THE EXPANSION OF PARIS.
Lutetia--_La Cité_--Lutetia taken by Labienus--The Visit of Julian the
Apostate--Besieged by the Franks--The Norman Invasion--Gradual Expansion
from the _Ile de la Cité_ to the Outer Boulevards--M. Thiers's Line of
Outworks.
Lutetia, the ancient Paris, or Lutetia Parisiorum, as it was called
by the Romans, stood in the midst of marshes. The name, derived,
suggestively enough, from _lutum_, the Latin for mud, has been invested
with a peculiar significance by those stern moralists who see in Paris
nothing but a sink of iniquity. Balzac called it a "wen"; and Blucher,
when some ferocious member of his staff suggested the destruction of
Paris, exclaimed: "Leave it alone; Paris will destroy all France!"
By a critic of less severe temperament Paris has been contemptuously
described as "the tavern of Europe"--_le cabaret de l'Europe_. Lutetia,
however, can afford to smile alike at the slurs of moralists and the
sneers of cynics; and the etymology of her name need by no means alarm
those of her admirers who will reflect that lilies may spring from mud,
and that the richest corn is produced from the blackest soil.
The development of the Lutetia of Cæsar's time into the Paris of our own
has occupied many eventful centuries; and the centre of the development
may still be seen in that little island of the so-called City--_l'Ile
de la Cité_--once known as the Island of Lutetia. As to the dimensions
of the ancient Lutetia, neither historians nor geographers are wholly
agreed. The germ of Paris is, in any case, to be found in that part of
the French capital which has long been known as _la Cité_, and which is
the dullest and sleepiest part of Paris, just as inversely our "city,"
distinctively so called, is the most active and energetic part of London.
The Parisians have always been given to insurrection; and their first
rising was made against a ruler who was likely enough to put it
down--Julius Cæsar, that is to say. Finding his power defied, Cæsar sent
against the Parisians a body of troops, under the command of Labienus,
who crushed the rebels in the first battle. Historians give different
versions of the engagement, but modern writers are content for the most
part to rely on a tradition related by an author of the fourteenth
century, Raoul de Presles, who published a French version of Cæsar's
account of the Battle of Paris, enriched by notes and comments from his
own pen. Labienus, according to Cæsar and Raoul de Presles, was arrested
in his first attack by an impassable marsh. Then, simulating a retreat
along the left bank of the Seine, he was pursued by the Gauls, in spite
of Camulogenes, their cautious leader; who, unable to restrain them,
fell with them at last into an ambuscade, in which chief and followers
all perished.
Raoul de Presles gives some interesting details about the marsh which
Labienus, on making his advance against Paris, was unable to cross. Some
identify it with the Marshes of the Temple, which formed, on the north
of Paris, a continuous semicircle; but Raoul de Presles seems to hold
that the marsh which stopped the advance of Labienus protected Lutetia
itself: that Lutetia of the Island which sprang from the mud as Venus
sprang from the sea. The city of Lutetia was at that time so strong,
so entirely shut in by water, that Julius Cæsar himself speaks of the
difficulty of reaching it. "But since then," says Raoul de Presles,
"there has been much solidification through gravel, sand, and all kinds
of rubbish being cast into it."
After the victory of Labienus, Lutetia, which the conqueror had
destroyed, was quickly re-built; and it was then governed as a Roman
town. This, however, was in Cæsar's time; and the first description of
Lutetia as a city was given by Strabo some fifty years later. Thus it
may safely be said that of the original Lutetia nothing whatever is
known.
It is certain, nevertheless, that in the new Lutetia, built by the
Romans, the most important edifices stood at the western end of the
island, including a palace, on whose site was afterwards to be erected
the Palace of the French Kings; while at the eastern end the most
striking object was a Temple to Jupiter, in due time to be replaced by
the Cathedral of Notre-Dame.
As early as the fourth century Lutetia found favour in the eyes of
illustrious visitors; and the Emperor Julian, known as the "Apostate,"
when, after defeating seven German kings near Strasburg, he retired to
Lutetia for winter quarters, spoke of it, then and for ever afterwards,
as his "dear Lutetia."
"Lutetia lætitia!"--Paris is my joy!--he might, with a certain modern
writer, have exclaimed.
Julian is not the only man who, going to Paris for a few months, has
stayed there several years; and Julian's winter quarters of the year 355
so much pleased him that he remained in them until 360. Encouraged, no
doubt, by what Julian, in his enthusiasm, told them about the already
attractive capital of Gaul, a whole series of Roman emperors visited the
city, including Valentinian I., Valentinian II., and Gratian, who left
Paris in 379, never to return.
From this date Paris ceased practically to form part of the Roman Empire.
More than a century before (in 245) St. Denis had undergone martyrdom
on the banks of the Seine, walking about after decapitation with his
head under his arm. This strange tradition had probably its origin in
a picture by some simple-minded painter, who had represented St. Denis
carrying his own head like a parcel, because he could think of no more
ingenious way of indicating the fate that had befallen the first apostle
of Christianity in Gaul; just as St. Bartholomew has often been painted
with his skin hanging across his arm like a loose overcoat.
After the defeat and death of Gratian, the government of Lutetia passed
into the hands of her bishops, who often defended the city against the
incursions of the barbarians.
In 476 Lutetia was besieged by the Franks, when Childeric gained
possession of it, and destroyed for ever all traces of the Roman power.
It now became a Frank or French town; and, "Lutetia Parisiorum" being
too long a name for the unlettered Goths, was shortened by them first
into "Parisius," and ultimately, by the suppression of the two last
syllables, into "Paris."
In the ninth century Paris underwent the usual Norman invasion, by
which so many European countries, from Russia to England, and from
England to Sicily--not to speak of the Norman or Varangian Guard
of Constantinople--were sooner or later to be visited. The "hardy
Norsemen"--or Norman pirates, as the unhappy Parisians doubtless called
them--started from the island of Oissel, near Rouen, where they had
established themselves in force; and, moving with a numerous fleet
towards Paris, laid siege to it, and, on its surrender, first pillaged
it and then burnt it to the ground. Three churches alone--those of
Saint-Étienne, Saint-Germain-des-Prés, and Saint-Denis, near Paris--were
saved, through the payment of a heavy ransom. Sixteen years later, after
a sufficient interval to allow of a reconstruction, the Normans again
returned, when once more the unhappy city was plundered and burnt.
For twenty successive years Paris was the constant prey of the Norman
pirates who held beneath their power the whole course of the Seine.
At last, however, a powerful fleet, led by a chief whom the French call
"Siegfroi," but whose real name was doubtless "Siegfried," sustained
a crushing defeat; and, simultaneously with the Norman invaders, the
Carlovingian Dynasty passed away.
With the advent of the Capet Dynasty a continuous history began for
Paris--in due time to become the capital of all France. Ancient Paris
was three times burnt to the ground: the Paris which dates from the
ninth century has often been conquered, but never burnt.
Ancient Paris, the Lutetia of the Romans, was an island enclosed between
two branches of the Seine. But the river overflowed north and south,
and it became necessary to construct large ditches or moats, which at
once widened the boundaries of the "city." Gradually the population
spread out in every direction; and when, under Louis XIV., the line of
boulevards was traced, the extreme limits of the capital were marked by
this new enclosure. Then under Louis XVI., the Farmers-General, levying
dues (the so-called _octroi_) on imports into the town, established for
their own convenience certain "barriers," at which persons bringing in
food or drink were stopped until they had acquitted themselves of the
appointed tax; and, connecting these "barriers," they thus formed the
line of outer boulevards.
Paris extended in time even to these outer boulevards. Then, under
Louis-Philippe, at the instigation of his Minister, M. Thiers, a
line of fortifications was constructed around Paris; which, proving
insufficient in 1870 and 1871 to save the capital from bombardment,
has in its turn been surrounded by a circle of outlying detached forts
intercommunicating with one another.
The fortifications of Paris have had a strange history. At the time of
their being planned, opinions in France were divided as to whether they
were intended to oppose a foreign invasion or to control an internal
revolt. In all probability they were meant, according to the occasion,
to serve either purpose. They were not only designed by M. Thiers, but
executed under his orders; and this statesman, who had made a careful
study of military science, lived to see them powerless against the
German army of investment, and successful against the Paris Commune.
[Illustration: ON THE BOULEVARDS--CORNER OF PLACE DE L'OPÉRA.]
Paris had been invaded and occupied in 1814, and again in 1815. On the
other hand, domestic government had been upset in 1830 by a popular
insurrection, which, with adequate military force to oppose it, might
at once have been suppressed. Was it as patriot, people asked, or as
minister of a would-be despotic king, that M. Thiers proposed to raise
around Paris a new and formidable wall?
M. Thiers's circular line of outworks played no part in connection with
the successful insurrection of February, 1848, nor with the unsuccessful
one of June in the same year. Nor was a single shot fired from the
fortifications in connection with the _coup d'État_ of 1851. They did
not in 1871 prevent the French capital from falling into the hands of
the Germans: but they delayed for a considerable time the fatal moment
of surrender; and if the army of Metz could have held out a few weeks
longer--if, above all, the inhabitants of the inactive south, who
practically took no part in the war, had been prepared, to fight with
something like the energy displayed by the Confederates against the
Federals during the American Civil War--then the fortifications would
have justified the views of those who had chiefly regarded them as a
valuable defence against foreign invasion.
The fortifications erected by M. Thiers have since been pulled down:
partly because the constantly expanding city wanted fresh building
ground, partly because, in view of new plans of defence, and of the
new artillery of offence, it was considered desirable to protect Paris
by a system of outlying but inter-protecting forts, at a sufficient
distance from the houses of the capital to render reduction by what is
called "simple bombardment" impossible. In time Lutetia, with fresh
developments, may require yet another new girdle.