and persecuted the leaders +of the war party with political indictments. The rulers who had +already cut down and mutilated the plans of Hamilcar were by no means +inclined to allow the unknown young man, who now commanded in Spain, +to vent his youthful patriotism at the expense of the state; and +Hannibal hesitated personally to declare war in open opposition to the +legitimate authorities. He tried to provoke the Saguntines to break +the peace; but they contented themselves with making a complaint to +Rome. Then, when a commission from Rome appeared, he tried to +drive it to a declaration of war by treating it rudely; but the +commissioners saw how matters stood: they kept silence in Spain, +with a view to lodge complaints at Carthage and to report at home that +Hannibal was ready to strike and that war was imminent. Thus the time +passed away; accounts had already come of the death of Antigonus +Doson, who had suddenly died nearly at the same time with Hasdrubal; +in Cisalpine Gaul the establishment of fortresses was carried on by +the Romans with redoubled rapidity and energy; preparations were made +in Rome for putting a speedy end in the course of the next spring to +the insurrection in Illyria. Every day was precious; Hannibal formed +his resolution. He sent summary intimation to Carthage that the +Saguntines were making aggressions on the Torboletes, subjects of +Carthage, and he must therefore attack them; and without waiting for +a reply he began in the spring of 535 the siege of a town which was in +alliance with Rome, or, in other words, war against Rome. We may form +some idea of the views and counsels that would prevail in Carthage +from the impression produced in certain circles by York's +capitulation. All "respectable men," it was said, disapproved an +attack made "without orders"; there was talk of disavowal, of +surrendering the daring officer. But whether it was that dread of the +army and of the multitude nearer home outweighed in the Carthaginian +council the fear of Rome; or that they perceived the impossibility +of retracing such a step once taken; or that the mere -vis inertiae- +prevented any definite action, they resolved at length to resolve on +nothing and, if not to wage war, to let it nevertheless be waged. +Saguntum defended itself, as only Spanish towns know how to conduct +defence: had the Romans showed but a tithe of the energy of their +clients, and not trifled away their time during the eight months' +siege of Saguntum in the paltry warfare with Illyrian brigands, they +might, masters as they were of the sea and of places suitable for +landing, have spared themselves the disgrace of failing to grant the +protection which they had promised, and might perhaps have given a +different turn to the war. But they delayed, and the town was at +length taken by storm. When Hannibal sent the spoil for distribution +to Carthage, patriotism and zeal for war were roused in the hearts of +many who had hitherto felt nothing of the kind, and the distribution +cut off all prospect of coming to terms with Rome. Accordingly, when +after the destruction of Saguntum a Roman embassy appeared at Carthage +and demanded the surrender of the general and of the gerusiasts +present in the camp, and when the Roman spokesman, interrupting an +attempt at justification, broke off the discussion and, gathering +up his robe, declared that he held in it peace and war and that the +gerusia might choose between them, the gerusiasts mustered courage +to reply that they left it to the choice of the Roman; and when he +offered war, they accepted it (in the spring of 536). + +Preparations for Attacking Italy + +Hannibal, who had lost a whole year through the obstinate resistance +of the Saguntines, had as usual retired for the winter of 535-6 to +Cartagena, to make all his preparations on the one hand for the attack +of Italy, on the other for the defence of Spain and Africa; for, as +he, like his father and his brother-in-law, held the supreme command +in both countries, it devolved upon him to take measures also for the +protection of his native land. The whole mass of his forces amounted +to about 120,000 infantry and 16,000 cavalry; he had also 58 +elephants, 32 quinqueremes manned, and 18 not manned, besides the +elephants and vessels remaining at the capital. Excepting a few +Ligurians among the light troops, there were no mercenaries in this +Carthaginian army; the troops, with the exception of some Phoenician +squadrons, consisted mainly of the Carthaginian subjects called out +for service--Libyans and Spaniards. To insure the fidelity of the +latter the general, who knew the men with whom he had to deal, gave +them as a proof of his confidence a general leave of absence for the +whole winter; while, not sharing the narrow-minded exclusiveness of +Phoenician patriotism, he promised to the Libyans on his oath the +citizenship of Carthage, should they return to Africa victorious. +This mass of troops however was only destined in part for the +expedition to Italy. Some 20,000 men were sent to Africa, the smaller +portion of them proceeding to the capital and the Phoenician territory +proper, the majority to the western point of Africa. For the +protection of Spain 12,000 infantry, 2500 cavalry, and nearly the half +of the elephants were left behind, in addition to the fleet stationed +there; the chief command and the government of Spain were entrusted +to Hannibal's younger brother Hasdrubal. The immediate territory of +Carthage was comparatively weakly garrisoned, because the capital +afforded in case of need sufficient resources; in like manner a +moderate number of infantry sufficed for the present in Spain, where +new levies could be procured with ease, whereas a comparatively large +proportion of the arms specially African--horses and elephants--was +retained there. The chief care was bestowed in securing the +communications between Spain and Africa: with that view the fleet +remained in Spain, and western Africa was guarded by a very strong +body of troops. The fidelity of the troops was secured not only by +hostages collected from the Spanish communities and detained in the +stronghold of Saguntum, but by the removal of the soldiers from the +districts where they were raised to other quarters: the east African +militia were moved chiefly to Spain, the Spanish to Western Africa, +the West African to Carthage. Adequate provision was thus made for +defence. As to offensive measures, a squadron of 20 quinqueremes with +1000 soldiers on board was to sail from Carthage for the west coast of +Italy and to pillage it, and a second of 25 sail was, if possible, +to re-establish itself at Lilybaeum; Hannibal believed that he might +count upon the government making this moderate amount of exertion. +With the main army he determined in person to invade Italy; as was +beyond doubt part of the original plan of Hamilcar. A decisive attack +on Rome was only possible in Italy, as a similar attack on Carthage +was only possible in Libya; as certainly as Rome meant to begin her +next campaign with the latter, so certainly ought Carthage not to +confine herself at the outset either to any secondary object of +operations, such as Sicily, or to mere defence--defeat would in +any case involve equal destruction, but victory would not yield +equal fruit. + +Method of Attack + +But how could Italy be attacked? He might succeed in reaching the +peninsula by sea or by land; but if the project was to be no mere +desperate adventure, but a military expedition with a strategic aim, +a nearer basis for its operations was requisite than Spain or Africa. +Hannibal could not rely for support on a fleet and a fortified +harbour, for Rome was now mistress of the sea. As little did the +territory of the Italian confederacy present any tenable basis. If +in very different times, and in spite of Hellenic sympathies, it had +withstood the shock of Pyrrhus, it was not to be expected that it +would now fall to pieces on the appearance of the Phoenician general; +an invading army would without doubt be crushed between the network of +Roman fortresses and the firmly-consolidated confederacy. The land of +the Ligurians and Celts alone could be to Hannibal, what Poland was to +Napoleon in his very similar Russian campaigns. These tribes still +smarting under their scarcely ended struggle for independence, alien +in race from the Italians, and feeling their very existence endangered +by the chain of Roman fortresses and highways whose first coils were +even now being fastened around them, could not but recognize their +deliverers in the Phoenician army (which numbered in its ranks +numerous Spanish Celts), and would serve as a first support for it to +fall back upon--a source whence it might draw supplies and recruits. +Already formal treaties were concluded with the Boii and the Insubres, +by which they bound themselves to send guides to meet the Carthaginian +army, to procure for it a good reception from the cognate tribes and +supplies along its route, and to rise against the Romans as soon as +it should set foot on Italian ground. In fine, the relations of Rome +with the east led the Carthaginians to this same quarter. Macedonia, +which by the victory of Sellasia had re-established its sovereignty +in the Peloponnesus, was in strained relations with Rome; Demetrius of +Pharos, who had exchanged the Roman alliance for that of Macedonia +and had been dispossessed by the Romans, lived as an exile at the +Macedonian court, and the latter had refused the demand which the +Romans made for his surrender. If it was possible to combine the +armies from the Guadalquivir and the Karasu anywhere against the +common foe, it could only be done on the Po. Thus everything directed +Hannibal to Northern Italy; and that the eyes of his father had +already been turned to that quarter, is shown by the reconnoitring +party of Carthaginians, whom the Romans to their great surprise +encountered in Liguria in 524. + +The reason for Hannibal's preference of the land route to that by sea +is less obvious; for that neither the maritime supremacy of the Romans +nor their league with Massilia could have prevented a landing at +Genoa, is evident, and was shown by the sequel. Our authorities fail +to furnish us with several of the elements, on which a satisfactory +answer to this question would depend, and which cannot be supplied by +conjecture. Hannibal had to choose between two evils. Instead of +exposing himself to the unknown and less calculable contingencies of +a sea voyage and of naval war, it must have seemed to him the better +course to accept the assurances, which beyond doubt were seriously +meant, of the Boii and Insubres, and the more so that, even if the +army should land at Genoa, it would still have mountains to cross; +he could hardly know exactly, how much smaller are the difficulties +presented by the Apennines at Genoa than by the main chain of the +Alps. At any rate the route which he took was the primitive Celtic +route, by which many much larger hordes had crossed the Alps: the +ally and deliverer of the Celtic nation might without temerity +venture to traverse it. + +Departure of Hannibal + +So Hannibal collected the troops, destined for the grand army, in +Cartagena at the beginning of the favourable season; there were 90,000 +infantry and 12,000 cavalry, of whom about two-thirds were Africans +and a third Spaniards. The 37 elephants which they took with them +were probably destined rather to make an impression on the Gauls than +for serious warfare. Hannibal's infantry no longer needed, like that +led by Xanthippus, to shelter itself behind a screen of elephants, and +the general had too much sagacity to employ otherwise than sparingly +and with caution that two-edged weapon, which had as often occasioned +the defeat of its own as of the enemy's army. With this force the +general set out in the spring of 536 from Cartagena towards the Ebro. +He so far informed his soldiers as to the measures which he had taken, +particularly as to the connections he had entered into with the Celts +and the resources and object of the expedition, that even the common +soldier, whose military instincts lengthened war had developed, felt +the clear perception and the steady hand of his leader, and followed +him with implicit confidence to the unknown and distant land; and the +fervid address, in which he laid before them the position of their +country and the demands of the Romans, the slavery certainly reserved +for their dear native land, and the disgrace of the imputation that +they could surrender their beloved general and his staff, kindled a +soldierly and patriotic ardour in the hearts of all. + +Position of Rome +Their Uncertain Plans for War + +The Roman state was in a plight, such as may occur even in firmly- +established and sagacious aristocracies. The Romans knew doubtless +what they wished to accomplish, and they took various steps; but +nothing was done rightly or at the right time. They might long ago +have been masters of the gates of the Alps and have settled matters +with the Celts; the latter were still formidable, and the former were +open. They might either have had friendship, with Carthage, had they +honourably kept the peace of 513, or, had they not been disposed for +peace, they might long ago have conquered Cartilage: the peace was +practically broken by the seizure of Sardinia, and they allowed the +power of Carthage to recover itself undisturbed for twenty years. +There was no great difficulty in maintaining peace with Macedonia; but +they had forfeited her friendship for a trifling gain. There must +have been a lack of some leading statesman to take a connected and +commanding view of the position of affairs; on all hands either too +little was done, or too much. Now the war began at a time and at a +place which they had allowed the enemy to determine; and, with all +their well-founded conviction of military superiority, they were +perplexed as to the object to be aimed at and the course to be +followed in their first operations. They had at their disposal more +than half a million of serviceable soldiers; the Roman cavalry alone +was less good, and relatively less numerous, than the Carthaginian, +the former constituting about a tenth, the latter an eighth, of the +whole number of troops taking the field. None of the states affected +by the war had any fleet corresponding to the Roman fleet of 220 +quinqueremes, which had just returned from the Adriatic to the western +sea. The natural and proper application of this crushing superiority +of force was self-evident. It had been long settled that the war +ought to be opened with a landing in Africa. The subsequent turn +taken by events had compelled the Romans to embrace in their scheme +of the war a simultaneous landing in Spain, chiefly to prevent the +Spanish army from appearing before the walls of Carthage. In +accordance with this plan they ought above all, when the war had been +practically opened by Hannibal's attack on Saguntum in the beginning +of 535, to have thrown a Roman army into Spain before the town fell; +but they neglected the dictates of interest no less than of honour. +For eight months Saguntum held out in vain: when the town passed into +other hands, Rome had not even equipped her armament for landing in +Spain. The country, however, between the Ebro and the Pyrenees was +still free, and its tribes were not only the natural allies of the +Romans, but had also, like the Saguntines, received from Roman +emissaries promises of speedy assistance. Catalonia may be reached by +sea from Italy in not much longer time than from Cartagena by and: had +the Romans started, like the Phoenicians, in April, after the formal +declaration of war that had taken place in the interval, Hannibal +might have encountered the Roman legions on the line of the Ebro. + +Hannibal on the Ebro + +At length, certainly, the greater part of the army and of the fleet +was got ready for the expedition to Africa, and the second consul +Publius Cornelius Scipio was ordered to the Ebro; but he took time, +and when an insurrection broke out on the Po, he allowed the army that +was ready for embarkation to be employed there, and formed new legions +for the Spanish expedition. So although Hannibal encountered on the +Ebro very vehement resistance, it proceeded only from the natives; +and, as under existing circumstances time was still more precious to +him than the blood of his men, he surmounted the opposition after some +months with the loss of a fourth part of his army, and reached the +line of the Pyrenees. That the Spanish allies of Rome would be +sacrificed a second time by that delay might have been as certainly +foreseen, as the delay itself might have been easily avoided; but +probably even the expedition to Italy itself, which in the spring of +536 must not have been anticipated in Rome, would have been averted +by the timely appearance of the Romans in Spain. Hannibal had by no +means the intention of sacrificing his Spanish "kingdom," and throwing +himself like a desperado on Italy. The time which he had spent in +the siege of Saguntum and in the reduction of Catalonia, and the +considerable corps which he left behind for the occupation of the +newly-won territory between the Ebro and the Pyrenees, sufficiently +show that, had a Roman army disputed the possession of Spain with him, +he would not have been content to withdraw from it; and--which was the +main point--had the Romans been able to delay his departure from Spain +for but a few weeks, winter would have closed the passes of the Alps +before Hannibal reached them, and the African expedition would have +departed without hindrance for its destination. + +Hannibal in Gaul +Scipio at Massilia +Passage of the Rhone + +Arrived at the Pyrenees, Hannibal sent home a portion of his troops; +a measure which he had resolved on from the first with the view of +showing to the soldiers how confident their general was of success, +and of checking the feeling that his enterprise was one of those from +which there is no return home. With an army of 50,000 infantry and +9000 cavalry, entirely veteran soldiers, he crossed the Pyrenees +without difficulty, and then took the coast route by Narbonne and +Nimes through the Celtic territory, which was opened to the army +partly by the connections previously formed, partly by Carthaginian +gold, partly by arms. It was not till it arrived in the end of July +at the Rhone opposite Avignon, that a serious resistance appeared to +await it. The consul Scipio, who on his voyage to Spain had landed at +Massilia (about the end of June), had there been informed that he had +come too late and that Hannibal had crossed not only the Ebro but the +Pyrenees. On receiving these accounts, which appear to have first +opened the eyes of the Romans to the course and the object of +Hannibal, the consul had temporarily given up his expedition to Spain, +and had resolved in connection with the Celtic tribes of that region, +who were under the influence of the Massiliots and thereby under that +of Rome, to receive the Phoenicians on the Rhone, and to obstruct +their passage of the river and their march into Italy. Fortunately +for Hannibal, opposite to the point at which he meant to cross, there +lay at the moment only the general levy of the Celts, while the consul +himself with his army of 22,000 infantry and 2000 horse was still in +Massilia, four days' march farther down the stream. The messengers of +the Gallic levy hastened to inform him. It was the object of Hannibal +to convey his army with its numerous cavalry and elephants across the +rapid stream under the eyes of the enemy, and before the arrival of +Scipio; and he possessed not a single boat. Immediately by his +directions all the boats belonging to the numerous navigators of +the Rhone in the neighbourhood were bought up at any price, and the +deficiency of boats was supplied by rafts made from felled trees; +and in fact the whole numerous army could be conveyed over in one day. +While this was being done, a strong division under Hanno, son of +Bomilcar, proceeded by forced marches up the stream till they reached +a suitable point for crossing, which they found undefended, situated +two short days' march above Avignon. Here they crossed the river on +hastily constructed rafts, with the view of then moving down on the +left bank and taking the Gauls, who were barring the passage of the +main army, in the rear. On the morning of the fifth day after they +had reached the Rhone, and of the third after Hanno's departure, the +smoke-signals of the division that had been detached rose up on the +opposite bank and gave to Hannibal the anxiously awaited summons for +the crossing. Just as the Gauls, seeing that the enemy's fleet of +boats began to move, were hastening to occupy the bank, their camp +behind them suddenly burst into flames. Surprised and divided, they +were unable either to withstand the attack or to resist the passage, +and they dispersed in hasty flight. + +Scipio meanwhile held councils of war in Massilia as to the proper +mode of occupying the ferries of the Rhone, and was not induced to +move even by the urgent messages that came from the leaders of the +Celts. He distrusted their accounts, and he contented himself with +detaching a weak Roman cavalry division to reconnoitre on the left +bank of the Rhone. This detachment found the whole enemy's army +already transported to that bank, and occupied in bringing over the +elephants which alone remained on the right bank of the stream; and, +after it had warmly engaged some Carthaginian squadrons in the +district of Avignon, merely for the purpose of enabling it to complete +its reconnaissance--the first encounter of the Romans and Phoenicians +in this war--it hastily returned to report at head-quarters. Scipio +now started in the utmost haste with all his troops for Avignon; but, +when he arrived there, even the Carthaginian cavalry that had been +left behind to cover the passage of the elephants had already taken +its departure three days ago, and nothing remained for the consul but +to return with weary troops and little credit to Massilia, and to +revile the "cowardly flight" of the Punic leader. Thus the Romans had +for the third time through pure negligence abandoned their allies and +an important line of defence; and not only so, but by passing after +this first blunder from mistaken slackness to mistaken haste, and by +still attempting without any prospect of success to do what might have +been done with so much certainty a few days before, they let the real +means of repairing their error pass out of their hands. When once +Hannibal was in the Celtic territory on the Roman side of the Rhone, +he could no longer be prevented from reaching the Alps; but if Scipio +had at the first accounts proceeded with his whole army to Italy--the +Po might have been reached by way of Genoa in seven days--and had +united with his corps the weak divisions in the valley of the Po, +he might have at least prepared a formidable reception for the enemy. +But not only did he lose precious time in the march to Avignon, but, +capable as otherwise he was, he wanted either the political courage +or the military sagacity to change the destination of his corps as the +change of circumstances required. He sent the main body under his +brother Gnaeus to Spain, and returned himself with a few men to Pisae. + +Hannibal's Passage of the Alps + +Hannibal, who after the passage of the Rhone had in a great assembly +of the army explained to his troops the object of his expedition, and +had brought forward the Celtic chief Magilus himself, who had arrived +from the valley of the Po, to address the army through an interpreter, +meanwhile continued his march to the passes of the Alps without +obstruction. Which of these passes he should choose, could not be +at once determined either by the shortness of the route or by the +disposition of the inhabitants, although he had no time to lose +either in circuitous routes or in combat. He had necessarily to +select a route which should be practicable for his baggage, his +numerous cavalry, and his elephants, and in which an army could +procure sufficient means of subsistence either by friendship or by +force; for, although Hannibal had made preparations to convey +provisions after him on beasts of burden, these could only meet for +a few days the wants of an army which still, notwithstanding its great +losses, amounted to nearly 50,000 men. Leaving out of view the coast +route, which Hannibal abstained from taking not because the Romans +barred it, but because it would have led him away from his +destination, there were only two routes of note leading across the +Alps from Gaul to Italy in ancient times:(3) the pass of the Cottian +Alps (Mont Genevre) leading into the territory of the Taurini (by Susa +or Fenestrelles to Turin), and that of the Graian Alps (the Little St. +Bernard) leading into the territory of the Salassi (to Aosta and +Ivrea). The former route is the shorter; but, after leaving the +valley of the Rhone, it passes by the impracticable and unfruitful +river-valleys of the Drac, the Romanche, and the upper Durance, +through a difficult and poor mountain country, and requires at least +a seven or eight days' mountain march. A military road was first +constructed there by Pompeius, to furnish a shorter communication +between the provinces of Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul. + +The route by the Little St. Bernard is somewhat longer; but after +crossing the first Alpine wall that forms the eastern boundary of +the Rhone valley, it keeps by the valley of the upper Isere, which +stretches from Grenoble by way of Chambery up to the very foot of the +Little St. Bernard or, in other words, of the chain of the higher +Alps, and is the broadest, most fertile and most populous of all the +Alpine valleys. Moreover, the pass of the Little St. Bernard, while +not the lowest of all the natural passes of the Alps, is by far the +easiest; although no artificial road was constructed there, an +Austrian corps with artillery crossed the Alps by that route in 1815. +And lastly this route, which only leads over two mountain ridges, has +been from the earliest times the great military route from the Celtic +to the Italian territory. The Carthaginian army had thus in fact no +choice. It was a fortunate coincidence, but not a motive influencing +the decision of Hannibal, that the Celtic tribes allied with him in +Italy inhabited the country up to the Little St. Bernard, while +the route by Mont Genevre would have brought him at first into the +territory of the Taurini, who were from ancient times at feud with +the Insubres. + +So the Carthaginian army marched in the first instance up the Rhone +towards the valley of the upper Isere, not, as might be presumed, by +the nearest route up the left bank of the lower Isere from Valence to +Grenoble, but through the "island" of the Allobroges, the rich, and +even then thickly peopled, low ground, which is enclosed on the north +and west by the Rhone, on the south by the Isere, and on the east +by the Alps. The reason of this movement was, that the nearest route +would have led them through an impracticable and poor mountain- +country, while the "island" was level and extremely fertile, and was +separated by but a single mountain-wall from the valley of the upper +Isere. The march along the Rhone into, and across, the "island" +to the foot of the Alpine wall was accomplished in sixteen days: it +presented little difficulty, and in the "island" itself Hannibal +dexterously availed himself of a feud that had broken out between two +chieftains of the Allobroges to attach to his interests one of the +most important of the chiefs, who not only escorted the Carthaginians +through the whole plain, but also supplied them with provisions, and +furnished the soldiers with arms, clothing, and shoes. But the +expedition narrowly escaped destruction at the crossing of the first +Alpine chain, which rises precipitously like a wall, and over which +only a single available path leads (over the Mont du Chat, near the +hamlet Chevelu). The population of the Allobroges had strongly +occupied the pass. Hannibal learned the state of matters early enough +to avoid a surprise, and encamped at the foot, until after sunset the +Celts dispersed to the houses of the nearest town; he then seized the +pass in the night Thus the summit was gained; but on the extremely +steep path, which leads down from the summit to the lake of Bourget, +the mules and horses slipped and fell. The assaults, which at +suitable points were made by the Celts upon the army in march, were +very annoying, not so much of themselves as by reason of the turmoil +which they occasioned; and when Hannibal with his light troops threw +himself from above on the Allobroges, these were chased doubtless +without difficulty and with heavy loss down the mountain, but the +confusion, in the train especially, was further increased by the noise +of the combat. So, when after much loss he arrived in the plain, +Hannibal immediately attacked the nearest town, to chastise and +terrify the barbarians, and at the same time to repair as far as +possible his loss in sumpter animals and horses. After a day's repose +in the pleasant valley of Chambery the army continued its march up the +Isere, without being detained either by want of supplies or by attacks +so long as the valley continued broad and fertile. It was only when +on the fourth day they entered the territory of the Ceutrones (the +modern Tarantaise) where the valley gradually contracts, that they had +again greater occasion to be on their guard. The Ceutrones received +the army at the boundary of their country (somewhere about Conflans) +with branches and garlands, furnished cattle for slaughter, guides, +and hostages; and the Carthaginians marched through their territory +as through a friendly land. When, however, the troops had reached the +very foot of the Alps, at the point where the path leaves the Isere, +and winds by a narrow and difficult defile along the brook Reclus +up to the summit of the St. Bernard, all at once the militia of the +Ceutrones appeared partly in the rear of the army, partly on the +crests of the rocks enclosing the pass on the right and left, in +the hope of cutting off the train and baggage. But Hannibal, whose +unerring tact had seen in all those advances made by the Ceutrones +nothing but the design of procuring at once immunity for their +territory and a rich spoil, had in expectation of such an attack +sent forward the baggage and cavalry, and covered the march with all +his infantry. By this means he frustrated the design of the enemy, +although he could not prevent them from moving along the mountain +slopes parallel to the march of the infantry, and inflicting very +considerable loss by hurling or rolling down stones. At the "white +stone" (still called -la roche blanche-), a high isolated chalk cliff +standing at the foot of the St. Bernard and commanding the ascent to +it, Hannibal encamped with his infantry, to cover the march of the +horses and sumpter animals laboriously climbing upward throughout +the whole night; and amidst continual and very bloody conflicts he at +length on the following day reached the summit of the pass. There, +on the sheltered table-land which spreads to the extent of two and a +half miles round a little lake, the source of the Doria, he allowed +the army to rest. Despondency had begun to seize the minds of the +soldiers. The paths that were becoming ever more difficult, the +provisions failing, the marching through defiles exposed to the +constant attacks of foes whom they could not reach, the sorely thinned +ranks, the hopeless situation of the stragglers and the wounded, the +object which appeared chimerical to all save the enthusiastic leader +and his immediate staff--all these things began to tell even on the +African and Spanish veterans. But the confidence of the general +remained ever the same; numerous stragglers rejoined the ranks; the +friendly Gauls were near; the watershed was reached, and the view of +the descending path, so gladdening to the mountain-pilgrim, opened up: +after a brief repose they prepared with renewed courage for the last +and most difficult undertaking, --the downward march. In it the army +was not materially annoyed by the enemy; but the advanced season--it +was already the beginning of September--occasioned troubles in the +descent, equal to those which had been occasioned in the ascent by the +attacks of the adjoining tribes. On the steep and slippery mountain- +slope along the Doria, where the recently-fallen snow had concealed +and obliterated the paths, men and animals went astray and slipped, +and were precipitated into the chasms. In fact, towards the end of +the first day's march they reached a portion of the path about 200 +paces in length, on which avalanches are constantly descending from +the precipices of the Cramont that overhang it, and where in cold +summers snow lies throughout the year. The infantry passed over; +but the horses and elephants were unable to cross the smooth masses +of ice, on which there lay but a thin covering of freshly-fallen snow, +and the general encamped above the difficult spot with the baggage, +the cavalry, and the elephants. On the following day the horsemen, +by zealous exertion in entrenching, prepared a path for horses and +beasts of burden; but it was not until after a further labour of three +days with constant reliefs, that the half-famished elephants could at +length be conducted over. In this way the whole army was after a +delay of four days once more united; and after a further three days' +march through the valley of the Doria, which was ever widening and +displaying greater fertility, and whose inhabitants the Salassi, +clients of the Insubres, hailed in the Carthaginians their allies +and deliverers, the army arrived about the middle of September in the +plain of Ivrea, where the exhausted troops were quartered in the +villages, that by good nourishment and a fortnight's repose they might +recruit from their unparalleled hardships. Had the Romans placed a +corps, as they might have done, of 30,000 men thoroughly fresh and +ready for action somewhere near Turin, and immediately forced on a +battle, the prospects of Hannibal's great plan would have been very +dubious; fortunately for him, once more, they were not where they +should have been, and they did not disturb the troops of the enemy +in the repose which was so greatly needed.(4) + +Results + +The object was attained, but at a heavy cost. Of the 50,000 +veteran infantry and the 9000 cavalry, which the army had numbered +at the crossing of the Pyrenees, more than half had been sacrificed +in the conflicts, the marches, and the passages of the rivers. +Hannibal now, according to his own statement, numbered not more +than 20,000 infantry--of whom three-fifths were Libyans and two-fifths +Spaniards--and 6000 cavalry, part of them doubtless dismounted: the +comparatively small loss of the latter proclaimed the excellence of +the Numidian cavalry no less than the consideration of the general +in making a sparing use of troops so select. A march of 526 miles or +about 33 moderate days' marching--the continuance and termination of +which were disturbed by no special misfortunes on a great scale that +could not be anticipated, but were, on the other hand, rendered +possible only by incalculable pieces of good fortune and still more +incalculable blunders of the enemy, and which yet not only cost such +sacrifices, but so fatigued and demoralized the army, that it needed +a prolonged rest in order to be again ready for action--is a military +operation of doubtful value, and it may be questioned whether Hannibal +himself regarded it as successful. Only in so speaking we may not +pronounce an absolute censure on the general: we see well the defects +of the plan of operations pursued by him, but we cannot determine +whether he was in a position to foresee them--his route lay through +an unknown land of barbarians--or whether any other plan, such as that +of taking the coast road or of embarking at Cartagena or at Carthage, +would have exposed him to fewer dangers. The cautious and masterly +execution of the plan in its details at any rate deserves our +admiration, and to whatever causes the result may have been due +--whether it was due mainly to the favour of fortune, or mainly to +the skill of the general--the grand idea of Hamilcar, that of taking +up the conflict with Rome in Italy, was now realized. It was his +genius that projected this expedition; and as the task of Stein and +Scharnhorst was more difficult and nobler than that of York and +Blucher, so the unerring tact of historical tradition has always dwelt +on the last link in the great chain of preparatory steps, the passage +of the Alps, with a greater admiration than on the battles of the +Trasimene lake and of the plain of Cannae. + +Notes for Chapter IV + +1. Our accounts as to these events are not only imperfect but one- +sided, for of course it was the version of the Carthaginian peace +party which was adopted by the Roman annalists. Even, however, in +our fragmentary and confused accounts (the most important are those of +Fabius, in Polyb. iii. 8; Appian. Hisp. 4; and Diodorus, xxv. p. 567) +the relations of the parties appear dearly enough. Of the vulgar +gossip by which its opponents sought to blacken the "revolutionary +combination" (--etaireia ton ponerotaton anthropon--) specimens may +be had in Nepos (Ham. 3), to which it will be difficult perhaps +to find a parallel. + +2. The Barca family conclude the most important state treaties, and +the ratification of the governing board is a formality (Pol. iii. 21). +Rome enters her protest before them and before the senate (Pol. iii. +15). The position of the Barca family towards Carthage in many points +resembles that of the Princes of Orange towards the States-General. + +3. It was not till the middle ages that the route by Mont Cenis became +a military road. The eastern passes, such as that over the Poenine +Alps or the Great St. Bernard--which, moreover, was only converted +into a military road by Caesar and Augustus--are, of course, in this +case out of the question. + +4. The much-discussed questions of topography, connected with this +celebrated expedition, may be regarded as cleared up and substantially +solved by the masterly investigations of Messrs. Wickham and Cramer. +Respecting the chronological questions, which likewise present +difficulties, a few remarks may be exceptionally allowed to have +a place here. + +When Hannibal reached the summit of the St. Bernard, "the peaks were +already beginning to be thickly covered with snow" (Pol. iii. 54), +snow lay on the route (Pol. iii. 55), perhaps for the most part snow +not freshly fallen, but proceeding from the fall of avalanches. At +the St. Bernard winter begins about Michaelmas, and the falling of +snow in September; when the Englishmen already mentioned crossed +the mountain at the end of August, they found almost no snow on +their road, but the slopes on both sides were covered with it. +Hannibal thus appears to have arrived at the pass in the beginning +of September; which is quite compatible with the statement that +he arrived there "when the winter was already approaching" +--for --sunaptein ten tes pleiados dusin-- (Pol. iii. 54) does +not mean anything more than this, least of all, the day of the +heliacal setting of the Pleiades (about 26th October); comp. +Ideler, Chronol. i. 241. + +If Hannibal reached Italy nine days later, and therefore about the +middle of September, there is room for the events that occurred from +that time up to the battle of the Trebia towards the end of December +(--peri cheimerinas tropas--, Pol. iii. 72), and in particular for +the transporting of the army destined for Africa from Lilybaeum to +Placentia. This hypothesis further suits the statement that the +day of departure was announced at an assembly of the army --upo ten +earinen oran-- (Pol. iii. 34), and therefore towards the end of March, +and that the march lasted five (or, according to App. vii. 4, six) +months. If Hannibal was thus at the St. Bernard in the beginning of +September, he must have reached the Rhone at the beginning of August +--for he spent thirty days in making his way from the Rhone thither +--and in that case it is evident that Scipio, who embarked at +the beginning of summer (Pol. iii. 41) and so at latest by the +commencement of June, must have spent much time on the voyage or +remained for a considerable period in singular inaction at Massilia. + + + + +Chapter V + +The War under Hannibal to the Battle of Cannae + +Hannibal and the Italian Celts + +The appearance of the Carthaginian army on the Roman side of the Alps +changed all at once the situation of affairs, and disconcerted the +Roman plan of war. Of the two principal armies of the Romans, one had +landed in Spain and was already engaged with the enemy there: it was +no longer possible to recall it. The second, which was destined +for Africa under the command of the consul Tiberius Sempronius, was +fortunately still in Sicily: in this instance Roman delay for once +proved useful. Of the two Carthaginian squadrons destined for Italy +and Sicily, the first was dispersed by a storm, and some of its +vessels were captured by the Syracusans near Messana; the second had +endeavoured in vain to surprise Lilybaeum, and had thereafter been +defeated in a naval engagement off that port. But the continuance of +the enemy's squadrons in the Italian waters was so inconvenient, that +the consul determined, before crossing to Africa, to occupy the small +islands around Sicily, and to drive away the Carthaginian fleet +operating against Italy. The summer passed away in the conquest of +Melita, in the chase after the enemy's squadron, which he expected +to find at the Lipari islands while it had made a descent near Vibo +(Monteleone) and pillaged the Bruttian coast, and, lastly, in gaining +information as to a suitable spot for landing on the coast of Africa; +so that the army and fleet were still at Lilybaeum, when orders +arrived from the senate that they should return with all possible +speed for the defence of their homes. + +In this way, while the two great Roman armies, each in itself equal +in numbers to that of Hannibal, remained at a great distance from the +valley of the Po, the Romans were quite unprepared for an attack in +that quarter. No doubt a Roman army was there, in consequence of +an insurrection that had broken out among the Celts even before the +arrival of the Carthaginian army. The founding of the two Roman +strongholds of Placentia and Cremona, each of which received 6000 +colonists, and more especially the preparations for the founding of +Mutina in the territory of the Boii, had already in the spring of 536 +driven the Boii to revolt before the time concerted with Hannibal; +and the Insubres had immediately joined them. The colonists already +settled in the territory of Mutina, suddenly attacked, took refuge in +the town. The praetor Lucius Manlius, who held the chief command at +Ariminum, hastened with his single legion to relieve the blockaded +colonists; but he was surprised in the woods, and no course was left +to him after sustaining great loss but to establish himself upon a +hill and to submit to a siege there on the part of the Boii, till +a second legion sent from Rome under the praetor Lucius Atilius +succeeded in relieving army and town, and in suppressing for the +moment the Gaulish insurrection. This premature rising of the Boii +on the one hand, by delaying the departure of Scipio for Spain, +essentially promoted the plans of Hannibal; on the other hand, but +for its occurrence he would have found the valley of the Po entirely +unoccupied, except the fortresses. But the Roman corps, whose two +severely thinned legions did not number 20,000 soldiers, had enough +to do to keep the Celts in check, and did not think of occupying the +passes of the Alps. The Romans only learned that the passes were +threatened, when in August the consul Publius Scipio returned without +his army from Massilia to Italy, and perhaps even then they gave +little heed to the matter, because, forsooth, the foolhardy attempt +would be frustrated by the Alps alone. Thus at the decisive hour and +on the decisive spot there was not even a Roman outpost. Hannibal had +full time to rest his army, to capture after a three days' siege the +capital of the Taurini which closed its gates against him, and to +induce or terrify into alliance with him all the Ligurian and Celtic +communities in the upper basin of the Po, before Scipio, who had +taken the command in the Po valley, encountered him. + +Scipio in the Valley of the Po +Conflict on the Ticino +The Armies at Placentia + +Scipio, who, with an army considerably smaller and very weak in +cavalry, had the difficult task of preventing the advance of the +superior force of the enemy and of repressing the movements of +insurrection which everywhere were spreading among the Celts, had +crossed the Po presumably at Placentia, and marched up the river to +meet the enemy, while Hannibal after the capture of Turin marched +downwards to relieve the Insubres and Boii. In the plain between +the Ticino and the Sesia, not far from Vercelli, the Roman cavalry, +which had advanced with the light infantry to make a reconnaissance +in force, encountered the Punic cavalry sent out for the like purpose, +both led by the generals in person. Scipio accepted battle when +offered, notwithstanding the superiority of the enemy; but his light +infantry, which was placed in front of the cavalry, dispersed before +the charge of the heavy cavalry of the enemy, and while the latter +engaged the masses of the Roman horsemen in front, the light Numidian +cavalry, after having pushed aside the broken ranks of the enemy's +infantry, took the Roman horsemen in flank and rear. This decided +the combat. The loss of the Romans was very considerable. The consul +himself, who made up as a soldier for his deficiencies as a general, +received a dangerous wound, and owed his safety entirely to the +devotion of his son of seventeen, who, courageously dashing into the +ranks of the enemy, compelled his squadron to follow him and rescued +his father. Scipio, enlightened by this combat as to the strength of +the enemy, saw the error which he had committed in posting himself, +with a weaker army, in the plain with his back to the river, and +resolved to return to the right bank of the Po under the eyes of his +antagonist. As the operations became contracted into a narrower space +and his illusions regarding Roman invincibility departed, he recovered +the use of his considerable military talents, which the adventurous +boldness of his youthful opponent's plans had for a moment paralyzed. +While Hannibal was preparing for a pitched battle, Scipio by a rapidly +projected and steadily executed march succeeded in reaching the right +bank of the river which in an evil hour he had abandoned, and broke +down the bridge over the Po behind his army; the Roman detachment of +600 men charged to cover the process of destruction were, however, +intercepted and made prisoners. But as the upper course of the river +was in the hands of Hannibal, he could not be prevented from marching +up the stream, crossing on a bridge of boats, and in a few days +confronting the Roman army on the right bank. The latter had taken +a position in the plain in front of Placentia; but the mutiny of a +Celtic division in the Roman camp, and the Gallic insurrection +breaking out afresh all around, compelled the consul to evacuate the +plain and to post himself on the hills behind the Trebia. This was +accomplished without notable loss, because the Numidian horsemen sent +in pursuit lost their time in plundering, and setting fire to, the +abandoned camp. In this strong position, with his left wing resting +on the Apennines, his right on the Po and the fortress of Placentia, +and covered in front by the Trebia--no inconsiderable stream at that +season--Scipio was unable to save the rich stores of Clastidium +(Casteggio) from which in this position he was cut off by the army of +the enemy; nor was he able to avert the insurrectionary movement on +the part of almost all the Gallic cantons, excepting the Cenomani who +were friendly to Rome; but he completely checked the progress of +Hannibal, and compelled him to pitch his camp opposite to that of +the Romans. Moreover, the position taken up by Scipio, and the +circumstance of the Cenomani threatening the borders of the Insubres, +hindered the main body of the Gallic insurgents from directly joining +the enemy, and gave to the second Roman army, which meanwhile had +arrived at Ariminum from Lilybaeum, the opportunity of reaching +Placentia through the midst of the insurgent country without material +hindrance, and of uniting itself with the army of the Po. + +Battle on the Trebia + +Scipio had thus solved his difficult task completely and brilliantly. +The Roman army, now close on 40,000 strong, and though not a match for +its antagonist in cavalry, at least equal in infantry, had simply to +remain in its existing position, in order to compel the enemy either +to attempt in the winter season the passage of the river and an attack +upon the camp, or to suspend his advance and to test the fickle temper +of the Gauls by the burden of winter quarters. Clear, however, as +this was, it was no less clear that it was now December, and that +under the course proposed the victory might perhaps be gained by Rome, +but would not be gained by the consul Tiberius Sempronius, who held +the sole command in consequence of Scipio's wound, and whose year of +office expired in a few months. Hannibal knew the man, and neglected +no means of alluring him to fight. The Celtic villages that had +remained faithful to the Romans were cruelly laid waste, and, when +this brought on a conflict between the cavalry, Hannibal allowed his +opponents to boast of the victory. Soon thereafter on a raw rainy +day a general engagement came on, unlocked for by the Romans. From +the earliest hour of the morning the Roman light troops had been +skirmishing with the light cavalry of the enemy; the latter slowly +retreated, and the Romans eagerly pursued it through the deeply +swollen Trebia to follow up the advantage which they had gained. +Suddenly the cavalry halted; the Roman vanguard found itself face to +face with the army of Hannibal drawn up for battle on a field chosen +by himself; it was lost, unless the main body should cross the stream +with all speed to its support. Hungry, weary, and wet, the Romans +came on and hastened to form in order of battle, the cavalry, as +usual, on the wings, the infantry in the centre. The light troops, +who formed the vanguard on both sides, began the combat: but the +Romans had already almost exhausted their missiles against the +cavalry, and immediately gave way. In like manner the cavalry gave +way on the wings, hard pressed by the elephants in front, and +outflanked right and left by the far more numerous Carthaginian horse. +But the Roman infantry proved itself worthy of its name: at the +beginning of the battle it fought with very decided superiority +against the infantry of the enemy, and even when the repulse of the +Roman horse allowed the enemy's cavalry and light-armed troops to turn +their attacks against the Roman infantry, the latter, although ceasing +to advance, obstinately maintained its ground. At this stage a select +Carthaginian band of 1000 infantry, and as many horsemen, under the +leadership of Mago, Hannibal's youngest brother, suddenly emerged from +an ambush in the rear of the Roman army, and fell upon the densely +entangled masses. The wings of the army and the rear ranks of the +Roman centre were broken up and scattered by this attack, while the +first division, 10,000 men strong, in compact array broke through the +Carthaginian line, and made a passage for itself obliquely through the +midst of the enemy, inflicting great loss on the opposing infantry and +more especially on the Gallic insurgents. This brave body, pursued +but feebly, thus reached Placentia. The remaining mass was for the +most part slaughtered by the elephants and light troops of the enemy +in attempting to cross the river: only part of the cavalry and some +divisions of infantry were able, by wading through the river, to gain +the camp whither the Carthaginians did not follow them, and thus they +too reached Placentia.(1) Few battles confer more honour on the Roman +soldier than this on the Trebia, and few at the same time furnish +graver impeachment of the general in command; although the candid +judge will not forget that a commandership in chief expiring on a +definite day was an unmilitary institution, and that figs cannot be +reaped from thistles. The victory came to be costly even to the +victors. Although the loss in the battle fell chiefly on the Celtic +insurgents, yet a multitude of the veteran soldiers of Hannibal died +afterwards from diseases engendered by that raw and wet winter day, +and all the elephants perished except one. + +Hannibal Master of Northern Italy + +The effect of this first victory of the invading army was, that the +national insurrection now spread and assumed shape without hindrance +throughout the Celtic territory. The remains of the Roman army of +the Po threw themselves into the fortresses of Placentia and Cremona: +completely cut off from home, they were obliged to procure their +supplies by way of the river. The consul Tiberius Sempronius only +escaped, as if by miracle, from being taken prisoner, when with a +weak escort of cavalry he went to Rome on account of the elections. +Hannibal, who would not hazard the health of his troops by further +marches at that inclement season, bivouacked for the winter where he +was; and, as a serious attempt on the larger fortresses would have +led to no result, contented himself with annoying the enemy by attacks +on the river port of Placentia and other minor Roman positions. He +employed himself mainly in organizing the Gallic insurrection: more +than 60,000 foot soldiers and 4000 horsemen from the Celts are said +to have joined his army. + +Military and Political Position of Hannibal + +No extraordinary exertions were made in Rome for the campaign of 537. +The senate thought, and not unreasonably, that, despite the lost +battle, their position was by no means fraught with serious danger. +Besides the coast garrisons, which were despatched to Sardinia, +Sicily, and Tarentum, and the reinforcements which were sent to Spain, +the two new consuls Gaius Flaminius and Gnaeus Servilius obtained +only as many men as were necessary to restore the four legions to +their full complement; additions were made to the strength of the +cavalry alone. The consuls had to protect the northern frontier, and +stationed themselves accordingly on the two highways which led from +Rome to the north, the western of which at that lime terminated at +Arretium, and the eastern at Ariminum; Gaius Flaminius occupied the +former, Gnaeus Servilius the latter. There they ordered the troops +from the fortresses on the Po to join them, probably by water, and +awaited the commencement of the favourable season, when they proposed +to occupy in the defensive the passes of the Apennines, and then, +taking up the offensive, to descend into the valley of the Po and +effect a junction somewhere near Placentia. But Hannibal by no means +intended to defend the valley of the Po. He knew Rome better perhaps +than the Romans knew it themselves, and was very well aware how +decidedly he was the weaker and continued to be so notwithstanding the +brilliant battle on the Trebia; he knew too that his ultimate object, +the humiliation of Rome, was not to be wrung from the unbending Roman +pride either by terror or by surprise, but could only be gained by +the actual subjugation of the haughty city. It was clearly apparent +that the Italian federation was in political solidity and in military +resources infinitely superior to an adversary, who received only +precarious and irregular support from home, and who in Italy was +dependent for primary aid solely on the vacillating and capricious +nation of the Celts; and that the Phoenician foot soldier was, +notwithstanding all the pains taken by Hannibal, far inferior in +point of tactics to the legionary, had been completely proved by +the defensive movements of Scipio and the brilliant retreat of the +defeated infantry on the Trebia. From this conviction flowed the two +fundamental principles which determined Hannibal's whole method of +operations in Italy--viz., that the war should be carried on, in +somewhat adventurous fashion, with constant changes in the plan and +in the theatre of operations; and that its favourable issue could +only be looked for as the result of political and not of military +successes--of the gradual loosening and final breaking up of the +Italian federation. That mode of carrying on the war was necessary, +because the single element which Hannibal had to throw into the scale +against so many disadvantages--his military genius--only told with +its full weight, when he constantly foiled his opponents by unexpected +combinations; he was undone, if the war became stationary. That aim +was the aim dictated to him by right policy, because, mighty conqueror +though he was in battle, he saw very clearly that on each occasion he +vanquished the generals and not the city, and that after each new +battle the Romans remained just as superior to the Carthaginians as +he was personally superior to the Roman commanders. That Hannibal +even at the height of his fortune never deceived himself on this +point, is worthier of admiration than his most admired battles. + +Hannibal Crosses the Apennines + +It was these motives, and not the entreaties of the Gauls that he +should spare their country--which would not have influenced him--that +induced Hannibal now to forsake, as it were, his newly acquired basis +of operations against Italy, and to transfer the scene of war to Italy +itself. Before doing so he gave orders that all the prisoners should +be brought before him. He ordered the Romans to be separated and +loaded with chains as slaves--the statement that Hannibal put to death +all the Romans capable of bearing arms, who here and elsewhere fell +into his hands, is beyond doubt at least strongly exaggerated. On the +other hand, all the Italian allies were released without ransom, and +charged to report at home that Hannibal waged war not against Italy, +but against Rome; that he promised to every Italian community the +restoration of its ancient independence and its ancient boundaries; +and that the deliverer was about to follow those whom he had set free, +bringing release and revenge. In fact, when the winter ended, he +started from the valley of the Po to search for a route through +the difficult defiles of the Apennines. Gaius Flaminius, with the +Etruscan army, was still for the moment at Arezzo, intending to move +from that point towards Lucca in order to protect the vale of the Arno +and the passes of the Apennines, so soon as the season should allow. +But Hannibal anticipated him. The passage of the Apennines was +accomplished without much difficulty, at a point as far west as +possible or, in other words, as distant as possible from the enemy; +but the marshy low grounds between the Serchio and the Arno were so +flooded by the melting of the snow and the spring rains, that the army +had to march four days in water, without finding any other dry spot +for resting by night than was supplied by piling the baggage or by +the sumpter animals that had fallen. The troops underwent unutterable +sufferings, particularly the Gallic infantry, which marched behind the +Carthaginians along tracks already rendered impassable: they murmured +loudly and would undoubtedly have dispersed to a man, had not the +Carthaginian cavalry under Mago, which brought up the rear, rendered +flight impossible. The horses, assailed by a distemper in their +hoofs, fell in heaps; various diseases decimated the soldiers; +Hannibal himself lost an eye in consequence of ophthalmia. + +Flaminius + +But the object was attained. Hannibal encamped at Fiesole, while +Gaius Flaminius was still waiting at Arezzo until the roads should +become passable that he might blockade them. After the Roman +defensive position had thus been turned, the best course for the +consul, who might perhaps have been strong enough to defend the +mountain passes but certainly was unable now to face Hannibal in the +open field, would have been to wait till the second army, which had +now become completely superfluous at Ariminum, should arrive. He +himself, however, judged otherwise. He was a political party leader, +raised to distinction by his efforts to limit the power of the senate; +indignant at the government in consequence of the aristocratic +intrigues concocted against him during his consulship; carried away, +through a doubtless justifiable opposition to their beaten track of +partisanship, into a scornful defiance of tradition and custom; +intoxicated at once by blind love of the common people and equally +bitter hatred of the party of the nobles; and, in addition to all +this, possessed with the fixed idea that he was a military genius. +His campaign against the Insubres of 531, which to unprejudiced +judges only showed that good! soldiers often repair the errors +of bad generals,(2) was regarded by him and by his adherents as an +irrefragable proof that the Romans had only to put Gaius Flaminius at +the head of the army in order to make a speedy end of Hannibal. Talk +of this sort had procured for him his second consulship, and hopes of +this sort had now brought to his camp so great a multitude of unarmed +followers eager for spoil, that their number, according to the +assurance of sober historians, exceeded that of the legionaries. +Hannibal based his plan in part on this circumstance. So far from +attacking him, he marched past him, and caused the country all around +to be pillaged by the Celts who thoroughly understood plundering, +and by his numerous cavalry. The complaints and indignation of the +multitude which had to submit to be plundered under the eyes of the +hero who had promised to enrich them, and the protestation of the +enemy that they did not believe him possessed of either the power +or the resolution to undertake anything before the arrival of his +colleague, could not but induce such a man to display his genius +for strategy, and to give a sharp lesson to his inconsiderate +and haughty foe. + +Battle on the Trasimene Lake + +No plan was ever more successful. In haste, the consul followed the +line of march of the enemy, who passed by Arezzo and moved slowly +through the rich valley of the Chiana towards Perugia. He overtook +him in the district of Cortona, where Hannibal, accurately informed +of his antagonist's march, had had full time to select his field of +battle--a narrow defile between two steep mountain walls, closed at +its outlet by a high hill, and at its entrance by the Trasimene lake. +With the flower of his infantry he barred the outlet; the light troops +and the cavalry placed themselves in concealment on either side. The +Roman columns advanced without hesitation into the unoccupied pass; +the thick morning mist concealed from them the position of the enemy. +As the head of the Roman line approached the hill, Hannibal gave the +signal for battle; the cavalry, advancing behind the heights, closed +the entrance of the pass, and at the same time the mist rolling away +revealed the Phoenician arms everywhere along the crests on the right +and left. There was no battle; it was a mere rout. Those that +remained outside of the defile were driven by the cavalry into the +lake. The main body was annihilated in the pass itself almost without +resistance, and most of them, including the consul himself, were cut +down in the order of march. The head of the Roman column, formed of +6000 infantry, cut their way through the infantry of the enemy, and +proved once more the irresistible might of the legions; but, cut off +from the rest of the army and without knowledge of its fate, they +marched on at random, were surrounded on the following day, on a +hill which they had occupied, by a corps of Carthaginian cavalry, +and--as the capitulation, which promised them a free retreat, was +rejected by Hannibal--were all treated as prisoners of war. 15,000 +Romans had fallen, and as many were captured; in other words, the +army was annihilated. The slight Carthaginian loss--1500 men--again +fell mainly upon the Gauls.(3) And, as if this were not enough, +immediately after the battle on the Trasimene lake, the cavalry of +the army of Ariminum under Gaius Centenius, 4000 strong, which Gnaeus +Servilius had sent forward for the temporary support of his colleague +while he himself advanced by slow marches, was likewise surrounded by +the Phoenician army, and partly slain, partly made prisoners. All +Etruria was lost, and Hannibal might without hindrance march on Rome. +The Romans prepared themselves for the worst; they broke down the +bridges over the Tiber, and nominated Quintus Fabius Maximus dictator +to repair the walls and conduct the defence, for which an army of +reserve was formed. At the same time two new legions were summoned +under arms in the room of those annihilated, and the fleet, which +might become of importance in the event of a siege, was put in order. + +Hannibal on the East Coast +Reorganization of the Carthaginian Army + +But Hannibal was more farsighted than king Pyrrhus. He did not march +on Rome; nor even against Gnaeus Servilius, an able general, who had +with the help of the fortresses on the northern road preserved his +army hitherto uninjured, and would perhaps have kept his antagonist +at bay. Once more a movement occurred which was quite unexpected. +Hannibal marched past the fortress of Spoletium, which he attempted in +vain to surprise, through Umbria, fearfully devastated the territory +of Picenum which was covered all over with Roman farmhouses, and +halted on the shores of the Adriatic. The men and horses of his +army had not yet recovered from the painful effects of their spring +campaign; here he rested for a considerable time to allow his army to +recruit its strength in a pleasant district and at a fine season of +the year, and to reorganize his Libyan infantry after the Roman mode, +the means for which were furnished to him by the mass of Roman arms +among the spoil. From this point, moreover, he resumed his long- +interrupted communication with his native land, sending his messages +of victory by water to Carthage. At length, when his army was +sufficiently restored and had been adequately exercised in the use +of the new arms, he broke up and marched slowly along the coast into +southern Italy. + +War in Lower Italy +Fabius + +He had calculated correctly, when he chose this time for remodelling +his infantry. The surprise of his antagonists, who were in constant +expectation of an attack on the capital, allowed him at least four +weeks of undisturbed leisure for the execution of the unprecedentedly +bold experiment of changing completely his military system in the +heart of a hostile country and with an army still comparatively small, +and of attempting to oppose African legions to the invincible legions +of Italy. But his hope that the confederacy would now begin to break +up was not fulfilled. In this respect the Etruscans, who had carried +on their last wars of independence mainly with Gallic mercenaries, +were of less moment; the flower of the confederacy, particularly +in a military point of view, consisted--next to the Latins--of the +Sabellian communities, and with good reason Hannibal had now come into +their neighbourhood. But one town after another closed its gates; not +a single Italian community entered into alliance with the Phoenicians. +This was a great, in fact an all-important, gain for the Romans. +Nevertheless it was felt in the capital that it would be imprudent to +put the fidelity of their allies to such a test, without a Roman army +to keep the field. The dictator Quintus Fabius combined the two +supplementary legions formed in Rome with the army of Ariminum, +and when Hannibal marched past the Roman fortress of Luceria towards +Arpi, the Roman standards appeared on his right flank at Aeca. +Their leader, however, pursued a course different from that of his +predecessors. Quintus Fabius was a man advanced in years, of a +deliberation and firmness, which to not a few seemed procrastination +and obstinacy. Zealous in his reverence for the good old times, for +the political omnipotence of the senate, and for the command of the +burgomasters, he looked to a methodical prosecution of the war as +--next to sacrifices and prayers--the means of saving the state. +A political antagonist of Gaius Flaminius, and summoned to the head of +affairs in virtue of the reaction against his foolish war-demagogism, +Fabius departed for the camp just as firmly resolved to avoid a +pitched battle at any price, as his predecessor had been determined at +any price to fight one; he was without doubt convinced that the first +elements of strategy would forbid Hannibal to advance so long as the +Roman army confronted him intact, and that accordingly it would not be +difficult to weaken by petty conflicts and gradually to starve out the +enemy's army, dependent as it was on foraging for its supplies. + +March to Capua and Back to Apulia +War in Apulia + +Hannibal, well served by his spies in Rome and in the Roman army, +immediately learned how matters stood, and, as usual, adjusted the +plan of his campaign in accordance with the individual character of +the opposing leader. Passing the Roman army, he marched over the +Apennines into the heart of Italy towards Beneventum, took the open +town of Telesia on the boundary between Samnium and Campania, and +thence turned against Capua, which as the most important of all the +Italian cities dependent on Rome, and the only one standing in some +measure on a footing of equality with it, had for that very reason +felt more severely than any other community the oppression of the +Roman government. He had formed connections there, which led him to +hope that the Campanians might revolt from the Roman alliance; but in +this hope he was disappointed. So, retracing his steps, he took the +road to Apulia. During all this march of the Carthaginian army the +dictator had followed along the heights, and had condemned his +soldiers to the melancholy task of looking on with arms in their +hands, while the Numidian cavalry plundered the faithful allies far +and wide, and the villages over all the plain rose in flames. At +length he opened up to the exasperated Roman army the eagerly-coveted +opportunity of attacking the enemy. When Hannibal had begun his +retreat, Fabius intercepted his route near Casilinum (the modern +Capua), by strongly garrisoning that town on the left bank of the +Volturnus and occupying the heights that crowned the right bank with +his main army, while a division of 4000 men encamped on the road +itself that led along by the river. But Hannibal ordered his light- +armed troops to climb the heights which rose immediately alongside +of the road, and to drive before them a number of oxen with lighted +faggots on their horns, so that it seemed as if the Carthaginian army +were thus marching off during the night by torchlight. The Roman +division, which barred the road, imagining that they were evaded and +that further covering of the road was superfluous, marched by a side +movement to the same heights. Along the road thus left free Hannibal +then retreated with the bulk of his army, without encountering the +enemy; next morning he without difficulty, but with severe loss to +the Romans, disengaged and recalled his light troops. Hannibal then +continued his march unopposed in a north-easterly direction; and +by a widely-circuitous route, after traversing and laying under +contribution the lands of the Hirpinians, Campanians, Samnites, +Paelignians, and Frentanians without resistance, he arrived with rich +booty and a full chest once more in the region of Luceria, just as +the harvest there was about to begin. Nowhere in his extensive march +had he met with active opposition, but nowhere had he found allies. +Clearly perceiving that no course remained for him but to take up +winter quarters in the open field, he began the difficult operation +of collecting the winter supplies requisite for the army, by means of +its own agency, from the fields of the enemy. For this purpose he +had selected the broad and mostly flat district of northern Apulia, +which furnished grain and grass in abundance, and which could be +completely commanded by his excellent cavalry. An entrenched camp +was constructed at Gerunium, twenty-five miles to the north of +Luceria. Two-thirds of the army were daily despatched from it to +bring in the stores, while Hannibal with the remainder took up a +position to protect the camp and the detachments sent out. + +Fabius and Minucius + +The master of the horse, Marcus Minucius, who held temporary command +in the Roman camp during the absence of the dictator, deemed this a +suitable opportunity for approaching the enemy more closely, and +formed a camp in the territory of the Larinates; where on the one hand +by his mere presence he checked the sending out of detachments and +thereby hindered the provisioning of the enemy's army, and on the +other hand, in a series of successful conflicts in which his troops +encountered isolated Phoenician divisions and even Hannibal himself, +drove the enemy from their advanced positions and compelled them to +concentrate themselves at Gerunium. On the news of these successes, +which of course lost nothing in the telling, the storm broke, forth +in the capital against Quintus Fabius. It was not altogether +unwarranted. Prudent as it was on the part of Rome to abide by the +defensive and to expect success mainly from the cutting off of the +enemy's means of subsistence, there was yet something strange in a +system of defence and of starving out, under which the enemy had laid +waste all central Italy without opposition beneath the eyes of a Roman +army of equal numbers, and had provisioned themselves sufficiently for +the winter by an organized method of foraging on the greatest scale. +Publius Scipio, when he commanded on the Po, had not adopted this view +of a defensive attitude, and the attempt of his successor to imitate +him at Casilinum had failed in such a way as to afford a copious fund +of ridicule to the scoffers of the city. It was wonderful that the +Italian communities had not wavered, when Hannibal so palpably showed +them the superiority of the Phoenicians and the nullity of Roman aid; +but how long could they be expected to bear the burden of a double +war, and to allow themselves to be plundered under the very eyes of +the Roman troops and of their own contingents? Finally, it could not +be alleged that the condition of the Roman army compelled the general +to adopt this mode of warfare. It was composed, as regarded its core, +of the capable legions of Ariminum, and, by their side, of militia +called out, most of whom were likewise accustomed to service; and, far +from being discouraged by the last defeats, it was indignant at the +but little honourable task which its general, "Hannibal's lackey," +assigned to it, and it demanded with a loud voice to be led against +the enemy. In the assemblies of the people the most violent +invectives were directed against the obstinate old man. His political +opponents, with the former praetor Gaius Terentius Varro at their +head, laid hold of the quarrel--for the understanding of which we must +not forget that the dictator was practically nominated by the senate, +and the office was regarded as the palladium of the conservative +party--and, in concert with the discontented soldiers and the +possessors of the plundered estates, they carried an unconstitutional +and absurd resolution of the people conferring the dictatorship, which +was destined to obviate the evils of a divided command in times of +danger, on Marcus Minucius,(4) who had hitherto been the lieutenant +of Quintus Fabius, in the same way as on Fabius himself. Thus the +Roman army, after its hazardous division into two separate corps had +just been appropriately obviated, was once more divided; and not only +so, but the two sections were placed under leaders who notoriously +followed quite opposite plans of war. Quintus Fabius of course +adhered more than ever to his methodical inaction; Marcus Minucius, +compelled to justify in the field of battle his title of dictator, +made a hasty attack with inadequate forces, and would have been +annihilated had not his colleague averted greater misfortune by the +seasonable interposition of a fresh corps. This last turn of matters +justified in some measure the system of passive resistance. But in +reality Hannibal had completely attained in this campaign all that +arms could attain: not a single material operation had been frustrated +either by his impetuous or by his deliberate opponent; and his +foraging, though not unattended with difficulty, had yet been in the +main so successful that the army passed the winter without complaint +in the camp at Gerunium. It was not the Cunctator that saved Rome, +but the compact structure of its confederacy and, not less perhaps, +the national hatred with which the Phoenician hero was regarded on +the part of Occidentals. + +New War-like Preparations in Rome +Paullus and Varro + +Despite all its misfortunes, Roman pride stood no less unshaken than +the Roman symmachy. The donations which were offered by king Hiero of +Syracuse and the Greek cities in Italy for the next campaign--the war +affected the latter less severely than the other Italian allies of +Rome, for they sent no contingents to the land army--were declined +with thanks; the chieftains of Illyria were informed that they could +not be allowed to neglect payment of their tribute; and even the +king of Macedonia was once more summoned to surrender Demetrius of +Pharos. The majority of the senate, notwithstanding the semblance +of legitimation which recent events had given to the Fabian system +of delay, had firmly resolved to depart from a mode of war that was +slowly but certainly ruining the state; if the popular dictator had +failed in his more energetic method of warfare, they laid the blame +of the failure, and not without reason, on the fact that they had +adopted a half-measure and had given him too few troops. This error +they determined to avoid and to equip an army, such as Rome had never +sent out before--eight legions, each raised a fifth above the normal +strength, and a corresponding number of allies--enough to crush an +opponent who was not half so strong. Besides this, a legion under +the praetor Lucius Postumius was destined for the valley of the Po, +in order, if possible, to draw off the Celts serving in the army of +Hannibal to their homes. These resolutions were judicious; everything +depended on their coming to an equally judicious decision respecting +the supreme command. The stiff carriage of Quintus Fabius, and +the attacks of the demagogues which it provoked, had rendered the +dictatorship and the senate generally more unpopular than ever: +amongst the people, not without the connivance of their leaders, +the foolish report circulated that the senate was intentionally +prolonging the war. As, therefore, the nomination of a dictator was +not to be thought of, the senate attempted to procure the election of +suitable consuls; but this only had the effect of thoroughly rousing +suspicion and obstinacy. With difficulty the senate carried one of +its candidates, Lucius Aemilius Paullus, who had with judgment +conducted the Illyrian war in 535;(5) an immense majority of the +citizens assigned to him as colleague the candidate of the popular +party, Gaius Terentius Varro, an incapable man, who was known only by +his bitter opposition to the senate and more especially as the main +author of the proposal to elect Marcus Minucius co-dictator, and who +was recommended to the multitude solely by his humble birth and his +coarse effrontery. + +Battle at Cannae + +While these preparations for the next campaign were being made in +Rome, the war had already recommenced in Apulia. As soon as the +season allowed him to leave his winter quarters, Hannibal, determining +as usual the course of the war and assuming the offensive, set out +from Gerunium in a southerly direction, and marching past Luceria +crossed the Aufidus and took the citadel of Cannae (between Canosa +and Barletta) which commanded the plain of Canusium, and had hitherto +served the Romans as their chief magazine. The Roman army which, +since Fabius had conformably to the constitution resigned his +dictatorship in the middle of autumn, was now commanded by Gnaeus +Servilius and Marcus Regulus, first as consuls then as proconsuls, +had been unable to avert a loss which they could not but feel. On +military as well as on political grounds, it became more than ever +necessary to arrest the progress of Hannibal by a pitched battle. +With definite orders to this effect from the senate, accordingly, the +two new commanders-in-chief, Paullus and Varro, arrived in Apulia in +the beginning of the summer of 538. With the four new legions and a +corresponding contingent of Italians which they brought up, the Roman +army rose to 80,000 infantry, half burgesses, half allies, and 6000 +cavalry, of whom one-third were burgesses and two-thirds allies; +whereas Hannibal's army numbered 10,000 cavalry, but only about 40,000 +infantry. Hannibal wished nothing so much as a battle, not merely for +the general reasons which we have explained above, but specially +because the wide Apulian plain allowed him to develop the whole +superiority of his cavalry, and because the providing supplies for +his numerous army would soon, in spite of that excellent cavalry, be +rendered very difficult by the proximity of an enemy twice as strong +and resting on a chain of fortresses. The leaders of the Roman forces +also had, as we have said, made up their minds on the general question +of giving battle, and approached the enemy with that view; but the +more sagacious of them saw the position of Hannibal, and were disposed +accordingly to wait in the first instance and simply to station +themselves in the vicinity of the enemy, so as to compel him to retire +and accept battle on a ground less favourable to him. Hannibal +encamped at Cannae on the right bank of the Aufidus. Paullus pitched +his camp on both banks of the stream, so that the main force came to +be stationed on the left bank, but a strong corps took up a position +on the right immediately opposite to the enemy, in order to impede his +supplies and perhaps also to threaten Cannae. Hannibal, to whom it +was all-important to strike a speedy blow, crossed the stream with the +bulk of his troops, and offered battle on the left bank, which Paullus +did not accept. But such military pedantry was disapproved by the +democratic consul--so much had been said about men taking the field +not to stand guard, but to use their swords--and he gave orders +accordingly to attack the enemy, wherever and whenever they found him. +According to the old custom foolishly retained, the decisive voice in +the council of war alternated between the commanders-in-chief day by +day; it was necessary therefore on the following day to submit, and +to let the hero of the pavement have his way. On the left bank, +where the wide plain offered full scope to the superior cavalry of +the enemy, certainly even he would not fight; but he determined to +unite the whole Roman forces on the right bank, and there, taking up +a position between the Carthaginian camp and Cannae and seriously +threatening the latter, to offer battle. A division of 10,000 men +was left behind in the principal Roman camp, charged to capture the +Carthaginian encampment during the conflict and thus to intercept the +retreat of the enemy's army across the river. The bulk of the Roman +army, at early dawn on the and August according to the unconnected, +perhaps in tune according to the correct, calendar, crossed the river +which at this season was shallow and did not materially hamper the +movements of the troops, and took up a position in line near the +smaller Roman camp to the westward of Cannae. The Carthaginian army +followed and likewise crossed the stream, on which rested the right +Roman as well as the left Carthaginian wing. The Roman cavalry was +stationed on the wings: the weaker portion consisting of burgesses, +led by Paullus, on the right next the river; the stronger consisting +of the allies, led by Varro, on the left towards the plain. In the +centre was stationed the infantry in unusually deep files, under the +command of the consul of the previous year Gnaeus Servilius. Opposite +to this centre Hannibal arranged his infantry in the form of a +crescent, so that the Celtic and Iberian troops in their national +armour formed the advanced centre, and the Libyans, armed after the +Roman fashion, formed the drawn-back wings on either side. On the +side next the river the whole heavy cavalry under Hasdrubal was +stationed, on the side towards the plain the light Numidian horse. +After a short skirmish between the light troops the whole line was +soon engaged. Where the light cavalry of the Carthaginians fought +against the heavy cavalry of Varro, the conflict was prolonged, +amidst constant charges of the Numidians, without decisive result. +In the centre, on the other hand, the legions completely overthrew +the Spanish and Gallic troops that first encountered them; eagerly the +victors pressed on and followed up their advantage. But meanwhile, on +the right wing, fortune had turned against the Romans. Hannibal had +merely sought to occupy the left cavalry wing of the enemy, that he +might bring Hasdrubal with the whole regular cavalry to bear against +the weaker right and to overthrow it first. After a brave resistance, +the Roman horse gave way, and those that were not cut down were chased +up the river and scattered in the plain; Paullus, wounded, rode to the +centre to turn or, if not, to share the fate of the legions. These, +in order the better to follow up the victory over the advanced +infantry of the enemy, had changed their front disposition into a +column of attack, which, in the shape of a wedge, penetrated the +enemy's centre. In this position they were warmly assailed on both +sides by the Libyan infantry wheeling inward upon them right and left, +and a portion of them were compelled to halt in order to defend +themselves against the flank attack; by this means their advance was +checked, and the mass of infantry, which was already too closely +crowded, now had no longer room to develop itself at all. Meanwhile +Hasdrubal, after having completed the defeat of the wing of Paullus, +had collected and arranged his cavalry anew and led them behind the +enemy's centre against the wing of Varro. His Italian cavalry, +already sufficiently occupied with the Numidians, was rapidly +scattered before the double attack, and Hasdrubal, leaving the +pursuit of the fugitives to the Numidians, arranged his squadrons +for the third time, to lead them against the rear of the Roman +infantry. This last charge proved decisive. Flight was not possible, +and quarter was not given. Never, perhaps, was an army of such size +annihilated on the field of battle so completely, and with so little +loss to its antagonist, as was the Roman army at Cannae. Hannibal +had lost not quite 6000 men, and two-thirds of that loss fell upon +the Celts, who sustained the first shock of the legions. On the other +hand, of the 76,000 Romans who had taken their places in the line of +battle 70,000 covered the field, amongst whom were the consul Lucius +Paullus, the proconsul Gnaeus Servilius, two-thirds of the staff- +officers, and eighty men of senatorial rank. The consul Gaius Varro +was saved solely by his quick resolution and his good steed, reached +Venusia, and was not ashamed to survive. The garrison also of the +Roman camp, 10,000 strong, were for the most part made prisoners of +war; only a few thousand men, partly of these troops, partly of the +line, escaped to Canusium. Nay, as if in this year an end was to +be made with Rome altogether, before its close the legion sent to +Gaul fell into an ambush, and was, with its general Lucius Postumius +who was nominated as consul for the next year, totally destroyed +by the Gauls. + +Consequences of the Battle of Cannae +Prevention of Reinforcements from Spain + +This unexampled success appeared at length to mature the great +political combination, for the sake of which Hannibal had come to +Italy. He had, no doubt, based his plan primarily upon his army; but +with accurate knowledge of the power opposed to him he designed that +army to be merely the vanguard, in support of which the powers of the +west and east were gradually to unite their forces, so as to prepare +destruction for the proud city. That support however, which seemed +the most secure, namely the sending of reinforcements from Spain, had +been frustrated by the boldness and firmness of the Roman general sent +thither, Gnaeus Scipio. After Hannibal's passage of the Rhone Scipio +had sailed for Emporiae, and had made himself master first of the +coast between the Pyrenees and the Ebro, and then, after conquering +Hanno, of the interior also (536). In the following year (537) he had +completely defeated the Carthaginian fleet at the mouth of the Ebro, +and after his brother Publius, the brave defender of the valley of +the Po, had joined him with a reinforcement of 8000 men, he had even +crossed the Ebro, and advanced as far as Saguntum. Hasdrubal had +indeed in the succeeding year (538), after obtaining reinforcements +from Africa, made an attempt in accordance with his brother's orders +to conduct an army over the Pyrenees; but the Scipios opposed his +passage of the Ebro, and totally defeated him, nearly at the same +time that Hannibal conquered at Cannae. The powerful tribe of the +Celtiberians and numerous other Spanish tribes had joined the Scipios; +they commanded the sea, the passes of the Pyrenees, and, by means of +the trusty Massiliots, the Gallic coast also. Now therefore support +to Hannibal was less than ever to be looked for from Spain. + +Reinforcements from Spain + +On the part of Carthage as much had hitherto been done in support +of her general in Italy as could be expected. Phoenician squadrons +threatened the coasts of Italy and of the Roman islands and guarded +Africa from a Roman landing, and there the matter ended. More +substantial assistance was prevented not so much by the uncertainty +as to where Hannibal was to be found and the want of a port of +disembarkation in Italy, as by the fact that for many years the +Spanish army had been accustomed to be self-sustaining, and above +all by the murmurs of the peace party. Hannibal severely felt the +consequences of this unpardonable inaction; in spite of all his saving +of his money and of the soldiers whom he had brought with him, his +chests were gradually emptied, the pay fell into arrear, and the ranks +of his veterans began to thin. But now the news of the victory of +Cannae reduced even the factious opposition at home to silence. The +Carthaginian senate resolved to place at the disposal of the general +considerable assistance in money and men, partly from Africa, partly +from Spain, including 4000 Numidian horse and 40 elephants, and to +prosecute the war with energy in Spain as well as in Italy. + +Alliance between Carthage and Macedonia + +The long-discussed offensive alliance between Carthage and Macedonia +had been delayed, first by the sudden death of Antigonus, and then by +the indecision of his successor Philip and the unseasonable war waged +by him and his Hellenic allies against the Aetolians (534-537). It +was only now, after the battle of Cannae, that Demetrius of Pharos +found Philip disposed to listen to his proposal to cede to Macedonia +his Illyrian possessions--which it was necessary, no doubt, to wrest +in the first place from the Romans--and it was only now that the court +of Pella came to terms with Carthage. Macedonia undertook to land an +invading army on the east coast of Italy, in return for which she +received an assurance that the Roman possessions in Epirus should +be restored to her. + +Alliance between Carthage and Syracuse + +In Sicily king Hiero had during the years of peace maintained a policy +of neutrality, so far as he could do so with safety, and he had shown +a disposition to accommodate the Carthaginians during the perilous +crises after the peace with Rome, particularly by sending supplies of +corn. There is no doubt that he saw with the utmost regret a renewed +breach between Carthage and Rome; but he had no power to avert it, and +when it occurred he adhered with well-calculated fidelity to Rome. +But soon afterwards (in the autumn of 538) death removed the old man +after a reign of fifty-four years. The grandson and successor of the +prudent veteran, the young and incapable Hieronymus, entered at once +into negotiations with the Carthaginian diplomatists; and, as they +made no difficulty in consenting to secure to him by treaty, first, +Sicily as far as the old Carthagino-Sicilian frontier, and then, when +he rose in the arrogance of his demands, the possession even of the +whole island, he entered into alliance with Carthage, and ordered +the Syracusan fleet to unite with the Carthaginian which had come +to threaten Syracuse. The position of the Roman fleet at Lilybaeum, +which already had to deal with a second Carthaginian squadron +stationed near the Aegates, became all at once very critical, while at +the same time the force that was in readiness at Rome for embarkation +to Sicily had, in consequence of the defeat at Cannae, to be diverted +to other and more urgent objects. + +Capua and Most of the Communities of Lower Italy Pass over to Hannibal + +Above all came the decisive fact, that now at length the fabric of the +Roman confederacy began to be unhinged, after it had survived unshaken +the shocks of two severe years of war. There passed over to the side +of Hannibal Arpi in Apulia, and Uzentum in Messapia, two old towns +which had been greatly injured by the Roman colonies of Luceria and +Brundisium; all the towns of the Bruttii--who took the lead--with the +exception of the Petelini and the Consentini who had to be besieged +before yielding; the greater portion of the Lucanians; the Picentes +transplanted into the region of Salernum; the Hirpini; the Samnites +with the exception of the Pentri; lastly and chiefly, Capua the +second city of Italy, which was able to bring into the field 30,000 +infantry and 4000 horse, and whose secession determined that of +the neighbouring towns Atella and Caiatia. The aristocratic party, +indeed, attached by many ties to the interest of Rome everywhere, +and more especially in Capua, very earnestly opposed this change of +sides, and the obstinate internal conflicts which arose regarding it +diminished not a little the advantage which Hannibal derived from +these accessions. He found himself obliged, for instance, to have one +of the leaders of the aristocratic party in Capua, Decius Magius, who +even after the entrance of the Phoenicians obstinately contended for +the Roman alliance, seized and conveyed to Carthage; thus furnishing +a demonstration, very inconvenient for himself, of the small value of +the liberty and sovereignty which had just been solemnly assured to +the Campanians by the Carthaginian general. On the other hand, the +south Italian Greeks adhered to the Roman alliance--a result to which +the Roman garrisons no doubt contributed, but which was still more due +to the very decided dislike of the Hellenes towards the Phoenicians +themselves and towards their new Lucanian and Bruttian allies, and +their attachment on the other hand to Rome, which had zealously +embraced every opportunity of manifesting its Hellenism, and had +exhibited towards the Greeks in Italy an unwonted gentleness. Thus +the Campanian Greeks, particularly Neapolis, courageously withstood +the attack of Hannibal in person: in Magna Graecia Rhegium, Thurii, +Metapontum, and Tarentum did the same notwithstanding their very +perilous position. Croton and Locri on the other hand were partly +carried by storm, partly forced to capitulate, by the united +Phoenicians and Bruttians; and the citizens of Croton were conducted +to Locri, while Bruttian colonists occupied that important naval +station. The Latin colonies in southern Italy, such as Brundisium, +Venusia, Paesturn, Cosa, and Cales, of course maintained unshaken +fidelity to Rome. They were the strongholds by which the conquerors +held in check a foreign land, settled on the soil of the surrounding +population, and at feud with their neighbours; they, too, would be the +first to be affected, if Hannibal should keep his word and restore to +every Italian community its ancient boundaries. This was likewise +the case with all central Italy, the earliest seat of the Roman rule, +where Latin manners and language already everywhere preponderated, and +the people felt themselves to be the comrades rather than the subjects +of their rulers. The opponents of Hannibal in the Carthaginian senate +did not fail to appeal to the fact that not one Roman citizen or one +Latin community had cast itself into the arms of Carthage. This +groundwork of the Roman power could only be broken up, like the +Cyclopean walls, stone by stone. + +Attitude of the Romans + +Such were the consequences of the day of Cannae, in which the flower +of the soldiers and officers of the confederacy, a seventh of the +whole number of Italians capable of bearing arms, perished. It was +a cruel but righteous punishment for the grave political errors with +which not merely some foolish or miserable individuals, but the Roman +people themselves, were justly chargeable. A constitution adapted for +a small country town was no longer suitable for a great power; it was +simply impossible that the question as to the leadership of the armies +of the city in such a war should be left year after year to be decided +by the Pandora's box of the balloting-urn. As a fundamental revision +of the constitution, if practicable at all, could not at least be +undertaken now, the practical superintendence of the war, and in +particular the bestowal and prolongation of the command, should have +been at once left to the only authority which was in a position to +undertake it--the senate--and there should have been reserved for the +comitia the mere formality of confirmation. The brilliant successes +of the Scipios in the difficult arena of Spanish warfare showed what +might in this way be achieved. But political demagogism, which was +already gnawing at the aristocratic foundations of the constitution, +had seized on the management of the Italian war. The absurd +accusation, that the nobles were conspiring with the enemy without, +had made an impression on the "people." The saviours to whom +political superstition looked for deliverance, Gaius Flaminius and +Gaius Varro, both "new men" and friends of the people of the purest +dye, had accordingly been empowered by the multitude itself to execute +the plans of operations which, amidst the approbation of that +multitude, they had unfolded in the Forum; and the results were the +battles on the Trasimene lake and at Cannae. Duty required that the +senate, which now of course understood its task better than when it +recalled half the army of Regulus from Africa, should take into its +hands the management of affairs, and should oppose such mischievous +proceedings; but when the first of those two defeats had for the +moment placed the rudder in its hands, it too had hardly acted in a +manner unbiassed by the interests of party. Little as Quintus Fabius +may be compared with these Roman Cleons, he had yet conducted the war +not as a mere military leader, but had adhered to his rigid attitude +of defence specially as the political opponent of Gaius Flaminius; and +in the treatment of the quarrel with his subordinate, had done what he +could to exasperate at a time when unity was needed. The consequence +was, first, that the most important instrument which the wisdom of +their ancestors had placed in the hands of the senate just for such +cases--the dictatorship--broke down in his hands; and, secondly--at +least indirectly--the battle of Cannae. But the headlong fall of the +Roman power was owing not to the fault of Quintus Fabius or Gaius +Varro, but to the distrust between the government and the governed--to +the variance between the senate and the burgesses. If the deliverance +and revival of the state were still possible, the work had to begin at +home with the re-establishment of unity and of confidence. To have +perceived this and, what is of more importance, to have done it, +and done it with an abstinence from all recriminations however just, +constitutes the glorious and imperishable honour of the Roman senate. +When Varro--alone of all the generals who had command in the battle +--returned to Rome, and the Roman senators met him at the gate and +thanked him that he had not despaired of the salvation of his country, +this was no empty phraseology veiling the disaster under sounding +words, nor was it bitter mockery over a poor wretch; it was the +conclusion of peace between the government and the governed. In +presence of the gravity of the time and the gravity of such an appeal, +the chattering of demagogues was silent; henceforth the only thought +of the Romans was how they might be able jointly to avert the common +peril. Quintus Fabius, whose tenacious courage at this decisive +moment was of more service to the state than all his feats of war, +and the other senators of note took the lead in every movement, and +restored to the citizens confidence in themselves and in the future. +The senate preserved its firm and unbending attitude, while messengers +from all sides hastened to Rome to report the loss of battles, the +secession of allies, the capture of posts and magazines, and to ask +reinforcements for the valley of the Po and for Sicily at a time +when Italy was abandoned and Rome was almost without a garrison. +Assemblages of the multitude at the gates were forbidden; onlookers +and women were sent to their houses; the time of mourning for the +fallen was restricted to thirty days that the service of the gods of +joy, from which those clad in mourning attire were excluded, might +not be too long interrupted--for so great was the number of the +fallen, that there was scarcely a family which had not to lament its +dead. Meanwhile the remnant saved from the field of battle had been +assembled by two able military tribunes, Appius Claudius and Publius +Scipio the younger, at Canusium. The latter managed, by his lofty +spirit and by the brandished swords of his faithful comrades, to +change the views of those genteel young lords who, in indolent despair +of the salvation of their country, were thinking of escape beyond the +sea. The consul Gaius Varro joined them with a handful of men; about +two legions were gradually collected there; the senate gave orders +that they should be reorganized and reduced to serve in disgrace and +without pay. The incapable general was on a suitable pretext recalled +to Rome; the praetor Marcus Claudius Marcellus, experienced in the +Gallic wars, who had been destined to depart for Sicily with the fleet +from Ostia, assumed the chief command. The utmost exertions were made +to organize an army capable of taking the field. The Latins were +summoned to render aid in the common peril. Rome itself set the +example, and called to arms all the men above boyhood, armed the +debtor-serfs and criminals, and even incorporated in the army eight +thousand slaves purchased by the state. As there was a want of arms, +they took the old spoils from the temples, and everywhere set the +workshops and artisans in action. The senate was completed, not as +timid patriots urged, from the Latins, but from the Roman burgesses +who had the best title. Hannibal offered a release of captives at the +expense of the Roman treasury; it was declined, and the Carthaginian +envoy who had arrived with the deputation of captives was not admitted +into the city: nothing should look as if the senate thought of peace. +Not only were the allies to be prevented from believing that Rome was +disposed to enter into negotiations, but even the meanest citizen was +to be made to understand that for him as for all there was no peace, +and that safety lay only in victory. + +Notes for Chapter V + +1. Polybius's account of the battle on the Trebia is quite clear. If +Placentia lay on the right bank of the Trebia where it falls into the +Po, and if the battle was fought on the left bank, while the Roman +encampment was pitched upon the right--both of which points have been +disputed, but are nevertheless indisputable--the Roman soldiers must +certainly have passed the Trebia in order to gain Placentia as well +as to gain the camp. But those who crossed to the camp must have made +their way through the disorganized portions of their own army and +through the corps of the enemy that had gone round to their rear, +and must then have crossed the river almost in hand-to-hand combat +with the enemy. On the other hand the passage near Placentia was +accomplished after the pursuit had slackened; the corps was several +miles distant from the field of battle, and had arrived within reach +of a Roman fortress; it may even have been the case, although it +cannot be proved, that a bridge led over the Trebia at that point, +and that the -tete de pont- on the other bank was occupied by the +garrison of Placentia. It is evident that the first passage was +just as difficult as the second was easy, and therefore with good +reason Polybius, military judge as he was, merely says of the corps +of 10,000, that in close columns it cut its way to Placentia (iii. 74, +6), without mentioning the passage of the river which in this case +was unattended with difficulty. + +The erroneousness of the view of Livy, which transfers the Phoenician +camp to the right, the Roman to the left bank of the Trebia, has +lately been repeatedly pointed out. We may only further mention, +that the site of Clastidium, near the modern Casteggio, has now been +established by inscriptions (Orelli-Henzen, 5117). + +2. III. III. The Celts Attacked in Their Own Land + +3. The date of the battle, 23rd June according to the uncorrected +calendar, must, according to the rectified calendar, fall somewhere +in April, since Quintus Fabius resigned his dictatorship, after six +months, in the middle of autumn (Lav. xxii. 31, 7; 32, i), and must +therefore have entered upon it about the beginning of May. The +confusion of the calendar (p. 117) in Rome was even at this period +very great. + +4. The inscription of the gift devoted by the new dictator on account +of his victory at Gerunium to Hercules Victor-- -Hercolei sacrom M. +Minuci(us) C. f. dictator vovit- --was found in the year 1862 at Rome, +near S. Lorenzo. + +5. III. III. Northern Italy + + + + +Chapter VI + +The War under Hannibal from Cannae to Zama + +The Crisis + +The aim of Hannibal in his expedition to Italy had been to break up +the Italian confederacy: after three campaigns that aim had been +attained, so far as it was at all attainable. It was clear that the +Greek and Latin or Latinized communities of Italy, since they had not +been shaken in their allegiance by the day of Cannae, would not yield +to terror, but only to force; and the desperate courage with which +even in Southern Italy isolated little country towns, such as the +Bruttian Petelia, maintained their forlorn defence against the +Phoenicians, showed very plainly what awaited them among the Marsians +and Latins. If Hannibal had expected to accomplish more in this way +and to be able to lead even the Latins against Rome, these hopes had +proved vain. But it appears as if even in other respects the Italian +coalition had by no means produced the results which Hannibal hoped +for. Capua had at once stipulated that Hannibal should not have the +right to call Campanian citizens compulsorily to arms; the citizens +had not forgotten how Pyrrhus had acted in Tarentum, and they +foolishly imagined that they should be able to withdraw at once from +the Roman and from the Phoenician rule. Samnium and Luceria were no +longer what they had been, when king Pyrrhus had thought of marching +into Rome at the head of the Sabellian youth. + +Not only did the chain of Roman fortresses everywhere cut the nerves +and sinews of the land, but the Roman rule, continued for many years, +had rendered the inhabitants unused to arms--they furnished only a +moderate contingent to the Roman armies--had appeased their ancient +hatred, and had gained over a number of individuals everywhere to the +interest of the ruling community. They joined the conqueror of the +Romans, indeed, after the cause of Rome seemed fairly lost, but they +felt that the question was no longer one of liberty; it was simply +the exchange of an Italian for a Phoenician master, and it was not +enthusiasm, but despair that threw the Sabellian communities into +the arms of the victor. Under such circumstances the war in Italy +flagged. Hannibal, who commanded the southern part of the peninsula +as far up as the Volturnus and Garganus, and who could not simply +abandon these lands again as he had abandoned that of the Celts, had +now likewise a frontier to protect, which could not be left uncovered +with impunity; and for the purpose of defending the districts that he +had gained against the fortresses which everywhere defied him and the +armies advancing from the north, and at the same time of resuming the +difficult offensive against central Italy, his forces--an army of +about 40,000 men, without reckoning the Italian contingents--were far +from sufficient. + +Marcellus + +Above all, he found that other antagonists were opposed to him. +Taught by fearful experience, the Romans adopted a more judicious +system of conducting the war, placed none but experienced officers +at the head of their armies, and left them, at least where it was +necessary, for a longer period in command. These generals neither +looked down on the enemy's movements from the mountains, nor did they +throw themselves on their adversary wherever they found him; but, +keeping the true mean between inaction and precipitation, they took up +their positions in entrenched camps under the walls of fortresses, and +accepted battle where victory would lead to results and defeat would +not be destruction. The soul of this new mode of warfare was Marcus +Claudius Marcellus. With true instinct, after the disastrous day of +Cannae, the senate and people had turned their eyes to this brave and +experienced officer, and entrusted him at once with the actual supreme +command. He had received his training in the troublesome warfare +against Hamilcar in Sicily, and had given brilliant evidence of his +talents as a leader as well as of his personal valour in the last +campaigns against the Celts. Although far above fifty, he still +glowed with all the ardour of the most youthful soldier, and only a +few years before this he had, as general, cut down the mounted general +of the enemy(1)--the first and only Roman consul who achieved that +feat of arms. His life was consecrated to the two divinities, to +whom he erected the splendid double temple at the Capene Gate--to +Honour and to Valour; and, while the merit of rescuing Rome from this +extremity of danger belonged to no single individual, but pertained to +the Roman citizens collectively and pre-eminently to the senate, yet +no single man contributed more towards the success of the common +enterprise than Marcus Marcellus. + +Hannibal Proceeds to Campania + +From the field of battle Hannibal had turned his steps to Campania, He +knew Rome better than the simpletons, who in ancient and modern times +have fancied that he might have terminated the struggle by a march on +the enemy's capital. Modern warfare, it is true, decides a war on the +field of battle; but in ancient times, when the system of attacking +fortresses was far less developed than the system of defence, the most +complete success in the field was on numberless occasions neutralized +by the resistance of the walls of the capitals. The council and +citizens of Carthage were not at all to be compared to the senate +and people of Rome; the peril of Carthage after the first campaign of +Regulus was infinitely more urgent than that of Rome after the battle +of Cannae; yet Carthage had made a stand and been completely +victorious. With what colour could it be expected that Rome would now +deliver her keys to the victor, or even accept an equitable peace? +Instead therefore of sacrificing practicable and important successes +for the sake of such empty demonstrations, or losing time in the +besieging of the two thousand Roman fugitives enclosed within the +walls of Canusium, Hannibal had immediately proceeded to Capua before +the Romans could throw in a garrison, and by his advance had induced +this second city of Italy after long hesitation to join him. He might +hope that, in possession of Capua, he would be able to seize one of +the Campanian ports, where he might disembark the reinforcements which +his great victories had wrung from the opposition at home. + +Renewal of the War in Campania +The War in Apulia + +When the Romans learned whither Hannibal had gone, they also left +Apulia, where only a weak division was retained, and collected +their remaining forces on the right bank of the Volturnus. With +the two legions saved from Cannae Marcus Marcellus marched to Teanum +Sidicinum, where he was joined by such troops as were at the moment +disposable from Rome and Ostia, and advanced--while the dictator +Marcus Junius slowly followed with the main army which had been +hastily formed--as far as the Volturnus at Casilinum, with a view if +possible to save Capua. That city he found already in the power of +the enemy; but on the other hand the attempts of the enemy on Neapolis +had been thwarted by the courageous resistance of the citizens, and +the Romans were still in good time to throw a garrison into that +important port. With equal fidelity the two other large coast towns, +Cumae and Nuceria, adhered to Rome. In Nola the struggle between +the popular and senatorial parties as to whether they should attach +themselves to the Carthaginians or to the Romans, was still undecided. +Informed that the former were gaining the superiority, Marcellus +crossed the river at Caiatia, and marching along the heights of +Suessula so as to evade the enemy's army, he reached Nola in +sufficient time to hold it against the foes without and within. +In a sally he even repulsed Hannibal in person with considerable loss; +a success which, as the first defeat sustained by Hannibal, was of far +more importance from its moral effect than from its material results. +In Campania indeed, Nuceria, Acerrae, and, after an obstinate siege +prolonged into the following year (539), Casilinum also, the key +of the Volturnus, were conquered by Hannibal, and the severest +punishments were inflicted on the senates of these towns which had +adhered to Rome. But terror is a bad weapon of proselytism; the +Romans succeeded, with comparatively trifling loss, in surmounting the +perilous moment of their first weakness. The war in Campania came to +a standstill; then winter came on, and Hannibal took up his quarters +in Capua, the luxury of which was by no means fraught with benefit to +his troops who for three years had not been under a roof. In the next +year (539) the war acquired another aspect. The tried general Marcus +Marcellus, Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus who had distinguished himself +in the campaign of the previous year as master of the horse to the +dictator, and the veteran Quintus Fabius Maximus, took--Marcellus as +proconsul, the two others as consuls--the command of the three Roman +armies which were destined to surround Capua and Hannibal; Marcellus +resting on Nola and Suessula, Maximus taking a position on the right +bank of the Volturnus near Cales, and Gracchus on the coast near +Liternum, covering Neapolis and Cumae. The Campanians, who marched +to Hamae three miles from Cumae with a view to surprise the Cumaeans, +were thoroughly defeated by Gracchus; Hannibal, who had appeared +before Cumae to wipe out the stain, was himself worsted in a combat, +and when the pitched battle offered by him was declined, retreated +in ill humour to Capua. While the Romans in Campania thus not only +maintained what they possessed, but also recovered Compulteria and +other smaller places, loud complaints were heard from the eastern +allies of Hannibal. A Roman army under the praetor Marcus Valerius +had taken position at Luceria, partly that it might, in connection +with the Roman fleet, watch the east coast and the movements of the +Macedonians; partly that it might, in connection with the army of +Nola, levy contributions on the revolted Samnites, Lucanians, and +Hirpini. To give relief to these, Hannibal turned first against his +most active opponent, Marcus Marcellus; but the latter achieved under +the walls of Nola no inconsiderable victory over the Phoenician army, +and it was obliged to depart, without having cleared off the stain, +from Campania for Arpi, in order at length to check the progress of +the enemy's army in Apulia. Tiberius Gracchus followed it with his +corps, while the two other Roman armies in Campania made arrangements +to proceed next spring to the attack of Capua. + +Hannibal Reduced to the Defensive +His Prospects as to Reinforcements + +The clear vision of Hannibal had not been dazzled by his victories. +It became every day more evident that he was not thus gaining his +object Those rapid marches, that adventurous shifting of the war to +and fro, to which Hannibal was mainly indebted for his successes, +were at an end; the enemy had become wiser; further enterprises were +rendered almost impossible by the inevitable necessity of defending +what had been gained. The offensive was not to be thought of; the +defensive was difficult, and threatened every year to become more so. +He could not conceal from himself that the second half of his great +task, the subjugation of the Latins and the conquest of Rome, could +not be accomplished with his own forces and those of his Italian +allies alone. Its accomplishment depended on the council at Carthage, +on the head-quarters at Cartagena, on the courts of Pella and of +Syracuse. If all the energies of Africa, Spain, Sicily, and Macedonia +should now be exerted in common against the common enemy; if Lower +Italy should become the great rendezvous for the armies and fleets of +the west, south, and east; he might hope successfully to finish what +the vanguard under his leadership had so brilliantly begun. The most +natural and easy course would have been to send to him adequate +support from home; and the Carthaginian state, which had remained +almost untouched by the war and had been brought from deep decline so +near to complete victory by a small band of resolute patriots acting +of their own accord and at their own risk, could beyond doubt have +done this. That it would have been possible for a Phoenician fleet +of any desired strength to effect a landing at Locri or Croton, +especially as long as the port of Syracuse remained open to the +Carthaginians and the fleet at Brundisium was kept in check by +Macedonia, is shown by the unopposed disembarkation at Locri of 4000 +Africans, whom Bomilcar about this time brought over from Carthage to +Hannibal, and still more by Hannibal's undisturbed embarkation, when +all had been already lost. But after the first impression of the +victory of Cannae had died away, the peace party in Carthage, which +was at all times ready to purchase the downfall of its political +opponents at the expense of its country, and which found faithful +allies in the shortsightedness and indolence of the citizens, refused +the entreaties of the general for more decided support with the half- +simple, half-malicious reply, that he in fact needed no help inasmuch +as he was really victor; and thus contributed not much less than +the Roman senate to save Rome. Hannibal, reared in the camp and a +stranger to the machinery of civic factions, found no popular leader +on whose support he could rely, such as his father had found in +Hasdrubal; and he was obliged to seek abroad the means of saving +his native country--means which itself possessed in rich abundance +at home. + +For this purpose he might, at least with more prospect of success, +reckon on the leaders of the Spanish patriot army, on the connections +which he had formed in Syracuse, and on the intervention of Philip. +Everything depended on bringing new forces into the Italian field of +war against Rome from Spain, Syracuse, or Macedonia; and for the +attainment or for the prevention of this object wars were carried +on in Spain, Sicily, and Greece. All of these were but means to an +end, and historians have often erred in accounting them of greater +importance. So far as the Romans were concerned, they were +essentially defensive wars, the proper objects of which were to hold +the passes of the Pyrenees, to detain the Macedonian army in Greece, +to defend Messana and to bar the communication between Italy and +Sicily. Of course this defensive warfare was, wherever it was +possible, waged by offensive methods; and, should circumstances be +favourable, it might develop into the dislodging of the Phoenicians +from Spain and Sicily, and into the dissolution of Hannibal's +alliances with Syracuse and with Philip. The Italian war in itself +fell for the time being into the shade, and resolved itself into +conflicts about fortresses and razzias, which had no decisive effect +on the main issue. Nevertheless, so long as the Phoenicians retained +the offensive at all, Italy always remained the central aim of +operations; and all efforts were directed towards, as all interest +centred in, the doing away, or perpetuating, of Hannibal's isolation +in southern Italy. + +The Sending of Reinforcements Temporarily Frustrated + +Had it been possible, immediately after the battle of Cannae, to bring +into play all the resources on which Hannibal thought that he might +reckon, he might have been tolerably certain of success. But the +position of Hasdrubal at that time in Spain after the battle on the +Ebro was so critical, that the supplies of money and men, which the +victory of Cannae had roused the Carthaginian citizens to furnish, +were for the most part expended on Spain, without producing much +improvement in the position of affairs there. The Scipios transferred +the theatre of war in the following campaign (539) from the Ebro to +the Guadalquivir; and in Andalusia, in the very centre of the proper +Carthaginian territory, they achieved at Illiturgi and Intibili two +brilliant victories. In Sardinia communications entered into with +the natives led the Carthaginians to hope that they should be able +to master the island, which would have been of importance as an +intermediate station between Spain and Italy. But Titus Manlius +Torquatus, who was sent with a Roman army to Sardinia, completely +destroyed the Carthaginian landing force, and reassured to the Romans +the undisputed possession of the island (539). The legions from +Cannae sent to Sicily held their ground in the north and east of +the island with courage and success against the Carthaginians and +Hieronymus; the latter met his death towards the end of 539 by the +hand of an assassin. Even in the case of Macedonia the ratification +of the alliance was delayed, principally because the Macedonian envoys +sent to Hannibal were captured on their homeward journey by the Roman +vessels of war. Thus the dreaded invasion of the east coast was +temporarily suspended; and the Romans gained time to secure the very +important station of Brundisium first by their fleet and then by the +land army which before the arrival of Gracchus was employed for the +protection of Apulia, and even to make preparations for an invasion of +Macedonia in the event of war being declared. While in Italy the war +thus came to a stand, out of Italy nothing was done on the part of +Carthage to accelerate the movement of new armies or fleets towards +the seat of war. The Romans, again, had everywhere with the greatest +energy put themselves in a state of defence, and in that defensive +attitude had fought for the most part with good results wherever the +genius of Hannibal was absent. Thereupon the short-lived patriotism, +which the victory of Cannae had awakened in Carthage, evaporated; the +not inconsiderable forces which had been organized there were, either +through factious opposition or merely through unskilful attempts +to conciliate the different opinions expressed in the council, so +frittered away that they were nowhere of any real service, and but a +very small portion arrived at the spot where they would have been most +useful. At the close of 539 the reflecting Roman statesman might +assure himself that the urgency of the danger was past, and that the +resistance so heroically begun had but to persevere in its exertions +at all points in order to achieve its object. + +War in Sicily +Siege of Syracuse + +First of all the war in Sicily came to an end. It had formed no part +of Hannibal's original plan to excite a war on the island; but partly +through accident, chiefly through the boyish vanity of the imprudent +Hieronymus, a land war had broken out there, which--doubtless because +Hannibal had not planned it--the Carthaginian council look up with +especial zeal. After Hieronymus was killed at the close of 539, it +seemed more than doubtful whether the citizens would persevere in +the policy which he had pursued. If any city had reason to adhere +to Rome, that city was Syracuse; for the victory of the Carthaginians +over the Romans could not but give to the former, at any rate, the +sovereignty of all Sicily, and no one could seriously believe that +the promises made by Carthage to the Syracusans would be really kept. +Partly induced by this consideration, partly terrified by the +threatening preparations of the Romans--who made every effort to +bring once more under their complete control that important island, +the bridge between Italy and Africa, and now for the campaign of 540 +sent their best general, Marcus Marcellus, to Sicily--the Syracusan +citizens showed a disposition to obtain oblivion of the past by a +timely return to the Roman alliance. But, amidst the dreadful +confusion in the city--which after the death of Hieronymus was +agitated alternately by endeavours to re-establish the ancient freedom +of the people and by the -coups de main- of the numerous pretenders to +the vacant throne, while the captains of the foreign mercenary troops +were the real masters of the place--Hannibal's dexterous emissaries, +Hippocrates and Epicydes, found opportunity to frustrate the projects +of peace. They stirred up the multitude in the name of liberty; +descriptions, exaggerated beyond measure, of the fearful punishment +that the Romans were said to have inflicted on the Leontines, who had +just been re-conquered, awakened doubts even among the better portion +of the citizens whether it was not too late to restore their old +relations with Rome; while the numerous Roman deserters among the +mercenaries, mostly runaway rowers from the fleet, were easily +persuaded that a peace on the part of the citizens with Rome would +be their death-warrant. So the chief magistrates were put to death, +the armistice was broken, and Hippocrates and Epicydes undertook +the government of the city. No course was left to the consul except +to undertake a siege; but the skilful conduct of the defence, +in which the Syracusan engineer Archimedes, celebrated as a learned +mathematician, especially distinguished himself, compelled the Romans +after besieging the city for eight months to convert the siege into +a blockade by sea and land. + +Carthaginian Expedition to Sicily +The Carthaginian Troops Destroyed +Conquest of Syracuse + +In the meanwhile Carthage, which hitherto had only supported the +Syracusans with her fleets, on receiving news of their renewed rising +in arms against the Romans had despatched a strong land army under +Himilco to Sicily, which landed without interruption at Heraclea Minoa +and immediately occupied the important town of Agrigentum. To effect +a junction with Himilco, the bold and able Hippocrates marched forth +from Syracuse with an army: the position of Marcellus between the +garrison of Syracuse and the two hostile armies began to be critical. +With the help of some reinforcements, however, which arrived from +Italy, he maintained his position in the island and continued the +blockade of Syracuse. On the other hand, the greater portion of the +small inland towns were driven to the armies of the Carthaginians not +so much by the armies of the enemy, as by the fearful severity of the +Roman proceedings in the island, more especially the slaughter of the +citizens of Enna, suspected of a design to revolt, by the Roman +garrison which was stationed there. In 542 the besiegers of Syracuse +during a festival in the city succeeded in scaling a portion of the +extensive outer walls that had been deserted by the guard, and in +penetrating into the suburbs which stretched from the "island" and +the city proper on the shore (Achradina) towards the interior. The +fortress of Euryalus, which, situated at the extreme western end of +the suburbs, protected these and the principal road leading from the +interior to Syracuse, was thus cut off and fell not long afterwards. +When the siege of the city thus began to assume a turn favourable +to the Romans, the two armies under Himilco and Hippocrates advanced +to its relief, and attempted a simultaneous attack on the Roman +positions, combined with an attempt at landing on the part of the +Carthaginian fleet and a sally of the Syracusan garrison; but the +attack was repulsed on all sides, and the two relieving armies were +obliged to content themselves with encamping before the city, in the +low marshy grounds along the Anapus, which in the height of summer and +autumn engender pestilences fatal to those that tarry in them. These +pestilences had often saved the city, oftener even than the valour of +its citizens; in the times of the first Dionysius, two Phoenician +armies in the act of besieging the city had been in this way destroyed +under its very walls. Now fate turned the special defence of the city +into the means of its destruction; while the army of Marcellus +quartered in the suburbs suffered but little, fevers desolated the +Phoenician and Syracusan bivouacs. Hippocrates died; Himilco and +most of the Africans died also; the survivors of the two armies, +mostly native Siceli, dispersed into the neighbouring cities. The +Carthaginians made a further attempt to save the city from the sea +side; but the admiral Bomilcar withdrew, when the Roman fleet offered +him battle. Epicydes himself, who commanded in the city, now +abandoned it as lost, and made his escape to Agrigentum. Syracuse +would gladly have surrendered to the Romans; negotiations had already +begun. But for the second time they were thwarted by the deserters: +in another mutiny of the soldiers the chief magistrates and a number +of respectable citizens were slain, and the government and the defence +of the city were entrusted by the foreign troops to their captains. +Marcellus now entered into a negotiation with one of these, which gave +into his hands one of the two portions of the city that were still +free, the "island"; upon which the citizens voluntarily opened to +him the gates of Achradina also (in the autumn of 542). If mercy +was to be shown in any case, it might, even according to the far +from laudable principles of Roman public law as to the treatment +of perfidious communities, have been extended to this city, which +manifestly had not been at liberty to act for itself, and which had +repeatedly made the most earnest attempts to get rid of the tyranny +of the foreign soldiers. Nevertheless, not only did Marcellus stain +his military honour by permitting a general pillage of the wealthy +mercantile city, in the course of which Archimedes and many other +citizens were put to death, but the Roman senate lent a deaf ear to +the complaints which the Syracusans afterwards presented regarding the +celebrated general, and neither returned to individuals their pillaged +property nor restored to the city its freedom. Syracuse and the towns +that had been previously dependent on it were classed among the +communities tributary to Rome--Tauromenium and Neetum alone obtained +the same privileges as Messana, while the territory of Leontini became +Roman domain and its former proprietors Roman lessees--and no +Syracusan citizen was henceforth allowed to reside in the "island," +the portion of the city that commanded the harbour. + +Guerilla War in Sicily +Agrigentum Occupied by the Romans +Sicily Tranquillized + +Sicily thus appeared lost to the Carthaginians; but the genius of +Hannibal exercised even from a distance its influence there. He +despatched to the Carthaginian army, which remained at. Agrigentum +in perplexity and inaction under Hanno and Epicydes, a Libyan cavalry +officer Muttines, who took the command of the Numidian cavalry, and +with his flying squadrons, fanning into an open flame the bitter +hatred which the despotic rule of the Romans had excited over all the +island, commenced a guerilla warfare on the most extensive scale and +with the happiest results; so that he even, when the Carthaginian and +Roman armies met on the river Himera, sustained some conflicts with +Marcellus himself successfully. The relations, however, which +prevailed between Hannibal and the Carthaginian council, were here +repeated on a small scale. The general appointed by the council +pursued with jealous envy the officer sent by Hannibal, and insisted +upon giving battle to the proconsul without Muttines and the +Numidians. The wish of Hanno was carried out, and he was completely +beaten. Muttines was not induced to deviate from his course; he +maintained himself in the interior of the country, occupied several +small towns, and was enabled by the not inconsiderable reinforcements +which joined him from Carthage gradually to extend his operations. +His successes were so brilliant, that at length the commander-in- +chief, who could not otherwise prevent the cavalry officer from +eclipsing him, deprived him summarily of the command of the light +cavalry, and entrusted it to his own son. The Numidian, who had +now for two years preserved the island for his Phoenician masters, +had the measure of his patience exhausted by this treatment. He and +his horsemen who refused to follow the younger Hanno entered into +negotiations with the Roman general Marcus Valerius Laevinus and +delivered to him Agrigentum. Hanno escaped in a boat, and went to +Carthage to report to his superiors the disgraceful high treason of +Hannibal's officer; the Phoenician garrison in the town was put to +death by the Romans, and the citizens were sold into slavery (544). +To secure the island from such surprises as the landing of 540, the +city received a new body of inhabitants selected from Sicilians well +disposed towards Rome; the old glorious Akragas was no more. After +the whole of Sicily was thus subdued, the Romans exerted themselves to +restore some sort of tranquillity and order to the distracted island. +The pack of banditti that haunted the interior were driven together +en masse and conveyed to Italy, that from their head-quarters at +Rhegium they might burn and destroy in the territories of Hannibal's +allies. The government did its utmost to promote the restoration +of agriculture which had been totally neglected in the island. +The Carthaginian council more than once talked of sending a fleet +to Sicily and renewing the war there; but the project went no further. + +Philip of Macedonia and His Delay + +Macedonia might have exercised an influence over the course of +events more decisive than that of Syracuse. From the Eastern powers +neither furtherance nor hindrance was for the moment to be expected. +Antiochus the Great, the natural ally of Philip, had, after the +decisive victory of the Egyptians at Raphia in 537, to deem himself +fortunate in obtaining peace from the indolent Philopator on the basis +of the -status quo ante-. The rivalry of the Lagidae and the constant +apprehension of a renewed outbreak of the war on the one hand, and +insurrections of pretenders in the interior and enterprises of all +sorts in Asia Minor, Bactria, and the eastern satrapies on the other, +prevented him from joining that great anti-Roman alliance which +Hannibal had in view. The Egyptian court was decidedly on the side +of Rome, with which it renewed alliance in 544; but it was not to be +expected of Ptolemy Philopator, that he would support otherwise than +by corn-ships. Accordingly there was nothing to prevent Greece and +Macedonia from throwing a decisive weight into the great Italian +struggle except their own discord; they might save the Hellenic name, +if they had the self-control to stand by each other for but a few +years against the common foe. Such sentiments doubtless were current +in Greece. The prophetic saying of Agelaus of Naupactus, that he was +afraid that the prize-fights in which the Hellenes now indulged at +home might soon be over; his earnest warning to direct their eyes to +the west, and not to allow a stronger power to impose on all the +parties now contending a peace of equal servitude--such sayings had +essentially contributed to bring about the peace between Philip and +the Aetolians (537), and it was a significant proof of the tendency +of that peace that the Aetolian league immediately nominated Agelaus +as its -strategus-. + +National patriotism was bestirring itself in Greece as in Carthage: +for a moment it seemed possible to kindle a Hellenic national war +against Rome. But the general in such a crusade could only be Philip +of Macedonia; and he lacked the enthusiasm and the faith in the +nation, without which such a war could not be waged. He knew not +how to solve the arduous problem of transforming himself from the +oppressor into the champion of Greece. His very delay in the +conclusion of the alliance with Hannibal damped the first and best +zeal of the Greek patriots; and when he did enter into the conflict +with Rome, his mode of conducting war was still less fitted to awaken +sympathy and confidence. His first attempt, which was made in the +very year of the battle of Cannae (538), to obtain possession of the +city of Apollonia, failed in a way almost ridiculous, for Philip +turned back in all haste on receiving the totally groundless report +that a Roman fleet was steering for the Adriatic. This took place +before there was a formal breach with Rome; when the breach at length +ensued, friend and foe expected a Macedonian landing in Lower Italy. +Since 539 a Roman fleet and army had been stationed at Brundisium to +meet it; Philip, who was without vessels of war, was constructing a +flotilla of light Illyrian barks to convey his army across. But when +the endeavour had to be made in earnest, his courage failed to +encounter the dreaded quinqueremes at sea; he broke the promise which +he had given to his ally Hannibal to attempt a landing, and with the +view of still doing something he resolved to make an attack on his own +share of the spoil, the Roman possessions in Epirus (540). Nothing +would have come of this even at the best; but the Romans, who well +knew that offensive was preferable to defensive protection, were by no +means content to remain--as Philip may have hoped--spectators of the +attack from the opposite shore. The Roman fleet conveyed a division +of the army from Brundisium to Epirus; Oricum was recaptured from the +king, a garrison was thrown into Apollonia, and the Macedonian camp +was stormed. Thereupon Philip passed from partial action to total +inaction, and notwithstanding all the complaints of Hannibal, who +vainly tried to breathe into such a halting and shortsighted policy +his own fire and clearness of decision, he allowed some years to +elapse in armed inactivity. + +Rome Heads a Greek Coalition against Macedonia + +Nor was Philip the first to renew the hostilities. The fall of +Tarentum (542), by which Hannibal acquired an excellent port on the +coast which was the most convenient for the landing of a Macedonian +army, induced the Romans to parry the blow from a distance and to give +the Macedonians so much employment at home that they could not think +of an attempt on Italy. The national enthusiasm in Greece had of +course evaporated long ago. With the help of the old antagonism to +Macedonia, and of the fresh acts of imprudence and injustice of which +Philip had been guilty, the Roman admiral Laevinus found no difficulty +in organizing against Macedonia a coalition of the intermediate and +minor powers under the protectorate of Rome. It was headed by the +Aetolians, at whose diet Laevinus had personally appeared and had +gained its support by a promise of the Acarnanian territory which +the Aetolians had long coveted. They concluded with Rome a modest +agreement to rob the other Greeks of men and land on the joint +account, so that the land should belong to the Aetolians, the men +and moveables to the Romans. They were joined by the states of anti- +Macedonian, or rather primarily of anti-Achaean, tendencies in Greece +proper; in Attica by Athens, in the Peloponnesus by Elis and Messene +and especially by Sparta, the antiquated constitution of which had +been just about this time overthrown by a daring soldier Machanidas, +in order that he might himself exercise despotic power under the +name of king Pelops, a minor, and might establish a government of +adventurers sustained by bands of mercenaries. The coalition was +joined moreover by those constant antagonists of Macedonia, the +chieftains of the half-barbarous Thracian and Illyrian tribes, and +lastly by Attalus king of Pergamus, who followed out his own interest +with sagacity and energy amidst the ruin of the two great Greek states +which surrounded him, and had the acuteness even now to attach himself +as a client to Rome when his assistance was still of some value. + +Resultless Warfare +Peace between Philip and the Greeks +Peace between Philip and Rome + +It is neither agreeable nor necessary to follow the vicissitudes of +this aimless struggle. Philip, although he was superior to each one +of his opponents and repelled their attacks on all sides with energy +and personal valour, yet consumed his time and strength in that +profitless defensive. Now he had to turn against the Aetolians, +who in concert with the Roman fleet annihilated the unfortunate +Acarnanians and threatened Locris and Thessaly; now an invasion of +barbarians summoned him to the northern provinces; now the Achaeans +solicited his help against the predatory expeditions of Aetolians and +Spartans; now king Attalus of Pergamus and the Roman admiral Publius +Sulpicius with their combined fleets threatened the east coast or +landed troops in Euboea. The want of a war fleet paralyzed Philip in +all his movements; he even went so far as to beg vessels of war from +his ally Prusias of Bithynia, and even from Hannibal. It was only +towards the close of the war that he resolved--as he should have done +at first--to order the construction of 100 ships of war; of these +however no use was made, if the order was executed at all. All who +understood the position of Greece and sympathized with it lamented +the unhappy war, in which the last energies of Greece preyed upon +themselves and the prosperity of the land was destroyed; repeatedly +the commercial states, Rhodes, Chios, Mitylene, Byzantium, Athens, and +even Egypt itself had attempted a mediation. In fact both parties had +an interest in coming to terms. The Aetolians, to whom their Roman +allies attached the chief importance, had, like the Macedonians, +much to suffer from the war; especially after the petty king of the +Athamanes had been gained by Philip, and the interior of Aetolia had +thus been laid open to Macedonian incursions. Many Aetolians too had +their eyes gradually opened to the dishonourable and pernicious part +which the Roman alliance condemned them to play; a cry of horror +pervaded the whole Greek nation when the Aetolians in concert with +the Romans sold whole bodies of Hellenic citizens, such as those of +Anticyra, Oreus, Dyme, and Aegina, into slavery. But the Aetolians +were no longer free; they ran a great risk if of their own accord they +concluded peace with Philip, and they found the Romans by no means +disposed, especially after the favourable turn which matters were +taking in Spain and in Italy, to desist from a war, which on their +part was carried on with merely a few ships, and the burden and +injury of which fell mainly on the Aetolians. At length however +the Aetolians resolved to listen to the mediating cities: and, +notwithstanding the counter-efforts of the Romans, a peace was +arranged in the winter of 548-9 between the Greek powers. Aetolia had +converted an over-powerful ally into a dangerous enemy; but the Roman +senate, which just at that time was summoning all the resources of the +exhausted state for the decisive expedition to Africa, did not deem it +a fitting moment to resent the breach of the alliance. The war with +Philip could not, after the withdrawal of the Aetolians, have been +carried on by the Romans without considerable exertions of their own; +and it appeared to them more convenient to terminate it also by a +peace, whereby the state of things before the war was substantially +restored and Rome in particular retained all her possessions on the +coast of Epirus except the worthless territory of the Atintanes. +Under the circumstances Philip had to deem himself fortunate in +obtaining such terms; but the fact proclaimed--what could not indeed +be longer concealed--that all the unspeakable misery which ten years +of a warfare waged with revolting inhumanity had brought upon Greece +had been endured in vain, and that the grand and just combination, +which Hannibal had projected and all Greece had for a moment joined, +was shattered irretrievably. + +Spanish War + +In Spain, where the spirit of Hamilcar and Hannibal was powerful, the +struggle was more earnest. Its progress was marked by the singular +vicissitudes incidental to the peculiar nature of the country and the +habits of the people. The farmers and shepherds, who inhabited the +beautiful valley of the Ebro and the luxuriantly fertile Andalusia as +well as the rough intervening highland region traversed by numerous +wooded mountain ranges, could easily be assembled in arms as a general +levy; but it was difficult to lead them against the enemy or even to +keep them together at all. The towns could just as little be combined +for steady and united action, obstinately as in each case they bade +defiance to the oppressor behind their walls. They all appear to have +made little distinction between the Romans and the Carthaginians; +whether the troublesome guests who had established themselves in the +valley of the Ebro, or those who had established themselves on the +Guadalquivir, possessed a larger or smaller portion of the peninsula, +was probably to the natives very much a matter of indifference; and +for that reason the tenacity of partisanship so characteristic of +Spain was but little prominent in this war, with isolated exceptions +such as Saguntum on the Roman and Astapa on the Carthaginian side. +But, as neither the Romans nor the Africans had brought with them +sufficient forces of their own, the war necessarily became on both +sides a struggle to gain partisans, which was decided rarely by solid +attachment, more usually by fear, money, or accident, and which, when +it seemed about to end, resolved itself into an endless series of +fortress-sieges and guerilla conflicts, whence it soon revived with +fresh fury. Armies appeared and disappeared like sandhills on the +seashore; on the spot where a hill stood yesterday, not a trace of +it remains today. In general the superiority was on the side of +the Romans, partly because they at first appeared in Spain as the +deliverers of the land from Phoenician despotism, partly because of +the fortunate selection of their leaders and of the stronger nucleus +of trustworthy troops which these brought along with them. It is +hardly possible, however, with the very imperfect and--in point of +chronology especially--very confused accounts which have been handed +down to us, to give a satisfactory view of a war so conducted. + +Successes of the Scipios +Syphax against Carthage + +The two lieutenant-governors of the Romans in the peninsula, Gnaeus +and Publius Scipio--both of them, but especially Gnaeus, good +generals and excellent administrators--accomplished their task with +the most brilliant success. Not only was the barrier of the Pyrenees +steadfastly maintained, and the attempt to re-establish the +interrupted communication by land between the commander-in-chief of +the enemy and his head-quarters sternly repulsed; not only had a +Spanish New Rome been created, after the model of the Spanish New +Carthage, by means of the comprehensive fortifications and harbour +works of Tarraco, but the Roman armies had already in 539 fought with +success in Andalusia.(2) Their expedition thither was repeated in +the following year (540) with still greater success. The Romans +carried their arms almost to the Pillars of Hercules, extended their +protectorate in South Spain, and lastly by regaining and restoring +Saguntum secured for themselves an important station on the line from +the Ebro to Cartagena, repaying at the same time as far as possible +an old debt which the nation owed. While the Scipios thus almost +dislodged the Carthaginians from Spain, they knew how to raise up a +dangerous enemy to them in western Africa itself in the person of the +powerful west African prince Syphax, ruling in the modern provinces of +Oran and Algiers, who entered into connections with the Romans (about +541). Had it been possible to supply him with a Roman army, great +results might have been expected; but at that time not a man could be +spared from Italy, and the Spanish army was too weak to be divided. +Nevertheless the troops belonging to Syphax himself, trained and led +by Roman officers, excited so serious a ferment among the Libyan +subjects of Carthage that the lieutenant-commander of Spain and +Africa, Hasdrubal Barcas, went in person to Africa with the flower +of his Spanish troops. His arrival in all likelihood gave another +turn to the matter; the king Gala--in what is now the province of +Constantine--who had long been the rival of Syphax, declared for +Carthage, and his brave son Massinissa defeated Syphax, and compelled +him to make peace. Little more is related of this Libyan war than the +story of the cruel vengeance which Carthage, according to her wont, +inflicted on the rebels after the victory of Massinissa. + +The Scipios Defeated and Killed +Spain South of the Ebro Lost to the Romans +Nero Sent to Spain + +This turn of affairs in Africa had an important effect on the war in +Spain. Hasdrubal was able once more to turn to that country (543), +whither he was soon followed by considerable reinforcements and by +Massinissa himself. The Scipios, who during the absence of the +enemy's general (541, 542) had continued to plunder and to gain +partisans in the Carthaginian territory, found themselves unexpectedly +assailed by forces so superior that they were under the necessity of +either retreating behind the Ebro or calling out the Spaniards. They +chose the latter course, and took into their pay 20,000 Celtiberians; +and then, in order the better to encounter the three armies of the +enemy under Hasdrubal Barcas, Hasdrubal the son of Gisgo, and Mago, +they divided their army and did not even keep their Roman troops +together. They thus prepared the way for their own destruction. +While Gnaeus with his corps, containing a third of the Roman and all +the Spanish troops, lay encamped opposite to Hasdrubal Barcas, the +latter had no difficulty in inducing the Spaniards in the Roman army +by means of a sum of money to withdraw--which perhaps to their free- +lance ideas of morals did not even seem a breach of fidelity, seeing +that they did not pass over to the enemies of their paymaster. +Nothing was left to the Roman general but hastily to begin his +retreat, in which the enemy closely followed him. Meanwhile the +second Roman corps under Publius found itself vigorously assailed +by the two other Phoenician armies under Hasdrubal son of Gisgo +and Mago, and the daring squadrons of Massinissa's horse gave to +the Carthaginians a decided advantage. The Roman camp was almost +surrounded; when the Spanish auxiliaries already on the way should +arrive, the Romans would be completely hemmed in. The bold resolve +of the proconsul to encounter with his best troops the advancing +Spaniards, before their appearance should fill up the gap in the +blockade, ended unfortunately. The Romans indeed had at first the +advantage; but the Numidian horse, who were rapidly despatched in +pursuit, soon overtook them and prevented them both from following up +the victory which they had already half gained, and from marching +back, until the Phoenician infantry came up and at length the fall of +the general converted the lost battle into a defeat. After Publius +had thus fallen, Gnaeus, who slowly retreating had with difficulty +defended himself against the one Carthaginian army, found himself +suddenly assailed at once by three, and all retreat cut off by the +Numidian cavalry. Hemmed in upon a bare hill, which did not even +afford the possibility of pitching a camp, the whole corps were cut +down or taken prisoners. As to the fate of the general himself no +certain information was ever obtained. A small division alone was +conducted by Gaius Marcius, an excellent officer of the school of +Gnaeus, in safety to the other bank of the Ebro; and thither the +legate Titus Fonteius also succeeded in bringing safely the portion +of the corps of Publius that had been left in the camp; most even of +the Roman garrisons scattered in the south of Spain were enabled to +flee thither. In all Spain south of the Ebro the Phoenicians ruled +undisturbed; and the moment seemed not far distant, when the river +would be crossed, the Pyrenees would be open, and the communication +with Italy would be restored. But the emergency in the Roman camp +called the right man to the command. The choice of the soldiers, +passing over older and not incapable officers, summoned that Gaius +Marcius to become leader of the army; and his dexterous management +and quite as much perhaps, the envy and discord among the three +Carthaginian generals, wrested from these the further fruits of their +important victory. Such of the Carthaginians as had crossed the river +were driven back, and the line of the Ebro was held in the meanwhile, +till Rome gained time to send a new army and a new general. +Fortunately the turn of the war in Italy, where Capua had just fallen, +allowed this to be done. A strong legion--12,000 men--arriving under +the propraetor Gaius Claudius Nero, restored the balance of arms. +An expedition to Andalusia in the following year (544) was most +successful; Hasdrubal Barcas was beset and surrounded, and escaped a +capitulation only by ignoble stratagem and open perfidy. But Nero was +not the right general for the Spanish war. He was an able officer, +but a harsh, irritable, unpopular man, who had little skill in the +art of renewing old connections or of forming new ones, or in taking +advantage of the injustice and arrogance with which the Carthaginians +after the death of the Scipios had treated friend and foe in Further +Spain, and had exasperated all against them. + +Publius Scipio + +The senate, which formed a correct judgment as to the importance +and the peculiar character of the Spanish war, and had learned from +the Uticenses brought in as prisoners by the Roman fleet the great +exertions which were making in Carthage to send Hasdrubal and +Massinissa with a numerous army over the Pyrenees, resolved to +despatch to Spain new reinforcements and an extraordinary general of +higher rank, the nomination of whom they deemed it expedient to leave +to the people. For long--so runs the story--nobody announced himself +as ready to take in hand the complicated and perilous business; but +at last a young officer of twenty-seven, Publius Scipio (son of the +general of the same name that had fallen in Spain), who had held the +offices of military tribune and aedile, came forward to solicit it. +It is incredible that the Roman senate should have left to accident +an election of such importance in this meeting of the Comitia which +it had itself suggested, and equally incredible that ambition and +patriotism should have so died out in Rome that no tried officer +presented himself for the important post. If on the other hand the +eyes of the senate turned to the young, talented, and experienced +officer, who had brilliantly distinguished himself in the hotly- +contested days on the Ticinus and at Cannae, but who still had not the +rank requisite for his coming forward as the successor of men who had +been praetors and consuls, it was very natural to adopt this course, +which compelled the people out of good nature to admit the only +candidate notwithstanding his defective qualification, and which could +not but bring both him and the Spanish expedition, which was doubtless +very unpopular, into favour with the multitude. If the effect of this +ostensibly unpremeditated candidature was thus calculated, it was +perfectly successful. The son, who went to avenge the death of a +father whose life he had saved nine years before on the Ticinus; +the young man of manly beauty and long locks, who with modest blushes +offered himself in the absence of a better for the post of danger; +the mere military tribune, whom the votes of the centuries now raised +at once to the roll of the highest magistracies--all this made a +wonderful and indelible impression on the citizens and farmers of +Rome. And in truth Publius Scipio was one, who was himself +enthusiastic, and who inspired enthusiasm. He was not one of the few +who by their energy and iron will constrain the world to adopt and to +move in new paths for centuries, or who at any rate grasp the reins of +destiny for years till its wheels roll over them. Publius Scipio +gained battles and conquered countries under the instructions of the +senate; with the aid of his military laurels he took also a prominent +position in Rome as a statesman; but a wide interval separates such a +man from an Alexander or a Caesar. As an officer he rendered at least +no greater service to his country than Marcus Marcellus; and as a +politician, although not perhaps himself fully conscious of the +unpatriotic and personal character of his policy, he injured his +country at least as much, as he benefited it by his military skill. +Yet a special charm lingers around the form of that graceful hero; +it is surrounded, as with a dazzling halo, by the atmosphere of serene +and confident inspiration, in which Scipio with mingled credulity and +adroitness always moved. With quite enough of enthusiasm to warm +men's hearts, and enough of calculation to follow in every case the +dictates of intelligence, while not leaving out of account the vulgar; +not naive enough to share the belief of the multitude in his divine +inspirations, nor straightforward enough to set it aside, and yet in +secret thoroughly persuaded that he was a man specially favoured of +the gods--in a word, a genuine prophetic nature; raised above the +people, and not less aloof from them; a man of steadfast word and +kingly spirit, who thought that he would humble himself by adopting +the ordinary title of a king, but could never understand how the +constitution of the republic should in his case be binding; +so confident in his own greatness that he knew nothing of envy +or of hatred, courteously acknowledged other men's merits, and +compassionately forgave other men's faults; an excellent officer and +a refined diplomatist without the repellent special impress of either +calling, uniting Hellenic culture with the fullest national feeling of +a Roman, an accomplished speaker and of graceful manners--Publius +Scipio won the hearts of soldiers and of women, of his countrymen +and of the Spaniards, of his rivals in the senate and of his greater +Carthaginian antagonist. His name was soon on every one's lips, and +his was the star which seemed destined to bring victory and peace +to his country. + +Scipio Goes to Spain +Capture of New Carthage + +Publius Scipio went to Spain in 544-5, accompanied by the propraetor +Marcus Silanus, who was to succeed Nero and to serve as assistant and +counsellor to the young commander-in-chief, and by his intimate friend +Gaius Laelius as admiral, and furnished with a legion exceeding the +usual strength and a well-filled chest. His appearance on the scene +was at once signalized by one of the boldest and most fortunate -coups +de main- that are known in history. Of the three Carthaginian +generals Hasdrubal Barcas was stationed at the sources, Hasdrubal +son of Gisgo at the mouth, of the Tagus, and Mago at the Pillars of +Hercules; the nearest of them was ten days' march from the Phoenician +capital New Carthage. Suddenly in the spring of 545, before the +enemy's armies began to move, Scipio set out with his whole army of +nearly 30,000 men and the fleet for this town, which he could reach +from the mouth of the Ebro by the coast route in a few days, and +surprised the Phoenician garrison, not above 1000 men strong, by a +combined attack by sea and land. The town, situated on a tongue of +land projecting into the harbour, found itself threatened at once on +three sides by the Roman fleet, and on the fourth by the legions; and +all help was far distant. Nevertheless the commandant Mago defended +himself with resolution and armed the citizens, as the soldiers did +not suffice to man the walls. A sortie was attempted; but the Romans +repelled it with ease and, without taking time to open a regular +siege, began the assault on the landward side. Eagerly the assailants +pushed their advance along the narrow land approach to the town; +new columns constantly relieved those that were fatigued; the weak +garrison was utterly exhausted; but the Romans had gained no +advantage. Scipio had not expected any; the assault was merely +designed to draw away the garrison from the side next to the harbour, +where, having been informed that part of the latter was left dry at +ebb-tide, he meditated a second attack. While the assault was raging +on the landward side, Scipio sent a division with ladders over the +shallow bank "where Neptune himself showed them the way," and they had +actually the good fortune to find the walls at that point undefended. +Thus the city was won on the first day; whereupon Mago in the citadel +capitulated. With the Carthaginian capital there fell into the hands +of the Romans 18 dismantled vessels of war and 63 transports, the +whole war-stores, considerable supplies of corn, the war-chest of 600 +talents (more than; 40,000 pounds), ten thousand captives, among whom +were eighteen Carthaginian gerusiasts or judges, and the hostages of +all the Spanish allies of Carthage. Scipio promised the hostages +permission to return home so soon as their respective communities +should have entered into alliance with Rome, and employed the +resources which the city afforded to reinforce and improve the +condition of his army. He ordered the artisans of New Carthage, +2000 in number, to work for the Roman army, promising to them liberty +at the close of the war, and he selected the able-bodied men among +the remaining multitude to serve as rowers in the fleet. But the +burgesses of the city were spared, and allowed to retain their liberty +and former position. Scipio knew the Phoenicians, and was aware that +they would obey; and it was important that a city possessing the only +excellent harbour on the east coast and rich silver mines should be +secured by something more than a garrison. + +Success thus crowned the bold enterprise--bold, because it was not +unknown to Scipio that Hasdrubal Barcas had received orders from his +government to advance towards Gaul and was engaged in fulfilling them, +and because the weak division left behind on the Ebro was not in a +position seriously to oppose that movement, should the return of +Scipio be delayed. But he was again at Tarraco, before Hasdrubal made +his appearance on the Ebro. The hazard of the game which the young +general played, when he abandoned his primary task in order to execute +a dashing stroke, was concealed by the fabulous success which Neptune +and Scipio had gained in concert. The marvellous capture of the +Phoenician capital so abundantly justified all the expectations +which had been formed at home regarding the wondrous youth, that +none could venture to utter any adverse opinion. Scipio's command was +indefinitely prolonged; he himself resolved no longer to confine his +efforts to the meagre task of guarding the passes of the Pyrenees. +Already, in consequence of the fall of New Carthage, not only had +the Spaniards on the north of the Ebro completely submitted, but +even beyond the Ebro the most powerful princes had exchanged +the Carthaginian for the Roman protectorate. + +Scipio Goes to Andalusia +Hasdrubal Crosses the Pyrenees + +Scipio employed the winter of 545-6 in breaking up his fleet and +increasing his land army with the men thus acquired, so that he +might at once guard the north and assume the offensive in the south +more energetically than before; and he marched in 546 to Andalusia. +There he: encountered Hasdrubal Barcas, who, in the execution of his +long-cherished plan, was moving northward to the help of his brother. +A battle took place at Baecula, in which the Romans claimed the +victory and professed to have made 10,000 captives; but Hasdrubal +substantially attained his end, although at the sacrifice of a portion +of his army. With his chest, his elephants, and the best portion of +his troops, he fought his way to the north coast of Spain; marching +along the shore, he reached the western passes of the Pyrenees which +appear to have been unoccupied, and before the bad season began he +was in Gaul, where he took up quarters for the winter. It was evident +that the resolve of Scipio to combine offensive operations with the +defensive which he had been instructed to maintain was inconsiderate +and unwise. The immediate task assigned to the Spanish army, which +not only Scipio's father and uncle, but even Gaius Marcius and Gaius +Nero had accomplished with much inferior means, was not enough for the +arrogance of the victorious general at the head of a numerous army; +and he was mainly to blame for the extremely critical position of Rome +in the summer of 547, when the plan of Hannibal for a combined attack +on the Romans was at length realized. But the gods covered the errors +of their favourite with laurels. In Italy the peril fortunately +passed over; the Romans were glad to accept the bulletin of the +ambiguous victory of Baecula, and, when fresh tidings of victory +arrived from Spain, they thought no more of the circumstance that +they had had to combat the ablest general and the flower of the +Hispano-Phoenician army in Italy. + +Spain Conquered +Mago Goes to Italy +Gades Becomes Roman + +After the removal of Hasdrubal Barcas the two generals who were +left in Spain determined for the time being to retire, Hasdrubal +son of Gisgo to Lusitania, Mago even to the Baleares; and, until new +reinforcements should arrive from Africa, they left the light cavalry +of Massinissa alone to wage a desultory warfare in Spain, as Muttines +had done so successfully in Sicily. The whole east coast thus fell +into the power of the Romans. In the following year (547) Hanno +actually made his appearance from Africa with a third army, whereupon +Mago and Hasdrubal returned to Andalusia. But Marcus Silanus defeated +the united armies of Mago and Hanno, and captured the latter in +person. Hasdrubal upon this abandoned the idea of keeping the open +field, and distributed his troops among the Andalusian cities, of +which Scipio was during this year able to storm only one, Oringis. +The Phoenicians seemed vanquished; but yet they were able in the +following year (548) once more to send into the field a powerful army, +32 elephants, 4000 horse, and 70,000 foot, far the greater part of +whom, it is true, were hastily-collected: Spanish militia. Again +a battle took place at Baecula. The Roman army numbered little +more than half that of the enemy, and was also to a considerable +extent composed of Spaniards. Scipio, like Wellington in similar +circumstances, disposed his Spaniards so that they should not partake +in the fight--the only possible mode of preventing their dispersion +--while on the other hand he threw his Roman troops in the first +instance on the Spaniards. The day was nevertheless obstinately +contested; but at length the Romans were the victors, and, as a matter +of course, the defeat of such an army was equivalent to its complete +dissolution--Hasdrubal and Mago singly made their escape to Gades. +The Romans were now without a rival in the peninsula; the few towns +that did not submit with good will were subdued one by one, and some +of them were punished with cruel severity. Scipio was even able to +visit Syphax on the African coast, and to enter into communications +with him and also with Massinissa with reference to an expedition +to Africa--a foolhardy venture, which was not warranted by any +corresponding advantage, however much the report of it might please +the curiosity of the citizens of the capital at home. Gades alone, +where Mago held command, was still Phoenician. For a moment it seemed +as if, after the Romans had entered upon the Carthaginian heritage and +had sufficiently undeceived the expectation cherished here and there +among the Spaniards that after the close of the Phoenician rule they +would get rid of their Roman guests also and regain their ancient +freedom, a general insurrection against the Romans would break forth +in Spain, in which the former allies of Rome would take the lead. +The sickness of the Roman general and the mutiny of one of his corps, +occasioned by their pay being in arrear for many years, favoured +the rising. But Scipio recovered sooner than was expected, and +dexterously suppressed the tumult among the soldiers; upon which +the communities that had taken the lead in the national rising were +subdued at once before the insurrection gained ground. Seeing that +nothing came of this movement and Gades could not be permanently held, +the Carthaginian government ordered Mago to gather together whatever +could be got in ships, troops, and money, and with these, if possible, +to give another turn to the war in Italy. Scipio could not prevent +this--his dismantling of the fleet now avenged itself--and he was a +second time obliged to leave in the hands of his gods the defence, +with which he had been entrusted, of his country against new +invasions. The last of Hamilcar's sons left the peninsula without +opposition. After his departure Gades, the oldest and last possession +of the Phoenicians on Spanish soil, submitted on favourable conditions +to the new masters. Spain was, after a thirteen years' struggle, +converted from a Carthaginian into a Roman province, in which the +conflict with the Romans was still continued for centuries by means of +insurrections always suppressed and yet never subdued, but in which at +the moment no enemy stood opposed to Rome. Scipio embraced the first +moment of apparent peace to resign his command (in the end of 548), +and to report at Rome in person the victories which he had achieved +and the provinces which he had won. + +Italian War +Position of the Armies + +While the war was thus terminated in Sicily by Marcellus, in Greece by +Publius Sulpicius, and in Spain by Scipio, the mighty struggle went on +without interruption in the Italian peninsula. There after the battle +of Cannae had been fought and its effects in loss or gain could by +degrees be discerned, at the commencement of 540, the fifth year of +the war, the dispositions of the opposing Romans and Phoenicians were +the following. North Italy had been reoccupied by the Romans after +the departure of Hannibal, and was protected by three legions, two of +which were stationed in the Celtic territory, the third as a reserve +in Picenum. Lower Italy, as far as Mount Garganus and the Volturnus, +was, with the exception of the fortresses and most of the ports, in +the hands of Hannibal. He lay with his main army at Arpi, while +Tiberius Gracchus with four legions confronted him in Apulia, resting +upon the fortresses of Luceria and Beneventum. In the land of the +Bruttians, where the inhabitants had thrown themselves entirely into +the arms of Hannibal, and where even the ports--excepting Rhegium, +which the Romans protected from Messana--had been occupied by the +Phoenicians, there was a second Carthaginian army under Hanno, which +in the meanwhile saw no enemy to face it. The Roman main army of four +legions under the two consuls, Quintus Fabius and Marcus Marcellus, +was on the point of attempting to recover Capua. To these there fell +to be added on the Roman side the reserve of two legions in the +capital, the garrisons placed in all the seaports--Tarentum and +Brundisium having been reinforced by a legion on account of the +Macedonian landing apprehended there--and lastly the strong fleet +which had undisputed command of the sea. If we add to these the Roman +armies in Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain, the whole number of the Roman +forces, even apart from the garrison service in the fortresses of +Lower Italy which was provided for by the colonists occupying them, +may be estimated at not less than 200,000 men, of whom one-third were +newly enrolled for this year, and about one-half were Roman citizens. +It may be assumed that all the men capable of service from the 17th +to the 46th year were under arms, and that the fields, where the war +permitted them to be tilled at all, were cultivated by the slaves +and the old men, women, and children. As may well be conceived, +under such circumstances the finances were in the most grievous +embarrassment; the land-tax, the main source of revenue, came in but +very irregularly. Yet notwithstanding these difficulties as to men +and money the Romans were able--slowly indeed and by exerting all +their energies, but still surely--to recover what they had so rapidly +lost; to increase their armies yearly, while those of the Phoenicians +were diminishing; to gain ground year by year on the Italian allies +of Hannibal, the Campanians, Apulians, Samnites, and Bruttians, who +neither sufficed, like the Roman fortresses in Lower Italy, for their +own protection nor could be adequately protected by the weak army of +Hannibal; and finally, by means of the method of warfare instituted by +Marcus Marcellus, to develop the talent of their officers and to bring +into full play the superiority of the Roman infantry. Hannibal might +doubtless still hope for victories, but no longer such victories as +those on the Trasimene lake and on the Aufidus; the times of the +citizen-generals were gone by. No course was left to him but to wait +till either Philip should execute his long-promised descent or his own +brothers should join him from Spain, and meanwhile to keep himself, +his army, and his clients as far as possible free from harm and in +good humour. We hardly recognize in the obstinate defensive system +which he now began the same general who had carried on the offensive +with almost unequalled impetuosity and boldness; it is marvellous in +a psychological as well as in a military point of view, that the same +man should have accomplished the two tasks set to him--tasks so +diametrically opposite in their character--with equal completeness. + +Conflicts in the South of Italy + +At first the war turned chiefly towards Campania. Hannibal appeared +in good time to protect its capital, which he prevented from being +invested; but he was unable either to wrest any of the Campanian towns +held by the Romans from their strong Roman garrisons, or to prevent +--in addition to a number of less important country towns--Casilinum, +which secured his passage over the Volturnus, from being taken by + the two consular armies after an obstinate defence. An attempt of +Hannibal to gain Tarentum, with the view especially of acquiring a +safe landing-place for the Macedonian army, proved unsuccessful. +Meanwhile the Bruttian army of the Carthaginians under Hanno had +various encounters in Lucania with the Roman army of Apulia; here +Tiberius Gracchus sustained the struggle with good results, and after +a successful combat not far from Beneventum, in which the slave +legions pressed into service had distinguished themselves, he +bestowed liberty and burgess-rights on his slave-soldiers in +the name of the people. + +Arpi Acquired by the Romans + +In the following year (541) the Romans recovered the rich and +important Arpi, whose citizens, after the Roman soldiers had stolen +into the town, made common cause with them against the Carthaginian +garrison. In general the bonds of the symmachy formed by Hannibal +were relaxing; a number of the leading Capuans and several of the +Bruttian towns passed over to Rome; even a Spanish division of the +Phoenician army, when informed by Spanish emissaries of the course +of events in their native land, passed from the Carthaginian into +the Roman service. + +Tarentum Taken by Hannibal + +The year 542 was more unfavourable for the Romans in consequence of +fresh political and military errors, of which Hannibal did not fail +to take advantage. The connections which Hannibal maintained in the +towns of Magna Graecia had led to no serious result; save that the +hostages from Tarentum and Thurii, who were kept at Rome, were induced +by his emissaries to make a foolhardy attempt at escape, in which they +were speedily recaptured by the Roman posts. But the injudicious +spirit of revenge displayed by the Romans was of more service to +Hannibal than his intrigues; the execution of all the hostages who +had sought to escape deprived them of a valuable pledge, and the +exasperated Greeks thenceforth meditated how they might open +their gates to Hannibal. Tarentum was actually occupied by the +Carthaginians in consequence of an understanding with the citizens and +of the negligence of the Roman commandant; with difficulty the Roman +garrison maintained itself in the citadel. The example of Tarentum +was followed by Heraclea, Thurii, and Metapontum, from which town the +garrison had to be withdrawn in order to save the Tarentine Acropolis. +These successes so greatly increased the risk of a Macedonian landing, +that Rome felt herself compelled to direct renewed attention and +renewed exertions to the Greek war, which had been almost totally +neglected; and fortunately the capture of Syracuse and the favourable +state of the Spanish war enabled her to do so. + +Conflicts around Capua + +At the chief seat of war, in Campania, the struggle went on with very +varying success. The legions posted in the neighbourhood of Capua had +not yet strictly invested the city, but had so greatly hindered the +cultivation of the soil and the ingathering of the harvest, that the +populous city was in urgent need of supplies from without. Hannibal +accordingly collected a considerable supply of grain, and directed +the Campanians to receive it at Beneventum; but their tardiness gave +the consuls Quintus Flaccus and Appius Claudius time to come up, to +inflict a severe defeat on Hanno who protected the grain, and to seize +his camp and all his stores. The two consuls then invested the town, +while Tiberius Gracchus stationed himself on the Appian Way to prevent +Hannibal from approaching to relieve it But that brave officer fell +in consequence of the shameful stratagem of a perfidious Lucanian; +and his death was equivalent to a complete defeat, for his army, +consisting mostly of those slaves whom he had manumitted, dispersed +after the fall of their beloved leader. So Hannibal found the road to +Capua open, and by his unexpected appearance compelled the two consuls +to raise the blockade which they had barely begun. Their cavalry had +already, before Hannibal's arrival, been thoroughly defeated by the +Phoenician cavalry, which lay as a garrison in Capua under Hanno and +Bostar, and by the equally excellent Campanian horse. The total +destruction of the regular troops and free bands in Lucania led by +Marcus Centenius, a man imprudently promoted from a subaltern to be +a general, and the not much less complete defeat of the negligent and +arrogant praetor Gnaeus Fulvius Flaccus in Apulia, closed the long +series of the misfortunes of this year. But the stubborn perseverance +of the Romans again neutralized the rapid success of Hannibal, at +least at the most decisive point. As soon as Hannibal turned his back +on Capua to proceed to Apulia, the Roman armies once more gathered +around that city, one at Puteoli and Volturnum under Appius Claudius, +another at Casilinum under Quintus Fulvius, and a third on the Nolan +road under the praetor Gaius Claudius Nero. The three camps, well +entrenched and connected with one another by fortified lines, +precluded all access to the place, and the large, inadequately +provisioned city could not but find itself compelled by the mere +investment to surrender at no distant time, should no relief arrive. +As the winter of 542-3 drew to an end, the provisions were almost +exhausted, and urgent messengers, who were barely able to steal +through the well-guarded Roman lines, requested speedy help from +Hannibal, who was at Tarentum, occupied with the siege of the +citadel. With 33 elephants and his best troops he departed by +forced marches from Tarentum for Campania, captured the Roman post at +Caiatia, and took up his camp on Mount Tifata close by Capua, in the +confident expectation that the Roman generals would, now raise the +siege as they had done the year before. But the Romans, who had had +time to entrench their camps and their lines like a fortress, did not +stir, and looked on unmoved from their ramparts, while on one side +the Campanian horsemen, on the other the Numidian squadrons, dashed +against their lines. A serious assault could not be thought of by +Hannibal; he could foresee that his advance would soon draw the other +Roman armies after him to Campania, if even before their arrival the +scarcity of supplies in a region so systematically foraged did not +drive him away. Nothing could be done in that quarter. + +Hannibal Marches toward Rome + +Hannibal tried a further expedient, the last which occurred to his +inventive genius, to save the important city. After giving the +Campanians information of his intention and exhorting them to hold +out, he started with the relieving army from Capua and took the road +for Rome. With the same dexterous boldness which he had shown in his +first Italian campaigns, he threw himself with a weak army between the +armies and fortresses of the enemy, and led his troops through Samnium +and along the Valerian Way past Tibur to the bridge over the Anio, +which he passed and encamped on the opposite bank, five miles from +the city. The children's children of the Romans still shuddered, when +they were told of "Hannibal at the gate"; real danger there was none. +The country houses and fields in the neighbourhood of the city were +laid waste by the enemy; the two legions in the city, who went forth +against them, prevented the investment of the walls. Besides, +Hannibal had never expected to surprise Rome by a -coup de main-, +such as Scipio soon afterwards executed against New Carthage, and +still less had he meditated a siege in earnest; his only hope was that +in the first alarm part of the besieging army of Capua would march to +Rome and thus give him an opportunity of breaking up the blockade. +Accordingly after a brief stay he departed. The Romans saw in his +withdrawal a miraculous intervention of the gods, who by portents and +visions had compelled the wicked man to depart, when in truth the +Roman legions were unable to compel him; at the spot where Hannibal +had approached nearest to the city, at the second milestone on the +Appian Way in front of the Capene gate, with grateful credulity the +Romans erected an altar to the god "who turned back and protected" +(-Rediculus Tutanus-), Hannibal in reality retreated, because this was +part of his plan, and directed his march towards Capua. But the Roman +generals had not committed the mistake on which their opponent had +reckoned; the legions remained unmoved in the lines round Capua, and +only a weak corps had been detached on the news of Hannibal's march +towards Rome. When Hannibal learned this, he suddenly turned against +the consul Publius Galba, who had imprudently followed him from Rome, +and with whom he had hitherto avoided an engagement, vanquished him, +and took his camp by storm. + +Capua Capitulates + +But this was a poor compensation for the now inevitable fall of Capua. +Long had its citizens, particularly the better passes, anticipated +with sorrowful forebodings what was coming; the senate-house and the +administration of the city were left almost exclusively to the leaders +of the popular party hostile to Rome. Now despair seized high and +low, Campanians and Phoenicians alike. Twenty-eight senators chose a +voluntary death; the remainder gave over the city to the discretion of +an implacably exasperated foe. Of course a bloody retribution had to +follow; the only discussion was as to whether the process should be +long or short: whether the wiser and more appropriate course was to +probe to the bottom the further ramifications of the treason even +beyond Capua, or to terminate the matter by rapid executions. Appius +Claudius and the Roman senate wished to take the former course; the +latter view, perhaps the less inhuman, prevailed. Fifty-three of the +officers and magistrates of Capua were scourged and beheaded in the +marketplaces of Cales and Teanum by the orders and before the eyes +of the proconsul Quintus Flaccus, the rest of the senators were +imprisoned, numbers of the citizens were sold into slavery, and the +estates of the more wealthy were confiscated. Similar penalties were +inflicted upon Atella and Caiatia. These punishments were severe; +but, when regard is had to the importance of the revolt of Capua +from Rome, and to what was the ordinary if not warrantable usage of +war in those times, they were not unnatural. And had not the citizens +themselves pronounced their own sentence, when immediately after their +defection they put to death all the Roman citizens present in Capua at +the time of the revolt? But it was unjustifiable in Rome to embrace +this opportunity of gratifying the secret rivalry that had long +subsisted between the two largest cities of Italy, and of wholly +annihilating, in a political point of view, her hated and envied +competitor by abolishing the constitution of the Campanian city. + +Superiority of the Romans +Tarentum Capitulates + +Immense was the impression produced by the fall of Capua, and all the +more that it had not been brought about by surprise, but by a two +years' siege carried on in spite of all the exertions of Hannibal. +It was quite as much a token that the Romans had recovered their +ascendency in Italy, as its defection some years before to Hannibal +had been a token that that ascendency was lost. In vain Hannibal had +tried to counteract the impression of this news on his allies by the +capture of Rhegium or of the citadel of Tarentum. His forced march +to surprise Rhegium had yielded no result. The citadel of Tarentum +suffered greatly from famine, after the Tarentino-Carthaginian +squadron closed the harbour; but, as the Romans with their much more +powerful fleet were able to cut off the supplies from that squadron +itself, and the territory, which Hannibal commanded, scarce sufficed +to maintain his army, the besiegers on the side next the sea suffered +not much less than did the besieged in the citadel, and at length they +left the harbour. No enterprise was now successful; Fortune herself +seemed to have deserted the Carthaginians. These consequences of the +fall of Capua--the deep shock given to the respect and confidence +which Hannibal had hitherto enjoyed among the Italian allies, and the +endeavours made by every community that was not too deeply compromised +to gain readmission on tolerable terms into the Roman symmachy +--affected Hannibal much more keenly than the immediate loss. He had +to choose one of two courses; either to throw garrisons into the +wavering towns, in which case he would weaken still more his army +already too weak and would expose his trusty troops to destruction in +small divisions or to treachery--500 of his select Numidian horsemen +were put to death in this way in 544 on the defection of the town of +Salapia; or to pull down and burn the towns which could not be +depended on, so as to keep them out of the enemy's hands--a course, +which could not raise the spirits of his Italian clients. On the +fall of Capua the Romans felt themselves once more confident as to +the final issue of the war in Italy; they despatched considerable +reinforcements to Spain, where the existence of the Roman army was +placed in jeopardy by the fall of the two Scipios; and for the first +time since the beginning of the war they ventured on a diminution in +the total number of their troops, which had hitherto been annually +augmented notwithstanding the annually-increasing difficulty of +levying them, and had risen at last to 23 legions. Accordingly in +the next year (544) the Italian war was prosecuted more remissly than +hitherto by the Romans, although Marcus Marcellus had after the close +of the Sicilian war resumed the command of the main army; he applied +himself to the besieging of fortresses in the interior, and had +indecisive conflicts with the Carthaginians. The struggle for the +Acropolis of Tarentum also continued without decisive result. In +Apulia Hannibal succeeded in defeating the proconsul Gnaeus Fulvius +Centumalus at Herdoneae. In the following year (545) the Romans took +steps to regain possession of the second large city, which had passed +over to Hannibal, the city of Tarentum. While Marcus Marcellus +continued the struggle against Hannibal in person with his wonted +obstinacy and energy, and in a two days' battle, beaten on the first +day, achieved on the second a costly and bloody victory; while the +consul Quintus Fulvius induced the already wavering Lucanians and +Hirpinians to change sides and to deliver up their Phoenician +garrisons; while well-conducted razzias from Rhegium compelled +Hannibal to hasten to the aid of the hard-pressed Bruttians; +the veteran Quintus Fabius, who had once more--for the fifth +time--accepted the consulship and along with it the commission to +reconquer Tarentum, established himself firmly in the neighbouring +Messapian territory, and the treachery of a Bruttian division of +the garrison surrendered to him the city. Fearful excesses were +committed by the exasperated victors. They put to death all of +the garrison or of the citizens whom they could find, and pillaged +the houses. 30,000 Tarentines are said to have been sold as slaves, +and 3000 talents (730,000 pounds) are stated to have been sent to the +state treasury. It was the last feat in arms of the general of eighty +years; Hannibal arrived to the relief of the city when all was over, +and withdrew to Metapontum. + +Hannibal Driven Back +Death of Marcellus + +After Hannibal had thus lost his most important acquisitions and +found himself hemmed in by degrees to the south-western point of the +peninsula, Marcus Marcellus, who had been chosen consul for the next +year (546), hoped that, in connection with his capable colleague +Titus Quintius Crispinus, he should be able to terminate the war by a +decisive attack. The old soldier was not disturbed by the burden of +his sixty years; sleeping and waking he was haunted by the one thought +of defeating Hannibal and of liberating Italy. But fate reserved that +wreath of victory for a younger brow. While engaged in an unimportant +reconnaissance in the district of Venusia, both consuls were suddenly +attacked by a division of African cavalry. Marcellus maintained the +unequal struggle--as he had fought forty years before against Hamilcar +and fourteen years before at Clastidium--till he sank dying from +his horse; Crispinus escaped, but died of his wounds received +in the conflict (546). + +Pressure of the War + +It was now the eleventh year of the war. The danger which some years +before had threatened the very existence of the state seemed to have +vanished; but all the more the Romans felt the heavy burden--a burden +pressing more severely year after year--of the endless war. The +finances of the state suffered beyond measure. After the battle of +Cannae (538) a special bank-commission (-tres viri mensarii-) had +been appointed, composed of men held in the highest esteem, to form +a permanent and circumspect board of superintendence for the public +finances in these difficult times. It may have done what it could; +but the state of things was such as to baffle all financial sagacity. +At the very beginning of the war the Romans had debased the silver and +copper coin, raised the legal value of the silver piece more than a +third, and issued a gold coin far above the value of the metal. This +very soon proved insufficient; they were obliged to take supplies from +the contractors on credit, and connived at their conduct because they +needed them, till the scandalous malversation at last induced the +aediles to make an example of some of the worst by impeaching them +before the people. Appeals were often made, and not in vain, to the +patriotism of the wealthy, who were in fact the very persons that +suffered comparatively the most. The soldiers of the better classes +and the subaltern officers and equites in a body, either voluntarily +or constrained by the -esprit de corps-, declined to receive pay. +The owners of the slaves armed by the state and manumitted after the +engagement at Beneventum(3) replied to the bank-commission, which +offered them payment, that they would allow it to stand over to the +end of the war (540). When there was no longer money in the exchequer +for the celebration of the national festivals and the repairs of the +public buildings, the companies which had hitherto contracted for +these matters declared themselves ready to continue their services for +a time without remuneration (540). A fleet was even fitted out and +manned, just as in the first Punic war, by means of a voluntary loan +among the rich (544). They spent the moneys belonging to minors; and +at length, in the year of the conquest of Tarentum, they laid hands +on the last long-spared reserve fund (164,000 pounds). The state +nevertheless was unable to meet its most necessary payments; the pay +of the soldiers fell dangerously into arrear, particularly in the more +remote districts. But the embarrassment of the state was not the +worst part of the material distress. Everywhere the fields lay +fallow: even where the war did not make havoc, there was a want of +hands for the hoe and the sickle. The price of the -medimnus- +(a bushel and a half) had risen to 15 -denarii- (10s.), at least three +times the average price in the capital; and many would have died of +absolute want, if supplies had not arrived from Egypt, and if, above +all, the revival of agriculture in Sicily(4) had not prevented the +distress from coming to the worst. The effect which such a state of +things must have had in ruining the small farmers, in eating away +the savings which had been so laboriously acquired, and in +converting flourishing villages into nests of beggars and brigands, +is illustrated by similar wars of which fuller details have +been preserved. + +The Allies + +Still more ominous than this material distress was the increasing +aversion of the allies to the Roman war, which consumed their +substance and their blood. In regard to the non-Latin communities, +indeed, this was of less consequence. The war itself showed that they +could do nothing, so long as the Latin nation stood by Rome; their +greater or less measure of dislike was not of much moment. Now, +however, Latium also began to waver. Most of the Latin communes in +Etruria, Latium, the territory of the Marsians, and northern Campania +--and so in those very districts of Italy which directly had suffered +least from the war--announced to the Roman senate in 545 that +thenceforth they would send neither contingents nor contributions, +and would leave it to the Romans themselves to defray the costs of a +war waged in their interest. The consternation in Rome was great; +but for the moment there were no means of compelling the refractory. +Fortunately all the Latin communities did not act in this way. The +colonies in the land of the Gauls, in Picenum, and in southern Italy, +headed by the powerful and patriotic Fregellae, declared on the +contrary that they adhered the more closely and faithfully to Rome; in +fact, it was very clearly evident to all of these that in the present +war their existence was, if possible, still more at stake than that of +the capital, and that this war was really waged not for Rome merely, +but for the Latin hegemony in Italy, and in truth for the independence +of the Italian nation. That partial defection itself was certainly +not high treason, but merely the result of shortsightedness and +exhaustion; beyond doubt these same towns would have rejected with +horror an alliance with the Phoenicians. But still there was a +variance between Romans and Latins, which did not fail injuriously +to react on the subject population of these districts. A dangerous +ferment immediately showed itself in Arretium; a conspiracy organized +in the interest of Hannibal among the Etruscans was discovered, and +appeared so perilous that Roman troops were ordered to march thither. +The military and police suppressed this movement without difficulty; +but it was a significant token of what might happen in those +districts, if once the Latin strongholds ceased to inspire terror. + +Hasdrubal's Approach + +Amidst these difficulties and strained relations, news suddenly +arrived that Hasdrubal had crossed the Pyrenees in the autumn of 546, +and that the Romans must be prepared to carry on the war next year +with both the sons of Hamilcar in Italy. Not in vain had Hannibal +persevered at his post throughout the long anxious years; the aid, +which the factious opposition at home and the shortsighted Philip had +refused to him, was at length in the course of being brought to him +by his brother, who, like himself, largely inherited the spirit of +Hamilcar. Already 8000 Ligurians, enlisted by Phoenician gold, were +ready to unite with Hasdrubal; if he gained the first battle, he might +hope that like his brother he should be able to bring the Gauls and +perhaps the Etruscans into arms against Rome. Italy, moreover, was + no longer what it had been eleven years before; the state and the +individual citizens were exhausted, the Latin league was shaken, their +best general had just fallen in the field of battle, and Hannibal was +not subdued. In reality Scipio might bless the star of his genius, if +it averted the consequences of his unpardonable blunder from himself +and from his country. + +New Armaments +Hasdrubal and Hannibal on the March + +As in the times of the utmost danger, Rome once more called out +twenty-three legions. Volunteers were summoned to arm, and those +legally exempt from military service were included in the levy. +Nevertheless, they were taken by surprise. Far earlier than either +friends or foes expected, Hasdrubal was on the Italian side of the +Alps (547); the Gauls, now accustomed to such transits, were readily +bribed to open their passes, and furnished what the army required. +If the Romans had any intention of occupying the outlets of the Alpine +passes, they were again too late; already they heard that Hasdrubal +was on the Po, that he was calling the Gauls to arms as successfully +as his brother had formerly done, that Placentia was invested. With +all haste the consul Marcus Livius proceeded to the northern army; and +it was high time that he should appear. Etruria and Umbria were in +sullen ferment; volunteers from them reinforced the Phoenician army. +His colleague Gaius Nero summoned the praetor Gaius Hostilius Tubulus +from Venusia to join him, and hastened with an army of 40,000 men to +intercept the march of Hannibal to the north. The latter collected +all his forces in the Bruttian territory, and, advancing along the +great road leading from Rhegium to Apulia, encountered the consul at +Grumentum. An obstinate engagement took place in which Nero claimed +the victory; but Hannibal was able at all events, although with some +loss, to evade the enemy by one of his usual adroit flank-marches, and +to reach Apulia without hindrance. There he halted, and encamped at +first at Venusia, then at Canusium: Nero, who had followed closely in +his steps, encamped opposite to him at both places. That Hannibal +voluntarily halted and was not prevented from advancing by the Roman +army, appears to admit of no doubt; the reason for his taking up his +position exactly at this point and not farther to the north, must have +depended on arrangements concerted between himself and Hasdrubal, or +on conjectures as to the route of the latter's march, with which we +are not acquainted. While the two armies thus lay inactive, face to +face, the despatch from Hasdrubal which was anxiously expected in +Hannibal's camp was intercepted by the outposts of Nero. It stated +that Hasdrubal intended to take the Flaminian road, in other words, +to keep in the first instance along the coast and then at Fanum to +turn across the Apennines towards Narnia, at which place he hoped to +meet Hannibal. Nero immediately ordered the reserve in the capital +to proceed to Narnia as the point selected for the junction of the two +Phoenician armies, while the division stationed at Capua went to the +capital, and a new reserve was formed there. Convinced that Hannibal +was not acquainted with the purpose of his brother and would continue +to await him in Apulia, Nero resolved on the bold experiment of +hastening northward by forced marches with a small but select corps +of 7000 men and, if possible, in connection with his colleague, +compelling Hasdrubal to fight. He was able to do so, for the Roman +army which he left behind still continued strong enough either to +hold its ground against Hannibal if he should attack it, or to +accompany him and to arrive simultaneously with him at the +decisive scene of action, should he depart. + +Battle of Sena +Death of Hasdrubal + +Nero found his colleague Marcus Livius at Sena Gallica awaiting the +enemy. Both consuls at once marched against Hasdrubal, whom they +found occupied in crossing the Metaurus. Hasdrubal wished to avoid +a battle and to escape from the Romans by a flank movement, but his +guides left him in the lurch; he lost his way on the ground strange to +him, and was at length attacked on the march by the Roman cavalry +and detained until the Roman infantry arrived and a battle became +inevitable. Hasdrubal stationed the Spaniards on the right wing, with +his ten elephants in front of it, and the Gauls on the left, which he +kept back. Long the fortune of battle wavered on the right wing, and +the consul Livius who commanded there was hard pressed, till Nero, +repeating his strategical operation as a tactical manoeuvre, allowed +the motionless enemy opposite to him to remain as they stood, and +marching round his own army fell upon the flank of the Spaniards. +This decided the day. The severely bought and very bloody victory was +complete; the army, which had no retreat, was destroyed, and the camp +was taken by assault. Hasdrubal, when he: saw the admirably-conducted +battle lost, sought and found like his father an honourable soldier's +death. As an officer and a man, he was worthy to be the brother +of Hannibal. + +Hannibal Retires to the Bruttian Territory + +On the day after the battle Nero started, and after scarcely fourteen +days' absence once more confronted Hannibal in Apulia, whom no message +had reached, and who had not stirred. The consul brought the message +with him; it was the head of Hannibal's brother, which the Roman +ordered to be thrown into the enemy's outposts, repaying in this +way his great antagonist, who scorned to war with the dead, for +the honourable burial which he had given to Paullus, Gracchus, and +Marcellus. Hannibal saw that his hopes had been in vain, and that +all was over. He abandoned Apulia and Lucania, even Metapontum, +and retired with his troops to the land of the Bruttians, whose ports +formed his only means of withdrawal from Italy. By the energy of the +Roman generals, and still more by a conjuncture of unexampled good +fortune, a peril was averted from Rome, the greatness of which +justified Hannibal's tenacious perseverance in Italy, and which fully +bears comparison with the magnitude of the peril of Cannae. The joy +in Rome was boundless; business was resumed as in time of peace; every +one felt that the danger of the war was surmounted. + +Stagnation of the War in Italy + +Nevertheless the Romans were in no hurry to terminate the war. The +state and the citizens were exhausted by the excessive moral and +material strain on their energies; men gladly abandoned themselves +to carelessness and repose. + +The army and fleet were reduced; the Roman and Latin farmers were +brought back to their desolate homesteads the exchequer was filled by +the sale of a portion of the Campanian domains. The administration +of the state was regulated anew and the disorders which had prevailed +were done away; the repayment of the voluntary war-loan was begun, +and the Latin communities that remained in arrears were compelled +to fulfil their neglected obligations with heavy interest. + +The war in Italy made no progress. It forms a brilliant proof of the +strategic talent of Hannibal as well as of the incapacity of the Roman +generals now opposed to him, that after this he was still able for +four years to keep the field in the Bruttian country, and that all the +superiority of his opponents could not compel him either to shut +himself up in fortresses or to embark. It is true that he was obliged +to retire farther and farther, not so much in consequence of the +indecisive engagements which took place with the Romans, as because +his Bruttian allies were always becoming more troublesome, and at last +he could only reckon on the towns which his army garrisoned. Thus he +voluntarily abandoned Thurii; Locri was, on the suggestion of Publius +Scipio, recaptured by an expedition from Rhegium (549). As if at last +his projects were to receive a brilliant justification at the hands of +the very Carthaginian authorities who had thwarted him in them, these +now, in their apprehension as to the anticipated landing of the +Romans, revived of their own accord those plans (548, 549), and sent +reinforcements and subsidies to Hannibal in Italy, and to Mago in +Spain, with orders to rekindle the war in Italy so as to achieve some +further respite for the trembling possessors of the Libyan country +houses and the shops of Carthage. An embassy was likewise sent to +Macedonia, to induce Philip to renew the alliance and to land in Italy +(549). But it was too late. Philip had made peace with Rome some +months before; the impending political annihilation of Carthage was +far from agreeable to him, but he took no step openly at least against +Rome. A small Macedonian corps went to Africa, the expenses of which, +according to the assertion of the Romans, were defrayed by Philip from +his own pocket; this may have been the case, but the Romans had at any +rate no proof of it, as the subsequent course of events showed. +No Macedonian landing in Italy was thought of. + +Mago in Italy + +Mago, the youngest son of Hamilcar, set himself to his task more +earnestly. With the remains of the Spanish army, which he had +conducted in the first instance to Minorca, he landed in 549 at Genoa, +destroyed the city, and summoned the Ligurians and Gauls to arms. +Gold and the novelty of the enterprise led them now, as always, to +come to him in troops; he had formed connections even throughout +Etruria, where political prosecutions never ceased. But the troops +which he had brought with him were too few for a serious enterprise +against Italy proper; and Hannibal likewise was much too weak, and his +influence in Lower Italy had fallen much too low, to permit him to +advance with any prospect of success. The rulers of Carthage had not +been willing to save their native country, when its salvation was +possible; now, when they were willing, it was possible no longer. + +The African Expedition of Scipio + +Nobody probably in the Roman senate doubted either that the war on +the part of Carthage against Rome was at an end, or that the war on +the part of Rome against Carthage must now be begun; but unavoidable +as was the expedition to Africa, they were afraid to enter on its +preparation. They required for it, above all, an able and beloved +leader; and they had none. Their best generals had either fallen in +the field of battle, or they were, like Quintus Fabius and Quintus +Fulvius, too old for such an entirely new and probably tedious war. +The victors of Sena, Gaius Nero and Marcus Livius, would perhaps have +been equal to the task, but they were both in the highest degree +unpopular aristocrats; it was doubtful whether they would succeed in +procuring the command--matters had already reached such a pass that +ability, as such, determined the popular choice only in times of grave +anxiety--and it was more than doubtful whether these were the men to +stimulate the exhausted people to fresh exertions. At length Publius +Scipio returned from Spain, and the favourite of the multitude, who +had so brilliantly fulfilled, or at any rate seemed to have fulfilled, +the task with which it had entrusted him, was immediately chosen +consul for the next year. He entered on office (549) with the firm +determination of now realizing that African expedition which he had +projected in Spain. In the senate, however, not only was the party +favourable to a methodical conduct of the war unwilling to entertain +the project of an African expedition so long as Hannibal remained in +Italy, but the majority was by no means favourably disposed towards +the young general himself. His Greek refinement and his modern +culture and tone of thought were but little agreeable to the austere +and somewhat boorish fathers of the city; and serious doubts existed +both as to his conduct of the Spanish war and as to his military +discipline. How much ground there was for the objection that he +showed too great indulgence towards his officers of division, was very +soon demonstrated by the disgraceful proceedings of Gaius Pleminius at +Locri, the blame of which certainly was indirectly chargeable to the +scandalous negligence which marked Scipio's supervision. In the +proceedings in the senate regarding the organization of the African +expedition and the appointment of a general for it, the new consul, +wherever usage or the constitution came into conflict with his private +views, showed no great reluctance to set such obstacles aside, and +very clearly indicated that in case of need he was disposed to rely +for support against the governing board on his fame and his popularity +with the people. These things could not but annoy the senate and +awaken, moreover, serious apprehension as to whether, in the impending +decisive war and the eventual negotiations for peace with Carthage, +such a general would hold himself bound by the instructions which he +received--an apprehension which his arbitrary management of the +Spanish expedition was by no means fitted to allay. Both sides, +however, displayed wisdom enough not to push matters too far. The +senate itself could not fail to see that the African expedition was +necessary, and that it was not wise indefinitely to postpone it; it +could not fail to see that Scipio was an extremely able officer and so +far well adapted to be the leader in such a war, and that he, if any +one, could prevail on the people to protract his command as long as +was necessary and to put forth their last energies. The majority came +to the resolution not to refuse to Scipio the desired commission, +after he had previously observed, at least in form, the respect due to +the supreme governing board and had submitted himself beforehand to +the decree of the senate. Scipio was to proceed this year to Sicily +to superintend the building of the fleet, the preparation of siege +materials, and the formation of the expeditionary army, and then in +the following year to land in Africa. For this purpose the army of +Sicily--still composed of those two legions that were formed from the +remnant of the army of Cannae--was placed at his disposal, because a +weak garrison and the fleet were quite sufficient for the protection +of the island; and he was permitted moreover to raise volunteers in +Italy. It was evident that the senate did not appoint the expedition, +but merely allowed it: Scipio did not obtain half the resources which +had formerly been placed at the command of Regulus, and he got that +very corps which for years had been subjected by the senate to +intentional degradation. The African army was, in the view of the +majority of the senate, a forlorn hope of disrated companies and +volunteers, the loss of whom in any event the state had no great +occasion to regret. + +Any one else than Scipio would perhaps have declared that the African +expedition must either be undertaken with other means, or not at all; +but Scipio's confidence accepted the terms, whatever they were, solely +with the view of attaining the eagerly-coveted command. He carefully +avoided, as far as possible, the imposition of direct burdens on the +people, that he might not injure the popularity of the expedition. +Its expenses, particularly those of building the fleet which were +considerable, were partly procured by what was termed a voluntary +contribution of the Etruscan cities--that is, by a war tribute imposed +as a punishment on the Arretines and other communities disposed to +favour the Phoenicians--partly laid upon the cities of Sicily. In +forty days the fleet was ready for sea. The crews were reinforced by +volunteers, of whom seven thousand from all parts of Italy responded +to the call of the beloved officer. So Scipio set sail for Africa in +the spring of 550 with two strong legions of veterans (about 30,000 +men), 40 vessels of war, and 400 transports, and landed successfully, +without meeting the slightest resistance, at the Fair Promontory in +the neighbourhood of Utica. + +Preparations in Africa + +The Carthaginians, who had long expected that the plundering +expeditions, which the Roman squadrons had frequently made during +the last few years to the African coast, would be followed by a more +serious invasion, had not only, in order to ward it off, endeavoured +to bring about a revival of the Italo-Macedonian war, but had also +made armed preparation at home to receive the Romans. Of the two +rival Berber kings, Massinissa of Cirta (Constantine), the ruler of +the Massylians, and Syphax of Siga (at the mouth of the Tafna westward +from Oran), the ruler of the Massaesylians, they had succeeded in +attaching the latter, who was far the more powerful and hitherto had +been friendly to the Romans, by treaty and marriage alliance closely +to Carthage, while they cast off the other, the old rival of Syphax +and ally of the Carthaginians. Massinissa had after desperate +resistance succumbed to the united power of the Carthaginians and +of Syphax, and had been obliged to leave his territories a prey to +the latter; he himself wandered with a few horsemen in the desert. +Besides the contingent to be expected from Syphax, a Carthaginian army +of 20,000 foot, 6000 cavalry, and 140 elephants--Hanno had been sent +out to hunt elephants for the very purpose--was ready to fight for +the protection of the capital, under the command of Hasdrubal son of +Gisgo, a general who had gained experience in Spain; in the port +there lay a strong fleet. A Macedonian corps under Sopater, and a +consignment of Celtiberian mercenaries, were immediately expected. + +Scipio Driven Back to the Coast +Surprise of the Carthaginian Camp + +On the report of Scipio's landing, Massinissa immediately arrived in +the camp of the general, whom not long before he had confronted as an +enemy in Spain; but the landless prince brought in the first instance +nothing beyond his personal ability to the aid of the Romans, and the +Libyans, although heartily weary of levies and tribute, had acquired +too bitter experience in similar cases to declare at once for the +invaders. So Scipio began the campaign. So long as he was only +opposed by the weaker Carthaginian army, he had the advantage, and was +enabled after some successful cavalry skirmishes to proceed to the +siege of Utica; but when Syphax arrived, according to report with +50,000 infantry and 10,000 cavalry, the siege had to be raised, and a +fortified naval camp had to be constructed for the winter on a +promontory, which easily admitted of entrenchment, between Utica and +Carthage. Here the Roman general passed the winter of 550-1. From +the disagreeable situation in which the spring found him he extricated +himself by a fortunate -coup de main-. The Africans, lulled into +security by proposals of peace suggested by Scipio with more artifice +than honour, allowed themselves to be surprised on one and the same +night in their two camps; the reed huts of the Numidians burst into +flames, and, when the Carthaginians hastened to their help, their own +camp shared the same fate; the fugitives were slain without resistance +by the Roman divisions. This nocturnal surprise was more destructive +than many a battle; nevertheless the Carthaginians did not suffer +their courage to sink, and they rejected even the advice of the timid, +or rather of the judicious, to recall Mago and Hannibal. Just at this +time the expected Celtiberian and Macedonian auxiliaries arrived; it +was resolved once more to try a pitched battle on the "Great Plains," +five days' march from Utica. Scipio hastened to accept it; with +little difficulty his veterans and volunteers dispersed the hastily- +collected host of Carthaginians and Numidians, and the Celtiberians, +who could not reckon on any mercy from Scipio, were cut down after +obstinate resistance. After this double defeat the Africans could no +longer keep the field. An attack on the Roman naval camp attempted by +the Carthaginian fleet, while not unsuccessful, was far from decisive, +and was greatly outweighed by the capture of Syphax, which Scipio's +singular good fortune threw in his way, and by which Massinissa became +to the Romans what Syphax had been at first to the Carthaginians. + +Negotiations for Peace +Machinations of the Carthaginian Patriots + +After such defeats the Carthaginian peace party, which had been +reduced to silence for sixteen years, was able once more to raise its +head and openly to rebel against the government of the Barcides and +the patriots. Hasdrubal son of Gisgo was in his absence condemned +by the government to death, and an attempt was made to obtain an +armistice and peace from Scipio. He demanded the cession of their +Spanish possessions and of the islands of the Mediterranean, the +transference of the kingdom of Syphax to Massinissa, the surrender of +all their vessels of war except 20, and a war contribution of 4000 +talents (nearly 1,000,000 pounds)--terms which seemed so singularly +favourable to Carthage, that the question obtrudes itself whether they +were offered by Scipio more in his own interest or in that of Rome. +The Carthaginian plenipotentiaries accepted them under reservation of +their being ratified by the respective authorities, and accordingly a +Carthaginian embassy was despatched to Rome. But the patriot party in +Carthage were not disposed to give up the struggle so cheaply; faith +in the nobleness of their cause, confidence in their great leader, +even the example that had been set to them by Rome herself, stimulated +them to persevere, apart from the fact that peace of necessity +involved the return of the opposite party to the helm of affairs +and their own consequent destruction. The patriotic party had the +ascendency among the citizens; it was resolved to allow the opposition +to negotiate for peace, and meanwhile to prepare for a last and +decisive effort. Orders were sent to Mago and Hannibal to return with +all speed to Africa. Mago, who for three years (549-551) had been +labouring to bring about a coalition in Northern Italy against Rome, +had just at this time in the territory of the Insubres (about Milan) +been defeated by the far superior double army of the Romans. The +Roman cavalry had been brought to give way, and the infantry had been +thrown into confusion; victory seemed on the point of declaring for +the Carthaginians, when a bold attack by a Roman troop on the enemy's +elephants, and above all a serious wound received by their beloved and +able commander, turned the fortune of the battle. The Phoenician army +was obliged to retreat to the Ligurian coast, where it received and +obeyed the order to embark; but Mago died of his wound on the voyage. + +Hannibal Recalled to Africa + +Hannibal would probably have anticipated the order, had not the +last negotiations with Philip presented to him a renewed prospect of +rendering better service to his country in Italy than in Libya; when +he received it at Croton, where he latterly had his head-quarters, he +lost no time in complying with it. He caused his horses to be put +to death as well as the Italian soldiers who refused to follow him +over the sea, and embarked in the transports that had been long in +readiness in the roadstead of Croton. The Roman citizens breathed +freely, when the mighty Libyan lion, whose departure no one even now +ventured to compel, thus voluntarily turned his back on Italian +ground. On this occasion the decoration of a grass wreath was +bestowed by the senate and burgesses on the only survivor of the Roman +generals who had traversed that troubled time with honour, the veteran +of nearly ninety years, Quintus Fabius. To receive this wreath--which +by the custom of the Romans the army that a general had saved +presented to its deliverer--at the hands of the whole community was +the highest distinction which had ever been bestowed upon a Roman +citizen, and the last honorary decoration accorded to the old general, +who died in the course of that same year (551). Hannibal, doubtless +not under the protection of the armistice, but solely through his +rapidity of movement and good fortune, arrived at Leptis without +hindrance, and the last of the "lion's brood" of Hamilcar trode once +more, after an absence of thirty-six years, his native soil. He had +left it, when still almost a boy, to enter on that noble and yet so +thoroughly fruitless career of heroism, in which he had set out +towards the west to return homewards from the east, having described +a wide circle of victory around the Carthaginian sea. Now, when what +he had wished to prevent, and what he would have prevented had he been +allowed, was done, he was summoned to help and if possible, to save; +and he obeyed without complaint or reproach. + +Recommencement of Hostilities + +On his arrival the patriot party came forward openly; the disgraceful +sentence against Hasdrubal was cancelled; new connections were formed +with the Numidian sheiks through the dexterity of Hannibal; and not +only did the assembly of the people refuse to ratify the peace +practically concluded, but the armistice was broken by the plundering +of a Roman transport fleet driven ashore on the African coast, and by +the seizure even of a Roman vessel of war carrying Roman envoys. In +just indignation Scipio started from his camp at Tunes (552) and +traversed the rich valley of the Bagradas (Mejerdah), no longer +allowing the townships to capitulate, but causing the inhabitants of +the villages and towns to be seized en masse and sold. He had already +penetrated far into the interior, and was at Naraggara (to the west of +Sicca, now El Kef, on the frontier between Tunis and Algiers), when +Hannibal, who had marched out from Hadrumetum, fell in with him. The +Carthaginian general attempted to obtain better conditions from the +Roman in a personal conference; but Scipio, who had already gone to +the extreme verge of concession, could not possibly after the breach +of the armistice agree to yield further, and it is not credible that +Hannibal had any other object in this step than to show to the +multitude that the patriots were not absolutely opposed to peace. +The conference led to no result. + +Battle of Zama + +The two armies accordingly came to a decisive battle at Zama +(presumably not far from Sicca).(5) Hannibal arranged his infantry +in three lines; in the first rank the Carthaginian hired troops, in +the second the African militia and the Phoenician civic force along +with the Macedonian corps, in the third the veterans who had followed +him from Italy. In front of the line were placed the 80 elephants; +the cavalry were stationed on the wings. Scipio likewise disposed his +legions in three ranks, as was the wont of the Romans, and so arranged +them that the elephants could pass through and alongside of the line +without breaking it. Not only was this disposition completely +successful, but the elephants making their way to the side disordered +also the Carthaginian cavalry on the wings, so that Scipio's cavalry +--which moreover was by the arrival of Massinissa's troops rendered +far superior to the enemy--had little trouble in dispersing them, +and were soon engaged in full pursuit. The struggle of the infantry +was more severe. The conflict lasted long between the first ranks on +either side; at length in the extremely bloody hand-to-hand encounter +both parties fell into confusion, and were obliged to seek a support +in the second ranks. The Romans found that support; but the +Carthaginian militia showed itself so unsteady and wavering, that +the mercenaries believed themselves betrayed and a hand-to-hand combat +arose between them and the Carthaginian civic force. But Hannibal now +hastily withdrew what remained of the first two lines to the flanks, +and pushed forward his choice Italian troops along the whole line. +Scipio, on the other hand, gathered together in the centre as many of +the first line as still were able to fight, and made the second and +third ranks close up on the right and left of the first. Once more +on the same spot began a still more fearful conflict; Hannibal's old +soldiers never wavered in spite of the superior numbers of the enemy, +till the cavalry of the Romans and of Massinissa, returning from the +pursuit of the beaten cavalry of the enemy, surrounded them on all +sides. This not only terminated the struggle, but annihilated the +Phoenician army; the same soldiers, who fourteen years before had +given way at Cannae, had retaliated on their conquerors at Zama. +With a handful of men Hannibal arrived, a fugitive, at Hadrumetum. + +Peace + +After this day folly alone could counsel a continuance of the war on +the part of Carthage. On the other hand it was in the power of the +Roman general immediately to begin the siege of the capital, which was +neither protected nor provisioned, and, unless unforeseen accidents +should intervene, now to subject Carthage to the fate which Hannibal +had wished to bring upon Rome. Scipio did not do so; he granted peace +(553), but no longer upon the former terms. Besides the concessions +which had already in the last negotiations been demanded in favour of +Rome and of Massinissa, an annual contribution of 200 talents (48,000 +pounds) was imposed for fifty years on the Carthaginians; and they had +to bind themselves that they would not wage war against Rome or its +allies or indeed beyond the bounds of Africa at all, and that in +Africa they would not wage war beyond their own territory without +having sought the permission of Rome--the practical effect of which +was that Carthage became tributary and lost her political +independence. It even appears that the Carthaginians were bound +in certain cases to furnish ships of war to the Roman fleet. + +Scipio has been accused of granting too favourable conditions to the +enemy, lest he might be obliged to hand over the glory of terminating +the most severe war which Rome had waged, along with his command, to +a successor. The charge might have had some foundation, had the first +proposals been carried out; it seems to have no warrant in reference +to the second. His position in Rome was not such as to make the +favourite of the people, after the victory of Zama, seriously +apprehensive of recall--already before the victory an attempt to +supersede him had been referred by the senate to the burgesses, and by +them decidedly rejected. Nor do the conditions themselves warrant +such a charge. The Carthaginian city never, after its hands were thus +tied and a powerful neighbour was placed by its side, made even an +attempt to withdraw from Roman supremacy, still less to enter into +rivalry with Rome; besides, every one who cared to know knew that the +war just terminated had been undertaken much more by Hannibal than by +Carthage, and that it was absolutely impossible to revive the gigantic +plan of the patriot party. It might seem little in the eyes of the +vengeful Italians, that only the five hundred surrendered ships of war +perished in the flames, and not the hated city itself; spite and +pedantry might contend for the view that an opponent is only really +vanquished when he is annihilated, and might censure the man who had +disdained to punish more thoroughly the crime of having made Romans +tremble. Scipio thought otherwise; and we have no reason and +therefore no right to assume that the Roman was in this instance +influenced by vulgar motives rather than by the noble and magnanimous +impulses which formed part of his character. It was not the +consideration of his own possible recall or of the mutability of +fortune, nor was it any apprehension of the outbreak of a Macedonian +war at certainly no distant date, that prevented the self-reliant and +confident hero, with whom everything had hitherto succeeded beyond +belief, from accomplishing the destruction of the unhappy city, which +fifty years afterwards his adopted grandson was commissioned to +execute, and which might indeed have been equally well accomplished +now. It is much more probable that the two great generals, on whom +the decision of the political question now devolved, offered and +accepted peace on such terms in order to set just and reasonable +limits on the one hand to the furious vengeance of the victors, on +the other to the obstinacy and imprudence of the vanquished. The +noble-mindedness and statesmanlike gifts of the great antagonists are +no less apparent in the magnanimous submission of Hannibal to what was +inevitable, than in the wise abstinence of Scipio from an extravagant +and insulting use of victory. Is it to be supposed that one so +generous, unprejudiced, and intelligent should not have asked himself +of what benefit it could be to his country, now that the political +power of the Carthaginian city was annihilated, utterly to destroy +that ancient seat of commerce and of agriculture, and wickedly to +overthrow one of the main pillars of the then existing civilization? +The time had not yet come when the first men of Rome lent themselves +to destroy the civilization of their neighbours, and frivolously +fancied that they could wash away from themselves the eternal +infamy of the nation by shedding an idle tear. + +Results of the War + +Thus ended the second Punic or, as the Romans more correctly called +it, the Hannibalic war, after it had devastated the lands and islands +from the Hellespont to the Pillars of Hercules for seventeen years. +Before this war the policy of the Romans had no higher aim than to +acquire command of the mainland of the Italian peninsula within its +natural boundaries, and of the Italian islands and seas; it is clearly +proved by their treatment of Africa on the conclusion of peace that +they also terminated the war with the impression, not that they +had laid the foundation of sovereignty over the states of the +Mediterranean or of the so-called universal empire, but that they had +rendered a dangerous rival innocuous and had given to Italy agreeable +neighbours. It is true doubtless that other results of the war, the +conquest of Spain in particular, little accorded with such an idea; +but their very successes led them beyond their proper design, and it +may in fact be affirmed that the Romans came into possession of Spain +accidentally. The Romans achieved the sovereignty of Italy, because +they strove for it; the hegemony--and the sovereignty which grew out +of it--over the territories of the Mediterranean was to a certain +extent thrown into the hands of the Romans by the force of +circumstances without intention on their part to acquire it. + +Out of Italy + +The immediate results of the war out of Italy were, the conversion +of Spain into two Roman provinces--which, however, were in perpetual +insurrection; the union of the hitherto dependent kingdom of Syracuse +with the Roman province of Sicily; the establishment of a Roman +instead of a Carthaginian protectorate over the most important +Numidian chiefs; and lastly the conversion of Carthage from a powerful +commercial state into a defenceless mercantile town. In other words, +it established the uncontested hegemony of Rome over the western +region of the Mediterranean. Moreover, in its further development, +it led to that necessary contact and interaction between the state +systems of the east and the west, which the first Punic war had +only foreshadowed; and thereby gave rise to the proximate decisive +interference of Rome in the conflicts of the Alexandrine monarchies. + +In Italy + +As to its results in Italy, first of all the Celts were now certainly, +if they had not been already beforehand, destined to destruction; and +the execution of the doom was only a question of time. Within the +Roman confederacy the effect of the war was to bring into more +distinct prominence the ruling Latin nation, whose internal union +had been tried and attested by the peril which, notwithstanding +isolated instances of wavering, it had surmounted on the whole in +faithful fellowship; and to depress still further the non-Latin or +non-Latinized Italians, particularly the Etruscans and the Sabellians +of Lower Italy. The heaviest punishment or rather vengeance was +inflicted partly on the most powerful, partly on those who were at +once the earliest and latest, allies of Hannibal--the community of +Capua, and the land of the Bruttians. The Capuan constitution was +abolished, and Capua was reduced from the second city into the first +village of Italy; it was even proposed to raze the city and level +it with the ground. The whole soil, with the exception of a few +possessions of foreigners or of Campanians well disposed towards Rome, +was declared by the senate to be public domain, and was thereafter +parcelled out to small occupiers on temporary lease. The Picentes on +the Silarus were similarly treated; their capital was razed, and the +inhabitants were dispersed among the surrounding villages. The doom +of the Bruttians was still more severe; they were converted en masse +into a sort of bondsmen to the Romans, and were for ever excluded from +the right of bearing arms. The other allies of Hannibal also dearly +expiated their offence. The Greek cities suffered severely, with the +exception of the few which had steadfastly adhered to Rome, such as +the Campanian Greeks and the Rhegines. Punishment not much lighter +awaited the Arpanians and a number of other Apulian, Lucanian, and +Samnite communities, most of which lost portions of their territory. +On a part of the lands thus acquired new colonies were settled. Thus +in the year 560 a succession of burgess-colonies was sent to the best +ports of Lower Italy, among which Sipontum (near Manfredonia) and +Croton may be named, as also Salernum placed in the former territory +of the southern Picentes and destined to hold them in check, and above +all Puteoli, which soon became the seat of the genteel -villeggiatura- +and of the traffic in Asiatic and Egyptian luxuries. Thurii became +a Latin fortress under the new name of Copia (560), and the rich +Bruttian town of Vibo under the name of Valentia (562). The veterans +of the victorious army of Africa were settled singly on various +patches of land in Samnium and Apulia; the remainder was retained as +public land, and the pasture stations of the grandees of Rome replaced +the gardens and arable fields of the farmers. As a matter of course, +moreover, in all the communities of the peninsula the persons of note +who were not well affected to Rome were got rid of, so far as this +could be accomplished by political processes and confiscations of +property. Everywhere in Italy the non-Latin allies felt that their +name was meaningless, and that they were thenceforth subjects of Rome; +the vanquishing of Hannibal was felt as a second subjugation of Italy, +and all the exasperation and all the arrogance of the victor vented +themselves especially on the Italian allies who were not Latin. Even +the colourless Roman comedy of this period, well subjected as it was +to police control, bears traces of this. When the subjugated towns +of Capua and Atella were abandoned without restraint to the unbridled +wit of the Roman farce, so that the latter town became its very +stronghold, and when other writers of comedy jested over the fact +that the Campanian serfs had already learned to survive amidst the +deadly atmosphere in which even the hardiest race of slaves, the +Syrians, pined away; such unfeeling mockeries re-echoed the scorn of +the victors, but not less the cry of distress from the down-trodden +nations. The position in which matters stood is shown by the anxious +carefulness, which during the ensuing Macedonian war the senate +evinced in the watching of Italy, and by the reinforcements which were +despatched from Rome to the most important colonies, to Venusia in +554, Narnia in 555, Cosa in 557, and Cales shortly before 570. + +What blanks were produced by war and famine in the ranks of the +Italian population, is shown by the example of the burgesses of +Rome, whose numbers during the war had fallen almost a fourth. +The statement, accordingly, which puts the whole number of Italians +who fell in the war under Hannibal at 300,000, seems not at all +exaggerated. Of course this loss fell chiefly on the flower of the +burgesses, who in fact furnished the -elite- as well as the mass of +the combatants. How fearfully the senate in particular was thinned, +is shown by the filling up of its complement after the battle of +Cannae, when it had been reduced to 123 persons, and was with +difficulty restored to its normal state by an extraordinary nomination +of 177 senators. That, moreover, the seventeen years' war, which had +been carried on simultaneously in all districts of Italy and towards +all the four points of the compass abroad, must have shaken to the +very heart the national economy, is, as a general position, clear; but +our tradition does not suffice to illustrate it in detail. The state +no doubt gained by the confiscations, and the Campanian territory in +particular thenceforth remained an inexhaustible source of revenue to +the state; but by this extension of the domain system the national +prosperity of course lost just about as much as at other times it had +gained by the breaking up of the state lands. Numbers of flourishing +townships--four hundred, it was reckoned--were destroyed and ruined; +the capital laboriously accumulated was consumed; the population were +demoralized by camp life; the good old traditional habits of the +burgesses and farmers were undermined from the capital down to the +smallest village. Slaves and desperadoes associated themselves in +robber-bands, of the dangers of which an idea may be formed from the +fact that in a single year (569) 7000 men had to be condemned for +highway robbery in Apulia alone; the extension of the pastures, +with their half-savage slave-herdsmen, favoured this mischievous +barbarizing of the land. Italian agriculture saw its very existence +endangered by the proof, first afforded in this war, that the Roman +people could be supported by grain from Sicily and from Egypt instead +of that which they reaped themselves. + +Nevertheless the Roman, whom the gods had allowed to survive the close +of that gigantic struggle, might look with pride to the past and with +confidence to the future. Many errors had been committed, but much +suffering had also been endured; the people, whose whole youth capable +of arms had for ten years hardly laid aside shield or sword, might +excuse many faults. The living of different nations side by side in +peace and amity upon the whole--although maintaining an attitude of +mutual antagonism--which appears to be the aim of modern phases of +national life, was a thing foreign to antiquity. In ancient times it +was necessary to be either anvil or hammer; and in the final struggle +between the victors victory remained with the Romans. Whether they +would have the judgment to use it rightly--to attach the Latin nation +by still closer bonds to Rome, gradually to Latinize Italy, to rule +their dependents in the provinces as subjects and not to abuse them as +slaves, to reform the constitution, to reinvigorate and to enlarge the +tottering middle class--many a one might ask. If they should know how +to use it, Italy might hope to see happy times, in which prosperity +based on personal exertion under favourable circumstances, and the +most decisive political supremacy over the then civilized world, would +impart a just self-reliance to every member of the great whole, +furnish a worthy aim for every ambition, and open a career for every +talent. It would, no doubt, be otherwise, should they fail to use +aright their victory. But for the moment doubtful voices and gloomy +apprehensions were silent, when from all quarters the warriors and +victors returned to their homes; thanksgivings and amusements, and +rewards to the soldiers and burgesses were the order of the day; +the released prisoners of war were sent home from Gaul, Africa, +and Greece; and at length the youthful conqueror moved in splendid +procession through the decorated streets of the capital, to deposit +his laurels in the house of the god by whose direct inspiration, as +the pious whispered one to another, he had been guided in counsel +and in action. + +Notes for Chapter VI + +1. III. III. The Celts Conquered by Rome + +2. III. VI. The Sending of Reinforcements Temporarily Frustrated + +3. III. VI. Conflicts in the South of Italy + +4. III. VI. Sicily Tranquillized + +5. Of the two places bearing this name, the more westerly, situated +about 60 miles west of Hadrumetum, was probably the scene of the +battle (comp. Hermes, xx. 144, 318). The time was the spring or +summer of the year 552; the fixing of the day as the 19th October, +on account of the alleged solar eclipse, is of no account. + + + + +Chapter VII + +The West from the Peace of Hannibal to the Close of the Third Period + +Subjugation of the Valley of the Po + +The war waged by Hannibal had interrupted Rome in the extension of her +dominion to the Alps or to the boundary of Italy, as was even now the +Roman phrase, and in the organization and colonizing of the Celtic +territories. It was self-evident that the task would now be resumed +at the point where it had been broken off, and the Celts were well +aware of this. In the very year of the conclusion of peace with +Carthage (553) hostilities had recommenced in the territory of the +Boii, who were the most immediately exposed to danger; and a first +success obtained by them over the hastily-assembled Roman levy, +coupled with the persuasions of a Carthaginian officer, Hamilcar, who +had been left behind from the expedition of Mago in northern Italy, +produced in the following year (554) a general insurrection spreading +beyond the two tribes immediately threatened, the Boii and Insubres. +The Ligurians were driven to arms by the nearer approach of the +danger, and even the youth of the Cenomani on this occasion listened +less to the voice of their cautious chiefs than to the urgent appeal +of their kinsmen who were in peril. Of "the two barriers against the +raids of the Gauls," Placentia and Cremona, the former was sacked--not +more than 2000 of the inhabitants of Placentia saved their lives--and +the second was invested. In haste the legions advanced to save what +they could. A great battle took place before Cremona. The dexterous +management and the professional skill of the Phoenician leader failed +to make up for the deficiencies of his troops; the Gauls were unable +to withstand the onset of the legions, and among the numerous dead who +covered the field of battle was the Carthaginian officer. The Celts, +nevertheless, continued the struggle; the same Roman army which had +conquered at Cremona was next year (555), chiefly through the fault of +its careless leader, almost destroyed by the Insubres; and it was not +till 556 that Placentia could be partially re-established. But the +league of the cantons associated for the desperate struggle suffered +from intestine discord; the Boii and Insubres quarrelled, and the +Cenomani not only withdrew from the national league, but purchased +their pardon from the Romans by a disgraceful betrayal of their +countrymen; during a battle in which the Insubres engaged the Romans +on the Mincius, the Cenomani attacked in rear, and helped to destroy, +their allies and comrades in arms (557). Thus humbled and left in the +lurch, the Insubres, after the fall of Comum, likewise consented to +conclude a separate peace (558). The conditions, which the Romans +prescribed to the Cenomani and Insubres, were certainly harder than +they had been in the habit of granting to the members of the Italian +confederacy; in particular, they were careful to confirm by law the +barrier of separation between Italians and Celts, and to enact that +never should a member of these two Celtic tribes be capable of +acquiring the citizenship of Rome. But these Transpadane Celtic +districts were allowed to retain their existence and their national +constitution--so that they formed not town-domains, but tribal +cantons--and no tribute, as it would seem, was imposed on them. +They were intended to serve as a bulwark for the Roman settlements +south of the Po, and to ward off from Italy the incursions of the +migratory northern tribes and the aggressions of the predatory +inhabitants of the Alps, who were wont to make regular razzias in +these districts. The process of Latinizing, moreover, made rapid +progress in these regions; the Celtic nationality was evidently far +from able to oppose such resistance as the more civilized nations of +Sabellians and Etruscans. The celebrated Latin comic poet Statius +Caecilius, who died in 586, was a manumitted Insubrian; and Polybius, +who visited these districts towards the close of the sixth century, +affirms, not perhaps without some exaggeration, that in that quarter +only a few villages among the Alps remained Celtic. The Veneti, on +the other hand, appear to have retained their nationality longer. + +Measures Adopted to Check the Immigrations of the Transalpine Gauls + +The chief efforts of the Romans in these regions were naturally +directed to check the immigration of the Transalpine Celts, and to +make the natural wall, which separates the peninsula from the interior +of the continent, also its political boundary. That the terror of +the Roman name had already penetrated to the adjacent Celtic cantons +beyond the Alps, is shown not only by the totally passive attitude +which they maintained during the annihilation or subjugation of their +Cisalpine countrymen, but still more by the official disapproval and +disavowal which the Transalpine cantons--we shall have to think +primarily of the Helvetii (between the lake of Geneva and the Main) +and the Carni or Taurisci (in Carinthia and Styria)--expressed to +the envoys from Rome, who complained of the attempts made by isolated +Celtic bands to settle peacefully on the Roman side of the Alps. Not +less significant was the humble spirit in which these same bands of +emigrants first came to the Roman senate entreating an assignment +of land, and then without remonstrance obeyed the rigorous order to +return over the Alps (568-575), and allowed the town, which they +had already founded not far from the later Aquileia, to be again +destroyed. With wise severity the senate permitted no sort of +exception to the principle that the gates of the Alps should be +henceforth closed for the Celtic nation, and visited with heavy +penalties those Roman subjects in Italy, who had instigated any such +schemes of immigration. An attempt of this kind which was made on a +route hitherto little known to the Romans, in the innermost recess of +the Adriatic, and still more, as if would seem, the project of Philip +of Macedonia for invading Italy from the east as Hannibal had done +from the west, gave occasion to the founding of a fortress in the +extreme north-eastern corner of Italy--Aquileia, the most northerly of +the Italian colonies (571-573)--which was intended not only to close +that route for ever against foreigners, but also to secure the command +of the gulf which was specially convenient for navigation, and to +check the piracy which was still not wholly extirpated in those +waters. The establishment of Aquileia led to a war with the Istrians +(576, 577), which was speedily terminated by the storming of some +strongholds and the fall of the king, Aepulo, and which was remarkable +for nothing except for the panic, which the news of the surprise of +the Roman camp by a handful of barbarians called forth in the fleet +and throughout Italy. + +Colonizing of the Region on the South of the Po + +A different course was adopted with the region on the south of the Po, +which the Roman senate had determined to incorporate with Italy. The +Boii, who were immediately affected by this step, defended themselves +with the resolution of despair. They even crossed the Po and made an +attempt to rouse the Insubres once more to arms (560); they blockaded +a consul in his camp, and he was on the point of succumbing; Placentia +maintained itself with difficulty against the constant assaults of +the exasperated natives. At length the last battle was fought at +Mutina; it was long and bloody, but the Romans conquered (561); +and thenceforth the struggle was no longer a war, but a slave-hunt. +The Roman camp soon was the only asylum in the Boian territory; +thither the better part of the still surviving population began to +take refuge; and the victors were able, without much exaggeration, to +report to Rome that nothing remained of the nation of the Boii but old +men and children. The nation was thus obliged to resign itself to the +fate appointed for it. The Romans demanded the cession of half the +territory (563); the demand could not be refused, and even within the +diminished district which was left to the Boii, they soon disappeared, +and amalgamated with their conquerors.(1) + +After the Romans had thus cleared the ground for themselves, +the fortresses of Placentia and Cremona, whose colonists had been +in great part swept away or dispersed by the troubles of the last few +years, were reorganized, and new settlers were sent thither. The new +foundations were, in or near the former territory of the Senones, +Potentia (near Recanati not far from Ancona: in 570) and Pisaurum +(Pesaro: in 570), and, in the newly acquired district of the Boii, the +fortresses of Bononia (565), Mutina (571), and Parma (571); the colony +of Mutina had been already instituted before the war under Hannibal, +but that war had interrupted the completion of the settlement. +The construction of fortresses was associated, as was always the case, +with the formation of military roads. The Flaminian way was prolonged +from its northern termination at Ariminum, under the name of the +Aemilian way, to Placentia (567). Moreover, the road from Rome to +Arretium or the Cassian way, which perhaps had already been long a +municipal road, was taken in charge and constructed anew by the Roman +community probably in 583; while in 567 the track from Arretium over +the Apennines to Bononia as far as the new Aemilian road had been put +in order, and furnished a shorter communication between Rome and the +fortresses on the Po. By these comprehensive measures the Apennines +were practically superseded as the boundary between the Celtic and +Italian territories, and were replaced by the Po. South of the Po +there henceforth prevailed mainly the urban constitution of the +Italians, beyond it mainly the cantonal constitution of the Celts; +and, if the district between the Apennines and the Po was still +reckoned Celtic land, it was but an empty name. + +Liguria + +In the north-western mountain-land of Italy, whose valleys and hills +were occupied chiefly by the much-subdivided Ligurian stock, the +Romans pursued a similar course. Those dwelling immediately to the +north of the Arno were extirpated. This fate befell chiefly the +Apuani, who dwelt on the Apennines between the Arno and the Magra, and +incessantly plundered on the one side the territory of Pisae, on the +other that of Bononia and Mutina. Those who did not fall victims in +that quarter to the sword of the Romans were transported into Lower +Italy to the region of Beneventum (574); and by energetic measures the +Ligurian nation, from which the Romans were obliged in 578 to recover +the colony of Mutina which it had conquered, was completely crushed in +the mountains which separate the valley of the Po from that of the +Arno. The fortress of Luna (not far from Spezzia), established in 577 +in the former territory of the Apuani, protected the frontier against +the Ligurians just as Aquileia did against the Transalpines, and gave +the Romans at the same time an excellent port which henceforth became +the usual station for the passage to Massilia and to Spain. The +construction of the coast or Aurelian road from Rome to Luna, and +of the cross road carried from Luca by way of Florence to Arretium +between the Aurelian and Cassian ways, probably belongs to the +same period. + +With the more western Ligurian tribes, who held the Genoese Apennines +and the Maritime Alps, there were incessant conflicts. They were +troublesome neighbours, accustomed to pillage by land and by sea: the +Pisans and Massiliots suffered no little injury from their incursions +and their piracies. But no permanent results were gained amidst these +constant hostilities, or perhaps even aimed at; except apparently +that, with a view to have a communication by land with Transalpine +Gaul and Spain in addition to the regular route by sea, the Romans +endeavoured to clear the great coast road from Luna by way of Massilia +to Emporiae, at least as far as the Alps--beyond the Alps it devolved +on the Massiliots to keep the coast navigation open for Roman vessels +and the road along the shore open for travellers by land. The +interior with its impassable valleys and its rocky fastnesses, +and with its poor but dexterous and crafty inhabitants, served +the Romans mainly as a school of war for the training and hardening +of soldiers and officers. + +Corsica +Sardinia + +Wars as they are called, of a similar character with those against the +Ligurians, were waged with the Corsicans and to a still greater extent +with the inhabitants of the interior of Sardinia, who retaliated for +the predatory expeditions directed against them by sudden attacks on +the districts along the coast. The expedition of Tiberius Gracchus +against the Sardinians in 577 was specially held in remembrance, +not so much because it gave "peace" to the province, as because +he asserted that he had slain or captured as many as 80,000 of +the islanders, and dragged slaves thence in such multitudes to +Rome that "cheap as a Sardinian" became a proverb. + +Carthage + +In Africa the policy of Rome was substantially summed up in the one +idea, as short-sighted as it was narrow-minded, that she ought to +prevent the revival of the power of Carthage, and ought accordingly +to keep the unhappy city constantly oppressed and apprehensive of +a declaration of war suspended over it by Rome like the sword of +Damocles. The stipulation in the treaty of peace, that the +Carthaginians should retain their territory undiminished, but +that their neighbour Massinissa should have all those possessions +guaranteed to him which he or his predecessor had possessed within +the Carthaginian bounds, looks almost as if it had been inserted not +to obviate, but to provoke disputes. The same remark applies to the +obligation imposed by the Roman treaty of peace on the Carthaginians +not to make war upon the allies of Rome; so that, according to the +letter of the treaty, they were not even entitled to expel their +Numidian neighbours from their own undisputed territory. With such +stipulations and amidst the uncertainty of African frontier questions +in general, the situation of Carthage in presence of a neighbour +equally powerful and unscrupulous and of a liege lord who was at once +umpire and party in the cause, could not but be a painful one; but +the reality was worse than the worst expectations. As early as 561 +Carthage found herself suddenly assailed under frivolous pretexts, +and saw the richest portion of her territory, the province of Emporiae +on the Lesser Syrtis, partly plundered by the Numidians, partly +even seized and retained by them. Encroachments of this kind were +multiplied; the level country passed into the hands of the Numidians, +and the Carthaginians with difficulty maintained themselves in the +larger places. Within the last two years alone, the Carthaginians +declared in 582, seventy villages had been again wrested from them in +opposition to the treaty. Embassy after embassy was despatched to +Rome; the Carthaginians adjured the Roman senate either to allow them +to defend themselves by arms, or to appoint a court of arbitration +with power to enforce their award, or to regulate the frontier anew +that they might at least learn once for all how much they were to +lose; otherwise it were better to make them Roman subjects at once +than thus gradually to deliver them over to the Libyans. But the +Roman government, which already in 554 had held forth a direct +prospect of extension of territory to their client, of course at the +expense of Carthage, seemed to have little objection that he should +himself take the booty destined for him; they moderated perhaps at +times the too great impetuosity of the Libyans, who now retaliated +fully on their old tormentors for their former sufferings; but it +was in reality for the very sake of inflicting this torture that the +Romans had assigned Massinissa as a neighbour to Carthage. All the +requests and complaints had no result, except either that Roman +commissions made their appearance in Africa and after a thorough +investigation came to no decision, or that in the negotiations at +Rome the envoys of Massinissa pretended a want of instructions and +the matter was adjourned. Phoenician patience alone was able to +submit meekly to such a position, and even to exhibit towards +the despotic victors every attention and courtesy, solicited or +unsolicited with unwearied perseverance. The Carthaginians +especially courted Roman favour by sending supplies of grain. + +Hannibal +Reform of the Carthaginian Constitution +Hannibal's Flight + +This pliability on the part of the vanquished, however was not mere +patience and resignation. There was still in Carthage a patriotic +party, and at its head stood the man who, wherever fate placed him, +was still dreaded by the Romans. It had not abandoned the idea of +resuming the struggle by taking advantage of those complications that +might be easily foreseen between Rome and the eastern powers; and, as +the failure of the magnificent scheme of Hamilcar and his sons had +been due mainly to the Carthaginian oligarchy, the chief object was +internally to reinvigorate the country for this new struggle. The +salutary influence of adversity, and the clear, noble, and commanding +mind of Hannibal, effected political and financial reforms. The +oligarchy, which had filled up the measure of its guilty follies by +raising a criminal process against the great general, charging him +with having intentionally abstained from the capture of Rome and with +embezzlement of the Italian spoil--that rotten oligarchy was, on the +proposition of Hannibal, overthrown, and a democratic government was +introduced such as was suited to the circumstances of the citizens +(before 559). The finances were so rapidly reorganized by the +collection of arrears and of embezzled moneys and by the introduction +of better control, that the contribution due to Rome could be paid +without burdening the citizens in any way with extraordinary taxes. +The Roman government, just then on the point of beginning its critical +war with the great-king of Asia, observed the progress of these +events, as may easily be conceived, with apprehension; it was no +imaginary danger that the Carthaginian fleet might land in Italy and +a second war under Hannibal might spring up there, while the Roman +legions fighting in Asia Minor. We can scarcely, therefore, censure +the Romans for sending an embassy to Carthage (in 559) which was +presumably charged to demand the surrender of Hannibal. The spiteful +Carthaginian oligarchs, who sent letter after letter to Rome to +denounce to the national foe the hero who had overthrown them as +having entered into secret communications with the powers unfriendly +to Rome, were contemptible, but their information was probably +correct; and, true as it was that that embassy involved a humiliating +confession of the dread with which the simple shofete of Carthage +inspired so powerful a people, and natural and honourable as it was +that the proud conqueror of Zama should take exception in the senate +to so humiliating a step, still that confession was nothing but the +simple truth, and Hannibal was of a genius so extraordinary, that none +but sentimental politicians in Rome could tolerate him longer at the +head of the Carthaginian state. The marked recognition thus accorded +to him by the Roman government scarcely took himself by surprise. +As it was Hannibal and not Carthage that had carried on the last war, +so it was he who had to bear the fate of the vanquished. The +Carthaginians could do nothing but submit and be thankful that +Hannibal, sparing them the greater disgrace by his speedy and prudent +flight to the east, left to his ancestral city merely the lesser +disgrace of having banished its greatest citizen for ever from his +native land, confiscated his property, and razed his house. The +profound saying that those are the favourites of the gods, on whom +they lavish infinite joys and infinite sorrows, thus verified itself +in full measure in the case of Hannibal. + +Continued Irritation in Rome towards Carthage + +A graver responsibility than that arising out of their proceedings +against Hannibal attaches to the Roman government for their +persistence in suspecting and tormenting the city after his removal. +Parties indeed fermented there as before; but, after the withdrawal +of the extraordinary man who had wellnigh changed the destinies of the +world, the patriot party was not of much more importance in Carthage +than in Aetolia or Achaia. The most rational of the various ideas +which then agitated the unhappy city was beyond doubt that of +attaching themselves to Massinissa and of converting him from +the oppressor into the protector of the Phoenicians. But neither +the national section of the patriots nor the section with Libyan +tendencies attained the helm; on the contrary the government remained +in the hands of the oligarchs friendly to Rome, who, so far as they +did not altogether renounce thought of the future, clung to the single +idea of saving the material welfare and the communal freedom of +Carthage under Roman protection. With this state of matters the +Romans might well have been content. But neither the multitude, nor +even the ruling lords of the average stamp, could rid themselves of +the profound alarm produced by the Hannibalic war; and the Roman +merchants with envious eyes beheld the city even now, when its +political power was gone, possessed of extensive commercial +dependencies and of a firmly established wealth which nothing could +shake. Already in 567 the Carthaginian government offered to pay up +at once the whole instalments stipulated in the peace of 553--an offer +which the Romans, who attached far more importance to the having +Carthage tributary than to the sums of money themselves, naturally +declined, and only deduced from it the conviction that, in spite of +all the trouble they had taken, the city was not ruined and was not +capable of ruin. Fresh reports were ever circulating through Rome as +to the intrigues of the faithless Phoenicians. At one time it was +alleged that Aristo of Tyre had been seen in Carthage as an emissary +of Hannibal, to prepare the citizens for the landing of an Asiatic +war-fleet (561); at another, that the council had, in a secret +nocturnal sitting in the temple of the God of Healing, given audience +to the envoys of Perseus (581); at another there was talk of the +powerful fleet which was being equipped in Carthage for the Macedonian +war (583). It is probable that these and similar reports were founded +on nothing more than, at most, individual indiscretions; but still +they were the signal for new diplomatic ill usage on the part of Rome, +and for new aggressions on the part of Massinissa, and the idea gained +ground the more, the less sense and reason there was in it, that the +Carthaginian question would not be settled without a third Punic war. + +Numidians + +While the power of the Phoenicians was thus sinking in the land of +their choice, just as it had long ago succumbed in their original +home, a new state grew up by their side. The northern coast of Africa +has been inhabited from time immemorial, and is inhabited still, by +the people, who themselves assume the name of Shilah or Tamazigt, whom +the Greeks and Romans call Nomades or Numidians, i. e. the "pastoral" +people, and the Arabs call Berbers, although they also at times +designate them as "shepherds" (Shawie), and to whom we are wont to +give the name of Berbers or Kabyles. This people is, so far as its +language has been hitherto investigated, related to no other known +nation. In the Carthaginian period these tribes, with the exception +of those dwelling immediately around Carthage or immediately on the +coast, had on the whole maintained their independence, and had also +substantially retained their pastoral and equestrian life, such as the +inhabitants of the Atlas lead at the present day; although they were +not strangers to the Phoenician alphabet and Phoenician civilization +generally,(2) and instances occurred in which the Berber sheiks had +their sons educated in Carthage and intermarried with the families of +the Phoenician nobility. It was not the policy of the Romans to have +direct possessions of their own in Africa; they preferred to rear a +state there, which should not be of sufficient importance to be able +to dispense with Roman protection, and yet should be sufficiently +strong to keep down the power of Carthage now that it was restricted +to Africa, and to render all freedom of movement impossible for the +tortured city. They found what they sought among the native princes. +About the time of the Hannibalic war the natives of North Africa were +subject to three principal kings, each of whom, according to the +custom there, had a multitude of princes bound to follow his banner; +Bocchar king of the Mauri, who ruled from the Atlantic Ocean to the +river Molochath (now Mluia, on the boundary between Morocco and the +French territory); Syphax king of the Massaesyli, who ruled from the +last-named point to the "Perforated Promontory," as it was called +(Seba Rus, between Jijeli and Bona), in what are now the provinces of +Oran and Algiers; and Massinissa king of the Massyli, who ruled from +the Tretum Promontorium to the boundary of Carthage, in what is now +the province of Constantine. The most powerful of these, Syphax king +of Siga, had been vanquished in the last war between Rome and Carthage +and carried away captive to Rome, where he died in captivity. His +wide dominions were mainly given to Massinissa; although Vermina the +son of Syphax by humble petition recovered a small portion of his +father's territory from the Romans (554), he was unable to deprive +the earlier ally of the Romans of his position as the privileged +oppressor of Carthage. + +Massinissa + +Massinissa became the founder of the Numidian kingdom; and seldom has +choice or accident hit upon a man so thoroughly fitted for his post. +In body sound and supple up to extreme old age; temperate and sober +like an Arab; capable of enduring any fatigue, of standing on the same +spot from morning to evening, and of sitting four-and-twenty hours on +horseback; tried alike as a soldier and a general amidst the romantic +vicissitudes of his youth as well as on the battle-fields of Spain, +and not less master of the more difficult art of maintaining +discipline in his numerous household and order in his dominions; +with equal unscrupulousness ready to throw himself at the feet of his +powerful protector, or to tread under foot his weaker neighbour; and, +in addition to all this, as accurately acquainted with the +circumstances of Carthage, where he was educated and had been on +familiar terms in the noblest houses, as he was filled with an African +bitterness of hatred towards his own and his people's oppressors, +--this remarkable man became the soul of the revival of his nation, +which had seemed on the point of perishing, and of whose virtues and +faults he appeared as it were a living embodiment. Fortune favoured +him, as in everything, so especially in the fact, that it allowed +him time for his work. He died in the ninetieth year of his age +(516-605), and in the sixtieth year of his reign, retaining to the +last the full possession of his bodily and mental powers, leaving +behind him a son one year old and the reputation of having been +the strongest man and the best and most fortunate king of his age. + +Extension and Civilization of Numidia + +We have already narrated how purposely and clearly the Romans in +their management of African affairs evinced their taking part with +Massinissa, and how zealously and constantly the latter availed +himself of the tacit permission to enlarge his territory at the +expense of Carthage. The whole interior to the border of the desert +fell to the native sovereign as it were of its own accord, and even +the upper valley of the Bagradas (Mejerdah) with the rich town of Vaga +became subject to the king; on the coast also to the east of Carthage +he occupied the old Sidonian city of Great Leptis and other districts, +so that his kingdom stretched from the Mauretanian to the Cyrenaean +frontier, enclosed the Carthaginian territory on every side by land, +and everywhere pressed, in the closest vicinity, on the Phoenicians. +It admits of no doubt, that he looked on Carthage as his future +capital; the Libyan party there was significant. But it was not +only by the diminution of her territory that Carthage suffered injury. +The roving shepherds were converted by their great king into another +people. After the example of the king, who brought the fields +under cultivation far and wide and bequeathed to each of his sons +considerable landed estates, his subjects also began to settle and +to practise agriculture. As he converted his shepherds into settled +citizens, he converted also his hordes of plunderers into soldiers who +were deemed by Rome worthy to fight side by side with her legions; +and he bequeathed to his successors a richly-filled treasury, a well- +disciplined army, and even a fleet. His residence Cirta (Constantine) +became the stirring capital of a powerful state, and a chief seat of +Phoenician civilization, which was zealously fostered at the court of +the Berber king--fostered perhaps studiously with a view to the future +Carthagino-Numidian kingdom. The hitherto degraded Libyan nationality +thus rose in its own estimation, and the native manners and language +made their way even into the old Phoenician towns, such as Great +Leptis. The Berber began, under the aegis of Rome, to feel himself +the equal or even the superior of the Phoenician; Carthaginian envoys +at Rome had to submit to be told that they were aliens in Africa, +and that the land belonged to the Libyans. The Phoenico-national +civilization of North Africa, which still retained life and vigour +even in the levelling times of the Empire, was far more the work +of Massinissa than of the Carthaginians. + +The State of Culture in Spain + +In Spain the Greek and Phoenician towns along the coast, such as +Emporiae, Saguntum, New Carthage, Malaca, and Gades, submitted to the +Roman rule the more readily, that, left to their own resources, they +would hardly have been able to protect themselves from the natives; +as for similar reasons Massilia, although far more important and more +capable of self-defence than those towns, did not omit to secure a +powerful support in case of need by closely attaching itself to the +Romans, to whom it was in return very serviceable as an intermediate +station between Italy and Spain. The natives, on the other hand, gave +to the Romans endless trouble. It is true that there were not wanting +the rudiments of a national Iberian civilization, although of its +special character it is scarcely possible for us to acquire any clear +idea. We find among the Iberians a widely diffused national writing, +which divides itself into two chief kinds, that of the valley of the +Ebro, and the Andalusian, and each of these was presumably subdivided +into various branches: this writing seems to have originated at a very +early period, and to be traceable rather to the old Greek than to the +Phoenician alphabet. There is even a tradition that the Turdetani +(round Seville) possessed lays from very ancient times, a metrical +book of laws of 6000 verses, and even historical records; at any rate +this tribe is described as the most civilized of all the Spanish +tribes, and at the same time the least warlike; indeed, it regularly +carried on its wars by means of foreign mercenaries. To the same +region probably we must refer the descriptions given by Polybius of +the flourishing condition of agriculture and the rearing of cattle +in Spain--so that, in the absence of opportunity of export, grain and +flesh were to be had at nominal prices--and of the splendid royal +palaces with golden and silver jars full of "barley wine." At least a +portion of the Spaniards, moreover, zealously embraced the elements of +culture which the Romans brought along with them, so that the process +of Latinizing made more rapid progress in Spain than anywhere else in +the transmarine provinces. For example, warm baths after the Italian +fashion came into use even at this period among the natives. Roman +money, too, was to all appearance not only current in Spain far +earlier than elsewhere out of Italy, but was imitated in Spanish +coins; a circumstance in some measure explained by the rich silver- +mines of the country. The so-called "silver of Osca" (now Huesca +in Arragon), i. e. Spanish -denarii- with Iberian inscriptions, is +mentioned in 559; and the commencement of their coinage cannot be +placed much later, because the impression is imitated from that of +the oldest Roman -denarii-. + +But, while in the southern and eastern provinces the culture of the +natives may have so far prepared the way for Roman civilization and +Roman rule that these encountered no serious difficulties, the west +and north on the other hand, and the whole of the interior, were +occupied by numerous tribes more or less barbarous, who knew little of +any kind of civilization--in Intercatia, for instance, the use of gold +and silver was still unknown about 600--and who were on no better +terms with each other than with the Romans. A characteristic trait +in these free Spaniards was the chivalrous spirit of the men and, at +least to an equal extent, of the women. When a mother sent forth her +son to battle, she roused his spirit by the recital of the feats of +his ancestors; and the fairest maiden unasked offered her hand in +marriage to the bravest man. Single combat was common, both with +a view to determine the prize of valour, and for the settlement of +lawsuits; even disputes among the relatives of princes as to the +succession were settled in this way. It not unfrequently happened +that a well-known warrior confronted the ranks of the enemy and +challenged an antagonist by name; the defeated champion then +surrendered his mantle and sword to his opponent, and even entered +into relations of friendship and hospitality with him. Twenty years +after the close of the second Punic war, the little Celtiberian +community of Complega (in the neighbourhood of the sources of the +Tagus) sent a message to the Roman general, that unless he sent to +them for every man that had fallen a horse, a mantle, and a sword, +it would fare ill with him. Proud of their military honour, so that +they frequently could not bear to survive the disgrace of being +disarmed, the Spaniards were nevertheless disposed to follow any +one who should enlist their services, and to stake their lives in +any foreign quarrel. The summons was characteristic, which a Roman +general well acquainted with the customs of the country sent to a +Celtiberian band righting in the pay of the Turdetani against the +Romans--either to return home, or to enter the Roman service with +double pay, or to fix time and place for battle. If no recruiting +officer made his appearance, they met of their own accord in free +bands, with the view of pillaging the more peaceful districts and +even of capturing and occupying towns, quite after the manner of the +Campanians. The wildness and insecurity of the inland districts are +attested by the fact that banishment into the interior westward of +Cartagena was regarded by the Romans as a severe punishment, and that +in periods of any excitement the Roman commandants of Further Spain +took with them escorts of as many as 6000 men. They are still more +clearly shown by the singular relations subsisting between the Greeks +and their Spanish neighbours in the Graeco-Spanish double city of +Emporiae, at the eastern extremity of the Pyrenees. The Greek +settlers, who dwelt on the point of the peninsula separated on the +landward side from the Spanish part of the town by a wall, took care +that this wall should be guarded every night by a third of their civic +force, and that a higher official should constantly superintend the +watch at the only gate; no Spaniard was allowed to set foot in the +Greek city, and the Greeks conveyed their merchandise to the natives +only in numerous and well-escorted companies. + +Wars between the Romans and Spaniards + +These natives, full of restlessness and fond of war--full of the +spirit of the Cid and of Don Quixote--were now to be tamed and, if +possible, civilized by the Romans. In a military point of view +the task was not difficult. It is true that the Spaniards showed +themselves, not only when behind the walls of their cities or under +the leadership of Hannibal, but even when left to themselves and in +the open field of battle, no contemptible opponents; with their short +two-edged sword which the Romans subsequently adopted from them, and +their formidable assaulting columns, they not unfrequently made even +the Roman legions waver. Had they been able to submit to military +discipline and to political combination, they might perhaps have +shaken off the foreign yoke imposed on them. But their valour was +rather that of the guerilla than of the soldier, and they were utterly +void of political judgment. Thus in Spain there was no serious war, +but as little was there any real peace; the Spaniards, as Caesar +afterwards very justly pointed out to them, never showed themselves +quiet in peace or strenuous in war. Easy as it was for a Roman +general to scatter a host of insurgents, it was difficult for the +Roman statesman to devise any suitable means of really pacifying and +civilizing Spain. In fact, he could only deal with it by palliative +measures; because the only really adequate expedient, a comprehensive +Latin colonization, was not accordant with the general aim of Roman +policy at this period. + +The Romans Maintain a Standing Army in Spain +Cato +Gracchus + +The territory which the Romans acquired in Spain in the course of the +second Punic war was from the beginning divided into two masses--the +province formerly Carthaginian, which embraced in the first instance +the present districts of Andalusia, Granada, Murcia, and Valencia, and +the province of the Ebro, or the modern Arragon and Catalonia, the +fixed quarters of the Roman army during the last war. Out of these +territories were formed the two Roman provinces of Further and Hither +Spain. The Romans sought gradually to reduce to subjection the +interior corresponding nearly to the two Castiles, which they +comprehended under the general name of Celtiberia, while they were +content with checking the incursions of the inhabitants of the western +provinces, more especially those of the Lusitanians in the modern +Portugal and the Spanish Estremadura, into the Roman territory; +with the tribes on the north coast, the Callaecians, Asturians, +and Cantabrians, they did not as yet come into contact at all. +The territories thus won, however, could not be maintained and secured +without a standing garrison, for the governor of Hither Spain had no +small trouble every year with the chastisement of the Celtiberians, +and the governor of the more remote province found similar employment +in repelling the Lusitanians. It was needful accordingly to maintain +in Spain a Roman army of four strong legions, or about 40,000 men, +year after year; besides which the general levy had often to be called +out in the districts occupied by Rome, to reinforce the legions. This +was of great importance for two reasons: it was in Spain first, at +least first on any larger scale, that the military occupation of the +land became continuous; and it was there consequently that the service +acquired a permanent character. The old Roman custom of sending +troops only where the exigencies of war at the moment required them, +and of not keeping the men called to serve, except in very serious +and important wars, under arms for more than a year, was found +incompatible with the retention of the turbulent and remote Spanish +provinces beyond the sea; it was absolutely impossible to withdraw +the troops from these, and very dangerous even to relieve them +extensively. The Roman burgesses began to perceive that dominion over +a foreign people is an annoyance not only to the slave, but to the +master, and murmured loudly regarding the odious war-service of Spain. +While the new generals with good reason refused to allow the relief of +the existing corps as a whole, the men mutinied and threatened that, +if they were not allowed their discharge, they would take it of +their own accord. + +The wars themselves, which the Romans waged in Spain, were but of +a subordinate importance. They began with the very departure of +Scipio,(3) and continued as long as the war under Hannibal lasted. +After the peace with Carthage (in 553) there was a cessation of +arms in the peninsula; but only for a short time. In 557 a general +insurrection broke out in both provinces; the commander of the +Further province was hard pressed; the commander of Hither Spain was +completely defeated, and was himself slain. It was necessary to take +up the war in earnest, and although in the meantime the able praetor +Quintus Minucius had mastered the first danger, the senate resolved in +559 to send the consul Marcus Cato in person to Spain. On landing at +Emporiae he actually found the whole of Hither Spain overrun by the +insurgents; with difficulty that seaport and one or two strongholds +in the interior were still held for Rome. A pitched battle took place +between the insurgents and the consular army, in which, after an +obstinate conflict man against man, the Roman military skill at length +decided the day with its last reserve. The whole of Hither Spain +thereupon sent in its submission: so little, however, was this +submission meant in earnest, that on a rumour of the consul having +returned to Rome the insurrection immediately recommenced. But the +rumour was false; and after Cato had rapidly reduced the communities +which had revolted for the second time and sold them -en masse- into +slavery, he decreed a general disarming of the Spaniards in the Hither +province, and issued orders to all the towns of the natives from the +Pyrenees to the Guadalquivir to pull down their walls on one and the +same day. No one knew how far the command extended, and there was no +time to come to any understanding; most of the communities complied; +and of the few that were refractory not many ventured, when the Roman +army soon appeared before their walls, to await its assault. + +These energetic measures were certainly not without permanent effect. +Nevertheless the Romans had almost every year to reduce to subjection +some mountain valley or mountain stronghold in the "peaceful +province," and the constant incursions of the Lusitanians into the +Further province led occasionally to severe defeats of the Romans. +In 563, for instance, a Roman army was obliged after heavy loss to +abandon its camp, and to return by forced inarches into the more +tranquil districts. It was not till after a victory gained by the +praetor Lucius Aemilius Paullus in 565,(4) and a second still more +considerable gained by the brave praetor Gaius Calpurnius beyond the +Tagus over the Lusitanians in 569, that quiet for some time prevailed. +In Hither Spain the hitherto almost nominal rule of the Romans over +the Celtiberian tribes was placed on a firmer basis by Quintus Fulvius +Flaccus, who after a great victory over them in 573 compelled at least +the adjacent cantons to submission; and especially by his successor +Tiberius Gracchus (575, 576), who achieved results of a permanent +character not only by his arms, by which he reduced three hundred +Spanish townships, but still more by his adroitness in adapting +himself to the views and habits of the simple and haughty nation. +He induced Celtiberians of note to take service in the Roman army, +and so created a class of dependents; he assigned land to the roving +tribes, and collected them in towns--the Spanish town Graccurris +preserved the Roman's name--and so imposed a serious check on their +freebooter habits; he regulated the relations of the several tribes +to the Romans by just and wise treaties, and so stopped, as far as +possible, the springs of future rebellion. His name was held in +grateful remembrance by the Spaniards, and comparative peace +henceforth reigned in the land, although the Celtiberians still +from time to time winced under the yoke. + +Administration of Spain + +The system of administration in the two Spanish provinces was similar +to that of the Sicilo-Sardinian province, but not identical. The +superintendence was in both instances vested in two auxiliary consuls, +who were first nominated in 557, in which year also the regulation of +the boundaries and the definitive organization of the new provinces +took place. The judicious enactment of the Baebian law (573), that +the Spanish praetors should always be nominated for two years, was not +seriously carried out in consequence of the increasing competition for +the highest magistracies, and still more in consequence of the jealous +supervision exercised over the powers of the magistrates by the +senate; and in Spain also, except where deviations occurred in +extraordinary circumstances, the Romans adhered to the system of +annually changing the governors--a system especially injudicious in +the case of provinces so remote and with which it was so difficult to +gain an acquaintance. The dependent communities were throughout +tributary; but, instead of the Sicilian and Sardinian tenths and +customs, in Spain fixed payments in money or other contributions were +imposed by the Romans, just as formerly by the Carthaginians, on the +several towns and tribes: the collection of these by military means +was prohibited by a decree of the senate in 583, in consequence of the +complaints of the Spanish communities. Grain was not furnished in +their case except for compensation, and even then the governor might +not levy more than a twentieth; besides, conformably to the just- +mentioned ordinance of the supreme authority, he was bound to adjust +the compensation in an equitable manner. On the other hand, the +obligation of the Spanish subjects to furnish contingents to the Roman +armies had an importance very different from that which belonged to +it at least in peaceful Sicily, and it was strictly regulated in the +several treaties. The right, too, of coining silver money of the +Roman standard appears to have been very frequently conceded to the +Spanish towns, and the monopoly of coining seems to have been by no +means asserted here by the Roman government with the same strictness +as in Sicily. Rome had too much need of her subjects everywhere in +Spain, not to proceed with all possible tenderness in the introduction +and handling of the provincial constitution there. Among the +communities specially favoured by Rome were the great cities along +the coast of Greek, Phoenician, or Roman foundation, such as Saguntum, +Gades, and Tarraco, which, as the natural pillars of the Roman rule +in the peninsula, were admitted to alliance with Rome. On the whole, +Spain was in a military as well as financial point of view a burden +rather than a gain to the Roman commonwealth; and the question +naturally occurs, Why did the Roman government, whose policy at that +time evidently did not contemplate the acquisition of countries beyond +the sea, not rid itself of these troublesome possessions? The not +inconsiderable commercial connections of Spain, her important iron- +mines, and her still more important silver-mines famous from ancient +times even in the far east(5)--which Rome, like Carthage, took into +her own hands, and the management of which was specially regulated by +Marcus Cato (559)--must beyond doubt have co-operated to induce its +retention; but the chief reason of the Romans for retaining the +peninsula in their own immediate possession was, that there were no +states in that quarter of similar character to the Massiliot republic +in the land of the Celts and the Numidian kingdom in Libya, and that +thus they could not abandon Spain without putting it into the power +of any adventurer to revive the Spanish empire of the Barcides. + +Notes for Chapter VII + +1. According to the account of Strabo these Italian Boii were driven +by the Romans over the Alps, and from them proceeded that Boian +settlement in what is now Hungary about Stein am Anger and Oedenburg, +which was attacked and annihilated in the time of Augustus by the +Getae who crossed the Danube, but which bequeathed to this district +the name of the Boian desert. This account is far from agreeing with +the well-attested representation of the Roman annals, according to +which the Romans were content with the cession of half the territory; +and, in order to explain the disappearance of the Italian Boii, +we have really no need to assume a violent expulsion--the other +Celtic peoples, although visited to a far less extent by war and +colonization, disappeared not much less rapidly and totally from the +ranks of the Italian nations. On the other hand, other accounts +suggest the derivation of those Boii on the Neusiedler See from the +main stock of the nation, which formerly had its seat in Bavaria and +Bohemia before Germanic tribes pushed it towards the south. But it is +altogether very doubtful whether the Boii, whom we find near Bordeaux, +on the Po, and in Bohemia, were really scattered branches of one +stock, or whether this is not an instance of mere similarity of name. +The hypothesis of Strabo may have rested on nothing else than an +inference from the similarity of name--an inference such as the +ancients drew, often without due reason, in the case of the Cimbri, +Veneti, and others. + +2. III. I. Libyphoenicians + +3. III. VI. Gades Becomes Roman + +4. Of this praetor there has recently come to light the following +decree on a copper tablet found in the neighbourhood of Gibraltar +and now preserved in the Paris Museum: "L. Aimilius, son of Lucius, +Imperator, has ordained that the slaves of the Hastenses [of Hasta +regia, not far from Jerez de la Frontera], who dwell in the tower of +Lascuta [known by means of coins and Plin. iii. i, 15, but uncertain +as to site] should be free. The ground and the township, of which +they are at the time in possession, they shall continue to possess and +hold, so long as it shall please the people and senate of the Romans. +Done in camp on 12 Jan. [564 or 565]." (-L. Aimilius L. f. inpeirator +decreivit utei qui Hastensium servei in turri Lascutana habitarent, +leiberei essent, Agrum oppidumqu[e], guod ea tempestate posedissent, +item possidere habereque ioussit, dum poplus senatusque Romanus +vettet. Act. in castreis a. d. XII. k. Febr.-) This is the oldest +Roman document which we possess in the original, drawn up three years +earlier than the well-known edict of the consuls of the year 568 in +the affair of the Bacchanalia. + +5. 1 Maccab. viii. 3. "And Judas heard what the Romans had done +to the land of Hispania to become masters of the silver and gold +mines there." + + + + +Chapter VIII + +The Eastern States and the Second Macedonian War + +The Hellenic East + +The work, which Alexander king of Macedonia had begun a century +before the Romans acquired their first footing in the territory which +he had called his own, had in the course of time--while adhering +substantially to the great fundamental idea of Hellenizing the east +--changed and expanded into the construction of a system of Hellene- +Asiatic states. The unconquerable propensity of the Greeks for +migration and colonizing, which had formerly carried their traders +to Massilia and Cyrene, to the Nile and to the Black Sea, now firmly +held what the king had won; and under the protection of the -sarissae-, +Greek civilization peacefully domiciled itself everywhere throughout +the ancient empire of the Achaemenidae. The officers, who divided the +heritage of the great general, gradually settled their differences, +and a system of equilibrium was established, of which the very +Oscillations manifest some sort of regularity. + +The Great States +Macedonia + +Of the three states of the first rank belonging to this system +--Macedonia, Asia, and Egypt--Macedonia under Philip the Fifth, who +had occupied the throne since 534, was externally at least very much +what it had been under Philip the Second the father of Alexander +--a compact military state with its finances in good order. On its +northern frontier matters had resumed their former footing, after the +waves of the Gallic inundation had rolled away; the guard of the +frontier kept the Illyrian barbarians in check without difficulty, +at least in ordinary times. In the south, not only was Greece in +general dependent on Macedonia, but a large portion of it--including +all Thessaly in its widest sense from Olympus to the Spercheius and +the peninsula of Magnesia, the large and important island of Euboea, +the provinces of Locris, Phocis, and Doris, and lastly, a number of +isolated positions in Attica and in the Peloponnesus, such as the +promontory of Sunium, Corinth, Orchomenus, Heraea, the Triphylian +territory--was directly subject to Macedonia and received Macedonian +garrisons; more especially the three important fortresses of Demetrias +in Magnesia, Chalcis in Euboea, and Corinth, "the three fetters of +the Hellenes." But the strength of the state lay above all in its +hereditary soil, the province of Macedonia. The population, indeed, +of that extensive territory was remarkably scanty; Macedonia, putting +forth all her energies, was scarcely able to bring into the field as +many men as were contained in an ordinary consular army of two +legions; and it was unmistakeably evident that the land had not yet +recovered from the depopulation occasioned by the campaigns of +Alexander and by the Gallic invasion. But while in Greece proper +the moral and political energy of the people had decayed, the day of +national vigour seemed to have gone by, life appeared scarce worth +living for, and even of the better spirits one spent time over the +wine-cup, another with the rapier, a third beside the student's lamp; +while in the east and Alexandria the Greeks were able perhaps to +disseminate elements of culture among the dense native population and +to diffuse among that population their language and their loquacity, +their science and pseudo-science, but were barely sufficient in point +of number to supply the nations with officers, statesmen, and +schoolmasters, and were far too few to form even in the cities middle- +class of the pure Greek type; there still existed, or the other hand, +in northern Greece a goodly portion of the old national vigour, which +had produced the warriors of Marathon. Hence arose the confidence +with which the Macedonians, Aetolians, and Acarnanians, wherever they +made their appearance in the east, claimed to be, and were taken as, +a better race; and hence the superior part which they played at the +courts of Alexandria and Antioch. There is a characteristic story, +that an Alexandrian who had lived for a considerable time in Macedonia +and had adopted the manners and the dress of that country, on +returning to his native city, now looked upon himself as a man and +upon the Alexandrians as little better than slaves. This sturdy +vigour and unimpaired national spirit were turned to peculiarly good +account by the Macedonians, as the most powerful and best organized +of the states of northern Greece. There, no doubt, absolutism had +emerged in opposition to the old constitution, which to some extent +recognized different estates; but sovereign and subject by no means +stood towards each other in Macedonia as they stood in Asia and Egypt, +and the people still felt itself independent and free. In steadfast +resistance to the public enemy under whatever name, in unshaken +fidelity towards their native country and their hereditary government, +and in persevering courage amidst the severest trials, no nation in +ancient history bears so close a resemblance to the Roman people as +the Macedonians; and the almost miraculous regeneration of the state +after the Gallic invasion redounds to the imperishable honour of its +leaders and of the people whom they led. + +Asia + +The second of the great states, Asia, was nothing but Persia +superficially remodelled and Hellenized--the empire of "the king +of kings," as its master was wont to call himself in a style +characteristic at once of his arrogance and of his weakness--with the +same pretensions to rule from the Hellespont to the Punjab, and with +the same disjointed organization; an aggregate of dependent states in +various degrees of dependence, of insubordinate satrapies, and of +half-free Greek cities. In Asia Minor more especially, which was +nominally included in the empire of the Seleucidae, the whole north +coast and the greater part of the eastern interior were practically +in the hands of native dynasties or of the Celtic hordes that had +penetrated thither from Europe; a considerable portion of the west was +in the possession of the kings of Pergamus, and the islands and coast +towns were some of them Egyptian, some of them free; so that little +more was left to the great-king than the interior of Cilicia, Phrygia, +and Lydia, and a great number of titular claims, not easily made good, +against free cities and princes--exactly similar in character to the +sovereignty of the German emperor, in his day, beyond his hereditary +dominions. The strength of the empire was expended in vain endeavours +to expel the Egyptians from the provinces along the coast; in frontier +strife with the eastern peoples, the Parthians and Bactrians; in feuds +with the Celts, who to the misfortune of Asia Minor had settled within +its bounds; in constant efforts to check the attempts of the eastern +satraps and of the Greek cities of Asia Minor to achieve their +independence; and in family quarrels and insurrections of pretenders. +None indeed of the states founded by the successors of Alexander were +free from such attempts, or from the other horrors which absolute +monarchy in degenerate times brings in its train; but in the kingdom +of Asia these evils were more injurious than elsewhere, because, from +the lax composition of the empire, they usually led to the severance +of particular portions from it for longer or shorter periods. + +Egypt + +In marked contrast to Asia, Egypt formed a consolidated and united +state, in which the intelligent statecraft of the first Lagidae, +skilfully availing itself of ancient national and religious precedent, +had established a completely absolute cabinet government, and in which +even the worst misrule failed to provoke any attempt either at +emancipation or disruption. Very different from the Macedonians, +whose national attachment to royalty was based upon their personal +dignity and was its political expression, the rural population +in Egypt was wholly passive; the capital on the other hand was +everything, and that capital was a dependency of the court. The +remissness and indolence of its rulers, accordingly, paralyzed the +state in Egypt still more than in Macedonia and in Asia; while on +the other hand when wielded by men, like the first Ptolemy and Ptolemy +Euergetes, such a state machine proved itself extremely useful. It +was one of the peculiar advantages of Egypt as compared with its two +great rivals, that its policy did not grasp at shadows, but pursued +clear and attainable objects. Macedonia, the home of Alexander, and +Asia, the land where he had established his throne, never ceased to +regard themselves as direct continuations of the Alexandrine monarchy +and more or less loudly asserted their claim to represent it at least, +if not to restore it. The Lagidae never tried to found a universal +empire, and never dreamt of conquering India; but, by way of +compensation, they drew the whole traffic between India and the +Mediterranean from the Phoenician ports to Alexandria, and made Egypt +the first commercial and maritime state of this epoch, and the +mistress of the eastern Mediterranean and of its coasts and islands. +It is a significant fact, that Ptolemy III. Euergetes voluntarily +restored all his conquests to Seleucus Callinicus except the seaport +of Antioch. Partly by this means, partly by its favourable +geographical situation, Egypt attained, with reference to the two +continental powers, an excellent military position either for defence +or for attack. While an opponent even in the full career of success +was hardly in a position seriously to threaten Egypt, which was almost +inaccessible on any side to land armies, the Egyptians were able by +sea to establish themselves not only in Cyrene, but also in Cyprus +and the Cyclades, on the Phoenico-Syrian coast, on the whole south +and west coast of Asia Minor and even in Europe on the Thracian +Chersonese. By their unexampled skill in turning to account the +fertile valley of the Nile for the direct benefit of the treasury, +and by a financial system--equally sagacious and unscrupulous +--earnestly and adroitly calculated to foster material interests, +the court of Alexandria was constantly superior to its opponents even +as a moneyed power. Lastly, the intelligent munificence, with which +the Lagidae welcomed the tendency of the age towards earnest inquiry +in all departments of enterprise and of knowledge, and knew how to +confine such inquiries within the bounds, and entwine them with the +interests, of absolute monarchy, was productive of direct advantage to +the state, whose ship-building and machine-making showed traces of the +beneficial influence of Alexandrian mathematics; and not only so, but +also rendered this new intellectual power--the most important and the +greatest, which the Hellenic nation after its political dismemberment +put forth--subservient, so far as it would consent to be serviceable +at all, to the Alexandrian court. Had the empire of Alexander +continued to stand, Greek science and art would have found a state +worthy and capable of containing them. Now, when the nation had +fallen to pieces, a learned cosmopolitanism grew up in it luxuriantly, +and was very soon attracted by the magnet of Alexandria, where +scientific appliances and collections were inexhaustible, where kings +composed tragedies and ministers wrote commentaries on them, and where +pensions and academies flourished. + +The mutual relations of the three great states are evident from +what has been said. The maritime power, which ruled the coasts and +monopolized the sea, could not but after the first great success +--the political separation of the European from the Asiatic continent +--direct its further efforts towards the weakening of the two great +states on the mainland, and consequently towards the protection of the +several minor states; whereas Macedonia and Asia, while regarding each +other as rivals, recognized above all their common adversary in Egypt, +and combined, or at any rate ought to have combined, against it. + +The Kingdoms of Asia Minor + +Among the states of the second rank, merely an indirect importance, +so far as concerned the contact of the east with the west, attached +in the first instance to that series of states which, stretching from +the southern end of the Caspian Sea to the Hellespont, occupied the +interior and the north coast of Asia Minor: Atropatene (in the modern +Aderbijan, south-west of the Caspian), next to it Armenia, Cappadocia +in the interior of Asia Minor, Pontus on the south-east, and Bithynia +on the south-west, shore of the Black Sea. All of these were +fragments of the great Persian Empire, and were ruled by Oriental, +mostly old Persian, dynasties--the remote mountain-land of Atropatene +in particular was the true asylum of the ancient Persian system, over +which even the expedition of Alexander had swept without leaving a +trace--and all were in the same relation of temporary and superficial +dependence on the Greek dynasty, which had taken or wished to take +the place of the great-kings in Asia. + +The Celts of Asia Minor + +Of greater importance for the general relations was the Celtic +state in the interior of Asia Minor. There, intermediate between +Bithynia, Paphlagonia, Cappadocia, and Phrygia, three Celtic tribes +--the Tolistoagii, the Tectosages, and Trocmi--had settled, without +abandoning either their native language and manners or their +constitution and their trade as freebooters. The twelve tetrarchs, +one of whom was appointed to preside over each of the four cantons in +each of the three tribes, formed, with their council of 300 men, the +supreme authority of the nation, and assembled at the "holy place" + (-Drunemetum-), especially for the pronouncing of capital sentences. +Singular as this cantonal constitution of the Celts appeared to the +Asiatics, equally strange seemed to them the adventurous and marauding +habits of the northern intruders, who on the one hand furnished their +unwarlike neighbours with mercenaries for every war, and on the other +plundered on their own account or levied contributions from the +surrounding districts. These rude but vigorous barbarians were the +general terror of the effeminate surrounding nations, and even of the +great-kings of Asia themselves, who, after several Asiatic armies had +been destroyed by the Celts and king Antiochus I. Soter had even +lost his life in conflict with them (493), agreed at last to pay +them tribute. + +Pergamus + +In consequence of bold and successful opposition to these Gallic +hordes, Attalus, a wealthy citizen of Pergamus, received the royal +title from his native city and bequeathed it to his posterity. This +new court was in miniature what that of Alexandria was on a great +scale. Here too the promotion of material interests and the fostering +of art and literature formed the order of the day, and the government +pursued a cautious and sober cabinet policy, the main objects of +which were the weakening the power of its two dangerous continental +neighbours, and the establishing an independent Greek state in the +west of Asia Minor. A well-filled treasury contributed greatly to the +importance of these rulers of Pergamus. They advanced considerable +sums to the kings of Syria, the repayment of which afterwards formed +part of the Roman conditions of peace. They succeeded even in +acquiring territory in this way; Aegina, for instance, which the +allied Romans and Aetolians had wrested in the last war from Philip's +allies, the Achaeans, was sold by the Aetolians, to whom it fell in +terms of the treaty, to Attalus for 30 talents (7300 pounds). But, +notwithstanding the splendour of the court and the royal title, +the commonwealth of Pergamus always retained something of the urban +character; and in its policy it usually went along with the free +cities. Attalus himself, the Lorenzo de' Medici of antiquity, +remained throughout life a wealthy burgher; and the family life +of the Attalid house, from which harmony and cordiality were not +banished by the royal title, formed a striking contrast to the +dissolute and scandalous behaviour of more aristocratic dynasties. + +Greece +Epirots, Acarnanians, Boeotians + +In European Greece--exclusive of the Roman possessions on the west +coast, in the most important of which, particularly Corcyra, Roman +magistrates appear to have resided,(1) and the territory directly +subject to Macedonia--the powers more or less in a position to pursue +a policy of their own were the Epirots, Acarnanians, and Aetolians +in northern Greece, the Boeotians and Athenians in central Greece, +and the Achaeans, Lacedaemonians, Messenians, and Eleans in the +Peloponnesus. Among these, the republics of the Epirots, Acarnanians, +and Boeotians were in various ways closely knit to Macedonia--the +Acarnanians more especially, because it was only Macedonian protection +that enabled them to escape the destruction with which they were +threatened by the Aetolians; none of them were of any consequence. +Their internal condition was very various. The state of things may +to some extent be illustrated by the fact, that among the Boeotians +--where, it is true, matters reached their worst--it had become +customary to make over every property, which did not descend to heirs +in the direct line, to the -syssitia-; and, in the case of candidates +for the public magistracies, for a quarter of a century the primary +condition of election was that they should bind themselves not to +allow any creditor, least of all a foreign one, to sue his debtor. + +The Athenians + +The Athenians were in the habit of receiving support against Macedonia +from Alexandria, and were in close league with the Aetolians. But +they too were totally powerless, and hardly anything save the halo +of Attic poetry and art distinguished these unworthy successors of +a glorious past from a number of petty towns of the same stamp. + +The Aetolians + +The power of the Aetolian confederacy manifested a greater vigour. +The energy of the northern Greek character was still unbroken there, +although it had degenerated into a reckless impatience of discipline +and control. It was a public law in Aetolia, that an Aetolian might +serve as a mercenary against any state, even against a state in +alliance with his own country; and, when the other Greeks urgently +besought them to redress this scandal, the Aetolian diet declared that +Aetolia might sooner be removed from its place than this principle +from their national code. The Aetolians might have been of great +service to the Greek nation, had they not inflicted still greater +injury on it by this system of organized robbery, by their thorough +hostility to the Achaean confederacy, and by their unhappy antagonism +to the great state of Macedonia. + +The Achaeans + +In the Peloponnesus, the Achaean league had united the best elements +of Greece proper in a confederacy based on civilization, national +spirit, and peaceful preparation for self-defence. But the vigour +and more especially the military efficiency of the league had, +notwithstanding its outward enlargement, been arrested by the selfish +diplomacy of Aratus. The unfortunate variances with Sparta, and the +still more lamentable invocation of Macedonian interference in the +Peloponnesus, had so completely subjected the Achaean league to +Macedonian supremacy, that the chief fortresses of the country +thenceforward received Macedonian garrisons, and the oath of +fidelity to Philip was annually taken there. + +Sparta, Elis, Messene + +The policy of the weaker states in the Peloponnesus, Messene, and +Sparta, was determined by their ancient enmity to the Achaean league +--an enmity specially fostered by disputes regarding their frontiers +--and their tendencies were Aetolian and anti-Macedonian, because +the Achaeans took part with Philip. The only one of these states +possessing any importance was the Spartan military monarchy, which +after the death of Machanidas had passed into the hands of one Nabis. +With ever-increasing hardihood Nabis leaned on the support of +vagabonds and itinerant mercenaries, to whom he assigned not only the +houses and lands, but also the wives and children, of the citizens; +and he assiduously maintained connections, and even entered into an +association for the joint prosecution of piracy, with the great refuge +of mercenaries and pirates, the island of Crete, where he possessed +some townships. His predatory expeditions by land, and the piratical +vessels which he maintained at the promontory of Malea, were dreaded +far and wide; he was personally hated for his baseness and cruelty; +but his rule was extending, and about the time of the battle of Zama +he had even succeeded in gaining possession of Messene. + +League of the Greek Cities +Rhodes + +Lastly, the most independent position among the intermediate states +was held by the free Greek mercantile cities on the European shore of +the Propontis as well as along the whole coast of Asia Minor, and on +the islands of the Aegean Sea; they formed, at the same time, the +brightest elements in the confused and multifarious picture which was +presented by the Hellenic state-system. Three of them, in particular, +had after Alexander's death again enjoyed their full freedom, and by +the activity of their maritime commerce had attained to respectable +political power and even to considerable territorial possessions; +namely, Byzantium the mistress of the Bosporus, rendered wealthy and +powerful by the transit dues which she levied and by the important +corn trade carried on with the Black Sea; Cyzicus on the Asiatic side +of the Propontis, the daughter and heiress of Miletus, maintaining +the closest relations with the court of Pergamus; and lastly and +above all, Rhodes. The Rhodians, who immediately after the death +of Alexander had expelled the Macedonian garrison had, by their +favourable position for commerce and navigation, secured the carrying +trade of all the eastern Mediterranean; and their well-handled fleet, +as well as the tried courage of the citizens in the famous siege of +450, enabled them in that age of promiscuous and ceaseless hostilities +to become the prudent and energetic representatives and, when occasion +required, champions of a neutral commercial policy. They compelled +the Byzantines, for instance, by force of arms to concede to the +vessels of Rhodes exemption from dues in the Bosporus; and they did +not permit the dynast of Pergamus to close the Black Sea. On the +other hand they kept themselves, as far as possible, aloof from land +warfare, although they had acquired no inconsiderable possessions on +the opposite coast of Caria; where war could not be avoided, they +carried it on by means of mercenaries. With their neighbours on +all sides they were in friendly relations--with Syracuse, Macedonia, +Syria, but more especially with Egypt--and they enjoyed high +consideration at these courts, so that their mediation was not +unfrequently invoked in the wars of the great states. But they +interested themselves quite specially on behalf of the Greek maritime +cities, which were so numerously spread along the coasts of the +kingdoms of Pontus, Bithynia, and Pergamus, as well as on the coasts +and islands of Asia Minor that had been wrested by Egypt from the +Seleucidae; such as Sinope, Heraclea Pontica, Cius, Lampsacus, Abydos, +Mitylene, Chios, Smyrna, Samos, Halicarnassus and various others. All +these were in substance free and had nothing to do with the lords of +the soil except to ask for the confirmation of their privileges and, +at most, to pay a moderate tribute: such encroachments, as from time +to time were threatened by the dynasts, were skilfully warded off +sometimes by cringing, sometimes by strong measures. In this case the +Rhodians were their chief auxiliaries; they emphatically supported +Sinope, for instance, against Mithradates of Pontus. How firmly +amidst the quarrels, and by means of the very differences, of the +monarchs the liberties of these cities of Asia Minor were established, +is shown by the fact, that the dispute between Antiochus and the +Romans some years after this time related not to the freedom of these +cities in itself, but to the question whether they were to ask +confirmation of their charters from the king or not. This league of +the cities was, in this peculiar attitude towards the lords of the +soil as well as in other respects, a formal Hanseatic association, +headed by Rhodes, which negotiated and stipulated in treaties for +itself and its allies. This league upheld the freedom of the cities +against monarchical interests; and while wars raged around their +walls, public spirit and civic prosperity were sheltered in +comparative peace within, and art and science flourished without +the risk of being crushed by a dissolute soldiery or corrupted +by the atmosphere of a court. + +Philip, King of Macedonia + +Such was the state of things in the east, at the time when the wall of +political separation between the east and the west was broken down and +the eastern powers, Philip of Macedonia leading the way, were induced +to interfere in the relations of the west. We have already set forth +to some extent the origin of this interference and the course of the +first Macedonian war (540-549); and we have pointed out what Philip +might have accomplished during the second Punic war, and how little +of all that Hannibal was entitled to expect and to count on was really +fulfilled. A fresh illustration had been afforded of the truth, that +of all haphazards none is more hazardous than an absolute hereditary +monarchy. Philip was not the man whom Macedonia at that time +required; yet his gifts were far from insignificant He was a genuine +king, in the best and worst sense of the term. A strong desire to +rule in person and unaided was the fundamental trait of his character; +he was proud of his purple, but he was no less proud of other gifts, +and he had reason to be so. He not only showed the valour of a +soldier and the eye of a general, but he displayed a high spirit in +the conduct of public affairs, whenever his Macedonian sense of honour +was offended. Full of intelligence and wit, he won the hearts of all +whom he wished to gain, especially of the men who were ablest and most +refined, such as Flamininus and Scipio; he was a pleasant boon +companion and, not by virtue of his rank alone, a dangerous wooer. +But he was at the same time one of the most arrogant and flagitious +characters, which that shameless age produced. He was in the habit of +saying that he feared none save the gods; but it seemed almost as if +his gods were those to whom his admiral Dicaearchus regularly offered +sacrifice--Godlessness (-Asebeia-) and Lawlessness (-Paranomia-). The +lives of his advisers and of the promoters of his schemes possessed no +sacredness in his eyes, nor did he disdain to pacify his indignation +against the Athenians and Attalus by the destruction of venerable +monuments and illustrious works of art; it is quoted as one of his +maxims of state, that "whoever causes the father to be put to death +must also kill the sons." It may be that to him cruelty was not, +strictly, a delight; but he was indifferent to the lives and +sufferings of others, and relenting, which alone renders men +tolerable, found no place in his hard and stubborn heart. So abruptly +and harshly did he proclaim the principle that no promise and no moral +law are binding on an absolute king, that he thereby interposed the +most serious obstacles to the success of his plans. No one can deny +that he possessed sagacity and resolution, but these were, in a +singular manner, combined with procrastination and supineness; which +is perhaps partly to be explained by the fact, that he was called in +his eighteenth year to the position of an absolute sovereign, and that +his ungovernable fury against every one who disturbed his autocratic +course by counter-argument or counter-advice scared away from him all +independent counsellors. What various causes cooperated to produce +the weak and disgraceful management which he showed in the first +Macedonian war, we cannot tell; it may have been due perhaps to that +indolent arrogance which only puts forth its full energies against +danger when it becomes imminent, or perhaps to his indifference +towards a plan which was not of his own devising and his jealousy of +the greatness of Hannibal which put him to shame. It is certain that +his subsequent conduct betrayed no further trace of the Philip, +through whose negligence the plan of Hannibal suffered shipwreck. + +Macedonia and Asia Attack Egypt + +When Philip concluded his treaty with the Aetolians and Romans in +548-9, he seriously intended to make a lasting peace with Rome, and +to devote himself exclusively in future to the affairs of the east. +It admits of no doubt that he saw with regret the rapid subjugation of +Carthage; and it may be, that Hannibal hoped for a second declaration +of war from Macedonia, and that Philip secretly reinforced the last +Carthaginian army with mercenaries.(2) But the tedious affairs in +which he had meanwhile involved himself in the east, as well as the +nature of the alleged support, and especially the total silence of the +Romans as to such a breach of the peace while they were searching for +grounds of war, place it beyond doubt, that Philip was by no means +disposed in 551 to make up for what he ought to have done ten years +before. He had turned his eyes to an entirely different quarter. + +Ptolemy Philopator of Egypt had died in 549. Philip and Antiochus, +the kings of Macedonia and Asia, had combined against his successor +Ptolemy Epiphanes, a child of five years old, in order completely +to gratify the ancient grudge which the monarchies of the mainland +entertained towards the maritime state. The Egyptian state was to be +broken up; Egypt and Cyprus were to fall to Antiochus Cyrene, Ionia, +and the Cyclades to Philip. Thoroughly after the manner of Philip, +who ridiculed such considerations, the kings began the war not merely +without cause but even without pretext, "just as the large fishes +devour the small." The allies, moreover, had made their calculations +correctly, especially Philip. Egypt had enough to do in defending +herself against the nearer enemy in Syria, and was obliged to leave +her possessions in Asia Minor and the Cyclades undefended when Philip +threw himself upon these as his share of the spoil. In the year in +which Carthage concluded peace with Rome (553), Philip ordered a fleet +equipped by the towns subject to him to take on board troops, and to +sail along the coast of Thrace. There Lysimachia was taken from the +Aetolian garrison, and Perinthus, which stood in the relation of +clientship to Byzantium, was likewise occupied. Thus the peace was +broken as respected the Byzantines; and as respected the Aetolians, +who had just made peace with Philip, the good understanding was +at least disturbed. The crossing to Asia was attended with no +difficulties, for Prusias king of Bithynia was in alliance with +Macedonia. By way of recompense, Philip helped him to subdue the +Greek mercantile cities in his territory. Chalcedon submitted. +Cius, which resisted, was taken by storm and levelled with the ground, +and its inhabitants were reduced to slavery--a meaningless barbarity, +which annoyed Prusias himself who wished to get possession of the town +uninjured, and which excited profound indignation throughout the +Hellenic world. The Aetolians, whose -strategus- had commanded +in Cius, and the Rhodians, whose attempts at mediation had been +contemptuously and craftily frustrated by the king, were +especially offended. + +The Rhodian Hansa and Pergamus Oppose Philip + +But even had this not been so, the interests of all Greek commercial +cities were at stake. They could not possibly allow the mild and +almost purely nominal Egyptian rule to be supplanted by the Macedonian +despotism, with which urban self-government and freedom of commercial +intercourse were not at all compatible; and the fearful treatment +of the Cians showed that the matter at stake was not the right of +confirming the charters of the towns, but the life or death of one and +all. Lampsacus had already fallen, and Thasos had been treated like +Cius; no time was to be lost. Theophiliscus, the vigilant -strategus- +of Rhodes, exhorted his citizens to meet the common danger by common +resistance, and not to suffer the towns and islands to become one by +one a prey to the enemy. Rhodes resolved on its course, and declared +war against Philip. Byzantium joined it; as did also the aged Attalus +king of Pergamus, personally and politically the enemy of Philip. +While the fleet of the allies was mustering on the Aeolian coast, +Philip directed a portion of his fleet to take Chios and Samos. With +the other portion he appeared in person before Pergamus, which however +he invested in vain; he had to content himself with traversing the +level country and leaving the traces of Macedonian valour on the +temples which he destroyed far and wide. Suddenly he departed and +re-embarked, to unite with his squadron which was at Samos. But the +Rhodo-Pergamene fleet followed him, and forced him to accept battle in +the straits of Chios. The number of the Macedonian decked vessels + was smaller, but the multitude of their open boats made up for this +inequality, and the soldiers of Philip fought with great courage. +But he was at length defeated. Almost half of his decked vessels, +24 sail, were sunk or taken; 6000 Macedonian sailors and 3000 soldiers +perished, amongst whom was the admiral Democrates; 2000 were taken +prisoners. The victory cost the allies no more than 800 men and six +vessels. But, of the leaders of the allies, Attalus had been cut off +from his fleet and compelled to let his own vessel run aground at +Erythrae; and Theophiliscus of Rhodes, whose public spirit had decided +the question of war and whose valour had decided the battle, died on +the day after it of his wounds. Thus while the fleet of Attalus went +home and the Rhodian fleet remained temporarily at Chios, Philip, who +falsely ascribed the victory to himself, was able to continue his +voyage and to turn towards Samos, in order to occupy the Carian towns. +On the Carian coast the Rhodians, not on this occasion supported by +Attalus, gave battle for the second time to the Macedonian fleet under +Heraclides, near the little island of Lade in front of the port of +Miletus. The victory, claimed again by both sides, appears to have +been this time gained by the Macedonians; for while the Rhodians +retreated to Myndus and thence to Cos, the Macedonians occupied +Miletus, and a squadron under Dicaearchus the Aetolian occupied the +Cyclades. Philip meanwhile prosecuted the conquest of the Rhodian +possessions on the Carian mainland, and of the Greek cities: had he +been disposed to attack Ptolemy in person, and had he not preferred to +confine himself to the acquisition of his own share in the spoil, he +would now have been able to think even of an expedition to Egypt. In +Caria no army confronted the Macedonians, and Philip traversed without +hindrance the country from Magnesia to Mylasa; but every town in that +country was a fortress, and the siege-warfare was protracted without +yielding or promising any considerable results. Zeuxis the satrap of +Lydia supported the ally of his master with the same lukewarmness as +Philip had manifested in promoting the interests of the Syrian king, +and the Greek cities gave their support only under the pressure +of fear or force. The provisioning of the army became daily more +difficult; Philip was obliged today to plunder those who but yesterday +had voluntarily supplied his wants, and then he had reluctantly to +submit to beg afresh. Thus the good season of the year gradually drew +to an end, and in the interval the Rhodians had reinforced their fleet +and had also been rejoined by that of Attalus, so that they were +decidedly superior at sea. It seemed almost as if they might cut off +the retreat of the king and compel him to take up winter quarters in +Caria, while the state of affairs at home, particularly the threatened +intervention of the Aetolians and Romans, urgently demanded his +return. Philip saw the danger; he left garrisons amounting together +to 3000 men, partly in Myrina to keep Pergamus in check, partly in +the petty towns round Mylasa--Iassus, Bargylia, Euromus and Pedasa +--to secure for him the excellent harbour and a landing place in +Caria; and, owing to the negligence with which the allies guarded the +sea, he succeeded in safely reaching the Thracian coast with his fleet +and arriving at home before the winter of 553-4. + +Diplomatic Intervention of Rome + +In fact a storm was gathering against Philip in the west, which +did not permit him to continue the plundering of defenceless Egypt. +The Romans, who had at length in this year concluded peace on their +own terms with Carthage, began to give serious attention to these +complications in the east. It has often been affirmed, that after +the conquest of the west they forthwith proceeded to the subjugation +of the east; a serious consideration will lead to a juster judgment. +It is only dull prejudice which fails to see that Rome at this period +by no means grasped at the sovereignty of the Mediterranean states, +but, on the contrary, desired nothing further than to have neighbours +that should not be dangerous in Africa and in Greece; and Macedonia +was not really dangerous to Rome. Its power certainly was far from +small, and it is evident that the Roman senate only consented with +reluctance to the peace of 548-9, which left it in all its integrity; +but how little any serious apprehensions of Macedonia were or could be +entertained in Rome, is best shown by the small number of troops--who +yet were never compelled to fight against a superior force--with which +Rome carried on the next war. The senate doubtless would have gladly +seen Macedonia humbled; but that humiliation would be too dearly +purchased at the cost of a land war carried on in Macedonia with Roman +troops; and accordingly, after the withdrawal of the Aetolians, the +senate voluntarily concluded peace at once on the basis of the -status +quo-. It is therefore far from made out, that the Roman government +concluded this peace with the definite design of beginning the war at +a more convenient season; and it is very certain that, at the moment, +from the thorough exhaustion of the state and the extreme +unwillingness of the citizens to enter into a second transmarine +struggle, the Macedonian war was in a high degree unwelcome to the +Romans. But now it was inevitable. They might have acquiesced in +the Macedonian state as a neighbour, such as it stood in 549; but it +was impossible that they could permit it to acquire the best part of +Asiatic Greece and the important Cyrene, to crush the neutral +commercial states, and thereby to double its power. Further, the fall +of Egypt and the humiliation, perhaps the subjugation, of Rhodes would +have inflicted deep wounds on the trade of Sicily and Italy; and could +Rome remain a quiet spectator, while Italian commerce with the east +was made dependent on the two great continental powers? Rome had, +moreover, an obligation of honour to fulfil towards Attalus her +faithful ally since the first Macedonian war, and had to prevent +Philip, who had already besieged him in his capital, from expelling +him from his dominions. Lastly, the claim of Rome to extend her +protecting arm over all the Hellenes was by no means an empty phrase: +the citizens of Neapolis, Rhegium, Massilia, and Emporiae could +testify that that protection was meant in earnest, and there is no +question at all that at this time the Romans stood in a closer +relation to the Greeks than any other nation--one little more remote +than that of the Hellenized Macedonians. It is strange that any +should dispute the right of the Romans to feel their human, as well as +their Hellenic, sympathies revolted at the outrageous treatment of the +Cians and Thasians. + +Preparations and Pretexts for Second Macedonian War + +Thus in reality all political, commercial, and moral motives concurred +in inducing Rome to undertake the second war against Philip--one of +the most righteous, which the city ever waged. It greatly redounds +to the honour of the senate, that it immediately resolved on its +course and did not allow itself to be deterred from making the +necessary preparations either by the exhaustion of the state or by +the unpopularity of such a declaration of war. The propraetor Marcus +Valerius Laevinus made his appearance as early as 553 with the +Sicilian fleet of 38 sail in the eastern waters. The government, +however, were at a loss to discover an ostensible pretext for the war; +a pretext which they needed in order to satisfy the people, even +although they had not been far too sagacious to undervalue, as was the +manner of Philip, the importance of assigning a legitimate ground for +hostilities. The support, which Philip was alleged to have granted to +the Carthaginians after the peace with Rome, manifestly could not be +proved. The Roman subjects, indeed, in the province of Illyria had +for a considerable time complained of the Macedonian encroachments. +In 551 a Roman envoy at the head of the Illyrian levy had driven +Philip's troops from the Illyrian territory; and the senate had +accordingly declared to the king's envoys in 552, that if he sought +war, he would find it sooner than was agreeable to him. But these +encroachments were simply the ordinary outrages which Philip practised +towards his neighbours; a negotiation regarding them at the present +moment would have led to his humbling himself and offering +satisfaction, but not to war. With all the belligerent powers in the +east the Roman community was nominally in friendly relations, and +might have granted them aid in repelling Philip's attack. But Rhodes +and Pergamus, which naturally did not fail to request Roman aid, were +formally the aggressors; and although Alexandrian ambassadors besought +the Roman senate to undertake the guardianship of the boy king, +Egypt appears to have been by no means eager to invoke the direct +intervention of the Romans, which would put an end to her difficulties +for the moment, but would at the same time open up the eastern sea to +the great western power. Aid to Egypt, moreover, must have been in +the first instance rendered in Syria, and would have entangled Rome +simultaneously in a war with Asia and with Macedonia; which the +Romans were naturally the more desirous to avoid, as they were firmly +resolved not to intermeddle at least in Asiatic affairs. No course +was left but to despatch in the meantime an embassy to the east for +the purpose, first, of obtaining--what was not in the circumstances +difficult--the sanction of Egypt to the interference of the Romans in +the affairs of Greece; secondly, of pacifying king Antiochus by +abandoning Syria to him; and, lastly, of accelerating as much as +possible a breach with Philip and promoting a coalition of the minor +Graeco-Asiatic states against him (end of 553). At Alexandria they +had no difficulty in accomplishing their object; the court had no +choice, and was obliged gratefully to receive Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, +whom the senate had despatched as "guardian of the king" to uphold +his interests, so far as that could be done without an actual +intervention. Antiochus did not break off his alliance with Philip, +nor did he give to the Romans the definite explanations which they +desired; in other respects, however--whether from remissness, or +influenced by the declarations of the Romans that they did not wish to +interfere in Syria--he pursued his schemes in that direction and left +things in Greece and Asia Minor to take their course. + +Progress of the War + +Meanwhile, the spring of 554 had arrived, and the war had recommenced. +Philip first threw himself once more upon Thrace, where he occupied +all the places on the coast, in particular Maronea, Aenus, Elaeus, +and Sestus; he wished to have his European possessions secured against +the risk of a Roman landing. He then attacked Abydus on the Asiatic +coast, the acquisition of which could not but be an object of +importance to him, for the possession of Sestus and Abydus would bring +him into closer connection with his ally Antiochus, and he would no +longer need to be apprehensive lest the fleet of the allies might +intercept him in crossing to or from Asia Minor. That fleet commanded +the Aegean Sea after the withdrawal of the weaker Macedonian squadron: +Philip confined his operations by sea to maintaining garrisons on +three of the Cyclades, Andros, Cythnos, and Paros, and fitting out +privateers. The Rhodians proceeded to Chios, and thence to Tenedos, +where Attalus, who had passed the winter at Aegina and had spent his +time in listening to the declamations of the Athenians, joined them +with his squadron. The allies might probably have arrived in time +to help the Abydenes, who heroically defended themselves; but they +stirred not, and so at length the city surrendered, after almost all +who were capable of bearing arms had fallen in the struggle before the +walls. After the capitulation a large portion of the inhabitants fell +by their own hand--the mercy of the victor consisted in allowing the +Abydenes a term of three days to die voluntarily. Here, in the camp +before Abydus. the Roman embassy, which after the termination of its +business in Syria and Egypt had visited and dealt with the minor Greek +states, met with the king, and submitted the proposals which it had +been charged to make by the senate, viz. that the king should wage no +aggressive war against any Greek state, should restore the possessions +which he had wrested from Ptolemy, and should consent to an +arbitration regarding the injury inflicted on the Pergamenes and +Rhodians. The object of the senate, which sought to provoke the king +to a formal declaration of war, was not gained; the Roman ambassador, +Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, obtained from the king nothing but the polite +reply that he would excuse what the envoy had said because he was +young, handsome, and a Roman. + +Meanwhile, however, the occasion for declaring war, which Rome +desired, had been furnished from another quarter. The Athenians +in their silly and cruel vanity had put to death two unfortunate +Acarnanians, because these had accidentally strayed into their +mysteries. When the Acarnanians, who were naturally indignant, asked +Philip to procure them satisfaction, he could not refuse the just +request of his most faithful allies, and he allowed them to levy men +in Macedonia and, with these and their own troops, to invade Attica +without a formal declaration of war. This, it is true, was no war +in the proper sense of the term; and, besides, the leader of the +Macedonian band, Nicanor, immediately gave orders to his troops to +retreat, when the Roman envoys, who were at Athens at the time, used +threatening language (in the end of 553). But it was too late. An +Athenian embassy was sent to Rome to report the attack made by Philip +on an ancient ally of the Romans; and, from the way in which the +senate received it, Philip saw clearly what awaited him; so that he +at once, in the very spring of 554, directed Philocles, his general +in Greece, to lay waste the Attic territory and to reduce the city +to extremities. + +Declaration of War by Rome + +The senate now had what they wanted; and in the summer of 554 they +were able to propose to the comitia a declaration of war "on account +of an attack on a state in alliance with Rome." It was rejected on the +first occasion almost unanimously: foolish or evil-disposed tribunes +of the people complained of the senate, which would allow the citizens +no rest; but the war was necessary and, in strictness, was already +begun, so that the senate could not possibly recede. The burgesses +were induced to yield by representations and concessions. It is +remarkable that these concessions were made mainly at the expense of +the allies. The garrisons of Gaul, Lower Italy, Sicily, and Sardinia, +amounting in all to 20,000 men, were exclusively taken from the allied +contingents that were in active service--quite contrary to the former +principles of the Romans. All the burgess troops, on the other hand, +that had continued under arms from the Hannibalic war, were +discharged; volunteers alone, it was alleged, were to be enrolled for +the Macedonian war, but they were, as was afterwards found, for the +most part forced volunteers--a fact which in the autumn of 555 +called forth a dangerous military revolt in the camp of Apollonia. +Six legions were formed of the men newly called out; of these two +remained in Rome and two in Etruria, and only two embarked at +Brundisium for Macedonia, led by the consul Publius Sulpicius Galba. + +Thus it was once more clearly demonstrated, that the sovereign burgess +assemblies, with their shortsighted resolutions dependent often on +mere accident, were no longer at all fitted to deal with the +complicated and difficult relations into which Rome was drawn by her +victories; and that their mischievous intervention in the working of +the state machine led to dangerous modifications of the measures which +in a military point of were necessary, and to the still more dangerous +course of treating the Latin allies as inferiors. + +The Roman League + +The position of Philip was very disadvantageous. The eastern states, +which ought to have acted in unison against all interference of Rome +and probably under other circumstances would have so acted, had been +mainly by Philip's fault so incensed at each other, that they were +not inclined to hinder, or were inclined even to promote, the Roman +invasion. Asia, the natural and most important ally of Philip, had +been neglected by him, and was moreover prevented at first from active +interference by being entangled in the quarrel with Egypt and the +Syrian war. Egypt had an urgent interest in keeping the Roman fleet +out of the eastern waters; even now an Egyptian embassy intimated at +Rome very plainly, that the court of Alexandria was ready to relieve +the Romans from the trouble of intervention in Attica. But the treaty +for the partition of Egypt concluded between Asia and Macedonia threw +that important state thoroughly into the arms of Rome, and compelled +the cabinet of Alexandria to declare that it would only intermeddle in +the affairs of European Greece with consent of the Romans. The Greek +commercial cities, with Rhodes, Pergamus, and Byzantium at their head, +were in a position similar, but of still greater perplexity. They +would under other circumstances have beyond doubt done what they +could to close the eastern seas against the Romans; but the cruel and +destructive policy of conquest pursued by Philip had driven them to +an unequal struggle, in which for their self-preservation they were +obliged to use every effort to implicate the great Italian power. +In Greece proper also the Roman envoys, who were commissioned to +organize a second league against Philip there, found the way already +substantially paved for them by the enemy. Of the anti-Macedonian +party--the Spartans, Eleans, Athenians, and Aetolians--Philip might +perhaps have gained the latter, for the peace of 548 had made a deep, +and far from healed, breach in their friendly Alliance with Rome; but +apart from the old differences which subsisted between Aetolia and +Macedonia regarding the Thessalian towns withdrawn by Macedonia from +the Aetolian confederacy--Echinus, Larissa Cremaste, Pharsalus, and +Thebes in Phthiotis--the expulsion of the Aetolian garrisons from +Lysimachia and Cius had produced fresh exasperation against Philip +in the minds of the Aetolians. If they delayed to join the league +against him, the chief reason doubtless was the ill-feeling that +continued to prevail between them and the Romans. + +It was a circumstance still more ominous, that even among the Greek +states firmly attached to the interests of Macedonia--the Epirots, +Acarnanians, Boeotians, and Achaeans--the Acarnanians and Boeotians +alone stood steadfastly by Philip. With the Epirots the Roman envoys +negotiated not without success; Amynander, king of the Athamanes, in +particular closely attached himself to Rome. Even among the Achaeans, +Philip had offended many by the murder of Aratus; while on the other +hand he had thereby paved the way for a more free development of the +confederacy. Under the leadership of Philopoemen (502-571, for the +first time -strategus- in 546) it had reorganized its military system, +recovered confidence in itself by successful conflicts with Sparta, +and no longer blindly followed, as in the time of Aratus, the policy +of Macedonia. The Achaean league, which had to expect neither profit +nor immediate injury from the thirst of Philip for aggrandizement, +alone in all Hellas looked at this war from an impartial and national- +Hellenic point of view. It perceived--what there was no difficulty in +perceiving--that the Hellenic nation was thereby surrendering itself +to the Romans even before these wished or desired its surrender, and +attempted accordingly to mediate between Philip and the Rhodians; +but it was too late. The national patriotism, which had formerly +terminated the federal war and had mainly contributed to bring about +the first war between Macedonia and Rome, was extinguished the Achaean +mediation remained fruitless, and in vain Philip visited the cities +and islands to rekindle the zeal of the nation--its apathy was the +Nemesis for Cius and Abydus. The Achaeans, as they could effect +no change and were not disposed to render help to either party, +remained neutral. + +Landing of the Romans in Macedonia + +In the autumn of 554 the consul, Publius Sulpicius Galba, landed +with his two legions and 1000 Numidian cavalry accompanied even by +elephants derived from the spoils of Carthage, at Apollonia; on +receiving accounts of which the king returned in haste from the +Hellespont to Thessaly. But, owing partly to the far-advanced season, +partly to the sickness of the Roman general, nothing was undertaken +by land that year except a reconnaissance in force, in the course of +which the townships in the vicinity, and in particular the Macedonian +colony Antipatria, were occupied by the Romans. For the next year a +joint attack on Macedonia was concerted with the northern barbarians, +especially with Pleuratus, the then ruler of Scodra, and Bato, prince +of the Dardani, who of course were eager to profit by the favourable +opportunity. + +More importance attached to the enterprises of the Roman fleet, which +numbered 100 decked and 80 light vessels. While the rest of the ships +took their station for the winter at Corcyra, a division under Gaius +Claudius Cento proceeded to the Piraeeus to render assistance to the +hard-pressed Athenians. But, as Cento found the Attic territory +already sufficiently protected against the raids of the Corinthian +garrison and the Macedonian corsairs, he sailed on and appeared +suddenly before Chalcis in Euboea, the chief stronghold of Philip in +Greece, where his magazines, stores of arms, and prisoners were kept, +and where the commandant Sopater was far from expecting a Roman +attack. The undefended walls were scaled, and the garrison was put +to death; the prisoners were liberated and the stores were burnt; +unfortunately, there was a want of troops to hold the important +position. On receiving news of this invasion, Philip immediately in +vehement indignation started from Demetrias in Thessaly for Chalcis, +and when he found no trace of the enemy there save the scene of ruin, +he went on to Athens to retaliate. But his attempt to surprise the +city was a failure, and even the assault was in vain, greatly as +the king exposed his life; the approach of Gaius Claudius from the +Piraeeus, and of Attalus from Aegina, compelled him to depart. +Philip still tarried for some time in Greece; but in a political and +in a military point of view his successes were equally insignificant. +In vain he tried to induce the Achaeans to take up arms in his behalf; +and equally fruitless were his attacks on Eleusis and the Piraeeus, +as well as a second attempt on Athens itself. Nothing remained for +him but to gratify his natural exasperation in an unworthy manner +by laying waste the country and destroying the trees of Academus, +and then to return to the north. + +Attempt of the Romans to Invade Macedonia + +Thus the winter passed away. With the spring of 555 the proconsul +Publius Sulpicius broke up from his winter camp, determined to conduct +his legions from Apollonia by the shortest route into Macedonia +proper. This principal attack from the west was to be supported by +three subordinate attacks; on the north by an invasion of the Dardani +and Illyrians; on the east by an attack on the part of the combined +fleet of the Romans and allies, which assembled at Aegina; while +lastly the Athamanes, and the Aetolians also, if the attempt to induce +them to share in the struggle should prove successful, were to advance +from the south. After Galba had crossed the mountains pierced by the +Apsus (now the Beratind), and had marched through the fertile plain of +Dassaretia, he reached the mountain range which separates Illyria from +Macedonia, and crossing it, entered the proper Macedonian territory. +Philip had marched to meet him; but in the extensive and thinly- +peopled regions of Macedonia the antagonists for a time sought each +other in vain; at length they met in the province of Lyncestis, a +fertile but marshy plain not far from the north-western frontier, +and encamped not 1000 paces apart. Philip's army, after he had been +joined by the corps detached to occupy the northern passes, numbered +about 20,000 infantry and 2000 cavalry; the Roman army was nearly +as strong. The Macedonians however had the great advantage, that, +fighting in their native land and well acquainted with its highways +and byways, they had little trouble in procuring supplies of +provisions, while they had encamped so close to the Romans that +the latter could not venture to disperse for any extensive foraging. +The consul repeatedly offered battle, but the king persisted in +declining it; and the combats between the light troops, although +the Romans gained some advantages in them, produced no material +alteration. Galba was obliged to break up his camp and to pitch +another eight miles off at Octolophus, where he conceived that he +could more easily procure supplies. But here too the divisions sent +out were destroyed by the light troops and cavalry of the Macedonians; +the legions were obliged to come to their help, whereupon the +Macedonian vanguard, which had advanced too far, were driven back to +their camp with heavy loss; the king himself lost his horse in the +action, and only saved his life through the magnanimous self-devotion +of one of his troopers. From this perilous position the Romans were +liberated through the better success of the subordinate attacks which +Galba had directed the allies to make, or rather through the weakness +of the Macedonian forces. Although Philip had instituted levies +as large as possible in his own dominions, and had enlisted Roman +deserters and other mercenaries, he had not been able to bring into +the field (over and above the garrisons in Asia Minor and Thrace) +more than the army, with which in person he confronted the consul; +and besides, in order to form even this, he had been obliged to leave +the northern passes in the Pelagonian territory undefended. For the +protection of the east coast he relied partly on the orders which +he had given for the laying waste of the islands of Sciathus and +Peparethus, which might have furnished a station to the enemy's fleet, +partly on the garrisoning of Thasos and the coast and on the fleet +organized at Demetrias under Heraclides. For the south frontier +be had been obliged to reckon solely upon the more than doubtful +neutrality of the Aetolians. These now suddenly joined the league +against Macedonia, and immediately in conjunction with the Athamanes +penetrated into Thessaly, while simultaneously the Dardani and +Illyrians overran the northern provinces, and the Roman fleet +under Lucius Apustius, departing from Corcyra, appeared in the +eastern waters, where the ships of Attalus, the Rhodians, and +the Istrians joined it. + +Philip, on learning this, voluntarily abandoned his position and +retreated in an easterly direction: whether he did so in order to +repel the probably unexpected invasion of the Aetolians, or to draw +the Roman army after him with a view to its destruction, or to take +either of these courses according to circumstances, cannot well be +determined. He managed his retreat so dexterously that Galba, who +adopted the rash resolution of following him, lost his track, and +Philip was enabled to reach by a flank movement, and to occupy, the +narrow pass which separates the provinces of Lyncestis and Eordaea, +with the view of awaiting the Romans and giving them a warm reception +there. A battle took place on the spot which he had selected; but the +long Macedonian spears proved unserviceable on the wooded and uneven +ground. The Macedonians were partly turned, partly broken, and lost +many men. + +Return of the Romans + +But, although Philip's army was after this unfortunate action no +longer able to prevent the advance of the Romans, the latter were +themselves afraid to encounter further unknown dangers in an +impassable and hostile country; and returned to Apollonia, after they +had laid waste the fertile provinces of Upper Macedonia--Eordaea, +Elymaea, and Orestis. Celetrum, the most considerable town of Orestis +(now Kastoria, on a peninsula in the lake of the same name), had +surrendered to them: it was the only Macedonian town that opened its +gates to the Romans. In the Illyrian land Pelium, the city of the +Dassaretae, on the upper confluents of the Apsus, was taken by +storm and strongly garrisoned to serve as a future basis for a +similar expedition. + +Philip did not disturb the Roman main army in its retreat, but turned +by forced marches against the Aetolians and Athamanians who, in the +belief that the legions were occupying the attention of the king, were +fearlessly and recklessly plundering the rich vale of the Peneius, +defeated them completely, and compelled such as did not fall to make +their escape singly through the well-known mountain paths. The +effective strength of the confederacy was not a little diminished by +this defeat, and not less by the numerous enlistments made in Aetolia +on Egyptian account. The Dardani were chased back over the mountains +by Athena-goras, the leader of Philip's light troops, without +difficulty and with severe loss. The Roman fleet also did not +accomplish much; it expelled the Macedonian garrison from Andros, +punished Euboea and Sciathus, and then made attempts on the Chalcidian +peninsula, which were, however, vigorously repulsed by the Macedonian +garrison at Mende. The rest of the summer was spent in the capture +of Oreus in Euboea, which was long delayed by the resolute defence of +the Macedonian garrison. The weak Macedonian fleet under Heraclides +remained inactive at Heraclea, and did not venture to dispute the +possession of the sea with the enemy. The latter went early to +winter quarters, the Romans proceeding to the Piraeeus and Corcyra, +the Rhodians and Pergamenes going home. + +Philip might on the whole congratulate himself upon the results of +this campaign. The Roman troops, after an extremely troublesome +campaign, stood in autumn precisely on the spot whence they had +started in spring; and, but for the well-timed interposition of the +Aetolians and the unexpected success of the battle at the pass of +Eordaea, perhaps not a man of their entire force would have again seen +the Roman territory. The fourfold offensive had everywhere failed in +its object, and not only did Philip in autumn see his whole dominions +cleared of the enemy, but he was able to make an attempt--which, +however, miscarried--to wrest from the Aetolians the strong town of +Thaumaci, situated on the Aetolo-Thessalian frontier and commanding +the plain of the Peneius. If Antiochus, for whose coming Philip +vainly supplicated the gods, should unite with him in the next +campaign, he might anticipate great successes. For a moment it +seemed as if Antiochus was disposed to do so; his army appeared in +Asia Minor, and occupied some townships of king Attalus, who requested +military protection from the Romans. The latter, however, were not +anxious to urge the great-king at this time to a breach: they sent +envoys, who in fact obtained an evacuation of the dominions of +Attalus. From that quarter Philip had nothing to hope for. + +Philip Encamps on the Aous +Flaminius +Philip Driven Back to Tempe +Greece in the Power of the Romans + +But the fortunate issue of the last campaign had so raised the courage +or the arrogance of Philip, that, after having assured himself afresh +of the neutrality of the Achaeans and the fidelity of the Macedonians +by the sacri fice of some strong places and of the detested admiral +Heraclides, he next spring (556) assumed the offensive and advanced +into the territory of the Atintanes, with a view to form a well- +entrenched camp in the narrow pass, where the Aous (Viosa) winds +its way between the mountains Aeropus and Asnaus. Opposite to him +encamped the Roman army reinforced by new arrivals of troops, and +commanded first by the consul of the previous year, Publius Villius, +and then from the summer of 556 by that year's consul, Titus Quinctius +Flamininus. Flamininus, a talented man just thirty years of age, +belonged to the younger generation who began to lay aside the +patriotism as well as the habits of their forefathers and, though not +unmindful of their fatherland, were still more mindful of themselves +and of Hellenism. A skilful officer and a better diplomatist, he was +in many respects admirably adapted for the management of the troubled +affairs of Greece. Yet it would perhaps have been better both for +Rome and for Greece, if the choice had fallen on one less full of +Hellenic sympathies, and if the general despatched thither had been +a man, who would neither have been bribed by delicate flattery nor +stung by pungent sarcasm; who would not amidst literary and +artistic reminiscences have overlooked the pitiful condition of the +constitutions of the Hellenic states; and who, while treating Hellas +according to its deserts, would have spared the Romans the trouble of +striving after unattainable ideals. + +The new commander-in-chief immediately had a conference with the king, +while the two armies lay face to face inactive. Philip made proposals +of peace; he offered to restore all his own conquests, and to submit +to an equitable arbitration regarding the damage inflicted on the +Greek cities; but the negotiations broke down, when he was asked to +give up ancient possessions of Macedonia and particularly Thessaly. +For forty days the two armies lay in the narrow pass of the Aous; +Philip would not retire, and Flamininus could not make up his mind +whether he should order an assault, or leave the king alone and +reattempt the expedition of the previous year. At length the Roman +general was helped out of his perplexity by the treachery of some +men of rank among the Epirots--who were otherwise well disposed to +Macedonia--and especially of Charops. They conducted a Roman corps of +4000 infantry and 300 cavalry by mountain paths to the heights above +the Macedonian camp; and, when the consul attacked the enemy's army +in front, the advance of that Roman division, unexpectedly descending +from the mountains commanding the position, decided the battle. +Philip lost his camp and entrenchments and nearly 2000 men, and +hastily retreated to the pass of Tempe, the gate of Macedonia proper. +He gave up everything which he had held except the fortresses; the +Thessalian towns, which he could not defend, he himself destroyed; +Pherae alone closed its gates against him and thereby escaped +destruction. The Epirots, induced partly by these successes of the +Roman arms, partly by the judicious moderation of Flamininus, were the +first to secede from the Macedonian alliance. On the first accounts +of the Roman victory the Athamanes and Aetolians immediately invaded +Thessaly, and the Romans soon followed; the open country was easily +overrun, but the strong towns, which were friendly to Macedonia and +received support from Philip, fell only after a brave resistance or +withstood even the superior foe--especially Atrax on the left bank +of the Peneius, where the phalanx stood in the breach as a substitute +for the wall. Except these Thessalian fortresses and the territory +of the faithful Acarnanians, all northern Greece was thus in the hands +of the coalition. + +The Achaeans Enter into Alliance with Rome + +The south, on the other hand, was still in the main retained under +the power of Macedonia by the fortresses of Chalcis and Corinth, which +maintained communication with each other through the territory of the +Boeotians who were friendly to the Macedonians, and by the Achaean +neutrality; and as it was too late to advance into Macedonia this +year, Flamininus resolved to direct his land army and fleet in the +first place against Corinth and the Achaeans. The fleet, which had +again been joined by the Rhodian and Pergamene ships, had hitherto +been employed in the capture and pillage of two of the smaller towns +in Euboea, Eretria and Carystus; both however, as well as Oreus, +were thereafter abandoned, and reoccupied by Philocles the Macedonian +commandant of Chalcis. The united fleet proceeded thence to +Cenchreae, the eastern port of Corinth, to threaten that strong +fortress. On the other side Flamininus advanced into Phocis and +occupied the country, in which Elatea alone sustained a somewhat +protracted siege: this district, and Anticyra in particular on the +Corinthian gulf, were chosen as winter quarters. The Achaeans, who +thus saw on the one hand the Roman legions approaching and on the +other the Roman fleet already on their own coast, abandoned their +morally honourable, but politically untenable, neutrality. After +the deputies from the towns most closely attached to Macedonia +--Dyme, Megalopolis, and Argos--had left the diet, it resolved to + join the coalition against Philip. Cycliades and other leaders of +the Macedonian party went into exile; the troops of the Achaeans +immediately united with the Roman fleet and hastened to invest Corinth +by land, which city--the stronghold of Philip against the Achaeans +--had been guaranteed to them on the part of Rome in return for +their joining the coalition. Not only, however, did the Macedonian +garrison, which was 1300 strong and consisted chiefly of Italian +deserters, defend with determination the almost impregnable city, +but Philocles also arrived from Chalcis with a division of 1500 men, +which not only relieved Corinth but also invaded the territory of +the Achaeans and, in concert with the citizens who were favourable +to Macedonia, wrested from them Argos. But the recompense of such +devotedness was, that the king delivered over the faithful Argives +to the reign of terror of Nabis of Sparta. Philip hoped, after the +accession of the Achaeans to the Roman coalition, to gain over Nabis +who had hitherto been the ally of the Romans; for his chief reason +for joining the Roman alliance had been that he was opposed to the +Achaeans and since 550 was even at open war with them. But the +affairs of Philip were in too desperate a condition for any one +to feel satisfaction in joining his side now. Nabis indeed accepted +Argos from Philip, but he betrayed the traitor and remained in +alliance with Flamininus, who, in his perplexity at being now +allied with two powers that were at war with each other, had in +the meantime arranged an armistice of four months between the +Spartans and Achaeans. + +Vain Attempts to Arrange a Peace + +Thus winter came on; and Philip once more availed himself of it to +obtain if possible an equitable peace. At a conference held at Nicaea +on the Maliac gulf the king appeared in person, and endeavoured to +come to an understanding with Flamininus. With haughty politeness he +repelled the forward insolence of the petty chiefs, and by marked +deference to the Romans, as the only antagonists on an equality with +him, he sought to obtain from them tolerable terms. Flamininus was +sufficiently refined to feel himself flattered by the urbanity of +the vanquished prince towards himself and his arrogance towards the +allies, whom the Roman as well as the king had learned to despise; +but his powers were not ample enough to meet the king's wishes. He +granted him a two months' armistice in return for the evacuation of +Phocis and Locris, and referred him, as to the main matter, to his +government. The Roman senate had long been at one in the opinion that +Macedonia must give up all her possessions abroad; accordingly, when +the ambassadors of Philip appeared in Rome, they were simply asked +whether they had full powers to renounce all Greece and in particular +Corinth, Chalcis, and Demetrias, and when they said that they had not, +the negotiations were immediately broken off, and it was resolved +that the war should be prosecuted with vigour. With the help of the +tribunes of the people, the senate succeeded in preventing a change +in the chief command--which had often proved so injurious--and in +prolonging the command of Flamininus; he obtained considerable +reinforcements, and the two former commanders-in-chief, Publius Galba +and Publius Villius, were instructed to place themselves at his +disposal. Philip resolved once more to risk a pitched battle. +To secure Greece, where all the states except the Acarnanians and +Boeotians were now in arms against him, the garrison of Corinth was +augmented to 6000 men, while he himself, straining the last energies +of exhausted Macedonia and enrolling children and old men in the ranks +of the phalanx, brought into the field an army of about 26,000 men, +of whom 16,000 were Macedonian -phalangitae-. + +Philip Proceed to Thessaly +Battle of Cynoscephalae + +Thus the fourth campaign, that of 557, began. Flamininus despatched +a part of the fleet against the Acarnanians, who were besieged in +Leucas; in Greece proper he became by stratagem master of Thebes, +the capital of Boeotia, in consequence of which the Boeotians were +compelled to join at least nominally the alliance against Macedonia. +Content with having thus interrupted the communication between Corinth +and Chalcis, he proceeded to the north, where alone a decisive blow +could be struck. The great difficulties of provisioning the army in +a hostile and for the most part desolate country, which had often +hampered its operations, were now to be obviated by the fleet +accompanying the army along the coast and carrying after it supplies +sent from Africa, Sicily, and Sardinia. The decisive blow came, +however, earlier than Flamininus had hoped. Philip, impatient and +confident as he was, could not endure to await the enemy on the +Macedonian frontier: after assembling his army at Dium, he advanced +through the pass of Tempe into Thessaly, and encountered the army of +the enemy advancing to meet him in the district of Scotussa. + +The Macedonian and Roman armies--the latter of which had been +reinforced by contingents of the Apolloniates and the Athamanes, +by the Cretans sent by Nabis, and especially by a strong band of +Aetolians--contained nearly equal numbers of combatants, each about +26,000 men; the Romans, however, had the superiority in cavalry. +In front of Scotussa, on the plateau of the Karadagh, during a gloomy +day of rain, the Roman vanguard unexpectedly encountered that of the +enemy, which occupied a high and steep hill named Cynoscephalae, that +lay between the two camps. Driven back into the plain, the Romans +were reinforced from the camp by the light troops and the excellent +corps of Aetolian cavalry, and now in turn forced the Macedonian +vanguard back upon and over the height. But here the Macedonians +again found support in their whole cavalry and the larger portion +of their light infantry; the Romans, who had ventured forward +imprudently, were pursued with great loss almost to their camp, and +would have wholly taken to flight, had not the Aetolian horsemen +prolonged the combat in the plain until Flamininus brought up his +rapidly-arranged legions. The king yielded to the impetuous cry of +his victorious troops demanding the continuance of the conflict, and +hastily drew up his heavy-armed soldiers for the battle, which neither +general nor soldiers had expected on that day. It was important to +occupy the hill, which for the moment was quite denuded of troops. +The right wing of the phalanx, led by the king in person, arrived +early enough to form without trouble in battle order on the height; +the left had not yet come up, when the light troops of the +Macedonians, put to flight by the legions, rushed up the hill. Philip +quickly pushed the crowd of fugitives past the phalanx into the middle +division, and, without waiting till Nicanor had arrived on the left +wing with the other half of the phalanx which followed more slowly, +he ordered the right phalanx to couch their spears and to charge +down the hill on the legions, and the rearranged light infantry +simultaneously to turn them and fall upon them in flank. The attack +of the phalanx, irresistible on so favourable ground, shattered the +Roman infantry, and the left wing of the Romans was completely beaten. +Nicanor on the other wing, when he saw the king give the attack, +ordered the other half of the phalanx to advance in all haste; by this +movement it was thrown into confusion, and while the first ranks were +already rapidly following the victorious right wing down the hill, and +were still more thrown into disorder by the inequality of the ground, +the last files were just gaining the height. The right wing of the +Romans under these circumstances soon overcame the enemy's left; the +elephants alone, stationed upon this wing, annihilated the broken +Macedonian ranks. While a fearful slaughter was taking place at this +point, a resolute Roman officer collected twenty companies, and with +these threw himself on the victorious Macedonian wing, which had +advanced so far in pursuit of the Roman left that the Roman right +came to be in its rear. Against an attack from behind the phalanx +was defenceless, and this movement ended the battle. From the +complete breaking up of the two phalanxes we may well believe that +the Macedonian loss amounted to 13,000, partly prisoners, partly +fallen--but chiefly the latter, because the Roman soldiers were not +acquainted with the Macedonian sign of surrender, the raising of the + -sarissae-. The loss of the victors was slight. Philip escaped to +Larissa, and, after burning all his papers that nobody might be +compromised, evacuated Thessaly and returned home. + +Simultaneously with this great defeat, the Macedonians suffered other +discomfitures at all the points which they still occupied; in Caria +the Rhodian mercenaries defeated the Macedonian corps stationed there +and compelled it to shut itself up in Stratonicea; the Corinthian +garrison was defeated by Nicostratus and his Achaeans with severe +loss, and Leucas in Acarnania was taken by assault after a heroic +resistance. Philip was completely vanquished; his last allies, the +Acarnanians, yielded on the news of the battle of Cynoscephalae. + +Preliminaries of Peace + +It was completely in the power of the Romans to dictate peace; they +used their power without abusing it. The empire of Alexander might be +annihilated; at a conference of the allies this desire was expressly +put forward by the Aetolians. But what else would this mean, than to +demolish the rampart protecting Hellenic culture from the Thracians +and Celts? Already during the war just ended the flourishing +Lysimachia on the Thracian Chersonese had been totally destroyed by +the Thracians--a serious warning for the future. Flamininus, who had +clearly perceived the bitter animosities subsisting among the Greek +states, could never consent that the great Roman power should be the +executioner for the grudges of the Aetolian confederacy, even if his +Hellenic sympathies had not been as much won by the polished and +chivalrous king as his Roman national feeling was offended by the +boastings of the Aetolians, the "victors of Cynoscephalae," as they +called themselves. He replied to the Aetolians that it was not the +custom of Rome to annihilate the vanquished, and that, besides, they +were their own masters and were at liberty to put an end to Macedonia, +if they could. The king was treated with all possible deference, and, +on his declaring himself ready now to entertain the demands formerly +made, an armistice for a considerable term was agreed to by Flamininus +in return for the payment of a sum of money and the furnishing of +hostages, among whom was the king's son Demetrius,--an armistice which +Philip greatly needed in order to expel the Dardani out of Macedonia. + +Peace with Macedonia + +The final regulation of the complicated affairs of Greece was +entrusted by the senate to a commission of ten persons, the head and +soul of which was Flamininus. Philip obtained from it terms similar +to those laid down for Carthage. He lost all his foreign possessions +in Asia Minor, Thrace, Greece, and in the islands of the Aegean Sea; +while he retained Macedonia proper undiminished, with the exception of +some unimportant tracts on the frontier and the province of Orestis, +which was declared free--a stipulation which Philip felt very keenly, +but which the Romans could not avoid prescribing, for with his +character it was impossible to leave him free to dispose of subjects +who had once revolted from their allegiance. Macedonia was further +bound not to conclude any foreign alliances without the previous +knowledge of Rome, and not to send garrisons abroad; she was bound, +moreover, not to make war out of Macedonia against civilized states +or against any allies of Rome at all; and she was not to maintain +any army exceeding 5000 men, any elephants, or more than five decked +ships--the rest were to be given up to the Romans. Lastly, Philip +entered into symmachy with the Romans, which obliged him to send a +contingent when requested; indeed, Macedonian troops immediately +afterwards fought side by side with the legions. Moreover, he paid +a contribution of 1000 talents (244,000 pounds). + +Greece Free + +After Macedonia had thus been reduced to complete political nullity +and was left in possession of only as much power as was needful to +guard the frontier of Hellas against the barbarians, steps were taken +to dispose of the possessions ceded by the king. The Romans, who just +at that time were learning by experience in Spain that transmarine +provinces were a very dubious gain, and who had by no means begun the +war with a view to the acquisition of territory, took none of the +spoil for themselves, and thus compelled their allies also to +moderation. They resolved to declare all the states of Greece, +which had previously been under Phillip free: and Flamininus was +commissioned to read the decree to that effect to the Greeks assembled +at the Isthmian games (558). Thoughtful men doubtless might ask +whether freedom was a blessing capable of being thus bestowed, and +what was the value of freedom to a nation apart from union and unity; +but the rejoicing was great and sincere, as the intention of the +senate was sincere in conferring the freedom.(2) + +Scodra +The Achaean League Enlarged +The Aetolians + +The only exceptions to this general rule were, the Illyrian provinces +eastward of Epidamnus, which fell to Pleuratus the ruler of Scodra, +and rendered that state of robbers and pirates, which a century before +had been humbled by the Romans,(3) once more one of the most powerful +of the petty principalities in those regions; some townships in +western Thessaly, which Amynander had occupied and was allowed to +retain; and the three islands of Paros, Scyros, and Imbros, which were +presented to Athens in return for her many hardships and her still +more numerous addresses of thanks and courtesies of all sorts. The +Rhodians, of course, retained their Carian possessions, and the +Pergamenes retained Aegina. The remaining allies were only indirectly +rewarded by the accession of the newly-liberated cities to the several +confederacies. The Achaeans were the best treated, although they were +the latest in joining the coalition against Philip; apparently for the +honourable reason, that this federation was the best organized and +most respectable of all the Greek states. All the possessions of +Philip in the Peloponnesus and on the Isthmus, and consequently +Corinth in particular, were incorporated with their league. With the +Aetolians on the other hand the Romans used little ceremony; they were +allowed to receive the towns of Phocis and Locris into their symmachy, +but their attempts to extend it also to Acarnania and Thessaly were in +part decidedly rejected, in part postponed, and the Thessalian cities +were organized into four small independent confederacies. The Rhodian +city-league reaped the benefit of the liberation of Thasos, Lemnos, +and the towns of Thrace and Asia Minor. + +War against Nabis of Sparta + +The regulation of the affairs of the Greek states, as respected both +their mutual relations and their internal condition, was attended with +difficulty. The most urgent matter was the war which had been carried +on between the Spartans and Achaeans since 550, in which the duty of +mediating necessarily fell to the Romans. But after various attempts +to induce Nabis to yield, and particularly to give up the city of +Argos belonging to the Achaean league, which Philip had surrendered to +him, no course at last was left to Flamininus but to have war declared +against the obstinate petty robber-chieftain, who reckoned on the +well-known grudge of the Aetolians against the Romans and on the +advance of Antiochus into Europe, and pertinaciously refused to +restore Argos. War was declared, accordingly, by all the Hellenes at +a great diet in Corinth, and Flamininus advanced into the Peloponnesus +accompanied by the fleet and the Romano-allied army, which included a +contingent sent by Philip and a division of Lacedaemonian emigrants +under Agesipolis, the legitimate king of Sparta (559). In order to +crush his antagonist immediately by an overwhelming superiority of +force, no less than 50,000 men were brought into the field, and, +the other towns being disregarded, the capital itself was at once +invested; but the desired result was not attained. Nabis had sent +into the field a considerable army amounting to 15,000 men, of whom +5000 were mercenaries, and he had confirmed his rule afresh by a +complete reign of terror--by the execution -en masse- of the officers +and inhabitants of the country whom he suspected. Even when he +himself after the first successes of the Roman army and fleet resolved +to yield and to accept the comparatively favourable terms of peace +proposed by Flamininus, "the people," that is to say the gang of +robbers whom Nabis had domiciled in Sparta, not without reason +apprehensive of a reckoning after the victory, and deceived by an +accompaniment of lies as to the nature of the terms of peace and as to +the advance of the Aetolians and Asiatics, rejected the peace offered +by the Roman general, so that the struggle began anew. A battle took +place in front of the walls and an assault was made upon them; they +were already scaled by the Romans, when the setting on fire of the +captured streets compelled the assailants to retire. + +Settlement of Spartan Affairs + +At last the obstinate resistance came to an end. Sparta retained its +independence and was neither compelled to receive back the emigrants +nor to join the Achaean league; even the existing monarchical +constitution, and Nabis himself, were left intact. On the other hand +Nabis had to cede his foreign possessions, Argos, Messene, the Cretan +cities, and the whole coast besides; to bind himself neither to +conclude foreign alliances, nor to wage war, nor to keep any other +vessels than two open boats; and lastly to disgorge all his plunder, +to give to the Romans hostages, and to pay to them a war-contribution. +The towns on the Laconian coast were given to the Spartan emigrants, +and this new community, who named themselves the "free Laconians" in +contrast to the monarchically governed Spartans, were directed to +enter the Achaean league. The emigrants did not receive back their +property, as the district assigned to them was regarded as a +compensation for it; it was stipulated, on the other hand, that +their wives and children should not be detained in Sparta against +their will. The Achaeans, although by this arrangement they gained +the accession of the free Laconians as well as Argos, were yet far +from content; they had expected that the dreaded and hated Nabis would +be superseded, that the emigrants would be brought back, and that +the Achaean symmachy would be extended to the whole Peloponnesus. +Unprejudiced persons, however, will not fail to see that Flamininus +managed these difficult affairs as fairly and justly as it was +possible to manage them where two political parties, both chargeable +with unfairness and injustice stood opposed to each other. With the +old and deep hostility subsisting between the Spartans and Achaeans, +the incorporation of Sparta into the Achaean league would have been +equivalent to subjecting Sparta to the Achaeans, a course no less +contrary to equity than to prudence. The restitution of the +emigrants, and the complete restoration of a government that had been +set aside for twenty years, would only have substituted one reign of +terror for another; the expedient adopted by Flamininus was the right +one, just because it failed to satisfy either of the extreme parties. +At length thorough provision appeared to be made that the Spartan +system of robbery by sea and land should cease, and that the +government there, such as it was, should prove troublesome only +to its own subjects. It is possible that Flamininus, who knew +Nabis and could not but be aware how desirable it was that he should +personally be superseded, omitted to take such a step from the mere +desire to have done with the matter and not to mar the clear +impression of his successes by complications that might be prolonged +beyond all calculation; it is possible, moreover, that he sought +to preserve Sparta as a counterpoise to the power of the Achaean +confederacy in the Peloponnesus. But the former objection relates to +a point of secondary importance; and as to the latter view, it is far +from probable that the Romans condescended to fear the Achaeans. + +Final Regulation of Greece + +Peace was thus established, externally at least, among the petty Greek +states. But the internal condition of the several communities also +furnished employment to the Roman arbiter. The Boeotians openly +displayed their Macedonian tendencies, even after the expulsion of the +Macedonians from Greece; after Flamininus had at their request allowed +their countrymen who were in the service of Philip to return home, +Brachyllas, the most decided partisan of Macedonia, was elected to the +presidency of the Boeotian confederacy, and Flamininus was otherwise +irritated in every way. He bore it with unparalleled patience; but +the Boeotians friendly to Rome, who knew what awaited them after the +departure of the Romans, determined to put Brachyllas to death, and +Flamininus, whose permission they deemed it necessary to ask, at least +did not forbid them. Brachyllas was accordingly killed; upon which +the Boeotians were not only content with prosecuting the murderers, +but lay in wait for the Roman soldiers passing singly or in small +parties through their territories, and killed about 500 of them. +This was too much to be endured; Flamininus imposed on them a fine +of a talent for every soldier; and when they did not pay it, he +collected the nearest troops and besieged Coronea (558). Now they +betook themselves to entreaty; Flamininus in reality desisted on the +intercession of the Achaeans and Athenians, exacting but a very +moderate fine from those who were guilty; and although the Macedonian +party remained continuously at the helm in the petty province, the +Romans met their puerile opposition simply with the forbearance of +superior power. In the rest of Greece Flamininus contented himself +with exerting his influence, so far as he could do so without +violence, over the internal affairs especially of the newly-freed +communities; with placing the council and the courts in the hands of +the more wealthy and bringing the anti-Macedonian party to the helm; +and with attaching as much as possible the civic commonwealths to the +Roman interest, by adding everything, which in each community should +have fallen by martial law to the Romans, to the common property of +the city concerned. The work was finished in the spring of 560; +Flamininus once more assembled the deputies of all the Greek +communities at Corinth, exhorted them to a rational and moderate use +of the freedom conferred on them, and requested as the only return for +the kindness of the Romans, that they would within thirty days send to +him the Italian captives who had been sold into Greece during the +Hannibalic war. Then he evacuated the last fortresses in which Roman +garrisons were still stationed, Demetrias, Chalcis along with the +smaller forts dependent upon it in Euboea, and Acrocorinthus--thus +practically giving the lie to the assertion of the Aetolians that +Rome had inherited from Philip the "fetters" of Greece--and departed +homeward with all the Roman troops and the liberated captives. + +Results + +It is only contemptible disingenuousness or weakly sentimentality, +which can fail to perceive that the Romans were entirely in earnest +with the liberation of Greece; and the reason why the plan so nobly +projected resulted in so sorry a structure, is to be sought only in +the complete moral and political disorganization of the Hellenic +nation. It was no small matter, that a mighty nation should have +suddenly with its powerful arm brought the land, which it had been +accustomed to regard as its primitive home and as the shrine of +its intellectual and higher interests, into the possession of +full freedom, and should have conferred on every community in it +deliverance from foreign taxation and foreign garrisons and the +unlimited right of self-government; it is mere paltriness that sees +in this nothing save political calculation. Political calculation +made the liberation of Greece a possibility for the Romans; it was +converted into a reality by the Hellenic sympathies that were at that +time indescribably powerful in Rome, and above all in Flamininus +himself. If the Romans are liable to any reproach, it is that all +of them, and in particular Flamininus who overcame the well-founded +scruples of the senate, were hindered by the magic charm of the +Hellenic name from perceiving in all its extent the wretched character +of the Greek states of that period, and so allowed yet further freedom +for the doings of communities which, owing to the impotent antipathies +that prevailed alike in their internal and their mutual relations, +knew neither how to act nor how to keep quiet. As things stood, it +was really necessary at once to put an end to such a freedom, equally +pitiful and pernicious, by means of a superior power permanently +present on the spot; the feeble policy of sentiment, with all its +apparent humanity, was far more cruel than the sternest occupation +would have been. In Boeotia for instance Rome had, if not to +instigate, at least to permit, a political murder, because the Romans +had resolved to withdraw their troops from Greece and, consequently, +could not prevent the Greeks friendly to Rome from seeking their +remedy in the usual manner of the country. But Rome herself also +suffered from the effects of this indecision. The war with Antiochus +would not have arisen but for the political blunder of liberating +Greece, and it would not have been dangerous but tor the military +blunder of withdrawing the garrisons from the principal fortresses on +the European frontier. History has a Nemesis for every sin--for an +impotent craving after freedom, as well as for an injudicious +generosity. + +Notes for Chapter VIII + +1. III. III. Acquisition of Territory in Illyria + +2. III. VI. Stagnation of the War in Italy + +3. There are still extant gold staters, with the head of Flamininus +and the inscription "-T. Quincti(us)-," struck in Greece under the +government of the liberator of the Hellenes. The use of the Latin +language is a significant compliment. + +4. III. III. Acquisition of Territory in Illyria + + + + +Chapter IX + +The War with Antiochus of Asia + +Antiochus the Great + +In the kingdom of Asia the diadem of the Seleucidae had been worn since +531 by king Antiochus the Third, the great-great-grandson of the founder +of the dynasty. He had, like Philip, begun to reign at nineteen years +of age, and had displayed sufficient energy and enterprise, especially +in his first campaigns in the east, to warrant his being without too +ludicrous impropriety addressed in courtly style as "the Great." He +had succeeded--more, however, through the negligence of his opponents +and of the Egyptian Philopator in particular, than through any ability +of his own--in restoring in some degree the integrity of the monarchy, +and in reuniting with his crown first the eastern satrapies of Media +and Parthyene, and then the separate state which Achaeus had founded +on this side of the Taurus in Asia Minor. A first attempt to wrest +from the Egyptians the coast of Syria, the loss of which he sorely +felt, had, in the year of the battle of the Trasimene lake, met with a +bloody repulse from Philopator at Raphia; and Antiochus had taken good +care not to resume the contest with Egypt, so long as a man--even +though he were but an indolent one--occupied the Egyptian throne. +But, after Philopator's death (549), the right moment for crushing +Egypt appeared to have arrived; with that view Antiochus entered into +concert with Philip, and had thrown himself upon Coele-Syria, while +Philip attacked the cities of Asia Minor. When the Romans interposed +in that quarter, it seemed for a moment as if Antiochus would make +common cause with Philip against them--the course suggested by the +position of affairs, as well as by the treaty of alliance. But, not +far-seeing enough to repel at once with all his energy any +interference whatever by the Romans in the affairs of the east, +Antiochus thought that his best course was to take advantage of the +subjugation of Philip by the Romans (which might easily be foreseen), +in order to secure the kingdom of Egypt, which he had previously been +willing to share with Philip, for himself alone. Notwithstanding the +close relations of Rome with the court of Alexandria and her royal +ward, the senate by no means intended to be in reality, what it was in +name, his "protector;" firmly resolved to give itself no concern +about Asiatic affairs except in case of extreme necessity, and to +limit the sphere of the Roman power by the Pillars of Hercules and the +Hellespont, it allowed the great-king to take his course. He himself +was not probably in earnest with the conquest of Egypt proper--which +was more easily talked of than achieved--but he contemplated the +subjugation of the foreign possessions of Egypt one after another, and +at once attacked those in Cilicia as well as in Syria and Palestine. +The great victory, which he gained in 556 over the Egyptian general +Scopas at Mount Panium near the sources of the Jordan, not only gave +him complete possession of that region as far as the frontier of Egypt +proper, but so alarmed the Egyptian guardians of the young king that, +to prevent Antiochus from invading Egypt, they submitted to a peace +and sealed it by the betrothal of their ward to Cleopatra the daughter +of Antiochus. When he had thus achieved his first object, he +proceeded in the following year, that of the battle of Cynoscephalae, +with a strong fleet of 100 decked and 100 open vessels to Asia Minor, +to take possession of the districts that formerly belonged to Egypt on +the south and west coasts of Asia Minor--probably the Egyptian +government had ceded these districts, which were -de facto- in the +hands of Philip, to Antiochus under the peace, and had renounced all +their foreign possessions in his favour--and to recover the Greeks of +Asia Minor generally for his empire. At the same time a strong Syrian +land-army assembled in Sardes. + +Difficulties with Rome + +This enterprise had an indirect bearing on the Romans who from the +first had laid it down as a condition for Philip that he should +withdraw his garrisons from Asia Minor and should leave to the +Rhodians and Pergamenes their territory and to the free cities their +former constitution unimpaired, and who had now to look on while +Antiochus took possession of them in Philip's place. Attalus and the +Rhodians found themselves now directly threatened by Antiochus with +precisely the same danger as had driven them a few years before into +the war with Philip; and they naturally sought to involve the Romans +in this war as well as in that which had just terminated. Already in +555-6 Attalus had requested from the Romans military aid against +Antiochus, who had occupied his territory while the troops of Attalus +were employed in the Roman war. The more energetic Rhodians even +declared to king Antiochus, when in the spring of 557 his fleet +appeared off the coast of Asia Minor, that they would regard its +passing beyond the Chelidonian islands (off the Lycian coast) as a +declaration of war; and, when Antiochus did not regard the threat, +they, emboldened by the accounts that had just arrived of the battle +at Cynoscephalae, had immediately begun the war and had actually +protected from the king the most important of the Carian cities, +Caunus, Halicarnassus, and Myndus, and the island of Samos. Most of +the half-free cities had submitted to Antiochus, but some of them, +more especially the important cities of Smyrna, Alexandria Troas, and +Lampsacus, had, on learning the discomfiture of Philip, likewise taken +courage to resist the Syrian; and their urgent entreaties were +combined with those of the Rhodians. + +It admits of no doubt, that Antiochus, so far as he was at all capable +of forming a resolution and adhering to it, had already made up his +mind not only to attach to his empire the Egyptian possessions in +Asia, but also to make conquests on his own behalf in Europe and, if +not to seek on that account a war with Rome, at any rate to risk it +The Romans had thus every reason to comply with that request of their +allies, and to interfere directly in Asia; but they showed little +inclination to do so. They not only delayed as long as the Macedonian +war lasted, and gave to Attalus nothing but the protection of +diplomatic intercession, which, we may add, proved in the first +instance effective; but even after the victory, while they doubtless +spoke as though the cities which had been in the hands of Ptolemy and +Philip ought not to be taken possession of by Antiochus, and while the +freedom of the Asiatic cities, Myrina, Abydus, Lampsacus,(1) and Cius, +figured in Roman documents, they took not the smallest step to give +effect to it, and allowed king Antiochus to employ the favourable +opportunity presented by the withdrawal of the Macedonian garrisons to +introduce his own. In fact, they even went so far as to submit to his +landing in Europe in the spring of 558 and invading the Thracian +Chersonese, where he occupied Sestus and Madytus and spent a +considerable time in the chastisement of the Thracian barbarians and +the restoration of the destroyed Lysimachia, which he had selected as +his chief place of arms and as the capital of the newly-instituted +satrapy of Thrace. Flamininus indeed, who was entrusted with the +conduct of these affairs, sent to the king at Lysimachia envoys, who +talked of the integrity of the Egyptian territory and of the freedom +of all the Hellenes; but nothing came out of it. The king talked in +turn of his undoubted legal title to the ancient kingdom of Lysimachus +conquered by his ancestor Seleucus, explained that he was employed not +in making territorial acquisitions but only in preserving the +integrity of his hereditary dominions, and declined the intervention +of the Romans in his disputes with the cities subject to him in Asia +Minor. With justice he could add that peace had already been +concluded with Egypt, and that the Romans were thus far deprived of +any formal pretext for interfering.(2) The sudden return of the king +to Asia occasioned by a false report of the death of the young king of +Egypt, and the projects which it suggested of a landing in Cyprus or +even at Alexandria, led to the breaking off of the conferences without +coming to any conclusion, still less producing any result. In the +following year, 559, Antiochus returned to Lysimachia with his fleet +and army reinforced, and employed himself in organizing the new +satrapy which he destined for his son Seleucus. Hannibal, who had +been obliged to flee from Carthage, came to him at Ephesus; and the +singularly honourable reception accorded to the exile was virtually a +declaration of war against Rome. Nevertheless Flamininus in the +spring of 560 withdrew all the Roman garrisons from Greece. This was +under the existing circumstances at least a mischievous error, if not +a criminal acting in opposition to his own better knowledge; for we +cannot dismiss the idea that Flamininus, in order to carry home with +him the undiminished glory of having wholly terminated the war and +liberated Hellas, contented himself with superficially covering up for +the moment the smouldering embers of revolt and war. The Roman +statesman might perhaps be right, when he pronounced any attempt to +bring Greece directly under the dominion of the Romans, and any +intervention of the Romans in Asiatic affairs, to be a political +blunder; but the opposition fermenting in Greece, the feeble arrogance +of the Asiatic king, the residence, at the Syrian head-quarters, of +the bitter enemy of the Romans who had already raised the west in arms +against Rome--all these were clear signs of the approach of a fresh +rising in arms on the part of the Hellenic east, which could not but +have for its aim at least to transfer Greece from the clientship of +Rome to that of the states opposed to Rome, and, if this object should +be attained, would immediately extend the circle of its operations. +It is plain that Rome could not allow this to take place. When +Flamininus, ignoring all these sure indications of war, withdrew the +garrisons from Greece, and yet at the same time made demands on the +king of Asia which he had no intention of employing his army to +support, he overdid his part in words as much as he fell short in +action, and forgot his duty as a general and as a citizen in the +indulgence of his personal vanity--a vanity, which wished to confer, +and imagined that it had conferred, peace on Rome and freedom +on the Greeks of both continents. + +Preparations of Antiochus for War with Rome + +Antiochus employed the unexpected respite in strengthening his +position at home and his relations with his neighbours before +beginning the war, on which for his part he was resolved, and became +all the more so, the more the enemy appeared to procrastinate. He now +(561) gave his daughter Cleopatra, previously betrothed, in marriage +to the young king of Egypt. That he at the same time promised to +restore the provinces wrested from his son-in-law, was afterwards +affirmed on the part of Egypt, but probably without warrant; at any +rate the land remained actually attached to the Syrian kingdom.(3) +He offered to restore to Eumenes, who had in 557 succeeded his father +Attalus on the throne of Pergamus, the towns taken from him, and to +give him also one of his daughters in marriage, if he would abandon +the Roman alliance. In like manner he bestowed a daughter on +Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia, and gained the Galatians by presents, +while he reduced by arms the Pisidians who were constantly in revolt, +and other small tribes. Extensive privileges were granted to the +Byzantines; respecting the cities in Asia Minor, the king declared +that he would permit the independence of the old free cities such as +Rhodes and Cyzicus, and would be content in the case of the others +with a mere formal recognition of his sovereignty; he even gave them +to understand that he was ready to submit to the arbitration of the +Rhodians. In European Greece he could safely count on the Aetolians, +and he hoped to induce Philip again to take up arms. In fact, a plan +of Hannibal obtained the royal approval, according to which he was to +receive from Antiochus a fleet of 100 sail and a land army of 10,000 +infantry and 1000 cavalry, and was to employ them in kindling first +a third Punic war in Carthage, and then a second Hannibalic war in +Italy; Tyrian emissaries proceeded to Carthage to pave the way for a +rising in arms there(4) Finally, good results were anticipated from +the Spanish insurrection, which, at the time when Hannibal left +Carthage, was at its height.(5) + +Aetolian Intrigues against Rome + +While the storm was thus gathering from far and wide against Rome, it +was on this, as on all occasions, the Hellenes implicated in the +enterprise, who were of the least moment, and yet took action of the +greatest importance and with the utmost impatience. The exasperated +and arrogant Aetolians began by degrees to persuade themselves that +Philip had been vanquished by them and not by the Romans, and could +not even wait till Antiochus should advance into Greece. Their policy +is characteristically expressed in the reply, which their -strategus- +gave soon afterwards to Flamininus, when he requested a copy of the +declaration of war against Rome: that he would deliver it to him in +person, when the Aetolian army should encamp on the Tiber. The +Aetolians acted as the agents of the Syrian king in Greece and +deceived both parties, by representing to the king that all the +Hellenes were waiting with open arms to receive him as their true +deliverer, and by telling those in Greece who were disposed to listen +to them that the landing of the king was nearer than it was in +reality. Thus they actually succeeded in inducing the simple +obstinacy of Nabis to break loose and to rekindle in Greece the flame +of war two years after Flamininus's departure, in the spring of 562; +but in doing so they missed their aim. Nabis attacked Gythium, one of +the towns of the free Laconians that by the last treaty had been +annexed to the Achaean league, and took it; but the experienced +-strategus- of the Achaeans, Philopoemen, defeated him at the +Barbosthenian mountains, and the tyrant brought back barely a fourth +part of his army to his capital, in which Philopoemen shut him up. As +such a commencement was no sufficient inducement for Antiochus to come +to Europe, the Aetolians resolved to possess themselves of Sparta, +Chalcis, and Demetrias, and by gaining these important towns to +prevail upon the king to embark. In the first place they thought to +become masters of Sparta, by arranging that the Aetolian Alexamenus +should march with 1000 men into the town under pretext of bringing a +contingent in terms of the alliance, and should embrace the +opportunity of making away with Nabis and of occupying the town. This +was done, and Nabis was killed at a review of the troops; but, when +the Aetolians dispersed to plunder the town, the Lacedaemonians found +time to rally and slew them to the last man. The city was then +induced by Philopoemen to join the Achaean league. After this +laudable project of the Aetolians had thus not only deservedly failed, +but had had precisely the opposite effect of uniting almost the whole +Peloponnesus in the hands of the other party, it fared little better +with them at Chalcis, for the Roman party there called in the citizens +of Eretria and Carystus in Euboea, who were favourable to Rome, to +render seasonable aid against the Aetolians and the Chalcidian exiles. +On the other hand the occupation of Demetrias was successful, for the +Magnetes to whom the city had been assigned were, not without reason, +apprehensive that it had been promised by the Romans to Philip as a +prize in return for his aid against Antiochus; several squadrons of +Aetolian horse moreover managed to steal into the town under the +pretext of forming an escort for Eurylochus, the recalled head of the +opposition to Rome. Thus the Magnetes passed over, partly of their +own accord, partly by compulsion, to the side of the Aetolians, and +the latter did not fail to make use of the fact at the court of the +Seleucid. + +Rupture between Antiochus and the Romans + +Antiochus took his resolution. A rupture with Rome, in spite of +endeavours to postpone it by the diplomatic palliative of embassies, +could no longer be avoided. As early as the spring of 561 Flamininus, +who continued to have the decisive voice in the senate as to eastern +affairs, had expressed the Roman ultimatum to the envoys of the king, +Menippus and Hegesianax; viz. that he should either evacuate Europe +and dispose of Asia at his pleasure, or retain Thrace and submit to +the Roman protectorate over Smyrna, Lampsacus, and Alexandria Troas. +These demands had been again discussed at Ephesus, the chief place of +arms and fixed quarters of the king in Asia Minor, in the spring of +562, between Antiochus and the envoys of the senate, Publius Sulpicius +and Publius Villius; and they had separated with the conviction on +both sides thata peaceful settlement was no longer possible. +Thenceforth war was resolved on in Rome. In that very summer of 562 +a Roman fleet of 30 sail, with 3000 soldiers on board, under Aulus +Atilius Serranus, appeared off Gythium, where their arrival +accelerated the conclusion of the treaty between the Achaeans +and Spartans; the eastern coasts of Sicily and Italy were strongly +garrisoned, so as to be secure against any attempts at a landing; a +land army was expected in Greece in the autumn. Since the spring of +562 Flamininus, by direction of the senate, had journeyed through +Greece to thwart the intrigues of the opposite party, and to +counteract as far as possible the evil effects of the ill-timed +evacuation of the country. The Aetolians had already gone so far as +formally to declare war in their diet against Rome. But Flamininus +succeeded In saving Chalcis for the Romans by throwing into it a +garrison of 500 Achaeans and 500 Pergamenes. He made an attempt also +to recover Demetrias; and the Magnetes wavered. Though some towns in +Asia Minor, which Antiochus had proposed to subdue before beginning +the great war, still held out, he could now no longer delay his +landing, unless he was willing to let the Romans recover all the +advantages which they had surrendered two years before by withdrawing +their garrisons from Greece. He collected the vessels and troops +which were at hand--he had but 40 decked vessels and 10,000 infantry, +along with 500 horse and 6 elephants--and started from the Thracian +Chersonese for Greece, where he landed in the autumn of 562 at +Pteleum on the Pagasaean gulf, and immediately occupied the adjoining +Demetrias. Nearly about the same time a Roman army of some 25,000 men +under the praetor Marcus Baebius landed at Apollonia. The war was +thus begun on both sides. + +Attitude of the Minor Powers +Carthage and Hannibal + +Everything depended on the extent to which that comprehensively- +planned coalition against Rome, of which Antiochus came forward as the +head, might be realized. As to the plan, first of all, of stirring +up enemies to the Romans in Carthage and Italy, it was the fate of +Hannibal at the court of Ephesus, as through his whole career, to have +projected his noble and high-spirited plans for the behoof of people +pedantic and mean. Nothing was done towards their execution, except +that some Carthaginian patriots were compromised; no choice was left +to the Carthaginians but to show unconditional submission to Rome. +The camarilla would have nothing to do with Hannibal--such a man was +too inconveniently great for court cabals; and, after having tried all +sorts of absurd expedients, such as accusing the general, with whose +name the Romans frightened their children, of concert with the Roman +envoys, they succeeded in persuading Antiochus the Great, who like all +insignificant monarchs plumed himself greatly on his independence and +was influenced by nothing so easily as by the fear of being ruled, +into the wise belief that he ought not to allow himself to be thrown +into the shade by so celebrated a man. Accordingly it was in solemn +council resolved that the Phoenician should be employed in future +only for subordinate enterprises and for giving advice--with the +reservation, of course, that the advice should never be followed. +Hannibal revenged himself on the rabble, by accepting every commission +and brilliantly executing all. + +States of Asia Minor + +In Asia Cappadocia adhered to the great-king; Prusias of Bithynia on +the other hand took, as always, the side of the stronger. King +Eumenes remained faithful to the old policy of his house, which was +now at length to yield to him its true fruit. He had not only +persistently refused |the offers of Antiochus, but had constantly +urged the Romans to a war, from which he expected the aggrandizement +of his kingdom. The Rhodians and Byzantines likewise joined their +old allies. Egypt too took the side of Rome and offered support in +supplies and men; which, however, the Romans did not accept. + +Macedonia + +In Europe the result mainly depended on the position which Philip of +Macedonia would take up. It would have been perhaps the right policy +for him, notwithstanding all the injuries or shortcomings of the past, +to unite with Antiochus. But Philip was ordinarily influenced not by +such considerations, but by his likings and dislikings; and his hatred +was naturally directed much more against the faithless ally, who had +left him to contend alone with the common enemy, had sought merely to +seize his own share in the spoil, and had become a burdensome +neighbour to him in Thrace, than against the conqueror, who had +treated him respectfully and honourably. Antiochus had, moreover, +given deep offence to the hot temper of Philip by the setting up of +absurd pretenders to the Macedonian crown, and by the ostentatious +burial of the Macedonian bones bleaching at Cynoscephalae. Philip +therefore placed his whole force with cordial zeal at the disposal +of the Romans. + +The Lesser Greek States + +The second power of Greece, the Achaean league, adhered no less +decidedly than the first to the alliance with Rome. Of the smaller +powers, the Thessalians and the Athenians held by Rome; among the +latter an Achaean garrison introduced by Flamininus into the citadel +brought the patriotic party, which was pretty strong, to reason. The +Epirots exerted themselves to keep on good terms, if possible, with +both parties. Thus, in addition to the Aetolians and the Magnetes who +were joined by a portion of the neighbouring Perrhaebians, Antiochus +was supported only by Amynander, the weak king of the Athamanes, who +allowed himself to be dazzled by foolish designs on the Macedonian +crown; by the Boeotians, among whom the party opposed to Rome was +still at the helm; and in the Peloponnesus by the Eleans and +Messenians, who were in the habit of taking part with the Aetolians +against the Achaeans. This was indeed a hopeful beginning; and the +title of commander-in-chief with absolute power, which the Aetolians +decreed to the great-king, seemed insult added to injury. There had +been, just as usual, deception on both sides. Instead of the +countless hordes of Asia, the king brought up a force scarcely half as +strong as an ordinary consular army; and instead of the open arms with +which all the Hellenes were to welcome their deliverer from the Roman +yoke, one or two bands of klephts and some dissolute civic communities +offered to the king brotherhood in arms. + +Antiochus in Greece + +For the moment, indeed, Antiochus had anticipated the Romans in Greece +proper. Chalcis was garrisoned by the Greek allies of the Romans, and +refused the first summons but the fortress surrendered when Antiochus +advanced with all his force; and a Roman division, which arrived too +late to occupy it, was annihilated by Antiochus at Deliurn. Euboea +was thus lost to the Romans. Antiochus still made even in winter +an attempt, in concert with the Aetolians and Athamanes, to gain +Thessaly; Thermopylae was occupied, Pherae and other towns were taken, +but Appius Claudius came up with 2000 men from Apollonia, relieved +Larisa, and took up his position there. Antiochus, tired of the +winter campaign, preferred to return to his pleasant quarters at +Chalcis, where the time was spent merrily, and the king even, in spite +of his fifty years and his warlike schemes, wedded a fair Chalcidian. +So the winter of 562-3 passed, without Antiochus doing much more than +sending letters hither and thither through Greece: he waged the war +--a Roman officer remarked--by means of pen and ink. + +Landing of the Romans + +In the beginning of spring 563 the Roman staff arrived at Apollonia. +The commander-in-chief was Manius Acilius Glabrio, a man of humble +origin, but an able general feared both by his soldiers and by the +enemy; the admiral was Gaius Livius; and among the military tribunes +were Marcus Porcius Cato, the conqueror of Spain, and Lucius Valerius +Flaccus, who after the old Roman wont did not disdain, although they +had been consuls, to re-enter the army as simple war-tribunes. They +brought with them reinforcements in ships and men, including Numidian +cavalry and Libyan elephants sent by Massinissa, and the permission +of the senate to accept auxiliary troops to the number of 5000 from +the extra-Italian allies, so that the whole number of the Roman forces +was raised to about 40,000 men. The king, who in the beginning of +spring had gone to the Aetolians and had thence made an aimless +expedition to Acarnania, on the news of Glabrio's landing returned to +his head-quarters to begin the campaign in earnest. But incom +prehensibly, through his own negligence and that of his lieutenants in +Asia, reinforcements had wholly failed to reach him, so that he had +nothing but the weak army--now further decimated by sickness and +desertion in its dissolute winter-quarters--with which he had landed +at Pteleum in the autumn of the previous year. The Aetolians too, who +had professed to send such enormous numbers into the field, now, when +their support was of moment, brought to their commander-in-chief no +more than 4000 men. The Roman troops had already begun operations in +Thessaly, where the vanguard in concert with the Macedonian army drove +the garrisons of Antiochus out of the Thessalian towns and occupied +the territory of the Athamanes. The consul with the main army +followed; the whole force of the Romans assembled at Larisa. + +Battle at Thermopylae +Greece Occupied by the Romans +Resistance of the Aetolians + +Instead of returning with all speed to Asia and evacuating the field +before an enemy in every respect superior, Antiochus resolved to +entrench himself at Thermopylae, which he had occupied, and there to +await the arrival of the great army from Asia. He himself took up a +position in the chief pass, and commanded the Aetolians to occupy the +mountain-path, by which Xerxes had formerly succeeded in turning the +Spartans. But only half of the Aetolian contingent was pleased to +comply with this order of the commander-in-chief; the other 2000 men +threw themselves into the neighbouring town of Heraclea, where they +took no other part in the battle than that of attempting during its +progress to surprise and plunder the Roman camp. Even the Aetolians +posted on the heights discharged their duty of watching with +remissness and reluctance; their post on the Callidromus allowed +itself to be surprised by Cato, and the Asiatic phalanx, which the +consul had meanwhile assailed in front, dispersed, when the Romans +hastening down the mountain fell upon its flank. As Antiochus had +made no provision for any case and had not thought of retreat, the +army was destroyed partly on the field of battle, partly during its +flight; with difficulty a small band reached Demetrias, and the king +himself escaped to Chalcis with 500 men. He embarked in haste for +Ephesus; Europe was lost to him all but his possessions in Thrace, and +even the fortresses could be no longer defended Chalcis surrendered to +the Romans, and Demetrias to Philip, who received permission--as a +compensation for the conquest of the town of Lamia in Achaia +Phthiotis, which he was on the point of accomplishing and had then +abandoned by orders of the consul--to make himself master of all the +communities that had gone over to Antiochus in Thessaly proper, and +even of the territories bordering on Aetolia, the districts of Dolopia +and Aperantia. All the Greeks that had pronounced in favour of +Antiochus hastened to make their peace; the Epirots humbly besought +pardon for their ambiguous conduct, the Boeotians surrendered at +discretion, the Eleans and Messenians, the latter after some struggle, +submitted to the Achaeans. The prediction of Hannibal to the king was +fulfilled, that no dependence at all could be placed upon the Greeks, +who would submit to any conqueror. Even the Aetolians, when their +corps shut up in Heraclea had been compelled after obstinate +resistance to capitulate, attempted to make their peace with the +sorely provoked Romans; but the stringent demands of the Roman consul, +and a consignment of money seasonably arriving from Antiochus, +emboldened them once more to break off the negotiations and to sustain +for two whole months a siege in Naupactus. The town was already +reduced to extremities, and its capture or capitulation could not have +been long delayed, when Flamininus, constantly striving to save every +Hellenic community from the worst consequences of its own folly and +from the severity of his ruder colleagues, interposed and arranged in +the first instance an armistice on tolerable terms. This terminated, +at least for the moment, armed resistance in Greece. + +Maritime War, and Preparations for Crossing to Asia +Polyxenidas and Pausistratus +Engagement off Aspendus +Battle of Myonnesus + +A more serious war was impending in Asia--a war which appeared of a +very hazardous character on account not so much of the enemy as of the +great distance and the insecurity of the communications with home, +while yet, owing to the short-sighted obstinacy of Antiochus, the +struggle could not well be terminated otherwise than by an attack on +the enemy in his own country. The first object was to secure the sea. +The Roman fleet, which during the campaign in Greece was charged with +the task of interrupting the communication between Greece and Asia +Minor, and which had been successful about the time of the battle at +Thermopylae in seizing a strong Asiatic transport fleet near Andros, +was thenceforth employed in making preparations for the crossing of +the Romans to Asia next year and first of all in driving the enemy's +fleet out of the Aegean Sea. It lay in the harbour of Cyssus on the +southern shore of the tongue of land that projects from Ionia towards +Chios; thither in search of it the Roman fleet proceeded, consisting +of 75 Roman, 24 Pergamene, and 6 Carthaginian, decked vessels under +the command of Gaius Livius. The Syrian admiral, Polyxenidas, a +Rhodian emigrant, had only 70 decked vessels to oppose to it; but, as +the Roman fleet still expected the ships of Rhodes, and as Polyxenidas +relied on the superior seaworthiness of his vessels, those of Tyre and +Sidon in particular, he immediately accepted battle. At the outset +the Asiatics succeeded in sinking one of the Carthaginian vessels; +but, when they came to grapple, Roman valour prevailed, and it was +owing solely to the swiftness of their rowing and sailing that the +enemy lost no more than 23 ships. During the pursuit the Roman fleet +was joined by 25 ships from Rhodes, and the superiority of the Romans +in those waters was now doubly assured. The enemy's fleet thenceforth +kept the shelter of the harbour of Ephesus, and, as it could not be +induced to risk a second battle, the fleet of the Romans and allies +broke up for the winter; the Roman ships of war proceeded to the +harbour of Cane in the neighbourhood of Pergamus. Both parties were +busy during the winter in preparing for the next campaign. The Romans +sought to gain over the Greeks of Asia Minor; Smyrna, which had +perseveringly resisted all the attempts of the king to get possession +of the city, received the Romans with open arms, and the Roman party +gained the ascendency in Samos, Chios, Erythrae, Clazomenae, Phocaea, +Cyme, and elsewhere. Antiochus was resolved, if possible, to prevent +the Romans from crossing to Asia, and with that view he made zealous +naval preparations--employing Polyxenidas to fit out and augment the +fleet stationed at Ephesus, and Hannibal to equip a new fleet in +Lycia, Syria, and Phoenicia; while he further collected in Asia Minor +a powerful land army from all regions of his extensive empire. Early +next year (564) the Roman fleet resumed its operations. Gaius Livius +left the Rhodian fleet--which had appeared in good time this year, +numbering 36 sail--to observe that of the enemy in the offing of +Ephesus, and went with the greater portion of the Roman and Pergamene +vessels to the Hellespont in accordance with his instructions, to +pave the way for the passage of the land army by the capture of the +fortresses there. Sestus was already occupied and Abydus reduced to +extremities, when the news of the defeat of the Rhodian fleet recalled +him. The Rhodian admiral Pausistratus, lulled into security by the +representations of his countryman that he wished to desert from +Antiochus, had allowed himself to be surprised in the harbour of +Samos; he himself fell, and all his vessels were destroyed except five +Rhodian and two Coan ships; Samos, Phocaea, and Cyme on hearing the +news went over to Seleucus, who held the chief command by land in +those provinces for his father. + +But when the Roman fleet arrived partly from Cane, partly from the +Hellespont, and was after some time joined by twenty new ships of the +Rhodians at Samos, Polyxenidas was once more compelled to shut himself +up in the harbour of Ephesus. As he declined the offered naval +battle, and as, owing to the small numbers of the Roman force, an +attack by land was not to be thought of, nothing remained for the +Roman fleet but to take up its position in like manner at Samos. A +division meanwhile proceeded to Patara on the Lycian coast, partly to +relieve the Rhodians from the very troublesome attacks that were +directed against them from that quarter, partly and chiefly to prevent +the hostile fleet, which Hannibal was expected to bring up, from +entering the Aegean Sea. When the squadron sent against Patara +achieved nothing, the new admiral Lucius Aemilius Regillus, who had +arrived with 20 war-vessels from Rome and had relieved Gaius Livius at +Samos, was so indignant that he proceeded thither with the whole +fleet; his officers with difficulty succeeded, while they were on +their voyage, in making him understand that the primary object was not +the conquest of Patara but the command of the Aegean Sea, and in +inducing him to return to Samos. On the mainland of Asia Minor +Seleucus had in the meanwhile begun the siege of Pergamus, while +Antiochus with his chief army ravaged the Pergamene territory and the +possessions of the Mytilenaeans on the mainland; they hoped to crush +the hated Attalids, before Roman aid appeared. The Roman fleet went +to Elaea and the port of Adramytium to help their ally; but, as the +admiral wanted troops, he accomplished nothing. Pergamus seemed lost; +but the laxity and negligence with which the siege was conducted +allowed Eumenes to throw into the city Achaean auxiliaries under +Diophanes, whose bold and successful sallies compelled the Gallic +mercenaries, whom Antiochus had entrusted with the siege, to raise it. + +In the southern waters too the projects of Antiochus were frustrated. +The fleet equipped and led by Hannibal, after having been long +detained by the constant westerly winds, attempted at length to reach +the Aegean; but at the mouth of the Eurymedon, off Aspendus in +Pamphylia, it encountered a Rhodian squadron under Eudamus; and in the +battle, which ensued between the two fleets, the excellence of the +Rhodian ships and naval officers carried the victory over Hannibal's +tactics and his numerical superiority. It was the first naval battle, +and the last battle against Rome, fought by the great Carthaginian. +The victorious Rhodian fleet then took its station at Patara, and +there prevented the intended junction of the two Asiatic fleets. In +the Aegean Sea the Romano-Rhodian fleet at Samos, after being weakened +by detaching the Pergamene ships to the Hellespont to support the land +army which had arrived there, was in its turn attacked by that of +Polyxenidas, who now numbered nine sail more than his opponents. On +December 23 of the uncorrected calendar, according to the corrected +calendar about the end of August, in 564, a battle took place at the +promontory of Myonnesus between Teos and Colophon; the Romans broke +through the line of the enemy, and totally surrounded the left wing, +so that they took or sank 42 ships. An inscription in Saturnian verse +over the temple of the Lares Permarini, which was built in the Campus +Martius in memory of this victory, for many centuries thereafter +proclaimed to the Romans how the fleet of the Asiatics had been +defeated before the eyes of king Antiochus and of all his land army, +and how the Romans thus "settled the mighty strife and subdued the +kings." Thenceforth the enemy's ships no longer ventured to show +themselves on the open sea, and made no further attempt to obstruct +the crossing of the Roman land army. + +Expedition to Asia + +The conqueror of Zama had been selected at Rome to conduct the war on +the Asiatic continent; he practically exercised the supreme command +for the nominal commander-in-chief, his brother Lucius Scipio, whose +intellect was insignificant, and who had no military capacity. The +reserve hitherto stationed in Lower Italy was destined for Greece, the +army of Glabrio for Asia: when it became known who was to command it, +5000 veterans from the Hannibalic war voluntarily enrolled, to fight +once more under their beloved leader. In the Roman July, but +according to the true time in March, the Scipios arrived at the army +to commence the Asiatic campaign; but they were disagreeably surprised +to find themselves instead involved, in the first instance, in an +endless struggle with the desperate Aetolians. The senate, finding +that Flamininus pushed his boundless consideration for the Hellenes +too far, had left the Aetolians to choose between paying an utterly +exorbitant war contribution and unconditional surrender, and thus had +driven them anew to arms; none could tell when this warfare among +mountains and strongholds would come to an end. Scipio got rid +of the inconvenient obstacle by concerting a six-months' armistice, +and then entered on his march to Asia. As the one fleet of the enemy +was only blockaded in the Aegean Sea, and the other, which was coming +up from the south, might daily arrive there in spite of the squadron +charged to intercept it, it seemed advisable to take the land route +through Macedonia and Thrace and to cross the Hellespont. In that +direction no real obstacles were to be anticipated; for Philip of +Macedonia might be entirely depended on, Prusias king of Bithynia was +in alliance with the Romans, and the Roman fleet could easily +establish itself in the straits. The long and weary march along the +coast of Macedonia and Thrace was accomplished without material loss; +Philip made provision on the one hand for supplying their wants, on +the other for their friendly reception by the Thracian barbarians. +They had lost so much time however, partly with the Aetolians, partly +on the march, that the army only reached the Thracian Chersonese about +the time of the battle of Myonnesus. But the marvellous good fortune +of Scipio now in Asia, as formerly in Spain and Africa, cleared his +path of all difficulties. + +Passage of the Hellespont by the Romans + +On the news of the battle at Myonnesus Antiochus so completely lost +his judgment, that in Europe he caused the strongly-garrisoned and +well-provisioned fortress of Lysimachia to be evacuated by the +garrison and by the inhabitants who were faithfully devoted to the +restorer of their city, and withal even forgot to withdraw in like +manner the garrisons or to destroy the rich magazines at Aenus and +Maronea; and on the Asiatic coast he opposed not the slightest +resistance to the landing of the Romans, but on the contrary, while +it was taking place, spent his time at Sardes in upbraiding destiny. +It is scarcely doubtful that, had he but provided for the defence of +Lysimachia down to the no longer distant close of the summer, and +moved forward his great army to the Hellespont, Scipio would have +been compelled to take up winter quarters on the European shore, +in a position far from being, in a military or political point +of view, secure. + +While the Romans, after disembarking on the Asiatic shore, paused for +some days to refresh themselves and to await their leader who was +detained behind by religious duties, ambassadors from the great-king +arrived in their camp to negotiate for peace. Antiochus offered half +the expenses of the war, and the cession of his European possessions +as well as of all the Greek cities in Asia Minor that had gone over to +Rome; but Scipio demanded the whole costs of the war and the surrender +of all Asia Minor. The former terms, he declared, might have been +accepted, had the army still been before Lysimachia, or even on the +European side of the Hellespont; but they did not suffice now, when +the steed felt the bit and knew its rider. The attempts of the great- +king to purchase peace from his antagonist after the Oriental manner +by sums of money--he offered the half of his year's revenues!--failed +as they deserved; the proud burgess, in return for the gratuitous +restoration of his son who had fallen a captive, rewarded the great- +king with the friendly advice to make peace on any terms. This was +not in reality necessary: had the king possessed the resolution to +prolong the war and to draw the enemy after him by retreating into the +interior, a favourable issue was still by no means impossible. But +Antiochus, irritated by the presumably intentional arrogance of his +antagonist, and too indolent for any persevering and consistent +warfare, hastened with the utmost eagerness to expose his unwieldy, +but unequal, and undisciplined mass of an army to the shock of the +Roman legions. + +Battle of Magnesia + +In the valley of the Hermus, near Magnesia at the foot of Mount +Sipylus not far from Smyrna, the Roman troops fell in with the enemy +late in the autumn of 564. The force of Antiochus numbered close on +80,000 men, of whom 12,000 were cavalry; the Romans--who had along +with them about 5000 Achaeans, Pergamenes, and Macedonian volunteers +--had not nearly half that number, but they were so sure of victory, +that they did not even wait for the recovery of their general who had +remained behind sick at Elaea; Gnaeus Domitius took the command in his +stead. Antiochus, in order to be able even to place his immense mass +of troops, formed two divisions. In the first were placed the mass of +the light troops, the peltasts, bowmen, slingers, the mounted archers +of Mysians, Dahae, and Elymaeans, the Arabs on their dromedaries, and +the scythe-chariots. In the second division the heavy cavalry (the +Cataphractae, a sort of cuirassiers) were stationed on the flanks; +next to these, in the intermediate division, the Gallic and +Cappadocian infantry; and in the very centre the phalanx armed after +the Macedonian fashion, 16,000 strong, the flower of the army, which, +however, had not room in the narrow space and had to be drawn up in +double files 32 deep. In the space between the two divisions were +placed 54 elephants, distributed between the bands of the phalanx and +of the heavy cavalry. The Romans stationed but a few squadrons on the +left wing, where the river gave protection; the mass of the cavalry +and all the light armed were placed on the right, which was led by +Eumenes; the legions stood in the centre. Eumenes began the battle by +despatching his archers and slingers against the scythe-chariots with +orders to shoot at the teams; in a short time not only were these +thrown into disorder, but the camel-riders stationed next to them were +also carried away, and even in the second division the left wing of +heavy cavalry placed behind fell into confusion. Eumenes now threw +himself with all the Roman cavalry, numbering 3000 horse, on the +mercenary infantry, which was placed in the second division between +the phalanx and the left wing of heavy cavalry, and, when these gave +way, the cuirassiers who had already fallen into disorder also fled. +The phalanx, which had just allowed the light troops to pass through +and was preparing to advance against the Roman legions, was hampered +by the attack of the cavalry in flank, and compelled to stand still +and to form front on both sides--a movement which the depth of its +disposition favoured. Had the heavy Asiatic cavalry been at hand, the +battle might have been restored; but the left wing was shattered, and +the right, led by Antiochus in person, had driven before it the little +division of Roman cavalry opposed to it, and had reached the Roman +camp, which was with great difficulty defended from its attack. In +this way the cavalry were at the decisive moment absent from the scene +of action. The Romans were careful not to assail the phalanx with +their legions, but sent against it the archers and slingers, not one +of whose missiles failed to take effect on the densely-crowded mass. +The phalanx nevertheless retired slowly and in good order, till the +elephants stationed in the interstices became frightened and broke the +ranks. Then the whole army dispersed in tumultuous flight; an attempt +to hold the camp failed, and only increased the number of the dead and +the prisoners. The estimate of the loss of Antiochus at 50,000 men +is, considering the infinite confusion, not incredible; the legions of +the Romans had never been engaged, and the victory, which gave them a +third continent, cost them 24 horsemen and 300 foot soldiers. Asia +Minor submitted; including even Ephesus, whence the admiral had +hastily to withdraw his fleet, and Sardes the residence of the court. + +Conclusion of Peace +Expedition against the Celts of Asia Minor +Regulation of the Affairs of Asia Minor + +The king sued for peace and consented to the terms proposed by the +Romans, which, as usual, were just the same as those offered before +the battle and consequently included the cession of Asia Minor. Till +they were ratified, the army remained in Asia Minor at the expense of +the king; which came to cost him not less than 3000 talents (730,000 +pounds). Antiochus himself in his careless fashion soon consoled +himself for the loss of half his kingdom; it was in keeping with his +character, that he declared himself grateful to the Romans for saving +him the trouble of governing too large an empire. But with the day of +Magnesia Asia was erased from the list of great states; and never +perhaps did a great power fall so rapidly, so thoroughly, and so +ignominiously as the kingdom of the Seleucidae under this Antiochus +the Great. He himself was soon afterwards (567) slain by the +indignant inhabitants of Elymais at the head of the Persian gulf, on +occasion of pillaging the temple of Bel, with the treasures of which +he had sought to replenish his empty coffers. + +The Roman government, after having achieved the victory, had to +arrange the affairs of Asia Minor and of Greece. If the Roman rule +was here to be erected on a firm foundation, it was by no means enough +that Antiochus should have renounced the supremacy in the west of Asia +Minor. The circumstances of the political situation there have been +set forth above.(6) The Greek free cities on the Ionian and Aeolian +coast, as well as the kingdom of Pergamus of a substantially similar +nature, were certainly the natural pillars of the new Roman supreme +power, which here too came forward essentially as protector of the +Hellenes kindred in race. But the dynasts in the interior of Asia +Minor and on the north coast of the Black Sea had hardly yielded for +long any serious obedience to the kings of Asia, and the treaty with +Antiochus alone gave to the Romans no power over the interior. It was +indispensable to draw a certain line within which the Roman influence +was henceforth to exercise control. Here the element of chief +importance was the relation of the Asiatic Hellenes to the Celts who +had been for a century settled there. These had formally apportioned +among them the regions of Asia Minor, and each one of the three +cantons raised its fixed tribute from the territory laid under +contribution. Doubtless the burgesses of Pergamus, under the vigorous +guidance of their presidents who had thereby become hereditary +princes, had rid themselves of the unworthy yoke; and the fair +afterbloom of Hellenic art, which had recently emerged afresh from the +soil, had grown out of these last Hellenic wars sustained by a +national public spirit. But it was a vigorous counterblow, not a +decisive success; again and again the Pergamenes had to defend with +arms their urban peace against the raids of the wild hordes from the +eastern mountains, and the great majority of the other Greek cities +probably remained in their old state of dependence.(7) + +If the protectorate of Rome over the Hellenes was to be in Asia more +than a name, an end had to be put to this tributary obligation of +their new clients; and, as the Roman policy at this time declined, +much more even in Asia than on the Graeco-Macedonian peninsula, the +possession of the country on its own behalf and the permanent +occupation therewith connected, there was no course in fact left but +to carry the arms of Rome up to the limit which was to be staked off +for the domain of Rome's power, and effectively to inaugurate the new +supremacy among the inhabitants of Asia Minor generally, and above all +in the Celtic cantons. + +This was done by the new Roman commander-in-chief, Gnaeus Manlius +Volso, who relieved Lucius Scipio in Asia Minor. He was subjected +to severe reproach on this score; the men in the senate who were +averse to the new turn of policy failed to see either the aim, or +the pretext, for such a war. There is no warrant for the former +objection, as directed against this movement in particular; it +was on the contrary, after the Roman state had once interfered +in Hellenic affairs as it had done, a necessary consequence of this +policy. Whether it was the right course for Rome to undertake the +protectorate over the Hellenes collectively, may certainly be called +in question; but regarded from the point of view which Flamininus +and the majority led by him had now taken up, the overthrow of the +Galatians was in fact a duty of prudence as well as of honour. Better +founded was the objection that there was not at the time a proper +ground of war against them; for they had not been, strictly speaking, +in alliance with Antiochus, but had only according to their wont +allowed him to levy hired troops in their country. But on the other +side there fell the decisive consideration, that the sending of a +Roman military force to Asia could only be demanded of the Roman +burgesses under circumstances altogether extraordinary, and, if once +such an expedition was necessary, everything told in favour of +carrying it out at once and with the victorious army that was now +stationed in Asia. So, doubtless under the influence of Flamininus +and of those who shared his views in the senate, the campaign into +the interior of Asia Minor was undertaken in the spring of 565. The +consul started from Ephesus, levied contributions from the towns and +princes on the upper Maeander and in Pamphylia without measure, and +then turned northwards against the Celts. Their western canton, the +Tolistoagii, had retired with their belongings to Mount Olympus, and +the middle canton, the Tectosages, to Mount Magaba, in the hope that +they would be able there to defend themselves till the winter should +compel the strangers to withdraw. But the missiles of the Roman +slingers and archers--which so often turned the scale against the +Celts unacquainted with such weapons, almost as in more recent times +firearms have turned the scale against savage tribes--forced the +heights, and the Celts succumbed in a battle, such as had often its +parallels before and after on the Po and on the Seine, but here +appears as singular as the whole phenomenon of this northern race +emerging amidst the Greek and Phrygian nations. The number of the +slain was at both places enormous, and still greater that of the +captives. The survivors escaped over the Halys to the third Celtic +canton of the Trocmi, which the consul did not attack. That river was +the limit at which the leaders of Roman policy at that time had +resolved to halt. Phrygia, Bithynia, and Paphlagonia were to +become dependent on Rome; the regions lying farther to the east +were left to themselves. + +The affairs of Asia Minor were regulated partly by the peace with +Antiochus (565), partly by the ordinances of a Roman commission +presided over by the consul Volso. Antiochus had to furnish hostages, +one of whom was his younger son of the same name, and to pay a war- +contribution--proportional in amount to the treasures of Asia--of +15,000 Euboic talents (3,600,000 pounds), a fifth of which was to be +paid at once, and the remainder in twelve yearly instalments. He was +called, moreover, to cede all the lands which he possessed in Europe +and, in Asia Minor, all his possessions and claims of right to the +north of the range of the Taurus and to the west of the mouth of the +Cestrus between Aspendus and Perga in Pamphylia, so that he retained +nothing in Asia Minor but eastern Pamphylia and Cilicia. His +protectorate over its kingdoms and principalities of course ceased. +Asia, or, as the kingdom of the Seleucids was thenceforth usually and +more appropriately named, Syria, lost the right of waging aggressive +wars against the western states, and in the event of a defensive war, +of acquiring territory from them on the conclusion of peace; lost, +moreover, the right of navigating the sea to the west of the mouth of +the Calycadnus in Cilicia with vessels of war, except for the +conveyance of envoys, hostages, or tribute; was further prevented from +keeping more than ten decked vessels in all, except in the case of a +defensive war, from taming war-elephants, and lastly from the levying +of mercenaries in the western states, or receiving political refugees +and deserters from them at court. The war vessels which he possessed +beyond the prescribed number, the elephants, and the political +refugees who had sought shelter with him, he delivered up. By way of +compensation the great-king received the title of a friend of the +Roman commonwealth. The state of Syria was thus by land and sea +completely and for ever dislodged from the west; it is a significant +indication of the feeble and loose organization of the kingdom of the +Seleucidae, that it alone, of all the great states conquered by Rome +never after the first conquest desired a second appeal to the decision +of arms. + +Armenia + +The two Armenias, hitherto at least nominally Asiatic satrapies, +became transformed, if not exactly in pursuance with the Roman treaty +of peace, yet under its influence into independent kingdoms; and their +holders, Artaxias and Zariadris, became founders of new dynasties. + +Cappadocia + +Ariarathes, king of Cappadocia, whose land lay beyond the boundary +laid down by the Romans for their protectorate, escaped with a money- +fine of 600 talents (146,000 pounds); which was afterwards, on the +intercession of his son-in-law Eumenes, abated to half that sum. + +Bithynia + +Prusias, king of Bithynia, retained his territory as it stood, and so +did the Celts; but they were obliged to promise that they would no +longer send armed bands beyond their bounds, and the disgraceful +payments of tribute by the cities of Asia Minor came to an end. The +Asiatic Greeks did not fail to repay the benefit--which was certainly +felt as a general and permanent one--with golden chaplets and +transcendental panegyrics. + +The Free Greek Cities + +In the western portion of Asia Minor the regulation of the territorial +arrangements was not without difficulty, especially as the dynastic +policy of Eumenes there came into collision with that of the Greek +Hansa. At last an understanding was arrived at to the following +effect. All the Greek cities, which were free and had joined the +Romans on the day of the battle of Magnesia, had their liberties +confirmed, and all of them, excepting those previously tributary to +Eumenes, were relieved from the payment of tribute to the different +dynasts for the future. In this way the towns of Dardanus and Ilium, +whose ancient affinity with the Romans was traced to the times of +Aeneas, became free, along with Cyme, Smyrna, Clazomenae, Erythrae, +Chios, Colophon, Miletus, and other names of old renown. Phocaea +also, which in spite of its capitulation had been plundered by +the soldiers of the Roman fleet--although it did not fall under +the category designated in the treaty--received back by way of +compensation its territory and its freedom. Most of the cities of +the Graeco-Asiatic Hansa acquired additions of territory and other +advantages. Rhodes of course received most consideration; it obtained +Lycia exclusive of Telmissus, and the greater part of Caria south of +the Maeander; besides, Antiochus guaranteed the property and the +claims of the Rhodians within his kingdom, as well as the exemption +from customs-dues which they had hitherto enjoyed. + +Extension of the Kingdom of Pergamus + +All the rest, forming by far the largest share of the spoil, fell to +the Attalids, whose ancient fidelity to Rome, as well as the hardships +endured by Eumenes in the war and his personal merit in connection +with the issue of the decisive battle, were rewarded by Rome as no +king ever rewarded his ally. Eumenes received, in Europe, the +Chersonese with Lysimachia; in Asia--in addition to Mysia which he +already possessed--the provinces of Phrygia on the Hellespont, Lydia +with Ephesus and Sardes, the northern district of Caria as far as the +Maeander with Tralles and Magnesia, Great Phrygia and Lycaonia along +with a portion of Cilicia, the district of Milyas between Phrygia and +Lycia, and, as a port on the southern sea, the Lycian town Telmissus. +There was a dispute afterwards between Eumenes and Antiochus regarding +Pamphylia, as to how far it lay on this side of or beyond the +prescribed boundary, and accordingly belonged to the former or to the +latter. He further acquired the protectorate over, and the right of +receiving tribute from, those Greek cities which did not receive +absolute freedom; but it was stipulated in this case that the cities +should retain their charters, and that the tribute should not be +heightened. Moreover, Antiochus had to bind himself to pay to Eumenes +the 350 talents (85,000 pounds) which he owed to his father Attalus, +and likewise to pay a compensation of 127 talents (31,000 pounds) for +arrears in the supplies of corn. Lastly, Eumenes obtained the royal +forests and the elephants delivered up by Antiochus, but not the ships +of war, which were burnt: the Romans tolerated no naval power by the +side of their own. By these means the kingdom of the Attalids became +in the east of Europe and Asia what Numidia was in Africa, a powerful +state with an absolute constitution dependent on Rome, destined and +able to keep in check both Macedonia and Syria without needing, except +in extraordinary cases, Roman support. With this creation dictated by +policy the Romans had as far as possible combined the liberation of +the Asiatic Greeks, which was dictated by republican and national +sympathy and by vanity. About the affairs of the more remote east +beyond the Taurus and Halys they were firmly resolved to give +themselves no concern. This is clearly shown by the terms of the +peace with Antiochus, and still more decidedly by the peremptory +refusal of the senate to guarantee to the town of Soli in Cilicia the +freedom which the Rhodians requested for it. With equal fidelity they +adhered to the fixed principle of acquiring no direct transmarine +possessions. After the Roman fleet had made an expedition to Crete +and had accomplished the release of the Romans sold thither into +slavery, the fleet and land army left Asia towards the end of the +summer of 566; on which occasion the land army, which again marched +through Thrace, in consequence of the negligence of the general +suffered greatly on the route from the attacks of the barbarians. +The Romans brought nothing home from the east but honour and gold, +both of which were already at this period usually conjoined in the +practical shape assumed by the address of thanks--the golden chaplet. + +Settlement of Greece +Conflicts and Peace with the Aetolians + +European Greece also had been agitated by this Asiatic war, and needed +reorganization. The Aetolians, who had not yet learned to reconcile +themselves to their insignificance, had, after the armistice concluded +with Scipio in the spring of 564, rendered intercourse between Greece +and Italy difficult and unsafe by means of their Cephallenian +corsairs; and not only so, but even perhaps while the armistice yet +lasted, they, deceived by false reports as to the state of things in +Asia, had the folly to place Amynander once more on his Athamanian +throne, and to carry on a desultory warfare with Philip in the +districts occupied by him on the borders of Aetolia and Thessaly, in +the course of which Philip suffered several discomfitures. After +this, as a matter of course, Rome replied to their request for peace +by the landing of the consul Marcus Fulvius Nobilior. He arrived +among the legions in the spring of 565, and after fifteen days' siege +gained possession of Ambracia by a capitulation honourable for the +garrison; while simultaneously the Macedonians, Illyrians, Epirots, +Acarnanians, and Achaeans fell upon the Aetolians. There was no such +thing as resistance in the strict sense; after repeated entreaties of +the Aetolians for peace the Romans at length desisted from the war, +and granted conditions which must be termed reasonable when viewed +with reference to such pitiful and malicious opponents. The Aetolians +lost all cities and territories which were in the hands of their +adversaries, more especially Ambracia which afterwards became free and +independent in consequence of an intrigue concocted in Rome against +Marcus Fulvius, and Oenia which was given to the Acarnanians: they +likewise ceded Cephallenia. They lost the right of making peace and +war, and were in that respect dependent on the foreign relations of +Rome. Lastly, they paid a large sum of money. Cephallenia opposed +this treaty on its own account, and only submitted when Marcus Fulvius +landed on the island. In fact, the inhabitants of Same, who feared +that they would be dispossessed from their well-situated town by a +Roman colony, revolted after their first submission and sustained a +four months' siege; the town, however, was finally taken and the whole +inhabitants were sold into slavery. + +Macedonia + +In this case also Rome adhered to the principle of confining herself +to Italy and the Italian islands. She took no portion of the spoil +for herself, except the two islands of Cephallenia and Zacynthus, +which formed a desirable supplement to the possession of Corcyra and +other naval stations in the Adriatic. The rest of the territorial +gain went to the allies of Rome. But the two most important of these, +Philip and the Achaeans, were by no means content with the share of +the spoil granted to them. Philip felt himself aggrieved, and not +without reason. He might safely say that the chief difficulties +in the last war--difficulties which arose not from the character +of the enemy, but from the distance and the uncertainty of the +communications--had been overcome mainly by his loyal aid. The senate +recognized this by remitting his arrears of tribute and sending back +his hostages; but he did not receive those additions to his territory +which he expected. He got the territory of the Magnetes, with +Demetrias which he had taken from the Aetolians; besides, there +practically remained in his hands the districts of Dolopia and +Athamania and a part of Thessaly, from which also the Aetolians had +been expelled by him. In Thrace the interior remained under +Macedonian protection, but nothing was fixed as to the coast towns +and the islands of Thasos and Lemnos which were -de facto- in Philip's +hands, while the Chersonese was even expressly given to Eumenes; and +it was not difficult to see that Eumenes received possessions in +Europe, simply that he might in case of need keep not only Asia but +Macedonia in check. The exasperation of the proud and in many +respects chivalrous king was natural; it was not chicane, however, +but an unavoidable political necessity that induced the Romans to take +this course. Macedonia suffered for having once been a power of the +first rank, and for having waged war on equal terms with Rome; there +was much better reason in her case than in that of Carthage for +guarding against the revival of her old powerful position. + +The Achaeans + +It was otherwise with the Achaeans. They had, in the course of the +war with Antiochus, gratified their long-cherished wish to bring the +whole Peloponnesus into their confederacy; for first Sparta, and then, +after the expulsion of the Asiatics from Greece, Elis and Messene had +more or less reluctantly joined it. The Romans had allowed this to +take place, and had even tolerated the intentional disregard of Rome +which marked their proceedings. When Messene declared that she wished +to submit to the Romans but not to enter the confederacy, and the +latter thereupon employed force, Flamininus had not failed to remind +the Achaeans that such separate arrangements as to the disposal of a +part of the spoil were in themselves unjust, and were, in the relation +in which the Achaeans stood to the Romans, more than unseemly; and yet +in his very impolitic complaisance towards the Hellenes he had +substantially done what the Achaeans willed. But the matter did not +end there. The Achaeans, tormented by their dwarfish thirst for +aggrandizement, would not relax their hold on the town of Pleuron in +Aetolia which they had occupied during the war, but on the contrary +made it an involuntary member of their confederacy; they bought +Zacynthus from Amynander the lieutenant of the last possessor, and +would gladly have acquired Aegina also. It was with reluctance that +they gave up the former island to Rome, and they heard with great +displeasure the good advice of Flamininus that they should content +themselves with their Peloponnesus. + +The Achaean Patriots + +The Achaeans believed it their duty to display the independence of +their state all the more, the less they really had; they talked of the +rights of war, and of the faithful aid of the Achaeans in the wars of +the Romans; they asked the Roman envoys at the Achaean diet why Rome +should concern herself about Messene when Achaia put no questions as +to Capua; and the spirited patriot, who had thus spoken, was applauded +and was sure of votes at the elections. All this would have been very +right and very dignified, had it not been much more ridiculous. There +was a profound justice and a still more profound melancholy in the +fact, that Rome, however earnestly she endeavoured to establish the +freedom and to earn the thanks of the Hellenes, yet gave them nothing +but anarchy and reaped nothing but ingratitude. Undoubtedly very +generous sentiments lay at the bottom of the Hellenic antipathies to +the protecting power, and the personal bravery of some of the men who +took the lead in the movement was unquestionable; but this Achaean +patriotism remained not the less a folly and a genuine historical +caricature. With all that ambition and all that national +susceptibility the whole nation was, from the highest to the lowest, +pervaded by the most thorough sense of impotence. Every one was +constantly listening to learn the sentiments of Rome, the liberal +man no less than the servile; they thanked heaven, when the dreaded +decree was not issued; they were sulky, when the senate gave them to +understand that they would do well to yield voluntarily in order that +they might not need to be compelled; they did what they were obliged +to do, if possible, in a way offensive to the Romans, "to save forms"; +they reported, explained, postponed, evaded, and, when all this would +no longer avail, yielded with a patriotic sigh. Their proceedings +might have claimed indulgence at any rate, if not approval, had their +leaders been resolved to fight, and had they preferred the destruction +of the nation to its bondage; but neither Philopoemen nor Lycortas +thought of any such political suicide--they wished, if possible, +to be free, but they wished above all to live. Besides all this, the +dreaded intervention of Rome in the internal affairs of Greece was not +the arbitrary act of the Romans, but was always invoked by the Greeks +themselves, who, like boys, brought down on their own heads the rod +which they feared. The reproach repeated -ad nauseam- by the erudite +rabble in Hellenic and post-Hellenic times--that the Romans had been +at pains to stir up internal discord in Greece--is one of the most +foolish absurdities which philologues dealing in politics have ever +invented. It was not the Romans that carried strife to Greece--which +in truth would have been "carrying owls to Athens"--but the Greeks +that carried their dissensions to Rome. + +Quarrels between Achaeans and Spartans + +The Achaeans in particular, who, in their eagerness to round their +territory, wholly failed to see how much it would have been for their +own good that Flamininus had not incorporated the towns of Aetolian +sympathies with their league, acquired in Lacedaemon and Messene a +very hydra of intestine strife. Members of these communities were +incessantly at Rome, entreating and beseeching to be released from the +odious connection; and amongst them, characteristically enough, were +even those who were indebted to the Achaeans for their return to their +native land. The Achaean league was incessantly occupied in the work +of reformation and restoration at Sparta and Messene; the wildest +refugees from these quarters determined the measures of the diet. +Four years after the nominal admission of Sparta to the confederacy +matters came even to open war and to an insanely thorough restoration, +in which all the slaves on whom Nabis had conferred citizenship were +once more sold into slavery, and a colonnade was built from the +proceeds in the Achaean city of Megalopolis; the old state of property +in Sparta was re-established, the of Lycurgus were superseded by +Achaean laws, and the walls were pulled down (566). At last the Roman +senate was summoned by all parties to arbitrate on all these doings +--an annoying task, which was the righteous punishment of the +sentimental policy that the senate had pursued. Far from mixing +itself up too much in these affairs, the senate not only bore the +sarcasms of Achaean candour with exemplary composure, but even +manifested a culpable indifference while the worst outrages were +committed. There was cordial rejoicing in Achaia when, after that +restoration, the news arrived from Rome that the senate had found +fault with it, but had not annulled it. Nothing was done for the +Lacedaemonians by Rome, except that the senate, shocked at the +judicial murder of from sixty to eighty Spartans committed by the +Achaeans, deprived the diet of criminal jurisdiction over the +Spartans--truly a heinous interference with the internal affairs of +an independent state! The Roman statesmen gave themselves as little +concern as possible about this tempest in a nut-shell, as is best +shown by the many complaints regarding the superficial, contradictory, +and obscure decisions of the senate; in fact, how could its decisions +be expected to be clear, when there were four parties from Sparta +simultaneously speaking against each other at its bar? Add to this +the personal impression, which most of these Peloponnesian statesmen +produced in Rome; even Flamininus shook his head, when one of them +showed him on the one day how to perform some dance, and on the next +entertained him with affairs of state. Matters went so far, that the +senate at last lost patience and informed the Peloponnesians that it +would no longer listen to them, and that they might do what they chose +(572). This was natural enough, but it was not right; situated as +the Romans were, they were under a moral and political obligation +earnestly and steadfastly to rectify this melancholy state of things. +Callicrates the Achaean, who went to the senate in 575 to enlighten +it as to the state of matters in the Peloponnesus and to demand a +consistent and calm intervention, may have had somewhat less worth as +a man than his countryman Philopoemen who was the main founder of that +patriotic policy; but he was in the right. + +Death of Hannibal + +Thus the protectorate of the Roman community now embraced all the +states from the eastern to the western end of the Mediterranean. +There nowhere existed a state that the Romans would have deemed it +worth while to fear. But there still lived a man to whom Rome +accorded this rare honour--the homeless Carthaginian, who had +raised in arms against Rome first all the west and then all the east, +and whose schemes perhaps had been only frustrated by infamous +aristocratic policy in the former case, and by stupid court policy in +the latter. Antiochus had been obliged to bind himself in the treaty +of peace to deliver up Hannibal; but the latter had escaped, first to +Crete, then to Bithynia,(8) and now lived at the court of Prusias king +of Bithynia, employed in aiding the latter in his wars with Eumenes, +and victorious as ever by sea and by land. It is affirmed that he was +desirous of stirring up Prusias also to make war on Rome; a folly, +which, as it is told, sounds very far from credible. It is more +certain that, while the Roman senate deemed it beneath its dignity to +have the old man hunted out in his last asylum--for the tradition +which inculpates the senate appears to deserve no credit--Flamininus, +whose restless vanity sought after new opportunities for great +achievements, undertook on his own part to deliver Rome from Hannibal +as he had delivered the Greeks from their chains, and, if not to +wield--which was not diplomatic--at any rate to whet and to point, +the dagger against the greatest man of his time. Prusias, the most +pitiful among the pitiful princes of Asia, was delighted to grant the +little favour which the Roman envoy in ambiguous terms requested; and, +when Hannibal saw his house beset by assassins, he took poison. He +had long been prepared to do so, adds a Roman, for he knew the Romans +and the word of kings. The year of his death is uncertain; probably +he died in the latter half of the year 571, at the age of sixty-seven. +When he was born, Rome was contending with doubtful success for the +possession of Sicily; he had lived long enough to see the West wholly +subdued, and to fight his own last battle with the Romans against the +vessels of his native city which had itself become Roman; and he was +constrained at last to remain a mere spectator, while Rome overpowered +the East as the tempest overpowers the ship that has no one at the +helm, and to feel that he alone was the pilot that could have +weathered the storm. There was left to him no further hope to be +disappointed, when he died; but he had honestly, through fifty years +of struggle, kept the oath which he had sworn when a boy. + +Death of Scipio + +About the same time, probably in the same year, died also the man whom +the Romans were wont to call his conqueror, Publius Scipio. On him +fortune had lavished all the successes which she denied to his +antagonist--successes which did belong to him, and successes which did +not. He had added to the empire Spain, Africa, and Asia; and Rome, +which he had found merely the first community of Italy, was at his +death mistress of the civilized world. He himself had so many titles +of victory, that some of them were made over to his brother and his +cousin.(9) And yet he too spent his last years in bitter vexation, +and died when little more than fifty years of age in voluntary +banishment, leaving orders to his relatives not to bury his remains +in the city for which he had lived and in which his ancestors reposed. +It is not exactly known what drove him from the city. The charges of +corruption and embezzlement, which were directed against him and still +more against his brother Lucius, were beyond doubt empty calumnies, +which do not sufficiently explain such bitterness of feeling; although +it is characteristic of the man, that instead of simply vindicating +himself by means of his account-books, he tore them in pieces in +presence of the people and of his accusers, and summoned the Romans +to accompany him to the temple of Jupiter and to celebrate the +anniversary of his victory at Zama. The people left the accuser on +the spot, and followed Scipio to the Capitol; but this was the last +glorious day of the illustrious man. His proud spirit, his belief +that he was different from, and better than, other men, his very +decided family-policy, which in the person of his brother Lucius +especially brought forward a clumsy man of straw as a hero, gave +offence to many, and not without reason. While genuine pride protects +the heart, arrogance lays it open to every blow and every sarcasm, and +corrodes even an originally noble-minded spirit. It is throughout, +moreover, the distinguishing characteristic of such natures as that of +Scipio--strange mixtures of genuine gold and glittering tinsel--that +they need the good fortune and the brilliance of youth in order +to exercise their charm, and, when this charm begins to fade, it is +the charmer himself that is most painfully conscious of the change. + +Notes for Chapter IX + +1. According to a recently discovered decree of the town of Lampsacus +(-Mitth, des arch. Inst, in Athen-, vi. 95) the Lampsacenes after the +defeat of Philip sent envoys to the Roman senate with the request that +the town might be embraced in the treaty concluded between Rome and +(Philip) the king (--opos sumperilephthomen [en tais sunthekais] tais +genomenais Pomaiois pros ton [basilea]--), which the senate, at least +according to the view of the petitioners, granted to them and referred +them, as regarded other matters, to Flamininus and the ten envoys. +From the latter they then obtain in Corinth a guarantee of their +constitution and "letters to the kings." Flamininus also gives to them +similar letters; of their contents we learn nothing more particular, +than that in the decree the embassy is described as successful. But +if the senate and Flamininus had formally and positively guaranteed +the autonomy and democracy of the Lampsacenes, the decree would hardly +dwell so much at length on the courteous answers, which the Roman +commanders, who had been appealed to on the way for their intercession +with the senate, gave to the envoys. + +Other remarkable points in this document are the "brotherhood" of the +Lampsacenes and the Romans, certainly going back to the Trojan legend, +and the mediation, invoked by the former with success, of the allies +and friends of Rome, the Massiliots, who were connected with the +Lampsacenes through their common mother-city Phocaea. + +2. The definite testimony of Hieronymus, who places the betrothal of +the Syrian princess Cleopatra with Ptolemy Epiphanes in 556, taken in +connection with the hints in Liv. xxxiii. 40 and Appian. Syr. 3, and +with the actual accomplishment of the marriage in 561, puts it beyond +a doubt that the interference of the Romans in the affairs of Egypt +was in this case formally uncalled for. + +3. For this we have the testimony of Polybius (xxviii. i), which the +sequel of the history of Judaea completely confirms; Eusebius (p. 117, +-Mai-) is mistaken in making Philometor ruler of Syria. We certainly +find that about 567 farmers of the Syrian taxes made their payments at +Alexandria (Joseph, xii. 4, 7); but this doubtless took place without +detriment to the rights of sovereignty, simply because the dowry of +Cleopatra constituted a charge on those revenues; and from this very +circumstance presumably arose the subsequent dispute. + +4. II. VII. Submission of Lower Italy + +5. III. VII. The Romans Maintain a Standing Army in Spain + +6. III. VIII. The Celts of Asia Minor ff. + +7. From the decree of Lampsacus mentioned at III. IX. Difficulties +with Rome, it appears pretty certain that the Lampsacenes requested +from the Massiliots not merely intercession at Rome, but also +intercession with the Tolistoagii (so the Celts, elsewhere named +Tolistobogi, are designated in this document and in the Pergamene +inscription, C. J. Gr. 3536,--the oldest monuments which mention +them). Accordingly the Lampsacenes were probably still about the +time of the wax with Philip tributary to this canton (comp. Liv. +xxxviii. 16). + +8. The story that he went to Armenia and at the request of king +Artaxias built the town of Artaxata on the Araxes (Strabo, xi. p. 528; +Plutarch, Luc. 31), is certainly a fiction; but it is a striking +circumstance that Hannibal should have become mixed up, almost like +Alexander, with Oriental fables. + +9. Africanus, Asiagenus, Hispallus. + + + + +Chapter X + +The Third Macedonian War + +Dissatisfactions of Philip with Rome + +Philip of Macedonia was greatly annoyed by the treatment which he +met with from the Romans after the peace with Antiochus; and the +subsequent course of events was not fitted to appease his wrath. +His neighbours in Greece and Thrace, mostly communities that had once +trembled at the Macedonian name not less than now they trembled at +the Roman, made it their business, as was natural, to retaliate on the +fallen great power for all the injuries which since the times of +Philip the Second they had received at the hands of Macedonia. The +empty arrogance and venal anti-Macedonian patriotism of the Hellenes +of this period found vent at the diets of the different confederacies +and in ceaseless complaints addressed to the Roman senate. Philip had +been allowed by the Romans to retain what he had taken from the +Aetolians; but in Thessaly the confederacy of the Magnetes alone +had formally joined the Aetolians, while those towns which Philip +had wrested from the Aetolians in other two of the Thessalian +confederacies--the Thessalian in its narrower sense, and the +Perrhaebian--were demanded back by their leagues on the ground that +Philip had only liberated these towns, not conquered them. The +Athamahes too believed that they might crave their freedom; and +Eumenes demanded the maritime cities which Antiochus had possessed +in Thrace proper, especially Aenus and Maronea, although in the peace +with Antiochus the Thracian Chersonese alone had been expressly +promised to him. All these complaints and numerous minor ones from +all the neighbours of Philip as to his supporting king Prusias against +Eumenes, as to competition in trade, as to the violation of contracts +and the seizing of cattle, were poured forth at Rome. The king of +Macedonia had to submit to be accused by the sovereign rabble before +the Roman senate, and to accept justice or injustice as the senate +chose; he was compelled to witness judgment constantly going against +him; he had with deep chagrin to withdraw his garrisons from the +Thracian coast and from the Thessalian and Perrhaebian towns, and +courteously to receive the Roman commissioners, who came to see +whether everything required had been carried out in accordance with +instructions. The Romans were not so indignant against Philip as they +had been against Carthage; in fact, they were in many respects even +favourably disposed to the Macedonian ruler; there was not in his case +so reckless a violation of forms as in that of Libya; but the +situation of Macedonia was at bottom substantially the same as that of +Carthage. Philip, however, was by no means the man to submit to this +infliction with Phoenician patience. Passionate as he was, he had +after his defeat been more indignant with the faithless ally than with +the honourable antagonist; and, long accustomed to pursue a policy not +Macedonian but personal, he had seen in the war with Antiochus simply +an excellent opportunity of instantaneously revenging himself on the +ally who had disgracefully deserted and betrayed him. This object he +had attained; but the Romans, who saw very clearly that the Macedonian +was influenced not by friendship for Rome, but by enmity to Antiochus, +and who moreover were by no means in the habit of regulating their +policy by such feelings of liking and disliking, had carefully +abstained from bestowing any material advantages on Philip, and had +preferred to confer their favours on the Attalids. From their first +elevation the Attalids had been at vehement feud with Macedonia, and +were politically and personally the objects of Philip's bitterest +hatred; of all the eastern powers they had contributed most to maim +Macedonia and Syria, and to extend the protectorate of Rome in the +east; and in the last war, when Philip had voluntarily and loyally +embraced the side of Rome, they had been obliged to take the same side +for the sake of their very existence. The Romans had made use of +these Attalids for the purpose of reconstructing in all essential +points the kingdom of Lysimachus--the destruction of which had been +the most important achievement of the Macedonian rulers after +Alexander--and of placing alongside of Macedonia a state, which was +its equal in point of power and was at the same time a client of Rome. +In the special circumstances a wise sovereign, devoted to the +interests of his people, would perhaps have resolved not to resume the +unequal struggle with Rome; but Philip, in whose character the sense +of honour was the most powerful of all noble, and the thirst for +revenge the most potent of all ignoble, motives, was deaf to the voice +of timidity or of resignation, and nourished in the depths of his +heart a determination once more to try the hazard of the game. When +he received the report of fresh invectives, such as were wont to be +launched against Macedonia at the Thessalian diets, he replied with +the line of Theocritus, that his last sun had not yet set.(1) + +The Latter Years of Philip + +Philip displayed in the preparation and the concealment of his designs +a calmness, earnestness, and persistency which, had he shown them in +better times, would perhaps have given a different turn to the +destinies of the world. In particular the submissiveness towards +Rome, by which he purchased the time indispensable for his objects, +formed a severe trial for the fierce and haughty man; nevertheless he +courageously endured it, although his subjects and the innocent +occasions of the quarrel, such as the unfortunate Maronea, paid +severely for the suppression of his resentment. It seemed as if war +could not but break out as early as 571; but by Philip's instructions, +his younger son, Demetrius, effected a reconciliation between his +father and Rome, where he had lived some years as a hostage and was a +great favourite. The senate, and particularly Flamininus who managed +Greek affairs, sought to form in Macedonia a Roman party that would be +able to paralyze the exertions of Philip, which of course were not +unknown to the Romans; and had selected as its head, and perhaps as +the future king of Macedonia, the younger prince who was passionately +attached to Rome. With this purpose in view they gave it clearly to +be understood that the senate forgave the father for the sake of the +son; the natural effect of which was, that dissensions arose in the +royal household itself, and that the king's elder son, Perseus, who, +although the offspring of an unequal marriage, was destined by his +father for the succession, sought to ruin his brother as his future +rival. It does not appear that Demetrius was a party to the Roman +intrigues; it was only when he was falsely suspected that he was +forced to become guilty, and even then he intended, apparently, +nothing more than flight to Rome. But Perseus took care that his +father should be duly informed of this design; an intercepted letter +from Flamininus to Demetrius did the rest, and induced the father to +give orders that his son should be put to death. Philip learned, when +it was too late, the intrigues which Perseus had concocted; and death +overtook him, as he was meditating the punishment of the fratricide +and his exclusion from the throne. He died in 575 at Demetrias, in +his fifty-ninth year. He left behind him a shattered kingdom and a +distracted household, and with a broken heart confessed to himself +that all his toils and all his crimes had been in vain. + +King Perseus + +His son Perseus then entered on the government, without encountering +opposition either in Macedonia or in the Roman senate. He was a man +of stately aspect, expert in all bodily exercises, reared in the camp +and accustomed to command, imperious like his father and unscrupulous +in the choice of his means. Wine and women, which too often led +Philip to forget the duties of government, had no charm for Perseus; +he was as steady and persevering as his father had been fickle and +impulsive. Philip, a king while still a boy, and attended by good +fortune during the first twenty years of his reign, had been spoiled +and ruined by destiny; Perseus ascended the throne in his thirty-first +year, and, as he had while yet a boy borne a part in the unhappy war +with Rome and had grown up under the pressure of humiliation and under +the idea that a revival of the state was at hand, so he inherited +along with the kingdom of his father his troubles, resentments, and +hopes. In fact he entered with the utmost determination on the +continuance of his father's work, and prepared more zealously than +ever for war against Rome; he was stimulated, moreover, by the +reflection, that he was by no means indebted to the goodwill of the +Romans for his wearing the diadem of Macedonia. The proud Macedonian +nation looked with pride upon the prince whom they had been accustomed +to see marching and fighting at the head of their youth; his +countrymen, and many Hellenes of every variety of lineage, conceived +that in him they had found the right general for the impending war of +liberation. But he was not what he seemed. He wanted Philip's +geniality and Philip's elasticity--those truly royal qualities, which +success obscured and tarnished, but which under the purifying power of +adversity recovered their lustre. Philip was self-indulgent, and +allowed things to take their course; but, when there was occasion, he +found within himself the vigour necessary for rapid and earnest +action. Perseus devised comprehensive and subtle plans, and +prosecuted them with unwearied perseverance; but, when the moment +arrived for action and his plans and preparations confronted him in +living reality, he was frightened at his own work. As is the wont of +narrow minds, the means became to him the end; he heaped up treasures +on treasures for war with the Romans, and, when the Romans were in the +land, he was unable to part with his golden pieces. It is a +significant indication of character that after defeat the father first +hastened to destroy the papers in his cabinet that might compromise +him, whereas the son took his treasure-chests and embarked. In +ordinary times he might have made an average king, as good as or +better than many another; but he was not adapted for the conduct of +an enterprise, which was from the first a hopeless one unless some +extraordinary man should become the soul of the movement. + +Resources of Macedonia + +The power of Macedonia was far from inconsiderable. The devotion of +the land to the house of the Antigonids was unimpaired; in this one +respect the national feeling was not paralyzed by the dissensions +of political parties. A monarchical constitution has the great +advantage, that every change of sovereign supersedes old resentments +and quarrels and introduces a new era of other men and fresh hopes. +The king had judiciously availed himself of this, and had begun his +reign with a general amnesty, with the recall of fugitive bankrupts, +and with the remission of arrears of taxes. The hateful severity of +the father thus not only yielded benefit, but conciliated affection, +to the son. Twenty-six years of peace had partly of themselves filled +up the blanks in the Macedonian population, partly given opportunity +to the government to take serious steps towards rectifying this which +was really the weak point of the land. Philip urged the Macedonians +to marry and raise up children; he occupied the coast towns, whose +inhabitants he carried into the interior, with Thracian colonists of +trusty valour and fidelity. He formed a barrier on the north to check +once for all the desolating incursions of the Dardani, by converting +the space intervening between the Macedonian frontier and the +barbarian territory into a desert, and by founding new towns in the +northern provinces. In short he took step by step the same course in +Macedonia, as Augustus afterwards took when he laid afresh the +foundations of the Roman empire. The army was numerous--30,000 men +without reckoning contingents and hired troops--and the younger men +were well exercised in the constant border warfare with the Thracian +barbarians. It is strange that Philip did not try, like Hannibal, to +organize his army after the Roman fashion; but we can understand it +when we recollect the value which the Macedonians set upon their +phalanx, often conquered, but still withal believed to be invincible. +Through the new sources of revenue which Philip had created in mines, +customs, and tenths, and through the flourishing state of agriculture +and commerce, he had succeeded in replenishing his treasury, +granaries, and arsenals. When the war began, there was in the +Macedonian treasury money enough to pay the existing army and 10,000 +hired troops for ten years, and there were in the public magazines +stores of grain for as long a period (18,000,000 medimni or 27,000,000 +bushels), and arms for an army of three times the strength of the +existing one. In fact, Macedonia had become a very different state +from what it was when surprised by the outbreak of the second war with +Rome. The power of the kingdom was in all respects at least doubled: +with a power in every point of view far inferior Hannibal had been +able to shake Rome to its foundations. + +Attempted Coalition against Rome + +Its external relations were not in so favourable a position. The +nature of the case required that Macedonia should now take up the +plans of Hannibal and Antiochus, and should try to place herself at +the head of a coalition of all oppressed states against the supremacy +of Rome; and certainly threads of intrigue ramified in all directions +from the court of Pydna. But their success was slight. It was indeed +asserted that the allegiance of the Italians was wavering; but neither +friend nor foe could fail to see that an immediate resumption of the +Samnite wars was not at all probable. The nocturnal conferences +likewise between Macedonian deputies and the Carthaginian senate, +which Massinissa denounced at Rome, could occasion no alarm to serious +and sagacious men, even if they were not, as is very possible, an +utter fiction. The Macedonian court sought to attach the kings of +Syria and Bithynia to its interests by intermarriages; but nothing +further came of it, except that the immortal simplicity of the +diplomacy which seeks to gain political ends by matrimonial means once +more exposed itself to derision. Eumenes, whom it would have been +ridiculous to attempt to gain, the agents of Perseus would have gladly +put out of the way: he was to have been murdered at Delphi on his way +homeward from Rome, where he had been active against Macedonia; but +the pretty project miscarried. + +Bastarnae +Genthius + +Of greater moment were the efforts made to stir up the northern +barbarians and the Hellenes to rebellion against Rome. Philip had +conceived the project of crushing the old enemies of Macedonia, +the Dardani in what is now Servia, by means of another still more +barbarous horde of Germanic descent brought from the left bank of the +Danube, the Bastarnae, and of then marching in person with these and +with the whole avalanche of peoples thus set in motion by the land- +route to Italy and invading Lombardy, the Alpine passes leading to +which he had already sent spies to reconnoitre--a grand project, +worthy of Hannibal, and doubtless immediately suggested by Hannibal's +passage of the Alps. It is more than probable that this gave occasion +to the founding of the Roman fortress of Aquileia,(2) which was formed +towards the end of the reign of Philip (573), and did not harmonize +with the system followed elsewhere by the Romans in the establishment +of fortresses in Italy. The plan, however, was thwarted by the +desperate resistance of the Dardani and of the adjoining tribes +concerned; the Bastarnae were obliged to retreat, and the whole horde +were drowned in returning home by the giving way of the ice on the +Danube. The king now sought at least to extend his clientship among +the chieftains of the Illyrian land, the modern Dalmatia and northern +Albania. One of these who faithfully adhered to Rome, Arthetaurus, +perished, not without the cognizance of Perseus, by the hand of an +assassin. The most considerable of the whole, Genthius the son and +heir of Pleuratus, was, like his father, nominally in alliance with +Rome; but the ambassadors of Issa, a Greek town on one of the +Dalmatian islands, informed the senate, that Perseus had a secret +understanding with the young, weak, and drunken prince, and that +the envoys of Genthius served as spies for Perseus in Rome. + +Cotys + +In the regions on the east of Macedonia towards the lower Danube the +most powerful of the Thracian chieftains, the brave and sagacious +Cotys, prince of the Odrysians and ruler of all eastern Thrace from +the Macedonian frontier on the Hebrus (Maritza) down to the fringe of +coast covered with Greek towns, was in the closest alliance with +Perseus. Of the other minor chiefs who in that quarter took part +with Rome, one, Abrupolis prince of the Sagaei, was, in consequence +of a predatory expedition directed against Amphipolis on the Strymon, +defeated by Perseus and driven out of the country. From these regions +Philip had drawn numerous colonists, and mercenaries were to be had +there at any time and in any number. + +Greek National Party + +Among the unhappy nation of the Hellenes Philip and Perseus had, long +before declaring war against Rome carried on a lively double system of +proselytizing, attempting to gain over to the side of Macedonia on the +one hand the national, and on the other--if we may be permitted the +expression--the communistic, party. As a matter of course, the whole +national party among the Asiatic as well as the European Greeks was +now at heart Macedonian; not on account of isolated unrighteous acts +on the part of the Roman deliverers, but because the restoration of +Hellenic nationality by a foreign power involved a contradiction in +terms, and now, when it was in truth too late, every one perceived +that the most detestable form of Macedonian rule was less fraught with +evil for Greece than a free constitution springing from the noblest +intentions of honourable foreigners. That the most able and upright +men throughout Greece should be opposed to Rome was to be expected; +the venal aristocracy alone was favourable to the Romans, and here +and there an isolated man of worth, who, unlike the great majority, +was under no delusion as to the circumstances and the future of the +nation. This was most painfully felt by Eumenes of Pergamus, the main +upholder of that extraneous freedom among the Greeks. In vain he +treated the cities subject to him with every sort of consideration; +in vain he sued for the favour of the communities and diets by fair- +sounding words and still better-sounding gold; he had to learn that +his presents were declined, and that all the statues that had formerly +been erected to him were broken in pieces and the honorary tablets +were melted down, in accordance with a decree of the diet, +simultaneously throughout the Peloponnesus (584). The name of Perseus +was on all lips; even the states that formerly were most decidedly +anti-Macedonian, such as the Achaeans, deliberated as to the +cancelling of the laws directed against Macedonia; Byzantium, +although situated within the kingdom of Pergamus, sought and obtained +protection and a garrison against the Thracians not from Eumenes, but +from Perseus, and in like manner Lampsacus on the Hellespont joined +the Macedonian: the powerful and prudent Rhodians escorted the Syrian +bride of king Perseus from Antioch with their whole magnificent war- +fleet--for the Syrian war-vessels were not allowed to appear in the +Aegean--and returned home highly honoured and furnished with rich +presents, more especially with wood for shipbuilding; commissioners +from the Asiatic cities, and consequently subjects of Eumenes, held +secret conferences with Macedonian deputies in Samothrace. That +sending of the Rhodian war-fleet had at least the aspect of a +demonstration; and such, certainly, was the object of king Perseus, +when he exhibited himself and all his army before the eyes of the +Hellenes under pretext of performing a religious ceremony at Delphi. +That the king should appeal to the support of this national +partisanship in the impending war, was only natural. But it was wrong +in him to take advantage of the fearful economic disorganization of +Greece for the purpose of attaching to Macedonia all those who desired +a revolution in matters of property and of debt. It is difficult to +form any adequate idea of the unparalleled extent to which the +commonwealths as well as individuals in European Greece--excepting the +Peloponnesus, which was in a somewhat better position in this respect +--were involved in debt. Instances occurred of one city attacking and +pillaging another merely to get money--the Athenians, for example, +thus attacked Oropus--and among the Aetolians, Perrhaebians, and +Thessalians formal battles took place between those that had property +and those that had none. Under such circumstances the worst outrages +were perpetrated as a matter of course; among the Aetolians, for +instance, a general amnesty was proclaimed and a new public peace was +made up solely for the purpose of entrapping and putting to death a +number of emigrants. The Romans attempted to mediate; but their +envoys returned without success, and announced that both parties were +equally bad and that their animosities were not to be restrained. In +this case there was, in fact, no longer other help than the officer +and the executioner; sentimental Hellenism began to be as repulsive as +from the first it had been ridiculous. Yet king Perseus sought to +gain the support of this party, if it deserve to be called such--of +people who had nothing, and least of all an honourable name, to lose +--and not only issued edicts in favour of Macedonian bankrupts, but +also caused placards to be put up at Larisa, Delphi, and Delos, which +summoned all Greeks that were exiled on account of political or other +offences or on account of their debts to come to Macedonia and to +look for full restitution of their former honours and estates. As may +easily be supposed, they came; the social revolution smouldering +throughout northern Greece now broke out into open flame, and the +national-social party there sent to Perseus for help. If Hellenic +nationality was to be saved only by such means, the question might +well be asked, with all respect for Sophocles and Phidias, whether +the object was worth the cost. + +Rupture with Perseus + +The senate saw that it had delayed too long already, and that it was +time to put an end to such proceedings. The expulsion of the Thracian +chieftain Abrupolis who was in alliance with the Romans, and the +alliances of Macedonia with the Byzantines, Aetolians, and part of the +Boeotian cities, were equally violations of the peace of 557, and +sufficed for the official war-manifesto: the real ground of war was +that Macedonia was seeking to convert her formal sovereignty into a +real one, and to supplant Rome in the protectorate of the Hellenes. +As early as 581 the Roman envoys at the Achaean diet stated pretty +plainly, that an alliance with Perseus was equivalent to casting off +the alliance of Rome. In 582 king Eumenes came in person to Rome with +a long list of grievances and laid open to the senate the whole +situation of affairs; upon which the senate unexpectedly in a secret +sitting resolved on an immediate declaration of war, and furnished the +landing-places in Epirus with garrisons. For the sake of form an +embassy was sent to Macedonia, but its message was of such a nature +that Perseus, perceiving that he could not recede, replied that he +was ready to conclude with Rome a new alliance on really equal terms, +but that he looked upon the treaty of 557 as cancelled; and he bade +the envoys leave the kingdom within three days. Thus war was +practically declared. + +This was in the autumn of 582. Perseus, had he wished, might have +occupied all Greece and brought the Macedonian party everywhere to the +helm, and he might perhaps have crushed the Roman division of 5000 men +stationed under Gnaeus Sicinius at Apollonia and have disputed the +landing of the Romans. But the king, who already began to tremble at +the serious aspect of affairs, entered into discussions with his +guest-friend the consular Quintus Marcius Philippus, as to the +frivolousness of the Roman declaration of war, and allowed himself to +be thereby induced to postpone the attack and once more to make an +effort for peace with Rome: to which the senate, as might have been +expected, only replied by the dismissal of all Macedonians from Italy +and the embarkation of the legions. Senators of the older school no +doubt censured the "new wisdom" of their colleague, and his un-Roman +artifice; but the object was gained and the winter passed away without +any movement on the part of Perseus. The Romati diplomatists made all +the more zealous use of the interval to deprive Perseus of any support +in Greece. They were sure of the Achaeans. Even the patriotic party +among them--who had neither agreed with those social movements, nor +had soared higher than the longing after a prudent neutrality--had no +idea of throwing themselves into the arms of Perseus; and, besides, +the opposition party there had now been brought by Roman influence to +the helm, and attached itself absolutely to Rome. The Aetolian league +had doubtless asked aid from Perseus in its internal troubles; but +the new strategus, Lyciscus, chosen under the eyes of the Roman +ambassadors, was more of a Roman partisan than the Romans themselves. +Among the Thessalians also the Roman party retained the ascendency. +Even the Boeotians, old partisans as they were of Macedonia, and sunk +in the utmost financial disorder, had not in their collective capacity +declared openly for Perseus; nevertheless at least three of their +cities, Thisbae, Haliartus and Coronea, had of their own accord +entered into engagements with him. When on the complaint of the Roman +envoy the government of the Boeotian confederacy communicated to him +the position of things, he declared that it would best appear which +cities adhered to Rome, and which did not, if they would severally +pronounce their decision in his presence; and thereupon the Boeotian +confederacy fell at once to pieces. It is not true that the great +structure of Epaminondas was destroyed by the Romans; it actually +collapsed before they touched it, and thus indeed became the prelude +to the dissolution of the other still more firmly consolidated leagues +of Greek cities.(3) With the forces of the Boeotian towns friendly +to Rome the Roman envoy Publius Lentulus laid siege to Haliartus, +even before the Roman fleet appeared in the Aegean. + +Preparations for War + +Chalcis was occupied with Achaean, and the province of Orestis with +Epirot, forces: the fortresses of the Dassaretae and Illyrians on the +west frontier of Macedonia were occupied by the troops of Gnaeus +Sicinius; and as soon as the navigation was resumed, Larisa received a +garrison of 2000 men. Perseus during all this remained inactive and +had not a foot's breadth of land beyond his own territory, when in the +spring, or according to the official calendar in June, of 583, the +Roman legions landed on the west coast. It is doubtful whether +Perseus would have found allies of any mark, even had he shown as much +energy as he displayed remissness; but, as circumstances stood, he +remained of course completely isolated, and those prolonged attempts +at proselytism led, for the time at least, to no result. Carthage, +Genthius of Illyria, Rhodes and the free cities of Asia Minor, and +even Byzantium hitherto so very friendly with Perseus, offered to the +Romans vessels of war; which these, however, declined. Eumenes put +his land army and his ships on a war footing. Ariarathes king of +Cappadocia sent hostages, unsolicited, to Rome. The brother-in-law of +Perseus, Prusias II. king of Bithynia, remained neutral. No one +stirred in all Greece. Antiochus IV. king of Syria, designated +in court style "the god, the brilliant bringer of victory," to +distinguish him from his father the "Great," bestirred himself, but +only to wrest the Syrian coast during this war from the entirely +impotent Egypt. + +Beginning of the War + +But, though Perseus stood almost alone, he was no contemptible +antagonist. His army numbered 43,000 men; of these 21,000 were +phalangites, and 4000 Macedonian and Thracian cavalry; the rest were +chiefly mercenaries. The whole force of the Romans in Greece amounted +to between 30,000 and 40,000 Italian troops, besides more than 10,000 +men belonging to Numidian, Ligurian, Greek, Cretan, and especially +Pergamene contingents. To these was added the fleet, which numbered +only 40 decked vessels, as there was no fleet of the enemy to oppose +it--Perseus, who had been prohibited from building ships of war by the +treaty with Rome, was only now erecting docks at Thessalonica--but it +had on board 10,000 troops, as it was destined chiefly to co-operate +in sieges. The fleet was commanded by Gaius Lucretius, the land army +by the consul Publius Licinius Crassus. + +The Romans Invade Thessaly + +The consul left a strong division in Illyria to harass Macedonia +from the west, while with the main force he started, as usual, from +Apollonia for Thessaly. Perseus did not think of disturbing their +arduous march, but contented himself with advancing into Perrhaebia +and occupying the nearest fortresses. He awaited the enemy at Ossa, +and not far from Larisa the first conflict took place between the +cavalry and light troops on both sides. The Romans were decidedly +beaten. Cotys with the Thracian horse had defeated and broken the +Italian, and Perseus with his Macedonian horse the Greek, cavalry; the +Romans had 2000 foot and 200 horsemen killed, and 600 horsemen made +prisoners, and had to deem themselves fortunate in being allowed to +cross the Peneius without hindrance. Perseus employed the victory to +ask peace on the same terms which Philip had obtained: he was ready +even to pay the same sum. The Romans refused his request: they never +concluded peace after a defeat, and in this case the conclusion +of peace would certainly have involved as a consequence the loss +of Greece. + +Their Lax and Unsuccessful Management of the War + +The wretched Roman commander, however, knew not how or where to +attack; the army marched to and fro in Thessaly, without accomplishing +anything of importance. Perseus might have assumed the offensive; he +saw that the Romans were badly led and dilatory; the news had passed +like wildfire through Greece, that the Greek army had been brilliantly +victorious in the first engagement; a second victory might lead to a +general rising of the patriot party, and, by commencing a guerilla +warfare, might produce incalculable results. But Perseus, while a +good soldier, was not a general like his father; he had made his +preparations for a defensive war, and, when things took a different +turn, he felt himself as it were paralyzed. He made an unimportant +success, which the Romans obtained in a second cavalry combai near +Phalanna, a pretext for reverting, as is the habit of narrow and +obstinate minds, to his first plan and evacuating Thessaly. +This was of course equivalent to renouncing all idea of a Hellenic +insurrection: what might have been attained by a different course was +shown by the fact that, notwithstanding what had occurred, the Epirots +changed sides. Thenceforth nothing serious was accomplished on either +side. Perseus subdued king Genthius, chastised the Dardani, and, by +means of Cotys, expelled from Thrace the Thracians friendly to Rome +and the Pergamene troops. On the other hand the western Roman army +took some Illyrian towns, and the consul busied himself in clearing +Thessaly of the Macedonian garrisons and making sure of the turbulent +Aetolians and Acarnanians by occupying Ambracia. But the heroic +courage of the Romans was most severely felt by the unfortunate +Boeotian towns which took part with Perseus; the inhabitants as well +of Thisbae, which surrendered without resistance as soon as the Roman +admiral Gaius Lucretius appeared before the city, as of Haliartus, +which closed its gates against him and had to be taken by storm, were +sold by him into slavery; Corcnea was treated in the same manner by +the consul Crassus in spite even of its capitulation. Never had a +Roman army exhibited such wretched discipline as the force under these +commanders. They had so disorganized the army that, even in the next +campaign of 584, the new consul Aulus Hostilius could not think of +undertaking anything serious, especially as the new admiral Lucius +Hortensius showed himself to be as incapable and unprincipled as his +predecessor. The fleet visited the towns on the Thracian coast +without result. The western army under Appius Claudius, whose +headquarters were at Lychnidus in the territory of the Dassaretae, +sustained one defeat after another: after an expedition to Macedonia +had been utterly unsuccessful, the king in turn towards the beginning +of winter assumed the aggressive with the troops which were no longer +needed on the south frontier in consequence of the deep snow blocking +up all the passes, took from Appius numerous townships and a multitude +of prisoners, and entered into connections with king Genthius; he was +able in fact to attempt an invasion of Aetolia, while Appius allowed +himself to be once more defeated in Epirus by the garrison of a +fortress which he had vainly besieged. The Roman main army made two +attempts to penetrate into Macedonia: first, ovei the Cambunian +mountains, and then through the Thessalian passes; but they were +negligently planned, and both were repulsed by Perseus. + +Abuses in the Army + +The consul employed himself chiefly in the reorganization of the army +--a work which was above all things needful, but which required a +sterner man and an officer of greater mark. Discharges and furloughs +might be bought, and therefore the divisions were never up to their +full numbers; the men were put into quarters in summer, and, as the +officers plundered on a large, the common soldiers plundered on a +small, scale. Friendly peoples were subjected to the most shameful +suspicions: for instance, the blame of the disgraceful defeat at +Larisa was imputed to the pretended treachery of the Aetolian cavalry, +and, what was hitherto unprecedented, its officers were sent to be +criminally tried at Rome; and the Molossians in Epirus were forced +by false suspicions into actual revolt. The allied states had war- +contributions imposed upon them as if they had been conquered, and if +they appealed to the Roman senate, their citizens were executed or +sold into slavery: this was done, for instance, at Abdera, and similar +outrages were committed at Chalcis. The senate interfered very +earnestly:(4) it enjoined the liberation of the unfortunate Coroneans +and Abderites, and forbade the Roman magistrates to ask contributions +from the allies without its leave. Gaius Lucretius was unanimously +condemned by the burgesses. But such steps could not alter the fact, +that the military result of these first two campaigns had been null, +while the political result had been a foul stain on the Romans, whose +extraordinary successes in the east were based in no small degree on +their reputation for moral purity and solidity as compared with the +scandals of Hellenic administration. Had Philip commanded instead of +Perseus, the war would presumably have begun with the destruction of +the Roman army and the defection of most of the Hellenes; but Rome +was fortunate enough to be constantly outstripped in blunders by her +antagonists. Perseus was content with entrenching himself in +Macedonia--which towards the south and west is a true mountain- +fortress--as in a beleaguered town. + +Marcius Enters Macedonia through the Pass of Tempe +The Armies on the Elpius + +The third commander-in-chief also, whom Rome sent to Macedonia in 585, +Quintus Marcius Philippus, that already-mentioned upright guest-friend +of the king, was not at all equal to his far from easy task. He was +ambitious and enterprising, but a bad officer. His hazardous venture +of crossing Olympus by the pass of Lapathus westward of Tempe, leaving +behind one division to face the garrison of the pass, and making his +way with his main force through impracticable denies to Heracleum, is +not excused by the fact of its success. Not only might a handful of +resolute men have blocked the route, in which case retreat was out of +the question; but even after the passage, when he stood with the +Macedonian main force in front and the strongly-fortified mountain- +fortresses of Tempe and Lapathus behind him, wedged into a narrow +plain on the shore and without supplies or the possibility of foraging +for them, his position was no less desperate than when, in his first +consulate, he had allowed himself to be similarly surrounded in the +Ligurian defiles which thenceforth bore his name. But as an accident +saved him then, so the incapacity of Perseus saved him now. As if he +could not comprehend the idea of defending himself against the Romans +otherwise than by blocking the passes, he strangely gave himself over +as lost as soon as he saw the Romans on the Macedonian side of them, +fled in all haste to Pydna, and ordered his ships to be burnt and +his treasures to be sunk. But even this voluntary retreat of the +Macedonian army did not rescue the consul from his painful position. +He advanced indeed without hindrance, but was obliged after four days' +march to turn back for want of provisions; and, when the king came to +his senses and returned in all haste to resume the position which he +had abandoned, the Roman army would have been in great danger, had not +the impregnable Tempe surrendered at the right moment and handed over +its rich stores to the enemy. The communication with the south was +by this means secured to the Roman army; but Perseus had strongly +barricaded himself in his former well-chosen position on the bank of +the little river Elpius, and there checked the farther advance of the +Romans. So the Roman army remained, during the rest of the summer and +the winter, hemmed in in the farthest corner of Thessaly; and, while +the crossing of the passes was certainly a success and the first +substantial one in the war, it was due not to the ability of the +Roman, but to the blundering of the Macedonian, general. The Roman +fleet in vain attempted the capture of Demetrias, and performed no +exploit whatever. The light ships of Perseus boldly cruised between +the Cyclades, protected the corn-vessels destined for Macedonia, and +attacked the transports of the enemy. With the western army matters +were still worse: Appius Claudius could do nothing with his weakened +division, and the contingent which he asked from Achaia was prevented +from coming to him by the jealousy of the consul. Moreover, Genthius +had allowed himself to be bribed by Perseus with the promise of a +great sum of money to break with Rome, and to imprison the Roman +envoys; whereupon the frugal king deemed it superfluous to pay the +money which he had promised, since Genthius was now forsooth +compelled, independently of it, to substitute an attitude of decided +hostility to Rome for the ambiguous position which he had hitherto +maintained. Accordingly the Romans had a further petty war by the +side of the great one, which had already lasted three years. In fact +had Perseus been able to part with his money, he might easily have +aroused enemies still more dangerous to the Romans. A Celtic host +under Clondicus--10,000 horsemen and as many infantry--offered to take +service with him in Macedonia itself; but they could not agree as to +the pay. In Hellas too there was such a ferment that a guerilla +warfare might easily have been kindled with a little dexterity and a +full exchequer; but, as Perseus had no desire to give and the Greeks +did nothing gratuitously, the land remained quiet. + +Paullus + +At length the Romans resolved to send the right man to Greece. This +was Lucius Aemilius Paullus, son of the consul of the same name that +fell at Cannae; a man of the old nobility but of humble means, and +therefore not so successful in the comitia as on the battle-field, +where he had remarkably distinguished himself in Spain and still more +so in Liguria. The people elected him for the second time consul in +the year 586 on account of his merits--a course which was at that +time rare and exceptional. He was in all respects the right man: an +excellent general of the old school, strict as respected both himself +and his troops, and, notwithstanding his sixty years, still hale and +vigorous; an incorruptible magistrate--"one of the few Romans of that +age, to whom one could not offer money," as a contemporary says of +him--and a man of Hellenic culture, who, even when commander-in-chief, +embraced the opportunity of travelling through Greece to inspect its +works of art. + +Perseus Is Driven Back to Pydna +Battle of Pydna +Perseus Taken Prisoner + +As soon as the new general arrived in the camp at Heracleum, he gave +orders for the ill-guarded pass at Pythium to be surprised by Publius +Nasica, while skirmishes between the outposts in the channel of the +river Elpius occupied the attention of the Macedonians; the enemy was +thus turned, and was obliged to retreat to Pydna. There on the Roman +4th of September, 586, or on the 22nd of June of the Julian calendar +--an eclipse of the moon, which a scientific Roman officer announced +beforehand to the army that it might not be regarded as a bad omen, +affords in this case the means of determining the date--the outposts +accidentally fell into conflict as they were watering their horses +after midday; and both sides determined at once to give the battle, +which it was originally intended to postpone till the following day. +Passing through the ranks in person, without helmet or shield, the +grey-headed Roman general arranged his men. Scarce were they in +position, when the formidable phalanx assailed them; the general +himself, who had witnessed many a hard fight, afterwards acknowledged +that he had trembled. The Roman vanguard dispersed; a Paelignian +cohort was overthrown and almost annihilated; the legions themselves +hurriedly retreated till they reached a hill close upon the Roman +camp. Here the fortune of the day changed. The uneven ground and the +hurried pursuit had disordered the ranks of the phalanx; the Romans in +single cohorts entered at every gap, and attacked it on the flanks and +in rear; the Macedonian cavalry which alone could have rendered aid +looked calmly on, and soon fled in a body, the king among the +foremost; and thus the fate of Macedonia was decided in less than an +hour. The 3000 select phalangites allowed themselves to be cut down +to the last man; it was as if the phalanx, which fought its last great +battle at Pydna, had itself wished to perish there. The overthrow was +fearful; 20,000 Macedonians lay on the field of battle, 11,000 were +prisoners. The war was at an end, on the fifteenth day after Paullus +had assumed the command; all Macedonia submitted in two days. The +king fled with his gold--he still had more than 6000 talents +(1,460,000 pounds) in his chest--to Samothrace, accompanied by a few +faithful attendants. But he himself put to death one of these, +Evander of Crete, who was to be called to account as instigator of the +attempted assassination of Eumenes; and then the king's pages and his +last comrades also deserted him. For a moment he hoped that the right +of asylum would protect him; but he himself perceived that he was +clinging to a straw. An attempt to take flight to Cotys failed. So +he wrote to the consul; but the letter was not received, because he +had designated himself in it as king. He recognized his fate, and +surrendered to the Romans at discretion with his children and his +treasures, pusillanimous and weeping so as to disgust even his +conquerors. With a grave satisfaction, and with thoughts turning +rather on the mutability of fortune than on his own present success, +the consul received the most illustrious captive whom Roman general +had ever brought home. Perseus died a few years after, as a state +prisoner, at Alba on the Fucine lake;(5) his son in after years +earned a living in the same Italian country town as a clerk. + +Thus perished the empire of Alexander the Great, which had subdued and +Hellenized the east, 144 years after its founder's death. + +Defeat and Capture of Genthius + +That the tragedy, moreover, might not be without its accompaniment of +farce, at the same time the war against "king" Genthius of Illyria was +also begun and ended by the praetor Lucius Anicius within thirty days. +The piratical fleet was taken, the capital Scodra was captured, and +the two kings, the heir of Alexander the Great and the heir of +Pleuratus, entered Rome side by side as prisoners. + +Macedonia Broken Up + +The senate had resolved that the peril, which the unseasonable +gentleness of Flamininus had brought on Rome, should not recur. +Macedonia was abolished. In the conference at Amphipolis on the +Strymon the Roman commission ordained that the compact, thoroughly +monarchical, single state should be broken up into four republican- +federative leagues moulded on the system of the Greek confederacies, +viz. that of Amphipolis in the eastern regions, that of Thessalonica +with the Chalcidian peninsula, that of Pella on the frontiers of +Thessaly, and that of Pelagonia in the interior. Intermarriages +between persons belonging to different confederacies were to be +invalid, and no one might be a freeholder in more than one of them. +All royal officials, as well as their grown-up sons, were obliged to +leave the country and resort to Italy on pain of death; the Romans +still dreaded, and with reason, the throbbings of the ancient loyalty. +The law of the land and the former constitution otherwise remained in +force; the magistrates were of course nominated by election in each +community, and the power in the communities as well as in the +confederacies was placed in the hands of the upper class. The royal +domains and royalties were not granted to the confederacies, and these +were specially prohibited from working the gold and silvei mines, +a chief source of the national wealth; but in 596 they were again +permitted to work at least the silver-mines.(6) The import of salt, +and the export of timber for shipbuilding, were prohibited. The land- +tax hitherto paid to the king ceased, and the confederacies and +communities were left to tax themselves; but these had to pay to Rome +half of the former land-tax, according to a rate fixed once for all, +amounting in all to 100 talents annually (24,000 pounds).(7) The +whole land was for ever disarmed, and the fortress of Demetrias was +razed; on the northern frontier alone a chain of posts was to be +retained to guard against the incursions of the barbarians. Of the +arms given up, the copper shields were sent to Rome, and the rest +were burnt. + +The Romans gained their object. The Macedonian land still on two +occasions took up arms at the call of princes of the old reigning +house; but otherwise from that time to the present day it has remained +without a history. + +Illyria Broken Up + +Illyria was treated in a similar way. The kingdom of Genthius was +split up into three small free states. There too the freeholders paid +the half of the former land-tax to their new masters, with the +exception of the towns, which had adhered to Rome and in return +obtained exemption from land-tax--an exception, which there was no +opportunity to make in the case of Macedonia. The Illyrian piratic +fleet was confiscated, and presented to the more reputable Greek +communities along that coast. The constant annoyances, which the +Illyrians inflicted on the neighbours by their corsairs, were in this +way put an end to, at least for a lengthened period. + +Cotys + +Cotys in Thrace, who was difficult to be reached and might +conveniently be used against Eumenes, obtained pardon and received +back his captive son. + +Thus the affairs of the north were settled, and Macedonia also was at +last released from the yoke of monarchy--in fact Greece was more free +than ever; a king no longer existed anywhere. + +Humiliation of the Greeks in General +Course Pursued with Pergamus + +But the Romans did not confine themselves to cutting the nerves and +sinews of Macedonia. The senate resolved at once to render all the +Hellenic states, friend and foe, for ever incapable of harm, and to +reduce all of them alike to the same humble clientship. The course +pursued may itself admit of justification; but the mode in which it +was carried out in the case of the more powerful of the Greek client- +states was unworthy of a great power, and showed that the epoch of +the Fabii and the Scipios was at an end. + +The state most affected by this change in the position of parties was +the kingdom of the Attalids, which had been created and fostered by +Rome to keep Macedonia in check, and which now, after the destruction +of Macedonia, was forsooth no longer needed. It was not easy to find +a tolerable pretext for depriving the prudent and considerate Eumenes +of his privileged position, and allowing him to fall into disfavour. +All at once, about the time when the Romans were encamped at +Heracleum, strange reports were circulated regarding him--that he was +in secret intercourse with Perseus; that his fleet had been suddenly, +as it were, wafted away; that 500 talents had been offered for his +non-participation in the campaign and 1500 for his mediation to +procure peace, and that the agreement had only broken down through the +avarice of Perseus. As to the Pergamene fleet, the king, after having +paid his respects to the consul, went home with it at the same time +that the Roman fleet went into winter quarters. The story about +corruption was as certainly a fable as any newspaper canard of the +present day; for that the rich, cunning, and consistent Attalid, who +had primarily occasioned the breach between Rome and Macedonia by +his journey in 582 and had been on that account wellnigh assassinated +by the banditti of Perseus, should--at the moment when the real +difficulties of a war, of whose final issue, moreover, he could never +have had any serious doubt, were overcome--have sold to the instigator +of the murder his share in the spoil for a few talents, and should +have perilled the work of long years for so pitiful a consideration, +may be set down not merely as a fabrication, but as a very silly one. +That no proof was found either in the papers of Perseus or elsewhere, +is sufficiently certain; for even the Romans did not venture to +express those suspicions aloud, But they gained their object. Their +wishes appeared in the behaviour of the Roman grandees towards +Attalus, the brother of Eumenes, who had commanded the Pergamene +auxiliary troops in Greece. Their brave and faithful comrade was +received in Rome with open arms and invited to ask not for his +brother, but for himself--the senate would be glad to give him a +kingdom of his own. Attalus asked nothing but Aenus and Maronea. The +senate thought that this was only a preliminary request, and granted +it with great politeness. But when he took his departure without +having made any further demands, and the senate came to perceive that +the reigning family in Pergamus did not live on such terms with each +other as were customary in princely houses, Aenus and Maronea were +declared free cities. The Pergamenes obtained not a foot's breadth +of territory out of the spoil of Macedonia; if after the victory over +Antiochus the Romans had still saved forms as respected Philip, they +were now disposed to hurt and to humiliate. About this time the +senate appears to have declared Pamphylia, for the possession of which +Eumenes and Antiochus had hitherto contended, independent. What was +of more importance, the Galatians--who had been substantially in the +power of Eumenes, ever since he had expelled the king of Pontus by +force of arms from Caiatia and had on making peace extorted from him +the promise that he would maintain no further communication with the +Galatian princes--now, reckoning beyond doubt on the variance that had +taken place between Eumenes and the Romans, if not directly instigated +by the latter, rose against Eumenes, overran his kingdom, and brought +him into great danger. Eumenes besought the mediation of the Romans; +the Roman envoy declared his readiness to mediate, but thought it +better that Attalus, who commanded the Pergamene army, should not +accompany him lest the barbarians might be put into ill humour. +Singularly enough, he accomplished nothing; in fact, he told on +his return that his mediation had only exasperated the barbarians. +No long time elapsed before the independence of the Galatians was +expressly recognized and guaranteed by the senate. Eumenes determined +to proceed to Rome in person, and to plead his cause in the senate. +But the latter, as if troubled by an evil conscience, suddenly decreed +that in future kings should not be allowed to come to Rome; and +despatched a quaestor to meet him at Brundisium, to lay before him +this decree of the senate, to ask him what he wanted, and to hint to +him that they would be glad to see his speedy departure. The king was +long silent; at length he said that he desired nothing farther, and +re-embarked. He saw how matters stood: the epoch of half-powerful and +half-free alliance was at an end; that of impotent subjection began. + +Humiliation of Rhodes + +Similar treatment befell the Rhodians. They had a singularly +privileged position: their relation to Rome assumed the form not of +symmachy properly so called, but of friendly equality; it did not +prevent them from entering into alliances of any kind, and did not +compel them to supply the Romans with a contingent on demand. This +very circumstance was presumably the real reason why their good +understanding with Rome had already for some time been impaired. +The first dissensions with Rome had arisen in consequence of the +rising of the Lycians, who were handed over to Rhodes after the defeat +of Antiochus, against their oppressors who had (576) cruelly reduced +them to slavery as revolted subjects; the Lycians, however, asserted +that they were not subjects but allies of the Rhodians, and prevailed +with this plea in the Roman senate, which was invited to settle the +doubtful meaning of the instrument of peace. But in this result a +justifiable sympathy with the victims of grievous oppression had +perhaps the chief share; at least nothing further was done on the part +of the Romans, who left this as well as other Hellenic quarrels to +take their course. When the war with Perseus broke out, the Rhodians, +like all other sensible Greeks, viewed it with regret, and blamed +Eumenes in particular as the instigator of it, so that his festal +embassy was not even permitted to be present at the festival of Helios +in Rhodes. But this did not prevent them from adhering to Rome and +keeping the Macedonian party, which existed in Rhodes as well as +everywhere else, aloof from the helm of affairs. The permission given +to them in 585 to export grain from Sicily shows the continuance of +the good understanding with Rome. All of a sudden, shortly before the +battle of Pydna, Rhodian envoys appeared at the Roman head-quarters +and in the Roman senate, announcing that the Rhodians would no longer +tolerate this war which was injurious to their Macedonian traffic and +their revenue from port-dues, that they were disposed themselves to +declare war against the party which should refuse to make peace, and +that with this view they had already concluded an alliance with Crete +and with the Asiatic cities. Many caprices are possible in a republic +governed by primary assemblies; but this insane intervention of a +commercial city--which can only have been resolved on after the +fall of the pass of Tempe was known at Rhodes--requires special +explanation. The key to it is furnished by the well-attested account +that the consul Quintus Marcius, that master of the "new-fashioned +diplomacy," had in the camp at Heracleum (and therefore after the +occupation of the pass of Tempe) loaded the Rhodian envoy Agepolis +with civilities and made an underhand request to him to mediate a +peace. Republican wrongheadedness and vanity did the rest; the +Rhodians fancied that the Romans had given themselves up as lost; +they were eager to play the part of mediator among four great powers +at once; communications were entered into with Perseus; Rhodian envoys +with Macedonian sympathies said more than they should have said; and +they were caught. The senate, which doubtless was itself for the most +part unaware of those intrigues, heard the strange announcement, as +may be conceived, with indignation, and was glad of the favourable +opportunity to humble the haughty mercantile city. A warlike praetor +went even so far as to propose to the people a declaration of war +against Rhodes. In vain the Rhodian ambassadors repeatedly on their +knees adjured the senate to think of the friendship of a hundred and +forty years rather than of the one offence; in vain they sent the +heads of the Macedonian party to the scaffold or to Rome; in vain they +sent a massive wreath of gold in token of their gratitude for the non- +declaration of war. The upright Cato indeed showed that strictly the +Rhodians had committed no offence and asked whether the Romans were +desirous to undertake the punishment of wishes and thoughts, and +whether they could blame the nations for being apprehensive that Rome +might allow herself all license if she had no longer any one to fear? +His words and warnings were in vain. The senate deprived the Rhodians +of their possessions on the mainland, which yielded a yearly produce +of 120 talents (29,000 pounds). Still heavier were the blows aimed at +the Rhodian commerce. The very prohibition of the import of salt to, +and of the export of shipbuilding timber from, Macedonia appears to +have been directed against Rhodes. Rhodian commerce was still more +directly affected by the erection of the free port at Delos; the +Rhodian customs-dues, which hitherto had produced 1,000,000 drachmae +(41,000 pounds) annually, sank in a very brief period to 150,000 +drachmae (6180 pounds). Generally, the Rhodians were paralyzed in +their freedom of action and in their liberal and bold commercial +policy, and the state began to languish. Even the alliance asked +for was at first refused, and was only renewed in 590 after urgent +entreaties. The equally guilty but powerless Cretans escaped with +a sharp rebuke. + +Intervention in the Syro-Egyptian War + +With Syria and Egypt the Romans could go to work more summarily. +War had broken out between them; and Coelesyria and Palaestina formed +once more the subject of dispute. According to the assertion of the +Egyptians, those provinces had been ceded to Egypt on the marriage of +the Syrian Cleopatra: this however the court of Babylon, which was in +actual possession, disputed. Apparently the charging of her dowry on +the taxes of the Coelesyrian cities gave occasion to the quarrel, and +the Syrian side was in the right; the breaking out of the war was +occasioned by the death of Cleopatra in 581, with which at latest the +payments of revenue terminated. The war appears to have been begun by +Egypt; but king Antiochus Epiphanes gladly embraced the opportunity +of once more--and for the last time--endeavouring to achieve the +traditional aim of the policy of the Seleucidae, the acquisition of +Egypt, while the Romans were employed in Macedonia. Fortune seemed +favourable to him. The king of Egypt at that time, Ptolemy VI, +Philometor, the son of Cleopatra, had hardly passed the age of boyhood +and had bad advisers; after a great victory on the Syro-Egyptian +frontier Antiochus was able to advance into the territories of his +nephew in the same year in which the legions landed in Greece (583), +and soon had the person of the king in his power. Matters began to +look as if Antiochus wished to possess himself of all Egypt in +Philometor's name; Alexandria accordingly closed its gates against +him, deposed Philometor, and nominated as king in his stead his +younger brother, named Euergetes II, or the Fat. Disturbances in his +own kingdom recalled the Syrian king from Egypt; when he returned, he +found that the brothers had come to an understanding during his +absence; and he then continued the war against both. Just as he lay +before Alexandria, not long after the battle of Pydna (586), the Roman +envoy Gaius Popillius, a harsh rude man, arrived, and intimated to him +the command of the senate that he should restore all that he had +conquered and should evacuate Egypt within a set term. Antiochus +asked time for consideration; but the consular drew with his staff a +circle round the king, and bade him declare his intentions before he +stepped beyond the circle. Antiochus replied that he would comply; +and marched off to his capital that he might there, in his character +of "the god, the brilliant bringer of victory," celebrate in Roman +fashion his conquest of Egypt and parody the triumph of Paullus. + +Measures of Security in Greece + +Egypt voluntarily submitted to the Roman protectorate; and thereupon +the kings of Babylon also desisted from the last attempt to maintain +their independence against Rome. As with Macedonia in the war waged +by Perseus, the Seleucidae in the war regarding Coelesyria made a +similar and similarly final effort to recover their former power; but +it is a significant indication of the difference between the two +kingdoms, that in the former case the legions, in the latter the +abrupt language of a diplomatist, decided the controversy. In Greece +itself, as the two Boeotian cities had already paid more than a +sufficient penalty, the Molottians alone remained to be punished as +allies of Perseus. Acting on secret orders from the senate, Paullus +in one day gave up seventy townships in Epirus to plunder, and sold +the inhabitants, 150,000 in number, into slavery. The Aetolians lost +Amphipolis, and the Acarnanians Leucas, on account of their equivocal +behaviour; whereas the Athenians, who continued to play the part of +the begging poet in their own Aristophanes, not only obtained a gift +of Delos and Lemnos, but were not ashamed even to petition for the +deserted site of Haliartus, which was assigned to them accordingly. +Thus something was done for the Muses; but more had to be done for +justice. There was a Macedonian party in every city, and therefore +trials for high treason began in all parts of Greece. Whoever had +served in the army of Perseus was immediately executed, whoever was +compromised by the papers of the king or the statements of political +opponents who flocked to lodge informations, was despatched to Rome; +the Achaean Callicrates and the Aetolian Lyciscus distinguished +themselves in the trade of informers. In this way the more +conspicuous patriots among the Thessalians, Aetolians, Acarnanians, +Lesbians and so forth, were removed from their native land; and, +in particular, more than a thousand Achaeans were thus disposed of +--a step taken with the view not so much of prosecuting those who were +carried off, as of silencing the childish opposition of the Hellenes. + +To the Achaeans, who, as usual, were not content till they got the +answer which they anticipated, the senate, wearied by constant +requests for the commencement of the investigation, at length roundly +declared that till further orders the persons concerned were to remain +in Italy. There they were placed in country towns in the interior, +and tolerably well treated; but attempts to escape were punished with +death. The position of the former officials removed from Macedonia +was, in all probability, similar. This expedient, violent as it was, +was still, as things stood, the most lenient, and the enraged Greeks +of the Roman party were far from content with the paucity of the +executions. Lyciscus had accordingly deemed it proper, by way of +preliminary, to have 500 of the leading men of the Aetolian patriotic +party slain at the meeting of the diet; the Roman commission, which +needed the man, suffered the deed to pass unpunished, and merely +censured the employment of Roman soldiers in the execution of this +Hellenic usage. We may presume, however, that the Romans instituted +the system of deportation to Italy partly in order to prevent such +horrors. As in Greece proper no power existed even of such importance +as Rhodes or Pergamus, there was no need in its case for any further +humiliation; the steps taken were taken only in the exercise of +justice--in the Roman sense, no doubt, of that term--and for +the prevention of the most scandalous and palpable outbreaks of +party discord. + +Rome and Her Dependencies + +All the Hellenistic states had thus been completely subjected to the +protectorate of Rome, and the whole empire of Alexander the Great had +fallen to the Roman commonwealth just as if the city had inherited it +from his heirs. From all sides kings and ambassadors flocked to Rome +to congratulate her; and they showed that fawning is never more abject +than when kings are in the antechamber. King Massinissa, who only +desisted from presenting himself in person on being expressly +prohibited from doing so, ordered his son to declare that he +regarded himself as merely the beneficiary, and the Romans as the true +proprietors, of his kingdom, and that he would always be content with +what they were willing to leave to him. There was at least truth +in this. But Prusias king of Bithynia, who had to atone for his +neutrality, bore off the palm in this contest of flattery; he fell on +his face when he was conducted into the senate, and did homage to "the +delivering gods." As he was so thoroughly contemptible, Polybius tells +us, they gave him a polite reply, and presented him with the fleet +of Perseus. + +The moment was at least well chosen for such acts of homage. Polybius +dates from the battle of Pydna the full establishment of the universal +empire of Rome. It was in fact the last battle in which a civilized +state confronted Rome in the field on a footing of equality with her +as a great power; all subsequent struggles were rebellions or wars +with peoples beyond the pale of the Romano-Greek civilization +--with barbarians, as they were called. The whole civilized world +thenceforth recognized in the Roman senate the supreme tribunal, whose +commissions decided in the last resort between kings and nations; and +to acquire its language and manners foreign princes and youths of +quality resided in Rome. A clear and earnest attempt to get rid of +this dominion was in reality made only once--by the great Mithradates +of Pontus. The battle of Pydna, moreover, marks the last occasion on +which the senate still adhered to the state-maxim that they should, if +possible, hold no possessions and maintain no garrisons beyond the +Italian seas, but should keep the numerous states dependent on them in +order by a mere political supremacy. The aim of their policy was that +these states should neither decline into utter weakness and anarchy, +as had nevertheless happened in Greece nor emerge out of their half- +free position into complete independence, as Macedonia had attempted +to do not without success. No state was to be allowed utterly to +perish, but no one was to be permitted to stand on its own resources. +Accordingly the vanquished foe held at least an equal, often a better, +position with the Roman diplomatists than the faithful ally; and, +while a defeated opponent was reinstated, those who attempted to +reinstate themselves were abased--as the Aetolians, Macedonia after +the Asiatic war, Rhodes, and Pergamus learned by experience. But not +only did this part of protector soon prove as irksome to the masters +as to the servants; the Roman protectorate, with its ungrateful +Sisyphian toil that continually needed to be begun afresh, showed +itself to be intrinsically untenable. Indications of a change of +system, and of an increasing disinclination on the part of Rome to +tolerate by its side intermediate states even in such independence as +was possible for them, were very clearly given in the destruction of +the Macedonian monarchy after the battle of Pydna, The more and more +frequent and more and more unavoidable intervention in the internal +affairs of the petty Greek states through their misgovernment and +their political and social anarchy; the disarming of Macedonia, where +the northern frontier at any rate urgently required a defence +different from that of mere posts; and, lastly, the introduction of +the payment of land-tax to Rome from Macedonia and Illyria, were so +many symptoms of the approaching conversion of the client states +into subjects of Rome. + +The Italian and Extra-Italian Policy of Rome + +If, in conclusion, we glance back at the career of Rome from the union +of Italy to the dismemberment of Macedonia, the universal empire of +Rome, far from appearing as a gigantic plan contrived and carried out +by an insatiable thirst for territorial aggrandizement, appears to +have been a result which forced itself on the Roman government +without, and even in opposition to, its wish. It is true that the +former view naturally suggests itself--Sallust is right when he makes +Mithradates say that the wars of Rome with tribes, cities, and kings +originated in one and the same prime cause, the insatiable longing +after dominion and riches; but it is an error to give forth this +judgment--influenced by passion and the event--as a historical fact. +It is evident to every one whose observation is not superficial, that +the Roman government during this whole period wished and desired +nothing but the sovereignty of Italy; that they were simply desirous +not to have too powerful neighbours alongside of them; and that--not +out of humanity towards the vanquished, but from the very sound view +that they ought not to suffer the kernel of their empire to be stifled +by the shell--they earnestly opposed the introduction first of Africa, +then of Greece, and lastly of Asia into the sphere of the Roman +protectorate, till circumstances in each case compelled, or at least +suggested with irresistible force, the extension of that sphere. The +Romans always asserted that they did not pursue a policy of conquest, +and that they were always the party assailed; and this was something +more, at any rate, than a mere phrase. They were in fact driven to +all their great wars with the exception of that concerning Sicily--to +those with Hannibal and Antiochus, no less than to those with Philip +and Perseus--either by a direct aggression or by an unparalleled +disturbance of the existing political relations; and hence they were +ordinarily taken by surprise on their outbreak. That they did not +after victory exhibit the moderation which they ought to have done in +the interest more especially of Italy itself; that the retention of +Spain, for instance, the undertaking of the guardianship of Africa, +and above all the half-fanciful scheme of bringing liberty everywhere +to the Greeks, were in the light of Italian policy grave errors, is +sufficiently clear. But the causes of these errors were, on the +one hand a blind dread of Carthage, on the other a still blinder +enthusiasm for Hellenic liberty; so little did the Romans exhibit +during this period the lust of conquest, that they, on the contrary, +displayed a very judicious dread of it. The policy of Rome throughout +was not projected by a single mightly intellect and bequeathed +traditionally from generation to generation; it was the policy of a +very able but somewhat narrow-minded deliberative assembly, which had +far too little power of grand combination, and far too much of a right +instinct for the preservation of its own commonwealth, to devise +projects in the spirit of a Caesar or a Napoleon. The universal +empire of Rome had its ultimate ground in the political development of +antiquity in general. The ancient world knew nothing of a balance of +power among nations; and therefore every nation which had attained +internal unity strove either directly to subdue its neighbors, as did +the Hellenic states, or at any rate to render them innocuous, as Rome +did,--an effort, it is true, which also issued ultimately in +subjugation. Egypt was perhaps the only great power in antiquity +which seriously pursued a system of equilibrium; on the opposite +system Seleucus and Antigonous, Hannibal and Scipio, came into +collision. And, if it seems to us sad that all the other richly- +endowed and highly-developed nations of antiquity had to perish in +order to enrich a single one out of the whole, and that all in the +long run appear to have only arisen to contribute to the greatness +of Italy and to the decay involved in that greatness, yet historical +justice must acknowledge that this result was not produced by the +military superiority of the legion over the phalanx, but was the +necessary development of the international relations of antiquity +generally-so that the issue was not decided by provoking chance, +but was the fulfillment of an unchangeable, and therefore +endurable, destiny. + +Notes for Chapter X + +1. --Ide gar prasde panth alion ammi dedukein-- (i. 102). + +2. II. VII. Last Struggles in Italy + +3. The legal dissolution of the Boeotian confederacy, however, took +place not at this time, but only after the destruction of Corinth +(Pausan. vii. 14, 4; xvi. 6). + +4. The recently discovered decree of the senate of 9th Oct. 584, which +regulates the legal relations of Thisbae (Ephemeris epigraphica, 1872, +p. 278, fig.; Mitth. d. arch. Inst., in Athen, iv. 235, fig.), gives +a clear insight into these relations. + +5. The story, that the Romans, in order at once to keep the promise +which had guaranteed his life and to take vengeance on him, put him +to death by depriving him of sleep, is certainly a fable. + +6. The statement of Cassiodorus, that the Macedonian mines were +reopened in 596, receives its more exact interpretation by means of +the coins. No gold coins of the four Macedonias are extant; either +therefore the gold-mines remained closed, or the gold extracted was +converted into bars. On the other hand there certainly exist silver +coins of Macedonia -prima- (Amphipolis) in which district the silver- +mines were situated. For the brief period, during which they must +have been struck (596-608), the number of them is remarkably great, +and proves either that the mines were very energetically worked, or +that the old royal money was recoined in large quantity. + +7. The statement that the Macedonian commonwealth was "relieved of +seignorial imposts and taxes" by the Romans (Polyb. xxxvii. 4) does +not necessarily require us to assume a subsequent remission of these +taxes: it is sufficient, for the explanation of Polybius' words, to +assume that the hitherto seignorial tax now became a public one. The +continuance of the constitution granted to the province of Macedonia +by Paullus down to at least the Augustan age (Liv. xlv. 32; Justin, +xxxiii. 2), would, it is true, be compatible also with the remission +of the taxes. + + + + +Chapter XI + +The Government and the Governed + +Formation of New Parties + +The fall of the patriciate by no means divested the Roman commonwealth +of its aristocratic character. We have already(1) indicated that the +plebeian party carried within it that character from the first as well +as, and in some sense still more decidedly than, the patriciate; for, +while in the old body of burgesses an absolute equality of rights +prevailed, the new constitution set out from a distinction between +the senatorial houses who were privileged in point of burgess +rights and of burgess usufructs, and the mass of the other citizens. +Immediately, therefore, on the abolition of the patriciate and the +formal establishment of civic equality, a new aristocracy and a +corresponding opposition were formed; and we have already shown how +the former engrafted itself as it were on the fallen patriciate, and +how, accordingly, the first movements of the new party of progress +were mixed up with the last movements of the old opposition between +the orders.(2) The formation of these new parties began in the fifth +century, but they assumed their definite shape only in the century +which followed. The development of this internal change is, as it +were, drowned amidst the noise of the great wars and victories, and +not merely so, but the process of formation is in this case more +withdrawn from view than any other in Roman history. Like a crust +of ice gathering imperceptibly over the surface of a stream and +imperceptibly confining it more and more, this new Roman aristocracy +silently arose; and not less imperceptibly, like the current +concealing itself beneath and slowly extending, there arose in +opposition to it the new party of progress. It is very difficult +to sum up in a general historical view the several, individually +insignificant, traces of these two antagonistic movements, which do +not for the present yield their historical product in any distinct +actual catastrophe. But the freedom hitherto enjoyed in the +commonwealth was undermined, and the foundation for future revolutions +was laid, during this epoch; and the delineation of these as well as +of the development of Rome in general would remain imperfect, if we +should fail to give some idea of the strength of that encrusting ice, +of the growth of the current beneath, and of the fearful moaning and +cracking that foretold the mighty breaking up which was at hand. + +Germs of the Nobility in the Patriciate + +The Roman nobility attached itself, in form, to earlier institutions +belonging to the times of the patriciate. Persons who once had filled +the highest ordinary magistracies of the state not only, as a matter +of course, practically enjoyed all along a higher honour, but also had +at an early period certain honorary privileges associated with their +position. The most ancient of these was doubtless the permission +given to the descendants of such magistrates to place the wax images +of these illustrious ancestors after their death in the family hall, +along the wall where the pedigree was painted, and to have these +images carried, on occasion of the death of members of the family, +in the funeral procession.(3) To appreciate the importance of this +distinction, we must recollect that the honouring of images was +regarded in the Italo-Hellenic view as unrepublican, and on that +account the Roman state-police did not at all tolerate the exhibition +of effigies of the living, and strictly superintended that of effigies +of the dead. With this privilege were associated various external +insignia, reserved by law or custom for such magistrates and their +descendants:--the golden finger-ring of the men, the silver-mounted +trappings of the youths, the purple border on the toga and the golden +amulet-case of the boys (4)--trifling matters, but still important in +a community where civic equality even in external appearance was so +strictly adhered to,(5) and where, even during the second Punic war, +a burgess was arrested and kept for years in prison because he had +appeared in public, in a manner not sanctioned by law, with a garland +of roses upon his head.(6) + +Patricio-Plebian Nobility + +These distinctions may perhaps have already existed partially in the +time of the patrician government, and, so long as families of higher +and humbler rank were distinguished within the patriciate, may have +served as external insignia for the former; but they certainly only +acquired political importance in consequence of the change of +constitution in 387, by which the plebeian families that attained +the consulate were placed on a footing of equal privilege with the +patrician families, all of whom were now probably entitled to carry +images of their ancestors. Moreover, it was now settled that the +offices of state to which these hereditary privileges were attached +should include neither the lower nor the extraordinary magistracies +nor the tribunate of the plebs, but merely the consulship, the +praetorship which stood on the same level with it,(7) and the curule +aedileship, which bore a part in the administration of public justice +and consequently in the exercise of the sovereign powers of the +state.(8) Although this plebeian nobility, in the strict sense of the +term, could only be formed after the curule offices were opened to +plebeians, yet it exhibited in a short time, if not at the very first, +a certain compactness of organization--doubtless because such a +nobility had long been prefigured in the old senatorial plebeian +families. The result of the Licinian laws in reality therefore +amounted nearly to what we should now call the creation of a batch of +peers. Now that the plebeian families ennobled by their curule +ancestors were united into one body with the patrician families and +acquired a distinctive position and distinguished power in the +commonwealth, the Romans had again arrived at the point whence they +had started; there was once more not merely a governing aristocracy +and a hereditary nobility--both of which in fact had never +disappeared--but there was a governing hereditary nobility, and the +feud between the gentes in possession of the government and the +commons rising in revolt against the gentes could not but begin +afresh. And matters very soon reached that stage. The nobility was +not content with its honorary privileges which were matters of +comparative indifference, but strove after separate and sole political +power, and sought to convert the most important institutions of the +state--the senate and the equestrian order--from organs of the +commonwealth into organs of the plebeio-patrician aristocracy. + +The Nobility in Possession of the Senate + +The dependence -de jure- of the Roman senate of the republic, more +especially of the larger patricio-plebeian senate, on the magistracy +had rapidly become lax, and had in fact been converted into +independence. The subordination of the public magistracies to +the state-council, introduced by the revolution of 244;(9) the +transference of the right of summoning men to the senate from the +consul to the censor;(10) lastly, and above all, the legal recognition +of the right of those who had been curule magistrates to a seat and +vote in the senate,(11) had converted the senate from a council +summoned by the magistrates and in many respects dependent on them +into a governing corporation virtually independent, and in a certain +sense filling up its own ranks; for the two modes by which its members +obtained admission--election to a curule office and summoning by the +censor--were both virtually in the power of the governing board +itself. The burgesses, no doubt, at this epoch were still too +independent to allow the entire exclusion of non-nobles from the +senate, and the nobility were perhaps still too judicious even to wish +for this; but, owing to the strictly aristocratic gradations in the +senate itself--in which those who had been curule magistrates were +sharply distinguished, according to their respective classes of +-consulares-, -praetorii-, and -aedilicii-, from the senators who +had not entered the senate through a curule office and were therefore +excluded from debate--the non-nobles, although they probably sat in +considerable numbers in the senate, were reduced to an insignificant +and comparatively uninfluential position in it, and the senate became +substantially a mainstay of the nobility. + +The Nobility in Possession of the Equestrian Centuries + +The institution of the equites was developed into a second, less +important but yet far from unimportant, organ of the nobility. As the +new hereditary nobility had not the power to usurp sole possession of +the comitia, it necessarily became in the highest degree desirable +that it should obtain at least a separate position within the body +representing the community. In the assembly of the tribes there +was no method of managing this; but the equestrian centuries under +the Servian organization seemed as it were created for the very +purpose. The 1800 horses which the community furnished(12) were +constitutionally disposed of likewise by the censors. It was, no +doubt, the duty of these to select the equites on military grounds and +at their musters to insist that all horsemen incapacitated by age or +otherwise, or at all unserviceable, should surrender their public +horse; but the very nature of the institution implied that the +equestrian horses should be given especially to men of means, and it +was not at all easy to hinder the censors from looking to genteel +birth more than to capacity, and from allowing men of standing who +were once admitted, senators particularly, to retain their horse +beyond the proper time. Perhaps it was even fixed by law that the +senator might retain it as long as he wished. Accordingly it became +at least practically the rule for the senators to vote in the eighteen +equestrian centuries, and the other places in these were assigned +chiefly to the young men of the nobility. The military system, of +course, suffered from this not so much through the unfitness for +effective service of no small part of the legionary cavalry, as +through the destruction of military equality to which the change gave +rise, inasmuch as the young men of rank more and more withdrew from +service in the infantry. The closed aristocratic corps of the equites +proper came to set the tone for the whole legionary cavalry, taken +from the citizens who were of highest position by descent and wealth. +This enables us in some degree to understand why the equites during +the Sicilian war refused to obey the order of the consul Gaius +Aurelius Cotta that they should work at the trenches with the +legionaries (502), and why Cato, when commander-in-chief of the army +in Spain, found himself under the necessity of addressing a severe +reprimand to his cavalry. But this conversion of the burgess-cavalry +into a mounted guard of nobles redounded not more decidedly to the +injury of the commonwealth than to the advantage of the nobility, +which acquired in the eighteen equestrian centuries a suffrage not +merely separate but giving the tone to the rest. + +Separation of the Orders in the Theatre + +Of a kindred character was the formal separation of the places +assigned to the senatorial order from those occupied by the rest of +the multitude as spectators at the national festivals. It was the +great Scipio, who effected this change in his second consulship in +560. The national festival was as much an assembly of the people as +were the centuries convoked for voting; and the circumstance that the +former had no resolutions to pass made the official announcement of a +distinction between the ruling order and the body of subjects--which +the separation implied--all the more significant. The innovation +accordingly met with much censure even from the ruling class, because +it was simply invidious and not useful, and because it gave a very +manifest contradiction to the efforts of the more prudent portion of +the aristocracy to conceal their exclusive government under the forms +of civil equality. + +The Censorship a Prop of the Nobility + +These circumstances explain, why the censorship became the pivot of +the later republican constitution; why an office, originally standing +by no means in the first rank, came to be gradually invested with +external insignia which did not at all belong to it in itself and with +an altogether unique aristocratic-republican glory, and was viewed as +the crown and completion of a well-conducted public career; and why +the government looked upon every attempt of the opposition to +introduce their men into this office, or even to hold the censor +responsible to the people for his administration during or after his +term of office, as an attack on their palladium, and presented a +united front of resistance to every such attempt. It is sufficient +in this respect to mention the storm which the candidature of Cato for +the censorship provoked, and the measures, so extraordinarily reckless +and in violation of all form, by which the senate prevented the +judicial prosecution of the two unpopular censors of the year 550. +But with their magnifying the glory of the censorship the government +combined a characteristic distrust of this, their most important and +for that very reason most dangerous, instrument. It was thoroughly +necessary to leave to the censors absolute control over the personal +composition of the senate and the equites; for the right of exclusion +could not well be separated from the right of summoning, and it was +indispensable to retain such a right, not so much for the purpose of +removing from the senate capable men of the opposition--a course which +the smooth-going government of that age cautiously avoided--as for the +purpose of preserving around the aristocracy that moral halo, without +which it must have speedily become a prey to the opposition. The +right of ejection was retained; but what they chiefly needed was the +glitter of the naked blade--the edge of it, which they feared, they +took care to blunt. Besides the check involved in the nature of the +office--under which the lists of the members of the aristocratic +corporations were liable to revision only at intervals of five years +--and besides the limitations resulting from the right of veto vested +in the colleague and the right of cancelling vested in the successor, +there was added a farther check which exercised a very sensible +influence; a usage equivalent to law made it the duty of the censor +not to erase from the list any senator or knight without specifying in +writing the grounds for his decision, or, in other words, adopting, as +a rule, a quasi-judicial procedure. + +Remodelling of the Constitution According to the Views of the Nobility +Inadequate Number of Magistrates + +In this political position--mainly based on the senate, the equites, +and the censorship--the nobility not only usurped in substance the +government, but also remodelled the constitution according to their +own views. It was part of their policy, with a view to keep up the +appreciation of the public magistracies, to add to the number of these +as little as possible, and to keep it far below what was required by +the extension of territory and the increase of business. Only the +most urgent exigencies were barely met by the division of the judicial +functions hitherto discharged by a single praetor between two judges +--one of whom tried the lawsuits between Roman burgesses, and the +other those that arose between non-burgesses or between burgess and +non-burgess--in 511, and by the nomination of four auxiliary consuls +for the four transmarine provinces of Sicily (527), Sardinia including +Corsica (527), and Hither and Further Spain (557). The far too +summary mode of initialing processes in Rome, as well as the +increasing influence of the official staff, are doubtless traceable +in great measure to the practically inadequate numbers of the +Roman magistracy. + +Election of Officers in the Comitia + +Among the innovations originated by the government--which were none +the less innovations, that almost uniformly they changed not the +letter, but merely the practice of the existing constitution--the most +prominent were the measures by which the filling up of officers' posts +as well as of civil magistracies was made to depend not, as the letter +of the constitution allowed and its spirit required, simply on merit +and ability, but more and more on birth and seniority. As regards the +nomination of staff-officers this was done not in form, but all the +more in substance. It had already, in the course of the previous +period, been in great part transferred from the general to the +burgesses;(13) in this period came the further step, that the whole +staff-officers of the regular yearly levy--the twenty-four military +tribunes of the four ordinary legions--were nominated in the -comitia +tributa-. Thus a line of demarcation more and more insurmountable was +drawn between the subalterns, who gained their promotion from the +general by punctual and brave service, and the staff, which obtained +its privileged position by canvassing the burgesses.(14) With a view +to check simply the worst abuses in this respect and to prevent young +men quite untried from holding these important posts, it became +necessary to require, as a preliminary to the bestowal of staff +appointments, evidence of a certain number of years of service. +Nevertheless, when once the military tribunate, the true pillar of the +Roman military system, was laid down as the first stepping-stone in +the political career of the young aristocrats, the obligation of +service inevitably came to be frequently eluded, and the election of +officers became liable to all the evils of democratic canvassing and +of aristocratic exclusiveness. It was a cutting commentary on the new +institution, that in serious wars (as in 583) it was found necessary +to suspend this democratic mode of electing officers, and to leave +once more to the general the nomination of his staff. + +Restrictions on the Election of Consuls and Censors + +In the case of civil offices, the first and chief object was to +limit re-election to the supreme magistracies. This was certainly +necessary, if the presidency of annual kings was not to be an empty +name; and even in the preceding period reelection to the consulship +was not permitted till after the lapse often years, while in the case +if the censorship it was altogether forbidden.(15) No farther law was +passed in the period before us; but an increased stringency in its +application is obvious from the fact that, while the law as to the ten +years' interval was suspended in 537 during the continuance of the war +in Italy, there was no farther dispensation from it afterwards, and +indeed towards the close of this period re-election seldom occurred at +all. Moreover, towards the end of this epoch (574) a decree of the +people was issued, binding the candidates for public magistracies to +undertake them in a fixed order of succession, and to observe certain +intervals between the offices, and certain limits of age. Custom, +indeed, had long prescribed both of these; but it was a sensibly +felt restriction of the freedom of election, when the customary +qualification was raised into a legal requirement, and the right of +disregarding such requirements in extraordinary cases was withdrawn +from the elective body. In general, admission to the senate was +thrown open to persons belonging to the ruling families without +distinction as to ability, while not only were the poorer and humbler +ranks of the population utterly precluded from access to the offices +of government, but all Roman burgesses not belonging to the hereditary +aristocracy were practically excluded, not indeed exactly from the +senate, but from the two highest magistracies, the consulship and the +censorship. After Manius Curius and Gaius Fabricius,(16) no instance +can be pointed out of a consul who did not belong to the social +aristocracy, and probably no instance of the kind occurred at all. +But the number of the -gentes-, which appear for the first time in the +lists of consuls and censors in the half-century from the beginning of +the war with Hannibal to the close of that with Perseus, is extremely +limited; and by far the most of these, such as the Flaminii, Terentii, +Porcii, Acilii, and Laelii, may be referred to elections by the +opposition, or are traceable to special aristocratic connections. +The election of Gaius Laelius in 564, for instance, was evidently +due to the Scipios. The exclusion of the poorer classes from the +government was, no doubt, required by the altered circumstances of the +case. Now that Rome had ceased to be a purely Italian state and had +adopted Hellenic culture, it was no longer possible to take a small +farmer from the plough and to set him at the head of the community. +But it was neither necessary nor beneficial that the elections should +almost without exception be confined to the narrow circle of the +curule houses, and that a "new man" could only make his way into that +circle by a sort of usurpation.(17) No doubt a certain hereditary +character was inherent not merely in the nature of the senate as +an institution, in so far as it rested from the outset on a +representation of the clans,(18) but in the nature of aristocracy +generally, in so far as statesmanly wisdom and statesmanly experience +are bequeathed from the able father to the able son, and the inspiring +spirit of an illustrious ancestry fans every noble spark within the +human breast into speedier and more brilliant flame. In this sense +the Roman aristocracy had been at all times hereditary; in fact, it +had displayed its hereditary character with great naivete in the old +custom of the senator taking his sons with him to the senate, and of +the public magistrate decorating his sons, as it were by anticipation, +with the insignia of the highest official honour--the purple border of +the consular, and the golden amulet-case of the triumphator. But, +while in the earlier period the hereditariness of the outward dignity +had been to a certain extent conditioned by the inheritance of +intrinsic worth, and the senatorial aristocracy had guided the state +not primarily by virtue of hereditary right, but by virtue of the +highest of all rights of representation--the right of the excellent, +as contrasted with the ordinary, man--it sank in this epoch (and with +specially great rapidity after the end of the Hannibalic war) from its +original high position, as the aggregate of those in the community who +were most experienced in counsel and action, down to an order of lords +filling up its ranks by hereditary succession, and exercising +collegiate misrule. + +Family Government + +Indeed, matters had already at this time reached such a height, that +out of the grave evil of oligarchy there emerged the still worse evil +of usurpation of power by particular families. We have already +spoken(19) of the offensive family-policy of the conqueror of Zama, +and of his unhappily successful efforts to cover with his own laurels +the incapacity and pitifulness of his brother; and the nepotism of the +Flaminini was, if possible, still more shameless and scandalous than +that of the Scipios. Absolute freedom of election in fact turned to +the advantage of such coteries far more than of the electing body. +The election of Marcus Valerius Corvus to the consulship at twenty- +three had doubtless been for the benefit of the state; but now, when +Scipio obtained the aedileship at twenty-three and the consulate at +thirty, and Flamininus, while not yet thirty years of age, rose from +the quaestorship to the consulship, such proceedings involved serious +danger to the republic. Things had already reached such a pass, that +the only effective barrier against family rule and its consequences +had to be found in a government strictly oligarchical; and this was +the reason why even the party otherwise opposed to the oligarchy +agreed to restrict the freedom of election. + +Government of the Nobility +Internal Administration + +The government bore the stamp of this gradual change in the spirit of +the governing class. It is true that the administration of external +affairs was still dominated at this epoch by that consistency and +energy, by which the rule of the Roman community over Italy had been +established. During the severe disciplinary times of the war as to +Sicily the Roman aristocracy had gradually raised itself to the height +of its new position; and if it unconstitutionally usurped for the +senate functions of government which by right foil to be shared +between the magistrates and the comitia alone, it vindicated the step +by its certainly far from brilliant, but sure and steady, pilotage +of the vessel of the state during the Hannibalic storm and the +complications thence arising, and showed to the world that the Roman +senate was alone able, and in many respects alone deserved, to rule +the wide circle of the Italo-Hellenic states. But admitting the noble +attitude of the ruling Roman senate in opposition to the outward foe +--an attitude crowned with the noblest results--we may not overlook +the fact, that in the less conspicuous, and yet far more important +and far more difficult, administration of the internal affairs of the +state, both the treatment of the existing arrangements and the new +institutions betray an almost opposite spirit, or, to speak more +correctly, indicate that the opposite tendency has already acquired +the predominance in this field. + +Decline in the Administration + +In relation, first of all, to the individual burgess the government +was no longer what it had been. The term "magistrate" meant a man who +was more than other men; and, if he was the servant of the community, +he was for that very reason the master of every burgess. But the +tightness of the rein was now visibly relaxed. Where coteries and +canvassing flourish as they did in the Rome of that age, men are chary +of forfeiting the reciprocal services of their fellows or the favour +of the multitude by stern words and impartial discharge of official +duty. If now and then magistrates appeared who displayed the gravity +and the sternness of the olden time, they were ordinarily, like Cotta +(502) and Cato, new men who had not sprung from the bosom of the +ruling class. It was already something singular, when Paullus, who +had been named commander-in-chief against Perseus, instead of +tendering his thanks in the usual manner to the burgesses, declared +to them that he presumed they had chosen him as general because +they accounted him the most capable of command, and requested them +accordingly not to help him to command, but to be silent and obey. + +As to Military Discipline and Administration of Justice + +The supremacy and hegemony of Rome in the territories of the +Mediterranean rested not least on the strictness of her military +discipline and her administration of justice. Undoubtedly she was +still, on the whole, at that time infinitely superior in these +respects to the Hellenic, Phoenician, and Oriental states, which were +without exception thoroughly disorganized; nevertheless grave abuses +were already occurring in Rome. We have previously(20) pointed out +how the wretched character of the commanders-in-chief--and that not +merely in the case of demagogues chosen perhaps by the opposition, +like Gaius Flaminius and Gaius Varro, but of men who were good +aristocrats--had already in the third Macedonian war imperilled the +weal of the state. And the mode in which justice was occasionally +administered is shown by the scene in the camp of the consul Lucius +Quinctius Flamininus at Placentia (562). To compensate a favourite +youth for the gladiatorial games of the capital, which through his +attendance on the consul he had missed the opportunity of seeing, that +great lord had ordered a Boian of rank who had taken refuge in the +Roman camp to be summoned, and had killed him at a banquet with his +own hand. Still worse than the occurrence itself, to which various +parallels might be adduced, was the fact that the perpetrator was not +brought to trial; and not only so, but when the censor Cato on account +of it erased his name from the roll of the senate, his fellow-senators +invited the expelled to resume his senatorial stall in the theatre +--he was, no doubt, the brother of the liberator of the Greeks, +and one of the most powerful coterie-leaders in the senate. + +As to the Management of Finances + +The financial system of the Roman community also retrograded rather +than advanced during this epoch. The amount of their revenues, +indeed, was visibly on the increase. The indirect taxes--there were +no direct taxes in Rome--increased in consequence of the enlargement +of the Roman territory, which rendered it necessary, for example, to +institute new customs-offices along the Campanian and Bruttian coasts +at Puteoli, Castra (Squillace), and elsewhere, in 555 and 575. The +same reason led to the new salt-tariff of 550 fixing the scale of +prices at which salt was to be sold in the different districts of +Italy, as it was no longer possible to furnish salt at one and the +same price to the Roman burgesses now scattered throughout the land; +but, as the Roman government probably supplied the burgesses with salt +at cost price, if not below it, this financial measure yielded no gain +to the state. Still more considerable was the increase in the produce +of the domains. The duty indeed, which of right was payable to the +treasury from the Italian domain-lands granted for occupation, was in +the great majority of cases neither demanded nor paid. On the other +hand the -scriptura- was retained; and not only so, but the domains +recently acquired in the second Punic war, particularly the greater +portion of the territory of Capua(21) and that of Leontini,(22) +instead of being given up to occupation, were parcelled out and let to +petty temporary lessees, and the attempts at occupation made in these +cases were opposed with more than usual energy by the government; by +which means the state acquired a considerable and secure source of +income. The mines of the state also, particularly the important +Spanish mines, were turned to profit on lease. Lastly, the revenue +was augmented by the tribute of the transmarine subjects. From +extraordinary sources very considerable sums accrued during this epoch +to the state treasury, particularly the produce of the spoil in the +war with Antiochus, 200 millions of sesterces (2,000,000 pounds), and +that of the war with Perseus, 210 millions of sesterces (2,100,000 +pounds)--the latter, the largest sum in cash which ever came at one +time into the Roman treasury. + +But this increase of revenue was for the most part counterbalanced by +the increasing expenditure. The provinces, Sicily perhaps excepted, +probably cost nearly as much as they yielded; the expenditure on +highways and other structures rose in proportion to the extension of +territory; the repayment also of the advances (-tributa-) received +from the freeholder burgesses during times of severe war formed a +burden for many a year afterwards on the Roman treasury. To these +fell to be added very considerable losses occasioned to the revenue +by the mismanagement, negligence, or connivance of the supreme +magistrates. Of the conduct of the officials in the provinces, of +their luxurious living at the expense of the public purse, of their +embezzlement more especially of the spoil, of the incipient system of +bribery and extortion, we shall speak in the sequel. How the state +fared generally as regarded the farming of its revenues and the +contracts for supplies and buildings, may be estimated from the +circumstance, that the senate resolved in 587 to desist from the +working of the Macedonian mines that had fallen to Rome, because the +lessees of the minerals would either plunder the subjects or cheat +the exchequer--truly a naive confession of impotence, in which the +controlling board pronounced its own censure. Not only was the duty +from the occupied domain-land allowed tacitly to fall into abeyance, +as has been already mentioned, but private buildings in the capital +and elsewhere were suffered to encroach on ground which was public +property, and the water from the public aqueducts was diverted to +private purposes: great dissatisfaction was created on one occasion +when a censor took serious steps against such trespassers, and +compelled them either to desist from the separate use of the public +property, or to pay the legal rate for the ground and water. The +conscience of the Romans, otherwise in economic matters so scrupulous, +showed, so far as the community was concerned, a remarkable laxity. +"He who steals from a burgess," said Cato, "ends his days in chains +and fetters; but he who steals from the community ends them in gold +and purple." If, notwithstanding the fact that the public property +of the Roman community was fearlessly and with impunity plundered by +officials and speculators, Polybius still lays stress on the rarity +of embezzlement in Rome, while Greece could hardly produce a single +official who had not touched the public money, and on the honesty with +which a Roman commissioner or magistrate would upon his simple word of +honour administer enormous sums, while in the case of the paltriest +sum in Greece ten letters were sealed and twenty witnesses were +required and yet everybody cheated, this merely implies that social +and economic demoralization had advanced much further in Greece than +in Rome, and in particular, that direct and palpable peculation was +not as yet so flourishing in the one case as in the other. The +general financial result is most clearly exhibited to us by the state +of the public buildings, and by the amount of cash in the treasury. +We find in times of peace a fifth, in times of war a tenth, of the +revenues expended on public buildings; which, in the circumstances, +does not seem to have been a very copious outlay. With these sums, as +well as with fines which were not directly payable into the treasury, +much was doubtless done for the repair of the highways in and near the +capital, for the formation of the chief Italian roads,(23) and for the +construction of public buildings. Perhaps the most important of the +building operations in the capital, known to belong to this period, +was the great repair and extension of the network of sewers throughout +the city, contracted for probably in 570, for which 24,000,000 +sesterces (240,000 pounds) were set apart at once, and to which it may +be presumed that the portions of the -cloacae- still extant, at least +in the main, belong. To all appearance however, even apart from the +severe pressure of war, this period was inferior to the last section +of the preceding epoch in respect of public buildings; between 482 and +607 no new aqueduct was constructed at Rome. The treasure of the +state, no doubt, increased; the last reserve in 545, when: they found +themselves under the necessity of laying hands on it, amounted only to +164,000 pounds (4000 pounds of gold);(24) whereas a short time after +the close of this period (597) close on 860,000 pounds in precious +metals were stored in the treasury. But, when we take into account +the enormous extraordinary revenues which in the generation after the +close of the Hannibalic war came into the Roman treasury, the latter +sum surprises us rather by its smallness than by its magnitude. So +far as with the extremely meagre statements before us it is allowable +to speak of results, the finances of the Roman state exhibit doubtless +an excess of income over expenditure, but are far from presenting a +brilliant result as a whole. + +Italian Subjects +Passive Burgesses + +The change in the spirit of the government was most distinctly +apparent in the treatment of the Italian and extra-Italian subjects of +the Roman community. Formerly there had been distinguished in Italy +the ordinary, and the Latin, allied communities, the Roman burgesses +-sine suffragio- and the Roman burgesses with the full franchise. Of +these four classes the third was in the course of this period almost +completely set aside, inasmuch as the course which had been earlier +taken with the communities of passive burgesses in Latium and Sabina, +was now applied also to those of the former Volscian territory, and +these gradually--the last perhaps being in the year 566 Arpinum, +Fundi, and Formiae--obtained full burgess-rights. In Campania Capua +along with a number of minor communities in the neighbourhood was +broken up in consequence of its revolt from Rome in the Hannibalic +war. Although some few communities, such as Velitrae in the Volscian +territory, Teanum and Cumae in Campania, may have remained on their +earlier legal footing, yet, looking at the matter in the main, this +franchise of a passive character may be held as now superseded. + +Dediticii + +On the other hand there emerged a new class in a position of +peculiar inferiority, without communal freedom and the right to +carry arms, and, in part, treated almost like public slaves +(-peregrini dediticii-); to which, in particular, the members of +the former Campanian, southern Picentine, and Bruttian communities, +that had been in alliance with Hannibal,(25) belonged. To these were +added the Celtic tribes tolerated on the south side of the Alps, whose +position in relation to the Italian confederacy is indeed only known +imperfectly, but is sufficiently characterized as inferior by the +clause embodied in their treaties of alliance with Rome, that no +member of these communities should ever be allowed to acquire +Roman citizenship.(26) + +Allies + +The position of the non-Latin allies had, as we have mentioned +before,(27) undergone a change greatly to their disadvantage in +consequence of the Hannibalic war. Only a few communities in this +category, such as Neapolis, Nola, Rhegium, and Heraclea, had during +all the vicissitudes of that war remained steadfastly on the Roman +side, and therefore retained their former rights as allies unaltered; +by far the greater portion were obliged in consequence of having +changed sides to acquiesce in a revision of the existing treaties to +their disadvantage. The reduced position of the non-Latin allies is +attested by the emigration from their communities into the Latin: +when in 577 the Samnites and Paelignians applied to the senate for a +reduction of their contingents, their request was based on the ground +that during late years 4000 Samnite and Paelignian families had +migrated to the Latin colony of Fregellae. + +Latins + +That the Latins--which term now denoted the few towns in old Latium +that were not included in the Roman burgess-union, such as Tibur and +Praeneste, the allied cities placed in law on the same footing with +them, such as several of the Hernican towns, and the Latin colonies +dispersed throughout Italy--were still at this time in a better +position, is implied in their very name; but they too had, in +proportion, hardly less deteriorated. The burdens imposed on them +were unjustly increased, and the pressure of military service was more +and more devolved from the burgesses upon them and the other Italian +allies. For instance, in 536, nearly twice as many of the allies were +called out as of the burgesses: after the end of the Hannibalic war +all the burgesses received their discharge, but not all the allies; +the latter were chiefly employed for garrison duty and for the odious +service in Spain; in the triumphal largess of 577 the allies received +not as formerly an equal share with the burgesses, but only the half, +so that amidst the unrestrained rejoicing of that soldiers' carnival +the divisions thus treated as inferior followed the chariot of victory +in sullen silence: in the assignations of land in northern Italy the +burgesses received ten jugera of arable land each, the non-burgesses +three -jugera- each. The unlimited liberty of migration had already +at an earlier period been taken from the Latin communities, and +migration to Rome was only allowed to them in the event of their +leaving behind children of their own and a portion of their estate in +the community which had been their home.(28) But these burdensome +requirements were in various ways evaded or transgressed; and the +crowding of the burgesses of Latin townships to Rome, and the +complaints of their magistrates as to the increasing depopulation +of the cities and the impossibility under such circumstances of +furnishing the fixed contingent, led the Roman government to institute +police-ejections from the capital on a large scale (567, 577). The +measure might be unavoidable, but it was none the less severely felt. +Moreover, the towns laid out by Rome in the interior of Italy began +towards the close of this period to receive instead of Latin rights +the full franchise, which previously had only been given to the +maritime colonies; and the enlargement of the Latin body by the +accession of new communities, which hitherto had gone on so regularly, +thus came to an end. Aquileia, the establishment of which began in +571, was the latest of the Italian colonies of Rome that received +Latin rights; the full franchise was given to the colonies, sent forth +nearly at the same time, of Potentia, Pisaurum, Mutina, Parma, and +Luna (570-577). The reason for this evidently lay in the decline of +the Latin as compared with the Roman franchise. The colonists +conducted to the new settlements were always, and now more than ever, +chosen in preponderating number from the Roman burgesses; and even +among the poorer portion of these there was a lack of people willing, +for the sake even of acquiring considerable material advantages, to +exchange their rights as burgesses for those of the Latin franchise. + +Roman Franchise More Difficult of Acquisition + +Lastly, in the case of non-burgesses--communities as well as +individuals--admission to the Roman franchise was almost completely +foreclosed. The earlier course incorporating the subject communities +in that of Rome had been dropped about 400, that the Roman burgess +body might not be too much decentralized by its undue extension; and +therefore communities of half-burgesses were instituted.(29) Now +the centralization of the community was abandoned, partly through +the admission of the half-burgess communities to the full franchise, +partly through the accession of numerous more remote burgess-colonies +to its ranks; but the older system of incorporation was not resumed +with reference to the allied communities. It cannot be shown that +after the complete subjugation of Italy even a single Italian +community exchanged its position as an ally for the Roman franchise; +probably none after that date in reality acquired it Even the +transition of individual Italians to the Roman franchise was confined +almost solely to the case of magistrates of the Latin communities(30) +and, by special favour, of individual non-burgesses admitted to share +it at the founding of burgess-colonies.(31) + +It cannot be denied that these changes -de facto- and -de jure- in +the relations of the Italian subjects exhibit at least an intimate +connection and consistency. The situation of the subject classes was +throughout deteriorated in proportion to the gradations previously +subsisting, and, while the government had formerly endeavoured to +soften the distinctions and to provide means of transition from one to +another, now the intermediate links were everywhere set aside and the +connecting bridges were broken down. As within the Roman burgess-body +the ruling class separated itself from the people, uniformly withdrew +from public burdens, and uniformly took for itself the honours and +advantages, so the burgesses in their turn asserted their distinction +from the Italian confederacy, and excluded it more and more from the +joint enjoyment of rule, while transferring to it a double or triple +share in the common burdens. As the nobility, in relation to the +plebeians, returned to the close exclusiveness of the declining +patriciate, so did the burgesses in relation to the non-burgesses; +the plebeiate, which had become great through the liberality of +its institutions, now wrapped itself up in the rigid maxims of +patricianism. The abolition of the passive burgesses cannot in itself +be censured, and, so far as concerned the motive which led to it, +belongs presumably to another connection to be discussed afterwards; +but through its abolition an intermediate link was lost. Far more +fraught with peril, however, was the disappearance of the distinction +between the Latin and the other Italian communities. The privileged +position of the Latin nation within Italy was the foundation of the +Roman power; that foundation gave way, when the Latin towns began to +feel that they were no longer privileged partakers in the dominion of +the powerful cognate community, but substantially subjects of Rome +like the rest, and when all the Italians began to find their position +equally intolerable. It is true, that there were still distinctions: +the Bruttians and their companions in misery were already treated +exactly like slaves and conducted themselves accordingly, deserting, +for instance, from the fleet in which they served as galley-slaves, +whenever they could, and gladly taking service against Rome; and the +Celtic, and above all the transmarine, subjects formed by the side of +the Italians a class still more oppressed and intentionally abandoned +by the government to contempt and maltreatment at the hands of the +Italians. But such distinctions, while implying a gradation of +classes among the subjects, could not withal afford even a remote +compensation for the earlier contrast between the cognate, and the +alien, Italian subjects. A profound dissatisfaction prevailed through +the whole Italian confederacy, and fear alone prevented it from +finding loud expression. The proposal made in the senate after the +battle at Cannae, to give the Roman franchise and a seat in the senate +to two men from each Latin community, was made at an unseasonable +time, and was rightly rejected; but it shows the apprehension with +which men in the ruling community even then viewed the relations +between Latium and Rome. Had a second Hannibal now carried the war to +Italy, it may be doubted whether he would have again been thwarted by +the steadfast resistance of the Latin name to a foreign domination. + +The Provinces + +But by far the most important institution which this epoch introduced +into the Roman commonwealth, and that at the same time which involved +the most decided and fatal deviation from the course hitherto pursued, +was the new provincial magistracies. The earlier state-law of Rome +knew nothing of tributary subjects: the conquered communities were +either sold into slavery, or merged in the Roman commonwealth, or +lastly, admitted to an alliance which secured to them at least +communal independence and freedom from taxation. But the Carthaginian +possessions in Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain, as well as the kingdom of +Hiero, had paid tribute and rent to their former masters: if Rome was +desirous of retaining these possessions at all, it was in the judgment +of the short-sighted the most judicious, and undoubtedly the most +convenient, course to administer the new territories entirely in +accordance with the rules heretofore observed. Accordingly the Romans +simply retained the Carthagino-Hieronic provincial constitution, and +organized in accordance with it those provinces also, such as Hither +Spain, which they wrested from the barbarians. It was the shirt of +Nessus which they inherited from the enemy. Beyond doubt at first +the Roman government intended, in imposing taxes on their subjects, +not strictly to enrich themselves, but only to cover the cost of +administration and defence; but they already deviated from this +course, when they made Macedonia and Illyria tributary without +undertaking the government or the guardianship of the frontier there. +The fact, however, that they still maintained moderation in the +imposition of burdens was of little consequence, as compared with the +conversion of their sovereignty into a right yielding profit at all; +the fall was the same, whether a single apple was taken or the tree +was plundered. + +Position of the Governors + +Punishment followed in the steps of wrong. The new provincial +system necessitated the appointment of governors, whose position was +absolutely incompatible not only with the welfare of the provinces, +but with the Roman constitution. As the Roman community in the +provinces took the place of the former ruler of the land, so their +governor appeared there in the king's stead; the Sicilian praetor, for +example, resided in the palace of Hiero at Syracuse. It is true, that +by right the governor nevertheless ought to administer his office with +republican honesty and frugality. Cato, when governor of Sardinia, +appeared in the towns subject to him on foot and attended by a single +servant, who carried his coat and sacrificial ladle; and, when he +returned home from his Spanish governorship, he sold his war-horse +beforehand, because he did not hold himself entitled to charge the +state with the expenses of its transport. There is no question that +the Roman governors--although certainly but few of them pushed their +conscientiousness, like Cato, to the verge of being niggardly and +ridiculous--made in many cases a powerful impression on the subjects, +more especially on the frivolous and unstable Greeks, by their old- +fashioned piety, by the reverential stillness prevailing at their +repasts, by their comparatively upright administration of office and +of justice, especially by their proper severity towards the worst +bloodsuckers of the provincials--the Roman revenue-farmers and +bankers--and in general by the gravity and dignity of their +deportment. The provincials found their government comparatively +tolerable. They had not been pampered by their Carthaginian stewards +and Syracusan masters, and they were soon to find occasion for +recalling with gratitude the present rods as compared with the coming +scorpions: it is easy to understand how, in later times, the sixth +century of the city appeared as the golden era of provincial rule. +But it was not practicable for any length of time to be at once +republican and king. Playing the part of governors demoralized the +Roman ruling class \vith fearful rapidity. Haughtiness and arrogance +towards the provincials were so natural in the circumstances, as +scarcely to form matter of reproach against the individual magistrate. +But already it was a rare thing--and the rarer, because the government +adhered rigidly to the old principle of not paying public officials +--that a governor returned with quite clean hands from his province; +it was already remarked upon as something singular that Paullus, the +conqueror of Pydna, did not take money. The bad custom of delivering +to the governor "honorary wine" and other "voluntary" gifts seems as +old as the provincial constitution itself, and may perhaps have been +a legacy from the Carthaginians; even Cato in his administration of +Sardinia in 556 had to content himself with regulating and moderating +such contributions. The right of the magistrates, and of those +travelling on the business of the state generally, to free quarters +and free conveyance was already employed as a pretext for exactions. +The more important right of the magistrate to make requisitions of +grain in his province--partly for the maintenance of himself and his +retinue (-in cellam-) partly for the provisioning of the army in case +of war, or on other special occasions at a fair valuation--was already +so scandalously abused, that on the complaint of the Spaniards the +senate in 583 found it necessary to withdraw from the governors the +right of fixing the price of the supplies for either purpose.(32) +Requisitions had begun to be made on the subjects even for the popular +festivals in Rome; the unmeasured vexatious demands made on the +Italian as well as extra-Italian communities by the aedile Tiberius +Sempronius Gracchus, for the festival which he had to provide, induced +the senate officially to interfere against them (572). The liberties +which Roman magistrates at the close of this period allowed themselves +to take not only with the unhappy subjects, but even with the +dependent free-states and kingdoms, are illustrated by the raids of +Gaius Volso in Asia Minor,(33) and above all by the scandalous +proceedings in Greece during the war with Perseus.(34) + +Control over the Governors +Supervision of the Senate over the Provinces and Their Governors + +The government had no right to be surprised at such things, for it +provided no serious check on the excesses of this capricious military +administration. Judicial control, it is true, was not entirely +wanting. Although, according to the universal but more than +questionable rule of allowing no complaint to be brought against a +commander-in-chief during his term of office,(35) the Roman governor +could ordinarily be called to account only after the mischief had +been done, yet he was amenable both to a criminal and to a civil +prosecution. In order to the institution of the former, a tribune of +the people by virtue of the judicial power pertaining to him had to +take the case in hand and bring it to the bar of the people; the civil +action was remitted by the senator who administered the corresponding +praetorship to a jury appointed, according to the constitution of the +tribunal in those times, from the ranks of the senate. In both cases, +therefore, the control lay in the hands of the ruling class, and, +although the latter was still sufficiently upright and honourable not +absolutely to set aside well-founded complaints, and the senate even +in various instances, at the call of those aggrieved, condescended +itself to order the institution of a civil process, yet the complaints +of poor men and foreigners against powerful members of the ruling +aristocracy--submitted to judges and jurymen far remote from the scene +and, if not involved in the like guilt, at least belonging to the same +order as the accused--could from the first only reckon on success in +the event of the wrong being clear and crying; and to complain in vain +was almost certain destruction. The aggrieved no doubt found a sort +of support in the hereditary relations of clientship, which the +subject cities and provinces entered into with their conquerors and +other Romans brought into close contact with them. The Spanish +governors felt that no one could with impunity maltreat clients of +Cato; and the circumstance that the representatives of the three +nations conquered by Paullus--the Spaniards, Ligurians, and +Macedonians--would not forgo the privilege of carrying his bier to the +funeral pile, was the noblest dirge in honour of that noble man. But +not only did this special protection give the Greeks opportunity to +display in Rome all their talent for abasing themselves in presence of +their masters, and to demoralize even those masters by their ready +servility--the decrees of the Syracusans in honour of Marcellus, after +he had destroyed and plundered their city and they had complained of +his conduct in these respects to the senate in vain, form one of the +most scandalous pages in the far from honourable annals of Syracuse +--but, in connection with the already dangerous family-politics, this +patronage on the part of great houses had also its politically +perilous side. In this way the result perhaps was that the Roman +magistrates in some degree feared the gods and the senate, and for +the most part were moderate in their plundering; but they plundered +withal, and did so with impunity, if they but observed such +moderation. The mischievous rule became established, that in the case +of minor exactions and moderate violence the Roman magistrate acted in +some measure within his sphere and was in law exempt from punishment, +so that those who were aggrieved had to keep silence; and from this +rule succeeding ages did not fail to draw the fatal consequences. +Nevertheless, even though the tribunals had been as strict as they +were lax, the liability to a judicial reckoning could only check +the worst evils. The true security for a good administration lay +in a strict and uniform supervision by the supreme administrative +authority: and this the senate utterly failed to provide. It was +in this respect that the laxity and helplessness of the collegiate +government became earliest apparent. By right the governors ought to +have been subjected to an oversight far more strict and more special +than had sufficed for the administration of Italian municipal affairs; +and now, when the empire embraced great transmarine territories, the +arrangements, through which the government preserved to itself the +supervision of the whole, ought to have undergone a corresponding +expansion. In both respects the reverse was the case. The governors +ruled virtually as sovereign; and the most important of the +institutions serving for the latter purpose, the census of the empire, +was extended to Sicily alone, not to any of the provinces subsequently +acquired. This emancipation of the supreme administrative officials +from the central authority was more than hazardous. The Roman +governor, placed at the head of the armies of the state, and in +possession of considerable financial resources: subject to but a +lax judicial control, and practically independent of the supreme +administration; and impelled by a sort of necessity to separate the +interest of himself and of the people whom he governed from that of +the Roman community and to treat them as conflicting, far more +resembled a Persian satrap than one of the commissioners of the Roman +senate at the time of the Samnite wars. The man, moreover, who had +just conducted a legalized military tyranny abroad, could with +difficulty find his way back to the common civic level, which +distinguished between those who commanded and those who obeyed, but +not between masters and slaves. Even the government felt that their +two fundamental principles--equality within the aristocracy, and the +subordination of the power of the magistrates to the senatorial +college--began in this instance to give way in their hands. The +aversion of the government to the acquisition of new provinces and to +the whole provincial system; the institution of the provincial +quaestorships, which were intended to take at least the financial +power out of the hands of the governors; and the abolition of the +arrangement--in itself so judicious--for a longer tenure of such +offices,(36) very clearly evince the anxiety felt by the more far- +seeing of the Roman statesmen as to the fruits of the seed thus sown. +But diagnosis is not cure. The internal government of the nobility +continued to follow the direction once given to it; and the decay of +the administration and of the financial system--paving the way for +future revolutions and usurpations--steadily pursued its course, +if not unnoticed, yet unchecked. + +The Opposition + +If the new nobility was less sharply defined than the old aristocracy +of the clans, and if the encroachment on the other burgesses as +respected the joint enjoyment of political rights was in the one +case -de jure-, in the other only -de facto-, the second form of +inferiority was for that very reason worse to bear and worse to throw +off than the first. Attempts to throw it off were, as a matter of +course, not wanting. The opposition rested on the support of the +public assembly, as the nobility did on the senate: in order to +understand the opposition, we must first describe the Roman burgess- +body during this period as regards its spirit and its position in the +commonwealth. + +Character of the Roman Burgess-Body + +Whatever could be demanded of an assembly of burgesses like the Roman, +which was not the moving spring, but the firm foundation, of the whole +machinery--a sure perception of the common good, a sagacious deference +towards the right leader, a steadfast spirit in prosperous and evil +days, and, above all, the capacity of sacrificing the individual for +the general welfare and the comfort of the present for the advantage +of the future--all these qualities the Roman community exhibited in so +high a degree that, when we look to its conduct as a whole, all +censure is lost in reverent admiration. Even now good sense and +discretion still thoroughly predominated. The whole conduct of +the burgesses with reference to the government as well as to the +opposition shows quite clearly that the same mighty patriotism before +which even the genius of Hannibal had to quit the field prevailed also +in the Roman comitia. No doubt they often erred; but their errors +originated not in the mischievous impulses of a rabble, but in the +narrow views of burgesses and farmers. The machinery, however, by +means of which the burgesses intervened in the course of public +affairs became certainly more and more unwieldy, and the circumstances +in which they were placed through their own great deeds far outgrew +their power to deal with them. We have already stated, that in the +course of this epoch most of the former communities of passive +burgesses, as well as a considerable number of newly established +colonies, received the full Roman franchise.(37) At the close of this +period the Roman burgess-body, in a tolerably compact mass, filled +Latium in its widest sense, Sabina, and a part of Campania, so that it +reached on the west coast northward to Caere and southward to Cumae; +within this district there were only a few cities not included in it, +such as Tibur, Praeneste, Signia, Norba, and Ferentinum. To this +fell to be added the maritime colonies on the coasts of Italy which +uniformly possessed the full Roman franchise, the Picenian and Trans- +Apennine colonies of the most recent times, to which the franchise +must have been conceded,(38) and a very considerable number of Roman +burgesses, who, without forming separate communities in a strict +sense, were scattered throughout Italy in market-villages and hamlets +(-fora et conciliabula-). To some extent the unwieldiness of a civic +community so constituted was remedied, for the purposes of justice(39) +and of administration, by the deputy judges previously mentioned;(40) +and already perhaps the maritime(41) and the new Picenian and Trans- +Apennine colonies exhibited at least the first lineaments of the +system under which afterwards smaller urban communities were organized +within the great city-commonwealth of Rome. But in all political +questions the primary assembly in the Roman Forum remained alone +entitled to act; and it is obvious at a glance, that this assembly +was no longer, in its composition or in its collective action, what +it had been when all the persons entitled to vote could exercise their +privilege as citizens by leaving their farms in the morning and +returning home the same evening. Moreover the government--whether +from want of judgment, from negligence, or from any evil design, we +cannot tell--no longer as formerly enrolled the communities admitted +to the franchise after 513 in newly instituted election-districts, but +included them along with others in the old; so that gradually each +tribe came to be composed of different townships scattered over the +whole Roman territory. Election-districts such as these, containing +on an average 8000--the urban naturally having more, the rural fewer +--persons entitled to vote, without local connection or inward unity, +no longer admitted of any definite leading or of any satisfactory +previous deliberation; disadvantages which must have been the more +felt, since the voting itself was not preceded by any free debate. +Moreover, while the burgesses had quite sufficient capacity to discern +their communal interests, it was foolish and utterly ridiculous to +leave the decision of the highest and most difficult questions which +the power that ruled the world had to solve to a well-disposed but +fortuitous concourse of Italian farmers, and to allow the nomination +of generals and the conclusion of treaties of state to be finally +judged of by people who understood neither the grounds nor the +consequences of their decrees. In all matters transcending mere +communal affairs the Roman primary assemblies accordingly played a +childish and even silly part. As a rule, the people stood and gave +assent to all proposals; and, when in exceptional instances they of +their own impulse refused assent, as on occasion of the declaration +of war against Macedonia in 554,(42) the policy of the market-place +certainly made a pitiful opposition--and with a pitiful issue--to the +policy of the state. + +Rise of a City Rabble + +At length the rabble of clients assumed a position, formally of +equality and often even, practically, of superiority, alongside of +the class of independent burgesses. The institutions out of which it +sprang were of great antiquity. From time immemorial the Roman of +quality exercised a sort of government over his freedmen and +dependents, and was consulted by them in all their more important +affairs; a client, for instance, was careful not to give his children +in marriage without having obtained the consent of his patron, and +very often the latter directly arranged the match. But as the +aristocracy became converted into a special ruling class concentrating +in its hands not only power but also wealth, the clients became +parasites and beggars; and the new adherents of the rich undermined +outwardly and inwardly the burgess class. The aristocracy not only +tolerated this sort of clientship, but worked it financially and +politically for their own advantage. Thus, for instance, the old +penny collections, which hitherto had taken place chiefly for +religious purposes and at the burial of men of merit, were now +employed by lords of high standing--for the first time by Lucius +Scipio, in 568, on occasion of a popular festival which he had in +contemplation--for the purpose of levying on extraordinary occasions a +contribution from the public. Presents were specially placed under +legal restriction (in 550), because the senators began under that name +to take regular tribute from their clients. But the retinue of +clients was above all serviceable to the ruling class as a means of +commanding the comitia; and the issue of the elections shows clearly +how powerfully the dependent rabble already at this epoch competed +with the independent middle class. + +The very rapid increase of the rabble in the capital particularly, +which is thus presupposed, is also demonstrable otherwise. The +increasing number and importance of the freedmen are shown by the very +serious discussions that arose in the previous century,(43) and were +continued during the present, as to their right to vote in the public +assemblies, and by the remarkable resolution, adopted by the senate +during the Hannibalic war, to admit honourable freedwomen to a +participation in the public collections, and to grant to the +legitimate children of manumitted fathers the insignia hitherto +belonging only to the children of the free-born.(44) The majority of +the Hellenes and Orientals who settled in Rome were probably little +better than the freedmen, for national servility clung as indelibly +to the former as legal servility to the latter. + +Systematic Corruption of the Multitude +Distributions of Grain + +But not only did these natural causes co-operate to produce a +metropolitan rabble: neither the nobility nor the demagogues, +moreover, can be acquitted from the reproach of having systematically +nursed its growth, and of having undermined, so far as in them lay, +the old public spirit by flattery of the people and things still +worse. The electors as a body were still too respectable to admit of +direct electoral corruption showing itself on a great scale; but the +favour of those entitled to vote was indirectly courted by methods far +from commendable. The old obligation of the magistrates, particularly +of the aediles, to see that corn could be procured at a moderate price +and to superintend the games, began to degenerate into the state of +things which at length gave rise to the horrible cry of the city +populace under the Empire, "Bread for nothing and games for ever!" +Large supplies of grain, cither placed by the provincial governors at +the disposal of the Roman market officials, or delivered at Rome free +of cost by the provinces themselves for the purpose of procuring +favour with particular Roman magistrates, enabled the aediles, from +the middle of the sixth century, to furnish grain to the population of +the capital at very low prices. "It was no wonder," Cato considered, +"that the burgesses no longer listened to good advice--the belly +forsooth had no ears." + +Festivals + +Popular amusements increased to an alarming extent. For five hundred +years the community had been content with one festival in the year, +and with one circus. The first Roman demagogue by profession, Gaius +Flaminius, added a second festival and a second circus (534);(45) and +by these institutions--the tendency of which is sufficiently indicated +by the very name of the new festival, "the plebeian games"--he +probably purchased the permission to give battle at the Trasimene +lake. When the path was once opened, the evil made rapid progress. +The festival in honour of Ceres, the goddess who protected the +plebeian order,(46) must have been but little, if at all, later than +the plebeian games. On the suggestion of the Sibylline and Marcian +prophecies, moreover, a fourth festival was added in 542 in honour of +Apollo, and a fifth in 550 in honour of the "Great Mother" recently +transplanted from Phrygia to Rome. These were the severe years of +the Hannibalic war--on the first celebration of the games of Apollo +the burgesses were summoned from the circus itself to arms; the +superstitious fear peculiar to Italy was feverishly excited, and +persons were not wanting who took advantage of the opportunity to +circulate Sibylline and prophetic oracles and to recommend themselves +to the multitude through their contents and advocacy: we can scarcely +blame the government, which was obliged to call for so enormous +sacrifices from the burgesses, for yielding in such matters. But what +was once conceded had to be continued; indeed, even in more peaceful +times (581) there was added another festival, although of minor +importance--the games in honour of Flora. The cost of these new +festal amusements was defrayed by the magistrates entrusted with the +providing of the respective festivals from their own means: thus the +curule aediles had, over and above the old national festival, those +of the Mother of the Gods and of Flora; the plebeian aediles had the +plebeian festival and that of Ceres, and the urban praetor the +Apollinarian games. Those who sanctioned the new festivals perhaps +excused themselves in their own eyes by the reflection that they were +not at any rate a burden on the public purse; but it would have been +in reality far less injurious to burden the public budget with a +number of useless expenses, than to allow the providing of an +amusement for the people to become practically a qualification for +holding the highest office in the state. The future candidates for +the consulship soon entered into a mutual rivalry in their expenditure +on these games, which incredibly increased their cost; and, as may +well be conceived, it did no harm if the consul expectant gave, +over and above this as it were legal contribution, a voluntary +"performance" (-munus-), a gladiatorial show at his own expense for +the public benefit. The splendour of the games became gradually the +standard by which the electors measured the fitness of the candidates +for the consulship. The nobility had, in truth, to pay dear for their +honours--a gladiatorial show on a respectable scale cost 720,000 +sesterces (7200 pounds)--but they paid willingly, since by this +means they absolutely precluded men who were not wealthy from a +political career. + +Squandering of the Spoil + +Corruption, however, was not restricted to the Forum; it was +transferred even to the camp. The old burgess militia had reckoned +themselves fortunate when they brought home a compensation for the +toil of war, and, in the event of success, a trifling gift as a +memorial of victory. The new generals, with Scipio Africanus at their +head, lavishly scattered amongst their troops the money of Rome as +well as the proceeds of the spoil: it was on this point, that Cato +quarrelled with Scipio during the last campaigns against Hannibal in +Africa. The veterans from the second Macedonian war and that waged in +Asia Minor already returned home throughout as wealthy men: even the +better class began to commend a general, who did not appropriate the +gifts of the provincials and the gains of war entirely to himself and +his immediate followers, and from whose camp not a few men returned +with gold, and many with silver, in their pockets: men began to forget +that the moveable spoil was the property of the state. When Lucius +Paullus again dealt with it in the old mode, his own soldiers, +especially the volunteers who had been allured in numbers by the +prospect of rich plunder, fell little short of refusing to the +victor of Pydna by popular decree the honour of a triumph--an honour +which they already threw away on every one who had subjugated three +Ligurian villages. + +Decline of Warlike Spirit + +How much the military discipline and the martial spirit of the +burgesses suffered from this conversion of war into a traffic in +plunder, may be traced in the campaigns against Perseus; and the +spread of cowardice was manifested in a way almost scandalous during +the insignificant Istrian war (in 576). On occasion of a trifling +skirmish magnified by rumour to gigantic dimensions, the land army +and the naval force of the Romans, and even the Italians, ran off +homeward, and Cato found it necessary to address a special reproof to +his countrymen for their cowardice. In this too the youth of quality +took precedence. Already during the Hannibalic war (545) the censors +found occasion to visit with severe penalties the remissness of those +who were liable to military service under the equestrian census. +Towards the close of this period (574?) a decree of the people +prescribed evidence of ten years' service as a qualification for +holding any public magistracy, with a view to compel the sons of +the nobility to enter the army. + +Title-Hunting + +But perhaps nothing so clearly evinces the decay of genuine pride and +genuine honour in high and low alike as the hunting after insignia and +titles, which appeared under different forms of expression, but with +substantial identity of character, among all ranks and classes. So +urgent was the demand for the honour of a triumph that there was +difficulty in upholding the old rule, which accorded a triumph only +to the ordinary supreme magistrate who augmented the power of the +commonwealth in open battle, and thereby, it is true, not unfrequently +excluded from that honour the very authors of the most important +successes. There was a necessity for acquiescence, while those +generals, who had in vain solicited, or had no prospect of attaining, +a triumph from the senate or the burgesses, marched in triumph on +their own account at least to the Alban Mount (first in 523). No +combat with a Ligurian or Corsican horde was too insignificant to be +made a pretext for demanding a triumph. In order to put an end to the +trade of peaceful triumphators, such as were the consuls of 574, the +granting of a triumph was made to depend on the producing proof of a +pitched battle which had cost the lives of at least 5000 of the enemy; +but this proof was frequently evaded by false bulletins--already in +houses of quality many an enemy's armour might be seen to glitter, +which had by no means come thither from the field of battle. While +formerly the commander-in-chief of the one year had reckoned it an +honour to serve next year on the staff of his successor, the fact that +the consular Cato took service as a military tribune under Tiberius +Sempronius Longus (560) and Manius Glabrio (563;(47)), was now +regarded as a demonstration against the new-fashioned arrogance. +Formerly the thanks of the community once for all had sufficed for +service rendered to the state: now every meritorious act seemed to +demand a permanent distinction. Already Gaius Duilius, the victor of +Mylae (494), had gained an exceptional permission that, when he walked +in the evening through the streets of the capital, he should be +preceded by a torch-bearer and a piper. Statues and monuments, very +often erected at the expense of the person whom they purported to +honour, became so common, that it was ironically pronounced a +distinction to have none. But such merely personal honours did not +long suffice. A custom came into vogue, by which the victor and his +descendants derived a permanent surname from the victories they had +won--a custom mainly established by the victor of Zama who got himself +designated as the hero of Africa, his brother as the hero of Asia, and +his cousin as the hero of Spain.(48) The example set by the higher +was followed by the humbler classes. When the ruling order did not +disdain to settle the funeral arrangements for different ranks and to +decree to the man who had been censor a purple winding-sheet, it could +not complain of the freedmen for desiring that their sons at any rate +might be decorated with the much-envied purple border. The robe, the +ring, and the amulet-case distinguished not only the burgess and the +burgess's wife from the foreigner and the slave, but also the person +who was free-born from one who had been a slave, the son of free-born, +from the son of manumitted, parents, the son of the knight and the +senator from the common burgess, the descendant of a curule house from +the common senator(49)--and this in a community where all that was +good and great was the work of civil equality! + +The dissension in the community was reflected in the ranks of the +opposition. Resting on the support of the farmers, the patriots +raised a loud cry for reform; resting on the support of the mob in +the capital, demagogism began its work. Although the two tendencies +do not admit of being wholly separated but in various respects go hand +in hand, it will be necessary to consider them apart. + +The Party of Reform +Cato + +The party of reform emerges, as it were, personified in Marcus Porcius +Cato (520-605). Cato, the last statesman of note belonging to that +earlier system which restricted its ideas to Italy and was averse to +universal empire, was for that reason accounted in after times the +model of a genuine Roman of the antique stamp; he may with greater +justice be regarded as the representative of the opposition of the +Roman middle class to the new Hellenico-cosmopolite nobility. Brought +up at the plough, he was induced to enter on a political career by the +owner of a neighbouring estate, one of the few nobles who kept aloof +from the tendencies of the age, Lucius Valerius Flaccus. That upright +patrician deemed the rough Sabine farmer the proper man to stem the +current of the times; and he was not deceived in his estimate. +Beneath the aegis of Flaccus, and after the good old fashion serving +his fellow-citizens and the commonwealth in counsel and action, Cato +fought his way up to the consulate and a triumph, and even to the +censorship. Having in his seventeenth year entered the burgess-army, +he had passed through the whole Hannibalic war from the battle on the +Trasimene lake to that of Zama; had served under Marcellus and Fabius, +under Nero and Scipio; and at Tarentum and Sena, in Africa, Sardinia, +Spain, and Macedonia, had shown himself capable as a soldier, a staff- +officer, and a general. He was the same in the Forum, as in the +battle-field. His prompt and fearless utterance, his rough but +pungent rustic wit, his knowledge of Roman law and Roman affairs, his +incredible activity and his iron frame, first brought him into notice +in the neighbouring towns; and, when at length he made his appearance +on the greater arena of the Forum and the senate-house in the capital, +constituted him the most influential advocate and political orator of +his time. He took up the key-note first struck by Manius Curius, his +ideal among Roman statesmen;(50) throughout his long life he made it +his task honestly, to the best of his judgment, to assail on all hands +the prevailing declension; and even in his eighty-fifth year he +battled in the Forum with the new spirit of the times. He was +anything but comely--he had green eyes, his enemies alleged, and red +hair--and he was not a great man, still less a far-seeing statesman. +Thoroughly narrow in his political and moral views, and having the +ideal of the good old times always before his eyes and on his lips, he +cherished an obstinate contempt for everything new. Deeming himself +by virtue of his own austere life entitled to manifest an unrelenting +severity and harshness towards everything and everybody; upright and +honourable, but without a glimpse of any duty lying beyond the sphere +of police order and of mercantile integrity; an enemy to all villany +and vulgarity as well as to all refinement and geniality, and above +all things the foe of his foes; he never made an attempt to stop evils +at their source, but waged war throughout life against symptoms, and +especially against persons. The ruling lords, no doubt, looked down +with a lofty disdain on the ignoble growler, and believed, not without +reason, that they were far superior; but fashionable corruption in and +out of the senate secretly trembled in the presence of the old censor +of morals with his proud republican bearing, of the scar-covered +veteran from the Hannibalic war, and of the highly influential senator +and the idol of the Roman farmers. He publicly laid before his noble +colleagues, one after another, his list of their sins; certainly +without being remarkably particular as to the proofs, and certainly +also with a peculiar relish in the case of those who had personally +crossed or provoked him. With equal fearlessness he reproved and +publicly scolded the burgesses for every new injustice and every fresh +disorder. His vehement attacks provoked numerous enemies, and he +lived in declared and irreconcilable hostility with the most powerful +aristocratic coteries of the time, particularly the Scipios and +Flaminini; he was publicly accused forty-four times. But the farmers +--and it is a significant indication how powerful still in the Roman +middle class was the spirit which had enabled them to survive the day +of Cannae--never allowed the unsparing champion of reform to lack the +support of their votes. Indeed when in 570 Cato and his like-minded +patrician colleague, Lucius Flaccus, solicited the censorship, and +announced beforehand that it was their intention when in that office +to undertake a vigorous purification of the burgess-body through all +its ranks, the two men so greatly dreaded were elected by the +burgesses notwithstanding all the exertions of the nobility; and the +latter were obliged to submit, while the great purgation actually took +place and erased among others the brother of Africanus from the roll +of the equites, and the brother of the deliverer of the Greeks from +the roll of the senate. + +Police Reform + +This warfare directed against individuals, and the various attempts to +repress the spirit of the age by means of justice and of police, +however deserving of respect might be the sentiments in which they +originated, could only at most stem the current of corruption for a +short time; and, while it is remarkable that Cato was enabled in spite +of that current, or rather by means of it, to play his political part, +it is equally significant that he was as little successful in getting +rid of the leaders of the opposite party as they were in getting rid +of him. The processes of count and reckoning instituted by him and by +those who shared his views before the burgesses uniformly remained, +at least in the cases that were of political importance, quite as +ineffectual as the counter-accusations directed against him. Nor was +much more effect produced by the police-laws, which were issued at +this period in unusual numbers, especially for the restriction of +luxury and for the introduction of a frugal and orderly housekeeping, +and some of which have still to be touched on in our view of the +national economics. + +Assignations of Land + +Far more practical and more useful were the attempts made to +counteract the spread of decay by indirect means; among which, beyond +doubt, the assignations of new farms out of the domain land occupy the +first place. These assignations were made in great numbers and of +considerable extent in the period between the first and second war +with Carthage, and again from the close of the latter till towards the +end of this epoch. The most important of them were the distribution +of the Picenian possessions by Gaius Flaminius in 522;(51) the +foundation of eight new maritime colonies in 560;(52) and above all +the comprehensive colonization of the district between the Apennines +and the Po by the establishment of the Latin colonies of Placentia, +Cremona,(53) Bononia,(54) and Aquileia,(55) and of the burgess- +colonies, Potentia, Pisaurum, Mutina, Parma, and Luna(56) in the years +536 and 565-577. By far the greater part of these highly beneficial +foundations may be ascribed to the reforming party. Cato and those +who shared his opinions demanded such measures, pointing, on the +one hand, to the devastation of Italy by the Hannibalic war and the +alarming diminution of the farms and of the free Italian population +generally, and, on the other, to the widely extended possessions of +the nobles--occupied along with, and similarly to, property of their +own--in Cisalpine Gaul, in Samnium, and in the Apulian and Bruttian +districts; and although the rulers of Rome did not probably comply +with these demands to the extent to which they might and should have +complied with them, yet they did not remain deaf to the warning voice +of so judicious a man. + +Reforms in the Military Service + +Of a kindred character was the proposal, which Cato made in the +senate, to remedy the decline of the burgess-cavalry by the +institution of four hundred new equestrian stalls.(57) The exchequer +cannot have wanted means for the purpose; but the proposal appears to +have been thwarted by the exclusive spirit of the nobility and their +endeavour to remove from the burgess-cavalry those who were troopers +merely and not knights. On the other hand, the serious emergencies of +the war, which even induced the Roman government to make an attempt +--fortunately unsuccessful--to recruit their armies after the Oriental +fashion from the slave-market,(58) compelled them to modify the +qualifications hitherto required for service in the burgess-army, viz. +a minimum census of 11,000 -asses- (43 pounds), and free birth. Apart +from the fact that they took up for service in the fleet the persons +of free birth rated between 4000 -asses- (17 pounds) and 1500 -asses- +(6 pounds) and all the freedmen, the minimum census for the legionary +was reduced to 4000 -asses- (17 pounds); and, in case of need, both +those who were bound to serve in the fleet and the free-born rated +between 1500 -asses- (6 pounds) and 375 -asses- (1 pound 10 shillings) +were enrolled in the burgess-infantry. These innovations, which +belong presumably to the end of the preceding or beginning of the +present epoch, doubtless did not originate in party efforts any more +than did the Servian military reform; but they gave a material impulse +to the democratic party, in so far as those who bore civic burdens +necessarily claimed and eventually obtained equalization of civic +rights. The poor and the freedmen began to be of some importance in +the commonwealth from the time when they served it; and chiefly from +this cause arose one of the most important constitutional changes of +this epoch --the remodelling of the -comitia centuriata-, which most +probably took place in the same year in which the war concerning +Sicily terminated + +Reform of the Centuries + +According to the order of voting hitherto followed in the centuriate +comitia, although the freeholders were no longer--as down to the +reform of Appius Claudius(59) they had been--the sole voters, the +wealthy had the preponderance. The equites, or in other words the +patricio-plebeian nobility, voted first, then those of the highest +rating, or in other words those who had exhibited to the censor an +estate of at least 100,000 -asses- (420 pounds);(60) and these two +divisions, when they kept together, had derided every vote. The +suffrage of those assessed under the four following classes had been +of doubtful weight; that of those whose valuation remained below the +standard of the lowest class, 11,000 -asses- (43 pounds), had been +essentially illusory. According to the new arrangement the right of +priority in voting was withdrawn from the equites, although they +retained their separate divisions, and it was transferred to a voting +division chosen from the first class by lot. The importance of that +aristocratic right of prior voting cannot be estimated too highly, +especially at an epoch in which practically the influence of the +nobility on the burgesses at large was constantly on the increase. +Even the patrician order proper were still at this epoch powerful +enough to fill the second consulship and the second censorship, which +stood open in law alike to patricians and plebeians, solely with men +of their own body, the former up to the close of this period (till +582), the latter even for a generation longer (till 623); and in fact, +at the most perilous moment which the Roman republic ever experienced +--in the crisis after the battle of Cannae--they cancelled the quite +legally conducted election of the officer who was in all respects the +ablest--the plebeian Marcellus--to the consulship vacated by the death +of the patrician Paullus, solely on account of his plebeianism. At +the same time it is a significant token of the nature even of this +reform that the right of precedence in voting was withdrawn only from +the nobility, not from those of the highest rating; the right of prior +voting withdrawn from the equestrian centuries passed not to a +division chosen incidentally by lot from the whole burgesses, but +exclusively to the first class. This as well as the five grades +generally remained as they were; only the lower limit was probably +shifted in such a way that the minimum census was, for the right of +voting in the centuries as for service in the legion, reduced from +11,000 to 4000 -asses-. Besides, the formal retention of the earlier +rates, while there was a general increase in the amount of men's +means, involved of itself in some measure an extension of the suffrage +in a democratic sense. The total number of the divisions remained +likewise unchanged; but, while hitherto, as we have said, the 18 +equestrian centuries and the 80 of the first class had, standing by +themselves, the majority in the 193 voting centuries, in the reformed +arrangement the votes of the first class were reduced to 70, with the +result that under all circumstances at least the second grade came to +vote. Still more important, and indeed the real central element of +the reform, was the connection into which the new voting divisions +were brought with the tribal arrangement. Formerly the centuries +originated from the tribes on the footing, that whoever belonged to a +tribe had to be enrolled by the censor in one of the centuries. From +the time that the non-freehold burgesses had been enrolled in the +tribes, they too came thus into the centuries, and, while they were +restricted in the -comitia tributa- to the four urban divisions, +they had in the -comitia centuriata- formally the same right with +the freehold burgesses, although probably the censorial arbitrary +prerogative intervened in the composition of the centuries, and +granted to the burgesses enrolled in the rural tribes the +preponderance also in the centuriate assembly. This preponderance was +established by the reformed arrangement on the legal footing, that of +the 70 centuries of the first class, two were assigned to each tribe +and, accordingly, the non-freehold burgesses obtained only eight of +them; in a similar way the preponderance must have been conceded also +in the four other grades to the freehold burgesses. In a like spirit +the previous equalization of the freedmen with the free-born in the +right of voting was set aside at this time, and even the freehold +freedmen were assigned to the four urban tribes. This was done in the +year 534 by one of the most notable men of the party of reform, the +censor Gaius Flaminius, and was then repeated and more stringently +enforced fifty years later (585) by the censor Tiberius Sempronius +Gracchus, the father of the two authors of the Roman revolution. This +reform of the centuries, which perhaps in its totality proceeded +likewise from Flaminius, was the first important constitutional change +which the new opposition wrung from the nobility, the first victory of +the democracy proper. The pith of it consists partly in the +restriction of the censorial arbitrary rule, partly in the restriction +of the influence of the nobility on the one hand, and of the non- +freeholders and the freedmen on the other, and so in the remodelling +of the centuriate comitia according to the principle which already +held good for the comitia of the tribes; a course which commended +itself by the circumstance that elections, projects of law, criminal +impeachments, and generally all affairs requiring the co-operation of +the burgesses, were brought throughout to the comitia of the tribes +and the more unwieldy centuries were but seldom called together, +except where it was constitutionally necessary or at least usual, in +order to elect the censors, consuls, and praetors, and in order to +resolve upon an aggressive war. + +Thus this reform did not introduce a new principle into the +constitution, but only brought into general application the principle +that had long regulated the working of the practically more frequent +and more important form of the burgess-assemblies. Its democratic, +but by no means demagogic, tendency is clearly apparent in the +position which it took up towards the proper supports of every really +revolutionary party, the proletariate and the freedmen. For that +reason the practical significance of this alteration in the order of +voting regulating the primary assemblies must not be estimated too +highly. The new law of election did not prevent, and perhaps did +not even materially impede, the contemporary formation of a new +politically privileged order. It is certainly not owing to the mere +imperfection of tradition, defective as it undoubtedly is, that we are +nowhere able to point to a practical influence exercised by this much- +discussed reform on the course of political affairs. An intimate +connection, we may add, subsisted between this reform, and the +already-mentioned abolition of the Roman burgess-communities -sine +suffragio-, which were gradually merged in the community of full +burgesses. The levelling spirit of the party of progress suggested +the abolition of distinctions within the middle class, while the +chasm between burgesses and non-burgesses was at the same time +widened and deepened. + +Results of the Efforts at Reform + +Reviewing what the reform party of this age aimed at and obtained, we +find that it undoubtedly exerted itself with patriotism and energy to +check, and to a certain extent succeeded in checking, the spread of +decay--more especially the falling off of the farmer class and the +relaxation of the old strict and frugal habits--as well as the +preponderating political influence of the new nobility. But we fail +to discover any higher political aim. The discontent of the multitude +and the moral indignation of the better classes found doubtless in +this opposition their appropriate and powerful expression; but we do +not find either a clear insight into the sources of the evil, or any +definite and comprehensive plan of remedying it. A certain want of +thought pervades all these efforts otherwise so deserving of honour, +and the purely defensive attitude of the defenders forebodes little +good for the sequel. Whether the disease could be remedied at all by +human skill, remains fairly open to question; the Roman reformers of +this period seem to have been good citizens rather than good +statesmen, and to have conducted the great struggle between the +old civism and the new cosmopolitanism on their part after a somewhat +inadequate and narrow-minded fashion. + +Demagogism + +But, as this period witnessed the rise of a rabble by the side of the +burgesses, so it witnessed also the emergence of a demagogism that +flattered the populace alongside of the respectable and useful party +of opposition. Cato was already acquainted with men who made a trade +of demagogism; who had a morbid propensity for speechifying, as others +had for drinking or for sleeping; who hired listeners, if they could +find no willing audience otherwise; and whom people heard as they +heard the market-crier, without listening to their words or, in the +event of needing help, entrusting themselves to their hands. In his +caustic fashion the old man describes these fops formed after the +model of the Greek talkers of the agora, dealing in jests and +witticisms, singing and dancing, ready for anything; such an one was, +in his opinion, good for nothing but to exhibit himself as harlequin +in a procession and to bandy talk with the public--he would sell his +talk or his silence for a bit of bread. In reality these demagogues +were the worst enemies of reform. While the reformers insisted above +all things and in every direction on moral amendment, demagogism +preferred to insist on the limitation of the powers of the government +and the extension of those of the burgesses. + +Abolition of the Dictatorship + +Under the former head the most important innovation was the practical +abolition of the dictatorship. The crisis occasioned by Quintus +Fabius and his popular opponents in 537(61) gave the death-blow to +this all-along unpopular institution. Although the government once +afterwards, in 538, under the immediate impression produced by the +battle of Cannae, nominated a dictator invested with active command, +it could not again venture to do so in more peaceful times. On +several occasions subsequently (the last in 552), sometimes after +a previous indication by the burgesses of the person to be nominated, +a dictator was appointed for urban business; but the office, without +being formally abolished, fell practically into desuetude. Through +its abeyance the Roman constitutional system, so artificially +constructed, lost a corrective which was very desirable with reference +to its peculiar feature of collegiate magistrates;(62) and the +government, which was vested with the sole power of creating a +dictatorship or in other words of suspending the consuls, and +ordinarily designated also the person who was to be nominated as +dictator, lost one of its most important instruments. Its place +was but very imperfectly supplied by the power--which the senate +thenceforth claimed--of conferring in extraordinary emergencies, +particularly on the sudden outbreak of revolt or war, a quasi- +dictatorial power on the supreme magistrates for the time being, by +instructing them "to take measures for the safety of the commonwealth +at their discretion," and thus creating a state of things similar to +the modern martial law. + +Election of Priests by the Community + +Along with this change the formal powers of the people in the +nomination of magistrates as well as in questions of government, +administration, and finance, received a hazardous extension. The +priesthoods--particularly those politically most important, the +colleges of men of lore--according to ancient custom filled up the +vacancies in their own ranks, and nominated also their own presidents, +where these corporations had presidents at all; and in fact, for such +institutions destined to transmit the knowledge of divine things from +generation to generation, the only form of election in keeping with +their spirit was cooptation. It was therefore--although not of great +political importance--significant of the incipient disorganization of +the republican arrangements, that at this time (before 542), while +election into the colleges themselves was left on its former footing, +the designation of the presidents--the -curiones- and -pontifices- +--from the ranks of those corporations was transferred from the +colleges to the community. In this case, however, with a pious regard +for forms that is genuinely Roman, in order to avoid any error, only a +minority of the tribes, and therefore not the "people," completed the +act of election. + +Interference of the Community in War and Administration + +Of greater importance was the growing interference of the burgesses in +questions as to persons and things belonging to the sphere of military +administration and external policy. To this head belong the +transference of the nomination of the ordinary staff-officers from the +general to the burgesses, which has been already mentioned;(63) the +elections of the leaders of the opposition as commanders-in-chief +against Hannibal;(64) the unconstitutional and irrational decree of +the people in 537, which divided the supreme command between the +unpopular generalissimo and his popular lieutenant who opposed him in +the camp as well as at home;(65) the tribunician complaint laid before +the burgesses, charging an officer like Marcellus with injudicious and +dishonest management of the war (545), which even compelled him to +come from the camp to the capital and there demonstrate his military +capacity before the public; the still more scandalous attempts to +refuse by decree of the burgesses to the victor of Pydna his +triumph;(66) the investiture--suggested, it is true, by the senate--of +a private man with extraordinary consular authority (544;(67)); the +dangerous threat of Scipio that, if the senate should refuse him the +chief command in Africa, he would seek the sanction of the burgesses +(549;(68)); the attempt of a man half crazy with ambition to extort +from the burgesses, against the will of the government, a declaration +of war in every respect unwarranted against the Rhodians (587;(69)); +and the new constitutional axiom, that every state-treaty acquired +validity only through the ratification of the people. + +Interference of the Community with the Finances + +This joint action of the burgesses in governing and in commanding was +fraught in a high degree with peril. But still more dangerous was +their interference with the finances of the state; not only because +any attack on the oldest and most important right of the government +--the exclusive administration of the public property--struck at the +root of the power of the senate, but because the placing of the most +important business of this nature--the distribution of the public +domains--in the hands of the primary assemblies of the burgesses +necessarily dug the grave of the republic. To allow the primary +assembly to decree the transference of public property without limit +to its own pocket is not only wrong, but is the beginning of the end; +it demoralizes the best-disposed citizens, and gives to the proposer +a power incompatible with a free commonwealth. Salutary as was the +distribution of the public land, and doubly blameable as was the +senate accordingly for omitting to cut off this most dangerous of all +weapons of agitation by voluntarily distributing the occupied lands, +yet Gaius Flaminius, when he came to the burgesses in 522 with the +proposal to distribute the domains of Picenum, undoubtedly injured the +commonwealth more by the means than he benefited it by the end. +Spurius Cassius had doubtless two hundred and fifty years earlier +proposed the same thing;(70) but the two measures, closely as they +coincided in the letter, were yet wholly different, inasmuch as +Cassius submitted a matter affecting the community to that community +while it was in vigour and self-governing, whereas Flaminius submitted +a question of state to the primary assembly of a great empire. + +Nullity of the Comitia + +Not the party of the government only, but the party of reform also, +very properly regarded the military, executive, and financial +government as the legitimate domain of the senate, and carefully +abstained from making full use of, to say nothing of augmenting, the +formal power vested in primary assemblies that were inwardly doomed to +inevitable dissolution. Never even in the most limited monarchy was a +part so completely null assigned to the monarch as was allotted to the +sovereign Roman people: this was no doubt in more than one respect to +be regretted, but it was, owing to the existing state of the comitial +machine, even in the view of the friends of reform a matter of +necessity. For this reason Cato and those who shared his views never +submitted to the burgesses a question, which trenched on government +strictly so called; and never, directly or indirectly, by decree of +the burgesses extorted from the senate the political or financial +measures which they wished, such as the declaration of war against +Carthage and the assignations of land. The government of the senate +might be bad; the primary assemblies could not govern at all. Not +that an evil-disposed majority predominated in them; on the contrary +the counsel of a man of standing, the loud call of honour, and the +louder call of necessity were still, as a rule, listened to in the +comitia, and averted the most injurious and disgraceful results. +The burgesses, before whom Marcellus pleaded his cause, ignominiously +dismissed his accuser, and elected the accused as consul for the +following year: they suffered themselves also to be persuaded of the +necessity of the war against Philip, terminated the war against +Perseus by the election of Paullus, and accorded to the latter his +well-deserved triumph. But in order to such elections and such +decrees there was needed some special stimulus; in general the mass +having no will of its own followed the first impulse, and folly or +accident dictated the decision. + +Disorganisation of Government + +In the state, as in every organism, an organ which no longer +discharges its functions is injurious. The nullity of the sovereign +assembly of the people involved no small danger. Any minority in the +senate might constitutionally appeal to the comitia against the +majority. To every individual, who possessed the easy art of +addressing untutored ears or of merely throwing away money, a path was +opened up for his acquiring a position or procuring a decree in his +favour, to which the magistrates and the government were formally +bound to do homage. Hence sprang those citizen-generals, accustomed +to sketch plans of battle on the tables of taverns and to look down on +the regular service with compassion by virtue of their inborn genius +for strategy: hence those staff-officers, who owed their command to +the canvassing intrigues of the capital and, whenever matters looked +serious, had at once to get leave of absence -en masse-; and hence +the battles on the Trasimene lake and at Cannae, and the disgraceful +management of the war with Perseus. At every step the government +was thwarted and led astray by those incalculable decrees of the +burgesses, and as was to be expected, most of all in the very +cases where it was most in the right. + +But the weakening of the government and the weakening of the community +itself were among the lesser dangers that sprang from this demagogism. +Still more directly the factious violence of individual ambition +pushed itself forward under the aegis of the constitutional rights of +the burgesses. That which formally issued forth as the will of the +supreme authority in the state was in reality very often the mere +personal pleasure of the mover; and what was to be the fate of a +commonwealth in which war and peace, the nomination and deposition of +the general and his officers, the public chest and the public +property, were dependent on the caprices of the multitude and its +accidental leaders? The thunder-storm had not yet burst; but the +clouds were gathering in denser masses, and occasional peals of +thunder were already rolling through the sultry air. It was a +circumstance, moreover, fraught with double danger, that the +tendencies which were apparently most opposite met together at their +extremes both as regarded ends and as regarded means. Family policy +and demagogism carried on a similar and equally dangerous rivalry in +patronizing and worshipping the rabble. Gaius Flaminius was regarded +by the statesmen of the following generation as the initiator of that +course from which proceeded the reforms of the Gracchi and--we may +add--the democratico-monarchical revolution that ensued. But Publius +Scipio also, although setting the fashion to the nobility in +arrogance, title-hunting, and client-making, sought support for his +personal and almost dynastic policy of opposition to the senate in the +multitude, which he not only charmed by the dazzling effect of his +personal qualities, but also bribed by his largesses of grain; in the +legions, whose favour he courted by all means whether right or wrong; +and above all in the body of clients, high and low, that personally +adhered to him. Only the dreamy mysticism, on which the charm as well +as the weakness of that remarkable man so largely depended, never +suffered him to awake at all, or allowed him to awake but imperfectly, +out of the belief that he was nothing, and that he desired to be +nothing, but the first burgess of Rome. + +To assert the possibility of a reform would be as rash as to deny it: +this much is certain, that a thorough amendment of the state in all +its departments was urgently required, and that in no quarter was any +serious attempt made to accomplish it. Various alterations in +details, no doubt, were made on the part of the senate as well as on +the part of the popular opposition. The majorities in each were still +well disposed, and still frequently, notwithstanding the chasm that +separated the parties, joined hands in a common endeavour to effect +the removal of the worst evils. But, while they did not stop the evil +at its source, it was to little purpose that the better-disposed +listened with anxiety to the dull murmur of the swelling flood and +worked at dikes and dams. Contenting themselves with palliatives, +and failing to apply even these--especially such as were the most +important, the improvement of justice, for instance, and the +distribution of the domains--in proper season and due measure, they +helped to prepare evil days for their posterity. By neglecting to +break up the field at the proper time, they allowed weeds even to +ripen which they had not sowed. To the later generations who survived +the storms of revolution the period after the Hannibalic war appeared +the golden age of Rome, and Cato seemed the model of the Roman +statesman. It was in reality the lull before the storm and the epoch +of political mediocrities, an age like that of the government of +Walpole in England; and no Chatham was found in Rome to infuse fresh +energy into the stagnant life of the nation. Wherever we cast our +eyes, chinks and rents are yawning in the old building; we see workmen +busy sometimes in filling them up, sometimes in enlarging them; but we +nowhere perceive any trace of preparations for thoroughly rebuilding +or renewing it, and the question is no longer whether, but simply +when, the structure will fall. During no epoch did the Roman +constitution remain formally so stable as in the period from the +Sicilian to the third Macedonian war and for a generation beyond it; +but the stability of the constitution was here, as everywhere, not a +sign of the health of the state, but a token of incipient sickness and +the harbinger of revolution. + +Notes for Chapter XI + +1. II. III. New Aristocracy + +2. II. III. New Opposition + +3. II. III. Military Tribunes with Consular Powers + +4. All these insignia probably belonged on their first emergence only +to the nobility proper, i. e. to the agnate descendants of curule +magistrates; although, after the manner of such decorations, all of +them in course of time were extended to a wider circle. This can be +distinctly proved in the case of the gold finger-ring, which in the +fifth century was worn only by the nobility (Plin. H. N., xxxiii. i. +18), in the sixth by every senator and senator's son (Liv. xxvi. 36), +in the seventh by every one of equestrian rank, under the empire by +every one who was of free birth. So also with the silver trappings, +which still, in the second Punic war, formed a badge of the nobility +alone (Liv. xxvi. 37); and with the purple border of the boys' toga, +which at first was granted only to the sons of curule magistrates, +then to the sons of equites, afterwards to those of all free-born +persons, lastly--yet as early as the time of the second Punic war +--even to the sons of freedmen (Macrob. Sat. i. 6). The golden +amulet-case (-bulla-) was a badge of the children of senators in the +time of the second Punic war (Macrob. l. c.; Liv. xxvi. 36), in that +of Cicero as the badge of the children of the equestrian order (Cic. +Verr. i. 58, 152), whereas children of inferior rank wore the leathern +amulet (-lorum-). The purple stripe (-clavus-) on the tunic was a +badge of the senators (I. V. Prerogatives of the Senate) and of the +equites, so that at least in later times the former wore it broad, the +latter narrow; with the nobility the -clavus- had nothing to do. + +5. II. III. Civic Equality + +6. Plin. H. N. xxi. 3, 6. The right to appear crowned in public was +acquired by distinction in war (Polyb. vi. 39, 9; Liv. x. 47); +consequently, the wearing a crown without warrant was an offence +similar to the assumption, in the present day, of the badge of a +military order of merit without due title. + +7. II. III. Praetorship + +8. Thus there remained excluded the military tribunate with consular +powers (II. III. Throwing Open of Marriage and of Magistracies) the +proconsulship, the quaestorship, the tribunate of the people, and +several others. As to the censorship, it does not appear, +notwithstanding the curule chair of the censors (Liv. xl. 45; comp, +xxvii. 8), to have been reckoned a curule office; for the later +period, however, when only a man of consular standing could be made +censor, the question has no practical importance. The plebeian +aedileship certainly was not reckoned originally one of the curule +magistracies (Liv. xxiii. 23); it may, however, have been subsequently +included amongst them. + +9. II. I. Government of the Patriciate + +10. II. III. Censorship + +11. II. III. The Senate + +12. The current hypothesis, according to which the six centuries of +the nobility alone amounted to 1200, and the whole equestrian force +accordingly to 3600 horse, is not tenable. The method of determining +the number of the equites by the number of duplications specified by +the annalists is mistaken: in fact, each of these statements has +originated and is to be explained by itself. But there is no evidence +either for the first number, which is only found in the passage of +Cicero, De Rep. ii. 20, acknowledged as miswritten even by the +champions of this view, or for the second, which does not appear at +all in ancient authors. In favour, on the other hand, of the +hypothesis set forth in the text, we have, first of all, the number as +indicated not by authorities, but by the institutions themselves; for +it is certain that the century numbered 100 men, and there were +originally three (I. V. Burdens of the Burgesses), then six (I. Vi. +Amalgamation of the Palatine and Quirinal Cities), and lastly after +the Servian reform eighteen (I. VI. The Five Classes), equestrian +centuries. The deviations of the authorities from this view are only +apparent. The old self-consistent tradition, which Becker has +developed (ii. i, 243), reckons not the eighteen patricio-plebeian, +but the six patrician, centuries at 1800 men; and this has been +manifestly followed by Livy, i. 36 (according to the reading which +alone has manuscript authority, and which ought not to be corrected +from Livy's particular estimates), and by Cicero l. c. (according to +the only reading grammatically admissible, MDCCC.; see Becker, ii. i, +244). But Cicero at the same time indicates very plainly, that in +that statement he intended to describe the then existing amount of the +Roman equites in general. The number of the whole body has therefore +been transferred to the most prominent portion of it by a prolepsis, +such as is common in the case of the old annalists not too much given +to reflection: just in the same way 300 equites instead of 100 are +assigned to the parent-community, including, by anticipation, the +contingents of the Tities and the Luceres (Becker, ii. i, 238). +Lastly, the proposition of Cato (p. 66, Jordan), to raise the number +of the horses of the equites to 2200, is as distinct a confirmation of +the view proposed above, as it is a distinct refutation of the +opposite view. The closed number of the equites probably continued to +subsist down to Sulla's time, when with the -de facto- abeyance of the +censorship the basis of it fell away, and to all appearance in place +of the censorial bestowal of the equestrian horse came its acquisition +by hereditary right; thenceforth the senator's son was by birth an +-eques-. Alongside, however, of this closed equestrian body, the +-equites equo publico-, stood from an early period of the republic the +burgesses bound to render mounted service on their own horses, who are +nothing but the highest class of the census; they do not vote in the +equestrian centuries, but are regarded otherwise as equites, and lay +claim likewise to the honorary privileges of the equestrian order. + +In the arrangement of Augustus the senatorial houses retained the +hereditary equestrian right; but by its side the censorial bestowal of +the equestrian horse is renewed as a prerogative of the emperor and +without restriction to a definite time, and thereby the designation of +equites for the first class of the census as such falls into abeyance. + +13. II. III. Increasing Powers of the Burgesses + +14. II. VIII. Officers + +15. II. III. Restrictions As to the Accumulation and Reoccupation of +Offices + +16. II. III. New Opposition + +17. The stability of the Roman nobility may be clearly traced, more +especially in the case of the patrician -gentes-, by means of the +consular and aedilician Fasti. As is well known, the consulate was +held by one patrician and one plebeian in each year from 388 to 581 +(with the exception of the years 399, 400, 401, 403, 405, 409, 411, in +which both consuls were patricians). Moreover, the colleges of curule +aediles were composed exclusively of patricians in the odd years of +the Varronian reckoning, at least down to the close of the sixth +century, and they are known for the sixteen years 541, 545, 547, 549, +551, 553, 555, 557, 561, 565, 567, 575, 585, 589, 591, 593. These +patrician consuls and aediles are, as respects their -gentes-, +distributed as follows:-- + + Consuls Consuls Curule aediles of those + 388-500 501-581 16 patrician colleges + +Cornelii 15 15 15 +Valerii 10 8 4 +Claudii 4 8 2 +Aemilii 9 6 2 +Fabii 6 6 1 +Manlii 4 6 1 +Postumii 2 6 2 +Servilii 3 4 2 +Quinctii 2 3 1 +Furii 2 3 - +Sulpicii 6 4 2 +Veturii - 2 - +Papirii 3 1 - +Nautii 2 - - +Julii 1 - 1 +Foslii 1 - - + --- --- --- + 70 70 32 + +Thus the fifteen or sixteen houses of the high nobility, that were +powerful in the state at the time of the Licinian laws, maintained +their ground without material change in their relative numbers--which +no doubt were partly kept up by adoption--for the next two centuries, +and indeed down to the end of the republic. To the circle of the +plebeian nobility new -gentes- doubtless were from time to time added; +but the old plebian houses, such as the Licinii, Fulvii, Atilii, +Domitii, Marcii, Junii, predominate very decidedly in the Fasti +throughout three centuries. + +18. I. V. The Senate + +19. III. IX. Death of Scipio + +20. III. X. Their Lax and Unsuccessful Management of the War f. + +21. III. VI. In Italy + +22. III. VI. Conquest of Sicily + +23. The expenses of these were, however, probably thrown in great part +on the adjoining inhabitants. The old system of making requisitions +of task-work was not abolished: it must not unfrequently have happened +that the slaves of the landholders were called away to be employed in +the construction of roads. (Cato, de R. R. 2 ) + +24. III. VI. Pressure of the War + +25. III. VI. In Italy + +26. III. VII. Celtic Wars + +27. III. VI In Italy + +28. III. VII. Latins + +29. II. VII. Non-Latin Allied Communities + +30. III. VII. Latins + +31. Thus, as is well known, Ennius of Rudiae received burgess-rights +from one of the triumvirs, Q. Fulvius Nobilior, on occasion of the +founding of the burgess-colonies of Potentia and Pisaurum (Cic. Brut. +20, 79); whereupon, according to the well-known custom, he adopted the +-praenomen- of the latter. The non-burgesses who were sent to share +in the foundation of a burgess-colony, did not, at least in tin's +epoch, thereby acquire -de jure- Roman citizenship, although they +frequently usurped it (Liv. xxxiv. 42); but the magistrates charged +with the founding of a colony were empowered, by a clause in the +decree of the people relative to each case, to confer burgess-rights +on a limited number of persons (Cic. pro Balb. 21, 48). + +32. III. VII. Administration of Spain + +33. III. IX. Expedition against the Celts in Asia Minor + +34. III. X. Their Lax and Unsuccessful Management of the War f. + +35. II. I. Term of Office + +36. III. VII. Administration of Spain + +37. III. XI. Italian Subjects, Roman Franchise More Difficult of +Acquisition + +38. III. XI. Roman Franchise More Difficult of Acquisition + +39. In Cato's treatise on husbandry, which, as is well known, +primarily relates to an estate in the district of Venafrum, the +judicial discussion of such processes as might arise is referred to +Rome only as respects one definite case; namely, that in which the +landlord leases the winter pasture to the owner of a flock of sheep, +and thus has to deal with a lessee who, as a rule, is not domiciled in +the district (c. 149). It may be inferred from this, that in ordinary +cases, where the contract was with a person domiciled in the district, +such processes as might spring out of it were even in Cato's time +decided not at Rome, but before the local judges. + +40. II. VII. The Full Roman Franchise + +41. II. VII. Subject Communities + +42. III. VIII. Declaration of War by Rome + +43. II. III. The Burgess-Body + +44. III. XI. Patricio-Plebian Nobility + +45. The laying out of the circus is attested. Respecting the origin +of the plebeian games there is no ancient tradition (for what is said +by the Pseudo-Asconius, p. 143, Orell. is not such); but seeing that +they were celebrated in the Flaminian circus (Val. Max. i, 7, 4), and +first certainly occur in 538, four years after it was built (Liv. +xxiii. 30), what we have stated above is sufficiently proved. + +46. II. II. Political Value of the Tribunate + +47. III. IX. Landing of the Romans + +48. III. IX. Death of Scipio. The first certain instance of such a +surname is that of Manius Valerius Maximus, consul in 491, who, as +conqueror of Messana, assumed the name Messalla (ii. 170): that the +consul of 419 was, in a similar manner, called Calenus, is an error. +The presence of Maximus as a surname in the Valerian (i. 348) and +Fabian (i. 397) clans is not quite analogous. + +49. III. XI. Patricio-Plebian Nobility + +50. II. III. New Opposition + +51. III. III. The Celts Conquered by Rome + +52. III. VI. In Italy + +53. III. III. The Celts Conquered by Rome + +54. III. VII. Liguria + +55. III. VII. Measures Adopted to Check the Immigration of the +Transalpine Gauls + +56. III. VII. Liguria + +57. III. XI. The Nobility in Possession of the Equestrian Centuries + +58. III. V. Attitude of the Romans, III. VI. Conflicts in the South of +Italy + +59. II. III. The Burgess-Body + +60. As to the original rates of the Roman census it is difficult to +lay down anything definite. Afterwards, as is well known, 100,000 +-asses- was regarded as the minimum census of the first class; to +which the census of the other four classes stood in the (at least +approximate) ratio of 3/4, 1/2, 1/4, 1/9. But these rates are +understood already by Polybius, as by all later authors, to refer to +the light -as- (1/10th of the -denarius-), and apparently this view +must be adhered to, although in reference to the Voconian law the same +sums are reckoned as heavy -asses- (1/4 of the -denarius-: Geschichte +des Rom. Munzwesens, p. 302). But Appius Claudius, who first in 442 +expressed the census-rates in money instead of the possession of land +(II. III. The Burgess-Body), cannot in this have made use of the light +-as-, which only emerged in 485 (II. VIII. Silver Standard of Value). +Either therefore he expressed the same amounts in heavy -asses-, and +these were at the reduction of the coinage converted into light; or he +proposed the later figures, and these remained the same +notwithstanding the reduction or the coinage, which in this case would +have involved a lowering of the class-rates by more than the half. +Grave doubts may be raised in opposition to either hypothesis; but the +former appears the more credible, for so exorbitant an advance in +democratic development is not probable either for the end of the fifth +century or as an incidental consequence of a mere administrative +measure, and besides it would scarce have disappeared wholly from +tradition. 100,000 light -asses-, or 40,000 sesterces, may, moreover, +be reasonably regarded as the equivalent of the original Roman full +hide of perhaps 20 -jugera- (I. VI. Time and Occasion of the Reform); +so that, according to this view, the rates of the census as a whole +have changed merely in expression, and not in value. + +61. III. V. Fabius and Minucius + +62. II. I. The Dictator + +63. III. XI. Election of Officers in the Comitia + +64. III. V. Flaminius, New Warlike Preparations in Rome + +65. III. V. Fabius and Minucius + +66. III. XI. Squandering of the Spoil + +67. III. VI. Publius Scipio + +68. III. VI. The African Expedition of Scipio + +69. III. X. Humiliation of Rhodes + +70. II. II. Agrarian Law of Spurius Cassius + + + + +Chapter XII + +The Management of Land and of Capital + +Roman Economics + +It is in the sixth century of the city that we first find materials +for a history of the times exhibiting in some measure the mutual +connection of events; and it is in that century also that the economic +condition of Rome emerges into view more distinctly and clearly. +It is at this epoch that the wholesale system, as regards both the +cultivation of land and the management of capital, becomes first +established under the form, and on the scale, which afterwards +prevailed; although we cannot exactly discriminate how much of that +system is traceable to earlier precedent, how much to an imitation of +the methods of husbandry and of speculation among peoples that were +earlier civilized, especially the Phoenicians, and how much to the +increasing mass of capital and the growth of intelligence in the +nation. A summary outline of these economic relations will conduce +to a more accurate understanding of the internal history of Rome. + +Roman husbandry(1) applied itself either to the farming of estates, to +the occupation of pasture lands, or to the tillage of petty holdings. +A very distinct view of the first of these is presented to us in the +description given by Cato. + +Farming of Estates +Their Size + +The Roman land-estates were, considered as larger holdings, uniformly +of limited extent. That described by Cato had an area of 240 jugera; +a very common measure was the so-called -centuria- of 200 -jugera-. +Where the laborious culture of the vine was pursued, the unit of +husbandry was made still less; Cato assumes in that case an area of +100 -jugera-. Any one who wished to invest more capital in farming +did not enlarge his estate, but acquired several estates; accordingly +the amount of 500 -jugera-,(2) fixed as the maximum which it was +allowable to occupy, has been conceived to represent the contents of +two or three estates. + +Management of the Estate + +Object of Husbandry + +The heritable lease was not recognised in the management of Italian +private any more than of Roman public land; it occurred only in the +case of the dependent communities. Leases for shorter periods, +granted either for a fixed sum of money or on condition that the +lessee should bear all the costs of tillage and should receive in +return a share, ordinarily perhaps one half, of the produce,(3) were +not unknown, but they were exceptional and a makeshift; so that no +distinct class of tenant-farmers grew up in Italy.(4) Ordinarily +therefore the proprietor himself superintended the cultivation of his +estates; he did not, however, manage them strictly in person, but only +appeared from time to time on the property in order to settle the plan +of operations, to look after its execution, and to audit the accounts +of his servants. He was thus enabled on the one hand to work a number +of estates at the same time, and on the other hand to devote himself, +as circumstances might require, to public affairs. + +The grain cultivated consisted especially of spelt and wheat, with +some barley and millet; turnips, radishes, garlic, poppies, were also +grown, and--particularly as fodder for the cattle--lupines, beans, +pease, vetches, and other leguminous plants. The seed was sown +ordinarily in autumn, only in exceptional cases in spring. Much +activity was displayed in irrigation and draining; and drainage by +means of covered ditches was early in use. Meadows also for supplying +hay were not wanting, and even in the time of Cato they were +frequently irrigated artificially. Of equal, if not of greater, +economic importance than grain and vegetables were the olive and the +vine, of which the former was planted between the crops, the latter in +vineyards appropriated to itself.(5) Figs, apples, pears, and other +fruit trees were cultivated; and likewise elms, poplars, and other +leafy trees and shrubs, partly for the felling of the wood, partly for +the sake of the leaves which were useful as litter and as fodder for +cattle. The rearing of cattle, on the other hand, held a far less +important place in the economy of the Italians than it holds in modern +times, for vegetables formed the general fare, and animal food made +its appearance at table only exceptionally; where it did appear, it +consisted almost solely of the flesh of swine or lambs. Although the +ancients did not fail to perceive the economic connection between +agriculture and the rearing of cattle, and in particular the +importance of producing manure, the modern combination of the growth +of corn with the rearing of cattle was a thing foreign to antiquity. +The larger cattle were kept only so far as was requisite for the +tillage of the fields, and they were fed not on special pasture-land, +but, wholly during summer and mostly during winter also, in the stall +Sheep, again, were driven out on the stubble pasture; Cato allows 100 +head to 240 -jugera-. Frequently, however, the proprietor preferred +to let his winter pasture to a large sheep-owner, or to hand over his +flock of sheep to a lessee who was to share the produce, stipulating +for the delivery of a certain number of lambs and of a certain +quantity of cheese and milk. Swine--Cato assigns to a large estate +ten sties--poultry, and pigeons were kept in the farmyard, and fed as +there was need; and, where opportunity offered, a small hare-preserve +and a fish-pond were constructed--the modest commencement of that +nursing and rearing of game and fish which was afterwards prosecuted +to so enormous an extent. + +Means of Husbandry +Cattle + +The labours of the field were performed by means of oxen which were +employed for ploughing, and of asses, which were used specially for +the carriage of manure and for driving the mill; perhaps a horse also +was kept, apparently for the use of the master. These animals were +not reared on the estate, but were purchased; oxen and horses at least +were generally castrated. Cato assigns to an estate of 100 -jugera- +one, to one of 240 -jugera- three, yoke of oxen; a later writer on +agriculture, Saserna, assigns two yoke to the 200 -jugera-. Three +asses were, according to Cato's estimate, required for the smaller, +and four for the larger, estate. + +Slaves + +The human labour on the farm was regularly performed by slaves. At +the head of the body of slaves on the estate (-familia rustica-) stood +the steward (-vilicus-, from -villa-), who received and expended, +bought and sold, went to obtain the instructions of the landlord, and +in his absence issued orders and administered punishment. Under him +were placed the stewardess (-vilica-) who took charge of the house, +kitchen and larder, poultry-yard and dovecot: a number of ploughmen +(-bubulci-) and common serfs, an ass-driver, a swineherd, and, where a +flock of sheep was kept, a shepherd. The number, of course, varied +according to the method of husbandry pursued. An arable estate of 200 +-jugera- without orchards was estimated to require two ploughmen and +six serfs: a similar estate with two orchards two plough-men and nine +serfs; an estate of 240 -jugera- with olive plantations and sheep, +three ploughmen, five serfs, and three herdsmen. A vineyard naturally +required a larger expenditure of labour: an estate of 100 -jugera- +with vine-plantations was supplied with one ploughman, eleven serfs, +and two herdsmen. The steward of course occupied a freer position +than the other slaves: the treatise of Mago advised that he should be +allowed to marry, to rear children, and to have funds of his own, and +Cato advises that he should be married to the stewardess; he alone had +some prospect, in the event of good behaviour, of obtaining liberty +from his master. In other respects all formed a common household. +The slaves were, like the larger cattle, not bred on the estate, but +purchased at an age capable of labour in the slave-market; and, when +through age or infirmity they had become incapable of working, they +were again sent with other refuse to the market.(6) The farm- +buildings (-villa rustica-) supplied at once stabling for the cattle, +storehouses for the produce, and a dwelling for the steward and the +slaves; while a separate country house (-villa urbana-) for the master +was frequently erected on the estate. Every slave, even the steward +himself, had all the necessaries of life delivered to him on the +master's behalf at certain times and according to fixed rates; and +upon these he had to subsist. He received in this way clothes and +shoes, which were purchased in the market, and which the recipients +had merely to keep in repair; a quantity of wheat monthly, which each +had to grind for himself; as also salt, olives or salted fish to form +a relish to their food, wine, and oil. The quantity was adjusted +according to the work; on which account the steward, who had easier +work than the common slaves, got scantier measure than these. The +stewardess attended to all the baking and cooking; and all partook of +the same fare. It was not the ordinary practice to place chains on +the slaves; but when any one had incurred punishment or was thought +likely to attempt an escape, he was set to work in chains and was shut +up during the night in the slaves' prison.(7) + +Other Labourers + +Ordinarily these slaves belonging to the estate were sufficient; in +case of need neighbours, as a matter of course, helped each other with +their slaves for day's wages. Otherwise labourers from without were +not usually employed, except in peculiarly unhealthy districts, where +it was found advantageous to limit the amount of slaves and to employ +hired persons in their room, and for the ingathering of the harvest, +for which the regular supply of labour on the farm did not suffice. +At the corn and hay harvests they took in hired reapers, who often +instead of wages received from the sixth to the ninth sheaf of the +produce reaped, or, if they also thrashed, the fifth of the grain: +Umbrian labourers, for instance, went annually in great numbers to the +vale of Rieti, to help to gather in the harvest there. The grape and +olive harvest was ordinarily let to a contractor, who by means of his +men--hired free labourers, or slaves of his own or of others-- +conducted the gleaning and pressing under the inspection of some +persons appointed by the landlord for the purpose, and delivered the +produce to the master;(8) very frequently the landlord sold the +harvest on the tree or branch, and left the purchaser to look +after the ingathering. + +Spirit of the System + +The whole system was pervaded by the utter regardless-ness +characteristic of the power of capital. Slaves and cattle stood on +the same level; a good watchdog, it is said in a Roman writer on +agriculture, must not be on too friendly terms with his "fellow- +slaves." The slave and the ox were fed properly so long as they could +work, because it would not have been good economy to let them starve; +and they were sold like a worn-out ploughshare when they became unable +to work, because in like manner it would not have been good economy to +retain them longer. In earlier times religious considerations had +here also exercised an alleviating influence, and had released the +slave and the plough-ox from labour on the days enjoined for festivals +and for rest.(9) Nothing is more characteristic of the spirit of Cato +and those who shared his sentiments than the way in which they +inculcated the observance of the holiday in the letter, and evaded it +in reality, by advising that, while the plough should certainly be +allowed to rest on these days, the slaves should even then be +incessantly occupied with other labours not expressly prohibited. +On principle no freedom of movement whatever was allowed to them--a +slave, so runs one of Cato's maxims, must either work or sleep--and no +attempt was ever made to attach the slaves to the estate or to their +master by any bond of human sympathy. The letter of the law in all +its naked hideousness regulated the relation, and the Romans indulged +no illusions as to the consequences. "So many slaves, so many foes," +said a Roman proverb. It was an economic maxim, that dissensions +among the slaves ought rather to be fostered than suppressed. In the +same spirit Plato and Aristotle, and no less strongly the oracle of +the landlords, the Carthaginian Mago, caution masters against bringing +together slaves of the same nationality, lest they should originate +combinations and perhaps conspiracies of their fellow-countrymen. The +landlord, as we have already said, governed his slaves exactly in the +same way as the Roman community governed its subjects in the "country +estates of the Roman people," the provinces; and the world learned by +experience, that the ruling state had modelled its new system of +government on that of the slave-holder. If, moreover, we have risen +to that little-to-be-envied elevation of thought which values no +feature of an economy save the capital invested in it, we cannot deny +to the management of the Roman estates the praise of consistency, +energy, punctuality, frugality, and solidity. The pithy practical +husbandman is reflected in Cato's description of the steward, as he +ought to be. He is the first on the farm to rise and the last to go +to bed; he is strict in dealing with himself as well as with those +under him, and knows more especially how to keep the stewardess in +order, but is also careful of his labourers and his cattle, and in +particular of the ox that draws the plough; he puts his hand +frequently to work and to every kind of it, but never works himself +weary like a slave; he is always at home, never borrows nor lends, +gives no entertainments, troubles himself about no other worship than +that of the gods of the hearth and the field, and like a true slave +leaves all dealings with the gods as well as with men to his master; +lastly and above all, he modestly meets that master and faithfully and +simply, without exercising too little or too much of thought, conforms +to the instructions which that master has given. He is a bad +husbandman, it is elsewhere said, who buys what he can raise on his +own land; a bad father of a household, who takes in hand by day what +can be done by candle-light, unless the weather be bad; a still worse, +who does on a working-day what might be done on a holiday; but worst +of all is he, who in good weather allows work to go on within doors +instead of in the open air. The characteristic enthusiasm too of high +farming is not wanting; and the golden rules are laid down, that the +soil was given to the husbandman not to be scoured and swept but to be +sown and reaped, and that the farmer therefore ought first to plant +vines and olives and only thereafter, and that not too early in life, +to build himself a villa. A certain boorishness marks the system, +and, instead of the rational investigation of causes and effects, the +well-known rules of rustic experience are uniformly brought forward; +yet there is an evident endeavour to appropriate the experience of +others and the products of foreign lands: in Cato's list of the +sorts of fruit trees, for instance, Greek, African, and Spanish +species appear. + +Husbandry of the Petty Farmers + +The husbandry of the petty farmer differed from that of the estate- +holder only or chiefly in its being on a smaller scale. The owner +himself and his children in this case worked along with the slaves or +in their room. The quantity of cattle was reduced, and, where an +estate no longer covered the expenses of the plough and of the yoke +that drew it, the hoe formed the substitute. The culture of the olive +and the vine was less prominent, or was entirely wanting. + +In the vicinity of Rome or of any other large seat of consumption +there existed also carefully-irrigated gardens for flowers and +vegetables, somewhat similar to those which one now sees around +Naples; and these yielded a very abundant return. + +Pastoral Husbandry + +Pastoral husbandry was prosecuted on a great scale far more than +agriculture. An estate in pasture land (-saltus-) had of necessity in +every case an area considerably greater than an arable estate--the +least allowance was 800 -jugera- --and it might with advantage to the +business be almost indefinitely extended. Italy is so situated in +respect of climate that the summer pasture in the mountains and the +winter pasture in the plains supplement each other: already at that +period, just as at the present day, and for the most part probably +along the same paths, the flocks and herds were driven in spring from +Apulia to Samnium, and in autumn back again from Samnium to Apulia. +The winter pasturage, however, as has been already observed, did not +take place entirely on ground kept for the purpose, but was partly the +grazing of the stubbles. Horses, oxen, asses, and mules were reared, +chiefly to supply the animals required by the landowners, carriers, +soldiers, and so forth; herds of swine and of goats also were not +neglected. But the almost universal habit of wearing woollen stuffs +gave a far greater independence and far higher development to the +breeding of sheep. The management was in the hands of slaves, and was +on the whole similar to the management of the arable estate, the +cattle-master (-magister pecoris-) coming in room of the steward. +Throughout the summer the shepherd-slaves lived for the most part not +under a roof, but, often miles remote from human habitations, under +sheds and sheepfolds; it was necessary therefore that the strongest +men should be selected for this employment, that they should be +provided with horses and arms, and that they should be allowed +far greater freedom of movement than was granted to the slaves +on arable estates. + +Results +Competition of Transmarine Corn + +In order to form some estimate of the economic results of this system +of husbandry, we must consider the state of prices, and particularly +the prices of grain at this period. On an average these were +alarmingly low; and that in great measure through the fault of the +Roman government, which in this important question was led into the +most fearful blunders not so much by its short-sightedness, as by an +unpardonable disposition to favour the proletariate of the capital at +the expense of the farmers of Italy. The main question here was that +of the competition between transmarine and Italian corn. The grain +which was delivered by the provincials to the Roman government, +sometimes gratuitously, sometimes for a moderate compensation, was in +part applied by the government to the maintenance of the Roman +official staff and of the Roman armies on the spot, partly given up to +the lessees of the -decumae- on condition of their either paying a sum +of money for it or of their undertaking to deliver certain quantities +of grain at Rome or wherever else it should be required. From the +time of the second Macedonian war the Roman armies were uniformly +supported by transmarine corn, and, though this tended to the benefit +of the Roman exchequer, it cut off the Italian farmer from an +important field of consumption for his produce. This however was +the least part of the mischief. The government had long, as was +reasonable, kept a watchful eye on the price of grain, and, when there +was a threatening of dearth, had interfered by well-timed purchases +abroad; and now, when the corn-deliveries of its subjects brought into +its hands every year large quantities of grain--larger probably than +were needed in times of peace--and when, moreover, opportunities were +presented to it of acquiring foreign grain in almost unlimited +quantity at moderate prices, there was a natural temptation to glut +the markets of the capital with such grain, and to dispose of it at +rates which either in themselves or as compared with the Italian rates +were ruinously low. Already in the years 551-554, and in the first +instance apparently at the suggestion of Scipio, 6 -modii- (1 1/2 +bush.) of Spanish and African wheat were sold on public account to the +citizens of Rome at 24 and even at 12 -asses- (1 shilling 8 pence or +ten pence). Some years afterwards (558), more than 240,000 bushels of +Sicilian grain were distributed at the latter illusory price in the +capital. In vain Cato inveighed against this shortsighted policy: +the rise of demagogism had a part in it, and these extraordinary, but +presumably very frequent, distributions of grain under the market +price by the government or individual magistrates became the germs of +the subsequent corn-laws. But, even where the transmarine corn did +not reach the consumers in this extraordinary mode, it injuriously +affected Italian agriculture. Not only were the masses of grain which +the state sold off to the lessees of the tenths beyond doubt acquired +under ordinary circumstances by these so cheaply that, when re-sold, +they could be disposed of under the price of production; but it is +probable that in the provinces, particularly in Sicily--in consequence +partly of the favourable nature of the soil, partly of the extent +to which wholesale farming and slave-holding were pursued on the +Carthaginian system(10)--the price of production was in general +considerably lower than in Italy, while the transport of Sicilian and +Sardinian corn to Latium was at least as cheap as, if not cheaper +than, its transport thither from Etruria, Campania, or even northern +Italy. In the natural course of things therefore transmarine corn +could not but flow to the peninsula, and lower the price of the grain +produced there. Under the unnatural disturbance of relations +occasioned by the lamentable system of slave-labour, it would perhaps +have been justifiable to impose a duty on transmarine corn for the +protection of the Italian farmer; but the very opposite course seems +to have been pursued, and with a view to favour the import of +transmarine corn to Italy, a prohibitive system seems to have been +applied in the provinces--for though the Rhodians were allowed to +export a quantity of corn from Sicily by way of special favour, the +export of grain from the provinces must probably, as a rule, have been +free only as regarded Italy, and the transmarine corn must thus have +been monopolized for the benefit of the mother-country. + +Prices of Italian Corn + +The effects of this system are clearly evident. A year of +extraordinary fertility like 504--when the people of the capital paid +for 6 Roman -modii- (1 1/2 bush.) of spelt not more than 3/5 of a +-denarius- (about 5 pence), and at the same price there were sold 180 +Roman pounds (a pound = 11 oz.) of dried figs, 60 pounds of oil, 72 +pounds of meat, and 6 -congii- (= 4 1/2 gallons) of wine--is scarcely +by reason of its very singularity to be taken into account; but other +facts speak more distinctly. Even in Cato's time Sicily was called +the granary of Rome. In productive years Sicilian and Sardinian corn +was disposed of in the Italian ports for the freight. In the richest +corn districts of the peninsula--the modern Romagna and Lombardy +--during the time of Polybius victuals and lodgings in an inn cost on +an average half an -as- (1/3 pence) per day; a bushel and a half of +wheat was there worth half a -denarius- (4 pence). The latter average +price, about the twelfth part of the normal price elsewhere,(11) shows +with indisputable clearness that the producers of grain in Italy were +wholly destitute of a market for their produce, and in consequence +corn and corn-land there were almost valueless. + +Revolution in Roman Agriculture + +In a great industrial state, whose agriculture cannot feed its +population, such a result might perhaps be regarded as useful or at +any rate as not absolutely injurious; but a country like Italy, where +manufactures were inconsiderable and agriculture was altogether the +mainstay of the state, was in this way systematically ruined, and the +welfare of the nation as a whole was sacrificed in the most shameful +fashion to the interests of the essentially unproductive population +of the capital, to which in fact bread could never become too cheap. +Nothing perhaps evinces so clearly as this, how wretched was the +constitution and how incapable was the administration of this +so-called golden age of the republic. Any representative system, +however meagre, would have led at least to serious complaints and to +a perception of the seat of the evil; but in those primary assemblies +of the burgesses anything was listened to sooner than the warning +voice of a foreboding patriot. Any government that deserved the name +would of itself have interfered; but the mass of the Roman senate +probably with well-meaning credulity regarded the low prices of grain +as a real blessing for the people, and the Scipios and Flamininuses +had, forsooth, more important things to do--to emancipate the Greeks, +and to exercise the functions of republican kings. So the ship drove +on unhindered towards the breakers. + +Decay of the Farmers + +When the small holdings ceased to yield any substantial clear return, +the farmers were irretrievably ruined, and the more so that they +gradually, although more slowly than the other classes, lost the moral +tone and frugal habits of the earlier ages of the republic It was +merely a question of time, how rapidly the hides of the Italian +farmers would, by purchase or by resignation, become merged in +the larger estates. + +Culture of Oil and Wine, and Rearing of Cattle + +The landlord was better able to maintain himself than the farmer. +The former produced at a cheaper rate than the latter, when, instead +of letting his land according to the older system to petty temporary +lessees, he caused it according to the newer system to be cultivated +by his slaves. Accordingly, where this course had not been adopted +even at an earlier period,(12) the competition of Sicilian slave-corn +compelled the Italian landlord to follow it, and to have the work +performed by slaves without wife or child instead of families of free +labourers. The landlord, moreover, could hold his ground better +against competitors by means of improvements or changes in +cultivation, and he could content himself with a smaller return from +the soil than the farmer, who wanted capital and intelligence and who +merely had what was requisite for his subsistence. Hence the Roman +landholder comparatively neglected the culture of grain--which in many +rases seems to have been restricted to the raising of the quantity +required for the staff of labourers(13)--and gave increased attention +to the production of oil and wine as well as to the breeding of +cattle. These, under the favourable climate of Italy, had no need to +fear foreign competition; Italian wine, Italian oil, Italian wool not +only commanded the home markets, but were soon sent abroad; the valley +of the Po, which could find no consumption for its corn, provided the +half of Italy with swine and bacon. With this the statements that +have reached us as to the economic results of the Roman husbandry very +well agree. There is some ground for assuming that capital invested +in land was reckoned to yield a good return at 6 per cent; this +appears to accord with the average interest of capital at this period, +which was about twice as much. The rearing of cattle yielded on the +whole better results than arable husbandry: in the latter the vineyard +gave the best return, next came the vegetable garden and the olive +orchard, while meadows and corn-fields yielded least.(14) + +It is of course presumed that each species of husbandry was prosecuted +under the conditions that suited it, and on the soil which was adapted +to its nature. These circumstances were already in themselves +sufficient to supersede the husbandry of the petty farmer gradually by +the system of farming on a great scale; and it was difficult by means +of legislation to counteract them. But an injurious effect was +produced by the Claudian law to be mentioned afterwards (shortly +before 536), which excluded the senatorial houses from mercantile +speculation, and thereby artificially compelled them to invest their +enormous capitals mainly in land or, in other words, to replace the +old homesteads of the farmers by estates under the management of land- +stewards and by pastures for cattle. Moreover special circumstances +tended to favour cattle-husbandry as contrasted with agriculture, +although the former was far more injurious to the state. First of +all, this form of extracting profit from the soil--the only one which +in reality demanded and rewarded operations on a great scale--was +alone in keeping with the mass of capital and with the spirit of the +capitalists of this age. An estate under cultivation, although not +demanding the presence of the master constantly, required his frequent +appearance on the spot, while the circumstances did not well admit of +his extending the estate or of his multiplying his possessions except +within narrow limits; whereas an estate under pasture admitted of +unlimited extension, and claimed little of the owner's attention. For +this reason men already began to convert good arable land into pasture +even at an economic loss--a practice which was prohibited by +legislation (we know not when, perhaps about this period) but hardly +with success. The growth of pastoral husbandry was favoured also by +the occupation of domain-land. As the portions so occupied were +ordinarily large, the system gave rise almost exclusively to great +estates; and not only so, but the occupiers of these possessions, +which might be resumed by the state at pleasure and were in law +always insecure, were afraid to invest any considerable amount in +their cultivation--by planting vines for instance, or olives. +The consequence was, that these lands were mainly turned to +account as pasture. + +Management of Money + +We are prevented from giving a similar comprehensive view of the +moneyed economy of Rome, partly by the want of special treatises +descending from Roman antiquity on the subject, partly by its very +nature which was far more complex and varied than that of the Roman +husbandry. So far as can be ascertained, its principles were, still +less perhaps than those of husbandry, the peculiar property of the +Romans; on the contrary, they were the common heritage of all ancient +civilization, under which, as under that of modern times, the +operations on a great scale naturally were everywhere much alike. +In money matters especially the mercantile system appears to have been +established in the first instance by the Greeks, and to have been +simply adopted by the Romans. Yet the precision with which it was +carried out and the magnitude of the scale on which its operations +were conducted were so peculiarly Roman, that the spirit of the Roman +economy and its grandeur whether for good or evil are pre-eminently +conspicuous in its monetary transactions. + +Moneylending + +The starting-point of the Roman moneyed economy was of course +money-lending; and no branch of commercial industry was more +zealously prosecuted by the Romans than the trade of the professional +money-lender (-fenerator-) and of the money-dealer or banker (-argent +arius-). The transference of the charge of the larger monetary +transactions from the individual capitalists to the mediating banker, +who receives and makes payments for his customers, invests and borrows +money, and conducts their money dealings at home and abroad--which is +the mark of a developed monetary economy--was already completely +carried out in the time of Cato. The bankers, however, were not only +the cashiers of the rich in Rome, but everywhere insinuated themselves +into minor branches of business and settled in ever-increasing numbers +in the provinces and dependent states. Already throughout the whole +range of the empire the business of making advances to those who +wanted money began to be, so to speak, monopolized by the Romans. + +Speculation of Contractors + +Closely connected with this was the immeasurable field of enterprise. +The system of transacting business through mediate agency pervaded the +whole dealings of Rome. The state took the lead by letting all its +more complicated revenues and all contracts for furnishing supplies +and executing buildings to capitalists, or associations of +capitalists, for a fixed sum to be given or received. But private +persons also uniformly contracted for whatever admitted of being done +by contract--for buildings, for the ingathering of the harvest,(15) +and even for the partition of an inheritance among the heirs or the +winding up of a bankrupt estate; in which case the contractor--usually +a banker--received the whole assets, and engaged on the other hand to +settle the liabilities in full or up to a certain percentage and to +pay the balance as the circumstances required. + +Commerce +Manufacturing Industry + +The prominence of transmarine commerce at an early period in the Roman +national economy has already been adverted to in its proper place. +The further stimulus, which it received during the present period, is +attested by the increased importance of the Italian customs-duties in +the Roman financial system.(16) In addition to the causes of this +increase in the importance of transmarine commerce which need no +further explanation, it was artificially promoted by the privileged +position which the ruling Italian nation assumed in the provinces, and +by the exemption from customs-dues which was probably even now in many +of the client-states conceded by treaty to the Romans and Latins. + +On the other hand, industry remained comparatively undeveloped. +Trades were no doubt indispensable, and there appear indications that +to a certain extent they were concentrated in Rome; Cato, for +instance, advises the Campanian landowner to purchase the slaves' +clothing and shoes, the ploughs, vats, and locks, which he may +require, in Rome. From the great consumption of woollen stuffs the +manufacture of cloth must undoubtedly have been extensive and +lucrative.(17) But no endeavours were apparently made to transplant +to Italy any such professional industry as existed in Egypt and Syria, +or even merely to carry it on abroad with Italian capital. Flax +indeed was cultivated in Italy and purple dye was prepared there, +but the latter branch of industry at least belonged essentially +to the Greek Tarentum, and probably the import of Egyptian linen +and Milesian or Tyrian purple even now preponderated everywhere over +the native manufacture. + +Under this category, however, falls to some extent the leasing or +purchase by Roman capitalists of landed estates beyond Italy, with +a view to carry on the cultivation of grain and the rearing of cattle +on a great scale. This species of speculation, which afterwards +developed to proportions so enormous, probably began particularly in +Sicily, within the period now before us; seeing that the commercial +restrictions imposed on the Siceliots,(18) if not introduced for +the very purpose, must have at least tended to give to the Roman +speculators, who were exempt from such restrictions, a sort of +monopoly of the profits derivable from land. + +Management of Business by Slaves + +Business in all these different branches was uniformly carried on by +means of slaves. The money-lenders and bankers instituted, throughout +the range of their business, additional counting-houses and branch +banks under the direction of their slaves and freedmen. The company, +which had leased the customs-duties from the state, appointed chiefly +its slaves and freedmen to levy them at each custom-house. Every one +who took contracts for buildings bought architect-slaves; every one +who undertook to provide spectacles or gladiatorial games on account +of those giving them purchased or trained a company of slaves skilled +in acting, or a band of serfs expert in the trade of fighting. The +merchant imported his wares in vessels of his own under the charge +of slaves or freedmen, and disposed of them by the same means in +wholesale or retail. We need hardly add that the working of mines and +manufactories was conducted entirely by slaves. The situation of +these slaves was, no doubt, far from enviable, and was throughout less +favourable than that of slaves in Greece; but, if we leave out of +account the classes last mentioned, the industrial slaves found their +position on the whole more tolerable than the rural serfs. They had +more frequently a family and a practically independent household, with +no remote prospect of obtaining freedom and property of their own. +Hence such positions formed the true training school of those upstarts +from the servile class, who by menial virtues and often by menial +vices rose to the rank of Roman citizens and not seldom attained +great prosperity, and who morally, economically, and politically +contributed at least as much as the slaves themselves to the ruin +of the Roman commonwealth. + +Extent of Roman Mercantile Transactions +Coins and Moneys + +The Roman mercantile transactions of this period fully kept pace with +the contemporary development of political power, and were no less +grand of their kind. Any one who wishes to have a clear idea of the +activity of the traffic with other lands, needs only to look into the +literature, more especially the comedies, of this period, in which the +Phoenician merchant is brought on the stage speaking Phoenician, and +the dialogue swarms with Greek and half Greek words and phrases. +But the extent and zealous prosecution of Roman business-dealings may +be traced most distinctly by means of coins and monetary relations. +The Roman denarius quite kept pace with the Roman legions. We have +already mentioned(19) that the Sicilian mints--last of all that of +Syracuse in 542--were closed or at any rate restricted to small money +in consequence of the Roman conquest, and that in Sicily and Sardinia +the -denarius- obtained legal circulation at least side by side with +the older silver currency and probably very soon became the exclusive +legal tender. With equal if not greater rapidity the Roman silver +coinage penetrated into Spain, where the great silver-mines existed +and there was virtually no earlier national coinage; at a very +early period the Spanish towns even began to coin after the Roman +standard.(20) On the whole, as Carthage coined only to a very limited +extent,(21) there existed not a single important mint in addition to +that of Rome in the region of the western Mediterranean, with the +exception of that of Massilia and perhaps also those of the Illyrian +Greeks in Apollonia and Dyrrhachium. Accordingly, when the Romans +began to establish themselves in the region of the Po, these mints +were about 525 subjected to the Roman standard in such a way, that, +while they retained the right of coining silver, they uniformly +--and the Massiliots in particular--were led to adjust their +--drachma-- to the weight of the Roman three-quarter -denarius-, which +the Roman government on its part began to coin, primarily for the use +of Upper Italy, under the name of the "coin of victory" (-victoriatus- +). This new system, dependent on the Roman, not merely prevailed +throughout the Massiliot, Upper Italian, and Illyrian territories; but +these coins even penetrated into the barbarian lands on the north, +those of Massilia, for instance, into the Alpine districts along the +whole basin of the Rhone, and those of Illyria as far as the modern +Transylvania. The eastern half of the Mediterranean was not yet +reached by the Roman money, as it had not yet fallen under the direct +sovereignty of Rome; but its place was filled by gold, the true and +natural medium for international and transmarine commerce. It is +true that the Roman government, in conformity with its strictly +conservative character, adhered--with the exception of a temporary +coinage of gold occasioned by the financial embarrassment during the +Hannibalic war(22)--steadfastly to the rule of coining silver only in +addition to the national-Italian copper; but commerce had already +assumed such dimensions, that it was able even in the absence of money +to conduct its transactions with gold by weight. Of the sum in cash, +which lay in the Roman treasury in 597, scarcely a sixth was coined or +uncoined silver, five-sixths consisted of gold in bars,(23) and beyond +doubt the precious metals were found in all the chests of the larger +Roman capitalists in substantially similar proportions. Already +therefore gold held the first place in great transactions; and, +as may be further inferred from this fact, in general commerce the +preponderance belonged to that carried on with foreign lands, and +particularly with the east, which since the times of Philip and +Alexander the Great had adopted a gold currency. + +Roman Wealth + +The whole gain from these immense transactions of the Roman +capitalists flowed in the long run to Rome; for, much as they went +abroad, they were not easily induced to settle permanently there, but +sooner or later returned to Rome, either realizing their gains and +investing them in Italy, or continuing to carry on business from Rome +as a centre by means of the capital and connections which they had +acquired. The moneyed superiority of Rome as compared with the rest +of the civilized world was, accordingly, quite as decided as its +political and military ascendency. Rome in this respect stood towards +other countries somewhat as the England of the present day stands +towards the Continent--a Greek, for instance, observes of the younger +Scipio Africanus, that he was not rich "for a Roman." We may form some +idea of what was considered as riches in the Rome of those days from +the fact, that Lucius Paullus with an estate of 60 talents (14,000 +pounds) was not reckoned a wealthy senator, and that a dowry--such as +each of the daughters of the elder Scipio Africanus received--of 50 +talents (12,000 pounds) was regarded as a suitable portion for a +maiden of quality, while the estate of the wealthiest Greek of this +century was not more than 300 talents (72,000 pounds). + +Mercantile Spirit + +It was no wonder, accordingly, that the mercantile spirit took +possession of the nation, or rather--for that was no new thing in +Rome--that the spirit of the capitalist now penetrated and pervaded +all other aspects and stations of life, and agriculture as well as the +government of the state began to become enterprises of capitalists. +The preservation and increase of wealth quite formed a part of public +and private morality. "A widow's estate may diminish;" Cato wrote in +the practical instructions which he composed for his son, "a man must +increase his means, and he is deserving of praise and full of a divine +spirit, whose account-books at his death show that he has gained more +than he has inherited." Wherever, therefore, there was giving and +counter-giving, every transaction although concluded without any sort +of formality was held as valid, and in case of necessity the right of +action was accorded to the party aggrieved if not by the law, at any +rate by mercantile custom and judicial usage;(24) but the promise of a +gift without due form was null alike in legal theory and in practice. +In Rome, Polybius tells us, nobody gives to any one unless he must do +so, and no one pays a penny before it falls due, even among near +relatives. The very legislation yielded to this mercantile morality, +which regarded all giving away without recompense as squandering; the +giving of presents and bequests and the undertaking of sureties were +subjected to restriction at this period by decree of the burgesses, +and heritages, if they did not fall to the nearest relatives, were at +least taxed. In the closest connection with such views mercantile +punctuality, honour, and respectability pervaded the whole of Roman +life. Every ordinary man was morally bound to keep an account-book of +his income and expenditure--in every well-arranged house, accordingly, +there was a separate account-chamber (-tablinum-)--and every one took +care that he should not leave the world without having made his will: +it was one of the three matters in his life which Cato declares that +he regretted, that he had been a single day without a testament. +Those household books were universally by Roman usage admitted as +valid evidence in a court of justice, nearly in the same way as we +admit the evidence of a merchant's ledger. The word of a man of +unstained repute was admissible not merely against himself, but also +in his own favour; nothing was more common than to settle differences +between persons of integrity by means of an oath demanded by the one +party and taken by the other--a mode of settlement which was reckoned +valid even in law; and a traditional rule enjoined the jury, in the +absence of evidence, to give their verdict in the first instance for +the man of unstained character when opposed to one who was less +reputable, and only in the event of both parties being of equal repute +to give it in favour of the defendant.(25) The conventional +respectability of the Romans was especially apparent in the more and +more strict enforcement of the rule, that no respectable man should +allow himself to be paid for the performance of personal services. +Accordingly, magistrates, officers, jurymen, guardians, and generally +all respectable men entrusted with public functions, received no other +recompense for the services which they rendered than, at most, +compensation for their outlays; and not only so, but the services +which acquaintances (-amici-) rendered to each other--such as giving +security, representation in lawsuits, custody (-depositum-), lending +the use of objects not intended to be let on hire (-commodatum-), the +managing and attending to business in general (-procuratio-)--were +treated according to the same principle, so that it was unseemly to +receive any compensation for them and an action was not allowable even +where a compensation had been promised. How entirely the man was +merged in the merchant, appears most distinctly perhaps in the +substitution of a money-payment and an action at law for the duel +--even for the political duel--in the Roman life of this period. +The usual form of settling questions of personal honour was this: a +wager was laid between the offender and the party offended as to the +truth or falsehood of the offensive assertion, and under the shape of +an action for the stake the question of fact was submitted in due form +of law to a jury; the acceptance of such a wager when offered by the +offended or offending party was, just like the acceptance of a +challenge to a duel at the present day, left open in law, but was +often in point of honour not to be avoided. + +Associations + +One of the most important consequences of this mercantile spirit, +which displayed itself with an intensity hardly conceivable by those +not engaged in business, was the extraordinary impulse given to the +formation of associations. In Rome this was especially fostered by +the system already often mentioned whereby the government had its +business transacted through middlemen: for from the extent of the +transactions it was natural, and it was doubtless often required by +the state for the sake of greater security, that capitalists should +undertake such leases and contracts not as individuals, but in +partnership. All great dealings were organized on the model of these +state-contracts. Indications are even found of the occurrence among +the Romans of that feature so characteristic of the system of +association--a coalition of rival companies in order jointly to +establish monopolist prices.(26) In transmarine transactions more +especially and such as were otherwise attended with considerable risk, +the system of partnership was so extensively adopted, that it +practically took the place of insurances, which were unknown to +antiquity. Nothing was more common than the nautical loan, as it was +called--the modern "bottomry"--by which the risk and gain of +transmarine traffic were proportionally distributed among the owners +of the vessel and cargo and all the capitalists advancing money for +the voyage. It was, however, a general rule of Roman economy that one +should rather take small shares in many speculations than speculate +independently; Cato advised the capitalist not to fit out a single +ship with his money, but in concert with forty-nine other capitalists +to send out fifty ships and to take an interest in each to the extent +of a fiftieth part. The greater complication thus introduced into +business was overcome by the Roman merchant through his punctual +laboriousness and his system of management by slaves and freedmen +--which, regarded from the point of view of the pure capitalist, was +far preferable to our counting-house system. Thus these mercantile +companies, with their hundred ramifications, largely influenced the +economy of every Roman of note. There was, according to the testimony +of Polybius, hardly a man of means in Rome who had not been concerned +as an avowed or silent partner in leasing the public revenues; and +much more must each have invested on an average a considerable portion +of his capital in mercantile associations generally. + +All this laid the foundation for that endurance of Roman wealth, +which was perhaps still more remarkable than its magnitude. The +phenomenon, unique perhaps of its kind, to which we have already +called attention(27)--that the standing of the great clans remained +almost the same throughout several centuries--finds its explanation +in the somewhat narrow but solid principles on which they managed +their mercantile property. + +Moneyed Aristocracy + +In consequence of the one-sided prominence assigned to capital in +the Roman economy, the evils inseparable from a pure capitalist system +could not fail to appear. + +Civil equality, which had already received a fatal wound through the +rise of the ruling order of lords, suffered an equally severe blow in +consequence of the line of social demarcation becoming more and more +distinctly drawn between the rich and the poor. Nothing more +effectually promoted this separation in a downward direction than the +already-mentioned rule--apparently a matter of indifference, but in +reality involving the utmost arrogance and insolence on the part of +the capitalists--that it was disgraceful to take money for work; a +wall of partition was thus raised not merely between the common day- +labourer or artisan and the respectable landlord or manufacturer, but +also between the soldier or subaltern and the military tribune, and +between the clerk or messenger and the magistrate. In an upward +direction a similar barrier was raised by the Claudian law suggested +by Gaius Flaminius (shortly before 536), which prohibited senators +and senators' sons from possessing sea-going vessels except for the +transport of the produce of their estates, and probably also from +participating in public contracts--forbidding them generally from +carrying on whatever the Romans included under the head of +"speculation" (-quaestus-).(28) It is true that this enactment was +not called for by the senators; it was on the contrary a work of the +democratic opposition, which perhaps desired in the first instance +merely to prevent the evil of members of the governing class +personally entering into dealings with the government. It may be, +moreover, that the capitalists in this instance, as so often +afterwards, made common cause with the democratic party, and seized +the opportunity of diminishing competition by the exclusion of the +senators. The former object was, of course, only very imperfectly +attained, for the system of partnership opened up to the senators +ample facilities for continuing to speculate in secret; but this +decree of the people drew a legal line of demarcation between those +men of quality who did not speculate at all or at any rate not openly +and those who did, and it placed alongside of the aristocracy which +was primarily political an aristocracy which was purely moneyed--the +equestrian order, as it was afterwards called, whose rivalries with +the senatorial order fill the history of the following century. + +Sterility of the Capitalist Question + +A further consequence of the one-sided power of capital was the +disproportionate prominence of those branches of business which were +the most sterile and the least productive for the national economy as +a whole. Industry, which ought to have held the highest place, in +fact occupied the lowest. Commerce flourished; but it was universally +passive, importing, but not exporting. Not even on the northern +frontier do the Romans seem to have been able to give merchandise in +exchange for the slaves, who were brought in numbers from the Celtic +and probably even from the Germanic territories to Ariminum and the +other markets of northern Italy; at least as early as 523 the export +of silver money to the Celtic territory was prohibited by the Roman +government. In the intercourse with Greece, Syria, Egypt, Cyrene, and +Carthage, the balance of trade was necessarily unfavourable to Italy. +Rome began to become the capital of the Mediterranean states, and +Italy to become the suburbs of Rome; the Romans had no wish to be +anything more, and in their opulent indifference contented themselves +with a passive commerce, such as every city which is nothing more than +a capital necessarily carries on--they possessed, forsooth, money +enough to pay for everything which they needed or did not need. On +the other hand the most unproductive of all sorts of business, the +traffic in money and the farming of the revenue, formed the true +mainstay and stronghold of the Roman economy. And, lastly, whatever +elements that economy had contained for the production of a wealthy +middle class, and of a lower one making enough for its subsistence, +were extinguished by the unhappy system of employing slaves, or, +at the best, contributed to the multiplication of the troublesome +order of freedmen. + +The Capitalists and Public Opinion + +But above all the deep rooted immorality, which is inherent in an +economy of pure capital, ate into the heart of society and of the +commonwealth, and substituted an absolute selfishness for humanity +and patriotism. The better portion of the nation were very keenly +sensible of the seeds of corruption which lurked in that system of +speculation; and the instinctive hatred of the great multitude, as +well as the displeasure of the well-disposed statesman, was especially +directed against the trade of the professional money-lender, which for +long had been subjected to penal laws and still continued under the +letter of the law amenable to punishment. In a comedy of this period +the money-lender is told that the class to which he belongs is on a +parallel with the -lenones- -- + +-Eodem hercle vos pono et paro; parissumi estis ibus. +Hi saltem in occultis locis prostant: vos in foro ipso. +Vos fenore, hi male suadendo et lustris lacerant homines. +Rogitationes plurimas propter vos populus scivit, +Quas vos rogatas rumpitis: aliquam reperitis rimam. +Quasi aquam ferventem frigidam esse, ita vos putatis leges.- + +Cato the leader of the reform party expresses himself still more +emphatically than the comedian. "Lending money at interest," he says +in the preface to his treatise on agriculture, "has various +advantages; but it is not honourable. Our forefathers accordingly +ordained, and inscribed it among their laws, that the thief should be +bound to pay twofold, but the man who takes interest fourfold, +compensation; whence we may infer how much worse a citizen they deemed +the usurer than the thief." There is no great difference, he elsewhere +considers, between a money-lender and a murderer; and it must be +allowed that his acts did not fall short of his words--when governor +of Sardinia, by his rigorous administration of the law he drove the +Roman bankers to their wits' end. The great majority of the ruling +senatorial order regarded the system of the speculators with dislike, +and not only conducted themselves in the provinces on the whole with +more integrity and honour than these moneyed men, but often acted as +a restraint on them. The frequent changes of the Roman chief +magistrates, however, and the inevitable inequality in their mode +of handling the laws, necessarily abated the effort to check such +proceedings. + +Reaction of the Capitalist System on Agriculture + +The Romans perceived moreover--as it was not difficult to perceive +--that it was of far more consequence to give a different direction +to the whole national economy than to exercise a police control over +speculation; it was such views mainly that men like Cato enforced +by precept and example on the Roman agriculturist. "When our +forefathers," continues Cato in the preface just quoted, "pronounced +the eulogy of a worthy man, they praised him as a worthy farmer and a +worthy landlord; one who was thus commended was thought to have +received the highest praise. The merchant I deem energetic and +diligent in the pursuit of gain; but his calling is too much exposed +to perils and mischances. On the other hand farmers furnish the +bravest men and the ablest soldiers; no calling is so honourable, +safe, and free from odium as theirs, and those who occupy themselves +with it are least liable to evil thoughts." He was wont to say of +himself, that his property was derived solely from two sources +--agriculture and frugality; and, though this was neither very logical +in thought nor strictly conformable to the truth,(29) yet Cato was not +unjustly regarded by his contemporaries and by posterity as the model +of a Roman landlord. Unhappily it is a truth as remarkable as it is +painful, that this husbandry, commended so much and certainly with so +entire good faith as a remedy, was itself pervaded by the poison of +the capitalist system. In the case of pastoral husbandry this was +obvious; for that reason it was most in favour with the public and +least in favour with the party desirous of moral reform. But how +stood the case with agriculture itself? The warfare, which from the +third onward to the fifth century capital had waged against labour, +by withdrawing under the form of interest on debt the revenues of the +soil from the working farmers and bringing them into the hands of the +idly consuming fundholder, had been settled chiefly by the extension +of the Roman economy and the throwing of the capital which existed in +Latium into the field of mercantile activity opened up throughout the +range of the Mediterranean. Now even the extended field of business +was no longer able to contain the increased mass of capital; and an +insane legislation laboured simultaneously to compel the investment +of senatorial capital by artificial means in Italian estates, and +systematically to reduce the value of the arable land of Italy by +interference with the prices of grain. Thus there began a second +campaign of capital against free labour or--what was substantially the +same thing in antiquity--against the small farmer system; and, if the +first had been bad, it yet seemed mild and humane as compared with the +second. The capitalists no longer lent to the farmer at interest +--a course, which in itself was not now practicable because the petty +landholder no longer aimed at any considerable surplus, and was +moreover not sufficiently simple and radical--but they bought up the +farms and converted them, at the best, into estates managed by +stewards and worked by slaves. This likewise was called agriculture; +it was essentially the application of the capitalist system to the +production of the fruits of the soil. The description of the +husbandmen, which Cato gives, is excellent and quite just; but how +does it correspond to the system itself, which he portrays and +recommends? If a Roman senator, as must not unfrequently have been +the case, possessed four such estates as that described by Cato, the +same space, which in the olden time when small holdings prevailed had +supported from 100 to 150 farmers' families, was now occupied by one +family of free persons and about 50, for the most part unmarried, +slaves. If this was the remedy by which the decaying national economy +was to be restored to vigour, it bore, unhappily, an aspect of extreme +resemblance to the disease. + +Development of Italy + +The general result of this system is only too clearly obvious in the +changed proportions of the population. It is true that the condition +of the various districts of Italy was very unequal, and some were even +prosperous. The farms, instituted in great numbers in the region +between the Apennines and the Po at the time of its colonization, did +not so speedily disappear. Polybius, who visited that quarter not +long after the close of the present period, commends its numerous, +handsome, and vigorous population: with a just legislation as to corn +it would doubtless have been possible to make the basin of the Po, and +not Sicily the granary of the capital. In like manner Picenum and the +so-called -ager Gallicus- acquired a numerous body of farmers through +the distributions of domain-land consequent on the Flaminian law of +522--a body, however, which was sadly reduced in the Hannibalic war. +In Etruria, and perhaps also in Umbria, the internal condition of the +subject communities was unfavourable to the flourishing of a class +of free farmers, Matters were better in Latium--which could not be +entirely deprived of the advantages of the market of the capital, and +which had on the whole been spared by the Hannibalic war--as well as +in the secluded mountain-valleys of the Marsians and Sabellians. On +the other hand the Hannibalic war had fearfully devastated southern +Italy and had ruined, in addition to a number of smaller townships, +its two largest cities, Capua and Tarentum, both once able to send +into the field armies of 30,000 men. Samnium had recovered from the +severe wars of the fifth century: according to the census of 529 it +was in a position to furnish half as many men capable of arms as all +the Latin towns, and it was probably at that time, next to the -ager +Romanus-, the most flourishing region of the peninsula. But the +Hannibalic war had desolated the land afresh, and the assignations +of land in that quarter to the soldiers of Scipio's army, although +considerable, probably did not cover the loss. Campania and Apulia, +both hitherto well-peopled regions, were still worse treated in the +same war by friend and foe. In Apulia, no doubt, assignations of land +took place afterwards, but the colonies instituted there were not +successful. The beautiful plain of Campania remained more populous; +but the territory of Capua and of the other communities broken up in +the Hannibalic war became state-property, and the occupants of it were +uniformly not proprietors, but petty temporary lessees. Lastly, in +the wide Lucanian and Bruttian territories the population, which was +already very thin before the Hannibalic war, was visited by the whole +severity of the war itself and of the penal executions that followed +in its train; nor was much done on the part of Rome to revive the +agriculture there--with the exception perhaps of Valentia (Vibo, +now Monteleone), none of the colonies established there attained +real prosperity. + +Falling Off in the Population + +With every allowance for the inequality in the political and economic +circumstances of the different districts and for the comparatively +flourishing condition of several of them, the retrogression is yet on +the whole unmistakeable, and it is confirmed by the most indisputable +testimonies as to the general condition of Italy. Cato and Polybius +agree in stating that Italy was at the end of the sixth century far +weaker in population than at the end of the fifth, and was no longer +able to furnish armies so large as in the first Punic war. The +increasing difficulty of the levy, the necessity of lowering the +qualification for service in the legions, and the complaints of the +allies as to the magnitude of the contingents to be furnished by them, +confirm these statements; and, in the case of the Roman burgesses, the +numbers tell the same tale. In 502, shortly after the expedition of +Regulus to Africa, they amounted to 298,000 men capable of bearing +arms; thirty years later, shortly before the commencement of the +Hannibalic war (534), they had fallen off to 270,000, or about a +tenth, and again twenty years after that, shortly before the end of +the same war (550), to 214,000, or about a fourth; and a generation +afterwards--during which no extraordinary losses occurred, but the +institution of the great burgess-colonies in the plain of northern +Italy in particular occasioned a perceptible and exceptional increase +--the numbers of the burgesses had hardly again reached the point at +which they stood at the commencement of this period. If we had +similar statements regarding the Italian population generally, +they would beyond all doubt exhibit a deficit relatively still more +considerable. The decline of the national vigour less admits of +proof; but it is stated by the writers on agriculture that flesh and +milk disappeared more and more from the diet of the common people. +At the same time the slave population increased, as the free +population declined. In Apulia, Lucania, and the Bruttian land, +pastoral husbandry must even in the time of Cato have preponderated +over agriculture; the half-savage slave-herdsmen were here in reality +masters in the house. Apulia was rendered so insecure by them that a +strong force had to be stationed there; in 569 a slave-conspiracy +planned on the largest scale, and mixed up with the proceedings of the +Bacchanalia, was discovered there, and nearly 7000 men were condemned +as criminals. In Etruria also Roman troops had to take the field +against a band of slaves (558), and even in Latium there were +instances in which towns like Setia and Praeneste were in danger of +being surprised by a band of runaway serfs (556). The nation was +visibly diminishing, and the community of free burgesses was resolving +itself into a body composed of masters and slaves; and, although it +was in the first instance the two long wars with Carthage which +decimated and ruined both the burgesses and the allies, the Roman +capitalists beyond doubt contributed quite as much as Hamilcar and +Hannibal to the decline in the vigour and the numbers of the Italian +people. No one can say whether the government could have rendered +help; but it was an alarming and discreditable fact, that the circles +of the Roman aristocracy, well-meaning and energetic as in great part +they were, never once showed any insight into the real gravity of the +situation or any foreboding of the full magnitude of the danger. When +a Roman lady belonging to the high nobility, the sister of one of the +numerous citizen-admirals who in the first Punic war had ruined the +fleets of the state, one day got among a crowd in the Roman Forum, she +said aloud in the hearing of those around, that it was high time to +place her brother once more at the head of the fleet and to relieve +the pressure in the market-place by bleeding the citizens afresh +(508). Those who thus thought and spoke were, no doubt, a small +minority; nevertheless this outrageous speech was simply a forcible +expression of the criminal indifference with which the whole noble +and rich world looked down on the common citizens and farmers. + +They did not exactly desire their destruction, but they allowed it to +run its course; and so desolation advanced with gigantic steps over +the flourishing land of Italy, where countless free men had just been +enjoying a moderate and merited prosperity. + +Notes for Chapter XII + +1. In order to gain a correct picture of ancient Italy, it is +necessary for us to bear in mind the great changes which have been +produced there by modern cultivation. Of the -cerealia-, rye was not +cultivated in antiquity; and the Romans of the empire were astonished +to rind that oats, with which they were well acquainted as a weed, was +used by the Germans for making porridge. Rice was first cultivated in +Italy at the end of the fifteenth, and maize at the beginning of the +seventeenth, century. Potatoes and tomatoes were brought from +America; artichokes seem to be nothing but a cultivated variety of the +cardoon which was known to the Romans, yet the peculiar character +superinduced by cultivation appears of more recent origin. The +almond, again, or "Greek nut," the peach, or "Persian nut," and also +the "soft nut" (-nux mollusca-), although originally foreign to Italy, +are met with there at least 150 years before Christ. The date-palm, +introduced into Italy from Greece as into Greece from the East, and +forming a living attestation of the primitive commercial-religious +intercourse between the west and the east, was already cultivated in +Italy 300 years before Christ (Liv. x. 47; Pallad. v. 5, 2; xi. 12, i) +not for its fruit (Plin. H. N. xiii. 4, 26), but, just as in the +present day, as a handsome plant, and for the sake of the leaves which +were used at public festivals. The cherry, or fruit of Cerasus on the +Black Sea, was later in being introduced, and only began to be planted +in Italy in the time of Cicero, although the wild cherry is indigenous +there; still later, perhaps, came the apricot, or "Armenian plum." The +citron-tree was not cultivated in Italy till the later ages of the +empire; the orange was only introduced by the Moors in the twelfth or +thirteenth, and the aloe (Agave Americana) from America only in the +sixteenth, century. Cotton was first cultivated in Europe by the +Arabs. The buffalo also and the silkworm belong only to modern, not +to ancient Italy. + +It is obvious that the products which Italy had not originally are for +the most part those very products which seem to us truly "Italian;" +and if modern Germany, as compared with the Germany visited by Caesar, +may be called a southern land, Italy has since in no less degree +acquired a "more southern" aspect. + +2. II. III. Licinio-Sextian Laws + +3. According to Cato, de R. R, 137 (comp. 16), in the case of a lease +with division of the produce the gross produce of the estate, after +deduction of the fodder necessary for the oxen that drew the plough, +was divided between lessor and lessee (-colonus partiarius-) in the +proportions agreed upon between them. That the shares were ordinarily +equal may be conjectured from the analogy of the French -bail a +cheptel- and the similar Italian system of half-and-half leases, +as well as from the absence of all trace of any other scheme of +partition. It is erroneous to refer to the case of the -politor-, +who got the fifth of the grain or, if the division took place before +thrashing, from the sixth to the ninth sheaf (Cato, 136, comp. 5); +he was not a lessee sharing the produce, but a labourer assumed in +the harvest season, who received his daily wages according to that +contract of partnership (III. XII. Spirit of the System). + +4. The lease lirst assumed real importance when the Roman capitalists +began to acquire transmarine possessions on a great scale; then indeed +they knew how to value it, when a temporary lease was continued +through several generations (Colum. i. 7, 3). + +5. That the space between the vines was occupied not by grain, but +only at the most by such fodder plants as easily grew in the shade, is +evident from Cato (33, comp. 137), and accordingly Columella (iii. 3) +calculates on no other accessory gain in the case of a vineyard except +the produce of the young shoots sold. On the other hand, the orchard +(-arbustum-) was sown like any corn field (Colum. ii. 9, 6). It was +only where the vine was trained on living trees that corn was +cultivated in the intervals between them. + +6. Mago, or his translator (in Varro, R. R., i. 17, 3), advises that +slaves should not be bred, but should be purchased not under 22 years +of age; and Cato must have had a similar course in view, as the +personal staff of his model farm clearly shows, although he does not +exactly say so. Cato (2) expressly counsels the sale of old and +diseased slaves. The slave-breeding described by Columella (I. I. +Italian History), under which female slaves who had three sons were +exempted from labour, and the mothers of four sons were even +manumitted, was doubtless an independent speculation rather than a +part of the regular management of the estate--similar to the trade +pursued by Cato himself of purchasing slaves to be trained and sold +again (Plutarch, Cat. Mai. 21). The characteristic taxation mentioned +in this same passage probably has reference to the body of servants +properly so called (-familia urbana-). + +7. In this restricted sense the chaining of slaves, and even of the +sons of the family (Dionys. ii. 26), was very old; and accordingly +chained field-labourers are mentioned by Cato as exceptions, to whom, +as they could not themselves grind, bread had to be supplied instead +of grain (56). Even in the times of the empire the chaining of slaves +uniformly presents itself as a punishment inflicted definitively by +the master, provisionally by the steward (Colum. i. 8; Gai. i. 13; +Ulp. i. ii). If, notwithstanding, the tillage of the fields by means +of chained slaves appeared in subsequent times as a distinct system, +and the labourers' prison (-ergastulum-)--an underground cellar with +window-aperatures numerous but narrow and not to be reached from the +ground by the hand (Colum. i. 6)--became a necessary part of the farm- +buildings, this state of matters was occasioned by the fact that the +position of the rural serfs was harder than that of other slaves and +therefore those slaves were chiefly taken for it, who had, or seemed +to have, committed some offence. That cruel masters, moreover, +applied the chains without any occasion to do so, we do not mean to +deny, and it is clearly indicated by the circumstance that the law- +books do not decree the penalties applicable to slave transgressors +against those in chains, but prescribe the punishment of the half- +chained. It was precisely the same with branding; it was meant to be, +strictly, a punishment; but the whole flock was probably marked +(Diodor. xxxv. 5; Bernays, --Phokytides--, p. xxxi.). + +8. Cato does not expressly say this as to the vintage, but Varro does +so (I. II. Relation of the Latins to the Umbro-Samnites), and it is +implied in the nature of the case. It would have been economically an +error to fix the number of the slaves on a property by the standard of +the labours of harvest; and least of all, had such been the case, +would the grapes have been sold on the tree, which yet was frequently +done (Cato, 147). + +9. Columella (ii. 12, 9) reckons to the year on an average 45 rainy +days and holidays; with which accords the statement of Tertullian (De +Idolol. 14), that the number of the heathen festival days did not come +up to the fifty days of the Christian festal season from Easter to +Whitsunday. To these fell to be added the time of rest in the middle +of winter after the completion of the autumnal bowing, which Columella +estimates at thirty days. Within this time, doubtless, the moveable +"festival of seed-sowing" (-feriae sementivae-; comp. i. 210 and Ovid. +Fast, i. 661) uniformly occurred. This month of rest must not be +confounded with the holidays for holding courts in the season of the +harvest (Plin. Ep. viii. 21, 2, et al.) and vintage. + +10. III. I. The Carthaginian Dominion in Africa + +11. The medium price of grain in the capital may be assumed at least +for the seventh and eighth centuries of Rome at one -denarius- for the +Roman -modius-, or 2 shillings 8 pence per bushel of wheat, for which +there is now paid (according to the average of the prices in the +provinces of Brandenburg and Pomerania from 1816 to 1841) about 3 +shillings 5 pence. Whether this not very considerable difference +between the Roman and the modern prices depends on a rise in the value +of corn or on a fall in the value of silver, can hardly be decided. + +It is very doubtful, perhaps, whether in the Rome of this and of later +times the prices of corn really fluctuated more than is the case in +modern times. If we compare prices like those quoted above, of 4 +pence and 5 pence for the bushel and a half, with those of the worst +times of war-dearth and famine--such as in the second Punic war when +the same quantity rose to 9 shillings 7 pence (1 -medimnus- = 15 -- +drachmae--; Polyb. ix. 44), in the civil war to 19 shillings 2 pence +(1 -modius- = 5 -denarii-; Cic. Verr. iii. 92, 214), in the great +dearth under Augustus, even to 21 shillings 3 pence (5 -modii- =27 1/2 +-denarii-; Euseb. Chron. p. Chr. 7, Scal.)--the difference is indeed +immense; but such extreme cases are but little instructive, and might +in either direction be found recurring under the like conditions at +the present day. + +12. II. VIII. Farming of Estates + +13. Accordingly Cato calls the two estates, which he describes, +summarily "olive-plantation" (-olivetum-) and "vineyard" (-vinea-), +although not wine and oil merely, but grain also and other products +were cultivated there. If indeed the 800 -culei-, for which the +possessor of the vineyard is directed to provide himself with casks +(11), formed the maximum of a year's vintage, the whole of the 100 +-jugera- must have been planted with vines, because a produce of 8 +-culei- per -jugerum- was almost unprecedented (Colum. iii. 3); but +Varro (i. 22) understood, and evidently with reason, the statement to +apply to the case of the possessor of a vineyard who found it +necessary to make the new vintage before he had sold the old. + +14. That the Roman landlord made on an average 6 per cent from his +capital, may be inferred from Columella, iii. 3, 9. We have a more +precise estimate of the expense and produce only in the case of the +vine yard, for which Columella gives the following calculation of +the cost per -jugerum-: + +Price of the ground 1000 sesterces. +Price of the slaves who work it 1143 +(proportion to-jugerum-) +Vines and stakes 2000 +Loss of interest during the first two years 497 + ---- +Total 4640 sesterces= 47 pounds. + +He calculates the produce as at any rate 60 -amphorae-, worth at least +900 sesterces (9 pounds), which would thus represent a return of 17 +per cent. But this is somewhat illusory, as, apart from bad harvests, +the cost of gathering in the produce (III. XII. Spirit of the System), +and the expenses of the maintenance of the vines, stakes, and slaves, +are omitted from the estimate. + +The gross produce of meadow, pasture, and forest is estimated by the +same agricultural writer as, at most, 100 sesterces per -jugerum-, and +that of corn land as less rather than more: in fact, the average +return of 25 -modii- of wheat per -jugerum- gives, according to the +average price in the capital of 1 -denarius- per -modius-, not more +than 100 sesterces for the gross proceeds, and at the seat of +production the price must have been still lower. Varro (iii. 2) +reckons as a good ordinary gross return for a larger estate 150 +sesterces per -jugerum-. Estimates of the corresponding expense have +not reached us: as a matter of course, the management in this instance +cost much less than in that of a vineyard. + +All these statements, moreover, date from a century or more after +Gate's death. From him we have only the general statement that the +breeding of cattle yielded a better return than agriculture (ap. +Cicero, De Off. ii. 25, 89; Colum. vi. praef. 4, comp. ii. 16, 2; +Plin. H. N. xviii. 5, 30; Plutarch, Cato, 21); which of course is not +meant to imply that it was everywhere advisable to convert arable land +into pasture, but is to be understood relatively as signifying that +the capital invested in the rearing of flocks and herds on mountain +pastures and other suitable pasture-land yielded, as compared with +capital invested in cultivating Suitable corn land, a higher interest. +Perhaps the circumstance has been also taken into account in the +calculation, that the want of energy and intelligence in the landlord +operates far less injuriously in the case of pasture-land than in the +highly-developed culture of the vine and olive. On an arable estate, +according to Cato, the returns of the soil stood as follows in a +descending series:--1, vineyard; 2, vegetable garden; 3, osier copse, +which yielded a large return in consequence of the culture of the +vine; 4, olive plantation; 5, meadow yielding hay; 6, corn fields; +7, copse; 8, wood for felling; 9, oak forest for forage to the cattle; +all of which nine elements enter into the scheme of husbandry for +Cato's model estates. + +The higher net return of the culture of the vine as compared with that +of corn is attested also by the fact, that under the award pronounced +in the arbitration between the city of Genua and the villages +tributary to it in 637 the city received a sixth of wine, and a +twentieth of grain, as quitrent. + +15. III. XII. Spirit of the System + +16. III. XI. As to the Management of the Finances + +17. The industrial importance of the Roman cloth-making is evident +from the remarkable part which is played by the fullers in Roman +comedy. The profitable nature of the fullers' pits is attested by +Cato (ap. Plutarch, Cat 21). + +18. III. III. Organization of the Provinces + +19. III. III. Property + +20. III. VII. The State of Culture in Spain + +21. III. I. Comparison between Carthage and Rome + +22. III. VI. Pressure of the War + +23. There were in the treasury 17,410 Roman pounds of gold, 22,070 +pounds of uncoined, and 18,230 pounds of coined, silver. The legal +ratio of gold to silver was: 1 pound of gold = 4000 sesterces, or 1: +11.91. + +24. On this was based the actionable character of contracts of +buying, hiring, and partnership, and, in general, the whole system +of non-formal actionable contracts. + +25. The chief passage as to this point is the fragment of Cato in +Gellius, xiv. 2. In the case of the -obligatio litteris- also, +i. e. a claim based solely on the entry of a debt in the account-book +of the creditor, this legal regard paid to the personal credibility of +the party, even where his testimony in his own cause is concerned, +affords the key of explanation; and hence it happened that in later +times, when this mercantile repute had vanished from Roman life, the +-obligatio litteris-, while not exactly abolished, fell of itself into +desuetude. + +26. In the remarkable model contract given by Cato (141) for the +letting of the olive harvest, there is the following paragraph:-- + +"None [of the persons desirous to contract on the occasion of letting] +shall withdraw, for the sake of causing the gathering and pressing of +the olives to be let at a dearer rate; except when [the joint bidder] +immediately names [the other bidder] as his partner. If this rule +shall appear to have been infringed, all the partners [of the company +with which the contract has been concluded] shall, if desired by the +landlord or the overseer appointed by him, take an oath [that they +have not conspired in this way to prevent competition]. If they do +not take the oath, the stipulated price is not to be paid." It is +tacitly assumed that the contract is taken by a company, not by an +individual capitalist. + +27. III. XIII. Religious Economy + +28. Livy (xxi. 63; comp. Cic. Verr. v. 18, 45) mentions only the +enactment as to the sea-going vessels; but Asconius (in Or. in toga +cand. p. 94, Orell.) and Dio. (lv. 10, 5) state that the senator was +also forbidden by law to undertake state-contracts (-redemptiones-); +and, as according to Livy "all speculation was considered unseemly for +a senator," the Claudian law probably reached further than he states. + +29. Cato, like every other Roman, invested a part of his means in the +breeding of cattle, and in commercial and other undertakings. But it +was not his habit directly to violate the laws; he neither speculated +in state-leases--which as a senator he was not allowed to do--nor +practised usury. It is an injustice to charge him with a practice in +the latter respect at variance with his theory; the -fenus nauticum-, +in which he certainly engaged, was not a branch of usury prohibited by +the law; it really formed an essential part of the business of +chartering and freighting vessels. + + + + +Chapter XIII + +Faith and Manners + +Roman Austerity and Roman Pride + +Life in the case of the Roman was spent under conditions of austere +restraint, and, the nobler he was, the less he was a free man. + All-powerful custom restricted him to a narrow range of thought +and action; and to have led a serious and strict or, to use the +characteristic Latin expressions, a sad and severe life, was his +glory. No one had more and no one had less to do than to keep his +household in good order and manfully bear his part of counsel and +action in public affairs. But, while the individual had neither the +wish nor the power to be aught else than a member of the community, +the glory and the might of that community were felt by every +individual burgess as a personal possession to be transmitted along +with his name and his homestead to his posterity; and thus, as one +generation after another was laid in the tomb and each in succession +added its fresh contribution to the stock of ancient honours, the +collective sense of dignity in the noble families of Rome swelled into +that mighty civic pride, the like of which the earth has never seen +again, and the traces of which, as strange as they are grand, seem to +us, wherever we meet them, to belong as it were to another world. It +was one of the characteristic peculiarities of this powerful sense of +citizenship, that it was, while not suppressed, yet compelled by the +rigid simplicity and equality that prevailed among the citizens to +remain locked up within the breast during life, and was only allowed +to find expression after death; but then it was displayed in the +funeral rites of the man of distinction so conspicuously and +intensely, that this ceremonial is better fitted than any other +phenomenon of Roman life to give to us who live in later times a +glimpse of that wonderful spirit of the Romans. + +A Roman Funeral + +It was a singular procession, at which the burgesses were invited to +be present by the summons of the public crier: "Yonder warrior is +dead; whoever can, let him come to escort Lucius Aemilius; he is borne +forth from his house." It was opened by bands of wailing women, +musicians, and dancers; one of the latter was dressed out and +furnished with a mask after the likeness of the deceased, and by +gesture doubtless and action recalled once more to the multitude the +appearance of the well-known man. Then followed the grandest and most +peculiar part of the solemnity--the procession of ancestors--before +which all the rest of the pageant so faded in comparison, that men of +rank of the true Roman type enjoined their heirs to restrict the +funeral ceremony to that procession alone. We have already mentioned +that the face-masks of those ancestors who had filled the curule +aedileship or any higher ordinary magistracy, wrought in wax and +painted--modelled as far as possible after life, but not wanting even +for the earlier ages up to and beyond the time of the kings--were wont +to be placed in wooden niches along the walls of the family hall, and +were regarded as the chief ornament of the house. When a death +occurred in the family, suitable persons, chiefly actors, were dressed +up with these face-masks and the corresponding official costume to +take part in the funeral ceremony, so that the ancestors--each in the +principal dress worn by him in his lifetime, the triumphator in his +gold-embroidered, the censor in his purple, and the consul in his +purple-bordered, robe, with their lictors and the other insignia of +office--all in chariots gave the final escort to the dead. On the +bier overspread with massive purple and gold-embroidered coverlets and +fine linen cloths lay the deceased himself, likewise in the full +costume of the highest office which he had filled, and surrounded by +the armour of the enemies whom he had slain and by the chaplets which +in jest or earnest he had won. Behind the bier came the mourners, all +dressed in black and without ornament, the sons of the deceased with +their heads veiled, the daughters without veil, the relatives and +clansmen, the friends, the clients and freedmen. Thus the procession +passed on to the Forum. There the corpse was placed in an erect +position; the ancestors descended from their chariots and seated +themselves in the curule chairs; and the son or nearest gentile +kinsman of the deceased ascended the rostra, in order to announce to +the assembled multitude in simple recital the names and deeds of each +of the men sitting in a circle around him and, last of all, those of +him who had recently died. + +This may be called a barbarous custom, and a nation of artistic +feelings would certainly not have tolerated the continuance of this +odd resurrection of the dead down to an epoch of fully-developed +civilization; but even Greeks who were very dispassionate and but +little disposed to reverence, such as Polybius, were greatly impressed +by the naive pomp of this funeral ceremony. It was a conception +essentially in keeping with the grave solemnity, the uniform movement, +and the proud dignity of Roman life, that departed generations should +continue to walk, as it were, corporeally among the living, and that, +when a burgess weary of labours and of honours was gathered to his +fathers, these fathers themselves should appear in the Forum to +receive him among their number. + +The New Hellenism + +But the Romans had now reached a crisis of transition. Now that the +power of Rome was no longer confined to Italy but had spread far and +wide to the east and to the west, the days of the old home life of +Italy were over, and a Hellenizing civilization came in its room. It +is true that Italy had been subject to the influence of Greece, ever +since it had a history at all. We have formerly shown how the +youthful Greece and the youthful Italy--both of them with a certain +measure of simplicity and originality--gave and received intellectual +impulses; and how at a later period Rome endeavoured after a more +external manner to appropriate to practical use the language and +inventions of the Greeks. But the Hellenism of the Romans of the +present period was, in its causes as well as its consequences, +something essentially new. The Romans began to feel the need of a +richer intellectual life, and to be startled as it were at their own +utter want of mental culture; and, if even nations of artistic gifts, +such as the English and Germans, have not disdained in the pauses of +their own productiveness to avail themselves of the miserable French +culture for filling up the gap, it need excite no surprise that the +Italian nation now flung itself with fervid zeal on the glorious +treasures as well as on the dissolute filth of the intellectual +development of Hellas. But it was an impulse still more profound and +deep-rooted, which carried the Romans irresistibly into the Hellenic +vortex. Hellenic civilization still doubtless called itself by that +name, but it was Hellenic no longer; it was, in fact, humanistic and +cosmopolitan. It had solved the problem of moulding a mass of +different nations into one whole completely in the field of intellect, +and to a certain extent also in that of politics; and, now when the +same task on a wider scale devolved on Rome, she took over Hellenism +along with the rest of the inheritance of Alexander the Great. +Hellenism therefore was no longer a mere stimulus or accessory +influence; it penetrated the Italian nation to the very core. Of +course, the vigorous home life of Italy strove against the foreign +element. It was only after a most vehement struggle that the Italian +farmer abandoned the field to the cosmopolite of the capital; and, as +in Germany the French coat called forth the national Germanic frock, +so the reaction against Hellenism aroused in Rome a tendency which +opposed the influence of Greece on principle, in a fashion altogether +foreign to the earlier centuries, and in doing so fell pretty +frequently into downright follies and absurdities. + +Hellenism in Politics + +No department of human action or thought remained unaffected by this +struggle between the old fashion and the new. Even political +relations were largely influenced by it The whimsical project of +emancipating the Hellenes, the well deserved failure of which has +already been described, the kindred, likewise Hellenic, idea of a +common interest of republics in opposition to kings, and the desire of +propagating Hellenic polity at the expense of eastern despotism--the +two principles that helped to regulate, for instance, the treatment of +Macedonia--were fixed ideas of the new school, just as dread of the +Carthaginians was the fixed idea of the old; and, if Cato pushed the +latter to a ridiculous excess, Philhellenism now and then indulged in +extravagances at least quite as foolish. For example, the conqueror +of king Antiochus not only had a statue of him self in Greek costume +erected on the Capitol, but also, instead of calling himself in good +Latin -Asiaticus-, assumed the unmeaning and anomalous, but yet +magnificent and almost Greek, surname of --Asiagenus--.(1) A more +important consequence of this attitude of the ruling nation towards +Hellenism was, that the process of Latinizing gained ground everywhere +in Italy except where it encountered the Hellenes. The cities of the +Greeks in Italy, so far as the war had not destroyed them, remained +Greek. Apulia, about which, it is true, the Romans gave themselves +little concern, appears at this very epoch to have been thoroughly +pervaded by Hellenism, and the local civilization there seems to have +attained the level of the decaying Hellenic culture by its side. +Tradition is silent on the matter; but the numerous coins of cities, +uniformly furnished with Greek inscriptions, and the manufacture of +painted clay-vases after the Greek style, which was carried on in that +part of Italy alone with more ambition and gaudiness than taste, show +that Apulia had completely adopted Greek habits and Greek art. + +But the real struggle between Hellenism and its national antagonists +during the present period was carried on in the field of faith, of +manners, and of art and literature; and we must not omit to attempt +some delineation of this great strife of principles, however difficult +it may be to present a summary view of the myriad forms and aspects +which the conflict assumed. + +The National Religion and Unbelief + +The extent to which the old simple faith still retained a living hold +on the Italians is shown very clearly by the admiration or +astonishment which this problem of Italian piety excited among the +contemporary Greeks. On occasion of the quarrel with the Aetolians it +was reported of the Roman commander-in-chief that during battle he was +solely occupied in praying and sacrificing like a priest; whereas +Polybius with his somewhat stale moralizing calls the attention of his +countrymen to the political usefulness of this piety, and admonishes +them that a state cannot consist of wise men alone, and that such +ceremonies are very convenient for the sake of the multitude. + +Religious Economy + +But if Italy still possessed--what had long been a mere antiquarian +curiosity in Hellas--a national religion, it was already visibly +beginning to be ossified into theology. The torpor creeping over +faith is nowhere perhaps so distinctly apparent as in the alterations +in the economy of divine service and of the priesthood. The public +service of the gods became not only more tedious, but above all more +and more costly. In 558 there was added to the three old colleges of +the augurs, pontifices, and keepers of oracles, a fourth consisting of +three "banquet-masters" (-tres viri epulones-), solely for the +important purpose of superintending the banquets of the gods. The +priests, as well as the gods, were in fairness entitled to feast; new +institutions, however, were not needed with that view, as every +college applied itself with zeal and devotion to its convivial +affairs. The clerical banquets were accompanied by the claim of +clerical immunities. The priests even in times of grave embarrassment +claimed the right of exemption from public burdens, and only after +very troublesome controversy submitted to make payment of the taxes in +arrear (558). To the individual, as well as to the community, piety +became a more and more costly article. The custom of instituting +endowments, and generally of undertaking permanent pecuniary +obligations, for religious objects prevailed among the Romans in a +manner similar to that of its prevalence in Roman Catholic countries +at the present day. These endowments--particularly after they came to +be regarded by the supreme spiritual and at the same time the supreme +juristic authority in the state, the pontifices, as a real burden +devolving -de jure- on every heir or other person acquiring the +estate--began to form an extremely oppressive charge on property; +"inheritance without sacrificial obligation" was a proverbial saying +among the Romans somewhat similar to our "rose without a thorn." The +dedication of a tenth of their substance became so common, that twice +every month a public entertainment was given from the proceeds in the +Forum Boarium at Rome. With the Oriental worship of the Mother of the +Gods there was imported to Rome among other pious nuisances the +practice, annually recurring on certain fixed days, of demanding +penny-collections from house to house (-stipem cogere-). Lastly, the +subordinate class of priests and soothsayers, as was reasonable, +rendered no service without being paid for it; and beyond doubt the +Roman dramatist sketched from life, when in the curtain-conversation +between husband and wife he represents the account for pious services +as ranking with the accounts for the cook, the nurse, and other +customary presents:-- + +-Da mihi, vir,--quod dem Quinquatribus +Praecantrici, conjectrici, hariolae atquc haruspicae; +Tum piatricem clementer non potest quin munerem. +Flagitium est, si nil mittetur, quo supercilio spicit.- + +The Romans did not create a "God of gold," as they had formerly +created a "God of silver";(2) nevertheless he reigned in reality alike +over the highest and lowest spheres of religious life. The old pride +of the Latin national religion--the moderation of its economic +demands--was irrevocably gone. + +Theology + +At the same time its ancient simplicity also departed. Theology, the +spurious offspring of reason and faith, was already occupied in +introducing its own tedious prolixity and solemn inanity into the old +homely national faith, and thereby expelling the true spirit of that +faith. The catalogue of the duties and privileges of the priest of +Jupiter, for instance, might well have a place in the Talmud. They +pushed the natural rule--that no religious service can be acceptable +to the gods unless it is free from flaw--to such an extent in +practice, that a single sacrifice had to be repeated thirty times in +succession on account of mistakes again and again committed, and that +the games, which also formed a part of divine service, were regarded +as undone if the presiding magistrate had committed any slip in word +or deed or if the music even had paused at a wrong time, and so had to +be begun afresh, frequently for several, even as many as seven, times +in succession. + +Irreligious Spirit + +This exaggeration of conscientiousness was already a symptom of its +incipient torpor; and the reaction against it--indifference and +unbelief--failed not soon to appear. Even in the first Punic war +(505) an instance occurred in which the consul himself made an open +jest of consulting the auspices before battle--a consul, it is true, +belonging to the peculiar clan of the Claudii, which alike in good and +evil was ahead of its age. Towards the end of this epoch complaints +were loudly made that the lore of the augurs was neglected, and that, +to use the language of Cato, a number of ancient auguries and auspices +were falling into oblivion through the indolence of the college. An +augur like Lucius Paullus, who saw in the priesthood a science and not +a mere title, was already a rare exception, and could not but be so, +when the government more and more openly and unhesitatingly employed +the auspices for the accomplishment of its political designs, or, in +other words, treated the national religion in accordance with the view +of Polybius as a superstition useful for imposing on the public at +large. Where the way was thus paved, the Hellenistic irreligious +spirit found free course. In connection with the incipient taste for +art the sacred images of the gods began as early as the time of Cato +to be employed, like other furniture, in adorning the chambers of the +rich. More dangerous wounds were inflicted on religion by the rising +literature. It could not indeed venture on open attacks, and such +direct additions as were made by its means to religious conceptions +--e.g. the Pater Caelus formed by Ennius from the Roman Saturnus in +imitation of the Greek Uranos--were, while Hellenistic, of no great +importance. But the diffusion of the doctrines of Epichar and +Euhemerus in Rome was fraught with momentous consequences. The +poetical philosophy, which the later Pythagoreans had extracted from +the writings of the old Sicilian comedian Epicharmus of Megara (about +280), or rather had, at least for the most part, circulated under +cover of his name, saw in the Greek gods natural substances, in Zeus +the atmosphere, in the soul a particle of sun-dust, and so forth. In +so far as this philosophy of nature, like the Stoic doctrine in later +times, had in its most general outlines a certain affinity with the +Roman religion, it was calculated to undermine the national religion +by resolving it into allegory. A quasi-historical analysis of +religion was given in the "Sacred Memoirs" of Euhemerus of Messene +(about 450), which, under the form of reports on the travels of the +author among the marvels of foreign lands, subjected to thorough and +documentary sifting the accounts current as to the so-called gods, and +resulted in the conclusion that there neither were nor are gods at +all. To indicate the character of the book, it may suffice to mention +the one fact, that the story of Kronos devouring his children is +explained as arising out of the existence of cannibalism in the +earliest times and its abolition by king Zeus. Notwithstanding, or +even by virtue of, its insipidity and of its very obvious purpose, the +production had an undeserved success in Greece, and helped, in concert +with the current philosophies there, to bury the dead religion. It is +a remarkable indication of the expressed and conscious antagonism +between religion and the new philosophy that Ennius already translated +into Latin those notoriously destructive writings of Epicharmus and +Euhemerus. The translators may have justified themselves at the bar +of Roman police by pleading that the attacks were directed only +against the Greek, and not against the Latin, gods; but the evasion +was tolerably transparent. Cato was, from his own point of view, +quite right in assailing these tendencies indiscriminately, wherever +they met him, with his own peculiar bitterness, and in calling even +Socrates a corrupter of morals and offender against religion. + +Home and Foreign Superstition + +Thus the old national religion was visibly on the decline; and, as +the great trees of the primeval forest were uprooted the soil became +covered with a rank growth of thorns and of weeds that had never been +seen before. Native superstitions and foreign impostures of the most +various hues mingled, competed, and conflicted with each other. No +Italian stock remained exempt from this transmuting of old faith into +new superstition. As the lore of entrails and of lightning was +cultivated among the Etruscans, so the liberal art of observing birds +and conjuring serpent? flourished luxuriantly among the Sabellians +and more particularly the Marsians. Even among the Latin nation, and +in fact in Rome itself, we meet with similar phenomena, although they +are, comparatively speaking, less conspicuous. Such for instance were +the lots of Praeneste, and the remarkable discovery at Rome in 573 of +the tomb and posthumous writings of the king Numa, which are alleged +to have prescribed religious rites altogether strange and unheard of. +But the credulous were to their regret not permitted to learn more +than this, coupled with the fact that the books looked very new; for +the senate laid hands on the treasure and ordered the rolls to be +summarily thrown into the fire. The home manufacture was thus quite +sufficient to meet such demands of folly as might fairly be expected; +but the Romans were far from being content with it. The Hellenism of +that epoch, already denationalized and pervaded by Oriental mysticism, +introduced not only unbelief but also superstition in its most +offensive and dangerous forms to Italy; and these vagaries moreover +had quite a special charm, precisely because they were foreign. + +Worship of Cybele + +Chaldaean astrologers and casters of nativities were already in the +sixth century spread throughout Italy; but a still more important +event--one making in fact an epoch in the world's history--was the +reception of the Phrygian Mother of the Gods among the publicly +recognized divinities of the Roman state, to which the government had +been obliged to give its consent during the last weary years of the +Hannibalic war (550). A special embassy was sent for the purpose to +Pessinus, a city in the territory of the Celts of Asia Minor; and the +rough field-stone, which the priests of the place liberally presented +to the foreigners as the real Mother Cybele, was received by the +community with unparalleled pomp. Indeed, by way of perpetually +commemorating the joyful event, clubs in which the members entertained +each other in rotation were instituted among the higher classes, and +seem to have materially stimulated the rising tendency to the +formation of cliques. With the permission thus granted for the +-cultus- of Cybele the worship of the Orientals gained a footing +officially in Rome; and, though the government strictly insisted that +the emasculate priests of the new gods should remain Celts (-Galli-) +as they were called, and that no Roman burgess should devote himself +to this pious eunuchism, yet the barbaric pomp of the "Great Mother" +--her priests clad in Oriental costume with the chief eunuch at their +head, marching in procession through the streets to the foreign music +of fifes and kettledrums, and begging from house to house--and the +whole doings, half sensuous, half monastic, must have exercised a most +material influence over the sentiments and views of the people. + +Worship of Bacchus + +The effect was only too rapidly and fearfully apparent. A few years +later (568) rites of the most abominable character came to the +knowledge of the Roman authorities; a secret nocturnal festival in +honour of the god Bacchus had been first introduced into Etruria +through a Greek priest, and, spreading like a cancer, had rapidly +reached Rome and propagated itself over all Italy, everywhere +corrupting families and giving rise to the most heinous crimes, +unparalleled unchastity, falsifying of testaments, and murdering by +poison. More than 7000 men were sentenced to punishment, most of them +to death, on this account, and rigorous enactments were issued as to +the future; yet they did not succeed in repressing the ongoings, and +six years later (574) the magistrate to whom the matter fell +complained that 3000 men more had been condemned and still there +appeared no end of the evil. + +Repressive Measures + +Of course all rational men were agreed in the condemnation of these +spurious forms of religion--as absurd as they were injurious to the +commonwealth: the pious adherents of the olden faith and the partisans +of Hellenic enlightenment concurred in their ridicule of, and +indignation at, this superstition. Cato made it an instruction to his +steward, "that he was not to present any offering, or to allow any +offering to be presented on his behalf, without the knowledge and +orders of his master, except at the domestic hearth and on the +wayside-altar at the Compitalia, and that he should consult no +-haruspex-, -hariolus-, or -Chaldaeus-." The well-known question, as +to how a priest could contrive to suppress laughter when he met his +colleague, originated with Cato, and was primarily applied to the +Etruscan -haruspex-. Much in the same spirit Ennius censures in true +Euripidean style the mendicant soothsayers and their adherents: + +-Sed superstitiosi vates impudentesque arioli, +Aut inertes aut insani aut quibus egestas imperat, +Qui sibi semitam non sapiunt, alteri monstrant viam, +Quibus divitias pollicentur, ab eis drachumam ipsi petunt.- + +But in such times reason from the first plays a losing game against +unreason. The government, no doubt, interfered; the pious impostors +were punished and expelled by the police; every foreign worship not +specially sanctioned was forbidden; even the consulting of the +comparatively innocent lot-oracle of Praeneste was officially +prohibited in 512; and, as we have already said, those who took part +in the Bacchanalia were rigorously prosecuted. But, when once men's +heads are thoroughly turned, no command of the higher authorities +avails to set them right again. How much the government was obliged +to concede, or at any rate did concede, is obvious from what has been +stated. The Roman custom, under which the state consulted Etruscan +sages in certain emergencies and the government accordingly took steps +to secure the traditional transmission of Etruscan lore in the noble +families of Etruria, as well as the permission of the secret worship +of Demeter, which was not immoral and was restricted to women, may +probably be ranked with the earlier innocent and comparatively +indifferent adoption of foreign rites. But the admission of the +worship of the Mother of the Gods was a bad sign of the weakness which +the government felt in presence of the new superstition, perhaps even +of the extent to which it was itself pervaded by it; and it showed in +like manner either an unpardonable negligence or something still +worse, that the authorities only took steps against such proceedings +as the Bacchanalia at so late a stage, and even then on an accidental +information. + +Austerity of Manners +Catos's Family Life + +The picture, which has been handed down to us of the life of Cato the +Elder, enables us in substance to perceive how, according to the ideas +of the respectable burgesses of that period, the private life of the +Roman should be spent. Active as Cato was as a statesman, pleader, +author, and mercantile speculator, family life always formed with him +the central object of existence; it was better, he thought, to be a +good husband than a great senator. His domestic discipline was +strict. The servants were not allowed to leave the house without +orders, nor to talk of what occurred to the household to strangers. +The more severe punishments were not inflicted capriciously, but +sentence was pronounced and executed according to a quasi-judicial +procedure: the strictness with which offences were punished may be +inferred from the fact, that one of his slaves who had concluded a +purchase without orders from his master hanged himself on the matter +coming to Cato's ears. For slight offences, such as mistakes +committed in waiting at table, the consular was wont after dinner to +administer to the culprit the proper number of lashes with a thong +wielded by his own hand. He kept his wife and children in order no +less strictly, but by other means; for he declared it sinful to lay +hands on a wife or grown-up children in the same way as on slaves. +In the choice of a wife he disapproved marrying for money, and +recommended men to look to good descent; but he himself married in +old age the daughter of one of his poor clients. Moreover he adopted +views in regard to continence on the part of the husband similar to +those which everywhere prevail in slave countries; a wife was +throughout regarded by him as simply a necessary evil. His writings +abound in invectives against the chattering, finery-loving, +ungovernable fair sex; it was the opinion of the old lord that "all +women are plaguy and proud," and that, "were men quit of women, our +life might probably be less godless." On the other hand the rearing +of children born in wedlock was a matter which touched his heart and +his honour, and the wife in his eyes existed strictly and solely for +the children's sake. She nursed them ordinarily herself, or, if she +allowed her children to be suckled by female slaves, she also allowed +their children in return to draw nourishment from her own breast; one +of the few traits, which indicate an endeavour to mitigate the +institution of slavery by ties of human sympathy--the common impulses +of maternity and the bond of foster-brotherhood. The old general was +present in person, whenever it was possible, at the washing and +swaddling of his children. He watched with reverential care over +their childlike innocence; he assures us that he was as careful lest +he should utter an unbecoming word in presence of his children as if +he had been in presence of the Vestal Virgins, and that he never +before the eyes of his daughters embraced their mother, except when +she had become alarmed during a thunder-storm. The education of the +son was perhaps the noblest portion of his varied and variously +honourable activity. True to his maxim, that a ruddy-checked boy was +worth more than a pale one, the old soldier in person initiated his +son into all bodily exercises, and taught him to wrestle, to ride, to +swim, to box, and to endure heat and cold. But he felt very justly, +that the time had gone by when it sufficed for a Roman to be a good +farmer and soldier; and be felt also that it could not but have an +injurious influence on the mind of his boy, if he should subsequently +learn that the teacher, who had rebuked and punished him and had won +his reverence, was a mere slave. Therefore he in person taught the +boy what a Roman was wont to learn, to read and write and know the law +of the land; and even in his later years he worked his way so far into +the general culture of the Hellenes, that he was able to deliver to +his son in his native tongue whatever in that culture he deemed to be +of use to a Roman. All his writings were primarily intended for his +son, and he wrote his historical work for that son's use with large +distinct letters in his own hand. He lived in a homely and frugal +style. His strict parsimony tolerated no expenditure on luxuries. He +allowed no slave to cost him more than 1500 -denarii- (65 pounds) and +no dress more than 100 -denarii- (4 pounds: 6 shillings); no carpet was +to be seen in his house, and for a long time there was no whitewash on +the walls of the rooms. Ordinarily he partook of the same fare with +his servants, and did not buffer his outlay in cash for the meal to +exceed 30 -asses- (2 shillings); in time of war even wine was +uniformly banished from his table, and he drank water or, according to +circumstances, water mixed with vinegar. On the other hand, he was no +enemy to hospitality; he was fond of associating both with his club in +town and with the neighbouring landlords in the country; he sat long +at table, and, as his varied experience and his shrewd and ready wit +made him a pleasant companion, he disdained neither the dice nor the +wine-flask: among other receipts in his book on husbandry he even +gives a tried recipe for the case of a too hearty meal and too deep +potations. His life up to extreme old age was one of ceaseless +activity. Every moment was apportioned and occupied; and every +evening he was in the habit of turning over in his mind what he had +heard, said, or done during the day. Thus he found time for his own +affairs as well as for those of his friends and of the state, and time +also for conversation and pleasure; everything was done quickly and +without many words, and his genuine spirit of activity hated nothing +so much as bustle or a great ado about trifles. So lived the man who +was regarded by his contemporaries and by posterity as the true model +of a Roman burgess, and who appeared as it were the living embodiment +of the--certainly somewhat coarse-grained--energy and probity of Rome +in contrast with Greek indolence and Greek immorality; as a later +Roman poet says: + +-Sperne mores transmarinos, mille habent offucias. +Cive Romano per orbem nemo vivit rectius. +Quippe malim unum Catonem, quam trecentos Socratas.- (3) + +Such judgments will not be absolutely adopted by history; but every +one who carefully considers the revolution which the degenerate +Hellenism of this age accomplished in the modes of life and thought +among the Romans, will be inclined to heighten rather than to lessen +that condemnation of the foreign manners. + +New Manners + +The ties of family life became relaxed with fearful rapidity. The +evil of grisettes and boy-favourites spread like a pestilence, and, as +matters stood, it was not possible to take any material steps in the +way of legislation against it. The high tax, which Cato as censor +(570) laid on this most abominable species of slaves kept for luxury, +would not be of much moment, and besides fell practically into disuse +a year or two afterwards along with the property-tax generally. +Celibacy--as to which grave complaints were made as early as 520--and +divorces naturally increased in proportion. Horrible crimes were +perpetrated in the bosom of families of the highest rank; for +instance, the consul Gaius Calpurnius Piso was poisoned by his wife +and his stepson, in order to occasion a supplementary election to the +consulship and so to procure the supreme magistracy for the latter +--a plot which was successful (574). Moreover the emancipation of +women began. According to old custom the married woman was subject +in law to the marital power which was parallel with the paternal, and +the unmarried woman to the guardianship of her nearest male -agnati-, +which fell little short of the paternal power; the wife had no +property of her own, the fatherless virgin and the widow had at any +rate no right of management. But now women began to aspire to +independence in respect to property, and, getting quit of the +guardianship of their -agnati- by evasive lawyers' expedients +--particularly through mock marriages--they took the management +of their property into their own hands, or, in the event of being +married, sought by means not much better to withdraw themselves +from the marital power, which under the strict letter of the law was +necessary. The mass of capital which was collected in the hands of +women appeared to the statesmen of the time so dangerous, that they +resorted to the extravagant expedient of prohibiting by law the +testamentary nomination of women as heirs (585), and even sought by a +highly arbitrary practice to deprive women for the most part of the +collateral inheritances which fell to them without testament. In like +manner the exercise of family jurisdiction over women, which was +connected with that marital and tutorial power, became practically +more and more antiquated. Even in public matters women already +began to have a will of their own and occasionally, as Cato thought, +"to rule the rulers of the world;" their influence was to be traced +in the burgess-assembly, and already statues were erected in the +provinces to Roman ladies. + +Luxury + +Luxury prevailed more and more in dress, ornaments, and furniture, in +buildings and at table. Especially after the expedition to Asia Minor +in 564 Asiatico-Hellenic luxury, such as prevailed at Ephesus and +Alexandria, transferred its empty refinement and its dealing in +trifles, destructive alike of money, time, and pleasure, to Rome. +Here too women took the lead: in spite of the zealous invective of +Cato they managed to procure the abolition, after the peace with +Cartilage (559), of the decree of the people passed soon after the +battle of Cannae (539), which forbade them to use gold ornaments, +variegated dresses, or chariots; no course was left to their zealous +antagonist but to impose a high tax on those articles (570). A +multitude of new and for the most part frivolous articles--silver +plate elegantly figured, table-couches with bronze mounting, Attalic +dresses as they were called, and carpets of rich gold brocade--now +found their way to Rome. Above all, this new luxury appeared in the +appliances of the table. Hitherto without exception the Romans had +only partaken of hot dishes once a day; now hot dishes were not +unfrequently produced at the second meal (-prandium-), and for the +principal meal the two courses formerly in use no longer sufficed. +Hitherto the women of the household had themselves attended to +the baking of bread and cooking; and it was only on occasion of +entertainments that a professional cook was specially hired, who in +that case superintended alike the cooking and the baking. Now, on +the other hand, a scientific cookery began to prevail. In the +better houses a special cook was kept The division of labour became +necessary, and the trade of baking bread and cakes branched off from +that of cooking--the first bakers' shops in Rome appeared about 583. +Poems on the art of good eating, with long lists of the most palatable +fishes and other marine products, found their readers: and the theory +was reduced to practice. Foreign delicacies--anchovies from Pontus, +wine from Greece--began to be esteemed in Rome, and Cato's receipt for +giving to the ordinary wine of the country the flavour of Coan by +means of brine would hardly inflict any considerable injury on the +Roman vintners. The old decorous singing and reciting of the guests +and their boys were supplanted by Asiatic -sambucistriae-. Hitherto +the Romans had perhaps drunk pretty deeply at supper, but drinking- +banquets in the strict sense were unknown; now formal revels came into +vogue, on which occasions the wine was little or not at all diluted +and was drunk out of large cups, and the drink-pledging, in which each +was bound to follow his neighbour in regular succession, formed the +leading feature--"drinking after the Greek style" (-Graeco more +bibere-) or "playing the Greek" (-pergraecari-, -congraecare-) as the +Romans called it. In consequence of this debauchery dice-playing, +which had doubtless long been in use among the Romans, reached such +proportions that it was necessary for legislation to interfere. The +aversion to labour and the habit of idle lounging were visibly on the +increase.(4) Cato proposed to have the market paved with pointed +stones, in order to put a stop to the habit of idling; the Romans +laughed at the jest and went on to enjoy the pleasure of loitering +and gazing all around them. + +Increase of Amusements + +We have already noticed the alarming extension of the popular +amusements during this epoch. At the beginning of it, apart from some +unimportant foot and chariot races which should rather be ranked with +religious ceremonies, only a single general festival was held in the +month of September, lasting four days and having a definitely fixed +maximum of cost.(5) At the close of the epoch, this popular festival +had a duration of at least six days; and besides this there were +celebrated at the beginning of April the festival of the Mother of the +Gods or the so-called Megalensia, towards the end of April that of +Ceres and that of Flora, in June that of Apollo, in November the +Plebeian games--all of them probably occupying already more days than +one. To these fell to be added the numerous cases where the games +were celebrated afresh--in which pious scruples presumably often +served as a mere pretext--and the incessant extraordinary festivals. +Among these the already-mentioned banquets furnished from the +dedicated tenths(6) the feasts of the gods, the triumphal and funeral +festivities, were conspicuous; and above all the festal games which +were celebrated--for the first time in 505--at the close of one of +those longer periods which were marked off by the Etrusco-Roman +religion, the -saecula-, as they were called. At the same time +domestic festivals were multiplied. During the second Punic war there +were introduced, among people of quality, the already-mentioned +banquetings on the anniversary of the entrance of the Mother of the +Gods (after 550), and, among the lower orders, the similar Saturnalia +(after 537), both under the influence of the powers henceforth closely +allied--the foreign priest and the foreign cook. A very near approach +was made to that ideal condition in which every idler should know +where he might kill time every day; and this in a commonwealth where +formerly action had been with all and sundry the very object of +existence, and idle enjoyment had been proscribed by custom as well +as by law! The bad and demoralizing elements in these festal +observances, moreover, daily acquired greater ascendency. It is true +that still as formerly the chariot races formed the brilliant finale +of the national festivals; and a poet of this period describes very +vividly the straining expectancy with which the eyes of the multitude +were fastened on the consul, when he was on the point of giving the +signal for the chariots to start. But the former amusements no longer +sufficed; there was a craving for new and more varied spectacles. +Greek athletes now made their appearance (for the first time in 568) +alongside of the native wrestlers and boxers. Of the dramatic +exhibitions we shall speak hereafter: the transplanting of Greek +comedy and tragedy to Rome was a gain perhaps of doubtful value, but +it formed at any rate the best of the acquisitions made at this time. +The Romans had probably long indulged in the sport of coursing hares +and hunting foxes in presence of the public; now these innocent hunts +were converted into formal baitings of wild animals, and the wild +beasts of Africa--lions and panthers--were (first so far as can be +proved in 568) transported at great cost to Rome, in order that by +killing or being killed they might serve to glut the eyes of the +gazers of the capital. The still more revolting gladiatorial games, +which prevailed in Campania and Etruria, now gained admission to Rome; +human blood was first shed for sport in the Roman forum in 490. Of +course these demoralizing amusements encountered severe censure: the +consul of 486, Publius Sempronius Sophus, sent a divorce to his wife, +because she had attended funeral games; the government carried a +decree of the people prohibiting the bringing over of wild beasts to +Rome, and strictly insisted that no gladiators should appear at the +public festivals. But here too it wanted either the requisite power +or the requisite energy: it succeeded, apparently, in checking the +practice of baiting animals, but the appearance of sets of gladiators +at private festivals, particularly at funeral celebrations, was not +suppressed. Still less could the public be prevented from preferring +the comedian to the tragedian, the rope-dancer to the comedian, the +gladiator to the rope-dancer; or the stage be prevented from revelling +by choice amidst the pollution of Hellenic life. Whatever elements of +culture were contained in the scenic and artistic entertainments were +from the first thrown aside; it was by no means the object of the +givers of the Roman festivals to elevate--though it should be but +temporarily--the whole body of spectators through the power of poetry +to the level of feeling of the best, as the Greek stage did in the +period of its prime, or to prepare an artistic pleasure for a select +circle, as our theatres endeavour to do. The character of the +managers and spectators in Rome is illustrated by a scene at the +triumphal games in 587, where the first Greek flute-players, on their +melodies failing to please, were instructed by the director to box +with one another instead of playing, upon which the delight would +know no bounds. + +Nor was the evil confined to the corruption of Roman manners by +Hellenic contagion; conversely the scholars began to demoralize their +instructors. Gladiatorial games, which were unknown in Greece, were +first introduced by king Antiochus Epiphanes (579-590), a professed +imitator of the Romans, at the Syrian court, and, although they +excited at first greater horror than pleasure in the Greek public, +which was more humane and had more sense of art than the Romans, yet +they held their ground likewise there, and gradually came more and +more into vogue. + +As a matter of course, this revolution in life and manners brought an +economic revolution in its train. Residence in the capital became +more and more coveted as well as more costly. Rents rose to an +unexampled height. Extravagant prices were paid for the new +articles of luxury; a barrel of anchovies from the Black Sea cost +1600 sesterces (16 pounds)--more than the price of a rural slave; a +beautiful boy cost 24,000 sesterces (240 pounds)--more than many a +farmer's homestead. Money therefore, and nothing but money, became +the watchword with high and low. In Greece it had long been the case +that nobody did anything for nothing, as the Greeks themselves with +discreditable candour allowed: after the second Macedonian war the +Romans began in this respect also to imitate the Greeks. +Respectability had to provide itself with legal buttresses; pleaders, +for instance, had to be prohibited by decree of the people from taking +money for their services; the jurisconsults alone formed a noble +exception, and needed no decree of the people to compel their +adherence to the honourable custom of giving good advice gratuitously. +Men did not, if possible, steal outright; but all shifts seemed +allowable in order to attain rapidly to riches--plundering and +begging, cheating on the part of contractors and swindling on the part +of speculators, usurious trading in money and in grain, even the +turning of purely moral relations such as friendship and marriage to +economic account. Marriage especially became on both sides an object +of mercantile speculation; marriages for money were common, and it +appeared necessary to refuse legal validity to the' presents which the +spouses made to each other. That, under such a state of things, plans +for setting fire on all sides to the capital came to the knowledge of +the authorities, need excite no surprise. When man no longer finds +enjoyment in work, and works merely in order to attain as quickly as +possible to enjoyment, it is a mere accident that he does not become a +criminal. Destiny had lavished all the glories of power and riches +with liberal hand on the Romans; but, in truth, the Pandora's box was +a gift of doubtful value. + +Notes for Chapter XIII + +1. That --Asiagenus-- was the original title of the hero of Magnesia +and of his descendants, is established by coins and inscriptions; the +fact that the Capitoline Fasti call him -Asiaticus- is one of several +traces indicating that these have undergone a non-contemporary +revision. The former surname can only he a corruption of --Asiagenus-- +--the form which later authors substituted for it--which signifies +not the conqueror of Asia, but an Asiatic by birth. + +2. II. VIII. Religion + +3. [In the first edition of this translation I gave these lines in +English on the basis of Dr. Mommsen's German version, and added in a +note that I had not been able to find the original. Several scholars +whom I consulted were not more successful; and Dr. Mommsen was at the +time absent from Berlin. Shortly after the first edition appeared, I +received a note from Sir George Cornewall Lewis informing me that I +should find them taken from Florus (or Floridus) in Wernsdorf, Poetae +Lat. Min. vol. iii. p. 487. They were accordingly given in the +revised edition of 1868 from the Latin text Baehrens (Poet. Lat. Min. +vol. iv. p. 347) follows Lucian Muller in reading -offucia-. --TR.] + +4. A sort of -parabasis- in the -Curculio- of Plautus describes what +went on in the market-place of the capital, with little humour +perhaps, but with life-like distinctness. + +-Conmonstrabo, quo in quemque hominem facile inveniatis loco, +Ne nimio opere sumat operam, si quis conventum velit +Vel vitiosum vel sine vitio, vel probum vel inprobum. +Qui perjurum convenire volt hominem, ito in comitium; +Qui mendacem et gloriosum, apud Cloacinae sacrum. +[Ditis damnosos maritos sub basilica quaerito. +Ibidem erunt scorta exoleta quique stipulari solent.] +Symbolarum conlatores apud forum piscarium. +In foro infumo boni homines atque dites ambulant; +In medio propter canalem ibi ostentatores meri. +Confidentes garrulique et malevoli supra lacum, +Qui alteri de nihilo audacter dicunt contumeliam +Et qui ipsi sat habent quod in se possit vere dicier. +Sub veteribus ibi sunt, qui dant quique accipiunt faenore. +Pone aedem Castoris ibi sunt, subito quibus credas male. +In Tusco vico ibi sunt homines, qui ipsi sese venditant. +In Velabro vel pistorem vel lanium vel haruspicem +Vel qui ipsi vorsant, vel qui aliis, ut vorsentur, praebeant. +Ditis damnosos maritos apud Leucadiam Oppiam.- + +The verses in brackets are a subsequent addition, inserted after the +building of the first Roman bazaar (570). The business of the baker +(-pistor-, literally miller) embraced at this time the sale of +delicacies and the providing accommodation for revellers (Festus, Ep. +v. alicariae, p. 7, Mull.; Plautus, Capt. 160; Poen. i. a, 54; Trin. +407). The same was the case with the butchers. Leucadia Oppia may +have kept a house of bad fame. + +5. II. IX. The Roman National Festival + +6. III. XIII. Religious Economy + + + + +Chapter XIV + +Literature and Art + +The influences which stimulated the growth of Roman literature were +of a character altogether peculiar and hardly paralleled in any other +nation. To estimate them correctly, it is necessary in the first +place that we should glance at the instruction of the people and +its recreations during this period. + +Knowledge of Languages + +Language lies at the root of all mental culture; and this was +especially the case in Rome. In a community where so much importance +was attached to speeches and documents, and where the burgess, at an +age which is still according to modern ideas regarded as boyhood, was +already entrusted with the uncontrolled management of his property and +might perhaps find it necessary to make formal speeches to the +assembled community, not only was great value set all along on the +fluent and polished use of the mother-tongue, but efforts were early +made to acquire a command of it in the years of boyhood. The Greek +language also was already generally diffused in Italy in the time of +Hannibal. In the higher circles a knowledge of that language, which +was the general medium of intercourse for ancient civilization, had +long been a far from uncommon accomplishment; and now, when the change +of Rome's position in the world had so enormously increased the +intercourse with foreigners and the foreign traffic, such a knowledge +was, if not necessary, yet presumably of very material importance to +the merchant as well as the statesman. By means of the Italian slaves +and freedmen, a very large portion of whom were Greek or half-Greek +by birth the Greek language and Greek knowledge to a certain extent +reached even the lower ranks of the population, especially in the +capital. The comedies of this period may convince us that even the +humbler classes of the capital were familiar with a sort of Latin, +which could no more be properly understood without a knowledge of +Greek than the English of Sterne or the German of Wieland without +a knowledge of French.(1) Men of senatorial families, however, not +only addressed a Greek audience in Greek, but even published their +speeches--Tiberius Gracchus (consul in 577 and 591) so published a +speech which he had given at Rhodes--and in the time of Hannibal wrote +their chronicles in Greek, as we shall have occasion to mention more +particularly in the sequel. Individuals went still farther. The +Greeks honoured Flamininus by complimentary demonstrations in the +Roman language,(2) and he returned the compliment; the "great general +of the Aeneiades" dedicated his votive gifts to the Greek gods after +the Greek fashion in Greek distichs.(3) Cato reproached another +senator with the fact, that he had the effrontery to deliver Greek +recitations with the due modulation at Greek revels. + +Under the influence of such circumstances Roman instruction developed +itself. It is a mistaken opinion, that antiquity was materially +inferior to our own times in the general diffusion of elementary +attainments. Even among the lower classes and slaves there was much +reading, writing, and counting: in the case of a slave steward, for +instance, Cato, following the example of Mago, takes for granted the +ability to read and write. Elementary instruction, as well as +instruction in Greek, must have been long before this period imparted +to a very considerable extent in Rome. But the epoch now before us +initiated an education, the aim of which was to communicate not merely +an outward expertness, but a real mental culture. Hitherto in Rome +a knowledge of Greek had conferred on its possessor as little +superiority in civil or social life, as a knowledge of French perhaps +confers at the present day in a hamlet of German Switzerland; and the +earliest writers of Greek chronicles may have held a position among +the other senators similar to that of the farmer in the fens of +Holstein who has been a student and in the evening, when he comes home +from the plough, takes down his Virgil from the shelf. A man who +assumed airs of greater importance by reason of his Greek, was +reckoned a bad patriot and a fool; and certainly even in Cato's time +one who spoke Greek ill or not at all might still be a man of rank +and become senator and consul. But a change was already taking place. +The internal decomposition of Italian nationality had already, +particularly in the aristocracy, advanced so far as to render the +substitution of a general humane culture for that nationality +inevitable: and the craving after a more advanced civilization was +already powerfully stirring the minds of men. Instruction in the +Greek language as it were spontaneously met this craving. The +classical literature of Greece, the Iliad and still more the Odyssey, +had all along formed the basis of that instruction; the overflowing +treasures of Hellenic art and science were already by this means +spread before the eyes of the Italians. Without any outward +revolution, strictly speaking, in the character of the instruction +the natural result was, that the empirical study of the language +became converted into a higher study of the literature; that the +general culture connected with such literary studies was communicated +in increased measure to the scholars; and that these availed +themselves of the knowledge thus acquired to dive into that Greek +literature which most powerfully influenced the spirit of the age +--the tragedies of Euripides and the comedies of Menander. + +In a similar way greater importance came to be attached to instruction +in Latin. The higher society of Rome began to feel the need, if not +of exchanging their mother-tongue for Greek, at least of refining it +and adapting it to the changed state of culture; and for this purpose +too they found themselves in every respect dependent on the Greeks. +The economic arrangements of the Romans placed the work of elementary +instruction in the mother-tongue--like every other work held in little +estimation and performed for hire--chiefly in the hands of slaves, +freedmen, or foreigners, or in other words chiefly in the hands of +Greeks or half-Greeks;(4) which was attended with the less difficulty, +because the Latin alphabet was almost identical with the Greek and the +two languages possessed a close and striking affinity. But this was +the least part of the matter; the importance of the study of Greek in +a formal point of view exercised a far deeper influence over the study +of Latin. Any one who knows how singularly difficult it is to find +suitable matter and suitable forms for the higher intellectual culture +of youth, and how much more difficult it is to set aside the matter +and forms once found, will understand how it was that the Romans knew +no mode of supplying the desideratum of a more advanced Latin +instruction except that of simply transferring the solution of this +problem, which instruction in the Greek language and literature +furnished, to instruction in Latin. In the present day a process +entirely analogous goes on under our own eyes in the transference of +the methods of instruction from the dead to the living languages. + +But unfortunately the chief requisite for such a transference was +wanting. The Romans could, no doubt, learn to read and write Latin +by means of the Twelve Tables; but a Latin culture presupposed a +literature, and no such literature existed in Rome. + +The Stage under Greek Influence + +To this defect was added a second. We have already described the +multiplication of the amusements of the Roman people. The stage had +long played an important part in these recreations; the chariot-races +formed strictly the principal amusement in all of them, but these +races uniformly took place only on one, viz. the concluding, day, +while the earlier days were substantially devoted to stage- +entertainments. But for long these stage-representations consisted +chiefly of dances and jugglers' feats; the improvised chants, which +were produced on these occasions, had neither dialogue nor plot.(5) +It was only now that the Romans looked around them for a real drama. +The Roman popular festivals were throughout under the influence of +the Greeks, whose talent for amusing and for killing time naturally +rendered them purveyors of pleasure for the Romans. Now no national +amusement was a greater favourite in Greece, and none was more varied, +than the theatre; it could not but speedily attract the attention of +those who provided the Roman festivals and their staff of assistants. +The earlier Roman stage-chant contained within it a dramatic germ +capable perhaps of development; but to develop the drama from that +germ required on the part of the poet and the public a genial power +of giving and receiving, such as was not to be found among the Romans +at all, and least of all at this period; and, had it been possible to +find it, the impatience of those entrusted with the amusement of the +multitude would hardly have allowed to the noble fruit peace and +leisure to ripen. In this case too there was an outward want, which +the nation was unable to satisfy; the Romans desired a theatre, but +the pieces were wanting. + +Rise of a Roman Literature + +On these elements Roman literature was based; and its defective +character was from the first and necessarily the result of such +an origin. All real art has its root in individual freedom and a +cheerful enjoyment of life, and the germs of such an art were not +wanting in Italy; but, when Roman training substituted for freedom +and joyousness the sense of belonging to the community and the +consciousness of duty, art was stifled and, instead of growing, could +not but pine away. The culminating point of Roman development was the +period which had no literature. It was not till Roman nationality +began to give way and Hellenico-cosmopolite tendencies began to +prevail, that literature made its appearance at Rome in their train. +Accordingly from the beginning, and by stringent internal necessity, +it took its stand on Greek ground and in broad antagonism to the +distinctively Roman national spirit. Roman poetry above all had its +immediate origin not from the inward impulse of the poets, but from +the outward demands of the school, which needed Latin manuals, and of +the stage, which needed Latin dramas. Now both institutions--the +school and the stage--were thoroughly anti-Roman and revolutionary. +The gaping and staring idleness of the theatre was an abomination to +the sober earnestness and the spirit of activity which animated the +Roman of the olden type; and--inasmuch as it was the deepest and +noblest conception lying at the root of the Roman commonwealth, that +within the circle of Roman burgesses there should be neither master +nor slave, neither millionnaire nor beggar, but that above all a like +faith and a like culture should characterize all Romans--the school +and the necessarily exclusive school-culture were far more dangerous +still, and were in fact utterly destructive of the sense of equality. +The school and the theatre became the most effective levers in the +hands of the new spirit of the age, and all the more so that they used +the Latin tongue. Men might perhaps speak and write Greek and yet not +cease to be Romans; but in this case they accustomed themselves to +speak in the Roman language, while the whole inward being and life +were Greek. It is not one of the most pleasing, but it is one of the +most remarkable and in a historical point of view most instructive, +facts in this brilliant era of Roman conservatism, that during its +course Hellenism struck root in the whole field of intellect not +immediately political, and that the -maitre de plaisir- of the +great public and the schoolmaster in close alliance created +a Roman literature. + +Livius Andronicus + +In the very earliest Roman author the later development appears, as it +were, in embryo. The Greek Andronikos (from before 482, till after +547), afterwards as a Roman burgess called Lucius(6) Livius +Andronicus, came to Rome at an early age in 482 among the other +captives taken at Tarentum(7) and passed into the possession of the +conqueror of Sena(8) Marcus Livius Salinator (consul 535, 547). He +was employed as a slave, partly in acting and copying texts, partly in +giving instruction in the Latin and Greek languages, which he taught +both to the children of his master and to other boys of wealthy +parents in and out of the house. He distinguished himself so much in +this way that his master gave him freedom, and even the authorities, +who not unfrequently availed themselves of his services--commissioning +him, for instance, to prepare a thanksgiving-chant after the fortunate +turn taken by the Hannibalic war in 547--out of regard for him +conceded to the guild of poets and actors a place for their common +worship in the temple of Minerva on the Aventine. His authorship +arose out of his double occupation. As schoolmaster he translated the +Odyssey into Latin, in order that the Latin text might form the basis +of his Latin, as the Greek text was the basis of his Greek, +instruction; and this earliest of Roman school-books maintained its +place in education for centuries. As an actor, he not only like every +other wrote for himself the texts themselves, but he also published +them as books, that is, he read them in public and diffused them by +copies. What was still more important, he substituted the Greek drama +for the old essentially lyrical stage poetry. It was in 514, a year +after the close of the first Punic war, that the first play was +exhibited on the Roman stage. This creation of an epos, a tragedy, +and a comedy in the Roman language, and that by a man who was more +Roman than Greek, was historically an event; but we cannot speak of +his labours as having any artistic value. They make no sort of claim +to originality; viewed as translations, they are characterized by a +barbarism which is only the more perceptible, that this poetry does +not naively display its own native simplicity, but strives, after a +pedantic and stammering fashion, to imitate the high artistic culture +of the neighbouring people. The wide deviations from the original +have arisen not from the freedom, but from the rudeness of the +imitation; the treatment is sometimes insipid, sometimes turgid, the +language harsh and quaint.(9) We have no difficulty in believing the +statement of the old critics of art, that, apart from the compulsory +reading at school, none of the poems of Livius were taken up a second +time. Yet these labours were in various respects norms for succeeding +times. They began the Roman translated literature, and naturalized +the Greek metres in Latium. The reason why these were adopted only +in the dramas, while the Odyssey of Livius was written in the national +Saturnian measure, evidently was that the iambuses and trochees of +tragedy and comedy far more easily admitted of imitation in Latin +than the epic dactyls. + +But this preliminary stage of literary development was soon passed. +The epics and dramas of Livius were regarded by posterity, and +undoubtedly with perfect justice, as resembling the rigid statues +of Daedalus destitute of emotion or expression--curiosities rather +than works of art. + +But in the following generation, now that the foundations were +once laid, there arose a lyric, epic, and dramatic art; and it is +of great importance, even in a historical point of view, to trace +this poetical development. + +Drama +Theatre + +Both as respects extent of production and influence over the public, +the drama stood at the head of the poetry thus developed in Rome. In +antiquity there was no permanent theatre with fixed admission-money; +in Greece as in Rome the drama made its appearance only as an element +in the annually-recurring or extraordinary amusements of the citizens. +Among the measures by which the government counteracted or imagined +that they counteracted that extension of the popular festivals which +they justly regarded with anxiety, they refused to permit the erection +of a stone building for a theatre.(10) Instead of this there was +erected for each festival a scaffolding of boards with a stage for +the actors (-proscaenium-, -pulpitum-) and a decorated background +(-scaena-); and in a semicircle in front of it was staked off the +space for the spectators (-cavea-), which was merely sloped without +steps or seats, so that, if the spectators had not chairs brought +along with them, they squatted, reclined, or stood.(11) The women +were probably separated at an early period, and were restricted to +the uppermost and worst places; otherwise there was no distinction of +places in law till 560, after which, as already mentioned,(12) the +lowest and best positions were reserved for the senators. + +Audience + +The audience was anything but genteel. The better classes, it is +true, did not keep aloof from the general recreations of the people; +the fathers of the city seem even to have been bound for decorum's +sake to appear on these occasions. But the very nature of a burgess +festival implied that, while slaves and probably foreigners also were +excluded, admittance free of charge was given to every burgess with +his wife and children;(13) and accordingly the body of spectators +cannot have differed much from what one sees in the present day at +public fireworks and -gratis- exhibitions. Naturally, therefore, the +proceedings were not too orderly; children cried, women talked and +shrieked, now and then a wench prepared to push her way to the stage; +the ushers had on these festivals anything but a holiday, and found +frequent occasion to confiscate a mantle or to ply the rod. + +The introduction of the Greek drama increased the demands on the +dramatic staff, and there seems to have been no redundance in the +supply of capable actors: on one occasion for want of actors a piece +of Naevius had to be performed by amateurs. But this produced no +change in the position of the artist; the poet or, as he was at this +time called, the "writer," the actor, and the composer not only +belonged still, as formerly, to the class of workers for hire in +itself little esteemed,(14) but were still, as formerly, placed in +the most marked way under the ban of public opinion, and subjected +to police maltreatment.(15) Of course all reputable persons kept +aloof from such an occupation. The manager of the company (-dominus +gregis-, -factionis-, also -choragus-), who was ordinarily also the +chief actor, was generally a freedman, and its members were ordinarily +his slaves; the composers, whose names have reached us, were all of +them non-free. The remuneration was not merely small--a -honorarium- +of 8000 sesterces (80 pounds) given to a dramatist is described +shortly after the close of this period as unusually high--but was, +moreover, only paid by the magistrates providing the festival, if the +piece was not a failure. With the payment the matter ended; poetical +competitions and honorary prizes, such as took place in Attica, were +not yet heard of in Rome--the Romans at this time appear to have +simply applauded or hissed as we now do, and to have brought forward +only a single piece for exhibition each day.(16) Under such +circumstances, where art worked for daily wages and the artist instead +of receiving due honour was subjected to disgrace, the new national +theatre of the Romans could not present any development either +original or even at all artistic; and, while the noble rivalry of +the noblest Athenians had called into life the Attic drama, the Roman +drama taken as a whole could be nothing but a spoiled copy of its +predecessor, in which the only wonder is that it has been able to +display so much grace and wit in the details. + +That only one piece was produced each day we infer from the fact, +that the spectators come from home at the beginning of the piece +(Poen. 10), and return home after its close (Epid. Pseud. Rud. Stich. +Truc. ap. fin.). They went, as these passages show, to the theatre +after the second breakfast, and were at home again for the midday +meal; the performance thus lasted, according to our reckoning, from +about noon till half-past two o'clock, and a piece of Plautus, with +music in the intervals between the acts, might probably occupy nearly +that length of time (comp. Horat. Ep. ii. i, 189). The passage, in +which Tacitus (Ann. xiv. 20) makes the spectators spend "whole days" +in the theatre, refers to the state of matters at a later period. + +Comedy + +In the dramatic world comedy greatly preponderated over tragedy; the +spectators knit their brows, when instead of the expected comedy a +tragedy began. Thus it happened that, while this period exhibits +poets who devoted themselves specially to comedy, such as Plautus +and Caecilius, it presents none who cultivated tragedy alone; and +among the dramas of this epoch known to us by name there occur three +comedies for one tragedy. Of course the Roman comic poets, or rather +translators, laid hands in the first instance on the pieces which had +possession of the Hellenic stage at the time; and thus they found +themselves exclusively(17) confined to the range of the newer Attic +comedy, and chiefly to its best-known poets, Philemon of Soli in +Cilicia (394?-492) and Menander of Athens (412-462). This comedy came +to be of so great importance as regards the development not only of +Roman literature, but even of the nation at large, that even history +has reason to pause and consider it. + +Character of the Newer Attic Comedy + +The pieces are of tiresome monotony. Almost without exception the +plot turns on helping a young man, at the expense either of his father +or of some -leno-, to obtain possession of a sweetheart of undoubted +charms and of very doubtful morals. The path to success in love +regularly lies through some sort of pecuniary fraud; and the crafty +servant, who provides the needful sum and performs the requisite +swindling while the lover is mourning over his amatory and pecuniary +distresses, is the real mainspring of the piece. There is no want of +the due accompaniment of reflections on the joys and sorrows of love, +of tearful parting scenes, of lovers who in the anguish of their +hearts threaten to do themselves a mischief; love or rather amorous +intrigue was, as the old critics of art say, the very life-breath of +the Menandrian poetry. Marriage forms, at least with Menander, the +inevitable finale; on which occasion, for the greater edification +and satisfaction of the spectators, the virtue of the heroine usually +comes forth almost if not wholly untarnished, and the heroine herself +proves to be the lost daughter of some rich man and so in every +respect an eligible match. Along with these love-pieces we find +others of a pathetic kind. Among the comedies of Plautus, for +instance, the -Rudens- turns on a shipwreck and the right of asylum; +while the -Trinummus- and the -Captivi- contain no amatory intrigue, +but depict the generous devotedness of the friend to his friend and +of the slave to his master. Persons and situations recur down to the +very details like patterns on a carpet; we never get rid of the asides +of unseen listeners, of knocking at the house-doors, and of slaves +scouring the streets on some errand or other. The standing masks, +of which there was a certain fixed number--viz., eight masks for old +men, and seven for servants--from which alone in ordinary cases at +least the poet had to make his choice, further favoured a stock-model +treatment. Such a comedy almost of necessity rejected the lyrical +element in the older comedy--the chorus--and confined itself from the +first to conversation, or at most recitation; it was devoid not of the +political element only, but of all true passion and of all poetical +elevation. The pieces judiciously made no pretence to any grand or +really poetical effect: their charm resided primarily in furnishing +occupation for the intellect, not only through their subject-matter +--in which respect the newer comedy was distinguished from the old as +much by the greater intrinsic emptiness as by the greater outward +complication of the plot--but more especially through their execution +in detail, in which the point and polish of the conversation more +particularly formed the triumph of the poet and the delight of the +audience. Complications and confusions of one person with another, +which very readily allowed scope for extravagant, often licentious, +practical jokes--as in the -Casina-, which winds up in genuine +Falstaffian style with the retiring of the two bridegrooms and of the +soldier dressed up as bride--jests, drolleries, and riddles, which in +fact for want of real conversation furnished the staple materials of +entertainment at the Attic table of the period, fill up a large +portion of these comedies. The authors of them wrote not like Eupolis +and Aristophanes for a great nation, but rather for a cultivated +society which spent its time, like other clever circles whose +cleverness finds little fit scope for action, in guessing riddles and +playing at charades. They give us, therefore, no picture of their +times; of the great historical and intellectual movements of the age +no trace appears in these comedies, and we need to recall, in order +to realize, the fact that Philemon and Menander were really +contemporaries of Alexander and Aristotle. But they give us a +picture, equally elegant and faithful, of that refined Attic society +beyond the circles of which comedy never travels. Even in the dim +Latin copy, through which we chiefly know it, the grace of the +original is not wholly obliterated; and more especially in the pieces +which are imitated from Menander, the most talented of these poets, +the life which the poet saw and shared is delicately reflected not so +much in its aberrations and distortions as in its amiable every day +course. The friendly domestic relations between father and daughter, +husband and wife, master and servant, with their love-affairs and +other little critical incidents, are portrayed with so broad a +truthfulness, that even now they do not miss their effect: the +servants' feast, for instance, with which the -Stichus- concludes is, +in the limited range of its relations and the harmony of the two +lovers and the one sweetheart, of unsurpassed gracefulness in its +kind. The elegant grisettes, who make their appearance perfumed and +adorned, with their hair fashionably dressed and in variegated, gold- +embroidered, sweeping robes, or even perform their toilette on the +stage, are very effective. In their train come the procuresses, +sometimes of the most vulgar sort, such as one who appears in the +-Curculio-, sometimes duennas like Goethe's old Barbara, such as +Scapha in the -Mostettaria-; and there is no lack of brothers and +comrades ready with their help. There is great abundance and variety +of parts representing the old: there appear in turn the austere +and avaricious, the fond and tender-hearted, and the indulgent +accommodating, papas, the amorous old man, the easy old bachelor, the +jealous aged matron with her old maid-servant who takes part with her +mistress against her master; whereas the young men's parts are less +prominent, and neither the first lover, nor the virtuous model son who +here and there occurs, lays claim to much significance. The servant- +world--the crafty valet, the stern house-steward, the old vigilant +tutor, the rural slave redolent of garlic, the impertinent page--forms +a transition to the very numerous professional parts. A standing +figure among these is the jester (-parasitus-) who, in return for +permission to feast at the table of the rich, has to entertain the +guests with drolleries and charades, or, according to circumstances, +to let the potsherds be flung at his head. This was at that time a +formal trade in Athens; and it is certainly no mere poetical fiction +which represents such a parasite as expressly preparing himself for +his work by means of his books of witticisms and anecdotes. Favourite +parts, moreover, are those of the cook, who understands not only how +to boast of unheard-of sauces, but also how to pilfer like a +professional thief; the shameless -leno-, complacently confessing to +the practice of every vice, of whom Ballio in the -Pseudolus- is a +model specimen; the military braggadocio, in whom we trace a very +distinct reflection of the free-lance habits that prevailed under +Alexander's successors; the professional sharper or sycophant, the +stingy money-changer, the solemnly silly physician, the priest, +mariner, fisherman, and the like. To these fall to be added, lastly, +the parts delineative of character in the strict sense, such as the +superstitious man of Menander and the miser in the -Aulularia- of +Plautus. The national-Hellenic poetry has preserved, even in this its +last creation, its indestructible plastic vigour; but the delineation +of character is here copied from without rather than reproduced from +inward experience, and the more so, the more the task approaches to +the really poetical. It is a significant circumstance that, in the +parts illustrative of character to which we have just referred, +the psychological truth is in great part represented by abstract +development of the conception; the miser here collects the parings of +his nails and laments the tears which he sheds as a waste of water. +But the blame of this want of depth in the portraying of character, +and generally of the whole poetical and moral hollowness of this newer +comedy, lay less with the comic writers than with the nation as a +whole. Everything distinctively Greek was expiring: fatherland, +national faith, domestic life, all nobleness of action and sentiment +were gone; poetry, history, and philosophy were inwardly exhausted; +and nothing remained to the Athenian save the school, the fish-market, +and the brothel. It is no matter of wonder and hardly a matter of +blame, that poetry, which is destined to shed a glory over human +existence, could make nothing more out of such a life than the +Menandrian comedy presents to us. It is at the same time very +remarkable that the poetry of this period, wherever it was able to +turn away in some degree from the corrupt Attic life without falling +into scholastic imitation, immediately gathers strength and freshness +from the ideal. In the only remnant of the mock-heroic comedy of this +period--the -Amphitruo- of Plautus--there breathes throughout a purer +and more poetical atmosphere than in all the other remains of the +contemporary stage. The good-natured gods treated with gentle irony, +the noble forms from the heroic world, and the ludicrously cowardly +slaves present the most wonderful mutual contrasts; and, after the +comical course of the plot, the birth of the son of the gods amidst +thunder and lightning forms an almost grand concluding effect But this +task of turning the myths into irony was innocent and poetical, as +compared with that of the ordinary comedy depicting the Attic life of +the period. No special accusation may be brought from a historico- +moral point of view against the poets, nor ought it to be made matter +of individual reproach to any particular poet that he occupies the +level of his epoch: comedy was not the cause, but the effect of the +corruption that prevailed in the national life. But it is necessary, +more especially with a view to judge correctly the influence of these +comedies on the life of the Roman people, to point out the abyss which +yawned beneath all that polish and elegance. The coarsenesses and +obscenities, which Menander indeed in some measure avoided, but of +which there is no lack in the other poets, are the least part of the +evil. Features far worse are, the dreadful desolation of life in +which the only oases are lovemaking and intoxication; the fearfully +prosaic atmosphere, in which anything resembling enthusiasm is to be +found only among the sharpers whose heads have been turned by their +own swindling, and who prosecute the trade of cheating with some sort +of zeal; and above all that immoral morality, with which the pieces of +Menander in particular are garnished. Vice is chastised, virtue is +rewarded, and any peccadilloes are covered by conversion at or after +marriage. There are pieces, such as the -Trinummus- of Plautus and +several of Terence, in which all the characters down to the slaves +possess some admixture of virtue; all swarm with honest men who allow +deception on their behalf, with maidenly virtue wherever possible, +with lovers equally favoured and making love in company; moral +commonplaces and well-turned ethical maxims abound. A finale of +reconciliation such as that of the -Bacchides-, where the swindling +sons and the swindled fathers by way of a good winding up all go to +carouse together in the brothel, presents a corruption of morals +thoroughly worthy of Kotzebue. + +Roman Comedy +Its Hellenism a Necessary Result of the Law + +Such were the foundations, and such the elements which shaped the +growth, of Roman comedy. Originality was in its case excluded not +merely by want of aesthetic freedom, but in the first instance, +probably, by its subjection to police control. Among the considerable +number of Latin comedies of this sort which are known to us, there is +not one that did not announce itself as an imitation of a definite +Greek model; the title was only complete when the names of the Greek +piece and of its author were also given, and if, as occasionally +happened, the "novelty" of a piece was disputed, the question was +merely whether it had been previously translated. Comedy laid the +scene of its plot abroad not only frequently, but regularly and under +the pressure of necessity; and that species of art derived its special +name (-fabula palliata-) from the fact, that the scene was laid away +from Rome, usually in Athens, and thai the -dramatis personae- were +Greeks or at any rate not Romans. The foreign costume is strictly +carried out even in detail, especially in those things in which the +uncultivated Roman was distinctly sensible of the contrast, Thus the +names of Rome and the Romans are avoided, and, where they are referred +to, they are called in good Greek "foreigners" (-barbari-); in like +manner among the appellations of moneys and coins, that occur ever +so frequently, there does not once appear a Roman coin. We form a +strange idea of men of so great and so versatile talents as Naevius +and Plautus, if we refer such things to their free choice: this +strange and clumsy "exterritorial" character of Roman comedy +was undoubtedly due to causes very different from aesthetic +considerations. The transference of such social relations, as are +uniformly delineated in the new Attic comedy, to the Rome of the +Hannibalic period would have been a direct outrage on its civic order +and morality. But, as the dramatic spectacles at this period were +regularly given by the aediles and praetors who were entirely +dependent on the senate, and even extraordinary festivals, funeral +games for instance, could not take place without permission of the +government; and as the Roman police, moreover, was not in the habit +of standing on ceremony in any case, and least of all in dealing with +the comedians; the reason is self-evident why this comedy, even after +it was admitted as one of the Roman national amusements, might still +bring no Roman upon the stage, and remained as it were banished to +foreign lands. + +Political Neutrality + +The compilers were still more decidedly prohibited from naming any +living person in terms either of praise or censure, as well as from +any captious allusion to the circumstances of the times. In the whole +repertory of the Plautine and post-Plautine comedy, there is not, +so far as we know, matter for a single action of damages. In like +manner--if we leave out of view some wholly harmless jests--we meet +hardly any trace of invectives levelled at communities (invectives +which, owing to the lively municipal spirit of the Italians, would +have been specially dangerous), except the significant scoff at the +unfortunate Capuans and Atellans (18) and, what is remarkable, various +sarcasms on the arrogance and the bad Latin of the Praenestines.(19) +In general no references to the events or circumstances of the +present occur in the pieces of Plautus. The only exceptions are, +congratulations on the course of the war(20) or on the peaceful times; +general sallies directed against usurious dealings in grain or money, +against extravagance, against bribery by candidates, against the +too frequent triumphs, against those who made a trade of collecting +forfeited fines, against farmers of the revenue distraining for +payment, against the dear prices of the oil-dealers; and once--in the +-Curculio- --a more lengthened diatribe as to the doings in the Roman +market, reminding us of the -parabases- of the older Attic comedy, and +but little likely to cause offence(21) But even in the midst of such +patriotic endeavours, which from a police point of view were entirely +in order, the poet interrupts himself; + +-Sed sumne ego stultus, qui rem curo publicam +Ubi sunt magistratus, quos curare oporteat?- + +and taken as a whole, we can hardly imagine a comedy politically more +tame than was that of Rome in the sixth century.(22) The oldest +Roman comic writer of note, Gnaeus Naevius, alone forms a remarkable +exception. Although he did not write exactly original Roman comedies, +the few fragments of his, which we possess, are full of references to +circumstances and persons in Rome. Among other liberties he not only +ridiculed one Theodotus a painter by name, but even directed against +the victor of Zama the following verses, of which Aristophanes need +not have been ashamed: + +-Etiam qui res magnas manu saepe gessit gloriose, +Cujus facta viva nunc vigent, qui apud gentes solus praestat, +Eum suus pater cum pallio uno ab amica abduxit.- + +As he himself says, + +-Libera lingua loquemur ludis Liberalibus,- + +he may have often written at variance with police rules, and put +dangerous questions, such as: + +-Cedo qui vestram rem publicam tantam amisistis tam cito?- + +which he answered by an enumeration of political sins, such as: + +-Proveniebant oratores novi, stulti adulescentuli.- + +But the Roman police was not disposed like the Attic to hold stage- +invectives and political diatribes as privileged, or even to tolerate +them at all. Naevius was put in prison for these and similar sallies, +and was obliged to remain there, till he had publicly made amends and +recantation in other comedies. These quarrels, apparently, drove +him from his native land; but his successors took warning from his +example--one of them indicates very plainly, that he has no desire +whatever to incur an involuntary gagging like his colleague Naevius. +Thus the result was accomplished--not much less unique of its kind +than the conquest of Hannibal--that, during an epoch of the most +feverish national excitement, there arose a national stage utterly +destitute of political tinge. + +Character of the Editing of Roman Comedy +Persons and Situations + +But the restrictions thus stringently and laboriously imposed by +custom and police on Roman poetry stifled its very breath, Not without +reason might Naevius declare the position of the poet under the +sceptre of the Lagidae and Seleucidae enviable as compared with his +position in free Rome.(23) The degree of success in individual +instances was of course determined by the quality of the original +which was followed, and by the talent of the individual editor; but +amidst all their individual variety the whole stock of translations +must have agreed in certain leading features, inasmuch as all the +comedies were adapted to similar conditions of exhibition and a +similar audience. The treatment of the whole as well as of the +details was uniformly in the highest degree free; and it was necessary +that it should be so. While the original pieces were performed in +presence of that society which they copied, and in this very fact +lay their principal charm, the Roman audience of this period was so +different from the Attic, that it was not even in a position rightly +to understand that foreign world. The Roman comprehended neither +the grace and kindliness, nor the sentimentalism and the whitened +emptiness of the domestic life of the Hellenes. The slave-world was +utterly different; the Roman slave was a piece of household furniture, +the Attic slave was a servant. Where marriages of slaves occur or a +master carries on a kindly conversation with his slave, the Roman +translators ask their audience not to take offence at such things +which are usual in Athens;(24) and, when at a later period comedies +began to be written in Roman costume, the part of the crafty servant +had to be rejected, because the Roman public did not tolerate slaves +of this sort overlooking and controlling their masters. The +professional figures and those illustrative of character, which were +sketched more broadly and farcically, bore the process of transference +better than the polished figures of every-day life; but even of those +delineations the Roman editor had to lay aside several--and these +probably the very finest and most original, such as the Thais, the +match-maker, the moon-conjuress, and the mendicant priest of Menander +--and to keep chiefly to those foreign trades, with which the Greek +luxury of the table, already very generally diffused in Rome, had made +his audience familiar. If the professional cook and the jester in the +comedy of Plautus are delineated with so striking vividness and so +much relish, the explanation lies in the fact, that Greek cooks had +even at that time daily offered their services in the Roman market, +and that Cato found it necessary even to instruct his steward not to +keep a jester. In like manner the translator could make no use of a +very large portion of the elegant Attic conversation in his originals. +The Roman citizen or farmer stood in much the same relation to +the refined revelry and debauchery of Athens, as the German of a +provincial town to the mysteries of the Palais Royal. A science of +cookery, in the strict sense, never entered into his thoughts; the +dinner-parties no doubt continued to be very numerous in the Roman +imitation, but everywhere the plain Roman roast pork predominated +over the variety of baked meats and the refined sauces and dishes of +fish. Of the riddles and drinking songs, of the Greek rhetoric and +philosophy, which played so great a part in the originals, we meet +only a stray trace now and then in the Roman adaptation. + +Construction of the Plot + +The havoc, which the Roman editors were compelled in deference to +their audience to make in the originals, drove them inevitably into +methods of cancelling and amalgamating incompatible with any artistic +construction. It was usual not only to throw out whole character- +parts of the original, but also to insert others taken from other +comedies of the same or of another poet; a treatment indeed which, +owing to the outwardly methodical construction of the originals and +the recurrence of standing figures and incidents, was not quite so bad +as it might seem. Moreover the poets, at least in the earlier period, +allowed themselves the most singular liberties in the construction of +the plot. The plot of the -Stichus- (performed in 554) otherwise so +excellent turns upon the circumstance, that two sisters, whom their +father urges to abandon their absent husbands, play the part of +Penelopes, till the husbands return home with rich mercantile gains +and with a beautiful damsel as a present for their father-in-law. +In the -Casina-, which was received with quite special favour by the +public, the bride, from whom the piece is named and around whom the +plot revolves, does not make her appearance at all, and the denouement +is quite naively described by the epilogue as "to be enacted later +within." Very often the plot as it thickens is suddenly broken off, +the connecting thread is allowed to drop, and other similar signs of +an unfinished art appear. The reason of this is to be sought probably +far less in the unskilfulness of the Roman editors, than in the +indifference of the Roman public to aesthetic laws. Taste, however, +gradually formed itself. In the later pieces Plautus has evidently +bestowed more care on their construction, and the -Captivi- for +instance, the -Pseudolus-, and the -Bacchides- are executed in a +masterly manner after their kind. His successor Caecilius, none of +whose pieces are extant, is said to have especially distinguished +himself by the more artistic treatment of the subject. + +Roman Barbarism + +In the treatment of details the endeavour of the poet to bring matters +as far as possible home to his Roman hearers, and the rule of police +which required that the pieces should retain a foreign character, +produced the most singular contrasts. The Roman gods, the ritual, +military, and juristic terms of the Romans, present a strange +appearance amid the Greek world; Roman -aediles- and -tresviri- are +grotesquely mingled with -agoranomi- and -demarchi-; pieces whose +scene is laid in Aetolia or Epidamnus send the spectator without +scruple to the Velabrum and the Capitol. Such a patchwork of Roman +local tints distributed over the Greek ground is barbarism enough; but +interpolations of this nature, which are often in their naive way very +ludicrous, are far more tolerable than that thorough alteration of the +pieces into a ruder shape, which the editors deemed necessary to suit +the far from Attic culture of their audience. It is true that several +even of the new Attic poets probably needed no accession to their +coarseness; pieces like the -Asinaria- of Plautus cannot owe their +unsurpassed dulness and vulgarity solely to the translator. +Nevertheless coarse incidents so prevail in the Roman comedy, that the +translators must either have interpolated them or at least have made a +very one-sided selection. In the endless abundance of cudgelling and +in the lash ever suspended over the back of the slaves we recognize +very clearly the household-government inculcated by Cato, just as +we recognize the Catonian opposition to women in the never-ending +disparagement of wives. Among the jokes of their own invention, with +which the Roman editors deemed it proper to season the elegant Attic +dialogue, several are almost incredibly unmeaning and barbarous.(25) + +Metrical Treatment + +So far as concerns metrical treatment on the other hand, the flexible +and sounding verse on the whole does all honour to the composers. The +fact that the iambic trimeters, which predominated in the originals +and were alone suitable to their moderate conversational tone, were +very frequently replaced in the Latin edition by iambic or trochaic +tetrameters, is to be attributed not so much to any want of skill +on the part of the editors who knew well how to handle the trimeter, +as to the uncultivated taste of the Roman public which was pleased +with the sonorous magnificence of the long verse even where it was +not appropriate. + +Scenic Arrangements + +Lastly, the arrangements for the production of the pieces on the stage +bore the like stamp of indifference to aesthetic requirements on the +part of the managers and the public. The stage of the Greeks--which +on account of the extent of the theatre and from the performances +taking place by day made no pretension to acting properly so called, +employed men to represent female characters, and absolutely required +an artificial strengthening of the voice of the actor--was entirely +dependent, in a scenic as well as acoustic point of view, on the use +of facial and resonant masks. These were well known also in Rome; in +amateur performances the players appeared without exception masked. +But the actors who were to perform the Greek comedies in Rome were +not supplied with the masks--beyond doubt much more artificial--that +were necessary for them; a circumstance which, apart from all else in +connection with the defective acoustic arrangements of the stage,(26) +not only compelled the actor to exert his voice unduly, but drove +Livius to the highly inartistic but inevitable expedient of having +the portions which were to be sung performed by a singer not belonging +to the staff of actors, and accompanied by the mere dumb show of the +actor within whose part they fell. As little were the givers of the +Roman festivals disposed to put themselves to material expense for +decorations and machinery. The Attic stage regularly presented a +street with houses in the background, and had no shifting decorations; +but, besides various other apparatus, it possessed more especially +a contrivance for pushing forward on the chief stage a smaller one +representing the interior of a house. The Roman theatre, however, was +not provided with this; and we can hardly therefore throw the blame +on the poet, if everything, even childbirth, was represented on +the street. + +Aesthetic Result + +Such was the nature of the Roman comedy of the sixth century. The +mode in which the Greek dramas were transferred to Rome furnishes a +picture, historically invaluable, of the diversity in the culture +of the two nations; but in an aesthetic and a moral point of view the +original did not stand high, and the imitation stood still lower. The +world of beggarly rabble, to whatever extent the Roman editors might +take possession of it under the benefit of the inventory, presented +in Rome a forlorn and strange aspect, shorn as it were of its delicate +characteristics: comedy no longer rested on the basis of reality, but +persons and incidents seemed capriciously or carelessly mingled as in +a game of cards; in the original a picture from life, it became in the +reproduction a caricature. Under a management which could announce +a Greek agon with flute-playing, choirs of dancers, tragedians, and +athletes, and eventually convert it into a boxing-match;(27) and in +presence of a public which, as later poets complain, ran away en masse +from the play, if there were pugilists, or rope-dancers, or even +gladiators to be seen; poets such as the Roman composers were--workers +for hire and of inferior social position--were obliged even perhaps +against their own better judgment and their own better taste to +accommodate themselves more or less to the prevailing frivolity and +rudeness. It was quite possible, nevertheless, that there might arise +among them individuals of lively and vigorous talent, who were able at +least to repress the foreign and factitious element in poetry, and, +when they had found their fitting sphere, to produce pleasing and +even important creations. + +Naevius + +At the head of these stood Gnaeus Naevius, the first Roman who +deserves to be called a poet, and, so far as the accounts preserved +regarding him and the few fragments of his works allow us to form +an opinion, to all appearance as regards talent one of the most +remarkable and most important names in the whole range of Roman +literature. He was a younger contemporary of Andronicus--his poetical +activity began considerably before, and probably did not end till +after, the Hannibalic war--and felt in a general sense his influence; +he was, as is usually the case in artificial literatures, a worker in +all the forms of art produced by his predecessor, in epos, tragedy, +and comedy, and closely adhered to him in the matter of metres. +Nevertheless, an immense chasm separates the poets and their poems. +Naevius was neither freedman, schoolmaster, nor actor, but a citizen +of unstained character although not of rank, belonging probably to one +of the Latin communities of Campania, and a soldier in the first Punic +war.(28) In thorough contrast to the language of Livius, that of +Naevius is easy and clear, free from all stiffness and affectation, +and seems even in tragedy to avoid pathos as it were on purpose; his +verses, in spite of the not unfrequent -hiatus- and various other +licences afterwards disallowed, have a smooth and graceful flow.(29) +While the quasi-poetry of Livius proceeded, somewhat like that of +Gottsched in Germany, from purely external impulses and moved wholly +in the leading-strings of the Greeks, his successor emancipated Roman +poetry, and with the true divining-rod of the poet struck those +springs out of which alone in Italy a native poetry could well up +--national history and comedy. Epic poetry no longer merely +furnished the schoolmaster with a lesson-book, but addressed itself +independently to the hearing and reading public. Composing for the +stage had been hitherto, like the preparation of the stage costume, a +subsidiary employment of the actor or a mechanical service performed +for him; with Naevius the relation was inverted, and the actor now +became the servant of the composer. His poetical activity is marked +throughout by a national stamp. This stamp is most distinctly +impressed on his grave national drama and on his national epos, of +which we shall have to speak hereafter; but it also appears in his +comedies, which of all his poetic performances seem to have been the +best adapted to his talents and the most successful. It was probably, +as we have already said,(30) external considerations alone that +induced the poet to adhere in comedy so much as he did to the Greek +originals; and this did not prevent him from far outstripping his +successors and probably even the insipid originals in the freshness of +his mirth and in the fulness of his living interest in the present; +indeed in a certain sense he reverted to the paths of the Aristophanic +comedy. He felt full well, and in his epitaph expressed, what he had +been to his nation: + +-Immortales mortales si foret fas fiere, +Flerent divae Camenae Naevium poetam; +Itaque, postquam est Orci traditus thesauro, +Obliti sunt Romae loquier lingua Latina.- + +Such proud language on the part of the man and the poet well befitted +one who had witnessed and had personally taken part in the struggles +with Hamilcar and with Hannibal, and who had discovered for the +thoughts and feelings of that age--so deeply agitated and so +elevated by mighty joy--a poetical expression which, if not exactly +the highest, was sound, adroit, and national. We have already +mentioned(31) the troubles into which his licence brought him with +the authorities, and how, driven presumably by these troubles from +Rome, he ended his life at Utica. In his instance likewise the +individual life was sacrificed for the common weal, and the +beautiful for the useful. + +Plautus + +His younger contemporary, Titus Maccius Plautus (500?-570), appears to +have been far inferior to him both in outward position and in the +conception of his poetic calling. A native of the little town of +Sassina, which was originally Umbrian but was perhaps by this time +Latinized, he earned his livelihood in Rome at first as an actor, and +then--after he had lost in mercantile speculations what he had gained +by his acting--as a theatrical composer reproducing Greek comedies, +without occupying himself with any other department of literature and +probably without laying claim to authorship properly so called. There +seems to have been at that time a considerable number of persons who +made a trade of thus editing comedies in Rome; but their names, +especially as they did not perhaps in general publish their works,(32) +were virtually forgotten, and the pieces belonging to this stock of +plays, which were preserved, passed in after times under the name +of the most popular of them, Plautus. The -litteratores- of the +following century reckoned up as many as 130 such "Plautine pieces"; +but of these a large portion at any rate were merely revised by +Plautus or had no connection with him at all; the best of them are +still extant. To form a proper judgment, however, regarding the +poetical character of the editor is very difficult, if not impossible, +since the originals have not been preserved. That the editors +reproduced good and bad pieces without selection; that they were +subject and subordinate both to the police and to the public; that +they were as indifferent to aesthetical requirements as their +audience, and to please the latter, lowered the originals to a +farcical and vulgar tone--are objections which apply rather to the +whole manufacture of translations than to the individual remodeller. +On the other hand we may regard as characteristic of Plautus, the +masterly handling of the language and of the varied rhythms, a rare +skill in adjusting and working the situation for dramatic effect, +the almost always clever and often excellent dialogue, and, above all, +a broad and fresh humour, which produces an irresistible comic effect +with its happy jokes, its rich vocabulary of nicknames, its whimsical +coinage of words, its pungent, often mimic, descriptions and +situations--excellences, in which we seem to recognize the former +actor. Undoubtedly the editor even in these respects retained what +was successful in the originals rather than furnished contributions +of his own. Those portions of the pieces which can with certainty +be traced to the translator are, to say the least, mediocre; but they +enable us to understand why Plautus became and remained the true +popular poet of Rome and the true centre of the Roman stage, and +why even after the passing away of the Roman world the theatre has +repeatedly reverted to his plays. + +Caecilius + +Still less are we able to form a special opinion as to the third +and last--for though Ennius wrote comedies, he did so altogether +unsuccessfully--comedian of note in this epoch, Statins Caecilius. He +resembled Plautus in his position in life and his profession. Born in +Cisalpine Gaul in the district of Mediolanum, he was brought among the +Insubrian prisoners of war(33) to Rome, and earned a livelihood, first +as a slave, afterwards as a freedman, by remodelling Greek comedies +for the theatre down to his probably early death (586). His language +was not pure, as was to be expected from his origin; on the other +hand, he directed his efforts, as we have already said,(34) to a more +artistic construction of the plot. His pieces experienced but a dull +reception from his contemporaries, and the public of later times laid +aside Caecilius for Plautus and Terence; and, if nevertheless the +critics of the true literary age of Rome--the Varronian and Augustan +epoch--assigned to Caecilius the first place among the Roman editors +of Greek comedies, this verdict appears due to the mediocrity of the +connoisseur gladly preferring a kindred spirit of mediocrity in the +poet to any special features of excellence. These art-critics +probably took Caecilius under their wing, simply because he was more +regular than Plautus and more vigorous than Terence; notwithstanding +which he may very well have been far inferior to both. + +Moral Result + +If therefore the literary historian, while fully acknowledging the +very respectable talents of the Roman comedians, cannot recognize +in their mere stock of translations a product either artistically +important or artistically pure, the judgment of history respecting its +moral aspects must necessarily be far more severe. The Greek comedy +which formed its basis was morally so far a matter of indifference, as +it was simply on the same level of corruption with its audience; but +the Roman drama was, at this epoch when men were wavering between the +old austerity and the new corruption, the academy at once of Hellenism +and of vice. This Attico-Roman comedy, with its prostitution of body +and soul usurping the name of love--equally immoral in shamelessness +and in sentimentality--with its offensive and unnatural generosity, +with its uniform glorification of a life of debauchery, with its +mixture of rustic coarseness and foreign refinement, was one +continuous lesson of Romano-Hellenic demoralization, and was felt +as such. A proof of this is preserved in the epilogue of the +-Captivi- of Plautus:-- + +-Spectators, ad pudicos mores facta haec fabulast. +Neque in hoc subigitationes sunt neque ulla amatio +Nec pueri suppositio nec argenti circumductio, +Neque ubi amans adulescens scortum liberet clam suum patrem. +Huius modi paucas poetae reperiunt comoedias, +Ubi boni meliores fiant. Nunc vos, si vobis placet, +Et si placuimus neque odio fuimus, signum hoc mittite; +Qui pudicitiae esse voltis praemium, plausum date!- + +We see here the opinion entertained regarding the Greek comedy by +the party of moral reform; and it may be added, that even in those +rarities, moral comedies, the morality was of a character only adapted +to ridicule innocence more surely. Who can doubt that these dramas +gave a practical impulse to corruption? When Alexander the Great +derived no pleasure from a comedy of this sort which its author read +before him, the poet excused himself by saying that the fault lay not +with him, but with the king; that, in order to relish such a piece, a +man must be in the habit of holding revels and of giving and receiving +blows in an intrigue. The man knew his trade: if, therefore, the +Roman burgesses gradually acquired a taste for these Greek comedies, +we see at what a price it was bought. It is a reproach to the Roman +government not that it did so little in behalf of this poetry, but +that it tolerated it at all Vice no doubt is powerful even without a +pulpit; but that is no excuse for erecting a pulpit to proclaim it. +To debar the Hellenic comedy from immediate contact with the persons +and institutions of Rome, was a subterfuge rather than a serious means +of defence. In fact, comedy would probably have been much less +injurious morally, had they allowed it to have a more free course, +so that the calling of the poet might have been ennobled and a Roman +poetry in some measure independent might have been developed; for +poetry is also a moral power, and, if it inflicts deep wounds, it can +do much to heal them. As it was, in this field also the government +did too little and too much; the political neutrality and moral +hypocrisy of its stage-police contributed their part to the fearfully +rapid breaking up of the Roman nation. + +National Comedy +Titinius + +But, while the government did not allow the Roman comedian to depict +the state of things in his native city or to bring his fellow-citizens +on the stage, a national Latin comedy was not absolutely precluded +from springing up; for the Roman burgesses at this period were not yet +identified with the Latin nation, and the poet was at liberty to lay +the plot of his pieces in the Italian towns of Latin rights just as +in Athens or Massilia. In this way, in fact, the Latin original +comedy arose (-fabula togata- (35)): the earliest known composer +of such pieces, Titinius, flourished probably about the close of +this period.(36) + +This comedy was also based on the new Attic intrigue-piece; it was +not translation, however, but imitation; the scene of the piece lay +in Italy, and the actors appeared in the national dress,(37) the +-toga-. Here the Latin life and doings were brought out with peculiar +freshness. The pieces delineate the civil life of the middle-sized +towns of Latium; the very titles, such as -Psaltria- or -Ferentinatis- +, -Tibicina-, -Iurisperita-, -Fullones-, indicate this; and many +particular incidents, such as that of the townsman who has his shoes +made after the model of the sandals of the Alban kings, tend to +confirm it. The female characters preponderate in a remarkable manner +over the male.(38) With genuine national pride the poet recalls +the great times of the Pyrrhic war, and looks down on his new +Latin neighbours,-- + +-Qui Obsce et Volsce fabulantur; nam Latine nesciunt.- + +This comedy belongs to the stage of the capital quite as much as did +the Greek; but it was probably animated by something of that rustic +antagonism to the ways and the evils of a great town, which appeared +contemporaneously in Cato and afterwards in Varro. As in the German +comedy, which proceeded from the French in much the same way as the +Roman comedy from the Attic, the French Lisette was very soon +superseded by the -Frauenzimmerchen- Franziska, so the Latin national +comedy sprang up, if not with equal poetical power, at any rate with +the same tendency and perhaps with similar success, by the side of +the Hellenizing comedy of the capital. + +Tragedies +Euripides + +Greek tragedy as well as Greek comedy came in the course of this epoch +to Rome. It was a more valuable, and in a certain respect also an +easier, acquisition than comedy. The Greek and particularly the +Homeric epos, which was the basis of tragedy, was not unfamiliar +to the Romans, and was already interwoven with their own national +legends; and the susceptible foreigner found himself far more at home +in the ideal world of the heroic myths than in the fish-market of +Athens. Nevertheless tragedy also promoted, only with less abruptness +and less vulgarity, the anti-national and Hellenizing spirit; and in +this point of view it was a circumstance of the most decisive +importance, that the Greek tragic stage of this period was chiefly +under the sway of Euripides (274-348). This is not the place for a +thorough delineation of that remarkable man and of his still more +remarkable influence on his contemporaries and posterity; but the +intellectual movements of the later Greek and the Graeco-Roman epoch +were to so great an extent affected by him, that it is indispensable +to sketch at least the leading outlines of his character. Euripides +was one of those poets who raise poetry doubtless to a higher level, +but in this advance manifest far more the true sense of what ought to +be than the power of poetically creating it. The profound saying which +morally as well as poetically sums up all tragic art--that action is +passion--holds true no doubt also of ancient tragedy; it exhibits +man in action, but it makes no real attempt to individualize him. +The unsurpassed grandeur with which the struggle between man and +destiny fulfils its course in Aeschylus depends substantially on +the circumstance, that each of the contending powers is only conceived +broadly and generally; the essential humanity in Prometheus and +Agamemnon is but slightly tinged by poetic individualizing. Sophocles +seizes human nature under its general conditions, the king, the old +man, the sister; but not one of his figures displays the microcosm of +man in all his aspects--the features of individual character. A high +stage was here reached, but not the highest; the delineation of man +in his entireness and the entwining of these individual--in themselves +finished--figures into a higher poetical whole form a greater +achievement, and therefore, as compared with Shakespeare, Aeschylus +and Sophocles represent imperfect stages of development. But, when +Euripides undertook to present man as he is, the advance was logical +and in a certain sense historical rather than poetical. He was +able to destroy the ancient tragedy, but not to create the modern. +Everywhere he halted half-way. Masks, through which the expression +of the life of the soul is, as it were, translated from the particular +into the general, were as necessary for the typical tragedy of +antiquity as they are incompatible with the tragedy of character; +but Euripides retained them. With remarkably delicate tact the older +tragedy had never presented the dramatic element, to which it was +unable to allow free scope, unmixed, but had constantly fettered it +in some measure by epic subjects from the superhuman world of gods and +heroes and by the lyrical choruses. One feels that Euripides was +impatient under these fetters: with his subjects he came down at least +to semi-historic times, and his choral chants were of so subordinate +importance, that they were frequently omitted in subsequent +performance and hardly to the injury of the pieces; but yet he has +neither placed his figures wholly on the ground of reality, nor +entirely thrown aside the chorus. Throughout and on all sides he is +the full exponent of an age in which, on the one hand, the grandest +historical and philosophical movement was going forward, but in which, +on the other hand, the primitive fountain of all poetry--a pure and +homely national life--had become turbid. While the reverential piety +of the older tragedians sheds over their pieces as it were a reflected +radiance of heaven; while the limitation of the narrow horizon of the +older Hellenes exercises its satisfying power even over the hearer; +the world of Euripides appears in the pale glimmer of speculation as +much denuded of gods as it is spiritualised, and gloomy passions shoot +like lightnings athwart the gray clouds. The old deeply-rooted faith +in destiny has disappeared; fate governs as an outwardly despotic +power, and the slaves gnash their teeth as they wear its fetters. +That unbelief, which is despairing faith, speaks in this poet with +superhuman power. Of necessity therefore the poet never attains a +plastic conception overpowering himself, and never reaches a truly +poetic effect on the whole; for which reason he was in some measure +careless as to the construction of his tragedies, and indeed not +unfrequently altogether spoiled them in this respect by providing no +central interest either of plot or person--the slovenly fashion of +weaving the plot in the prologue, and of unravelling it by a -Deus ex +machina- or a similar platitude, was in reality brought into vogue by +Euripides. All the effect in his case lies in the details; and with +great art certainly every effort has in this respect been made to +conceal the irreparable want of poetic wholeness. Euripides is +a master in what are called effects; these, as a rule, have a +sensuously-sentimental colouring, and often moreover stimulate +the sensuous impression by a special high seasoning, such as the +interweaving of subjects relating to love with murder or incest. +The delineations of Polyxena willing to die and of Phaedra pining +away under the grief of secret love, above all the splendid picture +of the mystic ecstasies of the Bacchae, are of the greatest beauty +in their kind; but they are neither artistically nor morally pure, +and the reproach of Aristophanes, that the poet was unable to paint a +Penelope, was thoroughly well founded. Of a kindred character is the +introduction of common compassion into the tragedy of Euripides. +While his stunted heroes or heroines, such as Menelaus in the -Helena-, +Andromache, Electra as a poor peasant's wife, the sick and ruined +merchant Telephus, are repulsive or ridiculous and ordinarily both, +the pieces, on the other hand, which keep more to the atmosphere of +common reality and exchange the character of tragedy for that of the +touching family-piece or that almost of sentimental comedy, such as +the -Iphigenia in Aulis-, the -Ion-, the -Alcestis-, produce perhaps +the most pleasing effect of all his numerous works. With equal +frequency, but with less success, the poet attempts to bring into play +an intellectual interest. Hence springs the complicated plot, which +is calculated not like the older tragedy to move the feelings, but +rather to keep curiosity on the rack; hence the dialectically pointed +dialogue, to us non-Athenians often absolutely intolerable; hence the +apophthegms, which are scattered throughout the pieces of Euripides +like flowers in a pleasure-garden; hence above all the psychology of +Euripides, which rests by no means on direct reproduction of human +experience, but on rational reflection. His Medea is certainly in so +far painted from life, that she is before departure properly provided +with money for her voyage; but of the struggle in the soul between +maternal love and jealousy the unbiassed reader will not find much in +Euripides. But, above all, poetic effect is replaced in the tragedies +of Euripides by moral or political purpose. Without strictly or +directly entering on the questions of the day, and having in view +throughout social rather than political questions, Euripides in the +legitimate issues of his principles coincided with the contemporary +political and philosophical radicalism, and was the first and chief +apostle of that new cosmopolitan humanity which broke up the old Attic +national life. This was the ground at once of that opposition which +the ungodly and un-Attic poet encountered among his contemporaries, +and of that marvellous enthusiasm, with which the younger generation +and foreigners devoted themselves to the poet of emotion and of love, +of apophthegm and of tendency, of philosophy and of humanity. Greek +tragedy in the hands of Euripides stepped beyond its proper sphere and +consequently broke down; but the success of the cosmopolitan poet was +only promoted by this, since at the same time the nation also stepped +beyond its sphere and broke down likewise. The criticism of +Aristophanes probably hit the truth exactly both in a moral and in a +poetical point of view; but poetry influences the course of history +not in proportion to its absolute value, but in proportion as it is +able to forecast the spirit of the age, and in this respect Euripides +was unsurpassed. And thus it happened, that Alexander read him +diligently; that Aristotle developed the idea of the tragic poet with +special reference to him; that the latest poetic and plastic art in +Attica as it were originated from him (for the new Attic comedy did +nothing but transfer Euripides into a comic form, and the school of +painters which we meet with in the designs of the later vases derived +its subjects no longer from the old epics, but from the Euripidean +tragedy); and lastly that, the more the old Hellas gave place to the +new Hellenism, the more the fame and influence of the poet increased, +and Greek life abroad, in Egypt as well as in Rome, was directly or +indirectly moulded in the main by Euripides. + +Roman Tragedy + +The Hellenism of Euripides flowed to Rome through very various +channels, and probably produced a speedier and deeper effect there +by indirect means than in the form of direct translation. The tragic +drama in Rome was not exactly later in its rise than the comic;(39) +but the far greater expense of putting a tragedy on the stage--which +was undoubtedly felt as a consideration of moment, at least during the +Hannibalic war--as well as the nature of the audience(40) retarded the +development of tragedy. In the comedies of Plautus the allusions to +tragedies are not very frequent, and most references of this kind may +have been taken from the originals. The first and only influential +tragedian of this epoch was the younger contemporary of Naevius +and Plautus, Quintus Ennius (515-585), whose pieces were already +travestied by contemporary comic writers, and were exhibited and +declaimed by posterity down to the days of the empire. + +The tragic drama of the Romans is far less known to us than the comic: +on the whole the same features, which have been noticed in the case of +comedy, are presented by tragedy also. The dramatic stock, in like +manner, was mainly formed by translations of Greek pieces. The +preference was given to subjects derived from the siege of Troy and +the legends immediately connected with it, evidently because this +cycle of myths alone was familiar to the Roman public through +instruction at school; by their side incidents of striking horror +predominate, such as matricide or infanticide in the -Eumenides-, +the -Alcmaeon-, the -Cresphontes-, the -Melanippe-, the -Medea-, and +the immolation of virgins in the -Polyxena-, the -Erechthides-, the +-Andromeda-, the -Iphigenia- --we cannot avoid recalling the fact, +that the public for which these tragedies were prepared was in the +habit of witnessing gladiatorial games. The female characters and +ghosts appear to have made the deepest impression. In addition to the +rejection of masks, the most remarkable deviation of the Roman edition +from the original related to the chorus. The Roman theatre, fitted up +doubtless in the first instance for comic plays without chorus, had +not the special dancing-stage (-orchestra-) with the altar in the +middle, on which the Greek chorus performed its part, or, to speak +more correctly, the space thus appropriated among the Greeks served +with the Romans as a sort of pit; accordingly the choral dance at +least, with its artistic alternations and intermixture of music and +declamation, must have been omitted in Rome, and, even if the chorus +was retained, it had but little importance. Of course there were +various alterations of detail, changes in the metres, curtailments, +and disfigurements; in the Latin edition of the -Iphigenia- of +Euripides, for instance, the chorus of women was--either after the +model of another tragedy, or by the editor's own device--converted +into a chorus of soldiers. The Latin tragedies of the sixth century +cannot be pronounced good translations in our sense of the word;(41) +yet it is probable that a tragedy of Ennius gave a far less imperfect +image of the original of Euripides than a comedy of Plautus gave of +the original of Menander. + +Moral Effect of Tragedy + +The historical position and influence of Greek tragedy in Rome +were entirely analogous to those of Greek comedy; and while, as +the difference in the two kinds of composition necessarily implied, +the Hellenistic tendency appeared in tragedy under a purer and more +spiritual form, the tragic drama of this period and its principal +representative Ennius displayed far more decidedly an anti-national +and consciously propagandist aim. Ennius, hardly the most important +but certainly the most influential poet of the sixth century, was not +a Latin by birth, but on the contrary by virtue of his origin half a +Greek. Of Messapian descent and Hellenic training, he settled in his +thirty-fifth year at Rome, and lived there--at first as a resident +alien, but after 570 as a burgess(42)--in straitened circumstances, +supported partly by giving instruction in Latin and Greek, partly by +the proceeds of his pieces, partly by the donations of those Roman +grandees, who, like Publius Scipio, Titus Flamininus, and Marcus +Fulvius Nobilior, were inclined to promote the modern Hellenism and +to reward the poet who sang their own and their ancestors' praises and +even accompanied some of them to the field in the character, as it +were, of a poet laureate nominated beforehand to celebrate the great +deeds which they were to perform. He has himself elegantly described +the client-like qualities requisite for such a calling.(43) From the +outset and by virtue of the whole tenor of his life a cosmopolite, he +had the skill to appropriate the distinctive features of the nations +among which he lived--Greek, Latin, and even Oscan--without devoting +himself absolutely to any cne of them; and while the Hellenism of the +earlier Roman poets was the result rather than the conscious aim of +their poetic activity, and accordingly they at least attempted more or +less to take their stand on national ground, Ennius on the contrary is +very distinctly conscious of his revolutionary tendency, and evidently +labours with zeal to bring into vogue neologico-Hellenic ideas among +the Italians. His most serviceable instrument was tragedy. The +remains of his tragedies show that he was well acquainted with the +whole range of the Greek tragic drama and with Aeschylus and Sophocles +in particular; it is the less therefore the result of accident, that +he has modelled the great majority of his pieces, and all those that +attained celebrity, on Euripides. In the selection and treatment he +was doubtless influenced partly by external considerations. But these +alone cannot account for his bringing forward so decidedly the +Euripidean element in Euripides; for his neglecting the choruses still +more than did his original; for his laying still stronger emphasis on +sensuous effect than the Greek; nor for his taking up pieces like the +-Thyestes- and the -Telephus- so well known from the immortal ridicule +of Aristophanes, with their princes' woes and woful princes, and even +such a piece as Menalippa the Female Philosopher, in which the whole +plot turns on the absurdity of the national religion, and the tendency +to make war on it from the physicist point of view is at once +apparent. The sharpest arrows are everywhere--and that partly in +passages which can be proved to have been inserted(44)--directed +against faith in the miraculous, and we almost wonder that the +censorship of the Roman stage allowed such tirades to pass as +the following:-- + +-Ego deum genus esse semper dixi et dicam caelitum, +Sed eos non curare opinor, quid agat humanum genus; +Nam si curent, bene bonis sit, male malis, quod nunc abest.- + +We have already remarked(45) that Ennius scientifically inculcated the +same irreligion in a didactic poem of his own; and it is evident that +he was in earnest with this freethinking. With this trait other +features are quite accordant--his political opposition tinged with +radicalism, that here and there appears;(46) his singing the praises +of the Greek pleasures of the table;(47) above all his setting aside +the last national element in Latin poetry, the Saturnian measure, and +substituting for it the Greek hexameter. That the "multiform" poet +executed all these tasks with equal neatness, that he elaborated +hexameters out of a language of by no means dactylic structure, and +that without checking the natural flow of his style he moved with +confidence and freedom amidst unwonted measures and forms--are so many +evidences of his extraordinary plastic talent, which was in fact more +Greek than Roman;(48) where he offends us, the offence is owing much +more frequently to Greek alliteration(49) than to Roman ruggedness. +He was not a great poet, but a man of graceful and sprightly talent, +throughout possessing the vivid sensibilities of a poetic nature, but +needing the tragic buskin to feel himself a poet and wholly destitute +of the comic vein. We can understand the pride with which the +Hellenizing poet looked down on those rude strains -- + +-quos olim Faunei vatesque canebant,- + +and the enthusiasm with which he celebrates his own artistic poetry: + +-Enni foeta, salve, +Versus propinas flammeos medullitus.- + +The clever man had an instinctive assurance that he had spread his +sails to a prosperous breeze; Greek tragedy became, and thenceforth +remained, a possession of the Latin nation. + +National Dramas + +Through less frequented paths, and with a less favourable wind, a +bolder mariner pursued a higher aim. Naevius not only like Ennius +--although with far less success--adapted Greek tragedies for the +Roman stage, but also attempted to create, independently of the +Greeks, a grave national drama (-fabula praetextata-). No outward +obstacles here stood in the way; he brought forward subjects both +from Roman legend and from the contemporary history of the country on +the stage of his native land. Such were his Nursing of Romulus and +Remus or the Wolf, in which Amulius king of Alba appeared, and his +-Clastidium-, which celebrated the victory of Marcellus over the +Celts in 532.(49) After his example, Ennius in his -Ambracia- +described from personal observation the siege of that city by his +patron Nobilior in 565.(50) But the number of these national dramas +remained small, and that species of composition soon disappeared from +the stage; the scanty legend and the colourless history of Rome were +unable permanently to compete with the rich cycle of Hellenic legends. +Respecting the poetic value of the pieces we have no longer the means +of judging; but, if we may take account of the general poetical +intention, there were in Roman literature few such strokes of genius +as the creation of a Roman national drama. Only the Greek tragedians +of that earliest period which still felt itself nearer to the gods +--only poets like Phrynichus and Aeschylus--had the courage to bring +the great deeds which they had witnessed, and in which they had borne +a part, on the stage by the side of those of legendary times; and +here, if anywhere, we are enabled vividly to realize what the Punic +wars were and how powerful was their effect, when we find a poet, +who like Aeschylus had himself fought in the battles which he sang, +introducing the kings and consuls of Rome upon that stage on which +men had hitherto been accustomed to see none but gods and heroes. + +Recitative Poetry + +Recitative poetry also took its rise during this epoch at Rome. +Livius naturalized the custom which among the ancients held the +place of our modern publication--the public reading of new works by +the author--in Rome, at least to the extent of reciting them in his +school. As poetry was not in this instance practised with a view to +a livelihood, or at any rate not directly so, this branch of it was +not regarded by public opinion with such disfavour as writing for the +stage: towards the end of this epoch one or two Romans of quality had +publicly come forward in this manner as poets.(51) Recitative poetry +however was chiefly cultivated by those poets who occupied themselves +with writing for the stage, and the former held a subordinate place as +compared with the latter; in fact, a public to which read poetry might +address itself can have existed only to a very limited extent at this +period in Rome. + +Satura + +Above all, lyrical, didactic, and epigrammatic poetry found but feeble +representation. The religious festival chants--as to which the annals +of this period certainly have already thought it worth while to +mention the author--as well as the monumental inscriptions on temples +and tombs, for which the Saturnian remained the regular measure, +hardly belong to literature proper. So far as the minor poetry makes +its appearance at all, it presents itself ordinarily, and that as +early as the time of Naevius, under the name of -satura-. This term +was originally applied to the old stage-poem without action, which +from the time of Livius was driven off the stage by the Greek drama; +but in its application to recitative poetry it corresponds in some +measure to our "miscellaneous poems," and like the latter denotes not +any positive species or style of art, but simply poems not of an epic +or dramatic kind, treating of any matters (mostly subjective), and +written in any form, at the pleasure of the author. In addition to +Cato's "poem on Morals" to be noticed afterwards, which was presumably +written in Saturnian verses after the precedent of the older first +attempts at a national didactic poetry,(52) there came under this +category especially the minor poems of Ennius, which that writer, +who was very fertile in this department, published partly in his +collection of -saturae-, partly separately. Among these were brief +narrative poems relating to the legendary or contemporary history of +his country; editions of the religious romance of Euhemerus,(53) of +the poems dealing with natural philosophy circulating in the name +of Epicharmus,(54) and of the gastronomies of Archestratus of Gela, +a poet who treated of the higher cookery; as also a dialogue between +Life and Death, fables of Aesop, a collection of moral maxims, +parodies and epigrammatic trifles--small matters, but indicative +of the versatile powers as well as the neological didactic tendencies +of the poet, who evidently allowed himself the freest range in this +field, which the censorship did not reach. + +Metrical Annals +Naevius + +The attempts at a metrical treatment of the national annals lay +claim to greater poetical and historical importance. Here too it was +Naevius who gave poetic form to so much of the legendary as well as +of the contemporary history as admitted of connected narrative; and +who, more especially, recorded in the half-prosaic Saturnian national +metre the story of the first Punic war simply and distinctly, with +a straightforward adherence to fact, without disdaining anything at +all as unpoetical, and without at all, especially in the description +of historical times, going in pursuit of poetical flights or +embellishments--maintaining throughout his narrative the present +tense.(55) What we have already said of the national drama of the +same poet, applies substantially to the work of which we are now +speaking. The epic, like the tragic, poetry of the Greeks lived and +moved essentially in the heroic period; it was an altogether new and, +at least in design, an enviably grand idea--to light up the present +with the lustre of poetry. Although in point of execution the +chronicle of Naevius may not have been much better than the rhyming +chronicles of the middle ages, which are in various respects of +kindred character, yet the poet was certainly justified in regarding +this work of his with an altogether peculiar complacency. It was no +small achievement, in an age when there was absolutely no historical +literature except official records, to have composed for his +countrymen a connected account of the deeds of their own and the +earlier time, and in addition to have placed before their eyes +the noblest incidents of that history in a dramatic form. + +Ennius + +Ennius proposed to himself the very same task as Naevius; but the +similarity of the subject only brings out into stronger relief the +political and poetical contrast between the national and the anti- +national poet. Naevius sought out for the new subject a new form; +Ennius fitted or forced it into the forms of the Hellenic epos. The +hexameter took the place of the Saturnian verse; the ornate style of +the Homeridae, striving after plastic vividness of delineation, +took the place of the homely historic narrative. Wherever the +circumstances admit, Homer is directly translated; e. g. the burial of +those that fell at Heraclea is described after the model of the burial +of Patroclus, and under the helmet of Marcus Livius Stolo, the +military tribune who fights with the Istrians, lurks none other than +the Homeric Ajax; the reader is not even spared the Homeric invocation +of the Muse. The epic machinery is fully set agoing; after the battle +of Cannae, for instance, Juno in a full council of the gods pardons +the Romans, and Jupiter after obtaining the consent of his wife +promises them a final victory over the Carthaginians. Nor do the +"Annals" fail to betray the neological and Hellenistic tendencies of +the author. The very employment of the gods for mere decoration bears +this stamp. The remarkable vision, with which the poem opens, tells +in good Pythagorean style how the soul now inhabiting Quintus Ennius +had previously been domiciled in Homer and still earlier in a peacock, +and then in good physicist style explains the nature of things and +the relation of the body to the mind. Even the choice of the subject +serves the same purpose--at any rate the Hellenic literati of all ages +have found an especially suitable handle for their Graeco-cosmopolite +tendencies in this very manipulation of Roman history. Ennius lays +stress on the circumstance that the Romans were reckoned Greeks: + +-Contendunt Graecos, Graios memorare solent sos.- + +The poetical value of the greatly celebrated Annals may easily be +estimated after the remarks which we have already made regarding the +excellences and defects of the poet in general. It was natural that +as a poet of lively sympathies, he should feel himself elevated by the +enthusiastic impulse which the great age of the Punic wars gave to the +national sensibilities of Italy, and that he should not only often +happily imitate Homeric simplicity, but should also and still more +frequently make his lines strikingly echo the solemnity and decorum of +the Roman character. But the construction of his epic was defective; +indeed it must have been very lax and indifferent, when it was +possible for the poet to insert a special book by way of supplement +to please an otherwise forgotten hero and patron. On the whole the +Annals were beyond question the work in which Ennius fell farthest +short of his aim. The plan of making an Iliad pronounces its own +condemnation. It was Ennius, who in this poem for the first time +introduced into literature that changeling compound of epos and of +history, which from that time up to the present day haunts it like a +ghost, unable either to live or to die. But the poem certainly had +its success. Ennius claimed to be the Roman Homer with still greater +ingenuousness than Klopstock claimed to be the German, and was +received as such by his contemporaries and still more so by posterity. +The veneration for the father of Roman poetry was transmitted from +generation to generation; even the polished Quintilian says, "Let us +revere Ennius as we revere an ancient sacred grove, whose mighty oaks +of a thousand years are more venerable than beautiful;" and, if any +one is disposed to wonder at this, he may recall analogous phenomena +in the successes of the Aeneid, the Henriad, and the Messiad. A +mighty poetical development of the nation would indeed have set +aside that almost comic official parallel between the Homeric +Iliad and the Ennian + +Annals as easily as we have set aside the comparison of Karschin +with Sappho and of Willamov with Pindar; but no such development took +place in Rome. Owing to the interest of the subject especially for +aristocratic circles, and the great plastic talent of the poet, the +Annals remained the oldest Roman original poem which appeared to the +culture of later generations readable or worth reading; and thus, +singularly enough, posterity came to honour this thoroughly anti- +national epos of a half-Greek -litterateur- as the true model +poem of Rome. + +Prose Literature + +A prose literature arose in Rome not much later than Roman poetry, +but in a very different way. It experienced neither the artificial +furtherance, by which the school and the stage prematurely forced the +growth of Roman poetry, nor the artificial restraint, to which Roman +comedy in particular was subjected by the stern and narrow-minded +censorship of the stage. Nor was this form of literary activity +placed from the outset under the ban of good society by the stigma +which attached to the "ballad-singer." Accordingly the prose +literature, while far less extensive and less active than the +contemporary poetical authorship, had a far more natural growth. +While poetry was almost wholly in the hands of men of humble rank and +not a single Roman of quality appears among the celebrated poets of +this age, there is, on the contrary, among the prose writers of this +period hardly a name that is not senatorial; and it is from the +circles of the highest aristocracy, from men who had been consuls and +censors--the Fabii, the Gracchi, the Scipios--that this literature +throughout proceeds. The conservative and national tendency, in the +nature of the case, accorded better with this prose authorship than +with poetry; but here too--and particularly in the most important +branch of this literature, historical composition--the Hellenistic +bent had a powerful, in fact too powerful, influence both on matter +and form. + +Writing of History + +Down to the period of the Hannibalic war there was no historical +composition in Rome; for the entries in the book of Annals were of the +nature of records and not of literature, and never made any attempt to +develop the connection of events. It is a significant illustration of +the peculiarity of Roman character, that notwithstanding the extension +of the power of the Roman community far beyond the bounds of Italy, +and notwithstanding the constant contact of the noble society of Rome +with the Greeks who were so fruitful in literary activity, it was not +till the middle of the sixth century that there was felt the need and +desire of imparting a knowledge of the deeds and fortunes of the Roman +people, by means of authorship, to the contemporary world and to +posterity. When at length this desire was felt, there were neither +literary forms ready at hand for the use of Roman history, nor was +there a public prepared to read it, and great talent and considerable +time were required to create both. In the first instance, +accordingly, these difficulties were in some measure evaded by writing +the national history either in the mother-tongue but in that case in +verse, or in prose but in that case in Greek. We have already spoken +of the metrical chronicles of Naevius (written about 550?) and of +Ennius (written about 581); both belong to the earliest historical +literature of the Romans, and the work of Naevius may be regarded as +the oldest of all Roman historical works. At nearly the same period +were composed the Greek "Histories" of Quintus Fabius Pictor(56) +(after 553), a man of noble family who took an active part in state +affairs during the Hannibalic war, and of Publius Scipio, the son of +Scipio Africanus (about 590). In the former case they availed +themselves of the poetical art which was already to a certain extent +developed, and addressed themselves to a public with a taste for +poetry, which was not altogether wanting; in the latter case they +found the Greek forms ready to their hand, and addressed themselves +--as the interest of their subject stretching far beyond the bounds +of Latium naturally suggested--primarily to the cultivated foreigner. +The former plan was adopted by the plebeian authors, the latter by +those of quality; just as in the time of Frederick the Great an +aristocratic literature in the French language subsisted side by side +with the native German authorship of pastors and professors, and, +while men like Gleim and Ramler wrote war-songs in German, kings and +generals wrote military histories in French. Neither the metrical +chronicles nor the Greek annals by Roman authors constituted Latin +historical composition in the proper sense; this only began with Cato, +whose "Origines," not published before the close of this epoch, formed +at once the oldest historical work written in Latin and the first +important prose work in Roman literature.(57) + +All these works, while not coming up to the Greek conception of +history,(58) were, as contrasted with the mere detached notices of +the book of Annals, systematic histories with a connected narrative +and a more or less regular structure. They all, so far as we can see, +embraced the national history from the building of Rome down to the +time of the writer, although in point of title the work of Naevius +related only to the first war with Carthage, and that of Cato only +to the very early history. They were thus naturally divided into +the three sections of the legendary period, of earlier, and of +contemporary, history. + +History of the Origin of Rome + +In the legendary period the history of the origin of the city of Rome +was set forth with great minuteness; and in its case the peculiar +difficulty had to be surmounted, that there were, as we have already +shown,(59) two wholly irreconcileable versions of it in circulation: +the national version, which, in its leading outlines at least, was +probably already embodied in the book of Annals, and the Greek +version of Timaeus, which cannot have remained unknown to these Roman +chroniclers. The object of the former was to connect Rome with +Alba, that of the latter to connect Rome with Troy; in the former +accordingly the city was built by Romulus son of the Alban king, +in the latter by the Trojan prince Aeneas. To the present epoch, +probably either to Naevius or to Pictor, belongs the amalgamation of +the two stories. The Alban prince Romulus remains the founder of +Rome, but becomes at the same time the grandson of Aeneas; Aeneas does +not found Rome, but is represented as bringing the Roman Penates to +Italy and building Lavinium as their shrine, while his son Ascanius +founds Alba Longa, the mother-city of Rome and the ancient metropolis +of Latium. All this was a sorry and unskilful patchwork. The view +that the original Penates of Rome were preserved not, as had hitherto +been believed, in their temple in the Roman Forum, but in the shrine +at Lavinium, could not but be offensive to the Romans; and the Greek +fiction was a still worse expedient, inasmuch as under it the gods +only bestowed on the grandson what they had adjudged to the grandsire. +But the redaction served its object: without exactly denying the +national origin of Rome, it yet deferred to the Hellenizing tendency, +and legalized in some degree that desire to claim kindred with Aeneas +and his descendants which was already at this epoch greatly in +vogue;(60) and thus it became the stereotyped, and was soon accepted +as the official, account of the origin of the mighty community. + +Apart from the fable of the origin of the city, the Greek +historiographers had otherwise given themselves little or no concern +as to the Roman commonwealth; so that the presentation of the further +course of the national history must have been chiefly derived from +native sources. But the scanty information that has reached us does +not enable us to discern distinctly what sort of traditions, in +addition to the book of Annals, were at the command of the earliest +chroniclers, and what they may possibly have added of their own. +The anecdotes inserted from Herodotus(61) were probably still foreign +to these earliest annalists, and a direct borrowing of Greek materials +in this section cannot be proved. The more remarkable, therefore, is +the tendency, which is everywhere, even in the case of Cato the enemy +of the Greeks, very distinctly apparent, not only to connect Rome with +Hellas, but to represent the Italian and Greek nations as having been +originally identical. To this tendency we owe the primitive-Italians +or Aborigines who were immigrants from Greece, and the primitive- +Greeks or Pelasgians whose wanderings brought them to Italy. + +The Earlier History + +The current story led with some measure of connection, though the +connecting thread was but weak and loose through the regal period down +to the institution of the republic; but at that point legend dried up; +and it was not merely difficult but altogether impossible to form a +narrative, in any degree connected and readable, out of the lists of +magistrates and the scanty notices appended to them. The poets felt +this most. Naevius appears for that reason to have passed at once +from the regal period to the war regarding Sicily: Ennius, who in the +third of his eighteen books was still describing the regal period and +in the sixth had already reached the war with Pyrrhus, must have +treated the first two centuries of the republic merely in the most +general outline. How the annalists who wrote in Greek managed the +matter, we do not know. Cato adopted a peculiar course. He felt no +pleasure, as he himself says, "in relating what was set forth on the +tablet in the house of the Pontifex Maximus, how often wheat had been +dear, and when the sun or moon had been eclipsed;" and so he devoted +the second and third books of his historical work to accounts of the +origin of the other Italian communities and of their admission to the +Roman confederacy. He thus got rid of the fetters of chronicle, which +reports events year by year under the heading of the magistrates for +the time being; the statement in particular, that Cato's historical +work narrated events "sectionally," must refer to this feature of his +method. This attention bestowed on the other Italian communities, +which surprises us in a Roman work, had a bearing on the political +position of the author, who leaned throughout on the support of the +municipal Italy in his opposition to the doings of the capital; while +it furnished a sort of substitute for the missing history of Rome +from the expulsion of king Tarquinius down to the Pyrrhic war, by +presenting in its own way the main result of that history--the union +of Italy under the hegemony of Rome. + +Contemporary History + +Contemporary history, again, was treated in a connected and detailed +manner. Naevius described the first, and Fabius the second, war with +Carthage from their own knowledge; Ennius devoted at least thirteen +out of the eighteen books of his Annals to the epoch from Pyrrhus down +to the Istrian war;(62) Cato narrated in the fourth and fifth books +of his historical work the wars from the first Punic war down to that +with Perseus, and in the two last books, which probably were planned +on a different and ampler scale, he related the events of the last +twenty years of his life. For the Pyrrhic war Ennius may have +employed Timaeus or other Greek authorities; but on the whole +the accounts given were based, partly on personal observation +or communications of eye-witnesses, partly on each other. + +Speeches and Letters + +Contemporaneously with historical literature, and in some sense as an +appendage to it, arose the literature of speeches and letters. This +in like manner was commenced by Cato; for the Romans possessed nothing +of an earlier age except some funeral orations, most of which probably +were only brought to light at a later period from family archives, +such as that which the veteran Quintus Fabius, the opponent of +Hannibal, delivered when an old man over his son who had died in his +prime. Cato on the other hand committed to writing in his old age +such of the numerous orations which he had delivered during his long +and active public career as were historically important, as a sort of +political memoirs, and published them partly in his historical work, +partly, it would seem, as independent supplements to it. There also +existed a collection of his letters. + +History of Other Nations + +With non-Roman history the Romans concerned themselves so far, that +a certain knowledge of it was deemed indispensable for the cultivated +Roman; even old Fabius is said to have been familiar not merely with +the Roman, but also with foreign, wars, and it is distinctly testified +that Cato diligently read Thucydides and the Greek historians in +general. But, if we leave out of view the collection of anecdotes and +maxims which Cato compiled for himself as the fruits of this reading, +no trace is discernible of any literary activity in this field. + +Uncritical Treatment of History + +These first essays in historical literature were all of them, as +a matter of course, pervaded by an easy, uncritical spirit; neither +authors nor readers readily took offence at inward or outward +inconsistencies. King Tarquinius the Second, although he was already +grown up at the time of his father's death and did not begin to reign +till thirty-nine years afterwards, is nevertheless still a young man +when he ascends the throne. Pythagoras, who came to Italy about a +generation before the expulsion of the kings, is nevertheless set +down by the Roman historians as a friend of the wise Numa. The state- +envoys sent to Syracuse in the year 262 transact business with +Dionysius the elder, who ascended the throne eighty-six years +afterwards (348). This naive uncritical spirit is especially apparent +in the treatment of Roman chronology. Since according to the Roman +reckoning--the outlines of which were probably fixed in the previous +epoch--the foundation of Rome took place 240 years before the +consecration of the Capitoline temple(63) and 360 years before the +burning of the city by the Gauls,(64) and the latter event, which +is mentioned also in Greek historical works, fell according to these +in the year of the Athenian archon Pyrgion 388 B. C. Ol. 98, i, the +building of Rome accordingly fell on Ol. 8, i. This was, according +to the chronology of Eratosthenes which was already recognized as +canonical, the year 436 after the fall of Troy; nevertheless the +common story retained as the founder of Rome the grandson of the +Trojan Aeneas. Cato, who like a good financier checked the +calculation, no doubt drew attention in this instance to the +incongruity; but he does not appear to have proposed any mode of +getting over the difficulty--the list of the Alban kings, which +was afterwards inserted with this view, certainly did not proceed +from him. + +The same uncritical spirit, which prevailed in the early history, +prevailed also to a certain extent in the representation of historical +times. The accounts certainly without exception bore that strong +party colouring, for which the Fabian narrative of the commencement +of the second war with Carthage is censured by Polybius with the +calm severity characteristic of him. Mistrust, however, is more +appropriate in such circumstances than reproach. It is somewhat +ridiculous to expect from the Roman contemporaries of Hannibal a +just judgment on their opponents; but no conscious misrepresentation +of the facts, except such as a simple-minded patriotism of itself +involves, has been proved against the fathers of Roman history. + +Science + +The beginnings of scientific culture, and even of authorship relating +to it, also fall within this epoch. The instruction hitherto given +had been substantially confined to reading and writing and a knowledge +of the law of the land.(65) But a closer contact with the Greeks +gradually suggested to the Romans the idea of a more general culture; +and stimulated the endeavour, if not directly to transplant this +Greek culture to Rome, at any rate to modify the Roman culture to +some extent after its model. + +Grammar + +First of all, the knowledge of the mother-tongue began to shape itself +into Latin grammar; Greek philology transferred its methods to the +kindred idiom of Italy. The active study of grammar began nearly at +the same time with Roman authorship. About 520 Spurius Carvilius, a +teacher of writing, appears to have regulated the Latin alphabet, and +to have given to the letter -g, which was not previously included in +it,(66) the place of the -z which could be dispensed with--the place +which it still holds in the modern Occidental alphabets. The Roman +school-masters must have been constantly working at the settlement +of orthography; the Latin Muses too never disowned their scholastic +Hippocrene, and at all times applied themselves to orthography side +by side with poetry. Ennius especially--resembling Klopstock in this +respect also--not only practised an etymological play on assonance +quite after the Alexandrian style,(67) but also introduced, in place +of the simple signs for the double consonants that had hitherto been +usual, the more accurate Greek double writing. Of Naevius and +Plautus, it is true, nothing of the kind is known; the popular +poets in Rome must have treated orthography and etymology with +the indifference which is usual with poets. + +Rhetoric and Philosophy + +The Romans of this epoch still remained strangers to rhetoric and +philosophy. The speech in their case lay too decidedly at the very +heart of public life to be accessible to the handling of the foreign +schoolmaster; the genuine orator Cato poured forth all the vials of +his indignant ridicule over the silly Isocratean fashion of ever +learning, and yet never being able, to speak. The Greek philosophy, +although it acquired a certain influence over the Romans through the +medium of didactic and especially of tragic poetry, was nevertheless +viewed with an apprehension compounded of boorish ignorance and of +instinctive misgiving. Cato bluntly called Socrates a talker and a +revolutionist, who was justly put to death as an offender against the +faith and the laws of his country; and the opinion, which even Romans +addicted to philosophy entertained regarding it, may well be expressed +in the words of Ennius: + +-Philosophari est mihi necesse, at paucis, nam omnino haut placet. +Degustandum ex ea, non in eam ingurgitandum censeo.- + +Nevertheless the poem on Morals and the instructions in Oratory, which +were found among the writings of Cato, may be regarded as the Roman +quintessence or, if the expression be preferred, the Roman -caput +mortuum- of Greek philosophy and rhetoric. The immediate sources +whence Cato drew were, in the case of the poem on Morals, presumably +the Pythagorean writings on morals (along with, as a matter of course, +due commendation of the simple ancestral habits), and, in the case of +the book on Oratory, the speeches in Thucydides and more especially +the orations of Demosthenes, all of which Cato zealously studied. +Of the spirit of these manuals we may form some idea from the golden +oratorical rule, oftener quoted than followed by posterity, "to think +of the matter and leave the words to follow from it."(68) + +Medicine + +Similar manuals of a general elementary character were composed by +Cato on the Art of Healing, the Science of War, Agriculture, and +Jurisprudence--all of which studies were likewise more or less under +Greek influence. Physics and mathematics were not much studied in +Rome; but the applied sciences connected with them received a certain +measure of attention. This was most of all true of medicine. In 535 +the first Greek physician, the Peloponnesian Archagathus, settled in +Rome and there acquired such repute by his surgical operations, that a +residence was assigned to him on the part of the state and he received +the freedom of the city; and thereafter his colleagues flocked in +crowds to Italy. Cato no doubt not only reviled the foreign medical +practitioners with a zeal worthy of a better cause, but attempted, +by means of his medical manual compiled from his own experience and +probably in part also from the medical literature of the Greeks, to +revive the good old fashion under which the father of the family was +at the same time the family physician. The physicians and the public +gave themselves, as was reasonable, but little concern about his +obstinate invectives: at any rate the profession, one of the most +lucrative which existed in Rome, continued a monopoly in the hands +of the foreigners, and for centuries there were none but Greek +physicians in Rome. + +Mathematics + +Hitherto the measurement of time had been treated in Rome with +barbarous indifference, but matters were now at least in some degree +improved. With the erection of the first sundial in the Roman Forum +in 491 the Greek hour (--ora--, -hora-) began to come into use at +Rome: it happened, however, that the Romans erected a sundial which +had been prepared for Catana situated four degrees farther to the +south, and were guided by this for a whole century. Towards the end +of this epoch we find several persons of quality taking an interest +in mathematical studies. Manius Acilius Glabrio (consul in 563) +attempted to check the confusion of the calendar by a law, which +allowed the pontifical college to insert or omit intercalary months at +discretion: if the measure failed in its object and in fact aggravated +the evil, the failure was probably owing more to the unscrupulousness +than to the want of intelligence of the Roman theologians. Marcus +Fulvius Nobilior (consul in 565), a man of Greek culture, endeavoured +at least to make the Roman calendar more generally known. Gaius +Sulpicius Gallus (consul in 588), who not only predicted the eclipse +of the moon in 586 but also calculated the distance of the moon +from the earth, and who appears to have come forward even as an +astronomical writer, was regarded on this account by his +contemporaries as a prodigy of diligence and acuteness. + +Agriculture and the Art of War + +Agriculture and the art of war were, of course, primarily regulated +by the standard of traditional and personal experience, as is very +distinctly apparent in that one of the two treatises of Cato on +Agriculture which has reached our time. But the results of Graeco- +Latin, and even of Phoenician, culture were brought to bear on these +subordinate fields just as on the higher provinces of intellectual +activity, and for that reason the foreign literature relating to +them cannot but have attracted some measure of attention. + +Jurisprudence + +Jurisprudence, on the other hand, was only in a subordinate degree +affected by foreign elements. The activity of the jurists of this +period was still mainly devoted to the answering of parties consulting +them and to the instruction of younger listeners; but this oral +instruction contributed to form a traditional groundwork of rules, +and literary activity was not wholly wanting. A work of greater +importance for jurisprudence than the short sketch of Cato was the +treatise published by Sextus Aelius Paetus, surnamed the "subtle" +(-catus-), who was the first practical jurist of his time, and, in +consequence of his exertions for the public benefit in this respect, +rose to the consulship (556) and to the censorship (560). His +treatise --the "-Tripartita-" as it was called--was a work on the +Twelve Tables, which appended to each sentence of the text an +explanation--chiefly, doubtless, of the antiquated and unintelligible +expressions--and the corresponding formula of action. While this +process of glossing undeniably indicated the influence of Greek +grammatical studies, the portion treating of the formulae of action, +on the contrary, was based on the older collection of Appius(69) +and on the whole system of procedure developed by national usage +and precedent. + +Cato's Encyclopaedia + +The state of science generally at this epoch is very distinctly +exhibited in the collection of those manuals composed by Cato for his +son which, as a sort of encyclopaedia, were designed to set forth in +short maxims what a "fit man" (-vir bonus-) ought to be as orator, +physician, husbandman, warrior, and jurist. A distinction was not yet +drawn between the propaedeutic and the professional study of science; +but so much of science generally as seemed necessary or useful was +required of every true Roman. The work did not include Latin grammar, +which consequently cannot as yet have attained that formal development +which is implied in a properly scientific instruction in language; and +it excluded music and the whole cycle of the mathematical and physical +sciences. Throughout it was the directly practical element in science +which alone was to be handled, and that with as much brevity and +simplicity as possible. The Greek literature was doubtless made use +of, but only to furnish some serviceable maxims of experience culled +from the mass of chaff and rubbish: it was one of Cato's commonplaces, +that "Greek books must be looked into, but not thoroughly studied." +Thus arose those household manuals of necessary information, which, +while rejecting Greek subtlety and obscurity, banished also Greek +acuteness and depth, but through that very peculiarity moulded the +attitude of the Romans towards the Greek sciences for all ages. + +Character and Historical Position of Roman Literature + +Thus poetry and literature made their entrance into Rome along with +the sovereignty of the world, or, to use the language of a poet of +the age of Cicero: + +-Poenico bello secundo Musa pennato gradu +Intulit se bellicosam Romuli in gentem feram.- + +In the districts using the Sabellian and Etruscan dialects also there +must have been at the same period no want of intellectual movement +Tragedies in the Etruscan language are mentioned, and vases with +Oscan inscriptions show that the makers of them were acquainted with +Greek comedy. The question accordingly presents itself, whether, +contemporarily with Naevius and Cato, a Hellenizing literature like +the Roman may not have been in course of formation on the Arnus and +Volturnus. But all information on the point is lost, and history +can in such circumstances only indicate the blank. + +Hellenizing Literature + +The Roman literature is the only one as to which we can still form an +opinion; and, however problematical its absolute worth may appear to +the aesthetic judge, for those who wish to apprehend the history of +Rome it remains of unique value as the mirror of the inner mental +life of Italy in that sixth century--full of the din of arms and +pregnant for the future--during which its distinctively Italian phase +closed, and the land began to enter into the broader career of ancient +civilization. In it too there prevailed that antagonism, which +everywhere during this epoch pervaded the life of the nation and +characterized the age of transition. No one of unprejudiced mind, +and who is not misled by the venerable rust of two thousand years, +can be deceived as to the defectiveness of the Hellenistico-Roman +literature. Roman literature by the side of that of Greece resembles +a German orangery by the side of a grove of Sicilian orange-trees; +both may give us pleasure, but it is impossible even to conceive them +as parallel. This holds true of the literature in the mother-tongue +of the Latins still more decidedly, if possible, than of the Roman +literature in a foreign tongue; to a very great extent the former was +not the work of Romans at all, but of foreigners, of half-Greeks, +Celts, and ere long even Africans, whose knowledge of Latin was only +acquired by study. Among those who in this age came before the public +as poets, none, as we have already said, can be shown to have been +persons of rank; and not only so, but none can be shown to have +been natives of Latium proper. The very name given to the poet was +foreign; even Ennius emphatically calls himself a -poeta-(70). But +not only was this poetry foreign; it was also liable to all those +defects which are found to occur where schoolmasters become authors +and the great multitude forms the public. We have shown how comedy +was artistically debased by a regard to the multitude, and in fact +sank into vulgar coarseness; we have further shown that two of the +most influential Roman authors were schoolmasters in the first +instance and only became poets in the sequel, and that, while the +Greek philology which only sprang up after the decline of the national +literature experimented merely on the dead body, in Latium grammar and +literature had their foundations laid simultaneously and went hand +in hand, almost as in the case of modern missions to the heathen. In +fact, if we view with an unprejudiced eye this Hellenistic literature +of the sixth century--that poetry followed out professionally and +destitute of all productiveness of its own, that uniform imitation +of the very shallowest forms of foreign art, that repertoire of +translations, that changeling of epos--we are tempted to reckon +it simply one of the diseased symptoms of the epoch before us. + +But such a judgment, if not unjust, would yet be just only in a very +partial sense. We must first of all consider that this artificial +literature sprang up in a nation which not only did not possess any +national poetic art, but could never attain any such art. In +antiquity, which knew nothing of the modern poetry of individual life, +creative poetical activity fell mainly within the mysterious period +when a nation was experiencing the fears and pleasures of growth: +without prejudice to the greatness of the Greek epic and tragic poets +we may assert that their poetry mainly consisted in reproducing the +primitive stories of human gods and divine men. This basis of ancient +poetry was totally wanting in Latium: where the world of gods remained +shapeless and legend remained barren, the golden apples of poetry +could not voluntarily ripen. To this falls to be added a second +and more important consideration. + +The inward mental development and the outward political evolution of +Italy had equally reached a point at which it was no longer possible +to retain the Roman nationality based on the exclusion of all higher +and individual mental culture, and to repel the encroachments of +Hellenism. The propagation of Hellenism in Italy had certainly a +revolutionary and a denationalizing tendency, but it was indispensable +for the necessary intellectual equalization of the nations; and this +primarily forms the historical and even the poetical justification of +the Romano-Hellenistic literature. Not a single new and genuine work +of art issued from its workshop, but it extended the intellectual +horizon of Hellas over Italy. Viewed even in its mere outward aspect, +Greek poetry presumes in the hearer a certain amount of positive +acquired knowledge. That self-contained completeness, which is one +of the most essential peculiarities of the dramas of Shakespeare for +instance, was foreign to ancient poetry; a person unacquainted with +the cycle of Greek legend would fail to discover the background and +often even the ordinary meaning of every rhapsody and every tragedy. +If the Roman public of this period was in some degree familiar, as the +comedies of Plautus show, with the Homeric poems and the legends of +Herakles, and was acquainted with at least the more generally current +of the other myths,(71) this knowledge must have found its way to the +public primarily through the stage alongside of the school, and thus +have formed at least a first step towards the understanding of the +Hellenic poetry. But still deeper was the effect--on which the most +ingenious literary critics of antiquity justly laid emphasis--produced +by the naturalization of the Greek poetic language and the Greek +metres in Latium. If "conquered Greece vanquished her rude conqueror +by art," the victory was primarily accomplished by elaborating from +the unpliant Latin idiom a cultivated and elevated poetical language, +so that instead of the monotonous and hackneyed Saturnian the senarius +flowed and the hexameter rushed, and the mighty tetrameters, the +jubilant anapaests, and the artfully intermingled lyrical rhythms +fell on the Latin ear in the mother-tongue. Poetical language is the +key to the ideal world of poetry, poetic measure the key to poetical +feeling; for the man, to whom the eloquent epithet is dumb and the +living image is dead, and in whom the times of dactyls and iambuses +awaken no inward echo, Homer and Sophocles have composed in vain. +Let it not be said that poetical and rhythmical feeling comes +spontaneously. The ideal feelings are no doubt implanted by nature +in the human breast, but they need favourable sunshine in order to +germinate; and especially in the Latin nation, which was but little +susceptible of poetic impulses, they needed external nurture. Nor let +it be said, that, by virtue of the widely diffused acquaintance with +the Greek language, its literature would have sufficed for the +susceptible Roman public. The mysterious charm which language +exercises over man, and which poetical language and rhythm only +enhance, attaches not to any tongue learned accidentally, but only +to the mother-tongue. From this point of view, we shall form a juster +judgment of the Hellenistic literature, and particularly of the +poetry, of the Romans of this period. If it tended to transplant +the radicalism of Euripides to Rome, to resolve the gods either into +deceased men or into mental conceptions, to place a denationalized +Latium by the side of a denationalized Hellas, and to reduce all +purely and distinctly developed national peculiarities to the +problematic notion of general civilization, every one is at liberty to +find this tendency pleasing or disagreeable, but none can doubt its +historical necessity. From this point of view the very defectiveness +of the Roman poetry, which cannot be denied, may be explained and +so may in some degree be justified. It is no doubt pervaded by a +disproportion between the trivial and often bungled contents and the +comparatively finished form; but the real significance of this poetry +lay precisely in its formal features, especially those of language and +metre. It was not seemly that poetry in Rome was principally in the +hands of schoolmasters and foreigners and was chiefly translation or +imitation; but, if the primary object of poetry was simply to form +a bridge from Latium to Hellas, Livius and Ennius had certainly a +vocation to the poetical pontificate in Rome, and a translated +literature was the simplest means to the end. It was still less +seemly that Roman poetry preferred to lay its hands on the most worn- +out and trivial originals; but in this view it was appropriate. No +one will desire to place the poetry of Euripides on a level with that +of Homer; but, historically viewed, Euripides and Menander were quite +as much the oracles of cosmopolitan Hellenism as the Iliad and +Odyssey were the oracles of national Hellenism, and in so far +the representatives of the new school had good reason for +introducing their audience especially to this cycle of literature. +The instinctive consciousness also of their limited poetical powers +may partly have induced the Roman composers to keep mainly by +Euripides and Menander and to leave Sophocles and even Aristophanes +untouched; for, while poetry is essentially national and difficult to +transplant, intellect and wit, on which the poetry of Euripides as +well as of Menander is based, are in their very nature cosmopolitan. +Moreover the fact always deserves to be honourably acknowledged, that +the Roman poets of the sixth century did not attach themselves to the +Hellenic literature of the day or what is called Alexandrinism, but +sought their models solely in the older classical literature, although +not exactly in its richest or purest fields. On the whole, however +innumerable may be the false accommodations and sins against the rules +of art which we can point out in them, these were just the offences +which were by stringent necessity attendant on the far from scrupulous +efforts of the missionaries of Hellenism; and they are, in a +historical and even aesthetic point of view, outweighed in some +measure by the zeal of faith equally inseparable from propagandism. +We may form a different opinion from Ennius as to the value of his new +gospel; but, if in the case of faith it does not matter so much what, +as how, men believe, we cannot refuse recognition and admiration to +the Roman poets of the sixth century. A fresh and strong sense of the +power of the Hellenic world-literature, a sacred longing to transplant +the marvellous tree to the foreign land, pervaded the whole poetry of +the sixth century, and coincided in a peculiar manner with the +thoroughly elevated spirit of that great age. The later refined +Hellenism looked down on the poetical performances of this period +with some degree of contempt; it should rather perhaps have looked +up to the poets, who with all their imperfection yet stood in a more +intimate relation to Greek poetry, and approached nearer to genuine +poetical art, than their more cultivated successors. In the bold +emulation, in the sounding rhythms, even in the mighty professional +pride of the poets of this age there is, more than in any other epoch +of Roman literature, an imposing grandeur; and even those who are +under no illusion as to the weak points of this poetry may apply to +it the proud language, already quoted, in which Ennius celebrates +its praise: + +-Enni poeta, salve, qui mortalibus +Versus propinas flammeos medullitus.- + +National Opposition + +As the Hellenico-Roman literature of this period was essentially +marked by a dominant tendency, so was also its antithesis, the +contemporary national authorship. While the former aimed at neither +more nor less than the annihilation of Latin nationality by the +creation of a poetry Latin in language but Hellenic in form and +spirit, the best and purest part of the Latin nation was driven to +reject and place under the ban of outlawry the literature of Hellenism +along with Hellenism itself. The Romans in the time of Cato stood +opposed to Greek literature, very much as in the time of the Caesars +they stood opposed to Christianity; freedmen and foreigners formed the +main body of the poetical, as they afterwards formed the main body of +the Christian, community; the nobility of the nation and above all +the government saw in poetry as in Christianity an absolutely hostile +power; Plautus and Ennius were ranked with the rabble by the Roman +aristocracy for reasons nearly the same as those for which the +apostles and bishops were put to death by the Roman government. +In this field too it was Cato, of course, who took the lead as the +vigorous champion of his native country against the foreigners. The +Greek literati and physicians were in his view the most dangerous scum +of the radically corrupt Greek people,(72) and the Roman "ballad- +singers" are treated by him with ineffable contempt.(73) He and +those who shared his sentiments have been often and harshly censured +on this account, and certainly the expressions of his displeasure +are not unfrequently characterized by the bluntness and narrowness +peculiar to him; on a closer consideration, however, we must not only +confess him to have been in individual instances substantially right, +but we must also acknowledge that the national opposition in this +field, more than anywhere else, went beyond the manifestly inadequate +line of mere negative defence. When his younger contemporary, Aulus +Postumius Albinus, who was an object of ridicule to the Hellenes +themselves by his offensive Hellenizing, and who, for example, even +manufactured Greek verses--when this Albinus in the preface to his +historical treatise pleaded in excuse for his defective Greek that he +was by birth a Roman--was not the question quite in place, whether he +had been doomed by authority of law to meddle with matters which he +did not understand? Were the trades of the professional translator of +comedies and of the poet celebrating heroes for bread and protection +more honourable, perhaps, two thousand years ago than they are now? +Had Cato not reason to make it a reproach against Nobilior, that he +took Ennius--who, we may add, glorified in his verses the Roman +potentates without respect of persons, and overloaded Cato himself +with praise--along with him to Ambracia as the celebrator of his +future achievements? Had he not reason to revile the Greeks, with +whom he had become acquainted in Rome and Athens, as an incorrigibly +wretched pack? This opposition to the culture of the age and the +Hellenism of the day was well warranted; but Cato was by no means +chargeable with an opposition to culture and to Hellenism in general. +On the contrary it is the highest merit of the national party, that +they comprehended very clearly the necessity of creating a Latin +literature and of bringing the stimulating influences of Hellenism +to bear on it; only their intention was, that Latin literature should +not be a mere copy taken from the Greek and intruded on the national +feelings of Rome, but should, while fertilized by Greek influences, +be developed in accordance with Italian nationality. With a genial +instinct, which attests not so much the sagacity of individuals as +the elevation of the epoch, they perceived that in the case of Rome, +owing to the total want of earlier poetical productiveness, history +furnished the only subject-matter for the development of an +intellectual life of their own. Rome was, what Greece was not, a +state; and the mighty consciousness of this truth lay at the root both +of the bold attempt which Naevius made to attain by means of history a +Roman epos and a Roman drama, and of the creation of Latin prose by +Cato. It is true that the endeavour to replace the gods and heroes of +legend by the kings and consuls of Rome resembles the attempt of the +giants to storm heaven by means of mountains piled one above another: +without a world of gods there is no ancient epos and no ancient drama, +and poetry knows no substitutes. With greater moderation and good +sense Cato left poetry proper, as a thing irremediably lost, to the +party opposed to him; although his attempt to create a didactic poetry +in national measure after the model of the earlier Roman productions +--the Appian poem on Morals and the poem on Agriculture--remains +significant and deserving of respect, in point if not of success, at +least of intention. Prose afforded him a more favourable field, and +accordingly he applied the whole varied power and energy peculiar to +him to the creation of a prose literature in his native tongue. This +effort was all the more Roman and all the more deserving of respect, +that the public which he primarily addressed was the family circle, +and that in such an effort he stood almost alone in his time. Thus +arose his "Origines," his remarkable state-speeches, his treatises +on special branches of science. They are certainly pervaded by a +national spirit, and turn on national subjects; but they are far +from anti-Hellenic: in fact they originated essentially under Greek +influence, although in a different sense from that in which the +writings of the opposite party so originated. The idea and even the +title of his chief work were borrowed from the Greek "foundation- +histories" (--ktoeis--). The same is true of his oratorical +authorship; he ridiculed Isocrates, but he tried to learn from +Thucydides and Demosthenes. His encyclopaedia is essentially the +result of his study of Greek literature. Of all the undertakings +of that active and patriotic man none was more fruitful of results +and none more useful to his country than this literary activity, +little esteemed in comparison as it probably was by himself. +He found numerous and worthy successors in oratorical and scientific +authorship; and though his original historical treatise, which of its +kind may be compared with the Greek logography, was not followed by +any Herodotus or Thucydides, yet by and through him the principle +was established that literary occupation in connection with the +useful sciences as well as with history was not merely becoming +but honourable in a Roman. + +Architecture + +Let us glance, in conclusion, at the state of the arts of +architecture, sculpture, and painting. So far as concerns the former, +the traces of incipient luxury were less observable in public than in +private buildings. It was not till towards the close of this period, +and especially from the time of the censorship of Cato (570), that +the Romans began in the case of the former to have respect to the +convenience as well as to the bare wants of the public; to line with +stone the basins (-lacus-) supplied from the aqueducts, (570); to +erect colonnades (575, 580); and above all to transfer to Rome the +Attic halls for courts and business--the -basilicae- as they were +called. The first of these buildings, somewhat corresponding to our +modern bazaars--the Porcian or silversmiths' hall--was erected by Cato +in 570 alongside of the senate-house; others were soon associated with +it, till gradually along the sides of the Forum the private shops were +replaced by these splendid columnar halls. Everyday life, however, +was more deeply influenced by the revolution in domestic architecture +which must, at latest, be placed in this period. The hall of the +house (-atrium-), court (-cavum aedium-), garden and garden colonnade +(-peristylium-), the record-chamber (-tablinum-), chapel, kitchen, +and bedrooms were by degrees severally provided for; and, as to the +internal fittings, the column began to be applied both in the court +and in the hall for the support of the open roof and also for the +garden colonnades: throughout these arrangements it is probable +that Greek models were copied or at any rate made use of. Yet the +materials used in building remained simple; "our ancestors," says +Varro, "dwelt in houses of brick, and laid merely a moderate +foundation of stone to keep away damp." + +Plastic Art and Painting + +Of Roman plastic art we scarcely encounter any other trace than, +perhaps, the embossing in wax of the images of ancestors. Painters +and painting are mentioned somewhat more frequently. Manius Valerius +caused the victory which he obtained over the Carthaginians and Hiero +in 491 off Messana(74) to be depicted on the side wall of the senate- +house--the first historical frescoes in Rome, which were followed by +many of similar character, and which were in the domain of the arts of +design what the national epos and the national drama became not much +later in the domain of poetry. We find named as painters, one +Theodotus who, as Naevius scoffingly said, + +-Sedens in cella circumtectus tegetibus +Lares ludentis peni pinxit bubulo;- + +Marcus Pacuvius of Brundisium, who painted in the temple of Hercules +in the Forum Boarium--the same who, when more advanced in life, made +himself a name as an editor of Greek tragedies; and Marcus Plautius +Lyco, a native of Asia Minor, whose beautiful paintings in the temple +of Juno at Ardea procured for him the freedom of that city.(75) But +these very facts clearly indicate, not only that the exercise of art +in Rome was altogether of subordinate importance and more of a manual +occupation than an art, but also that it fell, probably still more +exclusively than poetry, into the hands of Greeks and half Greeks. + +On the other hand there appeared in genteel circles the first +traces of the tastes subsequently displayed by the dilettante and +the collector. They admired the magnificence of the Corinthian and +Athenian temples, and regarded with contempt the old-fashioned terra- +cotta figures on the roofs of those of Rome: even a man like Lucius +Paullus, who shared the feelings of Cato rather than of Scipio, viewed +and judged the Zeus of Phidias with the eye of a connoisseur. The +custom of carrying off the treasures of art from the conquered Greek +cities was first introduced on a large scale by Marcus Marcellus +after the capture of Syracuse (542). The practice met with severe +reprobation from men of the old school of training, and the stern +veteran Quintus Fabius Maximus, for instance, on the capture of +Tarentum (545) gave orders that the statues in the temples should not +be touched, but that the Tarentines should be allowed to retain their +indignant gods. Yet the plundering of temples in this way became of +more and more frequent occurrence. Titus Flamininus in particular +(560) and Marcus Fulvius Nobilior (567), two leading champions of +Roman Hellenism, as well as Lucius Paullus (587), were the means of +filling the public buildings of Rome with the masterpieces of the +Greek chisel. Here too the Romans had a dawning consciousness of the +truth that an interest in art as well as an interest in poetry formed +an essential part of Hellenic culture or, in other words, of modern +civilization; but, while the appropriation of Greek poetry was +impossible without some sort of poetical activity, in the case of art +the mere beholding and procuring of its productions seemed to suffice, +and therefore, while a native literature was formed in an artificial +way in Rome, no attempt even was made to develop a native art. + +Notes for Chapter XIV + +1. A distinct set of Greek expressions, such as -stratioticus-, +-machaera-, -nauclerus-, -trapezita-, -danista-, -drapeta-, - +oenopolium-, -bolus-, -malacus-, -morus-, -graphicus-, -logus-, +- apologus-, -techna-, -schema-, forms quite a special feature in +the language of Plautus. Translations are seldom attached, and that +only in the case of words not embraced in the circle of ideas to which +those which we have cited belong; for instance, in the -Truculentus- +--in a verse, however, that is perhaps a later addition (i. 1, 60) +--we find the explanation: --phronesis-- -est sapientia-. Fragments +of Greek also are common, as in the -Casina-, (iii. 6, 9): + +--Pragmata moi parecheis-- -- -Dabo- --mega kakon--, -ut opinor-. + +Greek puns likewise occur, as in the -Bacchides- (240): + +-opus est chryso Chrysalo-. + +Ennius in the same way takes for granted that the etymological meaning +of Alexandros and Andromache is known to the spectators (Varro, de L. +L. vii. 82). Most characteristic of all are the half-Greek +formations, such as -ferritribax-, -plagipatida-, -pugilice-, +or in the -Miles Gloriosus- (213): + +-Fuge! euscheme hercle astitit sic dulice et comoedice!- + +2. III. VIII. Greece Free + +3. One of these epigrams composed in the name of Flamininus runs thus: + +--Zenos io kraipnaisi gegathotes ipposunaisi +Kouroi, io Spartas Tundaridai basileis, +Aineadas Titos ummin upertatos opase doron +Ellenon teuxas paisin eleutherian.-- + +4. Such, e. g, was Chilo, the slave of Cato the Elder, who earned +money en bis master's behalf as a teacher of children (Plutarch, +Cato Mai. 20). + +5. II. IX. Ballad-Singers + +6. The later rule, by which the freedman necessarily bore the +-praenomen- of his patron, was not yet applied in republican Rome. + +7. II. VII. Capture of Tarentum + +8. III. VI. Battle of Sena + +9. One of the tragedies of Livius presented the line-- + +-Quem ego nefrendem alui Iacteam immulgens opem.- + +The verses of Homer (Odyssey, xii. 16): + +--oud ara Kirken +ex Aideo elthontes elethomen, alla mal oka +elth entunamene ama d amphipoloi pheron aute +siton kai krea polla kai aithopa oinon eruthron.-- + +are thus interpreted: + +-Topper citi ad aedis--venimus Circae +Simul duona coram(?)--portant ad navis, +Milia dlia in isdem--inserinuntur.- + +The most remarkable feature is not so much the barbarism as the +thoughtlessness of the translator, who, instead of sending Circe to +Ulysses, sends Ulysses to Circe. Another still more ridiculous +mistake is the translation of --aidoioisin edoka-- (Odyss. xv. 373) +by -lusi- (Festus, Ep. v. affatim, p. ii, Muller). Such traits are +not in a historical point of view matters of difference; we recognize +in them the stage of intellectual culture which irked these earliest +Roman verse-making schoolmasters, and we at the same time perceive +that, although Andronicus was born in Tarentum, Greek cannot have +been properly his mother-tongue. + +10. Such a building was, no doubt, constructed for the Apollinarian +games in the Flaminian circus in 575 (Liv. xl. 51; Becker, Top. p. +605); but it was probably soon afterwards pulled down again (Tertull. +de Spect. 10). + +11. In 599 there were still no seats in the theatre (Ritschl, Parerg. +i. p. xviii. xx. 214; comp. Ribbeck, Trag. p. 285); but, as not only +the authors of the Plautine prologues, but Plautus himself on +various occasions, make allusions to a sitting audience (Mil. Glor. +82, 83; Aulul. iv. 9, 6; Triicul. ap. fin.; Epid. ap. fin.), most +of the spectators must have brought stools with them or have seated +themselves on the ground. + +12. III. XI. Separation of Orders in the Theatre + +13. Women and children appear to have been at all times admitted to +the Roman theatre (Val. Max. vi. 3, 12; Plutarch., Quaest. Rom. 14; +Cicero, de Har. Resp. 12, 24; Vitruv. v. 3, i; Suetonius, Aug. +44,&c.); but slaves were -de jure- excluded (Cicero, de Har. Resp. 12, +26; Ritschl. Parerg. i. p. xix. 223), and the same must doubtless have +been the case with foreigners, excepting of course the guests of the +community, who took their places among or by the side of the senators +(Varro, v. 155; Justin, xliii. 5. 10; Sueton. Aug. 44). + +14. III. XII. Moneyed Aristocracy + +15. II. IX. Censure of Art + +16. It is not necessary to infer from the prologues of Plautus (Cas. +17; Amph. 65) that there was a distribution of prizes (Ritschl, +Parerg. i. 229); even the passage Trin. 706, may very well belong to +the Greek original, not to the translator; and the total silence of +the -didascaliae- and prologues, as well as of all tradition, on +the point of prize tribunals and prizes is decisive. + +17. The scanty use made of what is called the middle Attic comedy does +not require notice in a historical point of view, since it was nothing +but the Menandrian comedy in a less developed form. There is no trace +of any employment of the older comedy. The Roman tragi-comedy--after +the type of the -Amphitruo- of Plautus--was no doubt styled by the +Roman literary historians -fabula Rhinthonica-; but the newer Attic +comedians also composed such parodies, and it is difficult to see why +the Ionians should have resorted for their translations to Rhinthon +and the older writers rather than to those who were nearer to their +own times. + +18. III. VI In Italy + +19. Bacch. 24; Trin. 609; True. iii. 2, 23. Naevius also, who in +fact was generally less scrupulous, ridicules the Praenestines and +Lanuvini (Com. 21, Ribb.). There are indications more than once of a +certain variance between the Praenestines and Romans (Liv. xxiii. 20, +xlii. i); and the executions in the time of Pyrrhus (ii. 18) as well +as the catastrophe in that of Sulla, were certainly connected with +this variance. --Innocent jokes, such as Capt. 160, 881, of course +passed uncensured. --The compliment paid to Massilia in Cas. v. 4., i, +deserves notice. + +20. Thus the prologue of the -Cistellaria- concludes with the +following words, which may have a place here as the only contemporary +mention of the Hannibalic war in the literature that has come down +to us:-- + +-Haec res sic gesta est. Bene valete, et vincite +Virtute vera, quod fecistis antidhac; +Servate vostros socios, veteres et novos; +Augete auxilia vostris iustis legibus; +Perdite perduelles: parite laudem et lauream +Ut vobis victi Poeni poenas sufferant.- + +The fourth line (-augete auxilia vostris iustis Iegibus-) has +reference to the supplementary payments imposed on the negligent +Latin colonies in 550 (Liv. xxix. 15; see ii. 350). + +21. III. XIII. Increase of Amusements + +22. For this reason we can hardly be too cautious in assuming +allusions on the part of Plautus to the events of the times. Recent +investigation has set aside many instances of mistaken acuteness of +this sort; but might not even the reference to the Bacchanalia, +which is found in Cas. v. 4, 11 (Ritschl, Parerg. 1. 192), have been +expected to incur censure? We might even reverse the case and infer +from the notices of the festival of Bacchus in the -Casina-, and some +other pieces (Amph. 703; Aul. iii. i, 3; Bacch. 53, 371; Mil. Glor. +1016; and especially Men. 836), that these were written at a time +when it was not yet dangerous to speak of the Bacchanalia. + +23. The remarkable passage in the -Tarentilla- can have no +other meaning:-- + +-Quae ego in theatro hic meis probavi plausibus, +Ea non audere quemquam regem rumpere: +Quanto libertatem hanc hic superat servitus!- + +24. The ideas of the modern Hellas on the point of slavery are +illustrated by the passage in Euripides (Ion, 854; comp. Helena, +728):-- + +--En gar ti tois douloisin alochunen pherei, +Tounoma ta d' alla panta ton eleutheron +Oudeis kakion doulos, ostis esthlos e.-- + +25. For instance, in the otherwise very graceful examination which in +the -Stichus- of Plautus the father and his daughters institute into +the qualities of a good wife, the irrelevant question--whether it is +better to marry a virgin or a widow--is inserted, merely in order that +it may be answered by a no less irrelevant and, in the mouth of the +interlocutrix, altogether absurd commonplace against women. But that +is a trifle compared with the following specimen. In Menander's +-Plocium- a husband bewails his troubles to his friend:-- + +--Echo d' epikleron Lamian ouk eireka soi +Tout'; eit' ap' ouchi; kurian tes oikias +Kai ton agron kai panton ant' ekeines +Echoumen, Apollon, os chalepon chalepotaton +Apasi d' argalea 'stin, ouk emoi mono, +Tio polu mallon thugatri.--pragm' amachon legeis' +Eu oida-- + +In the Latin edition of Caecilius, this conversation, so elegant in +its simplicity, is converted into the following uncouth dialogue:-- + +-Sed tua morosane uxor quaeso est?--Ua! rogas?-- +Qui tandem?--Taedet rientionis, quae mihi +Ubi domum adveni ac sedi, extemplo savium +Dat jejuna anima.--Nil peccat de savio: +Ut devomas volt, quod foris polaveris.- + +26. Even when the Romans built stone theatres, these had not the +sounding-apparatus by which the Greek architects supported the efforts +of the actors (Vitruv. v. 5, 8). + +27. III. XIII. Increase of Amusements + +28. The personal notices of Naevius are sadly confused. Seeing that +he fought in the first Punic war, he cannot have been born later than +495. Dramas, probably the first, were exhibited by him in 519 (Gell. +xii. 21. 45). That he had died as early as 550, as is usually +stated, was doubted by Varro (ap. Cic. Brut. 15, 60), and certainly +with reason; if it were true, he must have made his escape during the +Hannibalic war to the soil of the enemy. The sarcastic verses on +Scipio (p. 150) cannot have been written before the battle of +Zama. We may place his life between 490 and 560, so that he was a +contemporary of the two Scipios who fell in 543 (Cic. de Rep. iv. 10), +ten years younger than Andronicus, and perhaps ten years older than +Plautus. His Campanian origin is indicated by Gellius, and his Latin +nationality, if proof of it were needed, by himself in his epitaph. +The hypothesis that he was not a Roman citizen, but possibly a burgess +of Cales or of some other Latin town in Campania, renders the fact +that the Roman police treated him so unscrupulously the more easy +of explanation. At any rate he was not an actor, for he served in +the army. + +29. Compare, e. g., with the verse of Livius the fragment from +Naevius' tragedy of -Lycurgus- :-- + +-Vos, qui regalis cordons custodias +Agitatis, ite actutum in frundiferos locos, +Ingenio arbusta ubi nata sunt, non obsita-; + +Or the famous words, which in the -Hector Profisciscens- Hector +addresses to Priam: + +-Laetus sum laudari me abs te, pater, a laudato viro;- + +and the charming verse from the -Tarentilla-; -- + +-Alii adnutat, alii adnictat; alium amat, alium tenet.- + +30. III. XIV. Political Neutrality + +31. III. XIV. Political Neutrality + +32. This hypothesis appears necessary, because otherwise the ancients +could not have hesitated in the way they did as to the genuineness or +spuriousness of the pieces of Plautus: in the case of no author, +properly so called, of Roman antiquity, do we find anything like a +similar uncertainty as to his literary property. In this respect, +as in so many other external points, there exists the most remarkable +analogy between Plautus and Shakespeare. + +33. III. III. The Celts Conquered by Rome, III. VII. Measures Adopted +to Check the Immigration of the Trans-Alpine Gauls + +34. III. XIV. Roman Barbarism + +35 -Togatus- denotes, in juristic and generally in technical language, +the Italian in contradistinction not merely to the foreigner, but also +to the Roman burgess. Thus especially -formula togatorum- (Corp. +Inscr. Lat., I. n. 200, v. 21, 50) is the list of those Italians bound +to render military serviee, who do not serve in the legions. The +designation also of Cisalpine Gaul as -Gallia togata-, which first +occurs in Hirtius and not long after disappears again from the +ordinary -usus loquendi-, describes this region presumably according +to its legal position, in so far as in the epoch from 665 to 705 the +great majority of its communities possessed Latin rights. Virgil +appears likewise in the -gens togata-, which he mentions along with +the Romans (Aen. i. 282), to have thought of the Latin nation. + +According to this view we shall have to recognize in the -fabula +togata-the comedy which laid its plot in Latium, as the -fabula +palliata- had its plot in Greece; the transference of the scene of +action to a foreign land is common to both, and the comic writer is +wholly forbidden to bring on the stage the city or the burgesses of +Rome. That in reality the -togata- could only have its plot laid in +the towns of Latin rights, is shown by the fact that all the towns +in which, to our knowledge, pieces of Titinius and Afranius had their +scene--Setia, Ferentinum, Velitrae, Brundisium,--demonstrably had +Latin or, at any rate, allied rights down to the Social war. By the +extension of the franchise to all Italy the writers of comedy lost +this Latin localisation for their pieces, for Cisalpine Gaul, which +-de jure- took the place of the Latin communities, lay too far off +for the dramatists of the capital, and so the -fabula togata- seems in +fact to have disappeared. But the -de jure- suppressed communities of +Italy, such as Capua and Atella, stepped into this gap (ii. 366, iii. +148), and so far the -fabula Atellana- was in some measure the +continuation of the -togata-. + +36. Respecting Titinius there is an utter want of literary +information; except that, to judge from a fragment of Varro, he seems +to have been older than Terence (558-595, Ritschl, Parerg. i. 194) for +more indeed, cannot he inferred from that passage, and though, of the +two groups there compared the second (Trabea, Atilius, Caecilius) is +on the whole older than the first (Titinius, Terentius, Atta), it does +not exactly follow that the oldest of the junior group is to be deemed +younger than the youngest of the elder. + +37. II. VII. First Steps toward the Latinizing of Italy + +38. Of the fifteen comedies of Titinius, with which we are acquainted, +six are named after male characters (-baratus-? -coecus-, -fullones-, +-Hortensius-, -Quintus-, -varus-), and nine after female (-Gemina-, +-iurisperita-, -prilia-? -privigna-, -psaltria- or -Ferentinatis-, +-Setina-, -tibicina-, -Veliterna-, -Ulubrana?), two of which, the +-iurisperita- and the -tibicina-, are evidently parodies of men's +occupations. The feminine world preponderates also in the fragments. + +39. III. XIV. Livius Andronicus + +40. III. XIV. Audience + +41. We subjoin, for comparison, the opening lines of the -Medea- in +the original of Euripides and in the version of Ennius:-- + +--Eith' ophel' 'Apgous me diaptasthai skaphos +Kolchon es aian kuaneas sumplegadas +Med' en napaisi Pelion pesein pote +Tmetheisa peuke, med' epetmosai cheras +Andron arioton, oi to pagchruson deros +Pelia metelthon ou gar an despoin +Medeia purgous ges epleus Iolkias +'Eroti thumon ekplageis' 'Iasonos.-- + +-Utinam ne in nemore Pelio securibus +Caesa accidisset abiegna ad terram trabes, +Neve inde navis inchoandae exordium +Coepisset, quae nunc nominatur nomine +Argo, quia Argivi in ea dilecti viri +Vecti petebant pellem inauratam arietis +Colchis, imperio regis Peliae, per dolum. +Nam nunquam era errans mea domo efferret pedem +Medea, animo aegra, amort saevo saucia.- + +The variations of the translation from the original are instructive +--not only its tautologies and periphrases, but also the omission +or explanation of the less familiar mythological names, e. g. the +Symplegades, the Iolcian land, the Argo. But the instances in which +Ennius has really misunderstood the original are rare. + +42. III. XI. Roman Franchise More Difficult of Acquisition + +43. Beyond doubt the ancients were right in recognizing a sketch of +the poet's own character in the passage in the seventh book of the +Annals, where the consul calls to his side the confidant, + +-quocum bene saepe libenter +Mensam sermonesque suos rerumque suarum +Congeriem partit, magnam cum lassus diei +Partem fuisset de summis rebus regundis +Consilio indu foro lato sanctoque senatu: +Cui res audacter magnas parvasque iocumque +Eloqueretur, cuncta simul malaque et bona dictu +Evomeret, si qui vellet, tutoque locaret. +Quocum multa volup ac gaudia clamque palamque, +Ingenium cui nulla malum sententia suadet +Ut faceret facinus lenis aut malus, doctus fidelis +Suavis homo facundus suo contentus beatus +Scitus secunda loquens in tempore commodus verbum +Paucum, multa tenens antiqua sepulta, vetustas +Quem fecit mores veteresque novosque tenentem, +Multorum veterum leges divumque hominumque, +Prudenter qui dicta loquive tacereve possit.- + +In the line before the last we should probably read -multarum leges +divumque hominumque.- + +44. Euripides (Iph. in Aul. 956) defines the soothsayer as a man, + +--Os olig' alethe, polla de pseuon legei +Tuchon, otan de me, tuche oioichetai-- + +This is turned by the Latin translator into the following diatribe +against the casters of horoscopes:-- + +-Astrologorum signa in caelo quaesit, observat, +Iovis +Cum capra aut nepa aut exoritur lumen aliquod beluae. +Quod est ante pedes, nemo spectat: caeli scrutantur plagas.- + +45. III. XII. Irreligious Spirit + +46. In the -Telephus- we find him saying-- + +-Palam mutire plebeio piaculum est.- + +47. III. XIII. Luxury + +48. The following verses, excellent in matter and form, belong to the +adaptation of the -Phoenix- of Euripides:-- + +-Sed virum virtute vera vivere animatum addecet, +Fortiterque innoxium vocare adversum adversarios. +Ea libertas est, qui pectus purum et firmum gestitat: +Aliae res obnoxiosae nocte in obscura latent.- + +In the -Scipio-, which was probably incorporated in the collection of +miscellaneous poems, the graphic lines occurred:-- + +-- -- -mundus caeli vastus constitit silentio, +Et Neptunus saevus undis asperis pausam dedit. +Sol equis iter repressit ungulis volantibus; +Constitere amnes perennes, arbores vento vacant.- + +This last passage affords us a glimpse of the way in which the poet +worked up his original poems. It is simply an expansion of the words +which occur in the tragedy -Hectoris Lustra- (the original of which +was probably by Sophocles) as spoken by a spectator of the combat +between Hephaestus and the Scamander:-- + +-Constitit credo Scamander, arbores vento vacant,- + +and the incident is derived from the Iliad (xxi. 381). + +49. Thus in the Phoenix we find the line:-- + +-- -- -stultust, qui cupita cupiens cupienter cupit,- + +and this is not the most absurd specimen of such recurring assonances. +He also indulged in acrostic verses (Cic. de Div. ii. 54, iii). + +50. III. III. The Celts Conquered by Rome + +51. III. IX. Conflicts and Peace with the Aetolians + +52. Besides Cato, we find the names of two "consulars and poets" +belonging to this period (Sueton. Vita Terent. 4)--Quintus Labeo, +consul in 571, and Marcus Popillius, consul in 581. But it remains +uncertain whether they published their poems. Even in the case of +Cato this may be doubted. + +53. II. IX. Roman Historical Composition + +54. III. XII. Irreligious Spirit + +55. III. XII. Irreligious Spirit + +56. The following fragments will give some idea of its tone. Of Dido +he says: + +-Blande et docte percontat--Aeneas quo pacto +Troiam urbem liquerit.- + +Again of Amulius: + +-Manusque susum ad caelum--sustulit suas rex +Amulius; gratulatur--divis-. + +Part of a speech where the indirect construction is remarkable: + +-Sin illos deserant for--tissumos virorum +Magnum stuprum populo--fieri per gentis-. + +With reference to the landing at Malta in 498: + +-Transit Melitam Romanus--insuiam integram +Urit populatur vastat--rem hostium concinnat.- + +Lastly, as to the peace which terminated the war concerning Sicily: + +-Id quoque paciscunt moenia--sint Lutatium quae +Reconcilient; captivos--plurimos idem +Sicilienses paciscit--obsides ut reddant.- + +57. That this oldest prose work on the history of Rome was composed in +Greek, is established beyond a doubt by Dionys. i. 6, and Cicero, de +Div. i. 21, 43. The Latin Annals quoted under the same name by +Quintilian and later grammarians remain involved in mystery, and the +difficulty is increased by the circumstance, that there is also quoted +under the same name a very detailed exposition of the pontifical law +in the Latin language. But the latter treatise will not be attributed +by any one, who has traced the development of Roman literature in its +connection, to an author of the age of the Hannibalic war; and even +Latin annals from that age appear problematical, although it must +remain a moot question whether there has been a confusion of the +earlier with a later annalist, Quintus Fabius Maximus Servilianus +(consul in 612), or whether there existed an old Latin edition of the +Greek Annals of Fabius as well as of those of Acilius and Albinus, or +whether there were two annalists of the name of Fabius Pictor. + +The historical work likewise written in Greek, ascribed to Lucius +Cincius Alimentus a contemporary of Fabius, seems spurious and a +compilation of the Augustan age. + +58. Cato's whole literary activity belonged to the period of his old +age (Cicero, Cat. ii, 38; Nepos, Cato, 3); the composition even of the +earlier books of the "Origines" falls not before, and yet probably not +long subsequent to, 586 (Plin. H. N. iii. 14, 114). + +59. It is evidently by way of contrast with Fabius that Polybius +(xl. 6, 4) calls attention to the fact, that Albinus, madly fond of +everything Greek, had given himself the trouble of writing history +systematically [--pragmatiken iotorian--]. + +60. II. IX. Roman Early History of Rome + +61. III. XIV. Knowledge of Languages + +62. For instance the history of the siege of Gabii is compiled from +the anecdotes in Herodotus as to Zopyrus and the tyrant Thrasybulus, +and one version of the story of the exposure of Romulus is framed +on the model of the history of the youth of Cyrus as Herodotus +relates it. + +63. III. VII. Measures Adopted to Check the Immigration of the +Transalpine Gauls + +64. II. IX. Roman Early History of Rome + +65. II. IX. Registers of Magistrates + +66. Plautus (Mostell. 126) says of parents, that they teach their +children -litteras-, -iura-, -leges-; and Plutarch (Cato Mai. 20) +testifies to the same effect. + +67. II. IX. Philology + +68. Thus in his Epicharmian poems Jupiter is so called, -quod iuvat-; +and Ceres, -quod gerit fruges.- + +69. -Rem tene, verba sequentur.- + +70. II. IX. Language + +71. See the lines already quoted at III. II. The War on the Coasts of +Sicily and Sardinia. + +The formation of the name -poeta- from the vulgar Greek --poetes-- +instead of --poietes-- --as --epoesen-- was in use among the Attic +potters--is characteristic. We may add that -poeta- technically +denotes only the author of epic or recitative poems, not the composer +for the stage, who at this time was styled -scriba- (III. XIV. Audience; +Festus, s. v., p. 333 M.). + +72. Even subordinate figures from the legends of Troy and of Herakles +niake their appearance, e. g. Talthybius (Stich. 305), Autolycus +(Bacch. 275), Parthaon (Men. 745). Moreover the most general outlines +must have been known in the case of the Theban and the Argonautic +legends, and of the stories of Bellerophon (Bacch. 810), Pentheus +(Merc. 467), Procne and Philomela (Rud. 604). Sappho and Phaon (Mil. +1247). + +73. "As to these Greeks," he says to his son Marcus, "I shall tell at +the proper place, what I came to learn regarding them at Athens; and +shall show that it is useful to look into their writings, but not to +study them thoroughly. They are an utterly corrupt and ungovernable +race--believe me, this is true as an oracle; if that people bring +hither its culture, it will ruin everything, and most especially if +it send hither its physicians. They have conspired to despatch all +barbarians by their physicking, but they get themselves paid for it, +that people may trust them and that they may the more easily bring us +to ruin. They call us also barbarians, and indeed revile us by the +still more vulgar name of Opicans. I interdict thee, therefore, from +all dealings with the practitioners of the healing art." + +Cato in his zeal was not aware that the name of Opicans, which had in +Latin an obnoxious meaning, was in Greek quite unobjectionable, and +that the Greeks had in the most innocent way come to designate the +Italians by that term (I. X. Time of the Greek Immigration). + +74. II. IX. Censure of Art + +75. III. II. War between the Romans and Carthaginians and Syracusans + +76. Plautius belongs to this or to the beginning of the following +period, for the inscription on his pictures (Plin. H. N. xxxv. 10, +115), being hexametrical, cannot well be older than Ennius, and the +bestowal of the citizenship of Ardea must have taken place before the +Social War, through which Ardea lost its independence. + + + + +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 III*** + + +******* This file should be named 10703.txt or 10703.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/1/0/7/0/10703 + + +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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