UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH Dar. Rm. A'^ D23 ^-^ B636 LIBRARIES Digitized by tine Internet Arciiive in 2009 witii funding from University of Pittsburgii Library System littp://www.archive.org/details/americanencyclopOOinblak MERICAN mm'''''''' HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. COMPIUSLVG ANCIENT AND MODERN HfSTOKY THK BIOGRAPHY OF EMINENT MEN OF EUROPE AND AMKtICA. AND THR LIVES OF DISTmrxUISHEPTKAVELEHS. Illustrated with over 100 Engravings. BY THOMAS H. PRESCOTT, A. M, COLUMBUS: ■UBLISHED AND SOLD EXCLDSITELY BY SCBSCKIFTIO: BY J. & H. MILLER. 18 5 6. Entered Accordiag to Act of Congress, in the Year 1855, by the OHIO STATE JOURNAL COMPANY, In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of the United States, for the Southera District ofOhio. STEREOTYPED, PR:,\TE0 ANO BOUND. BV THE OmO STATli JOUKNAI, COMrANV. C0LUMT5US, OHIO. r» R EF^C E One of the most useful directions for facilitating the study of history, is to begin with authors who present a compendium, or general view of the whole subject of history, and, afterwards, to apply to the study of any particular history with which a more thorough acquaintance is desired. The Historical Department of this work has been compiled with a view to furnishing such a compendium. It coA^ers the whole ground of Ancient History, including China, India, Egypt, Arabia, Syria, the Phoenicians, Jews, Assyrians, Babylonians, Lydians, Medes and Persians, together with Greece and Rome, down through the dark ages to the dawn of modern civilization. It also embraces the his- tory of the leading nations of modern Europe, and of the United States of America. Wisdom is the great end of history. It is designed to supply the want of experience ; and though it does not enforce its in- structions with the same authority, yet it furnishes a greater variety of lessons than it is possible for experience to afford in the longest life. Its object is to enlarge our views of the human character, and to enable us to form a more correct judgment of human affairs. It must not, therefore, be a tale, calculated merely to please and addressed to the ftmcy. Gravity and dig- nity are essential characteristics of history. Robertson and Bancroft may be named as model historians in these particulars. No light ornaments should be employed — no flippancy of style, and no quaintness of wit; but the writer should sustain the character of a wise man, writing for the instruction of posterity; one who has studied to inform himself well, who has pondered his subject with care, and addresses himself to our judgment rather than to our imagination. At the same time, historical writing is by no means inconsistent with ornamented and spir- ited narration, as witness Macaulay's popular History of Eng- land. On the contrary, it admits of much high ornament and elegance ; but the ornaments must be consistent with dignity. Industry is, also, a very essential quality in an accurate his- torian. As history is conversant with great and memorable actions, a historian should always keep posterity in view, and relate nothing but what may be of some account to future ages. Those who descend to trivial matters, beneath the dignity of his- tory, should be deemed journalists rather than historians. As it is the province of a historian to acquaint us with facts, he should give a narration or description not only of the facts, or actions themselves, but likewise of such things as are necessarily con- nected Avith them ; such as the characters of persons, the cir- cumstances of time and place, the views and designs of the principal actors, and the issue and event of the actions which he describes. The drawing of characters is one of the most splen- did, as it is one of the most difficult, ornaments of historical com- position ; for characters are generally considered as professed exhibitions of fine writing ; and a historian who seeks to shine in them, is often in danger of carrying refinement to excess, from a desire of appearing very profound and penetrating. Among the improvements that have of late years been intro- duced into historical composition, is the attention that is now given to laws, customs, commerce, religion, literature, and every thing else that tends to exhibit the genius and spirit of nations. Historians are now expected to exhibit manners, as well as facts and events. Voltaire was the first to introduce this improvement, and Allison, Macaulay, and others, have adopted.it. The first and lowest use of history is, that it agreealoly amuses the imagination, and interests the passions ; and in this view of it, it far surpasses all works of fiction, which require a variety of embellishments to excite and interest the passions, while the mere thought that we are listening to the voice of truth, serves to keep the attention awake through many dry and ill-digested narrations of facts. The next and higher use of history is, to improve the understanding and strengthen the judgment, and thus to fit us for entering upon the duties of life with advan- tage. It presents us with the same objects which occur to us in the business of life, and affords similar exercise to our thoughts ; so that it may be called anticipated experience. It is, therefore, of great importance, not only to the advance- ment of political knowledge, but to that of knowledge in gen- eral ; because the most exalted understanding is merely a power of drawing conclusions and forming maxims of conduct from known facts and experiments, of which necessary materials of knowledge the mind itself is wholly barren, and with which . it must be furnished by experience. By improving the understand- ing history frees the mind from many foolish prejudices that tend to mislead it. Such are those prejudices of a national kind, that have induced an unreasonable partiality for our own country, merely as our own country, and as unreasonable a repugnance to foreign nations and foreign religions, which nothing but en- larged views resulting from history can cure. It likewise tends to remove those prejudices that may have been entertained in fiivor of ancient or modern times, by giving a just view of the advantages and disadvantages of mankind in all ages. To a citizen of the United States, one of the great advantages result- ing from the study of history is, that so far from producing an indifference to his own country, it disposes him to be satis- fied with his own situation, and renders him, from rational convic- tion, and not from blind prejudice, a more zealous friend to the interests of his country, and to its free institutions. It is from history, chiefly, that improvements are made in the science of government ; and this science is one of primary importance. Another advantage is, that it tends to strengthen sentiments of virtue, by displaying the motives and actions of truly great men, and those of a contrary character, — thus inspiring a taste for real greatness and solid glory. The second department of our work has been devoted to Biography, — a species of history more entertaining, and in many respects equally useful, with general history. It represents great men more, distinctly, unincumbered with a crovv^d of other actors, and, descending into the detail of their actions and char- acter, their virtues and failings, gives more insight into human nature, and leads to a more intimate acquaintance with particu- lar persons, than general history allows. A writer of biogTaphy may descend with propriety to minute circumstances and familiar incidents. He is expected to give the private as well as the public life of those whose actions he records ; and it is from pri- vate life, from familiar, domestic and seemingly trivial occur- rences, that w^e often derive the most accurate knowledge of the real charai^ter. To those who have exposed their lives, or em- ployed their time and labor, for the service of their fellow men, it seems but a just debt, that their memories should be perpetu- ated after them, and that posterity should be made acquainted with their benefactors. To a volume of biography may be applied the language of a pagan poet : — ••'Hore patriots live, who for their country's good. In fighting fields were prodigal of blood ; Priests of unblemiijhed lives here make abode, And poets worthy their inspiring god ; And searching wits jof more mechanic parts, Who graced their age with new invented arts ; Those who to worth their bounty did extend, And those who knew that bounty to commend : The heads of these with holy fillets bound, And all their temples are with garlands crowned." In the lives of public persons, their public chai^cters are prin- cipally, but not solely, to be regarded. The world is inquisitive to know the conduct of its great men as well in private as in public ; and both may be of service, considering the influence of their examples. In preparing this department of our work we have aimed to introduce variety, — selecting representative men from all the various pursuits of life. The third department of our work has been designated as the Department of Travel. It embraces the principal voyages of discovery and the lives of great navigators and travelers, since the days of Columbus and Vasco de Gama. In the history of scientific expeditions, the five following divisions may be made : 1. The earliest age of the Phoenicians down to Herodotus, 500 years before Christ. The Phoenicians undertook the first voy- ages of discovery for commercial purposes, or to found colonies. 2. The travels of the Greeks and the military expeditions of the Romans, from 500 B. C. to 400 A. D. The Greeks made journeys to enlarge the territories of science. The armies of Home, during this period, supplied an extensive knowledge of a part of Asia, Egypt, the northern part of Africa, and Europe to South Britain. 3. The expeditions of the Germans and Nor- mans until 900 A. D. The Normans discovered the Faroes, Ice- land and Greenland. 4. Besides the commercial and military voy- ages of the Arabs and Mongols, the travels of the Christian Mis- sionaries, and other Europeans, down to 1400, furnished much valuable information. 5. The fifth period, from the year 1400 to the present time, is the period particularly embraced in this work. During this time, North and South America, a portion of Asia, and the interior of Africa, have been explored, and the adventurous voyagers in the Arctic and Antarctic seas, have pushed their researches to within twelve degrees of the poles. Sir J. Ross reached the south latitude of 78 deg. 4 min. in the year 1841. Such are the results of the labors of four centuries. The knowledge has been slowly gathered, but it will remain a lasting testimony to the triumphs of intellect. It is but re- cently that human enterprise has penetrated many of the secrets of the Antarctic regions, — that realm of mighty contrasts, — and it will doubtless pursue the investigation. ' Meantime the wintry solitudes of the far south will be undisturbed by the presence of man ; the penguin and the seal will still haunt the desolate shores ; the shriek of the petrel and the scream of the albatross will mingle with the dash and roar of continual storms, and the crash of wave-beaten ice : the towering volcano will shoot aloft its columns of fire high into the gelid air : tlie hills of snow and ice will grow and spread ; frost and flame will do their Avork ; till, in the wondrous cycle of terrestrial change, tlie polar lands shall again share in the abundance and l)eauty which. now overspread the sun-gladdened zones,' TABLE OF CONTENTS. DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. AXCIENT HISTORY. Ethiopian Histort 18— 3) MONGOLUN HisTOKT.— The Chinese 20—28 Caucasian Histoet.— Ancient India— Eastern Nations— The Egyptians— Arabians— Syrian The Phceni- cians— Palestine— The Jews— The Assyrians and Babylonians- The Modes and Persians— States of Asia Minor —The Lydians— The Persian Empire 2S— 53 Geecian nisroRr. — Early History and Mythology — Keligious Kites — Anthentic History — Sparta— I.ycur- gus— Athens — Persian Invasion — Pericles — Alcibiades— Decline of Athenian Independence — Alexander thu Great- Concluding Period 53— T8 Roman History. — The Latins— The Kings — The Commonwealth — Struggle between the Patricians and Plebeians — Invasion of the Gauls— The Samnite Wars — The Punic Wars— The llevolutions of the Gracchi- Social Wars — Marius and Sulla — Pompey , Cicero, Cataline, Caisar — Gallic IVars— Extinction of the Common- wealth— Civil ■ffars — Augustus — Dissemination of Christianity — Division of the Empire— Downfall of the Western Empire 73—112 JIIDDLE AGES. — The Eastern Empire — Constantine — Julian the Apostate— Theodosius the Great — Justinian ; his Code — Arabia — Mohammed — Empire of the Saracens — The Feudal System — Charlemagne — The New Western Empire— France — The German Empire— Italy — Spain — General state of Europe — The Crusades— Chivalry- Eise of new Powers— Wra. Tell— The Italian Ucpublics— Commerce— The Turks— Fall of Constan- tiaople— Kise of Civil Freedom 112— 14& MODERN HISTORY. Great Britain and Ireland. — Conquest by the Romans ; by the Saxons ; by the Normans— Early Norman Kings — William the Conqueror — Henry — Richard Coeur de Lion — John — Magna Charta — Origin of Parlia- ment— Edwards — Conquest of Scotland — Richard 11 — House of Lancaster — ^House of York — House of Tudor -Henry ATII— The Reformation— Edward VI— Queen Mary ; Elizabeth— Mary, Queen of Scots— The Stuarts —Gunpowder Plot — Revolution — Irish Rebellion — Oliver Cromwell — Trial and Execution of Charles I — The Commonwealth — Subjugation of Ireland and Scotland — The Protectorate — The Restoration — Charles 11 — Dutch War— Plague and Fire in London— The Rye House Plot— Death of Charles II— James 11— Expedition oC Monmouth — Arbitrary Measures of the King — The Revolution — William and Mary — Establishment of the Bank of England — Queen Anne— Union of England and Scotland — Marlborough's Campaigns — House of Hanover — George I — Rebellion of 1715-16— George II — Rebellion of 1745-46— George III — American Stamp Act — American War of Independence — French Revolution — Rebellion in Ireland — Union with Great Britain —War with U. States— George IV— William IV— Queen Victoria— War with Russia— Alliance with France- Attack on Odessa — Operations in the Baltic— The Crimea — Battle of the Alma— Sebastopol described— A Ihes opening Trenches — Bombardment — Explosion of French Batteries and Russian Powder Magazine— The Allied Fleet— Cannonade— Battle of Balaklava— The Turks— The Highlanders— The Russian Cavalry— Capt. Nolan —Battle of Inkermann — Morning of the Battle — The Attack — The Zouaves — Chasseurs— Night after the Eat- 'le- Council of War — Determination to Winter — Reinforcements demanded 145 — 256 Histoet op France.- Clovis, A. D. 4S6 ; division of his Empire — The Merovingian Kings— The Carlovin- gians — Pepin — Charles Martel— Charlemagne ; hLs Empire — Louis — Division of the Empire — Charles — Arnulf — Charles the Simple — Invasion of the Normans— Hugh Capet and his Successors-r-Phihp VI of Valois — Wars with England, 1.328— 1115— Charles VI— Maid of Orleans— Louis XI— Francis II— France during the War of Religion— Persecution of the Huguenots- Coligni— The Massacre of St. Bartholomew, 1572— Henry III— Henry IV — Edict of Nantes — The Age of Louis XTV — Richelieu and Mazarin — Persecution of the Calvinists — Revocation of the Edict of Nantes, 1685 — The Last Days of Absolute Monarchy — Louis XV— Louis XVI— The French Revolution— National Assembly -Mirabeau, Dante, Marat, Robespierre — The 10th of August- De- ; cf tlie King— National Convention- Trial and Execution of the King— Jacobins and Girondists— X CONTENTS. HISTORY OF FRANCE — Continued. Exclusion of the Girondists from the Convention— Execution of the Queen, Madame Elizabeth, and the Duke of Orleans— La Vendee— Fall of Danton and Camille Desmoulins- Overthrow of Robespierre and the Jac^ bins— Reconstraction of the GoTernment— Napoleon Bonaparte— Italian Campaign— Expedition to Egypt and Syria- Return to France— The First Consulate- Consul for Life— Duke d'Engheia— Napoleon Emperor- Austrian Campaign— Paissiana-Battle of Austerlitz— Confederation of the Rhine— War with Prussia— Al- liance of Prussia and Russia — Victory at Friedland — Peace of Tilsit — Occupation of Portugal— Spain — An- nexation of the Roman States and imprisonment of the Pope — New war with Austria — Peace of Vienna- Marriage with Maria I/Ouisa— Russian Campaign— Conflagration of Moscow— P^etreat of the French — Alltanoc c^ Russia, Prussia, etc. — Congress of Prague — Austria — Battle of Leipsic — Retreat of the French — Infasjcn of France by the Allies— Abdication of Napoleon — Louis XVIII — Escape of Napoleon from Elba — Defeat at Waterloo — Death at St. Helena — Louis XVTII — Charles X— Abdication — Louis Philippe — Revolution— Louis Napoleon— War with Ras.sia and alliance with England and Turkey 256—3^)2 History of Spain. — Gothic Monarchy— The Moors— Castile— Henry IV — Ferdinand and Isabella — Con- iiuest of Grenada— Christopher Columbus — Discovery of America — Charles V — Hernando Cortes — Conquest of Mexico- Francis Pizarro — Connuest of Peru — Ignatius Loyola — Philip II — War with England — Defeat of the Invincible Armada— Philip III — Banishmeut of the descendants of the Moors — Philip IV — Accession of the House of Bourbon— Charles III— The Seven Years' War — Charles IV — Ferdinand — Joseph Bouaparte- Alliance of the Spaniards and English— Rxsturu of Ferdinand— Isabella II 302—312 Germany asd Adstria.— Division of the Empire of Charlemagne, and formation of the German Empire- Succession of Henry the Fowler to the throne of Conrad of Prauconia — The Germans build cities — Accession of Hildebrand— Pope Gregory III — His Excommunication of Henry IV — Strife of Guelphs and Ghibeline." — Pope Adrian IV— Tancred — Richard in of England — The House of Hapsburg succeeds that of Swabia — Death of Albert— Charles IV issues the Golden Bull— Council of Constance— Martyrdom of John Uuss and Jerome of Prague — Invention of Printing— Luther ; the Reformation — Thirty Years' War — Peace of West- phalia— Insurrection of Hungarians aided by Turks — The War of Succession — Prince Eugene — Maria The- re,si— Pragmatic Sanction— Revolt of the Netherlands— Confederation of the Rhine— Congress of Vienna — llbngarian Itevolution of 184S 312— 32f: lIiBTOKV OP Rnssu.— Russia rescued from the Tartars by John Basilowitz— Michael T'.ieodorowitz, First of the Honse of F.omanoff, Czar of Muscovy — Reorganization of Russia by Alexis — Reign of Peter the Great— I'oundation and embellishment of St. Petersburg — Succession of the Czarina Catherine— Catherine II— An- nexation of the Crimea — Dismemberment of Poland — Kosciusko— Suwarrow — Resignation of Stanislaus — Paul — War against the French Republic — Assassination of Paul — Alexander — Coalition against Napoleon, by A-ustria and England — Peace of Tilsit— Ni%ioleon declares war against Russia — SmoleiLsko — Burning of Moe row— Constantine— Nicholas — Extirpation of Poland— Siege of Sevastopol by Franco, England, and Turkey — Death of Nicholas— Succession of Alexander IT 320—334 HISTORY OF THE UNITED STATES. I. CoLO.MAL History. — ^Discoveries of Cabot — The Huguenots — Sir Walter Raleigh— Champlain— Henry Hudson — Virginia — Jamestown — John Smith — Pocahontas — Indian AVar— Gov. Berkelcy^Nachaniel Bacon — New England Colonics — Puritans — Principles of their early Government— Quaker Persecution — Pequod Indian War— King Philip — Royal Governors — Salem Witchcraft — Connecticut— Rhode Island — ^Dutch Settle- ment of New Amstei'dim— Indian War — Annexation of New Amsterdam to the English Colonies, and change of name to N. Y'ork— Lord Baltunore— Civil War — CaroUna — Wm.Penn — Indian Treaty — Frame of Government— Oglethorpe— Wesley— Whitfield— Principles and characteristics of the Colonists 334— Ai. TI.' Contest op France and England for A:jerioa. — King William's War — The French War — The Ohio Company — George Washington — Braddock- Gen. Wolfe — Rising Colonial prosperity 363 — &"•!• Ill The llEVOLnTiON.— Stamp Act- N. Y. Congress— War of publications agaiust Britaui— Boston Mas- sacre— Tea Party — Lexington — Declaration of Independence — Franklin, Lafayette, Kosciusko— Trenton— Brandywine— Burgoyne's Defeat— Alliance of France and America— Baron Steuben — D'Estaing— Stony Pcir.t —Arnold — Col. Hayne — Capitulation of Cornwallis — Treaty at Paris — Washington — Paralyzed condition <■'. the Government— Massachusetts ReljcUion 1786— Formation of Government by the Constitutional Conven- tion 368-.3S4 IV. CoNsriTniloNAL HiaiOET. — Federalists and anti-Federalists- Defeat of Ilarmar and St. Clair— Prohi bition of the Slave Trade— Death of Washington— Purchase of Louisiana— War with Tripoli— Embargo Acts -War with England— Campaign of 1812— American Naval Victories— Perry's victory on Lake Eric--Gen. llirrison- Treaty at Ghent- Battle of New Orleans— Seminole War— Lafayette— Tariff— U. S. Bank— NuUi- fication— Compromise of 1820— Commercial Bankruptcy— Annexation of Texas— Mexican War — Discovery of Gold in California— Gadsden Treaty 394— 41S BIOGRAPHICAL DEPARTMENT. Heksando Coetez 41f. William Penn 441 BBNjAiira Frankum 467 PsTER THE Great 47s Count Ru-mford 49? Nicholas CoPESNicns 523 Tycho Braee '526 Galileo 528 Keplep. 531 Sm Isaac Newton 533 iioigens 5s6 Halley 537 Ferguson 53S Sir William IlERScaBL 544 SmoN Bolivar .' 547 FoANCLi, THE Dictator 554 Alexander Wilsos 562 James Watt 669 John Howard 572 Lopj) Byron 59S Percy Btssue Shelley 612 Oliver Goldsjiith 615 Edward Gibbon 618 David Hu:.ie 623 alex.vnder pope , 627 John AoAiia 634 Thouas Jefferson 644 Samuel Adaks 640 James Otis 651 Fisher Ames 653 Aaron Burr 655 Alexander HAMaiON , ...,, 657 Patrick Henry , , 660 John IIancoce 664 Ethan Allen , 665 Benedict Arnold 667 Horatio Gates 680 Thaddeds Kosciusko 681 Nathaniel Green , , , , 685 Frederick Willl\m Augustus Steuben 6SS Baron de Kalb 6Sfl Richard Montgomery 69" Gilbert Motier Lafaysttb 60i Israel Putnam , 696 Stephen Decatur 698 Isaac Hull , 700 Oliver Hazard Peret 702 John Marshall 704 .Tohn Paul Jones 706 Andrew Jackson 710 Winfield Scott 71S ZiCHARY Taylor 714 XU CONTENTS. JuBH E. Woot 724 Daniel Weester 728 Henet Clay 732 Leti Woobbury 735 Robert Rantoul 737 Franklin Tierce 740 Samoel Finley Breese Morse 741 M. Dagcerre 747 Victor ilcao 749 OisiAR Passia 751 Kdward ErERETT 753 Washington Irving 754 William Ct-LLEN Bryant 756 George Bancroft 758 William niCKLiNG Presoott 758 IIiBAM Powers 759 DEPARTMENT OF TRAVEL. HisroRiCAL Sketch of Naval Architecture • 761 Early Maritime Discoveries 774 Christopher Coldmbcs 775 Ferdinand Magellan 800 Sir Francis Drake 802 IIenuy Hudson 804 1,E Maire and Schouten 805 t'APTAiN James , 806 William Dampier 811 (y'aptain woodes rogers 814 .lOHN Clipperton 815 Commodore Anson 817 (\\PTAiN Byron 823 Captain Wallis , ■. , 829 De Bougainville 832 Captain James Cook 837 Captains Portlook and Dison 864 Monsieur De La Perouse 870 George Vancouver 891 Perry's A'oyaiges 896 Sir John Franklin 920 Travels in Africa— Parke, Denham, Clapperton, Lander and others 927 Samuel IIearne 953 John Lewis Burkhardt 955 .Umes Bruce 958 .John Ledyard 966 John Baptist Belzoni 967 <A eoroe Forster 974 Kdwaed Daniel Clarke 976 UlCilARD POCOCKE 979 OvF.rL\ND Journey to Indu 981 LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. PAGE. Opium Smuggling 22 Japanese Funeral Procession 23 Aga 30 Japanese Agriculture 31 Terrace of St. Peter's 126 Gibraltar 127 Marine Arsenal, Constantinople 2£2 Place cf Kossuth's Imprisonment 233 Castle of Eisenstadt 322 King of Denmark 323 Captain Smith and Pocahontas ' 335 Providence, R.I 338 Newport, R. I '. 339 New Havwi, Conn 342 Philadelphia, Pa 343 Halifax, N. S 348 Lake George 349 Castle William 554 Castle Garden a55 Wilmington, N. C 358 Prison, Phiia 359 Fort Putnam 364 Pillar Rock ."eS Place des Armes, New Orleans 370 Blackwell Penitentiary 371 Columbus, 0 402 Depot, Cleveland, 0 403 Cincinnati, 0 406 Sandusky City, 0 407 Battle Monument, Baltimore. 410 Bombardment of Vera Cruz 411 State House. 'iVisconsin 414 View on Grand River, Ohio 570 Bridge, Conneaut River, 0 571 Kosciusko's Monument 683 Paul Jones 707 Gen. Scott 712 Fort Ancient 716 Milford, near Cincinnati, 0 717 Gen. Wool 725 PAGE Daniel Webster 728 Residence of Daniel Webster 729 Henry Clay 733 Uon. Levi Woodbury 734 Birth Place of John Q. Adams 736 Franklin Pierce 738 William R. King 739 EucUd Creek, 0 742 Red Bank 743 Prof. Morse...'. 744 Daguerre 746 Victor Hugo t 745 Omar Pasha 752 Disappointed Gold Seekers . . 760 Gold Seeker's Grave 760 Naval Architecture, from the tenth to the sev- enteenth century (17 Engravings) 762-770 City of Panama 812 Panama Gate SIS City of Havana 818 Scene in Havana 819 Adelaide 824 Bathurst, N. S. W 825 Valparaiso 834 Iron Bridge, Jamaica S35 Sidney, N. S. W 8S6 Humboldt 857 California 874 Ranehe 875 Post Office 876 River-bed Claim on the Turou 877 Removing Goods 878 Dry Diggings 879 Portraits of Sir John Franklin's Expedition, (9 Engravings) 922-926 Calcutta 973 Rail Road Bridge 964 Elk Creek 965 East Branch Rocky River 982 West Branch Rocky River 983 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA THK AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA OF HISTORY, BIOGRAPHY AND TRAVEL. DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. ANCIENT HISTORY. The general consent of mankind points to the region of Central Asia as having been the original seat from which the human race dispersed itself over the globe ; and accordingly, it is this region, and especially the west- ern portion of it, which we find to have been the theatre of the earlie# recorded transactions. In short, it was in Central Asia that the first la^p mass of ripened humanity was accumulated — a great central nucleus of human life, so to speak, constantly enlarging, and from which emissaries incessantly streamed out over the globe in all directions. In process of time this great central mass having swollen out till it filled Asia and j^rica, broke up into three fragments — thus giving parentage to the three leading vari- eties into which ethnographers divide the human species — the Caucasian, the Mongolian, and the Ethiopian or Negro — the Caucasians overspread- ing southern and western Asia ; the Mongolians overspreading northern and eastern Asia ; and the Ethiopians overspreading Africa. From these three sources streamed forth branches which, intermingling in various pro- portions, have constituted the various nations of the earth. Differing from each other in physiological characteristics, the three great varieties of the human species have also differed widely in their histor- ical career. The germs of a grand progressive development seem to have been implanted specially in the Caucasian variety, the parent stock of all the great civilized nations of ancient and modern times. History, there- fore, concerns itself chiefly with this variety : in the evolution of whose destinies the true thread of human progress is to be found. Ere proceeding, however, to sketch the early development of this highly-endowed variety of our species in the nations of antiquity, a few observations may be offered regarding the other two the Ethiopian and Mongolian — which began the race of life along with the Caucasian, and whose destinies, doubtless, what- 2 18 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. ever may have been their historical functions hitherto, are involved in some profound and beautiful manner with the bearing of the race as a whole. ETHIOPIAN HISTORY. A German Historian thus sums up all that is known of Ethiopian history — that is, of the part which the great Negro race, inhabiting all Africa with the exception of the north-eastern coasts, performed in the general af- fairs of mankind in the early ages of the world : — ' On the history of this division of the species two remarks may be made : the one, that a now en- tirely extinct knowledge of the extension and power of this branch of the human family must have been forced upon even the Greeks by their early ])oets and historians ; the other, that the Ethiopian history is interwoven throughout with that of Egypt. As regards the first remark, it is clear that in the earliest ages this branch of the race must have played an im- portant part, since Mei-oe (in the present Nubia) is mentioned both by Herodotus (b. c. 408) and Strabo (a. d. 20) ; by the one as a still-exist- ing, by the other as a formerly-existing seat of royalty, and centre of the Ethiopian religion and civilization.* To this Strabo adds, that the race spread from the boundaries of Egypt over the mountains of Atlas, as far as the Gaditanian Straits. Ephorus, too (b. c. 405), seems to have had a very great impression of the Ethiopians, since he names in the east the Indians, in the south the Ethiopians, in the west the Celts, in the north the Scythians, as the most mighty and numerous peoples of the known earth. Already in Strabo's time, hovrever, their ancient power had been me for an indefinite period, and the Negro states found themselves, after "^roe had ceased to be a religious capital, almost in the same situation as I in which they still continue. The second remark on the Negro branch oTThe human race and its history, can only be fully elucidated when the interpretation of the inscriptions on Egyptian monuments shall have been farther advanced. The latest travels into Abj^ssinia show this much — that at one tim^JAhe Egyptian religion and civilization extended over the prin- cipal seattpf the northern Negroes. Single mummies and monumental figures corroborate what Herodotus expressly says, that a great portion of * Some years ago, a traveler, Mr. G. A. Hoskins, visited tlae site of this capital state of ancient Ethiopia, an island, if it may be so called, about 300 miles long, enclosed within tvco forking branches of the Nile. He found in it several distinct groups of magnificent pyra- midal structures. Of one ruin he says — 'Never were my feelings more ardently excited than in approaching, after so tedious a journey, to this magnificent necropolis. The ap- pearance of the pyramids in the distance announced their importance ; but I was gratified beyond my most sanguine expectations when I found myself in the midst of them. The pyramids of Gizeh are m.igniticent, wonderful from their stupendous magnitude ; but for picturesque effect and elegance of architectural design, I infinitely prefer those of Meroe. I expected to find few such rem.ains here, and certainly nothing so imposing, so interesting, as these sepulchres, doubtless of the kings and queens of Ethiopia. I stood for some time lost in admiration. This, then, was the necropolis, or city of the dead ! But where was the city itself, Mcroc, its temples and palaces ? A large space, about 2000 feet in length, and the same distance from the river, strewed with burnt brick and with some fragments of walls, and stones, similar to those used in the erection of the pyramids, formed, doubtless, part of that celebrated site. The idea that this is the exact situation of the city is strengthened by the remark of Strabo, that the walls of the habitations were built of bricks. These indicate, without doubt, the site of that cradle of the arts which distinguish a civilized from a bar- barous society. Of the birthplace of the arts and sciences, the wild natives of the adjacent yillages have made a miserable burying-place ; of the city of the learned — "its cloud-capt lowers," its '• gorgeous pal aces," its " solemn temples " — there is " left not a rack behind." The sepulchres alone of her departed kings have fulfilled their destination of surviving the habitations which their philosophy taught them to consider but as inns, and are now fast mouldering into dust. Scarcely a trace of a palace or a temple is to be seen.' DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 19 the Egyptians of his time had black skins and -woolly hair ; hence we infer that the Negro race had combined itself intimately with the Caucasian part of the population. Not these notices only, but the express testimo- nies also of the Hebrew annals, show Egypt to have contained an abun- dance of Negroes, and mention a conquering king invading it at the head of a Negro host, and governing it for a considerable time. The nature of the accounts on which we must found does not permit us to give an accur- ate statement ; we remark, however, that the Indians, the Egyptians, and the Babylonians, are not the only peoples which aimed at becoming world- conquerors before the historic age, but that also to the Ethiopian stock warlike kings were not wanting in the early times. The ISIongols alone seem to have enjoyed a happy repose within their own seats in the primi- tive historic times, and those antecedent to them ; they appear first very late as conquerors and destroyers in the history of the west. If, indeed, the hero-king of the Ethiopians, Tearcho, were one and the same with the Tirhakah of the book of Kings (2 Kings, xLx. 9), then the wonder of those stories would disappear which were handed down by tradition to the Greeks ; but even Bochart has combatted this belief, and we cannot recon- cile it with the circumstances which are related of both. It remains for us only to observe, by way of summary, that in an age antecedent to the his- toric, the Ethiopian peoples may have been associated together in a more regular manner than in our own or Grecian and Roman times ; and that their distant expeditions may have been so formidable, both to the Europeans as far as the ^gean Sea in the east, and to the dwellers on the Gaditanian Straits (Gibraltar) on the west, that the dim knowledge of the fact was not lost even in late times. In more recent ages we observe here and ther^j^ an Ethiopian influence, and especially in the Egyptian history ; but ^^V^ concerns the general progress of the human species, the Negro race nevJP^ acquired any vital importance. The foregoing observations may be summed up in this proposition : — That in the most remote antiquity, Africa was overspread byJi|kNegro variety of the human species ; that in those parts of the contin^^B which the knowledge of the ancient geographers did not extend -— nWely, all south of Egypt and the Great Desert — the Negro race degenerated, or at least dispersed into tribes, kingdoms, etc., constituting a great savage system within its own torrid abode, similar to that which even now, in the adult age of the world, we are vainly attempting to penetrate ; but that on the coasts of the Mediterranean and the Red Sea, the race either pre- served its original faculty and intelligence longer, or was so improved by contact and intermixture with its Caucasian neighbors, as to constitute, under the name of the Ethiopians, one of the great ante-historic dynasties of the world ; and that this dynasty ebbed and flowed against the Caucas- ian populations of western Asia and eastern Europe, thus giving rise to mixture of races along the African coasts of the north and east, until at length, leaving these mixed races to act their part awhile, the pure Ethio- pian himself retired from historic view into Central Africa, where he lay concealed, till again in modern times he was dragged forth to become the slave of the Caucasian. Thus Negro history hitherto has exhibited a ret- rogression from a point once occupied, rather than a progress in civiliza- tion. Even this fact, however, must somehow be subordinate to a great law of general progress ; and it is gratifying to know that, on the coast 20 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA, of Africa, a settlement has recently been formed called Liberia, peopled by liberated negro slaves from North America ; and who, bringing with them the Anglo-American civilization, give promise of founding a cultured and prosperous community. MONGOLlAJSr HISTORY — THE CHINESE. As from the great central mass of mankind, the first accumulation of life on our planet, there was parted off into Africa a fragment called the Negro variety, so into eastern Asia there was detached, by those causes which we seek in vain to discover, a second huge fragment, to which has been given the name of the Mongolian variety. Overspreading the great plains of Asia, from the Himalehs to the Sea of Okhotsk, this detachment of the human species may bo supposed to have crossed into Japan ; to have reached the other islands of the Pacific, and either through these, or by the access at Behring's Straits, to have poured themselves through the great American continent ; their peculiarities shading ofi" in their long journey, till the Mongolian was converted into the American Indian. Blumeubach, however, erects the American Indian into a type by himself. Had historians been able to pursue the Negro race into their central African jungles and deserts, they would no doubt have found the general Ethiopic mass breaking up there under the operation of causes connected with climate, soil, food, etc., into vast sections or subdivisions, presenting marked differences from each other ; and precisely so Avas it with the Mon- ians. In Central Asia, we find them as Thibetians, Tungusiaus, Mon- gols proper ; on the eastern coasts, as Mantchous and Chinese ; in the ^ acent islands, as Japanese, etc. ; and nearer the North Pole, as Laplan- rs, Esquimaux, etc. ; all presenting peculiarities of their own. Of these great Mongohan branches circumstances have given a higher degree of development to the Chinese and the Japanese than to the others, which are chi|J^omadic hordes, some under Chinese rule, others independent, roamin^B^r the great pasture lands of Asia, and employed in rearing cattle, w^ There is every reason to believe that the vast population inhabiting that portion of eastern Asia called China, can boast of a longer antiquity of civilisation than almost any other nation of the world, a civilization, how- ever, diSering essentially in its character from those which have appeared and disappeared among the Caucasians. This, in fact, is to be observed as the grand difference between the history of the Mongolian and that of the Caucasian variety of the human species, that whereas the former pre- sents us with the best product of Mongolian humanity, in the form of one great permanent civilization — the Chinese — extending from century to century, one, the same, and solitary, through a period of 3000 or 4000 years ; the latter exhibits a succession of civilization — the Chaldean, the Persian, the Grecian, the Roman, the modern European (subdivided into French, English, German, Italian, etc.,) and the Anglo-American; these civilizations, from the remotest Oriental — that is, Chaldean — to the most recent Occidental — that is, the Anglo- American — being a series of waves falling into each other, and driven onward by the same general force. A brief sketch of Chinese history, with a glance at Japan, wiU therefore discharge all that we ote to the Mongolian race. i ^Igoli ^IBIr DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 21 Authentic Chinese history does not extend father back than about 800 or 1000 years B. c. ; but, as has been the case more or less -vrith all nations, the Chinese imagination has provided itself with a mytho- logical history extending many ages back into the unknown past. Un- like the mythology of the Greeks, but like that of the Indians, the Chinese . legends deal in large chronological intervals. First of all, in the beginning of time, was the great Puan-Koo, founder of the Chiiiese nation, and whose dress was green leaves. After him came Ty-en-Hoang, Ti-IIoang, Gin- Hoang and several other euphonious potentates, each of whom did something towards the building up of the Chinese nation, and each of whom reigned, as was the custom in those grand old times, thousands of years. At length, at a time corresponding to that assigned in Scripture to the hfe of Noah, came the divine-born Fohi, a man of transcendent faculties, wdio reigned 115 years, teaching music and the system of symbols, instituting marriage, building walls round cities, creating mandarins, and, in short, establishing the Chinese nation on a basis that could never be shaken. After him came Shin-ning, Whang-ti, etc., until in due time came the good emperors Yao and Shun, in the reign of the latter of whom happened a great flood. By means of canals and drains the assiduous Yu saved the country, and became the successor of Shun. Yu was the first emperor of the Hia dynasty, which began about 2100 B. c. After this dynasty came that of Shang, the last of whose emperors, a great tyrant, was deposed (b. c. 1122) by Woo-wong, the founder of the Tchow dynasty. In this Tchow dynasty, which lasted upwards of 800 years, authentic Chi- nese history commences. It was during it, and most probably about the year b. o. 484, that the great Con-fu-tse, or Confucius, the founder of the* Chinese religion, philosophy, and Hterature, flourished. In the year 248, the Tchow dynasty was superseded by that of Tsin, the first of wb kings built the Great Wall of China, to defend the country against the Tar Nomads. The Tsm dynasty was a short one : it was succeeded in b. c. 206 by the Han dynasty, which lasted till a. d. 238. Then followed a rapid se- ries of dynastic revolutions, by which the nation was frequ^M? broken into parts ; and during which the population was considerably^mnged in character by the irruptions of the nomad hoards of Asia who intermingled with it. Early in the seventh century, a dynasty called that of Tang acce- ded to power, which ended in 897. After half a century of anarchy, order was restored under the Song dynasty, at the commencement of which, or about the year 950, the art of printing was discovered, five centuries before •it was known in Europe. ' The Song dynasty,' says Schlosser, ' maintain- ed an intimate connection with Japan, as contrary to all Chinese maxims ; the emperors of this dynasty imposed no limits to knowledge, the arts, life, luxury, and commerce with other nations. Their unhappy fate, therefore (on being extinguished with circumstances of special horror by the Mongol conqueror Kublai Khan, A. d. 1281), is held forth as a warning against departing a hairsbreadth from the old customs of the empire. From the time of the destruction of the Song dynasty by the Mongol monarchy, the hitercourse between China and Japan was broken, until again the Ming, a native Chinese dynasty (a. b. 186G) restored it. The Mongol rulers made an expedition against Japan, but were unsuccessful. The unfortu- nate gift which the Japanese received from China was the doctrine of Foe. This doctrine, however, was not the first foreign doctrine or foreign worship •t^ 24 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. that came into China. A religion, whose nature we cannot fix — probably Buddhism, ere it had assumed the form of Lamaism — was preached in it at an earlier date. About the time of the Tsin dynasty (b. c. 248 - 206), a warlike king had incorporated all China into one and subdued the princes of the various provinces. While he was at war with his subjects, many of the roving hordes to the north of China pressed into the land, and with them appeared missionaries of the religion above mentioned. "When peace was restored, the kings of the fore-named dynasty, as also later those of Han and the two following dynasties, extended the kingdom prodigiously, and the western provinces became known to the Greeks and Romans as the land of the Seres. As on the one side Tartary was at that time Chinese, so on the other side the Chinese were connected with India; whence came the Indian religion. It procured many adherents, but yield- ed at length to the primitive habits of the nations. In consequence of the introduction of the religion of Foe, the immense country fell asunder into two kingdoms. The south and the north had t .ach its sovereign ; and the wars of the northern kingdom occasioned the wanderings of the Huns, by whose agency the Roman Empire was destroyed. These kingdoms of the north and south were often afterwards united and again dissevered ; great savage hordes roamed around them as at present ; but all that had settled, and that dwelt within the Great Wall, submitted to the ancient Chinese civilization. Ghenghis Khan, indeed, whose power was founded on the Turkish and Mongol races, annihilated both kingdoms, and the bar- baric element seemed to triumph ; but this was changed as soon as his kingdom Avas divided. Even Kublai, and yet more his immeidiate follow- ers, much as the Chinese calumniate the Mongol dynasty of Yeven, main- tained evei-ything in its ancient condition, with the single exception that they did homage to Lamaism, the altered form of Buddhism. This religion yet prevails, accommodated skillfully, however, to the Chinese mode of exist- ence — a mode which all subsequent conquerors have respected, as the ex- ample of the present dynasty proves.' The dynasty alluded to is that of Tatsin Mantchou, a mixed Mongol and Tartar stock, which superseded the native Chinese dynasty of Ming in the year 1644. The present emperor of China is the sixth of the Tatsin dynasty. From the series of dry facts just given, we arrive at the fol- lowing definition of China and its civilization : As the Roman Em- pire Avas a great temporary aggregation of matured Caucasian human- ity, surrounded by and shading ofi" into Caucasian barbarism, so China, a country more extensive than all Europe, and inhabited by a population of more than 300,000,000, is an aggregation of matured Mongolian humanity surrounded by Mongolian barbarism. The diiference is this, that while the Roman Empire was only one of several successive aggregations of the Cau- casian race, each on an entirely difierent basis, the Chinese empire has been one permanent exhibition of the only form of civilization possible among the Mongolians. The Jew, the Greek, the Roman, the French- man, the German, the Englishman — these are all types of the matured Cau- casian character ; but a fully-developed Mongolian has but one type — the Chinese. Chinese history does not exhibit a progress of the Mongolian man through a series of stages ; it exliibits only a uniform duration of one great civilized Mongolian empire, sometimes expanding so as to extend itself into the surrounding Mongolian barbarism, sometimes contracted by the press- DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 5K> ure of that barbarism, sometimes disturbed by infusions of the barbaric ele- ment, sometimes shattered within itself by the operation of individual Chi- nese ambition, but always retaining its essential character. True, in such avast empire, difference of climate, etc., must give rise to specific differences, so that a Chinese of the north-east is not the same as a Chinese of the south- west; true, also, the Japanese civihzation seems to exist as an alternative between which and the Chinese, Providence might share the MongoHan part of our species, were it to remain unmixed : still the general remark remains undeniable, that from the extremest antiquity to the present day, Mongolian humanity has been able to cast itself but into one essential civ- ilized type. It is an object of peculiar interest, therefore, to us who be- long to the multiform and progressive Caucasian race, to obtain a distinct idea of the nature of that permanent form of civilization out of which our Mongolian brothers have never issued, and apparently never wish to issue. Each of our readers being a civilized Caucasian, may be supposed to ask, ' What sort of a human being is a civilized Mongolian ? ' A study of the Chinese civilization would answer this question. Not so easy would it be for a Chinese to return the compliment, confused as he would be by the multiplicity of the types which the Caucasian man has assumed — from the ancient Arab to the modern Anglo-American. Hitherto little progress has been made in the investigation of the Chinese civilization. Several conclusions of a general character have, however, been established. ' We recognise,' says Schlosser, ' in the institutions of the Chinese, so much praised by the Jesuits, the character of the institu- tions of all early states ; with this difference, that the Chinese mode of life is not a product of hierarchical or theocratic maxims, but a work of the cold understanding. In China, all that subserves the wants of the senses was arranged and developed in the earliest ages ; all that concerns the soul or the imagination is yet raw and ill-adjusted ; and we behold in the high opinion which the Chinese entertain of themselves and their affairs, a terrible example of what must be the consequence when all behavior pro- ceeds according to prescribed etiquette, when all knowledge and learning is a matter of rote directed to external applications, and the men of learn- ing are so intimately connected with the government, and have their inter- est so much one with it, that a number of privileged doctors can regulate literature as a state magistrate does weights and measures.' Of the Chinese govei'nment the same authority remarks — ' the patriarchal sys- tem still lies at the foundation of it. Round the " Son of Heaven," as they name the highest ruler, the wise of the land assemble as I'ound their counselor and organ. So in the provinces (of which there are eighteen or nineteen, each as large as a considerable kingdom), the men of greatest sagacity gather round the presidents ; each takes the fashion from his supe- rior, and the lowest give it to the people. Thus one man exercises the sov- ereignty ; a number of learned men gave the law, and invented in very early times a symbolical system of syllabic writing, suitable for their mono syllabic speech, in lieu of their primitive system of hieroglyphics. All business is transacted in writing, with minuteness and pedantry. Their written language is very difficult ; and as it is possible in Chinese writing for one to know all the characters of a certain period of time, or of a cer- tain department, and yet be totally unacquainted with those of another department, there is no end to their mechanical acquisition.' It has already 26 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. been mentioned that Chinese thought has at various times received certain foreign tinctures, chiefly from India ; essentially, however, the Chinese mind has remained as it was fixed by Confucius. 'In China,' says Schlosser, ' a so-named philosophy has accomplished that which in other countries has been accomplished by priests and religions. In the genuine Chinese books of religion, in all their learning and wisdom, God is not thought of; reUgion, according to the Chinese and their oracle and lawgiver Con-fu-tse, has nothing to do with the imagination, but consists alone in the perfor- mance of outward moral duties, and in zeal to further the ends of state. Whatever lies beyond the plain I'ule of Ufe is either a sort of obscure natural philosophy, or a mere culture for the people, and for any who may feel the want of such a culture. The various forms of worship which have made ihh'ir way into China are obliged to restrict themselves, to bow to the law, and to make their practices conform ; they can arrogate no literature of their own ; and, good or bad, must learn to agree with the prevailing athe- istic Chinese manner of thought.' Such are the Chinese, and such have they been for 2000 or 3000 years — a vast people undoubtedly civiUzed to the highest pitch of which Mon- golian humanity is susceptible ; of mild disposition ; industrious to an extra- ordinary degree ; well-skilled in all the mechanical arts, and possessing a mechanical ingenuity peculiar to themselves ; boasting of a language quite singular in its character, and of a vast literature ; respectful of usage to such a degree as to do everything by pattern ; attentive to the duties and civilities of life, but totally devoid of fervor, originality, or spirituality ; and living under a form of government which has been very happily designated a pedantocracy — that is, a hierarchy of erudite persons selected from the population, and appointed by the emperor, according to the proof they give of their capacity, to the various places of public trust. How far these characteristics, or any of them, are insepm-able from a Mongolian civiliza- tion, Vr'ould appear more clearly if we knew more of the .Japanese. At present, however, there seems little prospect of any reorganization of the Chinese mind, except by means of a Caucasian stimulus applied to it. And what Caucasian stimulus will be sufficient to break up that vast Mongolian mass, and lay it open to the general world-influences ? Will the stimulus come from Europe ; or from America after its western shores are peopled, and the Anglo-Americans begin to think of crossing the Pacific ? CAUCASIAN HISTORY. While the Negro race seems to have retrograded from its original posi- tion on the earth, while the Mongolian has afforded the spectacle of a single permanent and pedantic civilization retaining millions within its grasp for ages in the extreme east of Asia, the Caucasian, as if the seeds of the world's progress had been implanted in it, has Avorked out for itself a splendid career on an ever-shifting theatre. First attaining its maturity in Asia, the Caucasian civilization has shot itself westward, if we may so speak, in several successive throes ; long confined to Asia ; then entering northern Africa, where, commingling with the Ethiopian, it originated a new culture; again, about the year b. c. 1000, adding Europe to the stage of history ; and lastly, 2500 years later, crossing the Atlantic, and meeting in America with a difiiised and degenerate Mongolism. To understand DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 27 this beautiful career thoroughly, it is necessary to observe the manner in which the Caucasians disseminated themselves from their central home — to count, as it were, and note separately, the various flights by which they emigrated from the central hive. So far as appears, then, from investiga- tions into language, etc., the Caucasian stock sent forth at different times in the remote past five great branches from its original seat, somewhere to the south of that long chain of mountains which commences at the Black Sea, and, bordering the southern coast of the Caspian, terminates in the Himalehs. In what precise way, or at what precise time, these branches separated themselv:;gs from the parent stock and from each other, must remain a mystery ; a sufficiently clear general notion of the fact is all that Ave can pretend to. 1st. The Armenian branch, remaining appar- ently nearest the original seat, filled the countries between the Caspian and Black Seas, extending also round the Caspian into the territories afterwards known as those of the Parthians. 2c?, The Indo-Persian branch, which extended itself in a southern and eastern direction from the Caspian Sea, through Persia and Cabool, into Hindoostan, also penetrating Bokhara. From this great branch philologists and ethnographers derive those two races, the distinction between which, although subordinate to the grand fivefold division of the Caucasian stock, is of immense consequence in modern history — the Celtic and the Germanic. Pouring through Asia Minor, it is supposed that the Indo-Persian family entered Europe through Thrace, and ultimately, through the operation of those innumerable causes which react upon the human constitution from the circumstances in which it is placed, assumed the character of Celts and Germans — the Celts being the earlier product, and eventually occupying the western portion of Europe — namely, northern Italy, France, Spain and Great Britain — still undergoing subdivision, however, during their dispersion, into Iberians, Gaels, Cymri, &c. ; the Germans being a later off-shoot, and settling rather in the centre and north of Europe in two great moieties — the Scan- dinavians and the Germans Proper. This seems the most plausible ped- igree of the Celtic and Germanic races, although some object to it. Sc?, The Semitic or Aramaic branch, which, diffusing itself southward and westward from the original Caucasian seat, filled Syria, Mesopotamia, Arar bia, etc.,and founded the early kingdoms of Assyria, Babylonia, Phoenicia, Palestine, etc. It was this branch of ^he Caucasian variety which, enter- ing Africa by the Isthmus of Suez and the Straits of Babelmandel, consti- tuted itself an element at least in the ancient population of Egypt, Nubia, and Abyssinia ; and there are ethnographers who believe that the early civilization which lined the northern coasts of Africa arose from some extremely early blending of the Ethiopicwith the Semitic, the latter acting as a dominant caste. Diffusing itself westward along the African coast as far as Mauritania, the Semitic race seems eventually, though at a compar- atively late period, to have met the Celtic, which had crossed mto Africa from Spain ; and thus, by the infusion of Arameans and Celts, that white or tawny population which we find in northern Africa in ancient times, distinct from the Ethiopians of the interior, seems to have been formed. 'ith, The Pelasgic branch, that noble family which, carrying the Greeks and Romans in its bosom, poured itself from western Asia into the south- east of Em-ope, mingling doubtless with Celts and Germans. 5th, The Scythian, or Slavonic branch, which diffused itself over Russia, Siberia, rSO ■ AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. and the central plains of Asia, shading oiF in these last into the Mongolian, Such is a convenient division of the Caucasian stock ; a more profound investigation, however, might reduce the five races to these two — the Sem- itic and the Indo-Germanic ; alh civilized languages being capable, it is said, of being classified under these three famihes — the Chinese, which has monosyllabic roots ; the Indo-Germanic (Sanscrit, Hindoostanee, Greek, Latin, German, and all modern European languages), which has dissjdlabic roots; and the Semitic (Hebrew, Arabic, &c.), whose roots are trisyllabic. Retaining, however, the fivefold distribution which we have adopted, we shall find that the history of the world, from the earliest to the remotest times, has been nothing else than the common Caucasian vitality presenting itself in a succession of phases or civilizations, each differing from the last in the proportions in which it contains the various separate elements. It is advisable to sketch first the most eastern Caucasian civilization — that is, that of India ; and then to proceed to a consideration of the state of that medley of nations, some of them Semitic, some of them Indo-Persian, and some of them Armenian, out of which the great Persian empire arose, destined to continue the historic pedigree of the world into Europe, by transmitting its vitality to the Pelasgians. Ancient India. One of the great branches, we have said, of the Cau- casian family of mankind was the Indo-Persian, which, spreading out in the primeval times from the original seat of the Caucasian part of the hu- man species, extended itself from the Caspian to the Bay of Bengal, where, coming into contact with the southern Mongolians, it gave rise, according to the most probable accounts, to those new mixed Caucasian-Mongolian races, the Malays of the Eastern Peninsula; and, by a still farther degen- eracy, to the Papuas, or natives of the South Sea Islands. While thus sha- ding off into the Mongolism of the Pacific, the Indo-Persian mass of our species was at the same time attaining maturity within itself; and as the first ripened fragment of the Mongolians had been the Chinese nation, so one of the first ripened fragments of the Indo-Persian branch of the Cau- casians seems to have been the Indians. At what time the vast peninsula of Hindoostan could first boast a civilized population, it is impossible to say ; all testimony, however, agrees in assigning to Indian civilization a most remote antiquity. Another fact seems also to be tolerably well authen- ticated regarding ancient India ; namely, that the northern portions of it, . and especially the north-western portions, which would be nearest the orig- inal Caucasian seat, were the first civilized ; and that the civiHzing influ- ence spread thence southwards to Cape Comorin. NotwithstaiKling this general conviction, that India was one of the first portions of the earth's surface that contained a civilized population, few facts in the ancient history of India are certainly known. We are told, indeed (to omit the myths of the Indian Bacchus and Hercules), of two great kingdom — those of Ayodha (Oude) and Prathisthana (Vitera) — as hav- ing existed in northern India upwards of a thousand years before Christ ; of conquests in southern India, effected by the monarchs of these king- doms ; and of wars carried on between these monarchs and their western neighbors the Persians, after the latter had begun to be powerful. All these accounts, however, merely resolve themselves into the general infor- mation, that India, many centuries before Christ, was an important member in the family of Asiatic nations ; supplying articles to their commerce, and DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 29 involved in their agitations. Accordingly, if we wish to form an idea of the condition of India prior to that great epoch in its history — its invasion by Alexander the Great, B. c. 326 — we can only do so by reasoning back from that we know of its present condition, allowing for the modifying effects of the two thousand years which have intervened ; and especially for the effects produced by the Mohammedan invasion, A. d. 1000. This, how- ever, is the less difiScult in the case of such a country as India, where the per- manence of native institutions is so remarkable ; and though we cannot hope to acquire a distinct notion of the territorial divisions, etc., of India in very ancient times, yet, by a study of the Hindoos as they are at present, we may furnish ourselves with a tolerably accurate idea of the nature of that ancient civilization which overspread Hindoostan many centuries before the birth of Christ, and this all the more probably that the notices which remain of the state of India at the time of the invasion of Alexander, correspond in many points with what is to be seen in India at the present day. The population of Hindoostan, the area of which is estimated at about a million square miles, amounts to about 120,000,000 ; of whom about 100,- 000,000 are Hindoos or aborigines, the remainder being foreigners, either Asiatic or European. The most remarkable feature in Hindoo society is its division into castes. The Hindoos are divided into four great castes — the Brahmins, whose proper business is religion and philosophy ; the Kshor- triyas, who attend to war and government ; the Vaisyas, whose duties are connected with commerce and agriculture ; and the Sudras, or artisans and laborers. Of these four castes the Brahmins are the highest ; but a broad line of distinction is drawn between the Sudras and the other three castes. The Brahmins may intermarry with the three inferior castes — the ksha- triyas with the vaisyas and the Sudras ; and the vaisyas with the Sudras ; but no Sudra can choose a wife from either of the three superior castes. As a general rule, every person is required to follow the profession of the caste to which he belongs : thus the Brahmin is to lead a life of contemplation and study, subsisting on the contributions of the rich ; the Kshatriya is to occupy himself in civil matters, or to pursue the profession of a soldier ; and the Vaisya is to be a merchant or a farmer. In fact, however, the barriers of caste have in innumerable instances been broken down. The ramifications, too, of the caste system are infinite. Besides the four pure, there are numerous mixed castes, all with their prescribed ranks and occupations. A class far below even the pure Sudras is the Pariahs or outcasts ; consisting of the refuse of all the other castes, and which, in process of time, has grown so large as to include, it is said, one-fifth of the population of Hindoostan. The Pariahs perform the meanest kinds of manual labor. This system of castes — of which the Brahmins themselves, whom some suppose to have been originally a conquering race, are the architects, if not the founders — is bound up with the rehglon of the Hindoos. Indeed of the Hindoos, more truly than of any other people, it may be said that a knowl- edge of their reUgious system is a knowledge of the people themselves. The Vedas, or ancient sacred books of the Hindoos, distinctly set forth the doctrine of the infinite and Eternal Supreme Being. According to the Vedas, there is ' one unknown, true Being, all present, all powerful, the cre- ator, preserver, and destroyer of the universe.' This Supreme Being ' is not comprehensible by vision, or by any other of the organs of sense, nor can he be conceived by means of devotion or virtuous practices.' He is not space, AGA. a / 6Z AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. nor air, nor light, nor atoms, nor soul, nor nature : he is above all these and the cause of them all. He 'has no feet, but extends everywhere ; has no hands, but holds everything ; has no eyes, yet sees all that is ; has no ears, yet hears aUthat passes. His existence had no cause. He is the smallest of the small and the greatest of the great; and yet is, in fact neither small nor great.' Such is the doctrine of the Vedas in its purest and most abstract form; but the prevailing theology which runs through them is what is called Pantheism, or that system which speaks of God as the soul of the universe, or as the universe itself. Accordingly, the whole tone and language of the highest Hindoo philosophy is Pantheistic. As a rope, lying on the ground, and mistaken at first view for a snake, is the cause of the idea or conception of the snake which exists in the mind of the person looking at it, so, say the Vedas, is the Deity the cause of what we call the universe. ' In him the whole world is absorbed ; from him it issues ; he is entwined and interwoven with all creation.' ' All that exists is God : whatever we smell, or taste, or see, or hear, or feel, is the Supreme Being.* This one incomprehensible Being, whom the Hindoos designate by the mystical names Om, Tat, and Jut, and sometimes also by the word Brahm, is declared by the Vedas to be the only proper object of worship. Only a very few persons of extraordinary gifts and virtues, however, are able, it is said, to adore the Supreme Being — the great Om — directly. The great majority of mankind are neither so wise nor so holy as to be able to approach the Divine Being himself, and worship him. It being alleged that persons thus upfortunately disqualified for adoring the invisible Deity should employ their minds upon some visible thing, rather than to suffer them to remain idle, the Vedas direct them to worship a number of inferior deities, representing particular acts or qualities of the Supreme Being ; as, for instances, Crishnu or Vishnu, the god of preservation ; Muhadev, the god of destruction ; or the sun, or the air, or the sea, or the human under- standing ; or, in fact any object or thing which they may choose to repre- sent as God. Seeing, say the Hindoos, that God pervades and animates the whole universe, everything, living or dead, may be considered a por- tion of God, and as such, it may be selected as an object of worship, pro- vided always it be worshiped only as constituting a portion of the Divine Substance. In this way, whatever the eye looks on, or the mind can con- ceive, whether it be the sun in the heavens or the great river Ganges, or the crocodile on its banks, or the cow, or the fire kindled to cook food, or the Vedas, or a Brahmin, or a tree, or a serpent — all may be legiti- mately worshiped as a fragment, so to speak, of the Divine Spirit. Thus there may be many millions of gods to which Hindoos think themselves entitled to pay divine honours. The number of Hindoo gods is calculated at 330,000,000, or about three times the number of their worshipers. Of these, the three principal deities of the Hindoos are Brahma the cre- ator, Vishnu the preserver, and Seeb or Siva the destroyer. These three of course, were originally intended to represent the three great attributes of the Om or Invisible Supreme Being — namely, his creating, his preserv- ing, and his destroying attributes. Indeed the name Om itself is a com- pound word, expressing the three ideas of creation, preservation, and des- truction, all combined. The three together are called Trimurti, and there are certain occasions when the three are worshiped conjointly. There are also sculptured representations of the Trimurti, in which the busts of Brah- DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. OO ma, Vishnu, and Siva are cut out of the same mass of stone. One of these images of the Trimurti is found in the celebrated cavern temple of Ele- phanta, in the neighborhood of Bombay, perhaps the most wonderful rem- nant of ancient Indian architecture. Vishnu and Siva arc more worship- ped separately than Brahma — each having his body of devotees specially attached to him in particular. Hindooism, like other Pantheistic systems, teaches the, doctrine of the transmigration of souls : all creation, animate and inanimate, being, accor- ding to the Hindoo system, nothing else but the deity Brahm himself par- celed out, as it were, into innumerable portions and forms (when these are reunited, the world will be at an end), just as a quantity of quicksil- ver may be broken up into innumerable little balls or globules, which all have a tendency to go together again. At long intervals of time,' each exten- ding over some thousand millions of years, Brahm does bring the world to an end, by reabsorbing it into his spirit. When, therefore, a man dies, his soul, according to the Hindoos, must either be absorbed immediately into the soul of Brahm, or it must pass through a series of transmigrations, waiting for the final absorption, which happens at the end of every uni- verse, or at least until such time as it shall be prepared for being reunited with the Infinite Spirit. The former of. the two is, according to the Hin- doos, the highest possible reward : to be absorbed into Brahm immediately upon death, and without having to undergo any farther purification, is the lot only of the greatest devotees. To attain this end, or at least to avoid degradation after death, the Hindoos, and especially the Brahmins, who are naturally the most intent upon their spiritual interests, practice a ritual of the most intricate and ascetic description, carrying religious ceremonies and antipathies with them into all the duties of life. So overburdened is the daily Ufe of the Hindoos with superstitious observances with regard to food, sleep, etc., that, but for the speculative doctrines which the more ele- vated minds among the Brahmins may see recognised in their religion, the whole system of Hindooism might seem a wretched and grotesque poly- theism. A hundred millions of people professing this system, divided into castes as now, and carrying the Brahminical ritual into all the occupations of la- zy life under the hot sun, and amid the exuberant vegetation of Hindoos- tan — such was the people into which Alexander the Great cari-ied his conquering arms ; such, doubtless, they had been for ages before that pe- riod ; and such did they remain, shut out from the view of the rest of the civilized world, and only communicating with it by means of spices, ivory, etc., which found their way through Arabia or the Red Sea to the Mediter- ranean, till Vasco de Gama rounded the Cape of Good Hope, and brought Europe and India into closer connection. Meanwhile a Mohammedan invasion had taken place (a.d. 1000) ; Mohammedans from Persia had mingled themselves with the Hindoos;' and it was with this mixed popu- lation that British enterprise eventually came into collision. Ere quitting the Indians, it is well to glance back at the Chinese, so as to see wherein these two primeval and contemporaneous consolidations of our species — the MongoUan consolidation of eastern Asia, and the Caucas- ian consolidation of the central peninsula of southern Asia — difier. ' Who- ever would perceive the full physical and moral diiference,' says Klaproth, • between the Chinese and Indian nations, must contrast the peculiar cnl- u AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. ture of the Chinese with that of the Hindoo, fashioned almost like a Euro- pean, even to his complexion. He will study the boundless religious sys- tem of the Brahmins, and oppose it to the bald belief of the original Chi- nese, which can hardly be named religion. He will remark the rigorous division of the Hindoos into castes, sects, and denominations, for which the inhabitants of the central kingdom have even no expression. He will com- pare the dry prosaic spirit of the Chinese with the high poetic souls of the dwellers on the Ganges and the Dsumnah. He will hear the rich and blooming Sanscrit, and contrast it with the unharmonious speech of the Chinese. He will mark, finally, the literature of the latter, full of matters «f fact and things worth knowing, as contrasted with the limitless philo- sophic-ascetic writing of the Indians, who have made even the highest poetry wearisome by perpetual length.' History of the Eastern Nations till their Incorporation in THE Persian Empire. Leaving India — that great fragment of the orig- inal Caucasian civilization — and proceeding westward, we find two large masses of the human species filling in the earliest times the countries lying between the Indus and the Mediterranean — namely, an Indo-Persian mass filling the whole tract of country between the Indus and the Tigris ; and a Semitic- Aramaic mass filhng the greater part of lesser Asia and the whole peninsula of Arabia, and extending itself into the parts of Africa adjoining the Red Sea. That in the most remote ages these lands were the theatres of a civilized activity is certain, although no records have been transmitted from them to us, except a few fragments relative to the Semi- tic nations. The general facts, however, with regard to these ante-lustoric times, seem to be: 1st, That the former of the two masses mentioned — namely, the population between the Indus and the Caspian — was essen- tially a prolongation of the great Indian nucleus, possessing a culture similar to the Indian in its main aspects, although varied, as was inevitable, by the operation of those physical causes which distinguish the climate of Persia and Cabool from that of Hindoostan ; 2d, That the Semitic or Ara- maic mass divided itself at a very early period into a number of separate peoples or nations, the Assyrians, the Babylonians, the Phoenicians, the Jews, the Arabians, etc., and that each of these acquired a separate devel- opment, and worked out for itself a separate career ; 3c?, That upwards of a thousand years before Christ the spirit of conquest appeared among the Semitic nations, dashing them violently against each other ; and that at length one Semitic fragment — that is, the Ass3''rians — attained the supre- macy over the rest, and founded a great dominion, called the Assyrian empire, which stretched from Egypt to the borders of India (b. c. 800) ; and 4:th, That the pressure of this Semitic power against the Indo-Pcrsic mass was followed by a reaction — one great section of the Indo-Persians rising into strength, supplanting the Assyrian empire, and founding one of their own, called the Persian empire (b. c. 536) , which was destined in its turn to be supplanted by the confederacy of Grecian states in B. c. 326. Beginning with Egypt, let us trace separately the career of each of the Eastern nations tiU that point of time at which we find them all embodied in the great Persian empire : — The Egyptians. Egypt, whose position on the map of Africa is well DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 35 known, is about 500 miles long from its most northern to its most southern point. Through its whole length flows the Nile, a fine large stream rising in the inland kingdom of Abyssinia, and, from certain periodic floods to which it is subject, of great use in irrigating and fertilizing the country. A large portion of Egypt consists of an alluvial plain, similar to our mead- ow grounds, formed by the deposits of the river, and bounded by ranges of mountains on either side. The greatest breadth of the valley is 150 miles, but generally it is much less, the mountain ranges on either side often being not more than a few miles from the river. A country so favorably situated, and possessing so many advantages, could not but be among the earliest peopled ; and accordingl}^, as far back as the human memory can reach, we find a dense population of a very peculiar character inhabiting the whole valley of the Nile. These ancient Egyptians seem, as we have already said, to have been a mixture of the Semitic with the Ethiopic element, speaking a peculiar language, still sur- viving in a modified form in the Coptic of modern Egypt. In the ancient authors, however, the Egyptians are always distinguished from the Ethio- pians, with whom they kept up so close an intercourse, that it has been made a question whether the Egyptian institutions came from the Ethiopian Meroe, or whether, as is more probable, civilization was transmitted to Ethiopia from Egypt. The whole country is naturally divided into three parts — Upper Egypt, bordering on what was anciently Ethiopia ; Middle Egypt ; and Lower Egypt, including the Delta of the Nile. In each there were numerous cities in which the population was amassed : originally Thebes, a city of Upper Egypt, of the size of which surprising accounts are transmitted to us, and whose ruins still astonish the traveler, was the capital of the coun- try; but latterly, as commerce increased, Memphis in Middle Egypt became the seat of power. After Thebes and Memphis, Ombi, Edfou, Esneh, Elephantina, and Philoe seem to have been the most important of the Egyptian cities. Our accounts of the Egyptian civilization are derived chiefly from the Greek historian Herodotus (b. c. 408), who visited Egypt and digested the information which he received from the priests as to its ancient history ; and Manetho, a native Egyptian of later times, who wrote in Greek. From their accounts it is inferred that the country was anciently divided mto thirty-six sections or provinces called names — ten in Upper, sixteen in Middle, and ten in Lower Egypt. ' Many of the separate nomes were of considerable substantive importance, and had a marked local character each to itself, religious as well as political ; though the whole of Egypt, from Elephantine to Pelusium and Kanopus, is said to have always consti- tuted one kingdom.' Of this kingdom, the population, according to a rough estimate, may have been about seven millions. The government was a monarchy based on an all-powerful priesthood, similar to the Brahminical system of India ; and, as in India, the most striking feature in the Egyp- tian society was the division of the people into hereditary castes. ' The population of Egypt,' says Mr Grote in his History of Greece, ' was clas- sified into certain castes or hereditary professions, of which the number is represented differently by different authors. The priests stand clearly marked out as the order richest, most powerful, and most venerated, distri- buted all over the country, and possessing exclusively the means of reading 36 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. and writing, besides a vast amount of narrative matter treasured up in the memory, the whole stock of medical and physical knowledge then attaina- ble, and those rudiments of geometry (or rather land-measuring) which were so often called into use in a country annually inundated. To each god and to each temple throughout Egypt, lands and other properties belonged, whereby the numerous band of priests attached to him were maintained. Their ascendancy, both direct and indirect, over the minds of the people was immense ; they prescribed that minute ritual under which the life of every Egyptian, not excepting the king himself, was passed, and which was for themselves more full of harassing particularities than for any one else. Every day in the year belonged to some particular god, and the priests alone knew to which. There were different gods in every nome, though Isis and Osiris were common to all ; and the priests of each god constituted a society apart, more or less important, according to the comparative celeb- rity of the temple. The property of each temple included troops of dependents and slaves, Avho were stamped with " holy marks," and who must have been numerous, in order to suffice for the service of the large buildings and their constant visitors. Next in importance to the sacerdotal caste were the military caste or order, whose native name indicated that they stood on the left hand of the king, while the priests occupied the right. They were classified in Kala- sires and Hermotybii, who occupied lauds in eighteen particular nomes or provinces, principally in Lower Egypt. The Kalasiries had once amoun- ted to 160,000 men, the Hermotybii to 250,000, when at the maximum of their population ; but that highest point had long been past in the time of Herodotus. To each man of this soldier-caste was assigned a portion of land, equal to about iih English acres, free from any tax. The lands of the priests and the soldiers were regarded as privileged propertj^, and exempt from all burdens ; while the remaining soil was considered as the property of the king, who however, received from it a fixed proportion — one-fifth of the total produce — leaving the rest in the hands of the cultivators. The soldiers were interdicted from every description of art and trade.' The other castes are differently given in different authors ; the most probable account, however, is that which assigns them as three — the caste of the husbandmen, that of the artificers, and that of the herdsmen, which last caste included a variety of occupations held in contempt, the lowest and most degraded of all being that of swineherd. The separation be- tween the husbandmen and the herdsmen seems to have arisen from the circumstance that different parts of the country, not suitable for agricul- ture, were entirely laid out in pasture. The artificers, constituting the vast town population of Egypt, were subdivided into a great variety of occupa- tions, weavers, masons, sculptors, etc., who were compelled to these profes- sions by hereditary obligation. It was by the labor of this vast town pop- ulation, assisted by that of herds of slaves, that those huge works were accomplished, the remains of which attest the greatness of ancient Egypt. Part of the artisan population were exclusively occupied in skilled labor ; and in a country where there was such a taste for works of masonry, sculpture was necessarily one of the most largely-stocked of the skilled occupations. ' Perfect exactness of execution,' it is said, ' mastery of the hardest stone, and undeviating obedience to certain rules of proportion, are general characteristics of Egyptian sculpture. There are yet seen in DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 37 their quafrles obelisks not severed from the rock, but having three of their aides ah-eady adorned with hieroglyphics, so certain were they of cutting off the fourth side with precision.' These skilled artificers may be sup- posed to have acted as foremen and overseers of the great numbers of laborers who were employed in public works such as the Pyramids. In the construction of these works no degree of labor for any length of time seems to have intimidated the Egyptians. The huge blocks of stone, sometimes weighing 1000 tons each, were dragged for hundreds of miles on sledges, and then- transport, perhaps, did not occupy less time than a year ; in one case which is known, 2000 men were employed three years in bringing a single stone from a quarry to the building in which it was to be placed. Usually, the sledges were drawn by men yoked in rows to separate ropes, all pulling at a ring fixed to the block. Where it was pos- sible, the blocks were brought from the quarries on flat-bottomed boats on the Nile. But the transport of these masses was much more easily accom phshed than the placing of them in elevated situations in the buildings They were raised by the power of levers and inchned planes at immense trouble and cost. The waste of human life in these gigantic works must have been enormous. About 120,000 men are said to have perished in the digging of a canal, which was left unfinished, between the Red Sea and an arm of the Nile; and according to Herodotus, the Egyptian priests of his day described the building of the Pyramids as a time of extreme exhaustion and hardship to the whole country. The religion of the Egyptians seems to have been, in its popular form at least, a mere gross Fetishism, whose principal characteristic was a worship of teeming animal life — the bull, the cat, the ibis, the crocodile, etc.; different animals in different nomes. AYhatever profounder meaning lay hid under this gross ceremonial the priest-caste reserved to themselves, as one of the mysteries, the possession of which severed them from the rest of the population. Among these mysteries was the art of writing, which was practised both in the alphabetical and the hieroglyphic form ; the latter being used for special purposes. Some vague notion of the immortality of the soul, resembling the Hindoo tenet of transmigration, seems to have pervaded the Egyptian religion ; and this belief appears to have lain at the foundation of the Egyptian practice of embalming the dead. The business of embalming was a very dignified one, and was aided by a host of inferior functionaries, who made and painted coffins and other articles which were required. The bodies of the poorer classes were merely dried with salt or natron, and wrapt 'up in coarse cloths, and deposited in the catacombs. The bodies of the rich and great underwent the most compli- cated operations, wrapt in bandages dipped in balsam, and laboriously adorned with all kinds of ornaments. Thus prepared they were placed in highly-decorated cases or coffins, and then consigned to sarcophagi in, the catacombs or pyramids. Bodies so prepared have been called mum- mies, either from the Arabian word momia, or the Coptic mum, signifying bitumen or gum-resin. Although the Egyptians carried on from early times a caravan-commerce with the adjacent countries of Phoenicia, Palestine, and Arabia, importing such articles as wine, oil, and spices for embalming, yet exclusiveness and self-sufficiency were characteristics of their civiUzation. There, on the banks of the Nile, these millions lived, changeless in their methods through S8 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. centuries, each individual mechanically pursuing the occupation to which he was born — millions cultivating the soil, and producing wheat, etc., for the subsistence of the whole ; others tending the cattle necessary for food or sacrifice ; millions, again, crowded into the numerous towns, occupied in the various handicrafts necessary to provide articles of clothing, luxury, etc. — a large proportion of this class being available for stupendous archi- tectural works ; and lastly, diflfused through these country and town popu- lations, two other proprietor-castes — the one a militia, occupied in gym- nastic exercises alone ; the other a sacerdotal or intellectual order, within whose body was accumulated all the speculative or scientific wisdom of the country. Relations existed between Egypt and the adjacent countries ; and rumours of the nature of its peculiar civilization may have spread through the nations of the Mediterranean ; but for a long while it was shut, like the present China, against foreign intrusion ; and it was not till about the year 650 B. c. that it was thrown open to general inspection. In the sixth and fifth centuries b. c, the philosophers of other countries, and espe- Gially of Greece, used to visit Egypt in order to acquire, by intercourse with the Egyptian intellectual caste, some of that precious knowledge of which they were believed to be the depositaries. Although the Egyptian civilization is known to have existed pretty much as we have described it from immemorial antiquity, yet, with the exception of what we learn from Scripture, we know little of Egyptian history, pro- perly so called, anterior to the time when the country was thrown open to the Greeks. Herodotus and Manetho, indeed, have given us retrospective lists of the Egyptian kings, extending back into the primitive gloom of the world ; but portions of these lists are evidently constructed backwards on mythical principles. Thus Manetho, preserving doubtless the traditions of the sacerdotal Egyptian caste, to which he is supposed to have belonged, carries back the imagination as far as 30,000 years before the birth of Christ. From this date till B. c. 5702, great divine personages ruled in Egypt ; then (b. c. 5702) it came into the possession of human kings, the first of which was Menes. From the accession of Menes down to the in- corporation of Egypt with the Persian empire (b. c. 525), Herodotus assigns 830 kings, or, as they are called in Scripture, Pharaohs, whose names he informs us, were read to him out of a papyrus manuscript by the Egyp- tian priests, who pledged themselves to its accuracy ; and Manetho reckons up twenty-six dynasties, some of them native and others foreign, which divided the long period into portions of diiferent lengths. Arabia, The great peninsula of Arabia was in the earhest times inhab- ited by a pojxilation of the Semitic stock, in all essential respects similar to that which inhabits it now, partly concentrated in cities, partly wander- ing in tribes through the extensive deserts which mark the surface of the country. The inhabitants of the towns subsist by agriculture and coip- mferce; the wandering tribes by cattle rearing and pillage. In ancient times, as now, the Arabs were celebrated for their expert horsemanship, their hospitality, tlieir eloquence, and their free indomitable spirit. Ip r^igron, however, the modern Arabs, who are Mohammedans, differ from the an'cient Arabs, M'ho were idolaters, chiefly worshippers of the celestial '.luminaries, nowhere so beautiful as in the sky of an Arabian desert. Thfe ^raljs themselves' trace their history back, the older tribes to Kahtan (th'e Joktah of the 10th chapter of Genesis), the latter to Adnan, a descendant DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 39 of Ishmael, the offspring of Abraham. It is unnecessary, however, to enter into this history, as Arabia was not incorporated with the Persian empire, and only assumed historical importance in later times, when it sent forth the religion of Mohammed over the East. Syria. The Semitic or Aramaic population overspreading Syria — which name is generally applied to the country lying between the Euphrates and Arabian desert on the east, and the Mediterranean on the west — had early divided itself into -various independent states or kingdoms, which ultimately resolved themselves, it would appear, into three. These were Phmiieia, a narrow strip of coast-land, extending from Mount Carmel to the river Eleutheros ; Palestins, or the Soli/ Land, including the country south of Phoenicia, between the Arabian desert and the Mediterranean, as well as the inland district lying between Mount Carmel and Mount Herman; and Syria Proper, whose capital was Damascus, and which, when the power of the Damascan kings was at its highest, included all the country except Palestine and Phoenicia. Syrian history possesses no independent importance ; we pass, therefore, to the history of the Phoenician and Jewish nations. The Phcenicians. Phoenicia was an exceedingly small country, its length being only about 120 miles, and its breadth nowhere greater than 20 miles. Indeed it may be described as a mere slip of coast-land, suffi- ciently large to accommodate a range of port towns, such as a merchant peo^ pie required. The most northern of these Phoenician cities was Aradus, situated on a small island ; the most southern was the famous Tyre ; and between the two were situated many others, of which the chief were Sidon, Berytus, Tripolis, and Byblus. The greater part of the population was contained in these cities, the rural population being small in proportion. Originally, Phoenicia was divided into a number of little states or com- munities, each having a town for its metropolis, with a hereditary king of its own ; and ere the country was restricted by the formation of the Jew- ish nation, the numl^er of these Phoenician or Canaanitish principaUties must have been considerable. The Phoenicians were a fragment of the Canaanites of Scripture ; and doubtless in the annals of the separate Phoenician towns, such as Tyre, Sidon, and Aradus, were preserved rec- ord from the Phoenician point of view, of many of those ancient transact tions which are related in the Scriptural account of the settlement of the Jews in Canaan. Without going back, however, into the remoter period of Phoenician history, one of the questions connected with which is, whether Tyre (founded, it was said, B.C. 2700) or Sidon was the more ancient town, let us give a summary view of the nature of the Phoenician civilization at the period of its highest celebrity — namely, from B. c. 1200 to B. C, 700, St which time we find Tyre exercising a presiding influence over the oth^i' Phoenician communities. The Phoenicians were the great trading nation of antiquity. Situate4 ^t so convenient a point on the Mediterranean, it devolved on them to tratna- port to the sea-shore the commodities of the East, brought to them ovej?^ land by Arabian and Egyptian caravans, and from the sea-shore to distrij^ ute them among the expecting nations of the west. Nor were they wit^t oat valuable products of their own. The sand of their coasts was particti,- 40 • AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA, larly suitable for the manufacture of glass ; their bays abounded in species of fish which produced a fine purple dje — the celebrated Tyrian purple of antiquity ; and in various parts of the country there were excellent mines of iron and copper. It was, in fact, essential for the general inter- ests of the race that the people inhabiting that portion of the Mediterranean coasts should devote themselves to commerce. In anticipation of this, as it might seem, the mountains of Libanus, which separated the narrow Phoenician territory from Syria, were stocked with the best timber, which, transported over the short distance which intervened between these moun- tains and the sea, abundantly supplied the demands of the Phoenician dock- yards. There was something in the Phoenician character, also, which sui- ted the requirements of their geographical position. Skillful, enterprising, griping in their desire for wealth, and in other respects resemblmg much their neighbors the Jews, to whom they were allied in race, and whose lan- guage was radically identical with their own — theirs was essentially the merchant type of character. Standing as tlie Phoenicians did as the people by whom the exchange between the East and the West was managed, a complete view of their life and manner of activitj^ should embrace /rsf, their relations with the East — that is, their overland trade with Assyria, Arabia, Egypt, Persia, and India ; secondly, their relations with the West — that is, their maritime trade with the vai'ious nations of the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts ; and thirdly, the peculiar character of mind which either accompanied or resulted from the consciousness of such a position in the great family of mankind. With regard to the overland trade of the Phoenicians with the Eastern countries, little requires to be said except that it was one attended with great risks — the journey of a caravan across the deserts,' and through the roaming tribes which separated Phoenicia from interior Asia, being a more serious enterprise than a long sea voyage. It is probable that the Phoe- nicians managed this commerce not in their own persons, but as wealthy speculative merchants, dealing in a skillful manner with the native Egyptian, Assyrian, or Arabian caravan-proprietors, with whom they maintained an understood connection. At the same time it is likely that they stimulated and regulated the Eastern commerce, by means of Phoenician agents or emissaries despatched into the interior with general instructions, just as in later times European agents were often despatched into the interior of Africa to direct the movements of native merchants. It was in their maritime trade with the West, however, that the Phoenicians chiefly exhibi- ted the resources of their own character. Shipping the Oriental commo- dities, as well as their native products, at Tyre or Sidon, they carried them to all the coasts of the Mediterranean as far as Spain, selling them there at immense profit, and returning with freights of Western goods. With some of the nations of the ilediterranean their intercourse would be that of one civilized nation with another ; with others, and especially with those of the West, it must have been an intercourse similar to that of a British ship with those rude islanders who exchange their valuable pro- ducts for nails, bits of looking-glass, and other trifles. Whether their customers were civilized or savage, however, the Phoenicians reaped profits from them. Their aim was to monopolise the commerce of the Mediterra^ nean. ' If at any time,' it is said, ' their ships bound on a voyage observed DEPARTMENT OP HISTORY. 41 that a stranger kept them company, or followed them in their track, they were sure to get rid of him, or deceive him if they could ; and in this they went so far as to venture the loss of their ships, and even of their lives, so that they could but destroy or disappoint him ; so jealous were they of foreigners, and so bent on keeping all to themselves. And to add to the dangers of the sea, and discourage other nations from trading, they practiced piracy, or pretended to be at war with such as they met when they thought themselves strongest.' Tliis policy succeeded so far, that hardly a merchant ship was to be seen in the Meditei-ranean not manned by Phoenicians. From this extension of the Phoenician commerce through- out the Mediterranean resulted, by necessity, an extensive system of coloni- zation. The distance, for instance, of Spain from Phoenicia, rendered all the greater by the ancient custom of always sailing close by the coast, made it necessary for the Phoenician traders to have intermediate ports, settlement, or factories, to which their vessels might resort, not to say that such settlements were required for the collection of the produce which was to be taken back to Phoenicia. Accordingly, in process of time, Phoenician colonies were established at all available points of the Mediterranean — on the coasts of Africa, Sicily, Sardinia, and Spain, and in the Balearic Islands ; the rising maritime spu-it of the Greeks excluding the Phoenicians from the Mgean and the coasts of Asia ilinor. Among the most ancient of the colonies from Tyre were Carthage and Utica on the African coast, and Gades (Cadiz) in Spain ; all of which were founded before the first of the Greek Olympiads (b. c. 884). From these afterwards arose smaller settlements, which diffused the Phoenician agency still more extensively among the uncivilized nations of Africa and western Europe. Gades in Spain, situated, according to the ancient mode of navigation, at a distance of seventy-five days' sail from Tyre and Sidon — a distance larger than that which now divides Liverpool from Bombay — was a colony of special impor- tance ; first, as commanding the inland Spanish trade, particularly valuable at that time, inasmuch as the gold and silver mines of Spain caused it to be regarded as the Mexico or Peru of the ancient world ; and secondly, as forming a point from which the Phoenician commerce could be still farther extended along the extra-Mediterranean shores. From this point, we are told, the Phoenician ships extended their voyages southward for thirty days' sail along the coast of Africa, and northwards as far as Britain, where they took in tin from Cornwall, and even as far as the Baltic, where they collected amber. Upon what a scale of profit must these expeditions have been conducted, when, from Tyre to Cornwall, not a merchant ship besides those of the Phoenicians was to be seen ! And who can tell what influence these Phoenician visits may have had on the then rude nations bordering the Atlantic ? — or how far these ante-historic Phoenician impulses may have stimulated the subsequent career of these nations ? Like the visit of an English merchantman now to a South Sea Island, so must have been the visit of a Phoenician trading vessel 3000 years ago to the Britons of Cornwall. As might be expected, this great merchant people were among the most cultured of antiquity, and especially skilled in all the arts of luxurious living. The 27th chapter of the book of Ezekiel presents a most striking picture of the pride and magnificence of the Tyrians, and embodies many minute particulars relative to Phoenician customs and mode of life. Indeed it has 42 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. been pronounced the most early and most authentic record extant relative to the commerce of the ancients. Among the contributions made by the Phoenicians to the west, were alphabetical writing, the Greek alphabet being a derivative from the Phoenician ; the scale of weight ; and that of coined money. Having made these and other contributions to the west, Phoenicia began about (YOO B. c.) to decline in importance ; the Ionian Greeks, and latterly the Egyptians, becoming its commercial rivals on the Mediterranean : and the invasions of the Assyrians from the east depi'iving it of independence. Subdued by the Assyrians and Babylonians, Phoenicia was transferred by them to the Persians. Among the last of the Phoenician achievements was the circumnavigation of Africa B. c. 600 — a feat undertaken by Phoenician sailors at the command of the Egyptian king Nekos, one of the immediate successors of Psammetik : and, as is now beheved, really per formed — the course pursued being from the Red Sea round Africa to Spain — the reverse, therefore, of that followed by Vasco de Gama 2000 years later. About the time that Phoenicia began to wane, her colony, Carthage, assumed her place in the affairs of the world. Carthaginian civi- lization Avas essentially a mere repetition of the Phoenician, although under a different form of government ; Carthaginian history interweaves itself with that of the Homans. Palestine — the Jews. Palestine extends from north to south a length of aboat 200 miles, and 50 in breadth ; and is therefore, in point of size, of nearly the same extent as Scotland. The general character of the country is that of a billy region, interspersed Avith moderately fertile vales ; and being thus irregular in surface, it possesses a number of brooks or streams, which for the most part are swollen considerably after rains, but are almost dry in the hot seasons of the year. The present condition of Palestine scarcely corresponds with its ancient fertility. This is chiefly attribu- table to the devastating effects of perpetual wars ; and some physical chan ges hove also conti-ibuted to the destruction of agricultural industry. Yet, after all, so excellent would the soil appear to be, and so ample its resources, that Canaan may still bo characterized as a land flowing with milk and honey. The history of the extraordinary nation which once inhabited this land, must be so much more familiar to our readers than that of any other ancient nation, that all that is necessary here is a brief sketch, such as will assist the imagination in tracing with due completeness the general career of the East till the establishment of the Persian empire. Accor- ding to the accounts given of the Jews in Scripture, and in their history by Josephus, they were descended from Abraham, Avho was born in the 292d year (according to other authorities, in the 352d year) after the Deluge, 'left the land of Chaldea when he was seventy-five years old, and-, ai the command of God, went in4-> Canaan, and therein he dwelt himself, a;nd left it to his posterity. He was a person of great sagacity, both f^r- understanding of all things and persuading his hearers, and not mistake,n in his opinions ; for which reason he began to have higher notions of vir^ tue than others had, and he determined to renew and to change the opinioti all men happened then to have concerning God ; for he Avas the first thfk.t jwentured to pubHsh this notion, that there Avas but one God, the Creafo'r DEPARTMENT OP HISTORY. 43 of the universe ; and that as to other gods, if they contributed anything to the happiness of men, that each of them afforded it only according to His appointment, and not by their own power. For which doctrines, when ihe Chaldteans and other people of Mesopotamia raised a tumult against him, he thought fit to leave that country, and at the command of God he came and lived in the land of Canaan. And when he was there settled, he built an altar, and performed a sacrifice to God.' After the death of Abraham's son Isaac, his younger son Jacob remained for a number of years in Canaan, surrounded by a family of twelve sons, one of whom, Joseph, as related in Scripture, became the cause of the removal of his father and brethren, and all belonging to them, into Egypt. The Hebrew emigrants were seventy in number, and formed at the first a respectable colony among the Egyptians. Jacob died after having been seventeen years in Egypt, and his body was carried by Joseph to Hebron, and buried in the sepulchre of his father and grandfather. Joseph also died in Eg3rpt at the age of 110, and at length his brethren died likewise. Ea'^h of the twelve sons of Jacob became the progenitor of a family or tribe, and the twelve tribes, personified by the term IsRABli, continued to reside in Egypt, where they increased both in number and in wealth. Their rapid increase and prosperity soon excited the jealousy of the masters of the country ; and from being in high favor, the different tribes gradually fell under the lash of power, and came to be treated as public slaves. The entire body of Israelites, guided by Moses, fled from Egypt in tiie year 1490 before Christ, at a time when Thebes, Memphis, and the other magnificent cities of that country, were in all their glory. Pro- ceeding in a north-easterly direction from Rameses (near the site of mod- em Cairo), they went through the level region of the land of Goshen (now a barren sandy plain) to the head of the Gulf of Suez, the western branch of the Red Sea. Here they crossed in a miraculous manner to the opposite shore, to a spot now called the Wells of Moses, where, accord- ing to the Scripture narrative, they sang their song of thanksgiving for their dehverance. The country in which they had now arrived was a por- tion of Arabia Petraea, consisting of a dismal barren wilderness, now called the Desert of Sinai, from the principal mountain which rises within it. From the point at which the Israelites had crossed the Red Sea from Egypt, they were conducted by a most circuitous and tedious route towards the Promised Land of Canaan. The country on the shore of the Mediterranean which was allotted as a settlement to this people, was at that time occupied by many warlike tiitres, who had grown strong in its fertile plains and valleys ; and the generation of the Hebrev/s who were conducted into it were compelled tb flight for its possession. The struggle was not of long continuance. The whole land was conquered in the year B. c. 1450. According to the account given in the 26th chapter of the book of Nutti- hfirS., the Hebrew nation thus brought out of the land of Egypt and settled in; Canaan amounted to 601,730 souls, unto whom the land was divided fc^* an inheritance, according to the number of individuals in the respective t^es. Moses dying before the inheritance was entered upon, was succeeded by Joshua as a leader, and by him the Israelites were conducted across the jo-rdfin. The pohtical government of the various tribes, after their con 44 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. quest and settlement of Canaan, appears to have been republican, with mil- itary leaders called Judges ; but these acted by the direction of the Priest- hood, who were immediately counseled by the Deity within the sanctuary. This period of separate government in tribes, called the Period of the Judges, lasted 300 years (b. c. 1427-1112), and was one of daring actions and great deliverances — the heroic age of the Jews. The epoch of kings succeeded that of judges. The reign of Saul, their first monarch, though the people were stronger by being united, was gloomy and troubled. David, who succeeded, was a soldier and a conqueror. He rendered the Hebrews formidable to the whole of their enemies, and gave them a regular and defensible position, expelling their old antagonists from every part of the country. He left an empire peaceful, respected, and strong; and, what was of as much importance, he selected from among his sons a successor who was able to improve all these advantages, and to add to the progress which his countrymen had already ,made in prosperity. Under Solomon, the name of the Hebrew government being able to protect its subjects in other countries, the people and their king began to employ themselves in commerce. Their trade was at first engrafted on that of the Phoenicians of Tyre. A greater contrast cannot be imagined than between the troubles of the time of the Judges (only 100 years before), and the peace, security, and enjoyment of this reign. 'And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as sycamore trees that are in the vale for abundance ; and Judah and Israel were many ; as the sand which is by the sea-shore for multitude, eating, and drinking, and making merry.' (1 Kings, x. 27.) After the death of Solomon, the country fell into the same divisions which had weakened it in the time of the Judges. Each of the districts of North and South Israel was under a separate king, and the peoj^le Avere exposed both to the attacks of their enemies and to quarrels with each other. Their history is a succession of agitating conflicts for independence, and of unex- pected and remarkable deliverances, of a similar nature to those of the earlier period, and they continued for about the same length of time (380 years) ; but they are marked by fewer of those traits of heroic devotion which distinguished the epoch of the Judges. The backslidings, errors, and misgovernment of their kings, is the chief and painful subject which is presented to us ; and though these are relieved at times by the appear- ance of such monarchs as Josiah, Jehoshaphat, and Hezekiah, yet the whole history of this period is overcast with the gloominess of progressive decline. By far the most delightful parts of it are those which relate to the lives of the prophets, who were raised up at intervals to warn the nation and its rulers of the fate which they incurred by forsaking the religion of their fathers. These inspired men sometimes sprang up from among the humblest classes of the community: one from the 'herdsmen of Tekoa,' another from 'ploughing with twelve yoke of oxen ;' several were of the priestly order, and one (Isaiah) is said to have been of royal lineage ; but the works of all are marked with the same sacredness, force, and authority. They reprehend their countrymen, in the most eloquent strains, at one time for idolatry, and at another for hypocrisy ; and their indignation is express- ed with the same freedom and dignity against the vices of the highest and the lowest. Of the two kingdoms into which Palestine divided itself after the death DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 45 of Solomon (b. c. 975), the northern, called the Kingdom of Israel, was conquered by the Assyrians of Nineveh (b. c. 722), who carried off many thousand of the people into captivity. Little is known of their fate. By some they are supposed to have been carried to India, by others to Tartary : 'what became of all the Israelites of the ten tribes,' is still a question with historians. The southern kingdom, called the kingdom of Judah, retained its independence till B. c. 588, when it was invaded and subdued by Nebuchadnezzar, king of Babylon, who destroyed Jerusalem, and carried away a great number of the principal Jews into captivity at Babylon. On the subversion of the Babylonian dominion by Cyrus, seventy years after- wards, the captives, to the number of 42,360, were permitted to return to their own land, and rebuild Jerusalem. At this period, the whole of Pales- tme merged in the growing Persian empire. The Assyrians and Babylonians. That large extent of level coun- try situated between and on the banks of the two great rivers, the Euphra- tes and the Tigris, was in the earliest antiquity, the seat of a Semitic popu- lation living under an organized government. Of the cities, the most in>- portant ultimately were Babylon, built, by Nimrod, (b. c. 2217) ; and Nineveh (called Ninos by the Greeks), built either by Asshur or Nimrod about the same time, but afterwards rebuilt and enlarged, according to ancient tradition, by a great king, Ninus, (b. c. 12S0). With these two cities as capitals, the country divided itself into two corresponding parts or kingdoms — the kingdom of Assyria proper, including, besides part of Mesopotamia, the country to the right of the Tigris as far as Mount Zagros; and the kingdom of Babylonia, including the western part of Mesopotamia, together with the country to the left of the Euphrates as far as Syria proper. The two kingdoms, however, are often included under the joint name of Assyria ; a word which, as well as the shorter form Syria, was often employed by the ancient Gi-eek writers to designate the whole region lying along the courses of the two great rivers from the Black Sea to the northern angle of the Persian Gulf. Although Babylon was according to Scripture, the earlier of the two powers, yet the Assyrians of Nineveh attained such strength under their hero Ninus, as to reduce the Babylonians to a species of dependence. Under Nmus, and his wife and successor the great conqueress Semh'amis, says ancient mythical history, the city of the Tigris extended its dominions far and wide, from Egypt to the border of India. This empire, known in the common chronologies by the name of 'The Assyrian Empu'C,' lasted, according to the usual accounts, five or six centuries, during which it was governed, in the absolute Oriental manner, by the successors of Ninus and Semiramis. Of these several are mentioned in Scripture — Phul, the con- temporary of Menahem, king of Israel (b. c. 761), Tiglath Pileser (b. c. 730), both of whom were mixed up with the affairs of Israel and Judai ; Salmanassar, cotemporary with Hezekiah, king of Judah, andHoseah, king of Israel, by whom it was that Samaria was taken (b. c. 722), and the Is- raelites led into captivity (b. c. 722); and Sennacherib, or Sanherib (b. c. 714), who attacked Egypt, and whose fruitless invasion of Judah forms the subject of the striking narrative in the 18th and 19th chapters of the second book of Kings The last of the great line of the Assyrian kings of Nineveh 46 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. was the luxurious Sardanapalus, in whose reign the empire was dissolved, through the instrumentality of its revolted subjects the Medes (b. c. 626). After Nineveh, the greatest city in the Assyrian dominion was Babylon. Even while under the dominion of the kings of Nineveh, Babylon appears to have possessed a special organization under its own chiefs, several of whose names — such as Beldesis (b. c. 888), and Nabonassar (b. c. 747) — have been preserved ; and, together with the whole province of which it was the capital, to have pursued a special career. The peculiar element in the Babylonian society which distinguished it from that of Assyria proper, was its Chaldsean priesthood. 'The Chaldgean order of priests,' says Mr. Grote, 'appear to have been peculiar to Babylon and other towns in its ten-itory, especially between that city and the Persian Gulf; the vast, lich, and lofty temple of Belus in that city served them at once as a place of worship and an astronomical observatory ; and it was the paramount asceudaiacy of this order which seems to have caused the Babylonian people generally to be spoken of as Chaldosans, though some writers have sup- posed, without any good proof, a conquest of Assyrian Babylon by barba- rians called Chaldeans from the mountains near the Euxine. There were exaggerated statements respecting the antiquity of their astronomical obser- vations,* which cannot be traced, as of definite and recorded date, higher than the era of Nabonassar (b. c. 747), as well as respecting the extent of their acquired knowledge, so largely blended with astrological fancies and occult influences of the heavenly bodies on human aflairs. But how- ever incomplete their knowledge may appear when judged by the standard of after-times, there can be no doubt that, compared with any of their cotem- poraries of the sixth century B. c. — either Egyptians, Greeks, or Asiatics — they stood preeminent, and had much to teach, not only to Thales and Pythagoras, but even to later inquirers, such as Eudoxus and Aristotle. The conception of the revolving celestial sphere, the gnomon, and the di- vision of the day into twelve parts, are affirmed by Herodotus to have been first taught to the Greeks by the Babylonians.' This learned Chal- daean class seems to have pervaded the general mass of Babylonian society, as the corresponding priest-caste in Egypt pervaded Egyptian society, with this difference, that Babylonian society does not appear to have been parceled out like the Egyptian into a rigorous system of castes. On the dissolution of the Assyrian empire of Nineveh by the Medes (b. 0. 626), the ChaldiBan fragment of it rose to eminence on its ruins, chiefly by the efforts of Nabopolassar, a viceroy of the last Assyrian king. Estab lishing Babylonia as an independent power in the east, Nabopolassar came into collision with Nekos, king of Egypt, who was at that time extending his empire into Asia. It was in opposing Nekos (Pharaoh-Necho) on bis march to Babylon, that Josiah, king of Judah, was slain. At length (b. c. 608 ) Nebuchadnezzar, or Nebuchodonosor, the son of Nabopolassar, defeated Nekos, and annexed all his conquests in Asia to his father's king- dom. Two years afterwards the same prince took Jerusalem, and carried away a number of captives to Babylon, among whom were Daniel and his companions. Succeeding his father, B. c. 605, Nebuchadnezzar reigned over Babylon forty-three years (b. c. 605-561) ; and during his reign ex- *Whcn Alexander the Great was in Batylon, the Chaldieans told him their order had be> ({un their astronomical observations 400,000 years before he was born. DEPARTMENT OP HISTORY. 4T tended the empire to the Mediterranean and the borders of Egypt, adding to it Palestine, Phoenicia, etc. With his countenance the Medes and Lyd- ians destroyed Nineveh (b. o. 601). The great abduction of Jewish cap- tives by his orders took place B. c. 588. He was succeeded (b. c. 561) by his son, Evil-Merodach, who was dethroned (b. c. 559) by his brother- in-law Neriglissar, whose son and successor, Laboroso-archod, was dethron- ed, after a brief reign, by Nabonnedus, the Belshazzar of Scripture (e. c 555) ; in the eighteenth year of whose reign (b. c. 538) Babylon was taket by Cyrus, and passed into the hands of the Persians. It was during the reign of Nebuchadnezzar that the city of Babylon attained that glory which has rendered it a known word to' all who are at all acquainted with history. Herodotus, who saw the city in its decline, gives a description of it which has seemed incredible to many, although now fully verified. ' The city, divided in the middle by the Euphrates, was surrounded with walls in thickness 75 feet, in height 300 feet and in com- pass 480 stadia, or about 60 of our miles.' Within this circuit there was included, besides the houses, a space of vacant ground, gardens, pasture, etc., sufficient to accommodate the country population in case of invasion: the height and strength of the walls rendered the city itself to all appear- ance impregnable. 'These walls formed an exact square, each side of which was 120 stadia, or 15 miles in length ; and were built of large bricks ce- mented together with bitumen, a glutinous slime which issues out of the earth in that country, and in a short time becomes harder than the very brick or stone which it cements. The city was encompassed without the walls of a vast ditch filled with water, and lined' with bricks on both sides ; and as the earth that was dug out of it served to make the bricks, we may judge of the depth and largeness of the ditch from the height and thick- ness of the Avails. In the whole compass of the walls there were a hun- dred gates — that is, twenty-five on each side, all made of solid brass. At intervals round the walls were 250 towers. From each of the twenty- five gates there was a straight street extending to the corresponding gate, in the opposite wall ; the whole number of streets was therefore fifty, cross- ing each other at right angles, and each fifteen miles long. The breadth of the streets was about 150 feet. By their intersection the city was di- vided into 676 squares, each about two miles and a quarter in compass, round which were the houses, three or four stories in height ; the vacant spaces within being laid out in gardens,' etc. Within the city the two greatest edifices were the royal palace with its hanging gardens, and the temple of Belus, composed of eight towers built one above another, to the enormous height, it is said, of a furlong. Without the city were numerous canals, embankments, etc., for the pur- pose of irrigating the country, which, as little or no rain fell, depended on the river for moisture. ' The execution of such colossal works as- those of Babylon and Egypt,' it has been remarked, ' demonstrates habits of reg- ular industry, a concentrated population under one government, and above all, an implicit submission to the regal and kingly sway — contrasted forci- bly with the small self-governing communities of Greece and western Eu rope, where the will of the individual citizen was so much more energetic' In the latter countries only such public works were attempted as were with- in the limits of moderate taste. Nineveh is said to have been larger even 48 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. than Babylon, and is described as an oblong, three days' journey round — that is, upwards of 60 miles. The Medes and Persians. Extending, as we have said, from the Mediterranean to the Indus, the Assyrian empire had included not only the chief Semitic nations of western Asia, but also that portion of the Indo-Germanic family which was contained between Mount Zagros and the river Indus. Essentially a prolongation of the great race which in- habited Hindoostan, the nature of their country — a vast table-land, here and there rising into hills, or presenting spots of great fertility — had made them quite different in character and habits from the settled and stereotyped Hindoos. All parts of this plateau of Iran, as it was called, including the present countries of Persia, Cabool, and Belochlstan, were not alike ; in some portions, where the soil was fertile, there existed a dense agricultural population; in others, the inhabitants were nomadic horse-breeders, cattle-rearers, and shepherds. All the tribes, however, were bound together by the ties of a common Indo-Persic language, quite distinct from that spoken by their Semitic neighbors and masters, and by a common religion. This religion, called the Religion of Zend, a modifr- cation probably of some more ancient form, from which Hindooism may also have sprung, was taught by Zerdusht or Zoroaster, a great native reformer and spiritual teacher, who lived six or seven centuries before Christ. The principal doctrine of his religion was that of the existence of two great emanations from the Supreme and perfect Deity — the one a good spirit (Ormuzd), who created man, and fitted him for happiness; the other an evil spirit, named Ahriman, who has marred the beauty of creation by introducing evil into it. Between these two spirits and their adherents there is an incessant struggle for the mastery ; but ultimately Ormuzd will conquer, and Ahriman and evil will be banished from the bosom of creation into eternal darkness. The worship annexed to this doctrine was very simple, dispensing with temples or images, and consist- ing merely of certain solemn rites performed on mountain tops, etc. Fire, and light, and the sun, were worshiped either as symbols or as inferior deities. A caste of priests, called the Magi, answering in some respects to the Brahmins of India or the Chaldieans of Babylon, superintended these ceremonies, and commented on the religion of Zoroaster. Various of the tribes of Iran, associating themselves together, constitu- ted little nations. Thus adjacent to Assjn-ia, and separated from it by Mount Zagros, was an agglomeration of seven tribes or villages, under the special name of the Medes, the country which they inhabited being thence called Media. South from Media, and nearer the sea, was another district of Iran, called Persis or Persia, inhabited also by an association of tribes caUing themselves the Persians. Other nations of Iran were the Parthians, tlie Bactrians, etc. — all originally sulyect to the Assyrian empire. Median history begins with a hero king called Deiokes (b. c. 710-657), who effected some important changes in the constitution of the nation, and founded the Median capital Ekbatana in one of the most j^leasant sites in the world. His son, Phraortes (B. c. 657-635), pursued a career of con- quest, subjugated Persia and other districts of Iran, and perished in an in- vasion of Assyria. He was succeeded by his son Cyaxares, who continued his designs of conquest, and extended the Median dominion as far west- ward into Asia Minor as the river Halys. He was engaged in a repeti DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 49 tion of his father's attempt against Nineveh, when he was called away to defend his kingdom against a great roving population, belonging, as is most likely, to the Scythian branch of the Caucasian race (although some reck- on them Mongols), who, bursting with their herds of horses and mares from their native seat in Central Asia, had driven the Cimmerians, a kindred race, before them into Asia Minor, and then had poured themselves over the plateau of Iran. Defeating Cyaxares, they kept him from his throne for a period of twenty-eight years, during which they ruled in savage fash- ion over Media, Persia, etc. At length, having assassinated their chiefs by a stratagem, Cyaxares regained his dominions, and drove the invaders back into the north, lie then renewed his attempt against Nineveh ; took it ; and reduced the Assyrian empire, with the exception of Babylonia, un- der his dominion. The Median empire, thus formed, he bequeathed (b. c. 595) to his son Astyages. Astyages having given his daughter Mandane in marriage to a Persian chieftain named Carabyses, the issue of this marriage was the famous Cyrus, the founder of the Persian monarchy. The circumstances which led to the revolt of the Persians under Cyrus against the Modes, and the dethrone- ment by him of his grand-father Astyages (b. c. 560), had been woven into a romance resembling the story of Romulus, even so early as the age of Herodotus (b. c.408), so that that accurate historian could not ascer- tain the particulars. ' The native Persians,' says Mr. Grote, ' whom Cyrus conducted, were an aggregate of seven agricultural and four nomadic tribes, all of them rude, hardy, and brave, dwehing in a mountainous re- gion, clothed in skins, ignorant of wine or fruit, of any of the commonest luxuries of life, and despising the very idea of purchase or sale. Their tribes were very unequal in point of dignity ; first in estimation among them stood the Pasargadse ; and the first clan among the Pasargadge were the AchaemenidiTe, to whom Cyrus belonged. Whether his relationship to the Median king whom he dethroned was a fact or a politic fiction we can- not well determine, but Xenophon gives us to understand that the conquest of Media by the Persians was reported to him as having been an obstinate and protracted struggle.' Master of Media, the Persian chief in his turn became a great Oriental conqueror ; indeed all the Oriental conquests bear the same character. A nomadic race, led by a chief of great abilities, invades the more organized states, and conquers them ; the chief assumes the government, and founds a dynasty, which after a rule of several generations, becomes enervated, and gives way before some new nomadic incursion. The first power against which Cyrus turned his arms, after having subdued the Medes, was the famous Lydian kingdom, which then subsisted in Asia Minor under the great Croesus. And here, therefore, we must give some account of the ancient condition of Asia Minor and its principalities. States op Asia Minor — The Lydians. The river Halys divided Asia Minor into two parts. East of the Halys, or near its source, were various nations of the Semitic stock — Cappadocians, Cilicians, Pamphy- lians etc. — each organized apart, but all included under the Assyrian, and latterly, as we have seen, under the Median empire. West of the Halys, the inhabitants were apparently of the Indo-Germanic race, although sep- arated by many removes from the Indo-Germans of Persia. Overspread 4* 50 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. ing this part of Asia Minor, as -vvell as Thrace and other parts of south- eastern Europe, this great race had been broken up into fragments distin- guished by characteristic differences. To enumerate these various nations, assigning to each its exact geographical Umits, is impossible ; the chief, however, were the Bithynians, a sort of Asiatic Thracians on the southern coast of the Euxine ; the Lydians and Carians in the south-west ; and, intermediate between the two, geographically as well as in respect of race and language, the Mysians and Phrygians. These were the native states ; but along the whole ^gean shore was diffused a large Greek population, emigrants, it is believed, from European Greece, chiefly gathered into cities. These Greeks of Asia Minor were of three races — the ^^olic Greeks in the north, and the Ionian and Dorian Greeks in the south ; and perhaps the earliest manifestations of Greek genius, political or literary, were among these Greeks of Asia. The intercourse of these Greeks with the native Lydians, Phrygians, etc., gave rise to mixture of population as well as to interchange of habits ; the native music especially of the Lydi- ans and Phrygians became incorporated with that of the Greeks. When Lydia, with its capital Sardis, first began to be a powerful state, is not known ; it is remarkable, however, that tlie Lydians are not men- tioned in Homer. According to Herodotus, the Lydians traced their his- tory back through three dynasties. 1st, The Atyadaa, from the earliest times to B. c. 1221 ; 2d, The Heracleidse, from b. c. 122 to b. c. 716 ; and od, The Mermnadpe. Only the last dynasty is historic ; the manner in which it succeeded to that of the Heracleidse forms the subject of a curious Lyd- ian legend. The first king of the Mermoad dynasty was Gyges (b. c. 716-678), the second Ardys (b. c. 678-629), in whose reign the Cimmerians invaded Asia Minor, the third Sadyattes (b. c. 629-617), the fourth Alyattes (b. c. 617-560). Each of these Lydian kings was engaged in wars both with the Asiatic Greeks of the coast and the native states of the interior. The growth of the Lydian power was impeded by the Cimmerian invasion ; but those savage nomades were at length expelled by Alyattes ; and Croesus, the son of Alyattes by an Ionian wife, having succeeded his father B. c. 560, soon raised himself to the position of a great potentate, ruling over nearly the whole country westward of the Halys, comprehending ^olian, Ionian, and Dorian Greeks ; Phrygians ; Mysians, Paphlagonians, Bithynians, Carians, Pamphylians, etc. At Sardis, the capital of this extensive domin- ion, was accumulated an immense treasure, composed of the tribute which the Lydian monarch derived from the subject states ; hence the proverb, ' as rich as Croesus.' Separated from the iMedian kingdom only by the river Halys, the Lyd- ian dominion naturally became an object of desire to Cyrus after he had acquired the sovereignty of Media. Accordingly (b. c. 546), provoked by an invasion of Croesus, who had received from the Delphic oracle the equivocal assurance, that ' if he attacked the Persians he would subvert a mighty monarchy,' Cyrus crossed the Halys, advanced into Lydia, took Sardis, and made Croesus prisoner. It was intended by the conqueror that the Lydian king should be burnt alive — it is even said that the fire was kindled for the purpose ; Cyrus, however, spared his life, and Croesus became liis friend and confidential adviser. On the subversion of the Lyd- ian monarchy, its subjects, the Greeks of Asia Minor, were obliged to DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 51 submit to the conqueror, after having in vain solicited the aid of their brethren the European Greeks. The Lacedaemonians indeed sent an em- bassy into Asia Minor ; and one of their ambassadors had a conference vnth Cyrus at Sardis, where he warned him ' not to lay hands on any of the Greek towns, for the Lacedtemonians would not permit it.' ' Who are the Lacedaemonians ? ' said the astonished warrior. Having been informed that the Lacediemonians were a Greek people, who had a capital called Sparta, where there was a regular market, ' I have never yet,' said he, ' been afraid of this kind of men, who have a set place in the middle of their city where they meet to cheat one another and tell -lies. If I live, they shall have ti-oubles of their own to talk about.' To save themselves from the Persians, the Ionian portion of the Asiatic Greeks proposed a uni/ersal emigration to the island of Sardinia — a striking design, which, however, was not carried into execution. All Asia Minor ultimately yielded to Cyrus. The Persian Empire. Having subdued Asia Minor, Cyrus next turn- ed his arms against the Assyrians of Babylon. His siege and capture of Babylon (b.c. 538), when he effected his entrance by diverting the course of the Euphrates, form one of the most romantic incidents in history ; an incident connected with Scriptural narrative thi'ough its result — the eman- cipation of the Jews from their captivity. Along with Babylon, its depen- dencies, Phoenicia and Palestine, came under the Persians. Cyrus, one of the most remarkable men of the ancient world, having perished in an invasion of Scythia (b.c. 529), was succeeded by his son Cambyses, who annexed Egypt to the Persian empire (b. c. 525), having defeated Psammanitus, the son of the Pharaoh Amasis. Foiled in his in- tention of penetrating Libya and Ethiopia, Cambyses was dethroned by a Magian impostor, who called himself Smerdis, pretending that he was the younger brother of Cambyses, although this brother had been put to death by the order of Cambyses during a fit of madness. A conspiracy of seven great nobles having been formed against the false Smerdis, he was put to death. He was succeeded by one of the conspiring chiefs called Darius Hystaspes, who reigned — over the immense Persian empire, extending from the Nile to the Indus, and beyond it — from B.C. 531 to B.C. 485. ' The reign of Darius,' says Mr. Grote, ' was one of organization, different from that of his predecessor — a difference which the Persians well under- stood and noted, calling Cyrus " the father," Cambyses " the master," and Darius " the retail trader or huckster." In the mouth of the Persians this last epithet must be construed as no insignificant compliment, since it intimates that he was the first to introduce some methodical order into the imperial administration and finances. Under the two former kings there was no definite amount of tribute levied upon the subject provinces. But Darius probably felt it expedient to relieve the provinces from the burden of undefined exactions. He distributed the whole empire into twenty de- partments (called Satrapies), imposing upon each a fixed annual tax. This, however, did not prevent each satrap (the Persian governor appointed by the king) in his own province from indefinite requisitions. The satrap was a little king, who acted nearly as he pleased in the internal adminis- tration of his province, subject only to the necessity of sending up the imperial tribute to the king at Susa, the capital of the Persian empire ; bZ AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. of keeping off foreign enemies ; and of furnishing an adequate militarj contingent for the foreign enterprises of the great king. To every satrap was attached a royal secretary or comptroller of the revenue, who probably managed the imperial finances in the province, and to whom the court of Susa might perhaps look as a watch upon the satrap himself The satrap or the secretary apportioned the sum payable by the satrapy in the aggre- gate among the various component districts, towns, or provinces, leaving to the local authorities in each of those latter the task of assessing it upon individual inhabitants. From necessity, therefore, as well as from indo- lence of temper and 'political incompetence, the Persians were compelled to respect the authorities which they found standing both in town and coun- try, and to leave in their hands a large measure of genuine influence. Of- ten even the petty kings who had governed separate districts during their state of independence, prior to the Persian conquest, retained their title and dignity as tributaries to the court of Susa. The empire of the great king was thus an aggregate of heterogeneous elements, connected together by no tie except that of common fear and subjection — noway coherent nor self-supporting, nor pervaded by any common system or spirit of nation- ality.' CONTINDATION THROUGH GrEEK AND RoMAN HiSTORY. HoW DariuS, in consequence of the assistance rendered by the Athenians to the Ionian Greeks of Asia Minor, who had revolted against him (b.c. 502), sent a vast Persian army into European Greece ; how this army was defeated by the Athenian general, Miltiades, with only 11,000 men, in the glorious battle of Marathon (b.c. 490) ; how, ten years later, Xerxes, the son and successor of Darius, undertook an expedition against Greece with a host of several millions, and was defeated by Themistocles in a naval battle at Salamis (b.c. 480), which was followed by two contemporaneous defeats of his lieutenants at Plattea and Mycale (b. c. 479) ; how the Persians were thus finally driven back into Asia ; how for a century and a-half relations, sometimes hostile and sometimes friendly, were maintained be- tween the Greek states and the Persian monarchs, the degenerate succes- sors of Darius and Xerxes, under whom the empire had begun to crumble ; how at length, in the reign of Darius Codomannus (b.c. 324), Alexan- der the Great retaliated on the Persians the wrongs they had done the Greeks by invading and destroying their decrepit empire, and organizing all the countries between the Adriatic and the Indus under, not a Semit- ic, as in the case of the Assyrian empire, nor an Indo-Germanic, as in the case of the Persic empire, but a Greek or Pelasgic system ; how, on Alex- ander's death (b. c. 323), this vast agglomeration of the human species fell asunder into three Greek monarchies — the Macedonian monarchy, in- cluding the states of European Greece ; the Egyptian monarchy of the Ptolemies, including, besides Egypt, Phoenicia, Palestine, and Arabia ; and the Syrian monarchy of t^ke Seleucidpe, comprehending, although with a weak grasp, Asia Minor (or at least parts of it which had belonged to the Lydian and Assyrian empires), Syria, Assyria, and Babylonia — with the loss, however, of the countries between the Tigris and the Indus, where a germ of independence arose (b. c. 236) in a native nomad dynasty, which ultimately united all the tribes of Iran in one empire, called the Parthian DEPARTMENT OP HISTORY. 53 Empire; and how these three fragments dragged on a separate existence, full of wars and revolts ; all this belongs to Grecian history. How, about two centui-ies and a half before Christ, another, but more mixed portion of this Pelasgic family, which had arisen in Italy, and in the course of several centuries rendered itself coextensive with that peninsula — ^began to assume consequence in the wider area of the Mediterranean world: how it first grappled with the power of the Carthaginians (b. c. 264-201), who for several centuries had been pursuing the career of world- merchants, formerly pursued*ljy their fathers the Phoenicians ; how it then assailed and subdued the crumbling Macedonian monarchy, incorporating aU Greece with itself (b. c, 134) ; how retrograding, so to speak, into Asia, it gradually absorbed the Syrian and Egyptian monarchies, till it came into collision with the Parthian empire at the Euphrates (b. c. 134 — B. c. 60) ; how, advancing into the new regions of northern and west- em Eui'ope, it compelled the yet uncultured races there — the Celts or Gauls, the Iberians, etc. — to enter the pale of civilization (b. c. 80-50) ; how thus, from the Atlantic to the Euphrates, was founded a new empire, called ' The Roman,' retaming, with vast additions, all that portion of hu- manity which the former empires had embraced, with the exception of what had lapsed back to the Parthians ; how this empire subsisted for several centuries, a great mass of matured humanity girt by comparative barbar- ism— that is, surrounded on the east by the Parthians, on the south by the Ethiopians, on the north by the Germans and Scythians, and on the west by the roar of the Atlantic ; and how at last (a. d. 400-475) this great mass, having lost its vitaUty, fell asunder before the irruption of the bar- baric element — that is, the Germans, the Scythians, and the Arabs — giv- ing rise to the infant condition of the modern world ; all this belongs to Roman history, which forms the subject of a separate treatise. With one general remark we shall conclude ; namely : that the progress of history — that is, of Caucasian development — has evidently been, upon the whole, from the east westward. First, as we have seen, the Assyrian or Semitic fermentation affected western Asia as far as the Mediterranean ; then the Persian movement extended the historic stage to the ^gean ; af- ter that the Macedonian conquest extended it to the Adriatic ; and finally, the Romans extended it to the Atlantic. For fifteen centuries humanity kept dashing itself against this barrier ; till, at length, like a great mis- sionary sent in search, the spirit of Columbus shot across the Atlantic. And now, in the form of a dominant Anglic race, though with large inter- mixture, Caucasian vitality is working in its newest method, with Ethiopian help, on the broad and fertile field of America. HISTORY OF GREECE — EARLY MYTHOLOGY. The history of the Grecian states commences about 1800 years before Christ, when the Egyptians on the opposite side of the Mediterranean were in a high state of civilization ; but the portion of history which pre- cedes 884 B.C. is understood to be fabulous, and entitled to "little credit. According to the Greek poets, the original inhabitants of the country, 54 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. denominated Pelasgians, were a race of savages, who lived in caves, and clothed themselves with the skins of the wild beasts. Uranus, an Egyptian prince, landed in the countrj, and became the father of a family of giants , named Titans, who rebelled against, and dethroned him. His son Saturn, who reigned in his stead, in order to prevent the like misfortune from befall- ing himself, ordered all his own children to be put to death as soon as they were born. But one named Jupiter was concealed by the mother, and reared in the island of Crete, from which in time he returned, and deposed his father. The Titans, jealous of this new prince, rebelled against him, but were vanished and expelled for ever from the country. Jupiter divided his dominions with his bi'others Neptune and Pluto. The countries which he reserved to himself he governed with great wis- dom, holding his court on Mount Olympus, a hill in Thessaly, 9000 feet in height, and the loftiest in Greece. Any truth which there might be in the story of the Titans and their princes was completely disguised by the poets, and by the popular imagination. Saturn, Jupiter, Neptune, and Pluto, were looked back to, not as mortals, but as deities ; and the top of Mount Olympus was supposed to be the heavenly residence of gods, by whom the affairs of mortals were governed. And for ages after the dawn of phi- losophy, these deified sons of Saturn, and numberless others connected with them, were the objects of the national worship, not only among the Greeks, but also among the Romans. At an uncertain but very early date an Asiatic people named the Helle- nes immigrated into Greece, in some cases expelling the Pelasgi, and in others intermingling with them, so that in process of time all the inhabitants of Greece came to be called Hellenes. They were, however, divided into several tribes the principal of which were the Dorians, iEolians, and lon- ians, each of whom spoke a dialect differing in some respect from those made use of by the others. These dialects were named the Doric, ^olic, and Ionic, in reference to the tribes Avhich used them ; and a fourth, which was afterwards formed from the Ionic, was named the Attic, from its being spoken by the inhabitants of Attica. In the year 1856 b. c, Inachus a Phoenician adventurer, is said to have arrived in Greece at the head of a small band of his countrymen. Phoe- nicia, a petty state on the coast of the Mediterranean, in Asia Minor, was at this time one of a few countries, including Egypt and Assyria, in which some degree of civilization prevailed, while all the rest of the peo- ple of the earth remained in their original barbarism like the Pelasgians before the supposed arrival of Uranus. Navigation for the purposes of commerce, and the art of writing, are said to have originated with the Phoenicans. On their arrival in Greece, Inachus and his friends founded the city of Argos, at the head of what is now called the Gulf of Napoli, in the Peloponnesus. Three hundred years after this event (1556 B. c), a colony, led by an Egyptian named Cecrops, arrived in Attica, and founded the celebrated city of Athens, fortifying a high rock which rose precipitously above the site afterwards occupied by the town. Egypt is situated in the north-eastern part of Africa. It is bounded on the north by the IMediterranean Sea, and is watered by the great river Nile, the periodical overflowings of which by supplying the moisture nec- essary for vegetation, render the soil very fertile. From this country, DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 55 which had at a very early period made considerable advances in some of the arts and sciences (see Axcient History), Cecrops imparted much valuable knowledge to the rude inhabitants of Attica, whom he had per- suaded or obliged to acknowledge him as their chief or king. He placed his rocky fastness under the protection of an Egyptian goddess, from whose Greek name, Athena (afterwards changed by the Latins into Minerva), the city which subsequently rose around the eminence was called Athens. About the year l-i93 B.C., Cadmus, a Phoenician, founded the city of Thebes in Boeotia ; and among other useful things which he communicated to the Greeks, he is said to have taught them alphabetical writing, although it is certain that that art did not come into common use in Greece until seve- ral centuries after this period. The city of Corinth, situated on the narrow isthmus which connects the Pe- loponnesus with the mainland of Greece, was founded in the year 1520 B.C., and from its very advantageous position on the arm of the sea to which it anciently gave its name, but Avhich is noAV known as the Gulf of Lepanto, it very soon became a place of considerable commercial importance. Spar- ta or Lacedssmon, the celebrated capital of Laconia in the Peloponnesus, is said to have been founded about 1520 b. c. by Lelex, an Egyptian. In the year 1185 B. c, an Egyptian -named Danaus, accompanied by a party of his countrymen, arrived at Argos, the inhabitants of which must have been at that period in an exceedingly rude state, since it is said that he excited their gratitude so much by teaching them to dig wells, when the streams from which they were supphed with water were dried up with the heat, that they elected him as their king. Fully more than a century after this period (about 1350 B. c), Pelops, the son of a king of Phrygia, a country in Asia Minor, settled in that part of Greece which was afterwards called from him Peloponnesus, or the island of Pelops, where he married the daughter of one of the native princes, whom he afterwards succeeded on the throne. In the course of his long reign, he found means to strengthen and greatly extend his influence in Greece, by forming matrimonial alhances between vai'ious branches of his own house and the other royal families of the Peloponnesus. Agam- emnon, king of MyceniB, in Argohs, who was, according to the poet Homer, the commander-in-chief of the Greeks at the siege of Troy, and Menelaus, king of Sparta, on account of whose wrongs that war was undertaken, Vi'ere descended from this Phrygian adventurer. Hercules, a Theban prince, was another of the descendants of Pelops. The numerous and extraordinary feats of strength and valor of Hercules excited the admiration of his cotemporaries, and being afterguards exagge- rated and embellished by the poets, caused him at length to be regarded as a person endowed with supernatural powers, and even to be worshiped as a god. Theseus succeeded his father on the Athenian throne (1234 B. c), and by his wise regulations greatly consolidated the strength and increased the prosperity of his kingdom. Cecrops, the founder of Athens, had divided Attica into twelve districts, each of which possessed its own magistracy and judicial tribunals. As the country advanced in wealth and population, these districts became less closely connected with each other, and at the period of the accession of Theseus, they could hardly be regarded in any other light than as so many little independent communities, whose perpet- 56 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. ual disputes kept the whole district in broils and confusion. But Theseus had Influence enough with all parties to obtain their consent to the abolition of the separate jurisdictions, and to the fixing of all civil and judicial au- thority in the capital. He at the same time voluntarily resigned into their hands a portion of his own power. Having divided the people into three classes — the nobles, the artisans, and the cultivators of the soil — he in- trusted the first of these with the administration of public affairs, and the dispensation of justice, while he conferred upon every freeman or citizen, without distinction of class, a vote in the legislative assemblies. The com- mand of the army, and the presidency of the state, he retained in his own person. To strengthen the political union of the various districts of his kingdom by the tie of a common religion, he instituted a solemn festival, to be cele- brated annually at Athens by all the inhabitants of Attica, in honor of Minerva, the tutelary deity of the city. This festival he denominated Pan- athen^, or the Feast of all the Athenians, the name by which the whole of the people of Attica were thenceforth called. The wise and liberal poHcy of Theseus caused Attica to advance consid- erably beyond the other states of Greece in prosperity and civilization ; and the ancient historian, Thucydides, informs us that the Athenians were the first of the Greeks who laid aside the military dress and arms, which till now had been constantly worn. The example of Athens was not lost on the other Grecian communities, all of which gradually adopted, to a greater or less extent, those political institutions which had conferred so many advantages upon Attica. Notwithstanding the judicious and exemplary conduct of Theseus in the early part of the reign, he appears to have afterwards allowed his restless and adventurous disposition to hurry him into many extravagances, and even crimes, by which he forfeited the respect of his people, and brought disgrace and suffering on his latter years. If we may believe the tradi- tionary accounts, he accompanied Hercules in some of his celebrated ex- peditions, and assisted by Pirithoiis, a king of Thessaly, engaged in many martial and predatory adventures, conformably rather with the very imper- fect morality and rude manners of the age, than with his own previous char- acter. There reigned in Lacedi^mon at this period a king named Tynda- rus, who had a beautiful daughter called Helen, and according to the an- cient historians, Theseus and his friend Pirithous formed the design of stealing aAvay this young lady, and a princess of Epirus named Proser- pine. They succeeded in carrying off Helen ; but in their attempt to ob- tain Proserpine, they fell into the hands of her father, by whom Pirithoiis was put to death, and Theseus thrown into prison. Meanwhile, Castor and Pollux, the twin-brothers of Helen, who were afterwards deified, and whose names have been bestowed upon one of the signs of the Zodiac (Gemini), rescued their sister from the men to whom Theseus had given her in charge, and ravaged Attica in revenge for the injury they had re- ceived from its king. Theseus was afterwards released from imprisonment by the assistance of Hercules, and returned home ; but the Athenians had become so offended with his conduct, and were so angry at his having exposed them to ill treat- ment from the Lacedoemonians by his wicked attempt upon Helen, that they refused to receive him again as their sovereign. He therefore with DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 57 drew into exile, and soon after died in the island of Scyros. The Athe- nian people, however, never forgot the benefits he had in his wiser days conferred upon the state ; and many centuries after his death, his bones, or some which were supposed to be his, were conveyed to Athens with great pomp, and a splendid temple was erected above them to his memory. The Lacedaemonian princess who was stolen away by Theseus after- wards became the occasion of a celebrated war. The fame of her great beauty having spread far and wide, many of the princes of Greece asked her from her father Tyndarus in marriage ; but he, being fearful of incur- ring the enmity of the rejected suitors, declined showing a preference for any of them. Assembling them all, he bound them by an oath to acquiesce in the selection which Helen herself should make, and to protect her against any attempts which might afterwards be made to carry her off from the husband of her choice. Helen gave the preference to Menelaus, a grand- son of Pelops, and this successful suitor, on the death of Tyndarus, was raised to the Spartan throne. At this period, in the north-western part of Asia Minor, on the shores of the Hellespont and the iEgean Seas, there existed a kingdom, the capi- tal of which was a large and well-fortified city named Troy, or Ilium. Pri- am the king of Troy, had a son whose name was Paris ; and this young chief, in the course of a visit to Greece, resided for a time in Sparta at the court of ]\Ienelaus, who gave the Asiatic stranger a very friendly recep- tion. Charmed with Plelen's beauty, Paris employed the opportunity affor- ded by a temporary absence of her husband to gain her affections, and per- suade her to elope with him to Troy. It was not, according to the old poets, to his personal attractions, great as they were, that Paris owed his success on this occasion, but to the aid of the goddess of Love, whose favor he had won by assigning to her the palm of beauty, on an occasion when it was contested between her and two other female deities. When Menelaus returned home, he was naturally wroth at finding his hospitality so ill requited ; and after having in vain endeavored, both by re- monstrances and threats, to induce the Trojans to send him back his queen, he applied to the princes who had formerly been Helen's lovers, and called upon them to aid him according to their oaths, in recovering her from her seducer. They obeyed the summons ; and all Greece being indignant at the insult offered to Menelaus, a general muster of the forces of the various states took place at Aulis, a seaport town of Bosotia preparatory to their crossing the Mgeaxi to the Trojan shore. This is supposed to have happened in the year 1194 b. c. Of the chiefs assembled on this occasion, the most celebrated were Agam- emnon, king of Mycene ; Menelaus, king of Sparta ; Ulysses, king of Ith- aca ; Nestor, king of Pylos ; Achilles, son of the king of Thessaly ; Ajax, of Salamis ; Diomedes, of J^^tolia ; and Idomeneus, of Crete. Agamemnon, the brother of the injured Menelaus, was elected comman- der-in-chief of the confederated Gi-eeks. According to some ancient au- thors, this general was barbarous enough to sacrifice his daughter Iphigenia, to induce the gods to send a favoring gale to the Grecian fleet when it was detained by contrary winds in the port of Aulis ; but as the earliest writers respecting the Trojan war make no mention of this unnatural act, it is to be hoped that it never was performed. 58 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. The Grecian armament consisted of about 1200 vessels, with from 50 to 120 men in each, and the army which warred against Troy is supposed to have amounted altogether to about 100,000 men. The Trojans, although reinforced by auxiliary bands from Assj^ria, Thrace, and Asia Minor, were unable to withstand the Greeks in the open country, and they therefore soon retired within the walls of their city. In those early times men were unskilled in the art of reducing fortified places, and the Greeks knew of no speedier way of taking Troy than block ading it till the inhabitants should be compelled by famine to surrender. But here a new difficulty arose. No arrangements had been made for supplying the invaders with provisions during a lengthened seige ; and af- ter they had plundered and laid waste the surrounding country, they began to be in as great danger of starvation as the besieged. The supplies which arrived from Greece were scanty and irregular, and it became necessary to detach a part of the beleaguering forces to cultivate the plains of the Chersonesus of Thrace, in order to raise crops for the support of themselves and their brethren in arms. The Grecian army being thus weakened, the Trojans were encouraged to make frequent sallies, in which they were led generally by the valiant Hector, Priam's eldest and noblest son. Many skirmishes took place, and innumerable deeds of individual heroism were performed, all of which led to no important result, for the opposing armies were so equally matched, that neither could obtain any decisive advantage over the other. At length, after a siege of no less than ten years, in the course of which some of the most distinguished leaders on both sides v/ere slain, Troy was taken, its inhabitants slaughtered, and its edifices burnt and razed to the ground. According to the poets, it was by a stratagem that this famous city was at last overcome. They tell us that the Greeks constructed a wooden horse of prodigious size, in the body of which they concealed a number of armed men, and then retired towards the sea-shore, to induce the enemy to believe that the besiegers had given up the enterprise, and were about to return home. Deceived by this manoeuvre, the Trojans brought the gigantic horse into the city, and the men who had been concealed within it, stealing out in the night-time, unbarred the gates, and admitted the Grecian army within the walls. The siege of Troy forms the subject of Homer's sublime poem, the ' Iliad,' in which the real events of the war are intermingled with many fictitious and supernatural incidents. The Greek princes discovered that their triumph over Troy was dearly paid for by their subsequent sufferings, and the disorganization of their kingdoms at home. Ulysses, if we may believe the poets, spent ten years in wandering over seas and lands before arriving in his island of Ithaca. Others of the leaders died or were shijiwrecked on their way home, and several of those who succeeded in reaching their own dominions, found their thrones occupied by usurpers, and were compelled to return to their vessels, and seek in distant lands a place of rest and security for their declining years. But the fate of Agamemnon, the renowned general of the Greeks, was the most deplorable of all. On his return to Argos, he was assassinated by his wife Clytemncstra, who had formed an attachment during his absence to another person. Agamemnon's son, Orestes, was driven into exile, but afterwards returned to Argos, and putting his mother DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 69 and her accomplices to death, established himself upon the throne. About eighty years after the termination of the Trojan war, an extensive revolution took place in the affairs of Greece, in consequence of the subjugation of nearly the Avhole Peloponnesus by the descendants of Hercules. That hero, who was a member of the royal family of jMycenae or Argos, had been driven into exile by some more successful candidate for the throne of that state. After the hero's death, his children sought refuge in Doris, the king of which became subsequently so much attached to Hyllus, the eldest son of Hercules, that he constituted him the heir of his throne. Twice the Heraclidiean princes unsuccessfully attempted to establish themselves in the sovereignty of the Peloponnesus, which they claimed as their light ; but on the third trial, they accomplished their object. In the year 1104 B. c, three brothers named Temenus, Cresphontes, and Aristodemus, said to have been the great-grandsons of Hyllus, invaded the Peloponnesus at the head of the Dorians, and conquered the greater part of it, with the exception of the province of Arcadia, the mountainous character of which enabled its inhabitants to defend it with success against the invaders. Temenus obtained the kingdom of Argos, Cresphontes estabhshed him- self in Messenia, and as Aristodemus had died during the war, his twin sons Eurysthenes and Procles shared between them the throne of Sparta. The thrones of Corinth and Elis were occupied by other branches of the Herachd?ean family. The Dorian troops were rewarded with the lands of the conquered inhabitants, who were driven out of the Peloponnesus, or reduced to slavery. Great numbers of the Peloponnesians, who were expatriated by the Dorian invaders, passed over into Asia Minor, where they founded several colonies in a district afterwards called JEolia, from the name of the people by whom these colonies were established. Others took refuge in Attica, where the Athenians received them in a friendly manner. This, it would appear, gave oflFence to the new rulers of the Peloponnesian states, and war was commenced between the Dorians and the Athenians. In the year 1070 B. c, Attica was invaded by a numerous army of the Peloponnesians, and Athens itself seemed menaced with destruction. This emergency produced a display of patriotic devotion on the part of Codrus, the Athenian king, which has rarely been paralleled ^ in the annals of mankind, and deserves to be held in everlasting remem- brance : — At Delphi in Phocis there was a temple of Apollo, to the priests of which the Greeks were wont to apply for information regarding future events, in the same manner as the people of comparatively recent times were accustomed to consult astrologers, soothsayers, and other artful impostors on similar questions. Now Codrus had learned that the Peloponnesians had received at Delphi a prophetical response, to the effect that they should not be victoi-ious in the war, if they did not kill the Athenian king. Determined to save his country at the expense of his own life, Codrus disguised himself in a peasant's dress, and entering the Peloponnesian camp, provoked a quarrel with a soldier, by whom he was killed. It was not long until the dead body was recognized to be that of the Athenian king, and the Peloponnesians, remembering the condition on which the oracle had promised them success, were afraid to continue the contest any longer, and hastily retreated into their own territories. The 60 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. Athenians were filled with admiration when they heard of the noble conduct of their monarch, and in the height of their gratitude, they declared that none but Jupiter was worthy of being their king after such a prince as Codrus. It is supposed that they Avere partly induced to make this declaration by finding the sons of Codrus evince an inclination to involve the country in a civil war regarding the succession to the throne. The Athenians therefore abolished royalty altogether, and appointed Medon, Codrus's eldest son, under the title of Archon, as chief magistrate of the republic for life ; the office to be hereditary in his family as long as its duties should be performed to the satisfaction of the people. And as Attica was over- crowded with the Peloponnesian refugees, these, together with a large body of Athenians, were sent into Asia Minor, under the charge of Andro- clus and Neleus, the younger sons of Codrus, to plant colonies to the south of those already formed in ^olia. The settlers founded twelve cities, some of which afterwards rose to great wealth and splendor. Ionia was the name bestowed upon the district, in reference to the Ionic stock from Avhich the Atlienians drew their descent. Several Dorian colonies in Caria, a province still farther south than Ionia, completed the range of Grecian settlements along the Avestern coast of Asia Minor. Cyprus, Rhodes, the coast of Thrace, and the islands of the ^gean Sea, together with a considerable portion of Italy and Sicily, and even of France and Spain, were also colonized by bands of adventurers, who at various periods emigrated from Greece ; so that, in process of time, the Grecian race, language, religion, institutions, and manners, instead of being confined to the comparatively small country constituting Greece proper, were diffused over a very extensive region, comprising the fairest portions of Europe and of western Asia. While this work of colonization was going forward, the parent states of Greece were torn with internal dissensions, and were perpetually harassing each other in wars, of which the objects and incidents are now equally uncertain. Almost all that is known of the history of the two centui-ies immediately following the death of Codrus is, that they were characterized by great turbulence and confusion, and that, during their lapse, many of the Grecian states and colonies followed the example of Athens by abolish- ing monarchy. Others did not, till a later period, become republican, and Sparta long retained the singular form of regal government established " there at the accession of the twin brothers Eurysthenes and Procles, the descendants of whom continued for several centuries to reign jointly in Lacedsemon, though, practically speaking, no state of Greece was more thoroughly republican in many impoi'tant respects. Greece had been all along divided into a number of independent states, and after the abolition of kingly government, several of these were split up into as many distinct republics as the sta-te contained of towns. These divisions of the country, and the obstacles which the almost incessant wars interposed to a free communication between the Jnhabitants of the different districts, necessarily prevented the advancement of the Greeks in knowledge and civilization ; but fortunately, a king of Elis, named Iphitus, at length devised an institution by which the people of all the Grecian states were enabled, not^Yithstanding their quarrels and wars with one another, to meet periodically on friendly terms, and communicate to each other such DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 61 information as might be useful for the improvement and welfare of the whole. This institution was the Olympic Festival. From a very remote period, the Greeks had been accustomed to engage in contests of strength and agility during their times of festivity, and also at the funerals of distinguished personages. Iphitus conceived the idea of establishing a periodical festival in his -own dominions for the celebration of these ancient games, and of religious rites in honor of Jupiter and Hercules ; and having obtained the authority of the Delphian oracle for carrying his design into execution, he instituted the festival, and appointed that it should be repeated every fourth year at Olympia, a town of Elis. To this festival he invited all the people of Greece ; and that none might be prevented from attending it by the wars in which any of the states might be engaged, the Delphic oracle commanded that a general armistice should take place for some time before and after each celebration. The date of the establishment of the Olympic games (88i b. c. ) was afterwards assumed by the Greeks as the epoch from Avhich they reckoned the progress of time ; the four years intervening between each recurrence of the festival being styled an Olympiad. Three other institutions of a similar nature were afterwards establish- ed : namely, the Isthmian Games, celebrated near Corinth ; the Pythian, at Delphi ; and the Nem(^an, in Argolis. These took place on the various years which intervened between the successive festivals at Olympia ; but although they acquired considerable celebrity, none of them rose to the importance and splendor of that of Iphitus. The games which were cele- brated at the festivals consisted of foot and chariot races, wrestling and boxing matches, and other contests requiring strength and agility, together with competitions in poeti-y and music. The victors were crowned with an olive wreath ; an honor which it was esteemed by the Greeks one of the highest objects of ambition to attain. SECOND OR AUTHENTIC PERIOD OF HISTORY. The second and authentic period of Greek history commences in the year 884 b. c, at the institution of the Olympic Festival, when the peo- ple had begun to emerge from their primitive barbarism. This festival, as already stated, was instituted by direction of the Delphic oracle, by Iphitus, Prince of Elis, for the j^atriotic purpose of assembling together, in a peace- ful manner, persons from all parts of Greece. The festival was ordained to take place once every four years, in the month corresponding to our July, and to last five days, during which there was to be complete truce, or cessation from war, throughout the Grecian states. Agreeably to the ancient practice at pubUc solemnities, the festival was celebrated by games and various feats of personal skill, and the whole order of procedure was regulated with extraordinary care. All freemen of Grecian extraction were invited to contend, provided they had been born in lawful wedlock, and had lived untainted by any infamous moral stain. No women (the priestesses of Ceres excepted) were permitted to be present. Females who violated this law were thrown from a rock. The competitors prepared themselves during ten months previous at the gymnasium at Ehs. During the last thirty days, the exercises were performed with as much regularity bis AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. as at the games themselves. The festival began in the evening with sol- emn sacrifices, and the games were commenced the next day at daybreak. These consisted in races on horseback and on foot, in leaping, thromng the discus or quoit, wrestling, and boxing ; musical and poetical contests concluded the whole. The honor of having gained a victory in the Olym pic Games was very great ; it extended from the victor to his country, which was proud of owning him. However rude and boisterous were some of the sports of the Olympic Festival, it is acknowledged by the best au- thorities that they were attended with manifold advantages to society. It is sufficient barely to mention the suspension of hostilities, which took place not only during the festival, but a considerable time both before and after it. Considered as a kind of religious ceremony, at which the whole Gre- cian citizens were invited, and even enjoined, to assist, it was well adapted to facilitate intercourse, to promote knowledge, to soften prejudice, and to hasten the progress of civilization and humanity. At the first institution of the Olympic Festival, and for one or two cen turies afterwards, the condition of Grecian society was primitive, and almost patriarchal, but marked by strong features of heroic dignity, and a certain depth and refinement of thought. The attire of the men was very simple, consisting only of a shirt or close jacket to the body, with a loose robe hanging down over the naked hmbs, while performers in the public games were almost naked. The arts,, including agriculture, were also little ad- vanced ; few persons seemed to have thought of toiling to accumulate wealth ; and each community presented, in time of peace, the picture of a large family. That portion of the people constituting the freemen lived much in public, or in the society of their equals, enjoyed common pleas- ures and amusements, and had daily opportunities of displaying their use- ful talents in the sight of their fellow-citizens. The frequent disputes between individuals occasioned litigations and trials, which furnished em- ployment for the eloquence and ability of men in the necessary defence of their friends. The numerous games and public solemnities opened a con- tinual source of entertainment, and habituated every man to active physical exercise, and the performance of his duties as a soldier. These were agreeable features in the condition of Grecian society; but there were also some of an opposite character. The people were of an unsettled dis- position, never satisfied long with any kind of government which existed amongst them, and very much disposed to wage war against neighboring states on the most trifling pretenses. The population of the various states was divided into three classes — namely, the citizens, the enfranchised populace, and the slaves. All polit- ical power, even in the most democratical of the Grecian communities, was possessed by the first of these classes, while in the oligarchical states, only that small portion of the citizens which constituted the nobility or aristoc- racy possessed any influence in the management of pubHc afiairs. The mechanical and agricultural labors necessary for the support and comfort of the whole, were chiefly performed by the inferior class of free inhabi- tants, who did not enjoy the privilege of citizenship, and by the slaves, who formed a considerable portion of the population of every state. These slaves were sprung from the same general or parent stock, spoke the same language, and professed the same religion, as their masters. They were in most cases the descendants of persons who had been conquered in war, DEPARTMEKT OF HISTORY. 63 but were in some instances acquired by purchase. Society being thus based on vicious principles, it is not ■wonderful that the Grecian states were the scene of constant civil broils. Sparta — Lycurgus. At the beginning of this period of Grecian his- tory, our attention is powerfully attracted by a very remarkable series of proceedings which took place in Laced^emon, or Laconia, a country of south- ern Greece, of which the chief city was Sparta. This city being in a state of intestine disorder, it was agreed by many of the inhabitants to invite Lycurgus, the son of one of their late kings, to undertake the important task of preparing a new constitution for his country. Fortified with the sanction of the Delphic oracle, he commenced this difficult duty, not only settling the form of government, but reforming the social institutions and manners of the people. The government he established consisted of two joint kings, with a limited prerogative, and who acted as presidents of a semate of twenty-eight aged men. The functions of the senate were de- liberative as well as executive, but no law could be passed without receiv- ing the consent of the assembled citizens. The most remarkable of the arrangements of Lycurgus was his attempt to abolish difference of rank, and even difference of circumstances, among the people. He resolved on the bold measure of an equal division of lands, and actually parceled out the Laconian territory into 39,000 lots, one of which was given to each citizen of Sparta, or free inhabitant of Laconia. Each of these lots was of such a size as barely sufficed to supply the wants of a single family — for Lycurgus was determined that no person should be placed in such cir- cumstances as would permit of luxurious living. Lycurgus carried into effect a number of other visionary projects : he abolished the use of money, with the hope of preventing undue accumu- lation of wealth ; prohibited foreigners from entering the country, and the natives from going abroad, in order to preserve simpHcity of manners among the people ; directed that all men, without distinction of rank or age, should eat daily together at public tables, which were fui'uished with the plainest food ; and finally, ordained that all the children who were born, and seemed likely to be strong, should be reared by pubhc nurses, under a rigid system of privation and personal activity, while the weak infants should be thrown out to the fields to perish. The citizens, when they had attained the age of manhood, were engaged in martial exercises, all labor being left to the slaves, or helots, as they were termed ; and in short, the whole nation was but a camp of soldiers, and war was reckoned the only legitimate profession. These laws were in some measure suited to the rude condition of the Spartans, but, as being opposed to some of the best and strongest principles in human nature, they could not possibly endure, and there is reason to believe that some of them were not strictly enforced. It is not unusual to see historians use the term Spartan virtue with a cer- tain degree of admiration of its quality ; but the Spartans had, in reality, no moral dignity, certainly no benevolence, in their virtue, either public or private. They were a small confederacy of well-trained soldiers ; and merely as such, deserve no mark of our respect or esteem. The manner in which they used their helots was at once barbarous and cruel. The murder of a serf by a free citizen was not punishable by law ; nay, it was even allowable for the young Spartans to lie in wait, as a kind of sport, 64 AMERICAN ENCTCLOPEDIA. for any goocl-lookmg or saucy-looking slave, and stab him to the heart on the highway. It is certain that at one time, when the helots had stood their masters in good stead in battle, they were desired, by way of reward, to choose out 2000 of their best men, that they might receive their free- dom, and be enrolled as Spartans, and that these 2000 men were all silent- ly murdered soon after. At another time, when danger was apprehended from the growing numbers and petty wealth of the boors, the senate enac- ted the farce of declaring war against them, and coolly murdered many thousands, in order to thin their numbers and break their spirit. Had there been any redeeming trait in the Spartan character to compensate for such barbarity, one would have wondered less at the respect which is some- times paid them ; but their military fame only adds another instance to the many already on record, that the most ignorant and savage tribes make the most dogged soldiers. Athens. We now turn to Athens, long the principal seat of Grecian learning. Athens is said to have been founded by Cecrops, 1550 B. c, and in the most ancient times was called Cecropia. It probably received the name of Athens from the goddess Minerva, who Avas called also Athena, by the Greeks, and to whom an elegant temple had been erected in the city. The old city spread from the mount of the Acropolis over a wide and pleasant vale or low peninsula, formed by the junction of the Cephesus and Ilissus. Its distance from the sea-coast was about five miles. In the course of time Athens became populous and surpassingly elegant in its architecture, while its citizens contrived to take a lead in the affairs of the communities around. At first they were governed by kings, but, as in the case of the Spartan citizens, they became dissatisfied with their existing constitution, and about the year 600 B. c. invited Solon, one of the wisest men in Greece, to reor- ganize their political constitution. Solon obeyed the summons, and consti- tuted the government on a broad repubhcan basis, with a council of state, forming a judicial court, consisting of 400 members, and called the Areo- pagus. This court of Areopagus besides its other duties, exercised a cen- sorship over public morals, and was empowered to punish impiety, profligacy, and even idleness. To this court every citizen was bound to make an an- nual statement of his income, and the sources from which it was derived. The court was long regarded with very great respect, and the right was accorded to it of not only revising the sentences pronounced by the other criminal tribunals, but even of annulling the judicial decrees of the general assembly of the people. The regulations of Solon were not maintained for any great length of time, although the republican form of government, in one shape or other, continued as long as the country maintained its in- dependence. Clesthenes, the leader of a party, enlarged the democratic principle in the state ; he introduced the practice of ostracism, by which any person might be banished for ten years, without being accused of any crime, if the Athenians apprehended that he had acquired too much influ-- ence, or harbored designs against the pubhc liberty. Ostracism was so called, because the citizens, in voting for its infliction, wrote the name of the obnoxious individual upon a shell (ostreon') . It is said that Clesthenes was the first victim of his own law, as has happened in several other remark- able cases, ancient and modern. For a period of about two centuries after the settlement of a republican DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 65 constitution, there is little of importance to relate ni Athenian history. Athens was gradually enlarged, the taste for refinement increased, and various men of sagacious understanding, entitled Philosophers, began to devote themselves to inquiries into the nature of the human mind and the character of the Deity. The principal Grecian philosopher who flourished in this era (550 B. c.) was Pythagoras, a man of pure and exalted ideas, and an able expounder of the science of mind. THIRD PERIOD OF HISTORY The year 490 B. c. closes the gradually-improving period in Grecian history, or second period, as it has been termed ; and now commenced an era marked by the important event of an invasion from a powerful Asiatic sovereign. Persian Invasion. Darius, king of Persia, having imagined the pos- sibiUty of conquering Greece, sent an immense army against it in the year just mentioned. Greatly alarmed at the approach of such an enemy, the Athenians applied to the Spartans for aid ; but that people had a supersti- tion which prohibited their taking the field before the moon was at the full, and as at the time of the application it still wanted five days of that peri- od, they therefore delayed the march of their troops. Being thus refused all assistance from their neighbors, the Athenians were left to depend en- tirely on their own courage and resources. A more remarkable instance of a small state endeavoring to oppose the wicked aggression of an over- grown power, has seldom occurred in ancient or modern times ; but the constant exercises and training of the Athenian population enabled them to present a bold and by no means contemptible front to the invader. V/ar had been their principal employment, and in the field they displayed their noblest qualities. They were unacquainted with those highly-discip- lined evolutions which give harmony and concert to numerous bodies of men ; but what was wanting in skill they supplied by courage. The Athe- nian, and also other Greek soldiers, marched to the field in a deep phalanx, rushed impetuously to the attack, and bravely closed with their enemies. Each warrior was firmly opposed to his antagonist, and compelled by neces- sity to the same exertions of valor as if the fortune of the day depended on his single arm. The principal weapon was a spear, which, thrown by the nervous and well-directed vigor of a steady hand, often penetrated the firmest shields and bucklers. When they missed their aim, or when the stroke proved ineffectual through want of force, they drew their swords, and summoning their utmost resolution, darted impetuously on the foe. This mode of war was common to the soldiers and generals, the latter be- ing as much distinguished in battle by then- strength and courage as their skill and conduct. The Greeks had bows, slings, and darts, intended for the practice of distant hostility ; but their chief dependence was on the spear and sword. Their defensive armor consisted of a bright helmet, adorned with plumes, and covering the head, a strong corslet defending the breast, greaves of brass decending the leg to the feet, and an ample shield, loosely attached to the left shoulder and arm, which turned in all direc- tions, and opposed its firm resistance to every hostile assault. With men thus organized and accoutred, a battle consisted of so many duels, and the 6* H'd AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. combatants fought with all the keenness of personal resentment. The slaughter in such engagements was correspondingly great, the fight seldom terminating till one of the parties was nearly destroyed, or at least greatly reduced in numbers. It was a people , so animated and prepared that the hosts of Persia were about to encounter. Compelled to meet the invaders unassisted, the Athenians were able to march an army of only 9000 men, exclusive of about as many light-armed slaves, into the field. With INIiltiades as their leader and commander-in-chief, they met the Persians in battle on the plain of Marathon, thirty miles from Athens, and by gi-eat skill and cour- age, and the force of their close phalanx of spearmen, completely conquered them. Upwards of 6000 Persians were slain on the field, while the num- ber killed of the Athenians was but 192. This is reckoned by 'historians one of the most important victories in ancient times, for it saved the inde- pendence of the whole of Greece. To the disgrace of the fickle Athenians,, tliey afterwards showed the greatest ingratitude to Miltiades, and put him in prison on a charge of^favoring the Persians. He died there the year after his great victory. 'Soon after, the citizens of Athens, on a plea equal- ly unfounded, banished Aristides, an able leader. of the aristocratic party in the state, and who, from his strict integrity and wisdom, was usually en- titled ' Aristides -the Just.' On the banishment of this eminent individual, Thernistocles, a person who was more democratic in his sentiments, became the leader of the councils of the Athenians. Meanwhile the Grecian liber- ties were again menaced by the Persians. Xerxes, son of Darius, marched an army across the Hellespont by a bridge of boats from the Asiatic shore, and led it towards the southern part of Greece. The utmost force that the confederate Greeks could oppose to the countless host of Persians, did not exceed 60,000 men. Of these, a band of Spartans, numbering 8,000 soldiers, under Leonidas their king, was posted at the pass of Thermopy- lae, to intercept the enemy, and here they discomfited every successive col- umn of the Persians as it entered the defile. Ultimately, foreseeing cer- tain destruction, Leonidas commanded all to retire but 300, with whom he proposed to give the Persians some idea of what the Greeks could submit to for the sake of their country. He and his 300 were cut off to a man. Xerxes took possession of Attica and Athens, but in the naval battle with the Athenian fleet at Salamis, which occurred soon after [October 20, 480 B. c] , his army was utterly routed, and its scattered remains retreated into Asia. By this splendid victory the naval power of Persia was almost annihila- ted, and the spirit of its monarch so completely humbled, that he durst no longer undertake offensive operations against Greece. Here, therefore, the war ought to have terminated ; but so great and valuable had been the spoils obtained by the confederate forces, that they were unwilling to re- linquish such a profitable contest. The war, therefore, was continued for twenty years longer, less, apparently, for the chastisement of Persia, than for the plunder of her conquered provinces. But now that all danger was over, many of the smaller states, whose population was scanty, began to grow weary of the contest, and to furnish " with reluctance then- annual contingent of men to reinforce the allied fleet. It was, in consequence, arranged that those states whose citizens were un- willing fe) perform personal service, should send merely their proportion of DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 67 vessels,- and pay into the commpn treasury an annual subsidy, for the main- tenance of the sailors with whom the Athenians undertook to man the fleet. The unforeseen but natui-al consequence of this was the establishment of the complete supremacy of Athens. The annual subsidies gradually as- sumed the character of a regular tribute, and were compulsorily levied as such ; while the recusant communities, deprived of their fleets, which had been given vip to the Athenians, were unable to oSer eSectual resistance to the oppressive exactions of the dominant state. The xithenians were thus raised to an unprecedented pitch of power and opulence, and enabled to adorn their city, to live in dignified idleness, and to enjoy a constant succession of the most costly public amusements, at the expense of the van- quished Persians, and of the scarcely more leniently-treated communities of the dependent confederacy. ^ Pericles. We have arrived at the most flourishing period of Athenian history, during which Pericles rose to distinction, and greatly contributed to the beautifying of the capital. The talents of Pericles were of the very first order, and they had been carefully cultivated by the ablest tutor- age which Greece could afford. After serving for several years in the Athenian anny, he ventured to take a part in the business of the popular assembly, and his powerful eloquence soon gained him an ascendancy in the national councils ; and his power, in fact, became as great as that of an absolute monarch (445 b. c). Some of the most interesting events of Grecian history now occurred. After a number of years of general peace, a disjKite between the state of Corinth and its dependency the island of Corcyra (now Corfu), gave rise to a wa.r which again disturbed the repose of all the Grecian states. Corcyra was a colony of Corinth, but having, by its maritime skill and enterprise, raised itself to a higher pitch of opu- lence than its parent city, it not only refused to acknowledge Corinthian supremacy, but went to war with that state on a question respecting the government of Epidammus, a colony which the Corcyreans had planted on the coast of lUyria. Corinth applied for and obtained aid from several of the Peloponnesian states to reduce the Corcyreans to subjection ; while Corcyra, on the other hand, concluded a defensive alliance with Athens, which sent a fleet to assist the island in vindicating its independence. By way of punishing the Athenians for intermeddling in the quarrel, the Co- rinthians stirred up a revolt in Potidsea, a town of Chalcidice, near the confines of Macedonia, which had originally been a colony of Corinth, but was at this time a tributary of Athens. The Athenians immediately des- patched a fleet and army for the reduction of Potidsea, and the Peloponne- sians were equally prompt in sending succors to the city. The Corinthians, meanwhile, were actively engaged in endeavoring to enlist in their cause those states which had not yet taken a decided part in the dispute. To Lacedaemon, in particular, they sent ambassadors to complain of the con- duct of the Athenians, which they characterized as a violation of a univer- sally-recognised law of Grecian policy — that no state should interfere between another and its dependencies. The efforts of the Corinthians were successful, and almost all the Peloponnesian states, headed by Sparta, together with many of those beyond the isthmus, formed themselves into a confederacy for the purpose of going to war with Athens. Argos and Achaia at first remained neuter. Corcyra, Acarnania, some of the cities 68 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. of Tliessaly, and those of Plataea and Naupactus, were all that took part with the Athenians. "Pericles beheld without dismay the gathering of the storm, but his coun- trymen were not equally undaunted. They perceived that they wei-e about to be called upon to exchange the idle and luxurious life they were at present leading for one of hardship and danger, and they began to mur- mur against their political leader for involving them in so alarming a quar- rel. They had not at first the courage to impeach Pericles himself, but vented their displeasure against his friends and favorites. Phidias, a very eminent sculptor, whom the great statesman had appointed superintendent of public buildings, was condemned to imprisonment on a frivolous charge ; and the philosopher Anaxagoras, the preceptor and friend of Pericles, was charged with disseminating opinions subversive of the national religion, and banished from Athens. Respecting another celebrated individual who at this time fell under persecution, it becomes necessary to say a lew words. Aspasia of INIiletus was a woman of remarkable beauty and brilliant tal- ents, but she wanted that chastity which is the greatest of feminine graces, and by her dissolute life was rendered a reproach, as she would otherwise have been an ornament, to her sex. This remarkable woman having come to reside in Athens, attracted the notice of Pericles, who was so much fas- cinated by her beauty, wit and eloquence, that, after separating from his wife, with whom he had lived unhappily, he married Aspasia. It was gen- erally believed that for the gratification of a private grudge, she had insti- gated Pericles to quarrel with the Peloponnesian states, and her unpopu- larity on this scoi-e was the true cause of her being now accused, before the assembly of the people, of impiety and grossly-immoral practices. Pericles conducted her defense in person, and plead for her with so much earnestness, that he was moved even to tears. The people, either finding the accusations to be really unfounded, or unable to resist the eloquence of Pericles, acquitted Aspasia. His enemies next directed their attack against himself. They accused him of embezzling the public money ; but he com- pletely rebutted the charge, and proved that he had drawn his income from no other source than his private estate. His frugal and unostenta- tious style of living must have of itself gone far to convince the Athenians of the honesty with Avhich he had administered the public affairs ; for while he was filling the city with temples, porticoes, and other magnificent works of art, and providing many costly entertainments for the people, his own domestic establishment was regulated with such strict attention to econo- my, that the members of his family complained of a parsimony wliich formed a marked contrast to the splendor in which many of the wealthy Athenians then lived. Confirmed in his authority by his triumphant refutation of the slandei-s of his enemies, Pericles adopted the wisest measures for the ^^ublic defense against the invasion which was threatened by the Peloponnesians. Un- willing to risk a battle with the Spartans, who were esteemed not less invincible by land than the Athenians were by sea, he caused the inhabi- tants of Attica to transport their cattle to Eubosa and the neighboring is- lands, and to retire with as much of their other property as they could take with them, within the walls of Athens. By this provident care, the city was stored with provision sufficient for the support of the multi- tudes which now crowded it ; but greater diificulty was found in fui'nish- DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 69 ing proper accommodation for so vast a population. Many found lodgings in the temples and other public edifices, or in the turrets on the city walls, while great numbers were obliged to construct for themselves temporary abodes in the vacant space within the long walls extending between the city and the port of Piraeus. The memorable contest of twenty-seven years' duration, called, the Pelo- ponnesian War,' now commenced (431 B. c). The Spartan king, Archi damns, entered Attica at the head of a large army of the confederates, and meeting with no opposition, proceeded along its eastern coast, burning the towns, and laying waste the country in his course. When the Athenians saw the enemy ravaging the country almost up to their gates, it required all the authority of Pericles to keep them within their fortifications. While the confederates were wasting Attica with fire atid sword, the Athenian and Corcyrean fleets were, by the direction of Pericles, avenging the inju- ry by ravaging the almost defenseless coasts of the Peloponnesus. This, together with a scarcity of provisions, soon induced Archidamus to lead his army homewards. He retired by the western coast, continuing the work of devastation as he went along. Early in the summer of the followmg year, the confederates returned to Attica, which they were again permitted to ravage at their pleasure, as Pericles still adhered to his cautious poUcy of confining his eiForts to the defense of the capital. But an enemy far more terrible than the Pelopon- nesians attacked the unfortunate Athenians. A pestilence, supposed bo have originated in Ethiopia, and which had gradually spread over Egypt and the western parts of Asia, broke out in the town of Piraeus, the inhab- itants of which at first supposed their wells to have been poisoned. The disease rapidly advanced into Athens, where it carried off a great number of persons. It is described as having been a species of infectious fever, accompanied with many painful symptoms, and followed, in those who survived the first stages of the disease, by ulcerations of the bowels and limbs. Historians mention, as a proof of the singular virulence of this pesti- lence, that the birds of prey refused to touch the unburied bodies of its victims, and that the dogs which fed upon the poisonous relics perished. The mortality was dreadful, and was of course greatly increased by the overcrowded state of the city. The prayers of the devout, and the skill of the physicians, were found equally unavailing to stop the progress of the dis- ease ; and the miserable Athenians, reduced to despair, believed themselves to be forgotten or hated by their gods. The sick were in many cases left unattended, and the bodies of the dead allowed to lie unburied, while those whom the plague had not yet reached, openly sat at defiance all laws, hu- man and divine, and rushed into every excess of criminal indulgence. Pericles was in the meantune engaged, with a fleet of 150 ships, in wasting with fire and sword the shores of Peloponnesus. At his return to Athens, finding that the enemy had hastily retired from Attica, through fear of the contagion of the plague, he despatched the fleet to the coast of Chalcidice, to assist the Athenian land forces who were still engaged in the siege of Potidaea — an unfortunate measure, productive of no other result than the communication of the pestilence to the besieging army, by which the major- ity of the troops were speedily swept away. Maddened by their suffer- ings, the Athenians now became loud in their murmurs against Pericles, whom they accused of having brought .upon them at least a portion of their 70 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. calamities, by involving them in the Peloponnesian war. An assembly of the people was held, in which Pericles entered upon a justification of his conduct and exhorted them to courage and perseverance in defense of their independence. The hardships to which they had been exposed by the war, were, he observed, only such as he had in former addresses prepared them to expect ; and as for the pestilence, it was a calamity which no human prudence could either have foreseen or averted. He reminded them that they still possessed a fleet which that of no potentate on earth could equal or cope with, and that, after the present evil should have jjassed away, their navy might yet enable them to acquire universal empire. ' What we suffer from the gods,' continued he, 'we should bear with patience ; what from our enemies, with manly firmness ; and such were the maxims of our forefathers. From unshaken fortitude in misfortune has arisen the present power of this commonwealth, together with that glory which, if our empire, according to the lot of all earthly things, decay, shall still survive to all posterity.' The eloquent harangue of Pericles diminished, but did not remove, the alarm and irritation of the Athenians, and they not only dismissed him from all his offices, but imposed upon him a heavy fine. Meanwhile do- mestic afflictions were combining with political anxieties and mortifications to oppress the mind of this eminent man, for the members of his family were one by one perishing by the plague. Still, however, he bo-re himself up with a fortitude which was witnessed with admiration by all around him ; but at the funeral of the last of his children, his firmness at length gave way ; and while he was, according to the custom of the country, placing a garland of flowers on the head of the corpse, he burst into loud lamenta- tions, and shed a torrent of tears. It was not long till his mutable coun- trymen repented of their harshness towards him, and reinvested him with his civil and military authority. He soon after followed his children to the grave, falling, like them, a victim to the prevailing pestilence (429 B. c). The concurrent testimony of the ancient writers assigns to Pericles the fii'st place among Grecian statesmen for wisdom and eloquence. Though ambitious of power, he was temperate in its exercise ; and it is creditable to his memory, that, in an age and country so little scrupulous in the shed- ding of blood, his long administration was as merciful and mild as it was vigorous and effective. When constrained to make war, the constant study of this eminent statesman was, how to overcome his enemies with the least possible desti'uction of life, as well on their side as on his own. It is relat- ed that, when he Avas lying at the point of death, and while those who sur- rounded him were recounting his great actions, he suddenly interrupted them by expressing his surprise that they should bestow so much praise on iieliievements in which he had been rivaled by many others, while they omitted to mention what he considered his highest and peculiar honor — namely, that no act of his had ever caused any Athenian to put on mourning. After the death of Pericles, the war was continued, without interruption, for seven years longer, but with no very decisive advantage to either side. During this period the Athenian councils were chiefly directed by a coarse- minded and unprincipled demagogue named Cleon, who was at last killed in battle under the walls of Amphipolis, a Macedonian city, of which the possession was disputed by the Athenians and Lacedaemonians. Cleon was succeeded in the direction of public affairs by Nicias, the leader of the aris- DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 71 tocratic party, a man of virtuous but unenterprising character, and a mili- tary officer of moderate abilities. Under his auspices a peace for fifty years, commonly known by the name of the ' Peace of Nicias,' was conclu- ded in the tenth year of the war (421 B. c). It was not long, however, till the contest was resumed. Offended that its allies had given up a con- test undertaken for the assertion of its alleged rights, Corinth refused to be a party to the treaty of peace, and entered into a new quadruple alli- ance with Argos, Elis, and Mantinsea, a city of Arcadia ; the ostensible ob- ject of which confederation was the defense of the Peloponnesian states against the aggrc-ssions of Athens and Sparta. This end seemed not diffi- cult of attainment, as fresh distrust had arisen between the two last-men- tioned republics, on account of the reluctance felt and manifested by botli to give up certain pLaces which they had bound themselves by treaty mutu- ally to surrender. The jealousies tluis excited were fanned into a violent flame by the artful measures of Alcibiades, a young Athenian, who now began to rise into political power, and whose genius and character subse- quently exercised a strong influence upon the affairs of Athens. Alcibiades. Alcibiades was the son of Clinias, an Athenian of high rank. Endowed with uncommon beauty of person, and talents of the very highest order, he was unfortunately deficient in that unbending integrity which is an essential element of every character truly great, and his violent passions sometimes impelled him to act in a manner which has brought disgrace on his memory. While still very young, Alcibiades served in the Athenian army, and became the companion and pupil of Socrates, one of the wisest and most virtuous of the Grecian sages. Hav- ing rendered some service to his country in a protracted and useless war with Lacediemon, and being possessed of a talent for addressing the passions of the multitude, Alcibiades, as others had done before him, became the undisputed head of public affairs in Athens. But this preemi- nence was not of long continuance. An opinion arose among the people that he designed to subvert the constitution, and his fall was as quick as his promotion. Many of his friends were put to death, and he, while ab- sent on an expedition, deprived of his authority. Being thus left without a public director of affairs," Athens, as usual, was torn by internal discords: the aristocratic faction succeeded in overthowing the democratic govern- ment (411 B. c), and establishing a council of 400 individuals to admin- ister the affairs of state, with the power of convoking an assembly of 5000 of the principal citizens for advice and assistance in any emergency. These 400 tyrants, as they were popularly called, were no sooner invested with authority, than they annihilated every remaining portion of the free institutions of Athens. They behaved with the greatest insolence and severity towards the people, and endeavored to confirm and perpetuate their usurped power, by raising a body of mercenary troops in the islands of the ^gean, for the purpose of overawing and enslaving their fellow- citizens. The Athenian army was at this period in the island of Samos, whither it had retired after an expedition against the revolted cities of Asia Minor. When intelligence arrived of the revolution in Athens, and the tyrannical proceedings of the oligarchical faction, the soldiers indignant- ly refused to obey the new government, and sent an invitation to Alcibiades to return among them, and assist in reestabhshing the democratic con- 72 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. stitutlon. He obeyed the call ; and as soon as lie arrived in Samos, the troops elected him their general. He then sent a message to Athens, commanding the 400 tyrants to divest themselves immediately of their unconstitutional authority, if they wished to avoid deposition and death at his hands. This message reached Athens at a time of the greatest confusion and alarm. The 400 tyrants had quarreled among themselves, and were about to appeal to the sword : the island of Euboea, from which Athens liad for some time been principally supplied with provisions, had revolted, and the fleet which had been sent to reduce it had been destroyed by the Lacedi^monians, so that the coasts of Attica, and the port of Athens itself, were now without defense. In these distressing circumstances, the people, roused to desperation, rose upon their oppressors, overturned the govern- ment of the 400, after an existence of only a few months, and reestablished their ancient institutions. Alcibiades was now recalled ; but before revisit- ing Athens, he was desirous of performing some brilliant military exploit, which might obliterate the recollection of his late connection with the Spartans, and give his return an air of triumph. He accordingly joined the Athenian fleet, then stationed at the entrance of the Hellespont, and soon obtained several important victories over the Lacedcemoni-ans, both by sea and land. He then returned to Athens, where he was received with transports of joy. Chaplets of flowers were showered upon his head, and amidst the most enthusiastic acclamations he proceeded to the place of assembly, where he addressed the people in a speech of such eloquence and power, that at its conclusion a crown of gold was placed upon his brow, and he was invested Avith the supreme command of the Athenian forces, both naval and military. His forfeited property was restored, and the priests were directed to revoke the curses which had' formerly been pronounced upon him. This popularity of Alcibiades was not of long continuance. Many of the dependencies of Athens being in a state of insurrection, he assumed the command of an armament intended for their reduction. But circum- stances arose which obliged him to leave the fleet for a short time in charge of one of his officers, named Antiochus, who, in despite of express orders to the contrary, gave battle to the Laccdsemonians during the absence of the commander-in-chief, and was defeated. When intelligence of this action reached Athens, a violent clamor was raised against Alcibiades : he was accused of having neglected his duty, and received a second dismissal from all his offices. On hearing of this, he quitted the fleet, and retiring to a fortress he had built in the Chersonesus of Thrace, he collect- ed around him a band of military adventurers, with whose assistance he carried on a predatory warfare against the neighboring Thracian tribes. Alcibiades did not long survive his second disgrace with his countrymen. Finding his Thracian residence insecure, on account of the increasing pov,^er of his Lacediemonian enemies, he crossed the Hellespont, and settled in Bithynia, a country on the Asiatic side of the Propontis. Being tliere attacked and plundered by the Thracians, he proceeded into Phrygia, and placed himself under the protection of Pharnabasus, the Persian satrap of that province. But even thither the unfortunate chief was followed by the unrelenting hatred of the Lacedieraonians, by whose directions he was privately and foully assassinated. Thus perished, about the fortieth year DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 73 of his age (403 B.C.), one of the ablest men that Greece ever produced. Distinguished aUke as a warrior, an orator, and a. statesman, and in his nature noble and generous, Alcibiades would have been truly worthy of our admiration if he had possessed probity ; but his want of principle, and his unruly passions, led him to commit many grievous errors, which con- tributed not a Uttle to produce or aggravate those calamities which latterly overtook him. DECLINE OF ATHENIAN INDEPENDENCE. With Alcibiades perished the last of the great men who possessed the power to sway the wild democracy, ox, properly speaking, the mob of Athens. From the period of his death till the subjugation of the country, the Athenian people were at the mercy of contending factions, and with- out a single settled principle of government. During this brief period of their history, in which a kind of popular democracy had attained the command of afiairs, happened the trial and condemnation of Socrates, an eminent teacher of morals, and a man guiltless of every offense but that of disgracing, by his illustrious merit, the vices and follies of his cotemporaries. On the false charge of corrupting the morals of the pupils who listened to his admirable expositions, and of denying the reli- gion of his country, he was, to the eternal disgrace of the Athenians, compelled to die by drinking poison, a fate which he submitted to with a magnanimity which has rendered his name for ever celebrated. This odious transaction occurred in the year 400 b. c. After the death of tliis great man, the political independence of Athens drew to its termination — a circumstance which cannot excite the least sur- prise, when we reflect on the turbulence of its citizens, their persecution of virtue and talent, and their unhappy distrust of any settled form of govern- ment. Their ruin was finally accomplished by their uncontrollable thirst for war, and can create no emotions of pity or regret in the reader of their distracted history. The Lacedcemonians, under the command of an able officer named Lysander, attacked and totally destroyed the Athenian fleet. By this means having obtained the undisputed command of the sea, Lysan- der easily reduced those cities on the coasts of Thrace and Asia Minor, and those islands of the ^^gean, which still acknowledged the supremacy of Athens. Having thus stripped that once lordly state of all its dependen- cies, he proceeded to blockade the city of Athens itself. The Athenians made a heroic defense ; but after a lengthened siege, during which they suffered all the horrors of famine, they were obliged to surrender on such conditions as their enemies thought fit to impose (404 B. c). The Spar tans demanded that the fortifications of Piraeus, and the long walls which connected it with the city, should be demolished ; that the Athenians should relinquish all pretensions to authority over their former tributaries, recall the exiled partisans of the 400 tyrants, acknowledge the supremacy of Sparta, and follow its commanders in time of war ; and finally, that they should adopt such a political constitution as should meet the approbation of the Lacedaemonians. Thus sank the power of Athens, which had so long been the leading state of Greece, and thus terminated the Peloponnesian war, in which the Grecian communities had been so long engaged, to little other purpose than 74 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. to waste the strength, and exhaust the resources, of their common coun- try. Condition of Athens. During the age preceding its fall, Athens, as already mentioned, had been greatly beautified and enlarged by Pericles. At the same time, the comparative simplicity of manners which formerly prevailed was exchanged for luxurious habits. This alteration has been thus described by GiUies in his ' History of Ancient Greece :' — ' In the course of a few years, the success of Aristides, Cimon, and Pericles, had tripled the revenues, and increased in a far greater proportion the dominions of the repubhc. The Athenian galleys commanded the eastern coasts of the Mediterranean ; their merchantmen had engrossed the traffic of the ad- jacent countries ; the magazines of Athens abounded with wood, metal, ebony, ivory, and all the materials of the useful as well as of the agreeable arts ; they imported the luxuries of Italy, Sicily, Cyprus, Lydia, Pontus, and Peloponnesus ; experience had improved their skill in working the silver mines of Mount Laurium ; they had lately opened the valuable mar- ble veins in Mount Pentelicus ; the honey of Hymettus became important in domestic use and foreign traffic ; the culture of their olives (oil being long their staple commodity, and the only production of Attica which Solon allowed them to export) must have improved with the general improvement of the country in arts and agriculture, especially under the active adminis- tration of Pericles, who liberally let loose the public treasure to encourage every species of industry. ' But if that minister promoted the love of action, he found it necessary at least to comply with, if not to excite, the extreme passion for pleasure which then began to distinguish his countrymen. The people of Athens, successful in every enterprise against their foreign as well as domestic ene- mies, seemed entitled to reap the fruits of their dangers and victories. For the space of at least twelve years preceding the war of Peloponnesus, their city aiforded a perpetual scene of triumph and festivity. Dramatic entertainments, to which they were passionately addicted, were no longer performed in slight, unadorned edifices, but in stone or marble theatres, erected at great expense, and embellished with the most precious produc- tions of nature and of art. The treasury was opened, not only to supply the decorations of this favorite amusement, but to enable the poorer citi- zens to enjoy it, without incurring any private expense ; and thus, at the cost of the state, or rather of its tributary allies and colonies, to feast and delight their ears and fancy with the combined charms of music and poe- try. The pleasure of the eye was peculiarly cJIbnsulted and gratified in the architecture of theatres and other ornamental buildings ; for as Themisto- eles had strengthened, Pericles adorned, his native city ; and unless the concurring testimony of antiquity was illustrated in the Parthenon, or Tem- ple of Minerva, and other existing remains worthy to be immortal, it would be difficult to beheve that in the space of a few years there could have been created those numerous, yet inestimable Avonders of art, those temples, the- atres, statues, altars, baths, gymnasia, and porticoes, which, in the lan- guage of ancient panegyric, rendered Athens the eye and light of Greece. ' Pericles was blamed for thus decking one favorite city, hke a vain vo- luptuous harlot, at the expense of plundered provinces ; but it would have been fortunate for the Athenians if their extorted wealth had not been em- DEPARTMENT OP HISTORY. 75 ployed in more perishing, as -well as more criminal, luxury. The pomp of religious solemnities, winch were twice as numerous and costly in Athens as in any other city of Greece — the extravagance of entertainments and ban- quets, which on such occasions always followed the sacrifices — exhausted the resources, without augmenting the glory, of the republic. Instead of the bread, herbs, and simple fare recommended by the laws of Solon, the Athenians, soon after the eightieth Olympiad, availed themselves of their extensive commerce to import the delicacies of distant countries, which were prepared with all the refinements of cookery. The wines of Cyprus were cooled with snow in summer ; in winter, the most delightful flowers adorned the tables and persons of the wealthy Athenians. Nor was it sufficient to be crowned with roses, unless they were likewise anointed with the most precious perfumes. Parasites, dancers, and buffoons, were a usual appendage of every entertainment. Among the weaker sex, the passion for deUcate birds, distinguished by their voice or plumage, was carried to such excess, as merited the name of madness. The bodies of such youths as were not peculiarly addicted to hunting and horses, which began to be a prevailing taste, were corrupted by a lewd style of living ; while their minds were still more polluted by the licentious philosophy of the sophists. It is unnecessary to crowd the picture, since it may be ob- served, in one word, that the vices and extravagances which are supposed to characterize the declining ages of Greece and Rome, took root in Athens during the administration of Pericles, the most splendid and most prosper- ous in the Grecian annals.' During this period flourished ^schylus and Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes, dramatists ; Pindar, a lyrical poet ; Herodotus and Thucyd- ides, historians ; Xenophanes, Heraclitus, Empedocles, Anaxagoras, and Socrates, philosophers (reasoners upon the nature of the human mind, and upon man's immortal destiny). In this period also, under the admin- istration of Pericles (from 458 to 429 B. c), sculpture and architecture attained their perfection. It was then that Phidias executed those splen- did works, statues of the gods and goddesses, which excited the admiration of the world, and which succeeding artists have in vain endeavored to rival. While Athens had extended its power over a great pai't of the coasts of the ^gean Sea, and increased its trade and commerce by every available means, it had also become a city of palaces and temples, whose ruins continue to be the admiration of ages for their grandeur and beauty. It is understood that the Greeks had acquired their knowledge of archi- tecture from the Egyptians ; but they greatly excelled them in the ele- gance of their designs, and 'are in a great measure entitled to the char- acter of inventors in the art. The beauty of the Corinthian pillar, for ex- ample, has never been excelled either in ancient or modern times. After the surrender of Athens to the Spartans (404 e. c), the demo- cratic constitution was abolished, and the government was intrusted to thirty persons, whose rapacious, oppressive, and bloody administration ere long procured them the title of the Thirty Tyrants. The ascendancy of these intruders was not, however, of long duration. Conon, assisted pri- vately by the Persians, who were desirous of humiliating the Spartans, expelled the enemy, and reestablished the independence of his country. About seventy years later a new source of agitation throughout Greece 76 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. •was caused by the warlike projects of Alexander, king of Macedon, usual ly styled Alexander the Great. This intrepid and ambitious soldier was the son of Philip, king of Macedon, a small territory adjacent to the Grecian states, from Avhich it had originally received a knowledge of arts and learn- ing. Alexander was born in the year 356 B. c, and by his father was committed to the charge of the philosopher Aristotle to be educated ; a duty which Avas faithfully fulfilled. By the assassination of Philip, Alex- ander was called to the throne of Macedon while yet only twenty years of age, and immediately had an opportunity of displaying his great warlike abilities in conducting an expedition into Greece, which was attended with signal success, and procured for him the honor of succeeding his father as commander-in-chief of the Grecian states. He now carried out a de- sign which had been formed by Philip, to subdue Persia and other countries in Asia. In the spring of 334 B. c, he crossed over to the Asiatic coast, with an army of 30,000 foot and 5000 horse, thus com- mencing the most important military enterprise which is narrated in the pages of ancient history. Alexander marched through Asia Minor, and in successive encounters completely conquered the armies of Persia ; but the whole history of his progress is but an account of splendid victories. During a space of about seven or eight years, he conquered Persia, As- syria, Egypt, Babylonia, and, in fact, became master of nearly all the half-civilized countries in Asia and Africa. It does not appear that Alex ander had any motive for this wide-spread overthrow of ancient and re- mote sovereignties, excepting that of simple ambition, or desire of conquest, with perhaps the indefinite idea of improving the social condition of the countries which he overran. From various circumstances in his career, it is apparent that he never contemplated the acquisition of wealth or of praise, except such as could be shared with his soldiers, for whom he dis- played a most paternal affection. The extraordinary career of Alexander was suddenly cut short by death. At Babylon, while engaged in extensive plans for the future, he became sick, and died in a few days, 323 B. c. Such was the end of this con- queror, in his thirty-second year, after a reign of twelve years and eight months. He left 'behind him an immense empire, which, possessing no consolidated power, and only loosely united by conquest, became the scene of continual wars. The generals of the Macedonian army respectively seized upon different portions of the empire, each trusting in his sword for an independent establishment. The greedy"' struggle for power finally terminated in confirming Ptolemy in the possession of Egypt ; Seleucus in Upper Asia ; Cassander in Macedon and Greece ; while several of the provinces in Lower Asia fell to the share of Lysimachus. CONCLUDING PERIOD OF GREEK HISTORY. At the death of Alexander, the Athenians considered it a fit opportunity to emancipate themselves from the ascendancy of Macedon ; but without success. Demosthenes, one of the most eminent patriots and orators of Athens, on this occasion, to avoid beiTig assassinated by order of Antipater, the Macedonian viceroy, killed himself by swallowing poison ; and his com- DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 77 patnoc Phocion was shortly afterwards put to death by his own country- men, the Athenians, in a mad outbreak of popular fury. Greece cannot be said to have produced one great man after Phocion ; and this deficiency of wise and able leaders was doubtless one chief cause of the insignificance into which the various states, great and small, sunk after this epoch. The ancient liistory of Greece, as an independent country, now draws to a close. Achaia, hitherto a small, unimportant state, having begun to make some pretensions to political consequence, excited the enmity of Sparta, and was compelled to seek the protection of Philip, the ruling prince of Macedon. Philip took the field against the Spartans, and their allies the JEtolians, and was in a fair way of subjecting all Greece, by arms and influence, when he ventured on .the fatal step of commencing hostilities against the Romans. This measure consummated the ruin of Greece, as well as that of Macedon. The Romans warred with Philip till the end of his Ufe (175 B. c), and continued the contest with his son Perseus, whom they, utterly defeated, and with whom ended the line of the kings of Macedon. In a few years the once illustrious and free re- publics of Greece were converted into' a Roman province, under the name of Achaia (146 b. c). Thus terminates the fourth and last period of Greek history, during which flourished several eminent writers and philosophers, among whom may be numbered Theocritus, a pastoral poet; Xenophon, Polybius, Dio- dorus Siculus, Dionysius Halicai'nassus, Plutarch, and Hcrodian, histori- ans ; Demosthenes, an orator ; and Plato, Aristotle, Zeno, and Epicurus, philosophers; also Zeuxis, Timanthes, Pamphilus, Nicias, Appelles, and Eupompus, painters; and Praxiteles, Polycletus, Camachus, Naucides, and Lysippus, sculptors. In the condition of a humble dependency of Rome, and therefore following the fate of that empire, Greece remained for upwards of four succeeding centuries ; but although of little political importance, it still i-etained its preeminence in learning. Enslaved as the land was, it continued to be the great school of the time. As Greece had formerly sent her knowledge and arts over the East by the arms of one of her own kings, she now dif- fused them over the western world under the protection of Rome. Ath- ens, which was the emporium of Grecian learning and elegance, became the resort of all who were ambitious of excelling either in knowledge or the arts ; statesmen Avent thither to improve themselves in eloquence ; philosophers to learn the tenets of the sages of Greece ; and artists to study models of excellence in building, statuary, or painting ; natives of Greece were also found in all parts of the world, gaining an honorable subsistence by the superior knowledge of their country. That country in the meantime was less disturbed by intestine feuds than formerly, but was not exempt from the usual fate of conquests, being subject to the continu- al extortions of governors and lieutenants, who made the conquered prov- inces the means of repairing fortunes which had been broken by flattering the caprices of the populace at home. The period of the independence of Greece, during which all those great deeds were performed which have attracted the attention of the world, may be reckoned from the era of the first Persian war to the conquest of Macedon, the last independent Greek state, by the Romans. This period, as we have seen, embraced little more than 300 years. It is not, there- 78 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. fore, from the duration of the independent political power of the Grecian states that their celebrity arises. Even the patriotism of their soldiers, and the devoted heroism of Thermopylae and Marathon, have been emula- ted elsewhere without attracting much regard ; and we must therefore con- clude that it is chiefly from the superiority of its poets, philosoi^hers, his- torians, and artists, that the importance of the country in the eyes of mod- ern men arises. The political squabbles of the Athenians are forgotten ; but the moral and intellectual researches of their philosophers, and the elegant remains of their artists, possess an undying fame. HISTORY OF ROME. About the year 754 b.c, at that point of Central Italy, nearly fifteen miles from the Tuscan Sea, where the Anio joins the Tiber, there stood on a height, called the Palatine Mount, a little village named Roma, the centre of a small township, consisting probably of oOOO or 6000 inhabitants, all of them husbandmen and shepherds. This Rome was one of the border town- ships of Latium, a territory of fertile and undulating table-land extending from the Tiber to the Liris, and from the sea-coast to the hills of the interi- or. The whole surface of Latium was under diligent cultivation, and was covered with villages similar to Rome, v/hich together constituted what was called the Latin nation. Rome, we have said, was a frontier township of Latium. It was situa- ted precisely at that point where the territories of Latium adjoined those of two other nations — of the Sabines, a hardy Oscan race of shepherds inhabiting the angular district between the Anio and the Tiber ; and of the Etruscans, a remarkable people, of unknown but probably Oriental origin, who had arrived in the north of Italy some centuries later than the Pelas- gians, and conquering all before them, whether Pelasgians or Oscans, by the force of superior civilization, had settled chiefly in the region between the Arnus and the Tiber, corresponding to modern Tuscany. Between these three races — Oscans, Pelasgians and Etruscans — either apart, or in va- rious combinations, all Italy, with the exception perhaps of some portions near the Alps, was divided : the Oscan predominating in the interior ; the Pelasgians or rather Pelasgo-Oscans, along the coasts, as in Latium ; and the Etruscans in the parts above-mentioned. While the ItaUan peninsula was thus occupied but by three great races or main stocks ; the political divisions or nations into which it was parceled out were so numerous, how- ever, that it would be scarcely possible to give a complete list of them. Situated so near to the Sabine and Etruscan frontiers, an intercourse, sometimes friendly and sometimes hostile, must naturally have been car- ried on between the Latins of Rome and the Sabines and Etruscans, with whom they were in contact. A chain of events, which history cannot now trace, but which is indicated in a poetic manner by a number of early Roman legends, led to the incorporation of Rome with two neighboring towns — one of them a small dependency of the Etruscans, situated on the CaeUan Hill, and probably named Lucerum ; another a Sabine village on DEPARTMENT OP HISTORY. 79 the Quirinal Hill, called Quirium. The Etruscans, or Etrusco-Latins as they seem rather to have been, of Lucerum, were received on a subordinate footing ; the Sabines of Quirium on one of equality ; but the joint city continued to bear its old name of Roma. The population of this new Home consisted, therefore, of three tribes — the ancient Romans, who call- ed themselves Ramnes ; the Sabines of Quirium, who called themselves Titles ; and the Etrusco-Latins of Lucerum, who were named Luceres. ORIGINAL ROMAN CONSTITUTION — EARLY HISTORY UNDER THE KINGS — ORIGIN OP THE PLEBEIANS. With the enlargement of the population of Rome by the addition of these new masses of citizens, a change of the constitution became of course necessary. The following seems to have been the form ultimately assum- ed:— Governed by a common sovereign, eligible by the whole community from one of the superior tribes — the Ramnes and the Tities — the three tribes intrusted the conduct of their affairs to a senate composed of 200 members, 100 of whom represented the gentes of the Ramnes, and 100 the gentes of the Tities. The Luceres as an inferior tribe, were not rep resented in the senate ; and their political influence was limited to the right to vote with the other two tribes in the general assemblies of the whole people. • In these general assemblies, or Comitia, as they were called, the people voted ; not individually, nor in famihes, nor in gentes, but in divisions called Ourix or Curies ; the Caria being the tenth part of a tribe, and inclu- ding, according to the ancient system of round numbers, ten gentes. Thus the entire Populus Romanus, or Roman people, of this primitive time, con- sisted of thirty curies — ten curies of Ramnes, ten of Titles, and ten of Luceres : the ten curies of each tribe corresponding to 100 gentes, and the thirty curies together making up 300 gentes. As the Luceres were an inferior tribe, their gentes were called Gfentes Minor es, or Lesser Houses ; while those of the Ramnes and Tities were called Gentes Blajores or Grea ter Houses. The assembly of the whole people was called the Comitia Ouriati(i, or meeting of curies. After a measure had been matured by the king and senate, it was submitted to the whole people in their curies, who might accept or .reject, but could not alter, what was thus proposed to them. An appeal was also open to the curies against any sentence of the king, or of the judges nominated by him in his capacity of supreme justi- ciary. The king, moreover, was the high priest of the nation in peace, as well as the commander-in-chief during war. The 300 gentes furnished each a horseman, so as to constitute a body of cavalry; the mass of the people forming the infantry. The right of assembling the senate lay with the Idng, who usually convened it three times a month. Such was ancient Rome, as it appears to the historic eye endeavoring tc. penetrate the mists of the past, where at first all seems vague and waver- ing. The inquirer to whom we owe the power to conceive the condition of ancient Rome, so far as that depended on political institutions, was the celebrated German historian Niebuhr. Not so, however, did the Romans conceive their own early history. In all ancient communities, it was a habit of the popular imagination, nay, it was part of the popular religion, to trace the fortunes of the community to some divine or semi-divine foun- der ; whose exploits, as weU as those of his heroic successors, formed the 80 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. subject of numerous sacred legends and ballads. Now, it was part of the Roman faith that their city had been founded at a point of time correspon- ding with B. c. 754, by twin brothers of miraculous birth, called Romulus and Remus, whose father was the war god Mars, and their mother a vestal virgin of the line of the Alban kings, the progeny of the great ^neas. Romulus, according to this legend, surviving his brother Remus, became the king of the village of shepherds which he had founded on the Palatine ; and it was in his reign that those events took place which terminated in the establishment of the triple community of the Ramnes, Tities, and Luce- res. Setting out with Romulus, the Romans traced the history of their state through a series of legends relating to six kings his successors, whose char- acters, and the lengths of their reigns, are all duly determined. Of this ■traditionary succession of seven kings, extending over a period of 245 years (b. c. 754-509), history can recognize with certainty the existence of only the two or three latest. It is possible, however, to elicit out of the legends a glimmering of the actual history of the Roman state during these imaginary reigns. Possessed, as all our information respecting the Romans in later times justifies us in supposing, of an unusual degree of that warlike instinct which was so rampant among the early tenants of our globe, the shepherd farmers of Rome were incessantly engaged in raids on their Latin, Etruscan, and Sabine neighbors. Strong-bodied, valiant, and persevering, as we also know them to have been, they were, on the whole, successful in these raids; and the consequence was, a gradual extension of their territory, particularly on the Latin side, by the conquest of those who were weaker than themselves. After each conquest, their custom was to deprive the conquered community of a part of their lands, and also of their political independence, annexing them as subjects to the Populus Romanus. The consequence was a gradual accumulation round the original Populus, with its 300 Houses, of a subject-population, free-born, and possessing property, but without political influence. This subject-population, the origin of which is dated by the legends from the reign of Ancus Martins, the fourth king from Romulus, received the name of the Plebs, a word which we translate ' common people,' but which it would be more correct, in refer- ence to these very ancient times, to translate ' conquered people.' Besides the plebs, the Roman community received another ingredient in the per- sons called Clients ; strangers, that is, most of them professing mechanical occupations, who, arriving in Rome, and not belonging to a gens, were obliged, in order to secure themselves against molestation, to attach them- selves to some powerful citizen willing to protect them, and called by them Patronus, or Patron. About six centuries before Christ, therefore, the population of the growing township of Roma may be considered as having consisted of four classes : 1st, The populus, or patricians, a governing class, consisting of a limited number of powerful families, holding themselves aloof from the rest of the community, not intermarrying with them, and gradually diminishing in consequence ; 2d, The plebs, or plebeians, a large and continually-increasing subject-population, of the same mixed Etruseo- Sabine-Latin blood as the populus, but domineered over by them by right of conquest; M, The clients, a considerable class, chiefly occupied in handicraft professions m the town, while the populus and the plebs confined themselves to the more honorable occupation, as it was then esteemed, of DEPARTMENT OF HISTOllY. 81 agriculture ; and 4<A, The slaves or servi, whether belonging to patricians, plebeians, or clients — a class -prlio were valued along with the cattle. The increasing numbers of the plebs, the result of fresh wars, and the value of their services to the communitj, entitled them to possess, and em- boldened them to claim, some polifical consideration. Accordingly, in the reign of Tarquinius Priscus, the fifth of the legendary kings, and in whose reputed Etruscan lineage historians fancy that they can discern a time when Etruscan influence, if not Etruscan arms, reigned paramount in Rome, a modification of the original constitution took place. A number of the richest plebeian families were drafted into the populus, to supply the blanks caused by the dying out of many of the ancient gentes of the Ramnes, Titles, and Luceres ; and at the same time the number of senators was increased to 300, by the admission of the Luceres to the same rights as the other two tribes. Even this modification was insufficient ; and in order to do justice to the claims of the plebs, Servius Tullius, the success- or of Tarquinius, and who is gratefully celebrated in Roman history as ' the King of the Commons,' proposed and effected an entire renovation of the political system of the state. His first reform consisted in giving the plebs a regular internal organization for its own purposes, by dividing it into thirty tribes or parishes — four for the town, and tAventy-six for the country — each provided with an ofiicer or tribe convener called the Tribune, as well as with a detailed machinery of local government ; and all permitted to assemble in a general meeting called the Comitia Tributa, to discuss matters purely affecting the j^lebs. But this was not all. To admit the plebs to a share in the general legislative power of the community, he in- stituted a third legislative body, called the Comitia Centuriata, in addition to the two — the senate and the comitia curiata — already existing. The comitia centuriata was an assembly of the whole free population of the Roman territory — patricians, plebeians, and cliezits — arranged, according to the amount of their taxable property, in five classes, which again were subdivided into 195 bodies, called Centuries, each century possessing a vote, but the centuries of the rich being much smaller than those of the poor, so as to secure a preponderance to wealth. The powers of the comitia cen- turiata were similar to those of the comitia curiata under the former sys- tem. They had the right to elect supreme magistrates, and to accept or reject a measure referred to them by the king and senate. The comitia curiata, however, still continued to be held; and a measure, even after it had passed the comitia centuriata, had still to be approved by the curies ere it could become a law. Notwithstanding this restriction, the consti- tution of Servius Tullius was a great concession to the popular spirit, as it virtually admitted every free individual within the Roman territory to a share in the government. An attempt on the part of Tarquinius Superbus, the successor of Serviu.< Tullius, to undo the reforms of his predecessor, and to establish what the ancients called a tyranny, or a government of individual will, led to the expulsion of him and his family, and to the abolition of the kingly form of government at Rome, B. c. 509, or in the year of the city 245. Instead of a king, two annual magistrates called Consuls were appointed, in whom were vested all the kingly functions, with the exception of the pontifical, for which special functionaries were created. Otherwise, the Servian con- stitution remained in full operation. 82 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. THE COMMONWEALTH TO THE GAULISH INVASION — STRUGGLE BETWEPJSI THE PATRICIANS AND PLEBEIANS. After the expulsion of the kings, the little republic had to struggle through many difficulties arising from the attacks of the neighboring nations, incited thereto by the Tarquinii. Ten of the twenty-six rural parishes were torn away in the contest — a loss equivalent to a fall third part of the Roman territory. It would have required a prophetic eye to foresee that, of all the states into which Italy was then divided, this little strug- gling republic was to obtain the preeminence. One would have been disposed to promise the supremacy of the peninsula rather to the cultured and large-brained Etruscans, already masters of the north of Italy ; to the hardy and valiant Samnites, who were fast overspreading the southern in- terior ; or, most probably of all, to the Greeks, who, after adding Sicily to the empire of their gifted race, w"ere rapidly establishing colonies on the southern coasts of the peninsula. Nay, clustered round the Roman terri- tories there were various petty states, any one of which might have appeared a match for Rome — the Latins, the ^quians, the Volcians, the Hernicans, the Sabines, and the Eti-uscans of Veil on the right bank of the Tiber. Who could have predicted that, bursting this cincture of nations, the men of the Tiber would overspread the peninsula, and, by the leavening influ- ence of their character and institutions, throw first it and then all Europe, into fermentation ? It required a period of 119 years (b. c. 509-390) to enable the Romans to burst the chain of petty nations — Latins, Volscians, Vejentes, etc. — which girdled in their strength. This was a period of almost in- cessant warfare ; the last glorious act of which was the siege and capture of Veii by the hero Camillus, B. c. 395, or in the year of the city 359. By this capture part of Etruria was added to the Roman dominions, and the influence of the state considerably extended on all sides. This con- quest, as well as the career of victory against ^quians, Volscians, etc., which had preceded it, was greatly facilitated by a confederacy, ofiensive and defensive, which had subsisted between the Romans and the adjacent nations of the Latins and the Hernicans from the year of the city 268, the twenty-third year after the expulsion of the kings, Avhen it had been estab- lished by the instrumentality of an able patrician named Spurius Cassius, who was three times, in cases of difficulty, elected to the consulship. This confederacy with two powerful nations had insured the stability of the infant republic against all assaults. The second consulship of Spurius Cassius (year of Rome 261, or B. c. 493) had also been remarkable as the epoch of a formidable civic tumult — the first of that long series of struggles between the patricians and the plebeians which constitutes the most interesting portion of the annals of the early Commonwealth. Not long after the expulsion of the kings, the patrician gentes had begun to show a disposition to tamper with the Servian constitution, or at least to prevent the plebs from obtaining more power than they already possessed. The principal instrument by which they were able to cripple the energies of the plebs Avas the operation of the law of debt. In primitive Rome, as in other ancient states, an insolvent debtor was liable to be seized by liis creditor, and kept in chains, or made DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. Od to work as his slave. Now, such had been the distress of the first years of the repubhc, that multitudes of the plebeians, deprived, by the casualties of war, of their little properties, had been obliged, in order to preserve the lives of their families, to become debtors to the patricians, the exclusive proprietors of the state lands. Hundreds had, in consequence, fallen into a condition of slavery ; and many more, fearing to offend their patrician creditors by opposing their designs, had become mere ciphers in the comitia centuriata. In short, the plcbs, as a body, were disintegrated and dis- heartened. Some instances of oppression, more flagrant than ordinary, led to an outbreak, and a clamor for the abolition of all existing debts ; and to enforce their demands, the plebeians adopted a method of agitation which seems singular enough to our modern conceptions ; they, or at least such of them as were in arms for military service, retired in a mass from the city at a time when it was threatened with invasion, and encamped on a hill near, declaring they would starve sooner than live in such a place as Rome was. The government was thus reduced to a dead lock ; Spurius Cassius was chosen consul by the patricians ; and by his instrumentality an arrangement was come to, by which the demands of the commons were conceded, existing debts abolished, a treaty of mutual obligation for the future agreed to between the populus and the plebs as between two inde- pendent communities, and a new office instituted, under the title of the Tribuneslup of the Oommon Peoiple, for the express purpose of protecting the interests of the plebs. The commons then returned to the city ; two tribunes of the people were appointed ; and their number was subsequently increased first to five, and afterwards to ten. No one could have foreseen how important this oflice would become. Not content with alleviating the temporary distresses of the plebeians, Spurius Cassius wished permanently to ameliorate their condition ; and accordingly, in his third consulship, in the year of the city 268, or B. c. 486, he boldly proposed and carried what was called an Agrarian Law. It is absolutely necessary that the reader of Roman history should under- stand this term. According to the early Roman constitution, the lands acquired in war became the property of the whole populus, or body of patricians, in common. Portions of the conquered lands might be pur chased from the state by rich persons ; and in such cases the purchaser, whether patrician or plebeian, became absolute owner. Usually, however, the lands were not sold, but were annexed to the unallotted property al- ready belonging to the populus. With regard to this state land, a very curious system prevailed. Any patrician (but none else) was allowed to occupy and cultivate as much of it as he chose, on condition of paying to the state a tithe of the annual produce if it were arable land, and a fifth if it were laid out in oliveyards or vineyards. The land thus occupied did not, by right of possession, become the property of the individual : he was liable to be turned out of it at the pleasure of the state — his landlord ; and it was entirely at his own risk that he laid out capital in improving it. As, however, it rarely haM)ened that an individual was ejected from land which he had -ttius occupied, large tracts of the state land were speedily occupied by enterprising patricians. Such being the plan of distribution, it is evident that in the state lands, occupied and unoccupied, the govern- ment possessed a constant fund upon which they could draw in cases of emergency. By selling portions of it, they could raise money ; and by 84 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. assigning portions of it to indigent families, they could permanently pro- vide for them. Several times, it appears, this had been done in the case of indigent plebeian families ; and the agrarian law of Spurius Cassius was simply a proposal that — a large accession to the state lands having just taken place — the government should seize the opportunity to provide for the distressed plebeians, by apportioning them small portions of these state lands. To the plebeians this proposal was exceedingly agreeable ; not so, however, to the patricians, who possessed the right of occupying and farming as much of the public territory as they chose, but who lost that right from the moment that the land was apportioned by the state. The patricians, accordingly, resisted the proposal with all their might ; and Spurius Cassius having carried it notwithstanding, they caused him to be impeached and put to death as soon as his consulship had expired. After this event, the patricians renewed their efforts to suppress the plebs, proceeding so far as to transfer the right of electing the consuls from the centuries to the purely patrician body of the curies. The plebe- ians, however, behaved resolutely, asserting their rights through their tri- bunes, and by clamors in the comitia tributa, where none but plebeians had a right to take a part. In the year of the city 271, or B. c. 483, they regained the power of choosing one of the consuls ; and in the year 283, or B. c. 471, they wrung from the patricians the right of electing their tribunes in their own comitia tributa, instead of the centuries, at the same time obtaining the right to discuss in the comitia tributa affairs affecting the whole Commonwealth. Other concessions followed ; and at length, in the year 292, or B. c. 462, a tribune named Caius Terentilius Harsa was so bold as to propose a complete revision of the constitution in all its parts. It Avas not desirable, he said, that the old distinction be- tween populus and plebs, which had originated in war, should be longer kept up ; let, therefore, a revision of the whole body of the laws be under- taken, with a view to put the plebeians on a legal equality with the patri- cians, and let some more limited form of supreme magistracy be substitu- ted for the consulship. After a protracted opposition, this proposal re- sulted, in the year 303, or B. c. 452, in the appointment of the famous First Decemvirate ; a board of ten patricians, who were to revise the en- tire body of the laws, as well as the political machinery of the state, su- perseding in the meantime all other authority. The digest of Roman law prepared by these decemvirs became the foundation of all subsequent ju- risprudence among the Romans ; the amendments which they effected on the old laws were favorable to the plebeians. The principal constitution al changes which they carried out were the incorporation of patricians and clients with the plebeian tribes ; the investment of the centuries with the powers of an ultimate court of appeal ; and the substitution of the decemviral office, of which they themselves were an example, for the con- sulship, five of the decemvirs to be plebeians. This last change, however, was of short duration ; for the second decemvirate was brought to an end by its own depravity. Compelled, by a new secession of the commons, to abdicate, the decemvirs of 30.") -were succeeded by two popular consuls, under whose auspices several important privileges were obtained for the plebeians, the most important of which was a law conferring on a plebis- citum, or resolution of the tribes, the right to become law on receiving the sanction of the patricians, thus enabling the whole people to originate DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 85 measures as well as the senate. In 310, the plebeians mustered courage to demand that one of the consuls should thenceforward be chosen from their order. To divert them from this, the patricians yielded to another demand — the repeal of the law prohibiting intermarriage between the two orders. The plebeians, however, still persisting in their demand re- garding the consulship, the patricians, in 311, offered a compromise, which consisted in breaking down the supreme authority, hitherto concentrated in the consulship, into three offices — the Censorship, the Qusestorship, and the Military Tribunate — with consular powers. The censors were to be two in number, chosen for a period of five years, by the curies from among the patricians, subject to the approval of the centuries. The os- tensible duty of the censors was the administration of the public revenues ; but as they were intrusted with the task of determining the rank of every citizen, and of rating his taxable property, their power was, in reality, enormous. To watch over the moral conduct of the citizens, and to de- grade such senators or knights as disgraced their order, were parts of their understood duty. The qimstors, two in number, were to keep the public accounts ; they were likewise to be patricians, but were to be chosen by the centuries. Regarding the third office, the military tribunate, the ple- beians were to have the option of this office, consisting of an indefinite number of persons of somewhat less dignity than the consuls, but to be chosen by the centuries from either order indiscriminately, or of consuls to be chosen, as before, from among the patricians only. This compromise having been accepted, the period fi'om 311 to 350 was one of incessant agitation on the part of the plebeians, of incessant opposition on the part of the patricians, of incessant shifting between the consulship and the military tribunate, according as the patricians or the plebeians were the stronger. On the whole, however, the plebeians gain- ed ground. In 321, the active authority of the censors was limited to eighteen months out of the five years for which they were appointed. In 328, the tribes obtained the right of deliberating on questions of peace and war. In 334, the number of the quaestors was increased to four, to be chosen indiscriminately from either order. Lastly, in 350, or B. c. 404, the system of payment for military service became common. During these forty years the patricians had frequently had recourse to the expe- dient of appointing a Dictator, or supreme magistrate, with unlimited au- thority for six months. Such an appointment almost always proved a tem- porary check to the political advancement of the plebeians. In cases of difficulty also, arising from external danger, it was usual to appoint some able man dictator ; and it was at such a juncture, in the year 359, that, determined to bring the siege of Veil to a close, the Romans appointed Camillus to this high office. The siege of Veil having terminated so successfully, the Romans were prepared to resume their career of conquest without, and their political agitations within, when both the one and the other received a check from an unexpected quarter. Some cause, now unknown, had thrown the Gauls, or Celtic populations inhabiting the western portion of Central Europe, into commotion ; and bursting from their native haunts, a mass of these savages crossed the Alps in quest of plunder and settlements, established a permanent abode in the country adjacent to the Po, and pushed their de- structive way through almost the whole length of the peninsula. Rome 80 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. suffered more severely than any other city. For several months (364-5, or B. c. 390-89) it was in the possession of the savages — its rightful in- habitants, routed in the battle, having dispersed themselves for safety through the surrounding country. At length, however, the Gauls were bribed to return to their homes in the north, leaving Rome in ruins. - GRADUAL CONQUEST OF THE PENINSULA — ITALY UNDER THE ROMAN RULE. The invasion of the Gauls is a great notch in the line of the Roman an- nals. From this epoch to the time of the complete subjugation of the pe- ninsula by the Romans (365-490, or — b. c. 389-264) is a period of 125 years. ' Of this period, the first fifty years were spent in repairing the shat- tered Commonwealth. Her strength having been fairly renewed, the repub- lic shook off all impediments, announced to Latins and Hernicans that she re- quired their cooperation no longer, and boldly declared her resolution to conquer central Italy. The series of wars against Etruscans, Latins, Her- nicans, Gauls, Volscians, and Samnites, sometimes singly, sometimes in combination, by which she carried her resolution into effect, is usually known in Roman history by the general designation of ' the Samnite Wars ' (412 -463), the Samnites being the leaders in this onset of the nations on Rome, the issue of which was to determine whether Rome or Samnium should govern Italy. Extricating herself by her valor from this confused conflict of nations, Rome, about the year 463, found herself mistress of Central It- aly— Samnites, Latins, etc., all her subjects. A consequence of the con- duct of the Latins and Hernicans during these Samnite wars was, that the famous triple confederacy between these two nations and the Romans was brought to an end precisely when it had fully served its purpose, and when its longer continuance would have impeded the growth in Italy of that Ro- man unity which it had fostered. ' The Samnite Wars ' were succeeded by a short but brisk war, designated in Roman history ' the War with Pyrr- hus and the Greeks in Italy.' Pyrrhus was an able and enterprising Greek princd, whom the Greek towns of southern Italy — fearful of being over- whelmed by the conquering barbarians, as they called them, of the Tiber, before whom even the Samnites had given way — had invited over from his native kingdom of Epirus, that he might place himself at the head of a con- federacy which they were forming against Rome. Full of enmity towards their conquerors, all the recently-subdued nations of Central and Northern Italy welcomed the arrival of Pyrrhus : and all Southern Italy followed his standard. His enterprise, however, failed, notwithstanding several victo- ries ; and about the year B.C. 275, Pyrrhus having withdrawn from Italy, the confederacy against the Roman Commonwealth crumbled to pieces, and the whole peninsula lay at their mercy. Before describing the manner in which the peninsula, thus acquired, was laid out and governed by the Ro- mans, it will be necessary to continue our narrative of the gradual develop- ment of the constitution within, during the period which had elapsed since the Gaulish invasion. The situation of Rome after the Gaulish invasion was extremely similar to what it had been after the expulsion of the kings — the plebeians distressed, and many of them in slavery for debt, and the patricians disposed to tyran- nize. As on the former occasion there had risen up, as the best friend of DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 87 the plebs, the noble patrician Spuriiis Cassius, so on this occasion there ap- peared as their champion a prudent and brave plebeian, Caius Licinius Sto- le, a tribune of the people. His measures were very similar to those of Spurius Cassius — namelj^ a compromise on the subject of debts (not, how ever, an abolition of them) ; and an agrarian law, prohibiting any citizen from occupying any more than five hundred jugera (about C30 acres) of the pubUc land, and depriving all who exceeded that quantity of the sur plus for distribution among indigent commons. To tiiese he added a pro- posal for constitutional reform — namely, that the military tribunate should be abolished, and that the consulship should be reverted to, one of the con- suls to be of necessity a plebeian. After a hard struggle, these important measures were carried in the year 384, nineteen years after the Gaulish in- vasion. Under these Licinian Laws, as they were called, the state enjoyed tolerable repose for a long period of years — the principal source of disturb- ance being the attempts of the wealthy citizens to evade the operation of the agrarian law. The next great movement was in the year of the city 416, when, under the auspices of a plebeian dictator (for the dictatorship had also been thrown open to the plebeians), a considerable simplification of the constitution was effected. It was now rendered essential that one of the censors should be a plebeian ; and the old patrician body of the curies was struck out of the machinery of the legislature, so as to leave the busi- ness of the state in the hands of the senate (itself become partly a plebeian body) and the people. Met in their centuries, the people could only accept or reject the measures proposed by the senate ; but met in their tribes, they could originate a measure, and oblige the senate to consider it. Thus sometimes in the shape of a matured scheme descending from the senate to the people, sometimes in the shape of a popular resolution sent up to the senate, a measure became law. From this simplification of the constitution commences, according to historians, the golden age of Roman pohtics. The extension of dominion in the Samnite wars, by providing a large subject- population inferior both to patricians and plebeians, disposed these bodies to forget their differences, and to fall back upon their common conscious- ness of Roman citizenship. During the Samnite wars, however, a third party appeared in the field claiming political rights. These were the Mra- rians, the name applied to all those residents in town pursuing mechanical occupations, who, as not belonging to any of the tribes (now thirty-three in number), did not rank as citizens. The claims of this class — the city rab- ble, as both patricians and j^lebeians called it — were supported by a daring and able patripian, Appius Claudius, who, during his censorship, admitted JBrarians into all the tribes indiscriminately. Eventually, however, a com promise was effected : the serarians were enrolled in the four city tribes, thus obtaming some influence, but not so much as Appius seemed to destine for them. It appears to have been at some period also during the Samnite wars that a modification took place in the constitution of the comitia centu- riata, the leading feature of which seems to have been a blending of the tribes with the centuries, so as to accommodate the assembly to the altered state of society and the altered scale of wealth. Of the precise nature of this change, however, as of the precise time at which it occurred, we are ignorant. It may be considered, nevertheless, to have perfected the Ro- man constitution, and to have adapted it for the function of maintaining the government of the entire peninsula. 88 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. Italy, once fairly subjugated and laid out by the Romans (b. c. 266), its population may be considered as having been distributed into three po- litical divisions — the Populus Romanus, or citizens of Rome, properly so called ; the ySocii, or inhabitants of the allied and dependent Italian states ; and the Nomen Latinum, or citizens of the ' Latin name.' The first of these, the Populus Romanus, included the whole body of the free inhabitants of the thirty-three tribes or parishes north and south of the Tiber, which constituted the Roman territory strictly so called, together with a considerable number of persons scattered over the other parts of Ita- ly, who were also accounted citizens, either because they were colonists of Roman descent, or because the title had been conferred on them as an honorary distinction. The total number of adult Roman citizens towards the close of the fifth century was under 300,000 — a small proportion, evi- dently, of the vast Italian mass, which consisted, including the slaves, of about 5,000,000. Nor were all these equal in point of civil rights, many of them having the franchise, as it was called, or legal rights of citizens, without the suffrage, or political rights. The citizens with suffrage, those who voted on pubUc questions — the real governing power, therefore, by whose impulses all Italy, with its millions of inhabitants, was swayed, as the body is moved by the beats of the heart — were a mere handful of men, such as might be assembled with ease in any public park or square. The Italian subjects were the inhabitants of the allied or dependent states. The list of these was a long one, including, as it did, the various communities which made up the populations of Etruria, Umbria, the Sa- bine territory, Samnium, Campania, Apulia, Lucania, Messapia, and Brut- tium. All the allies, however, were not equally subject to Rome : the re- lations in which they stood to it were determined by the particular treaties which formed the separate alliances, and these, of course, varied according to the Circumstances under which they had been concluded. Almost all the allied states, however, w^ere permitted to retain their own laws, their own municipal arrangements, their own judges, etc. Throughout the pe- ninsula, however, care was taken to destroy every vestige of nationality or national legislature among the allies of the same race. Upon the whole, this change from independence to subjection to Rome was beneficial to the Italian nations. Not the least benefit attending it was the total abolition of those wars between neighboring states which, while the peninsula was subdivided into small independent territories, had raged incessantly and fiercely. The Nomen Latinum, or Latin name, was a fictitious designation ap- plied to a number of colonies scattered through the peninsula, and which, in respect of privileges, stood in an intermediate position between the Ro- man citizens and the Italians. The name probably originated in the cir- cumstance, that the original colonists of this description were Latins. It is a curious fact, that even after Rome had attained the supremacy of the peninsula, there did not exist such a thing as even a dawning Roman literature, although the state had now existed nearly five hundred years; so much earlier than their literary faculty did the native talent of the Ro- mans for governing mankind develop itself. It was by their massive char- acter, more than by their powers of speculation or expression, that they were to impress the world. DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. THE PUNIC WARS— SUBJUGATION OF FOREIGN NATIONS— ADMINISTRA- TION OF THE PROVINCES. Masters of Italy, it was not long before the Romans found themselves in collision with the nations surrounding the great basin of the Mediterrar nean ; and as the last 125 years of the existence of the Roman state had been spent in the gradual conquest of the Italic nations, so the next 130 years (y. r. 490-620, or b. c. 264-134) were spent in a series of con- quests, by which various foreign countries were reduced to the condition of mere provinces of Italy. This series of conquests may be designated gen- erally by the title of ' the Punic Wars, and the Wars with the Greek States.' A bare enumeration of them, with a statement of their results, is all that our limits will allow. The first foreign people with which the Romans came into collision were the Carthaginians — a people of Phoenician lineage, who, settling in that part of Africa now called Tunis, and building a city there, about a century before Rome was founded, had in the interval become a great commercial nation, with ships sailing to all parts of the Mediterranean, and with col- onies along the coasts of Algiers, in Sardinia and Corsica, and even in Spain. They had recently gained a footing in Sicily, and now shared it with the Greeks of Syracuse ; and it was on this rich island as a battle- field that the Romans first came into conflict with the merchant-people of Africa. Invited over by the Mamertines, a robber-people Avho inhabited the north-eastern corner of the island, the Roman soldiers fought the armies of mercenaries hired by the Carthaginians. The war thus begun, the ' First Punic War,' as it is called, lasted twenty-three years (y. r. 490-513, or B. c. 264-241). During it the Romans first learned to build ships of war, and to fight naval battles ; and they were soon able to defeat the Carthaginians on their own element. On land they were sure of victory against mere mercenaries, collected, as these were, from all nations, and commanded by Carthaginian generals of ordinary capacity. In 249 B. c, however, the Carthaginians sent over the great Hamilcar Barca to com- mand their forces in Sicily ; and his efforts checked the Romans, who, meanwhile, had invaded Africa, and been repulsed. A victory or two, however, gained by the Romans over other generals than Hamilcar, dis- posed the Carthaginians for peace, wha accordingly agreed (b. c. 241) to evacuate Sicily, and to pay the victors a large sum of money. The Ro- mans then made themselves masters of Sicily ; and shortly afterwards they found a pretext for wresting Corsica and Sardinia from the Carthaginians. For twenty-two years after these conquests (b. c. 241-119) the Romans were engaged in wars with the Cisalpine Gauls and other nations in the north of Italy, the effect of which was to extend their dominion to the foot of the x\lps. Beyond the Alps, also, Illyria, a country skirting the east coast of the Adriatic, was at this time annexed to the dominions of the Commonwealth. Meanwhile the Carthaginians had not been idle. During several years they had, in accordance with the advice of Hamilcar, been estabhshing their dominion in Spain, intending to repay themselves with that fine pe- ninsula for the loss of Sicily and Sardinia. Killed in battle by a native tribe, Hamilcar was succeeded in Spain by his son-in-law Hasdrubal ; and 90 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. on his deatli, which took place soon after, Hannibal Barca, the son of Ham ilcar, and then onlj twenty-six years of age, was appointed to the com--- mand. The siege by him of Saguntum, an independent Spanish town, which had claimed the assistance of the Romans, led to the Second Punic War (b. c. 218-201). Little did the Romans know what a war it was to be ! Crossing the Pyrenees, the young Carthaginian general, the great- est military commander probably, and certainly one of the ablest men the world ever saw, pushed his way through the Gallic tribes, and effecting the passage of the Alps, descended into Italy with an army of 12,000 Africans, 8,000 Spaniards, and 6,000 Carthaginian horse. Rousing the Cisalpine Gauls, and defeating in several successive battles the Roman generals sent against him, he made his way into the south of Italy (b. c. 217) ; and having in the following year inflicted on the Romans at CanniTe the great- est defeat they had ever received, he remained in Italy fifteen years (b. C. 217-202), moving hither and thither, keeping seven or eight Roman gen- erals, and among them the wary Fabius and the bold Marcellus, continual- ly employed, scattering the Romans like chaff wherever he appeared, ex- hausting the finances of the state, and detaching the Italian nations from their allegiance. Had he received reinforcements, as he expected, from Spain, where he had left his brother Hasdrubal in command, Rome might have fallen. Fortunately, however, for the Romans, while they Avere man- fully opposing Hannibal in Italy, one of their generals, the great Scipio, was busily engaged in Spain. To prevent Spain from falling into Scipio's hands, Hasdrubal was obliged to remain in it; and it was not till B. c. 207, when all hope of retaining his footing in that peninsula was lost, that he set out to join his brother. He crossed the Alps in safety, but was attacked, defeated and slain on his march through Italy ; and Hannibal was left to his own resources. These, however, were exhaustless ; and with the as- sistance of the Italian nations, who, especially the unprivileged classes, were friendly to the Carthaginians, and hated Rome, he might still have shattered the Commonwealth in pieces, had not Scipio passed over from Spain into Africa, and defeating the Carthaginians in several battles, with the help of a Numidian prince named Masinissa, compelled them to recall their greatest man for the defense of his native city. In B. c. 202, or the year of the city 552, Hannibal quitted Italy, where he had spent the best period of his life. Not long after his landing in Africa, he was defeated by Scipio at Zama, and his countrymen were obliged in consequence to agree to a peace on very severe terms. The Second Punic War concluded, and Italy once more pacified, the Romans made war on Philip III. king of Macedonia, and virtual ruler of all the Greek states, who had offended them by entering into a treaty with Hannibal. The war was protracted over seventeen years (b. c. 214- 197,) but ended in the reduction of Macedonia, and the proclamation by the Romans of the independence of the other Greek states. Seized with a desire to assume the place which the Macedonian king had been unable to maintain, Antiochus the Great, king of Syria, and representative there- fore of the Greek emi:)ire in Asia, crossed into Greece, where he joined the iEtolians against the Romans. Defeated, however, in Greece, and for- saken by the ^tolians, he was pursued into Asia, and after the loss of a great battle at Magnesia, obUged to submit to the Romans, who thus be- came virtual masters of the various kingdoms and states of Asia Minor DEPARTMENT OP HISTORY. 91 (B.C. 188). Meanwhile they had been engaged in suppressing various movements among the Ligurians, Boians, Istrians, and other nations in the north of Italy, as well as among the Spanish tribes and the savages of Sardinia. A declaration of hostilities by Perseus, the successor of PhiUp in Macedonia, in conjunction with Genthius, king of Illyi'ia, led to another war against these counti-ies, which tei-minated in their complete subjuga- tion (B.C. 168). The next twenty years were spent in securing these con- quests, and in establishing relations, virtually those of sovereignty, with vari- ous states of Asia Minor, such as Bithynia and Rhodes ; and with various others of Africa, as Egypt and Numidia. The whole circuit of the Mediter- ranean in their power, and their ships respected in all its ports, as belong- ing to the ' sovereign people of Italy,' the Romans at length executed their long-cherished project, and pounced upon Carthage (b. c. 149), whose ex- istence, even in its fallen condition of a mere commercial capital, they could not tolerate. Hannibal had been dead more than thirty years ; but under such generals as they had, the wretched Carthaginians offered a desperate resistance to the Roman commanders. After a horrible siege, the city, con- taining a population of 700,000, was taken and sacked by Scipio J^lmilianus, the adopted son of the son of the great Scipio (b. c. 146). The houses were razed to the ground, and the province of Africa was the prize of this third 'Punic war.' The fall of Greece was cotemporary with that of Car- thage. The Achaian League, a confederacy of cities in Greece proper and the Peloponnesus, showing a disposition to be independent of the Romans, provoked their vengeance ; and the destruction of Corinth in the same year as that of Carthage extinguished the last sparks of liberty in Greece. The whole of the Greek countries were parceled out into Roman provinces, and from that time Greeks became the slave teachers of the Romans, their secretaries, their sycophants, their household wits. Yet out of Greece thus ruined there afterwards arose many great spirits ; for no degradation, no series of misfortunes, could eradicate the wondrous intellect which lurked in the fine Greek organization. The last scene in this long series of wars was enacted in Spain, where, roused by a noble patriot called Vir- iathus — the Wallace of that day — the native tribes had revolted against the Romans. The fate of Spain, however, was sealed by the destruction of Numantia by Scipio iEmilianus (b. c. 133). By the wars of 130 years which we have thus enumerated, the follow- ing countries had become subject to Rome : — Sicily, Sardinia, Corsica, and the smaller islands of the Mediterranean ; Macedonia ; Illyricum, with Thessaly and Epirus ; Greece, including Greece proper and the Pelopon- nesus ; Spain ; and the whole northern coast of Africa. The Romans had likewise established their influence in Asia. The conquered countries were divided into provinces, so that the designation for the Roman dominion be- came 'Italy and the Provinces.' The provinces received each an organi- zation at the time of its formation, according to its circumstances. Retain- ing their national habits, reHgion, laws, etc., the inhabitants of every pro- vince were governed by a miUtai-y president, sent from Rome, with a staff of officials. Unlike the Italic nations, who furnished only subsidies of men to the sovereign states, the jjrovincials were requii-ed to pay taxes in money and kind ; and these taxes, were farmed out by the censors — Roman citi- zens, who, under the name of Publicans, settled in the various districts of the provinces, and proved a great scourge by their avarice and rapacity. 92 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. To some towns and localities in the provinces, the Italic franchise was extended as a token of favor. Altogether, the government of the provin- ces was one which, although it led to beneficial results, in binding together a large mass of the human race, and carrying on various races and lan- guages simultaneously in a career of civilization, yet gave great scope for op- pression. Like a network proceeding from a centre, the political system of the Romans pervaded the mass of millions of human beings inhabiting the shores of the Mediterranean, holding them together by its mechanical te- nacity, and slowly working them into union by its own powers of impreg- uiu'i.i., as well as by means of those ideas and moral agencies whose dis- seminatitni and operation over large areas at once it so marvellously facili- tated. What a career was thus opened up for those who occupied the cen- tre of this network — the population of Rome ! What a grand thing in those days to be a Roman citizen ; so that, wherever one walked — in Spain, in Africa, or even in once great Athens — one was followed, feasted, flat- tered to one's face, and mocked behind one's back ! What means of money- making in the provinces for the avaricious Romans! What opportuni tie.'? for well-doing for the philanthropic ! Alas ! a philanthropic Roman was al- most a contradiction in terms. To be patriotic was the highest virtue ; and if a Roman, along with his patriotism, possessed a just disposition, those who were under his government might consider themselves fortunate. Nor was the career of administration in the provinces open to all Roman citi- zens. The following passage, which we translate from a French work — (' Etudes sur I'Histoire Romaine, par'Prosper Merimde, Paris, 1844,') — will give an idea of the manner in which a Roman citizen attained to pub- lic honors, and will illustrate the general spirit of the Roman administra- tion. ' The laws,' says this author, ' opened to all the citizens the career of magistracy ; but in reality it was shut against all but those whom fortune or family credit placed in an exceptional situation. As all public offices were obtained by the suffrages of the people, it was of the utmost impor- tance to make creatures in every class of society. In order to muster all these on the great day of election, there were no labors, fatigues, and even meannesses to which Romans of illustrious families did not submit from their earliest boyhood. Some offered the patronage of their families to embarrassed pleaders ; others opened their purses to poor artisans ; who- ever had a vote in the comitia was flattered and cajoled in every possible way. From the time that the candidate had attained the age at which the law permitted him to stand for the dignity of the quiestorship — that by which he must make his debut in public life — he appeared in the Forum clothed in a white robe, shook hands with all the country folks, and with the lowest plebeians, solicited their votes, and often purchased them for money. The qutestor, once appointed, found the doors of the senate open for him. Ordinarily he was attached to the person of a consul, or a magis- trate of superior rank, becoming his lieutenant ; sometimes he obtained a little government for himself. In these offices he could learn business hab- its and find occasions for distinguishing himself, and for causing his name to be mentioned often in the senate or the assemblies of the people. After the quoestorship came the Carule Edileship, a purely civil magis- tracy, whose duties consisted in watching the arrival of provisions, guard- ing public monuments, seeing to the embellishment of the city, and finally, in preparing the games and solemn shows. This charge entailed oiormous DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 93 expense on those ediles who wished to make themselves popular. They built temples and porticoes at their own cost, opened roads, constructed aqueducts ; above all, they tried to surpass their predecessors by the mag- nificence of the games which they caused to be celebrated, and the truly colossal expense which they in part sustained. A happy man was that edile who had been able to exhibit in the arena the deaths of an unusual number of able gladiators, or who had presented to the people animals of a rare species or unknown before. His name was in every mouth, and all applauded his sprouting ambition. The edileship lasted a year. After it came the prt'etorship. There were six praetors — two presided over the tribunals at Rome, the others governed provinces or commanded armies. Finally after having successively gone through the three previous stages, one presented himself as a candidate for the consulship. Intriguing, cor- ruption, manoeuvring of all kinds was now redoubled ; for this was the goal of a Roman's ambition. The consuls presided over the government of the repubhc, or directed important wars in person. At the expiration of their magistracy — that is, after a year — they were sent to a province with the title of Proconsuls ; often to command military expeditions, almost always to administer an extensive government. In turn to amass and ex- pend great wealth, was thus the chief care of candidates for honors. The profits of the quaestorship enabled one to make a brilliant curule edileship. Ruined by his extravagance, the edile repaired his fortune in the praetor ship, and returned to Rome rich enough to buy votes at tlie consular elec tion. Frequently he staked his all on this last election, confident of more than making it up again in the province which would be assigned him after his consulship. In a word, the career of public employment was a species of gambling, in which one's profits were prpportional to one's stakes.' Such a state of things as is here described, implies that an immense change had taken place in the character of the Roman society during the rapid career of foreign conquest which had elevated Rome from the posi- tion of metropolis of Italy to that of metropolis of the civilized world. The distinction between patrician and plebeian was now scarcely heard of (in E. c. 172 both consuls had been plebeians for the first time) ; it was superseded by that between illustiious and obscure ; rich and jjoor. Al- though, however, the system of corruption was so genci-al, that scarcely any one could attain to office except by unworthy means, yeWthere were at that time, and in the midst of that system, many men of really noble char- acter. Among these must not be forgotten the honest old censor Cato, the enemy of Carthage, who kept up a constant protest all his life against what he called the growing luxury of his countrymen, and died declaring that they were a degenerate race. Of equal integrity with Cato, although of altogether a difierent form of character, were the two brothers of world- famous name, whose actions we shall now briefly notice. THE REVOLUTIONS OF THE GRACCHI 'A fatal efiect,' says M. M^rimee, 'of the Roman domination was the impoverishment and depopulation of Italy. At Rome, where commerce and mdustry were despised, only one way led to wealth — a career of public service. On his return from his government, a Roman official bought lands, built villas, and all at once became a great proprietor. If he chanced 94 AMBPJCAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. to have in his neighborhood an estate to his taste, he caused it to be ceded to him ; sometimes he seized it while the lawful owner was fighting far away under the Roman eagles. By degrees all the small proprietors were despoiled, in order to form vast estates for the privileged class of public functionaries. Parks, gardens, and expensive fish-ponds took the place of cultivated fields. Laborers disappeared, and the country was peopled with slaves, dangerous by their numbers, and also by their robber habits, which they practised with impunity. Some masters, it is said, shared the profits of robbery with these wretches.' The great social evils of the day — the extinction of the old peasant proprietors of Italy ; and the vast increase of slaves, the danger of which had been already manifested by several servile revolts in Sicily ; and the congregation in the towns, and especially in Rome, of vast masses of pop- ulation, not living as the artisans and traders in modern towns do, by hon- est industry, but Hving in noisy idleness upon the alms of the provinces and the sums they received for their votes — these social evils must have struck many generous hearts among the Romans. The man, however, on whom they produced so decided an impression as to lead him to devote his life to their removal, was Tiberius Sempronius Gracchus, the son of a plebeian of rank who had attained distinction in the Spanish wars, and of Cornelia, the daughter of the great Scipio. Abandoning, in its first stage, the more tempting career which led through the qujestorship, edileship, and prostorship to the consulship, Tiberius chose ratlier the office of tribune of the people, which was more suitable for the purposes of political agita- tion. Elected to this office B. c. 133, in the twenty-ninth year of his age, he propounded his schemes of reform. His grand project was a revival, with some modifications, of the famous agrarian law of Licinius, which had long fallen into tacit desuetude. All citizens who were in possession of a larger extent of the state land than the 500 jugera allowed by the Licin- ian law (unless in the case of fathers of two sons, who were to be allowed 250 jugera in addition for each of them), were to be deprived of the sur- plus ; the buildings, vine-presses, etc., which were erected on these surplus lands to be purchased at a fair valuation ; and the whole land thus seized was to constitute a stock out of which the pauper plebeians of the city were to be furnished with little farms for the honest support of themselves and families, these farms to be incapable of alienation by the persons to whom they should be allotted. Utterly revolutionary as this measure would seem in modern legislation, and sufficiently sweeping as it was, even in a' Roman point of view, considering that however unjustly the ancestors of many of the large proprietors had come by their lands, yet long possession and frequent transference had in many cases sanctified the ownership — still the measure was strictly in the spirit of Roman law, and one of the supporters of Gracchus in proposing it was the eminent jurist Mucius Scaevola. Tiberius and his associates probably thought that the ends pro- posed— the removal of the venal mob out of Rome, and the restoration in Italy of a population of hard-working peasant proprietors, instead of the gangs of bandit slaves — were difficult enough to require, and glorious enough to justify, somewhat revolutionary means. Accordingly, advoca- ting by his eloquence in the Forum the scheme which he had matured in private, he did not cease until, in spite of the most obstinate resistance on the part of the senators, who used as their instrument against him one of DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 95 his own colleagues in the tribuneship, he had gained his end. Three com- missioners were appointed to superintend the execution of the law — Tibe- rius himself, his father-in-law Appius Claudius, and liis younger bi'other Caius. Loud and deep were the vows of vengeance on the part of the senators ; and Tiberius saw that his only chance of life lay in being re- elected to the tribuneship, the dignity of which was an inviolable protec- tion. To prevent this, the senatorial party mustered all their strength ; and a tumult ensuing on one of the days of election, Tiberius, along with about 300 of his followers, was killed. For about ten years the excitement caused by the law of Gracchus con- tinued. Fulvius Flaccus and Papirius Carbo acting as his successors in the popular interest, and carrying on the struggle against the nobles, who raised up obstacles to the execution of the law. But in the year B. C. 123, Caius Gracchus, who now felt himself old enough to assume the career which his brother had left him as an inheritance, claimed and obtained the tribuneship. Caius was a man of more vehement character and more comprehensive views than his brother, and the schemes which he proposed embraced a great variety of points, besides a reenactment of his brother's agrarian law. In fact, a reformer by reputation and education, he made it his business to find out abuses, and either declaim against them or pro- pose remedies for them. Perhaps the most objectionable of his measures was a law enacting a monthly distribution of corn among the city popula- tion at a nominal price — a poor-law, for such it may be called, which had the eiFect of attracting all the paupers of Italy to Rome. A more valuable measure was his transference of the judicial power from the senators, who had hitherto held it, and who had been guilty of great corruption in the exercise of it, to the equites, or wealthy capitalists, intermediate between the senators and the poorer classes of the community. He also proposed and carried the estabhshment or various colonies in different parts of the empire, which afforded room for enterprise, thus relieving Rome of part of its overgrown population. More fortunate so far than his brother, he held the tribuneship for two years, and thus had time for more extensive action. Deserted, however, by the people at the end of the second year, in conse- quence of the policy of his opponents, who adopted the plan of outbidding him for popular favor, he lost his office. The senators, having him at their mercy, spared no means of revenge ; and Gracchus, and his friend Fulvius Flaccus, having recourse to the armed assistance of their supporters to preserve their lives when they appeared in public, this was construed into a design of sedition. The consul was empowered to resort to force against them ; a ten-ible fray occurred in one of the quarters of the town, 3000, it is said, being slain ; and Gracchus was killed while trying to escape intti the country (b. c. 121). He was then only in the thirty-third year of his age. The aristocracy thus triumphed for the time, and the recent measures of reform were suffered to fall into disuse ; but certain portions of the poli- cy of the two brothers had taken full effect, and the agitation which they had originated was not lulled for many years. The seeds of much that afterwards appeared in storm and bloodshed, were sown during these move- ments of B. c. 133-121 ; and as long as the world takes an interest in Ro- man history, or respects disinterested political courage, it will remember the Gracchi. 96 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. THE JUGURTHINE, CIMBRIC, AND SOCIAL "WARS — MARIUS AND SULLA. In the year of the first tribuneship of Caius Gracchus, the Belearic islands ■were added to the Roman dominion ; and six years afterwards (b. c. 117), Dalmatia was reduced to a Roman province. About this time the famous Jugurtha, the illegitimate son of one of the sons of Masinissa, already men- tioned as a king of Numidia in the Roman interest, was left heir to that kingdom, in conjunction with his two cousins, by Micipsa, their father and his uncle. Aspiring to the undivided sovereignty, he killed one of his cousins, and drove the other to Rome. Interfering in behalf of the expell- ed prince, the Romans compelled Jugurtha to share Numidia with him. By bribing the commissioners, however, who were sent to effect the divis- ion, Jugurtha obtained the best part for himself; and not long after (b. c. 112), he showed his contempt for the Romans by invading his cousin's dominions, and putting him to death. Bribes and wily tactics protected him for a while from the vengeance of the Romans ; but at length, in the year b. c. 109, the brave consul Metellus, who was proof against bribes, went over to Numidia to conduct the war which his predecessors had misman- aged. After he had carried on the war successfully for two years, he- was supplanted by his second in command, Caius Marius, a man of hum- ble birth, and nearly fifty years of age, who, although almost without edu- cation, had raised himself to high rank by his military talents, and whose services under Metellus had been so favorably represented at Rome, that he was appointed consul (b. c. 107.), with the express intention that he should end the Jugurthine war. This he speedily accomplished, greatly assisted by his quaestor, a young man of high patrician family and unusual literary accomplishments, named Lucius Cornelius Sulla. Jugurtha was sent to Rome, where he was starved in prison (b. c, 106); and the ser- vices of Marius Avere at the disposal of the Romans for a war of an infi- nitely more formidable character than that which had been waged against this ill-fated African. About the year B. c. 113, a numerous tribe of savages, called Cim- bri, but who were most probably Celts, had been set in motion in the south- east of Europe ; and emigrating westward, they had communicated their restlessness to the Tutones, and undoubtedly German race, tlu'ough whose territories they must have passed. Roving about in quest of settlements, sometimes together, and sometimes separately, the two barbarian hosts, consisting of men, women, and children, had thrown all Gaul into conster- nation ; and as the Romans had already colonized the portion of Gaul contiguous to the Alps, the duty of checking the savages devolved on them, the more especially as there was some danger that Italy would be invaded. But such a moving mass of human beings, driven by that hard- est of forces, hunger, was not easily to be checked ; and army after army sent by the Romans to oppose them had been shivered to pieces. All Ita- ly began to tremble, and there was a universal cry among the Romans, ' Make Marius again consul.' Accordingly Marius was chosen consul a sec ond time in his absence (b. c. 104), that he might drive back the Cimbri. Meanwhile the poor homeless creatures had made a general rush towards Spain ; and the Romans, to secure the services of Marius when they should be required, reelected him to the consulship in B. c. 102. In the latter DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY 97 year, when Marius was consul for the fourth time, the barbarians, repuls- ed from Spain, directed their march towards the Alps. Fortunately, they divided themselves into two masses — the Teutones taking one route, the Cimbri another. The former, amounting to about 300,000 men, were met by Marius, and slaughtered, all except 90,000, who were made pris- oners, and sold as slaves. Meanwhile the Cimbri had been making pro- gress in their route, and to oppose them, Marius was elected to a fifth con- sulship (b. c. 101). Another bloody field, in which about 140,000 were slain, and 60,000 taken prisoners, delivered Italy from its fears. Strange and affecting thought, that half a million of human beings, women and chil- dren, should be wandering through Europe for years, poor outcasts, with their httle carts and cooking-kettles, and that a civilized nation should have been compelled, by the necessity of self-preservation, to take means to sweep them out of existence ! Marius was rewarded for his exertions with a sixth consulship (b. c. 100), which, there being now no enemy to call forth his military activity, be employed in political schemes for the huraihation of the aristocratic or sen- atorial party, to which, both by the accident of birth and on principle, he was a determined enemy. The efforts of the nobles, however, assisted by the violent conduct of the partisans of Marius, especially a tribune named Saturninus, occasioned a reaction ; and on the expiry of his consulship, Marius withdrew from Rome, and undertook a journey to the East, where the Roman influence was extending itself. During the following ten years the political agitations were incessant, the liberal spirit of that party of which Marius was the head developing itself every year in fresh manifestar tions, and the aristocratic party becoming every year more fierce and dog- ged in their opposition. On the aristocratic side, the ablest and most earnest man, although not yet the most distinguished, was Sulla — the former quaestor of Marius, and who had since been emplo^^ed in various capacities both military and civil. At length, in the year B. c. 90, a storm which had been long gathering burst out in that war which is de- nominated in history ' the Social or Marsic War,' or ' the War of Italian Independence,' As early as the tribuneship of Caius Gracchus, a clamor had been raised for the emancipation of the various Italian states from the thraldom in which they were held by the Romans. The progress of time welding the various Italian nation ah ties into one common society, and giving to all parts of the peninsula a common interest, had made them sensible to the gi'ievances arising from their subordinate condition. The system of a trip- le franchise — Roman, Latin, and Itahan — inevitable perhaps at first, had now become a source of gross injustice. To put an end to this injus- tice, the Italians demanded the full Roman franchise. Caius Gracchus wished to bestow it on them; and from the time of his death, 'Itahan emancipation' had been one of the watchwords of the liberal party. Des- pairing of effecting their end by agitation, and especially provoked by a recent persecution of the Italian tradesmen who had settled in Rome, the Italian nations had recourse to arms (b. c. 90). Ten of these — namely, the Piceni, the Vestinians, the Marrucenians, the Marsians, the Pelignians, the Samnites, the Frentanians, the Hirpinians, the Lucanians, and the Ap- uhans, constituted themselves into a confederacy for the destruction of Rome, and the foundation of a new Commonwealth, of which Corfinium, 7* 98 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. under the new name of Italica, was to be the capital, and which was to embrace the whole peninsula. Fortunately for Rome, the Latins (includ- ing the various colonies of the Latin name throughout Italy), the Etrus- cans, the Umbrians, and the Campanians, did not join the confederacy. The Latins were instantly rewarded with the Roman franchise, and the field was taken against the confederacy. During two years, the war was carried on vigorously on both sides, the most distinguished of the Roman generals being Marius, Sulla, and Cneius Pompeius Strabo. At length (b. c. 89), the Italians having been greatly reduced, and the whole pen- insula having suffered much, the Romans saw fit to yield to demands which many even of those whose patriotism led them to fight against the allies believed to be just. The Roman citizenship was extending to all the na- tions of the peninsula south of the Po, the new citizens being either dis- tributed, according to one account, among eight of the old tribes, or ar- ranged, according to another, in fifteen new ones. At the same time the Latin franchise was conferred on the Gauls between the Po and the Alps. Sulla had gained greater distinction in the Marsic War than Marius, who was now verging on old age. The public eye was consequently turn- ed to Sulla ; and as, on the appearance of the Cimbric hosts twenty years before, the Romans had placed their dependence on Marius, so now, on the breaking out of war in the East, they placed their dependence ou his younger rival. Mithridates VI, the young king of Pontus, an Oriental by birth, but of Greek education, and a man of splendid abilities, had been for some years silently extending his dominions in western Asia; and the Romans, long jealous of his movements, had at length openly warned him to desist. Mithridates scouted the warning ; marched through Asia Minor, putting the Romans to the sword ; and was welcomed every where by the Asiatic Greeks as a deliverer from the Roman yoke : ulti- mately (b. c. 88), crossing over into Greece, he menaced the Empire near its centre. Sulla, then engaged with the Samnites, the last dregs of the Social War, was chosen consul, and invested with the command against the East- ern monarch. lie was then in the forty-ninth year of his age. Vexed at the preference of his rival, the grim old Marius used all his eSbrts to have the appointment canceled, and himself nominated to the Mithridatic command. His political opinions recommending him to many, and a tri- bune named Sulpicius having procured the passing of a preliminary meas- ure distributing the new Italian citizens among all the old tribes, which had now attained the number of thirty-five, he at length carried his point, and Sulla was superseded. But the aristocratic general was not a man to be trifled with. Marching from the south of Italy, where he was when he heard the news, he appeared with his army before the city, forced his entrance through the rotten walls, dislodged his antagonists from the houses from which they were throwing stones and missiles at his men, and com- pelled Marius and his adherents to save their lives by a precipitate flight. Marius escaped to Africa ; Sulla, after settling affairs at Rome, set out for Greece. Here he speedily retrieved the Roman losses ; sacked Athens, which had provoked him by its opposition ; and reduced Archelaus, the general of Mithridates, to such extremities, that having crossed into Asia, Mithridates was glad to conclude a peace with him (b. c. 84), by which he renounced all he had gained, and agreed to pay the expenses of the DEPARTMENT OP HISTORY. 99 ■war. Meanwhile a terrible reaction had occurred at Rome in Sulla's ab- sence. Scarcely had he left the city (b. c. 87), when Lucius Cornelius Cinna, one of the consuls whose appointment he had sanctioned, proclaim- ed himself on the popular side, and commenced a scries of measures di- rectly opposed to Sulla's views. His colleague Octavius drove him from Rome, and the senate deposed him from the consulship. The Italians, however, gathered round Clnna ; Marius and his fellow-exiles hearing of the movement, hastened back to Italy ; all the able military men of the Marian party, and among them a young and generous commander named Sertorius, exerted themselves to raise troops ; and at length the aristocrat- ic party found themselves besieged in Rome. Famine and pestilence began their ravages in the city ; and the senate, reinstating Cinna in the consulship, capitulated on the understanding that blood should not be shed. But there Avas little softness in the nature of Marius. Admitted into the city, the stern old man, who was already tottering on the brink of the grave, revenged his wrongs by a frightful massacre, in which many men of distinction fell. Marius then caused himself to be elected to a seventh consulship (b. c. 86), his colleague being Cinna. He enjoyed the unpre- cedented honor but a few days, dying on the 13th of January (b. C 86), and Valerius Flaccus was named his successor. Flaccus, setting out with authority to supersede Sulla in the Mithridatic war, was murdered by his legate Flavius Fimbria, who assumed the command of the army, and gaii> ed some successes ; but being afterwards hard pressed by Sulla, and de- serted by his army, committed suicide. This occurred about the time of the conclusion of the peace with Mithridates (b. c. 84) ; and Sulla, after settling the affairs of Asia Minor, and draining the country of money, so remorselessly as to affect its prosperity for a century, commenced his jour- ney homewards, with bloody purposes against Cinna and his adherents, and an army ready to execute them. Cinna did not live to face his dreadful enemy. Murdered by his soldiers in his fourth consulship, he left, as his successors in the leadership of the popular party, Caius Marius the Younger, Papirius Carbo, and the brave Sertorius — the two former of whom were chosen consuls for the year B. c. 82, to oppose Sulla in Italy, while Sertorius was despatched to Spain to secure that province. But Carbo and the younger Marius, even when backed by the brave Samnites and other Italian nations, were not equal to a contest with such a general as Sulla, assisted as he was by commanders like Metellus, Lucullus, and young Cneius Pompeius Strabo, more com monly called Pompey, the son of that Pompeius who had been one of the Roman generals in the Marsic War. The consular armies were defeated ; Marius killed himself ; Carbo fled to Africa ; and Sulla remained master of Italy. Fearful was his vengeance. The massacre which Marius had ordered five years before, was sUght compared with the butcheries which took place by the command of Sulla. In Rome, and over all Italy, every man of distinction implicated in the popular movement was sought out and slain. Proscription lists, as they were called — that is, lists of doomed individuals — were published ; and soldiers were ready to track them out for the prices put upon their heads. Military colonies were likewise plant- ed in all parts of Italy — lands being taken by force for that purpose : thus purging Italy of the Marian leaven, Sulla was resolved to create in it a new population, which should be pliant to aristocratic influence. 100 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA The work of the soldier over, Sulla commenced that of the legislator. Appointed perpetual dictator B. c. 82, he continued for three years to ex- ercise the sovereignty, making alterations in the constitution, the general effect of which was to lessen the power of the people in political affairs, and reforming the criminal law. In b. c. 79, he surprised every one by abdicating the dictatorship, and retiring into private life ; and in the fol- lowing year he died of a loathsome and incurable disorder, brought on by his debaucheries. Among other evidences of Sulla's literary accomplish- ments, he left memoirs of his own life composed in Greek. POMPEY — CICEEO — CATILINE — CAESAR. After the death of Sulla, the most distinguished man of the aristocratic party was Pompey, who had been engaged in reducing Sicily and Africa to allegiance after his chief had triumphed in Italy. Some attempts were made to revive the Marian cause after the dictator's death, but by the ex- ertions of Pompey and others they were suppressed, and only in Spain had the Marian party still a stronghold. TJiere the brave Sertorius, at the head of the Marian refugees and the native Spaniards, was fast establish- ing a power likely to rival that of Italy. None of the SuUanian generals, not even Pompey, who went to Spain in B. c. 76, could gain an advantage when opposed to his splendid generalship ; and had he not perished by treachery (b. c. 74), Spain would have become an instrument in his hands for overturning all that had been done by Sulla in Italy. Possibly even Spain might have superseded her sister peninsula as the seat of Roman power. But after the death of Sertorius, his army crumbled away ; and, conquering his successor Perpenna, Pompey found the pacification of Spain an easy task. Returning to Italy in the height of the reputation which the discharge of this office procured to him, he arrived (b. C. 71) in time to have some share in another war of a frightful character which had been desolating Italy in his absence. In the year B. c. 73, seventy gladiators, headed by a Thracian named Spartacus, had broken out of a school, or rather gladiator warehouse, at Capua, where they were kept in training ; and, speedily joined by all the slaves and gladiators of the neighborhood, they had taken up their position on Mount Vesuvius. Finding himself at the head of a large army, Spartacus had given battle to several Roman generals, and defeated them ; and the conquering host which he comman- ded was on the point of crossing into Sicily, after ravaging Italy, when it was attacked and cut to pieces by the prfetor Licinius Crassus (b. c. 71). Spartacus died fighting ; such of the gladiators and slaves as were taken prisoners were crucified, or impaled ahve ; and the remnant which had es- caped Crassus were met and destroyed in the north of Italy by Pompey, as he was returning from Spain. Pompey and Crassus were chosen con- suls for the year b. c. 70, the former being then in his thirty-sixth year. Although both were disciples of Sulla, yet obeying the necessities of the time, they repealed several of his enactments, and passed various measures of liberal tendency. Pompey was at this time the idol of Rome ; and although after his con- sulship he retired into private life, he was soon called upon to exercise his abilities in a post of greater dignity and responsibility than had ever been formally conferred on any Roman before him. The MediteiTanean was at DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 101 that time infested with pirates, who had become so numerous and so auda- cious during the recent convulsions, that the coast of the Itahan peninsula itself was not safe from their attacks, and not a ship could sail from any port in the Roman dominions, even in the service of government, without the risk of being captured. To enable Pompey to free the Empire from this nuisance, he was invested (b. c. 67) with supreme command for three years over the whole Mediterranean and its coasts for 400 stadia inland, with power to raise as many men and ships and as much money as he chose. Thus virtually made master of the Roman world, Pompey exerted himself so vigorously and judiciously, that within the short period of three months he had cleared the sea of every pirate vessel. That his command might not lie dormant for the remainder of the three years for which he had been appointed, a tribune of the people proposed and carried a law conferring on him the additional command of Pontus, Bithynia, and Armenia, in order to secure his services in finishing a war which was then going on with MLthridates. This was the third war with that monarch ; for there had been a second short war with him B. c. 83-81. The present war had orig- inated in some overtures made by Sertorius to Mithridates in B. c. 74 ; but Sertorius having died in the same year, Mithridates was left to maintain the war alone. The general sent to oppose him was Lucullus, who carried on the war very successfully till Pompey came to supersede him. For four years Pompey remained in Asia, breaking the power of Mithridates, and negotiating with the monarchs of Parthia, Armenia, etc. He traver- sed the greater part of Asia Minor, establishing the Roman influence ; de- throned the king of Syria, and added it and Phoenicia to the number of the Roman provinces ; entered Palestine, where a civil war was then ra- ging between the brothers Hyrcanus and Aristobulus, declared in favor of the former, besieged and took Jerusalem, and having imposed a tribute on the Jews, commenced his march homewai-ds. On his return through Asia Minor, he found that Mithridates had in the meantime killed himself in despair ; and as there was no one to take up that monarch's part, he was able to parcel out Asia Minor as he chose — erecting some portions into pro- vinces, and giving others in charge to tributary princes. With the glory of having thus subjugated and settled the East, the fortunate Pompey pre- pared to return to Rome in the year B. c. 62. Meanwhile Rome had been the scene of one of the most extraordinary attempts at revolution recorded in history — the famous conspiracy of Cat- iline. No passage in Roman history is involved in such obscurity as this ; for the accounts of the conspiracy left by Sallust and other Latin authors are not nearly so satisfactory to the genuine student of history, as they are pleasant to the mere reader for amusement. M. Merimee supposes that, several years after Sulla's death, there arose in Rome four distinct parties — the ' ohgarchical faction,' consisting of the small number of fam- ihes, the chiefs of which directed the senate, and in fact governed the re- public ; the ' aristocratic faction,' comprehending the mass of the senators, anxious to exercise the power which they saw usurped by a small number of their colleagues ; the ' party of Marius,' including all those whose fam- ilies had been persecuted by Sulla, and who now began to rally, and aspire to power ; and lastly, the ' military factions,' embracing a crowd of old officers of Sulla, who, having squandered the fortunes they had gained un- der him, and seeing themselves excluded from pubhc affairs, were eager 102 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. for some convulsion -which might improve their condition. At the head of the first party was Pompey, now absent in Asia. In his absence, the soul of the oUgarchical party was the celebrated Marcus Tullius Cicero — an advocate of extraordinary intellect, born B. c. lOG, a few months after Pompey, and who, entering public life early, had soon established his rej^)- utation as the first orator in Rome. Of plebeian birth, it might have been expected that he would attach himself to the democratic side ; but circum- stances, and his natural disposition, which was weak, and fond of the con- sideration of others, had won him over to the side of the oligarchy, to whom his talents were invaluable. Having passed through the quasstorship, and e<lileship, and pn^torship, which last he held b. c. 66, he now aspired to the highest dignity in the state. Such was the leader of the oUgarchical party. The leader of the aristocratic party was Crassus, formerly the colleague of Pompey in the consulship, and now his personal rival. Be- sides Crassus, the senators had an active and most conscientious partisan in Marcus Porcius Cato, who had been tribune of the people — a great- grandson of Cato the Censor, and possessed of all his integrity. The leader of the third or Marian party was a man six years younger than Pompey or Cicero, and who, known during his youth for his accomplishments, his love of pleasure, his firmness of purpose, and the boundless generosity of his character, had just earned for himself the applauses of all Rome by the lavish magnificence of his edileship (b. c. 65). This was Caius Julius Caesar, the greatest man that ever Rome produced. He was the son of a man who had died suddenly, without having made any figure in public life ; his family was one of the noblest in Rome ; and his aunt had been the wife of Marius. Literature and pleasure had occupied his youth, and only now was he beginning to take an active part in public afiairs, although with a force and earnestness which at once marked him out as a man who was to lead. With chivalrous recklessness of consequences, he had done justice to his uncle's memory at a time when it was hardly safe to mention the name of Marius ; and now the relics of the Marian party gathered round him with hope, while the oligarchy and aristocracy, with the pre- sentiment of what he was to become, would fain have crushed him. Nine years older than Caisar, and three years older than Cicero or Pompey, was the leader of the fourth or military faction — Lucius Sergius Catihna, more commonly called Catiline, a man of illustrious bu-th, and who had distin- guished himself as one of the ablest and most ferocious oflicers of Sulla. His reputation, owing partly to his haggard personal appearance, and pa,rtly to vague rumors of horrible crimes which he had committed, was one of the blackest ; and as he walked along the streets with gigantic body, but hurried and uncertain step, men pointed, and said that that was Catiline. Yet he possessed extraordinary abihties, and a peculiar power of fascina- ting those with whom he wished to estabhsh a friendly relation. He had already been preetor (b. c. 67), and there was a large class, consisting prin- cipally of debauched young patricians and ruined military men, who look- ed forward eagerly to his election to the consulship. Prevented, by a charge of extortion brought against him in his capacity of pr?etor, from becoming a candidate for the consulship of the year B. c. 65, Catiline came forward as candidate in the following year. Cicero was his rival ; and the senators mustered in sufficient strength to return the ora- tor. Enraged at his defeat, Catiline began to plot a seditious movement DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 103 with his patrician adherents, among whom were Lentulus, Cethegus, Cfep- arius, etc. Rome, it was said, was to be set on fii-e, and the consuls and many of the senators murdered. Towards the end of the year (b. c. 64), these designs had become ripe, and emissaries of CatiUne were abroad throughout Italy. Meanwhile Cicero had obtained private intelligence of the conspiracy, and on the 8th of November he addressed Catiline in such vehement terms in the senate-house, that the consioirator fled into Etruria, from which he continued to correspond with his accomplices in Rome. Having obtained satisfactory proofs of the guilt of these accomplices, and having been empowered by the senate to act as he chose for the good of state, Cicero caused Lentulus, Cethegus, Statilius, and Cseplirius to be a}> prehended ; and these four, notwithstanding the motion of Caesar for a more moderate punishment, were put to death in prison ; Cicero's activity had saved the Commonwealth. Catiline, however, who had raised troops in Etruria, continued to menace the state till the beginning of B. c. 62, when he and many of his patrician supporters died fighting like hons against the troops sent to destroy them. Thus the insane movement of the mili- tary faction was crushed : there remained, however, much of the Catilina- ria;n leaven diffused through Italy — men of broken fortunes and profligate characters, to whom turmoil and riot afforded the only chance of promotion. THE TRIUMVIRATE— C^SAR-S GALLIC AVARS— WAR BETWEEN CESAR AND POMPEY. When Pompey returned to Rome (b. c. 61), he found the senatorial party predominant, and Cicero incessantly talking about the Catilinarian conspiracy, and how he had crushed it. Pompey enjoyed a triumph more splendid than any conquering general had received before him ; and the sums which he added to the public treasury were enormous ; yet he could not procure from the senate that general ratification of his measures in Asia to which he thought himself entitled. Cato and other senators insisted on a full investigation of his measures one by one, ere the sanction which he required should be granted. This conduct on the part of the senators brought Pompey into closer connection with Caesar ; and these two eminent men, finding that they agreed in many of their vieAvs, and that at least they were one in their opposition to the senate, resolved to unite their forces so as to work for their common ends v.'ith double strength. For va- rious reasons, it was found desirable to admit Crassus to this political part- nership ; and accordingly, in the year B. c. 60, was formed that famous coalition for mutual support between Pompey, Crassus, and Coesar, which is known in Roman history by the name of the ' First Triumvirate.' Elected to the consulship of the year B. c. 59, Caesar infused new life into Reman politics, proposing measures of so hberal a nature, and persevering in them with such obstinacy, that the senate became almost frantic, and his col- league Bibulus shut himself up in his house for eight months in disgust. Among these measures was a ratification of Pompey's proceedings in Asia, and an agrarian law for providing lands for Pompey's disbanded soldiers and a number of destitute citizens. In the same year Caesar gave his daughter Julia in marriage to Pompey, who had already been married twice. On retiring from the consulship, he obtained, by an unusual stretch of generosity on the part of the grateful people and the intimidated senate, 104 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. the supreme command for five years over the two Gauls (Cisalpine and Transalpine) and Illyricum. This -was probably the great object of Caesar's desires ; at all events, it was the best possible thing which could have hap- pened for him and the republic. Master of Gaul, and with an array devo- ted to his will, he could there mature his power silently and undisturbed, and qualify himself for entering, at the proper period, upon the career for which he was destined, and rescviing, by military force, the ill-governed Empire out of the hands of contending factions. The condition of aifairs in Eome during Cesar's absence in Gaul was indeed such as to prove the necessity of some radical change in the system of the Commonwealth. All was confusion and violence. Clodius, a profli- gate relic of the Catilinarian party, having been elected to the tribuneship B. C. 58, procured the banishment of Cicero for his conduct in the affair of the conspiracy. In the following year, however, Clodius having in the meantime made himself generally odious, Cicero was recalled. Pompey and Crassus were elected consuls for the year B. c. 55. Mindful of their connection with Cogsar, who Avas of course in constant correspondence with them, they procured a prolongation of his command over the Gauls for a second period of five years ; at the same time obtaining for themselves — Pompey, the government of Spain for five years ; and Crassus that of Sy- ria and adjacent countries for a similar period. In B. c. 55, Crassus set out for the scene of his command, where, soon afterwards, he perished in a fruitless expedition against the Parthians ; Pompey remained at home, governing Spain by deputies. During several subsequent years, Rome was in a state of anarchy and misrule — the streets perambulated by armed mobs, partisans on the one hand of Clodius, and on the other of a powerful citizen called Milo, between whom a feud was cari-ied on, as desperate and bloody as any that ever distracted a European town in the middle ages. In one of the numerous scuffles which took place between the contending parties, Clodius was killed ; and taking advantage of the opportunity, the tottering government asserted its rights by bringing Milo to trial, and pro- curing his banishment. Meanwhile the remedy was preparing. Among the marshes and forests of Gaul, the great CfEsar was accumulating that strength of men and pur- pose with which he was to descend on Italy and shiver the rotton fabric of the Commonwealth. ' Fain,' says the eloquent Michelet — ' fain would I have seen that fair and pale countenance, prematurely aged by the debaucl> eries of the capital — fain would I have seen that delicate and epileptic man, marching in the rains of Gaul at the head of his legions, and swimming across our rivers, or else on horseback, between the litters in which his secretaries were carried, dictating even six letters at a time, shaking Rome from the extremity of Belgium, sweeping from his path two millions of men, and subduing in ten years Gaul, the Rhine, and the ocean of the north. This barbarous and bellicose chaos of Gaul was a superb material for such a genius. The Gallic tribes were on every side calling in the stran- ger ; Druidism was in its decline ; Italy was exhausted ; Spain untame- able ; Gaul was essential to the suljugation of the world.' Caesar's Gallic wars of themselves form a history. We have an account of them yet re- maining from the pen of the conqueror himself, and that of his friend Ilir- tius. Suffice it to say, that in eight years (b. c. 58-50) Csesar had con quered all Gaul, including the present France and Belgium ; had paid two DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 105 visits to the island of Great Britain (b. c. 55-54) ; and was able, in the spring of B. c. 50, to take up his residence in Cisalpine Gaul, leaving the 300 tribes beyond the Alps, which he had conquered by such bloody means, not only pacified, but even attached to himself personally. His army, which included many Gauls and Germans, were so devoted to him, that they would have marched to the end of the world in his service. Coesar's conquests in Gaul were of course a subject of engrossing inter- est at Rome, and when the city enjoyed an interval of repose from the commotions caused by Clodius and Milo, nothing else was talked of. ' Com- pared with this man,' said Cicero, ' what was Marius ?' and the saying was but an expression of the popular enthusiasm. Caesar's visits to Britain excited especial interest ; and at first there were not wanting sceptics who maintained that there was no such island in existence, and that the alleged visit of CiTesar to that place of savages, where pearls were found in the riv- ers, was a mere hoax on the public. As, however, the period of Cpesar's command drew near its close, and it became "known that he aspired to a second consulship, the fears of the aristocratic party began to manifest themselves. ' What may not this conqueror of Gaul do when he returns to Rome ? ' was the saying of Cato, and others of the senators. ' Accustomed during so many years to the large and roomy action of a camp, will he be able to submit again to civic trammels ? Will he not rather treat us as if we were his subordinate officers — Roman laws as if they were savage cus- toms— and our city itself as if it were a Gallic forest ? ' Unfortunately, also, the Triumvira.te no longer existed to support Caesar's interests. Cras- sus was dead ; and Pompey — whose connection with C^sar had been sev- ered by the death of his wife, Ctesar's beloved daughter Julia (b. c. 54) — had since gone over to the aristocratic party, to which he had formerly be- longed, and whose policy was, upon the whole, more genial to his character. In B. c. 52, he enjoyed a third consulship, without a colleague, having been appointed by the senators as the man most likely to restore order to the distracted state ; and during the following year, he lent his aid to those en- emies of Caesar who insisted that, ere he should be allowed to stand for the consulship, he should be obliged to resign his Gallic command, and resume his station as a private citizen, ready to meet any charges which might be brought against him. Csesar did not want agents in Rome — some of them paid, some of them voluntary — to plead his cause ; and through these he oifered to resign his command, provided Pompey would do the same with regard to Spain. The proposal was not listened to ; and a decree of the senate having been passed that C?esar should disband his army against a certain day, under pain of being treated as a public enemy, his agents left the city, and hastened to his camp in Cisalpine Gaul (b. c. 50). Cixisar did not delay a moment. Sending orders to his various legions distributed through Gaul to follow him as speedily as possible, he placed himself at the head of such forces as were with him at the instant, crossed the small stream called the Rubicon, which separated his province of Cisal- pme Gaul from Italy, and advanced towards Rome, amid cheers of welcome from the populations v,'hich he passed through. Utterly bewildered by his unexpected arrival, the whole senatorial party, with Pompey at their head, abandoned Rome, and proceeded into the south of Italy, where they tried to raise forces. Caesar pursued them, and drove them into Greece. Then hastening into Spain, he suppressed a rising Pompeian movement in that 106 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. country. Returning to Rome with the title of Dictator, which had been bestowed on him during his absence, he passed various salutary measures for restoring order in Italy, and among them one conferring the Roman cit- izenship on the Cisalpine Gauls ; then crossed over into. Greece (b. c. 49) to give battle to Pompey, who had meanwhile assembled forces from all parts of the Roman dominion. At length the two armies met on the plain of PharsaUa in Thessaly (9th August B. c. 48), when Pompey sustained a complete defeat. Not long afterwards he was killed by the orders of Ptol- emy, king of Egypt, when seeking to land on the coast of that country, Caesar, who had used his victory with great moderation, arrived in Egypt soon after, and remained there several months, fascinated by Cleopatra, who was then at war with her brother Ptolemy. Having settled the affairs of Egypt, Caesar proceeded to Asia Minor, crushed an insurrection there headed by Pharnaces, the son of Mithridates, and then (September, B. c. 47) returned to Italy. He remained there but a few months, setting out in the beginning of B. c. 46 for Africa, where the relics of the Pompeian party had taken refuge. These were soon de- feated ; and Cato, the most distinguished man among them, killed himself rather than to fall into his conqueror's hands. Pompey's two sons escaped to Spain, where they excited an insurrection, which, however, was soon sup- EXTINCTION OF THE COMMONWEALTH— DICTATORSHIP AND DEATH OF C^SAR— THE SECOND TRIUMVIRATE— CIVIL WARS OF MARK ANTONY AND OCTAVIANUS. From AugTist b. c. 48, when he defeated Pompey at Pharsalia, till March B. c. 44, when he was assassinated, Julius Caesar was supreme mas- ter of the Roman world. Senate and people vied with each other in con- ferring dignities upon him ; and all the great offices and titles recognized by the Roman constitution — as consul, dictator, censor, tribune, etc. — were concentrated in his person, while he exercised the virtual patronage of al- most all the rest. In short, the Commonwealth may be said to have ceased when he defeated Pompey ; and had he lived long enough, there is no doubt that he would have fully established the Empire. It was not so much, how- ever, in organic changes of the constitution, as in practical reforms of vast moment, that Caesar exercised the enormous power which had been placed in his hands. Besides the various measures of reform which he actually carried into effect during his dictatorship, among which his famous reform of the Calendar deserves especial mention, there were innumerable schemes which he had projected for himself, and some of which he would probably have executed, had his life not been cut short. To extend the Roman do- minion in the East ; to drain the Pontine marshes ; to cut through the Isthmus of Corinth ; to prepare a complete map of the Roman Empire ; to draw up a new digest of Roman law ; to establish pubhc libraries in the metropoHs — such were a few of the designs which this great man enter- tained at the time when the conspiracy was formed which led to his assas- sination. At the head of this plot, which consisted of about sixty persons of note, were Brutus and Cassius, both men of the highest abilities, and es- teemed by Caesar ; and the foi-mer at least actuated by motives of the pur- est character. The immediate occasion of the conspiracy was the rumor DEPARTMENT OP HISTORY. 107 that Cossar intended to accept the title of king, ■which some of his adher- ents were pressing upon him. When the plot was matured (b. c. 44) it was resolved that Caesar should be assassinated in the senate-house on the ides (the 15) of March, on which day it was understood a motion was to be brought forward by some of his friends for appointing him king of Italy. ' Upon the first onset,' says Plutarch, ' those who were not privy to the design were astonished, and their horror of the action was so great, that they durst not fly, nor assist Ciiesar, nor so much as speak a word. But those who came prepared for the business enclosed him on every side, with their naked daggers in their hands, and which way soever he turned he met with blows, and saw their swords leveled at his face and eyes. Bru- tus gave him one stab in the groin. Some say that he fought and resisted all the rest, and moved from one place to another calling for help ; but when he saw Brutus's sword drawn, he covered his face with his robe, and quietly surrendered himself, till he was pushed, either by chance or design, to the pedestal on which Pompoy's statue stood, which by that means was much stained with his blood : so that Pompey himself may seem to have had his share in the revenge of his former enemy, who fell at his feet, and breathed out his soul through the multitude of his wounds ; for they say he received three-and-twenty.' The assassination of Ciesar has justly been pronounced ' the most stupid action that ever the Romans committed.' The later ages of the republic had been one continued scene of violence and anarchy ; and not until Caesar had risen to the chief power in the state was there a restoration of order and efficient government. His assassination plunged the Roman dominions into new and complicated civil wars. On the one side were the conspirators with Brutus and Cassius at their head, bent on the futile pro- ject of throwing back the Empire into the condition of a republic. On the other were Mark Antony, an able and valiant ofiicer of Caesar's ; Le- pidus, another oSicer of less distinguished abilities ; and Marcus Octavius, a young man of eighteen, Caesar's grandnephew, and who, as his uncle's heir, now assumed the name of Caius Julius Caesar Octavianus. These three united themselves into a triumvirate (November B. c. 44) for aveng- ing Cgesar's death, and settling the affairs of the republic. After making themselves masters of Italy, and putting to death by wholesale proscrip- tion all those citizens whose views they suspected, among others the* great and amiable Cicero, they pursued the conspirators into Greece. At length, in the autumn of B. c. 42, two great battles were fought at Philippi in Macedonia between the republican forces and those of the triumvirate. The former were defeated; Cassius caused himself to be slain, Brutus committed suicide, and the triumvirs thus remained masters of the Roman world. They divided it among them : Antony assuming the government of the East, Lepidus obtaining Africa, and Octavianus returning to Italy, master of the countries adjacent to that peninsula. Each continued to govern his share for some time independently ; but a quarrel ensuing be- tween Octavianus and Lepidus, the latter was deprived of his power, and obliged to retire into private life. The Empire was now divided between Antony and Octavianus, the former master of the East, the latter of the West. At length, however, political and private reasons led to a rupture between the two potentates (b. c. 33). The rash and pleasure-loving Antony, who had been caught in the toils of Cleopatra, the licentious 108 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. queen of Egypt, and therefore one of his subject sovereigns as master of the East, was no match for the cunning, abstemious, and remorseless Oc- tavianus. Defeated at the battle of Actium (2d September B. c. 31), he fled with Cleopatra to Egypt, where, being hard pressed by Octavianus, they both died by their own hands. Octavianus thus remained sole mas- ter (b. c. 30) of the great Empire which Julius Caesar had prepared for him ; and under the new name of Augustus, he continued to wield the sovereignty during the long period of forty-four years (b. c. 30 - a. d. 14). During these forty-four years, the various races and nations which so many centuries of conquest had connected together, became consolidat- ed into that historic entity — ' The Roman Empire,' CONDITION OF THE EMPIRE UNDER AUGUSTUS. The Roman Empire under Augustus consisted of Italy and the follow- ing countries governed as provinces : — In Europe, Sicily, Sardinia, and the other islands in the west of the Mediterranean, Gaul as far as the Rhine, Spain, Illyricum, Dalmatia, Pannonia, Thrace, Macedonia, Greece, and the islands of the ^gean ; in Asia, all the countries between the Caspian Sea, the Parthian Empire, the Persian and Arabian Gulfs, the Mediterranean, and the Caucasus ; and in Africa, Mauritania, Numidia, the ancient territory of Carthage, Cyrene, and Egypt. Within these lim- its there may have been included, in all, about 100,000,000 of human beings, of different races, complexions, languages, and degrees of civiliza- tion. Not less than one-half of the whole number must have been in a condition of slavery, and of the rest, only that small proportion who, un- der the envied name of Roman citizens, inhabited Italy, or were distribut- ed, in official or other capacities, through the cities of the Empire, enjoyed political independence. These 'citizens,' diffused through the conquered countries, constituted the ingredient by which the whole was kept in union. Working backwards and forwards in the midst of the various populations in which they were thus planted, the Romans assimilated them gradually to each other, till Celts, Spaniards, Asiatics, etc., became more or less Romanized. This process of assimilation was much facilitated by the cir- cumstance that, with the exception of Judea and other portions of the East, all the nations of the Roman Empire were polytheistic in their beliefs, so that there was no fundamental repugnance in this respect between the modes of thought of one nation and those of another. In fact, the Ro- man Empire may be defined as a compulsory assemblage of polytheistic na- tions, in order that Christianity might operate over a large surface at once of that polytheism which it was to destroy and supersede. In<the twenty- fifth year of the reign of Augustus, and while that prince was ruling with undisturbed sway over 100,000,000 of fellow-polytheists, there took place in that small monotheistic corner of his dominions which lay on the south- ern border of the Levant, an event, the importance of which the wisest of the Romans could not have foreseen. This was the birth, in an obscure Jewish town, of Jesus Christ. From that town, and from that obscure corner of the vast Roman Empire, was to proceed an influence which was to overspread the polytheistic nations, eat out or dissolve into itself all ex- isting creeds and philosophies, and renovate the thoughts, the habits, the whole constitution of mankind. Waiting for this influence, the various DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 109 nations — Celts, Greeks, Spaniards, etc., — were submitted to the prelim- inary pressure of Roman institutions, modifying, and in some cases chang- ing, their native characters. The eastern half of the Empire, however, had been too thoroughly impregnated with the Greek element to yield easi- ly to the new pressure ; and accordingly while the Latin language spread among the barbarians of the west, Greek still continued to be the language of the East. This demarcation between the western or Latin-speaking and the eastern or Greek-speaking poi'tions of the Empire became exceed- ingly important afterwards. Of this vast empire Rome was the metropolis, now a city of innumera- ble streets and buildings, and containing, it is calculated, a population of about two milHons and a half. From Rome roads branched out in all direc- tions leading to the other towns of Italy, and passing tlu-ough the villa- studded estates of the rich Roman citizens. From the coasts of Italy, the Mediterranean afforded an easy access to the various provinces, by whose industry the metropolis and Italy itself were in a great measure supported. The provinces themselves were traversed by roads connecting town with town, and laying all parts of the Empire open to the civil and military functionaries of government. Usually residing at Rome, the will of the emperor vibrated through a hierarchy of intermediate functionaries, so as to be felt throughout the whole of his vast dominions. In effect, this will was absolute. In Augustus, as in Julius Cassar, all the gi-eat offices of state, which had so long subsisted as mutual checks upon each other, were united, so as to confer on him power of the most unlimited de- scription. The senate still met, but only as a judicial body in cases of treason, or legislatively to pass the decrees which Augustus had previously matured with a few private counselors ; and the comitia were still held, but only to elect candidates already nominated by the emperor. In this system of absolute dominion in the hands of a single individual, the Ro- mans cheerfully acquiesced, partly from experience of the superior nature of the government thus exercised to the wretched anarchy from which they had escaped, and partly in consequence of the hopelessness of revolt against a man who had the entire military force of the Empire at his dis- posal. In Rome and Italy, the public peace was preserved by the p-ceto- ricm cohorts — bodies of soldiers of tried valor, to whom Augustus gave double pay. Thi-oughout the provinces, the people were kept in check by the regular troops, who were accumulated, however, principally in the frontier provinces of the Empire, where they might both maintain tran- quillity among the recently-conquered populations, and resist the attacks of the barbarian races beyond. The provinces where military force was required, Augustus retained in his own hands, administering them through legates appointed by himself, usually for several years ; the others he in- trusted to the senate, who named governors for a single year. The cities of the Empire were the centres of Roman influence. It was in them that the Roman citizens were congregated, that schools were es- tablished, and that the various agencies of civilization operated most uni- formly. In the rustic populations of the provinces, the national individu- ality was preserved with the national language. It was part of the policy of Augustus to found cities in the choicest situations in the provinces ; and so rapid was the spread of the Roman civilization during his reign, that Roman writers and orators of note began to be produced even in remote 110 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA, parts of the Empire. The Greek language and literature began also to penetrate the provinces of the west, and to find students among the Celts and Spaniards THE SUCCESS OF AUGUSTUS — DISSEMINATION OF CHRISTIANITY — DIVISION OF THE EMPIRE. During a period of nearly three centuries after the death of Augustus, the Empire remained, so far as political arrangements were concerned, pretty nearly as he had left it ; and the history of Rome during these cen- turies is little more than an account of the personal characters of the suc- cessive emperoi-s. Some of these seem to have been specimens of the ut- most depravity to which human nature could attain ; others were men of great mind, and worthy of their station. At first, the Empire was inher- ited as a birthright by those who could claim descent from Augustus ; but in the end, the real patrons of the sovereign dignity were the armies, and especially the praetorian cohorts. To raise favorite generals to the pur- ple, and afterwards to murder them for the sake of the donations which it was customary to receive in the case of a new accession, became the pas- time of the various armies ; and sometimes it happened that there were sev- eral emperors at the same time, different armies throughout the Empire having each appointed one. The effect of these military appointments was to raise to the highest dignity of the state men born at a distance from Rome, and who, spending their lives in the camp, entertained no affection for the city of the Caesars. Meanwhile, under all the emperors alike, the great family of nations incorporated under the Roman rule were daily advancing towards that condition out of which modern society was to arise. The reader, however, must imagine for himself the toil and bustle of the successive generations of Celts, Spaniards, Greeks, Africans, and Asiatics, who were born and buried during these three important centuries in which modern civilization was cradled ; all that we can give here is a chronolog ical hst of the emperors during that period : — Augustus, - - - from 30 B.C. to 14 a.d. Caracalla, - - - from 211 a.d. to 217 a. d. Tiberius, - - - " 14 a.d. to 37 " , Heliogabahis, - " 218 " 222 '• Caligula, - - - " 38 " 41 " ; Alexander Severus, " 222 " 23.5 " Claudius, - - - " 41 " 54 " ■ Julius Maximinus, " 23-5 " 238 " Nero, - - - - '• 54 " 68 " i Gordian, - - - - "238 " 243 " CTalba.Otho,Vitellius, " C8 '• 70 " I Pliilip, " 243 " 249 " Vespasian, - - - " 70 " 79 '' : Decius, - - - - ^'249 " 251 " Titus, - - - - " 79 " 81 " ' Gallus, - - - - "251 " 2.33 " Domitian, - - - " 81 " 96 " ' Valerian and Gallienus, " 253 " 260 " Nerva, - - - - " 96 " 98 " ' Gallienus, - - - " 261 " 268 " Trajan, - - - - '• 98 " 117 " i Aurelius, - . - - -'268 " 270 '• Hadrian. ... " 117 " 138 " : Aurclianus, - - - " 270 " 275 '■ Antonius Pius, - " 138 " 161 " Tacitus, - - - - "275 " 276 " Marcus Antoninus, " 161 " 18C " ' Florian, - - - - "276 Comraodus, - - " 180 " 192 " Probus, - - - - "276 " 282 " Pertinax, - - - " 193 Cams. " 282 " 284 " Scptiraius Severus, " 193 " 211 " Diocletian & Maximian," 284 " 305 " The only facts connected with the reigns of these emperors which need be noticed here are, that in the reign of Claudius, Britain was added to the Roman dominion ; that under the great Trajan, the Empire was still farther extended ; and that under Caracalla, the Roman franchise was extended to all the free inhabitants of the Empire, The vices of such emperors as DEPARTMENT OP HISTORY. Ill Caligula, Nero, Commodus, Caracalla, and Heliogabalns, may pass unno- ticed, as may also the militaiy achievements of some of the later emperors. The reign of Diocletian, however (a. d. 248-305), constitutes an epoch in the history of the Empire. Finding the unwieldy mass too great for the administration of a single individual, he divided it between himself and his colleague Maximian, assigning to Maximian the western or Latin- speaking nations, and retaining the East in his own hands. Under each emperor there was to be a royal personage called CiBsar, who was to gov- ern part of that emperor's section of the Empire, and afterwards succeed him in the chief dignity. This arrangement did not last long ; and after various subdivisions of the Empire, and struggles between emperors and Csesars, the whole was reunited under Constantino the Great (a. d. 306- 337). Under this remarkable man Christianity was established as the re- ligion of the Empire. During the three centuries which had elapsed between the crucifixion of Christ — which took place in the nineteenth year of the reign of Tibe- rius— and the accession of Constantino to the supreme government of the whole Empire, the new religion had been silently but surely spreading it- self ; first among the Jews, then among the Greek or eastern, and lastly among the Latin or Avestern Gentiles. It had been subjected to numerous persecutions, some local, and others general, over the -whole Empire ; but had, nevertheless, made such progress, that it is calculated that in Constan- tine's reign about a twentieth part of the whole population of the Empire were professed Christians, while even over the nineteen-twentieths who continued in polytheism, the indirect influence of Christianity had been immense. Led to embrace Christianity himself, although with a consid- ■ arable tincture of polytheistic superstition, Constantino gave his imperial recognition to the already fully-organized ecclesiastical system of the Chris- tians, with its churches, presbyters, bishops, metropolitans. The civil ban having thus been removed from the profession of Christianity, it began to prevail in form, as it already did in fact, over the heterogeneous polythe- ism of the Empire. Another important act of Constantino's reign, besides his proclamation of toleration for Christianity (a. d. 321), was his removal of the seat of empire from Rome to Constantinople. Not long after this was eflected, Constantino died at the age of sixty, leaving tlie Empire divided among his three sons. One of them, Constantius, ultimately acquired the whole, and transmitted it to his successors; but in the year 395, Thcodosius, one of these successors, effected a permanent separation between the East and the West. From that date, the history of Rome divides itself into two distinct histories — that of the "Western or Latin and that of the Eas- tern or Greek empire. The latter protracted its existence till a. d. 1453, when Constantinople was taken by the Turks : the former crumbled to pieces much earlier, before the attacks of the northern barbarians, who finally destroyed it in 476. DOWNFALL OF THE WESTERN EMPIRE. From an early period, the Empire had been assailed on its northern frontier by the German and Sclavonian races living east of the Rhine and north of the Danube. Partly by force, and partly by negotiation, the au- 112 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. thorities of the Empire had been able to keep these barbarian populations in check ; but towards the end of the fourth century, the growing decrepi- tude of the Empire tempted invasion, and hordes of barbarians from Scan- dinavia, Russia, and Tartary, rolled themselves toward the Danube. At first, it seemed as if the eastern empire would be the first to fall before them; but the tide of invasion was at length decisively diverted towards the west. Province after province was torn away by Goths, Alans, Huns, Vandals, and others : Italy itself was ravaged several times ; and at length, A, D. 476, Romulus Augustus, the last sovereign, was dethroned, and Italy became a prey to the Germans. The various steps in this gradual disin- tegration of the Empire, the heroic deeds of the two chief agents in the dismemberment — Alaric, king of the Goths, and Attila, king of the Huns — and the gradual formation of Romano-Germanic kingdoms out of frag- ments of the shattered Roman society, cannot here be detailed. HISTORY OF THE MIDDLE AGES. Under the title of the Middle Ages . is comprehended that period of history which succeeded the destruction of the Roman western empire and extended to the end of the fifteenth or beginning of the sixteenth century, when learning was revived in Europe. This period of about eight hundred years may be said to divide ancient from modern times. The early portion of the middle ages is sometimes styled the Dark Ages ; for during this time the ancient civilization of Rome, a bequest from Egypt and Greece, disappeared, and ancient institutions perished, without anything better being substituted. The middle ages altogether differ from any other period in history. They may be generally described as an era of universal disorder, in which was maintained a struggle between force and reason. Old govera- meiits were broken up, and new ones took their place, only to be dismem- bered in turn. Literature sunk into obscurity, and was confined to the cells of monks. Slavery was universal, and was modified alone by the be- nign influence of Christianity. Gradually, as it will be seen, nations as- sumed a settled character, arts were discovered, and for military turbulence were substituted peaceful institutions. Much, therefore, as there is to deplore in the history of the middle ages, there is not a little to commend and be grateful for. We must view these ages as being the cradle of mod- ern civilization, the era whence sprung much that we venerate in our insti- tutions, much that distinguishes modern from ancient manners. THE EASTERN EMPIRE TO THE TWELFTH CENTURY. It is necessary to begin a history of the middle ages with reference to the decline of the Roman Empire. This decline was caused by various cir- cumstances, but chiefly by the weakened condition of society. Instead of rearing a respectable lower and middle class, the Roman aristocracy kept the mass of the people in slavery, so that at length society consisted of but a comparatively small number of privileged persons, including the mUi- DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY, 113 tary, and vast numbers of serfs or slaves — the hangers-on of great men — and in effect paupers. ' The freedom of the ancient world expired in the course of ages,' says Alison, ' from the small number of those who enjoyed its benefits. The ruling citizens became corrupted from the influ- ence of prosperity, or by the seduction of wealth ; and no infusion of en- ergy took place from the lower ranks to renovate their strength or supply their place.' Besides this general, there was a special cause. In 321, Constantino transferred the imperial abode from Rome to Byzantium, a city situated on the Bosphorns, and afterwards called Constantinople. In his endeavors to make this city the seat of government, Constantino only par- tially succeeded ; for it generally happened after his day that there was one emperor in the East and another in the West, and not unfrequently two or three different individuals in the provinces, at the head of consid- erable military forces, claiming partial and even universal empire. Rome itself, and the countries of western Europe, were soon taken posession of by barbarous intruders, and lost all the characteristics and individuality of empire ; but Constantinople continued for a thousand years the abode of men who had still the name of emperors, i-eckoning themselves the descendants of the Caesars, although they had long ceased to wield anything but the shadow of power. Constantino was himself instrumental in dismembering his empire, having before his death divided it among no fewer than five individuals — namely, his three sons, Constantine, Constans, Constantius, and his tw8 nephews, Dalmatius and Annipalianus, both of whom bore in addition the surname of Ctesar — a name still popular among a people who wished themselves to be considered Roman. Constantine II soon fell a sacrifice to the cruelty and ambition of his brother Constans. who in his turn lost his life in attempting to quell a re- volt among his subjects ; and Constantius, the youngest of the sons, having found means to destroy the two Caesars, and five other cousins, and two uncles, found himself at an early period of life the undisputed master of the empire. He reigned twenty-four years, but left no monuments of goodness or of greatness, having wasted his time in the practice of vice, or in the equally unprofitable, if more innocent, employment of disputing with bishops on the abstrusest points of doctrinal theology ; while a host of enemies, apparently from every side of his dominions, were engaged in undermining and laying waste the empire. It was in the West that these attacks were first made, though perhaps it was in the East that they were fiercest. Numberless and powerful barbarians now began to pour unceas- ingly upon Gaul, Spain, and latterly upon Italy itself, from the forests of the north, and in particular from those of Germany — a country whose inhabitants have been remarkable in the history of the world, both as hav- ing originated many of the greatest movements in society, and as having laid open more of the sources of human thought than any people that could be named. The Franks, Saxons, Goths, and Alemanni, devastated the fine countries watered by the Rhine, and so effectually severed them from the Empire, that from this period their history becomes wholly separate. At the same time the Sarmatians, Persians, Scythians, and others, made dread- ful incursions in the East. AH that Constantius could do to stem this pow- erful tide was to raise his kinsman Julian, whom he surnamed Cassar, to command in the army. Julian had been early instructed in the Christian religion, but he. is not * 114 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. known to have ever given it any credit, although he has been often called apostate. He had imbibed the philosophy of Plato in the schools of Ath- ens ; and with this learning, with the elements of a great character in his mind, and with the models of Cpesar, of Trajan, and of Marcus Antonius in his eye, he formed the design, and seemed to have the ability, to raise up and consolidate the glories of a falling Empire. Ilis victories over the Alemanni in Gaul, although they preserved the Empire, excited only the envy of the emperor, and Constantius was about to depose him from his command, when his own death saved him from the ignominy to which the soldiery would certainly have subjected him for any attempt to degrade their favorite commander. Julian was himself declared emperor by the army, and the people had lost both the power and the will to resist. Un- fortunately for his fame, Julian perished in battle with the Persians only three years after his accession. In that short period he had reformed many abuses in the state ; and though personally hostile to the Christian i-eligion, and though he used both arguments and ridicule against it, he not only ad- vocated, but practiced universal toleration. It is creditable also to Julian, that in establishing the ancient orders of Roman priesthood, he was at pains to enforce a strict morality in all the relations of life. He was succeeded, after the fall of several candidates, by Valentinian, whose fether had been a soldier from the Danube. This emperor took for colleague his brother Valens, to whom he assigned Constantinople and the government of the East. The reign of Valens was signalized by the irruption into Europe of an enemy till then unknown to the Romans ; these were the ITiois, a con- federation of Tartar tribes, some of whom had obtained the ascendancy and control over the rest, and led them on to invade the nations of Europe. Their numbers and ferocity led the ancient writers to describe them in terms of consternation, which to moderns, who are no strangers to Calmucs, Cossacks, Tartars, and other tribes of similar origin, appear sufficiently lu- dicrous. They never lived in houses, slept under trees, ate raw flesh, and were altogether superior in war even to the Goths, Avho were now in alli- ance with the Romans, and had begun to relish the comforts of a settled life. They were, therefore, driven away before the Huns, and were forced, in search of a home, to invade the Roman territory. Here they were opposed by the Emperor Valens ; but they defeated his army, and made his own life a sacrifice. He was succeeded by his nephew Gratian, who chose for his colleague Theodosius, a general of talents and celebrity. This emperor restored the confidence of his own army, and broke the power of the Goths, by his skill and caution ; and was the first of the em- perors who practiced the mode of dividing the barbarians against one an- other, by giving money to such of their tribes as he imagined would make useful auxiliaries. This "system, which the wealth of the emperors (from their possession of all the maritime and trading cities) enabled them long to use against their jworer enemies, often saved the Empire at the expense of its dignity ; for though the money was given at first as a gratuity, it was sometimes demanded in times of weakness as a tribute. Tliis Theodosius (commonly called the Great) was the first who made Christianity the es- tablished religion of the Empire (390). He procured a seniitorial edict in favor of the Christians and their religion, sanctioned the destruction of tlie heatlien temples, and forbade the performance of sacrifices either in Dublic or private. The Empire under this prince still preserved its origin- DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 115 al extent; but he divided it between his two sons, Arcadius and Honorius (394), and its parts were never afterwards reunited. From the death of Theodosius II (449) to the reign of Justinian (527), the Eastern Empire continued without any considerable alteration, though there were many changes and intrigues in the court and army. The reign of the latter prince is memorable on several accounts : it was under his aus- pices that a knowledge of the silk manufacture was first brought to Europe, where it gave employment to much ingenious industry (900). Justinian also caused certain eminent lawyers to prepare a code of laws, and an abridgement of law decisions, etc. called the Pandects, which were used by all his successors, and have been adopted as the basis of their laws by sev- eral countries of Europe. With the single exception of the Oode de Napo- leon, these form the only complete and perfect abstract of national law which any government has given to its people. Whatever may have been Justinian's errors in other respects, his having projected this work, and pro- cured so many able ministers to execute it, must redound forever to his honor. The talents and virtues of his general Belisarius regained to the Empire Africa and a great part of Italy, from the Vandals and Ostrogoths ; this conquest, however, only prevented the latter region from being united under one government, and has been the cause of -its remaining a feeble and divided country ever since. In the reign of Tiberius shortly after (580), the people of Rome, though they entreated with great earnestness the aid and pity of the emperor, who now claimed to rule over them, were unable to obtain any relief, and remained distracted between their attachment to the ancient head of the Empire, and the claims of his enemies who -occupied the rest of Italy. The next emperor who merits attention is Heraclius (610), a native of Africa. The Eastern Empire had till now preserved its ancient boundaries in their full extent, and was mistress of Carthage, Egypt, Syria, and Asia Minor, besides Greece, and the countries on the Danube. The Roman ar- mies on the eastern frontier had, however, been lately driven in by Chos- roes, king of Persia, who now occupied all the north of Africa and Syria. This was the first great violation of their territory sustained b^^ the emper- ors of Constantinople ; and Heraclius avenged it with a celerity and effect which made the Persians tremble. His triumiA, however, was short, for the latter part of his reign was disturbed by the rise and victories of Mo- hammed. The successors of this signal impostor, after breaking the power of Persia (already weakened by the victories of Heraclius), immediately attacked the Roman Empire ; then defeated its armies in two battles, oc- cupied all Syria, and obliged the emperor (now an old man) to retire to Constantinople. He died in 641. The continued victories of the followers of Mohammed (called Arabs ur Saracens) soon deprived the Empire of Egypt, Africa, and Syria ; and in 668 they followed up their success by attacking Constantinople itself. The city sustained two sieges, in the first of which the Saracens were encamped in its neighborhood, and carried on the operations of a siege at intervals, for seven years ; and in the second, for nearly two. In both the Saracens wasted immense resources ineffectually. The Empire had now lost all its provinces eastward of Mount Taurus, and the cities of Alexandria, Jerusalem, and Antioch, were in the hands of the Mohammedans. There was little further change in its condition till the 116 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. year 867, under the Emperor Basil, who gave new vigor both to the internal administration and to the military resources of the government. This prince, and his immediate predecessor Zimisces, made the Roman arms — for they still wished to be called Romans — respected on the Euphrates, and Tigris, and asserted the ancient warlike reputation and boundaries of the Empire. They were now, however, deprived of the resources they had enjoyed in the secure possession of the great commercial cities of the Medi- terranean— Alexandria, Carthage, Cassarea, etc. ; and the trade and reve- nues of those which remained were crippled and diminished, from the want of that free general intercourse which had existed when they were all under one government. Hence the arinies were maintained with greater diffi- culty, and any victories that were gained could not be followed up with effect. The early enemies of the Empire — the Goths, Vandals, and Huns — had now settled into civiHzed communities, and were no longer formida- ble. The foes with whom it contended latterly were the Bulgarians and Seljukian Turks ; the former of whom were rather troublesome than danger ous, but the latter, who had succeeded the Saracens in the dominion of Asia, aimed at nothing short of the destruction of the Roman name. They succeeded at last by defeating and taking prisoner the Emperor Romanus Diogenes, in tearing away almost the whole province of Asia Minor (1099) ; so that the emperors were now confined to the dominions in Europe, which, however, still formed a monarchy not much smaller than France or Spain. The manners of the court of Constantinople during much of this period were dissolute and corrupt. We are told of one emperor who ordered a plate of human noses to be brought to his table ; another was accustomed to seize the deputies of cities whose tribute was in arrear, and suspend them with their heads downwards over a slow fire ; a third got up farces in mock- ery of the ceremonies of religion ; and, in general, the appointment of offi- cers, and even the succession to the Empire (where it was not seized by some successful general), were in the hands of the women and eunuchs of the .palace. The cities and provinces generally acquiesced as to the choice of an emperor in the decision of the capital or army ; this cu'cumstance shows that the lawS were attended to, and that there was a regular system of government, which were not much disturbed by the personal character of the reigning prince. The countries of Greece, however, which had form- erly been the seat of knowledge and the arts, were now sunk in ignorance ; and the little learning that was cultivated in Athens was only scholastic divinity, or the pedantry of law and grammar. There is no scholar, or phi- losopher, or poet, of the empire of Constantinople who is generally known to posterity. A great change took place in the relations of the Empire after the eleventh century. It was still pressed by the Turks on the East, who now occupied Asia Minor, and were only separated from Constantinople by the Hellespont ; while in Europe its territories were disturbed by the incursions of certain Norman adventurers who had settled in Sicily. Against these enemies the Emperor Claudius Comnenus, an active prince, and full of resources, made all the resistance which his diminished revenues allowed. He applied to the Christian sovereigns of Europe to aid him in expelling the Mohammedans from the territories of the Empire, but above all, to drive out the Turks from the land of Judea, which they occupied and profaned, and where they harassed the Christian pilgrims who desired DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 117 to visit the scenes of Scripture history. His appeal was received in Eu- rope at a time when many concurring causes had brought the mass of the people to a state of uneasiness which at once foreboded and rendered necessary some extensive change in their condition. Countrymen of their own, pilgrims from the shrine of the tomb of Chist, had returned and filled them with horror by a recital of indignities which Turkish infidels were casting on those scenes and subjects with which their own most sacred feelings were associated ; and the result was that extraordinary outpouring of the inhabitants of Europe upon Asia, which has been termed the Cru- sades, and to which we shall afterwards advert. ARABIA— MOHAMMED — EMPIRE OF THE SARACENS. It was not before the sixth century that Arabia became peculiarly re- markable in the history of the world. The wild Arabs, as they have been generally called, had already signalized themselves by incursions on the Empire of the Bast, when Mohammed was born, in the year 569 (some say, 571) of the Christian era, at Mecca, the principal city of their country. He is said to have been descended from some great families ; but it is cer- tain that his immediate progenitors were poor, and he had little education but what his own means and his own mind could give him. Yet this man became the founder of a great empire, and the fabricator of a religion ■which has continued to our own day to affect greater numbers of mankind than Christianity itself. At an early pei-iod of Ufe, we are told, ' he re- tired to the desert, and pretended to hold conferences with the Angel Gar briel, who deUvered to him, from time to time, portions of a sacred book or Koran, containing revelations of the will of the Supreme Being, and of the doctrines which he required his prophet (that is, Mohammed himself) to communicate to the world.' The Mohammedan religion, as the so-called revelations of this great impostor have since been designated, was a strange mixture of the superstitions of Arabia, the morality of Christ, and the rites of Judaism. It was to this happy mixture of tenets, usages, and traditions already existing among his countrymen, and to the applicability of the precepts of the Koran to all legal transactions and all the business of life, that Mohammed seems to have owed his extraordinary success. Others, indeed, have attributed this to certain indulgences allowed in the Koran ; but in reality these indulgences existed before, and the book breathes upon the whole an austere spirit. This extraordinary work inculcated ele- vated notions of the Divine nature and of moral duties : it taught that God's will and power were constantly exerted towards the happiness of His creatures, and that the duty of man was to love his neighbors, assist the poor, protect the injured, to be humane to inferior animals, and to pray seven times a day. It taught that, to revive the impression of those laws which God had engraven originally in the hearts of men. He had sent his prophets upon earth — Abraham, Moses, Jesus Christ, and Mohammed — the last, the greatest, to whom aU the world should owe its conversion to the true religion. By producing the Koran in detached parcels, Mo- hammed had it in his power to solve all objections by new revelations. It was only after he was well advanced in years that Ms doctrines began to be received. At first, indeed, they were so violently opposed by his fellow-citizens of Mecca, that the prophet was obliged to flee from the city 118 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. to save his life. This event is called bj his followers Hegira, or the FHght : it occuiTed in the 622d year of the Christian era ; and they reckon dates from it as we do from the birth of Christ. Mohammed took refuge in the city of Medina, and by the aid of his disciples there, he was soon able to return to Mecca at the head of an armed force. This enabled him to subdue those who would not be convinced ; and henceforward he proceeded to make proselytes and subjects together, till at length, being master of all Arabia and of Syria, his numerous followers saluted him king (627). This extraordinary man died suddenly, and in the midst of suc- cesses, at the age of sixty-one (632). Abubeker, his father-in-law and successor, united and published the books of the Koran, and continued and extended the empire which Mohammed had left him. A more powerful caliph (such was the title given to this series of mon- archs) was Omar, the successor of Abubeker (6C5). Barbarity, ferocity, and superstition seem' to have been mingled and to have reached their height in the person of Omar. It was by his order that the most magnifi- cent library of antiquity, that of Alexandria, consisting of 700,000 vol- umes, was burned to ashes. The reason which he gave for this act is worth preserving : — ' If these writings,' he said, ' agree with the Koran, they are useless, and need not be preserved; if they disagree, they are pernicious, and ought to be destroyed.' By himself and his generals this ferocious conqueror added Sja-ia, Phoenicia, Mesopotamia, Chaldea, Egypt, Lybia, and Numidia, to his empire. Next came Otman. and then AH, the son-in-law of Mohammed himself. The name of Ali is still revered by Mussulmans. His reign was short, but glorious. ' After some internal troubles,' says Ilallam, ' the Saracens won their way along the coast of Africa, as far as the pillars of Hercules, and a third province was irre- trievably torn from the Greek empire. These Western conquests intro- duced them to fresh enemies, and ushered in more splendid successes. Encouraged by the disunion of the Visigoths [ in Spain] , and invited by treachery, Muza, the general of a master who sat beyond the opposite ex- tremity of the Mediterranean Sea, passed over into Spain, and within about two years the name of Mohammed was invoked under the Pyrenees.' Nineteen caliphs of the race of Omar succeeded Ali, and after these came the dynasty of the Abassydte, descended by the male line from Mo- hammed. The second caliph of this race, named Almanzor, removed the seat of empire to Bagdad (762), and introduced learning and the cultui-e of the sciences, which his successors continued to promote with zeal and liberality. This was some recompense for those indignities which had beeif cast upon literature by the brutal Omar. Perhaps the obligations of mod- ern Europe to Arabia at this time have been overstated ; but it is not to be denied that learning, almost totally excluded and extinct in Europe during the eight and ninth centuries, found an asylum here. It has been matter of dispute how the tastes of these fierce Arabians became thus first direc- ted. They probably owed it to the Greeks ; but it is certain that what Uiey got they returned with interest. We are said to derive our present arithmetical figures from this strange people ; and geometry, astronomy, and alchemy were their favorite pursuits. The graces of light Hterature were not neglected, as is shown by the One Thousand and One Nights' Entertainments, a production of this period, which still continues to solace the hours of childhood and old age among ourselves, and attests the extent DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 119 of fancy and the variety of genius among those that gave it birth. Haroun al Raschid, who flourished in the beginning of the ninth century, is cele- brated as a second Augustus. He was cotemporary with Charlemagne, and communications of a friendly nature are said to have passed between them. Within fifty years from the death of Mohammed, the Saracens had rais- ed an empire, not only temporal, but also spiritual, more extensive and more powerful than what remained of the empire of Constantinople ; and within a hundred, they had subdued not only Persia, Syria, Asia Minor, and Arabia, but also Egypt, North Africa, and Spain. It seemed, indeed, in the course of the eight century, as if Asia and Europe both should yield o their victorious arms, and become one great Mohammedan domin- ion. Bnt the mighty fabric, of mushroom growth, crumbled into dust with equal speed. After the first extension of their conquests, they ceased to acknowledge any one head of their empire, and the successful generals of the provinces contented themselves by paying a religious respect to the caliplis of Bagdad, as the successoi-s of the prophet, while they retained the power of conquerors for themselves. In the year 732 they sustained a great defeat in France from Charles Martel, who became the father of an illustrious race of kings. No fewer than 375,000 Saracens are said to have been left dead on the field of this battle, and it is certain that they never after cherished the hope of subduing Europe. About the middle of the ninth century (8-i8), they projected the conquest of Italy, and even laid siege to Rome itself. But they were entirely repulsed by Pope Leo IV ; their ships were dispersed by a storm, and their army cut to pieces. Spain was the only European country in which they were able to obtain a permanent footing, and in it alone have they left traces of their existence. FROM THE DESTRUCTION OF ROME TO THE AGE OF CHARLEMAGNE — •ORIGIN OF THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. The Empire of the Ccesars fell in the West only by aegrees, and the changes introduced by the northern tribes were gradual, though they proved great. Province after province yielded to the invaders ; and before the end of the fifth century, every country in Europe had undergone extensive changes, and received fresh accessions to the number of its inhabitants. The Visigoths had seated themselves in Spain, the Franks in Gaul, the Saxons in the Roman provinces of South Britain, the Huns in Pannonia, and the Ostrogoths in Italy and the adjacent provinces. And not only had they been enabled to take up their abode, but in general they became mas- ters, and changed the face of all that they touched : ' new governments, laws, languages ; new manners, customs, dresses ; new names of men and of countries, prevailed ; and an almost i»tal change took place in the state of Europe.' That change has been called a change from light to dark- ness, and it assuredly led to the extinction of that taste for literature and that regular administration of government which Mere the relieving fea- tures of the Roman despotism. But if it thus produced an immediate evil, it led to an ultimate good. The population was reinvigorated by the ad- mixture of the new races, and from the fresh elements it had acquired there sprung institutions which might be considered as in many respects an improvement upon those that formerly prevailed. 120 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. It was out of these new circumstances that what has been called the Feudal System took its rise. This was a feature in society unknown in former ages. Hitherto men had been the slaves of individual masters, or, as in the more celebrated states of antiquity, they were bound together by the common tie of citizenship, and owed allegiance to none. Patriot- ism was their highest virtue, and all looked upon the state as a parent, to which, having got support from it, they were bound to give support in their turn. But in these times the rude inhabitants of the north had formed little or no conception of what a state was, and at first they were not pre- pared to relinquish their much-cherished indi^ddual freedom in exchange for rights which they thought they did not need. Changes at length came over them ; and society gradually took new forms. Those who had led them on to battle, began to be looked upon as their guardians in peace. Victorious armies, cantoned out into the countries which they had seized, continued arranged under their officers, each of whom had a separate ter- ritory allotted to him, on which he could retain and support his immediate followers, while the ]:)rincipal leader had the largest ; and in this way all were bound in allegiance, both to their immediate superiors and to their chief, and all were in readiness to be called out to arms whenever their ser- vices wei-e thought to be required. This ' miUtary chieftainship,' infusing itself as an element in the barbarian societies, was the first advance to any- thing like civil or social government since the extinction of the Roman power. Nations, indeed, were still far from having the advantage of a regular government. The method of conducting judicial proceedings, and of administering justice, was still peculiarly unsettled and uncertain. The authority of the magistrate was so limited, and the independence assumed by individuals so great, that they seldom admitted any umpire but the sword. It was then that trial by ordeal became universal, and men's guilt or inno- cence was thought to be proved by the capacity of their bodies to with- stand the influences of red-hot iron or boiling water applied to them, or by their overcoming their accuser in single combat. These observations are applicable, with scarcely any variation, to all the nations which settled in Europe during the fifth and sixth centuries. Speak- ing of this subject. Dr. Robertson says — 'Though the barbarous nations which framed it Tthe Feudal System] , settled in their new territories at different times, came from different countries, spoke various languages, and were under the command of separate leaders, the feudal policy and laws were established, with little variation, in every kingdom of Europe. This amazing uniformity hath induced some authors to believe that all these na- tions, notwithstanding so many apparent circumstances of distinction, were originally the same people. But it may be ascribed, with greater proba- bility, to the similar state of society and of manners to which they were accustomed in their native countries, and to the similar situation in which they found themselves on taking possession of their new domains.' We shall now offer a few remarks respecting them individually. No people at this period exhibited a more energetic character than the Franks, a Teutonic race originally settled on the Lower Rhine and Weser, and who had acquired their name (freemen) while successfully resisting the Roman power in an earher age. About the year 486, they were un- der the rule of Clovis, who achieved the conquest of Gaul by the defeat of the Roman governor, and afterwards added Burgundy and Aquitaine to DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 121 his dominions — the former by marriage, and the latter by the forcible ex- pulsion of the Visigoths. This may be considered as the foundation of the French monarchy. Clovis adopted the Christian faith, and caused his people to follow his example. It is remarkable that while in war he exer- cised unlimited power over his subjects, they shared with him the legisla- tive authority, meeting annually in the Champs de Mars to suggest and deliberate upon public measures, in the settlement of which the meanest soldier had equally a voice with his sovereign. At the death of Clovis in 511, his four sons divided the kingdom, which was aftei-wards reunited, divided again, and again united, amidst scenes of tumult and bloodshed. The hne of kings proceeding from Clovis (called Merovignian from his grandsire Meroveus) dwindled in time into utter in- significance, while the chief power was wielded by an important officer, called the Mayor of the Palace. Among the most remarkable of these was Pepin Heristal, Duke of Austrasia, who ruled France for thirty years with great wisdom and good policy. His son, Charles Martel, who suc- ceeded to his power, distinguish himself by that great victory over the Sar- acens (a. d. 732), wliich checked their career in Europe. An appeal by Pepin le Bref, the son of Charles Martel, to the pope of Rome, whose authority had by this time become great, ruled that he who had the power should also have the title of king, and this put an end to the reign of the descendants of Clovis (752). Pepin remunerated the pope for this service by turning his arms against the Lombards in Italy, some of whose dominions he conferred upon the Holy See ; and these, it is said, were the first of the temporal possessions of the church. Pepin died (768), leaving two sons, Carloman and Charles, who succeeded him in the empire. Carloman died at an early period of life, but Charles (sub- sequently Charlemagne) survived to achieve for himself a fame far greater than that of any other individual during the middle ages, with perhaps the single exception of Mohammed. We shall proceed to speak of iiim and of his times, after making one or two observations on some other European countries. Spain was among the earliest countries lost to the Roman Empire. From about the year 406, this country, in whole or in part, had been suc- cessively invaded and subdued by Suevi, Alans, Vandals, and Visigoths. The last-named people were in possession of the greater part of the coun- try before the year 585, and erected a monarchy which existed till 712, when they were subdued by the Saracens or Moors. The Saracens made their descent on Spain from Africa, where Nuza, a viceroy of the caliph of Bagdad, had already made extensive conquests. They easily overran Spain and vanquished Don Rodrigo, or Roderic, the last of the Gothic kings. Abdallah, son of Muza, married the widow of Roderic, and the two nations entered into union. Before the conclusion of the eighth cen- tury, Abdalrahman, one of the Moorish generals, had laid aside all tem- poral subjection to the caliph of Bagdad, and formed Spain into an inde- pendent kingdom. His residence was at Cordova, and this city became renowned as one of the most enlightened in Europe under several succeed- ing reigns. Those parts of Spain which were under the Moorish kings embraced also their religion. The northern provinces never owned their dominion. Towards the conclusion of the sixth century, Italy was in the possession 122 AMERICAN E:NCYCL0PEDIA. of the Longobeards, or Lombards, who continued master of the greater part of it for two centuries. Of their rule, history has recorded little be- sides murders and confusion. It was during this period that the Saxon Heptarchy was formed in Britain. CHARLEMAGNE — THE NEW WESTERN EMPIRE. By far the greatest character who appeared in Europe at this period was Charles, the son of Pepin le Bref, and known in history by the name of Charlemagne, or Charles the Great. 'In the course of a reign of forty- five years,' says Mr. Tytler, ' Charlemagne extended the limits of his em- pire beyond the Danube, subdued Dacia, Dalmatia, and Isti-ia, conquered and subjected all the barbarous tribes to the banks of the Vistula, made himself master of a great portion of Italy, and successfully encountered the arms of the Saracens, the Huns, the Bulgarians, and the Saxons. His war with the Saxons was of tliirty years ' duration ; and their final conquest was not achieved without an inhuman waste of blood. At the re- quest of the pope, and to discharge the obligations of his father Pepin to the holy see, Charlemagne, though allied by marriage to Desiderius, king of the Lombards, dispossessed that prince of all his dominions, and put a final period to the Lombard dominion in Italy (774). When Charlemagne made his first entry into Rome, he was crowned king of France and of the Lombards by Pope Adrian I ; and afterwards, on a second visit, he was consecrated Emperor of the West by the hands of Pope Leo III (800). He probably attached some importance to these rites, but it is to be remarked that, as yet, the pontifi" was not in the en- joyment of that high influence by which he afterwards could confer or with- draw sovereignty at his pleasure. ' It is probable,' continues the authority above quoted, ' that had Charle- magne chosen Rome for his residence and seat of government, and at his death transmitted to his successor an undivided dominion, that great but fallen empire might have once more been restored to lustre and respect ; but Charlemagne had no fixed capital, and he divided, even in his lifetime, lus dominion among his children (80G).' Charlemagne died in the year 814, aged seventy-two. His last days were employed in consolidating, rather than extending, his empire, by the making of laws which have ren- dered his name famous, and his memory even blessed. ' Though engaged in so many wars,' says Dr. Russell, ' Charlemagne was far from neglecting the arts of peace, the happiness of his subjects, or the cultivation of his own mind. Government, manners, religion, and letters, were his constant pur- suits. He frequently convened the national assemblies for regulating the afiairs both of church and state. In these assemblies he proposed such laws as he considered to be of public benefit, and allowed the same liberty to others ; but of this liberty, indeed, it would have been difficult to deprive the French nobles, who had been accustomed, from the foundation of the monarchy, to share the legislation with their sovereign. His attention ex- tended even to the most distant corners of his empire, and to all ranks of men. He manifested a particular regard for the common people, and stud- ied theu" ease and advantage. The same love of mankind led him to re- pair and form pubhc roads ; to build bridges where necessary ; to make DEPARTMENT OF HISTORY. 123 rivers navigable for the purposes of commerce ; and to project that grand canal which would have opened a communication between the German Ocean and the Black Sea, by uniting the Danube and the Rhine.' Amidst all his greatness, his personal habits were simple ; his dress was of the plain- est sort, and such even as to shame his own courtiers ; his hours of study set apart, and seldom omitted even in the busiest times of his life ; his daughters were taught spinning and housewifery, and his sons trained by himself in all the accomplishments of the age. Charlemagne was fond of the company of learned men, and greatly encouraged their residence in his dominions. In this respect he resembled his cotemporary Haroun Ras- chid, so famous in Arabian history, and Alfred the Great, who appeared in England shortly after this period. Superior to all national prejudice, he elevated an Englishman named Alcuin to the head of his royal academy. He was zealous for the extension of Christianity ; and one of the few blots upon his name arises from his having, in the spirit of his age, caused 4000 Saxon prisoners to be beheaded in one day, because they would not submit to be baptized. Charlemagne established schools in the cathedrals and principal abbeys, for the teaching of writing, arithmetic, grammar, logic, and music. Of the sons of Charlemagne, Louis, the youngest, surnamed the Bebon- naire, or gentle, was the only one who survived. He succeeded to all his father's dominions, except Italy, which fell into the hands of Bernard, a grandson of Charlemagne. Louis, deficient in vigor of character, was un- able to hold together the great empire left to him by his father. Having, among the first acts of his reign, given large portions of it to his children, the remainder of his life was spent in disgraceful quarrels with them ; and after his death (840), the empire was formally divided — Lothaire, his eld- est son, obtaining Lorraine and Provence ; while Charles the Bald, a young- er son, continued sovereign of the western parts of France ; and Louis be- came king of Germany. Thus abruptly terminates the history of the sec- ond western empire. FRANCE FROM THE TBIE OF CHARLES THE BALD TO THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. During the reign of Charles the Bald, France first suffered from the at- tacks of the Normans, a race of bold and needy adventurers from the north of Europe. Their plundering invasions were continued for upwards of seventy years ; till at length (912) the French king was compelled to pur- chase their amity by yielding to Rollo their leader the country afterwards from them called Normandy, of which Rouen was the capital. The first successor of Charles the Bald Avith whose name history has associated any- thing worth remembering, was Charles, surnamed the Fat (885). He was the son of that Louis to. whom Germany had been before assigned, and was thus enabled to bring that country and France for a short time once more under a single ruler. In the turbulence of the times Charles was soon de- posed ; and during the century which followed, France, so lately the cen- tre of an empire little less than that of Rome in the days of its Ctesars, was split up into a multitude of independencies, by nobles who would own only a very slender subjection to the kings. Out of these nobles at last sprang Hugh Capet (987), who was enabled, on the death of Louis V, to place 124 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA. himself on the throne. He was already possessed of great property, and proved to be also a prince of much ability and penetration. He established the royal residence at Paris, which his predecessors had deserted, and be- came the founder of a family which, in one of its branches, occupied the throne of France till the overthrow of monarchy in 1848. He deserves to be mentioned with honor, as being among the first of European kings who trusted to prudence, counsel, and moderation, rather than force of arms, in eiFecting his purposes. On his death (996), in the fifty-seventh year of his age and the tenth of his reign, he was succeeded by his son Robert, who had all his father's equitable disposition without his vigor of character. He was subjected to a degree of tyranny on the part of the chur^jh of which perhaps the history of the world does not aiford such another example. Robert had been guilty of marrying a cousin in the fourth degree without a dispensation from the Holy See — that is, without paying a fine for what was only an imaginary oifense. Gregory V, who then occupied the pon- tifical chair, threatened to excommunicate Robert if he should not dismiss his wife, and, on Robert's refusal, actually did so, and laid all his domin- ions under an interdict. This punishment proved tremendous in its effects ; for though the king himself sliowed sense and courage enough to despise the wrath of the pontiff, yet his subjects deserted him in terror. The priests, in consequence of the interdict, refused sacrament to the sick all over the country, and the Jead were everywhere left unburied. when mass was no longer said. In these circumstances the unfortunate king submit- ted. A second marriage, contracted with the consent of the church, proved very unhappy. The new queen, Constantia, or Constance, made many efforts to embroil her husband and his family, and in the midst of these Robert died (1031). His son Henry succeeded, and it was during his reign that those pilgrimages to the Holy Land, which were so soon to end in the Crusades, took their rise. Of these we shall speak by them- selves. In the meantime we take leave of France by mentioning that Hen- ry's successor was Philip (1060), whose reign is remarkable as having witnessed the beginning of those contests with England which continued at intervals till the early part of the nineteenth century. At this period (1066) the Normans invaded and conquered England, where their leader, William, Duke of Normandy, became the founder of an important dynasty. THE GERMAN EMPIRE BEFORE THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. Germany had no political existence until the time of Charlemagne, when it was formed by him into part of the western empire. Towards the con- clusion of the ninth century it became an empire of itself. In the year 887, Arnold, a natural son of Charloman, and nephew of Charles the Fat. was declared emperor by an assembly of bishops and nobles. These as- semblies in Germany always retained a voice in the election of their em- perors ; and though they often made their choice from the line of success- ion, they never acknowledged any hereditary rights whatever. After the death of Arnold's son, called Louis III, their choice fell upon Conrad, Duke of Franconia (912). Conrad's successor was Henry I, surnamed the Fowler. He was a prince of great abiHties, and introduced order and good government into the empire. 'He united the grandees and curbed DEPARTMENT OP HISTORY. 125 their usurpations ; built, embellished, and fortified cities ; and enforced with great rigor the execution of the laws in the repression of all enor- mities. He had been consecrated by his own bishops, and maintained no correspondence with the see of Rome. His son, Otho the Great, who suc- ceeded him (938), united Italy to the Empire, and kept the popedom in complete subjection. He made Denmark tributai-y to the imperial crown, annexed the crown of Bohemia to his own dominions, and seemed to aim at a paramount authority over all the sovereigns of Europe.' In these times the papacy was much disordered. 'Formosus, twice ex- communicated by Pope John VIII, had himself arrived at the triple crown. On his death, his rival. Pope Stephen VII, caused his body to be dug out of the grave, and after trial for his crimes, condemned it to be flung into the Tiber. The friends of Formosus fished up the corpse, and had interest to procure the deposition of Stephen, who was strangled in prison. A succeeding pope, Sergius III, again dug up the ill-fated car- case, and once more threw it into the river. Two infamous women, Ma- rosia and Theodora, managed the popedom for many years, and filled the chair of St Peter with their own gallants or their adulterous offspring.' — Tytler. It Avas amidst this confusion and these disturbances that Otho was induced to turn his arms on Italy. He shortly became master of it all, and had himself declared emperor by the Holy See, with all the pomp that " had attended the same ceremony to Charlemagne (962). Pope John XII, whom Otho had been the means of raising to the pontifical chair, rebelled soon after. Otho retiu-ned to Rome in fury, had John deposed, hanged one-half of the senate before he left the city, and wrung a solemn acknowledgement from an assembly of reluctant bishops, that the emperor had a right not only to nominate to vacant bishoprics, but also to elect the pope himself. Otho died (972), and was followed in succession by Otho n, Otho III, St. Henry, Conrad II, and Henry III, the history of whose reigns exhibits nothing instructive, or upon which the mind can rest with pleasure. Henry IV (1056) was a distinguished victim of papal tyi-anny. The celebrated Hildebrand, known as Gregory VII, was in this age the means of raising the power of the church to a height which it had never reached before. During Henry's contest with this daring and ambi- tious pontifi", he made him twice his prisoner, and twice did the thunders of the Vatican excommunicate and depose him in consequence. As a specimen of the power and insolence of this pope, we may mention that Henry, dispirited by the effect which his excommunication had upon his friends and followers, having resolved to go to Rome and ask absolution from Gregory in person, did so ; and presenting himself as a humble peni- tent at the palace of St Peter, was there stripped of his robes, and obliged to remain in that condition, in an outer court, in the month of January (1077), barefooted, among snow, and fasting, for three successive days, before he was allowed to implore forgiveness for his offences ! On the fourth day he was permitted to kiss the toe of his holiness, and then receiv ed absolution ! Henry died in 1106. FROM THE NINTH TO THE ELEVENTH CENTURY. Italy. The state of Italy during this period has been already partially noticed in the precedino- section. From the time of Lothaire, to whom it /f^,ft:^lfl'lnTT:^l!;[Il|[|,■:I;ll!lk 128 AMERICAN ENCYCLOPEDIA, was nominallj assigned as a separate kingdom (843), to that of Otho the Great (964), the country was ravaged by contending tyrants. Between the invasions of the Normans on the one hand, and the claims of the Ger- man emperors on the other, it became much distracted, and was ultimately split up into several independent states. Some of these, particularly Venice, Genoa, Pisa, and Florence, became afterwards independent and powerful republics. It was during this period that the foundation of the temporal power of the popes was laid. Spain. During the period of which we have been treating, Spain seemed less a part of Europe than any other country in it. The greater part of it still continued under the dominion of the Moors, and apparently with advantage. ' This period,' says Mr. Tytler, ' from the middle of the eight to the middle of the tenth century, is a most brilliant era of Arabian magnificence. Whilst Haroun al Raschid made Bagdad illustrious by the splendor of the arts and sciences, the Moors of Cordova vied with their brethren of Asia in the same honorable pursuits, and were undoubtly at this period the most enlightened of the states in Europe. Under a series of able princes, they gained the highest reputation, both in arts and arms, of all the nations of the West.' And yet these Eastern conquerors seem to have had their troubles as well as others. A race of powerful nobles among them, as in the other countries of Europe, distracted the country, and made effective government impossible. The Christian part of the pop- ulation, still possessed of several provinces in the north, might have taken advantage of such a state of things for repossessing themselves of their lost country ; but civil dissension was still greater among themselves ; and Christian princes readily formed alliances with the Moors, if they saw a prospect of weakening an immediate enemy by that means, forgetting that the common foe still remained to harass them. But the detail of these nu- merous and petty contentions need not detain us longer ; nor does the his- tory of Spain assume any importance till towards