Chapter XCIX: Act 8: Parliament 1. repeated in Act 99. Parliament 7 (25)

"The successful result of Dionysios' first Punic War seems to
have largely spread his fame in Old Greece," while it
increased his prestige and power at home. But "he had many
difficulties. He too, like the Carthaginians, had to deal with
a revolt among his mercenaries, and he had to give up to them
the town of Leontinoi. And the people of Naxos and Katanê,
driven out by himself, and the people of Messana, driven out
by Himilkôn, were wandering about, seeking for
dwelling-places. He restored Messana, but he did not give it
back to its old inhabitants. He peopled it with colonists from
Italy and from Old Greece. … He also planted a body of
settlers from the old Messenian land in Peloponnêsos," at
Tyndaris. "Thus the north-eastern corner of Sicily was held by
men who were really attached to Dionysios. And he went on
further to extend his power along the north coast. … The Sikel
towns were now fast taking to Greek ways, and we hear of
commonwealths and tyrants among them, just as among the
Greeks. Agyris, lord of Agyrium, was said to be the most
powerful prince in Sicily after Dionysios himself. … With him
Dionysios made a treaty, and also with other Sikel lords and
cities." But he attacked the new Sikel town of Tauromenion,
and was disastrously repulsed. "This discomfiture at
Tauromenion checked the plans of Dionysios for a while.
Several towns threw off his dominion. … And the Carthaginians
also began to stir again. In B. C. 393 their general Magôn,
seemingly without any fresh troops from Africa, set out from
Western Sicily to attack Messana." But Dionysios defeated him,
and the next year he made peace with the Carthaginians, as one
of the consequences of which he captured Tauromenion in 391.
"Dionysios was now at the height of his power in Sicily. … He
commanded the whole east coast, and the greater part of the
north and south coasts. … Dionysios and Carthage might be said
to divide Sicily between them, and Dionysios had the larger
share." Being at peace with the Carthaginians, he now turned
his arms against the Greek cities in Southern Italy, and took
Kaulônia, Hippônion, and Rhêgion (B. C. 387), making himself,
"beyond all doubt, the chief power, not only in Sicily, but in
Greek Italy also." Three years later (B. C. 384) Dionysios
sent a splendid embassy to the Olympic festival in Greece.
"Lysias called on the assembled Greeks to show their hatred of
the tyrant, to hinder his envoys from sacrificing or his
chariots from running. His chariots did run; but they were all
defeated. Some of the multitude made an attack on the splendid
tents of his envoys. He had also sent poems of his own to be
recited; but the crowd would not hear them."

_E. A. Freeman,
The Story of Sicily,
chapter 10._

SYRACUSE: B. C. 383.
War with Carthage.

See SICILY: B. C. 383.

SYRACUSE: B. C. 344.
Fall of the Dionysian tyranny.

The elder Dionysius,—he who climbed by cunning demagoguery
from an obscure beginning in life to the height of power in
Syracuse, making himself the typical tyrant of antiquity,—died
in 367 B. C. after a reign of thirty-eight years. He was
succeeded by his son, Dionysius the younger, who inherited
nothing in character from his father but his vices and his
shameless meannesses. For a time the younger Dionysius was
largely controlled by the admirable influence of Dion,
brother-in-law and son-in-law of the elder tyrant (who had
several wives and left several families). Dion had Plato for
his teacher and friend, and strove with the help of the great
Athenian—who visited Sicily thrice—to win the young tyrant to
a life of virtue and to philosophical aims. The only result
was to finally destroy the whole influence with which they
began, and Dion, ere long, was driven from Syracuse, while
Dionysius abandoned himself to debaucheries and cruelties.
After a time Dion was persuaded to lead a small force from
Athens to Syracuse and undertake the overthrow of Dionysius.
The gates of Syracuse were joyfully opened to him and his
friends, and they were speedily in possession of the whole
city except the island-stronghold of Ortygia, which was the
entrenchment of the Dionysian tyranny. Then ensued a
protracted and desperate civil war in Syracuse, which half
ruined the magnificent city. In the end Ortygia was
surrendered, Dionysius having previously escaped with much
treasure to his dependent city of Lokri, in southern Italy.
Dion took up the reins of government, intending to make
himself what modern times would call a constitutional monarch.
He wished the people to have liberty, but such liberty as a
philosopher would find best for them. He was distrusted,—
misunderstood,—denounced by demagogues, and hated, at last, as
bitterly as the tyrants who preceded him. His high-minded
ambitions were all disappointed and his own character suffered
from the disappointment. At the end of a year of sovereignty
he was assassinated by one of his own Athenian intimates,
Kallippus, who secured the goodwill of the army and made
himself des·pot. The reign of Kallippus was maintained for
something more than a year, and he was then driven out by
Hipparinus, one of the sons of Dionysius the elder, and
half-brother to the younger of that name. Hipparinus was
presently murdered and another brother, Nysæus, took his
place. Then Nysæus, in turn, was driven out by Dionysius, who
returned from Lokri and re-established his power. The
condition of Syracuse under the restored despotism of
Dionysius was worse than it ever had been in the past, and the
great city seemed likely to perish.
{3057}
At the last extremity of suffering, in 344 B. C., its people
sent a despairing appeal to Corinth (the mother-city of
Syracuse) for help. The Corinthians responded by despatching
to Sicily a small fleet of ten triremes and a meagre army of
1,200 men, under Timoleon. It is the first appearance in
history of a name which soon shone with immortality; for
Timoleon proved himself to be one of the greatest and the
noblest of Greeks. He found affairs in Sicily complicated by
an invasion of Carthaginians, co-operating with one Hiketas,
who had made himself despot of Leontini and who hoped to
become master of Syracuse. By skilfully using the good fortune
which the gods were believed to have lavished upon his
enterprise, Timoleon, within a few months, had defeated
Hiketas in the field; had accepted the surrender of Dionysius
in Ortygia and sent the fallen tyrant to Corinth; had caused
such discouragement to the Carthaginians that they withdrew
fleet and army and sailed away to Africa. The whole city now
fell quickly into his hands. His first act was to demolish the
stronghold of tyranny in Ortygia and to erect courts of
justice upon its site. A free constitution of government was
then re-established, all exiled citizens recalled, a great
immigration of Greek inhabitants invited, and the city
revivified with new currents of life. The tyranny in other
cities was overthrown and all Sicily regenerated. The
Carthaginians returning were defeated with fearful losses in a
great battle on the Krimesus, and a peace made with them which
narrowed their dominion in Sicily to the region west of the
Halykus. All these great achievements completed, Timoleon
resigned his generalship, declined every office, and became a
simple citizen of Syracuse, living only a few years, however,
to enjoy the grateful love and respect of its people.

_G. Grote,
History of Greece,
part 2, chapters 84-85._

ALSO IN:
_Plutarch,
Timoleon._

SYRACUSE: B. C. 317-289.
Under Agathokles.

A little more than twenty years after Timoleon expelled the
brood of the tyrant Dionysius from Syracuse, and liberated
Sicily, his work was entirely undone and a new and worse
despot pushed himself into power. This was Agathokles, who
rose, like his prototype, from a humble grade of life,
acquired wealth by a lucky marriage, was trusted with the
command of the Syracusan army—of mercenaries, chiefly—obtained
a complete ascendancy over these soulless men, and then turned
them loose upon the city, one morning at daybreak (B. C. 317),
for a carnival of unrestrained riot and massacre. "They broke
open the doors of the rich, or climbed over the roofs,
massacred the proprietors within, and ravished the females.
They chased the unsuspecting fugitives through the streets,
not sparing even those who took refuge in the temples. … For
two days Syracuse was thus a prey to the sanguinary,
rapacious, and lustful impulses of the soldiery; 4,000
citizens had been already slain, and many more were seized as
prisoners. The political purposes of Agathokles, as well as
the passions of the soldiers, being then sated, he arrested
the massacre. He concluded this bloody feat by killing such of
his prisoners as were most obnoxious to him, and banishing the
rest. The total number of expelled or fugitive Syracusans is
stated at 6,000." In a city so purged and terrorized,
Agathokles had no difficulty in getting himself proclaimed by
acclamation sole ruler or autocrat, and he soon succeeded in
extending his authority over a large part of Sicily. After
some years he became involved in war with the Carthaginians,
and suffered a disastrous defeat on the Himera (B. C. 310).
Besieged in Syracuse, as a consequence, he resorted to bolder
tactics than had been known before his time and "carried the
war into Africa." His invasion of Carthage was the first that
the Punic capital ever knew, and it created great alarm and
confusion in the city. The Carthaginians were repeatedly
beaten, Tunes, and other dependent towns, as well as Utica,
were captured, the surrounding territory was ravaged, and
Agathokles became master of the eastern coast. But all his
successes gained him no permanent advantage, and, after four
years of wonderful campaigning in Africa, he saw no escape
from the difficulties of his situation except by basely
stealing away from his army, leaving his two sons to be killed
by the furious soldiers when they discovered his flight.
Returning to Sicily, the wonderfully crafty and unscrupulous
abilities which he possessed enabled him to regain his power
and to commit outrage after outrage upon the people of
Syracuse, Egesta, and other towns, until his death in
289 B. C.

_G. Grote,
History of Greece,
part 2, chapter 97._

SYRACUSE: B. C. 212.
Siege by the Romans.

See PUNIC WARS: THE SECOND.

SYRACUSE: A. D. 279.
Sacked by Franks.

The Emperor Probus, who expelled from Gaul, A. D. 277, the
invaders then beginning to swarm upon the hapless province,
removed a large body of captive Franks to the coast of Pontus,
on the Euxine, and settled them there. The restive barbarians
soon afterwards succeeded (A. D. 279) in capturing a fleet of
vessels, in which they made their way to the Mediterranean,
plundering the shores and islands as they passed towards the
west. "The opulent city of Syracuse, in whose port the navies
of Athens and Carthage had formerly been sunk, was sacked by a
handful of barbarians, who massacred the greatest part of the
trembling inhabitants." This was the crowning exploit of the
escaping Franks, after which they continued their voyage and
reached in due time their own shores, among the islands of the
delta of the Rhine.

_E. Gibbon,
Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 12._

SYRACUSE: A. D. 878.
Siege and capture by the Saracens.

See SICILY: A. D. 827-878.

----------SYRACUSE: End--------

SYRIA.

"Between the Arabian Desert and the eastern coast of the
Levant there stretches—along almost the full extent of the
latter, or for nearly 400 miles—a tract of fertile land
varying from 70 to 100 miles in breadth. This is so broken up
by mountain range and valley, that it has never all been
brought under one native government; yet its well-defined
boundaries—the sea on the west, Mount Taurus on the north,
and the desert to east and south—give it a certain unity, and
separate it from the rest of the world. It has rightly,
therefore, been covered by one name, Syria. Like that of
Palestine, the name is due to the Greeks, but by a reverse
process. As 'Palestina,' which is really Philistina, was first
the name of only a part of the coast, and thence spread inland
to the desert, so Syria, which is a shorter form of Assyria,
was originally applied by the Greeks to the whole of the
Assyrian Empire from the Caucasus to the Levant, then shrank
to this side of the Euphrates, and finally within the limits
drawn above. … Syria is the north end of the Arabian world. …
The population of Syria has always been essentially Semitic. …

See SEMITES.

{3058}

Syria's position between two of the oldest homes of the human
race made her the passage for the earliest intercourse and
exchanges of civilisation. It is doubtful whether history has
to record any great campaigns … earlier than those which Egypt
and Assyria waged against each other across the whole extent
of Syria. …

See EGYPT: ABOUT B. C. 1700-1400, to B. C. 670-525].

The Hittites came south from Asia Minor over Mount Taurus, and
the Ethiopians came north from their conquest of the Nile.
Towards the end of the great duel between Assyria and Egypt,
the Scythians from north of the Caucasus devastated Syria.
When the Babylonian Empire fell, the Persians made her a
province of their empire, and marched across her to Egypt.

See EGYPT: B. C. 525-332.

At the beginning of our era, she was overrun by the Parthians.
The Persians invaded her a second time, just before the Moslem
invasion of the seventh century.

See MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 632-639

She fell, of course, under the Seljuk Turks in the eleventh
[century].

See TURKS: A. D. 1063-1073, and after;

And in the thirteenth and fourteenth the Mongols thrice swept
through her. Into this almost constant stream of empires and
races, which swept through Syria from the earliest ages,
Europe was drawn under Alexander the Great. …

See MACEDONIA: B. C. 334-330, and after.

She was scoured during the following centuries by the wars of
the Seleucids and Ptolemies, and her plains were planted all
over by their essentially Greek civilisation.

See SELEUCIDÆ;
and JEWS: B. C. 332-167.

Pompey brought her under the Roman Empire, B. C. 65, and in
this she remained till the Arabs took her, 634 A. D.

See ROME: B. C. 69-63;
and JEWS: B. C. 166-40,
and MAHOMETAN CONQUEST: A. D. 632-639.

The Crusaders held her for a century, 1098-1187, and parts of
her for a century more. …

See CRUSADES: A. D.1096-1099].

Napoleon the Great made her the pathway of his ambition
towards that empire on the Euphrates and Indus whose fate was
decided on her plains, 1799.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1798-1799 (AUGUST-AUGUST).

Since then, Syria's history has mainly consisted in a number
of sporadic at·tempts on the part of the Western world to
plant upon her both their civilisation and her former
religion."

_George Adam Smith,
Historical Geography of the Holy Land,
book 1, chapter 1._

ALSO IN:
_C. R. Conder,
Syrian Stone Lore._

_É. Reclus,
The Earth and its Inhabitants: Asia,
volume 4, chapter 9._

See, also, DAMASCUS.

SYRIA, CŒLE.

See CŒLE-SYRIA.

SYRO-CHALDEAN LANGUAGE, The.

See SEMITIC LANGUAGES.

SYRTIS MAJOR AND SYRTIS MINOR.

These were the names given by the Greeks to the two gulfs (or
rather the two corners of the one great gulf) which deeply
indent the coast of North Africa. Syrtis Major, or the Greater
Syrtis, is now known as the Gulf of Sidra; Syrtis Minor as the
Gulf of Khabs, or Cabes.

SYSSITIA, The.

"The most important feature in the Cretan mode of life is the
usage of the Syssitia, or public meals, of which all the
citizens partook, without distinction of rank or age. The
origin of this institution cannot be traced: we learn however
from Aristotle that it was not peculiar to the Greeks, but
existed still earlier in the south of Italy among the
Œnotrians. … At Sparta [which retained this institution, in
common with Crete, to the latest times], the entertainment was
provided at the expense, not of the state, but of those who
shared it. The head of each family, as far as his means
reached, contributed for all its members; but the citizen who
was reduced to indigence lost his place at the public board.
The guests were divided into companies, generally of fifteen
persons, who filled up vacancies by ballot, in which unanimous
consent was required for every election. No member, not even
the king, was permitted to stay away, except on some
extraordinary occasion, as of a sacrifice, or a lengthened
chase, when he was expected to send a present to the table:
such contributions frequently varied the frugal repast."

_C. Thirlwall,
History of Greece,
chapters 7-8._

SZATHMAR, Treaty of (1711).

See HUNGARY: A. D. 1699-1718.

SZECHENYI, and the Hungarian wakening.

See HUNGARY: A. D. 1815-1844.

SZEGEDIN, Battle of (1849).

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1848-1849.

SZEGEDIN, The broken Treaty of.

See TURKS (THE OTTOMANS): A. D. 1402-1451.

SZIGETH, Siege of (1566).

See HUNGARY: A. D. 1526-1567.

T

TABELLARIÆ, Leges.

"For a long period [at Rome] the votes in the Comitia were
given vivâ voce …; but voting by ballot ('per tabellas') was
introduced at the beginning of the 7th century [2d century B.
C.] by a succession of laws which, from their subject, were
named Leges Tabellariae. Cicero tells us that there were in
all four, namely:

1. Lex Gabinia, passed B. C. 139.
2. Lex Cassia, carried in B. C. 137.
3. Lex Papiria, passed B. C. 131.
4. Lex Caelia, passed B. C. 107."

_W. Ramsay,
Manual of Roman Antiquity,
chapter 4._

TABLES, The.

See SCOTLAND: A. D. 1638.

TABORITES, The.

See BOHEMIA: A. D. 1419-1434.

TABREEZ, Battle of.

See PERSIA: A. D. 1499-1887.

TACHIES, The.

See TEXAS: THE ABORIGINAL INHABITANTS.

TACITUS, Roman Emperor, A. D. 275-276.

TACNA, Battle of (1880).

See CHILE: A. D. 1833-1884.

TACULLIES, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ATHAPASCAN FAMILY.

TADCASTER FIGHT (1642).

Lord Fairfax, commanding in Yorkshire for the Parliament, and
having his headquarters at Tadcaster, where he had assembled a
small force, was attacked by 8,000 royalists, under the Earl
of Newcastle, December 7, 1642, and forced to retire, after
obstinate resistance. This was one of the earliest encounters
of the great English Civil War.

_C. R. Markham,
Life of the Great Lord Fairfax,
chapter 8._

{3059}

TADMOR.

See PALMYRA.

TAENSAS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: NATCHESAN FAMILY.

TAEXALI, The.

A tribe which held the northeastern coast of ancient
Caledonia.

See BRITAIN, CELTIC TRIBES.

TAGLIACOZZO, Capture of Conradin at.

See ITALY (SOUTHERN): A. D. 1250-1268.

TAGLIAMENTO, Battle of the (1797).

See FRANCE: A. D. 1796-1797 (OCTOBER-APRIL).

TAGOS, OR TAGUS, The Greek title.

See DEMIURGI.

TAIFALÆ, The.

In the fourth century, "the Taifalæ inhabited that part of the
province of Dacia which is now called Wallachia. They are
first mentioned as allies of the Thervingi in A. D. 291
(Mamertin, Panegyr. ii. c. 17). Their ethnological relations
are uncertain. Zosimus vaguely calls them Scythians (ii. c.
31); St. Martin conjectures that they were the last remains of
the great and powerful nation of the Dacians, and Latham that
they were Slavonians. But we only know for certain that they
were constantly allies of the Visigoths, and that Farnobius,
one of their chiefs, is expressly called a Goth by Ammianus
(xxxi. c. 9). They subsequently accompanied the Visigoths in
their migrations westward, and settled on the south side of
the Liger, in the country of the Pictavi, where they were in
the time of Gregory of Tours, who calls them Theiphali, and
their district Theiphalia."

_W. Smith,
Note to Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire,
chapter 26._

TAILLE AND GABELLE, The.

Under the old regime, before the Revolution, "the chief item
in the French budget was the taille [analogous to the English
word 'tally']. This was a direct tax imposed upon the property
of those assessed, and in theory it was in proportion to the
amount they possessed. But in the most of France it fell
chiefly upon personal property. It was impossible that with
the most exact and honest system it should be accurately
apportioned, and the system that was in force was both loose
and dishonest. The local assessors exempted some and overtaxed
others; they released their friends or their villages, and
imposed an increased burden upon others, and, to a very large
extent, exemptions or reductions were obtained by those who
had money with which to bribe or to litigate. The bulk of this
tax fell upon the peasants. From it, indeed, a large part of
the population, and the part possessing the most of the wealth
of the country, was entirely exempt. The nobility were free
from any personal tax, and under this head were probably
included 400,000 people. The clergy were free, almost all of
the officials of every kind, and the members of many
professions and trades. Many of the cities had obtained
exemption from the taille by the payment of a sum of money,
which was either nominal or very moderate. Only laborers and
peasants, it was said, still remained subject to it. Out of
11,000,000 people [in the 17th century] in those portions of
France where the taille was a personal tax, probably 2,500,000
were exempt. … Next to the taille, the most important tax was
the gabelle, and, though less onerous, it also produced a vast
amount of misery. The gabelle was a duty on salt, and it was
farmed by the government. The burden of an excessive tax was
increased by the cupidity of those who bought the right to
collect its proceeds. The French government retained a
monopoly of salt, much like that which it now possesses of
tobacco, but the price which it charged for this article of
necessity was such, that the States of Normandy declared that
salt cost the people more than all the rest of their food. In
some provinces the price fixed imposed a duty of about 3,000
per cent., and salt sold for nearly ten sous a pound, thirty
times its present price in France, though it is still subject
to a considerable duty. From this tax there were no personal
exemptions, but large portions of the country were not subject
to the gabelle. Brittany was free, Guienne, Poitou, and
several other provinces were wholly exempt or paid a trifling
subsidy. About one third of the population were free from this
duty, and the exemption was so valued that a rumor that the
gabelle was to be imposed was sufficient to excite a local
insurrection. Such a duty, on an article like salt, was also
necessarily much more oppressive for the poor than the rich.
As the exorbitant price would compel many to go without the
commodity, the tax was often rendered a direct one. The amount
of salt was fixed which a family should consume, and this they
were forced to take at the price established by the
government. … The gabelle was farmed for about 20,000,000
livres, and to cover the expenses and profits of the farmers
probably 27,000,000 in all was collected from the people. A
family of six would, on an average, pay the equivalent of
ninety francs, or about eighteen dollars a year, for this
duty."

_J. B. Perkins,
France under Mazarin,
chapter 18 (volume 2)._

"Not only was the price of salt rendered exorbitant by the
tax, but its consumption at this exorbitant price was
compulsory. Every human being above seven years of age was
bound to consume seven pounds of salt per annum, which salt,
moreover, was to be exclusively used with food or in cooking.
To use it for salting meat, butter, cheese, &c., was
prohibited under severe penalties. The average price of salt
[in the reign of Louis XIV.] over two-thirds of the country,
was a shilling a pound. To buy salt of anyone but the
authorised agents of the Government was punished by fines of
200, 300, and 500 livres (about £80 of our money), and
smugglers were punished by imprisonment, the galleys, and
death. … The use of salt in agriculture was rendered
impossible, and it was forbidden, under a penalty of 300
livres (about £50), to take a beast to a salt-marsh, and allow
it to drink sea-water. Salted hams and bacon were not allowed
to enter the country. The salt used in the fisheries was
supervised and guarded by such a number of vexatious
regulations that one might suppose the object of the
Government was to render that branch of commerce impossible. …
But even the Gabelle was less onerous than the Taille. The
amount of the Taille was fixed in the secret councils of the
Government, according to the exigencies of the financial
situation every year. The thirty-two Intendants of the
provinces were informed of the amount which their districts
were expected to forward to the Treasury. Each Intendant then
made known to the Elections (sub-districts) of his Généralité
the sum which they had to find, and the officers called Elus
apportioned to each parish its quota of contribution. Then, in
the parishes, was set in motion a system of blind, stupid, and
remorseless extortion, of which one cannot read even now
without a flash of indignation.
{3060}
First of all, the most flagitious partiality and injustice
presided over the distribution of the tax. Parishes which had
a friend at Court or in authority got exempt, and with them
the tax was a mere form. But these exemptions caused it to
fall with more crushing weight on their less fortunate
neighbours, as the appointed sum must be made up, whoever paid
it. The inequalities of taxation almost surpass belief. … But
this was far from being the worst feature. The chief
inhabitants of the country villages were compelled to fill, in
rotation, the odious office of collectors. They were
responsible for the gross amount to be levied, which they
might get as they could out of their parishioners. … Friends,
or persons who had powerful patrons, were exempted; while
enemies, or the unprotected, were drained of their last
farthing. … The collectors went about, we are told, always
keeping well together for fear of violence, making their
visits and perquisitions, and met everywhere with a chorus of
imprecations. As the Taille was always in arrear, on one side
of the street might be seen the collectors of the current year
pursuing their exactions, while on the other side were those
of the year previous engaged on the same business, and further
on were the agents of the Gabelle and other taxes employed in
a similar manner. From morning to evening, from year's
beginning to year's ending, they tramped, escorted by volleys
of oaths and curses, getting a penny here and a penny there;
for prompt payment under this marvellous system was not to
be thought of."

_J. C. Morison,
The Reign of Louis XIV.
(Fortnightly Review, April, 1874, volume 21)._

Under Colbert (1661-1683), in the reign of Louis XIV., both
the taille (or villein tax, as it was often called) and the
gabelle were greatly reduced, and the iniquities of their
distribution and collection were much lessened.

_H. Martin,
History of France: Age of Louis XIV.,
volume 1, chapter 1._

For an intimation of the origin of the taille,

See FRANCE: A. D. 1453-1461.

TAIPING REBELLION, The.

See CHINA: A. D. 1850-1864.

TAJ MAHAL, The.

See INDIA: A. D. 1605-1658.

TAKBIR, The.

The Mahometan war-cry—"God is Great."

TAKILMAN FAMILY, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: TAKILMAN FAMILY.

TALAJOTS.

See SARDINIA, THE ISLAND: NAME AND EARLY HISTORY.

TALAVERA, Battle of.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1809 (FEBRUARY-JULY).

TALCA, Battle of (1818).

See CHILE: A. D. 1810-1818.

TALENT, Attic, Babylonian, &c.

"Not only in Attica, but in almost all the Hellenic States,
even in those which were not in Greece but were of Hellenic
origin, money was reckoned by talents of sixty minas, the mina
at a hundred drachmas, the drachma at six oboli. At Athens the
obolus was divided into eight chalci … the chalcûs into seven
lepta. Down to the half obolus, the Athenian money was, in
general, coined only in silver; the dichalchon, or quarter
obolus, in silver or copper; the chalcûs and the smaller
pieces only in copper. … The value of the more ancient Attic
silver talent, silver value reckoned for silver value, will be
1,500 thaler Prussian currency; of the mina, 25 thaler; of the
drachma, 6 gute groschen; of the obolus 1 g. gr.,—equivalent
to $1.026, $17.10, 71.1 cents, 2.85 cents respectively. …
Before the time of Solon, the Attic money was heavier; also
the commercial weight was heavier than that by which money was
weighed. One hundred new drachmas were equivalent to 72-73
ancient drachmas; but the ancient weight remained with very
little alteration as commercial weight, to which, in later
times, an increase was also added. Through the alterations of
Solon, the Attic money, which before stood to the Æginetan in
the relation of 5:6, had to the same the relation of 3:5. The
new was related to the ancient Attic money as 18:25. Compared
with the heavy Æginetan drachma …, the Attic was called the
light drachma. … The former was equivalent to ten Attic oboli;
so that the Æginetan talent weighed more than 10,000 Attic
drachmas. It was equal to the Babylonian talent. Nevertheless
the Æginetan money was soon coined so light that it was
related to the Attic nearly as 3:2. … The Corinthian talent is
to be estimated as originally equivalent to the Æginetan, but
it was also in later times diminished. … The Egyptian talent …
contained, according to Varro in Pliny, eighty Roman pounds,
and cannot, therefore, have been essentially different from
the Attic talent, since the Attic mina is related to the Roman
pound as 4:3. … The Euboic talent is related … to the Æginetan
as five to six, and is no other than the money-talent of the
Athenians in use before the time of Solon, and which continued
in use as commercial weight. According to the most accurate
valuation, therefore, one hundred Euboic drachmas are
equivalent to 138 8/9 drachmas of Solon. … Appian has given
the relation of the Alexandrian to the Euboic talent in round
numbers as 6 to 7 = 120 to 140; but it was rather more
accurately as 120 to 138 8/9. … So much gold … as was
estimated to be equivalent to a talent of silver, was
undoubtedly also called a talent of gold. And, finally, a
weight of gold of 6,000 drachmas, the value of which, compared
with silver, always depended upon the existing relation
between them, was sometimes thus called."

_A. Boeckh,
Public Economy of Athens
(translated by Lamb),
book 1, chapters 4-5._

See, also, SHEKEL.

TALLAGE, The.

"Under the general head of donum, auxilium, and the like, came
a long series of imposts [in the period of the Norman kings],
which were theoretically gifts of the nation to the king, and
the amount of which was determined by the itinerant justices
after separate negotiation with the payers. The most important
of these, that which fell upon the towns and demesne lands of
the Crown, is known as the tallage. This must have affected
other property besides land, but the particular method in
which it was to be collected was determined by the community
on which it fell, or by special arrangement with the
justices."

_W. Stubbs,
Constitutional History of England,
chapter 13, section 161 (volume 1)._

TALLEYRAND, Prince de:
Alienation from Napoleon.

See FRANCE: A. D. 1807-1808.

TALLIGEWI, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALLEGHANS.

{3061}

TALMUD, The.

"The Talmud [from a Hebrew verb signifying 'to learn'] is a
vast irregular repertory of Rabbinical reflections,
discussions, and animadversions on a myriad of topics treated
of or touched on in Holy Writ; a treasury, in chaotic
arrangement, of Jewish lore, scientific, legal, and legendary;
a great storehouse of extra-biblical, yet biblically
referable, Jewish speculation, fancy, and faith. … The Talmud
proper is throughout of a twofold character, and consists of
two divisions, severally called the Mishna and the Gemara. …
The Mishna, in this connection, may be regarded as the text of
the Talmud itself, and the Gemara as a sort of commentary. …
The Gemara regularly follows the Mishna, and annotates upon it
sentence by sentence. … There are two Talmuds, the Yerushalmi
[Jerusalem], or, more correctly, the Palestinian, and the
Babli, that is, the Babylonian. The Mishna is pretty nearly
the same in both these, but the Gemaras are different. The
Talmud Yerushalmi gives the traditional sayings of the
Palestinian Rabbis, … the 'Gemara of the Children of the
West,' as it is styled; whereas the Talmud Babli gives the
traditional sayings of the Rabbis of Babylon. This Talmud is
about four times the size of the Jerusalem one; it is by far
the more popular, and to it almost exclusively our remarks
relate."

_P. I. Hershon,
Talmudic Miscellany,
introduction._

The date of the compilation of the Babylonian Talmud is fixed
at about A. D. 500; that of Jerusalem was a century or more
earlier.

See, also, MISCHNA.

TALUKDARS.

"A Taluka [in India] is a large estate, consisting of many
villages, or, as they would be called in English, parishes.
These villages had originally separate proprietors, who paid
their revenue direct to the Government treasury. The Native
Government in former times made over by patent, to a person
called Talukdar, its right over these villages, holding him
responsible for the whole revenue. … The wealth and influence
thus acquired by the Talukdar often made him, in fact,
independent. … When the country came under British rule,
engagements for payment of the Government Revenue were taken
from these Talukdars, and they were called Zamindars."

_Sir R. Temple,
James Thomason,
page 158._

See INDIA: A. D. 1785-1793.

TAMANES, Battle of.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1809 (AUGUST-NOVEMBER).

TAMASP I., Shah of Persia, A. D. 1523-1576.

TAMASP II., Shah of Persia, 1730-1732.

TAMERLANE, OR TIMOUR.

See TIMOUR.

TAMMANY RING, The.

See NEW YORK: A. D. 1863-1871.

TAMMANY SOCIETY. TAMMANY HALL.

"Shortly after the peace of 1783, a society was formed in the
city of New York, known by the name of the Tammany Society. It
was probably originally instituted with a view of organizing
an association antagonist to the Cincinnati Society. That
society was said to be monarchical or rather aristocratical in
its tendency, and, when first formed, and before its
constitution was amended, on the suggestion of General
Washington and other original members, it certainly did tend
to the establishment of an hereditary order, something like an
order of nobility. The Tammany Society originally seems to
have had in view the preservation of our democratic
institutions. … Tammany Society, or Columbian Order, was
founded by William Mooney, an upholsterer residing in the city
of New York, some time in the administration of President
Washington. … William Mooney was one of those who, at that
early day, regarded the powers of the general government as
dangerous to the independence of the state governments, and to
the common liberties of the people. His object was to fill the
country with institutions designed, and men determined, to
preserve the just balance of power. His purpose was patriotic
and purely republican. … Tammany was, at first, so popular,
that most persons of merit became members; and so numerous
were they that its anniversary [May 12] was regarded as a
holiday. At that time there was no party politics mixed up in
its proceedings. But when President Washington, in the latter
part of his administration, rebuked "self created societies,"
from an apprehension that their ultimate tendency would be
hostile to the public tranquility, the members of Tammany
supposed their institution to be included in the reproof; and
they almost forsook it. The founder, William Mooney, and a few
others, continued steadfast. At one anniversary they were
reduced so low that but three persons attended its festival.
From this time it became a political institution, and took
ground with Thomas Jefferson.'"

_J. D. Hammond,
History of Political Parties in the State of New York,
volume 1, chapter 18._

"The ideal patrons of the society were Columbus and Tammany,
the last a legendary Indian chief, once lord, it was said, of
the island of Manhattan, and now adopted as the patron saint
of America. The association was divided into thirteen tribes,
each tribe typifying a state, presided over by a sachem. There
were also the honorary posts of warrior and hunter, and the
council of sachems had at their head a grand sachem, a type
evidently of the President of the United States."

_R. Hildreth,
History of the United States,
volume 4, chapter 3._

"Shortly after Washington's inauguration, May 12, 1789, the
'Tammany Society or Columbian Order' was founded. It was
composed at first of the moderate men of both political
parties, and seems not to have been recognized as a party
institution until the time of Jefferson as President. William
Mooney was the first Grand Sachem; his successor in 1790 was
William Pitt Smith, and in 1791 Josiah Ogden Hoffman received
the honor. John Pintard was the first Sagamore. De Witt
Clinton was scribe of the council in 1791. It was strictly a
national society, based on the principles of patriotism, and
had for its object the perpetuation of a true love for our own
country. Aboriginal forms and ceremonies were adopted in its
incorporation."

_Mrs. M. J. Lamb,
History of the City of New York,
volume 2, page 362, foot-note._

"One must distinguish between the 'Tammany Society or
Columbian Order' and the political organization called for
shortness 'Tammany Hall.' … The Tammany Society owns a large
building on Fourteenth Street, near Third Avenue, and it
leases rooms in this building to the 'Democratic Republican
General Committee of the City of New York,' otherwise and more
commonly known as 'Tammany Hall' or 'Tammany.' Tammany Hall
means, therefore, first, the building on Fourteenth Street
where the 'Democracy' have their headquarters; and secondly,
the political body officially known as the Democratic
Republican General Committee of the City of New York. …
{3062}
The city of New York is divided by law into thirty 'assembly
districts;' that is, thirty districts, each of which elects an
assemblyman to the state legislature. In each of these
assembly districts there is held annually an election of
members of the aforesaid Democratic Republican General
Committee. This committee is a very large one, consisting of
no less than five thousand men; and each assembly district is
allotted a certain number of members, based on the number of
Democratic votes which it cast in the last preceding
presidential election. Thus the number of the General
Committeemen elected in each assembly district varies from
sixty to two hundred and seventy. There is intended to be one
General Committeeman for every fifty Democratic electors in
the district. In each assembly district there is also elected
a district leader, the head of Tammany Hall for that district.
He is always a member of the General Committee, and these
thirty men, one leader from each assembly district, form the
executive committee of Tammany Hall. 'By this committee,' says
a Tammany official, 'all the internal affairs of the
organization are directed, its candidates for offices are
selected, and the plans for every campaign are matured.' The
General Committee meets every month, five hundred members
constituting a quorum; and in October of each year it sits as
a county convention, to nominate candidates for the ensuing
election. There is also a sub-committee on organization,
containing one thousand members, which meets once a month.
This committee takes charge of the conduct of elections. There
is, besides, a finance committee, appointed by the chairman of
the General Committee, and there are several minor committees,
unnecessary to mention. The chairman of the finance committee
is at present Mr. Richard Croker. Such are the general
committees of Tammany Hall. … Each assembly district is
divided by law into numerous election districts, or, as they
are called in some cities, voting precincts,—each election
district containing about four hundred voters. The election
districts are looked after as follows: Every assembly district
has a district committee, composed of the members of the
General Committee elected from that district, and of certain
additional members chosen for the purpose. The district
committee appoints in each of the election districts included
in that particular assembly district a captain. This man is
the local boss. He has from ten to twenty-five aids, and he is
responsible for the vote of his election district. There are
about eleven hundred election districts in New York, and
consequently there are about eleven hundred captains, or local
bosses, each one being responsible to the (assembly) district
committee by which he was appointed. Every captain is held to
a strict account. If the Tammany vote in his election district
falls off without due cause, he is forthwith removed, and
another appointed in his place. Usually, the captain is an
actual resident in his district; but occasionally, being
selected from a distant part of the city, he acquires a
fictitious residence in the district. Very frequently the
captain is a liquor dealer, who has a clientele of customers,
dependents, and hangers-on, whom he 'swings,' or controls. He
is paid, of course, for his services; he has some money to
distribute, and a little patronage, such as places in the
street-cleaning department, or perhaps a minor clerkship. The
captain of a district has a personal acquaintance with all its
voters; and on the eve of an election he is able to tell how
every man in his district is going to vote. He makes his
report; and from the eleven hundred reports of the election
district captains the Tammany leaders can predict with
accuracy what will be the vote of the city."

_H. C. Merwin,
Tammany Hall
(Atlantic, February, 1894)._

ALSO IN:
_R. Home,
The Story of Tammany
(Harper's Monthly, volume 44, pages 685,835)._

TAMULS, The.

See TURANIAN RACES.

TAMWORTH MANIFESTO, The.

See ENGLAND: A. D. 1834-1887.

TANAGRA, Battle of (B. C. 457).

See GREECE: B. C. 458-456.

TANAIM, The.

A name assumed by the Jewish Rabbins who especially devoted
themselves to the interpretation of the Mischna.

_H. H. Milman,
History of the Jews,
book 19._

TANAIS, The.

The name anciently given to the Russian river now called the
Don,—which latter name signifies simply 'water.'

TANCRED, King of Naples and Sicily, A. D. 1189-1194.

TANCRED'S CRUSADE.

See CRUSADES: A. D. 1096-1099;
and JERUSALEM: A. D. 1099, and 1099-1144.

TANEY, Roger B.,
and President Jackson's removal of the Deposits.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1833-1836.

The Dred Scott Decision.

See UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1857.

TANFANA, Feast and massacre of.

See GERMANY: A. D. 14-16.

TANIS.

See ZOAN.

TANISTRY, Law of.

"These chieftainships [in ancient Ireland], and perhaps even
the kingdoms themselves, though not partible, followed a very
different rule of succession than that of primogeniture. They
were subject to the law of tanistry, of which the principle is
defined to be that the demesne lands and dignity of
chieftainship, descended to the eldest and most worthy of the
same blood; these epithets not being used, we may suppose,
synonymously, but in order to indicate that the preference
given to seniority was to be controlled by a due regard to
desert. No better mode, it is evident, of providing for a
perpetual supply of those civil quarrels, in which the Irish
are supposed to place so much of their enjoyment, could have
been devised."

_H. Hallam,
Constitutional History of England,
chapter 18 (volume 3)._

See, also, TUATH.

TANNENBURG, Battle of (1410).

See POLAND: A. D. 1333-1572.

TANOAN FAMILY, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: TAÑOAN FAMILY.

TANTALIDÆ, The.

See ARGOS.

TAOUISM.

See CHINA: THE RELIGIONS.

TAPÆ, Battles at.

See DACIA: A. D. 102-106.

TAPIO BISCKE, Battle of (1849).

See AUSTRIA: A. D. 1848-1849.

TAPPANS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ALGONQUIAN FAMILY.

TAPROBANE.

The name by which the island of Ceylon was known to the
ancients. Hipparchus advanced the opinion that it was not
merely a large island, but the beginning of another world.

_E. H. Bunbury,
History of Ancient Geography,
chapter 23, section 2 (volume 2)._

{3063}

TAPURIANS, The.

"To the west of the Hyrcanians, between Elburz and the
Caspian, lay the Tapurians, whose name has survived in the
modern Taberistan, and further yet, on the sea-coast, and at
the mouth of the Mardus (now Safidrud), were the Mardians."

_M. Duncker,
History of Antiquity,
book 8, chapter 1 (volume 5)._

TARA, The Hill, the Feis, and the Psalter of.

The Feis Teavrach, or Feis of Tara, in Irish history, was a
triennial assembly on the royal hill of Tara, in Meath, which
is claimed to have been instituted by a certain King Ollamh
Fodhla, at so remote a period as 1,300 years before Christ.
"All the chieftains or heads of septs, bards, historians, and
military leaders throughout the country were regularly
summoned, and were required to attend under the penalty of
being treated as the king's enemies. The meeting was held in a
large oblong hall, and the first three days were spent in
enjoying the hospitality of the king, who entertained the
entire assembly during its sittings. The bards give long and
glowing accounts of the magnificence displayed on these
occasions, of the formalities employed, and of the business
transacted. Tables were arranged along the centre of the hall,
and on the walls at either side were suspended the banners or
arms of the chiefs, so that each chief on entering might take
his seat under his own escutcheon. Orders were issued by sound
of trumpet, and all the forms were characterized by great
solemnity. What may have been the authority of this assembly,
or whether it had any power to enact laws, is not clear; but
it would appear that one of its principal functions was the
inspection of the national records, the writers of which were
obliged to the strictest accuracy under the weightiest
penalties."

_M. Haverty,
History of Ireland,
page 24._

The result of the examination and correction of the historical
records of the kingdom were "entered in the great national
register called the Psalter of Tara, which is supposed to have
been destroyed at the period of the Norman invasion. … It is
supposed that part of the contents of the Psalter of Cashel,
which contains much of the fabulous history of the Irish, was
copied from it."

_T. Wright,
History of Ireland,
book 1, chapter 2 (volume 1)._

TARANTEENS, TARENTINES, TARRATINES.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: ABNAKIS, and ALGONQUIAN FAMILY;
also, NEW ENGLAND: A. D. 1675 (JULY-SEPTEMBER).

TARAS.

See TARENTUM.

TARASCANS, The.

See AMERICAN ABORIGINES: TARASCANS.

TARBELLI, The.

See AQUITAINE: THE ANCIENT TRIBES.

TARENTINE WAR, The.

See Rome: B. C. 282-275.

TARENTUM.

Tarentum (or Taras), the most important of the ancient Greek
cities in Italy, "lay at the northern corner of the great gulf
which still bears its name. It had an excellent harbour,
almost land-locked. On its eastern horn stood the city. Its
form was triangular; one side being washed by the open sea,
the other by the waters of the harbour, while the base or land
side was protected by a line of strong fortifications. Thus
advantageously posted for commerce the city grew apace. She
possessed an opulent middle class; and the poorer citizens
found an easy subsistence in the abundant supply of fish which
the gulf afforded. These native fishermen were always ready to
man the navy of the state. But they made indifferent soldiers.
Therefore when any peril of war threatened the state, it was
the practice of the government to hire foreign captains,
soldiers of fortune, who were often kings or princes, to bring
an army for their defence. … The origin of Lacedæmonian
Tarentum is veiled in fable. The warriors of Sparta (so runs
the well-known legend) went forth to the second Messenian war
under a vow not to see their homes till they had conquered the
enemy. They were long absent, and their wives sought paramours
among the slaves and others who had not gone out to war. When
the warriors returned, they found a large body of youth grown
up from this adulterous intercourse. These youths (the
Parthenii as they were called), disdaining subjection, quitted
their native land under the command of Phalantus, one of their
own body, and founded the colony of Tarentum."

_H. G. Liddell,
History of Rome,
book 3, chapter 25 (volume 1)._

See, also, SIRIS.

TARENTUM: B. C. 282-275.
Alliance with Pyrrhus and war with Rome.

See ROME: B. C. 282-275.

TARENTUM: B. C. 212.
Betrayed to Hannibal.

See PUNIC WARS: THE SECOND.

TARENTUM, Treaty of.

The treaty in which Octavius and Antony extended their
triumvirate to a second term of five years; negotiated at
Tarentum, B. C. 37.

_C. Merivale,
History of the Romans,
chapter 27._

TARGOWITZ, Confederates of.

See POLAND: A. D. 1791-1792.

TARIFA: A. D. 1291.
Taken by the Christians from the Moors.

See SPAIN: A. D. 1273-1460.

----------TARIFF LEGISLATION AND CONVENTIONS: Start--------

TARIFF: (The Netherlands): 15th Century.
Early Free Trade and Reciprocity.

In the Netherlands, at the close of a short war with the
English, in 1437, "the import of raw wool was entirely
relieved from the payment of even the ordinary customs. … And
this was then their notion of protection,—to be allowed to buy
what they liked where they liked, to live at peace with their
neighbours, and to be let alone. Four hundred years have
passed and gone since the Netherlands persuaded their rulers
to take off all duty on raw wool, and to permit half-finished
clothes to be brought into their country in order that they
might be dyed and taken out again duty free; yet we live in
the midst of tariffs whose aim it is to hinder the importation
of the raw material by prohibitory duties and to prevent
competition in every kind of fabric by so-called protecting
ones! And in England, also, at the period in question, the
suicidal spirit of commercial envy had seized hold of the
government, and in every parliament some fresh evidence was
afforded of the jealousy with which foreign skill and
competition were viewed.
{3064}
But the Dutch held on the tenour of their discerning and
sagacious way without waiting for reciprocity or resenting its
reverse. If the English would not admit their cloths, that was
no reason why they should cheat themselves of the advantage of
English and Irish wool. If not cloths, there was doubtless
something else that they would buy from them. Among other
articles, there was salt, which they had acquired a peculiar
skill in refining; and there was an extensive carrying trade
in the produce of the Northern countries, and in various
costly luxuries, which the English obtained from remoter
regions generally through them. In 1496, when Philip (father
of the Emperor Charles V.) assumed the government of the
Netherlands, as Duke of Brabant, he "presented to the senates
of the leading cities the draught of a commercial treaty with
England, conceived in a wise and liberal spirit, and eminently
fitted to advance the real welfare of both countries. Their
assent was gladly given. … Nor did they over-estimate the
value of the new compact, which long went by the name of 'The
Grand Treaty of Commerce.' Its provisions were, in all
respects, reciprocal, and enabled every kind of merchandise to
be freely imported from either country by the citizens of the
other. The entire liberty of fishing on each other's coast was
confirmed; measures were prescribed for the suppression of
piracy; and property saved from wrecks, when none of the crew
survived, 'was vested in the local authorities in trust for
the proper owners, should they appear to claim it within a
year and a day. … The industrial policy of the Dutch was
founded on ideas wholly and essentially different from that of
the kingdoms around them. 'The freedom of traffic had ever
been greater with them than amongst any of their neighbours;'
and its different results began to appear. Not only were
strangers of every race and creed sure of an asylum in
Holland, but of a welcome; and singular pains were taken to
induce those whose skill enabled them to contribute to the
wealth of the state to settle permanently in the great towns."

_W. T. McCullagh,
Industrial History of Free Nations,
volume 2, pages 110-111, 150-151, 266-267._

TARIFF: (Venice): 15-17th Centuries.
Beginning of systematic exclusion and monopoly.

See VENICE: 15-17TH CENTURIES.

TARIFF: (England): A. D. 1651-1672.
The Navigation Laws and their effect on the American colonies.

See NAVIGATION LAWS: A. D. 1651;
and UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: A. D. 1651-1672.

TARIFF: (France): A. D. 1664-1667.
The System of Colbert.