General History for Colleges and High Schools Part 34

The Body of the Roman Law thus preserved and transmitted was the great contribution of the Latin intellect to civilization. It has exerted a profound influence upon all the law-systems of Europe. Thus does the once little Palatine city of the Tiber still rule the world. The religion of Judea, the arts of Greece, and the laws of Rome are three very real and potent elements in modern civilization.

3. SOCIAL LIFE.

EDUCATION.--Roman children were subject in an extraordinary manner to their father (_paterfamilias_). They were regarded as his property, and their life and liberty were in general at his absolute disposal. This power he exercised by usually drowning at birth the deformed or sickly child. Even the married son remained legally subject to his father, who could banish him, sell him as a slave, or even put him to death. It should be said, however, that the right of putting to death was seldom exercised, and that in the time of the empire the law put some limitations upon it.

The education of the Roman boy differed from that of the Greek youth in being more practical. The Laws of the Twelve Tables were committed to memory; and rhetoric and oratory were given special attention, as a mastery of the art of public speaking was an almost indispensable acquirement for the Roman citizen who aspired to take a prominent part in the affairs of state.

After the conquest of Magna Graecia and of Greece, the Romans were brought into closer relations than had hitherto existed with Greek culture. The Roman youth were taught the language of Athens, often to the neglect, it appears, of their native tongue. Young men belonging to families of means, not unusually went to Greece, just as the graduates of our schools go to Europe, to finish their education. Many of the most prominent statesmen of Rome, as for instance Cicero and Julius Caesar, received the advantages of this higher training in the schools of Greece.

Somewhere between the age of fourteen and eighteen the boy exchanged his purple-hemmed toga, or gown, for one of white wool, which was in all places and at all times the significant badge of Roman citizenship.

SOCIAL POSITION OF WOMEN.--Until after her marriage, the daughter of the family was kept in almost Oriental seclusion. Marriage gave her a certain freedom. She might now be present at the races of the circus and the various shows of the theatre and the arena, a privilege rarely accorded to her before marriage. In the early virtuous period of the Roman state, divorce was unusual, but in later and more degenerate times, it became very common. The husband had the right to divorce his wife for the slightest cause, or for no cause at all. In this disregard of the sanct.i.ty of the family relation, may doubtless be found one cause of the degeneracy and failure of the Roman stock.

PUBLIC AMUs.e.m.e.nTS.--The entertainments of the theatre, the games of the circus, and the combats of the amphitheatre were the three princ.i.p.al public amus.e.m.e.nts of the Romans. These entertainments in general increased in popularity as liberty declined, the great festive gatherings at the various places of amus.e.m.e.nt taking the place of the political a.s.semblies of the republic. The public exhibitions under the empire were, in a certain sense, the compensation which the emperors offered the people for their surrender of the right of partic.i.p.ation in public affairs,--and the people were content to accept the exchange.

Tragedy was never held in high esteem at Rome: the people saw too much real tragedy in the exhibitions of the amphitheatre to care much for the make-believe tragedies of the stage. The entertainments of the theatres usually took the form of comedies, farces, and pantomimes. The last were particularly popular, both because the vast size of the theatres made it quite impossible for the actor to make his voice heard throughout the structure, and for the reason that the language of signs was the only language that could be readily understood by an audience made up of so many different nationalities as composed a Roman a.s.semblage.

More important and more popular than the entertainments of the theatre were the various games, especially the chariot races, of the circus. But surpa.s.sing in their terrible fascination all other public amus.e.m.e.nts were the animal-baitings and the gladiatorial combats of the arena.

The beasts required for the baitings were secured in different parts of the world, and transported to Rome and the other cities of the empire at an enormous expense. The wildernesses of Northern Europe furnished bears and wolves; Africa contributed lions, crocodiles, and leopards; Asia elephants and tigers. These creatures were pitted against one another in every conceivable way. Often a promiscuous mult.i.tude would be turned loose in the arena at once. But even the terrific scene that then ensued, became at last too tame to stir the blood of the Roman populace. Hence a new species of show was introduced, and grew rapidly into favor with the spectators of the amphitheatre. This was the gladiatorial combat.

THE GLADIATORIAL COMBATS.--Gladiatorial games seem to have had their origin in Etruria, whence they were brought to Rome. It was a custom among the early Etruscans to slay prisoners upon the warrior's grave, it being thought that the spirit of the dead delighted in the blood of such victims. In time the condemned prisoners were allowed to fight and kill one another, this being deemed more humane than their cold-blooded slaughter. Thus it happened that sentiments of humanity gave rise to an inst.i.tution which, afterwards perverted, became the most inhuman of any that ever existed among a civilized people.

The first gladiatorial spectacle at Rome was presented by two sons at the funeral of their father, in the year 264 B.C. This exhibition was arranged in one of the forums, as there were at that time no amphitheatres in existence. From this time the public taste for this species of entertainment grew rapidly, and by the beginning of the imperial period had mounted into a perfect pa.s.sion. It was now no longer the manes of the dead, but the spirits of the living, that they were intended to appease.

At first the combatants were slaves, captives, or condemned criminals; but at last knights, senators, and even women descended into the arena.

Training-schools were established at Rome, Capua, Ravenna, and other cities. Free citizens often sold themselves to the keepers of these seminaries; and to them flocked desperate men of all cla.s.ses, and ruined spendthrifts of the n.o.blest patrician houses. Slaves and criminals were encouraged to become proficient in this art by the promise of freedom if they survived the combats beyond a certain number of years.

[Ill.u.s.tration: GLADIATORS. (After an old Mosaic.)]

Sometimes the gladiators fought in pairs; again great companies engaged at once in the deadly fray. They fought in chariots, on horseback, on foot-- in all the ways that soldiers were accustomed to fight in actual battle.

The contestants were armed with lances, swords, daggers, tridents, and every manner of weapon. Some were provided with nets and la.s.sos, with which they entangled their adversaries, and then slew them.

The life of a wounded gladiator was in the hands of the audience. If in response to his appeal for mercy, which was made by outstretching the forefinger, the spectators reached out their hands with thumbs turned down, that indicated that his prayer had been heard and that the sword was to be sheathed; but if they extended their hands with thumbs turned up, that was the signal for the victor to complete his work upon his wounded foe. Sometimes the dying were aroused and forced on to the fight by burning with a hot iron. The dead bodies were dragged from the arena with hooks, like the carca.s.ses of animals, and the pools of blood soaked up with dry sand.

These shows increased to such an extent that they entirely overshadowed the entertainments of the circus and the theatre. Ambitious officials and commanders arranged such spectacles in order to curry favor with the ma.s.ses; magistrates were expected to give them in connection with the public festivals; the heads of aspiring families exhibited them "in order to acquire social position"; wealthy citizens prepared them as an indispensable feature of a fashionable banquet; the children caught the spirit of their elders and imitated them in their plays. The demand for gladiators was met by the training-schools; the managers of these hired out bands of trained men, that travelled through the country like opera troupes among us, and gave exhibitions in private houses or in the provincial amphitheatres.

The rivalries between ambitious leaders during the later years of the republic tended greatly to increase the number of gladiatorial shows, as liberality in arranging these spectacles was a sure pa.s.sport to popular favor. It was reserved for the emperors, however, to exhibit them on a truly imperial scale. t.i.tus, upon the dedication of the Flavian Amphitheatre, provided games, mostly gladiatorial combats, that lasted one hundred days. Trajan celebrated his victories with shows that continued still longer, in the progress of which 10,000 gladiators fought upon the arena, and more than that number of wild beasts were slain. (For the suppression of the gladiatorial games, see p. 339.)

STATE DISTRIBUTION OF CORN.--The free distribution of corn at Rome has been characterized as the "leading fact of Roman life." It will be recalled that this pernicious practice had its beginnings in the legislation of Caius Gracchus (see p. 276). Just before the establishment of the empire, over 300,000 Roman citizens were recipients of this state bounty. In the time of the Antonines the number is a.s.serted to have been even larger. The corn for this enormous distribution was derived in large part from a grain tribute exacted of the African and other corn-producing provinces. The evils that resulted from this misdirected state charity can hardly be overstated. Idleness and all its accompanying vices were fostered to such a degree that we probably shall not be wrong in enumerating the practice as one of the most prominent causes of the demoralization of society at Rome under the emperors.

SLAVERY.--A still more demoralizing element in Roman life than that of the state largesses of corn, was the inst.i.tution of slavery. The number of slaves in the Roman state under the later republic and the earlier empire was probably as great or even greater than the number of freemen. The love of ostentation led to the multiplication of offices in the households of the wealthy, and the employment of a special slave for every different kind of work. Thus there was the slave called the _sandalio_, whose sole duty it was to care for his master's sandals; and another, called the _nomenclator_, whose exclusive business it was to accompany his master when he went upon the street, and give him the names of such persons as he ought to recognize. The price of slaves varied from a few dollars to ten or twenty thousand dollars,--these last figures being of course exceptional. Greek slaves were the most valuable, as their lively intelligence rendered them serviceable in positions calling for special talent.

The slave cla.s.s was chiefly recruited, as in Greece, by war, and by the practice of kidnapping. Some of the outlying provinces in Asia and Africa were almost depopulated by the slave hunters. Delinquent tax payers were often sold as slaves, and frequently poor persons sold themselves into servitude.

Slaves were treated better under the empire than under the later republic (see p. 273), a change to be attributed doubtless to the softening influence of the Stoical philosophy and of Christianity. The feeling entertained towards this unfortunate cla.s.s in the later republican period is ill.u.s.trated by Varro's cla.s.sification of slaves as "vocal agricultural implements," and again by Cato the Elder's recommendation that old and worn-out slaves be sold, as a matter of economy. Sick and hopelessly infirm slaves were taken to an island in the Tiber and left there to die of starvation and exposure. In many cases, as a measure of precaution, the slaves were forced to work in chains, and to sleep in subterranean prisons. Their bitter hatred towards their masters, engendered by harsh treatment, is witnessed by the well-known proverb, "As many enemies as slaves," and by the servile revolts and wars of the republican period. But from the first century of the empire there is observable a growing sentiment of humanity towards the bondsman. Imperial edicts take away from the master the right to kill his slave, or to sell him to the trader in gladiators, or even to treat him with any undue severity. This marks the beginning of a slow reform which in the course of ten or twelve centuries resulted in the complete abolition of slavery in Christian Europe.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SARCOPHAGUS OF CORNELIUS SCIPIO BARBATUS (Consul 298 B.C.).]

PART II.

MEDIaeVAL AND MODERN HISTORY.

INTRODUCTION.

DIVISIONS OF THE SUBJECT.--As we have already noted, the fourteen centuries since the fall of the Roman empire in the West (A.D. 476) are usually divided into two periods,--the _Middle Ages_, or the period lying between the fall of Rome and the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492, and the _Modern Age_, which extends from the latter event to the present time. The Middle Ages, again, naturally subdivide into two periods,--the _Dark Ages_, and the _Age of Revival_; while the Modern Age also falls into two divisions,--the _Era of the Protestant Reformation_, and the _Era of the Political Revolution_.

CHIEF CHARACTERISTICS OF THE FOUR PERIODS.--The so-called _Dark Ages_ embrace the years intervening between the fall of Rome and the opening of the eleventh century. The period was one of _origins_,--of the beginnings of peoples and languages and inst.i.tutions. During this time arose the Papacy and Feudalism, the two great inst.i.tutions of the Mediaeval Ages.

The _Age of Revival_ begins with the opening of the eleventh century, and ends with the discovery of America by Columbus in 1492. During all this time civilization was making slow but sure advances. The last century of the period, especially, was marked by a great revival of cla.s.sical learning (known as the _Renaissance_, or New Birth), by improvements, inventions, and discoveries, which greatly stirred men's minds, and awakened them as from a sleep. The Crusades, or Holy Wars, were the most remarkable undertakings of the age.

The _Era of the Reformation_ embraces the sixteenth century and the first half of the seventeenth. The period is characterized by the great religious movement known as the Reformation, and the tremendous struggle between Catholicism and Protestantism. Almost all the wars of the period were religious wars. The last great combat was the Thirty Years' War in Germany, which was closed by the celebrated Peace of Westphalia, in 1648.

After this date the disputes and wars between parties and nations were political rather than religious in character.

The _Era of the Political Revolution_ extends from the Peace of Westphalia to the present time. This age is especially marked by the great conflict between despotic and liberal principles of government, resulting in the triumph of democratic ideas. The central event of the period is the French Revolution.

Having now made a general survey of the ground we are to traverse, we must return to our starting-point,--the fall of Rome.

RELATION OF THE FALL OF ROME TO WORLD-HISTORY.--The calamity which in the fifth century befell the Roman empire in the West is sometimes represented as having destroyed the treasures of the Old World. It was not so. All that was really valuable in the acc.u.mulations of antiquity escaped harm, and became sooner or later the possession of the succeeding ages. The catastrophe simply prepared the way for the shifting of the scene of civilization from the south to the north of Europe, simply transferred at once political power, and gradually social and intellectual preeminence, from one branch of the Aryan family to another,--from the Graeco-Italic to the Teutonic.

The event was not an unrelieved calamity, because, fortunately, the floods that seemed to be sweeping so much away were not the mountain torrent, which covers fruitful fields with worthless drift, but the overflowing Nile with its rich deposits. Over all the regions covered by the barbarian inundation a new stratum of population was deposited, a new soil formed that was capable of nourishing a better civilization than any the world had yet seen.

THE THREE ELEMENTS OF CIVILIZATION.--We must now notice what survived the catastrophe of the fifth century, what it was that Rome transmitted to the new rulers of the world, the Teutonic race. This renders necessary an a.n.a.lysis of the elements of civilization.

Modern civilization is the result of the blending of three historic elements,--the _Cla.s.sical_, the _Hebrew_, and the _Teutonic_.

By the cla.s.sical element in civilization is meant that whole body of arts, sciences, literatures, laws, manners, ideas, and social arrangements,-- everything, in a word, save Christianity, that Greece and Rome gave to mediaeval and modern Europe. Taken together, these things const.i.tuted a valuable gift to the new northern race that was henceforth to represent civilization.

By the Hebrew element in history is meant Christianity. This has been the most potent factor in modern civilization. It has so colored the whole life, and so moulded all the inst.i.tutions of the European people that their history is very largely a story of the fortunes and influences of this religion, which, first going forth from Judea, was given to the younger world by the missionaries of Rome.

By the Teutonic element in history is meant of course the Germanic race.

The Teutons were poor in those things in which the Romans were rich. They had neither arts, nor sciences, nor philosophies, nor literatures. But they had something better than all these; they had personal worth. Three prominent traits of theirs we must especially notice; namely, their capacity for civilization, their love of personal freedom, and their reverence for womanhood.

The Teutons fortunately belonged to a progressive family of peoples. As Kingsley puts it, they came of a royal race. They were Aryans. It was their boundless capacity for growth, for culture, for civilization, which saved the countries of the West from the sterility and barbarism reserved for those of the East that were destined to be taken possession of by the Turanian Turks.

The Teutons loved personal freedom. They never called any man master, but followed their chosen leader as companions and equals. They could not even bear to have the houses of their villages set close together. And again we see the same independent spirit expressed in their a.s.semblies of freemen, in which meetings, all matters of public interest were debated and decided. In this trait of the Teutonic disposition lay the germ of representative government and of Protestant, or Teutonic Christianity.

A feeling of respect for woman characterized all the northern, or Teutonic peoples. Tacitus says of the Germans that they deemed something sacred to reside in woman's nature. This sentiment guarded the purity and sanct.i.ty of the home. In their high estimation of the sacredness of the family relation, the barbarians stood in marked contrast with the later Romans.

Our own sacred word _home_, as well as all that it represents, comes from our Teutonic ancestors.

CELTS, SLAVONIANS, AND OTHER PEOPLES.--Having noticed the Romans and Teutons, the two most prominent peoples that present themselves to us at the time of the downfall of Rome, if we now name the Celts, the Slavonians, the Persians, the Arabians, and the Turanian tribes of Asia, we shall have under view the chief actors in the drama of mediaeval and modern history.

At the commencement of the mediaeval era the Celts were in front of the Teutons, clinging to the western edge of the European continent, and engaged in a bitter contest with these latter peoples, which, in the antagonism of England and Ireland, was destined to extend itself to our own day.

The Slavonians were in the rear of the Teutonic tribes, pressing them on even as the Celts in front were struggling to resist their advance. These peoples, progressing but little beyond the pastoral state before the Modern Age, will play only an obscure part in the events of the mediaeval era, but in the course of the modern period will a.s.sume a most commanding position among the European nations.