THE PALATINE AND THE PALACE OF THE CÆSARS. THE GOVERNMENT OFFICES, AND
THE POLICE AND CITY GOVERNMENT OF ROME
=244. History of the Palatine: its Purchase by Augustus.=--There
is one other great quarter of Rome, from the political standpoint the
most important of all, the Palatine.
The Palatine originally was a hill of modest height, in shape fairly
rectangular, some 1400 feet on the side. Here according to firm
tradition was that first settlement by the Alban shepherds led out
by Romulus. The hill seems to have been encompassed by its own crude
wall, and presently it figured as the earliest “Rome,” often called
from its squarish configuration _Roma Quadrata_. Time fails to
count the various memorials such as the “House of Romulus,” alleged to
have survived since this primitive time. Note should be made, however,
of certain small but very old temples such as those of Victoria,
Viriplaca, and Orbona,[149] which are now carefully preserved amid
surroundings of artificial magnificence.
After the growth of the Republic the Palatine became one of the most
fashionable residence sections of the city. Public leaders liked to
mount the roofs of their mansions and see the whole Forum with the
familiar Senate House spread out at their feet. Here were erected
the earliest of those sumptuous mansions wherein the aristocracy
invested their spoils from the great conquests. Marcus Scaurus had
his pretentious dwelling on the Palatine, and so did Catiline, and
Marcus Antonius, and Cicero. Last but not least, Hortensius the Orator,
Cicero’s professional rival, erected an extremely fine dwelling here
shortly before his death in 50 B.C., which mansion was later
purchased by Augustus when he had assumed the government and desired
a suitable residence; and thus it was that the Palatine became the
“Palace” of the Emperors.
[Illustration: ARCH OF TITUS: part of Palatine
visible to the left.]
=245. Extension of the Imperial Buildings: Central Position of the
Palatine.=--Augustus, posing merely as the “First Citizen” among his
fellow Quirites, and with a studious abhorrence of the outward forms of
monarchy, had avoided establishing anything like an Imperial court; but
he was, of course, entitled to a large senatorial mansion. In addition
to his private residence elaborate offices had also to be provided for
the great corps of secretaries and clerks through whom he governed
half the provinces and controlled the army. This corps of bureaucrats
has grown with every new accretion to imperial power; furthermore,
Augustus’s pretence of democratic simplicity has been utterly discarded
following the extravagances of Caligula and Nero.
One enormous building has, therefore, been added to another. The last
private dwellings upon the hill have been condemned, and the Cæsars now
control every inch of the Palatine, making it so completely the abode
of majesty that “palace” will remain across the centuries as the name
for any seat of princely authority.
=246. Commanding View from the Palatine Hill.=--This is the smallest
of the Seven Hills, but it is the real focus of the other six, which
“seem to surround it with their homage, as being their king.” It is
so close to the Capitol that the crazy Caligula erected a bridge (now
long demolished) leading from his mansion clear over to the Temple
of Capitoline Jove, in order that he might frequently “go and visit
his friend Jupiter.” The view from the crest of the palace structures
is superb: northward across the Forum, and all the thickly clustered
roofs on the slopes of the Quirinal, Viminal, and Esquiline, westward
to the Capitol where the magnificent temples seem within a stone’s
toss, southward across the great hollow of the Circus Maximus and then
across to the densely covered Aventine. Whether the Emperor desires to
harangue the Senate, to sacrifice to the greater gods, or to grace the
chariot races--Curia, temples, or circus are all close at hand; with
the Flavian Amphitheater to the northeast, almost equally near.
=247. Magnificence of the Palatine Structures.=--But the Palatine
itself is perhaps the most glorious sight of all. It rises above the
city two and three hundred feet to its upper parapets, lifting itself
on several tiers of arches and pillared stories which gleam with
marble below and present a perfect treasure house of gilded tiling
above. Under the morning light with the sun flashing the gold of the
multitudinous domes back into the clear azure the whole effect is
incomparable. The natural foundations of the hill are covered with
enormous substructures of masonry and concrete, and these are continued
by long tiers of many-arched buildings which house the great government
bureaus and ministries. Crowning these can be seen equally long forests
of columns, upbearing a whole complex of gabled roofs covered not
merely with the gilded tiles, but with a whole legion of gilded or
richly toned bronze statues. Here and there show forth bits of greenery
and foliage betraying the gardens and the parks reserved for the Lords
of the World.
[Illustration: PALATINE AND PALACE OF THE CAESARS:
restoration by Spandoni.]
The effect of this entire mass is overpowering. The eye wearies of
counting the sweeping porticoes, tall monoliths, colossal statues, and
quadrigas. The result is also enhanced by the use of great numbers of
huge awnings, hung over nearly every opening and window, usually made
in brilliant colors, with the imperial purple very conspicuous. There
will never be another Palatine in the history of the world.
=248. The More Famous Buildings on the Palatine: Enormous Display of
Art Objects.=--This vast residence compound--it cannot be called
a single building--can be reached by a number of inclined planes
or stairways upon all four sides. Access is easy enough and crowds
of slaves, plebeians, and nobles are incessantly coming and going,
although a couple of Prætorians loll carelessly on their spear-shafts
beside each ingress. Possibly the easiest entrance is by the _Clivus
Victoriæ_ (“Ascent of Victory”) which starts upward from the edge of
the Old Forum very near to the Shrine of Vesta.
[Illustration: ROMAN URN: typical art object.]
To find one’s way about the Palatine is, however, far more difficult
than about the fora. It is not, of course, an area but a jumble of
buildings, all splendid, but often thrust upon one another without any
real system. Augustus added extensively to the old house of Hortensius,
and particularly he built a very pretentious Temple to Apollo.
Tiberius, the next Emperor, added a new wing, the _Domus Tiberiana_,
almost doubling the bulk of the former structures. Caligula thrust
on more buildings still. Across the ages will be pointed out that
_Cryptoporticus_, the twisting underground gallery connecting parts of
the palaces, where the stout tribune Cherea struck down and slew the
insane despot, January 24th, 41 A.D., to the great profit of the entire
world. Nero added other wings and structures, some of which had to be
rebuilt after his great fire. Finally, Domitian added a whole series of
enormous halls, baths, banqueting rooms, and government offices. The
Palatine is now virtually complete: Trajan and Hadrian have erected
their monuments elsewhere, and so will most of the later Emperors.[150]
We do not propose to explore all these buildings in so vast a complex.
It is enough that one superb court or façade follows another; that
almost every hall and ante-room is of sumptuous splendor; that veined
marbles, porphyry, elaborate bas-reliefs, and profuse gilding seem
multiplied until they become commonplace. All the artificiality and
over-elaborate art of the age seems concentrated around the Palatine.
Within the great substructures and the arched terraces which bear up
the more important buildings, even in the cells for the slaves and the
offices for the toiling clerks there are fine frescos and handsome
stucco reliefs.
=249. The Triclinium and Throne Room of Domitian.=--As for some of
the special areas and chambers, they justify the praises of the servile
court poets: “Olympian” is the mildest word which they can use. Take,
for example, the porticoes of Domitian. On the inner side of their
vast length, they are lined throughout with marble so highly polished
that it shines like mirrors. What matter if the original cause for
their use was the desire of the suspicious tyrant to have a promenade
wherein nobody could glide upon him without warning from behind. The
result is indescribably brilliant. But let us go rather into the
“House of Domitian” itself, and inspect the great banqueting hall, the
Triclinium. “The gods themselves might quaff their nectar there!” cried
the enraptured Martial.
This magnificent apartment leads off from a marvelous peristyle-court
of more than 10,000 square feet in area. The chamber itself is not
huge, but is arranged so that three tables (each for nine guests) can
be placed laterally along the walls, with the third, opposite the
door of entry, for the Emperor and his chief guests. Twenty-seven
dignitaries thus can dine together. On each side of the hall five large
windows are separated by massive columns of red granite.
As the guests of majesty repose on their silken cushions they can see
between the columns still another court where water is softly gushing
from a fountain, and purling in a small cascade over steps of marble,
verdure, and flowers. The ornamentation may be grievously overdone; the
taste of some of the reliefs and wall pictures is questionable, but the
effect of the sheen from the many colored marbles, the gilding, and
the heavy fretwork around the lofty dome undeniably justifies all the
enthusiasm of the verse-mongers.
Equally striking is the Throne Room built by Domitian. It is called the
tablinum as in humbler dwellings, but it is actually used for great
state audiences. It is a hall of imposing size. You enter past the
guards, and directly across the broad area is a niche where sits “Cæsar
Augustus” upon a gilded dais and curule-chair, every whit as truly a
throne as that of the Great King of Parthia. The walls of the room are
covered with extraordinarily costly marbles, and around the circuit
rise twenty-eight Corinthian columns of intricate workmanship. Eight
large niches contain as many colossal statues wrought of adamantine
basalt, and a Hercules and a Bacchus are particularly noteworthy. The
entrance door is flanked by two enormous columns of _giallo antico_,
deep yellow marble flushed with pink, imported from Numidia. The
threshold is a single immense slab of a whiter marble brought from
Greece.
Words thus exhaust themselves describing these grandiose,
overpowering, magnificent courts, halls, and apartments. We can
perforce ignore such features as the separate hippodrome and the
luxurious gardens reserved for imperial amusement or recreation. Better
it is to concentrate attention upon the human life wherewith the
Palatine ordinarily abounds.
=250. Swarms of Civil Officials Always on the Palatine.=--All the
Palatine revolves around the Emperor. Rome is not yet governed by an
unabashed despotism, yet it would be hard to name a deed that a king
of old Babylon could perform which a _Princeps et Imperator_ could not
perpetrate if his heart really desired, although certain restraints
and decencies make this absolutism endurable save under a Nero or a
Domitian.
The thousands of persons who dwell upon or are employed upon the
Palatine are all employed with one of two things, the imperial court or
the imperial public service. Since Hadrian (despite the grumblings of
his Italian subjects) is still absent from Rome the court ceremonial
has practically ceased. A few of the Emperor’s relatives dwell in
gilded ease in certain wings of the palace, but except for the
caretakers the great army of self-sufficient slaves and still more
self-sufficient freedmen who act as valets, cooks, waiters, musicians,
chamberlains, and in every other menial capacity, can eat, play dice,
and discuss the races in idleness.
Now as always, however, the imperial public service which sends
its impulse to the remotest borders of Dacia, Syria, or Britain is
functioning actively, and most of the vast bureaus and ministries have
huge offices upon the Palatine. The Prætorian Præfect, as high judge
for the Emperor’s half of the provinces, daily mounts his supreme
tribunal. The four Imperial Secretaries for Finance, for Petitions,
and for Official Correspondence (one for the Greek provinces and one
for the Latin) direct their great corps of subordinates. The chief
Procurators (Superintendents) of the enormous Imperial Estates all
over the Empire are receiving reports and protecting their masters’
interests; and so with a great body of other high officials.
The huge administrative machine perfected by the practical Roman genius
is running steadily--so steadily that even under a very bad Emperor,
even a Nero, it will function for years with no great harm to the
governed millions. The only condition is that the tyrant will reserve
his cruelties for the nobility and refrain from tactless interference
with the secretaries instead of indulging merely in vicious personal
pleasures.[151]
=251. The Emperor Center of High Social Life.=--Into these high
political concerns we dare not enter, but the social life of the Palace
cannot be so well ignored. Already the imperial freedmen are busy
planning the great receptions and state banquets which Hadrian must
give soon after his return. In half the atria of Rome men and women
are discussing vigorously, “When ‘Cæsar’ returns will he have any new
‘Friends,’ and will he have discontinued any old ones?”
Already it is rumored that certain freedmen (supposedly in their
lord’s confidence) have received a great bribe to get them to induce
the “Dominus” (so loyal etiquette calls the monarch) to summon back
to favor a certain Jallius, an indiscreet senator whom, on his last
sojourn in Rome, Hadrian had ordered excluded from his personal
receptions. Rome is a city of rumors, but nowhere do these abound more
than about the Palatine, always centering on the doings, words, and
even the health of the Emperor. “Smoke” from the valets, barbers, and
table-servitors of the Augustus can often be sold for precious aurei.
Self-respecting monarchs punish the tale-bearers pitilessly, but the
latter can seldom be caught in the act.[152] Every Emperor knows that
he is the constant victim of outrageous tattling.
=252. Friends of Cæsar (_Amici Cæsaris_).=--But an Emperor’s company is
not confined to menials; neither does he spend all his time at council
with his ministers. Being a Roman among Romans he is forced to spend
a good deal of his day receiving the social attentions of those who
proudly list themselves as his “Friends.”
To be an _Amicus Cæsaris_, to be entitled to greet as a kind of social
equal the personage who is worshiped as a god in all the Oriental
provinces, who is (by adoption in Hadrian’s case) the son of a
Divinity, the “Deified Trajan,” and whose own “divine genius” (guardian
spirit) receives prayer and incense in every government building--this
honor seems almost dazzling. Every Emperor ranks his “Friends” in two
classes--“_First Class Friends_,” great secretaries, ministers, and
generals who must have constant access to his cabinet, certain very
distinguished members of the Senate, certain near relatives, and also
a few congenial personal companions--poets, and philosophers, with
great Emperors, or jockeys, gamesters, and debauchees with the bad; and
“_Second Class Friends_,” which great catalogue includes all the rest
of the Senate, many of the more distinguished equites, and a select
sprinkling of such plebeians as Cæsar delights to honor.
The First Class Friends, it is true, pay for their glory by a heavy
obligation--to appear at the Palace every morning usually before
daylight, and greet the Lord of the World while he sits up in bed and
is dressed by his valets.[153] Very much of state business is then
transacted, but the obligation to appear merely to say an “_Ave_” is
imperative provided the Emperor is in his residence. Sometimes merely
to avoid giving gouty ministers great inconvenience Hadrian has been
known considerately to pass the night away from the Palace in order to
dispense with the ceremonial in the morning.
=253. The Imperial Audiences.=--After the Emperor has been clad
with due ceremony, has conversed with his intimates, and perhaps has
sealed some urgent rescripts, he is ready for the morning audience. A
full cohort (1000 men) of the Prætorian Guard is always on service at
the Palace and a platoon of these without armor, but in magnificent
cloaks, stands by the entrance to the hall of state. Only men as a
rule are admitted.[154] Under certain evil or very suspicious Emperors
such as Claudius there has been the humiliating custom of searching
every visitor (whatever his rank) for weapons, ere admission; but that
abomination has ceased at last, beginning with Nerva.
In the broad courts before the audience chamber some dozens of senators
dismount from their litters every morning when the monarch is in Rome,
and sometimes the delay ere the doors are opened is so long that much
personal business can be transacted and philosophical disquisitions
indulged in. Second Class Friends do not have to appear every morning,
but it is a serious error to fail to use your entrée fairly often.
=254. Social Ruin through Imperial Disfavor.=--The process resembles
that with the clients in the noble lords’ own houses a little earlier
in the day, although with greater solemnity and formality.[155] A
group of gorgeously dressed “admissioners” (_admissionales_) keep
the doors, and scan every applicant closely, but besides the regular
Friends they frequently admit certain distinguished visitors from the
provinces, especially members of those provincial delegations that are
always junketing to Rome to proffer the homage of their district to the
Emperor, or to present some kind of a public petition.
The last day that Hadrian gave audience ere leaving Rome, when our
friend Calvus waited upon him, there was an awkward happening. A very
roistering and immoral young nobleman, Calvisius, presented himself
when the doors were opened, whereupon an imperial freedman took him
by the arm, announcing: “You are no longer admitted to the palace.”
Calvisius instantly slunk away, overwhelmed by his calamity. He would
have suffered less if he had forfeited half his fortune.
Even worse was in store for the aforementioned Jallius, who was said to
have mocked at Hadrian’s pretentions as an art critic (a tender point)
while over-drunk at a dinner party. He was suffered indeed to enter and
to approach the imperial seat: “_Ave, Cæsar!_” he called out boldly,
hoping that his indiscretion had been unnoticed. “_Vale, Jallie!_”[156]
(“Good-by, Jallius”) answered the monarch, turning his face from him.
The insult was offered in the presence of at least fifty tale-bearers
and that night it was over Rome. Under a bad Emperor, Jallius’s life
would have been in sore jeopardy, and as it was he was socially ruined;
every time-serving nobleman closed his house to him and his innocent
wife and children shared his ostracism. His only hope now is that
when Hadrian returns he can be induced to let Jallius call again, and
will answer affably “_Ave!_” to the visitor’s greeting. Then the poor
senator can hold up his head in the world.
[Illustration: CÆSAR AUGUSTUS: showing costume of a
Roman general.]
=255. Enormous Value of Imperial Favor.=--On the other hand Calvus
returned walking on air from this particular audience. The Emperor
answered his greeting by calling him “My very dear Calvus”; then asked,
“And how are your Gratia and the boys?” and actually added, “Do you
think Gallinas, the Thracian, is going to be a good match for Syrus
in the arena?”--finally, throwing in the sage advice, “These morning
frosts now are sharp if you don’t dress warmly.”[157]
When Calvus quitted the hall all his friends swarmed around
congratulating him on “the remarkable favor of the Emperor,” and
intimating that he was surely destined to be Consul within a few
years and then the imperial legate of a great province. He can hardly
persuade them that he has received no private information about the
boundary settlement with Parthia and the terms being offered the chiefs
of the Quadi. In fact the imperial looks and moods are studied as
carefully as is the weather. “Did _he_ frown or look pleased when
so and so was mentioned?” “Did he offer his cheek graciously to be
kissed by that ex-consul?” “Did he invite the chiefs of the delegation
from Provincial Asia to dinner?” “Did he cast down his eyes gloomily
when they said N---- was about to be tried to-morrow in the Senate?”
No marvel if bad Emperors are easily persuaded that they are gods on
earth, and even good Emperors have to strive hard not to allow their
heads to be turned!
Hadrian is still away from Rome, and both First Class Friends and
Second Class Friends are probably a little relieved not to have to play
the client to him. If the days of bloody tyranny seem past, the fate of
poor Jallius can still overtake almost any of them.[158] But though the
vast hall of audience stands vacant save for gaping sightseers, there
are plenty of distinguished visitors upon the Palatine come to transact
business at the imperial ministries, or very likely at the great
offices of the City Præfect (_Præfectus Urbi_), who is essentially
the Mayor of Rome.
=256. City Government of Rome: the City Præfect (_Præfectus
Urbi_).=--It was one of the greatest sins of the defunct Republic
that it permitted Rome to grow until it became an enormous metropolis
without providing any respectable police force, fire department, or
other efficient means of securing law, order, and public safety. The
old _ædiles_ (commissioners of public works) were overburdened
men, with imperfect authority, few constables, and great political
interests. In the days of Cicero great fires, great riots, and serious
crimes occurred almost daily. In self-protection many prominent men
had actually to arm their slaves in regular companies and even to hire
the assistance of armed bands of gladiators. Augustus ended all this.
Thanks to him, Rome has become one of the best policed and protected
cities in the world.
The old ædiles[159] are now supplemented and largely superseded by a
corps of officials all named by the Emperor, for indefinite terms and
removable by him at pleasure. At their head is that high “Clarissimus,”
the City Præfect. He is always a senator who has held the consulship,
and who often has governed great provinces. To be named City Præfect
is almost the highest civil honor in the gift of the Cæsars, and it
ordinarily comes to a veteran nobleman of approved experience and
integrity. He is really in part a military officer because at his
command stand the “City Cohorts,” the regular armed garrison of Rome,
four Cohorts of reliable troops, one thousand men in each, ready to
assist the ordinary police in repressing rioting.
The City Præfect is responsible for the general good order of the
metropolis; it is his business not merely to punish evil, but to
take measures to prevent it, _e.g._ by breaking up illicit
societies and assemblies, such as those of the “debased” Christians.
In conjunction with the other magistrates he also takes measures to
keep down the price of provisions. In addition he is the high judge in
most cases arising around Rome, which are not especially reserved to
other tribunals. Particularly he and his deputies have jurisdiction
over cases involving outrageous usury, betrayal of trust by guardians,
unfilial conduct of children, and disrespect shown to patrons by
freedmen. And to his court go all the charges of serious crimes sure
to arise in a great city, barring, however, lesser police court
cases--these last falling to his colleague, the Præfect of the Watch.
=257. The Municipal Superintendents and Commissioners
(_Curatores_).=--Aiding the City Præfect are several high
superintendents or commissioners usually of at least prætorian rank
among the senators. The two “Curators of the Public Works” obviously
have to look after the municipal buildings and especially the temples
and the considerable endowments often attached to them. The Præfect of
the Grain Supply (_Præfectus Annonæ_) is a magistrate who--in view of
the importance of his function (see p. 242)--will often be chosen with
almost as great an eye to his efficiency as the City Præfect.
Besides the corps of agents collecting grain in the provinces, the
special deputy at Ostia, the “Official Grain Measurers,” the “Grain
Magazine-Keepers” (_horrearii_), and the staff of clerks and porters,
all the bakers of the city also are under the Præfect of the Grain
Supply, and he can sit as high judge in all cases, criminal and civil,
where the provisioning of the city is affected. As for the Tiber, it is
so often bursting its levees and flooding the lower city that a special
board of five senators, “Commissioners for the Tiber, River-Banks, and
the Sewers,” attends alike to the care of the dikes and also to the
great sewer system which drains the capital.
=258. Excellent Water Supply of Rome.=--An official board with
duties of the first order is that of the “Curators of the Water
Supply.” There is a chief curator and two assistants, and since the
task calls for expert professional knowledge, these are not senators
but imperial freedmen, or at the highest only equites. No sinecure,
however, is their task. Justly are the Romans proud of the excellent
water supply of the imperial city. As early as Augustus’s time Strabo
the geographer warned his fellow Greeks that while they could boast
that their cities excelled the Roman in artistic adornments, Rome
rejoiced in a far better water system, in better pavements, and in
better sewers. Certain of the latter, he declared in admiration, were
“arched over with hewn stone and were so large that in some parts hay
wagons can drive straight through them!”
[Illustration: RUINED AQUEDUCT IN THE ROMAN
CAMPAGNA.]
By Hadrian’s day the aqueducts supplying the city have become wholly
admirable. Time fails us to go out into the Campagna or to the distant
hills and see how, by gravity alone, and without the aid of pumping
engines, “copious streams are conducted great distances despite the
obstacles presented by mountains, valleys, or low-lying level plains,
sometimes rushing along in vast subterranean tunnels, at other times
supported on long ranges of lofty arches, the remains of which [in
after ages] will still be seen spanning the waste of the Campagna.”
[Lanciani.]
There is difficulty in making very large iron pipes capable of standing
high pressure over long distances; and as a result the Roman engineers
prefer to carry the water in channels lined with solid cement and borne
across the open ground on a vast series of arches. Besides, most of the
good water near Rome leaves a calcareous deposit; and it is much easier
to clean out large channels than an underground piping system.
=259. The Great Aqueducts.=--When we try to understand the water system
of Rome we come upon astonishing figures for the great aqueducts.
There are nine of these huge conduits in constant use. The oldest
is the _Aqua Appia_, built in 312 B.C. by that tough old censor,
Appius Claudius, and it starts only about eleven miles from the city,
with nearly its entire bed underground; but when this supply proved
inadequate the engineers had to reach much farther back into the hills
to find powerful jets. An increasing proportion of the channels of
the newer aqueducts has also to be on arches; for example, the _Aqua
Julia_, built by Agrippa in 33 B.C., has to go back fifteen and a half
miles, and six and a half of these are on arches; while the _Aqua
Claudia_, built about 40 A.D., is no less than forty-six miles long
with nine and a half on elevated arches. There are two others, the
older _Aqua Marcia_ and the slightly newer _Aqua Anio Novus_ (taking
water from the river Anio), that are not much shorter either upon the
ground or in their elevated sections.
Once inside the city this enormous volume of water is distributed
in a most scientific manner according to a scheme worked out by the
mighty Agrippa. There are 700 public pools and basins and 500 public
fountains drawing their supply from 130 collecting heads or reservoirs.
Only the poorest or tallest tenement houses, consequently, are bereft
of a water supply, clear, sanitary, and abundant, such as most later
cities can desire in vain until close upon the twentieth century.
=260. The Police System Instituted by Augustus.=--Almost as
important, however, as the excellent water supply came the blessing of
the firm police system instituted by Augustus. There was an end at last
to the fearful riots and even private wars of the later Republic, as
when those cheerful desperadoes Clodius and Milo played at being the
“Hector and Achilles of the Streets,” and ordinary crime soon became
comparatively rare.
The city has also been divided into 14 “regions” (_regiones_) and these
into 262 “precincts” (_vici_) distributed among the “regions.” Each
vicus is in theory a religious unit. It has its own little _ædicula_
(petty temple) containing the images of the two guardian Lares of the
neighborhood plus inevitably a statue of the Genius of the Emperor.
Each vicus also has its two special curators, worthy tradesmen usually,
elected by their fellow wardsmen and clothed with enough importance to
make the office desirable. Their chief official duty is to keep up the
sacred rites at the central shrine and to help to compile the census
lists, but they are also a kind of local arbitrators or justices of
the peace who assist the police and look after the general weal of the
precinct.
=261. The Police-Firemen of the Watch (_vigiles_): the _Præfectus
Vigilum_.=--However, the actual security of Rome is not intrusted to
any such unprofessional guardians. Augustus understood clearly the
need of an effective police force apart from a mere armed garrison;
besides he had to protect the capital against the fearful and incessant
fires; as a result his new _vigiles_ (“watchmen”) were a combination
of policemen and firemen. The fourteen regions of Rome have now been
coupled together into seven police districts, each possessing a regular
police station (_excubitorium_) and two subordinate watch houses.
Each district is intrusted to a separate cohort of vigiles about 1000
men strong, thus giving Rome a total force of some 7000. The vigiles
are not actually soldiers, and not being honorable legionaries they are
recruited almost entirely from the freedmen. However, after faithful
service they can be transferred to the army. They are under a rigid
discipline, nevertheless, and are divided into “centuries,” each
under a centurion, with a tribune over the entire cohort. They have
various weapons for an emergency, but the crowd usually mocks them
for the fire-fighting apparatus with which they often hurry down the
streets--hooks, ladders, axes, simple hand-pumps, and above all, many
buckets made of rope rendered water-proof with pitch.
By their promptitude, discipline, and daring, even with such
inadequate apparatus, these patrolmen can often stop very dangerous
fires, and their familiar equipment gives them their nickname. “The
‘_Bucketmen_’ are coming!” is the yell that frequently disperses a
knot of thieves or of turbulent bullies.
At their different police stations the vigiles when off duty scribble
many things upon the walls,[160] which give a vivid idea that life “on
the force” is much the same in every age. At night these “Bucketmen” go
out in little groups bearing tallow lanterns and patrol the pitch-black
streets, rounding up evil-doers and detecting incipient fires.
At each station there is a good-sized lock-up which never wants its
unhappy occupants, also, it must be added, a professional torturer
(_quæstionarius_) to wring confessions out of slaves and other
non-privileged prisoners without any tedious “third degree” process.
Petty offenses are tried summarily before the Præfect of the Watch or
his deputies in police court at these stations; and for great crimes
the alleged offenders can be conveyed to a central jail, or admitted to
bail, prior to a formal trial before the City Præfect.
The Præfect of the Watch (_Præfectus Vigilum_), the head of this
very important organization, is really the most important municipal
official in Rome except the City Præfect. Since he has to do with
much sordid detail, he is not a top-lofty senator, but only an eques;
nevertheless, his honor and dignity are great. The subpræfect under him
is also a highly respected officer. The entire force of the vigiles,
although, of course, incessantly criticized and jeered at, is a very
capable body of men, whose faithfulness and energy go far to make life
and property better protected in Rome than in most great cities at any
age.
So with this glance at the municipal government of a metropolitan
community of 1,500,000 we quit the Palatine. A new opportunity has
presented itself: we can visit the Prætorian Camp.