VIRGINIUS.
1. When Appius Claudius saw that deed he shuddered and sank down,
And hid his face some little space with the corner of his gown,
Till with white lips and blood-shot eyes Virginius tottered nigh,
And stood before the judgment-seat, and held the knife on high.
"Oh! dwellers in the nether gloom, avengers of the slain,
By this dear blood, I cry to you, do right between us twain;
And even as Appius Claudius hath dealt with me and mine,
Deal you by Appius Claudius and all the Claudian line!"
So spake the slayer of his child, and turned, and went his way;
But first he cast one haggard glance to where the body lay,
And writhed, and groaned a fearful groan; and then with steadfast feet,
Strode right across the market-place into the sacred street.
2. Then up sprang Appius Claudius: "Stop him; alive or dead!
Ten thousand pounds of copper to the man who brings his head."
He looked upon his clients, but none would work his will.
He looked upon his lictors, but they trembled and stood still.
And as Virginius, through the press, his way in silence cleft,
Ever the mighty multitude fell back to right and left.
And he hath passed in safety unto his woful home,
And there ta'en horse to tell the camp what deeds are done in Rome.
3. By this the flood of people was swollen from every side,
And streets and porches round were filled with that o'erflowing tide,
And close around the body gathered a little train
Of them that were the nearest and dearest to the slain.
They brought a bier, and hung it with many a cypress crown,
And gently they uplifted her, and gently laid her down.
The face of Appius Claudius wore the Claudian scowl and sneer,
And in the Claudian note he cried, "What doth this rabble here?
Have they no crafts to mind at home, that hitherward they stray?
Ho! lictors, clear the market-place, and fetch the corpse away!"
4. Till then the voice of pity and fury was not loud,
But a deep, sullen murmur, wandered among the crowd.
Like the moaning noise that goes before the whirlwind on the deep,
Or the growl of a fierce watch-dog but half-aroused from sleep.
But when the lictors at that word, tall yeomen all, and strong,
Each with his axe and sheaf of twigs, went down into the throng,
Those old men say, who saw that day of sorrow and of sin,
That in the Roman Forum was never such a din.
The wailing, hooting, cursing, the howls of grief and hate,
Were heard beyond the Pincian hill, beyond the Latin gate.
5. But close around the body, where stood the little train
Of them that were the nearest and dearest to the slain,
No cries were there, but teeth set fast, low whispers, and black frowns,
And breaking up of benches, and girding up of gowns.
'Twas well the lictors might not pierce to where the maiden lay,
Else surely had they been all twelve torn limb from limb that day.
Right glad they were to struggle back, blood streaming from their heads,
With axes all in splinters, and raiment all in shreds.
The Dead Virginia.
6. Then Appius Claudius gnawed his lip, and the blood left his cheek;
And thrice he beckoned with his hand, and thrice he strove to speak;
And thrice the tossing forum sent up a frightful yell—
"See, see, thou dog! what thou hast done; and hide thy shame in hell,
Thou that wouldst make our maidens slaves, must first make slaves of men.
Tribunes!—Hurrah for tribunes! Down with the wicked Ten!"
And straightway, thick as hailstones, came whizzing through the air
Pebbles, and bricks, and potsherds, all round the curule chair;
And upon Appius Claudius great fear and trembling came;
For never was a Claudius yet brave against aught but shame.
7. So now 'twas seen of Appius. When stones began to fly,
He shook, and crouched, and wrung his hands, and smote upon his thigh.
"Kind clients, honest lictors, stand by me in this fray!
Must I be torn to pieces? Home, home the nearest way."
While yet he spake, and looked around with a bewildered stare,
Four sturdy lictors put their necks beneath the curule chair;
And fourscore clients on the left, and fourscore on the right,
Arrayed themselves with swords and staves, and loins girt up for fight.
8. But, though without or staff or sword, so furious was the throng,
That scarce the train, with might and main, could bring their lord along.
Twelve times the crowd made at him; five times they seized his gown;
Small chance was his to rise again, if once they got him down:
And sharper came the pelting; and evermore the yell—
"Tribunes! we will have tribunes!" rose with a louder swell:
And the chair tossed as tosses a bark with tattered sail,
When raves the Adriatic beneath an eastern gale,
When the Calabrian sea-marks are lost in clouds of spume,
And the great Thunder-Cape has donned his veil of inky gloom.
One stone hit Appius in the mouth, and one beneath the ear;
And ere he reached Mount Palatine, he swooned with pain and fear.
His cursed head, that he was wont to hold so high with pride,
Now, like a drunken man's, hung down, and swayed from side to side;
And when his stout retainers had brought him to his door,
His neck and face were all one cake of filth and clotted gore.
Macaulay.
XXX.—ARCHIMEDES.
1. This extraordinary man was a native of Syracuse, a city of Sicily. He was born two hundred and eighty-eight years before the Christian era, and from fifty to one hundred years after the appearance of the far-famed Euclid. Who his parents were, and what was their rank in life are not known, though it is claimed that he was in some way related to Hiero the king of Syracuse. It is said that Hiero considered himself greatly honored by such a relation, and well he might be, for science and genius combined are much higher than royalty. Besides it is probable that the name of the monarch would never have been preserved except in connection with the great philosopher.
2. By whom he was instructed in the elements of education, history fails to inform us, but it tells us of the progress he made in mechanics and geometry, and for the sake of the quiet necessary to pursue these branches he gave up all the advantages of a political life derived from his connection with the king. His favorite studies had more charms for him than the glitter of events or the plunder of conquered cities.
3. After studying at home until he could learn nothing more in the city of his birth, he repaired to Alexandria in Egypt, at that time the educational center that had inherited the philosophy and culture of Athens. Here he studied for some years and became acquainted with the most distinguished scholars of his day. Among his most intimate friends was Conon, a famous mathematician from Samos, who often exchanged problems with him for solution. While staying at Alexandria he began his work of practical invention which he afterward turned to such good account.
Archimedes.
4. Some of his ardent admirers have maintained that Archimedes taught the Egyptians more than they taught him; that while he imbibed philosophy and book learning, he more than repaid the New Athens by inventions which were of the greatest use in the ordinary work of the home and the shop. Although we do not know exactly what he turned his hand to, we are quite sure that in many ways he performed feats that have scarcely been surpassed in modern times.
5. After his return to his native city, Archimedes continued his studies with unabated vigor, often neglecting his food and the care of his person when a new problem was to be solved or a new invention perfected. The method of determining the relative amount of gold and base metal in Hiero's crown occurred to him while in his bath, and without stopping to put on his clothes, he is said to have rushed through the streets exclaiming "Eureka! Eureka!"
6. To prevent the ruin of his health his servants were sometimes obliged to take him by main force to the table and bath, and to take his daily exercise. Hiero at one time expressed an admiration of some of his inventions when Archimedes replied that had he a place to fix his machines upon he could move the earth itself. His days were passed in study and retirement until the safety of his native city called him out to take part in its defense.
7. During the wars between the Romans and Carthaginians, the people of Sicily, and especially the Syracusans, had for a long time remained neutral or been in alliance with the Romans. But a Carthaginian interest sprung up which mastered and sought to extend itself over the whole island. As soon as the news of this political movement and rebellion reached Marcellus, the Roman general, he hastened with a strong force into Sicily, and after the capture of the principalities he laid siege to Syracuse.
8. Here he met with an unexpected check. The inventive genius of Archimedes enabled the Syracusans to successfully defend their city for three years. He so improved the warlike instruments for the discharge of missiles, that he repeatedly beat back the most determined assault, and the Romans were more than once on the point of abandoning the siege, believing that the city was defended by the gods. By means of long and powerful levers, together with grappling irons, he is said to have destroyed many of the Roman galleys when they approached the walls of the city; and when they retired for safety he set them on fire by a combination of immense burning-glasses.
9. The story of these exploits is told by the Romans themselves, and there can be no doubt but here Science gained one of her greatest triumphs. The success of the new engine was evidently so great, that an element of superstition entered into the record. But the triumph of genius was not complete. During a festival in honor of Diana when wine flowed freely, the guards neglected to man some particular part of the walls. The Romans observing this scaled the walls and made themselves masters of the city.
10. Amid the plunder and carnage which followed, Archimedes was killed. Marcellus had given orders for his special protection, but the deed was done by a Roman soldier. One account says that he was slain in his laboratory where he was found studying a problem, and he refused to move until he had completed the solution. Another account says that he was put to death on the street while drawing a geometrical figure in the sand. The third and most rational account is that while bearing some boxes of mathematical instruments to Marcellus he was killed by a soldier who supposed that the boxes contained treasure. His death happened about 210 B. C. at the age of seventy-six.
XXXI.—THE DEATH OF CÆSAR.
Cæsar (enlarged from a Roman Coin).
1. The greatest of Rome's generals, and one of the greatest of military chieftains of all ages, was Julius Cæsar. Of a patrician family, he was one of the most accomplished men of Rome. He was great in civil as well as military life. He became the most popular of the greatest men of Rome's most brilliant days. His military feats rivaled those of Alexander, and he extended the rule of Rome through all central Europe, completely subduing all of the tribes with which he came in contact. From his northern victories he turned his victorious army south, crossed the Rubicon, which marked the border of his own province, and seized the control of Rome.
2. In the management of civil affairs he was as successful as in the field. He corrected abuses that had crept into the political management of affairs, and placed new safeguards around the rights of the people.
3. His administration was almost as brilliant as that of Pericles in Athens; yet the principal nobles did not love him, and with the people at large he suffered still more, from a belief that he wished to be made king. On his return from Spain he had been named dictator and imperator for life. His head had for some time been placed on the money of the republic, a regal honor conceded to none before him. Quintilis, the fifth month of the old calendar, received from him the name which it still bears. The senate took an oath to guard the safety of his person.
4. He was honored with sacrifices, and honors hitherto reserved for the gods. But Cæsar was not satisfied. He was often heard to quote the sentiment of Euripides, that, "if any violation of law is excusable, it is excusable for the sake of gaining sovereign power." It was no doubt to ascertain the popular sentiments that various propositions were made toward an assumption of the title of king. His statues in the forum were found crowned with a diadem; but two of the tribunes tore it off, and the mob applauded.
5. On the 26th of January, at the great Latin festival on the Alban Mount, voices in the crowd saluted him as king; but mutterings of discontent reached his ears, and he promptly said; "I am no king, but Cæsar." The final attempt was made at the Lupercalia on the 15th of February. Antony, in the character of one of the priests of Pan, approached the dictator as he sat presiding in his golden chair, and offered him an embroidered band, like the diadem of Oriental sovereigns. The applause which followed was partial, and the dictator put the offered gift aside. Then a burst of genuine cheering greeted him, which waxed louder still when he rejected it a second time. Old traditional feeling was too strong at Rome even for Cæsar's daring temper to brave it. The people would submit to the despotic rule of a dictator, but would not have a king.
6. Other causes of discontent had been agitating various classes at Rome. The more fiery partisans of Cæsar disapproved of his clemency; the more prodigal sort were angry at his regulations for securing the provincials from oppression. The populace of the city complained—the genuine Romans, at seeing favor extended to provincials, those of foreign origin because they had been excluded from the corn bounty. Cæsar, no doubt, was eager to return to his army, and escape from the increasing difficulties which beset his civil government. But as soon as he joined the army, he would assume monarchical power in virtue of the late decree; and this consideration urged the discontented to a plot against his life.
7. The difficulty was to find a leader. At length Marcus Junius Brutus accepted the post of danger. This young man, a nephew of Cato, had taken his uncle as an example for his public life. But he was fonder of speculation than of action. His habits were reserved, rather those of a student than a statesman. He had reluctantly joined the cause of Pompey, for he could ill forget that it was by Pompey that his father had been put to death in cold blood. After the battle of Pharsalia he was treated by Cæsar almost like a son. In the present year he had been proclaimed prætor of the city, with the promise of the consulship. But the discontented remnants of the senatorial party assailed him with constant reproaches. The name of Brutus, dear to all Roman patriots, was made a rebuke to him. "His ancestors expelled the Tarquins; could he sit quietly under a king's rule?" At the foot of the statue of that ancestor, or on his own prætorian tribunal, notes were placed, containing phrases such as these: "Thou art not Brutus: would thou wert." "Brutus, thou sleepest." "Awake, Brutus." Gradually he was brought to think that it was his duty as a patriot to put an end to Cæsar's rule even by taking his life.
8. The most notable of those who arrayed themselves under him was Cassius. This man's motive is unknown. He had never taken much part in politics; he had made submission to the conquerer, and had been received with marked favor. Some personal reason probably actuated his unquiet spirit. More than sixty persons were in the secret, most of them, like Brutus and Cassius, under personal obligations to the dictator. Publius Servilius Casca was by his grace tribune of the plebs. Lucius Tullius Cimber was promised the government of Bithynia. Decius Brutus, one of his old Gallic officers, was prætor elect, and was to be gratified with the rich province of Cisalpine Gaul. Caius Trebonius, another trusted officer, had received every favor which the dictator could bestow; he had just laid down the consulship, and was on the eve of departure for the government of Asia. Quintius Ligarius had lately accepted a pardon from the dictator, and rose from a sick bed to join the conspirators.
9. A meeting of the senate was called for the Ides of March, at which Cæsar was to be present. This was the day appointed for the murder. The secret had oozed out. Many persons warned Cæsar that some danger was impending. A Greek soothsayer told him of the very day. On the morning of the Ides his wife arose so disturbed by dreams, that she persuaded him to relinquish his purpose of presiding in the senate, and he sent Antony in his stead.
10. This change of purpose was reported after the House was formed. The conspirators were in despair. Decius Brutus at once went to Cæsar, told him that the Fathers were only waiting to confer upon him the sovereign power which he desired, and begged him not to listen to auguries and dreams. Cæsar was persuaded to change his purpose, and was carried forth in his litter. On his way, a slave who had discovered the conspiracy tried to attract his notice, but was unable to reach him for the crowd. A Greek philosopher, named Artemidorus, succeeded in putting a roll of paper into his hand, containing full information of the conspiracy; but Cæsar, supposing it to be a petition, laid it by his side for a more convenient season. Meanwhile, the conspirators had reason to think that their plot had been discovered. A friend came up to Casca and said, "Ah, Casca, Brutus has told me your secret!" The conspirator started, but was relieved by the next sentence: "Where will you find money for the expenses of the ædileship?" More serious alarm was felt when Popillius Lænas remarked to Brutus and Cassius: "You have my good wishes; but what you do, do quickly"—especially when the same senator stepped up to Cæsar on his entering the house, and began whispering in his ear. So terrified was Cassius, that he thought of stabbing himself instead of Cæsar, till Brutus quietly observed, that the gestures of Popillius indicated that he was asking a favor, not revealing a fatal secret. Cæsar took his seat without further delay.
Antony delivering the Oration on the Death of Cæsar.
11. As was agreed, Cimber presented a petition praying for his brother's recall from banishment; and all the conspirators pressed round the dictator, urging his favorable answer. Displeased at their importunity, Cæsar attempted to rise. At that moment Cimber seized the lappet of his robe, and pulled him down; and immediately Casca struck him from the side, but inflicted only a slight wound. Then all drew their daggers and assailed him. Cæsar for a time defended himself with the gown folded over his left arm, and the sharp-pointed style which he held in his right hand for writing on the wax of his tablets. But when he saw Brutus among the assassins, he exclaimed, "You, too, Brutus!" and covering his face with his gown, offered no further resistance. In their eagerness, some blows intended for their victim fell upon themselves. But enough reached Cæsar to do the bloody work. Pierced by twenty-three wounds, he fell at the base of Pompey's statue, which had been removed after Pharsalia by Antony, but had been restored by the magnanimity of Cæsar.
12. Thus died "the foremost man of all the world," a man who failed in nothing that he attempted. He might, Cicero thought, have been a great orator; his "Commentaries" remain to prove that he was a great writer. As a general he had few superiors, as a statesman and politician no equal. That which stamps him as a man of true greatness, is the entire absence of vanity and self-conceit from his character. He paid, indeed, great attention to his personal appearance, even when his hard life and unremitting activity had brought on fits of an epileptic nature, and left him with that meager visage which is familiar to us from his coins. Even then he was sedulous in arranging his robes, and was pleased to have the privilege of wearing a laurel crown to hide the scantiness of his hair. But these were foibles too trifling to be taken as symptoms of real vanity. His successes in war, achieved by a man who in his forty-ninth year had hardly seen a camp, add to our conviction of his real genius. These successes were due not so much to scientific manœuvres, as to rapid audacity of movement, and mastery over the wills of men.
13. The effect of Cæsar's fall was to cause a renewal of bloodshed for another half generation; and then his work was finished by a far less general ruler. Those who slew Cæsar were guilty of a great crime, and a still greater blunder.
Liddell.
XXXII.—HOW ROMANS LIVED.
1. The Roman house at first was extremely simple, being of but one room, called the atrium or darkened chamber, because its walls were stained by the smoke that rose from the fire upon the hearth, and with difficulty found its way through a hole in the roof. The aperture also admitted light and rain, the water that dripped from the roof being caught in a cistern that was formed in the middle of the room. The atrium was entered by way of a vestibule open to the sky, in which the gentleman of the house put on his toga as he went out. Double doors admitted the visitor to the entrance-hall, or ostium.
2. There was a threshold upon which it was unlucky to place the left foot; a knocker afforded means of announcing one's approach, and a porter, who had a small room at the side, opened the door, showing the caller the words Cave canem (beware of the dog), or Salve (welcome), or perchance the dog himself reached out toward the visitor as far as his chain would allow. Sometimes, too, there would be noticed in the mosaic of the pavement the representation of the faithful domestic animal which has so long been the companion as well as the protector of his human friend. Perhaps myrtle or laurel might be seen on a door, indicating that a marriage was in process of celebration, or a chaplet announcing the happy birth of an heir. Cypress, probably set in pots in the vestibule, indicated a death, as a crape festoon does upon our own door-handles, while torches, lamps, wreaths, garlands, branches of trees, showed that there was joy from some cause in the house.
3. In the "black room" the bed stood; there the meals were cooked and eaten, there the goodman received his friends, and there the goodwife sat in the midst of her maidens spinning. The original house grew larger in the course of time: wings were built on the sides—and the Romans called them wings as well as we (ala, a wing). Beyond the black room a recess was built in which the family records and archives were preserved, but with it for a long period the Roman house stopped its growth.
4. Before the empire came, however, there had been great progress in making the dwelling convenient as well as luxurious. Another hall had been built out from the room of archives, leading to an open court, surrounded by columns, known as the peristylum (peri, about, stulos, a pillar), which was sometimes of great magnificence. Bedchambers were made separate from the atrium, but they were small, and would not seem very convenient to modern eyes.
5. The dining-room, called the triclinium (Greek, kline, a bed) from its three couches, was a very important apartment. In it were three lounges surrounding a table, on each of which three guests might be accommodated. The couches were elevated above the table, and each man lay almost flat on his breast, resting on his left elbow, and having his right hand free to use, thus putting the head of one near the breast of the man behind him, and making natural the expression that he lay in the bosom of the other. As the guests were thus arranged by threes, it was natural that the rule should have been made that a party at dinner should not be less in number than the Graces, nor more than the Muses, though it has remained a useful one ever since.
6. Before the republic came to an end, it was so fashionable to have a book-room that ignorant persons who might not be able to read even the titles of their own books endeavored to give themselves the appearance of erudition by building book-rooms in their houses, and furnishing them with elegance. The books were in cases arranged around the walls in convenient manner, and busts and statues of the Muses, of Minerva, and of men of note were used then as they are now for ornaments. House-philosophers were often employed to open to the uninstructed the stores of wisdom contained in the libraries.
Interior of a Roman Bath-Room, Ruins of Pompeii.
7. As wealth and luxury increased, the Romans added the bath-room to their other apartments. In the early ages they had bathed for comfort and cleanliness once a week, but the warm bath was apparently unknown to them. In time this became very common, and in the days of Cicero there were hot and cold baths, both public and private, which were well patronized. Some were heated by fires in flues, directly under the floors, which produced a vapor-bath. The bath was, however, considered a luxury, and at a later date it was held a capital offense to indulge in one on a religious holiday, and the public baths were closed when any misfortune happened to the republic.
8. Comfort and convenience united to take the cooking out of the atrium into a separate apartment known as the culina, or kitchen, in which was a raised platform on which coals might be burned, and the processes of broiling, boiling, and roasting might be carried on in a primitive manner, much like the arrangement still to be seen at Rome. On the tops of the houses, after a while, terraces were planned for the purpose of basking in the sun, and sometimes they were furnished with shrubs, fruit-trees, and even fish-ponds. Often there were upward of fifty rooms in a house on a single floor; but in the course of time land became so valuable that other stories were added, and many lived in flats. A flat was sometimes called an insula, which meant, properly, a house not joined to another, and afterward was applied to hired lodgings. Domus, a house, meant a dwelling occupied by one family, whether it were an insula or not.
Lares and Penates.
9. The floors of these rooms were sometimes, but not often, laid with boards, and generally were formed of stones, tiles, bricks, or some sort of cement. In the richer dwellings they were often inlaid with mosaics of elegant patterns. The walls were often faced with marble, but they were usually adorned with paintings; the ceilings were left uncovered, the beams supporting the floor or the roof above being visible, though it was frequently arched over. The means of lighting either by day or night, were defective. The atrium was, as we have seen, lighted from above, and the same was true of other apartments, those at the side being illuminated from the larger ones in the middle of the house. There were windows, however, in the upper stories, though they were not protected by glass, but covered with shutters or lattice-work, and, at a later period, were glazed with sheets of mica. Smoking lamps, hanging from the ceiling or supported by candelabra, or candles gave a gloomy light by night in the houses, and torches without.
10. The sun was chiefly depended upon for heat, for there were no proper stoves, though braziers were used to burn coals upon, the smoke escaping through the aperture in the ceiling, and, in rare cases, hot-air furnaces were constructed below, the heat being conveyed to the upper rooms through pipes. There has been a dispute regarding chimneys, but it seems almost certain that the Romans had none in their dwellings, and indeed, there was little need of them for purposes of artificial warmth in so moderate a climate as theirs.
11. Such were some of the chief traits of the city-houses of the Romans. Besides these there were villas in the country, some of which were simply farm-houses, and others places of rest and luxury supported by the residents of cities. The farm-villa was placed, if possible, in a spot secluded from visitors, protected from the severest winds, and from the malaria of marshes, in a well-watered place, near the foot of a well-wooded mountain. It had accommodations for the kitchen, the wine-press, the farm superintendent, the slaves, the animals, the crops, and the other products of the farm. There were baths, and cellars for the wine and for the confinement of the slaves who might have to be chained.
Roman Villa.
12. Varro thus describes life at a rural household: "Manius summons his people to rise with the sun, and in person conducts them to the scene of their daily work. The youths make their own bed, which labor renders soft to them, and supply themselves with water-pot, and lamp. Their drink is the clear fresh spring; their fare bread, with onions as a relish. Everything prospers in house and field. The house is no work of art, but an architect might learn symmetry from it. Care is taken of the field that it shall not be left disorderly, and waste or go to ruin through slovenliness or neglect; and in return, grateful Ceres wards off damage from the produce, that the high-piled sheaves may gladden the heart of the husbandman. Here hospitality still holds good, the bread-pantry, the wine-vat, and the store of sausages on the rafter, lock and key are at the service of the traveler, and piles of food are set before him; contented, the sated guest sits, looking neither before him, nor behind, dozing by the hearth in the kitchen. The warmest double wool sheepskin is spread as a couch for him. Here people still, as good burgesses, obey the righteous law which neither out of envy injures the innocent, nor out of favor pardons the guilty. Here they speak no evil against their neighbors. Here they trespass not with their feet on the sacred hearth, but honor the gods with devotion and with sacrifices; throw to the familiar spirit his little bit of flesh into his appointed little dish, and when the master of the household dies accompany the bier with the same prayer with which those of his father and of his grandfather were borne forth."
Arthur Gilman, M. A. "The Story of Rome."
Putnam's "Stories of the Nations Series."
