WHEN the Roman armies returned from these many victorious1 campaigns, they were received with great jubilation2. Alas3 and alack! this sudden glory did not make the country any happier. On the contrary. The endless campaigns had ruined the farmers who had been obliged to do the hard work of Empire making. It had placed too much power in the hands of the successful generals (and their private friends) who had used the war as an excuse for wholesale4 robbery.
The old Roman Republic had been proud of the simplicity5 which had characterised the lives of her famous men. The new Republic felt ashamed of the shabby coats and the high principles which had been fashionable in the days of its grandfathers. It became a land of rich people ruled by rich people for the benefit of rich people. As such it was doomed6 to disastrous7 failure, as I shall now tell you.
Within less than a century and a half. Rome had become the mistress of practically all the land around the Mediterranean8. In those early days of history a prisoner of war lost his freedom and became a slave. The Roman regarded war as a very serious business and he showed no mercy to a conquered foe9. After the fall of Carthage, the Carthaginian women and children were sold into bondage10 together with their own slaves. And a like fate awaited the obstinate11 inhabitants of Greece and Macedonia and Spain and Syria when they dared to revolt against the Roman power.
Two thousand years ago a slave was merely a piece of machinery12. Nowadays a rich man invests his money in factories. The rich people of Rome (senators, generals and war-profiteers) invested theirs in land and in slaves. The land they bought or took in the newly-acquired provinces. The slaves they bought in open market wherever they happened to be cheapest. During most of the third and second centuries before Christ there was a plentiful13 supply, and as a result the landowners worked their slaves until they dropped dead in their tracks, when they bought new ones at the nearest bargain-counter of Corinthian or Carthaginian captives.
And now behold14 the fate of the freeborn farmer!
He had done his duty toward Rome and he had fought her battles without complaint. But when he came home after ten, fifteen or twenty years, his lands were covered with weeds and his family had been ruined. But he was a strong man and willing to begin life anew. He sowed and planted and waited for the harvest. He carried his grain to the market together with his cattle and his poultry15, to find that the large landowners who worked their estates with slaves could underbid him all along the line. For a couple of years he tried to hold his own. Then he gave up in despair. He left the country and he went to the nearest city. In the city he was as hungry as he had been before on the land. But he shared his misery16 with thousands of other disinherited beings. They crouched17 together in filthy18 hovels in the suburbs of the large cities. They were apt to get sick and die from terrible epidemics19. They were all profoundly discontented. They had fought for their country and this was their reward. They were always willing to listen to those plausible20 spell-binders who gather around a public grievance21 like so many hungry vultures, and soon they became a grave menace to the safety of the state.
But the class of the newly-rich shrugged22 its shoulders. "We have our army and our policemen," they argued, "they will keep the mob in order." And they hid themselves behind the high walls of their pleasant villas23 and cultivated their gardens and read the poems of a certain Homer which a Greek slave had just translated into very pleasing Latin hexameters.
In a few families however the old tradition of unselfish service to the Commonwealth24 continued. Cornelia, the daughter of Scipio Africanus, had been married to a Roman by the name of Gracchus. She had two sons, Tiberius and Gaius. When the boys grew up they entered politics and tried to bring about certain much-needed reforms. A census25 had shown that most of the land of the Italian peninsula was owned by two thousand noble families. Tiberius Gracchus, having been elected a Tribune, tried to help the freemen. He revived two ancient laws which restricted the number of acres which a single owner might possess. In this way he hoped to revive the valuable old class of small and independent freeholders. The newly-rich called him a robber and an enemy of the state. There were street riots. A party of thugs was hired to kill the popular Tribune. Tiberius Gracchus was attacked when he entered the assembly and was beaten to death. Ten years later his brother Gaius tried the experiment of reforming a nation against the expressed wishes of a strong privileged class. He passed a "poor law" which was meant to help the destitute26 farmers. Eventually it made the greater part of the Roman citizens into professional beggars.
He established colonies of destitute people in distant parts of the empire, but these settlements failed to attract the right sort of people. Before Gaius Gracchus could do more harm he too was murdered and his followers28 were either killed or exiled. The first two reformers had been gentlemen. The two who came after were of a very different stamp. They were professional soldiers. One was called Marius. The name of the other was Sulla. Both enjoyed a large personal following.
Sulla was the leader of the landowners. Marius, the victor in a great battle at the foot of the Alps when the Teutons and the Cimbri had been annihilated29, was the popular hero of the disinherited freemen.
Now it happened in the year 88 B.C. that the Senate of Rome was greatly disturbed by rumours30 that came from Asia. Mithridates, king of a country along the shores of the Black Sea, and a Greek on his mother's side, had seen the possibility of establishing a second Alexandrian Empire. He began his campaign for world-domination with the murder of all Roman citizens who happened to be in Asia Minor31, men, women and children. Such an act, of course, meant war. The Senate equipped an army to march against the King of Pontus and punish him for his crime. But who was to be commander-in-chief? "Sulla," said the Senate, "because he is Consul32." "Marius," said the mob, "because he has been Consul five times and because he is the champion of our rights."
Possession is nine points of the law. Sulla happened to be in actual command of the army. He went west to defeat Mithridates and Marius fled to Africa. There he waited until he heard that Sulla had crossed into Asia. He then returned to Italy, gathered a motley crew of malcontents, marched on Rome and entered the city with his professional highwaymen, spent five days and five nights, slaughtering33 the enemies of the Senatorial party, got himself elected Consul and promptly34 died from the excitement of the last fortnight.
There followed four years of disorder35. Then Sulla, having defeated Mithridates, announced that he was ready to return to Rome and settle a few old scores of his own. He was as good as his word. For weeks his soldiers were busy executing those of their fellow citizens who were suspected of democratic sympathies. One day they got hold of a young fellow who had been often seen in the company of Marius. They were going to hang him when some one interfered36. "The boy is too young," he said, and they let him go. His name was Julius Caesar. You shall meet him again on the next page.
As for Sulla, he became "Dictator," which meant sole and supreme37 ruler of all the Roman possessions. He ruled Rome for four years, and he died quietly in his bed, having spent the last year of his life tenderly raising his cabbages, as was the custom of so many Romans who had spent a lifetime killing38 their fellow-men.
But conditions did not grow better. On the contrary, they grew worse. Another general, Gnaeus Pompeius, or Pompey, a close friend of Sulla, went east to renew the war against the ever troublesome Mithridates. He drove that energetic potentate39 into the mountains where Mithridates took poison and killed himself, well knowing what fate awaited him as a Roman captive. Next he re-established the authority of Rome over Syria, destroyed Jerusalem, roamed through western Asia, trying to revive the myth of Alexander the Great, and at last (in the year 62) returned to Rome with a dozen ship-loads of defeated Kings and Princes and Generals, all of whom were forced to march in the triumphal procession of this enormously popular Roman who presented his city with the sum of forty million dollars in plunder40.
It was necessary that the government of Rome be placed in the hands of a strong man. Only a few months before, the town had almost fallen into the hands of a good-for-nothing young aristocrat41 by the name of Catiline, who had gambled away his money and hoped to reimburse42 himself for his losses by a little plundering43. Cicero, a public-spirited lawyer, had discovered the plot, had warned the Senate, and had forced Catiline to flee. But there were other young men with similar ambitions and it was no time for idle talk.
Pompey organised a triumvirate which was to take charge of affairs. He became the leader of this Vigilante Committee. Gaius Julius Caesar, who had made a reputation for himself as governor of Spain, was the second in command. The third was an indifferent sort of person by the name of Crassus. He had been elected because he was incredibly rich, having been a successful contractor44 of war supplies. He soon went upon an expedition against the Parthians and was killed.
As for Caesar, who was by far the ablest of the three, he decided45 that he needed a little more military glory to become a popular hero. He crossed the Alps and conquered that part of the world which is now called France. Then he hammered a solid wooden bridge across the Rhine and invaded the land of the wild Teutons. Finally he took ship and visited England. Heaven knows where he might have ended if he had not been forced to return to Italy. Pompey, so he was informed, had been appointed dictator for life. This of course meant that Caesar was to be placed on the list of the "retired46 officers," and the idea did not appeal to him. He remembered that he had begun life as a follower27 of Marius. He decided to teach the Senators and their "dictator" another lesson. He crossed the Rubicon River which separated the province of Cis-alpine Gaul from Italy. Everywhere he was received as the "friend of the people." Without difficulty Caesar entered Rome and Pompey fled to Greece Caesar followed him and defeated his followers near Pharsalus. Pompey sailed across the Mediterranean and escaped to Egypt. When he landed he was murdered by order of young king Ptolemy. A few days later Caesar arrived. He found himself caught in a trap. Both the Egyptians and the Roman garrison47 which had remained faithful to Pompey, attacked his camp.
Fortune was with Caesar. He succeeded in setting fire to the Egyptian fleet. Incidentally the sparks of the burning vessels48 fell on the roof of the famous library of Alexandria (which was just off the water front,) and destroyed it. Next he attacked the Egyptian army, drove the soldiers into the Nile, drowned Ptolemy, and established a new government under Cleopatra, the sister of the late king. Just then word reached him that Pharnaces, the son and heir of Mithridates, had gone on the war-path. Caesar marched northward49, defeated Pharnaces in a war which lasted five days, sent word of his victory to Rome in the famous sentence "veni, vidi, vici," which is Latin for "I came, I saw, I conquered," and returned to Egypt where he fell desperately50 in love with Cleopatra, who followed him to Rome when he returned to take charge of the government, in the year 46. He marched at the head of not less than four different victory-parades, having won four different campaigns.
Then Caesar appeared in the Senate to report upon his adventures, and the grateful Senate made him "dictator" for ten years. It was a fatal step.
The new dictator made serious attempts to reform the Roman state. He made it possible for freemen to become members of the Senate. He conferred the rights of citizenship51 upon distant communities as had been done in the early days of Roman history. He permitted "foreigners" to exercise influence upon the government. He reformed the administration of the distant provinces which certain aristocratic families had come to regard as their private possessions. In short he did many things for the good of the majority of the people but which made him thoroughly52 unpopular with the most powerful men in the state. Half a hundred young aristocrats53 formed a plot "to save the Republic." On the Ides of March (the fifteenth of March according to that new calendar which Caesar had brought with him from Egypt) Caesar was murdered when he entered the Senate. Once more Rome was without a master.
There were two men who tried to continue the tradition of Caesar's glory. One was Antony, his former secretary. The other was Octavian, Caesar's grand-nephew and heir to his estate. Octavian remained in Rome, but Antony went to Egypt to be near Cleopatra with whom he too had fallen in love, as seems to have been the habit of Roman generals.
A war broke out between the two. In the battle of Actium, Octavian defeated Antony. Antony killed himself and Cleopatra was left alone to face the enemy. She tried very hard to make Octavian her third Roman conquest. When she saw that she could make no impression upon this very proud aristocrat, she killed herself, and Egypt became a Roman province.
As for Octavian, he was a very wise young man and he did not repeat the mistake of his famous uncle. He knew how people will shy at words. He was very modest in his demands when he returned to Rome. He did not want to be a "dictator." He would be entirely54 satisfied with the title of "the Honourable55." But when the Senate, a few years later, addressed him as Augustus—the Illustrious—he did not object and a few years later the man in the street called him Caesar, or Kaiser, while the soldiers, accustomed to regard Octavian as their Commander-in-chief referred to him as the Chief, the Imperator or Emperor. The Republic had become an Empire, but the average Roman was hardly aware of the fact.
In 14 A.D. his position as the Absolute Ruler of the Roman people had become so well established that he was made an object of that divine worship which hitherto had been reserved for the Gods. And his successors were true "Emperors"—the absolute rulers of the greatest empire the world had ever seen.
If the truth be told, the average citizen was sick and tired of anarchy56 and disorder. He did not care who ruled him provided the new master gave him a chance to live quietly and without the noise of eternal street riots. Octavian assured his subjects forty years of peace. He had no desire to extend the frontiers of his domains57, In the year 9 A.D. he had contem-plated an invasion of the northwestern wilderness58 which was inhabited by the Teutons. But Varrus, his general, had been killed with all his men in the Teutoburg Woods, and after that the Romans made no further attempts to civilise these wild people.
They concentrated their efforts upon the gigantic problem of internal reform. But it was too late to do much good. Two centuries of revolution and foreign war had repeatedly killed the best men among the younger generations. It had ruined the class of the free farmers. It had introduced slave labor59, against which no freeman could hope to compete. It had turned the cities into beehives inhabited by pauperized and unhealthy mobs of runaway60 peasants. It had created a large bureaucracy—petty officials who were underpaid and who were forced to take graft61 in order to buy bread and clothing for their families. Worst of all, it had accustomed people to violence, to blood-shed, to a barbarous pleasure in the pain and suffering of others.
Outwardly, the Roman state during the first century of our era was a magnificent political structure, so large that Alexander's empire became one of its minor provinces. Underneath62 this glory there lived millions upon millions of poor and tired human beings, toiling63 like ants who have built a nest underneath a heavy stone. They worked for the benefit of some one else. They shared their food with the animals of the fields. They lived in stables. They died without hope.
It was the seven hundred and fifty-third year since the founding of Rome. Gaius Julius Caesar Octavianus Augustus was living in the palace of the Palatine Hill, busily engaged upon the task of ruling his empire.
In a little village of distant Syria, Mary, the wife of Joseph the Carpenter, was tending her little boy, born in a stable of Bethlehem.
This is a strange world.
Before long, the palace and the stable were to meet in open combat.
And the stable was to emerge victorious.
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1
victorious
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| adj.胜利的，得胜的 | |
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2
jubilation
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| n.欢庆，喜悦 | |
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alas
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| int.唉(表示悲伤、忧愁、恐惧等) | |
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wholesale
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| n.批发；adv.以批发方式；vt.批发，成批出售 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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doomed
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| 命定的 | |
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disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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Mediterranean
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| adj.地中海的；地中海沿岸的 | |
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foe
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| n.敌人，仇敌 | |
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bondage
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| n.奴役，束缚 | |
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obstinate
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| adj.顽固的，倔强的，不易屈服的，较难治愈的 | |
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machinery
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| n.(总称)机械，机器；机构 | |
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13
plentiful
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| adj.富裕的，丰富的 | |
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14
behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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15
poultry
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| n.家禽，禽肉 | |
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misery
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| n.痛苦，苦恼，苦难；悲惨的境遇，贫苦 | |
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crouched
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| v.屈膝，蹲伏( crouch的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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filthy
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| adj.卑劣的；恶劣的，肮脏的 | |
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epidemics
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| n．流行病 | |
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plausible
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| adj.似真实的，似乎有理的，似乎可信的 | |
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grievance
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| n.怨愤，气恼，委屈 | |
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shrugged
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| vt.耸肩（shrug的过去式与过去分词形式） | |
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villas
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| 别墅，公馆( villa的名词复数 )； （城郊）住宅 | |
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commonwealth
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| n.共和国，联邦，共同体 | |
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census
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| n.(官方的)人口调查，人口普查 | |
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destitute
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| adj.缺乏的；穷困的 | |
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follower
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| n.跟随者；随员；门徒；信徒 | |
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followers
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| 追随者( follower的名词复数 )； 用户； 契据的附面； 从动件 | |
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annihilated
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| v.（彻底）消灭( annihilate的过去式和过去分词 )；使无效；废止；彻底击溃 | |
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rumours
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| n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 )；风闻；谣言；谣传 | |
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minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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consul
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| n.领事；执政官 | |
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slaughtering
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| v.屠杀，杀戮，屠宰( slaughter的现在分词 ) | |
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promptly
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| adv.及时地，敏捷地 | |
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disorder
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| n.紊乱，混乱；骚动，骚乱；疾病，失调 | |
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interfered
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| v.干预( interfere的过去式和过去分词 )；调停；妨碍；干涉 | |
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supreme
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| adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的 | |
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killing
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| n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财 | |
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potentate
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| n.统治者；君主 | |
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plunder
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| vt.劫掠财物，掠夺；n.劫掠物，赃物；劫掠 | |
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aristocrat
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| n.贵族，有贵族气派的人，上层人物 | |
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reimburse
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| v.补偿，付还 | |
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plundering
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| 掠夺，抢劫( plunder的现在分词 ) | |
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contractor
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| n.订约人，承包人，收缩肌 | |
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decided
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| adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的 | |
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retired
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| adj.隐退的，退休的，退役的 | |
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47
garrison
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| n.卫戍部队；驻地，卫戍区；vt.派(兵)驻防 | |
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48
vessels
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| n.血管( vessel的名词复数 )；船；容器；（具有特殊品质或接受特殊品质的）人 | |
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northward
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| adv.向北；n.北方的地区 | |
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desperately
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| adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地 | |
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51
citizenship
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| n.市民权，公民权，国民的义务(身份) | |
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thoroughly
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| adv.完全地，彻底地，十足地 | |
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53
aristocrats
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| n.贵族( aristocrat的名词复数 ) | |
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54
entirely
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| ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地 | |
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honourable
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| adj.可敬的；荣誉的，光荣的 | |
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anarchy
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| n.无政府状态；社会秩序混乱，无秩序 | |
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domains
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| n.范围( domain的名词复数 )；领域；版图；地产 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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labor
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| n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦 | |
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runaway
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| n.逃走的人，逃亡，亡命者；adj.逃亡的，逃走的 | |
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graft
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| n.移植，嫁接，艰苦工作，贪污；v.移植，嫁接 | |
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underneath
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| adj.在...下面，在...底下；adv.在下面 | |
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toiling
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| 长时间或辛苦地工作( toil的现在分词 )； 艰难缓慢地移动，跋涉 | |
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