General History for Colleges and High Schools Part 33

Panic seized the people; for the name of Vandal was p.r.o.nounced with terror throughout the world. Again the great Leo, who had once before saved his flock from the fury of an Attila, went forth to intercede in the name of Christ for the Imperial City. Genseric granted to the pious bishop the lives of the citizens, but said that the plunder of the capital belonged to his warriors. For fourteen days and nights the city was given over to the ruthless barbarians. The s.h.i.+ps of the Vandals, which almost hid with their number the waters of the Tiber, were piled, as had been the wagons of the Goths before them, with the rich and weighty spoils of the capital.

Palaces were stripped of their ornaments and furniture, and the walls of the temples denuded of their statues and of the trophies of a hundred Roman victories. From the Capitoline sanctuary were borne off the golden candlestick and other sacred articles that t.i.tus had stolen from the Temple at Jerusalem.

The greed of the barbarians was sated at last, and they were ready to withdraw. The Vandal fleet sailed for Carthage, bearing, besides the plunder of the city, more than 30,000 of the inhabitants as slaves.

[Footnote: The fleet was overtaken by a storm and suffered some damage, but the most precious of the relics it bore escaped harm. "The golden candlestick reached the African capital, was recovered a century later, and lodged in Constantinople by Justinian, and by him replaced, from superst.i.tious motives, in Jerusalem. From that time its history is lost."

--Merivale.] Carthage, through her own barbarian conquerors, was at last avenged upon her hated rival. The mournful presentiment of Scipio had fallen true (see p. 271). The cruel fate of Carthage might have been read again in the pillaged city that the Vandals left behind them.

FALL OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE IN THE WEST (A.D. 476).--Only the shadow of the Empire in the West now remained. All the provinces--Illyric.u.m, Gaul, Britain, Spain, and Africa--were in the hands of the Goths, the Vandals, the Franks, the Burgundians, the Angles and Saxons, and various other intruding tribes. Italy, as well as Rome herself, had become again and again the spoil of the insatiable barbarians. The story of the twenty years following the sack of the capital by Genseric affords only a repet.i.tion of the events we have been narrating. During these years several puppet emperors were set up by the different leaders of the invading tribes. A final seditious movement placed upon the shadow-throne a child of six years, named Romulus Augustus. Chiefly because of the imperial farce he was forced to play, this child-emperor became known as Augustulus, "the little Augustus." He had reigned only a year, when Odoacer, the leader of a tribe of German mercenaries, dethroned him, and abolis.h.i.+ng the t.i.tle of emperor, took upon himself the government of Italy.

The Roman Senate now sent an emba.s.sy to Constantinople, with the royal vestments and the insignia of the imperial office, to represent to the Emperor Zeno that the West was willing to give up its claims to an emperor of its own, and to request that the German chief, with the t.i.tle of "Patrician," might rule Italy as his viceroy. This was granted; and Italy now became in effect a province of the Empire in the East (A.D. 476). The Roman Empire in the West had come to an end, after an existence from the founding of Rome of 1229 years.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE APPIAN WAY. (From a photograph).]

ROMAN EMPERORS FROM COMMODUS TO ROMULUS AUGUSTUS.

(A.D. 180-476.) A.D.

Commodus ... ... ... . 180-192 Pertinax ... ... ... . 193 Didius Julia.n.u.s ... ... . 193 Septimius Severus ... ... 193-211 / Caracalla ... ... ... 211-217 Geta ... ... ..... 211-213 Macrinus ... ... ... . 2l7-218 Elagabalus ... ... ... 218-222 Alexander Severus ... ... 222-235 Maximin ... ... ..... 235-238 Gordian III ... ... ... 238-244 Philip ... ... ..... 244-249 Decius ... ... ..... 249-251 Period of the Thirty Tyrants. 251-268 Claudius ... ... ... . 268-270 Aurelian ... ... ... . 270-275 Tacitus ... ... ..... 275-276 Probus ... ... ..... 276-282 Carus ... ... ... ... 282-283 / Carinus ... ... ... . 283-284 Numerian ... ... ... 283-284 / Diocletian ... ..... 284-305 Maximian ... ... ... 286-305 / Constantius I ... ... . 305-306 Galerius ... ... ... 305-311 Constantine the Great ... . 306-337 Reigns as sole ruler .... 323-337 Constantine II ........ 337-340 Constans I ... ... .... 337-350 Constantius II ........ 337-361 Reigns as sole ruler .... 350-361 Julian the Apostate ..... 361-363 Jovian ... ... ..... 363-364 / Valentinian I ... ... . 364-375 Valens (in the East)... . 364-378 Gratian ... ... ..... 375-383 Maximus ... ... ..... 383-388 Valentinian II ........ 375-392 Eugenius ... ........ 392-394 Theodosius the Great . .... 379-395 Reigns as sole emperor... 394-395

FINAL PARt.i.tION OF THE ROMAN EMPIRE. (A.D. 395.)

EMPERORS IN THE EAST.

(From A.D. 395 to Fall of Rome.) A.D.

Arcadius ... ... ... . 395-408 Theodosius II... ..... 408-450 Marcian ... ... ... . 450-457 Leo I ... ... ..... 457-474 Zeno ... ... ... ... 474-491

EMPERORS IN THE WEST.

A.D.

Honorius ... ... ... . 395-423 Valentinian III... ... . 425-455 Maximus ... ... ... . 455 Avitus ... ... ..... 455-456 Count Ricimer creates and deposes emperors ..... 456-472 Romulus Augustus ... ... 475-476

CHAPTER x.x.xI.

ARCHITECTURE, LITERATURE, LAW, AND SOCIAL LIFE AMONG THE ROMANS.

1. ARCHITECTURE.

GREEK ORIGIN OF ROMAN ARCHITECTURE: THE ARCH.--The architecture of the Romans was, in the main, an imitation of Greek models. But the Romans were not mere servile imitators. They not only modified the architectural forms they borrowed, but they gave their structures a distinct character by the prominent use of the arch, which the Greek and Oriental builders seldom employed, though they were acquainted with its properties. By means of it the Roman builders vaulted the roofs of the largest buildings, carried stupendous aqueducts across the deepest valleys, and spanned the broadest streams with bridges that have resisted all the a.s.saults of time and flood to the present day.

SACRED EDIFICES.--The temples of the Romans were in general so like those of the Greeks that we need not here take time and s.p.a.ce to enter into a particular description of them. Mention, however, should be made of their circular vaulted temples, as this was a style of building almost exclusively Italian. The best representative of this style of sacred edifices is the Pantheon at Rome, which has come down to our own times in a state of wonderful preservation. This structure is about 140 feet in diameter. The great concrete dome which vaults the building, is one of the boldest pieces of masonry executed by the master-builders of the world.

CIRCUSES, THEATRES, AND AMPHITHEATRES.--The circuses of the Romans were what we should call race-courses. There were several at Rome, the most celebrated being the Circus Maximus, which was first laid out in the time of the Tarquins, and afterwards enlarged as the population of the capital increased, until it was capable of holding two or three hundred thousand spectators.

[Ill.u.s.tration: THE ROMAN FORUM IN 1885]

The Romans borrowed the plan of their theatres from the Greeks; their amphitheatres, however, were original with them. The Flavian Amphitheatre, known as the Colosseum, has already come under our notice (see p. 316).

The edifice was 574 feet in its greatest diameter, and was capable of seating eighty-seven thousand spectators. The ruins of this immense structure stand to-day as "the embodiment of the power and splendor of the Roman Empire."

AQUEDUCTS.--The aqueducts of ancient Rome were among the most important of the utilitarian works of the Romans. The water-system of the capital was commenced by Appius Claudius (about 313 B.C.), who secured the building of an aqueduct which led water into the city from the Sabine hills. During the republic four aqueducts in all were completed; under the emperors the number was increased to fourteen. [Footnote: Several of these are still in use.] The longest of these was about fifty-five miles in length. The aqueducts usually ran beneath the surface, but when a depression was to be crossed, they were lifted on arches, which sometimes were over one hundred feet high. These lofty arches running in long broken lines over the plains beyond the walls of Rome, are the most striking feature of the Campagna at the present time.

THERMae, OR BATHS.--The greatest demand upon the streams of water poured into Rome by the aqueducts was made by the Thermae, or baths. Among the ancients Romans, bathing, regarded at first simply as a troublesome necessity, became in time a luxurious art. Under the republic, bathing- houses were erected in considerable numbers. But it was during the imperial period that those magnificent structures to which the name of Thermae properly attaches, were erected. These edifices were among the most elaborate and expensive of the imperial works. They contained chambers for cold, hot, tepid, sudatory, and swimming baths; dressing-rooms and gymnasia; museums and libraries; covered colonnades for lounging and conversation, extensive grounds filled with statues and traversed by pleasant walks; and every other adjunct that could add to the sense of luxury and relaxation. Being intended to exhibit the liberality of their builders, they were thrown open to the public free of charge.

MEMORIAL ARCHITECTURE.--Among the memorial structures of the Romans, their triumphal arches are especially characteristic. These were modelled after the city gates, being constructed with single and with triple archways.

Two of the most noted monuments of this character, and the most interesting because of their historic connections, are the Arch of t.i.tus (see p. 315) and the Arch of Constantine, both of which are still standing. The Arch of Constantine was intended to commemorate the victory of that emperor over his rival Maxentius, which event established Christianity as the imperial and favored religion of the empire.

[Ill.u.s.tration: ARCH OF CONSTANTINE.]

2. LITERATURE, PHILOSOPHY, AND LAW.

RELATION OF ROMAN TO GREEK LITERATURE: THE POETS OF THE REPUBLICAN ERA.-- Latin literature was almost wholly imitative or borrowed, being a reproduction of Greek models; still it performed a most important service for civilization: it was the medium for the dissemination throughout the world of the rich literary treasures of Greece.

It was the dramatic productions of the Greeks which were first studied and copied at Rome. Livius Andronicus, Naevius, Ennius, Plautus, and Terence, all of whom wrote under the republic, are the most noted of the Roman dramatists. Most of their plays were simply adaptations or translations of Greek masterpieces.

Lucilius (born 148 B.C.) was one of the greatest of Roman satirists. The later satirists of the corrupt imperial era were his imitators. Besides Lucilius, there appeared during the later republican era only two other poets of distinguished merit, Lucretius and Catullus. Lucretius (95-51 B.C.) was an evolutionist, and in his great poem, _On the Nature of Things_, we find antic.i.p.ated many of the conclusions of modern scientists.

POETS OF THE AUGUSTAN AGE.--We have in another place (see p. 307) spoken of the effects of the fall of the republic upon the development of Latin literature. Many, who if the republican inst.i.tutions had continued would have been absorbed in the affairs of state, were led, by the change of government, to seek solace for their disappointed hopes, and employment for their enforced leisure, in the graceful labors of elegant composition.

Four names have cast an unfading l.u.s.tre over the period covered by the reign of Augustus, Virgil, Horace, Ovid, and Livy. So distinguished have these writers rendered the age in which they lived, that any period in a people's literature marked by unusual literary taste and refinement is called, in allusion to the Roman era, an _Augustan Age_. Of the three poets, Virgil, Horace, and Ovid, a word has already been said; of Livy we shall find place to say something a little later, under the head of the Roman historians.

SATIRE AND SATIRISTS.--Satire thrives best in the reeking soil and tainted atmosphere of an age of selfishness, immorality, and vice. Such an age was that which followed the Augustan era at Rome. The throne was held by such imperial monsters as Caligula, Nero, and Domitian. The profligacy of fas.h.i.+onable life at the capital and the various watering-places of the empire, and the degradation of the court gave venom and point to the shafts of those who were goaded by the spectacle into attacking the immoralities and vices which were silently yet rapidly sapping the foundations of both society and state. Hence arose a succession of writers whose mastery of sharp and stinging satire has caused their productions to become the models of all subsequent attempts in the same species of literature. Two names stand out in special prominence--Persius and Juvenal, who lived and wrote during the last half of the first and the beginning of the second century of our era.

ORATORY AMONG THE ROMANS.--"Public oratory," as has been truly said, "is the child of political freedom, and cannot exist without it." We have seen this ill.u.s.trated in the history of republican Athens. Equally well is the same truth exemplified by the records of the Roman state. All the great orators of Rome arose under the republic.

Roman oratory was senatorial, popular, or judicial. These different styles of eloquence were represented by the grave and dignified debates of the Senate, the impa.s.sioned and often noisy and inelegant harangues of the Forum, and the learned pleadings or ingenious appeals of the courts. Among the orators of ancient Rome, Hortensius, (114-50 B.C.), an eloquent advocate, and Cicero (106-43 B.C.) are easily first.

HISTORIANS.--Ancient Rome produced four writers of history whose works have won for them a permanent fame--Caesar, Sall.u.s.t, Livy, and Tacitus. Of Caesar and his _Commentaries on the Gallic War_, we have learned in a previous chapter. His _Commentaries_ will always be mentioned with the _Anabasis_ of Xenophon, as a model of the narrative style of writing.

Sall.u.s.t (86-34 B.C.) was the contemporary and friend of Caesar. The two works upon which his fame rests are the _Conspiracy of Catiline_ and the _Jugurthine War_.

Livy (59 B.C.-A.D. 17) was one of the brightest ornaments of the Augustan age. Herodotus among the ancient, and Macaulay among the modern, writers of historical narrative, are the names with which his is most frequently compared. His greatest work is his _Annals_, a history of Rome from the earliest times to the year 9 B.C. Unfortunately, all save thirty-five of the books [Footnote: It should be borne in mind that a book in the ancient sense was simply a roll of ma.n.u.script or parchment, and contained nothing like the amount of matter held by an ordinary modern volume. Thus Caesar's _Gallic Wars_, which makes a single volume of moderate size with us, made eight Roman books.]--the work filled one hundred and forty- two volumes--perished during the disturbed period that followed the overthrow of the empire. Many have been the laments over "the lost books of Livy." As a chronicle of actual events, Livy's history, particularly in its earlier parts, is very unreliable; however, it is invaluable as an account of what the Romans themselves believed respecting the origin of their race, the founding of their city, and the deeds and virtues of their forefathers.

The most highly prized work of Tacitus is his _Germania_, a treatise on the manners and customs of the Germans. Tacitus dwells with delight upon the simple life of the uncivilized Germans, and sets their virtues in strong contrast with the immoralities of the refined and cultured Romans.

ETHICS, SCIENCE, AND PHILOSOPHY.--Under this head may be grouped the names of Seneca, Pliny the Elder, Marcus Aurelius, and Epictetus. Seneca (about A.D. 1-65), moralist and philosopher, has already come to our notice as the tutor of Nero (see p. 312). He was a disbeliever in the popular religion of his countrymen, and entertained conceptions of G.o.d and his moral government not very different from the doctrines of Socrates. Pliny the Elder (A.D. 23-79) is almost the only Roman who won renown as a naturalist. The only work of his that has been spared to us is his _Natural History_, a sort of "Roman Encyclopaedia," embracing thirty- seven books.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SENECA.]

Marcus Aurelius the emperor and Epictetus the slave hold prominent places among the ethical teachers of Rome. Of the emperor as a philosopher we have already spoken (see p. 321).

Epictetus (b. about 60 A.D.) was for many years a slave at the capital; but, securing in some way his freedom, he became a teacher of philosophy.

Epictetus and Aurelius were the last eminent representatives and expositors of the philosophy of Zeno. Christianity, giving a larger place to the affections than did Stoicism, was already fast winning the hearts of men.

WRITERS OF THE EARLY LATIN CHURCH.--The Christian authors of the first three centuries, like the writers of the New Testament, employed the Greek, that being the language of learning and culture. As the Latin tongue, however, came into more general use throughout the extended provinces of the Roman empire, the Christian authors naturally began to use the same in the composition of their works. Hence, almost all the writings of the Fathers of the Church, produced during the last two centuries of the empire, were composed in Latin. Among the many names that adorn the Church literature of this period may be mentioned Saint Jerome and Saint Augustine,--the former celebrated for his translation of the Scriptures into Latin, [Footnote: The _Vulgate_, which is the version still used in the Roman Catholic Church.] and the latter for his "City of G.o.d." This was truly a wonderful work. It was written just when Rome was becoming the spoil of the barbarians, and was designed to answer the charge of the pagans that Christianity, turning the hearts of the people away from the wors.h.i.+p of the ancient G.o.ds, was the cause of the calamities that were befalling the Roman state.

ROMAN LAW AND LAW LITERATURE.--Although the Latin writers in all the departments of literary effort which we have so far reviewed did much valuable work, yet the Roman intellect in all these directions was under Greek guidance. Its work was largely imitative. But in another department it was different. We mean, of course, the field of legal and political science. Here the Romans ceased to be pupils, and became teachers.

Nations, like men, have their mission. Rome's mission was to give laws to the world.

In the year 527 A.D. Justinian became emperor of the Roman empire in the East. He almost immediately appointed a commission, headed by the great lawyer Tribonian, to collect and arrange in a systematic manner the immense ma.s.s of Roman laws, and the writings of the jurists. The undertaking was like that of the Decemvirs in connection with the Twelve Tables (see p. 236), only far greater. The result of the work of the commission was what is known as the _Corpus Juris Civilis_, or "Body of the Civil Law." This consisted of three parts: the _Code_, the _Pandects_ and the _Inst.i.tutes_, [Footnote: A later work called the _Novels_ comprised the laws of Justinian subsequent to the completion of the _Code_.] The Code was a revised and compressed collection of all the laws, instructions to judicial officers, and opinions on legal subjects, promulgated by the different emperors since the time of Hadrian; the Pandects (all-containing) were a digest or abridgment of the writings, opinions, and decisions of the most eminent of the old Roman jurists and lawyers. The Inst.i.tutes were a condensed edition of the Pandects, and were intended to form an elementary text-book for the use of students in the great law-schools of the empire.