108 STORY OF THE ROMAN PEOPLE
became a most severe censor . He declared continually that Car thage must be destroyed . Carthage defended herself against Masinissa , and in the attempt to ward off her overthrow at the hands of the Romans, entered upon the Third Punic War in 149 B. C. Carthage was destroyed ( 146 B. c . ) . Numantia revolted and was forced to surrender to the Romans. Rome became the capital of the world . .
SUGGESTIONS FOR WRITTEN WORK
Two Romans discuss the plans of Philip and Antiochus . A boy describes the announcement at the games of the victory of Cynoscephalæ .
Why should Cato tax luxuries ?
THE GRACCHI ; THE RISE OF MARIUS
No nation is the same at the end of a war as at its beginning . The Romans had been carrying on warfare for a long period , and they were quite different people from the Romans of earlier times . They now tried to imitate the ways of the East , and especially of Greece. It had become the fashion to look down upon everything Roman and to think everything Grecian far superior . The Latin language now seemed to the Romans common and unpolished . They learned Greek and sent their sons to Greece for the last years of their educa tion . They scorned the old simple ways and delighted in the Eastern fashions of living in luxury and spending a great deal of money for amusements.
IX
THE GRACCHI ; THE RISE OF MARIUS 109 .
The victories of the Romans had brought a vast amount of wealth to Rome , for all the lands that she had conquered were obliged to pay tribute to her . There were new oppor tunities for men to make large fortunes ; for instance , if a man succeeded in getting himself appointed governor of a pro vince , he did not often try to rule the province for the good of the people , but got as much money from them as possible, and it made small difference to him whether by fair means or foul . Then he returned to Rome to try to make more display than any one else . Occa sionally , an unjust gover nor was pro secuted on his return ; but this was small gain to the suffering pro vincials , for now the governors wrung all the more from them to make sure of having enough money to bribe their judges if they were brought to account .
A Roman was no longer satisfied to live on a little farm and till it with his own hands like Cincinnatus; he must own a wide estate and have it cultivated for him . So many
Boulanger
SLAVE MARKET AT ROME
wanted these large estates that land became dear, and a poor man could not buy even a small farm . He could not easily get work to do on one of these large places, because most of them were now cared for by slaves . It was a common custom to sell as slaves the people of a conquered city ; and the Ro mans had taken so many cities that slaves had become ex ceedingly cheap . It was far less expensive to buy them than to pay wages to free men . But how did the poor men live ? Some went to the towns and hung upon some wealthy men for their support . Some became soldiers and fought, not to save their country or to strengthen her power, but merely to get their wages and the plunder of conquered cities . There was little hope of any one's becoming a senator un less he was rich . The Romans were divided into two classes : the rich , who cared for little but display and amusements, and the poor , who were becoming more and more anxious to be idle and luxurious , and who did not care who supported them if they could only get rid of work . The rich were grow ing richer , and the poor were growing poorer , and both cared chiefly for living idly and comfortably and being amused . In their amusements the Romans were as stern and cruel as in their warfare. Their entertainments were chiefly the theatre and the gladiatorial combats . Their first knowledge of the theatre came from an educated Greek of Tarentum named Liv'i-us An-dro-ni'cus . When the Romans captured Tarentum , they brought him to Rome as a slave . He learned Latin and translated some Greek plays . This was a new diversion for the Romans . They gave him a building on the Aventine Hill and went in crowds to see him act . From his a
110 STORY OF THE
ROMAN PEOPLE
THE GRACCHI ; THE RISE OF MARIUS 111
times , the Romans had liked the drama ; that is , they liked comedy, and they wanted plays that were amusing and full of jests , often the coarser the bet ter. Tragedy seemed to them dull and stupid ; and , indeed , it is no won der that a man who had seen the destruction of Carthage or Corinth should think a tragedy as acted on the stage a rather tame proceeding . The Romans had always been stern , and now they had become cruel and often brutal . In the ath letic contests they were no longer satisfied with racing and wrestling ; they demanded to see real fights and the spilling of real blood . At first they were entertained by watching
( From a Statue in the Vatican ) battles between wild beasts , lions , leopards, panthers, and elephants , sometimes hundreds of them fighting together in the same arena ; but this soon ceased to be interesting . Those who are cruel to animals always become cruel to people ; and the Romans soon wanted the excitement of seeing men fight and die . It was an old custom among the Etruscans to have combats be tween prisoners at the grave of a warrior. This was intro duced into Rome , and the Romans found it so entertaining that they soon ceased to limit it to funerals or to single pairs of combatants . These fighters were called glad'i - a -tors, from gladius, the Latin word for sword. At first the gladiators were
AN ACTOR