THE CHILD IN ROME
=Characteristics.= It is one of the world problems to determine just the
cause for the origin and building up of a great city from which arose a
great nation as Rome. This is one of the great puzzling questions that
seems can never be correctly answered. But whatever the cause of the
origin of the Romans, there is no question about their accomplishments.
From a few mud huts on the bank of the Tiber river filled with savage or
semi-civilized people there grew up one of the very greatest ruling
forces the world has ever known, conquering the known world and
controlling all from the center at Rome with power and wisdom that seem
miraculous. The Romans possessed intense personality and keen power of
organization and control. They believed in the state and that each
individual owed it a duty, and yet they conceived that the state existed
for the individual and needed each one as well as the individual needed
the state. This view of the state and the individual enabled the Romans
to base the state on law and to respect law when once established.
Through this view they became lovers of law and order. They were
essentially practical and from their attacking the problems of the world
in a business and thoughtful way they became strong in administrative
ability and through which they evolved a sound jurisprudence, which was
bequeathed to humanity. The old Romans were men of both moral and
physical vigor and of strong thought; they were utilitarian, proud,
overbearing, selfish, cruel, and rapacious; with strong self-will they
met humanity and nature and conquered both, which is shown on nature by
remains of roads, bridges, aqueducts, and other structures, while their
language yet dominates a large part of the world and their laws a yet
still larger portion.
"Rome was one continual city of noise and bustle. Horace had complained
of the turmoil going on night and day, the scurry and crowding of the
streets from whose 'torrents and tempests' he hastened to escape into
the chaste solitude of the Sabine hills. But during the first century
population and activity increased apace, reaching its zenith, perhaps,
in the days of Martial and Juvenal. Before daybreak the bakers would be
hawking their loaves, and the shepherds, coming into the town from the
surrounding districts, their milk: then the infant schools would begin
intoning the alphabet, and with hammer and saw the rasping workshops
were set going. Creaking wagons would haul huge blocks of stone and
trunks of trees, with the weight of which the ground would quake,
heavily laden beasts of burden jostled the foot-passenger; on all sides
jolting and knocks and trampling, a fine confusion in which pickpockets
reap their advantage. Here, says Martial (100 A. D.), the money-changer
clatters Nero's bad coin down on his dirty table, and there a workman is
hammering Spanish gold on an anvil. A procession of raving priests of
Bellona is shrieking uninterruptedly; a shipwrecked sailor, with a
fragment of the wreck wrapped up in his hand, is begging alms; a Jewish
lad, sent out by his mother to beg; the call of a blear-eyed peddler
from the other side of the Tiber, offering sulphur matches for broken
glass. Jugglers, some with trained animals (Juvenal speaks of a monkey
riding a goat and swinging a spear), Marsian snake-eaters and
snake-charmers are calling for spectators for their craft. Peddlers,
peddling old clothes, linen and what-not, carriers of pea-flour and
smoking sausages, butchers with a reeking quarter of beef, and the foot,
the guts and the blood-red lung,--each, to his own screeching tune,
proclaiming his own wares."[176]
=The People.= In early Rome the population was divided into three
classes, as in Greece, which comprised citizens with full rights and
privileges, aliens with no rights of their own, and slaves who were
regarded as mere property. But Rome, unlike Greece, did not remain a
small territory, but extended its realm to include the parts of Italy
about it and then all Italy and then the land about the Mediterranean,
and then expanded to other parts of the earth, making a vast territory.
Roman citizenship was gradually extended till it reached out into this
territory. So the original three divisions did not continue to be
maintained closely but there grew up three other divisions of the
people. These were the patricians, the equites, and the plebeians, all
of whom were of the free population, enjoying the citizenship of Rome
but not having the same privileges. The patricians, or _ordo
senatorius_, were of the governing class; the equites, or _ordo
equester_, included the middle class, the business people such as
bankers, merchants, contractors, and the like; the plebeians included
the great body of citizens, the common people.
=Slavery.= The greatest development of slavery was at Rome, reaching its
high point in the last century of the Republic. The Romans had slaves
from the earliest history. In the early times those who held slaves
usually did not have more than two or three each, but as the years went
on civic conditions changed and a great demand for slaves arose and the
numbers increased till in the time of Augustus it is estimated that the
whole number of free citizens in Rome might have been a half million or
more and the slave population half that number, one in every three of
the population of Rome at that time being a slave.[177]
The slaves came from the children of slaves, from persons becoming
slaves under the law of debt, from importations from other slave-holding
countries, from kidnappers who snatched up people from other countries
and even from the coasts of Italy, but the great source of all was from
captives in the numerous wars waged by Rome upon other peoples. It is
claimed that in one campaign there were 150,000 people sold into slavery
at its close. Slave-dealers followed the armies and there were
slave-markets at Rome and other cities. Slaves were sold in open market
just as animals and at high-tide prices were very low. There were all
kinds of slaves, as they came from many parts of Africa, Asia, and
Europe. The greatest number were used in agriculture and in domestic
service. There were all kinds of mechanics among the slaves and some
most highly skilled. There were educated slaves coming from Greece and
other countries of the East, so that they were used for the training of
the young and for the carrying on of business for their masters. There
even were physicians and surgeons among the slaves, many households
having one to look after the needs of the free and the slave. There also
were slaves whose duty it was to give amusement and entertainment, such
as musicians, dancers, acrobats, jugglers, rope-walkers, and the like.
Too, there were poor dwarfs and simple-minded among the slaves, who
were used to amuse master and mistress and guests as did the jesters of
the courts in Europe later.
In the early times when each family had but few slaves, they were well
treated and well cared for, being considered as members of the
household. But later, and especially when slaves became so numerous and
cheap, they were often treated very badly and neglected. The slaves were
the absolute property of the masters and unprotected by the law, but
later laws were made for their protection. The punishments were often
extremely severe. They were brutally beaten, legs fettered, heavy iron
collars put around their necks, thrown into dungeons, put at hard labor
till worn out. Their capital punishment was crucifixion, being thrown to
the animals of the vivarium, or set to fight the fierce beasts in the
amphitheater. They were not always treated badly and even some became
greatly esteemed by master and mistress and sometimes master and slave
became friends, as some slaves were highly educated and accomplished
men. Such slaves were usually set free and thus became freemen.
It is not necessary to discuss here the effect of slavery upon the
citizen or the nation, for the world has fully decided that slavery is
not good for the slave nor for the master nor for the state.
=The Home.= "The oldest Italian dwelling was a mere wigwam, with a
hearth in the middle of the floor and a hole at the top to let the smoke
out."[178] As Rome kept growing the houses kept improving until within
the city the buildings became among the most wonderful and beautiful in
the world. Also the Romans built beautiful country residences, _villas_,
out from Rome. Little was known about the houses of the Romans until
Pompeii and other cities were discovered in the middle of the eighteenth
century, having been buried by an eruption of Vesuvius in 79 A. D. The
houses and contents in Pompeii were well preserved, as the city was
covered with ashes, while the other places were more or less destroyed
by streams of lava.
When Rome became so filled with people, only the wealthy were able to
have houses of their own, the well-to-do and the poor had to find place
in huge lodging-houses called _insulae_ (islands), because they occupied
the entire block and so were surrounded by streets. Before the great
fire in the time of Nero, the streets were irregular and narrow. In the
earlier times of the Republic the houses were three or four stories high
and the number of stories grew until the time of Augustus, the maximum
height of the frontage of a private building was made 70 feet (Roman
measure), which gave room for six or seven stories which height was
reduced after the fire of Nero to 60 feet, five or six stories. These
houses were erected by speculators and were of poor material and poorly
constructed, so that they were continually crumbling and tumbling and
burning down. Being cheaply constructed and poorly repaired they did not
afford great protection against the weather and so it was fortunate for
the poor people that the climate of Italy for the most part favored an
out-of-door life.
There were three parts in a Roman house, which were arranged in the same
order in almost every house, although there might have been other rooms
attached to them. In front was the _atrium_, partly covered; then came a
center space, the _tablinum_, which was entirely covered; and adjoining
this latter was the _peristylium_, an open court surrounded by columns.
The _atrium_ was the essential feature that marked off the Roman house
from that of Greece and other countries of the East. In the primitive
houses, and in later times with the poor and the middle classes, this
was used for both kitchen and sitting-room, while with the wealthier
people it was the reception-room. This contained the family hearth and
altar. The street door did not open directly from the street but there
was a passage from the street and the door was placed at the end of this
passage. Usually there was a square opening in the roof of the _atrium_
for light and in the floor underneath this opening was a cistern for
receiving the water that rained in and there were pipes under the floor
for carrying off the water.
The _tablinum_ was usually separated from the _atrium_ by curtains. This
contained the family records and archives; the _peristylium_ was a later
addition to the Roman house, coming when Greek architecture became to be
used in the buildings. This became the ornamental part of the house,
with fountains and flowers and shrubbery occupying the center of the
court, surrounded by pillars and open to the sky. There were other
rooms, among them being the _alae_, small rooms at the right and left of
the _atrium_, and from the _peristylium_ opened the _triclinium_, dining
room, the _culina_, kitchen, and the _sacrarium_, chapel.
The street door was of wood, having two leaves (a folding-door), moving
on pivots, and in private houses opening inward and outward in public
buildings. When opening inward the door was secured by a bolt and when
opening outward by lock and key. There were but few windows and in
general only in rooms above the ground floor. Paper, linen cloth, horn,
and mica were used in the windows and glass seems to have come into use
under the early emperors. The walls were decorated with paintings. The
floors of the primitive houses consisted of clay and then came bricks
and tiles and stones and later the houses of the wealthy class had
marble and mosaics.
"The Romans resorted to various methods of warming their rooms. They
made use of portable furnaces for carrying embers and burning coals to
warm the different apartments of the house, and which they seem to have
placed in the middle of the room. They also had a method of heating the
rooms by hot air, which was conveyed by means of pipes through the
different apartments. They also had a kind of stove, in which wood
appears to have been usually burned. It has been a matter of much
dispute whether the Romans had chimneys to carry off the smoke, but it
does not appear that these were entirely unknown to the Romans."[179]
There were four representative kinds of chairs used by the Romans. The
first kind was a folding-stool with curved legs placed crosswise; the
second kind had four perpendicular legs and were without backs; the
third kind were similar to the second but had a back; and the fourth
kind was a chair of state, with high or low back, the back and legs
being ornamented.
The couches were of three kinds. There was the low dining-couch, upon
which they reclined at meals; then there were the beds for sleep at
night or siesta by day; and the third kind had usually two arms but no
back and which were chiefly used for reading or writing at night. With
the bed was the mattress, filled with straw or sheep's wool or the down
of geese and swans; bolsters and cushions, stuffed as the mattress;
blankets and sheets, of simple material or dyed and embroidered; pillows
for propping the head or the left elbow of the sleeping or reclining
persons; and footstools.
They had benches of wood and stone and bronze, some of them being
semi-circular and large enough to hold quite a number of people. There
were square, round, and crescent-shaped tables, some being quite large,
others smaller with three legs, and a one-legged table, often quite
small and made of the rarest material and elegant in design. There were
pots and pans of various kinds, and buckets and dishes and
drinking-vessels, and other kinds of vessels.
The houses at night were lighted with lamps. The lamp consisted of the
oil-reservoir, which contained the oil, the nose, through which went the
wick, and the handle to carry it by. The lamps were put on stands or
were suspended from lamp-holders or they hung down from the ceiling. The
stands and lamp-holders that were used by the poorer people were made of
common wood or metal, while those of the rich were of costly material
and often most beautifully adorned with figures of all kinds of animals
carved upon them. They had lanterns also, which had for covering horn,
oiled canvas, and bladder, and later, glass.
=Women.= There were three classes of women at Rome--the citizen-woman,
the alien, and the slave. Unlike as in Athens, the foreign woman never
rose to prominence at Rome but it was the citizen-woman who took rank
always before any other. Nor was a male citizen allowed to marry an
alien woman, for citizens were wanted and, therefore, both parents
needed to be citizens. But as citizenship was expanded to the parts of
the world outside of Rome, the alien woman became a citizen, and so a
Roman could marry her and still maintain his own and his offspring's
rights.
In the early times the woman remained at home. She engaged in spinning
and weaving and other household duties, and she had supreme control of
household affairs. She was under the authority of her husband and she
had no individual rights in property and she could not make a will.
Later she acquired more rights and privileges. The condition of women at
Rome was quite a deal better than at Athens or in any other country
previous to Roman times. For at Rome women were allowed more freedom and
participation in public affairs, they were allowed more to share in the
joys and pleasures of the husband and other people, and they enjoyed a
greater confidence and esteem of the men.
That Roman women appeared in public and that they were not afraid to
stand up for their rights is illustrated in the following. In 215 B. C.,
when Rome needed resources for the second Punic war, the Oppian Law, was
passed which forbade any woman to have gold trinkets of the weight of
more than half an ounce, to wear a parti-colored garment, or to ride in
a chariot within the city of Rome or a town occupied by Roman citizens
or within a mile of these places, except for a religious purpose. Twenty
years later, when the war was over and prosperity had returned, the
women asked for the repeal of this law. They started a campaign and
talked about it in every place, they interviewed men on the street, and
they stated the case to every one that had a vote. Women from towns and
villages came into Rome to help. On the day of the vote, the women rose
early and filled the streets to the Forum and used every means to gain
their cause. They finally overcame the opposition, the law was repealed,
and the women recovered their liberty of riding and dressing as they had
formerly done.
The Roman women would even go to greater extremes than the conducting of
a political campaign. Over a hundred years before the event recorded
above, when the women had much less privileges, when the despotic
actions of husbands became unendurable, the women sought a way of
rescuing themselves. At the time a number of men of the upper classes
were attacked by an unknown disease, in every case attended by similar
symptoms, and nearly all died. No cause could be found until a female
slave offered to explain upon promise of freedom and to suffer no harm
in consequence. Upon the Senate's guaranteeing such to her, she told
them that the deaths were from poison, that the wives met together to
compound the poison. She took the officials to the place, where they
found the women preparing the ingredients. The women were charged with
the matter, and to prove their innocence they partook of the drugs, upon
which death followed, and with the same symptoms as with the men. Upon
investigation 170 of the women were found guilty and it is held that 300
or more wives had entered into the plot to put their husbands to death.
Some doubts are thrown upon this story by some historians but at any
rate it is stated that the Romans believed it and told it for the truth.
Another story is told of women's appearing in public. At the time of the
second triumvirate, funds being needed, a decree was passed requiring
that fourteen hundred of the richest women should make a valuation of
their property, under severe penalties against concealment or
undervaluation, and that they should turn over such a portion as the
triumvirs might require. The women appealed to the sister of one of the
triumvirs and to the mother and wife of another but with little success.
They then in a body went to the tribunal of the triumvirs, whose acts no
man dared question, making for their spokesman, Hortensia, the daughter
of the famous orator, Hortensius, and protested against the edict. It is
claimed this is the first time to be enunciated the principle of "no
taxation without representation." They succeeded in getting the amount
reduced to a comparatively small sum.
There are some other instances of the public assembling of women. Under
the empire there was an assembly of women known as the _conventus
matronarum_, or the "little senate," as one writer of the time named it.
The Emperor Heliogabalus built on the Quirinal a meeting-place for this
body. This body of matrons met and discussed and voted upon and decided
the various points of court etiquette, such as questions of dress,
precedence, and the use of carriages.
The public standing of the citizen-woman at Athens has been given in the
quotations on pages 179-181, which may be compared with the public
standing of the citizen-woman at Rome as given in the following:
"If we take the period of Roman history from 150 B. C. to 150 A. D., we
shall be surprised at the number of the women of whom it is recorded
that they were loved ardently by their husbands, exercised a beneficial
influence on them, and helped them in their political or literary work.
Many of these women had received an excellent education, they were
capable and thoughtful, and took an active interest in the welfare of
the State. It is well known that it was Cornelia, the mother of the
Gracchi, who inspired her sons with the resolution to cope with the
evils that beset the State, and her purpose did not waver when she knew
they had to face death in their country's cause. Julia, the daughter of
Julius Cæsar, and the wife of Pompey, kept the two leaders on good terms
as long as she lived, and acted with great sweetness and prudence.
Cornelia, Pompey's second wife, was a woman of great culture, and a most
faithful and devoted wife. Plutarch thus describes her: 'The young woman
possessed many charms besides her youthful beauty, for she was well
instructed in letters, in playing on the lyre, and in geometry, and she
had been accustomed to listen to philosophical discourses with profit.
In addition to this, she had a disposition free from all affectation and
pedantic display, which such acquirements generally breed in women.'
The intervention of Octavia, the wife of Antony, in affairs of state was
entirely beneficial and judicious. The first Agrippina displayed courage
and energy, herself crushed a mutiny among the soldiers, and was in
every way a help to her husband. Tacitus praises his mother-in-law, the
wife of Agricola, as a model of virtue, and he describes her as living
in the utmost harmony with her husband, each preferring the other in
love. And Pliny the younger gives a beautiful picture of his wife
Calpurnia, telling a friend how she showed the greatest ability,
frugality, and knowledge of literature. Especially 'she has my books,'
he says; 'she reads them again and again; she even commits them to
memory. What anxiety she feels when I am going to make a speech before
the judges, what joy when I have finished it. She places people here and
there in the audience to bring her word what applauses have been
accorded to my speech, what has been the issue of the trial. If I give
readings of my works anywhere, she sits close by, separated by a screen,
and drinks in my praises with most greedy ears. My verses also she
sings, and sets them to the music of the lyre, no artist guiding her,
but only love, who is the best master.'
"These are only a few of the numerous instances that might be adduced,
in which wives behaved with a gentleness or courage or self-abnegation
worthy of all praise. It is true that they took an active part in the
management of affairs, but, on the whole, it must be allowed that they
acted with great good sense. And there is a curious proof of this in the
times of the Empire. Wives went with their husbands to their provinces,
and often took part in the administration of them. Some of the old stern
moralists were for putting an end to this state of matters, and proposed
that they should not be allowed to accompany their husbands to their
spheres of duty; but, after a debate in the Senate, the measure was
rejected by a large majority, who thereby affirmed that their help was
beneficial.
"No doubt it was their good sense, their kindliness, and their
willingness to co-operate with men, that led to their freedom and power
in political matters. And this power was sometimes very great. Cicero,
in a letter to Atticus, relates an interview which he had at Antium 44
B. C. with Brutus and Cassius. Favorinus was also present, and besides
him there were three women--Servilia, the mother of Brutus; Tertulla,
the wife of Cassius and sister of Brutus; and Porcia, the wife of
Brutus and daughter of Cato. Servilia strikes in twice in the course of
the discussion, and it is evident that her words carried weight. On one
occasion she promises to get a clause expunged from a decree of the
Senate. There must have been many such deliberations where women were
present."[180]
Since women entered into public affairs at Rome, it would be natural to
conclude they would enter upon some of the public vocations that were
occupied solely by men in the earlier times. It would seem that they did
enter into the medical profession but, perhaps, not the better class of
women and maybe not the citizen-women at all. Since medical art was
introduced from Greece, most all the men that followed it were Greek
freedmen and likewise the women were likely of the same nationality and
standing. Whether there were women lawyers or not, it is true women were
permitted to appear in court in their own defense, which some few, at
least, did. In religion the cult of Vesta was entirely in their hands,
they had the leading part in conducting the rites of Ceres and other
female deities, and the wives of priests in some instances held official
positions along with their husbands.
"Women occupied themselves, too, with literature. Very little is known
of their writings and this mostly from the male writers of their period,
who did not place a high estimate upon these compositions of the women,
either prose or poetry. Many of the women who did not take an active
part in literature did interest themselves in the writings of relatives
and friends. Other women became critics and took pride in expressing
their views, while others directed their energies toward philosophy and
science.
"Ladies, when not poets, were critics, and as such, deemed by Juvenal
worse than tipplers. Before they had been five minutes at table, they
began to discourse æsthetically on Homer and Virgil, monopolizing the
conversation, with a hammer and tong-like effect. They paraded their
snacks of knowledge, made quotations from forgotten authors; grammar in
hand, corrected their friends' slips. A woman, says Juvenal, may have
the encyclopædia by heart and yet know nothing. Martial, too, mocks the
purist woman, and yearns, as his life-wish, for a not too learned
wife."[181]
"In the good old days of the legitimate drama under Plautus, Terence,
Accius, and Pacuvius, women never appeared upon the stage. Feminine
rôles were taken by men in female dress. But, with the appearance of the
mime and the farce in the first century before our era, women began to
take part in theatrical and musical performances. Their larger
participation in such matters under the Empire is proved by the
discovery of the burying place of a guild of women mimes, just outside
of Rome, along the highways leading from the city. Women took a very
active part in public musical performances, if we may draw an inference
from the number of epitaphs which we find in honor of women who had been
solo singers and flute players."[182] Women entered, also, into the
commoner affairs of public life, as costumers, seamstresses,
washerwomen, weavers, fishmongers, barmaids, and the like.
"If we make a general survey of the facts which have been noted above,
it is clear that Roman women took an active part in the literary and
religious life of the time, and in many of the cults held priesthoods or
officially recognized positions from very early times. Their interest in
literature, however, was not serious, and they have produced very little
of permanent value. In the practice of law they never succeeded in
getting a sure foothold. Women of the lower classes entered freely into
the medical profession and the trades, but so far as medicine is
concerned women confined their practice to members of their own sex. The
principal branches of business which they took up were those connected
with the manufacture of wearing apparel. The pursuits of the shopkeeper
and the artisan were naturally left to the lower classes, but women of
standing in society engaged in industries organized on a large scale, as
we can see clearly enough in the case of the brick business."[183]
In the early days of Rome, while the people were struggling to maintain
themselves and the nation, the virtue of the women stood out strong. But
as the days of hardships passed and comfort and ease and luxury came in
with the conquests, laxity of morals arose till under the empire, if the
writers of the times may be believed, licentiousness and not virtue was
the dominant trait of the women as well as the men. Yet there were many
good women, as is shown in the quotations a few pages back.
The social vices of Asia found place in Rome and while heretofore only
the foreign women were of evil character, at the time of the empire the
citizen-women entered into the life, and in 19 A. D. even a woman of
prætorian birth registered herself at the ædile's as a prostitute. This
created quite a feeling at Rome and a decree was made by the Senate that
any woman whose grandfather, father, or husband had been a knight should
not be enrolled as a public woman.
The public life of the times, too, tended toward the lowering of the
standard of women. The circus, the theater, and the amphitheater were
open to them and they attended in great numbers and witnessed the
indecent and obscene acts and the debasing fights and slaughters. It
became the fashion for women even of the highest rank to interest
themselves in the actors, athletes, circus-drivers, gladiators,
stage-singers, vocalists, and musicians, and often going into excesses.
Pantomime dancers were the favorites with the women as they "were very
beautiful young men, whose art lent them fresh grace. About 22 or 23 A.
D. they were banished from Italy, on account of the factions they
caused, and their relations with women, who must have been of high rank,
otherwise no such ordinance would have been passed."[184] Also there
were the banquets, which gave further opportunities for the meeting of
the women with the men. With their obscene songs and dances and stories
added to enflaming food and drinks, they helped to debase women and to
arouse their passions.
=Marriage.= In the earlier days of Rome, when religion was purer than in
later times, and children were desired to perpetuate the household
religion, celibacy was looked upon as an undesired state and deserving
censure; but in later times, when high moral and religious tendencies
went down, childlessness was preferred to parenthood and celibacy to
marriage. Marriage was a very important affair as it meant the bringing
of a stranger into the household to enter into the family worship, to
take part in the sacrifices to the household gods, the deities which
presided over the welfare of that particular family. Thus it was a
solemn obligation and one which deserved careful consideration. Up to
the time of Augustus, there were no laws in regard to marriage, except
as to the disposition of the dowries, as previous to that time it was
deemed essentially a private transaction.
To understand marriage at Rome, it is needed to keep in mind that a
woman was always considered to be under the control of a man--father,
husband, or guardian. Marriage might or might not mean the transfer of
this right to the husband, so that there were two general kinds of
marriage contracts. By the one, _cum conventione_, the wife passed from
her father's family into the family of her husband, _in manum convenit_,
and stood in relation to her husband as a daughter, she surrendered her
patrimony and became one of her husband's legal heirs. In the second,
_sine conventione_, the wife remained under the rule of her father, as
before the marriage, and retained her own property and her right of
inheritance in her father's estate. In the first case, the wife became a
_materfamilias_ while in the second she was simply an _uxor_.
In the marriage, _sine conventione_, there was, perhaps, no form
required as cohabitation of the man and woman constituted the marriage.
In the marriage, _cum conventione_, there were three forms--_usus_,
_coemptio_, and _confarreatio_. Marriage by _usus_ prevailed among the
plebian, common people; marriage by _coemptio_ was the one commonly
practised by the middle classes; and marriage by _confarreatio_ was the
favorite form in the highest social circles.
Marriage by _usus_ was the simplest form, in which the wife entered into
her husband's _manus_, if she lived a whole year in the man's house,
both parties agreeing to the relation. In this case then the father's
power was gone and he could not even compel the wife to leave her
husband's home. But should the woman absent herself from the man's house
for three nights in succession during the year, then the bond was
broken. In the times when divorce was denied to the woman, she would
often avail herself of this right of remaining away three nights in a
year, so that if need arose she could have herself claimed by her father
or guardian and in this way she could leave her husband.
In marriage by _coemptio_, there was a kind of mutual purchase, a
fictitious sale, which the couple made to each other of their person, in
which each delivered to the other a small piece of money and repeated
certain words. The father emancipated his daughter in favor of her
future husband and she came to sustain to the husband the relation of a
daughter, took his name, gave up all her goods to him, and declared that
she entered into the union of her own free will.
Marriage by _confarreatio_ was the only form that required religious
ceremonies. This was the most solemn and stately form of marriage as
well as the oldest. By it the wife came into the absolute power of the
husband by sacred laws but likewise she became a partner in all his
substance and in his sacred rights. In case of the husband's death
without will the wife inherited equally with the children and if no
children then she inherited his whole fortune. This was a public
ceremony, conducted by the pontifex maximus or the flamen dialis, in the
presence of at least ten witnesses, and the bridal couple tasted a cake
made of a sort of wheat called _far_, which with a sheep, was offered in
sacrifice to the gods. The priests themselves had to be married by this
ceremony and none but the children of such marriage could ever become
flamen of Jupiter, Mars, or Quirinus, or vestal virgins.
A true marriage could be made only between Roman citizens, but as Roman
citizenship became widely extended there was thus much latitude for
choice. The lowest age for marriage was fixed by law at fourteen for the
males and twelve for the female, but usually the girl did not marry
before fifteen or sixteen and the boy not till he attained manhood, yet
there were a number of instances of early marriages. A woman of twenty
or a man of twenty-five who was not a parent became liable to the decree
of Augustus against celibacy and childlessness. All within the sixth
degree of relationship were originally prohibited from marriage, but
later this was lowered to relatives of the fourth degree and when, in 49
A. D., the Senate permitted the Emperor Claudius to marry Agrippina, the
daughter of his brother Germanicus, it was lowered to the third degree.
But a woman was not permitted to marry her maternal uncle nor a man
either his paternal or maternal aunt.
Marriage was a family arrangement, a matter of family convenience,
hence, although the law made the consent of the girl necessary, yet
really it was wholly in the hands of the parents, for it is well known
that children were sometimes betrothed by the parents at a very early
age, and the girl was married at the beginning of her thirteenth year,
both betrothal and marriage being at an age when the child was wholly
under the control of the parent. In the early times, the betrothal was a
simple affair but later it became quite formal. This occurred at night
or early morning, in the latter case the friends assembling at early
dawn at the home of the girl's father or the nearest relative. The
amount of the girl's dowry having been agreed upon, a contract was
drawn up and signed and sealed by both parties in the presence of
witnesses. The boy then gave the girl, as a pledge, an iron ring without
ornament or jewels, which the girl placed upon the third finger of the
left hand, as from this was believed to be a nerve leading directly to
the heart. This was followed by a banquet or feast. The engagement might
be broken by either party or by the guardians of either with no legal
penalty attached and sometimes this gave the young man or young woman
opportunity to escape a union not desired. But as long as a betrothal
lasted it imposed certain restrictions, one being that betrothed persons
could not testify against one another in the courts. There was usually
quite an interval of time between the betrothal and the marriage, but
that did not affect the relations of the couple, as they were not
together any more than before the betrothal so that really they did not
get to know one another till after they were married.
On the night before her marriage the girl put off her _toga prætexta_
and her mother placed on her a long white garment called a _tunica
recta_ or _regilla_, and her loosened hair was confined in a scarlet
net. The next day, the wedding-day, the girl put on her wedding-dress,
which was a long white robe, gathered in at the waist by a woolen girdle
tied in the knot of Hercules, a true-lover's knot, and said to be a
charm against the evil eye. The _flammeum_, or wedding-veil, was of a
brilliant orange red, or flame-color, quite full, of thin, fine stuff,
and it was thrown over the head from behind, leaving the face exposed,
and then draped gracefully about her. The bride's hair was divided into
six strands or stresses by the bridegroom with the point of a spear, and
then ribbons or fillets were bound between the tresses and the hair was
braided and confined to the head. On these braids and under the veil was
worn a garland of natural flowers which the bride herself had gathered.
"The costume of the bride is a complete allegory. This orange-red veil,
this saffron-colored _flammeum_, which covers her head and allows only
the face to be seen, is the usual ornament of the flamen's wife, to whom
divorce is prohibited; the white tunic represents virginity; the
head-dress raised in the form of a tower, almost like that of the
vestals, with a javelot which runs through it, indicates that the wife
is in submission to her husband; the chaplet of vervain is the symbol
of fecundity, and the girdle of wool which is tied round her waist bears
witness to her chastity."[185]
Weddings could not take place on any day of the year as there were
restrictions in reference to such. As a great number of religious
festivals occurred in the early summer, requiring the constant
attendance of the priests, marriages were forbidden to take place during
the whole month of May and the first half of June. On the _dies
parentales_, from the thirteenth to the twenty-first of February,
marriages could not take place, as on these days there were memorial
services for deceased kindred and offerings to their _manes_.
Wedding-days could not be placed upon August 24, October 5, and November
8, as the underworld was supposed to stand open on these days, so they
were most unlucky days. Nor could such other unlucky days be used as the
kalenda, nones, or ides of any month. Nor was it considered appropriate
for young girls to be married on religious holidays, although widows
could do so. The best time was considered to be that which followed the
ides of June.
The guests having assembled in the early morning at the home of the
bride's father, or of her nearest relative, the bride being decked out
in her wedding garments and the bridegroom having arrived, the wedding
ceremonies began with the taking of auspices. In earlier times this was
done by observing the flight of birds, but later by the examination of
the entrails of an animal, which was conducted by an _haruspex_, a
professional diviner. If the omens were favorable, then the wedding
sacrifice was made, usually a sheep, and the skin was spread over stools
or chairs, on which the bridal pair sat. The right hands of the pair
were then joined by a _pronuba_, a woman who had been married but once
and who thus acted as a kind of priestess, and the bride signified her
willingness to come into the _manus_ of the bridegroom and to take his
name by repeating the formula, "_Quando tu Gaius, ego Gaia_," "You being
Gaius, I am Gaia." The wedding party then went to a temple or public
altar, where offerings and prayer were made to the _flamen dialis_ to
the gods, especially to June as the patron of marriage. During the
offering, the bridal pair sat side by side, while during the prayer they
walked together slowly around the altar. These completed, then all
returned to the house of the bride's father where a great feast was
held.
At nightfall the feast ended and then came the _deductio_, the leading
home of the bride. The bridegroom and his friends made a pretense of
snatching the bride away from her father's house, in commemoration of
the rape of the Sabines. In reality the father was the only one who
could break the bonds that attached the bride to the hearth of her
ancestors, where she was under the protection of the household gods, and
so he handed her over to the husband and his family to enter into the
new relations with them. The bride was escorted by three boys, sons of
living parents, two of them holding her by the hand, the other one going
before her bearing the bridal torch of white thorn, to drive away the
malevolent spirits. Her way was lighted by four married women bearing
pine torches and behind her was borne a distaff, a spindle, and in a
basket the instruments for feminine work. The procession went through
the streets singing, accompanied by flutes, bonfires were lit in the
streets and the streets were lined with people, and specially with
children, as the bridegroom threw nuts to them to show that he had given
up childish things, the bride also having given up her dolls and
playthings by offering them to the household gods who had protected her
childhood.
As the bride came to the door of her new home, she rubbed oil on the
doorposts and then wound woolen bands around them, in order to keep off
baleful spells. She was then lifted up by her companions so that her
feet might not touch the threshold, sacred to Vesta, the virgin goddess.
In the _atrium_, she received from her husband the symbolic gifts of
fire and water. The two then knelt together and with the bridal torch
lighted their first hearth fire, offered a sacrifice, and broke the cake
of _far_, and ate it together. The husband then presented the keys of
the house to the wife to show that henceforth she was to have the
management of the household. The day was ended with a feast given by the
bridegroom to the relatives and friends.
"No one who studies this ceremonial of Roman marriage, in the light of
the ideas which it indicates and reflects, can avoid the conclusion that
the position of the married woman must have been one of substantial
dignity, calling for and calling out a corresponding type of character.
Beyond doubt the position of the Roman materfamilias was a much more
dignified one than that of the Greek wife. She was far indeed from being
a mere drudge or squaw; she shared with her husband in all the duties
of the household, including those of religion, and within the house
itself she was practically supreme. She lived in the atrium, and was not
shut away in a woman's chamber; she nursed her own children and brought
them up; she had entire control of the female slaves who were her maids;
she took her meals with her husband, but sitting, not reclining, and
abstaining from wine; in all practical matters she was consulted, and
only on questions politically and intellectual was she expected to be
silent. When she went out arrayed in the graceful _stola matronalis_,
she was treated with respect, and the passers-by made way for her; but
it is characteristic of her position that she did not as a rule leave
the house without the knowledge of her husband, or without an
escort."[186]
The wife was expected to lament for her husband upon his death and
during the time of mourning certain prohibitions were imposed upon her,
but these were not imposed upon the widower. Severe penalties were
placed upon a widow who married within ten months after the death of her
husband. When a widow married, if the husband went to live in her home,
the bed upon which the former husband died was removed, the door of the
bed-chamber was changed, and the things in the rooms were moved about,
that there might be as few reminders as possible of the former husband.
Concubinage existed, but not polygamy, as monogamy was strictly enforced
at Rome. This was so closely guarded that a divorced man could not marry
again unless the divorce was an effective one. Concubinage was usually
between parties that could not enter into a legal marriage, and thus the
concubine was usually a woman of low estate, often a freedwoman. The
offspring were considered illegitimate and could not enter into the
inheritance.
In the early times there were no divorces in Rome. It is claimed that
there were no divorces during the first five hundred years from the
founding of the city, the first divorce occurring about 231 B. C., when
Spurius Carvilius Ruga put away his wife because she was barren. But
divorces increased till in the last years of the republic and under the
empire they became very frequent. "Seneca says, some women counted their
years, not by consuls, but by their husbands; and Juvenal, that some
divorced before the green bays of welcome had faded on the lintels, and
they might have had eight husbands in five years; Tertullian, that
women marry only in order to divorce; these exaggerations must have a
foundation in truth.... Ovid and Pliny the younger had three wives;
Cæsar and Antony four; Sulla and Pompey five; such cases must have been
frequent."[187]
There were a number of causes for divorce, in the later days, the most
common one being incompatibility of temper. In the divorce, the tablets
of the contract were broken in the presence of seven witnesses, all
adult Roman citizens. Repudiation was a less solemn act and took place
quietly in the family. In the early times, when a woman was divorced she
lost her dowry. In later times, a sixth was kept back for adultery and
an eighth for other crimes. Then, still later, it came about that if the
husband was divorced by the wife he lost the dowry, but if the wife
divorced him without a cause the husband retained a sixth of the dowry
for each child, but only up to three-sixths.
=Dress.= The Romans had two principal articles of dress--the _toga_ and
the _tunica_. The toga was made of white woolen cloth. On festival days
a new one was worn or one newly cleaned. It was woven in an oblong form
and the corners were clipped off till it took the form of an ellipse.
Its length was about three times the height of the wearer, exclusive of
the head, and its breadth at the middle about twice the same height,
although the breadth varied with time and fashion, as, in the early
period it was rather narrow, while in later times a fashionable toga was
nearly circular. In putting it on, the toga was folded in its long way
nearly in the middle and one end was thrown over the left shoulder from
behind and allowed to fall to the feet in front. The other end was then
brought across the back and under the right arm and the folds were
spread out to cover the right side of the body to the calf of the leg
and then gathered and carried across the breast and thrown backward over
the left shoulder. Thus one-third of the toga would cover the left side
and front of the body, the middle third would cover the back and right
side, and the remaining third would cover the chest and go over the left
shoulder. The diagonal folds across the breast formed the sinus, which
was often used as a pocket. It would seem that a girdle was not worn
with the toga nor pins or clasps to fasten it, but in later fashionable
times small pieces of lead were placed in the ends and hidden by tassels
which served to preserve the drapery. The white toga, without color,
_toga pura_, was the ordinary garment worn. Boys wore the _toga
prætexta_, which had a purple border, and which was discarded when
manhood was reached at fifteen or sixteen for the _toga virilis_, _pura_
or _libera_. The toga for mourning was black and in later times dark
blue also was used. Beside these there were other kinds. Only Roman
citizens were allowed to wear the toga.
The tunica was worn indoors, when the toga was thrown off, and also
outdoors, when the toga was worn over it. In the later times in cold
weather two or more tunics were worn. The tunica was a kind of woolen
shirt, at first without sleeves, then with short sleeves reaching to the
elbows, and in the time of the empire long sleeves were attached to it.
It reached down to the calves and even to the ankles. It was often
fastened to the waist by a girdle, which was used as a purse for holding
money.
Another garment was the _pænula_, a kind of cloak made of thick wool and
leather, and worn over the toga in traveling in bad weather. Another
kind of cloak, worn over the toga or tunica, was the _lacuna_, which was
made of lighter and more costly material and was worn for show as well
as for use. To both pænula and lacuna could be added a hood (_cucullus_)
for further protection from the weather.
The women in the early times wore the toga and the tunica the same as
the men. The tunica continued to be worn but there arose as distinct
apparel for women, the _stola_ and the _palla_. The stola was an oblong
garment worn over the tunica and extended to the feet. It was open at
the top on either side for the arms to go through and fastened on both
shoulders with clasps or brooches (_fibulæ_), which often were quite
costly articles. A girdle was drawn around it at the waist and then it
was pulled up and allowed to fall over the girdle till the girdle was
covered by the folds and then the lower part of the stola was pulled
down till it just touched the ground. At the bottom there was an
ornamental border. Sometimes there were sleeves to it, which were open
below and fastened together with gold or jeweled buttons or clasps. The
stola was a special garment that was permitted to be worn only by
married women of unblemished reputation. "The common courtesans were not
allowed to appear in the stola, but were compelled to wear a sort of
gown, resembling the habit of the opposite sex, and which was regarded
as a mark of infamy."[188]
The palla was a kind of cloak worn out of doors over the stola. It was
somewhat similar to the toga, as it was a square or oblong piece of
cloth. Like the toga, too, it was thrown forward over the left shoulder
and let fall to the feet, and then drawn over or under the right
shoulder and pulled across the breast and thrown over the left arm or
shoulder. When necessary to protect the head, the palla could be drawn
up over it like the toga.
The prevalent material of Roman clothing was always woolen and up to the
end of the republic the only materials used were wool and linen.
Sheep-raising for wool was one of the very most important industries.
Foreign wools, however, were imported, because the supply of native wool
was not sufficient to meet the demand and also by importing foreign wool
a variety of natural colors could be obtained, as brown, red, black,
golden-brown, reddish, and grayish. Goats' wool was not often used for
wearing apparel, usually only for coarse cloaks and overshoes. It was
woven into rough and heavy cloths for tent-coverings, blankets, and the
like, and goats' hair was used for making ropes and cables.
Linen was used for the under-garments of both men and women and for
women's belts and girdles and also linen thread was made. In the later
times the finer grades of linen for handkerchiefs, table-cloths,
napkins, bedding, and suits were all imported. Cotton and cotton fabrics
were introduced from the far East into Greece and thence into Rome. Silk
began to be used by the women toward the end of the republic and by men
under the empire.
The color of clothing was originally white, which was prescribed by law
for the toga. Poor people, slaves, and freedmen had their clothing of
the natural brown or black color of the wool. The mourning garments of
the upper classes were of dark color--black or dark blue. In later
periods the women got to using a variety of colors, selecting such as
the mode directed or as suited their particular taste, as scarlet,
violet, purple, yellow, blue, and many other colors. In imperial times
the men adopted a variety of colors for their garments, too. The wearing
of genuine purple, however, remained the exclusive privilege of the
emperors.
In early times the spinning and weaving was done at home under the
direction of the mistress of the house. But it was not long till the
work of the home did not suffice to supply the demand and large
factories (_officionæ_) were established for the weaving of both woolen
and linen goods. The garments were prepared with needle and scissors,
each wealthy household having several tailors among its slaves. Before
they could be used for garments, the woolen cloths had to be finished by
the fuller, who not only finished new cloths but also cleansed and
restored old garments.
The Romans, usually, whether indoors or out, went bareheaded, both men
and women. In case of heat or cold or rain, the men would pull the upper
part of the toga up over the head and the women used the palla in the
same way. There were times, however, when they did wear coverings upon
their heads, as, at the sacrifices, at the public games, at the
Saturnalia, upon a journey, or upon a warlike expedition. Also the
working-classes exposed to the weather wore a head-covering. These
coverings were the _pileus_ and the _petasus_. The pileus was a
close-fitting felt cap and the petasus was a felt hat with a round brim.
Sometimes the _cucullus_, a hood, was worn in place of the pileus. For
ornamentation the women would wear a veil, which was fastened to the top
of the head and drooped over neck and back in graceful folds. They also
wore the _mitra_, which was a cloth wound round the head to form a kind
of cap. They also wore a head-covering in the form of a net made of
gold-thread.
In the early times men wore their hair long and this was continued for a
long time and the wearing of short hair made slow progress and only
among the higher classes. In the late empire the close-cropped hair
became the fashion. Before the time of cropped hair it was sometimes
worn in wavy locks and again, by means of the curling-iron, it was
arranged in short curls and perfumed. Also false hair was used. The
ancient Romans wore their beards very long. The wearing the beard long
continued till the later years of the republic when it became the custom
to shave the face, but full beards came into fashion again in the later
empire. "The first hair cut from the head of a child, and a youth's
first beard, were consecrated to the gods; but the coins of the late
republican period show plainly that young men usually wore a beard,
though carefully trimmed and dressed, and were seldom clean-shaven
before forty."[189] There were barber-shops among the Romans and they
were the gathering-places of idlers and the centers of male gossip.
Among the furnishings were razors, tools to pull out the beard,
scissors, pomatums to remove hair where not desired, combs,
curling-irons, mirrors, towels, etc.
The ways of arranging the hair by the women varied in the different
periods. In the first centuries of the republic, there seems to have
been two general fashions. The hair was either parted or unparted and
then combed back in wavy lines and gathered together in a knot at the
back of the head, low down on the neck, and fastened with ribbons or
clasps, or it was wound round the top of the head like a crown. In
another way the hair was carried around the head in long curls, or the
front hair was plaited and connected with the back hair, etc. These
simple ways of arranging the hair gave place to many variegated ways and
hair-dressing became a science and the women employed special
maid-servants for the purpose or had in their employ female
hairdressers. In one fashion there was a tower-like headdress, the
natural hair being helped out with artificial hair or with wigs. The
hair was frizzled and curled and perfumed and dyed. It was kept in place
by means of ribbons and pins and hair-pins of metal or ivory and adorned
with gold ornaments and pearls and jewels. The hair was sometimes
gracefully adorned with wreaths of flowers or of branches with leaves
and blossoms.
The Romans wore shoes (_calcei_) and sandals (_sandalia_). There were
several kinds of shoes worn, as every Roman order and every tribe or
gens had a distinctive kind of shoe. The _sutor_, or shoemaker, had a
particularly respectable calling at Rome. The _pero_ was for wet and
snowy weather; it was made of raw hide and it was similar to a boot,
reaching up to the middle of the leg. The _calceus senatorius_ was of
black leather with four straps. The _calceus mulleus_ was made of red
leather, with a high heel, and with straps to fasten it about the ankle.
It had on its front a crescent-shaped piece of ivory, the _lunula_,
which was of very ancient origin, and, like the _bulla_, may, perhaps,
have had the force of a charm. The _caliga_ was worn by the soldiers,
which was a kind of boot, reaching to the middle of the leg, and the
sole was of wood and stuck full of nails. There seemed to have been
worn, too, a kind of sock or stocking that reached to the middle of the
leg and tied with laces from the instep to the calf. The ladies of the
upper classes, for outdoors wore shoes made of fine leather and richly
embroidered in silk and gold. In the house both men and women wore
sandals (_soleæ_). The sandals and shoes were tied on with straps, which
were wound round the foot and the leg upward from the ankle.
The Roman ladies wore many different kinds of ornaments, made of
precious metals, ivory, jewels, and pearls. They wore earrings, a very
common form being pearls and jewels attached to hooks of gold and then
fastened to the ears. There were hair-pins of metal and ivory, made in
various forms, some of which contained eyes for the fastening of strings
of pearls. They had necklaces of gold with jewels and pearls attached to
them. Bracelets, made in the form of snakes, simple ribbons, plaited
gold threads, and other styles, were worn at the wrist or above the
elbow, with a sleeveless tunic. They had rings adorned with jewels and
cameos. They wore chains of gold around the neck, sometimes five or six
feet in length. They fastened their girdles and other parts of the dress
with buckles and brooches, made of silver and gold and frequently
studded with jewels and cameos. Some of these ornaments were also worn
by the men, as, rings and bracelets. All the principal precious stones,
diamonds, rubies, emeralds, opals, were known to the Romans. They prized
the pearl above all other gems and often paid great prices for them.
"Julius Cæsar is said to have given to Servilia, the mother of Marcus
Brutus, a solitaire pearl for which he paid six million sesterces
($262,500), while Caligula received with his wife, Lollia Paulina a
complete _parure_ of pearls and emeralds, which was an heirloom in her
family; a part of the spoils taken in Eastern war by her grandfather,
Marcus Lollius, in the year 2 B. C., and valued at forty million
sesterces ($2,180,000)."[190]
"About the mysteries of the toilette of the Roman ladies, mercilessly
laid bare by the authors of imperial times, we shall say little. Great
care was particularly bestowed on the complexion, and on the artificial
reproduction of other charms, lost too soon in the exciting atmosphere
of imperial court-life. During the night a mask (_tectorium_) of dough
and ass's milk was laid on the face, to preserve the complexion; this
mask was an invention of Poppæa, the wife of Nero, hence its name
_Poppæana_. Another mask, composed of rice and bean-flour, served to
remove the wrinkles from the face. It was washed off in the morning with
tepid ass's milk and the face afterwards bathed in fresh ass's milk
several times in the course of the day. Poppæa was, for the purpose,
always accompanied in her travels by herds of she-asses. The two chief
paints used for the face were a white (_creta cerussa_) and a red
substance (_fucus minium purpurissum_), moistened with spittle. Brows
and eyelashes were dyed black, or painted over; even the veins on the
temples were masked with lines of a tender blue color. Many different
pastes and powders were used to preserve and clean the teeth. Artificial
teeth made of ivory and fastened with gold thread were known to the
Romans at the time when the laws of the twelve tablets were made, one of
which laws prohibited the deposition of gold in the graves of the dead,
excepting the material required for the fastening of false teeth."[191]
As an aid in the preparation of the toilet and the like, the Romans had
mirrors. These were not made of glass but of polished metal. They were
square or round and of various sizes, some being equal in size to a
grown-up person. Some of the mirrors had handles for holding with the
hand, some were made so as to hang on the wall, and others could be
placed upright.
=Food.= The Romans of the early times had a simple fare, living chiefly
on pottage, or bread and pot-herbs. They sat at their meals, using a
long table. As the nation grew and wealth increased and they came in
contact with older nations, they gave up this simple life and entered
among the most luxurious nations in their manner of living.
The Romans had three meals a day. The first meal was in the morning, the
_ientaculum_, or breakfast, which was simple, consisting of bread
flavored with salt or dipped in wine, olives, grapes, eggs, and cheese.
The second meal was at midday, the _cena_, or dinner, which with the
country people was the principal meal. In the city this midday meal was
a lunch, the _prandium_, while the _cena_, dinner, was taken later in
the day, toward evening, and often became quite an elaborate affair.
There was sometimes a fourth meal, _comissatio_, served late at night,
which really was but little more than a drinking-bout.
The meals were usually served in the _triclinium_, or dining-room. In
this was a square dining-table, having on three sides one-armed couches,
the remaining side being left open for serving. Each of these couches
had room for three persons, who reclined upon the left arm, with the
feet outward. About the end of the republic, round tables came into use,
with semicircular couches. Some of these tables were quite valuable,
being made of rare imported woods. The guests used napkins, which they
might have brought themselves or were provided by the host. In later
times table-cloths came into use. The principal ornament on the table
was the _salinum_, or salt-cellar, as salt was used not only for
seasoning, but also for sacrifices, and the salinum also held the
sacrificial cakes. The chief implements for eating were two kinds of
spoons, the _ligula_, shaped very much like the table spoon of the
present, and the _cochlear_, which had a small circular bowl, flat or
slightly hollowed, with a pointed handle. Knives and forks seem to have
come into use during the later times of the empire.