Fluent Essays

https://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=MATT+5-7&version=NIV https://www.crcna.org/welcome/beliefs/creeds/nicene-creed https://www.newadvent.org/cathen/13795a.htm https://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/source/rul-benedict-excerp.asp THE BURGUNDIAN CODE PREFACE 1. In the name of God, this book of laws was issued at Lyons on the 29th of March in the second year of the reign of our Lord the most glorious King Gundobad. 2. For the love of justice, which is pleasing to God, we have obtained the consent of our leading men to these laws. OF MURDERS 1. If anyone intentionally kills a native freeman of any nation or a servant of the king, he shall always pay for his crime by the shedding of his own blood. 2. If it is proved that a man attacked another man, wounding him, and that the victim chased and killed the attacker, the killer shall pay the dead man’s relatives half of his wergeld. For example, if the dead man was a noble of the highest class, the killer shall pay 150 solidi, half of a noble’s wergeld. 3. If a slave kills a native freeman without his owner’s knowledge, the slave shall be killed but his owner shall not be liable for damages. 4. If the owner knows about the crime, both shall be killed. OF NATIVE FREEMEN ACCUSED OF CRIMES 1. If a native freeman who is either a barbarian or a Roman is suspected of a crime, he shall swear an oath with his wife, sons and twelve relatives. If he has a mother and father but no wife or sons, he shall swear the oath with his mother and father. If he has no mother or father, he shall swear the oath with twelve relatives. 2. But if the accused criminal wants to swear the oath with a raised hand and before they all enter the church the men who were ordered to hear the oath say they do not want to, then the accused criminal may not swear it. In this case the judges are ordered to resolve the matter by the judgement of God. OF STARTING A FIGHT 1. If any freeborn Burgundian enters another’s house to fight, he shall pay six solidi to the owner of the house and the fine shall be twelve solidi. We wish this to be observed equally among Burgundians and Romans. 2. If a slave enters a house by force or violence, he shall receive 100 blows as punishment, and his owner shall suffer no loss because of him. Letters between Governor Pliny the Younger and the Emperor Trajan, 112 AD. PROFESSOR BOYDEN’S INTRODUCTION The Roman Emperor Trajan was born as Marcus Ulpius Traianus near what is now the city of Seville in Spain in 53 AD, just before Nero became emperor. His parents were both members of the Roman ruling class. His father was a senator and general; his mother’s father was also a senator, and his mother’s younger sister married Emperor Titus. Although it appears that the family’s ancestry was Italian, it is unclear when their ancestors arrived in Spain. In 97 AD, after a successful military and political career, Trajan was adopted by the Emperor Nerva, and he became emperor himself a year later when Nerva died. His reign lasted til 117, when he died of a stroke and was succeeded by a relative of his wife’s named Hadrian. It was during Trajan’s reign that the Roman Empire was at its largest and most powerful; he added a great deal of additional territory to the empire and was also known for constructing many important public buildings both in Rome and in the provinces. Pliny the Younger was born as Gaius Caecilius Cilo in 61 AD in northern Italy. He died in 113 AD. He was the nephew of a famous Roman historian and scientist named Pliny the Elder, who was his mother’s brother. Pliny the Younger had a normal political career. At the end of his life he served as governor of Bithynia-Pontus, a Roman province in what is now northern Turkey. He is important to historians because more than three hundred letters he wrote to friends, family members and government officials, including the emperor, survive. In two of these letters he described the eruption of Mount Vesuvius in 79 AD, in which his uncle Pliny the Elder died. In 112 AD, Pliny the Younger was governor of Bithynia. This was about seventy-five years after Jesus Christ was crucified in Jerusalem. Christianity had obviously already spread throughout the Roman Empire, and Pliny decided he needed Emperor Trajan’s advice about how to deal with the new religion. In this letter, he wrote to the emperor, describing how he had dealt with Christians in Bithynia and asked for the emperor’s opinion on whether he was acting properly. The emperor responded, and both letters survive today. Governor Pliny the Younger’s Letter to Emperor Trajan : Sir, As you are aware, it is my habit to ask you for advice when I am in doubt about anything, for who is better placed to improve my procedures or remedy my ignorance than you are? I have never previously taken part in the interrogation of Christians, so I have no idea what questions interrogators used to ask them, nor what they were punished for, nor how severely they were punished. I have many doubts on this subject, for I do not know whether a distinction should be made between people of different ages, whether children should be punished as severely as grown men, whether people should be pardoned if they repent their Christianity, whether people who were Christians but have left their religion should be treated more gently than those who have not, or whether people should be punished simply for being Christian, without committing any other crime. While awaiting your instructions, this is what I have done with people who have been brought before me and accused of being Christian. First, I asked them whether they were, in fact, Christian. If they said yes, I asked them a second and a third time, mixing threats with questions. If they repeated their confessions, I ordered their execution, for I believed that no matter what form their confessions took, their positiveness and stubbornness deserved punishment. I paid particular attention to some members of this insane cult who were Roman citizens, so they could be sent to Rome. After some time, as is normal in such cases, the crime spread and many more cases were brought before me. An anonymous letter was sent to me containing the names of many people the writer accused of being Christian. Many of these people denied being Christian now, or that they ever had been. They called upon the gods and prayed to your statue, which I had had brought in for that purpose, with frankincense and wine, and they also cursed Christ. As you are aware, no real Christian will do any of these things, so I thought it was best to release them. Other people who were accused of being Christian in the anonymous letter said that they were Christian, but then denied it, or admitted that they had been Christian but had stopped three or more years earlier. There was one person who said he not been a Christian for twenty years. All of these people worshipped your statue, and the statues of our gods, and they also cursed Christ. However, they told me that their main crime, or mistake, was this: that they were in the habit of meeting together on a particular day before sunrise, and singing a hymn to Christ, as if he were a god, and requiring themselves by a sacrament or oath not to do anything evil, but to commit no theft or robbery, nor adultery, not to break their promises nor to refuse to return anything that had been deposited with them. After this it was their habit to leave and to meet again at a common but innocent meal. They had stopped doing this after the order which I published at your command, and in which I had forbidden any such meetings. These interrogations made me think it was necessary to discover the truth by torture, so I had two young maidservants who are called deaconesses tortured, but the only thing I learned is that they were addicted to a bad and extravagant superstition. After this I decided to put off any further interrogations and ask for your advice and instructions, because this matters seems to require consultation, especially because of the number of people who are in danger, for there are many people of every age and rank and of both sexes who are likely to be called in and be in danger because this superstition has spread like a plague, in country villages as well as into cities and towns. Still, there is good reason to hope that this plague may be stopped. Certainly, the temples, which had almost been abandoned, are being attended once again, and the holy solemnities, which were becoming irregular, are being revived. Sacrifices are selling well everywhere, whereas in the past there had been very few buyers. So you can see how many people may be corrected, if there is a place for repentance. Signed, Gaius Plinius Caecilius Secundus Emperor Trajan’s Response to Governor Pliny the Younger : My Dear Pliny, You have followed exactly the right method in dealing with people who have been accused of being Christian, for it is impossible to spell out any general rules for cases like this. You certainly should not go looking for them, but if they are accused and convicted of being Christian, they must be punished. However, if an accused person denies being a Christian, and proves he is not by praying to our gods, you should pardon him even if he was Christian in the past, if he is sorry for it. You should certainly not pay any attention to anonymous accusations, since that would set a very bad example, and such things have no place in the modern world. Signed, Imperator Caesar Nerva Traianus Divi Nervae filius Augustus 1 Augustus, Res Gestae PROFESSOR BOYDEN’S INTRODUCTION The first Roman emperor, who we usually refer to as Augustus, was born as Gaius Octavius in 63 BC. His grandmother Julia was Julius Caesar’s sister. Caesar later adopted him as his son. Augustus wrote this document describing his actions as emperor himself towards the end of his life; he included it in his will and left instructions that copies be posted all over the empire. The most complete version is today in the Turkish city of Ankara. Extracts from “The Deeds and Accomplishments of the Divine Augustus.” Here follow the achievements of the Divine Augustus, by which he brought the world into the empire of the Roman people, and of the expenses he bore for the state and people of Rome. 1. At the age of 19, on my own responsibility and at my own expense, I recruited an army to fight for the freedom of the Republic when it was oppressed by factional fighting. For this reason the Senate decreed that I should have imperium. The same year, after both consuls were killed in battle, the Roman people appointed me consul and triumvir. 2. I forced my father Julius Caesar’s murders into exile and avenged his death through courts established by law. 3. About 500,000 Roman citizens did military service under me. When their enlistments were over, I settled about 300,000 of them in colonies or sent them back to their home towns. I gave them all land or money as a reward. 4. I have been consul 13 times and have had a tribune’s power for 37 years. 5. The Senate and people offered me the dictatorship when Marcus Marcellus and Lucius Arruntius were consuls, but I refused to take it. When there was a famine, I took responsibility for the supply of grain and organized it so that within a few days I had freed the city from fear of starvation, at my own expense and efforts. After I had done this, I was offered the consulship for life, but I refused to take it. 6. The Senate and the people asked me to supervise the laws and morals when Marcus Vinicius and Quintus Lucretius were consuls, and again when Publius and Gnaeus Lentulus were consuls and again when Paullus Fabius Maximus and Quintus Tubero were consuls, but I refused to take any office that was inconsistent with the customs of our ancestors, so I carried out these responsibilities using the tribune’s power. 8. I revised the roll of the Senate 3 times. The 6th time I was consul I took a census with Marcus Agrippa as my colleague. On that occasion 4,063,000 Roman citizens were registered. New laws that I proposed brought back into use many of our ancestors’ good customs that had been dying out. 9. The Senate decreed that prayers should be said by the consuls and priests for my health every 5th year. 15. Under the terms of my father Julius Caesar’s will I paid each Roman plebian 300 sesterces. In addition to this, I gave each one 400 sesterces from the loot I won in the wars in my 5th consulship; in my 10th consulship I gave every man 400 sesterces from my inheritance; in my 11th consulship I bought grain with my own money and distributed 12 rations apiece; in the 12th year I had the tribune’s power I gave every man 400 sesterces. 16. I paid cash to the towns for the land I assigned to the veterans in my 4th consulship. The sum amounted to 600,000,000 sesterces for land in Italy and 260,000,000 for land in the provinces. 17. I helped the treasury with my own money four times, transferring to the officials of the treasury 150,000,000 sesterces. When the military treasury was established, by my advice, for the purpose of paying rewards to soldiers who had served twenty or more years, I gave it 170,000,000 from my inheritance. 18. Starting when Gnaeus and Publius Lentulus were consuls, whenever the taxes were not enough, I distributed my own grain and money, sometimes to 100,000 people, sometimes to many more. 19. I built the Senate House, the temple of Apollo on the Palatine Hill, the temple of the divine Julius and the temples of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hill and the temples of Minerva and Juno the Mother on the Aventine Hill. I restored Pompey’s theater and the Capitol at great cost without inscribing my name on either. I restored the channels of the aqueducts which were falling apart from age in several places and brought water from a new spring into the aqueduct called Marcia, doubling the water supply. In my 6th consulship I restored 82 temples in the city on the authority of the Senate, neglecting none that needed restoration. 22. I gave three gladiatorial games in my own name and five in the names of my sons or grandsons. At these games 10,000 men fought. I gave athletic games twice in my own name and a third time in the name of my grandson. I produced shows in my own name four times and in the name of others 23 times. I gave hunts of African animals in my own name or the name of my sons or grandsons in the circus, the forum or the amphitheater 26 times, during which about 3,500 animals were killed. 23. I produced a naval battle as a show for the people at the place across the Tiber where the grove of the Caesars is now located. There were thirty triremes and biremes in this battle, not counting smaller ships. About 3,000 men fought in this battle, not counting the rowers. 25. I made the sea peaceful and freed it from pirates. In that war I captured about 30,000 slaves who had escaped from their masters and returned them to their masters for punishment. 27. I added Egypt to the empire of the Roman people. 28. I founded colonies of soldiers in Africa, Sicily, Macedonia, both Spanish provinces, Achaea, Asia, Syria, Narbonnese Gaul and Pisidia. I founded 28 colonies in Italy, which were densely populated in my lifetime. 30. The Pannonian people, which the army of the Roman people had never approached before I was the first citizen, were conquered by Tiberius Claudius Nero, who was my stepson; I brought them into the empire of the Roman people and extended the frontier to the banks of the Danube. When an army of Dacians crossed the Danube, it was defeated and routed under my authority, and later my army crossed the Danube and compelled the Dacian people to submit to the commands of the Roman people. 31. Indian kings frequently sent ambassadors to me, something they had never done with any earlier Roman commander. While I was the first citizen, very many other peoples have experienced the good faith of the Roman people. 32. In my 6th and 7th consulships, after I had ended the civil wars and when I was in complete control of affairs by universal agreement, I transferred the Republic from my own power to the Senate and Roman people. After this time I exceeded everyone in influence even though I had no more official power than the men who were my colleagues. 33. In my 13th consulship the Senate and Roman people gave me the title ‘Father of his country.’ Today I am 67 years old. 1 Suetonius, “The Life of Augustus,” from The Lives of the Caesars PROFESSOR BOYDEN’S INTRODUCTION Suetonius’s full name was Gaius Suetonius Tranquillus. He was born about 69 AD, five years after the Emperor Nero committed suicide. He died around 122 AD. He was probably born in North Africa, and was a close friend of Pliny the Younger, who mentioned him in his letters. He wrote many books, but the only one that survives intact is The Lives of the Caesars, which consists of biographies of the first twelve Roman emperors. A lot of what we know about Augustus and the other earliest emperors comes from one of Suetonius’s biographies. This reading consists of extracts from Suetonius’s “Life of Augustus”, describing the most important moments of his life and career. Extracts from “The Life of Augustus.” I. There is a lot of evidence that in the old days the Octavian family was an important one in the town of Velitrae. There is a street called the Octavian in the busiest part of town, and there was an altar consecrated by a man named Octavius. This man was the leader in a war against a nearby town and once, just as he was making a sacrifice to Mars, he received word that the enemy had made a sudden attack, so he grabbed the organs of the sacrificial animal from the fire and offered them to the god half raw. Then he went out to fight the enemy and returned victorious. There is record of a decree by the people that in the future, the organs should be offered to Mars the same way, and the rest of the animal given to the Octavians. II. The Octavian family was admitted to the Senate by King Tarquinius Priscus and was admitted to the Patrician class by King Servius Tullius. Then, later they returned to the Plebian Class was and many years later were readmitted to the Patricians by the Divine Julius.[footnoteRef:1] The first member of the Octavian family who the people elected to government office was Gaius Rufus, who was elected quaestor.[footnoteRef:2] He was the father of Gnaeus and Gaius, from whom two very different branches of the Octavian family were descended. Gnaeus and his descendants held the highest government offices in Rome, whereas Gauis and his descendants, whether by chance or by choice, remained knights until the time of Augustus’s father. Augustus’s great-grandfather served in Sicily during the Second Punic War as military tribune under the command of Lucius Aemilius Papus in 205 BC. His grandfather was a rich man who was content with municipal office only; he lived to a peaceful old age. This is what others say; Augustus himself only says that he was a member of an old and wealthy knightly family and that his father was the first member of the Octavian family to be a senator. Mark Anthony ridiculed Augustus’s family by saying his great-grandfather was a freedman and a rope-maker from Thurii and that his grandfather was a moneychanger. This is all I have been able to find out about Augustus’s paternal ancestry. [1: Professor Boyden’s note: Lucius Tarquinius Priscus was the legendary 5th king of Rome; he supposedly ruled the city from 616 until 579 BC. Servius Tullius was his successor as king; he supposedly reigned from 575 until 535 BC.] [2: Professor Boyden’s note: in the Roman Republic, quaestors were auditors, responsible for supervising the treasury and public money.] III. Augustus’s father Gaius Octavius was a wealthy man of good reputation, and it seems strange that some people have said he was a moneychanger too, and even that he was hired to give out bribes during elections and perform other services in Mars Field. He was brought up wealthy and easily achieved high positions and filled them with distinction. After his term as praetor was over, he was given the province of Macedonia.[footnoteRef:3] On his way to his new province, the Senate commanded him to deal with a band of runaway slaves who had taken part in the rebellions of Spartacus and Catiline. He wiped them out. In governing his province, he demonstrated both justice and courage, for in addition to defeating the Ressi and other Thracians in a great battle, he also treated our allies so well that Marcus Cicero wrote to his brother Quintus that he ought to model himself on the conduct of his neighbor Octavius in winning the favor of our allies. [3: Professor Boyden’s note: in the Roman Republic, the praetor was in charge of the legal system, and was second in command of the government after the consuls.] IV. On his way back from Macedonia to run for the consulship, Gaius Octavius died suddenly. He was survived by his three children: his daughters Octavia and Octavia and his son Gaius Octavius, who later became known as Augustus…Mark Anthony tried to ridicule Augustus’s mother Atia’s family by saying his great-grandfather on his mother’s side, who owned a perfume shop and then a bakery, was from Africa. V. Augustus was born as Gaius Octavius at the Oxheads on the Palatine Hill just before sunrise on the ninth day before the Kalends of October in the year when Marcus Tullius Cicero and Gaius Antonius were consuls.[footnoteRef:4] A shrine in his honor was built there shortly after his death. [4: Professor Boyden’s note: this was the year 63 BC.] VI. There is a small room like a pantry in his grandfather’s country his near Velitrae, and people there say Augustus was actually born there and that it was his nursery. No-one enters this room unless it is absolutely necessary, and after purification, since people have long believed that people who enter without the proper ceremonies suddenly become terrified. This has recently been proven to be true, since a new owner of the house who recently went to bed in this room, either accidentally or to see what would happen, was suddenly hurled violently into the street after only a few hours’ sleep and was found at the door, half-dead, wrapped in his sheets. X. The initial reason for all of Augustus’s early wars was this: since he believed that nothing was more important for him to do than avenge his Uncle Gauis Julius Caesar’s death and maintain all his legislation, he decided to surprise Marcus Junius Brutus and Gauis Cassius Longinus by going to war against them, and when they realized they were in danger and fled, he decided to move against them legally and prosecute them for murder in their absence… XIII. Then, having he made an agreement with Mark Anthony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus, he finished the War of Philippi in 42 BC in two battles even though he was sick and was driven from his camp in the first battle and barely escaped with his life by fleeing to Mark Anthony’s division. He did not use his victory moderately: first he sent Brutus’s head back to Rome to be thrown at the feet of Caesar’s statue, then he took his anger out the most distinguished captives by abusing them with insulting language. For example, when one man asked for his body to be buried, Augustus supposedly replied, “We will let the birds settle that question.” When two other men, a father and his son, begged for their lives, he supposedly told them to draw lots to decide whose life should be spared, and then watched them both die since the father offered to die to save his son’s life, and the son committed suicide in grief at his father’s death. XV After the capture of Perusia in 40 BC, he took revenge on many people, replying to all attempts to beg for pardon or make excuses by saying “You must die.” Some people claim that three hundred men of both classes were selected from the prisoners to be sacrificed on the Ides of March like so many victims at the altar of the Divine Julius. Some people have written that he deliberately went to battle to reveal his secret opponents and those who remained faithful to him because of fear rather than good-will, by giving them the chance to join Lucius Anthony and then reward his own soldiers by defeating them and confiscating their lands. XVII. He eventually ended his alliance with Mark Anthony, which was always doubtful and uncertain, and was kept alive with great difficulty…Not long after this he won the naval battle at Actium in 31 BC…and besieged Alexandria, where Anthony had taken refuge with Cleopatra, and quickly captured it. Although Anthony tried to make terms with Augustus at the last moment, Augustus forced him to commit suicide and then inspected his corpse. He wanted to save Cleopatra for his triumph and even attempted to have the poison sucked from her wound, since people thought she had died from a snakebite. He allowed them both the honor of burial, in the same tomb, giving orders that the mausoleum that they had begun should be finished. He dragged Mark Anthony’s son from the image of the Divine Julius, to which he had fled after many pointless pleas, and killed him. He also captured Caesarion, Gaius Julius Caesar’s son with Cleopatra, captured and put to death. But he spared the lives of all the other children of Anthony and Cleopatra, and raised them according to their positions as if they were his own kin. XVIII. About this time he had the coffin and body of Alexander the Great removed from its shrine and, after looking at it, showed his respect by placing a golden crown on it and strewing it with flowers. When he was asked whether he wanted to see the tomb of the Ptolomies as well, he replied “I came to see a king not corpses.” He turned Egypt into a province, and then to make it more fruitful and better able to supply the city of Rome with grain, he put his soldiers to work clearing the canals into which the Nile flows, which had become choked with mud over the years… XIX. After this he nipped several outbreaks, attempts at revolution and conspiracies in the bud… XX. He only carried out two foreign wars in person: in Dalmiatia, when he was still young, and against the Cantabrians after he defeated Anthony. He was wounded in the first campaign, being hit on the right knee with a rock in one battle, and had his leg and both arms severely injured in the collapse of a bridge. His other wars were carried out by generals… XXIII. He only suffered two severe defeats, those of Marcus Lollius in 15 BC and of Publius Quinctilius Varus in 9AD. The first of these was more embarrassing than serious, but the second one was almost fatal, since three legions were destroyed with their general, his lieutenants and all the auxiliaries. When news of this defeat arrived, he ordered that watch be kept to prevent rioting and extended the terms of the governors of provinces, since he believed the allies would be likelier to remain loyal if they were governed by experienced men whom they knew. He also promised to hold great games in honor of Jupiter the Best and Greatest if the state of Rome improved; this had been done during the Cimbric and Marsic wars. In fact, people say he was so upset that he did not shave or cut his hair for several months and sometimes he banged his head against a door, yelling “Quintilius Varus, give me back my legions!” And he observed the day of the disaster as one of sorrow and mourning every year. XXIV. He made many changes and innovations in the army, in addition to reviving some ancient customs. He enforced the strictest discipline. It was only with the greatest reluctance that he allowed even his generals to visit their wives, and then only during the winter. He sold a Roman knight and his property at a public auction because he had cut off the thumbs of his two young sons so they would be unable to serve in the army, but when he realized that some tax collectors were going to buy him, he sold him to one of his own freedmen with the understanding that he should be sent to the countryside but allowed to live in freedom. He discharged the entire 10th Legion in disgrace, because they were insubordinate. He also discharged others who demanded their discharge in an insolent manner, but without the rewards that would have been given to soldiers who had served faithfully. He decimated any cohorts that retreated in battle and fed the rest of the men on barley instead of wheat. He punished centurions who left their posts with death, just as he did to the rank and file… XXVII. He was a member of the triumvirate for restoring the state to order for ten years, and although he opposed the others some times and tried to prevent a proscription, when the proscription was begun he carried it out with greater harshness than they did.[footnoteRef:5] Mark Anthony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus could frequently be influenced by personal connections and entreaties, Augustus alone insisted that no-one should be spared. He even added his guardian Gaius Toranius, who had been his father’s colleague as aedile, to the list of people to be proscribed…[footnoteRef:6] While he was a triumvir, Augustus earned a great deal of hatred for many of his actions. For example, once when he was giving a speech to some soldiers an a group of civilians were admitted to the meeting place, he noticed that a knight named Pinalius was taking notes, Augustus ordered that he be stabbed to death on the spit because he thought he was spying. Another time when a man named Tedius Afer, who had been elected consul, made some spiteful remarks about some of his actions, Augustus’s threats in response were so terrifying that Afer committed suicide. On a third occasion, when a praetor named Quintus Gallius came to pay his respects to Augustus, he had some folded tablets under his robe Augustus thought they might be a concealed sword. He did not dare have Gallius searched on the spot in case it turned out not to be a sword, but he had Gallius taken away by some centurions and soldiers and had him tortured as if he was a slave. Even though Gallius did not confess anything, Augustus had him put to death after he tore the man’s eyeballs out with his own hands. Augustus himself wrote, however, that Gallius made a treacherous attack on him after requesting an interview and was taken to prison; he was later banished and either died in a shipwreck or was killed by bandits. Augustus received the tribunitian power for life and occasionally chose a colleague for this office for terms of five years. He was also given the supervision of morals and laws in perpetuity, and because of this position he took the census three times, twice with colleagues and once on his own, even though he did not have the title of censor.[footnoteRef:7] [5: Professor Boyden’s note: during the Roman Civil Wars, a proscription was one a certain person or group of people was outlawed by the Roman government, normally when it was controlled by their enemies. Their property was normally confiscated and they were put to death. In 43 BC, a year after Caesar’s assassination, Augustus, Mark Anthony and Marcus Aemilius Lepidus proscribed 2,000 of their enemies. ] [6: Professor Boyden’s note: aediles were the Roman government officials who were responsible for maintaining public buildings such as courts and temples, and other public property like aqueducts and sewers.] [7: Professor Boyden’s note: in the Roman Republic, the censor’s job was to take the census, maintain Roman morals and supervise certain aspects of government finance.] XXVIII. Augustus considered restoring the Republic twice, once immediately after his defeat of Mark Anthony…and then again years later when he was worn out from illness and summoned the magistrates and senators to his house to give them a general account of the state of the empire. But after considering it for a while, he decided that he would not be safe if he retired, and that it was too dangerous to turn the state over to the control of multiple men, so he kept it in his hands…he so beautified the city of Rome that he could brag that he had found it built of brick and left it built of marble. And he made it safe for the future too, so far as human foresight could make it so. XXIX. Augustus also built many public works, in particular his forum with the Temple of Mars the Avenger, the Temple of Palatine Apollo…In addition, he also urged other important men to adorn the city with new monuments or to restore and beautify old ones, according to their resources. And many such buildings were constructed at that time by many men; for example, the temple of Hercules and the Muses by Marcius Philippus, the temple of Diana by Lucius Cornificius, the Hall of Liberty by Asinius Pollio, the temple of Saturn by Munatius Plancus, a theatre by Cornelius Balbus, an amphitheatre by Statilius Taurus, and by Marcus Agrippa in particular many magnificent structures. XXXVII. In order to enable more men to take part in running the government, he created new offices, such as the supervision of public buildings, of the roads, of the aqueducts, of the channel of the Tiber, of the distribution of grain to the people and the prefecture of the city. He established committees for choosing senators and review the companies of knights when it was necessary. He also appointed censors and increased the number of praetors… LVIII. All the citizens unanimously offered him the title “Father of his Country.” This was first done by the common people by a deputation sent to him at Antium, which he declined, and again in Rome when he entered the theater, and again in the Senate House by the senators… LXVII. As a patron and master, he was strict but also gracious and merciful. He rewarded many of his freedmen with honor and close friendship. When his slave Cosmus spoke insultingly about him, he only put him in chains, and one day when he was walking in public with his steward Diomedes, and Diomedes panicked and hid behind him when they were charged by a wild boar, he preferred simply to tease him about being afraid rather than punish him and thereby turned serious danger into a joke, since there was no evil intention. On the other hand, he forced one of his favorite freedmen to commit suicide because he was convicted of adultery with Roman matrons, and broke the legs of his secretary Thallus for taking bribes to reveal the contents of letters. Because the tutor and servants of his son Gauis took advantage of their master’s illness and death to commit acts of arrogance and greed in his province, he had them thrown into a river with weights around their necks. LXVIII. When he was still a young man he was accused of various shameful acts. Sextus Pompeius accused him of being effeminate. Mark Anthony accused him of using unnatural relations to persuade Julius Caesar to adopt him as his son, and Anthony’s brother Lucius said that after sacrificing his honor to Caesar, he also gave himself to Aulus Hirtius in Spain in exchange for three hundred thousand sesterces and singed the hair on his legs to make it grow softer. In addition, once during a play an actor said the line “See how a whore’s finger turns the world,” and everybody assumed it was directed at Augustus and applauded loudly. LXIX. Not even his friends deny that he committed adultery, though they defend him by saying he did not do it out of passion, but in order to learn what his enemies were doing from the women of their households. In addition to his hasty marriage with Livia,[footnoteRef:8] Mark Athony accused him of taking an ex-consul’s wife from her husband’s dining room before his very eyes into a bedroom and bringing her back to the table with her hair messed up and her ears glowing…and said his friends acted as pimps for him and stripped and inspected respectable women for him as if they were on sale… [8: Professor Boyden’s note: Augustus’s second wife’s name was Livia. Her father Marcus Livius Drusus Claudianus committed suicide with Brutus and Cassius after they were defeated by Augustus. A few years later, Augustus forced Livia’s first husband Tiberius Claudius Nero to divorce her so he could marry her himself. Livia’s son Tiberius Claudius Nero became emperor in 14 AD when Augustus died.] XC. This is what people say about his attitude towards religion. He was a little afraid of thunder and lightning; he always carried a seal-skin with him as protection, and at the first sign of a violent storm he hid in an underground room because he was once badly frightened by a narrow escape from lightning during a journey at night. XCI. He did not ignore his own dreams, nor those of other people who dreamed about him. At the Battle of Philippi, where he defeated Brutus and Cassius, he had made up his mind to stay in his tent because he was sick, but he left anyway because of a friend’s dream, luckily, as it turned out, for his camp was captured and when the enemy entered his tent, they stabbed his bed over and over again in the belief that he was still lying in it, sick. He had many frightening dreams in the springtime, but they did not come true. During the rest of the year they were less frequent but more reliable. He was in the habit of visiting the temple of Jupiter the Thunderer, which he had founded on the capital, but he had a dream that Capitoline Jupiter complained to him that he was losing worshippers, and that he had responded that he had placed the Thunderer there to be his doorkeeper, and when he woke up he had bells placed on the gable of the temple, because bells are normally hung at the doors of houses. It was also because of a dream that on a particular day every year he went out to beg, holding out his hand for people to give him coins. XCII. He regarded certain auspices and omens as infallible. He considered it a bad sign if his shoes were put out incorrectly in the morning. He thought it was a good omen it if it was drizzling when he began a trip. But he was especially effected by prodigies. When a palm tree started growing in the pavement in front of his house, he had it transplanted to the courtyard beside his household gods and took great care to be sure it grew…He also paid attention to particular days; he refused to begin a journey the day after a market day, to do any business on the nones because, as he wrote to his stepson Tiberius, he was afraid of the unlucky sound of the name.[footnoteRef:9] [9: In the Roman calendar, the nones was normally the seventh day of a month.] XCV. When he entered Rome after returning from Apollonia after Caesar’s assassination, a circle like a rainbow formed around the sun and the tomb of Caesar’s daughter Julia was struck by lightning even though the sky was clear and cloudless. And when he was taking the auspices during his first term as consul, twelve vultures appeared to him as they had to Romulus and when he killed the sacrificial victims, all their livers were found to be doubled over and the lower end, which all the experts agreed was an omen of a great and happy future. 1 Gregory of Tours, “The History of the Franks.” Reading I. PROFESSOR BOYDEN’S INTRODUCTION The author of this reading was Gregory of Tours, a member of the Gallo-Roman ruling class; male ancestors on both sides of his family were senators. He was born around 539 AD and died in 594 AD. In 573 AD, he was appointed bishop of the city of Tours, which is located in the Roman province of Gaul in what is today the western part of central France. In addition to being bishop, he was an important religious writer and historian. He is usually considered the first historian of France. His History of the Franks is our most important source for the early history of France and its first kings. This portion of his history describes the origins of the Merovingian Dynasty, which took power in France around the year 486 AD—ten years after the last Roman emperor in the West was removed from his throne—and was overthrown in 751 AD. The Battle of Soissons took place in 486 AD. Gregory of Tours, “History of the Franks.” Book II, Chapter 12: Childeric, King of the Franks, whose life was filled with debauchery, began to seduce his subjects’ daughters. They were enraged by this that they forced him to give up his throne. He found out that they were planning to assassinate him and fled to Thuringia. A good friend of his stayed behind and was able to sooth his angry subjects with smooth words. Before Childeric left, they broke a gold coin in equal halves and each kept one half. “When I send my half to you,” his friend said to Childeric, “and you put the two halves together and they make one complete coin, then you will know that it is safe for you to return. Childeric then went to Thuringia and took refuge with King Bisinus and his wife Basina. As soon as Childeric had gone, the Franks chose Aegidius as their king, who had earlier been sent from Rome as commander of the armies. When Aegidius had been king of the Franks for eight years, Childeric’s friend was able to pacify the Franks secretly and he sent messengers to Childeric with his half of the coin. Childeric then knew that the Franks wanted him back, and indeed they were yelling for him to return. So he returned from Thuringia and was restored to his throne. Now that Bisinus and Childeric were both kings, Queen Basina deserted her husband and went to Childeric. He questioned her carefully about why she had left her husband. She supposedly replied “I know that you are a strong man, and I can recognize ability when I see it, so I have dome to live with you. If I knew of anybody else, even somebody who lived far away across the ocean, who was more able than you, you can be sure that I would have gone to live with him instead of you.” This pleased Childeric very much, so he married her. She became pregnant and gave birth to a son named Clovis, who became a great man and a famous soldier. Book II, Chapter 18: Childeric fought a battle at Orleans. Odovacer and his Saxons penetrated as far as Angers. A great plague killed many people. Aegidius died in it and left a son called Syagrius. After Aegidius died, Odovacer took hostages from Angers and other places. The Bretons were expelled from Bourges by the Goths and many were killed at Bourg-de-Déols. Count Paul, who had Roman and Frankish soldiers under his command, attacked the Goths and took loot from them. Odovacer reached Angers, but King Childeric arrived the next day. Count Paul was killed and Childeric occupied the city. Book II, Chapter 27: The next that that happened was the death of Childeric. His son Clovis replaced him on the throne. In the 5th year of his reign Syagrius, the king of the Romans and the son of Aegidius, was living in Soissons, which is where Aegidius had lived as well. Clovis and his relative Ragnachar, who was also an important ruler, marched against Syagrius and challenged him to come and fight. Syagrius did so, for he was not afraid of Clovis. They fought, and Syagrius’s army was annihilated. He fled to safety with King Alaric II in Toulouse. Clovis ordered Alaric to surrender Syagrius, threatening to attack him as well for giving Syagrius refuge. Alaric was afraid of the suffering the anger of the Franks because of Syagrius, for the Goths are a fearful people, and handed him over to Clovis’s messengers. When Clovis had Syagrius in his power he had him imprisoned, then as soon as he had taken control of Syagrius’s kingdom he had him put to death in secret. At this time Clovis’s army looted many churches, because he still followed the old pagan religion. The soldiers took a vase of great beauty that was used in Christian religious services. The bishop of this church sent some messengers to King Clovis, asking for this one vase to be returned to the church, even if the Franks kept everything else they looted from the church. The king replied to the messenger, “Come with me to Soissons; that is where we shall distribute the loot. If the vase your master is asking for is part of my share, I will do as he asks.” When they reached Soissons, and all the loot had been piled up in front of the soldiers, the king pointed at the vase and said, “Brave soldiers, I ask you not to refuse me this vase in addition to my regular share of the loot.” The more sensible soldiers responded, “Glorious king, everything we see here is yours, and we are yours to command. Do what you think is best, for none of us is strong enough to resist you.” When they had finished, one soldier, impetuous, greed and angry, raised his axe and smashed the vase. As he did so he shouted, “You will receive nothing but your fair share of the loot.” Everybody was astounded at his actions. The king endured this insult with a show of calmness. He gave the smashed vase to the bishop’s messenger, but in his heart he was extremely angry about what had happened. A year later he ordered his entire army to assemble on the Field of Mars so he could inspect their equipment. When he had inspected everybody else, he came to the soldier who had smashed the vase. “No-one else’s equipment is in as bad a shape as yours. Your spear is in terrible shape, as are your sword and axe.” And he grabbed the soldier’s axe from him and threw it on the ground. And when the soldier who had smashed the base bent over to pick his axe up, the king took his own axe and split his skull, saying “That is what you did to my vase at Soissons.” The man fell dead and Clovis ordered his army to dismiss. All the soldiers were filled with powerful fear at what the king had done. King Clovis waged many wars and won many victories. In the 10th year of his reign he attacked the Thuringians and subjected them to his authority. Book II, Chapter 28: Gundioc was king of the Burgundians…He had four sons: Gundobad, Godigisel, Chilperic and Gundomar. Gundobad killed Chilperic and drowned his wife in a river after tying a rock around her neck. Then he sent their daughters into exile. The older daughter, whose name was Chroma, became a nun. The younger was named Clotild. King Clovis frequently sent messengers to Burgundy, and some of them met Clotild. They saw that she was an elegant woman and intelligent for her years. Then they realized that she was of royal blood. They told Clovis about her and he immediately sent other messengers to Gundobad to ask for her hand in marriage. Gundobad was afraid to refuse Clovis, so he handed her over to them. They took her back with them and gave her to their king. Clovis already had a son named Theuderic by one of his mistresses, but he was delighted when he meet Clotild and decided to marry her. Book II, Chapter 29: Clovis and Clotild’s first child was a son. She wanted to have the baby baptized, and she continually urged her husband to agree to this. “Your gods are no good,” she told him; they can’t even help themselves, let alone others, since they are made of stone or wood or some old bits of metal. The names you have given them were men’s names, not the names of gods. Saturn, for example, had to run away from his own son to avoid being overthrown, so they say. Or take Jupiter, who committed all kinds of shameful deeds, who couldn’t keep his hands off of other men and slept with female relatives and even had sex with his own sister, who was also his wife, as she herself said. What have Mars and Mercury ever done for anybody? They may have been given magical powers, but certainly shouldn’t be called divine. Instead, you should worship the God who created the heavens, and the earth and the ocean and everything in them from nothing, with only his words, the God who made the sun shine and lit the sky with starts and filled the ocean with fish, the earth with animals, the sky with birds, the God who nodded and filled the fields with fruits, the trees with apples, the vines with grapes, the God who made man with his own hand and who gave us the service of all the creatures he made.” No matter how often the queen said these things, the king did not believe. “All these things were created at the command of our gods” he answered. “It is obvious that your God can do nothing, and there isn’t even any evidence that he is, in fact, a god.” Nevertheless, the faithful queen brought her son to be baptized. She had the church decorated with curtains and hangings in the hope that the king, who remained stubborn, would be brought to the faith by the ceremonies. The baby was given the name Ingomer, but he died as soon as he had been baptized, while he was still wearing his white robes. Clovis was extremely angry, and he began immediately to scold the queen. “If he had been dedicated to my gods,” he said, “he would certainly have lived, but he was baptized in the name of your god, he didn’t even live a day!” “I thank Almighty God,’ Clotild replied, “the creator of all things, for deciding I was good enough to have a child of my womb taken straight into his Kingdom. I am not at all saddened because of my son’s death, for I know that he will be nurtured in the sight of God.” A little while later Clotild gave birth to another son. He was baptized Chlodomer. He got sick and Clovis said “What do you expect? The same thing will happen to him as happened to his brother Ingomer. As soon as he is baptized in the name of your god, he dies.” But Clotild prayed to the Lord and he commanded that the baby recover. Book II, Chapter 30: Queen Clotild continued to pray that her husband would recognize the true God and give up the worship of his idols, but nothing could persuade him to accept Christianity. Finally, war broke out between the Franks and the Alemanni and he was forced to accept what he had refused to accept of his own free will. When the two armies met on the field of battle, many were killed and Clovis’s soldiers were rapidly being annihilated. He raised his eyes to Heaven and felt guilty when he saw this, and tears filled his eyes. “Jesus Christ,” he said, “who Clotild says is the son of the living God and gives help to those who are in trouble and victory to those who put their faith in you, I beg the glory of your assistance. If you give me victory over my enemies, so that I can see evidence of the miraculous power your followers say they have experienced, I will believe in you and be baptized in your name. I have prayed to my own gods, but they clearly have no intention to help me. Because of this I don’t believe they have any power, since they do not come to the assistance of those who have faith in them. So I now pray to you. I want to believe in you, but I must first be saved from my enemies.” As he said this, the Alemanni turned their backs and began to run away, and as soon as the realized that their own king had been killed, the submitted to Clovis. “We beg you,” they said, “to end the slaughter. We are willing to obey you.” Clovis ended the war. He gave a speech in which he called for peace and the he went home. He told the queen how he had won by calling on Christ. This happened in the fifteenth year of his reign. Book II, Chapter 31: The queen then gave orders that Saint Remy, the bishop of Reims be summoned secretly. She begged him to preach to the king. The bishop then asked Clovis to meet with him privately and urged him to believe in the true God, the maker of Heaven and Earth, and to abandon his idols, which had no power to help him or anybody else. The king replied “I have listened to you willingly, Holy Father. There is only one problem. My people will not agree to abandon their gods. I will go and tell them what you have just said to me.” He arranged a meeting with his people, but God in his power had gone before him and before the king could say a word shouted all together “We will stop worshipping our mortal gods, pious king, and we are ready to follow the immortal gods Saint Remy preaches about.” This news was reported to the bishop, and he was very pleased. He ordered the baptismal pool to be made ready. The public squares were decorated with colored cloths, the churches were decorated with white hangings, the baptistry was prepared, incense gave off clouds of perfume, sweet-smelling candles burned brightly and the holy place of baptism was filled with divine aroma. God filled the hearts of everybody present was such grace that they believed they had been transported to a perfumed paradise. King Clovis asked to be baptized first, by the bishop. Like a new Constantine he stepped towards the baptismal pool to wash away the boils of his old leprosy and be cleansed from the dirty stains he had born so long in running water. As he stepped forward, the holy man of God said these words, full of meaning: “Bow your head in meekness, Sicamber. Worship what you have burnt and burn what you have worshipped.” Book II, Chapter 38: Clovis received letters from Emperor Anastasius giving him the title of consul. In Saint Martin’s church he stood, wearing a purple tunic and the military cloak and crowned himself. He then rode out on his horse and showered gold and silver coins among the people all the way from the doorway of Saint Martin’s church to the cathedral in Tours. From that day onwards he was called consul or Augustus. He left Tours and travelled to Paris, where he established his government. Theuderic came to join him there. Book II, Chapter 41: Next Clovis went to war against King Chararic of the Salian Franks. When Clovis was at war against Syagrius, he had summoned Chararic to his assistance, but he had remained neutral, supporting neither side and awaiting the result of the war so he could offer his hand in friendship to the winner. This was why Clovis now attacked him in his rage. He surrounded Chararic by some strategy and took him prisoner. Chararic and his son were both chained up and Clovis had their hair cut short. He ordered that Chararic be ordained a priest and made his son a deacon. Chararic objected to this humiliation and started crying. His son supposedly said “These leaves have been cut from a tree that is still green and filled with sap. They will soon grow again and be larger than ever, and then let the man who has done this die quickly.” Clovis heard about this statement. Since they were threatening to let their hair grow again and kill him, he quickly had their heads cut off. When they were dead he took over their kingdom, their treasure and their people. Book II, Chapter 42: At Cambrai at this time there was a king named Ragnachar who was so depraved that he even slept with the women of his own family. He had an advisor named Farro who had the same foul habits. People say that whenever food, or a present or any gift was given to Ragnachar, he said that it was good enough for him and his friend Farro. This situation enraged their Frankish subjects. Clovis bribed Ragnachar’s noble bodyguards with golden arm-bands and sword-belts to encourage them to ask for their support against their king. These ornaments looked like gold, but they were really made of cleverly gilded bronze. Clovis marched his army against Ragnachar, who sent spies to discover his strength. When the spies returned, he asked them how strong Clovis was. “Strong enough for you and your friend Farro,” the spies replied. Clovis arrived in person and arranged his line of battle. Ragnachar watched his army and prepared to flee. He was arrested by his own soldiers and was brought to Clovis with his arms tied behind his back. His brother Ricchar was dragged in with him. “Why have you disgraced our Franks by allowing yourself to be tied up?” he asked. “You would have been better off if you had died in battle.” Then Clovis split Ragnachar’s skull with his axe. Then he turned to Ricchar and said “If you had stood by your brother, he would not have been tied up like this.” Then Clovis killed Ricchar with a second blow of his axe. When Ragnachar and Ricchar were dead, the guards who had betrayed them realized that the gold Clovis had bribed them with was counterfeit. When they complained to Clovis, he supposedly replied “This is the kind of gold a man can expect if he deliberately lures his lord to his death.” He added that they were lucky to have escaped with their lives instead of paying for their betrayal of their lords by being tortured to death. When they heard this, they decided to beg for forgiveness, saying that it was enough if they were allowed to live. The two kings, Ragnachar and Ricchar, were relatives of Clovis’s. He also ordered that their brother Rignomer be put to death in Le Mans. As soon as they were all dead, Clovis took over their kingdom and their treasure. He organized the deaths of many other kings and relatives of his whom he suspected of conspiring against him. This is how he spread his authority over all Gaul. Once during a meeting of all his subjects, his supposedly said this about all the relatives he had killed: “How sad it is that I live among strangers like an exile and that I have no relatives left to help me when I am in danger.” He did not say this because he was sorry for their deaths, but because he cleverly hoped to discover some relative who was still alive so he could kill him. Book II, Chapter 43: Clovis finally died in Paris. He was buried in the Church of the Holy Apostles, which he and Queen Clotild had built. He died in the year 511 AD. He had ruled for thirty years and he was forty-five years old….After her husband died, Queen Clotild came to live in Tours. She served as a nun in the church of Saint Martin. She lived all the rest of her days there, besides an occasional visit to Paris. She was famous for her great modesty and loving kindness. 1