Roumania Past and Present
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Their work, which is little if at all impeded by their light chains, is
performed with pickaxes; and, as already stated, they raise in this
manner from 700 to 1,400 kilos (14 to 28 cwt.) per day, which is
conveyed to the surface through a special shaft.
[Illustration: SALT MOUND IN FLOOR OF MINE PRIOR TO BREAKING UP.]
The cave is 80 feet high and 400 feet long, and there is another smaller
one at right angles with it, shown by a dotted line upon the plan, and
every part of it, floor, roof, and walls, is of solid rock-salt. A
curious effect is produced by the officials of the mine causing a mass
of lighted tow to be dropped through the shaft used for raising the
salt, whilst the visitors stand below; this partially illuminates the
cave in its descent, and shows its vast proportions. But there is
nothing further to detain us in this great chamber of crime, so we will
again mount the ladders and seek the genial air and sunshine above
ground. The penitentiary in which the convicts are confined after they
leave the mine is about a mile distant, and as we drive thither we pass
small bodies of them trudging along in the same direction and manacled
at their feet. It is a large barrack-like structure, with dirty
dormitories, where the men lie in long rows upon wretched pallets. The
air of these dormitories is foul, and burning resin is used to fumigate
them. One of our companions, a young Roumanian, remarked that during
the day the convicts breathe an atmosphere vitiated by their own
exhalations, whilst at night they are suffocated by the fumes of resin.
Their food is wholesome enough, consisting of mamaliga and soup. For
making the latter the prisoners receive, _theoretically_, meat at the
rate of 100 grammes (3-1/2 ounces) per head; but when we instituted a
diligent search for some, bones only were the result, and one of the
gentlemen observed that the meat was consumed a mile off, meaning at the
quarters of certain officials, whilst the bones fell to the prisoners'
share. However this may be, one fact was admitted, namely, that by some
process of conversion, known only to the initiated, the convict rarely
sees his share of his wages, and certainly receives no more nourishment
than is necessary to keep body and soul together. It is said that they
spend their earnings in luxuries, and probably some may do so; but that
the officials are poorly paid, and that it is difficult to find an
honest one, these are statements we heard on authority which it was
impossible to discredit.
As we have said, however, the rules of the prison are framed with a view
to the welfare of the convicts, with the exception that nothing is done
to educate them. But there are no harsh punishments; if a man misbehaves
himself, his chains are shortened, and very bad conduct is punished with
solitary confinement. The prisoners, we were told, are never whipped nor
otherwise ill-treated; and if it be true that men who are sent there for
robbery are themselves often the victims of plunder at the hands of
officials, the minister who is at the head of the department involved
will no doubt take measures to prevent the continuance of such an
iniquitous example.
And after all there is another phase of this question which must not be
lost sight of when we criticise the institutions of a young nation which
has only just achieved its independence, and whose first step was to
abolish the vindictive capital sentence of 'a life for a life.' The
first law of nature is self-preservation, and Roumania is still obliged
to economise in all departments of the State in order to place her
national police--her army--on a sound footing. It is wonderful how she
is able to conduct her department of justice even as she does. Her
convict labour is so well utilised that it leaves her a handsome profit.
Her total expenditure on all judicial and penal matters in 1880 was
under 170,000_l._ with a population of 5,000,000, whilst with only seven
times that number of inhabitants the Government outlay of Great Britain
in the same year amounted to the enormous sum of 5,922,443_l._, without
reckoning the heavy local burdens for the protection of life and
property. And yet both life and property are certainly as secure in
Roumania as in England, without the halter or the cat, two of the
barbarous expedients for the prevention of crime which are still
employed in our boasted Western civilisation.
[Footnote 73: Obedenare names four, but we believe he has coupled two
neighbouring mines together as one.]
[Footnote 74: This does not, however, keep the water effectually out of
the mine, for, from whatever source, one portion of it was partially
flooded whilst we were there. Some of the prisoners had struck and
refused to enter the shaft, and the chief inspector who had come from
Bucarest to enquire into the cause of the _emeute_ said the men were
justified in their refusal to work, considering the condition of that
part of the mine.]
[Footnote 75: We understand that the mine is to be lighted with the
electric light this year.]
[Footnote 76: A touch of the ludicrous intervened to relieve the painful
feelings we experienced on this occasion. We were standing with the
engineer of the mine watching the men hewing salt, when the latter said
(in German) 'Here are the worst criminals'--meaning in that mine. Not
quite understanding him, we got the undeserved credit of making a joke
by asking,' Here, where we stand?'--meaning in that part of the mine.
The engineer burst into a laugh, which sounded very hollow there, and
then we noticed the _double entendre_, and mutual explanations ensued.]
PART II.
HISTORICAL.
And now
The arena swims around him; he is gone
Ere ceased the inhuman shout which hailed the wretch who won.
He heard it, but he heeded not; his eyes
Were with his heart, and that was far away:
He recked not of the life he lost nor prize,
But where his rude hut by the Danube lay,
_There_ were his young barbarians all at play,
_There_ was their Dacian mother--be their sire,
Butchered to make a Roman holiday.
All this rushed with his blood. Shall he expire,
And unavenged? Arise, ye Goths, and glut your ire!
CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE, iv. 140.
He was more
Than a mere Alexander, and, unstained
With household blood and wine, serenely wore
His sovereign virtues--still we Trajan's name adore.
CHILDE HAROLD'S PILGRIMAGE, iv. 111.
[Illustration: HISTORICAL MAP]
CHAPTER IX.
FROM THE GETAE (ABOUT 335 B.C.) TO THE CLOSE OF THE ROMAN DOMINATION IN
DACIA TRAJANA (ABOUT A.D. 274).
The Getae; their supposed origin and history--The Dacians; their
origin and migrations--Their incursions into the Roman
provinces--Their King, 'Decebalus'--His contests with Cornelius
Fuscus and Tertius Julianus--Legends regarding him--Domitian pays
him tribute--Trajan--His first expedition against the Dacians--His
supposed route--The engineering works of the Romans--Defeat and
submission of Decebalus--Trajan's triumphal return to Rome--The
bas-reliefs on Trajan's Column--Description of the first expedition
therefrom--Decebalus breaks the treaty--Trajan's second
expedition--Capture and suicide of Longinus--Defeats of the
Dacians--Arrival of the Romans before Sarmizegethusa and its
destruction by the Dacians--Suicide of Decebalus and his
chiefs--Dacia a Roman province--Approximate boundaries--Carra's
opinion of the colonists--Hadrian destroys Trajan's
bridge--Duration and decline of the Roman power in Dacia--The Goths
and Vandals defeat the Emperor Decius--They are beaten by Marcus
Aurelius Claudius (called Gothicus)--Permanent withdrawal from
Dacia by Aurelian--Conflicting opinions of historians regarding the
evacuation--Gibbon's views probably correct--Character of the
colonists who remained in Dacia.
I.
Although the earliest authentic records of Roumania or, more correctly
speaking, of Dacia, the Roman province which embraced Roumania,
Transylvania, and some adjoining territories of to-day, do not reach
further back than about the century immediately preceding the Christian
era, a good deal of information is to be gathered from the writings of
Herodotus, Dion Cassius, and other early historians regarding the
_Getae_, the race from whom the Dacians sprang. The Getae were in all
probability a branch of the Thracians, who were amongst the earliest
immigrants from the East; and for some time before they appeared in
Dacia, which was situated on the northern side of the Danube (or Ister,
as it was called by the Romans), they had settled between the south bank
of that river and the Balkans (Mount Haemus of the Romans). About the
fourth century B.C., however, the Getae had crossed the river,
either driven north by an inimical neighbouring tribe, the Triballi, or
in consequence of the growth of the nation itself. When they were first
encountered by the Greeks, they occupied the eastern part of Dacia,
reaching probably to one portion of the Black Sea; and some account of
them is given by Ovid, who was exiled to their vicinity, but little is
known of them until they came in contact with the Roman armies. The Getae
have little direct interest for us, but as we find associated with them
the names of Philip of Macedon, Alexander the Great, and Lysimachus, a
few words concerning their connection with those heroes may not be out
of place, and will at least serve to fix a period in the history of the
people. Whilst they were still seated on the southern side of the
Danube, they are said to have been the allies of Philip in his
expedition against the Scythians, and in his contest with the Triballi;
but Alexander the Great found them on the northern bank of the river
when he undertook the conquest of the Thracian tribes prior to his
expedition into Persia. He is said to have crossed the Danube at a place
not clearly defined (B.C. 335), and to have defeated about
10,000 foot and 4,000 horsemen. These took refuge with their families in
a wooden town, from which they were also dislodged, and fleeing to the
steppes they escaped from the victorious Greeks. Now it is that we find
the name Getae changed into that of Dacians,[77] and in the events which
followed during the reign of Lysimachus they are known by both
designations. After the death of Alexander the Great, Lysimachus
inherited Thrace, and subsequently acquired Macedonia and Asia Minor;
but in order to secure the first-named territory he found it necessary
to cope with barbarian tribes, who formed a coalition against him. These
he defeated; but inasmuch as the Getae or Dacians, under their king
(hellenised) Dromichaetes, had co-operated with the barbarians, he
undertook an expedition into their country north of the Danube shortly
afterwards. Penetrating to their barren plains, he sustained a defeat,
and was captured along with his whole army. According to certain Greek
writers he was treated with great magnanimity by the Dacian king; but
all are agreed that the latter only liberated him for a ransom of some
kind, either in money or territory. Paget thinks he secured a large
treasure, as many thousands of gold coins have been found, some of them
bearing the name of Lysimachus. 'I am in possession of some of these
coins,' he says, 'and though many were melted down by the Jews in
Wallachia, to whom they were conveyed across the frontier in loaves of
bread, they are still [1850] very common, and are frequently used by the
Transylvanians for signet rings and other ornaments.'[78]
From the time of Lysimachus until about that of Augustus Caesar we hear
little or nothing of the Getae or Dacians, and we will therefore pass on
to what may be called the Roman period.
[Footnote 77: Full accounts of the relations, or supposed relations,
between the Thracians, the Getae, and the Dacians will be found in Smith,
_Geog. Dict._, articles 'Dacia,' Geography; 'Thracia,' p. 325; 'Moesia,'
p. 677; and 'Dacia,' p. 679. In Dierauer (pp. 63-4 and note 1) and
Roesler (chap, i.) everything of interest from the Greek and Roman
historians is fully discussed, but the other German, French, and English
writers treat the matter with more or less brevity, in some instances
dismissing it in a few words.]
[Footnote 78: Vol. ii. pp. 105-106. The whole question is involved in
obscurity.]
II.
Some modern writers are of opinion that when the Romans first became
acquainted with the country north of the Danube, they found two allied
or germane tribes, the Getae in the eastern, and the Dacians in the
western part of the territory; but according to Dion Cassius the Romans
called all the inhabitants north of the Ister '_Dacians_,' no matter
whether they were Thracians, Getae, or Dacians, and the probability is
that the Getae had spread themselves gradually over the plains westward,
then acquired possession of the Carpathian mountains, and descended into
the plains of Transylvania.[79] Their fastnesses, called forts or
cities, were built of wood, and were situated in the mountains, and
there it was that their fiercest contests with the Roman arms took place
previous to their complete subjugation.
The first we hear of them is that under a powerful chief Burvista or
Boerebestes, they conquered their neighbours, the Boii, Jasyges, and
probably other tribes, at the eastern boundary of their territory,
driving them from their possessions, and from that time they appear as a
distinct nation constantly threatening the safety of the Roman provinces
in their vicinity. Julius Caesar, it is said, proposed to attack them
shortly before his death, as they made periodical inroads into the
Empire, more especially into Moesia, the country lying between the
Danube and the Balkan mountains, of which the Romans had secured the
possession. Every winter, as soon as the Danube was frozen over or
blocked with ice, they descended from their mountain fastnesses, crossed
the broad stream, and carried fire and sword into the Roman territory.
Before the latter people had time to gather their forces, their
barbarous enemy had retreated, and, the river being once more open, the
Dacians endeavoured to prevent the landing of the Roman troops, or,
failing that, they made good their retreat to the mountains, whither the
Romans feared to follow them. Nor were the Dacians by any means
despicable opponents. Although many of them fought bareheaded and
clothed in a light tunic, they were well acquainted with the use of
armour, and possessed standards, shields, helmets, breast-plates, and
even chain and plate mail, fighting with bows and arrows, spears,
javelins, and a short curved sword somewhat resembling a sickle.[80]
They fought on horseback as well as on foot, and it is said that they
sent showers of poisoned arrows into the ranks of their enemies. Of
their further proceedings in war as well as in peace we shall have
occasion to speak hereafter. About the year 10 B.C. the Emperor
Augustus sent one of his generals, Cn. Lentulus, to punish them for
having entered and devastated Pannonia under a chief Kotiso, but the
expedition was ineffectual, and for a long series of years they
continued to harass the Empire, often threatening to overrun whole
provinces. One such enterprise is mentioned by Tacitus:--
'Commotions about the same time broke out amongst the Dacians, a
people never to be relied on, and since the legions were withdrawn
from Moesia there was no force to awe them. They, however, watched
in silence the first movements of affairs. But when they heard that
Italy was in a blaze of war, and that all the inhabitants were in
arms against each other, they stormed the winter quarters of the
cohorts and the cavalry, and made themselves masters of both banks
of the Danube. They then prepared to raze the camp of the legions,
when Mucianus sent the sixth legion to check them, having heard of
the victory at Cremona, and lest a formidable foreign force should
invade Italy on both sides, the Dacians and the Germans making
irruptions in opposite quarters. On this, as on many other
occasions, fortune favoured the Romans in bringing Mucianus and the
forces of the East into that quarter, and also in that we had
settled matters at Cremona in the very nick of time.'[81]
It was in the reign of the Emperor Domitian, however, that the inroads
of the Dacians assumed their most formidable proportions. About this
time it is probable that the Dacians were divided into several tribes,
and that one leader more powerful than the rest had secured the
chieftainship of the whole nation. Thia chief is known to historians as
'Decebalus,' although there is great difference of opinion as to whether
that was his name or his title.[82] In the year 86 A.D., he
gathered together a great host, and, crossing the Danube into Moesia,
defeated and killed the praetor Oppius or Appius Sabinus, seizing several
of the Roman fortresses and driving their army to the foot of Mount
Haemus. As soon as the defeat and the position of the Roman forces became
known, Domitian collected an army in Illyria and placed it under the
command of Cornelius Fuscus, a general of more bravery than experience,
who entered Moesia, and, finding that Decebalus, according to precedent,
had retired across the Danube, followed him into his own country, only,
however, in his turn to be defeated and slain. Upon this the Romans
again recrossed the river, leaving behind them their baggage and many
prisoners. Tacitus writes in great indignation concerning these
reverses:--
'So many armies in Moesia, Dacia, Germany, and Pannonia, lost
through the temerity or cowardice of their generals; so many men of
military character with numerous cohorts defeated and taken
prisoners; whilst a dubious contest was maintained, not for the
boundaries of the Empire and the banks of the bordering rivers, but
for the winter quarters of the legions and the possession of our
territories.'[83]
Whilst these events were occurring, Domitian is said to have been making
progresses and indulging in all kinds of excesses, but; fortunately for
him and for the honour of the Roman arms, another general succeeded in
stemming the tide of invasion, and eventually (A.D. 89) in
assuming the offensive. This was Tertius Julianus, who had already
distinguished himself in Moesia under Otho and Vespasian. Following
Decebalus into his own dominions, he was not content to remain in the
plains, but pursued him into his mountain retreats, where he completely
overthrew him in a pitched battle and compelled him to sue for peace. It
is in the accounts of this expedition that mention is first made of
regular roads in Dacia, and two passes, the Vulcan and Rothenthurm (or
Red Tower), are referred to. A place called Tapae is also named, near to
which Julianus is said to have overthrown Decebalus, and where
subsequently Trajan obtained a victory over the same prince; but so much
doubt attaches to the movements of Julianus that it will be better for
the present to defer any reference to those localities. The whole
account of Julianus's campaign in Dacia is mixed up with legendary
tradition. It is said that he threatened the capital of Dacia,
Sarmizegethusa, and that he would have succeeded in capturing it and in
reducing the whole country but for a stratagem of Decebalus, who caused
trees to be cut down to a man's height in the woods through which the
Romans had to pass, and clothed them in armour, which so terrified the
soldiers as to stay their progress. According to another account he cut
the trees through their trunks but allowed them to stand, and when the
Romans attempted to force their way through with their engines of war,
the trees fell on them and killed them. Whether it was the difficulty
encountered by the Roman general in attempting to cope with his warlike
enemy in his mountains and forests, where the arts of war as practised
by the former were not so readily applicable as in the plains, or the
more probable circumstance that Domitian had been unsuccessful in an
expedition against two other tribes, the Quadi and Marcomanni, and
needed the support of Julianus, certain it is that the overtures of
Decebalus were at length received favourably, and a peace was concluded
with him in the year 90, which was less favourable to the victors than
to the conquered. Decebalus refused to treat in person with the Roman
general, but sent one of his chiefs (some historians say his brother),
with whom the conditions were arranged. According to Roman accounts
Decebalus restored the Roman prisoners, acknowledged the supremacy of
Domitian, and accepted sovereignty at his hands. It subsequently
transpired, however, that this was not the whole treaty, and that
Domitian agreed to pay the Dacian king an annual tribute, and to send
him a number of skilled artificers to teach him the art of constructing
works and fabricating arms upon the Roman model. Domitian then
celebrated a triumph, which was however made a subject of ridicule by
those who were aware of the actual result of the expedition.
We now approach a crisis in the history of Dacia. During the short reign
of Nerva nothing was undertaken against the country, and Decebalus
continued to harass and annoy the Romans in Moesia until Trajan (who had
been adopted by Nerva) ascended the throne (A.D. 98).
This emperor at once began preparations for putting an end to his
humiliating relations with Decebalus and his people, and although there
have been many conjectures concerning his motives and intentions, there
can be little doubt that his object was eventually, if not immediately,
to incorporate Dacia with his empire. Already in the reign of some of
his predecessors the construction of a military road along the right or
south bank of the Danube had been proceeding, and the first operation of
Trajan was to hasten the completion of this road for the passage of his
troops.[84] With this object he is said to have reconnoitred in 98 and
99, and the road probably attained completion as far as the bank
opposite Orsova, about A.D. 100, as the tablet at Gradina, to
which reference has already been made, indicates. It is impossible for
us to estimate the difficulties which must have attended this
undertaking. Possessing as we do explosives and rock-borers with which
to break a passage through mountains and to blast rocky embankments, we
can hardly understand how a people, with such limited mechanical
appliances as then existed, can have surmounted the obstacles that
presented themselves to their progress. In one place the way was a plank
road resting on beams, which were driven into the perpendicular face of
the solid rock a few feet above the water's edge, whilst a little
further on it is seen to wind along terraces cut artificially, high up
on the hillsides. Hundreds if not thousands of lives must have been
sacrificed in the work, for it must be remembered that the Roman
generals and artificers had not only to combat natural difficulties, and
to overcome the same obstacles as those which our modern engineers have
to face, but that they were harassed by the savage but skilled enemy
from the heights above, or from the opposite bank of the river, which
here and there narrows itself into defiles 150 or 200 yards wide.
As soon as the road was sufficiently advanced for the passage of his
army, A.D. 101, Trajan commenced his first expedition into
Dacia. The constitution and number of his forces are not accurately
known.[85] They varied, according to different accounts, from 60,000 to
80,000 Romans, with a considerable number of allies, Germans,
Sarmatians, Mauritanian cavalry, &c., the last-named under Lucius
Quietus; and these Trajan is said to have assembled at a place somewhere
south of Viminacium, which subsequently served as the base of his
operations.[86]
Pages upon pages have been devoted by ancient and modern historians to
surmises concerning the routes taken by Trajan in his expedition and the
localities where his encounters with the Dacians took place, but in
every case the ascertained facts have been few in number. The best
history of the campaigns is delineated in the bas-reliefs on Trajan's
Column[87] at Rome, and many details have been collected from
fragmentary writings of Dion Cassius and other old historians.
For the convenience of crossing the Danube the army was divided into two
parts, and the river was crossed by bridges of boats at two points, one
near Viminacium and the other opposite Orsova. The first section then
skirted the western slopes of the Carpathians through the valley of the
Theiss, and so entered the Dacian highlands; the other marched up the
valley of the Tierna (Czerna), past the baths of Mehadia, which already
existed in the Roman period, and the two divisions of the army formed a
junction at Karansebes,[88] or at Tibiscum close by, where two Roman
roads met; Trajan is known to have accompanied and led the eastern
division until the junction was completed. It is probable that in that
year (101 A.D.) no serious encounter took place between Trajan
and Decebalus, who had been occupied for some time in preparing for his
defence, and had now received reinforcements from many of the
neighbouring tribes. One of these in the name of the allied tribes sent
a threatening message to Trajan, written or scratched upon a fungus,
warning him to withdraw his troops, but he heeded neither this
admonition nor overtures of peace proceeding from Decebalus himself. His
army went into winter quarters, and early in 102 A.D. he
commenced operations by forcing the Iron Gate pass in the
Carpathians,[89] and encountered the enemy, it is said, at the same
place where Julianus had previously defeated Decebalus, namely,
Tapae.[90] Here the Dacians again met with a sanguinary defeat, but the
Romans also sustained severe losses, and Trajan secured himself in the
affections of his soldiers by tearing up his garments to make bandages
for the wounded.[91] After this reverse Decebalus sought to reopen
negotiations with Trajan, but on his refusal to receive the emissaries
of the emperor, who declined to meet him in person, hostilities were
renewed, and the war was prosecuted by the Dacians with great fierceness
and barbarity. The discipline and warlike resources of Rome, however,
maintained the ascendency for her arms. Decebalus was pressed from
stronghold to stronghold, and defeated in one encounter after another,
until at length his capital Sarmizegethusa was threatened by his
triumphant enemy. Then it was that he sued earnestly for peace, and
accepted the unfavourable conditions offered him by Trajan. He was
compelled to give up all his war material and artificers, to raze his
fortresses, to deliver up all Roman prisoners and deserters, to conclude
a treaty defensive and offensive with Rome, and to appear before and do
homage to the emperor. Dacia thus became a vassal but autonomous
province of the Empire, and, content with his victory, Trajan returned
to the capital, taking with him certain Dacian chiefs, who repeated the
act of homage in the senate. He then celebrated a triumph, and received
the distinctive title of 'Dacicus.'[92]