Part 2 (1/2)
NEW RIVALS OF THE GREEKS.
THE GREEK COLONIES AND THE CARTHAGINIANS. The Greek colonies were sometimes in danger of being attacked by the native tribes whose lands they had seized or by the wilder tribes that dwelt further from the coast. In Sicily their most dangerous neighbors were the Carthaginians at the western end of the island. The chief town of these people was Carthage, situated opposite Sicily in northern Africa in what is now Tunis. The Carthaginians were emigrants from Tyre and other cities of Phoenicia on the eastern sh.o.r.e of the Mediterranean, and because of their many s.h.i.+ps held control of a large part of the western Mediterranean. They had colonies even in Spain, where in very early times Phoenician traders had gone to obtain gold and silver.
THE GREEKS AND THE ROMANS. In Italy the most dangerous neighbors of the Greek colonists were the Romans, who lived half-way up the western side of the peninsula along the river Tiber. The history of the Romans, like the history of the Greeks, is full of interesting and wonderful tales. Some of them are legends, such as every people likes to tell about its early history. They relate how the city was founded by two brothers, Romulus and Remus; how Horatius defended the bridge across the Tiber against the hosts of the exiled Tarquin king; how the farmer Cincinnatus, having been made leader or dictator, in sixteen days drove off the neighboring tribes which were attacking the Romans and then went back to his plough.
THE GAULS BURN ROME, 390 B.C. The Romans told stories of their defeats as well as of their victories. One of these tells how hosts of Gauls, a people of the same race as the forefathers of the French, streamed southward from the valley of the Po. The Romans were alarmed by such tall men, with fierce eyes, and fair, flowing hair, whose swords crashed through the frail Roman helmets. They sent a large army to stop the invaders, but in the battle, which was fought only twelve miles from Rome, this army was destroyed.
The few defenders that were left withdrew to the Capitoline, the steepest of the hills over which the city had spread. Some of the older senators and several priests scorned to seek a refuge from the fury of the barbarians, and took their seats quietly in ivory chairs in the market place or Forum at the foot of the Capitoline hill. The Gauls at first gazed in wonder at the strange sight of the motionless figures. When one of them attempted to stroke the white beard of a senator, the senator struck him with his staff; then the Gauls fell upon senators and priests and slew them.
[Ill.u.s.tration: CLIFF OF THE CAPITOLINE HILL]
The sides of the Capitoline hill were so steep that for a long time the Gauls were baffled in their attempts to seize it. At last they discovered a path, and one dark night were on the point of scaling the height when some geese, sacred to the G.o.ddess Juno, cackled and flapped their wings until the garrison was aroused and the Gauls hurled headlong down the precipice. The garrison was saved, but the city was burned. This happened in Rome just one hundred years after the battle of Marathon in Greece.
THE CAUDINE FORKS. Another adventure did not have so happy an ending. The Romans were at war with the Samnites, a tribe living on the slopes of the Apennines, who were continually attacking the Greek cities on the coast. The war was caused by the attempt of the Romans to protect one of the Greek cities. The Roman generals, with a large army, in making their way into the Samnite country attempted to march through a narrow gorge which broadened out into a plain and then was closed again at the farther end by another gorge. When they reached this second gorge they found the road blocked by fallen trees and heaps of stones. They also saw Samnites on the heights above them. In alarm they hastened to retrace their steps, only to find the other entrance closed in the same way. After vain attempts to force a pa.s.sage or to scale the surrounding heights they were obliged to surrender.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE REGION OF THE CAUDINE FORKS]
[Ill.u.s.tration: ITALY BEFORE THE GROWTH OF ROMAN POWER]
The Samnites compelled the Roman army, both generals and soldiers, each clad in a single garment, to pa.s.s ”under the yoke” made of two spears set upright with one laid across, while they stood by and jeered. If any Roman looked angry or sullen at his disgrace, they struck or even killed him. This was called the disaster of the Caudine Forks, from the pa.s.s where the Romans were caught.
THE ROMANS AND THE GREEK CITIES. Not many years after this the Romans quarreled with the Greek cities of southern Italy. The Greeks of Tarentum, situated where Taranto is now, called to their aid Pyrrhus, who ruled a part of Alexander's old kingdom. Pyrrhus was a skilful general, and he had with him, besides his foot-soldiers and hors.e.m.e.n, many trained elephants. A charge of these elephants was too much for the Romans, who were already hard pressed by the long spears of the soldiers of Pyrrhus. But the Romans were ready for another battle, and in this they fought so stubbornly and killed so many of the Greek soldiers that Pyrrhus cried out, ”Another victory like this and we are ruined.” In a third battle, which took place 275 B.C., he was defeated, and returned to Greece, leaving the Romans masters of the Greek cities in Italy.
THE ROMANS CONQUERORS OF ITALY. By this time there were few tribes south of the river Po which did not own the Romans as their masters. All Italy was united under their rule. This was the first step in the conquest of the world that lay about the Mediterranean Sea and in the extension of that ancient world to the sh.o.r.es of the Atlantic and to England. Before we read the story of the other conquests we must inquire who the Roman people were and how they lived.
HOW THE ROMANS LIVED. In early times most of the Romans were farmers or cattle raisers. A man's wealth was reckoned according to the number of cattle he owned. Their manner of living was simple and frugal. Like the Greek, the Roman had his games. He enjoyed chariot-races, but used slaves or freedmen as drivers. He also went to the theater, although he thought it unworthy of a Roman to be an actor. Such an occupation was for foreigners or slaves.
[Ill.u.s.tration: A ROMAN WEARING A TOGA]
ROMAN BOYS AT SCHOOL. The boys at school did not learn poems, as did the Greek boys, but studied the first set of laws made by the Romans, called the Twelve Tables. This they read, copied, and learned by heart. Their interest in laws was the first sign that they were to become the world's greatest lawmakers.
ROMAN WOMEN. In their respect for women the Romans were superior to the Greeks. The Roman mother did not remain in the women's apartments of the house, as she was expected to do at Athens, but was her husband's companion, received his guests, directed her household, and went in and out as she chose.
PATRICIANS AND PLEBEIANS. The men of the families which first ruled Rome were called patricians or n.o.bles, while the rest were plebeians or common people. There were also many slaves, but they had no rights. At first only the patricians knew exactly what the laws were, because the laws were not written in a book. When disputes arose between patricians and plebeians about property, the plebeians believed the patricians changed the laws in order to gain an advantage over their poorer neighbors.
The story is told that twice the plebeians withdrew from the city and refused to return until their wrongs were removed. Then they compelled the n.o.bles to draw up the laws in a roll called the Twelve Tables. At this time messengers were sent to Athens to examine the laws of the Greeks. The richer plebeians were also gradually admitted to all the offices of the Roman republic, and so became n.o.bles themselves.
GOVERNMENT AT ROME. The Romans had once been ruled by kings, but now their chief officers were consuls. Two consuls were chosen each year because the Romans feared that a single consul might make himself a king, or, at least, gain too much power. The real rulers of Rome, however, were the senators, the men who had held the prominent offices. There were a.s.semblies of the people, but these generally did what the senators or other officers told them to do.
Among the interesting officers of Rome was the censor, who drew up a list or census of the citizens and of their property. Another officer was the tribune, chosen in the beginning by the plebeians to protect them against the patricians. The tribune was not at first a member of the senate, but he was given a seat outside the door, and if a law was proposed that would injure the plebeians, he cried out, ”Veto,” which means ”I forbid,” and the law had to be dropped. This is the origin of our word ”veto.”
HOW THE ROMANS TREATED THE ITALIANS. The Romans were wise in their dealings with the cities or tribes which they conquered. They not only sent out colonies of their fellow-citizens to occupy a part of the lands they had seized, but they also gave the conquered peoples a share in their government, and in some cases allowed them to act as citizens of Rome. These new Roman citizens helped the older Romans in their wars with other tribes. In this way Roman towns gradually spread over Italy.
[Ill.u.s.tration: A ROMAN MILITARY STANDARD]
QUESTIONS.
1. What was the name of the dangerous neighbors of the Greeks in Sicily? Find Carthage on the map. Where did the Carthaginians come from originally? Find Phoenicia on the map.
2. Who were the dangerous neighbors of the Greeks in Italy? Find the Tiber and Rome on the map.
3. Tell the story of the capture of Rome by the Gauls. How long was this after the battle of Marathon? How long after the death of Socrates? How long before Alexander became king of Macedon?
4. Find the land of the Samnites on the map. Tell the story of the Caudine Forks.
5. What Greek king did the people of Tarentum call to Italy to help them against the Romans? What did he say after his second battle with the Romans?
6. After the defeat of Pyrrhus how much of Italy owned the Romans as masters? How did the Romans treat the Italians?
7. Explain how the early Roman ways of living differed from the ways of the Greeks.
8. How differently did the Romans and the Greeks govern themselves?
EXERCISES.
1. Read the story of Horatius in Macaulay's ”Lays of Ancient Rome.”
2. Collect pictures of Rome and Italy.
3. Is there a modern city of Carthage? What country rules over Tunis? Are there now any Phoenicians?
4. Read the description of Tyre in the Bible, Ezekiel xxvii. 3-25, and tell what is said there about the riches of the Tyrians. Find out who destroyed Tyre.
[Ill.u.s.tration: AN EARLY ROMAN COIN]
CHAPTER VI.
THE MEDITERRANEAN A ROMAN LAKE.
ROME IN PERIL. The conquest of Italy by the Romans took about two hundred and fifty years. The conquest of the peoples living in the other lands on the sh.o.r.es of the Mediterranean took nearly as long again. Only twice in these four or five hundred years was Rome in serious danger of destruction. Once it was by the Gauls, as we have read, who captured all the city except the citadel. The second time it was by the Carthaginians, who lived on the northern coast of Africa. The Romans were finally victorious over all their enemies because they were patient and courageous in misfortune and refused to believe that they could be conquered.
CAUSE OF WAR WITH CARTHAGE. The Carthaginians were angry at the way the Romans treated them. They watched with alarm the steady growth of the Roman power, and feared that the Romans, if masters of Italy, would attack their trade with the cities of the western Mediterranean. A quarrel broke out over a city in Sicily. At first the Carthaginians seemed to have the best of it, because they had a strong war fleet while the Romans had only a few small vessels. But the Romans hurriedly built s.h.i.+ps and placed upon each a kind of drawbridge, fitted with great hooks called grappling-irons. These they let down upon the enemy's decks as soon as the s.h.i.+ps came close enough, and over these drawbridges the Roman soldiers rushed and captured the Carthaginian s.h.i.+ps.
When the Carthaginians asked for peace, the Romans demanded a great sum of money and a promise that the Carthaginians would leave the cities in Sicily which they occupied. Soon afterward the Romans took advantage of a mutiny in the Carthaginian army to demand more money and to seize Sardinia and Corsica. No wonder the Carthaginians were angry. The result was a new and more terrible war.
HANNIBAL. The Carthaginians in the new war were led by Hannibal, who understood how to fight battles better than any of the generals whom the Romans sent against him. The story is told that when he was a boy his father made him promise, at the altar of his city's G.o.ds, undying hatred to Rome. Even the Romans thought him a wonderful man. Their historians said that toil did not wear out his body or exhaust his energy. Cold or heat were alike to him. He never ate or drank more than he needed. He slept when he had time, whether it was day or night, wrapping himself in a military cloak and lying on the ground in the midst of his soldiers. He did not dress better than the other officers, but his weapons and his horses were the best in the army.
WAR CARRIED INTO ITALY, 218 B.C. Hannibal decided that the war should be carried into Italy to the very gates of Rome. He started from Spain, half of which the Carthaginians ruled, marched across southern Gaul, and came to the foot-hills of the Alps. To climb the Alps was the most difficult part of his long journey.
CROSSING THE ALPS. There were no roads across the mountains, only rough paths used by the mountaineers, who constantly attacked Hannibal's soldiers, bursting out suddenly upon them from behind a turn in the trail, or rolling huge rocks upon them from above. The elephants, the horses, and the baggage animals of the army were frightened, and in the tumult many of them slipped over the precipices and were dashed on the rocks below. For five days the army toiled upward, and then rested two days on the summit of the pa.s.s.
[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ALPS THAT HANNIBAL HAD TO CROSS]
Although the road down into Italy was short, it was steep, and the paths were slippery with ice and with snow trodden into slush by thousands of men and animals. In one place there had been a landslide, and the road along the rocky slope was cut away for a thousand feet. In order to build a new road it was necessary to crack the rocks. This the soldiers did by making huge fires and pouring wine over the heated surface. At last, worn out, ragged, and half starved, the army reached the plains of Italy, but with a loss of half its men.