Early European History Part 30

Few citizens were very rich; few were very poor. The members of each household made their own clothing from flax or wool, and fashioned out of wood and clay what utensils were needed for their simple life. For a long time the Romans had no coined money whatever. When copper came into use as currency, it pa.s.sed from hand to hand in shapeless lumps that required frequent weighing. It was not until the fourth century that a regular coinage began. [12] This use of copper as money indicates that gold and silver were rare among the Romans, and luxury almost unknown.

MORAL CHARACTER OF THE EARLY ROMANS

Hard-working, G.o.d-fearing peasants are likely to lead clean and sober lives. This was certainly true of the early Romans. They were a manly breed, abstemious in food and drink, iron-willed, vigorous, and strong.

Deep down in the Roman's heart was the proud conviction that Rome should rule over all her neighbors. For this he freely shed his blood; for this he bore hardship, however severe, without complaint. Before everything else, he was a dutiful citizen and a true patriot. Such were the st.u.r.dy men who on their farms in Latium formed the backbone of the Roman state.

Their character has set its mark on history for all time.

THE ROMAN FAMILY

The family formed the unit of Roman society. Its most marked feature was the unlimited authority of the father. In his house he reigned an absolute king. His wife had no legal rights: he could sell her into slavery or divorce her at will. Nevertheless, no ancient people honored women more highly than the Romans. A Roman wife was the mistress of the home, as her husband was its master. Though her education was not carried far, we often find the Roman matron taking a lively interest in affairs of state, and aiding her husband both in politics and business. It was the women, as well as the men, who helped to make Rome great among the nations. Over his unmarried daughters and his sons, the Roman father ruled as supreme as over his wife. He brought up his children to be sober, silent, modest in their bearing, and, above all, obedient. Their misdeeds he might punish with penalties as severe as banishment, slavery, or death. As head of the family he could claim all their earnings; everything they had was his. The father's great authority ceased only with his death. Then his sons, in turn, became lords over their families.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CINERARY URNS IN TERRA COTTA (Vatican Museum, Rome) These receptacles for the ashes of the dead were found in an old cemetery at Alba Longa They show two forms of the primitive Roman hut.]

51. ROMAN RELIGION

WORSHIP OF ANCESTORS

The Romans, like the ancient Greeks and the modern Chinese, paid special veneration to the souls of the dead. These were known by the flattering name of _manes_, the "pure" or "good ones." The Romans always regarded the _manes_ as members of the household to which they had belonged on earth.

The living and the dead were thus bound together by the closest ties. The idea of the family triumphed even over the grave.

THE HOUSEHOLD DEITIES

The ancient Roman house had only one large room, the _atrium_, where all members of the family lived together. It was entered by a single door, which was sacred to the G.o.d Ja.n.u.s. On the hearth, opposite the doorway, the housewife prepared the meals. The fire that ever blazed upon it gave warmth and nourishment to the inmates. Here dwelt Vesta, the spirit of the kindling flame. The cupboard where the food was kept came under the charge of the Penates, who blessed the family store. The house as a whole had its protecting spirits, called Lares.

WORSHIP OF THE HOUSEHOLD DEITIES

The daily worship of these deities took place at the family meal. The table would be placed at the side of the hearth, and when the father and his family sat down to it, a little food would be thrown into the flames and a portion of wine poured out, as an offering to the G.o.ds. The images of the Lares and Penates would also be fetched from the shrine and placed on the table in token of their presence at the meal. This religion of the family lasted with little change throughout the entire period of Roman history.

[Ill.u.s.tration: A VESTAL VIRGIN Portrait from a statue discovered in the ruins of the temple of Vesta in the Roman Forum.]

Ja.n.u.s AND VESTA

The early Roman state was only an enlarged family, and hence the religion of the state was modeled after that of the family. Some of the divinities, such as Ja.n.u.s and Vesta, were taken over with little change from the domestic worship. The entrance to the Forum formed a shrine of Ja.n.u.s, [13]

which Numa himself was said to have built. The door, or gateway, stood open in time of war, but shut when Rome was at peace. At the south end of the Forum stood the round temple of Vesta, containing the sacred hearth of the city. Here Vesta was served by six virgins of free birth, whose duty it was to keep the fire always blazing on the altar. If by accident the fire went out, it must be relighted from a "pure flame," either by striking a spark with flint or by rubbing together two dry sticks. Such methods of kindling fire were those familiar to the prehistoric Romans.

[Ill.u.s.tration: SUOVETAURILIA (Louvre, Paris) The relief pictures an ancient Italian sacrifice of a bull, a ram and a boar offered to Mars to secure purification from sin. Note the sacred laurel trees, the two altars, and the officiating magistrate whose head is covered with the toga. He is sprinkling incense from a box held by an attendant. Another attendant carries a ewer with the libation. In the rear is the sacrificer with his ax.]

JUPITER AND MARS

The Romans worshiped various G.o.ds connected with their lives as shepherds, farmers, and warriors. The chief divinity was Jupiter, who ruled the heavens and sent rain and sunshine to nourish the crops. The war G.o.d Mars reflected the military character of the Romans. His sacred animal was the fierce, cruel wolf, his symbols were spears and shields; his altar was the Campus Martius (Field of Mars) outside the city walls, where the army a.s.sembled in battle array. March, the first month of the old Roman year, was named in his honor. Some other G.o.ds were borrowed from the Greeks, together with many of the beautiful Greek myths.

DIVINATION

The Romans took many precautions, before beginning any enterprise, to find out what was the will of the G.o.ds and how their favor might first be gained. They did not have oracles, but they paid much attention to omens of all sorts. A sudden flash of lightning, an eclipse of the sun, a blazing comet, or an earthquake shock was an omen which awakened superst.i.tious fear. It indicated the disapproval of the G.o.ds. From the Etruscans the Romans learned to divine the future by examining the entrails of animal victims. They also borrowed from their northern neighbors the practice of looking for signs in the number, flight, and action of birds. To consult such signs was called "taking the auspices."

[14]

[Ill.u.s.tration: AN ETRUSCAN AUGUR Wall painting from a tomb at Tarquinii in Etruria.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: COOP WITH SACRED CHICKENS The relief represents the chickens in the act of feeding. The most favorable omen was secured when the fowls greedily picked up more of the corn than they could swallow at one time. Their refusal to eat at all was an omen of disaster.]

PRIESTHOODS

Roman priests, who conducted the state religion, did not form a separate cla.s.s, as in some Oriental countries. They were chosen, like other magistrates, from the general body of citizens. A board, or "college," of six priests had charge of the public auspices. Another board, that of the pontiffs, regulated the calendar, kept the public annals, and regulated weights and measures. They were experts in all matters of religious ceremonial and hence were very important officials. [15]

IMPORTANCE OF THE STATE RELIGION

This old Roman faith was something very different from what we understand by religion. It had little direct influence on morality. It did not promise rewards or threaten punishments in a future world. Roman religion busied itself with the everyday life of man. Just as the household was bound together by the tie of common worship, so all the citizens were united in a common reverence for the deities which guarded the state. The religion of Rome made and held together a nation.

52. THE ROMAN CITY-STATE

EARLY ROMAN GOVERNMENT

We find in early Rome, as in Homeric Greece, [16] a city-state with its king, council, and a.s.sembly. The king was the father of his people, having over them the same absolute authority that the house-father held within the family. The king was a.s.sisted by a council of elders, or Senate (Latin _senes_, "old men"). Its members were chosen by the king and held office for life. The most influential heads of families belonged to the Senate.

The common people at first took little part in the government, for it was only on rare occasions that the king summoned them to deliberate with him in an a.s.sembly.

THE REPUBLICAN CONSULS

Toward the close of the sixth century, as we have already learned, [17]

the ancient monarchy disappeared from Rome. In place of the lifelong king two magistrates, named consuls, were elected every year. Each consul had to share his honor and authority with a colleague who enjoyed the same power as himself. Unless both agreed, there could be no action. Like the Spartan kings, [18] the consuls served as checks, the one on the other.

Neither could safely use his position to aim at unlawful rule.

THE DICTATOR

This divided power of the consuls might work very well in times of peace.

During dangerous wars or insurrections it was likely to prove disastrous.

A remedy was found in the temporary revival of the old kingship under a new name. When occasion required, one of the consuls, on the advice of the Senate, appointed a dictator. The consuls then gave up their authority and the people put their property and lives entirely at the dictator's disposal. During his term of office, which could not exceed six months, the state was under martial law. Throughout Roman history there were many occasions when a dictatorship was created to meet a sudden emergency.

PATRICIANS AND PLEBEIANS

The Roman state, during the regal age, seems to have been divided between an aristocracy and a commons. The n.o.bles were called patricians, [19] and the common people were known as plebeians. [20] The patricians occupied a privileged position, since they alone sat in the Senate and served as priests, judges, and magistrates. In fact, they controlled society, and the common people found themselves excluded from much of the religious, legal, and political life of the Roman city. Under these circ.u.mstances it was natural for the plebeians to agitate against the patrician monopoly of government. The struggle between the two orders of society lasted about two centuries.

THE TRIBUNES

A few years after the establishment of the republic the plebeians compelled the patricians to allow them to have officers of their own, called tribunes, as a means of protection. There were ten tribunes, elected annually by the plebeians. Any tribune could veto, that is, forbid, the act of a magistrate which seemed to bear harshly on a citizen.

To make sure that a tribune's orders would be respected, his person was made sacred and a solemn curse was p.r.o.nounced upon the man who injured him or interrupted him in the performance of his duties. The tribune's authority, however, extended only within the city and a mile beyond its walls. He was quite powerless against the consul in the field.

THE TWELVE TABLES, 449 B.C.

We next find the plebeians struggling for equality before the law. Just as in ancient Athens, [21] the early Roman laws had never been written down or published. About half a century after the plebeians had obtained the tribunes, they forced the patricians to give them written laws. A board of ten men, known as decemvirs, was appointed to frame a legal code, binding equally on both patricians and plebeians. The story goes that this commission studied the legislation of the Greek states of southern Italy, and even went to Athens to examine some of Solon's laws which were still in force. The laws framed by the decemvirs were engraved on twelve bronze tablets and set up in the Forum. A few sentences from this famous code have come down to us in rude, unpolished Latin. They mark the beginning of what was to be Rome's greatest gift to civilization--her legal system.

[Ill.u.s.tration: CURULE CHAIR AND FASCES A consul sat on the curule chair. The _fasces_ (axes in a bundle of rods) symbolized his power to flog and behead offenders.]

FINAL TRIUMPH OF THE PLEBEIANS

The hardest task of the plebeians was to secure the right of holding the great offices of state. Eventually, however, they gained entrance to Senate and became eligible to the consulship and other magistracies and to the priesthoods. By the middle of the third century the plebeians and patricians, equal before the law and with equal privileges, formed one compact body of citizens in the Roman state.

ROME AS A REPUBLIC