The Story of the Romans (Yesterday's Classics)

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Authors: H. A. Guerber

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BOOK: The Story of the Romans (Yesterday's Classics)
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The Story of the Romans
by
H. A. Guerber
Yesterday's Classics
Chapel Hill, North Carolina
Cover and Arrangement © 2010 Yesterday's Classics, LLC

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or retransmitted in any form or by any means without the written permission of the publisher.

This edition, first published in 2010 by Yesterday's Classics, an imprint of Yesterday's Classics, LLC, is an unabridged republication of the work originally published by American Book Company in 1896. This title is available in a print edition (ISBN 978-1-59915-011-6).

Yesterday's Classics, LLC
PO Box 3418
Chapel Hill, NC 27515
Yesterday's Classics

Yesterday's Classics republishes classic books for children from the golden age of children's literature, the era from 1880 to 1920. Many of our titles are offered in high-quality paperback editions, with text cast in modern easy-to-read type for today's readers. The illustrations from the original volumes are included except in those few cases where the quality of the original images is too low to make their reproduction feasible. Unless specified otherwise, color illustrations in the original volumes are rendered in black and white in our print editions.

Preface

This elementary history of Rome, since it is intended for very young readers, has been related as simply and directly as possible. The aim is not only to instruct, but to interest, school children, and to enable them, as it were in play, to gain a fair idea of the people and city of which they will hear so much.

This book is also planned to serve as a general introduction to the study of Latin, which most pupils begin before they have had time to study history. With little, if any, knowledge of the people who spoke the language they are learning, children cannot be expected to take so lively an interest in the study as they would if they knew more. Many a schoolboy is plunged into the Commentaries of Cæsar before having any idea of the life of that great man; and, as the information gained about him through the Latin is necessarily acquired piecemeal and slowly, it is no great wonder that Cæsar has been vaguely, yet vindictively, stigmatized as "the fellow who fought a lot of battles just so he could plague boys."

By gaining a general idea of the great heroes of Roman history, a child's enthusiasm can be so roused that Latin will be connected ever after—as it should be—with a lively recollection of the great men who spoke and wrote it.

To secure this end, the writer has not only told the main facts of Roman history, but has woven in the narrative many of the mythical and picturesque tales which, however untrue, form an important part of classical history, literature, and art. Government, laws, customs, etc. have been only lightly touched upon, because children are most interested in the sayings and doings of people.

This volume may be used merely as a reader or first history text-book, but the teacher will find that, like "The Story of the Greeks," it can also serve as a fund of stories for oral or written reproduction, and as an aid to the study of European geography.

Maps, illustrations, and index have been added to enhance its usefulness and attractiveness, and wherever a proper name occurs for the first time, the pronunciation has been carefully marked as given by the best authorities.

The writer trusts that "The Story of the Romans" may prove sufficiently interesting to young readers to make them look forward to reading and learning more about the people to whom they are now introduced.

Contents

Preface

Chapter I.   The First Settlers

Chapter II.   The Escape from the Burning City

Chapter III.   The Clever Trick

Chapter IV.   The Boards Are Eaten

Chapter V.   The Wolf and the Twins

Chapter VI.   Romulus Builds Rome

Chapter VII.   The Maidens Carried Off

Chapter VIII.   Union of Sabines and Romans

Chapter IX.   Death of Romulus

Chapter X.   The Strange Signs of the Romans

Chapter XI.   The Quarrel with Alba

Chapter XII.   The Fight between the Horatii and the Curiatii

Chapter XIII.   Tarquin and the Eagle

Chapter XIV.   The Roman Youths

Chapter XV.   The King Outwitted

Chapter XVI.   The Murder of Tarquin

Chapter XVII.   The Ungrateful Children

Chapter XVIII.   The Mysterious Books

Chapter XIX.   Tarquin's Poppies

Chapter XX.   The Oracle of Delphi

Chapter XXI.   The Death of Lucretia

Chapter XXII.   The Stern Father

Chapter XXIII.   A Roman Triumph

Chapter XXIV.   A Roman Triumph
(continued)

Chapter XXV.   The Defense of the Bridge

Chapter XXVI.   The Burnt Hand

Chapter XXVII.   The Twin Gods

Chapter XXVIII.   The Wrongs of the Poor

Chapter XXIX.   The Fable of the Stomach

Chapter XXX.   The Story of Coriolanus

Chapter XXXI.   The Farmer Hero

Chapter XXXII.   The New Laws

Chapter XXXIII.   The Death of Virginia

Chapter XXXIV.   The Plans of a Traitor

Chapter XXXV.   The School-Teacher Punished

Chapter XXXVI.   The Invasion of the Gauls

Chapter XXXVII.   The Sacred Geese

Chapter XXXVIII.   Two Heroes of Rome

Chapter XXXIX.   The Disaster at the Caudine Forks

Chapter XL.   Pyrrhus and His Elephants

Chapter XLI.   The Elephants Routed

Chapter XLII.   Ancient Ships

Chapter XLIII.   Regulus and the Snake

Chapter XLIV.   Hannibal Crosses the Alps

Chapter XLV.   The Romans Defeated

Chapter XLVI.   The Inventor Archimedes

Chapter XLVII.   The Roman Conquests

Chapter XLVIII.   Destruction of Carthage

Chapter XLIX.   Roman Amusements

Chapter L.   The Jewels of Cornelia

Chapter LI.   The Death of Tiberius Gracchus

Chapter LII.   Caius Gracchus

Chapter LIII.   Jugurtha, King of Numidia

Chapter LIV.   The Barbarians

Chapter LV.   The Social War

Chapter LVI.   The Flight of Marius

Chapter LVII.   The Proscription Lists

Chapter LVIII.   Sertorius and His Doe

Chapter LIX.   The Revolt of the Slaves

Chapter LX.   Pompey's Conquests

Chapter LXI.   The Conspiracy of Catiline

Chapter LXII.   Cæsar's Conquests

Chapter LXIII.   The Crossing of the Rubicon

Chapter LXIV.   The Battle of Pharsalia

Chapter LXV.   The Death of Cæsar

Chapter LXVI.   The Second Triumvirate

Chapter LXVII.   The Vision of Brutus

Chapter LXVIII.   Antony and Cleopatra

Chapter LXIX.   The Poisonous Snake

Chapter LXX.   The Augustan Age

Chapter LXXI.   Death of Augustus

Chapter LXXII.   Varus Avenged

Chapter LXXIII.   Death of Germanicus

Chapter LXXIV.   Tiberius Smothered

Chapter LXXV.   The Wild Caligula

Chapter LXXVI.   The Wicked Wives of Claudius

Chapter LXXVII.   Nero's First Crimes

Chapter LXXVIII.   The Christians Persecuted

Chapter LXXIX.   Nero's Cruelty

Chapter LXXX.   Two Short Reigns

Chapter LXXXI.   The Siege of Jerusalem

Chapter LXXXII.   The Buried Cities

Chapter LXXXIII.   The Terrible Banquet

Chapter LXXXIV.   The Emperor's Tablets

Chapter LXXXV.   The Good Trajan

Chapter LXXXVI.   Trajan's Column

Chapter LXXXVII.   The Great Wall

Chapter LXXXVIII.   Hadrian's Death

Chapter LXXXIX.   Antoninus Pius

Chapter XC.   The Model Pagan

Chapter XCI.   Another Cruel Emperor

Chapter XCII.   An Unnatural Son

Chapter XCIII.   The Senate of Women

Chapter XCIV.   The Gigantic Emperor

Chapter XCV.   Invasion of the Goths

Chapter XCVI.   Zenobia, Queen of Palmyra

Chapter XCVII.   A Prophecy Fulfulled

Chapter XCVIII.   The First Christian Emperor

Chapter XCIX.   The Roman Empire Divided

Chapter C.   An Emperor's Penance

Chapter CI.   Sieges of Rome

Chapter CII.   End of the Empire of the West

CHAPTER I
The First Settlers

Y
OU
are now going to hear about the building of Rome, the capital of Italy, in Europe. By looking at your maps, you will soon find in Europe a peninsula, shaped somewhat like a boot, and surrounded on three sides by the Mediterranean and Adriatic seas. This peninsula is Italy. To the north are the snow-topped Alps, a chain of high mountains which separate this country from the rest of Europe; and through the peninsula run the Apennines, a less lofty mountain range.

As Italy is in the southern part of Europe, it has a very mild and delightful climate. The tall mountains in the north prevent the cold winds from sweeping down upon it, and many plants which you see here in hothouses grow there in the open ground.

Orange and almond trees, camellias and pomegranates, are all covered with fruit or flowers, and the vine and olive both yield rich harvests in this beautiful land. The soil is so rich that people do not need to work very hard in order to have fine crops, and, as the weather is generally clear, they can live out of doors almost all the year round.

As the climate is so pleasant, the land so fertile, the skies so blue, and the views so beautiful, travelers have always liked to visit Italy, and have spoken about its charms to all they met. It is no wonder, therefore, that many people have gone to settle there, and you will easily understand that the whole country was occupied long, long ago.

So many years ago that no one can really tell when it was, Italy was already inhabited by a people who, judging from what we have heard of them, must once have lived in Central Asia. These people were probably crowded at home, and left their native land in search of good pasture for their cattle, and a fertile country where they might dwell.

They traveled on and on, day after day, and coming finally to the great mountains, some of them climbed up to see what was on the other side. When they beheld the green valleys of Italy, and saw how beautiful the country was, they told their companions, and all made haste to cross the mountains.

These people traveled on foot, with their families, cattle, and all their household goods; and they were very rude and uncivilized. Little by little, however, they learned to build houses, to cook their food, to make rude pottery from the clay they found in the valleys, to spin and weave the wool from their sheep, and to fashion this homemade stuff into garments.

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