LIFE IN THE ROMAN WORLD OF NERO AND ST. PAUL
by
T. G. TUCKER
1924
PREFACE
The reception accorded to my _Life in Ancient Athens_ has led me to
write the present companion work with an eye to the same class of
readers. In the preface to the former volume it was said: "I have
sought to leave an impression true and sound, so far as it goes, and
also vivid and distinct. The style adopted has therefore been the
opposite of the pedantic, utilizing any vivacities of method which are
consistent with truth of fact." The same principles have guided me in
the present equally unpretentious treatise. I agree entirely with Mr.
Warde Fowler when he says: "I firmly believe that the one great hope
for classical learning and education lies in the interest which the
unlearned public may be brought to feel in ancient life and thought."
For the general reader there is perhaps no period in the history of
the ancient world which is more interesting than the one here chosen.
Yet, so far as I know, there exists no sufficiently popular work
dealing with this period alone and presenting in moderate compass a
clear general view of the matters of most moment. My endeavour has
been to represent as faithfully as possible the Age of Nero, and
nowhere in the book is it implied that what is true for that age is
necessarily as true for any other. The reader who is not a special
student of history or antiquities is perhaps as often confused by
descriptions of ancient life which cover too many generations as by
those--often otherwise excellent--which include too much detail.
I have necessarily consulted not only the Latin and Greek writers who
throw light upon the time, but also all the best-known Standard works
of modern date. It is perhaps scarcely necessary to state that in
matters of contemporary government, administration, and public life my
guides have been chiefly Mommsen, Arnold, and Greenidge; for social
life Marquardt, Friedländer, and Becker-Göll; for topography and
buildings Jordan, Hülsen, Lanciani, and Middleton; nor that the
Dictionaries of Smith and of Daremberg and Saglio have been always at
hand, as well as Baumeister's _Denkmäler_, and Guhl and Koner's _Life
of the Greeks and Romans_. The admirable _Pompeii_ of Mau-Kelsey has
been, of course, indispensable. I have also derived profit from the
writings of Prof. Sir W. M. Ramsay in connexion with St. Paul, and
from Conybeare and Howson's _Life and Epistles_ of the Apostle. Useful
hints have been found in Mr. Warde Fowler's _Social Life in Rome in
the Age of Cicero_, and in Prof. Dill's Roman_ Society from Nero to
Marcus Aurelius_. A personal study of ancient sites, monuments, and
objects of antiquity at Rome, Pompeii, and elsewhere has naturally
been of prime value. Those intimately acquainted with the immense
amount of the available material will best realize the difficulty
there has been in deciding how much to say and how much to "leave in
the inkstand."
For the drawings other than those of which another source is specified
I have to thank Miss M. O'Shea, on whom has occasionally fallen the
difficult task of giving ocular form to the mental visions of one who
happens to be no draughtsman. For the rest I make acknowledgment to
those books from which the illustrations have been directly derived
for my own purposes, without reference to more original sources.
I am especially grateful for the permission to use so considerable a
number of illustrations from the _Pompeii_ of Mau-Kelsey, from
Professor Waldstein's _Herculaneum_, and from Lanciani's _New Tales of
Old Rome_.
T.G.T.
October 1909.
CONTENTS
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTERS
I EXTENT AND SECURITY OF THE EMPIRE
II TRAVEL WITHIN THE EMPIRE
III A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE PROVINCES
IV THE IMPERIAL SYSTEM: EMPEROR, SENATE, KNIGHTS, AND PEOPLE
V NERO THE EMPEROR
VI ADMINISTRATION AND TAXATION OF THE EMPIRE
VII ROME: THE IMPERIAL CITY
VIII STREETS, WATER-SUPPLY, AND BUILDING MATERIAL
IX THE ROMAN TOWN HOUSE
X THE COUNTRY HOMESTEAD AND COUNTRY SEAT
XI ROMAN FURNITURE
XII SOCIAL DAY OF A ROMAN ARISTOCRAT--MORNING
XIII SOCIAL DAY OF A ROMAN ARISTOCRAT (_continued_)--AFTERNOON AND
DINNER
XIV LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AND LOWER CLASSES
XV HOLIDAYS AND AMUSEMENTS: THEATRE, CIRCUS, AMPHITHEATRE
XVI THE WOMEN: MARRIAGE, THE ROMAN MATRON, AND HER DRESS
XVII CHILDREN AND EDUCATION
XVIII THE ARMY: MILITARY SERVICE: PUBLIC CAREER
XIX ROMAN RELIGION--STATE AND INDIVIDUAL
XX STUDY AND SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE AMONG THE ROMANS
XXI PHILOSOPHY--STOICS AND EPICUREANS
XXII THE ROMAN PROFUSION OF ART
XXIII THE LAST SCENE OF ALL--BURIAL AND TOMBS
INDEX
ILLUSTRATIONS
FIG.
Frontispiece
View into Roman Forum from Temple of Vesta, A.D. 64.
(Restoration partly after Auer, Hülsen, Tognetti, etc.).
1. The Pont du Gard (Aqueduct and Bridge).
2. The Appian Way by the so-called Tomb of Seneca (Laneiani, _New
Tales of Old Rome_).
3. Plan of Inn at Pompeii. (After Mau).
4. Ship beside the Quay at Ostia. (Hill, _Illustrations of School
Classics_, FIG. 498 ).
6. The Acropolis at Athens. (From D'Ooge).
7. Plan of Antioch.
8. Emblem of Antioch. (_Dict. of Geog_. i. 116 ).
9. Emblem of Alexandria. (Mau, _Pompeii_, Fig 187).
10. Emblem of Rome. (From the column of Antoninus at Rome).
11. Augustus as Emperor.
12. Coin of Nero. (In the British Museum).
13. Bust of Seneca. (_Archäiologische Zeitung_).
14. Agrippina, Mother of Nero. (Photo, Mansell & Co.).
15. Bust of Nero.
16. Some Remains of the Claudian Aqueduct.
17. The Rostra: back view. (Modified from Hülsen).
18. Ruins of Forum. (Record-Office in background with modern building
above.) (Photo, Anderson).
19. N.E. of Forum, A.D. 64. (Complementary to Frontispiece).
20. Temple of Fortuna Augusta at Pompeii. (Mau, FIG. 58).
21. So-called Temple of the Sibyl at Tivoli.
22. Vestal Virgin. (Hill, FIG. 340 ).
23. Temple of Mars the Avenger in Forum of Augustus. (After
Ripostelli).
24. Exterior of Theatre of Marcellus. (Present state).
25. Exterior of Theatre of Marcellus. (Restored).
26. A Greek Exedra. (Baumeister).
27. Circus Maximus (restored). (Modified from Guhl and Koner).
28. Building Materials. (From Middleton).
29. Typical Scheme of Roman House.
30. Entrance to House of Pansa.
31. Interior of Roman House. (Restored).
32. House of Cornelius Rufus. (Mau, FIG. 121 ).
33. Peristyle with Garden and al fresco Dining-Table. (After Guhl and
Koner).
34. Peristyle in House of the Vettii. (Present state) (Mau, FIG.
162).
35. Kitchen Hearth in the House of the Vettii. (Mau, FIG. 125).
36. Cooking Hearths. (_Dict. Ant_. i. 672).
37. Shrine in House of the Tragic Poet. (Mau, FIG. 153 ).
38. Household Shrine. (Hill, FIG. 345).
38A. Leaden Pipes in House of Livia. (From a photograph).
39. Portable Braziers. (Daremberg and Saglio).
40. Manner of Roofing with Tiles.
41. House of Pansa at Pompeii. (After Mau).
42. House of the Vettii at Pompeii. (After Mau).
43. Specimen of Painted Room.
44. Specimen of Wall-Painting. (Mau, FIG. 264).
45. Plan of Homestead at Boscoreale. (After Mau).
46. Roman Folding Chair. (Schreiber).
47. Bronze Seat. (Overbeck).
48. Framework of Roman Couch. (Mau, FIG. 188).
49. Plan of Dining-Table with Three Couches.
50. Sigma.
51. Tripod from Herculaneum. (From Waldstein, _Herculaneum_, Plate
41).
52. Chest (Strong-box). (Mau, FIG. 120).
53. Mirrors. (Mau, FIG. 213).
54. Lamps. (Mau, FIG. 196).
55. Lampholder as Tree. (Mau, FIG. 202).
56. Cup from Herculaneum. (Waldstein, Plate 45).
57. Kitchen Utensils. (Mau, FIG. 204).
58. Pail from Herculaneum. (Waldstein, Plate 42).
59. Patrician Shoes. (_Dict. Ant_. i. 335).
60. Roman in the Toga. (Waldstein, Plate 18).
61. Slave in Fetters.
62. Litter. (_Dict. Ant_. ii. 15).
63. Reading a Proclamation. (Mau, FIG. 17).
64. Sealed Receipt of Jueundus. (Mau, FIG. 275).
65. Discus-Thrower. (Photo, Anderson).
66. Stabian Baths. (Mau, Plate 5).
67. Bathing Implements. (Mau, FIG. 209).
68. Acrobats. (Baumeister, i. 585).
69. Surgical Instruments. (Guhl and Koner).
70. Bakers' Mills. (Mau, FIG. 218).
71. Cupids as Goldsmiths. (Wall-Painting.)(Mau, FIG. 167).
72. Garland-Makers. (_Abhandlungen, historische-philologische
Classe Königlich Sächsischen Gesellschaft der Wissenschaften_).
73. Bust of Caecilius Jueundus. (Mau, FIG. 256).
74. Ploughs. (Hill, FIG. 383; _Dict. Ant_. i. 160).
75. Tools on Tomb. (_Dict. Ant_. ii. 243).
76. Pompeian Cook-Shop. (Mau, FIG. 131).
77. In a Wine-Shop. (Mau, FIG. 234).
78. Boxing-Gloves. (_Dict. Ant_. i. 329).
79. Theatre at Orange. (Restored.) (Baumeister, iii. 1742).
80. Theatre at Aspendus. (Guhl and Koner).
81. Tragic Actor. (Hill, FIG. 421).
82. Comic Masks. (Terence's _Andria_).
83. Scene from Comedy. (Hill, FIG. 422).
84. Plan of Circus.
85. The Turn in the Circus.
86. Chariot Race. (_Dict. Ant_. i. 434).
87. Amphitheatre at Pompeii. (Mau, Plate 6).
88. Barracks of Gladiators. (Mau, Plate 4).
89. Stocks for Gladiators. (Remains from Pompeii.) (Mau, FIG. 74).
90. Gladiators Fighting. (Guhl and Koner).
91. Toilet Scene. (Wall-Painting.) (Waldstein, Plate 32).
92. Woman in Full Dress. (Waldstein, Plate 7).
93. Hairpins. (Mau, FIG. 211).
94. Writing Materials.
95. Horsing a Boy. (After Sächs.) (Baumeister, iii. FIG. 1653).
96. Papyri and Tabulae. (From Dyer's _Pompeii_).
97. Roman Standards. (Guhl and Koner).
98. Armed Soldier.
99. A Roman General. (Hill, FIG. 465).
100. Centurion. (Hill, FIG. 466).
101. Standard-Bearer. (Hill, FIG. 470).
102. Baggage-Train. (Daremberg and Saglio, FIG. 1196).
103. Soldiers with Packs. (Seyffert, _Dict. Class. Ant_. p. 348).
104. Roman Soldiers Marching. (Schreiber).
105. Imperial Guards. (Guhl and Koner).
106. Besiegers with the "Tortoise." (Hill, FIG. 481).
107. Roman Artillery. (_Dict. Ant_. ii. 855).
108. Auxiliary Cavalryman. (_Dict. Ant_. i. 790).
109. Jupiter. (Vatican Museum).
110. A Sacrifice. (Mau, FIG. 44).
111. Isis Worship. (Wall-Painting.) (Mau, FIG. 81).
112. Household Shrine. (Mau, FIG. 127).
113. The World (approximately) as conceived about A.D. 100.
114. The Dying Gaul.
115. A "Candeliera" or Marble Pilaster of the Basilica Aemilia
(Lanciani, _New Tales, etc._, p. 147).
116. Fragments of the Architecture of the Regia. (Lanciani, p. 70).
117. Wall-Painting. (Woman with Tablets.) (Waldstein, _Herculaneum_,
Plate 35).
118. Wall-Painting from Herculaneum. (Women playing with
Knuckle-Bones.) (Waldstein, Plate 4).
119. Lyre and Harp.
120. "Conclamatio" of the Dead. (Guhl and Koner).
121. Tomb of Caecilia Metella.
122. Street of Tombs. (Mau, Plate 10).
123. Columbarium. (Guhl and Koner).
124. Temple of Jupiter on the Capitol.
MAPS AND PLANS:
Map of Roman Empire, A.D. 64.
Plan of Rome with Chief Topographical Features.
Plan of Forum, A.D. 64.
INTRODUCTION
The subject of this book is "Life in the Roman World of Nero and St.
Paul." This is not quite the same thing as "Life in Ancient Rome" at
the same date. Our survey is to be somewhat wider than that of the
imperial city itself, with its public and private structures, its
public and private life. The capital, and these topics concerning it,
will naturally occupy the greater portion of our time and interest.
But it is quite impossible to realise Rome, its civilisation, and the
meaning of its monuments, unless we first obtain some general
comprehension of the empire--the Roman world--with its component
parts, its organisation and administration. The date is approximately
anno Domini 64, although it is not desirable, even if it were
possible, to adhere in every detail to the facts of that particular
year. In A.D. 64 the Emperor Nero was at the height of his folly and
tyranny, and, so far as our information goes, the Apostle Paul was
journeying about the Roman world in the interval between his first and
second imprisonments in the capital.
One cannot, perhaps, achieve a wholly satisfying picture in a treatise
of the present dimensions. It would require a very bulky volume to
realise with any adequateness the ideal aim. It would be well if, in
the first instance, we could imagine ourselves standing somewhere far
aloft over the centre of the empire, and possessing as wide-ranging a
vision as that of the Homeric gods. From that exalted standpoint we
might gaze upon the active life of towns, upon the labourers working
their lands from the Atlantic to the Euphrates, and upon the men who
go down to the sea in ships and do their business in great waters. We
should perceive their occupations and amusements, their material
surroundings, their various dress and manners, their methods of
travel, the degree of their personal safety and liberty. Then we
should descend to earth in the middle of Rome itself, and become for
the time being inhabitants of that city, privileged to take part in
its public business and its public pleasures, to enter the houses of
what may be called its representative citizens, to share in the
various elements of its social day, and to estimate the moral,
intellectual, and artistic cultivation of Roman society.
Such would be the ideal. Here it must suffice, to select the most
essential or interesting matters, and to present them with such
vividness as the necessary brevity will permit. Very little
preliminary knowledge will be taken for granted; the use of Latin or
technical terms will be shunned, and every topic will be dealt with,
as far as possible, in the plainest of English.
Nevertheless, while aiming at entire lucidity, the following chapters
will aim even more scrupulously at telling the truth. There are
doubtless a number of matters--though generally of relatively small
moment--about which we are, and probably always shall be, uncertain.
The best way to deal with these, in a work which is descriptive rather
than argumentative, is to omit them. For the rest it must be expected
of any one whose professional concern it has been to saturate himself
for many years in the literature of the times, and to study carefully
their monumental remains, that he should occasionally make some
statement, drop some passing remark or judgment, which may appear to
be in conflict with assertions made in other quarters. If a few
examples are met with in the present book, they may be taken as made
with all deference, but with deliberation.
It is perhaps well to say this with some emphasis, in view of the
blunders often innocently committed by those who happen to be speaking
of this period. There are those who know it almost only through the
medium of the _Acts of the Apostles_, and who entertain the most
erroneous notions concerning Gallio or Festus, concerning Roman
justice, Roman taxation, or Roman moral and religious attitudes. There
are those, again, who know it almost only through the manuals of
history; that is to say, they know the dates and facts of the reigns
of the emperors, but have never realised, not to say visualised, the
contemporary Roman as a human being. There exist denunciations of the
morals of the Roman world of this date which would lead one to believe
that every man was a Nero and every woman a Messalina: denunciations
so lurid that, if they were a third part true, the continuance of the
Roman Empire, or even of the Roman race, for a single century would be
simply incomprehensible. On the other hand there have been accounts of
the material glory of Rome which have conjured up visions of splendour
worthy only of the _Arabian Nights_; and sometimes the comment is
added that it was all won from the blood and sweat heartlessly wrung
from a world of miserable slaves. It is not too much to say that none
of these descriptions could come from a writer or speaker who knew the
period at first hand.
The most dangerous form of falsehood is that which contains some
portion of truth. The life of many a Roman was deplorably dissolute;
the splendour of Rome was beyond doubt astonishing; of oppression
there were too many scattered instances; but we do not judge the
civilisation of the British Empire by the choicest scandals of London,
nor the good sense of the United States by the freak follies of New
York. We do not take it that the modern satirist who vents his spleen
on an individual or a class is describing each and all of his
contemporaries, nor even that what he says is necessarily true of such
individual or class. Nor is the professional moralist himself immune
from jaundice or from the disease of exaggeration.
The endeavour here will be to realise more veraciously what life in
the Roman world was like. For those who are familiar with the
political history and the escapades of Nero there may be some filling
in of gaps and adjusting of perspective. For those who are familiar
with the journeyings and experiences of St. Paul there may be some
correction of errors and misconceptions. For those who have any
thought of visiting the ruins of Rome and Pompeii, it may prove
helpful to have secured some comprehension of this period. Pompeii was
destroyed only fifteen years after our date, and all those houses,
large and small, were occupied in the year 64 by their unsuspecting
inhabitants. Meanwhile mansions, temples, and halls stood in splendour
above those platforms and foundations over which we tread amid the
broken columns in the Roman Forum or on the Palatine Hill.
CHAPTER I
EXTENT AND SECURITY OF THE EMPIRE
The best means of realising the extent of the Roman Empire in or about
the year 64 is to glance at the map. It will be found to reach from
the Atlantic Ocean to the Euphrates, from the middle of
England--approximately the river Trent--to the south of Egypt, from
the Rhine and the Danube to the Desert of Sahara. The Mediterranean
Sea is a Roman lake, and there is not a spot upon its shores which is
not under Roman rule. In round numbers the empire is three thousand
miles in length and two thousand in breadth. Its population, which, at
least in the western parts, was much thinner then than it is over the
same area at present, cannot be calculated with any accuracy, but an
estimate of one hundred millions would perhaps be not very far from
the mark.
Beyond its borders--sometimes too dangerously near to them and apt to
overstep them--lay various peoples concerning whom Roman knowledge was
for the most part incomplete and indefinite. Within its own boundaries
the Roman government carefully collected every kind of information.
Such precision was indispensable for the carrying out of those Roman
principles of administration which will be described later. But of the
nations or tribes beyond the frontiers only so much was known as had
been gathered from a number of more or less futile campaigns, from
occasional embassies sent to Rome by such peoples, from the writings
of a few venturous travellers bent on exploration, from slaves who had
been acquired by war or purchase, or from traders such as those who
made their way to the Baltic in quest of amber, or to Arabia,
Ethiopia, and India in quest of precious metals, jewels, ivory,
perfumes, and fabrics.
There had indeed been sundry attempts to annex still more of the
world. Roman armies had crossed the Rhine and had twice fought their
way to the Elbe; but it became apparent to the shrewd Augustus and
Tiberius that the country could not be held, and the Rhine was for the
present accepted as the most natural and practical frontier. In the
East the attempts permanently to annex Armenia, or a portion of
Parthia, had so far proved but nominal or almost entirely vain.
On the Upper Euphrates at this date there was a sort of acknowledgment
of vague dependence on Rome, but the empire had acquired nothing more
solid. Forty years before our date a Roman expedition had penetrated
into South-west Arabia, of which the wealth was extravagantly
over-estimated, but it had met with complete failure. Into Ethiopia a
punitive campaign had been made against Queen Candace, and a loose
suzerainty was claimed over her kingdom, but the Roman frontier still
stopped short at Elephantine. Over the territories of the semi-Greek
semi-Scythian settlements to the north of the Black Sea Rome exercised
a protectorate, which was for obvious reasons not unwelcome to those
concerned. Along or near the eastern frontier she well understood the
policy of the "buffer state," and, within her own borders in those
parts, was ready to make tools of petty kings, whose own ambitions
would both assist her against external foes and relieve her of
administrative trouble.
At no time did the Roman Empire possess so natural or scientific a
frontier as at this, when it was bounded by the Rhine, the Danube, the
Black Sea, the Euphrates, the Desert, and the Atlantic. The only
exception, it will be perceived, was in Britain, but the Roman idea
there also was to annex the whole island, a feat which was never
accomplished. Two generations after our chosen date Rome had conquered
as far as the Firths of Clyde and Forth; it had crossed the Southern
Rhine, and annexed the south-west corner of Germany, approximately
from Cologne to Ratisbon; it had passed the Danube, and secured and
settled Dacia, which is roughly the modern Roumania; and it had pushed
its power somewhat further into the East. But it had not thereby
increased either its strength or its stability.
At the period then with which we are to deal, the Roman Empire
included the countries now known as Holland, Belgium, France, Spain
and Portugal, Switzerland, Italy, the southern half of the Austrian
Empire, Greece, Turkey, Asia Minor, Syria and Palestine, Egypt,
Tripoli and Tunis, Algeria, Morocco, and also the southern two-thirds
of England. Within these borders there prevailed that greatest
blessing of the Roman rule, the _pax Romana_, or "Roman peace."
Whatever defects may be found in the Roman administration, on whatever
abstract grounds the existence of such an empire may be impugned, it
cannot be questioned that for at least two centuries the whole of this
vast region enjoyed a general reign of peace and security such as it
never knew before and has never known since. That peace meant also
social and industrial prosperity and development. It meant an immense
increase in settled population and in manufactures, and an immense
advance--particularly in the West--in civilised manners and
intellectual interests.
Peoples and tribes which had been at perpetual war among themselves or
with some neighbour were reduced to quietude. Communities which had
been liable to sudden invasion and to all manner of arbitrary changes
in their conditions of life, in their burdens of taxation, and even in
their personal freedom, now knew exactly where they stood, and, for
the most part, perceived that they stood in a much more tolerable and
a distinctly more assured position than before. If there must
sometimes be it would be the Roman tyrant, and he, as we shall find,
affected them but little. All irresponsible local tyrannies, whether
of kings or parties, were abolished.
On the high seas within the empire you might voyage with no fear
whatever of pirates. If you looked for pirates you must look beyond
the Roman sphere to the Indian Ocean. There might also be a few to be
found in the Black Sea. On the high road you might travel from
Jerusalem to Rome, and from Rome to Cologne or Cadiz, with no fear of
any enemy except such banditti and footpads as the central or local
government could not always manage to put down. On the whole there was
nearly everywhere a clear recognition of the advantages conferred by
the empire.
It is quite true that during these two centuries we meet with frequent
trouble on the borders and with one or two local revolts of more or
less strength. At our chosen date the Jews were being stirred by their
fanatical or "zealot" party into an almost hopeless insurrection;
within two years the rebellion broke out. Three years later still,
certain ambitious semi-Romans took advantage of a troubled time to
make a determined but futile effort to form a Gaulish or
German-Gaulish empire of their own. Half a century after Nero the Jews
once again rose, but were speedily suppressed. But apart from these
abortive efforts--made, one by a unique form of religious zeal, one by
adventurous ambition, at opposite extremities of the Roman
world--there was established a general, and in most cases a willing,
acceptance of the situation and a proper recognition of its benefits.
The only serious war to be feared within the empire itself was a civil
war, begun by some aspiring leader when his chance seemed strong of
ousting the existing emperor or of succeeding to his throne. Four
years from the date at which we have placed ourselves such a war
actually did break out. Nero was driven from the throne in favour of
Galba, and the history of the year following is the history of Otho
murdering Galba, Vitellius overthrowing Otho, and Vespasian in his
turn overthrowing Vitellius. Yet all this is but the story of one
entirely exceptional year, the famous "year of four emperors." Take
out that year from the imperial history; count a hundred years before
and more than a hundred years after, and it would be impossible to
find in the history of the world any period at which peace, and
probably contentment, was so widely and continuously spread. Think of
all the countries which have just been enumerated as lying within the
Roman border; then imagine that, with the exception of one year of
general commotion, two or three provincial and local revolts, and
occasional irruptions and retaliations upon the frontier, they have
all been free from war and its havoc ever since the year 1700. In our
year of grace 64, although the throne is occupied by a vicious emperor
suffering from megalomania and enormous self-conceit, the empire is in
full enjoyment of its _pax Romana_.
Another glance at the map will show how secure this internal peace was
felt to be. The Roman armies will be found almost entirely upon the
frontiers. It was, of course, imperative that there should be strong
forces in such positions--in Britain carrying out the annexation; on
the Rhine and Danube defending against huge-bodied, restless Germans
and their congeners; on the Euphrates to keep off the nimble and
dashing Parthian horse and foot; in Upper Egypt to guard against the
raids of "Fuzzy-Wuzzy "; in the interior of Tunis or Algeria to keep
the nomad Berber tribes in hand. In such places were the Roman legions
and their auxiliary troops regularly kept under the eagles, for there
lay their natural work, and there do we find them quartered generation
after generation.
It is, of course, true that they might be employed inwards as well as
outwards; but it must be manifest that, if there had been any
widespread disaffection, any reasonable suspicion that serious revolts
might happen, there would have been many other large bodies of troops
posted in garrison throughout the length and breadth of the provinces.
In point of fact the whole Roman military force can scarcely have
amounted to more than 320,000 men, while the navy consisted of two
small fleets of galleys, one regularly posted at Misenum at the
entrance to the Bay of Naples, the other at Ravenna on the Adriatic.
To these we may add a flotilla of boats operating on the Lower Rhine
and the neighbouring coasts. Except during the year of civil war the
two fleets have practically no history. They enjoyed the advantage of
having almost nothing to fight against. If pirates had become
dangerous--as for a brief time they threatened to do during the Jewish
revolt--the imperial ships would have been in readiness to suppress
them. They could be made useful for carrying despatches and imperial
persons or troops, or they might be used against a seaside town if
necessary. Beyond this they hardly correspond to our modern navies.
There was no foreign competition to build against, and no "two-power
standard" to be maintained.
The Roman troops, it has already been said, were almost wholly on the
frontier. So far as there are exceptions, they explain themselves. It
was found necessary at all times to keep at least one legion regularly
quartered in Northern Spain, where the mountaineers were inclined to
be predatory, and where they were skilful, as they have always been,
at carrying on guerilla warfare. We may, if we choose, regard this
comparatively small army as policing a lawless district. In but few
other places do we find a regular military force. Rome itself had both
a garrison and also a large body of Imperial Guards. The garrison,
consisting of some 6000 men, was in barracks inside the city, and its
purpose was to protect the wealth of the metropolis and the seat of
government from any sudden riot or factious tumult. It must be
remembered that among the Romans it was soldiers who served as police,
whether at Rome or in the provinces. The Imperial Guards, consisting
of 12,000 troops, were stationed just outside the gates, in order to
secure the safety and position of the emperor himself, if any attempt
should be made against his person or authority. The rich and important
town of Lugdunum (or Lyons) had a small garrison of 1200 men, and a
certain number of troops were always to be found in garrison in those
great towns where factious disturbances were either probable or
possible. Thus at Alexandria, where the Jews were fanatical and at
loggerheads with the Greeks, and where the native Egyptians were no
less fanatical and might be at loggerheads with both, it was necessary
to keep a disciplinary force in readiness. Somewhat similar was the
case at Antioch, where the discords of the Greeks, Syrians, and Jews
stood in need of the firm Roman hand. Nor could a similar regiment be
spared from Jerusalem. The western towns were generally smaller in
size, more homogeneous, and more tranquil. It was around the Levant
that the popular _émeute_ was most to be feared. Doubtless one may
meet, whether in the New Testament or in Roman and Greek writers, with
frequent mention of soldiers, and we make acquaintance with an
occasional centurion--something socially above a colour-sergeant and
below a captain--or other officer in various parts of the empire. But
it should be understood that, except in such places as those which
have been named, soldiers were distributed in small handfuls, to act
as _gendarmerie_, to deal with brigands, to serve as bodyguard and
orderlies to a governor, to bear despatches, to be custodians of state
prisoners. To these classes belong the centurions of the _Acts of the
Apostles_, while Lysias was the colonel of the regiment keeping order
in Jerusalem.
What the Roman army was like, whence it was recruited, how it was
armed, and what were its operations, are matters to be shown in a
later chapter. Regarded then as a controlling agent, maintaining
widespread peace, the Roman Empire answers closely to the British
_raj_ in India. The analogy could indeed be pressed very much further
and with more closeness of detail, but this is scarcely the place for
such a discussion.