Roman History Part 3

[Footnote 22: This vervain was used for religious purposes, and plucked up by the roots from consecrated ground; it was carried by amba.s.sadors to protect them from violence.]

[Footnote 23: This gate became later the starting-point of the Appian Way.--D.O.]

[Footnote 24: An imaginary sacred line that marked the bounds of the city. It did not always coincide with the line of the walls, but was extended from time to time. Such extension could only be made by a magistrate who had extended the boundaries of the empire by his victories,--D.O.]

[Footnote 25: Literally, "Horatian javelins."--D.O.]

[Footnote: Evidently so established after the destruction of the inhabitants in the storming (see p. 17, above).--D. O.]

[Footnote 27: Tiber and Anio.--D. O.]

[Footnote 28: Scourging and beheading, scourging to death, burying alive, and crucifixion (for slaves) may make us question the justice of this boast. Foreign generals captured in war were only strangled.

Altogether, the Roman indifference to suffering was very marked as compared with the humanity of the Greeks.--D. O.]

[Footnote 29: The Lares were of human origin, being only the deified ancestors of the family: the Penates of divine origin, the tutelary G.o.ds of the family.]

[Footnote 30: "Curia Hostilia." It was at the northwest corner of the forum, northeast of the comitium.--D. O.]

[Footnote 31: Identified with Juno.--D. O.]

[Footnote 32: This story makes us suspect that it was the case of another warlike king who had incurred the enmity of the senate.

The patricians alone controlled or were taught in religious matters.--D.O.]

[Footnote 33: Supposed to be an Etruscan G.o.ddess, afterward identified with Jana, the female form of Ja.n.u.s, as was customary with the Romans.--D.O.] The Janiculum [Footnote: The heights across the Tiber.--D.O.]

[Footnote 34: Called Mamertinus; though apparently not until the Middle Ages.]

[Footnote 35: Luc.u.mo seems to have been, originally at least, an Etruscan t.i.tle rather than name.--D.O.]

[Footnote 36: No one was n.o.ble who could not show images of his ancestors: and no one was allowed to have an image who had not filled the highest offices of state: this was called jus imaginum.]

[Footnote 37: This part of the Via Nova probably corresponded pretty closely with the present Via S. Teodoro, and Tarquin's house is supposed to have stood not far from the church of Sta.

Anastasia.--D.O.]

[Footnote 38: A white toga with horizontal purple stripes. This was originally the royal robe. Later it became the ceremonial dress of the equestrian order. The Salii, priests of Mars Gradivus, also wore it--D.O.]

[Footnote 39: This was a quinquennial registering of every man's age, family, profession, property, and residence, by which the amount of his taxes was regulated. Formerly each full citizen contributed an equal amount. Servius introduced a regulation of the taxes according to property qualifications, and clients and plebeians alike had to pay their contribution, if they possessed the requisite amount of property.]

[Footnote 40: Or, "pounds weight of bronze," originally reckoned by the possession of a certain number of jugera (20 jugera being equal to 5,000 a.s.ses).]

[Footnote 41: Between the ages of forty-six and sixty.--D.O.]

[Footnote 42: Between the ages of seventeen and forty-six--D.O.].

[Footnote 43: A ceremony of purification, from sus, ovis, and taurus: the three victims were led three times round the army and sacrificed to Mars. The ceremony took place every fifth year]

[Footnote 44: These were the walls of Rome down to about 271-276 A.D., when the Emperor Aurelian began the walls that now inclose the city. Remains of the Servian wall are numerous and of considerable extent.--D.O.]

[Footnote 45: On the summit of the Aventine.--D. O.]

[Footnote 46: Those introduced by Tarquinius Priscus, as related above.--D.O.]

[Footnote 47: At the foot of the Alban Hill. The general councils of the Latins were held here up to the time of their final subjugation.]

[Footnote 48: A few ruins on the Via Praenestina, about nine miles from the Porta Maggiore, mark the site of Gabii. They are on the bank of the drained Lago Castiglione, whence Macaulay's "Gabii of the Pool".--D.O.]

[Footnote 49: This message without words is the same as that which, according to Herodotus, was sent by Thrasybulus of Miletus to Periander of Corinth. The trick by which s.e.xtus gained the confidence of the people of Gabii is also related by him of Zophyrus and Darius.]

[Footnote 50: The name "Tarpeian," as given from the Tarpeia, whose story is told above, was generally confined to the rock or precipice from which traitors were thrown. Its exact location on the Capitoline Hill does not seem positively determined; in fact, most of the sites on this hill have been subjects of considerable dispute.--D.O.]

[Footnote 51: The G.o.d of boundaries. His action seems quite in keeping with his office.--D.O.]

[Footnote 52: The Cloaca Maxima, upon which Rome still relies for much of her drainage, is more generally attributed to Tarquinius Priscus.--D.O.]

[Footnote 53: The modern Segni, upward of thirty miles from Rome, on the Rome-Naples line.--D.O.]

[Footnote 54: On the coast, near Terracina. The Promontoria Circeo is the traditional site of the palace and grave of Circe, whose story is told in the Odyssey.--D.O.]

[Footnote 55: Dullard.--D.O.]

[Footnote 56: In the Pomptine marshes, about twenty miles south of Rome and five from the coast.--D.O.]

[Footnote 57: Its site, about nine miles from Rome, on the road to Tivoli, is now known as Lunghezza.--D.O.]

[Footnote 58: The royal body-guard. See the story of Romulus above.--D.O.]

[Footnote 59: Spurius Lucretius.--D.O.]

BOOK II

THE FIRST COMMONWEALTH

The acts, civil and military, of the Roman people, henceforth free, their annual magistrates, and the sovereignty of the laws, more powerful than that of men, I will now proceed to recount. The haughty insolence of the last king had caused this liberty to be the more welcome: for the former kings reigned in such a manner that they all in succession may be deservedly reckoned founders of those parts at least of the city, which they independently added as new dwelling-places for the population, which had been increased by themselves. Nor is there any doubt that that same Brutus, who gained such renown from the expulsion of King Superbus, would have acted to the greatest injury of the public weal, if, through the desire of liberty before the people were fit for it, he had wrested the kingdom from any of the preceding kings. For what would have been the consequence, if that rabble of shepherds and strangers, runaways from their own peoples, had found, under the protection of an inviolable sanctuary, either freedom, or at least impunity for former offences, and, freed from all dread of regal authority, had begun to be distracted by tribunician storms, and to engage in contests with the fathers in a strange city, before the pledges of wives and children, and affection for the soil itself, to which people become habituated only by length of time, had united their affections? Their condition, not yet matured, would have been destroyed by discord; but the tranquillizing moderation of the government so fostered this condition, and by proper nourishment brought it to such perfection, that, when their strength was now developed, they were able to bring forth the wholesome fruits of liberty. The first beginnings of liberty, however, one may date from this period, rather because the consular authority was made annual, than because of the royal prerogative was in any way curtailed. The first consuls kept all the privileges and outward signs of authority, care only being taken to prevent the terror appearing doubled, should both have the fasces at the same time. Brutus, with the consent of his colleague, was first attended by the fasces, he who proved himself afterward as keen in protecting liberty as he had previously shown himself in a.s.serting it.

First of all he bound over the people, jealous of their newly-acquired liberty, by an oath that they would suffer no one to be king in Rome, for fear that later they might be influenced by the importunities or bribes of the royal house. Next, that a full house might give additional strength to the senate, he filled up the number of senators, which had been diminished by the a.s.sa.s.sinations of Tarquinius, to the full number of three hundred, by electing the princ.i.p.al men of equestrian rank to fill their places: from this is said to have been derived the custom of summoning into the senate both the patres and those who were conscripti. They called those who were elected, conscripti, enrolled, that is, as a new senate. It is surprising how much that contributed to the harmony of the state, and toward uniting the patricians and commons in friends.h.i.+p.

Attention was then paid to religious matters, and, as certain public functions had been regularly performed by the kings in person, to prevent their loss being felt in any particular, they appointed a king of the sacrifices.[1] This office they made subordinate to the pontifex maximus, that the holder might not, if high office were added to the t.i.tle, prove detrimental to liberty, which was then their princ.i.p.al care. And I do not know but that, by fencing it in on every side to excess, even in the most trivial matters, they exceeded bounds. For, though there was nothing else that gave offence, the name of one of the consuls was an object of dislike to the state.

They declared that the Tarquins had been too much habituated to sovereignty; that it had originated with Priscus: that Servius Tullius had reigned next; that Tarquinius Superbus had not even, in spite of the interval that had elapsed, given up all thoughts of the kingdom as being the property of another, which it really was, but thought to regain it by crime and violence, as if it were the heirloom of his family; that after the expulsion of Superbus, the government was inthe hands of Collatinus: that the Tarquins knew not how to live in a private station; that the name pleased them not; that it was dangerous to liberty. Such language, used at first by persons quietly sounding the dispositions of the people, was circulated through the whole state; and the people, now excited by suspicion, were summoned by Brutus to a meeting. There first of all he read aloud the people's oath: that they would neither suffer any one to be king, nor allow any one to live at Rome from whom danger to liberty might arise. He declared that this ought to be maintained with all their might, and that nothing, that had any reference to it, ought to be treated with indifference: that he said this with reluctance, for the sake of the individual; and that he would not have said it, did not his affection for the commonwealth predominate; that the people of Rome did not believe that complete liberty had been recovered; that the regal family, the regal name, was not only in the state but also in power; that that was a stumbling-block, was a hindrance to liberty. "Do you, Lucius Tarquinius," said he, "of your own free will, remove this apprehension? We remember, we own it, you expelled the royal family; complete your services: take hence the royal name; your property your fellow-citizens shall not only hand over to you, by my advice, but, if it is insufficient, they will liberally supply the want. Depart in a spirit of friends.h.i.+p. Relieve the state from a dread which may be only groundless. So firmly are men's minds persuaded that only with the Tarquinian race will kingly power depart hence." Amazement at so extraordinary and sudden an occurrence at first impeded the consul's utterance; then, as he was commencing to speak, the chief men of the state stood around him, and with pressing entreaties urged the same request. The rest of them indeed had less weight with him, but after Spurius Lucretius, superior to all the others in age and high character, who was besides his own father-in-law, began to try various methods, alternately entreating and advising, in order to induce him to allow himself to be prevailed on by the general feeling of the state, the consul, apprehensive that hereafter the same lot might befall him, when his term of office had expired, as well as loss of property and other additional disgrace, resigned his consuls.h.i.+p, and removing all his effects to Lavinium, withdrew from the city. Brutus, according to a decree of the senate, proposed to the people, that all who belonged to the family of the Tarquins should be banished from Rome: in the a.s.sembly of centuries he elected Publius Valerius, with whose a.s.sistance he had expelled the kings, as his colleague.

Though n.o.body doubted that a war was impending from the Tarquins, yet it broke out later than was generally expected; however, liberty was well-nigh lost by fraud and treachery, a thing they never apprehended.

There were among the Roman youth several young men--and these of no no rank--who, while the regal government lasted, had enjoyed greater license in their pleasures, being the equals in age, boon companions of the young Tarquins, and accustomed to live after the fas.h.i.+on of princes. Missing that freedom, now that the privileges of all were equalized,[2] they complained among themselves that the liberty of others had turned out slavery for them: that a king was a human being, from whom one could obtain what one wanted, whether the deed might be an act of justice or of wrong; that there was room for favour and good offices; that he could be angry, and forgive; that he knew the difference between a friend and an enemy; that the laws were a deaf, inexorable thing, more beneficial and advantageous for the poor than for the rich; that they allowed no relaxation or indulgence, if one transgressed due bounds; that it was perilous, amid so many human errors, to have no security for life but innocence. While their minds were already of their own accord thus discontented, amba.s.sadors from the royal family arrived unexpectedly, merely demanding rest.i.tution of their personal property, without any mention of their return. After their application had been heard in the senate, the deliberation about it lasted for several days, as they feared that the non-rest.i.tution of the property might be made a pretext for war, its rest.i.tution a fund and a.s.sistance for the same. In the meantime the amba.s.sadors were planning a different scheme: while openly demanding the restoration of property, they secretly concerted measures for recovering the throne, and soliciting them, as if to promote that which appeared to be the object in view, they sounded the minds of the young n.o.bles; to those by whom their proposals were favourably received they gave letters from the Tarquins, and conferred with them about admitting the royal family into the city secretly by night.

The matter was first intrusted to the brothers Vitellii and Aquilii. A sister of the Vitellii was married to Brutus the consul, and the issue of that marriage was the grown-up sons, t.i.tus and Tiberius; they also were admitted by their uncles to share the plot; several young n.o.bles also were taken into their confidence, recollection of whose names has been lost from lapse of time. In the meantime, as that opinion had prevailed in the Senate, which was in favour of the property being restored, the amba.s.sadors made use of this as a pretext for lingering in the city, and the time which they had obtained from the consuls to procure conveyances, in which to remove the effects of the royal family, they spent entirely in consultations with the conspirators, and by persistent entreaties succeeded in getting letters given to them for the Tarquins. Otherwise how could they feel sure that the representations made by the amba.s.sadors on matters of such importance were not false? The letters, given as an intended pledge of their sincerity, caused the plot to be discovered: for when, the day before the amba.s.sadors set out to the Tarquins, they had supped by chance at the house of the Vitellii, and the conspirators had there discoursed much together in private, as was natural, concerning their revolutionary design, one of the slaves, who had already observed what was on foot, overheard their conversation; he waited, however, for the opportunity when the letters should be given to the amba.s.sadors, the detection of which would put the matter beyond a doubt. When he found that they had been given, he laid the whole affair before the consuls.

The consuls left their home to seize the amba.s.sadors and conspirators, and quashed the whole affair without any disturbance, particular care being taken of the letters, to prevent their being lost or stolen.

The traitors were immediately thrown into prison: some doubt was entertained concerning the treatment of the amba.s.sadors, and though their conduct seemed to justify their being considered as enemies, the law of nations nevertheless prevailed.

The consideration of the restoration of the king's effects, for which the senate had formerly voted, was laid anew before them. The fathers, overcome by indignation, expressly forbade either their restoration or confiscation. They were given to the people to be rifled, that, having been polluted as it were by partic.i.p.ation in the royal plunder, they might lose forever all hopes of reconciliation with the Tarquins. A field belonging to the latter, which lay between the city and the Tiber, having been consecrated to Mars, was afterward called the Campus Martius. It is said that there was by chance, at that time, a crop of corn upon it ripe for harvest; this produce of the field, as they thought it unlawful to use it, after it had been reaped, a large number of men, sent into the field together, carried in baskets corn and straw together, and threw it into the Tiber, which then was flowing with shallow water, as is usual in the heat of summer; thus the heaps of corn as they stuck in the shallows settled down, covered over with mud; by means of these and other substances carried down to the same spot, which the river brings along hap-hazard, an island[3]

was gradually formed. Afterward I believe that substructures were added, and that aid was given by human handicraft, that the surface might be well raised, as it is now and strong enough besides to bear the weight even of temples and colonnades. After the tyrant's effects had been plundered, the traitors were condemned and punishment inflicted. This punishment was the more noticeable, because the consuls.h.i.+p imposed on the father the office of punis.h.i.+ng his own children, and to him, who should have been removed even as a spectator, was a.s.signed by fortune the duty of carrying out the punishment. Young men of the highest rank stood bound to the stake; but the consul's sons diverted the eyes of all the spectators from the rest of the criminals, as from persons unknown; and the people felt pity, not so much on account of their punishment, as of the crime by which they had deserved it. That they, in that year above all others, should have brought themselves to betray into the hands of one, who, formerly a haughty tyrant, was now an exasperated exile, their country recently delivered, their father its deliverer, the consulate which took its rise from the Junian family, the fathers, the people, and all the G.o.ds and citizens of Rome. The consuls advanced to take their seats, and the lictors were despatched to inflict punishment. The young men were stripped naked, beaten with rods, and their heads struck off with the axe, while all the time the looks and countenance of the father presented a touching spectacle, as his natural feelings displayed themselves during the discharge of his duty in inflicting public punishment. After the punishment of the guilty, that the example might be a striking one in both aspects for the prevention of crime, a sum of money was granted out of the treasury as a reward to the informer: liberty also and the rights of citizens.h.i.+p were conferred upon him. He is said to have been the first person made free by the vindicta; some think that even the term vindicta is derived from him, and that his name was Vindicius. [4] After him it was observed as a rule, that all who were set free in this manner were considered to be admitted to the rights of Roman citizens.