FAMOUS MEN
OF
ANCIENT TIMES.
BY
S. G. GOODRICH.
BOSTON:
THOMPSON, BROWN & COMPANY.
23 HAWLEY STREET.
PREFACE
The reader of these pages will perhaps remark, that the length of the
following sketches is hardly proportioned to the relative importance of
the several subjects, regarded in a merely historical point of view.
In explanation of this fact, the author begs leave to say, that, while
he intended to present a series of the great beacon lights that shine
along the shores of the past, and thus throw a continuous gleam over
the dusky sea of ancient history,—he had still other views. His chief
aim is moral culture; and the several articles have been abridged or
extended, as this controlling purpose might be subserved.
It may be proper to make one observation more. If the author has been
somewhat more chary of his eulogies upon the great men that figure in
the pages of Grecian and Roman story, than is the established custom,
he has only to plead in his vindication, that he has viewed them in the
same light—weighed them in the same balance—measured them by the same
standard, as he should have done the more familiar characters of our
own day, making due allowance for the times and circumstances in which
they acted. He has stated the results of such a mode of appreciation;
yet if the master spirits of antiquity are thus shorn of some portion
of their glory, the writer still believes that the interest they
excite is not lessened, and that the instruction they afford is not
diminished. On the contrary, it seems to him that the study of ancient
biography, if it be impartial and discriminating, is one of the most
entertaining and useful to which the mind can be applied.
[Illustration]
CONTENTS.
PAGE
MOHAMMED, 7
BELISARIUS, 25
ATTILA, 60
NERO, 68
SENECA, 74
VIRGIL, 83
CICERO, 95
JULIUS CÆSAR, 130
HANNIBAL, 145
ALEXANDER, 157
ARISTOTLE, 183
DEMOSTHENES, 197
APELLES, 209
DIOGENES, 213
PLATO, 218
SOCRATES, 229
ALCIBIADES, 244
DEMOCRITUS, 252
PERICLES, 256
ARISTIDES, 261
ÆSOP, 264
SOLON, 271
LYCURGUS, 277
HOMER, 282
CONFUCIUS, 291
[Illustration]
FAMOUS MEN OF ANCIENT TIMES
[Illustration]
MOHAMMED.
This individual, who has exercised a greater influence upon the
opinions of mankind than any other human being, save, perhaps, the
Chinese philosopher Confucius, was born at Mecca, in Arabia, A. D.
570. He was the only son of Abdallah, of the noble line of Hashem and
tribe of Koreish—descendants of Ishmael the reputed progenitor of the
Arabian race.
The Koreishites were not only a commercial people, and rich by virtue
of their operations in trade, but they were the hereditary guardians
of the Caaba, or Kaaba, a heathen temple at Mecca. The custody of this
sacred place, together with all the priestly offices, belonged to the
ancestors of Mohammed.
The Mohammedan authors have embellished the birth of the prophet with a
great variety of wonderful events, which are said to have attended his
introduction into the world. One of these is, that the Persian sacred
fire, kept in their temples, was at once extinguished over all Arabia,
accompanied by the diffusion of an unwonted and beautiful light. But
this and other marvels, we leave to the credulity of the prophet’s
followers.
Mohammed’s father died early, and his son came under the guardianship
of his uncle, Abu Taleb. He was a rich merchant, who was accustomed
to visit the fairs of Damascus, Bagdad, and Bassora—three great and
splendid cities, and Mohammed often accompanied him to these places.
In his twelfth year, Mohammed took part in an expedition against
the wandering tribes that molested the trading caravans. Thus, by
travelling from place to place, he acquired extensive knowledge, and,
by being engaged in warlike enterprise, his imagination became inflamed
with a love of adventure and military achievements. If we add to
this, that he had naturally a love of solitude, with a constitutional
tendency to religious abstraction; and if, moreover, we consider that
in his childhood he had been accustomed to behold the wild exercises,
the dark ceremonies, and hideous rites of the temple of Caaba—we
shall at once see the elements of character, and the educational
circumstances, which shaped out the extraordinary career of the founder
of Islamism.
It appears that Mohammed was remarkable for mental endowments, even in
his youth, for, in a religious conversation with a Nestorian monk, at
Basra, he showed such knowledge and talent, that the monk remarked to
his uncle, that great things might be expected of him. He was, however,
attentive to business, and so completely obtained the confidence of his
uncle, as a merchant, that he was recommended as a prudent and faithful
young man, to Khadijah, a rich widow, who stood in need of an agent to
transact her business and manage her affairs. In this capacity he was
received, and so well did he discharge his duties, that he not only won
the confidence of the widow, but finally obtained her hand in marriage.
This event took place when he was about twenty-five years old, Khadijah
being almost forty.
Mohammed was now rich, and, though he continued to carry on mercantile
business, he often retired to a cave, called Heva, near Mecca, where
he resided. He also performed several journeys to different parts
of Arabia and Syria, taking particular pains to gather religious
information, especially of learned Jews and Christians.
For some time, Mohammed, who lived happily with his wife, confided
to her his visits to the cave Heva, professing to enjoy interviews
with Heaven there, by means of dreams and trances, in which he met
and conversed with the angel Gabriel. There is little doubt that his
habits of religious retirement and gloomy reflection had unsettled
his judgment, and that he now gave himself up to the guidance of
an overwrought fancy. It is probable, therefore, that he believed
these visions to be of divine inspiration; else, why should he first
communicate them, as realities, to his wife?
Soon after this, he informed other members of his family of his
visions, and, being now about forty years old, assumed with them,
the character and profession of a prophet. Several of his friends,
particularly his wife, and his cousin Ali, a young man of great energy
of character, yielded to the evidence he gave of his divine mission.
Having been silently occupied about three years in converting his
nearest friends, he invited some of the most illustrious men of the
family of Hashem to his house, and, after conjuring them to abandon
their idolatry, for the worship of ONE GOD, he openly proclaimed his
calling, and set forth, that, by the commands of Heaven, revealed
through the angel Gabriel, he was prepared to impart to his countrymen
the most precious gift—the only means of future salvation.
Far from being convinced, the assembly was struck silent with mingled
surprise and contempt. The young and enthusiastic Ali, alone, yielded
to his pretences, and, falling at his feet, offered to attend him, in
good or evil, for life or for death. Several of the more sober part of
the assembly sought to dissuade Mohammed from his enterprise; but he
replied with a lofty fervor, that if the sun were placed in his right
hand, and the moon in his left, with power over the kingdoms they
enlighten, he would not, should not, could not hesitate or waver in his
course.
Inflamed by the opposition he met with among this assembly, Mohammed
now went forth, and, wherever he could find crowds of people, there he
announced his mission. In the temples, in the public squares, streets,
and market-places, he addressed the people, laying claim to the
prophetic character, and setting forth the duty of rejecting idolatry,
for the worship of one God. The people were struck with his eloquence,
his majesty of person, the beautiful imagery he presented to their
minds, and the sublime sentiments he promulgated. Even the poet Lebid
is said to have been converted by the wonderful beauty and elevation
of the thoughts poured forth by the professed prophet. The people
listened, and, though they felt the fire of his eloquence, still they
were so wedded to their idolatries, that few were yet disposed to join
him.
To aid in understanding the revolution wrought by Mohammed, it may
be well to sketch the condition of the Arabians at that period. The
original inhabitants of Arabia, though all of one stock, and occupying
a peninsula 1200 miles in length by 700 in width, had been, from
time immemorial, divided into a variety of distinct tribes. These
constituted petty communities or states, which, often changing, still
left the people essentially the same. In the more elevated table lands,
intersected by mountain ridges, with dreary wastes consisting of sandy
plains, the people continued to pursue a roving life, living partly
upon their flocks of camels, horses, and horned cattle, and partly
upon the robbery of trading caravans of other tribes. The people of the
plains, being near the water, settled in towns, cultivated the soil,
and pursued commerce.
The various tribes were each governed by the oldest or most worthy
sheik or nobleman. Their bards met once a year, at Okhad, holding a
fair of thirty days, for the recitation of their productions. That
which was declared to be the finest, was written in gold and suspended
in the great temple of Mecca. This was almost the only common tie
between the several states or tribes, for, although they nominally
acknowledged an emir, or national chief, they had never been brought to
act in one body.
The adoration of the Arabians consisted chiefly in the worship of the
heavenly luminaries; but they had a great variety of deities, these
being personifications of certain powers in nature, or passions in
mankind. They were represented by idols of every variety of shape,
which were gathered around the ancient temple of Caaba, at Mecca, a
large square edifice, considered as the central point of religion, and
the favorite seat of divinity. Their worship was attended with the most
horrid rites and shocking ceremonies: even children were sacrificed to
the idols, and one of the tribes was accustomed to bury their daughters
alive. Except that they fancied the souls of the departed to be
transformed into owls, hovering in gloom around the grave, it does not
appear that they had the least idea of a future state of existence.
Such was the state of religion among the native Arabians. Among the
foreign settlers in the towns there were a few followers of the Greek
and Roman philosophy; the Christians were never numerous. These latter
were divided into a variety of sects, and those belonging to the Greek
church, advocated monasteries, and were addicted to the worship of
images, martyrs and relics. Some of these, even elevated the Virgin
Mary into a deity, and addressed her as the third person in the Trinity.
Mohammed, while he no doubt looked with horror upon this state of
things, having studied the Bible, and clearly comprehended its sublime
revelation of one God, conceived the idea of uniting the people of
his native land under a religion of which this fundamental principle
should constitute the basis. His purpose was to crush idolatry, and
restore the lost worship of the true God. How far he was sincere, and
how far he was an impostor, we cannot venture to affirm. It is probable
that he was a religious enthusiast, deceived by his own fancies, and,
perhaps, really believing his own visions. At the outset of his career,
it is likely that he acted in good faith, while he was himself deluded.
When he had advanced so far as to see power and dominion offered
to his grasp, it is probable that his integrity gave way, and that
thenceforward we are to consider him as under the alternate guidance of
craft and fanaticism.
Several of the nobles citizens of Mecca were finally converted by
Mohammed. Khadijah was now dead, and the prophet had married Ayesha,
the daughter of Abubeker, a man of great influence, and who exercised
it in favor of his son-in-law. Yet the new faith made little progress,
and a persecution of its votaries arose, which drove them to
Abyssinia, and caused Mohammed himself to fly for safety to Medina.
This flight is called the Hegira, and, taking place in the year 622, is
the epoch from which Mohammedan chronology is computed, as is ours from
the birth of Christ.
At Medina, whither his tenets had been carried by pilgrims, Mohammed
was received with open arms. He was met by an imposing procession,
and invested at once with the regal and sacerdotal office. The people
also offered him assistance in propagating his faith, even by force,
if it should be required. From this moment, a vast field seems to have
been opened to the mind of Mohammed. Hitherto, he may have been but a
self-deceived enthusiast; but now, ambition appears to have taken at
least partial possession of his bosom. His revelations at once assumed
a higher tone. Hitherto he had chiefly inculcated the doctrine of one
God, eternal, omnipotent, most powerful and most merciful, together
with the practical duties of piety, prayer, charity, and pilgrimages.
He now revealed, as a part of his new faith, the duty of making war,
even with the sword, to propagate Islamism, and promised a sensual
paradise to those who should fall in doing battle in its behalf. At the
same time he announced that a settled fate or destiny hung over every
individual, which he could not by possibility alter, evade, or avert.
He now raised men, and proceeded, sword in hand, to force the
acknowledgment of his pretensions. With alternate victory and defeat,
he continued to prosecute his schemes, and at last fell upon the towns
and castles of the peaceful and unwarlike Jews. These were soon taken
and plundered. But the prophet paid dearly for his triumph. A Jewish
female, at the town of Chaibar, gave him poison in some drink, and,
though he survived, he never fully recovered from the effects of the
dose.
Thus advancing with the tribes settled in his own country, the power of
the ambitious apostle increased like the avalanche in its overwhelming
descent. Mecca was conquered, and yielded as well to his faith as
to his arms. He now made expeditions to Palestine and Syria, while
his officers were making conquests in all directions. His power was
soon so great, that he sent messages to the kings of Egypt, Persia,
and Ethiopia, and the emperor of Constantinople, commanding them to
acknowledge the divine law revealed through him.
At last, in the tenth year of the Hegira, he proceeded on a farewell
pilgrimage to Mecca. The scene was imposing beyond description. He was
attended by more than a hundred thousand of his followers, who paid
him the greatest reverence. Everything in dress, equipage and imposing
ceremony that could enhance the splendor of the pageant, and give it
sanctity in the eyes of the people, was adopted. This was the last
great event of his life.
Mohammed had now become too powerful to be resisted by force, but
not too exalted to be troubled by competition. His own example in
assuming the sacred character of an apostle and prophet, and the
brilliant success which had attended him, gave a hint to others of
the probable means of advancing themselves to a similar pitch of
dignity and dominion. The spirit of emulation, therefore, raised up a
fellow-prophet in the person of Moseilama, called to this day by the
followers of Islam “the lying Moseilama,” a descendant of the tribe of
Honeifa, and a principal person in the province of Yemen.
This man headed an embassy sent by his tribe to Mohammed, in the
ninth year of the Hegira, and then professed himself a Moslem; but on
his return home, pondering on the nature of the new religion and the
character and fortunes of its founder, the sacrilegious suggestion
occurred to him, that by skilful management he might share with his
countryman in the glory of a divine mission; and, accordingly, in the
ensuing year he began to put his project in execution. He gave out that
he, also, was a prophet sent of Heaven, having a joint commission with
Mohammed to recall mankind from idolatry to the worship of the true
God. He, moreover, aped his model so closely as to publish written
revelations resembling the Koran, pretended to have been derived from
the same source.
Having succeeded in gaining a considerable party, from the tribe of
Honeifa, he at length began to put himself still more nearly upon a
level with the prophet of Medina, and even went so far as to propose
to Mohammed a partnership in his spiritual supremacy. His letter
commenced thus: “From Moseilama, the apostle of God, to Mohammed, the
apostle of God. Now let the earth be half mine and half thine.” But
the latter, feeling himself too firmly established to stand in need of
an associate, deigned to return him only the following reply: “From
Mohammed, the apostle of God, to Moseilama, the liar. The earth is
God’s: he giveth the same for inheritance unto such of his servants as
he pleaseth; and the happy issue shall attend those who fear him.”
During the few months that Mohammed lived after this, Moseilama
continued, on the whole, to gain ground, and became at length so
formidable, as to occasion extreme anxiety to the prophet, now rapidly
sinking under the effects of disease. An expedition, under the command
of Caled, the “Sword of God,” was ordered out to suppress the rival
sect headed by the spurious apostle, and the bewildered imagination
of Mohammed, in the moments of delirium, which now afflicted him, was
frequently picturing to itself the results of the engagement between
his faithful Moslems and these daring apostates.
The army of Caled returned victorious. Moseilama himself, and ten
thousand of his followers, were left dead on the field; while the rest,
convinced by the shining evidence of truth that gleamed from the swords
of the conquerors, renounced their errors, and fell quietly back into
the bosom of the Mohammedan church. Several other insurgents of similar
pretences, but of minor consequence, were crushed in like manner in the
early stages of their defection.
We have now reached the period at which the religion of Mohammed may
be considered as having become permanently established. The conquest
of Mecca and of the Koreishites had been, in fact, the signal for the
submission of the rest of Arabia; and though several of the petty
tribes offered, for a time, the show of resistance to the prophet’s
arms, they were all eventually subdued. Between the taking of Mecca
and the period of Mohammed’s death, somewhat more than three years
elapsed. In that short period he had destroyed the idols of Arabia; had
extended his conquests to the borders of the Greek and Persian empires;
had rendered his name formidable to those once mighty kingdoms; had
tried his arms against the disciplined troops of the former, and
defeated them in a desperate encounter at Muta.
His throne was now firmly established; and an impulse given to the
Arabian nation, which induced them to invade, and enabled them to
conquer, a large portion of the globe. India, Persia, the Greek empire,
the whole of Asia Minor, Egypt, Barbary, and Spain, were eventually
reduced by their victorious arms. Mohammed himself did not indeed live
to see such mighty conquests achieved, but he commenced the train
which resulted in this wide-spread dominion, and, before his death,
had established over the whole of Arabia, and some parts of Asia, the
religion which he had devised.
And now, having arrived at the sixty-third year of his age, and the
tenth of the Hegira, A. D. 632, the fatal effects of the poison, which
had been so long rankling in his veins, began to discover themselves
more and more sensibly, and to operate with alarming virulence. Day
by day, he visibly declined, and it was evident that his life was
hastening to a close. For some time previous to the event, he was
conscious of its approach, and is said to have viewed and awaited it
with characteristic firmness. The third day before his dissolution,
he ordered himself to be carried to the mosque, that he might, for
the last time, address his followers, and bestow upon them his parting
prayers and benedictions. Being assisted to mount the pulpit, he
edified his brethren by the pious tenor of his dying counsels, and in
his own example taught a lesson of humility and penitence, such as we
shall scarcely find inculcated in the precepts of the Koran.
“If there be any man,” said the prophet, “whom I have unjustly
scourged, I submit my own back to the lash of retaliation. Have I
aspersed the reputation of any Mussulman? let him proclaim my fault
in the face of the congregation. Has any one been despoiled of his
goods? the little that I possess shall compensate the principal
and the interest of the debt.” “Yes,” replied a voice from the
crowd, “thou owest me three drachms of silver!” Mohammed heard the
complaint, satisfied the demand, and thanked his creditor that he
had accused him in this world, rather than at the day of judgment.
He then set his slaves at liberty, seventeen men and eleven women;
directed the order of his funeral; strove to allay the lamentations
of his weeping friends, and waited the approach of death. He did not
expressly nominate a successor, a step which would have prevented the
altercations that afterwards came so near to crushing in its infancy
the religion and the empire of the Saracens; but his appointment of
Abubeker to supply his place in the function of public prayer, and the
other services of the mosque, seemed to intimate indirectly the choice
of the prophet. This ancient and faithful friend, accordingly, after
much contention, became the first Caliph of the Saracens, though his
reign was closed by his death at the end of two years.
The death of Mohammed was hastened by the force of a burning fever,
which deprived him at times of the use of reason. In one of these
paroxysms of delirium, he demanded pen and paper, that he might compose
or dictate a divine book. Omar, who was watching at his side, refused
his request, lest the expiring prophet might dictate something which
should supersede the Koran. Others, however, expressed a great desire
that the book might be written; and so warm a dispute arose in the
chamber of the apostle that he was forced to reprove their unbecoming
vehemence. The writing was not performed, and many of his followers
have mourned the loss of the sublime revelations which his dying
visions might have bequeathed to them.
The favorite wife of the prophet, Ayesha, hung over her husband in
his last moments, sustaining his drooping head upon her knee, as he
lay stretched upon the carpet; watching with trembling anxiety his
changing countenance, and listening to the last broken sounds of his
voice. His disease, as it drew towards its termination, was attended at
intervals with most excruciating pains, which he constantly ascribed
to the fatal morsel taken at Chaibar; and as the mother of Bashar,
his companion who had died upon the spot from the same cause, stood
by his side, he exclaimed, “O mother of Bashar, the cords of my heart
are now breaking of the food which I ate with your son at Chaibar.” In
his conversation with those around him, he mentioned it as a special
prerogative granted to him, that the angel of death was not allowed
to take his soul till he had respectfully asked permission of him, and
this permission he condescendingly granted. Recovering from a swoon
into which the violence of his pains had thrown him, he raised his eyes
towards the roof of the house, and with faltering accents exclaimed, “O
God! pardon my sins. Yes, I come among my fellow-laborers on high!” His
face was then sprinkled with water, by his own feeble hand, and shortly
after he expired.
The city, and more especially the house of the prophet, became at once
a scene of sorrowful but confused lamentation. Some of his followers
could not believe that he was dead. “How can he be dead, our witness,
our intercessor, our mediator with God? He is not dead. Like Moses and
Jesus, he is wrapped in a holy trance, and speedily will he return to
his faithful people.” The evidence of sense was disregarded, and Omar,
brandishing his scimitar, threatened to strike off the heads of the
infidels who should affirm that the prophet was no more. The tumult was
at length appeased, by the moderation of Abubeker. “Is it Mohammed,”
said he, “or the God of Mohammed, whom ye worship? The God of Mohammed
liveth forever, but the apostle was a mortal like ourselves, and,
according to his own prediction, he hath experienced the common fate of
mortality.”
The prophet’s remains were deposited at Medina, in the very room where
he breathed his last, the floor being removed to make way for his
sepulchre, and a simple and unadorned monument was, some time after,
erected over them. The house itself has long since mouldered, or been
demolished, but the place of the prophet’s interment is still made
conspicuous to the superstitious reverence of his disciples. The story
of his relics being suspended in the air, by the power of loadstone in
an iron coffin, and that too at Mecca, instead of Medina, is a mere
idle fabrication. His tomb at the latter place has been visited by
millions of pilgrims, and, from the authentic accounts of travellers
who have visited both these holy cities in disguise, we learn that it
is constructed of plain mason work, fixed without elevation upon the
surface of the ground. The urn which encloses his body is protected by
a trellis of iron, which no one is permitted to pass.
The Koran or Alkoran, meaning _the Book_, is a collection of all the
various fragments which the prophet uttered during the period in which
he professed to exercise the apostolic office. They were originally
written on scattered leaves, but they were collected by Abubeker, two
years after Mohammed’s death. They are in the purest and most refined
dialect of Arabia, and are distinguished by extraordinary graces of
style.
The Koran furnishes not only the divinity, but the civil law of the
Mohammedans. It professes to contain the revelation of God’s will by
Gabriel to Mohammed, and through him to mankind. One of the books gives
an account of the translation of the prophet by night to the third
heaven, upon a winged animal, named Alborak, and resembling an ass,
where he saw unutterable things. The great doctrines of the Koran, as
before stated, are the existence of one supreme God, to whom alone
adoration and obedience are due. It declares that the divine law was
faithfully delivered by Adam, Noah, Abraham, Moses, and Christ. It
declares the immortality of the soul of man, and the final judgment,
and sets forth that the good are to dwell in everlasting bliss, amid
shady and delicious groves, and attended by heavenly virgins. The hope
of salvation is not confined to the Moslem, but is extended to all who
believe in God and do good works. Sinners, particularly unbelievers,
are to be driven about in a dark burning hell, forever.
The practical duties enjoined by the Koran, are the propagation
of Islamism, and prayers directed to the temple of Mecca, at five
different periods of the day, together with fasting, alms, religious
ablutions, pilgrimages to Mecca, &c. It allows a man but four wives,
though the prophet had seventeen, and it is curious to add that all
were widows, save one. It strongly prohibits usury, gaming, wine and
pork.
We cannot deny to Mohammed the possession of extraordinary genius. He
was a man of great eloquence, and the master of a beautiful style of
composition; and he possessed that majesty of person, which, united to
his mental qualities, gave him great ascendancy over those who came
into his presence. He lived in a dark age, amid a benighted people;
yet, without the aids of education, he mastered the religious systems
of the day, and took a broad and sagacious view of the moral and
political condition of the people of Asia. He conceived the sublime
idea of uniting, by one mighty truth, the broken fragments of his own
nation, and the destruction of idolatry by the substitution of the
worship of one God. It is true, that he sought to accomplish these
ends by unlawful means—by imposture, and the bloody use of the sword;
we must admit, also, that he was licentious and although we cannot
fail to condemn his character, we must acknowledge the splendor of
his abilities and allow that while he imposed on his followers, he
established a faith infinitely above Paganism, and sprinkled with many
rays of light from the fountain of Divine Truth.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]
BELISARIUS.
This celebrated general, to whom the emperor Justinian is chiefly
indebted for the glory of his reign, was a native of Germania, on the
confines of Thrace, and was born about the year 505. It is probable
that he was of noble descent, liberally educated, and a professor of
the Christian faith. The first step in his military career was an
appointment in the personal guard of Justinian, while that prince was
yet heir apparent to the throne.
The Roman or Byzantine empire, at this period, embraced almost exactly
the present territory of the Turkish dominions in Europe and Asia
Minor, with the addition of Greece—Constantinople being its capital.
Italy was held by the Goths; Corsica, Sardinia and Barbary in Africa,
by the Vandals.
Justin I., an Illyrian peasant, having distinguished himself as a
soldier, had become emperor. His education was of course neglected, and
such was his ignorance, that his signature could only be obtained by
means of a wooden case, which directed his pen through the four first
letters of his name. From his accession, the chief administration of
affairs devolved on Justinian, his nephew and intended heir, whom he
was reluctantly compelled to raise from office to office, and at length
to acknowledge as his partner on the throne. His death, after a languid
reign of nine years and a life of nearly fourscore, left Justinian sole
sovereign in name, as well as in fact.
In order to appreciate the life and actions of Belisarius, it is
necessary to understand the character of the new emperor, during
whose long reign his great exploits were performed. The first act of
Justinian on ascending the throne, was to marry a dissolute actress,
named Theodora, who, though licentious, avaricious, cruel and
vindictive, soon acquired an almost complete control over him. His mind
was essentially feeble and inconstant, and, though his Christian faith
was doubtless sincere, it was less fruitful of virtues than of rites
and forms. At his accession his treasury was full; but it was soon
exhausted by his profuseness, and heavy taxes were imposed, offices
put to sale, charities suppressed, private fortunes seized, and, in
short, every act of rapacity, injustice and oppression, practised by
his ministers, to support the wasteful magnificence of the court.
The troops of the empire at this period were by no means what they
had been in the time of Scipio and Cæsar. They consisted, to a great
extent, of foreign mercenaries, and were divided into squadrons
according to their country; thus destroying all unity of feeling, and
annihilating that national spirit which once made the Roman arms the
terror of the world. These hired troops, which greatly outnumbered
the native soldiers, marched under their own national banner, were
commanded by their own officers, and usually followed their own
military regulations. The inefficiency of such mingled and discordant
forces, is obvious; yet it was under such a system that Belisarius
entered upon his military career.
With a feeble and corrupt government, an ill-appointed and trustless
army, the Roman empire was still surrounded with powerful enemies. It
is scarcely possible to conceive of a great nation in a condition of
more complete debility and helplessness, than was the kingdom of the
Cæsars, at the period in which Belisarius appears upon the active stage
of life.
Kobad, king of Persia, after a long cessation of hostilities, renewed
the war toward the close of Justin’s reign, by the invasion of
Iberia, which claimed the protection of the emperor. At this period,
Belisarius, being about twenty years of age, had the command of a
squadron of horse, and was engaged in some of the conflicts with the
Persian forces, on the borders of Armenia. In conjunction with an
officer named Sittas, he ravaged a large extent of territory, and
brought back a considerable number of prisoners.
On a second incursion, however, they were less fortunate; for, being
suddenly attacked by the Persian forces, they were entirely defeated.
It appears that Belisarius incurred no blame, for he was soon after
promoted to the post of governor of Dara, and the command of the forces
stationed there. It was at this place that he chose Procopius, the
historian, as his secretary, and who afterwards repaid his kindness by
a vain attempt to brand his name with enduring infamy.
Soon after Belisarius obtained the command of Dara, Justinian came
to the throne, and enjoined it upon his generals to strengthen the
defences of the empire in that quarter. This was attempted, but the
Persians baffled the effort. Belisarius was now appointed general of
the East, being commander-in-chief of the whole line of the Asiatic
frontier. Foreseeing that a formidable struggle was soon to ensue, he
applied himself to the raising and disciplining an army. He traversed
the neighboring provinces in person, and at last succeeded in mustering
five and twenty thousand men. These, however, were without discipline,
and their spirit was depressed by the ill success that had long
attended the Roman arms.
In this state of things, the news suddenly came, that 40,000 men, the
flower of the Persian army, commanded by Firouz, was marching upon
Dara. Confident of victory, the Persian general announced his approach,
by the haughty message that a bath should be ready for him at Dara
the next evening. Belisarius made no other reply than preparations for
battle. Fortifying himself in the best manner he was able, he awaited
the onset; exhorting his men, however, by every stimulating motive he
could suggest, to do honor to the name and fame of Rome.
The battle began by a mutual discharge of arrows, so numerous as to
darken the air. When the quivers were exhausted, they came to closer
combat. The struggle was obstinate and bloody; and the Persians were
already about to win the victory, when a body of horse, judiciously
stationed behind a hill by Belisarius, rushed forward, and turned the
tide of success. The Persians fled, and the triumph of Belisarius was
complete. They left their royal standard upon the field of battle, with
8000 slain. This victory had a powerful effect, and decided the fate of
the campaign.
The aged Kobad, who had conceived a profound contempt for the Romans,
was greatly irritated by the defeat of his troops. He determined upon
a still more powerful effort, and the next season sent a formidable
army to invade Syria. Belisarius, with a promptitude that astounded he
enemy, proceeded to the defence of this province, and, with an inferior
force, compelled the Persian army to retreat. Obliged at length, by
his soldiers, against his own judgment, to give battle to the enemy,
he suffered severely, and only avoided total defeat by the greatest
coolness and address. Even the partial victory of the enemy was without
advantage to them, for they were obliged to retreat, and abandon their
enterprise. Soon after this event, Kobad died, in his eighty-third
year, and his successor, Nushirvan, concluded a treaty of peace with
Justinian.
The war being thus terminated, Belisarius took up his residence at
Constantinople, and here became the second husband of Antonina, who,
though the child of an actress, had contracted an exalted marriage on
account of her beauty, and having filled a high office, enjoyed the
rank and honors of a patrician. While thus raised above the dangerous
profession of her mother, she still adhered to the morals of the stage.
Though openly licentious, she obtained through her bold, decided, and
intriguing character, aided by remarkable powers of fascination, a
complete ascendancy over Belisarius. It is seldom that a man is great
in all respects, and the weakness of the general whose history we are
delineating, was exhibited in a blind and submissive attachment to this
profligate woman.
A singular outbreak of popular violence occurred about this period,
which stained the streets of Constantinople with blood, and threatened
for a time to hurl Justinian from his throne. The fondness of the
Romans for the amusements of the circus, had in no degree abated.
Indeed, as the gladiatorial combats had been suppressed, these
games were frequented with redoubled ardor. The charioteers were
distinguished by the various colors of red, white, blue, and green,
intending to represent the four seasons. Those of each color,
especially the blue and green, possessed numerous and devoted
partisans, which became at last connected with civil and religious
prejudices.
Justinian favored the Blues, who became for that reason the emblem
of royalty; on the other hand, the Greens became the type of
disaffection. Though these dangerous factions were denounced by the
statutes, still, at the period of which we speak, each party were ready
to lavish their fortunes, risk their lives, and brave the severest
sentence of the laws, in support of their darling color. At the
commencement of the year 532, by one of those sudden caprices which
are often displayed by the populace, the two factions united, and
turned their vengeance against Justinian. The prisons were forced, and
the guards massacred. The city was then fired in various parts, the
cathedral of St. Sophia, a part of the imperial palace, and a great
number of public and private buildings, were wrapped in conflagration.
The cry of “_Nika! Nika!_” Vanquish! Vanquish! ran through every part
of the capital.
The principal citizens hurried to the opposite shore of the Bosphorus,
and the emperor entrenched himself within his palace. In the mean time,
Hypatius, nephew of the emperor Anastatius, was declared emperor by
the rioters, and so formidable had the insurrection now become, that
Justinian was ready to abdicate his crown. For the first and last
time, Theodora seemed worthy of the throne, for she withstood the
pusillanimity of her husband, and, through her animated exhortations,
it was determined to take the chance of victory or death.
Justinian’s chief hope now rested on Belisarius. Assisted by Mundus,
the governor of Illyria, who chanced to be in the capital, he now
called upon the guards to rally in defence of the emperor; but these
refused to obey him. Meanwhile, by another caprice the party of the
Blues, becoming ashamed of their conduct, shrunk one by one away, and
left Hypatius to be sustained by the Greens alone.
These were dismayed at seeing Belisarius, issuing with a few troops
which he had collected, from the smoking ruins of the palace. Drawing
his sword, and commanding his veterans to follow, he fell upon them
like a thunderbolt. Mundus, with another division of soldiers,
rushed upon them from the opposite direction. The insurgents were
panic-struck, and dispersed in every quarter. Hypatius was dragged
from the throne which he had ascended a few hours before, and was soon
after executed in prison. The Blues now emerged from their concealment,
and, falling upon their antagonists, glutted their merciless and
ungovernable vengeance. No less than thirty thousand persons were slain
in this fearful convulsion.
We must now turn our attention to Africa, in which the next exploits
of Belisarius were performed. The northern portion of this part of the
world, known to us by the merited by-word of Barbary, hardly retains a
trace of the most formidable rival and opulent province of Rome. After
the fall of Jugurtha, at the commencement of the second century, it
had enjoyed a long period of prosperity and peace—having escaped the
sufferings which had fallen upon every other portion of the empire. The
Africans in the fifth century were abounding in wealth, population, and
resources. During the minority of Valentinian, Boniface was appointed
governor of Africa. Deceived by Ætius into a belief of ingratitude on
the part of the government at home, he determined upon resistance, and
with this view, concluded a treaty with the Vandals in the southern
portion of Spain.
These, embarking from Andalusia, whose name still denotes their former
residence, landed at the opposite cape of Ceuta, A. D. 429. Their
leader was the far-famed Genseric, one of the most able, but most
lawless and bloody monarchs recorded in history. Of a middle stature,
and lamed by a fall from his horse, his demeanor was thoughtful and
silent; he was contemptuous of luxury, sudden in anger, and boundless
in ambition. Yet his impetuosity was always guided and restrained by
cunning. He well knew how to tempt the allegiance of a foreign nation,
to cast the seeds of future discord, or to rear them to maturity.
The barbarians on their passage to Africa consisted of 50,000 fighting
men, with a great crowd of women and children. Their progress
through the African province was rapid and unopposed, till Boniface,
discovering the artifices of Ætius, and the favorable disposition of
the government of Rome, bitterly repented the effects of his hasty
resentment. He now endeavored to withdraw his Vandal allies; but he
found it less easy to allay, than it had been to raise, the storm. His
proposals were haughtily rejected, and both parties had recourse to
arms. Boniface was defeated, and in the event, Genseric obtained entire
possession of the Roman provinces in Africa.
Carthage, which had risen from its ruins at the command of Julius
Cæsar and been embellished by Diocletian, had regained a large share
of its former opulence and pride, and might be considered, at the
time of which we speak, the second city in the western empire. Making
this his capital, Genseric proceeded to adopt various measures to
increase his power, and, among others, determined upon the creation
of a naval force. With him, project and performance were never far
asunder. His ships soon rode in the Mediterranean, and carried terror
and destruction in their train. He annexed to his kingdom the Balearic
islands, Corsica and Sardinia; the last of which was afterwards
allotted by the Vandals as a place of exile or imprisonment for captive
Moors; and during many years, the ports of Africa were what they became
in more recent days, the abode of fierce and unpunished pirates.
With every returning spring, the fleet of Genseric ravaged the coasts
of Italy and Sicily, and even of Greece and Illyria, sometimes bearing
off the inhabitants to slavery, and sometimes levelling their cities to
the ground. Emboldened by long impunity, he attacked every government
alike. On one occasion, when sailing from Carthage, he was asked by
the pilot of his vessel to what coast he desired to steer—“Leave the
guidance to God,” exclaimed the stern barbarian; “God will doubtless
lead us against the guilty objects of his anger!”
The most memorable achievement of Genseric, the sack of Rome in 455,
is an event too much out of the track of our narrative to be detailed
here. We can only pause to state, that, after spending a fortnight
in that great metropolis, and loading his fleets with its spoils,
he returned to Africa, bearing the Empress Eudocia thither, as his
captive. She was, at length, released, but one of her daughters was
compelled by Genseric to accept his son in marriage.
The repeated outrages of the Vandal king at length aroused the tardy
resentment of the court of Constantinople, and Leo I., then emperor,
despatched an army against him, consisting of nearly one hundred
thousand men, attended by the most formidable fleet that had ever been
launched by the Romans. The commander was a weak man, and being cheated
into a truce of five days by Genseric, the latter took advantage of a
moment of security, and, in the middle of the night, caused a number
of small vessels, filled with combustibles, to be introduced among the
Roman ships. A conflagration speedily ensued; and the Romans, starting
from their slumbers, found themselves encompassed by fire and the
Vandals. The wild shrieks of the perishing multitude mingled with the
crackling of the flames and the roaring of the winds; and the enemy
proved as unrelenting as the elements. The greater part of the fleet
was destroyed, and only a few shattered ships, and a small number of
survivors, found their way back to Constantinople.
A peace soon followed this event, which continued uninterrupted till
the time of Justinian. Genseric died in 477, leaving his kingdom to his
son Hunneric. About the year 530, Gelimer being upon the Vandal throne,
Justinian began to meditate an expedition against him. His generals,
with the exception of Belisarius, were averse to the undertaking. The
same feeling was shared by many of the leading men about the court, and
in an assembly, in which the subject was under discussion, Justinian
was about to yield to the opposition, when a bishop from the east
earnestly begged admission to his presence.
On entering the council chamber he exhorted the emperor to stand forth
as the champion of the church, and, in order to confirm him in the
enterprise, he declared that the Lord had appeared to him in a vision,
saying, “I will march before him in his battles, and make him sovereign
of Africa.” Men seldom reject a tale, however fantastic, which
coincides with their wishes or their prepossessions. All the doubts of
Justinian were at once removed; he commanded a fleet and army to be
forthwith equipped for this sacred enterprise, and endeavored still
further to insure its success by his austerity in fasts and vigils.
Belisarius was named supreme commander, still retaining his title as
General of the East.
In the month of June, A. D. 533, the Roman armament, consisting of five
hundred transports, with twenty thousand sailors, and nearly the same
number of soldiers, became ready for departure. The general embarked,
attended on this occasion by Antonina and his secretary, the historian
Procopius, who, at first, had shared in the popular fear and distaste
of the enterprise, but had afterwards been induced to join it by a
hopeful dream. The galley of Belisarius was moored near the shore,
in front of the imperial palace, where it received a last visit from
Justinian, and a solemn blessing from the patriarch of the city. A
soldier recently baptized was placed on board, to secure its prosperous
voyage; its sails were then unfurled, and, with the other ships in its
train, it glided down the straits of the Bosphorus, and gradually
disappeared from the lingering gaze of the assembled multitude.
With a force scarcely one fourth as strong as that which was
annihilated by Genseric, about seventy years before, Belisarius
proceeded upon his expedition. Having touched at Sicily and Malta,
he proceeded to the coast of Africa, where he landed in September,
about one hundred and fifty miles from Carthage, and began his
march upon that city. He took several towns, but enforcing the most
rigid discipline upon his troops, and treating the inhabitants with
moderation and courtesy, he entirely gained their confidence and good
will. They brought ample provisions to his camp, and gave him such a
reception as might be expected rather by a native than a hostile army.
When the intelligence of the landing and progress of the Romans reached
Gelimer, who was then at Hermione, he was roused to revenge, and took
his measures with promptitude and skill. He had an army of eighty
thousand men, the greater part of whom were soon assembled, and posted
in a defile about ten miles from Carthage, directly in the route by
which Belisarius was approaching. Several severe skirmishes soon
followed, in which the Vandals were defeated.