mans.

Per'ses fled to Samothrace, but was soon forced to surrender, and was reserved to grace the triumph of the conqueror. Macedon, Epírus, and Illyricum, were reduced to the condition of provinces, and it became evident that the independence of the remaining Grecian states would not long be respected. The triumph of Æmilius Paul'lus was the most splendid which had been yet exhibited in Rome, and it became the precedent for the subsequent processions of victorious generals.

The destruction of the Macedonian monarchy was soon followed by that of the miserable remains of the once proud republic of Carthage. To this war the Romans were stimulated by the rigid Cáto, surnamed the Censor, who was animated by his envy of Scipio Nasíca, on account of his great influence in the senate, and by a haughty spirit of revenge for some slights which he imagined he had received from the Carthaginians when sent as ambassador to their state. The pretext for the war was some quarrels between the Carthaginians and the Numidians, in which, however, the former only acted upon the defensive. At first, the Carthaginians attempted to disarm their enemies by submission; they banished all who had incurred the displeasure of the Romans, and surrendered their arms and military stores to the consuls; but when informed that they must abandon their city and consent to its demolition, they took courage from despair, and set their insulting foes at defiance (B. c. 168). They made the most vigorous exertions to supply the place of the weapons they had surrendered: men of every rank and station toiled night and day in the forges; the women cut off their long hair, hitherto the great source of their pride, to furnish strings for the bows of the archers, and engines of the slingers; and the banished Asdrubal was recalled to the defence of his country.

From this unexpected display of courage and patriotism, the Romans found Carthage not quite so easy a conquest as they had anticipated: during the first two years of the war they suffered repeated disappointments; but at length they intrusted the command of their armies to Scip'io Emiliánus, the adopted son of the great Africánus (B. c. 147). On his arrival in Africa Scip'io's first care was to restore the discipline of the soldiers, who had been allowed by their former commanders to indulge in dangerous licentiousness. His strictness and moderation won him the friendship of the African nations, and enabled him in his second campaign (B. c. 146) to press vigorously the siege of Carthage. After a severe struggle, the Romans forced an entrance into the city on the side of Cóthon, or the port, and made themselves masters of the great wall. Thence Scip'io, with a large body of soldiers, cut his way to the principal square of the city, where he bivouacked all the following night. On the next morning the fight was renewed, and the whole city, except the citadel and the temple of Esculapius, taken: six days were spent in preparation for the siege of these strongholds; but, on the seventh, the garrison in the citadel surrendered at discretion; and the deserters in the temple of Esculapius, setting fire to that building, perished in the flames.

Scanty as are our limits, two incidents connected with the destruction of this ancient commercial metropolis, so long the rival of Rome for supremacy in the western world, must not be omitted. When Scip'io

beheld Carthage in flames, his soul was softened by reflections on the instability of fortune, and he could not avoid anticipating a time when Rome herself should experience the same calamities as those which had befallen her unfortunate competitor. He vented his feelings, by quoting from Homer, the well-known lines in which Hector predicts the fall of Troy :

"Yet come it will, the day decreed by fates;

(How my heart trembles, while my tongue relates!)
The day when thou, imperial Troy, must bend,
And see thy warriors fall, thy glories end."

The second incident is still more tragic: As'drubal, the first mover of the war, had fled with the deserters, accompanied by his wife and children, to the temple of Æsculápius, but went over to the Romans a little before the destruction of that edifice. While the fire was kindling, the wife of As'drubal, having decked herself in the best manner she could, appeared with her two children on the top of the temple, whence, calling out to Scip'io, she begged him to punish her husband according to his deserts, that traitor to his God, his country, and his family. Then directing her speech to As'drubal-"Thou wicked, perfidious wretch," she exclaimed, "thou most cowardly of men! This fire will quickly consume me and my children: but thou, once ruler of mighty Carthage, what a triumph shalt thou adorn! And what punishment wilt thou not suffer from him at whose feet thou art sitting!" This said, she cut the throats of her children, threw their bodies into the burning building, and sprung after them into the very centre of the flames.

During the third Punic war, the disturbances excited in Macedonia by an impostor, Andris'cus, who pretended to be the son of Philip, kindled a new war, which proved fatal to the independence of Greece. The Achæans stimulated by some factious leaders, took up arms but were subdued the very same year that Carthage was destroyed. Mum'mius, the consul who conducted this war, sacked and burned Corinth; and after having plundered the city of its statues, paintings, and most valuable effects, levelled its walls and houses to the ground. Thebes and Chalcis soon after shared the same sad fate. If we may believe Velleíus Pater'culus, Mum'mius was so little acquainted with the value of the beautiful works of art which fell into his possession, that he covenanted with the masters of the ships, whom he hired to convey from Corinth to Italy a great number of exquisite pieces of painting and statuary, that "if they lost any of them, they should furnish others in their stead."

Spain next began to attract the attention of the Romans. No nation that the republic had subdued defended its liberties with greater obstinacy. The war for the subjugation of the Spaniards commenced six years after the expulsion of the Carthaginians from the western peninsula, and was exceedingly obstinate (B. c. 200). This struggle was protracted partly from the natural state of the country, which was thickly populated and studded with natural fortresses, partly from the courage of the inhabitants, and partly from the peculiar policy of the Romans, who were accustomed to employ their allies to subdue other nations. The chief enemies against whom the invaders had to contend were the

Celtiberians and Lusitanians; and so often were the Romans defeated, that nothing was more dreaded by the soldiers at home than an expedition against such formidable foes. At length the Lusitanians found a leader worthy of their bravery (B. c. 146) in Viriátus, who, from a shepherd, became a hunter and a robber; and in consequence of his distinguished valor was chosen general-in-chief by his countrymen. This bold leader long maintained his ground against the Roman armies, and was equally formidable whether victorious or vanquished. Indeed, he was never more to be dreaded than immediately after defeat, because he knew how to make the most of the advantages arising from his knowledge of the country, and of the dispositions of his countrymen. Unable to compete with Viriátus, the consul Cæ'pio treacherously procured his assassination (B. c. 140); and the Lusitanians, deprived of their leader, were easily subdued.

The Numantine war in hither Spain had been allowed to languish while the Lusitanians remained in power; it was now renewed with fresh vigor on both sides, and the pro-consul Pompey laid siege to Numan'tia. He was soon compelled to raise the siege, and even to enter into a treaty with the Numantines; but dreading the resentment of the senate, he disavowed the negotiation, and, by his great interest, escaped the punishment of his perfidy. A similar disgrace befell Pompey's successor, Mancínus; and the Romans, alarmed by the great victories of the Numantines, raised Scip'io Æmiliánus a second time to the consulship, and assigned him Spain as his province. Scip'io spent his entire consular year in restoring the discipline of soldiers dispirited by defeat, and neglected by their former generals; he then, with the inferior title of pro-consul, directed all his attention to concluding the war. Having obtained reinforcements from Africa, he laid close siege to Numan'tia, blockading every avenue to the town. After a protracted defence of more than six months, the Numantines destroyed their wives and children, set fire to their city, threw themselves on their swords or into the flames, and left the victors nothing to triumph over but empty walls (B. c. 133). Spain henceforth became a Roman province, governed by two annual prætors.

A rich province in Asia was obtained nearly at the same time on much more easy terms. At'talus, king of Per'gamus, dying, bequeathed his dominions to the Roman republic: and the senate took possession of the valuable inheritance, without heeding the remonstrances of the legitimate heir. But this acquisition of the wealthiest and finest districts in Asia Minor eventually cost the Romans very dear, both by the corruption of morals consequent on the great influx of Asiatic wealth, and the dreadful wars in which this legacy involved them with Mithridátes, king of Pon'tus.

SECTION VI. From the Beginning of the Civil Dissensions under the Gracchi, to the Downfall of the Republic and Death of Pompey.

FROM B. C. 134 To B. c. 48.

DURING the Punic, Macedonian, and Spanish wars, the power of the senate, on which the administration of the government necessarily devolved, increased very rapidly, and the form of the constitution con

sequently was changed more and more into that of a hateful aristocracy, against which the tribunes of the people struggled rather as factious demagogues than as honest defenders of popular rights. The aristocracy acquired vast wealth in the government of the provinces, and they employed their acquisitions in extending their political influence. The most obvious means of effecting this purpose was jobbing in the public lands, undertaking the management of extensive tracts, and sub-letting them to a crowd of needy dependants.

Tibérius Grac'chus, the son of a consul, whose mother Cornélia was a daughter of the celebrated Scip'io Africánus, witnessed with indignation the progress of corruption, and, to check it, resolved to enforce the Licinian prohibition against any individual renting more than five hundred acres of the public land. His office of tribune enabled him at once to commence operations; but before committing himself to the hazards of a public struggle, he sought the advice of the most virtuous and respectable men in Rome, all of whom sanctioned his project. Not daring to oppose directly the attempt to enforce a well-known law, the corrupt nobles engaged one of the tribune's colleagues to thwart his measures. Grieved, but not disheartened, Tibérius procured the deposition of this unworthy magistrate, and carried a law, constituting a triumvirate, or commission of three persons, to inquire into the administration of the public lands, and the violations of the Licinian law (B. C. 132). This was followed by a proposal, that the treasures which At'talus, king of Per'gamus, had bequeathed to the Romans should be distributed among the poorer classes of the people. During the agitation of this and some similar laws, his year of tribuneship expired, and the patricians resolved to prevent his re-election by absolute violence. So great was the uproar on the first day of the comitia, that the returning officer was obliged to adjourn the proceedings. Early in the following morning, when the assembly met, Tibérius received information that some of the nobles, accompanied by bands of armed retainers, had resolved to attack the crowd and take his life. Alarmed by this intelligence, he directed his friends to arm themselves as well as they could with staves; and when the people began to inquire the cause of this strange proceeding, he put his hand to his head, intimating that his life was in danger. Some of his enemies immediately ran to the senate, and reported that Tibérius Grac'chus openly demanded a crown from the people. Scip'io Nasíca, a large holder of public lands, seized this pretext to urge the consul to destroy the reformer. On the refusal of that magistrate to imbrue his hands in innocent blood, Nasíca, accompanied by a large body of the patricians, with their clients and dependants, assaulted the unarmed multitude; Tibérius was slain in the tumult, and many of his friends were either murdered or driven into banishment without any legal process. So great was the odium Nasíca incurred by his share in the murder of his kinsman, that the senate, to screen him from popular resentment, sent him to Asia, under a pretext of public business, but in reality as a species of honorable exile: he died in a few months, the victim of mortification and remorse.

While the city was thus disturbed by civil tumults, Sicily was harassed by the horrors of a servile war; and the new province of

Per'gamus was usurped by Aristonícus, a natural brother of the late king At'talus. Both wars were terminated by disgraceful means, which the Romans would have scorned to have used at an earlier period of their history: Eúnus, the leader of the slaves, was betrayed by some wretches the consul had bribed: and Per gamus was not subdued until the springs which supplied water to the principal towns were poisoned.

Caíus Grac'chus had been a mere youth when his brother Tibérius was so basely murdered; but, undaunted by that brother's fate, he resolved to pursue the same course, and was confirmed in his determination by his mother Cornélia, a woman of undaunted spirit, animated by the purest principles of patriotism. He commenced his career by offering himself a candidate for the office of quæstor, to which he was elected without opposition. His integrity and ability in this station won him "golden opinions from all sorts of men." On his return to Rome he was chosen tribune of the people; and he immediately began to take measures for enforcing the agragrian law (B. c. 122). In his second tribuneship, he procured the enactment of a law transferring the power of judging corrupt magistrates from the senators to the equestrian order; a change rendered absolutely necessary by the impunity that had long been granted to the grossest delinquency and extortion. At length the senate set up Drúsus, another tribune, as a rival to Grac'chus. This wretched minion of an unprincipled faction made several grants of public money and remissions of taxes to the people, with the direct sanction of the senate; and soon became a favorite with the ignorant multitude. A severer blow was the exclusion of Grac'chus from the tribuneship when he stood candidate the third time, the officers having been bribed to make a false return; and this was followed by the election of Opim'ius, the most violent of the aristocratic faction, to the consulship.

A contest could not long be avoided: the nobles, confiding in the numbers of their armed retainers, were anxious to provoke a battle; but Grac'chus, though personally menaced by the consul, was desirous that peace should be preserved. An accident precipitated the struggle. While the consul was performing the customary morning sacrifice, Antyl'ius, one of his lictors, carrying away the entrails, said, with contemptuous voice and gesture, to the friends of Grac'chus and Ful'vius, "Make way there, ye worthless citizens, for honest men!" The provoked bystanders instantly assaulted the insolent lictor, and slew him with the pins of their table-books.

This imprudence afforded Opim'ius the opportunity he had so eagerly desired; the senate hastily assembled, and passed a vote investing him with dictatorial power.* Grac'chus, with his most zealous followers, took possession of Mount Aventine: here he was soon attacked by the sanguinary Opim'ius; three thousand of his followers were slain, and their bodies thrown into the Tiber; and Caíus himself chose to fall by the hands of a faithful slave, rather than glut his cruel enemies by his tortures (B. c. 120). With the Grac'chi perished the freedom of the

The vote by which absolute power, in cases of emergency, was given to the consuls, consisted in the following formula: "Ut darent operam consules ne respublica quid detrimenti caperet."