CHAPTER VIII.
THE CORINTHIAN ASSEMBLY.
Cleanor was of far too sanguine a temperament to allow himself to bedaunted by the gloomy reminiscences of his friend. "Things", he said tohimself, "are altered since then. Rome is more manifestly formidable,for she has rid herself of more than one rival. The mere instinct ofself-preservation must make those that are left unite."
Still, he could not hide from himself various discouraging facts thatforced themselves upon his notice. In the first place Corinth, or,rather, the Corinthian people, disappointed him. The place itself wasintensely interesting; he did not know whether to admire more thesplendid remains of the past that it had to show, or the evidences of aprosperous present with which it abounded.
At one time he would make his way to the highest point of the citadel,the Acro-Corinthus, and look down upon the city, crowded as it was withtemples, public halls, mansions, on which the wealth of centuries hadbeen lavished. At another he would spend long hours in wandering aboutthe docks, that one which brought to the "City of the Two Seas" thecommerce of the West, or that other which was filled with themerchandise of the East.
There were vessels of all sizes and of every kind of rig, manned withseamen of every nationality, and bringing the merchandise of everycountry, from the Atlantic shores on the west to remote regions of theeast of which no European knew except by repute. Blocks of tin andstrings of amber from far-off islands of the north, ivory and preciousstones from the African coasts far to the south of the Pillars ofHercules, iron from Elba, cattle and fruit from the Balearic Isles,wines from Sicily and the shores of the Adriatic, were among the mostcommon articles in the western harbour; to the eastern harbour camesilks from China, metal work from India,--then as now famous for theskill of its handicraftsmen,--dried fruits from Lesser Asia, salt andpickled fish from the Black Sea, wheat from Egypt, and wines, some ofthem the finest vintages in the world, from the islands of the Ægean.Corinth, then, was interesting enough, making the impression upon astranger of being one of the busiest and wealthiest places in the world.
But what of the Corinthians? A more mixed, I may say mongrel, multitudecould not be seen anywhere. Cleanor's first impression was that thepopulation contained specimens of every nation upon earth--exceptGreeks. There were swarms of Asiatics from the Lesser Asia and fromSyria, yellow-skinned Egyptians, Arabs and Moors showing every varietyof brown, and negroes with their glossy black. In effective contrast tothese might be seen a few Gauls, blue-eyed and yellow-haired, whoseimposing stature seemed to dwarf to pigmies the crowds through whichthey shouldered their way. Now and then a Roman, conspicuous in hiswhite toga edged with a narrow purple stripe,[17] moved along with slow,dignified step, which seemed to speak of a man born to rule. It wascurious to note the expression of fear and hatred with which he wasregarded. Again and again, as he watched this motley crowd thronging thestreets with an endless variety of costume, colour, and dress, Cleanorfelt disposed to say, "Here is Corinth, but where are the Corinthians?"And when he did see specimens of the genuine Corinthian, he had to ownto himself that they did not greatly impress him. The city had itsgilded youth, most of them belonging to the second or third generationsof families enriched by trade, but some claiming to be Bacchiadæ,[18] oreven descendants of the mythical Sisyphus who had founded the city somefourteen centuries before. A more debauched, spendthrift, and generallyuseless set he had never seen. They made no pretence to culture; theyshuddered at the idea of a campaign; even the sports of the arena weretoo much for their effeminate frames. Cleanor felt his spirits sink andhis hopes diminish day by day, for Corinth was now the capital ofGreece. Archias, his host, watched him meanwhile with a compassionateinterest. He had had something of the same enthusiasm himself in bygonedays, and had known the inexpressible pain of having to own that it wasa delusion.
"Do you know," he said to his young guest some ten days after theirarrival, "that there is to be an important meeting of the Assemblyto-morrow?"
"I heard Polemon say something about it to-day. He asked one of theyoung fellows who were playing at _kottabos_ with him whether he thoughtof going, and seemed to surprise him very much by the question.Polemon, you see, has not been living in Corinth for much more than ayear, and has not quite caught the high-toned Corinthian manner. Heactually imagines it possible for a man to have some interest in publicaffairs. You should have heard the astonishment in his friend's voicewhen he answered him, 'Going to the Assembly, did you say? Why, my dearfellow, I have never been to the Assembly, and certainly never shall,till they make me Eparch or whatever they call it, when I shall have to,I suppose. And to-morrow of all days in the year! Why, don't you knowthat Pintocles of Megara is coming over with his champion team ofquails, and that I am going to meet them with mine? We have a wager of ahundred gold pieces on the event. If one side kills _all_ the birds onthe other side, the loser is to pay double stakes. In any case thewinner is to give a dinner to the loser and his friends. Going to theAssembly, indeed!' That is all that I have heard about it."
"Then I had better enlighten you," replied Archias. "You know that theAssembly has been called to hear the envoys from Rome state the termswhich the Senate is willing to agree to. You ought to be there. _You_will find it very interesting, whatever these young gentlemen with theirteams of fighting quails may think about it."
"Certainly I should like to go; but how am I to get in? At Athens theywere very particular not to admit any one that was not a citizen."
"Don't trouble yourself on that score. Here they are not particular atall. Simply follow the crowd. There will be no one to stop you."
And so it turned out. There were door-keepers at the entrances to thevast amphitheatre in which the meeting of the Assembly was held, butthey did not attempt to exclude anyone. Cleanor found himself, when hewas seated, in the midst of a crowd almost as variegated and as polyglotas that at which he was accustomed to gaze in the streets. No one couldsuppose that any large proportion of them were genuine Corinthiancitizens. The fourth hour[19] was the time appointed for thecommencement of business, and the multitude spent the interval much inthe same way that a waiting crowd would do nowadays. They cheered orhissed any well-known citizen as he took his place, yelled outwitticisms which seemed to please the more the coarser and more personalthey were, sang songs with noisy choruses, and kept up generally anincessant uproar. Men carrying baskets of cakes and sweetmeats, or jarsof wine, passed up and down the spaces between the blocks of seats, anddid a brisk business in their respective wares.
A brief hush fell upon the noisy crowd when, after the signal had beengiven by the blast of a trumpet, the doors leading into what may becalled the magistrates' box were thrown open, and the officials, whowere to conduct the business of the day filed in. There was nothingnoteworthy about their reception, but when the figures of the two Romanenvoys became visible, a storm of groans and hisses broke out ten timeslouder and fiercer than the noisiest manifestation that had greeted themost unpopular Corinthian. The two Romans bore themselves withcharacteristic indifference, took their seats in the places allotted tothem, and watched the furious multitude with the utmost unconcern.
After the howling and stamping had gone on for some quarter of an hour,the demonstration began to die away. One of the magistrates dropped afew grains of incense into a fire that was burning in front of him, andpoured out a little wine, muttering at the same time an invocation toZeus, the patron deity of Corinth. This was equivalent to our "openingthe proceedings with prayer". This ceremony completed, a heraldproclaimed that the Assembly was constituted, and the presidingmagistrate stepped forward to open the proceedings.
His speech was of the briefest. "Citizens of Corinth," he said, "you arecalled together to-day to hear the terms on which the Senate and Peopleof Rome are willing to make a treaty of perpetual friendship with you.They have sent two distinguished citizens, both members of the Senate,who will set the matter before you, and whom you will receive with thatcourtesy which it is the custom of Corinth to show to th
e ambassadors ofother nations."
The Romans stepped to the front of the platform. They were met for a fewmoments with a renewal of the uproar which had greeted their firstappearance. But the Assembly was genuinely anxious to hear what they hadto say, and the disturbing element was hushed into silence.
Rome had paid the Greek people the compliment of sending them envoys whocould address them in their own language. Titus Manlius--this was thename of the senior envoy--was one of the most cultured men of the time,one of the Scipio circle, and feeling a genuine admiration for Greece,for the Greece, _i.e._, of the past, for he had no little contempt forthe Greece of the present. On the present occasion, however, he hadevery wish to please and conciliate.
When it was seen that he was going to address the Assembly without theaid of an interpreter, he was greeted with applause, which was renewedafter he had uttered a few sentences with a fluency and purity ofaccent which much impressed his hearers, few of whom, indeed, could inthese respects have rivalled him. When he went on, in a few well-turnedphrases, to compliment his hearers on the dignity and antiquity of theircity, and on the services which they had rendered to Greece in repellingthe barbarians from without, and checking undue ambition from within, hewas met with loud applause.
But after compliments came business, after sweets bitter. The firststatement was that the Senate and People of Rome desired that everyGreek city should enjoy complete freedom, electing its own magistrates,and being governed by its own laws.
This was received with some applause, though the Assembly was acuteenough to be aware that a generality of this kind might not mean verymuch.
The speaker went on: "Every city may form such alliances as may seemexpedient, provided only that they be not to the injury of the publicpeace. No city shall be compelled to enter into or to give up anyalliance against its will."
At this there were loud expressions of disapproval. It was a cardinalpoint with the League, of which Corinth was the ruling member, thatevery city in Greece must join it. At this very time Sparta wasinsisting on her right to stand alone, and the other states, headed byCorinth, were insisting that she must join them. And now Rome hadpronounced in favour of Sparta.
The third item in the programme pleased the audience still less, for ittouched their pride at a very tender point. "A Roman garrison willoccupy the citadel until affairs shall have been finally arranged. Theoccupation is for a time only, and will cease as soon as this may bedone without injury to the public good."
But when the last condition was announced it was met with a perfectstorm of rage. "Anxious to promote the general welfare of Greece, theSenate and People of Rome decree that the island of Delos shall be afree port."
This was a thing that everybody could understand. Freedom, after all,was not much more than a sentiment, and alliances were a matter forrulers to settle. Even a garrison in the citadel might be endured, forit meant the spending of a good deal of money. But Delos a free port!That was beyond all bearing. There was not a man in the whole of theAssembly but would be distinctly the poorer for it.
The Roman had scarcely sat down when Critolaüs, the president of theLeague, sprang to his feet, and poured out a furious oration, in whichhe denounced the hypocrisy, the arrogance, and the greed of Rome. As hespoke, the temper of his audience rose higher and higher. The wholemultitude sprang to their feet, howling, and shaking their fists at theRomans as they sat calm and indifferent in their place. Still thecrisis, dangerous as it looked, might have passed off but for themischievous act of some half-witted fellow who had found his way intothe Assembly.
"As for these men who have come hither to insult us," cried the oratorin the peroration of his speech, "let them carry back to their employersat home the message of our unanimous contempt and defiance." "And thistoo," shouted the man, "as a little token of our affection," throwing atthe same time a rotten fig. It struck one of the envoys on the shoulder,making a disfiguring stain on the white toga. "Good! good!" shouted thecrowd, and followed it up with a shower of similar missiles. Some stonesfollowed, and then came a leaden bullet propelled from a sling, whichstruck the wall behind the chairs of the Romans, and only a few inchesabove their heads.
The magistrates awoke to the gravity of the situation. They wereresponsible for good order, were unwilling, in any case, to bethemselves compromised, and had an uneasy feeling that the excitement ofsuch proceedings would have to be dearly paid for. They caught the twoRomans by the arms, and literally forced them out of the building by thedoor which served as a private entrance for official persons. Theusual escort was in waiting outside. Under this protection the envoyswere able to reach the citadel in safety. They had received a few blows,but had not sustained any serious injury.
THE ROMAN ENVOYS TO CORINTH ARE COMPELLED TO LEAVE THEAMPHITHEATRE.]
"What think you of this?" asked the Syracusan of his young friend asthey walked back to their lodging.
"A grievous business indeed, and of the very worst augury for thefuture," replied Cleanor.
"Yes," said Archias. "Who can help thinking of Tarentum, and how therobe of Postumius[20] was soiled and washed white again."
FOOTNOTES:
17: This narrow stripe indicated the knight; the broad stripe indicated the senator. The knights were the capitalists of Rome, farming the revenues of the state, a business becoming yearly more important as the dominions of the republic continued to grow.
18: This was the ancient aristocracy of Corinth.
19: The fourth hour, reckoned, _i.e._, from sunrise. As the time is supposed to be late in the autumn, sunrise would be at 7, and the fourth hour about 10.20, each hour being of fifty minutes duration, _i.e._ the twelfth part of the hour's day between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. Whatever the length of the day it was divided into twelve hours.
20: C. Postumius was sent in the year 286 B.C. to deliver to the people of Tarentum the _ultimatum_ of Rome. While he was speaking a buffoon bespattered his toga with some filth. He held up the robe in the sight of the Assembly, with the words, "Verily this shall be washed white".
Lords of the World: A story of the fall of Carthage and Corinth Page 10
