A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P R S T U V W X Z

Outline of Universal History

G >> George Park Fisher >> Outline of Universal History




CHRIST AND THE APOSTLES.--Four years before the date assigned for the
beginning of the Christian era, _Jesus_ was born. _Herod_, a
tyrannical king, servile in his attitude toward the Romans, and
subject to them, was then ruling over the Jews in Palestine. But, when
Jesus began his public ministry, the kingship had been abolished, and
Judaea was governed by the procurator, _Pontius Pilate_
(A.D. 26). Jesus announced himself as the _Messiah_, the founder
of a kingdom "not of this world;" the members of which were to be
brethren, having God for their Father. He taught in a tone of
authority, yet with "a sweet reasonableness;" and his wonderful
teaching was accompanied with marvelous works of power and mercy, as
"he went about doing good." He attached to himself twelve disciples,
among whom _Peter_, and the two brothers _James_ and
_John_, were the men of most mark. These had listened to the
preaching of _John_, the prophet of the wilderness, by whom Jesus
had been recognized as the Christ who was to come. The ministry of the
Christ produced a wide-spread excitement, and a deep impression upon
humble and truth-loving souls. But his rebuke of the ruling class, the
_Pharisees_, for their formalism, pretended sanctity,
self-seeking, and enslavement to tradition, excited in them rancorous
enmity. His disappointment of the popular desire for a political
Messiah chilled the enthusiasm of the multitude, many of whom had
heard him gladly. After about three years, he was betrayed by one of
his followers, _Judas Iscariot_; was accused of heterodoxy and
blasphemy before the Jewish Sanhedrim; the consent of Pilate to his
death was extorted by a charge of treason based on the title of
"king," which he had not refused; and he was crucified between two
malefactors. Not many days elapsed before his disciples rallied from
their despondency, and boldly and unitedly declared, before
magistrates and people, that he had manifested himself to them in
bodily form, in a series of interviews at definite places and
times. They proclaimed his continued though invisible reign, his
perpetual presence with them, and his future advent in power. In his
name, and on the ground of his death, they preached the forgiveness of
sins to all who should believe in him, and enter on a life of
Christian obedience. In the year 33 or 34, the death of
_Stephen_, the first martyr, at the hands of a Jewish mob, for a
time dispersed the church at Jerusalem, and was one step towards the
admission of the Gentiles to the privileges of the new faith. But the
chief agent in effecting this result, and in thus giving to
Christianity its universal character and mission, was the Apostle
_Paul_, a converted Pharisee. _Antioch_ in Syria became the
cradle of the Gentile branch of the church, and of the missions to the
heathen, in which Paul was the leader; while _Peter_ was
efficient in spreading the gospel among the Jews in Palestine and
beyond its borders. By Paul numerous churches were founded in the
course of three extended missionary journeys, which led him beyond
Asia into Macedonia, Greece, and Illyricum. By him the gospel was
preached from Jerusalem to Rome, where he died as a martyr under
_Nero_ in 67 or 68. Not far from the same time, according to a
credible tradition, Peter, also, was put to death at Rome. The
preachers of the Christian faith pursued their work with a fearless
and untiring spirit, and met the malignant persecution of the Jews and
the fanatical assaults of the heathen with patient endurance and with
prayer for the pardon and enlightenment of their persecutors.

THE VICTORY OF THE GERMANS.--Augustus avoided war when he could. His
aim was to defend the frontiers of the empire rather than to extend
them. The Parthians were prevailed on to return of their own accord
the standards and prisoners taken from the army of _Crassus_. But
in Germany, _Drusus_, the brave step-son of _Augustus_, made
four campaigns on the east of the Rhine, as far as the Weser and the
Elbe. On his way back from the Elbe, a fall from his horse terminated
his life (9 B.C.). His brother, _Tiberius_, managed to establish
the Roman power over a part of the Germanic tribes on the right bank
of the river (4 B.C.) Long before (27 B.C.) the western shore of the
river had been formed into two provinces, _Upper_ and _Lower
Germany_. An incapable and incautious general, _Quintilius
Varus_, excited the freedom-loving Germans to revolt under the
brave chief of the _Cherusci_, _Arminius_ (or
Hermann). Three Roman legions were annihilated in the _Teutoburg_
forest, Varus taking his own life. The civil and military chiefs who
were taken captive, the Germans slew as a sacrifice to their gods. The
rest of the prisoners were made slaves. "Many a Roman from an
equestrian or a senatorial house grew old in the service of a German
farmer, as a servant in the house, or in tending cattle without."
There in the forest of _Teutoburg_ the Germans practically won
their independence. On hearing the bad news, Augustus, for several
days, could only exclaim, "Varus! give me back my legions!" After the
death of Augustus, in his seventy-sixth year, the noble son of Drusus,
_Germanicus_, conducted three expeditions against _Arminius_
(A.D. 14-16), obtained a victory over him, and took his wife prisoner,
who died in captivity; but the Romans permanently held only the left
bank of the Rhine.

ROMAN LIFE.--Various particulars characteristic of Roman ways have
been, or will be, incidentally referred to. A few special statements
may be given in this place. The Romans, like the Greeks, built a town
round a height (or capitol) where was a stronghold (_arx_), a
place of refuge. Here temples were erected. The _forum_, or
market-place, was near by, where the courts sat, and where the people
came together to transact business. The dwellings were on the sides of
the hill, or on the plain beneath. The streets were narrow. The
exterior of the houses was plain. They were of brick, generally
covered with stucco, and whitewashed. Glass was too costly to be much
used: hence the openings in the walls were few. When the space became
valuable, as in Rome, the houses were built high. The chief room in
the house was the _atrium_, which, in earlier times, was not only
the common room but also the bedroom of the family. In the primitive
dwellings it had been the only room. A passage led from it through a
door-way into the street. In front and on both sides were apartments,
and in the rear a walled court, or garden. Large houses had several
inclosed courts. Rich men and nobles built magnificent palaces. The
walls of Roman dwellings within were decorated with fresco-paintings,
some of which at Pompeii are left in all their freshness. Round the
dinner-table were couches, on which those who partook of the meal
reclined. In other rooms chairs were plentifully supplied. Lamps were
very numerous and of beautiful design, but the wick was so small that
they gave but little light. There was little furniture in the
_atrium_. Statues stood round the walls of this room, if the
house were one of the better sort, and in open presses on the walls
were the images or masks of the distinguished ancestors of the
family. At a funeral of a member of the household they were worn in
the procession by persons representing the deceased progenitors.

DRESS.--The principal material of a Roman's dress was woolen
cloth. The main article of wearing apparel for a man was the
_toga_, thrown over the shoulders, and brought in folds round the
waist in a way to leave the right arm free. Under it was a tunic. At
the age of about seventeen, the boy publicly laid aside the
_toga_ with a purple hem, and put on the white toga, the token of
citizenship. Women wore a long tunic girded about the waist, with a
tunic and a close-fitting vest beneath. Except on a journey or in an
open theater, as a protection from the sun, neither men nor women wore
any covering on the head. Women, when they walked abroad, wore veils
which did not cover the face. The color and form of the shoes varied
with the rank of the individual, and were significant of it. In the
house, sandals were used.

ORDER OF OCCUPATIONS.--The interval from sunrise to sunset was divided
into twelve hours. The seventh hour of the day began at noon. At the
third hour, there was usually a light meal, which was followed by
business, or visits of friendship. The wealthy Roman was followed
about the city by a throng of clients, who called on him with their
morning greeting before he rose, and received their gift of food or
money. At noon came the _prandium_, or more substantial
breakfast. This was followed by a short sleep, in the case of those
who were at leisure to take it. Then came games and physical exercise
of various sorts. A favorite recreation, both for young and old, was
ball-games. Exercise was succeeded by the bath, for which the Romans
from the later times of the republic had a remarkable fondness. In
private houses the bathing conveniences were luxurious. The emperors
built magnificent bath-houses, which included gymnasia, and sometimes
libraries. What is now called the Turkish bath was very much in
vogue. Dinner, or the _cena_, the principal meal, was about
midway between noon and sunset. The fork was not used at the table,
but only in carving; but spoons, and sometimes, it would appear,
knives, were used by the host and his guests. The food was so carved
that it was usually taken with the fingers. At the table, the toga was
exchanged for a lighter garment, and sandals were laid aside. The
beverage was wine mixed with water. At banquets of the rich, after the
dessert of fruit and cakes had been taken, there was, in later times,
the _convivium_, or social "drinking-bout." Under the empire,
this became often a scene of indecent revelry. The Roman dinner-table
was not so likely as a Greek repast to be enlivened by flashes of
intellect and of wit, or by music furnished by the guests. Musicians
were more commonly hired performers, as were also the dancers. The
Romans enjoyed games of chance. Playing with dice, and gambling along
with it, became common.

MARRIAGE AND THE HOUSEHOLD.--There were two kinds of marriage. By one
the wife passed entirely out of the hands (_manus_) of the father
into the hands of the husband, or under his control. There was
frequently a religious rite (_confarreatio_); but, when this did
not take place, the other customary ceremonies were essentially the
same. At the betrothal the prospective bride was frequently presented
with a ring, and with some more valuable gift, by the man whom she was
to marry. In the household, notwithstanding the supreme authority of
the husband, the wife had an honored position and an active
influence. The children were, in law, the property of the
father. Their lives were at his disposal. The mother had charge of
their early training. The father took the principal charge of the
young boy, taught him athletic exercises, and took him to the forum
with him. Schools began to exist in the early period. Boys and girls
studied together. The _pedagogue_ was the servant who accompanied
the child to school, and conducted him home. Greek was studied. The
law of the Twelve Tables was committed to memory. Virgil and Horace
became school-books, along with Cicero and earlier writers. In the
later republican period, Greeks took the business of teaching largely
into their hands. There were flourishing schools of rhetoric managed
both by Greek and by Latin teachers. Young Romans who could afford to
do so went to Athens and other cities in the East for their university
training.

SLAVES.--Town-slaves were found in the richer families in great
numbers (p. 152). They were not only employed in menial occupations:
they were clerks, copyists, sculptors, architects, etc., as well as
actors and singers. The work of the farm-slaves was harder. They were
shut up in the night in large barracks, made partly under ground, into
which was admitted but little light or air. They often worked in
chains. In town and country both, the unlimited power of the master
led to great severity and cruelty in the treatment of slaves. Women as
well as men were often guilty of brutal harshness. Females as well as
males were the sufferers. The town-slave, however, might be favored by
his master: he might be allowed to save money of his own, and might,
perhaps, buy his freedom, or receive it as a gift. During the holidays
of the _Saturnalia_, slaves were allowed unusual privileges and
pleasures. The _freedmen_ could become citizens, and were then
eligible to any office.

MAGISTRATES.--A Roman who sought office went round soliciting votes.
This was called _ambitio_ (from _ambire_, to go round),
whence is derived the English word _ambition_. He presented
himself in public places in a toga specially whitened, and was hence
called a _candidate_ (from _candida_, meaning
_white_). He sought to get support by providing shows and
games. The voting was by ballot. Magistrates had their seats of honor,
which were made in a particular shape. In the different forms used in
the trial of causes, there was one general practice,--the magistrate
laid down the law, and referred the judgment as to the facts in the
case to an umpire, either an individual or a special court.



THE JULIAN IMPERIAL HOUSE.

C. JULIUS CÆSAR, _m_. Aurelia.
|
+--C. JULIUS CÆSAR.
|
+--Julia, _m_. M. Atius Balbus.
|
+--Atia, _m_. C. Octavius.
|
+--C. Octavius (adopted as son by the will of Julius)
became C. JULIUS CÆSAR OCTAVIANUS AUGUSTUS, _m_.
2, Scribonia;
|
+--Julia
_m_. 2, M. Vipsanius Agrippa.
|
+--Agrippina,
| _m_. Germanicus.
| |
| +--CAIUS (Caligula),
| | _m_. Cæsonia,
| | |
| | +--Julia Drusilla.
| |
| +--Agrippina,
| _m_. Cn. Domitius.
| |
| +--L. DOMITIUS NERO,
| _m_. Poppæa Sabina.
| |
| +--Claudia Augusta.
|
+--Julia,
_m_. Æmilius Paulus.
|
+--Æmilia Lepida, _m_.
1, CLAUDIUS;
2, Junius Silanus.
|
+--Junia Calvina,
_m_. VITELLIUS.

3, Livia.
|
+--TIBERIUS (adopted as son by Augustus).




THE CLAUDIAN IMPERIAL HOUSE.


TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS NERO.
_m_. Livia Drusilla (afterwards wife of AUGUSTUS).
|
+--TIBERIUS CLAUDIUS NERO.
|
+--Drusus Claudius Nero,
_m_. Antonia, daughter of the Triumvir and niece of Augustus.
|
+--Germanicus,
| _m_. Agrippina.
|
+--TI. CLAUDIUS DRUSUS,
_m_. 5, Valeria Messalina.
|
+--Octavia,
| _m_. NERO.
|
+--Britannicus.
|
+--By adoption, NERO.




CHAPTER II. THE EMPERORS OF THE AUGUSTAN HOUSE.


TIBERIUS.--During the long reign of the prudent _Augustus_, there
was peace within the borders of the empire. He said of himself, that
he "found Rome of brick, and left it of marble." This change may be
taken as a symbol of the growth of material prosperity in the Roman
dominions. But in his private relations, the emperor was less
fortunate. His daughter _Julia_, a woman of brilliant talents,
disgraced him by her immorality, and he was obliged to banish her. Her
two elder sons died when they were young. The empire devolved on his
adopted step-son _Tiberius_ (14-37), who endeavored to continue
the same conservative policy. Tiberius was at first alarmed by
mutinies among the troops in Pannonia and on the Rhine. The army of
the Rhine urged _Germanicus_, the emperor's adopted son and
probable successor, to lead it to Rome, promising to place him on the
throne, but _Germanicus_ succeeded in quieting the
disturbance. As there were during this reign no great wars,
_Tiberius_ was able to devote himself more exclusively to the
civil administration. He transferred from the popular assembly to the
Senate the right of choosing the magistrates, emphasizing in this way
the dual system that Augustus had created. The rights of the Senate he
appeared scrupulously to respect. For the more effective government of
the city of Rome he established there a permanent prefecture and
brought together in a camp before the Viminal gate the nine prætorian
cohorts. Unhappily this Prætorian Guard, which might serve to overawe
the city mobs, might also interfere in the affairs of
government. Indeed, a little later it had to be counted with in the
choice of emperors. The notorious _Sejanus_ was prefect during a
large part of this reign, and acquired so completely the confidence of
Tiberius that he began to plot his overthrow. He had already caused
_Drusus_, the son of Tiberius, to be poisoned in order to remove
one obstacle. Finally the emperor discovered his plots and caused him
to be arrested and put to death (31). For several years Tiberius had
been living in retirement on the island of _Capreæ_. There his
enemies represented him as given over to debauchery, while the lives
of Roman citizens were never safe from his suspicions or from the
accusations of the _delators_, men who presented formal charges
of crime, there being no public prosecutors. Earlier in his reign
_Tiberius_ had shown a serious purpose to improve the
administration of justice, but with the lapse of years he became
distrustful and cruel. He had, moreover, changed the law of treason so
that to write or speak slightingly of the emperor was interpreted as
conspiracy to bring the commonwealth into contempt and was punished
with death. Although he was justly hated by the Roman nobles, in the
provinces he was respected because he sought to protect them against
extortion and to foster their general interests. He died in the year
37 at the age of seventy-eight.

CALIGULA.--There was no law for the regulation of the succession. But
the Senate, the prætorians, and the people united in calling to the
throne _Caius_, the son of Germanicus (37-41). This ruler, called
_Caligula_, at first mild and generous in his doings, soon rushed
into such excesses of savage cruelty and monstrous vice that he was
thought to be half-deranged. He was fond of seeing with his own eyes
the infliction of tortures. His wild extravagance in the matter of
public games and in building drained the resources of the
empire. After four years, this madman was cut down by two of his
guards whom he had grievously insulted.

CLAUDIUS.--_Claudius_, the uncle and successor of
_Caligula_, and the son of Drusus and Antonia, was not bad, but
weak. He was a student and a recluse in his habits. His favorites and
nearest connections were unprincipled. The depravity of his wife,
_Messalina_, was such that he did right in sanctioning her
death. The immoral and ambitious _Agrippina_, whom he next
married, had an influence less malign. But she was unfaithful to her
husband; and this fact, together with the fear she felt that
_Nero_, her son by her first marriage, would be excluded from the
throne, impelled her to the crime of taking the life of
_Claudius_ by poison.

NERO.--_Nero_ reigned from 54 to 68. He was the grandson of
Germanicus, and had been the pupil of the philosopher _Seneca_,
and of _Burrus_, an excellent man, the captain of the Prætorian
Guard. The first five years of Nero's reign were honorably
distinguished from the portion of it that followed. When a warrant for
the execution of a criminal was brought to him, he regretted that he
had ever learned to write. His first great crime was the poisoning of
_Britannicus_, the son of _Claudius_. Nero became enamored
of a fierce and ambitious woman, _Poppæa Sabina_. On the basis of
false charges, he took the life of his wife, _Octavia_, the
daughter of Claudius (A.D. 62). His criminal mother, Agrippina, after
various previous attempts made by him to destroy her, was dispatched
by his command (A.D. 59). His unbridled cruelty and jealousy moved him
to order _Seneca_, one of the men to whom he owed most, to commit
suicide. He came forward as a musician, and nothing delighted him so
much as the applause rendered to his musical performances. He recited
his own poems, and was stung with jealousy when he found himself
outdone by _Lucan_. His eagerness to figure as a charioteer
prompted him, early in his reign, to construct a circus in his own
grounds on the _Vatican_, where he could exhibit his skill as a
coachman to a throng of delighted spectators. At length he appeared,
lyre in hand, on the stage before the populace. Senators of high
descent, and matrons of noble family, were induced by his example and
commands to come forward in public as dancers and play-actors. The
public treasure he squandered in expensive shows, and in the lavish
distribution of presents in connection with them.

THE CHRISTIANS.--_Nero_ has the undesirable distinction of being
the first of the emperors to persecute the Christians. In A.D. 64 a
great fire broke out at Rome, which laid a third of the city in
ashes. He was suspected of having kindled it; and, in order to divert
suspicion from himself, he charged the crime upon the Christians, who
were obnoxious, _Tacitus_ tells us, on account of their "hatred
of the human race." Their withdrawal from customary amusements and
festivals, which involved immorality or heathen rites, naturally gave
rise to this accusation of cynical misanthropy. A great number were
put to death, "and in their deaths they were made subjects of sport;
for they were covered with the hides of wild beasts, and worried to
death by dogs, or nailed to crosses, or set fire to, and, when day
declined, were burned to serve for nocturnal lights." At length a
feeling of compassion arose among the people for the victims of this
wanton ferocity. Prior to this time, while the Christians were
confounded with the Jews as one of their sects, they had been more
protected than persecuted by the Roman authorities. Now that they were
recognized as a distinct body,--the adherents of a new religion not
identified with any particular nation, but seeking to spread itself
everywhere,--they fell under the condemnation of Roman law, and were
exposed to the hostility of magistrates, as well as to the wrath of
the fanatical populace.

Nero was a great builder. The ground which had been burnt over in the
fire he laid out in regular streets, leaving open spaces, and limiting
the height of the houses. But a large area he reserved for his "Golden
House," which, with its lakes and shady groves, stretched over the
ground on which the Coliseum afterwards stood, and as far as the
Esquiline.

THE CITY OF ROME.--Ancient Rome was mostly built on the left bank of
the Tiber. It spread from the Palatine, the seat of the original
settlement, over six other hills; so that it became the "city of seven
hills." All of them appeared higher than they do now. Of these hills
the Capitoline was the citadel and the seat of the gods. In earlier
days, from a part of the summit, the Tarpeian Rock, criminals were
hurled. In time the hill became covered with public edifices, of which
the grandest was the Temple of "Capitoline Jupiter." On the Palatine
were eventually constructed the vast palaces of the emperors, the
ruins of which have been uncovered in recent times. The walls of
_Servius Tullius_ encompassed the seven hills. The walls
constructed by _Aurelian_ (270-275 A.D.), _Probus_, and
_Honorius_ (402 A.D.), inclosed an area twelve miles in
circumference. The streets were most of them narrow; and, to economize
space, the houses were built very high. One of the finest, as well as
most ancient, thoroughfares was the _Via Sacra_, which ran past
the Coliseum, or the Flavian amphitheater, and under the Triumphal
Arch of _Titus_, erected after the capture of Jerusalem, along
the east of the Forum to the Capitol. There was a particular street in
Rome where shoemakers and booksellers were congregated. The central
part of the city was thronged, and noisy with cries of teamsters and
of venders of all sorts of wares. The _fora_--one of which, the
"Roman Forum," between the Capitoline and the Palatine, was the great
center of Roman life--were open places paved, and surrounded with
noble buildings,--temples, and _basilicas_, or halls of
justice. The _fora_ were either places for the transaction of
public business, or they served the purpose of modern
market-places. Among the public buildings of note were the vast
colonnades, places of resort both for business and for recreation. The
sewers, and especially the aqueducts, were structures of a stupendous
character. Among the most imposing edifices in ancient Rome were the
baths. Those built by _Diocletian_ had room for three thousand
bathers at once. In these establishments the beauty of the gardens and
fountains without was on a level with the elegance of the interior
furnishings, and with the attraction of the libraries, paintings, and
sculptures, which added intellectual pleasure to the physical comfort
for which, mainly, these gigantic buildings were constructed. Besides
the Temple of Jupiter Capitolinus, there were many other temples, some
of which were but little inferior to that majestic edifice.

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