THIRTY-FIFTH AMERICAN, FROM THE TWENTY-THIRD ENGLISH EDITION
PHILADELPHIA:
THOMAS, COWPERTHWAIT & CO.
PHILADELPHIA:
THOMAS, COWPERTHWAIT & CO.
Oliver Goldsmith
.
.
.
T.
Creswick, R.
A.
.
.
.
044
Or winter wraps the polar world in snow. . . . . . . T. Creswick, R. A. . . . 045
As rocks resist the billows aNd the sky. . . . . . . T. Creswick, R. A. . . . 046
Drawn on wood, from the original Etchings, by E. K. Johnson, and
engraved by Horace Harral, Thomas Bolton, and James Cooper.
{007}
[Illustration: 0016]
THE DESERTED VILLAGE
Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain,
Where health and plenty cheer'd the labouring swain,
Where smiling spring its earliest visit paid,
And parting summer's lingering blooms delay'd.
{008}
[Illustration: 0017]
Dear lovely bowers of innocence and ease,
Seats of my youth, when every sport could please,
How often have I loiter'd o'er thy green,
Where humble happiness endear'd each scene!
How often have I paused on every charm,
The shelter'd cot, the cultivated farm,
{009}
[Illustration: 0020]
The never-failing brook, the busy mill,
The decent church that topt the neighbouring hill,
The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade,
For talking age and whispering lovers made!
How often have I blest the coming day,
When toil remitting lent its turn to play,
{010}
And all the village train, from labour free,
Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree;
[Illustration: 0021]
While many a pastime circled in the shade,
The young contending as the old survey'd;
And many a gambol frolick'd o'er the ground,
And sleights of art and feats of strength went round;
{011}
And still, as each repeated pleasure tired,
Succeeding sports the mirthful band inspired:
The dancing pair that simply sought renown,
By holding out to tire each other down;
The swain mistrustless of his smutted face,
While secret laughter titter'd round the place;
The bashful virgin's sidelong looks of love,
The matron's glance that would those looks reprove;
These were thy charms, sweet village! sports like these,
With sweet succession, taught e'en toil to please;
These round thy bowers their cheerful influence shed,
These were thy charms--but all these charms are fled.
Sweet smiling village, loveliest of the lawn!
Thy sports are fled, and all thy charms withdrawn;
Amidst thy bowers the tyrant's hand is seen,
And desolation saddens all thy green:
One only master grasps the whole domain,
And half a tillage stints thy smiling plain:
No more thy glassy brook reflects the day,
But choked with sedges works its weedy way;
Along thy glades a solitary guest,
The hollow-sounding bittern guards its nest;
{012}
Amidst thy desert walks the lapwing flies,
And tires their echoes with unvaried cries.
[Illustration: 0025]
Sunk are thy bowers in shapeless ruin all,
And the long grass o'ertops the mouldering wall;
And trembling, shrinking from the spoiler's hand,
Far, far away thy children leave the land.
{013}
Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay:
Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade;
A breath can make them, as a breath has made:
But a bold peasantry, their country's pride,
When once destroy'd, can never be supplied.
A time there was, ere England's griefs began,
When every rood of ground maintain'd its man;
For him light labour spread her wholesome store,
Just gave what life required, but gave no more:
His best companions, innocence and health;
And his best riches, ignorance of wealth.
But times are alter'd; trade's unfeeling train
Usurp the land, and dispossess the swain;
Along the lawn, where scatter'd hamlets rose,
Unwieldy wealth and cumbrous pomp repose;
And every want to luxury allied,
And every pang that folly pays to pride.
Those gentle hours that plenty bade to bloom,
Those calm desires that ask'd but little room,
Those healthful sports that graced the peaceful scene,
Lived in each look, and brighten'd all the green;
{014}
These, far departing, seek a kinder shore,
And rural mirth and manners are no more.
[Illustration: 0027]
Sweet Auburn! parent of the blissful hour,
Thy glades forlorn confess the tyrant's power.
Here, as I take my solitary rounds
Amidst thy tangling walks and ruin'd grounds,
And, many a year elapsed, return to view
Where once the cottage stood, the hawthorn grew,
Remembrance wakes with all her busy train,
Swells at my breast, and turns the past to pain.
{015}
In all my wanderings round this world of care,
In all my griefs--and God has given my share--
[Illustration: 0030]
To husband out life's taper at the close,
And keep the flame from wasting by repose:
I still had hopes, my latest hours to crown,
Amidst these humble bowers to lay me down;
I still had hopes, for pride attends us still,
Amidst the swains to show my book-learn'd skill,
{016}
Around my fire an evening group to draw,
And tell of all I felt, and all I saw;
And, as a hare, whom hounds and horns pursue,
Pants to the place from whence at first he flew,
[Illustration: 0031]
I still had hopes, my long vexations past,
Here to return--and die at home at last.
O blest retirement, friend to life's decline,
Retreats from care, that never must be mine:
How blest is he who crowns, in shades like these,
A youth of labour with an age of ease;
{017}
Who quits a world where strong temptations try,
And since 'tis hard to combat, learns to fly!
For him no wretches, born to work and weep,
Explore the mine, or tempt the dangerous deep;
[Illustration: 0034]
No surly porter stands, in guilty state,
To spurn imploring famine from the gate--
But on he moves to meet his latter end,
Angels around befriending virtue's friend;
Sinks to the grave with unperceived decay,
While resignation gently slopes the way;
{018}
And, all his prospects brightening to the last,
His heaven commences ere the world be past.
[Illustration: 0035]
Sweet was the sound, when oft, at evening's close,
Up yonder hill the village murmur rose:
There, as I pass'd with careless steps and slow,
The mingling notes came soften'd from below;
The swain responsive as the milk-maid sung,
The sober herd that low'd to meet their young;
The noisy geese that gabbled o'er the pool,
The playful children just let loose from school;
{019}
The watch-dog's voice that bay'd the whispering wind,
And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind;
[Illustration: 0038]
These all in sweet confusion sought the shade,
And fill'd each pause the nightingale had made.
But now the sounds of population fail:
No cheerful murmurs fluctuate in the gale,
No busy steps the grass-grown footway tread,
But all the bloomy flush of life is fled;
All but yon widow'd solitary thing,
That feebly bends beside the plashy spring:
{020}
She, wretched matron, forced in age, for bread,
To strip the brook with mantling cresses spread
[Illustration: 0039]
To pick her wintry faggot from the thorn,
To seek her nightly shed and weep till morn;
She only left of all the harmless train,
The sad historian of the pensive plain.
{021}
Near yonder copse, where once the garden smiled,
And still where many a garden flower grows wild,
[Illustration: 0042]
There, where a few torn shrubs the place disclose,
The village preacher's modest mansion rose.
A man he was to all the country dear,
And passing rich with forty pounds a year;
{022}
Remote from towns he ran his godly race,
Nor e'er had changed, nor wish'd to change his place
[Illustration: 0043]
Unskilful he to fawn, or seek for power,
By doctrines fashion'd to the varying hour;
Far other aims his heart had learn'd to prize,
More bent to raise the wretched than to rise.
{023}
His house was known to all the vagrant train;
He chid their wanderings, but relieved their pain:
[Illustration: 0046]
The long remember'd beggar was his guest,
Whose beard descending swept his aged breast;
The ruin'd spendthrift, now no longer proud,
Claim'd kindred there, and had his claims allow'd;
{024}
The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay,
Sate by his fire, and talk'd the night away;
Wept o'er his wounds, or, tales of sorrow done,
Shoulder'd his crutch, and show'd how fields were won.
Pleased with his guests, the good man learn'd to glow,
And quite forgot their vices in their woe;
Careless their merits or their faults to scan,
His pity gave ere charity began.
Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride,
And e'en his failings lean'd to virtue's side;
But in his duty prompt, at every call,
He watch'd and wept, he pray'd and felt for all:
And, as a bird each fond endearment tries
To tempt its new-fledged offspring to the skies,
He tried each art, reproved each dull delay,
Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way.
Beside the bed where parting life was laid,
And sorrow, guilt, and pain, by turns dismay'd,
The reverend champion stood. At his control,
Despair and anguish fled the struggling soul;
{025}
Comfort came down the trembling wretch to raise,
And his last faltering accents whisper'd praise.
[Illustration: 0050]
At church, with meek and unaffected grace,
His looks adorn'd the venerable place;
Truth from his lips prevail'd with double sway,
And fools, who came to scoff, remain'd to pray.
The service past, around the pious man,
With ready zeal each honest rustic ran:
{026}
E'en children follow'd with endearing wile,
And pluck'd his gown, to share the good man's smile
[Illustration: 0051]
His ready smile a parent's warmth express'd,
Their welfare pleased him, and their cares distress'd
To them his heart, his love, his griefs, were given,
But all his serious thoughts had rest in heaven.
As some tall cliff, that lifts its awful form,
Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm,
{027}
Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread,
Eternal sunshine settles on its head.
[Illustration: 0054]
Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way
With blossom'd furze, unprofitably gay,
There, in his noisy mansion, skill'd to rule,
The village master taught his little school:
A man severe he was, and stern to view;
I knew him well, and every truant knew:
[Illustration: 0055]
Full well they laugh'd with counterfeited glee
At all his jokes, for many a joke had he;
{028}
Well had the boding tremblers learn'd to trace
The day's disasters in his morning face:
Full well the busy whisper, circling round,
Convey'd the dismal tidings when he frown'd;
{029}
Yet he was kind, or if severe in aught,
The love he bore to learning was in fault:
The village all declared how much he knew;
'Twas certain he could write and cipher too:
Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage,
And e'en the story ran that he could gauge:
[Illustration: 0058]
In arguing too the parson own'd his skill,
For e'en though vanquish'd, he could argue still;
{030}
While words of learned length, and thundering sound,
Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around;
And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew
That one small head could carry all he knew.
But past is all his fame: the very spot,
Where many a time he triumph'd, is forgot.
[Illustration: 0059]
Near yonder thorn that lifts its head on high,
Where once the sign-post caught the passing eye,
Low lies that house where nut-brown draughts inspired,
Where grey-beard mirth and smiling toil retired,
{031}
Where village statesmen talk'd with looks profound,
And news much older than their ale went round.
[Illustration: 0062]
Imagination fondly stoops to trace
The parlour splendours of that festive place;
The white-wash'd wall, the nicely-sanded floor,
The varnish'd clock that click'd behind the door;
{032}
The chest contrived a double debt to pay,
A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day;
The pictures placed for ornament and use,
The twelve good rules, the royal game of goose
The hearth, except when winter chill'd the day,
With aspen boughs, and flowers, and fennel gay
While broken tea-cups, wisely kept for show,
Ranged o'er the chimney, glisten'd in a row.
Vain, transitory splendours! could not all
Reprieve the tottering mansion from its fall I
Obscure it sinks, nor shall it more impart
An hour's importance to the poor man's heart:
Thither no more the peasant shall repair
To sweet oblivion of his daily care:
No more the farmer's news, the barber's tale,
No more the woodman's ballad shall prevail;
No more the smith his dusky brow shall clear,
Relax his ponderous strength, and lean to hear;
The host himself no longer shall be found
Careful to see the mantling bliss go round;
Nor the coy maid, half willing to be prest,
Shall kiss the cup to pass it to the rest.
{033}
Yes! let the rich deride, the proud disdain,
These simple blessings of the lowly train:
To me more dear, congenial to my heart,
One native charm, than all the gloss of art;
Spontaneous joys, where nature has its play,
The soul adopts, and owns their first-born sway;
Lightly they frolic o'er the vacant mind,
Unenvied, unmolested, unconfined.
[Illustration: 0066]
But the long pomp, the midnight masquerade,
With all the freaks of wanton wealth array'd,
In these, ere triflers half their wish obtain,
The toilsome pleasure sickens into pain;
{034}
And, e'en while fashion's brightest arts decoy,
The heart distrusting asks, if this be joy?
Ye friends to truth, ye statesmen, who survey
The rich man's joys increase, the poor's decay,
'Tis yours to judge how wide the limits stand
Between a splendid and a happy land.
[Illustration: 0067]
Proud swells the tide with loads of freighted ore,
And shouting Folly hails them from her shore;
Hoards e'en beyond the miser's wish abound,
And rich men flock from all the world around.
Yet count our gains. This wealth is but a name
That leaves our useful product still the same.
{035}
Not so the loss. The man of wealth and pride
Takes up a space that many poor supplied;
Space for his lake, his park's extended bounds,
Space for his horses, equipage, and hounds;
The robe that wraps his limbs in silken sloth
Has robb'd the neighbouring fields of half their growth;
His seat, where solitary sports are seen,
Indignant spurns the cottage from the green;
Around the world each needful product flies,
For all the luxuries the world supplies:
While thus the land, adorn'd for pleasure all,
In barren splendour feebly waits the fall.
As some fair female, unadorn'd and plain,
Secure to please while youth confirms her reign,
Slights every borrow'd charm that dress supplies,
Nor shares with art the triumph of her eyes;
But when those charms are past, for charms are frail,
When time advances, and when lovers fail,
She then shines forth, solicitous to bless,
In all the glaring impotence of dress;
Thus fares the land, by luxury betray'd,
In nature's simplest charms at first array'd;
{036}
But verging to decline, its splendours rise,
Its vistas strike, its palaces surprise;
While, scourged by famine, from the smiling land
The mournful peasant leads his humble band;
And while he sinks, without one arm to save,
The country blooms--a garden and a grave!
Where then, ah! where shall poverty reside,
To 'scape the pressure of contiguous pride?
[Illustration: 0071]
If to some common's fenceless limits stray'd,
He drives his flock to pick the scanty blade,
Those fenceless fields the sons of wealth divide,
And e'en the bare-worn common is denied.
{037}
If to the city sped--What waits him there?
To see profusion, that he must not share;
To see ten thousand baneful arts combined
To pamper luxury, and thin mankind;
To see each joy the sons of pleasure know,
Extorted from his fellow-creature's woe.
[Illustration: 0074]
Here, while the courtier glitters in brocade,
There the pale artist plies the sickly trade;
Here, while the proud their long-drawn pomp display,
There the black gibbet glooms beside the way;
{038}
The dome where pleasure holds her midnight reign,
Here, richly deck'd, admits the gorgeous train;
Tumultuous grandeur crowds the blazing square,
The rattling chariots clash, the torches glare.
Sure scenes like these no troubles e'er annoy!
Sure these denote one universal joy!
Are these thy serious thoughts? Ah, turn thine eyes
Where the poor houseless shivering female lies:
She once, perhaps, in village plenty blest,
Has wept at tales of innocence distrest;
[Illustration: 0075]
Her modest looks the cottage might adorn,
Sweet as the primrose peeps beneath the thorn;
{039}
Now lost to all; her friends, her virtue fled,
Near her betrayer's door she lays her head,
And, pinch'd with cold, and shrinking from the shower,
With heavy heart deplores that luckless hour
When idly first, ambitious of the town,
She left her wheel and robes of country brown.
Do thine, sweet Auburn, thine, the loveliest train,
Do thy fair tribes participate her pain?
E'en now, perhaps, by cold and hunger led,
At proud men's doors they ask a little bread!
Ah, no. To distant climes, a dreary scene,
Where half the convex world intrudes between,
Through torrid tracts with fainting steps they go,
Where wild Altama murmurs to their woe.
Far different there from all that charm'd before,
The various terrors of that horrid shore;
Those blazing suns that dart a downward ray,
And fiercely shed intolerable day;
Those matted woods where birds forget to sing,
But silent-bats in drowsy clusters cling;
{040}
Those poisonous fields with rank luxuriance crown'd,
Where the dark scorpion gathers death around;
Where at each step the stranger fears to wake
The rattling terrors of the vengeful snake;
[Illustration: 0079]
Where crouching tigers wait their hapless prey,
And savage men more murderous still than they;
While oft in whirls the mad tornado flies,
Mingling the ravaged landscape with the skies.
Far different these from every former scene,
The cooling brook, the grassy-vested green,
{041}
The breezy covert of the warbling grove,
That only shelter'd thefts of harmless love.
[Illustration: 0082]
Good Heaven! what sorrows gloom'd that parting day,
That call'd them from their native walks away!
When the poor exiles, every pleasure past,
Hung round the bowers, and fondly look'd their last,
And took a long farewell, and wish'd in vain
For seats like these beyond the western main;
And shuddering still to face the distant deep,
Return'd and wept, and still return'd to weep.
The good old sire the first prepared to go
To new-found worlds, and wept for others' woe;
{042}
But for himself, in conscious virtue brave,
He only wish'd for worlds beyond the grave.
His lovely daughter, lovelier in her tears,
The fond companion of his helpless years,
[Illustration: 0083]
Silent went next, neglectful of her charms,
And left a lover's for her father's arms.
With louder plaints the mother spoke her woes,
And bless'd the cot where every pleasure rose;
And kiss'd her thoughtless babes with many a tear,
And clasp'd them close, in sorrow doubly dear;
{043}
Whilst her fond husband strove to lend relief,
In all the silent manliness of grief.
[Illustration: 0086]
O luxury! thou curst by Heaven's decree,
How ill exchanged are things like these for thee!
How do thy potions, with insidious joy,
Diffuse their pleasures only to destroy!
Kingdoms by thee, to sickly greatness grown,
Boast of a florid vigour not their own:
At every draught more large and large they grow,
A bloated mass of rank unwieldy woe;
{044}
Till, sapp'd their strength, and every part unsound,
Down, down they sink, and spread a ruin round.
E'en now the devastation is begun,
And half the business of destruction done;
E'en now, methinks, as pondering here I stand,
I see the rural virtues leave the land.
Down where yon anchoring vessel spreads the sail,
That idly waiting flaps with every gale;
[Illustration: 0087]
Downward they move, a melancholy band,
Pass from the shore, and darken all the strand.
Contented toil, and hospitable care,
And kind connubial tenderness, are there;
And piety, with wishes placed above,
And steady loyalty, and faithful love.
{045}
And thou, sweet Poetry, thou loveliest maid,
Still first to fly where sensual joys invade,
Unfit, in these degenerate times of shame,
To catch the heart, or strike for honest fame;
Dear charming nymph, neglected and decried,
My shame in crowds, my solitary pride;
Thou source of all my bliss, and all my woe,
That found'st me poor at first, and keep'st me so;
[Illustration: 0090]
Thou guide, by which the nobler arts excel,
Thou nurse of every virtue, fare thee well!
Farewell! and oh! where'er thy voice be tried,
On Torno's cliffs, or Pambamarca's side,
Whether where equinoctial fervors glow,
Or winter wraps the polar world in snow,
{046}
Still let thy voice, prevailing over time,
Redress the rigours of the inclement clime.
Aid slighted Truth with thy persuasive strain:
Teach erring man to spurn the rage of gain;
Teach him, that states of native strength possest,
Though very poor, may still be very blest;
That trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay,
As ocean sweeps the labour'd mole away;
While self-dependent power can time defy,
As rocks resist the billows and the sky.
An ELEGY on the GLORY of her SEX
Mrs Mary BLAIZE
R. Caldecott's PICTURE Books
Frederick Warne and Co. Ltd. ]
* * * * *
An Elegy
on the Glory of Her Sex
MRS. MARY BLAIZE
by
Dr. Oliver Goldsmith
* * * * *
[Illustration (painting, pic03. jpg)]
[Illustration (drawing, pic04trans. gif)]
Good people all,
with one accord,
Lament for
Madam Blaize,
Who never wanted
a good word--
[Illustration (drawing, pic05trans. gif)]
_From those_
[Illustration (drawing, pic06trans. gif)]
_who spoke her praise. _
[Illustration (painting, pic07. jpg)]
[Illustration (drawing, pic08trans. gif)]
The needy seldom pass'd her door,
And always found her kind;
She freely lent to all the poor--
[Illustration (drawing, pic09trans. gif)]
_Who left_
[Illustration (drawing, pic10trans. gif)]
_a pledge behind. _
[Illustration (painting, pic11. jpg)]
[Illustration (drawing, pic12trans. gif)]
She strove the neighbourhood to please
With manners wondrous winning;
[Illustration (drawing, pic13trans. gif)]
And never follow'd wicked ways--
[Illustration (drawing, pic14trans. gif)]
_Unless when she was sinning. _
[Illustration (drawing, pic15trans. gif)]
At church, in silks and satins new,
With hoop of monstrous size,
She never slumber'd in her pew--
[Illustration (painting, pic16. jpg)]
[Illustration (drawing, pic17trans. gif)]
_But when she shut her eyes. _
[Illustration (drawing, pic18trans. gif)]
[Illustration (drawing, pic19trans. gif)]
Her love was sought, I do aver,
By twenty beaux and more;
The King himself has follow'd her--
[Illustration (painting, pic20. jpg)]
[Illustration (drawing, pic21trans. gif)]
_When she has walk'd before. _
[Illustration (drawing, pic22trans. gif)]
But now, her wealth and finery fled,
Her hangers-on cut short-all:
The Doctors found, when she was dead
_Her last disorder mortal. _
[Illustration (drawing, pic23trans. gif)]
Let us lament, in sorrow sore,
For Kent Street well may say,
That had she lived a twelvemonth more,--
_She had not died to-day. _
[Illustration (painting, pic24. jpg)]
[Illustration (drawing, pic25trans. gif)]
* * * * *
[Illustration: back cover (backtrans. gif)
Randolph Caldecott's Picture Books
"The humour of Randolph Caldecott's drawings is simply irresistible,
no healthy-minded man, woman, or child could look at them without
laughing. "
_In square crown 4to, picture covers, with numerous coloured plates. _
1 John Gilpin
2 The House that Jack Built
3 The Babes in the Wood
4 The Mad Dog
5 Three Jovial Huntsmen
6 Sing a Song for Sixpence
7 The Queen of Hearts
8 The Farmer's Boy
9 The Milkmaid
10 Hey-Diddle-Diddle and Baby Bunting
11 A Frog He Would a-Wooing Go
12 The Fox Jumps over the Parson's Gate
13 Come Lasses and Lads
14 Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross, &c.
15 Mrs. Mary Blaize
16 The Great Panjandrum Himself
_The above selections are also issued in Four Volumes, square crown
4to, attractive binding, red edges. Each containing four different
books, with their Coloured Pictures and innumerable Outline Sketches. _
1 R. Caldecott's Picture Book No. 1
2 R. Caldecott's Picture Book No. 2
3 Hey-Diddle-Diddle-Picture Book
4 The Panjandrum Picture Book
_And also_
_In Two Volumes, handsomely bound in cloth gilt, each containing eight
different books, with their Coloured Pictures and numerous Outline
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R. Caldecott's Collection of Pictures and Songs No. 1
R. Caldecott's Collection of Pictures and Songs No. 2
Miniature Editions,
_size 5-1/2 by 4-1/2. Art Boards, flat back. _
TWO VOLUMES
ENTITLED
R. CALDECOTT'S PICTURE BOOKS
Nos. 1 and 2,
_Each containing coloured plates and numerous
Outline Sketches in the text. _
_Crown 4to, picture covers. _
Randolph Caldecott's Painting Books. Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4.
_Each with Outline Pictures to Paint, and Coloured Examples. _
_Oblong 4to, cloth. _
A Sketch Book of R. Caldecott's.
_Containing numerous sketches in Colour and black and white_
: LONDON : Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd. : & NEW YORK :
_The Published Prices of the above Picture Books can be obtained of all
Booksellers or from the Illustrated Catalogue of the Publishers. _
PRINTED AND COPYRIGHTED BY EDMUND EVANS, LTD. ,
ROSE PLACE, GLOBE ROAD, LONDON, E. 1. ]
PINNOCK'S
IMPROVED EDITION OF
DR. GOLDSMITH'S
HISTORY OF ROME:
TO WHICH IS PREFIXED AN
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF ROMAN HISTORY,
AND
A GREAT VARIETY OF VALUABLE INFORMATION ADDED THROUGHOUT THE WORK, ON
THE
MANNERS, INSTITUTIONS, AND ANTIQUITIES OF THE ROMANS;
WITH
NUMEROUS BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL NOTES;
AND
QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION
AT THE END OF EACH SECTION.
ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS.
[Illustration: Coliseum. ]
BY
WM. C. TAYLOR, LL. D. ,
OF TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN.
AUTHOR OF MANUAL OF ANCIENT AND MODERN HISTORY, ETC. ETC.
THIRTY-FIFTH AMERICAN, FROM THE TWENTY-THIRD ENGLISH EDITION
PHILADELPHIA:
THOMAS, COWPERTHWAIT & CO.
1851.
Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1848, by
THOMAS, COWPERTHWAIT & CO.
In the clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for
the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
PRINTED BY SMITH & PETERS,
Franklin Buildings, Sixth Street below Arch, Philadelphia.
PREFACE.
The researches of Niebuhr and several other distinguished German
scholars have thrown a new light on Roman History, and enabled us to
discover the true constitution of that republic which once ruled the
destinies of the known world, and the influence of whose literature
and laws is still powerful in every civilized state, and will probably
continue to be felt to the remotest posterity. These discoveries have,
however, been hitherto useless to junior students in this country; the
works of the German critics being unsuited to the purposes of schools,
not only from their price, but also from the extensive learning
requisite to follow them through their laborious disquisitions. The
editor has, therefore, thought that it would be no unacceptable
service, to prefix a few Introductory Chapters, detailing such results
from their inquiries as best elucidate the character and condition of
the Roman people, and explain the most important portion of the
history. The struggles between the patricians and plebeians,
respecting the agrarian laws have been so strangely misrepresented,
even by some of the best historians, that the nature of the contest
may, with truth, be said to have been wholly misunderstood before the
publication of Niebuhr's work: a perfect explanation of these
important matters cannot be expected in a work of this kind; the
Editors trust that the brief account given here of the Roman tenure of
land, and the nature of the agrarian laws, will be found sufficient
for all practical purposes. After all the researches that have been
made, the true origin of the Latin people, and even of the Roman city,
is involved in impenetrable obscurity; the legendary traditions
collected by the historians are, however, the best guides that we can
now follow; but it would be absurd to bestow implicit credit on all
the accounts they have given, and the editor has, therefore, pointed
out the uncertain nature of the early history, not to encourage
scepticism, but to accustom students to consider the nature of
historical evidence, and thus early form the useful habit of
criticising and weighing testimony.
The authorities followed in the geographical chapters, are principally
Heeren and Cramer; the treatise of the latter on ancient Italy is one
of the most valuable aids acquired by historical students within the
present century. Much important information respecting the peculiar
character of the Roman religion has been derived from Mr. Keightley's
excellent Treatise on Mythology; the only writer who has, in our
language, hitherto, explained the difference between the religious
systems of Greece and Rome. The account of the barbarians in the
conclusion of the volume, is, for the most part, extracted from
"Koch's Revolutions of Europe;" the sources of the notes, scattered
through the volume, are too varied for a distinct acknowledgment of
each.
* * * * *
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER
I. Geographical Outline of Italy
II. The Latin Language and People--Credibility of the Early History
III. Topography of Rome
IV. The Roman Constitution
V. The Roman Tenure of Land--Colonial Government
VI. The Roman Religion
VII. The Roman Army and Navy
VIII. Roman Law. --Finance
IX. The public Amusements and private Life of the Romans
X. Geography of the empire at the time of its greatest extent
HISTORY.
I. Of the Origin of the Romans
II. From the building of Rome to the death of Romulus
III. From the death of Romulus to the death of Numa
IV. From the death of Numa to the death of Tullus Hostilius
V. From the death of Tullus Hostilius to the death of Ancus Martius
VI. From the death of Ancus Martius to the death of Taiquinius Priscus
VII. From the death of Tarquinius Priscus to the death of Servius Tullius
VIII. From the death of Servius Tullius to the banishment of Tarquinius
Superbus
IX. From the banishment of Tarquinius Superbus to the appointment of the
first Dictator
X. From the Creation of the Dictator to the election of the Tribunes
XI. From the Creation of the Tribunes to the appointment of the Decemviri,
viz.
Section 1. --The great Volscian war
---- 2. --Civil commotions on account of the Agrarian law
XII. From the creation of the Decemviri to the destruction of the city
by the Gauls, viz.
Section 1. --Tyranny of the Decemviri
---- 2. --Crimes of Appius--Revolt of the army
---- 3. --Election of Military Tribunes--Creation of the
Censorship
---- 4. --Siege and capture of Veii--Invasion of the Gauls
---- 5. --Deliverance of Rome from the Gauls
XIII. From the wars with the Samnites to the First Punic war, viz.
Section 1. --The Latin war
---- 2. --Invasion of Italy by Pyrrhus, king of Epirus
---- 3. --Defeat and departure of Pyrrhus
XIV. From the beginning of the First Punic war to the beginning of the
Second, viz.
Section 1. --Causes and commencement of the war--Invasion of Africa by
Regulus
---- 2. --Death of Regulus--Final Triumph of the Romans
XV. The Second Punic war, viz.
Section 1. --Commencement of the war--Hannibal's invasion of Italy
---- 2. --Victorious career of Hannibal
---- 3. --Retrieval of the Roman affairs--Invasion of Africa by
Scipio--Conclusion of the war
XVI. Macedonian, Syrian, Third Punic, and Spanish wars
XVII. From the Destruction of Carthage to the end of the Sedition of the
Gracchi, viz.
Section 1. --Murder of Tiberius Gracchus
---- 2. --Slaughter of Caius Gracchus and his adherents
XVIII. From the Sedition of Gracchus to the perpetual Dictatorship of
Sylla, viz.
Section 1. --The Jugurthine and Social wars
---- 2. --The cruel massacres perpetrated by Marius and Sylla
XIX. From the perpetual Dictatorship of Sylla to the first Triumvirate
XX. From the First Triumvirate to the death of Pompey, viz.
Section 1. --Cæsar's wars in Gaul--Commencement of the Civil war
---- 2. --Cæsar's victorious career
---- 3. --The campaign in Thessaly and Epirus
---- 4. --The battle of Pharsalia----5. --Death of Pompey
XXI. From the Destruction of the Commonwealth to the establishment of the
first Emperor, Augustus, viz.
Section 1. --Cæsar's Egyptian campaign
---- 2. --The African campaign
---- 3. --Death of Cæsar
---- 4. --The Second Triumvirate
---- 5. --The Battle of Philippi
---- 6. --Dissensions of Antony and Augustus
---- 7. --The Battle of Actium
---- 8. --The Conquest of Egypt
XXII. From the accession of Augustus to the death of Domitian, viz.
Section 1. --The beneficent Administration of Augustus
---- 2. --Death of Augustus
---- 3. --The reign of Tiberius--Death of Germanicus
---- 4. --Death of Sejanus and Tiberius--Accession of Caligula
---- 5. --Extravagant cruelties of Caligula--His death
---- 6. --The Reign of Claudius
---- 7. --The reign of Nero
---- 8. --Death of Nero--Reigns of Galba and Otho
---- 9. --The reigns of Vitellius and Vespasian--The siege of
Jerusalem by Titus
---- 10. --The Reigns of Titus and Domitian
---- 11. --The assassination of Domitian
XXIII. The Five good emperors of Rome, viz.
Section 1. --The Reigns of Nerva and Trajan
---- 2. --The Reign of Adrian
---- 3. --The Reign of Antoninus Pius
---- 4. --The reign of Marcus Aurelius
XXIV. From the accession of Commodus to the change of the seat of
Government, from Rome to Constantinople, viz.
Section 1. --The Reigns of Commodus, Pertinax, and Didius
---- 2. --The Reigns of Severus, Caracalla, Maximus, and Heliogabalus
---- 3. --The reigns of Alexander, Maximin, and Gordian
---- 4. --The Reigns of Philip, Decius, Gallus, Valerian, Claudius,
Aurelian, Tacitus, and Probus
---- 5. --The reigns of Carus, Carinus, Dioclesian, and
Constantius--Accession of Constantine
---- 6. --The reign of Constantine XXV.
XXV. From the death of Constantine, to the reunion of the Roman empire
under Theodosius the Great, viz.
Section 1. --The Reign of Constantius
---- 2. --The Reigns of Julian Jovian, the Valentinians, and
Theodosius
XXVI. From the death of Theodosius to the subversion of the Western Empire,
viz.
Section 1. --The division of the Roman dominions into the Eastern and
Western empires
---- 2. --Decline and fall of the Western empire
XXVII. Historical notices of the different barbarous tribes that aided in
overthrowing the Roman empire
XXVIII. The progress of Christianity
Chronological Index
* * * * *
HISTORY OF ROME
* * * * *
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I.
GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE OF ITALY.
Italia! oh, Italia! thou who hast
The fatal gift of beauty, which became
A funeral dower of present woes and past,
On thy sweet brow is sorrow plough'd by shame,
And annals traced in characters of flame. --_Byron_.
1. The outline of Italy presents a geographical unity and completeness
which naturally would lead us to believe that it was regarded as a
whole, and named as a single country, from the earliest ages. This
opinion would, however, be erroneous; while the country was possessed
by various independent tribes of varied origin and different customs,
the districts inhabited by each were reckoned separate states, and it
was not until these several nations had fallen under the power of one
predominant people that the physical unity which the peninsula
possesses was expressed by a single name. Italy was the name
originally given to a small peninsula in Brut'tium, between the
Scylacean and Napetine gulfs; the name was gradually made to
comprehend new districts, until at length it included the entire
country lying south of the Alps, between the Adriatic and Tuscan seas.
2. The names Hespéria, Satúrnia, and Oenot'ria have also been given
to this country by the poets; but these designations are not properly
applicable; for Hespéria was a general name for all the countries
lying to the west of Greece, and the other two names really belonged
to particular districts.
3. The northern boundary of Italy, in its full extent, is the chain of
the Alps, which forms a kind of crescent, with the convex side towards
Gaul. The various branches of these mountains had distinct names; the
most remarkable were, the Maritime Alps, extending from the Ligurian
sea to Mount Vésulus, _Veso_; the Collian, Graian, Penine, Rhoetian,
Tridentine, Carnic, and Julian Alps, which nearly complete the
crescent; the Euganean, Venetian, and Pannonian Alps, that extend the
chain to the east.
4. The political divisions of Italy have been frequently altered, but
it may be considered as naturally divided into Northern, Central, and
Southern Italy.
The principal divisions of Northern Italy were Ligu'ria and Cisalpine
Gaul.
5. Only one half of Liguria was accounted part of Italy; the remainder
was included in Gaul. The Ligurians originally possessed the entire
line of sea-coast from the Pyrennees to the Tiber, and the mountainous
district now called _Piedmont_; but before the historic age a great
part of their territory was wrested from them by the Iberians, the
Celts, and the Tuscans, until their limits were contracted nearly to
those of the present district attached to Genoa. Their chief cities
were Genúa, _Genoa_; Nicoe'a, _Nice_, founded by a colony from
Marseilles; and As'ta, _Asti_. The Ligurians were one of the last
Italian states conquered by the Romans; on account of their inveterate
hostility, they are grossly maligned by the historians of the
victorious people, and described as ignorant, treacherous, and
deceitful; but the Greek writers have given a different and more
impartial account; they assure us that the Ligurians were eminent for
boldness and dexterity, and at the same time patient and contented.
6. Cisalpine Gaul extended from Liguria to the Adriatic or Upper Sea,
and nearly coincides with the modern district of Lombardy. The country
is a continuous plain divided by the Pa'dus, _Po_, into two parts; the
northern, Gallia Transpada'na, was inhabited by the tribes of the
Tauri'ni, In'subres, and Cenoma'nni; the southern, Gallia Cispada'na,
was possessed by the Boi'i, Leno'nes, and Lingo'nes. 7. These plains
were originally inhabited by a portion of the Etrurian or Tuscan
nation, once the most powerful in Italy; but at an uncertain period a
vast horde of Celtic Gauls forced the passage of the Alps and spread
themselves over the country, which thence received their name.
8. It was sometimes called Gallia Toga'ta, because the invaders
conformed to Italian customs, and wore the toga. Cisalpine Gaul was
not accounted part of Italy in the republican age; its southern
boundary, the river Rubicon, being esteemed by the Romans the limit of
their domestic empire.
9. The river Pa'dus and its tributary streams fertilized these rich
plains. The principal rivers falling into the Padus were, from the
north, the Du'ria, _Durance_; the Tici'nus, _Tessino_; the Ad'dua,
_Adda_; the Ol'lius, _Oglio_; and the Min'tius, _Minzio_: from
the south, the Ta'narus, _Tanaro_, and the Tre'bia. The Ath'esis,
_Adige_; the Pla'vis, _Paive_; fall directly into the Adriatic.
10. The principal cities in Cisalpine Gaul were Roman colonies with
municipal rights; many of them have preserved their names unchanged to
the present day. The most remarkable were; north of the Pa'dus,
Terge'ste, _Trieste_; Aquilei'a; Pata'vium, _Padua_; Vincen'tia,
Vero'na, all east of the Athe'sis: Mantua; Cremo'na; Brix'ia,
_Brescia_; Mediola'num, _Milan_; Tici'num, _Pavia_; and Augusta
Turino'rum, _Turin_; all west of the Athe'sis. South of the Po we find
Raven'na; Bono'nia, _Bologna_; Muti'na, _Modena_; Par'ma, and
Placen'tia. 11. From the time that Rome was burned by the Gauls (B. C.
390), the Romans were harassed by the hostilities of this warlike
people; and it was not until after the first Punic war, that any
vigorous efforts were made for their subjugation. The Cisalpine Gauls,
after a fierce resistance, were overthrown by Marcell'us (B. C. 223)
and compelled to submit, and immediately afterwards military colonies
were sent out as garrisons to the most favourable situations in their
country. The Gauls zealously supported An'nibal when he invaded Italy,
and were severely punished when the Romans finally became victorious.
12. North-east of Cisalpine Gaul, at the upper extremity of the
Adriatic, lay the territory of the Venetians; they were a rich and
unwarlike people, and submitted to the Romans without a struggle, long
before northern Italy had been annexed to the dominions of the
republic.
13. Central Italy comprises six countries, Etru'ria, La'tium, and
Campa'nia on the west; Um'bria, Pice'num, and Sam'nium, on the east.
14. Etru'ria, called also Tus'cia (whence the modern name _Tuscany_)
and Tyrrhe'nia, was an extensive mountainous district, bounded on the
north by the river Mac'ra, and on the south and east by the Tiber. The
chain of the Apennines, which intersects middle and Lower Italy,
commences in the north of Etru'ria. The chief river is the Ar'nus,
_Arno_. 15. The names Etruscan and Tyrrhenian, indifferently applied
to the inhabitants of this country, originally belonged to different
tribes, which, before the historic age, coalesced into one people. The
Etruscans appear to have been Celts who descended from the Alps; the
Tyrrhenians were undoubtedly a part of the Pelas'gi who originally
possessed the south-east of Europe. The circumstances of the
Pelasgic migration are differently related by the several historians,
but the fact is asserted by all. [1] These Tyrrhenians brought with
them the knowledge of letters and the arts, and the united people
attained a high degree of power and civilization, long before the name
of Rome was known beyond the precincts of Latium. They possessed a
strong naval force, which was chiefly employed in piratical
expeditions, and they claimed the sovereignty of the western seas. The
first sea-fight recorded in history was fought between the fugitive
Phocians,[2] and the allied fleets of the Tyrrhenians and the
Carthaginians (B. C. 539. )
16. To commerce and navigation the Etruscans were indebted for their
opulence and consequent magnificence; their destruction was owing to
the defects of their political system. There were twelve Tuscan cities
united in a federative alliance. Between the Mac'ra and Arnus were,
Pi'sæ, _Pisa_; Floren'tia, _Florence_; and Fæ'sulæ: between the Arnus
and the Tiber, Volate'rræ, _Volterra_; Volsin'ii, _Bolsena_; Clu'sium,
_Chiusi_; Arre'tium, _Arrezzo_; Corto'na; Peru'sia, _Perugia_, (near
which is the Thrasamene lake); Fale'rii, and Ve'ii.
17. Each of these cities was ruled by a chief magistrate called
_lu'cumo_, chosen for life; he possessed regal power, and is
frequently called a king by the Roman historians. In enterprises
undertaken by the whole body, the supreme command was committed to one
of the twelve _lucumones_, and he received a lictor from each city.
Or winter wraps the polar world in snow. . . . . . . T. Creswick, R. A. . . . 045
As rocks resist the billows aNd the sky. . . . . . . T. Creswick, R. A. . . . 046
Drawn on wood, from the original Etchings, by E. K. Johnson, and
engraved by Horace Harral, Thomas Bolton, and James Cooper.
{007}
[Illustration: 0016]
THE DESERTED VILLAGE
Sweet Auburn! loveliest village of the plain,
Where health and plenty cheer'd the labouring swain,
Where smiling spring its earliest visit paid,
And parting summer's lingering blooms delay'd.
{008}
[Illustration: 0017]
Dear lovely bowers of innocence and ease,
Seats of my youth, when every sport could please,
How often have I loiter'd o'er thy green,
Where humble happiness endear'd each scene!
How often have I paused on every charm,
The shelter'd cot, the cultivated farm,
{009}
[Illustration: 0020]
The never-failing brook, the busy mill,
The decent church that topt the neighbouring hill,
The hawthorn bush, with seats beneath the shade,
For talking age and whispering lovers made!
How often have I blest the coming day,
When toil remitting lent its turn to play,
{010}
And all the village train, from labour free,
Led up their sports beneath the spreading tree;
[Illustration: 0021]
While many a pastime circled in the shade,
The young contending as the old survey'd;
And many a gambol frolick'd o'er the ground,
And sleights of art and feats of strength went round;
{011}
And still, as each repeated pleasure tired,
Succeeding sports the mirthful band inspired:
The dancing pair that simply sought renown,
By holding out to tire each other down;
The swain mistrustless of his smutted face,
While secret laughter titter'd round the place;
The bashful virgin's sidelong looks of love,
The matron's glance that would those looks reprove;
These were thy charms, sweet village! sports like these,
With sweet succession, taught e'en toil to please;
These round thy bowers their cheerful influence shed,
These were thy charms--but all these charms are fled.
Sweet smiling village, loveliest of the lawn!
Thy sports are fled, and all thy charms withdrawn;
Amidst thy bowers the tyrant's hand is seen,
And desolation saddens all thy green:
One only master grasps the whole domain,
And half a tillage stints thy smiling plain:
No more thy glassy brook reflects the day,
But choked with sedges works its weedy way;
Along thy glades a solitary guest,
The hollow-sounding bittern guards its nest;
{012}
Amidst thy desert walks the lapwing flies,
And tires their echoes with unvaried cries.
[Illustration: 0025]
Sunk are thy bowers in shapeless ruin all,
And the long grass o'ertops the mouldering wall;
And trembling, shrinking from the spoiler's hand,
Far, far away thy children leave the land.
{013}
Ill fares the land, to hastening ills a prey,
Where wealth accumulates, and men decay:
Princes and lords may flourish, or may fade;
A breath can make them, as a breath has made:
But a bold peasantry, their country's pride,
When once destroy'd, can never be supplied.
A time there was, ere England's griefs began,
When every rood of ground maintain'd its man;
For him light labour spread her wholesome store,
Just gave what life required, but gave no more:
His best companions, innocence and health;
And his best riches, ignorance of wealth.
But times are alter'd; trade's unfeeling train
Usurp the land, and dispossess the swain;
Along the lawn, where scatter'd hamlets rose,
Unwieldy wealth and cumbrous pomp repose;
And every want to luxury allied,
And every pang that folly pays to pride.
Those gentle hours that plenty bade to bloom,
Those calm desires that ask'd but little room,
Those healthful sports that graced the peaceful scene,
Lived in each look, and brighten'd all the green;
{014}
These, far departing, seek a kinder shore,
And rural mirth and manners are no more.
[Illustration: 0027]
Sweet Auburn! parent of the blissful hour,
Thy glades forlorn confess the tyrant's power.
Here, as I take my solitary rounds
Amidst thy tangling walks and ruin'd grounds,
And, many a year elapsed, return to view
Where once the cottage stood, the hawthorn grew,
Remembrance wakes with all her busy train,
Swells at my breast, and turns the past to pain.
{015}
In all my wanderings round this world of care,
In all my griefs--and God has given my share--
[Illustration: 0030]
To husband out life's taper at the close,
And keep the flame from wasting by repose:
I still had hopes, my latest hours to crown,
Amidst these humble bowers to lay me down;
I still had hopes, for pride attends us still,
Amidst the swains to show my book-learn'd skill,
{016}
Around my fire an evening group to draw,
And tell of all I felt, and all I saw;
And, as a hare, whom hounds and horns pursue,
Pants to the place from whence at first he flew,
[Illustration: 0031]
I still had hopes, my long vexations past,
Here to return--and die at home at last.
O blest retirement, friend to life's decline,
Retreats from care, that never must be mine:
How blest is he who crowns, in shades like these,
A youth of labour with an age of ease;
{017}
Who quits a world where strong temptations try,
And since 'tis hard to combat, learns to fly!
For him no wretches, born to work and weep,
Explore the mine, or tempt the dangerous deep;
[Illustration: 0034]
No surly porter stands, in guilty state,
To spurn imploring famine from the gate--
But on he moves to meet his latter end,
Angels around befriending virtue's friend;
Sinks to the grave with unperceived decay,
While resignation gently slopes the way;
{018}
And, all his prospects brightening to the last,
His heaven commences ere the world be past.
[Illustration: 0035]
Sweet was the sound, when oft, at evening's close,
Up yonder hill the village murmur rose:
There, as I pass'd with careless steps and slow,
The mingling notes came soften'd from below;
The swain responsive as the milk-maid sung,
The sober herd that low'd to meet their young;
The noisy geese that gabbled o'er the pool,
The playful children just let loose from school;
{019}
The watch-dog's voice that bay'd the whispering wind,
And the loud laugh that spoke the vacant mind;
[Illustration: 0038]
These all in sweet confusion sought the shade,
And fill'd each pause the nightingale had made.
But now the sounds of population fail:
No cheerful murmurs fluctuate in the gale,
No busy steps the grass-grown footway tread,
But all the bloomy flush of life is fled;
All but yon widow'd solitary thing,
That feebly bends beside the plashy spring:
{020}
She, wretched matron, forced in age, for bread,
To strip the brook with mantling cresses spread
[Illustration: 0039]
To pick her wintry faggot from the thorn,
To seek her nightly shed and weep till morn;
She only left of all the harmless train,
The sad historian of the pensive plain.
{021}
Near yonder copse, where once the garden smiled,
And still where many a garden flower grows wild,
[Illustration: 0042]
There, where a few torn shrubs the place disclose,
The village preacher's modest mansion rose.
A man he was to all the country dear,
And passing rich with forty pounds a year;
{022}
Remote from towns he ran his godly race,
Nor e'er had changed, nor wish'd to change his place
[Illustration: 0043]
Unskilful he to fawn, or seek for power,
By doctrines fashion'd to the varying hour;
Far other aims his heart had learn'd to prize,
More bent to raise the wretched than to rise.
{023}
His house was known to all the vagrant train;
He chid their wanderings, but relieved their pain:
[Illustration: 0046]
The long remember'd beggar was his guest,
Whose beard descending swept his aged breast;
The ruin'd spendthrift, now no longer proud,
Claim'd kindred there, and had his claims allow'd;
{024}
The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay,
Sate by his fire, and talk'd the night away;
Wept o'er his wounds, or, tales of sorrow done,
Shoulder'd his crutch, and show'd how fields were won.
Pleased with his guests, the good man learn'd to glow,
And quite forgot their vices in their woe;
Careless their merits or their faults to scan,
His pity gave ere charity began.
Thus to relieve the wretched was his pride,
And e'en his failings lean'd to virtue's side;
But in his duty prompt, at every call,
He watch'd and wept, he pray'd and felt for all:
And, as a bird each fond endearment tries
To tempt its new-fledged offspring to the skies,
He tried each art, reproved each dull delay,
Allured to brighter worlds, and led the way.
Beside the bed where parting life was laid,
And sorrow, guilt, and pain, by turns dismay'd,
The reverend champion stood. At his control,
Despair and anguish fled the struggling soul;
{025}
Comfort came down the trembling wretch to raise,
And his last faltering accents whisper'd praise.
[Illustration: 0050]
At church, with meek and unaffected grace,
His looks adorn'd the venerable place;
Truth from his lips prevail'd with double sway,
And fools, who came to scoff, remain'd to pray.
The service past, around the pious man,
With ready zeal each honest rustic ran:
{026}
E'en children follow'd with endearing wile,
And pluck'd his gown, to share the good man's smile
[Illustration: 0051]
His ready smile a parent's warmth express'd,
Their welfare pleased him, and their cares distress'd
To them his heart, his love, his griefs, were given,
But all his serious thoughts had rest in heaven.
As some tall cliff, that lifts its awful form,
Swells from the vale, and midway leaves the storm,
{027}
Though round its breast the rolling clouds are spread,
Eternal sunshine settles on its head.
[Illustration: 0054]
Beside yon straggling fence that skirts the way
With blossom'd furze, unprofitably gay,
There, in his noisy mansion, skill'd to rule,
The village master taught his little school:
A man severe he was, and stern to view;
I knew him well, and every truant knew:
[Illustration: 0055]
Full well they laugh'd with counterfeited glee
At all his jokes, for many a joke had he;
{028}
Well had the boding tremblers learn'd to trace
The day's disasters in his morning face:
Full well the busy whisper, circling round,
Convey'd the dismal tidings when he frown'd;
{029}
Yet he was kind, or if severe in aught,
The love he bore to learning was in fault:
The village all declared how much he knew;
'Twas certain he could write and cipher too:
Lands he could measure, terms and tides presage,
And e'en the story ran that he could gauge:
[Illustration: 0058]
In arguing too the parson own'd his skill,
For e'en though vanquish'd, he could argue still;
{030}
While words of learned length, and thundering sound,
Amazed the gazing rustics ranged around;
And still they gazed, and still the wonder grew
That one small head could carry all he knew.
But past is all his fame: the very spot,
Where many a time he triumph'd, is forgot.
[Illustration: 0059]
Near yonder thorn that lifts its head on high,
Where once the sign-post caught the passing eye,
Low lies that house where nut-brown draughts inspired,
Where grey-beard mirth and smiling toil retired,
{031}
Where village statesmen talk'd with looks profound,
And news much older than their ale went round.
[Illustration: 0062]
Imagination fondly stoops to trace
The parlour splendours of that festive place;
The white-wash'd wall, the nicely-sanded floor,
The varnish'd clock that click'd behind the door;
{032}
The chest contrived a double debt to pay,
A bed by night, a chest of drawers by day;
The pictures placed for ornament and use,
The twelve good rules, the royal game of goose
The hearth, except when winter chill'd the day,
With aspen boughs, and flowers, and fennel gay
While broken tea-cups, wisely kept for show,
Ranged o'er the chimney, glisten'd in a row.
Vain, transitory splendours! could not all
Reprieve the tottering mansion from its fall I
Obscure it sinks, nor shall it more impart
An hour's importance to the poor man's heart:
Thither no more the peasant shall repair
To sweet oblivion of his daily care:
No more the farmer's news, the barber's tale,
No more the woodman's ballad shall prevail;
No more the smith his dusky brow shall clear,
Relax his ponderous strength, and lean to hear;
The host himself no longer shall be found
Careful to see the mantling bliss go round;
Nor the coy maid, half willing to be prest,
Shall kiss the cup to pass it to the rest.
{033}
Yes! let the rich deride, the proud disdain,
These simple blessings of the lowly train:
To me more dear, congenial to my heart,
One native charm, than all the gloss of art;
Spontaneous joys, where nature has its play,
The soul adopts, and owns their first-born sway;
Lightly they frolic o'er the vacant mind,
Unenvied, unmolested, unconfined.
[Illustration: 0066]
But the long pomp, the midnight masquerade,
With all the freaks of wanton wealth array'd,
In these, ere triflers half their wish obtain,
The toilsome pleasure sickens into pain;
{034}
And, e'en while fashion's brightest arts decoy,
The heart distrusting asks, if this be joy?
Ye friends to truth, ye statesmen, who survey
The rich man's joys increase, the poor's decay,
'Tis yours to judge how wide the limits stand
Between a splendid and a happy land.
[Illustration: 0067]
Proud swells the tide with loads of freighted ore,
And shouting Folly hails them from her shore;
Hoards e'en beyond the miser's wish abound,
And rich men flock from all the world around.
Yet count our gains. This wealth is but a name
That leaves our useful product still the same.
{035}
Not so the loss. The man of wealth and pride
Takes up a space that many poor supplied;
Space for his lake, his park's extended bounds,
Space for his horses, equipage, and hounds;
The robe that wraps his limbs in silken sloth
Has robb'd the neighbouring fields of half their growth;
His seat, where solitary sports are seen,
Indignant spurns the cottage from the green;
Around the world each needful product flies,
For all the luxuries the world supplies:
While thus the land, adorn'd for pleasure all,
In barren splendour feebly waits the fall.
As some fair female, unadorn'd and plain,
Secure to please while youth confirms her reign,
Slights every borrow'd charm that dress supplies,
Nor shares with art the triumph of her eyes;
But when those charms are past, for charms are frail,
When time advances, and when lovers fail,
She then shines forth, solicitous to bless,
In all the glaring impotence of dress;
Thus fares the land, by luxury betray'd,
In nature's simplest charms at first array'd;
{036}
But verging to decline, its splendours rise,
Its vistas strike, its palaces surprise;
While, scourged by famine, from the smiling land
The mournful peasant leads his humble band;
And while he sinks, without one arm to save,
The country blooms--a garden and a grave!
Where then, ah! where shall poverty reside,
To 'scape the pressure of contiguous pride?
[Illustration: 0071]
If to some common's fenceless limits stray'd,
He drives his flock to pick the scanty blade,
Those fenceless fields the sons of wealth divide,
And e'en the bare-worn common is denied.
{037}
If to the city sped--What waits him there?
To see profusion, that he must not share;
To see ten thousand baneful arts combined
To pamper luxury, and thin mankind;
To see each joy the sons of pleasure know,
Extorted from his fellow-creature's woe.
[Illustration: 0074]
Here, while the courtier glitters in brocade,
There the pale artist plies the sickly trade;
Here, while the proud their long-drawn pomp display,
There the black gibbet glooms beside the way;
{038}
The dome where pleasure holds her midnight reign,
Here, richly deck'd, admits the gorgeous train;
Tumultuous grandeur crowds the blazing square,
The rattling chariots clash, the torches glare.
Sure scenes like these no troubles e'er annoy!
Sure these denote one universal joy!
Are these thy serious thoughts? Ah, turn thine eyes
Where the poor houseless shivering female lies:
She once, perhaps, in village plenty blest,
Has wept at tales of innocence distrest;
[Illustration: 0075]
Her modest looks the cottage might adorn,
Sweet as the primrose peeps beneath the thorn;
{039}
Now lost to all; her friends, her virtue fled,
Near her betrayer's door she lays her head,
And, pinch'd with cold, and shrinking from the shower,
With heavy heart deplores that luckless hour
When idly first, ambitious of the town,
She left her wheel and robes of country brown.
Do thine, sweet Auburn, thine, the loveliest train,
Do thy fair tribes participate her pain?
E'en now, perhaps, by cold and hunger led,
At proud men's doors they ask a little bread!
Ah, no. To distant climes, a dreary scene,
Where half the convex world intrudes between,
Through torrid tracts with fainting steps they go,
Where wild Altama murmurs to their woe.
Far different there from all that charm'd before,
The various terrors of that horrid shore;
Those blazing suns that dart a downward ray,
And fiercely shed intolerable day;
Those matted woods where birds forget to sing,
But silent-bats in drowsy clusters cling;
{040}
Those poisonous fields with rank luxuriance crown'd,
Where the dark scorpion gathers death around;
Where at each step the stranger fears to wake
The rattling terrors of the vengeful snake;
[Illustration: 0079]
Where crouching tigers wait their hapless prey,
And savage men more murderous still than they;
While oft in whirls the mad tornado flies,
Mingling the ravaged landscape with the skies.
Far different these from every former scene,
The cooling brook, the grassy-vested green,
{041}
The breezy covert of the warbling grove,
That only shelter'd thefts of harmless love.
[Illustration: 0082]
Good Heaven! what sorrows gloom'd that parting day,
That call'd them from their native walks away!
When the poor exiles, every pleasure past,
Hung round the bowers, and fondly look'd their last,
And took a long farewell, and wish'd in vain
For seats like these beyond the western main;
And shuddering still to face the distant deep,
Return'd and wept, and still return'd to weep.
The good old sire the first prepared to go
To new-found worlds, and wept for others' woe;
{042}
But for himself, in conscious virtue brave,
He only wish'd for worlds beyond the grave.
His lovely daughter, lovelier in her tears,
The fond companion of his helpless years,
[Illustration: 0083]
Silent went next, neglectful of her charms,
And left a lover's for her father's arms.
With louder plaints the mother spoke her woes,
And bless'd the cot where every pleasure rose;
And kiss'd her thoughtless babes with many a tear,
And clasp'd them close, in sorrow doubly dear;
{043}
Whilst her fond husband strove to lend relief,
In all the silent manliness of grief.
[Illustration: 0086]
O luxury! thou curst by Heaven's decree,
How ill exchanged are things like these for thee!
How do thy potions, with insidious joy,
Diffuse their pleasures only to destroy!
Kingdoms by thee, to sickly greatness grown,
Boast of a florid vigour not their own:
At every draught more large and large they grow,
A bloated mass of rank unwieldy woe;
{044}
Till, sapp'd their strength, and every part unsound,
Down, down they sink, and spread a ruin round.
E'en now the devastation is begun,
And half the business of destruction done;
E'en now, methinks, as pondering here I stand,
I see the rural virtues leave the land.
Down where yon anchoring vessel spreads the sail,
That idly waiting flaps with every gale;
[Illustration: 0087]
Downward they move, a melancholy band,
Pass from the shore, and darken all the strand.
Contented toil, and hospitable care,
And kind connubial tenderness, are there;
And piety, with wishes placed above,
And steady loyalty, and faithful love.
{045}
And thou, sweet Poetry, thou loveliest maid,
Still first to fly where sensual joys invade,
Unfit, in these degenerate times of shame,
To catch the heart, or strike for honest fame;
Dear charming nymph, neglected and decried,
My shame in crowds, my solitary pride;
Thou source of all my bliss, and all my woe,
That found'st me poor at first, and keep'st me so;
[Illustration: 0090]
Thou guide, by which the nobler arts excel,
Thou nurse of every virtue, fare thee well!
Farewell! and oh! where'er thy voice be tried,
On Torno's cliffs, or Pambamarca's side,
Whether where equinoctial fervors glow,
Or winter wraps the polar world in snow,
{046}
Still let thy voice, prevailing over time,
Redress the rigours of the inclement clime.
Aid slighted Truth with thy persuasive strain:
Teach erring man to spurn the rage of gain;
Teach him, that states of native strength possest,
Though very poor, may still be very blest;
That trade's proud empire hastes to swift decay,
As ocean sweeps the labour'd mole away;
While self-dependent power can time defy,
As rocks resist the billows and the sky.
An ELEGY on the GLORY of her SEX
Mrs Mary BLAIZE
R. Caldecott's PICTURE Books
Frederick Warne and Co. Ltd. ]
* * * * *
An Elegy
on the Glory of Her Sex
MRS. MARY BLAIZE
by
Dr. Oliver Goldsmith
* * * * *
[Illustration (painting, pic03. jpg)]
[Illustration (drawing, pic04trans. gif)]
Good people all,
with one accord,
Lament for
Madam Blaize,
Who never wanted
a good word--
[Illustration (drawing, pic05trans. gif)]
_From those_
[Illustration (drawing, pic06trans. gif)]
_who spoke her praise. _
[Illustration (painting, pic07. jpg)]
[Illustration (drawing, pic08trans. gif)]
The needy seldom pass'd her door,
And always found her kind;
She freely lent to all the poor--
[Illustration (drawing, pic09trans. gif)]
_Who left_
[Illustration (drawing, pic10trans. gif)]
_a pledge behind. _
[Illustration (painting, pic11. jpg)]
[Illustration (drawing, pic12trans. gif)]
She strove the neighbourhood to please
With manners wondrous winning;
[Illustration (drawing, pic13trans. gif)]
And never follow'd wicked ways--
[Illustration (drawing, pic14trans. gif)]
_Unless when she was sinning. _
[Illustration (drawing, pic15trans. gif)]
At church, in silks and satins new,
With hoop of monstrous size,
She never slumber'd in her pew--
[Illustration (painting, pic16. jpg)]
[Illustration (drawing, pic17trans. gif)]
_But when she shut her eyes. _
[Illustration (drawing, pic18trans. gif)]
[Illustration (drawing, pic19trans. gif)]
Her love was sought, I do aver,
By twenty beaux and more;
The King himself has follow'd her--
[Illustration (painting, pic20. jpg)]
[Illustration (drawing, pic21trans. gif)]
_When she has walk'd before. _
[Illustration (drawing, pic22trans. gif)]
But now, her wealth and finery fled,
Her hangers-on cut short-all:
The Doctors found, when she was dead
_Her last disorder mortal. _
[Illustration (drawing, pic23trans. gif)]
Let us lament, in sorrow sore,
For Kent Street well may say,
That had she lived a twelvemonth more,--
_She had not died to-day. _
[Illustration (painting, pic24. jpg)]
[Illustration (drawing, pic25trans. gif)]
* * * * *
[Illustration: back cover (backtrans. gif)
Randolph Caldecott's Picture Books
"The humour of Randolph Caldecott's drawings is simply irresistible,
no healthy-minded man, woman, or child could look at them without
laughing. "
_In square crown 4to, picture covers, with numerous coloured plates. _
1 John Gilpin
2 The House that Jack Built
3 The Babes in the Wood
4 The Mad Dog
5 Three Jovial Huntsmen
6 Sing a Song for Sixpence
7 The Queen of Hearts
8 The Farmer's Boy
9 The Milkmaid
10 Hey-Diddle-Diddle and Baby Bunting
11 A Frog He Would a-Wooing Go
12 The Fox Jumps over the Parson's Gate
13 Come Lasses and Lads
14 Ride a Cock Horse to Banbury Cross, &c.
15 Mrs. Mary Blaize
16 The Great Panjandrum Himself
_The above selections are also issued in Four Volumes, square crown
4to, attractive binding, red edges. Each containing four different
books, with their Coloured Pictures and innumerable Outline Sketches. _
1 R. Caldecott's Picture Book No. 1
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3 Hey-Diddle-Diddle-Picture Book
4 The Panjandrum Picture Book
_And also_
_In Two Volumes, handsomely bound in cloth gilt, each containing eight
different books, with their Coloured Pictures and numerous Outline
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Miniature Editions,
_size 5-1/2 by 4-1/2. Art Boards, flat back. _
TWO VOLUMES
ENTITLED
R. CALDECOTT'S PICTURE BOOKS
Nos. 1 and 2,
_Each containing coloured plates and numerous
Outline Sketches in the text. _
_Crown 4to, picture covers. _
Randolph Caldecott's Painting Books. Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4.
_Each with Outline Pictures to Paint, and Coloured Examples. _
_Oblong 4to, cloth. _
A Sketch Book of R. Caldecott's.
_Containing numerous sketches in Colour and black and white_
: LONDON : Frederick Warne & Co. Ltd. : & NEW YORK :
_The Published Prices of the above Picture Books can be obtained of all
Booksellers or from the Illustrated Catalogue of the Publishers. _
PRINTED AND COPYRIGHTED BY EDMUND EVANS, LTD. ,
ROSE PLACE, GLOBE ROAD, LONDON, E. 1. ]
PINNOCK'S
IMPROVED EDITION OF
DR. GOLDSMITH'S
HISTORY OF ROME:
TO WHICH IS PREFIXED AN
INTRODUCTION TO THE STUDY OF ROMAN HISTORY,
AND
A GREAT VARIETY OF VALUABLE INFORMATION ADDED THROUGHOUT THE WORK, ON
THE
MANNERS, INSTITUTIONS, AND ANTIQUITIES OF THE ROMANS;
WITH
NUMEROUS BIOGRAPHICAL AND HISTORICAL NOTES;
AND
QUESTIONS FOR EXAMINATION
AT THE END OF EACH SECTION.
ILLUSTRATED WITH NUMEROUS ENGRAVINGS.
[Illustration: Coliseum. ]
BY
WM. C. TAYLOR, LL. D. ,
OF TRINITY COLLEGE, DUBLIN.
AUTHOR OF MANUAL OF ANCIENT AND MODERN HISTORY, ETC. ETC.
THIRTY-FIFTH AMERICAN, FROM THE TWENTY-THIRD ENGLISH EDITION
PHILADELPHIA:
THOMAS, COWPERTHWAIT & CO.
1851.
Entered, according to the Act of Congress, in the year 1848, by
THOMAS, COWPERTHWAIT & CO.
In the clerk's office of the District Court of the United States for
the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.
PRINTED BY SMITH & PETERS,
Franklin Buildings, Sixth Street below Arch, Philadelphia.
PREFACE.
The researches of Niebuhr and several other distinguished German
scholars have thrown a new light on Roman History, and enabled us to
discover the true constitution of that republic which once ruled the
destinies of the known world, and the influence of whose literature
and laws is still powerful in every civilized state, and will probably
continue to be felt to the remotest posterity. These discoveries have,
however, been hitherto useless to junior students in this country; the
works of the German critics being unsuited to the purposes of schools,
not only from their price, but also from the extensive learning
requisite to follow them through their laborious disquisitions. The
editor has, therefore, thought that it would be no unacceptable
service, to prefix a few Introductory Chapters, detailing such results
from their inquiries as best elucidate the character and condition of
the Roman people, and explain the most important portion of the
history. The struggles between the patricians and plebeians,
respecting the agrarian laws have been so strangely misrepresented,
even by some of the best historians, that the nature of the contest
may, with truth, be said to have been wholly misunderstood before the
publication of Niebuhr's work: a perfect explanation of these
important matters cannot be expected in a work of this kind; the
Editors trust that the brief account given here of the Roman tenure of
land, and the nature of the agrarian laws, will be found sufficient
for all practical purposes. After all the researches that have been
made, the true origin of the Latin people, and even of the Roman city,
is involved in impenetrable obscurity; the legendary traditions
collected by the historians are, however, the best guides that we can
now follow; but it would be absurd to bestow implicit credit on all
the accounts they have given, and the editor has, therefore, pointed
out the uncertain nature of the early history, not to encourage
scepticism, but to accustom students to consider the nature of
historical evidence, and thus early form the useful habit of
criticising and weighing testimony.
The authorities followed in the geographical chapters, are principally
Heeren and Cramer; the treatise of the latter on ancient Italy is one
of the most valuable aids acquired by historical students within the
present century. Much important information respecting the peculiar
character of the Roman religion has been derived from Mr. Keightley's
excellent Treatise on Mythology; the only writer who has, in our
language, hitherto, explained the difference between the religious
systems of Greece and Rome. The account of the barbarians in the
conclusion of the volume, is, for the most part, extracted from
"Koch's Revolutions of Europe;" the sources of the notes, scattered
through the volume, are too varied for a distinct acknowledgment of
each.
* * * * *
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER
I. Geographical Outline of Italy
II. The Latin Language and People--Credibility of the Early History
III. Topography of Rome
IV. The Roman Constitution
V. The Roman Tenure of Land--Colonial Government
VI. The Roman Religion
VII. The Roman Army and Navy
VIII. Roman Law. --Finance
IX. The public Amusements and private Life of the Romans
X. Geography of the empire at the time of its greatest extent
HISTORY.
I. Of the Origin of the Romans
II. From the building of Rome to the death of Romulus
III. From the death of Romulus to the death of Numa
IV. From the death of Numa to the death of Tullus Hostilius
V. From the death of Tullus Hostilius to the death of Ancus Martius
VI. From the death of Ancus Martius to the death of Taiquinius Priscus
VII. From the death of Tarquinius Priscus to the death of Servius Tullius
VIII. From the death of Servius Tullius to the banishment of Tarquinius
Superbus
IX. From the banishment of Tarquinius Superbus to the appointment of the
first Dictator
X. From the Creation of the Dictator to the election of the Tribunes
XI. From the Creation of the Tribunes to the appointment of the Decemviri,
viz.
Section 1. --The great Volscian war
---- 2. --Civil commotions on account of the Agrarian law
XII. From the creation of the Decemviri to the destruction of the city
by the Gauls, viz.
Section 1. --Tyranny of the Decemviri
---- 2. --Crimes of Appius--Revolt of the army
---- 3. --Election of Military Tribunes--Creation of the
Censorship
---- 4. --Siege and capture of Veii--Invasion of the Gauls
---- 5. --Deliverance of Rome from the Gauls
XIII. From the wars with the Samnites to the First Punic war, viz.
Section 1. --The Latin war
---- 2. --Invasion of Italy by Pyrrhus, king of Epirus
---- 3. --Defeat and departure of Pyrrhus
XIV. From the beginning of the First Punic war to the beginning of the
Second, viz.
Section 1. --Causes and commencement of the war--Invasion of Africa by
Regulus
---- 2. --Death of Regulus--Final Triumph of the Romans
XV. The Second Punic war, viz.
Section 1. --Commencement of the war--Hannibal's invasion of Italy
---- 2. --Victorious career of Hannibal
---- 3. --Retrieval of the Roman affairs--Invasion of Africa by
Scipio--Conclusion of the war
XVI. Macedonian, Syrian, Third Punic, and Spanish wars
XVII. From the Destruction of Carthage to the end of the Sedition of the
Gracchi, viz.
Section 1. --Murder of Tiberius Gracchus
---- 2. --Slaughter of Caius Gracchus and his adherents
XVIII. From the Sedition of Gracchus to the perpetual Dictatorship of
Sylla, viz.
Section 1. --The Jugurthine and Social wars
---- 2. --The cruel massacres perpetrated by Marius and Sylla
XIX. From the perpetual Dictatorship of Sylla to the first Triumvirate
XX. From the First Triumvirate to the death of Pompey, viz.
Section 1. --Cæsar's wars in Gaul--Commencement of the Civil war
---- 2. --Cæsar's victorious career
---- 3. --The campaign in Thessaly and Epirus
---- 4. --The battle of Pharsalia----5. --Death of Pompey
XXI. From the Destruction of the Commonwealth to the establishment of the
first Emperor, Augustus, viz.
Section 1. --Cæsar's Egyptian campaign
---- 2. --The African campaign
---- 3. --Death of Cæsar
---- 4. --The Second Triumvirate
---- 5. --The Battle of Philippi
---- 6. --Dissensions of Antony and Augustus
---- 7. --The Battle of Actium
---- 8. --The Conquest of Egypt
XXII. From the accession of Augustus to the death of Domitian, viz.
Section 1. --The beneficent Administration of Augustus
---- 2. --Death of Augustus
---- 3. --The reign of Tiberius--Death of Germanicus
---- 4. --Death of Sejanus and Tiberius--Accession of Caligula
---- 5. --Extravagant cruelties of Caligula--His death
---- 6. --The Reign of Claudius
---- 7. --The reign of Nero
---- 8. --Death of Nero--Reigns of Galba and Otho
---- 9. --The reigns of Vitellius and Vespasian--The siege of
Jerusalem by Titus
---- 10. --The Reigns of Titus and Domitian
---- 11. --The assassination of Domitian
XXIII. The Five good emperors of Rome, viz.
Section 1. --The Reigns of Nerva and Trajan
---- 2. --The Reign of Adrian
---- 3. --The Reign of Antoninus Pius
---- 4. --The reign of Marcus Aurelius
XXIV. From the accession of Commodus to the change of the seat of
Government, from Rome to Constantinople, viz.
Section 1. --The Reigns of Commodus, Pertinax, and Didius
---- 2. --The Reigns of Severus, Caracalla, Maximus, and Heliogabalus
---- 3. --The reigns of Alexander, Maximin, and Gordian
---- 4. --The Reigns of Philip, Decius, Gallus, Valerian, Claudius,
Aurelian, Tacitus, and Probus
---- 5. --The reigns of Carus, Carinus, Dioclesian, and
Constantius--Accession of Constantine
---- 6. --The reign of Constantine XXV.
XXV. From the death of Constantine, to the reunion of the Roman empire
under Theodosius the Great, viz.
Section 1. --The Reign of Constantius
---- 2. --The Reigns of Julian Jovian, the Valentinians, and
Theodosius
XXVI. From the death of Theodosius to the subversion of the Western Empire,
viz.
Section 1. --The division of the Roman dominions into the Eastern and
Western empires
---- 2. --Decline and fall of the Western empire
XXVII. Historical notices of the different barbarous tribes that aided in
overthrowing the Roman empire
XXVIII. The progress of Christianity
Chronological Index
* * * * *
HISTORY OF ROME
* * * * *
INTRODUCTION.
CHAPTER I.
GEOGRAPHICAL OUTLINE OF ITALY.
Italia! oh, Italia! thou who hast
The fatal gift of beauty, which became
A funeral dower of present woes and past,
On thy sweet brow is sorrow plough'd by shame,
And annals traced in characters of flame. --_Byron_.
1. The outline of Italy presents a geographical unity and completeness
which naturally would lead us to believe that it was regarded as a
whole, and named as a single country, from the earliest ages. This
opinion would, however, be erroneous; while the country was possessed
by various independent tribes of varied origin and different customs,
the districts inhabited by each were reckoned separate states, and it
was not until these several nations had fallen under the power of one
predominant people that the physical unity which the peninsula
possesses was expressed by a single name. Italy was the name
originally given to a small peninsula in Brut'tium, between the
Scylacean and Napetine gulfs; the name was gradually made to
comprehend new districts, until at length it included the entire
country lying south of the Alps, between the Adriatic and Tuscan seas.
2. The names Hespéria, Satúrnia, and Oenot'ria have also been given
to this country by the poets; but these designations are not properly
applicable; for Hespéria was a general name for all the countries
lying to the west of Greece, and the other two names really belonged
to particular districts.
3. The northern boundary of Italy, in its full extent, is the chain of
the Alps, which forms a kind of crescent, with the convex side towards
Gaul. The various branches of these mountains had distinct names; the
most remarkable were, the Maritime Alps, extending from the Ligurian
sea to Mount Vésulus, _Veso_; the Collian, Graian, Penine, Rhoetian,
Tridentine, Carnic, and Julian Alps, which nearly complete the
crescent; the Euganean, Venetian, and Pannonian Alps, that extend the
chain to the east.
4. The political divisions of Italy have been frequently altered, but
it may be considered as naturally divided into Northern, Central, and
Southern Italy.
The principal divisions of Northern Italy were Ligu'ria and Cisalpine
Gaul.
5. Only one half of Liguria was accounted part of Italy; the remainder
was included in Gaul. The Ligurians originally possessed the entire
line of sea-coast from the Pyrennees to the Tiber, and the mountainous
district now called _Piedmont_; but before the historic age a great
part of their territory was wrested from them by the Iberians, the
Celts, and the Tuscans, until their limits were contracted nearly to
those of the present district attached to Genoa. Their chief cities
were Genúa, _Genoa_; Nicoe'a, _Nice_, founded by a colony from
Marseilles; and As'ta, _Asti_. The Ligurians were one of the last
Italian states conquered by the Romans; on account of their inveterate
hostility, they are grossly maligned by the historians of the
victorious people, and described as ignorant, treacherous, and
deceitful; but the Greek writers have given a different and more
impartial account; they assure us that the Ligurians were eminent for
boldness and dexterity, and at the same time patient and contented.
6. Cisalpine Gaul extended from Liguria to the Adriatic or Upper Sea,
and nearly coincides with the modern district of Lombardy. The country
is a continuous plain divided by the Pa'dus, _Po_, into two parts; the
northern, Gallia Transpada'na, was inhabited by the tribes of the
Tauri'ni, In'subres, and Cenoma'nni; the southern, Gallia Cispada'na,
was possessed by the Boi'i, Leno'nes, and Lingo'nes. 7. These plains
were originally inhabited by a portion of the Etrurian or Tuscan
nation, once the most powerful in Italy; but at an uncertain period a
vast horde of Celtic Gauls forced the passage of the Alps and spread
themselves over the country, which thence received their name.
8. It was sometimes called Gallia Toga'ta, because the invaders
conformed to Italian customs, and wore the toga. Cisalpine Gaul was
not accounted part of Italy in the republican age; its southern
boundary, the river Rubicon, being esteemed by the Romans the limit of
their domestic empire.
9. The river Pa'dus and its tributary streams fertilized these rich
plains. The principal rivers falling into the Padus were, from the
north, the Du'ria, _Durance_; the Tici'nus, _Tessino_; the Ad'dua,
_Adda_; the Ol'lius, _Oglio_; and the Min'tius, _Minzio_: from
the south, the Ta'narus, _Tanaro_, and the Tre'bia. The Ath'esis,
_Adige_; the Pla'vis, _Paive_; fall directly into the Adriatic.
10. The principal cities in Cisalpine Gaul were Roman colonies with
municipal rights; many of them have preserved their names unchanged to
the present day. The most remarkable were; north of the Pa'dus,
Terge'ste, _Trieste_; Aquilei'a; Pata'vium, _Padua_; Vincen'tia,
Vero'na, all east of the Athe'sis: Mantua; Cremo'na; Brix'ia,
_Brescia_; Mediola'num, _Milan_; Tici'num, _Pavia_; and Augusta
Turino'rum, _Turin_; all west of the Athe'sis. South of the Po we find
Raven'na; Bono'nia, _Bologna_; Muti'na, _Modena_; Par'ma, and
Placen'tia. 11. From the time that Rome was burned by the Gauls (B. C.
390), the Romans were harassed by the hostilities of this warlike
people; and it was not until after the first Punic war, that any
vigorous efforts were made for their subjugation. The Cisalpine Gauls,
after a fierce resistance, were overthrown by Marcell'us (B. C. 223)
and compelled to submit, and immediately afterwards military colonies
were sent out as garrisons to the most favourable situations in their
country. The Gauls zealously supported An'nibal when he invaded Italy,
and were severely punished when the Romans finally became victorious.
12. North-east of Cisalpine Gaul, at the upper extremity of the
Adriatic, lay the territory of the Venetians; they were a rich and
unwarlike people, and submitted to the Romans without a struggle, long
before northern Italy had been annexed to the dominions of the
republic.
13. Central Italy comprises six countries, Etru'ria, La'tium, and
Campa'nia on the west; Um'bria, Pice'num, and Sam'nium, on the east.
14. Etru'ria, called also Tus'cia (whence the modern name _Tuscany_)
and Tyrrhe'nia, was an extensive mountainous district, bounded on the
north by the river Mac'ra, and on the south and east by the Tiber. The
chain of the Apennines, which intersects middle and Lower Italy,
commences in the north of Etru'ria. The chief river is the Ar'nus,
_Arno_. 15. The names Etruscan and Tyrrhenian, indifferently applied
to the inhabitants of this country, originally belonged to different
tribes, which, before the historic age, coalesced into one people. The
Etruscans appear to have been Celts who descended from the Alps; the
Tyrrhenians were undoubtedly a part of the Pelas'gi who originally
possessed the south-east of Europe. The circumstances of the
Pelasgic migration are differently related by the several historians,
but the fact is asserted by all. [1] These Tyrrhenians brought with
them the knowledge of letters and the arts, and the united people
attained a high degree of power and civilization, long before the name
of Rome was known beyond the precincts of Latium. They possessed a
strong naval force, which was chiefly employed in piratical
expeditions, and they claimed the sovereignty of the western seas. The
first sea-fight recorded in history was fought between the fugitive
Phocians,[2] and the allied fleets of the Tyrrhenians and the
Carthaginians (B. C. 539. )
16. To commerce and navigation the Etruscans were indebted for their
opulence and consequent magnificence; their destruction was owing to
the defects of their political system. There were twelve Tuscan cities
united in a federative alliance. Between the Mac'ra and Arnus were,
Pi'sæ, _Pisa_; Floren'tia, _Florence_; and Fæ'sulæ: between the Arnus
and the Tiber, Volate'rræ, _Volterra_; Volsin'ii, _Bolsena_; Clu'sium,
_Chiusi_; Arre'tium, _Arrezzo_; Corto'na; Peru'sia, _Perugia_, (near
which is the Thrasamene lake); Fale'rii, and Ve'ii.
17. Each of these cities was ruled by a chief magistrate called
_lu'cumo_, chosen for life; he possessed regal power, and is
frequently called a king by the Roman historians. In enterprises
undertaken by the whole body, the supreme command was committed to one
of the twelve _lucumones_, and he received a lictor from each city.
