tallying with what was already published, but further incriminated
Crassus. Crassus, however, was so wealthy, and had so many of the senate
in his power, that even those who believed the charge to be true,
thought it politic to pronounce it a gross fabrication. The danger of an
attempted rescue of Lentulus brought on a debate as to what should be
done with the prisoners. Cæsar, from whatever motive, spoke forcibly
against any unconstitutional action which, however justified by the
enormity of the prisoners' guilt, might become a dangerous precedent. In
his opinion, the wise course would be to confiscate the property of the
prisoners, and to place their persons in custody not in Rome, but in
provincial towns.
Cæsar's humanitarian statesmanship was answered by the grave austerity
of Cato. "The question for us is not that of punishing a crime, but of
preserving the state--or of what the degenerate Roman of to-day cares
for more than the state, our lives and property. To speak of clemency
and compassion is an abuse of terms only too common, when vices are
habitually dignified with the names of virtues. Let us for once act with
vigour and decision, and doom these convicted traitors to the death they
deserve." The decree of death was carried to immediate execution. In the
meantime, Catiline had raised a force numbering two legions, but not
more than a quarter of them were properly armed. He remained in the
hills, refusing to give battle to Antonius.
On hearing the fate of Lentulus and the rest, he attempted to retreat to
Gaul, but this movement was anticipated and intercepted by Metellus
Celer, who was posted at Picenum with three legions. With Antonius
pressing on his rear, Catiline resolved to hazard all on a desperate
engagement. In exhorting his troops, he dwelt on the fact that men
fighting for life and liberty were more than a match for a foe who had
infinitely less at stake.
Thus brought to bay, Catiline's soldiers met the attack of the
government troops with furious valour, their leader setting a brilliant
example of desperate daring, and the most vigilant and vigorous
generalship. But Petreius, on the other side, directed his force against
the rebel centre, shattered it, and took the wings in flank. Catiline's
followers stood and fought till they fell, with their wounds in front;
he himself hewed his way through the foe, and was found still breathing
at a distance from his own ranks. No quarter was given or taken; and
among the rebels there were no survivors. In the triumphant army, all
the stoutest soldiers were slain or wounded; mourning and grief mingled
with the elation of victory.
* * * * *
EDWARD GIBBON
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire--I
Edward Gibbon, son of a Hampshire gentleman, was born at
Putney, near London, April 27, 1737. After a preliminary
education at Westminster, and fourteen "unprofitable" months
at Magdalen College, Oxford, a whim to join the Roman church
led to his banishment to Lausanne, where he spent five years,
and acquired a mastery of the French language, formed his
taste for literary expression, and settled his religious
doubts in a profound scepticism. He served some years in the
militia, and was a member of parliament. It was in 1764, while
musing amidst, the ruins of the Capitol of Rome, that the idea
of writing "The Decline and Fall" of the city first started
into his mind. The vast work was completed in 1787. "A Study
in Literature," written in French, and his "Miscellaneous
Works," published after his death, which include "The Memoirs
of his Life and Writings," complete the list of his literary
labours. He died of dropsy on January 16, 1794. The portion of
the work which is epitomized here covers the period from the
reign of Commodus to the era of Charlemagne, and includes the
famous portion of the work dealing with the growth of the
Christian church.
_I.--Rome, Mistress of the World_
In the second century of the Christian era, the Empire of Rome
comprehended the fairest part of the earth, and the most civilised
portion of mankind. On the death of Augustus, that emperor bequeathed,
as a valuable legacy to his successors, the advice of confining the
empire within those limits which nature seemed to have placed as its
permanent bulwarks and boundaries--on the west the Atlantic Ocean, the
Rhine and Danube on the north, the Euphrates on the east, and towards
the south the sandy deserts of Arabia and Africa. The subsequent
settlement of Great Britain and Dacia supplied the two exceptions to the
precepts of Augustus, if we omit the transient conquests of Trajan in
the east, which were renounced by Hadrian.
By maintaining the dignity of the empire, without attempting to enlarge
its limits, the early emperors caused the Roman name to be revered among
the most remote nations of the earth. The terror of their arms added
weight and dignity to their moderation. They preserved peace by a
constant preparation for war. The soldiers, though drawn from the
meanest, and very frequently from the most profligate, of mankind, and
no longer, as in the days of the ancient republic, recruited from Rome
herself, were preserved in their allegiance to the emperor, and their
invincibility before the enemy, by the influences of superstition,
inflexible discipline, and the hopes of reward. The peace establishment
of the Roman army numbered some 375,000 men, divided into thirty
legions, who were confined, not within the walls of fortified cities,
which the Romans considered as the refuge of pusillanimity, but upon the
confines of the empire; while 20,000 chosen soldiers, distinguished by
the titles of City Cohorts and Prætorian Guards, watched over the safety
of the monarch and the capitol.
"Wheresoever the Roman conquers he inhabits," was a very just
observation of Seneca. Colonies, composed for the most part of veteran
soldiers, were settled throughout the empire. Rich and prosperous
cities, adorned with magnificent temples and baths and other public
buildings, demonstrated at once the magnificence and majesty of the
Roman system. In Britain, York was the seat of government. London was
already enriched by commerce, and Bath was celebrated for the salutary
effects of its medicinal waters.
All the great cities were connected with each other, and with the
capital, by the public highway, which, issuing from the Forum of Rome,
traversed Italy, pervaded the provinces, and was terminated only by the
frontiers of the empire. This great chain of communications ran in a
direct line from city to city, and in its construction the Roman
engineers snowed little respect for the obstacles, either of nature or
of private property. Mountains were perforated and bold arches thrown
over the broadest and most rapid streams. The middle part of the road,
raised into a terrace which commanded the adjacent country, consisted of
several strata of sand, gravel, and cement, and was paved with granite
or large stones. Distances were accurately computed by milestones, and
the establishment of post-houses, at a distance of five or six miles,
enabled a citizen to travel with ease a hundred miles a day along the
Roman roads.
This freedom of intercourse, which was established throughout the Roman
world, while it extended the vices, diffused likewise the improvements
of social life. Rude barbarians of Gaul laid aside their arms for the
more peaceful pursuits of agriculture. The cultivation of the earth
produced abundance in every portion of the empire, and accidental
scarcity in any single province was immediately relieved by the
plentifulness of its more fortunate neighbours. Since the productions of
nature are the materials of art, this flourishing condition of
agriculture laid the foundation of manufactures, which provided the
luxurious Roman with those refinements of conveniency, of elegance, and
of splendour which his tastes demanded. Commerce flourished, and the
products of Egypt and the East were poured out in the lap of Rome.
Though there still existed within the body of the Roman Empire an
unhappy condition of men who endured the weight, without sharing the
benefits of society, the position of a slave was greatly improved in the
progress of Roman development. The power of life and death was taken
from his master's hands and vested in the magistrate, to whom he had a
right to appeal against intolerable treatment. These magistrates
exercised the authority of the emperor and the senate in every quarter
of the empire, inflexibly maintaining in their administration, as in the
case of military government, the use of the Latin tongue. Greek was the
natural idiom of science, Latin that of government.
_II.--The Seeds of Dissolution_
But while Roman society persisted in a state of peaceful security, it
already contained within itself the seeds of dissolution. The long peace
and uniform government of the Romans introduced a slow and secret poison
into the vitals of the empire. The minds of men were gradually reduced
to the same level, the fire of genius was extinguished, and even the
military spirit evaporated. The citizens received laws and covenants
from the will of their sovereign, and trusted for their defence to a
mercenary army. Of their ancient freedom nothing remained except the
name, and that Augustus, sensible that mankind is governed by names, was
careful to preserve.
It was by the will of the senate the emperor ruled. It was from the
senate that he received the ancient titles of the republic--of consul,
tribune, pontiff, and censor. Even his title of _imperator_ was decreed
him, according to the custom of the republic, only for a period of ten
years. But this specious pretence, which was preserved until the last
days of the empire, did not mask the real autocratic authority of the
emperor. The fact that he nominated citizens to the senate was proof, if
proof were needed, that the independence of that body was destroyed; for
the principles of a free constitution are irrecoverably lost when the
legislative power is nominated by the executive.
Moreover, the dependence of the emperor on the legions completely
subverted the civil authority. To keep the military power, which had
given him his position, from undermining it, Augustus had summoned to
his aid whatever remained in the fierce minds of his soldiers of Roman
prejudices, and interposing the majesty of the senate between the
emperor and the army, boldly claimed their allegiance as the first
magistrate of the republic. During a period of 220 years, the dangers
inherent to a military government were in a great measure suspended by
this artful system. The soldiers were seldom roused to that fatal sense
of their own strength and of the weakness of the civil authority which
afterwards was productive of such terrible calamities.
The emperors Caligula and Domitian were assassinated in their palace by
their own domestics. The Roman world, it is true, was shaken by the
events that followed the death of Nero, when, in the space of eighteen
months, four princes perished by the sword. But, excepting this violent
eruption of military licence, the two centuries from Augustus to
Commodus passed away unstained with civil blood and undisturbed by
revolution. The Roman citizens might groan under the tyranny, from which
they could not hope to escape, of the unrelenting Tiberius, the furious
Caligula, the profligate and cruel Nero, the beastly Vitellius, and the
timid, inhuman Domitian; but order was maintained, and it was not until
Commodus, the son of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, the philosopher,
succeeded to the authority that his father had exercised for the benefit
of the Roman Empire that the army fully realised, and did not fail to
exercise, the power it had always possessed.
During the first three years of his reign the vices of Commodus affected
the emperor rather than the state. While the young prince revelled in
licentious pleasures, the management of affairs remained in the hands of
his father's faithful councillors; but, in the year 183, the attempt of
his sister Lucilla to assassinate him produced fatal results. The
assassin, in attempting the deed, exclaimed, "The senate sends you
this!" and though the blow never reached the body of the emperor, the
words sank deep into his heart.
He turned upon the senate with relentless cruelty. The possession of
either wealth or virtue excited the tyrant's fury. Suspicion was
equivalent to proof; trial to condemnation, and the noblest blood of the
senate was poured out like water.
He has shed with impunity the noblest blood of Rome; he perished as soon
as he was dreaded by his own domestics. A cup of drugged wine, delivered
by his favourite concubine, plunged him in a deep sleep. At the
instigation of Lætus, his Prætorian prefect, a robust youth was admitted
into his chamber, and strangled him without resistance. With secrecy and
celerity the conspirators sought out Pertinax, the prefect of the city,
an ancient senator of consular rank, and persuaded him to accept the
purple. A large donative secured them the support of the Prætorian
guard, and the joyous senate eagerly bestowed upon the new Augustus all
the titles of imperial power.
For eighty-six days Pertinax ruled the empire with firmness and
moderation, but the strictness of the ancient discipline that he
attempted to restore in the army excited the hatred of the Prætorian
guards, and the new emperor was struck down on March 28, 193.
_III.--An Empire at Auction_
The Prætorians had violated the sanctity of the throne by the atrocious
murder of Pertinax; they dishonored the majesty of it with their
subsequent conduct. They ran out upon the ramparts of the city, and with
a loud voice proclaimed that the Roman world was to be disposed of to
the best bidder by public auction. Sulpicianus, father-in-law of
Pertinax, and Didius Julianus, bid against each other for the prize. It
fell to Julian, who offered upwards of £1,000 sterling to each of the
soldiers, and the author of this ignominious bargain received the
insignia of the empire and the acknowledgments of a trembling senate.
The news of this disgraceful auction was received by the legions of the
frontiers with surprise, with indignation, and, perhaps, with envy.
Albinus, governor of Britain, Niger, governor of Syria, and Septimius
Severus, a native of Africa, commander of the Pannonian army, prepared
to revenge the death of Pertinax, and to establish their own claims to
the vacant throne. Marching night and day, Severus crossed the Julian
Alps, swept aside the feeble defences of Julian, and put an end to a
reign of power which had lasted but sixty-six days, and had been
purchased with such immense treasure. Having secured the supreme
authority, Severus turned his arms against his two competitors, and
within three years, and in the course of two or three battles,
established his position and brought about the death of both Albinus and
Niger.
The prosperity of Rome revived, and a profound peace reigned throughout
the world. At the same time, Severus was guilty of two acts which were
detrimental to the future interests of the republic. He relaxed the
discipline of the army, increased their pay beyond the example of former
times, re-established the Prætorian guards, who had been abolished for
their transaction with Julian, and welded more firmly the chains of
tyranny by filling the senate with his creatures. At the age of
sixty-five in the year 211, he expired at York of a disorder which was
aggravated by the labours of a campaign against the Caledonians.
Severus recommended concord to his sons, Caracalla and Geta, and his
sons to the army. The government of the civilised world was entrusted to
the hands of brothers who were implacable enemies. A latent civil war
brooded in the city, and hardly more than a year passed before the
assassins of Caracalla put an end to an impossible situation by
murdering Geta. Twenty thousand persons of both sexes suffered death
under the vague appellation of the friends of Geta. The fears of
Macrinus, the controller of the civil affairs of the Prætorian
prefecture, brought about his death in the neighbourhood of Carrhæ in
Syria on April 8, 217.
For a little more than a year his successor governed the empire, but the
necessary step of reforming the army brought about his ruin. On June 7,
218, he succumbed to the superior fortune of Elagabulus, the grandson of
Severus, a youth trained in all the superstitions and vices of the East.
Under this sovereign Rome was prostituted to the vilest vices of which
human nature is capable. The sum of his infamy was reached when the
master of the Roman world affected to copy the dress and manners of the
female sex. The shame and disgust of the soldiers resulted in his murder
on March 10, 222, and the proclamation of his cousin, Alexander Severus.
Again the necessity of restoring discipline within the army led to the
ruin of the emperor, and, despite thirteen years of just and moderate
government, Alexander was murdered in his tent on March 19, 235, on the
banks of the Rhine, and Maximin, his chief lieutenant, a Thracian,
reigned in his stead.
_IV.--Tyranny and Disaster_
Fear of contempt, for his origin was mean and barbarian, made Maximin
one of the cruellest tyrants that ever oppressed the Roman world. During
the three years of his reign he disdained to visit either Rome or Italy,
but from the banks of the Rhine and the Danube oppressed the whole
state, and trampled on every principle of law and justice. The tyrant's
avarice ruined not only private citizens, but seized the municipal funds
of the cities, and stripped the very temples of their gold and silver
offerings.
Maximus and Balbinus, on July 9, 237, were declared emperors. The
Emperor Maximus advanced to meet the furious tyrant, but the stroke of
domestic conspiracy prevented the further eruption of civil war. Maximin
and his son were murdered by their disappointed troops in front of
Aquileia.
Three months later, Maximus and Balbinus, on July 15, 238, fell victims
to their own virtues at the hands of the Prætorian guard, Gordian became
emperor. At the end of six years, he, too, after an innocent and
virtuous reign, succumbed to the ambition of the prefect Philip, while
engaged in a war with Persia, and in March 244, the Roman world
recognized the sovereignty of an Arabian robber.
Returning to Rome, Philip celebrated the secular games, on the
accomplishment of the full period of a thousand years from the
foundation of Rome. From that date, which marked the fifth time that
these rites had been performed in the history of the city, for the next
twenty years the Roman world was afflicted by barbarous invaders and
military tyrants, and the ruined empire seemed to approach the last and
fatal moment of its dissolution. Six emperors in turn succeeded to the
sceptre of Philip and ended their lives, either as the victims of
military licence, or in the vain attempt to stay the triumphal eruption
of the Goths and the Franks and the Suevi. In three expeditions the
Goths seized the Bosphorus, plundered the cities of Bithynia, ravaged
Greece, and threatened Italy, while the Franks invaded Gaul, overran
Spain and the provinces of Africa.
Some sparks of their ancient virtue enabled the senate to repulse the
Suevi, who threatened Rome herself, but the miseries of the empire were
not assuaged by this one triumph, and the successes of Sapor, king of
Persia, in the East, seemed to foreshadow the immediate downfall of
Rome. Six emperors and thirty tyrants attempted in vain to stay the
course of disaster. Famine and pestilence, tumults and disorders, and a
great diminution of the population marked this period, which ended with
the death of the Emperor Gallienus on March 20, 268.
_V.--Restorers of the Roman World_
The empire, which had been oppressed and almost destroyed by the
soldiers, the tyrants, and the barbarians, was saved by a series of
great princes, who derived their obscure origin from the martial
provinces of Illyricum. Within a period of about thirty years, Claudius,
Aurelian, Probus, Diocletian and his colleagues triumphed over the
foreign and domestic enemies of the state, re-established, with a
military discipline, the strength of the frontier, and deserved the
glorious title of Restorers of the Roman world.
Claudius gained a crushing victory over the Goths, whose discomfiture
was completed by disease in the year 269. And his successor, Aurelian,
in a reign of less than five years, put an end to the Gothic war,
chastised the Germans who invaded Italy, recovered Gaul, Spain, and
Britain from the Roman usurpers, and destroyed the proud monarchy which
Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra, had erected in the East on the ruins of the
afflicted empire.
The murder of Aurelian in the East (January 275) led to a curious
revival of the authority of the senate. During an interregnum of eight
months the ancient assembly at Rome governed with the consent of the
army, and appeared to regain with the election of Tacitus, one of their
members, all their ancient prerogatives. Their authority expired,
however, with the death of his successor, Probus, who delivered the
empire once more from the invasions of the barbarians, and succumbed to
the too common fate of assassination in August 282.
Carus, who was elected in his place, maintained the reputation of the
Roman arms in the East; but his supposed death by lightning, by
delivering the sceptre into the hands of his sons Carinus and Numerian
(December 25, 283), once more placed the Roman world at the mercy of
profligacy and licentiousness. A year later, the election of the Emperor
Diocletian (September 17, 284) founded a new era in the history and
fortunes of the empire.
It was the artful policy of Diocletian to destroy the last vestiges of
the ancient constitution. Dividing his unwieldly power among three other
associates--Maximian, a rough, brutal soldier, who ranked as Augustus;
and Galerius and Constantius, who bore the inferior titles of Cæsar--the
emperor removed the centre of government by gradual steps from Rome.
Diocletian and Maximian held their courts in the provinces, and the
authority of the senators was destroyed by spoliation and death.
_VI.--Reign of the Six Emperors_
For twenty-one years Diocletian held sway, establishing, with the
assistance of his associates, the might of the Roman arms in Britain,
Africa, Egypt, and Persia; and then, on May 1, 305, in a spacious plain
in the neighborhood of Nicomedia, divested himself of the purple and
abdicated the throne. On the same day at Milan, Maximian reluctantly
made his resignation of the imperial dignity.
According to the rules of the new constitution, Constantius and Galerius
assumed the title of Augustus, and nominated Maximin and Severus as
Cæsars. The elaborate machinery devised by Diocletian at once broke
down. Galerius, who was supported by Severus, intrigued for the
possession of the whole Roman world. Constantine, the son of
Constantius, on account of his popularity with the army and the people,
excited his suspicion, and only the flight of Constantine saved him from
death. He made his way to Gaul, and, after taking part in a campaign
with his father against the Caledonians, received the title of Augustus
in the imperial palace at York on the death of Constantius.
Civil war once more raged. Maxentius, the son of Maximian, was declared
Emperor of Rome, and, with the assistance of his father, who broke from
his retirement, defended his title against Severus, who was taken
prisoner at Ravenna and executed at Rome in February 307. Galerius, who
had raised Licinius to fill the post vacated by the death of Severus,
invaded Italy to reestablish his authority, but, after threatening Rome,
was compelled to retire.