Roman Antiquities, and Ancient Mythology Part 7

In addition to the revision of morals, censors had the charge of paving the streets--making roads, bridges, and aqueducts--preventing private persons from occupying public property--and frequently of imposing taxes.

A census was taken by these officers, every five years, of the number of the people, the amount of their fortunes, the number of slaves, &c.

After this census had been taken, a sacrifice was made of a sow, a sheep, and a bull--hence called _suove-taurilia_. As this took place only every five years, that s.p.a.ce of time was called a _l.u.s.trum_, because the sacrifice was a l.u.s.tration offered for all the people; and therefore _condere l.u.s.trum_, means to finish the census.

The t.i.tle of censor was esteemed more honorable than that of consul, although attended by less power: no one could be elected a second time, and they who filled it were remarkable for leading an irreproachable life; so that it was considered the chief ornament of n.o.bility to be sprung from a censorian family.

The appointment of tribunes of the people, may be attributed to the following cause; the Plebeians being oppressed by the Patricians, on account of debt, made a secession to a mountain afterwards called _mons sacer_, three miles from Rome, nor could they be prevailed on to return, till they obtained from the Patricians a remission of debts for those who were insolvent, and liberty to such as had been given up to serve their creditors: and likewise that the Plebeians should have proper magistrates of their own, to protect their rights, whose person should be sacred and inviolable.

They were at first five in number, but afterwards increased to ten; they had no external mark of dignity, except a kind of beadle, called _viator_, who went before them.

The word _veto_, I forbid it, was at first the extent of their power; but it afterwards increased to such a degree, that under pretence of defending the rights of the people, they did almost whatever they pleased. If any one hurt a tribune in word or deed, he was held accursed, and his property confiscated.

The _ediles_ were so called from their care of the public buildings; they were either Plebeian or _curule_; the former, two in number, were appointed to be, as it were, the a.s.sistants of the tribunes of the commons, and to determine certain lesser causes committed to them; the latter, also two in number, were chosen from the Patricians and Plebeians, to exhibit certain public games.

The _quaestors_ were officers elected by the people, to take care of the public revenues; there were at first only two of them, but two others were afterwards added to accompany the armies; and upon the conquest of all Italy, four more were created, who remained in the provinces.

The princ.i.p.al charge of the city quaestors was the care of the treasury; they received and expended the public money, and exacted the fines imposed by the people: they kept the military standards, entertained foreign amba.s.sadors, and took charge of the funerals of those who were buried at the public expense.

Commanders returning from war, before they could obtain a triumph, were obliged to take an oath before the quaestors, that they had written to the senate a true account of the number of the enemy they had slain, and of the citizens who were missing.

The office of the provincial quaestors was to attend the consuls or praetors into their provinces; to furnish the provisions and pay for the army; to exact the taxes and tribute of the empire, and sell the spoils taken in war.

The quaestorship was the first step of preferment to the other public offices, and to admission into the senate: its continuation was for but one year, and no one could be a candidate for it until he had completed his twenty-seventh year.

_Legati_ were those next in authority to the quaestors, and appointed either by the senate or president of the province, who was then said to _aliquem sibi legare_.

The office of the legati was very dignified and honorable. They acted as lieutenants or deputies in any business for which they were appointed, and were sometimes allowed the honor of lictors.

The _dictator_ was a magistrate invested with royal authority, created in perilous circ.u.mstances, in time of pestilence, sedition, or when the commonwealth was attacked by dangerous enemies.

His power was supreme both in peace and war, and was even above the laws; he could raise and disband armies, and determine upon the life and fortune of Roman citizens, without consulting the senate or people; when he was appointed, all other magistrates resigned their offices except the tribunes of the commons.

The dictator could continue in office only six months; but he usually resigned when he had effected the business for which he had been created. He was neither permitted to go out of Italy, nor ride on horseback, without the permission of the people; but the princ.i.p.al check against any abuse of power, was that he might be called to an account for his conduct, when he resigned his office.

A master of horse was nominated by the dictator immediately after his creation, usually from those of consular or praetorian rank, whose office was to command the cavalry, and execute the orders of the dictator.

The _decemviri_ were ten men invested with supreme power, who were appointed to draw up a code of laws, all the other magistrates having first resigned their offices.

They at first behaved with great moderation, and administered justice to the people every tenth day. Ten tables of laws were proposed by them, and ratified by the people at the _comitia centuriata_.

As two other tables seemed to be wanting, _decemviri_ were again appointed for another year, to make them. But as these new magistrates acted tyrannically, and seemed disposed to retain their command beyond the legal time, they were compelled to resign, chiefly on account of the base pa.s.sion of Appius Claudius, one of their number, for Virginia, a virgin of plebeian rank, who was slain by her father to prevent her falling into the decemvir's hands. The _decemviri_ all perished, either in prison or in banishment.

The consuls and all the chief magistrates, except the censors and the tribunes of the people, were preceded in public by a certain number, according to their rank of office, called lictors, each bearing on his shoulders as the insignia of office, the _fasces_ and _securis_, which were a bundle of rods, with an axe in the centre of one end; but the lictors in attendance on an inferior magistrate, carried the _fasces_ only, without the axe, to denote that he was not possessed of the power of capital punishments.

They opened a way through the crowd for the consul, saying words like these--"_cedite, Consul venit_," or "_date viam Consuli_." It was their duty also to inflict punishment on the condemned.

CHAPTER XVII.

_Of Military Affairs._

According to the Roman const.i.tution, every free-born citizen was a soldier, and bound to serve if called upon, in the armies of the state at any period, from the age of seventeen to forty-six.

When the Romans thought themselves injured by any nation, they sent one or more of the priests, called _feciales_, to demand redress, and if it was not immediately given, thirty-three days were granted to consider the matter, after which war might be justly declared; then the feciales again went to their confines, and having thrown a b.l.o.o.d.y spear into them, formally declared war against that nation.

The levy of the troops, the encampment, and much of the civil discipline, as well as the temporary command of the army, was intrusted to the military tribunes, six of whom were appointed to each legion.

During the early period of the republic, the standing army in time of peace usually consisted of only four legions, two of which were commanded by each consul, and they were relieved by new levies every year, the soldiers then serving without any pay beyond their mere subsistence. But this number was afterwards greatly augmented, and the inconvenience of raw troops having been experienced, a fixed stipend in money was allowed to the men, and they were constantly retained in the service.

The legion usually consisted of three hundred horse, and three thousand foot: the different kinds of infantry which composed it were three, the _hastati_, _principes_, and _triarii_. The first were so called because they fought with spears: they consisted of young men in the flower of life, and formed the first line in battle. The _principes_ were men of middle age who occupied the second line. The _triarii_ were old soldiers of approved valor, who formed the third line.

There was a fourth kind of troops, called _velites_ from their swiftness and agility: these did not form a part of the legion, and had no certain post a.s.signed them, but fought in scattered parties, wherever occasion required, usually before the lines.

The imperial eagle was the common standard of the legion; it was of gilt metal, borne on a spear by an officer of rank, styled, from his office, _aquilifer_, and was regarded by the soldiery with the greatest reverence. There were other ensigns, as A. B. C. D. in the frontispiece.

The only musical instruments used in the Roman army, were brazen trumpets of different forms, adapted to the various duties of the service.

The arms of the soldiery varied according to the battalion in which they served. Some were equipped with light javelins, and others with a missile weapon, called _pilum_, which they flung at the enemy; but all carried shields and short swords of that description, usually styled cut and thrust, which they wore on the right side, to prevent its interfering with the buckler, which they bore on the left arm.

The shield was of an oblong or oval shape, with an iron boss jutting out in the middle, to glance off stones or darts; it was four feet long and two and a half broad, made of pieces of wood joined together with small plates of iron, and the whole covered with a bull's hide.

They were partly dressed in a metal cuira.s.s with an under covering of cloth; on the head they wore helmets of bra.s.s, either fastened under the chin, with plates of the same metal, or reaching to the shoulders, which they covered and ornamented on the top with flowing tufts of horse hair.

The light infantry were variously armed with slings and darts as well as swords, and commonly wore a s.h.a.ggy cap, in imitation of the head of some wild beast, of which the skirt hung over their shoulders. The troops of the line wore greaves on the legs and heavy iron-bound sandals on the feet. These last were called _caligae_, from which the emperor Caius Caesar obtained the name of Caligula, in consequence of having worn them in his youth among the soldiery.

The cavalry were armed with spears and wore a coat of mail of chain work, or scales of bra.s.s or steel, often plated with gold, under which was a close garment that reached to their buskins. The helmet was surmounted with a plume, and with an ornament distinctive of each rank, or with some device according to the fancy of the wearers, and which was then, as now in heraldry, denominated the crest. This term was _crista_, derived from the resemblance of the ornament to the comb of a c.o.c.k.

The Romans made no use of saddles or stirrups, but merely cloths folded according to the convenience of the rider.

Among the instruments used in war were towers consisting of different stories, from which showers of darts were discharged on the townsmen by means of engines called _catapultae_, _balistae_, and _scorpiones_.

But the most dreadful machine of all was the battering ram: this was a long beam like the mast of a ship, and armed at one end with iron, in the form of a ram's head, whence it had its name. It was suspended by the middle, with ropes or chains fastened to a beam which lay across two posts, and hanging thus equally balanced, it was violently thrust forward, drawn back, and again pushed forward, until by repeated strokes it had broken down the wall.

The discipline of the army was maintained with great severity; officers were exposed to degradation for misconduct, and the private soldier to corporal punishment. Whole legions who had transgressed their military duty were exposed to decimation, which consisted in drawing their names by lot, and putting every tenth man to the sword.

The most common rewards were crowns of different forms; the mural crown was presented to him who in the a.s.sault first scaled the rampart of a town; the castral, to those who were foremost in storming the enemy's entrenchments; the civic chaplet of oak leaves, to the soldier who saved his comrade's life in battle, and the triumphal laurel wreath to the general who commanded in a successful engagement. The radial crown was that worn by the emperors.

When an army was freed from a blockade, the soldiers gave their deliverer a crown called _obsidionalis_, made of the gra.s.s which grew in the besieged place; and to him who first boarded the ship of an enemy, a naval crown.

But the greatest distinction that could be conferred on a commander, was a triumph; this was granted only by the senate, on the occasion of a great victory. When decreed, the general returned to Rome, and was appointed by a special edict to the supreme command in the city; on the day of his entry, a triumphal arch was erected of sculptured masonry, under which the procession pa.s.sed.

First came a detachment of cavalry, with a band of military music preceding a train of priests in their robes, who were followed by a hecatomb of the whitest oxen with gilded horns entwined with flowers; next were chariots, laden with the spoils of the vanquished; and after them, long ranks of chained captives conducted by files of lictors. Then came the conqueror, clothed in purple and crowned with laurel, having an ivory sceptre in his hand; a band of children followed dressed in white, who threw perfumes from silver censors, while they chanted the hymns of victory and the praises of the conqueror. The march was closed by the victorious troops, with their weapons wreathed with laurel; the procession marched to the temple of Jupiter, where the victor descended and dedicated his spoils to the G.o.ds.

When the objects of the war had been obtained by a bloodless victory, a minor kind of triumph was granted, in which the general appeared on horseback, dressed in white, and crowned with myrtle, while in his hand he bore a branch of olive. No other living sacrifice was offered but sheep, from the name of which the ceremony was called an ovation.

In consequence of the continual depredations to which the coast of Italy was subject, the Romans commenced the building of a number of vessels, to establish a fleet, taking for their model a Carthaginian vessel, which was formerly stranded on their coast.