The Private Life of the Romans Part 9

Lastly, we find the _cathedra_, a chair without arms, but with a curved back (Fig. 73) sometimes fixed at an easy angle (_cathedra supina_), the only approximation to a comfortable seat that the Romans knew. It was at first used by women only, being regarded as too luxurious for men, but finally came into general use. Its employment by teachers in the schools of rhetoric (--115) gave rise to the expression _ex cathedra_, applied to authoritative utterances of every kind, and its use by bishops explains our word cathedral. Neither the _solium_ nor the _cathedra_ was upholstered, but with them both were used cushions and coverings as with the _lecti_, and they afforded like opportunities for skillful workmanship and lavish decoration.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 74. MENSA DELPHICA]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 75. ADJUSTABLE TABLE]

--227. Tables.--The table (_mensa_) was the most important article of furniture in the Roman house whether we consider its manifold uses, or the prices often paid for certain kinds. They varied in form and construction as much as our own, many of which are copied directly from Roman models. All sorts of materials were used for their supports and tops, stone, wood, solid or veneered, the precious metals, probably in thin plates only. The most costly, so far as we know, were the round tables made from cross-sections of the citrus-tree, found in Africa. The wood was beautifully marked and single pieces could be had from three to four feet in diameter. For one of these Cicero paid $20,000, Asinius Pollio $44,000, King Juba $52,000, and the family of the Cethegi possessed one valued at $60,000. Special names were given to tables of certain forms. The _monopodium_ was a table or stand with but one support, used especially to hold a lamp or toilet articles.

The _abacus_ was a table with a rectangular top having a raised rim and used for plate and dishes, in the place of the modern sideboard.

The _delphica_ (sc. _mensa_) had three legs, as shown in Fig. 74.

Tables were frequently made with adjustable legs, so that the height might be altered; the mechanism is clearly shown in the cut (Fig. 75).

On the other hand the permanent tables in the _triclinia_ (--204) were often built up from the floor of solid masonry or concrete, having tops of polished stone or mosaic. The table gave a better opportunity than even the couch or chair for artistic workmanship, especially in the matter of carving and inlaying the legs and top.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 76. VARIOUS FORMS OF LAMPS]

--228. The Lamps.--The Roman lamp (_lucerna_) was essentially simple enough, merely a vessel that would hold oil or melted grease with a few threads twisted loosely together for a wick and drawn out through a hole in the cover or top (Fig. 76). The light thus furnished must have been very uncertain and dim. There was no gla.s.s to keep the flame steady, much less was there a chimney or central draft. As works of art, however, they were exceedingly beautiful, those of the cheapest material being often of graceful form and proportions, while to those of costly material the skill of the artist in many cases must have given a value far above that of the rare stones or precious metals of which they were made.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 77. BASES FOR LAMPS]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 78. CANDELABRA]

--229. Some of these lamps (cf. Fig. 76) were intended to be carried in the hand, as shown by the handles, others to be suspended from the ceiling by chains. Others still were kept on tables expressly made for them, as the _monopodia_ (--227) commonly used in the bedrooms, or the tripods shown in Fig. 77. For lighting the public rooms there were, besides these, tall stands, like those of our piano lamps, examples of which may be seen in the last cut (Fig. 78). On some of these, several lamps perhaps were placed at a time. The name of these stands (_candelabra_) shows that they were originally intended to hold wax or tallow candles (_candelae_), and the fact that these candles were supplanted in the houses of the rich by the smoking and ill-smelling lamp is good proof that the Romans were not skilled in the art of making them. Finally it may be noticed that a supply of torches (_faces_) of dry, inflammable wood, often soaked in oil or smeared with pitch, was kept near the outer door for use upon the streets.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 79. STRONG BOX]

--230. Chests and Cabinets.--Every house was supplied with chests (_arcae_) of various sizes for the purpose of storing clothes and other articles not always in use, and for the safe keeping of papers, money, and jewelry. The material was usually wood, often bound with iron and ornamented with hinges and locks of bronze. The smaller _arcae_, used for jewel cases, were often made of silver or even gold.

Of most importance, perhaps, was the strong box kept in the _tablinum_ (--201), in which the _pater familias_ stored his ready money. It was made as strong as possible so that it could not easily be opened by force, and was so large and heavy that it could not be carried away entire. As an additional precaution it was sometimes chained to the floor. This, too, was often richly carved and mounted, as is seen in the ill.u.s.tration from Pompeii (Fig. 79).

--231. The cabinets (_armaria_) were designed for similar purposes and made of similar materials. They were often divided into compartments and were always supplied with hinges and locks. Two of the most important uses of these cabinets have been mentioned already: in the library (--206) for the preserving of books against mice and men, and in the _alae_ (--200) for the keeping of the _imagines_, or death-masks of wax. It must be noticed that they lacked the convenient gla.s.s doors of the cabinets or cases that we use for books and similar things, but they were as well adapted to decorative purposes as the other articles of furniture that have been mentioned.

--232. Other Articles.--The heating stove, or brazier, has been already described (--218). It was at best a poor subst.i.tute for the poorest modern stove. The place of our clock was taken in the court or garden by the sun-dial (_solarium_), such as is often seen nowadays in our parks, which measured the hours of the day by the shadow of a stick or pin. It was introduced into Rome from Greece in 268 B.C. About a century later the water-clock (_clepsydra_) was also borrowed from the Greeks, a more useful invention because it marked the hours of the night as well as of the day and could be used in the house. It consisted essentially of a vessel filled at a regular time with water, which was allowed to escape from it at a fixed rate, the changing level marking the hours on a scale. As the length of the Roman hours varied with the season of the year and the flow of the water with the temperature, the apparatus was far from accurate. Shakspere's striking of the clock in "Julius Caesar" (II, i, 192) is an anachronism. Of the other articles sometimes reckoned as furniture, the tableware and kitchen utensils, some account will be given elsewhere.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 80. A STREET IN POMPEII]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 81. A PUBLIC FOUNTAIN]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 82. STEPPING-STONES]

--233. The Street.--It is evident from what has been said that a residence street in a Roman town must have been severely plain and monotonous in its appearance. The houses were all of practically the same style, they were finished alike in stucco (--212), the windows were few and in the upper stories only, there were no lawns or gardens, there was nothing in short to lend variety or to please the eye, except perhaps the decorations of the _vestibula_ (--194), or the occasional extension of one story over another (_maenianum_, Fig. 80), or a public fountain (Fig. 81). The street itself was paved, as will be explained hereafter, and was supplied with a footway on either side raised from twelve to eighteen inches above its surface. The inconvenience of such a height to persons crossing from one footway to the other was relieved by stepping-stones (_pondera_) of the same height firmly fixed at suitable distances from each other across the street. These stepping-stones were placed at convenient points on each street, not merely at the intersections of two or more streets. They were usually oval in shape, had flat tops, and measured about three feet by eighteen inches, the longer axis being parallel with the walk.

The s.p.a.ces between them were often cut into deep ruts by the wheels of vehicles, the distance between the ruts showing that the wheels were about three feet apart. The arrangement of the stepping-stones is shown clearly in Fig. 82, but it is hard to see how the draft-cattle managed to work their way between them.

CHAPTER VII

DRESS AND PERSONAL ORNAMENTS

REFERENCES: Marquardt, 475-606; Voigt, 329-335, 404-412; Goll, III, 189-310; Guhl and Koner, 728-747; Ramsay, 504-512; Blumner, I, 189-307; Smith, Harper, Rich, under _toga_, _tunica_, _stola_, _palla_, and the other Latin words in the text; Lubker, under _Kleidung_; Baumeister, 574 f., 1822-1846; Pauly-Wissowa, under _calcei_.

--234. From the earliest to the latest times the clothing of the Romans was very simple, consisting ordinarily of two or three articles only besides the covering of the feet. These articles varied in material, style, and name from age to age, it is true, but were practically unchanged during the Republic and the early Empire. The mild climate of Italy (--218) and the hardening effect of the physical exercise of the young (--107) made unnecessary the closely fitting garments to which we are accustomed, while contact with the Greeks on the south and perhaps the Etruscans on the north gave the Romans a taste for the beautiful that found expression in the graceful arrangement of their loosely flowing robes. The clothing of men and women differed much less than in modern times, but it will be convenient to describe their garments separately. Each article was a.s.signed by Latin writers to one of two cla.s.ses and called from the way it was put on _indutus_ or _amictus_. To the first cla.s.s we may give the name of under garments, to the second outer garments, though these terms very inadequately represent the Latin words.

--235. The Subligaculum.--Next the person was worn the _subligaculum_, the loin-cloth familiar to us in pictures of ancient athletes and gladiators (see Fig. 151, --344, and the culprit in Fig. 26, --119), or perhaps the short drawers (trunks), worn nowadays by bathers or college athletes. We are told that in the earliest times this was the only under garment worn by the Romans, and that the family of the Cethegi adhered to this ancient practice throughout the Republic, wearing the toga immediately over it. This, too, was done by individuals who wished to pose as the champions of old-fashioned simplicity, as for example the younger Cato, and by candidates for public office. In the best times, however, the _subligaculum_ was worn under the tunic or replaced by it.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 83. THE TUNIC]

--236. The Tunic.--The tunic was also adopted in very early times and came to be the chief article of the kind covered by the word _indutus_. It was a plain woolen shirt, made in two pieces, back and front, sewed together at the sides, and resembled somewhat the modern sweater. It had very short sleeves, covering hardly half of the upper arm, as shown in Fig. 83. It was long enough to reach from the neck to the calf, but if the wearer wished for greater freedom for his limbs he could shorten it by merely pulling it through a girdle or belt worn around the waist. Tunics with sleeves reaching to the wrists (_tunicae manicatae_), and tunics falling to the ankles (_tunicae talares_) were not unknown in the late Republic, but were considered unmanly and effeminate.

--237. The tunic was worn in the house without any outer garment and probably without a girdle; in fact it came to be the distinctive house-dress as opposed to the toga, the dress for formal occasions only. It was also worn with nothing over it by the citizen while at work, but he never appeared in public without the toga over it, and even then, hidden by the toga though it was, good form required the wearing of the girdle with it. Two tunics were often worn (_tunica interior_, or _subucula_, and _tunica exterior_), and persons who suffered from the cold, as did Augustus for example, might wear a larger number still when the cold was very severe. The tunics intended for use in the winter were probably thicker and warmer than those worn in the summer, though both kinds were of wool.

--238. The tunic of the ordinary citizen was the natural color of the white wool of which it was made, without tr.i.m.m.i.n.gs or ornaments of any kind. Knights and senators, on the other hand, had stripes of purple, narrow and wide respectively, running from the shoulder to the bottom of the tunic both behind and in front. These stripes were either woven in the garment or sewed upon it. From them the tunic of the knight was called _tunica angusti clavi_ (or _angusticlavia_), and that of the senator _lati clavi_ (or _laticlavia_). Some authorities think that the badge of the senatorial tunic was a single broad stripe running down the middle of the garment in front and behind, but unfortunately no picture has come down to us that absolutely decides the question.

Under this official tunic the knight or senator wore usually a plain _tunica interior_. When in the house he left the outer tunic unbelted in order to display the stripes as conspicuously as possible.

--239. Besides the _subligaculum_ and the _tunica_ the Romans had no regular underwear. Those who were feeble through age or ill health sometimes wound strips of woolen cloth (_fasciae_) around the legs for the sake of additional warmth. These were called _feminalia_ or _tibialia_ according as they covered the upper or lower part of the leg. Such persons might also use similar wrappings for the body (_ventralia_) and even for the throat (_focalia_), but all these were looked upon as the badges of senility or decrepitude and formed no part of the regular costume of sound men. It must be especially noticed that the Romans had nothing corresponding to our trousers or even long drawers, the _braccae_ or _bracae_ being a Gallic article that was not used at Rome until the time of the latest emperors. The phrase _nationes bracatae_ in cla.s.sical times was a contemptuous expression for the Gauls in particular and barbarians in general.

--240. The Toga.--Of the outer garments or wraps the most ancient and the most important was the _toga_ (cf. _tegere_). Whence the Romans got it we do not know, but it goes back to the very earliest time of which tradition tells, and was the characteristic garment of the Romans for more than a thousand years. It was a heavy, white, woolen robe, enveloping the whole figure, falling to the feet, c.u.mbrous but graceful and dignified in appearance. All its a.s.sociations suggested formality. The Roman of old tilled his fields clad only in the _subligaculum_; in the privacy of his home or at his work the Roman of every age wore the comfortable, blouse-like _tunica_; but in the forum, in the _comitia_, in the courts, at the public games, everywhere that social forms were observed he appeared and had to appear in the toga. In the toga he a.s.sumed the responsibilities of citizenship (--127), in the toga he took his wife from her father's house to his (--78), in the toga he received his clients also toga-clad (--182), in the toga he discharged his duties as a magistrate, governed his province, celebrated his triumph, and in the toga he was wrapped when he lay for the last time in his hall (--198). No foreign nation had a robe of the same material, color, and arrangement; no foreigner was allowed to wear it, though he lived in Italy or even in Rome itself; even the banished citizen left the toga with his civil rights behind him. Vergil merely gave expression to the national feeling when he wrote the proud verse (Aen. I, 282):

Romanos, rerum dominos, gentemque togatam.[1]

[Footnote 1: The Romans, lords of deeds, the race that wears the toga.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 84. TIBERIUS IN THE TOGA]

--241. Form and Arrangement.--The general appearance of the toga is known to every schoolboy; of few ancient garments are pictures so common and in general so good (Becker, p. 203; Guhl and Koner, p. 729; Baumeister, p. 1823; Schreiber, Lx.x.xV, 8-10; Harper, Rich, and Smith, s.v.). They are derived from numerous statues of men clad in it, which have come down to us from ancient times, and we have besides full and careful descriptions of its shape and of the manner of wearing it in the works of writers who had worn it themselves. As a matter of fact, however, it has been found impossible to reconcile the descriptions in literature with the representations in art (Fig. 84) and scholars are by no means agreed as to the precise cut of the toga or the way it was put on. It is certain, however, that in its earlier form it was simpler, less c.u.mbrous, and more closely fitted to the figure than in later times, and that even as early as the cla.s.sical period its arrangement was so complicated that the man of fashion could not array himself in it without a.s.sistance.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 85. BACK OF TOGA]

--242. Scholars who lay the greater stress on the literary authorities describe the cut and arrangement of the toga about as follows: It consisted of one piece of cloth of semicircular cut, about five yards long by four wide, a certain portion of which was pressed into long narrow plaits. This cloth was doubled lengthwise, not down the center but so that one fold was deeper than the other. It was then thrown over the left shoulder in such a manner that the end in front reached to the ground, and the part behind (Fig. 85) was in length about twice a man's height. This end was then brought around under the right arm and again thrown over the left shoulder so as to cover the whole of the right side from the armpit to the calf. The broad folds in which it hung over were thus gathered together on the left shoulder. The part which crossed the breast diagonally was known as the _sinus_, or bosom. It was deep enough to serve as a pocket for the reception of small articles. According to this description the toga was in one piece and had no seams.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 86. CUT OF TOGA]

--243. Those who attempt the reconstruction of the toga wholly or chiefly from works of art find it impossible to reproduce on the living form the drapery seen on the statues, with a toga of one piece of goods or of a semicircular pattern. An experimental form is shown in Fig. 86, and resembles that of a lamp shade cut in two and stretched out to its full extent. The dotted line _GC_ is the straight edge of the goods; the heavy lines show the shape of the toga after it had been cut out, and had had sewed upon it the ellipse-like piece marked _FRAcba_. The dotted line _GE_ is of a length equivalent to the height of a man at the shoulder, and the other measurements are to be calculated proportionately. When the toga is placed on the figure the point _E_ must be on the left shoulder, with the point _G_ touching the ground in front. The point _F_ comes at the back of the neck, and as the larger part of the garment is allowed to fall behind the figure the points _L_ and _M_ will fall on the calves of the legs behind, the point _a_ under the right elbow, and the point _b_ on the stomach. The material is carried behind the back and under the right arm and then thrown over the left shoulder again. The point _c_ will fall on _E_, and the portion _OPCa_ will hang down the back to the ground, as shown in Fig. 85, --242. The part _FRA_ is then pulled over the right shoulder to cover the right side of the chest and form the _sinus_, and the part running from the left shoulder to the ground in front is pulled up out of the way of the feet, worked under the diagonal folds and allowed to fall out a little to the front. The front should then present an appearance similar to that shown in the figure in --241. It will be found in practice, however, that much of the grace of the toga must have been due to the trained _vestiplicus_, who kept it properly creased when it was not in use and carefully arranged each fold after his master had put it on. We are not told of any pins or tapes to hold it in place, but are told that the part falling from the left shoulder to the ground behind kept all in position by its own weight, and that this weight was sometimes increased by lead sewed in the hem.

--244. It is evident that in this fashionable toga the limbs were completely fettered, and that all rapid, not to say violent, motion was absolutely impossible. In other words the toga of the ultrafashionable in the time of Cicero was fit only for the formal, stately, ceremonial life of the city. It is easy to see, therefore, how it had come to be the emblem of peace, being too c.u.mbrous for use in war, and how Cicero could sneer at the young dandies of his time for wearing "sails not togas." We can also understand the eagerness with which the Roman welcomed a respite from civic and social duties.

Juvenal sighed for the freedom of the country, where only the dead had to wear the toga. Martial praises the unconventionality of the provinces for the same reason. Pliny makes it one of the attractions of his villa that no guest need wear the toga there. Its cost, too, made it all the more burdensome for the poor, and the working cla.s.ses could scarcely have worn it at all.

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 87. THE EARLIER TOGA]

[Ill.u.s.tration: FIGURE 88. THE CINCTUS GABINUS]

--245. The earlier toga must have been simpler by far, but no certain representation of it has come down to us. The Dresden statue, often used to ill.u.s.trate its arrangement (Smith, Fig. 7, p. 848_b_; Schreiber Lx.x.xV, 8; Marquardt, Fig. 2, p. 558; Baumeister, Fig. 1921), is more than doubtful, the garment being probably a Greek mantle of some sort. An approximate idea of it may be gained perhaps from a statue in Florence of an Etruscan orator (Fig. 87), which corresponds very closely with the descriptions of it in literary sources. At any rate it was possible for men to fight in it by tying the trailing ends around the body and drawing the back folds over the head. This was called the _cinctus Gabinus_, and long after the toga had ceased to be worn in war this _cinctus_ was used in certain ceremonial observances.

It is shown in Fig. 88, though the toga is one of later times.

--246. Kinds of Togas.--The toga of the ordinary citizen was, like the tunic (--238), of the natural color of the white wool of which it was made, and varied in texture, of course, with the quality of the wool.

It was called _toga pura_ (or _virilis_, _libera_ --127). A dazzling brilliancy could be given to the toga by a preparation of fuller's chalk, and one so treated was called _toga splendens_ or _candida_. In such a toga all persons running for office arrayed themselves, and from it they were called _candidati_. The curule magistrates, censors, and dictators wore the _toga praetexta_, differing from the ordinary toga only in having a purple border. It was also worn by boys (--127) and by the chief officers of the free towns and colonies. The _toga picta_ was wholly of purple covered with embroidery of gold, and was worn by the victorious general in his triumphal procession and later by the Emperors. The _toga pulla_ was simply a dingy toga worn by persons in mourning or threatened with some calamity, usually a reverse of political fortune. Persons a.s.suming it were called _sordidati_ and were said _mutare vestem_. This _vestis mutatio_ was a common form of public demonstration of sympathy with a fallen leader.

In this case curule magistrates contented themselves with merely laying aside the _toga praetexta_ for the _toga pura_, and only the lower orders wore the _toga pulla_.

--247. The Lacerna.--In Cicero's time there was just coming into fashionable use a mantle called _lacerna_, which seems to have been first used by soldiers and the lower cla.s.ses and then adopted by their betters on account of its convenience. These wore it at first over the toga as a protection against dust and sudden showers. It was a woolen mantle, short, light, open at the sides, without sleeves, but fastened with a brooch or buckle on the right shoulder. It was so easy and comfortable that it began to be worn not over the toga but instead of it, and so generally that Augustus issued an edict forbidding it to be used in public a.s.semblages of citizens. Under the later Emperors, however, it came into fashion again, and was the common outer garment at the theaters. It was made of various colors, dark naturally for the lower cla.s.ses, white for formal occasions, but also of brighter hues.

It was sometimes supplied with a hood (_cucullus_), which the wearer could pull over the head as a protection or a disguise. No representation of the _lacerna_ in art has come down to us that can be positively identified; that in Rich s.v. is very doubtful. The military cloak, first called the _trabea_, then _paludamentum_ and _sagum_, was much like the _lacerna_, but made of heavier material.