Manlius

“ Get thee gone, and bid them supply thy wants. Eat, drink, and sleep—we march upon Rome at day-break to-morrow."
The man left the apartment, and looking to Manlius with a flushed cheek and exulting aspect, Catiline exclaimed,
"Murmuring for pleasure, and for women, are they? Tell them, good friend, they shall have all the gold of Rome for their pleasure, and all its patrician dames for their women. Stir up their souls, my Manlius, kindle their blood with it matters not what fire! See to it, my good comrade, I am aweary, and will lay me down, I can sleep after these good tidings." ”

“ And is there an orgy, a bacchanalian festival, in which she does not play the loathsome part of queen? Oh, Manlius, it is terrible when the hair is grey to be unable to look men in the face, to hear everywhere and be forced to read in the eyes of all: 'This is Mesembrius who corrupts Rome! This man gave life to the monster who daily [Pg 35] consumes the bread and drinks the blood of a hundred thousand starving people. Let us beware of approaching him.' Oh, Manlius, believe me, you will yet kill this woman."
"I have never killed a woman, and I never shall." ”

“ Towards his father's tent the young victor proudly went, through exulting lines of troops, and laid his spoils in triumph at the feet of the stern old man.
The poor youth, the rejoicing soldiers, knew not the man with whom they had to deal. A military order had been disobeyed. To old Manlius the fact that the culprit was his son, and that he had added honor to the Roman arms, weighed nothing. Discipline stood above affection or victory. ”

“ It is always the fate of a real or supposed benefactor of the public to have plenty of private foes; and, indeed, an elevated position is usually an inviting mark for the arrows of malevolence. Manlius became a target forthwith; and, had the very bull's eye been aimed at, the apple of his eye could not have been more effectually hit, than by a wound sought to be inflicted on him, through his son Titus. ”

“ It seems pretty certain that after Manlius was thrown into prison, a great number of plebeians went into mourning; many let their hair grow, and the vestibule of the prison was beset by a depressed and sorrowful crowd. The Dictator celebrated his triumph over the Volscians, but his triumph increased his unpopularity; men complained that the victory was won at home, not in the field, over a citizen, not over an enemy. One thing alone was lacking in the pageant of tyranny, Manlius was not led in procession before the victor's chariot. ”

“ Your languishing husband, Manlius Sinister.' Send this letter by a slave, and put on this ring, which you must show at the door. Then you will be admitted, and Glyceria's women will conduct you where she awaits you."
Carinus listened greedily to every word from Manlius, who coolly handed him the ring and the letter. Trembling in every limb, he could not speak, but motioned to a slave to deliver Manlius' letter to Glyceria.
The courtiers whispered together in astonishment.
"What a fortunate man you are," Ævius whispered in the ear of the new favourite. ”

“ Manlius, with suppressed fury, answered:
"Is love a fruit that becomes overripe if it waits long?"
Glyceria looked at Manlius in horror.
"What is the matter with you that you speak to me of love?"
"Did you not summon me that we might whisper together of rapture, bliss, and sweet delights?"
"Once your words would have given me pleasure; now horror seizes me when you speak in this way."
"Are you not convinced that your [Pg 112] beauty has such magic power that every man who beholds you forgets every woman he has ever seen?" replied Manlius, half drawing his sword from its sheath. ”

“ Manlius can read character in a person wonderfully; he has a real gift that way; and, indeed, he needs it in his profession; and, as I tell him, he was born an intelligence-officer."
Thus, and with more in the same strain, did Mrs. Manlius give vent to her feelings, though hardly in the ear of Nicholas, who paced the room in restless expectation of his aunt's approach. He heard enough to give a turn to his thoughts; and it was with unaffected sorrow that he reflected how the lonely woman had been dependent upon the charity, as it seemed, of others. ”

“ There dwelt in Rome a certain Lucius Manlius, of the kindred of that Manlius that thrust down the Gauls from the Capitol, and men gave him the surname of Imperious by reason of the haughtiness of his temper. This Manlius was made dictator for this one purpose, that he might drive a nail into the wall of the temple of Jupiter. ”

“ To him the Dictator made answer, "Thou doest well, Manlius, with thy valour and thy piety, both towards thy country and thy father. Go thou and show, the Gods helping thee, that a Roman cannot be conquered." Then his comrades armed the youth, giving him the long shield of a foot soldier and a Spanish sword, which, for its shortness, was well suited for fighting in close combat. ”

“ This awoke Marcus Manlius, a brave Roman soldier, who seized his sword and shield, and calling to his comrades to follow him, rushed upon the Gauls, and hurling one of them backward who had just reached the top of the hill, he so alarmed the other Gauls [Pg 758] that they hastily retreated. Some years afterward the brave Manlius was cruelly put to death by the Romans on a false charge of treason, but the Romans always professed to feel great gratitude to the geese. ”

“ For some months past there had been rumours of risings in various parts of Italy; but by the beginning of November it was known that C. Manlius (or Mallius) had collected a band of desperadoes near Fæsulæ, and, having established there a camp on the 27th of October, meant to advance on Rome. Manlius had been a centurion in Sulla's army, and had received an allotment of confiscated land in Etruria; but, like others, had failed to prosper. The movement was one born of discontent with embarrassments which were mostly brought about by extravagance or incompetence. ”

“ Manlius, a man of consular dignity, of strong body and great spirit, was the first that made head against them, and, engaging with two of the enemy at once, with his sword cut off the right arm of one just as he was lifting up his blade to strike, and, running his target full in the face of the other, tumbled him headlong down the steep rock ”

“ Titus Manlius engaged in single combat with one of the barbarians, who was strong and tall as a giant. Yet so bravely did the Roman fight that the giant was slain. Then Manlius took from the neck of his foe a gold collar. As the Latin word for necklet is ‘torques,’ Manlius and his descendants were ever after called Torquati.
When the Gauls saw that their champion was slain, they retreated; yet for a year and a half they continued to harass the Romans. But in 358 B.C. they were defeated so severely that those who were left after the battle were glad to escape from the neighbourhood of Rome. ”

“ Manlius had a difficult part to play. Men often begin under such circumstances with the purest intentions, and are drawn in by degrees to go dreadfully astray. I believe that Manlius did not set out with the design of making himself the tyrant of his country; but when his own kindred now decried him, and gave his good motives an evil interpretation, his actions were thus as it were poisoned in the bud, and thence might grow up the resolution of seizing upon despotic power. ”

“ He next called forward his son, and denouncing him as an officer who had disobeyed his governor in a double sense—his father and his consul—the lictors were ordered to proceed, by the execution of the son, to the execution of their duty. Manlius, having witnessed the ceremony, buried his face in his toga, expecting at least three rounds of applause; but the performance fell as dead as his unhappy offspring. On his return to Rome he was universally cut by the young men, who were peculiarly alive to a penalty that might be the death of any one of them. ”

“ When the Latins demanded an equal share in the government of the confederacy, Manlius vowed to kill with his own hand the first Latin he saw in the senate-house. The Latins and Campanians revolted, and Manlius, consul for the third time, marched into Campania and gained two great victories, near Vesuvius, where P. Decius Mus (q.v.) , his colleague, “devoted” himself in order to gain the day, and at Trifanum. In this campaign Manlius executed his own son, who had killed an enemy in single combat, and thus disobeyed the express command of the consuls. ”

“ Why did you not appear sooner?"
"Pleasure never comes too late," replied Manlius bitterly, and allowed himself to be conducted through gardens, byways, and covered passages till his guide opened a small bronze gate, and [Pg 109] taking him by the hand, led him through a dark corridor into a circular hall, adorned with pillars and lighted by a single round window above.
Here the old woman left him and went to summon her mistress.
Manlius looked around him. He had imagined the apartment of a Roman lady an entirely different room. ”

“ Manlius recognised Glyceria. His blood rushed feverishly to his temples, and he convulsively clutched the hilt of his sword. Yet he did not wish to kill her thus. He thought that this, too, was only a new variety of the arts of temptation in which women are such adepts. When a libertine is to be attracted, the graces are called to aid; if it is a hero, Minerva must be summoned to help. Clothes, moods, will correspond with the character of the chosen individual; nay, even the features will be altered so that they will appear different to every one. ”

“ First Manlius received both praises and gifts for his valour, and this not only from the captains, but from the common consent of the soldiers, every man carrying to his house, which was in the Capitol, half a pound of corn and half a pint of wine, a gift which seems indeed very small in the telling, but yet was a great proof of affection, the great scarcity of all things which prevailed at the time being considered, since all subtracted something from their necessary food to give it to this one man. ”

“ After the death of Manlius, his house was levelled with the ground, and he himself experienced the fate of most men when thoroughly down, for he was repudiated even by his own family. The gens, or gents, of the Manlii, with a contemptible want of manliness, resolved that none of the members should ever bear the name of Marcus, which they avoided as a mark of disgrace, though at one time it had been a title of honour. ”

“ For Manlius, in his command, resorted to every kind of severity, never sparing his men fatigue, nor remitting punishment; while Valerius, on the contrary, treated them with all kindness and consideration, and was easy and familiar in his intercourse with them. So that while the one, to secure the obedience of his soldiers, put his own son to death, the other never dealt harshly with any man. Yet, for all this diversity in their modes of acting, each had the same success against the enemy, and each obtained the same advantages both for the republic and for himself. ”

“ Manlius demanded in the name of the people, that part of the common land should be sold, and the debts be paid from the proceeds; a reasonable request as the state had a right of property in the demesne. But the oligarchs wanted to keep it in their occupation, and they exulted at the distress of the plebeians. Embarrassment had made the dependence of the Plebes very great; so long as the Præfectus urbi had the power of addicting, every one was in danger of losing his liberty. Manlius now became more proud and self-assured in consequence of his victory ”

“ B. The Fate of Manlius, 384 B.C. M. Manlius, unde Gallos depulerat, inde ipse praecipitatus est, quia fortiter defensam libertatem nefarie opprimere conatus fuerat. Cuius iustae ultionis nimirum haec praefatio fuit: ‘Manlius eras 15 mihi, cum praecipites agebas Senones; postquam imitari coepisti, unus factus es ex Senonibus.’ Huius supplicio aeternae memoriae nota inserta est: propter illum enim lege sanciri placuit ne quis patricius in arce aut Capitolio habitaret, quia domum eo loco 20 habuerat, ubi nunc aedem Monetae videmus. ”

“ The Imperator Carinus' troops were perfectly fresh; Diocletian's legions were wearied by fatiguing marches.
Carinus ordered his tent to be pitched on the top of a hill, whence, at Manlius's side, he watched the conflict.
The result was for a long time doubtful. Diocletian's skill and experience as a general held the superior numbers of the foe in check.
"Your leaders are good for nothing," cried Manlius; "Diocletian's centre might be broken by a general, resolute assault, for his weakest legions are stationed there, and then half his wing would be lost." ”

“ This advertisement of his intention brought crowds of applicants to his house; for there was always "a case of real distress" at hand, for the indulgence of one whose greatest luxury was the liquidation of other people's liabilities. The popularity of Manlius excited the jealousy of the patricians, who, not appreciating his magnanimity, thought him little better than a goose that was always laying golden eggs, and he retaliated upon them by declaring he had rather be a fool than a knave ”

“ Manlius drew a long breath, as if relieved from a heavy burden.
"I thank you for these tidings."
There was something terrible in this gratitude.
"The danger is not yet over," Glyceria began again. "Carinus, whose pallid face was sprinkled with the martyr's blood, sank back upon his couch half fainting, and through his trembling soul flashed the thought: If a woman could die in this way, how will her father or her promised husband—kill! ”

“ Ahala, the master of the horse, killed Maeliis in the middle of the forum, by order of Quinctius the dictator. Manlius, also, the defender of the Capitol, when he behaved himself too arrogantly, and unsuitably to the rank of a citizen, presuming on having liberated most of the debtors, they precipitated from that very citadel which he had preserved. In this manner, at home and abroad, in peace and war, did the Roman people pass the period of adolescence, that is to say, the second age of their empire, in which they subdued with their arms all Italy between the Alps and the sea. ”