twice been routed, can better be imagined than described. The senate
came together, and for two days carefully considered the critical state
of affairs. They decided that it was necessary to appoint a dictator,
and Fabius Maximus was chosen. Hannibal in the meantime continued to
avoid Rome, and to march through the regions on the Adriatic, hoping to
arouse the inhabitants to his support. In vain were his efforts. Even
the Gauls seemed now to have forgotten him, and Carthage itself did not
send him aid. Fabius strove to keep to the high lands, where it was
impossible for Hannibal to attack him, while he harassed him or tried
to shut him up in some defile.
In the spring of the year 216, both parties were prepared for a more
terrible struggle than had yet been seen. The Romans put their forces
under one Varro, a business man, who was considered the champion of
popular liberty. The armies met on the field of Cannæ, on the banks of
the river Aufidus which enters the Adriatic, and there the practical
man was defeated with tremendous slaughter, though he was able himself
to escape toward the mountains to Venusia, and again to return to
Canusium. There he served the state so well that his defeat was almost
forgotten, and he was actually thanked by the senate for his skill in
protecting the remnant of the wasted army.
The people now felt that the end of the republic had come, but still
they would not listen to Hannibal when he sent messengers to ask terms
of peace. They were probably surprised when, instead of marching upon
their capital, the Carthaginian remained in comparative inactivity, in
pursuance of his former policy. He was not entirely disappointed this
time, in expecting that his brilliant victory would lead some of the
surrounding nations to declare in his favor, for finally the rich city
of Capua, which considered itself equal to Rome, opened to him its
gates, and he promised to make it the capital of Italy (B.C. 216). With
Capua went the most of Southern Italy, and Hannibal thought that the
war would soon end after such victories, but he was mistaken.
Two other sources of help gave him hope, but at last failed him. Philip
V., one of the ablest monarchs of Macedon, who had made a treaty with
Hannibal after the battle of Cannæ, tried to create a diversion in his
favor on the other side of the Adriatic, but his schemes were not
energetically pressed, and failed. Again, a new king of Syracuse, who
had followed Hiero, offered direct assistance, but he, too, was
overcome, and his strong and wealthy city taken with terrible carnage,
though the scientific skill of the famous Archimedes long enabled its
ruler to baffle the Roman generals (B.C. 212). The Romans overran the
Spanish peninsula, too, and though they were for a time brought to a
stand, in the year 210 the state of affairs changed. A young man of
promise, who had, however, never been tried in positions of great
trust, was sent out. It was the great Scipio, who has been already
mentioned. He captured New Carthage, made himself master of Spain, and
was ready by the year 207 to take the last step, as he thought it would
be, by carrying the war into Africa, and thus obliging Hannibal to
withdraw from Italy.
At home, the aged Fabius was meantime the trusted leader in public
counsels, and by his careful generalship Campania had been regained.
Capua, too, had been recaptured, though that enterprise had been
undertaken in spite of his cautious advice. Hannibal was thus obliged
to withdraw to Lower Italy, after he had threatened Rome by marching
boldly up to its very gates. The Samnites and Lucanians submitted, and
Tarentum fell into the hands of Fabius, whose active career then
closed. He had opposed the more aggressive measures of Scipio which
were to lead to success, but we can hardly think that the old commander
was led to do this because, seeing that victory was to be the result,
he envied the younger soldier who was to achieve the final laurels,
though Plutarch mentions that sinister motive. The career of Fabius,
which had opened at the battle of Cannæ, and had been successful ever
since, culminated in his triumph after the fall of Tarentum, which
occurred in B.C. 209.
[Illustration: PUBLIUS CORNELIUS SCIPIO AFRICANUS.]
Now the Carthaginian army in Spain, under command of Hasdrubal, made an
effort to go to the help of Hannibal, and, taking the same route by the
Little St. Bernard pass, arrived in Italy (B.C. 208) almost before the
enemy was aware of its intention. Hannibal, on his part, began to march
northward from his southern position, and after gaining some
unimportant victories, arrived at Canusium, where he stopped to wait
for his brother. The Romans, however, managed to intercept the
dispatches of Hasdrubal, and marched against him, in the spring of 207,
after he had wasted much time in unsuccessfully besieging Placentia.
The two armies met on the banks of the river Metaurus. The
Carthaginians were defeated with terrible slaughter, and the Romans
felt that the calamity of Cannæ was avenged. Hasdrubal's head was sent
to his brother, who exclaimed at the sight: "I recognize the doom of
Carthage!"
For four years Hannibal kept his army among the mountains of Southern
Italy, feeling that his effort at conquering Rome had failed. Meantime
Scipio was making arrangements to carry out his favorite project,
though in face of much opposition from Fabius and from the senate,
which followed his lead. The people were, however, with Scipio, and
though he was not able to make such complete preparations as he wished,
by the year 204 he had made ready to set out from Lilybæum for Africa.
At Utica he was joined by his allies, and, in 203, defeated the
Carthaginians and caused them to look anxiously across the sea toward
their absent general for help. Pretending to desire peace, they took
advantage of the time gained by negotiations to send for Hannibal, who
reached Africa before the year closed, after an absence of fifteen
years, and took up his position at Hadrumentum, where he looked over
the field and sadly determined to ask for terms of peace. Scipio was
desirous of the glory of closing the long struggle, and refused to make
terms, thus forcing Hannibal to continue the war. The Romans went about
ravaging the country until, at last, a pitched battle was brought about
at a place near Zama, in which, though Hannibal managed his army with
his usual skill, he was overcome and utterly routed. He now again
advised peace, and accepted less favorable terms than had been before
offered. Henceforth Carthage was to pay an annual war-contribution to
Rome, and was not to enter upon war with any nation in Africa, or
anywhere else, without the consent of her conquerors. Scipio returned
to Rome in the year 201, and enjoyed a magnificent triumph, the name
Africanus being at the same time added to his patronymic. Other honors
were offered him, but the most extraordinary of them he declined to
accept.
Hannibal, though overcome, stands forth as the greatest general. At the
age of forty-five he now found himself defeated in the proud plans of
his youth; but, with manly strength, he refused to be cast down, and
set about work for the improvement of his depressed city. It was not
long before he aroused the opposition which has often come to public
benefactors, and was obliged to flee from Carthage. From that time, he
was a wanderer on the earth. Ever true to his hatred of Rome, however,
he continued to plot for her downfall even in his exile. He went to
Tyre and then to Ephesus, and tried to lead the Syrian monarch
Antiochus to make successful inroads upon his old enemy. Obliged to
flee in turn from Ephesus, he sought an asylum at the court of Prusias,
King of Bithynia. At last, seeing that he was in danger of being
delivered up to the Romans, in despair he took his own life at Libyssa,
in the year 182 or 181. Thus ignominiously ended the career of the man
who stood once at the head of the commanders of the world, and whose
memory is still honored for the magnificence of his ambition in daring
to attack and expecting to conquer the most powerful nation of his
time.
XI.
THE NEW PUSHES THE OLD--WARS AND CONQUESTS.
There were days of tumult in Rome in the year 195, which illustrate the
temper of the times, and show how the city and the people had changed,
and were changing, under the influence of two opposite forces. A vivid
picture of the scenes around the Capitol at the time has been
preserved. Men were hastening to the meeting of the magistrates from
every direction. The streets were crowded, and not with men chiefly,
for something which interested the matrons seemed to be uppermost, and
women were thronging in the same direction, in spite of custom, which
would have kept them at home; in spite even of the commands of many of
their husbands, who were opposed to their frequenting public
assemblies. Not only on one day did the women pour out into all the
avenues leading to the forum, but once and again they thrust themselves
into the presence of the law-makers. Nor were they content to stand or
sit in quiet while their husbands and brothers argued and made eloquent
speeches; they actually solicited the votes of the stronger sex in
behalf of a motion that was evidently very important in their minds.
Of old time, the Romans had thought that women should keep at home, and
that in the transaction of private business even they should be under
the direction of their parents, brothers, or husbands. What had wrought
so great a change that on these days the Roman matrons not only
ventured into the forum, but actually engaged in public business, and
that, as has been said, in many instances, in opposition to those
parents, brothers, and husbands who were in those old times their
natural directors? We shall find the reason by going back to the days
when the cost of the Punic wars bore heavily upon the state. It was
then that a law was passed that no woman should wear any garment of
divers colors, nor own more gold than a half-ounce in weight, nor ride
through the streets of a city in a carriage drawn by horses, nor in any
place nearer than a mile to a town, except for the purpose of engaging
in a public religious solemnity. The spirited matrons of Rome were ever
ready to bear their share of the public burdens, and though some
thought this oppressive, but few murmurs escaped them as they read the
Oppian law, as it was called, when it was passed, for the days were
dark, and the shadow of the defeat at Cannæ was bowing down all hearts,
and their brothers and parents and husbands were trembling, strong men
that they were, at the threatening situation of the state. Now,
however, the condition of affairs had changed. The conquests of the
past few years had brought large wealth into the city, and was it to be
expected that women should not wish to adorn themselves, as of yore,
with gold and garments of richness?
[Illustration: A ROMAN MATRON.]
When now the repeal of the law was to be discussed, the excitement
became so intense that people forgot that Spain was in a state of
insurrection, and that war threatened on every side. Women thronged to
the city from towns and villages, and even dared, as has been said, to
approach the consuls and other magistrates to solicit their votes.
Marcus Porcius Cato, a young man of about forty years, who had been
brought up on a farm, and looked with the greatest respect upon the
virtue of the olden times, before Grecian influences had crept in to
soften and refine the hard Roman character, represented the party of
conservatism. Now, thought he, is an opportunity for me to stand
against the corrupting influence of Magna Græcia. He therefore rose and
made a long speech in opposition to the petition of the matrons. He
thought they had become thus contumacious, he said, because the men had
not individually exercised their rightful authority over their own
wives. "The privileges of men are now spurned, trodden under foot," he
exclaimed, "and we, who have shown that we are unable to stand against
the women separately, are now utterly powerless against them as a body.
Their behavior is outrageous. I was filled with painful emotions of
shame as I just now made my way into the forum through the midst of a
body of women. Will you consent to give the reins to their intractable
nature and their uncontrolled passions? The moment they had arrived at
equality with you, they will have become your superiors. What motive
that common decency will allow is pretended for this female
insurrection? Why, that they may shine in gold and purple; that they
may ride through our city in chariots triumphing over abrogated law;
that there may be no bounds to waste and luxury! So soon as the law
shall cease to limit the expenses of the wife, the husband will be
powerless to set bounds to them." As the uttermost measure of the
abasement to which the women had descended, Cato declared with
indignation that they had solicited votes, and he concluded by saying
that though he called upon the gods to prosper whatever action should
be agreed upon, he thought that on no account should the Oppian law be
set aside.
When Cato had finished, one of the plebeian tribunes, Lucius Valerius,
replied to him sarcastically, saying that in spite of the mild
disposition of the speaker who had just concluded, he had uttered some
severe things against the matrons, though he had not argued very
efficiently against the measure they supported. He referred his hearers
to a book of Cato's, [Footnote: Livy is authority for this statement,
but it has been doubted if Cato's book had been written at the time.]
called _Origines_, or "Antiquities," in which it was made clear
that in the old times women had appeared in public, and with good
effect too. "Who rushed into the forum in the days of Romulus, and
stopped the fight with the Sabines?" he asked. "Who went out and turned
back the army of the great Coriolanus? Who brought their gold and
jewels into the forum when the Gauls demanded a great ransom for the
city? Who went out to the sea-shore during the late war to receive the
Idæan mother (Cybele) when new gods were invited hither to relieve our
distresses? Who poured out their riches to supply a depleted treasury
during that same war, now so fresh in memory? Was it not the Roman
matrons? Masters do not disdain to listen to the prayers of their
slaves, and we are asked, forsooth, to shut our ears to the petitions
of our wives!
"I have shown that women have now done no new thing. I will go on and
prove that they ask no unreasonable thing. It is true that good laws
should not be rashly repealed; but we must not forget that Rome existed
for centuries without this one, and that Roman matrons established
their high character, about which Cato is so solicitous, during that
period, the return of which he now seems to think would be subversive
of every thing good. This law served well in a time of trial; but that
has passed, and we are enjoying the return of plenty. Shall our matrons
be the only ones who may not feel the improvement that has followed a
successful war? Shall our children, and we ourselves, wear purple, and
shall it be interdicted to our wives? Elegances of appearance and
ornaments and dress are the women's badges of distinction; in them they
delight and glory, and our ancestors called them the women's world.
Still, they desire to be under control of those who are bound to them
by the bonds of love, not by stern law, in these matters. The consul
just now used invidious terms, calling this a female 'secession' as
though our matrons were about to seize the Sacred Mount or the
Aventine, as the plebeians did of yore; but their feeble nature is
incapable of such a thing. They must necessarily submit to what you
think proper, and the greater your power the more moderation should you
use in exercising it. "Thus, day after day, the men spoke and the women
poured out to protest, until even stern and inflexible Cato gave way,
and women were declared free from the restrictions of the Oppian law.
[Figure: ROMAN HEAD-DRESSES.]
Cato and Scipio represented the two forces that were at this time
working in society, the one opposing the entrance of the Grecian
influence, and the other encouraging the refinement in manners and
modes of living that came with it, even encouraging ostentation and the
lavish use of money for pleasures. When Scipio was making his
arrangements to go to Africa, he was governor of Sicily, and lived in
luxury. Cato, then but thirty years old, had been sent to Sicily to
investigate his proceedings, and act as a check upon him; but Scipio
seems to have been little influenced by the young reformer, telling him
that he would render accounts of his _actions_, not of the money
he spent. Upon this Cato returned to Rome, and denounced Scipio's
prodigality, his love of Greek literature and art, his magnificence,
and his persistence in wasting in the gymnasium or in the pursuit of
literature time which should have been used in training his troops.
Joining Fabius, he urged that an investigating committee be sent to
look into the matter, but it returned simply astonished at the
efficient condition of the army, and orders were given for prompt
advance upon Carthage.
[Illustration: GLADIATORS AT A FUNERAL.]
The influences coming from Greece at this time were not all the best,
for that land was in its period of decadence, and Cato did well in
trying to protect his countrymen from evil. While literature in Greece
had reached its highest and had become corrupt, there had been none in
Rome during the five centuries of its history. All this time, too,
there had been but one public holiday and a single circus; but during
the interval between the first and second Punic wars a demagogue had
instituted a second circus and a new festival, called the plebeian
games. Other festivals followed, and in time their cost became
exceedingly great, and their influence very bad. Fights of gladiators
were introduced just at the outbreak of the first Punic war, on the
occasion of the funeral of D. Junius Brutus, and were given afterward
on such occasions, because it was believed that the manes, the spirits
of the departed, loved blood. Persons began to leave money for this
purpose in their wills, and by degrees a fondness for the frightful
sport increased, for the Romans had no leaning towards the ideal, and
delighted only in those pursuits which appealed to their coarse,
strong, and, in its way, pious nature. Humor and comedy with them
became burlesque, sometimes repulsive in its grotesqueness. Dramatic
art grew up during this period. We have seen that dramatic exhibitions
were introduced in the year 363, from Etruria, at a time of pestilence,
but they were mere pantomimes. Now plays began to be written.
Trustworthy history begins at the time of the Punic wars, and the
annals of Fabius Pictor commence with the year 216, after the battle of
Cannæ.
Rome itself was changed by the increased wealth of these times. The
streets were made wider; temples were multiplied; and aqueducts were
built to bring water from distant sources; the same Appius who
constructed the great road which now bears his name, having built the
first, which, however, disappeared long ago. Another, forty-three miles
in length, was paid for out of the spoils of the war with Pyrrhus, and
portions of it still remain. With the increase of wealth and luxury
came also improvement in language and in its use, and in the year 254,
studies in law were formally begun in a school established for the
purpose.
[Figure: ACTORS MASKS.]
The Romans had conquered Italy and Carthage, and the next step was to
make them masters of the East. Philip V., King of Macedon, was, as we
have seen, one of the most eminent of monarchs of that country. His
treaty with Hannibal after the battle of Cannæ, involved him in war
with the Romans, which continued, with intermissions, until Scipio was
about to go over into Africa. Then the Romans were glad to make peace,
though no considerable results followed the struggle, and it had indeed
been pursued with little vigor for much of the time. By the year 200,
Philip had been able to establish himself in Greece, and the Romans
were somewhat rested from the war with Carthage. The peace of 205 had
been considered but a cessation of hostilities, and both people were
therefore ready for a new war. There were pretexts enough. Philip had
made an alliance with Antiochus the Great, of Syria, against Ptolemy
Epiphanes, of Egypt, who applied to Rome for assistance; and he had
sent aid to soldiers to help Hannibal, who had fought at the battle of
Zama. Besides this he had attempted to establish his supremacy in the
Ægean Sea at the expense of the people of Rhodes, allies of Rome, who
were assisted by Attalus, King of Pergamus, likewise in league with
Rome.
The senate proposed that war should be declared against Philip, but the
people longed for rest after their previous struggles, and were only
persuaded to consent by being told that if Philip, then at the pitch of
his greatness, were not checked, he would follow the example of
Hannibal, as he had been urged to follow that of Pyrrhus. No great
progress was made in the war until the command of the Roman army in
Greece was taken by a young man of high family and noble nature, well
acquainted with Greek culture, in the year 197. Flamininus, for this
was the name of the new commander, met the army of Philip that year on
a certain morning when, after a rain, thick clouds darkened the plain
on which they were. The armies were separated by low hills known as the
Dog-heads (Cynocephalæ), and when at last the sun burst out it showed
the Romans and Macedonians struggling on the uneven ground with varying
success. The Macedonians were finally defeated, with the loss of eight
thousand slain and five thousand prisoners. In 196 peace was obtained
by Philip, who agreed to withdraw from Greece, to give up his fleet,
and to pay a thousand talents for the expenses of the war.
At the Isthmian games, the following summer, Flamininus caused a
trumpet to command silence, and a crier to proclaim that the Roman
senate and he, the proconsular general, having vanquished Philip,
restored to the Grecians their lands, laws, and liberties, remitting
all impositions upon them and withdrawing all garrisons. So astonished
were the people at the good news that they could scarcely believe it,
and asked that it might be repeated. This the crier did, and a shout
rose from the people (who all stood up) that was heard from Corinth to
the sea, and there was no further thought of the entertainment that
usually engrossed so much attention. Plutarch says gravely that the
disruption of the air was so great that crows accidentally flying over
the racecourse at the moment fell down dead into it! Night only caused
the people to leave the circus, and then they went home to carouse
together. So grateful were they that they freed the Romans who had been
captured by Hannibal and had been sold to them, and when Flamininus
returned to Rome with a reputation second only, in the popular esteem,
to Scipio Africanus, these freed slaves followed in the procession on
the occasion of his triumph, which was one of the most magnificent, and
lasted three days.