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INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY


BY

HENRY ELDRIDGE BOURNE
AND
ELBERT JAY BENTON

PROFESSORS OF HISTORY IN WESTERN RESERVE UNIVERSITY



1912



INTRODUCTION

This volume is the introductory part of a course in American history
embodying the plan of study recommended by the Committee of Eight of the
American Historical Association.[1] The plan calls for a continuous
course running through grades six, seven, and eight. The events which
have taken place within the limits of what is now the United States must
necessarily furnish the most of the content of the lessons. But the
Committee urge that enough other matter, of an introductory character,
be included to teach boys and girls of from twelve to fourteen years of
age that our civilization had its beginnings far back in the history of
the Old World. Such introductory study will enable them to think of our
country in its true historical setting. The Committee recommend that
about two-thirds of one year's work be devoted to this preliminary
matter, and that the remainder of the year be given to the period of
discovery and exploration.

The plan of the Committee of Eight emphasizes three or four lines of
development in the world's history leading up to American
history proper.

First, there was a movement of conquest or colonization by which the
ancient civilized world, originally made up of communities like the
Greeks and Phoenicians in the Aegean and eastern Mediterranean Seas,
spread to southern Italy and adjacent lands. The Roman conquest of Italy
and of the barbarian tribes of western Europe expanded the civilized
world to the shores of the Atlantic. Within this greater Roman world new
nations grew up. The migration of Europeans to the American continent
was the final step.

Second, accompanying the growth of the civilized world in extent was a
growth of knowledge of the shape of the earth, or of what we call
geography. Columbus was a geographer as well as the herald of an
expanding world.

A third process was the creation and transmission of all that we mean by
civilization. Here, as the Committee remark, the effort should be to
"show, in a very simple way, the civilization which formed the heritage
of those who were to go to America, that is, to explain what America
started with."

The Committee also suggest that it is necessary "to associate the three
or four peoples of Europe which were to have a share in American
colonization with enough of their characteristic incidents to give the
child some feeling for the name 'England,' 'Spain,' 'Holland,' and
'France.'"

No attempt is made in this book to give a connected history of Greece,
Rome, England, or any other country of Europe. Such an attempt would be
utterly destructive of the plan. Only those features of early
civilization and those incidents of history have been selected which
appear to have a vital relation to the subsequent fortunes of mankind in
America as well as in Europe. They are treated in all cases as
introductory. Opinions may differ upon the question of what topics best
illustrate the relation. The Committee leaves a wide margin of
opportunity for the exercise of judgment in selection. In the use of a
textbook based on the plan the teacher should use the same liberty of
selection. For example, we have chosen the story of Marathon to
illustrate the idea of the heroic memories of Greece. Others may prefer
Thermopylae, because this story seems to possess a simpler dramatic
development. In the same way teachers may desire to give more emphasis
to certain phases of ancient or mediaeval civilization or certain heroic
persons treated very briefly in this book. Exercises similar to those
inserted at the end of each chapter offer means of supplementing work
provided in the text.

The story of American discovery and exploration in the plan of the
Committee of Eight follows the introductory matter as a natural
culmination. In our textbook we have adhered to the same plan of
division. The work of the seventh grade will, therefore, open with the
study of the first permanent English settlements.

The discoveries and explorations are told in more detail than most of
the earlier incidents, but whatever is referred to is treated, we hope,
with such simplicity and definiteness of statement that it will be
comprehensible and instructive to pupils of the sixth grade.

At the close of the book will be found a list of references. From this
teachers may draw a rich variety of stories and descriptions to
illustrate any features of the subject which especially interest their
classes. In the index is given the pronunciation of difficult names.

We wish to express gratitude to those who have aided us with wise advice
and criticism.

[Footnote 1: The Study of History in Elementary Schools. Scribner's,
1909.]



CONTENTS


CHAPTER

    I. THE SCATTERED CHILDREN OF EUROPE

   II. OUR EARLIEST TEACHERS

  III. HOW THE GREEKS LIVED

   IV. GREEK EMIGRANTS OR COLONISTS

    V. NEW RIVALS OF THE GREEKS

   VI. THE MEDITERRANEAN A ROMAN LAKE

  VII. THE ANCIENT WORLD EXTENDED TO THE SHORES OF THE ATLANTIC

 VIII. THE CIVILIZATION OF THE ROMAN WORLD

   IX. CHRISTIANITY AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE

    X. EMIGRANTS A THOUSAND YEARS AGO

   XI. HOW ENGLISHMEN LEARNED TO GOVERN THEMSELVES

  XII. THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES

 XIII. TRADERS, TRAVELERS, AND EXPLORERS IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES

  XIV. THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW WORLD

   XV. OTHERS HELP IN THE DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD

  XVI. EARLY SPANISH EXPLORERS AND CONQUERORS OF THE MAINLAND

 XVII. THE SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA

XVIII. RIVALRY AND STRIFE IN EUROPE

  XIX. FIRST FRENCH ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE AMERICA

   XX. THE ENGLISH AND THE DUTCH TRIUMPH OVER SPAIN

  XXI. THE ENGLISH PEOPLE ATTEMPT TO SETTLE AMERICA

REFERENCES FOR TEACHERS

INDEX AND PRONOUNCING VOCABULARY



INTRODUCTORY AMERICAN HISTORY



CHAPTER I

THE SCATTERED CHILDREN OF EUROPE


THE EMIGRANT AND WHAT HE BRINGS TO AMERICA. The emigrant who lands
  at New York, Boston, Philadelphia, or any other seaport, brings with
  him something which we do not see. He may have in his hands only a
  small bundle of clothing and enough money to pay his railroad fare to
  his new home, but he is carrying another kind of baggage more valuable
  than bundles or boxes or a pocket full of silver or gold. This other
  baggage is the knowledge, the customs, and the memories he has brought
  from the fatherland.

  He has already learned in Europe how to do the work at which he hopes
  to labor in America. In his native land he has been taught to obey the
  laws and to do his duty as a citizen. This fits him to share in our
  self-government. He also brings great memories, for he likes to think
  of the brave and noble deeds done by men of his race. If he is a
  religious man, he worships God just as his forefathers have for
  hundreds of years. To understand how the emigrant happens to know what
  he does and to be what he is, we must study the history of the country
  from which he comes.

ALL AMERICANS ARE EMIGRANTS. If this is true of the newcomer, it is
  equally true of the rest of us, for we are all emigrants. The Indians
  are the only native Americans, and when we find out more about them we
  may learn that they, too, are emigrants. If we follow the history of
  our families far enough back, we shall come upon the names of our
  forefathers who sailed from Europe. They may have come to America in
  the early days when there were only a few settlements scattered along
  our Atlantic coast, or they may have come since the Revolutionary War
  changed the English colonies into the United States.

  Like the Canadians, the South Americans, and the Australians, we are
  simply Europeans who have moved away. The story of the Europe in which
  our forefathers lived is, therefore, part of our story. In order to
  understand our own history we must know something of the history of
  England, France, Germany, Italy, and other European lands.

WHAT THE EARLY EMIGRANTS BROUGHT. If we read the story of our
  forefathers before they left Europe, we shall find answers to several
  important questions. Why, we ask, did Columbus seek for new lands or
  for new ways to lands already known? How did the people of Europe live
  at the time he discovered America? What did they know how to do? Were
  they skilful in all sorts of work, or were they as rude and ignorant
  as the Indians on the western shores of the Atlantic?

  The answers which history will give to these questions will say that
  the first emigrants who landed on our shores brought with them much of
  the same knowledge and many of the same customs and memories which
  emigrants bring nowadays and which we also have. It is true that since
  the time the first settlers came men have found out how to make many
  new things. The most important of these are the steam-engine, the
  electric motor, the telegraph, and the telephone. But it is surprising
  how many important things, which we still use, were made before
  Columbus saw America.

  [Illustration: A MODERN STEAMSHIP AND AN EARLY SAILING VESSEL
  The early emigrants came in small sailing vessels and suffered great
  hardships]

  For one thing, men knew how to print books. This art had been
  discovered during the boyhood of Columbus. Another thing, men could
  make guns, while the Indians had only bows and arrows. The ships in
  which Columbus sailed across the ocean seemed very large and wonderful
  to the Indians, who used canoes. The ships were steered with the help
  of a compass, an instrument which the Indians had never seen.

  Some of the things which the early emigrants knew had been known
  hundreds or thousands of years before. One of the oldest was the art
  of writing. The way to write words or sounds was found out so long ago
  that we shall never know the name of the man who first discovered it.
  The historians tell us he lived in Egypt, which was in northern
  Africa, exactly where Egypt is now. Some men were afraid that the new
  art might do more harm than good. The king to whom the secret was told
  thought that the children would be unwilling to work hard and try to
  remember because everything could be written down and they would not
  need to use their memories. The Egyptians at first used pictures to
  put their words upon rocks or paper, and even after they made several
  letters of the alphabet their writing seemed like a mixture of little
  pictures and queer marks.

  [Illustration: Cleopatra EGYPTIAN PHONETIC WRITING]

OLD AND NEW INVENTIONS. Those who first discover how to make things
  are called inventors, and what they make are called inventions. Now if
  we should write out a list of the most useful inventions, we could
  place in one column the inventions which were made before the days of
  Columbus and in another those which have been made since. With this
  list before us we may ask which inventions we could live without and
  which we could not spare unless we were willing to become like the
  savages. We should find that a large number of the inventions which we
  use every day belong to the set of things older than Columbus. This is
  another reason why, if we wish to understand our ways of living and
  working, we must ask about the history of the countries where our
  forefathers lived. It is the beginning of our own history.

  [Illustration: Phoenician Early Greek Early Latin English
  GROWTH OF LETTERS OF THE ALPHABET]

A PLAN OF STUDY. The discovery of America was made in 1492, at the
  beginning of what we call Modern Times. Before Modern Times were the
  Middle Ages, lasting about a thousand years. These began three or four
  hundred years after the time of Christ or what we call the beginning
  of the Christian Era. All the events that took place earlier we say
  happened in Ancient Times. Much that we know was learned first by the
  Greeks or Romans who lived in Ancient Times.

  It is in the Middle Ages that we first hear of peoples called
  Englishmen, Frenchmen, Germans, Dutchmen, Italians, Spaniards, and
  many others now living in Great Britain and on the Continent of
  Europe. We shall learn first of the Greeks and Romans and of what they
  knew and succeeded in doing, and then shall find out how these things
  were learned by the peoples of the Middle Ages and what they added to
  them. This will help us to find out what our forefathers started with
  when they came to live in America.


    QUESTIONS

    1. What does the emigrant from Europe bring to America besides his
    baggage?

    2. Why are all Americans emigrants?

    3. What did the earliest emigrants from Europe to America bring with
    them?

    4. Which do you think the more useful invention--the telephone or
    the art of writing? Who invented this art? Find Egypt on the map.
    How did Egyptian writing look?

    5. Why was it a help to Columbus that gunpowder and guns were
    invented before he discovered America?

    6. When did the Christian Era begin? What is meant by Ancient Times?
    By the Middle Ages? By Modern Times? In what Times was the art of
    writing invented? In what Times was the compass invented? In what
    Times was the telephone invented?

    EXERCISES

    1. Collect from illustrated papers, magazines, or advertising
    folders, pictures of ocean steamships. Collect pictures of sailing
    ships, ships used now and those used long ago.

    2. Collect from persons who have recently come to this country
    stories of how they traveled from Europe to America, and from ports
    like Boston, New York, and Philadelphia to where they now live.

    3. Let each boy and girl in the schoolroom point out on the map the
    European country from which his parents or his grandparents or his
    forefathers came.

    4. Let each boy and girl make a list of the holidays which his
    forefathers had in the "fatherland" or "mother country." Let each
    find out the manner in which the holidays were kept. Let each tell
    the most interesting hero story from among the stories of the mother
    country or fatherland. Let each find out whether the tools used in
    the old home were like the tools his parents use here.




CHAPTER II


OUR EARLIEST TEACHERS

ANCIENT CITIES THAT STILL EXIST. In Ancient Times the most
  important peoples lived on the shores of the Mediterranean. The
  northern shore turns and twists around four peninsulas. The first is
  Spain, which separates the Mediterranean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean;
  the second, shaped like a boot, is Italy; and the third, the end of
  which looks like a mulberry leaf, is Greece. Beyond Greece is Asia
  Minor, the part of Asia which lies between the Mediterranean Sea and
  the Black Sea.

  The Italians now live in Italy, but the Romans lived there in Ancient
  Times. The people who live in Greece are called Greeks, just as they
  were more than two thousand years ago. Many of the cities that the
  Greeks and Romans built are still standing. Alexandria was founded by
  the great conqueror Alexander. Constantinople used to be the Greek
  city of Byzantium. Another Greek city, Massilia, has become the modern
  French city of Marseilles. Rome had the same name in Ancient Times,
  except that it was spelled Roma. The Romans called Paris by the name
  of Lutetia, and London they called Lugdunum.

RUINS WHICH SHOW HOW THE ANCIENTS LIVED. In many of these cities
  are ancient buildings or ruins of buildings, bits of carving, vases,
  mosaics, sometimes even wall paintings, which we may see and from
  which we may learn how the Greeks and Romans lived. Near Naples are
  the ruins of Pompeii, a Roman city suddenly destroyed during an
  eruption of the volcano Vesuvius.

  For hundreds of years the city lay buried under fifteen or twenty feet
  of ashes. When these were taken away, the old streets and the walls of
  the houses could be seen. No roofs were left and the walls in many
  places were only partly standing, but things which in other ancient
  cities had entirely disappeared were kept safe in Pompeii under the
  volcanic ashes.

  The traveler who walks to-day along the ruined streets can see how its
  inhabitants lived two thousand years ago. He can visit their public
  buildings and their private houses, can handle their dishes and can
  look at the paintings on their walls or the mosaics in the floors. But
  interesting as Pompeii is, we must not think that its ruins teach us
  more than the ruins of Rome or Athens or many other ancient cities.
  Each has something important to tell us of the people who lived long
  ago.

ANCIENT WORDS STILL IN USE. The ancient Greeks and Romans have left
  us some things more useful than the ruins of their buildings. These
  are the words in our language which once were theirs, and which we use
  with slight changes in spelling. Most of our words came in the
  beginning from Germany, where our English forefathers lived before
  they settled in England. To the words they took over from Germany they
  added words borrowed from other peoples, just as we do now. We have
  recently borrowed several words from the French, such as tonneau and
  limousine, words used to describe parts of an automobile, besides the
  name automobile itself, which is made up of a Latin and a Greek word.

  [Illustration: RUINS OF A HOUSE AT POMPEII The houses of the
  better sort were built with an open court in the center]

  In this way, for hundreds of years, words have been coming into our
  language from other languages. Several thousand have come from Latin,
  the language of the Romans; several hundred from Greek, either
  directly or passed on to us by the Romans or the French. The word
  school is Greek, and the word arithmetic was borrowed from the French,
  who took it from the Greeks. Geography is another word which came,
  through French and Latin, from the Greeks, to whom it meant that which
  is written about the earth. The word grammar came in the same way. The
  word alphabet is made by joining together the names of the first two
  Greek letters, alpha and beta.

  Many words about religion are borrowed from the Greeks, and this is
  not strange, for the New Testament was written in Greek. Some of these
  are Bible, church, bishop, choir, angel, devil, apostle, and martyr.
  The Greeks have handed down to us many words about government,
  including the word itself, which in the beginning meant "to steer."
  Politics meant having to do with a _polis_ or city. Several of the
  words most recently made up of Greek words are telegraph, telephone,
  phonograph, and thermometer.

MANY WORDS BORROWED FROM THE ROMANS. Nearly ten times as many of
  our words are borrowed from the Romans as from the Greeks, and it is
  not strange, because at one time the Romans ruled over all the country
  now occupied by the Italians, the French, the Spaniards, a part of the
  Germans, and the English, so that these peoples naturally learned the
  words used by their conquerors and governors.

INTERESTING ANCIENT STORIES. In the poems and tales which we learn
  at home or at school are stories which Greek and Roman parents and
  teachers taught their children many hundred years ago. We learn them
  partly because they are interesting, and because they please or amuse
  us, and partly because they appear so often in our books that it is
  necessary to know them if we would understand our own books and
  language. Who has not heard of Hercules and his Labors, of the Search
  for the Golden Fleece, the Siege of Troy, or the Wanderings of
  Ulysses? We love modern fairy stories and tales of adventure, but they
  are not more pleasing than these ancient stories.

  [Illustration: THE PLAIN OF MARATHON]

THE STORY OF THE GREEKS. Our language and our books are full of
  memories of Greek and Roman deeds of courage. The story of the Greeks
  comes before the story of the Romans, for the Greeks were living in
  beautiful cities, with temples and theaters, while the Romans were
  still an almost unknown people dwelling on the hills that border the
  river Tiber.

MEMORIES OF GREEK COURAGE. The most heroic deeds of the Greeks took
  place in a great war between the Greek cities and the kingdom of
  Persia about five hundred years before Christ. In those days there was
  no kingdom called Greece, such as the geographies now describe.
  Instead there were cities, a few of which were ruled by kings, others
  by the citizens themselves. These cities banded together when any
  danger threatened them. Sometimes one city turned traitor and helped
  the enemy against the others. The most dangerous enemy the Greeks had,
  until the Romans attacked them, was the kingdom of Persia, which
  stretched from the Aegean Sea far into Asia. In the war with the
  Persians the Greeks fought three famous battles, at Marathon,
  Thermopylae, and Salamis, the stories of which men have always liked
  to hear and remember.

PREPARING FOR MARATHON, 490 B.C. To the Athenians belong the
  glories of Marathon. They lived where the modern city of Athens now
  stands. The ruins of their temples and theaters still attract students
  and travelers to Greece. The plain of Marathon lay more than twenty
  miles to the northeast, and the roads to it led through mountain
  passes. When the Athenians heard that the hosts of the Great King of
  Persia were approaching, they sent a runner, Pheidippides by name, to
  ask aid of Sparta, a city one hundred and forty miles away, in the
  peninsula now called the Morea, where dwelt the sturdiest fighters of
  Greece. This runner reached Sparta on the second day, but the Spartans
  said it would be against their religious custom to march before the
  moon was full. The Athenians saw that they must meet the enemy
  alone--one small city against a mighty empire. They called their ten
  thousand men together and set out. On the way they were joined by a
  thousand more, the whole army of the brave little town of Plataea.

  [Illustration: GREEK SOLDIERS IN ARMS From a Greek vase of
  about the time of the battle of Marathon]

HOW THE ATHENIANS WERE ARMED. Although the Persians had six times
  as many soldiers as the Athenians, they were not so well armed for
  hand to hand fighting. Their principal weapon was the bow and arrow,
  while the Greeks used the lance and a short sword. The Greek soldier
  was protected by his bronze helmet, solid across the forehead and over
  the nose; by his breastplate, a leathern or linen tunic covered with
  small metal scales, with flaps hanging below his hips; and by greaves
  or pieces of metal in front of his knees and shins. He was also
  protected by a shield, often long enough to reach from his face to his
  knees. According to a strange custom the Athenians were led by ten
  generals, each commanding one day in turn.

THE BATTLE-GROUND. Marathon was a plain about two miles wide, lying
  between the mountains and the sea. From it two roads ran toward
  Athens, one along the shore where the hills almost reached the sea,
  the other up a narrow valley and over the mountains. The Athenians
  were encamped in this valley, where they could attack the Persians if
  they tried to follow the shore road.

  The Persians landed from their ships and filled the plain near the
  shore. They wanted to fight in the open plain because they had so many
  more soldiers than the Athenians and because they meant to use their
  horsemen. For some time the Athenians watched the Persians, not
  knowing what it was best to do. Half the generals did not wish to risk
  a battle, but Miltiades was eager to fight, for he feared that delay
  would lead timid citizens or traitors to yield to the Persians. He
  finally gained his wish, and on his day of command the battle was
  ordered.

THE BATTLE. The Persians by this time had decided to sail around to
  the harbor of Athens and had taken their horsemen on board their
  ships. When they saw the Greeks coming they drew up their
  foot-soldiers in deep masses. The Athenians and their comrades--the
  Plataeans--soon began to move forward on the run. The Persians thought
  this madness, because the Greeks had no archers or horsemen. But the
  Greeks saw that if they moved forward slowly the Persians would have
  time to shoot arrows at them again and again.

  When the Greeks rushed upon the Persians the soldiers at the two ends
  of the Persian line gave way and fled towards the shore. In the
  center, where the best Persian soldiers stood, the Greeks were not at
  first successful, and were forced to retreat. But those who had been
  victorious came to their rescue, attacked the Persians in the rear,
  and finally drove them off. The Persians ran into the sea to reach the
  ships, and the Athenians followed them. Some of the Greeks were so
  eager in the fight that they seized the sides of the ships and tried
  to keep them from being rowed away, but the Persians cut at their
  hands and made them let go.

  [Illustration: THE STRAITS OF SALAMIS Where a great sea-fight
  between Greeks and Persians took place]

THE NEWS OF THE VICTORY. The Athenians had won a victory of which
  they were so proud that they meant it never should be forgotten. Their
  city had suddenly become great through the courage and self-sacrifice
  of her citizens. One hundred and ninety-two Greeks had fallen, and on
  the battle-field their comrades raised over their bodies a mound of
  earth which still marks their tomb. The victors sent the runner
  Pheidippides to bear the news to Athens. Over the hills he ran until
  he reached the market place, and there, with the message of triumph on
  his lips, he fell dead.

OTHER VICTORIES OF THE GREEKS. Marathon was only the beginning of
  Greek victories over the Persians, only the first struggle in the long
  wars between Europe and Asia. Ten years after Marathon the Spartans
  won everlasting glory by their heroic stand at the Pass of Thermopylae
--three hundred Greeks against the mighty army of the Persian king
  Xerxes. The barbarian hordes passed over their bodies, took the road
  to Athens, burned the city, but were soon beaten in the sea-fight
  which took place on the waters lying between the mainland of Athenian
  territory and the island of Salamis. This victory was also due to
  Athenian courage and leadership, for the Athenians and their leader,
  Themistocles, were resolved to stay and fight, although the other
  Greeks wanted to sail away.

WHY MARATHON IS REMEMBERED. The victories of Marathon and Salamis
  were great not only because small armies of Greeks put to flight the
  hosts of Persia, they were great because they saved the independence
  of Greece. If the Greeks had become the subjects and slaves of Persia,
  they would not have built the wonderful buildings, or carved the
  beautiful statues, or written the books which we study and admire.
  When we think of the Greeks as our first teachers we feel as proud of
  their victories as if they were our own victories.

THE WARS OF THE GREEK CITIES. The Athenians had done the most in
  winning the victory over the Persians, and therefore Athens was for
  many years the most powerful city in Greece. The Spartans were always
  jealous of the Athenians, and in less than a century after the victory
  of Marathon they conquered and humbled Athens. The worst faults of the
  Greeks were such jealousies and the desire to lord it over one
  another. Greek history is full of wars of city against city, Sparta
  against Athens, Corinth against Athens, and Thebes against Sparta. In
  these wars many heroic deeds were done, of which we like to read, but
  it is more important for us to understand how the Greeks lived.


    QUESTIONS

    1. What ancient cities still exist? Find them on the map.
    (For each difficult name find the pronunciation in the index.)

    2. What things do we find in the ruins of ancient cities which tell
    us how the people lived?

    3. From what country did most of our words come in the beginning?
    Why are they now called English? What peoples used the word
    geography before we did? About how many words do we get from the
    Greeks, and how many from the Romans?

    4. Which people became famous earlier, the Greeks or the Romans?
    Point out on the map the peninsula where each lived.

    5. Why do we like to remember the brave deeds of the Greeks?

    6. Find the city of Athens on the map. Find Sparta. Where
    was Marathon? What city won glory at Marathon?

    7. What were the worst faults of the Greeks?

    EXERCISES

    1. Collect pictures of ruined cities in Italy, Greece, and Asia
    Minor, from illustrated papers, magazines, or advertising folders.
    Collect postal cards giving such pictures.

    2. Choose the best one of the Greek stories mentioned in Chapter II,
    and tell it.

    3. Find out how differently soldiers now are clothed and armed from
    the way the Greek soldiers were.

    4. Find out why a long distance run is now called a "Marathon."




CHAPTER III


HOW THE GREEKS LIVED

THE GREEK CITIES. The Greeks lived in cities so much of the time that
  we do not often think of them as ever living in the country. The
  reason for this was that their government and everything else
  important was carried on in the city. The cities were usually
  surrounded by high, thick stone walls, which made them safe from
  sudden attack. Within or beside the city there was often a lofty hill,
  which we should call a fort or citadel, but which they called the
  upper city or acropolis. There the people lived at first when they
  were few in number, and thither they fled if the walls of their city
  were broken down by enemies.

  In Athens such a hill rose two hundred feet above the plain. Its top
  was a thousand feet long, and all the sides except one were steep
  cliffs. On it the Athenians built their most beautiful temples.

PRIVATE HOUSES. Unlike people nowadays the Greeks did not spend much
  money on their dwelling-houses. To us these houses would seem small,
  badly ventilated, and very uncomfortable. But what their houses lacked
  was more than made up by the beauty and splendor of the public
  buildings, halls, theaters, porticoes, and especially the temples.

TEMPLES. The temples were not intended to hold hundreds of worshipers
  like the large churches of Europe and America to-day. Religious
  ceremonies were most often carried on in the open air. The Parthenon,
  the most famous temple of Ancient Times, was small. Its principal room
  measured less than one hundred feet in length. Part of this room was
  used for an altar and for the ivory and gold statue of the goddess
  Athena.

  [Illustration: THE ACROPOLIS AT ATHENS AS IT IS TO-DAY]

THE PARTHENON. In a picture of the Parthenon, or of a similar temple,
  we notice the columns in front and along the sides. The Parthenon had
  eight at each end and seventeen on each side. They were thirty-four
  feet high. A few feet within the columns on the sides was the wall of
  the temple. Before the vestibule and entrances at the front and at the
  rear stood six more columns. The beauty of the marble from which
  stones and columns were cut might have seemed enough, but the builders
  carved groups of figures in the three-cornered space (called the
  pediment) in front between the roof and the stones resting upon the
  columns. The upper rows of stones beneath the roof and above the
  columns were also carved, and continuous carvings (called a frieze)
  ran around the top of the temple wall on the outside. The temple was
  not left a glistening white, but parts of it were painted in blue, or
  red, or gilt, or orange.

  [Illustration: THE TOP OF THE ACROPOLIS 2000 YEARS AGO The
  Parthenon is the large temple on the right]

OTHER GREEK TEMPLES. This beautiful temple is now partly ruined. Ruins
  of other temples are on the Acropolis, and one better preserved,
  called the Theseum, stands on a lower hill. There are also similar
  ruins in many places along the shores of the Mediterranean. The most
  interesting are at Paestum in Italy, and at Girgenti in Sicily. Long
  before these temples were ruined they had taught the Romans how to
  construct one of the most beautiful kinds of buildings, and this the
  Romans later taught the peoples of western Europe.

GREEK METHODS OF BUILDING STILL USED. If we look at our large
  buildings, we shall see much to remind us of the Greek buildings.
  Sometimes the exact form of the Greek building is imitated; sometimes
  this form is changed as the Romans changed it, or as it was changed by
  builders who lived after the time of the Romans. If the model of the
  whole building is not used, there are similar pillars, or gables, or
  the sculpture in the pediment and the frieze is imitated. The Greeks
  had three kinds of pillars, named Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian. The
  Doric is simple and solid, the Ionic shows in its capital, or top,
  delicate and beautiful curves, while the Corinthian is adorned with
  leaves springing gracefully from the top of the pillar.

  [Illustration: Doric Ionic Corinthian GREEK ORDERS OF
  ARCHITECTURE]

  [Illustration: RUINS OF THE GREEK THEATER AT EPIDAURUS]

THEATERS. The first Greek theater was only a smooth open space near a
  hillside, with a tent, called a _skené_, or scene, in which the
  actors dressed. Later an amphitheater of stone seats was constructed
  on the hillside, and across the open end was placed the _scene_,
  which had been changed into a stone building. On its front sometimes a
  house or a palace was painted, just as nowadays theaters are furnished
  with painted scenery. In these open-air theaters thousands of people
  gathered. Plays were generally given as a part of religious festivals,
  and there were contests between writers to see which could produce the
  best play. Sometimes the plays followed one another for three days
  from morning until night. Many of them are so interesting that people
  still read them, after twenty-five hundred years. The Romans studied
  them, and so do modern men who are preparing themselves to write
  plays.

  [Illustration: THE MODERN STADIUM AT ATHENS]

THE STADIUM. A building which somewhat resembled the theater was the
  stadium, where races were run. The difference was that it was oblong
  instead of half round. The most famous stadium, at Olympia, was seven
  hundred and two feet long, with raised seats on both sides and around
  one end of the running track. The other end was open. About fifty
  thousand persons used to gather there to watch the races.

PORTICOES. There were other buildings, some for meeting places, some
  for gymnasiums, and still others called porticoes, where the judges
  held court or the city officers carried on their business. The
  porticoes were simply rows of columns, roofed over, with occasionally
  a second story. As they stretched along the sides of a square or
  market place they added much to the beauty of a city.

GREEK SCULPTURE. We know that the Greeks were skilful sculptors
  because from the ruins of their cities have been dug wonderful marble
  and bronze statues which are now preserved in the great museums of the
  world, in Paris, London, Berlin, and Rome, and here in America, in New
  York and Boston. Museums which cannot have the original statues
  usually contain copies or casts of them in plaster. The statues are
  generally marred and broken, but enough remains to show us the
  wonderful beauty of the artist's work. Among the most famous are the
  Venus, of Melos (or "de Milo"), which stands in a special room in a
  museum called the Louvre in Paris; the Hermes in the museum of Olympia
  in Greece; and the figures from the Parthenon in the British Museum in
  London.

  [Illustration: THE DISCUS-THROWER (DISCOBOLOS) An ancient
  Greek statue now in the Vatican]

  Artists nowadays, like the Roman artists long ago, study the Greek
  statues and the Greek sculpture, in order that they may learn how such
  beautiful things can be made. They do not hope to excel the Greeks,
  but are content to remain their pupils.

PAINTING AND POTTERY. The Greeks were also painters, makers of
  pottery, and workers in gold and silver. Many pieces of their
  workmanship have been discovered by those who have dug in the ruins of
  ancient buildings and tombs.

  [Illustration: A GREEK BOOK The upper picture, shows the book
  open.]

WHAT THE BOYS WERE TAUGHT. The Greek boys were not very good at
  arithmetic, and even grown men used counting boards or their fingers
  to help them in reckoning. In learning to write they smeared a thin
  layer of wax over a board and marked on that. There was a kind of
  paper called papyrus, made from a reed which grew mostly in Egypt, but
  this was expensive. Rolls were made of sheets of it pasted together,
  and these were their books. One of the books the boys studied much was
  the poems of Homer--the Iliad and the Odyssey--which tell about the
  siege of Troy and the wanderings of Ulysses. Boys often learned these
  long poems by heart. They also stored away in their memories the
  sayings of other poets and wise men, so that they could generally know
  what to think, having with them so many good and wise thoughts put in
  such excellent words.

GAMES AND EXERCISES FOR BOYS. It is not surprising that Greek boys
  knew how to play, but it is surprising that they played many of the
  games which boys play now, such as hide-and-seek, tug of war, ducks
  and drakes, and blind man's buff. They even "pitched pennies." In
  school the boys were taught not only to read and write, but to be
  skilful athletes, and to play on the lyre, accompanying this with
  singing. The gymnasium was often an open space near a stream into
  which they could plunge after their exercises were over. They were
  taught to box, to wrestle, to throw the discus, and to hurl the spear.
  Military training was important for them, since all might be called to
  fight for the safety of their city.

THE OLYMPIC GAMES. Boys and young men were trained as runners,
  wrestlers, boxers, and discus throwers, not only because they enjoyed
  these exercises and the Greeks thought them an important part of
  education, but also that they might bring back honors and prizes to
  their city from the great games which all the Greeks held every few
  years. The most famous of these games were held at Olympia. There the
  Greeks went from all parts of the country, carrying their tents and
  cooking utensils with them, because there were not enough houses in
  Olympia to hold so many people. Wars even were stopped for a time in
  order that the games might not be postponed.

THE REWARDS OF THE VICTORS. The principal contest was a dash for two
  hundred yards, although there were longer races and many other kinds
  of contests. Unfortunately the Greeks liked to see the most brutal
  sort of boxing, in which the boxer's hands and arms were covered with
  heavy strips of leather stiffened with pieces of iron or lead. For the
  games men trained ten months, part of the time at Olympia. The prize
  was a crown of wild olive, and the winner returned in triumph to his
  city, where poets sang his praises, a special seat at public games was
  reserved for him, and often artists were employed to make a bronze
  statue of him to be set up in Olympia or in his own city.

  [Illustration: GREEK GAMES--RUNNING From an antique vase]

THE GOVERNMENT OF ATHENS. The citizen of Athens, and of other Greek
  cities, had more to do with his government than do most Americans with
  theirs. As nearly all work was done by slaves, he had plenty of time
  to attend meetings. All the citizens could attend the great assembly,
  or _ecclesia_, where six thousand at least must be present before
  anything could be decided. By this assembly foreigners might be
  admitted to citizenship or citizens might be expelled, or ostracized,
  from Athens as hurtful to its welfare.

  There was a smaller council of five hundred which decided less
  important questions without laying them before the general assembly.
  This body was chosen by lot just as our juries are, but members of the
  council whose term had ended had a right to object to any new member
  as an unworthy citizen A tenth of the council ruled for a tenth of the
  year, and they chose their president by lot every day, so that any
  worthy man at Athens had a chance to be president for a day and a
  night.

  [Illustration: A DECREE OF THE COUNCIL--ABOUT 450 B.C.]

  Many citizens also served in the courts, for there were six thousand
  judges, and in deciding important cases as many as a thousand and one,
  or even fifteen hundred and one, took part. Before such large courts
  and assemblies it was necessary to be a good speaker to be able to win
  a case or persuade the citizens. Some of the greatest orators of the
  world were Athenians, the best known being Demosthenes.

SOCRATES. The Athenians were not always just, although so many of them
  acted as judges. One court, composed of five hundred and one judges,
  condemned to death Socrates, the wisest man of the Greeks and one of
  the wisest in the world. He did not make speeches, or write books, or
  teach in school. He went about, in the market place, at the gymnasium,
  and on the streets, asking men, young and old, questions about what
  interested him most, that is, What is the true way to live? If people
  did not give him an answer which seemed good, he asked more questions,
  until sometimes they went away angry. Many of them thought because he
  asked questions about everything that he did not believe in anything,
  not even in the religion of his city.

  [Illustration: SOCRATES After the marble bust in the Vatican]

THE DEATH OF SOCRATES, 399 B.C. After a while the enemies of Socrates
  accused him of being a wicked man who persuaded young men to be
  wicked. He was tried by an Athenian court, which made the terrible
  blunder of finding him guilty and condemning him to death. According
  to the Athenian custom he was obliged to drink a cup of poisonous
  hemlock. This he did, after talking to his friends cheerily about how
  a good man should live. As he wrote no books we have learned about him
  from his friends. The most famous of these was Plato, who is also
  counted among the wisest men that ever lived. The story of the lives
  of these men is another gift which the Greeks made to all who were to
  live after them, and it is quite as valuable as are the ways of
  building, artistic skill, or great poems and plays.


    QUESTIONS

    1. Why do we wish to know how the Greeks lived?

    2. What was an Acropolis? How does the Acropolis at Athens look?

    3. On the picture of the Parthenon point out the pediment. Show
    where the frieze was placed. Find on a map Paestum.

    4. What did the Greeks first mean by a _scene_? Why do we still
    study Greek plays? What is left of the Greek theaters?

    5. What was a stadium, a portico, a gymnasium? Do we have such
    buildings?

    6. How do we know that the Greeks made beautiful statues?

    7. What games for Greek boys were like our games? Tell about the
    great public games of the Greeks.

    8. How were the Greek rolls or books made?

    9. Tell the story of Socrates.

    EXERCISES

    1. Are there any buildings in your town which are like Greek
    buildings?

    2. Find in your town Doric, Ionic, and Corinthian columns.

    3. Get from a wall-paper dealer a sample of a frieze for a papered
    room.

    4. What is the difference between the government of Athens and the
    government of your town?

    5. What is the difference between the courts at Athens and the
    courts in your town?

    6. Are Olympic games held now? Where?

    7. Which prizes would you prefer, the prizes given to winners at
    Greek games or the prizes given to winners in our athletic games?




CHAPTER IV


GREEK EMIGRANTS OR COLONISTS

WHEN THE ATLANTIC WAS UNKNOWN. One of the most important things
  done by the men of Ancient Times was to explore the coasts and lands of
  Europe and to make settlements wherever they went. At first they knew
  little of the western and northern parts of Europe. Herodotus, a Greek
  whom we call the "Father of History," and who was a great traveler,
  said, "Though I have taken vast pains, I have never been able to get an
  assurance from any eye-witness that there is any sea on the further side
  of Europe." By the "further side" he meant "western," and his remark
  shows that he did not know of the Atlantic Ocean. He understood that tin
  and amber came from the "Tin Islands," which he called the "ends of the
  earth." As tin came from England, it is plain that he had heard a little
  of that island.

  [Illustration: MAP OF THE WORLD AS DESCRIBED BY THE GREEK
  HISTORIAN HERODOTUS]

GREEK EMIGRANTS. Long before Athens became a great and beautiful
  city the Greeks had begun to make settlements on distant shores. Those
  who lived on the western coast of Asia Minor, as well as those who lived
  where the kingdom of Greece is now, sent out colonists or emigrants. The
  Greek colonies were very important, because by them the ancient
  civilized world was made larger, just as by the settlement of America
  the modern world was doubled in size. The colonists sailed away from
  home for the same reasons which led our forefathers to leave England and
  Europe for America. They either hoped to find it easier in a new land to
  make a living and obtain property, or they did not like the way their
  city was ruled, and being unable to change this, resolved to build
  elsewhere a city which they could manage as they pleased.

HOW THEY LOCATED A NEW CITY. There were several different lands to
  which they could go, just as the European of to-day may sail for the
  United States or South America or Australia. They could attempt to
  settle on the shores of the Black Sea, or cross over to northern Africa,
  or try to reach Italy and the more distant coasts of what are now France
  and Spain. In order to choose wisely, they generally asked the advice of
  the priests of their god Apollo at his temple at Delphi. These priests
  knew more about good places for settlements than most other persons,
  because travelers from everywhere came to Delphi and the priests were
  wise enough to inquire about all parts of the world.

  [Illustration: _The territory occupied by the Greeks is
  indicated by solid black_]

  The story is told that one group of emigrants was advised to locate
  their new colony opposite the "city of the blind." They discovered that
  these words meant that an earlier band of emigrants had passed by the
  wonderful harbor of the present city of Constantinople and had settled
  instead on the other shore of the Bosphorus. Taught by the oracle they
  chose the better place and began to build the city of Byzantium, which
  later became Constantinople.

MOTHER AND DAUGHTER CITIES. Solemn ceremonies took place when
  colonists departed. They carried with them fire from the hearth of the
  mother city in order to light a similar fire on their new hearth, for
  every city had its hearthstone and on it a fire that was never quenched.
  The ties between the mother and the daughter city were close, and the
  enemies of one were the enemies of the other. He who wished to visit the
  colony usually went to the mother city to find a ship bound thither.

WHERE THE SETTLEMENTS WERE MADE. When the Greek sailors first
  entered the Black Sea, they thought it a boundless ocean, and called it
  the Pontus, a word which means "The Main." Until that time they had been
  accustomed to sail only from island to island in the Aegean Sea. After a
  while they made settlements all around the shores of the Black Sea, and
  in later times Athens drew from this region her supply of grain. Still
  more important settlements were made in Sicily and southern Italy, for
  it was through these settlements that some of the things the Greeks
  knew, like the art of writing, were taught to the Italian tribes and to
  the Romans.

DANGERS OF THE VOYAGE. At first Greek sailors feared the dangers of the
  western Mediterranean as much as those of the Black Sea. They imagined
  that the huge, misshapen, and dreadful monsters Scylla and Charybdis
  lurked in the Straits of Messina waiting to seize and swallow the
  unlucky passer-by. On the slopes of Mount Aetna dwelt, they thought,
  hideous, one-eyed giants, the Cyclops, who fed their fierce appetites
  with the quivering flesh of many captives.

  [Illustration: GREEK RUINS AT PAESTUM IN ITALY]

GREEKS IN THE WEST. The earliest settlement of the Greeks in Italy
  was at Cumae, on a headland at the entrance of the Bay of Naples. Later
  these colonists entered the bay and founded the "new city," or Neapolis,
  which we call Naples. Finally there were so many Greek cities in
  southern Italy that it was named "Great Greece." The Greeks also made
  settlements in what is now southern France and eastern Spain. The
  principal one was Massilia, or Marseilles. Through the traders of this
  city the ancient world obtained a supply of tin from Britain, a country
  which is now called England.

GREEK COLONIES AS CENTERS OF CIVILIZATION. The Greeks in these
  colonies traded with the natives whose villages were near by, and many
  of the natives learned to live like the Greeks. In this way the Greeks
  became teachers of civilization, and the Greek world, which at first was
  made up of cities on the shores of the Aegean Sea, was spread from place
  to place along the coasts of the Mediterranean Sea.

  [Illustration: A GREEK TRIREME]

GREEK SHIPS. The ships of the Greeks were very different from
  modern vessels. Of course they were not driven by steam, nor did they
  rely as much on sails as modern sailing ships do. They had sails, but
  were driven forward mostly by their oars. The trireme, or ordinary
  war-ship, had its oars arranged in three banks, fifty men rowing at
  once. After these had rowed several hours, or a "watch," another fifty
  took their places, and finally a third fifty, so that the ships could be
  rowed at high speed all the time. With the aid of its two sails a
  trireme is said to have gone one hundred and fifty miles in a day and a
  night. These boats were about one hundred and twenty feet long and
  fifteen feet wide. They could be rowed in shallow water, but were not
  high enough to ride heavy seas safely. They had a sharp beak, which,
  driven against an enemy's ship, would break in its sides. The Greek
  grain ships and freight boats were heavier and more capable of enduring
  rough weather.

  [Illustration: ALEXANDER THE GREAT After the bust in the
  Capitoline Museum, Rome]

ALEXANDER THE GREAT, KING OF MACEDON FROM 336 TO 323 B.C. Greek
  ways of living were also carried eastward as well as westward. The
  enlargement of the Greek world in this direction was due to Alexander
  the Great, the most skilful soldier and the ablest leader of men among
  all the Greeks. Alexander was king of Macedon, and like the earlier
  Greeks he regarded the Persians as his enemies, and made war upon them.
  After conquering the Persians he marched across western Asia until he
  had reached the Indus River in India. He was a builder of cities as well
  as a conqueror. He founded seventy cities, and sixteen of them were
  named for him. The most important was the Alexandria which is still the
  chief seaport of Egypt. Greek became the language commonly spoken
  throughout the lands near the eastern Mediterranean. This is the reason
  why in later times the New Testament was written in Greek.

ALEXANDRIA. Of this Greek world Athens ceased to be the center and
  Alexandria took its place. At Alexandria there was a great library which
  contained over five hundred thousand volumes or rolls. There also was
  the museum or university, in which many learned men were at work. The
  best known of these men was Euclid, who perfected the mathematics which
  we call geometry, and Ptolemy, whose ideas about geography and the shape
  and size of the globe Columbus carefully studied before he set out on
  his great voyage. Alexandria was also a center of trade and commerce.
  From Alexandria, because its ships were the first foreign ships to be
  admitted to a Roman port, the Romans gained their liking for many of the
  beautiful things which the Greeks made.

    QUESTIONS

    1. Why were the Greek colonies important? Why did the Greeks
    emigrate to the colonies?

    2. Point out on the map, the lands to which they might go.
    Name several cities which they built.

    3. What were the ties between the daughter and the mother city?

    4. Why was a part of southern Italy called Great Greece?

    5. Describe a Greek trireme and the way it was managed.

    6. Of what country was Alexander the Great king? When did he reign?
    How far east did he march? What did he do besides winning victories?

    7. Why was the city of Alexandria famous in Ancient Times?

    8. Of what help was Ptolemy to Columbus?

    EXERCISES

    1. Find out the colonies we have. For what purpose do Americans go
    to these colonies? Is it as hard to reach them as it was for the
    Greeks to reach their colonies?

    2. What country now has the most colonies?

    3. Learn and tell the story of Ulysses and the Cyclops.

    4. Find out what is meant at Constantinople by "the Golden Horn?"
    Who now live at Constantinople, at Naples, at Marseilles?

    5. Collect pictures of these cities.

    REVIEW

    (Chapters II, III, and IV)

    _Ten things we owe to the Greeks_:

    1. Many useful words.

    2. Many interesting tales.

    3. Many examples of heroism.

    4. Knowledge of how to construct beautiful buildings.

    5. How to carve beautiful statues, reliefs, and friezes.

    6. How to write great plays.

    7. How to speak before large audiences.

    8. Wise sayings of men like Socrates and Plato.

    9. Knowledge of geography and mathematics.

    10. Their work as colonists in teaching other peoples to live, and
    think and act as they did.

    _Two important dates_:

    Battle of Marathon, 490 B.C. Death of Alexander the Great, 323 B.C.




CHAPTER V


NEW RIVALS OF THE GREEKS

THE GREEK COLONIES AND THE CARTHAGINIANS. The Greek colonies were
  sometimes in danger of being attacked by the native tribes whose lands
  they had seized or by the wilder tribes that dwelt further from the
  coast. In Sicily their most dangerous neighbors were the Carthaginians
  at the western end of the island. The chief town of these people was
  Carthage, situated opposite Sicily in northern Africa in what is now
  Tunis. The Carthaginians were emigrants from Tyre and other cities of
  Phoenicia on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, and because of
  their many ships held control of a large part of the western
  Mediterranean. They had colonies even in Spain, where in very early
  times Phoenician traders had gone to obtain gold and silver.

THE GREEKS AND THE ROMANS. In Italy the most dangerous neighbors of
  the Greek colonists were the Romans, who lived half-way up the western
  side of the peninsula along the river Tiber. The history of the Romans,
  like the history of the Greeks, is full of interesting and wonderful
  tales. Some of them are legends, such as every people likes to tell
  about its early history. They relate how the city was founded by two
  brothers, Romulus and Remus; how Horatius defended the bridge across the
  Tiber against the hosts of the exiled Tarquin king; how the farmer
  Cincinnatus, having been made leader or dictator, in sixteen days drove
  off the neighboring tribes which were attacking the Romans and then went
  back to his plough.

THE GAULS BURN ROME, 390 B.C. The Romans told stories of their
  defeats as well as of their victories. One of these tells how hosts of
  Gauls, a people of the same race as the forefathers of the French,
  streamed southward from the valley of the Po. The Romans were alarmed by
  such tall men, with fierce eyes, and fair, flowing hair, whose swords
  crashed through the frail Roman helmets. They sent a large army to stop
  the invaders, but in the battle, which was fought only twelve miles from
  Rome, this army was destroyed.

  The few defenders that were left withdrew to the Capitoline, the
  steepest of the hills over which the city had spread. Some of the older
  senators and several priests scorned to seek a refuge from the fury of
  the barbarians, and took their seats quietly in ivory chairs in the
  market place or Forum at the foot of the Capitoline hill. The Gauls at
  first gazed in wonder at the strange sight of the motionless figures.
  When one of them attempted to stroke the white beard of a senator, the
  senator struck him with his staff; then the Gauls fell upon senators and
  priests and slew them.

  [Illustration: CLIFF OF THE CAPITOLINE HILL]

  The sides of the Capitoline hill were so steep that for a long time the
  Gauls were baffled in their attempts to seize it. At last they
  discovered a path, and one dark night were on the point of scaling the
  height when some geese, sacred to the goddess Juno, cackled and flapped
  their wings until the garrison was aroused and the Gauls hurled headlong
  down the precipice. The garrison was saved, but the city was burned.
  This happened in Rome just one hundred years after the battle of
  Marathon in Greece.

THE CAUDINE FORKS. Another adventure did not have so happy an
  ending. The Romans were at war with the Samnites, a tribe living on the
  slopes of the Apennines, who were continually attacking the Greek cities
  on the coast. The war was caused by the attempt of the Romans to protect
  one of the Greek cities. The Roman generals, with a large army, in
  making their way into the Samnite country attempted to march through a
  narrow gorge which broadened out into a plain and then was closed again
  at the farther end by another gorge. When they reached this second gorge
  they found the road blocked by fallen trees and heaps of stones. They
  also saw Samnites on the heights above them. In alarm they hastened to
  retrace their steps, only to find the other entrance closed in the same
  way. After vain attempts to force a passage or to scale the surrounding
  heights they were obliged to surrender.

  [Illustration: THE REGION OF THE CAUDINE FORKS]

  [Illustration: ITALY BEFORE THE GROWTH OF ROMAN POWER]

  The Samnites compelled the Roman army, both generals and soldiers, each
  clad in a single garment, to pass "under the yoke" made of two spears
  set upright with one laid across, while they stood by and jeered. If any
  Roman looked angry or sullen at his disgrace, they struck or even killed
  him. This was called the disaster of the Caudine Forks, from the pass
  where the Romans were caught.

THE ROMANS AND THE GREEK CITIES. Not many years after this the
  Romans quarreled with the Greek cities of southern Italy. The Greeks of
  Tarentum, situated where Taranto is now, called to their aid Pyrrhus,
  who ruled a part of Alexander's old kingdom. Pyrrhus was a skilful
  general, and he had with him, besides his foot-soldiers and horsemen,
  many trained elephants. A charge of these elephants was too much for the
  Romans, who were already hard pressed by the long spears of the soldiers
  of Pyrrhus. But the Romans were ready for another battle, and in this
  they fought so stubbornly and killed so many of the Greek soldiers that
  Pyrrhus cried out, "Another victory like this and we are ruined." In a
  third battle, which took place 275 B.C., he was defeated, and returned
  to Greece, leaving the Romans masters of the Greek cities in Italy.

THE ROMANS CONQUERORS OF ITALY. By this time there were few tribes
  south of the river Po which did not own the Romans as their masters. All
  Italy was united under their rule. This was the first step in the
  conquest of the world that lay about the Mediterranean Sea and in the
  extension of that ancient world to the shores of the Atlantic and to
  England. Before we read the story of the other conquests we must inquire
  who the Roman people were and how they lived.

HOW THE ROMANS LIVED. In early times most of the Romans were
  farmers or cattle raisers. A man's wealth was reckoned according to the
  number of cattle he owned. Their manner of living was simple and frugal.
  Like the Greek, the Roman had his games. He enjoyed chariot-races, but
  used slaves or freedmen as drivers. He also went to the theater,
  although he thought it unworthy of a Roman to be an actor. Such an
  occupation was for foreigners or slaves.

  [Illustration: A ROMAN WEARING A TOGA]

ROMAN BOYS AT SCHOOL. The boys at school did not learn poems, as
  did the Greek boys, but studied the first set of laws made by the
  Romans, called the Twelve Tables. This they read, copied, and learned by
  heart. Their interest in laws was the first sign that they were to
  become the world's greatest lawmakers.

ROMAN WOMEN. In their respect for women the Romans were superior to
  the Greeks. The Roman mother did not remain in the women's apartments of
  the house, as she was expected to do at Athens, but was her husband's
  companion, received his guests, directed her household, and went in and
  out as she chose.

PATRICIANS AND PLEBEIANS. The men of the families which first ruled
  Rome were called patricians or nobles, while the rest were plebeians or
  common people. There were also many slaves, but they had no rights. At
  first only the patricians knew exactly what the laws were, because the
  laws were not written in a book. When disputes arose between patricians
  and plebeians about property, the plebeians believed the patricians
  changed the laws in order to gain an advantage over their poorer
  neighbors.

  The story is told that twice the plebeians withdrew from the city and
  refused to return until their wrongs were removed. Then they compelled
  the nobles to draw up the laws in a roll called the Twelve Tables. At
  this time messengers were sent to Athens to examine the laws of the
  Greeks. The richer plebeians were also gradually admitted to all the
  offices of the Roman republic, and so became nobles themselves.

GOVERNMENT AT ROME. The Romans had once been ruled by kings, but
  now their chief officers were consuls. Two consuls were chosen each year
  because the Romans feared that a single consul might make himself a
  king, or, at least, gain too much power. The real rulers of Rome,
  however, were the senators, the men who had held the prominent offices.
  There were assemblies of the people, but these generally did what the
  senators or other officers told them to do.

  Among the interesting officers of Rome was the censor, who drew up a
  list or census of the citizens and of their property. Another officer
  was the tribune, chosen in the beginning by the plebeians to protect
  them against the patricians. The tribune was not at first a member of
  the senate, but he was given a seat outside the door, and if a law was
  proposed that would injure the plebeians, he cried out, "Veto," which
  means "I forbid," and the law had to be dropped. This is the origin of
  our word "veto."

HOW THE ROMANS TREATED THE ITALIANS. The Romans were wise in their
  dealings with the cities or tribes which they conquered. They not only
  sent out colonies of their fellow-citizens to occupy a part of the lands
  they had seized, but they also gave the conquered peoples a share in
  their government, and in some cases allowed them to act as citizens of
  Rome. These new Roman citizens helped the older Romans in their wars
  with other tribes. In this way Roman towns gradually spread over Italy.

  [Illustration: A ROMAN MILITARY STANDARD]


    QUESTIONS

    1. What was the name of the dangerous neighbors of the Greeks in
    Sicily? Find Carthage on the map. Where did the
    Carthaginians come from originally? Find Phoenicia on the map.

    2. Who were the dangerous neighbors of the Greeks in Italy? Find the
    Tiber and Rome on the map.

    3. Tell the story of the capture of Rome by the Gauls. How long was
    this after the battle of Marathon? How long after the death of
    Socrates? How long before Alexander became king of Macedon?

    4. Find the land of the Samnites on the map. Tell the story
    of the Caudine Forks.

    5. What Greek king did the people of Tarentum call to Italy to help
    them against the Romans? What did he say after his second battle
    with the Romans?

    6. After the defeat of Pyrrhus how much of Italy owned the Romans as
    masters? How did the Romans treat the Italians?

    7. Explain how the early Roman ways of living differed from the ways
    of the Greeks.

    8. How differently did the Romans and the Greeks govern themselves?

    EXERCISES

    1. Read the story of Horatius in Macaulay's "Lays of Ancient Rome."

    2. Collect pictures of Rome and Italy.

    3. Is there a modern city of Carthage? What country rules over
    Tunis? Are there now any Phoenicians?

    4. Read the description of Tyre in the Bible, Ezekiel xxvii. 3-25,
    and tell what is said there about the riches of the Tyrians. Find
    out who destroyed Tyre.

    [Illustration: AN EARLY ROMAN COIN]




CHAPTER VI


THE MEDITERRANEAN A ROMAN LAKE

ROME IN PERIL. The conquest of Italy by the Romans took about two
  hundred and fifty years. The conquest of the peoples living in the
  other lands on the shores of the Mediterranean took nearly as long
  again. Only twice in these four or five hundred years was Rome in
  serious danger of destruction. Once it was by the Gauls, as we have
  read, who captured all the city except the citadel. The second time it
  was by the Carthaginians, who lived on the northern coast of Africa.
  The Romans were finally victorious over all their enemies because they
  were patient and courageous in misfortune and refused to believe that
  they could be conquered.

CAUSE OF WAR WITH CARTHAGE. The Carthaginians were angry at the way
  the Romans treated them. They watched with alarm the steady growth of
  the Roman power, and feared that the Romans, if masters of Italy,
  would attack their trade with the cities of the western Mediterranean.
  A quarrel broke out over a city in Sicily. At first the Carthaginians
  seemed to have the best of it, because they had a strong war fleet
  while the Romans had only a few small vessels. But the Romans
  hurriedly built ships and placed upon each a kind of drawbridge,
  fitted with great hooks called grappling-irons. These they let down
  upon the enemy's decks as soon as the ships came close enough, and
  over these drawbridges the Roman soldiers rushed and captured the
  Carthaginian ships.

  When the Carthaginians asked for peace, the Romans demanded a great
  sum of money and a promise that the Carthaginians would leave the
  cities in Sicily which they occupied. Soon afterward the Romans took
  advantage of a mutiny in the Carthaginian army to demand more money
  and to seize Sardinia and Corsica. No wonder the Carthaginians were
  angry. The result was a new and more terrible war.

HANNIBAL. The Carthaginians in the new war were led by Hannibal, who
  understood how to fight battles better than any of the generals whom
  the Romans sent against him. The story is told that when he was a boy
  his father made him promise, at the altar of his city's gods, undying
  hatred to Rome. Even the Romans thought him a wonderful man. Their
  historians said that toil did not wear out his body or exhaust his
  energy. Cold or heat were alike to him. He never ate or drank more
  than he needed. He slept when he had time, whether it was day or
  night, wrapping himself in a military cloak and lying on the ground in
  the midst of his soldiers. He did not dress better than the other
  officers, but his weapons and his horses were the best in the army.

WAR CARRIED INTO ITALY, 218 B.C. Hannibal decided that the war should
  be carried into Italy to the very gates of Rome. He started from
  Spain, half of which the Carthaginians ruled, marched across southern
  Gaul, and came to the foot-hills of the Alps. To climb the Alps was
  the most difficult part of his long journey.

CROSSING THE ALPS. There were no roads across the mountains, only
  rough paths used by the mountaineers, who constantly attacked
  Hannibal's soldiers, bursting out suddenly upon them from behind a
  turn in the trail, or rolling huge rocks upon them from above. The
  elephants, the horses, and the baggage animals of the army were
  frightened, and in the tumult many of them slipped over the precipices
  and were dashed on the rocks below. For five days the army toiled
  upward, and then rested two days on the summit of the pass.

  [Illustration: THE ALPS THAT HANNIBAL HAD TO CROSS]

  Although the road down into Italy was short, it was steep, and the
  paths were slippery with ice and with snow trodden into slush by
  thousands of men and animals. In one place there had been a landslide,
  and the road along the rocky slope was cut away for a thousand feet.
  In order to build a new road it was necessary to crack the rocks. This
  the soldiers did by making huge fires and pouring wine over the heated
  surface. At last, worn out, ragged, and half starved, the army reached
  the plains of Italy, but with a loss of half its men.

HOW HANNIBAL WON A VICTORY. The first great battle with the Romans was
  fought on the river Trebia in northern Italy, and in it Hannibal
  showed how easily he could outwit and destroy a Roman army. It was a
  winter's day and the river was swollen by rains. The two camps lay on
  opposite banks. In the early morning Hannibal sent across the river a
  body of horsemen to attack the Roman camp and draw the Romans into a
  battle. At the same time he ordered his other soldiers to eat
  breakfast, to build fires before their tents to warm themselves, and
  to rub their bodies with oil, so that they might be strong for the
  coming fight.

  The Romans were suddenly roused by the attack of the Carthaginian
  horsemen, and, without waiting for food, moved out of camp, chasing
  the horsemen toward the river. Into its icy waters the Romans waded
  breast-high, and when they came up on the opposite bank they were
  benumbed with cold. As soon as Hannibal knew that the Romans had
  crossed the river he attacked them fiercely with all his troops. Two
  thousand men whom he had placed in ambush fell upon the rear of their
  line. Their allies were frightened by a charge of elephants. Seeing
  that destruction was certain, ten thousand of the best soldiers broke
  through the Carthaginian line and marched away. All the rest of the
  army was destroyed.

ROMAN ENDURANCE. This was not the last of the Roman defeats. Two other
  armies were destroyed by Hannibal during the next two years. In the
  battle of Cannae nearly seventy thousand Romans, including eighty
  senators, were slain. The news filled the city with weeping women, but
  the senate did not think of yielding. When their allies deserted them,
  they besieged the faithless cities, took them, beheaded the rulers,
  and sold the inhabitants into slavery.

  They did not dare to fight Hannibal in the open field, but tried to
  wear him out by cutting off all small bodies of his troops and by
  making it difficult for him to get food for his army. They carried the
  war into Spain and finally into Africa, and when, with a weakened
  army, Hannibal faced them there, they defeated him. His defeat was the
  ruin of Carthage, for the unhappy city was compelled to see her fleet
  destroyed, to pay the Romans a huge sum of money, and to give up Spain
  to them.

  [Illustration: A ROMAN SOLDIER]

OTHER ROMAN TRIUMPHS. The war with Carthage ended two hundred and two
  years before the birth of Christ. In the wars that followed, Roman
  armies fought not only in Spain and Africa, but also in Greece and
  Asia. Carthage was destroyed; as was also Corinth, a Greek city. Roman
  generals enriched themselves and sent great treasures back to Rome.
  Roman merchants grew rich because their rivals in Carthage and Corinth
  were ruined or because the conquered cities were forbidden to trade
  with any city but Rome. All this took a long time and many wars, but
  in the end the Romans became masters of every land along the shores of
  the Mediterranean. This was not wholly a misfortune, for the Romans
  had learned that the Greeks were superior to them in some things and
  they took the Greeks as their teachers in most of the arts of living.
  The ancient world became a sort of partnership, and we call its
  civilization Graeco-Roman, that is, both Greek and Roman.

THE ROMANS AS RULERS. The Romans at first treated the lands in Sicily,
  Spain, Africa, Greece, and Asia as conquered territories, or
  provinces, sending to rule over them officers who were to act both as
  governors and judges. With these men went many tax-collectors or
  "publicans." The Romans were obliged to leave in most provinces a
  large body of soldiers to put down any attempt at rebellion. Often the
  officers and the publicans robbed the country instead of ruling it
  justly.

EVIL RESULTS OF CONQUEST. During the wars the Romans had lost many of
  their simple ways of living. Some had grown rich in the business of
  providing for the armies and navies, and they were eager for new wars
  in order to make still bigger fortunes. Hannibal's marches up and down
  Italy had driven thousands of farmers from their homes, and they had
  wandered to Rome for safety and food. When the war was over many of
  them did not go back to their homes. Those who did found that they
  could no longer get fair prices for their crops because great
  quantities of wheat were shipped to Rome from the conquered lands.
  Wealthy men bought the little farms and joined them, making great
  estates where slaves raised sheep and cattle or tended vineyards and
  olive groves. There was not much work for free men in Rome, for slaves
  were very cheap. One army of prisoners was sold at about eight cents
  apiece. In this way the poor were made idle, while the rich sent
  everywhere for new luxuries.

  [Illustration: GLADIATORS After carvings on the tomb of
  Scaurus]

CRUEL SPORTS. To amuse the idle crowds, office-seekers and victorious
  generals provided cruel sports. Savage animals were turned loose to
  tear one another to pieces. What was worse, human prisoners were
  compelled to fight, armed with swords or spears. These men were called
  gladiators, and often were specially trained to fight with one another
  or with wild beasts.

SOME THINGS THE ROMANS LEARNED. But the successes of the Romans
  brought them other things which were good. They took the buildings of
  the Greeks as models and built similar temples and porticoes in Rome,
  especially about the old market place or Forum. Their own houses,
  which in earlier times were nothing but cabins, they enlarged, and if
  they were rich enough, built palaces, adorned with paintings and with
  statues. Unfortunately many of these came from the plunder of Greek
  cities, for the Romans were great robbers of other peoples. The poorer
  Romans continued to live in wretched hovels.

THE THEATER. The Romans learned more about the theaters of the Greeks.
  Their plays were either translated into Latin from Greek or retold in
  a different manner from the original Greek. The Romans did not succeed
  in writing any plays of their own which were as good as the plays of
  the Greeks.

  [Illustration: RUINS OF THE ROMAN THEATER AT ORANGE, FRANCE]

THE NEW EDUCATION OF THE ROMANS. The Greeks also taught the Romans how
  to write poems and histories. The first histories were written in
  Greek, but later the Romans learned how to write in Latin prose and
  poetry as good as much that had been written by the Greeks. Greek
  became the second language of every educated Roman, and thus he could
  enjoy the books of the Greeks as well as those written by Romans. The
  education of the Roman boy now began with the poems of Homer, and the
  young man's education was not thought to be finished until he had
  traveled in Greece and the lands along the eastern Mediterranean.


    QUESTIONS

    1. How long did it take the Romans to conquer Italy? How long to
    conquer the lands about the Mediterranean? In what "Times" did all
    this happen?

    2. Why did the Carthaginians and the Romans fight? What did Hannibal
    promise his father? What sort of a leader was Hannibal?

    3. How did Hannibal reach Italy? How did he win the battle of the
    Trebia?

    4. Why was he unable to force the Romans to yield?

    5. How long before the beginning of the Christian Era did this war
    with Hannibal close? How long after the battle of Marathon, and
    after the death of Alexander the Great?

    6. What other lands did the Romans conquer? How did they rule these
    colonies?

    7. Were they better for the wealth and power they gained? What
    became of many of the Italian farmers? Where did the Romans get
    their slaves?

    8. What good things did they learn from the Greeks? What was the
    Graeco-Roman world?



    EXERCISES

    1. On an outline map of the lands around the Mediterranean mark on
    each land, Spain, Greece, northern Africa, Asia Minor, and Egypt,
    the dates at which the Romans conquered each, finding these dates in
    any brief Roman or Ancient History--Botsford, Myers, Morey,
    West, Wolfson.




CHAPTER VII


THE ANCIENT WORLD EXTENDED TO THE SHORES OF THE ATLANTIC

NEW CONQUESTS OF THE ROMANS. The Romans had as yet conquered only
  civilized peoples like themselves, with the exception of the tribes in
  Spain and southern Gaul. Now the Roman armies were to push northward
  over the plains and through the forests of Gaul, across the Rhine into
  unknown Germany, and over the Channel into Britain, equally unknown.
  They were to be explorers as well as conquerors. In this way they were
  to carry their civilization to the Rhine and the Atlantic, and so
  increase greatly the part of the earth where men lived and thought as
  the Romans did and as the Greeks had before them. The ancient civilized
  world was beginning to move from its older center, the Mediterranean,
  toward the shore of the Atlantic.

ANCESTORS OF THE FRENCH AND THE GERMANS. The tribes living in Gaul
  were not at that time called French, but Gallic. The Gauls were like the
  Britons who lived across the Channel in Britain. The German ancestors of
  the English had not yet crossed the North Sea to that land. Beyond the
  Rhine lived the Germans, who had but little to do with the Romans and
  the Greeks and were still barbarians. The Gauls living farthest away
  from the Roman settlements were not much more civilized.

  The principal difference between the Germans and the Gauls was that the
  Gauls lived in villages and towns and cultivated the land or dug in
  mines or traded along the rivers, while the Germans had no towns and
  dwelt in clearings of the forest. Their wealth, like that of the early
  Romans, was their cattle. The land they cultivated was divided between
  them year after year, so that a German owned only his hut and the plot
  of ground or garden about it. Some of the towns of the Gauls were placed
  on high hills and were protected by strong walls.

THE TERRIBLE GERMANS. The Romans had at first been afraid of the
  Gauls, because they had never forgotten how terribly these people had
  once defeated them. But since that time they had fought the Gauls so
  often that they were losing this fear. They now dreaded more to meet the
  Germans, who seemed like giants because they were taller even than
  the Gauls.

  [Illustration: GALLIC WARRIORS]

GALLIC AND GERMAN WARRIORS. The leaders of the Germans were sometimes
  kings and sometimes nobles whom the Romans called _duces_, from which
  comes our word duke. The Gallic chieftains were adorned with gold
  necklaces, bracelets, and rings. When they went out to battle, they wore
  helmets shaped like the head of some ravenous beast, and their bodies
  were protected by coats of chain armor made of iron rings. Their
  principal weapon was a long, heavy sword. Both German and Gallic nobles
  were accompanied by bands of young men, their devoted followers, who
  shared the joys of victory or died with them in case of defeat. It was a
  disgrace to lose one's sword or to survive if the leader was killed.

HOW THE GERMANS LIVED. When the Germans were not fighting they were
  idle, for all work was done by women and slaves. They were great
  drinkers and gamblers, and often in their games a man would stake his
  freedom upon the result. If he lost, he became the slave of the winner.
  The Germans respected their wives, even if they compelled them to do the
  hard work. The women sometimes went with the men to battle, and their
  cries encouraged the warriors, or if the warriors wavered, the fierce
  reproaches of the women drove them back to the fight.

RELIGION OF THE GERMANS. We remember the religion of the Germans
  because four days of the week are named for their gods or the gods of
  their neighbors across the Baltic. Their principal god was Wodan, or
  Odin, god of the sun and the tempest. Wodan's day is Wednesday. Thursday
  is named for Thor, the Northmen's god of thunder. The god of war, Tiw,
  gave a name to Tuesday, and Frigu, the goddess of love, to Friday. The
  German, like his northern neighbors, thought of heaven as the place
  where brave warriors who had died in battle spent their days
  in feasting.

JULIUS CAESAR. Julius Caesar was the great Roman general who
  conquered the Gauls and led the first expeditions across the Rhine into
  Germany and over the Channel into Britain. He was a wealthy noble who,
  like other nobles, held one office after another until he became consul.
  He was also a great political leader, and with two other men controlled
  Rome. We should call them "bosses," but the Romans called them
  "triumvirs."

  [Illustration: JULIUS CAESAR After the bust in the Museum at
  Naples]

CAESAR IN GAUL. As soon as Caesar became governor of the province
  of southern Gaul, he showed that he was a skilful general as well as a
  successful politician. He interfered in the wars between the Gauls,
  taking sides with the friends of the Romans. When a large army of
  Germans entered Gaul, he defeated it and drove it back across the Rhine.
  One war led to another until all the tribes from the country now called
  Belgium to the Mediterranean coast professed to be friends of the Roman
  people. His campaigns lasted from 58 B.C. for nine years. Two or three
  times Caesar was very close to ruin, but by his courage and energy he
  always succeeded in gaining the victory.

VERCINGETORIX, GALLIC HERO. The great hero of the Gauls in their
  struggle with the Romans was Vercingetorix. He was a young noble who
  lived in a mountain town of central Gaul. His father had been killed in
  an attempt to make himself king of his native city. Vercingetorix
  believed that if the Gauls did not unite against the Romans they would
  soon see their lands become Roman provinces. As he knew his army was no
  match for the Romans in open fight, he persuaded the Gauls to try to
  starve the Romans out of the country. He planned to destroy all village
  stores of grain, and to cut off the smaller bands of soldiers which
  wandered from the main army in search of food.

CAESAR AND VERCINGETORIX. Vercingetorix found the work of
  conquering Caesar in this way too difficult. He was finally driven to
  take refuge in Alesia, on a hilltop in eastern Gaul. Here the Romans
  prepared to starve him into surrender. They dug miles of deep trenches
  about the fortress so that the imprisoned Gauls could not break through.
  They dug other trenches to protect themselves from the attacks of a
  great army of Gauls which came to rescue Vercingetorix. These trenches
  were fifteen or twenty feet wide; they were strengthened by palisades
  and ramparts, and filled with water where this was possible. Several
  times the Gauls nearly succeeded in breaking through, but the quickness
  and stubborn courage of Caesar always saved the day.

DEATH OF VERCINGETORIX. Vercingetorix now proved that he was a real
  hero. He offered to give himself up to Caesar, if this would save the
  town. But Caesar demanded the submission of all the chiefs. When they
  had laid down their arms before the conqueror, Vercingetorix appeared on
  a gaily decorated horse. He rode around the throne where Caesar sat,
  dismounted in front, took off his armor, and bowed to the ground. His
  fate was hard. He was sent to Rome a prisoner, was shown in the
  triumphal procession of the victorious Caesar, and was then put to death
  in a dungeon. On the site of Alesia stands a monument erected by the
  French to the memory of the brave Gallic hero. The defeat of
  Vercingetorix ended the resistance of the Gauls, and not many years
  afterward their country was added to the long list of Roman provinces.

  [Illustration: THE BRIDGE ON WHICH CAESAR'S ARMY CROSSED THE
  RHINE]

CAESAR IN GERMANY. Caesar crossed the Rhine into Germany on a bridge
  which his engineers built in ten days. He laid waste the fields of the
  tribes near the river in order to make the name of Rome feared, and then
  returned to Gaul and destroyed the bridge. Twice he sailed over to
  Britain, the last time marching a few miles north of where London now
  stands. His purpose was to keep the Britons from stirring up the Gauls
  to attack him. Other generals many years later conquered Britain as far
  as the hills of Scotland.

THE GERMAN HERO HERMANN. The Romans were not fortunate in their
  later attempts to conquer a part of Germany. When Caesar's grandnephew
  Augustus was master of Rome, he sent an army under Varus into the
  forests far from the Rhine. Hermann, a leader of the Germans, gathered
  the tribes together and utterly destroyed the army of Varus. Whenever
  Augustus thought of this dreadful disaster, he would cry out, "O Varus,
  give me back my legions!" The Rhine and the Danube became the northern
  boundaries of the Roman conquests.

GAULS AND BRITONS BECOME ROMAN. Although the Gauls had fought
  stubbornly against Caesar they soon became as Roman as the Italians
  themselves. They ceased to speak their own language and began to use
  Latin. They mastered Latin so thoroughly that their schools were
  sometimes regarded as better than the schools in Italy, and Roman youths
  were sent to Gaul to learn how best to speak their own language. The
  Britons also became very good Romans. Even the Germans frequently
  crossed the Rhine and enlisted in the Roman armies. When they returned
  to their own country they carried Roman ideas and customs with them.

THE INTEREST OF AMERICANS IN ROMAN SUCCESSES. For Americans the
  influence the Romans exerted in Spain, Gaul, Germany, and Britain is
  more important than their work in the eastern Mediterranean, because
  from those countries came the early settlers of America. The
  civilization which the Romans taught the peoples of western Europe was
  to become a valuable part of the civilization of our forefathers.

  [Illustration: THE ROMAN EMPIRE AT ITS GREATEST EXTENT IN 395
  A.D.]

SIZE OF THE ROMAN WORLD. We may realize how large the world of the
  Romans was by observing on a modern map that within its limits lay
  modern England, France, Spain, Portugal, the southern part of
  Austria-Hungary, Italy, Bulgaria, Greece, the Turkish Empire both in
  Europe and Asia, Egypt, Tripoli, Tunis, Algeria, and Morocco. For a time
  they also ruled north of the Danube, and the Rumanians boast that they
  are descended from Roman colonists. The peoples in southern Russia were
  influenced by the Greeks and by the Romans, although the Romans did not
  try to bring them under their rule.

  No modern empire has included so many important countries. If we compare
  this vast territory with, the scattered colonies of the Greeks, we shall
  understand how useful it was that the Romans adopted much of the Greek
  civilization, for they could carry it to places that the Greeks
  never reached.

  [Illustration: RUINS OF THE ANCIENT GAULS AT CARNAC,
  IN BRITTANY, FRANCE]


    QUESTIONS

    1. After the Romans had conquered the lands about the Mediterranean,
    into what other countries did they march?

    2. Who once lived where the French now live? Tell how the Gauls
    lived.

    3. How did the manner of living of the Germans differ from that of
    the Gauls? Were the Britons similar to the Germans or to the Gauls?

    4. What names do we get from the names of the German gods?

    5. Who was Julius Caesar? Why did he go among the Gauls? What was
    the result of his wars with the Gauls? Tell the story of
    Vercingetorix.

    6. After the conquest of the Gauls, into what countries did Caesar
    go?

    [Illustration: A ROMAN COIN WITH THE HEAD OF JULIUS CAESAR]

    7. What was the fate of the Roman army in Germany in the time of
    Augustus?

    8. In which of these countries did the peoples become much like the
    Romans?

    9. Why have Americans a special interest in the Roman conquest of
    Gaul and Britain?

    EXERCISES

    1. Caesar and Alexander were two of the greatest generals who ever
    lived. How many years after Alexander died did Caesar begin his wars
    in Gaul? What difference was there between what these two generals
    did? Whose work is the more important for us?

    2. Plan a large map of the Graeco-Roman world, pasting on each
    country a picture of some interesting Greek or Roman ruin. This will
    take a long time, but many pictures may be found in advertising
    folders of steamship lines and tourist agencies.

    REVIEW

    (Chapters IV, V, VI, and VII)

    _How the Graeco-Roman world was built up_:

    1. The Greeks drive back the Persians.

    2. The Greeks settle in many places on the shores of the
    Mediterranean and Black Seas.

    3. Alexander conquers the countries about the eastern Mediterranean.

    4. The Romans conquer the Greeks in Italy, but learn their ways of
    living.

    5. The Romans conquer the Carthaginians and seize their colonies.

    6. The Romans conquer all the lands around the Mediterranean.

    7. The Romans conquer Gaul and Britain.

    _Important dates in this work of building a Graeco-Roman world_:

    Battle of Marathon, 490 B.C. Work of Alexander ended, 323 B.C.
    Romans become masters of Italy, 275 B.C. Romans conquer Hannibal,
    202 B.C. Caesar's conquest of Gaul complete, 49 B.C.

    [Illustration: ROMAN FARMER'S CALENDAR]




CHAPTER VIII


THE CIVILIZATION OF THE ROMAN WORLD

STRIFE AT ROME. While the Romans were conquering the ancient world
  they had begun to quarrel among themselves. Certain men resolved that
  Rome should not be managed any longer by the noble senators for their
  own benefit or for the benefit of rich contractors and merchants. They
  wished to have the idle crowds of men who packed the shows and circuses
  settled as free farmers on the unused lands of Italy.

  Among these new leaders were two brothers, Tiberius and Caius Gracchus,
  sons of one of Rome's noblest families. The other nobles looked upon
  them with hatred and killed them, first Tiberius and afterward Caius.
  These murders did not end the trouble. The leaders on both sides armed
  their followers, and bloody battles were fought in the streets. Generals
  led their armies to Rome, although, according to the laws, to bring an
  army into Italy south of the Rubicon River was to make war on the
  republic and be guilty of treason. Once in the city these generals put
  to death hundreds of their enemies.

CAESAR RULES ROME. The strife in the city had ceased for a time
  when Pompey, a famous general, who had once shared power with Caesar as
  a "triumvir," joined the senators in planning his ruin. Caesar led his
  army into Italy to the borders of the Rubicon. Exclaiming, "The die is
  cast,'" he crossed the sacred boundary and marched straight to Rome.
  Pompey and his party fled, and civil war divided the Roman world into
  those who followed Caesar and those who followed Pompey, Caesar was
  everywhere victorious, in Italy, Africa, Spain, and the East. He brought
  back order into the government of the city and of the provinces, but in
  the year 44 B.C. he was murdered in the senate-house by several
  senators, one of whom, Marcus Brutus, had been his friend.

ORIGIN OF THE TITLE "EMPEROR." Caesar had not been called
  "emperor," though the chief power had been his. One of his titles was
  "imperator," or commander of the army, a word from which our word
  "emperor" comes. He was really the first emperor of Rome. In later times
  the very word Caesar became an imperial title, not only in the Roman
  Empire, but also in modern Germany, for "Kaiser" is another form of the
  word "Caesar."

BEGINNINGS OF THE EMPIRE. Caesar's successor was his grandnephew
  Octavius, usually called Augustus, which was one of his titles. Augustus
  carried out many of Caesar's plans for improving the government in Rome
  and in the provinces. The people in the provinces were no longer robbed
  by Roman officers. Many of them became Roman citizens. After a time all
  children born within the empire were considered Romans, just as if they
  had been born in Rome.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE. The Roman Empire carried on the work which the
  republic had begun. It did some things better than the republic had done
  them. Within its frontiers there was peace for two or three hundred
  years. Many people had an opportunity to share in all the best that the
  Greeks and Romans had learned. Unfortunately the peoples imitated the
  bad as well as the good.

ROMAN ROADS. As builders the Romans taught much to those who lived
  after them. Their great roads leading out from Rome have never been
  excelled. In Gaul these roads served, centuries later, to mark out the
  present French system of highroads and showed many a route to the
  builders of railroads. They were made so solid that parts of them still
  remain after two thousand years.

  [Illustration: Augustus Caesar After the statue in the Vatican]

HOW THESE ROADS WERE BUILT. In planning their roads the Romans did
  not hesitate before obstacles like hills or deep valleys or marshy
  lands. They often pierced the hills with tunnels and bridged the valleys
  or swamps. In building a road they dug a trench about fifteen feet wide
  and pounded the earth at the bottom until it was hard. Upon this bottom
  was placed a layer of rough stones, over which were put nine inches of
  broken stone mixed with lime to form a sort of concrete. This was
  covered by a layer six inches deep of broken bricks or broken tiles,
  which when pounded down offered a hard, smooth surface. On the top were
  laid large paving stones carefully fitted so that there need be no jar
  when a wagon rolled over the road.

  Such roads were necessary for the traders who passed to and fro
  throughout the empire, but especially for troops or government
  messengers sent with all speed to regions where there was danger of
  revolt or where the frontiers were threatened by the barbarians.

[Illustration: CROSS-SECTION OF A ROMAN ROAD]

AQUEDUCTS. Next to their roads the most remarkable Roman structures
  were the aqueducts which brought water to the city from rivers or
  springs, some of them many miles away. Had they known, as we do, how to
  make heavy iron pipes, their aqueducts would have been laid underground,
  except where they crossed deep valleys. The lead pipes which they used
  were not strong enough to endure the force of a great quantity of water,
  and so when the aqueducts reached the edge of the plain which stretches
  from the eastern hills to the walls of Rome, the streams of flowing
  water were carried in stone channels resting upon arches which sometimes
  reached the height of over ninety feet.

THE CLAUDIAN AQUEDUCT. The Claudian aqueduct, which is the most
  magnificent ever built, is carried on such arches for about seven miles
  and a half. Although broken in many places, and though the water has not
  flowed through its lofty channels for sixteen hundred years, it is one
  of the grandest sights in the neighborhood of Rome. If we add together
  the lengths of the aqueducts, underground or carried on arches, which
  provided Rome with her water supply, the total is over three hundred
  miles. They could furnish Rome with a hundred million gallons of water
  a day.

  [Illustration: RUINS OF THE CLAUDIAN AQUEDUCT Completed by the
  Roman Emperor Claudian in 52 A.D. The structure was nearly a hundred
  feet high]

PUBLIC BATHS. The Romans used great quantities of water for their
  public baths, which were large buildings with rooms especially made for
  bathing in hot or cold water and for plunges. They were also, like the
  Greek gymnasiums, places for exercise, conversation, and reading. Many
  were built as monuments by wealthy men and by emperors. A very small fee
  was charged for entrance, and the money was used to pay for repairs and
  the wages of those who managed the baths.

  [Illustration: RUINS OF THE COLOSSEUM]

TWO FAMOUS BUILDINGS. Many of the Roman temples, porticoes, and
  theaters were copied from Greek buildings, but the Romans used the arch
  more than did the Greeks, and in this the builders of later times
  imitated them. Among their greatest buildings were the amphitheaters,
  from the benches of which crowds watched gladiators fighting one another
  or struggling with wild beasts. The largest of these amphitheaters was
  the Colosseum, the ruins of which still exist. Its outer walls were one
  hundred and sixty feet high. In one direction it measured six hundred
  and seventeen feet and in another five hundred and twelve. There were
  seats enough for forty-five thousand persons. The lowest seats were
  raised fifteen feet above the arena or central space where men or wild
  beasts fought. Through an arrangement of underground pipes the arena
  could be flooded so that the spectators might enjoy the excitement of a
  real naval battle.

  Another great building was the Circus Maximus, built to hold the crowds
  that watched the chariot-races, and at one time having seats for two
  hundred thousand persons. In their amusements the Romans became more and
  more vulgar, excitable, and cruel. Some equally splendid buildings were
  used for better things.

  [Illustration: The Pantheon]

THE PANTHEON. One of these was the Pantheon, a temple which was
  afterward a Christian church. It still stands, and is now used as the
  burial-place of the Italian kings. The most remarkable part of it is the
  dome, which has a width of a little over one hundred and forty-two feet.
  No other dome in the world is so wide. The Romans were very successful
  in covering large spaces with arched or vaulted ceilings. All later
  builders of domes and arches are their pupils.

  [Illustration: THE ARCH OF TITUS]

BASILICAS. The Romans had other large buildings called basilicas.
  These were porticoes or promenades, with the space in the center covered
  by a great roof. They were used as places for public meetings. One of
  them had one hundred and eight pillars arranged in a double row around
  the sides and ends of this central space. The name basilica is Greek and
  means "royal." Some of these basilicas were used as Christian churches
  when the Romans accepted the Christian religion. The central space was
  then called the "nave," and the spaces between the columns the aisles.

TRIUMPHAL ARCHES. The Romans built beautiful arches to celebrate
  their victories. Several of these still remain, with sentences cut into
  their stone tablets telling of the triumphs of their builders. Modern
  people have taken them as models for similar memorial arches.

  [Illustration: A ROMAN AQUEDUCT Still in good repair, the Pont
  du Gard, near Nîmes, France]

ROMAN LAW. The Romans did much for the world by their laws. They
  showed little regard for the rights of men captured in war and were
  cruel in their treatment of slaves, but they considered carefully the
  rights of free men and women. Under the emperors the lawyers and judges
  worked to make the laws clearer and fairer to all. Finally the Emperor
  Justinian, who ruled at the time when the empire was already half ruined
  by the attacks of barbarian enemies, ordered the lawyer Tribonian to
  gather into a single code all the statutes and decrees. These laws
  lasted long after the empire was destroyed, and out of them grew many of
  the laws used in Europe to-day. They have also influenced our laws
  in America.

  [Illustration: PAVEMENT OF A ROMAN VILLA IN ENGLAND Unearthed
  not many years ago at Aldborough. Such stones laid in the form of
  designs or pictures are called Mosaics]


    QUESTIONS

    1. In the political strife at Rome what did the brothers Tiberius
    and Caius Gracchus try to do?

    2. What did Julius Caesar do when a party of senators tried to ruin
    him? What was the result of his war with the other Roman leaders?

    3. From what Roman word does "Emperor" come? What is the origin of
    the word "Kaiser"? How did Caesar die?

    4. Who was Caesar's successor and the first one who organized the
    Roman Empire?

    5. Why were the Romans such great builders of roads? How were their
    roads built? Do any traces of them still remain?

    6. How did the Romans provide the city with a supply of pure water?

    7. What was a Roman bath?

    8. Were the Romans as famous as the Greeks for their buildings? Name
    the largest buildings in Rome. What was a basilica? Of what use were
    basilicas to the Christians later?

    9. Do you remember the earliest form of the Roman law (Chapter
    V)? What did Justinian do with the laws in his day? Are
    these laws important to us?

    EXERCISES

    1. What emperors are there now? Are they like Caesar and Augustus?

    2. Find out if our roads are built as carefully as the Roman roads
    and if they are likely to last as long. What different kinds of
    roads do we have? Can any one in the room construct a small model of
    a Roman road?

    3. Find out how water is now carried to cities. Are cities provided
    with great public baths like those of the Romans?

    4. Ask a librarian or a lawyer to show you a copy of the revised
    statutes of your state. This is a code somewhat like the code of
    Justinian, only not so brief.

    [Illustration: TEMPLUM JOVIS CAPITOLINI (Medallion)]




CHAPTER IX


CHRISTIANITY AND THE ROMAN EMPIRE

THE RELIGION OF THE JEWS. Among the cities captured by the Romans
  was Jerusalem, about which cluster so many stories from the Old
  Testament. There, hundreds of years before, lived David, the shepherd
  boy who, after wonderful adventures, became king of his people. There
  his son Solomon built a temple of dazzling splendor. Among this people
  had arisen great preachers,--Isaiah, Jeremiah, Micah,--who declared that
  religion did not consist in the sacrifice of bulls and goats, but in
  justice, in mercy, and in humility. They had a genius for religion, just
  as the Greeks had a genius for art, and the Romans a genius for
  government.

THE JEWS CONQUERED BY THE ROMANS. When the Jews first heard of the
  Romans they admired these citizens of a republic who made and unmade
  kings. In later years they learned that the Romans were hard masters and
  they feared and hated them. The Jewish kingdom was one of the last
  countries along the shores of the Mediterranean which the Romans
  conquered, but like all the others it finally became a Roman province.

JESUS OF NAZARETH. A few years before the Jewish kingdom became a
  Roman province there was born in a village near Jerusalem a child named
  Jesus. After he had grown to manhood in Nazareth he gathered about him
  followers or disciples whom he taught to live and act as is told in the
  books of the New Testament.

  [Illustration: A VIEW OF JERUSALEM Showing the Mount of Olives
  in the distance]

  This was the beginning of the Christian religion. It was first held by a
  little band of Jews, but Paul, a Jew born in Tarsus, a city of Asia
  whose inhabitants had received the rights of Roman citizenship, believed
  that the message of the new religion was meant for all nations. He
  taught it in many cities of Asia Minor and Greece, and even went as far
  west as Rome. Several of the epistles or letters in the New Testament
  were written by Paul to churches which he had founded or where he had
  taught. So it happens that from Palestine came religious teachings which
  multitudes consider even more important than the art and literature of
  the Greeks or the laws and political methods of the Romans.

WHY THE CHRISTIANS WERE PERSECUTED. The Romans at first refused to
  permit any one in their empire to call himself a Christian. They
  disliked the Jews because the Jews denied that the Roman gods were real
  gods, asserting that these gods were mere images in wood and stone. The
  Christians did this also, but in the eyes of the Roman rulers the worst
  offense of the Christians was that they appeared to form a sort of
  secret society and held meetings to which other persons were not
  admitted. The emperor had forbidden such societies.

  The Romans also disliked the Christians because of their refusal to join
  in the public ceremonies which honored the emperor as if he were a god
  who had given peace and order to the world and who was able to reward
  the good and punish the evil. The Christians believed it to be wrong to
  join in the worship of an emperor, whether he were alive or dead.

CHRISTIANS PUT TO DEATH. The Romans were cruel in their manner of
  punishing disobedience, and many Christians suffered death in its most
  horrible forms. Some were burned, others were tortured, others were torn
  to pieces by wild animals in the great amphitheaters to satisfy the
  fierce Roman crowd. Nero, the worst of the Roman emperors, who, many
  thought, set Rome on fire in order that he might enjoy the sight of the
  burning city, tried to turn suspicion from himself by accusing the
  Christians of the crime. He punished them by tying them to poles,
  smearing their bodies with pitch, and burning them at night as torches.

THE CHRISTIANS ALLOWED TO WORSHIP. The new religion spread rapidly
  from province to province in spite of these persecutions. At first the
  Christians worshiped secretly, but later they ventured to build
  churches. Finally, three centuries after the birth of Christ, the
  emperors promised that the persecutions should cease and that the
  Christians might worship undisturbed.

  [Illustration: A VIEW OF CONSTANTINOPLE]

THE ROMAN EMPIRE BECOMES CHRISTIAN ABOUT 325 A.D. Constantine was
  the first emperor to become Christian. He was the one who made the Greek
  city Byzantium the capital of the empire and for whom it was renamed
  Constantinople. For a time both the old Roman religion and the Christian
  religion were favored by the emperors, but before the fourth century
  closed the old religion was forbidden. In later days worshipers of the
  Roman gods were mostly country people, called in Latin _pagani_, and
  therefore their religion was called "paganism."

HOW THE CHURCH WAS RULED. One of the reasons why the Christians had
  been successful in their struggle with the Roman emperors was that they
  were united under wise and brave leaders. The Christians in each large
  city were ruled by a bishop, and the bishops of several cities were
  directed by an archbishop. In the western part of the empire the bishop
  of Rome, who was called the pope, was honored as the chief of the
  bishops and archbishops, and the successor of the Apostle Peter. In the
  eastern part the archbishops or patriarchs of Constantinople and
  Alexandria and Jerusalem honored the pope, but claimed to be equal in
  authority with him.

  There were also two kinds of clergy, parish priests and monks. The
  priests were pastors of ordinary parishes, but the monks lived in groups
  in buildings called monasteries. Sometimes their purpose was to dwell
  far from the bustle and wrongs of ordinary life and give themselves to
  prayer and fasting; sometimes they acted as a brotherhood of teachers in
  barbarous communities, teaching the people better methods of farming,
  and carrying the arts of civilized life beyond the borders of
  the empire.


    QUESTIONS

    1. Where did the Jews live in Ancient Times?

    2. Do you remember any of the stories of David?

    3. What finally became of the kingdom over which David ruled?

    4. What era in the history of the world begins with the birth of
    Jesus Christ?

    5. Why did the Romans forbid the Christians to worship? How did the
    Romans punish them? How long after the birth of Christ before the
    emperors allowed the Christians to worship undisturbed?

    [Illustration: A MONASTERY IN THE MIDDLE AGES Abbey of
    Saint-Germain des Prés as it appeared in 1361 with wall, towers, and
    moat or ditch]

    6. What is the name of the first Roman emperor who became a
    Christian? What name was soon given to the worshipers of the old
    Roman gods?

    7. By what titles were the leaders of the Christians named? What two
    kinds of clergy were there?

    _Important date_: 325 A.D., when the Roman Empire became Christian.




CHAPTER X


EMIGRANTS A THOUSAND YEARS AGO

THE MIDDLE AGES. It was more than a thousand years from the time of
  Constantine to the time of Columbus. This period is called "Mediaeval,"
  or the "Middle Ages." During these long centuries the ancient civilized
  world of the Roman Empire was much changed. The Roman or Greek cities on
  the southern shores of the Mediterranean were captured by Arabs or
  Moors. The Moors conquered the larger part of Spain. The eastern lands
  of Palestine and Asia Minor fell into the hands of the Turks. The Turks,
  the Moors, and the Arabs were followers of the "prophet" Mohammed, who
  died in the year 632. The Mohammedans were enemies of the Christians.

WESTERN EUROPE. The other part of the European world was also
  changed. The countries on the shores of the Atlantic were now more
  important than those on the shores of the Mediterranean. The names of
  the different countries were changed. Instead of Gallia or Gaul, there
  was France; instead of Britannia, England; for Hispania, Spain; for
  Germania, Deutschland or Germany. Italy, the center of the old empire,
  was finally divided into several states--city republics like Genoa and
  Venice, provinces ruled by the pope, and other territories ruled by
  dukes, princes, or kings.

FATE OF CIVILIZATION. The most important question to ask is, How
  much of the manner of living or civilization of the Greeks and the
  Romans did the later Europeans still retain? The answer is found in the
  history of the Middle Ages. In this history is also found what men added
  to that which they had learned from the Greeks and the Romans. The
  emigrants to America were to carry with them knowledge which not even
  the wisest men of the ancient world had possessed.

  [Illustration: WALL OF AURELIAN This wall enclosed the ancient
  city of Rome. It was about thirteen miles in circumference, fifty-five
  feet high, and had three hundred towers]

MEDIAEVAL GERMAN EMIGRANTS. The first part of the history of the
  Middle Ages explains how the German peoples from whom most of our
  forefathers were descended began to move from the northern forests
  towards the borders of the Roman Empire. Many thousand men had already
  crossed the Rhine and the Danube to serve in the Roman armies. Sometimes
  an unusually strong and skilful warrior would be made a general. Germans
  had also crossed the Rhine to work as farmers on the estates of the rich
  Gallic nobles. Other Germans, called Goths, worked in Constantinople and
  the cities of the East as masons, porters, and water-carriers. The
  Romans had owned so many slaves that they had lost the habit of work and
  were glad to hire these foreigners.

STORY OF ULFILAS. Many of the Goths who lived north of the Danube
  had forsaken their old gods and become Christians. They were taught by
  Bishop Ulfilas, once a captive among them, afterward a missionary. He
  translated the Bible into the Gothic language, and this translation is
  the most ancient specimen of German that we possess. Many of the other
  German tribes learned about Christianity from the Goths, and although
  they might be enemies of the Roman government, they were not enemies of
  the Church.

THE GOTHS INVADE THE ROMAN EMPIRE. The Roman emperors tried to
  prevent the northern tribes from crossing the frontier in great numbers,
  because, once across, if they did not find work and food, they became
  plunderers. Not many years after Constantine's death, a million Goths
  had passed the Danube and had plundered the country almost to the walls
  of Constantinople. This was not like the invasion of a regular army,
  which comes to fight battles and to arrange terms of peace.

  The Goths, and the Germans who soon followed their example, moved as a
  whole people, with their wives and children, their cattle, and the few
  household goods they owned. Wherever they wished to settle they demanded
  of the Romans one third, sometimes two thirds, of the land. They soon
  learned to be good neighbors of the older inhabitants, although at first
  they were little better than robbers. Alaric, one of the leaders of the
  Goths, led them into Italy and in the year 410 captured Rome. Alaric did
  not injure the buildings much, and he kept his men from robbing the
  churches. Some of the other barbarous tribes who roamed about plundering
  villages and attacking cities did far greater damage. The Roman
  government grew weaker and weaker, until one by one the provinces fell
  into the hands of German kings.

BEGINNINGS OF ENGLAND, FRANCE, AND GERMANY. Britain was attacked by
  the Angles and Saxons from the shores of Germany across the North Sea.
  They drove away the inhabitants or made slaves of
  them and settled upon the lands they had seized. The country was then
  called Angle-land or England, and the people Anglo-Saxons or Englishmen.

  The Roman provinces in Gaul were gradually conquered by the Franks from
  the borders of the Rhine, and they gave the name France to the land.

  At about the same time the other German tribes that had remained in
  Germany united under one king.

THE RESULT OF BARBARIAN ATTACKS. The part of the ancient world
  which lay about Constantinople was less changed than the rest during the
  Middle Ages. The walls of Constantinople were high and thick, and they
  withstood attack after attack until 1453. Within their shelter men
  continued to live much as they had lived in Ancient Times. A few
  delighted to study the writings of the ancient Greeks. In Italy and the
  other countries of western Europe most of the cities were in ruins. The
  ancient baths, amphitheaters, aqueducts, and palaces of Rome crumbled
  and fell. The mediaeval Romans also used huge buildings like the
  Colosseum as quarries of cut stone and burned the marble for lime. This
  was done in every country where Roman buildings existed.

  [Illustration: THE AMPHITHEATER AT ARLES]

  The amphitheater at Arles in southern France had a still stranger
  fortune. It was used at one time as a citadel, at another as a prison
  and gradually became the home of hundreds of the criminals and the poor
  of the city. "Every archway held its nest of human outcasts. From stone
  to stone they cast their rotting beams and plaster and burrowed into the
  very entrails of the enormous building to seek a secure retreat from the
  pursuit of the officers of the law."

  Few persons traveled from Constantinople to Italy or France, and few
  from western Europe visited Constantinople. The men of Italy and France
  and England did not know how to read Greek. Many of them also ceased to
  read the writings of the ancient Romans.

  [Illustration: ST. MARTIN'S CHURCH, CANTERBURY, ENGLAND This
  church is on the site of a chapel built in the sixth century. Its walls
  show some of the bricks of the original chapel]

THE ENGLISH BECOME CHRISTIANS, 597 A.D. Christianity had spread
  throughout the Roman Empire, and it became the religion of all the
  tribes who founded kingdoms of their own upon the ruins of the Empire.
  The Angles and Saxons, when they invaded Britain, were still worshipers
  of the gods Wodan and Thor. They had never learned from the Goths of
  Ulfilas anything about Christianity.

  One day in the slave market at Rome three fair-haired boys were offered
  for sale. Gregory, a noble Roman, who had become a monk and was the
  abbot of his monastery, happened to be passing and asked who they were.
  He was told they were Angles. "Angels," he cried, "yes, they have faces
  like angels, and should become companions of the angels in heaven." When
  this good abbot became pope, he sent missionaries to Angle-land and they
  established themselves at Canterbury.

  [Illustration: GREGORY AND THE LITTLE ENGLISH SLAVES]

MISSIONARIES TO THE GERMANS AND THE SLAVS. The conversion of the
  English helped in the spread of Christianity on the Continent, for
  Boniface, an English monk, was the greatest missionary to the Germans.
  He won thousands from the worship of their ancient gods and founded many
  churches. The Slavs, who lived east of the Germans, were taught by
  missionaries from Constantinople instead of from Rome.

THE EDUCATED MEN OF THE MIDDLE AGES. The missionaries and teachers
  of the Church had been educated like the older Romans. They read Roman
  books, and tried to preserve the knowledge which both Greeks and Romans
  had gathered. Influenced by them, the emigrants and conquerors from the
  north also tried to be like the Romans. Educated men, and especially the
  priests of the Church, used Latin as their language. In this way some
  parts of the old Roman and Greek civilization were preserved, although
  the Roman government had fallen and many beautiful cities were mere
  heaps of ruins.

THE VIKINGS. The emigration of whole peoples from one part of
  Europe to another did not stop when the Roman Empire was overrun. New
  peoples appeared and sought to plunder or crowd out the tribes which had
  already settled within its boundaries and were learning the ways of
  civilization.

  One of these peoples came from the regions now known as Norway, Sweden,
  and Denmark. They were called Danes by the English, and Northmen or
  Normans by other Europeans. They had another name, Vikings, which was
  their word for sea-rovers.

  It was their custom to sail the seas and rivers rather than march on the
  land. They were a hardy and daring people, who liked nothing better than
  to fight and conquer and rob in other countries. There was not a land in
  western Europe, even as far south as Sicily, that they did not visit.
  Wherever they went they plundered and burned and murdered, leaving a
  blackened trail.

THE DANES IN ENGLAND. The Danes ravaged the eastern and southern
  shores of England, and after they were tired of robbery, partly because
  there was little left to take, they began to settle in the land. Alfred,
  the greatest of the early English kings, was driven by them into the
  swamps for a while, but in the year 878 A.D. he conquered an army of
  them in battle and persuaded one of their kings to be baptized as a
  Christian. Alfred was obliged to allow them to keep the eastern portion
  of England, a region called Danelaw, because the law of the Danes was
  obeyed there.

  [Illustration: A VIKING SHIP AT SEA]

THE DANES BECOME NORMANS. No more Danes or Northmen came to trouble
  England for a time, but instead they crossed the Channel to France and
  rowed up the Seine and tried to capture Paris. A few years later a
  Frankish king gave them the city of Rouen, further down the Seine, and
  the region about it which was called Normandy. These Normans also
  accepted Christianity.

THE VIKINGS BECOME DISCOVERERS. Before another hundred years had
  passed the Northmen performed a feat more difficult than sailing up
  rivers and burning towns. They were the first to venture far out of
  sight of land, though their ships were no larger than our fishing boats.
  These bold sailors visited the Orkney and the Shetland Islands, north of
  Scotland, and finally reached Iceland. In Iceland their sheep and cattle
  flourished, and a lively trade in fish, oil, butter, and skins sprang up
  with the old homeland and with the British islands.

  Before long one of the settlers, named Eric the Red, led a colony to
  Greenland, the larger and more desolate island further west. He called
  it Greenland because, he said, men would be more easily persuaded to go
  there if the land had a good name. This was probably in the year 985.

  [Illustration: LEIF ERICSON From the statue in Boston]

DISCOVERY OF VINLAND. Eric had a son, called Leif Ericson, or Leif
  the Lucky, who visited Norway and was well received at the court of King
  Olaf. Not long before missionaries had persuaded Olaf and his people to
  give up their old gods and accept Christianity, and Leif followed their
  example. Leif set out in the early summer of the year 1000 to carry the
  new religion to his father, Eric the Red, to his father's people, and to
  his neighbors. The voyage was a long one, lasting all the summer, for on
  the way his ship was driven out of its course and came upon strange
  lands where wild rice and grape-vines and large trees grew. The milder
  climate and stories of large trees useful for building ships aroused the
  curiosity of the Greenlanders.

  They sent exploring expeditions, and found the coast of North America at
  places which they called Helluland, that is, the land of flat stones;
  Markland, the land of forests; and Vinland, where the grape-vines grow.
  Helluland was probably on the coast of Labrador, Markland somewhere on
  the shores of Newfoundland, and Vinland in Nova Scotia.

THE SETTLEMENT IN VINLAND. Thornfinn Karlsefni, a successful trader
  between Iceland and Greenland, attempted to plant a colony in the new
  lands. Karlsefni and his friends, to the number of one hundred and sixty
  men and several women, set out in 1007 with three or four ships, loaded
  with supplies and many cattle. They built huts and remained three or
  four winters in Vinland, but all trace of any settlement
  disappeared long ago.

  They found, their stories tell us, swarthy, rough-looking Indians, with
  coarse hair, large eyes, and broad cheeks, with whom they traded red
  cloth for furs. Trouble broke out between the Northmen and the Indians,
  who outnumbered them. So many Northmen were killed that the survivors
  became alarmed and returned to Greenland.

  [Illustration: DISCOVERIES OF THE NORTHMEN The American lands
  they found are marked with diagonal lines]

VINLAND FORGOTTEN. The voyages to Vinland soon ceased and the
  discoveries of Leif and his followers were only remembered in the songs
  or "sagas" of the people. They thought of Vinland mainly as a land of
  flat stones, great trees, and fierce natives. Nor did the wise men of
  Europe who heard the Northmen's story guess that a New World had been
  discovered. It was probably fortunate that five hundred years were to go
  by before Europeans settled in America, for within that time they were
  to learn a great deal and to find again many things which the Romans had
  left but which in the year 1000 were hidden away, either in the ruins of
  the ancient cities or in libraries and treasure-houses, where few knew
  of them. The more Europeans possessed before they set out, the more
  Americans would have to start with.

  [Illustration: FACSIMILE OF A BIT OF AN OLD SAGA MANUSCRIPT]


    QUESTIONS

    1. What is meant by the "Middle Ages" or the "Mediaeval" period?

    2. Show on the map, what part of the Roman Empire was
    conquered by the Mohammedans.

    3. Mention the Roman names of England, France, Germany, and Spain,
    Why were they changed to what they are now?

    4. What people early in the Middle Ages began to emigrate from their
    homes to the Roman Empire? What did they do for a living?

    5. Where did the Goths live? Who taught them the Christian religion?
    When the Goths entered the Roman Empire what did they ask of the
    inhabitants? Did they destroy much? How many years separated the
    capture of Rome by Alaric from its capture by the Gauls?

    6. What tribes conquered England or Britain? What tribes conquered
    Roman Gaul or France? How long before Constantinople was captured?

    7. What was the effect of these raids and wars upon many cities? Who
    tried to keep fresh the memory of what the Greeks and the Romans had
    done? Who used the language of the Romans?

    8. Tell the story of the way the English became Christians. Who
    taught the Christian religion to many Germans? From what city did
    the Slavs receive missionaries?

    9. What different names are given to the inhabitants of Denmark,
    Norway, and Sweden who became rovers over the seas? Where did they
    make settlements?

    10. Tell the story of how Leif the Lucky discovered America. Why did
    the Northmen leave Vinland?



    EXERCISES

    1. Point out on the map all the places mentioned in this chapter.

    2. On an outline map mark the names of the peoples mentioned in the
    chapter on the countries where they settled.

    3. Ask children in school who know some other language than English
    what are their names for England, Germany, France, Spain, and Italy.

    _Important dates_:

    Alaric's capture of Rome, 410 A.D.

    Discovery of America by the Northmen, 1000 A.D.




CHAPTER XI


HOW ENGLISHMEN LEARNED TO GOVERN THEMSELVES

HEROES OF THE MIDDLE AGES. The Middle Ages, like Ancient Times, are
  recalled by many interesting tales. Some of them, such as the stories of
  King Arthur and his Knights, the story of Roland, and the Song of the
  Niebelungs, are only tales and not history. Others tell us about great
  kings, Charlemagne and St. Louis of France, Frederick the Redbeard of
  Germany, or St. Stephen of Hungary. The hero-king for England was
  Alfred, who fought bravely against the pirate Danes and finally
  conquered and persuaded many of them to live quietly under his rule.

KING ALFRED BEGAN TO REIGN IN 871. King Alfred was a skilful
  warrior, but he was also an excellent ruler in time of peace. When he
  was a boy he had shown his love of books. His mother once offered a
  beautifully written Saxon poem as a prize to the one of her sons who
  should be the first to learn it. Alfred could not yet read, but he had a
  ready memory, and with the aid of his teacher he learned the poem and
  won the prize.

  At that time almost all books were written in Latin and few even of the
  clergy could read. During the long wars with the Danes many books had
  been destroyed. Men found battle-axes more useful than books and ceased
  to care about reading. King Alfred feared that the Saxons would soon
  become ignorant barbarians, and sent for priests and monks who were
  learned and were able to teach his clergy. He sent even into France
  for such men.

EARLY ENGLISH BOOKS. As it would be easier for people to learn to
  read books written in the language they spoke rather than in Latin,
  Alfred helped to translate several famous Latin books into English.
  Among these was a history written by a Roman before the Germans had
  overthrown the Roman Empire. This history told about the world of the
  Greeks and the Romans.

  Alfred commanded some of his clergy to keep a record from year to year
  of things which happened in his kingdom. This record was called the
  Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, and was the first history written in the English
  language. It was carefully kept for many years after Alfred's death.
  Another wise thing Alfred did was to collect the laws or "dooms" of the
  earlier kings, so that every one might know what the law required.

  [Illustration: EXTRACT FROM THE SAXON CHRONICLE From a copy in
  the British Museum]

THE BEGINNING OF A NAVY. Alfred has been called the creator of the
  English navy. He thought that the only way to keep the Danes from
  plundering his shores was to fight them on the sea. He built several
  ships which were bigger than the Danish ships, but they were not always
  victorious, for they could not follow the Danish ships into shallow
  water. Nevertheless, the Danes could not plunder England as easily
  as before.

THE NEW ARMY. Alfred organized his fighting men in a better way. In
  times past the men had been called upon to fight only when the Danes
  were near, but now he kept a third of his men ready all the time, and
  another third he placed in forts, so the rest were able to work in the
  fields in safety. There are good reasons why Englishmen regard Alfred
  as a hero.

WILLIAM THE CONQUEROR BEGAN TO RULE ENGLAND IN 1066. About a
  hundred and fifty years after Alfred died, William, duke of Normandy,
  crossed the Channel with an army, killed the English king in battle, and
  seized the throne. This was not altogether a misfortune to the English,
  for they came under the same ruler as the Normans and they shared in all
  that the men of the Continent were beginning to learn. For one thing,
  builders from the Continent taught the English to construct the great
  Norman churches or cathedrals which every traveler in England sees.
  Besides, William the Conqueror was a strong king and put down the chiefs
  or lords that were inclined to oppress the common people.

HENRY II. Henry II, one of William's successors, ruled over most of
  western France as well as over England. His officers and nobles were
  tired out by his endless traveling in his lands, which extended from the
  banks of the river Loire in France to the borders of Scotland. All
  Englishmen and Americans should remember him with gratitude because of
  the improvements he made in the ways of discovering the truth when
  disputes arose and were carried into courts.

  [Illustration: THE NORMANS CROSSING THE ENGLISH CHANNEL From the
  Bayeux Tapestry, embroidered in the time of William the Conqueror. The
  figures are worked on a band of linen two hundred and thirty feet long,
  and twenty inches wide. Worsteds of eight colors are used]

ORDEALS AND TRIALS BY BATTLE. Before Henry's reign it was the
  custom when a man was accused of a crime to find out the truth by
  arranging a wager of battle or what were called ordeals. The two most
  common ordeals were the ordeal by fire and the ordeal by water. In the
  ordeal by fire an iron was heated red-hot, and after it had been blessed
  by a priest it was put into the hand of the man the truth of whose word
  was being tested, and he had to carry it a certain number of feet. His
  hand was then bound up and left for three days. If at the end of that
  time the wound was healing, men believed he was innocent, for they
  thought God would keep an innocent man from being punished.

  In the ordeal by water the man was tied and thrown into water which had
  been blessed by the priest. If he was guilty, the people thought the
  water would not receive him. If he sank at once, he was pulled out and
  treated as if he had told the truth.

  [Illustration: TRIAL BY BATTLE After a drawing in an old
  manuscript]

  A wager of battle was a fight between the two men whose dispute was to
  be settled, or between a man and his accuser. Each was armed with a
  hammer or a small battle-axe, and the one who gave up lost his case.

TRIAL BY JURY. King Henry introduced a better way of finding out
  the truth. He called upon twelve men from a neighborhood to come before
  the judges, to promise solemnly to tell what they knew about a matter,
  and then to decide which person was in the right. They were supposed to
  know about the facts, and they were allowed to talk the matter over with
  one another before they made a decision.

  Later these men from the neighborhood were divided into two groups, one
  to tell what they knew and the other to listen and decide what was true.
  Those who told what they knew were called the witnesses, and those who
  listened and decided were called jurors. The name jurors came from a
  Latin word meaning to take an oath.

RICHARD THE LIONHEARTED. King Henry had two sons, Richard and John.
  Richard was the boldest and most skilful fighter of his time. When the
  news was brought to England that Jerusalem had been captured by the
  Mohammedans, he led an army to Palestine to recapture it. He failed to
  take the city, but he became famous throughout the East as a fearless
  warrior and was ever afterwards called the "Lionhearted." At his death
  his brother John became king. He was as cowardly and wicked as Richard
  was brave and generous.

THE GREAT CHARTER. The leaders of the people, the nobles and the
  clergy, soon grew tired of John's wickedness. In 1215 they raised an
  army and threatened to take the kingdom from John and crown another
  prince as king. John was soon ready to promise anything in order to
  obtain power once more, and the nobles and bishops met him at Runnymede
  on the river Thames, a few miles west of London, and compelled him to
  sign a list of promises. As the list contained sixty-three separate
  promises, it was called the Great Charter or Magna Charta. If John did
  not keep these promises, the lords and clergy agreed to make war on him,
  and he even said that this would be their duty.

PROMISES OF THE CHARTER. Many of the articles of the Great Charter
  were important only to the men of King John's day, but others are as
  important to us as to them. In these the king promised that every one
  should be treated justly. He said he would not refuse to listen to the
  complaints of those who thought they were wronged. The king also
  promised that he would not decide in favor of a rich man just because
  the rich man might offer him money. He would put no one in prison who
  had not been tried and found guilty by a jury. By another important
  promise the king said he would not levy new taxes without the consent of
  the chief men of the kingdom. This opened the way for the people to have
  something to say about how their money should be spent. This right is a
  very important part of what we call self-government.

  [Illustration: A PORTION OF THE GREAT CHARTER]

PROMISES OF THE GREAT CHARTER RENEWED. In after times whenever the
  English thought a king was doing them a wrong they reminded him of the
  promises made by King John in the Great Charter and demanded that the
  promises be solemnly renewed.

  In 1265 a great noble named Simon de Montfort asked many towns to send a
  number of their chief men to meet with the nobles and clergy to talk
  over the conduct of the king. Others, even kings, soon followed Simon's
  example by asking the townsmen for advice about matters of government.
  After a while this became the custom. Occasionally the king wanted the
  advice of the clergy, the nobles, and the townsmen at the same time and
  called them together. The meeting was called a parliament, that is, an
  assembly in which talking or discussion goes on.

  [Illustration: Parliament House Westminster Hall Westminster
  Abbey--WHERE PARLIAMENT MET IN LONDON IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY]

THE ENGLISH PARLIAMENT. Only the most important nobles or lords
  could go in person to the assemblies, otherwise the meeting would be too
  large to do any business. The other lords chose certain ones from their
  number to go in place of all the rest. We call such men representatives.
  In this way, besides the men who represented the towns, there were
  present these nobles who represented the landowners of the counties.
  Gradually these nobles and the townsmen formed an assembly of their own,
  while the greater lords, the bishops, and abbots sat together in another
  assembly. The two assemblies were called the House of Commons and the
  House of Lords, and the two made up the parliament.

AN ASSEMBLY OF REPRESENTATIVES. This parliament was a great
  invention. The English had discovered a better way of governing
  themselves than either the Greeks or the Romans. We call it the
  representative system. If a Roman citizen who lived far from Rome wanted
  to take part in the elections, he was obliged to leave his farm or his
  business and travel to Rome, for only the citizens who were at Rome
  could have a share in making the laws. It never occurred to the Romans
  that the citizens outside of Rome could send some of their number as
  representatives to Rome. The formation of the English parliament was an
  important step towards what we mean in America by "government of the
  people, for the people, and by the people."



    QUESTIONS

    1. Mention the names of heroes or hero-kings of the Middle Ages.
    What stories have you learned about these heroes?

    2. Who was the hero-king of the English? How did he early show his
    love of books? What did he do to help his people to a knowledge
    of books?

    3. How did he succeed better than other kings in driving back the
    Danes? Why has he been called the creator of the English navy?

    4. What was the name of the Norman duke who conquered the English
    and ruled over them? Did this conquest hinder or help them?

    5. Why should we remember Henry II gratefully? Explain an ordeal and
    a trial by battle. How were the first juries formed and what did
    they do? How were they afterwards divided?

    6. For what was King Richard most celebrated? What sort of a king
    was his brother John?

    7. Why was the Charter which John was forced to grant called
    "Great"? Repeat some of its promises. Did the English soon forget
    these promises?

    8. Who asked the townsmen to send several of their number to talk
    over affairs with the clergy and the nobles? What was this body
    finally called? Into what two bodies was it divided?

    9. What is a "representative system"? Why was it an invention? What
    did the Romans do when they lived in towns distant from Rome and
    wanted to take part in elections or help make the laws?



    EXERCISES

    1. Learn and tell one of the King Arthur stories and a part of the
    story of the Niebelungs. Find a story about Charlemagne, Frederick
    the Redbeard, St. Louis, or St. Stephen.

    2. Collect pictures of war vessels, those of old times and those of
    to-day, and explain their differences.

    3. Find out how men nowadays decide whether an accused man is
    guilty.

    4. What is the name of the assembly in your state which makes the
    laws? What assembly at Washington makes the laws for the
    whole country?




CHAPTER XII


THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MIDDLE AGES

WHAT THE ENGLISH OWED TO THEIR EUROPEAN NEIGHBORS. If the English
  succeeded better than other Europeans in learning how to govern
  themselves, one reason was that the Channel protected them from attack,
  and they could quarrel with their king without running much risk that
  their enemies in other countries would take advantage of the quarrel to
  seize their lands or attempt to conquer them.

  The French were not so well placed. France also was not united like
  England, and whole districts called counties or duchies were almost
  independent of the king, being ruled by their counts and dukes. In
  France it would not have been wise for the people to quarrel with the
  king, for he was their natural protector against cruel lords. Germany
  and Italy were even more divided, with not only counties and duchies,
  but also cities nearly as independent as the ancient cities of Greece.

  The Europeans on the Continent did many things which the English were
  doing, and some of these were so well done that the English were ready
  to accept these Europeans as their teachers. The memory of what the
  Greeks and the Romans had done remained longer in southern France and
  Italy because so many buildings were still standing which reminded
  Frenchmen and Italians of the people who built them.

  [Illustration: A MONK COPYING MANUSCRIPT BOOKS]

CLASSES OF PEOPLE. The people of Europe, as well as of England,
  were divided into two classes, nobles and peasants. The clergy seemed to
  form another class because there were so many of them. Besides the
  parish priests and the bishops there were thousands of monks, who were
  persons who chose to dwell together in monasteries under the rule of an
  abbot or a prior, rather than live among ordinary people where men were
  so often tempted to do wrong or were so likely to be wronged by others.
  The monks worked on the farms of the monasteries, or studied in the
  libraries, or prayed and fasted. For a long time the men who knew how to
  read were nearly always monks or priests. Outside of the monasteries or
  the bishops' houses there were few books.

THE NOBLES. The nobles were either knights, barons, counts, or
  dukes. In England there were also earls. Many mediaeval nobles ruled
  like kings, but over a smaller territory. They gained their power
  because they were rich in land and could support many men who were ready
  to follow them in battle, or because in the constant wars they proved
  themselves able to keep anything they took, whether it was a hilltop or
  a town. Timid and peaceable people were often glad to put themselves
  under the protection of such a fighter, who saved them from being robbed
  by other fighting nobles.

  In this way the nobles served a good purpose until the kings, who were
  at first only very successful nobles, were able to bring nobles as well
  as peasants under their own rule and to compel every one to obey the
  same laws. After this the nobles became what we call an aristocracy,
  proud of their family history, generally living in better houses and
  owning more land than their neighbors, but with little power
  over others.

  [Illustration: PLAN OF A MEDIAEVAL CASTLE 1. The Donjon-keep. 2.
  Chapel. 3. Stables. 4. Inner Court. 5. Outer Court. 6. Outworks. 7.
  Mount, where justice was executed. 8. Soldiers' Lodgings]

  [Illustration: PIERREFONDS--ONE OF THE GREAT CASTLES OF FRANCE]

CASTLES. For safety, kings and nobles in the Middle Ages were
  obliged to build strong stone forts or fortified houses called castles.
  They were often placed on a hilltop or on an island or in a spot where
  approach to the walls could be made difficult by a broad canal, or moat,
  filled with water. At different places along the walls were towers, and
  within the outer ring of walls a great tower, or keep, which was hard to
  capture even after the rest of the castle had been entered by the enemy.
  These castles were gloomy places to live in until, centuries later,
  their inner walls were pierced with windows. Many are still standing,
  others are interesting heaps of ruins.

KNIGHTHOOD. The lords of the castles were occupied mostly in
  hunting or fighting. They fought to keep other lords from interfering
  with them or to win for themselves more lands and power. They hunted
  that they might have meat for their tables. In later times, when it was
  not so necessary to kill animals for food, they hunted as a sport.
  Fighting also ceased to be the chief occupation, although the nobles
  were expected to accompany the king in his wars.

  From boyhood the sons of nobles, unless they entered the Church as
  priests or monks, were taught the art of fighting. A boy was sent to the
  castle of another lord, where he served as a page, waiting on the lord
  at table or running errands. He was trained to ride a horse boldly and
  to be skilful with the sword and the lance. When his education was
  finished he was usually made a knight, an event which took place with
  many interesting ceremonies.

  The young man bathed, as a sign that he was pure. The weapons and arms
  for his use were blessed by a priest and laid on the altar of the
  church, and near them he knelt and prayed all night. In the final
  ceremony a sword was girded upon him and he received a slight blow on
  the neck from the sword of some knight, or perhaps of the king. His
  armor covered him from head to foot in metal, and sometimes his horse
  was also covered with metal plates. When he was fully armed, he was
  expected to show his skill to the lords and ladies who were present.

THE DUTIES OF A KNIGHT. The duties of the knight were to defend the
  weak, to protect women from wrong, to be faithful to his lord and king,
  and to be courteous even to an enemy. A knight true to these duties was
  called "chivalrous," a word which means very much what we mean by the
  word "gentlemanly." There were many wicked knights, but we must not
  forget that the good knights taught courtesy, faithfulness in keeping
  promises, respect for women, courage, self-sacrifice, and honor.

  [Illustration: A Knight in Armor Thirteenth century]

THE PEASANTS. Most of the people were peasants or townsmen. There
  were few towns, because many had been burned by the barbarian tribes
  which broke into the Roman Empire, or had been destroyed in the later
  wars. The peasants were crowded in villages close to the walls of some
  castle or monastery. They paid dearly for the protection which the lord
  of the castle or the abbot of the monastery gave them, for they were
  obliged to work on his lands three days or more each week, and to bring
  him eggs, chickens, and a little money several times a year. They also
  gave him a part of their harvest.

THE TOWNSMEN. At first the towns belonged to lords, or abbots, or
  bishops, but many towns drove out their lords and ruled themselves or
  received officers from the king. When they ruled themselves, their towns
  were called communes. The citizens agreed that whenever the town bell
  was rung they would gather together. Any one who was absent was fined.
  For them "eternal vigilance was the price of liberty." Some of the
  belfries of these mediaeval towns are still standing, and remind the
  citizens of to-day of the struggles of the early days.

  [Illustration: VIEW OF CARCASSONNE This is an ancient city in
  France founded by the Romans]

  The men of each occupation or trade were organized into societies or
  guilds, with masters, journeymen, and apprentices. There were guilds of
  goldsmiths, ironmongers, and fishmongers, that is, workers in gold and
  iron and sellers of fish. The merchants also had their guilds. In many
  towns no one was allowed to work at a trade or sell merchandise who was
  not a member of a guild.

OLD CITIES WHICH STILL EXIST. Many of the towns which grew up in
  the Middle Ages are now the great cities of England and Europe. Their
  citizens can look back a thousand years and more over the history of
  their city, can point to churches, to town halls, and sometimes to
  private houses, that have stood all this time. They can often show the
  remains of mediaeval walls or broad streets where once these walls
  stood, and the moats that surrounded them. The traveler in York or
  London, in Paris, in Nuremburg, in Florence, or in Rome eagerly searches
  for the relics about which so many interesting stories of the past
  are told.

VENICE AND GENOA. One of the most fascinating of these old cities
  is Venice, built upon low-lying islands two miles from the shore of
  Italy and protected by a sand bar from the waters of the Adriatic.
  Venice was founded by men and women who fled from a Roman city on the
  mainland which was ruined by the barbarians in the fifth century after
  Christ. In many places piles had to be driven into the loose sands to
  furnish a foundation for houses. The Venetians did not try to keep out
  the water but used it as streets, and instead of driving in wagons they
  went about in boats. They grew rich in trade on the sea, as the Greeks
  had done in those same waters hundreds of years before.

  Farther down the coast of Italy were the cities Brindisi and Taranto,
  the Brundusium and Tarentum of the Romans. Across the peninsula to the
  west was another trading city called Genoa, which was the birthplace
  of Columbus.

MODERN LANGUAGES. While the people of mediaeval times were building
  city walls and towers to protect themselves they were also doing other
  things. Almost without knowing it they formed the languages which we now
  speak and write--English, German, French, Italian, and Spanish.

  The English and German languages are closely related because the
  forefathers of the English emigrated to England from Germany, taking
  their language with them. This older language was gradually changed, but
  it still remained like German. Dutch is another language like both
  English and German.

  There are many words in these languages borrowed from other peoples.
  Englishmen, because of their long union with western France, borrowed
  many words from the French. The French did not invent these words, for
  the French language grew out of the Latin language which the French
  learned from the Romans.

HOW MODERN LANGUAGES WERE FORMED. In English we have two sets of
  words and phrases: one is used in writing books or speeches, the other
  in conversation. When the Gauls learned Latin, the language of Rome,
  most of them learned the words used in conversation and did not learn
  the words of Roman books. Before long spoken words differed so much from
  the older written words that only scholars understood that the two had
  belonged to the same language. This new language was French. In the same
  way Italian and Spanish grew out of the ordinary Latin spoken in Italy
  and Spain.

  When men began to write books in the new languages, the changes went on
  more slowly because the use of words in books kept the spelling the
  same. Men wrote less in Latin, but it was still used in the religious
  services of the Church and in the schools and universities.

  [Illustration: VENICE AND THE GRAND CANAL]

SCHOOLS IN THE MIDDLE AGES. In the Middle Ages most boys and girls
  did not go to school. Education was principally for those who expected
  to become priests or monks. The schools were in the monasteries or in
  the houses or palaces of the bishops. The students were taught a little
  Latin grammar, to write or speak Latin, and to debate. They also learned
  arithmetic; enough astronomy to reckon the days on which the festivals
  of the Church should come; and music, so much as was then known of it.
  Printing had not been invented, so there were no text-books for them to
  study, and written books or manuscripts were too costly. Students
  listened to the teacher as he read from his manuscripts and copied the
  words or tried to remember them.

THE BEGINNING OF UNIVERSITIES. If students remained in the schools
  after these things had been learned, they studied the laws of the
  Romans, or the practise of medicine, or the religious questions which
  are called theology. Some teachers talked in such an interesting way
  about such questions that hundreds of students came to listen. Like
  other kinds of workers, who were organized in societies or guilds, the
  teachers and students formed a guild called a university. The teachers
  were the master-workmen, and the students were the apprentices.

WHERE THE STUDENTS LIVED. In the beginning the universities had no
  buildings of their own, and the teachers taught in hired halls, the
  students boarding wherever they could find lodgings. Partly to help
  students who were too poor to pay for good lodgings, and partly to bring
  the students under the direct rule of teachers, colleges were built.
  These were not separate institutions like the American colleges, but
  simply houses for residence, although later some teaching was done
  in them.

SOME FAMOUS UNIVERSITIES. The oldest university was in Bologna in
  Italy, and teachers began to explain the laws of the Romans to its
  students eight hundred years ago. The University of Paris was called the
  greatest university in the Middle Ages. Its students numbered sometimes
  between six and seven thousand. About the same time the English
  universities of Oxford and Cambridge were formed, and there, many years
  later, a large number of the men who settled in America were educated.

THE WISDOM OF THE ARABS. Students in these universities obtained
  several of the writings of the Greeks through the Arabs, the followers
  of Mohammed, who had conquered most of Spain. Long before Europeans
  thought of founding universities the Arabs had flourishing schools and
  universities in Spain. The capital of the Mohammedan Empire was first at
  Bagdad on the Euphrates, where once ruled Haroun-al-Raschid, the hero of
  the tales of the Arabian Nights.

  [Illustration: VIEW OF NEW COLLEGE, OXFORD Built in the
  fourteenth century]

WHAT EUROPEANS BORROWED FROM THE ARABS. The Arabs had learned much
  of geography and mathematics from the Greeks, and they also found out
  much for themselves. The numerals which we use are Arabic; and algebra,
  one of our principal studies in mathematics, was thought out by the
  Arabs. Their learned men were deeply interested in the books of
  Aristotle, an ancient Greek, who had been a teacher of Alexander the
  Great. They translated his books into Arabic, and Christian students in
  Spain translated the Arabic into Latin. The great scholars at the
  University of Paris believed that Aristotle reasoned better than other
  thinkers, and took as their model the methods of reasoning found in this
  Latin translation of an Arabic translation of what Aristotle had
  written in Greek.

  [Illustration: THE ALCAZAR AT SEVILLE Built by the Moors in the
  twelfth century. Note the elaborate decoration of the Moorish
  architecture.]

BUILDERS IN THE MIDDLE AGES. The Greeks and the Romans had been
  great builders, but the men of the Middle Ages succeeded in building
  churches, town halls, and palaces or castles which equaled in grandeur
  and beauty the best that the ancient builders had made. The large
  churches or cathedrals seem wonderful because their builders were able
  to place masses of stone high in the air and to cover immense spaces
  with beautiful vaulted roofs. Builders nowadays imitate, but not often,
  if ever, equal them. Fortunately the original buildings are still
  standing in many English and European cities: in Canterbury, Durham, and
  Winchester; in Paris, Chartres, and Rheims; in Cologne, Erfurt, and
  Strasbourg; in Barcelona and Toledo; in Milan, Venice, and Rome.

  [Illustration: NOTRE DAME IN PARIS View from the rear,
  showing the arches and buttresses]

CHURCH BUILDING. The Italians began by building churches like Roman
  basilicas. Roman arches and domes, supported by heavy walls, were also
  used north of the Alps, and the method of building was named Romanesque,
  or in England, Norman. The architects or builders of western France
  discovered a way of roofing over just as large spaces without using such
  heavy walls, so that the interior could be lighted by larger windows.
  Instead of having rounded arches they used pointed arches. The walls
  between the windows were strengthened by masses of stone called
  buttresses. The peak of the roof of these cathedrals was sometimes more
  than one hundred and fifty feet above the floor. The glass of the
  windows showed in beautiful colors scenes from the Bible or from lives
  of sainted men and women. The outer walls, especially the western front,
  the doorways and the towers, were richly carved and adorned with
  statues, and often with the figures of strange birds and beasts which
  lived only in the imagination of the builders. This method of building
  was named Gothic, and it was used not only for churches but for town
  halls and private houses. Architects use similar methods of
  building nowadays.

  [Illustration: THE CATHEDRAL AT AMIENS A typical Gothic
  interior.]

THE RENAISSANCE. Men who could build and adorn great churches and
  town halls and who were eager to study in the new universities should be
  called civilized. The barbarous days were gone, but men still had much
  to learn from the ancient Greeks and Romans. Many of the ancient
  buildings were in ruins, the statues half buried or broken, the
  paintings destroyed, and the books lost. Men began to search for what
  was left of these things and to study them carefully to learn what the
  Graeco-Roman world had been like. After a while students could think of
  nothing else, and tried to imitate, if they could not surpass, what the
  Romans and the Greeks had done. The age in which men were first
  interested in these things is called the Renaissance or "rebirth,"
  because men were so unlike what they had been that they seemed born
  again. With the beginning of the Renaissance the Middle Ages came to
  an end.

  [Illustration: ST. PETER'S AT ROME]

PETRARCH. One of the earliest of these "new" men was Petrarch, an
  Italian poet who lived in the fourteenth century, a hundred years before
  Columbus. He wished above all things to read, copy, and possess the
  writings of the Romans, and especially of Cicero, an orator and writer
  who lived in the days of Julius Caesar. Petrarch and his friends
  searched for the manuscripts of Roman authors which had been preserved,
  hidden away in monastery libraries.

  The same love of Roman books seized others, and princes spent large sums
  of money in collecting and copying ancient writings. At this time a
  beginning of the great libraries of Europe was made, Petrarch tried to
  learn Greek, but could find no one in Italy able to teach him.

GREEK BOOKS BROUGHT AGAIN TO ITALY. Shortly after Petrarch died
  some Greeks came from Constantinople seeking the aid of the pope and the
  kings of the West in an attempt to drive back the Turks, who had already
  crossed into Europe and settled in the lands which they now occupy.
  Unless help should be sent to Constantinople, the city would certainly
  fall into their hands. With these Greeks was one of those men who still
  loved to read the writings of the ancient authors. He was persuaded to
  remain a few years in Florence and other Italian cities and teach Greek
  to the eager Italian scholars. He was also persuaded to write a grammar
  of the Greek language, in order that after he had returned to
  Constantinople others might be able to continue his teaching.

  Collectors of books now searched for Greek writings as eagerly as they
  had searched for Latin writings. Merchants sent their agents to
  Constantinople to buy books. One traveler and scholar brought back to
  Italy over two hundred. Soon Italy was the land to which students from
  Germany, France, and England went to learn Greek and to obtain copies of
  Greek books. It was fortunate that so many books had been brought from
  Constantinople, for at last, in 1453, the Turks captured that city and
  no place in the East was left where the books of the Greeks were studied
  as they had been at Constantinople.

  [Illustration: A PRINTING OFFICE IN THE FIFTEENTH CENTURY]

THE INVENTION OF PRINTING. After collectors of Greek and Roman
  writings had made several good libraries, partly by purchase, partly by
  copying manuscripts belonging to others, a great invention was made
  which enabled these writings to be spread far and wide and placed in the
  hands of every student. This invention was the method of printing with
  movable types. It is not quite certain who made the invention, although
  John Gutenberg, of Mainz, in Germany, has generally been called the
  inventor. Probably several men thought of the method at about the same
  time, that is, about 1450.

DIFFERENT KINDS OF TYPE. In forming their type the German printers
  imitated the lettering made by copyists with a quill. Their type is
  called Gothic, and it is still widely used in German books. The Italian
  printers made their letters more round and simple in shape, imitating
  the handwriting of the best Italian copyists. This is the Roman type, in
  which many European peoples, as also the English and the Americans,
  print their books. The Italians also prepared a kind of lettering which,
  because they were the inventors, is named _italic_.

THE ALDINE PRESS. One of the most famous printers of this early
  time was a Venetian named Aldus Manutius or Manucci. He gathered about
  him a number of Greeks and planned to print all the Greek manuscripts
  that had been discovered. This he did in beautiful type, imitated from
  the handwriting of one of his Greek friends. He sold the books for a
  price per volume about equal to our fifty cents, so that few scholars
  were too poor to buy.

SOME EARLY PRINTED BOOKS. Another great printer was the Englishman
  William Caxton, who learned the art in the Netherlands. Among the books
  he printed was Chaucer's Canterbury Tales. The first book printed by
  Gutenberg was the Bible in Latin. Early in the sixteenth century,
  through the labors of a Dutch scholar, Erasmus, and of his printer, the
  German Froben, the New Testament in Greek was printed.

ARCHITECTURE AND SCULPTURE. The artists and the architects of this
  time began to imitate the buildings they found or that they unearthed.
  They used round arches and domes more than the pointed arches and
  vaulted roofs of the Gothic builders. Sculptors pictured in stone the
  stories of the Greek and Roman gods and heroes. Statues long buried in
  ancient ruins were dug up, and great artists like the Italian Michel
  Angelo studied them and rivaled them in the beautiful statues they cut.
  On every hand men's minds were awakened by what they saw of the work of
  the founders of the civilized world.

  [Illustration: FACSIMILE OF PART OF CAXTON'S AENEID (REDUCED)
  With the same in modern type]



    QUESTIONS

    1. Why did the memory of the Greeks and Romans remain longer in
    France and Italy than in Germany and England?

    2. What different classes of people were there in the Middle Ages?
    What was the difference between a parish priest and a monk?

    3. How did the nobles gain a living? Were they useful? In what sorts
    of houses did they live? Describe a castle. What was the "keep"?

    4. How were the sons of nobles trained? What was a page? How was a
    young man made a knight? What were the duties of a knight?

    5. Were the farmers or peasants prosperous and happy in the Middle
    Ages? How did the townsmen learn to protect themselves? What was a
    guild? Why are many Europeans proud of their cities?

    6. Why is Venice especially interesting? Why do we remember Genoa?

    7. From what language did French, Italian, and Spanish grow? How
    were the changes made in the old language? Where did the English get
    their language? Was it just like the English we speak?

    8. What did the boys study in the Middle Ages? What did the word
    "university" mean then? Name two or three universities founded then
    which still exist. What did the Arabs teach Christian students?

    9. What sort of buildings did men in the Middle Ages especially like
    to build? Are these buildings still standing? Why do we admire these
    great churches?

    10. What do we call the time when men began to study once more Roman
    and Greek books, and began to imitate the ways of living and
    thinking common in the Graeco-Roman world? Who was the first of
    these "new" men? Where especially did men search for Greek books?

    11. What invention helped men spread far and wide this new
    knowledge? How do the Germans come to have "Gothic" type? Where do
    we get our Roman and _italic_ type? What books did the Venetian
    printer Aldus print? Name a famous English and a famous
    German printer.

    12. What besides ancient books did the men of the Renaissance like
    to study and imitate?



    EXERCISES

    1. Find out what titles of noblemen are used now in different
    European countries. In what country are men often knighted? Why are
    they knighted? What title shows that a man is a knight?

    2. Collect pictures of armor and of castles, especially of castles
    still standing. Collect pictures of old town walls.

    3. Collect pictures of Venice and Genoa, especially from advertising
    folders.

    4. Find the names of several large American universities. Do the
    students live in "colleges" as students did in the Middle Ages?

    5. Tell one or two stories from the Arabian Nights. Collect pictures
    of Arabian costumes and of Arabian buildings in Spain, or Africa,
    or Asia.

    6. Collect pictures of English and European cathedrals. Find
    pictures of churches in America which resemble them.

    REVIEW

    _How ancient civilization was preserved_

    1. What ruined so many ancient cities?

    2. Who tried to preserve the memory of what the Greeks and the
    Romans had done?

    3. What language did the churchmen continue to use?

    4. How did the missionaries help?

    5. How did Alfred teach the English some of the things the Romans
    had known?

    6. What did the Arabs teach the Christians which the Greeks had
    known?

    7. What was studied at Bologna? How did the universities help in
    preserving the ancient knowledge?

    8. What did Petrarch do to find lost books? What did other men of
    Petrarch's time do?

    9. What help came from the invention of printing?

    10. From what besides books did the men of the Renaissance learn
    about the Greeks and the Romans?

    [Illustration: HUSBANDMAN AND COUNTRY WOMAN OF FIFTEENTH
    CENTURY]



CHAPTER XIII


TRADERS, TRAVELERS, AND EXPLORERS IN THE LATER MIDDLE AGES

THE PERILS OF TRADERS. There was a time in the Middle Ages when
  merchants scarcely dared to travel from one town to another for fear of
  being plundered by some robber lord or common thief. If they traveled by
  sea they might also be attacked by robbers. Some of these robbers, like
  the Northmen, came from afar, but others were ordinary sailors who put
  out from near-by ports when there seemed nothing better to do.

  This state of things gradually changed. The kings or great lords
  succeeded in protecting merchants on land, and the merchants armed
  vessels of their own to drive the pirates from the sea. As trade grew
  greater the towns became richer and stronger and the robbers and pirates
  fewer, so that the number of merchant ships increased rapidly and long
  voyages were attempted.

FAIRS. At first trade was carried on at great fairs, held in places
  convenient for the merchants of England and western Europe. The fairs
  lasted about six weeks, and one fair followed another. As soon as the
  first was over the merchants packed their unsold wares and journeyed to
  the next. At the fairs were found drugs and spices, cottons and silks
  from the East, skins and furs from the North, wool from England, and
  other products from Germany, Italy, France, and Spain.

THE TREASURES OF THE EAST. Men in the Middle Ages were dependent
  for luxuries upon the lands of Asia which are commonly called the East.
  By this name we may mean Persia, Arabia, India, China, or the Molucca
  Islands, where the choicest spices still grow. Spices were a great
  luxury, and were needed to flavor the food, because the manner of
  cooking was poor and there was little variety in the kinds of food. Most
  of the cotton cloth, the silks, the drugs, and the dyes were also
  procured from the East.

  [Illustration: TRADER'S CARAVAN CROSSING THE DESERT]

ROUTES TO THE EAST. No one knew that it was possible to reach Asia
  by sailing around the southern point of Africa or through what is called
  the Strait of Magellan. The products of the East were brought to Europe
  by several routes, two reaching the Mediterranean at Alexandria, in
  Egypt, a third at Antioch, in Syria, and a fourth on the southeastern
  shore of the Black Sea.

  The loads were carried by camels in long caravans across the deserts
  from the Red Sea, or the Persian Gulf, or from northern India. Ships
  from the Italian cities of Genoa, Pisa, and Venice struggled with one
  another for the right to bring back these precious wares and sell them
  to the merchants of Europe, who were ready to pay high prices.

  [Illustration: MAP OF THE TRADE ROUTES IN THE MIDDLE AGES]

VENETIAN TRADERS. Merchants from Germany came to Venice to trade
  the products of the North for spices, drugs, dyes, and silks, which they
  carried back across the Alps. Once a year the Venetians sent a fleet of
  vessels westward through the straits of Gibraltar and along the Atlantic
  shore as far as Bruges and London. The voyage was long and dangerous,
  and the Venetians traded in ports on the way. Spices in Bruges sold for
  two or three times what they cost in Venice.

THE CRUSADES. One event that brought to the Venetians an
  opportunity to enrich themselves was the Crusades. The Mohammedans had
  long held a large part of Spain, and towards the end of the eleventh
  century they threatened France and Italy. They also attacked what was
  left of the Roman Empire in the East, and the emperors sent to the pope
  and the western kings frantic appeals for help. Thousands of Frenchmen,
  Germans, Englishmen, and Italians were suddenly seized with the desire
  to go to Palestine and drive the Mohammedans from Jerusalem, the Holy
  City, and from the tomb of Christ. For the next two centuries large
  armies were sent there, sometimes gaining victories, sometimes being
  defeated in battle or overcome by disease.

WHAT THE VENETIANS GAINED FROM THE CRUSADES. Most of the Crusaders
  went to the Holy Land by sea, and when they had no ships of their own
  they often took passage in Venetian ships. The Venetians asked large
  sums for this, and also succeeded in obtaining all the rights of trade
  in many of the seaports which were captured. Sometimes the Venetians
  undertook to govern islands like Cyprus and Crete, or territories along
  the coasts, but their main aim was to increase their trade rather than
  to build up an empire.

  THE NEW VENETIAN SHIPS. The Crusaders who returned to Europe brought
  back a liking for the luxuries of the East, and their tales made other
  men eager for them. For this reason more ships were built to sail in the
  Mediterranean. The shipowners attempted to make their ships larger and
  stronger. They were larger than those built by the English or by other
  peoples along the Atlantic coast, but they would seem small to us. There
  is an account of Venetian ships in the thirteenth century which tells us
  that they were one hundred and ten feet long and carried crews of one
  thousand men. They relied mainly upon the use of oars, but had a mast,
  sometimes two masts, rigged with sails, which they could use if the wind
  was favorable.

  [Illustration: VENETIAN SHIPS]

DANGERS OF THE SEA. One difficulty about sailing was the lack of
  any means in cloudy weather, and especially at night, of telling the
  direction in which they were going. The sailors did not like to venture
  far from shore, although the open sea is safer during a storm than a
  wind-swept and rocky coast. At the time when the sailors of the
  Mediterranean were building up their trade to Alexandria, Antioch, and
  the Black Sea, two instruments came into use which enabled them to tell
  just where they were.

THE COMPASS. One of these instruments was the compass, which the
  Chinese had long used, and which was known to the Arabs before the
  Europeans heard of it. If a boy will take a needle, rub its point with a
  magnet, and lay the needle on a cork floating in water, he will have a
  rough sort of compass. The point of the needle wherever it may be turned
  will swing back towards the north, thus guiding the sailors.

  [Illustration: MARINER'S COMPASS]

  The compass was known in Europe about 1200. There is a story that at
  first sailors thought its action due to magic and refused to sail under
  a captain who used it. But a century later it was in general use, and
  had been so much improved that even in the severest storms the needle
  remained level and pointed steadily towards the north.

  [Illustration: AN ASTROLABE]

THE ASTROLABE. The other instrument, called the astrolabe, was a
  brass circle marked off into 360 degrees. To this circle were fastened
  two movable bars, at the ends of which were sights, or projecting pieces
  pierced by a hole. The astrolabe was hung on a mast in such a way that
  one bar was horizontal and the other could be moved until through its
  sights some known star could be seen. The number of degrees marked on
  the circle between the two bars told how high the star was above the
  horizon, and the sailors could reckon the latitude of the place where
  they were. In a similar way their longitude could be found out.

  The astrolabe was not so useful as the compass, for it could be used
  only on clear days or nights. With these two instruments it was possible
  to sail far out into the Atlantic. By the middle of the fourteenth
  century ships from Genoa and Portugal had visited the Madeira and the
  Canary Islands, and even the Azores which are a thousand miles from
  the mainland.

WHAT MEN THOUGHT ABOUT A SEA ROUTE TO THE EAST. Men learned more
  about other strange lands through a Venetian traveler, Marco Polo, who
  wrote an account of his wonderful journey to the court of the Grand
  Khan, or Emperor of the Mongols, of his travels through China, and of
  his return to Persia by sea.

  Many men in the Middle Ages had believed that east of Asia was a great
  marsh, and that because of it even if they succeeded in sailing around
  Africa it would be impossible to reach the region of the spices and
  silks and jewels which they so much desired. They also thought that the
  heat in the tropics was so intense that at a certain distance down the
  coast of Africa they would find the water of the ocean boiling. These
  things and the tales of strange monsters that inhabited the deep sea had
  terrified them. The news which Marco Polo brought changed this feeling.

THE MONGOLS. The way Marco Polo happened to visit the court of the
  Mongol emperor was this. The Mongol Tartars were great conquerors, and
  they not only subdued the Chinese but marched westward, overrunning most
  of Russia and stopping only when they were on the frontiers of Italy.
  For a long time southern Russia remained under their rule. Their capital
  was just north of the Great Wall of China.

  The Mongol emperor did not hate Europeans, and even sent to the pope for
  missionaries to teach his people. Marco Polo's father and uncle while on
  a trading expedition had found their way to his court, and on a second
  journey, in 1271, they took with them Marco, a lad of seventeen years.
  The emperor was much interested in his western visitors and took young
  Marco into his service.

  [Illustration: THE MONGOL EMPEROR OF MARCO POLO'S TIME After an
  old Chinese manuscript]

MARCO POLO'S TRAVELS. Marco Polo traveled over China on official
  errands, while his father and uncle were gathering wealth by trade.
  After many years they desired to return to Italy, but the emperor was
  unwilling to lose such able servants. It happened, however, that the
  emperor wished to send a princess as a bride to the Khan or Emperor of
  Persia, also a Mongol sovereign, and the three Polos, who were known to
  be trustworthy seamen, were selected to escort the princess to her royal
  husband. After doing this they did not return to China, but went on
  to Italy.

  They had been absent twenty-four years, and they found that their
  relatives had given them up for dead and did not recognize them. It was
  like the old story of Ulysses, who, when he returned to his native
  Ithaca after his wanderings, was recognized by nobody. The Polos proved
  the truth of what they said by showing the great treasures which they
  had sewed into the dresses of coarse stuff of a Tartar pattern which
  they wore. They displayed jewels of the greatest value, diamonds,
  emeralds, rubies, and sapphires.

  [Illustration: MAP OF MARCO POLO'S TRAVELS
  The known world is in white, the undiscovered in black, and that first
  described by Marco Polo is dotted]

WHAT MARCO POLO TOLD. In the account Marco Polo wrote of his
  travels and of the countries he had visited he described a wonderful
  palace of the Great Emperor. Its walls were covered with gold and
  silver, the dining hall seated six thousand people, and its ceiling was
  inlaid with gold. This palace seemed to Marco Polo so large, so rich,
  and so beautiful that no man on earth could design anything to equal it.
  The robes of the emperor and his twelve thousand nobles and knights were
  of silk and beaten gold, each having a girdle of gold decorated with
  precious stones.

  Marco Polo told of great cities in China where men traded in the costly
  wares of the East, and where silk was abundant and cheap. He described
  from hearsay Japan as an island fifteen hundred miles from the mainland.
  Its people, he said, were white, civilized, and wondrously rich. The
  palace of the emperor of Japan was roofed with gold, its pavements and
  floors were of solid gold, laid in plates two fingers thick.

REASONS FOR FINDING A SEA ROUTE TO THE EAST. Tales of such great
  wealth made Europeans more eager than ever to reach the East. Marco Polo
  had shown that it was possible to sail past India, through the islands,
  to the eastern coast of Asia. When printing was invented his account was
  printed, and the copy of that book which Columbus owned is still
  preserved. Upon its margins Columbus wrote his own opinions about
  geography.

  Other travelers besides the Polos returned with similar tales of the
  East. Soon, however, all chance to go there by way of the land was lost,
  because the Mongol emperors were driven out of China and the new rulers
  would not permit Europeans to enter the country. The ordinary caravan
  routes to the East were also closed not long afterwards. In 1453 the
  Turks captured Constantinople, drove away the Italian merchants, and
  prevented European sailors from reaching the Black Sea. Fifty years
  later the Turks seized Egypt and closed that route also. Fortunately
  before this happened a better route had been discovered.

THE PORTUGUESE SAILORS. During the Middle Ages the Portuguese princes
  fought to recover Portugal from the Moors. When this was done they were
  eager to cross the straits and attack the Moors in Africa. Prince Henry
  of Portugal made an expedition to Africa and returned with the desire to
  know more about the coast south of the point beyond which European
  sailors dared not venture. Sailors were afraid of being lost in the Sea
  of Darkness or killed by the heat of the boiling tropics.

  [Illustration: DANGERS OF THE "SEA OF DARKNESS" From an old
  picture]

  From his love of exploring the seas Prince Henry has been called "The
  Navigator." He took up his residence on a lonely promontory in southern
  Portugal, and gathered about him learned men of all peoples, Arabian and
  Jewish mathematicians, and Italian mapmakers. Captains trained in this
  new school of seamanship were sent into the southern seas. Each was to
  sail farther down the western coast of Africa than other captains had
  gone. Before Prince Henry died in 1460 his captains had passed Cape
  Verde, and ten years later they crossed the equator without suffering
  the fate which men had once feared. But they were discouraged when they
  found that beyond the Gulf of Guinea the coast turned southward again,
  for they had hoped to sail eastward to Asia.

  [Illustration: THE PORTUGUESE ROUTE TO INDIA
  The broken lines show the old trade routes to the East. The solid line
  shows the new Portuguese route]

CAPE OF GOOD HOPE DISCOVERED. At last in 1487 the end of what
  seemed to be an endless coast was reached. The fortunate captain who
  accomplished this was Bartholomew Diaz, who came of a family of daring
  seamen. He had been sailing southward along the coast for nearly eight
  months, when a northerly gale drove him before it for thirteen days. The
  weather cleared and Diaz turned eastward to find the coast. As he did
  not see land he turned northward and soon discovered land to the west.
  This showed that he had passed the southern point of Africa. His crew
  were unwilling to go farther and he followed the coast around to the
  western side again. The southern point he called the Cape of Storms, but
  the king of Portugal, when the voyagers returned, named it the Cape of
  Good Hope, for now he knew that an expedition could be sent directly to
  the Indies.

  Diaz had sailed thirteen thousand miles, and his voyage was the most
  wonderful that Europeans had ever heard about.

THE SEA ROUTE TO INDIA. Eleven years later the Portuguese king sent
  Vasco da Gama, another captain, to attempt to reach the coast of India
  by sailing around the Cape of Good Hope which Diaz had discovered. Da
  Gama was successful and landed at Calicut on the south-western coast of
  India. He returned to Portugal in 1499, and his cargo was worth sixty
  times the cost of the voyage. This was the beginning of a trade with the
  East which enriched Portugal and especially the merchants of Lisbon.



    QUESTIONS

    1. What dangers threatened traders in the Middle Ages who traveled
    by sea or land? What was a fair?

    2. What products were brought from the East? By what routes? Point
    these out on a map. What rival trading cities were in Italy? How did
    the Venetians get their wares to London?

    3. Who were the Crusaders? Why did they attack the Mohammedans? What
    did the Venetian traders gain by these wars? Describe a large
    Venetian ship of this time.

    4. When was the compass invented? Why was it dangerous to sail great
    seas and oceans without a compass? Tell how an astrolabe was made.

    5. What at first kept men from attempting to sail to eastern Asia?
    Who was Marco Polo? Describe his adventures. How did he return to
    Venice? How did people learn about the lands he had visited?

    6. Why after 1453 was it necessary to find a sea route to Asia? What
    did Prince Henry the Navigator succeed in doing? How was the Cape of
    Good Hope discovered? Who went with Diaz on this voyage?

    7. Who first sailed to India by the Cape of Good Hope? Was the
    voyage profitable? What city was made rich by the new trade?



    EXERCISES

    1. Find from a map in the geography how many miles goods must have
    been carried to reach Venice from Persia, India, the Moluccas, or
    China. How far is it from Venice by sea to Bruges or London?

    2. Where and how do we now obtain cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves?

    3. What line of emperors has been recently ruling over China? Where
    has been their capital? Find out about the present Mongols. Collect
    pictures of China and Japan.

    4. Read a longer account of Marco Polo.

    5. Study the geography of Portugal. Collect pictures of Portugal.
    Find out if many Portuguese are living in the United States.



    REVIEW

    _Steps Towards the Discovery of America_

    Greek colonies in Italy, Gaul, and Spain.

    Roman conquest of Gaul, Spain, and Britain.

    Viking voyages to Greenland and Vinland.

    Venetian trade in spices with the East, and Venetian voyages to
    London and Bruges.

    Marco Polo's travels in China and the East.

    Portuguese voyages down the coast of Africa and about the Cape of
    Good Hope.




CHAPTER XIV


THE DISCOVERY OF A NEW WORLD

CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS. Six years before Vasco da Gama made his
  famous voyage to India around Africa and opened a new trade route for
  the Portuguese merchants, another seaman had formed and carried out a
  much bolder plan. This was Christopher Columbus, and his plan was to
  sail directly west from Europe into the unknown ocean in search of new
  islands and the coast of Asia. Columbus, who was a native of Genoa in
  Italy, had followed his younger brother to Portugal. Both were probably
  led there by the fame of Prince Henry's explorations.

  The brothers became very skilful in making maps and charts for the
  Portuguese. They also frequently sailed with them on their expeditions
  along the coast of Africa. All the early associations of Columbus were
  with men interested in voyages of discovery, and particularly with those
  engaged in the daring search for a sea route to India.

HOW COLUMBUS FORMED HIS PLAN. Columbus gathered all the information
  on geography which he could from ancient writers and from modern
  discoverers. Many of them believed that the world was shaped like a
  ball. If such were its shape, Columbus reasoned, why might not a ship
  sail around it from east to west? Or, better, why not sail directly west
  to India, and perhaps find many wonderful islands between Europe and
  Asia? His imagination was also fired by Marco Polo's description of the
  marvelous riches of China, Japan, and the Spice Islands. But the idea of
  going directly west into the midst of the unknown and seemingly
  boundless waste of water, and on and on to Asia, appeared to most men of
  the fifteenth century to be madness.

  [Illustration: CHRISTOPHER COLUMBUS The oldest known picture of
  Columbus, in the National Library, Madrid]

HIS NOTION OF THE DISTANCE TO ASIA. Columbus made two fortunate
  errors in reckoning the distance to the Indies. He imagined that Asia
  extended much farther eastward than it actually does, making it nearer
  Europe, and estimated the earth to be smaller than it is. His figures
  placed Japan less than 3,000 miles west of the Canary Islands, instead
  of the 12,000 miles which is the real distance. He accordingly thought
  Japan would be found about where Mexico or Florida is situated.

HOW HE SECURED HELP. Even so, many years passed before Columbus was
  able to undertake a voyage. He was too poor himself, and needed the help
  of some government to fit out such an expedition. He may have tried to
  get his native city, Genoa, to help him. There is such a story. If he
  did, it was without success. He tried to obtain the help of Portugal,
  where he lived a long time, and whose princes were greatly interested in
  the discovery of new trade routes. His brother visited England in the
  same cause. Neither of these countries, however, was willing to
  undertake this expensive and doubtful enterprise.

  The King and Queen of Spain, to whom Columbus turned, kept him waiting
  many years for an answer. They thought that they had more important work
  in hand. There was another king in Spain at the time, the king of the
  Moors. Ferdinand and Isabella, the Christian king and queen, were trying
  to conquer the Moors, and thus to end the struggle between Christians
  and Mohammedans for the possession of Spain, which had lasted nearly
  eight centuries. This war required all the strength and revenue
  of Spain.

  Fortunately, just as Columbus was becoming thoroughly discouraged, the
  war with the Moors came to an end. Granada, the seat of their former
  power, was finally taken in January, 1492. Now was a good time to ask
  favors of the sovereigns of Spain, and to plan large enterprises for the
  future. Powerful friends aided Columbus to renew his petition, and Queen
  Isabella was persuaded to promise him all the help that he needed.

THE SHIPS OF COLUMBUS. Three ships, or caravels as they were
  called, were fitted out. The _Santa Maria_ was the largest of the three,
  but it was not much larger than the small sailing yachts which we see
  to-day. It was about ninety feet long by twenty feet broad, and had a
  single deck. This was Columbus's principal ship or flagship. The second
  caravel, the _Pinta_, was much swifter, built high at the prow and
  stern, and furnished with a forecastle for the crew and a cabin for the
  officers, but without a deck in the center. The third and smallest
  caravel, called the _Niña_, the Spanish word for baby, was built much
  like the _Pinta_. Ninety persons made up the three crews.

  [Illustration: COLUMBUS'S IDEAS OF THE ATLANTIC The shaded portions
  represent the land as Columbus expected to find it. The light outline
  of the Americas shows the actual position of the land as he found it.]

  The ships were the usual size of those which coasted along the shores
  of Europe in the fifteenth century. Expeditions had never gone far out
  into the ocean. Columbus preferred the smaller vessels in a voyage of
  discovery, because they would be able to run close to the shores and
  into the smaller harbors and up the rivers.

BEGINNING OF THE VOYAGE. The expedition set sail from Palos in
  Spain, August 3, 1492. It went directly to the Canary Islands. These
  were owned by Spain, and were selected by Columbus as the most
  convenient starting-point. The little fleet was delayed three weeks at
  the islands making repairs. On September 6 Columbus was off again. He
  struck due west from the Canaries.

THE TERRORS OF THE VOYAGE. While the little fleet was still in
  sight of the Canary Islands a volcanic eruption nearly frightened the
  sailors out of their wits. They deemed such an event an omen of evil.
  But the expedition had fine weather day after day. Steady, gentle,
  easterly winds, the trade winds of the tropics, wafted them slowly
  westward. But the timid sailors began to wonder how they would ever be
  able to return against winds which seemed never to change from the east.

  Then they came to an immense field of seaweed, larger in area than the
  whole of Spain. This terrified the sailors, who feared they might be
  driven on hidden rocks or be engulfed in quicksands. They imagined, too,
  that great sea-monsters were lurking beyond the seaweed waiting to
  devour them.

  [Illustration: A CARAVEL OF COLUMBUS After the reconstructed
  model exhibited at the Columbian Exposition, Chicago, 1893]

THE FIRST SIGNS OF A NEW LAND. In spite of fears and complaints,
  and threats of resistance, Columbus kept a westward course for more than
  four weeks. Then as he began to see so many birds flying to the
  southwest, he concluded that land must be nearer in that direction. He
  had heard that most of the islands held by the Portuguese were
  discovered by following the flight of birds. So on October 7 the
  westward course was changed to one slightly southwest.

  From this time on the signs of land grew frequent. Floating branches,
  occasionally covered with berries, pieces of wood, bits of cane, were
  encouraging signs. Birds like ducks and sandpipers became common sights.
  The Queen had promised a small pension to the one who should first see
  land. Columbus had offered to give a silken doublet in addition. With
  what eagerness the sailors must have kept on the lookout!

THE GREAT DISCOVERY. At last as the fleet was sailing onward in the
  bright moonlight Columbus saw a light moving as if carried by hand along
  a shore. A few hours later, about two o'clock on the morning of October
  12, a sailor on the _Pinta_ saw land distinctly, and soon all beheld, a
  few miles away, a long, low beach. The vessels hove to and waited for
  daylight. Early the same day, Friday, October 12, 1492, they approached
  the land, which proved to be a small island. Columbus named it San
  Salvador, which means Holy Saviour. We do not know which one of the
  Bahama islands he first saw, but we believe it was the one now called
  Watling Island. Columbus went ashore with the royal standard and banners
  flying to take possession of the land in the name of King Ferdinand and
  Queen Isabella.

WHERE COLUMBUS THOUGHT HE WAS. The astonished inhabitants of the
  island soon gathered to see the strange sight--the landing of white men
  in the West Indies. They looked upon the ships as sea-monsters, and the
  white men as gods. Nor was Columbus less puzzled by what he saw. The
  people were a strange race--cinnamon colored, naked, greased, and
  painted to suit each one's fancy. They had only the rudest means of
  self-defense, and were almost as poor as the parrots that chattered in
  the trees above them. Such savages bore little resemblance to the people
  whom Marco Polo said inhabited the Spice Islands.

  Columbus thought that he had reached some outlying island not far from
  Japan. A cruise of a few days among the Bahamas satisfied him that he
  was in the ocean near the coast of Asia, for had not Marco Polo
  described it as studded with thousands of spice-bearing islands? He had
  not found any spices, but the air was full of fragrance and the trees
  and herbs were strange in appearance. Of course if the islands were the
  Indies, the people must be Indians. Columbus called them Indians, and
  this name clung to the red men, although their islands were not the
  true Indies.

  [Illustration: WATLING ISLAND, WHERE COLUMBUS FIRST LANDED]

THE SEARCH FOR THE GOLDEN EAST. Columbus thought that the natives
  meant to tell him in their sign language of a great land to the south
  where gold abounded. He set off in search of this, and came upon a land
  the natives called Cuba. Its large size convinced him that he had at
  last found the Asiatic mainland, and he sent two messengers, one a Jew
  knowing many languages, in search of the Emperor of China. They found
  neither cities nor kingdoms, neither gold nor spices. This was a great
  disappointment to Columbus, but he patiently kept up his search for the
  riches which he expected to find.

THE MISFORTUNES OF COLUMBUS. While on the coast of Cuba, Pinzon,
  the commander of the _Pinta_, deserted him. Pinzon, whose ship was
  swifter than the others, probably wished to be the first to get home, in
  order to tell a story which would gain him the credit of the discovery
  of the Indies. A few days later Columbus discovered a large island which
  the natives called Hayti, and which he called Española or "Spanish
  Land." At every island he searched for the spices and gold which Marco
  Polo had given him reason to expect. In a storm off Española Columbus's
  own ship, the _Santa Maria_, was totally wrecked. Such disasters
  convinced him that it was high time to return to Spain with the news of
  his discovery.

PREPARATIONS FOR RETURN TO SPAIN. As there was not room for both
  crews on the tiny _Niña_, his one remaining ship, it became necessary to
  leave about forty sailors in Española. A fort was built, and supplies
  were left for a year. Columbus with the rest set off on the return to
  Spain. Ten Indians were captured and taken with them to show to his
  friends in Europe. Besides, Columbus hoped that they would learn the
  language of Spain, and carry Christianity back to their people.

THE SEARCH FOR CHINA RENEWED. There was rejoicing in Palos when the
  voyagers returned. Great honors were bestowed upon Columbus. It was now
  easy to get men and money for another voyage. In September, 1493,
  Columbus started to return to his islands, this time with seventeen
  ships and fifteen hundred men, all confident that they would soon see
  the marble palaces of China, and secure a share in the wealth of the
  Spice Islands. No one yet realized that a new world--two great
  continents--lay between them and their coveted goal in Asia. Columbus
  went directly to Española, where he found that his colony of the
  previous year had been murdered by the Indians. A new settlement was
  quickly started. A little town called Isabella was built, with a fort, a
  church, a market place, public granary, and dwelling-houses. Isabella
  was the first real settlement in the New World.

  [Illustration: MAP OF LANDS DISCOVERED BY COLUMBUS]

OTHER VOYAGES TO THE NEW WORLD. Columbus made two other voyages. He
  continued to search for the coast of Asia, which he believed to be near.
  He made a third voyage from Spain to the West Indies in 1498. He sailed
  farther south, and came upon the mainland which later was called South
  America. A fourth expedition in 1502 touched on the coast that we call
  Central America. He died soon after this voyage, still believing that he
  had discovered a new route to the Indies and new lands on the coast
  of Asia.

THE SAD END OF COLUMBUS'S LIFE. The close of his life was a sad
  one. The lands he had found did not yield the riches which he had
  expected. The colonists whom he had sent out to the islands had
  rebelled, and jealous enemies had accused him falsely before the king
  and queen of misgovernment in his territories. Once his opponents had
  him carried to Spain chained like a common prisoner. He was given his
  liberty on reaching Spain, but the people had become prejudiced
  against him.

  Ferdinand, the son of Columbus, tells us that as he and his brother
  Diego, who were pages in the queen's service, happened to pass a crowd
  of his father's enemies, the latter greeted them with hoots: "There go
  the sons of the Admiral of Mosquitoland, the man who has discovered a
  land of vanity and deceit, the grave of Spanish gentlemen." Hardships
  and disappointments broke down the great discoverer, and he died
  neglected and almost forgotten by the people of Spain.

  [Illustration: THE COLUMBUS MONUMENT AT GENOA]



    QUESTIONS

    1. What plan did Columbus form? Why was it bolder than the plan Diaz
    had carried out in 1487, or even than that Da Gama carried out a few
    years later? Why did men like Columbus and Diaz desire to find a sea
    route to India? Had anybody before Columbus believed the
    earth round?

    2. What mistake did Columbus make in estimating the size of the
    earth? Why was this a fortunate error?

    3. From what countries did Columbus try to obtain help? Why did he
    find it so hard to secure this? What event in Spain finally favored
    his cause? Who were the Moors?

    4. Why was Columbus surprised when he saw the natives in the West
    Indies? Why were the Indians on their side surprised?

    5. What islands did Columbus find and claim for Spain on his first
    voyage? How many other voyages did he make? What new lands did he
    find on his later voyages? What did he think he had found?

    6. Why did the enemies of Columbus in Spain call him the Admiral of
    Mosquitoland, the man who discovered a land of vanity and deceit,
    the grave of Spanish gentlemen? What did they mean by this?



    EXERCISES

    1. Find pictures of the ships of Columbus or of the sailing ships of
    other explorers of that day. How does the deck arrangement on those
    differ from the ocean steamships of to-day? What advantage would
    ships like those of Columbus have over present steamships in
    exploring strange coasts? What disadvantages?

    2. Draw up a list of reasons why Columbus's sailors were afraid to
    go on and wished to turn back to Spain.

    3. Trace on an outline map the voyage of Columbus. Mark where
    Columbus found land, and where he expected to find Japan and China.
    What great mass of land was really very near the island he first
    discovered?

    4. Find from the maps mentioned in Chapter IV (Greek World), Chapter
    VII (Roman World), Chapter VIII (The world after Polo's journey),
    and Chapter XIV (The world as known after Columbus), how much more
    the Romans knew of the world than the Greeks had known, the
    Europeans after Marco Polo's journey than the Romans, and the
    Europeans after Columbus's voyage than after Marco Polo's journey.

    _Important Date_--1492. The discovery of America by Columbus.




CHAPTER XV


OTHERS HELP IN THE DISCOVERY OF THE NEW WORLD

THE RACE TO THE INDIES. The discovery of all the lands which make
  what we call the New World came very slowly. It was the work of many
  different explorers. Most of the expeditions sent out to the new islands
  went in search of a passage to India. It was a fine race. Each nation
  was eager to see its ships the first to reach India by the westward
  route. All were disappointed at finding so much land between Europe and
  Asia. It seemed to them to be of little value and to block the way to
  the richer countries of the East. Gradually, however, they discovered
  the great continents which we know as North and South America. Columbus
  had done more than he dreamed, and his discovery was a turning-point
  in history.

JOHN CABOT. John Cabot, an Italian mariner at this time in the
  service of England, left Bristol in 1497 on a voyage of discovery. This
  was five years after Columbus discovered the West Indies. Cabot had
  heard that the sailors of Portugal and of Spain had occupied unknown
  islands. He planned to do the same for King Henry VII of England. For
  his voyage he had a single vessel no larger than the _Niña_, the
  smallest ship in the fleet of Columbus. Eighteen men made up his crew.
  He passed around the southern end of Ireland, and sailed north and west
  until he came to land, which proved to be the coast of North America
  somewhere between the northern part of Labrador and the southern end of
  Nova Scotia.

CABOT'S DISCOVERY. John Cabot saw no inhabitants, but he found
  notched trees, snares for game, and needles for making nets, which
  showed plainly that the land was inhabited by human beings. Like
  Columbus, Cabot thought he was off the coast of China.

THE CABOT VOYAGES FORGOTTEN. Before the end of 1497 John Cabot was
  back in Bristol. It is almost certain that he and his son, Sebastian
  Cabot, made a second voyage to the new found lands in the following
  year. The Cabot voyages, however, were soon almost forgotten by the
  people of England.

  [Illustration: SEBASTIAN CABOT After the picture ascribed to
  Holbein]

THE NAMING OF THE NEW LANDS. Why was our country named America
  rather than Columbia or New India? Both the southern and northern
  continents which we call the Americas were named for Americus Vespucius
  rather than for Christopher Columbus. This seems the more strange since
  we know so little about the life of Americus. Americus Vespucius was
  born in Florence, Italy, and like many other young Italians of that day
  entered the service of neighboring countries. He went to Spain and
  accompanied several Spanish expeditions sent to explore the new
  continent which Columbus had discovered on his third voyage.

  Perhaps Americus went as a pilot; he certainly was not the leader in any
  expedition. But he seems to have written to his friends interesting
  accounts of what he had seen. In one of these letters Americus seems to
  have written boastfully of how he had found lands which might be called
  a new world. He said that the new continent was more populous and more
  full of animals than Europe, or Asia, or Africa, and that the climate
  was even more temperate and pleasant than any other region. This was
  clearly a new world.

WHY AMERICUS WAS REGARDED AS THE DISCOVERER OF AMERICA. The
  statement of Americus was scattered widely by the help of the newly
  invented printing press. It was written in Latin, and so could be read
  by the learned of all countries. They were impressed by the belief of
  Americus that he had seen a new world and not simply the Indies. This
  was especially true of men living outside of Spain who had heard little
  of Columbus or his discovery.

  Columbus for his part had written as if his great discovery was a way to
  the Indies and the finding of islands on the way thither less important.
  Besides, when he saw what we call South America he had no idea that it
  was a new world. The people of Europe either never knew that he had
  discovered the mainland or had forgotten it altogether. But they heard a
  great deal about Americus and his doings. It is not strange that
  Americus rather than Columbus was long regarded as the true discoverer
  of America.

TWO NAMES FOR THE NEW LANDS. Even then the new continent might not
  have been called America but for the suggestion of a young scholar of
  the time. Martin Waldseemüller, a professor of geography at the college
  of St. Dié, now in eastern France, wrote a book on geography. In his
  description of the parts of the world unknown to the ancients, he
  suggested naming the continent stretching to the south for Americus.

  [Illustration: FACSIMILE Of the passage in the _Cosmographia
  Introductio_ (1507), by Martin Waldseemüller, in which the name of
  America is proposed for the New World.]


    The facsimile's transcription reads as follows:

    Nunc Vero et hae partes sunt latius lustratae, et alia quarta
    pars per Americum Vesputium (ut in sequentibus audietur) inventa
    est quam non video cur quis jure vetet ab Americo inventore
    sagacis ingenii viro Amerigen quasi Americi terram, sive Americam
    dicendam: cum et Europa et Asia a mulieribus sua sortita sint
    nomina. Ejus situm et gentis mores ex bis binis Americi
    navigationibus quae sequuntur liquide intelligidatur.


  Waldseemüller thought Americus had been the real discoverer of this
  continent. He said, "Now, indeed, as these regions are more widely
  explored, and another fourth part has been discovered by Americus
  Vespucius, I do not see why any one may justly forbid it to be named
  Amerige--that is, Americ's Land, from Americus, the discoverer."

  Others adopted Waldseemüller's suggestion and the name America came into
  general use outside of Spain. But the Spaniards continued to call all
  the new lands by the name which Columbus had given them--the Indies.
  America was at first the name for South America only, but later was also
  used by writers for the other continent which was soon found to the
  north. It was natural to distinguish the two continents as South and
  North America.

BALBOA. The successors of Columbus kept up a ceaseless search for
  the real Indies, but the more they explored the more they saw that a
  great continental barrier was lying across the sea passage to Asia. A
  few began to suspect that after all America was not a part of Asia.
  Vasco Nuñez Balboa was one of these. Balboa was a planter who had
  settled in Española. He fell deeply into debt, and to escape his
  creditors had himself nailed up in a barrel and put aboard a vessel
  bound for the northern coast of South America. From there he went to the
  eastern border of Panama with a party of gold seekers. The Indians told
  him of a great sea and of an abundance of gold on its shores to be found
  a short distance across the isthmus. It is probable that the Indians
  wished to get rid of the Spaniards as neighbors.

  [Illustration: VASCO NUÑEZ BALBOA]

BALBOA'S DISCOVERY OF THE PACIFIC. Balboa resolved to make a name
  for himself and to be the discoverer of the other sea. He set off in
  1513. The land is not more than forty-five miles wide at Panama, but it
  is almost impassable even to this day. For twenty-two days the hardy
  adventurers advanced through a forest, dense with thickets and tangled
  swamps and interlacing vines--so thick that for days the sun could not
  be seen--and over rough and slippery mountain-sides until they came to
  an open sea stretching off to the south and west. Balboa called it the
  South Sea, but it is usually called the Pacific Ocean, the name given it
  afterward.

  Balboa had made the important discovery that the barrier of land was
  comparatively narrow. This gave the impression that North America, too,
  was narrower than it proved to be, and the search for the passage to the
  Indies was pushed with greater vigor.

MAGELLAN. A Portuguese explorer, Vasco da Gama, had really won the
  race begun by Prince Henry's navigators and Columbus for India, the land
  of cloves, pepper, and nutmegs. He had won in 1497 by going around the
  Cape of Good Hope. Another explorer, Ferdinand Magellan, finally,
  reached the Indies in a long westward voyage lasting two years, from
  1519 to 1521.

  [Illustration: FERDINAND MAGELLAN]

THE BEGINNING OF MAGELLAN'S VOYAGE. Magellan, himself a Portuguese,
  tried in vain like Columbus to persuade the king of Portugal to aid him
  in his project. He succeeded better in Spain, and sailed from there in
  1519 with a small fleet given him by the young king Charles. The five
  ships in his fleet were old and in bad repair, and the crews had been
  brought together from every nation. They sailed directly to South
  America, and spent the first year searching every inlet along the coast
  for a passage.

  [Illustration: THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN]

  They found that the natives of South America used for food vegetables
  that "looked like turnips and tasted like chestnuts." The Indians called
  them "patatas." In this way the potato, one of the great foods of
  to-day, was found by Europeans. A whole winter was passed on the cold
  and barren coast of Patagonia. Magellan called the natives "Patagones,"
  the word in his language meaning big feet, from the large foot-prints
  which they left on the sand.

THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. Magellan finally found a strait, since
  named for him the Strait of Magellan, and sailed his ships through it
  amid the greatest dangers. The change from the rough waters of the
  strait to the calm sea beyond made the word Pacific or Peaceful Sea seem
  the most suitable name for the vast body of water which they
  had entered.

THE FIRST VOYAGE ACROSS THE PACIFIC. From the western coast of
  South America Magellan struck boldly out into the Pacific Ocean on his
  way to Asia. The crews suffered untold hardships. The very rats which
  overran the rotten ships became a luxurious article of food which only
  the more fortunate members of the crews could afford. The poorer seamen
  lived for days on the ox-hide strips which protected the masts. These
  were soaked in sea-water and roasted over the fire.

  Magellan was fortunate enough to chance upon the Isle of Guam, where
  plentiful supplies were obtained. He called the group of small islands,
  of which Guam is one, the Ladrones. This was his word for robbers, used
  because the natives were such robbers. The expedition discovered a group
  of islands afterwards called the Philippines. There Magellan fell in
  with traders from the Indies and knew that the remainder of the voyage
  would be through well-known seas and over a route frequently followed.
  Poor Magellan did not live to complete his remarkable voyage. He was
  killed in the Philippine Islands in a battle with the natives.

  [Illustration: AN OLD MAP OF THE NEW WORLD--1523 After
  Magellan's voyage, but before the exploration of North America had
  gone far]

  Only one of the five ships found its way through the Spice Islands,
  across the Indian Ocean, around the Cape of Good Hope, and so back to
  Spain; but this one carried home twenty-six tons of cloves, worth more
  than enough to pay the whole cost of the expedition. Such was the value
  of the trade Europe was so eagerly seeking.

WHAT MAGELLAN HAD SHOWN THE PEOPLE OF EUROPE. Magellan's voyage
  had, however, been a great event. Historians are agreed that it was the
  greatest voyage in the history of mankind. It had shown in a practical
  way that the earth is a globe, just as Columbus and other wise men had
  long taught, for a ship had sailed completely around it.

  But Magellan had also proved some things that they had not dreamed. He
  had shown that two great oceans instead of one lay between Europe and
  Asia; he had made clear that the Indies which the Spanish explorers had
  found, and which other people were beginning to call the Americas, were
  really a new world entirely separate from Asia, and not a part of Asia
  as Columbus had thought.


    QUESTIONS

    1. Why were the early American explorers disappointed at finding two
    continents between Europe and Asia?

    2. What land did John Cabot discover? Where did he think this land
    was? Why did the English people take little interest in this voyage?

    3. Why was our country named America? Do you think that Americus
    Vespucius deserved so great an honor? By what name did the Spaniards
    continue to call the new region? Why did the Spaniards have one name
    and the other Europeans another name for a long time?

    4. How did Balboa come to find the Pacific Ocean? Why did men search
    for a passage between the Atlantic and the Pacific more vigorously
    after Balboa's expedition?

    5. Why has Magellan's voyage been called the greatest one in
    history? What three things had Magellan shown the European world?

    EXERCISES

    1. Make out a list of the explorers mentioned in this chapter who
    helped in the discovery of the New World, and place opposite the
    name of each the name of the land he discovered.

    2. Trace Magellan's voyage on the map and make a list of the lands
    or countries he passed. Look at the map of North America on this old
    map, and at the one in mentioned Chapter XIX. How do you account for
    the queer shape of North America on the old map?

    _Important date_--1519-21. Magellan's ship made the first voyage
    around the world.




CHAPTER XVI


EARLY SPANISH EXPLORERS AND CONQUERORS ON THE MAINLAND

THE CIVILIZATION OF THE MEXICAN INDIANS. Early Spanish explorers on
  the coast of Mexico found the Indians of the mainland more highly
  civilized than the natives of the West Indies. Some of these, especially
  the Aztecs, lived in large villages or cities and were ruled by powerful
  chiefs or kings. They built to their gods huge stone temples with towers
  several stories in height.

  Their houses, quite unlike those of the other Indians the Spanish had
  seen, were made of stone or sun-dried brick and coated with hard white
  plaster. Some of them were of immense size and could hold many families.
  Doors had not been invented, but hangings of woven grass or matting of
  cotton served instead. Strings of shells which a visitor could rattle
  answered for door-bells.

  The streets of the towns were narrow, but were often paved with a sort
  of cement. Aqueducts in solid masonry somewhat like the old Roman
  aqueducts, although not so large, carried water from the neighboring
  hills for fountains and rude public baths.

  The women wove cotton and prepared clothing for their families. Workmen
  made ornaments of gold and copper, and utensils and dishes of pottery
  for every-day use. The people cultivated the fields around the cities,
  raising a great variety of foods, and even built ditches to carry water
  for irrigating the fields. All this was in striking contrast with the
  simple habits of the West Indians.

  [Illustration: AZTEC SACRIFICIAL STONE Now in the National
  Museum in the City of Mexico]

CRUEL CUSTOMS OF THE AZTECS. With all the good features of Mexican
  life, with all the superiority of the Mexicans over the other Indians,
  there was much that was hideous and cruel. The Aztecs, the most powerful
  tribes, were continually at war with their neighbors. They lived mainly
  upon the plunder of their enemies and the tribute which they took from
  those they had conquered. Like all Mexicans, they worshiped great ugly
  idols as gods and to these their priests offered part of the captives
  taken in war as human sacrifices.

SPANISH IDEAS OF MEXICO. The reports of the Aztec civilization and
  of the treasures of gold, mostly untrue, excited the interest and greed
  of the Spaniards. Mexico seemed like the China which Marco Polo had
  described, and might offer a chance of immense wealth for those who
  should conquer it. In truth, Mexican civilization did resemble that of
  Asia more than anything that the Spaniards had seen. Montezuma, a
  powerful chief or king of the Aztecs, lived somewhat like a Mongol
  Emperor of Persia or China.

  [Illustration: MONTEZUMA, THE LAST KING OF MEXICO After Montanus
  and Ogilby]

CORTÉS. In 1519 the governor of Cuba sent Hernando Cortés to
  explore and conquer Mexico. The expedition landed where Vera Cruz is now
  situated. The ships were then sunk in order to cut off all hope of
  retreat for the soldiers. "For whom but cowards," said Cortés, "were
  means of retreat necessary!" Cortés, with great skill, worked up the
  zeal of his soldiers to the fury of a religious crusade. All thought it
  a duty to destroy the idols they saw, to end the practice of offering
  human sacrifices, and to force the Christian religion upon the natives.

  The small army marched slowly inland towards the City of Mexico, which
  was the capital of Montezuma's kingdom. Cortés and his men had learned
  the Indian mode of fighting from ambush, and also how successfully to
  match cunning and treachery with those villagers who tried to prevent
  his invasion of their country.

HOW THE SPANIARDS AND THE AZTECS FOUGHT. The Mexican warriors,
  though they fought fiercely, were no match for the Spaniards. The
  Mexicans were experts with the bow and arrow, using arrows pointed with
  a hard kind of stone. They carried for hand-to-hand fighting a narrow
  club set with a double edge of razor-like stones, and wore a crude kind
  of armor made from quilted cotton. But such things were useless against
  Spanish bullets shot from afar.

  [Illustration: THE ARMOR OF CORTÉS After an engraving of the
  original in the National Museum, Madrid]

  The roaring cannon, the glittering steel swords, the thick armor and
  shining helmets, the prancing horses on which the Spanish leaders were
  mounted, gave the whole a strange, unearthly appearance to the
  simple-minded Indians. The story is told that the Mexicans believed that
  one of their gods had once floated out to sea, saying that, in the
  fulness of time, he would return with fair-skinned companions to begin
  again his rule over his people. Many Aztecs looked upon the coming of
  the white men as the return of this god and thought that resistance
  would be useless. Such natives sent presents, made their peace with
  Cortés, and so weakened the opposition to the conquerors.

CORTÉS IN PERIL. Cortés easily entered the City of Mexico, and
  forced Montezuma to resign. But here the natives attacked his army in
  such numbers that he had to retreat to escape capture. The Spaniards
  fled from the city at night amid the onslaught of the inhabitants
  fighting for their religion and their homes.

  [Illustration: CANNON OF THE TIME OF CORTÉS After Van Menken.
  There are in the naval museum at Annapolis guns captured in the Mexican
  War supposed to be those used by Cortés]

  The retreat cost the Spaniards terrible losses. Cortés started in the
  evening on the retreat with 1,250 soldiers, 6,000 Indian allies, and 80
  horses. There were left in the morning 500 soldiers, 2,000 allies, and
  20 horses. Cortés is said to have buried his face in his hands and wept
  for his lost followers, but he never wavered in his purpose of taking
  Mexico. He was able to defeat the Indians in the open country, and to
  return to the attack on the capital city.

CAPTURE OF THE CITY OF MEXICO. The siege which followed, lasting
  nearly three months, has rarely been matched in history for the bravery
  and suffering of the natives. The fighting was constant and terrible.
  The fresh water supply was cut off from the inhabitants in the city, and
  famine aided the invaders. At length the defenders were exhausted and
  Cortés entered. It had taken him two years to conquer the Aztecs. A
  greater task remained for him to do. He was to cleanse and rebuild the
  City of Mexico, make it a center of Spanish civilization, and Mexico a
  New Spain. By such work Cortés showed that he could be not only a great
  conqueror, but also an able ruler in time of peace.

  [Illustration: THE CITY OF MEXICO UNDER THE CONQUERORS
  From the engraving in the "Niewe Wereld" of Montanus]

PIZARRO. A few years after Cortés conquered Mexico a second army
  conquered another famous Indian kingdom. Francisco Pizarro commanded
  this expedition, which set out from Panama in 1531. Pizarro had been
  with Balboa at the discovery of the South Sea or Pacific Ocean, and,
  like his master, had become interested in the stories the Indians told
  of a rich kingdom far to the south. The golden kingdom which the Indians
  described was that of the Incas, who lived much as the Aztecs. The
  Spaniards called the region of the Incas the Biru country or, by
  softening the first letter, the Peru country, from Biru, who was a
  native Indian chieftain.

  [Illustration: A STONE IDOL OF THE AZTEC'S
  It is more than eight feet high and five feet across, and was dug up in
  the central square of the City of Mexico more than one hundred
  years ago]

CONQUEST OF PERU. Pizarro found the Incas divided as usual by civil
  wars and incapable of much resistance. One of their rival chiefs was
  outwitted when he tried to capture Pizarro by a trick, and was himself
  made a prisoner instead. He offered to give Pizarro in return for his
  freedom as much gold as would fill his prison room as high as he could
  reach. The offer was accepted, and gold, mainly in the shape of vases,
  plates, images, and other ornaments from the temples for the Indian
  idols, was gathered together.

  The Spaniards soon found themselves in possession of almost $7,000,000
  worth of gold, besides a vast quantity of silver. As much more was taken
  from the Indians by force. The whole was divided among the conquerors.
  Pizarro's share was worth nearly a million dollars. But the poor chief
  who had made them suddenly rich was suspected of plotting to have his
  warriors ambush them as they left the country, was tried by his
  conquerors, and put to death. The bloody work of conquest was soon over.
  Peru, like Mexico, rapidly became a center of Spanish settlement.
  Emigrants, instead of stopping in the West Indies, had the choice of
  going on into the newer regions which Cortés and Pizarro had won.

EMIGRANTS TO SPANISH AMERICA. It was much harder in the sixteenth
  century to leave Spain and settle in America than it is today. The first
  and sometimes the greatest difficulty was in getting permission to leave
  Spain. No one could go who had not secured the king's consent. The
  emigrant must show that neither he nor his father nor his grandfather
  had ever been guilty of heresy, that is, that he and his forefathers had
  been steadfast Catholic Christians. His wife, if he had one, must give
  her consent. His debts must all be paid. The Moors and the Jews of Spain
  could not secure permits to move to the New World. Foreigners of
  whatever nation were not wanted in the colonies and were usually kept
  out. Spain tried to keep its colonies wholly for Spaniards.

HARDSHIPS OF THE SEA VOYAGE. Those who did go to the colonies found
  the voyage dangerous and costly. One traveler has related that it cost
  him about one hundred and eighty dollars for the passage, and that he
  provided his own chickens and bread. The danger to sailing ships from
  storms was much greater than it is today for steamships. The voyage
  required three or four weeks and not uncommonly as many months.

THE NEED OF LABORERS. The hardships and dangers of the voyage and
  the reports of suffering from famine and disease kept most people from
  going to the New World. Emigration was slow, amounting to about a
  thousand a year. There were always fewer capable white laborers than the
  landowners in the colonies needed for their work, for there was much to
  do in clearing the land and preparing it for use. The landowners were
  usually well-to-do Spaniards who did not like to work in the fields
  themselves. A great many of the laborers who migrated to America served
  in the army or went to the gold and silver mines of Mexico and Peru. The
  craze for gold constantly robbed the older colonies of their farm
  laborers. The landowners in the islands of the West Indies, during the
  early history of the colonies, made slaves of the Indians and compelled
  them to take the place of the laborers they needed and could not obtain.

INDIAN SLAVERY. The people of Europe thought that the whole world
  belonged to the followers of Christ. Non-Christians, whether Indian or
  negro, had the choice of accepting Christianity or of being made slaves.
  The choice of Christianity did not always save them from the fate of
  slavery. In this the Spaniards were no more cruel than their neighbors
  the English or the French. The Spanish planters from the beginning
  forced the Indians to work their farms. The gold seekers made them work
  in their mines.

  The labor in every case was hard, and specially hard for the Indian
  unused to work. The overseers were brutal when the slaves did not do the
  tasks set for them. Hard usage and the unhealthful quarters rapidly
  broke down the natives. The white men also brought into the island
  diseases which they, with their greater experience, could resist, but
  from which, one writer says, the Indians died like sheep with a
  distemper.

  [Illustration: A SPANISH GALLEON Ships like this carried the
  Spanish emigrants to America]

SLAVERY DESTROYS THE WEST INDIANS. When the number of the Indians
  in Española and Cuba had decreased so much that there were not enough
  left to meet the needs of the planters, slave-hunters searched the
  neighboring islands for others. Finally, when the Indians were nearly
  gone, and the planters began to look to the mainland for their slaves,
  the king of Spain forbade making slaves of the Indians. Unfortunately he
  did not forbid them to capture negroes in Africa for the same purpose,
  and the change merely meant that negroes took the place of Indians as
  slaves. The story of the change is in great part the story of the life
  of Bartholomew de Las Casas.

LAS CASAS. The father of Las Casas was a companion of Columbus on
  his second voyage in 1493. He returned to Spain, taking with him a young
  Indian slave whom he gave to his son. This youth became greatly
  interested in the race to which his young slave belonged. In 1502 he
  went to Española to take possession of his father's estate. The
  planter's life did not long satisfy him and finally he became a priest.
  He moved from Española to Cuba, the newer colony.

  Las Casas became convinced that Indian slavery was wrong, and gave his
  own slaves their freedom. In his sermons he attacked the abuses of
  slavery. He visited Spain in order to help the slaves, and secured many
  reforms which lessened the hardships of their lot. Since the planters
  demanded more laborers and Las Casas thought the negro would be hardier
  than the Indian, he advocated negro slavery in place of Indian slavery
  as the less of two evils. Finally, in 1542, Las Casas persuaded his
  king, Charles V, to put an end to Indian slavery of every form.

  His success came too late to benefit the natives of the West Indies.
  They had decreased until almost none were left. It is said that there
  were two hundred thousand Indians in Española in 1492, and that in 1548
  there were barely five hundred survivors. The same decrease had taken
  place in the other islands. But the work of Las Casas came in time to
  save the Indians on the mainland from the fate of the luckless
  islanders.

NEGRO SLAVERY. Las Casas later regretted that he had advised the
  planters to obtain negroes to take the place of the Indians. Some
  negroes had been captured by the Portuguese on the coast of Africa
  during their explorations and taken to Europe as slaves. Columbus
  carried a few of these to the West Indies with him, and others had
  followed his example, but negro slavery had grown very slowly until
  after Las Casas stopped Indian slavery, when it increased rapidly in
  Spanish America.

  [Illustration: LAS CASAS After the picture by Felix Parra in the
  Academy, Mexico. Las Casas is supposed to be imploring Providence to
  shield the natives from Spanish cruelty]

THE MISSIONS OF THE MAINLAND. Las Casas became at one time a
  missionary to a tribe of the most desperate warriors located on the
  southern border of Mexico, in a region called by the Spaniards the "Land
  of War." Three times a Spanish army had invaded the country, and three
  times it had been driven back by the native defenders. Las Casas wished
  to show the Spaniards that more could be accomplished by treating the
  Indians kindly than by bloody warfare and conquest.

  He and the monks whom he took with him learned the language of the
  Indians, and went among them not as conquerors but as Christian
  teachers. Their gentle manners and endless patience won the friendship
  of the Indians in time and changed the land of constant warfare into one
  of peace. They led the natives to destroy their idols and to give up
  cannibalism. The mission established among them and kept up by the monks
  who were attracted to it was only one of a great number which sprang up
  on the mainland.

THE WORK OF THE MISSIONS. Influenced by the work of Las Casas
  against Indian slavery and for Indian missions, the Spaniards bent their
  efforts to preserve and Christianize the natives wherever they came upon
  them in America. Catholic priests gathered the Indians into permanent
  villages, which were called missions. Within about one hundred years
  after the death of Columbus, or by 1600, there were more then 5,000,000
  Indians in such villages under Spanish rule. Priests taught them to
  build better houses, checked their native vices, and suppressed heathen
  practices.

  Every mission became a little industrial school for children and parents
  alike, where all might learn the simpler arts and trades and the customs
  and language of their teachers. Each Indian cultivated his own plot of
  land and worked two hours a day on the farm belonging to the village.
  The produce of the village farm supported the church. The monks or
  friars who had charge of the mission cared for the poor, taught in the
  schools, preserved the peace and order of the village, and looked after
  the religious welfare of all.

  [Illustration: RUINS OF A SPANISH MISSION HOUSE]

  Gradually Spanish emigrants settled in the mission stations, and
  planters established farms around them, and they became Spanish villages
  in every respect like those in the islands or in the Old World, except
  that many inhabitants in the towns on the mainland were Indians. The
  emigrants freely intermarried with the Indians and a mixed race took the
  place of the old inhabitants. The customs, language, religion, and rule
  of Spain prevailed in this New Spain, though in some ways the new
  civilization was not so good as that of the Old World.


    QUESTIONS

    1. In what ways did the Aztecs resemble the Europeans? How did they
    differ from them? Why were the Spaniards particularly anxious to
    conquer Mexico?

    2. Why did many of the Mexicans refuse to fight the Spaniards? How
    many soldiers and Indian allies did Cortés lose in one battle? How
    long did it take Cortés to conquer Mexico?

    3. What other Indian people was conquered a few years later? By
    whom? What seemed to be the main object of these conquerors, Cortés
    and Pizarro, in their expeditions?

    4. Why did the Spaniards make slaves of the Indians in the West
    Indies? Why did they later cease making slaves of Indians and begin
    making slaves of negroes? What share had Las Casas in this change?

    5. What good work did the priests and monks in the Spanish Missions
    accomplish? What became of the Aztecs or other Indian tribes
    in Mexico?



    EXERCISES

    1. Find all you can about the houses, food, clothing, and
    occupations of any Indians living in your part of the United States,
    or if none are there now, learn this from your parents or from some
    neighbor who knew the Indians. Did they resemble the Aztecs in these
    respects or the West Indians?

    2. Review the account of emigrating to Spanish America four hundred
    years ago. Who could not go to Spanish America then? Find out who
    may not come into the United States to-day. What did it cost one
    traveler to get to America in the sixteenth century? Find out the
    cost of a voyage from Europe to America to-day. How long did it take
    to make such a voyage? Find out the usual length of a voyage from
    Europe to-day.




CHAPTER XVII


THE SPANISH EXPLORERS OF NORTH AMERICA

PONCE DE LEON. While men like Cortés were exploring and conquering
  the countries on the west shore of the Gulf of Mexico, others began to
  search the vast regions to the north. One of these explorers was Ponce
  de Leon, who had come to Española with Columbus in 1493. He afterwards
  spent many years in the West Indies capturing Indians, and understood
  from something they said that a magic fountain could be found beyond the
  Bahamas which would restore an old man to youth and vigor, if he
  bathed in it.

  [Illustration: PONCE DE LEON]

  As Ponce de Leon was beginning to feel aged he went in search of this
  wondrous fountain, but he found instead a coast where flowers grew in
  great abundance. It was the Easter season in 1513. Since the Spanish
  call this season _Pascua Florida_ or Flowery Easter, Ponce called the
  new flowery country Florida. He went ashore near the present site of St.
  Augustine, and later, while trying to establish a settlement, lost his
  life in a battle with the Indians.

EXPLORATIONS OF NORTH AMERICAN COAST. Other Spanish explorers
  between 1513 and 1525 followed the whole Gulf coast from Florida to Vera
  Cruz, and the Atlantic coast from Florida to Labrador. They sought
  continually for a passage to India. Every large inlet was entered, for
  it might prove to be the long-looked-for strait. Slowly the coast of
  North America took shape on the maps of that time. Two famous
  expeditions into the interior of the country did much to enlarge this
  knowledge. One was made by De Soto through the region which now forms
  seven southern states of the United States, and the other was by
  Coronado through the great southwest.

  [Illustration: HERNANDO DE SOTO]

DE SOTO. Hernando de Soto, a noble from Seville in Spain, had won
  fame and fortune with Pizarro in Peru. The King of Spain, to reward his
  bravery and skill in conquering Indians, made him Governor of Cuba. In
  those days the Governor of Cuba controlled Florida. It was a larger
  Florida than the present state of that name, for Spanish Florida
  included the whole north coast of the Gulf of Mexico running back into
  the continent without any definite boundary.

THE STORY OF THE GILDED MAN. De Soto had heard a fanciful story of
  a country so rich in gold that its king was smeared every morning with
  gum and then thickly sprinkled with powdered gold, which was washed off
  at night. De Soto thought this country might be somewhere in Florida,
  and prepared to search for the Gilded Man, or in the Spanish language
  _El Dorado._

THE COMRADES OF DE SOTO. More than six hundred men, some of them
  from the oldest families of the nobility of Spain and Portugal, flocked
  to De Soto's banner. They sold their possessions at home and ventured
  all their wealth in the hope of obtaining great riches in Florida.

DE SOTO'S ROUTE THROUGH THE SOUTH OF NORTH AMERICA. De Soto crossed
  from Cuba to the west coast of Florida in 1539, and advanced northward
  by land to an Indian village near Apalachee Bay. Here he spent the first
  winter. A white man, whom the Indians had taken captive twelve years
  before and finally adopted, joined De Soto and became very useful as an
  interpreter.

  [Illustration: SPANISH KNIGHT OF 16TH CENTURY]

  In the spring De Soto renewed his explorations. It was like a journey
  into the interior of Africa. The expedition passed northeasterly through
  the country now within Georgia and South Carolina, as far, perhaps, as
  the border of North Carolina. From here it passed through the mountains,
  and turned southwesterly through Tennessee and Alabama until a large
  Indian village called Mauvilla was reached. This was near the head of
  Mobile Bay. Mobile was named from the Indian village Mauvilla. The
  Alabama Indians, whose name means "the thicket clearers," were near by.
  Here again De Soto changed his course to the northwest into the
  unknown interior.

THE HARDSHIPS OF THE JOURNEY. His army was almost exhausted by the
  difficulties of the journey. A road had to be cut and broken through
  thickets and forest, paths had to be made through the many swamps, and
  fords found across the rivers. It frequently became necessary to stop
  for months at a time, to let the horses, worn out from travel and
  starving because of the scarcity of fodder, fatten on the grass. The
  stores which the army brought with them soon gave out. The men were
  forced to live like Indians, and were often reduced to using the roots
  of wild plants for food. Where they could, they robbed the Indians of
  their scanty stores of corn and beans.

  [Illustration: INDIANS BROILING FISH]

CRUEL TREATMENT OF THE INDIANS. De Soto was cruel in his treatment
  of the conquered natives along his route. Many of his officers came with
  him really for the purpose of obtaining Indian slaves for their
  plantations in Cuba. Indian women were made to do the work of the camp.
  Indian men were chained together and forced to carry the baggage. The
  chiefs were held as hostages for the good behavior of the whole tribe.
  The Indians who tried to shirk work or offered resistance were killed
  without mercy.

  [Illustration: MAP OF DE SOTO'S ROUTE--1539-1542]

  De Soto's cruelties made the Indian of the South hate the white men, and
  left him the enemy of any who should come to those regions in
  after-years. More than once De Soto narrowly escaped destruction at the
  hands of the enraged savages. They attacked the Spaniards with all their
  strength at Mauvilla, and again while they were in camp in northern
  Mississippi for the winter of 1540-1541. These two battles with the
  Indians cost the Spaniards their baggage, which was destroyed in the
  burning villages. New clothing, however, was soon made from the skins of
  wild animals. Deerskins and bearskins served for cloaks, jackets,
  shirts, stockings, and even for shoes. The great army must have looked
  much like a band of Robinson Crusoes.

THE DISCOVERY OF THE MISSISSIPPI. De Soto marched on northwesterly
  until May 8, 1541, when he was somewhere near the site of the present
  city of Memphis. There he came upon a great river. One of his officers
  tells us that the river was so wide at this point that if a man on the
  other side stood still, it could not be known whether he were a man or
  not; that the river was of great depth, and of a strong current; and
  that the water was always muddy.

  De Soto called it, in his own language, the Rio Grande or Great River,
  but the Indians called it the Mississippi. Americans have adopted the
  Indian name. Other Spanish explorers had probably passed the mouth of
  the Mississippi River before De Soto, and wondered at its mighty size,
  but De Soto was the first white man to approach it from the land and to
  appreciate the importance of his discovery.

WANDERINGS WEST OF THE MISSISSIPPI. The Spaniards cut down trees,
  made them into planks and built barges on which they crossed the
  Mississippi. Then they wandered for another year through the endless
  woods and marshes of the low-lying lands now within the state of
  Arkansas. They probably went as far west as the open plains of Oklahoma
  or Texas. In these border regions between the forests and the prairies
  they met Indians who used the skins of the buffalo for clothing.

  [Illustration: BURIAL OF DE SOTO IN THE MISSISSIPPI]

DEATH AND BURIAL OF DE SOTO. The severe winter of 1541-1542
  discouraged the hardy travelers, who had now spent nearly three years in
  a vain search. The natives whom they had found made clothing from the
  fiber in the bark of mulberry trees and from the hides of buffaloes, and
  stored beans and corn for food, but such things seemed of little value
  to the seekers for the Gilded Man.

  De Soto returned to the Mississippi and prepared to establish a colony
  somewhere near the mouth of the Red River. It was his purpose to send to
  Cuba for supplies, and, with this settlement as a base, make a farther
  search in the plains of the great West. He did not live to carry out his
  plan. Long exposure and anxiety had weakened him. The malaria of the
  swamps attacked him, and he died within a few days. His body was wrapped
  in mantles weighted with sand, carried in a canoe, and secretly lowered
  in the midst of the great river he had discovered.

  His successor tried to conceal De Soto's death from the Indians. The
  Spaniards had called their leader the Child of the Sun, and now he had
  died like any other mortal. They were afraid if the Indians found his
  body they would cease to believe that the strangers were immortal and
  would massacre them all. The Indians were told that the great leader had
  gone to Heaven, as he had often done before, and that he would return in
  a few days.

RESULTS OF DE SOTO'S JOURNEY. The weary survivors built boats,
  floated down the Mississippi into the Gulf, and sailed cautiously along
  the coasts to Mexico. They had been gone four years and three months,
  and half of the army which set out had perished. However, the expedition
  of De Soto will always remain one of the most remarkable journeys in the
  history of North America. It had extended the Spanish claims far into
  the interior. With it had begun the written history of the country now
  composing at least eight states in the United States, Florida, Georgia,
  South Carolina, North Carolina, Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee, and
  Arkansas. It had perhaps reached the present Oklahoma and Texas, and had
  certainly passed down the Mississippi River through Louisiana.

THE STORY OF THE SEVEN CITIES. While De Soto was exploring the
  southeastern part of North America a second expedition searched the
  southwest. Both were looking for rich Indian kingdoms like Mexico and
  Peru. The second expedition came about in this manner. Some of the
  Indians from northern Mexico told the Spaniards a strange tale of how in
  the distant past their ancestors came forth from seven caves.

  [Illustration: AN INDIAN OF NORTHERN MEXICO]

  The Spaniards, however, confused the tale with a story of their own
  about Seven Cities. They believed that at the time Spain was overrun by
  the Moors in the eighth century, seven bishops, flying from persecution,
  had taken refuge, with a great company of followers, on an island or
  group of islands far out in the Atlantic Ocean, and that they had built
  Seven Cities. Wonderful stories were told in Spain of these cities, of
  their wealth and splendor, though nobody ever pretended to have actually
  seen them. The Spaniards thought the Indians meant to tell them of these
  Seven Cities instead of seven caves.

  The mistake was natural, as the Spanish explorers had much trouble in
  understanding the Indian languages. They had long expected to find the
  Seven Cities in America. Indeed there was rumor that white travelers had
  seen them north of Mexico.

THE JOURNEY OF FRIAR MARCOS. In 1539 the Viceroy of Mexico sent a
  frontier missionary, Friar Marcos by name, together with a negro,
  Stephen, and some Christianized Indians to look for them. Friar Marcos
  traveled far to the north. He inquired his way of the Indians, always
  asking them about Seven Cities. He described them as large cities with
  houses made of stone and mortar. The Indians, half-understanding him,
  directed him to seven Zuñi villages or pueblos. The first of these they
  called Cibola. Friar Marcos henceforth spoke of them as the Seven Cities
  of Cibola.

  The good friar himself never entered even the first of them. His negro,
  Stephen, had been sent on in advance to prepare the way, but this rough,
  greedy fellow offended the Indians, who promptly murdered him. When the
  friar approached he found the Indians so excited and hostile that he
  dared not enter their village. He did, however, venture to climb a hill
  at a distance, from which he had a view of one of the cities of Cibola.
  The houses, built of light stone and whitish adobe, glistened in the
  wonderfully clear air and bright sunlight of that region, and gave him
  the idea of a much larger and richer city than really existed. Friar
  Marcos, by this time thoroughly frightened, hurriedly retraced
  his steps.

CORONADO. There was great excitement in Mexico over the story Friar
  Marcos told. The account of what had been seen grew, as such stories
  always do, in the telling and retelling. Nothing else was thought of in
  all New Spain. The Viceroy of Mexico made ready a great army for the
  conquest of the Seven Cities of Cibola. He gave the command to his
  intimate friend, Francisco de Coronado. Everybody wanted to accompany
  him, but it was necessary to have the consent of the viceroy. Sons of
  nobles, eager to go, traded with their more fortunate neighbors for the
  viceroy's permit. Some men who secured these sold them as special favors
  to their friends. Whoever obtained one of them counted it as good as a
  title of nobility. So high were the expectations of great wealth when
  the Seven Cities should be discovered!

  [Illustration: A ZUÑI PUEBLO FROM A DISTANCE]

THE ARMY OF CORONADO. In the early part of 1540, Coronado set forth
  from his home in western Mexico near the Gulf of California. He had an
  army of three hundred Spaniards, nearly all the younger sons of nobles.
  They were fitted out with polished coats of mail and gilded armor,
  carried lances and swords, and were mounted on the choicest horses from
  the large stock-farms of the viceroy. There were in the army a few
  footmen armed with crossbows and harquebuses. A thousand negroes and
  Indians were taken along, mainly as servants for the white masters. Some
  led the spare horses. Others carried the baggage, or drove the oxen and
  cows, the sheep and swine which would be needed on the journey. A small
  fleet carried part of the baggage by way of the Gulf of California,
  prepared also to help Coronado in other ways, and to explore the Gulf
  to its head.

  [Illustration: THE ROUTE OF CORONADO]

THE ROUTE OF CORONADO TO CIBOLA. The large army marched slowly
  through the wild regions of the Gulf coast. Coronado soon became
  impatient and pushed ahead of the main body with a small following of
  picked horsemen. They went through the mountainous wilderness of
  northern Mexico and across the desert plains of southeastern Arizona.
  After a march lasting five months, over a distance equal to that from
  New York to Omaha, Coronado came upon the Seven Cities of Cibola; but
  the real Seven Cities of Cibola as Coronado found them bore little
  resemblance to what he had expected.

  [Illustration: A ZUÑI PUEBLO]

THE REAL SEVEN CITIES OF CIBOLA. The first city of Cibola was an
  Indian pueblo of about two hundred flat-roofed houses, built of stone
  and sun-dried clay. The houses were entered by climbing ladders to the
  top and then passing down into the rooms as we enter ships through
  hatches. The people wore only such clothes as could be woven from the
  coarse fiber of native plants, or patched together from the tanned skins
  of the cat or the deer. They cultivated certain plants for food, but
  only small and poor varieties of corn, beans, and melons. They had some
  skill in making small things for house and personal decoration, mainly
  in the form of pottery and simple ornaments of green stone.

  The kingdom of rich cities dwindled to a small province of poor villages
  inhabited by an unwarlike people. We know now that Coronado had found
  the Zuñi pueblos in the western part of New Mexico. The conquest of
  these was a wofully small thing for so grand and costly an expedition.
  No gold or silver or precious jewels had been found.

  [Illustration: CANYON OF THE COLORADO]

THE CANYON OF THE COLORADO. Yet the wonders of the natural world
  about them astonished and interested the Spaniards. Some of their number
  found the Grand Canyon of the Colorado River and vividly described it to
  their comrades. As they looked into its depths it seemed as if the water
  was six feet across, although in reality it was many hundred feet wide.
  Some tried without success to descend the steep cliff to the stream
  below or to discover a means of crossing to the opposite side. Those who
  staid above estimated that some huge rocks on the side of the cliff were
  about as tall as a man, but those who went down as far as they could
  swore that when they reached these rocks they found them bigger than the
  great tower of Seville, which is two hundred and seventy-five feet high.

  CORONADO IN NEW MEXICO. Coronado marched from the Cities of Cibola
  eastward to the valley of the Rio Grande River, and settled for the
  winter in an Indian village a short distance south of the present city
  of Albuquerque, New Mexico. The Spaniards drove the natives out, only
  allowing them to take the clothes they wore.

A WINTER IN AN INDIAN VILLAGE. The soldiers passed the severe
  winter of 1540-1541 comfortably quartered in the best houses of the
  Indian village. A plentiful supply of corn and beans had been left by
  the unfortunate owners. The live stock brought from Mexico furnished an
  abundance of fresh meat. Coronado required the Indians to furnish three
  hundred pieces of cloth for cloaks and blankets for his men, to take the
  place of their own, now worn out. Nor did the officers give the Indians
  time to secure the cloth that was demanded, but forced them to take
  their own cloaks and blankets off their backs. When a soldier came upon
  an Indian whose blanket was better than his, he compelled the unlucky
  fellow to exchange with him without more ado.

  Coronado's strenuous efforts to provide well for the comforts of his men
  made him much loved by them, but much hated by the Indians. It is no
  wonder that such treatment drove the Indians into rebellion, and that
  Coronado was obliged to carry on a cruel war of reconquest and revenge.

THE TALE OF QUIVIRA. An Indian slave in one of the villages cheered
  Coronado and his followers with a fabulous tale about a wonderful city,
  many days' journey across the plains to the northeast, which he called
  Quivira. The king of Quivira, he said, took his nap under a large tree,
  on which were hung little gold bells, which put him to sleep as they
  swung in the air. Every one in the city had jugs and bowls made of
  wrought gold. The slave was probably tempted by the eagerness of his
  hearers to make his tale bigger. He perhaps made it as enticing as he
  could in order to lead the strangers away to perish in the pathless
  plains where water would be scarce and corn unknown.

THE SEARCH FOR QUIVIRA. The slave's story deceived the Spaniards.
  Coronado grasped eagerly at the only hope left of finding a rich country
  and marched away in search of Quivira. He traveled to the northeast for
  seventy-seven days. There were no guiding land marks. Soldiers measured
  the distance traveled each day by counting the footsteps. The plains
  were flat, save for an occasional channel cut by some river half buried
  in the sand; they were barren, except for a short wiry grass and a small
  rim of shrubs and stunted trees along the watercourses.

QUIVIRA. The most marvelous sight of the long journey was the herds
  of buffaloes in countless numbers. The Indians guided Coronado in the
  end to a cluster of Indian villages which they called Quivira. This was
  somewhere in what is now central Kansas near Junction City. The Indians
  were in all probability the Wichitas. Here again the great explorer met
  with a bitter disappointment.

  [Illustration: INDIAN TEPEES]

  Instead of a fine city of stone and mortar, he found scattered Indian
  villages with mere tent-like houses formed by fastening grass or straw
  or buffalo skins to poles. The people were the poorest and most
  barbarous which he had met. Coronado was, however, fortunate in securing
  a supply of corn and buffalo meat in Quivira for his long
  return journey.

CORONADO'S OPINION OF THE WEST. A year later a crestfallen army of
  half-starved men clad in the skins of animals stumbled back homeward
  through Mexico in straggling groups. Great sadness prevailed in Mexico,
  for many had lost their fortunes besides friends and relatives in the
  enterprise. Coronado seemed to the people of the time to have led a
  costly army on a wild-goose chase. He himself thought that the regions
  he had crossed were valueless. He said they were cold and too far away
  from the sea to furnish a good site for a colony, and the country was
  neither rich enough nor populous enough to make it worth keeping.

RESULTS OF CORONADO'S EXPLORATIONS. We know better to-day the
  value of Coronado's great discoveries. He had solved the age-long
  mystery of the Seven Cities, and explored the southwest of the United
  States of our day. The rich region now included in the great states of
  Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, and Kansas had been seen, and it
  was soon after described for the European world. His men had explored
  the Gulf of California to its head, and the Colorado River toward its
  source for two hundred miles. They had proved that lower California was
  not an island but a part of the mainland. Others soon explored the
  entire coast of California to the limits of the present state of Oregon.

HOW DE SOTO AND CORONADO CAME NEAR MEETING. De Soto and Coronado
  together pushed the Spanish frontier far northward to the center of
  North America. A story which was told by De Soto's men shows how close
  together the two great explorers were at one time. While Coronado was in
  Quivira, De Soto was wandering along the borders of the plains west of
  the Mississippi River, though neither knew of the nearness of the other.
  An Indian woman who ran away from Coronado's army fell in with De
  Soto's, nine days later. If De Soto and Coronado had met on the plains
  there would have been a finer story to tell, almost as dramatic as the
  meeting of Stanley and Livingstone in central Africa. One cannot refrain
  from wondering how different would have been the ending with the two
  great armies united and encouraged to continue their explorations.


    QUESTIONS

    1. What story had Ponce de Leon heard in the West Indies? What did
    he find? Why did he call the new country which he discovered
    Florida? What was included in Florida as the Spaniards
    understood it?

    2. What was De Soto looking for in North America? How long did he
    search? What did he find? Was he disappointed? What was he planning
    to do when he died? Why was his journey very remarkable? Through
    what present states of the United States did he pass?

    3. Where did the Spaniards expect to find the Seven Cities? Why did
    he expect to find them there? What was the story of the Seven
    Cities? Of the Seven Caves?

    4. What did Coronado expect to find at the Seven Cities of Cibola?
    What did he find there? Why did he go far on into North America in
    search of Quivira? What did he find on the way to Quivira? What did
    he find Quivira to be?

    5. What did Coronado think of his own discoveries? What had he found
    out of interest or value to the rest of the world? Which of the
    present states of the United States did his route touch?

    REVIEW

    1. Review the effect of the discoveries of Columbus,
    Magellan, De Soto, Coronado, on the knowledge of the new world.

    _Important date_--1541. The discovery of the Mississippi by De Soto.




CHAPTER XVIII

RIVALRY AND STRIFE IN EUROPE

THE RIVALS OF SPAIN. When the early voyages to America and Asia were
  ended, the French, the English, and the other northern peoples of
  Europe seemed to be beaten in the race for new lands and for new
  routes to old lands. The French had sent a few fishermen to the Banks
  of Newfoundland, and that was all. The English had made one or two
  voyages and appeared to be no longer interested. (See Chapter XIV,
  Cabot) The Dutch seemed to be only sturdy fishermen, thrifty farmers,
  or keen traders, occupied much of the time in the struggle against the
  North Sea, which threatened to burst the dikes and flood farms and
  cities.


THE TRADE-WINDS. The Portuguese and the Spaniards had a great
  advantage in living nearer the natural starting-point for such voyages.
  To go to Asia ships went by way of the Cape of Good Hope. To go to
  America a southern route was taken, for in the North Atlantic the
  prevailing winds are from the southwest, while south of Spain the
  trade-winds blow towards the southwest, making it easy to sail to
  America. To take the northern route, which was the natural one for
  French and English sailors, would be to battle against head winds and
  heavy seas.

THE SPANIARDS AND THE PORTUGUESE DIVIDE THE WORLD. The Spaniards
  and the Portuguese believed that their discoveries gave them the right
  to all new lands which should be found and to all trade by sea with the
  Golden East. Two years after the first voyage of Columbus the Spaniards
  agreed with the Portuguese that a line running 370 leagues west of the
  Cape Verde Islands should separate the regions claimed by each. The
  Spaniards were to hold all lands discovered west of that line, and the
  Portuguese all east of it. This left Brazil within the region claimed by
  the Portuguese. The rest of North and South America lay within the
  Spanish claims. It is the future history of this region that especially
  interests us as students of American history.

  [Illustration: CABOT MEMORIAL TOWER Erected at Bristol, England,
  in memory of the first sailor from England to visit America]

THE MAIN QUESTION. Were the Spaniards to keep what they claimed and
  continue to outstrip their northern rivals? The answer to this question
  is found in the history of Europe during the sixteenth century.
  Unfortunately for the Spaniards they were drawn into quarrels in Europe
  which cost them many men and much money. The consequence was that they
  were unable to make full use of their discoveries, even if they had
  known how. Before the century was ended their rivals, the English and
  the French, were stronger than they; and the Dutch, their own subjects,
  had rebelled against them.

THE ENGLISH AND THE FRENCH DESIRE A SHARE. Men had such great ideas
  of the immense wealth of the Indies that the successes of one nation
  made the other nations eager for some part of the spoil. Englishmen and
  Frenchmen were not likely to allow the Portuguese to take all they could
  find by sailing eastward around the Cape of Good Hope, and the Spaniards
  to keep whatever they discovered by sailing directly westward or by
  following the route marked out by Magellan. Both would search for new
  routes to the East, and both would lay claim to lands they saw by the
  way, regardless of any other nation. Many quarrels came from this
  rivalry, but quarrels arose also from other causes.

KING CHARLES AND KING FRANCIS. About the time Cortés conquered
  Mexico, his master, King Charles of Spain, began a war against Francis,
  the king of France. As long as these two kings lived they were either
  fighting or preparing to fight. Had Charles been king of Spain only,
  there might have been no trouble, but he ruled lands in Italy and
  claimed others which the French king ruled. He also ruled all the region
  north of France which is now Belgium and Holland, and he owned a
  district which forms part of eastern France near Switzerland. As he was
  the German emperor besides, the French king thought him too dangerous to
  be left in peace. These wars have little to do with American history,
  except that they helped to weaken the king of Spain and to prevent the
  Spaniards from making the most of their early successes in colonizing.

RELIGION A CAUSE OF STRIFE. Religion was the most serious cause of
  quarrel in the sixteenth century, and the king of Spain was the prince
  most injured by the struggle. At the time of Prince Henry of Portugal
  and of Columbus all peoples in western Europe worshiped in the same
  manner, taught their children the same beliefs, and in religious matters
  they all obeyed the pope. But by 1521 this had changed. The troubles
  began in Germany when Charles V was emperor. Before they were over
  Philip II, son of Charles, lost control of the Dutch, who rebelled and
  founded a republic of their own. The English finally became the
  principal enemies of Spain. The French, most of whom were of the same
  religion as the Spaniards, came to hate Spanish methods of defending
  religion, especially after the Spaniards had massacred a band of French
  settlers in America.

  [Illustration: EMPEROR CHARLES V]

THE "REFORMERS." Many men became discontented at the way the Church
  was managed. At first all were agreed that the evils of which they
  complained could be removed if priests, bishops, and pope worked
  together to that end. After a while some teachers in different countries
  not only complained of evils, but refused to believe as the Church had
  taught and as most people still believed. They did not mean to divide
  the Christian Church into several churches, but they thought they
  understood the words of the Bible better than the teachers of
  the Church.

THE REFORMATION. At that time people who were not agreed in their
  religious beliefs did not live peaceably in the same countries. The
  princes and kings who were faithful to the Church ordered that the new
  teachers and their followers should be punished. Other princes accepted
  the views of the "reformers," and soon began to punish those of their
  subjects who continued to believe as the Church taught. In Germany these
  princes were called "Protestants," because they protested against the
  efforts of the Emperor Charles and his advisers to stop the spread of
  the new religion. This name was afterwards given to all who refused to
  remain in the older Church, subject to the bishops and the pope.

CATHOLIC AND PROTESTANT LEADERS. The most famous leaders of the
  Roman Catholics at this time were Ignatius Loyola, a Spaniard, Reginald
  Pole, an Englishman, and Carlo Borromeo, an Italian. Loyola had been a
  soldier in his youth, but while recovering from a serious wound,
  resolved to be a missionary. With several other young men of the same
  purpose he founded the Society of Jesus or the Jesuit Order. Of the
  Protestants the greatest leaders were Martin Luther, a German, and John
  Calvin, a Frenchman. Luther was a professor in the university at
  Wittenberg in Saxony, which was ruled by the Elector Frederick the Wise.
  Calvin had lived as a student in Paris, but when King Francis resolved
  to allow no Protestants in his kingdom, Calvin was obliged to leave the
  country. He settled in the Swiss city of Geneva.

THE LUTHERAN CHURCH. Luther's teachings were accepted by many
  Germans, especially in northern Germany. He translated the Bible into
  German. After a while his followers formed a Church of their own which
  was called Lutheran. It differed from the Roman Catholic Church in the
  way it was governed as well as in what it taught.

THE FRENCH HUGUENOTS. Calvin lived in Geneva, but most of those who
  accepted his teachings continued to live in France. The nickname
  Huguenots, or confederates, was given to them. They were not permitted
  by the French king to worship as Calvin taught, but by 1562 so many
  nobles had joined them that it was no longer possible to treat them as
  criminals. They were permitted to hold their meetings outside the walled
  towns. The leader whom they most honored was Admiral Gaspard de Coligny.
  Both he and they, as we shall see, soon had reason to fear and hate the
  Spaniards. But we must first understand the difficulties which the king
  of Spain had in dealing with his Dutch subjects.

THE KING OF SPAIN AND THE NETHERLANDS. Philip II inherited from his
  father Charles seventeen duchies, counties, and other districts north of
  France in what is now Belgium and Holland. Charles had known how to
  manage these people, because he was brought up among them. The task of
  managing them was not easy. Each district or city had its own special
  rights and its people demanded that these should be respected by the
  ruling prince. Charles had remembered this, but Philip wished to rule
  the Netherlanders, as these people were called, just as he ruled the
  people of Spain.

  [Illustration: THE DIKES ALONG THE YSSEL IN THE NETHERLANDS]

PROTESTANTS IN THE NETHERLANDS. The trouble was made worse because
  many of the Netherlanders became followers of Luther or Calvin, and
  brought their books into the country. Now Philip, like his father
  Charles, was faithful to the teachings of the Church, and thought it was
  his duty to punish such persons. The result was that Philip soon had two
  kinds of enemies in his Netherland provinces, those who did not like the
  way he ruled and those who refused to believe as the Church taught, and
  the two united against him. After a while most of the Lutherans were
  driven away, but the Calvinists kept coming in over the border
  from France.

THE NETHERLANDS. The Netherlands, or Low Countries, are well
  named, especially the northern part where the Dutch live, because much
  of the land is below the level of the sea at high tide, and some of it
  at low tide. For several hundred years the Dutch built dikes to keep
  back the sea, or pumped it out where it flowed in and covered the lower
  lands. Occasionally great storms broke through the dikes and caused the
  Dutch months or years of labor. A people so brave and industrious were
  not likely to submit to the will of Philip II. The chances that they
  would rebel were increased by the spread of the new religious views,
  which the Dutch accepted more readily than their neighbors, the southern
  Netherlanders. The southern Netherlanders who became Calvinists
  generally emigrated to the northern cities, like Amsterdam, where they
  were safer.

  [Illustration: Map Of The Netherlands]

WILLIAM OF ORANGE. William, Prince of Orange, was the leader of the
  Dutch against Philip II. He had been trusted by Charles, Philip's
  father, who had leaned on his shoulder at the great ceremony held in
  Brussels when Charles gave up his throne to Philip. William was called
  the "Silent," because he was careful not to tell his plans to any except
  his nearest friends. When Philip returned to Spain, William was made
  governor or _stadtholder_ of three of the Dutch provinces--Holland,
  Zealand, and Utrecht. Philip was angry because William and other great
  nobles in the Netherlands opposed his way of dealing with the heretics
  and of ruling the Netherlands. In this both the southern Netherlanders
  and the northern Netherlanders were united, although the southern
  Netherlanders remained faithful to the Roman Catholic religion.

SPAIN AND ENGLAND. The English at first had no reason to quarrel
  with the king of Spain. They were friendly to the Netherlanders, who
  were his subjects. During the Middle Ages they sold great quantities of
  wool to the Netherland cities of Bruges, Brussels, and Ghent, and bought
  fine cloth woven in those towns. The friendship of the ruler of the
  Netherlands seemed necessary, if this trade was to prosper. It was the
  trouble about religion which finally made the English and the
  Spaniards enemies.

HENRY VIII. During the reign of Henry VIII, King of England, the
  king, the parliament, and the clergy decided to refuse obedience to the
  pope. The king called himself the head of the Church in England.
  Lutheran views crept into the country as they had done into the
  Netherlands, but King Henry at first disliked the Lutherans quite as
  much as he grew to dislike the pope.

THE ENGLISH CHURCH. So long as Henry lived not much change was made
  in the beliefs or the manner of worship in the Church. During the short
  reign of his son, the English Church became more like the Protestant
  Churches on the Continent, except that in England there were still
  archbishops and bishops, and the government of the Church went on much
  as before. When Henry's daughter Mary was made queen she tried to stop
  these changes, and for a few years her subjects were again obedient to
  the pope, but she died in 1558 and her half-sister, Elizabeth,
  became queen.

  [Illustration: QUEEN ELIZABETH]

THE ENGLISH CHURCH AND THE CATHOLICS. In religious matters Queen
  Elizabeth did much as her father and her brother had done. All persons
  were forced to attend the religious services carried on in the manner
  ordered in the prayer-book. Roman Catholics could not hold any
  government office. They were punished if they tried to persuade others
  to remain faithful to the older Church. Philip did not like this, but
  for a time he preferred to be on friendly terms with the English.

  [Illustration: COSTUMES AT THE TIME OF ELIZABETH]

QUEEN ELIZABETH. Queen Elizabeth ruled England for forty-five
  years. The English regard her reign as the most glorious in their
  history. Before it was over they proved themselves more than a match for
  the Spaniards on the sea. They also began to seek for routes to the East
  and to attempt settlements in America. Their trade was increasing. The
  Greek and Roman writers were studied by English scholars at Oxford and
  Cambridge. Books and poems and plays were written which were to make the
  English language the rival of the languages of Greece and Rome. This was
  the time when Shakespeare wrote his first plays.



    QUESTIONS

    1. Why was it easier to sail toward America from Spain or Portugal
    than from England?

    2. What peoples divided the new world between them? Where did they
    draw the line of division?

    3. Why were the kings of France and Spain rivals? Over what
    countries did King Charles rule?

    4. When did religion become a cause of strife? What king was chiefly
    injured by such struggles?

    5. Who were called "reformers?" By what other names were they
    called?

    6. Who were the leaders of the Catholics? of the Protestants? Who
    were the Huguenots? What was their leader's name?

    7. Why did Philip II and his subjects in the Netherlands quarrel?

    8. What was strange about the land in which the Dutch lived? Who was
    the hero of the Dutch?

    9. Why were the English and the Spaniards at first friendly? What
    king of England refused to obey the pope?

    10. Why do Englishmen think Queen Elizabeth a great ruler? How did
    Elizabeth settle the question of religion?



    EXERCISE

    Collect pictures of the Dutch, of their canals, dikes, and towns.




CHAPTER XIX

FIRST FRENCH ATTEMPTS TO SETTLE AMERICA

CARTIER. During the reign of Francis I, the French made the first
  serious attempts to find a westward route to the Far East and to settle
  the new lands that seemed to lie directly across the pathway. In 1534
  Jacques Cartier was sent with two ships in search of a strait beyond the
  regions controlled by Spain or Portugal which would lead into the
  Pacific Ocean. Cartier passed around the northern side of Newfoundland
  and into the broad expanse of water west of it. This he called the Gulf
  of St. Lawrence.

CARTIER AT MONTREAL. Cartier made a second voyage in the following
  year, exploring the great river which he called the St. Lawrence. He
  went up the river until the heights of Mount Royal or Montreal, as he
  called them, appeared on his right hand, and swift rapids in the river
  blocked his way in front. The name Lachine rapids, or the China rapids,
  which was afterwards given to these, remains to remind us that Cartier
  was searching for a passage to China.

THE FIRST WINTER IN CANADA. Cartier spent the severe winter which
  followed at the foot of the cliffs which mark the site of the modern
  city of Quebec. The expedition returned to France with the coming
  of spring.

ATTEMPTS TO PLANT A COLONY AT QUEBEC. Several years later, in 1541,
  Cartier and others attempted to establish a permanent settlement on the
  St. Lawrence. As it was hard to get good colonists to settle in the cold
  climate so far north, the leaders were allowed to ransack the prisons
  for debtors and criminals to make up the necessary numbers. They
  selected the neighborhood of the cliffs where Cartier had wintered in
  1535, where Quebec now stands, as the most suitable place for their
  colony. But the settlers were ill-fitted for the hardships of a new
  settlement in so cold and barren a country. Diseases and the hostility
  of the Indians completely discouraged them, and all gladly returned
  to France.

  [Illustration: MAP SHOWING JACQUES CARTIER's VOYAGES
  Thus: 1st Voyage---- 2d Voyage.... 3d Voyage--> -->]

  The zeal of the French for American discovery and settlement on the St.
  Lawrence ceased with Cartier. His hope that the St. Lawrence would prove
  the long-sought passage to China had to be given up, but the river which
  he had discovered and so thoroughly explored proved to be a great
  highway into the center of North America.

COLIGNY'S PLAN FOR A HUGUENOT COLONY. Nearly thirty years later the
  French Protestant leader, Coligny, formed the plan of establishing a
  colony in America, which would be a refuge for the Huguenots if their
  enemies got the upper hand in France. An expedition left France in 1564,
  and selected a site for a settlement near the mouth of the St. Johns
  river in Florida. It seemed a good place. A fort, called Fort Caroline,
  was quickly built. But the first colonists were not well chosen. They
  were chiefly younger nobles, soldiers unused to labor, or discontented
  tradesmen and artisans. There were few farmers among them.

THE MISDEEDS OF THE COLONISTS. They spent their time visiting
  distant Indian tribes in a vain search for gold and silver, or
  plundering Spanish villages and ships in the West Indies. No one thought
  of preparing the soil and planting seeds for a food supply. It seemed
  easier to rob neighbors. The provisions which they had brought with them
  gave out. Game and fish abounded in the woods and rivers about them, but
  they were without skill in hunting and fishing. Before the first year
  had passed the miserable inhabitants of Fort Caroline were reduced to
  digging roots in the forest for food. Starvation and the revenge of
  angry Indians confronted them.

RELIEF SENT TO THE COLONY. In August, 1565, just as the
  half-starved colonists were preparing to leave the country, an
  expedition with fresh settlers--mostly discharged soldiers, a few young
  nobles, and some mechanics with their families, three hundred in
  all--arrived in the harbor. It brought an abundance of supplies and
  other things needed by a colony in a new country. It looked then as
  though these Frenchmen would succeed in their plan and establish a
  permanent colony in America.

  [Illustration: FORT CAROLINE, THE FRENCH SETTLEMENT IN FLORIDA
  From De Bry's Voyages]

FORT CAROLINE AND THE SPANIARDS. The French had, however, settled
  in Florida. Indeed, it would have been difficult to settle in America at
  any place along the Atlantic coast without doing so. The Spaniards
  regarded all North America from Mexico to Labrador as lying within
  Florida. The attempt of the French to settle on the lands claimed by the
  king of Spain was sure to bring on a war, sooner or later. The conduct
  of the French at Fort Caroline in plundering the Spanish colonies in the
  West Indies made all Spaniards anxious to drive out such a nest of
  robbers and murderers. Besides, the Spaniards hated Coligny's followers
  more than ordinary Frenchmen, because they were Huguenots.

MENENDEZ. At the time the news reached Spain of Coligny's
  settlement at Fort Caroline, a Spanish nobleman, Pedro Menendez, was
  preparing to establish a colony in Florida, and thus after a long delay
  carry out the task which De Soto had vainly attempted. Menendez was
  naturally as eager as the king to drive out the French intruders. So an
  expedition larger than was planned at first was hurried off. Menendez
  was to do three things: drive the French out, conquer and Christianize
  the Indians, and establish Spanish settlements in Florida.

THE DEFEAT OF THE FRENCH FLEET. Menendez with a part of his fleet
  arrived before Fort Caroline just one week after the relief expedition
  which Coligny had sent over came into harbor. His ships attacked and
  scattered those of the French. The vessels of the French for the most
  part sought refuge on the high seas. They were too swift to be
  overtaken, but no match for the Spanish in battle. Menendez decided to
  wait for the rest of his ships before making another attack on Fort
  Caroline. Meanwhile he sailed southward along the coast for fifty miles
  till he came to an inlet. He called the place St. Augustine.

ST. AUGUSTINE FOUNDED. A friendly Indian chief readily gave his
  dwelling to the Spaniards. It was a huge, barn-like structure, made of
  the entire trunks of trees, and thatched with palmetto leaves. Soldiers
  quickly dug a ditch around it and threw up a breastwork of earth and
  small sticks. The colonists who came with Menendez landed and set about
  the usual work of founding a settlement. Such was the beginning of the
  Spanish town of St. Augustine, founded in 1565, and the oldest town in
  the United States.

  [Illustration: ST. AUGUSTINE, FLORIDA, AS FOUNDED BY MENENDEZ
  Pagus Hispanorum as given in Montanus and Ogilby]

FRENCH SAIL TO ATTACK ST. AUGUSTINE. Both sides prepared for a
  terrible struggle, the French at Fort Caroline and the Spaniards in
  their new quarters at St. Augustine. The French struck the first blow. A
  few of the weaker and the sick soldiers were left at Fort Caroline to
  stand guard with the women and children. The main body aboard the ships
  advanced by sea to attack St. Augustine, but a furious tempest scattered
  and wrecked the French fleet before it arrived.

MENENDEZ DESTROYS FORT CAROLINE. Menendez now took advantage of the
  storm to march overland to Fort Caroline, wading through swamps and
  fording streams amid a fearful rain and gale. His drenched and hungry
  followers fell like wild beasts upon the few French left in the fort.
  About fifty of the women and children were spared to become captives. As
  many men escaped in the forests around the fort, but the greater part
  were killed.

CAPTURE OF THE SHIPWRECKED FRENCH. The French fleet had been
  wrecked off the coast of Florida a dozen miles south of St. Augustine. A
  few days later Menendez discovered some survivors wandering along the
  coast, half starved, trying to live on the shell-fish they found on the
  beach, and slowly and painfully working their way back toward Fort
  Caroline. The Frenchmen begged Menendez to be allowed to remain in the
  country till ships could be sent to take them off, but he was unwilling
  to make any terms with them.

MURDER OF THE CAPTIVES. The unhappy Frenchmen were taken prisoners,
  and, a few hours later, put to death. Other shipwrecked refugees were
  captured a few days later, and these suffered the same fate. Nearly
  three hundred perished in this cold-blooded manner. It was a merciless
  deed, and yet such was the character of all warfare at the time.
  Menendez believed that he was doing his duty. Nor did the king of Spain
  think Menendez unduly cruel, for when he heard the story of the fate of
  the Frenchmen of Fort Caroline he sent this message to Menendez: "Say to
  him that, as to those he has killed, he has done well; and as to those
  he has saved, they shall be sent to the galleys."

  [Illustration: NORTH AMERICA AS KNOWN AFTER THE EXPLORATIONS OF
  DE SOTO CORONADO AND CARTIER]

  [Illustration: (map)]


    QUESTIONS

    1. Who was the leader in the first French efforts to explore and
    settle in North America? Find as many reasons as possible why France
    had not tried to settle in America before. What parts of the
    continent did Cartier become interested in? Why was he specially
    interested in St. Lawrence region?

    2. How did Montreal get its name? Why was the name, Lachine rapids,
    given to the rapids above Montreal on the St. Lawrence river?

    3. Why did Cartier fail in his attempts to plant a French colony in
    North America? How much had he and his friends accomplished for
    France in North America?

    4. Why did Coligny later wish to establish a colony in America?
    Where did his people try to settle? Find the place on the map.
    Give several reasons why they soon got into trouble with
    the Spaniards.

    5. What did the king of Spain send Menendez to Florida to do? What
    things did he accomplish? Why do we specially remember St.
    Augustine? Find it on the map.



    EXERCISES

    1. Examine the map of North America in 1541. What parts
    of North America were known? What parts were unknown? Can you see
    why the explorers would search each bay or inlet or great river?

    2. Find how far into the continent of North America the French
    explored the St. Lawrence river, that is, the distance from
    Newfoundland to Montreal by using the scale of miles on a map in one
    of your geographies.

    _Important Date_: 1565. The founding of St. Augustine.





CHAPTER XX

THE ENGLISH AND THE DUTCH TRIUMPH OVER SPAIN

CRUEL TREATMENT OF THE NETHERLANDERS. Two years after the cruel
  massacre of the Huguenot colony in Florida, Philip II, the King of
  Spain, decided to put an end to the obstinacy of the Netherlanders, and
  sent an army from Spain commanded by the Duke of Alva, who was as
  pitiless as Menendez. Alva began by seizing prominent nobles, and he
  would have arrested the Prince of Orange, but he escaped into Germany. A
  court was set up which condemned many persons to death, including the
  greatest nobles of the land. The people nicknamed it the Council of
  Blood. Alva also turned the merchants against him by compelling them to
  pay the "tenth penny," that is, one tenth of the price of the goods
  every time these were either bought or sold. Alva made himself so
  thoroughly hated that even Philip decided to call him back to Spain.

THE BEGGARS OF THE SEA. Just then something happened which gave
  Coligny and the Huguenots their chance for vengeance. The men who were
  resisting the king's officers in the Netherlands had been nicknamed the
  "Beggars." When they were driven from the cities they took to the sea.
  The "Beggars of the Sea" sometimes found a port of refuge in La
  Rochelle, a Huguenot town on the western coast of France, and sometimes
  they put into friendly English harbors. From these places they would
  sail out and attack Spanish vessels. When Queen Elizabeth in 1572
  ordered a fleet of these "Beggars" to leave, they crossed over to their
  own shores and drove the Spanish garrison out of Brille. This success
  encouraged the Dutch and many of the southern Netherlanders to rise and
  expel the Spanish soldiers from their towns.

THE FRENCH PROMISE AID. As soon as Coligny heard the news he urged
  the French king to send an army into the Netherlands and take vengeance
  not only for the massacre at Fort Caroline, but also for all the wrongs
  that he and his father and his grandfather had ever received at the
  hands of the Spaniards. The French king agreed and wrote a letter to the
  Netherlanders promising aid.

  [Illustration: GASPARD DE COLIGNY After the portrait in the
  Public Library, Geneva]

MASSACRE OF HUGUENOTS IN PARIS. The plan was never carried out.
  While Coligny and many other Huguenots were in Paris, his enemies
  attempted to kill him. When the attempt failed these enemies, including
  the king's mother, persuaded the king that Coligny and the Huguenots
  were plotting against him, and goaded the king into ordering the murder
  of all the Huguenots in Paris and the other cities of France. Thousands
  of Huguenots perished. When the Netherlanders heard of what had befallen
  Coligny and his followers, they were crushed with grief. Coligny had
  missed the chance of vengeance. But the Spanish king was soon to have
  other enemies besides the Huguenots who were ready to help the Dutch.
  These new enemies were the English.

THE ENGLISH DRAWN INTO THE CONFLICT. The religious troubles in
  England had been growing more serious. Two or three plots were made to
  assassinate Elizabeth in order to put on the throne Queen Mary of
  Scotland, who was the next heir. Philip began to encourage these
  plotters, especially after the pope in 1570 had excommunicated Elizabeth
  and forbidden her subjects to obey her as queen. She was sure to be
  dragged into the struggle in the Netherlands sooner or later. We have
  seen that she had once sheltered the "Beggars of the Sea." The murder of
  Coligny and his followers frightened the English and made many of them
  anxious to join in the conflict before their friends on the Continent,
  the French Huguenots and the Dutch Calvinists, were utterly destroyed.

GROWTH OF ENGLISH TRADE. If England should be drawn into war, her
  safety would depend mainly upon her ships. Englishmen had always taken
  to the sea, as was natural for men whose shores were washed by the
  Atlantic, the Channel and the North Sea, but they were slow in building
  fleets of ships either for trade or for war. The trade of the country
  with other peoples in the Middle Ages was carried on mostly by
  foreigners. Yet since the days of Elizabeth's father and grandfather a
  change had taken place. English merchants found their way to all
  markets. They also made new things to sell. Refugees driven by the
  religious troubles from France and the Netherlands brought their skill
  to England and taught the English how to weave fine woolens and silks.

THE NEW ENGLISH NAVY. The English navy was growing. One of the new
  ships, _The Triumph_, carried 450 seamen, 50 gunners, and 200 soldiers.
  Besides harquebuses for the soldiers, there were many kinds of cannon
  with strange names, such as culverins, falconets, sakers, serpentines,
  and rabinets. Four of the cannon were large enough to shoot a
  cannon-ball eight inches in diameter. But it was on the skill and
  courage of her men rather than upon the size of her ships that England
  relied for victory.

  [Illustration: SIR FRANCIS DRAKE After the painting at Buckland
  Abby, England]

SIR FRANCIS DRAKE. One of these men was Francis Drake. He was son
  of a chaplain in the navy and as a boy played in the rigging of the
  great ships-of-war, as other boys play in the streets. In time young
  Drake was apprenticed to the skipper of a small trading vessel. Fortune
  smiled on the lad early in life. His master died, and out of love for
  the apprentice who had served him so well, left him the vessel. Francis
  Drake became thus a shipmaster on his own account, and in time the most
  popular of Queen Elizabeth's sea-captains.

SLAVE-TRADERS. He often went with his cousin, John Hawkins, on
  voyages to Africa. They bought negro slaves from slave-traders along the
  coast, or kidnaped negroes whom they found, and carried them to the
  Spanish planters of the West Indies. Hawkins and Drake were as devout
  and humane as other men of their time. They simply could not see any
  wrong in enslaving the heathen black men in Africa. Besides, they
  enjoyed the wild life of the slave-trader with its dangers and
  rich rewards.

WHY DRAKE HATED THE SPANIARDS. The king of Spain tried to keep the
  trade in slaves for his own merchants, and attempted to prevent the
  trade of the English slavers with the West Indies. Spanish ships-of-war
  ruined one of the voyages from which Hawkins and Drake hoped for large
  profits. The Spaniards won thereby the undying hatred of Drake.

THE DRAGON OF THE SEAS. It was a time, too, when Drake's countrymen
  at home shared his intense hatred of the Spaniard. While England and
  Spain were not at war with one another, English and Spanish traders
  fought whenever they met on the high seas. The English made the Spanish
  settlements in America their special prey. At certain times of the year
  Spanish ships, called government ships, carried to Spain gold and
  silver--the royal share of the products of America. Drake, like many
  another of his countrymen, lay in wait to rob these ships of their
  precious cargoes. He managed to gather a fortune by his cunning and
  courage. More than once he was forced to bury his treasures in the sand
  to lighten his ships that they might sail the faster, and escape his
  pursuers. The Spaniards came to know and to fear Drake as the Dragon
  of the Seas.

  [Illustration: SPANISH TREASURE SHIP]

DRAKE'S VENTURE. Drake once formed the plan to take a fleet into
  the Pacific Ocean in order to plunder the treasure ships where they
  would be less on their guard. A fleet of five ships was made ready.
  Contributions from wealthy merchants and powerful nobles, perhaps a gift
  from Queen Elizabeth herself, gave him the means for unusual luxuries in
  the equipment of his fleet. Skilful musicians and rich furniture were
  taken on board Drake's own ship, the _Pelican_, or the _Golden Hind_ as
  he afterwards christened it. The brilliant little fleet left Plymouth in
  1577. One after another of the ships turned back or was destroyed on the
  long voyage of twelve months across the Atlantic and through the Strait
  of Magellan.

BEYOND THE STRAIT OF MAGELLAN. The _Golden Hind_ alone remained to
  carry out the original project. As it entered the Pacific Ocean a furious
  storm drove the little vessel southward beyond Cape Horn to the regions
  where the oceans meet. No one before had sailed so far south.

THE FIRST PRIZES. Drake regained control of his ship when the storm
  had passed, and sailed northward along the coast, plundering and robbing
  as he went. Once, as a land-party was searching along the shore for
  fresh water, it came upon a Spaniard asleep with thirteen bars of silver
  beside him. His nap was disturbed long enough to take away his burden.
  Further on they met another Spaniard and an Indian boy driving a train
  of Peruvian sheep laden with eight hundred pounds of silver. The
  Englishmen took their place, and merrily drove the sheep to their boats.
  A treasure ship, nicknamed the _Spitfire_, on the way to Panama, was
  captured after a long chase of nearly eight hundred miles. Drake
  obtained from it unknown quantities of gold and silver. With such a rich
  load, his thoughts turned to the homeward voyage.

DRAKE'S VOYAGE AROUND THE WORLD. By this time a host of Spanish
  war-ships were on Drake's track. They expected to capture him on his
  return through the Strait of Magellan. Drake, now confronted with real
  danger, cunningly outwitted his enemies. He and many other Englishmen of
  his day were sure a passage would be found somewhere through North
  America between the Atlantic and the Pacific. Spanish, French, and
  English explorers had all carried on the search for this passage. Drake
  decided to return by such a route, if it were possible. He followed the
  coast of California, and probably passed that of Oregon and Washington
  as far as Vancouver

  [Illustration: MAP OF DRAKE'S VOYAGE]

  When it grew colder and the coast turned to the westward, he gave up the
  search.

  After making some needed repairs in a small harbor a few miles above the
  modern San Francisco, Drake set out boldly across the Pacific to return
  home, as Magellan's men had done before him, by going around the world.
  He touched at the Philippines, visited the Spice Islands, and slowly
  worked his way around the Cape of Good Hope. The _Golden Hind_, long
  since given up as lost, reached England in the fall of 1580, after
  nearly three years' absence. For a second time a ship had sailed around
  the world. Drake was the first Englishman to gain the honor.

DRAKE'S REWARD. Queen Elizabeth liked the story Drake told of
  outwitting and plundering Spaniards. Arrayed in her most gorgeous robes
  she visited his ship, where a banquet had been prepared. While Drake
  knelt at her feet she made him a knight. And so it was that the man whom
  the Spaniards called with good reason the Master Thief of the Seas, the
  English called by a new title, Sir Francis Drake, and praised as the
  greatest sea-captain of the age. His ship, the _Golden Hind_, was
  ordered to be preserved forever.

THE DUTCH STRUGGLE AGAINST SPAIN. A few years after Drake returned
  the English took a deeper interest in the struggle between Philip and
  the Dutch. Although the Dutch had lost hope of help from the French
  Huguenots, they resisted Philip's generals more boldly than ever. The
  Spanish soldiers treated the towns which surrendered so savagely that
  the other towns decided it was better to die fighting than to yield. The
  siege of Leyden became famous because, after food had given out and the
  inhabitants were starving their friends cut the great dikes in order
  that the boats of the "Beggars of the Sea" loaded with provisions might
  be floated up to the very walls of the city. This unexpected flood also
  drove away the Spaniards. Fortunately after the rescue of the city a
  strong wind arose and drove back the waves so that the dikes could again
  be replaced.

  [Illustration: QUEEN ELIZABETH MAKING DRAKE A KNIGHT]

THE DEATH OF WILLIAM OF ORANGE. King Philip had come to the
  conclusion that unless William of Orange were killed the Dutch could not
  be conquered, and so he put a price on Prince William's head, offering a
  large sum of money to any one who should kill him. The first attempts
  failed, but finally in 1584 he was shot.

SIR PHILIP SIDNEY. The murder of William alarmed the English for
  Elizabeth's life, especially as Philip had already aided men who were
  plotting against her. She sent an army into the Netherlands to aid the
  Dutch, although she had not made up her mind to attack Philip directly.
  The army did not give much help to the Dutch, but it is remembered
  because a noble English poet, Sir Philip Sidney, was mortally wounded in
  one of the battles. The story is told that while Sidney was riding back,
  tortured by his wound, he became very thirsty, as wounded men always do,
  and begged for a drink of water. Looking up when it was brought to him
  he saw on the ground a common soldier more sorely wounded than he. He
  immediately sent the water to the soldier saying, "Thy necessity is
  greater than mine."

THE INVINCIBLE ARMADA. The king of Spain now decided that he could
  not subdue the Dutch until he had thoroughly punished the English. He
  even planned to put himself upon the English throne, claiming that he
  was the heir of one of the early kings of England. Months were spent in
  preparing a great fleet, an "Invincible Armada" which was to sail up the
  Channel, take on board the Spanish army in the Netherlands, and cross
  over to England. While these preparations were being made with Philip's
  usual care, Sir Francis Drake swooped down on Cadiz and burnt so much
  shipping and destroyed so many supplies that the voyage had to be
  postponed a year. This Drake called "singeing the king of
  Spain's beard."

THE ARMADA IN THE CHANNEL. It was July, 1588, before the
  "Invincible Armada" appeared off Plymouth in the English Channel. Many
  of the Spanish ships were larger than the English ships, but they were
  so clumsy that the English could outsail them and attack them from any
  direction they chose. Moreover, the Spaniards needed to fight close at
  hand in order that the soldiers armed with ordinary guns might join in
  the fray. The English kept out of range of these guns and used their
  heavy cannon.

  [Illustration: THE SPANISH ARMADA IN THE ENGLISH CHANNEL After
  an engraving by the Society of Antiquarians following a tapestry in the
  House of Lords]

DESTRUCTION OF THE ARMADA. With the English ships clinging to the
  flanks and rear of the Armada, the Spaniards moved heavily up the
  Channel. In the narrower waters between Dover and Calais the English
  attacked more fiercely, and sank several Spanish vessels. Soon the
  others were fleeing into the North Sea, driven by a furious gale. Many
  sought to reach Spain by sailing around Scotland and Ireland, and some
  of these ships were dashed on the rocky shores. Only a third of Philip's
  proud fleet returned to Spain.

EFFECT OF THE DEFEAT OF THE ARMADA ON SPAIN. This was the last
  attempt Philip made to attack the English, because Spain had been
  exhausted in the effort to collect money and supplies for the Invincible
  Armada. The war dragged on for many years, and the English attacked and
  plundered Spanish vessels wherever they found them.

THE INDEPENDENCE OF THE DUTCH. The ruin of the Armada also meant
  that the Dutch would succeed in becoming independent of the Spanish
  king. Seven of the northern provinces had already formed a union and had
  begun to call themselves the United Netherlands. They were growing
  richer while their neighboring provinces on the south, which had decided
  to return to their allegiance to Spain, grew poorer.

FIRST VOYAGE OF THE DUTCH TO THE EAST. Even while the fight was
  going on the Dutch traded in places where Philip had not permitted them
  to trade while he could control them. One of these places was Lisbon,
  the capital of Portugal. Here the Dutch obtained spices which the
  Portuguese brought from the East Indies. But in 1580 Philip seized
  Portugal, and the Dutch could no longer go to Lisbon. This made them
  anxious to find their way to the East. In 1595 the first fleet set out.
  This voyage was unsuccessful, but other fleets followed, until soon the
  Dutch had almost driven the Portuguese, now subjects of the king of
  Spain, from the Spice Islands. Soon also Dutch sailors ventured across
  the Atlantic to the shores of America.


    QUESTIONS

    1. What country in northern Europe did Spain rule? What name was
    given to those who resisted the Spanish officers in the Netherlands?
    Why were they given this name?

    2. What promise did Coligny make to the people of the Netherlands?
    Why was he unable to carry it out? What other people were ready to
    help the Dutch? Can you give one reason at least why the English
    were willing to help the Dutch against Spain?

    3. Why had English trade grown important? Did this help to make a
    navy?

    4. Why did English sailors like Drake specially hate the Spaniards?
    What was Drake's method of making a living? How did he come to go
    around the world in 1577-1580? How long was it since Magellan made
    his voyage?

    5. What did the English think of Drake? What did the Spaniards think
    of him? Why did each people think as it did?

    6. Why did Philip of Spain have William of Orange killed? Why did
    this make the conquest of the Dutch even harder?

    7. Why did Philip, king of Spain, try to conquer England and make
    himself king of that country? How did he try to carry out his plan?
    Why were the English victorious in the great battle with the Armada?
    Where was the battle fought?

    8. How did the defeat of the Armada affect Spain's war in the
    Netherlands? Did all of the Netherlands become independent of Spain?

    9. What trade did the Dutch begin to carry on before their war with
    Spain ended?

    10. What new people became rivals of the Spaniards and French for
    trade and settlements in America?



    EXERCISES

    1. What parts of North America did Drake visit on his famous voyage
    around the world?

    2. What effect did the quarrels in Europe described in Chapters 19
    and 20 have upon the progress in exploring and settling America?

    3. Find out whether the people of the northern Netherlands and the
    southern Netherlands are still separate countries to-day.



CHAPTER XXI

THE ENGLISH PEOPLE ATTEMPT TO SETTLE AMERICA

ENGLISH INTEREST IN AMERICA AWAKENED. Voyages like those made by
  Sir Francis Drake awakened a desire throughout England to learn more
  about the New World. Until this time even the great discoveries of
  Columbus and the Cabots had failed to stir the English people to take
  part in the exploration and settlement of the Americas. The principal
  reason was because their attention was occupied by the struggle between
  their monarchs and the popes to decide whether king or pope should
  govern the English Church. This continued until Queen Elizabeth had been
  on the throne some years.

  Other sea-captains, hearing of Drake's success, now turned their ships
  toward the Americas. Many went to the West Indies, as he had done,
  mainly to seize the rich plunder to be found on board the ships of Spain
  bound homeward. Some of them explored the coast of North America, hoping
  to find valuable regions that had not fallen into the possession of the
  Spaniards.

THE NORTHWEST PASSAGE. Martin Frobisher made three voyages, the
  last in 1578, in search of a passage through North America to China. He
  entered the bay which bears his name, and the strait which was later
  called after Hudson, but failed to find a passage. Drake attempted to
  find the western entrance to such a passage in 1579 as a short cut
  homeward when he tried to avoid his Spanish pursuers.

GILBERT. A grander scheme was planned by Humphrey Gilbert. He
  wished to build up another England across the sea, just as the people of
  Spain were building up another Spain. He planned to do this by
  establishing farms to which he and others might send laborers who could
  not find work at home. Queen Elizabeth liked this plan, and to encourage
  him, and to repay him for the expense of carrying the emigrants over,
  she promised him the land for six hundred miles on each side of his
  settlements.

  [Illustration: CHARLCOTE HALL An English Manor House of the time
  of Queen Elizabeth]

FAILURE OF GILBERT'S EXPEDITION. Gilbert tried twice to plant a
  colony in the neighborhood of the Gulf of St. Lawrence. Sir Walter
  Raleigh, his half-brother, was one of his captains in the expedition of
  1578. He would have been in the disastrous second attempt in 1583 had
  not Queen Elizabeth, full of forebodings of danger to her favorite,
  refused to let him go. As it was he sent a ship at his own cost. Gilbert
  took a large supply of hobby-horses and other toys with which to please
  the savages. Mishap, desertion, and shipwreck pursued the luckless
  commander.

  The second expedition left Plymouth with five vessels in 1583. The ship
  that Raleigh sent, the best in the fleet, deserted before they were out
  of sight of England. One was left in Newfoundland. The wreck of the
  largest ship, with most of the provisions, off Cape Breton, so
  discouraged the crews that they prevailed upon Gilbert to abandon the
  plan to settle on such barren and stormy shores, Gilbert attempted to
  return on the _Squirrel_, the smaller of the two remaining vessels. This
  was a tiny vessel of scarcely ten tons burden. What was left of the
  little fleet voyaged homeward by the southern way, and ran into a
  fearful storm as it approached the Azores.

  Although Gilbert was urged to go aboard the larger vessel, he refused to
  desert his companions, with whom he had passed through so many storms
  and perils, and tried to calm the fears of all by his reply, "Do not
  fear, Heaven is as near by water as by land." One night the _Squirrel_
  suddenly sank. All on board were lost. Such was the sad ending of the
  first efforts to establish an English colony in North America.

RALEIGH Sir Walter Raleigh took up the interesting plan which his
  kinsman, Gilbert, had at heart. Raleigh was now at the height of his
  favor with Queen Elizabeth. She had made him wealthy, especially by the
  gift of large estates which she had taken from others. She readily
  promised him the same privileges in America which she had offered to
  Gilbert. Raleigh doubtless thought that he might increase his fortune
  and win glory for himself and for his country by planting English
  colonies in the New World. No man of the age was better fitted for the
  undertaking. He had shown himself a fearless soldier and an able
  commander in the war against Spain in the Netherlands. He had fortune,
  skill, and powerful friends. Like Gilbert, he was a friend of poets and
  scholars and a student of books; like Drake, he was a natural leader
  of men.

  [Illustration: SIR WALTER RALEIGH AND HIS SON]

VIRGINIA. Raleigh began in 1584 by sending an expedition to explore
  the coast for a suitable site for a colony. His men sailed by way of the
  Canaries, and came upon North America in the neighborhood of Pamlico
  Sound, avoiding the stormy route directly across the Atlantic which
  Gilbert had followed. They found, therefore, instead of the bleak shore
  of Newfoundland and Prince Edward Island, the genial climate of North
  Carolina and Virginia.

  They carried home glowing reports of the country. They were particularly
  pleased with an island in Pamlico Sound called by the Indians Roanoke
  Island. They noted with wonder the overhanging grape-vines loaded with
  fruit, the fine cedar trees which seemed to them the highest and reddest
  in the world, the great flocks of noisy white cranes, and the numberless
  deer in the forests. The Indians appeared gentle and friendly, Elizabeth
  was so pleased with the accounts of the country that she allowed it to
  be called Virginia after herself, the Virgin Queen, and made Raleigh
  a knight.

THE FIRST ENGLISH COLONISTS. Raleigh made several attempts to plant
  a colony in Virginia. The most famous one was led by John White in 1587.
  White had visited Virginia on an earlier voyage, and painted more than
  seventy pictures of Indian life, representing their dress and their
  manner of living. These may still be seen in the British Museum in
  London. His interest in the country and its Indian population made his
  appointment as governor seem a wise choice. Care was taken in the
  selection of colonists in order to secure farmers rather than
  gold-seekers. Twenty-five women and children were included in the colony
  of about one hundred and fifty persons.

ROANOKE. White and his followers settled on Roanoke Island. They
  found that the fort, which one of Raleigh's officers had built some
  years earlier, was leveled to the ground. Several huts were still
  standing, but they were falling to pieces. The first task was to rebuild
  the huts and move into them from their ships. A baby girl was born a few
  days after the landing, the first child born of English parents in the
  New World. Her father, Ananias Dare, was one of White's councilors; her
  mother, Eleanor Dare, was the daughter of Governor White. The baby was
  given the name Virginia, the name of the country which was to be
  her home.

  [Illustration: MAP OF RALEIGH'S COLONIES]

THE COLONISTS IN DANGER. The little colony must have foreseen the
  hostility of the Indians and a scarcity of food, for before Governor
  White had been in America two months, he was sent back to England to
  obtain more provisions, White, from his own account, did not wish to
  leave his daughter and granddaughter.

WHITE'S SEARCH FOR AID. White returned to England in the fall of
  1587 at the wrong moment to ask for aid. All England was alarmed by the
  rumor that a great Spanish fleet was about to land an invading army. The
  friends of Virginia in England were too busy protecting their own homes
  from the invader to give heed to the needs of the farmer colonists
  across the sea. White traveled through England, seeking aid for his
  friends and family, but was disappointed everywhere.

WHY RALEIGH GAVE NO HELP. Raleigh had by no means forgotten his
  colonists, but his queen and his country had the first claim on him
  through the long war with Spain. Twice during this period, he found time
  and means to prepare relief expeditions for Virginia. The queen stopped
  the first one just as it was ready to sail, because all the ships were
  needed at that moment for service in the war. A second expedition was
  attacked by the Spaniards and forced to return.

THE LOST COLONY. White finally secured passage for himself on a
  fleet going to the West Indies, not with a fleet and relief supplies of
  his own, but as a passenger on another man's ship. It was the summer of
  1591 when he arrived at Roanoke, four years after his departure. The
  colonists were not to be found. Their houses were torn down. The chests
  which they had evidently buried in order to hide them from the Indians
  had been dug up and ransacked of everything of value. White's own papers
  which he had left behind were strewn about. His pictures and maps were
  torn and rotten with the rain. His armor was almost eaten through
  with rust.

  One trace of the fate of the settlers was left. The large letters
  CROATOAN were carved on a tree near the entrance to the old fort. White
  recalled the agreement made when he left four years before. If the
  colonists should find it necessary to leave Roanoke, they were to carve
  on a tree the name of the place to which they were going. If they were
  in danger or distress when they left, they were to carve a cross over
  the name of the place. White found no cross. The word Croatoan was the
  name of a small island lying south of Cape Hatteras, where Indians lived
  who were known to be friendly. White believed his friends to be safe
  among the Indians at Croatoan, but he could not go farther in search for
  them because the captains of the ships which brought him over refused to
  delay longer. They gave many excuses, but were evidently more eager to
  attack the Spaniards than to find a few luckless emigrants.

  [Illustration: AN INDIAN VILLAGE IN 1589
  After a drawing by John White, now in the British Museum]

  The fate of Raleigh's colony is one of the puzzles of history. It is
  believed that they took refuge with friendly Indians, and lived with
  them until they lost their lives in war or had adopted the ways of their
  protectors.

VALUE OF THE EFFORTS OF THE ENGLISH AND THE FRENCH. Raleigh had
  failed to carry out his great plan to plant a new England in America,
  but he had awakened in his countrymen an interest in America, and made
  known the advantages of its soil and climate. The French had apparently
  made no greater headway. Cartier's colony on the St. Lawrence had broken
  up, and the Spaniards had driven the French colony from Florida. The
  history of Coligny's colony at Fort Caroline, Cartier's at Quebec,
  Gilbert's on the coast of the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and Raleigh's at
  Roanoke, had shown how useless were attempts to settle in America which
  were not strongly supported by friends or by the home government. These
  attempts to plant colonies in America were not, however, as bad failures
  as they appeared. Both nations had learned much about the country and
  about the preparations needed for permanent settlements.

WHAT THE SPANISH HAD ACCOMPLISHED. In 1600 Spain seemed to have
  achieved much more than either of her rivals. The map of that time shows
  Spain in possession of vast territories in North and South America. The
  English had a small tract, Virginia, in which they had some interest but
  no colonists. The French regarded the St. Lawrence valley as theirs by
  right of discovery, but they could point to no settlements to clinch
  that claim.

  The Spaniards, on the other hand, counted more than two hundred cities
  and towns which they had planted in their territories. About two hundred
  thousand Spaniards, farmers, miners, traders, soldiers, and nobles, had
  either migrated from Spain to America or had been born there of
  emigrants since Columbus's discovery. Five million Indians had come
  under their rule, and most of them were living as civilized men, and
  called themselves Christians. One hundred and forty thousand negro
  slaves had been carried from Africa to the plantations and mines in
  Spanish America.

  [Illustration: Regions in the New World and the East claimed by
  the Countries of Europe after a century of exploration.]

  The City of Mexico, the largest in all America, was much like the cities
  of Spain. Well-built houses of wood, stone, and mason-work abounded.
  Churches, monasteries, a university, higher schools for boys and girls,
  four hospitals, of which one was for Indians, and public buildings,
  similar to those in the cities of old Spain, already existed. Spanish
  life and Spanish culture had spread over a large area in the New World,
  and the most remarkable fact was that the Old World civilization had
  been bestowed on the Indian population. As Roman culture went into Spain
  and Gaul, so Spanish culture went into a New Spain in a new world.

THE PROSPECTS OF THE SPANISH COLONIES. But the outlook for Spain in
  America was not wholly bright. Her struggle with her Dutch subjects and
  the war with England, which grew out of that quarrel, left her
  completely worn out. She no longer had the people to spare for American
  settlements. These ceased to grow as they once had. Negroes and Indians
  outnumbered the Spaniards in most of them. The three races mingled
  together and intermarried until a new people, the Spanish American,
  differing in color and blood from either of the old races, was formed.

THE LATER STORY OF COLONIZATION. Spain's rivals--the Dutch, the
  English, and the French--were just reaching the height of their power.
  They had settled their most serious religious differences. Their
  merchants were eagerly looking about for commercial opportunities. A
  considerable population in each of them, but more especially in England,
  was discontented and ready to try its fortunes in a new world. The
  Spaniards had passed by the best parts of North America as worthless.
  The people and the unoccupied land were both ready for the formation of
  colonies on a larger scale. In many ways a greater story of American
  colonization remains to be told. This will be the story of the Dutch,
  the French, and the English colonization of North America.


    QUESTIONS

    1. Why had the English people not taken more interest in America
    before Drake's time? What finally, made the English sea-captains
    turn to American adventure and exploration?

    2. What did Gilbert attempt to do? How many reasons can you find for
    his failure?

    3. Why was Raleigh specially fitted to begin the task of planting
    English colonies in America? What part of North America did his men
    select for a settlement? Why did it seem a suitable place? What name
    was given to the country?

    4. Why did Raleigh fail to help his colony at Roanoke? What did
    White think had happened to them? Why didn't he go in search
    of them?

    5. Why had the French and the English been unsuccessful in their
    efforts to settle North America? Had they really gained anything
    from all their efforts?

    6. What had Spain accomplished since the voyage by Columbus? Why
    were the prospects of Spain not so bright as they had been? What
    rivals were ready to begin colonies in America?


    EXERCISES

    1. How much territory was Queen Elizabeth willing to give Gilbert
    for his plan in North America? Was there this much (twelve hundred
    miles) of the Atlantic coast of North America unclaimed by the
    French and the Spaniards?

    2. Find Roanoke Island on the map.

    3. Name the regions in the New World and the East claimed by the
    English, French, Portuguese, and Spaniards after a century of
    discovery and exploration (1492-1600). What parts of North America
    were still unknown? With the use of some map of the world to-day
    make a list of the colonies of the same countries now.


    REVIEW

    1. Prepare a list of the men who took the chief part in discovering
    the New World, and give for each the name of the region he found.

    2. What had the Greeks learned to do, the knowledge of which they
    carried into Italy? What more had the Romans learned to do, the
    knowledge of which they carried into Spain and Gaul and Britain?
    What more had the Spaniards, the French, and the English learned to
    do, the knowledge of which they either were already, as in the case
    of Spain, carrying into Spanish America, or, in the case of England
    and France, were prepared to carry into North America?



REFERENCES FOR TEACHERS

The following references are given in the hope that they will be helpful
to the teacher. The list is by no means exhaustive, but enough are given
so that one or more books for each subject should be found in any fairly
equipped school or public library. Some of these books may be assigned
to the brighter or more ambitious members of the class for home
readings. Extracts from others may be read to the class directly. Still
others will furnish the teacher a variety of stories or fuller
statements of fact upon matters treated briefly in the text. A
Bibliography of History for Schools and Libraries by Andrews, Gambrill
and Tail (Longmans, 1911), will give many more references and further
information regarding those that are given here.


    A. ANCIENT TIMES. THE GREEK PEOPLE. (For use with chapters ii, iii,
    and iv.)

    _(a) Histories of the Greeks_.

    Holm, History of the Greeks, 4 volumes, is the most trustworthy
    history of the Greeks. Bury, A History of Greece, 2 volumes;
    Botsford, History of the Ancient World; Goodspeed, History of the
    Ancient World; Myers, Ancient History; Wolfson, Essentials in
    Ancient History; and West, Ancient World, have brief accounts of
    the Greeks.

    _(b) Versions of some famous old Greek stories_, especially the
    story of Hercules and his Labors, the Search for the Golden Fleece,
    the Trojan War, and the Wanderings of Ulysses.

    A. J. Church, Stories from Homer; C. M. Gayley, Classical Myths; H.
    A. Guerber, Myths of Greece and Rome; and the same author's The
    Story of the Greeks; Haaren and Poland, Famous Men of Greece; C. H.
    and S. B. Harding, Stories of Greek Gods, Heroes and Men; Charles
    Kingsley, Heroes, or Greek Fairy Tales. Hawthorne, in Tanglewood
    Tales, has retold the story of the Search for the Golden Fleece in a
    specially interesting manner. Bryant's translation of the Odyssey is
    one of the best known versions of that story and may generally be
    found in public libraries.

    _(c) Short Biographies of some Greek Heroes_. Short accounts of the
    lives of such heroes as Miltiades, Themistocles, Socrates,
    Alexander, and Demosthenes will be found in Cox, Lives of Greek
    Statesmen; Haaren and Poland, Famous Men of Greece; Jennie Hall, Men
    of Old Greece; Harding, Stories of Greek Gods, Heroes and Men; E.M.
    Tappan, The Story of the Greek People; and Plutarch's Lives. There
    are several abridged editions of the latter, but those by C.E.
    Byles, Greek Lives from Plutarch, and Edwin Ginn, Plutarch's Lives,
    are best adapted to the use of schools.

    _(d) Various features of Greek Life_, as the home, the schools,
    food, clothing, occupations, amusements, or government have been
    described in the books on Greek Life.

    Among these are Blümner, Home Life of the Ancient Greeks (translated
    by Alice Zimmern); C.B. Gulick, The Life of the Ancient Greeks;
    Mahaffy, Social Life in Greece; and T.G. Tucker, Life in
    Ancient Athens.

    _(e) Descriptions of Athens and Alexandria_. Descriptions of these
    great centers of Greek civilization will be found in any history of
    Greece; that in Gulick, Life of the Ancient Greeks, ch. 2, or
    Tucker, Life in Ancient Athens, for Athens, and in Draper,
    Intellectual Development of Europe, 1. pp. 187-204, for Alexandria,
    will serve the purpose.

    _(f)_ A description of the battle of Marathon, abridged from the
    History of the World by Herodotus, will be found in F.M. Fling's
    Source Book of Greek History. This little book gives many incidents
    in Greek History as the Greek writers told them.

    _(g)_ A description of the materials, methods of building,
    decoration of public buildings, and the uses of the temples,
    theaters, gymnasia, and stadia in Fowler and Wheeler's Greek
    Archaeology, ch. 2; and Tarbell's History of Greek Art.

    _(h)_ Some may wish to read the careful statement in Holm's History
    of the Greeks, Vol. I, pp. 103-121, on the Truth about the Old Greek
    Legends, or the same author's account, Vol. I, pp. 272-295, of
    Emigration to the Colonies in the Olden Day.

    B. ANCIENT TIMES. THE ROMAN PEOPLE. (For use with chapters v, vi,
    vii, viii and ix.)

    _(a) Histories of the Romans_.

    Either Botsford, History of Rome; Pelham, Outlines of Roman History;
    How and Leigh, History of Rome; or Schuckburgh, History of Rome;
    though the last two do not cover the entire period of Roman history.
    Duruy, History of Rome, 8 volumes, is attractive in style and
    supplied with a great variety of pictures and other
    illustrative matter.

    Botsford, History of the Ancient World; Goodspeed, History of the
    Ancient World; Myers, Ancient History; Wolfson, Essentials in
    Ancient History; and West, Ancient World, give short accounts of the
    chief events in Roman history.

    _(b) Versions of famous old Roman stories_, especially the
    wanderings of Aeneas, the Story of Romulus and Remus, of the Sabine
    Women, Horatius at the Bridge, and Cincinnatus.

    A.J. Church, Stories from Virgil; C.M. Gayley, Classical Myths; H.A.
    Guerber, Myths of Greece and Rome; the same author's Story of the
    Romans; Haaren and Poland, Famous Men of Rome; and Harding, City of
    Seven Hills. Macaulay, Lays of Ancient Rome, gives the story of
    Horatius at the Bridge, together with several other stories from
    early Roman history.

    _(c) Versions of the German myths about Odin (Wodan), Thor, Freya,
    and Tyr (Tiw)._ C.M. Gayley. Classical Myths; Guerber, Myths of
    Northern Lands; Haaren and Poland, Famous Men of the Middle Ages;
    Mary E. Litchfield, The Nine Worlds; H.W. Mabie, Norse Stories; Eva
    March Tappan, European Hero Stories; Alice Zimmern, Gods and Heroes
    of the North.

    _(d) The Story of Hermann_ (or the struggle between the Romans and
    Germans) is told by Arthur Gilman, Magna Charta Stories, pp.
    139-155; and by Maude B. Dutton, Little Stories of Germany.

    _(e) Short Biographies of some famous Romans_. Short accounts of the
    lives of Romulus, the Gracchi, Caesar, Cicero, and Constantine are
    given in Haaren and Poland, Famous Men of Rome; Harding, The City of
    Seven Hills; and several of them in Plutarch's Lives. A simple
    account of the Life of Hannibal, the Carthaginian enemy of Rome,
    will also be found in these books.

    _(f) Interesting phases of Roman Life_: for example, the Roman boy,
    country life in Italy, the Roman house, traveling, amusements, etc.
    See W.W. Fowler, Social Life at Rome in the Age of Cicero; H.W.
    Johnston, The Private Life of the Romans; S.B. Platner, Topography
    and Monuments of Ancient Rome; T.G. Tucker, Life in the Roman World
    of Nero and St. Paul. Many phases of Roman life are described in
    F.M. Crawford's Ave Roma.

    _(g)_ For descriptions of incidents in Roman history and phases of
    Roman life as the Greek and Roman writers told them, see Botsford,
    Story of Rome, and Munro, Source Book of Roman History.

    C. THE MIDDLE AGES. (For use with chapters x, xi, xii, and xiii.)

    _(a) Histories of the people of Europe in the Middle Ages_. G.B.
    Adams, Growth of the French Nation; U.R. Burke, A History of Spain
    from the Earliest Times to the Death of Ferdinand the Catholic;
    J.R. Green, Short History of the English People; E.F. Henderson, A
    Short History of German; H.D. Sedgwick, A Short History of Italy.

    _(b) Collection of stories adapted to children of the grades_: The
    Story of Beowulf, King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table,
    the Treasure of the Niebelungs, and of Roland. These stories have
    all been written many times, and any librarian can give the reader
    copies of them as told by several writers. The following is a
    partial list only:

    A.J. Church, Heroes and Romances; E.G. Crommelin, Famous Legends
    Adapted for Children; H.A. Guerber, Legends of the Middle Ages;
    Louise Maitland, Heroes of Chivalry; and Eva March Tappan, European
    Hero Stories; James Baldwin, The Story of Roland; Frances N. Greene,
    Legends of King Arthur and His Court; Florence Holbrook, Northland
    Heroes (Beowulf); Sidney Lanier, The Boy's King Arthur; Stevens and
    Allen, King Arthur Stories from Malory.

    _(c) Famous Men of the Middle Ages_; for example, Charlemagne, King
    Alfred, Rollo the Viking, William the Conqueror, Frederick
    Barbarossa, Richard the Lion-Hearted, King John, Saint Louis of
    France, Marco Polo, and Gutenberg.

    See A.F. Blaisdell, Stories from English History; Louise Creighton,
    Stories from English History; Maude B. Dutton, Little Stories of
    Germany; H.A. Guerber, The Story of the English; Haaren and Poland,
    Famous Men of the Middle Ages; Harding, The Story of the Middle
    Ages; S.B. Harding and W.F. Harding, The Story of England;
    M.F. Lansing, Barbarian and Noble; A.M. Mowry, First Steps in the
    History of England; L.N. Pitman, Stories of Old France; Eva March
    Tappan, European Hero Stories; H.P. Warren, Stories from English
    History; Bates and Coman, English History as told by the Poets.
    Edward Atherton, The Adventures of Marco Polo, the Great Traveler,
    is a convenient modernized version of Polo's own story of his
    travels. Marco Polo's description of Japan and Java has been
    reprinted in Old South Leaflets, Vol. II, No. 32.

    _(d) Viking Tales_. The interesting stories of the Northern
    discoveries and explorations have been told many times. Jennie Hall,
    Viking Tales, includes the story of Eric the Red, Leif the Lucky,
    and the attempt to settle in Vinland (Wineland).

    _(e) The Trial of Criminals in the Middle Ages--Ordeals_. Other
    kinds of Ordeals than those described in this book will be obtained
    in Ogg, Source Book of Mediaeval History, pp. 196-202; Pennsylvania
    Translations and Reprints, Vol. IV, No. 4. pp. 7-16; or in Thatcher
    and McNeal, Source Book, pp. 401-412. See Emerton, Introduction to
    the Middle Ages, pp. 79-81, for excellent explanation of mediaeval
    methods of trial.

    _(f) Famous accounts of how the People of England won the Magna
    Charta_.

    Use either Cheyney, Readings in English History, pp. 179-181;
    Kendall, Source Book of English History, pp. 72-78; Robinson,
    Readings in European History, Vol. I, pp. 231-333; or Ogg, Source
    Book of Mediaeval History, pp. 297-303.

    _(g) Simple descriptions of Mediaeval Life_. Maude B. Dutton, Little
    Stories of Germany; for example, the chapters on How a Page became a
    Knight, and A Mediaeval Town. S.B. Harding, The Story of the Middle
    Ages, especially the chapters describing life in castle, life in
    village, and life in monastery. Eva March Tappan, European Hero
    Stories, especially the topic, Life in Middle Ages, p. 118, the
    Crusades, p. 136, and Winning the Magna Charta, p. 111.

    D. THE BEGINNINGS OF MODERN TIMES. The Discovery of America. (For
    use with chapters xiv to xxi inclusive.)

    _(a) Histories of American Discoveries and Explorations_. E.G.
    Bourne, Spain in America; Fiske, Discovery of America, 2 volumes;
    and Parkman, Pioneers of France in the New World.

    _(b) Short, easy biographies of famous explorers_. (Da Gama,
    Columbus, Magellan, De Soto, Coronado, Cartier, Drake, and Raleigh.)

    Foote and Skinner, Explorers and Founders of America; W.F. Gordy,
    Stories of American Explorers; W.E. Griffis, The Romance of
    Discovery; Haaren and Poland, Famous Men of Modern Times; Higginson,
    Young Folks' Book of American Explorers; Jeannette B. Hodgdon, A
    First Course in American History, Book I; W.H. Johnson, The World's
    Discoverers, 2 volumes; Lawyer, The Story of Columbus and Magellan;
    Lummis, The Spanish Pioneers; Mara L. Pratt, America's Story for
    America's Children, Book 2; Gertrude V.D. Southworth, Builders of
    our Country, Book I; Rosa V. Winterburn, The Spanish in the
    Southwest.

    _(c) Stories of explorations as told by the explorers themselves_.

    Columbus' own account of his discovery of America is in Hart, Source
    Readers in American History, No. 1, pp. 4-7. Early accounts of John
    Cabot's discovery and of Drake's Voyage in Hart, Source Readers, No.
    1, pp. 7-10, 23-25. The Death and Burial of De Soto as described by
    one of his followers, in Hart, Source Readers, pp. 16-19. The Old
    South Leaflets, No. 20, Coronado; Nos. 29 and 31, Columbus; No. 31,
    the Voyages to Vinland; No. 35, Cortés' Account of the City of
    Mexico; No. 36, The Death of De Soto; Nos. 37 and 115, the Voyages
    of the Cabots; No. 89, The Founding of St. Augustine; No. 92, The
    First Voyage to Roanoke; No. 102, Columbus' Account of Cuba; No.
    116, Sir Francis Drake on the Coast of California; No. 118,
    Gilbert's Expedition; No. 119, Raleigh's Colony at Roanoke.

    _(d) The Stories of Indian Life in Spanish America,_ of Cortés,
    Coronado, and the Seven Cities of Cibola, and of the Missions. (See
    Rosa V. Winterburn, The Spanish in the Southwest.)




INDEX


Acropolis,
Africa, explored,
Aldine Press,
Alexander the Great,
Alexandria,
  founded,
  end of trade route,
Alfred, King,
Alps,
  Hannibal crosses,
Alva, in Netherlands,
America,
  discovered by Columbus,
  origin of name,
Amphitheater,
  at Rome,
  Arles,
Anglo-Saxons,
Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,
Apollo,
Aqueducts,
  Roman,
  Aztec,
Arabic numerals,
Arabs,
  see Mohammedans,
Arches,
  Roman,
  triumphal,
  Gothic,
  in Renaissance,
Architecture,
  Greek,
  Roman,
  early Church,
  Mediaeval,
  Renaissance,
Aristocracy,
  origin of,
Armada (ar-ma'da),
  expedition of,
Arms, Athenian,
  Gallic,
  Mediaeval,
  Aztec,
Arthur, King,
Astrolabe,
Athens,
Augustus, Emperor,
Azores,
Aztecs,

Bahama Islands,
Balboa (balbo'a),
Basilicas,
Bayeux tapestry (ba-yu),
Beggars of the Sea,
Black Sea,
Bologna (bo-lon'ya),
  University of,
Boniface,
Books,
  Greek,
  carried to Italy,
  see printing,
Borromeo (bor-ro-me'o),
Boxing, Greek,
Britain,
  name changed to England,
Byzantium (bi-zan'shi-um),
  founded,
  named Constantinople,

Cabot, John,
Cabot, Sebastian,
Caesar, Julius,
Calvin, John,
Cambridge, University of,
Canary Islands,
Cannae, battle of,
Canterbury,
Cape of Good Hope,
Cape Horn,
Caroline, Fort,
  settlement,
  destroyed,
Carthaginians,
Cartier, Jacques (kar'tya),
Castles,
Cathedrals,
Caudine Forks,
Caxton, William,
Census, Roman,
Charles V of Germany (Charles I of Spain),
Charybdis (ka-rib'dis),
China,
Christianity,
Cibola,
  see Seven Cities
Cincinnatus,
Clergy,
Coligny (ko'len'ye),
Colonies, Greek,
  Roman,
  Spanish,
  French,
  English,
Colorado, Canyon of,
Colosseum,
Columbus, Christopher.
  discoveries of,
Compass, origin of,
Constantine,
Constantinople,
  founded,
  renamed,
  educated men of,
  taken by Turks,
Consuls, at Rome,
Corinth,
Corinthian pillars,
Coronado, Francisco,
Cortes, Hernando,
  conquest of Mexico,
Courts,
  Greek,
  English,
Crusades,
Cuba,
Cumae,

Danes,
  see Northmen,
  Normans,
Dare, Virginia,
Delphi,
Demosthenes (de-mos'the-nez),
De Soto, Fernando,
Diaz, Bartholomew,
Discus thrower,
Doric pillars,
Drake, Sir Francis,
  adventures in America,
  voyage around world,
  attack on Spain,
Duke, origin of word,
Dutch, war for independence,

East, The,
  defined,
  search for sea routes,
Education,
  Greek,
  Roman,
  Mediaeval,
Egyptians,
Elizabeth, Queen,
England,
  first known,
  inhabited by Britons,
  conquered by Romans,
  name,
  christianized,
  Danes in,
  in Middle Ages,
  aids Dutch,
  navy,
  war with Spain,
English explorations and colonies,
English language, origin,
Erasmus,
Eric the Red,
Españolà (es-pan-yo'la)
Euclid,

Fairs, Mediaeval,
Ferdinand, King,
Florida,
  origin of name,
  exploration,
  St. Augustine in,
France,
  see Gauls,
  name,
  Danes in,
  in Middle Ages,
  sailors of,
  colonies in America,
Francis I, King,
French language,
Friar Marcos,
Friday, origin of name,
Frieze,
Frobisher, Martin,

Gama, Vasco da,
Games,
  Greek,
  Roman,
Gauls,
Genoa,
Germany,
  language,
  early,
  name,
  early emigrants from,
  missionaries to,
Gilbert, Humphrey,
Girgenti (jer-jen'te),
  temple at,
Gladiators,
Gothic architecture,
Goths,
Government,
  at Athens,
  at Rome,
  in England,
Gracchi, Tiberius and Caius,
Great Charter,
Greece,
  language of,
  early history,
  manner of living in,
  colonies,
  rivals,
  conquered by Rome,
  and the Renaissance,
Greenland,
Gregory, Pope,
Guam,
Guilds,
Gutenberg. John,(goo'ten-berk),
Gymnasium, Greek,

Hannibal,
Hawkins, John,
Hayti, see Española,
Henry, Prince, the Navigator,
Henry II, of England,
Henry VIII, of England,
Hercules,
Hermann,
Hermes,
Herodotus (herod'otus),
Homer,
Horatius,
House of Commons,
House of Lords,
Houses,
  Greek,
  Roman,
  Aztec,
  in Cibola,
Huguenots (hu'ge-nots),
  origin of,
  in America,
  and Dutch,

Iceland,
Incas,
India,
Indians,
  origin of name,
  of Mexico,
  of Peru,
  as slaves,
  missions to,
  and De Soto,
  in Cibola,
  in Quivira,
  at Roanoke,
Indies,
Ionic pillars,
Isabella, Queen of Spain,
Isabella, town in Española,
Italy,
  Greeks in,
  Romans masters of,
  farmers in,
  Goths invade,
  Mediaeval,
  Renaissance in,

Japan,
Jerusalem,
Jews,
John, King of England,
Jury, origin of,
Justice,
  Greek,
  English,
Justinian,

Karlsefni (karl'sef-ne)
Knights,

Las Casas (ca'sas),
Latin,
  words,
  literature,
  learned by the Gauls,
  in Middle Ages,
  in Renaissance,
Law,
  Roman,
  English,
Leif Ericson,
London,
Loyola, Ignatius (lo-yo'la)
Luther, Martin,

Madeira Islands (madei'ra),
Magellan,
Magellan, Strait of,
Magna Charta,
Marathon,
Marco Polo,
Marseilles (mar-salz),
Mary, Queen of England,
Menendez, Pedro (ma-nen'dath)
Mexico, conquest of,
Michel Angelo (mi'kel-an'je-lo),
Middle Ages,
  defined,
  close,
Miltiades (mil-ti'a-dez)
Missionaries,
Missions, Spanish,
Mississippi River, discovery of,
Modern Times, defined,
Mohammedans,
Moluccas,
Monasteries,
Mongol Tartars,
Montezuma, King of Aztecs,
Montreal,
Moors,
Mosaics,

Naples,
Navy,
  English,
  in battle against the Armada,
Netherlands, revolt of,
New Testament,
  Greek,
  first printed,
Nobles,
Norman architecture,
Norman Conquest,
Normans,
Northmen,
Notre Dame (no'tr'dam)
  in Paris,

Odin,
Olympia,
Olympic games,
Ordeals,
Oxford, University of,

Pacific Ocean,
Paestum (pes'tum),
Paintings, Greek,
Panama,
Pantheon (Pan'theon),
Papyrus (pa-pi'rus),
Paris,
Parliament, English, origin of,
Parthenon (par'thenon),
Patagonia,
Patricians,
Paul, the Apostle,
Peasants,
Pediment,
Persia,
Peru, conquest of,
Petrarch (pe'trark),
Pheidippides (fi-dip'e-dez),
Philip II,
Philippines,
Phoenicia,
Pizarro, Francisco (pi-zar'ro),
  conquest of Peru,
Plataeans,
Plato,
Plebeians,
Pompeii (pom-pa'ye),
Pompey,
Ponce de Leon (pon'tha da la-on),
Pope, the Bishop of Rome,
Porticoes,
Portugal,
  sailors of,
  and the New World,
Potato, found by Magellan,
Pottery,
  Greek,
  Aztec,
  Zuñi,
Printing, invented,
Ptolemy (tol'e-mi),
Pyrrhus (pir'us),

Quebec,
Quivira,

Raleigh, Sir Walter,
Renaissance (ren'e-sans),
Richard, the Lionhearted,
Roads, Roman,
Roanoke,
Roman Empire,
  size,
  origin,
Roman type,
Romans,
  language,
  see Latin, early,
  contact with Greeks,
  wars in Italy,
  early manner of living,
  war with Carthage,
  conquer Gaul and Britain,
  Empire of,
  civilization of,
  Christianized,
  empire ruined,
  literature of,
  influence,
Romanesque architecture,
Romulus,

Salamis,
Samnites,
San Salvador,
St. Augustine,
Sardinia,
Saxons,
Sculpture, Greek,
Scylla (sil'a),
Senators, at Rome,
Seven Cities of Cibola,
Shakespeare,
Ships,
  Greek,
  early English,
  Venetian,
  of Columbus,
  of English navy,
Sicily,
Sidney, Sir Philip,
Simon de Montfort,
Slaves,
  Greek,
  Roman,
  Indians as,
  Negroes as,
Slave-trade,
  Spanish,
  English,
Socrates (sok'ra-tez),
Spain, early settlements in,
  Romans capture,
  name,
  Arabs in,
  Columbus and,
  claim to New World,
  colonies of,
  war with Netherlands,
  war with England,
Sparta,
Spice Islands,
Spice trade,
Stadium,
Statues, Greek,

Temples, Greek,
Theater,
  Greek,
  early Roman,
  later,
Thebes,
Themistocles (the-mis'to-klez),
Thermopylae (ther-mop'i-le),
Theseum (these'um),
Thor,
Thursday, origin of name,
"Tin Islands,"
Towns, in Middle Ages,
Trade, Mediaeval,
Trade-winds,
Trebia, battle of,
Trial by battle,
Tribune, Roman,
Trireme,
Troy,
Turks,
"Twelve Tables,"
Tyre,

Ulfilas,
Ulysses,
Universities,

Venice,
Venus of Melos,
Vercingetorix (vercinget'orix),
Vespucius, Americus,
Veto, at Rome,
Vikings,
Vinland,
Virginia,
  origin of name,
  colony in,

Watling Island,
Wednesday, origin of name,
West Indies,
White, John,
William the Conqueror,
William of Orange,
Wodan,
Women, Roman,
Words,
Writing, art of,

Xerxes (zurk'zez),

Zuñi,