who, by their hysterical, and now historical efforts, were said to have
saved Rome; and indeed, considering the frequency with which female
influence operates the other way, the fact of its having been exercised
for the prevention of mischief, deserves the commemoration of a
monument.
FOOTNOTES:
[15] This law is said to have been altered by Servius Tullius; but if
legislation on the subject was at one time loose, it became very binding
afterwards, and was extremely strict at the date above alluded to.
[16] The Curule Chair is said to have been imported, with other articles
of state furniture, from Etruria. In some cases, the feet were formed of
ivory in the shape of elephant's tusks; but there are other proofs of
their Tuscan origin.
CHAPTER THE SEVENTH.
FROM THE CLOSE OF THE WAR WITH THE VOLSCIANS TO THE PASSING OF THE BILL
OF TERENTILLUS.
[Illustration]
After the war with the Volscians was at an end, the Romans are said to
have entered into a treaty with their former foe, the object of which
was a sort of partnership in plunder; it being agreed that the new
allies should take the field together, and divide the produce.
Ill-gotten gain is never a source of real profit; and the land stolen in
war became a ground of contention among the Romans. The patricians had
hitherto grasped the whole of the conquered soil, though they could not
do so with clean hands; and Spurius Cassius proposed that the plebeians
should have a share of it. The suggestion, though violently resisted,
became the law of the land; but the land was not appropriated in
conformity with the law until a much later period. Spurius Cassius did
not long survive, when the year of his Consulship had expired; for the
patricians caused him to be impeached, and his head was struck off upon
a block, though, from the services he had performed, it deserved rather
to have been struck off upon a medal.
The patricians tried to divert the attention of the plebeians from
domestic affairs by leading them constantly into battle; but the latter,
though compelled to march into the field, would take no steps to secure
a victory. Like horses brought to the water but refusing to drink, the
soldiers, though conducted to the field, evinced no thirst for blood;
but firmly declining to aim a single blow, they presented a striking
picture of passive disobedience. In vain did the officers suggest, that
for those ambitious of a soldier's grave, there was at length an
eligible opening; they would gain no laurels, but allowed themselves to
be kept at bay; they laughed outright at their commanders, and, instead
of straining every nerve for success, they kept their risible muscles
only in full exercise.
There existed at this time a gens in Rome which had managed to obtain
such a share of power for itself, that it was generally recognised as
the governing family. The gens alluded to was that of the Fabii, whose
union formed their chief strength; for no member of the family, though
he might be unmindful of his antecedents, was ever known to forget his
relatives. The Fabii derived their name from Faba, a bean, because their
ancestors had cultivated that kind of pulse; but in later times the gens
became remarkable for feeling the popular pulse, and making a cat's-paw
of the patricians. By an arrangement with the order to which they
belonged, the Fabii were ensured one of the consulships, on condition of
their influencing their clients to elect a patrician to the other; and
thus both the people and the senate were played off against each other
for the special advantage of the "family." Fortunately for society,
there is in all corruption a rottenness which is always bringing it
towards its conclusion while it seems to be gaining its end; and the
usual difficulty of getting unprincipled men to hang long together by a
rope of sand, was illustrated in the case of the patricians and the
Fabii. The quarrels among themselves helped to render them contemptible
to the plebeians, and the troops had become so accustomed to treat their
leaders with disrespect, that many an intended fight ended without a
sword being taken from its sheath, and nothing was drawn but the battle.
One of the Consuls had, for several years, been chosen from the family
of the Fabii; when its members growing tired, at last, of their
patrician stock being a laughing-stock to the army, determined to make
themselves popular. Marcus Fabius won the hearts of the soldiers, by
dressing their wounds, and promising to redress their grievances. Kæso
Fabius, his successor, recommended the distribution of the land among
the plebeians, by whose sweat it had been gained; but he had not been
always equally anxious to acknowledge the claims of popular
perspiration; for he had been one of those who condemned Spurius Cassius
for having made a similar proposition.
Tradition states that the Fabii afterwards emigrated in a body, upwards
of three hundred strong, taking with them four thousand clients; but
whether the clients went at their own solicitation, or whether the Fabii
were the solicitors, we are not in a position to determine. It is said
that the whole party of four thousand three hundred went into action
together, and paid with their lives the costs of the sad affair; but the
critical authorities doubt the whole story; and it is satisfactory to
our best feelings to know that we, on this point, know nothing.[17]
The Etrurians soon after wasted the country near Rome, and wasted their
own time into the bargain, for they were at last glad to treat, though
not until they had retreated. A peace was concluded; and the parties
held their peace for forty years,--or, at all events, if they ever had
words, they did not come to blows during that lengthened period.
As some of the events recorded in this chapter arose out of the Roman
law of debtor and creditor, it may be just as well to include in this
account a few items of a commercial character. When a man ran into debt,
he was almost sure to be brought to a stand-still, for compound interest
continued to accrue so rapidly that there was no chance of compounding
with those to whom he owed money. Thirty days after a debt being
demanded, the defaulter was handed over to his creditor, and bound with
a cord, by way of accord and satisfaction; but, at the end of sixty
days, a crier, whose office was enough to make him shed tears,
advertised the insolvent for sale as a slave in the market-place. It is
not surprising that the plebeians should rise against their being put up
to this degrading auction, more particularly when the masters to whom
they were knocked down were in the habit of beating and cruelly
ill-treating them. The patricians laid violent hands, not only upon the
plebeians, but upon all the property of the State, assuming to the
utmost all its rights, and repudiating all its duties. They took as a
matter of right all the offices of state; and so complete was the
seizure made by the patricians of every thing in the shape of a
Government situation, that the name of the order which absorbed to
itself all the good things is to be traced in the modern word
"patronage." The whole of the profits of war went into the pockets of
the upper class; and though the plebeians drew the sword, the patricians
drew whatever money was to be obtained from the enemy.
The patricians, however, were not allowed to exercise their tyranny
always without resistance; for, if their conduct was revolting to human
nature, it was to be expected that human nature would revolt against
them when opportunity offered. An instance occurred during the
Consulship of Appius Claudius, who had been elected by the senate, and
who, wishing to levy troops, caused the names of all the men between
eighteen and forty-five to be called over in a list, which furnished the
materials for enlistment. Amongst the names was that of Publilius
Volero, who had formerly held a commission as a centurion, or captain;
and, being now selected to serve as a common soldier, declared
indignantly that rather than go as a private into the ranks, he would
continue in a private station. Publilius, in fact, kicked violently
against the orders of the Consul, and being a man of very powerful
stamp, it was felt that when Publilius kicked in earnest, there was
something on foot that it was not easy to contend against. Appius
intimating that the Consuls must be obeyed, desired one of the lictors
to do his duty; when Volero, being a strong and robust man, received the
lictor with open arms, and lifting him from the ground, gave him a
setting down that shook the nerves of the astonished officer. Having
thrown the lictor on the ground, where the unhappy functionary took his
own measure, instead of carrying out those of his superiors, Volero
threw himself on the public, upon whom he made a very strong impression.
[Illustration: A Lictor is sent to arrest Publilius Volero.]
Publilius from this moment had considerable weight with the plebeians,
who made him one of their Tribunes; and he at once proposed a large
measure of reform in the mode of electing those officers. He suggested
an extension of the suffrage, by giving it to the tribes instead of the
centuries; and public meetings were got up in support of the project.
These meetings were attended by the patricians, and disturbances ensued,
owing to the attempts of one party to put the other party down; for
public discussion in all ages seems to have been conducted on the
principle that it is to be all on one side, and that any opinion opposed
to that of the majority is not to be listened to. When the strength of
lungs happens to be with the party having the strength of argument,
there is not much harm done; but as the patricians and plebeians
mustered in nearly equal numbers at the meetings alluded to, personal
altercations frequently took place; and the Tribunes as well as the
Consuls sent their respective officers to arrest each other.
At length Lætorius, who had been elected as the colleague of Publilius
Volero, marched into the Forum with an armed force, determined that he
would that morning carry the day; and as he drew his sword, he declared
he would go through with it. The patricians, losing their own
resolution, offered to agree to any that he might propose; but, refusing
to trust them, he took possession of the Capitol, as a guarantee for the
fulfilment of their promise. The _Lex Publilia_ was accordingly passed,
to the great annoyance of Appius, who always treated the plebeians as if
different sorts of clay, as well as different moulds, were employed by
Nature in her great man--ufacture. When his year of office was over, he
was impeached by the Tribunes; but on the day when the trial ought to
have come on, the worldly trials of Appius were all past, for he died
the night before the cause stood for hearing. Posterity has agreed on
the verdict which the judges were not required to pronounce; and it has
even been said that he fell by his own hand, in consequence of his sense
of guilt preventing him from knowing how to acquit himself.
To add to its troubles, Rome was visited by a double plague, in the
shape of an external foe and an internal pestilence. The enemy having
approached the gates of the city, the country people had taken refuge
inside the walls, bringing with them their cattle in such numbers that
the place was literally littered with pigs, while the oxen and sheep
were packed in pens to an extent of which our own pen can furnish but a
faint outline. The summer was at the height of its heat, and the
sufferings of the poor dumb animals, as they lost their fat, and met
their fate, were enough to melt not only a heart of stone, but many a
stone of suet. The foe, fearing from the pestilence a plaguy deal of
trouble, broke up their camp; and Rome was allowed to enjoy an interval
of peace, though disease did more havoc than might have been expected at
the hands of an enemy.
We now come to the legend of Cincinnatus; and though it is no better
than a legend, which, as the smallest student will be aware, is so
called from _legendum_, a thing to be read, we must proceed upon the
assumption that, as it is a thing to be read, it is _à fortiori_ a thing
to be written. Lucius Quinctius, surnamed Cincinnatus from his curly
locks--for nature had dressed his hair to a turn--was of a high
patrician family. He passed his life as a country gentleman occupying
his own estate, and occupying himself in looking after it. His land, it
must be admitted, was better cultivated than his manners, which were
haughty and imperious. His virtues were all of the domestic kind; he was
equally attached to his wife and his farm, and he was an excellent
husband, as well as a good husbandman.
[Illustration: Cincinnatus chosen Dictator.]
It happened that Rome was in such a perilous state as to need a strong
hand, when Cincinnatus, being famed for the use of the spade, was
invited to leave his _otium cum dig._--as everybody knows already, and
somebody may have said before--that he might assume the office of
dictator. When the messengers arrived from the senate, Cincinnatus was
at work in the fields, perhaps sowing up some old tares, or examining
the state of his pulse--a favourite crop in those days--or cutting out
the sickliest of his corn with the sickle. The soil being loamy, and
Cincinnatus being in the thick of his work, he was not very presentable;
but hastily throwing his toga round him, he made the best appearance he
could before the messengers of the senate. They at once hailed him as
dictator, and carried him to Rome, where he called out every man capable
of bearing arms; and every man thus called out, accepted the patriotic
challenge. Every soldier was to carry with him food for five days, and
twelve stakes cut into lengths to form a barricade; so that, as the
stakes weighed several pounds, and the eatables were solid, the burden
of each man, together with his accoutrements--which included a cask on
the head from which the perspiration poured--must have been
inconveniently ponderous. Notwithstanding their heavy load, the legend,
which is less weighty than their equipments, goes on to state that the
soldiers started at sunset, with Cincinnatus at their head, and reached
the camp, a distance of two-and-twenty miles, at a quick march, or
rather at a fast trot, by midnight. Though the story runs thus, we are
compelled to doubt the running of the troops, who, with their legs
encumbered by their arms and other equipments, must have found speed
impossible. On arriving at Mount Algidus, where the enemy was encamped,
Cincinnatus made his soldiers surround the place, and by aiming at all
in the ring, they were sure to hit somebody. Finding themselves in the
midst of a circle by no means social, the Æquians sued for mercy; but
Cincinnatus threw Gracchus Clœlius and his lieutenants into chains,
which was equivalent to making them enter into bonds for their future
good behaviour. Clœlius continued in his command after having been thus
formally tied down, and Cincinnatus returned to Rome in triumph. Having
held the dictatorship only sixteen days, he laid it quietly down, and
returning to his farming operations, after having submitted the enemy to
the yoke, he fitted it once more to the necks of his oxen.
While engaged in fighting with an external enemy, a nation often forgets
the foes she has within; and it is the cruel policy of despotism to
waste the popular energy on quarrels with strangers, in order to divert
the attention of the public from domestic grievances. The war being
ended, the people began to look at home, and they soon perceived that,
while the sword of aggression had been in constant use, the sword of
justice had been rusting in the scabbard, or had been only drawn forth
to inflict, occasionally, a wound on public liberty. A movement arose in
favour of law reform, and C. Terentillus Arsa brought in a bill for
getting the patricians and plebeians to a better understanding, by
putting them on nearly the same footing. The measure led to considerable
agitation; for, though the tribunes passed it, the senate could not get
over it at all; and, the latter having thrown it out, the former brought
in a bill, containing a great deal more than the original demand, in the
year following. In political, as well as pecuniary affairs, a just claim
carries interest, which accumulates as long as the claim remains
unsatisfied; and every day, while it augments the debt due, increases
the difficulty of meeting it.
The proposition of Terentillus was much discussed in large assemblies,
the harmony of which was disturbed by some of the young patricians; for,
even in the early days of which we write, the noble art of laughing
down, or crowing over a discomfited orator, was understood by some of
the juvenile scions of aristocracy. It happened that Cincinnatus had
four sons, who were exceedingly fine young men, with very coarse
manners. One of them, named Kæso, was continually getting into street
rows, or disturbing public meetings; and frequently went so far as to
interfere with Virginius, a tribune, in the execution of his duty. The
officer was for a long time patient; but, at length, was goaded to take
the matter, as well as the offender, up; and Kæso was charged with a
series of assaults, of a more or less aggravated and aggravating
character. While these accusations were hanging over him, an old case of
manslaughter came to light; the victim having been an aged invalid, whom
Kæso, in a disreputable night brawl, had cruelly maltreated. He was
already under heavy sureties when this fresh charge was brought up, and,
to avoid meeting it, this proud patrician ran away from his bail,
leaving their recognizances to be forfeited.
Reports were soon afterwards spread, that the man who had left the city
as a contemptible runaway, was about to return to it in the more
formidable character of a robber and a murderer. One night when the
people had gone to bed, many of them heard in their sleep the trampling
of horses, which seemed to come like a tremendous nightmare over the
city. Presently a shout arose, which beat upon the drum of every ear
like a call to battle. The Consuls sprang out of bed, and throwing about
them the first substitute for a toga that the bedclothes presented,
they made at once for the walls of the city. The plebeians, when called
upon, refused to serve; and the Consuls, feeling how weak they were in
going to the wall alone, made the usual promises, which the people, as
usual, were induced to discount, at a great personal sacrifice.
Proceeding to the Capitol, they found it in the possession of a large
band of exiles and runaway slaves, who would have been glad to run away
a second time, had escape been possible. Many fell, and were felled to
the earth, on both sides, while P. Valerius after putting several to the
sword, had the sword put to him in a most uncomfortable manner.
The exiles took nothing by their expedition as far as the attack was
concerned; but many of them owed something to the expedition with which
they fled from the contest. After this battle, all traces of Kæso
Quinctius are lost; but whether he fell in the fray, or whether the
thread of his existence was frayed out in some other way, is a mystery
we have no means of unravelling.
Appius Claudius was now called upon, as the surviving partner of P.
Valerius, to redeem the pledge given by the latter; but Appius, with a
chicanery worthy of Chancery in its best, or rather in its worst days,
pleaded the death of his colleague as a bar to the suit, declaring that
both consuls must be joined in it, though he knew all the while that a
bill of revivor for the purpose of including the deceased consul was
quite impossible. During these unhappy differences between the two
orders, many of the leading plebeians were murdered at the instigation
of the patricians, who, however, were rapidly cutting their own throats;
for violence, while it thinned the body, added to the stoutness of heart
of the popular party. The tribunes were increased in number from five to
ten; and, somewhat later, a still higher point was gained for the
plebeians by limiting to a couple of sheep and thirty beeves the fines
to which they were liable. These exactions were, however, enforced with
such rigour that the tenderest lamb was allowed no quarter if a fine had
been incurred, and the smallest stake in the country--if the stake
happened to be beef--was seized without remorse if the owner had become
subject to a penalty.
It was many years before the Bill of Terentillus--which has been
specially noted--was at length taken up, when the patricians graciously
consented to a change in the laws, and offered the benefit of their
services into the bargain, by taking upon themselves to determine the
sort of change that was required. Hitting, by anticipation, on the
modern expedient for delaying useful measures, the patricians appointed
a select committee to inquire into law reform, and, by way of rendering
the chances of legislation still more remote, they ordered the members
to proceed to Athens, where, under the enervating influence of Attic
associations, they were likely to go to sleep over the subject of their
labours. The special commissioners became, no doubt, so thoroughly Greek
in all their ideas, that, even the preparation of their report was
deferred until the Greek Kalends.
FOOTNOTE:
[17] Among the other difficulties of this story is the comparatively
trifling one, that the Fabian race did not become extinct; but tradition
hops over this dilemma, by leaving one of the family behind to serve as
a father to future Fabii.
CHAPTER THE EIGHTH.
FROM THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE DECEMVIRATE TO THE TAKING OF VEII.
[Illustration: Roman Bull and Priest of the period.]
The Romans, being at peace abroad, began to think of improving the means
of quarrelling among themselves at home, and a desire for law reform
became general. Three senators had been sent to Athens to collect
information, but what they picked up in Greece was so thoroughly Greek
to them, that they were obliged to get it translated into Latin by one
Hermodorus, an Ephesian refugee, before they could understand a word of
it.[18] As one job naturally leads to another, it was arranged that
three commissioners having been employed in cramming, the process of
digesting should be entrusted to ten more, who were called the
Decemviri. These were appointed from the patricians, after a struggle on
the part of the plebeians to get five selected from their own order;
but, with a laudable regard to public order, they withdrew their
opposition. The especial object for which the Decemviri had been
appointed was to frame a new code of laws, but it seems to have been
always understood that the practical purpose of a commission is to delay
an object, quite as much as to further it. Lest the Decemviri should
proceed too rapidly with the work they had been specially chosen to do,
arrangements were made for distracting their attention from it by
throwing on them the whole business of Government. Had they been modern
commissioners of inquiry, they would have needed no excuse for delay;
but, with a stubborn resolution to get through their task, they
surmounted, or avoided, the obstacles they might have been excused for
stumbling at. Instead of making their administrative duties an
interruption to their legislative labours, and urging the necessity for
attending to both as a plea for the performance of neither, the
commissioners took the sovereignty in rotation for five days at a time,
and as ten rulers acting all at once would have kept nothing straight,
this arrangement for obtaining the strength of unity was altogether a
judicious one. At the expiration of their year of office the Decemviri
had completed a system of laws, which was engraved on ten tables;--a
proof of the industry of the Government of the day, for in these times
it would be hopeless to expect ten tables from those who might be, at
the same time, forming a cabinet.