A Short History Of Rome: The Empire From The Death Of Caesar To The Fall Of The Western Empire, 44 B.c.-476 A.d. (1919)

A SHORT HISTORY OF ROME BY GUGLIELMO FERRERO AND CORRADO BARBAGALLO THE MONARCHY AND THE REPUBLIC FROM THE FOUNDATION OF THE CITY TO THE DEATH OF JULIUS CAESAR 754 B. C.-44 B. c. G. P. PUTNAMS SONS NEW YORK AND LONDON gbe - fenJcherbocfter press 1918 COPYRIGHT, 1918 BY GX7GLIELMO FBKRERO Translated from the ItAHan by GEORGE CHRYSTAL PREFACE Tins hook has been written for the use of teachers and of the more advanced students in schools, colleges, and universities It seemed to my collaborator and myself that there might be service to them and also to the general reader, in a work presenting a succinct view of the main outline of the great history of Rome, and giving detailed consideration to the more import ant periods and episodes. Our chief aim, therefore, has been to bring out clearly the connection of these larger events. No mere catalogue of facts, however complete and in however appropriate a setting, is worthy of the name of history. For history must convey the sense not only of succession but of evolution, and every part of the narrative must flow necessarily from what has already been re lated, and itself lead inevitably to what follows, Our general scheme, which is based on this idea, will, we hope, put our readers whether learners or teachers in possession of a key to Roman history which is necessary 1 to all sound knowledge of the subject, while the more detailed accounts which have been given of particular cases will enable them to extend the scope of their studies or of their instruction. We have included but few notes, but we need hardly say that our work is based entirely on original sources and on the authoritative treatises which deal with the successive phases of Romanhistory. We have deliberately avoided the methods of historical Hi iv Preface criticism which have been so much in fashion during the last ten years methods that call themselves scientific but which are usually as sterile as they are pretentious. We have accordingly refrained from hypotheses which contradict coherent and historically attested facts, and we have not endeavoured by subtle and conjectural argument to sustain against received accounts and available evidence, inventions that can neither be proved nor disproved. We have hdd firmly to two cardinal principles, first, that in history we cannot hope to know everything, and secondly, that what certainty there is diminishes as we descend from great events, which can be kept in relation with each other, to the smaller incidents which escape from that correlation. The use of these principles has often enabled us to solve without difficulty, and in a manner which we hope is not repugnant to the readers common sense, problems that have uselessly fatigued the modern school of critics. I cannot conclude without expressing my own obligation and that of my readers to my collaborator, Corrado Barbagallo, of the Department of History in the Istituto Tecnico of Milan, whose assistance has been of the greatest value to me and to whom my public thanks are due. I am especially sensible of the deference he has shown to my opinion in cases in which we have not been in agreement, for example on the question of the part played by the senate, and of the importance of that body, under the empire, which is dealt with in the second volume. For the views expressed on that subject I am solely responsible. G. P. March, I, 1917, CONTENTS CHAPTER I PAGE THKMONARCHY 754-510 B. C. i CHAPTER II THK BEGINNINGS OF THE REPUBLIC . . - 38 CHAPTER III THK GALLIC INVASION . . 46 CHAPTER IV TIIK GRKAT STRUGGLE WITH THE SAMNITES ., 62 CHAPTER V THK WAR WITH TARENTUM AND THE CONQUEST OF ITALY 97 CHAPTER VI ROMK AND CARTHAGE 119 CHAPTER VII THK SECOND EFFORT OF ROME TO BECOME A COMMERCIAL POWER . . . . 134 CHAPTER VIII THE SECOND PUNIC WAR . ., .158 V vi Contents CHAPTER IX THE HEGEMONY OF THE MEDITERRANEAN CHAPTER X THE TWILIGHT OF ANCIENT ROME. CHAPTER XI THE CRITICAL YEARS OF THE HKCJKMONY CHAPTJCRXH THE GRACCHI . .....