 Section 31 of the Great Events, 40m1. This is a Liberbox recording. All Liberbox recordings are in the public domain. For more information or to volunteer, please visit Liberbox.org. The Great Events by Famous Historians, 40m1. Edited by Charles F. Horn, Rosetta Johnson, and John Robb. Such details are interesting in the case of man-like confusions, who has exercised so powerful an influence over so large a proportion of the world's inhabitants. And whose instructions, prior from being confined to the courts of kings, found their loudest utterances in intimate communions with his disciples. And in the example, he said by the exact performance of his daily duties, the only accomplishment which Confucius possessed was the love of music. And this he studied less as an accomplishment than as a necessary part of education. It is by the oldest that the mind is aroused, said he. It is by the rules of propriety that the character is established. And it is music which completes the edifice. But having tasted the sweets of official life, Confucius was not inclined to resign all hope of future employment. And the Duke of White still remaining deaf to his advice, he determined to visit the state of Jin. In the hope of finding in Zhao Jiang Zi, one of the three chieftains who virtually governed that state, a more hopeful pupil. With his intention, he studied westward, but had got no farther than the Yellow River when the news reached him of the execution of Dao Ming and Dao Shun Hua, two men of Nogin Jin. The disorder which this indicated put a stop to his journey, for had not he himself said that a superior man will not enter a tottering state. His disappointment and grief were great. And looking at the Yellow Waters as they flowed at his feet, he signed and muttered to himself, oh, how beautiful were they. This river is not more majestic than they were. And I was not there to avert their fate. So saying he returned away, only to find the Duke as little inclined to listen to his lectures as he was deeply engaged in war-like preparations. When Confucius present himself at court, the Duke refused to talk on any other subject but military tactics and forgetting, possibly on purpose, that Confucius was essentially a man of peace. Press simple information on the art of maneuvering an army. If you wish to know how to arrange superficial vessels, set the stage, I will answer you. But about warfare, I know nothing. Confucius was now 60 years old, and the condition of the states composing the empire was even more unfavorable for the reception of his daughter than ever. But though depressed by function, he never lost that steady confidence in himself and his mission, which was a leading characteristic of his career. And when he found the Duke of Wei deaf to his advice, he removed to Chen in the hope of there finding a ruler who would appreciate his wisdom. In the following year, he left Chen with his disciples for a time, a small dependency of a state of true. In those days, the empire was subjected to constant changes. One day, a new state carved out of an old one would appear, and again it would disappear, or increase in size as the fortunes of war might determine. Thus, while Confucius was in Tai, a part of true, declared self-independent, under the name of Ye, and the ruler used the title of Duke, in earlier days, such rebellion would have called forth a rebuke from Confucius. But it was otherwise now, and instead of denouncing the usurper as a rebel, he sought him as a patron. The Duke did not know how to receive his visitor, and asked Zilu about him. But Zilu, possibly because he considered the Duke to be no better than Vuxi, returned him no answer. For this reticence, Confucius found fault with him and said, What did you not say to him? He is simply a man who, in his eager pursuit of knowledge, forgets his food, who in the joy of his attainments forgets his sorrows, and who does not perceive that old age is coming on. But whatever may have been the opinion of Zilu, Confucius was quite ready to be on friendly terms with the Duke, who seems to have had no clean release for Confucius' ethics than the other rulers to whom he had offered his services. We are only told of one conversation which took place between the Duke and the Sage, and on the occasion, the Duke questioned him on a subject of government. Confucius' reply was eminently characteristic of the man. Most of his definitions of good government would have sounded unpleasantly in the ears of a man who had just thrown off his master's yoke and had a successful rebellion. So he cast a bow for one which might offer some excuse for the new Duke by attributing the fact of his disloyalty to the bad government of his late ruler. Quoting the words of an earlier sage, he replied, Good government obtains when those who are near are made happy, and those who are far off are attracted. Returning from Ye to Chai, he came to a river which, being unbridged, left him no resource but to ford it. Seeing to a man whom he recognized as political recluses plowing in a labouring field, he sensed to ever present Ziru to inquire of them where best he could effect a crossing, who instead holding the reins in their carriage yonder, asked the first address, and answered Ziru's inquiry. Kongqiu replied the disciple. Kongqiu of Lu asked the plowsman. Yes, was the reply. He knows the thought. Was the enigmatic answer of the man, as he turned to his work. But whether this reply was suggested by the general belief that Confucius was omniscient, or by ray of parable to signify that Confucius possessed the knowledge by which to rid of disorder, which was barring the progress of liberty and freedom, might be crossed. We are only left to conjecture. Nor from the second recluse, could Ziru gain any practical information. What you, sir, was the somewhat preemptory question which his inquiry met with. Upon his answering that he was a disciple of Confucius, the man whom I have gathered is the estimate of Confucius from the mouth of Lao Zi replied, Disorder, like a swelling flood, spreads over the whole empire. And who is he who will change it for you, rather than follow one who merely withdraws from this court to that court? Had you not better follow those who, like ourselves, withdraw from the world altogether? These words Ziru, as was his want, repeated to Confucius, who does justify his career. It is impossible to associate with birds and beasts as if they were the same as ourselves. If I associate not with people, with mankind, with whom shall I associate? If right principles prevailed throughout the empire, there would be no necessity for me to change its state. All together, Confucius remained three years in Tai, three years of strife and war, during which his councils were completely neglected. Toward their close, the state of Wu made an attack on Qin, which found support from the powerful state of Chu on the south, while thus helping his ally, the Duke of Chu, heard that Confucius was in Tai and determined to invite him to his court with this object he sent messages bearing presence to the sage and charged them with a message begging him to come to Chu. Confucius readily accepted the invitation and prepared start, but the news of the transaction alarmed the minister of Tai and Qin. Chu, said they, is already a powerful state and Confucius is a man of wisdom. Experience has proved that those who have despised him have invariably suffered for it and should succeed in guiding the affairs of Chu, we should certainly be ruined. At all hazards, we must stop his going. When, therefore, Confucius has started on his journey, this man dispatched a force which harmed him in the wild bit of desert country. Here, we are told, they kept him prisoner for seven days, during which time he suffered severe privations and, as was always the case in moments of difficulty, the disciples loudly beweld the Lord and that of their masters. As the superior man said Zilu, indeed to endure in this way, the superior man may indeed have to suffer once, but it is only the mean man who, when he is in straits, gives ways to unbridled license. In this emergency, he had recalls to a solace which had sued him on many occasions, where, unfortunately frowned, he played on his lute and sang. At length, he succeeded in sending word to the Duke of Chu on the position he was in, at once the Duke sent ambassadors to elaborate him, and he himself went out of his capital to meet him. But, though he welcomed him cordially and seems to have availed himself of his advice on occasions, he did not appoint him to any office, and the intention he at one time entertained of granting him a slice of territory was faltered by his ministers from motives of expediency. Has your majesty said this officer, any servant who could discharge the duties of the ambassador like Ji Gong, or any soul well qualified for a premier as Yan Hui, or anyone to compare as a general with Ji Lu? Did not kings Wang and Wu from the small states of Feng and Gao rise to the sovereignty of the empire? And if Kong Chiu once acquired territory with such disciples to be his ministers, it will not be to the prosperity of Chiu. This remonstrance not only had the immediate effect which was intended, but appears to have influenced the manner of the Duke towards the sage. For an interval between this and the Duke's death, in the optimal of the same year, we hear of no council being either asked or given. In a successor to the throne, Confucius evidently dispaired of finding a patron, and he once again returned to Wai. Confucius was now 63, and on arriving at Wai, he found a grandson of his former friend, the Duke Ling, holding the throne against his own father, who had been driven into exile for attempting the life of his mother, the notorious Nan Zi. This chief, who called himself the Duke of Zi, being conscious how much his cause would be strengthened by the support of Confucius, sent Ji Lu to him, saying, The Prince of Wai has been waiting to secure your services in the administration of the state, and wishes to know what you consider is the first thing to be done. It is first of all necessary, replied Confucius, to rectify names. Indeed, said Ji Lu, you are Wai of the Mark, why need there be such rectification? How uncultivated you are, you answered Confucius. A superior man shows a cautious reserve in regard to what he does not know. If names be not correct, language is not in accordance with the truth of things. If language be not in accordance with the truth of things, affairs cannot be carried unsuccessfully. When affairs cannot be carried unsuccessfully, proprieties and music will not flourish. When proprieties and music do not flourish, punishments will not properly be awarded. The people do not know how to move hand or foot. Therefore, the superior man considers it necessary that names should be used appropriately, and that his directions should be carried out appropriately. A superior man requires that his words should be correct. The position of things in Wai was naturally such as Confucius could not sanction, and as the Duke shown his position to amend his ways, the sage left his court and lived the remainder of the five or six years during which he sojourned in the state in close retirement. He had now been absent from his native state of law for 14 years, and the time had come when he was to return to it. But by the irony of fate, the accomplishment of his long-failed desire was due not to his reputation for political or ethical wisdom, but to his knowledge of military tactics, which he heartily despised. It happened that at its time Yan Yao, a disciple of the sage being in the service of Ji Khan, conducted a campaign against Qi with much success. On his triumphal return, Ji Khan asked him how he acquired his military skill. From Confucius replied the general, and what kind of man is he? Ask Ji Khan, were you to employ him? Ask Yan Yao, your fame would spread abroad, your people might face demons and gods, and would have nothing to fear or to ask of them. And if you accepted his principles, were you to collect a thousand altars of the spirits of the land, it would profit you nothing. Attracted by such a prospect, Ji Khan proposed to invite the sage to his court. Now, mind you to not allow mean man to come between you and him. But before Ji Khan's invitation reached Confucius, an incident occurred which made the arrival of the messengers from Lu still more welcome to him. Kong Wen, an officer of Wei, came to consult him as to the best means of attacking the force of another officer with whom he was engaged in the field. Confucius, disgusted at being resolved on such a subject, professed ignorance and prepared to leave the state, saying as he went away, the bird chooses his tree, the tree does not choose to burn. As this juncture Ji Khan's envoy arrived and without hesitation he accepted the invitation they brought. On arriving at Lu, he presented himself at court and he replied to a question of the Duke Ai on a subject of government. It was a strong hint that the Duke might do well to offer him an appointment. Government, he said, consists in the right choice of ministers. To the same question put by Ji Khan, he replied, employ the upright and put aside the crooked, and thus will the crooked be made upright? At this time Ji Khan was perplexed how to deal with the prevailing brigand age. If you, sir, were not afferacious, though you might offer rewards to induce people to deal, they would not. This answer sufficiently indicates the estimate formed by Confucius of Ji Khan, and therefore of the Duke Ai, for so entirely were the two of one mind that the acts of Ji Khan appear to have been invariably endorsed by the Duke. It was plainly impossible that Confucius could serve under such a regime. And instead therefore of seeking employment, he retired to his study himself to the completion of his literary undertaking. It was now 69 years of age, and if a man is to be considered successful only when he succeeds in realizing the dream of his life, he must be deemed to have been unfortunate. Endowed by nature with a large share of reverence, a code rather than a verbate disposition, and a studious mind, and read in the traditions of the Asian kings, whose virtuous achievements obtained due prominence by the obliteration of all their faults and failures. He believed himself capable of effecting far more than it was possible for him or any other man to accomplish. In the earlier part of his career, he had in lieu an opportunity given him for carrying his theories of government into practice. And we have seen how they failed to do more than produce a temporary improvement in the conditions of the people under his immediate rule. But he had a lofty and steady confidence in himself and in the principles which he professed, which prevented his accepting the only legitimate inference which could be drawn from his want of success. The lessons of his own experience were entirely lost upon him, and he went down to his grave at the age of 72 firmly convinced as of your that if he were placed in a position of authority, in three years the government would be perfected. Finding it impossible to associate himself with the rulers of Lu, he appears to have resigned himself to exclusions from office. His wanderings were over. And as a hair, when hounds and horns pursue pens to the place from whence at first he flew, he had lately been possessed with an absorbing desire to return once more to Lu. This had at last been brought about and he made up his mind to spend the remainder of his days in his native state. He had now the nature to finish editing the shooting or book of history to which he wrote a preface. He also carefully digested the rights and ceremonies determined by the wisdom of the more ancient sages and kings, collected and arranged the ancient poetry and undertook the reform of music. He made a diligent study of the book of changes and added a commentary to it, which is efficient to show that the original meaning of the word was as much a mystery to him as it has been to others. His idea of what would probably be the value of the kernel encased in this unusually hard shell, if it were once rightly understood, is illustrated by his remark. That if some years could be added to his life, he would give 50 of them to a study of the book of changes and that then he expected to be without great faults. In the year BC 482, his son Lei died and in the following year he lost by death his faithful disciple Yan Hui. When the news of this last misfortune reached him, he exclaimed Alas! Heaven is destroying me. Later a serpent of Ji Kang caught a strange one-horned animal while on a hunting excursion and as no one present could tell what animal it was Confucius was sent for and once he declared to be a Ji Lin and the legend says that its identity, with the one which appeared before his birth was proved by his having a piece of ribbon on his horns which Zhenzhai tied to the weird animal which presented itself to her in a dream on Mount Nei. This second aberration could only have one meaning and Confucius was profoundly affected as a potent. For whom have you come, he cried for whom have you come and then bursting into tears he added the cause of my doctrine is wrong and I am unknown. How do you mean that you are unknown? I don't complain of providence as a sage nor find fault with men that his neglect and success is worshiped. Heaven knows me never does a superior man pass away without leaving a name behind him. My principles make no progress and I, how shall I be viewed in future ages? At this time, nowithstanding his declining strength and his many employments, he wrote the Chunqiu or Spring and Optimannus in which he followed the history of his native state of Lu from a time of the Du Yin to the 14th year of the Duke Ai, that is to the time when the appearance of the Qilin, want him to consider his life at an end. This is the only work of which Confucius was the author and of this every word is his own. His biographer says that what was written, he wrote and what was erased was erased by him. Non-expression was either inserted or altered by anyone but himself. When he had completed the work, he handed the manuals to it to his disciples saying by the Spring and Optimannus I shall be known and by the Spring and Optimannus I shall be condemned. This only furnishes another of the many instances in which authors have entirely misjudged the value of their own works. In the estimation of his countrymen even whose reverence for his every word would incline them to accept his opinion on this as on every subject. The Spring and Optimannus holds a very secondary place his utterances recorded in the Lun Yu or Confucius Analyze being assumed of far higher value as they undoubtedly are and indeed two works he compiled the Xu Qing and the Xi Qing hold a very much higher place in the public regard than the book on which he so pried himself. To foreigners whose judgments are unhampered by his recorded opinion his character as an original historian sings into insignificant and he is known only as a philosopher and statesman. Once again only do we hear of Confucius presenting himself at the court of the Duke after this and this was on the occasion of the murder of the Duke of Qi by one of his officers we must suppose that the crime was one of a gross nature for it raised Confucius fiercest anger who never varied of singing the praises of those virtuous men over through the thrones of licentious and torrentious kings would have had no room for blame if the murdered Duke had been like unto Xi or Zhao but the outrage was one which Confucius felt should be avenged and he therefore bathed and presented himself at court so said he addressing the Duke Chen Huang has slain his sovereign I bet that you will undertake to punish him but the Duke was intersposed to move in the matter and pleaded the comparative strength of Qi Confucius however was not to be so silenced one half of the people of Qi said he are not consenting to the deed if you add to the people of Lu one half of the people of Qi you will be sure to overcome this numerical argument no more affected the Duke than the statement of the fact and rearing with Confucius in pontunity he told him to lay the matter before the chiefs or the three principal families of the state before this court of appeal with her he went with reluctance his cause failed no better and the murdered remained an avenged at a period when every prince held his throne by the strength of his right arm revolutions lost half their crime and must have been looked upon rather as trials of strength than as disloyal venerlies the frequency of their occurrence also made them less the subjects of surprise and horror at the time of which we write the states in the neighborhood of Lu appear to have been in a very disturbed condition immediately following on the murder of the Duke of Qi news was brought to Confucius that a revolution had broken out in Wei this was an occurrence which particularly interested him for when he returned from Wei to Lu Ji Lu and Ji Yao two of the disciples engaged in the official service of the state Ji Yao will return was Confucius remark when he was told of the outbreak but Ji Lu will die the prediction was verified for when Ji Yao saw that matters were desperate he made his escape but Ji Lu remained to defend his chief and fell fighting in the course of his master Confucius had looked forward to the event as probable he was nonetheless grieved when he heard that it had come about and he mourned for his friend whom he was so soon to follow to the grave one morning in the spring of year BC 478 he walked in front of the store mumbling as he went the great mountain must crumble the strong beam must break and the wise men withers away like a plant this verse came as a pre-sage of people to the faithful Ji Kong if the great mountain crumble said he to what shall I look up if the strong beam break and the wise men wither away on home shall I lean the master I fear is going to be ill so saying he hastened after Confucius into the house what makes you so late said Confucius when the disciple presented himself for him and then he added according to the statues the corpse was dressed and covered atop of the eastern steps treating the dead as if he was still the host under the yin the ceremony was performed between the two pillars as if the dead were both host and guest the rule of jiao is to perform it at the top of the western steps treating the dead as if he were a guest I am a man of yin and last night I dreamed that I was sitting with offerings before me between the two pillars no intelligent monarch arises there is not one in the empire who will make me his master my time has come to die it is eminently characteristic of Confucius that in his last we called speech and dream his thoughts should so have dealt on the ceremonies of pine corn ages but the dream had this fulfillment that same day he took to his bed and after a week's illness he expired on the banks of the river sea to the north of the capital city of Lu his disciples buried him and for three years they mourned at his grave even such a marked respect at this fell shop of the homage which his most faithful disciple fell was due to him and for three additional years that loving follower testified by his grief his reverence for his master I have all my life had to heaven above my head sat here but I do not know his height and the earth under my feet but I know not his thickness in certain Confucius I am like a thirsty man who goes with his picture to the river and there drains his fuel without knowing the river's depth end of section 31 section 32 of the great events volume 1 this is a LibriVox recording all LibriVox recordings are in the public domain for more information or to volunteer please visit LibriVox.org the great events by famous historians volume 1 edited by Charles F. Horn Rossiter Johnson and John Rudd Rome established as a republic institution of tribunes BC 510-494 Henry George Liddell the Republic of Rome was the outcome of a sudden revolution caused by the crimes of the House of Tarquin an Etruscan family who had reached the highest power at Rome the indignation raised by the rape of Lucretia by Sextus Tarquinius and the suicide of the outraged lady at Colatia moved her father in conjunction with Lucius Junius Brutus and Publius Valerius to start a rebellion the people were assembled by curiae or wards and voted that Tarquinius Superbus should be stripped of the kingly power and that he and all his family were banished from Rome this was accordingly done and instead of kings councils were appointed to wield the supreme power these councils were elected annually at the Comitia Centurata and they had sovereign power granted them by a vote of the Comitia Curiata the first councils chosen were Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Colatinus what is known as the secession to the sacred hill took place the Indians of Rome in the early days of the Republic indignant at the oppression and cruelty of the patricians left the city en masse and gathered with hostile manifestations at a hill, Mons Sacer some distance from Rome it was here Menenius Agrippa conciliated them by reciting the famous fable of the belly in the members after this the people were induced to come to terms with the patricians and to return to the city the people had however gained a great advantage by their bold defiance of the councilor and patrician class who had practically been supreme in the state had been oppressive money lenders and had controlled the decisions of the law courts it was not in vain that the people now demanded that as the two councils were practically elected to further the interests of the upper class so they the plebeians should have the election of two tribunes to protect them from wrong and oppression these new officers were duly appointed and eventually their number was increased to ten their power was almost absolute but it never seems to have been abused and this fact is a proof of the native moderation of the ancient Romans there have been many constitutional struggles in the history of modern times but nothing like the plebeian tribunate has ever appeared and it is a question if the institution was ever a month in any country of modern times with the salutary influence which it exercised in early Rome Tarquin had made himself king by the aid of the patricians and chiefly by means of the Third or Lucerian tribe to which his family belonged the burgesses of the Gentis were indignant at the curtailment of their privileges by the popular reforms of Servius and were glad to lend themselves to any overthrow of his power but Tarquin soon kicked away the latter by which he had risen he abrogated, it is true the hated assembly of the centuries but neither did he pay any heed to the curiate assembly nor did he allow any new members to be chosen into the senate in place of those who were removed by death or other causes so that even those who had helped him to the throne repented them of their deed the name of superbus or the proud to the general feeling against the despotic rule of the Second Tarquin it was by foreign alliances that he calculated on supporting his despotism at home the Etruscans of Tarquinii and all its associate cities were his friends and among the Latins also he sought to raise a power which might counterbalance the senate and people of Rome the wisdom of Tarquinia's Priscus and Servius had united all the Latin name to Rome so that Rome had become the sovereign city of Latium the last Tarquin drew all those ties still closer he gave his daughter in marriage to Octavius Mamilius chief of Tusculum and favoured the Latins in all things but at a general assembly of the Latins at the Farentine Grove beneath the Alban Mount where they had been accustomed to meet of olden time to settle their national affairs Ternus Herdonius of Oricia rose and spoke against him then Tarquinius accused him of high treason and brought false witnesses against him and so powerful with the Latins was the king that they condemned their countrymen to be drowned in the Farentine water and obeyed Tarquinius in all things with them he made war upon the Volcians and took the city of Suessa wherein was a great booty this booty he applied to the execution of all the works in the city and emulation of his father in King Servius the elder Tarquin had built up the side of the Tarpean rock and leveled the summit to be the foundation of a temple of Jupiter but he had not completed the work Tarquinius' superbase now removed all the temples and shrines of the old Sabine gods which had been there since the time of Titus Tadius but the goddess of youth and the god Ternus kept their place whereby was signified that the Roman people should enjoy undecain vigor and that the boundaries of their empire should never be drawn in and on the Tarpean height he built a magnificent temple to be dedicated jointly to the great gods of the Latins and Etruscans Jupiter Juno and Minerva and this part of the Saturnian hill was ever after called the capital or the chief place while the upper part was called the arcs or citadel and the arcs from Etruria to plan the temple but he forced the Roman people to work for him without hire one day a strange woman appeared before the king and offered him nine books to buy and when he refused them she went away and burned three of the nine books and brought back the remaining six and offered to sell them at the same price that she had asked for the nine and when he laughed at her and again refused she went as before and came back and asked still the same price for the three that were left then the king was struck by her pertenacity and he consulted his augers what this might be and they bade him by all means buy the three and said he had done wrong not to buy the nine for these were the books of the Sibyl and contained great secrets so the books were kept underground in the capital in a stone chest and two men were appointed to take charge of them and consult them when the state was in danger the only Latin town that defied Tarquin's power was Gabii and Sextus the king's youngest son promised to win this place also for his father so he fled from Rome and presented himself at Gabii and there he made complaints of his father's tyranny and prayed for protection the Gabians believed him and took him into their city and they trusted him so that in time he was made commander of their army now his father suffered him to conquer in many small battles and the Gabians trusted him more and more then he sent privately to his father and asked what he should do to make the Gabians submit then king Tarquin gave no answer to the messenger but as he walked up and down his garden he kept cutting off the heads of the tallest poppies with his staff at last the messenger was tired and went back to Sextus and told him what had passed but Sextus understood what his father meant and he began to accuse falsely all the chief men and some of them he put to death and some he banished so at last the city of Gabii was left defenceless and Sextus delivered it up to his father while Tarquin was building his temple on the capital a strange portent offered itself for a snake came forth and devoured the sacrifices on the altar the king not content with the interpretation of his Etruscan soothsayers sent persons to consult the famous oracle of the Greeks at Delphi and the persons he sent were his own sons Titus and Aaron's and his sister's son, Lucius Junius a young man who to avoid his uncle's jealousy feigned to be without common sense wherefore he was called Brutus or the dullard the answer given by the oracle was that the chief power of Rome should belong to him of the three who should first kiss his mother and the two sons of king Tarquin agreed to draw lots which of them should do this as soon as they returned home but Brutus perceived that the oracle had another sense so as soon as they landed in Italy he fell down on the ground as if he had stumbled and kissed the earth for she, he thought was the true mother of all mortal things when the sons of Tarquin returned with their cousin Lucius Junius Brutus they found the king at war with the Ritulians of Ardia being unable to take the place by storm he was forced to blockade it and while the Roman army was encamped before the town the young man used to amuse themselves at night with wine and wassel one night there was a feast at which Sextus the king's third son as also Collatinus the son of Agerius the king's uncle who had been made governor of Collatia soon they began to dispute about the worthiness of their wives and when each maintained that his own wife was worthiest come gentlemen said Collatinus let us take horse and see what our wives are doing they expect us not and so we shall know the truth all agreed and they galloped to Rome and there they found the wives of all the others feasting and reveling but when they came to Collatia they found Lucretia the wife of Collatinus not making Mary like the rest but sitting in the midst of her handmaids carding wool and spinning so they all allowed that Lucretia was the worthiest now Lucretia was the daughter of a noble Roman Spurius Lucretius who was at this time prefect of the city for it was the custom when the kings went out to war that they left a chief man at home to administer all things in the king's name and he was called prefect of the city but it chanced that Sextus the king's son when he saw the fair Lucretia was smitten with lustful passion and a few days after he came again to Collatia and Lucretia entertained him hospitably as her husband's cousin and friend but at midnight he arose and came with stealthy steps to her bedside and holding a sword in his right hand and laying his left hand upon her breast he bade her yield to his wicked desires for if not he would slay her and lay one of her slaves beside her and would declare that he had taken them in adultery so for shame she consented to that which no fear would have run from her and Sextus having wrought this deed of shame returned to the camp then Lucretia sent to Rome for her father to the camp at Artia for her husband they came in haste Lucretius brought with him Publius Valerius and Collatinus brought Lucius Junius Brutus his cousin and they came in and asked if all was well then she told them what was done but she said my body only has suffered the shame for my will consented not to the deed therefore she cried avenge me on the wretched Sextus as for me though my heart has not sinned I can live no longer no one shall say that Lucretia set an example of living in unchastity so she drew forth a knife and stabbed herself to the heart when they saw that her father and her husband cried aloud but Brutus drew the knife from the wound and holding it up spoke thus by this pure blood there before the gods that I will pursue Lucius Tarquinius the proud and all his bloody house with fire, sword or in whatsoever way I may and that neither they nor any other shall hereafter be king in Rome then he gave the knife to Collatinus and Lucretius and Valerius and they all saw likewise much marveling to hear such words from Lucius Junius the dullard and they took up the body of Lucretia and carried it into the forum and called on the men of Colatia to rise against the tyrant so they set a guard at the gates of the town to prevent any news of the matter being carried to King Tarquin and they themselves followed by the youth of Colatia went to Rome here Brutus, who was chief captain of the knights, called the people together and he told them what had been done and he called on them by all that they had suffered from the tyrants by the abominable murder of good king Servius to assist them in taking vengeance on the Tarquins so it was hastily agreed to banish Tarquinius and his family the youth declared themselves ready to follow Brutus against the king's army and the seniors put themselves under the rule of Lucretius the prefect of the city Brutus tumbled the wicked Tullia fled from her house pursued by the curses of all men who prayed that the avengers of her father's blood might be upon her when the king heard what had passed he set off an all haste for the city Brutus also set off for the camp at Ardia and he turned aside that he might not meet his uncle the king so he came to the camp at Ardia and the king came to Rome and all the Romans in Ardia brought him Brutus and joined their arms to his and thrust out all the king's sons from the camp but the people of Rome shut the gates against the king so that he could not enter and king Tarquin with his sons Titus and Arons went into exile and lived at Ceri in Aturia but Sextus fled to Gabyae where he had before held rule and the people of Gabyae slew him in memory of his former cruelty Lucius Tarquinius Superbus was expelled from Rome after he had been king 5 and 20 years and in memory of this event was instituted a festival called the Regifugium or Fugalia which was celebrated every year on the 24th day of February to gratify the plebeians the patricians consented to restore in some measure at least the popular institutions of king Servius and it was resolved to follow his supposed intention with regard to the supreme government that is, to have two magistrates elected every year who were to have the same power as the king during the time of their rule these were in after-days known by the name of councils but in ancient times they were called praetors or judges they were elected at the great assembly of centuries and they had sovereign power conferred upon them by the assembly of the Curious they wore a robe edged with violet color sat in their chairs of state called curial chairs and were attended by twelve lictors each these lictors carried fascists or bundles of rods out of which arose an axe in token of the power of life and death possessed by the councils as successors of the kings but only one of them at a time had a right to this power and in token thereof the masses had no axes in them each retained this mark of sovereign power imperium for a month at a time the first councils were Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucius Tarquinius Collatinus the new councils filled up the senate to the proper number of three hundred and the new senators were called conscripti while the old members retained their old name of Patres so after this the whole senate was addressed by speakers as patres conscripti but in later times it was forgotten that these names belonged to different sorts of persons and the whole senate was addressed by one name patres conscripti the name of king was hateful but certain sacrifices had always been performed by the king in person and therefore to keep up form a person was still chosen with the title of rec sacrorum sacraficulus to perform these offerings but even he was placed under the authority of the chief pontifex after his expulsion king Tarquin sent messengers to Rome to ask that his property should be given up to him and the senate decreed that his prayer should be granted but the king's ambassadors while they were in Rome stirred up the minds of the young men and others who had been favoured by Tarquin so that a plot was made to bring him back among those who plotted were Titus and Tiberius the sons of the council Brutus and they gave letters to the messengers of the king but it chanced that a certain slave hit himself in the place where they met and overheard them plotting and he came and told the thing to the councils who seized the messengers of the king with the letters upon their persons authenticated by the seals of the young men the culprits were immediately arrested ambassadors were let go because their persons were regarded as sacred and the goods of king Tarquin were given up for plunder to the people then the traders were brought up before the councils and the site was such as to move all beholders to pity for among them were the sons of Lucius Junius Brutus himself the first council the liberator of the Roman people and now all men saw how Brutus loved his country the selectors put all the traders to death and his own sons first and men could mark in his face the struggle between his duty as a chief magistrate of Rome and his feelings as a father and while they praised and admired him they pitied him yet more then a decree of the senate was made that no one of the blood of the Tarquin should remain in Rome and since Colatinus the council was by descent to Tarquin even he was obliged to give up his office and return to Colatia in his room Publius Valerius was chosen council by the people this was the first attempt to restore Tarquin the proud when Tarquin saw that the plot at home had failed he prevailed on the people of Tarquinii and Veii to make war with him against the Romans but the councils came out against them Valerius commanding the main army and Brutus the cavalry and it chanced that Aaron's the king's son led the cavalry of the enemy when he saw Brutus he spurred his horse against him and Brutus declined not the combat so they rode straight at each other with leveled spears and so fierce was the shock that they pierced each other through from breast to back and both fell dead then also the armies fought but the battle was neither won nor lost but in the night a voice was heard by the Etruscans saying that the Romans were the conquerors so the enemy fled by night and when the Romans arose in the morning there was no man to oppose them then they took up the body of Brutus and departed home and buried him in public with great pomp and the matrons of Rome mourned him for a whole year because he had avenged the injury of Lucretia and thus the second attempt to restore King Tarquin was frustrated after the death of Brutus Publius Valerius ruled the people for a while by himself and he began to build himself a home upon the ridge called Velia which looks down upon the Forum so the people thought that he was going to make himself king but when he heard this he called an assembly of the people and appeared before them with his fascist lowered and with no axes in them whence the custom remained ever after that no councilor lictors wore axes within the city and no council had power of life and death except when he was in command of his legions abroad and he pulled down the beginning of his house upon the Velia and built it below that hill also he passed laws that every Roman citizen might appeal to the people against the judgment of the chief magistrates wherefore he was greatly honored among the people and was called Poplicola or friend of the people after this Valerius called together the great assembly of the centuries and they chose Spurious Lucretius father of Lucretius to succeed Brutus but he was an old man and in not many days he died so Marcus Horatius was chosen in his stead the temple on the capital which King Tarquin began had never yet been consecrated then Valerius and Horatius drew lots which should be the consecrator and the lot fell on Horatius but the friends of Valerius murmured and they wished to prevent Horatius from having the honor so when he was now saying the prayer of consecration with his hand upon the doorpost of the temple there came a messenger who told him that his son was just dead and that one morning for a son could not rightly consecrate the temple but Horatius kept his hand upon the doorpost and told him to see to the burial of his son and finished the rites of consecration thus did he honor the gods even above his own son in the next year Valerius was again made council with Titus Lucretius and Tarquinius despairing now of aid from his friends at Veii in Tarquinii went to Lars Porcina of Clusium a city on the river Clannus which falls into the Tiber Porcina was, at this time acknowledged as chief of the 12 Etruscan cities and he assembled a powerful army and came to Rome he came so quickly that he reached the Tiber and was near the Seblician bridge before there was time to destroy it and if he had crossed it the city would have been lost then a noble Roman called Horatius Cotus of the Lyserian tribe Titus Lardius, Aromnian and Titus Herminius, Aetitian posted themselves at the far end of the bridge and defended the passage against all the Etruscan host while the Romans were cutting it off behind them when it was all but destroyed his two friends retreated across the bridge and Horatius was left alone to bear the whole attack of the enemy well he kept his ground standing unmoved amid the darts which were showered upon his shield to the last beams of the bridge fell crashing into the river then he prayed saying father Tiber, receive me and bear me up I pray thee so he plunged in and reached the other side safely and the Romans honored him greatly they put up his statue in the Commitium and gave him as much land as he could plow round in a day and every man at Rome subscribed the cost of one day's food to reward him then Porcina disappointed in his attempt to surprise the city occupied the hill Jeuniculum and besieged the city so that the people were greatly distressed by hunger but Gaius Musius a noble youth resolved to deliver his country by the death of the king so he armed himself with a dagger and went to the place where the king was used to sit in judgment it chanced that the soldiers were receiving from the king's secretary who sat at his right hand splendidly apparelled and as this man seemed to be chief in authority Musius thought that this must be the king so he stabbed him to the heart then the guards seized him and dragged him before the king who was greatly enraged and ordered them to burn him alive if he would not confess the whole affair then Musius stood before the king and said see how little thy tortures can avail to make a brave man tell the secrets committed to him and so saying he thrust his right hand into the fire of the altar and held it in the flame with unmoved countenance then the king marveled at his courage and ordered him to be spared and sent away in safety fore said he thou art a brave man and has done more harm to thyself than to me then Musius replied thy generosity oh king prevails more with me than thy threats know that three hundred Roman youths have sworn thy death my lot came first but all the rest remain prepared to do and suffer like myself so he was let go and returned home and was called Scevola or the left-handed because his right hand had been burnt off End of Section 32 Section 33 of The Great Events Volume 1 This is a LibriVox recording All LibriVox recordings are in the public domain For more information or to volunteer, please visit LibriVox.org The Great Events by Famous Historians Volume 1 Edited by Charles F. Horne, Rosseter Johnson and John Rudd Rome Established as a Republic Institution of the Tribunes BC 510-494 by Henry George Liddell Part 2 King Porcina was greatly moved by the danger he had escaped and perceiving the obstinate determination of the Romans, he offered to make peace The Romans gladly gave ear to his words for they were hard-pressed and they consented to give back all the land which they had won from the Etruscans beyond the Tiber and they gave hostages to the king in pledge that they would obey him as they had promised ten youths and ten maidens but one of the maidens, named Chloelia had a man's heart and she persuaded all her fellows to escape from the king's camp and swim across the Tiber At first King Porcina was wroth but then he was much amazed even more than at the deeds of Horatius and Musius So when the Romans sent back Chloelia and her fellow maidens for they would not break faith with the king he baited her return home again and told her she might take whom she pleased of the youth who were hostages who were yet boys and restored them to their parents So the Roman people gave certain lands to young Musius and they set up an equestrian statue to the bold Chloelia at the top of the sacred way and King Porcina returned home and thus the third and most formidable attempt to bring back Tarquin failed When Tarquin now found that he had no hopes of further assistance from Porcina and his Etruscan friends Amilius Octavius, his son-in-law was still chief Then the thirty Latin cities combined together and made this Octavius their dictator and bound themselves to restore their old friend and ally, King Tarquin to the sovereignty of Rome Publius Valerius who was called Publicola was now dead and the Romans looked about for some chief worthy to lead them against the army of the Latins Publicola had been made council four times and his compiers acknowledged him as their chief and all men submitted to him as to a king But now the two councils were jealous of each other, nor had they power of life and death within the city for Valerius, as we saw had taken away the axes from the fascists Now this was one of the reasons why Brutus and the rest made two councils instead of one king for they said that neither one would allow the other to become a tyrant and since they only held office for one year at a time they might be called on to give a count of their government when their year was at an end Yet though this was a safeguard of liberty in times of peace it was hurtful in time of war for the councils chosen by the people in their great assemblies were not always skillful generals or if they were so they were obliged to lay down their command at the year's end So the senate determined in cases of great danger to call upon one of the councils to appoint a single chief who should be called dictator or master of the people He had sovereign power imperium, both in the city and out of the city and the fascists were always carried before him with the axes in them as they had been before the king He could only be appointed for six months but at the end of the time he had to give no account so that he was free to act according to his own judgment having no colleague to interfere with him at the present and no accusations to fear at a future time The dictator was general in chief and he appointed a chief officer to command the knights under him who was called master of the horse and now it appeared to be a fit time to appoint such a chief to take the command of the army against the latins So the first dictator was Titus Lardius and he made Spurius Caches his master of the horse in the year BC 499 eight years after the expulsion of Tarquin but the latins did not declare war for two years after then the senate again ordered the council to name a master of the people or dictator and he named Aulus Pustumius who appointed Titus Abudius one of the councils of that year to be his master of the horse So they led out the Roman army against the latins and they met at the lake Regulus in the land of the Tusculans King Tarquin and all his family were in the host of the latins and that day it was to be determined whether Rome should be again subject to the tyrant and whether or not she was to be chief of the latin cities King Tarquin himself old as he was rode in front of the latins in full armor and when he described the Roman dictator marshalling his men he rode at him but Pustumius wounded him in the side and he was rescued by the latins then also Abudius the master of the horse and Octavius Memilius the dictator of the latins charged one another and Abudius was pierced through the arm and Memilius wounded in the breast but the latin chief nothing daunted returned to battle followed by Titus the king's son with his band of exiles these charged the romans furiously so that they gave way but when Marcus Valerius brother of the great Poplicola saw this he spurred his horse against Titus and rode at him with spear in rest and when Titus turned away and fled Valerius rode furiously after him into the midst of the latin host and a certain latin smote him in the side as he was riding past so that he fell dead and his horse galloped on without a rider so the band of exiles pressed still more fiercely upon the romans and they began to flee then Pustumius the dictator lifted up his voice and vowed a temple to Caster and Pollux the great twin heroes of the Greeks if they would aid him and behold there appeared on his right two horsemen taller and fairer than the sons of men and their horses were as white as snow and they led the dictator and his guard against the exiles and the latins and the romans prevailed against them and Titus Herminius the Titian the friend of Horatius Cochlis ran Memilius the dictator of the latins through the body so that he died but when he was stripping the arms from his foe another ran him through and he was carried back to the camp and he also died then also Titus the king's son was slain and the latins fled and the romans pursued them with great slaughter and took their camp and all that was in it now Pustumius had promised great rewards to those who first broke into the camp and the first who broke in were the two horsemen on white horses but after the battle they were nowhere to be seen or found nor was there any sign of them left save on the hard rock there was the mark of a horses hoof which men said was made by the horse of one of those horsemen but at this very time two youths on white horses rode into the forum at Rome they were covered with dust and sweat and blood like men who had fought long and hard but also were bathed in sweat and foam and they alighted near the temple of Vesta and washed themselves in a spring that gushes out hard by and told all the people in the forum how the battle by the lake Regulus had been fought and won then they mounted their horses and rode away and were seen no more but Pustumius when he heard it knew that these were castor and pollux the great twin brethren of the Greeks and that it was they who fought so well for Rome at the lake Regulus so he built them a temple according to his vow over the place where they had alighted in the forum and their effigies were displayed on Roman coins to the latest ages of the city this was the fourth and last attempt to restore King Tarquin after the great defeat of lake Regulus the latin cities made peace with Rome and agreed to refuse harbourage to the old king he had lost all his sons and accompanied by a few faithful friends of the Roman people and accompanied by a few faithful friends who shared his exile he sought a last asylum at the Greek city of Cumae in the Bay of Naples at the court of the tyrant Aristotomus here he died in the course of a year fourteen years after his expulsion we shall now record not only the slow steps by which the Romans recovered dominion over their neighbours but also the long continued struggle by which the plebeians raised themselves to a level with the patricians who had again become the dominant cast at Rome mixed up with legendary tales as the history still is enough is nevertheless preserved to excite the admiration of all who love to look upon a brave people pursuing a worthy object with patient but earnest resolution never flinching yet seldom injuring their good cause by reckless violence to an Englishman this history ought to be especially dear for more than any other in the annals of the world does it resemble the long enduring constancy and sturdy determination the temperate will and noble self-control with which the commons of his own country secured their rights it was by a struggle of this nature pursued through a century and a half that the character of the Roman people was molded into that form of strength and energy which threw back Hannibal to the coasts of Africa and in half a century more made the masters of the Mediterranean shore there can be no doubt that the wars that followed the expulsion of the Tarquins with the loss of territory that accompanied them must have reduced all orders of men at Rome to great distress but those who most suffered were the plebeians the plebeians at that time consisted entirely of land-holders great and small and husbandmen for in those time the practice of trades and mechanical arts was considered unworthy of a free-born man some of the plebeian families were as wealthy as any among the patricians but the mass of them were penny-yomen who lived on the produce of their small farm and were solely dependent for a living on their own limbs their own thrift and industry most of them lived in the villages and small towns which in those times were thickly sprinkled over the slopes of the Campania the patricians on the other hand resided chiefly within the city if slaves were few as yet they had the labour of their clients available to till their farms and through their clients also they were unable to derive a profit from the practice of trading and crafts which personally neither they nor the plebeians would stoop to pursue besides these sources of profit they had at this time the exclusive use of the public land a subject on which we shall have to speak more at length hereafter at present it will be sufficient to say that the public land now spoken of had been the crown land or regal domain which on the expulsion of the kings had been forfeited to the state the patricians being in possession of all actual power engrossed possession of it and seemed to have paid a very small quit rent to the treasury for this great advantage besides this the necessity of service in the army or militia might more justly be called acted very differently on the rich landholder and the small yeoman the latter being called out with sword and spear for the summers campaign as his turn came round was obliged to leave his farm uncared for and his crop could only be reaped by the kind aid of neighbours whereas the rich proprietor by his clients or his hired labourers could render the required military service without robbing the land of his own labour the territory of Rome was so narrow and the enemy's borders so close at hand that any night the stout yeoman might find himself reduced to beggary by seeing his crops destroyed, his cattle driven away and his homestead burnt in a sudden foray the patricians and rich plebeians were it is true exposed to the same contingencies but wealth will always provide some defence and it is reasonable to think that the larger proprietors provided places of refuge into which they could drive their cattle and secure much of their property such as the peal towers common in our own border counties thus the patricians and their clients might escape the storm which destroyed the isolated yeoman to this must be added that the public land seems to have been mostly in pastureage and therefore the property of the patricians must have chiefly consisted in cattle which was more easily saved from depredation than the crops of the plebeian lastly the prophet derived from the trades and business of their clients being secured by the walls of the city gave to the patricians the command of all the capital that could exist in a state of society so simple and crude and afforded at once a means of repairing their own losses and also of obtaining a dominion over the poor yeoman for some time after the expulsion of the tarquins it was necessary for the patricians to treat the plebeians with liberality the institutions of the commons king kingservius suspended by tarquins were partially at least restored it is said even that one of the first councils was a plebeian and that he chose several of the leading plebeians into the senate but after the death of porcina and when the fear of the tarquins ceased all these flattering signs disappeared the council seems still to have been elected by the centuriate assembly but the curiate assembly retained in their own hands the right of conferring the imperium which amounted to a positive veto on the election by the larger body all the names of the early councils except in the first year of the republic are patrician but if by chance a council displayed popular tendencies it was in the power of the senate and patricians to suspend his power by the appointment of a dictator thus practically the patrician burgesses again became the populace or body politic of Rome it must not here be forgotten that this dominant body was an exclusive caste that is it consisted of a limited number of noble families who allowed none of their members to marry with persons born out of the pale of their own order the child of a patrician and a plebeian or of a patrician and a client was not considered as born in lawful wedlock and however proud the blood which it derived from one parent the child sank to the condition of the parent of lower rank this was expressed in roman language by saying that there was no right of canubium between patricians and any inferior classes of men nothing can be more in politic than such restrictions nothing more hurtful even to those who counted their privilege exclusive or oligarchical pales families become extinct and the breed decays both in bodily strength and mental vigor happily for Rome the patricians were unable long to maintain themselves as a separate caste yet the plebeians might long have submitted to this state of social and political inferiority had not their personal distress and the severe laws of Rome driven them to seek relief by claiming to be recognized as members of the body politic the severe laws of which we speak were those of debtor and creditor if a roman borrowed money he was expected to enter into a contract with his creditor to pay the debt by a certain day and if on that day he was unable to discharge his obligation he was summoned before the patrician judge who was authorized by the law to assign the defaulter as a bondsman to his creditor that is the debtor was obliged to pay by his own labor the debt which he was unable to pay in money or if a man incurred a debt without such formal contract the rule was still more imperious for in that case the law itself fixed the day of payment and if after a lapse of 30 days from that date the debt was not discharged the creditor was empowered to arrest the person of his debtor to load him with chains and feed him on bread and water for another 30 days if the money still remained unpaid he might put him to death or sell him as a slave to the highest bidder or if there were several creditors they might hew his body in pieces and divide it and in this last case the law provided with scrupulous providence against the evasion by which the merchant of Venice escaped the cruelty of the Jew for the roman law said that whether a man cut more or less than his due he should incur no penalty these atrocious provisions however defeated their own object for there was no more unprofitable way in which the body of a debtor could be disposed of such being the law of debtor and creditor it remains to say that the creditors were chiefly of the patrician caste and the debtors almost exclusively of the poor sort among the plebeians the patricians were the creditors because from their occupancy of the public land or engrossing the profits to be derived from trade and crafts they alone had spare capital to lend the plebeian yeoman were the debtors because their independent position made them at that time helpless vassals, clients, serfs or by whatever name dependence are called do not suffer from the ravages of a predatory war like free land-holders because the loss falls on their lords or patrons but when the independent yeomans crops are destroyed his cattle lifted and his homestead in ashes he must himself repair the loss this was as we have said the condition of many Roman plebeians to rebuild their houses and restock their farms they borrowed the patricians were their creditors and the law instead of protecting the small-holders like the law of the Hebrews delivered them over into serfdom or slavery thus the free plebeian population reduced to a state of mere dependency and the history of Rome might have presented a repetition of monotonous severity like that of Sparta or of Venice but it was ordained otherwise the distress and oppression of the plebeians led them to demand and to obtain political protectors by whose means they were slowly but surely raised to the equality of rights and privileges with their rulers and oppressors these protectors were the famous tombs of the plebs we will now repeat the no less famous legends by which their first creation was accounted for it was by the common reckoning fifteen years after the expulsion of the Tarquins BC 494 that the plebeians were roused to take the first step in the assertion of their rights after the battle of Lake Regulus the plebeians had reason to expect some relaxation of the law of debt in consideration of the great surfaces they had rendered in the war but none was granted the patrician creditors began to avail themselves of the severity of the law against their plebeian debtors the discontent that followed was great and the councils prepared to meet the storm these were Appius Claudius the proud Sabine noblemen who had lately become a Roman and who now led the high patrician party with all the unbending energy of a chieftain whose will had never been disputed by his obedient clansmen and Publius Servilius who represented the milder and more liberal party of the Fathers it chanced that an aged man rushed into the forum on a market day loaded with chains clothed with a few scanty rags his hair and beard long and squalid his whole appearance ghastly as of one oppressed by long want of food and air he was recognized as a brave soldier the old comrade of many who throng the forum he told his story how that in the late wars the enemy had burned his house and plundered his little farm that to replace his losses he had borrowed money of a patrician that his cruel creditor in default of payment had thrown him into prison and tormented him with chains and a tail the passions of the people rose high Apius was obliged to conceal himself while Servilius undertook to plead the cause of the plebeians with the senate meantime news came to the city that the Roman territory was invaded by the Volcian foe the councils proclaimed a levy but the stout yeoman one and all refused to give in their names and take the military oath Servilius now came forward and proclaimed by edict that no citizen should be imprisoned for debt so long as the war lasted and that at the close of the war he would propose an alteration of the law the plebeians trusted him and the enemy was driven back but when the popular council returned with his victorious soldiers he was denied a triumph and the senate led by Apius refused to make any concession in favor of the debtors the anger of the plebeians rose higher and higher when again news came that the enemy was ravaging the lands of Rome the senate, well knowing that the power of the councils would avail nothing since Apius was regarded as a tyrant and Servilius would not choose again to become an instrument for deceiving the people appointed a dictator to lead the citizens into the field but to make the act as popular as might be they named Marcus Valerius a descendant of the great Poplicola the same scene was repeated over again Valerius protected the plebeians against their creditors while they were at war and promised them relief when war was over but when the danger was gone by Apius again prevailed the senate refused to listen to Valerius and the dictator laid down his office calling gods and men to witness that he was not responsible for his breach of faith the plebeians who Valerius had led forth were still under arms still bound by their military oath and Apius, with the violent patricians, refused to disband them the army therefore having lost Valerius their proper general chose two of themselves Lucius Junius Brutus and Lucius Cicinius Belutus by name and under their command they marched northward and occupied the hill which commands the junction of the Fiber and the Anio here, at a distance of about two miles from Rome they determined to settle in form a new city leaving Rome to the patricians and their clients but the latter were not willing to lose the best of their soldiery the cultivators of the greater part of the Roman territory and they sent repeated embassies to persuade the seceders to return they however turned a deaf ear to all promises for they had too often been deceived Apius now urged the senate and patricians to leave the plebeians to themselves the nobles and their clients he said could well maintain themselves in the city without such base aid but wiser sentiments prevailed Titus Larchus and Marcus Valerius both of whom had been dictators with Menenius Agrippa an old patrician of popular character were empowered to treat with the people still their leaders were unwilling to listen till all Menenius addressed them in the famous fable of the belly and the members in times of old said he when every member of the body could think for itself and each had a separate will of its own they all, with one consent resolved to revolt against the belly they knew no reason they said why they should toil for morning till night in its service while the belly lay at its ease in the midst of all and indolently grew fat upon their labours accordingly they agreed to support it no more the feet vowed they would carry it no longer the hands that they would do no more work the teeth that they would not chew a morsel of meat even if it were placed between them thus resolved the members for a time showed their spirit and kept their resolution but soon they found that instead of mortifying the belly they only undid themselves they languished for a while and perceived too late that it was owing to the belly that they had strength to work and courage to mutiny the moral of this fable was plain the people readily applied it to the patricians and themselves and their leaders proposed terms of agreement to the patrician messengers they required that the debtors who could not pay should have their debts cancelled and that those who had been given up into slavery should be restored to freedom this for the past and as a security for the future they demanded that two of themselves should be appointed for the sole purpose of protecting the plebeians against the patrician magistrates if they acted cruelly or unjustly toward the debtors the two officers thus to be appointed were called tribunes of the plebs their persons were to be sacred and unviolable during their year of office whence their office is called sancta potestas they were never to leave the city during that time and their houses were to be opened day and night that all who needed their aid might demand it without delay this concession, apparently great was much modified by the fact that the patricians insisted on the election of the tribunes being made at the comitia of the centuries in which they themselves and their wealthy clients could usually command a majority at other times the number of the tribunes was increased to five and afterward to ten they were elected at the comitia of the tribes they had the privilege of attending all sittings of the senate though they were not considered members of that famous body above all they acquired the great and perilous power of the veto by which any one of their number might stop any law or annul any decree of the senate without cause or reason assigned this right of veto was called the right of intercession on the spot where this treaty was made an altar was built to jupiter the causer and banisher of fear for the plebeians had gone thither in fear and returned from it in safety the place was called mon-sacher or the sacred hill for ever after and the laws by which the sanctity of the tribunition office was secured were called the legis sacrate the plebeians were not properly magistrates or officers for they had no express functions or official duties to discharge they were simply representatives and protectors of the plebs at the same time however with the institution of these protective officers the plebeians were allowed the right of having two ediles chosen from their own body whose business it was to preserve order and decency in the streets to provide for the repair of all buildings other functions partly belonging to police officers and partly to commissioners of public works end of section 33 section 34 of the great events volume 1 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 David Gillespie Ashland, Kentucky the great events by famous historians volume 1 edited by Charles F. Horn Rossiter Johnson and John Rudd the battle of Marathon BC 490 part 1 by Sir Edward Shepard Creasy Marathon a name to conjure up such visions of glory as few battlefields have ever shown heroism and determination and determination on the part of the Athenians supported by the small but ever noble band of Platians who came to their aid who can read the repulse of the Persians on this ever memorable plane without experiencing a thrill of admiration and delight at the achievement the whole world since that battle has looked upon it as a victory of the underdog the great engagements of modern times have been likened unto it for long it has been the synonym of brave despair the conquering of an enemy many times superior in numbers to its opponents this attempt of the Persians on the Greeks was not the first against them that took place BC 493 under Mardonius this commander had reduced Ionia dethroned the despots and established democracy throughout the land after this he turned his attention to Eritrea and Athens taking his army across the straits in vessels but the ships of war and transports were wrecked by a mighty headwind as they rounded Mount Athos many were driven ashore about 300 of them were totally lost and some 20,000 men perished in the catastrophe all the trouble between the Persians and Greeks arose over the capture of Sardis by the Ionians BC 500 the city was burned and then the Ionians retreated it was to avenge this that Persia determined on a punitive expedition against the Greeks the Ionians and Malaysian men were mostly slain by the Persians the women and children led into captivity and the temples in the cities burned and razed to the ground in the battle of Marathon which succeeded these events we have a vivid picture presented to us increases glowing words 2340 years ago the council of Athenian officers was summoned on the slope of one of the mountains that look over the plain of Marathon on the eastern coast of Attica the immediate subject of their meeting was to consider whether they should give battle to an enemy that lay encamped on the shore beneath them but on the result of their deliberations depended not merely the fate of two armies but the whole future progress of human civilization there were eleven members of that council of war ten were the generals who were then annually elected at Athens one for each of the local tribes into which the Athenians were divided each general led the man of his own tribe and each was invested with equal military authority but one of the archons was also associated with them in the general command of the army this magistrate was termed the polymark or war ruler he had the privilege of leading the right wing of the army in battle and his vote in the council of war was equal to that of any of the generals a noble Athenian named Calimacius was the war ruler of this year and as such stood listening to the earnest discussion of the ten generals they had indeed deep matter for anxiety though little aware how momentous to mankind were the votes they were about to give or how the generations to come would read with interest the record of their discussions it's all before them the invading forces of the mighty empire which had in the last 50 years shattered and enslaved nearly all the kingdoms and principal cities of the then known world they knew that all the resources of their own country were comprised in the little army entrusted to their guidance they saw before them a chosen host of the great king sent to wreak his special wrath on that country and on the other little Greek community which had dared to aid his rebels and burn the capital of one of his provinces that victorious host had already fulfilled half its mission of vengeance Eritrea the confederate of Athens in the bold march against Sardis nine years before had fallen in the last few days and the Athenian generals the knights the island of Agilia in which the Persians had deposited their Eritrean prisoners whom they had reserved to be led away captives into Upper Asia there to hear their doom from the lips of King Darius himself moreover the men of Athens knew that in the camp before them was their own banished tyrant who was seeking to be reinstated by their insimeters in a despotic sway over any remnant of his countrymen that might survive the sack of their town and might be left behind as too worthless for leading away into Median bondage the numerical disparity between the force which the Athenian commanders had under them and that which they were called on to encounter was hopelessly apparent the historians who wrote nearest to the time of the battle do not pretend to give any detailed statements of the numbers engaged but there are sufficient data for our making a general estimate every free Greek was trained to military duty and from the incessant border wars between the different states few Greeks reached the age of manhood without having seen some service but the muster role of free Athenian citizens of an age fit for military duty never exceeded 30,000 and that this epoch probably did not amount to two thirds of that number moreover the poorer portion of these were unprovided with the equipments and untrained to the operations of the regular infantry some detachments of the best armed troops would be required to garrison the city itself and man the various fortified posts in the territory so that it is impossible to reckon the fully equipped force that marched from Athens to Marathon when the news of the Persian landing arrived at higher than 10,000 men with one exception the other Greeks held back from seeing them Sparta had promised assistance but the Persians had landed on the sixth day of the moon and a religious scruple delayed the march of Spartan troops till the moon should have reached its full from one quarter only and that from the most unexpected one did Athens receive aid at the moment of her great peril some years before this time the little state of Plataea in Beotia being hard pressed by her powerful neighbor Thebes had asked the protection of Athens and had owed to an Athenian army the rescue of her independence now when it was noised over Greece that the midday had come from the uttermost parts of the earth to destroy Athens the brave Plataeans un-solicited to resist the defense and to share the fortunes of their benefactors the general levy of the Plataeans amounted only to a thousand men in this little column marching from their city along the southern ridge of Mount Scythoron and thence across the attic territory joined the Athenian forces above Marathon almost immediately before the battle the reinforcement was numerically small but the gallant spirit of the men who composed it must have made it of tenfold value to the Athenians and its presence must have gone far to dispel the cheerless feeling of being deserted and friendless which the delay of the Spartan succors was calculated to create among the Athenian ranks this generous daring of their weak but true-hearted ally was never forgotten at Athens the Plataeans were made the civil fellow countrymen of the Athenians except the right of exercising certain political functions and from that time forth in the solemn sacrifices at Athens the public prayers were offered up for a joint blessing from heaven upon the Athenians and the Plataeans also after the junction of the column from Plataean the Athenian commanders must have had under them about eleven thousand fully armed and disciplined infantry and probably a large number of irregular light-armed troops as besides the poorer citizens who went to the field armed with javelins, cutlasses and targets each regular heavy-armed soldier was attended in the camp by one or more slaves who were armed like the inferior freemen cavalry or archers the Athenians on this occasion had none and the use in the field of military engines was not at that period introduced into ancient warfare contrasted with their own scanty forces the Greek commanders saw stretched before them along the shores of the winding bay the intense and shipping of the varied nations who marched to do the bidding of the king of the eastern world the difficulty of finding transports and of securing provisions would form the only limit to the numbers of a Persian army nor is there any reason to suppose the estimate of Justin exaggerated who rates at a hundred thousand the force which on this occasion under the satraps Datus and Artafernes from the Silesian shores against the devoted coasts of Ubia and Attica and after largely deducting from this total so as to allow for mere mariners and camp followers there must still have remained fearful odds against the national levies of the Athenians nor could Greek generals all that confidence in the superior quality of their troops whichever since the battle of Marathon has animated Europeans in conflicts with Asiatics as for instance in the after struggles between Greece and Persia or when the Roman legions encountered the myriads of Methodites and Tigranes or as is the case in the Indian campaigns of our own regiments on the contrary up to the day of Marathon the Medes and Persians were reputed invincible they had more than once met Greek troops in Asia Minor in Cyprus in Egypt and had invariably beaten them nothing can be stronger than the expressions used by the early Greek writers respecting the terror which the name of the Medes inspired the prostration of men's spirits before the apparently resistless career of the Persian arms it is therefore little to be wondered at that the 5 of the 10 Athenian generals shrank from the prospect of fighting a pitched battle against an enemy so superior in numbers and so formidable in military renown their own position on the heights and offered great advantages to a small defending force against the sailing masses they deemed it mere foolhardiness to descend into the plain to be trampled down by the Asiatic horse overwhelmed with the archery or cut to pieces by the invincible veterans of Cambysus and Cyprus moreover Sparta the great war state of Greece had been applied to and had promised succor to Athens though the religious observance which the Dorians paid to certain times and seasons had for the present delayed their march was it not wise at any rate to wait till the Spartans came up and to have the help of the best troops in Greece before they exposed themselves to the shock of the dreaded Medes specious as these reasons might appear the other five generals were for speedier and bolder operations and fortunately for Athens and for the world one of them was a man not only of the highest military genius but also of that energetic character which impresses its own type and ideas upon spirits feebler in conception Meltheides was the head of one of the noblest houses at Athens he ranked the Asidae among his ancestry and the blood of Achilles flowed in the veins of the hero of Marathon one of his immediate ancestors had acquired the dominion of the Thracian Cursonies and thus the family became at the same time Athenian citizens and Thracian princes this occurred at the time when Pisastratus was tyrant of Athens two of the relatives of Meltheides an uncle of the same name and the brother named Stesagoras had ruled the Cursonies before Meltheides became its prince he had been brought up at Athens in the house of his father Simon who was renowned throughout Greece for his victories in the Olympic races and two must have been possessed of great wealth the sons of Pisastratus who succeeded their father in the tyranny at Athens caused Simon to be assassinated but they treated the young Meltheides with favor and kindness and when his brother Stesagoras died in the Cursonies they sent him out there as Lord of the Principality this was about 28 years before the battle of Marathon and it is with his arrival in the Cursonies that our first knowledge of the career and character of Meltheides commences refined in the first act recorded of him the proof of the same resolute and unscrupulous spirit that marked his mature age his brother's authority in the Principality taken by war and revolt Meltheides determined to rule more securely on his arrival he kept close within his house as if he was mourning for his brother the principal men of the Cursonies hearing of this assembled from all the towns and districts and went together to the house of Meltheides on a visit of condolence as soon as he had thus got them in his power he made them all prisoners he then asserted and maintained his own absolute authority in the peninsula taking into his pay a body of 500 regular troops and strengthening his interest by marrying the daughter of the king of the neighboring Thracians when the Persian power was extended to the Hellespont and its neighborhood Meltheides as Prince of the Cursonies submitted to King Darius and he was one of the numerous tributary rulers who led their contingents of men to serve in the Persian army in the expedition against Scythia Meltheides and the vassal Greeks of Asia Minor were left by the Persian king in charge of the bridge across the Danube when the invading army crossed that river and plunged into the wilds of the country that now is Russia in vain pursuit of the ancestors of the modern Cossacks when learning of the reverses that Darius met within the Scythian wilderness Meltheides proposed to his companions that they should break the bridge down and leave the Persian king and his army to perish by famine and the Scythian arrows the rulers of the Asiatic Meltheides who Meltheides addressed shrank from this bold but ruthless stroke against the Persian power and Darius returned in safety but it was known what advice Meltheides had given and the vengeance of Darius was thenceforth specially directed against the man who had counseled such a deadly blow against his empire and his person the occupation of the Persian arms in other quarters left Meltheides for some years after this in possession of the Cursonese but it was precarious and interrupted he however availed himself of the opportunity which his position gave him of conciliating the good will of his fellow countrymen at Athens by conquering and placing under the Athenian authority the islands of Lemnos and Imbros to which Athens had ancient claims but which she had never previously been able to bring into complete subjection at length in BC 494 the complete suppression of the Ionian revolt by the Persians left their armies and fleets at liberty to act against the enemies of the great king to the west of the helispan a strong squadron of Phoenician galleys was sent against the Cursonese Meltheides knew that resistance was hopeless and while the Phoenicians were attended us he loaded five galleys with all the treasure that he could collect and sailed away for Athens the Phoenicians fell in with him and chased him hard along the north of the Aegean one of his galleys on board of which was his eldest son Metheicus was actually captured but Meltheides with the other four succeeded in reaching the friendly coast of Imbros in safety thence he afterward proceeded to Athens and resumed his station as a free citizen of the Athenian commonwealth the Athenians at this time had recently expelled Hipeas the son of Pisistratus the last of their tyrants they were in the full glow of their newly recovered liberty and equality and the constitutional changes of chlisthenes had inflamed the republican zeal to the utmost Meltheides had enemies in Athens and these availing themselves of the state of popular feeling brought him to trial for his life for having been tyrant of the Cursonese the charge did not necessarily import any acts of cruelty or wrong to individuals it was founded on no specific law but it was based on the horror with which the Greeks of that age regarded every man who made himself arbitrary master of his fellow men and exercised irresponsible dominion over them the fact of Meltheides having so ruled the Cursonese was undeniable but the question which the Athenians assembled and judgment must have tried was whether Meltheides although tyrant of the Cursonese deserved punishment as an Athenian citizen the eminent service that he had done the state in conquering Lemnos and Imbrose for it pleaded strongly in his favor the people refused to convict him he stood high in public opinion and when the common invasion of the Persians was known the people wisely elected him one of their generals for the year two other men of high eminence in history though their renown was achieved at a later period than that of Meltheides were also among the 10 Athenian generals at Marathon one was the Mysticles the future founder of the Athenian Navy and the destined victor of Salamis the other was Aristides who afterward led the Athenian troops at Platea and choose integrity and just popularity acquired for his country when the Persians had finally been repulsed the advantageous preeminence of being acknowledged by half of the Greeks as their imperial leader and protector it is not recorded what part either the Mysticles or Aristides took in the debate of the Council of War at Marathon but from the character of the Mysticles his boldness and his intuitive genius for extemporizing the best measures in every emergency a quality which the greatest of historians ascribed to him beyond all his contemporaries we may well believe that the vote of the Mysticles was for prompt and decisive action on the vote of Aristides it may be more difficult to speculate his predilection for the Spartans may have made him wish to wait till they came up but though circumspect he was neither timid as a soldier nor as a politician and the bold advice of Miltiades may probably have found an Aristides a willing most assuredly had found in him a candid hearer Miltiades felt no hesitation as to the course which the Athenian army ought to pursue and earnestly did he press his opinion on his brother generals practically acquainted with the organization of the Persian armies Miltiades felt convinced of the superiority of the Greek troops if properly handled he saw with a military eye of a great general the advantage which the position of the forces gave him for a sudden attack and as a profound politician he felt the perils of remaining inactive and of giving treachery time to ruin the Athenian cause one officer of the council of war had not yet voted this was Callemicus the war ruler the votes of the general were five and five so that the voice of Callemicus would be decisive when that vote in all human probability the destiny of all the nations of the world depended Miltiades turned to him and in simple soldiery eloquence the substance of which we may read faithfully reported in Herodotus who had conversed with a veterans of Marathon the great Athenian thus adjured his countrymen in battle it now rests with you Callemicus either to enslave Athens or by assuring her freedom to ruin yourself an immortality of fame such as not even Harmonius and Aristogaton have acquired for never since the Athenians were a people were they in such danger as they are in this moment if they bow the knee to these they are to be given up to Hippias and you know what they will then have to suffer but if Athens comes victorious out of this contest she has it in her to become the first city of Greece your vote is to decide whether we are to join battle or not if we do not bring on a battle presently some factious intrigue will disunite the Athenians and the city will be betrayed to the Mades but if we fight before there is anything rotten in the state of Athens I believe that provided the gods will give fair play and no favor we are able to get the best of it in an engagement the vote of the brave war ruler was gained the council determined to give battle and such was the ascendancy of the military eminence of Miltiades that his brother generals one and all gave up their days of command to him and cheerfully acted under his orders fearful however of creating any jealousy and of so failing to obtain the vigorous cooperation of all parts of the small army Miltiades waited till the day when the chief command would have come round to him before he led the troops against the enemy the inaction of the Asiatic commanders during this interval appears strange at first sight but Hipeas was with them and they and he were aware of their chance of a bloodless conquest through the machinations of his partisans among the Athenians the nature of the ground also explains in many points the tactics of the opposite generals before the battle as well as the operations of the troops during the engagement end of section 34 the battle of Marathon part 1