History of Rome

Front matter

It has survived long enough for the copyright to expire and the book to enter the public domain. A public domain book is one that was never subject to copyright or whose legal copyright term has expired. Whether a book is in the public domain may vary country to country. Public domain books are our gateways to the past, representing a wealth of history, culture and knowledge that's often difficult to discover.

Marks, notations and other marginalia present in the original volume will appear in this file - a reminder of this book's long journey from the publisher to a library and finally to you.

Google is proud to partner with libraries to digitize public domain materials and make them widely accessible. Public domain books belong to the public and we are merely their custodians. Nevertheless, this work is expensive, so in order to keep providing this resource, we have taken steps to prevent abuse by commercial parties, including placing technical restrictions on automated querying.

Chap. II. — How Rome Became Mistress Of

ITALY, . ... . -19 CHAP. III. — ROME'S WARS WITH CARTHAGE, . 3$ CHAP. IV. — HOW ROME CONQUERED THE EAST, . 47 CHAP. V. — HOW THE ROMANS BEHAVED AS CON- QUERORS, 51

CHAP. VI. — ^ATTEMPTS AT REFORM BY THE GRACCHI, 57 CHAP. VII. — ^TIME OF MISGOVERNMENT AT ROME, . 60 CHAP. VIII. — ^THE CIVIL WARS OF ROME, . • 66

CHAP. IX. — ^THE BEGINNINGS OF THE EMPIRE, . 83 CHAP. X. — ^THE FLAVIAN EMPERORS, . . .96

CHAP. XL — EMPERORS ELECTED BY THE SOLDIERS, I03 CHAP. XIL^-CHANGES MADE BY DIOCLETIAN AND

CONSTANTINE, . . . . I09

CHAP. XIII. — SETTLEMENTS OF THE BARBARIANS IN

•fHE EMPIRE, . . . .1X8

TABLE SHOWING THE DESCENT OF THE JULIAN

EMPERORS, . . • .94 CHRONOLOGICAL TABLE, 12$

LIST OF MAPS.

1. The Roman Empire. Frontispiece,

2. Italy at the Time of Rome's founding, • • • • 7

3. The Races of Italy, • . 20

4. The Peoples around Rome, 21

5. Rome and the Samnites, 27

6. Rome and South Italy « . 31

7. The Roman Roads in Italy, .••••• 34

8. Rome and Carthage, 36

9. Hannibal's March to Italy, . • 4^

10. Italy and the East, 48

11. The enemies of the Roman Empire, 107

HISTORY PRIMERS.

ROME.

Introduction

1. How Roman History explains Modern Europe. — If we look at the nations of Modem Europe we at once notice that they differ very mucli from one another in language, laws, manners and customs. Yet we see also, in spite of this difference, that they have a great likeness to one another, which parts all of them from the nations of the other quarters of the world. Now the great thing which Roman History tells us is, how these nations of Europe grew up, and how they came to be so different from one another, and yet how, though one nation differs from another, the people of Europe seem to be all almost the same, if we compare them with the people of Asia or Africa.

The great reason which makes the people of Europe have so much in common is, that they all owe a great deal to the laws and customs and ideas of the Romans irho conquered and governed them; and the reason why they differ from one another is that some owe more than others to the Romans; some have kept more of the ideas of the Romans; others have kept more of the ideas of the Germans, who broke up the government of the Romans, and founded new nations in Europe. So you see that the history of Rome will explain to you how the nations of Europe grew up as they are at present

2. How Roman History teaches about old times. — But besides seeing how the nations of Europe grew up under the influence of Rome, you will also

6 ROMAN HISTORY. [int.

see how the power of Rome was gained by conquering all the nations of old times. You will see how the people of Rome first of all overcame all the other people of Italy, and then went on to overcome all the nations that lived round the Mediterranean Sea. Also, besides conquering these nations, they governed them, and gave them their own laws, and made them all like themselves in some degree or another. Now, these nations who lived round the Mediterranean Sea were the only peoples who lived in cities, and made themselves laws, and wrote books, and were what we in these times call civilised.

So you see Roman history teaches you something about all the great nations, both of old times and of our own days. Rome was a great link in the history of the world, — ^for all the nations of old times were conquered by Rome, and so came under Rome's power, while all the European nations of our own days were formed out of the overthrow of Rome, and learned a great deal from her.

3. Important points in Roman History. — These, then, are the important points for you to notice in Roman history :

(i). How did Rome become fit to be such a great conaueror ?

^2). How did she make her conquests?

(3 K How did she manage to keep her conquests ?

(4). How did she govern the world when she was its mistress ?

(5). Why did she fall?

Chapter I. How Rome Became A City

1. Italy in early times. — Rome, as you know, is the capitd of Italy : and Italy is the middle one of the tliree peninsulas which make the south of Europe, and which are washed by the Mediterranean Sea.

CHAP. I.] Hour ROME BECAME A CITY. 7

Italy at present is bounded on the north by the Alps. But in the year 753 before the birth of Christ, when Rome was founded, the great plain between the Alps and the Apennines, which we now call Lombardy, belonged to the Gauls, and was called Gallia. Also, on the west coast between the Apennines and the river Tiber, lived the Etruscans, who were the greatest people in the peninsula at that time. The land which tliey lived in is still called Tuscany after them.

a. Italy at the time of Rome's founding.

South of the Gauls and Etruscans came the Italians, amongst whom the Latins were the principal race. The latins lived in the plain south of the Tiber, and were an agricultural people. They lived in villages, and each village managed its own affairs, but they all gathered together sometimes for common objects, and this gathering together was called a League,

2. Founding of Rome. — It would seem that about the year 753 B.C. these Latins founded a colony on the Tiber, to guard the river against the Etruscans, of whom they were afraid. This colony was called Rome, and as it was founded upon the great river of that part of Italy, it soon became of importance for trade, as well as for keeping off the Etruscans.

3. Roman stories about Rome's founding* — Now this is all we can really know about the founding of Rome, but the Romans themselves tell this story about it. A wicked king called Amulius ruled in Alba Longa. He had robbed his elder brother of the kingdom, and put his sons to death, but a daughter of his had twin sons, whose father was the god Mars. Amulius ordered them to be thrown into the river Tiber; but they floated down the stream till they stuck near the place where Rome was afterwards built. They were fed first by a shewolf, and afterwards were found and brought up by a shepherd. When they had grown up they were made known to their grandfather, whom they restored to his throne after slaying the wicked Amulius. Then the youths, whose names were Romulus and Remus, determined to build a city on the Tiber. They quarrelled whose city it should be, and Remus was killed in the quarrel. So Romulus built the city, and called it Rome after his own name, and was its first king, and made his city great in war. He was taken up to heaven by his father Mars, and was worshipped by the Romans as a god.

After his disappearance the people elected as their king Numa Pompilius, who was a peaceful king, and gave them laws, and taught them religion. Then came a warlike king, Tullus Hostilius, who conquered and took Alba, not by a regular battle, but by a fight between three brothers on each side. The fourth king, Ancus Martins, still further increased Rome's power over the Latins.

Now these are no doubt mere stories, but this b quite certain, that all this time Rome was rising

M HOW ROME BECAME A CI FY. 9

into importance, and though she was the youngest of the Latin settlements, she early became the head of the League (or gathering together) of Latin villages. So you see Rome was a conquerer from the very first

4. The City of Rome. — Rome was built on tlie banks of the river Tiber, about fifteen miles from its mouth. It was at first only a few houses upon a little hill near the river, which had a wall built roimd it. But as the number of people who came there grew greater, other hills close to were added to the city, and the wall was carried round them also. Not more than 150 years after Rome's founding there were seven hills within the wall, which was nearly five miles round. So Rome was sometimes called "the city of the seven hills."

5. The People of Rome. — ^The city grew in numbers, because men came and lived within the wall to be safe from their enemies. Some of the men were merchants, and went up and down the Tiber in their boats. But the greater part of them were farmers, who tilled the land which lay round about the city. So, by Rome you must always understand the city and the land around it As fast as the city grew in number of citizens, the land it possessed grew also larger and larger. You see, then, that thes^ citizens who lived together in Rome had to think how they could best keep off their enemies, and save their lands from being plundered. The citizens living together for their common good form what is called a Siate^ and the means taken to bring about that common good is called the government of the state.

6. How Rome was governed in early times. —At first Rome's government was very simple. The state consisted of a number of families, and each family was ruled by its head. For state matters the heads of the families, who were called patres or fathers^ met together in the Senate or meeting of the old men. The king was the president over the lo ROMAN HISTORY. [chap.

Senate, and was the father of the state, which was looked upon as a large family.

But as Rome became more important, many new people came there, who had no place in the old families, and so had no share in the government They were looked down upon by the patres^ and were called the plehes^ or crowd. Thus Rome became an aristocracy, or government of nobles, and the common people (plebeians), having no share in the government, were badly treated by the patres (patricians). So Rome was at war within herself, and you must see how this war went on. It stopped Rome's conquests for a long while: she could not conquer others when she was torn in pieces herself.

7. How the Kingship came to an end. — So the next three kings after Ancus Martins had difficulties at home. First, Tarquinius Priscus, who also made war against the latins, tried to make a few changes in the state, but was prevented by the nobles. After him came Servius Tullius, who succeeded in helping the plebeians by making a new division of the people, according to their wealth. Then he ordered that every man should bear arms according to his possessions, and that men with the same arms should drill and serve together in centuries, that is, bands of TOO iften. As the army was of course very important m the state, many things about the government were settled in meetings of the centuries. Thus the rich men amongst the plebeians were now better off. But there was great discontent felt by the nobles, and the good king Servius was murdered by his son-in-law, Lucius Tarquinius, who succeeded him on the throne. The Romans have called him Superbus, or The Proud, for he ruled them harshly, according to his will. He took advantage of their quarrels to make himself a tyrant, that is, one who governs by his own will, and not according to the laws of the state. He made himself the master, instead of the father, of the state. He was a great warrior, and

I. J HOW ROME BECAME A CITY. \\

made Rome still more powerful in Latium. But at last the Romans could endure him no more, so they rose against him and drove him out, with his whole family, and resolved that they would have no more kings.

This driving out of the kings took place in the year before Christ 509, after Rome had been governed by kings 244 years : but we cannot be sure about these kings, or about the times when they lived, as there were no Roman writers till long after this time, and we cannot be certain about stories written three or four hundred years after the events they tell about.

8. Rome as a Republic. — When the Romans determined to have no kings, they seem first to have given the position of king to one man, who held it for a year only, and was called Dictator, Then, thinking this power was still too much for one man, they made two yearly officers, who were at first called Prators (or leaders)^ and afterwards Consuls (or deiiberators). They still, however, kept the office of Dictator in reserve, and when the state was in great danger a Dictator was specially appointed, who for six months might be sole magistrate and exercise the old kingly power over the state. The ordinary magistrates, however, were the Consuls, who presided over the Senate, and also led the army to battle. Of course under yearly magistrates the Senate had more power than it had had under the kings : also, the assembly of the people, who were called together in their centuries according to their military array, became more important, and their consent was necessary in making laws.

9. Early difficulties of the Republic. — ^All this took some time to settle, and Rome was not so powerful at first, as a Republic, as she had been under her kings. She was attacked by the other Latin cities, and by the Etruscans, and suffered great distress. Her lands were ravaged, and the Etruscans besieged, and seem even to have taken Rome. When at length they isrere driven back, the plebeians were in gieat misery. They were most of them farmers, and their farms had been entirely destroyed in the war. They themselves also had to serve in the army, without receiving any pay, and they were called upon also to pay taxes when the state was in difficulties. We cannot, then, wondei that the plebeians ran into debt and borrowed money from the patricians, who seem to have wished to use their distress as a means of strengthening their own power in the state. The old law of debt was very strict, and gave up the debtor entirely to his creditor, who might imprison him, or sell him to slavery. The houses, therefore, of the patricians had prisons attached to them, which were full of plebeian debtors.

10. How the Plebeians got their own Magis« trates. — ^At last, in 494, only sixteen years after the driving out of the kings, the plebeians thought that this state of things could not be borne any longer. So they marched out of Rome in a body, and took up a position on a hill a few miles away from the city, and declared that they would found there a new plebeian city, and leave the patricians to live in Rome by themselves. You may imagine the patricians did not like being left in this way, so they sent to the plebeians a wise man, Menenius Agrippa, to persuade them to come back. He told them a fable : " Once upon a time the other members of the body conspired against the belly ; they declared that they had all the work to do, while the belly lay quietly in the middle of the body and enjoyed without any labour everything they brought it So they all struck work, and agreed to starve the belly into subjection. But while they starved the belly, the whole body began to waste away, and all the members found that they were becoming weaker themselves. So you plebeians will find that in trying to starve out the patricians you will ruin yourselves." The plebeians thought there was much trutli in this, and they agreed to go back on condition that they might have officers of their own to protect them.

1.] HOW ROME BECAMh A CITY. 13

These officers were called TribuneSy and their duty was to protect all plebeians from wrong. They could deliver any mall from the patrician magistrates ; their houses were to be places of refuge for any one who was pursued; their doors were to stand open day and night Moreover, any one who laid hands upon them, or tried to hurt them, was to be outlawed: their persons were to be sacred as those of heralds.

Thus you see a plebeian state, with the tribunes for its officers, had been founded by the side of the patrician state with its consuls. The quarrels of the two classes had gone so far that Rome was no longer one state, but two. ^

11. Struggles of the Patricians and Plebeians. — ^You may imagine that this attempt to get over difficulties by making two states instead of one, within the walls of Rome, did not make Rome strong, or likely to go on with her career as a conqueror. But you will remember that we said the first question to be answered about Rome was, How did she be- ' come fit to be such a great conqueror?

One great reason was, that the first 200 years of the Roman Republic (500-300) were spent in a continued struggle between the patricians and plebeians. Both parties, to begin with, were very much attached to Rome and to its institutions. Each party regarded the other as fellow-citizens, though they wished to oppose them on some particular point. The struggle was carried on with great moderation. There was very seldom blood shed, and never civil war. They had enemies outside Rome whom they had to fight, and often they would lay aside their own quarrels when they were at the fiercest, and go out together to battle.

12. What the Romans learned from their struggles. — Now this was a good training for a great people. It taught them to be severe, yet just, at the same time. It gave every man a high sense of his duty to his fellow-men, that is, to the state ; it

£ 4 ROMAN HIS TOR Y. [CHA K

made him always do his best, for he always had something before him to do. The plebeians respected the patricians, and knew that they cpuld only overcome them by working hard for the common good, and showing that they were worthy of the rights they asked for. The patricians held out for their own privileges as long as they could, but learned to know when they were beaten; when they could hold out no longer, they gave way, and tried to make the best of it In this way the Roman people learned obedience, self-control, and perseverance. But they learned not only to be wise in their own separate lives, but also to be wise in their general life together, as fellow-citizens and members of the same state. This " political wisdom," as it is called, helped them greatly afterwards. For though they held yery fast by their old institutions, they learned that changes must sometimes be made, and they learned how to make them slowly and gradually, without disturbing more than could be helped the ordinary course of things. It was because they had learned how to give way when they had to give way, and how to make changes wisely and slowly, that the Romans became fit to govern the world when they had conquered it.

13. What the Patricians and Plebeians

strove about. — Now we must speak of a few of

the things which the patricians and plebeians strove

^bout. Their strife lasted for nearly two hundred years,

but you may divide this into two periods.

I. 494-450 B.C. Fifty years, during which the plebeians were tiying to escape from their misery.

II. 450-300 B.C. A hundred and fifty years, in which the plebeians were trying to get as great a share in the government as the patricians.

ijL Agrarian Law of Spurius Cassius. — ^The firs^^reat attempt to make the plebeians less miserable was the Agrarian Law of Spurius Cassius, b.c. 486. Spurius Cassius was himself a patrician, and had been consul, and when consul he had done good

1.] irOfV HOME BECAME A CITY. 15

service to the state by making peace with the Latins, who were henceforth to be the equal allies of Rome. He saw the sad condition of the plebeians, and the debts which they were obliged to run into, and which brought them to ruin and misery. He proposed, accordingly, that pieces of the public land should be divided amongst the poor plebeians. The public land was the land which had been won in war, and which belonged to the state. Some of this land had been divided to citizens when it was conquered, and some had been given to the temples, to provide for the service of the gods whom the Romans worshipped. What was left belonged to the state; but the state meant as yet the patricians. So the patricians fed their cattle on this public land, and used it as their own. What Spurius Cassius proposed was, that some of this land should be divided amongst the poor plebeians, and that the patricians who fed their cattle on the remainder should pay a rent to the state for doing so. It seems that this law was passed, but was never carried into effect, for the patricians put difficulties in the way. They hated Spurius Cassius for his law, and accused him of conspiring to make himself popular that so he might become a king, and on this charge they put him to death (b.c. 485). But this Agrarian Law was never forgotten, and you must remember what it was, for we shall hear of it again,

15. How the Tribunes became powerful. — The misery after Cassius' death went on increasing, and the tribunes of the plebs became more important in consequence. The plebeians looked upon the tribunes as their own magistrates, and the tribunes used to call the plebeians together to discuss questions that arose. The plebeians came and voted according to their tribes, when the tribunes called them together, though at first they could only pass resolutions like our public meetings, and had no means of putting them into effect The patricians did not like these

2»

1 6 ROMAN HISTOR Y. [cha»,

meetings, and tried to disturb them. But the plebeians only held to them the faster, so that they became more important. And now there were really two states in Rome, the consuls took counsel with the Senate, and then made laws, with the consent of the people, in the Assembly of the Centuries. But the tribunes took counsel with the plebeians in the Assembly of the Tribes, and though they could not make laws, still they were very powerful. For, if the consuls made a law which the plebeians did not like, the tribunes could protect any one who broke the law from being punished for breaking it : so the law could not be carried into effect.

i6. The Decemviri. — ^You will see this state of things could not last long. In 461 the plebeians asked that the consuls and tribunes also should cease, and that ten new magistrates should be elected from the patricians and plebeians alike. These magistrates were to find out the laws, and write them up in the foruftty or market place^ where the people gathered together, so that every one should know tiiem, and no man should be unjustly oppressed. Till this time the patricians had kept the laws to themselves, and so had been able to judge the plebeians as they chose. For ten years there were bitter struggles about this proposal, till, in 45 1,. ten new magistrates, called from their number Decemviri, or the Ten Men, were appointed. They published the laws, to the great joy of the plebeians. But one among the Decemvin, Appius Claudius, a patrician, was a proud and haughty man, who would always have his own way. He wished to have for his servant the daughter of a plebeian called Virginius; so he got a man to declare that Virginia, as the girl was called, was not really the daughter of Virginius, but of a slave of his. The case was brought before Appius Claudius to try, and Appius of course decided that Virginia was a slave. Then her father, who was a soldier, and had hurried to Rome from the camp, led his daughter to one side

M HOW ROME BECAME A CITY. 17

to say "Farewell" to her; but he seized a butcher's knife from the market place, and plunged it into his daughter's heart, saying, " It is the only way to keep you free." Then the people in horror rose against Appius, and drove out the Decemviri, and elected consuls and tribunes again.

Still the plebeians had now got the laws, and so grew more powerful, and after the Decemvirate (b.c 450) they were not so wretched as they had been before. *V*

17. How the Censors were made. — From 450 to 300, when this struggle between the two orders came quite to an end, the plebeians were trying to get some of themselves made judges and rulers of the people, as the patricians were. In 450 the plebeians could not hold any office in the state, but by 300 they could hold any to which they were elected, and they had also secured some offices for themselves which might not be held by patricians. The chief office which the plebeians wished to be admitted to was the consulship. The patricians fought desperately to prevent this, and when they could hold out no longer, they weakened the power of the consuls by making new officers, who were to be patricians only. First, they made Censors, in 443, who were to hold office for five years, and who were to take a census or numbering of the people, and were to issue lists on which the rank of dl the citizens was to depend. These censors could enquire into men's conduct and degrade them from their rank if they pleased, and so had great power. You will remember, too, that the numbering of the people is called a Census amongst us at present, and was always a custom of the Roman state ; but with the Romans it meant an arrangement of the people in their ranks, as well as merely counting them. It shows how the Romans liked order in everythmg they did.

18. Power of the Assembly of the Tribes. — About this time Rome was busy with wars, as you l8 ROMAN HISTOR Y. [chaf.

will see presently, and the plebeians, by being good soldiers abroad, went on gaining power at home. One way in which this power showed itself was in the importance gained by their meetings in the^Assembly of the Tribes. The plebeians demanded that the resolutions they passed there should be the laws of the state, as much as the laws made by the. consuls and the Assembly of the Centuries. The patrickns had beea obliged to give way to this, but yftxt avtys refusing to obey the laws made by this plebeian assembly. So the quarrel still went on.

19. The laws of Licinius and Sextius. — At last, in 376, two of the tribunes, called Caius Licinius Stolo and Lucius Sextius, determined to win the con- . sulship for the plebeians. They brought forward three iaws together, and said they must be all carried at once. These three laws had something for the good both of the rich and poor plebeians ; for many of the plebeians were now rich men, though they were still looked down upon by the old houses of the patricians. So all the plebeians, rich and poor alike, were now made to work together. The laws were these :

(i). That the poor should be helped to pay their debts.

(2). That when the poor were out of debt they should have pieces of the public land given them, and the rich should only be allowed to till or feed cattle on a certain part of it.

(3). That one of the consuls must always.be a plebeian.

These great laws are called the Licinian laws, from the name of their proposer. The patricians fought hard agaiflst them for ten years. But Licinius and Sextius were elected ^bunes year after year, and used their power as tribunes to the utmost They prevented the election of any consuls or magistrates for five years, by saying that as tribunes they would protect every one who disobeyed these magistrates: 80 it was of no use to elect them. The patricians at