登陆注册
5214200000052

第52章

These things, I say, I pass in silence; but I can by no means be silent regarding the order given by Mithridates, king of Asia, that on one day all Roman citizens residing anywhere in Asia (where great numbers of them were following their private business)should be put to death: and this order was executed.How miserable a spectacle was then presented, when each man was suddenly and treacherously murdered wherever he happened to be, in the field or on the road, in the town, in his own home, or in the street, in market or temple, in bed or at table ! Think of the groans of the dying, the tears of the spectators, and even of the executioners themselves.For how cruel a necessity was it that compelled the hosts of these victims, not only to see these abominable butcheries in their own houses, but even to perpetrate them:

to change their countenance suddenly from the bland kindliness of friendship, and in the midst of peace set about the business of war; and, shall I say, give and receive wounds, the slain being pierced in body, the slayer in spirit ! Had all these murdered persons, then, despised auguries? Had they neither public nor household gods to consult when they left their homes and set out on that fatal journey? If they had not, our adversaries have no reason to complain of these Christian times in this particular, since long ago the Romans despised auguries as idle.If, on the other hand, they did consult omens, let them tell us what good they got thereby, even when such things were not prohibited, but authorized, by human, if not by divine law CHAP.23.--OF THE INTERNAL DISASTERS WHICH VEXED THE ROMAN REPUBLIC, AND FOLLOWEDA PORTENTOUS MADNESS WHICH SEIZED ALL THE DOMESTIC ANIMALS.

But let us now mention, as succinctly as possible, those disasters which were still more vexing, because nearer home; I mean those discords which are erroneously called civil, since they destroy civil interests.The seditions had now become urban wars, in which blood was freely shed, and in which parties raged against one another, not with wrangling and verbal contention, but with physical force and arms.What a sea of Roman blood was shed, what desolations and devastations were occasioned in Italy by wars social, wars servile wars civil! Before the Latins began the social war against Rome, all the animals used in the service of man--dogs, horses, asses, oxen, and all the rest that are subject to man--suddenly grew wild, and forgot their domesticated tameness, forsook their stalls and wandered at large, and could not be closely approached either by strangers or their own masters without danger.If this was a portent, how serious a calamity must have been portended by a plague which, whether portent or no, was in itself a serious calamity! Had it happened in our day, the heathen would have been more rabid against us than their animals were against them.

CHAP.24.--OF THE CIVIL DISSENSION OCCASIONED BY THE SEDITION OF THEGRACCHI.

The civil wars originated in the seditions which the Gracchi excited regarding the agrarian laws; for they were minded to divide among the people the lands which were wrongfully possessed by the nobility.

But to reform an abuse of so long standing was an enterprise full of peril, or rather, as the event proved, of destruction.

For what disasters accompanied the death of the older Gracchus ! what slaughter ensued when, shortly after, the younger brother met the same fate! For noble and ignoble were indiscriminately massacred; and this not by legal authority and procedure, but by mobs and armed rioters.After the death of the younger Gracchus, the consul Lucius Opimius, who had given battle to him within the city, and had defeated and put to the sword both himself and his confederates, and had massacred many of the citizens, instituted a judicial examination of others, and is reported to have put to death as many as 3000 men.From this it may be gathered how many fell in the riotous encounters, when the result even of a judicial investigation was so bloody.The assassin of Gracchus himself sold his head to the consul for its weight in gold, such being the previous agreement.In this massacre, too, Marcus Fulvius, a man of consular rank, with all his children, was put to death.

CHAP.25.--OF THE TEMPLE OF CONCORD, WHICH WAS ERECTED BY A DECREE OFTHE SENATE

ON THE SCENE OF THESE SEDITIONS AND MASSACRES.

A pretty decree of the senate it was, truly, by which the temple of Concord was built on the spot where that disastrous rising had taken place, and where so many citizens of every rank had fallen.(1)I suppose it was that the monument of the Gracchi's punishment might strike the eye and affect the memory of the pleaders.

But what was this but to deride the gods, by building a temple to that goddess who, had she been in the city, would not have suffered herself to be torn by such dissensions? Or was it that Concord was chargeable with that bloodshed because she had deserted the minds of the citizens, and was therefore incarcerated in that temple? For if they had any regard to consistency, why did they not rather erect on that site a temple of Discord? Or is there a reason for Concord being a goddess while Discord is none? Does the distinction of Labeo hold here, who would have made the one a good, the other an evil deity?--a distinction which seems to have been suggested to him by the mere fact of his observing at Rome a temple to Fever as well as one to Health.But, on the same ground, Discord as well as Concord ought to be deified.A hazardous venture the Romans made in provoking so wicked a goddess, and in forgetting that the destruction of Troy had been occasioned by her taking offence.

同类推荐
  • 千手眼大悲心咒行法

    千手眼大悲心咒行法

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 词概

    词概

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 凤仙谱

    凤仙谱

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 四分戒本疏卷第一

    四分戒本疏卷第一

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 太清金液神气经

    太清金液神气经

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 景候佳音

    景候佳音

    林景琰不知道怎么做才能让顾佳音重新喜欢上他。顾佳音笑笑:“呵呵…我肚子里的孩子是谁的?”“佳音,我知道不是我的,你放心,我会把他当亲生一样的对待的!”男人信誓旦旦保证!“林景琰,你大爷,你让我怀孕了,你居然忘了!!”男人一愣一愣的:“是…我的吗?”顾佳音气呼呼的小脸大声怒吼:“当然是你的,不然是谁的!”林景琰抓了抓头:“我们睡过吗?我怎么不记得了?”“林景琰,你今晚睡书房!!”“老婆,不要啊,我不要睡书房!”不过,我和佳音到底什么时候睡过的??林景琰使劲挠了挠头。
  • 灵气复苏时代的虎

    灵气复苏时代的虎

    看了一场流星,变成了一只老虎,还是动物园的老虎。 整个世界自从自己变做老虎开始,就完全变了。 鬼魂,妖类,灵兽,应有尽有。 本书不倾向于化形,如果想看化形泡妹子大概是看不到了。 也不是纯粹的战斗文,主要是胖虎的日常。 嗯,就这样!大猫决定奋起反抗!胖虎后援团:522074175
  • 社会信息论域下的社会真相

    社会信息论域下的社会真相

    站在世纪之初的门槛,社会信息的创制、传播与实现的水平高低已成为衡量时代演化的重要尺度,于是,社会信息与社会真相的关联研究尤其具有现实意义。本书涉及内容广泛,可以满足普通读者了解社会信息所具有的强大认知与实践功能,并可为相关理论工作者提供借鉴。
  • 黑道公主VS霸道皇

    黑道公主VS霸道皇

    “既然龙珠选择了你,从此以后,你生是我的人,死也是我的鬼!”碧海龙珠从天而降,很不幸,某女躺着也能中枪。紫红龙珠化作一粒朱砂印入她的眉心,怎么抠也抠不下来。“吖地,我才不要做你的皇后呢!”某女怒气冲冲,张嘴就咬。“由不得你!”某帅哥不由分说的迎了上去。一代浪漫的穿越传奇故事由此拉开序幕!【蓬莱岛原创社团出品】(情节虚构,切勿模仿)
  • 最强无败大反派

    最强无败大反派

    小白脸才做男主角,真男人只做大反派,一句话,就是要狂拽酷霸吊。意外穿越到大陆,无论谁都想要的主角梦被秦明撞见,什么?主角,就是那种圣母,小白,美女倒贴的那个,滚吧,什么玩意,要做,就做大反派,干掉所有主角,最后在光辉中把主角踩在脚底下,让整个世界陷入黑暗。哈哈哈。
  • 先秦时期的权谋游戏

    先秦时期的权谋游戏

    此书淋漓展现了历史的治乱兴衰、人物的成败得失:最深刻的儒家智慧,从征服人心入手,谋圣而不谋智;最刻毒的法家智慧,以法、势、术为核心,用阴谋和强权控制民众;最圆融的道家智慧,通过“不争”,以心智王天下;最超脱的佛家智慧,在面对在世与超世、做人与成佛、求佛与求己中选择追求内在本心……
  • 办事办到位

    办事办到位

    在中国,想做大事的人很多,但愿意把小事做好的人很少;我们不缺少雄韬伟略的战略家,缺少的是精益求精的执行者;我们不缺少各类管理规章制度,缺少的是规章条款不折不扣的执行。我们必须改变心浮气躁、浅尝辄止的毛病,把每一件事都办好,办到位。
  • 雪嫁衣

    雪嫁衣

    何为天下?天下,是最初诞生的文明。天下,即我。何为天下?振长策而御宇内,吞二周而亡诸侯,威震四海。天下,是始皇帝之残暴,之威严。犯强汉者,虽远必诛。天下,是汉武帝之骄傲,之武功。万国来宾,为天可汗。天下,是唐率宗之雍容,之文明。何为天下?站在御宿山上,周围三十六里,便是天下。武功文化,秦皇汉武,英雄豪杰,都毫无意义。只因这里有一个绝顶的名——华音阁。
  • 慕少今生只宠你

    慕少今生只宠你

    从天而降的一个男人,一醒来,一切都变了。“喂,你是谁啊!”“你不认识我吗?我是你老公啊!”“??”“我结婚了?我自己怎么不知道?”“哦,这样啊!那你现在知道了!”我知道你个鬼!米米现在真想立刻就将眼前的这个男人给踢出去,谁知?“老婆,这是我的工资卡。”慕逸城递给米米,米米就毫不犹豫的接受了,这么长时间来,吃我的住我的用我的,总归是拿回一点儿了。“老婆,这是我烧的菜,你尝尝看怎么样。”米米吃了一口,眼睛都眯成了一条缝。到了晚上,“老婆,我帮你做马杀鸡。”米米欣然接受了,等着他给自己按摩。
  • 镇恶志

    镇恶志

    先镇江湖后镇天,镇罢妖魔镇神仙,三千世界听谁主?青衫笑傲红尘间。