nations to fight under their standards, that unity obtained firm consolidation and recognition in state-law; and the name Italia, which originally pertained only to the modern Calabria, was transferred to the whole land of these wearers of the toga. The earliest boundaries of this great armed confederacy led by Rome, or of the new Italy, reached on the western coast as far as the district of Leghorn, south of the Arnus; on the east, as far as the Æsis, north of Ancona. Position of United Italy about 270 B. C. This Italy had become already a political unity; it was also in the course of becoming a national unity. Already the ruling Latin nationality had assimilated to itself the Sabines and Volscians, and scattered, isolated Latin communities (the Latin colonies or roadfortresses) over all Italy; these germs were merely developed when, subsequently, the Latin language became the mother tongue of every one entitled to wear the toga. The singular cohesion which that confederation subsequently exhibited under the severest shocks, stamped their great work with the seal of success. From the time when the threads of this net, drawn as skilfully as firmly around all Italy, were concentrated in the hands of the Roman community, it became a great power, and took its place in the system of the Mediterranean states. The other Mediterranean states were Carthage, Egypt, Macedonia, and Asia, (the empire of the Seleucidæ.) Connection of the conquered States with Rome. The Italian states were divided into three classes: 1. Nations which had been admitted to the privilege of Roman citizenship. 2. Nations which were admitted as allies of Rome. 3. The subject nations. The Italian towns were also divided into three classes: 1. Municipia: towns which had been admitted to the privilege of Roman citizenship. 2. Colonies. a. Latin colonies, or road-fortresses. b. Burgess colonies, or maritime fortresses. These colonies contained a double population: I. The original inhabitants, now vassals of Rome, and occupiers of a portion only of the estates which had formerly been their own. II. The new colonists, who formed, not only the garrison of the fortress, but who had also the entire administration of the town in their hands. 3. Præfectures were towns to which a præfect, or magistrate charged with the administration of the laws, was sent out every year from Rome, for the purpose of maintaining the supremacy of the Roman code. C. THE PUNIC WARS. I. Situation of Rome and Carthage, on the eve of the great struggle. Carthage and Rome were, when the struggle between them began, on the whole equally matched. But while Carthage had put forth all the efforts of which intellect and wealth were capable to provide herself with artificial means of attack and defence, she was unable in any satisfactory way to supply the fundamental wants of a land army of her own. That Rome could only be seriously attacked in Italy, and Carthage only in Libya, no one could fail to see; as little could any one fail to perceive that Carthage could not in the long run escape from such an attack. Fleets were not yet, in those times of the infancy of navigation, the heirloom of nations, but could be fitted out wherever there were trees, iron, and water. It was clear, and had been several times tested in Africa itself, that even powerful maritime states were not able to prevent a weaker enemy from landing. When Agathocles had shown the way thither, a Roman general could follow the same course; and while in Italy the mere entrance of an invading army began the war, the same event in Africa put an end to it, by changing it into a siege, in which even the most obstinate and heroic courage must finally succumb. II. General Summary of the Wars. Number. Three, of which the second was the most important. The countries around and islands within the western basin of the Mediterranean. The supremacy over the countries surrounding the III. First Punic War. Cause. The Mamertines of Messana (Oscan mercenaries, a horde of adventurers and plunderers, who were the common enemies of mankind,) apply for aid from Rome against the Carthaginians and King Hiero. Duration. Twenty-three years, (263–241.) Theatre of war. Sicily, Africa, and the seas surrounding Sicily. Parties. A. United Italy under the leadership of Rome, allied with Syracuse. B. The Carthaginians. Divisions. I. 263--257. seven years. II. 256-250. seven years.-III. 249-241. losses; duration, nine years. Commanders. A. Roman: Duilius and Regulus. B. Carthaginian: Hamilcar Barcas. War in Sicily; success of the Romans; duration, Battles. Naval battles gained by the Romans: Mylæ, (260;) Ecnomus, (256;) Egætian isles, (242.) Gained by the Carthaginians: Drepanum, (249.) Land battle gained by the Romans: Panormus, (251,) the greatest engagement of the war. Cause of peace. The Carthaginians fail to send commissary stores to their Sicilian garrisons. Condition of peace. Cession of Sicily and of all the small islands between Italy and Sicily. Result. This great conflict had extended the dominion of Rome beyond the circling sea that encloses the peninsula, and had changed entirely her political system. The purely Italian policy had been gradually changed to the policy of a great state. A land army and the system of a civic militia no longer sufficed. It had been necessary to create a fleet, and, what was more difficult, to employ it. That mighty creation, however, was but a grand expedient. The naval service continued to be little esteemed in comparison with the high honor of serving in the legions; the naval officers were for the most part Italian Greeks; the crews were composed of subjects, or even of slaves and outcasts. Nevertheless, the Roman fleet, with its unwieldy grandeur, was the noblest creation of genius in this war; and, as at its beginning, so at its close, it was the fleet that turned the scale in favor of Rome. At the close of the first Punic war, the Italian confederacy united the various civic and cantonal communities, from the Apennines to the Ionian sea, under the hegemony of Rome. During the 23 years that intervened between the first and second Punic war, Italy was extended to its natural boundaries. The boundary of the Alps was reached, in so far as the whole flat country on the Po was either rendered subject to the Romans or was occupied by dependent allies. IV. Events between the First and Second Punic War. 1st. The war of the mercenaries against Carthage; suppressed, after fearful horrors, by Hamilcar, in its third year. 2d. The Carthaginians are obliged to surrender Sardinia and Corsica to the Romans. 3d. To indemnify themselves for this loss, the Carthaginians had commenced the subjugation of Spain. 4th. Their progress was stopped by the conclusion of a treaty with the Romans, in which the Carthaginians were pledged not to pass the river Iberus, (Ebro,) and to respect Saguntum as an ally of Rome. V. Second Punic War. Cause. The taking of Saguntum by Hannibal, (219.) Parties. I. Rome. II. Carthage, aided by all the different Italian nationalities with the exception of the Latins. Divisions. 4 years, (218–215.) Victorious career of Hannibal from Spain to Capua. 4 years, (211-207.) Hannibal confined to Southern Italy. 4 years, (206-201.) Gradual retreat of Hannibal. 2 years, (203-201.) The African war. Contemporaneous war in Spain, (218-206.) Commanders. I. Rome: The Scipios, especially Scipio Major, Fabius Cunctator, (the Delayer,) Marcellus, Claudius Nero. II. Carthaginian: The three sons of Hamilcar Barcas, Hannibal, Hasdrubal, Mago. Hannibal's march. From Carthago Nova, in south-eastern Spain, into Italy, (5 months.) From Carthagena to Emporium, (in north-eastern Spain.) From Emporium, across the eastern part of the Pyrenees, through southern France, to the ford of the Rhone near Orange. Along the eastern side of the Rhone to Vienne. From Vienne eastward to Montmeillan on the Isère. Along the right bank of the Isère to Scez. From Scez, over the Little St. Bernard, to Morgez on the Dorea Baltea. Along the left bank of the Dorea Baltea to Ivrea, and from thence to Turin. Battles. Gained by Hannibal: Ticinus, (218,) Trebia, (218,) Trasimenus, (217,) Cannæ, (216.) Gained by the Romans: Nola, (215,) Metaurus, (210,) Zama, (202.) Cause of peace. Carthage exhausted. Conditions of peace. 1st. The surrender to the Romans of all her ships of war, (exc. 10.) 2d. To pay, within 50 years, 10,000 talents, ($15,000,000.) 3d. To undertake no war without the consent of Rome. Result of the war. 1st. The conversion of Spain into two Roman provinces. 2d. The union of the kingdom of Syracuse (conquered by Marcellus in 212) with the Roman province of Sicily. 3d. The establishment of a Roman instead of the Carthaginian protectorate over Numidia. 4th. The conversion of Carthage from a powerful commercial state into a defenceless mercantile town. In other words, it established the uncontested hegemony of Rome over the western region of the Mediterranean. VI. Events between the Second and Third Punic War, 201150 B. C., a period of 50 years. 1st. The Macedonian wars. consequence of the battle at Pydna, (168.) Macedonia divided into four independent districts. Twenty years later it was made a Roman province, (148.) Polybius dates from the battle of Pydna the full establishment of the universal empire of Rome. The whole civilized world thenceforth recognized in the Roman senate the supreme tribunal, whose commissioners decided in the last resort between kings and nations. 2d. War with Antiochus III., of Syria, (192-190 B. C.,) between the second and third Macedonian war. (See ANTIOCHUS THE GREAT.) 3d. Continual wars in Spain. A brilliant victory over the Celtiberi (195 B. C.) placed the whole of Spain, north of the Ebro, at the disposal of Marcus Porcius Cato, who commanded the inhabitants of all the towns to demolish their walls on the same day. VII. Third Punic War. Cause. The Carthaginians had made war without permissions of the Romans, (against the treaty of peace.) Duration. Five years, (150-146 B. C.) Theatre of war. The immediate vicinity of Carthage. Result. Destruction of Carthage. The whole of the Carthaginian Empire (except that portion that belonged to Numidia) became a Roman province, under the name of Africa, with Utica for its capital. The real gainers by the destruction of the first commercial city of the West were the Roman merchants, who flocked in troops to Utica, and from that as their head-quarters began to turn to profitable account the whole of northwestern Africa, which had hitherto been closed to them. VIII, Jugurthine War. Cause. The usurpation of Numidia by Jugurtha, the grandson of Masinissa. Theatre of war. Numidia, the north-western part of Africa. Results. Capture and execution of Jugurtha. Complete conquest of Numidia, which, however, was not incorporated with the Roman state. The western part was given to Bocchus, king of Mauretania, to reward his betrayal of Jugurtha. The eastern portion was given to Gauda, the only surviving grandson of Masinissa. D. THE CONSOLIDATION OF THE SHORES OF THE I. The War with the Cimbri and Teutones. Theatre of war. South-eastern France, and north-western Italy. Commander. Roman: Caius MARIUS. Barbarian: Teutoboch. Battles. Two Roman victories, near Aquæ Sextiæ, (102 B. c.,) and near Vercellæ, (101 B. C.) Results. The human avalanche, which for 13 years had alarmed the nations from the Danube to the Ebro, from the Seine to the Po, rested beneath the sod, or toiled under the yoke of slavery: the homeless people of the Cimbri and their comrades were no more. II. The Marsic, or Social War. Cause. The refusal of the Romans to admit the Italian confederates to the full right of citizenship. Duration. Nearly four years, (91-88 B. o.) Theatre of war. 1st. Northward in Picenum; 2d. In central Italy; 3d. In the south, in Samnium and Campania. Parties. All the Italian nations, with the exception of the Latins, Etruscans, and Umbrians, against Rome. Commanders. Roman: SULLA, Marius, Pompeius Strabo. Italian: Quintus Silo, C. Papius. Result. The Italians acquire the Roman citizenship. III. The Three Wars against Mithradates. I. Cause. The murder of 80,000 Romans in Asia, by order of Mithradates. Duration. Four years, (87-84 B. C.) Theatre of war. Greece and the northwestern part of Asia Minor. Parties. The nations of western Asia and the Greeks, against the Romans. Commanders. Roman: Sulla, Fimbria. Asiatic: Mithradates, Neoptolemus, and Archelaus. Battles. Gained by Sulla, Charonea and Orchomenus. Conditions of peace. Mithradates was forced to evacuate the western part of Asia Minor, to deliver up 70 men-of-war, and pay 2,000 talents ($3,000,000) as an indemnity for the expenses of the war. Result. After four years of war, the Pontic king was again a client of the Romans, and a single and settled government was restored in Greece, Macedonia, and Asia Minor. II. Cause. The violation of the Pontic frontier by the Roman governor, Murena. Duration. Three years, (83-81 B. C.) Theatre of war. The northern part of Asia Minor. The principal Wars between the Second and Third Mithradatic War. 1. The war against Sertorius, (80-72 B. c.) (See SERTORIUS.) 2. The servile war, or the war of the gladiators and slaves, (73-71 B. C.) They were defeated in two decisive battles by Crassus, in the second of which, Spartacus, their commander, lost his life. The grand feature of the civil contests in the Roman commonwealth was, throughout, the struggle of one favored class to maintain its exclusive privileges against another of a different origin, but blended with it in one body politic. The first phase of this struggle was that between the patricians and plebeians, strictly so called: when this contest terminated in the admission of the inferior class to substantially equal privileges, peace was for a time obtained. But the progress of external conquest gradually created a similar distinction of classes upon a larger scale. The citizens of Rome, patrician and plebeian, whether living in the city or established in colonies, jealously maintained the distinctive privileges, lucrative and influential as they were, which they enjoyed as such. The conquered states of Italy, admitted into alliance and a certain limited communion with Rome, but refused the complete franchise and its privileges, now stood in an analogous relation to the Roman people with that of the ancient plebeians to the patricians. The social wars formed the crisis of the long struggle for these privileges, and terminated in the enfranchisement of the Italians. However, it was still in the power of the Roman, or exclusive party, to neutralize these concessions to a considerable extent; and then it was that the Italians began, like the plebeians of old, to look for allies among the ranks of their opponents. Marius himself, the great leader of the foreign party, was an Italian ; but many of his adherents were Romans, hostile to the domination of the old aristocratic families, and anxious, by whatever means, to obtain an ascendency for themselves. The contest, as is usual in such cases, gradually lost the character of a domestic and foreign, and acquired much of that of an aristocratic and popular struggle. Thus, during the success of the aristocratic party under Sulla, they tried to impose checks upon the influence of the plebeians, who had become almost identified with the Italians, or rather absorbed in their multitude. Pompey succeeded to the post of Sulla at the head of this party, while Cæsar assumed the leadership of the other. The one fought for the integrity of the senate, and such exclusive privileges as were still enjoyed by the old aristocratic families of Rome, of whom the senate was still almost entirely composed. The other was expected to break down every barrier which opposed the com- Theatre of war. The countries surrounding the Mediterranean. Number of wars. Eleven. I. The Gracchi, (133-121.) (See GRACCHI.) II. Marius and Sulla, (88-86.) (See these.) III. The Marian party and Sulla, (83-79.) (See SULLA.) IV. The war against Sertorius, (80-72.) (See this.) V. Catiline's conspiracy, (66-62,) suppressed by Cicero, (the Catiline orations.) If Catiline really had any object at all, unless we suppose the crimes themselves to have been his object, it must have been that of making himself tyrant, and of becoming a second Sulla. Catiline was defeated and killed in Etruria by Petreius. VI. Cæsar and Pompey, (49-48.) (See these.) Cæsar master of Italy in 60 days; Pompey flies to Greece; Cæsar forces Afranius and Petreius to capitulate in Spain; but loses two legions, under Curio, in Africa, where they are defeated by the Pompeian party, under Varus and King Juba; returns to Rome; is appointed dictator, an office which he holds only eleven days; crosses over into Greece; suffers a considerable loss at Dyrrhachium, but wins the decisive battle of Pharsalia, (B. C. 48.) VII. The Pompeian party and Cæsar, (48-45.) Cæsar crosses over into Africa; defeats the Pompeians at Thapsus, (B. c. 46;) returns to Rome, and celebrates his four triumphs over Gaul, Egypt, Pontus, and Juba. VIII. The civil war of Mutina, (44-43.) Antony is defeated, and joins Lepidus in Transalpine Gaul: Octavianus obtains the consulate. He soon deserts the party of the senate, and enters into negotiation with Antony and Lepidus. They form the second triumvirate. Hideous proscriptions, merciless and wholesale butcheries: 300 senators and 2,000 knights proscribed. IX. Civil war between the oligarchy and the republicans. Double battle of Philippi. Death of Brutus and Cassius, (B. c. 42.) The fall of Brutus and Cassius was a final death-blow to the cause of the old Roman aristocracy. X. Perusian war, (B. c. 41-40.) Quarrels of the oligarchy among themselves. Octavian had experienced considerable difficulty in arranging the distribution of lands among his veterans, the original proprietors requiring indemnification, and the soldiers themselves being dissatisfied with their allotments. At the instigation of Fulvia, L. Antonius, brother of the triumvir, came forward as the champion of these discontented spirits, but was compelled to surrender at Perusia, which is reduced to a heap of ashes, (41.) Antony and Octavianus are reconciled. Peace of Brundusium. (See this.) XI. Octavian and Antony. Final rupture between them, brought to a crisis by Antony's ill treatment of his wife, Octavia, whom he divorces. Antony defeated at the battle of Actium, (B. c. 31;) he deserts his army, which surrenders to Augustus, after in vain waiting seven days for Antony's return. Death of Antony and Cleopatra. Egypt made a Roman province. Octavianus Cæsar sole master of the state, (B. c. 30,) and end of the republic. THE EMPIRE. A MONARCHY WITH REPUBLICAN FORMS. I. The Constitution of the Empire from 30 B. C.-300 A. D. I. The imperial prerogative. a. The levy of the army. Augustus was the commander of 47 legions, besides the auxiliary troops, amounting altogether to about 450,000 men. Over these forces the senate had not the least control, not even over the levying of the troops. b. The censorial, tribunitial, and pontifical authority. His edicts and ordinances had the force of laws. II. The senate, limited by Augustus to 600 members. It was on the dignity of the senate that Augustus and his successors founded their new empire; and they affected on every occasion to adopt the language and principles of patricians. In the administration of their own powers they frequently consulted the great national council, and seemed to refer to its decision the most important concerns of peace and war. Rome, Italy, and the internal provinces were subject to the immediate jurisdiction of the senate. With regard to civil objects, it was the supreme court of appeal; with regard to criminal matters, a tribunal constituted for the trial of all offences that were committed by men in any public station, or that affected the peace and majesty of the Roman people. Every power was derived from their authority, every law was ratified by their sanction. Their regular meetings were held on three stated days in every month, the kalends, the nones, and the ides. The debates were conducted with decent freedom, and the emperors themselves, who gloried in the name of senators, sat, voted, and divided with their equals. III. The magistrates. a. The ancient magistracies. The consuls were generally elected every two months, and retained merely the privilege of presiding in the senate and a share in the jurisdiction. The other officers of the republic were also retained, but with some alterations in their functions, b. New officers. Three new officers were created, who were entirely under the control of the emperor: 1. The prefect of the city, (præfectus urbi,) to whom the public order in Rome was confided. 2. The commanders of the guard, (præfecti prætorio,) who took precedence immediately after the emperor, and were in some respects his lieutenants even in civil affairs. 3. The præfectus annons, who superintended the supply of corn. IV. The Empire. Rome, instead of being itself the state, became merely the capital of a more extended empire. The ordinary boundaries of this empire, which it sometimes exceeded, were, in Europe, the two great rivers of the Rhine and the Danube; in Asia, the Euphrates and the sandy desert of Syria; in Africa, likewise the desert. It thus included the fairest portions of the earth surrounding the Mediterranean sea. This empire was divided into two distinct parts: Italy and the provinces. The division of the provinces was made in such a manner that those in which no regular armies were kept were assigned to the senate; whereas those in which armies were stationed belonged to the emperor. His provinces yielded an incomparably larger revenue than those of the senate, but it may nevertheless have been insufficient to maintain the armies, which were stationed in fortified camps in those provinces. These fortified camps were distributed as follows: Three legions were sufficient for Britain. The principal strength lay upon the Rhine and Danube, and consisted of 16 legions. The defence of the Euphrates was intrusted to 8 legions. With regard to Egypt, Africa, and Spain, as they were far removed from any important scene of war, a single legion maintained the domestic tranquillity of each of those great provinces. II. The Roman Emperors from 30 B. C. until 190 A. D. Seventeen emperors ruled the Empire during the first 220 years of its existence. The five emperors of the Julian house Augustus, Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius, Nero. Explosion of the Augustan peace by simultaneous revolts in all parts of the empire at the death of Nero. The three emperors proclaimed by the legions, (68, 69.) Galba, Otho, and Vitellius. The three Flavii, (69, 96.) Vespasianus, Titus, and Domitian. The three statesmen, (96-138.) Nerva, Trajan, and Hadrian. The three Antonines, (138-192.) Antoninus Pius, Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, Commodus. During this long period of 220 years, the dangers inherent to a military governnent were, in a great measure, suspended. The soldiers were seldom roused to that fatal sense of their own strength, and of the weakness of the civil authority, which was, before and afterward, productive of such dreadful calamities. Caligula and Domitian were assassinated in their palace by their own domestics; the convulsions, however, which agitated Rome on their death were confined to the walls of the city. But Nero involved the whole empire in his ruin. Excepting only this short, though violent, eruption of military license, (68-69 A. D..) the two centuries from Augustus to Commodus passed away unstained with civil blood, and undisturbed by revolutions. The emperor was elected by the authority of the senate and the consent of the soldiers. |