It was in the dogdays that the Gauls came to Rome. But summer has at all times been pestilential at Rome, especially the two months and a half until September; and, a thing which Livy also tells us, as the barbarians bivouacked in the open air amid the ruins, they could not fail to be attacked and destroyed by diseases like the army of Frederic Barbarossa before the castle of St. Angelo. Yet it was not the whole host of the Gauls which was encamped there, but most likely no more than were necessary to keep the garrison on the Capitol blockaded: the rest were overrunning the neighbourhood and devastating the flat country in Latium, all the open places and the isolated houses. Many a place which existed in the early ages and is no more met with now, may have been destroyed at that time. Ostia was a strong town, and held out; for it was able to get provisions by sea, whilst the Gauls were no adepts in the art of besieging. The Ardeates, the territory of which the Gauls likewise invaded, made head against them under the command of Camillus.[121] The Etruscans seem to have caught at this opportunity of regaining Veii; for it is said that the Romans in Veii under the command of Cædicius won a battle against them, and were thus encouraged to reconquer Rome, as they were now in possession of arms.
A Roman, Fabius Dorso, is said to have offered in broad daylight a gentilician sacrifice on the Quirinal, and the astonished Gauls to have done him no harm: a tradition which is by no means improbable.
The provisions in the Capitol were about to be exhausted; but the Gauls, being themselves troubled by contagious diseases, were tired of their conquests, and not inclined to settle so far from their homes. They tried yet once more to storm the Capitol, having observed, how the messenger had gone up and come down again near the Porta Carmentalis below Araceli, which is in the direction of the Venetian palace. Now the old rock is covered with rubbish, and is therefore no more to be recognised. The besieged never dreamed of an attack being made from that side. There may have been masonry there which had become ruinous; in southern countries there is always some vegetation springing up about walls (Virgil says, Galli per dumos aderant, Livy also speaks of virgulta); and if this were not attended to, it might easily be climbed. They had already gained fast footing, as there was no wall on the top (it was not the Tarpeian rock which they tried to climb, but the Arx), when Manlius, who lived there, roused by the cackling of the geese, hastened to the spot, and hurled the assailants down. This made the Gauls still more ready to treat: they were besides called back by an irruption of the Alpine peoples into Lombardy where they had their wives and children. They were willing to withdraw on payment of a ransom of one thousand pounds of gold, about fifty thousand Frederics d’or (for, the Roman pound is very light, weighing nearly twenty-three half-ounces of Cologne), which, surely, were to be taken from the treasure on the Capitol. This was a vast sum for that age: in Theodosius’ time, there were indeed people in Rome who are said to have had a revenue of several hundred weight of gold; one even, who had as much as ten tons. That that sum was paid the Gauls, and that in consideration of it they left Rome, is historical truth; that in weighing it they practised a scornful fraud, is very possible. The væ victis also may be true: we Germans have also lived to see the same thing previous to the year 1813. Not true, however, is the rest of Livy’s story, that while they were disputing about it, Camillus made his appearance with an army, and forbade the fulfilment of the bargain, as the military tribune had no right to agree to it; and moreover, that he then drove the Gauls out of the city, and afterwards in a twofold battle so discomfited them, that not a messenger escaped. Beaufort, inspired by Gallic patriotism, has most ably shown the utter groundlessness of this tale. It is quite childish to try and hide the calamities of one’s ancestors by means of fables. Livy did not invent that story; he merely copied it from others. At the same time, he would not let his own better conviction get the upperhand here, as it is his way to look upon the whole of the earlier history with a kind of irony: he has half a mind to believe, and yet for all that, he has no belief in it. Another account, that in Diodorus, is that the Gauls besieged a town then in alliance with the Romans (the name of which, indeed, must have been wrongly written, and is said to have probably been Vulsinii); and that the Romans delivered it, and took back again from the Gauls the gold which had been paid them: Livy, however, knows nothing of this siege of Vulsinii. A third account, in Strabo, and also in Diodorus, does not allow the honour to belong to the Romans; but will have it that the Cærites pursued the Gauls, and attacked and cut them to pieces in the country of the Sabines. Just in the same way did the Greeks endeavour to disguise the fact that the Gauls took the money from the treasury of Delphi, and that in quite an historical age (Ol. CXX.). The true explanation is surely the one which is found in Polybius, that the Gauls were induced by the rising of the people of the Alps to withdraw from Rome, and that Rome on the other hand had suffered its full meed of humiliation. What booty the enemy had taken, was spent; conquests they had made none, they had merely pillaged and devastated everything; and now they had been lying there for eight months, and there was nothing more which they could gain but the Capitol, and that very money which they also thus obtained. From Polybius’ version, many discrepant accounts may be sifted and reconciled, Livy’s romantic embellishments included. As a proof of the Gauls having been really beaten, it was asserted in Rome, that the money taken from them and buried in the Capitol, amounted to twice as much as the city’s ransom. Yet it is much more likely that the Romans paid their ransom from the treasure of the Capitoline Jupiter, and of other temples, and that this was afterwards made up double by a tax; and this tallies with a notice in the history of Manlius, that a rate was levied for the payment of the Gallic ransom. This, however, could not indeed have been done whilst the Romans were scattered every where during the siege; but afterwards, to replace the gold which had been taken away. Now, if such a mass of gold was hoarded at the Capitol, it is evident that people might have thought that they saw in it a proof that the Gauls had not kept the treasure.
As late as in Cæsar’s times, they used to show in Rome the spot near the Carinæ where the Gauls piled up and burnt their dead. It was called busta Gallica, which during the middle ages was corrupted into Portogallo; hence the church which now stands there, is properly called S. Andreas in bustis Gallicis, or, according to later Latinity, in busta Gallica. The Gauls marched off with the gold, and the Romans were reduced to pay it, being so pinched with hunger, that they stripped off the leather from their shields, and cooked it. Annihilated the Gauls certainly were not. We find in Justin the remarkable statement that the self-same Gauls who had destroyed Rome, marched into Apulia, and from thence offered the elder Dionysius their aid for money. From this important account it is manifest, that at all events they marched through the whole of Italy, and then perhaps returned along the Adriatic. Their devastations extended far into Italy; and it is an undoubted fact, that the Æquians received from them their deathblow, as from henceforth there is no more mention of any hostilities of the Æquians against Rome: on the other hand, Præneste, which must formerly have been subdued by the Æquians, appears as an independent city. During the passage therefore of the Gauls, the Æquians who inhabited small towns which might easily be destroyed, must no doubt have been crushed.
RESTORATION OF THE CITY. MANLICUS CAPITOLINUS. THE LICINIAN ROGATIONS. CONFUSION IN THE CHRONOLOGY. ESTABLISHMENT OF THE PRÆTOR URBANUS AND OF THE ÆDILIS CURULIS.
The most striking feature in Livy’s history, is unquestionably the view which he takes of the consequences of the Gallic calamity. He must have pictured it to himself as a passing storm, by which Rome was bent, but not broken: the army, according to his account, was only scattered; the Romans come forth just as they were before, as if all had been nothing but an evil dream, and the only thing to be done was the rebuilding of the town. Yet the havoc was surely immense throughout the Roman territory. During eight months, the barbarians had raged in that country, destroying every trace of tillage, every farmhouse, all the temples and all the public buildings; they had purposely pulled down the walls of the city, and carried off a great number of the inhabitants into slavery: the rest were in great misery at Veii. Camillus, as dictator, is called a second Romulus; and to him the glory is due of not having yielded to despair in this crisis. Since the Volscian war, Rome had been powerful enough no longer to grant to her former allies, who at that time were weak, the same rights as before; for nearly seventy years they had been all but her subjects, although she made a very mild use of her superiority. But all these nations, which had suffered less than Rome, now no more acknowledged her supremacy; and this is the defectio Latinorum qui per centum fere annos nunquam ambigua fide in amicitia populi Romant fuerant, of which Livy speaks. Nothing is more natural than that they should make themselves independent. It would be very bad indeed, if unnatural arrangements were of irrefragable force, so that the natural state of things could not be established at last. That it must have come to this; that shortly before the Gallic troubles the Romans had in reality the ascendency, is quite a different question. This had certainly been the case; just as, under similar circumstances, among the seven Dutch provinces, equal as they all were in law, Holland in fact took the lead, holding that position which belonged to it in right of its wealth and population. In the same way, the Romans might be considered as the heads of the league; but only so long as Rome was in possession of her power.
There is an old tradition, that in the famine the aged men were killed, to spare them the pain of dying of hunger, and that the little which was left, might be reserved for those who were to propagate the republic. It was almost as sad as at the destruction of Magdeburg, when the number of inhabitants was reduced from 30,000 to 3,000. Rome, even when restored, could for several generations have been only a shadow of what it was before its overthrow. It is natural, that people in their despondency should have lost all courage, and that the tribunes insisted on abandoning Rome, and removing to Veii. To have withstood this faint-heartedness, was the merit of Camillus, who in this was upheld by his high aristocratical feeling. It certainly required enlarged views, to make the right decision:—the gods had forsaken Veii; Juno had loudly said that she would not reside at Veii, but at Rome. The discussions on this subject in Livy, are full of his peculiar beauties. I will not assert that Rome could not have taken root again in Veii also; but the chances are that it would have quite gone to ruin: the Latins would have taken for themselves the left bank of the Tiber, and perhaps have placed a Volscian or a Latin colony on the seven hills. Rome’s site on a stream between three peoples, was marked out by heaven with a view to her greatness. The advantages of it are evident: in Veii, she would perhaps have become Etruscan. The senate now behaved like a stern father. After having come to the resolution, which for the poor man was a very hard one, of restoring Rome, it caused Veii to be destroyed for the purpose of rebuilding the city. It is said to have granted bricks, stones, and other building materials, all of which were to be found at Veii. Mean huts were built, and it was only by degrees that better houses were restored. The senate allowed every one to build as they liked; for according to Roman principles, all private property had, owing to the late confusion, fallen in to the state, which now gave its sanction for a new occupation. The walls were raised again, and the dangerous place at the Capitol was faced with hewn stone (saxo quadrato). Under Augustus only was Veii restored as a military colony; but yet as a little Veii; like Gabii, Lavici, &c.
With regard to the rate of interest, and the law of usury at Rome, there were no clear views whatever at the beginning of this century, the antiquities of the Roman civil law being utterly neglected at that time. I make an exception, however, in favour of Schulting. Heineccius is full of talent and learning; but he did not know which way to take. Among others, Hugo, the father of scientific jurisprudence, has handled that subject. He had a fine taste for these things; but he was wanting in the requisite knowledge: Savigny, as well as myself, has been long convinced of the worthlessness of what he has written concerning interest. Savigny did not himself enter into this research; I was led to it in my inquiries. Schrader has confirmed my opinion, and it is now generally received.[122] The Roman loans were contracted for years of ten months, and one ounce in the As was given as interest; that is to say, a twelfth of the capital, which is equivalent to ten per cent. in a year of twelve months. Hugo thought that a twelfth was given monthly; which proves that he had no insight into the state of things, so as to tell what was possible, and what was not. Jurisprudence in general has two sides, theory and practice, with regard to the latter of which we, in Germany, are quite in a wrong track: they manage that better in other countries. The Roman system of debts and obligations in later days is entirely borrowed from the Greek law; the calculation of the syngraphæ and the centesimæ, as it was in common use in Cicero’s time, arose out of the relations in the Greek towns of Athens, Rhodes, and Alexandria. In Tacitus, it is stated, that the foenus unciarium was introduced by the laws of the Twelve Tables; in Livy, that it was adopted in the beginning of the fifth century. People affected to find in this an irreconcilable contradiction, and once I also thought myself that Tacitus was mistaken: now I am of a different opinion. We are to make a distinction here. It does not by any means follow from Livy, that the foenus unciarium was not mentioned already in the Twelve Tables. Until the city was destroyed by the Gauls, there were no complaints of usury; but afterwards, when every one had to build, the law against usury was in all likelihood abrogated, in order that people might be enabled, at all events, to get money. This gave rise to that awful state of debt which followed; and forty years afterwards the old usury law was again enacted. Thus it may also be quite true what Livy says, that at one time it was positively forbidden to take any interest. In the year 1807, friends of mine, contrary to my earnest representations, carried the abrogation of the usury laws, a measure which had unhappy results. The money, afterwards, could not be paid: they then faciebant versuram; that is to say, they added the interest to the principal.
It is wonderful, where, at that time, men were to be found, who could lend money. People confined themselves, it is true, to what was most strictly necessary, on which account the senate gave permission to build as every one pleased. Yet, however much the state might give to lighten the burthen, the restoration must still have been infinitely expensive indeed. I believe that the means for it were furnished by the clients. The grand resolution to restore Rome, which had been formed in the consciousness of its imperishability, must have commanded respect, and have led to a belief in the stability of the state; and thus holders of capital from far and near might have been tempted to betake themselves to a place, where one could get such high interest: the patricians could hardly have saved all this immense capital. Now if a Syracusan, Neapolitan, &c., came with ready money to Rome, he could not himself put it out to interest; so he became the client of some patrician, who concluded the nexum for him. And thus, until the Licinian laws, the condition of the commonalty was exceedingly wretched; and it was unfair that the order which had already such advantages in the state, should also receive usurious interests.
If Rome alone had been destroyed, which the reader of Livy, unless he take a more elevated point of view, must needs believe, it would be quite incomprehensible to us, how it could have kept the neighbouring people at bay, when they had become aware of the opportunity of shaking off the yoke. But the inhabitants of all the country round had indeed likewise to bear their full share of the calamity; and even when they succeeded in defending their towns, many of them may have bought themselves off from being pillaged, at the cost of a heavy war tax. This state of things reminds us of the times immediately after the thirty years’ war, when in the same way the wars soon break out anew. We see clearly that the Etruscans now rose against the Romans, and that this turned out much to the advantage of the latter. Sutrium and Nepete were now the border-towns of Rome towards Etruria,—all the rest, even Falerii also, were lost,—and these towns, moreover, were sometimes besieged, even taken; and when the Romans had reconquered them, they changed them into colonies. The war was principally with the people of Tarquinii and Vulsinii. That the Etruscans tried to wrest back from the Romans their conquests, shows that the Etruscan league was also now dissolved; the northern Etruscans fight against the Gauls, whilst those in the south attack Rome. These Etruscan wars, however, are in the narratives of the historians as full of unauthenticated statements as all the former ones. We find every where throughout that age a breaking up of the old alliances, together with the want of combining into larger states. This was also the case in Greece. Latium was then in a state of political dissolution: one may say that it was no more kept together by any compact bond. Antium, Velitræ and Circeii, the colonists of which were either driven out, or made common cause with the Latins and Volscians, were severed from Rome; so were also the Hernicans; scarcely did the nearest places, like Tusculum and Lanuvium, still hold to Rome. An important part is now played by Præneste. The people of that town and those of Tibur seem to have been allies at that time; Præneste might now perhaps have been the capital of part of the Æquians. The boundary between the Æquians and Romans had ceased to be there: it was now on the other side of Præneste. The respective positions of the different states in the ancient world changed with extraordinary quickness: this is most strikingly seen in Arcadia; the three chief Arcadian peoples are at last quite forgotten. As on the dissolution of Latium, part of the Latins, together with Velitræ and Antium, rose in hostility against Rome; so did Præneste likewise, with part of the Æquians. The time of Rome’s supremacy was now past; Veii only was a permanent gain; and they now received the inhabitants of Etruscan places, which had already before enjoyed the right of citizenship without suffragium, as full citizens, forming four tribes of them; so that there were again twenty-five tribes. Livy says by mistake, that the new tribes were composed of persons who in the former wars had gone over to Rome. This is impossible, as the Romans always formed new tribes of a much greater number of individual voters than there were in the old ones; for on this principle only they could really unite with them, that while these had equal rights as individuals, their influence on the votes should be limited. I, on the contrary, am convinced that all these tribes had formerly been sovereign places and districts: the districts of Veii, Capena, Vulsinii, &c., were no doubt mere spectators in the wars of the towns which ruled them; and they yielded without resistance to the Romans, as soon as these made their appearance, because they were equally well or badly off under any state. Many also were on a footing of neutrality; of which, during the war of Spain and the Netherlands, we find a similar example in the towns of Brabant, which paid taxes to both the belligerent parties in order to remain unmolested. Owing to the destruction of the towns, they became the subjects of Rome. Now it was certainly these to whom Rome gave the full citizenship, and thus filled up its lessened numbers. The conduct of the Etruscan towns in this change was very likely quite passive. Rome had the wisdom to give its new subjects the full plebeian right of citizenship; it was as in Jerusalem, when Ezra and Nehemiah, after the return from Babylon, rebuilt the city.