A few years later Marius had another opportunity to win distinction. He became the defender of Rome and Italy against a dangerous invasion of Germanic barbarians, who were ravaging Transalpine Gaul and the Po Valley. The decisive victories which Marius gained over them removed a grave danger which threatened the Roman world. The time had not yet come for ancient civilization to be submerged under a wave of barbarism.
The second military leader whom this troubled period brought forth was Lucius Cornelius Sulla. He was a man of noble birth, and with his social gifts, his appreciation of art and letters, his knowledge of men and the world, presented a sharp contrast to Marius. Sulla's great abilities quickly brought him into public notice; he rose rapidly from one office to another; and in the Social War showed his skill as a commander. This struggle was the consequence of Rome's refusal to grant the rights of citizenship to her Italian allies. The strength of the rebellion lay among the Samnites and other peoples of central and southern Italy. The war came to an end only when Rome promised the franchise to all Italians who returned to their allegiance. Before many years had passed, the inhabitants of nearly all the Italian towns south of the Rubicon River received Roman citizenship. It was this same wise policy of making conquered peoples equal with herself that afterwards led Rome to grant citizenship to the inhabitants of the provinces. [22]
What military honors were gained in the struggle belonged to Sulla. His reward was the consulship and an appointment as general in still another conflict which distracted Rome had to face. While that city had been busy with civil enemies and barbarian foes, a powerful state, known as Pontus, had been growing up in Asia Minor. Its king, Mithradates, overran the Roman provinces in the Orient and threatened to annex them to his own kingdom. But Sulla, with greatly inferior forces, compelled Mithradates to abandon his conquests, surrender his fleet, and pay a large indemnity. If Marius had the honor of repelling the barbarian invasion of the West, Sulla had the honor of preserving Rome's possessions in the East.
Marius and Sulla were rivals not only in war but also in politics. Sulla naturally espoused the aristocratic cause and stood as the champion of the Senate. Marius just as naturally became the head of the democratic party. The rivalry between the two leaders finally led to civil war. During Sulla's absence in the East the democrats got the upper hand at Rome and revenged themselves by murdering their political foes among the aristocrats. The reign of terror ended only with the sudden death of Marius, just after he had been elected to his seventh consulship. A few years later Sulla returned to Italy with his army and defeated the democrats in a great battle outside the Colline Gate of Rome. Sulla signalized his victory by ordering the assassination of every prominent man in the democratic party.
Sulla regarded this legalized butchery as a necessary step in his self- appointed task of putting the Roman government once more to rights. He now received the title of "Perpetual Dictator," with complete authority to govern the state until the new order of things should be established. Rome thus came under the rule of one man for the first time since the expulsion of the kings.
The various measures by which Sulla intrenched the Senate in power did not long survive his death and hence had no lasting influence on Roman politics. After a rule of three years Sulla voluntarily gave up the dictatorship and retired to his villa on the bay of Naples. He died a few months later. The Senate honored him with a public funeral, the most splendid that Rome had ever seen. His monument bore an inscription which the dictator himself is said to have composed: "No friend ever did him a kindness and no enemy, a wrong, without being fully repaid." [23] That was one epitaph which told the truth.
The struggle between Marius and Sulla, decided as it was by the sword, marks a stage in the decline of the Roman Republic. The careers of these two men showed how easily the state could be ruled by a successful commander who had his soldiers behind him. After Sulla's death his friend Pompey became the leading figure in Roman politics. Pompey's first service was in Spain, where the adherents of Marius sought to humble the Senate and the aristocratic party by encouraging the Spaniards to rise against Roman rule. Having crushed this rebellion, Pompey returned to Italy in time to take part in putting down a formidable insurrection of slaves, outlaws, and ruined peasants. He was next intrusted with the war against the pirates, who swarmed in the Mediterranean, preyed on commerce, and plundered wealthy cities near the coast. Brilliant success in clearing the seas of these marauders led to his being sent to the East to end the war with Mithradates, who was once more in arms against Rome. Pompey drove the Pontic monarch from his kingdom and then annexed Syria to the Roman dominions. When Pompey returned to Rome in 62 B.C., he brought with him a reputation as the most successful general of his time.
[Illustration: GNAEUS POMPEIUS MAGNUS (Spada Palace, Rome)]
We have seen how steadily since the days of the Gracchi the Roman state had been moving toward the rule of one man. Marius, Sulla, and Pompey each represent a step in the direction of monarchy. Yet there were still able and patriotic leaders at Rome who believed in the old order of things and tried their best to uphold the fast-perishing republic. No republican statesman was more devoted to the constitution than Cicero. A native of Arpinum, the same Italian town which had already given birth to Marius, Cicero came to Rome a youth without wealth or family influence. He made his way into Roman society by his social and conversational powers and by his capacity for friendship. His mind had been carefully trained under the influence of Hellenic culture; he had traveled and studied in Greece; and throughout life he loved to steal away from the tumult of the Forum and the law courts and enjoy the companionship of his books. Though the proud nobles were inclined to look down on him as a "new man," Cicero's splendid eloquence soon gave him prominence in politics. He ranks in fame as the second orator of antiquity, inferior only to Demosthenes.
[Illustration: MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO (Vatican Museum, Rome)]
Cicero rose to prominence through his prosecution of Verres, a thieving governor of Sicily. Verres had powerful friends among the nobles at Rome and counted on his influence and wealth to escape punishment. He openly boasted that he had plunder enough to live in luxury, even though he had to surrender two-thirds of it as fees to his lawyers and bribes to the jury. But Verres had not reckoned with the brilliant young advocate who took up the cause of the oppressed provincials. Cicero hurried to Sicily and there collected such an overwhelming mass of evidence that the bare statement of the facts was enough to condemn the criminal. Verres went into exile. Cicero became the head of the Roman bar. Seven years later he was elected consul.
The year of Cicero's consulship was marked by an event which throws a lurid light on the conditions of the time. Lucius Catiline, a young noble of ability, but bankrupt in character and purse, organized a conspiracy to seize Rome, murder the magistrates, and plunder the rich. He gathered about himself outlaws of every description, slaves, and starving peasants —all the discontented and needy classes throughout Italy. He and his associates were desperate anarchists who sought to restore their own broken fortunes by overturning the government. The spread of the insurrection was checked by Cicero's vigorous measures. In a series of famous speeches he exposed Catiline's plans to the astounded Senate. Catiline then fled to his camp in Etruria and shortly afterwards perished in battle, together with three thousand of his followers. Cicero now gained fresh popularity and honor. The grateful citizens called him "Father of his Country" (Pater Patriae).
Rome at this time held another prominent leader in politics, namely, Gaius Julius Caesar. He belonged to a noble family, but his father had favored the democratic cause and his aunt had married Marius. After Sulla's death Caesar threw himself with energy into the game of politics at the capital city. In these early years the future statesman seems to have been a demagogue of the usual type, who sought through the favor of the people a rapid rise to power. He won the ear of the multitude by his fiery harangues, his bribes of money, and his gifts of food and public shows. Caesar's expenditures for such purposes were enormous. Before he was twenty-four he had spent all his private fortune. Henceforth he was "financed" by the millionaire Crassus, who lent him the money so necessary for a successful career as a politician.
Caesar and Crassus, the two leaders of the democratic party at Rome, now joined with Pompey in what is called the First Triumvirate. To this "ring" Pompey contributed his military reputation, Crassus, his wealth, and Caesar, his influence over the Roman mob. Supported both by the people and by the army, these three men were really masters of Rome. An immediate result of the First Triumvirate was the appointment of Caesar as governor of Cisalpine and Transalpine Gaul.
[Illustration: GAIUS JULIUS CAESAR (British Museum, London)]
The story of his career in Gaul has been related by Caesar himself in the famousCommentaries. This book describes a series of military successes which have given the author a place among the world's generals. Caesar overran Transalpine Gaul, twice bridged the Rhine and invaded Germany, made two expeditions to Britain, and brought within the Roman dominions all the territory bounded by the Pyrenees, the Alps, the Rhine, and the Atlantic Ocean.
Caesar's conquests in Gaul are more than a chapter in the history of the art of war. They belong to the history of civilization. Henceforth the frontier of prehistoric Europe retreated rapidly to the north. The map of the ancient civilized world widened from the Mediterranean basin to the shores of the Atlantic. Into the conquered lands came the Latin language, the Roman law, and the customs and institutions of Rome. Gaul speedily became one of the most flourishing parts of the Roman world. "Let the Alps sink," exclaimed Cicero, "the gods raised them to shelter Italy from the barbarians, but now they are no longer needed."
During Caesar's long absence in Gaul the First Triumvirate was suddenly ended by the death of one of its members. It had been a part of their bargain in dividing the Roman world that Crassus should have the government of Syria. But this unlucky general, while aspiring to rival Caesar's exploits by new conquests beyond the Euphrates, lost his army and his life in battle with the Parthians. Besides checking the extension of the Roman arms in the remote East, the disaster had its effect on Roman politics. It dissolved the triumvirate and prepared the way for that rivalry between Caesar and Pompey which formed the next step in the downward course of the republic.
The two men were now rapidly drawing apart. Pompey grew more and more jealous of Caesar and more and more fearful that the latter was aiming at despotic power. He himself had no desire to be king or dictator. He was equally determined that Caesar should not gain such a position. In this attitude he had the full support of Cicero and the other members of the Senate. They saw clearly that the real danger to the state was Caesar, not Pompey.
Caesar's command in Gaul was to expire in 49 B.C. The senatorial party desired that he should return to Rome without an army. His opponents intended to prosecute him when he became a private citizen. Caesar had no inclination to trust himself to their tender mercies and refused to disband his legions unless his rival did the same. Finally the Senate, conscious of Pompey's support, ordered him to lay down his arms on pain of outlawry. Caesar replied to this challenge of the Senate by leading his troops across the Rubicon, the little stream that separated Cisalpine Gaul from Italy. As he plunged into the river, he exclaimed, "The die is cast." [24] He had now declared war on the republic.
Caesar's bold movement caught the senatorial party unawares. Pompey could not gather his legions before his audacious foe reached Rome. Finding it impossible to make a stand in Italy, Pompey, with the consuls and many senators, withdrew to Greece. Caesar did not follow him at once. He hurried to Spain and, after a brilliant campaign only six weeks in length, broke down the republican resistance in that peninsula. Having now secured Italy and Spain, Caesar was free to turn his forces against Pompey in the East.
[Illustration: Map, THE EXPANSION OF ROMAN DOMINIONS 133-31 B.C.]
The final battle took place on the plain of Pharsalus in Thessaly. Pompey's troops, though nearly twice as numerous as Caesar's, were defeated after a severe struggle. Their great leader then fled to Egypt, only to be foully murdered. Pompey's head was sent to Caesar, but he turned from it with horror. Such was the end of an able general and an honest man, one who should have lived two hundred years earlier, when Rome was still a free state.
After Pharsalus there still remained several years of fighting before Caesar's victory was complete. He made Cleopatra, the beautiful queen of Egypt, secure in the possession of the throne and brought that country into dependence on Rome. He passed through Asia Minor and in one swift campaign crushed a revolt headed by the son of Mithridates. The conqueror sent tidings of his victory in a laconic dispatch: "I came, I saw, I conquered." [25] After subduing the remnants of the senatorial party in Africa, Caesar returned home to crown his exploits by a series of splendid triumphs and to enjoy less than two years of untrammeled power.
The new government which Caesar brought into being was a monarchy in all except name. He became dictator for life and held other republican offices, such as the consulship and censorship. He refused the title of king, but accepted as a civil magistrate the name ofimperator, [26] with which the soldiers had been wont to salute a victorious general. Though he abolished none of the old republican forms, the Senate became simply his advisory council, the assemblies, his submissive agents the consuls, praetors and tribunes, his pliant tools. The laurel wreath, the triumphal dress, the conqueror's scepter—all proclaimed the autocrat.
[Illustration: A ROMAN COIN WITH THE HEAD OF JULIUS CAESAR]
Caesar used his power wisely and well. No massacres or confiscations sullied his victory. He treated his former foes with clemency and even with kindness. No sooner was domestic tranquillity assured than, with restless energy, he entered on a series of far-reaching reforms.
Caesar's measures sought to remove the economic evils which a century of discord had made so manifest. By restricting the monthly distribution of grain to those actually in need, he tried to discourage the public charity which was making the capital city a paradise for the idle and the shiftless. By planning great colonies beyond the sea, notably at Corinth and Carthage, he sought to provide farms for the landless citizens of Italy. His active mind even found time for such matters as the codification of Roman law, the construction of great public works, and the improvement of the coinage and the calendar. [27]
Caesar's reforms in the provinces had an epoch-making character. He reduced taxes, lessened the burden of their collection, and took into his own hands the appointment of provincial magistrates. Henceforth oppressive governors and swindling publicans had to expect swift, stern punishment from one whose interests included the welfare of both citizens and subjects. By granting Roman citizenship to communities in Gaul and Sicily, he indicated his purpose, as rapidly as possible, to convert the provincials into Romans. It was Caesar's aim to break down the barriers between Rome and her provinces, to wipe out the distinction between the conquerors and the conquered.
Caesar did not live to complete his task. Like that other colossal figure, Alexander the Great, he perished before his work as a statesman had hardly more than begun. On the Ides of March, 44 B.C., he was struck down in the Senate-house by the daggers of a group of envious and irreconcilable nobles, headed by Cassius and Brutus. He fell at the foot of Pompey's statue, pierced with no less than twenty-three wounds. His body was burnt on a pyre in the Forum, and his friend, Antony, pronounced the funeral eulogy.
In the light of all the possibilities of beneficent government which Caesar was revealing, his cowardly murder becomes one of the most stupendous follies recorded in history. Caesar's death could not restore the republic. It served only to prolong disorder and strife within the Roman state. As Cicero himself said, hearing the news, "The tyrant is dead; the tyranny still lives."
The murderers of Caesar called themselves the "liberators" of the republic. They thought that all Rome would applaud their deed, but the contrary was true. The senatorial order remained lukewarm. The people, instead of flocking to their support, mourned the loss of a friend and benefactor. Soon the conspirators found themselves in great peril. Caesar's friend and lieutenant, Antony, who became sole consul after Caesar's death, quickly made himself master of the situation. Brutus and Cassius were forced to withdraw to the provinces which had been previously assigned to them by Caesar, leaving Antony to rule Rome as his successor.
Antony's hope of reigning supreme was soon disturbed by the appearance of a new rival. Caesar, in his will, had made his grandnephew, Octavian, [28] his heir. He now came to Rome to claim the inheritance. In that sickly, studious youth people did not at first recognize the masterful personality he was soon to exhibit. They rather reëchoed Cicero's sentiment that "the young man was to be praised, complimented, and got rid of." [29] But Octavian easily made himself a power, winning the populace by paying Caesar's legacies to them and conciliating the senatorial party by siding with it against Antony. Men now began to talk of Octavian as the destined restorer of the republic.
Octavian, however, entertained other designs. He had never been sincere in his support of the Senate, and the distrustful policy of that body soon converted him into an active foe. From fighting Antony, Octavian turned to alliance with him. The two antagonists made up their differences, and with Lepidus, one of Caesar's lieutenants, as a third ally, marched on Rome at the head of their legions. The city fell again under military rule. The three men then united in the Second Triumvirate with full authority to govern and reorganize the state. The advent of this new tyranny was signalized by a butchery almost as bloody as Sulla's. Cicero, who had incurred the hatred of Antony by his fiery speeches against him, was the most illustrious victim. More than two thousand persons, mainly men of high rank, were slain. The triumvirs by this massacre firmly established their rule at Rome and in the West.
In the East, where Brutus and Cassius had gathered a formidable force, the triumvirs were not to win without a struggle. It took place on the plain of Philippi in Macedonia. The two battles fought there ended in the suicide of the republican leaders and the dispersal of their troops. This was the last attempt to restore the republic by force of arms.
Though the republic had been overthrown, it remained to be seen who would be master of the new empire, Antony or Octavian. The triumvirate lasted for more than ten years, but during this period the incompetent Lepidus was set aside by his stronger colleagues. The two remaining members then divided between them the Roman world. Octavian took Italy and the West; Antony took the East, with Alexandria as his capital.
In the western half of the empire Octavian ruled quietly and with success. Men were already congratulating themselves on the return of peace under a second Caesar. In a few years Octavian, from an obscure boy of eighteen, had grown to be one of the most powerful personalities of his age.
In the eastern half of the empire things did not go so well. Antony was clever, but fond of luxury and vice. He had married a sister of Octavian, but he soon grew tired of her and put her away for the fascinating Cleopatra. [30] The Roman world was startled by tidings that she had been proclaimed "queen of kings," and that to her and her sons had been given the richest provinces in the East. It was even rumored that Cleopatra, having enslaved Antony with her charms, planned to be enthroned as queen at Rome.
Antony's disgraceful conduct aroused the Roman people. They willingly followed Octavian to a war against one who seemed a national enemy. A naval battle in the bay of Actium, on the coast of Epirus, decided the issue. The fight had hardly begun before Cleopatra and Antony sailed away, leaving their fleet to take care of itself. Octavian pursued the infatuated pair into Egypt. Antony committed suicide, and Cleopatra, rather than be led a captive in a Roman triumph, followed his example. With the death of Cleopatra the dynasty of the Ptolemies [31] came to an end. Egypt henceforth formed a province of the Roman Empire.
Octavian, on his return to Rome, enjoyed the honors of a three days' triumph. [32] As the grand parade moved along the Sacred Way through the Forum, and thence to the temple of Jupiter on the Capitoline, men noted that the magistrates, instead of heading the procession as was the custom, followed in the conqueror's train. It was a significant change. Octavian, not the magistrates of Rome, now ruled the Roman world.
The republic, indeed, was doomed. A hundred years of dissension and civil warfare proclaimed clearly enough the failure of the old order. Rome was a city-state suddenly called to the responsibilities of universal rule. Both the machinery of her government and the morals of her people were inadequate for so huge a task. The gradual revolution which changed this Roman city-state into imperial Rome, judged by its results, is perhaps the most momentous movement in the annals of mankind. Let us summarize its course.
In 133 B.C. Roman society had been corrupted and enfeebled as the result of foreign conquests. The supreme power in the state more and more tended to fall into the hands of a narrow oligarchy—the senatorial nobility. Its dishonesty and weakness soon led to efforts at reform. The attempts of the Gracchi to overthrow the Senate's position and restore popular sovereignty ended in disaster. Then, in quick succession, arose a series of military leaders who aimed to secure by the sword what was no longer to be obtained through constitutional and legal means. Marius, a great general but no politician, could only break down and destroy. Sulla, a sincere but narrow-minded statesman, could do no more than prop up the structure— already tottering—of senatorial rule. Pompey soon undid that work and left the constitution to become again the sport of rival soldiers. Caesar, triumphing over Pompey, gained a position of unchallenged supremacy. After Caesar's death, imperial power was permanently restored in the person of Octavian. The battle of Actium in 31 B.C. made Octavian master of the Roman world.
But the Romans were not yet an old and worn-out people. On the ruins of the old republican order it was still possible to build up a new imperial system in which good government, peace, and prosperity should prevail for more than two centuries. During this period Rome performed her real, her enduring, work for civilization.
1. Write a summary account (500 words) of Roman expansion 264-133 B.C.
2. On outline maps indicate the possessions of Carthage and Rome at the beginning of the First Punic War; at the beginning of the Second Punic War; at the end of the Second Punic War.
3. On outline maps indicate the boundaries of the Roman world in 133 B.C. and in 31 B.C. and the division into provinces at these dates.
4. What events are connected with the following places: Zama; Cannae; Actium; Pharsalus, and Philippi?
5. Who were Quintus Fabius Maximus, Mithradates, Catiline, and Cleopatra?
6. Identify the following dates: 146 B.C.; 264 B.C.; 133 B.C.; 201 B.C.; 44 B.C.; and 63 B.C.
7. Why has Carthage been called the "London" of the ancient world?
8. What is meant by the statement that Carthage is a "dumb actor on the stage of history"?
9. Was Rome wise in adopting her new policy of expansion beyond the limits of Italy?
10. Give some examples in modern times of war indemnities paid by defeated nations.
11. Why did the Romans call the Second Punic War the "War of Hannibal"?
12. What is a "Fabian policy"? Do you know why Washington was called the "American Fabius"?
13. What reasons can you give for Hannibal's early successes and final failure?
14. Show the signal importance to Rome of her control of the sea during the Second Punic War.
15. Comment on this statement: "As the rise of Rome was central in history, the Second Punic War was central in the rise of Rome."
16. What provinces had been formed by 133 B.C. (map facing page 184)?
17. What parts of the world belonged to Rome in 133 B.C. but were not yet provinces?
18. Might Rome have extended her federal policy to her territories outside of Italy? Was a provincial system really necessary?
19. Compare a Persian satrapy with a Roman province.
20. Would import duties on foreign grain have revived Italian agriculture?
21. Why did the cattle breeder in Italy have no reason to fear foreign competition?
22. Compare the Athenian practice of state pay with the Roman "bread and the games of the circus."
23. Had the Italians triumphed in the Social War, is it likely they would have established a better government than that of Rome?
24. Was Marius or was Sulla more to blame for the Civil War?
25. Explain the real meaning of Sulla's "perpetual dictatorship."
26. Why was the rule of the Senate, unsatisfactory though it was, to be preferred to that of the Roman populace?
27. Why is the First Triumvirate described as a "ring"? Did it have an official character?
28. Why does the First Triumvirate mark a distinct step toward the establishment of the empire?
29. Why can wars with barbarous and savage peoples be justified as "the most ultimately righteous of all wars"?
30. Can you suggest why Caesar's conquest of Gaul had even greater importance than Pompey's conquests in the East?
31. Was Caesar justified in leading his army against Rome?
32. Had Pompey triumphed over Caesar, is it probable that the republic would have been restored?
33. What contrasts can you draw between Caesar and Alexander?
34. Justify the aphorism, "In the midst of arms the laws are silent," by the statements in this chapter.
35. How do you account for the failure of the republican institutions of Rome?
[1] Webster,Readings in Ancient History, chapter xv, "Hannibal and the Great Punic War"; chapter xvi, "Cato the Censor: a Roman of the Old School"; chapter xvii, "Cicero the Orator"; chapter xviii, "The Conquest of Gaul, Related by Caesar"; chapter xix, "The Makers of Imperial Rome: Character Sketches by Suetonius."
[2] See page 123.
[3] See page 155.
[4] See page 149.
[5] Livy, xxii, 61.
[6] See page 100.
[7] In 29 B.C., one hundred and seventeen years after the destruction of Carthage at the end of the Punic wars, a new town was founded near the old site by the emperor Augustus. It became in time the third city of the Roman Empire. It was destroyed by the Arabs in 698 A.D.
[8] See page 158.
[9] See pages 184 and 197.
[10] Corinth offered too good a site to remain long in ruins. Resettled in 46 B.C. as a Roman colony, it soon became one of the great cities in the empire. It was to the Corinthians that St Paul wrote two of hisEpistles.
[11] The Greeks were not again a free people until the nineteenth century of our era. In 1821 A.D. they rose against their Turkish masters in a glorious struggle for liberty. Eight years later the powers of Europe forced the Sultan to recognize the freedom of Greece. That country then became an independent kingdom, with its capital at Athens.
[12] See pages 39-40 and 104.
[13] In 133 B.C. there were eight provinces—Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica, Hither Spain, Farther Spain, Illyricum, Africa, Macedonia, and Asia. See the map facing page 184.
[14] In the New Testament "publicans and sinners" are mentioned side by side. SeeMatthew, ix, 10.
[15]Latifundia perdidere Italiam(Pliny,Natural History, xviii, 7).
[16] See page 155.
[17] Horace,Epistles, ii, 1, 156.
[18] See page 103.
[19] See page 150.
[20] See page 155, note 2.
[21] See page 150.
[22] See page 204.
[23] Plutarch, Sulla, 38.
[24] Suetonius,Julius Caesar, 32.
[25]Veni, vidi, vici(Suetonius,Julius Caesar, 37).
[26] Hence our word "emperor."
[27] Before Caesar's reform (46 B.C.) the Roman year consisted of 12 months and 355 days. As this lunar year, like that of the Greeks, was shorter than the solar year, it had been necessary to intercalate an additional month, of varying length, in every alternate year. Caesar adopted the more accurate Egyptian calendar of 365 days and instituted the system of leap years. His rearrangement made the year 11 minutes, 14 seconds too long. By 1582 A.D. this difference had amounted to nearly 10 days. Pope Gregory XIII modified the "Julian Calendar" by calling Oct. 5, 1582, Oct. 15, and continuing the count 10 days in advance. This "Gregorian Calendar" was adopted by Great Britain in 1752 A.D. and subsequently by other Protestant countries. It has not won acceptance in Russia and Greece. The difference between the two systems—the Old Style and the New Style—is now about 13 days.
[28] His name was Octavius, but after his adoption by Caesar he called himself Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus.
[29] Cicero,Letters, xix, 20.
[30] See page 185.
[31] See page 127.
[32] See page 160.
THE EARLY EMPIRE: THE WORLD UNDER ROMAN RULE, 31 B.C.-l80 A.D. [1]
66. AUGUSTUS, 31 B.C.-l4 A.D.
[Illustration: AUGUSTUS (Vatican Museum, Rome)]
The period of two hundred and eleven years, between the accession of Augustus and the death of Marcus Aurelius, is known as the Early Empire. As we shall now learn, it was a time of settled government and of internal tranquillity. Except for a brief period of anarchy at the close of the reign of Nero, it was also a time of regular succession to the throne. Nearly all the emperors were vigorous and capable rulers. The peace and prosperity which they gave to the Roman world amply justify—if justification be needed—the change from republic to empire.
Few persons have set their stamp more indelibly on the pages of history than Octavian, whom we may now call by his more familiar nameAugustus("Majestic"). Augustus was no military genius to dazzle the world with his achievements. He was a cool and passionless statesman who took advantage of a memorable opportunity to remake the Roman state, and who succeeded in the attempt. Absolute power, which destroys weaker men, with Augustus brought out the nobler elements of character. From the successful leader of a party he became the wise and impartial ruler of an empire.
Augustus had almost unlimited power. His position was that of a king, as supreme as Julius Caesar had ever been. Better, however, than Julius Caesar, Augustus realized that an undisguised autocracy would only alienate public opinion and invite fresh plots and rebellions, Augustus intended to be the real master, but he would also be careful to conceal his authority under republican forms. The emperor was neither king, dictator, nor triumvir. He called himself a republican magistrate—Princeps[2]—the "First Citizen" of the state.
Augustus gave up the externals, only to keep the essentials, of royalty. He held the proconsular authority, which extended over the frontier provinces and their legions. He held the tribunician authority, which made his person sacred. As perpetual tribune he could preside over the popular assemblies, manage the Senate and change its membership at pleasure, and veto the acts of almost any magistrate. In the provinces and at home in the capital city the emperor was supreme.
Augustus ruled a vast realm. In it all the dreams of world dominion which Alexander had cherished were more than realized. The empire included nearly the entire circle of the Mediterranean lands. On the west and south it found natural barriers in the Atlantic Ocean and the African desert. On the east the Euphrates River had formed, since the defeat of Crassus, [3] the dividing line between Rome and Parthia. The northern frontier, beyond which lay the Germanic barbarians, required, however, additional conquests for its protection.
[Illustration: Map, THE EXPANSION OF ROMAN DOMINIONS 31 B.C.-180 A.D.]
The Danube River made an admirable boundary for much of the Roman territory between the Black Sea and the Rhine. Augustus annexed the district south of the lower course of this river and formed it into the province of Moesia (modern Serbia and Bulgaria). The line of the upper Danube was later secured by the creation of three new provinces on the northern slopes of the Alps. [4] Henceforth the Balkan peninsula and Italy on the northeast, where the Alpine passes are low and comparatively easy, were shielded from attack.
After the conquests of Julius Caesar in Gaul the Rhine had become the frontier between that country and Germany. Augustus repeatedly sent the legions into western Germany on punitive expeditions to strike terror into its warlike tribes and to inspire respect for Roman power. It is doubtful, however, whether he ever intended to conquer Germany and to convert it into another province. His failure to do so meant that the Germans were not to be Romanized as were their neighbors, the Celts of Gaul. The Rhine continued to be the dividing-line between Roman civilization and Germanic barbarism.
The clash of arms on the distant frontiers scarcely disturbed the serenity of the Roman world. Within the boundaries of the empire the Augustan Age was an age of peace and prosperity. The emperor, with unwearied devotion, turned to the task of ruling wisely and well his vast dominions. He followed the example of Julius Caesar in his insistence on just government of the provincials. [5] In Italy he put down brigandage, repaired the public highways, and planted many colonies in unsettled districts. In Rome he established a regular police service, organized the supply of grain and water, and continued, on a larger scale than ever, the public games. So many were his buildings in the capital city that he could boast he had "found Rome of brick and left it of marble." [6] Augustus was also very successful as a religious reformer. He restored numerous temples that had fallen into decay, revived the ancient sacrifices, and celebrated with pomp and majesty the festivals that had been neglected. These reforms gave new vigor to the Roman state religion.
[Illustration: MONUMENTUM ANCYRANUM An inscription on the walls of a ruined temple at Ancyra (modern Angora) in Asia Minor. It is a copy of the record descriptive of the reign of Augustus which that emperor in his will decreed to be inscribed on bronze tablets and placed before his mausoleum at Rome.]
Even during the lifetime of Augustus worship had been offered to him by the provincials. After his death the Senate gave him divine honors and enrolled his name among the gods. Temples rose in every province to the deified Augustus, and altars smoked with sacrifices to him. Emperor worship spread rapidly over the ancient world and helped to unite all classes in allegiance to the new government. It provided a universal religion for a universal empire. Yet just at the time when this new cult was taking root, and in the midst of the happy reign of Augustus, there was born in Bethlehem of Judea the Christ whose religion was to overcome the worship of the emperors and with it all other faiths of pagan antiquity. [7]
For more than half a century following the death of Augustus his place was filled by emperors who, either by descent or adoption, claimed kinship with himself and the mighty Julius. They are known as the Julian and Claudian Caesars. [8] Though none of these four princes had the political ability of Augustus, two of them (Tiberius and Claudius) were excellent rulers, who ably maintained the standards set by that great emperor. The other two (Caligula and Nero) were vicious tyrants, the recital of whose follies and crimes occupies much space in the works of ancient historians. Their doings and misdoings fortunately exerted little influence outside the circle of the imperial court and the capital city. Rome itself might be disturbed by conspiracy and bloodshed, but Italy and the provinces kept their prosperity.
The reign of Claudius was marked by the beginning of the extension of the empire over Britain. For nearly a hundred years after Caesar's expeditions no further attempt had been made to annex that island. But its nearness to Gaul, already thoroughly Romanized, brought the country within the sphere of Roman influence. The thorough conquest of Britain proved to be no easy task. It was not until the close of the first century that the island, as far north as the Scottish Highlands, was brought under Roman sway. The province of Britannia remained a part of the empire for more than three hundred years.
During Nero's reign half of Rome was laid in ashes by a great fire, which raged for a week. But a new Rome speedily arose. It was a much finer city than the old, with wide, straight streets instead of narrow alleys, and with houses of good stone in place of wooden hovels. Except for the loss of the temples and public buildings, the fire was a blessing in disguise.
After the death of Nero the dynasty that traced its descent from Julius and Augustus became extinct. There was no one who could legally claim the vacant throne. The Senate, which in theory had the appointment of a successor, was too weak to exercise its powers. The imperial guard and the legions on the frontiers placed their own candidates in the field. The Roman world fell into anarchy, and Italy became once more the seat of civil war. The throne was finally seized by the able general, Flavius Vespasianus, supported by the armies of the East. He and his two sons, Titus and Domitian, are called the Flavian Caesars.
[Illustration: POMPEII]
During the reign of Vespasian a revolt of the Jews was crushed, and Jerusalem was captured by Titus, Vespasian's son. It is said, doubtless with exaggeration, that one million Jews perished in the siege, the most awful that history records. The Holy City, together with the Temple, was destroyed, and a Roman camp was pitched upon the spot. We may still see in Rome the splendid arch that commemorates this tragic event. [9]
[Illustration: PLAN OF JERUSALEM AND ITS ENVIRONS.]
[Illustration: A RELIEF ON THE ARCH OF TITUSThe relief shows Roman soldiers bearing the spoils of the Temple atJerusalem. Among these are two trumpets, the table of the shewbread, andthe seven-branched golden candlestick.]
The reign of Titus is chiefly memorable for the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum, two cites on the bay of Naples. After long inactivity the volcano of Vesuvius suddenly belched forth torrents of liquid lava and mud, followed by a rain of ashes. Pompeii was covered to a depth of about fifteen feet by the falling cinders. Herculaneum was overwhelmed in a sea of sulphurous mud and lava to a depth of eighty feet in many places. The cities were completely entombed, and in time even their location was forgotten. Modern excavations have disclosed a large part of Pompeii, with its streets, shops, baths, temples, and theaters. The visitor there gains a vivid impression of Roman life during the first century of our era. [10]
The five rulers—Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, Antoninus Pius, and Marcus Aurelius—whose reigns cover the greater part of the second century, are sometimes called the Antonine Caesars, because two of them bore the name Antoninus. They are better known as the "Good Emperors," a title which well describes them. Under their just and beneficent government the empire reached its greatest prosperity.
[Illustration: NERVA (Vatican Museum, Rome)A remarkably fine example of Roman portrait statuary.]
The emperor Trajan rivaled Julius Caesar in military ability and enlarged the Roman world to the widest limits it was ever to attain. His first conquests were in Europe and resulted in the annexation of Dacia, an extensive territory north of the Danube. Thousands of colonists settled in Dacia and spread everywhere the language and arts of Rome. Its modern name (Rumania) bears witness to Rome's abiding influence there. Trajan's campaigns in Asia had less importance, though in appearance they were more splendid. He drove the Parthians from Armenia and conquered the Tigris- Euphrates valley. To hold in subjection such distant regions only increased the difficulty of guarding the frontiers. Trajan's successor, Hadrian, at once abandoned them.
[Illustration: COLUMN OF TRAJAN A bronze statue of Trajan formerly occupying the top of the monument has been replaced by a figure of St Peter. The column is decorated with a continuous spiral relief representing scenes from the Dacian War. About twenty five hundred separate designs are included in this remarkable collection.]
Hadrian distinguished himself as an administrator. He may be compared with Augustus in his love of peace and in his care for the interests of the provincials. Hadrian made two long journeys throughout the Roman world. On the frontiers he built fortresses and walls, in the provinces he raised baths, aqueducts, theaters, and temples. Scarcely a city throughout the empire lacked some monument to his generosity. Hadrian left behind him the memory of a prince whose life was devoted to the public welfare—the first servant of the state.
[Illustration: WALL OF HADRIAN IN BRITAIN The wall extended between the Tyne and the Solway a distance of seventy miles. It was built of concrete faced with square blocks. The height is nearly twenty feet, the thickness about eight feet. Along the wall were numerous towers and gates and a little to the north of it stretched an earthen rampart protected by a deep ditch. A broad road, lined with seventeen military camps, ran between the two fortifications.]
The last of the "Good Emperors," Marcus Aurelius, was a thinker and a student, but he enjoyed little opportunity for meditation. His reign was filled with an almost uninterrupted series of campaigns against the Parthians on the Euphrates and the Germans on the Danube and the Rhine. These wars revealed the weakness of the frontiers and rapidly growing strength of the barbarians. After the death of Marcus Aurelius the empire entered on its downward course. But before passing to this period of our study, we may take a survey of the world under Roman rule, during the two centuries between Augustus and Marcus Aurelius.
[Illustration: MARCUS AURELIUS IN HIS TRIUMPHAL CAR (Palace of theConservatori, Rome)
A panel from an arch erected by the emperor.]
The Roman Empire, at its widest extent in the second century, included forty-three provinces. They were protected against Germans, Parthians and other foes by twenty-five legions, numbering with the auxiliary forces, about three hundred thousand men. This standing army was one of Rome's most important agencies for the spread of her civilization over barbarian lands. Its membership was drawn largely from the border provinces, often from the very countries where the soldiers' camps were fixed. Though the army became less and less Roman in blood, it always kept in character and spirit the best traditions of Rome. The long intervals of peace were not passed by the soldiers in idleness. They built the great highways that penetrated every region of the empire, spanned the streams with bridges, raised dikes and aqueducts, and taught the border races the arts of civilization. It was due, finally, to the labors of the legionaries, that the most exposed parts of the frontiers were provided with an extensive system of walls and ramparts.
[Illustration: THE PANTHEON The original building was the work of Agrippa, a minister of Augustus. The temple was reconstructed by Hadrian who left the Greek portico unchanged but added the rotunda and the dome. This great dome, the largest in the world, is made of solid concrete. During the Middle Ages, the Pantheon was converted into a church. It is now the burial place of the kings of Italy.]
The Roman system of roads received its great extension during the imperial age. The principal trunk lines began at the gates of Rome and radiated thence to every province. Along these highways sped the couriers of the Caesars, carrying dispatches and making, by means of relays of horses, as much as one hundred and fifty miles a day. The roads resounded to the tramp of the legionaries passing to their stations on the distant frontier. Travelers by foot, horseback, or litter journeyed on them from land to land, employing maps which described routes and distances. Traders used them for the transport of merchandise. Roman roads, in short, were the railways of antiquity. [11]
[Illustration: THE TOMB OF HADRIAN The building was formerly topped by another of smaller size which bore a statue of the emperor. In medieval times this stately tomb was converted into a castle. It is now used as a museum. The bridge across the Tiber was built by Hadrian.]
[Illustration: Map, ROMAN BRITAIN SHOWING CHIEF ROMAN ROADS]
In her roads and fortifications, in the living rampart of her legions, Rome long found security. Except for the districts conquered by Trajan but abandoned by Hadrian, [12] the empire during this period did not lose a province. For more than two hundred years, throughout an area as large as the United States, the civilized world rested under what an ancient writer calls "the immense majesty of the Roman peace." [13]
The grant of Roman citizenship to all Italians after the Social War [14] only increased for a time the contrast between Italy and the provinces. But even before the fall of the republic Caesar's legislation had begun the work of uniting the Roman and the provincial. [15] More and more the emperors followed in his footsteps. The extension of Roman citizenship was a gradual process covering two centuries. It was left for the emperor Caracalla, early in the third century, to take the final step. In 212 A.D. he issued an edict which bestowed citizenship on all freeborn inhabitants of the empire. This famous edict completed the work, begun so many centuries before, of Romanizing the ancient world.
The grant of citizenship, though it increased the burden of taxation, brought no slight advantage to those who possessed it. A Roman citizen could not be maltreated with impunity or punished without a legal trial before Roman courts. If accused in a capital case, he could always protect himself against an unjust decision by an "appeal to Caesar", that is, to the emperor at Rome. St. Paul did this on one occasion when on trial for his life. [16] Wherever he lived, a Roman citizen enjoyed, both for his person and his property, the protection of Roman law.
The Romans were the most legal-minded people of antiquity. It was their mission to give laws to the world. Almost at the beginning of the republic they framed the code of the Twelve Tables, [17] which long remained the basis of their jurisprudence. This code, however, was so harsh, technical, and brief that it could not meet the needs of a progressive state. The Romans gradually improved their legal system, especially after they began to rule over conquered nations. The disputes which arose between citizens and subjects were decided by the praetors or provincial governors in accordance with what seemed to them to be principles of justice and equity. These principles gradually found a place in Roman law, together with many rules and observances of foreign peoples. Roman law in this way tended to take over and absorb all that was best in ancient jurisprudence.
Thus, as the extension of the citizenship carried the principles and practice of Roman law to every quarter of the empire, the spirit of that law underwent an entire change. It became exact, impartial, liberal, humane. It limited the use of torture to force confession from persons accused of crime. It protected the child against a father's tyranny. It provided that a master who killed a slave should be punished as a murderer, and even taught that all men are originally free by the law of nature and therefore that slavery is contrary to natural right. Justice it defined as "the steady and abiding purpose to give every man that which is his own." [18] Roman law, which began as the rude code of a primitive people, ended as the most refined and admirable system of jurisprudence ever framed by man. This law, as we shall see later, has passed from ancient Rome to modern Europe. [19]
The conquest by Latin of the languages of the world is almost as interesting and important a story as the conquest by Rome of the nations of the world. At the beginning of Latin in Roman history Latin was the speech of only the Italy people of Latium. Beyond the limits of Latium Latin came into contact with the many different languages spoken in early Italy. Some of them, such as Greek and Etruscan, soon disappeared from Italy after Roman expansion, but those used by native Italian peoples showed more power of resistance. It was not until the last century B.C. that Latin was thoroughly established in the central and southern parts of the peninsula. After the Social War the Italian peoples became citizens of Rome, and with Roman citizenship went the use of the Latin tongue.
The Romans carried their language to the barbarian peoples of the West, as they had carried it to Italy. Their missionaries were colonists, merchants, soldiers, and public officials. The Latin spoken by them was eagerly taken up by the rude, unlettered natives, who tried to make themselves as Roman as possible in dress, customs, and speech. This provincial Latin was not simply the language of the upper classes; the common people themselves used it freely, as we know from thousands of inscriptions found in western and central Europe. In the countries which now make up Spain, France, Switzerland, southern Austria, England, and North Africa, the old national tongues were abandoned for the Latin of Rome.
The decline of the Roman Empire did not bring about the downfall of the Latin language in the West. It became the basis of the so-called Romance languages—French, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, and Rumanian—which arose in the Middle Ages out of the spoken Latin of the common people. Even our English language, which comes to us from the speech of the Germanic invaders of Britain, contains so many words of Latin origin that we can scarcely utter a sentence without using some of them. The rule of Rome has passed away; the language of Rome still remains to enrich the intellectual life of mankind.
The world under Roman rule was a world of cities. Some had earlier been native settlements, such as those in Gaul before the Roman conquest. Others were the splendid Hellenistic cities in the East. [20] Many more were of Roman origin, arising from the colonies and fortified camps in which citizens and soldiers had settled. [21] Where Rome did not find cities, she created them.
Not only were the cities numerous, but many of them, even when judged by modern standards, reached great size. Rome was the largest, her population being estimated at from one to two millions. Alexandria came next with more than half a million people. Syracuse was the third metropolis of the empire. Italy contained such important towns as Verona, Milan, and Ravenna. In Gaul were Marseilles, Nîmes, Bordeaux, Lyons—all cities with a continuous existence to the present day. In Britain York and London were seats of commerce, Chester and Lincoln were military colonies, and Bath was celebrated then, as now, for its medicinal waters. Carthage and Corinth had risen in new splendor from their ashes. Athens was still the home of Greek art and Greek culture. Asia included such ancient and important centers as Pergamum, Smyrna, Ephesus, Rhodes, and Antioch. The student who reads in his New Testament theActs of the Apostleswill get a vivid impression of some of these great capitals.
[Illustration: ROMAN BATHS, AT BATH, ENGLAND Bath, the ancient Aquae Sulis, was famous in Roman times for its hot springs. Here are very interesting remains, including a large pool, eighty-three by forty feet in size, and lined at the bottom with the Roman lead, besides smaller bathing chambers and portions of the ancient pipes and conduits. The building and statues are modern restorations.]
Every municipality was a Rome in miniature. It had its forum and senate- house, its temples, theaters, and baths, its circus for racing, and its amphitheater for gladiatorial combats. Most of the municipalities enjoyed an abundant supply of water, and some had good sewer systems. The larger towns had well-paved, though narrow, streets. Pompeii, a small place of scarcely thirty thousand inhabitants, still exists to give us an idea of the appearance of one of these ancient cities. And what we find at Pompeii was repeated on a more splendid scale in hundreds of places from the Danube to the Nile, from Britain to Arabia.
The municipalities of Roman origin copied the government of Rome itself. [22] Each city had a council, or senate, and a popular assembly which chose the magistrates. These officials were generally rich men; they received no salary, and in fact had to pay a large sum on entering office. Local politics excited the keenest interest. Many of the inscriptions found on the walls of Pompeii are election placards recommending particular candidates for office. Women sometimes took part in political contests. Distributions of grain, oil, and money were made to needy citizens, in imitation of the bad Roman practice. There were public banquets, imposing festivals, wild-beast hunts, and bloody contests of gladiators, like those at Rome.
The busy, throbbing life in these countless centers of the Roman world has long since been stilled. The cities themselves, in many instances, have utterly disappeared. Yet the forms of municipal government, together with the Roman idea of a free, self-governing city, never wholly died out. Some of the most important cities which flourished in southern and western Europe during the later Middle Ages preserved clear traces of their ancient Roman origin.
The first two centuries of our era formed the golden age of Roman commerce. The emperors fostered it in many ways. Augustus and his successors kept the Mediterranean free from pirates, built lighthouses and improved harbors, policed the highways, and made travel by land both speedy and safe. An imperial currency [23] replaced the various national coinages with their limited circulation. The vexatious import and export duties, levied by different countries and cities on foreign produce, were swept away. Free trade flourished between the cities and provinces of the Roman world.
Roman commerce followed, in general, the routes which Phoenicians had discovered centuries before. After the annexation of Gaul the rivers of that country became channels of trade between western Europe and Italy. The conquest of the districts north and south of the Danube opened up an important route between central Europe and the Mediterranean. Imports from the far eastern countries came by caravan through Asia to ports on the Black Sea. The water routes led by way of the Persian Gulf to the great Syrian cities of Antioch and Palmyra and, by way of the Red Sea, to Alexandria on the Nile. From these thriving commercial centers products were shipped to every region of the empire. [24]
[Illustration: A ROMAN FREIGHT SHIP The ship lies beside the wharf at Ostia. In the after-part of the vessel is a cabin with two windows. Notice the figure of Victory on the top of the single mast and the decoration of the mainsail with the wolf and twins. The ship is steered by a pair of huge paddles.]
The importation and disposal of foreign goods at Rome furnished employment for many thousands of traders. There were great wholesale merchants whose warehouses stored grain and all kinds of merchandise. There were also many retail shopkeepers. They might be sometimes the slaves or freedmen of a wealthy noble who preferred to keep in the background. Sometimes they were men of free birth. The feeling that petty trade was unworthy of a citizen, though strong in republican days, tended to disappear under the empire.
The slaves at Rome, like those at Athens, [25] carried on many industrial tasks. We must not imagine, however, that all the manual labor of the city was performed by bondmen. The number of slaves even tended to decline, when there were no more border wars to yield captives for the slave markets. The growing custom of emancipation worked in the same direction. We find in this period a large body of free laborers, not only in the capital city, but in all parts of the empire.
The workmen engaged in a particular calling frequently formed clubs, or guilds. [26] There were guilds of weavers, shoe-makers, jewelers, painters, musicians, and even of gladiators. These associations were not organized for the purpose of securing higher wages and shorter hours by strikes or threat of strikes. They seem to have existed chiefly for social and religious purposes. Each guild had its clubhouse for official meetings and banquets. Each guild had its special deity, such as Vesta, the fire goddess, for bakers, and Bacchus, the wine god, for innkeepers. Every year the guildsmen held a festival, in honor of their patron, and marched through the streets with banners and the emblems of their trade. Nearly all the guilds had as one main object the provision of a proper funeral and tomb for deceased members. The humble laborer found some consolation in the thought that he belonged to a club of friends and fellow workers, who after death would give him decent burial and keep his memory green.
Free workingmen throughout the Roman world appear to have led reasonably happy lives. They were not driven or enslaved by their employers or forced to labor for long hours in grimy, unwholesome factories. Slums existed, but no sweatshops. If wages were low, so also was the cost of living. Wine, oil, and wheat flour were cheap. The mild climate made heavy clothing unnecessary and permitted an outdoor life. The public baths— great clubhouses—stood open to every one who could pay a trifling fee. [27] Numerous holidays, celebrated with games and shows, brightened existence. On the whole we may conclude that working people at Rome and in the provinces enjoyed greater comfort during this period than had ever been their lot in previous ages.
[Illustration: A ROMAN VILLAWall painting, Pompeii.]
It was an age of millionaires. There had been rich men, such as Crassus, [28] during the last century of the republic; their numbers increased and their fortunes rose during the first century of the empire. The philosopher Seneca, a tutor of Nero, is said to have made twelve million dollars within four years by the emperor's favor. Narcissus, the secretary of Claudius, made sixteen million dollars—the largest Roman fortune on record. This sum must be multiplied four or five times to find its modern equivalent, since in antiquity interest rates were higher and the purchasing power of money was greater than to-day. Such private fortunes are surpassed only by those of the present age.
The heaping-up of riches in the hands of a few brought its natural consequence in luxury and extravagance. The palaces of the wealthy, with their gardens, baths, picture galleries, and other features, were costly to build and costly to keep up. The money not lavished by a noble on his town house could be easily sunk on his villas in the country. All Italy, from the bay of Naples, to the foot of the Alps, was dotted with elegant residences, having flower gardens, game preserves, fishponds, and artificial lakes. Much senseless waste occurred at banquets and entertainments. Vast sums were spent on vessels of gold and silver, jewelry, clothing, and house furnishings. Even funerals and tombs required heavy outlays. A capitalist of imperial Rome could get rid of a fortune in selfish indulgences almost as readily as any modern millionaire not blessed with a refined taste or with public spirit.
Some of the customs of the time appear especially shocking. The brutal gladiatorial games [29] were a passion with every one, from the emperor to his lowest subject. Infanticide was a general practice. Marriage grew to be a mere civil contract, easily made and easily broken. Common as divorce had become, the married state was regarded as undesirable. Augustus vainly made laws to encourage matrimony and discourage celibacy. Suicide, especially among the upper classes, was astonishingly frequent. No one questioned another's right to leave this life at pleasure. The decline of the earlier paganism left many men without a deep religious faith to combat the growing doubt and worldliness of the age.
Yet this dark picture needs correction at many points. It may be questioned whether the vice, luxury, and wickedness of ancient Rome, Antioch, or Alexandria much exceeded what our great modern capitals can show, During this period, moreover, many remarkable improvements took place in social life and manners. There was an increasing kindliness and charity. The weak and the infirm were better treated. The education of the poor was encouraged by the founding of free schools. Wealthy citizens of the various towns lavished their fortunes on such public works as baths, aqueducts, and temples, for the benefit of all classes. Even the slaves were much better treated. Imperial laws aimed to check the abuses of cruelty, overwork, and neglect, and philosophers recommended to masters the exercise of gentleness and mercy toward slaves. In fact, the first and second centuries of our era were marked by a great growth of the humanitarian spirit.
Just as the conquests of Alexander, by uniting the Orient to Greece, produced a Graeco-Oriental civilization, so now the expansion of Rome over the Mediterranean formed another world-wide culture, in which both Greek and Roman elements met and mingled. A new sense of cosmopolitanism arose in place of the old civic or national patriotism. Roman elements met and mingled. A new sense of cosmopolitanism arose in place of the old civic or national patriotism.