help the handicraftsmen thought they could not carry on their work; and
Neptunus, god of the ocean and the sea, to whom sailors addressed their
prayers, and to whom commanders going out with fleets offered
oblations. Family life was not likely to be forgotten by a people among
whom the father was the first priest, and accordingly we find that
every house was in a certain sense a temple of Vesta, the goddess of
the fireside, and that as of old time the family assembled in the
atrium around the hearth, to partake of their common meal, the renewal
of the family bond of union was in later days accompanied with acts of
worship of Vesta, whose actual temple was only an enlargement of the
fireside, uniting all the citizens of the state into a single large
family. In her shrine there was no statue, but her presence was
represented by the eternal fire burning upon her hearth, a fire that
Æneas was fabled to have brought with him from old Troy. The purifying
flames stood for the unsullied character of the goddess, which was also
betokened by the immaculate maidens who kept alive the sacred coals. As
Vesta was remembered at every meal, so also the Lares and Penates,
divinities of the fireside, were worshipped, for there was a
purification at the beginning of the repast and a libation poured upon
the table or the hearth in their honor at its close. When one went
abroad he prayed to the Penates for a safe return, and when he came
back, he hung his armor and his staff beside their images, and gave
them thanks. In every sorrow and in every joy the indefinite divinities
that went under these names were called upon for sympathy or help.
In the month of June the mothers celebrated a feast called
_Matralia_, to impress upon themselves their duties towards children;
and at another they brought to mind the good deeds of the Sabine women
in keeping their husbands and fathers from war. [Footnote: see page 26]
This was the _Matronalia_, and the epigrammatist Martial, who lived
during the first century of our era, called it the Women's Saturnalia,
on account of its permitted relaxation of manners. At that time
husbands gave presents to their wives, lovers to their sweethearts, and
mistresses feasted their maids.
The _Lemuria_ was a family service that the father celebrated on
the ninth, eleventh, and thirteenth of May, when the ghosts of the
departed were propitiated. It was thought that these spirits were wont
to return to the scenes of their earthly lives to injure those who were
still wrestling with the severe realities of time, and specially did
they come up during the darkness of night. Therefore it was that at
midnight the father rose and went forth with cabalistic signs,
skilfully adapted to keep the spectres at a distance. After thrice
washing his hands in pure spring water, he turned around and took
certain black beans into his mouth, and then threw them behind him for
the ghosts to pick up. The goodman then uttered other mystic
expressions without risking any looks towards the supposed sprites,
after which he washed his hands, and beat some brazen basins, and nine
times cried aloud: "Begone, ye spectres of the house!" Then could he
look around, for the ghosts were harmless.
Thus the Roman forefathers worshipped personal gods, but they did not,
in the early times, follow the example of the imaginative Greeks, and
represent them, as possessing passions like themselves, nor did they
erect them into families and write out their lines of descent, or
create a mythology filled with stories of their acts good and bad. The
gods were spiritual beings, but the religion was not a spiritual life,
nor did it have much connection with morality. It was mainly based on
the enjoyment of earthly pleasures. If the ceremonious duties were
done, the demands of Roman religion were satisfied. It was a hard and
narrow faith, but it seemed to tend towards bringing earthly guilt and
punishment into relation with its divinities, and it contained the idea
of substitution, as is clearly seen in the stories of Curtius, Decius
Mus, and others. [Footnote: "When the gods of the community were angry,
and nobody could be laid hold of as definitely guilty, they might be
appeased by one who voluntarily gave himself up."--MOMMSEN, Book I.,
chapter 12. ]
As time passed on the rites and ceremonies increased in number and
intricacy, and it became necessary to have special orders to attend to
their observance, for the fathers of the families were not able to give
their attention to the matter sufficiently. Thus the colleges of
priests naturally grew up to care for the national religion, the most
ancient of them bearing reference to Mars the killing god. They were
the augurs and the pontifices, and as the religion grew more and more
formal and the priests less and less earnest, the observances fell into
dull and insipid performances, in which no one was interested, and in
time public service became not only tedious, but costly, penny
collections made from house to house being among the least onerous
expedients resorted to for the support of the new grafts on the tree of
devotion.
As early as the time of the first Punic war, a consul was bold enough
to jest at the auspices in public. Superstitions and impostures
flourished, the astrology of ancient Chaldea spread, the Oriental
ceremonies were introduced with the pomps that accompanied the
reception of the unformed boulder which the special embassy brought
from Pessinus when the weary war with Hannibal had rendered any source
of hope, even the most futile, inspiring. [Footnote: B.C. 204. See page
153.] Then the abominable worship of Bacchus came in, and thousands
were corrupted and made vicious throughout Italy before the authorities
were able to put a stop to the midnight orgies and the crimes that
daylight exposed.
Cato the elder, who would have nothing to do with consulting Chaldeans
or magicians of any sort, asked how it were possible for two such
ministers to meet each other face to face without laughing at their own
duplicity and the ridiculous superstition of the people they deceived.
[Footnote: It had been in early times customary to dismiss a political
gathering if a thunder-storm came up, and the augurs had taken
advantage of the practice to increase their own power by laying down an
occult system of celestial omens which enabled them to bring any such
meeting to a close when the legislation promised to thwart their plans.
They finally reached the absurd extreme of enacting a law, by the terms
of which a popular assembly was obliged to disperse, if it should occur
to a higher magistrate merely to look into the heavens for signs of the
approach of such a storm. The power of the priests under such a law was
immeasurable. (See pages 236 and 247). ] Cato was very much shocked by
the preaching of three Greek philosophers: Diogenes, a stoic;
Critolaus, a peripatetic; and Carneades, an academic, who visited Rome
on a political mission, B.C. 155; because it seemed to him that they,
especially the last, preached a doctrine that confounded justice and
injustice, a system of expediency, and he urged successfully that they
should have a polite permission to depart with all speed. The
philosophers were dismissed, but it was impossible to restrain the
Roman youth who had listened to the addresses of the strangers with an
avidity all the greater because their utterances had been found
scandalous, and they went to Athens, or Rhodes, to hear more of the
same doctrine.
Thus in time the simplicity of the people was completely undermined,
and while they became more cosmopolitan they also grew more lax. They
used the Greek language, and employed Greek writers, as we have seen,
to make their books for them, which, though bearing Greek titles, were
composed in Latin. The public men performed in the forenoon their civil
and religious acts; took their siestas in the middle of the day;
exercised in the Campus Martius, swimming, wrestling, and fencing, in
the afternoon; enjoyed the delicacies of the table later, listening to
singing and buffoonery the while, and were thus prepared to seek their
beds when the sun went down. At the bath, which came to be the polite
resort of pleasure-seekers, all was holiday; the toga and the foot-
coverings were exchanged for a light Greek dressing-gown, and the time
was whiled away in gossip, idle talk, lounging, many dippings into the
flowing waters, and music. Pleasure became the business of life, and
morality was relaxed to a frightful extent.
When we consider the gay moods of the Roman people we turn probably
first to childhood, and try to imagine how the little ones amused
themselves. We find that the girls had their dolls, some of which have
been dug out of ruins of the ancient buildings, and that the boys
played games similar to those that still hold dominion over the young
English or American school-boy at play. In their quieter moods they
played with huckle-bones taken from sheep, goats, or antelopes, or
imitated in stone, metal, ivory, or glass. From the earliest days these
were used chiefly by women and children, who used five at a time, which
they threw into the air and then tried to catch on the back of the
hand, their irregular form making the success the result of
considerable skill. The bones were also made to contribute to a variety
of amusements requiring agility and accuracy; but after a while the
element of chance was introduced. The sides were marked with different
values, and the victor was he who threw the highest value, fourteen,
the numbers cast being each different from the rest. This throw
obtained at a symposium or drinking party caused a person to be
appointed king of the feast.
One of the oldest games of the world is that called by the Romans
little marauders (_latrunculi_), because it was played like draughts or
checkers, there being two sets of "men," white and red, representing
opposed soldiers, and the aim of each player being to gain advantage
over the other, as soldiers do in a combat. This game is as old as
Homer, and is represented in Egyptian tombs, which are of much greater
antiquity than any Grecian monuments. In this game, too, skill was all
that was needed at first, but in time spice was given by the addition
of chance, and dice (_tessera_, a die) were used as in backgammon; but
gambling was deemed disreputable, and was forbidden during the
republic, except at the time of the Saturnalia, though both Greeks and
Romans permitted aged men to amuse themselves in that way. [Footnote: A
gambler was called _aleator_, and sometimes his implement was spoken of
as _alea_, which meant literally gaming. When Suetonius makes Cæsar
say, before crossing the Rubicon, "The die is cast," he uses the words
_Jacta alea est!_]
The games of the Romans range from the innocent tossing of huckle-bones
to the frightful scenes of the gladiatorial show. Some were celebrated
in the open air, and others within the enclosures of the circus or the
amphitheatre. Some were gay, festive, and abandoned, and others were
serious and tragic. Some were said to have been instituted in the
earliest days by Romulus, Servius Tullius, or Tarquinius Priscus, and
others were imported from abroad or grew up naturally as the nation
progressed in experience or in acquaintance with foreign peoples. The
great increase of games and festivals and their enormous cost were
signs of approaching trouble for the republic, and foretold the
terrible days of the empire, when the rabblement of the capital,
accustomed to be amused and fed by their despotic and corrupt rulers,
should cry in the streets: "Give us bread for nothing and games
forever!" It was gradually educating the populace to think of nothing
but enjoyment and to abhor honest labor, and we can imagine the
corruption that must have been brought into politics when honors were
so expensive that a respectable gladiatorical show cost more than
thirty-five thousand dollars (£7,200). If money for such purposes could
not be obtained by honest means, the nobles, who lived on popular
applause, would seek to force it from poor citizens of the colonies or
win it by intrigue at home.
There were impressive games celebrated from the fourth to the twelfth
of September, called the great games of the Roman Circus, but it is a
disputed point what divinities they were in honor of. Jupiter was
thought surely to be one, and Census another, by those who believed the
legends asserting that they were a continuation of those established by
Romulus when he wished to get wives from the Sabines. Others think that
Tarquinius Priscus, after a victory over the Latins, commemorated his
success by games in a valley between the Aventine and the Palatine
hills, where the spectators stood about to look on, or occupied stages
that they erected for their separate use. The racers went around in a
circuit, and it is perhaps on this account that the course and its
scaffolds was called the circus (_circum,_ round about). The course was
long, and about it the seats of the spectators were in after times
arranged in tiers. A division, called the _spina (spine)_, was built
through the central enclosure, separated the horses running in one
direction from those going in the other.
A variety of different games were celebrated in the circus. The races
may be mentioned first. Sometimes two chariots, drawn by two horses or
four each (the _biga_ or the _quadriga_), entered for the trial of
speed. Each had two horsemen, one of whom, standing in the car with the
reins behind his back to enable him to throw his entire weight on them,
drove, while the other urged the beasts forward, cleared the way, or
assisted in managing the reins. Before the race lists of the horses
were handed about and bets made on them, the utmost enthusiasm being
excited, and the factions sometimes even coming to blows and blood. The
time having arrived, the horses were brought from stalls at the end of
the course, and ranged in line, a trumpet sounded, or a handkerchief
was dropped, and the drivers and animals put forth every exertion to
win the prize. Seven times they whirled around the course, the applause
of the excited spectators constantly sounding in their ears. Now and
then a biga would be overturned, or a driver, unable to control his
fiery steeds, would be thrown to the ground, and, not quick enough to
cut the reins that encircled him with the bill-hook that he carried for
the purpose, would be dragged to his death. Such an accident would not
stop the onrushing of the other competitors, and at last the victor
would step from his car, mount the _spina_, and receive the sum of
money that had been offered as the prize.
[Illustration: RUINS OF THE COLOSSEUM SEEN FROM THE PALATINE HILL]
Another game was the Play of Troy, fabled to have been invented by
Æneas, in which young men of rank on horses performed a sham fight. On
another occasion the circus would be turned into a camp, and
equestrians and infantry would give a realistic exhibition of battle.
Again, there would be athletic games, running, boxing, wrestling,
throwing the discus or the spear, and other exercises testing the
entire physical system with much thoroughness. One day the amphitheatre
would be filled with huge trees, and savage animals would be brought to
be hunted down by criminals, captives, or men especially trained for
the desperate work, who made it their profession.
For the purposes of these combats the circus was found not to be the
best, and the amphitheatre was invented by Curio for the celebration of
his father's funeral games. It differed from a theatre in permitting
the audience to see on both sides (Greek _amphi_, both), but the
distinctive name was first applied to a structure built by Cæsar, B.C.
46. The Flavian Amphitheatre, better known as the Colosseum, of which
the ruins now stand in Rome, was the culmination of this sort of
building, and affords a good idea of the general arrangement of those
that were not so grand. That of Cæsar was, however, of wood, which
material was used in constructing theatres also; the first one of stone
was not erected until 30 B.C., when Augustus was consul. [Footnote:
History gives an account of one edifice of this kind made of wood that
fell down owing to imperfect construction, killing many thousand
spectators, and of another that was destroyed by fire. Pompey's theatre
of stone, built B.C. 55, has already been mentioned (page 231).]
Variety was given to the exhibitions of the amphitheatre by introducing
sufficient water to float ships, and by causing the same wretched class
that fought the wild beasts to represent two rival nations, and to
fight until one party was actually killed, unless preserved by the
clemency of the ruler.
It must not be supposed that all these exhibitions were known in early
times, for, in reality, they were mostly the fruit of the increased
love of pleasure that characterized the close of the period of the
republic, and reached their greatest extravagance only under the
emperors.
The departure of a Roman from this world was considered an event of
great importance, and was attended by peculiar ceremonies, some of
which have been imitated in later times. At the solemn moment the
nearest relative present tried to catch in his mouth the last expiring
breath, and as soon as life had passed away, he called out the name of
the departed and exclaimed "Vale!" (farewell). The ring had been
previously taken from the finger, and now the body was washed and
anointed by undertakers, who had been called from a place near the
temple of Venus Libitina, where the names of all who died were
registered, and where articles needed for funerals were hired and sold.
[Footnote: Libitina was an ancient Italian divinity about whom little
is known. She has been identified with both Proserpina (the infernal
goddess of death and queen of the domain of Pluto her husband) and with
Venus.]
A small coin was placed in the mouth of the deceased to pay Charon the
ferryman who was to take it across the rivers of the lower world, the
body was laid out in the vestibule, with its feet toward the door,
wearing the simple toga, in the case of an ordinary citizen, or the
toga _prætexta_ in case of a magistrate, and flowers and leaves
were used for decorations as they are at present. If the deceased had
received a crown for any act of heroism in life, it was placed upon his
head at death. We have already seen that cypress was put at the door to
express to the passer-by the bereavement of the dwellers in the house.
If the person had been of importance, the funeral was public, and
probably it would be found that he had left money for the purpose; but
if he had omitted to do that, the expenses of burial would devolve on
those who were to inherit his property. These charges in case of a poor
person would be but slight, the funeral being celebrated; as in the
olden times of the republic, at night and in a very modest style.
The master of the funeral, as he was called, attended by lictors
dressed in black, directed the ceremonies in the case of a person of
importance. On the eighth day the body would be taken to its cremation
or burial, accompanied by persons wearing masks, representing the
ancestors of the deceased and dressed in the official costumes that had
been theirs, while before it would be borne the military and civic
rewards that the deceased had won.
Musicians playing doleful strains headed the procession, followed by
hired mourners who united lamentations with songs in praise of the
virtue of the departed. Players, buffoons, and liberated slaves
followed, and of the actors one represented the deceased, imitating his
words and actions. The couch on which the body rested as it was carried
was often of ivory adorned with gold, and was borne by the near
relatives or freedmen, though Julius Cæsar was carried by magistrates
and Augustus by senators.
Behind the body the relatives walked in mourning, which was black or
dark blue, the sons having their heads veiled, and the daughters
wearing their hair dishevelled, and both uttering loud lamentations,
the women frantically tearing their cheeks and beating their breasts.
As the procession passed through the forum it stopped, and an oration
was delivered celebrating the praises of the deceased, after which it
went on through the city to some place beyond the walls where the body
was burned or buried. We have seen that burial was the early mode of
disposing of the dead, and that Sulla was the first of his gens to be
burned. [Footnote: See page 197.] In case of burning, the body was
placed on a square, altar-like pile of wood, still resting on the
couch, and the nearest relative, with averted face, applied the torch.
As the flames rose, perfumes, oil, articles of apparel, and dishes of
food were cast into them. Sometimes animals, captives, or slaves were
slaughtered on the occasion, and, as we have seen, gladiators were
hired to fight around the flaming pile. [Footnote: See pages 158 and
210]
When the fire had accomplished its work, and the whole was burned down,
wine was thrown over the ashes to extinguish the expiring embers, and
the remains were sympathetically gathered up and placed in an urn of
marble or less costly material. A priest then sprinkled the ashes with
pure water, using a branch of olive or laurel, the urn was placed in a
niche of the family tomb, and the mourning relatives and friends
withdrew, saying as they went _Vale, vale_! When they reached their
homes they underwent a process of purification, the houses themselves
were swept with a broom of prescribed pattern, and for nine days the
mourning exercises, which included a funeral feast, were continued. In
the case of a great man this feast was a public banquet, and
gladiatorial shows and games were added in some instances, and they
were also repeated on anniversaries of the funeral.
[Illustration: A COLUMBARIUM.]
The public buried the illustrious citizens of the nation, and those
whose estates were too poor to pay such expenses; the former being for
a long time laid away in the Campus Martius, until the site became
unhealthy, when it was given to Mæcenas, who built a costly house on
it. The rich often erected expensive vaults and tombs during their own
lives, and some of the streets for a long distance from the city gate
were bordered with ornamental but funereal structures, which must have
made the traveller feel that he was passing through unending burial-
places. If a tomb was fitted up to contain many funeral ash-urns, it
was known as a columbarium, or dove-cote (_columba_, a dove), the
ashes of the freedmen and even slaves being placed in niches covered by
lids and bearing inscriptions. The Romans ornamented their tombs in a
variety of ways, but did not care to represent death in a direct
manner. The place of burial of a person, even a slave, was sacred, and
one who desecrated it was liable to grave punishment--even to death,--
if the bodies or bones were removed. Oblations of flowers, wine, and
milk were often brought to the tombs by relatives, and sometimes they
were illuminated.
Almost every country lying under a southern sun is accustomed to
rejoice at the annual return of flowers, and ancient Rome was not
without its May-day. Festivals of the sort are apt to degenerate
morally, and that, also, was true of the Floralia, as these feasts were
called at Rome. It is said that in the early age of the republic there
was found in the Sibylline books a precept commanding the institution
of a celebration in honor of the goddess Flora, who presided over
flowers and spring-time, in order to obtain protection for the
blossoms. The last three days of April and the first two of May were
set apart for this purpose, and then, under the direction of the
ædiles, the people gave themselves up to all the delights and, it must
be confessed, to many of the dissipations of the opening spring. The
amusements were of a varied character, including scenic and other
theatrical shows, great merriment, feasting, and drinking. Dance and
song added to the gay pleasures, and flowers adorned the scenes that
met the eye on every hand. Probably no particular deity was honored at
these festivals at first. They were simply the unbending of the rustics
after the cold of winter, the rejoicings natural to man in spring; but
finally the personal genius of the flowers was developed and her name
given to the gay festival.
The rustic simplicity represented well the primal homeliness of the
nation during the heroic ages; the orgies of the crowded city may be
put for the growing decay of the later period when, enriched and
intoxicated by foreign conquest and maddened by civil war, the republic
fell, and the way was made plain for the great material growth of the
empire, as well as for the final fall of the vast power that had for so
many centuries been invincible among the nations of the earth;--a power
which still stands forth in monumental grandeur, and is to-day studied
for the lessons it teaches and the warnings its history utters to
mankind.