The murdered fashion designer. “Versace was very fond of the simple life
Ancient Rome is not just geographical name. Not just a territory on the maps of the ancient world. This is an entire era. The era of the formation of man as a creator, as a conqueror, as a builder of states, a philosopher, sculptor, legislator and guardian of civil rights and freedoms. It is difficult to list all the global heritage that the ancient Romans left us. But we face it every day - in medicine and law, in science and art, in literature and in everyday life. And even if the great Roman Empire was not destined to exist forever, but part of what the Romans created will remain with humanity for centuries.
History of Ancient Rome
The history of Ancient Rome is a vivid illustration of how a country that starts from a swamp can grow to half the world map. And how easy it is to destroy the well-functioning work of the largest state, if you do not pay enough attention to the interests of all its regions.
The history of Ancient Rome takes 723 years and illustrates the birth, formation and death of one of the most powerful ancient civilizations.
Rome began in 753 BC. from the construction of the city on seven hills, among the swampy terrain, surrounded by constantly militant peoples - the Etruscans, Latins and ancient Greeks.
By the second century AD, the city, which began with swamps, subjugated Europe, the Mediterranean, the coast of Africa and the Middle East, turning into the largest world state.
The formation of the entire subsequent European civilization took place under the powerful influence of Ancient Rome. And despite the fact that in 476 AD. the mighty Roman Empire fell, its historical, cultural and legislative heritage to this day plays a global role in the entire structure of human civilization.
Periods of Ancient Rome
It is customary for scientists to divide the formation and development of Rome as a state into the main periods:
- Royal. It begins with the creation of the city of Rome itself. According to legend, it was erected on the hills by two brothers fed by a she-wolf - Romulus and Remus. The name of the first of them is the "eternal city". Romulus became the first of the kings in the history of Rome. At the dawn of its appearance, the population consisted mainly of fugitive criminals. But the gradual improvement of crafts and the formation of state structures led to an unexpectedly sharp development of Rome. Soon, his influence increased so much that neighboring states, fearing to be under the yoke of an unexpectedly strengthened country, were constantly in a state of military aggression.
Power in Rome during this period belonged to the kings, but was not inherited. The rulers were appointed by the senate. Romulus was the first king of Rome, and Lucius Tarquinius was the last. When a series of rulers began to come to power solely through blood, bribery and manipulation, the senate decided to proclaim a republic in Rome. - Republican. All power is in the hands of the Senate. A distinctive feature of the period is the many successfully realized conquests. Gradually, the borders of the Roman Republic capture all of Italy, Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. The further development of Rome significantly suppressed Carthage, which was flourishing at that time, we will give the Romans possession of the entire Western Mediterranean. The Romans also captured Macedonia, splitting it into four separate possessions.
- period of the Roman Empire. Power is still concentrated in the Senate, but there is also a single ruler - the Emperor. By that time, Rome had grown to an incredible size. It becomes difficult to maintain power over such a huge state, and a split into the Western Roman Empire and the Eastern (later Byzantium) gradually occurs. At the same time, it was during the period of the Empire that an extraordinary unity of the entire ancient world took place, and not under fear of force, but on a more spiritual basis.
The early imperial period is the principate. Formally, power was in the hands of the Senate and the magistracy, but in fact it was already in the hands of the emperor. Later, this form will be replaced by a dominant, which will essentially return the monarchy to the expanses of Rome, endowing the emperor with unlimited power. It is this belief in permissiveness that later leads to the collapse of the Great Empire.
Gods of Ancient Rome
The religion of Ancient Rome is paganism. She did not have any clear organization. However, at that time it was a natural situation - almost all the beliefs of the world were a synthesis of ancient cults of various nationalities. In Rome, each of the gods was assigned a separate sphere of human life and a separate natural force. Whom to worship - everyone chose for himself, depending on his craft and needs. There were no atheists in ancient Rome - everyone honored the gods, observing the appropriate rituals. Some of them were held at the level of houses, and some - at the level of the state. On the basis of various fortune-telling and appeals to the gods, even important state decisions were made.
All the Gods of Ancient Rome are anthropomorphic, but endowed with the forces of nature.
- The main god of ancient Rome is Jupiter. By analogy with the Greek Zeus, he is a thunderer, the ruler of Heaven.
- His wife, Juno, took care of issues of female fertility. She was considered the patroness of marriage and childbearing. Inspired by the image of Juno, the Romans became the first nation to legally perpetuate monogamy.
- The three main gods of the Pantheon are closed by Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, an analogue of the Greek Pallas Athena. She took care of useful discoveries, but was famous for her warlike character, which is why she was also called the lightning goddess.
- The goddess Diana took care of the flora and fauna in ancient Rome.
- Venus is a special goddess for the Romans, because she was considered the progenitor of Aeneas and the patroness of the entire Roman people. As well as the identification of spring, female beauty and fertility.
- Flora is the goddess of the field fruits, flowering and spring.
- Janus is one of the most interesting gods of the ancient Romans. He was a two-faced personification of doors, beginning and end, entrance and exit. The owner of the key to the heavenly gates and a staff that drives away uninvited guests.
- Vesta is the goddess of the hearth. It was revered in every home, since the family in Rome was also the subject of a cult.
- Ceres - was especially revered by farmers, as she was the goddess of fertility.
- Bacchus is another special God for the Romans. The patron saint of winemaking. The cult of Bacchus was one of the most revered in the Empire.
- Volcano - was especially honored by artisans, as he was the patron of fire and blacksmithing.
This is only a small part of the vast Roman pantheon. Constant contacts with other nationalities also left their mark on the religion of the Romans. Most of the Roman Pantheon is borrowed from the Greeks. Such high number scholars explain borrowings by the large-scale expansion of Rome and respect for other people's beliefs. By including the gods of the subject people in their religion, the Romans simplified the process of assimilation of the next nationality.
Art of Ancient Rome
A distinctive feature of the art of ancient Rome is its practicality. If the Greeks carried out educational processes through culture, the Romans focused on organizing space with the help of art. The main task of any work is to be useful. The rest is secondary.
Sculpture
Sculpture in ancient Rome was given a special place. She richly decorated the walls of buildings, columns, fountains and courtyards in the houses of the nobility. In many ways, Roman sculpture was formed under the influence of Ancient Greece. In the idealized image of the sculptures of the gods, the influence of the Greeks is clearly read. But the Romans also had their own innovations, the main of which was a sculptural portrait.
It was in portrait sculptures that the Romans were the first to use a special realism. If you carefully examine the busts of Roman emperors and senators, you can see double chins, sagging skin, and excessively thin hair. All these flaws in appearance, in fact, are what distinguishes one person from another. And in this case, the Romans did not strive for idealization, conveying the human appearance as it is. This was their innovation.
Painting
The purpose of painting was purely decorative. The paintings were supposed to make the room visually more attractive. You should not look for a special philosophical meaning in Roman frescoes, edifying scenes from life and other pedagogical purposes. Everything is much more practical. The main thing is to be beautiful. The Romans were among the first to use wall paintings to visually expand the space in the room. Ancient Roman artists were the first to achieve high skill in the use of light and shadow, creating perspective. Therefore, they were especially good at landscape images.
Literature
As in many other branches of art, the influence of ancient Greece is clearly felt in Roman literature. bright volume an example is one of the most famous Roman works, Virgil's Aeneid, strikingly similar to Homer's Iliad. However, if we forget about the fact of borrowing, one cannot but recognize the beautiful literary style of the work and ideal Latin.
Another famous Roman writer is Horace, a court poet who gave the world quite a few talented poems.
Architecture of Ancient Rome
The ancient Romans achieved the greatest innovation in the field of architecture. Architects worked in strict accordance with the needs of the state, constantly improving existing or borrowed developments. Thanks to this, arches appear instead of transverse beams, the system of aqueducts, military vehicles and camps, supporting walls and treatment facilities is being finalized.
In matters of decorating buildings, the Romans also went further than the Greeks. The architecture of Ancient Rome is not built on marble blocks, but on light mountain tuff, brickwork and mortar. This made it possible to create a greater variety of architectural forms, to make buildings larger and taller, to achieve architectural diversity.
It was the Romans who gave the world concrete, with the help of which they learned to cast various architectural forms. This made it possible to make a rapid breakthrough in matters of decorative architecture and, at the same time, increase the strength of buildings.
The greatest monuments of the architecture of Ancient Rome are the Roman Forum, the buildings of ancient theaters, mausoleums and, of course, the Colosseum. The latter has become a kind of personification of Rome in world culture. This is an example of really thoughtful architecture. Despite the amazing capacity for its time - the building is designed for 45 thousand spectators, the Colosseum has never been crowded and crushed. All thanks to a well-planned separation of traffic and pedestrian flows. The Colosseum was the first building to be designed with an impact on the rest of the city's landscape.
Cities of Ancient Rome
Urban planning in ancient Rome is a vivid illustration of the dawn of human civilization as such. The construction of cities in the empire was approached more thoughtfully than ever. The cities of Ancient Rome without fail included at least two roads perpendicular to each other. At the intersection of roads there was a city center and a market, as well as all significant social buildings.
Rome
Rome is the capital of the empire. The metropolis city, the eternal city, which proved the validity of such a title. Built on seven hills, mastered by a people based on the synthesis of at least three tribes - Etruscans, Sabines and Latins. In the era of the peak of prosperity of the Roman Empire, Rome could rightly be considered the center of human civilization.
Carthage
Ancient Carthage is a city that was not built by the Romans, but became part of the Roman Empire as a result of military conquest. At one time, the inhabitants of Carthage did not want to surrender to the enemy and initiated mass self-immolation. The city was completely destroyed by the Romans who captured it. But during the reign of Julius Caesar, it was the Romans who rebuilt it, turning it into a model for the development of human civilization.
Trier
Speaking about the cities of Ancient Rome, one cannot help but recall the mythical Trier, built by Octavian Augustus. This beautiful city was one of the three largest settlements of the Empire and was considered its western capital. Moreover, at one time Emperor Constantine made Trier his residence, planning to subsequently make the capital out of the city.
Instead of an afterword
It is difficult to overestimate the greatness of ancient Rome. This state showed us how far human thought can go, how much beauty can be created and achieved, and how easy it is to lose what has already been created, being in the power of one's ambitions. The history of Ancient Rome is worth learning, if only in order to take advantage of its successes and always remember the reasons for its failures.
Roman history is divided into three main periods - royal (mid-VIII BC - 510 BC), republican (510-30 BC) and imperial (30 BC - 476 AD). e.).
Early Roman history.
Royal period.
From the middle of the II millennium BC. in the lower reaches of the Tiber in northern Latium (Middle Italy), the Latin-Sikul tribes settled, a branch of the Italics who came to the Apennine Peninsula from the Danube regions at the beginning of the 2nd millennium BC. The Latins settled on the Palatine and Velia hills, the neighboring hills were occupied by the Sabines. As a result of Sinoikism (unification) of several Latin and Sabine settlements in the middle of the 8th century. BC. (tradition dates this event to 754–753 BC) a common fortress, Rome, was built on the Capitoline Hill. Tradition attributes this deed to Romulus, a prince from the city of Alba Longa. Initially, the Roman urban community (people) consisted of three tribes (tribes) - Ramnes, Titiums and Lucers, divided into thirty curias (unions of male warriors), and those into one hundred clans (gentes). The Roman family was paternal with the right of mutual inheritance; he could accept strangers into his composition, had his own religious cult, a common place of settlement and burial; its members bore the same generic name, which went back to a mythical or real ancestor, and were obliged to help each other. The genus consisted of large (three generations) paternal families (familia). The land was owned by the family - the relatives used the forests and pastures together, and the arable land was divided between the families. Rome was ruled by the comitia (people's meetings of male warriors), the senate (council of heads of families) and the king. Participants of the comitia gathered in curiae (curiat comitia). The king combined the functions of a military leader, priest and judge; he was elected by the comitia on the recommendation of the senate.
Members of the Roman clans were quirites - full citizens (patricians). A special category was made up of clients - people dependent on individual quirites and under their protection. It is possible that impoverished quirites became clients, forced to seek protection from their relatives or from members of other clans.
From the legendary list of seven kings, the first reliable was Numa Pompilius, the second was Ankh Marcius, after which the throne passed to the Etruscan dynasty (Tarquinius the Ancient, Servius Tullius, Tarquinius the Proud). Under them, the Romans conquered a number of neighboring Latin cities and resettled their inhabitants in Rome; voluntary immigration also took place. Initially, the settlers were included in tribes and curia; later access there was closed. As a result, a group of incomplete citizens was formed - plebeians (plebes); they were not members of either the senate or the comitia (that is, they were deprived of the right to vote) and could not serve in the army; the state provided them with only a small allotment, but they did not have the right to receive part of the “public field” (the fund of lands seized by the Romans from their neighbors).
Demographic growth provoked territorial expansion; amplification as a result constant wars The power of the king as the leader of the troops was opposed by the Senate, which largely controlled the comitia. The kings tried to weaken the tribal organization, the basis of the power of the heads of patrician families, and rely on the plebeians, including them in the political and military organization (this also made it possible to strengthen the army). In the middle of the VI century. BC. Servius Tullius introduced a new administrative division of Rome and its surroundings: instead of three tribal tribes, he established twenty-one territorial tribes, thus mixing patricians with plebeians. Servius divided the entire male population of Rome (both patricians and plebeians) into six categories according to property; each category was obliged to put up a certain number of armed detachments - hundreds (centuries). From now on, the people's assembly to decide the main political issues it was no longer assembled by curiae, but by centuries (centuriate comitia); in the jurisdiction of the curiat comitia remained mainly religious matters.
The growth of the power of kings in the VI century. BC. expressed in the disappearance of the principle of their election and the adoption by them of new royal paraphernalia borrowed from the Etruscans (a golden crown, a scepter, a throne, special clothes, ministers-lictors). The early Roman monarchy attempted to rise above society and its traditional institutions; absolutist tendencies especially intensified under Tarquinius Proud. However, the tribal aristocracy succeeded in 510 BC. expel Tarquinius and establish a republican system.
Republican Rome.
The overthrow of the monarchy did not lead to fundamental changes in the state structure of Rome. The place of the king for life was taken by two praetor elected by the centuriate comitia for one year from among the patricians (“going ahead”); from the middle of the 5th c. they became known as consuls ("consulting"). They convened and directed meetings of the senate and the people's assembly, controlled the implementation of the decisions made by these bodies, distributed citizens into centuries, monitored the collection of taxes, exercised judicial power, and commanded troops during the war. Only their joint decisions were valid. At the end of their term, they reported to the senate and could be prosecuted. The quaestors were assistants to the consuls for judicial affairs, to whom the management of the treasury later passed. The people's assembly remained the supreme state body, which approved laws, declared war, concluded peace, elected all officials(magistrates). At the same time, the role of the Senate increased: not a single law entered into force without its approval; he supervised the activities of the magistrates, decided foreign policy issues, supervised finances and religious life; Senate resolutions (senatus-consuls) became laws.
The main content of the history of early republican Rome was the struggle of the plebeians for equality with the patricians, who, as full-fledged citizens, monopolized the right to sit in the Senate, occupy the highest magistracies and receive (“occupy”) land from the “public field”; the plebeians also demanded the abolition of debt bondage and the limitation of debt interest. The growth of the military role of the plebeians (by the beginning of the 5th century BC they already made up the bulk of the Roman army) allowed them to exert effective pressure on the patrician senate. In 494 BC after another refusal of the Senate to satisfy their demands, they retired from Rome to the Sacred Mountain (the first secession), and the patricians had to make concessions: a new magistracy was established - people's tribunes, elected exclusively from the plebeians (originally two) and possessing sacred immunity; they had the right to interfere in the activities of the other magistrates (intercession), to impose a ban on any of their decisions (veto) and to bring them to justice. In 486 BC the consul Spurius Cassius proposed distributing half of the land seized from the Guerniki and part of the "public field" plundered by the patricians to the plebeians and allied Latin communities; the senators prevented the passage of this law; Cassius was charged with treason and executed. In 473 BC the tribune of the people, Gnaeus Genutius, was killed on the eve of his trial of both consuls. In 471 BC the plebeians managed to achieve the adoption of a law on the election of people's tribunes by tributary comitia (assemblies of plebeians by tribes): in this way, the patricians lost the opportunity to influence the elections through their freedmen. In 457 BC the number of people's tribunes increased to ten. In 456 BC the people's tribune Lucius Itsilius passed a law granting the plebeians and settlers the right to build and cultivate land on the Aventine Hill. In 452 BC the plebeians forced the senate to create a commission of ten members (decemvirs) with consular power to write down laws, primarily for the sake of fixing (i.e. limiting) the powers of the patrician magistrates; the activities of consuls and people's tribunes for the duration of the commission was suspended. In 451–450 BC the decemvirs drew up laws that were engraved on copper plates and exhibited in the Forum (the laws of the Twelve Tables): they protected private property; they asserted a severe debt law (the debtor could be sold into slavery and even executed), while setting a limit on the usurious interest (8.33% per annum); determined the legal status of the main social categories of Roman society (patricians, plebeians, patrons, clients, freemen, slaves); forbade marriages between plebeians and patricians. These laws satisfied neither the plebeians nor the patricians; the abuses of the decemvirs and their attempt to extend their powers provoked in 449 BC. the second secession of the plebeians (to the Sacred Mountain). Decemvirs had to give up power; the consulate and tribunate were restored. In the same year, the consuls Lucius Valerius and Marcus Horace passed a law making it mandatory for all citizens, including patricians, to make decisions of comitia tributa (plebiscites), if they receive the approval of the senate. In 447 BC the right to elect quaestors passed to the comitia tributa. In 445 BC At the initiative of the people's tribune Gaius Canulei, the ban on marriages between plebeians and patricians was lifted. The growth of the influence of the plebeians was also expressed in the establishment of the post of military tribunes with consular power, which they had the right to occupy. B 444, 433-432, 426-424, 422, 420-414, 408-394, 391-390 and 388-367 BC. military tribunes with consular authority (from three to eight) performed the duties of the highest officials of the Republic instead of consuls; until the beginning of the 4th c. BC. only patricians were elected to this post, and only in 400 BC. it was occupied by the plebeian Licinius Calf. In 443 BC the consuls lost the right to distribute citizens by centuries, which was transferred to new magistrates - two censors elected from among the patricians every five years by centuriate comitia for a period of 18 months; Gradually, the compilation of the list of senators, control over the collection of taxes and supervision of morals passed into their jurisdiction. In 421 BC the plebeians received the right to hold the office of quaestor, although they realized it only in 409 BC. After a ten-year fierce struggle with the patricians, the popular tribunes Licinius Stolon and Sextius Lateran won in 367 BC. a decisive victory: a limit was set for the land allocated from the “public field” (500 yugers = 125 hectares) and the debt burden was significantly eased; the institution of consuls was restored, provided that one of them would be a plebeian; however, the Senate secured the transfer of judicial power from the consuls to the praetors, who were elected from among the patricians. The first plebeian consul was Licinius Stolon (366 BC), the first plebeian dictator was Marcius Rutulus (356 BC). From 354 BC the plebeians got the opportunity to influence the composition of the senate: now it was made up of former senior magistrates, some of whom no longer belonged to the patricians; only they had the right to make proposals and participate in their discussion. In 350 BC The first plebeian censor was elected. In 339 BC Publilia's law secured one of the censorship seats for the plebeian class. In 337 BC the office of praetor became available to the plebeians. Activation in the second half of the 4th c. BC. the policy of withdrawing colonies of small-land citizens in different regions of Italy made it possible to partially remove the acuteness of the agrarian issue. In 326 BC the people's tribune Petelius passed a law abolishing debt bondage for Roman citizens - from now on they were responsible for the debt only with their property, but not with their bodies. In 312 BC censor Appius Claudius allowed citizens who did not have landed property (merchants and artisans) to be assigned not only to urban, but also to rural tribes, which increased their influence in the comitia; he also tried to include some of the sons of freedmen among the senators. In 300 BC under the law of the Ogulniev brothers, the plebeians gained access to the priestly colleges of pontiffs and augurs, whose composition was doubled for this. Thus, all the magistracies were open to the plebeians. Their struggle with the patricians ended in 287 BC, when, after their next secession (on the Janiculum Hill), the dictator Quintus Hortensius passed a law according to which the decisions of the comitia comitia were legally valid even without the sanction of the senate.
The victory of the plebeians led to a change in the social structure of Roman society: having achieved political equality, they ceased to be an estate different from the patrician estate; noble plebeian families, together with the old patrician families, constituted a new elite - the nobility. This contributed to the weakening of the internal political struggle in Rome and the consolidation of Roman society, which allowed him to mobilize all his forces for active foreign policy expansion.
Roman conquest of Italy.
Under the Republic, the territorial expansion of the Romans intensified. At the first stage (the conquest of Latium), their main opponents in the north were the Etruscans, in the northeast - the Sabines, in the east - the Aequi and in the southeast - the Volsci.
In 509–506 BC Rome repelled the advance of the Etruscans, who came out in support of the deposed Tarquinius the Proud, and in 499-493 BC. defeated the Arician Federation of Latin Cities (First Latin War), concluding an alliance with it on the terms of non-interference in each other's internal affairs, mutual military assistance and equality in the division of booty; in 486 BC the Guernica joined this alliance. This allowed the Romans to start a series of wars with the Sabines, Volscians, Aequas and the powerful South Etruscan city of Veii, which lasted for a whole century. After repeated victories over neighbors and capture in 396 BC. Wei Rim established hegemony in Latium.
The strengthening of the foreign policy positions of the Romans in Central Italy was interrupted by the invasion of the Gauls, who in 390 BC. defeated the Roman army at the river Allia, captured and burned Rome; The Romans took refuge in the Capitol. According to legend, the geese, dedicated to the goddess Juno, woke up its defenders with their cry and thwarted the night attempt of the enemies to secretly enter the fortress. Although the Gauls soon left the city, the influence of the Romans in Latium was greatly weakened; the union with the Latins actually broke up; in 388 BC gerniki were deposited from Rome; the Volsci, the Etruscans and the Aequis resumed the war against him. However, the Romans managed to repel the onslaught of neighboring tribes. After a new Gallic invasion of Latium in 360 BC. the Roman-Latin alliance was revived (358 BC); in 354 BC a treaty of friendship was concluded with the powerful Samnite Federation ( cm. SAmnites). By the middle of the IV century. BC. Rome established full control over Latium and Southern Etruria and began to expand into other areas of Italy.
In 343 BC the inhabitants of the Campanian city of Capua, having suffered a defeat from the Samnites, passed into Roman citizenship, which caused the First Samnite War (343–341 BC), which ended with the victory of the Romans and the subjugation of the Western Campaign.
The growth of the power of Rome led to an aggravation of its relations with the Latins; the refusal of the Roman Senate to assign one consular seat and half the seats in the Senate to them provoked the Second Latin War (340-338 BC), as a result of which the Latin Union was dissolved, part of the lands of the Latins was confiscated, and a separate agreement was concluded with each community. The inhabitants of a number of Latin cities received Roman citizenship; the rest were equalized with the Romans only in property (the right to acquire property and trade in Rome, the right to marry the Romans), but not in political rights (citizens without the right to vote), which they, however, could acquire upon resettlement in Rome.
During the Second (327–304 BC) and Third (298–290 BC) Samnite Wars, the Romans, with the support of the Lucans and Apuls, defeated the Samnite Federation and defeated its allies, the Etruscans and Gauls. The Samnites were forced to enter into an unequal alliance with Rome and cede part of their territory to him. In 290 BC the Romans subjugated the Sabines, granting them citizenship without the right to vote; they also occupied a number of districts of Picenum and Apulia. As a result of the war of 285–283 BC. with the Lucans, Etruscans and Gauls, Rome strengthened its influence in Lucania and Etruria, established control over Picenum and Umbria and seized Senonian Gaul, becoming the hegemon of all of Central Italy.
The penetration of Rome into southern Italy (the capture of the Furies) led to 280 BC. to the war with Tarentum, the most powerful of the states of Magna Graecia (the South Italian coast colonized by the Greeks), and his ally, the Epirus king Pyrrhus. In 286–285 BC the Romans defeated Pyrrhus, which allowed them to 270 BC. subjugate Lucania, Bruttius and all of Greater Greece. In 269 BC Samnium was finally conquered. The conquest of Italy by Rome up to the borders with Gaul was completed in 265 BC. the capture of Volsinia in southern Etruria. The communities of Southern and Central Italy entered the Italian Union, headed by Rome.
Rome's expansion outside of Italy made it inevitable that he clashed with Carthage, the leading power in the Western Mediterranean. Roman intervention in Sicilian affairs in 265–264 BC sparked the First Punic War (264–241 BC). In its first period (264–255 BC), the Romans were initially successful: they captured most of Sicily and, having built a fleet, deprived the Carthaginians of dominance at sea; however, during the African expedition of 256-255 BC. their army was routed and their fleet destroyed by a storm. In the second stage (255–241 BC), Sicily again became the theater of operations; the war went on with varying success; the turning point came only in 241 BC, when the Romans defeated the Carthaginian fleet near the Egatsky Islands and blocked the Carthaginian fortresses of Lilibey and Drepana in Western Sicily. Carthage had to agree to a peace treaty with Rome, ceding to him their Sicilian possessions. Rome became the strongest state in the Western Mediterranean. Cm. PUNIC WARS.
In 238 BC the Romans captured the islands of Sardinia and Corsica, which belonged to Carthage, making them in 227 BC. together with Sicily the first Roman provinces. In 232 BC at the Etruscan port of Telamon (at the confluence of the Ombrone into the Tyrrhenian Sea), they defeated the hordes of Gauls who invaded Central Italy. In 229–228 BC in a coalition with the Achaean and Aetolian alliances, Rome defeated the Illyrians (First Illyrian War), who attacked merchant ships in the Adriatic Sea, and captured part of the Illyrian coast (modern Albania); Illyrian tribes pledged to pay tribute to the Romans. In 225–224 BC Roman troops occupied Cispadan Gaul (the country of the Gauls south of the Padus River - modern Po), and in 223-220 BC. - Transpadanian Gaul (the country of the Gauls north of Padus), establishing control over Northern Italy. In 219 BC The Romans won the Second Illyrian War, securing their dominion in the Adriatic.
Taking advantage of the struggle of Rome with the Gauls and Illyrians, Carthage subjugated the Mediterranean coast of the Iberian (Pyrenean) peninsula up to the Iber River (modern Ebro). The siege by the Carthaginian commander Hannibal of the Iberian city of Sagunt, allied to the Romans, in 219 BC. led to the Second Punic War (218–201 BC). At its first stage (218-215 BC), Hannibal, having invaded Italy, won a series of brilliant victories and brought Rome to the brink of disaster. During the second period of the war (215-211 BC), hostilities spread to Sicily and Iberia (modern Spain); neither side was able to achieve a decisive advantage: the defeats of the Romans in Italy and Iberia were offset by their capture of Sicily (the capture of Syracuse in 211 BC). At the third stage (211–201 BC), a turning point occurred in favor of the Romans: they ousted the Carthaginians from the Iberian Peninsula, blocked Hannibal in southern Italy, and transferred the war to Africa. After a crushing defeat at Zama in 202 BC. Carthage capitulated: under the terms of the world 201 BC. he lost all his overseas possessions and lost the right to have a navy and to wage war without the consent of Rome; the Romans received all of Sicily and the east coast of Iberia; the Numidian kingdom entered into an alliance with them. Rome became the hegemon of the Western Mediterranean.
In parallel with the Second Punic War, Rome fought in 215–205 BC. war with an ally of Carthage, the Macedonian king Philip V. He managed to win over the Achaean Union and a number of policies of Balkan Greece, which prevented the Macedonians from invading Italy. Exhausted by prolonged hostilities, Macedonia in 205 BC. made peace with Rome, ceding part of her Illyrian possessions to him.
The defeat of Carthage allowed Rome to begin a wide expansion in different areas Mediterranean, primarily in the east, where the Hellenistic states became the main object of his policy - the power of the Seleucids (Syria), Ptolemaic Egypt, Macedonia, Pergamum, Rhodes, policies of Balkan Greece, the Pontic kingdom (). In 200–197 BC Rome, in coalition with Pergamon, Rhodes, the Achaean and Aetolian alliances, defeated Macedonia (Second Macedonian War), which had to give up all its possessions in Greece, the navy and the right to an independent foreign policy. In 196 BC the Romans proclaimed the "freedom" of Hellas. Since that time, Rome has gained significant political weight in the Balkans and began to interfere in the internal affairs of the Greek states (Thessaly, Sparta). In 192–188 BC the Romans in a coalition with Pergamum, Rhodes and the Achaean League defeated the Syrian king Antiochus III and the Aetolian League that supported him (Syrian War); the power of the Seleucids lost their possessions in Asia Minor, which were divided between Pergamum and Rhodes; The Aetolian Union lost its political and military significance. Thus, by the beginning of the 180s, Rome was able to undermine the positions of the two most powerful states of the Hellenistic world - Macedonia and Syria - and become powerful force in the Eastern Mediterranean.
In 179 BC the Romans managed to suppress the outbreak that broke out in 197 BC. the uprising of the coastal Iberian tribes, supported by the Celtiberians and Lusitanians, and subjugate the central regions of the Iberian Peninsula, forming two provinces in the conquered territories - Near and Far Spain.
In 171–168 BC the Romans defeated the coalition of Macedonia, Epirus, Illyria and the Aetolian Union (Third Macedonian War) and destroyed the Macedonian kingdom, creating in its place four independent districts that paid tribute to them; Illyria was also divided into three districts dependent on Rome; The Aetolian Union ceased to exist. Rome became the hegemon of the Eastern Mediterranean.
After the Third Macedonian War, Rome ceased to need the support of its former allies - Pergamum, Rhodes and the Achaean Union - and began to seek their weakening. The Romans took away from Rhodes his possessions in Asia Minor and dealt a blow to his trading power, declaring neighboring Delos a free port. They also contributed to the falling away from the Pergamum kingdom of Galatia and Paphlagonia and entered into an alliance with Bithynia and Heraclea Pontus, hostile to him.
From the middle of the II century. BC. the nature of Rome's foreign policy is changing: if before he asserted his influence, supporting some states against others, not striving, as a rule, to establish direct control over territories outside Italy, now he is moving to a policy of annexations. After the suppression of the Andriska uprising in 149-148 BC. Macedonia was turned into a Roman province, which also included Epirus, the islands ionian sea and the Illyrian coast. In 148 BC Rome entered the war with the Achaean League and in 146 BC. defeated him; The union was dissolved, and the Greek policies, with the exception of Athens and Sparta, became dependent on the Roman governors of the province of Macedonia. Taking advantage of the conflict between Carthage and the Numidian king Masinissa, Rome began in 149 BC. The Third Punic War, which ended in destruction in 146 BC. Carthage and the creation of the province of Africa on its territory. In 139 BC after a long and exhausting war with the Lusitanians (154-139 BC), the Romans captured the southwestern part of the Iberian Peninsula, and in 133 BC. as a result of the Numantine War (138–133 BC), they took possession of the lands between the Duria (modern Duero) and Taga (modern Tajo) rivers. After the suppression of the rebellion of Aristonicus (132-129 BC), the Kingdom of Pergamon, bequeathed to Rome by King Attalus III, was turned into the Roman province of Asia. In 125 BC the Romans defeated the union of the Celtic tribes led by the Arverns and occupied the Mediterranean coast between the Alps and the Pyrenees, forming here in 121 BC. province of Gallia Narbonne. In 123–122 BC they finally conquered the Balearic Islands. As a result of a difficult war with the Numidian king Jugurtha in 111-105 BC. (Yughurtin war) the Numidian kingdom also turned out to be dependent on Rome.
The expansion of Rome in the north was halted by the invasion of the Germanic tribes of the Cimbri and Teutons, who inflicted several defeats on the Roman troops. However, the consul Gaius Maria, who reorganized the Roman army, managed to defeat in 102 BC. Teutons under Aqua Sextiev, and in 101 BC. Cimbri under Vercellus and eliminate the German threat.
In the 1st century BC. the Romans continued the policy of annexations of neighboring countries. In 96 BC the ruler of Cyrene, Ptolemy, bequeathed to the Roman people his kingdom, which became a province in 74 BC. In the 90s BC. Rome subjugated part of the southeastern coast of Asia Minor (Cilicia). As a result of three wars (89-85, 83-82 and 74-63 BC) with the energetic and aggressive Pontic king Mithridates VI and the war with his ally the Armenian king Tigran II, the Romans captured a number of Asia Minor regions (Bithynia, Pontus) and Cyprus; Armenia (66 BC) and the Kingdom of Bosporus (63 BC) recognized their dependence on Rome. In 67–66 BC The Romans took possession of Crete, the nest of Mediterranean pirates, in 64 BC. liquidated the power of the Seleucids and formed the province of Syria on the territory of Syria and Palestine; in 63 BC subjugated Judah. As a result, the system of Hellenistic states was dealt a mortal blow; Egypt, Cappadocia, Commagene, Galatia and the Bosporus, which retained their nominal independence, no longer represented a real political force; the Romans reached the Euphrates and came into direct contact with the Parthian kingdom, henceforth their main rival in the East. In 53 BC The Parthians, having destroyed the army of Marcus Licinius Crassus, stopped further Roman aggression in Mesopotamia.
From the second half of the 60s BC. the Romans resumed aggression in the west and northwest. In 63 BC they completed the conquest of the Iberian Peninsula, annexing to the Roman state its northwestern part - the country of the Gallecs (Gallecia), and in 58-51 BC. took possession of the entire territory of Gaul up to the Rhine (provinces of Lugdun Gaul, Belgica and Aquitaine); military expeditions to Germany (56-55 BC) and Britain (in 56 and 54 BC), however, did not lead to the conquest of these lands.
A new stage of Roman foreign policy expansion is associated with the civil wars in Rome in 49–30 BC. During the struggle with Pompey, Julius Caesar in 47 BC. repulsed the attempt of the Bosporan king Pharnaces II (63–47 BC) to recapture Pontus, and in 47–46 BC. defeated the ally of the Pompeians, the Numidian king Yubu the Elder, and annexed his kingdom to the Roman state as the province of New Africa. During the war with Mark Antony Gaius Octavius (Octavian) in 30 BC. captured Egypt - the last major Hellenistic state.
Thus, as a result of the conquests of the III-I centuries. BC. Rome became a world power, and the Mediterranean became an inland Roman lake.
Social and political development of III-I centuries. BC.
Roman society at the beginning of the III century. BC. consisted of full and non-full citizens; full-fledged were divided into nobles, horsemen and plebs. Nobili - serving nobility: clans (both patrician and plebeian) who had consuls among their ancestors; most of the magistrates and senators were recruited from them. Horsemen - members of eighteen equestrian centuries; these included, first of all, wealthy plebeians who did not occupy the highest positions and were not included in the Senate list. The rest of the citizens made up the plebs. The category of inferiors included freedmen, who did not have the right to marry quirites and be elected to public office (they could only vote in four city tribes), and Latin allies, who were completely excluded from participation in elections.
In the era of the Punic and Macedonian wars (264-168 BC), the internal contradictions of Roman society faded into the background. In the III century. BC. the National Assembly kept important role in political life; it was the influence of the plebs and horsemanship that explained the particular aggressiveness of Roman foreign policy, for the senate treated overseas conquests with restraint. After the First Punic War, the centuriate comitia were reformed: the first class (the wealthiest citizens) lost their exclusive position; all classes now put up an equal number of centuries and had an equal number of votes in the popular assembly. In 232 BC tribune Gaius Flaminius achieved a division among the poor citizens of the lands of Northern Picenum ("Gallic field"). In 218 BC, at the suggestion of the tribune Claudius, senatorial families were forbidden to have ships with a displacement of more than three hundred amphorae; thus, the nobles were removed from maritime trade, which passed mainly into the hands of horsemen.
Since the Second Punic War, on the contrary, the positions of the Senate and the nobility have been strengthened, which is gradually turning into a closed estate; in the II century. BC. only rare representatives of other social groups manage to break through to the highest government positions, especially after the law of Willius of 180 BC, which established the age limit for taking magistracy and a strict sequence of their passage from the lowest to the highest. The nobility establishes complete control over the elections, primarily through freedmen and the practice of bribery. The People's Assembly loses its political independence. At the same time, the legal status of the allies is deteriorating, the inequality between the Romans, Latins and Italics is deepening; in the provinces, the arbitrariness of the governors and the abuse of horsemen, who take taxes for farming, become a real disaster. The evasion of a significant number of citizens from military service and the system of recruitment by lot leads to a drop in combat effectiveness and discipline in the army.
In the second third of the II century. BC. the situation is aggravated by the crisis of small landownership, which is being replaced by large slave-owning farms (villas). If in 194-177 BC. the state carried out a mass distribution of state lands, then after the completion of the main military campaigns in the East, it abandons this practice (the last distribution is 157 BC). This leads to a reduction in the number of full citizens (from 328 thousand in 159 BC to 319 thousand in 121 BC). The agrarian question comes to the forefront of the political struggle between the two main groups - the optimates and the populists. The optimates defended the political privileges of the nobility and opposed land reform; The populace advocated limiting the role of the Senate, returning to the state the lands that were in use by the nobility, and redistributing them in favor of the poor. In 133 BC tribune Tiberius Gracchus passed laws on the land maximum (1000 yugers), on the confiscation of surpluses, on the creation of a public land fund and the allocation of a plot of 30 yugers from it to each needy for hereditary use for a moderate rent to the state without the right to sell. Despite the murder of Gracchus and three hundred of his supporters by the optimates, an agrarian commission formed by decision of the people's assembly in 132-129 BC. endowed with land at least 75 thousand Romans, who were included in the lists of citizens; possessing judicial functions, it invariably resolved land disputes not in favor of large owners. In 129 BC its activities were suspended, but the popular achieved the adoption of a law on secret ballot in comitia and on the right of the people's tribune to be elected for the next term. In 123–122 BC tribune Gaius Gracchus, brother of Tiberius Gracchus, passed a number of laws in favor of the plebs and horsemen: on the resumption of the activities of the agrarian commission, on the withdrawal of colonies to Africa, on the sale of grain to the Romans at low prices, on the creation of equestrian courts to investigate the abuses of the governors of the provinces, on the surrender to horsemen to pay off taxes in the province of Asia, to establish an age limit for military service (from seventeen to forty-six years), to provide soldiers with free weapons, to abolish the right of the Senate to appoint special judicial commissions. Gaius Gracchus gained enormous political influence in Rome, but in 122 BC. the optimates managed to weaken his position by defeating a bill granting Roman citizenship to the allies and putting forward a number of populist proposals. In 121 BC he was killed, and the popular were repressed, yet the senate did not dare to annul his reforms; True, a ban was imposed on the further distribution of state lands (only its lease was allowed), and the already allocated plots were transferred to the private ownership of their owners, which contributed to the mobilization of land in the hands of a few.
The degradation of the senatorial oligarchic regime was especially clearly manifested during the Jugurthian War of 111-105 BC, when the Numidian king Jugurtha managed to easily bribe magistrates, senators and generals who fought against him. The fall in the influence of the optimates allowed Gaius Mary, a native of the plebs, who distinguished himself in the war with the Numidians, to become in 107 BC. consul. He carried out a military reform, laying the foundations of a professional army (recruitment of citizens regardless of qualifications; their equipment at the expense of the state; annual salary; the abolition of the estate principle in promotion, etc.); the army began to turn into an autonomous social institution, and the soldiers into a special social group, associated more with their commander than with civil authorities. At the end of the 100s, Marius, whose authority increased enormously as a result of victories over Jugurtha in 107-105 BC. and the Germans in 102-101 BC, entered into an alliance with the leaders of the popular Apuleius Saturninus and Servilius Glaucius. In 100 BC they won the elections (Marius became consul, Saturninus became tribune, and Glaucius became praetor) and passed laws to reduce the price of bread sold to citizens by five times, to establish colonies in the province for Marius veterans, and to grant civil rights to the allies. However, the conflict between Marius and Saturninus and Glaucius and disappointment in their equestrian policy led to the defeat of the popular in the next election and the abolition of all adopted in 100 BC. laws.
Inequality in the army, the cessation of the practice of granting Roman citizenship, the restriction of the right to move to Rome, arbitrariness on the part of Roman officials and even ordinary Roman citizens caused in 91–88 BC. Italic revolt ( cm. ALLIED WAR); as a result, the Romans were forced to grant Roman citizenship to almost all Italic communities, although they assigned them not to all thirty-five, but only to eight tribes. Thus, an important step was taken towards the transformation of Rome from a city-state into a pan-Italic power.
In 88 BC tribune Sulpicius Rufus passed a number of anti-Senate laws - on the distribution of new citizens and freedmen among all thirty-five tribes, on expulsion from the Senate large debtors and about the removal from the post of commander of the eastern army of the protege of the optimates Lucius Cornelius Sulla. However, Sulla moved his troops to Rome, took it, repressed the populace, repealed the laws of Sulpicius Rufus and carried out a political reform (limiting the legislative initiative of the people's tribunes; restoring the inequality of centuries when voting in favor of the first class). After the departure of Sulla to the East in the spring of 87 BC. the populares, led by Cornelius Cinna and Gaius Marius, with the support of the Italics, captured Rome and brutally cracked down on the optimates; after the death of Mary in January 86 BC. power was usurped by Cinne; in 84 BC he was killed by soldiers. In the spring of 83 BC Sulla, having defeated Mithridates VI, landed in Calabria and defeated the army of the populares; in 82 he occupied Rome and established control over all of Italy; his generals crushed popular resistance in Sicily, Africa (82 BC) and Iberia (81 BC).
In 82 BC Sulla became an indefinite dictator with unlimited powers and launched a reign of terror against his political opponents; special lists (proscriptions) of persons declared outside the law were drawn up (4,700 people); on their basis about fifty senators and sixteen hundred horsemen were killed. Sulla distributed the confiscated lands and the remnants of the "public field" to his soldiers (about 120 thousand), which contributed to the strengthening of small land ownership in Italy; he abolished grain distributions; replaced farming in the province of Asia with the collection of taxes; destroyed equestrian courts; increased the role of the Senate, transferring to it the exclusive right of legislative initiative and eliminating the institution of censors; restricted the judicial and financial functions of the people's assembly; fixed the age limit for holding positions and the strict sequence of their passage; introduced the practice of appointing senior magistrates after the expiration of their term as governors of the provinces; reformed local government, making municipal bodies part of the national mechanism. At the same time, Sulla recognized the equality of new citizens and widely distributed civil rights. In 81 BC he restored the normal functioning of republican institutions and the electoral system, and in 79 BC. renounced unlimited power.
After the death of Sulla in 78 BC. the order he had established began to crumble. In opposition to the optimates (leaders - Gnaeus Pompey and Mark Crassus), horsemen, plebs, freedmen and Italics united; control of Spain was in the hands of the popular Quintus Sertorius. But the defeat of Pompey in 78 BC. Antisullan rebellion in Etruria led to the strengthening of the power of the Senate oligarchy. In 74 BC in Italy, a slave uprising broke out under the leadership of Spartacus; in 71 BC it was crushed by Crassus. After the assassination of Sertorius in 72 BC. Pompey took Spain from the populars. The rise of Pompey's influence aroused concern among the Senate, which refused in 71 BC. appoint him commander in the East. Pompey made an agreement with Crassus and the populares; in 70 BC they defeated the optimates in the elections. Pompey and Crassus, who became consuls, achieved the abolition of the Sullan laws: the rights of the people's tribunes and the position of censors were restored, representatives of the horsemanship and the plebs were introduced to the courts, and farming was allowed in the province of Asia. In 69 BC Sulla's supporters were expelled from the Senate. In 67 BC Pompey received emergency powers for three years to combat piracy, and in 66 BC. unlimited five-year power in the East to fight Mithridates; in his absence, Julius Caesar rose to prominence among the populace, gaining prestige from the plebs by organizing lavish spectacles. Failure in 63 BC a rebellion close to the peoples of Catiline, who put forward the slogan of the complete abolition of debts, scared away many supporters from them, especially horsemen; the influence of the optimates increased again. In 62 BC the senate rejected the request of Pompey, who had successfully completed his eastern campaign, to retain command of the army and allocate land to his soldiers. Returning to Italy, Pompey concluded in 60 BC. alliance with Crassus and Caesar (first triumvirate). The triumvirs achieved the election of Caesar as consul, who in 59 BC. passed a law providing allotments for veterans of Pompey and poor citizens; the power of governors in the provinces was also limited; the leaders of the optimates - Cicero and Cato the Younger - were forced to leave Rome. In 58 BC, after the expiration of the term of consular powers, Caesar received control of Cisalpine Gaul and Illyria (later Transalpine Gaul) with the right to recruit an army. Associated tribune 58 BC Publius Clodius, an extreme popular, achieved great influence in the popular assembly; he introduced free distributions of bread, limited the right of the censors to change the composition of the Senate, and created armed detachments of slaves and freedmen. Pompey, who came into conflict with Clodius, became close to the optimates and achieved the return of Cicero to Rome; tribune 57 BC Annius Milon, a supporter of the Senate, organized his detachments in opposition to Clodius. But Cicero's attempt to repeal the agrarian law of 59 B.C. again rallied the triumvirs, who in the spring of 56 BC. concluded a new agreement in Luqa. The Senate capitulated and was completely removed from political decision-making; the popular assembly extended the powers of Caesar in Gaul for another five years and elected Pompey and Crassus as consuls. After the death of Crassus in the Parthian campaign 53 BC. and the murder of Clodius in 52 BC. control over Rome was concentrated in the hands of Pompey; his relationship with Caesar deteriorated and he again went over to the side of the Senate, which gave him virtual dictatorial power; for the sake of an alliance with Pompey, the optimates sacrificed Milo: he was condemned, and his troops were disbanded. In 50 BC there was an open rift between Caesar and Pompey. Rejecting the Senate's demand for resignation, Caesar in January 49 BC. started a civil war: he invaded Italy and captured Rome; Pompey retreated to Greece. In January 48 BC Caesar landed in Epirus and in June 48 BC. at Pharsalus (Thessaly) he inflicted a crushing defeat on Pompey, who fled to Alexandria, where he was executed by order of the Egyptian king Ptolemy XIV. Arriving in Egypt, Caesar crushed the anti-Roman uprising in Alexandria and elevated Cleopatra VII to the Egyptian throne. In 47 BC, he established control over Asia Minor, and in 46 BC. took control of Africa, defeating the Pompeians and their ally, the Numidian king Yuba, at Thapsus. The civil war ended in 45 BC. the defeat of the sons of Pompey at Munda and the subjugation of Spain.
Caesar effectively established a monarchical regime. In 48 BC he became dictator for an indefinite period, in 46 BC. - dictator for ten years, in 44 BC. - dictator for life In 48 BC he was elected tribune for life. As a great pontiff (as early as 63 BC), Caesar had the supreme religious authority. He received censorship powers (as prefect of morals), a permanent proconsular empire (unrestricted power over the provinces), supreme judicial jurisdiction and the functions of commander in chief. The title of the emperor (a sign of the highest military authority) was part of his name.
The old political institutions survived, but lost any meaning. The approval of the popular assembly turned into a formality, and the election into a fiction, since Caesar had the right to recommend candidates for office. The Senate was transformed into a state council, which discussed laws in advance; its composition increased one and a half times due to the supporters of Caesar, including the sons of freedmen and natives of Spain and Gaul. The former magistrates became officials of the city government of Rome. The governors of the provinces, whose duties were reduced to administrative supervision and command of local military contingents, were directly subordinate to the dictator.
Having received from the popular assembly the authority to "organize" the state, Caesar carried out a number of important reforms. He abolished the direct taxes and streamlined their collection, placing the responsibility for it on the communities; limited arbitrariness local authorities; brought numerous colonies (especially veterans) to the provinces; reduced the number of recipients of grain distributions by more than half. By granting Roman citizenship to the inhabitants of Cisalpine Gaul and many cities in Spain, Africa and Narbonne Gaul, and introducing a single gold coin into circulation, he initiated the process of unification of the Roman state.
Caesar's authoritarianism fueled Senate opposition. March 15, 44 BC conspirators led by Cassius Longinus and Junius Brutus killed the dictator. However, they failed to restore the republic. Octavian, Caesar's official heir, and Caesarian leaders Mark Antony and Mark Aemilius Lepidus in October 43 BC. formed a second triumvirate, dividing the western provinces among themselves; having captured Rome, they obtained emergency powers from the popular assembly and launched a terror against political opponents, during which about three hundred senators and two thousand horsemen died; the republicans strengthened themselves in Sicily (Sextus Pompey) and in the eastern provinces (Brutus and Cassius). In the autumn of 42 BC Octavian and Anthony defeated the Republican army at Philippi (Macedonia); Brutus and Cassius committed suicide. Having conquered the East, the triumvirs in 40 BC. made a redistribution of all the provinces: Octavian received the West and Illyria, Antony - the East, Lepidus - Africa. After the destruction in 36 BC. the last hotbed of republican resistance (Octavian's victory over Sextus Pompey), the contradictions between the triumvirs escalated. In 36 BC Lepidus tried to take Sicily from Octavian, but failed; Octavian removed him from power and included Africa in his possessions. In 32 BC an open conflict broke out between Octavian and Mark Antony and his wife (from 37 BC) the Egyptian queen Cleopatra. In September 31 BC Octavian defeated Antony's fleet at Cape Actions (Western Greece), and in the summer of 30 BC. invaded Egypt; Antony and Cleopatra committed suicide. Octavian became the sole ruler of the Roman state. The era of the Empire began.
Culture.
The worldview of a Roman of the early period was characterized by a sense of himself as a free citizen, consciously choosing and doing his actions; a sense of collectivism, belonging to a civil community, the priority of state interests over personal ones; conservatism, following the mores and customs of ancestors (ascetic ideals of frugality, diligence, patriotism); the desire for communal isolation and isolation from the outside world. The Romans differed from the Greeks in greater sobriety and practicality. In II-I centuries. BC. there is a departure from collectivism, individualism increases, the individual opposes himself to the state, traditional ideals are rethought and even criticized, society becomes more open to external influences. All these features were reflected in Roman art and literature.
Urban planning and architecture of the Republican era go through three stages in their development. On the first (5th century BC), the city is built up randomly; primitive dwellings made of mud and wood predominate; monumental construction is limited to the construction of temples (the rectangular temple of Capitoline Jupiter, the round temple of Vesta).
At the second stage (4th-3rd centuries BC), the city begins to be improved (paved streets, sewers, water pipes). The main type of structures are engineering military and civil buildings - defensive walls (the wall of Servius IV century BC), roads (Appian Way 312 BC), grandiose aqueducts that supply water for tens of kilometers (Appius Claudius aqueduct 311 BC), waste canals (cloaca of Maxim). There is a strong Etruscan influence (type of temple, arch, vault).
At the third stage (II-I centuries BC), elements of urban planning appear: division into quarters, design of the city center (Forum), arrangement park areas on the outskirts. Used new construction material- waterproof and durable Roman concrete (from crushed stone, volcanic sand and lime mortar), which makes it possible to build vaulted ceilings in large rooms. Roman architects creatively reworked Greek architectural forms. They create a new type of order - a composite one, combining the features of the Ionian, Dorian and especially Corinthian styles, as well as an order arcade - a set of arches based on columns. On the basis of the synthesis of Etruscan samples and the Greek peripter, a special type of temple arises - a pseudo-peripter with a high base (podium), a facade in the form of a deep portico and blank walls, dissected by semi-columns. Under Greek influence, the construction of theaters begins; but if the Greek theater was cut into the rock and was part of the surrounding landscape, then the Roman amphitheater is an independent structure with a closed internal space in which the audience rows are located in an ellipse around the stage or arena (the Great Theater in Pompeii, the theater on the Field of Mars in Rome). For the construction of residential buildings, the Romans borrow the Greek peristyle structure (a courtyard surrounded by a colonnade, to which the living quarters adjoin), but, unlike the Greeks, they try to arrange the rooms in strict symmetry (House of Pansa and House of the Faun in Pompeii); country estates (villas), freely organized and closely connected with the landscape, became a favorite vacation spot for the Roman nobility; their integral part is the garden, fountains, pavilions, grottoes, statues and a large pond. Actually, the Roman (Italian) architectural tradition is represented by basilicas (rectangular buildings with several naves), intended for trade and the administration of justice (Portia Basilica, Aemilia Basilica); monumental tombs (the tomb of Cecilia Metella); triumphal arches on roads and squares with one or three spans; terms (complexes of bathing and sports facilities).
Roman monumental sculpture did not receive the same development as Greek; she did not focus on the image of a physically and spiritually perfect person; its hero was a Roman statesman dressed in a toga. Plastic art was dominated by a sculptural portrait, historically associated with the custom of removing a wax mask from the deceased and keeping it together with the figures of household gods. Unlike the Greeks, the Roman masters sought to convey the individual, rather than the ideally generalized features of their models; their works were characterized by great prose. Gradually, from a detailed fixation of the external appearance, they moved on to revealing the inner character of the characters ("Brutus", "Cicero", "Pompey").
In painting (wall painting), two styles dominated: the first Pompeian (inlaid), when the artist imitated the laying of a wall of colored marble (House of the Faun in Pompeii), and the second Pompeian (architectural), when he used his drawing (columns, cornices, porticos, arbors) created the illusion of expanding the space of the room (Villa of Mysteries in Pompeii); An important role here was played by the image of the landscape, devoid of the isolation and limitation that were characteristic of ancient Greek landscapes.
History of Roman Literature V-I centuries. BC. splits into two periods. Until the middle of the III century. BC. Oral folk literature undoubtedly dominated: incantations and spells, labor and everyday (wedding, drinking, funeral) songs, religious hymns (the hymn of the Arval brothers), festennina (songs of a comic and parodic nature), saturas (improvised scenes, a prototype of folk drama), atellani (satirical farces with constant characters-masks: fool-glutton, fool-braggart, old miser, pseudo-scientist-charlatan).
The birth of written literature is associated with the emergence of the Latin alphabet, which originates either from Etruscan or from Western Greek; it had twenty-one characters. The earliest monuments of Latin writing were the annals of the pontiffs (weather records of major events), prophecies of a public and private nature, international treaties, funeral speeches or inscriptions in the homes of the dead, genealogical lists, legal documents. The first text that has come down to us is the laws of the Twelve Tables 451-450 BC; the first writer known to us is Appius Claudius (late 4th - early 3rd centuries BC), author of several legal treatises and a collection of poetic maxims.
From the middle of the III century. BC. Roman literature began to be strongly influenced by Greek. He played an important role in cultural Hellenization in the first half of the 2nd century. BC. circle of Scipios; however, she also faced strong opposition from the defenders of antiquity (the group of Cato the Elder); Greek philosophy evoked particular rejection.
The birth of the main genres of Roman literature was associated with the imitation of Greek and Hellenistic models. The works of the first Roman playwright Livius Andronicus (c. 280-207 BC) were a reworking of Greek tragedies of the 5th century. BC, as well as most of the writings of his followers Gnaeus Nevius (c. 270–201 BC) and Quintus Ennius (239–169 BC). At the same time, Gnaeus Nevius is credited with creating the Roman national drama - pretexts ( Romulus, clastidia); his work was continued by Ennius ( The Rape of the Sabine Women) and Actions (170 - c. 85 BC), who completely abandoned mythological plots ( brutus).
Andronicus and Nevius are also considered the first Roman comedians who created the Palleata genre (a Latin comedy based on a Greek story); Nevius took material from the Old Attic comedies, but supplemented it with Roman realities. The heyday of the Palleata is associated with the work of Plautus (mid-III century - 184 BC) and Terentius (c. 195-159 BC), who were already oriented towards the neo-Attic comedy, especially Menander; they actively developed everyday topics (conflicts between fathers and children, lovers and pimps, debtors and usurers, problems of education and attitudes towards women). In the second half of the II century. BC. the Roman national comedy (togata) was born; Aphranius stood at its source; in the first half of the 1st c. BC. Titinius and Atta worked in this genre; they portrayed the life of the lower classes and ridiculed the decline of morals. At the end of the II century. BC. Atellana (Pomponius, Noviy) also received a literary form; now it was played after the performance of the tragedy for the amusement of the spectators; often she parodied mythological subjects; the mask of an old rich miser, eager for positions, acquired special significance in it. Then, thanks to Lucilius (180-102 BC), satura turned into a special literary genre - a satirical dialogue.
Under the influence of Homer in the second half of the 3rd century. BC. the first Roman epic poems appear, telling about the history of Rome from its foundation to the end of the 3rd century BC. BC., - Punic War Navea and Annals Ennia. In the 1st century BC. Lucretius Carus (95–55 BC) creates a philosophical poem On the nature of things, which outlines and develops the atomistic concept of Epicurus.
At the beginning of the 1st century BC. Roman lyric poetry arose, which was greatly influenced by the Alexandrian poetic school. Neoteric Roman poets (Valery Cato, Licinius Calv, Valery Catullus) sought to penetrate into the intimate experiences of man and professed a cult of form; their favorite genres were the mythological epillium (short poem), the elegy, and the epigram. The most outstanding neotheric poet Catullus (87 - c. 54 BC) also contributed to the development of Roman civil lyrics (epigrams against Caesar and Pompey); thanks to him, the Roman epigram took shape as a genre.
The first prose works in Latin belong to Cato the Elder (234–149 BC), the founder of Roman historiography ( origins) and Roman agronomic science ( About agriculture). The true flowering of Latin prose dates back to the 1st century. BC. The best examples of historical prose are the writings of Julius Caesar - Notes on the Gallic War and Notes on the Civil War- and Sallust Crispus (86 - c. 35 BC) - Conspiracy of Catiline, Yugurtin war and History. Scientific prose of the 1st century. BC. represented by Terentius Varro (116–27 BC), author of the encyclopedia Human and divine antiquities, historical and philological works About Latin, About grammar, About the comedies of Plautus and treatise About agriculture, and Vitruvius (second half of the 1st century BC), the creator of the treatise About architecture.
1st century BC. is the golden age of Roman oratorical prose, which developed within the framework of two directions - Asian (flowery style, abundance of aphorisms, metrical organization of periods) and Attic (compressed and simple language); Hortensius Gortalus belonged to the first, and Julius Caesar, Licinius Calvus and Mark Junius Brutus belonged to the second. It reached its peak in the judicial and political speeches of Cicero, who originally combined Asian and Attic manners; Cicero also made significant contributions to the development of the theory of Roman eloquence ( About the speaker, brutus, Speaker).
Imperial Rome.
Principate of Augustus.
Having become the sole ruler, Octavian, given the rejection of the openly monarchical form of government by the general population, tried to clothe his power in traditional clothes. The basis of his authority was the tribunate and the highest military authority - empires (from 29 BC he bore the permanent title of emperor). In 29 BC he received the honorific nickname "August" ("Exalted") and was proclaimed princeps (first person) of the senate; hence the name of the new political system- principle. In the same year, he was granted proconsular power in the border (imperial) provinces (Gallia, Spain, Syria) - he appointed their rulers (legates and procurators), the troops stationed in them obeyed him, the taxes collected there went to his personal treasury (fisk ). In 24 BC the senate freed Augustus from any restrictions imposed by law in 13 BC. his decisions were equated with Senate resolutions. In 12 BC he became a great pontiff, and in 2 BC. was awarded the title of "Father of the Fatherland".
Formally, in the Roman state there was a diarchy of the princeps and the senate, which retained significant rights, disposed of the internal (senate) provinces and the state treasury (erarium). However, the diarchy only masked the monarchical regime. Having received in 29 BC. censorship powers, Augustus expelled the republicans and supporters of Antony from the Senate and reduced its composition. Significantly limited the real power of the Senate, the creation of an informal advisory council under the princeps and the institution of unelected (appointed by him) magistrates with their own staff - the prefect of Rome, the prefect of annona (who was in charge of supplying the capital), the prefect of the praetorium (commander of the guard). The princeps actually controlled the activities of the governors of the senatorial provinces. As for the popular assembly, Augustus preserved it, making it an obedient instrument of his power; using the right to recommend candidates, he determined the outcome of the elections.
In his social policy, Augustus maneuvered between the senatorial aristocracy and the horsemanship, which he sought to turn into a service estate, actively involving him in governance, primarily in the provinces. He supported medium and small landowners, whose number increased due to 500,000 veterans who received land in colonies outside Italy; land plots were assigned to the private property of their owners. Large-scale state construction provided work for a significant part of the urban population. With regard to the lumpen (about 200 thousand), August pursued a policy of "bread and circuses", allocating large funds for it. Unlike Caesar, he practically refused to grant Roman citizenship to the provincials, but at the same time limited the practice of farming, partially transferring them to local merchants, began to introduce a new tax collection system through the procurators, and fought against corruption and abuses of provincial governors.
Augustus carried out military reform, completing the century-long process of creating a Roman professional army: from now on, soldiers served 20–25 years, receiving regular salaries and constantly being in a military camp without the right to start a family; upon retirement, they were given a monetary reward (donativa) and were given a plot of land; the principle of voluntary recruitment of citizens into legions (shock units) and provincials into auxiliary formations was established; guards units were created to protect Italy, Rome and the emperor; guardsmen (praetorians) enjoyed a number of benefits (did not participate in wars, served only 16 years, received high salaries). For the first time in Roman history, special police units were organized - cohorts of vigils (guardians) and city cohorts.
The reign of Augustus (30 BC - 14 AD) was marked by three major uprisings in the border provinces - the Cantabri and Asturians in Northern Spain (28-19 BC), the tribes of Central and Southern Gaul (27 BC .e.) and the Illyrians (6–9 AD).
In foreign policy, Augustus avoided large-scale wars; nevertheless, he managed to annex Moesia (28 BC), Galatia (25 BC), Noricum (16 BC), Rhetia (15 BC), Pannonia ( 14–9 BC), Judah (6 AD); The Thracian kingdom became dependent on Rome. At the same time, an attempt to subjugate the Germanic tribes (campaigns 12 BC - 5 AD) and organize the province of Germany between the Elbe and the Rhine ended in complete failure: after the defeat in 9 AD. In the Teutoburg Forest, the Romans retreated across the Rhine. In the East, Augustus generally supported a system of buffer vassal kingdoms and fought the Parthians for control of Armenia; in 20 BC the Armenian throne was occupied by his protege Tigran III, however, from 6 AD. Armenia fell into the orbit of Parthian influence. The Romans even intervened in dynastic conflicts in Parthia itself, but did not achieve much success. Under Augustus, for the first time, South Arabia became the object of Roman aggression (the unsuccessful campaign of the Egyptian prefect Elius Gallus in 25 BC) and Ethiopia (the victorious campaign of Gaius Petronius in 22 BC).
Under the closest successors of Augustus - Tiberius, Caligula, Claudius I and Nero, there is an increase in monarchical tendencies.
Vespasian's successors, his sons Titus (79–81) and Domitian (81–96), continued the policy of favoring the provinces. At the same time, they resumed the practice of generous distributions and the organization of spectacles, which led to the impoverishment of the treasury in the mid-80s; in order to replenish it, Domitian unleashed terror against the propertied strata, which was accompanied by massive confiscations; repressions especially intensified after the uprising in 89 of Anthony Saturninus, the legate of Upper Germany. The internal political course began to acquire an openly absolutist character: following the example of Caligula, Domitian demanded to call himself "lord" and "god" and introduced the ritual of ceremonial worship; to suppress the opposition of the senate, he carried out periodic purges of it, using the powers of a life censor (from 85). In an atmosphere of general discontent, the princeps' inner circle conspired, and he was killed in September 96. The Flavian dynasty left the historical scene.
In foreign policy, the Flavias as a whole completed the process of eliminating the vassal buffer states on the border with Parthia, finally including Commagene and Lesser Armenia (west of the Euphrates) into the Empire. They continued the conquest of Britain, subjugating most of the island, except for its northern region - Caledonia. To strengthen the northern border, Vespasian captured the area between the sources of the Rhine and the Danube (the Decumates Fields) and created the provinces of Upper and Lower Germany, while Domitian made a successful campaign against the Germanic tribe of the Hattians in 83 and entered into a difficult war with the Dacians, which ended in 89 with a compromise peace: for an annual subsidy, the Dacian king Decibal undertook not to invade the territory of the Empire and to protect the Roman borders from other barbarian tribes (Sarmatians and Roxolans).
After the assassination of Domitian, the throne was taken by the protege of the Senate, Marcus Cocceus Nerva (96–98), the founder of the Antonin dynasty, who tried to consolidate different layers of Roman society. To this end, he continued the agrarian policy of the Flavians to support small landowners (mass purchase of land and its distribution among the needy), created an alimentary fund to support orphans and children of poor citizens, and proclaimed his heir and co-ruler, the governor of Upper Germany, popular in military circles, Mark Ulpius Trajan ( 97).
Another important component of the dominate regime was the army, whose numbers increased significantly under Diocletian; The main support of the emperor was not the stationary legions, the eternal source of political tension, but the newly created mobile troops stationed in the cities. Voluntary recruitment was supplemented by forced recruitment: landowners were obliged to supply one or another number of soldiers, depending on the size of their possessions. The process of barbarization of the army also intensified significantly.
The financial policy of the tetrarchs was also aimed at strengthening state unity. In 286, the minting of a full-weight gold (aureus) and a new copper coin began, and money circulation temporarily returned to normal; however, due to the discrepancy between the real and nominal value of the aureus, it quickly disappeared from circulation, and the practice of defacing the coin resumed. In 289-290, a new tax system was introduced, common to all regions of the Empire (including Italy): it was based on a periodic head-to-head census, unified principles of taxation (capita in cities, land in a rural district) and tax liability - land owners for colons and landed slaves, curials (members of city councils) for citizens; this contributed to the attachment of peasants to the land, and artisans to their professional organizations (colleges). In 301 fixed prices and fixed wage rates were legislated; severe penalties were imposed for their violation, up to death penalty(special executioners were even on duty in the markets); but even this could not stop the speculation, and the law was soon repealed.
In the religious sphere, a sharply anti-Christian course prevailed: by the beginning of the 4th century. Christianity spread in the army and urban strata and seriously competed with the imperial cult; an independent church organization led by bishops, which controlled a significant part of the population, posed a potential threat to the omnipotence of the state bureaucracy. In 303, the practice of Christian worship was prohibited, and persecution of its adherents began; prayer houses and liturgical books were destroyed, church property was confiscated.
The Tetrarchs managed to achieve some internal and external political stabilization. In 285-286 the uprising of the Bagauds was defeated, in 296 control over Egypt and Britain was restored, in 297-298 unrest in Mauritania and Africa was suppressed; a limit was placed on the invasions of the Germanic (Alemanni, Franks, Burgundians) and Sarmatian (Carps, Iazygi) tribes; in 298–299, the Romans ousted the Persians from the eastern provinces, captured Armenia, and made a successful campaign in Mesopotamia. But after the abdication of Diocletian and Maximian from the throne in 305, a civil war broke out in the Empire between their heirs, culminating in the victory of Constantine the Great (306-337), the son of Constantius Chlorus: in 306 he established power over Gaul and Britain, in 312 - over Italy, Africa and Spain, in 314-316 - over the Balkan Peninsula (without Thrace), and in 324 - over the entire Empire.
Under Constantine, the formation of the dominant regime was completed. Instead of a tetrarchy, a harmonious vertical system of government arose: a new element was added to the administrative-territorial structure created by Diocletian - four prefectures (Gallia, Italy, Illyria and the East), uniting several dioceses; each prefecture was headed by a praetorian prefect, reporting directly to the emperor; in turn, the rulers of the dioceses (vicars) were subordinate to him, and to those - the governors of the provinces (presidents). The civil power was finally separated from the military: the command of the army was carried out by four military masters, not controlled by the prefects of the praetorium. Instead of the council of the princeps, an imperial council (consistory) arose. A strict hierarchy of ranks and titles was introduced, court positions acquired special significance. In 330, Constantine founded a new capital on the Bosporus - Constantinople, which became at the same time the imperial residence, the administrative center and the main headquarters.
In the military sphere, the legions were disaggregated, which made it possible to strengthen control over the army; from the mobile troops, palace units (domestiki) emerged, replacing the Praetorian Guard; access to them was open to barbarians; the military profession gradually began to turn into a hereditary one.
Constantine carried out a successful monetary reform: he issued a new gold coin (solidus), which became the main monetary unit in the Mediterranean; only small change coins were minted from silver. The emperor continued the policy of attaching subjects to a certain place of residence and field of activity: he forbade the curials to move from one city to another (decrees 316 and 325), artisans - to change their profession (edict 317), columns - to leave their allotments (law 332); their duties became not only lifelong, but also hereditary.
Constantine abandoned the anti-Christian course of his predecessors; moreover, he made the Christian church one of the main pillars of the dominant regime. By the Edict of Mediolanum 313, Christianity was equalized in rights with other cults. The emperor freed the clergy from all state duties, granted church communities the rights legal entities(receive contributions, inherit property, buy and free slaves), encouraged the construction of temples and the missionary activities of the church; he also closed part of the pagan sanctuaries and abolished some priestly offices. Constantine actively interfered in the internal affairs of the Christian Church, seeking to ensure its institutional and dogmatic unity: in the event of serious theological and disciplinary disagreements, he convened congresses of bishops (councils), invariably supporting the position of the majority (Councils of Rome 313 and Arles 314 against the Donatists, the First Ecumenical Council of Nicaea 325 against the Arians, Council of Tire 335 against the orthodox Athanasius of Alexandria). Cm. CHRISTIANITY.
At the same time, Constantine remained a pagan and only before his death was baptized; he did not renounce the dignity of the great pontiff and patronized some non-Christian cults (the cult of the invincible Sun, the cult of Apollo-Helios). In 330, Constantinople was dedicated to the pagan goddess Tyukha (Fate), and the emperor himself was deified as Helios.
Constantine successfully fought the Franks on the Rhine and the Goths on the Danube. He continued the practice of settling barbarians in the deserted territories: Sarmatians - in the Danubian provinces and in Northern Italy, vandals - in Pannonia.
Before his death in 337, Constantine divided the Empire between his three sons: Constantine II the Younger (337-340) received Britain, Gaul, Spain and the western part of Roman Africa, Constantius II (337-361) - the eastern provinces, Constans (337-350) - Illyria, Italy and the rest of Africa. In 340, Constantine II tried to take Italy from Constans, but was defeated at Aquileia and died; his possessions passed to Constant. In 350 Constans was killed as a result of a conspiracy of the military leader Magnentius, a barbarian by birth, who seized power in the West. In 352, Constantius II defeated Magnentius (who committed suicide in 353) and became the sole ruler of the Empire.
Under Constantius II, theocratic tendencies intensified. As a Christian, he constantly interfered in the intra-church struggle, supporting the moderate Arians against the orthodox, and toughened his policy towards paganism. Under him, taxes increased significantly, which placed a heavy burden on the curials.
In 360, the Gallic legions proclaimed Emperor Julian Caesar (360-363), who, after the death of Constantius II in 361, became the sole ruler of the Empire. In an effort to stop the decline of cities and municipal land ownership, Julian lowered taxes, cut spending on the court and the state apparatus, and expanded the rights of curiae. Turning to paganism (hence his nickname "Apostate"), he made an attempt to revive traditional cults: destroyed pagan temples were restored and confiscated property was returned to them. Pursuing a policy of religious tolerance, the emperor at the same time forbade Christians from teaching in schools and serving in the army.
Julian the Apostate died in 363 during a campaign against the Persians, and the army elected as his successor the chief of the imperial bodyguards, the Christian Jovian (363-364), who canceled all the anti-Christian decrees of his predecessor. After his death in 364, the commander Valentinian I (364–375) was proclaimed emperor, who shared power with his brother Valens II (364–378), giving him the eastern provinces. Having suppressed in 366 the uprising of Procopius, who acted under the slogan of continuing the policy of Julian and appealed to the social rank and file, the emperors issued a series of laws to protect the "weak" from the "strong", established the position of defensor (defender) of the plebs and launched a fight against corruption. At the same time, they pursued a policy of restricting the rights of the curials and completely disregarded the senate. Both brothers professed Christianity, but if Valentinian I avoided interfering in church affairs, then Valens II persecuted the orthodox and planted Arianism by all means. After the death of Valentinian I in 375, power over the western provinces passed to his sons Gratian (375–383) and the infant Valentinian II (385–392). Gratian normalized relations with the Senate and finally broke all ties with paganism, refusing the dignity of the great pontiff.
The foreign policy of the successors of Constantine the Great was reduced to the defense of the borders of the Empire. On the Rhine direction, the Romans won a number of victories over the Franks, Alemanni and Saxons (Constant in 341-342, Julian in 357, Valentinian I in 366); in 368 Valentinian I invaded right-bank Germany and reached the source of the Danube. On the Danube direction, success also accompanied the Romans: in 338 Constant defeated the Sarmatians, and in 367–369 Valens II defeated the Goths. In the late 360s - early 370s, the Romans erected a new system of defensive structures on the Rhine-Danube border. In the eastern direction, the Empire waged a protracted struggle with the power of the Sassanids: Constantius II fought with the Persians with varying success in 338–350 and in 359–360; after the unsuccessful campaign of Julian the Apostate in 363, his successor Jovian made a shameful peace with the Sassanids, abandoning Armenia and Mesopotamia; in 370, Valens II resumed the war with Persia, which ended after his death with an agreement on the division of Armenia (387). In Britain, the Romans under Constant and Valentinian I managed to inflict several defeats on the Picts and Scots, who periodically invaded central part islands.
In 376, Valens II allowed the Visigoths and part of the Ostrogoths, who were retreating south under pressure from the Huns, to cross the Danube and occupy the deserted lands of Lower Moesia. Abuses of imperial officials caused in 377 their uprising. In August 378, the Goths defeated the Roman army at the Battle of Adrianople, in which Valens II died, and devastated the Balkan Peninsula. Gratian appointed the commander Theodosius (379–395) as ruler of the eastern provinces, who managed to stabilize the situation. In 382, Theodosius I concluded an agreement with the Goths, which became a turning point in the relationship between the Romans and the barbarians: they were allowed to settle in Lower Moesia and Thrace as federates (with their own laws and religion, under the control of tribal leaders). This marked the beginning of the process of emergence of autonomous barbarian proto-states on the territory of the Empire.
Theodosius I generally followed the political course of Gratian: in the interests of the senatorial aristocracy, he introduced the post of defensor of the senate; provided benefits to peasants who developed abandoned lands; intensified the search for runaway slaves and columns. He abandoned the rank of great pontiff and in 391-392 switched to a policy of eradication of paganism; in 394 were banned Olympic Games, and Christianity is declared the only legal religion in the Empire. In the intra-church sphere, Theodosius I strongly supported the orthodox direction, ensuring its complete triumph over Arianism (Second Ecumenical Council of Constantinople 381).
In 383, Gratian died as a result of a rebellion by Magnus Maximus, who brought the western provinces under his control. Valentinian II fled to Thessalonica, but in 387 Theodosius I, having overthrown the usurper, restored him to the throne. In 392, Valentinian II was killed by his commander, Frank Arbogast, who proclaimed the rhetorician Eugene (392–394) emperor of the West, who, being a pagan, tried to revive the religious policy of Julian the Apostate. In 394 Theodosius I defeated Arbogast and Eugene near Aquileia and restored the unity of the Roman state for the last time. In January 395, he died, having divided the state between his two sons before his death: the elder Arcadius got the East, the younger Honorius - the West. The empire finally broke up into Western Roman and Eastern Roman (Byzantine). Cm. BYZANTINE EMPIRE.
Culture.
A new phenomenon in the cultural sphere, starting from August, is state patronage. Roman culture is losing its polis (narrow ethnicity) and acquiring a cosmopolitan character. Spreads new system values, primarily among the urban population, based on servility, contempt for work, consumerism, the pursuit of pleasure and passion for foreign cults. The rural type of consciousness is distinguished by great conservatism: it is characterized by respect for work, loyalty to the patriarchal system of relations and veneration of traditional Roman gods.
Urban development is intensively developing. A special Roman type of urban planning is spreading: the city consists of residential areas, public buildings, squares (forums) and industrial zones (on the outskirts); it is organized around two central avenues intersecting at right angles, dividing it into four parts, usually oriented to the cardinal points; Narrow streets run parallel to the avenues, dividing the city into quarters; along paved streets with sidewalks, drain channels are laid, closed from above with slabs; a developed water supply system includes water pipes, fountains and cisterns for collecting rainwater.
Architecture remains the leading field of Roman art. Most of the buildings are constructed from Roman concrete and fired bricks. In temple architecture of the 1st c. the pseudo-peripter (Square house in Nîmes) certainly dominates. In the era of Hadrian, a new type of temple appears - a rotunda crowned with a dome (Pantheon); in it, the main attention is paid not to the external appearance (most of it is a blank wall), but to the internal space, integral and richly decorated, which is illuminated through a hole in the center of the dome. When the North appears new form centered-domed temple - a decahedron with a dome on a high drum (Temple of Minerva in Rome). Civil architecture is represented primarily by triumphal columns (the 38-meter column of Trajan) and arches (the single-span arch of Titus, the three-span arches of Septimius Severus and Constantine the Great), theaters (the theater of Marcellus and the Colosseum, which use a multi-tiered arcade), grandiose aqueducts and bridges, inscribed in the surrounding landscape (the aqueduct in Segovia, the Garda bridge at Nimes, the bridge over the Tagus), mausoleums (the tomb of Hadrian), public baths (the baths of Caracalla, the baths of Diocletian), basilicas (the Basilica of Maxentius). Palace architecture evolves in the direction of the castle, taking as a model the layout of a military camp (Diocletian's palace-fortress in Split). Peristyle construction is widely used in the construction of residential buildings; new elements are the glazed peristyle and mosaic floors. For the poor, "high-rise" houses (insulas) are being built, reaching four to five floors. Roman architects of the 1st-3rd centuries. they continue to creatively master the achievements of various architectural traditions - classical, Hellenistic, Etruscan: the creators of the Colosseum combine a multi-tiered arcade with order elements (semi-columns), the leading architect of the era of Hadrian Apollodorus of Damascus uses colonnades and beam ceilings instead of vaults and arches in the construction of Trajan's Forum; the mausoleum of Hadrian reproduces the model of an Etruscan burial structure; in the construction of the Split palace of Diocletian, an arcade on columns is used. In some cases, an attempt to synthesize different styles leads to eclecticism (the temple of Venus and Roma, Hadrian's villa in Tivoli). From the 4th century the Christian type of temple is spreading, which borrows a lot from the Roman tradition (basilica, round temple).
In plastic art I-III centuries. continues to dominate the sculptural portrait. Under Augustus, under the influence of classical models, republican realism gives way to some idealization and typification, primarily in the ceremonial portrait (the statue of Augustus from Prima Porta, Augustus in the form of Jupiter from Cum); the masters strive to convey the impassibility and self-control of the model, limiting the dynamics of the plastic image. Under Flavius, there is a turn towards a more individualized figurative characteristic, increased dynamism and expressiveness (busts of Vitellius, Vespasian, Caecilius Jukund). Under the Antonines, the general fascination with Greek art leads to mass copying of classical masterpieces and an attempt to embody the Greek aesthetic ideal in sculpture; the tendency to idealization again appears (numerous statues of Antinous). At the same time, the desire to convey the psychological state, primarily contemplation ( Syrian, bearded barbarian, Black person). By the end of the II century. in portraiture, features of schematization and mannerisms are growing (the statue of Commodus in the form of Hercules). The last flowering of the Roman realistic portrait takes place in the Severae; the veracity of the image is combined with psychological depth and dramatization (bust of Caracalla). In the III century. two tendencies are indicated: coarsening of the image (laconic modeling, simplification of the plastic language) and an increase in internal tension in it (busts of Maximinus Thracian, Philip the Arab, Lucilla). Gradually, the spirituality of the models acquires an abstract character, which leads to schematism and conventionality of the image. This process reaches its climax in the 4th century. both in portraiture (bust of Maximinus Daza) and in monumental sculpture, which has become the leading genre of plastic art (the colossi of Constantine the Great and Valentinian I). In the sculptures of that time, the face turns into a frozen mask, and only disproportionately large eyes convey the state of mind of the model.
In painting at the beginning of the 1st century. AD the third Pompeian (candelabra) style is approved (small mythological paintings framed with light architectural decor); new genres arise - landscape, still life, everyday scenes (the House of the Centennial Anniversary and the House of Lucretius Frontinus in Pompeii). In the second half of the 1st c. it is replaced by a more dynamic and expressive fourth Pompeian style (House of the Vettii in Pompeii). In the II-III centuries. wall painting begins to be gradually replaced by mosaic images.
The Augustan era is the "golden age" of Roman literature. The circles of Maecenas and Messala Corvin became the centers of literary life. Poetry remains the leading sphere of literature. Virgil (70–19 BC) introduces the bucolic genre into it (a collection of shepherd's poems Bucoliki), creates a didactic poem about agriculture ( Georgics) and a historical and mythological poem about the origin of the Roman people ( Aeneid). Horace (65–8 BC) composes epodes (couplets), satires, odes, solemn hymns, combining lyrical motifs with civil ones and thereby departing from the principles of neotericism; he also develops the theory of Roman classicism, putting forward the ideal of simplicity and unity ( The Art of Poetry). Tibullus (c. 55–19 BC), Propertius (c. 50–15 BC) and Ovid (43 BC–18 AD) are associated with the flourishing of elegiac poetry. Peru Ovid, in addition, belong Metamorphoses (transformations) - a hexametric epic, which sets out the foundations of Greco-Roman mythology, and fasty describing in elegiac meter all Roman rituals and festivities. The largest prose writer of the "golden age" is the historian Titus Livius (59 BC - 17 AD), the author of the monumental History of Rome from the founding of the City in 142 books (from mythical times to 9 BC).
In the era from Augustus to Trajan (the "silver age" of Roman literature), satirical poetry is rapidly developing; its leading representatives are Persia Flaccus (34-62), Martial (42-104) and Juvenal (mid-1st century - after 127). In the work of Martial, the Roman epigram receives its classical design. The tradition of epic poetry is continued by Lucan (39–65), creator Pharsalia(Pompey's war with Caesar), Papinius Statius (c. 40–96), author Thebaids(campaign of the Seven against Thebes) and Achilleas(Achilles at Lycomedes on Skyros), and Valery Flakk (second half of the 1st century), who wrote Argonautics. Phaedrus (first half of the 1st century) introduces the genre of fable into Roman literature. The largest playwright of the era is Seneca (4 BC - 65 AD), who mainly composed palliata ( Oedipus, Medea and etc.); the modern Roman plot is developed by him only in the pretext Octavia; he creates a new type of hero - a strong and passionate person, capable of crime, becoming a toy in the hands of an inexorable fate and obsessed with the thought of death (suicide). The importance of prose is growing. In the middle of the 1st c. Petronius (d. 66) writes a satirical adventure novel Satyricon in the genre of Menippean satire (a combination of prose and poetry). Historiography is represented by Velleius Paterculus (born c. 20 BC), who gave an overview of the history of Rome from the fall of Troy to the reign of Tiberius, Curtius Rufus (mid-1st century), author Stories of Alexander the Great, and Cornelius Tacitus (55 - c. 120), famous for his Annals and History; he also wrote a historical and ethnographic treatise Germany, eulogy On the Life and Morals of Julius Agricola and Dialogue about speakers. Oratory prose is in decline (a passion for panegyrics and flowery recitations). The only major orator of the 1st c. is Quintilian (c. 35 - c. 100), who contributed with his work Instruction to the speaker significant contribution to the development of rhetorical theory. Pliny the Younger (61/62 - c. 113), the author of a collection of stylized letters, works in the epistolary genre. Scientific prose is represented by the historical and medical treatise of Cornelius Celsus Arts, geographical opus of Pomponius Mela About the structure of the earth grandiose encyclopedia of Pliny the Elder Natural history and the agronomic work of Columella About agriculture.
2nd century marked by a sharp increase in Greek literary influence and the flourishing of Roman literature in Greek, primarily prose. Its main genres are romance novel ( Kherei and Calliroya Khariton, Ephesian stories Xenophon of Ephesus, Leucippe and Cleitophon Achilles Tatsia), biography ( Parallel biographies Plutarch), satire ( Dialogues Lucian of Samosata), historiography ( Anabasis Alexandra and indica Arriane, History of Rome Appian), scientific prose ( Almagest, Geography guide and Quaternary Claudius Ptolemy, medical treatises of Soranus of Ephesus and Galen). In Latin literature of the 2nd century. prose also occupies a leading position. Suetonius (c. 70 - c. 140) raises the genre of historical and political ( Life of the Twelve Caesars) and historical and literary biography to the level of historical research. In the second half of the II century. Apuleius creates an erotic-adventurous novel Metamorphoses(or golden donkey). The archaizing tendency gradually intensifies (Fronto, Aulus Gellius), associated with the desire to revive the samples of the old Roman (pre-Ciceronian) literature. In the III century. Latin literature is in decline; at the same time, a Christian direction was born in it (Tertullian, Minucius Felix, Cyprian). Greek-language Roman literature of the 3rd century. represented mainly love story (Daphnis and Chloe longa, Ethiopian Heliodor); prominent Greek-speaking historian of the early 3rd century. is Dio Cassius (c. 160–235). In the IV century. there is a new rise in Latin literature - both Christian (Arnobius, Lactantius, Ambrose, Jerome, Augustine) and pagan, the best examples of which are the historical work of Ammianus Marcellinus (second half of the 4th century) Acts(from Nerva to Valens II) and the poetic works of Claudian (born c. 375), especially his mythological epic The Abduction of Proserpina. The desire of educated pagan circles to support the ancient Roman cultural tradition leads to the appearance of various comments on classical Roman authors (comments on Virgil by Servius, etc.).
In the era of the Empire, philosophy is actively developing. Its leading direction in the I - the first half of the II century. becomes stoicism (Seneca, Epictetus, Marcus Aurelius). According to the Stoics, the universe is generated and controlled by the divine mind; man is not able to change the laws of the universe, he can only live in harmony with them, worthily fulfilling his social duties and maintaining dispassion in relation to the outside world, its temptations and disasters; this allows a person to find inner freedom and happiness. In the III-IV centuries. the dominant position in Roman philosophy is occupied by Christianity and Neoplatonism, which arose as a result of the synthesis of Platonism, Aristotelianism, mystical neo-Pythagoreanism and Eastern religious movements. The founder of Neoplatonism is Ammonius Sakk (175-242), the main representatives are Plotinus (c. 204 - c. 270), Porphyry (c. 233 - c. 300) and Proclus (412-485). According to them, the beginning of being is the divine unity, from which the spiritual world arises, from the spiritual - the spiritual, from the spiritual - the physical world; the goal of a person is to find the path to the one, renouncing the material (which is evil) through moral purification (catharsis) and freeing the soul from the body through asceticism.
In the imperial period, Roman jurisprudence reaches its peak - the most important component of Roman culture, which largely determined its originality.
Fall of the Western Roman Empire.
At the beginning of the 5th century the position of the Western Roman Empire became more complicated. In 401, the Visigoths led by Alaric invaded Italy, and in 404 the Ostrogoths, Vandals and Burgundians led by Radagaisus, who with great difficulty managed to defeat the guardian of the emperor Honorius (410–423), the vandal Stilicho. The withdrawal of part of the British and Gallic legions to defend Italy led to the weakening of the Rhine border, which in the winter of 406/407 was broken through by the Vandals, Suebi and Alans, who flooded Gaul. Having received no help from Rome, Gaul and Britain proclaimed Emperor Constantine (407-411), who in 409 drove the barbarians into Spain; however, the Burgundians entrenched themselves on the left bank of the Rhine. In 408, taking advantage of the death of Stilicho, Alaric again invaded Italy and in 410 took Rome. After his death, the new Visigoth leader Ataulf withdrew to southern Gaul and then captured northeastern Spain. In 410 Honorius led the legions out of Britain. In 411 he recognized as federates of the Empire the Suebi, who settled in Gallecia, in 413 the Burgundians who settled in the district of Mogontsiaka (modern Mainz), and in 418 the Visigoths, ceding Aquitaine to them.
During the reign of Valentinian III (425–455), barbarian pressure on the Western Roman Empire intensified. During the 420s, the Visigoths expelled the Vandals and Alans from the Iberian Peninsula, who in 429 crossed the Gaditan (modern Gibraltar) Strait and by 439 captured all the Roman West African provinces, founding the first barbarian kingdom on the territory of the Empire. In the late 440s, the conquest of Britain by the Angles, Saxons and Jutes began. In the early 450s, the Huns, led by Attila, attacked the Western Roman Empire. In June 451, the Roman commander Aetius, in alliance with the Visigoths, Franks, Burgundians and Saxons, defeated Attila in the Catalaunian fields (east of Paris), but already in 452 the Huns invaded Italy. Only the death of Attila in 453 and the collapse of his tribal alliance saved the West from the Hun threat.
In March 455, Valentinian III was deposed by the senator Petronius Maximus. In June 455, the Vandals captured Rome and subjected it to a terrible defeat; Petronius Maximus died. The Western Roman Empire was dealt a mortal blow. Vandals subjugated Sicily, Sardinia and Corsica. In 457, the Burgundians occupied the Rodan (modern Rhone) basin, creating an independent Burgundian kingdom. By the beginning of the 460s, only Italy remained under the rule of Rome. The throne became a plaything in the hands of the barbarian commanders, who proclaimed and overthrew emperors at will. Skir Odoacer put an end to the protracted agony of the Western Roman Empire: in 476 he overthrew the last Western Roman emperor Romulus Augustulus, sent signs of supreme power to the Byzantine emperor Zeno and founded his own barbarian kingdom in Italy.
Religion.
Religion was an important element in the public and private life of the Romans. It arose from a synthesis of Latin, Sabine and Etruscan beliefs. In ancient times, the Romans deified the most diverse natural and economic functions (the god of fertilizers Sterkulin, the god Statinin, who teaches babies to stand, the goddess of death Libitina, etc.). The object of veneration was also the deified virtues: Justice, Consent, Victory, Mercy, Piety, etc. From the Etruscans, the Romans borrowed the triad of higher gods - Jupiter (the god of the priests), Mars (the god of war) and Quirinus (the god of peace), which at the end of the 7th century . BC. they replaced the Capitoline triad Jupiter - Juno (goddess of marriage and motherhood) - Minerva (patron of crafts). Since that time, cult images of gods (statues) have appeared. Gradually, Jupiter became the head of the pantheon, the composition of which increased due to a number of Italic deities. Particularly revered were, in addition to Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, Janus (originally the keeper of the doors of the dwelling, later the god of all beginnings), Vesta (protector of the hearth), Diana (goddess of the moon and vegetation, assistant in childbirth), Venus (goddess of gardens and orchards) , Mercury (patron of trade), Neptune (lord of water), Vulcan (god of fire and blacksmiths), Saturn (god of crops). From the 4th century BC. Hellenization of the Roman pantheon begins. Roman deities are identified with Greek ones and acquire their functions: Jupiter-Zeus, Juno-Hera, Minerva-Athena, Diana-Artemis, Mercury-Hermes, etc.
Ancestral cults played an important role in Roman religion. Each family had its own patron gods - penates (protected the family inside the house) and lares (protected the family outside the house). Each member of the family had his own individual guardian (genius), while the genius of the father was revered by everyone. They also worshiped the spirits of their ancestors, which could be good (mana) or evil (lemurs). The hearth, in front of which the head of the family performed all the rituals, was the center of the domestic cult.
The cult consisted of sacrifices (animals, fruits), prayers and rituals. Prayer was a magical way of influencing the deity, who was supposed to fulfill the request in response to the sacrifice. The Romans attached particular importance to the predictions of the fate and will of the gods. The most common were divination by the entrails of sacrificial animals, by the flight of birds (auspices), by atmospheric phenomena, by the movement celestial bodies. Fortune-telling belonged to the jurisdiction of special priests-interpreters - both the Romans (a college of augurs) and the famous Etruscan haruspices. In addition to the augurs, there were other categories of priests in Rome, also united in colleges: pontiffs, headed by the great pontiff, who supervised other colleges, were in charge of observing the general Roman religious calendar and led rituals, sacrifices and a funeral cult; Flamins (priests of certain gods); salii (who performed rites in honor of the gods of war, primarily Mars); Arval brothers (who prayed for a good harvest); vestals (immaculate priestesses of Vesta); luperki (priests of the Faun god of fertility).
From the 2nd century BC. traditional Roman religion begins to decline; various oriental cults (Isis, Mitra, Serapis) are becoming increasingly popular; with the beginning of our era, Christianity and religious movements close to it (Gnosticism, Manichaeism) spread. In the era of the Empire, the cult of the emperor and a number of other official cults (the cult of the World of Augustus, the cult of the Deified Rome) also play an important role. At the end of the IV century. Roman religion, along with other pagan areas, is subject to a complete ban.
Private life.
The family principle and family law were developed in Rome. The family was ruled by the father, who enjoyed unlimited power over his children: he could expel them, sell them, and even kill them. Children were brought up at home or studied with a home teacher or in schools. The sons remained in the power of the father until his death; daughters before marriage.
The Romans were characterized by respect for the woman, especially for the mother. Unlike Greek women, Roman women could freely appear in society. In the house, the wife-mother was the lady who managed the household and the guardian of the family cult. The laws protected her from the arbitrariness of her husband; she herself was the intercessor of children before her father. Many women had elementary education. In the era of the Empire, they almost equaled their rights with men, having the opportunity to dispose of their own property and enter into marriage on their own initiative; this led to divorce. In the era of dominance, under the influence of Christianity, the social role of women is reduced; the belief in their inferiority spreads; the practice of marriage is being revived only with the consent of the bride's parents; married women are locked in household chores.
An important role in the life of the Romans was played by rituals associated with birth, coming of age, marriage and death. On the ninth (boy) or eighth (girl) day after birth, a naming ceremony was performed: in front of the home altar, the father raised the child from the ground, thereby recognizing him as his own, and gave him a name. As soon as the child got up on his feet, he was put on a children's toga and a golden amulet. Upon reaching the age of sixteen, the young man underwent a dressing ceremony (he took off the children's toga and amulet, dedicating them to the penates, and put on a white toga and a special tunic), and then, together with his peers, went in a solemn procession to the Capitol for sacrifice. The marriage was often preceded by an engagement: after a conversation with the groom, the bride's father arranged a dinner; the groom gave the bride an engagement ring, and the bride to the groom gave elegant clothes woven by her hands. The wedding ceremony itself was opened with the ritual of kidnapping the bride in the evening by the light of torches in the presence of relatives and acquaintances; when the procession came to the groom's house, the bride decorated the door and oiled the jambs, and the groom carried her over the threshold; inside the house, the main ceremony was performed under the guidance of a priest (the young people exchanged greetings, the bride received fire and water from her betrothed, symbolically touching them; they ate the wedding cake); the festive dinner that followed ended with the distribution of nuts; the women took the bride to the bedroom to the singing of the guests; in the morning, the wife made a sacrifice to the penates and took over the duties of the hostess. The ceremony of parting with the deceased began with the extinguishing of the fire in the hearth; relatives mourned the deceased, loudly calling him by name; the washed and anointed body was clothed in a toga, laid on a bed in the atrium (main hall) and left for seven days; a pine or cypress branch was attached to the outer door; during mourning, the Romans did not bathe, cut their hair or shave their beards. The funeral itself took place at night; their participants were dressed in dark togas. The funeral procession to the music and singing was sent to the forum, where a laudatory speech was made about the deceased, and then followed to the place of rest. The body was either buried or burned. After burning, the ashes were mixed with incense and placed in an urn. The ceremony ended with an appeal to the shadow of the deceased, sprinkling those present with consecrated water and pronouncing the words "it's time to go."
The usual daily routine of a Roman: morning breakfast - business - afternoon breakfast - bathing - lunch. The timing of morning and afternoon breakfast varied, while lunchtime was fixed at about half past two in winter and half past three in summer. Bathing lasted about an hour, and lunch - from three to six to eight hours (often before dark); after that, they usually went to sleep. Breakfast consisted of bread dipped in wine or a weak solution of vinegar, cheese, dates, cold meat or ham. Several dishes were served for dinner: appetizer (fish, soft cheese, eggs, sausages), lunch proper (meat, mostly pork, pie), dessert (apricots, plums, quinces, peaches, oranges, olives); at the end of dinner they drank wine, usually diluted and chilled (Falerno was the favorite). There were no forks, food was taken by hand. Dinner rarely did without guests and involved the communication of companions; they reclined around a small table on stone couches covered with fabrics and cushions; they were entertained by jesters and comedians, sometimes by musicians and poets.
The underwear for men and women was a tunic - a shirt like a Greek tunic, belted around the hips; in the early period, a short (knee-length) sleeveless tunic was preferred; later, the tunic became wider and longer (to the feet) with one-piece or split sleeves. On the tunic, married women put on a table (a long shirt made of expensive fabric with sleeves and a belt) and a strophium (a corset made of thin leather that supports the chest and makes it fuller); girls who were not supposed to have too full breasts, on the contrary, tightened it with a bandage. Toga served as outerwear for men (a cloak, the half of which was thrown over the left shoulder, leaving the right open. Until the beginning of the 1st century BC, the toga was modest; then it began to be decorated with numerous folds. The color of the toga testified to the status of its wearer (purple , embroidered with golden palms, for victorious commanders, white with a purple border for officials, etc.) To protect against the weather, they wore a cloak with a hood (penula). the Greek chlamys and short (sagum) for an ordinary warrior. From the Gauls, the Romans borrowed trousers; they mostly wore short ones to the knees and not very wide. Outerwear for women was a palla - a cross between a cloak and a wide tunic; sometimes it looked like a toga. Tunic was considered home and work clothing, toga and palla - ceremonial and festive.Unlike Greek, Roman clothing was sewn together; as a rule, it was wrapped or fastened with buckles; were not actually used. In the early period they wore woolen clothes, later - linen and silk. The men walked around with their heads uncovered; in bad weather it was covered with a hood or a toga was pulled over it. Women threw a veil over their heads or covered their faces; then they began to use bandages and round caps, sometimes covered with gold or silver mesh. Initially, footwear was limited to sandals (only in the house) and shoes that covered the entire foot to the ankle; then one-piece or split lace-up boots, half boots and boots with straps are distributed. The soldiers had rough shoes (kaligi). The Romans also knew gloves that were worn during hard work and in cold weather; cases of their use during a meal are also known.
Until the beginning of the III century. BC. the Romans wore long hair and beards; from 290 BC thanks to the Sicilian barbers who arrived in Rome, haircuts and shavings became a custom. The fashion for beards returned in the imperial era (especially under Hadrian). The oldest female hairstyle - hair combed in the middle and tied in a knot at the back of the head; under the influence of the Greeks, perm gradually spread. At the end of the II century. BC. in Rome, wigs from Asia appeared, which gained particular popularity in the 1st century BC. BC. The Romans (especially the Roman women) took care of the beauty of the face (rouge, ointments, dough mixed with donkey milk, powdered rice and bean flour), healthy teeth (cleaned them with pumice powder or chewed mastic; artificial teeth and even jaws are known) and about body hygiene (washed daily and anointed with ointments); in Rome, bathing became a special ritual. In the early era, the Romans practically did not wear jewelry, rings at best; Gradually, especially among women, neck chains, necklaces, bracelets, diadems came into use.
Foreign historiography.
The scientific historiography of Ancient Rome dates back to the creator of the historical-critical method, the German scientist G.B. Niebuhr (1776–1831), who applied it to the analysis of the legendary Roman tradition; his name is also associated with the beginning of a serious study of the social evolution of Roman society. The first researcher of the Roman economy was the Frenchman M. Dureau de La Malle (1777–1857), who put forward a hypothesis about its purely slave-owning nature. However, until the middle of the 19th century. scholars focused on political history. In the second half of the 19th - early 20th century. there is a significant historiographic rise, due primarily to the expansion of the source base (epigraphic material) and the use of the historical-comparative method. The leading position is occupied by the German school headed by T. Mommsen; French (A. Vallon, F. de Coulange) and English (C. Merivel) schools compete with it. At the turn of the 19th-20th centuries. a hypercritical direction arises (E. Pais), interest in socio-economic history (E. Meyer, K. Bucher, M. Weber), the struggle of classes and estates (R. Pelman, G. Ferrero), the outskirts of the Roman world - Gaul ( C. Jullian), North Africa (J. Toutain), Britain (R. Holmes); the scientific study of early Christianity is progressing (A. Harnak). The modernizing interpretation of Roman history is spreading (the school of E. Meyer), attempts are being made to consider it from the point of view of racial theory (O. Zeek).
After the First World War, the importance of archaeological research increased (Pompeii, Ostia), the prosopographic method was introduced (M. Geltzer, F. Müntzer). Fundamental collective works on Roman history appear ( Cambridge ancient history in England, General History of Antiquity in France, History of Rome in Italy). The leading role goes to the French (L. Omo, J. Carcopino, A. Piganol) and English (R. Skallard, R. Syme, A. Duff) schools. An active study of socio-economic issues continues, primarily from modernizing positions (M. Rostovtsev, T. Frank, J. Tutin).
In the second half of the 20th century the influence of the modernizing direction is noticeably weakening: more and more emphasis is placed on the difference between the Roman economy and the modern one (M. Finlay), the thesis is put forward about the limited role of slavery in Roman society (W. Westerman, the school of I. Voigt), the postulate of the absolute lack of rights of slaves is criticized (K .Hopkins, J. Dumont), indirect forms of expression of social contradictions are studied (R. McMullen). One of the main debatable issues is the question of the causes of the fall of the Roman Empire (F. Altheim, A. Jones) and the nature of the transition (continuity or gap) from antiquity to the Middle Ages (G. Marron, T. Barnes, E. Thompson). At the end of the 20th - beginning of the 21st century. growing interest in environmental factor Roman history, the influence of the natural environment and landscape on social relations, political institutions and culture (K. Schubert, E. Milliario, D. Barker).
Domestic historiography.
The tradition of scientific study of Roman history arose in Russia in the first half of the 19th century. (D.L. Kryukov, M.S. Kutorga, T.N. Granovsky, S.V. Eshevsky). The object of research by Russian scientists was mainly political history, socio-political institutions, social ideology, religious consciousness; in the second half of the 19th century. the leading positions were occupied by the historical-philological (F.F.Sokolov, I.V.Pomyalovsky, I.V.Tsvetaev) and cultural-historical directions (V.G.Vasilyevsky, F.G.Mishchenko). At the end of the 19th - beginning of the 20th century. increased attention to socio-economic issues (R.Yu. Vipper, M.M. Khvostov, M.I. Rostovtsev). After 1917, Russian historiography refocused on the study of material culture, socio-economic relations, and the class struggle. The concept of the ancient socio-economic formation and the slave-owning mode of production was actively developed (S.I. Kovalev, V.S. Sergeev). The theory of the "revolution of slaves" in Roman society was put forward (S.I. Kovalev and A.V. Mishulin). Issues related to slavery (E.M. Shtaerman, L.A. Elnitsky) and the economic system (M.E. Sergeenko, V.I. Kuzishchin) also dominated in the 1960s–1980s, but interest in history gradually increased Roman culture (A.F. Losev, V.V. Bychkov, V.I. Ukolova, E.S. Golubtsova). Since the late 1980s, the thematic spectrum and methodological base of Russian historiography has expanded significantly. An important direction was the study of the history of everyday life, socio-cultural and ethno-cultural processes (G.S. Knabe, A.B. Kovelman).
Ivan Krivushin
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Culture of ancient Rome, tt. 1–2. M., 1985
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Crossed letters Chi and Rho).
History
The periodization of the history of Ancient Rome is based on the forms of government, which, in turn, reflected the socio-political situation: from royal rule at the beginning of history to an empire-dominance at its end.
- Royal period (754/753 - 510/509 BC).
- Republic (510/509 - 30/27 BC)
- Empire (31/27 BC - 476 AD)
- Early Roman Empire. Principate (31/27 BC - 235 AD)
- Crisis of the III century (235 - 284)
- Late Roman Empire. Dominate (284 - 476)
During the royal period, Rome was a small state, which occupied only part of the territory of Latium - the area inhabited by the tribe of the Latins. During the period of the Early Republic, Rome greatly expanded its territory through numerous wars. After the Pyrrhic War, Rome began to reign supreme over the Apennine Peninsula, although the vertical system for managing subordinate territories had not yet developed at that time. After the conquest of Italy, Rome became a prominent player in the Mediterranean, which soon brought it into conflict with Carthage, a major state founded by the Phoenicians in northern Africa. In a series of three Punic Wars, the Carthaginian state was completely defeated, and the city itself was destroyed. At this time, Rome also began to expand to the East, subjugating Illyria, Greece and then Asia Minor and Syria. In the 1st century BC e. Rome was rocked by a series of civil wars, in which the eventual victor, Octavian Augustus, formed the foundations of the principate system and founded the Julio-Claudian dynasty, which, however, did not last a century. The heyday of the Roman Empire fell on a relatively calm time of the 2nd century, but already the 3rd century was filled with a struggle for power and, as a result, political instability, and the foreign policy situation of the empire was complicated. The establishment of a system of dominance by Diocletian stabilized the situation for some time with the help of the concentration of power in the hands of the emperor and his bureaucratic apparatus. In the 4th century, under the blows of the Huns, the division of the empire into two parts was finalized, and Christianity became the state religion of the entire empire. In the 5th century, the Western Roman Empire became the object of active resettlement of Germanic tribes, which finally undermined the unity of the state. The overthrow of the last emperor of the Western Roman Empire, Romulus Augustus, by the German leader Odoacer on September 4, 476 is considered the traditional date for the fall of the Roman Empire.
The magistrates could submit a bill (rogatio) to the senate, where it was debated. The Senate originally had 100 members, during most of the history of the Republic there were about 300 members, Sulla doubled the number of senators, later their numbers varied. A seat in the Senate was obtained after passing ordinary magistracies, but the censors had the right to conduct a lustration of the Senate with the possibility of excluding individual senators. The Senate met on calendars, nones and ides of each month, as well as on any day in the event of an emergency convocation of the senate. At the same time, there were some restrictions on the convocation of the Senate and comitia in the event that the appointed day was declared unfavorable for one or another "sign".
Dictators, who were elected on special occasions and for no more than 6 months, had extraordinary powers and, unlike ordinary magistrates, lack of accountability. With the exception of the dictator's emergency magistracy, all positions in Rome were collegiate.
Society
The laws
As for the Romans, for them the task of war was not just to defeat the enemy or establish peace; the war was only concluded to their satisfaction when former enemies became "friends" or allies (socii) of Rome. The goal of Rome was not the subjugation of the whole world to the power and imperium (dominion - lat.) of Rome, but the extension of the Roman system of alliances to all countries of the earth. The Roman idea was expressed by Virgil, and it was not just a fantasy of the poet. The Roman people themselves, the populus Romanus, owed their existence to such a war-born partnership, namely, an alliance between patricians and plebeians, whose internal strife between them was brought to an end by the famous Leges XII Tabularum. But even this document of their history, consecrated by antiquity, the Romans did not consider inspired by God; they preferred to believe that Rome had sent a commission to Greece to study the systems of law there. Thus the Roman Republic, itself based on law - an indefinite alliance between patricians and plebeians - used the instrument of the leges mainly to treat and administer the provinces and communities that belonged to the Roman system of unions, in other words, to the ever-expanding group of Roman socii that formed the societas. Romana.
Over time, the social structure as a whole became noticeably more complex. Horsemen appeared - persons not always of noble origin, but engaged in trading operations (trade was considered an unworthy occupation of the patricians) and concentrating significant wealth in their hands. Among the patricians, the most noble families stood out, and some of the genera gradually faded away. Approximately in the III century. BC e. the patriciate merges with the equites into the nobility.
At the age of 17-18, the young man had to leave his studies and do military service.
The Romans also made sure that women were educated in connection with the role they had in the family: the organizer of family life and the educator of children at an early age. There were schools where girls studied with boys. And it was considered honorable if they said about a girl that she was an educated girl. In the Roman state, already in the 1st century AD, they began to train slaves, as slaves and freedmen began to play an increasingly prominent role in the economy of the state. Slaves became managers in the estates and were engaged in trade, were placed overseers of other slaves. Literate slaves were attracted to the bureaucracy of the state, many slaves were teachers and even architects.
A literate slave was worth more than an illiterate one, since he could be used for skilled work. Educated slaves were called the main value of the Roman rich man Mark Licinius Crassus.
Former slaves, freedmen, gradually began to make up a significant stratum in Rome. They sought to take the place of an employee, manager in the state apparatus, engage in commercial activities, usury. Their advantage over the Romans began to manifest itself, which consisted in the fact that they did not shy away from any work, considered themselves disadvantaged and showed perseverance in the struggle for their place under the sun. In the end, they were able to achieve legal equality, to push the Romans out of government.
Army
For almost the entire time of its existence, the Roman army was, as practice proved, the most advanced among the other states of the Ancient World, having gone from the people's militia to professional regular infantry and cavalry with many auxiliary units and allied formations. At the same time, the main fighting force has always been the infantry (in the era of the Punic Wars, the Marine Corps, which proved to be excellent, actually appeared). The main advantages of the Roman army were mobility, flexibility and tactical training, which allowed it to operate in various terrain and in harsh weather conditions.
With a strategic threat to Rome or Italy, or a sufficiently serious military danger ( tumultus) all work stopped, production stopped and everyone who could simply carry weapons was recruited into the army - residents of this category were called tumultuarii (subitarii), and the army - tumultuarius (subitarius) exercitus. Since the usual recruitment procedure took longer, the commander-in-chief of this army, the magistrate, took out special banners from the Capitol: red, indicating recruitment into the infantry, and green, into the cavalry, after which he traditionally announced: “Qui respublicam salvam vult, me sequatur” (“Who wants save the republic, let him follow me"). The military oath was also pronounced not individually, but together.
Reward system
Rome looked at the lands of the provinces he had conquered as his family estates (praedia populi Romani), and almost all classes of the Roman population sought to derive their own benefit from this: the nobility - ruling the provinces, horsemen - doing farming in them, ordinary citizens - serving in the legions and enriched by spoils of war. Only the metropolitan proletariat, free from military service, did not participate in the general division; however, the state guaranteed to all its loyal subjects the sale of grain imported from the provinces at a lower price. This provision did not apply only to slaves and foreigners.
culture
Politics, war, agriculture, the development of law (civil and sacred) and historiography were recognized as deeds worthy of a Roman, especially from the nobility. On this basis, the early culture of Rome took shape. Foreign influences, primarily Greek, penetrating through the Greek cities of the south of modern Italy, and then directly from Greece and Asia Minor, were perceived only insofar as they did not contradict the Roman value system or were processed in accordance with it. In turn, Roman culture at the time of its heyday had a huge impact on neighboring peoples and on the subsequent development of Europe.
The early Roman worldview was characterized by the feeling of being a free citizen with a sense of belonging to a civil community and the priority of state interests over personal ones, combined with conservatism, which consisted in following the mores and customs of ancestors. In - centuries. BC e. there was a departure from these attitudes and individualism intensified, the individual began to be opposed to the state, even some traditional ideals were rethought. As a result, in the era of emperors, a new formula for managing Roman society was born - there should be plenty of bread and circuses. Well, a certain decline in morals among the crowd of townspeople was always perceived by despotic rulers with some degree of favor.
Language
Latin, the appearance of which is attributed to the middle of the III millennium BC. e. constituted the Italic branch of the Indo-European family of languages. In the course of the historical development of ancient Italy, the Latin language supplanted the other Italic languages and eventually took over the dominant position in the western Mediterranean. At the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e. Latin was spoken by the population of a small region of Latium (lat. Latium), located in the west of the middle part of the Apennine Peninsula, along downstream Tiber. The tribe that inhabited Latium was called the Latins (lat. Latini), its language is Latin. The city of Rome became the center of this region, after which the Italian tribes united around it began to call themselves the Romans (lat. Romans).
There are several stages in the development of Latin:
- Archaic Latin.
- Classical Latin.
- Postclassical Latin.
- Late Latin.
Religion
Ancient Roman mythology is close in many aspects to Greek, up to the direct borrowing of individual myths. However, in the religious practice of the Romans, animistic superstitions associated with the veneration of spirits also played a large role: genii, penates, lares, lemurs and manes. Also in ancient Rome there were numerous colleges of priests.
Although religion played a significant role in traditional ancient Roman society, by the 2nd century BC. e. a significant part of the Roman elite was already indifferent to religion. In the 1st century BC e. Roman philosophers (primarily Titus Lucretius Carus and Marcus Tullius Cicero) largely revise or question many of the traditional religious positions.
Art, music, literature
Cloth
manners
Kitchen
The social evolution of Roman society was first studied by the German scientist G. B. Niebuhr. Ancient Roman life and life were based on developed family law and religious rites.
For better use daylight The Romans usually got up very early, often around four o'clock in the morning, and after breakfast, they began to engage in public affairs. Like the Greeks, the Romans ate 3 times a day. Early in the morning - the first breakfast, around noon - the second, in the late afternoon - lunch.
In the first centuries of the existence of Rome, the inhabitants of Italy ate mostly thick, hard-boiled porridge made from spelt, millet, barley or bean flour, but already at the dawn of Roman history, not only porridge was cooked in the household, but bread cakes were also baked. Culinary art began to develop in the III century. BC e. and under the empire reached unprecedented heights.
The science
Roman science inherited a number of Greek studies, but unlike them (especially in the field of mathematics and mechanics), it was mainly applied in nature. For this reason, it was the Roman numeration and the Julian calendar that received worldwide distribution. At the same time, its characteristic feature was the presentation of scientific issues in a literary and entertaining form. Jurisprudence and agricultural sciences reached a special flowering, a large number of works were devoted to architecture and urban planning and military equipment. The largest representatives Natural scientists were encyclopedic scientists Gaius Pliny Secundus the Elder, Mark Terentius Varro and Lucius Anneus Seneca.
Ancient Roman philosophy developed mainly in the wake of Greek philosophy, with which it was largely associated. Stoicism has received the greatest distribution in philosophy.
Remarkable progress was made by Roman science in the field of medicine. Among the prominent physicians of Ancient Rome, one can note: Dioscorides - a pharmacologist and one of the founders of botany, Soranus of Ephesus - an obstetrician and pediatrician, Claudius Galen - a talented anatomist who revealed the functions of the nerves and brain.
Written in the Roman era, encyclopedic treatises remained the most important source of scientific knowledge during most of the Middle Ages.
Legacy of Ancient Rome
Roman culture, with its developed ideas about the expediency of things and actions, about a person’s duty to himself and the state, about the importance of law and justice in society, complemented ancient Greek culture with its desire to know the world, a developed sense of proportion, beauty, harmony, and a pronounced game element. . Antique culture, as a combination of these two cultures, became the basis of European civilization.
The cultural heritage of Ancient Rome can be traced in scientific terminology, architecture, and literature. Latin has long been the language of international communication for all educated people in Europe. Until now, it is used in scientific terminology. Based on the Latin language, Romance languages arose in the former Roman possessions, which are spoken by the peoples of a large part of Europe. Among the most outstanding achievements of the Romans is the Roman law they created, which played a huge role in the further development of legal thought. It was in the Roman possessions that Christianity arose, and then became the state religion - a religion that united all European peoples and greatly influenced the history of mankind.
Historiography
Interest in the study of Roman history arose, in addition to the writings of Machiavelli, also during the Enlightenment in France.
The first major work was the work of Edward Gibbon "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire", covering the period from the end of the 2nd century until the fall of a fragment of the empire - Byzantium in 1453. Like Montesquieu, Gibbon valued the virtue of Roman citizens, however, the decomposition of the empire along it began already under Commodus, and Christianity became a catalyst for the collapse of the empire, undermining its foundations from the inside.
Niebuhr became the founder of the critical direction and wrote the work "Roman History", where it was brought to the First Punic War. Niebuhr made an attempt to establish how the Roman tradition arose. In his opinion, the Romans, like other peoples, had a historical epic, preserved mainly in noble families. Certain Attention Niebuhr gave ethnogenesis, viewed from the angle of the formation of the Roman community.
In the Napoleonic era, the work of V. Durui "History of the Romans" appeared, which focused on the then popular Caesarian period.
A new historiographic milestone was opened by the work of Theodor Mommsen, one of the first major scholars of the Roman heritage. An important role was played by his voluminous work Roman History, as well as Roman Public Law and the Collection of Latin Inscriptions (Corpus inscriptionum Latinarum).
Later came the work of another specialist, G. Ferrero - "The Greatness and Fall of Rome." The work of I. M. Grevs “Essays on the history of Roman land tenure, mainly in the era of the Empire” was published, where, for example, information appeared about the economy of Pomponius Attica, one of the largest landowners at the end of the Republic, and Horace was considered a model of the average estate of the August era.
Against the hypercriticism of the works of the Italian E. Pais, who denied the authenticity of the Roman tradition up to the 3rd century AD. e. , De Sanctis spoke in his "History of Rome", where, on the other hand, information about the royal period was almost completely denied.
Attention was also paid to the conditions for the transition from the Republic to the empire, considered, for example, in the work of N. A. Mashkin "The Principle of Augustus" or in "Essays on the History of Ancient Rome" by V. S. Sergeev, and to the provinces, in the study of which A. B. Ranovich.
Among those who studied the relations of Rome with other states, A. G. Bokshchanin stood out.
Since 1937, the Bulletin of Ancient History began to appear, where articles on Roman history and archaeological excavations began to be published frequently.
After a break caused by the Great Patriotic War, in 1948 the "History of Rome" by S. I. Kovalev and "The History of the Roman People" by critic V. N. Dyakov were published. In the first work, the Roman tradition is considered reliable in many respects, in the second, doubt was expressed on this point.
see also
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Notes
Literature
primary sources
- Titus Livy. "History from the founding of the city"
- Dio Cassius. "Roman History"
- Ammianus Marcellinus. "Acts"
- Polybius. "General history"
- Publius Cornelius Tacitus. "History", "Annals"
- Plutarch. "Comparative Lives"
- Appian. "Roman History"
- Sextus Aurelius Victor. "On the Origin of the Roman People"
- Flavius Eutropius. "Breviary from the founding of the city"
- Gaius Velleius Paterculus. "Roman History"
- Lucius Annaeus Flor. "Epitomes of Titus Livius"
- Herodian. "History of Rome from Marcus Aurelius"
- Diodorus Siculus. "Historical Library"
- Dionysius of Halicarnassus. "Roman Ancient History"
- Gaius Suetonius Tranquill. "The Life of the Twelve Caesars"
- The so-called "Authors of the Augustan biographies" ( Scriptores Historiae Augustae): Aelius Spartianus, Julius Capitolinus, Vulcation Gallicanus, Aelius Lampridius, Trebellius Pollio and Flavius Vopiscus
Fragments
- Gnaeus Nevius. "Punian War"
- Quintus Ennius. "Annals"
- Quintus Fabius Pictor. "Annals"
- Lucius Cincius Aliment. "Chronicle"
- Mark Porcius Cato the Elder. "Beginnings"
- Gnaeus Pompey Trog. "Philip's Story"
- Gaius Sallust Crispus. "Yugurtinskaya war"
Later fundamental works
- Theodor Mommsen. Roman history.
- Edward Gibbon. History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire.
- Platner, Samuel Ball. A topographical dictionary of Ancient Rome
Links
- ancient warfare
- by Yves Lassard and Alexander Koptev.
- - Photogallery of Stevan Kordic
Ancient Rome
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Writers Lists An excerpt characterizing Ancient Rome
The princess, picking up her dress, sat down in the darkness of the carriage; her husband was adjusting his saber; Prince Ippolit, under the pretext of serving, interfered with everyone.
- Excuse me, sir, - Prince Andrei dryly unpleasantly turned in Russian to Prince Ippolit, who prevented him from passing.
"I'm waiting for you, Pierre," said the same voice of Prince Andrei affectionately and tenderly.
The postilion moved off, and the carriage rattled its wheels. Prince Hippolyte laughed abruptly, standing on the porch and waiting for the viscount, whom he promised to take home.“Eh bien, mon cher, votre petite princesse est tres bien, tres bien,” said the viscount, getting into the carriage with Hippolyte. - Mais tres bien. He kissed the tips of his fingers. – Et tout a fait francaise. [Well, my dear, your little princess is very cute! Very nice and perfect French.]
Hippolyte laughed with a snort.
“Et savez vous que vous etes terrible avec votre petit air innocent,” continued the viscount. - Je plains le pauvre Mariei, ce petit officier, qui se donne des airs de prince regnant.. [Do you know, you are a terrible person, despite your innocent appearance. I feel sorry for the poor husband, this officer who poses as a possessive person.]
Hippolyte snorted again and said through laughter:
- Et vous disiez, que les dames russes ne valaient pas les dames francaises. Il faut savoir s "y prendre. [And you said that Russian ladies are worse than French ones. You have to be able to take it.]
Pierre, arriving ahead, like a domestic person, went into Prince Andrei's office and immediately, out of habit, lay down on the sofa, took the first book that came across from the shelf (these were Caesar's Notes) and began, leaning on his elbows, to read it from the middle.
– What did you do with m lle Scherer? She will be completely ill now,” said Prince Andrei, entering the office and rubbing his small, white hands.
Pierre turned his whole body so that the sofa creaked, turned his animated face to Prince Andrei, smiled and waved his hand.
“No, this abbot is very interesting, but he just doesn’t understand the matter like that ... In my opinion, eternal peace is possible, but I don’t know how to say it ... But not by political equilibrium ...
Prince Andrei was apparently not interested in these abstract conversations.
- It is impossible, mon cher, [my dear,] everywhere to say everything that you think. So, have you finally decided on something? Will you be a cavalry guard or a diplomat? asked Prince Andrei after a moment's silence.
Pierre sat down on the sofa, tucking his legs under him.
You can imagine, I still don't know. I don't like either one.
“But you have to make a decision, don’t you? Your father is waiting.
Pierre, from the age of ten, was sent abroad with the tutor abbot, where he stayed until the age of twenty. When he returned to Moscow, his father released the abbot and said to the young man: “Now you go to Petersburg, look around and choose. I agree to everything. Here's a letter for you to Prince Vasily, and here's some money for you. Write about everything, I will help you in everything. Pierre had been choosing a career for three months and did nothing. Prince Andrei told him about this choice. Pierre rubbed his forehead.
“But he must be a Freemason,” he said, referring to the abbot whom he had seen at the party.
- All this is nonsense, - Prince Andrei stopped him again, - let's talk about the case. Were you in the Horse Guards?
- No, I wasn't, but that's what came to my mind, and I wanted to tell you. Now the war against Napoleon. If it were a war for freedom, I would understand, I would be the first to enter the military service; but helping England and Austria against the greatest man in the world... that's not good...
Prince Andrei only shrugged his shoulders at Pierre's childish speeches. He pretended that such nonsense was not to be answered; but it was really difficult to answer this naive question with anything other than what Prince Andrei answered.
“If everyone fought only according to their convictions, there would be no war,” he said.
“That would be fine,” said Pierre.
Prince Andrew chuckled.
- It may very well be that it would be wonderful, but this will never happen ...
“Well, why are you going to war?” Pierre asked.
- For what? I do not know. So it is necessary. Besides, I'm going…” He stopped. “I am going because this life that I lead here, this life is not for me!A woman's dress rustled in the next room. As if waking up, Prince Andrei shook himself, and his face assumed the same expression that it had in Anna Pavlovna's drawing room. Pierre swung his legs off the sofa. The princess entered. She was already in a different, homely, but equally elegant and fresh dress. Prince Andrei stood up, courteously pushing a chair for her.
“Why, I often think,” she began, as always, in French, hastily and bustlingly sitting down in an armchair, “why didn’t Annette get married?” How stupid you all are, messurs, for not marrying her. Excuse me, but you don't understand anything about women. What a debater you are, Monsieur Pierre.
- I argue everything with your husband; I don’t understand why he wants to go to war, ”said Pierre, without any hesitation (so common in relations young man to a young woman) addressing the princess.
The princess was startled. Apparently, Pierre's words touched her to the core.
Ah, that's what I'm saying! - she said. “I don’t understand, I absolutely don’t understand why men can’t live without war?” Why do we women want nothing, why do we need nothing? Well, you be the judge. I tell him everything: here he is an uncle's adjutant, the most brilliant position. Everyone knows him so well and appreciates him so much. The other day at the Apraksins, I heard a lady ask: "c" est ca le fameux prince Andre? Ma parole d "honneur! [Is this the famous Prince Andrei? Honestly!] She laughed. - He is so accepted everywhere. He can very easily be an adjutant wing. You know, the sovereign spoke to him very graciously. Annette and I talked about how easy it would be to arrange. How do you think?
Pierre looked at Prince Andrei and, noticing that his friend did not like this conversation, did not answer.
- When are you leaving? - he asked.
- Ah! ne me parlez pas de ce depart, ne m "en parlez pas. Je ne veux pas en entendre parler, [Ah, don't tell me about this departure! I don't want to hear about it,] the princess spoke in such a capriciously playful tone as she spoke with Hippolyte in the living room, and who, obviously, did not go to the family circle, where Pierre was, as it were, a member. - Today, when I thought that it was necessary to interrupt all these expensive relationship… And then, you know, Andre? She winked at her husband significantly. - J "ai peur, j" ai peur! [I'm scared, I'm scared!] she whispered, her back trembling.
The husband looked at her with a look as if he was surprised to notice that someone else, besides him and Pierre, was in the room; and he turned inquiringly to his wife with cold courtesy:
What are you afraid of, Lisa? I can't understand, he said.
- That's how all men are selfish; everyone, all egoists! Because of his own whims, God knows why, he leaves me, locks me up in a village alone.
“With your father and sister, don’t forget,” Prince Andrei said quietly.
- All the same, alone, without my friends ... And she wants me not to be afraid.
Her tone was already grouchy, her lip rose, giving her face not a joyful, but a brutal, squirrel-like expression. She fell silent, as if finding it indecent to talk about her pregnancy in front of Pierre, while this was the essence of the matter.
“All the same, I didn’t understand, de quoi vous avez peur, [What are you afraid of],” Prince Andrei said slowly, not taking his eyes off his wife.
The princess blushed and frantically waved her hands.
- Non, Andre, je dis que vous avez tellement, tellement change ... [No, Andrey, I say: you have changed so, so much ...]
“Your doctor tells you to go to bed earlier,” said Prince Andrei. - You should go to sleep.
The princess said nothing, and suddenly her short, mustache-lined sponge trembled; Prince Andrei, standing up and shrugging his shoulders, walked across the room.
Pierre, surprised and naive, looked through his glasses first at him, then at the princess, and stirred, as if he, too, wanted to get up, but again pondered.
“What does it matter to me that Monsieur Pierre is here,” the little princess suddenly said, and her pretty face suddenly broke into a tearful grimace. “I wanted to tell you for a long time, Andre: why have you changed so much towards me?” What did I do to you? You're going to the army, you don't feel sorry for me. For what?
– Lise! - only said Prince Andrei; but in this word there was both a request, and a threat, and, most importantly, an assurance that she herself would repent of her words; but she went on hurriedly:
“You treat me like a sick person or a child. I see everything. Were you like this six months ago?
“Lise, I ask you to stop,” Prince Andrei said even more expressively.
Pierre, becoming more and more agitated during this conversation, got up and went up to the princess. He seemed unable to bear the sight of tears and was ready to cry himself.
- Calm down, princess. It seems so to you, because I assure you, I myself experienced ... why ... because ... No, excuse me, the stranger is superfluous here ... No, calm down ... Farewell ...
Prince Andrei stopped him by the hand.
- No, wait, Pierre. The princess is so kind that she does not want to deprive me of the pleasure of spending the evening with you.
“No, he only thinks of himself,” the princess said, unable to hold back her angry tears.
“Lise,” said Prince Andrei dryly, raising his tone to the degree that shows that patience is exhausted.
Suddenly, the angry squirrel expression of the princess's pretty face was replaced by an attractive and compassionate expression of fear; she looked frowningly at her husband with her beautiful eyes, and on her face appeared that timid and confessing expression that a dog has, quickly, but feebly wagging his lowered tail.
- Mon Dieu, mon Dieu! [My God, my God!] - the princess said and, picking up the fold of her dress with one hand, she went up to her husband and kissed him on the forehead.
- Bonsoir, Lise, [Good night, Liza,] - said Prince Andrei, getting up and politely, like a stranger, kissing his hand.The friends were silent. Neither of them began to speak. Pierre glanced at Prince Andrei, Prince Andrei rubbed his forehead with his small hand.
"Let's go to dinner," he said with a sigh, getting up and heading for the door.
They entered the elegant, newly decorated dining room. Everything, from napkins to silver, faience and crystal, bore that special imprint of novelty that happens in the household of young spouses. In the middle of dinner, Prince Andrei leaned on his elbows and, like a man who has long had something in his heart and suddenly decides to speak out, with an expression of nervous irritation in which Pierre had never seen his friend, he began to say:
“Never, never marry, my friend; here is my advice to you: do not marry until you tell yourself that you have done everything you could, and until you stop loving the woman you have chosen, until you see her clearly; otherwise you will make a cruel and irreparable mistake. Marry an old man, worthless ... Otherwise, everything that is good and lofty in you will be lost. Everything is wasted on trifles. Yes Yes Yes! Don't look at me with such surprise. If you expect anything from yourself ahead, then at every step you will feel that everything is over for you, everything is closed, except for the drawing room, where you will stand on the same board with the court lackey and the idiot ... Yes, what! ...
He waved his hand vigorously.
Pierre took off his glasses, which made his face change, showing even more kindness, and looked in surprise at his friend.
“My wife,” continued Prince Andrei, “is a wonderful woman. This is one of those rare women with whom you can be dead for your honor; but, my God, what would I not give now not to be married! This I tell you alone and first, because I love you.
Prince Andrei, saying this, was even less like than before, that Bolkonsky, who was sitting lounging in Anna Pavlovna's armchairs and squinting through his teeth, uttering French phrases. His dry face kept trembling with the nervous animation of every muscle; eyes, in which the fire of life had previously seemed extinguished, now shone with a radiant, bright brilliance. It was evident that the more lifeless he seemed at ordinary times, the more energetic he was in those moments of almost painful irritation.
“You don’t understand why I say this,” he continued. “It's a whole life story. You say Bonaparte and his career,” he said, although Pierre did not talk about Bonaparte. – You are talking to Bonaparte; but Bonaparte, when he worked, went step by step towards the goal, he was free, he had nothing but his goal - and he reached it. But bind yourself to a woman, and like a chained convict, you lose all freedom. And everything that is in you of hope and strength, everything only weighs you down and torments you with repentance. Drawing rooms, gossip, balls, vanity, insignificance - this is a vicious circle from which I cannot get out. I am now going to war, to the greatest war that has ever been, and I know nothing and am no good. Je suis tres aimable et tres caustique, [I am very sweet and very eater,] continued Prince Andrei, “and Anna Pavlovna is listening to me. And this stupid society, without which my wife cannot live, and these women ... If only you could know what it is toutes les femmes distinguees [all these women of good society] and women in general! My father is right. Selfishness, vanity, stupidity, insignificance in everything - these are women when everything is shown as they are. You look at them in the light, it seems that there is something, but nothing, nothing, nothing! Yes, don’t marry, my soul, don’t marry, ”Prince Andrei finished.
“It’s funny to me,” said Pierre, “that you yourself, you consider yourself incapable, your life a spoiled life. You have everything, everything is ahead. And you…
He did not say that you were, but his tone already showed how highly he appreciated his friend and how much he expected from him in the future.
"How can he say that!" thought Pierre. Pierre considered Prince Andrei a model of all perfection precisely because Prince Andrei combined to the highest degree all those qualities that Pierre did not have and which can be most closely expressed by the concept of willpower. Pierre was always amazed at Prince Andrei's ability to calmly deal with all kinds of people, his extraordinary memory, erudition (he read everything, knew everything, had an idea about everything), and most of all his ability to work and study. If Pierre was often struck by the lack of the ability of dreamy philosophizing in Andrei (which Pierre was especially prone to), then he saw this not as a drawback, but as a strength.
In the best, friendly, and simple relations, flattery or praise is necessary, as grease is necessary for wheels to keep them moving.
- Je suis un homme fini, [I am a finished man,] - said Prince Andrei. - What to say about me? Let's talk about you," he said after a pause and smiled at his comforting thoughts.
This smile was immediately reflected on Pierre's face.
- And what to say about me? - said Pierre, spreading his mouth into a carefree, cheerful smile. – What am I? Je suis un batard [I am an illegitimate son!] - And he suddenly blushed crimson. It was evident that he made a great effort to say this. - Sans nom, sans fortune ... [No name, no fortune ...] And well, right ... - But he did not say that he was right. - I'm free for now, and I'm fine. I just don't know what to start with. I wanted to seriously consult with you.
Prince Andrew looked at him with kind eyes. But in his look, friendly, affectionate, all the same, the consciousness of his superiority was expressed.
“You are dear to me, especially because you are the only living person among our entire world. You feel good. Choose what you want; it does not matter. You will be good everywhere, but one thing: stop going to these Kuragins, to lead this life. So it doesn’t suit you: all these revels, and hussars, and that’s all ...
“Que voulez vous, mon cher,” said Pierre, shrugging his shoulders, “les femmes, mon cher, les femmes!” [What do you want, my dear, women, my dear, women!]
“I don’t understand,” Andrei answered. - Les femmes comme il faut, [Decent women,] is another matter; but les femmes Kuragin, les femmes et le vin, [Kuragin's women, women and wine,] I don't understand!
Pierre lived with Prince Vasily Kuragin and participated in the wild life of his son Anatole, the same one who was going to be married to the sister of Prince Andrei for correction.
“You know what,” said Pierre, as if he had an unexpectedly happy thought, “seriously, I have been thinking about this for a long time. With this life, I can neither decide nor think about anything. Headache, no money. Today he called me, I will not go.
“Give me your word of honor that you won’t ride?”
- Honestly!It was already two o'clock in the morning when Pierre went out from his friend. The night was a June, Petersburg, duskless night. Pierre got into a cab with the intention of driving home. But the closer he drove, the more he felt the impossibility of falling asleep that night, which was more like evening or morning. Far away it was visible along the empty streets. Dear Pierre remembered that Anatole Kuragin was supposed to meet the usual gambling society that evening, after which there was usually a drinking bout, ending in one of Pierre's favorite amusements.
"It would be nice to go to Kuragin," he thought.
But at once he remembered his word of honor given to Prince Andrei not to visit Kuragin. But immediately, as happens with people who are called spineless, he so passionately wanted to once again experience this dissolute life so familiar to him that he decided to go. And immediately the thought occurred to him that this word meant nothing, because even before Prince Andrei, he also gave Prince Anatole the word to be with him; finally, he thought that all these words of honor were such conditional things, having no definite meaning, especially if one realized that perhaps tomorrow either he would die or something so unusual would happen to him that there would no longer be any honest , nor dishonorable. This kind of reasoning, destroying all his decisions and assumptions, often came to Pierre. He went to Kuragin.
Arriving at the porch of a large house near the horse guard barracks in which Anatole lived, he climbed onto the illuminated porch, onto the stairs, and entered the open door. There was no one in the hall; lying around empty bottles, raincoats, galoshes; there was a smell of wine, a distant voice and a cry could be heard.
The game and dinner were already over, but the guests had not yet left. Pierre threw off his cloak and entered the first room, where there were the remnants of dinner and one footman, thinking that no one could see him, was secretly finishing his unfinished glasses. From the third room came fuss, laughter, cries of familiar voices and the roar of a bear.
Man eight young people crowded anxiously around open window. Three were busy with a young bear, which one dragged on a chain, scaring the other with it.
“I hold a hundred for Stevens!” one shouted.
– Look not to support! shouted another.
- I'm for Dolokhov! shouted a third. - Take it apart, Kuragin.
- Well, drop Mishka, there's a bet.
- In one spirit, otherwise it is lost, - shouted the fourth.
- Yakov, give me a bottle, Yakov! - Shouted the owner himself, a tall handsome man, standing in the middle of the crowd in one thin shirt, open in the middle of his chest. - Stop, gentlemen. Here he is Petrusha, dear friend, - he turned to Pierre.
Another voice of a short man, with clear blue eyes, which was especially striking among all these drunken voices with its sober expression, shouted from the window: "Come here - break the bet!" It was Dolokhov, a Semyonov officer, a well-known gambler and swindler, who lived with Anatole. Pierre smiled, looking cheerfully around him.
- I don't understand anything. What's the matter?
Wait, he's not drunk. Give me a bottle, - said Anatole and, taking a glass from the table, went up to Pierre.
- First of all, drink.
Pierre began to drink glass after glass, scowling at the drunken guests, who again crowded at the window, and listening to their conversation. Anatole poured him wine and said that Dolokhov was betting with the Englishman Stevens, a sailor who was here, that he, Dolokhov, would drink a bottle of rum, sitting on the third floor window with his legs down.
- Well, drink it all! - said Anatole, giving the last glass to Pierre, - otherwise I won’t let him in!
“No, I don’t want to,” said Pierre, pushing Anatole away, and went to the window.
Dolokhov held the Englishman's hand and clearly, distinctly pronounces the terms of the bet, addressing primarily to Anatole and Pierre.
Dolokhov was a man of medium height, with curly hair and light blue eyes. He was twenty-five years old. He did not wear a mustache, like all infantry officers, and his mouth, the most striking feature of his face, was completely visible. The lines of this mouth were remarkably finely curved. in the middle upper lip energetically descended on the strong lower one in a sharp wedge, and something like two smiles constantly formed in the corners, one on each side; and all together, and especially in combination with a firm, insolent, intelligent look, made such an impression that it was impossible not to notice this face. Dolokhov was a poor man, without any connections. And despite the fact that Anatole lived in tens of thousands, Dolokhov lived with him and managed to put himself in such a way that Anatole and everyone who knew them respected Dolokhov more than Anatole. Dolokhov played all the games and almost always won. No matter how much he drank, he never lost his head. Both Kuragin and Dolokhov at that time were celebrities in the world of rake and revelers in St. Petersburg.
A bottle of rum was brought; the frame, which did not allow one to sit on the outer slope of the window, was broken down by two lackeys, apparently in a hurry and timid from the advice and cries of the surrounding gentlemen.
Anatole, with his victorious air, went up to the window. He wanted to break something. He pushed the footmen away and pulled the frame, but the frame did not give up. He broke the glass.
“Well, come on, strong man,” he turned to Pierre.
Pierre took hold of the crossbars, pulled, and with a crack turned the oak frame inside out.
- All out, otherwise they will think that I am holding on, - said Dolokhov.
“The Englishman is boasting… huh?… good?…” said Anatole.
“Good,” said Pierre, looking at Dolokhov, who, taking a bottle of rum in his hands, went up to the window, from which he could see the light of the sky and the morning and evening dawns merging on it.
Dolokhov, with a bottle of rum in his hand, jumped up to the window. "Listen!"
he shouted, standing on the windowsill and turning into the room. Everyone fell silent.
- I bet (he spoke French so that an Englishman could understand him, and he did not speak this language very well). I bet fifty imperials, want a hundred? he added, turning to the Englishman.
“No, fifty,” said the Englishman.
- Well, for fifty imperials - that I will drink the whole bottle of rum without taking it from my mouth, I will drink it, sitting outside the window, right here (he bent down and showed a sloping ledge of the wall outside the window) and not holding on to anything ... So? …
“Very well,” said the Englishman.
Anatole turned to the Englishman and, taking him by the button of his tailcoat and looking at him from above (the Englishman was short), began to repeat the terms of the bet in English.
- Wait! Dolokhov shouted, banging the bottle on the window to draw attention to himself. - Wait, Kuragin; listen. If anyone does the same, then I pay a hundred imperials. Do you understand?
The Englishman nodded his head, giving no indication as to whether or not he intended to accept this new wager. Anatole did not let go of the Englishman, and despite the fact that he, nodding, let it be known that he understood everything, Anatole translated Dolokhov's words into English for him. A young, thin boy, a life hussar who lost that evening, climbed to the window, leaned out and looked down.
“U!… u!… u!…” he said, looking out the window at the pavement stone.
- Attention! Dolokhov shouted and pulled the officer off the window, who, tangled in his spurs, awkwardly jumped into the room.
Putting the bottle on the windowsill so that it would be convenient to get it, Dolokhov cautiously and quietly climbed out the window. Lowering his legs and bracing himself with both hands on the edge of the window, he tried on, sat down, lowered his arms, moved to the right, to the left, and took out a bottle. Anatole brought two candles and put them on the windowsill, although it was already quite light. Dolokhov's back in a white shirt and his curly head were illuminated from both sides. Everyone crowded at the window. The Englishman stood in front. Pierre smiled and said nothing. One of those present, older than the others, with a frightened and angry face, suddenly moved forward and wanted to grab Dolokhov by the shirt.
- Gentlemen, this is nonsense; he will kill himself to death,” said the more sensible man.
Anatole stopped him:
Don't touch it, you'll scare him, he'll kill himself. Huh?… What then?… Huh?…
Dolokhov turned around, straightening himself and again spreading his arms.
“If anyone else meddles with me,” he said, rarely passing words through clenched and thin lips, “I’ll let him down right here.” Well!…
Saying "well!", he turned again, let go of his hands, took the bottle and raised it to his mouth, threw back his head and threw up his free hand for an advantage. One of the footmen, who had begun to pick up the glass, stopped in a bent position, without taking his eyes off the window and Dolokhov's back. Anatole stood straight, his eyes open. The Englishman, pursing his lips forward, looked sideways. The one who stopped him ran to the corner of the room and lay down on the sofa facing the wall. Pierre covered his face, and a faint smile, forgotten, remained on his face, although it now expressed horror and fear. Everyone was silent. Pierre took his hands away from his eyes: Dolokhov was still sitting in the same position, only his head was bent back, so that the curly hair of the back of his head touched the collar of his shirt, and the hand with the bottle rose higher and higher, shuddering and making an effort. The bottle apparently emptied and at the same time rose, bending its head. "Why is it taking so long?" thought Pierre. It seemed to him that more than half an hour had passed. Suddenly Dolokhov made a backward movement with his back, and his hand trembled nervously; this shudder was enough to move the whole body, sitting on the sloping slope. He moved all over, and his hand and head trembled even more, making an effort. One hand went up to grab the window sill, but went down again. Pierre closed his eyes again and told himself that he would never open them again. Suddenly, he felt everything around him move. He looked: Dolokhov was standing on the windowsill, his face was pale and cheerful.
- Empty!
He tossed the bottle to the Englishman, who deftly caught it. Dolokhov jumped from the window. He smelled strongly of rum.
- Excellent! Well done! That's the bet! Damn you completely! shouted from all directions.
The Englishman took out his purse and counted out the money. Dolokhov frowned and remained silent. Pierre jumped to the window.
Lord! Who wants to bet with me? I will do the same,” he suddenly shouted. “And you don’t have to bet, that’s what. Tell me to give you a bottle. I'll do... tell me to give.
- Let it go, let it go! Dolokhov said smiling.
- What you? crazy? Who will let you in? Your head is spinning even on the stairs, - they started talking from different sides.
- I'll drink, give me a bottle of rum! Pierre shouted, striking the table with a decisive and drunken gesture, and climbed out the window.
They seized him by the arms; but he was so strong that he pushed far away the one who approached him.
“No, you can’t convince him like that for anything,” Anatole said, “wait, I’ll deceive him.” Listen, I'm betting with you, but tomorrow, and now we're all going to ***.
“Let's go,” Pierre shouted, “let's go! ... And we take Mishka with us ...
And he grabbed the bear, and, embracing and lifting him, began to circle with him around the room.Prince Vasily fulfilled the promise given at the evening at Anna Pavlovna's to Princess Drubetskaya, who asked him for her only son Boris. He was reported to the sovereign, and, unlike others, he was transferred to the guards of the Semenovsky regiment as an ensign. But Boris was never appointed adjutant or under Kutuzov, despite all the troubles and intrigues of Anna Mikhailovna. Shortly after Anna Pavlovna's evening, Anna Mikhailovna returned to Moscow, directly to her wealthy relatives, the Rostovs, with whom she stayed in Moscow and with whom her adored Borenka, who had just been promoted to the army and immediately transferred to the guards warrant officers, was brought up and lived for years. The guards had already left Petersburg on August 10, and the son, who had remained in Moscow for uniforms, was supposed to catch up with her on the road to Radzivilov.
The Rostovs had Natalia's birthday girl, mother and younger daughter. In the morning, without ceasing, trains drove up and drove off, bringing congratulators to the large, well-known house of Countess Rostova on Povarskaya, all over Moscow. The countess with her beautiful eldest daughter and the guests, who did not cease to replace one another, were sitting in the drawing room.
The countess was a woman with an oriental type of thin face, about forty-five years old, apparently exhausted by her children, of whom she had twelve people. The slowness of her movements and speech, which came from the weakness of her strength, gave her a significant air that inspired respect. Princess Anna Mikhailovna Drubetskaya, like a domestic person, was sitting right there, helping in the matter of receiving and engaging in conversation with the guests. The youth were in the back rooms, not finding it necessary to participate in receiving visits. The count met and saw off the guests, inviting everyone to dinner.
“I am very, very grateful to you, ma chere or mon cher [my dear or my dear] (ma chere or mon cher he spoke to everyone without exception, without the slightest nuance, both above and below him to people standing) for himself and for dear birthday girls . Look, come and have dinner. You offend me, mon cher. I sincerely ask you on behalf of the whole family, ma chere. These words, with the same expression on his full, cheerful and clean-shaven face, and with the same firm handshake and repeated short bows, he spoke to everyone without exception or change. After seeing off one guest, the count returned to the one or the other who were still in the drawing room; pulling up chairs and with the air of a man who loves and knows how to live, with his legs valiantly apart and his hands on his knees, he swayed significantly, offered guesses about the weather, consulted about health, sometimes in Russian, sometimes in very bad, but self-confident French, and again with the air of a tired but firm man in the performance of his duties, he went to see him off, straightening his sparse gray hair on his bald head, and again called for dinner. Sometimes, returning from the hall, he would go through the flower room and the waiter's room into a large marble hall, where a table was set for eighty couverts, and, looking at the waiters, who wore silver and porcelain, arranged tables and unfolded damask tablecloths, called Dmitry Vasilyevich, a nobleman, to him, engaged in all his affairs, and said: “Well, well, Mitenka, see that everything is fine. So, so, - he said, looking with pleasure at the huge spreading table. - The main thing is serving. That's it ... ”And he left, sighing smugly, again into the living room.
- Marya Lvovna Karagina with her daughter! the huge countess, the outgoing footman, reported in a bass voice as he entered the drawing-room door.
The Countess thought for a moment and sniffed from a golden snuffbox with a portrait of her husband.
“These visits tortured me,” she said. - Well, I'll take her last. Very stiff. Ask, - she said to the footman in a sad voice, as if saying: "well, finish it off!"
A tall, stout, proud-looking lady with a chubby, smiling daughter, rustling her dresses, entered the living room.
“Chere comtesse, il y a si longtemps… elle a ete alitee la pauvre enfant… au bal des Razoumowsky… et la comtesse Apraksine… j"ai ete si heureuse…” [Dear Countess, how long ago… she should have been in bed, poor a child... at the Razumovskys' ball... and Countess Apraksina... was so happy...] animated female voices were heard, interrupting one another and merging with the noise of dresses and moving chairs. , say: "Je suis bien charmee; la sante de maman ... et la comtesse Apraksine" [I am in awe; mother's health ... and Countess Apraksina] and, again making noise with dresses, go into the hall, put on a fur coat or cloak and leave. The conversation turned about the main city news of that time - about the illness of the famous rich man and handsome man of Catherine's time, the old Count Bezukhy and about his illegitimate son Pierre, who behaved so indecently at the evening at Anna Pavlovna Scherer.
“I am very sorry for the poor count,” said the guest, “his health is already so bad, and now this chagrin from his son, this will kill him!”
- What? the countess asked, as if not knowing what the guest was talking about, although she had already heard the reason for Count Bezukhy's grief fifteen times already.
- That's the current upbringing! While still abroad,” the guest said, “this young man was left to his own devices, and now in St. Petersburg, they say, he has done such horrors that he and the police have been expelled from there.
- Tell! said the Countess.
“He chose his acquaintances badly,” intervened Princess Anna Mikhailovna. - The son of Prince Vasily, he and one Dolokhov, they say, God knows what they were doing. And both were hurt. Dolokhov was demoted to the soldiers, and Bezukhoy's son was sent to Moscow. Anatol Kuragin - that father somehow hushed up. But they were sent out from St. Petersburg.
“What the hell did they do?” the countess asked.
“These are perfect robbers, especially Dolokhov,” said the guest. - He is the son of Marya Ivanovna Dolokhova, such a respectable lady, and what? You can imagine: the three of them got a bear somewhere, put it in a carriage with them and took it to the actresses. The police came to take them down. They caught the guard and tied him back to back to the bear and let the bear into the Moika; the bear swims, and the quarter on it.
- Good, ma chere, the figure of the quarterly, - the count shouted, dying with laughter.
- Oh, what a horror! What's there to laugh at, Count?
But the ladies involuntarily laughed themselves.
“They rescued this unfortunate man by force,” continued the guest. - And this is the son of Count Kirill Vladimirovich Bezukhov, who is so cleverly amused! she added. - And they said that he was so well educated and smart. That's all the upbringing abroad has brought. I hope that no one will accept him here, despite his wealth. I wanted to introduce him. I resolutely refused: I have daughters.
Why do you say this young man is so rich? asked the countess, bending down from the girls, who immediately pretended not to listen. “He only has illegitimate children. It seems ... and Pierre is illegal.
The guest waved her hand.
“He has twenty illegal ones, I think.
Princess Anna Mikhailovna intervened in the conversation, apparently wishing to show her connections and her knowledge of all secular circumstances.
"Here's the thing," she said significantly, and also in a whisper. - The reputation of Count Kirill Vladimirovich is known ... He lost count of his children, but this Pierre was his favorite.
“How good the old man was,” said the countess, “even last year!” I have never seen a more beautiful man.
“Now he has changed a lot,” said Anna Mikhailovna. “So I wanted to say,” she continued, “by his wife, the direct heir to the entire estate, Prince Vasily, but Pierre was very fond of his father, was engaged in his upbringing and wrote to the sovereign ... so no one knows if he dies (he is so bad that they expect it every minute, and Lorrain came from St. Petersburg), who will get this huge fortune, Pierre or Prince Vasily. Forty thousand souls and millions. I know this very well, because Prince Vasily himself told me this. Yes, and Kirill Vladimirovich is my maternal second cousin. It was he who baptized Borya, ”she added, as if not attributing any significance to this circumstance.
– Prince Vasily arrived in Moscow yesterday. He goes to the audit, they told me, - said the guest.
“Yes, but, entre nous, [between us],” said the princess, “this is a pretext, he actually came to Count Kirill Vladimirovich, having learned that he was so bad.
“However, ma chere, this is a nice thing,” said the count, and, noticing that the elder guest did not listen to him, he turned to the young ladies. - The quarterman had a good figure, I imagine.
And he, imagining how the blockman waved his hands, again burst out laughing with sonorous and bassy laughter, shaking his whole full body, how people laugh, who always eat well and especially drink. “So, please, have dinner with us,” he said.There was silence. The countess looked at the guest, smiling pleasantly, however, not hiding the fact that she would not be upset now if the guest got up and left. The daughter of the guest was already adjusting her dress, looking inquiringly at her mother, when suddenly from the next room there was heard running to the door of several male and female legs, the rumble of a hooked and thrown chair, and a thirteen-year-old girl ran into the room, wrapping something in a short muslin skirt, and stopped in the middle rooms. It was obvious that she accidentally, from an uncalculated run, jumped so far. At the same moment, a student with a crimson collar, a guards officer, a fifteen-year-old girl and a fat, ruddy boy in a child's jacket appeared at the door at the same moment.
The count jumped up and, swaying, spread his arms wide around the running girl.