In these cases I have
translated
literally.
The history of Rome; tr. with the sanction of the ... v.1. Mommsen, Theodor, 1817-1903
The history of Rome; tr.
with the sanction of the author by William
Purdie Dickson.
Mommsen, Theodor, 1817-1903. New York, Scribner, 1905.
http://hdl. handle. net/2027/coo. 31924014688356
Public Domain, Google-digitized
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CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
GOLDWIN SMITH HALL
FROM THE FUND GIVEN BY
GOLDWIN SMITH
_
~fl/4m. -“ w.
"Av-IN‘)i (I?
THE HISTDRY OF
ROME MOMMSEN
THE
HISTORY OF
BY
THEODOR MOMMSEN
TRANSLATED
WITH THE SANCTION OF THE AUTHOR BY
IIOI'ISSOR OI‘ DIVINITY IN ‘II-II UNIVIISITY 0! GLASGOW
A NEW EDITION REVISED THROUGHOUT AND EMBODYING RECENT ADDITIONS
VOL. I
WITH A MILITARY MAP OF ITALY
NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER’S
1905
Rm
ROME
WILLIAM PURDIE PICKSON, D. D. , LL. D. o
SONS
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BOOK FIRST
THE PERIOD ANTERIOR TO
THE ABOLITION OF THE MONARCHY
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PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR
WHEN the first portion of this translation appeared in 1861, it was accompanied by a Preface, for which I was indebted to the kindness of the late Dr. Schmitz, introducing to the English reader the work of an author whose name and merits, though already known to scholars, were far less widely familiar than they are now. After thirty-three years such an introduction is no longer needed, but none the less gratefully do I recall how much the book owed at the outset to Dr. Schmitz’s friendly oflices.
The following extracts from my own “ Prefatory Note” dated “December 1861” state the circumstances under which I undertook the translation, and give some explana tions as to its method and aims :‘—
“ In requesting English scholars to receive with indulgence this first portion of a translation of Dr. Mommsen’s ‘R6 rnische Geschichte,’ I am somewhat in the position of Albinus ; who, when appealing to his readers to pardon the imperfections of the Roman History which he had written in indifferent Greek, was met by Cato with the rejoinder that he was not compelled to write at all-that, if the Arnphictyonic Council had laid their commands on him, the case would have been different-but that it was quite out of place to ask the indulgence of his readers when his task had
vl HISTORY or ROME
been self-imposed. I may state, however, that I did not undertake this task, until I had sought to ascertain whether it was likely to be taken up by any one more qualified to do justice to it. When Dr. Mommsen’s work accidentally came into my hands some years after its first appearance, and revived my interest in studies which I had long laid aside for others more strictly professional, I had little doubt that its merits would have already attracted suflicient attention amidst the learned leisure of Oxford to induce some of her great scholars to clothe it in an English dress. But it appeared on inquiry that, while there was a great desire to see it translated, and the purpose of translating it had been entertained in more quarters than one, the projects had from various causes miscarried. Mr. George Robertson published an excellent translation (to which, so far as it goes, I desire to acknowledge my obligations) of the introductory chapters on the early inhabitants of Italy; but other studies and
did not permit him to proceed with it. I accordingly requested and obtained Dr. Mommsen’s per mission to translate his work.
The translation has been prepared from the third edition of the original, published in the spring of the present year at Berlin. The sheets have been transmitted to Dr. Momm sen, who has kindly communicated to me such suggestions as occurred to him. I have thus been enabled, more especially in the first volume, to correct those passages where I had misapprehendedior failed to express the author's mean ing, and to incorporate in the English work various additions and corrections which do not appear in the original. . . .
In executing the translation I have endeavoured to follow the original as closely as is consistent with a due regard to the difference of idiom. Many of our translations from the German are so literal as to reproduce the very order of the German sentence, so that they are, if not altogether unintel~ ligible to the English reader, at least far from readable, while
engagements
PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR
VII
others deviate so entirely from the form of the original as to be no longer translations in the proper sense of the term. I have sought to pursue a middle course between a mere literal translation, which would be repulsive, and a loose paraphrase, which would be in the case of such a work peculiarly unsatisfactory. Those who are most conversant with the difficulties of such a task will probably be the most willing to show forbearance towards the shortcomings of my performance, and in particular towards the too numerous traces of the German idiom, which, on glancing over the sheets, I find it still to retain.
The reader may perhaps be startled by the occurrence now and then of modes of expression more familiar and colloquial than is usually the case in historical works. This, however, is a characteristic feature of the original, to which in fact it owes not a little of its charm. Dr. Mommsen often uses expressions that are not to be found in the dictionary, and he freely takes advantage of the unlimited facilities afforded by the German language for the coinage or the combination of words. I have not unfrequently, in defer ence to his wishes, used such combinations as ‘Carthagino Sicilian,’ ‘Romano-Hellenic,’ although less congenial to our English idiom, for the sake of avoiding longer peri phrases.
In Dr. Mommsen’s book, as in every other German work that has occasion to touch on abstract matters, there occur sentences couched in a peculiar terminology and not very susceptible of translation. There are one or two sentences of this sort, more especially in the chapter on Religion in the rst volume, and in the critique of Euripides . . . as to which I am not very confident that I have seized or suc oeeded in expressing the meaning. In these cases I have translated literally.
In the spelling of proper names I have generally adopted the Latin orthography as more familiar to scholars in this
viii HISTORY OF ROME
country, except in cases where the spelling adopted by Dr. Mommsen is marked by any special peculiarity. At the same time entire uniformity in this respect has not been aimed at.
I have ventured in various instances to break up the paragraphs of the original and to furnish them with addi tional marginal headings, and have carried out more fully the notation of the years B. C. on the margin. . . .
It is due to Dr. Schmitz, who has kindly encouraged me in this undertaking, that I should state that I alone am re sponsible for the execution of the translation. Whatever may be thought of it in other respects, I venture to hope that it may convey to the English reader a tolerably accurate impression of the contents and general spirit of the book. ”
In a new Library edition, which appeared in 1868, I incorporated all the additions and alterations which were introduced in the fourth edition of the German, some of which were of considerable importance; and I took the opportunity of revising the translation, so as to make the rendering more accurate and consistent.
Since that time no change has been made, except the issue in 1870 of an Index. But, as Dr. Mommsen was good enough some time ago to send to me a copy in which he had taken the trouble to mark the alterations introduced in the more recent editions of the original, I thought it due to him and to the favour with which the translation had been received that I should subject it to such a fresh revision as should bring it into conformity with the last form (eighth edition) of the German, on which, as I learn from him, he hardly contemplates further change. As compared with the first English edition, the more con
PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR i!
siderable alterations of addition, omission, or substitution amount, I should think, to well-nigh a hundred pages. I have corrected various errors in renderings, names, and dates (though not without some misgiving that others may have escaped notice or been incurred afresh) ; and I have still further broken up the text into paragraphs and added marginal headings.
The Index, which was not issued for the German book till nine years after the English translation was published, has now been greatly enlarged from its more recent German form, and has been, at the expenditure of no small labour, adapted to the altered paging of the English. I have also prepared, as an accompaniment to collation of pagings, which will materially facilitate the finding of references made to the original or to the previous English editions.
have had much reason to be gratified by the favour with which my translation has been received on the part alike of Dr. Mommsen himself and of the numerous English scholars who have made the basis of their references to his work. 1 trust that in the altered form
It has, believe, been largely in use at Oxford for the last thirty years; but has not apparently had the good fortune to have come to the knowledge of the writer of an article on “ Roman History " published in the Encyclopedia Britannica in 1886, which at least makes no mention of its existence, or yet of Mr. Baring-Gould, who in his Tragedy q‘ lite Caerars (vol. p. 104/1) has presented Dr. Mommsen's well-known
" character" of Caesar in an independent version. His rendering often more spirited than accurate. While in several cases important words, clauses, or even sentences, are omitted, in others the meaning loosely or imperfectly conveyed-4g. in “ Hellenistic" for “ Hellenic " “ success " for " plenitude of power" "attempts" or "operations" for "achieve ments " " prompt to recover " for " ready to strike" " swashbuckler" for "brilliant "; "many" for "unyielding"; "accessible to all" for " complaisant towards every one“ "smallest fibre " for " inmost core"; "ideas" for “ideals"; "unstained with blood" for "as bloodless as possible" " described " for “ apprehended " " purity " for " clear
;
;
;
I
it
;
;
it, a
;
;
is
is
it I i.
1
I
3 HISTORY OF ROME
and new dress, for which the book is indebted to the printers, it may still further meet the convenience of the reader.
D638": "smug" for "plain" (or homely); "nvold" for "avert"; "taking his dark course" for "stealing towards his aim by paths of
darkness"; "rose" for "transformed himself"; "checked everything like a praetorian domination " for "allowed no hierarchy of marshals or government of praetorians to come into existence"; and in one case the meaning is exactly reversed, when "never sought to soothe, where he :ould not cure, intractable evils" stands for “ never disdained at last to mitigate by palliatives evils that were incurable. "
September {894.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY DR. MOMMSEN
THE Varronian computation by years of the City is retained in the text; the figures on the margin indicate the corre sponding year before the birth of Christ.
In calculating the corresponding years, the year I of the City has been assumed as identical with the year 753 3. 0. , and with Olymp. 6, 4; although, if we take into account the circumstance that the Roman solar year began with the
1st day of March, and the Greek with the rst day of July, the year I of the City would, according to more exact calculation, correspond to the last ten months of 7 5 3 and the first two months of 752 3. 6. , and to the last four months ofO1. 6, 3 andthefirsteightofO1. 6, 4.
The Roman and Greek money has uniformly been com muted on the basis of assuming the libral as and sestertius, and the denarius and Attic a’raclrma, respectively as equal, and taking for all sums above 100 denarz'i the present value in gold, and for all sums under 100 denarii the present value in silver, of the corresponding weight. The Roman pound (= 32 7. 45 grammes) of gold, equal to 4000 sesterces, has thus, according to the ratio of gold to silver 1 : r5. 5, been reckoned at 304% Prussian tlzalers [about £431, and the denarz'us, according to the value of silver, at 7 Prussian
gran/zen [about 8d. ]. 1
Kiepert’s map will give a clearer idea of the military
consolidation of Italy than can be conveyed by any description.
1 I have deemed in general, sufliclent to give the value of the Roman money approximately in round numbers, assuming for that purpose 100 lesterces as equivalent to £1. -—TR.
it,
DEDICATIONS
The First Volume of the original bears the inscription :—
The Second :—
TO MY FRIEND MORIZ HAUPT
OF BERLIN
TO
MY DEAR ASSOCIATES FERDINAND HITZIG 0F zURIcI-I
AND
KARL LUDWIG OF VIENNA
I852, I853, I854
And the Third :—
DEDICATED
WITH OLD AND LOYAL AFFECTION TO
OTTO JAHN OF BONN
CONTENTS
BOOK FIRST
THE PERIOD ANTERIOR TO THE ABOLITION OF THE MONARCHY
INTRODUCTION .
CHAPTER I
. . . .
. .
. .
. .
. .
, .
IAGE 3
9
38
53
72
CHAPTER II THE EARLIEST MIGRATIONS INTo ITALY .
CHAPTER III THE SETTLEMENTS on THE LATINS . .
CHAPTER IV THE BEGINNINGS OF ROME . . .
CHAPTER V THE ORIGINAL CONSTITUTION OF ROME .
CHAPTER VI
THE NON-BURGESSES AND THE REFORMED CONSTITUTION . I06
XIV
HISTORY OF ROME
CHAPTER VII
Tm; HEGEMONY 0F ROME IN LATIUM . .
.
PAGE 124
143
I50
THE
or THE
CHAPTER VIII
UMBRO-SABELLIAN STOCKS-BEGINNINGS SAMNITES. . . . . . .
CHAPTER IX
Tm:ETRUSCANS . . . . . .
CHAPTER X
THE HELLENES IN ITALY—MARITIME SUPREMACY or THE
TUSCANS AND CARTHAGINIANS . .
CHAPTER XI LAW AND JUSTICE . . . .
CHAPTER XII RELIGION . . . . .
CHAPTER XIII AGRICULTURE, TRADE, AND COMMERCE .
.
.
.
.
. I62
. 188
. 2o6
.
_ 263
. 284
CHAPTER XIV MEASURING AND WRITING . . . .
CHAPTER XV
ART . . . . . . .
236
CONTENTS
BOOK SECOND
xv
iM THE ABOLITION OF THE MONARCHY IN ROME TO THE UNION OF ITALY
CHAPTER I
E 01-‘ ruE CONSTITUTION-LIMITATION or THE ‘wen OF THE MAGISTRATE . . . .
CHAPTER II
‘RIBUNATE OF THE PLEBS AND THE DECEMVIRATE .
CHAPTER III
FAG!
In these cases I have translated literally.
In the spelling of proper names I have generally adopted the Latin orthography as more familiar to scholars in this
viii HISTORY OF ROME
country, except in cases where the spelling adopted by Dr. Mommsen is marked by any special peculiarity. At the same time entire uniformity in this respect has not been aimed at.
I have ventured in various instances to break up the paragraphs of the original and to furnish them with addi tional marginal headings, and have carried out more fully the notation of the years B. C. on the margin. . . .
It is due to Dr. Schmitz, who has kindly encouraged me in this undertaking, that I should state that I alone am re sponsible for the execution of the translation. Whatever may be thought of it in other respects, I venture to hope that it may convey to the English reader a tolerably accurate impression of the contents and general spirit of the book. ”
In a new Library edition, which appeared in 1868, I incorporated all the additions and alterations which were introduced in the fourth edition of the German, some of which were of considerable importance; and I took the opportunity of revising the translation, so as to make the rendering more accurate and consistent.
Since that time no change has been made, except the issue in 1870 of an Index. But, as Dr. Mommsen was good enough some time ago to send to me a copy in which he had taken the trouble to mark the alterations introduced in the more recent editions of the original, I thought it due to him and to the favour with which the translation had been received that I should subject it to such a fresh revision as should bring it into conformity with the last form (eighth edition) of the German, on which, as I learn from him, he hardly contemplates further change. As compared with the first English edition, the more con
PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR i!
siderable alterations of addition, omission, or substitution amount, I should think, to well-nigh a hundred pages. I have corrected various errors in renderings, names, and dates (though not without some misgiving that others may have escaped notice or been incurred afresh) ; and I have still further broken up the text into paragraphs and added marginal headings.
The Index, which was not issued for the German book till nine years after the English translation was published, has now been greatly enlarged from its more recent German form, and has been, at the expenditure of no small labour, adapted to the altered paging of the English. I have also prepared, as an accompaniment to collation of pagings, which will materially facilitate the finding of references made to the original or to the previous English editions.
have had much reason to be gratified by the favour with which my translation has been received on the part alike of Dr. Mommsen himself and of the numerous English scholars who have made the basis of their references to his work. 1 trust that in the altered form
It has, believe, been largely in use at Oxford for the last thirty years; but has not apparently had the good fortune to have come to the knowledge of the writer of an article on “ Roman History " published in the Encyclopedia Britannica in 1886, which at least makes no mention of its existence, or yet of Mr. Baring-Gould, who in his Tragedy q‘ lite Caerars (vol. p. 104/1) has presented Dr. Mommsen's well-known
" character" of Caesar in an independent version. His rendering often more spirited than accurate. While in several cases important words, clauses, or even sentences, are omitted, in others the meaning loosely or imperfectly conveyed-4g. in “ Hellenistic" for “ Hellenic " “ success " for " plenitude of power" "attempts" or "operations" for "achieve ments " " prompt to recover " for " ready to strike" " swashbuckler" for "brilliant "; "many" for "unyielding"; "accessible to all" for " complaisant towards every one“ "smallest fibre " for " inmost core"; "ideas" for “ideals"; "unstained with blood" for "as bloodless as possible" " described " for “ apprehended " " purity " for " clear
;
;
;
I
it
;
;
it, a
;
;
is
is
it I i.
1
I
3 HISTORY OF ROME
and new dress, for which the book is indebted to the printers, it may still further meet the convenience of the reader.
D638": "smug" for "plain" (or homely); "nvold" for "avert"; "taking his dark course" for "stealing towards his aim by paths of
darkness"; "rose" for "transformed himself"; "checked everything like a praetorian domination " for "allowed no hierarchy of marshals or government of praetorians to come into existence"; and in one case the meaning is exactly reversed, when "never sought to soothe, where he :ould not cure, intractable evils" stands for “ never disdained at last to mitigate by palliatives evils that were incurable. "
September {894.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY DR. MOMMSEN
THE Varronian computation by years of the City is retained in the text; the figures on the margin indicate the corre sponding year before the birth of Christ.
In calculating the corresponding years, the year I of the City has been assumed as identical with the year 753 3. 0. , and with Olymp. 6, 4; although, if we take into account the circumstance that the Roman solar year began with the
1st day of March, and the Greek with the rst day of July, the year I of the City would, according to more exact calculation, correspond to the last ten months of 7 5 3 and the first two months of 752 3. 6. , and to the last four months ofO1. 6, 3 andthefirsteightofO1. 6, 4.
The Roman and Greek money has uniformly been com muted on the basis of assuming the libral as and sestertius, and the denarius and Attic a’raclrma, respectively as equal, and taking for all sums above 100 denarz'i the present value in gold, and for all sums under 100 denarii the present value in silver, of the corresponding weight. The Roman pound (= 32 7. 45 grammes) of gold, equal to 4000 sesterces, has thus, according to the ratio of gold to silver 1 : r5. 5, been reckoned at 304% Prussian tlzalers [about £431, and the denarz'us, according to the value of silver, at 7 Prussian
gran/zen [about 8d. ]. 1
Kiepert’s map will give a clearer idea of the military
consolidation of Italy than can be conveyed by any description.
1 I have deemed in general, sufliclent to give the value of the Roman money approximately in round numbers, assuming for that purpose 100 lesterces as equivalent to £1. -—TR.
it,
DEDICATIONS
The First Volume of the original bears the inscription :—
The Second :—
TO MY FRIEND MORIZ HAUPT
OF BERLIN
TO
MY DEAR ASSOCIATES FERDINAND HITZIG 0F zURIcI-I
AND
KARL LUDWIG OF VIENNA
I852, I853, I854
And the Third :—
DEDICATED
WITH OLD AND LOYAL AFFECTION TO
OTTO JAHN OF BONN
CONTENTS
BOOK FIRST
THE PERIOD ANTERIOR TO THE ABOLITION OF THE MONARCHY
INTRODUCTION .
CHAPTER I
. . . .
. .
. .
. .
. .
, .
IAGE 3
9
38
53
72
CHAPTER II THE EARLIEST MIGRATIONS INTo ITALY .
CHAPTER III THE SETTLEMENTS on THE LATINS . .
CHAPTER IV THE BEGINNINGS OF ROME . . .
CHAPTER V THE ORIGINAL CONSTITUTION OF ROME .
CHAPTER VI
THE NON-BURGESSES AND THE REFORMED CONSTITUTION . I06
XIV
HISTORY OF ROME
CHAPTER VII
Tm; HEGEMONY 0F ROME IN LATIUM . .
.
PAGE 124
143
I50
THE
or THE
CHAPTER VIII
UMBRO-SABELLIAN STOCKS-BEGINNINGS SAMNITES. . . . . . .
CHAPTER IX
Tm:ETRUSCANS . . . . . .
CHAPTER X
THE HELLENES IN ITALY—MARITIME SUPREMACY or THE
TUSCANS AND CARTHAGINIANS . .
CHAPTER XI LAW AND JUSTICE . . . .
CHAPTER XII RELIGION . . . . .
CHAPTER XIII AGRICULTURE, TRADE, AND COMMERCE .
.
.
.
.
. I62
. 188
. 2o6
.
_ 263
. 284
CHAPTER XIV MEASURING AND WRITING . . . .
CHAPTER XV
ART . . . . . . .
236
CONTENTS
BOOK SECOND
xv
iM THE ABOLITION OF THE MONARCHY IN ROME TO THE UNION OF ITALY
CHAPTER I
E 01-‘ ruE CONSTITUTION-LIMITATION or THE ‘wen OF THE MAGISTRATE . . . .
CHAPTER II
‘RIBUNATE OF THE PLEBS AND THE DECEMVIRATE .
CHAPTER III
FAG! 3I3
341
370
413
438
465
OF THE ORDERS, AND raE NEW ARIS ICRACY. . . . . . .
CHAPTER IV
or ran ErnuscAN POWER-THE CILTS . .
C HAPTER V
:A'I‘ION OF THE LATXNS AND CAMPANIANs BY Rom: .
CHAPTER VI
on or ruE ITALIANS AGAINST Rom: . . .
my MA? orITALY . . .
EQUALIZATION
APPENDIX
’ATRICXAN CLAUDII . . . . .
495 . TofaupagaI
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. ia. mmm me 295i.
,
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Es? SiE
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ng,
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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA with its various branches, pene- Ancient trating far into the great Continent, forms the largest gulf mm! ‘ of the ocean, and, alternately narrowed by islands or pro
jections of the land and expanding to considerable breadth, at once separates and connects the three divisions of the Old World. The shores of this inland sea were in ancient
times peopled by various nations belonging in an ethno graphical and philological point of view to different races, but constituting in their historical aspect one whole. This
historic whole has been usually, but not very appropriately, entitled the history of the ancient world. It is in reality the history of civilization among the Mediterranean nations ; and, as it passes before us in its successive stages, it )resents four great phases of development—the history of he Coptic or Egyptian stock dwelling on the southern bore, the history of the Aramaean or Syrian nation which ccupied the east coast and extended into the interior f Asia as far as the Euphrates and Tigris, and the histories f the twin-peoples, the Hellenes and Italians, who received F their heritage’ the countries on the European shore. ach of these histories was in its earlier stages connected fth other regions and with other cycles of historical olution; but each soon entered on its own distinctive reer. The surrounding nations of alien or even of
4
INTRODUCTION 800! I
kindred extraction—the Berbers and Negroes of Africa, the Arabs, Persians, and Indians of Asia, the Celts and Germans of Europe—came into manifold contact with the peoples inhabiting the borders of the Mediterranean, but they neither imparted unto them nor received from them any influences exercising decisive effect on their respective destinies. So far, therefore, as cycles of culture
admit of demarcation at all, the cycle which has its cul minating points denoted by the names Thebes, Carthage, Athens, and Rome, may be regarded as an unity. The four nations represented by these names, after each of them had attained in a path of its own a peculiar and noble civilization, mingled with one another in the most varied relations of reciprocal intercourse, and skilfully elaborated and richly developed all the elements of human nature. At length their cycle was accomplished. New peoples who hitherto had only laved the territories of the states of the Mediterranean, as waves lave the beach, overflowed both its shores, severed the history of its south coast from that of the north, and transferred the centre of civilization from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean. The distinction between ancient and modern history, there fore, is no mere accident, nor yet a mere matter of chrono logical convenience. What is called modern history is in reality the formation of a. new cycle of culture, connected in several stages of its development with the perishing or perished civilization of the Mediterranean states, as this was connected with the primitive civilization of the Indo_ Germanic stock, but destined, like the earlier cycle, to traverse an orbit of its own. It too is destined to experience in full measure the vicissitudes of national weal and woe, the periods of growth, of maturity, and of age, the blessed ness of creative effort in religion, polity, and art, the comfort of enjoying the material and intellectual acquisitions which
it has won, perhaps also, some day, the decay of productive
CHAP- I mrnonucrron
5
power in the satiety of contentment with the goal attained. And yet this goal will only be temporary: the grandest system of civilization has its orbit, and may complete its course; but not so the human race, to which, just when it seems to have reached its goal, the old task is ever set anew with a wider range and with a deeper meaning.
Our aim is to exhibit the last act of this great historical Italy. drama, to relate the ancient history of the central peninsula projecting from the northern continent into the Mediter ranean. It is formed by the mountain-system of the Apennines branching ofi" in a southern direction from the western Alps. The Apenni take in the first instance
a south-eastern course betw the broader gulf of the Mediterranean on the west, and the narrow one on the east; and in the close vicinity’ of the ‘latter they attain their greatest elevation, which, however, scarce reaches the line of perpetual snow, in the Abruzzi. From the
Abruzzi the chain continues in a southern
first undivided and of considerable height ; after a depression which forms a hill-country, it splits into a somewhat flattened succession of heights towards the south-east and a more rugged chain towards the south, and in both directions
terminates in the formation of narrow peninsulas.
The flat country on the north, extending between the Alps and the Apennines as far down as the Abruzzi, does not belong geographically, nor until a very late period even historically, to the southern land of mountain and hill, the Italy whose history is here to engage our attention. It was not till the seventh century of the city that the coast-district from Sinigaglia to Rimini, and not till the eighth that the basin of the Po, became incorporated with Italy. The ancient boundary of Italy on the north was
not the Alps but the Apennines. This mountain-system nowhere rises abruptly into a precipitous chain, but, spread ing broadly over the land and enclosing many valleys and
direction, at
6 INTRODUCTION nooK r
table-lands connected by easy passes, presents conditions which well adapt it to become the settlement of man. Still more suitable in this respect are the adjacent slopes and the coast-districts on the east, south, and west. On the east coast the plain of Apulia, shut in towards the north by the mountain-block of the Abruzzi and only broken by the steep isolated ridge of Garganus, stretches in an uniform level with but a scanty development of coast and stream. On the south coast, between the two peninsulas in which the Apennines terminate, extensive lowlands, poorly pro vided with harbours but well watered and fertile, adjoin the hill-country of the int ' r. The west coast presents a far-stretching'domain inte’fcted by considerable streams, in particular by the Tiber, and shaped by the action of the waves and of the qance numerous volcanoes into manifold variety of hill and valley, harbour and island. Here the regions of Etruria, Latium, and Campania form the very flower of the land of Italy. South of Campania,
the land in front of the mountains gradually diminishes, and the Tyrrhenian Sea almost washes their base. More over, as the Peloponnesus is attached to Greece, so the island of Sicily is attached to Italy—the largest and fairest isle of the Mediterranean, having a mountainous and partly desert interior, but girt, especially on the east and south, by a broad belt of the finest coast-land, mainly the result of volcanic action. Geographically the Sicilian mountains are a continuation of the Apennines, hardly interrupted by the narrow “rent” (‘M7lar’) of the straits; and in its historical relations Sicily was in earlier times quite as decidedly a part of Italy as the Peloponnesus was of Greece,—a field for the struggles of the same races, and the seat of a similar superior civilization.
The Italian peninsula resembles the Grecian in the temperate climate and wholesome air that prevail on the hills of moderate height, and on the whole, also, in the
can. 1 INT KODUCTION
1
valleys and plains. In development of coast it is inferior; it wants, in particular, the island-studded sea which made the Hellenes a seafaring nation. Italy on the other hand excels its neighbour in the rich alluvial plains and the fertile and grassy mountain-slopes, which are requisite for agri culture and the rearing of cattle.
Purdie Dickson.
Mommsen, Theodor, 1817-1903. New York, Scribner, 1905.
http://hdl. handle. net/2027/coo. 31924014688356
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CORNELL UNIVERSITY LIBRARY
GOLDWIN SMITH HALL
FROM THE FUND GIVEN BY
GOLDWIN SMITH
_
~fl/4m. -“ w.
"Av-IN‘)i (I?
THE HISTDRY OF
ROME MOMMSEN
THE
HISTORY OF
BY
THEODOR MOMMSEN
TRANSLATED
WITH THE SANCTION OF THE AUTHOR BY
IIOI'ISSOR OI‘ DIVINITY IN ‘II-II UNIVIISITY 0! GLASGOW
A NEW EDITION REVISED THROUGHOUT AND EMBODYING RECENT ADDITIONS
VOL. I
WITH A MILITARY MAP OF ITALY
NEW YORK CHARLES SCRIBNER’S
1905
Rm
ROME
WILLIAM PURDIE PICKSON, D. D. , LL. D. o
SONS
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Gz-SH
'DG 20%
M15 \QoS
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BOOK FIRST
THE PERIOD ANTERIOR TO
THE ABOLITION OF THE MONARCHY
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PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR
WHEN the first portion of this translation appeared in 1861, it was accompanied by a Preface, for which I was indebted to the kindness of the late Dr. Schmitz, introducing to the English reader the work of an author whose name and merits, though already known to scholars, were far less widely familiar than they are now. After thirty-three years such an introduction is no longer needed, but none the less gratefully do I recall how much the book owed at the outset to Dr. Schmitz’s friendly oflices.
The following extracts from my own “ Prefatory Note” dated “December 1861” state the circumstances under which I undertook the translation, and give some explana tions as to its method and aims :‘—
“ In requesting English scholars to receive with indulgence this first portion of a translation of Dr. Mommsen’s ‘R6 rnische Geschichte,’ I am somewhat in the position of Albinus ; who, when appealing to his readers to pardon the imperfections of the Roman History which he had written in indifferent Greek, was met by Cato with the rejoinder that he was not compelled to write at all-that, if the Arnphictyonic Council had laid their commands on him, the case would have been different-but that it was quite out of place to ask the indulgence of his readers when his task had
vl HISTORY or ROME
been self-imposed. I may state, however, that I did not undertake this task, until I had sought to ascertain whether it was likely to be taken up by any one more qualified to do justice to it. When Dr. Mommsen’s work accidentally came into my hands some years after its first appearance, and revived my interest in studies which I had long laid aside for others more strictly professional, I had little doubt that its merits would have already attracted suflicient attention amidst the learned leisure of Oxford to induce some of her great scholars to clothe it in an English dress. But it appeared on inquiry that, while there was a great desire to see it translated, and the purpose of translating it had been entertained in more quarters than one, the projects had from various causes miscarried. Mr. George Robertson published an excellent translation (to which, so far as it goes, I desire to acknowledge my obligations) of the introductory chapters on the early inhabitants of Italy; but other studies and
did not permit him to proceed with it. I accordingly requested and obtained Dr. Mommsen’s per mission to translate his work.
The translation has been prepared from the third edition of the original, published in the spring of the present year at Berlin. The sheets have been transmitted to Dr. Momm sen, who has kindly communicated to me such suggestions as occurred to him. I have thus been enabled, more especially in the first volume, to correct those passages where I had misapprehendedior failed to express the author's mean ing, and to incorporate in the English work various additions and corrections which do not appear in the original. . . .
In executing the translation I have endeavoured to follow the original as closely as is consistent with a due regard to the difference of idiom. Many of our translations from the German are so literal as to reproduce the very order of the German sentence, so that they are, if not altogether unintel~ ligible to the English reader, at least far from readable, while
engagements
PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR
VII
others deviate so entirely from the form of the original as to be no longer translations in the proper sense of the term. I have sought to pursue a middle course between a mere literal translation, which would be repulsive, and a loose paraphrase, which would be in the case of such a work peculiarly unsatisfactory. Those who are most conversant with the difficulties of such a task will probably be the most willing to show forbearance towards the shortcomings of my performance, and in particular towards the too numerous traces of the German idiom, which, on glancing over the sheets, I find it still to retain.
The reader may perhaps be startled by the occurrence now and then of modes of expression more familiar and colloquial than is usually the case in historical works. This, however, is a characteristic feature of the original, to which in fact it owes not a little of its charm. Dr. Mommsen often uses expressions that are not to be found in the dictionary, and he freely takes advantage of the unlimited facilities afforded by the German language for the coinage or the combination of words. I have not unfrequently, in defer ence to his wishes, used such combinations as ‘Carthagino Sicilian,’ ‘Romano-Hellenic,’ although less congenial to our English idiom, for the sake of avoiding longer peri phrases.
In Dr. Mommsen’s book, as in every other German work that has occasion to touch on abstract matters, there occur sentences couched in a peculiar terminology and not very susceptible of translation. There are one or two sentences of this sort, more especially in the chapter on Religion in the rst volume, and in the critique of Euripides . . . as to which I am not very confident that I have seized or suc oeeded in expressing the meaning. In these cases I have translated literally.
In the spelling of proper names I have generally adopted the Latin orthography as more familiar to scholars in this
viii HISTORY OF ROME
country, except in cases where the spelling adopted by Dr. Mommsen is marked by any special peculiarity. At the same time entire uniformity in this respect has not been aimed at.
I have ventured in various instances to break up the paragraphs of the original and to furnish them with addi tional marginal headings, and have carried out more fully the notation of the years B. C. on the margin. . . .
It is due to Dr. Schmitz, who has kindly encouraged me in this undertaking, that I should state that I alone am re sponsible for the execution of the translation. Whatever may be thought of it in other respects, I venture to hope that it may convey to the English reader a tolerably accurate impression of the contents and general spirit of the book. ”
In a new Library edition, which appeared in 1868, I incorporated all the additions and alterations which were introduced in the fourth edition of the German, some of which were of considerable importance; and I took the opportunity of revising the translation, so as to make the rendering more accurate and consistent.
Since that time no change has been made, except the issue in 1870 of an Index. But, as Dr. Mommsen was good enough some time ago to send to me a copy in which he had taken the trouble to mark the alterations introduced in the more recent editions of the original, I thought it due to him and to the favour with which the translation had been received that I should subject it to such a fresh revision as should bring it into conformity with the last form (eighth edition) of the German, on which, as I learn from him, he hardly contemplates further change. As compared with the first English edition, the more con
PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR i!
siderable alterations of addition, omission, or substitution amount, I should think, to well-nigh a hundred pages. I have corrected various errors in renderings, names, and dates (though not without some misgiving that others may have escaped notice or been incurred afresh) ; and I have still further broken up the text into paragraphs and added marginal headings.
The Index, which was not issued for the German book till nine years after the English translation was published, has now been greatly enlarged from its more recent German form, and has been, at the expenditure of no small labour, adapted to the altered paging of the English. I have also prepared, as an accompaniment to collation of pagings, which will materially facilitate the finding of references made to the original or to the previous English editions.
have had much reason to be gratified by the favour with which my translation has been received on the part alike of Dr. Mommsen himself and of the numerous English scholars who have made the basis of their references to his work. 1 trust that in the altered form
It has, believe, been largely in use at Oxford for the last thirty years; but has not apparently had the good fortune to have come to the knowledge of the writer of an article on “ Roman History " published in the Encyclopedia Britannica in 1886, which at least makes no mention of its existence, or yet of Mr. Baring-Gould, who in his Tragedy q‘ lite Caerars (vol. p. 104/1) has presented Dr. Mommsen's well-known
" character" of Caesar in an independent version. His rendering often more spirited than accurate. While in several cases important words, clauses, or even sentences, are omitted, in others the meaning loosely or imperfectly conveyed-4g. in “ Hellenistic" for “ Hellenic " “ success " for " plenitude of power" "attempts" or "operations" for "achieve ments " " prompt to recover " for " ready to strike" " swashbuckler" for "brilliant "; "many" for "unyielding"; "accessible to all" for " complaisant towards every one“ "smallest fibre " for " inmost core"; "ideas" for “ideals"; "unstained with blood" for "as bloodless as possible" " described " for “ apprehended " " purity " for " clear
;
;
;
I
it
;
;
it, a
;
;
is
is
it I i.
1
I
3 HISTORY OF ROME
and new dress, for which the book is indebted to the printers, it may still further meet the convenience of the reader.
D638": "smug" for "plain" (or homely); "nvold" for "avert"; "taking his dark course" for "stealing towards his aim by paths of
darkness"; "rose" for "transformed himself"; "checked everything like a praetorian domination " for "allowed no hierarchy of marshals or government of praetorians to come into existence"; and in one case the meaning is exactly reversed, when "never sought to soothe, where he :ould not cure, intractable evils" stands for “ never disdained at last to mitigate by palliatives evils that were incurable. "
September {894.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY DR. MOMMSEN
THE Varronian computation by years of the City is retained in the text; the figures on the margin indicate the corre sponding year before the birth of Christ.
In calculating the corresponding years, the year I of the City has been assumed as identical with the year 753 3. 0. , and with Olymp. 6, 4; although, if we take into account the circumstance that the Roman solar year began with the
1st day of March, and the Greek with the rst day of July, the year I of the City would, according to more exact calculation, correspond to the last ten months of 7 5 3 and the first two months of 752 3. 6. , and to the last four months ofO1. 6, 3 andthefirsteightofO1. 6, 4.
The Roman and Greek money has uniformly been com muted on the basis of assuming the libral as and sestertius, and the denarius and Attic a’raclrma, respectively as equal, and taking for all sums above 100 denarz'i the present value in gold, and for all sums under 100 denarii the present value in silver, of the corresponding weight. The Roman pound (= 32 7. 45 grammes) of gold, equal to 4000 sesterces, has thus, according to the ratio of gold to silver 1 : r5. 5, been reckoned at 304% Prussian tlzalers [about £431, and the denarz'us, according to the value of silver, at 7 Prussian
gran/zen [about 8d. ]. 1
Kiepert’s map will give a clearer idea of the military
consolidation of Italy than can be conveyed by any description.
1 I have deemed in general, sufliclent to give the value of the Roman money approximately in round numbers, assuming for that purpose 100 lesterces as equivalent to £1. -—TR.
it,
DEDICATIONS
The First Volume of the original bears the inscription :—
The Second :—
TO MY FRIEND MORIZ HAUPT
OF BERLIN
TO
MY DEAR ASSOCIATES FERDINAND HITZIG 0F zURIcI-I
AND
KARL LUDWIG OF VIENNA
I852, I853, I854
And the Third :—
DEDICATED
WITH OLD AND LOYAL AFFECTION TO
OTTO JAHN OF BONN
CONTENTS
BOOK FIRST
THE PERIOD ANTERIOR TO THE ABOLITION OF THE MONARCHY
INTRODUCTION .
CHAPTER I
. . . .
. .
. .
. .
. .
, .
IAGE 3
9
38
53
72
CHAPTER II THE EARLIEST MIGRATIONS INTo ITALY .
CHAPTER III THE SETTLEMENTS on THE LATINS . .
CHAPTER IV THE BEGINNINGS OF ROME . . .
CHAPTER V THE ORIGINAL CONSTITUTION OF ROME .
CHAPTER VI
THE NON-BURGESSES AND THE REFORMED CONSTITUTION . I06
XIV
HISTORY OF ROME
CHAPTER VII
Tm; HEGEMONY 0F ROME IN LATIUM . .
.
PAGE 124
143
I50
THE
or THE
CHAPTER VIII
UMBRO-SABELLIAN STOCKS-BEGINNINGS SAMNITES. . . . . . .
CHAPTER IX
Tm:ETRUSCANS . . . . . .
CHAPTER X
THE HELLENES IN ITALY—MARITIME SUPREMACY or THE
TUSCANS AND CARTHAGINIANS . .
CHAPTER XI LAW AND JUSTICE . . . .
CHAPTER XII RELIGION . . . . .
CHAPTER XIII AGRICULTURE, TRADE, AND COMMERCE .
.
.
.
.
. I62
. 188
. 2o6
.
_ 263
. 284
CHAPTER XIV MEASURING AND WRITING . . . .
CHAPTER XV
ART . . . . . . .
236
CONTENTS
BOOK SECOND
xv
iM THE ABOLITION OF THE MONARCHY IN ROME TO THE UNION OF ITALY
CHAPTER I
E 01-‘ ruE CONSTITUTION-LIMITATION or THE ‘wen OF THE MAGISTRATE . . . .
CHAPTER II
‘RIBUNATE OF THE PLEBS AND THE DECEMVIRATE .
CHAPTER III
FAG!
In these cases I have translated literally.
In the spelling of proper names I have generally adopted the Latin orthography as more familiar to scholars in this
viii HISTORY OF ROME
country, except in cases where the spelling adopted by Dr. Mommsen is marked by any special peculiarity. At the same time entire uniformity in this respect has not been aimed at.
I have ventured in various instances to break up the paragraphs of the original and to furnish them with addi tional marginal headings, and have carried out more fully the notation of the years B. C. on the margin. . . .
It is due to Dr. Schmitz, who has kindly encouraged me in this undertaking, that I should state that I alone am re sponsible for the execution of the translation. Whatever may be thought of it in other respects, I venture to hope that it may convey to the English reader a tolerably accurate impression of the contents and general spirit of the book. ”
In a new Library edition, which appeared in 1868, I incorporated all the additions and alterations which were introduced in the fourth edition of the German, some of which were of considerable importance; and I took the opportunity of revising the translation, so as to make the rendering more accurate and consistent.
Since that time no change has been made, except the issue in 1870 of an Index. But, as Dr. Mommsen was good enough some time ago to send to me a copy in which he had taken the trouble to mark the alterations introduced in the more recent editions of the original, I thought it due to him and to the favour with which the translation had been received that I should subject it to such a fresh revision as should bring it into conformity with the last form (eighth edition) of the German, on which, as I learn from him, he hardly contemplates further change. As compared with the first English edition, the more con
PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR i!
siderable alterations of addition, omission, or substitution amount, I should think, to well-nigh a hundred pages. I have corrected various errors in renderings, names, and dates (though not without some misgiving that others may have escaped notice or been incurred afresh) ; and I have still further broken up the text into paragraphs and added marginal headings.
The Index, which was not issued for the German book till nine years after the English translation was published, has now been greatly enlarged from its more recent German form, and has been, at the expenditure of no small labour, adapted to the altered paging of the English. I have also prepared, as an accompaniment to collation of pagings, which will materially facilitate the finding of references made to the original or to the previous English editions.
have had much reason to be gratified by the favour with which my translation has been received on the part alike of Dr. Mommsen himself and of the numerous English scholars who have made the basis of their references to his work. 1 trust that in the altered form
It has, believe, been largely in use at Oxford for the last thirty years; but has not apparently had the good fortune to have come to the knowledge of the writer of an article on “ Roman History " published in the Encyclopedia Britannica in 1886, which at least makes no mention of its existence, or yet of Mr. Baring-Gould, who in his Tragedy q‘ lite Caerars (vol. p. 104/1) has presented Dr. Mommsen's well-known
" character" of Caesar in an independent version. His rendering often more spirited than accurate. While in several cases important words, clauses, or even sentences, are omitted, in others the meaning loosely or imperfectly conveyed-4g. in “ Hellenistic" for “ Hellenic " “ success " for " plenitude of power" "attempts" or "operations" for "achieve ments " " prompt to recover " for " ready to strike" " swashbuckler" for "brilliant "; "many" for "unyielding"; "accessible to all" for " complaisant towards every one“ "smallest fibre " for " inmost core"; "ideas" for “ideals"; "unstained with blood" for "as bloodless as possible" " described " for “ apprehended " " purity " for " clear
;
;
;
I
it
;
;
it, a
;
;
is
is
it I i.
1
I
3 HISTORY OF ROME
and new dress, for which the book is indebted to the printers, it may still further meet the convenience of the reader.
D638": "smug" for "plain" (or homely); "nvold" for "avert"; "taking his dark course" for "stealing towards his aim by paths of
darkness"; "rose" for "transformed himself"; "checked everything like a praetorian domination " for "allowed no hierarchy of marshals or government of praetorians to come into existence"; and in one case the meaning is exactly reversed, when "never sought to soothe, where he :ould not cure, intractable evils" stands for “ never disdained at last to mitigate by palliatives evils that were incurable. "
September {894.
INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY DR. MOMMSEN
THE Varronian computation by years of the City is retained in the text; the figures on the margin indicate the corre sponding year before the birth of Christ.
In calculating the corresponding years, the year I of the City has been assumed as identical with the year 753 3. 0. , and with Olymp. 6, 4; although, if we take into account the circumstance that the Roman solar year began with the
1st day of March, and the Greek with the rst day of July, the year I of the City would, according to more exact calculation, correspond to the last ten months of 7 5 3 and the first two months of 752 3. 6. , and to the last four months ofO1. 6, 3 andthefirsteightofO1. 6, 4.
The Roman and Greek money has uniformly been com muted on the basis of assuming the libral as and sestertius, and the denarius and Attic a’raclrma, respectively as equal, and taking for all sums above 100 denarz'i the present value in gold, and for all sums under 100 denarii the present value in silver, of the corresponding weight. The Roman pound (= 32 7. 45 grammes) of gold, equal to 4000 sesterces, has thus, according to the ratio of gold to silver 1 : r5. 5, been reckoned at 304% Prussian tlzalers [about £431, and the denarz'us, according to the value of silver, at 7 Prussian
gran/zen [about 8d. ]. 1
Kiepert’s map will give a clearer idea of the military
consolidation of Italy than can be conveyed by any description.
1 I have deemed in general, sufliclent to give the value of the Roman money approximately in round numbers, assuming for that purpose 100 lesterces as equivalent to £1. -—TR.
it,
DEDICATIONS
The First Volume of the original bears the inscription :—
The Second :—
TO MY FRIEND MORIZ HAUPT
OF BERLIN
TO
MY DEAR ASSOCIATES FERDINAND HITZIG 0F zURIcI-I
AND
KARL LUDWIG OF VIENNA
I852, I853, I854
And the Third :—
DEDICATED
WITH OLD AND LOYAL AFFECTION TO
OTTO JAHN OF BONN
CONTENTS
BOOK FIRST
THE PERIOD ANTERIOR TO THE ABOLITION OF THE MONARCHY
INTRODUCTION .
CHAPTER I
. . . .
. .
. .
. .
. .
, .
IAGE 3
9
38
53
72
CHAPTER II THE EARLIEST MIGRATIONS INTo ITALY .
CHAPTER III THE SETTLEMENTS on THE LATINS . .
CHAPTER IV THE BEGINNINGS OF ROME . . .
CHAPTER V THE ORIGINAL CONSTITUTION OF ROME .
CHAPTER VI
THE NON-BURGESSES AND THE REFORMED CONSTITUTION . I06
XIV
HISTORY OF ROME
CHAPTER VII
Tm; HEGEMONY 0F ROME IN LATIUM . .
.
PAGE 124
143
I50
THE
or THE
CHAPTER VIII
UMBRO-SABELLIAN STOCKS-BEGINNINGS SAMNITES. . . . . . .
CHAPTER IX
Tm:ETRUSCANS . . . . . .
CHAPTER X
THE HELLENES IN ITALY—MARITIME SUPREMACY or THE
TUSCANS AND CARTHAGINIANS . .
CHAPTER XI LAW AND JUSTICE . . . .
CHAPTER XII RELIGION . . . . .
CHAPTER XIII AGRICULTURE, TRADE, AND COMMERCE .
.
.
.
.
. I62
. 188
. 2o6
.
_ 263
. 284
CHAPTER XIV MEASURING AND WRITING . . . .
CHAPTER XV
ART . . . . . . .
236
CONTENTS
BOOK SECOND
xv
iM THE ABOLITION OF THE MONARCHY IN ROME TO THE UNION OF ITALY
CHAPTER I
E 01-‘ ruE CONSTITUTION-LIMITATION or THE ‘wen OF THE MAGISTRATE . . . .
CHAPTER II
‘RIBUNATE OF THE PLEBS AND THE DECEMVIRATE .
CHAPTER III
FAG! 3I3
341
370
413
438
465
OF THE ORDERS, AND raE NEW ARIS ICRACY. . . . . . .
CHAPTER IV
or ran ErnuscAN POWER-THE CILTS . .
C HAPTER V
:A'I‘ION OF THE LATXNS AND CAMPANIANs BY Rom: .
CHAPTER VI
on or ruE ITALIANS AGAINST Rom: . . .
my MA? orITALY . . .
EQUALIZATION
APPENDIX
’ATRICXAN CLAUDII . . . . .
495 . TofaupagaI
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. ia. mmm me 295i.
,
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Es? SiE
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ng,
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CHAPTER I INTRODUCTION
THE MEDITERRANEAN SEA with its various branches, pene- Ancient trating far into the great Continent, forms the largest gulf mm! ‘ of the ocean, and, alternately narrowed by islands or pro
jections of the land and expanding to considerable breadth, at once separates and connects the three divisions of the Old World. The shores of this inland sea were in ancient
times peopled by various nations belonging in an ethno graphical and philological point of view to different races, but constituting in their historical aspect one whole. This
historic whole has been usually, but not very appropriately, entitled the history of the ancient world. It is in reality the history of civilization among the Mediterranean nations ; and, as it passes before us in its successive stages, it )resents four great phases of development—the history of he Coptic or Egyptian stock dwelling on the southern bore, the history of the Aramaean or Syrian nation which ccupied the east coast and extended into the interior f Asia as far as the Euphrates and Tigris, and the histories f the twin-peoples, the Hellenes and Italians, who received F their heritage’ the countries on the European shore. ach of these histories was in its earlier stages connected fth other regions and with other cycles of historical olution; but each soon entered on its own distinctive reer. The surrounding nations of alien or even of
4
INTRODUCTION 800! I
kindred extraction—the Berbers and Negroes of Africa, the Arabs, Persians, and Indians of Asia, the Celts and Germans of Europe—came into manifold contact with the peoples inhabiting the borders of the Mediterranean, but they neither imparted unto them nor received from them any influences exercising decisive effect on their respective destinies. So far, therefore, as cycles of culture
admit of demarcation at all, the cycle which has its cul minating points denoted by the names Thebes, Carthage, Athens, and Rome, may be regarded as an unity. The four nations represented by these names, after each of them had attained in a path of its own a peculiar and noble civilization, mingled with one another in the most varied relations of reciprocal intercourse, and skilfully elaborated and richly developed all the elements of human nature. At length their cycle was accomplished. New peoples who hitherto had only laved the territories of the states of the Mediterranean, as waves lave the beach, overflowed both its shores, severed the history of its south coast from that of the north, and transferred the centre of civilization from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean. The distinction between ancient and modern history, there fore, is no mere accident, nor yet a mere matter of chrono logical convenience. What is called modern history is in reality the formation of a. new cycle of culture, connected in several stages of its development with the perishing or perished civilization of the Mediterranean states, as this was connected with the primitive civilization of the Indo_ Germanic stock, but destined, like the earlier cycle, to traverse an orbit of its own. It too is destined to experience in full measure the vicissitudes of national weal and woe, the periods of growth, of maturity, and of age, the blessed ness of creative effort in religion, polity, and art, the comfort of enjoying the material and intellectual acquisitions which
it has won, perhaps also, some day, the decay of productive
CHAP- I mrnonucrron
5
power in the satiety of contentment with the goal attained. And yet this goal will only be temporary: the grandest system of civilization has its orbit, and may complete its course; but not so the human race, to which, just when it seems to have reached its goal, the old task is ever set anew with a wider range and with a deeper meaning.
Our aim is to exhibit the last act of this great historical Italy. drama, to relate the ancient history of the central peninsula projecting from the northern continent into the Mediter ranean. It is formed by the mountain-system of the Apennines branching ofi" in a southern direction from the western Alps. The Apenni take in the first instance
a south-eastern course betw the broader gulf of the Mediterranean on the west, and the narrow one on the east; and in the close vicinity’ of the ‘latter they attain their greatest elevation, which, however, scarce reaches the line of perpetual snow, in the Abruzzi. From the
Abruzzi the chain continues in a southern
first undivided and of considerable height ; after a depression which forms a hill-country, it splits into a somewhat flattened succession of heights towards the south-east and a more rugged chain towards the south, and in both directions
terminates in the formation of narrow peninsulas.
The flat country on the north, extending between the Alps and the Apennines as far down as the Abruzzi, does not belong geographically, nor until a very late period even historically, to the southern land of mountain and hill, the Italy whose history is here to engage our attention. It was not till the seventh century of the city that the coast-district from Sinigaglia to Rimini, and not till the eighth that the basin of the Po, became incorporated with Italy. The ancient boundary of Italy on the north was
not the Alps but the Apennines. This mountain-system nowhere rises abruptly into a precipitous chain, but, spread ing broadly over the land and enclosing many valleys and
direction, at
6 INTRODUCTION nooK r
table-lands connected by easy passes, presents conditions which well adapt it to become the settlement of man. Still more suitable in this respect are the adjacent slopes and the coast-districts on the east, south, and west. On the east coast the plain of Apulia, shut in towards the north by the mountain-block of the Abruzzi and only broken by the steep isolated ridge of Garganus, stretches in an uniform level with but a scanty development of coast and stream. On the south coast, between the two peninsulas in which the Apennines terminate, extensive lowlands, poorly pro vided with harbours but well watered and fertile, adjoin the hill-country of the int ' r. The west coast presents a far-stretching'domain inte’fcted by considerable streams, in particular by the Tiber, and shaped by the action of the waves and of the qance numerous volcanoes into manifold variety of hill and valley, harbour and island. Here the regions of Etruria, Latium, and Campania form the very flower of the land of Italy. South of Campania,
the land in front of the mountains gradually diminishes, and the Tyrrhenian Sea almost washes their base. More over, as the Peloponnesus is attached to Greece, so the island of Sicily is attached to Italy—the largest and fairest isle of the Mediterranean, having a mountainous and partly desert interior, but girt, especially on the east and south, by a broad belt of the finest coast-land, mainly the result of volcanic action. Geographically the Sicilian mountains are a continuation of the Apennines, hardly interrupted by the narrow “rent” (‘M7lar’) of the straits; and in its historical relations Sicily was in earlier times quite as decidedly a part of Italy as the Peloponnesus was of Greece,—a field for the struggles of the same races, and the seat of a similar superior civilization.
The Italian peninsula resembles the Grecian in the temperate climate and wholesome air that prevail on the hills of moderate height, and on the whole, also, in the
can. 1 INT KODUCTION
1
valleys and plains. In development of coast it is inferior; it wants, in particular, the island-studded sea which made the Hellenes a seafaring nation. Italy on the other hand excels its neighbour in the rich alluvial plains and the fertile and grassy mountain-slopes, which are requisite for agri culture and the rearing of cattle.
