Attempts
have been made to
explain in different ways the origin of the word _curia_.
explain in different ways the origin of the word _curia_.
Napoleon - History of Julius Caesar - a
The Roman constitution
caused new candidates to spring up every year for honours; and it was
indispensable to have partisans amongst the two consuls, the eight
prætors, and the ten tribunes named in the comitia. At all epochs, even
at the time when the aristocracy exercised the greatest influence, it
could not prevent its opponents from introducing themselves into the
public offices. Moreover, the three who had made common cause had reason
to fear the ambition and ingratitude of the men whom they had raised,
and who would soon seek to become their equals. There was still a last
danger, and perhaps the most serious: it was the impatience and want of
discipline of the democratic party, of which they were the chiefs.
In face of these dangers, the triumvirs agreed to cause L. Piso, the
father-in-law of Cæsar, and A. Gabinius, the devoted partisan of Pompey,
to be elected to the consulship the following year. They were, in fact,
designated consuls on the 18th of October, in spite of the efforts of
the nobles and the accusation of Cato against Gabinius.
At the end of the year 695, Cæsar and Bibulus ceased their functions.
The latter, in reporting his conduct according to custom, endeavoured to
paint in the blackest colours the state of the Republic; but Clodius
prevented him from speaking. [1200] As for Cæsar, his presentiment of the
attacks to which he was to be subjected was only too well founded; for
he had hardly quitted office, when the prætor L. Domitius Ahenobarbus,
and C. Memmius, friends of Cicero,[1201] proposed to the Senate to
prosecute him for the acts committed during his consulate, and
especially for not having paid attention to the omens. From this
proposal the Senate recoiled. [1202] Still, they brought Cæsar’s questor
to trial. He himself was cited by the tribune L. Antistius. But the
whole college refused to entertain the charge, in virtue of the law
Memmia, which forbad an accusation to be entertained against a citizen
while absent on the public service. [1203]
Cæsar found himself once more at the gates of Rome, invested with the
_imperium_, and, according to Cicero’s letters,[1204] at the head of
numerous troops, composed apparently of veteran volunteers. [1205] He
even remained there more than two months, in order to watch that his
departure should not become the signal for the overthrow of his work.
[Sidenote: Law of Clodius. Exile of Cicero. ]
VI. During this time, Clodius, a restless and turbulent spirit,[1206]
proud of the support which he had lent the triumvirs, as well as of
that he had received from them, listened only to his passion, and caused
laws to be enacted, some of which, flattering the populace and even the
slaves, menaced the State with anarchy. In virtue of these laws, he
re-established political associations (_collegia_), clubs dangerous to
public tranquillity,[1207] which Sylla had dissolved, but which were
subsequently reorganised to be again suppressed in 690;[1208] he made
gratuitous distributions of wheat to the people; took from the censors
the right of excluding from the Senate anybody they wished, allowing
them only to reject those who were under condemnation;[1209] forbad the
magistrates taking omens, or observing the sky on the day of the
deliberation of the comitia;[1210] and, lastly, he inflicted severe
penalties on those who had condemned Roman citizens to death unheard.
This last enactment was evidently directed against Cicero, although his
name was not mentioned in it. In order to ensure its adoption, its
author desired the acquiescence of Cæsar, who was detained at the gates
of Rome by the military command, which forbad him to enter. Clodius then
convoked the people outside the walls, and when he asked the proconsul
his opinion, the latter replied that it was well known by his vote in
the affair of the accomplices of Catiline; that, nevertheless, he
disapproved of a law which pronounced penalties upon facts which
belonged to the past. [1211]
On this occasion the Senate went into mourning, in order to exhibit its
discontent to all eyes; but the consuls Gabinius and Piso obliged the
Senate to relinquish this ill-timed demonstration.
Cæsar, in order to defend Cicero from the danger which threatened him,
offered to take him with him to Gaul as his lieutenant. [1212] Cicero
rejected the offer, deceiving himself through his confidence in his own
influence,[1213] and reckoning, moreover, on the protection of Pompey.
It appears positive from this that Clodius exceeded Cæsar’s views, a new
proof that such instruments when employed are two-edged swords, which
even the most skilful hands find it difficult to direct. It is thus that
later, Vatinius, aspiring to become prætor, received from his old patron
this strong warning: “Vatinius has done nothing gratuitously during his
tribuneship; he who only looks for money ought to dispense with
honours. ”[1214] In fact, Cæsar, whose efforts to re-establish the
popular institutions had never slackened, desired neither anarchy nor
democratic laws; and just as he had not approved of the proposal of
Manilius for the emancipation of the freedmen, so he opposed the
reorganisation of the corporations, the gratuitous distributions of
wheat, and the projects of vengeance entertained by Clodius, who,
however, continually boasted of his support.
Crassus, on his part, desiring to be useful to Cicero without
compromising himself,[1215] engaged his son to go to his aid. As for
Pompey, wavering between fear and friendship, he devised a pretext not
to receive Cicero when he came to seek his support. Deprived of this
last resource, the great orator abandoned his delusions, and after some
show of resistance voluntarily withdrew. Scarcely had he quitted Rome
when the law against him was passed without opposition, with the
concurrence of those whom Cicero had looked upon as his friends. [1216]
His goods were confiscated, his house razed, and he was exiled to a
distance of four hundred miles.
Cæsar had skilfully taken precautions that his influence should be felt
at Rome during his absence, as much as the instability of the magistracy
would permit. By the aid of his daughter Julia, whose charms and mental
accomplishments captivated her husband, Cæsar retained his influence
over Pompey. By his favours to the son of Crassus, a young man of great
merit, who was appointed his lieutenant, he assured himself of his
father. Cicero is removed, but soon Cæsar will consent to his return,
and will conciliate him again by taking into his favour his brother
Quintus. There remains the opposition of Cato. Clodius undertakes to
remove him under the pretence of an honourable mission: he is sent to
Cyprus to dethrone King Ptolemy, whose irregularities excited the hatred
of his subjects. [1217] Finally, all the men of importance who had any
chance of obtaining employment are gained to the cause of Cæsar; some
even engage themselves to him by writing. [1218] He can thus proceed to
his province; Destiny is about to open a new path; immortal glory awaits
him beyond the Alps, and this glory, reflected upon Rome, will change
the face of the world.
[Sidenote: The Explanation of Cæsar’s Conduct. ]
VII. We have shown Cæsar obeying only his political convictions, whether
as the ardent promoter of all popular measures, or as the declared
partisan of Pompey; we have shown him aspiring with a noble ambition to
power and honours; but we are not ignorant that historians in general
give other motives for his conduct. They represent him, in 684, as
having already his plans defined, his schemes arranged, his instruments
all prepared. They attribute to him an absolute prescience of the
future, the faculty of directing men and things at his will, and of
rendering each one, unknowingly, the accomplice of his profound designs.
All his actions have a hidden motive, which the historian boasts of
having discovered. If Cæsar raises up again the standard of Marius,
makes himself the defender of the oppressed, and the persecutor of the
hired assassins of past tyranny, it is to acquire a concurrence
necessary to his ambition; if he contends with Cicero in favour of
legality in the trial of the accomplices of Catiline, or to maintain an
agrarian law of which he approves the political aim, or if, to repair a
great injustice of Sylla, he supports the restoration of the children of
the proscribed to their rights, it is for the purpose of compromising
the great orator with the popular party. If, on the contrary, he places
his influence at the service of Pompey; if, on the occasion of the war
against the pirates, he contributes to obtain for him an authority
considered exorbitant; if he seconds the plebiscitum which further
confers upon him the command of the army against Mithridates; if
subsequently he causes extraordinary honours to be awarded him, though
absent, it is still with the Machiavellian aim of making the greatness
of Pompey redound to his own profit. So that, if he defends liberty, it
is to ruin his adversaries; if he defends power, it is to accustom the
Romans to tyranny. Finally, if Cæsar seeks the consulate, like all the
members of the Roman nobility, it is, say they, because he already
foresees, beyond the fasces of the consul and the dust of battles, the
dictatorship and even the throne. Such an interpretation results from
the too common fault of not being able to appreciate facts in
themselves, but according to the complexion which subsequent events have
given them.
Strange inconsistency, to impute to great men at the same time mean
motives and superhuman forethought! No, it was not the miserable thought
of checking Cicero which guided Cæsar; he had not recourse to a tactic
more or less skilful: he obeyed a profound conviction, and what proves
it indisputably is, that, once elevated to power, his first acts are to
execute, as consul or dictator, what as a citizen he had supported:
witness the agrarian law and the restoration of the proscribed. No, if
he supports Pompey, it is not because he thinks that he can degrade him
after having once elevated him, but because this illustrious captain had
embraced the same cause as himself; for it would not have been given to
any one to read so far into the future as to predict the use which the
conqueror of Mithridates would make of his triumphs and veritable
popularity. In fact, when he disembarked in Italy, Rome was in anxiety:
will he disband his army? [1219] Such was from all quarters the cry of
alarm. If he returns as a master, no one is able to resist him. Contrary
to the general expectation, Pompey disbanded his troops. How then could
Cæsar foresee beforehand a moderation then so unusual?
Is it truer to say that Cæsar, having become proconsul, aspired to the
sovereign power? No; in departing for Gaul, he could no more have
thought of reigning over Rome, than could General Buonaparte, starting
for Italy in 1796, have dreamed of the Empire. Was it possible for
Cæsar to foresee that, during a sojourn of ten years in Gaul, he would
there link Fortune to him for ever, and that, at the end of this long
space of time, the public mind at Rome would still be favourable to his
projects? Could he foresee that the death of his daughter would break
the ties which attached him to Pompey? that Crassus, instead of
returning in triumph from the East, would be conquered and slain by the
Parthians? that the murder of Clodius would throw all Italy into
commotion? and, finally, that anarchy, which he had sought to stifle by
the triumvirate, would be the cause of his own elevation? Cæsar had
before his eyes great examples for his guidance; he marched in the track
of the Scipios and of Paulus Æmilius; the hatred of his enemies forced
him, like Sylla, to seize upon the dictatorship, but for a more noble
cause, and by a course of proceeding exempt from vengeance and cruelty.
Let us not continually seek little passions in great souls. The success
of superior men, and it is a consoling thought, is due rather to the
loftiness of their sentiments than to the speculations of selfishness
and cunning; this success depends much more on their skill in taking
advantage of circumstances, than on that presumption, blind enough to
believe itself capable of creating events, which are in the hands of God
alone. Certainly, Cæsar had faith in his destiny, and confidence in his
genius; but faith is an instinct, not a calculation, and genius foresees
the future without understanding its mysterious progress.
END OF VOL. I.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Montesquieu, _Grandeur et Décadence des Romains_, xviii.
[2] Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 22.
[3] “Cæsar resolved to pass into Britain, the people of which had, in
nearly all wars, assisted the Gauls. ” (Cæsar, _Gallic War_, IV. 20. )
[4] Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 47.
[5] Appian, _Civil Wars_, I. 110, 326, edit. Schweighæuser.
[6] Cicero, _Epistolæ ad Atticum_, XIV. 10.
[7] In fact, how many disturbances, civil wars, and revolutions in
Europe since 1815! in France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Belgium, Hungary,
Greece, and Germany!
[8] _Grandeur et Décadence des Romains. _
[9] Titus Livius I. 44. --Dionysius of Halicarnassus, speaking of the
portion of the rampart between the Porta Æsquilina and the Porta
Collina, says, “Rome is fortified by a fosse thirty feet deep and a
hundred or more wide in the narrowest part. Above this fosse rises a
wall supported internally by a lofty and wide terrace, so that it cannot
be shaken by battering rams, or overthrown by undermining. ” (_Antiq.
Roman. _, IX. 68. )
[10] “Since that time (the time of Servius Tullius) Rome has been no
farther enlarged . . . and if, in face of this spectacle, any one would
form a notion of the magnitude of Rome, he would certainly fall into
error, for he would not be able to distinguish where the town ends and
where it is limited, so close the suburbs come up to the town. . . . The
Aventine, till the reign of Claudius, remained outside the Pomœrium,
notwithstanding its numerous inhabitants. ” (Aulus Gellius, XIII.
14. --Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 13. )
[11] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 49.
[12] “By this treaty, the Romans and their allies engage not to navigate
beyond the Bonum Promontorium (a cape situated to the north and opposite
Carthage, and now called by navigators the Cape of _Porto-Farino_). . . .
The Carthaginians undertake to respect the Ardeates, the Antiates, the
Laurentes, the Circeii, the Tarracinians, and indeed all the Latin
peoples subject to Rome. ” (Polybius, III. 22. )
[13] “When Tarquinius Priscus regulated, with the foresight of a skilful
prince, the state of the citizens, he attached great importance to the
dress of children of condition; and he decreed that the sons of
patricians should wear the bulla with the robe hemmed with purple: but
even this privilege was restricted to the children of those fathers who
had exercised a curule dignity; the sons of other patricians had merely
the prætexta, and it was necessary that even their fathers should have
served the prescribed time in the cavalry. ” (Macrobius, _Saturnalia_, I.
6. )
[14] “The plebeians were excluded from all offices, and put only to
agriculture, the breeding of cattle, and mercantile occupations. ”
(Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 9. )--“Numa encouraged the
agriculturists; they were excused from service in war, and discharged
from the care of municipal affairs. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II.
76. )
[15] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 9. --Plutarch, _Romulus_, 13.
[16] “Agrorum partes attribuerant tenuioribus. ” (Festus, under the word
_Patres_, p. 246, edit. O. Müller. )
[17] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 24.
[18] These questions have been the object of learned researches; but,
after an attentive perusal of the works of Beaufort, Niebuhr, Gœttling,
Duruy, Marquardt, Mommsen, Lange, &c. , the difference of opinions is
discouraging: we have adopted those which appeared most probable.
[19] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, V. 40. --Titus Livius, II. 16.
[20] Titus Livius, II. 48. --Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IX. 15.
[21] Titus Livius, II. 64.
[22] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, X. 15.
[23] “They called a _decree of the people_ (_scitum populi_) the measure
which the order of patricians had voted, on the proposal of a patrician,
without the participation of the plebs. ” (See Festus, under the words
_Scitum populi_, p. 330. )--Titus Livius, speaking of the tribunes, puts
the following words into the mouth of Appius Claudius: “Non enim
_populi_, sed _plebis_, eum magistratum esse. ” (Titus Livius, II. 56. )
[24] “The plebs was composed of all the mass of the people which was
neither senator nor patrician. ” (See Festus, under the words _Scitum
populi_. )
[25] “Populus autem non omnis hominum cœtus quoquo modo congregatus, sed
cœtus multitudinis juris consensu et utilitatis communione
sociatus. ”--(Cicero, _De Republica_, I. 25. )
[26] “Populus curiatis eum (Numam) comitiis regem esse jusserat. Tullum
Hostilium populus regem, interrege rogante, comitiis curiatis creavit.
Servius, Tarquinio sepulto, populum de se ipse consuluit jussusque
regnare legem de imperio suo curiatam tulit. ” (Cicero, _De Republica_,
II. 13-21. )
[27] “The predecessors of Servius Tullius brought all causes before
their tribunal, and pronounced judgment themselves in all disputes which
regarded the State or individuals. He separated these two things, and,
reserving to himself the cognizance of affairs which concerned the
State, abandoned to other judges the causes of individuals, with
injunctions, nevertheless, to regulate their judgments according to the
laws which he had passed. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 25. )
[28] “The consuls, like the ancient kings, have twelve lictors carrying
axes and twelve lictors carrying rods. ” (Appian, _Syrian Wars_, 15. )
[29] “From that time Tarquinius Superbus carried, during the rest of his
life, a crown of gold, a toga of embroidered purple, and a sceptre of
ivory, and his throne was also of ivory; when he administered justice,
or walked abroad in the town, he was preceded by twelve lictors, who
carried axes surrounded with rods. (_Dionysius overlooks the twelve
other lictors who carried rods only. _) After the kings had been expelled
from Rome, the annual consuls continued to use all these insignia,
except the crown and the robe with purple embroidery. These two only
were withdrawn, because they were odious and disagreeable to the people.
But even these were not entirely abolished, since they still used
ornaments of gold and dress of embroidered purple, when, after a
victory, the Senate decreed them the honours of the triumph. ” (Dionysius
of Halicarnassus, III. 62. )
[30] “The soldiers of Romulus, to the number of three thousand, were
divided into three bodies, called ‘tribes. ’” (Dio Cassius, _Fragm. _,
XIV. , edit. Gros. --Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 7. --Plutarch,
_Romulus_, 25. )--“The name of tribune of the soldiers is derived from
the circumstance that the three tribes of the Ramnes, the Luceres, and
the Tatiens each sent three to the army. ” (Varro, _De Lingua Latina_, V.
§ 81, p. 32, edit. O. Müller. )
[31] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 35.
Attempts have been made to
explain in different ways the origin of the word _curia_. Some have
derived it from the word _curare_, or from the name of the town of
_Cures_, or from κὑριος, “a lord:” it seems more natural to trace it to
_quiris_ (_curis_), which had the signification of a lance (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, II. 48. --Plutarch, _Romulus_, for thus we obtain a term
analogous with that of the Middle Ages, where _spear_ signified a
_man-at-arms_, accompanied by six or eight armed followers. And as the
principal aim of the formation of the curia was to furnish a certain
number of armed citizens, it is possible that they may have given to the
whole the name of a part. We read in Ovid, _Fasti_, II. lines 477-480:--
“Sive quod hasta curis priscis est dicta Sabinis,
Bellicus a telo venit in astra deus:
Sive suo regi nomen posuere Quirites,
Seu quis Romanis junxerat ille Cures. ”
[32] Titus Livius, 1. 43.
[33] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 14, and IV. 20.
[34] “The appeal to the people existed even under the kings, as the
books of the pontiffs show. ” (Cicero, _De Republica_, II. 31. )
[35] Plutarch, _Numa_, 17. --Pliny, _Natural History_, XXXIV. 1.
[36] “Servius Tullius conformed no longer as aforetime to the ancient
order of three tribes, distinguished by _origin_, but to the four new
tribes which he had established by _quarters_. ” (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, IV. 14. )
[37] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, III. 61. --Titus Livius, I. 35.
[38] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 22.
[39] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 19. “Servius Tullius, by these
means, threw back upon the richest all the costs and dangers of war. ”
(Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 20. )
[40] “If Numa was the legislator of the religious institutions,
posterity proclaims Servius as the founder of the order which
distinguishes in the Republic the difference of rank, dignity, and
fortune. It was he who established the _census_, the most salutary of
all institutions for a people destined to so much greatness. Fortunes,
and not individuals, were called upon to support the burdens of the
State. The _census_ established the classes, the centuries, and that
order which constitutes the ornament of Rome during peace and its
strength daring war. ” (Titus Livius, I. 42. )
[41] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 16.
[42] “When Servius Tullius had completed the taking of the census, he
ordered all the citizens to assemble in arms in the greatest of the
fields situated near the town, and, having arranged the horsemen in
squadrons, the footmen in phalanx, and the light-armed men in respective
orders, he submitted them to a lustration, by the immolation of a bull,
a ram, and a he-goat. He ordered that the victims should be led thrice
round about the army, after which he sacrificed to Mars, to whom this
field was dedicated. From that epoch to the present time the Romans have
continued to have the same ceremony performed, by the most holy of
magistracies, at the completion of each census; it is what they call a
_lustrum_. The total number of all the Romans enumerated, according to
the writing of the tables of the census, gave 300 men less than 85,000. ”
(Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 22. )
[43] “This good order of government (under Servius Tullius) was
sustained among the Romans during several centuries, but in our days it
has been changed, and, by force of circumstances, has given place to a
more democratic system. It is not that the centuries have been
abolished, but the voters were no longer called together with the
ancient regularity, and their judgments have no longer the same equity,
as I have observed in my frequent attendance at the comitia. ” (Dionysius
of Halicarnassus, IV. 21. )
[44] “The poorest citizens, in spite of their great number, were the
last to give their vote, and made but one century. ” (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, IV. 21. )
[45] Titus Livius, I. 43.
[46] “From the age of seventeen years, they were called to be soldiers.
Youth began with that age, and continued to the age of forty-six. At
that date old age began. ” (Aulus Gellius, X. 28. --Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, IV. 16. )
[47] Titus Livius speaks only of a hundred and ninety-two centuries;
Dionysius of Halicarnassus reckons a hundred and ninety-three. “In the
Roman plebs, the poorest citizens, those who reported to the census not
more than fifteen hundred _ases_, were called _proletarii_; those who
were not worth more than three hundred and seventy-five _ases_, and who
thus possessed hardly anything, were called _capite censi_. Now, the
fortune and patrimony of the citizen being for the State a sort of
guarantee, the pledge and foundation of his love for his country, the
men of the two last classes were only enrolled in case of extreme
danger. Yet the position of the _proletarii_ was a little more
honourable than that of the _capite censi_; in times of difficulty, when
there was want of young men, they were incorporated in the
hastily-formed militia, and equipped at the cost of the State; their
name contained no allusion to the mere poll-tax to which they were
subjected; less humiliating, it reminded one only of their destination
to give children to their country. The scantiness of their patrimony
preventing them from contributing to the aid of the State, they at least
contributed to the population of the city. ” (Aulus Gellius, XVI. 10. )
[48] “Tarquinius Priscus afterwards gave to the knights the organisation
which they have preserved to the present time. ” (Cicero, _De Republica_,
II. 20. )
[49] “It is said that the number of citizens inscribed under this title
was 80,000. Fabius Pictor, the most ancient of our historians, adds that
this number only includes the citizens in condition to bear arms. ”
(Titus Livius, I. 44. )
[50] The different censuses of the people furnished by the ancient
historians have been explained in different manners. Did the numbers
given designate all the citizens, or only the heads of families, or
those who had attained the age of puberty? In my opinion, these numbers
in Livy, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and Plutarch, applied to all the
men in a condition to carry arms, that is, according to the organisation
of Servius Tullius, to those from seventeen to sixty years old. This
category formed, in fact, the true Roman citizens. Under seventeen, they
were too young to count in the State; above sixty, they were too old.
We know that the aged sexagenarians were called _depontani_, because
they were forbidden the bridges over which they must go to the place of
voting. (Festus, under the word _sexagenarius_, p. 834. --Cicero, _Pro S.
Roscio Amerino_, 35. )
80,000 men in condition to carry arms represent, according to the
statistics of the present time, fifty-five hundredths of the male part
of the population, say 145,000 men, and for the two sexes, supposing
them equal in number, 290,000 souls. In fact, in France, in a hundred
inhabitants, there are 35 who have not passed the age of seventeen, 55
aged from seventeen to sixty years, and 10 of more than sixty.
In support of the above calculation, Dionysius of Halicarnassus relates
that in the year 247 of Rome a subscription was made in honour of
Horatius Cocles: 300,000 persons, men and women, gave the value of what
each might expend in one day for his food. (V. 25. )
As to the number of slaves, we find in another passage of Dionysius of
Halicarnassus (IX. 25) that the women, children, slaves, merchants, and
artisans amounted to a number triple of that of the citizens.
If, then, the number of citizens in condition to carry arms was 80,000,
and the rest of the population equalled three times that number, we
should have for the total 4 x 80,000 = 320,000 souls. And, subtracting
from this number the 290,000 obtained above, there would remain 30,000
for the slaves and artisans.
Whatever proportion we admit between these two last classes, the result
will be that the slaves were at that period not numerous.
[51] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 9, 23.
[52] “Within the town, the buildings were not allowed to approach the
ramparts, which they now ordinarily touch, and outside a space extended
which it was forbidden to cultivate. To all this space, which it was not
permitted to inhabit or cultivate, the Romans gave the name of
_Pomœrium_. When, in consequence of the increase of the town, the
rampart was carried farther out, this consecrated zone on each side was
still preserved. ” (Titus Livius, I. 44. )
[53] “Founded on the testimony of the sacred books which are preserved
with great care in the temples. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, XI. 62. )
[54] “These precious pledges, which they regard as so many images of the
gods. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VI. 45. )
[55] “Hence is explained the origin of the name given to the Capitol: in
digging the foundation of the temple, they found a human head; and the
augurs declared that Rome would become the head of all Italy. ”
(Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 61. )
[56] “This recourse to the opinions of the priests and the observations
of religious worship made the people forget their habits of violence and
their taste for arms. Their minds, incessantly occupied with religious
ideas, acknowledged the intervention of Providence in human affairs, and
all hearts were penetrated with a piety so lively that good faith and
fidelity to an oath reigned in Rome more than fear of laws or
punishments. ” (Titus Livius, I. 21. )
[57] Titus Livius, I. 45.
[58] “Assemblies of people, levies of troops--indeed, the most important
operations--were abandoned, if the birds did not approve them. ” (Titus
Livius, I. 36. )
[59] “Numa established also the auspicious and inauspicious days, for
with the people an adjournment might sometimes be useful. ” (Titus
Livius, I. 19. )
[60] “We have a town, founded on the faith of auspices and auguries; not
a spot within these walls which is not full of gods and their
worshippers; our solemn sacrifices have their days fixed as well as the
place where they are to be made. ” (Titus Livius, V. 52, _Speech of
Camillus_, VI. &c. )
[61] Cicero, _De Republica_, II. 14.
[62] “All religious acts, public and private, were submitted to the
decision of the pontiff; thus the people knew to whom to address
themselves, and disorders were prevented which might have brought into
religion the neglect of the national rites or the introduction of
foreign ones. It was the same pontiff’s duty also to regulate what
concerned funerals, and the means of appeasing the Manes, and to
distinguish, among prodigies announced by thunder and other phenomena,
those which required an expiation. ” (Titus Livius, I. 20. )
[63] “The grand pontiff exercises the functions of interpreter and
diviner, or rather of hierophant. He not only presides at the public
sacrifices, but he also inspects those which are made in private, and
takes care that the ordinances of religious worship are not
transgressed. Lastly, it is he who teaches what each individual ought to
do to honour the gods and to appease them. ” (Plutarch, _Numa_, 12. )
[64] “Numa divided the year into twelve months, according to the moon’s
courses; he added January and February to the year. ” (Titus Livius, I.
19. --Plutarch, _Numa_, 18. )
[65] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 73.
[66] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 64.
[67] Salian is derived from _salire_ (to leap, to dance). (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, II. 70. )--It was their duty, on certain occasions, to
execute sacred dances, and to chant hymns in honour of the god of war.
[68] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 72. --“The name of _feciales_ is
derived from the circumstance that they presided over the public faith
between peoples; for it was by their intervention that war when
undertaken assumed the character of a just war, and, that once
terminated, peace was guaranteed by a treaty. Before war was undertaken,
some of the _feciales_ were sent to make whatever demands had to be
made. ” (Varro, _De Lingua Latina_, V. § 86. )--“If allies complained that
the Romans had done them wrong, and demanded reparation for it, it was
the business of the _feciales_ to examine if there were any violation of
treaty. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 72. )--Those _fecial_ priests
had been instituted by Numa, the mildest and most just of kings, to be
guardians of peace, and the judges and arbiters of the legitimate
motives for undertaking war. (Plutarch, _Camillus_, 20. )
[69] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 14. --Pliny, _Natural History_, XXI.
8.
[70] Numa raised a temple to Romulus, whom he deified under the name of
_Quirinus_. (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 63)
[71] “Temple of Vesta, emblem of chastity; temple to Public Faith;
raised by Numa. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 65 and 75. )
[72] “The god Terminus; the festival in honour of Pales, the goddess of
shepherds; Saturn, the god of agriculture; the god of fallow-grounds,
pasture,” &c. (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 74. )
[73] “After having done these things in peace and war, Servius Tullius
erected two temples to Fortune, who appeared to have been favourable to
him all his life, one in the oxen-market, the other on the banks of the
Tiber, and he gave her the surname of _Virilis_, which she has preserved
to the present day among the Romans. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV.
27. )
[74] “The Temple of Janus had been closed twice since the reign of Numa:
the first time by the consul Titus Manlius, at the end of the first
Punic war; the second, when the gods granted to our age to see, after
the battle of Actium, Cæsar Augustus Imperator give peace to the
universe. ” (Titus Livius, I. 19. )--And Plutarch says, in his _Life of
Numa_, XX. , “Nevertheless, this temple was closed after the victory of
Cæsar Augustus over Antony, and it had previously been closed under the
consulate of Marcus Atilius and of Titus Manlius, for a short time, it
is true; it was almost immediately opened again, for a new war broke
out. But, during the reign of Numa, it was not seen open a single day. ”
[75] We employ intentionally the word _republic_, because all the
ancient authors give this name to the State, under the kings as well as
under the emperors. It is only by translating faithfully these
denominations that we can form an exact idea of ancient societies.
[76] “We acknowledge how many good and useful institutions the Republic
owed to each of our kings. ” (Cicero, _De Republica_, II. 21. )
[77] “Among the Romans, the children possess nothing of their own during
their father’s life. He can dispose not only of all the goods, but even
of the lives of his children. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VIII. 79;
II. 25. )
[78] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. , 25, 26. --“From the beginning,”
says Mommsen, “the Roman family presented, in the moral order which
reigned among its members, and their mutual subordination, the
conditions of a superior civilisation. ” (_Roman History_, 2nd edit. , I. ,
p. 54. )
[79] “Morals were so pure that, during two hundred and thirty years, no
husband was known to repudiate his wife, nor any woman to separate from
her husband. ” (Plutarch, _Parallel of Theseus and Romulus_.
caused new candidates to spring up every year for honours; and it was
indispensable to have partisans amongst the two consuls, the eight
prætors, and the ten tribunes named in the comitia. At all epochs, even
at the time when the aristocracy exercised the greatest influence, it
could not prevent its opponents from introducing themselves into the
public offices. Moreover, the three who had made common cause had reason
to fear the ambition and ingratitude of the men whom they had raised,
and who would soon seek to become their equals. There was still a last
danger, and perhaps the most serious: it was the impatience and want of
discipline of the democratic party, of which they were the chiefs.
In face of these dangers, the triumvirs agreed to cause L. Piso, the
father-in-law of Cæsar, and A. Gabinius, the devoted partisan of Pompey,
to be elected to the consulship the following year. They were, in fact,
designated consuls on the 18th of October, in spite of the efforts of
the nobles and the accusation of Cato against Gabinius.
At the end of the year 695, Cæsar and Bibulus ceased their functions.
The latter, in reporting his conduct according to custom, endeavoured to
paint in the blackest colours the state of the Republic; but Clodius
prevented him from speaking. [1200] As for Cæsar, his presentiment of the
attacks to which he was to be subjected was only too well founded; for
he had hardly quitted office, when the prætor L. Domitius Ahenobarbus,
and C. Memmius, friends of Cicero,[1201] proposed to the Senate to
prosecute him for the acts committed during his consulate, and
especially for not having paid attention to the omens. From this
proposal the Senate recoiled. [1202] Still, they brought Cæsar’s questor
to trial. He himself was cited by the tribune L. Antistius. But the
whole college refused to entertain the charge, in virtue of the law
Memmia, which forbad an accusation to be entertained against a citizen
while absent on the public service. [1203]
Cæsar found himself once more at the gates of Rome, invested with the
_imperium_, and, according to Cicero’s letters,[1204] at the head of
numerous troops, composed apparently of veteran volunteers. [1205] He
even remained there more than two months, in order to watch that his
departure should not become the signal for the overthrow of his work.
[Sidenote: Law of Clodius. Exile of Cicero. ]
VI. During this time, Clodius, a restless and turbulent spirit,[1206]
proud of the support which he had lent the triumvirs, as well as of
that he had received from them, listened only to his passion, and caused
laws to be enacted, some of which, flattering the populace and even the
slaves, menaced the State with anarchy. In virtue of these laws, he
re-established political associations (_collegia_), clubs dangerous to
public tranquillity,[1207] which Sylla had dissolved, but which were
subsequently reorganised to be again suppressed in 690;[1208] he made
gratuitous distributions of wheat to the people; took from the censors
the right of excluding from the Senate anybody they wished, allowing
them only to reject those who were under condemnation;[1209] forbad the
magistrates taking omens, or observing the sky on the day of the
deliberation of the comitia;[1210] and, lastly, he inflicted severe
penalties on those who had condemned Roman citizens to death unheard.
This last enactment was evidently directed against Cicero, although his
name was not mentioned in it. In order to ensure its adoption, its
author desired the acquiescence of Cæsar, who was detained at the gates
of Rome by the military command, which forbad him to enter. Clodius then
convoked the people outside the walls, and when he asked the proconsul
his opinion, the latter replied that it was well known by his vote in
the affair of the accomplices of Catiline; that, nevertheless, he
disapproved of a law which pronounced penalties upon facts which
belonged to the past. [1211]
On this occasion the Senate went into mourning, in order to exhibit its
discontent to all eyes; but the consuls Gabinius and Piso obliged the
Senate to relinquish this ill-timed demonstration.
Cæsar, in order to defend Cicero from the danger which threatened him,
offered to take him with him to Gaul as his lieutenant. [1212] Cicero
rejected the offer, deceiving himself through his confidence in his own
influence,[1213] and reckoning, moreover, on the protection of Pompey.
It appears positive from this that Clodius exceeded Cæsar’s views, a new
proof that such instruments when employed are two-edged swords, which
even the most skilful hands find it difficult to direct. It is thus that
later, Vatinius, aspiring to become prætor, received from his old patron
this strong warning: “Vatinius has done nothing gratuitously during his
tribuneship; he who only looks for money ought to dispense with
honours. ”[1214] In fact, Cæsar, whose efforts to re-establish the
popular institutions had never slackened, desired neither anarchy nor
democratic laws; and just as he had not approved of the proposal of
Manilius for the emancipation of the freedmen, so he opposed the
reorganisation of the corporations, the gratuitous distributions of
wheat, and the projects of vengeance entertained by Clodius, who,
however, continually boasted of his support.
Crassus, on his part, desiring to be useful to Cicero without
compromising himself,[1215] engaged his son to go to his aid. As for
Pompey, wavering between fear and friendship, he devised a pretext not
to receive Cicero when he came to seek his support. Deprived of this
last resource, the great orator abandoned his delusions, and after some
show of resistance voluntarily withdrew. Scarcely had he quitted Rome
when the law against him was passed without opposition, with the
concurrence of those whom Cicero had looked upon as his friends. [1216]
His goods were confiscated, his house razed, and he was exiled to a
distance of four hundred miles.
Cæsar had skilfully taken precautions that his influence should be felt
at Rome during his absence, as much as the instability of the magistracy
would permit. By the aid of his daughter Julia, whose charms and mental
accomplishments captivated her husband, Cæsar retained his influence
over Pompey. By his favours to the son of Crassus, a young man of great
merit, who was appointed his lieutenant, he assured himself of his
father. Cicero is removed, but soon Cæsar will consent to his return,
and will conciliate him again by taking into his favour his brother
Quintus. There remains the opposition of Cato. Clodius undertakes to
remove him under the pretence of an honourable mission: he is sent to
Cyprus to dethrone King Ptolemy, whose irregularities excited the hatred
of his subjects. [1217] Finally, all the men of importance who had any
chance of obtaining employment are gained to the cause of Cæsar; some
even engage themselves to him by writing. [1218] He can thus proceed to
his province; Destiny is about to open a new path; immortal glory awaits
him beyond the Alps, and this glory, reflected upon Rome, will change
the face of the world.
[Sidenote: The Explanation of Cæsar’s Conduct. ]
VII. We have shown Cæsar obeying only his political convictions, whether
as the ardent promoter of all popular measures, or as the declared
partisan of Pompey; we have shown him aspiring with a noble ambition to
power and honours; but we are not ignorant that historians in general
give other motives for his conduct. They represent him, in 684, as
having already his plans defined, his schemes arranged, his instruments
all prepared. They attribute to him an absolute prescience of the
future, the faculty of directing men and things at his will, and of
rendering each one, unknowingly, the accomplice of his profound designs.
All his actions have a hidden motive, which the historian boasts of
having discovered. If Cæsar raises up again the standard of Marius,
makes himself the defender of the oppressed, and the persecutor of the
hired assassins of past tyranny, it is to acquire a concurrence
necessary to his ambition; if he contends with Cicero in favour of
legality in the trial of the accomplices of Catiline, or to maintain an
agrarian law of which he approves the political aim, or if, to repair a
great injustice of Sylla, he supports the restoration of the children of
the proscribed to their rights, it is for the purpose of compromising
the great orator with the popular party. If, on the contrary, he places
his influence at the service of Pompey; if, on the occasion of the war
against the pirates, he contributes to obtain for him an authority
considered exorbitant; if he seconds the plebiscitum which further
confers upon him the command of the army against Mithridates; if
subsequently he causes extraordinary honours to be awarded him, though
absent, it is still with the Machiavellian aim of making the greatness
of Pompey redound to his own profit. So that, if he defends liberty, it
is to ruin his adversaries; if he defends power, it is to accustom the
Romans to tyranny. Finally, if Cæsar seeks the consulate, like all the
members of the Roman nobility, it is, say they, because he already
foresees, beyond the fasces of the consul and the dust of battles, the
dictatorship and even the throne. Such an interpretation results from
the too common fault of not being able to appreciate facts in
themselves, but according to the complexion which subsequent events have
given them.
Strange inconsistency, to impute to great men at the same time mean
motives and superhuman forethought! No, it was not the miserable thought
of checking Cicero which guided Cæsar; he had not recourse to a tactic
more or less skilful: he obeyed a profound conviction, and what proves
it indisputably is, that, once elevated to power, his first acts are to
execute, as consul or dictator, what as a citizen he had supported:
witness the agrarian law and the restoration of the proscribed. No, if
he supports Pompey, it is not because he thinks that he can degrade him
after having once elevated him, but because this illustrious captain had
embraced the same cause as himself; for it would not have been given to
any one to read so far into the future as to predict the use which the
conqueror of Mithridates would make of his triumphs and veritable
popularity. In fact, when he disembarked in Italy, Rome was in anxiety:
will he disband his army? [1219] Such was from all quarters the cry of
alarm. If he returns as a master, no one is able to resist him. Contrary
to the general expectation, Pompey disbanded his troops. How then could
Cæsar foresee beforehand a moderation then so unusual?
Is it truer to say that Cæsar, having become proconsul, aspired to the
sovereign power? No; in departing for Gaul, he could no more have
thought of reigning over Rome, than could General Buonaparte, starting
for Italy in 1796, have dreamed of the Empire. Was it possible for
Cæsar to foresee that, during a sojourn of ten years in Gaul, he would
there link Fortune to him for ever, and that, at the end of this long
space of time, the public mind at Rome would still be favourable to his
projects? Could he foresee that the death of his daughter would break
the ties which attached him to Pompey? that Crassus, instead of
returning in triumph from the East, would be conquered and slain by the
Parthians? that the murder of Clodius would throw all Italy into
commotion? and, finally, that anarchy, which he had sought to stifle by
the triumvirate, would be the cause of his own elevation? Cæsar had
before his eyes great examples for his guidance; he marched in the track
of the Scipios and of Paulus Æmilius; the hatred of his enemies forced
him, like Sylla, to seize upon the dictatorship, but for a more noble
cause, and by a course of proceeding exempt from vengeance and cruelty.
Let us not continually seek little passions in great souls. The success
of superior men, and it is a consoling thought, is due rather to the
loftiness of their sentiments than to the speculations of selfishness
and cunning; this success depends much more on their skill in taking
advantage of circumstances, than on that presumption, blind enough to
believe itself capable of creating events, which are in the hands of God
alone. Certainly, Cæsar had faith in his destiny, and confidence in his
genius; but faith is an instinct, not a calculation, and genius foresees
the future without understanding its mysterious progress.
END OF VOL. I.
* * * * *
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Montesquieu, _Grandeur et Décadence des Romains_, xviii.
[2] Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 22.
[3] “Cæsar resolved to pass into Britain, the people of which had, in
nearly all wars, assisted the Gauls. ” (Cæsar, _Gallic War_, IV. 20. )
[4] Suetonius, _Cæsar_, 47.
[5] Appian, _Civil Wars_, I. 110, 326, edit. Schweighæuser.
[6] Cicero, _Epistolæ ad Atticum_, XIV. 10.
[7] In fact, how many disturbances, civil wars, and revolutions in
Europe since 1815! in France, Spain, Italy, Poland, Belgium, Hungary,
Greece, and Germany!
[8] _Grandeur et Décadence des Romains. _
[9] Titus Livius I. 44. --Dionysius of Halicarnassus, speaking of the
portion of the rampart between the Porta Æsquilina and the Porta
Collina, says, “Rome is fortified by a fosse thirty feet deep and a
hundred or more wide in the narrowest part. Above this fosse rises a
wall supported internally by a lofty and wide terrace, so that it cannot
be shaken by battering rams, or overthrown by undermining. ” (_Antiq.
Roman. _, IX. 68. )
[10] “Since that time (the time of Servius Tullius) Rome has been no
farther enlarged . . . and if, in face of this spectacle, any one would
form a notion of the magnitude of Rome, he would certainly fall into
error, for he would not be able to distinguish where the town ends and
where it is limited, so close the suburbs come up to the town. . . . The
Aventine, till the reign of Claudius, remained outside the Pomœrium,
notwithstanding its numerous inhabitants. ” (Aulus Gellius, XIII.
14. --Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 13. )
[11] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 49.
[12] “By this treaty, the Romans and their allies engage not to navigate
beyond the Bonum Promontorium (a cape situated to the north and opposite
Carthage, and now called by navigators the Cape of _Porto-Farino_). . . .
The Carthaginians undertake to respect the Ardeates, the Antiates, the
Laurentes, the Circeii, the Tarracinians, and indeed all the Latin
peoples subject to Rome. ” (Polybius, III. 22. )
[13] “When Tarquinius Priscus regulated, with the foresight of a skilful
prince, the state of the citizens, he attached great importance to the
dress of children of condition; and he decreed that the sons of
patricians should wear the bulla with the robe hemmed with purple: but
even this privilege was restricted to the children of those fathers who
had exercised a curule dignity; the sons of other patricians had merely
the prætexta, and it was necessary that even their fathers should have
served the prescribed time in the cavalry. ” (Macrobius, _Saturnalia_, I.
6. )
[14] “The plebeians were excluded from all offices, and put only to
agriculture, the breeding of cattle, and mercantile occupations. ”
(Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 9. )--“Numa encouraged the
agriculturists; they were excused from service in war, and discharged
from the care of municipal affairs. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II.
76. )
[15] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 9. --Plutarch, _Romulus_, 13.
[16] “Agrorum partes attribuerant tenuioribus. ” (Festus, under the word
_Patres_, p. 246, edit. O. Müller. )
[17] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 24.
[18] These questions have been the object of learned researches; but,
after an attentive perusal of the works of Beaufort, Niebuhr, Gœttling,
Duruy, Marquardt, Mommsen, Lange, &c. , the difference of opinions is
discouraging: we have adopted those which appeared most probable.
[19] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, V. 40. --Titus Livius, II. 16.
[20] Titus Livius, II. 48. --Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IX. 15.
[21] Titus Livius, II. 64.
[22] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, X. 15.
[23] “They called a _decree of the people_ (_scitum populi_) the measure
which the order of patricians had voted, on the proposal of a patrician,
without the participation of the plebs. ” (See Festus, under the words
_Scitum populi_, p. 330. )--Titus Livius, speaking of the tribunes, puts
the following words into the mouth of Appius Claudius: “Non enim
_populi_, sed _plebis_, eum magistratum esse. ” (Titus Livius, II. 56. )
[24] “The plebs was composed of all the mass of the people which was
neither senator nor patrician. ” (See Festus, under the words _Scitum
populi_. )
[25] “Populus autem non omnis hominum cœtus quoquo modo congregatus, sed
cœtus multitudinis juris consensu et utilitatis communione
sociatus. ”--(Cicero, _De Republica_, I. 25. )
[26] “Populus curiatis eum (Numam) comitiis regem esse jusserat. Tullum
Hostilium populus regem, interrege rogante, comitiis curiatis creavit.
Servius, Tarquinio sepulto, populum de se ipse consuluit jussusque
regnare legem de imperio suo curiatam tulit. ” (Cicero, _De Republica_,
II. 13-21. )
[27] “The predecessors of Servius Tullius brought all causes before
their tribunal, and pronounced judgment themselves in all disputes which
regarded the State or individuals. He separated these two things, and,
reserving to himself the cognizance of affairs which concerned the
State, abandoned to other judges the causes of individuals, with
injunctions, nevertheless, to regulate their judgments according to the
laws which he had passed. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 25. )
[28] “The consuls, like the ancient kings, have twelve lictors carrying
axes and twelve lictors carrying rods. ” (Appian, _Syrian Wars_, 15. )
[29] “From that time Tarquinius Superbus carried, during the rest of his
life, a crown of gold, a toga of embroidered purple, and a sceptre of
ivory, and his throne was also of ivory; when he administered justice,
or walked abroad in the town, he was preceded by twelve lictors, who
carried axes surrounded with rods. (_Dionysius overlooks the twelve
other lictors who carried rods only. _) After the kings had been expelled
from Rome, the annual consuls continued to use all these insignia,
except the crown and the robe with purple embroidery. These two only
were withdrawn, because they were odious and disagreeable to the people.
But even these were not entirely abolished, since they still used
ornaments of gold and dress of embroidered purple, when, after a
victory, the Senate decreed them the honours of the triumph. ” (Dionysius
of Halicarnassus, III. 62. )
[30] “The soldiers of Romulus, to the number of three thousand, were
divided into three bodies, called ‘tribes. ’” (Dio Cassius, _Fragm. _,
XIV. , edit. Gros. --Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 7. --Plutarch,
_Romulus_, 25. )--“The name of tribune of the soldiers is derived from
the circumstance that the three tribes of the Ramnes, the Luceres, and
the Tatiens each sent three to the army. ” (Varro, _De Lingua Latina_, V.
§ 81, p. 32, edit. O. Müller. )
[31] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 35.
Attempts have been made to
explain in different ways the origin of the word _curia_. Some have
derived it from the word _curare_, or from the name of the town of
_Cures_, or from κὑριος, “a lord:” it seems more natural to trace it to
_quiris_ (_curis_), which had the signification of a lance (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, II. 48. --Plutarch, _Romulus_, for thus we obtain a term
analogous with that of the Middle Ages, where _spear_ signified a
_man-at-arms_, accompanied by six or eight armed followers. And as the
principal aim of the formation of the curia was to furnish a certain
number of armed citizens, it is possible that they may have given to the
whole the name of a part. We read in Ovid, _Fasti_, II. lines 477-480:--
“Sive quod hasta curis priscis est dicta Sabinis,
Bellicus a telo venit in astra deus:
Sive suo regi nomen posuere Quirites,
Seu quis Romanis junxerat ille Cures. ”
[32] Titus Livius, 1. 43.
[33] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 14, and IV. 20.
[34] “The appeal to the people existed even under the kings, as the
books of the pontiffs show. ” (Cicero, _De Republica_, II. 31. )
[35] Plutarch, _Numa_, 17. --Pliny, _Natural History_, XXXIV. 1.
[36] “Servius Tullius conformed no longer as aforetime to the ancient
order of three tribes, distinguished by _origin_, but to the four new
tribes which he had established by _quarters_. ” (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, IV. 14. )
[37] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, III. 61. --Titus Livius, I. 35.
[38] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 22.
[39] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 19. “Servius Tullius, by these
means, threw back upon the richest all the costs and dangers of war. ”
(Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 20. )
[40] “If Numa was the legislator of the religious institutions,
posterity proclaims Servius as the founder of the order which
distinguishes in the Republic the difference of rank, dignity, and
fortune. It was he who established the _census_, the most salutary of
all institutions for a people destined to so much greatness. Fortunes,
and not individuals, were called upon to support the burdens of the
State. The _census_ established the classes, the centuries, and that
order which constitutes the ornament of Rome during peace and its
strength daring war. ” (Titus Livius, I. 42. )
[41] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 16.
[42] “When Servius Tullius had completed the taking of the census, he
ordered all the citizens to assemble in arms in the greatest of the
fields situated near the town, and, having arranged the horsemen in
squadrons, the footmen in phalanx, and the light-armed men in respective
orders, he submitted them to a lustration, by the immolation of a bull,
a ram, and a he-goat. He ordered that the victims should be led thrice
round about the army, after which he sacrificed to Mars, to whom this
field was dedicated. From that epoch to the present time the Romans have
continued to have the same ceremony performed, by the most holy of
magistracies, at the completion of each census; it is what they call a
_lustrum_. The total number of all the Romans enumerated, according to
the writing of the tables of the census, gave 300 men less than 85,000. ”
(Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 22. )
[43] “This good order of government (under Servius Tullius) was
sustained among the Romans during several centuries, but in our days it
has been changed, and, by force of circumstances, has given place to a
more democratic system. It is not that the centuries have been
abolished, but the voters were no longer called together with the
ancient regularity, and their judgments have no longer the same equity,
as I have observed in my frequent attendance at the comitia. ” (Dionysius
of Halicarnassus, IV. 21. )
[44] “The poorest citizens, in spite of their great number, were the
last to give their vote, and made but one century. ” (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, IV. 21. )
[45] Titus Livius, I. 43.
[46] “From the age of seventeen years, they were called to be soldiers.
Youth began with that age, and continued to the age of forty-six. At
that date old age began. ” (Aulus Gellius, X. 28. --Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, IV. 16. )
[47] Titus Livius speaks only of a hundred and ninety-two centuries;
Dionysius of Halicarnassus reckons a hundred and ninety-three. “In the
Roman plebs, the poorest citizens, those who reported to the census not
more than fifteen hundred _ases_, were called _proletarii_; those who
were not worth more than three hundred and seventy-five _ases_, and who
thus possessed hardly anything, were called _capite censi_. Now, the
fortune and patrimony of the citizen being for the State a sort of
guarantee, the pledge and foundation of his love for his country, the
men of the two last classes were only enrolled in case of extreme
danger. Yet the position of the _proletarii_ was a little more
honourable than that of the _capite censi_; in times of difficulty, when
there was want of young men, they were incorporated in the
hastily-formed militia, and equipped at the cost of the State; their
name contained no allusion to the mere poll-tax to which they were
subjected; less humiliating, it reminded one only of their destination
to give children to their country. The scantiness of their patrimony
preventing them from contributing to the aid of the State, they at least
contributed to the population of the city. ” (Aulus Gellius, XVI. 10. )
[48] “Tarquinius Priscus afterwards gave to the knights the organisation
which they have preserved to the present time. ” (Cicero, _De Republica_,
II. 20. )
[49] “It is said that the number of citizens inscribed under this title
was 80,000. Fabius Pictor, the most ancient of our historians, adds that
this number only includes the citizens in condition to bear arms. ”
(Titus Livius, I. 44. )
[50] The different censuses of the people furnished by the ancient
historians have been explained in different manners. Did the numbers
given designate all the citizens, or only the heads of families, or
those who had attained the age of puberty? In my opinion, these numbers
in Livy, Dionysius of Halicarnassus, and Plutarch, applied to all the
men in a condition to carry arms, that is, according to the organisation
of Servius Tullius, to those from seventeen to sixty years old. This
category formed, in fact, the true Roman citizens. Under seventeen, they
were too young to count in the State; above sixty, they were too old.
We know that the aged sexagenarians were called _depontani_, because
they were forbidden the bridges over which they must go to the place of
voting. (Festus, under the word _sexagenarius_, p. 834. --Cicero, _Pro S.
Roscio Amerino_, 35. )
80,000 men in condition to carry arms represent, according to the
statistics of the present time, fifty-five hundredths of the male part
of the population, say 145,000 men, and for the two sexes, supposing
them equal in number, 290,000 souls. In fact, in France, in a hundred
inhabitants, there are 35 who have not passed the age of seventeen, 55
aged from seventeen to sixty years, and 10 of more than sixty.
In support of the above calculation, Dionysius of Halicarnassus relates
that in the year 247 of Rome a subscription was made in honour of
Horatius Cocles: 300,000 persons, men and women, gave the value of what
each might expend in one day for his food. (V. 25. )
As to the number of slaves, we find in another passage of Dionysius of
Halicarnassus (IX. 25) that the women, children, slaves, merchants, and
artisans amounted to a number triple of that of the citizens.
If, then, the number of citizens in condition to carry arms was 80,000,
and the rest of the population equalled three times that number, we
should have for the total 4 x 80,000 = 320,000 souls. And, subtracting
from this number the 290,000 obtained above, there would remain 30,000
for the slaves and artisans.
Whatever proportion we admit between these two last classes, the result
will be that the slaves were at that period not numerous.
[51] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 9, 23.
[52] “Within the town, the buildings were not allowed to approach the
ramparts, which they now ordinarily touch, and outside a space extended
which it was forbidden to cultivate. To all this space, which it was not
permitted to inhabit or cultivate, the Romans gave the name of
_Pomœrium_. When, in consequence of the increase of the town, the
rampart was carried farther out, this consecrated zone on each side was
still preserved. ” (Titus Livius, I. 44. )
[53] “Founded on the testimony of the sacred books which are preserved
with great care in the temples. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, XI. 62. )
[54] “These precious pledges, which they regard as so many images of the
gods. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VI. 45. )
[55] “Hence is explained the origin of the name given to the Capitol: in
digging the foundation of the temple, they found a human head; and the
augurs declared that Rome would become the head of all Italy. ”
(Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 61. )
[56] “This recourse to the opinions of the priests and the observations
of religious worship made the people forget their habits of violence and
their taste for arms. Their minds, incessantly occupied with religious
ideas, acknowledged the intervention of Providence in human affairs, and
all hearts were penetrated with a piety so lively that good faith and
fidelity to an oath reigned in Rome more than fear of laws or
punishments. ” (Titus Livius, I. 21. )
[57] Titus Livius, I. 45.
[58] “Assemblies of people, levies of troops--indeed, the most important
operations--were abandoned, if the birds did not approve them. ” (Titus
Livius, I. 36. )
[59] “Numa established also the auspicious and inauspicious days, for
with the people an adjournment might sometimes be useful. ” (Titus
Livius, I. 19. )
[60] “We have a town, founded on the faith of auspices and auguries; not
a spot within these walls which is not full of gods and their
worshippers; our solemn sacrifices have their days fixed as well as the
place where they are to be made. ” (Titus Livius, V. 52, _Speech of
Camillus_, VI. &c. )
[61] Cicero, _De Republica_, II. 14.
[62] “All religious acts, public and private, were submitted to the
decision of the pontiff; thus the people knew to whom to address
themselves, and disorders were prevented which might have brought into
religion the neglect of the national rites or the introduction of
foreign ones. It was the same pontiff’s duty also to regulate what
concerned funerals, and the means of appeasing the Manes, and to
distinguish, among prodigies announced by thunder and other phenomena,
those which required an expiation. ” (Titus Livius, I. 20. )
[63] “The grand pontiff exercises the functions of interpreter and
diviner, or rather of hierophant. He not only presides at the public
sacrifices, but he also inspects those which are made in private, and
takes care that the ordinances of religious worship are not
transgressed. Lastly, it is he who teaches what each individual ought to
do to honour the gods and to appease them. ” (Plutarch, _Numa_, 12. )
[64] “Numa divided the year into twelve months, according to the moon’s
courses; he added January and February to the year. ” (Titus Livius, I.
19. --Plutarch, _Numa_, 18. )
[65] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 73.
[66] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 64.
[67] Salian is derived from _salire_ (to leap, to dance). (Dionysius of
Halicarnassus, II. 70. )--It was their duty, on certain occasions, to
execute sacred dances, and to chant hymns in honour of the god of war.
[68] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 72. --“The name of _feciales_ is
derived from the circumstance that they presided over the public faith
between peoples; for it was by their intervention that war when
undertaken assumed the character of a just war, and, that once
terminated, peace was guaranteed by a treaty. Before war was undertaken,
some of the _feciales_ were sent to make whatever demands had to be
made. ” (Varro, _De Lingua Latina_, V. § 86. )--“If allies complained that
the Romans had done them wrong, and demanded reparation for it, it was
the business of the _feciales_ to examine if there were any violation of
treaty. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 72. )--Those _fecial_ priests
had been instituted by Numa, the mildest and most just of kings, to be
guardians of peace, and the judges and arbiters of the legitimate
motives for undertaking war. (Plutarch, _Camillus_, 20. )
[69] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV. 14. --Pliny, _Natural History_, XXI.
8.
[70] Numa raised a temple to Romulus, whom he deified under the name of
_Quirinus_. (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 63)
[71] “Temple of Vesta, emblem of chastity; temple to Public Faith;
raised by Numa. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 65 and 75. )
[72] “The god Terminus; the festival in honour of Pales, the goddess of
shepherds; Saturn, the god of agriculture; the god of fallow-grounds,
pasture,” &c. (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. 74. )
[73] “After having done these things in peace and war, Servius Tullius
erected two temples to Fortune, who appeared to have been favourable to
him all his life, one in the oxen-market, the other on the banks of the
Tiber, and he gave her the surname of _Virilis_, which she has preserved
to the present day among the Romans. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, IV.
27. )
[74] “The Temple of Janus had been closed twice since the reign of Numa:
the first time by the consul Titus Manlius, at the end of the first
Punic war; the second, when the gods granted to our age to see, after
the battle of Actium, Cæsar Augustus Imperator give peace to the
universe. ” (Titus Livius, I. 19. )--And Plutarch says, in his _Life of
Numa_, XX. , “Nevertheless, this temple was closed after the victory of
Cæsar Augustus over Antony, and it had previously been closed under the
consulate of Marcus Atilius and of Titus Manlius, for a short time, it
is true; it was almost immediately opened again, for a new war broke
out. But, during the reign of Numa, it was not seen open a single day. ”
[75] We employ intentionally the word _republic_, because all the
ancient authors give this name to the State, under the kings as well as
under the emperors. It is only by translating faithfully these
denominations that we can form an exact idea of ancient societies.
[76] “We acknowledge how many good and useful institutions the Republic
owed to each of our kings. ” (Cicero, _De Republica_, II. 21. )
[77] “Among the Romans, the children possess nothing of their own during
their father’s life. He can dispose not only of all the goods, but even
of the lives of his children. ” (Dionysius of Halicarnassus, VIII. 79;
II. 25. )
[78] Dionysius of Halicarnassus, II. , 25, 26. --“From the beginning,”
says Mommsen, “the Roman family presented, in the moral order which
reigned among its members, and their mutual subordination, the
conditions of a superior civilisation. ” (_Roman History_, 2nd edit. , I. ,
p. 54. )
[79] “Morals were so pure that, during two hundred and thirty years, no
husband was known to repudiate his wife, nor any woman to separate from
her husband. ” (Plutarch, _Parallel of Theseus and Romulus_.
