desperate one. The streets leading from the Forum towards the Citadel
were all strongly barricaded, and the houses, six stories in height,
occupied by armed men. For three days a war of desperation was waged in
the streets. The Romans had to take the first houses of each street by
assault, and then force their way forward by breaking from house to
house. The cross streets were passed on bridges of planks.
Thus they slowly advanced till the wall of Bosra--the high ground of the
Citadel--was reached. Behind them the city was in flames. For six days
and nights it burned, destroying the wealth and works of years. When the
fire declined passages were cleared through the ruins for the army to
advance.
Scipio, who had scarcely slept night or day during the assault, now lay
down for a short repose, on an eminence from which could be seen the
Temple of Esculapius, whose gilded roof glittered on the highest point
of the hill of Bosra. He was aroused to receive an offer from the
garrison to surrender if their lives were spared. Scipio consented to
spare all but Roman deserters, and from the gates of the Citadel marched
out fifty thousand men as prisoners of war.
Hasdrubal, the Carthaginian commander, who had made so brave a defence
against Rome, retired with his family and nine hundred deserters and
others into the Temple of Esculapius, as if to make a final desperate
defence. But his heart failed him at the last moment, and, slipping out
alone, he cast himself at Scipio's feet, and begged his pardon and
mercy. His wife, who saw his dastardly act, reproached him bitterly for
cowardice, and threw herself and her children into the flames which
enveloped the Citadel. Most of the deserters perished in the same
flames.
"Assyria has fallen," said Scipio, as he looked with eyes of prevision
on the devouring flames. "Persia and Macedonia have likewise fallen.
Carthage is burning. The day of Rome's fall may come next."
For five days the soldiers plundered the city, yet enough of statues and
other valuables remained to yield the consul a magnificent triumph on
his return to Rome. Before doing so he celebrated the fall of Carthage
with grand games, in which the spoil of that great city was shown the
army. To Rome he sent the brief despatch, "Carthage is taken. The army
waits for further orders."
The orders sent were that the walls should be destroyed and every house
levelled to the ground. A curse was pronounced by Scipio on any one who
should seek to build a town on the site. The curse did not prove
effective. Julius Caesar afterwards projected a new Carthage, and
Augustus built it. It grew to be a noble city, and in the third century
A.D. became one of the principal cities of the Roman empire and an
important seat of Western Christianity. It was finally destroyed by the
Arabs.
_THE GRACCHI AND THEIR FALL._
In the assault by the Roman forces on Megara, the suburb of Carthage,
the first to mount the wall was a young man named Tiberius Gracchus,
brother-in-law of Scipio, the commander, and grandson of the famous
Scipio Africanus. This young man and his brother were to play prominent
parts in Rome.
One day when the great Scipio was feasting in the Capitol, with other
senators of Rome, he was asked by some friends to give his daughter
Cornelia in marriage to Tiberius Gracchus, a young plebeian. Proud
patrician as he was, he consented, for Gracchus was highly esteemed for
probity, and had done him a personal service.
On his return home he told his wife that he had promised his daughter to
a plebeian. The good woman, who had higher aims, blamed him severely for
his folly, as she deemed it. But when she was told the name of her
proposed son-in-law she changed her mind, saying that Gracchus was the
only man worthy of the gift.
Of Cornelia's children three became notable, a daughter, who became the
wife of the younger Scipio, and two sons, Tiberius and Caius Gracchus,
who are known in history as "The Gracchi." Their father became famous
in war and peace, taking important steps in the needed movement of
reform. He died, and after his death many sought the hand of the noble
Cornelia in marriage, among them King Ptolemy of Egypt. But she refused
them all, devoting her life to the education of her children, for which
she was admirably fitted by her lofty spirit and high attainments.
Concerning this lady, one of the greatest and noblest which Rome
produced, there is an anecdote, often repeated, yet well worth repeating
again. A Campanian lady who called upon her, and boastfully spoke of her
wealth in gold and precious stones, asked Cornelia for the pleasure of
seeing her jewels. Leading her visitor to another room, the noble matron
pointed to her sleeping children, and said, "There are my jewels; the
only ones of which I am proud."
These children were born to troublous times. Rome had grown in
corruption and ostentation as she had grown in wealth and dominion. When
the first Punic War broke out Rome ruled only over Central and Southern
Italy. When the third Punic War ended Rome was lord of all Italy, Spain,
and Greece, and had wide possessions in Asia Minor and Northern Africa.
Wealth had flowed abundantly into the imperial city, and with it pride,
corruption, and oppression. The great grew greater, the poor poorer, and
the old simplicity and frugality of Rome were replaced by overweening
luxury and greed of wealth.
The younger Tiberius Gracchus, who was nine years older than his
brother, after taking part in the siege of Carthage, went to Spain,
where also was work for a soldier. On his way thither he passed through
Etruria, and saw that in the fields the old freeman farmers had
disappeared, and been replaced by foreign slaves, who worked with chains
upon their limbs. No Cincinnatus now ploughed his own small fields, but
the land was divided up into great estates, cultivated by the captives
taken in war; while the poor Romans, by whose courage these lands had
been won, had not a foot of soil to call their own.
This spectacle was a sore one to Tiberius, in whose mind the wise
teachings of his mother had sunk deep. Here were great spaces of fertile
land lying untilled, broad parks for the ostentation of their proud
possessors, while thousands of Romans languished in poverty, and Rome
had begun to depend for food largely upon distant realms.
There was a law, more than two hundred years old, which forbade any man
from holding such large tracts of land. Tiberius thought that this law
should be enforced. On his return to Rome his indignant eloquence soon
roused trouble in that city of rich and poor.
"The wild beasts of the waste have their caves and dens," he said; "but
you, the people of Rome, who have fought and bled for its growth and
glory, have nothing left you but the air and the sunlight. There are far
too many Romans," he continued, "who have no family altar nor ancestral
tomb. They have fought well for Rome, and are falsely called the masters
of the world; but the results of their fighting can only be seen in the
luxury of the great, while not one of them has a clod of dirt to call
his own."
Cornelia urged her son to do some work to ennoble his name and benefit
Rome.
"I am called the 'daughter of Scipio,'" she said. "I wish to be known as
'the mother of the Gracchi.'"
It was not personal glory, but the good of Rome, that the young reformer
sought. He presented himself for the office of tribune, and was elected
by the people, who looked upon him as their friend and advocate. And at
his appeal they crowded from all quarters into the city to vote for the
re-establishment of the Licinian laws,--those forbidding the rich to
hold great estates.
These laws were re-enacted, and those lands which the aristocrats had
occupied by fraud or force were taken from them by a commission and
returned to the state.
All this stirred the proud land-holders to fury. They hated Gracchus
with a bitter hatred, and began to plot secretly for his overthrow.
About this time Attalus, king of Pergamus, moved by some erratic whim,
left his estates by will to the city of Rome. Those who had been
deprived of their lands claimed these estates, to repay them for their
outlays in improvement. Gracchus opposed this, and proposed to divide
this property among the plebeians, that they might buy cattle and tools
for their new estates.
His opponents were still more infuriated by this action. He had offered
himself for re-election to the office of tribune, promising the people
new and important reforms. His patrician foes took advantage of the
opportunity. As he stood in the Forum, surrounded by his partisans, an
uproar arose, in the midst of which Gracchus happened to raise his hand
to his head. His enemies at once cried out that he wanted to make
himself king, and that this was a sign that he sought a crown.
A fierce fight ensued. The opposing senators attacked the crowd so
furiously that those around Gracchus fled, leaving him unsupported. He
hastened for refuge towards the Temple of Jupiter, but the priests had
closed the doors, and in his haste he stumbled over a bench. Before he
could rise one of his enemies struck him over the head with a stool. A
second repeated the blow. Before the statues of the old kings, which
graced the portals of the temple, the tribune fell dead.
Many of his supporters were slain before the tumult ceased. Many were
forced over the wall at the edge of the Tarpeian Rock, and were killed
by their fall. Three hundred in all were slain in the fray.
Thus was shed the first blood that flowed in civil strife at Rome. It
was a crimson prelude to the streams of blood that were to follow, in
the long series of butcheries which were afterwards to disgrace the
Roman name.
Tiberius Gracchus may well be called the Great, for the effect of his
life upon the history of Rome was stupendous. He held office for not
more than seven months, yet in that short time the power of the senate
was so shaken by him that it never fully recovered its strength. Had he
been less gentle, or more resolute, in disposition his work might have
been much greater still. Fiery indignation led him on, but soldierly
energy failed him at the end.
Caius Gracchus was in Spain at the time of his brother's murder. On his
return to Rome he lived in quiet retirement for some years. The senate
thought he disapproved of his brother's laws. They did not know him. At
length he offered himself as a candidate for the tribuneship, and so
convincing was his eloquence that the people supported him in numbers,
and he was elected to the office.
He at once made himself an ardent advocate of his brother's reforms, and
with such impassioned oratory that he gained adherents on every side. He
made himself active in all measures of public progress, advocating the
building of roads and bridges, the erection of mile-stones, the giving
the right to vote to Italians in general, and the selling of grain at
low rates to the deserving poor. The laws passed for these purposes are
known as the Sempronian laws, from the name of the family to which the
Gracchi belonged.
By this time the rich senators had grown highly alarmed. Here was a new
Gracchus in the field, as eloquent and as eager for reform as his
brother, and who was daily growing more and more in favor with the
people. Something must be done at once, or this new demagogue--as they
called him--would do them more harm than that for which they had slain
his brother.
They adopted the policy of fraud in place of that of violence. The
people were gullible; they might be made to believe that the senators of
Rome were their best friends. A rich and eloquent politician, Drusus by
name, proposed measures more democratic even than those which Gracchus
had advocated. This effort had the effect that was intended. The
influence of Gracchus over the popular mind was lessened. The people had
proved fully as gullible as the shrewd senators had expected.
Among other measures proposed by Gracchus was one for planting a colony
and building a new city on the site of Carthage. The senate appeared to
approve this, and appointed him one of the commissioners for laying out
the settlement. He was forced to leave Rome, and during his absence his
enemies worked more diligently than ever. Gracchus was defeated in the
election for tribune that followed.
And now the plans of his enemies matured. It was said that the new
colony at Carthage had been planted on the ground cursed by Scipio.
Wolves had torn down the boundary-posts, which signified the wrath of
the gods. The tribes were called to meet at the Capitol, and repeal the
law for colonizing Carthage.
A tumult arose. A man who insulted Gracchus was slain by an unknown
hand. The senate proclaimed Gracchus and his friends public enemies, and
roused many of the people against him by parading the body of the slain
man. Gracchus and his friends took up a position on the Aventine Hill.
Here they were assailed by a strong armed force.
There was no resistance. Gracchus sought refuge at first in the Temple
of Diana, and afterwards made his way to the Grove of the Furies,
several of his friends dying in defence of his flight. A single slave
accompanied him. When the grove was reached by his pursuers both were
found dead. The faithful slave had pierced his master's heart, and then
slain himself by the same sword.
Slaughter ruled in Rome. The Tiber flowed thick with the corpses of the
friends of Gracchus, who were slain by the fierce patricians. The houses
of the murdered reformers were plundered by the mob, for whose good they
had lost their lives. For the time none dared speak the name of Gracchus
except in reprobation. Yet he and his brother had done yeoman service
for the ungrateful people of Rome.
Cornelia retired to Misenum, where she lived for many years. But she
lived not in grief for her sons, but in pride and triumph. They had died
the deaths of heroes and patriots, and she gloried in their fame,
declaring that they had found worthy graves in the temples of the gods.
So came the people to think, in after-years, and they set up in the
Forum a bronze statue to the great Roman matron, on which were inscribed
only these words: TO CORNELIA, THE MOTHER OF THE GRACCHI.
_JUGURTHA, THE PURCHASER OF ROME._
Masinissa, the valiant old king of Numidia, who had ravaged Carthage in
its declining days, left his kingdom to his three sons. On the death of
Micipsa, the last remaining of these, in 118 B.C., he, in turn, left the
kingdom to his two sons. They were still young, and Jugurtha, their
cousin, was appointed their guardian and the regent of the kingdom.
Shrewd, bold, ambitious, and unscrupulous, Jugurtha was the most
dangerous man in Numidia to whose care the young princes could have been
confided. Scipio read his character rightly, and said to him, "Trust to
your own good qualities, and power will come of itself. Seek it by base
arts, and you will lose all."
Some of the young nobles in Scipio's camp gave baser advice. "At Rome,"
they told him, "all things could be had for money." They advised him to
buy the support of Rome, and seize the crown of Numidia.
Jugurtha took this base advice, instead of the wise counsel of Scipio.
He was destined to pay dearly for his ambition and lack of faith and
honor. One of the young princes showed a high spirit, and Jugurtha had
him assassinated. The other fled to Rome and sought the support of the
senate. Jugurtha now, following the suggestions of his false friends,
sent gold and promises to Rome, purchased the support of venal senators,
and had voted to him the strongest half of the kingdom; Adherbal, the
young prince, being given the weaker half.
But the young man was not left in peace, even in this reduced
inheritance. Jugurtha sent more presents to Rome, and, confident of his
strength there, boldly invaded the dominions of Adherbal. A Roman
commission threatened him with Rome's displeasure if he did not keep
within his own dominions. He affected to submit, but as soon as the
commissioners turned their backs the daring adventurer renewed his
efforts, got possession of his cousin through treachery, and at once
ordered him to be put to death with torture.
Since Rome had become great and powerful no one had dared so openly to
contemn its decrees. But Jugurtha knew the Romans of that day, and
trusted to his gold. He bought a majority in the senate, defied the
minority, and would have gained his aim but for one honest man. This was
the tribune Memmius, who, seeing that the senate was hopelessly corrupt,
called the people together in the Forum, told them of the crimes of
Jugurtha, and demanded justice and redress at their hands.
And now a struggle arose like that between the Gracchi and the rich
senators. Jugurtha sent more gold to Rome. An army was despatched
against him, but he purchased it also. He gave up his elephants in
pledge of good faith, and then bought them back at a high price. The
officers divided the money, and the army failed to advance.
Jugurtha would have triumphed but for Memmius, who resolutely kept up
his attacks. In the end the usurper was ordered to come to Rome,--under
a safe-conduct. He came, and here by his gold purchased one of the
tribunes, who protected him against the wrath of Memmius and the people.
But Memmius was resolute and determined. Another Numidian prince was
found and asked to demand the crown from the senate. Jugurtha learned
what was afoot, and sent an agent, Bomilcar by name, to assassinate the
new prince. An indictment was laid against Bomilcar, but Jugurtha,
fearing to have his own share in the murder exposed, sent him off
secretly to Africa.
This was too much, even for the purchased members of the senate. Such
open disdain of the majesty of Rome no man, however avaricious, dared
support. Jugurtha had a safe-conduct, and could not be seized, but he
was ordered to quit Rome immediately. He did so, and as he passed out of
the gates he looked back and said, "A city for sale if she can find a
purchaser."
The remainder of Jugurtha's history is one of war. The time for winning
power by bribery was past. The people were so thoroughly aroused and
incensed that none dared yield to cupidity. The indignation grew. The
first army sent against Jugurtha was baffled by the wily African, caught
in a defile, and only escaped by passing under the yoke, and agreeing
to evacuate Numidia.
This disgrace stirred Rome more deeply still. A new consul was elected
and a new army raised. A commission was appointed to inquire into the
conduct of the senate, and several of the leading members were found
guilty of high treason and put to death without mercy. Rome had begun to
purge itself.
The new general, Metellus, was not one to be sent under the yoke. He
defeated Jugurtha in the field and pursued him so unrelentingly that
soon the African usurper was a fugitive, without an army, and with only
some fortresses under his control.
Metellus had with him as his principal officer a man who was to become
famous in Roman history. This man, Caius Marius, was then fifty years of
age. Yet he had years enough before him to play a mighty part. He was a
man of the people, rough and uneducated; scorned learning, but had a
vigorous ambition and a striking military genius. He claimed to be a
_New Man_, knew no Greek, and boasted that he had no images but "prizes
won by valor and scars upon his breast."
This man made himself the favorite of the populace, was elected consul,
and by undisguised trickery took the conduct of the war out of the hands
of Metellus just as the latter was about to succeed. With him to Africa
went another man who was to become equally famous, L. Cornelius Sulla,
the future chief of Rome. Sulla was not a _New Man_. He was an
aristocrat, knew Greek better than Marius knew Latin, was educated and
dissipated, and showed the marks of a dissolute life in his face. When
he rode into the camp of Marius at the head of the cavalry he had seen
no service, and the rugged soldier looked with contempt on this
effeminate pleasure-seeker who had been sent as his lieutenant. He soon
learned his mistake, and before the campaign ended Sulla was his most
trusted officer and chief adviser.
In the subsequent conduct of the war there is an interesting story to
tell. There were two hill-forts in Numidia which still remained in
Jugurtha's control. One of these was taken easily. The other--which
contained all that was left of the usurper's treasures--was a formidable
place, which long defied the Roman engineers. It stood on a precipitous
rock, with only a single narrow ascent; was well garrisoned and supplied
with arms, food, and water; and so long defied all the efforts of Marius
that he almost despaired of its capture.
In this dilemma a happy chance came to his aid. A Ligurian soldier, a
practised mountaineer, being in search of water, saw a number of snails
crawling up the rock in the rear of the castle. These were a favorite
food with him, and he gathered what he saw, and climbed the cliff in
search of more. Higher and higher he went, till he had nearly reached
the summit of the rock. Here he found himself near a large oak, which
had rooted itself in the rock crevices, and grew upward so as to overtop
the castle hill.
The Ligurian, led by curiosity, climbed the tree, and gained a point
from which he could see the castle, undefended on this side, and
without sentinels. Having taken a close observation, he descended,
carefully examining every point as he went. He now hastened to the tent
of Marius, recounted to him his exploit, and offered to guide a party up
the perilous ascent.
Marius was quick to seize this hopeful chance. Five trumpeters and four
centurions were selected, who were placed under the leadership of the
mountaineer. Laying aside all clothing and arms that would obstruct
them, they followed the Ligurian up the rock. He, an alert and skilful
climber, here and there tied ropes to projecting points, here lent them
the aid of his hand, here sent them up ahead and carried their arms
after them. At length, with great toil and risk, they reached the
summit, and found the castle at this point undefended and unwatched, the
Numidians being all on the opposite side.
Marius, being apprised of their success, ordered a vigorous assault in
front. The garrison rushed to the defence of their outer works. In the
heat of the action a sudden clangor of trumpets was heard in their rear.
This unexpected sound spread instant alarm. The women and children who
had come out to watch the contest fled in terror. The soldiers nearest
the walls followed. At length the whole body, stricken suddenly with
panic, took to flight, followed in hot pursuit by their foes.
Over the deserted works the Romans clambered, into the castle they
burst, all who opposed them were cut down, and in a short time the place
which had so long defied them was theirs, while the four trumpets to
which their victory was due sounded loudly the war-peal of triumph.
Jugurtha was still at large. He was supported by Bocchus, king of
Mauritania, whose daughter he had married. Sulla was sent to demand his
surrender. Bocchus refused at first, but at length, through fear of
Rome, consented, and the bold usurper was betrayed into Sulla's hands.
The end of Jugurtha was one in accordance with the brutal cruelty of
Rome, yet it was one which he richly deserved. It was in the month of
January, 104 B.C., three years after his capture, that Marius entered
Rome in triumphal procession, displaying to the people the spoils of his
victories, while before his car walked his captive in chains.
The African seemed sunk in stupor as he walked. He was roused by the
brutal mob, who tore off his clothes and plucked the gold rings from his
ears. Then he was thrust into the dungeon at the foot of the Capitoline
Hill. "Hercules, what a cold bath this is!" he exclaimed. There he who
had defied Rome and lorded it over Africa starved to death. A prince of
the line of Masinissa succeeded him on the throne.
_THE EXILE AND REVENGE OF MARIUS._
Marius and Sulla, the heroes of the Jugurthine War, in later years led
in greater wars, in which they gained much fame. They ended their
careers in frightful massacres, in which they gained great infamy. Rome,
which had made the world its slaughter-house, was itself turned into a
slaughter-house by these cruel and revengeful rivals.