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Outline of Universal History

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




The triumphal arches--as that of _Titus_, already mentioned,
which was built of Pentelic marble--and the commemorative columns--as
the Column of _Trajan_, which stood in the forum that bears his
name--were among the architectural wonders of the ancient capital of
the world. The plain, named of old the _Campus Martius_, on the
north-west side of the city, and bordering on the Tiber, contained,
among the buildings and pleasure-grounds by which it was covered, the
Pantheon, and the magnificent mausoleum of Augustus. On the south-west
of the Coelian Hill, the Appian Way turns to the south-east, and
passes out of the Appian Gate. It is skirted for miles with sepulchral
monuments of ancient Romans, of which the circular tomb of _Metella
Cæcilia_ is one of the most interesting. There are varying
estimates of the population of ancient Rome. Probably the number of
free inhabitants, in the early centuries of the empire, was not far
from a million; and the slaves were probably almost as many.

DEATH OF NERO: GALBA.--Growing jealous of the legates who commanded
armies on the frontiers, _Nero_ determined to destroy them. They
consequently revolted; and war between the troops of two of them
issued in the death of _Vindex_, the general in Gaul. But
_Galba_ was deputed to carry on the contest; and Nero, being
forsaken even by his creature, _Tigellinus_, and the prætorians,
at last gained courage to call on a slave to dispatch him, and died
(A.D. 68) at the age of thirty. The principal events out of Italy,
during his reign, were the revolt of the Britons under the brave queen
_Boadicea_ (A.D. 61), and the suppression of it by _Suetonius
Paulinus_; the war with the Parthians and Armenians, extending
slightly the frontier of the empire; and the beginning of the Jewish
war. Despite the corruption at Rome, her disciplined soldiers still
maintained their superiority on the borders.

OTHO: VITELLIUS.--With the death of Nero, the Augustan family came to
an end. _Galba_ began the series of military emperors. A Roman of
the old type, simple, severe, and parsimonious, he pleased nobody. The
prætorians killed him, and elevated _Otho_, a profligate noble,
to the throne; but he was obliged to contend with a rival aspirant,
_Vitellius_, commander of the German legions, who defeated him,
and became emperor A.D. 69. Vitellius was not only vicious, like his
predecessor, but was cowardly and inefficient. The Syrian and Egyptian
legions refused to obey so worthless a ruler, and proclaimed their
commander, _Flavius Vespasian_, as emperor. As Vespasian's
general, _Antonius_, approached Rome, _Vitellius_ renounced
the throne, and declared his readiness to retire to private life. His
adherents withstood him; and, in the struggle that followed between
the two parties in the city, the Capitoline Temple was burned. The
Flavian army took Rome, and _Vitellius_ was put to an ignominious
death (A.D. 69).




CHAPTER III. THE FLAVIANS AND THE ANTONINES.


VESPASIAN: THE JEWISH WAR.--_Vespasian_, the first in the list of
good emperors, restored discipline in the army and among the
prætorians, instituted a reform in the finances, and erected the
immense amphitheater now called the _Coliseum_, for the
gladiatorial games. By his general, _Cerealis_, he put down the
revolt in Germany and Eastern Gaul, and thus saved several provinces
to the empire. _Civilis_, the leader of the rebellion, had aimed
to establish an independent German principality on the west of the
Rhine. Vespasian had begun the war with the Jews while _Nero_
reigned (A.D. 66). The Romans had to face a most energetic
resistance. Among the captives taken by them in Galilee was the Jewish
historian, _Josephus_. At the end of A.D. 67, all Galilee was
subdued. The fanatical, or popular, party, the _Zealots_, got the
upper hand at _Jerusalem_. The city was torn with the strife of
violent factions. In A.D. 70 commenced the memorable siege by
_Titus_, the son of Vespasian, the details of which are given by
_Josephus_. The fall of the city was attended with the
conflagration of the temple. Although the estimate given by
_Josephus_ of the number that perished during the siege, which he
places at eleven hundred thousand, is exaggerated, it is true that the
destruction of life was immense. The inhabitants of the city who were
not killed were sold as slaves. In _Britain_ a most competent
officer--_Agricola_, the father-in-law of Tacitus--was made
governor in A.D. 78. He conquered the country as far north as the
_Tyne_ and the _Solway_, and built a line of forts across
the isthmus between England and Scotland.

TITUS (A.D. 79-81).--Vespasian's firm and beneficent reign was
followed by the accession of _Titus_, who had been previously
associated by his father with himself in the imperial office. Titus
was mild in temper, but voluptuous in his tastes, and prodigal in
expenditures. One of the marked events of his short reign was the
destruction of the cities of _Pompeii_ and _Herculaneum_ by
a great eruption of Vesuvius (A.D. 79). The uncovering of the streets
and buildings of _Pompeii_ in recent times has added much to our
knowledge of ancient arts and customs. A terrible fire and destructive
pestilence at Rome were regarded as sent by the gods, not on account
of the sins of the emperor, but of the nation.

DOMITIAN (A.D. 81-96).--_Domitian_, the younger brother of
_Titus_, succeeded him. By nature autocratic, he refused to share
the government with the senate, as Augustus had planned. In order the
more completely to control this body he assumed the censorship for
life. In the latter part of his reign _Domitian_, like
_Tiberius_, was gloomy and suspicious, and committed many acts of
tyranny. He was killed by the freedmen of his own palace
(A.D. 96). His war with the _Dacians_ on the Danube had been
concluded by the dubious stipulation to pay them an annual tribute as
a reward for abstaining from predatory incursions into _Moesia_
(A.D. 90). For the first time, Rome purchased peace of her
enemies. _Domitian_ was guilty of persecuting the Christians,
among whom, it is now known, was included at least one member of his
own family, his niece, _Flavia Domatilla_, who was also allied to
him by marriage. The epistle of _Clement_ of Rome, the oldest
extant Christian writing after the Apostles, refers to the barbarities
inflicted upon Christian disciples by this tyrant.

NERVA (A.D. 96-98).--The Senate now took the initiative, and placed on
the throne one of their own number, _Nerva_, an old man of mild
and virtuous character. The administration was in every point in
contrast with the preceding. But the best thing Nerva did was to
provide for the curbing of the prætorians by appointing, with the
concurrence of the Senate, a most competent man to be his colleague
and successor.

TRAJAN (A.D. 98-117).--_Trajan_ was a native of Spain, and had
been brought up in the camp. He belongs among the very best of the
Roman emperors. He upheld the ancient laws and institutions of the
state. He provided for the impartial administration of justice. He
restored freedom of speech in the Senate. He founded schools, and
establishments for the care of orphans, facilitated commerce by
building new roads, bridges, and havens, and adorned Rome with a
public library, and with a new and magnificent forum, or market-place,
where "Trajan's Column" was placed by Senate and people as a monument
of his victories and services.

He relished the society of literary men like the historian
_Tacitus_. He was an intimate friend of _Pliny_ (the
younger), whose correspondence while he was governor of
_Bithynia_ throws much light upon the emperor's character and
policy. Trajan's own manner of life was simple, and free from
luxury. To the people he furnished lavishly the diversions which they
coveted. He made an aggressive war against the _Dacians_ on the
Danube, and constituted a new province of _Dacia_. He carried his
arms into the _Parthian_ territory; and three new
provinces--_Armenia, Mesopotamia_, and _Assyria_--were the
fruit of his campaign in the East. In a letter to _Pliny_, he
defined the policy to be pursued towards Christians, who had become
very numerous in the region where _Pliny_ governed. The effect
of the emperor's rescript was to place Christianity among the
religions under the ban of the law. This decision was long in force,
and guided the policy of future emperors towards the new
faith. HADRIAN (A.D. 117-138).--Trajan was succeeded by
_Hadrian_, a lover of peace,--a cultivated man, with
extraordinary taste in the fine arts, and their generous patron. He
was diligent and full of vigor in the transaction of public
business. Although genial and affable, his temper was not so even as
that of Trajan; and he was guilty of occasional acts of cruelty. He
spent the larger portion of his reign in traveling through his
dominions, personally attending to the wants and condition of his
subjects. He constructed great works in different portions of the
empire: in Rome, his Mausoleum (now the _Castle of St. Angelo_),
and his grand temple of Rome and Venus. He began the wall connecting
the Scottish friths. A fresh revolt broke out among the _Jews_
(A.D. 131), under a fanatic named _Bar-Cocaba_, which was
suppressed in 135. _Jerusalem_ was razed to the ground; and the
Jewish rites were forbidden within the new city of _Ælia
Capitolina_, which the emperor founded on its site. This gave a
finishing blow to the Jewish and Judaizing types of Christianity
within the limits of the Church.

ANTONINUS PIUS (A.D. 138-161).--_Antoninus Pius_ was the adopted
son and successor of Hadrian. He was one of the noblest of princes, a
man of almost blameless life. His reign was an era of peace, the
golden age in the imperial history. He fostered learning, was generous
without being prodigal, was firm yet patient and indulgent, and
watched over the interests of his subjects with the care of a
father. It is a sign of the happiness of his reign that it does not
afford startling occurrences to the narrator.

MARCUS AURELIUS (A.D. 161-180).--Hardly less eminent for his virtues
was the next in the succession of sovereigns, _Marcus Aurelius_
(161-180). "A sage upon the throne," he combined a love of learning
with the moral vigor and energy of the old Roman character, and with
the self-government and serenity of the Stoic school, of the tenets of
which he was a noble exemplar as well as a deeply interesting
expounder. A philosopher was now on the throne; and his reign gives
some countenance to the doctrine of Plato, that the world could be
well governed only when philosophers should be kings, or kings
philosophers. He endured with patience the grievous faults of his wife
_Faustina_, and of his brother by adoption, and co-regent,
_Lucius Verus_. He protected the eastern frontier against
_Parthia_. In the war with the _Marcomanni_, he drove the
German tribes back over the Danube, and gained a signal victory over
the _Quadi_ in their own land. His great object was to strike
terror into the barbarian enemies of the empire on the north, and
prevent future incursions. Although victorious in many of his battles,
he failed to accomplish this result. The danger from barbarian
invasion increased with the lapse of time. Before his work was
finished, _Marcus Aurelius_ died at _Vindobona_ (Vienna), in
March, 180. During his reign, there was persecution of
Christians. Especially the churches of _Lyons_ and _Vienne_
have left a record of their sufferings. The virtuous emperors, who
were strenuous in their exertions to maintain the old laws and
customs, were apt to be more severe in their treatment of Christians,
whom they ignorantly regarded as a mischievous sect, than were those
emperors who were men of looser principles.

STATE OF MORALS.--The Roman Empire, in the declining days of
heathenism, presented the spectacle of a flourishing civilization in
contrast with extreme moral degeneracy. Rich and populous cities;
stately palaces; beautiful works of art--as vases, statues, carved
altars--on every hand; bridges and aqueducts, and noble highways,
binding land to land; institutions of education in the provincial
cities as well as in Rome; a thriving trade and commerce; a rapid
spread of the Roman language, of the Roman legal system, and Roman
culture and manners over the subject countries,--these are among the
signs and fruits of civilization. But with all this outward prosperity
and elegance, there was a growing sensuality, a decay of manly
feeling, a disregard of the sanctity of the marriage tie, an
insatiable hunger for wealth and for the pleasures of sense. One of
the most corrupting features in the social condition was
_slavery_. Every Roman of moderate means aspired to own at least
a few slaves. Some owned from ten to twenty thousand, mostly
field-hands. Many householders possessed as many as five
hundred. _Horace_ gives it as a sign of the simplicity of his
life as a bachelor, that he is waited on at table by only three
slaves. Slave-holding among the Romans brought in temptations to all
sorts of brutality and vice. It brought a poisonous atmosphere into
every household. Nothing more clearly illustrates the moral
degradation of this period than the character of the sports in which
people of all ranks delighted. The most attractive theatrical
performances came to be comedies, from the Greek and Latin plays of
the same order, where scenes were introduced from the licentious
stories of the Greek mythology. But the _Pantomime_, which was
often of an unchaste and even obscene character, gradually usurped the
place of every other exhibition on the stage. The chief amusements of
the people of all classes were the _Circus_ and the
_Arena_. In the _Circus_, before hundreds of thousands of
spectators, nobles of ancient lineage competed in the chariot
race. _Gladiatorial games_, which had first taken place at
funerals, and in honor of deceased friends, acquired an almost
incredible popularity. At the games instituted by _Augustus_, ten
thousand men joined in these bloody combats. In the festivals under
the auspices of _Trajan_, in A.D. 106, eleven thousand tame and
wild animals were slain. Not satisfied with seeing pairs of men engage
in mortal conflict, the Romans were eager to witness bloodshed on a
larger scale. The emperors provided actual battles between hundreds
and, in some cases, thousands of men, which were beheld by countless
spectators. On an artificial lake in Cæsar's garden, _Augustus_
gave a sea-fight in which three thousand soldiers were engaged. The
effect of these brutal spectacles of agony and death was inevitably to
harden the heart.

LITERATURE.--If the sanguinary fights in the arena excited little or
no condemnation, the prevalence of various other sorts of immorality,
at variance with the practice of better days, could not fail to call
out different forms of censure.

One of these forms of protest was through the _satirical
poets_. Of these caustic writers, _Persius_ (34-62) is obscure
and of a moderate degree of merit. _Juvenal_ (about 55-135), on
the contrary, is spirited and full of force. _Martial_ (43-101),
a Spaniard by birth, was the author of numerous short poems of a pithy
and pointed character, called _epigrammata_. All these poets, if
we make proper discount for the exaggeration of satire, are very
instructive as to the manners and morals of their time. _Lucian_
(120-200), who wrote in Greek, the best known of whose works are his
"Dialogues," touched with his broad humor a great many of the
superstitions and follies of the day.

The popular teachers in the imperial time were the
_rhetoricians_, analogous to the Greek _Sophists_,--teachers
of rhetoric and eloquence,--one of whom, _Quintilian_ (who was
born about 40, and died about 118), was the first to receive from the
public treasury a regular salary, and had among his pupils the younger
_Pliny_ and the two grand-nephews of _Domitian_. The
influence of the mania for rhetoric was more and more to impart an
artificial character to literature and art. The epic poems of such
writers as _Lucan_ and _Statitis_ are to a large extent
imitations; although Lucan's principal poem, "Pharsalia," gives
evidence of poetic talent. Where there was so little productive
genius, it was natural that grammarians and commentators should
abound. There was one great writer, the historian _Tacitus_
(about 54-117), who towers above his contemporaries, and in vigor and
conciseness has seldom been equaled. The elder _Pliny_ (23-79),
whose curiosity to witness the eruption of Vesuvius in 79 cost him his
life, was a famous observer and author in natural history. His nephew,
the younger _Pliny_, the friend of Trajan, has left to us ten
books of "Epistles," which present an agreeable picture of the life
and thoughts of a cultivated Roman gentleman. The philosopher
_Seneca_, with the exception of _Marcus Aurelius_, the most
eminent expositor of the Roman Stoic school, was a voluminous
author. No ancient heathen writer has uttered so many thoughts and
precepts which bear a resemblance to teachings of the New Testament.

The study that nourished most in this period is
_Jurisprudence_. It is the classic era of the jurists. Persons
versed in the law were preferred by the emperors for high offices. Men
who would have been statesmen under the Republic, found a solace and
delight in legal studies. Among the most learned jurists of this era,
were _Caius Papinian_, and _Ulpian_. Of the Greek writers,
one of the most important is _Plutarch_ (about 50-120), whose
"Lives," and "Essays" (or _Moralia_), are among the most
delightful and instructive of all the works of antiquity. One of the
noblest philosophical writers of that or of any other period is the
Stoic _Epictetus_ (50-c.120).

The two most popular systems of philosophy in the closing days of the
Republic and the early period of the Empire, were the Stoic and the
Epicurean. The severity of the Stoic doctrine was somewhat softened by
its Roman teachers; but the rigorous self-control, the superiority to
misfortune, and the contempt of death, which it recommended, found
favor with noble Romans in dark days. _Cato_ and other champions
of the falling Republic were disciples of this school. Later, New
Platonism, of a mystical and contemplative type, secured many
adherents.

SKEPTICISM.--Long before the fall of the Republic, faith in the old
mythology had begun to decline. This change followed upon an intimate
contact of the Romans with the Greek religion. It was hastened by the
familiarity acquired by the Romans with so great a variety of heathen
systems. The decay of morality was attended with a spread of
skepticism as regards the supernatural world altogether. In the course
of the debate in the Roman Senate on the punishment of the
confederates of _Catiline_, _Julius Caesar_ opposed their
execution, on the ground that death puts an end to consciousness, and
thus to all suffering. It does not appear that in that body, where
_Cicero_ and _Cato_ were present, any one disputed this
tenet. _Cicero_ in his philosophical essays advocates the
doctrine of immortality by arguments, mostly gathered from Greek
sources,--arguments some of which are of more and some of less
weight. His correspondence, on the contrary, even in times of
bereavement, affords no proof that this consoling truth had any
practical hold upon his convictions.

SUPERSTITION.--The spread of skepticism was attended, as time went on,
with a re-action to the other extreme of superstition. Magic and
sorcery came into vogue. There was an eagerness to become acquainted
with Oriental religious rites, and to pay homage to deities worshiped
in the East with mysterious ceremonies. Another tendency strongly
manifest was towards what is called _syncretism_, or a mingling
of different religious systems. It was hoped that the truth might be
found by combining beliefs drawn from many different quarters. This
eclectic drift was signally manifest in religion as well as in
philosophy.




CHAPTER IV. THE EMPERORS MADE BY THE SOLDIERS: THE ABSOLUTE MONARCHY.


COMMODUS.--Rome had enjoyed good government for eighty-four
years. This was owing to the fact that her sovereigns had been
nominated to their office, instead of inheriting it. None of the
emperors during this interval had male children. _Marcus
Aurelius_ made the mistake of associating with him in power his son
_Commodus_, who was eighteen years old when his father died, and
reigned alone from 180 to 192. He began his despicable career as sole
ruler by buying peace of the _Marcomanni_ and the
_Quadi_. He turned out to be a detestable tyrant, who was
likewise guilty of the worst personal vices. He was strangled in his
bedroom by one of his concubines, _Marcia_, with the assistance
of others, all of whom he was intending to kill. At this time the
army, where there had been more energy and virtue than in any other
class, began to decline in discipline. Society was growing more and
more corrupt. It proves the inherent strength of the organization of
the Roman Empire, that, amid all the causes of disintegration and
decay, it lasted for two centuries longer.


I. EMPERORS MADE BY THE SOLDIERS.

We now enter upon a period of military license. The emperors are
appointed by the soldiers. The rulers, when the soldiers fall out with
them, are slain. In the course of ninety-two years, from 192 to 284,
twenty-five emperors, with an average reign of less than four years
for each, sat on the throne. Only two reigns exceeded ten years. Ten
emperors perished by violence at the hands of the soldiers. A real
advantage in this way of making emperors, was, that supreme power
might thus devolve on able generals; but another, and a fatal result,
was the demoralizing of the armies, by whose favor the rulers of the
state were set up and pulled down.

TO ALEXANDER SEVERUS (A.D. 222).--The assassins of Commodus, with the
assent of the praetorians, made a worthy senator, _Pertinax_,
emperor; but his honesty and frugality, and his disposition to
maintain discipline among the soldiers, caused them to murder him
three months after his accession (193). It is said that they then sold
the imperial office at auction to a rich senator, but the leaders of
the armies in different regions refused their consent. Of these,
_Septimius Severus_ (193-211) made his way to the throne, and put
down his rivals. The empire became a military despotism. A garrison of
forty thousand troops, the prefect of whom was in power second only to
the sovereign, took the place of the old prætorians. _Severus_
was a good general. In a war against the Parthians, he captured
Ctesiphon, their capital. _Caracalla_, his son (211-217), was a
base tyrant. He was murdered by the prætorian prefect,
_Macrinus_, who reigned for a short time (217-218), but perished
in consequence of his attempts to reform the discipline of the
army. _Heliogabalus_ (218-222) was not more cruel than others had
been, but his gross and shameless debauchery was without a precedent.

POWER OF THE PROVINCES: DISCORD.--In the reign of _Caracalla_ is
placed the Edict which gave the rights of citizenship to all the free
inhabitants of the Roman Empire. The provinces had been steadily
rising in power and influence. At Rome, among officials of the highest
grade, as well as in the higher professions, there was a throng of
provincials. The provinces were disposed to nominate emperors of their
own. It was hard for the central authority to keep under control the
frontier armies. To add to these sources of division, there was a
growing jealousy between the East and West, owing to a difference in
language, ideas, and interests. _Persia_ was soon to threaten the
empire on the East, and Gothic barbarians to invade its territories.

ALEXANDER SEVERUS: PERSIA.--_Alexander Severus_ (222-235) was a
man of pure morals, and sincerely disposed to remedy abuses and to
govern well. But the evils were too great for the moderate degree of
vigor with which he was endowed. The overthrow of the _Parthian_
kingdom, in 226, created, in the _New Persian Monarchy_, a
formidable enemy to Rome. Alexander did little more than check the
advance of Persia. In a war against the Germans, he was slain by his
own soldiers.

TO DECIUS (A.D. 249).--The fierce and brutal _Maximin_, who had
excited the soldiers of _Alexander Severus_ to mutiny, reigned
from 235 to 238. The Senate roused itself to resist his advance into
Italy; and he, and his son with him, were killed in his tent by his
soldiers. _Gordian_ (238-244) at least held the frontier against
the attacks of the Persians. _Philip_, an Arabian, probably a
Roman colonist, after reigning from 244 to 249, was supplanted by
_Decius_, whom his rebellious Moesian and Pannonian soldiers
raised to power.

DECIUS TO CLAUDIUS (A.D. 250-268).--The short reign of _Decius_
was marked by the first general persecution of the Christian
Church. During his reign, the _Goths_ (A.D. 250) invaded the
empire. They traversed _Dacia_, and crossed the Danube. They
ravaged _Moesia_, and even made their way into
Thrace. _Decius_ was defeated by them in _Moesia_, and
slain. The peril of the empire continually increased. The German
tribes on the north, the Goths on the Lower Danube and the Euxine, and
Persia in the east, arrayed themselves in hostility.

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