Ancient Rome : from the earliest times down to 476 A. D Part 21

Rome was now for a time delivered from her enemies, and the Emperor, no longer needing Stilicho, was easily persuaded that he was plotting for the throne. He was put to death, with many of his friends.

With Stilicho Rome fell. Scarcely two months after his death, Alaric again appeared before Rome. He sought to starve the city into submission. Famine and pestilence raged within its walls. Finally peace was purchased by a large ransom, and Alaric withdrew, but soon returned.

The city was betrayed, and after a lapse of eight centuries became the second time a prey to the barbarians (24 August, 410).

The city was plundered for five days, and then Alaric withdrew to ravage the surrounding country. But the days of this great leader were almost spent. Before the end of the year he died, and shortly after his army marched into France, where they established a kingdom reaching from the Loire and the Rhone to the Straits of Gibraltar.

The GERMANS, under their king, CLODION, prompted by the example of the Burgundians and Visigoths, began, about 425, a series of attempts to enlarge their boundaries. They succeeded in establis.h.i.+ng themselves firmly in all the country from the Rhine to the Somme, and under the name of FRANKS founded the present French nation in France (447).

Clodion left two sons, who quarrelled over the succession. The elder appealed to the Huns for support, the younger to Rome.

The Huns at this time were ruled by ATTILA, "the Scourge of G.o.d." The portrait of this monster is thus painted. His features bore the mark of his Eastern origin. He had a large head, a swarthy complexion, small deep-seated eyes, a flat nose, a few hairs in the place of a beard, broad shoulders, and a short square body, of nervous strength though disproportioned form. This man wielded at will, it is said, an army of over half a million troops.

At the time he received from the son of Clodion the invitation to interfere in the affairs of Gaul, Attila was already contemplating an invasion of both the Western and Eastern Empires; but the prospect of an ally in Gaul, with an opportunity of afterwards attacking Italy from the west, was too favorable to be neglected.

A march of six hundred miles brought the Huns to the Rhine. Crossing this, they continued their progress, sacking and burning whatever cities lay in their route.

The Visigoths under Theodoric, joining the Romans under Aetius, met the Huns near Orleans. Attila retreated towards Chalons, where, in 451, was fought a great battle, which saved the civilization of Western Europe.

Attila began the attack. He was bravely met by the Romans; and a charge of the Visigoths completed the discomfiture of the savages. Aetius did not push his victory, but allowed the Huns to retreat in the direction of Italy. The "Scourge" first attacked, captured, and rased to the ground Aquileia. He then scoured the whole country, sparing only those who preserved their lives by the surrender of their wealth.

It was to this invasion that VENICE owed its rise. The inhabitants, who fled from the approach of the Huns, found on the islands in the lagoons at the head of the Adriatic a harbor of safety.

Attila died shortly after (453) from the bursting of a blood-vessel, and with his death the empire of the Huns ceased to exist. The VANDALS, we have seen, had established themselves in Africa. They were now ruled by GENSERIC. Carthage was their head-quarters, and they were continually ravaging the coasts of the Mediterranean with their fleets.

Maximus, Emperor of Rome (455), had forcibly married Eudoxia, the widow of the previous Emperor, Valentinian, whom he had killed. She in revenge sent to Genseric a secret message to attack Rome. He at once set sail for the mouth of the Tiber. The capital was delivered into his hands on his promise to spare the property of the Church (June, 455), and for fourteen days the Vandals ravaged it at pleasure. Genseric then left Rome, taking with him Eudoxia.

This was the last sack of the city by barbarians. But twenty-one years elapsed before the Roman Empire came to an end (476).

CHAPTER XLIII. ROMAN LITERATURE.

PLAUTUS (254-184).

PLAUTUS, the comic poet, was one of the earliest of Roman writers. Born at Sarsina in Umbria, of free parentage, he at first worked on the stage at Rome, but lost his savings in speculation. Then for some time he worked in a treadmill, but finally gained a living by translating Greek comedies into Latin. Twenty of his plays have come down to us. They are lively, graphic, and full of fun, depicting a mixture of Greek and Roman life.

TERENCE (195-159).

TERENCE was a native of Carthage. He was brought to Rome at an early age as a slave of the Senator Terentius, by whom he was educated and liberated. Six of his comedies are preserved. Like the plays of Plautus, they are free translations from the Greek, and of the same general character.

ENNIUS (139-69).

QUINTUS ENNIUS, a native of Rudiae, was taken to Rome by Cato the Younger. Here he supported himself by teaching Greek. His epic poem, the _Annales_, relates the traditional Roman history, from the arrival of Aeneas to the poet's own day.

CICERO (106-43).

MARCUS TULLIUS CICERO, a native of Arpinum, ranks as the first prose writer in Roman literature. As an orator Cicero had a very happy natural talent. The extreme versatility of his mind, his lively imagination, his great sensitiveness, his inexhaustible richness of expression, which was never at a loss for a word or tone to suit any circ.u.mstances or mood, his felicitous memory, his splendid voice and impressive figure, all contributed to render him a powerful speaker. He himself left nothing undone to attain perfection. Not until he had spent a long time in laborious study and preparation did he make his _debut_ as an orator; nor did he ever rest and think himself perfect, but, always working, made the most careful preparation for every case. Each success was to him only a step to another still higher achievement; and by continual meditation and study he kept himself fully equipped for his task. Hence he succeeded, as is universally admitted, in gaining a place beside Demosthenes, or at all events second only to him.

There are extant fifty-seven orations of Cicero, and fragments of twenty more. His famous _Philippics_ against Antony caused his proscription by the Second Triumvirate, and his murder near his villa at Formiae, in December, 43.

His chief writings on rhetoric were _De Oratore; Brutus de Claris Oratoribus;_ and _Orator ad M. Brutum_. Cicero was a lover of philosophy, and his writings on the subject were numerous. Those most read are _De Senectute, De Amicitia,_ and _De Officiis_.

Eight hundred and sixty-four of Cicero's letters are extant, and they furnish an inexhaustible treasure of contemporaneous history.

CAESAR (100-44).

Of CAESAR'S literary works the most important are his _Commentarii_, containing the history of the first seven years of the Gallic war, and the history of the civil strife down to the Alexandrine war. The account of his last year in Gaul was written probably by Aulus Hirtius; that of the Alexandrine, African, and Spanish wars, by some unknown hand. As an orator, Caesar ranks next to Cicero.

NEPOS (94-24).

CORNELIUS NEPOS, a native of Northern Italy, was a friend of both Cicero and Atticus. He was a prolific writer, but only his _De Viris Ill.u.s.tribus_ is preserved. It shows neither historical accuracy nor good style.

LUCRETIUS (98-55).

t.i.tUS LUCRETIUS CARUS has left a didactic poem, _De Rerum Natura_. The tone of the work is sad, and in many places bitter.

CATULLUS (87-47).

GAIUS VALERIUS CATULLUS, of Verona, is the greatest lyric poet of Roman literature. One hundred and sixteen of his poems are extant.

VIRGIL (70-19).

The great epic Roman poet was VIRGIL. His _Aeneis_, in twelve books, gives an account of the wanderings and adventures of Aeneas, and his struggles to found a city in Italy. The poem was not revised when Virgil died, and it was published contrary to his wishes.

Besides the _Aeneis_, Virgil wrote the _Bucolica_, ten Eclogues imitated and partially translated from the Greek poet Theocritus. The _Georgica_, a poem of four books on agriculture in its different branches, is considered his most finished work, and the most perfect production of Roman art-poetry. (See page 179.)

HORACE (65-8).

QUINTUS HORATIUS FLACCUS left four books of Odes, one of Epodes, two of Satires, two of Epistles, and the _Ars Poetica_. (See page 180.)

TIBULLUS (54-29).

ALBIUS TIBULLUS, an elegiac poet, celebrated in exquisitely fine poems the beauty and cruelty of his mistresses.

PROPERTIUS (49-15).