The Story of Greece and Rome for boys and girls
- Автор: Macgregor Mary
- Год: 1914
- Язык: английский
- Жанр: Зарубежная литература для детей
Электронная книга - «The Story of Greece and Rome for boys and girls». Краткое содержание книги:
The Story of Greece: Told to Boys and Girls от Mary Macgregor
The Story of Rome, From the Earliest Times to the Death of Augustus, Told to Boys and Girls от Mary Esther Miller MacGregor
So, telling the Veian stories about his own country, he drew the wise man unaware farther and farther from the gates of Veii. As they drew near to the Roman camp, the soldier, who was tall and strong, seized the Veian in his arms and carried him before his captain. Before long the captive had been persuaded to tell all he knew.
‘The city of Veii shall never be taken,’ said the wise man, ‘until the waters of the Lake of Alba are dried up.’
It seemed to the Romans that the soothsayer should be sent to the Senate, that it might hear for itself what he had to say.
But when the Senate had listened to the Veian’s words it was still uncertain what to do; so it sent messengers to the oracle of Delphi, which was the highest authority it knew. The oracle sent back a plain message. ‘Shut up the water of the lake in its ancient bounds, and keep it from flowing into the sea’; and the Romans at once began to carry out its instructions.
Channels were dug, and soon, with the help of great engineering works, the water of the lake was carried away to irrigate the plain.
Meanwhile, Camillus, finding that he would never be able to take Veii by storm, ordered underground passages to be made between his camp and the centre of the city. So secretly were the tunnels dug that the enemy never dreamed what was going on beneath their streets and temples.
At length the passage was complete, and Camillus led a picked band of soldiers along the tunnel, until they stood beneath the temple of Juno, the goddess of Veii.
While the Dictator was stealing underground with his followers, the walls of the city were being once again attacked.
The Veians, still ignorant of the mine beneath their feet, rushed to defend their walls against the enemy.
As the conflict raged, the King of Veii hastened to the temple of Juno to offer sacrifices, and to beseech the goddess to grant him victory.
‘The victory will be won by him who lays the sacrifice on the altar,’ cried the priest who stood by the side of the king.
Camillus, who was just beneath the altar, heard the priest’s words. Instantly he broke through the floor of the temple and entered the sacred building with his followers, who shouted and waved their weapons above their heads.
The Veians fled from the temple in dismay, while Camillus hastened to seize the sacrifice and fling it upon the altar.
Then, knowing that victory was assured, the band of Roman soldiers rushed to the gates of the city and flung them wide that their comrades might enter.
A little later, and the Veians were overwhelmed, and Veii was at length in the hands of the Romans.
CHAPTER XXXIII
THE STATUE OF THE GODDESS
When Veii had fallen into his hands, Camillus allowed not only the soldiers, but the citizens of Rome to plunder the city, for he had agreed with the Senate that all the people should share in the spoil.
As he stood on a high tower watching the sack of the city which had resisted Rome for ten years, Camillus wept for pity. Then, covering his face with his toga, he prayed that if his great victory had made him proud, Jupiter would punish, not Rome or the army, but only him, and that ‘with as little hurt as might be.’
Turning then to his right, as was the custom after prayer, the Dictator slipped and fell to the ground. This, he believed, was the ‘little hurt’ sent to him by the god.
Many treasures were taken from the conquered city to Rome, but none more sacred than the statue of Juno.
Camillus ordered some young men to clothe themselves in white robes, and then to go to the temple to remove the statue.
It was a solemn moment when the youths stood before the image, scarce venturing to look upon it, lest they should be punished for their boldness.
One of them, half mocking, yet, it may be, half in earnest too, said: ‘O Juno, wilt thou go to Rome?’
Clear through the temple echoed the voice of the goddess: ‘I will.’
Then reverently the young men lifted the image, but to their astonishment it was so light that they felt as though their arms were empty, and the goddess was walking by their side.
In safety they reached Rome with the wondrous image, and Camillus built a temple on the Aventine hill, in which henceforth the statue of Juno stood.
When the Dictator returned to Rome he enjoyed a great triumph. Dressed in the garments of Jupiter, he drove through the gates in a chariot drawn by four white horses, his soldiers following him, shouting the praises of their leader.
But the people of Rome were displeased with the Dictator, for none but kings might drive in a chariot drawn by four white horses.
Soon they even hated Camillus, for he sided with the Senate against those tribunes who had been faithful to the plebeians. Moreover, he had vowed to give a tenth of the spoil taken at Veii to the god Apollo. At the time that the city was sacked, it seemed that the Dictator had forgotten his vow. When he remembered it, the people had spent or parted with their share of the spoil, so Camillus forced them to give up the tenth part of their goods. At this the poor folk grumbled, as indeed they had some cause to do.
But much as the people hated Camillus, they could not do without him. When war broke out against a people called the Falerians, he was elected as a military tribune, and at once marched away with his army to besiege the strongly fortified town of Falerii.
In his heart Camillus hoped that if he was successful in taking the city, the Romans would forget their anger against him.
CHAPTER XXXIV
THE SCHOOLMASTER WHO PROVED A TRAITOR
The Falerians were not disturbed when the Roman army pitched its camp without their walls, not even although they knew that so great a general as Camillus was at its head.
Their city was well fortified, and so, sure of being able to defend it, they guarded their walls, and then went on with their work and with their play as was their wont.
But there was a traitor within the walls of Falerii, and through his treachery misfortune well-nigh overtook the city.
The traitor was a schoolmaster. He thought that it would be an easy matter to betray the city to the Romans by the aid, unknown to themselves, of his pupils.
Before the siege began he had been used to take the children outside the city walls for their daily walks and exercises.
He continued to do so after the Romans had laid siege to the city, but at first he did not venture far from the gates, lest the children should be afraid.
But, little by little, as they became careless of the enemy, the schoolmaster took them nearer and nearer to the Roman camp. Then one day, before the boys were aware, their master had led them close to the enemy’s lines and had asked to be taken before Camillus.
He was admitted to the presence of the tribune, and pointing to his pupils the traitor said: ‘I have brought you the children of Falerii. With them in your power, you will soon be able to make what terms you please with the citizens. They will give up their city without a struggle to secure the safe return of their children.’
But Camillus was not the man that the traitor had dreamed. He looked with scorn upon the treacherous schoolmaster, then, turning to those who stood near, he said: ‘War indeed is of necessity attended with much injustice and violence. Certain laws, however, all good men observe, even in war itself, nor is victory so great an object as to induce us to incur for its sake obligations for base and impious acts. A great general should rely on his own valour and not on other men’s vice.’
Camillus then bade his officers strip off the schoolmaster’s clothes and tie his hands behind him. The children were then given rods and told to beat their master back to the city.
Meanwhile, the Falerians had missed the children. Fathers and mothers, distraught with grief, rushed to the walls, to the gates, but nowhere was there any trace of their boys. Cries and lamentations filled the city.