The Private Life of the Romans Part 17

CHAPTER XI

SOURCES OF INCOME AND MEANS OF LIVING. THE ROMAN'S DAY

--403. It is evident from what has been said that abundant means were necessary to support the state in which every Roman of position lived.

It will be of interest to see how the great ma.s.s of the people also earned the scantier living with which they were forced to be content.

For the sake of this inquiry it will be convenient, if not very accurate, to divide the people of Rome into the three great cla.s.ses of n.o.bles, knights, and commons, into which political history has distributed them. At the same time it must be remembered that there was no hard and fixed line drawn between any two of these cla.s.ses; a n.o.ble might if he pleased a.s.sociate himself with the knights, provided only that he possessed the required sum of $20,000, and any freeborn citizen might aspire to the highest offices of the state, however mean the circ.u.mstances of his birth, however poor in pocket or in talent he might be.

--404. Careers of the n.o.bles.--The n.o.bles inherited certain of the aristocratic notions of the old patriciate, which limited their business activities and had much to do with the corruption of public life in the last century of the Republic. Men in their position were held to be above all manner of work, with the hands or with the head, for the sake of sordid gain. Agriculture alone was free from debasing a.s.sociations, as it has been in England within our own time, and statecraft and war were the only careers fit to engage their energies.

Even as statesmen and generals, too, they served their fellow citizens without material reward, for no salaries were drawn by the senators, none were attached to the magistracies or to positions of military command. This theory had worked well enough in the time before the Punic wars, when every Roman was a farmer, when the farm produced all that he needed for his simple wants, when he left it only to serve as a soldier in his young manhood or as a senator in his old age, and returned to his fields, like Cincinnatus, when his services were no longer required by his country. Under the aristocracy that supplanted the pure democracy of the earlier time, it subverted every aim that it was intended to secure.

--405. Agriculture.--The farm life that Cicero has described so eloquently and praised so enthusiastically in his _Cato Maior_ would have scarcely been recognized by Cato himself and had become a memory or a dream long before Cicero wrote. The farmer no longer tilled his fields, even with the help of his slaves. The yeoman cla.s.s had practically disappeared from Italy. The small holdings had been absorbed in the vast estates of the wealthy landowners, and the aims and methods of farming had wholly changed. Something has been said of this already (--146 f.), and it will be sufficient here to recall the fact that grain was no longer raised for the market in Italy, simply because the market could be supplied more cheaply from over seas. The grape and the olive had become the chief sources of wealth, and for them Sall.u.s.t and Horace complain that less and less s.p.a.ce was being left by the parks and pleasure grounds (--145). Still, the making of wine and oil under the direction of a careful steward (--148) must have been very profitable in Italy and many of the n.o.bles had plantations in the provinces as well, the revenues of which helped to maintain their state at Rome.

--406. Political Office.--Politics must have been profitable for those only who played the game to the end. No salaries were attached to the offices, and the indirect gains from one of the lower would hardly pay the expenses necessary to secure the next in order. The gain came always through positions in the provinces. The quaestorship might be spent in one, the praetorship and the consulship were sure to be followed by a year abroad. To honest men the places gave the opportunity to learn of profitable investments, and a good governor was often selected by a community to look after its interests in the capital, and this meant an honorarium in the form of valuable presents from time to time. Cicero's justice and moderation as quaestor in Sicily earned him a rich reward when he came to prosecute Verres for plundering that same province, and when he was in charge of the grain supply during his aedileship. To corrupt officials the provinces were gold mines. Every sort of robbery and extortion was practiced, and the governor was expected to enrich not merely himself but also the _cohors_ (--118) that had accompanied him. Catullus bitterly complains of the selfishness of Memmius, who had kept for himself all the plunder of Bithynia. The story of Verres may be read in any history of Rome; it differs from that of the average governor only in the fate that overtook the offender.

--407. The Law.--Closely connected with the political career then as now was that of the law, but Rome knew of no cla.s.s of professional advocates practicing for fees and living upon their practice. And there were no conditions imposed for practicing in the courts, not even the good moral character which is insisted upon in Indiana.

Anyone could bring suit against anyone else on any charge that he pleased, and it was no uncommon thing for a young politician to use this license for the purpose of gaining notoriety, even when he knew there were no grounds for the charges he brought. On the other hand the lawyer was forbidden to accept pay for his services. In olden times the client had of his right gone to his patron for legal advice (--179), and the lawyer of later times was theoretically at least at the service of all who applied to him. Men of the highest character made it a point of honor to put their technical knowledge freely at the disposal of their fellow citizens. At the same time the statutes against fees were easily evaded. Grateful clients could not be prevented from making valuable presents, and it was a very common thing for generous legacies to be left to successful advocates. Cicero had no other source of income, so far as we know, but while he was never a rich man, he owned a house on the Palatine (--221, note) and half a dozen country seats, lived well, and spent money lavishly on works of art (--227) that appealed to his tastes, and on books (--402).

Corrupt judges (_praetores_) could find other sources of income then as now, of course, but we hear more of this in relation to the jurors (_iudices_) than the judges, probably because with a province before him the _praetor_ did not think it fitting to stoop to petty bribetaking.

--408. The Army.--The spoils of war went nominally into the treasury of the state. Practically they pa.s.sed first through the hands of the commanding general, who kept what he pleased for himself, his staff (--118), and his soldiers and sent the rest to Rome. The opportunities were magnificent, and the Roman general understood how to use them all. Some of them were legitimate enough according to the usages of the time, the plunder of the towns and cities that were taken, the ransom exacted from those that were spared, the sale of captives as slaves (--134). Entirely illegitimate, of course, were the fortunes made by furnishing supplies to the army at extravagant prices or diverting these supplies to private uses. The reconstruction of the conquered territory brought in returns equally rich; it is safe to say that the Aedui paid Caesar well for the supremacy in central Gaul that he a.s.sured them after his defeat of the Helvetii. The civil wars that cost the best blood of Italy made the victors immensely rich. Besides the looting of the public treasury, the estates of men in the opposing party were confiscated and sold to the highest bidder. The proceeds went nominally to the treasury of the new government, but the proceeds were infinitesimal in comparison with the profits. After Sulla had established himself in Rome the names of friends and foes alike were put on the proscription lists, and if powerful influence was not exerted in their behalf they lost lives and fortunes. For the influence they had to pay dearly. One example may be cited. The estate of one Roscius of Ameria, valued at $300,000, was bid in for $100 by Lucius Chrysogonus, a freedman of Sulla, because no one dared bid against the creature of the dictator. The settling of the soldiers on grants of land made good business for the three commissioners who superintended the distribution of the land. The grants were always of farms owned and occupied by adherents of the beaten party, and the bribes came from both sides.

--409. Careers of the Equites.--The name of knight had lost its original significance long before the time of Cicero. The equites had become the cla.s.s of capitalists who found in financial transactions the excitement and the profit that the n.o.bles found in politics and war. It was the immense scale of their operations that relieved them from the stigma that attached to working for gain, just as in modern times the wholesale dealer may have a social position entirely beyond the hopes of the small retailer. As a body the equites exerted considerable political influence, holding in fact the balance of power between the senatorial and the democratic parties. As a rule they exerted this influence only so far as was necessary to secure legislation favorable to them as a cla.s.s, and to insure as governors for the provinces men that would not look too closely into their transactions there. For it was in the provinces that the knights as well as the n.o.bles found their best opportunities. Their chief business was the farming of the revenues. For this purpose syndicates were formed, which paid into the public treasury a lump sum, fixed by the senate, and reimbursed themselves by collecting what they could from the province. The profits were beyond all reason, and the word publican became a synonym for sinner. Besides farming the revenues they "financed" the provinces and allied states, advancing money to meet the ordinary or extraordinary expenses. Sulla levied a contribution of 20,000 talents (about $20,000,000) on Asia. The money was advanced by a syndicate of Roman capitalists, and they had collected the amount six times over when Sulla interfered, for fear that there would be nothing left for him in case of further needs.

More than one pretender was set upon a puppet throne in the East in order to secure the payment of sums previously loaned him by the capitalists. Their operations as individuals were only less extensive and profitable. The grain in the provinces, the wool, the products of mines and factories could be moved only with the money advanced by them. They ventured, too, to engage in commercial enterprises abroad that were barred against them at home, doing the buying and selling themselves, not merely supplying the means to others. They loaned money to individuals, too, though at Rome money lending was discreditable. The usual rate was twelve per cent, but Marcus Brutus was loaning money at forty-eight per cent in Cilicia, when Cicero went there as governor in 51 B.C., and expected Cicero to enforce his contracts for him.

--410. The Soldiers.--The freeborn citizens of Rome below the n.o.bles and the knights may be roughly divided into two cla.s.ses, the soldiers and the proletariate. The civil wars had driven them from their farms or had unfitted them for the work of farming, and the pride of race or the compet.i.tion of slave labor had closed against them the other avenues of industry, numerous as these must have been in the world's capital. The best of this cla.s.s turned to the army. This had long since ceased to be composed of citizen-soldiers, called out to meet a special emergency for a single campaign, and disbanded at its close.

It was what we should call a regular army, the soldiers enlisting for a term of twenty years, receiving stated pay and certain privileges after an honorable discharge. In time of peace, when there was peace, they were employed on public works (--385). The pay was small, perhaps forty or fifty dollars a year with rations in Caesar's time, but this was as much as a laborer could earn by the hardest kind of toil, and the soldier had the glory of war to set over against the stigma of work, and hopes of presents from his commander and the privilege of occasional pillage and plunder. After he had completed his time he might if he chose return to Rome, but many had formed connections in the communities where their posts were fixed and preferred to make their homes there on free grants of land, an important instrument in spreading Roman civilization.

--411. The Proletariate.--In addition to the idle and the profligate attracted to Rome by the free corn and by the other allurements that bring a like element into our cities now, large numbers of the industrious and the frugal had been forced into the city by the loss of their property during the civil wars and the failure to find employment elsewhere. No exact estimate of the number of these unemployed people can be given, but it is known that before Caesar's time it had pa.s.sed the mark of 300,000. Relief was occasionally given by the establishing of colonies on the frontiers--in this way Caesar put as many as 80,000 in the way of earning their living again, short as was his administration of affairs at Rome--but it was the least harmful element that was willing to emigrate and the dregs were left behind. Aside from beggary and petty crimes their only source of income was the sale of their votes, and this made them a real menace to the Republic. Under the Empire their political influence was lost and the state found it necessary to make distributions of money occasionally to relieve their want. Some of them played client to the upstart rich (--181), but the most were content to be fed by the state and amused by the constantly increasing shows and games (--322).

--412. Professions and Trades.--The professions and trades, between which the Romains made no distinction, in the last years of the Republic were practically given over to the _libertini_ (--175) and to foreigners. Of some of these something has been said already. Teachers were poorly paid (--121), and usually looked upon with contempt.

Physicians were held in no higher esteem, but seem to have been well paid, if we may judge from those that were attached to the court. Two of these left a joint estate of $1,000,000, and another received from the Emperor Claudius a yearly stipend of $25,000. In knowledge and skill in both surgery and medicine they do not seem to have been much behind the pract.i.tioners of two centuries ago. Bankers united money changing with money loaning. The former was very necessary in a city into which came all the coins of the known world; the latter was never looked upon as entirely respectable for a Roman, but there can be no doubt that many a Roman of the highest respectability drew large profits from this business, carried on discreetly in the name of a freedman. The trades were early organized at Rome in guilds, but their only purpose seems to have been to hand down and perfect the technique of the crafts; at least there was no obstacle in the way of workmen not belonging to the guilds, and there were no such things known as patents or special privileges in the way of work. Eight of these guilds are older than history, those of the fullers, cobblers, carpenters, goldsmiths, coppersmiths, potters, dyers, and (oddly enough) the fluteblowers. Numerous others were formed as knowledge of the arts advanced or the division of labor proceeded. Special parts of the city seem to have been appropriated by special cla.s.ses of workmen, as like businesses are apt to be carried on in the same neighborhood in our cities: Cicero speaks of a street of the Scythemakers.

--413. Business and Commerce.--The commerce of Rome covered all lands and seas. Pliny tells us that the trade with India and China took from Rome $5,000,000 yearly. The wholesale trade was to a large extent in the hands of the capitalist cla.s.s, the retail business was conducted by freedmen and foreigners. How large these businesses were we have no means of telling. The supplying of the food to the city must have given employment to thousands; the clothing trade has been mentioned already (--271). Building operations were carried on at an immense cost and on the largest scale. All the public buildings and many of the important private buildings were built by contract. There can be little doubt that the letting of the contracts for the public buildings was made very profitable for the officers who had it to do, but it must be admitted on the other hand that the work was well done.

Cra.s.sus seems to have done a sort of salvage business. When buildings seemed certain to be destroyed by fire he would buy them with their contents at a nominal sum, and then fight the flames with gangs of slaves that he had trained for the purpose. The slave trade itself was very considerable and large fortunes were ama.s.sed in it (--139). The heavy work of ordinary laborers was performed almost entirely by slaves (--148), and it must be remembered that much work was then done by hand that is now done by machinery. The book business has been mentioned (--400). Even the place of the modern newspaper was taken by letters written as a business by persons who collected all the news, gossip, and scandal of the city, had it copied by slaves, and sent it to persons away from the city who did not like to trouble their friends (--379) and were willing to pay for intelligence.

--414. The Civil Service.--The free persons employed in the offices of the various magistrates were of the lowest cla.s.s, mostly _libertini_.

They were paid by the state, and while appointed nominally for a year only, they seem to have practically held their places during good behavior. This was largely due to the shortness of the term of the regular magistrates and the rarity of reelection. Having no experience themselves in conducting their offices the magistrates would have all the greater need of thoroughly trained and experienced a.s.sistants. The highest cla.s.s of these officials formed an _ordo_, the _scribae_, whose name gives no adequate notion of the extent and importance of their duties. All that is now done by cabinet officers, secretaries, department heads, bureau chiefs, auditors, comptrollers, recorders, and accountants, down to the work of the ordinary clerks and copyists, was done by these "scribes." Below them came others almost equally necessary but not equally respected, the lictors, messengers, etc.

These civil servants had special places at the theater and the circus.

The positions seem to have been in great demand, as such places are now in France, for example. Horace is said to have been a department clerk.

--415. The Roman's Day.--The way in which a Roman spent his day depended, of course, upon his position and business, and varied greatly with individuals and with the particular day. The ordinary routine of a man of the higher cla.s.s, the man of whom we read most frequently in Roman literature, was something like this: The Roman rose at a very early hour, his day beginning before sunrise, because it ended so early. After a hurried breakfast (--302) he devoted such time as was necessary to his private business, looking over accounts, consulting with his managers, giving directions, etc. Cicero and Pliny found these early hours the best for their literary work. Horace tells of lawyers giving free advice at three in the morning. After his private business was despatched the Roman took his place in the _atrium_ (--198) for the _salutatio_ (--182), when his clients came to pay their respects, perhaps to ask for the help or advice that he was bound to furnish them (--179). All this business of the early morning might have to be dispensed with, however, if the Roman was asked to a wedding (--79), or to be present at the naming of a child (--97), or to witness the coming of age (--128) of the son of a friend, for all these semi-public functions took place in the early morning. But after them or after the levee the Roman went to the forum attended by his clients and carried in his litter (--151) with his _nomenclator_ at his elbow.

The business of the courts and of the senate began about the third hour, and might continue until the ninth or tenth, that of the senate was bound to stop at sunset. Except on extraordinary occasions all business was pretty sure to be over before eleven o'clock, and at this time the lunch was taken (--302).

--416. Then came the midday siesta, so general that the streets were as deserted as at midnight, and one of the Roman writers fixes upon this as the proper time for a ghost story. Of course there were no sessions of the courts or meetings of the senate on the public holidays, and then the hours generally given to business might be spent at the theater or the circus or other games. As a matter of fact the Romans of the better cla.s.s rather avoided these shows, unless they were officially connected with them, and many of them devoted the holidays to visiting their country estates. After the siesta, which lasted for an hour or more, the Roman was ready for his regular athletic exercise and bath, either in the Campus and the Tiber (--317) or in one of the public bathing establishments (--365). The bath proper (--367) was followed by the lounge (--377), perhaps a promenade in the court, which gave him a chance for a chat with a friend, or an opportunity to hear the latest news, to consult business a.s.sociates, in short to talk over any of the things that men now discuss at their clubs. After this came the great event of the day, the dinner (--303), at his own house or at that of some friend, followed immediately by retirement for the night.

Even on the days spent in the country this programme would not be materially changed, and the Roman took with him into the provinces the customs of his home life so far as possible.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 192. ANCIENT CALENDAR]

--417. Hours of the Day.--The day itself was divided into twelve hours (_horae_), each being one-twelfth of the time between sunrise and sunset and varying therefore with the season of the year. The length of the day and hour at Rome in different times of the year is shown in the following table:

Month Length Length | Month Length Length and Day of Day of Hour | and Day of Day of Hour --------------------------------+-------------------------------- Dec. 23 8 54' 44' 30" | June 25 15 6' 1 15' 30"

Feb. 6 9 50' 49' 10" | Aug. 10 14 10' 1 10' 50"

March 23 12 00' 1 00' 00" | Sept. 25 12 00' 1 00' 00"

May 9 14 10' 1 10' 50" | Nov. 9 9 50' 49' 10"

--418. Taking the days of June 25 and December 23 as respectively the longest and shortest of the year, the following table gives the conclusion of each hour for summer and winter:

Time Summer Winter ----------------------------------------- Sunrise 4 27' 00" 7 33' 00"

1st Hour 5 42' 30" 8 17' 30"

2d Hour 6 58' 00" 9 02' 00"

3d Hour 8 13' 30" 9 46' 30"

4th Hour 9 29' 00" 10 31' 00"

5th Hour 10 44' 30" 11 15' 30"

6th Hour 12 00' 00" 12 00' 00"

7th Hour 1 15' 30" 12 44' 30"

8th Hour 2 31' 00" 1 29' 00"

9th Hour 3 46' 30" 2 13' 30"

10th Hour 5 02' 00" 2 58' 00"

11th Hour 6 17' 30" 3 42' 30"

12th Hour 7 33' 00" 4 27' 00"

In the same way the hours may be calculated for any given day, the length of the day and the hour of sunrise being known, but for all practical purposes the old couplet will serve:

The English hour you may fix, If to the Latin you add six.

When the Latin hour is above six it will be more convenient to subtract than to add.

CHAPTER XII

BURIAL-PLACES AND FUNERAL CEREMONIES

REFERENCES: Marquardt, 340-388; Voigt, 319-322, 396, 455; Goll, 480-547; Guhl and Koner, 580-595, 857-863; Friedlander, III, 125-137; Ramsay, 479-482; Pauly-Wissowa, _cenotaphium_, _columbarium_; Smith, Harper, Rich, _columbarium_, _funus_, _sepulcrum_; Lubker, _Bestattung_, _sepulcrum_; Baumeister, 308-311, 604-609, 1520 f.; Mau-Kelsey, 399-428; Gusman, 44-54; Egbert, Latin Inscriptions, 230-242; Lanciani, Ancient Rome, 64, 129 f.

--419. Importance of Burial.--The Romans' view of the future life explains the importance they attached to the ceremonial burial of the dead. The soul, they thought, could find rest only when the body had been duly laid in the grave; until this was done it haunted the home, unhappy itself and bringing unhappiness to others. To perform the funeral offices (_iusta facere_) was, therefore, a solemn religious duty, devolving upon the surviving members of the family (--28), and the Latin words show that these marks of respect were looked upon as the right of the dead. In the case of a body lost at sea, or for any other reason unrecovered, the ceremonies were just as piously performed, an empty tomb (_cenotaphium_) being erected sometimes in honor of the dead. And these same rites the Roman was bound to perform, if he came anywhere upon the unburied corpse of a citizen, because all were members of the greater family of the commonwealth. In this case the scattering of three handfuls of dust over the body was sufficient for ceremonial burial and the happiness of the troubled spirit, if for any reason the body could not actually be interred.

--420. Interment and Cremation.--Burial was the way of disposing of the dead practiced most anciently by the Romans, and even after cremation came into very general use it was ceremonially necessary that some small part of the remains, usually the bone of a finger, should be buried in the earth. Burning was practiced before the time of the Twelve Tables, for it is mentioned together with burial in them, but we do not know how long before. Hygienic reasons had probably something to do with its general adoption, and this implies, of course, cities of considerable size. By the time of Augustus it was all but universal, but even in Rome the practice of burial was never entirely discontinued, for cremation was too costly for the very poorest cla.s.ses, and some of the wealthiest and most aristocratic families held fast to the more ancient custom. The Cornelii, for example, always buried their dead until the dictator required his body to be burned for fear that his bones might be disinterred and dishonored by his enemies, as he had dishonored those of Marius.

Children less than forty days old were always buried, and so, too, slaves whose funeral expenses were paid by their masters. After the introduction of Christianity burial came again to be the prevailing use, largely because of the increased expense of burning.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 193. TOMB OF PLANCUS]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 194. TOMB OF CESTIUS]