Page:Catholic Encyclopedia, volume 13.djvu/196

 ROME

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ROME

as the Villa Pamphili, are also accessible to the pubUc even- dav.

The population of Rome in 1901 was 462,783. Of these 5000 were Protestants, 7000 Jews, 8200 of other religions and no reUgion. In the census now (1910) being made an increase of more than 100,000 is expected. Rome is now the most salubrious of all the large cities of Italy, its mortality for 1907 being 18-8 per thousand, against 19-9 at Milan and 19-6 at Turin. The Press is represented by five agencies: there are 17 dailj^ papers, two of them Catholic ("Osservatore Romano" and "Corriere d' Italia"); 8 periodicals are issued once or oftener in the week (.5 Catholic, 4 in English — "Rome", "Roman Her- ald", "Roman Messenger", "Roman World"); 88 are issued more than once a month (7 Catholic); there are 101 monthlies (19 Catholic); 55 periodicals appear less frequent Ij- than once a month.

Gexer.\^l History of the City. — Arms and imple- ments of the Pakeolithic Age, found in the near vicin- ity of Rome, testify to the presence of man here in those remote times. The most recent excavations have established that as early as the eighth century B. c. or, according to some, several centuries earlier, there was a group of human habitations on the Pala- tine Hill, a tufaceous ledge rising in the midst of marshy ground near the Tiber. (That river, it may be obser\ed here, was known to the primitive peoples by the name of Rumo, "the River".) Thus is the traditional account of the origin of Rome substantially verified. At the same time, or very little later, a colony of Sabines was formed on the Quirinal, and on the Esquiline an Etruscan colon}\ Between the Palatine and the Quirinal rose the Capitoline, once covered by two sacred groves, afterwards occupied by the temple of Jupiter and the Rock. Within a Bmall space, therefore, were established the advance guards of three distinct peoples of different characters; the Latins, shepherds; the Sabines, tillers of the soil; the Etruscans, already far advanced in civilization, and therefore in commerce and the industries. How these three villages became a city, with, first, the Latin influence preponderating, then the Sabine, then the Etruscan (the two Tarquins), is all enveloped in the obscurity of the history of the seven kings (753-509 B. c). The same uncertainty prevails as to the conquests made at the ex-pensc of the surround- ing peoples. It is unquestionable that all those con- quests had to be made afresh after the expulsion of the kings.

But the social organization of the new city during this period stands out clearly. There were three original tribes: the Ramnians (Latins), the Titians (Sabines), and the Luceres (Etruscans). Each tribe was divided into ten curia:, each curia into ten gentes, eaoli gens into ten (or thirty) families. Those who belonged to these, the most ancient, tribes were Patricians, and the chiefs of the three hundred gentes formed the Senate. In the course of time and the wars with surrounding peoples, new inhabitants occupied the remaining hills; thus, under Tullus HoBtilius, the Cajlian was assigned to the population of the razf^l Alba Longa (Albano); the Sabines, conquered by Ancus Martius, had the Aventine. Later on, the Viminal was occupied. The new inhabi- tants formed the Plebeians {Plebu), and their civil rights were ]csh than those of the older citizens. The int<;mal hi.slorv of Rome down to the Imperial Period is nothing but :i struggle of plebeians against patricians for the a^'quiHitif)n of great fr civil rights, and these struggle n^ulfed in the civil, political, and juridical organization of liome. The king was high-priest, judge, lea/ler in war, and head of the Gov(!rnment; the S<;natf and the 0»initia of the People were con- voked by him at his pleasure, and debated the raesHurf^ 7)rop(jwrl by him. Mon^jv(!r, the kingly dignity was hereditary. Among the important public

works in this earliest period wei e the drains, or sewers {cloaca), for draining the marshes around the Pala- tine, the work of the Etruscan Tarquinius Priscus; the cit}' wall was built by Servius TuUius, who also organized the Plebeians, dividing them into thirty tribes; the Sublician Bridge was constructed to unite the Rome of that time with the Janiculan.

During the splendid reign of Tarquinius Superbus, Rome was the mistress of Latium as far as Circeii and Signia. But, returning victorious from Ardea, the king found the gates of the city closed against him. Rome took to itself a repubhcan form of government, with two consuls, who held office for onty one year; only in times of difficulty was a dictator elected, to wield unlimited power. In the expulsion of Tarquinius Superbus some historians have seen a revolt of the Latin element against Etruscan domination. Besides wars and treaties with the Latins and other peoples, the principal events, down to the burning of Rome by the Gauls, were the institution of the tribunes of the people {tribuni plebis), the establishment of the laws of the Twelve Tables, and the destruction of Veil. In 390 the Romans were defeated by the Gauls near the River Allia; a few days later the city was taken and set on fire, and after the Gauls had departed it was rebuilt without plan or rule. Camillus, the dictator, reorganized the army and. after long re- sistance to the change, at last consented that one of the consuls should be a plebeian. Southern Etruria became subject to Rome, with the capture of Nepi and Sutri in 386. The Appian Way and Aqueduct were constructed at this period. Very soon it was possible to think of conquering the whole peninsula. The principal stages of this conquest are formed by the three wars against the Samnites (victory of Sues- sula, 343); the victory of Bovianum, 304; those over the Etruscans and Umbrians, in 310 and 308; lastly, the victory of Sentinum, in 295, over the combined Samnites, Etruscans, and Gauls. The Tarentine (282-272) and the First and Second Punic Wars (264-201) determined the conquest of the rest of Italy, with the adjacent islands, as well as the first invasion of Spain.

Soon after this, the Kingdom of Macedonia (Cynos- cephalse, 197; Pydna, 168) and Greece (capture of Corinth, 146) were subdued, while the war against Antiochus of Syria (192-89) and against the Galatians (189) brought Roman supremacy into Asia. In 146 Carthage was destroyed, and Africa reduced to sub- jection; between 149 and 133 the conquest of Spain was completed. Everywhere Roman colonies sprang up. With conquest, the luxurious vices of the con- quered peoples also came to Rome, and thus the contrast between patricians and plebeians was accen- tuated. To champion the cause of tlie jilcheians there arose the brothers Tiberius and Cuius Gracchus. The Servile Wars (132-171) and the Jugurthine War (111-105) revealed the utter corruption of Roman society. Marius and Sulla, both of whom had won glory in foreign wars, rallied to them the two opposing parties. Democratic and Aristocratic, respectively. Sulla firmly established his dictatorship with the victory of the Colline Gate (83), reorganized the administration, and enacted some good laws to arrest the moral decay of the city. But the times were ripe for the oligarchy, which was to lead in the natural course of events to the monarchy. In the year 60, Ca-sar, Pompey, and Crassus formed the first Trium- virate. While Caisar conquered (Jaul (58-50), and Crassus waged an unsuccessful war against the Par- thians (54-53), Pompey succeeded in gaining supreme control of the capital. The war between Pompey. to whom the nobles adhered, and Ca-sar, who had the flemocracy with him, was inevitable. The battle of Pharsalia (4S) decided the issue; in 45 Ca-sar was already thinking of (stablishing monarchical government; his asaassination (44) could do no more

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