CLASSICAL GREECE AND ROME

POLITICS	IDEAS	ARTS	RELIGION
800 B.C.E. 700 600		Homer Aesop Sappho	Mythology Bacchanals Pythagoras
500  Democracy		Aeschylus       Myron Sophocles       Phidias Euripides        Polykleitos Aristophanes
400           Alexander the        Great 300	Socrates      Hippocrates Plato Aristotle Diogenes Euclid Archimedes	Praxiteles
200  Hannibal 100           Julius Caesar 1 C.E.  Augustus           Roman Empire 100 200 300           Constantine           Empire split 400  Barbarians             invade           Rome falls 500	Marcus Aurelius	Virgil	Christianity

38. THE GODS OF MOUNT OLYMPUS

    The Greeks created their gods in their own image--loveable because they
were so human.  But the gods were the third generation of powers to rule the
universe.  The first generation, GAEA (Mother Earth) and URANUS (Father
Heaven), produced many monsters and the giants called titans*

    The TITANS revolted under the leadership of CRONUS (Saturn), and the
giants walked the earth for millions of years.  Chronus' children were the gods,
who finally revolted.  Chronus fled to Rome--where people celebrated his feast,
the Saturnalia, at the end of each year.  The gods won because one of the
titans, PROMETHEUS, had helped them.  Later, Prometheus helped man with the
gift of fire, and the jealous gods had him chained to a mountain and tortured.
They forced another titan, ATLAS, to hold up the sky.

     ZEUS (Jupiter)--king of the gods, ruler of heaven and earth.  He was always
     chasing after other goddesses and other women.  His wife, HERA (Juno)
     constantly hounded and scolded him, go he adopted many clever
     disguises for his romantic escapades.

POSEIDON (Neptune)--god of the sea, and brother of Zeus.

     PLUTO--god of Hades, the underworld where the unborn and the dead stay.  He
     was the third brother.  The Greeks believed that Hades was mainly a
     happy place.  When it came time for a person to be born, he left Hades by
     wading across the River Lethe, river of forgetfulness.  After his life on
     earth, he re-entered Hades by crossing the black River Styx, A three-
     headed dog prevented anyone from leaving by this route.  For a penny, a
     boatman carried the dead across the Styx into the happiness of Hades.
     So the Greeks buried their dead with a coin between their teeth.  Without
     it, the dead had to wait one hundred years for a free ride.  Proper burial
     was important.

     DEMETER (Ceres)--goddess of agriculture.  By her brother Zeus, she had a
     daughter PERSEPHONE, whom Pluto kidnaped and took to Hades to be his
     bride.  In a compromise agreement, Persephone was allowed to return to
     the earth half of each year; then her mother bursts into happiness and
     makes things grow.  The other half, she must return to Hades, and
     Demeter forgets her work in her sorrow.

     ATHENA (Minerva)--goddess of wisdom, and special protector of Athens.  She
     was the daughter of Zeus.

     ARES (Mars)--god of war.  The Greeks despised him; the Romans loved him.
     He was the son of Zeus and Hera,

     APHRODITE (Venus)--goddess of love and beauty.  Some versions say she was
     the daughter of Zeus by a niece of Prometheus; other versions say she
     was born out of the sea foam.  She married HEPHAESTUS (Vulcan), the
     crippled weapon-maker of the gods.

     APOLLO--god of the sun, music, and athletics.  He represents the Greek ideal:
     the well developed mind in the well developed body.  His twin sister
     ARTEMIS (Diana) was goddess of the moon and of hunting.  They were
     children of Zeus and his cousin.

HERMES (Mercury)--messenger of the gods, son of Zeus and Atlas' daughter.

     BACCHUS (Dionysus)--god of wine.  He was not related to the other gods, and
     only came later.  People worshiped Bacchus with drunken feasts and
     drama festivals.  This probably started as a separate religion.

    The roots of Greek mythology go way back.  On the neighboring island of
Crete, traders had built cities and palaces back in Egyptian times.  The walls
show graceful paintings of athletes leaping over angry bulls.  This was a
dangerous sport, and the athletes may have been drafted from other nearby
lands.

    Two groups settled the mainland of Greece.  First came blond blue-eyed
farmers.  Their descendants at Athens said that their King Theseus had stopped
the yearly sending of young people to the bulls at Crete.  These people
invented the safety pin.  They also fought the famous war with Troy around
1200 B.C.E.

    The war started when Helen, wife of one of the Greek kings, ran off with
Prince Paris of Troy.  The Greeks followed and fought the Trojans
unsuccessfully for ten years.  Then the Greeks pretended to go home, leaving a
huge wooden horse as a peace offering.  The Trojans hauled the trophy into
their city.  That night, Greek soldiers climbed out of the hollow horse, and
opened the gates to the waiting Greek army.  The Greeks destroyed Troy, and
Helen went back with her husband.

    Then a second group of dark-haired shepherds invaded Greece.  Their
descendants at Sparta said their ancestor was Hercules, the strong man who
acted first and regretted later.  Cities and farm lay deserted and destroyed.  It
seemed that civilized life had come to an end, but actually a far greater
civilization was in the painful process of being born.  For shepherds told stories
about the stars and heroes of past ages.  They explained nature as the actions
of certain gods.  Wandering minstrels like the blind poet, Homer, spread these
explanations of life throughout Greece.  He wrote The Iliad about the Trojan
War, and The Odyssey about the journey back home.  The different groups of
Greeks began to mix, for they all shared a common faith.

    Once Greek civilization began, it moved through the normal stages of
development much faster than any other civilization has.  No one seems to
know why.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

39. ATHLETICS: WORSHIP WITH BODY AND MIND

    Greeks believed that the highest honor they could pay their gods was to
become godlike, themselves--as physically and mentally perfect as possible.  In
the religious festival of Zeus at Olympia, a display of your athletic
accomplishment became one of the most important ways of worshiping.  And of
course you displayed your entire magnificent body nude.

    From the beginning, the Greeks considered themselves superior to all
other nations, because only Greeks had enough confidence in themselves to
walk about nude.  Young men--especially soldiers--wore only a short cape,
which they took off or flung back over their shoulders during the hot part of the
day. The common garment for mature men and for women was a bedsheet
draped around the body to leave the entire left flank bare. "Gymnasium" means
a place where athletes practice naked.

    The Olympics began as a simple footrace the length of the stadium
(about 200 yards or 185 meters). Then the other events were added: two longer
footraces, wrestling, boxing, a no-rules scuffle called pankration (pan-KRAT-
ee-on), horse racing, and chariot racing. But the highest honor went to the all-
around athlete who won the five-part Pentathlon: broad jump, discus throw,
running, javelin throw, and wrestling.  His prize was a simple crown of olive
leaves--and glory.  People from his home town might have a statue made of
him.  Or someone might hire a famous poet (such as the long -winded    
Pindar) to write a new song about this latest hero,

    The Olympics were so important that Greeks organized their calendar by
Olympiads--the four-year period between each celebration.  The Olympics
were so important that any wars between cities stopped every four years, so
people could travel to and from Olympia in peace.

    Three more national competitions sprang up.  The Pythian games at
Delphi grew out of the musical contest celebrating Apollo.  The prize was a
wreath of laurel leaves.  The Isthmian games at Corinth developed out of a
boating festival in honor of Poseidon.  A pine wreath went to the victor there.
Another festival to Zeus at Nemea offered a crown made of parsley.

    And there were local contests.  Biggest of these was the Panathenea
(pan-ath-en-AY-a) honoring Athens at Athens.  Money and prizes went for the
best poetry, music, and athletics.  There was even a contest in "manly
excellence," where men were judged for their combination of handsome
physique, grace of movement, strength, quick mind, and upstanding moral
character.

    Different cities had different ideas of education.  The Spartans wanted to
produce good soldiers.  At age seven, boys were taken from their homes and
trained to endure beatings and all the hardships of a soldier.  They did not
marry or leave the army until age thirty.

    Training was very different in Athens.  Young men there were expected to
develop a good mind in a good body.  They studied music, poetry,
mathematics, and government, as well as athletics.  Athletes exercised to the
beat of music.  The citizens of Athens appreciated beauty--especially the
beauty of the human body.  Athletes performed nude, and artists portrayed
them that way.  Here is what one Olympic pentathlon winner from Athens had
to say about the harmony of mind and body he learned in his boyhood training:

FRAGMENT attributed to MENALKES

    As a youth I lay prone on sweet grasses, my nude body
pressed tightly against the ground so that all my sense drew strength
and stimulation from Demeter (Mother Earth).  I swam and floated in
waters that soothingly, sensuously caressed my form, then roughly,
harshly battered me; the better to forge my body, mind and spirit into
one invincible self.  On the Playing, field, I ran the hard race, hurled
the discus far, spurred by vigor drawn from my gleaming body.  I
wrestled with others, forcing muscle against muscle, touching
sweating flesh against flesh that invigorated our contest.  I sat
unclothed, listening and discoursing with great teachers as Helios
(the sun) warmed my whole self.  I was able to dart and parry,*
because my mind was as free as my physique.  Had I been
encumbered by cloth I would have been bound tightly, restrained and
constricted.  But nudity provided me freedom to soar where I would+
in my quest for understanding my inner self, and creating my whole
being.

*thrust and defend ideas
+wished

     In Athens and most other cities, such training was reserved for boys only.
But in Sparta, girls could be seen practicing their own nude athletics just like
the boys did.  And in a few cities, girls and boys actually competed with each
other in wrestling and other contests.  At Olympia, there were separate
divisions for men, boys, women, and girls.

    For nearly four hundred years, there was never a hint of cheating at the
Olympics.  Then one woman disguised herself as a male trainer for her son.
The rules committee declared that from then on the trainers would also
perform naked, so all could see that everything was honest.

    But it was professionalism that eventually destroyed athletics in Greece.
Prizes at the local contests grew big enough that some people could make a
living at it.  Athletics became a spectator sport where people went to watch the
professionals.  Many new horse contests were added, and rich people called
themselves "Olympic victors" when their horses came in first.

    Yet the Olympics lasted more than 1100 years.  Christians finally
outlawed the games where people still worshiped Zeus with their bodies.

-----------------------------------------------------------------

40.  PYTHAGORAS: THE UNIVERSAL HARMONY OF MATHEMATICS

    Pythagoras (pi-THAG-or-as) made a religion of mathematics.  He had
traveled in Egypt and the East.  Somewhere he picked up Indian ideas of
reincarnation and the separation of body and soul.  He taught his followers to
live purely and harmoniously.  And he taught that the greatest purity and
harmony are found in the mathematics which govern the universe.

    He discovered that certain numbers are triangular.  The series begins like
this:

        *        1 = 1

        *
      *   *        1 + 2 = 3

       *
     *   *
   *   *   *        1 + 2 + 3 = 6

        *
      *   *
    *   *   *
  *   *   *   *        1 + 2 + 3 + 4 = 10

        *
      *   *
    *   *   *
  *   *   *   *
*   *   *   *   *    1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + 5 = 15

Members of Pythagoras' religious brotherhood identified themselves to each
other by being able to quickly name any triangular number in a series.  Their
secret formula was


    He discovered that other numbers are square:


*            1 = 12

*   *
*   *            1 + 3 = 4 = 22

*   *   *
*   *   *
*   *   *        1 + 3 + 5 = 9 = 32

*   *   *   *
*   *   *   *
*   *   *   *
*   *   *   *        1 + 3 + 5 + 7 = 16 = 42

*   *   *   *   *
*   *   *   *   *
*   *   *   *   *
*   *   *   *   *
*   *   *   *   *    1 + 3 + 5 + 7 + 9 = 25 = 52


    He found a relationship between these two series of numbers:

          *   *               The first and second triangular numbers equal the second
          *   *              square number.  (1+3=4)

        *   *   *
        *   *   *      The second and third triangular numbers equal the third
        *   *   *            square number.  (3+6=9)

      *   *   *   *
      *   *   *   *
      *   *   *   *       The third and fourth triangular numbers equal the fourth
      *   *   *   *             square number.  (6+10=16)

    *   *   *   *   *
    *   *   *   *   *
    *   *   *   *   *
    *   *   *   *   *   The fourth and fifth triangular numbers equal the fifth
    *   *   *   *   *      square number.  (10+15=25)


    Pythagoras discovered that 32+ 42= 52.  And he found other square
numbers which could be added similarly.  He developed the formula, in which
m represents any odd number:
                     

This led him to the famous Pythagorean theorum that the sum of the squares of
the sides of a right triangle is equal to the square of the hypotenuse.

    His followers later discovered that the sum of the angles of any triangle
equal two right angles.

    In his search for religious truth, Pythagoras discovered the theory of
proportion in arithmetic, geometry, and music.  He developed the formula:

                                 

The example which interested him most was 12:9=8:6.  He found that if he
plucked a tense string twelve inches long, he got a note.  If he pressed down at
6 and plucked again, he got a note one octave higher.  If he pressed at 8, he
could pluck a musical fifth.  If he pressed at 9, he could pluck a musical fourth.
He concluded that musical harmony is mathematical.  He further compared the
musical scale with the geometric cube--which has 12 edges (9 of which can be
seen at one time), 8 corners, and 6 faces.

    Pythagoras concluded that mathematics governed the whole universe.  He
argued that the distances between the planets fit mathematical and musical
proportions.  He thought that each planet whistling through space would give
off a different note of the musical scale.  Modern astronomers have not heard
any planetary music, but they have discovered that the distances between
planets do fit mathematical proportions.  (See Volume II, Chapter 33.)
Pythagoras knew that the earth was round.  His followers discovered that it
rotated like any other planet.

    Always, Pythagoras was a religious man--searching for the principle
which governed the universe, and trying to apply that principle to human life.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

41.  AESOP AND SAPPHO--VOICES OF SLAVES AND WOMEN

    During the religious age, Aesop (EE-sop) taught people how to live by
telling them funny little stories.  He was a slave.  Slavery was common in Greece
and Rome.  Their economy depended on slavery.  Some of Aesop's stories may
have traveled from India.  They include such favorites as:
          The Tortoise and the Hare
          The Ant and the Grasshopper
          The Wolf in Sheep's Clothing
          The Boy Who Cried Wolf
          The Country Mouse and the City Mouse
          Putting the Bell on the Cat
          The Goose that Laid Golden Eggs
          Counting the Chickens Before They Are Hatched.
Here are some others:

THE FOX AND THE GRAPES

    One day a hungry Fox stole into a farmer's yard where there were many bunches
of grapes, ripe and juicy, hanging on a trellis.  The Fox couldn't reach the grapes to eat
them, so he jumped for the lowest bunch.  As luck would have it, the grapes were just
out of reach.  He jumped, and jumped, and jumped again.  But it was no use, and when
he was tired from jumping he slunk away, saying: Who wants them anyway?  I am sure
the grapes are sour!

MORAL:  Don't belittle good things because they are out of reach.


THE LARK AND THE FARMER

    There was a brood of young Larks in a field of grain; and as the grain was getting
ripe the Mother lark kept her eye out for the reapers.  One day the Farmer came to the
field, and said aloud: The grain is ripe, I must call in the neighbors to help me reap!  Oh
Mother, said the baby Larks, Let us fly away!  No hurry, said the Mother: He will have to
wait for his neighbors.  The next day the Farmer came again, and said: The grain is fully
ripe, I cannot wait for my neighbors; I must call in my relatives to help me.  At this, all
the baby Larks again wanted to fly away, but again the Mother Lark said: He will have to
wait for his relatives.  The next day the Farmer was desperate.  Said he, I can't wait for
my relatives: I will have to go to town and hire some laborers myself!  At this the mother
Lark said, All right, children we really will have to move now; for

     MORAL: When a man takes his own business upon himself and doesn't wait for others'
     help, he gets things done!


THE LIONESS AND HER CUB

    Once there was great, rivalry among the beasts, each one claiming to have the
largest family.  Finally the disputing beasts came to the Lioness, and said: queen
Lioness, how many children do you have at birth?  Only one, growled the Lioness.
But that one is a Lion.

MORAL:  quality before quantity.


THE MILLER, HIS SON AND THE DONKEY

    A Miller and his Son were taking their Donkey to market to sell him.  They
passed some laughing girls, who said to the boy: Silly, what is a Donkey good for?
Why don't you ride on him?  So the Miller told his Son to ride on the Donkey.  They
hadn't gone far along when they passed an old man, who grumbled: Look at that lazy
boy!  Letting his father walk while he rides!  So the Miller got on the Donkey, and the
Son walked.  After a little way farther, they passed some women, who clacked:  Lazy
man!  Riding in luxury while that poor boy trots along in the dust!  So the Miller took his
son up on the Donkey with him.  As they got near town a man saw them and shook his
head:  That poor little Donkey, he said, Carrying two big louts like you.  You ought to be
ashamed of yourselves!  So the Miller and his Son got off the Donkey, and to prevent
any further criticism they tied his legs together, got a long  pole, and marched into town
with the beast slung between them.  As they crossed over the bridge the fishermen
laughed at them for fools, the boy began to cry, the Donkey began to twist and kick,
until the boy let go his end of the pole and the beast tumbled into the river.

MORAL: If you try to please everyone you will end by pleasing no one.

     The poetess Sappho (SAF-o) was almost the only famous woman of
Greece.  For Greeks expected their women to stay at home.  That had not
always been so.  But because so many foreigners came to leer at partially nude
Greek women, their husbands and fathers began keeping them secluded at
home.  Only men could become citizens.  Society meant male society.

    With the sexes so separated, homosexuality became common and socially
acceptable.  Some of Sappho's poems are frankly Lesbian.  These are not:

GOODNESS IS BEAUTY

He should be good who is fair* of face
And he will be fair whose soul has grace.


THE MOON HAS SET

The moon has set, and o'er the seas
Throw their last glance the Pleiades;+

The weary night is waning# fast,
The promised hour is come and past;--

Yet sleepless and alone I lie,
Alone--ah, false one, tell me why.


LIKE THE HYACINTH

O'er the hills the heedless shepherd,
Heavy footed, plods his way;
Crushed behind him lies the larkspur,@
Soon empurpling in decay.


TO HER VIRGINITY

Maidenhood!  Maidenhood!  where
          hast thou gone from me,
Whither, O Slain?
I shall return to thee, I who have
          gone from thee, never again.

*handsome
+a group of stars
#fading
@a flower

        Sappho's brother fell in love with Rhodopis (roe-DOE-pis), a slave girl in
the house where Aesop worked.  He bought her freedom and took her to Egypt.
They later separated, and she became the famous woman known to us as
Cinderella.  (See Chapter 11.)  Sappho wrote this poem when her brother and
Rhodopis still lived together in Egypt:

TO THE NEREIDS*

Golden Daughters of the Foam
Bring me my brother safely home,
And whatso'er his heart desire

Grant he shall possess entire,
And righting what was wrong before,
Shall sorrow his true friends no more,
    That our name bear never a blot.

Then he'll fain+ his sister to bring
Honor bright; and the bitter sting
And the taunt that made my poor heart sick
When he heard a rebuke# such as cuts to the quick--
O soon, when the brimming cup goes round
For his returning safe and sound,
          Shall all that ill be forgot;

And if he's fain of a wife to wed,
Let him take a worthy maid to his bed;
But helly she-dog, as for you,
Ground@ your ill snout, and game pursue
          Where game is to be got.

*sea goddesses
+be willing
#from Sappho
@put to the ground

------------------------------------------------------------
FILMSTRIP:  THREE STAGES OF GREEK ART  (½ hour)

------------------------------------------------------------

41. GREEK DRAMA IN THE GOLDEN AGE OF PERICLES

    When the Persian army invaded Greece, the Greeks stopped them at
Marathon.  The messenger ran twenty-four miles to Athens, and dropped dead
after delivering the good news.  Every year after that, the best athletes
reenacted that famous run.  When the Persian army invaded again, King
Leonidas (lee-ON-i-dus) of Sparta and a handful of his soldiers held them off
for days at a mountain pass until the heroic Greeks were betrayed and killed.
Persian soldiers wrecked most of the temples and statues in Athens before the
Greeks finally drove them out.  Athenians celebrated by rebuilding their
temples with a new emphasis on beauty and proud accomplishment, rather
than the old faith.

    Athens had developed a pure democracy.  Every free male citizen voted
on every important issue.  But they elected representatives to vote on smaller
matters.  Most citizens served as representatives at one time or another.

    The wise statesman, Pericles (PARE-i-kleez), guided Athens during its
golden age of art.  He lived with Aspasia (as-PAY-she-a), a foreign lady who
refused to be shut up like Greek women.  She invited all of the greatest
sculptors, historians, and dramatists to her home.  There they exchanged
ideas and perfected their art.  Eventually, the good women of Athens convinced
their husbands to bring Aspasia to trial.  Pericles was barely able to save her,
but could not save all of their friends.  The sculptor Phidias was one who
perished.

    Greek plays grew out of the old Bacchus festivals.  Each year there were
contests and prizes at Athens for the best athlete and the best playwright.
Three tragedy writers and one comedy writer became outstanding.

    Aeschylus (ES-kil-us) wrote rough powerful dramas.  For instance, he
showed great Prometheus chained to the mountain, despising the jealousy and
smallness of the gods.  The ancient historians reported that Aeschylus died
when struck by a falling turtle, which a large bird had dropped.

    Sophocles (SOF-o-kleez) expressed the Greek way of thinking perhaps
better than anyone else.  One of his plays includes these verses praising the
cunning of man--except for cunning traitors:

from ANTIGONE by SOPHOCLES

Many are the wonders of the world,
And none so wonderful as Man.
Over the waters wan*
His storm-vext bark+ he steers,

While the fierce billows break
Round his path, and o'er his head:
And the Earth-mother, first of gods,
The ageless, the indomitable,
With his plowing to and fro
He wearieth, year by year:
In the deep furrow toil the patient mules.

The birds of the air he snares and takes!
All the light-hearted fluttering race:
And tribes of savage beasts,
And creatures of the deep,
Meshed in his woven tolls,
Own# the master-mind of man.
Free lives@ of upland and of wild
By human arts are curbed and tamed:
See the horse's shaggy neck
Submissive to the yoke--
And strength untired of mountain-roaming bulls.

Language withal* he learnt,    
And Thought that as the wind is free,
And aptitudes of civic life:+
Ill-lodged no more he lies,
His roof the sky, the earth his bed,
Screened now from piercing frost and pelting rain;
All-fertile in resources, resourceless never
Meets he the morrow; only death
He wants# the skill to shun:
But many a fell@ disease the healer's art hath foiled.

So soaring far past hope,
The wise inventiveness of man
Finds diverse issues,# good and ill:
If from their course he wrests
The firm foundations of the state,
Laws, and the justice he is sworn to keep,@
High in the city, citiless I deem him,
Dealing with baseness: overbold,
May he my hearth* avoid,
Nor let my thoughts with his, who does such deeds, agree!

*dark
+storm-teased boat
#acknowledge
@animals
*in addition
+skills of civilization
*lacks
@deadly
#various results
@The poem now switches to talk of traitors
*fireplace

    Sophocles' most famous play is Oedipus Rex (Oedipus the King).  It is about
fate.  Young Oedipus (ED-i-pus) hears the prophecy of the gods that he will kill his
father and marry his mother.  So he leaves home and goes far away.  On the road, he
hits a man too hard and kills him.  Finally he reaches a city whose king has
disappeared.  He marries the old queen and becomes the new ruler.  But Oedipus is a
seeker of the truth.  He pursues the truth until he learns to his horror that he was not
raised by his real parents; that the man he killed was his real father and also the king;
that the queen he married is really his mother.  No matter how hard man tries to fly from
the fate of the gods, he will run right into it.

    Euripides (yoo-RIP-i-deez) felt disturbed about the suffering of war and injustice
toward women.  For instance, he wrote about the aftermath of the Trojan war: Old
Queen Hecuba sees her city destroyed, her men all dead, the women about to be
carried off into slavery, and her baby grandson condemned to death.

    Aristophanes (ar-is-TOF-an-eez) wrote comedies on the latest news events.  For
instance, in Lysistrata the women come up with a peace plan: they refuse to have
anything to do with their husbands until the men end their stupid war.  It works.

    Perhaps the most amazing thing about the Greek artistic age is that it went so
fast.  In one century it was all over.  But it remains one of the most brilliant centuries the
world has ever known.  The Greeks were not aware of it, but that century was also the
time of the Buddha, Mahavira, Confucius, and Lao-tzu.

-------------------------------------------------------------------

 43.  SOCRATES AND THE SEARCH FOR WISDOM

    There were many teachers in Athens--some of them very proud of their
learning.  They had answers for everything-even if the answers sometimes
sounded a bit slippery. Some cared not so much for being wise, as for
destroying the theories of their rival teachers.  An amusing example is Zeno
(ZEE-no).

    Zeno discovered several paradoxes--crazy ideas that seemed logically
correct, He argued that an athlete could not run the length of a stadium; for
first he would have to run half the length, and before he could do that, he
would have had to run a fourth of the length; and before that, an eighth.  Since
the division goes on forever, he would never be able to take the first step, and
therefore could not run the length of the stadium.

    He argued that an arrow in flight does not move.  For an object is at rest
as long as it occupies a given space.  An arrow in flight occupies each given
space for a fraction of a second, and is therefore at rest during that brief time.
If the arrow is at rest during every moment of flight, it remains at rest for the
whole flight, and never moves.

    In another paradox, Zeno argued that even the hero Achilles could not
catch up with a turtle who had a head start on him.  By the time Achilles
reached the turtle's starting point, the animal would have moved on to another
point.  By the time Achilles reached that point,  the turtle would have inched
ahead a little further.  And so on forever.

    Aristophanes wrote a comedy about these teachers--floating in the air
with their heads in the clouds.

     Into this atmosphere of scrambled thinking came Socrates (SOK-ra-teez).
He used simple words and simple examples.  He did not pretend to know
anything.  Socrates taught by asking questions.  And when someone gave an
answer that was not carefully thought out, he asked more questions until that
answer fell apart.  He urged students to begin their search for truth by
searching within themselves.  Embarrassed and jealous officials accused him of
not showing proper respect for religion and of corrupting the young.  At age
seventy, he was condemned to commit suicide by drinking hemlock poison.
Here is some of what he said at his trial:

from THE APOLOGY OF SOCRATES as recorded by PLATO

    I will refer you to a witness who is worthy of credit; that
witness shall be the God of Delphi*--he will tell you about my
wisdom, if I have any, and of what sort it is.  You must have known
Chaerephon; he was early a friend of mine, and also a friend of
yours, for he shared in the recent exile of the people, and returned
with you.  Well, Chaerephon, as you know, was very impetuous+ in
all his doings, and he went to Delphi and boldly asked the oracle to
tell him whether--as I was saying, I must beg you not to interrupt--he
asked the oracle to tell him whether anyone was wiser than I was,
and the Pythian prophetess# answered, that there was no man
wiser.  Chaerephon is dead himself; but his brother, who is in court,
will confirm the truth of what I am saying.

    Why do I mention this?  Because I am going to explain to you
why I have such an evil name.  When I heard the answer, I said to
myself, What can the god mean? and what is the interpretation of
this riddle? for I know that I have no wisdom, small or great.  What
then can he mean when he says that I am the wisest of men? and
yet he is a god and cannot lie; that would be against his nature.
After long consideration, I thought of a method of trying the question.
I reflected that if I could only find. a man wiser, than myself, then I
might go to the god with a refutation@ in hand.  I should say to him,
"Here is a man who is wiser than I am; but you said that I was the
wisest."  Accordingly I went to one who had a reputation of wisdom,
and observed him--his name I need not mention; he was a politician
whom I selected for examination--and the result was as follows:
When I began to talk with him, I could not help thinking that he was
not really wise, although he was thought wise by many, and still wiser
by himself; and thereupon I tried to explain to him that he thought
himself wise, but was not really wise; and the consequence was that
he hated me, and his enmity* was shared by several who were
present and heard me.  So I left him, saying to myself, as I went
away: Well, although I do not suppose that either of us knows
anything really beautiful and good, I am better off than he is--for he
knows nothing, and thinks that he knows; I neither know nor think
that I know.  In this latter particular, then, I seem to have slightly the
advantage of him.  Then I went to another who had still higher
pretensions to wisdom, and my conclusion was exactly the same.
Whereupon I made another enemy of him, and of many others
besides him.

          Then I went to one man after another, being not unconscious
of the enmity which I provoked, and I lamented+ and feared this: but
the necessity was laid upon-me--the word of God, I thought, ought to
be considered first.  And I said to myself, Go I must to all who appear
to know, and find out the meaning of the oracle.  And I swear to you,
Athenians, by the dog I swear!--for I must tell you the truth--the result
of my mission was just this: I found that the men most in repute#
were all but the most foolish; and that others less esteemed were
really wiser and better....

    I have said enough In answer to the charge of Meletus:@ any
elaborate defense is unnecessary; but I know only too well how
many are the enmities which I have incurred, and this is what will be
my destruction if I am destroyed--not Meletus, nor yet Anytus, but the
envy* and detraction of the world, which has been the death of many
good men, and will probably be the death of many more; there is no
danger of my being the last of them....

    And now, Athenians, I am not going to argue for my own sake,
as you may think, but for yours, that you may not sin against the God
by condemning me, who am his gift to you.  For if you kill me you will
not easily find a successor to me, who, if I may use such a
ludicrous+ figure of speech, am a sort of gadfly,# given to the state
by God; and the state is a great and noble steed who is tardy in his
motions owing to his very size, and requires to be stirred into life.  I
am that gadfly which God has attached to the state, and all day long
and in all places am always fastening upon you, arousing and
persuading and reproaching you.  You will not easily find another like
me, and therefore I would advise you, to spare me.  I dare say that
you may feel out of temper (like a person who is suddenly awakened
from sleep), and you think that you might easily strike me dead as
Anytus advises, and then you would sleep on for the remainder of
your lives, unless God in his care of you sent you another gadfly.

*Apollo
+rash
#priestess of Apollo
@proof of wrongness
*hatred
+became sad
#respect
@his accuser
*jealousy
+absurd
#insect that bites cows and horses

----------------------------------------------------------

44.  PLATO, WHO BELIEVED IN THE IDEAL

    "Man is the measure of all things."  So said Protagoras (pro-TAG-or-as).  He
argued that each person sees things differently; what is true for one person is not true
for another; therefore there is no such thing as universal Truth.

    Plato (PLAY-toe) disagreed.  He had studied under Socrates, and his
discussions with the old man led him to believe that some ideas are universal and
unchanging.  Truth and beauty and justice are ideals.  Things should be judged--not
according to the blindness of the observer--but according to how they measure up to
the permanent ideal.  Where does the ideal world exist?  Perhaps in people's minds.
Perhaps somewhere in the vast heavens.  But Plato felt convinced that the ideal world
is just as real as the poor imitations of the ideal that we see all around us.  To illustrate
his point, he wrote this Parable of the Cave:

from THE REPUBLIC by PLATO

    "Behold! human beings living in an underground den, which
has a mouth open towards the light and reaching all along the den;
here they have been from their childhood, and have their legs and
necks chained so that they cannot move, and can only see before
them, being prevented by the chains from turning round their heads.
Above and behind them a fire is blazing at a distance, and between
the fire and the prisoners there is a raised way; and you will see, if
you look, a low wall built along the way, like the screen which
marionette players have in front of them, over which they show the
puppets."
          "I see."
    "And do you see," I said, "men passing along the wall carrying
all sorts of vessels, and statues and figures of animals made of wood
and stone and various materials, which appear over the wall?  Some
of them are talking, others silent."
     "You have shown me a strange image, and they are strange
prisoners."
    "Like ourselves," I replied; "and they see only their own
shadows, or the shadows of one another, which the fire throws on
the opposite wall of the cave?"
    "True," he said; "how could they see anything but the shadows
if they were never allowed to move their heads?"
    "And of the objects which are being carried in like manner they
would only see the shadows?"
          "Yes," he said.
    "And if they were able to converse* with one another, would
they not suppose that they were naming what was actually before
them?"
          "Very true."
    "And suppose further that the prison had an echo which came
from the other side, would they not be sure to fancy when one of the
passers-by spoke that the voice which they heard came from the
passing shadow?"
          "No question," he replied.
    "To them,"  I said, "the truth would be literally nothing but the
shadows of the images."
          'That is certain."
    "And now look again, and see what will naturally follow if the
prisoners are released and disabused+ of their error.  At first, when
any one of them is liberated and compelled suddenly to stand up and
turn his neck round and walk and look towards the light, he will suffer
sharp pains; the glare will distress him, and he will be unable to see
the realities of which in his former state he had seen the shadows;
and then conceive someone saying to him that what he saw before
was an illusion, but that now, when he is approaching nearer to being
and his eye is turned towards more real existence he has a clearer
vision--what will be his reply?  And you may further imagine that his
instructor is pointing to the objects as they pass and requiring him to
name them,--will he not be perplexed?  Will he not fancy that the
shadows which he formerly saw are truer than the objects which are
now shown to him?"
          "Far truer."...
    "He will require to grow accustomed to the sight of the upper
world    And first he will see the shadows best, next the reflections of
men and other objects in the water, and then the objects themselves;
then he will gaze upon the light of the moon and the stars and the
spangled heaven; and he will see the sky and the stars by night
better than the sun or the light of the sun by day?"
          "Certainly."
    "Last of all he will be able to see the sun, and not mere
reflections of him in the water, but he will see him in his own proper
place, and not in another; and he will contemplate him as he is."
          "Certainly."
    "He will then proceed to argue that this is he who gives the
seasons and the years, and is the guardian of all that is in the visible
world and in a certain way the cause of all things which he and his
fellows have been accustomed to behold?"
    "Clearly," he said, "he would first see the sun and then reason
about him."
    "And when he remembered his old habitation, and the wisdom
of the den and his fellow prisoners, do you not suppose that he
would felicitate# himself on the change, and pity them?"      
          "Certainly, he would."
    "And if they were in the habit of conferring honors among
themselves on those who were quickest to observe the passing
shadows and to remark which of them went before, and which
followed after, and which were together; and who were therefore best
able to draw conclusions as to the future, do you think that he would
care for such honors and glories, or envy the possessors of them?
Would he not say with Homer, 'Better to be the poor servant of a
poor master.' and to endure anything, rather than think as they do
and live after their manner?"
    "Yes," he said, "I think that he would rather suffer anything
than entertain these false notions and live in this miserable manner."
    "Imagine once more," I said, "such a one coming suddenly out
of the sun to be replaced in his old situation; would he not be certain
to have his eyes full of darkness?"
    "To be sure, " he said.
    "And if there were a contest, and he had to compete in
measuring the shadows with the prisoners who had never moved out
of the den, while his sight was still weak, and before his eyes had
become steady (and the time which would be needed to acquire this
new habit of sight might be very considerable), would he not be
ridiculous?  Men would say of him that up he went and down he
came without his eyes; and that it was better not even to think of
ascending;@ and if any one tried to loose another and lead him up to
the light, let them only catch the offender, and they would put him to
death."
    "'No question," he said....

    Anyone who has common sense will remember that the
bewilderments of the eye are of two kinds, and arise from two
causes, either from coining out of the light or from going into the
light, which is true of the mind's eye, quite as much as of the bodily
eye; and he who remembers this when he sees anyone whose vision
is perplexed and weak, will not be too ready to laugh; he will first ask
whether that soul of man has come out of the brighter life, and is
unable to see because unaccustomed to the dark, or having turned
from darkness to the day is dazzled by excess of light.  And he will
count the one happy in his condition and state of being, and he will
pity the other; or, if he have a mind to laugh at the soul which comes
from below into the light, there will be more reason in this than in the
laugh which greets him who returns from above out of the light into
the den.

*talk
+corrected
#congratulate
@going up

------------------------------------------------------

45.  ARISTOTLE, THE SYSTEMATIZER OF GREEK THOUGHT

    Aristotle (AR-is-tot-l) studied under Plato.  More than any other person,
Aristotle pulled together the Greek discoveries in biology, politics, physics,
beauty, mathematics, education, and ethics.  His curiosity probed into all fields.
He dissected animals and analyzed poetry--always trying to establish order in
human knowledge.  He urged his students to always experiment.  Instead,
Aristotle's writings were accepted as the final word for almost two thousand
years.

    To explain gravity, he said that each of the four known elements contains
a combination of four characteristics.  Because of weight, each element has its
own layer.  From top to bottom these are:
          Fire--hot and dry
          Air--hot and wet
          Water--cold and wet
          Earth--cold and dry
Most motions could be explained as elements trying to get to their own proper
layers.  That was way fire rose and rocks fell.

    Other writers added to this scheme.  To the four elements, they attached
the four body fluids and the four possible moods of a sick person.  This led to
such abuses as bleeding the ill--but Aristotle never suggested any such thing,
and should not be blamed for it.

    In literature, he said the most powerful tragedies were about good people
whose good qualities got them into trouble.  For instance, Oedipus' search for
truth led to his destruction.  This is how Aristotle said it:

from POETICS by ARISTOTLE

    A perfect tragedy should, as we have seen, be arranged not
on a simple but on the complex plan.  It should, moreover, imitate
actions which excite pity and fear, this being the distinctive mark of
tragic imitation.  It follows plainly, in the first place, that the change of
fortune presented must not be the spectacle of a virtuous* man
brought from prosperity to adversity:+ for this moves neither pity nor
fear: it merely shocks us.  Nor, again, that of a bad man passing from
adversity to prosperity: for nothing can be more alien to# the spirit of
tragedy; it possesses no single tragic quality; it neither satisfies the
moral sense nor calls forth pity or fear.  Nor, again, should the
downfall of an utter villain be exhibited.  A plot of this kind would,
doubtless, satisfy the moral sense, but it would inspire neither pity
nor fear; for pity is aroused by unmerited@ misfortune, fear by the
misfortune of a man like ourselves.  Such an event, therefore, will be
neither pitiful nor terrible.
    There remains, then, the character between these two
extremes--that of a man extraordinarily good and just, who yet brings
misfortune on himself not by vice or depravity,* but by some error or
frailty.  He must be one who is highly renowned and prosperous, a
personage like Oedipus, Thyestes, or other illustrious men of great
families.
    The best constructed plot should, therefore, be single in its
issue, rather than double, as some maintain.  The change of fortune
should be not from bad to good, but, reversely, from good to bad.  It
should come about as a result not of vice, but of some great error or
frailty, in a character either such as we have described, or better
rather than worse...  A tragedy, to be perfect according to the rules of
art, should be of this construction.

*good
+hardship
#outside
@undeserved
*evil

AUTHOR'S NOTE--This next point is so important that I am breaking the rules
of history writing to explain it to you personally.

    Take any object.  The chair, for instance, that you are sitting in.  Suppose
I had never seen a chair.  Explain a chair to me.  Don't read further; stop and
explain a chair.

    Chances are, you came up with one or two different ways of explanation.
In a group of people, you will find that there are four main ways of explaining a
chair:
               1.  It is made of wood or metal or whatever. (chemical explanation)
               2.  It has four legs, a back, and a seat. (physical explanation)
               3.  It was manufactured in a certain year, and brought to this place.
          (historical explanation)
          4. It is something to sit on. (purpose or destiny)

    Aristotle discovered these same four explanations.  You see, you are just
as clever as Aristotle; if you had been born first, Aristotle might have studied
you.

    Now ask yourself another question: Which of these explanations is most
important?  Don't read further; stop and decide.

    Aristotle said that the purpose or destiny was most important.  That was
the way the Greeks thought: Oedipus could not escape his destiny, no matter
how hard he tried.  Today, we tend to explain things by historical development.
That is why you are reading a history book rather than a book of prophecy.

          Now look at Aristotle's explanations in his own words:

from METAPHYSICS by ARISTOTLE
(labels added)

          "Cause" means:
MATERIAL CAUSE (chemical explanation)
          in one sense, that from which as present material something is made; as, for Instance,
     the bronze of a statue, the silver of a cup, and the types of things that comprise these.
FORMAL CAUSE (physical explanation)
          In another sense, the form or pattern, that is the essential formula, and the types of
     things comprising this, and the parts of the formula.  For instance the ratio 2:1 and
     number in general are causes of the musical octave.  
EFFICIENT CAUSE (historical explanation)
          That by which a change is begun or stopped.  For instance, the advisor is the cause of
     the act, the father of the child, and In general the maker is a cause of that which is
     made and the one who makes a change of the change.
FINAL CAUSE (purpose or destiny)
          Again it means the final end, that is, that for the sake of which some thing else is.  For
     instance, health is an end in walking.  For why does one walk?  "To be healthy," we  say
     and in so saying think we have named the causes....
(Final) causes are the end and the good of things; for the final purpose tends to be the greatest
good and end of the rest.

------------------------------------------------------------

46. ALEXANDER AND THE SPREAD OF GREEK LEARNING

    The differences between the cities of Athens and Sparta finally erupted
into a war.  Athens lost.  In the confusion, King Philip of Macedon, Greece's
northern neighbor, invaded and conquered the Greek cities one by one.  For the
first time, he united the cities of Greece under a single government.  Philip was
assassinated (perhaps on orders from his wife) and his twenty-year-old son
Alexander became ruler of Greece.

    Alexander set out to conquer the world--or as much of the world as the
Greeks knew about.  He created an efficient army. (For instance, he ordered his
soldiers to shave off their beards so they could not be grabbed so easily.) He
marched down into Egypt and had himself proclaimed pharaoh.  Then he
captured the enormous Persian empire.  He led his armies on into northern
India.  He wanted to go farther, but his soldiers grew anxious to get back home.
Alexander the Great died of fever and exhaustion at Babylon.  He was thirty-
three.  Alexander had established the largest empire up to his time.  For a brief
moment, he brought several great civilizations into contact with each other.
But Alexander's family could not hold his vast empire together.  His three
generals soon carved the lands between themselves.

    Alexander was no ordinary conqueror.  He had studied under Aristotle.
Wherever he traveled, he sent back caravans of strange animals and plants for
his old teacher to study.  He founded cities to bring Greek culture to other
lands.  Alexandria in Egypt became the greatest of these.

MAP OF ALEXANDER'S EMPIRE AND ITS DISSOLUTION

     In India, Alexander met naked philosophers called Gymnosophists (JIM-
no-SOF-ist).  They taught the logic of Sañjaya. (See Chapter 16.)  After studying
with them, Pyrrho of Elis (PEER-o) founded the Greek philosophy of Scepticism.
Pyrrho urged students to question everything--especially the things people
have long taken for granted.  For the ideas which have not been examined in a
long time are the ideas most likely to prove false.

    Other philosophies developed.  The Epicureans (ep-i-kew-REE-an) used
science and logic to prove there is no such thing as a soul.  Therefore, a person
need not worry about an afterlife, or be afraid of death.  They advised that a
person enjoy the small quiet pleasures of life. (The English word "epicure" puts
more emphasis on fine eating than the Epicureans did.)  On the other hand, the
Stoics (STOW-ik) warned that life is full of surprises--some of them nasty.
They claimed that the real test of a man was his ability to face surprises calmly,
and the best way to do that was by living simply all along.  Both of these
philosophies--especially Stoicism-would later be taken very seriously in Rome.

    Throughout the Greek world, it was an age of learned men.  Diogenes the
Cynic (die-OJ-en-eez) also taught people to live simply.  He lived in a wooden
tub.  One sunny day, he appeared at the crowded marketplace carrying a
burning lantern.  When asked what he was doing, he said he was looking for an
honest man.  Alexander the Great came to visit Diogenes, and told him to ask
for anything he wanted.  Diogenes asked Alexander to step aside a little,
because he was blocking the sunlight,

    Hippocrates (hip-POK-ra-teez) had already raised medicine from magic
to a science.  He made young doctors take an oath of proper conduct.  Doctors
today still take that oath,

    Euclid (YOO-klid) organized all of the proofs of geometry into a textbook
which is still used today.

    Four little-known scientists made important discoveries: Democritus
(dem-MOK-ri-tus) concluded that all matter is made of tiny atoms moving
furiously.  Hero of Alexandria invented a toy steam engine--as well as a slot
machine.  (Historians are unsure of his dates.  He may have lived a little later,
after the Romans took over.)  Aristarchus (ar-is-TAR-kus) calculated that the
sun is the center of our universe and that the earth rotates around it while
spinning on its axis.  The idea never caught on.  Eratosthenes (er-a-TOS-then-
eez) figured out the distance around the earth.  Here is how: A traveler told him
about a well 500 miles south, where the midsummer sun at noon shone straight
down to the bottom.  Eratosthenes measured the midsummer sun at noon in
Alexandria, and discovered that it left a shadow at the angle of 7 1/5 degrees.
7 1/5 degrees is one-fiftieth of a circle.  He reasoned that 500 miles must be
one-fiftieth of the circumference of the earth.  Simple multiplication gave him
an accurate figure of about 25,000 miles.

    An amateur inventor, Ctesibius (tee-SIB-ee-us) made accurate water-
powered clocks which announced the hour with a loud whistle, a blare of
trumpets, statues which rolled their eyes and moved about and beat gongs, and
twittering birds which deposited eggs in a basket.  He also invented a water
pump, metal springs, and the pipe organ.

    Perhaps the most amazing Greek scientist was Archimedes (ar-ki-ME-
deez).  He built a system of levers and pulleys by which he could lift a whole
ship by himself.  He boasted: "Give me a lever long enough and a place to
stand, and I will move the world."  He is said to have defeated a fleet of the
Roman navy all by himself, using a series of cranes and rock-throwers which he
had built.  His other inventions included an auger for pumping out water, a
windmill-powered pipe organ a planetarium, an automatic door-opener, and a
washing machine.  He even invented an automatic theatre in which mechanical
figures performed a whole five-act play.

    Archimedes' most famous discovery was specific gravity.  The king had
asked him to analyze (without scratching or damaging it) a crown which he
suspected was not pure gold.  Archimedes thought of a solution while sitting in
his bathtub: He could weigh the crown, and get a lump of gold the same
weight.  Then he could place each of them in water and measure the water that
overflowed.  For a lighter element would take up more space than the same
weight of a heavier element.  He jumped out of the tub, forgetting all about his
clothes, and ran down the street shouting, "Eureka!  Eureka!"--I've found it! I've
found it!  He conducted the experiment and reported that the crown was not
pure gold.

    These thinkers lived--not just in Athens--but in cities all around the
Mediterranean where Alexander the Great had spread Greek learning.

-------------------------------------------------------

47.  WHEN AFRICA ALMOST CONQUERED EUROPE

    Athens had been the center of Classical civilization through the religious
age, the artistic age, and the beginning of the philosophical age.  After
Alexander, the center of Greek learning shifted to Alexandria in Egypt.  As
Classical civilization entered its age of power, two cities struggled for control:
Carthage on the north coast of Africa, and Rome in southern Europe.

    Hannibal (HAN-i-bal) led Carthage.  Some historians say his ancestors
were black Africans.  Other historians say they were neighbors of the Hebrews.
Probably, Hannibal had mixed blood.

    Hannibal was only twenty-seven when war broke out with Rome.  He led
his soldiers and war elephants from Spain to Rome.  In the icy mountain paths
of the Alps, he lost all but one elephant and many of his soldiers.  He marched
down into Italy.  The Roman historians probably exaggerated when they said
that their soldiers outnumbered Hannibal's twenty-five to one.  But he trapped
and beat them anyway.  To this day, military leaders study his brilliant battle
strategies.  The Romans became panic-stricken.  They later admitted that
Hannibal could probably have marched right into the city at that moment.
Instead, he decided to let his soldiers rest from their long journey.  That gave
the Romans time to get over their panic, and settle down to the slow hard
business of defending their city walls.

    The Romans were afraid to come out and fight, and Hannibal did not have
equipment for battering down walls.  He kept asking the people of Carthage to
send it, but they never did.  For fifteen years, his army roamed around Italy,
capturing almost every town except Rome.

    The Roman general, Scipio (SIP-ee-o), slipped his army over to Carthage
and attacked that city.  Hannibal had no choice but to follow and protect his
homeland.  Scipio stood waiting and defeated Hannibal's army before it could
get situated.  That was the only battle Hannibal ever lost.  The Roman senate
gave Scipio the honorary title, Scipio Africanus.

    Rome demanded an enormous amount of money from Carthage.
Hannibal took charge of the Carthaginian government, and organized the
economy so well that they soon paid Rome off and became more prosperous
than ever.  The worried Romans threatened another war if Hannibal remained in
charge.  To give his people peace, Hannibal decided to leave.

    For the next twenty years, Hannibal traveled from country to country,
always trying to get charge of an army to lead against Rome.  But the rulers of
each country feared Rome.  One by one, Rome captured these countries, and
Hannibal had to keep moving.  Finally, Rome bribed a ruler to betray him.
When the aging Hannibal found himself surrounded by soldiers, he took poison,
rather than let Romans capture him.

    Another Roman army defeated Carthage again, tore the buildings apart,
burned them, and covered the fields with salt so nothing would grow there any
more.  Rome ruled supreme over the Classical lands around the Mediterranean
Sea.

    Scipio's daughter, Cornelia, later became respected as the ideal Roman
mother.  She taught her sons, Tiberius Gracchus (GROK-us) and Gaius
Gracchus, to speak up for the poor.  Each day, the rich grew richer, and the
poor grew poorer.  Tiberius Gracchus got himself elected, and began to enforce
an almost-forgotten law that limited landholdings to three hundred acres.  He
confiscated the large estates and broke them up into eighteen-acre farms for
the poor.  Wealthy senators assassinated him.  His brother carried on his
reforms until he too was murdered in a war between senators and the people.

    After the death of the Gracchus brothers, Rome exploded into continual
war between the people and their government.  Each side chose generals who
became dictators whenever their side won a battle.  Amidst these wars between
rich freemen and poor freemen, the slaves revolted unsuccessfully under
Sparticus.  It was into this chaos that Julius Caesar came.

---------------------------------------------------------

48.  HAIL CAESAR

    Julius Caesar wanted power.  He talked Rome's strongest leaders into
joining him in a takeover of the government.  They were General Pompey and a
very wealthy politician named Crassus.  These three called themselves the
Triumvirate (Latin word for "three men").  They asked the respected Senator
Cicero to join them, but Cicero would not be corrupted.

    Caesar needed an army for his next step to power.  So he left to take
command of the Roman armies in Europe.  His army became a model of
efficiency.  Soon, he had conquered all of France, and had even landed in
England.  To keep his name in the news back in Rome, he wrote a book about
his excellent leadership.  His popularity soared, and the senators grew worried.
They ordered him to leave his army and return to Rome.

    Caesar returned to Rome--but he brought his army with him.  Pompey
and the senators fled.  Caesar chased Pompey to Greece and finally to Egypt,
where Pompey was killed.  Caesar ruled Rome alone.

    From Egypt, he brought back the young Cleopatra and the Egyptian
calendar.  Of his many reforms, the calendar was probably the most lasting.
Each month had thirty or thirty-one days.  But when the short month of July was
named after him, he borrowed an extra day from February.  Augustus Caesar
later did the same for August.

    Julius Caesar probably planned to make himself king.  Before that could
happen, several senators assassinated him.  They let the playboy Mark Antony
say a few words at his funeral.  To everyone's surprise, Antony roused the
crowd into a fury against the senators.  Again three leaders formed a
triumvirate: Mark Antony, Caesar's grandnephew who became known as
Augustus Caesar, and a wealthy businessman named Lepidus.  After defeating
the senators, the dictators led their armies against each other, Augustus won.
(See Chapter 12.)

    Augustus Caesar was cold and clever.  He gave the senators back their
titles and positions.  In their joy, they granted him many of their powers.  So it
looked as though Rome was once more a republic, But actually, Augustus held
the power to veto any law, remove any official from office, and to command the
army.  With all of the power gathered in one man, the civil wars finally ended.
Augustus Caesar became the first Roman emperor.

    With peace established, some of the finer Greek ideas began to catch on.
Greek architecture sprang up throughout the empire.  Ruins of temples and
theatres still stand in Africa, Asia, and Europe.  The poet Virgil wrote a long
book claiming that Caesar's ancestor was a prince who escaped from the
burning ruins of Troy.  Rome's glory came mostly from borrowed Greek ideas.
Beneath the civilized appearance, the struggle for wealth, power, and
enjoyment made people cruder and cruder.
FILMSTRIP: ROMAN ENGINEERING  (½ hour)48. BREAD AND CIRCUS

    Insanity struck the third emperor.  Caligula (kah-LIG-yoo-lah) began
drinking pearls dissolved in vinegar; he had whole mountains moved for no
reason at all.  To pay for these mad schemes, he confiscated several large
estates without warning.  He even appointed his horse to one of the highest
political offices.

    Caligula's bodyguards murdered him, and the senators planned to make
Rome a republic once more.  But as the soldiers looted the palace, they
discovered Caligula's bumbling old uncle, Claudius, hiding in fear.  Someone
suggested it would be a good joke to make Claudius emperor.  He turned out to
be a wise ruler.

    Claudius' new wife poisoned him to make way for her son Nero.  Nero
repaid his mother by sending her to sea in a leaky boat.  But she swam well.  So
soldiers had to be sent to stab her in her bedroom.  He kicked his wife to death.

    The public cried for "bread and circus"--welfare and entertainment.
Emperors provided them with spectacles, gladiator fights, contests between
wild animals, and naval battles in which the soldiers really died.  But Nero
outraged all Rome by ordering that no one should die in the arena while he
ruled.  Instead, he tried to turn entertainment toward the arts.  Nero's poetry
was average, and his singing was worse.  But he entered singing contests and
insisted on winning.  No one was allowed to leave while he sang.  Some bored
citizens pretended to die, just so they could be carried out.

     When fire destroyed most of Rome, rumor spread that Nero was the sort
of person who might have started it.  But actually. he did everything possible to
control it, housed the homeless, and rebuilt the city.

    The senators finally grew disgusted enough to declare Nero a public
enemy.  With soldiers approaching, Nero organized the musicians to resist, and
spent the rest of the session lecturing them about pipe organs.  But they fled
from the soldiers, and he committed suicide.

    For the next thirty years, one general seized power after another.  One of
these was Vitellius (vit-TEL-ee-us) who in less than a year ate millions of
dollars worth of food such as nightingale tongues and peacock brains.  The
best Roman homes had a room called the vomitorium, where guests could
vomit and go back to enjoy the next course of the feast.  Nero's Master of
Entertainment, Petronius (pe-TROH-nee-us), wrote a book about the kind of
dinner put on by people with bad taste and lots of money:

from THE SATYRICON by PETRONIUS

    Now that the guests were all in their places--Trimalchio*
himself was still absent--the hors d'oeuvres were served, and very
sumptuous they were.  On either side were dishes engraved with
Trimalchio's name and the weight of the silver they were made of.
Other dishes held dormice dipped in honey and rolled in poppy-seed.
There was a silver grill, piping hot and with small sausages on it, and,
beneath it, black damsons+ and red pomegranates, sliced up and
arranged to look like flames playing over charcoal.

    We were nibbling at these splendid appetizers when suddenly
trumpets blared and Trimalchio was carried in, propped up on piles
of miniature pillows.  His head, close-cropped like a slave's,
protruded from a cloak of blazing scarlet.  He was picking his teeth
with a silver toothpick.

    Meanwhile a tray was set before us on which lay a hen carved
from wood with wings outstretched as if it were sitting on its eggs.
The slaves approached and to a loud flourish from the orchestra
began rummaging through the straw and pulling peahen's eggs
which they gave to the guests.

    Trimalchio gave the whole performance his closest attention.
"Friends," he said, "I ordered peahen's eggs to be set under the hen;
but I'm afraid they've hatched already."  We were handed spoons
weighing at least half a pound apiece, and cracked the eggshells--
which turned out to consist of rich pastry.  I overheard one of the
guests--obviously a veteran to these dinners--say: "I wonder what
little surprise we've got in here."  So I cracked mine open and found
a fine fat oriole inside, nicely seasoned with pepper.

     The orchestra blared again and the trays were snatched from
the tables by warbling waiters.  In the confusion, a silver side dish
happened to fall to the floor.  A waiter at once came pattering up with
a broom and swept the silver dish out the door along with the rest of
the garbage.  We enthusiastically applauded this fine display of
extravagance....

    Servants came in and draped our couches with covers
embroidered with hunting scenes.  We were wondering what all this
was leading up to, when suddenly into the room bounded some huge
Spartan mastiffs# followed by servants with a tray on which
reposed@ a wild sow* of absolutely enormous size.  Two date-filled
baskets of woven palm leaves hung from its tusks; little suckling pigs
made of hard pastry clustered around her teats.  A slave stepped up
to carve--a huge fellow with a big beard, a coarse hunting cape
thrown over has shoulders.  He whipped out his knife and gave a
savage slash at the sow's flanks.  The flesh parted under the blow,
the wound burst open and--with a whirr--out flew dozens of live
thrushes!

    But bird-catchers were standing by with limed+ twigs, and
before long they had snared all the birds....

    We were unaware that we had slogged only halfway through
this "forest of refinements," as the poets put it; but when the tables
had been wiped--to the inevitable music--three hogs were led In,
rigged out with muzzles and bells.  Trimalchio asked: "Which one
would you like cooked for your dinner?" And without waiting for us to
choose, ordered the oldest slaughtered....

    The servants came back with an immense hog on a tray
almost the size of the table.  We were of course astonished at the
chef's speed.  But Trimalchio suddenly roared: "What!  What's this?
By God, this hog hasn't even been gutted!  Get that cook in here--
fast!"

    Looking very miserable, the poor cook came shuffling up to
the table and admitted that he'd forgotten to gut the pig.  "You
FORGOT?"  bellowed Trimalchio.  "You FORGOT TO GUT A PIG?
Strip that man!"  The cook stood there naked and forlorn between
two bodyguards.  The guests interceded# for him.  But Trimalchio sat
there with a great grin widening across his face and said: "Well,
since your memory's so bad, you can gut the pig right here in front of
us all."

    The cook was handed back his clothes, drew out his knife with
a shaking hand, and slashed at the pig's belly.  Suddenly, out
poured--not the pig's guts--but link upon link of tumbling sausages
and blood puddings!...

    All at once the coffered ceiling began to rumble and the whole
room started to shake.  I jumped up in terror.  Suddenly the paneling
slid apart and down through the crack an immense circular hoop
began slowly to descend.  Dangling from the hoop were chaplets@
of gold and little jars of perfume--all, we were told, presents for us to
take home....

    Then Trimalchio gave the signal for the second part of the
banquet to begin.

*the host
+plums
#dogs
@rested
*mother pig
+sticky
#spoke up
@crowns

     After about a hundred years of riotous living, the Romans settled into a
sober morality much like that at the end of other civilizations--conservative,
prudish, superstitious, and brutal.  Romans gleefully watched thousands of
animals or people slaughtered in a single day in the "games" at the arena.  But
they would not allow Greek athletics, for nudity seemed immoral.  Religions
boomed--the more superstitious the better.  Christianity outdid all the others
by claiming that the world would soon end.

    Yet Rome did enjoy a century of wise government under "the five good
emperors."  Each one selected the most capable young man in Rome to become
his adopted son and successor.  Hadrian (HAY-dree-an), the third of these, was
a constant traveler, and an architect of real genius.  The last of the five was
Marcus Aurelius (MAR-kus aw-REE-lee-us), a gentle philosopher who had to
spend most of his years putting down rebellions in Europe.  He wrote a book of
his meditations.  But he let his worthless son succeed him.  Soldiers
assassinated the son and put the empire up for sale to the highest bidder.

    Generals in Europe, Africa, and Asia all scrambled for control.  For the
next century, an emperor was murdered on the average every two years,

    Diocletian (die-o-KLEE-shun) restored order.  He divided the empire in
two, gave Europe to a friend, and went to rule the richer Asian half.

    Long afterward, Christian monks wrote horrible tales of Christians being
fed to the lions.  There is very little solid historical evidence that early
Christians suffered persecution.  On the contrary, the Romans were known for
encouraging all religions.  Rome contained Egyptian temples of Isis, Jewish
synagogues, Persian altars, Greek temples, and Christian churches.  A few eager
Christians tried to get crucified by making public nuisances of themselves.  The
early church fathers warned against such foolishness, and counted fewer than a
hundred such martyrs.

    By Diocletian's time, the Christians had become a strong political force.
He finally agreed with his advisors to close the powerful Christian churches and
have the scriptures burned.  Those who refused to surrender their books were
jailed, and a few executed as public examples.  The persecution took place in
the Asian and African lands--not in Rome itself, And it lasted eight years.  The
next emperor, Constantine, became a Christian on his deathbed.  As Christians
came into power, they persecuted other Christian groups with whom they
disagreed.  That was when the real persecution began.

    Constantine built a new capital far to the east at Byzantium, and renamed
it Constantinople. (Today known as Istanbul, Turkey.)

    Wave after wave of barbarians invaded the city of Rome.  Behind them
came the ferocious Huns, led by Attila (AT-i-la).  Historians think this was the
same tribe that the Great Wall of China had been built to keep out.  The German
chieftain appointed and dismissed one emperor after another.  Finally, in 475
C.E., he did not bother to appoint a new emperor (though a former emperor
continued to claim the title for another five years).  Thus ended the Roman
Empire. The Eastern Empire lasted another thousand years.

MAP OF EASTERN AND WESTERN ROMAN EMPIRES


Return to the main storage page