Part 89

The chiefs of the conspiracy were Caius Cassius and Marcus Junius Brutus. Both had received great favors from Cæsar; but they thought they had not been honored enough, and they were intensely jealous of the dictator’s greatness. These were joined by other malcontents, and the plotters swelled their ranks by representing that Cæsar designed to assume the diadem and the title of king; so that the conspiracy finally included about sixty senators.

It is not certainly known whether or not Cæsar thought of taking the name of king. It is known, however, that the consul, Mark Antony, entered in the public acts, “that by the command of the people, he, as consul, had offered the name of king to Cæsar, perpetual dictator; and that Cæsar would not accept of it.”

The plot ripened into a determination to assassinate Cæsar, and the conspirators fixed on the Ides (i. e. 15th) of March as the time of putting the design into execution. Rumors of the plot got abroad, and Cæsar was strongly urged not to attend the senate. But he disregarded the warnings which were given him. As soon as Cæsar had taken his place, he was surrounded by the senatorial conspirators, one of whom, pretending to urge some request, seized his toga with both hands and pulled it violently over his arms. Then Casca, who was behind, drew a weapon and grazed his shoulder with an ill-directed stroke. Cæsar disengaged one hand and snatched at the hilt, exclaiming, “Cursed Casca, what means this?” “Help!” cried Casca, and at the same moment the conspirators aimed each his dagger at the victim. Cæsar for an instant defended himself; but when he perceived the steel flashing in the hand of Brutus (Marcus Junius), he exclaimed “What! thou too, Brutus!” (_Et tu Brute!_) and drawing his robe over his face he made no further resistance. The assassins stabbed him through and through; and, pierced with twenty-three wounds, Cæsar fell dead at the foot of the statue of his great rival, Pompey.

Julius Cæsar was in his fifty-sixth year, when, on the fifteenth of March, B. C. 44, he was stricken down.

EFFECT OF CAESAR’S DEATH AND THE ORATION OF ANTONY

It is said that “revolutions never go backwards.” Brutus and his fellow-conspirators struck down Cæsar in the name of liberty; but the blow that leveled the master of Rome did not bring back the republic,--it only insured the appearance of new claimants for supreme power, and consequently new civil wars.

On the occasion of Cæsar’s funeral the consul, Mark Antony, delivered an oration over the dictator’s body, and to such a height did the feeling of the Romans against the plotters rise, that Brutus and Cassius were obliged to escape forthwith from the city to avoid destruction.

The condition of affairs left Mark Antony in some respect the representative of Cæsarean principles; but a more direct claimant to the succession appeared in Cæsar’s great-nephew, Caius Octavius, then a youth nineteen years old. The dictator had adopted Octavius as his son; so his name became Caius Julius Cæsar Octavianus. Octavius had all the old soldiers on his side, and raised the standard of Cæsar’s vengeance.

TRIUMVIRATE OF ANTONY, OCTAVIUS AND LEPIDUS

At first Antony and Octavius were at strife; but finally they became reconciled, and associating with them Lepidus, the “master of the horse,” the three formed the Second Triumvirate (43 B. C.), and concerted a plan to divide among themselves the supreme authority. In order to do this it was necessary utterly to crush both their personal enemies and the forces of the republic.

To accomplish the first object, they began a system of proscription more ruthless and bloody than that of Marius and Sulla. It is recorded that three hundred senators, two thousand knights, and many thousands of citizens were sacrificed. The most illustrious of the victims was the famous orator Cicero, whose severe invectives against Antony had procured him the relentless hatred of the triumvir. The aged patriot, while escaping from Rome in a litter, was assassinated.

BATTLE OF PHILIPPI AND DIVISION OF THE ROMAN WORLD

The second object was the destruction of the republican forces. Now Brutus and Cassius, finding their position in Italy to be desperate, had retired to the East, where in Thrace they gathered an army of about one hundred thousand men. Antony and Octavius pursued them with a still larger force, and the two armies met at Philippi. The republican army was totally defeated (November, 42 B. C.); both Brutus and Cassius killed themselves.

The victors now divided the Roman world among themselves,--Antony taking the East, Octavius the West, and Lepidus the province of Africa. But the Roman world was scarcely theirs before they began to quarrel over it. The feeble Lepidus never possessed much influence, and was soon robbed of his share. After this it was quite certain that a contest between Antony and Octavius could not long be delayed, and each began to intrigue against the other.

ANTONY’S TRAGIC ASSOCIATION WITH CLEOPATRA

Antony made the headquarters of his half of the Roman dominion at Alexandria. Here he came under the fascinations of Cleopatra, and he lost all regard to his character or his interests in her company. He even went so far as to divorce his wife Octavia, the sister of Octavius, and, having married the voluptuous Egyptian queen, he bestowed Roman provinces on her.

This conduct was treasonable, and furnished Octavius with a decent pretext for declaring war. The young Cæsar had been gaining great popularity in Italy; he had consolidated his power and had his legions in fine training. The fleets and armies of the rivals assembled at the opposite sides of the Gulf of Ambracia. After considerable delay, Antony, instigated by Cleopatra, who was present with her Egyptian fleet, determined to decide the contest by a naval battle. The contest took place off the promontory of Actium (on the west coast of Greece), while the hostile armies, drawn up on the shore, were simple spectators. In the midst of the conflict Cleopatra tacked about, and with the Egyptian squadron of sixty sail drew out of the fight. Antony, regardless of his honor, followed after her, and the pair fled to Alexandria. Both the fleet and the force of Antony surrendered to Octavius, 31 B. C.

Some months afterwards Octavius advanced to besiege Alexandria. Antony attempted to defend it; but he was abandoned by his troops. Cleopatra retired to a monument she had erected, and caused a report to be spread of her death. Upon this news Antony attempted to commit suicide, and inflicted on himself a mortal wound: hearing, however, in the midst of his agonies, that Cleopatra still lived, he caused himself to be carried to her monument, and expired in her presence (30 B. C.).

DEATH OF CLEOPATRA BY SUICIDE AND FALL OF EGYPT

The end of Cleopatra was even more tragic. The Egyptian queen seems at first to have thought that she would be able to bewitch the young Cæsar; but having in vain essayed her arts on the cold, calculating Octavius, she, sooner than be led in chains to adorn the triumph of the victor, and glut the eyes of the populace of Rome with the sight of the daughter and last of the Ptolemies, preceding the chariot of the adopted son of him who had done homage to her charms, gave herself voluntary death by the bite of an asp, or the scratch of a poisoned needle. Egypt now became a Roman province in 30 B. C., and Rome’s dominion in the Mediterranean basin became formally, as it had long been virtually, complete.

The Roman Empire, replacing the Roman Republic, founded by Julius Cæsar, after the battle of Pharsalia, was consolidated by Octavianus in the following year.

V. PERIOD OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE TO CONSTANTINE, 31 B.C.-306 A.D.--The _fifth_ period begins with the establishment of the Imperial Government under Augustus Cæsar to the reign of Constantine, A.D. 306. As Christianity was introduced into the world in this period, and was opposed until the end of it by the Roman government, it is often designated as the period of Pagan Emperors.

The reign of Augustus, the name taken by the first Emperor Octavius, has become proverbial for an age flourishing in peace, literature, and the arts. It is distinguished, also, for the birth of Jesus Christ; as the next reign, that of Tiberius, is, for his crucifixion and death.--The four reigns succeeding, viz.: those of Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, and Nero, are chiefly memorable for the tyranny of the Emperors, and the profligacy of their families and favorites.

On the death of Nero, A.D. 69, follows a year of dissension and bloodshed, in which Galba, Otho, and Vitellius successively gained the empire and lost their lives.--The Flavian family, Vespasian and his two sons, Titus and Domitian, next in order receive the supreme power. Titus is celebrated as the final conqueror of the Jews, whose obstinacy provoked him to destroy the city of Jerusalem. Domitian, the last emperor of the family, provokes his own assassination, A.D. 96.

Passing the reigns of the feeble Nerva, the martial Trajan, and the peaceful Hadrian, we arrive at a brilliant age in the imperial history, the age of Antonines, extending from A.D. 138 to 180, a space of about forty years. Literature and the arts of peace revived under their benign influence.

After the death of Marcus Aurelius, A.D. 180, there follows a whole century of disorder, profligacy, conspiracy and assassination. The army assumes the absolute disposal of the imperial crown, which is even sold at public auction to the highest bidder. Within the last fifty years of the time, nearly fifty emperors are successively proclaimed, and deposed or murdered.--In the year 284, Diocletian began to reign, and attempted a new system of administration.

Ten special persecutions of Christians are recorded and described, the first under Nero, A.D. 64, and the last under Diocletian, commencing A.D. 303, and continuing ten years, unto A.D. 313. But, notwithstanding these repeated efforts to hinder the progress of Christianity, it was spread during this period throughout the whole Roman Empire.

ROME IN THE AUGUSTAN PERIOD

When Augustus Cæsar at the age of thirty-six became master of the Roman world, there was no open establishment of a monarchical government. On the contrary, most of the old republican forms were kept up; but they were mere forms. The Senate still sat, but it did little more than vote what Augustus wished; the people still met in their assemblies and elected consuls and magistrates, but only such persons were elected as had been proposed or recommended by the Emperor. Augustus, however, assumed nothing of the outward pomp of a monarch: he was satisfied with the substance of supreme rule.

THE THREE CIVILIZATIONS WITHIN THE EMPIRE

Within the circuit of the Roman dominion there were what we may call three civilizations: the Latin, the Greek, and the Oriental. Latin civilization took in the countries from the Atlantic Ocean to the Adriatic; Greek civilization, from the Adriatic to Mount Taurus; Oriental civilization, the lands beyond to the Euphrates.

THE LATIN.--The area of Latin civilization embraced the peninsula of Italy (its native seat) and all western Europe, where the Romans appeared not only as a conquering but also as a civilizing people. Thus in the three provinces of Spain (Hispania), in the four provinces of Transalpine Gaul (corresponding nearly with the modern France), as well as in the North African provinces, especially Carthage (which was restored by Cæsar as a Roman colony), the Latin language took firm root, and the manners and customs, and indeed the whole civilization, of those lands became Roman.

THE GREEK.--Greek civilization was spread over Greece and all those parts of Europe and Asia that had been Hellenized by Grecian colonists or by the Macedonian conquerors. In manners, customs, language, and culture these lands remained Greek, while politically they were Roman.

THE ORIENTAL.--Oriental civilization was diffused over the Eastern provinces, especially Egypt and Syria. These countries had, under the rule of Alexander’s successors, become to some degree Hellenized; but this influence was on the whole superficial. The peoples of those Oriental lands had never given up their own languages or religious ideas or ways of thinking. Now these peoples, it should be said, did not become Latinized either,--they did not adopt the language and civilization of Rome.

HOW ROME WAS GOVERNED UNDER THE EMPIRE

Within the limits of the Roman Empire under Augustus there may have been in all one hundred millions of human beings. Not less than one-half were in a condition of slavery; and of the rest, only that small proportion who, under the envied name of Roman citizen (_civis Romanus_), inhabited Italy, enjoyed political independence, or had the smallest share in the government. The various lands and peoples were under Roman legates (half of these appointed by Augustus and the other half by the Senate), who held supreme military command. To the provinces were left, however, their independent municipal constitutions and officers. In Rome and Italy the public peace was preserved by the pretorian cohorts,--bodies of soldiers of tried valor, to whom Augustus gave double pay. Throughout the provinces the people were kept in check by the regular troops,--numbering three hundred and fifty thousand men.

THE CAPITAL CITY OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE

Of this vast empire Rome was the metropolis, now a city of innumerable streets and buildings, and containing, it is calculated, a population of about two millions and a half. It was in this period that Rome became truly a splendid city. Augustus was able to boast that “he found the city brick and left it marble.”

ITS EXTENT AND CHIEF BUILDINGS.--In the days of its greatest prosperity the circumference of Rome enclosed by walls was about twenty miles; but there were also very extensive suburbs. The walls were pierced by thirty gates. The most remarkable objects were the Coliseum, the Capitol with its temples, the Senate-House, and the Forum.

The great circus, or Circus Maximus, a place reserved for public games, races and shows, was one of the most magnificent structures of Rome. It was capable of containing two hundred thousand spectators.

The Flavian Amphitheater, whose massive ruins are known as the Coliseum, could seat from eighty to one hundred thousand persons. In the arena were exhibited the fights of gladiators, in which the Romans took such savage delight, together with races, combats of wild beasts, etc. Theaters, public baths, etc., were erected by the emperors, who seemed anxious to compensate the people for their loss of liberty by the magnificence of their public shows and entertainments.

THE ANCIENT ROMAN FORUM.--In the valley between the Palatine and Capitoline hills was the Forum, or place of public assembly, and the great market. It was surrounded with temples, halls for the administration of justice (called _basilicæ_), and public offices; it was also adorned with statues erected in honor of eminent warriors and statesmen, and with various trophies from conquered nations.

TEMPLE OF JANUS.--In the Forum was the celebrated Temple of Janus, built entirely of bronze and dating back to the early kingly period. From some early circumstance the custom was established of closing the gates of this temple during peace; but so incessant were the wars of the Romans, that during eight centuries the gates of the Temple of Janus were closed only three times.

CAMPUS MARTIUS.--The elections of magistrates, reviews of troops, and the census or registration of citizens, were held in the Campus Martius, which was also the favorite exercise-ground of the young nobles. It was surrounded by several splendid edifices; ornamental trees and shrubs were planted in different parts, and porticoes erected under which the citizens might continue their exercise in rainy weather. Nearby was the celebrated Pantheon, or Temple of All the Gods (erected in the reign of Augustus), the most perfect and splendid monument of ancient Rome that has survived the ravages of time.

THE ROMAN AQUEDUCTS.--The Aqueducts were among the most remarkable Roman structures. Pure streams were sought at a great distance, and conveyed in these artificial channels, supported by arches, many of which were more than a hundred feet high. Under the emperors, not fewer than twenty of these stupendous and useful structures were raised; and they brought such an abundant supply of water to the metropolis, that rivers seemed to flow through the streets and sewers.

COMPARED WITH ATHENS.--Rome was inferior to Athens in architectural beauty, but it far surpassed the Grecian city in works of public utility. To enumerate all the notable edifices would be impossible here; but the “Eternal City” in the zenith of its glory contained four hundred and twenty temples, five regular theaters, two amphitheaters, and seven circuses of vast extent. There were sixteen public baths, built of marble, and furnished with every convenience that could be desired. From the aqueducts a prodigious number of fountains was supplied, many of which were remarkable for their architectural beauty. The palaces, public halls, columns, porticoes, and obelisks were without number, and to these must be added the triumphal arches erected by the later emperors.

AS A CENTER OF LITERATURE

As the peace of the Roman world was maintained by the strong hand of power, it was at this time that many of those arts that grow best during seasons of national order and prosperity made their greatest progress. Thus many of the best-known Latin writers lived at this time.

Augustus himself was a great patron of literary men and artists, and so was his minister, Caius Cilinius Mæcenas. They honored and rewarded eminent writers; and though we must not forget that many of the distinguished men whose writings add luster to the “Augustan Age” had grown up under the republic, still Augustus deserves credit for fostering letters. Nothing will make up for the loss of political freedom; but it is something that in Rome, when liberty was lost, literature at least flourished.

Among the distinguished writers of this age or the times immediately preceding it are the poets Virgil, Horace, Lucretina and Catullus; and the historian, Sallust.

THE BIRTH OF CHRIST AND THE CHRISTIAN ERA

Under the rule of Augustus the greatest event of the world’s spiritual history occurred in Bethlehem of Judæa--the birth of Jesus Christ. This really took place in the year 4 B.C., but the erroneous calculation has, for the sake of convenience, been allowed to stand, and the chronology passes from B.C. to A.D., when Augustus had held sway, according to the wrong reckoning, for twenty-seven years.

GREAT IMPORTANCE OF THE ROMAN DEFEAT BY THE GERMANS

The great secular fact of Rome’s history under Augustus Cæsar was the destruction of the Roman general Varus and his legions in Germany by the celebrated Arminius,--the great national hero Herman,--in whose honor a colossal statue has been erected in the northwest of Germany, near the scene of his patriotic and momentous achievement. He was the chief of the Cherusci, a powerful tribe dwelling on both sides of the river Visurgis (Weser), and closely akin to the Angles and Saxons who conquered the island of Britain.

If Arminius had not done what he did against Rome, Germany might have been thoroughly subdued; the Latin language might have extinguished the Teutonic; the Teutonic tribes might have been overwhelmed; the Teutonic influence over modern Europe, and as an element of the English race, might never have been exerted, and Europe and the world would have had a widely different development from that which they have actually undergone.

LEGIONS OF VARUS VANQUISHED BY ARMINIUS

Arminius, as chief of the Cherusci, headed a confederacy of German tribes to expel from northern Germany the invaders and partial conquerors of the fatherland. The Roman governor, Quintilius Varus, and his officers and troops, had provoked the German outbreak by their licentious behavior, and the vengeance wreaked on the offenders was complete in itself, and effectual for the preservation of German freedom.

The German hero, when his plans were formed, tempted Varus and his three legions, by a revolt of the tribes near the Weser and the Ems, to march into the difficult country now called the Teutoburger Wald, a woody and hilly region near the sources of the Lippe and the Ems. When the Roman force was thoroughly entangled amidst the forests and hills, and had been further imperiled by the rashness of the incompetent tyrant Varus in the order of his march, then Arminius and the Germans fell on the hated foe; the Roman column was broken, and its cavalry fled, but was pursued and utterly destroyed.

Varus slew himself in despair. His infantry was overpowered and slain almost to the last man. All the efforts of Rome thereafter never secured her a permanent foothold on German soil. This great deliverance of Germany, so full of chagrin to Augustus and so momentous in European history, occurred in A.D. 9.

DEATH OF AUGUSTUS.--Augustus died in 14 A.D.; so that, counting from his formal accession to title, 27 B.C., he ruled over the Roman dominion for forty-one years.

The following table gives a list of the Roman Emperors, with the dates of their reigns and other facts. Many of them were quite insignificant in personality and in their influence upon history. The greater rulers call for more extended notice in their proper historical place in the Outline of Universal History, as well as in the Dictionary of Biography.

=THE EMPERORS OF ROME=