Part 87

The “Samnite wars” were succeeded by a short but brisk war, designated in Roman history “the war with Pyrrhus and the Greeks in Italy.” Pyrrhus was an able and enterprising Greek prince whom the Greek towns of Southern Italy--fearful of being overwhelmed by what they called the “conquering barbarians of the Tiber”--had invited over from his native country to help them as champion of a Greek city.

Pyrrhus came over with a force of twenty-five thousand troops and twenty elephants. In the first battle (Pandosia, 280 B. C.) the Romans fought stoutly, until what they conceived to be gigantic gray oxen (the elephants) came thundering down upon them; so that the victory remained with Pyrrhus. In the next contest also (Asculum, 279 B. C.) Pyrrhus was successful; but the Romans made him pay so dearly for his triumph that he is said to have exclaimed, “Another such victory and I am undone!” Not having succeeded in his main object, Pyrrhus quitted Italy and went to Sicily; but soon after he returned, renewed the contest with the Romans, and was utterly overthrown at Beneventum, in 275 B.C.

The subjugation of Southern Italy--of all that part called Great Greece--soon followed, and at the close of the year B. C. 266 Rome reigned supreme over the length and breadth of the peninsula of Italy, from the southern boundary of Cisalpine Gaul to the Sicilian Straits, and from the Tyrrhenian, or Tuscan, Sea to the Adriatic.

NATURE OF THE ROMAN STATE UNDER THE REPUBLIC.

The real governing power in Rome was the Roman people,--_populus Romanus_,--that is to say, the body of free inhabitants of the thirty-three tribes or parishes north and south of the Tiber, which constituted the Roman territory proper, together with a considerable number of persons in other parts of Italy who, either from being colonists of Roman descent or from having had Roman citizenship conferred on them, had the privilege of going to Rome and voting at the Comitia, or Assembly. The possessors of the suffrage thus formed a comparatively small body of men, such as might be assembled with ease in any public square or park, and these by their votes decided on the affairs of the commonwealth, controlling thus the destinies of the whole population of Italy, estimated at this time at above five million.

In addition to the _populus Romanus_ there were two other classes,--the Italians and the Latins. The Italians, or _socii_, were the inhabitants of the allied and dependent Italian states that had submitted to Rome. These communities were almost all permitted to retain their own laws, judges, municipal arrangements, etc.; but they did not possess the Roman franchise, and hence had no share in the political affairs of the republic. The Latins were those who belonged to cities having the “Latin franchise,” as it was called, from its having first been given to the cities of Latium when conquered. This did not give full Roman citizenship, but made it easier to obtain it.

SUMMARY OF ROMAN GOVERNMENT

Rome wisely left self-government to all the dependent and allied states, while she secured her sovereignty by three rights which she reserved to herself: (1) She alone made peace or declared war; (2) She alone might receive embassies; (3) She alone might coin money. Altogether it was an admirable system, vastly superior to the loosely related Grecian states. It was a system that made possible for the first time in the world’s history a great, as well as a free, nation.

It is a striking fact that there was not yet even a dawning Roman literature; in art, science, philosophy, Rome had done--absolutely nothing. But, in fact, it was in the art of governing mankind that Roman genius was to appear; and it was this that showed itself in these early years,--it was their valor, their probity, their patriotism, their political tact, and not speculation or literary culture, that distinguished them.

CONSTRUCTION OF THE GREAT ROMAN ROADS

The famous Roman roads are to be found not only throughout Italy, where they were constructed in various directions from the capital, but in every land once conquered by Rome and stamped by her, as she stamped all her conquests, with ineffaceable marks of her possession and her power. These great roads were first made with the military purpose of providing a way that should be solid at all seasons of the year, for the march of legions and their heavy baggage through districts subdued by Roman arms. They were wonderful pieces of determined practical engineering, and in order to carry them straight to the points aimed at, marshes and hollows were filled up, or spanned with viaducts; mountains were tunneled, streams were bridged; no labor, time, or money was spared.

THE APPIAN WAY AND OTHER FAMOUS ROADS

The first and greatest of the Italian roads was the famous Appian Way (_Via Appia_, called _Regina Viarum_, “Queen of Roads”), which was begun by Appius Claudius, Censor in 312 B. C. The struggle with the Samnites was at its height when this great causeway, built with large, square stones on a raised platform, was made direct from the gates of Rome to Capua, in Campania. The _Via Appia_ was afterwards extended, through Samnium and Apulia, to Brundusium (on the lower Adriatic), the port of embarkment for Greece. Parts of the original stonework are existing at this day. Other great roads of Italy were the _Via Aurelia_--the great coast-road northward, by Genua (Genoa), into Transalpine Gaul; the _Via Flaminia_, through Umbria to Ariminum; and the _Via Æmilia_, from Ariminum, through Cisalpine Gaul to Placentia.

III. EPOCH OF THE PUNIC WARS, 264-146 B. C.--The third period in Roman history extends from the final triumph of the Plebeians to the capture of Carthage, B. C. 146. Rome had hitherto been distracted with intestine feuds and dissensions, and had extended her dominion over but a small extent of territory. The admission of Plebeians to all the high offices of trust and distinction promoted the consolidation and strength of the republic, and the career of conquest was soon begun.

We now see Rome engage in the greatest conflict of her history,--that with the powerful maritime state, Carthage,--a struggle which, when it was fully developed, became for Rome a fight for national existence, in which her enemy was at the height of her power and resources, with Spain and Africa at her back, and with the first general of the age to command her armies.

RACES OPPOSED IN THE PUNIC WARS

The interest of the Punic wars (as they are called from the word _Punicus_, the Latin equivalent of Phœnician, and, in a limited sense, Carthaginian) is great and enduring. These wars were fought out to determine which of the two races, the Indo-Germanic, or Aryan, or the Semitic, should have the dominion of the world. On the one side--the Aryan--was the genius for war, government, and legislation; on the other--the Semitic--the spirit of industry, navigation and commerce. The skill and valor, the determination and resource, displayed on both sides, have caused these wars of Rome and Carthage to remain most vividly impressed upon the memories of men.

CHARACTER OF THE CARTHAGINIAN STATE AND PEOPLE

Carthage had become, by the political and commercial energy of her citizens, the leading Phœnician state, ruling over Utica, Hippo, Leptis, and other cities of Phœnician origin in northern Africa. The Carthaginians paid also great attention to agriculture, and the whole of their territory was cultivated like a garden, supplying the population with abundance of food. This fact, taken with the wealth derived from her commerce, explains how it was that a city with no large extent of territory was enabled to hold out so long against the utmost efforts of Rome, and at one period to bring her, as it seemed, to the verge of ruin.

The political constitution of Carthage was that of an oligarchical republic, and her aristocracy is famed for the number of able men that came from its ranks. On the other hand, she was weakened by being dependent on mercenary troops in her wars, subject to revolts at home among the native populations whom she oppressed, and hampered by the factious spirit prevalent among her leading men.

She had a great commercial genius, but no gift for assimilating conquered peoples, or for establishing an empire on a solid and enduring basis, and therefore, in the end, she succumbed to Rome, whose aim it was to bring the nations under one wide, enduring sway. The struggle of Carthage against Rome became, in fact, the contest of a man of the greatest abilities--Hannibal--against a nation of the utmost energy and determination, and the nation, in the long run, won the day.

FIRST PUNIC WAR, 264-241 B. C.

The Carthaginians held Corsica, Sardinia, and various colonies in Spain and possessions in Sicily. It was in Sicily that the cause of quarrel between Rome and Carthage was found, and Rome picked the quarrel by interference in a local matter at Messana. Hiero, king of Syracuse, as we have seen, had come over to the Romans, who, after defeating the Carthaginian army and taking Agrigentum (262 B. C.), determined to make themselves masters of Sicily. For this a fleet was needed, and with Roman energy they soon built one. Twice their squadrons were destroyed, but in 260 B. C. the consul Duilius gained a great naval victory at Mylæ, on the northeast coast of Sicily, and, from this time, Rome became more and more nearly a match for Carthage on her element, the sea. The Romans invaded Africa without success (255 B. C.), but were generally victorious in Sicily.

In 247 B. C. the great Hamilcar Barca (father of Hannibal and Hasdrubal) was appointed to the Carthaginian command in Sicily, and maintained himself there with great patience and skill against all the Roman efforts. But, in 241 B. C., the Roman commander Lutatius Catulus utterly defeated the Carthaginian fleet off the Ægates Islands, on the west coast of Sicily, and the Carthaginians then gave in. All Sicily, except the territory of Rome’s faithful alley, Hiero of Syracuse, thus became (241 B. C.) the first Roman province.

CONQUEST OF SARDINIA, CORSICA, AND CISALPINE GAUL

The Romans, with gross ill-faith and injustice, took advantage of a revolt against Carthage by her mercenary troops to deprive her of Sardinia and Corsica (238 B. C.), and Sardinia was made into a province. Their next exploit was the conquest of Cisalpine Gaul, which was completed 222 B. C., and the Roman hold upon the new territory was confirmed by the establishment of military colonies at Placentia and Cremona.

THE CARTHAGINIANS UNDER HAMILCAR IN SPAIN

Carthage had resolved upon revenge for past defeats and injuries from Rome, and intrusted her cause to the great Hamilcar Barca. He sought to create for his country a new empire in Spain, which might be used as a base of operations against the foe for whom he had a deadly hate. From 237 to 229 B. C. (when he fell in battle) he was engaged in reducing a large part of Spain to submission.

In 221 B. C. his son, the illustrious Hannibal, took the Spanish command, and he soon brought on a new conflict with Rome by his capture of her ally, the city of Saguntum, on the northeast coast of Spain.

HANNIBAL AND THE SECOND PUNIC WAR, 218-202 B. C.

The hero of the Second Punic War is Hannibal, one of the purest and noblest characters in history. In 218 B. C. the Carthaginian general crossed the Alps, after a five months’ march from Spain, and descended with a storm of war upon the Romans. With a force of twenty thousand foot and six thousand horse he encountered the consular armies, and defeated them at the rivers Ticinus and Trebia (218 B. C.), in Cisalpine Gaul, the Trasimene Lake in Etruria (217 B. C.), and most decisively, and with immense slaughter, at Cannæ, in Apulia, in 216 B. C. For fifteen years (218 to 202 B. C.) Hannibal maintained his ground in Italy, defeating the Romans again and again, opposed by the cautious Fabius Maximus and the daring Marcellus (the conqueror of Syracuse), but unable to capture Rome, or to subdue Roman steadfastness and courage.

CAUSES OF HANNIBAL’S DEFEAT

The chief causes of the ultimate failure of Hannibal, besides the doggedness of Rome’s resistance, were the faithfulness of many of Rome’s allies, especially the Latins, in Italy, the success of Roman armies, under Publius Scipio, in Spain (temporarily subdued 205 B. C.), and the want of due support by Carthage to her great leader. The crisis came in 207 B. C., when Hannibal’s brother, Hasdrubal, crossed the Alps into Italy with a powerful army which, joined with Hannibal’s in Southern Italy, would probably have effected the conquest of Rome, now almost exhausted. This was not to be. Hasdrubal was defeated, and slain by the Romans at the decisive battle of the Metaurus (a river in Umbria), one of the great critical contests of history. The junction of the forces thus prevented, Rome was saved, and, in order to be rid of Hannibal, the war was carried now into the enemy’s country.

DEFEAT OF HANNIBAL BY SCIPIO AFRICANUS AT ZAMA

Publius Scipio, so successful in Spain, crossed from Sicily to Africa in 204 B. C., and did so well for Rome that Hannibal was recalled. The Second Punic War ended with the defeat of Hannibal by Scipio at Zama (five days’ journey from Carthage), in 202 B. C. The conqueror gained the surname of Africanus. Hannibal lost his army, but not his fame. Rome was certain now to rule the world. The terms of peace with Carthage made her for the time a mere dependency of Rome. All her foreign possessions were given up; her fleet was reduced to ten ships; she was to make no war without Rome’s permission; and an enormous war indemnity was exacted.

SUBJUGATION OF MACEDON BY ROME

In 213 B. C. Rome attacked Philip V., king of Macedon, because he had made a treaty with Carthage, and, after making an alliance with the Ætolians, the Romans gained some successes over Philip in the First Macedonian War, ending in 205. The Second Macedonian War (200-197 B. C.) put an end to Macedon’s supremacy in Greece, by the victory of the ex-consul Flamininus at Cynoscephalæ, in Thessaly, 197 B. C.

ROMAN ARMS ARE CARRIED INTO ASIA

Antiochus the Great, of Syria, who had irritated Rome by meddling in the affairs of Greece, which he invaded in 192 B. C., was beaten by the Roman armies in Greece and Asia Minor, and in 188 B. C. made peace on terms that left Roman influence supreme in Asia Minor as far as Syria.

THE FINAL FATE OF HANNIBAL

The great Carthaginian, even after Zama, had not despaired of himself or of his country. He set vigorously to work at internal reforms in Carthage with a view to renewing the contest with Rome; but, being thwarted by jealous and unpatriotic rivals, who also intrigued for his surrender to the Romans, he fled to the court of Antiochus the Great, of Syria, in 194 B. C. In rejecting her greatest man, Carthage had lost her last chance of regaining any real power. Hannibal was driven from his shelter with Antiochus by the Roman demand for his surrender, and took refuge with Prusias, king of Bithynia, for some years; but Roman dread of his abilities pursued him, and hopeless of escape, he poisoned himself about 183 B. C., leaving Rome free at last to pursue her victorious career.

ROMAN CONQUEST OF THE GREEK STATES

A Third Macedonian War, begun in 171 B. C., was waged by the Romans against King Perseus, son of Philip V., and ended with a great Roman victory at Pydna, in 168 B. C., and the extinction of Macedon as a kingdom. After a revolt, called the Fourth Macedonian War, and a war against the forces of the Achæan League, Corinth was taken by Mummius, and Macedonia and Greece became Roman provinces (147 and 146 B. C.)

THIRD PUNIC WAR AND DESTRUCTION OF CARTHAGE

There was a powerful party in Rome (headed by the stern censor Porcius Cato) who relentlessly insisted on the destruction of Carthage. Her warlike neighbor, Masinissa, king of Numidia, was encouraged by the Romans in harassing attacks, and in 149 B. C. Rome found a pretext for war. Her forces could not be resisted, and Carthage offered a complete submission, seeking the preservation of her commerce and her capital by a surrender of arms, war-ships, and her internal independence.

When Rome insisted on the destruction of the city of Carthage itself, and the removal of the inhabitants to inland abodes, the Carthaginians took counsel of despair, and resolved to stand a siege within their strong fortifications. Scipio Africanus Minor conducted the three years’ siege of the great commercial city and her citadel, and Roman determination, as usual, carried its point. After fearful house-to-house fighting the remnant of seven hundred thousand people surrendered; the place was set on fire, and burned for seventeen days; the ruins were leveled with the ground, and Carthage the proud city, alike with Carthage the commercial state, ceased to exist, in 146 B. C., the year of the final conquest of Greece. Part of the territory was given to Masinissa of Numidia, Rome’s ally; part became the Roman province of Africa.

GRANDEUR OF ROME AFTER HER FOREIGN CONQUESTS

At the beginning of the period of conquest (266-133 B. C.), the Roman dominion was confined to the peninsula of Italy; at its close it extended over the whole of southern Europe from the shores of the Atlantic to the straits of Constantinople, over the chief Mediterranean islands, and over a portion of North Africa, while farther east, in Egypt, Asia Minor, and Syria, its influence was paramount. At the beginning Rome was merely one of the “Great Powers” of the world as it then was,--that is, she ranked with Carthage, Macedonia, and the kingdom of the Seleucidæ; at its close she was clearly the sole Great Power left.

THE ORIGIN OF PROVINCIAL GOVERNMENT

The addition of the conquered countries resulted in a new feature of Roman rule called Provincial government. Retaining their native habits, religion, laws, etc., the inhabitants of every province were governed by a military president, sent from Rome, with a staff of officials. The provincials were required to pay taxes in money and kind; and these taxes were farmed out by the censors to Roman citizens, who, under the name of Publicans, settled in the various districts of the provinces. Thus, like a network proceeding from a center, the political system of the Romans pervaded the mass of millions of human beings inhabiting the shores of the Mediterranean; and a vast population of various races and languages were all bound together by the cohesive power of Roman rule.

ROME AT THE HEIGHT OF ITS GRANDEUR

The luster of the Roman power and glory of the Roman name were now at their height. The eyes of all the world were now on Italy, the young republic of the West. Into Rome all talents, all riches, flowed. What a grand thing in those days to be a Roman citizen; so that, wherever one walked,--in Spain, in Africa, even in once proud Athens, he was followed, feasted, flattered! What a career was opened to those who wished for wealth or aspired to fame! But in the very sunburst of Rome’s glory, the germs of decay were ripening.

On the Romans themselves the effect of their foreign conquests were both good and bad; but perhaps the evil outweighed the good.

ERA OF GREAT PUBLIC WORKS

The wealth poured into Rome by the conquest of Carthage, of Greece, and the East, and the considerable revenue derived from the permanent taxation of the provinces, enabled the Romans to carry out a great system of public works. Throughout Italy splendid military roads which remain to this day were built, the provinces were traversed by imperial highways, and fine stone bridges were thrown across the Tiber. In Rome splendid public buildings were erected, the city was sewered, the streets were paved (174 B. C.), two new aqueducts (the Marcian, built in 144 B. C., at a cost of ten million dollars) were constructed; and it may be noted that the Consul P. Scipio Nasica, in 159 B. C., set up in Rome a public clepsydra, or water clock, the citizens having for six centuries gone on without any accurate means of knowing the time by night as well as day.

INFLUENCE OF GREEK CULTURE ON ROME

The effect on Rome of the conquest of Greece and the Hellenized East was very marked. Greek rhetoricians, scholars, tragedians, musicians and philosophers in large numbers took up their abode in Rome. The city swarmed with Greek schoolmasters. Greek tutors and philosophers, who, even if they were not slaves, were as a rule accounted as servants, were now permanent inmates in the palaces of Rome; people speculated in them, and there is a statement that the sum of two hundred thousand sesterces (ten thousand dollars) was paid for a Greek literary slave of the first class.

RISE OF NATIVE ROMAN LITERATURE

The stimulus of Greek literary culture led to native production, and in the second century, B. C., we have the beginning of that Latin literature which we still read. Though the great period of Roman letters did not come till a century after this time (age of Augustus), yet there arose a number of writers of no ordinary power. Among these should be mentioned Ennius, the father of Roman poetry; Plautus, his contemporary, a man of rich poetic genius; the elder Cato, the first prose writer of note; and Terence, the most famous of the comic poets.

While the Romans were in some respects benefited by contact with the superior though decaying culture of Greece, they also learned a great deal that was debasing. They became effeminate, luxurious, and corrupt in morals; marriage was not respected; the old Roman faith waned, and it was said that two augurs could not meet in the street without laughing in each other’s face.

GROWTH OF POLITICAL AND SOCIAL CORRUPTION

The political system of Rome now began to lead to a dreadful state of public corruption. The Roman government was devised for the rule of a city: all power was in the hands of the civic voters, and when there came to be great prizes, in the way of great offices at home and abroad, the voters began to find that their votes were worth something, and unblushing bribery and corruption became common.

The demands of the large planters and merchants led to a great extension of the slave-trade. All lands and all nations were laid under contribution for slaves, but the places where they were chiefly captured were Syria and the interior of Asia Minor. It is probable that at the period at which we have now arrived (middle of the second century B. C.) there were twelve million slaves against five million free inhabitants in the Italian peninsula,--a most lamentable state of things!

In addition to the slaves, Italy became filled up with a motley parasitic population from Asia and Africa and all the conquered lands,--and the result of this intermixture soon appeared in a marked degeneracy in the Roman race itself.

THE NEW ROMAN CONTRASTED WITH THE OLD