The Romans a.s.signed a spirit to almost every thing. Each individual had his own protecting _genius_. _Ja.n.u.s_ was the G.o.d of beginnings, _Terminus_ was the G.o.d of the boundary, _Silva.n.u.s_ of the forest, _Vertumnus_ of the circling year. The farmer, in each part of his labor,--in harrowing, plowing, sowing, etc.,--invoked a spirit. So marriage, birth, and every natural event had each a sacred life of its own. Not less than forty-three distinct divinities are spoken of by name as having to do with the actions of a child. Thus the number of divinities was countless. G.o.ds were great or small, according to the department of nature or of life where they severally were present and active.

CHAPTER II. ROME UNDER THE PATRICIANS (509-304 B.C.).

RIVALRY OF CLa.s.sES.--The abolishing of royalty left Rome as "a house divided against itself." The power granted to the _Comitia Centuriata_ did not suffice to produce contentment. The patricians still decided every thing, and used their strength in an oppressive way. Besides the standing contest between the patricians and plebeians, there was great suffering on the side of the poorer cla.s.s of plebeians. Many were obliged to incur debts; and their creditors enforced the rigorous law against them, loading them with chains, and driving their families from their homes. A great and constant grievance was the taking by the patricians of the public lands which had been obtained by conquest, for a moderate rent, which might not be paid at all. If they granted a share in this privilege to some rich plebeian houses, this afforded no help to the ma.s.s of the people, who were more and more deprived of the opportunity to till the smaller holdings in consequence of the employment of slaves. Yet the plebeians had to bear the burden of military service. At length they rose in a body, probably in returning from some victory, and encamped on a hill, the _Sacred Mount_, three miles from Rome, where they threatened to stay, and found another town. This bold movement led to an agreement. It was stipulated that they should elect magistrates from their own cla.s.s, to be called _Tribunes of the People_, who should have the right to interpose an absolute veto upon any legal or administrative measure. This right each consul already had in relation to his colleague. To secure the commons in this new right, the tribunes were declared to be inviolable. Whoever used violence against them was to be an outlaw. The power of the tribunes at first was merely protective. But their power grew until it became controlling. One point where their authority was apt to be exerted was in the conscription, or military enrollment. This, if it were undertaken in an unfair way, they could stop altogether, and thus compel a change.

THE PLEBEIAN a.s.sEMBLY.--Not far from this time, there was inst.i.tuted a new a.s.sembly, the _Comitia of Tribes, or Comitia Tributa_. There was a new division of the people into tribes or wards,--first twenty, then twenty-one, and, later, thirty-five. In this comitia, the plebeians were at the outset, if not always, the exclusive voters. The patricians had their a.s.sembly, the _Comitia Curiata_. The Comitia of the Tribes, which was then controlled by the plebeians, chose the tribunes. By degrees, both the other a.s.semblies lost their importance. The plebeian body more and more extended its prerogatives. Besides the tribunes, the _Aediles_, two in number, who were a.s.sistants of the tribunes, and superintended the business of the markets, were chosen by the _Comitia Tributa_.

THE LAW OF Ca.s.sIUS.--The anxiety of the plebeians to be rid of the restrictions upon the holding and enjoyment of land, led to the proposal of a law for their relief by the consul _Spurius Ca.s.sius_ (486 B.C.). Of the terms of the law, we have no precise knowledge. We only know, that, when he retired from office, he was condemned and put to death by the ruling cla.s.s.

WAR WITH THE AEQUIANS AND THE VOLSCIANS.--About this time Rome concluded a league with the _Latins_, and soon after with another people, the _Hernicans_, who lived farther eastward, between the, Aequians and Volscians. It was a defensive alliance, in which Rome had the leading place. Then follow the wars with the _Aequians_ and _Volscians_, where the traditional accounts are mingled with many fict.i.tious occurrences. There are two stories of special note,--the story of Coriola.n.u.s, and the story of Cincinnatus. It is related that a brave patrician, _Caius Marcius Coriola.n.u.s_, at a time when grain was scarce, and was procured with difficulty from Etruria and Sicily for the relief of the famishing, proposed that it should be withheld from the plebeians unless they would give up the tribunate. The anger of this cla.s.s, and the contempt which he showed for it, caused him to be banished. Thereupon he went to the _Volscians_, and led an army against Rome,--an army too strong to be resisted. One deputation after another went out of the city to placate him, but in vain. At length _Veturia_, his mother, and _Volumnia_, his wife, at the head of a company of matrons, went to his camp, and entreated him. Their prayer he could not deny, but exclaimed, "O my mother! Rome thou hast saved, but thou hast lost thy son." He died among the Volscians (491 B.C.). The tale, certainly in most of its parts, is fict.i.tious. For example, he is said to have been called _Coriola.n.u.s_, from having previously conquered _Corioli_; but such designations were not given among the Romans until centuries later. The story of _Cincinnatus_ in essential particulars is probably true. At a time when the Romans were hard pressed by the _aequians_, the messengers of the Senate waited on Lucius Quinctius Cincinnatus, formerly a senator and a consul of renown in peace and war, and asked him to become dictator. They found him plowing in his field. He accepted the post, by his prudence and vigor delivered the state, and on the sixteenth day laid down his office, and went back to his farm. The time required by the hero for his task was doubtless much longer than the legend allows.

There is an authentic tradition of a war with the _Etruscans_, who had retained certain towns on the Roman side of the Tiber. The Romans established a fort on the _Cremera_, not far from _Veii_, which was one of them. In the course of this struggle, it is said that all the _Fabii_,--a distinguished Roman family,--except one boy, were perfidiously slain. This is an exaggerated tale. A truce was concluded with _Veii_-in 474 B.C. for forty years, which left Rome free to fight her enemies on the east and south.

THE DECEMVIRS.--The internal conflict of the patricians against the commons in Rome went on. In 471 B.C. the _Publilian Law_ was pa.s.sed to establish fully the right of the plebeians alone to elect their tribunes, or to exclude the upper cla.s.s from their comitia. The claims of the plebeians, who formed the greater part of the fighting men, rose. They demanded first, however, that they should have the same _private_ rights as the patricians, and that the laws should be made more efficient for their protection by being reduced to a code. This was the object of the _Terentilian Law_, proposed in 462. The result was a great dispute. Some concessions failed to satisfy the plebeians. Finally it was agreed that ten men, _Decemvirs_, should be chosen indiscriminately from both cla.s.ses to frame a code, they, meantime, to supersede the consuls and tribunes in the exercise of the government (451 B.C.). They were to equalize the laws, and to write them down. The story of the mission to Athens for the study of the laws of _Solon_, is not worthy of credit. There is no doubt, however, that many obstacles were put in the way of the project by the conservative patricians, and that one of their order, _Appius Claudius_, took a prominent part, probably on the side of the people.

VIRGINIUS.--Here comes in the story of _Virginia_. It is related that _Appius Claudius_ was an ambitious and bad man, who, being one of the decemvirs, wished to hold on to power. He conceived a base pa.s.sion for the daughter of _Virginius_, a brave plebeian centurion, and claimed her on the pretense that she was the daughter of one of his slaves. Standing at his judgment-seat, _Virginius_, seeing that he could do nothing to save his child from the clutch of the villainous judge, plunged his dagger in her heart. This was the signal for another revolt of the people, which extorted the consent of the upper cla.s.s to the sacred laws and the restoration of the tribuneship. It is a plausible theory that _Appius Claudius_ favored the plebeian claims, and that the tale told above is a later invention to his discredit.

POLITICAL EQUALITY.--The laws of the twelve tables lay at the basis of all subsequent legislation in Rome, and were always held in reverence. The plebeians soon gained further advantages. In 449 B.C., it was ordained, under the consuls _Horatius_ and _Valerius_, that the plebeian a.s.sembly of tribes should be a sovereign a.s.sembly, whose enactments should be binding on the whole Roman people. In 445 B.C., the law of _Canuleius_ legalized marriage between the plebeians and patricians. This was an important step towards the closer union of the two cla.s.ses. The executive power was still in the hands of the patricians. But in 444 a new office, that of _military tribunes_ with consular power, to be chosen from the plebeians, was established. By way of offset to this great concession, a new patrician office, that of _Censor_, was created. The function of the two censors, who were to be chosen by the _Comitia Centuriata_, was to take the census at short intervals, to make out the tax-lists, to appoint senators and knights, to manage the collection of taxes, to superintend public buildings, and, finally, to exercise an indefinite supervision over public manners and morals. These were very great powers. We find that considerable time elapsed before the plebeians actually realized the advantage which they had legally won in this compromise. About the year 400, they succeeded in electing several military tribunes. As early as 410 B.C. three out of the four treasurers, or paymasters (_quaestors_), were plebeians. About forty years after (367 B.C.), they obtained, by the _Licinian Laws_, the political equality for which they had so long contended.

WAR WITH THE ETRUSCANS.--But before this result should be reached, other events of much consequence were to occur. The _Etruscans_, who were not only proficients in the arts, but were also active in trade and commerce, had been defeated at sea by the Greeks, in 474 B.C. But on the north they had a more formidable foe in the _Gauls_, by whom their power was weakened. The Romans took advantage of the situation to lay siege to _Veii_, which, after ten years, was captured by their general, _Marcus Furius Camillus_. The capture of other towns followed.

It was told of _Camillus_ that _Falerii_ surrendered to him of its own accord, for his magnanimity in sending back a treacherous schoolmaster who had taken out to his camp the sons of the chief citizens. Camillas tied his hands behind him, and ordered the boys to flog him back into the city. Camillus was sent into exile, it was related, on a charge of injustice in dividing the booty obtained at Veii.

INVASION OF THE GAULS.--But the Romans joined with the Etruscans in the attempt to drive back a dreaded enemy of both, the _Gauls_. In the battle of the _Allia_, a brook eleven miles north of Rome, on the 18th of July, 390 B.C., the Roman army was routed by them, and Rome left without the means of defense. All the people fled, except a few brave men, who shut themselves up in the Capitol, and, according to the tradition, some aged patricians, who, in their robes of state, waited for the enemy. The Gauls, under _Brennus_, rushed in, and plundered and burned the city. In later times the story was told, that, when the Gauls were climbing up to the Capitol secretly by night, the cackling of the geese awoke _Marcus Manlius_, and so the enemy was repulsed. There was another story, that, when the Romans were paying the ransom required by _Brennus_, and complained of false weight, the insolent Gaul threw his sword into the scale, exclaiming, "Woe to the conquered!"

and that just then _Camillus_ appeared, and drove the Gauls out of the city. This is certain, that the Gauls retired of their own free will from their occupation of the city. The destruction of the temples involved the loss of early chronicles, which would have given us better information as to the times preceding. The city was rebuilt without much delay.

THE LICINIAN LAWS.--The agitation for political reform soon commenced again. The _Licinian Laws_, which make an epoch in the controversy of parties, were proposed in 376, but were not pa.s.sed until 367. Besides provisions for the relief of debtors and for limiting the number of acres of public lands to be held by an individual, it was enacted that the military tribuneship should be given up, and that at least one of the two consuls must be chosen from the plebeians. A new patrician office, the _praetorship_, was founded, the holders of which were to govern in the absence of the consuls. The patricians did not at once cease from the effort to keep the reins in their hands. Several times they broke the law, and put in two patrician consuls. They yielded at last, however; and, as early as the year 300, all Roman offices were open to all Roman citizens. The patrician order became a social, not a legal, distinction. A new sort of n.o.bility, made up of both patricians and plebeians, whose families had longest held public offices, gradually arose. These were the _optimates_. The Senate became the princ.i.p.al executive body. It was recruited by the _censors_, princ.i.p.ally from those who had held high stations and were upwards of thirty years old. One _censor_ was required to be a plebeian. The condition of the people was improved by other enactments, one of which (in 326 or 313) secured to the debtor his personal freedom in case he should transfer his property to the creditor. At about this time, there was a change in the const.i.tution of the army. The sort of arms a.s.signed was no longer to depend on property qualifications. There were to be three lines in battle,--the first two to carry a short spear (_pilum_), and the third the long lance (_hasta_).

INFULENCE OF PARTY CONFLICTS.--The long contest of parties in Rome was an invaluable political education. It was attended with little bloodshed. It involved discussion on questions of justice and right, and on the best civil const.i.tution. It was not unlike party conflicts in English history. It trained the Romans in a habit of judicious compromise, of perseverance in a.s.serting just claims, and of yielding to just demands.

PERIOD II. TO THE UNION OF ITALY. (304-264 B.C.)

CHAPTER I. CONQUEST OF THE LATINS AND ITALIANS (304-282 B.C.).

WARS WITH THE GAULS.--The increased vigor produced by the adjustment of the conflict of cla.s.ses manifested itself in a series of minor wars. The Romans were now able to face the Gauls, who had permanently planted themselves in Northern Italy. Against them they waged four wars in succession, the last of which ended in a signal victory for the Roman side (367-349). Wars with the Etruscan cities brought the whole of Southern _Etruria_ under Roman rule (358-351).

FIRST SAMNITE WAR.--The neighbor that was the hardest for the Romans to conquer was the nation of _Samnites_, who lived among the Apennines of Central Italy, east of Latium. The conflict with this tough tribe lasted, with intermissions, for fifty years.

The immediate occasion of the struggle was the appeal of _Capua_--a Greek city in Campania in which Samnites had before settled--for help against their kinsmen in the mountains (343). This prayer the Romans granted when Capua had placed itself under their sway. In the first battle, the Romans under _Valerius Corvus_ won the day. A second Roman army was rescued from imminent danger by the heroism of the elder _Decius Mus_, and a Roman victory followed. After a third victory at _Suessula_, the Romans, on account of the threatening att.i.tude of their Latin confederates, made peace. The Samnites, too, were involved in a war with _Tarentum_, a Greek city on the eastern coast.

WAR WITH THE LATINS.--The Latins were not disposed to recognize Rome any longer as the head of the league. They demanded perfect equality and an equal share of the Roman public offices (340). In a battle near _Vesuvius_, the plebeian consul, _Decius Mus_, having devoted himself to death for his country, rode into the thickest ranks of the enemy, and perished, having secured victory for the Roman army. Before the battle, the patrician consul, _t.i.tus Manlius_, punished his son with death for presuming to undertake, without orders, a military exploit, in which, however, he had succeeded. After a second victory of Manlius at _Trifanum_, the Latins were subdued (340), the league was broken up, and most of the cities were made subject to Rome, acquiring citizenship without the right of suffrage; but they were forbidden to trade or to intermarry with one another. Some became Roman colonies.

Several had to cede lands, which were apportioned among Roman citizens. The beaks (_rostra_) of the old ships of _Antium_ ornamented the Roman forum. Colonies of Roman citizens were settled in the district of the _Volscii_ and in _Campania_. This was an example of the Roman method of separating vanquished places from one another, and of inclosing as in a net conquered territories.

SECOND SAMNITE WAR.--The establishment by the Romans of the military colony of _Fregellae_, in connection with other encroachments, brought on the second Samnite war, which lasted for twenty-two years. The prize of the contest was really the dominion over Italy. A great misfortune befell the Roman arms in 321. The incautious consuls, _Veturinus_ and _Postumius_, allowed themselves to be surrounded in the _Caudine Pa.s.s_, where they were compelled to capitulate, swear to a treaty of peace, and give up six hundred Roman knights as hostages. The whole Roman army was compelled to pa.s.s under the yoke. The Roman Senate refused to sanction the treaty, and gave up the consuls, at their own request, in fetters to the Samnites. The Samnites refused to receive them, spared the hostages, and began the war anew. The Roman consuls, _Papirius Cursor_ and _Fabius Maximus_, gained a victory at _Capua_, drove the Samnites out of Campania, and reconquered _Fregellae_. A great military road, the _Appian Way_, the remains of which may still be seen, was built from _Rome_ to _Capua_ (312).

The _Etruscan_ cities joined in the war against Rome. All Etruria was in arms to overcome the advancing power of the Romans. The coalition was broken by the great defeat of the Etrurians at the _Vadimonian Lake_, in 310. The Samnites had their numerous allies; but the obstinate valor of the Romans, who were discouraged by no reverses, triumphed. The capture of _Bovianum_, the capital of the Samnite league (305), ended the war. The Samnites sued for peace. The old treaties were renewed. In the course of this protracted struggle, various Roman colonies were established, and military roads were constructed.

THIRD SAMNITE WAR.--Peace was not of long continuance. The Samnites once more armed themselves for a desperate conflict, having on their side the _Etruscans_, the _Umbrians_, and the _Gauls_ (300). The Italian peoples, which had been at war with one another, joined hands in this contest against the common enemy. A decisive battle was fought at _Sentinum_,--where _Decius Mus_ the younger, following his father's example, devoted himself to death,--resulting in the defeat of the Samnites, and of their allies (295). Soon after, the Samnite general, _Pontius_, fell into the hands of the Romans. The Samnites kept up the contest for several years. But in 290 they found that they could hold out no longer. The Romans secured themselves by fortresses and by colonies, the most important of which was that of _Venusia_, at the boundary of Samnium, Apulia, and Lucania, where they placed twenty thousand colonists.

CHAPTER II.

WAR WITH PYRRHUS AND UNION OF ITALY (282-264 B.C.).

TARENTUM AND PYRRHUS.--The Samnites were overcome. The Greeks and Romans were now to come into closer intercourse with one another,--an intercourse destined to be so momentous in its effect on each of the two kindred races, and, through their joint influence, on the whole subsequent course of European history. _Alexander the Great_ had died too soon to permit him to engage in any plan of conquest in the West. In the wars of his successors the Romans had stood aloof. Now they were brought into conflict with a Greek monarch, _Pyrrhus_, king of Epirus, who was a relative of Alexander, and had married into the royal family of Egypt. He was a man of fascinating person and address, a brilliant and famous soldier, but adventurous, and lacking the coolness and prudence requisite to carry out his project of building up an h.e.l.lenic Empire in the western Mediterranean. In the war against the Samnite coalition, the _Lucanians_ had rendered decisive support to the Romans. This was one reason why _Tarentum_, the rich and prosperous Dorian city on the Tarentine Gulf, had been a spectator of the contest in which it had abundant occasion to feel a deep interest. Rome had given up to the Lucanians the non-Dorian Greek cities in that region. But when they sought to subdue _Thurii_, and the Thurines besought the help of Rome, offering to submit themselves to her, the Romans warned the Lucanians to desist. This led to another combination against Rome, in which they took part. A Roman army was destroyed by the _Senonian Gauls_. In consequence of this, the Romans slaughtered, or drove out of Umbria, this people, and, gaining other decisive victories, put their garrisons into _Locri_, _Crotona_, and _Thurii_. The Romans were already masters of Central Italy. Only the Greek cities on the south remained for them to conquer. It was high time for _Tarentum_ to bestir itself. It was from the side of Tarentum that the immediate provocation came. The Tarentines were listening to a play in the theater as ten Roman ships came into the harbor. Under a sudden impulse of wrath, a mob attacked them, and destroyed five of them. Even then the Romans were in no haste to engage in hostilities. The Tarentines themselves were divided as to the policy best to be pursued. But the war-party had the more voices. An emba.s.sy was dispatched to solicit the help of _Pyrrhus_. At Tarentum an emba.s.sy from Rome was treated with contempt. _Pyrrhus_ came over with a large army. He obliged the Tarentines themselves to arm, and to join his forces.

EVENTS OF THE WAR.--The Romans were fully alive to the peril, and prepared to meet it. Even the proletarians, who were not liable to military service, were enrolled. The first great battle took place at _Heraclea_, near the little river Siris (280 B.C.). Then the Roman cohort and the Macedonian phalanx met for the first time. It was a collision of trained mercenary troops with the citizen soldiery of Rome. It was a struggle between the Greek and the Roman for the ascendency. The confusion caused by the elephants of _Pyrrhus_, an encounter with which was something new and strange to the Romans, turned the tide in his favor. "A few more such victories," said Pyrrhus, "and I am ruined." He desired peace, and sent _Cineas_ as a messenger to the Senate. But _Appius Claudius_, who had been consul and censor, and was now old and blind, begged them not to make peace as long as there was an enemy in Italy. _Cineas_ reported that he found the Senate "an a.s.sembly of kings." In the next year, the two armies, each with its allies numbering seventy thousand men, met at _Asculum_ (279). After a b.l.o.o.d.y conflict, _Pyrrhus_ remained in possession of the field, but with an enormous loss of men. The _Syracusans_ in Sicily, who had been hard pressed by the _Carthaginians_, now called upon him to aid them. He was not reluctant to leave Italy. The Romans captured all the cities on the south coast, except _Tarentum_ and _Rhegium_. After two years' absence, _Pyrrhus_ returned to Italy. His fleet, on the pa.s.sage from Sicily, was defeated by the Carthaginians. At _Beneventum_, he was completely vanquished by the Romans, who captured thirteen hundred prisoners and four elephants. Pyrrhus returned to Epirus; and, after his death (272), _Milon_, who commanded the garrison left by him in _Tarentum_, surrendered the city and fortress. The Tarentines agreed to deliver up their ships and arms, and to demolish their walls. One after another of the resisting tribes yielded to the Romans, ceding portions of their territory, and receiving Roman colonies. In 266, the Roman sway was established over the whole peninsula proper, from the _Rubicon_ and the _Macra_ to the southern extremity of _Calabria_.

CITIZENSHIP.--In order to understand Roman history, it is necessary to have a clear idea of the Roman system in respect to citizenship. All burgesses of Rome enjoyed the same rights. These were both _Public_ and _Private_. The private rights of a Roman citizen were (1) the power of legal marriage with the families of all other citizens; (2) the power of making legal purchases and sales, and of holding property; and (3) the right to bequeath and inherit property. The public rights were, (1) the power of voting wherever a citizen was permitted to vote; (2) the power of being elected to all offices.

CONQUERED TOWNS.--"The Roman dominion in Italy was a dominion of a city over cities." With regard to conquered towns, there were, (i) Munic.i.p.al cities (_municipia_) the inhabitants of which, when they visited Rome, could exercise all the rights of citizens. (2) Munic.i.p.al cities which had the private, but not the public, rights of citizenship. Some of them chose their own munic.i.p.al officers, and some did not. (3) _Latin Colonies_, as they were called. Lands ceded by conquered places were divided among poor Roman citizens, who const.i.tuted the ruling cla.s.s in the communities to which they were transplanted. In the Latin colonies, the citizens had given up their _public_ rights as citizens. (4) Towns of a lower cla.s.s, called _Praefectures_. In these, the princ.i.p.al magistrate was the _Prefect_, who was appointed by the _Praetor_ (_Praeter Urba.n.u.s_) at Rome.

THE ALLIES (_Socii_).--These were a more favored cla.s.s of cities.

They had their relation to Rome defined by treaty. Generally they appointed their own magistrates, but were bound, as were all subject cities, to furnish auxiliary troops for Rome.

THE LATIN FRANCHISE.--This was the privilege which was first given to the cities of _Latium_ and then to inhabitants of other places. It was the power, on complying with certain conditions, of gaining full citizenship, and thus of taking part in elections at Rome.

ROMAN COLONIES.--The _Roman Colony_ (which is not to be confounded with the _Latin Colony_ referred to above) was a small body of Roman citizens, transplanted, with their families, to a spot selected by the government. They formed a military station. To them lands taken from the native inhabitants were given. They const.i.tuted the ruling cla.s.s in the community where they were established. Their government was modeled after the government at Rome. They retained their rights as Roman burgesses, which they could exercise whenever they were in that city. By means of these colonies, planted in places wisely chosen, Italy was kept in subjection. The colonies were connected together by roads. The _Appian Way_, from _Rome_ to _Capua_, was built in the midst of the conflict with _Samnium_. It was made of large, square stones, laid on a platform of sand and mortar. In later times the Roman Empire was traversed in all directions by similar roads.

PERIOD III. THE PUNIC WARS: TO THE CONQUEST OF CARTHAGE AND OF THE GREEK STATES. (264-146 B.C.)

CHAPTER I. THE FIRST AND SECOND PUNIC WABS (264-202 B.C.).

THE FIRST PUNIC WAR.--By dint of obstinacy, and hard fighting through long centuries, the Romans had united under them all Italy, or all of what was then known as Italy. It was natural that they should look abroad. The rival power in the West was the great commercial city of _Carthage_. The jealousy between Rome and Carthage had slumbered so long as they were threatened by the invasion of _Pyrrhus_, which was dangerous to both. _Sicily_, from its situation, could hardly fail to furnish the occasion of a conflict. The _Mamertines_, a set of Campanian pirates, had captured _Messana_. They were attacked by _Hiero II_., king of Syracuse. A part of them besought help of the Romans, and a part applied to the Carthaginians. The gravity of the question, whether Rome should enter on an untried path, the end of which no man could foresee, caused hesitation. The a.s.semblies voted to grant the request. The Romans had begun as early as 311 to create a fleet. The ships which they now used, however, were mostly furnished by their South Italian allies. They crossed the channel, and drove out the Carthaginian garrison from _Messana_. The Carthaginians declared war (264). _Hiero_ was gained over to the side of the Romans; and after a b.l.o.o.d.y conflict, with heavy losses to both armies, the city of _Agrigentum_ was captured by the Romans. The Romans were novices on the sea, where the Carthaginians were supreme. Successful on the land, the former were beaten in naval encounters. One of the most characteristic proofs of the energy of the Romans is their creation of a fleet, at this epoch, to match that of their sea-faring enemies. Using, it is said, for a model, a Carthaginian vessel wrecked on the sh.o.r.e of Italy, they constructed quinqueremes, vessels with five banks of oars, furnished with bridges to drop on the decks of the hostile ships,--thus giving to a sea-fight a resemblance to a combat on land. At first, as might be expected, the Romans were defeated; but in 260, under the consul _Caius Duilius_, they won their first naval victory at _Mylae_, west of Messana. The Roman Senate decided to invade Africa. A fleet of three hundred and thirty vessels sailed under the command of the consul _M. Atilius Regulus_, which was met by a Carthaginian fleet at _Ecnomus_, on the south coast of Sicily. The Carthaginians were completely vanquished. The Romans landed at _Clupea_, to the east of Carthage, and ravaged the adjacent district. There _Regulus_ remained with half the army, fifteen thousand men. The Carthaginians sued for peace; but when he required them to surrender all their ships of war except one, and to come into a dependent relation to Rome, they spurned the proposal. Re-enforcing themselves with mercenaries from Greece under the command of the Spartan, _Xanthippus_, they overpowered and captured _Regulus_ in a battle at _Tunis_ (255). A Roman fleet, sent to _Clupea_ for the rescue of the troops, on the return voyage lost three-fourths of its ships in a storm. The Carthaginians, under _Hasdrubal_, resumed hostilities in Sicily. He was defeated by the consul _Caecilius Metellus_, at _Panormus_, who included among his captures one hundred elephants (251). The story of the emba.s.sy of _Regulus_ to Rome with the Carthaginian offer of peace, of his advising the Senate not to accept it, of his voluntary return according to a promise, and of his cruel death at the hands of his captors, is probably an invention of a later time. The hopes of the Romans, in consequence of their success at _Panormus_, revived; but two years later, under _Appius Claudius_ at _Drepanum_, they were defeated on sea and on land. Once more their naval force was prostrated. Warfare was now carried forward on land, where, in the south of Sicily, the Carthaginian leader, _Hamilcar Barca_, maintained himself against Roman attacks for six years, and sent out privateers to hara.s.s the coasts of Italy. Finally, at Rome, there was an outburst of patriotic enthusiasm. Rich men gave liberally, and treasures of the temples were devoted to the building of a new fleet. This fleet, under command of _C. Lutatius Catulus_, gained a decisive victory over the Carthaginian _Hanno_, at the Aegatian Islands, opposite _Lilybaeum_ (241). The Carthaginians were forced to conclude peace, and to make large concessions. They gave up all claim to Italy and to the neighboring small islands. They were to pay an indemnity, equal to four million dollars, in ten years. The western part of Sicily was now const.i.tuted a _province_, the _first_ of the Roman provinces.

CONQUEST OF CISALPINE GUAL.--The Carthaginians were for some time busy at home in putting down a revolt of mercenary troops, whose wages they refused to pay in full. The Romans s.n.a.t.c.hed the occasion to extort a cession of the island of _Sardinia_ (238), which they subsequently united with _Corsica_ in one province. They entered, about ten years later (229-228), upon an important and successful war against the _Illyrian pirates_, whose depredations on the coasts of the Adriatic and Ionian seas were very daring and destructive. The Greek cities which the pirates held were surrendered. The sway of the Romans in the Adriatic was secured, and their supremacy in _Corcyra_, _Epid.a.m.nus_, and other important places. The next contest was a terrific one with the _Cisalpine Gauls_, who were stirred up by the founding of Roman military colonies on the Adriatic, and by other proceedings of Rome. They called in the help of transalpine Gauls, and entered _Etruria_, on their way to Rome, with an army of seventy thousand men. They met the Roman armies near _Telamon_, south of the mouth of the Umbro, but were routed, with a loss of forty thousand men slain, and ten thousand men prisoners (225). The Romans marched northward, crossed the _Po_, and subdued the most powerful of the Gallic tribes, the _Insubrians_ (223). Other victories in the following year reduced the whole of upper Italy, with _Mediolanum_ (Milan) the capital of the _Insubrians_, under Roman rule. Fortresses were founded as usual, and the great _Flaminian_ and _Aemilian_ roads connected that region with the capital. Later, _Cisalpine Gaul_ became a Roman province.