Stories of the Olden Time Part 13

_Macaulay._

_x.x.x.--ARCHIMEDES._

1. This extraordinary man was a native of Syracuse, a city of Sicily. He was born two hundred and eighty-eight years before the Christian era, and from fifty to one hundred years after the appearance of the far-famed Euclid. Who his parents were, and what was their rank in life are not known, though it is claimed that he was in some way related to Hiero the king of Syracuse. It is said that Hiero considered himself greatly honored by such a relation, and well he might be, for science and genius combined are much higher than royalty. Besides it is probable that the name of the monarch would never have been preserved except in connection with the great philosopher.

2. By whom he was instructed in the elements of education, history fails to inform us, but it tells us of the progress he made in mechanics and geometry, and for the sake of the quiet necessary to pursue these branches he gave up all the advantages of a political life derived from his connection with the king. His favorite studies had more charms for him than the glitter of events or the plunder of conquered cities.

3. After studying at home until he could learn nothing more in the city of his birth, he repaired to Alexandria in Egypt, at that time the educational center that had inherited the philosophy and culture of Athens. Here he studied for some years and became acquainted with the most distinguished scholars of his day. Among his most intimate friends was Conon, a famous mathematician from Samos, who often exchanged problems with him for solution. While staying at Alexandria he began his work of practical invention which he afterward turned to such good account.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Archimedes._]

4. Some of his ardent admirers have maintained that Archimedes taught the Egyptians more than they taught him; that while he imbibed philosophy and book learning, he more than repaid the New Athens by inventions which were of the greatest use in the ordinary work of the home and the shop. Although we do not know exactly what he turned his hand to, we are quite sure that in many ways he performed feats that have scarcely been surpa.s.sed in modern times.

5. After his return to his native city, Archimedes continued his studies with unabated vigor, often neglecting his food and the care of his person when a new problem was to be solved or a new invention perfected. The method of determining the relative amount of gold and base metal in Hiero's crown occurred to him while in his bath, and without stopping to put on his clothes, he is said to have rushed through the streets exclaiming "_Eureka!_ Eureka!"

6. To prevent the ruin of his health his servants were sometimes obliged to take him by main force to the table and bath, and to take his daily exercise. Hiero at one time expressed an admiration of some of his inventions when Archimedes replied that had he a place to fix his machines upon he could move the earth itself. His days were pa.s.sed in study and retirement until the safety of his native city called him out to take part in its defense.

7. During the wars between the Romans and Carthaginians, the people of Sicily, and especially the Syracusans, had for a long time remained neutral or been in alliance with the Romans. But a Carthaginian interest sprung up which mastered and sought to extend itself over the whole island. As soon as the news of this political movement and rebellion reached Marcellus, the Roman general, he hastened with a strong force into Sicily, and after the capture of the princ.i.p.alities he laid siege to Syracuse.

8. Here he met with an unexpected check. The inventive genius of Archimedes enabled the Syracusans to successfully defend their city for three years. He so improved the warlike instruments for the discharge of missiles, that he repeatedly beat back the most determined a.s.sault, and the Romans were more than once on the point of abandoning the siege, believing that the city was defended by the G.o.ds. By means of long and powerful levers, together with grappling irons, he is said to have destroyed many of the Roman galleys when they approached the walls of the city; and when they retired for safety he set them on fire by a combination of immense burning-gla.s.ses.

9. The story of these exploits is told by the Romans themselves, and there can be no doubt but here Science gained one of her greatest triumphs. The success of the new engine was evidently so great, that an element of superst.i.tion entered into the record. But the triumph of genius was not complete. During a festival in honor of Diana when wine flowed freely, the guards neglected to man some particular part of the walls. The Romans observing this scaled the walls and made themselves masters of the city.

10. Amid the plunder and carnage which followed, Archimedes was killed.

Marcellus had given orders for his special protection, but the deed was done by a Roman soldier. One account says that he was slain in his laboratory where he was found studying a problem, and he refused to move until he had completed the solution. Another account says that he was put to death on the street while drawing a geometrical figure in the sand. The third and most rational account is that while bearing some boxes of mathematical instruments to Marcellus he was killed by a soldier who supposed that the boxes contained treasure. His death happened about 210 B. C. at the age of seventy-six.

_x.x.xI.--THE DEATH OF CaeSAR._

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Caesar (enlarged from a Roman Coin)._]

1. The greatest of Rome's generals, and one of the greatest of military chieftains of all ages, was Julius Caesar. Of a patrician family, he was one of the most accomplished men of Rome. He was great in civil as well as military life. He became the most popular of the greatest men of Rome's most brilliant days. His military feats rivaled those of Alexander, and he extended the rule of Rome through all central Europe, completely subduing all of the tribes with which he came in contact. From his northern victories he turned his victorious army south, crossed the Rubicon, which marked the border of his own province, and seized the control of Rome.

2. In the management of civil affairs he was as successful as in the field. He corrected abuses that had crept into the political management of affairs, and placed new safeguards around the rights of the people.

3. His administration was almost as brilliant as that of Pericles in Athens; yet the princ.i.p.al n.o.bles did not love him, and with the people at large he suffered still more, from a belief that he wished to be made king. On his return from Spain he had been named dictator and imperator for life. His head had for some time been placed on the money of the republic, a regal honor conceded to none before him.

Quintilis, the fifth month of the old calendar, received from him the name which it still bears. The senate took an oath to guard the safety of his person.

4. He was honored with sacrifices, and honors. .h.i.therto reserved for the G.o.ds. But Caesar was not satisfied. He was often heard to quote the sentiment of Euripides, that, "if any violation of law is excusable, it is excusable for the sake of gaining sovereign power." It was no doubt to ascertain the popular sentiments that various propositions were made toward an a.s.sumption of the t.i.tle of king. His statues in the forum were found crowned with a diadem; but two of the tribunes tore it off, and the mob applauded.

5. On the 26th of January, at the great Latin festival on the Alban Mount, voices in the crowd saluted him as king; but mutterings of discontent reached his ears, and he promptly said; "I am no king, but Caesar." The final attempt was made at the Lupercalia on the 15th of February. Antony, in the character of one of the priests of Pan, approached the dictator as he sat presiding in his golden chair, and offered him an embroidered band, like the diadem of Oriental sovereigns. The applause which followed was partial, and the dictator put the offered gift aside. Then a burst of genuine cheering greeted him, which waxed louder still when he rejected it a second time. Old traditional feeling was too strong at Rome even for Caesar's daring temper to brave it. The people would submit to the despotic rule of a dictator, but would not have a king.

6. Other causes of discontent had been agitating various cla.s.ses at Rome. The more fiery partisans of Caesar disapproved of his clemency; the more prodigal sort were angry at his regulations for securing the provincials from oppression. The populace of the city complained--the genuine Romans, at seeing favor extended to provincials, those of foreign origin because they had been excluded from the corn bounty.

Caesar, no doubt, was eager to return to his army, and escape from the increasing difficulties which beset his civil government. But as soon as he joined the army, he would a.s.sume monarchical power in virtue of the late decree; and this consideration urged the discontented to a plot against his life.

7. The difficulty was to find a leader. At length Marcus Junius Brutus accepted the post of danger. This young man, a nephew of Cato, had taken his uncle as an example for his public life. But he was fonder of speculation than of action. His habits were reserved, rather those of a student than a statesman. He had reluctantly joined the cause of Pompey, for he could ill forget that it was by Pompey that his father had been put to death in cold blood. After the battle of Pharsalia he was treated by Caesar almost like a son. In the present year he had been proclaimed praetor of the city, with the promise of the consulship. But the discontented remnants of the senatorial party a.s.sailed him with constant reproaches. The name of Brutus, dear to all Roman patriots, was made a rebuke to him. "His ancestors expelled the Tarquins; could he sit quietly under a king's rule?" At the foot of the statue of that ancestor, or on his own praetorian tribunal, notes were placed, containing phrases such as these: "Thou art not Brutus: would thou wert." "Brutus, thou sleepest." "Awake, Brutus."

Gradually he was brought to think that it was his duty as a patriot to put an end to Caesar's rule even by taking his life.

8. The most notable of those who arrayed themselves under him was Ca.s.sius. This man's motive is unknown. He had never taken much part in politics; he had made submission to the conquerer, and had been received with marked favor. Some personal reason probably actuated his unquiet spirit. More than sixty persons were in the secret, most of them, like Brutus and Ca.s.sius, under personal obligations to the dictator. Publius Servilius Casca was by his grace tribune of the plebs. Lucius Tullius Cimber was promised the government of Bithynia.

Decius Brutus, one of his old Gallic officers, was praetor elect, and was to be gratified with the rich province of Cisalpine Gaul. Caius Trebonius, another trusted officer, had received every favor which the dictator could bestow; he had just laid down the consulship, and was on the eve of departure for the government of Asia. Quintius Ligarius had lately accepted a pardon from the dictator, and rose from a sick bed to join the conspirators.

9. A meeting of the senate was called for the Ides of March, at which Caesar was to be present. This was the day appointed for the murder.

The secret had oozed out. Many persons warned Caesar that some danger was impending. A Greek soothsayer told him of the very day. On the morning of the Ides his wife arose so disturbed by dreams, that she persuaded him to relinquish his purpose of presiding in the senate, and he sent Antony in his stead.

10. This change of purpose was reported after the House was formed.

The conspirators were in despair. Decius Brutus at once went to Caesar, told him that the Fathers were only waiting to confer upon him the sovereign power which he desired, and begged him not to listen to auguries and dreams. Caesar was persuaded to change his purpose, and was carried forth in his litter. On his way, a slave who had discovered the conspiracy tried to attract his notice, but was unable to reach him for the crowd. A Greek philosopher, named Artemidorus, succeeded in putting a roll of paper into his hand, containing full information of the conspiracy; but Caesar, supposing it to be a pet.i.tion, laid it by his side for a more convenient season. Meanwhile, the conspirators had reason to think that their plot had been discovered. A friend came up to Casca and said, "Ah, Casca, Brutus has told me your secret!" The conspirator started, but was relieved by the next sentence: "Where will _you_ find money for the expenses of the aedileship?" More serious alarm was felt when Popillius Laenas remarked to Brutus and Ca.s.sius: "You have my good wishes; but what you do, do quickly"--especially when the same senator stepped up to Caesar on his entering the house, and began whispering in his ear. So terrified was Ca.s.sius, that he thought of stabbing himself instead of Caesar, till Brutus quietly observed, that the gestures of Popillius indicated that he was asking a favor, not revealing a fatal secret. Caesar took his seat without further delay.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Antony delivering the Oration on the Death of Caesar._]

11. As was agreed, Cimber presented a pet.i.tion praying for his brother's recall from banishment; and all the conspirators pressed round the dictator, urging his favorable answer. Displeased at their importunity, Caesar attempted to rise. At that moment Cimber seized the lappet of his robe, and pulled him down; and immediately Casca struck him from the side, but inflicted only a slight wound. Then all drew their daggers and a.s.sailed him. Caesar for a time defended himself with the gown folded over his left arm, and the sharp-pointed style which he held in his right hand for writing on the wax of his tablets.

But when he saw Brutus among the a.s.sa.s.sins, he exclaimed, "You, too, Brutus!" and covering his face with his gown, offered no further resistance. In their eagerness, some blows intended for their victim fell upon themselves. But enough reached Caesar to do the b.l.o.o.d.y work.

Pierced by twenty-three wounds, he fell at the base of Pompey's statue, which had been removed after Pharsalia by Antony, but had been restored by the magnanimity of Caesar.

12. Thus died "the foremost man of all the world," a man who failed in nothing that he attempted. He might, Cicero thought, have been a great orator; his "Commentaries" remain to prove that he was a great writer.

As a general he had few superiors, as a statesman and politician no equal. That which stamps him as a man of true greatness, is the entire absence of vanity and self-conceit from his character. He paid, indeed, great attention to his personal appearance, even when his hard life and unremitting activity had brought on fits of an epileptic nature, and left him with that meager visage which is familiar to us from his coins. Even then he was sedulous in arranging his robes, and was pleased to have the privilege of wearing a laurel crown to hide the scantiness of his hair. But these were foibles too trifling to be taken as symptoms of real vanity. His successes in war, achieved by a man who in his forty-ninth year had hardly seen a camp, add to our conviction of his real genius. These successes were due not so much to scientific manuvres, as to rapid audacity of movement, and mastery over the wills of men.

13. The effect of Caesar's fall was to cause a renewal of bloodshed for another half generation; and then his work was finished by a far less general ruler. Those who slew Caesar were guilty of a great crime, and a still greater blunder.

_Liddell._

_x.x.xII.--HOW ROMANS LIVED._

1. The Roman house at first was extremely simple, being of but one room, called the _atrium_ or darkened chamber, because its walls were stained by the smoke that rose from the fire upon the hearth, and with difficulty found its way through a hole in the roof. The aperture also admitted light and rain, the water that dripped from the roof being caught in a cistern that was formed in the middle of the room. The atrium was entered by way of a vestibule open to the sky, in which the gentleman of the house put on his toga as he went out. Double doors admitted the visitor to the entrance-hall, or _ostium_.

2. There was a threshold upon which it was unlucky to place the left foot; a knocker afforded means of announcing one's approach, and a porter, who had a small room at the side, opened the door, showing the caller the words _Cave canem_ (beware of the dog), or _Salve_ (welcome), or perchance the dog himself reached out toward the visitor as far as his chain would allow. Sometimes, too, there would be noticed in the mosaic of the pavement the representation of the faithful domestic animal which has so long been the companion as well as the protector of his human friend. Perhaps myrtle or laurel might be seen on a door, indicating that a marriage was in process of celebration, or a chaplet announcing the happy birth of an heir.

Cypress, probably set in pots in the vestibule, indicated a death, as a c.r.a.pe festoon does upon our own door-handles, while torches, lamps, wreaths, garlands, branches of trees, showed that there was joy from some cause in the house.

3. In the "black room" the bed stood; there the meals were cooked and eaten, there the goodman received his friends, and there the goodwife sat in the midst of her maidens spinning. The original house grew larger in the course of time: wings were built on the sides--and the Romans called them wings as well as we (_ala_, a wing). Beyond the black room a recess was built in which the family records and archives were preserved, but with it for a long period the Roman house stopped its growth.

4. Before the empire came, however, there had been great progress in making the dwelling convenient as well as luxurious. Another hall had been built out from the room of archives, leading to an open court, surrounded by columns, known as the _peristylum_ (_peri_, about, _stulos_, a pillar), which was sometimes of great magnificence.

Bedchambers were made separate from the atrium, but they were small, and would not seem very convenient to modern eyes.

5. The dining-room, called the _triclinium_ (Greek, _kline_, a bed) from its three couches, was a very important apartment. In it were three lounges surrounding a table, on each of which three guests might be accommodated. The couches were elevated above the table, and each man lay almost flat on his breast, resting on his left elbow, and having his right hand free to use, thus putting the head of one near the breast of the man behind him, and making natural the expression that he lay in the bosom of the other. As the guests were thus arranged by threes, it was natural that the rule should have been made that a party at dinner should not be less in number than the Graces, nor more than the Muses, though it has remained a useful one ever since.

6. Before the republic came to an end, it was so fashionable to have a book-room that ignorant persons who might not be able to read even the t.i.tles of their own books endeavored to give themselves the appearance of erudition by building book-rooms in their houses, and furnishing them with elegance. The books were in cases arranged around the walls in convenient manner, and busts and statues of the Muses, of Minerva, and of men of note were used then as they are now for ornaments.

House-philosophers were often employed to open to the uninstructed the stores of wisdom contained in the libraries.

[Ill.u.s.tration: _Interior of a Roman Bath-Room, Ruins of Pompeii._]