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Lays of Ancient Rome-Part15_Thomas Babbington Macaulay(1800-1859)_English Literature(文学名著)-第2页

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were fairly matched against each other.

The fame of Greece in arms, as well as in arts, was then at the



height. Half a century earlier, the career of Alexander had

excited the admiration and terror of all nations from the Ganges



to the Pillars of Hercules. Royal houses, founded by Macedonian

captains, still reigned at Antioch and Alexandria. That barbarian



warriors, led by barbarian chiefs, should win a pitched battle

against Greek valor guided by Greek science, seemed as incredible



as it would now seem that the Burmese or the Siamese should, in

the open plain, put to flight an equal number of the best English



troops. The Tarentines were convinced that their countrymen were

irresistible in war; and this conviction had emboldened them to



treat with the grossest indignity one whom they regarded as the

representative of an inferior race. Of the Greek generals then



living Pyrrhus was indisputably the first. Among the troops who

were trained in the Greek discipline his Epirotes ranked high.



His expedition to Italy was a turning-point in the history of the

world. He found there a people who, far inferior to the Athenians



and Corinthians in the fine arts, in the speculative sciences,

and in all the refinements of life, were the best soldiers on the



face of the earth. Their arms, their gradations of rank, their

order of battle, their method of intrenchment, were all of Latin



origin, and had all been gradually brought near to perfection,

not by the study of foreign models, but by the genius and



experience of many generations of great native commanders. The

first words which broke from the king, when his practised eye had



surveyed the Roman encampment, were full of meaning: ``These

barbarians,'' he said, ``have nothing barbarous in their military



arrangements.'' He was at first victorious; for his own talents

were superior to those of the captains who were opposed to him;



and the Romans were not prepared for the onset of the elephants

of the East, which were then for the first time seen in



Italy--moving mountains, with long snakes for hands. But the

victories of the Epirotes were fiercely disputed, dearly



purchased, and altogetherunprofitable. At length, Manius Curius

Dentatus, who had in his first Consulship won two triumphs, was



again placed at the head of the Roman Commonwealth, and sent to

conquer the invaders. A great battle was fought near Beneventum.



Pyrrhus was completely defeated. He repassed the sea; and the

world learned, with amazement, that a people had been discovered



who, in fair fighting, were superior to the best troops that had

been drilled on the system of Parmenio and Antigonus.



The conquerors had a good right to exult in their success; for

their glory was all their own. They had not learned from their



enemy how to conquer him. It was with their own national arms,

and in their own national battle array, that they had overcome



weapons and tactics long believed to be invincible. The pilum and

the broadsword had vanquished the Macedonian spear. The legion



had broken the Macedonian phalanx. Even the elephants, when the

surprise produced by their first appearance was over, could cause



no disorder in the steady yet flexible battalions of Rome.

It is said by Florus, and may easily be believed, that the



triumph far surpassed in magnificence any that Rome had

previously seen. The only spoils which Papirius Cursor and Fabius



Maximus could exhibit were flocks and herds, wagons of rude

structure, and heaps of spears and helmets. But now, for the



first time, the riches of Asia and the arts of Greece adorned a

Roman pageant. Plate, fine stuffs, costly furniture, rare



animals, exquisite paintings and sculptures, formed part of the

procession. At the banquet would be assembled a crowd of warriors



and statesmen, among whom Manius Curius Dentatus would take the

highest room. Caius Fabricius Luscinus, then, after two



Consulships and two triumphs, Censor of the Commonwealth, would

doubtless occupy a place of honor at the board. In situations



less conspicuous probably lay some of those who were, a few years

later, the terror of Carthage: Caius Duilius, the founder of the






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