 Chapter 24 of The Famous Men of Rome. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recorded by Alec Datesman. Famous Men of Rome by John H. Horan and A. B. Poland. Chapter 24. Nero. 1. On the death of Augustus in the year 14 AD, his steps on Tiberius became emperor. He was a cruel tyrant. He put to death a great many people, only because he thought they were his enemies. A Roman emperor could put to death anyone he pleased. If he did not like a person, he would charge him with some crime and order his soldiers to kill him. Tiberius had many people killed in this way, but he was himself killed by the commando or general of the Praetorian Guard. The next two emperors were Caligula and Claudius. They were also tyrants and put many people to death without just cause. It is said that Caligula once wished that all the Roman people together had but one head, so that he might cut it off with one blow. But the next emperor was a still greater tyrant. His name was Nero. He became emperor in the year 54 AD. He was the son of a wicked woman named Agrippina. This woman married the emperor Claudius and got him to appoint her son Nero his successor, instead of her own little son Britannicus. Then she killed Claudius by poison and Nero became emperor. Nero was a tall, strong, good-looking, bright youth. He was fond of games and could play well on several musical instruments. When he first became emperor, he seemed to be affectionate and kind-hearted, and he did a number of good things. Once, when he was asked to sign a warrant for the execution of a man condemned to death, he exclaimed, I wish I had never learned to write, for then I shouldn't have to sign away men's lives. Then all the people around him cried. What a noble young man our emperor is. What a good heart he has. But in a very short time, it was found that Nero was not at all kind or merciful, but that he was a cruel and wicked man. His mother, Agrippina, expected that when her son was emperor, she herself would be the real mistress and would rule the Roman Empire as she pleased. Nero was only a boy, she thought, and he would not want to take upon himself the cares and burdens of government. And for a while, Agrippina did rule Rome. She had a woman she hated, put to death, and she punished several other persons who had offended her. She made some of the richest Romans pay her large sums of money, but Nero soon put an end to his mother's power. One day he said to her, I, not you, am the ruler of the empire. You have no right to take any power upon yourself, and you must not do so again. Whatever you want anything done, you must ask me to do it for you. Ask you, cried Agrippina, in a rage. How dare you talk this way to me, who made you emperor. You, the emperor. You are not the rightful emperor. The true heir to the emperor is your stepbrother, young Britannicus, the son of Claudius. Then there was a fierce quarrel between Nero and his mother, and at last he turned her out of his palace and ordered her never to appear there again. But what she had said alarmed him very much, he feared that Britannicus might be made emperor, and therefore he determined to get him out of the way as soon as possible. At this time there was in Rome a dreadful woman named Locusta, who made poisons and sold them secretly to anyone who wanted them. Nero went one night to this woman and said, Make me a strong poison, so strong that it will kill a person like a flash of lightning. Locusta made the poison and gave it to him. He tried it on a pig, and it killed the animal in a few moments. Ha, said he, this will do the work. Now Britannicus lived in the palace with his stepbrother, and next day, when dinner was served, Nero put some of the poison into a cup of wine, which he knew the boy was to drink. The moment Britannicus drank it, he fell to the floor dead. Then Nero said to the guests who were at the table, Do not be alarmed, it is nothing, my poor stepbrother was always subject to fits. The attendants carried the body of Britannicus out of the room, and the dinner went on gaily. Two. A little while after he had poisoned his stepbrother, Nero made up his mind to get rid of his mother also. He was afraid that as long as she lived, he would not be safe as emperor. She might stir up the people against him any day. So he went to see her and pretended that he was sorry he had ill-treated her. He kissed and caressed her so affectionately that she was entirely deceived. Then the cruel son made a plan to drown his mother. He had a ship so built that by pulling out certain bolts and pins, it would suddenly fall to pieces and sink. He then hired a wicked captain and crew to do his bidding and got his mother to take a sail in the ship down the Tiber. Agrippina took a maid with her and went aboard. She was in a happy humor because her son, as she thought, was so kind to her. When the ship came to a certain place in the river where the water was very deep, the sailors pulled out the bolts and pins. Then the ship began to fall apart and sink. The sailors sprang into the river to swim to the shore, and Agrippina and her maid jumped overboard. The maid was killed by a sailor, but Agrippina was picked up by the crew of a fishing boat. Nero was greatly troubled when he learned of his mother's escape. He believed that now she would certainly try to have him removed from the throne, so he sent some men to kill her in her house, and they did so in a most cruel manner. 3. None of the emperors before Nero lived so grandly as he did. He had a splendid marble palace at Rome, containing immense quantities of beautiful furniture, gold and silver ornaments, and works of art of the finest kind. On the pleasant shores of the Mediterranean Sea, he had several houses where he lived in the summer and autumn months. Wherever he went, he had, as his court or companions, three or four hundred richly dressed men and women, with many slaves to wait upon them. They traveled in chariots covered with ivory and gold and drawn by beautiful horses. Nero was famous for the splendid dinners he gave in his palates. The rarest and most costly food and wines were spread upon the tables in great plenty, and when the feasting was over, troops of actors and dancers would give performances which lasted until late at night. Sometimes at these dinners, Nero would play on a harp or flute, and sometimes he would act portions of plays or recite poems which he himself had composed. He was a very clever musician and actor, and he wrote very good poetry. One evening a fire broke out in Rome and raged furiously for a week. Half the city was burned, and hundreds of people lost their lives. Some of the Romans said that Nero had started the fire and had prevented it from being put out. Most of the six days during which the fire lasted, he spent in a high tower, enjoying the sight. He played on his harp, sang merry songs, and recited verses about the burning of the ancient city of Troy. After the fire was put out, Nero said that it had been caused by the believers in the religion of Christ. At this time there was a very large number of Christians in Rome, but most of the Romans still worshipped their old pagan gods, and they hated and ill-treated the Christians. When Nero declared that the Christians had caused the great fire, the people began to persecute them in a dreadful manner. Most of the Christians were hanged, some were covered with pitch and burned, and others were hunted to death by savage dogs. During the time of this persecution, the apostle Paul was beheaded, and the apostle Peter was crucified, as Christ had been crucified 31 years before. After a short time, Rome was rebuilt in a greater magnificence than before. Nero built for himself an immense and splendid palace on the famous Palatine Hill. This palace contained so many ornaments of gold that it was called the Golden House. In governing the empire, Nero was very harsh and cruel. He often put innocent men and women and even his own friends to death. He killed his wife in a fit of passion. He did so many wicked things that at last the Romans got tired of having such a tyrant to rule them, and they formed a plot to dethrone him and make someone else their emperor. But the plot came to nothing because a slave who had heard of it went to Nero and told him all about it. The Praetorian guards seized the leading plotters and put them to death. Nero then became more wicked than he had been before. He even accused his old tutor, Seneca, and the famous poet, Lucan, of taking part in the plot against him, and he sent them in order to put themselves to death. Seneca was a very good man and a great writer. When he received the cruel order from Nero, he knew that if he did not obey it, the tyrant would send someone to kill him. So he had the veins of his arms cut open, and he died after much suffering. Lucan also obeyed the tyrant's order. While dying, he repeated lines from one of his own poems. This wicked emperor reigned 14 years, but at last there was a rebellion against him, and the soldiers elected Galba, the Roman governor of Spain, to be the new emperor. Then Nero acted like a miserable coward. He was afraid to stay any longer in Rome, for most of the people hated him and favored Galba. So he mounted a horse and rode out of the city to the home of a trusty slave. But while he was there, he received word that the Senate had condemned him to death and that horseman had been sent out to capture him. Now dig a grave for me, he said to the slave, and I will kill myself. At this moment the galloping of horses was heard. Hark, they are coming to kill you, cried the slave. Use the dagger while at his time and save yourself from disgrace. With trembling hand, Nero placed his dagger at his throat, but did not have the courage to use it. The slave then seized it and plunged it into the emperor's throat, and the wicked Nero fell dead. End of Chapter 24. Recorded by Alec Datesman, Brooklyn, New York. Chapter 25 of The Famous Men of Rome. This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org. Recorded by Alec Datesman. Famous Men of Rome by John H. Haran and A.B. Poland. Chapter 25. Titus. One. During the two years that followed the death of Nero, there were three emperors, Galba, Athos, and Vitilius. They were generals of Roman armies and were made emperors by their soldiers, but they reigned only a few months each, and they did nothing of importance. Vitilius was a glutton. He took pleasure only in eating and drinking. He would often visit the houses of rich Romans without invitation and take breakfast with one, dinner with another, and supper with another. After breakfast, he thought only about dinner, and when dinner was over he began to think of what he would have for supper. The next emperor was Titus Flavius Vespasian, commonly called Vespasian. He also was an army general. When he was made emperor by his soldiers, he was in Palestine. He had been sent there by Nero with an army to punish the Jews who had rebelled against Rome. As soon as he was declared emperor, he returned to Italy and left his son, Titus Flavius, called in history simply Titus, to carry on the war against the Jews. Titus captured Jerusalem after a siege of six months, and his soldiers took possession of all the valuable things they could find. Then they burned the city to the ground. The famous temple was also destroyed and thus was fulfilled the prophecy of Christ that not one stone of the building should be left upon another. When Titus returned to Rome, he had a grand triumph, and a beautiful arch was built in his honor. This arch is still in existence. 2. Vespasian died in 79 AD, and then Titus became emperor. One of the remarkable things Titus did during his reign was to finish the Colosseum, which had been begun by his father. The Colosseum was the largest theater in the world. It had seats for over 80,000 people. It was first called the Flavian amphitheater from the family name of the emperors who built it. Inside, it had seats all around the ring, or arena, and as the word amphi means around, they called the great building an amphitheater. In later times, it got the name of Colosseum. The Greeks used the word Colossus as a name for any very large statue, and because the Flavian amphitheater was so large, it was called the Colosseum. In our own language, we use the word colossal to describe anything of immense size. In the Colosseum, they had many kinds of amusements. When it was first opened, the shows and games lasted for 100 days, and 5,000 wild beasts were killed in the arena by gladiators. The arena was a vast space, fenced round about with a strong wall, and around it were circular tiers or rows of seats, one behind the other, like steps of stairs. Sometimes the arena was turned into a lake by letting water flow into it from pipes. Then they put ships upon it and had shamfights in imitation of a battle at sea. This sort of show was called Nomechia, which means a fight with ships. It was first introduced into Rome by Julius Caesar, who had a lake dug for the purpose in the campus Martius. The Colosseum is still in existence, but it is partly in ruins. From the picture, which shows it as it now is, we can form an idea of how grand a building it once was. Besides finishing the Colosseum, the Emperor Titus also built splendid baths. They were called the Baths of Titus. The Romans were very fond of baths. Wealthy citizens used to bathe several times every day, and often they spent the greater part of the day at the baths, where there were finely furnished rooms. It was in the reign of Titus that the cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in the south of Italy were destroyed by an eruption of Mount Vesuvius. A famous Roman author, Pliny the Younger, saw the eruption from a distance and wrote a description of it. He tells that a fiery cloud of cinders, stones, and ashes burst from the top of the mountain and rained down upon the country all round, destroying towns and villages and people. The ruins of Herculaneum were accidentally discovered by workmen in 1709, and the ruins of Pompeii were discovered some years later. Titus was a very good Emperor. He always did everything he could for the welfare and happiness of the people, and he was so much liked by everybody that he was called the Delight of Mankind. It is said that one night he thought he had done nothing during that day for the good of any person, and that he cried out, I have lost a day! End of Chapter 25 Recorded by Alec Datesman, Brooklyn, New York Chapter 26 of The Famous Men of Rome This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org Recorded by Alec Datesman Famous Men of Rome By John H. Haran and A. B. Poland Chapter 26 Trajan Chapter 1 On the death of Titus, his brother Domitian became Emperor. He was a very bad man, and took pleasure only in doing cruel and wicked things. It is said that one of his amusements was catching flies and sticking them with pins. Once when a visitor called and inquired whether there was anyone with the Emperor, the servant answered, No, not even a fly! It is not to be supposed that such an Emperor could have been liked by the people. Even his soldiers hated him, and at last they formed a plot against his life and killed him in his own palace. Nerva, who had been a favorite of Nero, was the next Emperor, but he was an old man and died after a reign of two years. He was succeeded by his adopted son Trajan, who became Emperor in 98 A.D. and reigned for 19 years. Trajan was a good man and a brave soldier. At the time he became Emperor, he was governor of one of the Roman territories or provinces in Germany along the banks of the Rhine, and he resided at Colonia, now called Cologne. Not long after his return to Rome, Trajan was engaged in a war with the King of Dacia. This was the name of the country lying north of the Danube River. A greater part of it is now called Hungary. The Decian king, whose name was Decebalus, had frequently made raids into neighboring countries which belonged to Rome and robbed and killed many of the people. Trajan resolved to punish Decebalus, and so he set out with a large army and marched into Dacia. The war continued three years, for the Decians were brave and skillful fighters, but at last Decebalus was defeated in a great battle and he had to come to Trajan and humbly beg for peace. He agreed to be a vassal of Rome, that is, to hold his kingdom subject to the control of the Roman emperors. But in less than a year, Decebalus again attacked his Roman neighbors, and Trajan had again to march against him with an army. The Decians were once more defeated in a great battle, and Decebalus, after failing in an attempt to escape, put an end to his own life. Decia was then made into a Roman province. During this year, Trajan built a remarkable bridge across the Danube. Before that time, bridges were built of wood, but in the bridge over the Danube, Trajan used stone for the piers, which were of great size. The bridge had 22 arches, and its ruins, which are still to be seen, show what a wonderful work it was. When Trajan returned to Rome after his victory over Decebalus, he had a grand triumph, and there were games and shows in his honor, which lasted 120 days. It is told that during these celebrations, 10,000 gladiators fought in the amphitheater, and 11,000 wild animals were killed in the arena. A marble column was erected in honor of Trajan's victories in Decia. This monument is still standing in Rome. It is called Trajan's Column. Many scenes showing battles at other events in the Decian War are engraved upon it, from the base to the top. Trajan also had wars in Asia, and he won many victories. He conquered Armenia and Mesopotamia, and added them to the empire. But he did not live to return to Rome. He died in a town in Asia Minor, which in honor of him was afterwards called Trajanopolis. The Romans were much grieved at the death of Trajan, for he had been a good emperor and had done much to benefit the people. He built fine roads and canals and bridges in Italy and the provinces. He greatly improved and beautified the Circus Maximus. This was the place in which the Romans had their horse races and chariot races. It was built in the hollow between the Palatine and the Aventine hills, and it had seats for 250,000 people. Trajan also made a forum in Rome, which was called, after his name, the Trajan Forum. In the center of this forum, the Trajan column was built, and around it were temples and libraries established by the good emperor. For a long time after Trajan's death, the people of Rome, whenever they got a new emperor, used to wish that he would be as great as Augustus and as good as Trajan. Some great writers lived in Rome in the time of Trajan. One of them was Plutarch, who wrote the famous book called Plutarch's Lives. This book, which you will perhaps someday read, contains an account of the lives of many great men of Greece and Rome. The historian Tacitus, the poet Juvenal, and Pliny the Younger, already mentioned, also lived in the time of Trajan. Pliny the Younger was so called to distinguish him from his uncle, Pliny the Elder, who lived in the time of Nero and was the author of a celebrated work on natural history. End of Chapter 26. Recorded by Alec Datesman, Brooklyn, New York. Marcus Aurelius 1. The next emperor was Trajan's cousin Hadrian. He was a good ruler and did a great deal to improve the city of Rome. He traveled through many parts of the empire to see that the people were justly governed and that the public officials were doing their duty. He visited Britain, which was then a Roman province, and he caused a strong wall to be built from sea to sea across the country near Scotland to prevent the fierce tribes of the north from making raids upon the Roman settlements in the south. Some of the remains of this wall are still to be seen. Hadrian also built a great tomb in Rome, which was called Hadrian's Mole. He and many other Roman emperors were buried in this tomb. It is now known as the Castle of St. Angelo. When Hadrian died, a very good man named Antoninus was made emperor. He showed such filial regard for Hadrian by building a temple in his honor that he was called Antoninus Pius. Under the emperors who ruled before his time, the Christians were very cruelly treated. They were not allowed to have churches or places of worship, and numbers of them were put to death in the most shocking manner. Often Christians were thrown into the arena in the amphitheater and devoured by wild beasts. In those times the Christians of Rome held their religious meetings in underground passages dug for burying places. These catacombs, as they were called, were near the walls of the city and altogether were hundreds of miles in length. Along both sides of the tunnels were openings, one above another, in which the dead were buried. Many of the catacombs have been explored in recent times. They are among the sites which visitors to Rome are always eager to see. Antoninus Pius was very friendly to the Christians. He gave orders that they should be allowed to practice their religion, and that anyone who interfered with them should be punished. The next emperor of Rome was a very remarkable and a very good man. His name was Marcus Aurelius. He governed the empire justly and well for nearly twenty years. He began to reign in the year 161 A.D. He was the adopted son of the good emperor Antoninus. For some time before the death of Antoninus he held a high office and helped to govern the empire. As soon as he became emperor Aurelius invited a young man named Verus to share the throne with him. Verus had also been adopted by Antoninus. The generous act of Aurelius surprised everybody. Never before was there a Roman emperor who wanted to give half of his power to another person, and it seemed strange to the people that Aurelius should do so. But Aurelius said, I think my adopted brother has a right to be emperor with me. Although Verus was made emperor with Aurelius, and for the first time Rome was ruled by two emperors. Verus had a great respect for Aurelius. He seldom attempted to do anything in matters of government without asking his advice. But he did not have much to do with public affairs. He cared very little about being emperor and generally spent his time in amusing himself. He was not a good young man, and his conduct gave Aurelius a great deal of sorrow. But after nine years Verus died and Aurelius was the sole ruler during the rest of his life. In his youth Aurelius studied under the best teachers in the empire, and so had an excellent education. He always had an eager desire for knowledge and was constantly learning. Even in war times when he was fighting in the field he carried a library with him and could often be seen in his tent engaged in study. He was one of the most learned of the Roman emperors, and his intimate friends were scholars and authors. When a boy of only twelve years he joined the Stoics. These were followers of a famous wise man or philosopher of Greece called Zeno. This man taught that the people should act according to reason and virtue and should keep an even temper and a brave heart under all circumstances. He taught also that men should show neither joy nor sorrow but control their feelings and passions and submit without complaint to what could not be prevented. The followers of Zeno were called Stoics from the Greek word stoa, which means a roofed colonnade or porch. It was in a roofed porch at Athens that Zeno taught his doctrine. The emperor Aurelius was one of the best and most earnest of the Stoics. He carefully trained himself to control his feelings at all times and to do his duty honestly and faithfully. The Romans never had a pure or nobler emperor or one more respected and beloved. His style of living was very simple. He had no idle courtiers at his house and he kept only a few servants. He gave no costly dinners and entertainments. He spent much of his salary to improve the condition of the poor and to provide good schools for their children. He used to walk through the streets of Rome in plain clothing, attended only by a favorite slave. He returned the greetings of the people with bows and pleasant smiles. Anyone could go to him and talk freely and he encouraged the people to tell them about their troubles so that he might understand how to help them. He gave the Senate a great deal of power which he thought it ought to have and gave back to the people many rights and privileges which former emperors had taken away from them. No wonder the Romans loved him and called him a good man. 2. But the reign of Aurelius was full of troubles. In the first part of it the typer one day overflowed its banks and the water swept away a large portion of Rome destroying many lives. After this there were dreadful earthquakes, very destructive fires, and other serious misfortunes. There were also many wars. There was a war with the Parthians, a brave war-like nation in Asia who destroyed a Roman army and then invaded Syria. Large armies were sent against them and they were soon conquered and forced to pay homage to Aurelius. The Parthian horsemen had a strange way of fighting. They were armed with bows and arrows and small spears called javelins and were mounted on very swift horses. They would make attacks on the rear lines of the Romans and when the Romans turned to attack them they would lash their horses and ride off as fast as the wind. And while their horses were going at full speed they would turn in their saddles and cast their javelins or shoot their arrows with wonderfully accurate aim. After the Parthian war there were wars with a number of wild tribes living in the countries now called Austria and Hungary. The tribes there rebelled against the Roman governors and Aurelius had years of hard fighting before he could subdue them. He was himself a remarkably brave and able general and gained many splendid victories. Last he taught the barbarians to respect and obey the Romans who governed them. Once while Aurelius was fighting a tribe called the Quadi his soldiers were hemmed in by the enemy in a small rocky valley and suffered greatly from thirst. Suddenly the sky darkened and rain fell in torrents. The thirsty soldiers collected the waters and their helmets and drank it eagerly. While they were drinking and their lines were in confusion the Quadi suddenly attacked them in large numbers. The Romans would have been cut to pieces but that there came a violent hail storm with lightning and thunder which stopped the battle. When the storm had ceased the Romans much refreshed by the rainfall boldly fought the Quadi and won a great victory. Some of the Romans believed that the sudden storm which relieved them so much was caused by the magical power of an African wizard who was with the army at the time. But there was also with the army a legion of soldiers some three thousand in number who were Christians. The Christians had prayed for rain and they believed that the rain came in answer to their prayers. They said it was a miracle sent by God to prove the truth of Christianity. Now Aurelius was a pagan. Some of his Christian soldiers had tried to convert him to their faith but they had not succeeded. He lived and died a believer in the pagan gods and goddesses. After the strange storm however he seemed to have a greater respect for Christianity and he named his Christian legion of soldiers the Thundering Legion. Three. Once the commander of the Roman armies in Asia a man named Davidius Cassius planned a rebellion against Aurelius. When everything was ready Cassius declared himself emperor and started with his army to Rome to take possession of the city. Aurelius collected his troops and went to meet Cassius but no meeting took place for Cassius was killed by his own soldiers and the rebellion quickly came to an end. Those who had aided Cassius were brought before Aurelius for punishment but the emperor would not punish them. No, I will not harm them, he said. I think I have governed the empire too faithfully and liberally to fear plots. I can afford to forgive traitors. Let all the friends of Cassius go free. They are to be pitied rather than punished. Aurelius was always very industrious and would never waste any of his time. It was a part of his duty as emperor to attend the games and sports in the Coliseum and the Circus. Aurelius cared nothing for such sports and whenever he attended them he always spent his time at some useful occupation while sitting in the splendid chair of state provided for him. Sometimes he would study his favorite books and make notes from them and sometimes he would dictate letters and government orders to a secretary. Thousands of excited Romans around him would be shouting their delight at the sports in the ring but Aurelius would go on calmly with the work he had in hand. I do not like to waste my time by sitting here doing nothing, he would say, to waste time is one of the greatest of crimes. And so by never allowing himself to be idle Aurelius was able to do many useful things. He established good schools and hospitals in Rome and other cities of Italy. He introduced new trades so that the poor people could get a much better living than before. Aurelius always gave great encouragement to art and literature. He welcomed authors and artists to Rome and was always their friend. He established libraries and halls of paintings and statuary. He himself wrote several books. It is said that with all his virtue the life of Aurelius was not a happy one. He had serious troubles at times in governing the empire and the cares of a ruler often weighed heavily upon him. His wife, whom he dearly loved, behaved very badly and caused him much anxiety and his only son was a very bad young man. So in the latter years of his life Aurelius always appeared melancholy. A smile was seldom seen upon his face. He died at the city now called Vienna in Austria AD 180. End of Chapter 27 Chapter 28 of The Famous Men of Rome This is a LibriVox recording. All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org. Recording by Leon Meyer Famous Men of Rome by John H. Haran and A. B. Poland Chapter 28 Constantine the Great 1 For more than a hundred years after the time of Marcus Aurelius none of the Roman emperors did anything great or remarkable. They were nearly all bad men and many of them were put to death for their evil deeds. In the year 307 AD the empire had been divided up through many quarrels and wars between generals of the armies. Often an army would declare its commander an emperor and he would set himself up as ruler of part of the empire. So in this way there came at last to be six persons who claimed to be emperors. None of them was in any way remarkable except the emperor Constantine called Constantine the Great. He was the son of a former emperor named Constantius. When Constantius died the army chose Constantine to be emperor. But he did not go to Rome to be crowned. He remained in Gaul for he learned that five others had a title of emperor in different parts of the empire. After a while however Constantine got messages from people in Rome begging him to come and relieve them from the cruel government of Maxentius who was acting as emperor there. But Constantine was a wise man. He thought it would not be well for him to leave Gaul and enter into a fight with Maxentius so he paid no attention to the messages. At last Maxentius openly insulted Constantine and threatened to kill him. Then Constantine was aroused to anger so he gathered a great army of good soldiers and set out for Rome. He marched over the Alps and in a short time was fighting the army of Maxentius on the plains of Italy. The first battle took place near Turin. The soldiers of Maxentius were clad in steel armor but Constantine's men fought them so fiercely that their armor was of little use to them and they were speedily defeated. There was another battle at Verona where Constantine was again the victor. The third battle took place on the banks of the Tiber near Rome. Maxentius had more soldiers than Constantine but he was not a good general so he was easily beaten. He himself drowned while fleeing across the Tiber. After the battle Constantine entered Rome amidst the cheers of the people. A little while afterwards he told an interesting story to a Christian bishop named Eusebius. He said that while he was marching through northern Italy on the way to Rome he was constantly thinking about the Christian religion. It had been spread in every civilized country for more than two centuries and Constantine thought that he too should become a Christian and no longer worship pagan gods. But he could not make up his mind to do so. One day while he was in front of his tent with his officers and troops around him there appeared in the heavens an enormous cross of fire. A little on one side of the cross were these words in the Greek language by this conquer. The words are sometimes given in the Latin form in Huxigno Vincis the translation of which is through this sign thou shalt conquer. Constantine was astonished at the wonderful vision and he gazed at it until it faded away. He could not understand what it meant and was greatly troubled. But that night he dreamed that Christ appeared to him in robes of dazzling white bearing a cross in his hands and that he promised him victory over his enemies if he would make the cross his standard. Constantine now declared himself a Christian and had a standard made in the form of a cross with a banner attached to it bearing the initial letters of the name of Christ. This banner was called the Labyrinth and it was afterwards the standard of the Roman emperors. When Constantine became a Christian himself he began to take the Christians into his favour. He made some of them high officers of the government. He built Christian churches and destroyed the pagan temples. He also made the Christian religion the religion of the empire and he had the sign of a cross painted on the shields and banners of the Roman armies. Thus after many, many years of terrible persecution the Christians were befriended by the Roman emperor and soon they became very powerful. Thousands of Romans were converted to Christianity and the churches were crowded with worshipers. 2. Constantine also very much improved the Roman laws and system of government. He put a stop to the dishonest practices of the officers and established just methods of carrying on public affairs. He disbanded the famous Praetorian guards which had been in evil power in Rome for centuries. Many other reforms were carried out by Constantine who seemed anxious to do what was right and what was for the best interests of the people. Under Constantine's rule therefore Rome was happy and prosperous. To show their gratitude to him for his noble deeds the people erected in his honor a grand marble arch in the central square of the city and inscribed on it to the founder of our peace. Four of the six emperors who had at one time ruled the empire were now dead. But in the east there was one emperor named Licinius. Constantine attacked him, scattered his armies and took away from him the greater part of his territory. The two emperors then became friends but after some time they had a quarrel and went to war again. Each had a large army and a fleet of warships. Two great battles were fought and Constantine won both. Licinius soon afterwards died. Now for the first time Constantine was sole emperor and for more than fourteen years he ruled the immense Roman emperor. He built the most magnificent palace Rome had ever seen. He surrounded himself with hundreds of courtiers and lived in great splendor. After a time he resolved to move the capital of the empire to a more central place than Rome and he selected Byzantium, an ancient city of Thrace at the entrance to the Black Sea. Through this city Constantine sent numbers of workmen to make alterations and improvements and he changed its name to Constantinople which means city of Constantine. He spent vast sums of money in erecting gorgeous buildings, making aqueducts, constructing streets and public squares and in doing the many other things proper to be done in the capital of a great empire. The finest statues and other works of art that could be obtained in Greece, Italy and the countries of Asia were brought to make Constantinople beautiful. When everything was ready, Constantine with the officers of his government removed to Constantinople. He lived for about seven years afterwards. There were no further wars except a slight conflict with a tribe called the Goths and the people of the empire were contented and prosperous. Constantine died in Constantinople at the age of sixty-three after a reign of nearly thirty-one years. He was the first Christian emperor of Rome. Recording by Christine Most of the Roman emperors after Constantine were either cruel tyrants or very worthless persons who spent their time in idle pleasure and neglected their duties to the people. A few, however, did some remarkable things and therefore deserved to be mentioned among the famous men. One emperor whose name was Julian is called in history Julian the Apostate because he gave up the Christian religion and tried to establish the worship of the pagan gods again in Rome. Julian also attempted to rebuild the temple of Jerusalem which, as we have seen, was destroyed by Titus. There was a Christian prophecy that it would never be restored and Julian sought of rebuilding it to prove the prophecy false. A story is told that as soon as the men began the work balls of fire burst from the ground close by them and they had to stop. They tried again and again and the same thing happened and at last they had to give up the work altogether. Not long after he became emperor Julian set out with a large army to conquer Persia. For a while he was very successful and defeated the Persian king in many battles. But one day he was shot in the breast by an arrow and he died soon after. It is said that while he lay wounded he cast a handful of his own blood toward heaven, crying out, so has conquered O Galilean. By Galilean he meant Christ who is sometimes called the Galilean because he was brought up in Galilean. Not long after the reign of Julian there was an emperor named Valentinian. He made his brother Valent's emperor of the eastern part of the empire while he himself ruled over the western part. And for many years afterwards the empire was ruled in this way by two emperors, one called the emperor of the east and the other the emperor of the west. On the death of Valentinian his son Gratian became emperor of the west and a talented soldier named Theodosius became emperor of the east on the death of Valentinian. Gratian was weak and unfit to rule and he was killed by Spaniard named Maximus who made himself emperor of the west. Theodosius fought Maximus and defeated him and afterwards had him put to death. Then he made a son of Valentinian, emperor of the west, as Valentinian the second and gave him as his advisor a chief named Arbogastis. But Arbogastis was soon the real master of the western empire. One day Valentinian was found dead in his bed and Arbogastis then made Ojönius a teacher, the emperor. Theodosius who well knew that Valentinian the second had been murdered made war on Ojönius and Arbogastis and defeated them and until his death a few months afterward Theodosius was emperor of both east and west. Theodosius had been a wise ruler but he did one very bad thing. The people of Tessalonica, a city of Macedonia a country north of Greece had killed their governor because he had put one of their favorite circus riders in prison. When Theodosius heard of this he was very angry and he gave orders that they should be invited to a show in the circus and they are put to death. This cruel order was carried out. The citizens of Tessalonica were invited to come one day to the circus to see a grand show. Thousands came and as soon as they had taken their seats a troop of soldiers under the command of one of the generals of Theodosius entered the building and massacred them all without mercy. Over 6000 men, women and children were killed. At this time Theodosius resided in Milan a city of north Italy. At the same time there lived in Milan a bishop named Ambrose who was a good and holy man. When Ambrose was taught of the massacre at Tessalonica he was greatly shocked. He severely reprimanded the emperor and would not permit him to enter the door of the church until he had done penance for the sin he had committed in so cruelly putting to death many innocent persons. The successor of Theodosius as emperor of the west was his son Honorius who reigned for 29 years. But the actual ruler during all that time was a soldier named Stiliho who was the emperor's guardian. Honorius was a simpleton and had no desire or ability to attend to the affairs of the government. The Goths and Vandals and other barbarous tribes from the north and east of Europe began to overrun the western empire and to threaten Rome itself. Twice the great city was actually captured and plundered the first time by the Goths under Alaric and next by Vandals under a bold warrior named Gensaric. About those barbarian chiefs and their exploits you will perhaps read in Famous Men of the Middle Ages a companion volume to this book. To defend the seat of their empire against the attacks of its enemies the Romans were obliged to withdraw their forces from several of the outlying provinces including Britain which was now left to its native inhabitants. For more than 50 years afterwards a number of men without much ability took part in ruling what was left of the once mighty empire. One of these was called by the high sounding name of Romulus Augustulus. He was the son of Orestes the general of the army of Italy and had been made emperor by his father. He was the last of the western emperors. Among the Italian soldiers there was a huge half savage man named Odakar who belonged to a wild northern tribe. He was a favorite of the army because of his courage and strength. He resolved to be the ruler of Italy though with the army at his back he put Orestes to death took Romulus Augustulus prisoner and forced him to give up the title of emperor. Then Odakar became king of Italy in the year 470 and 6 AD. By this time the world had nearly entered that period which is known as the Middle Ages and many of the other countries which had been part of the Roman Empire were either ruling themselves or defending themselves against new invaders. Gaul was invaded and conquered by German tribes called Franks from whom the country subsequently got the name of France. Britain, abandoned by the Romans was soon after conquered by other German tribes. And so at last the great Roman Empire had crumbled to pieces and Rome, so long the mistress of the world as she was called had fallen from her proud position of grandeur and power into that of a second or third rate city. But the empire of the east continued to exist for centuries afterwards with Constantinople as its capital. It included many of the countries of Asia, Africa and Eastern Europe which had formally belonged to the undivided empire. In course of time the power of the Greeks aided by the influence of the Greek division of the church became supreme at Constantinople. And so the empire was also called the Greek Empire and sometimes the Byzantine Empire was the ancient name of the capital. In the 14th century the Turks or Mohammedans then very powerful in south western Asia began to make inroads on the empire. They conquered and took possession of several of its provinces and in 1453 they captured Constantinople which has since been the capital of the Turkish or Ottoman Empire the ruler of which is known as the Sultan. And the End of Famous Men of Rome by John H. Hahn and A.P. Poland.