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diff --git a/.gitattributes b/.gitattributes new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6833f05 --- /dev/null +++ b/.gitattributes @@ -0,0 +1,3 @@ +* text=auto +*.txt text +*.md text diff --git a/10701-0.txt b/10701-0.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..e61c0ae --- /dev/null +++ b/10701-0.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11584 @@ +*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10701 *** + +Note: A compilation of all five volumes of this work is also available + individually in the Project Gutenberg library. + See https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/10706 + + The original German version of this work, Roemische Geschichte, + Erstes Buch: bis zur Abschaffung des roemischen Koenigtums, is + in the Project Gutenberg E-Library as E-book #3060. + See https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3060 + + + + + +THE HISTORY OF ROME + +The Period Anterior to the Abolition of the Monarchy + +by + +THEODOR MOMMSEN + +Translated with the Sanction of the Author + +by + +William Purdie Dickson, D.D., LL.D. +Professor of Divinity in the University of Glasgow + +A New Edition Revised throughout and Embodying Recent Additions + + + + +Preparer's Note + + +This work contains many literal citations of and references to foreign +words, sounds, and alphabetic symbols drawn from many languages, +including Gothic and Phoenician, but chiefly Latin and Greek. This +English Gutenberg edition, constrained to the characters of 7-bit +ASCII code, adopts the following orthographic conventions: + +1) Except for Greek, all literally cited non-English words that +do not refer to texts cited as academic references, words that in +the source manuscript appear italicized, are rendered with a single +preceding, and a single following dash; thus, -xxxx-. + +2) Greek words, first transliterated into Roman alphabetic equivalents, +are rendered with a preceding and a following double-dash; thus, +--xxxx--. Note that in some cases the root word itself is a compound +form such as xxx-xxxx, and is rendered as --xxx-xxx-- + +3) Simple unideographic references to vocalic sounds, single +letters, or alphabeic dipthongs; and prefixes, suffixes, and syllabic +references are represented by a single preceding dash; thus, -x, +or -xxx. + +4) (Especially for the complex discussion of alphabetic evolution +in Ch. XIV: Measuring And Writing). Ideographic references, +meaning pointers to the form of representation itself rather than +to its content, are represented as -"id:xxxx"-. "id:" stands for +"ideograph", and indicates that the reader should form a picture +based on the following "xxxx"; which may be a single symbol, a +word, or an attempt at a picture composed of ASCII characters. E. +g. --"id:GAMMA gamma"-- indicates an uppercase Greek gamma-form +followed by the form in lowercase. Some such exotic parsing as +this is necessary to explain alphabetic development because a single +symbol may have been used for a number of sounds in a number of +languages, or even for a number of sounds in the same language at +different times. Thus, -"id:GAMMA gamma" might very well refer to +a Phoenician construct that in appearance resembles the form that +eventually stabilized as an uppercase Greek "gamma" juxtaposed to +one of lowercase. Also, a construct such as --"id:E" indicates +a symbol that with ASCII resembles most closely a Roman uppercase +"E", but, in fact, is actually drawn more crudely. + +5) Dr. Mommsen has given his dates in terms of Roman usage, A.U.C.; +that is, from the founding of Rome, conventionally taken to be 753 +B. C. The preparer of this document, has appended to the end of +each volume a table of conversion between the two systems. + + + + +PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR + + +When the first portion of this translation appeared in 1861, it was +accompanied by a Preface, for which I was indebted to the kindness +of the late Dr. Schmitz, introducing to the English reader the +work of an author whose name and merits, though already known to +scholars, were far less widely familiar than they are now. After +thirty-three years such an introduction is no longer needed, but +none the less gratefully do I recall how much the book owed at the +outset to Dr. Schmitz's friendly offices. + +The following extracts from my own "Prefatory Note" dated "December +1861" state the circumstances under which I undertook the translation, +and give some explanations as to its method and aims:-- + +"In requesting English scholars to receive with indulgence this first +portion of a translation of Dr. Mommsen's 'Romische Geschichte,' +I am somewhat in the position of Albinus; who, when appealing to +his readers to pardon the imperfections of the Roman History which +he had written in indifferent Greek, was met by Cato with the +rejoinder that he was not compelled to write at all--that, if the +Amphictyonic Council had laid their commands on him, the case would +have been different--but that it was quite out of place to ask the +indulgence of his readers when his task had been self-imposed. I +may state, however, that I did not undertake this task, until +I had sought to ascertain whether it was likely to be taken up by +any one more qualified to do justice to it. When Dr. Mommsen's +work accidentally came into my hands some years after its first +appearance, and revived my interest in studies which I had long +laid aside for others more strictly professional, I had little doubt +that its merits would have already attracted sufficient attention +amidst the learned leisure of Oxford to induce some of her great +scholars to clothe it in an English dress. But it appeared on +inquiry that, while there was a great desire to see it translated, +and the purpose of translating it had been entertained in more +quarters than one, the projects had from various causes miscarried. +Mr. George Robertson published an excellent translation (to which, +so far as it goes, I desire to acknowledge my obligations) of the +introductory chapters on the early inhabitants of Italy; but other +studies and engagements did not permit him to proceed with it. I +accordingly requested and obtained Dr. Mommsen's permission to +translate his work. + +"The translation has been prepared from the third edition of the +original, published in the spring of the present year at Berlin. +The sheets have been transmitted to Dr. Mommsen, who has kindly +communicated to me such suggestions as occurred to him. I have +thus been enabled, more especially in the first volume, to correct +those passages where I had misapprehended or failed to express the +author's meaning, and to incorporate in the English work various +additions and corrections which do not appear in the original. + +"In executing the translation I have endeavoured to follow the original +as closely as is consistent with a due regard to the difference of +idiom. Many of our translations from the German are so literal as +to reproduce the very order of the German sentence, so that they +are, if not altogether unintelligible to the English reader, at +least far from readable, while others deviate so entirely from the +form of the original as to be no longer translations in the proper +sense of the term. I have sought to pursue a middle course between +a mere literal translation, which would be repulsive, and a loose +paraphrase, which would be in the case of such a work peculiarly +unsatisfactory. Those who are most conversant with the difficulties +of such a task will probably be the most willing to show forbearance +towards the shortcomings of my performance, and in particular towards +the too numerous traces of the German idiom, which, on glancing +over the sheets, I find it still to retain. + +"The reader may perhaps be startled by the occurrence now and then +of modes of expression more familiar and colloquial than is usually +the case in historical works. This, however, is a characteristic +feature of the original, to which in fact it owes not a little +of its charm. Dr. Mommsen often uses expressions that are not +to be found in the dictionary, and he freely takes advantage of +the unlimited facilities afforded by the German language for the +coinage or the combination of words. I have not unfrequently, in +deference to his wishes, used such combinations as 'Carthagino-Sicilian,' +'Romano-Hellenic,' although less congenial to our English idiom, +for the sake of avoiding longer periphrases. + +"In Dr. Mommsen's book, as in every other German work that has +occasion to touch on abstract matters, there occur sentences couched +in a peculiar terminology and not very susceptible of translation. +There are one or two sentences of this sort, more especially in +the chapter on Religion in the 1st volume, and in the critique of +Euripides as to which I am not very confident that I have seized +or succeeded in expressing the meaning. In these cases I have +translated literally. + +"In the spelling of proper names I have generally adopted the Latin +orthography as more familiar to scholars in this country, except +in cases where the spelling adopted by Dr. Mommsen is marked by any +special peculiarity. At the same time entire uniformity in this +respect has not been aimed at. + +"I have ventured in various instances to break up the paragraphs of +the original and to furnish them with additional marginal headings, +and have carried out more fully the notation of the years B.C. on +the margin. + +"It is due to Dr. Schmitz, who has kindly encouraged me in +this undertaking, that I should state that I alone am responsible +for the execution of the translation. Whatever may be thought of +it in other respects, I venture to hope that it may convey to the +English reader a tolerably accurate impression of the contents and +general spirit of the book." + +In a new Library edition, which appeared in 1868, I incorporated all +the additions and alterations which were introduced in the fourth +edition of the German, some of which were of considerable importance; +and I took the opportunity of revising the translation, so as to +make the rendering more accurate and consistent. + +Since that time no change has been made, except the issue in 1870 +of an Index. But, as Dr. Mommsen was good enough some time ago +to send to me a copy in which he had taken the trouble to mark the +alterations introduced in the more recent editions of the original, +I thought it due to him and to the favour with which the translation +had been received that I should subject it to such a fresh revision +as should bring it into conformity with the last form (eighth +edition) of the German, on which, as I learn from him, he hardly +contemplates further change. As compared with the first English +edition, the more considerable alterations of addition, omission, +or substitution amount, I should think, to well-nigh a hundred pages. +I have corrected various errors in renderings, names, and dates +(though not without some misgiving that others may have escaped +notice or been incurred afresh); and I have still further broken +up the text into paragraphs and added marginal headings. + +The Index, which was not issued for the German book till nine years +after the English translation was published, has now been greatly +enlarged from its more recent German form, and has been, at the +expenditure of no small labour, adapted to the altered paging of +the English. I have also prepared, as an accompaniment to it, a +collation of pagings, which will materially facilitate the finding of +references made to the original or to the previous English editions. + +I have had much reason to be gratified by the favour with which +my translation has been received on the part alike of Dr. Mommsen +himself and of the numerous English scholars who have made it the +basis of their references to his work.(1) I trust that in the +altered form and new dress, for which the book is indebted to the +printers, it may still further meet the convenience of the reader. + +September 1894. + + + + +Notes for Preface + + +1. It has, I believe, been largely in use at Oxford for the last +thirty years; but it has not apparently had the good fortune to +have come to the knowledge of the writer of an article on "Roman +History" published in the Encyclopedia Britannica in 1886, which at +least makes no mention of its existence, or yet of Mr. Baring-Gould, +who in his Tragedy of the Caesars (vol. 1. p. 104f.) has presented +Dr. Mommsen's well-known "character" of Caesar in an independent +version. His rendering is often more spirited than accurate. While +in several cases important words, clauses, or even sentences, are +omitted, in others the meaning is loosely or imperfectly conveyed--e.g. +in "Hellenistic" for "Hellenic"; "success" for "plenitude of power"; +"attempts" or "operations" for "achievements"; "prompt to recover" +for "ready to strike"; "swashbuckler" for "brilliant"; "many" for +"unyielding"; "accessible to all" for "complaisant towards every +one"; "smallest fibre" for "Inmost core"; "ideas" for "ideals"; +"unstained with blood" for "as bloodless as possible"; "described" +for "apprehended"; "purity" for "clearness"; "smug" for "plain" +(or homely); "avoid" for "avert"; "taking his dark course" for +"stealing towards his aim by paths of darkness"; "rose" for "transformed +himself"; "checked everything like a praetorian domination" for +"allowed no hierarchy of marshals or government of praetorians +to come into existence"; and in one case the meaning is exactly +reversed, when "never sought to soothe, where he could not cure, +intractable evils" stands for "never disdained at least to mitigate +by palliatives evils that were incurable." + + + + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY DR. MOMMSEN + + +The Varronian computation by years of the City is retained in the +text; the figures on the margin indicate the corresponding year +before the birth of Christ. + +In calculating the corresponding years, the year 1 of the City has +been assumed as identical with the year 753 B.C., and with Olymp. +6, 4; although, if we take into account the circumstance that the +Roman solar year began with the 1st day of March, and the Greek +with the 1st day of July, the year 1 of the City would, according +to more exact calculation, correspond to the last ten months of 753 +and the first two months of 752 B.C., and to the last four months +of Ol. 6, 3 and the first eight of Ol. 6, 4. + +The Roman and Greek money has uniformly been commuted on the basis +of assuming the libral as and sestertius, and the denarius and +Attic drachma, respectively as equal, and taking for all sums above +100 denarii the present value in gold, and for all sums under 100 +denarii the present value in silver, of the corresponding weight. +The Roman pound (=327.45 grammes) of gold, equal to 4000 sesterces, +has thus, according to the ratio of gold to silver 1:15.5, been +reckoned at 304 1/2 Prussian thalers [about 43 pounds sterling], +and the denarius, according to the value of silver, at 7 Prussian +groschen [about 8d.].(1) + +Kiepert's map will give a clearer idea of the military consolidation +of Italy than can be conveyed by any description. + +1. I have deemed it, in general, sufficient to give the value of +the Roman money approximately in round numbers, assuming for that +purpose 100 sesterces as equivalent to 1 pound sterling.--TR. + + + + +DEDICATIONS + + + +The First Volume of the original bears the inscription:-- + +To My Friend + +MORIZ HAUPT Of Berin + +The Second:-- + +To My Dear Associates + +FERDINAND HITZIG Of Zurich + +And + +KARL LUDWIG Of Vienna 1852, 1853, 1854 + +And the Third:-- + +Dedicated With Old And Loyal Affection To + +OTTO JAHN Of Bonn + + + + +CONTENTS + +BOOK I: The Period Anterior to the Abolition of the Monarchy + + CHAPTER + + I. Introduction + + II. The Earliest Migrations into Italy + + III. The Settlements of the Latins + + IV. The Beginnings of Rome + + V. The Original Constitution of Rome + + VI. The Non-Burgesses and the Reformed Constitution + + VII. The Hegemony of Rome in Latium + + VIII. The Umbro-Sabellian Stocks--Beginnings of the Samnites + + IX. The Etruscans + + X. The Hellenes in Italy--Maritime Supremacy of the Tuscans + and Carthaginians + + XI. Law and Justice + + XII. Religion + + XIII. Agriculture, Trade, and Commerce + + XIV. Measuring and Writing + + XV. Art + + + + + +BOOK FIRST + +The Period Anterior to the Abolition of the Monarchy + + + + +--Ta palaiotera saphos men eurein dia chronou pleithos adunata +ein ek de tekmeirion on epi makrotaton skopounti moi pisteusai +xumbainei ou megala nomizo genesthai oute kata tous polemous oute +es ta alla.-- + +Thucydides. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Introduction + + + +Ancient History + + +The Mediterranean Sea with its various branches, penetrating far +into the great Continent, forms the largest gulf of the ocean, +and, alternately narrowed by islands or projections of the land and +expanding to considerable breadth, at once separates and connects +the three divisions of the Old World. The shores of this inland +sea were in ancient times peopled by various nations belonging in +an ethnographical and philological point of view to different races, +but constituting in their historical aspect one whole. This historic +whole has been usually, but not very appropriately, entitled the +history of the ancient world. It is in reality the history of +civilization among the Mediterranean nations; and, as it passes +before us in its successive stages, it presents four great phases +of development--the history of the Coptic or Egyptian stock dwelling +on the southern shore, the history of the Aramaean or Syrian nation +which occupied the east coast and extended into the interior of +Asia as far as the Euphrates and Tigris, and the histories of the +twin-peoples, the Hellenes and Italians, who received as their heritage +the countries on the European shore. Each of these histories was +in its earlier stages connected with other regions and with other +cycles of historical evolution; but each soon entered on its own +distinctive career. The surrounding nations of alien or even of +kindred extraction--the Berbers and Negroes of Africa, the Arabs, +Persians, and Indians of Asia, the Celts and Germans of Europe--came +into manifold contact with the peoples inhabiting the borders of +the Mediterranean, but they neither imparted unto them nor received +from them any influences exercising decisive effect on their +respective destinies. So far, therefore, as cycles of culture admit +of demarcation at all, the cycle which has its culminating points +denoted by the names Thebes, Carthage, Athens, and Rome, may be +regarded as an unity. The four nations represented by these names, +after each of them had attained in a path of its own a peculiar +and noble civilization, mingled with one another in the most varied +relations of reciprocal intercourse, and skilfully elaborated and +richly developed all the elements of human nature. At length their +cycle was accomplished. New peoples who hitherto had only laved +the territories of the states of the Mediterranean, as waves lave +the beach, overflowed both its shores, severed the history of its +south coast from that of the north, and transferred the centre of +civilization from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean. The +distinction between ancient and modern history, therefore, is no +mere accident, nor yet a mere matter of chronological convenience. +What is called modern history is in reality the formation of a new +cycle of culture, connected in several stages of its development +with the perishing or perished civilization of the Mediterranean +states, as this was connected with the primitive civilization of +the Indo-Germanic stock, but destined, like the earlier cycle, to +traverse an orbit of its own. It too is destined to experience in +full measure the vicissitudes of national weal and woe, the periods +of growth, of maturity, and of age, the blessedness of creative +effort in religion, polity, and art, the comfort of enjoying the +material and intellectual acquisitions which it has won, perhaps +also, some day, the decay of productive power in the satiety of +contentment with the goal attained. And yet this goal will only +be temporary: the grandest system of civilization has its orbit, +and may complete its course but not so the human race, to which, +just when it seems to have reached its goal, the old task is ever +set anew with a wider range and with a deeper meaning. + + +Italy + + +Our aim is to exhibit the last act of this great historical drama, +to relate the ancient history of the central peninsula projecting +from the northern continent into the Mediterranean. It is formed +by the mountain-system of the Apennines branching off in a southern +direction from the western Alps. The Apennines take in the first +instance a south-eastern course between the broader gulf of the +Mediterranean on the west, and the narrow one on the east; and in the +close vicinity of the latter they attain their greatest elevation, +which, however, scarce reaches the line of perpetual snow, in +the Abruzzi. From the Abruzzi the chain continues in a southern +direction, at first undivided and of considerable height; after +a depression which forms a hill-country, it splits into a somewhat +flattened succession of heights towards the south-east and a more +rugged chain towards the south, and in both directions terminates +in the formation of narrow peninsulas. + +The flat country on the north, extending between the Alps and the +Apennines as far down as the Abruzzi, does not belong geographically, +nor until a very late period even historically, to the southern land +of mountain and hill, the Italy whose history is here to engage +our attention. It was not till the seventh century of the city +that the coast-district from Sinigaglia to Rimini, and not till the +eighth that the basin of the Po, became incorporated with Italy. +The ancient boundary of Italy on the north was not the Alps but +the Apennines. This mountain-system nowhere rises abruptly into +a precipitous chain, but, spreading broadly over the land and +enclosing many valleys and table-lands connected by easy passes, +presents conditions which well adapt it to become the settlement of +man. Still more suitable in this respect are the adjacent slopes +and the coast-districts on the east, south, and west. On the +east coast the plain of Apulia, shut in towards the north by the +mountain-block of the Abruzzi and only broken by the steep isolated +ridge of Garganus, stretches in a uniform level with but a scanty +development of coast and stream. On the south coast, between the +two peninsulas in which the Apennines terminate, extensive lowlands, +poorly provided with harbours but well watered and fertile, +adjoin the hill-country of the interior. The west coast presents +a far-stretching domain intersected by considerable streams, in +particular by the Tiber, and shaped by the action of the waves and +of the once numerous volcanoes into manifold variety of hill and +valley, harbour and island. Here the regions of Etruria, Latium, +and Campania form the very flower of the land of Italy. South of +Campania, the land in front of the mountains gradually diminishes, +and the Tyrrhenian Sea almost washes their base. Moreover, as +the Peloponnesus is attached to Greece, so the island of Sicily is +attached to Italy--the largest and fairest isle of the Mediterranean, +having a mountainous and partly desert interior, but girt, especially +on the east and south, by a broad belt of the finest coast-land, +mainly the result of volcanic action. Geographically the Sicilian +mountains are a continuation of the Apennines, hardly interrupted +by the narrow "rent" --Pegion--of the straits; and in its historical +relations Sicily was in earlier times quite as decidedly a part of +Italy as the Peloponnesus was of Greece, a field for the struggles +of the same races, and the seat of a similar superior civilization. + +The Italian peninsula resembles the Grecian in the temperate climate +and wholesome air that prevail on the hills of moderate height, and +on the whole, also, in the valleys and plains. In development of +coast it is inferior; it wants, in particular, the island-studded +sea which made the Hellenes a seafaring nation. Italy on the +other hand excels its neighbour in the rich alluvial plains and +the fertile and grassy mountain-slopes, which are requisite for +agriculture and the rearing of cattle. Like Greece, it is a noble +land which calls forth and rewards the energies of man, opening +up alike for restless adventure the way to distant lands and for +quiet exertion modes of peaceful gain at home. + +But, while the Grecian peninsula is turned towards the east, the +Italian is turned towards the west. As the coasts of Epirus and +Acarnania had but a subordinate importance in the case of Hellas, +so had the Apulian and Messapian coasts in that of Italy; and, while +the regions on which the historical development of Greece has been +mainly dependent--Attica and Macedonia--look to the east, Etruria, +Latium, and Campania look to the west. In this way the two peninsulas, +so close neighbours and almost sisters, stand as it were averted +from each other. Although the naked eye can discern from Otranto +the Acroceraunian mountains, the Italians and Hellenes came into +earlier and closer contact on every other pathway rather than on the +nearest across the Adriatic Sea, In their instance, as has happened +so often, the historical vocation of the nations was prefigured +in the relations of the ground which they occupied; the two great +stocks, on which the civilization of the ancient world grew, threw +their shadow as well as their seed, the one towards the east, the +other towards the west. + + +Italian History + + +We intend here to relate the history of Italy, not simply the history +of the city of Rome. Although, in the formal sense of political +law, it was the civic community of Rome which gained the sovereignty +first of Italy and then of the world, such a view cannot be held +to express the higher and real meaning of history. What has been +called the subjugation of Italy by the Romans appears rather, +when viewed in its true light, as the consolidation into an united +state of the whole Italian stock--a stock of which the Romans were +doubtless the most powerful branch, but still were only a branch. + +The history of Italy falls into two main sections: (1) its internal +history down to its union under the leadership of the Latin stock, +and (2) the history of its sovereignty over the world. Under the +first section, which will occupy the first two books, we shall have +to set forth the settlement of the Italian stock in the peninsula; +the imperilling of its national and political existence, and +its partial subjugation, by nations of other descent and older +civilization, Greeks and Etruscans; the revolt of the Italians +against the strangers, and the annihilation or subjection of the +latter; finally, the struggles between the two chief Italian stocks, +the Latins and the Samnites, for the hegemony of the peninsula, and +the victory of the Latins at the end of the fourth century before +the birth of Christ--or of the fifth century of the city. The second +section opens with the Punic wars; it embraces the rapid extension +of the dominion of Rome up to and beyond the natural boundaries of +Italy, the long status quo of the imperial period, and the collapse +of the mighty empire. These events will be narrated in the third +and following books. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter I + + + +1. The dates as hereafter inserted in the text are years of the +City (A.U.C.); those in the margin give the corresponding years +B.C. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +The Earliest Migrations into Italy + + + +Primitive Races of Italy + + +We have no information, not even a tradition, concerning the first +migration of the human race into Italy. It was the universal +belief of antiquity that in Italy, as well as elsewhere, the first +population had sprung from the soil. We leave it to the province +of the naturalist to decide the question of the origin of different +races, and of the influence of climate in producing their diversities. +In a historical point of view it is neither possible, nor is it of +any importance, to determine whether the oldest recorded population +of a country were autochthones or immigrants. But it is incumbent +on the historical inquirer to bring to light the successive strata of +population in the country of which he treats, in order to trace, +from as remote an epoch as possible, the gradual progress of +civilization to more perfect forms, and the suppression of races +less capable of, or less advanced in, culture by nations of higher +standing. + +Italy is singularly poor in memorials of the primitive period, and +presents in this respect a remarkable contrast to other fields of +civilization. The results of German archaeological research lead +to the conclusion that in England, France, the North of Germany +and Scandinavia, before the settlement of the Indo-Germans in those +lands, there must have dwelt, or rather roamed, a people, perhaps +of Mongolian race, gaining their subsistence by hunting and fishing, +making their implements of stone, clay, or bones, adorning themselves +with the teeth of animals and with amber, but unacquainted with +agriculture and the use of the metals. In India, in like manner, the +Indo-Germanic settlers were preceded by a dark-coloured population +less susceptible of culture. But in Italy we neither meet with +fragments of a supplanted nation, such as the Finns and Lapps in the +Celto-Germanic domain and the black tribes in the Indian mountains; +nor have any remains of an extinct primitive people been hitherto +pointed out there, such as appear to be revealed in the peculiarly-formed +skeletons, the places of assembling, and the burial mounds of what +is called the stone-period of Germanic antiquity. Nothing has +hitherto been brought to light to warrant the supposition that +mankind existed in Italy at a period anterior to the knowledge of +agriculture and of the smelting of the metals; and if the human +race ever within the bounds of Italy really occupied the level of +that primitive stage of culture which we are accustomed to call +the savage state, every trace of such a fact has disappeared. + +Individual tribes, or in other words, races or stocks, are the +constituent elements of the earliest history. Among the stocks which +in later times we meet with in Italy, the immigration of some, of +the Hellenes for instance, and the denationalization of others, +such as the Bruttians and the inhabitants of the Sabine territory, +are historically attested. Setting aside both these classes, there +remain a number of stocks whose wanderings can no longer be traced +by means of historical testimony, but only by a priori inference, +and whose nationality cannot be shown to have undergone any radical +change from external causes. To establish the national individuality +of these is the first aim of our inquiry. In such an inquiry, +had we nothing to fall back upon but the chaotic mass of names of +tribes and the confusion of what professes to be historical tradition, +the task might well be abandoned as hopeless. The conventionally +received tradition, which assumes the name of history, is composed +of a few serviceable notices by civilized travellers, and a mass +of mostly worthless legends, which have usually been combined with +little discrimination of the true character either of legend or +of history. But there is another source of tradition to which we +may resort, and which yields information fragmentary but authentic; +we mean the indigenous languages of the stocks settled in Italy from +time immemorial. These languages, which have grown with the growth +of the peoples themselves, have had the stamp of their process +of growth impressed upon them too deeply to be wholly effaced +by subsequent civilization. One only of the Italian languages is +known to us completely; but the remains which have been preserved +of several of the others are sufficient to afford a basis for +historical inquiry regarding the existence, and the degrees, of +family relationship among the several languages and peoples. + +In this way philological research teaches us to distinguish three +primitive Italian stocks, the Iapygian, the Etruscan, and that +which we shall call the Italian. The last is divided into two main +branches,--the Latin branch, and that to which the dialects of the +Umbri, Marsi, Volsci, and Samnites belong. + + +Iapygians + + +As to the Iapygian stock, we have but little information. At the +south-eastern extremity of Italy, in the Messapian or Calabrian +peninsula, inscriptions in a peculiar extinct language(1) have been +found in considerable numbers; undoubtedly remains of the dialect +of the Iapygians, who are very distinctly pronounced by tradition +also to have been different from the Latin and Samnite stocks. +Statements deserving of credit and numerous indications lead to the +conclusion that the same language and the same stock were indigenous +also in Apulia. What we at present know of this people suffices +to show clearly that they were distinct from the other Italians, +but does not suffice to determine what position should be assigned +to them and to their language in the history of the human race. The +inscriptions have not yet been, and it is scarcely to be expected +that they ever will be, deciphered. The genitive forms, -aihi- and +-ihi-, corresponding to the Sanscrit -asya- and the Greek --oio--, +appear to indicate that the dialect belongs to the Indo-Germanic +family. Other indications, such as the use of the aspirated consonants +and the avoiding of the letters m and t as terminal sounds, show +that this Iapygian dialect was essentially different from the +Italian and corresponded in some respects to the Greek dialects. +The supposition of an especially close affinity between the Iapygian +nation and the Hellenes finds further support in the frequent +occurrence of the names of Greek divinities in the inscriptions, +and in the surprising facility with which that people became +Hellenized, presenting a striking contrast to the shyness in this +respect of the other Italian nations. Apulia, which in the time +of Timaeus (400) was still described as a barbarous land, had in +the sixth century of the city become a province thoroughly Greek, +although no direct colonization from Greece had taken place; +and even among the ruder stock of the Messapii there are various +indications of a similar tendency. With the recognition of such +a general family relationship or peculiar affinity between the +Iapygians and Hellenes (a recognition, however, which by no means +goes so far as to warrant our taking the Iapygian language to be a +rude dialect of Greek), investigation must rest content, at least +in the meantime, until some more precise and better assured result +be attainable.(2) The lack of information, however, is not much +felt; for this race, already on the decline at the period when +our history begins, comes before us only when it is giving way and +disappearing. The character of the Iapygian people, little capable +of resistance, easily merging into other nationalities, agrees +well with the hypothesis, to which their geographical position adds +probability, that they were the oldest immigrants or the historical +autochthones of Italy. There can be no doubt that all the primitive +migrations of nations took place by land; especially such as were +directed towards Italy, the coast of which was accessible by sea +only to skilful sailors and on that account was still in Homer's +time wholly unknown to the Hellenes. But if the earlier settlers +came over the Apennines, then, as the geologist infers the origin +of mountains from their stratification, the historical inquirer +may hazard the conjecture that the stocks pushed furthest towards +the south were the oldest inhabitants of Italy; and it is just +at its extreme south-eastern verge that we meet with the Iapygian +nation. + + +Italians + + +The middle of the peninsula was inhabited, as far back as trustworthy +tradition reaches, by two peoples or rather two branches of the +same people, whose position in the Indo-Germanic family admits of +being determined with greater precision than that of the Iapygian +nation. We may with propriety call this people the Italian, since +upon it rests the historical significance of the peninsula. It is +divided into the two branch-stocks of the Latins and the Umbrians; +the latter including their southern offshoots, the Marsians and +Samnites, and the colonies sent forth by the Samnites in historical +times. The philological analysis of the idioms of these stocks +has shown that they together constitute a link in the Indo-Germanic +chain of languages, and that the epoch in which they still formed +an unity is a comparatively late one. In their system of sounds +there appears the peculiar spirant -f, in the use of which they +agree with the Etruscans, but decidedly differ from all Hellenic +and Helleno-barbaric races as well as from the Sanscrit itself. +The aspirates, again, which are retained by the Greeks throughout, +and the harsher of them also by the Etruscans, were originally +foreign to the Italians, and are represented among them by one of +their elements--either by the media, or by the breathing alone -f +or -h. The finer spirants, -s, -w, -j, which the Greeks dispense +with as much as possible, have been retained in the Italian languages +almost unimpaired, and have been in some instances still further +developed. The throwing back of the accent and the consequent +destruction of terminations are common to the Italians with some +Greek stocks and with the Etruscans; but among the Italians this +was done to a greater extent than among the former, and to a lesser +extent than among the latter. The excessive disorder of the +terminations in the Umbrian certainly had no foundation in the +original spirit of the language, but was a corruption of later date, +which appeared in a similar although weaker tendency also at Rome. +Accordingly in the Italian languages short vowels are regularly +dropped in the final sound, long ones frequently: the concluding +consonants, on the other hand, have been tenaciously retained in +the Latin and still more so in the Samnite; while the Umbrian drops +even these. In connection with this we find that the middle voice +has left but slight traces in the Italian languages, and a peculiar +passive formed by the addition of -r takes its place; and further +that the majority of the tenses are formed by composition with the +roots -es and -fu, while the richer terminational system of the +Greeks along with the augment enables them in great part to dispense +with auxiliary verbs. While the Italian languages, like the Aeolic +dialect, gave up the dual, they retained universally the ablative +which the Greeks lost, and in great part also the locative. The +rigorous logic of the Italians appears to have taken offence at +the splitting of the idea of plurality into that of duality and +of multitude; while they have continued with much precision to +express the relations of words by inflections. A feature peculiarly +Italian, and unknown even to the Sanscrit, is the mode of imparting +a substantive character to the verb by gerunds and supines,--a +process carried out more completely here than in any other language. + + +Relation of the Italians to the Greeks + + +These examples selected from a great abundance of analogous phenomena +suffice to establish the individuality of the Italian stock as +distinguished from the other members of the Indo-Germanic family, +and at the same time show it to be linguistically the nearest +relative, as it is geographically the next neighbour, of the Greek. +The Greek and the Italian are brothers; the Celt, the German, and +the Slavonian are their cousins. The essential unity of all the +Italian as of all the Greek dialects and stocks must have dawned +early and clearly on the consciousness of the two great nations +themselves; for we find in the Roman language a very ancient word +of enigmatical origin, -Graius-or -Graicus-, which is applied to +every Greek, and in like manner amongst the Greeks the analogous +appellation --Opikos-- which is applied to all the Latin and +Samnite stocks known to the Greeks in earlier times, but never to +the Iapygians or Etruscans. + + +Relation of the Latins to the Umbro-Samnites + + +Among the languages of the Italian stock, again, the Latin stands +in marked contrast with the Umbro-Samnite dialects. It is true +that of these only two, the Umbrian and the Samnite or Oscan, are +in some degree known to us, and these even in a manner extremely +defective and uncertain. Of the rest some, such as the Marsian +and the Volscian, have reached us in fragments too scanty to enable +us to form any conception of their individual peculiarities or to +classify the varieties of dialect themselves with certainty and +precision, while others, like the Sabine, have, with the exception +of a few traces preserved as dialectic peculiarities in provincial +Latin, completely disappeared. A conjoint view, however, of the +facts of language and of history leaves no doubt that all these +dialects belonged to the Umbro-Samnite branch of the great Italian +stock, and that this branch, although much more closely related to +Latin than to Greek, was very decidedly distinct from the Latin. +In the pronoun and other cases frequently the Samnite and Umbrian +used -p where the Roman used -q, as -pis- for -quis-; just as languages +otherwise closely related are found to differ; for instance, -p +is peculiar to the Celtic in Brittany and Wales, -k to the Gaelic +and Erse. Among the vowel sounds the diphthongs in Latin, and +in the northern dialects generally, appear very much destroyed, +whereas in the southern Italian dialects they have suffered little; +and connected with this is the fact, that in composition the Roman +weakens the radical vowel otherwise so strictly preserved,--a +modification which does not take place in the kindred group of +languages. The genitive of words in -a is in this group as among +the Greeks -as, among the Romans in the matured language -ae; +that of words in -us is in the Samnite -eis, in the Umbrian -es, +among the Romans -ei; the locative disappeared more and more from +the language of the latter, while it continued in full use in the +other Italian dialects; the dative plural in -bus is extant only +in Latin. The Umbro-Samnite infinitive in -um is foreign to the +Romans; while the Osco-Umbrian future formed from the root -es after +the Greek fashion (-her-est- like --leg-so--) has almost, perhaps +altogether, disappeared in Latin, and its place is supplied by +the optative of the simple verb or by analogous formations from +-fuo-(-amabo-). In many of these instances, however--in the forms +of the cases, for example--the differences only exist in the two +languages when fully formed, while at the outset they coincide. It +thus appears that, while the Italian language holds an independent +position by the side of the Greek, the Latin dialect within it +bears a relation to the Umbro-Samnite somewhat similar to that of +the Ionic to the Doric; and the differences of the Oscan and Umbrian +and kindred dialects may be compared with the differences between +the Dorism of Sicily and the Dorism of Sparta. + +Each of these linguistic phenomena is the result and the attestation +of an historical event. With perfect certainty they guide us to +the conclusion, that from the common cradle of peoples and languages +there issued a stock which embraced in common the ancestors of the +Greeks and the Italians; that from this, at a subsequent period, +the Italians branched off; and that these again divided into the +western and eastern stocks, while at a still later date the eastern +became subdivided into Umbrians and Oscans. + +When and where these separations took place, language of course +cannot tell; and scarce may adventurous thought attempt to grope +its conjectural way along the course of those revolutions, the +earliest of which undoubtedly took place long before that migration +which brought the ancestors of the Italians across the Apennines. +On the other hand the comparison of languages, when conducted with +accuracy and caution, may give us an approximate idea of the degree +of culture which the people had reached when these separations took +place, and so furnish us with the beginnings of history, which is +nothing but the development of civilization. For language, especially +in the period of its formation, is the true image and organ of the +degree of civilization attained; its archives preserve evidence of +the great revolutions in arts and in manners, and from its records +the future will not fail to draw information as to those times +regarding which the voice of direct tradition is dumb. + + +Indo-Germanic Culture + + +During the period when the Indo-Germanic nations which are now +separated still formed one stock speaking the same language, they +attained a certain stage of culture, and they had a vocabulary +corresponding to it. This vocabulary the several nations carried +along with them, in its conventionally established use, as a common +dowry and a foundation for further structures of their own. In it +we find not merely the simplest terms denoting existence, actions, +perceptions, such as -sum-, -do-, -pater-, the original echo of the +impression which the external world made on the mind of man, but +also a number of words indicative of culture (not only as respects +their roots, but in a form stamped upon them by custom) which are +the common property of the Indo-Germanic family, and which cannot +be explained either on the principle of an uniform development +in the several languages, or on the supposition of their having +subsequently borrowed one from another. In this way we possess +evidence of the development of pastoral life at that remote epoch +in the unalterably fixed names of domestic animals; the Sanscrit +-gaus- is the Latin -bos-, the Greek --bous--; Sanscrit -avis- is +the Latin -ovis-, Greek --ois--; Sanscrit -asvas-, Latin -equus-, +Greek --ippos--; Sanscrit -hansas-, Latin -anser-, Greek --chein--; +Sanscrit -atis-, Latin -anas-, Greek --neissa--; in like manner +-pecus-, -sus-, -porcus-, -taurus-, -canis-, are Sanscrit words. +Even at this remote period accordingly the stock, on which from the +days of Homer down to our own time the intellectual development of +mankind has been dependent, had already advanced beyond the lowest +stage of civilization, the hunting and fishing epoch, and had +attained at least comparative fixity of abode. On the other hand, +we have as yet no certain proofs of the existence of agriculture +at this period. Language rather favours the negative view. Of the +Latin-Greek names of grain none occurs in Sanscrit with the single +exception of --zea--, which philologically represents the Sanscrit +-yavas-, but denotes in the Indian barley, in Greek spelt. It must +indeed be granted that this diversity in the names of cultivated +plants, which so strongly contrasts with the essential agreement in +the appellations of domestic animals, does not absolutely preclude +the supposition of a common original agriculture. In the circumstances +of primitive times transport and acclimatizing are more difficult +in the case of plants than of animals; and the cultivation of rice +among the Indians, that of wheat and spelt among the Greeks and +Romans, and that of rye and oats among the Germans and Celts, may +all be traceable to a common system of primitive tillage. On the +other hand the name of one cereal common to the Greeks and Indians +only proves, at the most, that before the separation of the stocks +they gathered and ate the grains of barley and spelt growing wild +in Mesopotamia,(3) not that they already cultivated grain. While, +however, we reach no decisive result in this way, a further light +is thrown on the subject by our observing that a number of the most +important words bearing on this province of culture occur certainly +in Sanscrit, but all of them in a more general signification. +-Agras-among the Indians denotes a level surface in general; -kurnu-, +anything pounded; -aritram-, oar and ship; -venas-, that which is +pleasant in general, particularly a pleasant drink. The words are +thus very ancient; but their more definite application to the field +(-ager-), to the grain to be ground (-granum-), to the implement +which furrows the soil as the ship furrows the surface of the sea +(-aratrum-), to the juice of the grape (-vinum-), had not yet taken +place when the earliest division of the stocks occurred, and it +is not to be wondered at that their subsequent applications came +to be in some instances very different, and that, for example, the +corn intended to be ground, as well as the mill for grinding it +(Gothic -quairinus-, Lithuanian -girnos-,(4)) received their names +from the Sanscrit -kurnu-. We may accordingly assume it as probable, +that the primeval Indo-Germanic people were not yet acquainted with +agriculture, and as certain, that, if they were so, it played but +a very subordinate part in their economy; for had it at that time +held the place which it afterwards held among the Greeks and Romans, +it would have left a deeper impression upon the language. + +On the other hand the building of houses and huts by the Indo-Germans +is attested by the Sanscrit -dam(as)-, Latin -domus-, Greek --domos--; +Sanscrit -vesas-, Latin -vicus-, Greek --oikos--; Sanscrit -dvaras-, +Latin -fores-, Greek --thura--; further, the building of oar-boats +by the names of the boat, Sanscrit -naus-, Latin -navis-, Greek +--naus--, and of the oar, Sanscrit -aritram-, Greek --eretmos--, +Latin -remus-, -tri-res-mis-; and the use of waggons and the breaking +in of animals for draught and transport by the Sanscrit -akshas- +(axle and cart), Latin -axis-, Greek --axon--, --am-axa--; Sanscrit +-iugam-, Latin -iugum-, Greek --zugon--. The words that denote +clothing- Sanscrit -vastra-, Latin -vestis-, Greek --esthes--; as +well as those that denote sewing and spinning-Sanscrit -siv-, Latin +-suo-; Sanscrit -nah-, Latin -neo-, Greek --netho--, are alike +in all Indo-Germanic languages. This cannot, however, be equally +affirmed of the higher art of weaving.(5) The knowledge of the +use of fire in preparing food, and of salt for seasoning it, is a +primeval heritage of the Indo-Germanic nations; and the same may +be affirmed regarding the knowledge of the earliest metals employed +as implements or ornaments by man. At least the names of copper +(-aes-) and silver (-argentum-), perhaps also of gold, are met with +in Sanscrit, and these names can scarcely have originated before +man had learned to separate and to utilize the ores; the Sanscrit +-asis-, Latin -ensis-, points in fact to the primeval use of metallic +weapons. + +No less do we find extending back into those times the fundamental +ideas on which the development of all Indo-Germanic states ultimately +rests; the relative position of husband and wife, the arrangement +in clans, the priesthood of the father of the household and the +absence of a special sacerdotal class as well as of all distinctions +of caste in general, slavery as a legitimate institution, the days +of publicly dispensing justice at the new and full moon. On the +other hand the positive organization of the body politic, the decision +of the questions between regal sovereignty and the sovereignty of +the community, between the hereditary privilege of royal and noble +houses and the unconditional legal equality of the citizens, belong +altogether to a later age. + +Even the elements of science and religion show traces of a community +of origin. The numbers are the same up to one hundred (Sanscrit +-satam-, -ekasatam-, Latin -centum-, Greek --e-katon--, Gothic +-hund-); and the moon receives her name in all languages from the +fact that men measure time by her (-mensis-). The idea of Deity +itself (Sanscrit -devas-, Latin -deus-, Greek --theos--), and many +of the oldest conceptions of religion and of natural symbolism, +belong to the common inheritance of the nations. The conception, +for example, of heaven as the father and of earth as the mother of +being, the festal expeditions of the gods who proceed from place +to place in their own chariots along carefully levelled paths, +the shadowy continuation of the soul's existence after death, are +fundamental ideas of the Indian as well as of the Greek and Roman +mythologies. Several of the gods of the Ganges coincide even +in name with those worshipped on the Ilissus and the Tiber:--thus +the Uranus of the Greeks is the Varunas, their Zeus, Jovis pater, +Diespiter is the Djaus pita of the Vedas. An unexpected light has +been thrown on various enigmatical forms in the Hellenic mythology +by recent researches regarding the earlier divinities of India. The +hoary mysterious forms of the Erinnyes are no Hellenic invention; +they were immigrants along with the oldest settlers from the East. +The divine greyhound Sarama, who guards for the Lord of heaven the +golden herd of stars and sunbeams and collects for him the nourishing +rain-clouds as the cows of heaven to the milking, and who moreover +faithfully conducts the pious dead into the world of the blessed, +becomes in the hands of the Greeks the son of Sarama, Sarameyas, +or Hermeias; and the enigmatical Hellenic story of the stealing +of the cattle of Helios, which is beyond doubt connected with the +Roman legend about Cacus, is now seen to be a last echo (with the +meaning no longer understood) of that old fanciful and significant +conception of nature. + + +Graeco-Italian Culture + + +The task, however, of determining the degree of culture which +the Indo-Germans had attained before the separation of the stocks +properly belongs to the general history of the ancient world. It +is on the other hand the special task of Italian history to ascertain, +so far as it is possible, what was the state of the Graeco-Italian +nation when the Hellenes and the Italians parted. Nor is this +a superfluous labour; we reach by means of it the stage at which +Italian civilization commenced, the starting-point of the national +history. + + +Agriculture + + +While it is probable that the Indo-Germans led a pastoral life +and were acquainted with the cereals, if at all, only in their wild +state, all indications point to the conclusion that the Graeco-Italians +were a grain-cultivating, perhaps even a vine-cultivating, people. +The evidence of this is not simply the knowledge of agriculture +itself common to both, for this does not upon the whole warrant +the inference of community of origin in the peoples who may exhibit +it. An historical connection between the Indo-Germanic agriculture +and that of the Chinese, Aramaean, and Egyptian stocks can hardly be +disputed; and yet these stocks are either alien to the Indo-Germans, +or at any rate became separated from them at a time when agriculture +was certainly still unknown. The truth is, that the more advanced +races in ancient times were, as at the present day, constantly +exchanging the implements and the plants employed in cultivation; +and when the annals of China refer the origin of Chinese agriculture +to the introduction of five species of grain that took place under +a particular king in a particular year, the story undoubtedly depicts +correctly, at least in a general way, the relations subsisting in +the earliest epochs of civilization. A common knowledge of agriculture, +like a common knowledge of the alphabet, of war chariots, of purple, +and other implements and ornaments, far more frequently warrants the +inference of an ancient intercourse between nations than of their +original unity. But as regards the Greeks and Italians, whose +mutual relations are comparatively well known, the hypothesis that +agriculture as well as writing and coinage first came to Italy by +means of the Hellenes may be characterized as wholly inadmissible. +On the other hand, the existence of a most intimate connection +between the agriculture of the one country and that of the other is +attested by their possessing in common all the oldest expressions +relating to it; -ager-, --agros--; -aro aratrum-, --aroo arotron--; +-ligo-alongside of --lachaino--; -hortus-, --chortos--; -hordeum-, +--krithei--; -milium-, --melinei--; -rapa-, --raphanis-; -malva-, +--malachei--; -vinum-, --oinos--. It is likewise attested by +the agreement of Greek and Italian agriculture in the form of the +plough, which appears of the same shape on the old Attic and the old +Roman monuments; in the choice of the most ancient kinds of grain, +millet, barley, spelt; in the custom of cutting the ears with the +sickle and having them trodden out by cattle on the smooth-beaten +threshing-floor; lastly, in the mode of preparing the grain -puls- +--poltos--, -pinso- --ptisso--, -mola- --mulei--; for baking was +of more recent origin, and on that account dough or pap was always +used in the Roman ritual instead of bread. That the culture of the +vine too in Italy was anterior to the earliest Greek immigration, +is shown by the appellation "wine-land" (--Oinotria--), which +appears to reach back to the oldest visits of Greek voyagers. It +would thus appear that the transition from pastoral life to agriculture, +or, to speak more correctly, the combination of agriculture with the +earlier pastoral economy, must have taken place after the Indians +had departed from the common cradle of the nations, but before the +Hellenes and Italians dissolved their ancient communion. Moreover, +at the time when agriculture originated, the Hellenes and Italians +appear to have been united as one national whole not merely with +each other, but with other members of the great family; at least, +it is a fact, that the most important of those terms of cultivation, +while they are foreign to the Asiatic members of the Indo-Germanic +family, are used by the Romans and Greeks in common with the Celtic +as well as the Germanic, Slavonic, and Lithuanian stocks.(6) + +The distinction between the common inheritance of the nations and +their own subsequent acquisitions in manners and in language is +still far from having been wrought out in all the variety of its +details and gradations. The investigation of languages with this +view has scarcely begun, and history still in the main derives its +representation of primitive times, not from the rich mine of language, +but from what must be called for the most part the rubbish-heap of +tradition. For the present, therefore, it must suffice to indicate +the differences between the culture of the Indo-Germanic family in +its oldest undivided form, and the culture of that epoch when the +Graeco-Italians still lived together. The task of discriminating +the results of culture which are common to the European members of +this family, but foreign to its Asiatic members, from those which +the several European groups, such as the Graeco-Italian and the +Germano-Slavonic, have wrought out for themselves, can only be +accomplished, if at all, after greater progress has been made in +linguistic and historical inquiries. But there can be no doubt +that, with the Graeco-Italians as with all other nations, agriculture +became and in the mind of the people remained the germ and core of +their national and of their private life. The house and the fixed +hearth, which the husbandman constructs instead of the light hut +and shifting fireplace of the shepherd, are represented in the +spiritual domain and idealized in the goddess Vesta or --Estia-- +almost the only divinity not Indo-Germanic yet from the first +common to both nations. One of the oldest legends of the Italian +stock ascribes to king Italus, or, as the Italians must have +pronounced the word, Vitalus or Vitulus, the introduction of the +change from a pastoral to an agricultural life, and shrewdly connects +with it the original Italian legislation. We have simply another +version of the same belief in the legend of the Samnite stock which +makes the ox the leader of their primitive colonies, and in the +oldest Latin national names which designate the people as reapers +(-Siculi-, perhaps also -Sicani-), or as field-labourers (-Opsci-). +It is one of the characteristic incongruities which attach to the +so-called legend of the origin of Rome, that it represents a pastoral +and hunting people as founding a city. Legend and faith, laws and +manners, among the Italians as among the Hellenes are throughout +associated with agriculture.(7) + +Cultivation of the soil cannot be conceived without some measurement +of it, however rude. Accordingly, the measures of surface and the +mode of setting off boundaries rest, like agriculture itself, on +a like basis among both peoples. The Oscan and Umbrian -vorsus- +of one hundred square feet corresponds exactly with the Greek +--plethron--. The principle of marking off boundaries was also +the same. The land-measurer adjusted his position with reference +to one of the cardinal points, and proceeded to draw in the first +place two lines, one from north to south, and another from east to +west, his station being at their point of intersection (-templum-, +--temenos-- from --temno--); then he drew at certain fixed distances +lines parallel to these, and by this process produced a series of +rectangular pieces of ground, the corners of which were marked by +boundary posts (-termini-, in Sicilian inscriptions -termones-, +usually --oroi--). This mode of defining boundaries, which is +probably also Etruscan but is hardly of Etruscan origin, we find +among the Romans, Umbrians, Samnites, and also in very ancient +records of the Tarentine Heracleots, who are as little likely to have +borrowed it from the Italians as the Italians from the Tarentines: +it is an ancient possession common to all. A peculiar characteristic +of the Romans, on the other hand, was their rigid carrying out of +the principle of the square; even where the sea or a river formed +a natural boundary, they did not accept it, but wound up their +allocation of the land with the last complete square. + + +Other Features of Their Economy + + +It is not solely in agriculture, however, that the especially close +relationship of the Greeks and Italians appears; it is unmistakably +manifest also in the other provinces of man's earliest activity. +The Greek house, as described by Homer, differs little from the +model which was always adhered to in Italy. The essential portion, +which originally formed the whole interior accommodation of the +Latin house, was the -atrium-, that is, the "blackened" chamber, +with the household altar, the marriage bed, the table for meals, +and the hearth; and precisely similar is the Homeric --megaron--, +with its household altar and hearth and smoke-begrimed roof. We +cannot say the same of ship-building. The boat with oars was an +old common possession of the Indo-Germans; but the advance to the +use of sailing vessels can scarcely be considered to have taken +place during the Graeco-Italian period, for we find no nautical +terms originally common to the Greeks and Italians except such +as are also general among the Indo-Germanic family. On the other +hand the primitive Italian custom of the husbandmen having common +midday meals, the origin of which the myth connects with the +introduction of agriculture, is compared by Aristotle with the +Cretan Syssitia; and the earliest Romans further agreed with the +Cretans and Laconians in taking their meals not, as was afterwards +the custom among both peoples, in a reclining, but in a sitting +posture. The mode of kindling fire by the friction of two pieces +of wood of different kinds is common to all peoples; but it is +certainly no mere accident that the Greeks and Italians agree in the +appellations which they give to the two portions of the touch-wood, +"the rubber" (--trypanon--, -terebra-), and the "under-layer" +(--storeus--, --eschara--, -tabula-, probably from -tendere-, +--tetamai--). In like manner the dress of the two peoples +is essentially identical, for the -tunica- quite corresponds with +the --chiton--, and the -toga- is nothing but a fuller --himation--. +Even as regards weapons of war, liable as they are to frequent change, +the two peoples have this much at least in common, that their two +principal weapons of attack were the javelin and the bow,--a fact +which is clearly expressed, as far as Rome is concerned, in the +earliest names for warriors (-pilumni--arquites-),(8) and is in +keeping with the oldest mode of fighting which was not properly +adapted to a close struggle. Thus, in the language and manners of +Greeks and Italians, all that relates to the material foundations +of human existence may be traced back to the same primary elements; +the oldest problems which the world proposes to man had been +jointly solved by the two peoples at a time when they still formed +one nation. + + +Difference of the Italian and the Greek Character + + +It was otherwise in the mental domain. The great problem of man--how +to live in conscious harmony with himself, with his neighbour, and +with the whole to which he belongs--admits of as many solutions +as there are provinces in our Father's kingdom; and it is in this, +and not in the material sphere, that individuals and nations display +their divergences of character. The exciting causes which gave +rise to this intrinsic contrast must have been in the Graeco-Italian +period as yet wanting; it was not until the Hellenes and Italians +had separated that that deep-seated diversity of mental character +became manifest, the effects of which continue to the present day. +The family and the state, religion and art, received in Italy and +in Greece respectively a development so peculiar and so thoroughly +national, that the common basis, on which in these respects also +the two peoples rested, has been so overgrown as to be almost +concealed from our view. That Hellenic character, which sacrificed +the whole to its individual elements, the nation to the township, +and the township to the citizen; which sought its ideal of life in +the beautiful and the good, and, but too often, in the enjoyment of +idleness; which attained its political development by intensifying +the original individuality of the several cantons, and at length +produced the internal dissolution of even local authority; which in +its view of religion first invested the gods with human attributes, +and then denied their existence; which allowed full play to the +limbs in the sports of the naked youth, and gave free scope to +thought in all its grandeur and in all its awfulness;--and that +Roman character, which solemnly bound the son to reverence the +father, the citizen to reverence the ruler, and all to reverence the +gods; which required nothing and honoured nothing but the useful +act, and compelled every citizen to fill up every moment of his +brief life with unceasing work; which made it a duty even in the +boy modestly to cover the body; which deemed every one a bad citizen +who wished to be different from his fellows; which regarded the +state as all in all, and a desire for the state's extension as the +only aspiration not liable to censure,--who can in thought trace +back these sharply-marked contrasts to that original unity which +embraced them both, prepared the way for their development, and at +length produced them? It would be foolish presumption to desire +to lift this veil; we shall only endeavour to indicate in brief +outline the beginnings of Italian nationality and its connections +with an earlier period--to direct the guesses of the discerning +reader rather than to express them. + + +The Family and the State + + +All that may be called the patriarchal element in the state rested +in Greece and Italy on the same foundations. Under this head comes +especially the moral and decorous arrangement of social life,(9) +which enjoined monogamy on the husband and visited with heavy +penalties the infidelity of the wife, and which recognized the +equality of the sexes and the sanctity of marriage in the high +position which it assigned to the mother within the domestic circle. +On the other hand the rigorous development of the marital and still +more of the paternal authority, regardless of the natural rights of +persons as such, was a feature foreign to the Greeks and peculiarly +Italian; it was in Italy alone that moral subjection became +transformed into legal slavery. In the same way the principle of +the slave being completely destitute of legal rights--a principle +involved in the very nature of slavery--was maintained by the Romans +with merciless rigour and carried out to all its consequences; +whereas among the Greeks alleviations of its harshness were early +introduced both in practice and in legislation, the marriage of +slaves, for example, being recognized as a legal relation. + +On the household was based the clan, that is, the community of the +descendants of the same progenitor; and out of the clan among the +Greeks as well as the Italians arose the state. But while under +the weaker political development of Greece the clan-bond maintained +itself as a corporate power in contradistinction to that of +the state far even into historical times, the state in Italy made +its appearance at once complete, in so far as in presence of its +authority the clans were quite neutralized and it exhibited an +association not of clans, but of citizens. Conversely, again, the +individual attained, in presence of the clan, an inward independence +and freedom of personal development far earlier and more completely +in Greece than in Rome--a fact reflected with great clearness in +the Greek and Roman proper names, which, originally similar, came +to assume very different forms. In the more ancient Greek names +the name of the clan was very frequently added in an adjective form +to that of the individual; while, conversely, Roman scholars were +aware that their ancestors bore originally only one name, the later +-praenomen-. But while in Greece the adjectival clan-name early +disappeared, it became, among the Italians generally and not merely +among the Romans, the principal name; and the distinctive individual +name, the -praenomen-, became subordinate. It seems as if the small +and ever diminishing number and the meaningless character of the +Italian, and particularly of the Roman, individual names, compared +with the luxuriant and poetical fulness of those of the Greeks, +were intended to illustrate the truth that it was characteristic +of the one nation to reduce all to a level, of the other to promote +the free development of personality. The association in communities +of families under patriarchal chiefs, which we may conceive to +have prevailed in the Graeco-Italian period, may appear different +enough from the later forms of Italian and Hellenic polities; yet +it must have already contained the germs out of which the future +laws of both nations were moulded. The "laws of king Italus," +which were still applied in the time of Aristotle, may denote the +institutions essentially common to both. These laws must have +provided for the maintenance of peace and the execution of justice +within the community, for military organization and martial law +in reference to its external relations, for its government by a +patriarchal chief, for a council of elders, for assemblies of the +freemen capable of bearing arms, and for some sort of constitution. +Judicial procedure (-crimen-, --krinein--, expiation (-poena-, +--poinei--), retaliation (-talio-, --talao--, --tleinai--, are +Graeco-Italian ideas. The stern law of debt, by which the debtor +was directly responsible with his person for the repayment of what +he had received, is common to the Italians, for example, with +the Tarentine Heracleots. The fundamental ideas of the Roman +constitution--a king, a senate, and an assembly entitled simply to +ratify or to reject the proposals which the king and senate should +submit to it--are scarcely anywhere expressed so distinctly as +in Aristotle's account of the earlier constitution of Crete. The +germs of larger state-confederacies in the political fraternizing +or even amalgamation of several previously independent stocks +(symmachy, synoikismos) are in like manner common to both nations. +The more stress is to be laid on this fact of the common foundations +of Hellenic and Italian polity, that it is not found to extend to +the other Indo-Germanic stocks; the organization of the Germanic +community, for example, by no means starts, like that of the Greeks +and Romans, from an elective monarchy. But how different the +polities were that were constructed on this common basis in Italy +and Greece, and how completely the whole course of their political +development belongs to each as its distinctive property,(10) it +will be the business of the sequel to show. + + +Religion + + +It is the same in religion. In Italy, as in Hellas, there lies +at the foundation of the popular faith the same common treasure +of symbolic and allegorical views of nature: on this rests that +general analogy between the Roman and the Greek world of gods and +of spirits, which was to become of so much importance in later +stages of development. In many of their particular conceptions +also,--in the already mentioned forms of Zeus-Diovis and Hestia-Vesta, +in the idea of the holy space (--temenos--, -templum-), in various +offerings and ceremonies--the two modes of worship do not by mere +accident coincide. Yet in Hellas, as in Italy, they assumed a shape +so thoroughly national and peculiar, that but little even of the +ancient common inheritance was preserved in a recognizable form, and +that little was for the most part misunderstood or not understood +at all. It could not be otherwise; for, just as in the peoples +themselves the great contrasts, which during the Graeco-Italian +period had lain side by side undeveloped, were after their division +distinctly evolved, so in their religion also a separation took +place between the idea and the image, which had hitherto been but +one whole in the soul. Those old tillers of the ground, when the +clouds were driving along the sky, probably expressed to themselves +the phenomenon by saying that the hound of the gods was driving +together the startled cows of the herd. The Greek forgot that the +cows were really the clouds, and converted the son of the hound +of the gods--a form devised merely for the particular purposes of +that conception--into the adroit messenger of the gods ready for +every service. When the thunder rolled among the mountains, he +saw Zeus brandishing his bolts on Olympus; when the blue sky again +smiled upon him, he gazed into the bright eye of Athenaea, the +daughter of Zeus; and so powerful over him was the influence of the +forms which he had thus created, that he soon saw nothing in them +but human beings invested and illumined with the splendour of +nature's power, and freely formed and transformed them according to +the laws of beauty. It was in another fashion, but not less strongly, +that the deeply implanted religious feeling of the Italian race +manifested itself; it held firmly by the idea and did not suffer +the form to obscure it. As the Greek, when he sacrificed, raised +his eyes to heaven, so the Roman veiled his head; for the prayer +of the former was contemplation, that of the latter reflection. +Throughout the whole of nature he adored the spiritual and the +universal. To everything existing, to the man and to the tree, to +the state and to the store-room, was assigned a spirit which came +into being with it and perished along with it, the counterpart of +the natural phenomenon in the spiritual domain; to the man the male +Genius, to the woman the female Juno, to the boundary Terminus, +to the forest Silvanus, to the circling year Vertumnus, and so on +to every object after its kind. In occupations the very steps of +the process were spiritualized: thus, for example, in the prayer +for the husbandman there was invoked the spirit of fallowing, of +ploughing, of furrowing, sowing, covering-in, harrowing, and so +forth down to that of the in-bringing, up-storing, and opening of +the granaries. In like manner marriage, birth, and every other +natural event were endowed with a sacred life. The larger the +sphere embraced in the abstraction, the higher rose the god and the +reverence paid by man. Thus Jupiter and Juno are the abstractions +of manhood and womanhood; Dea Dia or Ceres, the creative power; +Minerva, the power of memory; Dea Bona, or among the Samnites +Dea Cupra, the good deity. While to the Greek everything assumed +a concrete and corporeal shape, the Roman could only make use of +abstract, completely transparent formulae; and while the Greek for +the most part threw aside the old legendary treasures of primitive +times, because they embodied the idea in too transparent a form, the +Roman could still less retain them, because the sacred conceptions +seemed to him dimmed even by the lightest veil of allegory. Not +a trace has been preserved among the Romans even of the oldest and +most generally diffused myths, such as that current among the Indians, +the Greeks, and even the Semites, regarding a great flood and its +survivor, the common ancestor of the present human race. Their +gods could not marry and beget children, like those of the Hellenes; +they did not walk about unseen among mortals; and they needed no +nectar. But that they, nevertheless, in their spirituality--which +only appears tame to dull apprehension--gained a powerful hold on +men's minds, a hold more powerful perhaps than that of the gods of +Hellas created after the image of man, would be attested, even if +history were silent on the subject, by the Roman designation of faith +(the word and the idea alike foreign to the Hellenes), -Religlo-, +that is to say, "that which binds." As India and Iran developed from +one and the same inherited store, the former, the richly varied +forms of its sacred epics, the latter, the abstractions of the +Zend-Avesta; so in the Greek mythology the person is predominant, +in the Roman the idea, in the former freedom, in the latter necessity. + + +Art + + +Lastly, what holds good of real life is true also of its counterfeit +in jest and play, which everywhere, and especially in the earliest +period of full and simple existence, do not exclude the serious, +but veil it. The simplest elements of art are in Latium and Hellas +quite the same; the decorous armed dance, the "leap" (-triumpus-, +--thriambos--, --di-thyrambos--); the masquerade of the "full people" +(--satyroi--, -satura-), who, wrapped in the skins of sheep and +goats, wound up the festival with their jokes; lastly, the pipe, +which with suitable strains accompanied and regulated the solemn +as well as the merry dance. Nowhere, perhaps, does the especially +close relationship of the Hellenes and Italians come to light so +clearly as here; and yet in no other direction did the two nations +manifest greater divergence as they became developed. The training +of youth remained in Latium strictly confined to the narrow limits +of domestic education; in Greece the yearning after a varied +yet harmonious training of mind and body created the sciences of +Gymnastics and Paideia, which were cherished by the nation and by +individuals as their highest good. Latium in the poverty of its +artistic development stands almost on a level with uncivilized +peoples; Hellas developed with incredible rapidity out of its +religious conceptions the myth and the worshipped idol, and out of +these that marvellous world of poetry and sculpture, the like of +which history has not again to show. In Latium no other influences +were powerful in public and private life but prudence, riches, and +strength; it was reserved for the Hellenes to feel the blissful +ascendency of beauty, to minister to the fair boy-friend with an +enthusiasm half sensuous, half ideal, and to reanimate their lost +courage with the war-songs of the divine singer. + +Thus the two nations in which the civilization of antiquity +culminated stand side by side, as different in development as they +were in origin identical. The points in which the Hellenes excel +the Italians are more universally intelligible and reflect a more +brilliant lustre; but the deep feeling in each individual that he +was only a part of the community, a rare devotedness and power of +self-sacrifice for the common weal, an earnest faith in its own +gods, form the rich treasure of the Italian nation. Both nations +underwent a one-sided, and therefore each a complete, development; +it is only a pitiful narrow-mindedness that will object to the +Athenian that he did not know how to mould his state like the Fabii +and the Valerii, or to the Roman that he did not learn to carve +like Pheidias and to write like Aristophanes. It was in fact the +most peculiar and the best feature in the character of the Greek +people, that rendered it impossible for them to advance from national +to political unity without at the same time exchanging their polity +for despotism. The ideal world of beauty was all in all to the +Greeks, and compensated them to some extent for what they wanted +in reality. Wherever in Hellas a tendency towards national union +appeared, it was based not on elements directly political, but +on games and art: the contests at Olympia, the poems of Homer, +the tragedies of Euripides, were the only bonds that held Hellas +together. Resolutely, on the other hand, the Italian surrendered +his own personal will for the sake of freedom, and learned to obey +his father that he might know how to obey the state. Amidst this +subjection individual development might be marred, and the germs +of fairest promise in man might be arrested in the bud; the Italian +gained in their stead a feeling of fatherland and of patriotism +such as the Greek never knew, and alone among all the civilized +nations of antiquity succeeded in working out national unity in +connection with a constitution based on self-government--a national +unity, which at last placed in his hands the mastery not only over +the divided Hellenic stock, but over the whole known world. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter II + + + +1. Some of the epitaphs may give us an idea of its sound; +as -theotoras artahiaihi bennarrihino- and -dasiihonas platorrihi +bollihi-. + +2. The hypothesis has been put forward of an affinity between +the Iapygian language and the modern Albanian; based, however, on +points of linguistic comparison that are but little satisfactory +in any case, and least of all where a fact of such importance is +involved. Should this relationship be confirmed, and should the +Albanians on the other hand--a race also Indo-Germanic and on a par +with the Hellenic and Italian races--be really a remnant of that +Hellene-barbaric nationality traces of which occur throughout all +Greece and especially in the northern provinces, the nation that +preceded the Hellenes would be demonstrated as identical with +that which preceded the Italians. Still the inference would not +immediately follow that the Iapygian immigration to Italy had taken +place across the Adriatic Sea. + +3. Barley, wheat, and spelt were found growing together in a wild +state on the right bank of the Euphrates, north-west from Anah +(Alph. de Candolle, Geographie botanique raisonnee, ii. p. 934). +The growth of barley and wheat in a wild state in Mesopotamia had +already been mentioned by the Babylonian historian Berosus (ap. +Georg. Syncell. p. 50 Bonn.). + +4. Scotch -quern-. Mr. Robertson. + +5. If the Latin -vieo-, -vimen-, belong to the same root as our +weave (German -weben-) and kindred words, the word must still, when +the Greeks and Italians separated, have had the general meaning "to +plait," and it cannot have been until a later period, and probably +in different regions independently of each other, that it assumed +that of "weaving." The cultivation of flax, old as it is, does not +reach back to this period, for the Indians, though well acquainted +with the flax-plant, up to the present day use it only for the +preparation of linseed-oil. Hemp probably became known to the +Italians at a still later period than flax; at least -cannabis- +looks quite like a borrowed word of later date. + +6. Thus -aro-, -aratrum- reappear in the old German -aran- +(to plough, dialectically -eren-), -erida-, in Slavonian -orati-, +-oradlo-, in Lithuanian -arti-, -arimnas-, in Celtic -ar-, -aradar-. +Thus alongside of -ligo- stands our rake (German -rechen-), of +-hortus- our garden (German -garten-), of -mola- our mill (German +-muhle-, Slavonic -mlyn-, Lithuanian -malunas-, Celtic -malin-). + +With all these facts before us, we cannot allow that there ever was +a time when the Greeks in all Hellenic cantons subsisted by purely +pastoral husbandry. If it was the possession of cattle, and not of +land, which in Greece as in Italy formed the basis and the standard +of all private property, the reason of this was not that agriculture +was of later introduction, but that it was at first conducted on +the system of joint possession. Of course a purely agricultural +economy cannot have existed anywhere before the separation of +the stocks; on the contrary, pastoral husbandry was (more or less +according to locality) combined with it to an extent relatively +greater than was the case in later times. + +7. Nothing is more significant in this respect than the close connection +of agriculture with marriage and the foundation of cities during +the earliest epoch of culture. Thus the gods in Italy immediately +concerned with marriage are Ceres and (or?) Tellus (Plutarch, +Romul. 22; Servius on Aen. iv. 166; Rossbach, Rom. Ehe, 257, 301), +in Greece Demeter (Plutarch, Conjug. Praec. init.); in old Greek +formulas the procreation of children is called --arotos--(ii. +The Family and the State, note); indeed the oldest Roman formof +marriage, -confarreatio-, derives its name and its ceremony from +the cultivation of corn. The use of the plough in the founding of +cities is well known. + +8. Among the oldest names of weapons on both sides scarcely any +can be shown to be certainly related; -lancea-, although doubtless +connected with -logchei-, is, as a Roman word, recent, and perhaps +borrowed from the Germans or Spaniards. + +9. Even in details this agreement appears; e.g., in the designation of +lawful wedlock as "marriage concluded for the obtaining of lawful +children" (--gauos epi paidon gneision aroto--, -matrimonium +liberorum quaerendorum causa-). + +10. Only we must, of course, not forget that like pre-existing +conditions lead everywhere to like institutions. For instance, +nothing is more certain than that the Roman plebeians were a growth +originating within the Roman commonwealth, and yet they everywhere +find their counterpart where a body of -metoeci- has arisen alongside +of a body of burgesses. As a matter of course, chance also plays +in such cases its provoking game. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The Settlements of the Latins + + + +Indo-Germanic Migrations + + +The home of the Indo-Germanic stock lay in the western portion of +central Asia; from this it spread partly in a south-eastern direction +over India, partly in a northwestern over Europe. It is difficult +to determine the primitive seat of the Indo-Germans more precisely: +it must, however, at any rate have been inland and remote from +the sea, as there is no name for the sea common to the Asiatic and +European branches. Many indications point more particularly to the +regions of the Euphrates; so that, singularly enough, the primitive +seats of the two most important civilized stocks, --the Indo-Germanic +and the Aramaean,--almost coincide as regards locality. This +circumstance gives support to the hypothesis that these races also +were originally connected, although, if there was such a connection, +it certainly must have been anterior to all traceable development +of culture and language. We cannot define more exactly their original +locality, nor are we able to accompany the individual stocks in the +course of their migrations. The European branch probably lingered +in Persia and Armenia for some considerable time after the departure +of the Indians; for, according to all appearance, that region has +been the cradle of agriculture and of the culture of the vine. +Barley, spelt, and wheat are indigenous in Mesopotamia, and the +vine tothe south of the Caucasus and of the Caspian Sea: there too +the plum, the walnut, and others of the more easily transplanted +fruit trees are native. It is worthy of notice that the name for +the sea is common to most of the European stocks--Latins, Celts, +Germans, and Slavonians; they must probably therefore before their +separation have reached the coast of the Black Sea or of the Caspian. +By what route from those regions the Italians reached the chain +of the Alps, and where in particular they were settled while still +united with the Hellenes alone, are questions that can only be +answered when the problem is solved by what route--whether from +Asia Minor or from the regions of the Danube--the Hellenes arrived +in Greece. It may at all events be regarded as certain that the +Italians, like the Indians, migrated into their peninsula from the +north.(1) + +The advance of the Umbro-Sabellian stock along the central +mountain-ridge of Italy, in a direction from north to south, can +still be clearly traced; indeed its last phases belong to purely +historical times. Less is known regarding the route which the Latin +migration followed. Probably it proceeded in a similar direction +along the west coast, long, in all likelihood, before the first +Sabellian stocks began to move. The stream only overflows the heights +when the lower grounds are already occupied; and only through the +supposition that there were Latin stocks already settled on the coast +are we able to explain why the Sabellians should have contented +themselves with the rougher mountain districts, from which they +afterwards issued and intruded, wherever it was possible, between +the Latin tribes. + + +Extension of the Latins in Italy + + +It is well known that a Latin stock inhabited the country from +the left bank of the Tiber to the Volscian mountains; but these +mountains themselves, which appear to have been neglected on occasion +of the first immigration when the plains of Latium and Campania +still lay open to the settlers, were, as the Volscian inscriptions +show, occupied by a stock more nearly related to the Sabellians +than to the Latins. On the other hand, Latins probably dwelt in +Campania before the Greek and Samnite immigrations; for the Italian +names Novla or Nola (newtown), Campani Capua, Volturnus (from +-volvere-, like -Iuturna- from -iuvare-), Opsci (labourers), are +demonstrably older than the Samnite invasion, and show that, at the +time when Cumae was founded by the Greeks, an Italian and probably +Latin stock, the Ausones, were in possession of Campania. The +primitive inhabitants of the districts which the Lucani and Bruttii +subsequently occupied, the Itali proper (inhabitants of the land of +oxen), are associated by the best observers not with the Iapygian, +but with the Italian stock; and there is nothing to hinder our regarding +them as belonging to its Latin branch, although the Hellenizing of +these districts which took place even before the commencement of +the political development of Italy, and their subsequent inundation +by Samnite hordes, have in this instance totally obliterated the +traces of the older nationality. Very ancient legends bring the +similarly extinct stock of the Siculi into relation with Rome. For +instance, the earliest historian of Italy Antiochus of Syracuse +tells us that a man named Sikelos came a fugitive from Rome to +Morges king of Italia (i. e. the Bruttian peninsula). Such stories +appear to be founded on the identity of race recognized by the +narrators as subsisting between the Siculi (of whom there were +some still in Italy in the time of Thucydides) and the Latins. The +striking affinity of certain dialectic peculiarities of Sicilian +Greek with the Latin is probably to be explained rather by the old +commercial connections subsisting between Rome and the Sicilian +Greeks, than by the ancient identity of the languages of the Siculi +and the Romans. According to all indications, however, not only +Latium, but probably also the Campanian and Lucanian districts, +the Italia proper between the gulfs of Tarentum and Laus, and the +eastern half of Sicily were in primitive times inhabited by different +branches of the Latin nation. + +Destinies very dissimilar awaited these different branches. Those +settled in Sicily, Magna Graecia, and Campania came into contact +with the Greeks at a period when they were unable to offer resistance +to their civilization, and were either completely Hellenized, as in +the case of Sicily, or at any rate so weakened that they succumbed +without marked resistance to the fresh energy of the Sabine tribes. +In this way the Siculi, the Itali and Morgetes, and the Ausonians +never came to play an active part in the history of the peninsula. +It was otherwise with Latium, where no Greek colonies were +founded, and the inhabitants after hard struggles were successful +in maintaining their ground against the Sabines as well as against +their northern neighbours. Let us cast a glance at this district, +which was destined more than any other to influence the fortunes +of the ancient world. + + +Latium + + +The plain of Latium must have been in primeval times the scene of +the grandest conflicts of nature, while the slowly formative agency +of water deposited, and the eruptions of mighty volcanoes upheaved, +the successive strata of that soil on which was to be decided the +question to what people the sovereignty of the world should belong. +Latium is bounded on the east by the mountains of the Sabines and +Aequi which form part of the Apennines; and on the south by the +Volscian range rising to the height of 4000 feet, which is separated +from the main chain of the Apennines by the ancient territory of +the Hernici, the tableland of the Sacco (Trerus, a tributary of the +Liris), and stretching in a westerly direction terminates in the +promontory of Terracina. On the west its boundary is the sea, which +on this part of the coast forms but few and indifferent harbours. +On the north it imperceptibly merges into the broad hill-land +of Etruria. The region thus enclosed forms a magnificent plain +traversed by the Tiber, the "mountain-stream" which issues from +the Umbrian, and by the Anio, which rises in the Sabine mountains. +Hills here and there emerge, like islands, from the plain; some +of them steep limestone cliffs, such as that of Soracte in the +north-east, and that of the Circeian promontory on the south-west, +as well as the similar though lower height of the Janiculum near +Rome; others volcanic elevations, whose extinct craters had become +converted into lakes which in some cases still exist; the most +important of these is the Alban range, which, free on every side, +stands forth from the plain between the Volscian chain and the +river Tiber. + +Here settled the stock which is known to history under the name +of the Latins, or, as they were subsequently called by way of +distinction from the Latin communities beyond the bounds of Latium, +the "Old Latins" (-prisci Latini-). But the territory occupied +by them, the district of Latium, was only a small portion of the +central plain of Italy. All the country north of the Tiber was to +the Latins a foreign and even hostile domain, with whose inhabitants +no lasting alliance, no public peace, was possible, and such armistices +as were concluded appear always to have been for a limited period. +The Tiber formed the northern boundary from early times; and neither +in history nor in the more reliable traditions has any reminiscence +been preserved as to the period or occasion of the establishment +of a frontier line so important in its results. We find, at the +time when our history begins, the flat and marshy tracts to the +south of the Alban range in the hands of Umbro-Sabellian stocks, the +Rutuli and Volsci; Ardea and Velitrae are no longer in the number +of originally Latin towns. Only the central portion of that region +between the Tiber, the spurs of the Apennines, the Alban Mount, and +the sea--a district of about 700 square miles, not much larger than +the present canton of Zurich--was Latium proper, the "plain,"(2) +as it appears to the eye of the observer from the heights of Monte +Cavo. Though the country is a plain, it is not monotonously flat. +With the exception of the sea-beach which is sandy and formed in +part by the accumulations of the Tiber, the level is everywhere +broken by hills of tufa moderate in height though often somewhat +steep, and by deep fissures of the ground. These alternating +elevations and depressions of the surface lead to the formation +of lakes in winter; and the exhalations proceeding in the heat of +summer from the putrescent organic substances which they contain +engender that noxious fever-laden atmosphere, which in ancient +times tainted the district as it taints it at the present day. It +is a mistake to suppose that these miasmata were first occasioned +by the neglect of cultivation, which was the result of the misgovernment +in the last century of the Republic and under the Papacy. Their +cause lies rather in the want of natural outlets for the water; +and it operates now as it operated thousands of years ago. It is +true, however, that the malaria may to a certain extent be banished +by thoroughness of tillage--a fact which has not yet received its +full explanation, but may be partly accounted for by the circumstance +that the working of the surface accelerates the drying up of the +stagnant waters. It must always remain a remarkable phenomenon, +that a dense agricultural population should have arisen in regions +where no healthy population can at present subsist, and where the +traveller is unwilling to tarry even for a single night, such as +the plain of Latium and the lowlands of Sybaris and Metapontum. +We must bear in mind that man in a low stage of civilization +has generally a quicker perception of what nature demands, and a +greater readiness in conforming to her requirements; perhaps, also, +a more elastic physical constitution, which accommodates itself +more readily to the conditions of the soil where he dwells. In +Sardinia agriculture is prosecuted under physical conditions +precisely similar even at the present day; the pestilential atmosphere +exists, but the peasant avoids its injurious effects by caution in +reference to clothing, food, and the choice of his hours of labour. +In fact, nothing is so certain a protection against the "aria cattiva" +as wearing the fleece of animals and keeping a blazing fire; which +explains why the Roman countryman went constantly clothed in heavy +woollen stuffs, and never allowed the fire on his hearth to be +extinguished. In other respects the district must have appeared +attractive to an immigrant agricultural people: the soil is easily +laboured with mattock and hoe and is productive even without +being manured, although, tried by an Italian standard, it does not +yield any extraordinary return: wheat yields on an average about +five-fold.(3) Good water is not abundant; the higher and more +sacred on that account was the esteem in which every fresh spring +was held by the inhabitants. + + +Latin Settlements + + +No accounts have been preserved of the mode in which the settlements +of the Latins took place in the district which has since borne +their name; and we are left to gather what we can almost exclusively +from a posteriori inference regarding them. Some knowledge may, +however, in this way be gained, or at any rate some conjectures +that wear an aspect of probability. + + +Clan-Villages + + +The Roman territory was divided in the earliest times into a number +of clan-districts, which were subsequently employed in the formation +of the earliest "rural wards" (-tribus rusticae-). Tradition +informs us as to the -tribus Claudia-, that it originated from +the settlement of the Claudian clansmen on the Anio; and that the +other districts of the earliest division originated in a similar +manner is indicated quite as certainly by their names. These +names are not, like those of the districts added at a later period, +derived from the localities, but are formed without exception from +the names of clans; and the clans who thus gave their names to +the wards of the original Roman territory are, so far as they have +not become entirely extinct (as is the case with the -Camilii-, +-Galerii-, -Lemonii-, -Pollii-, -Pupinii-, -Voltinii-), the very +oldest patrician families of Rome, the -Aemilii-, -Cornelii-, -Fabii-, +-Horatii-, -Menenii-, -Papirii-, -Romilii-, -Sergii-, -Voturii-. +It is worthy of remark, that not one of these clans can be shown to +have taken up its settlement in Rome only at a later epoch. Every +Italian, and doubtless also every Hellenic, canton must, like the +Roman, have been divided into a number of groups associated at once +by locality and by clanship; such a clan-settlement is the "house" +(--oikia--) of the Greeks, from which very frequently the --komai-- +and --demoi-- originated among them, like the tribus in Rome. The +corresponding Italian terms "house" -vicus-or "district" (-pagus-, +from -pangere-) indicate, in like manner, the joint settlement +of the members of a clan, and thence come by an easily understood +transition to signify in common use hamlet or village. As each +household had its own portion of land, so the clan-household or +village had a clan-land belonging to it, which, as will afterwards +be shown, was managed up to a comparatively late period after the +analogy of household--land, that is, on the system of joint-possession. +Whether it was in Latium itself that the clan-households became +developed into clan-villages, or whether the Latins were already +associated in clans when they immigrated into Latium, are questions +which we are just as little able to answer as we are to determine +what was the form assumed by the management on joint account, +which such an arrangement required,(4) or how far, in addition to +the original ground of common ancestry, the clan may have been based +on the incorporation or co-ordination from without of individuals +not related to it by blood. + + +Cantons + + +These clanships, however, were from the beginning regarded not as +independent societies, but as the integral parts of a political +community (-civitas-, -populus-). This first presents itself as an +aggregate of a number of clan-villages of the same stock, language, +and manners, bound to mutual observance of law and mutual legal +redress and to united action in aggression and defence. A fixed +local centre was quite as necessary in the case of such a canton +as in that of a clanship; but as the members of the clan, or in +other words the constituent elements of the canton, dwelt in their +villages, the centre of the canton cannot have been a place of joint +settlement in the strict sense--a town. It must, on the contrary, +have been simply a place of common assembly, containing the seat of +justice and the common sanctuary of the canton, where the members +of the canton met every eighth day for purposes of intercourse and +amusement, and where, in case of war, they obtained for themselves +and their cattle a safer shelter from the invading enemy than in +the villages: in ordinary circumstances this place of meeting was +not at all or but scantily inhabited. Ancient places of refuge, +of a kind quite similar, may still be recognized at the present +day on the tops of several of the hills in the highlands of east +Switzerland. Such a place was called in Italy "height" (-capitolium-, +like --akra--, the mountain-top), or "stronghold" (-arx-, from +-arcere-); it was not a town at first, but it became the nucleus of +one, as houses naturally gathered round the stronghold and were +afterwards surrounded with the "ring" (-urbs-, connected with +-urvus-, -rurvus-, perhaps also with -orbis-). The stronghold and +town were visibly distinguished from each other by the number of +gates, of which the stronghold has as few as possible, and the town +many, the former ordinarily but one, the latter at least three. +Such fortresses were the bases of that cantonal constitution which +prevailed in Italy anterior to the existence of towns: a constitution, +the nature of which may still be recognized with some degree of +clearness in those provinces of Italy which did not until a late +period reach, and in some cases have not yet fully reached, the +stage of aggregation in towns, such as the land of the Marsi and +the small cantons of the Abruzzi. The country if the Aequiculi, +who even in the imperial period dwelt not in towns, but in numerous +open hamlets, presents a number of ancient ring-walls, which, +regarded as "deserted towns" with their solitary temples, excited +the astonishment of the Roman as well as of modern archaeologists, +who have fancied that they could find accommodation there, the +former for their "primitive inhabitants" (-aborigines-), the latter +for their Pelasgians. We shall certainly be nearer the truth in +recognizing these structures not as walled towns, but as places of +refuge for the inhabitants of the district, such as were doubtless +found in more ancient times over all Italy, although constructed +in less artistic style. It was natural that at the period when the +stocks that had made the transition to urban life were surrounding +their towns with stone walls, those districts whose inhabitants +continued to dwell in open hamlets should replace the earthen ramparts +and palisades of their strongholds with buildings of stone. When +peace came to be securely established throughout the land and +such fortresses were no longer needed, these places of refuge were +abandoned and soon became a riddle to after generations. + + +Localities of the Oldest Cantons + + +These cantons accordingly, having their rendezvous in some +stronghold, and including a certain number of clanships, form the +primitive political unities with which Italian history begins. At +what period, and to what extent, such cantons were formed in Latium, +cannot be determined with precision; nor is it a matter of special +historical interest The isolated Alban range, that natural stronghold +of Latium, which offered to settlers the most wholesome air, the +freshest springs, and the most secure position, would doubtless be +first occupied by the new comers. + + +Alba + + +Here accordingly, along the narrow plateau above Palazzuola, between +the Alban lake (-Lago di Castello-) and the Alban mount (-Monte +Cavo-), extended the town of Alba, which was universally regarded +as the primitive seat of the Latin stock, and the mother-city of +Rome as well as of all the other Old Latin communities; here, too, +on the slopes lay the very ancient Latin canton-centres of Lanuvium, +Aricia, and Tusculum. Here are found some of those primitive works +of masonry, which usually mark the beginnings of civilization and +seem to stand as a witness to posterity that in reality Pallas +Athena when she does appear, comes into the world full grown. Such +is the escarpment of the wall of rock below Alba in the direction +of Palazzuola, whereby the place, which is rendered naturally +inaccessible by the steep declivities of Monte Cavo on the south, +is rendered equally unapproachable on the north, and only the two +narrow approaches on the east and west, which are capable of being +easily defended, are left open for traffic. Such, above all, is +the large subterranean tunnel cut--so that a man can stand upright +within it--through the hard wall of lava, 6000 feet thick, by which +the waters of the lake formed in the old crater of the Alban Mount +were reduced to their present level and a considerable space was +gained for tillage on the mountain itself. + +The summits of the last offshoots of the Sabine range form natural +fastnesses of the Latin plain; and the canton-strongholds there +gave rise at a later period to the considerable towns of Tibur and +Praeneste. Labici too, Gabii, and Nomentum in the plain between the +Alban and Sabine hills and the Tiber, Rome on the Tiber, Laurentum +and Lavinium on the coast, were all more or less ancient centres +of Latin colonization, not to speak of many others less famous and +in some cases almost forgotten. + + +The Latin League + + +All these cantons were in primitive times politically sovereign, +and each of them was governed by its prince with the co-operation +of the council of elders and the assembly of warriors. Nevertheless +the feeling of fellowship based on community of descent and of +language not only pervaded the whole of them, but manifested itself +in an important religious and political institution--the perpetual +league of the collective Latin cantons. The presidency belonged +originally, according to the universal Italian as well as Hellenic +usage, to that canton within whose bounds lay the meeting-place of +the league; in this case it was the canton of Alba, which, as we +have said, was generally regarded as the oldest and most eminent +of the Latin cantons. The communities entitled to participate in +the league were in the beginning thirty--a number which we find +occurring with singular frequency as the sum of the constituent +parts of a commonwealth in Greece and Italy. What cantons originally +made up the number of the thirty old Latin communities or, as with +reference to the metropolitan rights of Alba they are also called, +the thirty Alban colonies, tradition has not recorded, and we can +no longer ascertain. The rendezvous of this union was, like the +Pamboeotia and the Panionia among the similar confederacies of the +Greeks, the "Latin festival" (-feriae Latinae-), at which, on the +"Mount of Alba" (-Mons Albanus-, -Monte Cavo-), upon a day annually +appointed by the chief magistrate for the purpose, an ox was +offered in sacrifice by the assembled Latin stock to the "Latin god" +(-Jupiter Latiaris-). Each community taking part in the ceremony +had to contribute to the sacrificial feast its fixed proportion +of cattle, milk, and cheese, and to receive in return a portion of +the roasted victim. These usages continued down to a late period, +and are well known: respecting the more important legal bearings +of this association we can do little else than institute conjectures. + +From the most ancient times there were held, in connection with +the religious festival on the Mount of Alba, assemblies of the +representatives of the several communities at the neighbouring +Latin seat of justice at the source of the Ferentina (near Marino). +Indeed such a confederacy cannot be conceived to exist without +having a certain power of superintendence over the associated body, +and without possessing a system of law binding on all. Tradition +records, and we may well believe, that the league exercised +jurisdiction in reference to violations of federal law, and that +it could in such cases pronounce even sentence of death. The later +communion of legal rights and, in some sense, of marriage that +subsisted among the Latin communities may perhaps be regarded as +an integral part of the primitive law of the league, so that any +Latin man could beget lawful children with any Latin woman and +acquire landed property and carry on trade in any part of Latium. +The league may have also provided a federal tribunal of arbitration +for the mutual disputes of the cantons; on the other hand, there +is no proof that the league imposed any limitation on the sovereign +right of each community to make peace or war. In like manner +there can be no doubt that the constitution of the league implied +the possibility of its waging defensive or even aggressive war +in its own name; in which case, of course, it would be necessary +to have a federal commander-in-chief. But we have no reason to +suppose that in such an event each community was compelled by law +to furnish a contingent for the army, or that, conversely, any +one was interdicted from undertaking a war on its own account even +against a member of the league. There are, however, indications +that during the Latin festival, just as was the case during the +festivals of the Hellenic leagues, "a truce of God" was observed +throughout all Latium;(5) and probably on that occasion even tribes +at feud granted safe-conducts to each other. + +It is still less in our power to define the range of the privileges +of the presiding canton; only we may safely affirm that there is +no reason for recognizing in the Alban presidency a real political +hegemony over Latium, and that possibly, nay probably, it had no +more significance in Latium than the honorary presidency of Elis +had in Greece.(6) On the whole it is probable that the extent of +this Latin league, and the amount of its jurisdiction, were somewhat +unsettled and fluctuating; yet it remained throughout not an +accidental aggregate of various communities more or less alien to +each other, but the just and necessary expression of the relationship +of the Latin stock. The Latin league may not have at all times +included all Latin communities, but it never at any rate granted +the privilege of membership to any that were not Latin. Its +counterpart in Greece was not the Delphic Amphictyony, but the +Boeotian or Aetolian confederacy. + +These very general outlines must suffice: any attempt to draw the +lines more sharply would only falsify the picture. The manifold play +of mutual attraction and repulsion among those earliest political +atoms, the cantons, passed away in Latium without witnesses competent +to tell the tale. We must now be content to realise the one great +abiding fact that they possessed a common centre, to which they +did not sacrifice their individual independence, but by means of +which they cherished and increased the feeling of their belonging +collectively to the same nation. By such a common possession the +way was prepared for their advance from that cantonal individuality, +with which the history of every people necessarily begins, to the +national union with which the history of every people ends or at +any rate ought to end. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter III + + + +1. I. II. Italians + +2. Like -latus- (side) and --platus-- (flat); it denotes therefore +the flat country in contrast to the Sabine mountain-land, just +as Campania, the "plain," forms the contrast to Samnium. Latus, +formerly -stlatus-, has no connection with Latium. + +3. A French statist, Dureau de la Malle (-Econ. Pol. des Romains-, +ii. 226), compares with the Roman Campagna the district of Limagne +in Auvergne, which is likewise a wide, much intersected, and uneven +plain, with a superficial soil of decomposed lava and ashes--the +remains of extinct volcanoes. The population, at least 2500 +to the square league, is one of the densest to be found in purely +agricultural districts: property is subdivided to an extraordinary +extent. Tillage is carried on almost entirely by manual labour, +with spade, hoe, or mattock; only in exceptional cases a light +plough is substituted drawn by two cows, the wife of the peasant +not unfrequently taking the place of one of them in the yoke. The +team serves at once to furnish milk and to till the land. They +have two harvests in the year, corn and vegetables; there is no +fallow. The average yearly rent for an arpent of arable land is +100 francs. If instead Of such an arrangement this same land were +to be divided among six or seven large landholders, and a system +of management by stewards and day labourers were to supersede the +husbandry of the small proprietors, in a hundred years the Limagne +would doubtless be as waste, forsaken, and miserable as the Campagna +di Roma is at the present day. + +4. In Slavonia, where the patriarchal economy is retained up to +the present day, the whole family, often to the number of fifty +or even a hundred persons, remains together in the same house under +the orders of the house-father (Goszpodar) chosen by the whole +family for life. The property of the household, which consists +chiefly in cattle, is administered by the house-father; the +surplus is distributed according to the family-branches. Private +acquisitions by industry and trade remain separate property. +Instances of quitting the household occur, in the case even of men, +e. g. by marrying into a stranger household (Csaplovies, -Slavonien-, +i. 106, 179). --Under such circumstances, which are probably +not very widely different from the earliest Roman conditions, the +household approximates in character to the community. + +5. The Latin festival is expressly called "armistice" (-indutiae-, +Macrob. Sat. i. 16; --ekecheipiai--, Dionys. iv. 49); and a war +was not allowed to be begun during its continuance (Macrob. l. c.) + +6. The assertion often made in ancient and modern times, that +Alba once ruled over Latium under the forms of a symmachy, nowhere +finds on closer investigation sufficient support. All history +begins not with the union, but with the disunion of a nation; and +it is very improbable that the problem of the union of Latium, which +Rome finally solved after some centuries of conflict, should have +been already solved at an earlier period by Alba. It deserves to +be remarked too that Rome never asserted in the capacity of heiress +of Alba any claims of sovereignty proper over the Latin communities, +but contented herself with an honorary presidency; which no doubt, +when it became combined with material power, afforded a handle for +her pretensions of hegemony. Testimonies, strictly so called, can +scarcely be adduced on such a question; and least of all do such +passages as Festus -v. praetor-, p. 241, and Dionys. iii. 10, +suffice to stamp Alba as a Latin Athens. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +The Beginnings of Rome + + + +Ramnes + + +About fourteen miles up from the mouth of the river Tiber hills of +moderate elevation rise on both banks of the stream, higher on the +right, lower on the left bank. With the latter group there has been +closely associated for at least two thousand five hundred years the +name of the Romans. We are unable, of course, to tell how or when +that name arose; this much only is certain, that in the oldest +form of it known to us the inhabitants of the canton are called not +Romans, but Ramnians (Ramnes); and this shifting of sound, which +frequently occurs in the older period of a language, but fell very +early into abeyance in Latin,(1) is an expressive testimony to the +immemorial antiquity of the name. Its derivation cannot be given with +certainty; possibly "Ramnes" may mean "the people on the stream." + + +Tities, Luceres + + +But they were not the only dwellers on the hills by the bank +of the Tiber. In the earliest division of the burgesses of Rome a +trace has been preserved of the fact that that body arose out of +the amalgamation of three cantons once probably independent, the +Ramnians, Tities, and Luceres, into a single commonwealth--in other +words, out of such a --synoikismos-- as that from which Athens +arose in Attica.(2) The great antiquity of this threefold division +of the community(3) is perhaps best evinced by the fact that the +Romans, in matters especially of constitutional law, regularly +used the forms -tribuere- ("to divide into three") and -tribus- +("a third") in the general sense of "to divide" and "a part," and +the latter expression (-tribus-), like our "quarter," early lost +its original signification of number. After the union each of these +three communities--once separate, but now forming subdivisions of +a single community--still possessed its third of the common domain, +and had its proportional representation in the burgess-force and +in the council of the elders. In ritual also, the number divisible +by three of the members of almost all the oldest colleges--of the +Vestal Virgins, the Salii, the Arval Brethren, the Luperci, the +Augurs-- probably had reference to that three-fold partition. These +three elements into which the primitive body of burgesses in Rome +was divided have had theories of the most extravagant absurdity +engrafted upon them. The irrational opinion that the Roman nation +was a mongrel people finds its support in that division, and its +advocates have striven by various means to represent the three +great Italian races as elements entering into the composition of +the primitive Rome, and to transform a people which has exhibited +in language, polity, and religion, a pure and national development +such as few have equalled, into a confused aggregate of Etruscan +and Sabine, Hellenic and, forsooth! even Pelasgian fragments. + +Setting aside self-contradictory and unfounded hypotheses, we may +sum up in a few words all that can be said respecting the nationality +of the component elements of the primitive Roman commonwealth. +That the Ramnians were a Latin stock cannot be doubted, for they +gave their name to the new Roman commonwealth and therefore must have +substantially determined the nationality of the united community. +Respecting the origin of the Luceres nothing can be affirmed, except +that there is no difficulty in the way of our assigning them, like +the Ramnians, to the Latin stock. The second of these communities, +on the other hand, is with one consent derived from Sabina; and +this view can at least be traced to a tradition preserved in the +Titian brotherhood, which represented that priestly college as +having been instituted, on occasion of the Tities being admitted +into the collective community, for the preservation of their +distinctive Sabine ritual. It may be, therefore, that at a period +very remote, when the Latin and Sabellian stocks were beyond question +far less sharply contrasted in language, manners, and customs than +were the Roman and the Samnite of a later age, a Sabellian community +entered into a Latin canton-union; and, as in the older and more +credible traditions without exception the Tities take precedence +of the Ramnians, it is probable that the intruding Tities compelled +the older Ramnians to accept the --synoikismos--. A mixture +of different nationalities certainly therefore took place; but +it hardly exercised an influence greater than the migration, for +example, which occurred some centuries afterwards of the Sabine +Attus Clauzus or Appius Claudius and his clansmen and clients to +Rome. The earlier admission of the Tities among the Ramnians does +not entitle us to class the community among mongrel peoples any +more than does that subsequent reception of the Claudii among the +Romans. With the exception, perhaps, of isolated national institutions +handed down in connection with ritual, the existence of Sabellian +elements can nowhere be pointed out in Rome; and the Latin +language in particular furnishes absolutely no support to any such +hypothesis.(4) It would in fact be more than surprising, if the +Latin nation should have had its nationality in any sensible degree +affected by the insertion of a single community from a stock so +very closely related to it; and, besides, it must not be forgotten +that at the time when the Tides settled beside the Ramnians, Latin +nationality rested on Latium as its basis, and not on Rome. The new +tripartite Roman commonwealth was, notwithstanding some incidental +elements which were originally Sabellian, just what the community +of the Ramnians had previously been--a portion of the Latin nation. + + +Rome the Emporium of Latium + + +Long, in all probability, before an urban settlement arose on the +Tiber, these Ramnians, Tities, and Luceres, at first separate, +afterwards united, had their stronghold on the Roman hills, and +tilled their fields from the surrounding villages. The "wolf-festival" +(Lupercalia) which the gens of the Quinctii celebrated on the +Palatine hill, was probably a tradition from these primitive times--a +festival of husbandmen and shepherds, which more than any other +preserved the homely pastimes of patriarchal simplicity, and, +singularly enough, maintained itself longer than all the other +heathen festivals in Christian Rome, + + +Character of Its Site + + +From these settlements the later Rome arose. The founding of a city +in the strict sense, such as the legend assumes, is of course to +be reckoned altogether out of the question: Rome was not built in +a day. But the serious consideration of the historian may well be +directed to the inquiry, in what way Rome can have so early attained +the prominent political position which it held in Latium--so +different from what the physical character of the locality would +have led us to anticipate. The site of Rome is less healthy and +less fertile than that of most of the old Latin towns. Neither the +vine nor the fig succeed well in the immediate environs, and there +is a want of springs yielding a good supply of water; for neither +the otherwise excellent fountain of the Camenae before the Porta +Capena, nor the Capitoline well, afterwards enclosed within the +Tullianum, furnish it in any abundance. Another disadvantage arises +from the frequency with which the river overflows its banks. Its +very slight fall renders it unable to carry off the water, which +during the rainy season descends in large quantities from the +mountains, with sufficient rapidity to the sea, and in consequence +it floods the low-lying lands and the valleys that open between the +hills, and converts them into swamps. For a settler the locality +was anything but attractive. In antiquity itself an opinion was +expressed that the first body of immigrant cultivators could scarce +have spontaneously resorted in search of a suitable settlement to +that unhealthy and unfruitful spot in a region otherwise so highly +favoured, and that it must have been necessity, or rather some +special motive, which led to the establishment of a city there. +Even the legend betrays its sense of the strangeness of the fact: +the story of the foundation of Rome by refugees from Alba under +the leadership of the sons of an Alban prince, Romulus and Remus, +is nothing but a naive attempt of primitive quasi-history to explain +the singular circumstance of the place having arisen on a site so +unfavourable, and to connect at the same time the origin of Rome +with the general metropolis of Latium. Such tales, which profess +to be historical but are merely improvised explanations of no very +ingenious character, it is the first duty of history to dismiss; but +it may perhaps be allowed to go a step further, and after weighing +the special relations of the locality to propose a positive conjecture +not regarding the way in which the place originated, but regarding +the circumstances which occasioned its rapid and surprising prosperity +and led to its occupying its peculiar position in Latium. + + +Earliest Limits of the Roman Territory + + +Let us notice first of all the earliest boundaries of the Roman +territory. Towards the east the towns of Antemnae, Fidenae, Caenina, +and Gabii lie in the immediate neighbourhood, some of them not five +miles distant from the Servian ring-wall; and the boundary of the +canton must have been in the close vicinity of the city gates. +On the south we find at a distance of fourteen miles the powerful +communities of Tusculum and Alba; and the Roman territory appears +not to have extended in this direction beyond the -Fossa Cluilia-, +five miles from Rome. In like manner, towards the south-west, the +boundary betwixt Rome and Lavinium was at the sixth milestone. +While in a landward direction the Roman canton was thus everywhere +confined within the narrowest possible limits, from the earliest +times, on the other hand, it extended without hindrance on both +banks of the Tiber towards the sea. Between Rome and the coast there +occurs no locality that is mentioned as an ancient canton-centre, +and no trace of any ancient canton-boundary. The legend indeed, +which has its definite explanation of the origin of everything, +professes to tell us that the Roman possessions on the right bank of +the Tiber, the "seven hamlets" (-septem pagi-), and the important +salt-works at its mouth, were taken by king Romulus from the Veientes, +and that king Ancus fortified on the right bank the -tete de pont-, +the "mount of Janus" (-Janiculum-), and founded on the left the +Roman Peiraeus, the seaport at the river's "mouth" (-Ostia-). But +in fact we have evidence more trustworthy than that of legend, that +the possessions on the Etruscan bank of the Tiber must have belonged +to the original territory of Rome; for in this very quarter, at +the fourth milestone on the later road to the port, lay the grove +of the creative goddess (-Dea Dia-), the primitive chief seat of +the Arval festival and Arval brotherhood of Rome. Indeed from time +immemorial the clan of the Romilii, once the chief probably of all +the Roman clans, was settled in this very quarter; the Janiculum +formed a part of the city itself, and Ostia was a burgess colony +or, in other words, a suburb. + + +The Tiber and Its Traffic + + +This cannot have been the result of mere accident. The Tiber was +the natural highway for the traffic of Latium; and its mouth, on +a coast scantily provided with harbours, became necessarily the +anchorage of seafarers. Moreover, the Tiber formed from very ancient +times the frontier defence of the Latin stock against their northern +neighbours. There was no place better fitted for an emporium of the +Latin river and sea traffic, and for a maritime frontier fortress +of Latium, than Rome. It combined the advantages of a strong position +and of immediate vicinity to the river; it commanded both banks of +the stream down to its mouth; it was so situated as to be equally +convenient for the river navigator descending the Tiber or the +Anio, and for the seafarer with vessels of so moderate a size as +those which were then used; and it afforded greater protection from +pirates than places situated immediately on the coast. That Rome +was indebted, if not for its origin, at any rate for its importance, +to these commercial and strategical advantages of its position, +there are accordingly numerous further indications, which are +of very different weight from the statements of quasi-historical +romances. Thence arose its very ancient relations with Caere, which +was to Etruria what Rome was to Latium, and accordingly became Rome's +most intimate neighbour and commercial ally. Thence arose the unusual +importance of the bridge over the Tiber, and of bridge-building +generally in the Roman commonwealth. Thence came the galley in the +city arms; thence, too, the very ancient Roman port-duties on the +exports and imports of Ostia, which were from the first levied only +on what was to be exposed for sale (-promercale-), not on what was +for the shipper's own use (-usuarium-), and which were therefore +in reality a tax upon commerce. Thence, to anticipate, the +comparatively early occurrence in Rome of coined money, and of +commercial treaties with transmarine states. In this sense, then, +certainly Rome may have been, as the legend assumes, a creation +rather than a growth, and the youngest rather than the oldest among +the Latin cities. Beyond doubt the country was already in some +degree cultivated, and the Alban range as well as various other +heights of the Campagna were occupied by strongholds, when the Latin +frontier emporium arose on the Tiber. Whether it was a resolution +of the Latin confederacy, or the clear-sighted genius of some +unknown founder, or the natural development of traffic, that called +the city of Rome into being, it is vain even to surmise. + + +Early Urban Character of Rome + + +But in connection with this view of the position of Rome as the +emporium of Latium another observation suggests itself. At the time +when history begins to dawn on us, Rome appears, in contradistinction +to the league of the Latin communities, as a compact urban unity. +The Latin habit of dwelling in open villages, and of using the +common stronghold only for festivals and assemblies or in case of +special need, was subjected to restriction at a far earlier period, +probably, in the canton of Rome than anywhere else in Latium. The +Roman did not cease to manage his farm in person, or to regard it +as his proper home; but the unwholesome atmosphere of the Campagna +could not but induce him to take up his abode as much as possible +on the more airy and salubrious city hills; and by the side of the +cultivators of the soil there must have been a numerous non-agricultural +population, partly foreigners, partly native, settled there from +very early times. This to some extent accounts for the dense +population of the old Roman territory, which may be estimated at +the utmost at 115 square miles, partly of marshy or sandy soil, and +which, even under the earliest constitution of the city, furnished +a force of 3300 freemen; so that it must have numbered at least +10,000 free inhabitants. But further, every one acquainted with +the Romans and their history is aware that it is their urban and +mercantile character which forms the basis of whatever is peculiar +in their public and private life, and that the distinction between +them and the other Latins and Italians in general is pre-eminently +the distinction between citizen and rustic. Rome, indeed, was +not a mercantile city like Corinth or Carthage; for Latium was an +essentially agricultural region, and Rome was in the first instance, +and continued to be, pre-eminently a Latin city. But the distinction +between Rome and the mass of the other Latin towns must certainly +be traced back to its commercial position, and to the type of +character produced by that position in its citizens. If Rome was +the emporium of the Latin districts, we can readily understand +how, along with and in addition to Latin husbandry, an urban life +should have attained vigorous and rapid development there and thus +have laid the foundation for its distinctive career. + +It is far more important and more practicable to follow out the +course of this mercantile and strategical growth of the city of +Rome, than to attempt the useless task of chemically analysing the +insignificant and but little diversified communities of primitive +times. This urban development may still be so far recognized +in the traditions regarding the successive circumvallations and +fortifications of Rome, the formation of which necessarily kept +pace with the growth of the Roman commonwealth in importance as a +city. + + +The Palatine City + + +The town, which in the course of centuries grew up as Rome, in its +original form embraced according to trustworthy testimony only the +Palatine, or "square Rome" (-Roma quadrata-), as it was called in +later times from the irregularly quadrangular form of the Palatine +hill. The gates and walls that enclosed this original city remained +visible down to the period of the empire: the sites of two of the +former, the Porta Romana near S. Giorgio in Velabro, and the Porta +Mugionis at the Arch of Titus, are still known to us, and the +Palatine ring-wall is described by Tacitus from his own observation +at least on the sides looking towards the Aventine and Caelian. +Many traces indicate that this was the centre and original seat of +the urban settlement. On the Palatine was to be found the sacred +symbol of that settlement, the "outfit-vault" (-mundus-) as it +was called, in which the first settlers deposited a sufficiency +of everything necessary for a household and added a clod of their +dear native earth. There, too, was situated the building in which +all the curies assembled for religious and other purposes, each at +its own hearth (-curiae veteres-). There stood the meetinghouse of +the "Leapers" (-curia Saliorum-) in which also the sacred shields +of Mars were preserved, the sanctuary of the "Wolves" (-Lupercal-), +and the dwelling of the priest of Jupiter. On and near this hill +the legend of the founding of the city placed the scenes of its +leading incidents, and the straw-covered house of Romulus, the +shepherd's hut of his foster-father Faustulus, the sacred fig-tree +towards which the cradle with the twins had floated, the cornelian +cherry-tree that sprang from the shaft of the spear which the +founder of the city had hurled from the Aventine over the valley of +the Circus into this enclosure, and other such sacred relics were +pointed out to the believer. Temples in the proper sense of the +term were still at this time unknown, and accordingly the Palatine +has nothing of that sort to show belonging to the primitive age. +The public assemblies of the community were early transferred to +another locality, so that their original site is unknown; only it +may be conjectured that the free space round the -mundus-, afterwards +called the -area Apollinis-, was the primitive place of assembly +for the burgesses and the senate, and the stage erected over the +-mundus- itself the primitive seat of justice of the Roman community. + + +The Seven Mounts + + +The "festival of the Seven Mounts" (-septimontium-), again, has +preserved the memory of the more extended settlement which gradually +formed round the Palatine. Suburbs grew up one after another, each +protected by its own separate though weaker circumvallation and +joined to the original ring-wall of the Palatine, as in fen districts +the outer dikes are joined on to the main dike. The "Seven Rings" +were, the Palatine itself; the Cermalus, the slope of the Palatine +in the direction of the morass that extended between it and the +Capitol towards the river (-velabrum-); the Velia, the ridge which +connected the Palatine with the Esquiline, but in subsequent times +was almost wholly obliterated by the buildings of the empire; the +Fagutal, the Oppius, and the Cispius, the three summits of the +Esquiline; lastly, the Sucusa, or Subura, a fortress constructed +outside of the earthen rampart which protected the new town on the +Carinae, in the depression between the Esquiline and the Quirinal +beneath S. Pietro in Vincoli. These additions, manifestly the +results of a gradual growth, clearly reveal to a certain extent the +earliest history of the Palatine Rome, especially when we compare +with them the Servian arrangement of districts which was afterwards +formed on the basis of this earliest division. + + +Oldest Settlements in the Palatine and Suburan Regions + + +The Palatine was the original seat of the Roman community, the oldest +and originally the only ring-wall. The urban settlement, however, +began at Rome as well as elsewhere not within, but under the +protection of, the stronghold; and the oldest settlements with +which we are acquainted, and which afterwards formed the first and +second regions in the Servian division of the city, lay in a circle +round the Palatine. These included the settlement on the declivity +of the Cermalus with the "street of the Tuscans"--a name in which +there may have been preserved a reminiscence of the commercial +intercourse between the Caerites and Romans already perhaps carried +on with vigour in the Palatine city--and the settlement on the +Velia; both of which subsequently along with the stronghold-hill +itself constituted one region in the Servian city. Further, there +were the component elements of the subsequent second region--the +suburb on the Caelian, which probably embraced only its extreme point +above the Colosseum; that on the Carinae, the spur which projects +from the Esquiline towards the Palatine; and, lastly, the valley +and outwork of the Subura, from which the whole region received +its name. These two regions jointly constituted the incipient city; +and the Suburan district of it, which extended at the base of the +stronghold, nearly from the Arch of Constantine to S. Pietro in +Vincoli, and over the valley beneath, appears to have been more +considerable and perhaps older than the settlements incorporated +by the Servian arrangement in the Palatine district, because in the +order of the regions the former takes precedence of the latter. A +remarkable memorial of the distinction between these two portions +of the city was preserved in one of the oldest sacred customs of +the later Rome, the sacrifice of the October horse yearly offered +in the -Campus Martius-: down to a late period a struggle took +place at this festival for the horse's head between the men of the +Subura and those of the Via Sacra, and according as victory lay +with the former or with the latter, the head was nailed either to +the Mamilian Tower (site unknown) in the Subura, or to the king's +palace under the Palatine. It was the two halves of the old city +that thus competed with each other on equal terms. At that time, +accordingly, the Esquiliae (which name strictly used is exclusive +of the Carinae) were in reality what they were called, the "outer +buildings" (-exquiliae-, like -inquilinus-, from -colere-) or +suburb: this became the third region in the later city division, +and it was always held in inferior consideration as compared with +the Suburan and Palatine regions. Other neighbouring heights also, +such as the Capitol and the Aventine, may probably have been occupied +by the community of the Seven Mounts; the "bridge of piles" in +particular (-pons sublicius-), thrown over the natural pier of the +island in the Tiber, must have existed even then--the pontifical +college alone is sufficient evidence of this--and the -tete de +pont- on the Etruscan bank, the height of the Janiculum, would not +be left unoccupied; but the community had not as yet brought either +within the circuit of its fortifications. The regulation which +was adhered to as a ritual rule down to the latest times, that the +bridge should be composed simply of wood without iron, manifestly +shows that in its original practical use it was to be merely a +flying bridge, which must be capable of being easily at any time +broken off or burnt. We recognize in this circumstance how insecure +for a long time and liable to interruption was the command of the +passage of the river on the part of the Roman community. + +No relation is discoverable between the urban settlements thus +gradually formed and the three communities into which from an +immemorially early period the Roman commonwealth was in political +law divided. As the Ramnes, Tities, and Luceres appear to have +been communities originally independent, they must have had their +settlements originally apart; but they certainly did not dwell +in separate circumvallations on the Seven Hills, and all fictions +to this effect in ancient or modern times must be consigned by +the intelligent inquirer to the same fate with the charming tale +of Tarpeia and the battle of the Palatine. On the contrary each +of the three tribes of Ramnes, Tities, and Luceres must have been +distributed throughout the two regions of the oldest city, the +Subura and Palatine, and the suburban region as well: with this +may be connected the fact, that afterwards not only in the Suburan +and Palatine, but in each of the regions subsequently added to the +city, there were three pairs of Argean chapels. The Palatine city +of the Seven Mounts may have had a history of its own; no other +tradition of it has survived than simply that of its having once +existed. But as the leaves of the forest make room for the new +growth of spring, although they fall unseen by human eyes, so has +this unknown city of the Seven Mounts made room for the Rome of +history. + + +The Hill-Romans on the Quirinal + + +But the Palatine city was not the only one that in ancient times +existed within the circle afterwards enclosed by the Servian walls; +opposite to it, in its immediate vicinity, there lay a second city +on the Quirinal. The "old stronghold" (-Capitolium vetus-) with a +sanctuary of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, and a temple of the goddess +of Fidelity in which state treaties were publicly deposited, forms +the evident counterpart of the later Capitol with its temple to +Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, and with its shrine of Fides Romana +likewise destined as it were for a repository of international +law, and furnishes a sure proof that the Quirinal also was once +the centre of an independent commonwealth. The same fact may be +inferred from the double worship of Mars on the Palatine and the +Quirinal; for Mars was the type of the warrior and the oldest chief +divinity of the burgess communities of Italy. With this is connected +the further circumstance that his ministers, the two primitive +colleges of the "Leapers" (-Salii-) and of the "Wolves" (-Luperci-) +existed in the later Rome in duplicate: by the side of the Salii +of the Palatine there were also Salii of the Quirinal; by the side +of the Quinctian Luperci of the Palatine there was a Fabian guild +of Luperci, which in all probability had their sanctuary on the +Quirinal.(5) + +All these indications, which even in themselves are of great weight, +become more significant when we recollect that the accurately +known circuit of the Palatine city of the Seven Mounts excluded the +Quirinal, and that afterwards in the Servian Rome, while the first +three regions corresponded to the former Palatine city, a fourth +region was formed out of the Quirinal along with the neighbouring +Viminal. Thus, too, we discover an explanation of the reason why +the strong outwork of the Subura was constructed beyond the city +wall in the valley between the Esquiline and Quirinal; it was at +that point, in fact, that the two territories came into contact, +and the Palatine Romans, after having taken possession of the low +ground, were under the necessity of constructing a stronghold for +protection against those of the Quirinal. + +Lastly, even the name has not been lost by which the men of the +Quirinal distinguished themselves from their Palatine neighbours. +As the Palatine city took the name of "the Seven Mounts," its +citizens called themselves the "mount-men" (-montani-), and the +term "mount," while applied to the other heights belonging to the +city, was above all associated with the Palatine; so the Quirinal +height--although not lower, but on the contrary somewhat higher, +than the former--as well as the adjacent Viminal never in the strict +use of the language received any other name than "hill" (collis). +In the ritual records, indeed, the Quirinal was not unfrequently +designated as the "hill" without further addition. In like manner +the gate leading out from this height was usually called the +"hill-gate" (-porta collina-); the priests of Mars settled there +were called those "of the hill" (-Salii collini-) in contrast to +those of the Palatium (-Salii Palatini-) and the fourth Servian +region formed out of this district was termed the hill-region +(-tribus collina-)(6) The name of Romans primarily associated with +the locality was probably appropriated by these "Hill-men" as well +as by those of the "Mounts;" and the former perhaps designated +themselves as "Romans of the Hill" (-Romani collini-). That a +diversity of race may have lain at the foundation of this distinction +between the two neighbouring cities is possible; but evidence +sufficient to warrant our pronouncing a community established on +Latin soil to be of alien lineage is, in the case of the Quirinal +community, totally wanting.(7) + + +Relations between the Palatine and Quirinal Communities + + +Thus the site of the Roman commonwealth was still at this period +occupied by the Mount-Romans of the Palatine and the Hill-Romans +of the Quirinal as two separate communities confronting each other +and doubtless in many respects at feud, in some degree resembling +the Montigiani and the Trasteverini in modern Rome. That the +community of the Seven Mounts early attained a great preponderance +over that of the Quirinal may with certainty be inferred both from +the greater extent of its newer portions and suburbs, and from +the position of inferiority in which the former Hill-Romans were +obliged to acquiesce under the later Servian arrangement. But +even within the Palatine city there was hardly a true and complete +amalgamation of the different constituent elements of the settlement. +We have already mentioned how the Subura and the Palatine annually +contended for the horse's head; the several Mounts also, and even +the several curies (there was as yet no common hearth for the +city, but the various hearths of the curies subsisted side by side, +although in the same locality) probably felt themselves to be as +yet more separated than united; and Rome as a whole was probably +rather an aggregate of urban settlements than a single city. It +appears from many indications that the houses of the old and powerful +families were constructed somewhat after the manner of fortresses +and were rendered capable of defence--a precaution, it may be +presumed, not unnecessary. It was the magnificent structure ascribed +to king Servius Tullius that first surrounded not merely those two +cities of the Palatine and Quirinal, but also the heights of the +Capitol and the Aventine which were not comprehended within their +enclosure, with a single great ring-wall, and thereby created +the new Rome--the Rome of history. But ere this mighty work was +undertaken, the relations of Rome to the surrounding country had +beyond doubt undergone a complete revolution. As the period, during +which the husbandman guided his plough on the seven hills of Rome +just as on the other hills of Latium, and the usually unoccupied +places of refuge on particular summits alone presented the germs +of a more permanent settlement, corresponds to the earliest epoch +of the Latin stock without trace of traffic or achievement; as +thereafter the flourishing settlement on the Palatine and in the +"Seven Rings" was coincident with the occupation of the mouths of +the Tiber by the Roman community, and with the progress of the Latins +to a more stirring and freer intercourse, to an urban civilization +in Rome more especially, and perhaps also to a more consolidated +political union in the individual states as well as in the confederacy; +so the Servian wall, which was the foundation of a single great +city, was connected with the epoch at which the city of Rome was +able to contend for, and at length to achieve, the sovereignty of +the Latin league. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter IV + +1. A similar change of sound is exhibited in the case of the following +formations, all of them of a very ancient kind: -pars--portio-, +-Mars- -Mors-, -farreum- ancient form for -horreum-, -Fabii- -Fovii-, +-Valerius- -Volesus-, -vacuus- -vacivus-. + +2. The --synoikismos-- did not necessarily involve an actual +settlement together at one spot; but while each resided as formerly +on his own land, there was thenceforth only one council-hall and +court-house for the whole (Thucyd. ii. 15; Herodot. i. 170). + +3. We might even, looking to the Attic --trittus-- and the Umbrian +-trifo-, raise the question whether a triple division of the +community was not a fundamental principle of the Graeco-ltalians: +in that case the triple division of the Roman community would not be +referable to the amalgamation of several once independent tribes. +But, in order to the establishment of a hypothesis so much at +variance with tradition, such a threefold division would require to +present itself more generally throughout the Graeco-Italian field +than seems to be the case, and to appear uniformly everywhere as +the ground-scheme. The Umbrians may possibly have adopted the word +-tribus- only when they came under the influence of Roman rule; it +cannot with certainty be traced in Oscan. + +4. Although the older opinion, that Latin is to be viewed as +a mixed language made up of Greek and non-Greek elements, has been +now abandoned on all sides, judicious inquirers even (e. g. Schwegler, +R. G. i. 184, 193) still seek to discover in Latin a mixture of +two nearly related Italian dialects. But we ask in vain for the +linguistic or historical facts which render such an hypothesis +necessary. When a language presents the appearance of being an +intermediate link between two others, every philologist knows that +the phenomenon may quite as probably depend, and more frequently +does depend, on organic development than on external intermixture. + +5. That the Quinctian Luperci had precedence in rank over the Fabian +is evident from the circumstance that the fabulists attribute the +Quinctii to Romulus, the Fabii to Remus (Ovid, Fast. ii. 373 seq.; +Vict. De Orig. 22). That the Fabii belonged to the Hill-Romans is +shown by the sacrifice of their -gens- on the Quirinal (Liv. v. +46, 52), whether that sacrifice may or may not have been connected +with the Lupercalia. + +Moreover, the Lupercus of the former college is called in +inscriptions (Orelli, 2253) -Lupercus Quinctialis vetus-; and the +-praenomen-Kaeso, which was most probably connected with the Lupercal +worship (see Rom. Forschungen, i. 17), is found exclusively among +the Quinctii and Fabii: the form commonly occurring in authors, +-Lupercus Quinctilius- and -Quinctilianus-, is therefore a misnomer, +and the college belonged not to the comparatively recent Quinctilii, +but to the far older Quinctii. When, again, the Quinctii (Liv. i. +30), or Quinctilii (Dion. iii. 29), are named among the Alban clans, +the latter reading is here to be preferred, and the Quinctii are +to be regarded rather as an old Roman -gens-. + +6. Although the name "Hill of Quirinus" was afterwards ordinarily +used to designate the height where the Hill-Romans had their abode, +we need not at all on that account regard the name "Quirites" as +having been originally reserved for the burgesses on the Quirinal. +For, as has been shown, all the earliest indications point, +as regards these, to the name -Collini-; while it is indisputably +certain that the name Quirites denoted from the first, as well as +subsequently, simply the full burgess, and had no connection with +the distinction between montani and collini (comp. chap. v. infra). +The later designation of the Quirinal rests on the circumstance +that, while the -Mars quirinus-, the spear-bearing god of Death, was +originally worshipped as well on the Palatine as on the Quirinal--as +indeed the oldest inscriptions found at what was afterwards called +the Temple of Quirinus designate this divinity simply as Mars,--at +a later period for the sake of distinction the god of the Mount-Romans +more especially was called Mars, the god of the Hill Romans more +especially Quirinus. + +When the Quirinal is called -collis agonalis-, "hill of sacrifice," +it is so designated merely as the centre of the religious rites of +the Hill-Romans. + +7. The evidence alleged for this (comp. e. g. Schwegler, S. G. i. +480) mainly rests on an etymologico-historical hypothesis started +by Varro and as usual unanimously echoed by later writers, that the +Latin -quiris- and -quirinus- are akin to the name of the Sabine +town -Cures-, and that the Quirinal hill accordingly had been peopled +from -Cures-. Even if the linguistic affinity of these words were +more assured, there would be little warrant for deducing from it such +a historical inference. That the old sanctuaries on this eminence +(where, besides, there was also a "Collis Latiaris") were Sabine, +has been asserted, but has not been proved. Mars quirinus, Sol, +Salus, Flora, Semo Sancus or Deus fidius were doubtless Sabine, +but they were also Latin, divinities, formed evidently during the +epoch when Latins and Sabines still lived undivided. If a name like +that of Semo Sancus (which moreover occurs in connection with the +Tiber-island) is especially associated with the sacred places of +the Quirinal which afterwards diminished in its importance (comp. +the Porta Sanqualis deriving its name therefrom), every unbiassed +inquirer will recognize in such a circumstance only a proof of the +high antiquity of that worship, not a proof of its derivation from +a neighbouring land. In so speaking we do not mean to deny that +it is possible that old distinctions of race may have co-operated +in producing this state of things; but if such was the case, they +have, so far as we are concerned, totally disappeared, and the views +current among our contemporaries as to the Sabine element in the +constitution of Rome are only fitted seriously to warn us against +such baseless speculations leading to no result. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +The Original Constitution of Rome + + + +The Roman House + + +Father and mother, sons and daughters, home and homestead, +servants and chattels--such are the natural elements constituting +the household in all cases, where polygamy has not obliterated the +distinctive position of the mother. But the nations that have been +most susceptible of culture have diverged widely from each other +in their conception and treatment of the natural distinctions which +the household thus presents. By some they have been apprehended +and wrought out more profoundly, by others more superficially; +by some more under their moral, by others more under their legal +aspects. None has equalled the Roman in the simple but inexorable +embodiment in law of the principles pointed out by nature herself. + + +The House-father and His Household + + +The family formed an unity. It consisted of the free man who upon +his father's death had become his own master, and the spouse whom +the priests by the ceremony of the sacred salted cake (-confarreatio-) +had solemnly wedded to share with him water and fire, with their son +and sons' sons and the lawful wives of these, and their unmarried +daughters and sons' daughters, along with all goods and substance +pertaining to any of its members. The children of daughters on +the other hand were excluded, because, if born in wedlock, they +belonged to the family of the husband; and if begotten out of +wedlock, they had no place in a family at all. To the Roman citizen +a house of his own and the blessing of children appeared the end +and essence of life. The death of the individual was not an evil, +for it was a matter of necessity; but the extinction of a household +or of a clan was injurious to the community itself, which in the +earliest times therefore opened up to the childless the means of +avoiding such a fatality by their adopting the children of others +as their own. + +The Roman family from the first contained within it the conditions +of a higher culture in the moral adjustment of the mutual relations of +its members. Man alone could be head of a family. Woman did not +indeed occupy a position inferior to man in the acquiring of property +and money; on the contrary the daughter inherited an equal share +with her brother, and the mother an equal share with her children. +But woman always and necessarily belonged to the household, not +to the community; and in the household itself she necessarily held +a position of domestic subjection--the daughter to her father, +the wife to her husband,(1) the fatherless unmarried woman to her +nearest male relatives; it was by these, and not by the king, that +in case of need woman was called to account. Within the house, +however, woman was not servant but mistress. Exempted from the +tasks of corn-grinding and cooking which according to Roman ideas +belonged to the menials, the Roman housewife devoted herself in +the main to the superintendence of her maid-servants, and to the +accompanying labours of the distaff, which was to woman what the +plough was to man.(2) In like manner, the moral obligations of +parents towards their children were fully and deeply felt by the +Roman nation; and it was reckoned a heinous offence if a father +neglected or corrupted his child, or if he even squandered his +property to his child's disadvantage. + +In a legal point of view, however, the family was absolutely guided +and governed by the single all-powerful will of the "father of +the household" (-pater familias-). In relation to him all in the +household were destitute of legal rights--the wife and the child +no less than the bullock or the slave. As the virgin became by the +free choice of her husband his wedded wife, so it rested with his +own free will to rear or not to rear the child which she bore to +him. This maxim was not suggested by indifference to the possession +of a family; on the contrary, the conviction that the founding of +a house and the begetting of children were a moral necessity and a +public duty had a deep and earnest hold of the Roman mind. Perhaps +the only instance of support accorded on the part of the community +in Rome is the enactment that aid should be given to the father who +had three children presented to him at a birth; while their ideas +regarding exposure are indicated by the prohibition of it so far +as concerned all the sons--deformed births excepted--and at least +the first daughter. Injurious, however, to the public weal as +exposure might appear, the prohibition of it soon changed its form +from that of legal punishment into that of religious curse; for +the father was, above all, thoroughly and absolutely master in his +household. The father of the household not only maintained the +strictest discipline over its members, but he had the right and duty +of exercising judicial authority over them and of punishing them as +he deemed fit in life and limb. The grown-up son might establish +a separate household or, as the Romans expressed it, maintain his +"own cattle" (-peculium-) assigned to him by his father; but in +law all that the son acquired, whether by his own labour or by gift +from a stranger, whether in his father's household or in his own, +remained the father's property. So long as the father lived, the +persons legally subject to him could never hold property of their +own, and therefore could not alienate unless by him so empowered, +or yet bequeath. In this respect wife and child stood quite on +the same level with the slave, who was not unfrequently allowed +to manage a household of his own, and who was likewise entitled to +alienate when commissioned by his master. Indeed a father might +convey his son as well as his slave in property to a third person: +if the purchaser was a foreigner, the son became his slave; if +he was a Roman, the son, while as a Roman he could not become a +Roman's slave, stood at least to his purchaser in a slave's stead +(-in mancipii causa-). The paternal and marital power was subject +to a legal restriction, besides the one already mentioned on the +right Of exposure, only in so far as some of the worst abuses were +visited by legal punishment as well as by religious curse. Thus +these penalties fell upon the man who sold his wife or married +son; and it was a matter of family usage that in the exercise of +domestic jurisdiction the father, and still more the husband, should +not pronounce sentence on child or wife without having previously +consulted the nearest blood-relatives, his wife's as well as his +own. But the latter arrangement involved no legal diminution of +power, for the blood-relatives called in to the domestic judgment +had not to judge, but simply to advise the father of the household +in judging. + +But not only was the power of the master of the house substantially +unlimited and responsible to no one on earth; it was also, as long +as he lived, unchangeable and indestructible. According to the +Greek as well as Germanic laws the grown-up son, who was practically +independent of his father, was also independent legally; but the +power of the Roman father could not be dissolved during his life +either by age or by insanity, or even by his own free will, excepting +only that the person of the holder of the power might change, for +the child might certainly pass by way of adoption into the power +of another father, and the daughter might pass by a lawful marriage +out of the hand of her father into the hand of her husband and, +leaving her own -gens- and the protection of her own god to enter +into the -gens- of her husband and the protection of his god, +became thenceforth subject to him as she had hitherto been to her +father. According to Roman law it was made easier for the slave to +obtain release from his master than for the son to obtain release +from his father; the manumission of the former was permitted at an +early period, and by simple forms; the release of the latter was +only rendered possible at a much later date, and by very circuitous +means. Indeed, if a master sold his slave and a father his son +and the purchaser released both, the slave obtained his freedom, +but the son by the release simply reverted into his father's power +as before. Thus the inexorable consistency with which the Romans +carried out their conception of the paternal and marital power +converted it into a real right of property. + +Closely, however, as the power of the master of the household over +wife and child approximated to his proprietary power over slaves +and cattle, the members of the family were nevertheless separated +by a broad line of distinction, not merely in fact but in law, from +the family property. The power of the house-master--even apart from +the fact that it appeared in operation only within the house--was +of a transient, and in some degree of a representative, character. +Wife and child did not exist merely for the house-father's sake in +the sense in which property exists only for the proprietor, or in +which the subjects of an absolute state exist only for the king; +they were the objects indeed of a legal right on his part, but they +had at the same time capacities of right of their own; they were +not things, but persons. Their rights were dormant in respect of +exercise, simply because the unity of the household demanded that +it should be governed by a single representative; but when the +master of the household died, his sons at once came forward as its +masters and now obtained on their own account over the women and +children and property the rights hitherto exercised over these by +the father. On the other hand the death of the master occasioned +no change in the legal position of the slave. + + +Family and Clan (-Gens-) + + +So strongly was the unity of the family realized, that even the +death of the master of the house did not entirely dissolve it. +The descendants, who were rendered by that occurrence independent, +regarded themselves as still in many respects an unity; a principle +which was made use of in arranging the succession of heirs and in +many other relations, but especially in regulating the position +of the widow and unmarried daughters. As according to the older +Roman view a woman was not capable of having power either over +others or over herself, the power over her, or, as it was in this +case more mildly expressed, the "guardianship" (-tutela-) remained +with the house to which she belonged, and was now exercised in the +room of the deceased house-master by the whole of the nearest male +members of the family; ordinarily, therefore, by sons over their +mother and by brothers over their sisters. In this sense the +family, once founded, endured unchanged till the male stock of its +founder died out; only the bond of connection must of course have +become practically more lax from generation to generation, until +at length it became impossible to prove the original unity. On +this, and on this alone, rested the distinction between family and +clan, or, according to the Roman expression, between -agnati- and +-gentiles-. Both denoted the male stock; but the family embraced +only those individuals who, mounting up from generation to generation, +were able to set forth the successive steps of their descent from +a common progenitor; the clan (-gens-) on the other hand comprehended +also those who were merely able to lay claim to such descent from +a common ancestor, but could no longer point out fully the intermediate +links so as to establish the degree of their relationship. This +is very clearly expressed in the Roman names: when they speak +of "Quintus, son of Quintus, grandson of Quintus and so on, +the Quintian," the family reaches as far as the ascendants are +designated individually, and where the family terminates the clan +is introduced supplementary, indicating derivation from the common +ancestor who has bequeathed to all his descendants the name of the +"children of Quintus." + + +Dependents of the Household + + +To these strictly closed unities--the family or household united +under the control of a living master, and the clan which originated +out of the breaking-up of such households--there further belonged +the dependents or "listeners" (-clientes-, from -cluere-). This +term denoted not the guests, that is, the members of other similar +circles who were temporarily sojourning in another household than +their own, and as little the slaves, who were looked upon in law +as the property of the household and not as members of it, but +those individuals who, while they were not free burgesses of any +commonwealth, yet lived within one in a condition of protected +freedom. These included refugees who had found a reception with a +foreign protector, and those slaves in respect of whom their master +had for the time being waived the exercise of his rights, and so +conferred on them practical freedom. This relation had not the +distinctive character of a strict relation -de jure-, like that of +a man to his guest: the client remained a man non-free, in whose +case good faith and use and wont alleviated the condition of +non-freedom. Hence the "listeners" of the household (-clientes-) +together with the slaves strictly so called formed the "body +of servants" (-familia-) dependent on the will of the "burgess" +(-patronus-, like -patricius-). Hence according to original right +the burgess was entitled partially or wholly to resume the property +of the client, to reduce him on emergency once more to the state +of slavery, to inflict even capital punishment on him; and it was +simply in virtue of a distinction -de facto-, that these patrimonial +rights were not asserted with the same rigour against the client +as against the actual slave, and that on the other hand the moral +obligation of the master to provide for his own people and to protect +them acquired a greater importance in the case of the client, who +was practically in a more free position, than in the case of the +slave. Especially must the -de facto- freedom of the client have +approximated to freedom -de jure- in those cases where the relation +had subsisted for several generations: when the releaser and the +released had themselves died, the -dominium- over the descendants +of the released person could not be without flagrant impiety claimed +by the heirs at law of the releaser; and thus there was gradually +formed within the household itself a class of persons in dependent +freedom, who were different alike from the slaves and from the +members of the -gens- entitled in the eye of the law to full and +equal rights. + + +The Roman Community + + +On this Roman household was based the Roman state, as respected +both its constituent elements and its form. The community of the +Roman people arose out of the junction (in whatever way brought +about) of such ancient clanships as the Romilii, Voltinii, Fabii, +etc.; the Roman domain comprehended the united lands of those +clans.(3) Whoever belonged to one of these clans was a burgess +of Rome. Every marriage concluded in the usual forms within this +circle was valid as a true Roman marriage, and conferred burgess-rights +on the children begotten of it. Whoever was begotten in an illegal +marriage, or out of marriage, was excluded from the membership of +the community. On this account the Roman burgesses assumed the name +of the "father's children" (-patricii-), inasmuch as they alone in +the eye of the law had a father. The clans with all the families +that they contained were incorporated with the state just as +they stood. The spheres of the household and the clan continued +to subsist within the state; but the position which a man held in +these did not affect his relations towards the state. The son was +subject to the father within the household, but in political duties +and rights he stood on a footing of equality. The position of the +protected dependents was naturally so far changed that the freedmen +and clients of every patron received on his account toleration in +the community at large; they continued indeed to be immediately +dependent on the protection of the family to which they belonged, +but the very nature of the case implied that the clients of members +of the community could not be wholly excluded from its worship and +its festivals, although, of course, they were not capable of the +proper rights or liable to the proper duties of burgesses. This +remark applies still more to the case of the protected dependents +of the community at large. The state thus consisted, like the +household, of persons properly belonging to it and of dependents--of +"burgesses" and of "inmates" or --metoeci--. + + +The King + + +As the clans resting upon a family basis were the constituent +elements of the state, so the form of the body-politic was modelled +after the family both generally and in detail. The household was +provided by nature herself with a head in the person of the father +with whom it originated, and with whom it perished. But in the +community of the people, which was designed to be imperishable, +there was no natural master; not at least in that of Rome, which +was composed of free and equal husbandmen and could not boast of a +nobility by the grace of God. Accordingly one from its own ranks +became its "leader" (-rex-) and lord in the household of the Roman +community; as indeed at a later period there were to be found in or +near to his dwelling the always blazing hearth and the well-barred +store-chamber of the community, the Roman Vestas and the Roman +Penates--indications of the visible unity of that supreme household +which included all Rome. The regal office began at once and by +right, when the position had become vacant and the successor had +been designated; but the community did not owe full obedience to +the king until he had convoked the assembly of freemen capable of +bearing arms and had formally challenged its allegiance. Then he +possessed in its entireness that power over the community which +belonged to the house-father in his household; and, like him, he +ruled for life. He held intercourse with the gods of the community, +whom he consulted and appeased (-auspicia publica-), and he nominated +all the priests and priestesses. The agreements which he concluded +in name of the community with foreigners were binding upon the whole +people; although in other instances no member of the community was +bound by an agreement with a non-member. His "command" (-imperium-) +was all-powerful in peace and in war, on which account "messengers" +(-lictores-, from -licere-, to summon) preceded him with axes and +rods on all occasions when he appeared officially. He alone had +the right of publicly addressing the burgesses, and it was he who +kept the keys of the public treasury. He had the same right as a +father had to exercise discipline and jurisdiction. He inflicted +penalties for breaches of order, and, in particular, flogging +for military offences. He sat in judgment in all private and in +all criminal processes, and decided absolutely regarding life and +death as well as regarding freedom; he might hand over one burgess +to fill the place of a slave to another; he might even order +a burgess to be sold into actual slavery or, in other words, into +banishment. When he had pronounced sentence of death, he was +entitled, but not obliged, to allow an appeal to the people for +pardon. He called out the people for service in war and commanded +the army; but with these high functions he was no less bound, when +an alarm of fire was raised, to appear in person at the scene of +the burning. + +As the house-master was not simply the greatest but the only power +in the house, so the king was not merely the first but the only +holder of power in the state. He might indeed form colleges of +men of skill composed of those specially conversant with the rules +of sacred or of public law, and call upon them for their advice; +he might, to facilitate his exercise of power, entrust to others +particular functions, such as the making communications to the +burgesses, the command in war, the decision of processes of minor +importance, the inquisition of crimes; he might in particular, if +he was compelled to quit the bounds of the city, leave behind him +a "city-warden" (-praefectus urbi-) with the full powers of an +-alter ego-; but all official power existing by the side of the +king's was derived from the latter, and every official held his +office by the king's appointment and during the king's pleasure. All +the officials of the earliest period, the extraordinary city-warden +as well as the "leaders of division" (-tribuni-, from -tribus-, +part) of the infantry (-milites-) and of the cavalry (-celeres-) +were merely commissioned by the king, and not magistrates in the +subsequent sense of the term. The regal power had not and could +not have any external check imposed upon it by law: the master of +the community had no judge of his acts within the community, any +more than the housefather had a judge within his household. Death +alone terminated his power. The choice of the new king lay with the +council of elders, to which in case of a vacancy the interim-kingship +(-interregnum-) passed. A formal cooperation in the election +of king pertained to the burgesses only after his nomination; -de +jure- the kingly office was based on the permanent college of the +Fathers (-patres-), which by means of the interim holder of the +power installed the new king for life. Thus "the august blessing +of the gods, under which renowned Rome was founded," was transmitted +from its first regal recipient in constant succession to those that +followed him, and the unity of the state was preserved unchanged +notwithstanding the personal change of the holders of power. + +This unity of the Roman people, represented in the field of +religion by the Roman Diovis, was in the field of law represented +by the prince, and therefore his costume was the same as that of +the supreme god; the chariot even in the city, where every one else +went on foot, the ivory sceptre with the eagle, the vermilion-painted +face, the chaplet of oaken leaves in gold, belonged alike to the +Roman god and to the Roman king. It would be a great error, however, +to regard the Roman constitution on that account as a theocracy: +among the Italians the ideas of god and king never faded away into +each other, as they did in Egypt and the East. The king was not +the god of the people; it were much more correct to designate him as +the proprietor of the state. Accordingly the Romans knew nothing +of special divine grace granted to a particular family, or of +any other sort of mystical charm by which a king should be made +of different stuff from other men: noble descent and relationship +with earlier rulers were recommendations, but were not necessary +conditions; the office might be lawfully filled by any Roman come +to years of discretion and sound in body and mind.(4) The king +was thus simply an ordinary burgess, whom merit or fortune, and +the primary necessity of having one as master in every house, had +placed as master over his equals--a husbandman set over husbandmen, +a warrior set over warriors. As the son absolutely obeyed his father +and yet did not esteem himself inferior, so the burgess submitted +to his ruler without precisely accounting him his better. This +constituted the moral and practical limitation of the regal power. +The king might, it is true, do much that was inconsistent with equity +without exactly breaking the law of the land: he might diminish his +fellow-combatants' share of the spoil; he might impose exorbitant +task-works or otherwise by his imposts unreasonably encroach upon +the property of the burgess; but if he did so, he forgot that his +plenary power came not from God, but under God's consent from the +people, whose representative he was; and who was there to protect +him, if the people should in return forget the oath of allegiance +which they had sworn? The legal limitation, again, of the king's +power lay in the principle that he was entitled only to execute the +law, not to alterit. Every deviation from the law had to receive +the previous approval of the assembly of the people and the council +of elders; if it was not so approved, it was a null and tyrannical +act carrying no legal effect. Thus the power of the king in Rome +was, both morally and legally, at bottom altogether different from +the sovereignty of the present day; and there is no counterpart at +all in modern life either to the Roman household or to the Roman +state. + + +The Community + + +The division of the body of burgesses was based on the "wardship," +-curia- (probably related to -curare- = -coerare-, --koiranos--); +ten wardships formed the community; every wardship furnished a +hundred men to the infantry (hence -mil-es-, like -equ-es-, the +thousand-walker), ten horsemen and ten councillors. When communities +combined, each of course appeared as a part (-tribus-) of the +whole community (-tota-in Umbrian and Oscan), and the original unit +became multiplied by the number of such parts. This division had +reference primarily to the personal composition of the burgess-body, +but it was applied also to the domain so far as the latter was +apportioned at all. That the curies had their lands as well as the +tribes, admits of the less doubt, since among the few names of the +Roman curies that have been handed down to us we find along with +some apparently derived from -gentes-, e. g. -Faucia-, others +certainly of local origin, e. g. -Veliensis-; each one of them +embraced, in this primitive period of joint possession of land, a +number of clan-lands, of which we have already spoken.(5) + +We find this constitution under its simplest form(6) in the scheme +of the Latin or burgess communities that subsequently sprang up +under the influence of Rome; these had uniformly the number of a +hundred councillors (-centumviri-). But the same normal numbers make +their appearance throughout in the earliest tradition regarding the +tripartite Rome, which assigns to it thirty curies, three hundred +horsemen, three hundred senators, three thousand foot-soldiers. + +Nothing is more certain than that this earliest constitutional +scheme did not originate in Rome; it was a primitive institution +common to all the Latins, and perhaps reached back to a period +anterior to the separation of the stocks. The Roman constitutional +tradition quite deserving of credit in such matters, while it +accounts historically for the other divisions of the burgesses, +makes the division into curies alone originate with the origin of +the city; and in entire harmony with that view not only does the +curial constitution present itself in Rome, but in the recently +discovered scheme of the organization of the Latin communities it +appears as an essential part of the Latin municipal system. + +The essence of this scheme was, and remained, the distribution +into curies. The tribes ("parts") cannot have been an element of +essential importance for the simple reason that their occurrence +at all was, not less than their number, the result of accident; +where there were tribes, they certainly had no other significance +than that of preserving the remembrance of an epoch when such +"parts" had themselves been wholes.(7) There is no tradition that +the individual tribes had special presiding magistrates or special +assemblies of their own; and it is highly probable that in the +interest of the unity of the commonwealth the tribes which had +joined together to form it were never in reality allowed to have +such institutions. Even in the army, it is true, the infantry had +as many pairs of leaders as there were tribes; but each of these +pairs of military tribunes did not command the contingent of a +tribe; on the contrary each individual war-tribune, as well as all +in conjunction, exercised command over the whole infantry. The +clans were distributed among the several curies; their limits and +those of the household were furnished by nature. That the legislative +power interfered in these groups by way of modification, that it +subdivided the large clan and counted it as two, or joined several +weak ones together, there is no indication at all in Roman tradition; +at any rate this took place only in a way so limited that the +fundamental character of affinity belonging to the clan was not +thereby altered. We may not therefore conceive the number of the +clans, and still less that of the households, as a legally fixed +one; if the -curia- had to furnish a hundred men on foot and ten +horsemen, it is not affirmed by tradition, nor is it credible, that +one horseman was taken from each clan and one foot-soldier from +each house. The only member that discharged functions in the oldest +constitutional organization was the -curia-. Of these there were +ten, or, where there were several tribes, ten to each tribe. Such +a "wardship" was a real corporate unity, the members of which +assembled at least for holding common festivals. Each wardship was +under the charge of a special warden (-curio-), and had a priest of +its own (-flamen curialis-); beyond doubt also levies and valuations +took place according to curies, and in judicial matters the burgesses +met by curies and voted by curies. This organization, however, +cannot have been introduced primarily with a view to voting, for in +that case they would certainly have made the number of subdivisions +uneven. + + +Equality of the Burgesses + + +Sternly defined as was the contrast between burgess and non-burgess, +the equality of rights within the burgess-body was complete. No +people has ever perhaps equalled that of Rome in the inexorable +rigour with which it has carried out these principles, the one as +fully as the other. The strictness of the Roman distinction between +burgesses and non-burgesses is nowhere perhaps brought out with +such clearness as in the treatment of the primitive institution +of honorary citizenship, which was originally designed to mediate +between the two. When a stranger was, by resolution of the community, +adopted into the circle of the burgesses, he might surrender his +previous citizenship, in which case he passed over wholly into the +new community; but he might also combine his former citizenship with +that which had just been granted to him. Such was the primitive +custom, and such it always remained in Hellas, where in later +ages the same person not unfrequently held the freedom of several +communities at the same time. But the greater vividness with which +the conception of the community as such was realized in Latium +could not tolerate the idea that a man might simultaneously belong +in the character of a burgess to two communities; and accordingly, +when the newly-chosen burgess did not intend to surrender his +previous franchise, it attached to the nominal honorary citizenship +no further meaning than that of an obligation to befriend and protect +the guest (-jus hospitii-), such as had always been recognized as +incumbent in reference to foreigners. But this rigorous retention +of barriers against those that were without was accompanied by an +absolute banishment of all difference of rights among the members +included in the burgess community of Rome. We have already mentioned +that the distinctions existing in the household, which of course +could not be set aside, were at least ignored in the community; the +son who as such was subject in property to his father might thus, +in the character of a burgess, come to have command over his father +as master. There were no class-privileges: the fact that the Tities +took precedence of the Ramnes, and both ranked before the Luceres, +did not affect their equality in all legal rights. The burgess +cavalry, which at this period was used for single combat in front +of the line on horseback or even on foot, and was rather a select +or reserve corps than a special arm of the service, and which +accordingly contained by far the wealthiest, best-armed, and +best-trained men, was naturally held in higher estimation than the +burgess infantry; but this was a distinction purely -de facto-, and +admittance to the cavalry was doubtless conceded to any patrician. +It was simply and solely the constitutional subdivision of the +burgess-body that gave rise to distinctions recognized by the law; +otherwise the legal equality of all the members of the community +was carried out even in their external appearance. Dress indeed +served to distinguish the president of the community from its members, +the grown-up man under obligation of military service from the boy +not yet capable of enrolment; but otherwise the rich and the noble +as well as the poor and low-born were only allowed to appear in +public in the like simple wrapper (-toga-) of white woollen stuff. +This complete equality of rights among the burgesses had beyond +doubt its original basis in the Indo-Germanic type of constitution; +but in the precision with which it was thus apprehended and +embodied it formed one of the most characteristic and influential +peculiarities of the Latin nation. And in connection with this we +may recall the fact that in Italy we do not meet with any race of +earlier settlers less capable of culture, that had become subject +to the Latin immigrants.(8) They had no conquered race to deal +with, and therefore no such condition of things as that which gave +rise to the Indian system of caste, to the nobility of Thessaly +and Sparta and perhaps of Hellas generally, and probably also to +the Germanic distinction of ranks. + + +Burdens of the Burgesses + + +The maintenance of the state economy devolved, of course, upon +the burgesses. The most important function of the burgess was his +service in the army; for the burgesses had the right and duty of +bearing arms. The burgesses were at the same time the "body of +warriors" (-populus-, related to -populari-, to lay waste): in the +old litanies it is upon the "spear-armed body of warriors" (-pilumnus +poplus-) that the blessing of Mars is invoked; and even the designation +with which the king addresses them, that of Quirites,(9) is taken +as signifying "warrior." We have already stated how the army of +aggression, the "gathering" (-legio-), was formed. In the tripartite +Roman community it consisted of three "hundreds" (-centuriae-) of +horsemen (-celeres-, "the swift," or -flexuntes-, "the wheelers") +under the three leaders-of-division of the horsemen (-tribuni +celerum-)(10) and three "thousands" of footmen (-milties-) under +the three leaders-of-division of the infantry (-tribuni militum-), +the latter were probably from the first the flower of the general +levy. To these there may perhaps have been added a number +of light-armed men, archers especially, fighting outside of the +ranks.(11) The general was regularly the king himself. Besides +service in war, other personal burdens might devolve upon the burgesses; +such as the obligation of undertaking the king's commissions in +peace and in war,(12) and the task-work of tilling the king's lands +or of constructing public buildings. How heavily in particular the +burden of building the walls of the city pressed upon the community, +is evidenced by the fact that the ring-walls retained the name +of "tasks" (-moenia-). There was no regular direct taxation, nor +was there any direct regular expenditure on the part of the state. +Taxation was not needed for defraying the burdens of the community, +since the state gave no recompense for serving in the army, for +task-work, or for public service generally; so far as there was any +such recompense at all, it was given to the person who performed +the service either by the district primarily concerned in it, or by +the person who could not or would not himself serve. The victims +needed for the public service of the gods were procured by a tax +on actions at law; the defeated party in an ordinary process paid +down to the state a cattle-fine (-sacramentum-) proportioned to +the value of the object in dispute. There is no mention of any +regular presents to the king on the part of the burgesses. On the +other hand there flowed into the royal coffers the port-duties,(13) +as well as the income from the domains--in particular, the pasture +tribute (-scriptura-) from the cattle driven out upon the common +pasture, and the quotas of produce (-vectigalia-) which those +enjoying the use of the lands of the state had to pay instead of +rent. To this was added the produce of cattle-fines and confiscations +and the gains of war. In cases of need a contribution (-tributum-) +was imposed, which was looked upon, however, as a forced loan and +was repaid when the times improved; whether it fell upon the burgesses +generally, or only upon the --metoeci--, cannot be determined; the +latter supposition is, however, the more probable. + +The king managed the finances. The property of the state, +however, was not identified with the private property of the king; +which, judging from the statements regarding the extensive landed +possessions of the last Roman royal house, the Tarquins, must have +been considerable. The ground won by arms, in particular, appears to +have been constantly regarded as property of the state. Whether and +how far the king was restricted by use and wont in the administration +of the public property, can no longer be ascertained; only the +subsequent course of things shows that the burgesses can never have +been consulted regarding it, whereas it was probably the custom to +consult the senate in the imposition of the -tributum- and in the +distribution of the lands won in war. + + +Rights of the Burgesses + + +The Roman burgesses, however, do not merely come into view as +furnishing contributions and rendering service; they also bore a +part in the public government. For this purpose all the members +of the community (with the exception of the women, and the children +still incapable of bearing arms)--in other words, the "spearmen" +(-quirites-) as in addressing them they were designated--assembled +at the seat of justice, when the king convoked them for the purpose +of making a communication (-conventio-, -contio-) or formally bade +them meet (-comitia-) for the third week (-in trinum noundinum-), +to consult them by curies. He appointed such formal assemblies +of the community to be held regularly twice a year, on the 24th of +March and the 24th of May, and as often besides as seemed to him +necessary. The burgesses, however, were always summoned not to +speak, but to hear; not to ask questions, but to answer. No one +spoke in the assembly but the king, or he to whom the king saw +fit to grant liberty of speech; and the speaking of the burgesses +consisted of a simple answer to the question of the king, +without discussion, without reasons, without conditions, without +breaking up the question even into parts. Nevertheless the Roman +burgess-community, like the Germanic and not improbably the primitive +Indo-Germanic communities in general, was the real and ultimate +basis of the political idea of sovereignty. But in the ordinary +course of things this sovereignty was dormant, or only had its +expression in the fact that the burgess-body voluntarily bound +itself to render allegiance to its president. For that purpose +the king, after he had entered on his office, addressed to the +assembled curies the question whether they would be true and loyal +to him and would according to use and wont acknowledge himself as +well as his messengers (-lictores-); a question, which undoubtedly +might no more be answered in the negative than the parallel homage +in the case of a hereditary monarchy might be refused. + +It was in thorough consistency with constitutional principles that +the burgesses, just as being the sovereign power, should not on +ordinary occasions take part in the course of public business. So +long as public action was confined to the carrying into execution +of the existing legal arrangements, the power which was, properly +speaking, sovereign in the state could not and might not interfere: +the laws governed, not the lawgiver. But it was different where a +change of the existing legal arrangements or even a mere deviation +from them in a particular case was necessary; and here accordingly, under +the Roman constitution, the burgesses emerge without exception as +actors; so that each act of the sovereign authority is accomplished +by the co-operation of the burgesses and the king or -interrex-. +As the legal relation between ruler and ruled was itself sanctioned +after the manner of a contract by oral question and answer, so +every sovereign act of the community was accomplished by means of +a question (-rogatio-), which the king addressed to the burgesses, +and to which the majority of the curies gave an affirmative answer. +In this case their consent might undoubtedly be refused. Among +the Romans, therefore, law was not primarily, as we conceive it, +a command addressed by the sovereign to the whole members of the +community, but primarily a contract concluded between the constitutive +powers of the state by address and counter-address.(14) Such +a legislative contract was -de jure- requisite in all cases which +involved a deviation from the ordinary consistency of the legal +system. In the ordinary course of law any one might without +restriction give away his property to whom he would, but only +upon condition of its immediate transfer: that the property should +continue for the time being with the owner, and at his death pass +over to another, was a legal impossibility--unless the community +should allow it; a permission which in this case the burgesses +could grant not only when assembled in their curies, but also when +drawn up for battle. This was the origin of testaments. In the +ordinary course of law the freeman could not lose or surrender the +inalienable blessing of freedom, and therefore one who was subject +to no housemaster could not subject himself to another in the place +of a son--unless the community should grant him leave to do so. This +was the -abrogatio-. In the ordinary course of law burgess-rights +could only be acquired by birth and could never be lost--unless +the community should confer the patriciate or allow its surrender; +neither of which acts, doubtless, could be validly done originally +without a decree of the curies. In the ordinary course of law +the criminal whose crime deserved death, when once the king or his +deputy had pronounced sentence according to judgment and justice, +was inexorably executed; for the king could only judge, not +pardon--unless the condemned burgess appealed to the mercy of the +community and the judge allowed him the opportunity of pleading +for pardon. This was the beginning of the -provocatio-, which for +that reason was especially permitted not to the transgressor who +had refused to plead guilty and had been convicted, but to him +who confessed his crime and urged reasons in palliation of it. In +the ordinary course of law the perpetual treaty concluded with a +neighbouring state might not be broken--unless the burgesses deemed +themselves released from it on account of injuries inflicted on +them. Hence it was necessary that they should be consulted when an +aggressive war was contemplated, but not on occasion of a defensive +war, where the other state had broken the treaty, nor on the +conclusion of peace; it appears, however, that the question was in +such a case addressed not to the usual assembly of the burgesses, +but to the army. Thus, in general, it was necessary to consult the +burgesses whenever the king meditated any innovation, any change +of the existing public law; and in so far the right of legislation +was from antiquity not a right of the king, but a right of the king +and the community. In these and all similar cases the king could +not act with legal effect without the cooperation of the community; +the man whom the king alone declared a patrician remained as before +a non-burgess, and the invalid act could only carry consequences +possibly -de facto-, not -de jure-. Thus far the assembly of the +community, however restricted and bound at its emergence, was yet +from antiquity a constituent element of the Roman commonwealth, +and was in law superior to, rather than co-ordinate with, the king. + + +The Senate + + +But by the side of the king and of the burgess-assembly there +appears in the earliest constitution of the community a third +original power, not destined for acting like the former or for +resolving like the latter, and yet co-ordinate with both and within +its own rightful sphere placed over both. This was the council +of elders or -senatus-. Beyond doubt it had its origin in the +clan-constitution: the old tradition that in the original Rome the +senate was composed of all the heads of households is correct in +state-law to this extent, that each of the clans of the later Rome +which had not merely migrated thither at a more recent date referred +its origin to one of those household-fathers of the primitive +city as its ancestor and patriarch. If, as is probable, there was +once in Rome or at any rate in Latium a time when, like the state +itself, each of its ultimate constituents, that is to say each +clan, had virtually a monarchical organization and was under the +rule of an elder--whether raised to that position by the choice +of the clansmen or of his predecessor, or in virtue of hereditary +succession--the senate of that time was nothing but the collective +body of these clan-elders, and accordingly an institution independent +of the king and of the burgess-assembly; in contradistinction to +the latter, which was directly composed of the whole body of the +burgesses, it was in some measure a representative assembly of +persons acting for the people. Certainly that stage of independence +when each clan was virtually a state was surmounted in the Latin +stock at an immemorially early period, and the first and perhaps +most difficult step towards developing the community out of +the clan-organization--the setting aside of the clan-elders--had +possibly been taken in Latium long before the foundation of Rome; +the Roman clan, as we know it, is without any visible head, and no +one of the living clansmen is especially called to represent the +common patriarch from whom all the clansmen descend or profess to +descend so that even inheritance and guardianship, when they fall +by death to the clan, devolve on the clan-members as a whole. +Nevertheless the original character of the council of elders +bequeathed many and important legal consequences to the Roman +senate. To express the matter briefly, the position of the senate +as something other and more than a mere state-council--than an +assemblage of a number of trusty men whose advice the king found +it fitting to obtain--hinged entirely on the fact that it was once +an assembly, like that described by Homer, of the princes and rulers +of the people sitting for deliberation in a circle round the king. +So long as the senate was formed by the aggregate of the heads +of clans, the number of the members cannot have been a fixed one, +since that of the clans was not so; but in the earliest, perhaps +even in pre-Roman, times the number of the members of the council +of elders for the community had been fixed without respect to +the number of the then existing clans at a hundred, so that the +amalgamation of the three primitive communities had in state-law +the necessary consequence of an increase of the seats in the senate +to what was thenceforth the fixed normal number of three hundred. +Moreover the senators were at all times called to sit for life; and +if at a later period the lifelong tenure subsisted more -de facto- +than -de jure-, and the revisions of the senatorial list that +took place from time to time afforded an opportunity to remove the +unworthy or the unacceptable senator, it can be shown that this +arrangement only arose in the course of time. The selection of +the senators certainly, after there were no longer heads of clans, +lay with the king; but in this selection during the earlier epoch, +so long as the people retained a vivid sense of the individuality +of the clans, it was probably the rule that, when a senator died, +the king should call another experienced and aged man of the same +clanship to fill his place. It was only, we may surmise, when the +community became more thoroughly amalgamated and inwardly united, +that this usage was departed from and the selection of the senators +was left entirely to the free judgment of the king, so that he was +only regarded as failing in his duty when he omitted to fill up +vacancies. + + +Prerogatives of the Senate. The -Interregnum- + + +The prerogatives of this council of elders were based on the view +that the rule over the community composed of clans rightfully +belonged to the collective clan-elders, although in accordance +with the monarchical principle of the Romans, which already found +so stern an expression in the household, that rule could only be +exercised for the time being by one of these elders, namely the +king. Every member of the senate accordingly was as such, not in +practice but in prerogative, likewise king of the community; and +therefore his insignia, though inferior to those of the king, were +of a similar character: he wore the red shoe like the king; only +that of the king was higher and more handsome than that of the +senator. On this ground, moreover, as was already mentioned, the +royal power in the Roman community could never be left vacant When +the king died, the elders at once took his place and exercised the +prerogatives of regal power. According to the immutable principle +however that only one can be master at a time, even now it was only +one of them that ruled, and such an "interim king" (-interrex-) was +distinguished from the king nominated for life simply in respect +to the duration, not in respect to the plenitude, of his authority. +The duration of the office of -interrex- was fixed for the individual +holders at not more than five days; it circulated accordingly among +the senators on the footing that, until the royal office was again +permanently filled up, the temporary holder at the expiry of that +term nominated a successor to himself, likewise for five days, +agreeably to the order of succession fixed by lot. There was not, +as may readily be conceived, any declaration of allegiance to the +-interrex- on the part of the community. Nevertheless the -interrex- +was entitled and bound not merely to perform all the official acts +otherwise pertaining to the king, but even to nominate a king for +life-- with the single exception, that this latter right was not +vested in the first who held the office, presumably because the +first was regarded as defectively appointed inasmuch as he was not +nominated by his predecessor. Thus this assembly of elders was +the ultimate holder of the ruling power (-imperium-) and the divine +protection (-auspicia-) of the Roman commonwealth, and furnished +the guarantee for the uninterrupted continuance of that commonwealth +and of its monarchical--though not hereditarily monarchical--organization. +If therefore this senate subsequently seemed to the Greeks to be +an assembly of kings, this was only what was to be expected; it +had in fact been such originally. + + +The Senate and the Resolutions of the Community: -Patrum Auctoritas- + + +But it was not merely in so far as the idea of a perpetual kingdom +found its living expression in this assembly, that it was an essential +member of the Roman constitution. The council of elders, indeed, +had no title to interfere with the official functions of the king. +The latter doubtless, in the event of his being unable personally +to lead the army or to decide a legal dispute, took his deputies +at all times from the senate; for which reason subsequently the +highest posts of command were regularly bestowed on senators alone, +and senators were likewise employed by preference as jurymen. But +the senate, in its collective capacity, was never consulted in +the leading of the army or in the administration of justice; and +therefore there was no right of military command and no jurisdiction +vested in the senate of the later Rome. On the other hand the +council of elders was held as called to the guardianship of the +existing constitution against encroachments by the king and the +burgesses. On the senate devolved the duty of examining every +resolution adopted by the burgesses at the suggestion of the king, +and of refusing to confirm it if it seemed to violate existing +rights; or, which was the same thing, in all cases where a resolution +of the community was constitutionally requisite--as on every +alteration of the constitution, on the reception of new burgesses, +on the declaration of an aggressive war--the council of elders had +a right of veto. This may not indeed be regarded in the light of +legislation pertaining jointly to the burgesses and the senate, +somewhat in the same way as to the two chambers in the constitutional +state of the present day; the senate was not so much law-maker as +law-guardian, and could only cancel a decree when the community +seemed to have exceeded its competence--to have violated by its +decree existing obligations towards the gods or towards foreign +states or organic institutions of the community. But still it was +a matter of the greatest importance that--to take an example--when +the Roman king had proposed a declaration of war and the burgesses +had converted it into a decree, and when the satisfaction which +the foreign community seemed bound to furnish had been demanded in +vain, the Roman envoy invoked the gods as witnesses of the wrong +and concluded with the words, "But on these matters we shall consult +the elders at home how we may obtain our rights;" it was only when +the council of elders had declared its consent, that the war now +decreed by the burgesses and approved by the senate was formally +declared. Certainly it was neither the design nor the effect of +this rule to occasion a constant interference of the senate with +the resolutions of the burgesses, and by such guardianship to divest +them of their sovereign power; but, as in the event of a vacancy +in the supreme office the senate secured the continuance of the +constitution, we find it here also as the shield of legal order in +opposition even to the supreme power--the community. + + +The Senate As State-Council + + +With this arrangement was probably connected the apparently very +ancient usage, in virtue of which the king previously submitted +to the senate the proposals that were to be brought before the +burgesses, and caused all its members one after another to give their +opinion on the subject. As the senate had the right of cancelling +the resolution adopted, it was natural for the king to assure +himself beforehand that no opposition was to be apprehended from +that quarter; as indeed in general, on the one hand, it was in +accordance with Roman habits not to decide matters of importance +without having taken counsel with other men, and on the other hand +the senate was called, in virtue of its very composition, to act as +a state-council to the ruler of the community. It was from this +usage of giving counsel, far more than from the prerogatives which +we have previously described, that the subsequent extensive powers +of the senate were developed; but it was in its origin insignificant +and really amounted only to the prerogative of the senators to +answer, when they were asked a question. It may have been usual +to ask the previous opinion of the senate in affairs of importance +which were neither judicial nor military, as, for instance--apart +from the proposals to be submitted to the assembly of the people--in +the imposition of task-works and taxes, in the summoning of the +burgesses to war-service, and in the disposal of the conquered +territory; but such a previous consultation, though usual, was not +legally necessary. The king convoked the senate when he pleased, +and laid before it his questions; no senator might declare his +opinion unasked, still less might the senate meet without being +summoned, except in the single case of its meeting on occasion +of a vacancy to settle the order of succession in the office of +-interrex-. That the king was moreover at liberty to call in and +consult other men whom he trusted alongside of, and at the same +time with, the senators, is in a high degree probable. The advice, +accordingly, was not a command; the king might omit to comply with +it, while the senate had no other means for giving practical effect +to its views except the already-mentioned right of cassation, which +was far from being universally applicable. "I have chosen you, +not that ye may be my guides, but that ye may do my bidding:" these +words, which a later author puts into the mouth of king Romulus, +certainly express with substantial correctness the position of the +senate in this respect. + + +The Original Constitution of Rome + + +Let us now sum up the results. Sovereignty, as conceived by +the Romans, was inherent in the community of burgesses; but the +burgess-body was never entitled to act alone, and was only entitled +to co-operate in action, when there was to be a departure from +existing rules. By its side stood the assembly of the elders of +the community appointed for life, virtually a college of magistrates +with regal power, called in the event of a vacancy in the royal +office to administer it by means of their own members until it +should be once more definitively filled, and entitled to overturn +the illegal decrees of the community. The royal power itself was, +as Sallust says, at once absolute and limited by the laws (-imperium +legitimum-); absolute, in so far as the king's command, whether +righteous or not, must in the first instance be unconditionally +obeyed; limited, in so far as a command contravening established +usage and not sanctioned by the true sovereign--the people--carried +no permanent legal consequences. The oldest constitution of Rome +was thus in some measure constitutional monarchy inverted. In +that form of government the king is regarded as the possessor and +vehicle of the plenary power of the state, and accordingly acts of +grace, for example, proceed solely from him, while the administration +of the state belongs to the representatives of the people and to +the executive responsible to them. In the Roman constitution the +community of the people exercised very much the same functions as +belong to the king in England: the right of pardon, which in England +is a prerogative of the crown, was in Rome a prerogative of the +community; while all government was vested in the president of the +state. + +If, in conclusion, we inquire as to the relation of the state itself +to its individual members, we find the Roman polity equally remote +from the laxity of a mere defensive combination and from the +modern idea of an absolute omnipotence of the state. The community +doubtless exercised power over the person of the burgess in the +imposition of public burdens, and in the punishment of offences and +crimes; but any special law inflicting, or threatening to inflict, +punishment on an individual on account of acts not universally +recognized as penal always appeared to the Romans, even when there +was no flaw in point of form, an arbitrary and unjust proceeding. +Far more restricted still was the power of the community in respect +of the rights of property and the rights of family which were +coincident, rather than merely connected, with these; in Rome the +household was not absolutely annihilated and the community aggrandized +at its expense, as was the case in the police organization of +Lycurgus. It was one of the most undeniable as well as one of the +most remarkable principles of the primitive constitution of Rome, +that the state might imprison or hang the burgess, but might not take +away from him his son or his field or even lay permanent taxation +on him. In these and similar things the community itself was +restricted from encroaching on the burgess, nor was this restriction +merely ideal; it found its expression and its practical application +in the constitutional veto of the senate, which was certainly entitled +and bound to annul any resolution of the community contravening +such an original right. No community was so all-powerful within +its own sphere as the Roman; but in no community did the burgess +who conducted himself un-blameably live in an equally absolute +security from the risk of encroachment on the part either of his +fellow-burgesses or of the state itself. + +These were the principles on which the community of Rome governed +itself--a free people, understanding the duty of obedience, clearly +disowning all mystical priestly delusion, absolutely equal in the +eye of the law and one with another, bearing the sharply-defined +impress of a nationality of their own, while at the same time (as +will be afterwards shown) they wisely as well as magnanimously +opened their gates wide for intercourse with other lands. This +constitution was neither manufactured nor borrowed; it grew up +amidst and along with the Roman people. It was based, of course, +upon the earlier constitutions--the Italian, the Graeco-Italian, +and the Indo-Germanic; but a long succession of phases of political +development must have intervened between such constitutions as the +poems of Homer and the Germania of Tacitus delineate and the oldest +organization of the Roman community. In the acclamation of the +Hellenic and in the shield-striking of the Germanic assemblies there +was involved an expression of the sovereign power of the community; +but a wide interval separated forms such as these from the organized +jurisdiction and the regulated declaration of opinion of the Latin +assembly of curies. It is possible, moreover, that as the Roman +kings certainly borrowed the purple mantle and the ivory sceptre +from the Greeks (not from the Etruscans), the twelve lictors also +and various other external arrangements were introduced from abroad. +But that the development of the Roman constitutional law belonged +decidedly to Rome or, at any rate, to Latium, and that the borrowed +elements in it are but small and unimportant, is clearly demonstrated +by the fact that all its ideas are uniformly expressed by words of +Latin coinage. This constitution practically established for all +time the fundamental conceptions of the Roman state; for, as long +as there existed a Roman community, in spite of changes of form +it was always held that the magistrate had absolute command, that +the council of elders was the highest authority in the state, and +that every exceptional resolution required the sanction of the +sovereign or, in other words, of the community of the people. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter V + + + +1. This was not merely the case under the old religious marriage +(-matrimonium confarreatione-); the civil marriage also (-matrimonium +consensu-), although not in itself giving to the husband proprietary +power over his wife, opened up the way for his acquiring this +proprietary power, inasmuch as the legal ideas of "formal delivery" +(-coemptio-), and "prescription" (-usus-), were applied without +ceremony to such a marriage. Till he acquired it, and in particular +therefore during the period which elapsed before the completion of +the prescription, the wife was (just as in the later marriage by +-causae probatio-, until that took place), not -uxor-, but -pro +uxore-. Down to the period when Roman jurisprudence became a +completed system the principle maintained its ground, that the wife +who was not in her husband's power was not a married wife, but only +passed as such (-uxor tantummodo habetur-. Cicero, Top. 3, 14). + +2. The following epitaph, although belonging to a much later period, +is not unworthy to have a place here. It is the stone that speaks:-- + +-Hospes, quod deico, paullum est. Asta ac pellige. Heic est +sepulcrum haud pulcrum pulcrai feminae, Nomen parentes nominarunt +Claudiam, Suom mareitum corde dilexit sovo, Gnatos duos creavit, +horunc alterum In terra linquit, alium sub terra locat; Sermone +lepido, tum autem incessu commodo, Domum servavit, lanam fecit. +Dixi. Abei.- + +(Corp. Inscr. Lat. 1007.) + +Still more characteristic, perhaps, is the introduction of wool-spinning +among purely moral qualities; which is no very unusual occurrence +in Roman epitaphs. Orelli, 4639: -optima et pulcherrima, lanifica +pia pudica frugi casta domiseda-. Orelli, 4861: -modestia probitate +pudicitia obsequio lanificio diligentia fide par similisque cetereis +probeis femina fuit-. Epitaph of Turia, i. 30: domestica bona +pudicitiae, opsequi, comitatis, facilitatis, lanificiis [tuis +adsiduitatis, religionis] sine superstitione, ornatus non conspiciendi, +cultus modici. + +3. I. III. Clan-villages + +4. Dionysius affirms (v. 25) that lameness excluded from the supreme +magistracy. That Roman citizenship was a condition for the regal +office as well as for the consulate, is so very self-evident as to +make it scarcely worth while to repudiate expressly the fictions +respecting the burgess of Cures. + +5. I. III. Clan-villages + +6. Even in Rome, where the simple constitution of ten curies otherwise +early disappeared, we still discover one practical application of +it, and that singularly enough in the very same formality which we +have other reasons for regarding as the oldest of all those that +are mentioned in our legal traditions, the -confarreatio-. It seems +scarcely doubtful that the ten witnesses in that ceremony had the +same relation to the constitution of ten curies the thirty lictors +had to the constitution of thirty curies. + +7. This is implied in their very name. The "part" (-tribus-) is, +as jurists know, simply that which has once been or may hereafter +come to be a whole, and so has no real standing of its own in the +present. + +8. I. II. Primitive Races of Italy + +9. -Quiris-, -quiritis-, or -quirinus- is interpreted by the +ancients as "lance-bearer," from -quiris- or -curis- = lance and +-ire-, and so far in their view agrees with -samnis-, -samnitis- +and -sabinus-, which also among the ancients was derived from +--saunion--, spear. This etymology, which associates the word +with -arquites-, -milites-, -pedites-, -equites-, -velites- --those +respectively who go with the bow, in bodies of a thousand, on +foot, on horseback, without armour in their mere over-garment--may +be incorrect, but it is bound up with the Roman conception of a +burgess. So too Juno quiritis, (Mars) quirinus, Janus quirinus, +are conceived as divinities that hurl the spear; and, employed in +reference to men, -quiris- is the warrior, that is, the full burgess. +With this view the -usus loquendi- coincides. Where the locality +was to be referred to, "Quirites" was never used, but always "Rome" +and "Romans" (-urbs Roma-, -populus-, -civis-, -ager Romanus-), +because the term -quiris- had as little of a local meaning as +-civis- or -miles-. For the same reason these designations could +not be combined; they did not say -civis quiris-, because both +denoted, though from different points of view, the same legal +conception. On the other hand the solemn announcement of the +funeral of a burgess ran in the words "this warrior has departed +in death" (-ollus quiris leto datus-); and in like manner the king +addressed the assembled community by this name, and, when he sat in +judgment, gave sentence according to the law of the warrior-freemen +(-ex iure quiritium-, quite similar to the later -ex iure civili-). +The phrase -populus Romanus-, -quirites- (-populus Romanus quiritium-is +not sufficiently attested), thus means "the community and the +individual burgesses," and therefore in an old formula (Liv. i. +32) to the -populus Romanus- are opposed the -prisci Latini-, to +the -quirites- the -homines prisci Latini- (Becker, Handb. ii. 20 +seq.) + +In the face of these facts nothing but ignorance of language and of +history can still adhere to the idea that the Roman community was +once confronted by a Quirite community of a similar kind, and that +after their incorporation the name of the newly received community +supplanted in ritual and legal phraseology that of the receiver.--Comp. +iv. The Hill-Romans On The Quirinal, note. + +10. Among the eight ritual institutions of Numa, Dionysius (ii. 64) +after naming the Curiones and Flamines, specifies as the third the +leaders of the horsemen (--oi eigemones ton Kelerion--). According to +the Praenestine calendar a festival was celebrated at the Comitium +on the 19th March [adstantibus pon]tificibus et trib(unis) celer(um). +Valerius Antias (in Dionys. i. 13, comp. iii. 41) assigns to +the earliest Roman cavalry a leader, Celer, and three centurions; +whereas in the treatise De viris ill. i, Celer himself is termed +-centurio-. Moreover Brutus is affirmed to have been -tribunus +celerum- at the expulsion of the kings (Liv. i. 59), and according +to Dionysius (iv. 71) to have even by virtue of this office made the +proposal to banish the Tarquins. And, lastly, Pomponius (Dig. i. +2, 2, 15, 19) and Lydus in a similar way, partly perhaps borrowing +from him (De Mag. i. 14, 37), identify the -tribunus celerum- with +the Celer of Antias, the -magister equitum- of the dictator under +the republic, and the -Praefectus praetorio- of the empire. + +Of these-the only statements which are extant regarding the -tribuni +celerum- --the last mentioned not only proceeds from late and quite +untrustworthy authorities, but is inconsistent with the meaning of +the term, which can only signify "divisional leaders of horsemen," +and above all the master of the horse of the republican period, who +was nominated only on extraordinary occasions and was in later times +no longer nominated at all, cannot possibly have been identical with +the magistracy that was required for the annual festival of the +19th March and was consequently a standing office. Laying aside, as +we necessarily must, the account of Pomponius, which has evidently +arisen solely out of the anecdote of Brutus dressed up with +ever-increasing ignorance as history, we reach the simple result that +the -tribuni celerum- entirely correspond in number and character +to the -tribuni militum-, and that they were the leaders-of-division +of the horsemen, consequently quite distinct from the -magister +equitum-. + +11. This is indicated by the evidently very old forms -velites-and +-arquites-and by the subsequent organization of the legion. + +12. I. V. The King + +13. I. IV. The Tibur and Its Traffic + +14. -Lex- ("that which binds," related to -legare-, "to bind +to something") denotes, as is well known, a contract in general, +along, however, with the connotation of a contract whose terms the +proposer dictates and the other party simply accepts or declines; +as was usually the case, e. g. with public -licitationes-. In the +-lex publica populi Romani- the proposer was the king, the acceptor +the people; the limited co-operation of the latter was thus +significantly indicated in the very language. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +The Non-Burgesses and the Reformed Constitution + + + +Amalgamation of the Palatine and Quirinal Cities + + +The history of every nation, and of Italy more especially, is a +--synoikismos-- on a great scale. Rome, in the earliest form in +which we have any knowledge of it, was already triune, and similar +incorporations only ceased when the spirit of Roman vigour had wholly +died away. Apart from that primitive process of amalgamation of +the Ramnes, Titles, and Luceres, of which hardly anything beyond the +bare fact is known, the earliest act of incorporation of this sort +was that by which the Hill-burgesses became merged in the Palatine +Rome. The organization of the two communities, when they were +about to be amalgamated, may be conceived to have been substantially +similar; and in solving the problem of union they would have to +choose between the alternatives of retaining duplicate institutions +or of abolishing one set of these and extending the other to the whole +united community. They adopted the former course with respect to +all sanctuaries and priesthoods. Thenceforth the Roman community +had its two guilds of Salii and two of Luperci, and as it had +two forms of Mars, it had also two priests for that divinity--the +Palatine priest, who afterwards usually took the designation of +priest of Mars, and the Colline, who was termed priest of Quirinus. +It is likely, although it can no longer be proved, that all the +old Latin priesthoods of Rome--the Augurs, Pontifices, Vestals, +and Fetials--originated in the same way from a combination of the +priestly colleges of the Palatine and Quirinal communities. In +the division into local regions the town on the Quirinal hill was +added as a fourth region to the three belonging to the Palatine +city, viz. the Suburan, Palatine, and suburban (-Esquiliae-). In +the case of the original --synoikismos-- the annexed community was +recognized after the union as at least a tribe (part) of the new +burgess-body, and thus had in some sense a continued political +existence; but this course was not followed in the case of the +Hill-Romans or in any of the later processes of annexation. After +the union the Roman community continued to be divided as formerly +into three tribes, each containing ten wardships (-curiae-); and the +Hill-Romans--whether they were or were not previously distributed +into tribes of their own--must have been inserted into the existing +tribes and wardships. This insertion was probably so arranged that, +while each tribe and wardship received its assigned proportion of +the new burgesses, the new burgesses in these divisions were not +amalgamated completely with the old; the tribes henceforth presented +two ranks: the Tities, Ramnes, and Luceres being respectively +subdivided into first and second (-priores-, -posteriores-). With +this division was connected in all probability that arrangement +of the organic institutions of the community in pairs, which meets +us everywhere. The three pairs of Sacred Virgins are expressly +described as representatives of the three tribes with their first +and second ranks; and it may be conjectured that the pair of Lares +worshipped in each street had a similar origin. This arrangement +is especially apparent in the army: after the union each half-tribe +of the tripartite community furnished a hundred horsemen, and the +Roman burgess cavalry was thus raised to six "hundreds," and the +number of its captains probably from three to six. There is no +tradition of any corresponding increase to the infantry; but to +this origin we may refer the subsequent custom of calling out the +legions regularly two by two, and this doubling of the levy probably +led to the rule of having not three, as was perhaps originally +the case, but six leaders-of-division to command the legion. It +is certain that no corresponding increase of seats in the senate +took place: on the contrary, the primitive number of three hundred +senators remained the normal number down to the seventh century; +with which it is quite compatible that a number of the more prominent +men of the newly annexed community may have been received into the +senate of the Palatine city. The same course was followed with +the magistracies: a single king presided over the united community, +and there was no change as to his principal deputies, particularly +the warden of the city. It thus appears that the ritual institutions +of the Hill-city were continued, and that the doubled burgess-body +was required to furnish a military force of double the numerical +strength; but in other respects the incorporation of the Quirinal +city into the Palatine was really a subordination of the former to +the latter. If we have rightly assumed that the contrast between +the Palatine old and the Quirinal new burgesses was identical +with the contrast between the first and second Tities, Ramnes, and +Luceres, it was thus the -gentes-of the Quirinal city that formed +the "second" or the "lesser." The distinction, however, was +certainly more an honorary than a legal precedence. At the taking +of the vote in the senate the senators taken from the old clans +were asked before those of the "lesser." In like manner the Colline +region ranked as inferior even to the suburban (Esquiline) region +of the Palatine city; the priest of the Quirinal Mars as inferior +to the priest of the Palatine Mars; the Quirinal Salii and Luperci +as inferior to those of the Palatine. It thus appears that the +--synoikismos--, by which the Palatine community incorporated that +of the Quirinal, marked an intermediate stage between the earliest +--synoikismos-- by which the Tities, Ramnes, and Luceres became +blended, and all those that took place afterwards. The annexed +community was no longer allowed to form a separate tribe in the new +whole, but it was permitted to furnish at least a distinct portion +of each tribe; and its ritual institutions were not only allowed to +subsist--as was afterwards done in other cases, after the capture +of Alba for example--but were elevated into institutions of the +united community, a course which was not pursued in any subsequent +instance. + + +Dependents and Guests + + +This amalgamation of two substantially similar commonwealths +produced rather an increase in the size than a change in the +intrinsic character of the existing community. A second process +of incorporation, which was carried out far more gradually and had +far deeper effects, may be traced back, so far as the first steps +in it are concerned, to this epoch; we refer to the amalgamation +of the burgesses and the --metoeci--. At all times there existed +side by side with the burgesses in the Roman community persons who +were protected, the "listeners" (-clientes-), as they were called +from their being dependents on the several burgess-households, or +the "multitude" (-plebes-, from -pleo-, -plenus-), as they were +termed negatively with reference to their want of political rights.(1) +The elements of this intermediate stage between the freeman and +the slave were, as has been shown(2) already in existence in the +Roman household: but in the community this class necessarily acquired +greater importance -de facto- and -de jure-, and that from two +reasons. In the first place the community might itself possess +half-free clients as well as slaves; especially after the conquest +of a town and the breaking up of its commonwealth it might often +appear to the conquering community advisable not to sell the mass +of the burgesses formally as slaves, but to allow them the continued +possession of freedom -de facto-, so that in the capacity as it +were of freedmen of the community they entered into relations of +clientship whether to the clans, or to the king. In the second +place by means of the community and its power over the individual +burgesses, there was given the possibility of protecting the clients +against an abusive exercise of the -dominium- still subsisting in +law. At an immemorially early period there was introduced into +Roman law the principle on which rested the whole legal position +of the --metoeci--, that, when a master on occasion of a public +legal act--such as in the making of a testament, in an action at law, +or in the census--expressly or tacitly surrendered his -dominium-, +neither he himself nor his lawful successors should ever have power +arbitrarily to recall that resignation or reassert a claim to the +person of the freedman himself or of his descendants. The clients +and their posterity did not by virtue of their position possess +either the rights of burgesses or those of guests: for to constitute +a burgess a formal bestowal of the privilege was requisite on the +part of the community, while the relation of guest presumed the +holding of burgess-rights in a community which had a treaty with +Rome. What they did obtain was a legally protected possession of +freedom, while they continued to be -de jure- non-free. Accordingly +for a lengthened period their relations in all matters of property +seem to have been, like those of slaves, regarded in law as +relations of the patron, so that it was necessary that the latter +should represent them in processes at law; in connection with which +the patron might levy contributions from them in case of need, and +call them to account before him criminally. By degrees, however, +the body of --metoeci-- outgrew these fetters; they began to +acquire and to alienate in their own name, and to claim and obtain +legal redress from the Roman burgess-tribunals without the formal +intervention of their patron. + +In matters of marriage and inheritance, equality of rights with the +burgesses was far sooner conceded to foreigners(3) than to those +who were strictly non-free and belonged to no community; but the +latter could not well be prohibited from contracting marriages in +their own circle and from forming the legal relations arising out +of marriage--those of marital and paternal power, of -agnatio- and +-gentilitas- of heritage and of tutelage--after the model of the +corresponding relations among the burgesses. + +Similar consequences to some extent were produced by the exercise +of the -ius hospitii-, in so far as by virtue of it foreigners settled +permanently in Rome and established a domestic position there. In +this respect the most liberal principles must have prevailed in +Rome from primitive times. The Roman law knew no distinctions of +quality in inheritance and no locking up of estates. It allowed +on the one hand to every man capable of making a disposition the +entirely unlimited disposal of his property during his lifetime; and +on the other hand, so far as we know, to every one who was at all +entitled to have dealings with Roman burgesses, even to the foreigner +and the client, the unlimited right of acquiring moveable, and +(from the time when immoveables could be held as private property +at all) within certain limits also immoveable, estate in Rome. Rome +was in fact a commercial city, which was indebted for the commencement +of its importance to international commerce, and which with a noble +liberality granted the privilege of settlement to every child of an +unequal marriage, to every manumitted slave, and to every stranger +who surrendering his rights in his native land emigrated to Rome. + + +Class of --Metoeci-- Subsisting by the Side of the Community + + +At first, therefore, the burgesses were in reality the protectors, +the non-burgesses were the protected; but in Rome as in all communities +which freely admit settlement but do not throw open the rights of +citizenship, it soon became a matter of increasing difficulty to +harmonize this relation -de jure- with the actual state of things. +The flourishing of commerce, the full equality of private rights +guaranteed to all Latins by the Latin league (including even the +acquisition of landed property), the greater frequency of manumissions +as prosperity increased, necessarily occasioned even in peace a +disproportionate increase of the number of --metoeci--. That number +was further augmented by the greater part of the population of the +neighbouring towns subdued by force of arms and incorporated with +Rome; which, whether it removed to the city or remained in its old +home now reduced to the rank of a village, ordinarily exchanged its +native burgess-rights for those of a Roman --metoikos--. Moreover +the burdens of war fell exclusively on the old burgesses and were +constantly thinning the ranks of their patrician descendants, while +the --metoeci-- shared in the results of victory without having to +pay for it with their blood. + +Under such circumstances the only wonder is that the Roman patriciate +did not disappear much more rapidly than it actually did. The fact +of its still continuing for a prolonged period a numerous community +can scarcely be accounted for by the bestowal of Roman burgess-rights +on several distinguished foreign clans, which after emigrating +from their homes or after the conquest of their cities received +the Roman franchise--for such grants appear to have occurred but +sparingly from the first, and to have become always the more rare +as the franchise increased in value. A cause of greater influence, +in all likelihood, was the introduction of the civil marriage, +by which a child begotten of patrician parents living together as +married persons, although without -confarreatio-, acquired full +burgess-rights equally with the child of a -confarreatio- marriage. +It is at least probable that the civil marriage, which already +existed in Rome before the Twelve Tables but was certainly not an +original institution, was introduced for the purpose of preventing +the disappearance of the patriciate.(4) To this connection +belong also the measures which were already in the earliest times +adopted with a view to maintain a numerous posterity in the several +households.(5) + +Nevertheless the number of the --metoeci-- was of necessity +constantly on the increase and liable to no diminution, while that +of the burgesses was at the utmost perhaps not decreasing; and in +consequence the --metoeci-- necessarily acquired by imperceptible +degrees another and a freer position. The non-burgesses were no +longer merely emancipated slaves or strangers needing protection; +their ranks included the former burgesses of the Latin communities +vanquished in war, and more especially the Latin settlers who lived +in Rome not by the favour of the king or of any other burgess, but +by federal right. Legally unrestricted in the acquiring of property, +they gained money and estate in their new home, and bequeathed, like +the burgesses, their homesteads to their children and children's +children. The vexatious relation of dependence on particular +burgess-households became gradually relaxed. If the liberated slave +or the immigrant stranger still held an entirely isolated position +in the state, such was no longer the case with his children, still +less with his grandchildren, and this very circumstance of itself +rendered their relations to the patron of less moment. While in +earlier times the client was exclusively left dependent for legal +protection on the intervention of the patron, the more the state +became consolidated and the importance of the clanships and households +in consequence diminished, the more frequently must the individual +client have obtained justice and redress of injury, even without +the intervention of his patron, from the king. A great number of +the non-burgesses, particularly the members of the dissolved Latin +communities, had, as we have already said, probably from the outset +not any place as clients of the royal or other great clans, and +obeyed the king nearly in the same manner as did the burgesses. The +king, whose sovereignty over the burgesses was in truth ultimately +dependent on the good-will of those obeying, must have welcomed the +means of forming out of his own -proteges- essentially dependent +on him a body bound to him by closer ties. + + +Plebs + + +Thus there grew up by the side of the burgesses a second community +in Rome: out of the clients arose the Plebs. This change of name +is significant. In law there was no difference between the client +and the plebeian, the "dependent" and the "man of the multitude;" +but in fact there was a very important one, for the former term +brought into prominence the relation of dependence on a member of +the politically privileged class; the latter suggested merely the +want of political rights. As the feeling of special dependence +diminished, that of political inferiority forced itself on the +thoughts of the free --metoeci--; and it was only the sovereignty +of the king ruling equally over all that prevented the outbreak of +political conflict between the privileged and the non-privileged +classes. + + +The Servian Constitution + + +The first step, however, towards the amalgamation of the two +portions of the people scarcely took place in the revolutionary +way which their antagonism appeared to foreshadow. The reform of +the constitution, which bears the name of king Servius Tullius, is +indeed, as to its historical origin, involved in the same darkness +with all the events of a period respecting which we learn whatever +we know not by means of historical tradition, but solely by means of +inference from the institutions of later times. But its character +testifies that it cannot have been a change demanded by the +plebeians, for the new constitution assigned to them duties alone, +and not rights. It must rather have owed its origin either to the +wisdom of one of the Roman kings, or to the urgency of the burgesses +that they should be delivered from exclusive liability to burdens, +and that the non-burgesses should be made to share on the one hand +in taxation--that is, in the obligation to make advances to the +state (the -tributum-)--and rendering task-work, and on the other +hand in the levy. Both were comprehended in the Servian constitution, +but they hardly took place at the same time. The bringing in of +the non-burgesses presumably arose out of the economic burdens; +these were early extended to such as were "possessed of means" +(-locupletes-) or "settled people" (-adsidui-, freeholders), and only +those wholly without means, the "children-producers" (-proletarii-, +-capite censi-) remained free from them. Thereupon followed the +politically more important step of bringing in the non-burgesses +to military duty. This was thenceforth laid not upon the burgesses +as such, but upon the possessors of land, the -tribules-, whether +they might be burgesses or mere --metoeci--; service in the army +was changed from a personal burden into a burden on property. The +details of the arrangement were as follow. + + +The Five Classes + + +Every freeholder from the eighteenth to the sixtieth year of his +age, including children in the household of freeholder fathers, +without distinction of birth, was under obligation of service, so +that even the manumitted slave had to serve, if in an exceptional +case he had come into possession of landed property. The Latins +also possessing land--others from without were not allowed to acquire +Roman soil--were called in to service, so far as they had, as was +beyond doubt the case with most of them, taken up their abode on +Roman territory. The body of men liable to serve was distributed, +according to the size of their portions of land, into those bound +to full service or the possessors of a full hide,(6) who were obliged +to appear in complete armour and in so far formed pre-eminently +the war army (-classis-), and the four following ranks of smaller +landholders--the possessors respectively of three fourths, of +a half, of a quarter, or of an eighth of a whole farm--from whom +was required fulfilment of service, but not equipment in complete +armour, and they thus had a position below the full rate (-infra +classem-). As the land happened to be at that time apportioned, +almost the half of the farms were full hides, while each of the +classes possessing respectively three-fourths, the half, and the +quarter of a hide, amounted to scarcely an eighth of the freeholders, +and those again holding an eighth of a hide amounted to fully an +eighth. It was accordingly laid down as a rule that in the case +of the infantry the levy should be in the proportion of eighty +holders of a full hide, twenty from each of the three next ranks, +and twenty-eight from the last. + + +Cavalry + + +The cavalry was similarly dealt with. The number of divisions +in it was tripled, and the only difference in this case was that +the six divisions already existing with the old names (-Tities-, +-Ramnes-, -Luceres- -primi- and -secundi-) were left to the +patricians, while the twelve new divisions were formed chiefly from +the non-burgesses. The reason for this difference is probably to +be sought in the fact that at that period the infantry were formed +anew for each campaign and discharged on their return home, whereas +the cavalry with their horses were on military grounds kept together +also in time of peace, and held their regular drills, which continued +to subsist as festivals of the Roman equites down to the latest +times.(7) Accordingly the squadrons once constituted were allowed, +even under this reform, to keep their ancient names. In order to +make the cavalry accessible to every burgess, the unmarried women +and orphans under age, so far as they had possession of land, +were bound instead of personal service to provide the horses for +particular troopers (each trooper had two of them), and to furnish +them with fodder. On the whole there was one horseman to nine +foot-soldiers; but in actual service the horsemen were used more +sparingly. + +The non-freeholders (-adcensi-, people standing at the side of the +list of those owing military service) had to supply the army with +workmen and musicians as well as with a number of substitutes +who marched with the army unarmed (-velati-), and, when vacancies +occurred in the field, took their places in the ranks equipped with +the weapons of the sick or of the fallen. + + +Levy-Districts + + +To facilitate the levying of the infantry, the city was distributed +into four "parts" (-tribus-); by which the old triple division was +superseded, at least so far as concerned its local significance. +These were the Palatine, which comprehended the height of that name +along with the Velia; the Suburan, to which the street so named, the +Carinae, and the Caelian belonged; the Esquiline; and the Colline, +formed by the Quirinal and Viminal, the "hills" as contrasted with +the "mounts" of the Capitol and Palatine. We have already spoken +of the formation of these regions(8) and shown how they originated +out of the ancient double city of the Palatine and the Quirinal. +By what process it came to pass that every freeholder burgess +belonged to one of those city-districts, we cannot tell; but this +was now the case; and that the four regions were nearly on an +equality in point of numbers, is evident from their being equally +drawn upon in the levy. This division, which had primary reference to +the soil alone and applied only inferentially to those who possessed +it, was merely for administrative purposes, and in particular +never had any religious significance attached to it; for the fact +that in each of the city-districts there were six chapels of the +enigmatical Argei no more confers upon them the character of ritual +districts than the erection of an altar to the Lares in each street +implies such a character in the streets. + +Each of these four levy-districts had to furnish approximately the +fourth part not only of the force as a whole, but of each of its +military subdivisions, so that each legion and each century numbered +an equal proportion of conscripts from each region, in order to +merge all distinctions of a gentile and local nature in the one +common levy of the community and, especially through the powerful +levelling influence of the military spirit, to blend the --metoeci-- +and the burgesses into one people. + + +Organization of the Army + + +In a military point of view, the male population capable of +bearing arms was divided into a first and second levy, the former +of which, the "juniors" from the commencement of the eighteenth to +the completion of the forty-sixth year, were especially employed +for service in the field, while the "seniors" guarded the walls at +home. The military unit came to be in the infantry the now doubled +legion(9)--a phalanx, arranged and armed completely in the old +Doric style, of 6000 men who, six file deep, formed a front of 1000 +heavy-armed soldiers; to which were attached 2400 "unarmed".(10) +The four first ranks of the phalanx, the -classis-, were formed by +the fully-armed hoplites of those possessing a full hide; in the +fifth and sixth were placed the less completely equipped farmers of +the second and third division; the two last divisions were annexed +as rear ranks to the phalanx or fought by its side as light-armed +troops. Provision was made for readily supplying the accidental +gaps which were so injurious to the phalanx. Thus there served in +it 84 centuries or 8400 men, of whom 6000 were hoplites, 4000 of +the first division, 1000 from each of the two following, and 2400 +light-armed, of whom 1000 belonged to the fourth, and 1200 to the +fifth division; approximately each levy-district furnished to the +phalanx 2100, and to each century 25 men. This phalanx was the army +destined for the field, while a like force of troops was reckoned +for the seniors who remained behind to defend the city. In this way +the normal amount of the infantry came to 16,800 men, 80 centuries +of the first division, 20 from each of the three following, and 28 +from the last division--not taking into account the two centuries +of substitutes or those of the workmen or the musicians. To all +these fell to be added the cavalry, which consisted of 1800 horse; +often when the army took the field, however, only the third part +of the whole number was attached to it. The normal amount of the +Roman army of the first and second levy rose accordingly to close +upon 20,000 men: which number must beyond doubt have corresponded +on the whole to the effective strength of the Roman population +capable of arms, as it stood at the time when this new organization +was introduced. As the population increased the number of centuries +was not augmented, but the several divisions were strengthened by +persons added, without altogether losing sight, however, of the +fundamental number. Indeed the Roman corporations in general, closed +as to numbers, very frequently evaded the limit imposed upon them +by admitting supernumerary members. + + +Census + + +This new organization of the army was accompanied by a more careful +supervision of landed property on the part of the state. It was +now either ordained for the first time or, if not, at any rate +defined more carefully, that a land-register should be established, +in which the several proprietors of land should have their fields +with all their appurtenances, servitudes, slaves, beasts of draught +and of burden, duly recorded. Every act of alienation, which did +not take place publicly and before witnesses, was declared null; +and a revision of the register of landed property, which was at +the same time the levy-roll, was directed to be made every fourth +year. The -mancipatio- and the -census- thus arose out of the +Servian military organization. + + +Political Effects of the Servian Military Organization + + +It is evident at a glance that this whole institution was from the +outset of a military nature. In the whole detailed scheme we do +not encounter a single feature suggestive of any destination of the +centuries to other than purely military purposes; and this alone +must, with every one accustomed to consider such matters, form +a sufficient reason for pronouncing its application to political +objects a later innovation. If, as is probable, in the earliest +period every one who had passed his sixtieth year was excluded from +the centuries, this has no meaning, so far as they were intended +from the first to form a representation of the burgess-community +similar to and parallel with the curies. Although, however, the +organization of the centuries was introduced merely to enlarge +the military resources of the burgesses by the inclusion of +the --metoeci-- and, in so far, there is no greater error than to +exhibit the Servian organization as the introduction of a timocracy +in Rome--yet the new obligation imposed upon the inhabitants to +bear arms exercised in its consequences a material influence on +their political position. He who is obliged to become a soldier +must also, so long as the state is not rotten, have it in his power +to become an officer; beyond question plebeians also could now be +nominated in Rome as centurions and as military tribunes. Although, +moreover, the institution of the centuries was not intended +to curtail the political privileges exclusively possessed by the +burgesses as hitherto represented in the curies, yet it was inevitable +that those rights, which the burgesses hitherto had exercised not +as the assembly of curies, but as the burgess-levy, should pass over +to the new centuries of burgesses and --metoeci--. Henceforward, +accordingly, it was the centuries whose consent the king had +to ask before beginning an aggressive war.(11) It is important, +on account of the subsequent course of development, to note these +first steps towards the centuries taking part in public affairs; +but the centuries came to acquire such rights at first more in the +way of natural sequence than of direct design, and subsequently +to the Servian reform, as before, the assembly of the curies was +regarded as the proper burgess-community, whose homage bound the +whole people in allegiance to the king. By the side of these new +landowning full-burgesses stood the domiciled foreigners from the +allied Latium, as participating in the public burdens, tribute and +task-works (hence -municipes-); while the burgesses not domiciled, +who were beyond the pale of the tribes, and had not the right +to serve in war and vote, came into view only as "owing tribute" +(-aerarii-). + +In this way, while hitherto there had been distinguished only two +classes of members of the community, burgesses and clients, there +were now established those three political classes, which exercised +a dominant influence over the constitutional law of Rome for many +centuries. + + +Time and Occasion of the Reform + + +When and how this new military organization of the Roman community +came into existence, can only be conjectured. It presupposes the +existence of the four regions; in other words, the Servian wall must +have been erected before the reform took place. But the territory +of the city must also have considerably exceeded its original limits, +when it could furnish 8000 holders of full hides and as many who +held lesser portions, or sons of such holders. We are not acquainted +with the superficial extent of the normal Roman farm; but it is +not possible to estimate it as under twenty -jugera-.(12) If we +reckon as a minimum 10,000 full hides, this would imply a superficies +of 190 square miles of arable land; and on this calculation, if we +make a very moderate allowance for pasture, the space occupied by +houses, and ground not capable of culture, the territory, at the +period when this reform was carried out, must have had at least +an extent of 420 square miles, probably an extent still more +considerable. If we follow tradition, we must assume a number of +84,000 burgesses who were freeholders and capable of bearing arms; +for such, we are told, were the numbers ascertained by Servius at +the first census. A glance at the map, however, shows that this +number must be fabulous; it is not even a genuine tradition, but +a conjectural calculation, by which the 16,800 capable of bearing +arms who constituted the normal strength of the infantry appeared +to yield, on an average of five persons to each family, the number +of 84,000 burgesses, and this number was confounded with that +of those capable of bearing arms. But even according to the more +moderate estimates laid down above, with a territory of some 16,000 +hides containing a population of nearly 20,000 capable of bearing +arms and at least three times that number of women, children, and +old men, persons who had no land, and slaves, it is necessary to +assume not merely that the region between the Tiber and Anio had +been acquired, but that the Alban territory had also been conquered, +before the Servian constitution was established; a result with +which tradition agrees. What were the numerical proportions of +patricians and plebeians originally in the army, cannot be ascertained. + +Upon the whole it is plain that this Servian institution did not +originate in a conflict between the orders. On the contrary, it +bears the stamp of a reforming legislator like the constitutions of +Lycurgus, Solon, and Zaleucus; and it has evidently been produced +under Greek influence. Particular analogies may be deceptive, such +as the coincidence noticed by the ancients that in Corinth also +widows and orphans were charged with the provision of horses for +the cavalry; but the adoption of the armour and arrangements of +the Greek hoplite system was certainly no accidental coincidence. +Now if we consider the fact that it was in the second century of +the city that the Greek states in Lower Italy advanced from the pure +clan-constitution to a modified one, which placed the preponderance +in the hands of the landholders, we shall recognize in that movement +the impulse which called forth in Rome the Servian reform--a change +of constitution resting in the main on the same fundamental idea, +and only directed into a somewhat different course by the strictly +monarchical form of the Roman state.(13) + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter VI + +1. I. V. Dependents of the Household + +2. -Habuit plebem in clientelas principium descriptam-. Cicero, +de Rep. ii. 9. + +3. I. III. The Latin League + +4. The enactments of the Twelve Tables respecting -usus- show +clearly that they found the civil marriage already in existence. +In like manner the high antiquity of the civil marriage is clearly +evident from the fact that it, equally with the religious marriage, +necessarily involved the marital power (v. The House-father and +His Household), and only differed from the religious marriage as +respected the manner in which that power was acquired. The religious +marriage itself was held as the proprietary and legally necessary +form of acquiring a wife; whereas, in the case of civil marriage, +one of the general forms of acquiring property used on other +occasions--delivery on the part of a person entitled to give away, +or prescription--was requisite in order to lay the foundation of +a valid marital power. + +5. I. V. The House-father and His Household. + +6. -Hufe-, hide, as much as can be properly tilled with one plough, +called in Scotland a plough-gate. + +7. For the same reason, when the levy was enlarged after +the admission of the Hill-Romans, the equites were doubled, while +in the infantry force instead of the single "gathering" (-legio-) +two legions were called out (vi. Amalgamation of the Palatine and +Quirinal Cities). + +8. I. IV. Oldest Settlements In the Palatine and Suburan Regions + +9. I. V. Burdens of the Burgesses + +10. -velites-, see v. Burdens of the Burgesses, note + +11. I. V. Rights of the Burgesses + +12. Even about 480, allotments of land of seven -jugera- appeared +to those that received them small (Val. Max. iii. 3, 5; Colum. i, +praef. 14; i. 3, ii; Plin. H. N. xviii. 3, 18: fourteen -jugera-, +Victor, 33; Plutarch, Apophth. Reg. et Imp. p. 235 Dubner, in +accordance with which Plutarch, Crass. 2, is to be corrected). + +A comparison of the Germanic proportions gives the same result. +The -jugerum- and the -morgen- [nearly 5/8 of an English acre], +both originally measures rather of labour than of surface, may be +looked upon as originally identical. As the German hide consisted +ordinarily of 30, but not unfrequently of 20 or 40 -morgen-, and +the homestead frequently, at least among the Anglo-Saxons, amounted +to a tenth of the hide, it will appear, taking into account the +diversity of climate and the size of the Roman -heredium- of 2 +-jugera-, that the hypothesis of a Roman hide of 20 -jugera- is not +unsuitable to the circumstances of the case. It is to be regretted +certainly that on this very point tradition leaves us without +precise information. + +13. The analogy also between the so-called Servian constitution and +the treatment of the Attic --metoeci-- deserves to be particularly +noticed. Athens, like Rome, opened her gates at a comparatively +early period to the --metoeci--, and afterwards summoned them also +to share the burdens of the state. We cannot suppose that any +direct connection existed in this instance between Athens and Rome; +but the coincidence serves all the more distinctly to show how the +same causes--urban centralization and urban development--everywhere +and of necessity produce similar effects. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +The Hegemony of Rome in Latium + + + +Extension of the Roman Territory + + +The brave and impassioned Italian race doubtless never lacked +feuds among themselves and with their neighbours: as the country +flourished and civilization advanced, feuds must have become +gradually changed into war and raids for pillage into conquest, +and political powers must have begun to assume shape. No Italian +Homer, however, has preserved for us a picture of these earliest +frays and plundering excursions, in which the character of nations +is moulded and expressed like the mind of the man in the sports +and enterprises of the boy; nor does historical tradition enable +us to form a judgment, with even approximate accuracy, as to the +outward development of power and the comparative resources of the +several Latin cantons. It is only in the case of Rome, at the +utmost, that we can trace in some degree the extension of its power +and of its territory. The earliest demonstrable boundaries of the +united Roman community have been already stated;(1) in the landward +direction they were on an average just about five miles distant +from the capital of the canton, and it was only toward the coast +that they extended as far as the mouth of the Tiber (-Ostia-), at +a distance of somewhat more than fourteen miles from Rome. "The +new city," says Strabo, in his description of the primitive Rome, +"was surrounded by larger and smaller tribes, some of whom dwelt +in independent villages and were not subordinate to any national +union." It seems to have been at the expense of these neighbours +of kindred lineage in the first instance that the earliest extensions +of the Roman territory took place. + + +Territory on the Anio--Alba + + +The Latin communities situated on the upper Tiber and between the +Tiber and the Anio-Antemnae, Crustumerium, Ficulnea, Medullia, +Caenina, Corniculum, Cameria, Collatia,--were those which pressed +most closely and sorely on Rome, and they appear to have forfeited +their independence in very early times to the arms of the Romans. +The only community that subsequently appears as independent in this +district was Nomentum; which perhaps saved its freedom by alliance +with Rome. The possession of Fidenae, the -tete de pont- of the +Etruscans on the left bank of the Tiber, was contested between the +Latins and the Etruscans--in other words, between the Romans and +Veientes--with varying results. The struggle with Gabii, which +held the plain between the Anio and the Alban hills, was for a +long period equally balanced: down to late times the Gabine dress +was deemed synonymous with that of war, and Gabine ground the +prototype of hostile soil.(2) By these conquests the Roman territory +was probably extended to about 190 square miles. Another very +early achievement of the Roman arms was preserved, although in a +legendary dress, in the memory of posterity with greater vividness +than those obsolete struggles: Alba, the ancient sacred metropolis +of Latium, was conquered and destroyed by Roman troops. How the +collision arose, and how it was decided, tradition does not tell: +the battle of the three Roman with the three Alban brothers born at +one birth is nothing but a personification of the struggle between +two powerful and closely related cantons, of which the Roman at +least was triune. We know nothing at all beyond the naked fact of +the subjugation and destruction of Alba by Rome.(3) + +It is not improbable, although wholly a matter of conjecture, that, +at the same period when Rome was establishing herself on the Anio +and on the Alban hills, Praeneste, which appears at a later date +as mistress of eight neighbouring townships, Tibur, and others of +the Latin communities were similarly occupied in enlarging their +territory and laying the foundations of their subsequent far from +inconsiderable power. + + +Treatment of the Earliest Acquisitons + + +We feel the want of accurate information as to the legal character +and legal effects of these early Latin conquests, still more than +we miss the records of the wars in which they were won. Upon the +whole it is not to be doubted that they were treated in accordance +with the system of incorporation, out of which the tripartite community +of Rome had arisen; excepting that the cantons who were compelled +by arms to enter the combination did not, like the primitive three, +preserve some sort of relative independence as separate regions +in the new united community, but became so entirely merged in the +general whole as to be no longer traced.(4) However far the power +of a Latin canton might extend, in the earliest times it tolerated +no political centre except the proper capital; and still less +founded independent settlements, such as the Phoenicians and the +Greeks established, thereby creating in their colonies clients +for the time being and future rivals to the mother city. In this +respect, the treatment which Ostia experienced from Rome deserves +special notice: the Romans could not and did not wish to prevent +the rise -de facto- of a town at that spot, but they allowed the +place no political independence, and accordingly they did not bestow +on those who settled there any local burgess-rights, but merely +allowed them to retain, if they already possessed, the general +burgess-rights of Rome.(5) This principle also determined the +fate of the weaker cantons, which by force of arms or by voluntary +submission became subject to a stronger. The stronghold of the canton +was razed, its domain was added to the domain of the conquerors, +and a new home was instituted for the inhabitants as well as for +their gods in the capital of the victorious canton. This must not +be understood absolutely to imply a formal transportation of the +conquered inhabitants to the new capital, such as was the rule at +the founding of cities in the East. The towns of Latium at this +time can have been little more than the strongholds and weekly +markets of the husbandmen: it was sufficient in general that the +market and the seat of justice should be transferred to the new +capital. That even the temples often remained at the old spot +is shown in the instances of Alba and of Caenina, towns which must +still after their destruction have retained some semblance of +existence in connection with religion. Even where the strength +of the place that was razed rendered it really necessary to remove +the inhabitants, they would be frequently settled, with a view +to the cultivation of the soil, in the open hamlets of their old +domain. That the conquered, however, were not unfrequently compelled +either as a whole or in part to settle in their new capital, +is proved, more satisfactorily than all the several stories from +the legendary period of Latium could prove it, by the maxim of +Roman state-law, that only he who had extended the boundaries of +the territory was entitled to advance the wall of the city (the +-pomerium-). Of course the conquered, whether transferred or not, +were ordinarily compelled to occupy the legal position of clients;(6) +but particular individuals or clans occasionally had burgess-rights +or, in other words, the patriciate conferred upon them. In the +time of the empire there were still recognized Alban clans which +were introduced among the burgesses of Rome after the fall of their +native seat; amongst these were the Julii, Servilii, Quinctilii, +Cloelii, Geganii, Curiatii, Metilii: the memory of their descent was +preserved by their Alban family shrines, among which the sanctuary +of the -gens- of the Julii at Bovillae again rose under the empire +into great repute. + +This centralizing process, by which several small communities +became absorbed in a larger one, of course was far from being an +idea specially Roman. Not only did the development of Latium and +of the Sabellian stocks hinge upon the distinction between national +centralization and cantonal independence; the case was the same +with the development of the Hellenes. Rome in Latium and Athens +in Attica arose out of a like amalgamation of many cantons into +one state; and the wise Thales suggested a similar fusion to the +hard-pressed league of the Ionic cities as the only means of saving +their nationality. But Rome adhered to this principle of unity with +more consistency, earnestness, and success than any other Italian +canton; and just as the prominent position of Athens in Hellas +was the effect of her early centralization, so Rome was indebted +for her greatness solely to the same system, in her case far more +energetically applied, + + +The Hegemony of Rome over Latium--Alba + + +While the conquests of Rome in Latium may be mainly regarded as +direct extensions of her territory and people presenting the same +general features, a further and special significance attached to +the conquest of Alba. It was not merely the problematical size and +presumed riches of Alba that led tradition to assign a prominence +so peculiar to its capture. Alba was regarded as the metropolis +of the Latin confederacy, and had the right of presiding among the +thirty communities that belonged to it. The destruction of Alba, +of course, no more dissolved the league itself than the destruction +of Thebes dissolved the Boeotian confederacy;(7) but, in entire +consistency with the strict application of the -ius privatum- which +was characteristic of the Latin laws of war, Rome now claimed the +presidency of the league as the heir-at-law of Alba. What sort +of crises, if any, preceded or followed the acknowledgment of this +claim, we cannot tell. Upon the whole the hegemony of Rome over +Latium appears to have been speedily and generally recognized, +although particular communities, such as Labici and above all +Gabii, may for a time have declined to own it. Even at that time +Rome was probably a maritime power in contrast to the Latin "land," +a city in contrast to the Latin villages, and a single state in +contrast to the Latin confederacy; even at that time it was only in +conjunction with and by means of Rome that the Latins could defend +their coasts against Carthaginians, Hellenes, and Etruscans, and +maintain and extend their landward frontier in opposition to their +restless neighbours of the Sabellian stock. Whether the accession +to her material resources which Rome obtained by the subjugation +of Alba was greater than the increase of her power obtained by +the capture of Antemnae or Collatia, cannot be ascertained: it is +quite possible that it was not by the conquest of Alba that Rome +was first constituted the most powerful community in Latium; she +may have been so long before; but she did gain in consequence of +that event the presidency at the Latin festival, which became the +basis of the future hegemony of the Roman community over the whole +Latin confederacy. It is important to indicate as definitely as +possible the nature of a relation so influential. + + +Relation of Rome to Latium + + +The form of the Roman hegemony over Latium was, in general, that +of an alliance on equal terms between the Roman community on the +one hand and the Latin confederacy on the other, establishing a +perpetual peace throughout the whole domain and a perpetual league +for offence and defence. "There shall be peace between the Romans +and all communities of the Latins, as long as heaven and earth +endure; they shall not wage war with each other, nor call enemies +into the land, nor grant passage to enemies: help shall be rendered +by all in concert to any community assailed, and whatever is won +in joint warfare shall be equally distributed." The stipulated +equality of rights in trade and exchange, in commercial credit +and in inheritance, tended, by the manifold relations of business +intercourse to which it led, still further to interweave the +interests of communities already connected by the ties of similar +language and manners, and in this way produced an effect somewhat +similar to that of the abolition of customs-restrictions in our own +day. Each community certainly retained in form its own law: down +to the time of the Social war Latin law was not necessarily identical +with Roman: we find, for example, that the enforcing of betrothal +by action at law, which was abolished at an early period in Rome, +continued to subsist in the Latin communities. But the simple and +purely national development of Latin law, and the endeavour to +maintain as far as possible uniformity of rights, led at length +to the result, that the law of private relations was in matter and +form substantially the same throughout all Latium. This uniformity +of rights comes most distinctly into view in the rules laid down +regarding the loss and recovery of freedom on the part of the +individual burgess. According to an ancient and venerable maxim +of law among the Latin stock no burgess could become a slave +in the state wherein he had been free, or suffer the loss of his +burgess-rights while he remained within it: if he was to be punished +with the loss of freedom and of burgess-rights (which was the same +thing), it was necessary that he should be expelled from the state +and should enter on the condition of slavery among strangers. This +maxim of law was now extended to the whole territory of the league; +no member of any of the federal states might live as a slave within +the bounds of the league. Applications of this principle are seen +in the enactment embodied in the Twelve Tables, that the insolvent +debtor, in the event of his creditor wishing to sell him, must be +sold beyond the boundary of the Tiber, in other words, beyond the +territory of the league; and in the clause of the second treaty +between Rome and Carthage, that an ally of Rome who might be taken +prisoner by the Carthaginians should be free so soon as he entered +a Roman seaport. Although there did not probably subsist a general +intercommunion of marriage within the league, yet, as has been +already remarked(8) intermarriage between the different communities +frequently occurred. Each Latin could primarily exercise political +rights only where he was enrolled as a burgess; but on the other +hand it was implied in an equality of private rights, that any Latin +could take up his abode in any place within the Latin bounds; or, +to use the phraseology of the present day, there existed, side by +side with the special burgess-rights of the individual communities, +a general right of settlement co-extensive with the confederacy; +and, after the plebeian was acknowledged in Rome as a burgess, +this right became converted as regards Rome into full freedom of +settlement. It is easy to understand how this should have turned +materially to the advantage of the capital, which alone in Latium +offered the means of urban intercourse, urban acquisition, and urban +enjoyments; and how the number of --metoeci-- in Rome should have +increased with remarkable rapidity, after the Latin land came to +live in perpetual peace with Rome. + +In constitution and administration the several communities not +only remained independent and sovereign, so far as the federal +obligations did not interfere, but, what was of more importance, +the league of the thirty communities as such retained its autonomy +in contradistinction to Rome. When we are assured that the position +of Alba towards the federal communities was a position superior +to that of Rome, and that on the fall of Alba these communities +attained autonomy, this may well have been the case, in so far as +Alba was essentially a member of the league, while Rome from the +first had rather the position of a separate state confronting the +league than of a member included in it; but, just as the states +of the confederation of the Rhine were formally sovereign, while +those of the German empire had a master, the presidency of Alba may +have been in reality an honorary right(9) like that of the German +emperors, and the protectorate of Rome from the first a supremacy +like that of Napoleon. In fact Alba appears to have exercised the +right of presiding in the federal council, while Rome allowed the +Latin deputies to hold their consultations by themselves under the +guidance, as it appears, of a president selected from their own +number, and contented herself with the honorary presidency at the +federal festival where sacrifice was offered for Rome and Latium, +and with the erection of a second federal sanctuary in Rome--the +temple of Diana on the Aventine--so that thenceforth sacrifice was +offered both on Roman soil for Rome and Latium, and on Latin soil +for Latium and Rome. With equal deference to the interests of +the league the Romans in the treaty with Latium bound themselves +not to enter into a separate alliance with any Latin community--a +stipulation which very clearly reveals the apprehensions entertained, +doubtless not without reason, by the confederacy with reference to +the powerful community taking the lead. The position of Rome not +within, but alongside of Latium, is most clearly apparent in the +arrangements for warfare. The fighting force of the league was +composed, as the later mode of making the levy incontrovertibly +shows, of two masses of equal strength, a Roman and a Latin. The +supreme command lay once for all with the Roman generals; year by +year the Latin contingent had to appear before the gates of Rome, +and there saluted the elected commander by acclamation as its +general, after the Romans commissioned by the Latin federal council +to take the auspices had thereby assured themselves of the contentment +of the gods with the choice that had been made. Whatever land or +property was acquired in the wars of the league was apportioned +among its members according to the judgment of the Romans. That +the Romano-Latin federation was represented as regards its external +relations solely by Rome, cannot with certainty be maintained. +The federal agreement did not prohibit either Rome or Latium from +undertaking an aggressive war on their own behoof; and if a war +was waged by the league, whether pursuant to a resolution of its +own or in consequence of a hostile attack, the Latin federal council +may have been legally entitled to take part in the conduct as well +as in the termination of the war. Practically indeed Rome must +have possessed the hegemony even then, for, wherever a single state +and a federation enter into a permanent connection with each other, +the preponderance usually falls to the side of the former. + + +Extension of the Roman Territory after the Fall of Alba--Hernici--Rutulli +and Volscii + + +The steps by which after the fall of Alba Rome--now mistress of a +territory comparatively considerable, and presumably the leading +power in the Latin confederacy--extended still further her direct +and indirect dominion, can no longer be traced. There was no lack +of feuds with the Etruscans and with the Veientes in particular, +chiefly respecting the possession of Fidenae; but it does not appear +that the Romans were successful in acquiring permanent mastery over +that Etruscan outpost, which was situated on the Latin bank of the +river not much more than five miles from Rome, or in dislodging +the Veientes from that formidable basis of offensive operations. +On the other hand they maintained apparently undisputed possession +of the Janiculum and of both banks of the mouth of the Tiber. As +regards the Sabines and Aequi Rome appears in a more advantageous +position; the connection which afterwards became so intimate with +the more distant Hernici must have had at least its beginning +under the monarchy, and the united Latins and Hernici enclosed on +two sides and held in check their eastern neighbours. But on the +south frontier the territory of the Rutuli and still more that of +the Volsci were scenes of perpetual war. The earliest extension +of the Latin land took place in this direction, and it is here that +we first encounter those communities founded by Rome and Latium +on the enemy's soil and constituted as autonomous members of the +Latin confederacy--the Latin colonies, as they were called--the +oldest of which appear to reach back to the regal period. How +far, however, the territory reduced under the power of the Romans +extended at the close of the monarchy, can by no means be determined. +Of feuds with the neighbouring Latin and Volscian communities the +Roman annals of the regal period recount more than enough; but +only a few detached notices, such as that perhaps of the capture +of Suessa in the Pomptine plain, can be held to contain a nucleus +of historical fact. That the regal period laid not only the +political foundations of Rome, but the foundations also of her +external power, cannot be doubted; the position of the city of +Rome as contradistinguished from, rather than forming part of, the +league of Latin states is already decidedly marked at the beginning +of the republic, and enables us to perceive that an energetic +development of external power must have taken place in Rome during +the time of the kings. Certainly great deeds, uncommon achievements +have in this case passed into oblivion; but the splendour of them +lingers over the regal period of Rome, especially over the royal +house of the Tarquins, like a distant evening twilight in which +outlines disappear. + + +Enlargement of the City of Rome--Servian Wall + + +While the Latin stock was thus tending towards union under the +leadership of Rome and was at the same time extending its territory +on the east and south, Rome itself, by the favour of fortune and +the energy of its citizens, had been converted from a stirring +commercial and rural town into the powerful capital of a flourishing +country. The remodelling of the Roman military system and the +political reform of which it contained the germ, known to us by +the name of the Servian constitution, stand in intimate connection +with this internal change in the character of the Roman community. +But externally also the character of the city cannot but have changed +with the influx of ampler resources, with the rising requirements +of its position, and with the extension of its political horizon. +The amalgamation of the adjoining community on the Quirinal with +that on the Palatine must have been already accomplished when the +Servian reform, as it is called, took place; and after this reform +had united and consolidated the military strength of the community, +the burgesses could no longer rest content with entrenching the +several hills, as one after another they were filled with buildings, +and with possibly also keeping the island in the Tiber and the +height on the opposite bank occupied so that they might command +the course of the river. The capital of Latium required another +and more complete system of defence; they proceeded to construct +the Servian wall. The new continuous city-wall began at the river +below the Aventine, and included that hill, on which there have been +brought to light recently (1855) at two different places, the one +on the western slope towards the river, the other on the opposite +eastern slope, colossal remains of those primitive fortifications--portions +of wall as high as the walls of Alatri and Ferentino, built of large +square hewn blocks of tufo in courses of unequal height--emerging +as it were from the tomb to testify to the might of an epoch, whose +buildings subsist imperishably in these walls of rock, and whose +intellectual achievements will continue to exercise an influence +more lasting even than these. The ring-wall further embraced the +Caelian and the whole space of the Esquiline, Viminal, and Quirinal, +where a structure likewise but recently brought to light on a +great scale (1862)--on the outside composed of blocks of peperino +and protected by a moat in front, on the inside forming a huge +earthen rampart sloped towards the city and imposing even at the +present day--supplied the want of natural means of defence. From +thence it ran to the Capitoline, the steep declivity of which towards +the Campus Martius served as part of the city-wall, and it again +abutted on the river above the island in the Tiber. The Tiber +island with the bridge of piles and the Janiculum did not belong +strictly to the city, but the latter height was probably a fortified +outwork. Hitherto the Palatine had been the stronghold, but now +this hill was left open to be built upon by the growing city; and on +the other hand upon the Tarpeian Hill, standing free on every side, +and from its moderate extent easily defensible, there was constructed +the new "stronghold" (-arx-, -capitolium-(10)), containing the +stronghold-spring, the carefully enclosed "well-house" (-tullianum-), +the treasury (-aerarium-), the prison, and the most ancient place +of assemblage for the burgesses (-area Capitolina-), where still in +after times the regular announcements of the changes of the moon +continued to be made. Private dwellings of a permanent kind, +on the other hand, were not tolerated in earlier times on the +stronghold-hill;(11) and the space between the two summits of the +hill, the sanctuary of the evil god (-Ve-diovis-), or as it was +termed in the later Hellenizing epoch, the Asylum, was covered with +wood and presumably intended for the reception of the husbandmen +and their herds, when inundation or war drove them from the plain. +The Capitol was in reality as well as in name the Acropolis of Rome, +an independent castle capable of being defended even after the city +had fallen: its gate lay probably towards what was afterwards the +Forum.(12) The Aventine seems to have been fortified in a similar +style, although less strongly, and to have been preserved free from +permanent occupation. With this is connected the fact, that for +purposes strictly urban, such as the distribution of the introduced +water, the inhabitants of Rome were divided into the inhabitants +of the city proper (-montani-), and those of the districts situated +within the general ring-wall, but yet not reckoned as strictly +belonging to the city (-pagani Aventinensis-, -Ianiculenses-, +-collegia Capitolinorum et Mercurialium-).(13) The space enclosed +by the new city wall thus embraced, in addition to the former +Palatine and Quirinal cities, the two federal strongholds of the +Capitol and the Aventine, and also the Janiculum;(14) the Palatine, +as the oldest and proper city, was enclosed by the other heights +along which the wall was carried, as if encircled with a wreath, +and the two castles occupied the middle. + +The work, however, was not complete so long as the ground, protected +by so laborious exertions from outward foes, was not also reclaimed +from the dominion of the water, which permanently occupied the +valley between the Palatine and the Capitol, so that there was +perhaps even a ferry there, and which converted the valleys between +the Capitol and the Velia and between the Palatine and the Aventine +into marshes. The subterranean drains still existing at the +present day, composed of magnificent square blocks, which excited +the astonishment of posterity as a marvellous work of regal Rome, +must rather be reckoned to belong to the following epoch, for +travertine is the material employed and we have many accounts of +new structures of the kind in the times of the republic; but the +scheme itself belongs beyond doubt to the regal period, although +presumably to a later epoch than the designing of the Servian wall +and the Capitoline stronghold. The spots thus drained or dried +supplied large open spaces such as were needed by the new enlarged +city. The assembling-place of the community, which had hitherto been +the Area Capitolina at the stronghold itself, was now transferred to +the flat space, where the ground fell from the stronghold towards +the city (-comitium-), and which stretched thence between the +Palatine and the Carinae, in the direction of the Velia. At that +side of the -comitium- which adjoined the stronghold, and upon the +stronghold-wall which arose above the -comitium- in the fashion +of a balcony, the members of the senate and the guests of the city +had the place of honour assigned to them on occasion of festivals +and assemblies of the people; and at the place of assembly itself +was erected the senate-house, which afterwards bore the name of the +Curia Hostilia. The platform for the judgment-seat (-tribunal-), +and the stage whence the burgesses were addressed (the later rostra), +were likewise erected on the -comitium- itself. Its prolongation in +the direction of the Velia became the new market (-forum Romanum-). +At the end of the latter, beneath the Palatine, rose the +community-house, which included the official dwelling of the king +(-regia-) and the common hearth of the city, the rotunda forming +the temple of Vesta; at no great distance, on the south side of the +Forum, there was erected a second round building connected with the +former, the store-room of the community or temple of the Penates, +which still stands at the present day as the porch of the church +Santi Cosma e Damiano. It is a feature significant of the new city +now united in a way very different from the settlement of the "seven +mounts," that, over and above the hearths of the thirty curies +which the Palatine Rome had been content with associating in one +building, the Servian Rome presented this general and single hearth +for the city at large.(15) Along the two longer sides of the Forum +butchers' shops and other traders' stalls were arranged. In the +valley between the Palatine and Aventine a "ring" was staked off +for races; this became the Circus. The cattle-market was laid out +immediately adjoining the river, and this soon became one of the +most densely peopled quarters of Rome. Temples and sanctuaries +arose on all the summits, above all the federal sanctuary of Diana on +the Aventine,(16) and on the summit of the stronghold the far-seen +temple of Father Diovis, who had given to his people all this glory, +and who now, when the Romans were triumphing over the surrounding +nations, triumphed along with them over the subject gods of the +vanquished. + +The names of the men, at whose bidding these great buildings of +the city arose, are almost as completely lost in oblivion as those +of the leaders in the earliest battles and victories of Rome. +Tradition indeed assigns the different works to different kings--the +senate-house to Tullus Hostilius, the Janiculum and the wooden +bridge to Ancus Marcius, the great Cloaca, the Circus, and the +temple of Jupiter to the elder Tarquinius, the temple of Diana and +the ring-wall to Servius Tullius. Some of these statements may +perhaps be correct; and it is apparently not the result of accident +that the building of the new ring-wall is associated both as to date +and author with the new organization of the army, which in fact bore +special reference to the regular defence of the city walls. But +upon the whole we must be content to learn from this tradition--what +is indeed evident of itself--that this second creation of Rome stood +in intimate connection with the commencement of her hegemony over +Latium and with the remodelling of her burgess-army, and that, while +it originated in one and the same great conception, its execution +was not the work either of a single man or of a single generation. +It is impossible to doubt that Hellenic influences exercised +a powerful effect on this remodelling of the Roman community, but +it is equally impossible to demonstrate the mode or the degree of +their operation. It has already been observed that the Servian +military constitution is essentially of an Hellenic type;(17) +and it will be afterwards shown that the games of the Circus were +organized on an Hellenic model. The new -regia-with the city hearth +was quite a Greek --prytaneion--, and the round temple of Vesta, +looking towards the east and not so much as consecrated by the +augurs, was constructed in no respect according to Italian, but +wholly in accordance with Hellenic, ritual. With these facts before +us, the statement of tradition appears not at all incredible that +the Ionian confederacy in Asia Minor to some extent served as a model +for the Romano-Latin league, and that the new federal sanctuary on +the Aventine was for that reason constructed in imitation of the +Artemision at Ephesus. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter VII + + + +1. I. IV. Earliest Limits of the Roman Territory + +2. The formulae of accursing for Gabii and Fidenae are quite +as characteristic (Macrob. Sat. iii. 9). It cannot, however, be +proved and is extremely improbable that, as respects these towns, +there was an actual historical accursing of the ground on which +they were built, such as really took place at Veii, Carthage, and +Fregellae. It may be conjectured that old accursing formularies +were applied to those two hated towns, and were considered by later +antiquaries as historical documents. + +3. But there seems to be no good ground for the doubt recently +expressed in a quarter deserving of respect as to the destruction +of Alba having really been the act of Rome. It is true, indeed, +that the account of the destruction of Alba is in its details a +series of improbabilities and impossibilities; but that is true of +every historical fact inwoven into legend. To the question as to +the attitude of the rest of Latium towards the struggle between +Rome and Alba, we are unable to give an answer; but the question +itself rests on a false assumption, for it is not proved that the +constitution of the Latin league absolutely prohibited a separate +war between two Latin communities (I. III. The Latin League). Still +less is the fact that a number of Alban families were received +into the burgess-union of Rome inconsistent with the destruction +of Alba by the Romans. Why may there not have been a Roman party +in Alba just as there was in Capua? The circumstance, however, +of Rome claiming to be in a religious and political point of view +the heir-at-law of Alba may be regarded as decisive of the matter; +for such a claim could not be based on the migration of individual +clans to Rome, but could only be based, as it actually was, on the +conquest of the town. + +4. I. VI. Amalgamation of the Palatine and Quirinal Cities + +5. Hence was developed the conception, in political law, of the +maritime colony or colony of burgesses (-colonia civium Romanorum-), +that is, of a community separate in fact, but not independent or +possessing a will of its own in law; a community which merged in +the capital as the -peculium- of the son merged in the property +of the father, and which as a standing garrison was exempt from +serving in the legion. + +6. To this the enactment of the Twelve Tables undoubtedly has +reference: -Nex[i mancipiique] forti sanatique idem ius esto-, +that is, in dealings of private law the "sound" and the "recovered" +shall be on a footing of equality. The Latin allies cannot be here +referred to, because their legal position was defined by federal +treaties, and the law of the Twelve Tables treated only of the law +of Rome. The -sanates- were the -Latini prisci cives Romani-, or +in other words, the communities of Latium compelled by the Romans +to enter the plebeiate. + +7. The community of Bovillae appears even to have been formed out +of part of the Alban domain, and to have been admitted in room of +Alba among the autonomous Latin towns. Its Alban origin is attested +by its having been the seat of worship for the Julian gens and by +the name -Albani Longani Bovillenses- (Orelli-Henzen, 119, 2252, +6019); its autonomy by Dionysius, v. 61, and Cicero, pro Plancio, +9, 23. + +8. I. III. The Latin League + +9. I. III. The Latin League + +10. Both names, although afterwards employed as local names +(-capitolium- being applied to the summit of the stronghold-hill +that lay next to the river, -arx- to that next to the Quirinal), +were originally appellatives, corresponding exactly to the Greek +--akra-- and --koruphei-- every Latin town had its -capitolium-as +well as Rome. The local name of the Roman stronghold-hill was +-mons Tarpeius-. + +11. The enactment -ne quis patricius in arce aut capitolio +habitaret-probably prohibited only the conversion of the ground into +private property, not the construction of dwelling-houses. Comp. +Becker, Top. p. 386. + +12. For the chief thoroughfare, the -Via Sacra-, led from that +quarter to the stronghold; and the bending in towards the gate may +still be clearly recognized in the turn which this makes to the +left at the arch of Severus. The gate itself must have disappeared +under the huge structures which were raised in after ages on the +Clivus. The so-called gate at the steepest part of the Capitoline +Mount, which is known by the name of Janualis or Saturnia, or the +"open," and which had to stand always open in times of war, evidently +had merely a religious significance, and never was a real gate. + +13. Four such guilds are mentioned (1) the -Capitolini- (Cicero, +ad Q. fr. ii. 5, 2), with -magistri- of their own (Henzen, 6010, +6011), and annual games (Liv. v. 50; comp. Corp. Inscr. Lat. i. n. +805); (2) the -Mercuriales- (Liv. ii. 27; Cicero, l. c.; Preller, +Myth. p. 597) likewise with -magistri- (Henzen, 6010), the guild +from the valley of the Circus, where the temple of Mercury stood; +(3) the -pagani Aventinenses- likewise with -magistri- (Henzen, +6010); and (4) the -pagani pagi Ianiculensis- likewise with -magistri- +(C. I. L. i. n. 801, 802). It is certainly not accidental that +these four guilds, the only ones of the sort that occur in Rome, +belong to the very two hills excluded from the four local tribes +but enclosed by the Servian wall, the Capitol and the Aventine, and +the Janiculum belonging to the same fortification; and connected +with this is the further fact that the expression -montani paganive- +is employed as a designation of the whole inhabitants in connection +with the city (comp. besides the well-known passage, Cic. de Domo, +28, 74, especially the law as to the city aqueducts in Festus, v. +sifus, p. 340; [-mon]tani paganive si[fis aquam dividunto-]). The +-montani-, properly the inhabitants of the three regions of the +Palatine town (iv. The Hill-Romans On the Quirinal), appear to be +here put -a potiori- for the whole population of the four regions +of the city proper. The -pagani- are, undoubtedly, the residents +of the Aventine and Janiculum not included in the tribes, and the +analogous -collegia- of the Capitol and the Circus valley. + +14. The "Seven-hill-city" in the proper and religious sense was +and continued to be the narrower Old-Rome of the Palatine (iv. The +Palatine City). Certainly the Servian Rome also regarded itself, +at least as early as the time of Cicero (comp. e. g. Cic. ad Att. +vi. 5, 2; Plutarch, Q. Rom. 69), as "Seven-hill-city," probably +because the festival of the Septimontium, which was celebrated +with great zeal even under the Empire, began to be regarded as a +festival for the city generally; but there was hardly any definite +agreement reached as to which of the heights embraced by the +Servian ring-wall belonged to the "seven." The enumeration of the +Seven Mounts familiar to us, viz. Palatine, Aventine, Caelian, +Esquiline, Viminal, Quirinal, Capitoline, is not given by any +ancient author. It is put together from the traditional narrative +of the gradual rise of the city (Jordan, Topographie, ii. 206 seq.), +and the Janiculum is passed over in it, simply because otherwise +the number would come out as eight. The earliest authority that +enumerates the Seven Mounts (-montes-) of Rome is the description +of the city from the age of Constantine the Great. It names as +such the Palatine, Aventine, Caelian, Esquiline, Tarpeian, Vatican, +and Janiculum,--where the Quirinal and Viminal are, evidently as +-colles-, omitted, and in their stead two "-montes-" are introduced +from the right bank of the Tiber, including even the Vatican which +lay outside of the Servian wall. Other still later lists are +given by Servius (ad Aen. vi. 783), the Berne Scholia to Virgil's +Georgics (ii. 535), and Lydus (de Mens. p. 118, Bekker). + +15. Both the situation of the two temples, and the express testimony +of Dionysius, ii. 65, that the temple of Vesta lay outside of the +Roma quadrata, prove that these structures were connected with the +foundation not of the Palatine, but of the second (Servian) city. +Posterity reckoned this -regia- with the temple of Vesta as a scheme +of Numa; but the cause which gave rise to that hypothesis is too +manifest to allow of our attaching any weight to it. + +16. I. VII. Relation of Rome to Latium + +17. I. VI. Time and Occasion of the Reform + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +The Umbro-Sabellian Stocks--Beginnings of the Samnites + + + +Umbro-Sabellian Migration + + +The migration of the Umbrian stocks appears to have begun at +a period later than that of the Latins. Like the Latin, it moved +in a southerly direction, but it kept more in the centre of the +peninsula and towards the east coast. It is painful to speak of +it; for our information regarding it comes to us like the sound +of bells from a town that has been sunk in the sea. The Umbrian +people extended according to Herodotus as far as the Alps, and +it is not improbable that in very ancient times they occupied the +whole of Northern Italy, to the point where the settlements of the +Illyrian stocks began on the east, and those of the Ligurians on +the west. As to the latter, there are traditions of their conflicts +with the Umbrians, and we may perhaps draw an inference regarding +their extension in very early times towards the south from isolated +names, such as that of the island of Ilva (Elba) compared with the +Ligurian Ilvates. To this period of Umbrian greatness the evidently +Italian names of the most ancient settlements in the valley of the +Po, Atria (black-town), and Spina (thorn-town), probably owe their +origin, as well as the numerous traces of Umbrians in southern +Etruria (such as the river Umbro, Camars the old name of Clusium, +Castrum Amerinum). Such indications of an Italian population +having preceded the Etruscan especially occur in the most southern +portion of Etruria, the district between the Ciminian Forest (below +Viterbo) and the Tiber. In Falerii, the town of Etruria nearest +to the frontier of Umbria and the Sabine country, according to +the testimony of Strabo a language was spoken different from the +Etruscan, and inscriptions bearing out that statement have recently +been brought to light there, the alphabet and language of which, +while presenting points of contact with the Etruscan, exhibit +a general resemblance to the Latin.(1) The local worship also +presents traces of a Sabellian character; and a similar inference +is suggested by the primitive relations subsisting in sacred as +well as other matters between Caere and Rome. It is probable that +the Etruscans wrested those southern districts from the Umbrians +at a period considerably subsequent to their occupation of the +country on the north of the Ciminian Forest, and that an Umbrian +population maintained itself there even after the Tuscan conquest. +In this fact we may presumably find the ultimate explanation of +the surprising rapidity with which the southern portion of Etruria +became Latinized, as compared with the tenacious retention of the +Etruscan language and manners in northern Etruria, after the Roman +conquest. That the Umbrians were after obstinate struggles driven +back from the north and west into the narrow mountainous country +between the two arms of the Apennines which they subsequently +held, is clearly indicated by the very fact of their geographical +position, just as the position of the inhabitants of the Grisons +and that of the Basques at the present day indicates the similar +fate that has befallen them. Tradition also has to report that the +Tuscans wrested from the Umbrians three hundred towns; and, what +is of more importance as evidence, in the national prayers of the +Umbrian Iguvini, which we still possess, along with other stocks +the Tuscans especially are cursed as public foes. + +In consequence, as may be presumed, of this pressure exerted upon +them from the north, the Umbrians advanced towards the south, +keeping in general upon the heights, because they found the plains +already occupied by Latin stocks, but beyond doubt frequently +making inroads and encroachments on the territory of the kindred +race, and intermingling with them the more readily, that the +distinction in language and habits could not have been at all so +marked then as we find it afterwards. To the class of such inroads +belongs the tradition of the irruption of the Reatini and Sabines +into Latium and their conflicts with the Romans; similar phenomena +were probably repeated all along the west coast. Upon the whole +the Sabines maintained their footing in the mountains, as in the +district bordering on Latium which has since been called by their +name, and so too in the Volscian land, presumably because the Latin +population did not extend thither or was there less dense; while +on the other hand the well-peopled plains were better able to offer +resistance to the invaders, although they were not in all cases +able or desirous to prevent isolated bands from gaining a footing, +such as the Tities and afterwards the Claudii in Rome.(2) In this +way the stocks here became variously mingled, a state of things +which serves to explain the numerous relations that subsisted +between the Volscians and Latins, and how it happened that their +district, as well as Sabina, afterwards became so early and speedily +Latinized. + + +Samnites + + +The chief branch, however, of the Umbrian stock threw itself eastward +from Sabina into the mountains of the Abruzzi, and the adjacent +hill-country to the south of them. Here, as on the west coast, +they occupied the mountainous districts, whose thinly scattered +population gave way before the immigrants or submitted to their +yoke; while in the plain along the Apulian coast the ancient native +population, the Iapygians, upon the whole maintained their ground, +although involved in constant feuds, especially on the northern +frontier about Luceria and Arpi. When these migrations took place, +cannot of course be determined; but it was presumably about the +time when kings ruled in Rome. Tradition reports that the Sabines, +pressed by the Umbrians, vowed a -ver sacrum-, that is, swore +that they would give up and send beyond their bounds the sons and +daughters born in the year of war, so soon as these should reach +maturity, that the gods might at their pleasure destroy them +or bestow upon them new abodes in other lands. One band was led +by the ox of Mars; these were the Safini or Samnites, who in the +first instance established themselves on the mountains adjoining +the river Sagrus, and at a later period proceeded to occupy the +beautiful plain on the east of the Matese chain, near the sources +of the Tifernus. Both in their old and in their new territory +they named their place of public assembly--which in the one case +was situated near Agnone, in the other near Bojano--from the ox +which led them Bovianum. A second band was led by the woodpecker +of Mars; these were the Picentes, "the woodpecker-people," who +took possession of what is now the March of Ancona. A third band +was led by the wolf (-hirpus-) into the region of Beneventum; +these were the Hirpini. In a similar manner the other small tribes +branched off from the common stock--the Praetuttii near Teramo; the +Vestini on the Gran Sasso; the Marrucini near Chieti; the Frentani +on the frontier of Apulia; the Paeligni on the Majella mountains; +and lastly the Marsi on the Fucine lake, coming in contact with +the Volscians and Latins. All of these tribes retained, as these +legends clearly show, a vivid sense of their relationship and of +their having come forth from the Sabine land. While the Umbrians +succumbed in the unequal struggle and the western offshoots of the +same stock became amalgamated with the Latin or Hellenic population, +the Sabellian tribes prospered in the seclusion of their distant +mountain land, equally remote from collision with the Etruscans, +the Latins, and the Greeks. There was little or no development +of an urban life amongst them; their geographical position almost +wholly precluded them from engaging in commercial intercourse, and +the mountain-tops and strongholds sufficed for the necessities of +defence, while the husbandmen continued to dwell in open hamlets +or wherever each found the well-spring and the forest or pasture +that he desired. In such circumstances their constitution remained +stationary; like the similarly situated Arcadians in Greece, their +communities never became incorporated into a single state; at the +utmost they only formed confederacies more or less loosely connected. +In the Abruzzi especially, the strict seclusion of the mountain +valleys seems to have debarred the several cantons from intercourse +either with each other or with the outer world. They maintained but +little connection with each other and continued to live in complete +isolation from the rest of Italy; and in consequence, notwithstanding +the bravery of their inhabitants, they exercised less influence +than any other portion of the Italian nation on the development of +the history of the peninsula. + + +Their Political Development + + +On the other hand the Samnite people decidedly exhibited the highest +political development among the eastern Italian stock, as the Latin +nation did among the western. From an early period, perhaps from +its first immigration, a comparatively strong political bond held +together the Samnite nation, and gave to it the strength which +subsequently enabled it to contend with Rome on equal terms for the +first place in Italy. We are as ignorant of the time and manner of +the formation of the bond, as we are of its federal constitution; +but it is clear that in Samnium no single community was preponderant, +and still less was there any town to serve as a central rallying +point and bond of union for the Samnite stock, such as Rome was +for the Latins. The strength of the land lay in its -communes- +of husbandmen, and authority was vested in the assembly formed of +their representatives; it was this assembly which in case of need +nominated a federal commander-in-chief. In consequence of its +constitution the policy of this confederacy was not aggressive like +the Roman, but was limited to the defence of its own bounds; only +where the state forms a unity is power so concentrated and passion +so strong, that the extension of territory can be systematically +pursued. Accordingly the whole history of the two nations is +prefigured in their diametrically opposite systems of colonization. +Whatever the Romans gained, was a gain to the state: the conquests +of the Samnites were achieved by bands of volunteers who went +forth in search of plunder and, whether they prospered or were +unfortunate, were left to their own resources by their native home. +The conquests, however, which the Samnites made on the coasts of +the Tyrrhenian and Ionic seas, belong to a later age; during the +regal period in Rome they seem to have been only gaining possession +of the settlements in which we afterwards find them. As a single +incident in the series of movements among the neighbouring peoples +caused by this Samnite settlement may be mentioned the surprise of +Cumae by Tyrrhenians from the Upper Sea, Umbrians, and Daunians in +the year 230. If we may give credit to the accounts of the matter +which present certainly a considerable colouring of romance, it +would appear that in this instance, as was often the case in such +expeditions, the intruders and those whom they supplanted combined +to form one army, the Etruscans joining with their Umbrian enemies, +and these again joined by the Iapygians whom the Umbrian settlers +had driven towards the south. Nevertheless the undertaking proved +a failure: on this occasion at least the Hellenic superiority in +the art of war, and the bravery of the tyrant Aristodemus, succeeded +in repelling the barbarian assault on the beautiful seaport. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter VIII + + + +1. In the alphabet the -"id:r" especially deserves notice, being +of the Latin (-"id:R") and not of the Etruscan form (-"id:D"), +and also the -"id:z" (--"id:XI"); it can only be derived from +the primitive Latin, and must very faithfully represent it. The +language likewise has close affinity with the oldest Latin; -Marci +Acarcelini he cupa-, that is, -Marcius Acarcelinius heic cubat-: +-Menerva A. Cotena La. f...zenatuo sentem..dedet cuando..cuncaptum-, +that is, -Minervae A(ulus?) Cotena La(rtis) f(ilius) de senatus +sententia dedit quando (perhaps=olim) conceptum-. At the same +time with these and similar inscriptions there have been found some +others in a different character and language, undoubtedly Etruscan. + +2. I. IV. Tities, Luceres + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The Etruscans + + + +Etruscan Nationality + + +The Etruscan people, or Ras,(1) as they called themselves, present +a most striking contrast to the Latin and Sabellian Italians as well +as to the Greeks. They were distinguished from these nations by +their very bodily structure: instead of the slender and symmetrical +proportions of the Greeks and Italians, the sculptures of the Etruscans +exhibit only short sturdy figures with large head and thick arms. +Their manners and customs also, so far as we are acquainted with +them, point to a deep and original diversity from the Graeco-Italian +stocks. The religion of the Tuscans in particular, presenting a +gloomy fantastic character and delighting in the mystical handling +of numbers and in wild and horrible speculations and practices, +is equally remote from the clear rationalism of the Romans and the +genial image-worship of the Hellenes. The conclusion which these +facts suggest is confirmed by the most important and authoritative +evidence of nationality, the evidence of language. The remains +of the Etruscan tongue which have reached us, numerous as they are +and presenting as they do various data to aid in deciphering it, +occupy a position of isolation so complete, that not only has no +one hitherto succeeded in interpreting these remains, but no one +has been able even to determine precisely the place of Etruscan in +the classification of languages. Two periods in the development +of the language may be clearly distinguished. In the older period +the vocalization of the language was completely carried out, +and the collision of two consonants was almost without exception +avoided.(2) By throwing off the vocal and consonantal terminations, +and by the weakening or rejection of the vowels, this soft and +melodious language was gradually changed in character, and became +intolerably harsh and rugged.(3) They changed for example -ramu*af- +into -ram*a-, Tarquinius into -Tarchnaf-, Minerva into -Menrva-, +Menelaos, Polydeukes, Alexandros, into -Menle-, -Pultuke-, -Elchsentre-. +The indistinct and rugged nature of their pronunciation is shown +most clearly by the fact that at a very early period the Etruscans +made no distinction of -o from -u, -b from -p, -c from -g, -d +from -t. At the same time the accent was, as in Latin and in the +more rugged Greek dialects, uniformly thrown back upon the initial +syllable. The aspirate consonants were treated in a similar +fashion; while the Italians rejected them with the exception of +the aspirated -b or the -f, and the Greeks, reversing the case, +rejected this sound and retained the others --theta, --phi, --chi, +the Etruscans allowed the softest and most pleasing of them, the +--phi, to drop entirely except in words borrowed from other languages, +but made use of the other three to an extraordinary extent, even +where they had no proper place; Thetis for example became -Thethis-, +Telephus -Thelaphe-, Odysseus -Utuze- or -Uthuze-. Of the few +terminations and words, whose meaning has been ascertained, the +greater part are far remote from all Graeco-Italian analogies; such +as, all the numerals; the termination -al employed as a designation +of descent, frequently of descent from the mother, e. g. -Cania-, +which on a bilingual inscription of Chiusi is translated by -Cainnia +natus-; and the termination -sa in the names of women, used to +indicate the clan into which they have married, e. g. -Lecnesa- +denoting the spouse of a -Licinius-. So -cela- or -clan- with the +inflection -clensi- means son; -se(--chi)- daughter; -ril- year; +the god Hermes becomes -Turms-, Aphrodite -Turan-, Hephaestos +-Sethlans-, Bakchos -Fufluns-. Alongside of these strange forms and +sounds there certainly occur isolated analogies between the Etruscan +and the Italian languages. Proper names are formed, substantially, +after the general Italian system. The frequent gentile termination +-enas or -ena(4) recurs in the termination -enus which is likewise +of frequent occurrence in Italian, especially in Sabellian clan-names; +thus the Etruscan names -Maecenas- and -Spurinna- correspond +closely to the Roman -Maecius-and -Spurius-. A number of names +of divinities, which occur as Etruscan on Etruscan monuments or +in authors, have in their roots, and to some extent even in their +terminations, a form so thoroughly Latin, that, if these names +were really originally Etruscan, the two languages must have been +closely related; such as -Usil- (sun and dawn, connected with +-ausum-, -aurum-, -aurora-, -sol-), -Minerva-(-menervare-) -Lasa- +(-lascivus-), -Neptunus-, -Voltumna-. As these analogies, however, +may have had their origin only in the subsequent political and +religious relations between the Etruscans and Latins, and in the +accommodations and borrowings to which these relations gave rise, +they do not invalidate the conclusion to which we are led by the +other observed phenomena, that the Tuscan language differed at least +as widely from all the Graeco-Italian dialects as did the language +of the Celts or of the Slavonians. So at least it sounded to the +Roman ear; "Tuscan and Gallic" were the languages of barbarians, +"Oscan and Volscian" were but rustic dialects. + +But, while the Etruscans differed thus widely from the Graeco-Italian +family of languages, no one has yet succeeded in connecting them +with any other known race. All sorts of dialects have been examined +with a view to discover affinity with the Etruscan, sometimes by simple +interrogation, sometimes by torture, but all without exception in +vain. The geographical position of the Basque nation would naturally +suggest it for comparison; but even in the Basque language no +analogies of a decisive character have been brought forward. As +little do the scanty remains of the Ligurian language which have +reached our time, consisting of local and personal names, indicate +any connection with the Tuscans. Even the extinct nation which has +constructed those enigmatical sepulchral towers, called -Nuraghe-, +by thousands in the islands of the Tuscan Sea, especially in +Sardinia, cannot well be connected with the Etruscans, for not a +single structure of the same character is to be met with in Etruscan +territory. The utmost we can say is that several traces, that seem +tolerably trustworthy, point to the conclusion that the Etruscans +may be on the whole numbered with the Indo-Germans. Thus -mi- in the +beginning of many of the older inscriptions is certainly --emi--, +--eimi--, and the genitive form of consonantal stems veneruf -rafuvuf-is +exactly reproduced in old Latin, corresponding to the old Sanscrit +termination -as. In like manner the name of the Etruscan Zeus, +-Tina-or -Tinia-, is probably connected with the Sanscrit -dina-, +meaning day, as --Zan-- is connected with the synonymous -diwan-. +But, even granting this, the Etruscan people appears withal scarcely +less isolated "The Etruscans," Dionysius said long ago, "are like +no other nation in language and manners;" and we have nothing to +add to his statement. + + +Home of the Etruscans + + +It is equally difficult to determine from what quarter the Etruscans +migrated into Italy; nor is much lost through our inability to +answer the question, for this migration belonged at any rate to +the infancy of the people, and their historical development began +and ended in Italy. No question, however, has been handled with +greater zeal than this, in accordance with the principle which induces +antiquaries especially to inquire into what is neither capable of +being known nor worth the knowing--to inquire "who was Hecuba's +mother," as the emperor Tiberius professed to do. As the oldest +and most important Etruscan towns lay far inland--in fact we find +not a single Etruscan town of any note immediately on the coast +except Populonia, which we know for certain was not one of the old +twelve cities-- and the movement of the Etruscans in historical +times was from north to south, it seems probable that they migrated +into the peninsula by land. Indeed the low stage of civilization, +in which we find them at first, would ill accord with the hypothesis +of immigration by sea. Nations even in the earliest times crossed +a strait as they would a stream; but to land on the west coast of +Italy was a very different matter. We must therefore seek for the +earlier home of the Etruscans to the west or north of Italy. It is +not wholly improbable that the Etruscans may have come into Italy +over the Raetian Alps; for the oldest traceable settlers in the +Grisons and Tyrol, the Raeti, spoke Etruscan down to historical +times, and their name sounds similar to that of the Ras. These +may no doubt have been a remnant of the Etruscan settlements on +the Po; but it is at least quite as likely that they may have been +a portion of the people which remained behind in its earlier abode. + + +Story of Their Lydian Origin + + +In glaring contradiction to this simple and natural view stands +the story that the Etruscans were Lydians who had emigrated from +Asia. It is very ancient: it occurs even in Herodotus; and it +reappears in later writers with innumerable changes and additions, +although several intelligent inquirers, such as Dionysius, emphatically +declared their disbelief in it, and pointed to the fact that there +was not the slightest apparent similarity between the Lydians and +Etruscans in religion, laws, manners, or language. It is possible +that an isolated band of pirates from Asia Minor may have reached +Etruria, and that their adventure may have given rise to such tales; +but more probably the whole story rests on a mere verbal mistake. +The Italian Etruscans or the -Turs-ennae- (for this appears to +be the original form and the basis of the Greek --Turs-einnoi--, +--Turreinoi--, of the Umbrian -Turs-ci-, and of the two Roman forms +-Tusci-, -Etrusci-) nearly coincide in name with the Lydian people +of the --Torreiboi-- or perhaps also --Turr-einoi--, so named from +the town --Turra--, This manifestly accidental resemblance in name +seems to be in reality the only foundation for that hypothesis--not +rendered more trustworthy by its great antiquity--and for all the +pile of crude historical speculations that has been reared upon +it. By connecting the ancient maritime commerce of the Etruscans +with the piracy of the Lydians, and then by confounding (Thucydides +is the first who has demonstrably done so) the Torrhebian pirates, +whether rightly or wrongly, with the bucaneering Pelasgians who +roamed and plundered on every sea, there has been produced one of +the most mischievous complications of historical tradition. The +term Tyrrhenians denotes sometimes the Lydian Torrhebi--as is the +case in the earliest sources, such as the Homeric hymns; sometimes +under the form Tyrrheno-Pelasgians or simply that of Tyrrhenians, +the Pelasgian nation; sometimes, in fine, the Italian Etruscans, +although the latter never came into lasting contact with the +Pelasgians or Torrhebians, or were at all connected with them by +common descent. + + +Settlements of the Etruscans in Italy + + +It is, on the other hand, a matter of historical interest to +determine what were the oldest traceable abodes of the Etruscans, +and what were their further movements when they issued thence. +Various circumstances attest that before the great Celtic invasion +they dwelt in the district to the north of the Po, being conterminous +on the east along the Adige with the Veneti of Illyrian (Albanian?) +descent, on the west with the Ligurians. This is proved in particular +by the already-mentioned rugged Etruscan dialect, which was still +spoken in the time of Livy by the inhabitants of the Raetian Alps, +and by the fact that Mantua remained Tuscan down to a late period. +To the south of the Po and at the mouths of that river Etruscans +and Umbrians were mingled, the former as the dominant, the latter +as the older race, which had founded the old commercial towns of +Atria and Spina, while the Tuscans appear to have been the founders +of Felsina (Bologna) and Ravenna. A long time elapsed ere the +Celts crossed the Po; hence the Etruscans and Umbrians left deeper +traces of their existence on the right bank of the river than they +had done on the left, which they had to abandon at an early period. +All the regions, however, to the north of the Apennines passed too +rapidly out of the hands of one nation into those of another to +permit the formation of any continuous national development there. + + +Etruria + + +Far more important in an historical point of view was the great +settlement of the Tuscans in the land which still bears their name. +Although Ligurians or Umbrians were probably at one time(5) settled +there, the traces of them have been almost wholly effaced by the +Etruscan occupation and civilization. In this region, which extends +along the coast from Pisae to Tarquinii and is shut in on the east +by the Apennines, the Etruscan nationality found its permanent abode +and maintained itself with great tenacity down to the time of the +empire. The northern boundary of the proper Tuscan territory was +formed by the Arnus; the region north from the Arnus as far as the +mouth of the Macra and the Apennines was a debateable border land +in the possession sometimes of Ligurians, sometimes of Etruscans, +and for this reason larger settlements were not successful there. +The southern boundary was probably formed at first by the Ciminian +Forest, a chain of hills south of Viterbo, and at a later period by +the Tiber. We have already(6) noticed the fact that the territory +between the Ciminian range and the Tiber with the towns of Sutrium, +Nepete, Falerii, Veii, and Caere appears not to have been taken +possession of by the Etruscans till a period considerably later +than the more northern districts, possibly not earlier than in the +second century of Rome, and that the original Italian population must +have maintained its ground in this region, especially in Falerii, +although in a relation of dependence. + + +Relations of the Etruscans to Latium + + +From the time at which the river Tiber became the line of demarcation +between Etruria on the one side and Umbria and Latium on the other, +peaceful relations probably upon the whole prevailed in that quarter, +and no essential change seems to have taken place in the boundary +line, at least so far as concerned the Latin frontier. Vividly +as the Romans were impressed by the feeling that the Etruscan was +a foreigner, while the Latin was their countryman, they yet seem +to have stood in much less fear of attack or of danger from the +right bank of the river than, for example, from their kinsmen in +Gabii and Alba; and this was natural, for they were protected in +that direction not merely by the broad stream which formed a natural +boundary, but also by the circumstance, so momentous in its bearing +on the mercantile and political development of Rome, that none of +the more powerful Etruscan towns lay immediately on the river, as +did Rome on the Latin bank. The Veientes were the nearest to the +Tiber, and it was with them that Rome and Latium came most frequently +into serious conflict, especially for the possession of Fidenae, +which served the Veientes as a sort of -tete de pont- on the left +bank just as the Janiculum served the Romans on the right, and +which was sometimes in the hands of the Latins, sometimes in those +of the Etruscans. The relations of Rome with the somewhat more +distant Caere were on the whole far more peaceful and friendly than +those which we usually find subsisting between neighbours in early +times. There are doubtless vague legends, reaching back to times +of distant antiquity, about conflicts between Latium and Caere; +Mezentius the king of Caere, for instance, is asserted to have +obtained great victories over the Latins, and to have imposed upon +them a wine-tax; but evidence much more definite than that which +attests a former state of feud is supplied by tradition as to +an especially close connection between the two ancient centres of +commercial and maritime intercourse in Latium and Etruria. Sure +traces of any advance of the Etruscans beyond the Tiber, by land, +are altogether wanting. It is true that Etruscans are named +in the first ranks of the great barbarian host, which Aristodemus +annihilated in 230 under the walls of Cumae;(7) but, even if +we regard this account as deserving credit in all its details, it +only shows that the Etruscans had taken part in a great plundering +expedition. It is far more important to observe that south of the +Tiber no Etruscan settlement can be pointed out as having owed its +origin to founders who came by land; and that no indication whatever +is discernible of any serious pressure by the Etruscans upon the +Latin nation. The possession of the Janiculum and of both banks of +the mouth of the Tiber remained, so far as we can see, undisputed +in the hands of the Romans. As to the migrations of bodies of +Etruscans to Rome, we find an isolated statement drawn from Tuscan +annals, that a Tuscan band, led by Caelius Vivenna of Volsinii and +after his death by his faithful companion Mastarna, was conducted +by the latter to Rome. This may be trustworthy, although the +derivation of the name of the Caelian Mount from this Caelius is +evidently a philological invention, and even the addition that this +Mastarna became king in Rome under the name of Servius Tullius is +certainly nothing but an improbable conjecture of the archaeologists +who busied themselves with legendary parallels. The name of the +"Tuscan quarter" at the foot of the Palatine(8) points further to +Etruscan settlements in Rome. + + +The Tarquins + + +It can hardly, moreover, be doubted that the last regal family which +ruled over Rome, that of the Tarquins, was of Etruscan origin, +whether it belonged to Tarquinii, as the legend asserts, or +to Caere, where the family tomb of the Tarchnas has recently been +discovered. The female name Tanaquil or Tanchvil interwoven with +the legend, while it is not Latin, is common in Etruria. But +the traditional story--according to which Tarquin was the son of +a Greek who had migrated from Corinth to Tarquinii, and came to +settle in Rome as a --metoikos-- is neither history nor legend, +and the historical chain of events is manifestly in this instance +not confused merely, but completely torn asunder. If anything more +can be deduced from this tradition beyond the bare and at bottom +indifferent fact that at last a family of Tuscan descent swayed the +regal sceptre in Rome, it can only be held as implying that this +dominion of a man of Tuscan origin ought not to be viewed either +as a dominion of the Tuscans or of any one Tuscan community over +Rome, or conversely as the dominion of Rome over southern Etruria. +There is, in fact, no sufficient ground either for the one hypothesis +or for the other. The history of the Tarquins had its arena in +Latium, not in Etruria; and Etruria, so far as we can see, during +the whole regal period exercised no influence of any essential +moment on either the language or customs of Rome, and did not at +all interrupt the regular development of the Roman state or of the +Latin league. + +The cause of this comparatively passive attitude of Etruria towards +the neighbouring land of Latium is probably to be sought partly +in the struggles of the Etruscans with the Celts on the Po, which +presumably the Celts did not cross until after the expulsion of the +kings from Rome, and partly in the tendency of the Etruscan people +towards seafaring and the acquisition of supremacy on the sea and +seaboard--a tendency decidedly exhibited in their settlements in +Campania, and of which we shall speak more fully in the next chapter. + + +The Etruscan Constitution + + +The Tuscan constitution, like the Greek and Latin, was based on the +gradual transition of the community to an urban life. The early +direction of the national energies towards navigation, trade, and +manufactures appears to have called into existence urban commonwealths, +in the strict sense of the term, earlier in Etruria than elsewhere +in Italy. Caere is the first of all the Italian towns that is +mentioned in Greek records. On the other hand we find that the +Etruscans had on the whole less of the ability and the disposition +for war than the Romans and Sabellians: the un-Italian custom of +employing mercenaries for fighting occurs among the Etruscans at +a very early period. The oldest constitution of the communities +must in its general outlines have resembled that of Rome. Kings or +Lucumones ruled, possessing similar insignia and probably therefore +a similar plenitude of power with the Roman kings. A strict line +of demarcation separated the nobles from the common people. The +resemblance in the clan-organization is attested by the analogy +of the system of names; only, among the Etruscans, descent on the +mother's side received much more consideration than in Roman law. +The constitution of their league appears to have been very lax. It +did not embrace the whole nation; the northern and the Campanian +Etruscans were associated in confederacies of their own, just +in the same way as the communities of Etruria proper. Each of +these leagues consisted of twelve communities, which recognized a +metropolis, especially for purposes of worship, and a federal head +or rather a high priest, but appear to have been substantially equal +in respect of rights; while some of them at least were so powerful +that neither could a hegemony establish itself, nor could the +central authority attain consolidation. In Etruria proper Volsinii +was the metropolis; of the rest of its twelve towns we know by +trustworthy tradition only Perusia, Vetulonium, Volci, and Tarquinii. +It was, however, quite as unusual for the Etruscans really to act +in concert, as it was for the Latin confederacy to do otherwise. +Wars were ordinarily carried on by a single community, which +endeavoured to interest in its cause such of its neighbours as +it could; and when an exceptional case occurred in which war was +resolved on by the league, individual towns very frequently kept +aloof from it. The Etruscan confederations appear to have been +from the first--still more than the other Italian leagues formed +on a similar basis of national affinity--deficient in a firm and +paramount central authority. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter IX + + + +1. -Ras-ennac-, with the gentile termination mentioned below. + +2. To this period belong e. g. inscriptions on the clay vases of + + + + +umaramlisia(--"id:theta")ipurenaie(--"id:theta")eeraisieepanamine +(--"id:theta")unastavhelefu- or -mi ramu(--"id:theta")af kaiufinaia-. + +3. We may form some idea of the sound which the language now had +from the commencement of the great inscription of Perusia; -eulat +tanna laresul ameva(--"id:chi")r lautn vel(--"id:theta")inase +stlaafunas slele(--"id:theta")caru-. + +4. Such as Maecenas, Porsena, Vivenna, Caecina, Spurinna. The +vowel in the penult is originally long, but in consequence of the +throwing back of the accent upon the initial syllable is frequently +shortened and even rejected. Thus we find Porse(n)na as well as +Porsena, and Ceicne as well as Caecina. + +5. I. VIII. Umbro-Sabellian Migration + +6. I. VIII. Their Political Development + +7. I. VIII. Their Political Development + +8. I. IV. Oldest Settlements in the Palatine and Suburan Regions + + + + +CHAPTER X + +The Hellenes in Italy--Maritime Supremacy of the Tuscans and +Carthaginians + + + +Relations of Italy with Other Lands + + +In the history of the nations of antiquity a gradual dawn ushered +in the day; and in their case too the dawn was in the east. While +the Italian peninsula still lay enveloped in the dim twilight of +morning, the regions of the eastern basin of the Mediterranean had +already emerged into the full light of a varied and richly developed +civilization. It falls to the lot of most nations in the early +stages of their development to be taught and trained by some rival +sister-nation; and such was destined to be in an eminent degree the +lot of the peoples of Italy. The circumstances of its geographical +position, however, prevented this influence from being brought to +bear upon the peninsula by land. No trace is to be found of any +resort in early times to the difficult route by land between Italy +and Greece. There were in all probability from time immemorial +tracks for purposes of traffic, leading from Italy to the lands +beyond the Alps; the oldest route of the amber trade from the Baltic +joined the Mediterranean at the mouth of the Po--on which account +the delta of the Po appears in Greek legend as the home of amber--and +this route was joined by another leading across the peninsula +over the Apennines to Pisae; but from these regions no elements +of civilization could come to the Italians. It was the seafaring +nations of the east that brought to Italy whatever foreign culture +reached it in early times. + + +Phoenicians in Italy + + +The oldest civilized nation on the shores of the Mediterranean, the +Egyptians, were not a seafaring people, and therefore exercised no +influence on Italy. But the same may be with almost equal truth +affirmed of the Phoenicians. It is true that, issuing from their +narrow home on the extreme eastern verge of the Mediterranean, +they were the first of all known races to venture forth in floating +houses on the bosom of the deep, at first for the purpose of +fishing and dredging, but soon also for the prosecution of trade. +They were the first to open up maritime commerce; and at an incredibly +early period they traversed the Mediterranean even to its furthest +extremity in the west. Maritime stations of the Phoenicians appear +on almost all its coasts earlier than those of the Hellenes: in +Hellas itself, in Crete and Cyprus, in Egypt, Libya, and Spain, and +likewise on the western Italian main. Thucydides tells us that all +around Sicily, before the Greeks came thither or at least before +they had established themselves there in any considerable numbers, +the Phoenicians had set up their factories on the headlands +and islets, not with a view to gain territory, but for the sake +of trading with the natives. But it was otherwise in the case of +continental Italy. No sure proof has hitherto been given of the +existence of any Phoenician settlement there excepting one, a Punic +factory at Caere, the memory of which has been preserved partly by +the appellation -Punicum- given to a little village on the Caerite +coast, partly by the other name of the town of Caere itself, +-Agylla-, which is not, as idle fiction asserts, of Pelasgic origin, +but is a Phoenician word signifying the "round town"--precisely +the appearance which Caere presents when seen from the sea. That +this station and any similar establishments which may have elsewhere +existed on the coasts of Italy were neither of much importance nor +of long standing, is evident from their having disappeared almost +without leaving a trace. We have not the smallest reason to think +them older than the Hellenic settlements of a similar kind on the +same coasts. An evidence of no slight weight that Latium at least +first became acquainted with the men of Canaan through the medium +of the Hellenes is furnished by the Latin appellation "Poeni," which +is borrowed from the Greek. All the oldest relations, indeed, of +the Italians to the civilization of the east point decidedly towards +Greece; and the rise of the Phoenician factory at Caere may be very +well explained, without resorting to the pre-Hellenic period, by +the subsequent well-known relations between the commercial state +of Caere and Carthage. In fact, when we recall the circumstance +that the earliest navigation was and continued to be essentially +of a coasting character, it is plain that scarcely any country on +the Mediterranean lay so remote from the Phoenicians as the Italian +mainland. They could only reach it either from the west coast +of Greece or from Sicily; and it may well be believed that the +seamanship of the Hellenes became developed early enough to anticipate +the Phoenicians in braving the dangers of the Adriatic and of the +Tyrrhene seas. There is no ground therefore for the assumption that +any direct influence was originally exercised by the Phoenicians over +the Italians. To the subsequent relations between the Phoenicians +holding the supremacy of the western Mediterranean and the Italians +inhabiting the shores of the Tyrrhene sea our narrative will return +in the sequel. + + +Greeks in Italy--Home of the Greek Immigrants + + +To all appearance, therefore, the Hellenic mariners were the first +among the inhabitants of the eastern basin of the Mediterranean to +navigate the coasts of Italy. Of the important questions however +as to the region from which, and as to the period at which, the Greek +seafarers came thither, only the former admits of being answered +with some degree of precision and fulness. The Aeolian and Ionian +coast of Asia Minor was the region where Hellenic maritime traffic +first became developed on a large scale, and whence issued the +Greeks who explored the interior of the Black Sea on the one hand +and the coasts of Italy on the other. The name of the Ionian Sea, +which was retained by the waters intervening between Epirus and +Sicily, and that of the Ionian gulf, the term by which the Greeks +in earlier times designated the Adriatic Sea, are memorials of +the fact that the southern and eastern coasts of Italy were once +discovered by seafarers from Ionia. The oldest Greek settlement in +Italy, Kyme, was, as its name and legend tell, founded by the town +of the same name on the Anatolian coast. According to trustworthy +Hellenic tradition, the Phocaeans of Asia Minor were the first of +the Hellenes to traverse the more remote western sea. Other Greeks +soon followed in the paths which those of Asia Minor had opened up; +lonians from Naxos and from Chalcis in Euboea, Achaeans, Locrians, +Rhodians, Corinthians, Megarians, Messenians, Spartans. After the +discovery of America the civilized nations of Europe vied with one +another in sending out expeditions and forming settlements there; +and the new settlers when located amidst barbarians recognized their +common character and common interests as civilized Europeans more +strongly than they had done in their former home. So it was with +the new discovery of the Greeks. The privilege of navigating the +western waters and settling on the western land was not the exclusive +property of a single Greek province or of a single Greek stock, +but a common good for the whole Hellenic nation; and, just as in +the formation of the new North American world, English and French, +Dutch and German settlements became mingled and blended, Greek Sicily +and "Great Greece" became peopled by a mixture of all sorts of +Hellenic races often so amalgamated as to be no longer distinguishable. +Leaving out of account some settlements occupying a more isolated +position--such as that of the Locrians with its offsets Hipponium +and Medama, and the settlement of the Phocaeans which was not founded +till towards the close of this period, Hyele (Velia, Elea)--we may +distinguish in a general view three leading groups. The original +Ionian group, comprehended under the name of the Chalcidian towns, +included in Italy Cumae with the other Greek settlements at Vesuvius +and Rhegium, and in Sicily Zankle (afterwards Messana), Naxos, +Catana, Leontini, and Himera. The Achaean group embraced Sybaris +and the greater part of the cities of Magna Graecia. The Dorian +group comprehended Syracuse, Gela, Agrigentum, and the majority +of the Sicilian colonies, while in Italy nothing belonged to it +but Taras (Tarentum) and its offset Heraclea. On the whole the +preponderance lay with the immigrants who belonged to the more +ancient Hellenic influx, that of the lonians and the stocks settled +in the Peloponnesus before the Doric immigration. Among the Dorians +only the communities with a mixed population, such as Corinth and +Megara, took a special part, whereas the purely Doric provinces had +but a subordinate share in the movement. This result was naturally +to be expected, for the lonians were from ancient times a trading +and sea-faring people, while it was only at a comparatively late +period that the Dorian stocks descended from their inland mountains +to the seaboard, and they always kept aloof from maritime commerce. +The different groups of immigrants are very clearly distinguishable, +especially by their monetary standards. The Phocaean settlers coined +according to the Babylonian standard which prevailed in Asia. The +Chalcidian towns followed in the earliest times the Aeginetan, in +other words, that which originally prevailed throughout all European +Greece, and more especially the modification of it which is found +occurring in Euboea. The Achaean communities coined by the Corinthian +standard; and lastly the Doric colonies followed that which Solon +introduced in Attica in the year of Rome 160, with the exception +of Tarentum and Heraclea, which in their principal pieces adopted +rather the standard of their Achaean neighbours than that of the +Dorians in Sicily. + + +Time of the Greek Immigration + + +The dates of the earlier voyages and settlements will probably always +remain enveloped in darkness. We may still, however, distinctly +recognize a certain order of sequence. In the oldest Greek document, +which belongs, like the earliest intercourse with the west, to +the lonians of Asia Minor--the Homeric poems--the horizon scarcely +extends beyond the eastern basin of the Mediterranean. Sailors +driven by storms into the western sea might have brought to Asia +Minor accounts of the existence of a western land and possibly +also of its whirlpools and island-mountains vomiting fire: but in +the age of the Homeric poetry there was an utter want of trustworthy +information respecting Sicily and Italy, even in that Greek land +which was the earliest to enter into intercourse with the west; +and the story-tellers and poets of the east could without fear of +contradiction fill the vacant realms of the west, as those of the +west in their turn filled the fabulous east, with their castles in +the air. In the poems of Hesiod the outlines of Italy and Sicily +appear better defined; there is some acquaintance with the native +names of tribes, mountains, and cities in both countries; but Italy +is still regarded as a group of islands. On the other hand, in +all the literature subsequent to Hesiod, Sicily and even the whole +coast of Italy appear as known, at least in a general sense, to the +Hellenes. The order of succession of the Greek settlements may in +like manner be ascertained with some degree of precision. Thucydides +evidently regarded Cumae as the earliest settlement of note in the +west; and certainly he was not mistaken. It is true that many a +landing-place lay nearer at hand for the Greek mariner, but none +were so well protected from storms and from barbarians as the island +of Ischia, upon which the town was originally situated; and that +such were the prevailing considerations that led to this settlement, +is evident from the very position which was subsequently selected +for it on the mainland--the steep but well-protected cliff, which +still bears to the present day the venerable name of the Anatolian +mother-city. Nowhere in Italy, accordingly, were the scenes of +the legends of Asia Minor so vividly and tenaciously localized as +in the district of Cumae, where the earliest voyagers to the west, +full of those legends of western wonders, first stepped upon the +fabled land and left the traces of that world of story, which they +believed that they were treading, in the rocks of the Sirens and +the lake of Avernus leading to the lower world. On the supposition, +moreover, that it was in Cumae that the Greeks first became the +neighbours of the Italians, it is easy to explain why the name +of that Italian stock which was settled immediately around Cumae, +the name of Opicans, came to be employed by them for centuries +afterwards to designate the Italians collectively. There is a +further credible tradition, that a considerable interval elapsed +between the settlement at Cumae and the main Hellenic immigration +into Lower Italy and Sicily, and that in this immigration Ionians +from Chalcis and from Naxos took the lead. Naxos in Sicily is said +to have been the oldest of all the Greek towns founded by strict +colonization in Italy or Sicily; the Achaean and Dorian colonizations +followed, but not until a later period. + +It appears, however, to be quite impossible to fix the dates of +this series of events with even approximate accuracy. The founding +of the Achaean city of Sybaris in 33, and that of the Dorian city +Tarentum in 46, are probably the most ancient dates in Italian +history, the correctness, or at least approximation to correctness, +of which may be looked upon as established. But how far beyond +that epoch the sending forth of the earlier Ionian colonies reached +back, is quite as uncertain as is the age which gave birth to the +poems of Hesiod or even of Homer. If Herodotus is correct in the +period which he assigns to Homer, the Greeks were still unacquainted +with Italy a century before the foundation of Rome. The date thus +assigned however, like all other statements respecting the Homeric +age, is matter not of testimony, but of inference; and any one who +carefully weighs the history of the Italian alphabets as well as +the remarkable fact that the Italians had become acquainted with +the Greek people before the name "Hellenes" had emerged for the +race, and the Italians borrowed their designation for the Hellenes +from the stock of the -Grai- or -Graeci- that early fell into +abeyance in Hellas,(1) will be inclined to carry back the earliest +intercourse of the Italians with the Greeks to an age considerably +mere remote. + + +Character of the Greek Immigration + + +The history of the Italian and Sicilian Greeks forms no part of +the history of Italy; the Hellenic colonists of the west always +retained the closest connection with their original home and +participated in the national festivals and privileges of Hellenes. +But it is of importance even as bearing on Italy, that we should +indicate the diversities of character that prevailed in the Greek +settlements there, and at least exhibit some of the leading features +which enabled the Greek colonization to exercise so varied an +influence on Italy. + + +The League of the Achaen Cities + + +Of all the Greek settlements, that which retained most thoroughly +its distinctive character and was least affected by influences from +without was the settlement which gave birth to the league of the +Achaean cities, composed of the towns of Siris, Pandosia, Metabus +or Metapontum, Sybaris with its offsets Posidonia and Laus, Croton, +Caulonia, Temesa, Terina, and Pyxus. These colonists, taken as a +whole, belonged to a Greek stock which steadfastly adhered to its +own peculiar dialect, having closest affinity with the Doric, and +for long retained no less steadfastly the old national Hellenic +mode of writing, instead of adopting the more recent alphabet which +had elsewhere come into general use; and which preserved its own +nationality, as distinguished alike from the barbarians and from other +Greeks, by the firm bond of a federal constitution. The language +of Polybius regarding the Achaean symmachy in the Peloponnesus may +be applied also to these Italian Achaeans; "Not only did they live +in federal and friendly communion, but they made use of like laws, +like weights, measures, and coins, as well as of the same magistrates, +councillors, and judges." + +This league of the Achaean cities was strictly a colonization. The +cities had no harbours--Croton alone had a paltry roadstead--and +they had no commerce of their own; the Sybarite prided himself on +growing gray between the bridges of his lagoon-city, and Milesians +and Etruscans bought and sold for him. These Achaean Greeks, +however, were not merely in possession of a narrow belt along the +coast, but ruled from sea to sea in the "land of wine" and "of +oxen" (--Oinotria--, --Italia--) or the "great Hellas;" the native +agricultural population was compelled to farm their lands and to +pay to them tribute in the character of clients or even of serfs. +Sybaris--in its time the largest city in Italy--exercised dominion +over four barbarian tribes and five-and-twenty townships, and was +able to found Laus and Posidonia on the other sea. The exceedingly +fertile low grounds of the Crathis and Bradanus yielded a superabundant +produce to the Sybarites and Metapontines--it was there perhaps +that grain was first cultivated for exportation. The height of +prosperity which these states in an incredibly short time attained +is strikingly attested by the only surviving works of art of +these Italian Achaeans, their coins of chaste antiquely beautiful +workmanship--the earliest monuments of art and writing in Italy +which we possess, as it can be shown that they had already begun to +be coined in 174. These coins show that the Achaeans of the west +did not simply participate in the noble development of plastic art +that was at this very time taking place in the motherland, but were +even superior in technical skill. For, while the silver pieces +which were in use about that time in Greece proper and among the +Dorians in Italy were thick, often stamped only on one side, and +in general without inscription, the Italian Achaeans with great +and independent skill struck from two similar dies partly cut in +relief, partly sunk, large thin silver coins always furnished with +inscriptions, and displaying the advanced organization of a civilized +state in the mode of impression, by which they were carefully +protected from the process of counterfeiting usual in that age--the +plating of inferior metal with thin silver-foil. + +Nevertheless this rapid bloom bore no fruit. Even Greeks speedily +lost all elasticity of body and of mind in a life of indolence, in +which their energies were never tried either by vigorous resistance +on the part of the natives or by hard labour of their own. None +of the brilliant names in Greek art or literature shed glory on the +Italian Achaeans, while Sicily could claim ever so many of them, +and even in Italy the Chalcidian Rhegium could produce its Ibycus +and the Doric Tarentum its Archytas. With this people, among whom +the spit was for ever turning on the hearth, nothing flourished from +the outset but boxing. The rigid aristocracy which early gained +the helm in the several communities, and which found in case of need +a sure reserve of support in the federal power, prevented the rise +of tyrants; but the danger to be apprehended was that the government +of the best might be converted into a government of the few, +especially if the privileged families in the different communities +should combine to assist each other in carrying out their designs. +Such was the predominant aim in the combination of mutually +pledged "friends" which bore the name of Pythagoras. It enjoined +the principle that the ruling class should be "honoured like gods," +and that the subject class should be "held in subservience like +beasts," and by such theory and practice provoked a formidable +reaction, which terminated in the annihilation of the Pythagorean +"friends" and the renewal of the ancient federal constitution. But +frantic party feuds, insurrections en masse of the slaves, social +abuses of all sorts, attempts to supply in practice an impracticable +state-philosophy, in short, all the evils of demoralized civilization +never ceased to rage in the Achaean communities, till under the +accumulated pressure their political power utterly broke down. + +It is no matter of wonder therefore that the Achaeans settled in +Italy exercised less influence on its civilization than the other +Greek settlements. An agricultural people, they had less occasion +than those engaged in commerce to extend their influence beyond +their political bounds. Within their own dominions they enslaved +the native population and crushed the germs of their national +development as Italians, while they refused to open up to them +by means of complete Hellenization a new career. In this way the +Greek characteristics, which were able elsewhere to retain a vigorous +vitality notwithstanding all political misfortunes, disappeared +more rapidly, more completely, and more ingloriously in Sybaris +and Metapontum, in Croton and Posidonia, than in any other region; +and the bilingual mongrel peoples, that arose in subsequent times +out of the remains of the native Italians and Achaeans and the more +recent immigrants of Sabellian descent, never attained any real +prosperity. This catastrophe, however, belongs in point of time +to the succeeding period. + + +Iono-Dorian Towns + + +The settlements of the other Greeks were of a different character, +and exercised a very different effect upon Italy. They by no means +despised agriculture and the acquisition of territory; it was not +the wont of the Hellenes, at least when they had reached their full +vigour, to rest content after the manner of the Phoenicians with a +fortified factory in the midst of a barbarian land. But all their +cities were founded primarily and especially for the sake of trade, +and accordingly, altogether differing from those of the Achaeans, +they were uniformly established beside the best harbours and +lading-places. These cities were very various in their origin and +in the occasion and period of their respective foundations; but +there subsisted between them a certain fellowship, as in the common +use by all of these towns of certain modern forms of the alphabet,(2) +and in the very Dorism of their language, which made its way at an +early date even into those towns that, like Cumae for example,(3) +originally spoke the soft Ionic dialect. These settlements were +of very various degrees of importance in their bearing on the +development of Italy: it is sufficient at present to mention those +which exercised a decided influence over the destinies of the +Italian races, the Doric Tarentum and the Ionic Cumae. + + +Tarentum + + +Of all the Hellenic settlements in Italy, Tarentum was destined +to play the most brilliant part. The excellent harbour, the only +good one on the whole southern coast, rendered the city the natural +emporium for the traffic of the south of Italy, and for some portion +even of the commerce of the Adriatic. The rich fisheries of its +gulf, the production and manufacture of its excellent wool, and +the dyeing of it with the purple juice of the Tarentine -murex-, +which rivalled that of Tyre--both branches of industry introduced +there from Miletus in Asia Minor--employed thousands of hands, and +added to the carrying trade a traffic of export. The coins struck +at Tarentum in greater quantity than anywhere else in Grecian +Italy, and struck pretty numerously even in gold, furnish to us a +significant attestation of the lively and widely extended commerce +of the Tarentines. At this epoch, when Tarentum was still contending +with Sybaris for the first place among the Greek cities of Lower +Italy, its extensive commercial connections must have been already +forming; but the Tarentines seem never to have steadily and +successfully directed their efforts to a substantial extension of +their territory after the manner of the Achaean cities. + + +Greek Cities Near Vesuvius + + +While the most easterly of the Greek settlements in Italy thus rapidly +rose into splendour, those which lay furthest to the north, in the +neighbourhood of Vesuvius, attained a more moderate prosperity. +There the Cumaeans had crossed from the fertile island of Aenaria +(Ischia) to the mainland, and had built a second home on a hill +close by the sea, from whence they founded the seaport of Dicaearchia +(afterwards Puteoli) and, moreover, the "new city" Neapolis. They +lived, like the Chalcidian cities generally in Italy and Sicily, +in conformity with the laws which Charondas of Catana (about 100) +had established, under a constitution democratic but modified by +a high census, which placed the power in the hands of a council +of members selected from the wealthiest men--a constitution which +proved lasting and kept these cities free, upon the whole, from +the tyranny alike of usurpers and of the mob. We know little as to +the external relations of these Campanian Greeks. They remained, +whether from necessity or from choice, confined to a district of +even narrower limits than the Tarentines; and issuing from it not +for purposes of conquest and oppression, but for the holding of +peaceful commercial intercourse with the natives, they created the +means of a prosperous existence for themselves, and at the same time +took the foremost place among the missionaries of Greek civilization +in Italy. + + +Relations of the Adriatic Regions to the Greeks + + +While on the one side of the straits of Rhegium the whole southern +coast of the mainland and its western coast as far as Vesuvius, +and on the other the larger eastern half of the island of Sicily, +were Greek territory, the west coast of Italy northward of Vesuvius +and the whole of the east coast were in a position essentially +different. No Greek settlements arose on the Italian seaboard of +the Adriatic; and with this we may evidently connect the comparatively +small number and subordinate importance of the Greek colonies +planted on the opposite Illyrian shore and on the numerous adjacent +islands. Two considerable mercantile towns, Epidamnus or Dyrrachium +(now Durazzo, 127), and Apollonia (near Avlona, about 167), were +founded upon the portion of this coast nearest to Greece during +the regal period of Rome; but no old Greek colony can be pointed +out further to the north, with the exception perhaps of the +insignificant settlement at Black Corcyra (Curzola, about 174?). No +adequate explanation has yet been given why the Greek colonization +developed itself in this direction to so meagre an extent. Nature +herself appeared to direct the Hellenes thither, and in fact from +the earliest times there existed a regular traffic to that region +from Corinth and still more from the settlement at Corcyra (Corfu) +founded not long after Rome (about 44); a traffic, which had as its +emporia on the Italian coast the towns of Spina and Atria, situated +at the mouth of the Po. The storms of the Adriatic, the inhospitable +character at least of the Illyrian coasts, and the barbarism of +the natives are manifestly not in themselves sufficient to explain +this fact. But it was a circumstance fraught with the most momentous +consequences for Italy, that the elements of civilization which +came from the east did not exert their influence on its eastern +provinces directly, but reached them only through the medium of those +that lay to the west. The Adriatic commerce carried on by Corinth +and Corcyra was shared by the most easterly mercantile city of +Magna Graecia, the Doric Tarentum, which by the possession of Hydrus +(Otranto) had the command, on the Italian side, of the entrance of +the Adriatic. Since, with the exception of the ports at the mouth +of the Po, there were in those times no emporia worthy of mention +along the whole east coast--the rise of Ancona belongs to a far +later period, and later still the rise of Brundisium--it may well +be conceived that the mariners of Epidamnus and Apollonia frequently +discharged their cargoes at Tarentum. The Tarentines had also much +intercourse with Apulia by land; all the Greek civilization to be +met with in the south-east of Italy owed its existence to them. +That civilization, however, was during the present period only in +its infancy; it was not until a later epoch that the Hellenism of +Apulia was developed. + + +Relations of the Western Italians to the Greeks + + +It cannot be doubted, on the other hand, that the west coast +of Italy northward of Vesuvius was frequented in very early times +by the Hellenes, and that there were Hellenic factories on its +promontories and islands. Probably the earliest evidence of such +voyages is the localizing of the legend of Odysseus on the coasts +of the Tyrrhene Sea.(4) When men discovered the isles of Aeolus +in the Lipari islands, when they pointed out at the Lacinian cape +the isle of Calypso, at the cape of Misenum that of the Sirens, +at the cape of Circeii that of Circe, when they recognized in the +steep promontory of Terracina the towering burial-mound of Elpenor, +when the Laestrygones were provided with haunts near Caieta and +Formiae, when the two sons of Ulysses and Circe, Agrius, that is +the "wild," and Latinus, were made to rule over the Tyrrhenians in +the "inmost recess of the holy islands," or, according to a more +recent version, Latinus was called the son of Ulysses and Circe, +and Auson the son of Ulysses and Calypso--we recognize in these +legends ancient sailors' tales of the seafarers of Ionia, who +thought of their native home as they traversed the Tyrrhene Sea. +The same noble vividness of feeling, which pervades the Ionic poem +of the voyages of Odysseus, is discernible in this fresh localization +of the same legend at Cumae itself and throughout the regions +frequented by the Cumaean mariners. + +Other traces of these very ancient voyages are to be found in the +Greek name of the island Aethalia (Ilva, Elba), which appears to +have been (after Aenaria) one of the places earliest occupied by +Greeks, perhaps also in that of the seaport Telamon in Etruria; +and further in the two townships on the Caerite coast, Pyrgi (near +S. Severa) and Alsium (near Palo), the Greek origin of which is +indicated beyond possibility of mistake not only by their names, +but also by the peculiar architecture of the walls of Pyrgi, which +differs essentially in character from that of the walls of Caere +and the Etruscan cities generally. Aethalia, the "fire-island," +with its rich mines of copper and especially of iron, probably +sustained the chief part in this commerce, and there in all likelihood +the foreigners had their central settlement and seat of traffic +with the natives; the more especially as they could not have found +the means of smelting the ores on the small and not well-wooded +island without intercourse with the mainland. The silver mines +of Populonia also on the headland opposite to Elba were perhaps +already known to the Greeks and wrought by them. + +If, as was undoubtedly the case, the foreigners, ever in those times +intent on piracy and plunder as well as trade, did not fail, when +opportunity offered, to levy contributions on the natives and to +carry them off as slaves, the natives on their part exercised the +right of retaliation; and that the Latins and Tyrrhenes retaliated +with greater energy and better fortune than their neighbours in +the south of Italy, is attested not merely by the legends to that +effect, but by the actual results. In these regions the Italians +succeeded in resisting the foreigners and in retaining, or at any +rate soon resuming, the mastery not merely of their own mercantile +cities and mercantile ports, but also of their own sea. The same +Hellenic invasion which crushed and denationalized the races of +the south of Italy, directed the energies of the peoples of Central +Italy--very much indeed against the will of their instructors--towards +navigation and the founding of towns. It must have been in this +quarter that the Italians first exchanged the raft and the boat for +the oared galley of the Phoenicians and Greeks. Here too we first +encounter great mercantile cities, particularly Caere in southern +Etruria and Rome on the Tiber, which, if we may judge from their +Italian names as well as from their being situated at some distance +from the sea, were--like the exactly similar commercial towns at +the mouth of the Po, Spina and Atria, and Ariminum further to the +south--certainly not Greek, but Italian foundations. It is not +in our power, as may easily be supposed, to exhibit the historical +course of this earliest reaction of Italian nationality against +foreign aggression; but we can still recognize the fact, which was +of the greatest importance as bearing upon the further development +of Italy, that this reaction took a different course in Latium and +in southern Etruria from that which it exhibited in the properly +Tuscan and adjoining provinces. + + +Hellenes and Latins + + +Legend itself contrasts in a significant manner the Latin with +the "wild Tyrrhenian," and the peaceful beach at the mouth of the +Tiber with the inhospitable shore of the Volsci. This cannot mean +that Greek colonization was tolerated in some of the provinces of +Central Italy, but not permitted in others. Northward of Vesuvius +there existed no independent Greek community at all in historical +times; if Pyrgi once was such, it must have already reverted, +before the period at which our tradition begins, into the hands of +the Italians or in other words of the Caerites. But in southern +Etruria, in Latium, and likewise on the east coast, peaceful intercourse +with the foreign merchants was protected and encouraged; and such +was not the case elsewhere. The position of Caere was especially +remarkable. "The Caerites," says Strabo, "were held in much repute +among the Hellenes for their bravery and integrity, and because, +powerful though they were, they abstained from robbery." It is +not piracy that is thus referred to, for in this the merchant of +Caere must have indulged like every other. But Caere was a sort +of free port for Phoenicians as well as Greeks. We have already +mentioned the Phoenician station--subsequently called Punicum--and +the two Hellenic stations of Pyrgi and Alsium.(5) It was these +ports that the Caerites refrained from robbing, and it was beyond +doubt through this tolerant attitude that Caere, which possessed +but a wretched roadstead and had no mines in its neighbourhood, +early attained so great prosperity and acquired, in reference to +the earliest Greek commerce, an importance even greater than the +cities of the Italians destined by nature as emporia at the mouths +of the Tiber and Po. The cities we have just named are those which +appear as holding primitive religious intercourse with Greece. The +first of all barbarians to present gifts to the Olympian Zeus was +the Tuscan king Arimnus, perhaps a ruler of Ariminum. Spina and +Caere had their special treasuries in the temple of the Delphic +Apollo, like other communities that had regular dealings with the +shrine; and the sanctuary at Delphi, as well as the Cumaean oracle, +is interwoven with the earliest traditions of Caere and of Rome. +These cities, where the Italians held peaceful sway and carried +on friendly traffic with the foreign merchant, became preeminently +wealthy and powerful, and were genuine marts not only for Hellenic +merchandise, but also for the germs of Hellenic civilization. + + +Hellenes and Etruscans--Etruscan Maritime Power + + +Matters stood on a different footing with the "wild Tyrrhenians." +The same causes, which in the province of Latium, and in the districts +on the right bank of the Tiber and along the lower course of the +Po that were perhaps rather subject to Etruscan supremacy than +strictly Etruscan, had led to the emancipation of the natives +from the maritime power of the foreigner, led in Etruria proper to +the development of piracy and maritime ascendency, in consequence +possibly of the difference of national character disposing the people +to violence and pillage, or it may be for other reasons with which +we are not acquainted. The Etruscans were not content with dislodging +the Greeks from Aethalia and Populonia; even the individual trader +was apparently not tolerated by them, and soon Etruscan privateers +roamed over the sea far and wide, and rendered the name of the +Tyrrhenians a terror to the Greeks. It was not without reason that +the Greeks reckoned the grapnel as an Etruscan invention, and called +the western sea of Italy the sea of the Tuscans. The rapidity +with which these wild corsairs multiplied and the violence of their +proceedings in the Tyrrhene Sea in particular, are very clearly +shown by their establishment on the Latin and Campanian coasts. +The Latins indeed maintained their ground in Latium proper, and +the Greeks at Vesuvius; but between them and by their side the +Etruscans held sway in Antium and in Surrentum. The Volscians became +clients of the Etruscans; their forests contributed the keels for +the Etruscan galleys; and seeing that the piracy of the Antiates was +only terminated by the Roman occupation, it is easy to understand +why the coast of the southern Volscians bore among Greek mariners +the name of the Laestrygones. The high promontory of Sorrento with +the cliff of Capri which is still more precipitous but destitute +of any harbour--a station thoroughly adapted for corsairs on the +watch, commanding a prospect of the Tyrrhene Sea between the bays +of Naples and Salerno--was early occupied by the Etruscans. They are +affirmed even to have founded a "league of twelve towns" of their +own in Campania, and communities speaking Etruscan still existed in +its inland districts in times quite historical. These settlements +were probably indirect results of the maritime dominion of +the Etruscans in the Campanian sea, and of their rivalry with the +Cumaeans at Vesuvius. + + +Etruscan Commerce + + +The Etruscans however by no means confined themselves to robbery +and pillage. The peaceful intercourse which they held with Greek +towns is attested by the gold and silver coins which, at least from +the year 200, were struck by the Etruscan cities, and in particular +by Populonia, after a Greek model and a Greek standard. The +circumstance, moreover, that these coins are modelled not upon +those of Magna Graecia, but rather upon those of Attica and even +Asia Minor, is perhaps an indication of the hostile attitude in +which the Etruscans stood towards the Italian Greeks. For commerce +they in fact enjoyed the most favourable position, far more +advantageous than that of the inhabitants of Latium. Inhabiting +the country from sea to sea, they commanded the great Italian free +ports on the western waters, the mouths of the Po and the Venice +of that time on the eastern sea, and the land route which from +ancient times led from Pisa on the Tyrrhene Sea to Spina on the +Adriatic, while in the south of Italy they commanded the rich plains +of Capua and Nola. They were the holders of the most important +Italian articles of export, the iron of Aethalia, the copper +of Volaterrae and Campania, the silver of Populonia, and even the +amber which was brought to them from the Baltic.(6) Under the +protection of their piracy, which constituted as it were a rude +navigation act, their own commerce could not fail to flourish. +It need not surprise us to find Etruscan and Milesian merchants +competing in the market of Sybaris, nor need we be astonished to +learn that the combination of privateering and commerce on a great +scale generated the unbounded and senseless luxury, in which the +vigour of Etruria early wasted away. + + +Rivalry between the Phoenicians and Hellenes + + +While in Italy the Etruscans and, although in a lesser degree, the +Latins thus stood opposed to the Hellenes, warding them off and +partly treating them as enemies, this antagonism to some extent +necessarily affected the rivalry which then above all dominated the +commerce and navigation of the Mediterranean--the rivalry between +the Phoenicians and Hellenes. This is not the place to set forth +in detail how, during the regal period of Rome, these two great nations +contended for supremacy on all the shores of the Mediterranean, in +Greece even and Asia Minor, in Crete and Cyprus, on the African, +Spanish, and Celtic coasts. This struggle did not take place directly +on Italian soil, but its effects were deeply and permanently felt +in Italy. The fresh energies and more universal endowments of +the younger competitor had at first the advantage everywhere. Not +only did the Hellenes rid themselves of the Phoenician factories +in their own European and Asiatic homes, but they dislodged the +Phoenicians also from Crete and Cyprus, gained a footing in Egypt +and Cyrene, and possessed themselves of Lower Italy and the larger +eastern half of the island of Sicily. On all hands the small trading +stations of the Phoenicians gave way before the more energetic +colonization of the Greeks. Selinus (126) and Agrigentum (174) +were founded in western Sicily; the more remote western sea was +traversed, Massilia was built on the Celtic coast (about 150), and +the shores of Spain were explored, by the bold Phocaeans from Asia +Minor. But about the middle of the second century the progress of +Hellenic colonization was suddenly arrested; and there is no doubt +that the cause of this arrest was the contemporary rapid rise of +Carthage, the most powerful of the Phoenician cities in Libya--a +rise manifestly due to the danger with which Hellenic aggression +threatened the whole Phoenician race. If the nation which had +opened up maritime commerce on the Mediterranean had been already +dislodged by its younger rival from the sole command of the western +half, from the possession of both lines of communication between +the eastern and western basins of the Mediterranean, and from the +monopoly of the carrying trade between east and west, the sovereignty +at least of the seas to the west of Sardinia and Sicily might +still be saved for the Orientals; and to its maintenance Carthage +applied all the tenacious and circumspect energy peculiar to the +Aramaean race. Phoenician colonization and Phoenician resistance +assumed an entirely different character. The earlier Phoenician +settlements, such as those in Sicily described by Thucydides, were +mercantile factories: Carthage subdued extensive territories with +numerous subjects and powerful fortresses. Hitherto the Phoenician +settlements had stood isolated in opposition to the Greeks; now +the powerful Libyan city centralized within its sphere the whole +warlike resources of those akin to it in race with a vigour to +which the history of the Greeks can produce nothing parallel. + + +Phoenicians and Italians in Opposition to the Hellenes + + +Perhaps the element in this reaction which exercised the most +momentous influence in the sequel was the close relation into which +the weaker Phoenicians entered with the natives of Sicily and Italy +in order to resist the Hellenes. When the Cnidians and Rhodians +made an attempt about 175 to establish themselves at Lilybaeum, the +centre of the Phoenician settlements in Sicily, they were expelled +by the natives--the Elymi of Segeste--in concert with the Phoenicians. +When the Phocaeans settled about 217 at Alalia (Aleria) in Corsica +opposite to Caere, there appeared for the purpose of expelling +them a combined fleet of Etruscans and Carthaginians, numbering +a hundred and twenty sail; and although in the naval battle that +ensued--one of the earliest known in history-the fleet of the +Phocaeans, which was only half as strong, claimed the victory, the +Carthaginians and Etruscans gained the object which they had in +view in the attack; the Phocaeans abandoned Corsica, and preferred +to settle at Hyde (Velia) on the less exposed coast of Lucania. A +treaty between Etruria and Carthage not only established regulations +regarding the import of goods and the giving due effect to rights, +but included also an alliance-in-arms (--summachia--), the serious +import of which is shown by that very battle of Alalia. It is a +significant indication of the position of the Caerites, that they +stoned the Phocaean captives in the market at Caere and then sent +an embassy to the Delphic Apollo to atone for the crime. + +Latium did not join in these hostilities against the Hellenes; on +the contrary, we find friendly relations subsisting in very ancient +times between the Romans and the Phocaeans in Velia as well as in +Massilia, and the Ardeates are even said to have founded in concert +with the Zacynthians a colony in Spain, the later Saguntum. Much +less, however, did the Latins range themselves on the side of +the Hellenes: the neutrality of their position in this respect is +attested by the close relations maintained between Caere and Rome, +as well as by the traces of ancient intercourse between the Latins +and the Carthaginians. It was through the medium of the Hellenes +that the Cannanite race became known to the Romans, for, as we have +already seen,(7) they always designated it by its Greek name; but +the fact that they did not borrow from the Greeks either the name +for the city of Carthage(8) or the national name of the -Afri-,(9) +and the circumstance that among the earlier Romans Tyrian wares were +designated by the adjective -Sarranus-,(10) which in like manner +precludes the idea of Greek intervention, demonstrate--what the +treaties of a later period concur in proving--the direct commercial +intercourse anciently subsisting between Latium and Carthage. + +The combined power of the Italians and Phoenicians actually succeeded +in substantially retaining the western half of the Mediterranean +in their hands. The northwestern portion of Sicily, with the +important ports of Soluntum and Panormus on the north coast, and +Motya at the point which looks towards Africa, remained in the +direct or indirect possession of the Carthaginians. About the +age of Cyrus and Croesus, just when the wise Bias was endeavouring +to induce the Ionians to emigrate in a body from Asia Minor and +settle in Sardinia (about 200), the Carthaginian general Malchus +anticipated them, and subdued a considerable portion of that important +island by force of arms; half a century later, the whole coast of +Sardinia appears in the undisputed possession of the Carthaginian +community. Corsica on the other hand, with the towns of Alalia +and Nicaea, fell to the Etruscans, and the natives paid to these +tribute of the products of their poor island, pitch, wax, and honey. +In the Adriatic sea, moreover, the allied Etruscans and Carthaginians +ruled, as in the waters to the west of Sicily and Sardinia. The +Greeks, indeed, did not give up the struggle. Those Rhodians and +Cnidians, who had been driven out of Lilybaeum, established themselves +on the islands between Sicily and Italy and founded there the town +of Lipara (175). Massilia flourished in spite of its isolation, and +soon monopolized the trade of the region from Nice to the Pyrenees. +At the Pyrenees themselves Rhoda (now Rosas) was established as an +offset from Lipara, and it is affirmed that Zacynthians settled in +Saguntum, and even that Greek dynasts ruled at Tingis (Tangiers) +in Mauretania. But the Hellenes no longer gained ground; after +the foundation of Agrigentum they did not succeed in acquiring any +important additions of territory on the Adriatic or on the western +sea, and they remained excluded from the Spanish waters as well +as from the Atlantic Ocean. Every year the Liparaeans had their +conflicts with the Tuscan "sea-robbers," and the Carthaginians with +the Massiliots, the Cyrenaeans, and above all with the Sicilian +Greeks; but no results of permanent moment were on either side +achieved, and the issue of struggles which lasted for centuries +was, on the whole, the simple maintenance of the -status quo-. + +Thus Italy was--if but indirectly--indebted to the Phoenicians for +the exemption of at least her central and northern provinces from +colonization, and for the counter-development of a national maritime +power there, especially in Etruria. But there are not wanting +indications that the Phoenicians already found it worth while +to manifest that jealousy which is usually associated with naval +domination, if not in reference to their Latin allies, at any rate +in reference to their Etruscan confederates, whose naval power was +greater. The statement as to the Carthaginians having prohibited +the sending forth of an Etruscan colony to the Canary islands, whether +true or false, reveals the existence of a rivalry of interests in +the matter. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter X + + + +1. Whether the name of Graeci was originally associated with the +interior of Epirus and the region of Dodona, or pertained rather +to the Aetolians who perhaps earlier reached the western sea, may +be left an open question; it must at a remote period have belonged +to a prominent stock or aggregate of stocks of Greece proper and +have passed over from these to the nation as a whole. In the Eoai +of Hesiod it appears as the older collective name for the nation, +although it is manifest that it is intentionally thrust aside and +subordinated to that of Hellenes. The latter does not occur in +Homer, but, in addition to Hesiod, it is found in Archilochus about +the year 50, and it may very well have come into use considerably +earlier (Duncker, Gesch. d. Alt. iii. 18, 556). Already before this +period, therefore, the Italians were so widely acquainted with the +Greeks that that name, which early fell into abeyance in Hellas, +was retained by them as a collective name for the Greek nation, +even when the latter itself adopted other modes of self-designation. +It was withal only natural that foreigners should have attained to +an earlier and clearer consciousness of the fact that the Hellenic +stocks belonged to one race than the latter themselves, and that +hence the collective designation should have become more definitely +fixed among the former than with the latter--not the less, that it +was not taken directly from the well-known Hellenes who dwelt the +nearest to them. It is difficult to see how we can reconcile with +this fact the statement that a century before the foundation of +Rome Italy was still quite unknown to the Greeks of Asia Minor. +We shall speak of the alphabet below; its history yields entirely +similar results. It may perhaps be characterized as a rash step +to reject the statement of Herodotus respecting the age of Homer +on the strength of such considerations; but is there no rashness +in following implicitly the guidance of tradition in questions of +this kind? + +2. Thus the three old Oriental forms of the --"id:i" (--"id:S"), +--"id:l" (--"id:/\") and --"id:r" (--"id:P"), for which as apt to +be confounded with the forms of the --"id:s", --"id:g", and --"id:p" +the signs --"id:I") --"id:L" --"id:R") were early proposed to be +substituted, remained either in exclusive or in very preponderant +use among the Achaean colonies, while the other Greeks of Italy +and Sicily without distinction of race used exclusively or at any +rate chiefly the more recent forms. + +3. E. g. the inscription on an earthen vase of Cumae runs thus:----Tataies +emi lequthos Fos d' an me klephsei thuphlos estai--. + +4. Among Greek writers this Tyrrhene legend of Odysseus makes its +earliest appearance in the Theogony of Hesiod, in one of its more +recent sections, and thereafter in authors of the period shortly +before Alexander, Ephorus (from whom the so-called Scymnus drew his +materials), and the writer known as Scylax. The first of these +sources belongs to an age when Italy was still regarded by the +Greeks as a group of islands, and is certainly therefore very old; +so that the origin of these legends may, on the whole, be confidently +placed in the regal period of Rome. + +5. I. X. Phoenicians in Italy, I. X. Relations of the Western +Italians to the Greeks + +6. I. X. Relations of Italy with Other Lands + +7. I. X. Phoenicians in Italy + +8. The Phoenician name was Karthada; the Greek, Karchedon; the +Roman, Cartago. + +9. The name -Afri-, already current in the days of Ennius and Cato +(comp. -Scipio Africanus-), is certainly not Greek, and is most +probably cognate with that of the Hebrews. + +10. The adjective -Sarranus- was from early times applied by the +Romans to the Tyrian purple and the Tyrian flute; and -Sarranus-was +in use also as a surname, at least from the time of the war with +Hannibal. -Sarra-, which occurs in Ennius and Plautus as the name +of the city, was perhaps formed from -Sarranus-, not directly from +the native name -Sor-. The Greek form, -Tyrus-, -Tyrius-, seems +not to occur in any Roman author anterior to Afranius (ap. Fest. +p. 355 M.). Compare Movers, Phon. ii. x, 174. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Law and Justice + + + +Modern Character of Italian Culture + + +History, as such, cannot reproduce the life of a people in the +infinite variety of its details; it must be content with exhibiting +the development of that life as a whole. The doings and dealings, +the thoughts and imaginings of the individual, however strongly +they may reflect the characteristics of the national mind, form +no part of history. Nevertheless it seems necessary to make some +attempt to indicate--only in the most general outlines--the features +of individual life in the case of those earlier ages which are, +so far as history is concerned, all but lost in oblivion; for it +is in this field of research alone that we acquire some idea of +the breadth of the gulf which separates our modes of thinking and +feeling from those of the civilized nations of antiquity. Tradition, +with its confused mass of national names and its dim legends, +resembles withered leaves which with difficulty we recognize to +have once been green. Instead of threading that dreary maze and +attempting to classify those shreds of humanity, the Chones and +Oenotrians, the Siculi and the Pelasgi, it will be more to the +purpose to inquire how the real life of the people in ancient Italy +expressed itself in their law, and their ideal life in religion; +how they farmed and how they traded; and whence the several nations +derived the art of writing and other elements of culture. Scanty +as our knowledge in this respect is in reference to the Roman people +and still more so in reference to the Sabellians and Etruscans, +even the slight and very defective information which is attainable +will enable the mind to associate with these names some more or +less clear glimpse of the once living reality. The chief result of +such a view (as we may here mention by way of anticipation) may be +summed up in saying that fewer traces comparatively of the primitive +state of things have been preserved in the case of the Italians, +and of the Romans in particular, than in the case of any other +Indo-Germanic race. The bow and arrow, the war-chariot, the incapacity +of women to hold property, the acquiring of wives by purchase, +the primitive form of burial, blood-revenge, the clan-constitution +conflicting with the authority of the community, a vivid natural +symbolism --all these, and numerous phenomena of a kindred character, +must be presumed to have lain at the foundation of civilization in +Italy as well as elsewhere; but at the epoch when that civilization +comes clearly into view they have already wholly disappeared, and +only the comparison of kindred races informs us that such things +once existed. In this respect Italian history begins at a far +later stage of civilization than e.g. the Greek or the Germanic, +and from the first it exhibits a comparatively modern character. + +The laws of most of the Italian stocks are lost in oblivion. Some +information regarding the law of the Latin land alone has survived +in Roman tradition. + + +Jurisdiction + + +All jurisdiction was vested in the community or, in other words, +in the king, who administered justice or "command" (-ius-) on +the "days of utterance" (-dies fasti-) at the "judgment platform" +(-tribunal-) in the place of public assembly, sitting on the +"chariot-seat" (-sella curulis-);(1) by his side stood his "messengers" +(-lictores-), and before him the person accused or the "parties" +(-rei-). No doubt in the case of slaves the decision lay primarily +with the master, and in the case of women with the father, husband, +or nearest male relative;(2) but slaves and women were not primarily +reckoned as members of the community. Over sons and grandsons who +were -in potestate- the power of the -pater familias- subsisted +concurrently with the royal jurisdiction; that power, however, +was not a jurisdiction in the proper sense of the term, but simply +a consequence of the father's inherent right of property in his +children. We find no traces of any jurisdiction appertaining to +the clans as such, or of any judicature at all that did not derive +its authority from the king. As regards the right of self-redress +and in particular the avenging of blood, we still find perhaps in +legends an echo of the original principle that a murderer, or any +one who should illegally protect a murderer, might justifiably be +slain by the kinsmen of the person murdered; but these very legends +characterize this principle as objectionable,(3) and from their +statements blood-revenge would appear to have been very early +suppressed in Rome through the energetic assertion of the authority +of the community. In like manner we perceive in the earliest Roman +law no trace of that influence which under the oldest Germanic +institutions the comrades of the accused and the people present +were entitled to exercise over the pronouncing of judgment; nor +do we find in the former any evidence of the usage so frequent in +the latter, by which the mere will and power to maintain a claim +with arms in hand were treated as judicially necessary or at any +rate admissible. + + +Crimes + + +Judicial procedure took the form of a public or a private process, +according as the king interposed of his own motion or only when +appealed to by the injured party. The former course was taken +only in cases which involved a breach of the public peace. First +of all, therefore, it was applicable in the case of public treason +or communion with the public enemy (-proditio-), and in that of +violent rebellion against the magistracy (-perduellio-). But the +public peace was also broken by the foul murderer (-parricida-), +the sodomite, the violator of a maiden's or matron's chastity, the +incendiary, the false witness, by those, moreover, who with evil +spells conjured away the harvest, or who without due title cut +the corn by night in the field entrusted to the protection of the +gods and of the people; all of these were therefore dealt with as +though they had been guilty of high treason. The king opened and +conducted the process, and pronounced sentence after conferring with +the senators whom he had called in to advise with him. He was at +liberty, however, after he had initiated the process, to commit +the further handling and the adjudication of the matter to deputies +who were, as a rule, taken from the senate. The later extraordinary +deputies, the two men for adjudicating on rebellion (-duoviri +perduellionis-) and the later standing deputies the "trackers of +murder" (-quaestores parricidii-) whose primary duty was to search +out and arrest murderers, and who therefore exercised in some +measure police functions, do not belong to the regal period, but may +probably have sprung out of, or been suggested by, certain of its +institutions. Imprisonment while the case was undergoing investigation +was the rule; the accused might, however, be released on bail. +Torture to compel confession was only applied to slaves. Every one +convicted of having broken the public peace expiated his offence with +his life. The modes of inflicting capital punishment were various: +the false witness, for example, was hurled from the stronghold-rock; +the harvest-thief was hanged; the incendiary was burnt. The king +could not grant pardon, for that power was vested in the community +alone; but the king might grant or refuse to the condemned permission +to appeal for mercy (-provocatio-). In addition to this, the law +recognized an intervention of the gods in favour of the condemned +criminal. He who had made a genuflection before the priest of +Jupiter might not be scourged on the same day; any one under fetters +who set foot in his house had to be released from his bonds; and +the life of a criminal was spared, if on his way to execution he +accidentally met one of the sacred virgins of Vesta. + + +Punishment of Offenses against Order + + +The king inflicted at his discretion fines payable to the state for +trespasses against order and for police offences; they consisted +in a definite number (hence the name -multa-) of cattle or sheep. +It was in his power also to pronounce sentence of scourging. + + +Law of Private Offenses + + +In all other cases, where the individual alone was injured and +not the public peace, the state only interposed upon the appeal of +the party injured, who caused his opponent, or in case of need by +laying violent hands on him compelled him, to appear personally along +with himself before the king. When both parties had appeared and +the plaintiff had orally stated his demand, while the defendant had +in similar fashion refused to comply with it, the king might either +investigate the cause himself or have it disposed of by a deputy +acting in his name. The regular form of satisfaction for such an +injury was a compromise arranged between the injurer and the injured; +the state only interfered supplementarily, when the aggressor did +not satisfy the party aggrieved by an adequate expiation (-poena-), +when any one had his property detained or his just demand was not +fulfilled. + + +Theft + + +Under what circumstances during this epoch theft was regarded as +at all expiable, and what in such an event the person injured was +entitled to demand from the thief, cannot be ascertained. But +the injured party with reason demanded heavier compensation from +a thief caught in the very act than from one detected afterwards, +since the feeling of exasperation which had to be appeased was more +vehement in the case of the former than in that of the latter. If +the theft appeared incapable of expiation, or if the thief was not +in a position to pay the value demanded by the injured party and +approved by the judge, he was by the judge assigned as a bondsman +to the person from whom he had stolen. + + +Injuries + + +In cases of damage (-iniuria-) to person or to property, where the +injury was not of a very serious description, the aggrieved party +was probably obliged unconditionally to accept compensation; if, +on the other hand, any member was lost in consequence of it, the +maimed person could demand eye for eye and tooth for tooth. + + +Property + + +Since the arable land among the Romans was long cultivated upon +the system of joint possession and was not distributed until a +comparatively late age, the idea of property was primarily associated +not with immoveable estate, but with "estate in slaves and cattle" +(-familia pecuniaque-). It was not the right of the stronger that +was regarded as the foundation of a title to it; on the contrary, +all property was considered as conferred by the community upon the +individual burgess for his exclusive possession and use; and therefore +it was only the burgess, and such as the community accounted in +this respect as equal to burgesses, that were capable of holding +property. All property passed freely from hand to hand. The Roman +law made no substantial distinction between moveable and immoveable +estate (from the time that the latter was regarded as private +property at all), and recognized no absolute vested interest of +children or other relatives in the paternal or family property. +Nevertheless it was not in the power of the father arbitrarily +to deprive his children of their right of inheritance, because he +could neither dissolve the paternal power nor execute a testament +except with consent of the whole community, which might be, and +certainly under such circumstances often was, refused. In his +lifetime no doubt the father might make dispositions disadvantageous +to his children; for the law was sparing of personal restrictions +on the proprietor and allowed, upon the whole, every grown-up +man freely to dispose of his property. The regulation, however, +under which he who alienated his hereditary property and deprived +his children of it was placed by order of the magistrate under +guardianship like a lunatic, was probably as ancient as the period +when the arable land was first divided and thereby private property +generally acquired greater importance for the commonwealth. In +this way the two antagonistic principles--the unlimited right of +the owner to dispose of his own, and the preservation of the family +property unbroken--were as far as possible harmonized in the Roman +law. Permanent restrictions on property were in no case allowed, +with the exception of servitudes such as those indispensable in +husbandry. Heritable leases and ground-rents charged upon property +could not legally exist. The law as little recognized mortgaging; +but the same purpose was served by the immediate delivery of the +property in pledge to the creditor as if he were its purchaser, +who thereupon gave his word of honour (-fiducia-) that he would not +alienate the object pledged until the payment fell due, and would +restore it to his debtor when the sum advanced had been repaid. + + +Contracts + + +Contracts concluded between the state and a burgess, particularly +the obligation given by those who became sureties for a payment +to the state (-praevides-, -praedes-), were valid without further +formality. On the other hand, contracts between private persons +under ordinary circumstances gave no claim for legal aid on the +part of the state. The only protection of the creditor was the +debtor's word of honour which was held in high esteem after the +wont of merchants, and possibly also, in those frequent cases where +an oath had been added, the fear of the gods who avenged perjury. +The only contracts legally actionable were those of betrothal (the +effect of which was that the father, in the event of his failing +to give the promised bride, had to furnish satisfaction and +compensation), of purchase (-mancipatio-), and of loan (-nexum-). +A purchase was held to be legally concluded when the seller delivered +the article purchased into the hand of the buyer (-mancipare-) and +the buyer at the same time paid to the seller the stipulated price +in presence of witnesses. This was done, after copper superseded +sheep and cattle as the regular standard of value, by weighing out +the stipulated quantity of copper in a balance adjusted by a neutral +person.(4) These conditions having been complied with, the seller +had to answer for his being the owner, and in addition seller and +purchaser had to fulfil every stipulation specially agreed on; the +party failing to do so made reparation to the other, just as if he +had deprived him of the article in question. But a purchase only +founded an action in the event of its being a transaction for +ready money: a purchase on credit neither gave nor took away the +right of property, and constituted no ground of action. A loan +was negotiated in a similar way; the creditor weighed over to the +debtor in presence of witnesses the stipulated quantity of copper +under the obligation (-nexum-) of repayment. In addition to +the capital the debtor had to pay interest, which under ordinary +circumstances probably amounted to ten per cent per annum.(5) The +repayment of the loan took place, when the time came, with similar +forms. + + +Private Process + + +If a debtor to the state did not fulfil his obligations, he was +without further ceremony sold with all that he had; the simple +demand on the part of the state was sufficient to establish the +debt. If on the other hand a private person informed the king of +any violation of his property (-vindiciae-) or if repayment of the +loan received did not duly take place, the procedure depended on +whether the facts relating to the cause needed to be established, +which was ordinarily the case with actions as to property, or were +already clearly apparent, which in the case of actions as to loans +could easily be accomplished according to the current rules of law +by means of the witnesses. The establishment of the facts assumed +the form of a wager, in which each party made a deposit (-sacramentum-) +against the contingency of his being worsted; in important causes +when the value involved was greater than ten oxen, a deposit of +five oxen, in causes of less amount, a deposit of five sheep. The +judge then decided who had gained the wager, whereupon the deposit +of the losing party fell to the priests for behoof of the public +sacrifices. The party who lost the wager and allowed thirty days +to elapse without giving due satisfaction to his opponent, and the +party whose obligation to pay was established from the first--consequently, +as a rule, the debtor who had got a loan and had not witnesses to +attest its repayment--became liable to proceedings in execution +"by laying on of hands" (-manus iniectio-); the plaintiff seized +him wherever he found him, and brought him to the bar of the judge +simply to satisfy the acknowledged debt. The party seized was not +allowed to defend himself; a third person might indeed intercede for +him and represent this act of violence as unwarranted (-vindex-), +in which case the proceedings were stayed; but such an intercession +rendered the intercessor personally responsible, for which reason +the proletarian could not be intercessor for the tribute-paying +burgess. If neither satisfaction nor intercession took place, the +king adjudged the party seized to his creditor, so that the latter +could lead him away and keep him like a slave. After the expiry +of sixty days during which the debtor had been three times exposed +in the market-place and proclamation had been made to ascertain +whether any one would have compassion upon him, if these steps were +without effect, his creditors had the right to put him to death +and to divide his carcase, or to sell him with his children and his +effects into foreign slavery, or to keep him at home in a slave's +stead; for such an one could not by the Roman law, so long as he +remained within the bounds of the Roman community, become completely +a slave.(6) Thus the Roman community protected every man's estate +and effects with unrelenting rigour as well from the thief and +the injurer, as from the unauthorized possessor and the insolvent +debtor. + + +Guardianship + + +Protection was in like manner provided for the estate of persons +not capable of bearing arms and therefore not capable of protecting +their own property, such as minors and lunatics, and above all +for that of women; in these cases the nearest heirs were called to +undertake the guardianship. + + +Law of Inheritance + + +After a man's death his property fell to the nearest heirs: in the +division all who were equal in proximity of relationship--women +included--shared alike, and the widow along with her children was +admitted to her proportional share. A dispensation from the legal +order of succession could only be granted by the assembly of the +people; previous to which the consent of the priests had to be +obtained on account of the ritual obligations attaching to succession. +Such dispensations appear nevertheless to have become at an early +period very frequent. In the event of a dispensation not being +procured, the want of it might be in some measure remedied by +means of the completely free control which every one had over his +property during his lifetime. His whole property was transferred +to a friend, who distributed it after death according to the wishes +of the deceased. + + +Manumission + + +Manumission was unknown to the law of very early times. The owner +might indeed refrain from exercising his proprietary rights; but +this did not cancel the existing impossibility of master and slave +coming under mutual obligations; still less did it enable the slave +to acquire, in relation to the community, the rights of a guest +or of a burgess. Accordingly manumission must have been at first +simply -de facto-, not -de jure-; and the master cannot have been +debarred from the possibility of again at pleasure treating the +freedman as a slave. But there was a departure from this principle +in cases where the master came under obligation not merely towards +the slave, but towards the community, to leave him in possession +of freedom. There was no special legal form, however, for thus +binding the master--the best proof that there was at first no +such thing as a manumission,--but those methods were employed for +this object which the law otherwise presented, testament, action, +or census. If the master had either declared his slave free when +executing his last will in the assembly of the people, or had allowed +his slave to claim freedom in his own presence before a judge or +to get his name inscribed in the valuation-roll, the freedman was +regarded not indeed as a burgess, but as personally free in relation +to his former master and his heirs, and was accordingly looked upon +at first as a client, and in later times as a plebeian.(7) + +The emancipation of a son encountered greater difficulties than +that of a slave; for while the relation of master to slave was +accidental and therefore capable of being dissolved at will, the +father could never cease to be father. Accordingly in later times +the son was obliged, in order to get free from the father, first +to enter into slavery and then to be set free out of this latter +state; but in the period now before us no emancipation of sons can +have as yet existed. + + +Clients and Foreigners + + +Such were the laws under which burgesses and clients lived in Rome. +Between these two classes, so far as we can see, there subsisted from +the beginning complete equality of private rights. The foreigner +on the other hand, if he had not submitted to a Roman patron and thus +lived as a client, was beyond the pale of the law both in person +and in property. Whatever the Roman burgess took from him was +as rightfully acquired as was the shellfish, belonging to nobody, +which was picked up by the sea-shore; but in the case of ground +lying beyond the Roman bounds, while the Roman burgess might take +practical possession, he could not be regarded as in a legal sense +its proprietor; for the individual burgess was not entitled to +advance the bounds of the community. The case was different in +war: whatever the soldier who was fighting in the ranks of the levy +gained, whether moveable or immoveable property, fell not to him, +but to the state, and accordingly here too it depended upon the +state whether it would advance or contract its bounds. + +Exceptions from these general rules were created by special +state-treaties, which secured certain rights to the members of +foreign communities within the Roman state. In particular, the +perpetual league between Rome and Latium declared all contracts +between Romans and Latins to be valid in law, and at the same time +instituted in their case an accelerated civil process before sworn +"recoverers" (-reciperatores-). As, contrary to Roman usage, +which in other instances committed the decision to a single judge, +these always sat in plural number and that number uneven, they are +probably to be conceived as a court for the cognizance of commercial +dealings, composed of arbiters from both nations and an umpire. +They sat in judgment at the place where the contract was entered +into, and were obliged to have the process terminated at latest +in ten days. The forms, under which the dealings between Romans +and Latins were conducted, were of course the general forms which +regulated the mutual dealings of patricians and plebeians; for +the -mancipatio- and the -nexum- were originally not at all formal +acts, but the significant expression of legal ideas which held a +sway at least as extensive as the range of the Latin language. + +Dealings with countries strictly foreign were carried on in a +different fashion and by means of other forms. In very early times +treaties as to commerce and legal redress must have been entered +into with the Caerites and other friendly peoples, and must have +formed the basis of the international private law (-ius gentium-), +which gradually became developed in Rome alongside of the law of +the land. An indication of the formation of such a law is found +in the remarkable -mutuum-, "the exchange" (from -mutare- like +-dividuus-)--a form of loan, which was not based like the -nexum- +upon a binding declaration of the debtor expressly emitted before +witnesses, but upon the mere transit of the money from one hand +to another, and which as evidently originated in dealings with +foreigners as the -nexum- in business dealings at home. It is +accordingly a significant fact that the word reappears in Sicilian +Greek as --moiton--; and with this is to be connected the reappearance +of the Latin -carcer- in the Sicilian --karkaron--. Since it is +philologically certain that both words were originally Latin, their +occurrence in the local dialect of Sicily becomes an important +testimony to the frequency of the dealings of Latin traders in +the island, which led to their borrowing money there and becoming +liable to that imprisonment for debt, which was everywhere in the +earlier systems of law the consequence of the non-repayment of a +loan. Conversely, the name of the Syracusan prison, "stone-quarries" +or --latomiai--, was transferred at an early period to the enlarged +Roman state-prison, the -lautumiae-. + + +Character of the Roman Law + + +We have derived our outline of these institutions mainly from +the earliest record of the Roman common law prepared about half a +century after the abolition of the monarchy; and their existence in +the regal period, while doubtful perhaps as to particular points of +detail, cannot be doubted in the main. Surveying them as a whole, +we recognize the law of a far-advanced agricultural and mercantile +city, marked alike by its liberality and its consistency. In +its case the conventional language of symbols, such as e. g. the +Germanic laws exhibit, has already quite disappeared. There is no +doubt that such a symbolic language must have existed at one time +among the Italians. Remarkable instances of it are to be found in +the form of searching a house, wherein the searcher must, according +to the Roman as well as the Germanic custom, appear without upper +garment merely in his shirt; and especially in the primitive +Latin formula for declaring war, in which we meet with two symbols +occurring at least also among the Celts and the Germans--the "pure +herb" (-herba pura-, Franconian -chrene chruda-) as a symbol of +the native soil, and the singed bloody staff as a sign of commencing +war. But with a few exceptions, in which reasons of religion +protected the ancient usages--to which class the -confarreatio- +as well as the declaration of war by the college of Fetiales +belonged--the Roman law, as we know it, uniformly and on principle +rejects the symbol, and requires in all cases neither more nor +less than the full and pure expression of will. The delivery of an +article, the summons to bear witness, the conclusion of marriage, +were complete as soon as the parties had in an intelligible manner +declared their purpose; it was usual, indeed, to deliver the article +into the hand of the new owner, to pull the person summoned as +a witness by the ear, to veil the bride's head and to lead her in +solemn procession to her husband's house; but all these primitive +practices were already, under the oldest national law of the +Romans, customs legally worthless. In a way entirely analogous to +the setting aside of allegory and along with it of personification +in religion, every sort of symbolism was on principle expelled from +their law. In like manner that earliest state of things presented +to us by the Hellenic as well as the Germanic institutions, wherein +the power of the community still contends with the authority of +the smaller associations of clans or cantons that are merged in +it, is in Roman law wholly superseded; there is no alliance for the +vindication of rights within the state, to supplement the state's +imperfect aid, by mutual offence and defence; nor is there any +serious trace of vengeance for bloodshed, or of the family property +restricting the individual's power of disposal. Such institutions +must probably at one time have existed among the Italians; traces +of them may perhaps be found in particular institutions of ritual, +e. g. in the expiatory goat, which the involuntary homicide was +obliged to give to the nearest of kin to the slain; but even at the +earliest period of Rome which we can conceive this stage had long +been transcended. The clan and the family doubtless were not +annihilated in the Roman community; but the theoretical as well +as the practical omnipotence of the state in its own sphere was no +more limited by them than by the freedom which the state granted +and guaranteed to the burgess. The ultimate foundation of law was +in all cases the state; freedom was simply another expression for +the right of citizenship in its widest sense; all property was +based on express or tacit transference by the community to the +individual; a contract was valid only so far as the community by +its representatives attested it, a testament only so far as the +community confirmed it. The provinces of public and private law were +definitely and clearly discriminated: the former having reference +to crimes against the state, which immediately called for the +judgment of the state and always involved capital punishment; the +latter having reference to offences against a fellow-burgess or a +guest, which were mainly disposed of in the way of compromise by +expiation or satisfaction made to the party injured, and were never +punished with the forfeit of life, but, at most, with the loss of +freedom. The greatest liberality in the permission of commerce and +the most rigorous procedure in execution went hand in hand; just +as in commercial states at the present day the universal right to +draw bills of exchange appears in conjunction with a strict procedure +in regard to them. The burgess and the client stood in their +dealings on a footing of entire equality; state-treaties conceded +a comprehensive equality of rights also to the guest; women were +placed completely on a level in point of legal capacity with men, +although restricted in action; the boy had scarcely grown up when +he received at once the most comprehensive powers in the disposal +of his estate, and every one who could dispose at all was as +sovereign in his own sphere as was the state in public affairs. A +feature eminently characteristic was the system of credit. There +did not exist any credit on landed security, but instead of a debt +on mortgage the step which constitutes at present the final stage +in mortgage-procedure --the delivery of the property from the debtor +to the creditor--took place at once. On the other hand personal +credit was guaranteed in the most summary, not to say extravagant +fashion; for the lawgiver entitled the creditor to treat his insolvent +debtor like a thief, and granted to him in entire legislative earnest +what Shylock, half in jest, stipulated for from his mortal enemy, +guarding indeed by special clauses the point as to the cutting off +too much more carefully than did the Jew. The law could not have +more clearly expressed its design, which was to establish at once +an independent agriculture free of debt and a mercantile credit, +and to suppress with stringent energy all merely nominal ownership +and all breaches of fidelity. If we further take into consideration +the right of settlement recognized at an early date as belonging +to all the Latins,(8) and the validity which was likewise early +pronounced to belong to civil marriage,(9) we shall perceive that +this state, which made the highest demands on its burgesses and +carried the idea of subordinating the individual to the interest of +the whole further than any state before or since has done, only did +and only could do so by itself removing the barriers to intercourse +and unshackling liberty quite as much as it subjected it to +restriction. In permission or in prohibition the law was always +absolute. As the foreigner who had none to intercede for him was +like the hunted deer, so the guest was on a footing of equality +with the burgess. A contract did not ordinarily furnish a ground +of action, but where the right of the creditor was acknowledged, +it was so all-powerful that there was no deliverance for the poor +debtor, and no humane or equitable consideration was shown towards +him. It seemed as if the law found a pleasure in presenting on all +sides its sharpest spikes, in drawing the most extreme consequences, +in forcibly obtruding on the bluntest understanding the tyrannic +nature of the idea of right. The poetical form and the genial +symbolism, which so pleasingly prevail in the Germanic legal +ordinances, were foreign to the Roman; in his law all was clear and +precise; no symbol was employed, no institution was superfluous. +It was not cruel; everything necessary was performed without much +ceremony, even the punishment of death; that a free man could not +be tortured was a primitive maxim of Roman law, to obtain which +other peoples have had to struggle for thousands of years. Yet this +law was frightful in its inexorable severity, which we cannot suppose +to have been very greatly mitigated by humanity in practice, for +it was really the law of the people; more terrible than Venetian +-piombi- and chambers of torture was that series of living entombments +which the poor man saw yawning before him in the debtors' towers +of the rich. But the greatness of Rome was involved in, and was +based upon, the fact that the Roman people ordained for itself and +endured a system of law, in which the eternal principles of freedom +and of subordination, of property and of legal redress, reigned +and still at the present day reign unadulterated and unmodified. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter XI + + + +1. This "chariot-seat"--philologically no other explanation can +well be given (comp. Servius ad Aen. i. 16)--is most simply explained +by supposing that the king alone was entitled to ride in a chariot +within the city (v. The King)--whence originated the privilege +subsequently accorded to the chief magistrate on solemn occasions--and +that originally, so long as there was no elevated tribunal, he +gave judgment, at the comitium or wherever else he wished, from +the chariot-seat. + +2. I. V. The Housefather and His Household + +3. The story of the death of king Tatius, as given by Plutarch +(Rom. 23, 24), viz. that kinsmen of Tatius had killed envoys from +Laurentum; that Tatius had refused the complaint of the kinsmen +of the slain for redress; that they then put Tatius to death; that +Romulus acquitted the murderers of Tatius, on the ground that murder +had been expiated by murder; but that, in consequence of the penal +judgments of the gods that simultaneously fell upon Rome and +Laurentum, the perpetrators of both murders were in the sequel +subjected to righteous punishment--this story looks quite like a +historical version of the abolition of blood-revenge, just as the +introduction of the -provocatio- lies at the foundation of the myth +of the Horatii. The versions of the same story that occur elsewhere +certainly present considerable variations, but they seem to be +confused or dressed up. + +4. The -mancipatio- in its developed form must have been more recent +than the Servian reform, as the selection of mancipable objects, +which had for its aim the fixing of agricultural property, shows, +and as even tradition must have assumed, for it makes Servius the +inventor of the balance. But in its origin the -mancipatio- must +be far more ancient; for it primarily applies only to objects which +are acquired by grasping with the hand, and must therefore in its +earliest form have belonged to the epoch when property consisted +essentially in slaves and cattle (-familia pecuniaque-). The enumeration +of those objects which had to be acquired by -mancipatio-, falls +accordingly to be ranked as a Servian innovation; the -mancipatio- +itself, and consequently the use also of the balance and of copper, +are older. Beyond doubt -mancipatio- was originally the universal +form of purchase, and occurred in the case of all articles even +after the Servian reform; it was only a misunderstanding of later +ages which put upon the rule, that certain articles had to be +transferred by -mancipatio-, the construction that these articles +only and no others could be so transferred. + +5. Viz. for the year of ten months one twelfth part of the capital +(-uncia-), which amounts to 8 1/3 per cent for the year of ten, +and 10 per cent for the fear of twelve, months. + +6. I. VII. Relation of Rome to Latium + +7. I. VI. Dependents and Guests. + +8. I. VII. Relation of Rome to Latium + +9. I. VI. Class of --Metoeci-- Subsisting by the Side of the +Community + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Religion + + + +Roman Religion + + +The Roman world of gods, as we have already indicated,(1) was a +higher counterpart, an ideal reflection, of the earthly Rome, in +which the little and the great were alike repeated with painstaking +exactness. The state and the clan, the individual phenomenon of +nature as well as the individual mental operation, every man, every +place and object, every act even falling within the sphere of Roman +law, reappeared in the Roman world of gods; and, as earthly things +come and go in perpetual flux, the circle of the gods underwent +a corresponding fluctuation. The tutelary spirit, which presided +over the individual act, lasted no longer than that act itself: the +tutelary spirit of the individual man lived and died with the man; +and eternal duration belonged to divinities of this sort only in +so far as similar acts and similarly constituted men and therefore +spirits of a similar kind were ever coming into existence afresh. +As the Roman gods ruled over the Roman community, so every foreign +community was presided over by its own gods; but sharp as was the +distinction between the burgess and non-burgess, between the Roman +and the foreign god, both foreign men and foreign divinities could +be admitted by resolution of the community to the freedom of Rome, +and when the citizens of a conquered city were transported to Rome, +the gods of that city were also invited to take up their new abode +there. + + +Oldest Table of Roman Festivals + + +We obtain information regarding the original cycle of the gods, as +it stood in Rome previous to any contact with the Greeks, from the +list of the public and duly named festival-days (-feriae publicae-) +of the Roman community, which is preserved in its calendar and is +beyond all question the oldest document which has reached us from +Roman antiquity. The first place in it is occupied by the gods +Jupiter and Mars along with the duplicate of the latter, Quirinus. +To Jupiter all the days of full moon (-idus-) are sacred, besides +all the wine-festivals and various other days to be mentioned +afterwards; the 21st May (-agonalia-) is dedicated to his counterpart, +the "bad Jovis" (-Ve-diovis-). To Mars belongs the new-year of the +1st March, and generally the great warrior-festival in this month +which derived its very name from the god; this festival, introduced +by the horse-racing (-equirria-) on the 27th February, had during +March its principal solemnities on the days of the shield-forging +(-equirria- or -Mamuralia-, March 14), of the armed dance at the +Comitium (-quinquatrus-, March 19), and of the consecration of +trumpets (-tubilustrium-, March 23). As, when a war was to be waged, +it began with this festival, so after the close of the campaign +in autumn there followed a further festival of Mars, that of +the consecration of arms (-armilustrium-, October 19). Lastly, +to the second Mars, Quirinus, the 17th February was appropriated +(-Quirinalia-). Among the other festivals those which related to +the culture of corn and wine hold the first place, while the pastoral +feasts play a subordinate part. To this class belongs especially +the great series of spring-festivals in April, in the course of +which sacrifices were offered on the 15th to Tellus, the nourishing +earth (-fordicidia-, sacrifice of the pregnant cow), on the 19th +to Ceres, the goddess of germination and growth (-Cerialia-) on the +21st to Pales, the fecundating goddess of the flocks (-Parilia-), +on the 23rd to Jupiter, as the protector of the vines and of the +vats of the previous year's vintage which were first opened on this +day (-Vinalia-), and on the 25th to the bad enemy of the crops, rust +(-Robigus-: -Robigalia-). So after the completion of the work of +the fields and the fortunate ingathering of their produce double +festivals were celebrated in honour of the god and goddess of +inbringing and harvest, Census (from -condere-) and Ops; the first, +immediately after the completion of cutting (August 21, -Consualia-; +August 25, -Opiconsiva-); and the second, in the middle of winter, +when the blessings of the granary are especially manifest (December +15, -Consualia-; December 19, -Opalia-); between these two latter +days the thoughtfulness of the old arrangers of the festivals inserted +that of seed-sowing (Saturnalia from -Saeturnus- or -Saturnus-, +December 17). In like manner the festival of must or of healing +(-meditrinalia-, October 11), so called because a healing virtue +was attributed to the fresh must, was dedicated to Jovis as the +wine-god after the completion of the vintage; the original reference +of the third wine-feast (-Vinalia-, August 19) is not clear. To +these festivals were added at the close of the year the wolf-festival +(-Lupercalia-, February 17) of the shepherds in honour of the +good god, Faunus, and the boundary-stone festival (-Terminalia-, +February 23) of the husbandmen, as also the summer grove-festival +of two days (-Lucaria-, July 19, 21) which may have had reference +to the forest-gods (-Silvani-), the fountain-festival (-Fontinalia-, +October 13), and the festival of the shortest day, which brings in +the new sun (-An-geronalia-, -Divalia-, December 21). + +Of not less importance--as was to be expected in the case of the +port of Latium--were the mariner-festivals of the divinities of the +sea (-Neptunalia-, July 23), of the harbour (-Portunalia-, August +17), and of the Tiber stream (-Volturnalia-, August 27). + +Handicraft and art, on the other hand, are represented in this cycle +of the gods only by the god of fire and of smith's work, Vulcanus, +to whom besides the day named after him (-Volcanalia-, August 23) +the second festival of the consecration of trumpets was dedicated +(-tubilustrium-, May 23), and eventually also by the festival of +Carmentis (-Carmentalia- January 11, 15), who probably was adored +originally as the goddess of spells and of song and only inferentially +as protectress of births. + +Domestic and family life in general were represented by the festival +of the goddess of the house and of the spirits of the storechamber, +Vesta and the Penates (-Vestalia-, June 9); the festival of the +goddess of birth(2) (-Matralia-, June 11); the festival of the +blessing of children, dedicated to Liber and Libera (-Liberalia-, +March 17), the festival of departed spirits (-Feralia-, February +21), and the three days' ghost-celebration (-Lemuria- May 9, +11, 13); while those having reference to civil relations were the +two--otherwise to us somewhat obscure--festivals of the king's +flight (-Regifugium-, February 24) and of the people's flight +(-Poplifugia-, July 5), of which at least the last day was devoted +to Jupiter, and the festival of the Seven Mounts (-Agonia- or +-Septimontium-, December 11). A special day (-agonia-, January +9) was also consecrated to Janus, the god of beginning. The real +nature of some other days--that of Furrina (July 25), and that +of the Larentalia devoted to Jupiter and Acca Larentia, perhaps a +feast of the Lares (December 23)--is no longer known. + +This table is complete for the immoveable public festivals; +and--although by the side of these standing festal days there +certainly occurred from the earliest times changeable and occasional +festivals--this document, in what it says as well as in what it +omits, opens up to us an insight into a primitive age otherwise +almost wholly lost to us. The union of the Old Roman community and +the Hill-Romans had indeed already taken place when this table of +festivals was formed, for we find in it Quirinus alongside of Mars; +but, when this festival-list was drawn up, the Capitoline temple +was not yet in existence, for Juno and Minerva are absent; nor was +the temple of Diana erected on the Aventine; nor was any notion of +worship borrowed from the Greeks. + + +Mars and Jupiter + + +The central object not only of Roman but of Italian worship generally +in that epoch when the Italian stock still dwelt by itself in the +peninsula was, according to all indications, the god Maurs or Mars, +the killing god,(3) preeminently regarded as the divine champion +of the burgesses, hurling the spear, protecting the flock, +and overthrowing the foe. Each community of course possessed its +own Mars, and deemed him to be the strongest and holiest of all; +and accordingly every "-ver sacrum-" setting out to found a new +community marched under the protection of its own Mars. To Mars +was dedicated the first month not only in the Roman calendar of +the months, which in no other instance takes notice of the gods, +but also probably in all the other Latin and Sabellian calendars: +among the Roman proper names, which in like manner contain no allusion +to any gods, Marcus, Mamercus, and Mamurius appear in prevailing +use from very early times; with Mars and his sacred woodpecker was +connected the oldest Italian prophecy; the wolf, the animal sacred +to Mars, was the badge of the Roman burgesses, and such sacred +national legends as the Roman imagination was able to produce +referred exclusively to the god Mars and to his duplicate Quirinus. +In the list of festivals certainly Father Diovis--a purer and +more civil than military reflection of the character of the Roman +community--occupies a larger space than Mars, just as the priest +of Jupiter has precedence over the two priests of the god of war; +but the latter still plays a very prominent part in the list, and +it is even quite likely that, when this arrangement of festivals +was established, Jovis stood by the side of Mars like Ahuramazda +by the side of Mithra, and that the worship of the warlike Roman +community still really centred at this time in the martial god of +death and his March festival, while it was not the "care-destroyer" +afterwards introduced by the Greeks, but Father Jovis himself, who +was regarded as the god of the heart-gladdening wine. + + +Nature of the Roman Gods + + +It is no part of our present task to consider the Roman deities in +detail; but it is important, even in an historical point of view, +to call attention to the peculiar character at once of shallowness +and of fervour that marked the Roman faith. Abstraction +and personification lay at the root of the Roman as well as of +the Hellenic mythology: the Hellenic as well as the Roman god was +originally suggested by some natural phenomenon or some mental +conception, and to the Roman just as to the Greek every divinity +appeared a person. This is evident from their apprehending the +individual gods as male or female; from their style of appeal to +an unknown deity,--"Be thou god or goddess, man or woman;" and from +the deeply cherished belief that the name of the proper tutelary +spirit of the community ought to remain for ever unpronounced, lest +an enemy should come to learn it and calling the god by his name +should entice him beyond the bounds. A remnant of this strongly +sensuous mode of apprehension clung to Mars in particular, the +oldest and most national form of divinity in Italy. But while +abstraction, which lies at the foundation of every religion, elsewhere +endeavoured to rise to wider and more enlarged conceptions and to +penetrate ever more deeply into the essence of things, the forms +of the Roman faith remained at, or sank to, a singularly low level +of conception and of insight. While in the case of the Greek +every influential motive speedily expanded into a group of forms +and gathered around it a circle of legends and ideas, in the case +of the Roman the fundamental thought remained stationary in its +original naked rigidity. The religion of Rome had nothing of its +own presenting even a remote resemblance to the religion of Apollo +investing earthly morality with a halo of glory, to the divine +intoxication of Dionysus, or to the Chthonian and mystical worships +with their profound and hidden meanings. It had indeed its "bad +god" (-Ve-diovis-), its apparitions and ghosts (-lemures-), and +afterwards its deities of foul air, of fever, of diseases, perhaps even +of theft (-laverna-); but it was unable to excite that mysterious +awe after which the human heart has always a longing, or thoroughly +to embody the incomprehensible and even the malignant elements +in nature and in man, which must not be wanting in religion if it +would reflect man as a whole. In the religion of Rome there was +hardly anything secret except possibly the names of the gods of +the city, the Penates; the real character, moreover, even of these +gods was manifest to every one. + +The national Roman theology sought on all hands to form distinct +conceptions of important phenomena and qualities, to express them +in its terminology, and to classify them systematically--in the +first instance, according to that division of persons and things +which also formed the basis of private law--that it might thus be +able in due fashion to invoke the gods individually or by classes, +and to point out (-indigitare-) to the multitude the modes of +appropriate invocation. Of such notions, the products of outward +abstraction--of the homeliest simplicity, sometimes venerable, +sometimes ridiculous--Roman theology was in substance made up. +Conceptions such as sowing (-saeturnus-) and field-labour (-ops-) +ground (-tellus-) and boundary-stone (-terminus-), were among +the oldest and most sacred of Roman divinities. Perhaps the most +peculiar of all the forms of deity in Rome, and probably the only +one for whose worship there was devised an effigy peculiarly Italian, +was the double-headed lanus; and yet it was simply suggestive of the +idea so characteristic of the scrupulous spirit of Roman religion, +that at the commencement of every act the "spirit of opening" should +first be invoked, while it above all betokened the deep conviction +that it was as indispensable to combine the Roman gods in sets as +it was necessary that the more personal gods of the Hellenes should +stand singly and apart.(4) Of all the worships of Rome that which +perhaps had the deepest hold was the worship of the tutelary spirits +that presided in and over the household and the storechamber: these +were in public worship Vesta and the Penates, in family worship +the gods of forest and field, the Silvani, and above all the gods +of the household in its strict sense, the Lases or Lares, to whom +their share of the family meal was regularly assigned, and before +whom it was, even in the time of Cato the Elder, the first duty +of the father of the household on returning home to perform his +devotions. In the ranking of the gods, however, these spirits +of the house and of the field occupied the lowest rather than the +highest place; it was--and it could not be otherwise with a religion +which renounced all attempts to idealize--not the broadest and +most general, but the simplest and most individual abstraction, in +which the pious heart found most nourishment. + +This indifference to ideal elements in the Roman religion was +accompanied by a practical and utilitarian tendency, as is clearly +enough apparent in the table of festivals which has been already +explained. Increase of substance and of prosperity by husbandry +and the rearing of flocks and herds, by seafaring and commerce--this +was what the Roman desired from his gods; and it very well accords +with this view, that the god of good faith (-deus fidius-), the +goddess of chance and good luck (-fors fortuna-), and the god of +traffic (-mercurius-), all originating out of their daily dealings, +although not occurring in that ancient table of festivals, appear +very early as adored far and near by the Romans. Strict frugality +and mercantile speculation were rooted in the Roman character too +deeply not to find their thorough reflection in its divine counterpart. + + +Spirits + + +Respecting the world of spirits little can be said. The departed +souls of mortal men, the "good" (-manes-) continued to exist as +shades haunting the spot where the body reposed (-dii inferi-), and +received meat and drink from the survivors. But they dwelt in the +depths beneath, and there was no bridge that led from the lower +world either to men ruling on earth or upward to the gods above. +The hero-worship of the Greeks was wholly foreign to the Romans, +and the late origin and poor invention of the legend as to the +foundation of Rome are shown by the thoroughly unRoman transformation +of king Romulus into the god Quirinus. Numa, the oldest and most +venerable name in Roman tradition, never received the honours of +a god in Rome as Theseus did in Athens. + + +Priests + + +The most ancient priesthoods in the community bore reference to +Mars; especially the priest of the god of the community, nominated +for life, "the kindler of Mars" (-flamen Martialis-) as he was +designated from presenting burnt-offerings, and the twelve "leapers" +(-salii-), a band of young men who in March performed the war-dance +in honour of Mars and accompanied it by song. We have already +explained(5) how the amalgamation of the Hill-community with that +of the Palatine gave rise to the duplication of the Roman Mars, +and thereby to the introduction of a second priest of Mars--the +-flamen Quirinalis- --and a second guild of dancers--the -salii +collini-. + +To these were added other public worships (some of which probably +had an origin far earlier than that of Rome), for which either +single priests were appointed--as those of Carmentis, of Volcanus, +of the god of the harbour and the river--or the celebration of +which was committed to particular colleges or clans in name of the +people. Such a college was probably that of the twelve "field-brethren" +(-fratres arvales-) who invoked the "creative goddess" (-dea dia-) in +May to bless the growth of the seed; although it is very doubtful +whether they already at this period enjoyed that peculiar consideration +which we find subsequently accorded to them in the time of the +empire. These were accompanied by the Titian brotherhood, which +had to preserve and to attend to the distinctive -cultus- of the +Roman Sabines,(6) and by the thirty "curial kindlers" (-flamines +curiales-), instituted for the hearth of the thirty curies. The +"wolf festival" (-lupercalia-) already mentioned was celebrated for +the protection of the flocks and herds in honour of the "favourable +god" (-faunus-) by the Quinctian clan and the Fabii who were +associated with them after the admission of the Hill-Romans, in +the month of February--a genuine shepherds' carnival, in which the +"Wolves" (-luperci-) jumped about naked with a girdle of goatskin, +and whipped with thongs those whom they met. In like manner the +community may be conceived as represented and participating in the +case of other gentile worships. + +To this earliest worship of the Roman community new rites were +gradually added. The most important of these worships had reference +to the city as newly united and virtually founded afresh by the +construction of the great wall and stronghold. In it the highest +and best lovis of the Capitol--that is, the genius of the Roman +people--was placed at the head of all the Roman divinities, and +his "kindler" thenceforth appointed, the -flamen Dialis-, formed +in conjunction with the two priests of Mars the sacred triad +of high-priests. Contemporaneously began the -cultus- of the new +single city-hearth--Vesta--and the kindred -cultus- of the Penates +of the community.(7) Six chaste virgins, daughters as it were of +the household of the Roman people, attended to that pious service, +and had to maintain the wholesome fire of the common hearth always +blazing as an example(8) and an omen to the burgesses. This +worship, half-domestic, half-public, was the most sacred of all in +Rome, and it accordingly was the latest of all the heathen worships +there to give way before the ban of Christianity. The Aventine, +moreover, was assigned to Diana as the representative of the Latin +confederacy,(9) but for that very reason no special Roman priesthood +was appointed for her; and the community gradually became accustomed +to render definite homage to numerous other deified abstractions +by means of general festivals or by representative priesthoods +specially destined for their service; in particular instances--such +as those of the goddess of flowers (-Flora-) and of fruits (-Pomona-)--it +appointed also special -flamines-, so that the number of these was +at length fifteen. But among them they carefully distinguished +those three "great kindlers" (-flamines maiores-), who down to the +latest times could only be taken from the ranks of the old burgesses, +just as the old incorporations of the Palatine and Quirinal -Salii- +always asserted precedence over all the other colleges of priests. +Thus the necessary and stated observances due to the gods of the +community were entrusted once for all by the state to fixed colleges +or regular ministers; and the expense of sacrifices, which was +presumably not inconsiderable, was covered partly by the assignation +of certain lands to particular temples, partly by the fines.(10) + +It cannot be doubted that the public worship of the other Latin, +and presumably also of the Sabellian, communities was essentially +similar in character. At any rate it can be shown that the Flamines, +Salii, Luperci, and Vestales were institutions not special to Rome, +but general among the Latins, and at least the first three colleges +appear to have been formed in the kindred communities independently +of the Roman model. + +Lastly, as the state made arrangements for the cycle of its gods, +so each burgess might make similar arrangements within his individual +sphere, and might not only present sacrifices, but might also +consecrate set places and ministers, to his own divinities. + + +Colleges of Sacred Lore + + +There was thus enough of priesthood and of priests in Rome. Those, +however, who had business with a god resorted to the god, and not +to the priest. Every suppliant and inquirer addressed himself +directly to the divinity--the community of course by the king as its +mouthpiece, just as the -curia- by the -curio- and the -equites-by +their colonels; no intervention of a priest was allowed to conceal +or to obscure this original and simple relation. But it was no +easy matter to hold converse with a god. The god had his own way +of speaking, which was intelligible only to the man acquainted +with it; but one who did rightly understand it knew not only how +to ascertain, but also how to manage, the will of the god, and even +in case of need to overreach or to constrain him. It was natural, +therefore, that the worshipper of the god should regularly consult +such men of skill and listen to their advice; and thence arose +the corporations or colleges of men specially skilled in religious +lore, a thoroughly national Italian institution, which had a far +more important influence on political development than the individual +priests and priesthoods. These colleges have been often, but +erroneously, confounded with the priesthoods. The priesthoods +were charged with the worship of a specific divinity; the skilled +colleges, on the other hand, were charged with the preservation of +traditional rules regarding those more general religious observances, +the proper fulfilment of which implied a certain amount of knowledge +and rendered it necessary that the state in its own interest should +provide for the faithful transmission of that knowledge. These +close corporations supplying their own vacancies, of course from +the ranks of the burgesses, became in this way the depositaries of +skilled arts and sciences. + + +Augurs--Pontifices + + +Under the Roman constitution and that of the Latin communities in +general there were originally but two such colleges; that of the +augurs and that of the Pontifices.(11) + +The six "bird-carriers" (-augures-) were skilled in interpreting +the language of the gods from the flight of birds; an art which was +prosecuted with great earnestness and reduced to a quasi-scientific +system. The six "bridge-builders" (-Pontifices-) derived their +name from their function, as sacred as it was politically important, +of conducting the building and demolition of the bridge over the +Tiber. They were the Roman engineers, who understood the mystery +of measures and numbers; whence there devolved upon them also the +duty of managing the calendar of the state, of proclaiming to the +people the time of new and full moon and the days of festivals, and +of seeing that every religious and every judicial act took place +on the right day. As they had thus an especial supervision of all +religious observances, it was to them in case of need--on occasion +of marriage, testament, and -adrogatio- --that the preliminary +question was addressed, whether the business proposed did not in +any respect offend against divine law; and it was they who fixed +and promulgated the general exoteric precepts of ritual, which +were known under the name of the "royal laws." Thus they acquired +(although not probably to the full extent till after the abolition +of the monarchy) the general oversight of Roman worship and of +whatever was connected with it--and what was there that was not so +connected? They themselves described the sum of their knowledge +as "the science of things divine and human." In fact the rudiments +of spiritual and temporal jurisprudence as well as of historical +recording proceeded from this college. For all writing of history +was associated with the calendar and the book of annals; and, as +from the organization of the Roman courts of law no tradition could +originate in these courts themselves, it was necessary that the +knowledge of legal principles and procedure should be traditionally +preserved in the college of the Pontifices, which alone was competent +to give an opinion respecting court-days and questions of religious +law. + + +Fetiales + + +By the side of these two oldest and most eminent corporations of men +versed in spiritual lore may be to some extent ranked the college +of the twenty state-heralds (-fetiales-, of uncertain derivation), +destined as a living repository to preserve traditionally the +remembrance of the treaties concluded with neighbouring communities, +to pronounce an authoritative opinion on alleged infractions of +treaty-rights, and in case of need to attempt reconciliation or +declare war. They had precisely the same position with reference +to international, as the Pontifices had with reference to religious, +law; and were therefore, like the latter, entitled to point out +the law, although not to administer it. + +But in however high repute these colleges were, and important and +comprehensive as were the functions assigned to them, it was never +forgotten--least of all in the case of those which held the highest +position--that their duty was not to command, but to tender skilled +advice, not directly to obtain the answer of the gods, but to +explain the answer when obtained to the inquirer. Thus the highest +of the priests was not merely inferior in rank to the king, but +might not even give advice to him unasked. It was the province of +the king to determine whether and when he would take an observation +of birds; the "bird-seer" simply stood beside him and interpreted +to him, when necessary, the language of the messengers of heaven. +In like manner the Fetialis and the Pontifex could not interfere in +matters of international or common law except when those concerned +therewith desired it. The Romans, notwithstanding all their zeal +for religion, adhered with unbending strictness to the principle +that the priest ought to remain completely powerless in the state +and--excluded from all command-- ought like any other burgess to +render obedience to the humblest magistrate. + + +Character of the -Cultus- + + +The Latin worship was grounded essentially on man's enjoyment of +earthly pleasures, and only in a subordinate degree on his fear +of the wild forces of nature; it consisted pre-eminently therefore +in expressions of joy, in lays and songs, in games and dances, and +above all in banquets. In Italy, as everywhere among agricultural +tribes whose ordinary food consists of vegetables, the slaughter +of cattle was at once a household feast and an act of worship: a +pig was the most acceptable offering to the gods, just because it +was the usual roast for a feast. But all extravagance of expense +as well as all excess of rejoicing was inconsistent with the solid +character of the Romans. Frugality in relation to the gods was +one of the most prominent traits of the primitive Latin worship; +and the free play of imagination was repressed with iron severity +by the moral self-discipline which the nation maintained. In +consequence the Latins remained strangers to the excesses which +grow out of unrestrained indulgence. At the very core of the Latin +religion there lay that profound moral impulse which leads men to +bring earthly guilt and earthly punishment into relation with the +world of the gods, and to view the former as a crime against the +gods, and the latter as its expiation. The execution of the criminal +condemned to death was as much an expiatory sacrifice offered to +the divinity as was the killing of an enemy in just war; the thief +who by night stole the fruits of the field paid the penalty to +Ceres on the gallows just as the enemy paid it to mother earth and +the good spirits on the field of battle. The profound and fearful +idea of substitution also meets us here: when the gods of the +community were angry and nobody could be laid hold of as definitely +guilty, they might be appeased by one who voluntarily gave himself +up (-devovere se-); noxious chasms in the ground were closed, +and battles half lost were converted into victories, when a brave +burgess threw himself as an expiatory offering into the abyss or +upon the foe. The "sacred spring" was based on a similar view; +all the offspring whether of cattle or of men within a specified +period were presented to the gods. If acts of this nature are to +be called human sacrifices, then such sacrifices belonged to the +essence of the Latin faith; but we are bound to add that, far back +as our view reaches into the past, this immolation, so far as life +was concerned, was limited to the guilty who had been convicted +before a civil tribunal, or to the innocent who voluntarily chose +to die. Human sacrifices of a different description run counter +to the fundamental idea of a sacrificial act, and, wherever they +occur among the Indo-Germanic stocks at least, are based on later +degeneracy and barbarism. They never gained admission among the +Romans; hardly in a single instance were superstition and despair +induced, even in times of extreme distress, to seek an extraordinary +deliverance through means so revolting. Of belief in ghosts, fear +of enchantments, or dealing in mysteries, comparatively slight +traces are to be found among the Romans. Oracles and prophecy never +acquired the importance in Italy which they obtained in Greece, +and never were able to exercise a serious control over private or +public life. But on the other hand the Latin religion sank into +an incredible insipidity and dulness, and early became shrivelled +into an anxious and dreary round of ceremonies. The god of the +Italian was, as we have already said, above all things an instrument +for helping him to the attainment of very substantial earthly aims; +this turn was given to the religious views of the Italian by his +tendency towards the palpable and the real, and is no less distinctly +apparent in the saint-worship of the modern inhabitants of Italy. +The gods confronted man just as a creditor confronted his debtor; +each of them had a duly acquired right to certain performances and +payments; and as the number of the gods was as great as the number +of the incidents in earthly life, and the neglect or wrong performance +of the worship of each god revenged itself in the corresponding incident, +it was a laborious and difficult task even to gain a knowledge of +a man's religious obligations, and the priests who were skilled +in the law of divine things and pointed out its requirements--the +-Pontifices- --could not fail to attain an extraordinary influence. +The upright man fulfilled the requirements of sacred ritual with +the same mercantile punctuality with which he met his earthly +obligations, and at times did more than was due, if the god had +done so on his part. Man even dealt in speculation with his god; +a vow was in reality as in name a formal contract between the god +and the man, by which the latter promised to the former for a certain +service to be rendered a certain equivalent return; and the Roman +legal principle that no contract could be concluded by deputy was +not the least important of the reasons on account of which all +priestly mediation remained excluded from the religious concerns +of man in Latium. Nay, as the Roman merchant was entitled, without +injury to his conventional rectitude, to fulfil his contract merely +in the letter, so in dealing with the gods, according to the teaching +of Roman theology, the copy of an object was given and received +instead of the object itself. They presented to the lord of the sky +heads of onions and poppies, that he might launch his lightnings at +these rather than at the heads of men. In payment of the offering +annually demanded by father Tiber, thirty puppets plaited of rushes +were annually thrown into the stream.(12) The ideas of divine mercy +and placability were in these instances inseparably mixed up with +a pious cunning, which tried to delude and to pacify so formidable +a master by means of a sham satisfaction. The Roman fear of the +gods accordingly exercised powerful influence over the minds of the +multitude; but it was by no means that sense of awe in the presence +of an all-controlling nature or of an almighty God, that lies at the +foundation of the views of pantheism and monotheism respectively; +on the contrary, it was of a very earthly character, and scarcely +different in any material respect from the trembling with which the +Roman debtor approached his just, but very strict and very powerful +creditor. It is plain that such a religion was fitted rather to +stifle than to foster artistic and speculative views. When the +Greek had clothed the simple thoughts of primitive times with human +flesh and blood, the ideas of the gods so formed not only became +the elements of plastic and poetic art, but acquired also that +universality and elasticity which are the profoundest characteristics +of human nature and for this very reason are essential to all +religions that aspire to rule the world. Through such means the +simple view of nature became expanded into the conception of a +cosmogony, the homely moral notion became enlarged into a principle +of universal humanity; and for a long period the Greek religion +was enabled to embrace within it the physical and metaphysical +views--the whole ideal development of the nation--and to expand +in depth and breadth with the increase of its contents, until +imagination and speculation rent asunder the vessel which had +nursed them. But in Latium the embodiment of the conceptions of +deity continued so wholly transparent that it afforded no opportunity +for the training either of artist or poet, and the Latin religion +always held a distant and even hostile attitude towards art As the +god was not and could not be aught else than the spiritualizattion +of an earthly phenomenon, this same earthly counterpart naturally +formed his place of abode (-templum-) and his image; walls and +effigies made by the hands of men seemed only to obscure and to +embarrass the spiritual conception. Accordingly the original Roman +worship had no images of the gods or houses set apart for them; +and although the god was at an early period worshipped in Latium, +probably in imitation of the Greeks, by means of an image, and +had a little chapel (-aedicula-) built for him, such a figurative +representation was reckoned contrary to the laws of Numa and was +generally regarded as an impure and foreign innovation. The Roman +religion could exhibit no image of a god peculiar to it, with the +exception, perhaps, of the double-headed Ianus; and Varro even +in his time derided the desire of the multitude for puppets and +effigies. The utter want of productive power in the Roman religion +was likewise the ultimate cause of the thorough poverty which always +marked Roman poetry and still more Roman speculation. + +The same distinctive character was manifest, moreover, in the domain +of its practical use. The practical gain which accrued to the Roman +community from their religion was a code of moral law gradually +developed by the priests, and the -Pontifices- in particular, +which on the one hand supplied the place of police regulations +at a time when the state was still far from providing any direct +police-guardianship for its citizens, and on the other hand brought +to the bar of the gods and visited with divine penalties the breach +of moral obligations. To the regulations of the former class +belonged the religious inculcation of a due observance of holidays +and of a cultivation of the fields and vineyards according to the +rules of good husbandry--which we shall have occasion to notice +more fully in the sequel--as well as the worship of the heath or +of the Lares which was connected with considerations of sanitary +police,(13) and above all the practice of burning the bodies of +the dead, adopted among the Romans at a singularly early period, +far earlier than among the Greeks--a practice implying a rational +conception of life and of death, which was foreign to primitive +times and is even foreign to ourselves at the present day. It must +be reckoned no small achievement that the national religion of the +Latins was able to carry out these and similar improvements. But +the civilizing effect of this law was still more important. If +a husband sold his wife, or a father sold his married son; if a +child struck his father, or a daughter-in-law her father-in-law; +if a patron violated his obligation to keep faith with his guest +or dependent; if an unjust neighbour displaced a boundary-stone, or +the thief laid hands by night on the grain entrusted to the common +good faith; the burden of the curse of the gods lay thenceforth +on the head of the offender. Not that the person thus accursed +(-sacer-) was outlawed; such an outlawry, inconsistent in its +nature with all civil order, was only an exceptional occurrence--an +aggravation of the religious curse in Rome at the time of the quarrels +between the orders. It was not the province of the individual +burgess, or even of the wholly powerless priest, to carry into +effect such a divine curse. Primarily the person thus accursed +became liable to the divine penal judgment, not to human caprice; +and the pious popular faith, on which that curse was based, must +have had power even over natures frivolous and wicked. But the +banning was not confined to this; the king was in reality entitled +and bound to carry the ban into execution, and, after the fact, on +which the law set its curse, had been according to his conscientious +conviction established, to slay the person under ban, as it were, +as a victim offered up to the injured deity (-supplicium-), and thus +to purify the community from the crime of the individual. If the +crime was of a minor nature, for the slaying of the guilty there +was substituted a ransom through the presenting of a sacrificial +victim or of similar gifts. Thus the whole criminal law rested as +to its ultimate basis on the religious idea of expiation. + +But religion performed no higher service in Latium than the furtherance +of civil order and morality by such means as these. In this field +Hellas had an unspeakable advantage over Latium; it owed to its +religion not merely its whole intellectual development, but also +its national union, so far as such an union was attained at all; +the oracles and festivals of the gods, Delphi and Olympia, and the +Muses, daughters of faith, were the centres round which revolved all +that was great in Hellenic life and all in it that was the common +heritage of the nation. And yet even here Latium had, as compared +with Hellas, its own advantages. The Latin religion, reduced +as it was to the level of ordinary perception, was completely +intelligible to every one and accessible in common to all; and +therefore the Roman community preserved the equality of its citizens, +while Hellas, where religion rose to the level of the highest +thought, had from the earliest times to endure all the blessing +and curse of an aristocracy of intellect. The Latin religion like +every other had its origin in the effort of faith to fathom the +infinite; it is only to a superficial view, which is deceived as to +the depth of the stream because it is clear, that its transparent +spirit-world can appear to be shallow. This fervid faith disappeared +with the progress of time as necessarily as the dew of morning +disappears before the rising sun, and thus the Latin religion came +subsequently to wither; but the Latins preserved their simplicity +of belief longer than most peoples and longer especially than the +Greeks. As colours are effects of light and at the same time dim +it, so art and science are not merely the creations but also the +destroyers of faith; and, much as this process at once of development +and of destruction is swayed by necessity, by the same law of +nature certain results have been reserved to the epoch of early +simplicity--results which subsequent epochs make vain endeavours +to attain. The mighty intellectual development of the Hellenes, +which created their religious and literary unity (ever imperfect +as that unity was), was the very thing that made it impossible +for them to attain to a genuine political union; they sacrificed +thereby the simplicity, the flexibility, the self-devotion, the +power of amalgamation, which constitute the conditions of any such +union. It is time therefore to desist from that childish view of +history which believes that it can commend the Greeks only at the +expense of the Romans, or the Romans only at the expense of the +Greeks; and, as we allow the oak to hold its own beside the rose, +so should we abstain from praising or censuring the two noblest +organizations which antiquity has produced, and comprehend the truth +that their distinctive excellences have a necessary connection with +their respective defects. The deepest and ultimate reason of the +diversity between the two nations lay beyond doubt in the fact that +Latium did not, and that Hellas did, during the season of growth +come into contact with the East. No people on earth was great +enough by its own efforts to create either the marvel of Hellenic +or at a later period the marvel of Christian culture; history +has produced these most brilliant results only where the ideas of +Aramaic religion have sunk into an Indo-Germanic soil. But if for +this reason Hellas is the prototype of purely human, Latium is not +less for all time the prototype of national, development; and it +is the duty of us their successors to honour both and to learn from +both. + + +Foreign Worships + + +Such was the nature and such the influence of the Roman religion +in its pure, unhampered, and thoroughly national development. Its +national character was not infringed by the fact that, from the +earliest times, modes and systems of worship were introduced from +abroad; no more than the bestowal of the rights of citizenship on +individual foreigners denationalized the Roman state. An exchange +of gods as well as of goods with the Latins in older time must +have been a matter of course; the transplantation to Rome of gods +and worships belonging to less cognate races is more remarkable. +Of the distinctive Sabine worship maintained by the Tities we +have already spoken.(14) Whether any conceptions of the gods were +borrowed from Etruria is more doubtful: for the Lases, the older +designation of the genii (from -lascivus-), and Minerva the goddess +of memory (-mens-, -menervare-), which it is customary to describe +as originally Etruscan, were on the contrary, judging from philological +grounds, indigenous to Latium. It is at any rate certain, and in +keeping with all that we otherwise know of Roman intercourse that +the Greek worship received earlier and more extensive attention +in Rome than any other of foreign origin. The Greek oracles +furnished the earliest occasion of its introduction. The language +of the Roman gods was on the whole confined to Yea and Nay or at +the most to the making their will known by the method of casting +lots, which appears in its origin Italian;(15) while from very ancient +times--although not apparently until the impulse was received from +the East--the more talkative gods of the Greeks imparted actual +utterances of prophecy. The Romans made efforts, even at an early +period, to treasure up such counsels, and copies of the leaves of +the soothsaying priestess of Apollo, the Cumaean Sibyl, were accordingly +a highly valued gift on the part of their Greek guest-friends from +Campania. For the reading and interpretation of the fortune-telling +book a special college, inferior in rank only to the augurs and +Pontifices, was instituted in early times, consisting of two men +of lore (-duoviri sacris faciundis-), who were furnished at the +expense of the state with two slaves acquainted with the Greek +language. To these custodiers of oracles the people resorted in +cases of doubt, when an act of worship was needed in order to avoid +some impending evil and they did not know to which of the gods or +with what rites it was to be performed. But Romans in search of +advice early betook themselves also to the Delphic Apollo himself. +Besides the legends relating to such an intercourse already +mentioned,(16) it is attested partly by the reception of the word +-thesaurus- so closely connected with the Delphic oracle into all +the Italian languages with which we are acquainted, and partly by +the oldest Roman form of the name of Apollo, -Aperta-, the "opener," +an etymologizing alteration of the Doric Apellon, the antiquity of +which is betrayed by its very barbarism. The Greek Herakles was +naturalized in Italy as Herclus, Hercoles, Hercules, at an early +period and under a peculiar conception of his character, apparently +in the first instance as the god of gains of adventure and of any +extraordinary increase of wealth; for which reason the general was +wont to present the tenth of the spoil which he had procured, and +the merchant the tenth of the substance which he had obtained, to +Hercules at the chief altar (-ara maxima-) in the cattle-market. +Accordingly he became the god of mercantile covenants generally, +which in early times were frequently concluded at this altar and +confirmed by oath, and in so far was identified with the old Latin +god of good faith (-deus fidius-). The worship of Hercules was +from an early date among the most widely diffused; he was, to use +the words of an ancient author, adored in every hamlet of Italy, +and altars were everywhere erected to him in the streets of the +cities and along the country roads. The gods also of the mariner, +Castor and Polydeukes or, in Roman form, Pollux, the god of traffic +Hermes--the Roman Mercurius--and the god of healing, Asklapios or +Aesculapius, became early known to the Romans, although their public +worship only began at a later period. The name of the festival +of the "good goddess" (-bona dea-) -damium-, corresponding to the +Greek --damion-- or --deimion--, may likewise reach back as far as +this epoch. It must be the result also of ancient borrowing, that +the old -Liber pater- of the Romans was afterwards conceived as +"father deliverer" and identified with the wine-god of the Greeks, +the "releaser" (-Lyaeos-), and that the Roman god of the lower +regions was called the "dispenser of riches" (-Pluto- - -Dis pater-), +while his spouse Persephone became converted at once by change of +the initial sound and by transference of the idea into the Roman +Proserpina, that is, "germinatrix." Even the goddess of the +Romano-Latin league, Diana of the Aventine, seems to have been +copied from the federal goddess of the lonians of Asia Minor, the +Ephesian Artemis; at least her carved image in the Roman temple +was formed after the Ephesian type.(17) It was in this way alone, +through the myths of Apollo, Dionysus, Pluto, Herakles, and Artemis, +which were early pervaded by Oriental ideas, that the Aramaic +religion exercised at this period a remote and indirect influence +on Italy. We clearly perceive from these facts that the introduction +of the Greek religion was especially due to commercial intercourse, +and that it was traders and mariners who primarily brought the +Greek gods to Italy. + +These individual cases however of derivation from abroad were but +of secondary moment, while the remains of the natural symbolism +of primeval times, of which the legend of the oxen of Cacus may +perhaps be a specimen,(18) had virtually disappeared. In all its +leading features the Roman religion was an organic creation of the +people among whom we find it. + + +Religion of the Sabellians + + +The Sabellian and Umbrian worship, judging from the little we know +of it, rested upon quite the same fundamental views as the Latin +with local variations of colour and form. That it was different +from the Latin is very distinctly apparent from the founding +of a special college at Rome for the preservation of the Sabine +rites;(19) but that very fact affords an instructive illustration +of the nature of the difference. Observation of the flight of +birds was with both stocks the regular mode of consulting the gods; +but the Tities observed different birds from the Ramnian augurs. +Similar relations present themselves, wherever we have opportunity +of comparing them. Both stocks in common regarded the gods as +abstractions of the earthly and as of an impersonal nature; they +differed in expression and ritual. It was natural that these +diversities should appear of importance to the worshippers of those +days; we are no longer able to apprehend what was the characteristic +distinction, if any really existed. + + +Religion of the Etruscans + + +But the remains of the sacred ritual of the Etruscans that have +reached us are marked by a different spirit. Their prevailing +characteristics are a gloomy and withal tiresome mysticism, ringing +the changes on numbers, soothsaying, and that solemn enthroning of +pure absurdity which at all times finds its own circle of devotees. +We are far from knowing the Etruscan worship in such completeness +and purity as we know the Latin; and it is not improbable--indeed +it cannot well be doubted--that several of its features were only +imported into it by the minute subtlety of a later period, and that +the gloomy and fantastic principles, which were most alien to the +Latin worship, are those that have been especially handed down to +us by tradition. But enough still remains to show that the mysticism +and barbarism of this worship had their foundation in the essential +character of the Etruscan people. + +With our very unsatisfactory knowledge we cannot grasp the intrinsic +contrast subsisting between the Etruscan conceptions of deity and +the Italian; but it is clear that the most prominent among the +Etruscan gods were the malignant and the mischievous; as indeed +their worship was cruel, and included in particular the sacrifice +of their captives; thus at Caere they slaughtered the Phocaean, and +at Traquinii the Roman, prisoners. Instead of a tranquil world of +departed "good spirits" ruling peacefully in the realms beneath, +such as the Latins had conceived, the Etruscan religion presented +a veritable hell, in which the poor souls were doomed to be tortured +by mallets and serpents, and to which they were conveyed by the +conductor of the dead, a savage semi-brutal figure of an old man +with wings and a large hammer--a figure which afterwards served in +the gladiatorial games at Rome as a model for the costume of the +man who removed the corpses of the slain from the arena. So fixed +was the association of torture with this condition of the shades, +that there was even provided a redemption from it, which after certain +mysterious offerings transferred the poor soul to the society of +the gods above. It is remarkable that, in order to people their +lower world, the Etruscans early borrowed from the Greeks their +gloomiest notions, such as the doctrine of Acheron and Charon, +which play an important part in the Etruscan discipline. + +But the Etruscan occupied himself above all in the interpretation +of signs and portents. The Romans heard the voice of the gods +in nature; but their bird-seer understood only the signs in their +simplicity, and knew only in general whether the occurrence boded +good or ill. Disturbances of the ordinary course of nature were +regarded by him as boding evil, and put a stop to the business in +hand, as when for example a storm of thunder and lightning dispersed +the comitia; and he probably sought to get rid of them, as, for +example, in the case of monstrous births, which were put to death +as speedily as possible. But beyond the Tiber matters were carried +much further. The profound Etruscan read off to the believer his +future fortunes in detail from the lightning and from the entrails +of animals offered in sacrifice; and the more singular the language +of the gods, the more startling the portent or prodigy, the more +confidently did he declare what they foretold and the means by +which it was possible to avert the mischief. Thus arose the lore +of lightning, the art of inspecting entrails, the interpretation +of prodigies--all of them, and the science of lightning especially, +devised with the hair-splitting subtlety which characterizes the +mind in pursuit of absurdities. A dwarf called Tages with the +figure of a child but with gray hairs, who had been ploughed up +by a peasant in a field near Tarquinii--we might almost fancy that +practices at once so childish and so drivelling had sought to present +in this figure a caricature of themselves--betrayed the secret of +this lore to the Etruscans, and then straightway died. His disciples +and successors taught what gods were in the habit of hurling the +lightning; how the lightning of each god might be recognized by +its colour and the quarter of the heavens whence it came; whether +the lightning boded a permanent state of things or a single event; +and in the latter case whether the event was one unalterably fixed, +or whether it could be up to a certain limit artificially postponed: +how they might convey the lightning away when it struck, or compel +the threatening lightning to strike, and various marvellous arts +of the like kind, with which there was incidentally conjoined no +small desire of pocketing fees. How deeply repugnant this jugglery +was to the Roman character is shown by the fact that, even when +people came at a later period to employ the Etruscan lore in Rome, +no attempt was made to naturalize it; during our present period +the Romans were probably still content with their own, and with +the Greek oracles. + +The Etruscan religion occupied a higher level than the Roman, in +so far as it developed at least the rudiments of what was wholly +wanting among the Romans--a speculation veiled under religious +forms. Over the world and its gods there ruled the veiled gods +(-Dii involuti-), consulted by the Etruscan Jupiter himself; that +world moreover was finite, and, as it had come into being, so was +it again to pass away after the expiry of a definite period of time, +whose sections were the -saecula-. Respecting the intellectual +value which may once have belonged to this Etruscan cosmogony and +philosophy, it is difficult to form a judgment; they appear however +to have been from the very first characterized by a dull fatalism +and an insipid play upon number. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter XII + + + +1. I. II. Religion + +2. This was, to all appearance, the original nature of the +"morning-mother" or -Mater matuta-; in connection with which we may +recall the circumstance that, as the names Lucius and especially +-Manius- show, the morning hour was reckoned as lucky for birth. +-Mater matuta-probably became a goddess of sea and harbour only +at a later epoch under the influence of the myth of Leucothea; the +fact that the goddess was chiefly worshipped by women tells against +the view that she was originally a harbour-goddess. + +3. From -Maurs-, which is the oldest form handed down by tradition, +there have been developed by different treatment of the -u -Mars-, +-Mavors-, -Mors-; the transition to -o (similar to -Paula-, -Pola-, +and the like) appears also in the double form Mar-Mor (comp. +-Ma-murius-) alongside of -Mar-Mor- and -Ma-Mers-. + +4. The facts, that gates and doors and the morning (-ianus +matutinus-) were sacred to Ianus, and that he was always invoked +before any other god and was even represented in the series of +coins before Jupiter and the other gods, indicate unmistakeably that +he was the abstraction of opening and beginning. The double-head +looking both ways was connected with the gate that opened both ways. +To make him god of the sun and of the year is the less justifiable, +because the month that bears his name was originally the eleventh, +not the first; that month seems rather to have derived its name +from the circumstance, that at this season after the rest of the +middle of winter the cycle of the labours of the field began afresh. +It was, however, a matter of course that the opening of the year +should also be included in the sphere of Ianus, especially after +Ianuarius came to be placed at its head. + +5. I. IV. Tities and Luceres + +6. I. VI. Amalgamation of the Palatine and Quirinal Cities + +7. I. VII. Servian Wall + +8. I. III. Latium + +9. I. VII. Relation of Rome to Latium + +10. I. V. Burdens of the Burgesses, I. XI. Crimes + +11. The clearest evidence of this is the fact, that in the +communities organized on the Latin scheme augurs and Pontifices +occur everywhere (e. g. Cic. de Lege Agr. ii. 35, 96, and numerous +inscriptions), as does likewise the -pater patratus- of the Fetiales +in Laurentum (Orelli, 2276), but the other colleges do not. The +former, therefore, stand on the same footing with the constitution of +ten curies and the Flamines, Salii, and Luperci, as very ancient +heirlooms of the Latin stock; whereas the Duoviri -sacris faciundis-, +and the other colleges, like the thirty curies and the Servian tribes +and centuries, originated in, and remained therefore confined to, +Rome. But in the case of the second college--the pontifices--the +influence of Rome probably led to the introduction of that name +into the general Latin scheme instead of some earlier--perhaps +more than one--designation; or--a hypothesis which philologically +has much in its favour-- -pons- originally signified not "bridge," +but "way" generally, and -pontifex- therefore meant "constructor +of ways." + +The statements regarding the original number of the augurs in +particular vary. The view that it was necessary for the number to +be an odd one is refuted by Cicero (de Lege Agr. ii. 35, 96); and +Livy (x. 6) does not say so, but only states that the number of +Roman augurs had to be divisible by three, and so must have had +an odd number as its basis. According to Livy (l. c.) the number +was six down to the Ogulnian law, and the same is virtually +affirmed by Cicero (de Rep. ii. 9, 14) when he represents Romulus +as instituting four, and Numa two, augural stalls. On the number +of the pontifices comp. Staatsrecht, ii. 20. + +12. It is only an unreflecting misconception that can discover +in this usage a reminiscence of ancient human sacrifices. + +13. I. XII. Nature of the Roman Gods + +14. I. XII. Priests + +15. -Sors- from -serere-, to place in row. The -sortes- were +probably small wooden tablets arranged upon a string, which when +thrown formed figures of various kinds; an arrangement which puts +one in mind of the Runic characters. + +16. I. X. Hellenes and Latins + +17. I. VII. Servian Wall + +18. I. II. Indo-Germanic Culture + +19. I. IV. Tities and Luceres + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +Agriculture, Trade, and Commerce + + + +Agriculture and commerce are so intimately bound up with the +constitution and the external history of states, that the former +must frequently be noticed in the course of describing the latter. +We shall here endeavour to supplement the detached notices which +we have already given, by exhibiting a summary view of Italian and +particularly of Roman economics. + + +Agriculture + + +It has been already observed(1) that the transition from a pastoral +to an agricultural economy preceded the immigration of the Italians +into the peninsula. Agriculture continued to be the main support +of all the communities in Italy, of the Sabellians and Etruscans +no less than of the Latins. There were no purely pastoral tribes +in Italy during historical times, although of course the various +races everywhere combined pastoral husbandry, to a greater or less +extent according to the nature of the locality, with the cultivation +of the soil. The beautiful custom of commencing the formation of +new cities by tracing a furrow with the plough along the line of +the future ring-wall shows how deeply rooted was the feeling that +every commonwealth is dependent on agriculture. In the case of +Rome in particular--and it is only in its case that we can speak of +agrarian relations with any sort of certainty--the Servian reform +shows very clearly not only that the agricultural class originally +preponderated in the state, but also that an effort was made +permanently to maintain the collective body of freeholders as the +pith and marrow of the community. When in the course of time a +large portion of the landed property in Rome had passed into the +hands of non-burgesses and thus the rights and duties of burgesses +were no longer bound up with freehold property, the reformed +constitution obviated this incongruous state of things, and the +perils which it threatened, not merely temporarily but permanently, +by treating the members of the community without reference to their +political position once for all according to their freeholding, +and imposing the common burden of war-service on the freeholders--a +step which in the natural course of things could not but be followed +by the concession of public rights. The whole policy of Roman war +and conquest rested, like the constitution itself, on the basis of +the freehold system; as the freeholder alone was of value in the +state, the aim of war was to increase the number of its freehold +members. The vanquished community was either compelled to +merge entirely into the yeomanry of Rome, or, if not reduced to +this extremity, it was required, not to pay a war-contribution or +a fixed tribute, but to cede a portion, usually a third part, of +its domain, which was thereupon regularly occupied by Roman farms. +Many nations have gained victories and made conquests as the Romans +did; but none has equalled the Roman in thus making the ground +he had won his own by the sweat of his brow, and in securing by +the ploughshare what had been gained by the lance. That which is +gained by war may be wrested from the grasp by war again, but it +is not so with the conquests made by the plough; while the Romans +lost many battles, they scarcely ever on making peace ceded Roman +soil, and for this result they were indebted to the tenacity with +which the farmers clung to their fields and homesteads. The strength +of man and of the state lies in their dominion over the soil; the +greatness of Rome was built on the most extensive and immediate +mastery of her citizens over her soil, and on the compact unity of +the body which thus acquired so firm a hold. + + +System of Joint Cultivation + + +We have already indicated(2) that in the earliest times the arable +land was cultivated in common, probably by the several clans; each +clan tilled its own land, and thereafter distributed the produce +among the several households belonging to it. There exists indeed +an intimate connection between the system of joint tillage and the +clan form of society, and even subsequently in Rome joint residence +and joint management were of very frequent occurrence in the case +of co-proprietors.(3) Even the traditions of Roman law furnish +the information that wealth consisted at first in cattle and the +usufruct of the soil, and that it was not till later that land +came to be distributed among the burgesses as their own special +property.(4) Better evidence that such was the case is afforded +by the earliest designation of wealth as "cattle-stock" or +"slave-and-cattle-stock" (-pecunia-, -familia pecuniaque-), and of +the separate possessions of the children of the household and of +slaves as "small cattle" (-peculium-) also by the earliest form +of acquiring property through laying hold of it with the hand +(-mancipatio-), which was only appropriate to the case of moveable +articles;(5) and above all by the earliest measure of "land of one's +own" (-heredium-, from -herus-lord), consisting of two -jugera- +(about an acre and a quarter), which can only have applied to +garden-ground, and not to the hide.(6) When and how the distribution +of the arable land took place, can no longer be ascertained. This +much only is certain, that the oldest form of the constitution was +based not on freehold settlement, but on clanship as a substitute +for it, whereas the Servian constitution presupposes the distribution +of the land. It is evident from the same constitution that the +great bulk of the landed property consisted of middle-sized farms, +which provided work and subsistence for a family and admitted of +the keeping of cattle for tillage as well as of the application of +the plough. The ordinary extent of such a Roman full hide has not +been ascertained with precision, but can scarcely, as has already +been shown,(7) be estimated at less than twenty -jugera-(12 1/2 +acres nearly). + + +Culture of Grain + + +Their husbandry was mainly occupied with the culture of the cereals. +The usual grain was spelt (-far-);(8) but different kinds of pulse, +roots, and vegetables were also diligently cultivated. + + +Culture of the Vine + + +That the culture of the vine was not introduced for the first time +into Italy by Greek settlers,(9) is shown by the list of the festivals +of the Roman community which reaches back to a time preceding the +Greeks, and which presents three wine-festivals to be celebrated in +honour of "father Jovis," not in honour of the wine-god of more +recent times who was borrowed from the Greeks, the "father deliverer." +The very ancient legend which represents Mezentius king of Caere as +levying a wine-tax from the Latins or the Rutuli, and the various +versions of the widely-spread Italian story which affirms that the +Celts were induced to cross the Alps in consequence of their coming +to the knowledge of the noble fruits of Italy, especially of the +grape and of wine, are indications of the pride of the Latins in +their glorious vine, the envy of all their neighbours. A careful +system of vine-husbandry was early and generally inculcated by the +Latin priests. In Rome the vintage did not begin until the supreme +priest of the community, the -flamen- of Jupiter, had granted +permission for it and had himself made a beginning; in like manner a +Tusculan ordinance forbade the sale of new wine, until the priest +had proclaimed the festival of opening the casks. The early +prevalence of the culture of the vine is likewise attested not +only by the general adoption of wine-libations in the sacrificial +ritual, but also by the precept of the Roman priests promulgated +as a law of king Numa, that men should present in libation to the +gods no wine obtained from uncut grapes; just as, to introduce +the beneficial practice of drying the grain, they prohibited the +offering of grain undried. + + +Culture of the Olive + + +The culture of the olive was of later introduction, and certainly +was first brought to Italy by the Greeks.(10) The olive is said to +have been first planted on the shores of the western Mediterranean +towards the close of the second century of the city; and this view +accords with the fact that the olive-branch and the olive occupy +in the Roman ritual a place very subordinate to the juice of the +vine. The esteem in which both noble trees were held by the Romans +is shown by the vine and the olive-tree which were planted in the +middle of the Forum, not far from the Curtian lake. + + +The Fig + + +The principal fruit-tree planted was the nutritious fig, which was +probably a native of Italy. The legend of the origin of Rome wove +its threads most closely around the old fig-trees, several of which +stood near to and in the Roman Forum.(11) + + +Management of the Farm + + +It was the farmer and his sons who guided the plough, and performed +generally the labours of husbandry: it is not probable that slaves +or free day-labourers were regularly employed in the work of +the ordinary farm. The plough was drawn by the ox or by the cow; +horses, asses, and mules served as beasts of burden. The rearing +of cattle for the sake of meat or of milk did not exist at all as +a distinct branch of husbandry, or was prosecuted only to a very +limited extent, at least on the land which remained the property of +the clan; but, in addition to the smaller cattle which were driven +out together to the common pasture, swine and poultry, particularly +geese, were kept at the farm-yard. As a general rule, there was no +end of ploughing and re-ploughing: a field was reckoned imperfectly +tilled, in which the furrows were not drawn so close that harrowing +could be dispensed with; but the management was more earnest than +intelligent, and no improvement took place in the defective plough +or in the imperfect processes of reaping and of threshing. This +result is probably attributable rather to the scanty development +of rational mechanics than to the obstinate clinging of the farmers +to use and wont; for mere kindly attachment to the system of tillage +transmitted with the patrimonial soil was far from influencing the +practical Italian, and obvious improvements in agriculture, such +as the cultivation of fodder-plants and the irrigation of meadows, +may have been early adopted from neighbouring peoples or independently +developed--Roman literature itself in fact began with the discussion +of the theory of agriculture. Welcome rest followed diligent and +judicious labour; and here too religion asserted her right to soothe +the toils of life even to the humble by pauses for recreation and +for freer human movement and intercourse. Every eighth day (-nonae-), +and therefore on an average four times a month, the farmer went +to town to buy and sell and transact his other business. But rest +from labour, in the strict sense, took place only on the several +festival days, and especially in the holiday-month after the completion +of the winter sowing (-feriae sementivae-): during these set times +the plough rested by command of the gods, and not the farmer only, +but also his slave and his ox, reposed in holiday idleness. + +Such, probably, was the way in which the ordinary Roman farm was +cultivated in the earliest times. The next heirs had no protection +against bad management except the right of having the spendthrift +who squandered his inherited estate placed under wardship as if he +were a lunatic.(12) Women moreover were in substance divested of +their personal right of disposal, and, if they married, a member +of the same clan was ordinarily assigned as husband, in order to +retain the estate within the clan. The law sought to check the +overburdening of landed property with debt partly by ordaining, in +the case of a debt secured over the land, the provisional transference +of the ownership of the object pledged from the debtor to the +creditor, partly, in the case of a simple loan, by the rigour of the +proceedings in execution which speedily led to actual bankruptcy; +the latter means however, as the sequel will show, attained its +object but very imperfectly. No restriction was imposed by law on +the free divisibility of property. Desirable as it might be that +co-heirs should remain in the undivided possession of their heritage, +even the oldest law was careful to keep the power of dissolving +such a partnership open at any time to any partner; it was good that +brethren should dwell together in peace, but to compel them to do +so was foreign to the liberal spirit of Roman law. The Servian +constitution moreover shows that even in the regal period of Rome +there were not wanting cottagers and garden-proprietors, with whom +the mattock took the place of the plough. It was left to custom and +the sound sense of the population to prevent excessive subdivision +of the soil; and that their confidence in this respect was not +misplaced and the landed estates ordinarily remained entire, is +proved by the universal Roman custom of designating them by permanent +individual names. The community exercised only an indirect influence +in the matter by the sending forth of colonies, which regularly led +to the establishment of a number of new full hides, and frequently +doubtless also to the suppression of a number of cottage holdings, +the small landholders being sent forth as colonists. + + +Landed Proprietors + + +It is far more difficult to perceive how matters stood with landed +property on a larger scale. The fact that such larger properties +existed to no inconsiderable extent, cannot be doubted from the +early development of the -equites-, and may be easily explained +partly by the distribution of the clan-lands, which of itself +could not but call into existence a class of larger landowners +in consequence of the necessary inequality in the numbers of +the persons belonging to the several clans and participating in +the distribution, and partly by the abundant influx of mercantile +capital to Rome. But farming on a large scale in the proper +sense, implying a considerable establishment of slaves, such as we +afterwards meet with at Rome, cannot be supposed to have existed +during this period. On the contrary, to this period we must refer +the ancient definition, which represents the senators as called +fathers from the fields which they parcelled out among the common +people as a father among his children; and originally the landowner +must have distributed that portion of his land which he was unable +to farm in person, or even his whole estate, into little parcels +among his dependents to be cultivated by them, as is the general +practice in Italy at the present day. The recipient might be the +house-child or slave of the granter; if he was a free man, his +position was that which subsequently went by the name of "occupancy +on sufferance" (-precarium-). The recipient retained his occupancy +during the pleasure of the granter, and had no legal means of +protecting himself in possession against him; on the contrary, the +granter could eject him at any time when he pleased. The relation +did not necessarily involve any payment on the part of the person +who had the usufruct of the soil to its proprietor; but such +a payment beyond doubt frequently took place and may, as a rule, +have consisted in the delivery of a portion of the produce. The +relation in this case approximated to the lease of subsequent times, +but remained always distinguished from it partly by the absence of +a fixed term for its expiry, partly by its non-actionable character +on either side and the legal protection of the claim for rent depending +entirely on the lessor's right of ejection. It is plain that it +was essentially a relation based on mutual fidelity, which could +not subsist without the help of the powerful sanction of custom +consecrated by religion; and this was not wanting. The institution +of clientship, altogether of a moral-religious nature, beyond +doubt rested fundamentally on this assignation of the profits of +the soil. Nor was the introduction of such an assignation dependent +on the abolition of the system of common tillage; for, just as +after this abolition the individual, so previous to it the clan +might grant to dependents a joint use of its lands; and beyond +doubt with this very state of things was connected the fact that +the Roman clientship was not personal, but that from the outset +the client along with his clan entrusted himself for protection +and fealty to the patron and his clan. This earliest form of Roman +landholding serves to explain how there sprang from the great +landlords in Rome a landed, and not an urban, nobility. As the +pernicious institution of middlemen remained foreign to the Romans, +the Roman landlord found himself not much less chained to his land +than was the tenant and the farmer; he inspected and took part in +everything himself, and the wealthy Roman esteemed it his highest +praise to be reckoned a good landlord. His house was in the country; +in the city he had only a lodging for the purpose of attending to +his business there, and perhaps of breathing the purer air that +prevailed there during the hot season. Above all, however, these +arrangements furnished a moral basis for the relation between the +upper class and the common people, and so materially lessened its +dangers. The free tenants-on-sufferance, sprung from families of +decayed farmers, dependents, and freedmen, formed the great bulk +of the proletariate,(13) and were not much more dependent on the +landlord than the petty leaseholder inevitably is with reference to +the great proprietor. The slaves tilling the fields for a master +were beyond doubt far less numerous than the free tenants. In all +cases where an immigrant nation has not at once reduced to slavery +a population -en masse-, slaves seem to have existed at first only +to a very limited amount, and consequently free labourers seem to +have played a very different part in the state from that in which +they subsequently appear. In Greece "day-labourers" (--theites--) +in various instances during the earlier period occupy the place +of the slaves of a later age, and in some communities, among the +Locrians for instance, there was no slavery down to historical times. +Even the slave, moreover, was ordinarily of Italian descent; the +Volscian, Sabine, or Etruscan war-captive must have stood in a +different relation towards his master from the Syrian and the Celt +of later times. Besides as a tenant he had in fact, though not +in law, land and cattle, wife and child, as the landlord had, and +after manumission was introduced(14) there was a possibility, not +remote, of working out his freedom. If such then was the footing +on which landholding on a large scale stood in the earliest times, +it was far from being an open sore in the commonwealth; on the +contrary, it was of most material service to it. Not only did it +provide subsistence, although scantier upon the whole, for as many +families in proportion as the intermediate and smaller properties; +but the landlords moreover, occupying a comparatively elevated and +free position, supplied the community with its natural leaders and +rulers, while the agricultural and unpropertied tenants-on-sufferance +furnished the genuine material for the Roman policy of colonization, +without which it never would have succeeded; for while the state +may furnish land to him who has none, it cannot impart to one who +knows nothing of agriculture the spirit and the energy to wield +the plough. + + +Pastoral Husbandry + + +Ground under pasture was not affected by the distribution of the +land. The state, and not the clanship, was regarded as the owner +of the common pastures. It made use of them in part for its +own flocks and herds, which were intended for sacrifice and other +purposes and were always kept up by means of the cattle-fines; and +it gave to the possessors of cattle the privilege of driving them +out upon the common pasture for a moderate payment (-scriptura-). +The right of pasturage on the public domains may have originally +borne some relation -de facto- to the possession of land, but no +connection -de jure- can ever have subsisted in Rome between the +particular hides of land and a definite proportional use of the +common pasture; because property could be acquired even by the +--metoikos--, but the right to use the common pasture was only +granted exceptionally to the --metoikos-- by the royal favour. +At this period, however, the public land seems to have held but +a subordinate place in the national economy generally, for the +original common pasturage was not perhaps very extensive, and the +conquered territory was probably for the most part distributed +immediately as arable land among the clans or at a later period +among individuals. + + +Handicrafts + + +While agriculture was the chief and most extensively prosecuted +occupation in Rome, other branches of industry did not fail to +accompany it, as might be expected from the early development of +urban life in that emporium of the Latins. In fact eight guilds of +craftsmen were numbered among the institutions of king Numa, that +is, among the institutions that had existed in Rome from time +immemorial. These were the flute-blowers, the goldsmiths, the +coppersmiths, the carpenters, the fullers, the dyers, the potters, +and the shoemakers--a list which would substantially exhaust the +class of tradesmen working to order on account of others in the very +early times, when the baking of bread and the professional art of +healing were not yet known and wool was spun into clothing by the +women of the household themselves. It is remarkable that there +appears no special guild of workers in iron. This affords a +fresh confirmation of the fact that the manufacture of iron was of +comparatively late introduction in Latium; and on this account in +matters of ritual down to the latest times copper alone might be +used, e.g. for the sacred plough and the shear-knife of the priests. +These bodies of craftsmen must have been of great importance in +early times for the urban life of Rome and for its position towards +the Latin land--an importance not to be measured by the depressed +condition of Roman handicraft in later times, when it was injuriously +affected by the multitude of artisan-slaves working for their +master or on his account, and by the increased import of articles +of luxury. The oldest lays of Rome celebrated not only the mighty +war-god Mamers, but also the skilled armourer Mamurius, who understood +the art of forging for his fellow-burgesses shields similar to the +divine model shield that had fallen from heaven; Volcanus the god +of fire and of the forge already appears in the primitive list of +Roman festivals.(15) Thus in the earliest Rome, as everywhere, +the arts of forging and of wielding the ploughshare and the sword +went hand in hand, and there was nothing of that arrogant contempt +for handicrafts which we afterwards meet with there. After the +Servian organization, however, imposed the duty of serving in the +army exclusively on the freeholders, the industrial classes were +excluded not by any law, but practically in consequence of their +general want of a freehold qualification, from the privilege of +bearing arms, except in the case of special subdivisions chosen +from the carpenters, coppersmiths, and certain classes of musicians +and attached with a military organization to the army; and this may +perhaps have been the origin of the subsequent habit of depreciating +the manual arts and of the position of political inferiority assigned +to them. The institution of guilds doubtless had the same object +as the colleges of priests that resembled them in name; the men of +skill associated themselves in order more permanently and securely +to preserve the tradition of their art. That there was some mode +of excluding unskilled persons is probable; but no traces are to be +met with either of monopolizing tendencies or of protective steps +against inferior manufactures. There is no aspect, however, of +the life of the Roman people respecting which our information is +so scanty as that of the Roman trades. + + +Inland Commerce of the Italians + + +Italian commerce must, it is obvious, have been limited in the +earliest epoch to the mutual dealings of the Italians themselves. +Fairs (-mercatus-), which must be distinguished from the usual weekly +markets (-nundinae-) were of great antiquity in Latium. Probably +they were at first associated with international gatherings and +festivals, and so perhaps were connected in Rome with the festival +at the federal temple on the Aventine; the Latins, who came for this +purpose to Rome every year on the 13th August, may have embraced +at the same time the opportunity of transacting their business +in Rome and of purchasing what they needed there. A similar and +perhaps still greater importance belonged in the case of Etruria +to the annual general assembly at the temple of Voltumna (perhaps +near Montefiascone) in the territory of Volsinii; it served at the +same time as a fair and was regularly frequented by Roman traders. +But the most important of all the Italian fairs was that which was +held at Soracte in the grove of Feronia, a situation than which +none could be found more favourable for the exchange of commodities +among the three great nations. That high isolated mountain, which +appears to have been set down by nature herself in the midst of the +plain of the Tiber as a goal for the traveller, lay on the boundary +which separated the Etruscan and Sabine lands (to the latter +of which it appears mostly to have belonged), and it was likewise +easily accessible from Latium and Umbria. Roman merchants regularly +made their appearance there, and the wrongs of which they complained +gave rise to many a quarrel with the Sabines. + +Beyond doubt dealings of barter and traffic were carried on at these +fairs long before the first Greek or Phoenician vessel entered the +western sea. When bad harvests had occurred, different districts +supplied each other at these fairs with grain; there, too, they +exchanged cattle, slaves, metals, and whatever other articles were +deemed needful or desirable in those primitive times. Oxen and +sheep formed the oldest medium of exchange, ten sheep being reckoned +equivalent to one ox. The recognition of these objects as universal +legal representatives of value or in other words as money, as well +as the scale of proportion between the large and smaller cattle, +may be traced back--as the recurrence of both especially among the +Germans shows--not merely to the Graeco-Italian period, but beyond +this even to the epoch of a purely pastoral economy.(16) In +Italy, where metal in considerable quantity was everywhere required +especially for agricultural purposes and for armour, but few of its +provinces themselves produced the requisite metals, copper (-aes-) +very early made its appearance alongside of cattle as a second +medium of exchange; and so the Latins, who were poor in copper, +designated valuation itself as "coppering" (-aestimatio-). This +establishment of copper as a general equivalent recognized throughout +the whole peninsula, as well as the simplest numeral signs of +Italian invention to be mentioned more particularly below(17) and +the Italian duodecimal system, may be regarded as traces of this +earliest international intercourse of the Italian peoples while +they still had the peninsula to themselves. + + +Transmarine Traffic of the Italians + + +We have already indicated generally the nature of the influence +exercised by transmarine commerce on the Italians who continued +independent. The Sabellian stocks remained almost wholly unaffected +by it. They were in possession of but a small and inhospitable +belt of coast, and received whatever reached them from foreign +nations--the alphabet for instance--only through the medium of the +Tuscans or Latins; a circumstance which accounts for their want of +urban development. The intercourse of Tarentum with the Apulians +and Messapians appears to have been at this epoch still unimportant. +It was otherwise along the west coast. In Campania the Greeks and +Italians dwelt peacefully side by side, and in Latium, and still +more in Etruria, an extensive and regular exchange of commodities +took place. What were the earliest articles of import, may +be inferred partly from the objects found in the primitive tombs, +particularly those at Caere, partly from indications preserved in +the language and institutions of the Romans, partly and chiefly from +the stimulus given to Italian industry; for of course they bought +foreign manufactures for a considerable time before they began +to imitate them. We cannot determine how far the development of +handicrafts had advanced before the separation of the stocks, or +what progress it thereafter made while Italy remained left to its +own resources; it is uncertain how far the Italian fullers, dyers, +tanners, and potters received their impulse from Greece or Phoenicia +or had their own independent development But certainly the trade +of the goldsmiths, which existed in Rome from time immemorial, can +only have arisen after transmarine commerce had begun and ornaments +of gold had to some extent found sale among the inhabitants of the +peninsula. We find, accordingly, in the oldest sepulchral chambers +of Caere and Vulci in Etruria and of Praeneste in Latium, plates +of gold with winged lions stamped upon them, and similar ornaments +of Babylonian manufacture. It may be a question in reference to +the particular object found, whether it has been introduced from +abroad or is a native imitation; but on the whole it admits of +no doubt that all the west coast of Italy in early times imported +metallic wares from the East. It will be shown still more clearly +in the sequel, when we come to speak of the exercise of art, that +architecture and modelling in clay and metal received a powerful +stimulus in very early times through Greek influence, or, in +other words, that the oldest tools and the oldest models came from +Greece. In the sepulchral chambers just mentioned, besides the +gold ornaments, there were deposited vessels of bluish enamel or +greenish clay, which, judging from the materials and style as well +as from the hieroglyphics impressed upon them, were of Egyptian +origin;(18) perfume-vases of Oriental alabaster, several of them +in the form of Isis; ostrich-eggs with painted or carved sphinxes +and griffins; beads of glass and amber. These last may have come +by the land-route from the north; but the other objects prove the +import of perfumes and articles of ornament of all sorts from the +East. Thence came linen and purple, ivory and frankincense, as is +proved by the early use of linen fillets, of the purple dress and +ivory sceptre for the king, and of frankincense in sacrifice, as +well as by the very ancient borrowed names for them (--linon--, +-linum-; --porphura--, -purpura-; --skeiptron--, --skipon--, -scipio-; +perhaps also --elephas--, -ebur-; --thuos--, -thus-). Of similar +significance is the derivation of a number of words relating to +articles used in eating and drinking, particularly the names of +oil,(19) of jugs (--amphoreus--, -amp(h)ora-, -ampulla-, --krateir--, +-cratera-), of feasting (--komazo--, -comissari-), of a dainty dish +(--opsonion--, -opsonium-) of dough (--maza--, -massa-), and various +names of cakes (--glukons--, -lucuns-; --plakons--, -placenta-; +--turons--, -turunda-); while conversely the Latin names for dishes +(-patina-, --patanei--) and for lard (-arvina-, --arbinei--) have +found admission into Sicilian Greek. The later custom of placing +in the tomb beside the dead Attic, Corcyrean, and Campanian vases +proves, what these testimonies from language likewise show, the +early market for Greek pottery in Italy. That Greek leather-work +made its way into Latium at least in the shape of armour is apparent +from the application of the Greek word for leather --skutos-- to +signify among the Latins a shield (-scutum-; like -lorica-, from +-lorum-). Finally, we deduce a similar inference from the numerous +nautical terms borrowed from the Greek (although it is remarkable +that the chief technical expressions in navigation--the terms +for the sail, mast, and yard--are pure Latin forms);(20) and from +the recurrence in Latin of the Greek designations for a letter +(--epistolei--, -epistula-), a token (-tessera-, from --tessara--(21)), +a balance (--stateir--, -statera-), and earnest-money (--arrabon--, +-arrabo-, -arra-); and conversely from the adoption of Italian +law-terms in Sicilian Greek,(22) as well as from the exchange of +the proportions and names of coins, weights, and measures, which +we shall notice in the sequel. The character of barbarism which +all these borrowed terms obviously present, and especially the +characteristic formation of the nominative from the accusative +(-placenta- = --plakounta--; -ampora- = --amphorea--; -statera-= +--stateira--), constitute the clearest evidence of their great +antiquity. The worship of the god of traffic (-Mercurius-) also +appears to have been from the first influenced by Greek conceptions; +and his annual festival seems even to have been fixed on the ides +of May, because the Hellenic poets celebrated him as the son of +the beautiful Maia. + + +Commerce, in Latium Passive, in Etruria Active + + +It thus appears that Italy in very ancient times derived +its articles of luxury, just as imperial Rome did, from the East, +before it attempted to manufacture for itself after the models which +it imported. In exchange it had nothing to offer except its raw +produce, consisting especially of its copper, silver, and iron, +but including also slaves and timber for shipbuilding, amber from +the Baltic, and, in the event of bad harvests occurring abroad, its +grain. From this state of things as to the commodities in demand +and the equivalents to be offered in return, we have already +explained why Italian traffic assumed in Latium a form so differing +from that which it presented in Etruria. The Latins, who were +deficient in all the chief articles of export, could carry on only +a passive traffic, and were obliged even in the earliest times to +procure the copper of which they had need from the Etruscans in +exchange for cattle or slaves--we have already mentioned the very +ancient practice of selling the latter on the right bank of the +Tiber.(23) On the other hand the Tuscan balance of trade must +have been necessarily favourable in Caere as in Populonia, in Capua +as in Spina. Hence the rapid development of prosperity in these +regions and their powerful commercial position; whereas Latium +remained preeminently an agricultural country. The same contrast +recurs in all their individual relations. The oldest tombs constructed +and furnished in the Greek fashion, but with an extravagance to which +the Greeks were strangers, are to be found at Caere, while--with the +exception of Praeneste, which appears to have occupied a peculiar +position and to have been very intimately connected with Falerii +and southern Etruria--the Latin land exhibits only slight ornaments +for the dead of foreign origin, and not a single tomb of luxury +proper belonging to the earlier times; there as among the Sabellians +a simple turf ordinarily sufficed as a covering for the dead. The +most ancient coins, of a time not much later than those of Magna +Graecia, belong to Etruria, and to Populonia in particular: during +the whole regal period Latium had to be content with copper by +weight, and had not even introduced foreign coins, for the instances +are extremely rare in which such coins (e.g. one of Posidonia) +have been found there. In architecture, plastic art, and embossing, +the same stimulants acted on Etruria and on Latium, but it was only +in the case of the former that capital was everywhere brought to +bear on them and led to their being pursued extensively and with +growing technical skill. The commodities were upon the whole the +same, which were bought, sold, and manufactured in Latium and in +Etruria; but the southern land was far inferior to its northern +neighbours in the energy with which its commerce was plied. The +contrast between them in this respect is shown in the fact that +the articles of luxury manufactured after Greek models in Etruria +found a market in Latium, particularly at Praeneste, and even in +Greece itself, while Latium hardly ever exported anything of the +kind. + + +Etrusco-Attic, and Latino-Sicilian Commerce + + +A distinction not less remarkable between the commerce of the Latins +and that of the Etruscans appears in their respective routes or +lines of traffic. As to the earliest commerce of the Etruscans +in the Adriatic we can hardly do more than express the conjecture +that it was directed from Spina and Atria chiefly to Corcyra. +We have already mentioned(24) that the western Etruscans ventured +boldly into the eastern seas, and trafficked not merely with Sicily, +but also with Greece proper. An ancient intercourse with Attica +is indicated by the Attic clay vases, which are so numerous in the +more recent Etruscan tombs, and had been perhaps even at this time +introduced for other purposes than the already-mentioned decoration +of tombs, while conversely Tyrrhenian bronze candlesticks and gold +cups were articles early in request in Attica. Still more definitely +is such an intercourse indicated by the coins. The silver pieces +of Populonia were struck after the pattern of a very old silver +piece stamped on one side with the Gorgoneion, on the other merely +presenting an incuse square, which has been found at Athens and +on the old amber-route in the district of Posen, and which was in +all probability the very coin struck by order of Solon in Athens. +We have mentioned already that the Etruscans had also dealings, and +perhaps after the development of the Etrusco-Carthaginian maritime +alliance their principal dealings, with the Carthaginians. It is +a remarkable circumstance that in the oldest tombs of Caere, besides +native vessels of bronze and silver, there have been found chiefly +Oriental articles, which may certainly have come from Greek merchants, +but more probably were introduced by Phoenician traders. We must +not, however, attribute too great importance to this Phoenician trade, +and in particular we must not overlook the fact that the alphabet, +as well as the other influences that stimulated and matured native +culture, were brought to Etruria by the Greeks, and not by the +Phoenicians. + +Latin commerce assumed a different direction. Rarely as we have +opportunity of instituting comparisons between the Romans and the +Etruscans as regards the reception of Hellenic elements, the cases +in which such comparisons can be instituted exhibit the two nations +as completely independent of each other. This is most clearly +apparent in the case of the alphabet. The Greek alphabet brought +to the Etruscans from the Chalcidico-Doric colonies in Sicily or +Campania varies not immaterially from that which the Latins derived +from the same quarter, so that, although both peoples have drawn +from the same source, they have done so at different times and +different places. The same phenomenon appears in particular words: +the Roman Pollux and the Tuscan Pultuke are independent corruptions +of the Greek Polydeukes; the Tuscan Utuze or Uthuze is formed from +Odysseus, the Roman Ulixes is an exact reproduction of the form of +the name usual in Sicily; in like manner the Tuscan Aivas corresponds +to the old Greek form of this name, the Roman Aiax to a secondary +form that was probably also Sicilian; the Roman Aperta or Apello +and the Samnite Appellun have sprung from the Doric Apellon, the +Tuscan Apulu from Apollon. Thus the language and writing of Latium +indicate that the direction of Latin commerce was exclusively towards +the Cumaeans and Siceliots. Every other trace which has survived +from so remote an age leads to the same conclusion: such as, the +coin of Posidonia found in Latium; the purchase of grain, when +a failure of the harvest occurred in Rome, from the Volscians, +Cumaeans, and Siceliots (and, as was natural, from the Etruscans +as well); above all, the relations subsisting between the Latin +and Sicilian monetary systems. As the local Dorico-Chalcidian +designation of silver coin --nomos--, and the Sicilian measure +--eimina--, were transferred with the same meaning to Latium as +-nummus- and -hemina-, so conversely the Italian designations of +weight, -libra-, -triens-, -quadrans-, -sextans-, -uncia-, which +arose in Latium for the measurement of the copper which was used +by weight instead of money, had found their way into the common +speech of Sicily in the third century of the city under the corrupt +and hybrid forms, --litra--, --trias--, --tetras--, --exas--, +--ougkia--. Indeed, among all the Greek systems of weights and +moneys, the Sicilian alone was brought into a determinate relation +to the Italian copper-system; not only was the value of silver set +down conventionally and perhaps legally as two hundred and fifty +times that of copper, but the equivalent on this computation of a +Sicilian pound of copper (1/120th of the Attic talent, 2/3 of the +Roman pound) was in very early times struck, especially at Syracuse, +as a silver coin (--litra argurion--, i.e. "copper-pound in +silver"). Accordingly it cannot be doubted that Italian bars of +copper circulated also in Sicily instead of money; and this exactly +harmonizes with the hypothesis that the commerce of the Latins +with Sicily was a passive commerce, in consequence of which Latin +money was drained away thither. Other proofs of ancient intercourse +between Sicily and Italy, especially the adoption in the Sicilian +dialect of the Italian expressions for a commercial loan, a prison, +and a dish, and the converse reception of Sicilian terms in Italy, +have been already mentioned.(25) We meet also with several, though +less definite, traces of an ancient intercourse of the Latins with +the Chalcidian cities in Lower Italy, Cumae and Neapolis, and with +the Phocaeans in Velia and Massilia. That it was however far less +active than that with the Siceliots is shown by the well-known +fact that all the Greek words which made their way in earlier times +to Latium exhibit Doric forms--we need only recall -Aesculapius-, +-Latona-, -Aperta-, -machina-. Had their dealings with the originally +Ionian cities, such as Cumae(26) and the Phocaean settlements, +been even merely on a similar scale with those which they had with +the Sicilian Dorians, Ionic forms would at least have made their +appearance along with the others; although certainly Dorism early +penetrated even into these Ionic colonies themselves, and their +dialect varied greatly. While all the facts thus combine to attest +the stirring traffic of the Latins with the Greeks of the western +main generally, and especially with the Sicilians, there hardly +occurred any immediate intercourse with the Asiatic Phoenicians, +and the intercourse with those of Africa, which is sufficiently +attested by statements of authors and by articles found, can only +have occupied a secondary position as affecting the state of culture +in Latium; in particular it is significant that--if we leave out of +account some local names--there is an utter absence of any evidence +from language as to ancient intercourse between the Latins and the +nations speaking the Aramaic tongue.(27) + +If we further inquire how this traffic was mainly carried on, whether +by Italian merchants abroad or by foreign merchants in Italy, the +former supposition has all the probabilities in its favour, at +least so far as Latium is concerned. It is scarcely conceivable +that those Latin terms denoting the substitute for money and the +commercial loan could have found their way into general use in the +language of the inhabitants of Sicily through the mere resort of +Sicilian merchants to Ostia and their receipt of copper in exchange +for ornaments. Lastly, in regard to the persons and classes +by whom this traffic was carried on in Italy, no special superior +class of merchants distinct from and independent of the class of +landed proprietors developed itself in Rome. The reason of this +surprising phenomenon was, that the wholesale commerce of Latium was +from the beginning in the hands of the large landed proprietors--a +hypothesis which is not so singular as it seems. It was natural +that in a country intersected by several navigable rivers the great +landholder, who was paid by his tenants their quotas of produce in +kind, should come at an early period to possess barks; and there is +evidence that such was the case. The transmarine traffic conducted +on the trader's own account must therefore have fallen into the +hands of the great landholder, seeing that he alone possessed the +vessels for it and--in his produce--the articles for export.(28) +In fact the distinction between a landed and a moneyed aristocracy +was unknown to the Romans of earlier times; the great landholders +were at the same time the speculators and the capitalists. In +the case of a very energetic commerce such a combination certainly +could not have been maintained; but, as the previous representation +shows, while there was a comparatively vigorous traffic in Rome in +consequence of the trade of the Latin land being there concentrated, +Rome was by no means essentially a commercial city like Caere or +Tarentum, but was and continued to be the centre of an agricultural +community. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter XIII + + + +1. I. II. Agriculture + +2. I. III. Clan Villages, I. V. The Community + +3. The system which we meet with in the case of the Germanic joint +tillage, combining a partition of the land in property among the +clansmen with its joint cultivation by the clan, can hardly ever +have existed in Italy. Had each clansman been regarded in Italy, +as among the Germans, in the light of proprietor of a particular +spot in each portion of the collective domain that was marked off +for tillage, the separate husbandry of later times would probably +have set out from a minute subdivision of hides. But the very +opposite was the case; the individual names of the Roman hides +(-fundus Cornelianus-) show clearly that the Roman proprietor owned +from the beginning a possession not broken up but united. + +4. Cicero (de Rep. ii. 9, 14, comp. Plutarch, Q. Rom. 15) states: +-Tum (in the time of Romulus) erat res in pecore et locorum +possessionibus, ex quo pecuniosi et locupletes vocabantur--(Numa) +primum agros, quos bello Romulus ceperat, divisit viritim civibus-. +In like manner Dionysius represents Romulus as dividing the land into +thirty curial districts, and Numa as establishing boundary-stones +and introducing the festival of the Terminalia (i. 7, ii. 74; and +thence Plutarch, -Numa-, 16). + +5. I. XI. Contracts + +6. Since this assertion still continues to be disputed, we +shall let the numbers speak for themselves. The Roman writers on +agriculture of the later republic and the imperial period reckon on +an average five -modii- of wheat as sufficient to sow a -jugerum-, and +the produce as fivefold. The produce of a -heredium- accordingly +(even when, without taking into view the space occupied by +the dwelling-house and farm-yard, we regard it as entirely arable +land, and make no account of years of fallow) amounts to fifty, or +deducting the seed forty, modii. For an adult hard-working slave +Cato (c. 56) reckons fifty-one -modii-of wheat as the annual +consumption. These data enable any one to answer for himself the +question whether a Roman family could or could not subsist on the +produce of a -heredium-. The attempted proof to the contrary is +based on the ground that the slave of later times subsisted more +exclusively on corn than the free farmer of the earlier epoch, and +that the assumption of a fivefold return is one too low for this +earlier epoch; both assumptions are probably correct, but for both +there is a limit. Doubtless the subsidiary produce yielded by +the arable land itself and by the common pasture, such as figs, +vegetables, milk, flesh (especially as derived from the old and +zealously pursued rearing of swine), and the like, are specially +to be taken into account for the older period; but the older Roman +pastoral husbandry, though not unimportant, was withal of subordinate +importance, and the chief subsistence of the people was always +notoriously grain. We may, moreover, on account of the thoroughness +of the earlier cultivation obtain a very considerable increase, +especially of the gross produce--and beyond doubt the farmers of +this period drew a larger produce from their lands than the great +landholders of the later republic and the empire obtained (iii. +Latium); but moderation must be exercised in forming such estimates, +because we have to deal with a question of averages and with a mode +of husbandry conducted neither methodically nor with large capital. +The assumption of a tenfold instead of a fivefold return will be +the utmost limit, and yet it is far from sufficing. In no case +can the enormous deficit, which is left even according to those +estimates between the produce of the -heredium- and the requirements +of the household, be covered by mere superiority of cultivation. +In fact the counter-proof can only be regarded as successful, when +it shall have produced a methodical calculation based on rural +economics, according to which among a population chiefly subsisting +on vegetables the produce of a piece of land of an acre and a quarter +proves sufficient on an average for the subsistence of a family. + +It is indeed asserted that instances occur even in historical times +of colonies founded with allotments of two -jugera-; but the only +instance of the kind (Liv. iv. 47) is that of the colony of Labici +in the year 336--an instance, which will certainly not be reckoned +(by such scholars as are worth the arguing with) to belong to the +class of traditions that are trustworthy in their historical details, +and which is beset by other very serious difficulties (see book +ii. ch. 5, note). It is no doubt true that in the non-colonial +assignation of land to the burgesses collectively (-adsignatio +viritana-) sometimes only a few -jugera- were granted (as e. g. +Liv. viii. ii, 21). In these cases however it was the intention +not to create new farms with the allotments, but rather, as a rule, +to add to the existing farms new parcels from the conquered lands +(comp. C. I. L. i. p. 88). At any rate, any supposition is better +than a hypothesis which requires us to believe as it were in +a miraculous multiplication of the food of the Roman household. +The Roman farmers were far less modest in their requirements than +their historiographers; they themselves conceived that they could +not subsist even on allotments of seven -jugera- or a produce of +one hundred and forty -modii-. + +7. I. VI. Time and Occasion of the Reform + +8. Perhaps the latest, although probably not the last, attempt +to prove that a Latin farmer's family might have subsisted on two +-jugera- of land, finds its chief support in the argument that Varro +(de R. R. i. 44, i) reckons the seed requisite for the -jugerum- +at five -modii- of wheat but ten -modii- of spelt, and estimates +the produce as corresponding to this, whence it is inferred that +the cultivation of spelt yielded a produce, if not double, at least +considerably higher than that of wheat. But the converse is more +correct, and the nominally higher quantity sown and reaped is simply +to be explained by the fact that the Romans garnered and sowed the +wheat already shelled, but the spelt still in the husk (Pliny, H. +N. xviii. 7, 61), which in this case was not separated from the +fruit by threshing. For the same reason spelt is at the present +day sown twice as thickly as wheat, and gives a produce twice as +great by measure, but less after deduction of the husks. According +to Wurtemberg estimates furnished to me by G. Hanssen, the average +produce of the Wurtemberg -morgen- is reckoned in the case of +wheat (with a sowing of 1/4 to 1/2 -scheffel-) at 3 -scheffel- of +the medium weight of 275 Ibs. (= 825 Ibs.); in the case of spelt +(with a sowing of 1/2 to 1 1/2 -scheffel-) at least 7 -scheffel- of +the medium weight of 150 lbs. ( = 1050 Ibs.), which are reduced +by shelling to about 4 -scheffel-. Thus spelt compared with wheat +yields in the gross more than double, with equally good soil perhaps +triple the crop, but--by specific weight--before the shelling not +much above, after shelling (as "kernel") less than, the half. It +was not by mistake, as has been asserted, but because it was fitting +in computations of this sort to start from estimates of a like +nature handed down to us, that the calculation instituted above was +based on wheat; it may stand, because, when transferred to spelt, +it does not essentially differ and the produce rather falls than +rises. Spelt is less nice as to soil and climate, and exposed +to fewer risks than wheat; but the latter yields on the whole, +especially when we take into account the not inconsiderable expenses +of shelling, a higher net produce (on an average of fifty years in +the district of Frankenthal in Rhenish Bavaria the -malter- of wheat +stands at 11 -gulden- 3 krz., the -malter- of spelt at 4 -gulden-30 +krz.), and, as in South Germany, where the soil admits, the growing +of wheat is preferred and generally with the progress of cultivation +comes to supersede that of spelt, so the analogous transition of +Italian agriculture from the culture of spelt to that of wheat was +undeniably a progress. + +9. I. II. Agriculture + +10. -Oleum- and -oliva- are derived from --elaion--, --elaia--, +and -amurca- (oil-less) from --amorgei--. + +11. But there is no proper authority for the statement that the +fig-tree which stood in front of the temple of Saturn was cut down +in the year 260 (Plin. H. N. xv. 18, 77); the date CCLX. is wanting +in all good manuscripts, and has been interpolated, probably with +reference to Liv. ii. 21. + +12. I. XI. Property + +13. I. VI. Class of --Metoeci-- Subsisting by the Side of the +Community + +14. I. XI. Guardianship + +15. I. XII. Oldest Table of Roman Festivals + +16. The comparative legal value of sheep and oxen, as is well known, +is proved by the fact that, when the cattle-fines were converted +into money-fines, the sheep was rated at ten, and the ox at a +hundred asses (Festus, v. -peculatus-, p. 237, comp. pp. 34, 144; +Gell. xi. i; Plutarch, Poplicola, ii). By a similar adjustment the +Icelandic law makes twelve rams equivalent to a cow; only in this +as in other instances the Germanic law has substituted the duodecimal +for the older decimal system. + +It is well known that the term denoting cattle was transferred to +denote money both among the Latins (-pecunia-) and among the Germans +(English fee). + +17. I. XIV. Decimal System + +18. There has lately been found at Praeneste a silver mixing-jug, +with a Phoenician and a hieroglyphic inscription (Mon. dell Inst. +x. plate 32), which directly proves that such Egyptian wares as +come to light in Italy have found their way thither through the +medium of the Phoenicians. + +19. comp. I. XIII. Culture of the Olive + +20. -Velum- is certainly of Latin origin; so is -malus-, especially +as that term denotes not merely the mast, but the tree in general: +-antenna- likewise may come from --ana-- (-anhelare-, -antestari-), +and -tendere- = -supertensa-. Of Greek origin, on the other +hand, are -gubenare-, to steer (--kubernan--); -ancora-, anchor +(--agkura--); -prora-, ship's bow (--prora--); -aplustre-, +ship's stern (--aphlaston--); -anquina-, the rope fastening the +yards (--agkoina--); -nausea-, sea-sickness (--nausia--). The +four chief winds of the ancients- -aquilo-, the "eagle-wind," the +north-easterly Tramontana; -voltumus- (of uncertain derivation, +perhaps the "vulture-wind"), the south-easterly; -auster- the +"scorching" southwest wind, the Sirocco; -favonius-, the "favourable" +north-west wind blowing from the Tyrrhene Sea--have indigenous +names bearing no reference to navigation; but all the other Latin +names for winds are Greek (such as -eurus-, -notus-), or translations +from the Greek (e.g. -solanus- = --apelioteis--, -Africus- = +--lips--). + +21. This meant in the first instance the tokens used in the service +of the camp, the --xuleiphia kata phulakein brachea teleos echonta +charakteira-- (Polyb. vi. 35, 7); the four -vigiliae- of the +night-service gave name to the tokens generally. The fourfold +division of the night for the service of watching is Greek as well +as Roman; the military science of the Greeks may well have exercised +an influence--possibly through Pyrrhus (Liv. xxxv. 14)--in the +organization of the measures for security in the Roman camp. The +employment of the non-Doric form speaks for the comparatively late +date at which theword was taken over. + +22. I. XI. Character of the Roman Law + +23. I. VII. Relation of Rome to Latium + +24. I. X. Etruscan Commerce + +25. I. XI. Clients and Foreigners, I. XIII. Commerce, in Latium +Passive, in Etruria Active + +26. I. X. Greek Cities Near Vesuvius + +27. If we leave out of view -Sarranus-, -Afer-, and other local +designations (I. X. Phoenicians and Italians in Opposition to the +Hellenes), the Latin language appears not to possess a single word +immediately derived in early times from the Phoenician. The very +few words from Phoenician roots which occur in it, such as -arrabo- +or -arra- and perhaps also -murra-, -nardus-, and the like, are +plainly borrowed proximately from the Greek, which has a considerable +number of such words of Oriental extraction as indications of its +primitive intercourse with the Aramaeans. That --elephas-- and +-ebur- should have come from the same Phoenician original with or +without the addition of the article, and thus have been each formed +independently, is a linguistic impossibility, as the Phoenician +article is in reality -ha-, and is not so employed; besides the +Oriental primitive word has not as yet been found. The same holds +true of the enigmatical word -thesaurus-; whether it may have been +originally Greek or borrowed by the Greeks from the Phoenician +or Persian, it is at any rate, as a Latin word, derived from the +Greek, as the very retaining of its aspiration proves (xii. Foreign +Worships). + +28. Quintus Claudius, in a law issued shortly before 534, prohibited +the senators from having sea-going vessels holding more than 300 +-amphorae- (1 amph. = nearly 6 gallons): -id satis habitum ad fructus +ex agris vectandos; quaestus omnis patribus indecorus visus- (Liv. +xxi. 63). It was thus an ancient usage, and was still permitted, +that the senators should possess sea-going vessels for the transport +of the produce of their estates: on the other hand, transmarine +mercantile speculation (-quaestus-, traffic, fitting-out of vessels, +&c.) on their part was prohibited. It is a curious fact that the +ancient Greeks as well as the Romans expressed the tonnage of their +sea-going ships constantly in amphorae; the reason evidently being, +that Greece as well as Italy exported wine at a comparatively early +period, and on a larger scale than any other bulky article. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +Measuring and Writing + + + +The art of measuring brings the world into subjection to man; +the art of writing prevents his knowledge from perishing along +with himself; together they make man--what nature has not made +him--all-powerful and eternal. It is the privilege and duty of +history to trace the course of national progress along these paths +also. + + +Italian Measures + + +Measurement necessarily presupposes the development of the several +ideas of units of time, of space, and of weight, and of a whole +consisting of equal parts, or in other words of number and of +a numeral system. The most obvious bases presented by nature for +this purpose are, in reference to time, the periodic returns of +the sun and moon, or the day and the month; in reference to space, +the length of the human foot, which is more easily applied in +measuring than the arm; in reference to gravity, the burden which +a man is able to poise (-librare-) on his hand while he holds +his arm stretched out, or the "weight" (-libra-). As a basis for +the notion of a whole made up of equal parts, nothing so readily +suggests itself as the hand with its five, or the hands with their +ten, fingers; upon this rests the decimal system. We have already +observed that these elements of all numeration and measuring +reach back not merely beyond the separation of the Greek and Latin +stocks, but even to the most remote primeval times. The antiquity +in particular of the measurement of time by the moon is demonstrated +by language;(1) even the mode of reckoning the days that elapse +between the several phases of the moon, not forward from the phase +on which it had entered last, but backward from that which was +next to be expected, is at least older than the separation of the +Greeks and Latins. + + +Decimal System + + +The most definite evidence of the antiquity and original exclusive +use of the decimal system among the Indo-Germans is furnished by +the well-known agreement of all Indo-Germanic languages in respect +to the numerals as far as a hundred inclusive.(2) In the case of +Italy the decimal system pervaded all the earliest arrangements: it +may be sufficient to recall the number ten so usual in the case of +witnesses, securities, envoys, and magistrates, the legal equivalence +of one ox and ten sheep, the partition of the canton into ten curies +and the pervading application generally of the decurial system, the +-limitatio-, the tenth in offerings and in agriculture, decimation, +and the praenomen -Decimus-. Among the applications of this most +ancient decimal system in the sphere of measuring and of writing, +the remarkable Italian ciphers claim a primary place. When the Greeks +and Italians separated, there were still evidently no conventional +signs of number. On the other hand we find the three oldest and +most indispensable numerals, one, five, and ten, represented by +three signs--I, V or /\, X, manifestly imitations of the outstretched +finger, and the open hand single and double--which were not derived +either from the Hellenes or the Phoenicians, but were common to +the Romans, Sabellians, and Etruscans. They were the first steps +towards the formation of a national Italian writing, and at the same +time evidences of the liveliness of that earlier inland intercourse +among the Italians which preceded their transmarine commerce.(3) +Which of the Italian stocks invented, and which of them borrowed, +these signs, can of course no longer be ascertained. Other traces +of the pure decimal system occur but sparingly in this field; +among them are the -versus-, the Sabellian measure of surface of +100 square feet,(4) and the Roman year of 10 months. + + +The Duodecimal System + + +Otherwise generally in the case of those Italian measures, which +were not connected with Greek standards and were probably developed +by the Italians before they came into contact with the Greeks, there +prevailed the partition of the "whole" (-as-) into twelve "units" +(-unciae-). The very earliest Latin priesthoods, the colleges of +the Salii and Arvales,(5) as well as the leagues of the Etruscan +cities, were organized on the basis of the number twelve. The +same number predominated in the Roman system of weights and in the +measures of length, where the pound (-libra-) and the foot (-pes-) +were usually subdivided into twelve parts; the unit of the Roman +measures of surface was the "driving" (-actus-) of 120 square feet, +a combination of the decimal and duodecimal systems.(6) Similar +arrangements as to the measures of capacity may have passed into +oblivion. + +If we inquire into the basis of the duodecimal system and consider +how it can have happened that, in addition to ten, twelve should +have been so early and universally singled out from the equal series +of numbers, we shall probably be able to find no other source to +which it can be referred than a comparison of the solar and lunar +periods. Still more than the double hand of ten fingers did the +solar cycle of nearly twelve lunar periods first suggest to man +the profound conception of an unit composed of equal units, and +thereby originate the idea of a system of numbers, the first step +towards mathematical thought. The consistent duodecimal development +of this idea appears to have belonged to the Italian nation, and +to have preceded the first contact with the Greeks. + + +Hellenic Measures in Italy + + +But when at length the Hellenic trader had opened up the route to +the west coast of Italy, the measures of surface remained unaffected, +but the measures of length, of weight, and above all of capacity--in +other words those definite standards without which barter and traffic +are impossible--experienced the effects of the new international +intercourse. The oldest Roman foot has disappeared; that which we +know, and which was in use at a very early period among the Romans, +was borrowed from Greece, and was, in addition to its new Roman +subdivision into twelfths, divided after the Greek fashion into four +hand-breadths (-palmus-) and sixteen finger-breadths (-digitus-). +Further, the Roman weights were brought into a fixed proportional +relation to the Attic system, which prevailed throughout Sicily +but not in Cumae--another significant proof that the Latin traffic +was chiefly directed to the island; four Roman pounds were assumed as +equal to three Attic -minae-, or rather the Roman pound was assumed +as equal to one and a half of the Sicilian -litrae- or half-minae.(7) +But the most singular and chequered aspect is presented by the +Roman measures of capacity, as regards both their names and their +proportions. Their names have come from the Greek terms either by +corruption (-amphora-, -modius- after --medimnos--, -congius- from +--choeus--, -hemina-, -cyathus-) or by translation (-acetabulum-from +--ozubaphon--); while conversely --zesteis-- is a corruption of +-sextarius-. All the measures are not identical, but those in most +common use are so; among liquid measures the -congius- or -chus-, +the -sextarius-, and the -cyathus-, the two last also for dry +goods; the Roman -amphora- was equalized in water-weight to the +Attic talent, and at the same time stood to the Greek --metretes-- +in the fixed ratio of 3:2, and to the Greek --medimnos-- of 2:1. To +one who can decipher the significance of such records, these names +and numerical proportions fully reveal the activity and importance +of the intercourse between the Sicilians and the Latins. The Greek +numeral signs were not adopted; but the Roman probably availed +himself of the Greek alphabet, when it reached him, to form ciphers +for 50 and 1000, perhaps also for 100, out of the signs for the +three aspirated letters which he had no use for. In Etruria the +sign for 100 at least appears to have been obtained in a similar +way. Afterwards, as usually happens, the systems of notation among +the two neighbouring nations became assimilated by the adoption in +substance of the Roman system in Etruria. + + +The Italian Calendar before the Period of Greek Influence in Italy + + +In like manner the Roman calendar--and probably that of the Italians +generally--began with an independent development of its own, but +subsequently came under the influence of the Greeks. In the division +of time the returns of sunrise and sunset, and of the new and full +moon, most directly arrest the attention of man; and accordingly +the day and the month, determined not by cyclic calculation but +by direct observation, were long the exclusive measures of time. +Down to a late age sunrise and sunset were proclaimed in the Roman +market-place by the public crier, and in like manner it may be +presumed that in earlier times, at each of the four phases of the +moon, the number of days that would elapse from that phase until +the next was proclaimed by the priests. The mode of reckoning +therefore in Latium--and the like mode, it may be presumed, was in +use not merely among the Sabellians, but also among the Etruscans--was +by days, which, as already mentioned, were counted not forward +from the phase that had last occurred, but backward from that which +was next expected; by lunar weeks, which varied in length between +7 and 8 days, the average length being 7 3/8; and by lunar months +which in like manner were sometimes of 29, sometimes of 30 days, +the average duration of the synodical month being 29 days 12 hours +44 minutes. For some time the day continued to be among the Italians +the smallest, and the month the largest, division of time. It was +not until afterwards that they began to distribute day and night +respectively into four portions, and it was much later still when +they began to employ the division into hours; which explains why +even stocks otherwise closely related differed in their mode of +fixing the commencement of day, the Romans placing it at midnight, +the Sabellians and the Etruscans at noon. No calendar of the year +had, at least when the Greeks separated from the Italians, as yet +been organized, for the names for the year and its divisions in the +two languages have been formed quite independently of each other. +Nevertheless the Italians appear to have already in the pre-Hellenic +period advanced, if not to the arrangement of a fixed calendar, +at any rate to the institution of two larger units of time. The +simplifying of the reckoning according to lunar months by the +application of the decimal system, which was usual among the Romans, +and the designation of a term of ten months as a "ring" (-annus-) +or complete year, bear in them all the traces of a high antiquity. +Later, but still at a period very early and undoubtedly previous +to the operation of Greek influences, the duodecimal system (as +we have already stated) was developed in Italy, and, as it derived +its very origin from the observation of the fact that the solar +period was equal to twelve lunar periods, it was certainly applied +in the first instance to the reckoning of time. This view accords +with the fact that the individual names of the months--which can +only have originated after the month was viewed as part of a solar +year--particularly those of March and of May, were similar among +the different branches of the Italian stock, while there was +no similarity between the Italian names and the Greek. It is not +improbable therefore that the problem of laying down a practical +calendar which should correspond at once to the moon and the sun--a +problem which may be compared in some sense to the quadrature of the +circle, and the solution of which was only recognized as impossible +and abandoned after the lapse of many centuries--had already employed +the minds of men in Italy before the epoch at which their contact +with the Greeks began; these purely national attempts to solve it, +however, have passed into oblivion. + + +The Oldest Italo-Greek Calendar + + +What we know of the oldest calendar of Rome and of some other Latin +cities--as to the Sabellian and Etruscan measurement of time we +have no traditional information--is decidedly based on the oldest +Greek arrangement of the year, which was intended to answer both +to the phases of the moon and to the seasons of the solar year, +constructed on the assumption of a lunar period of 29 1/2 days and +a solar period of 12 1/2 lunar months or 368 3/4 days, and on the +regular alternation of a full month or month of thirty days with a +hollow month or month of twenty-nine days and of a year of twelve +with a year of thirteen months, but at the same time maintained +in some sort of harmony with the actual celestial phenomena by +arbitrary curtailments and intercalations. It is possible that +this Greek arrangement of the year in the first instance came into +use among the Latins without undergoing any alteration; but the +oldest form of the Roman year which can be historically recognized +varied from its model, not indeed in the cyclical result nor yet in +the alternation of years of twelve with years of thirteen months, +but materially in the designation and in the measuring off of the +individual months. The Roman year began with the beginning of +spring; the first month in it and the only one which bears the name +of a god, was named from Mars (-Martius-), the three following from +sprouting (-aprilis-) growing (-maius-), and thriving (-iunius-), +the fifth onward to the tenth from their ordinal numbers (-quinctilis-, +-sextilis-, -september-, -october-, -november-, -december), the +eleventh from commencing (-ianuarius-),(8) with reference presumably +to the renewal of agricultural operations that followed midwinter +and the season of rest, the twelfth, and in an ordinary year the +last, from cleansing (-februarius-). To this series recurring +in regular succession there was added in the intercalary year a +nameless "labour-month" (-mercedonius-) at the close of the year, +viz. after February. And, as the Roman calendar was independent +as respected the names of the months which were probably taken from +the old national ones, it was also independent as regarded their +duration. Instead of the four years of the Greek cycle, each +composed of six months of 30 and six of 29 days and an intercalary +month inserted every second year alternately of 29 and 30 days (354 + +384 + 354 + 383 = 1475 days), the Roman calendar substituted four +years, each containing four months--the first, third, fifth, and +eighth--of 31 days and seven of 29 days, with a February of 28 +days during three years and of 29 in the fourth, and an intercalary +month of 27 days inserted every second year (355 + 383 + 355 + +382 = 1475 days). In like manner this calendar departed from the +original division of the month into four weeks, sometimes of 7, +sometimes of 8 days; it made the eight-day-week run on through the +years without regard to the other relations of the calendar, as our +Sundays do, and placed the weekly market on the day with which it +began (-noundinae-). Along with this it once for all fixed the +first quarter in the months of 31 days on the seventh, in those +of 29 on the fifth day, and the full moon in the former on the +fifteenth, in the latter on the thirteenth day. As the course of +the months was thus permanently arranged, it was henceforth necessary +to proclaim only the number of days lying between the new moon and +the first quarter; thence the day of the newmoon received the name +of "proclamation-day" (-kalendae-). The first day of the second +section of the month, uniformly of 8 days, was--in conformity with +the Roman custom of reckoning, which included the -terminus ad +quem- --designated as "nine-day" (-nonae-). The day of the full +moon retained the old name of -idus- (perhaps "dividing-day"). +The motive lying at the bottom of this strange remodelling of the +calendar seems chiefly to have been a belief in the salutary virtue +of odd numbers;(9) and while in general it is based on the oldest +form of the Greek year, its variations from that form distinctly +exhibit the influence of the doctrines of Pythagoras, which were +then paramount in Lower Italy, and which especially turned upon a +mystic view of numbers. But the consequence was that this Roman +calendar, clearly as it bears traces of the desire that it should +harmonize with the course both of sun and moon, in reality by +no means so corresponded with the lunar course as did at least on +the whole its Greek model, while, like the oldest Greek cycle, it +could only follow the solar seasons by means of frequent arbitrary +excisions, and did in all probability follow them but very imperfectly, +for it is scarcely likely that the calendar would be handled with +greater skill than was manifested in its original arrangement. +The retention moreover of the reckoning by months or--which is the +same thing--by years of ten months implies a tacit, but not to be +misunderstood, confession of the irregularity and untrustworthiness +of the oldest Roman solar year. This Roman calendar may be regarded, +at least in its essential features, as that generally current +among the Latins. When we consider how generally the beginning of +the year and the names of the months are liable to change, minor +variations in the numbering and designations are quite compatible +with the hypothesis of a common basis; and with such a calendar-system, +which practically was irrespective of the lunar course, the Latins +might easily come to have their months of arbitrary length, possibly +marked off by annual festivals--as in the case of the Alban months, +which varied between 16 and 36 days. It would appear probable +therefore that the Greek --trieteris-- had early been introduced +from Lower Italy at least into Latium and perhaps also among the +other Italian stocks, and had thereafter been subjected in the +calendars of the several cities to further subordinate alterations. + +For the measuring of periods of more than one year the regnal years +of the kings might have been employed: but it is doubtful whether +that method of dating, which was in use in the East, occurred in Greece +or Italy during earlier times. On the other hand the intercalary +period recurring every four years, and the census and lustration +of the community connected with it, appear to have suggested +a reckoning by -lustra- similar in plan to the Greek reckoning by +Olympiads--a method, however, which early lost its chronological +significance in consequence of the irregularity that now prevailed +as to the due holding of the census at the right time. + + +Introduction of Hellenic Alphabets into Italy + + +The art of expressing sounds by written signs was of later origin +than the art of measurement. The Italians did not any more than +the Hellenes develop such an art of themselves, although we may +discover attempts at such a development in the Italian numeral +signs,(10) and possibly also in the primitive Italian custom--formed +independently of Hellenic influence--of drawing lots by means +of wooden tablets. The difficulty which must have attended the +first individualizing of sounds--occurring as they do in so great +a variety of combinations--is best demonstrated by the fact that a +single alphabet propagated from people to people and from generation +to generation has sufficed, and still suffices, for the whole of +Aramaic, Indian, Graeco-Roman, and modern civilization; and this +most important product of the human intellect was the joint creation +of the Aramaeans and the Indo-Germans. The Semitic family of +languages, in which the vowel has a subordinate character and never +can begin a word, facilitates on that very account the individualizing +of the consonants; and it was among the Semites accordingly that +the first alphabet--in which the vowels were still wanting--was +invented. It was the Indians and Greeks who first independently +of each other and by very divergent methods created, out of the +Aramaean consonantal writing brought to them by commerce, a complete +alphabet by the addition of the vowels--which was effected by the +application of four letters, which the Greeks did not use as consonantal +signs, for the four vowels -a -e -i -o, and by the formation of a +new sign for -u --in other words by the introduction of the syllable +into writing instead of the mere consonant, or, as Palamedes says +in Euripides, + +--Ta teis ge leitheis pharmak orthosas monos +Aphona kai phonounta, sullabas te theis, +Ezeupon anthropoisi grammat eidenai.-- + +This Aramaeo-Hellenic alphabet was accordingly brought to the +Italians through the medium, doubtless, of the Italian Hellenes; +not, however, through the agricultural colonies of Magna Graecia, +but through the merchants possibly of Cumae or Tarentum, by whom it +would be brought in the first instance to the very ancient emporia +of international traffic in Latium and Etruria--to Rome and Caere. +The alphabet received by the Italians was by no means the oldest +Hellenic one; it had already experienced several modifications, +particularly the addition of the three letters --"id:xi", --"id:phi", +--"id:chi" and the alteration of the signs for --"id:iota", +--"id:gamma", --"id:lambda".(11) We have already observed(12) that +the Etruscan and Latin alphabets were not derived the one from the +other, but both directly from the Greek; in fact the Greek alphabet +came to Etruria in a form materially different from that which +reached Latium. The Etruscan alphabet has a double sign -s (sigma +-"id:s" and san -"id:sh") and only a single -k,(13) and of the +-r only the older form -"id:P"; the Latin has, so far as we know, +only a single -s, but a double sign for -k (kappa -"id:k" and koppa +-"id:q") and of the -r almost solely the more recent form -"id:R". +The oldest Etruscan writing shows no knowledge of lines, and winds +like the coiling of a snake; the more recent employs parallel +broken-off lines from right to left: the Latin writing, as far as +our monuments reach back, exhibits only the latter form of parallel +lines, which originally perhaps may have run at pleasure from left +to right or from right to left, but subsequently ran among the Romans +in the former, and among the Faliscans in the latter direction. +The model alphabet brought to Etruria must notwithstanding its +comparatively remodelled character reach back to an epoch very ancient, +though not positively to be determined; for, as the two sibilants +sigma and san were always used by the Etruscans as different +sounds side by side, the Greek alphabet which came to Etruria must +doubtless still have possessed both of them in this way as living +signs of sound; but among all the monuments of the Greek language +known to us not one presents sigma and san in simultaneous use. + +The Latin alphabet certainly, as we know it, bears on the whole +a more recent character; and it is not improbable that the Latins +did not simply receive the alphabet once for all, as was the case +in Etruria, but in consequence of their lively intercourse with +their Greek neighbours kept pace for a considerable period with +the alphabet in use among these, and followed its variations. We +find, for instance, that the forms -"id:/\/\/", -"id:P",(14) and +-"id:SIGMA" were not unknown to the Romans, but were superseded +in common use by the later forms -"id:/\/\", -"id:R", and -"id:S" +--a circumstance which can only be explained by supposing that +the Latins employed for a considerable period the Greek alphabet +as such in writing either their mother-tongue or Greek. It is +dangerous therefore to draw from the more recent character of the +Greek alphabet which we meet with in Rome, as compared with the +older character of that brought to Etruria, the inference that +writing was practised earlier in Etruria than in Rome. + +The powerful impression produced by the acquisition of the treasure +of letters on those who received them, and the vividness with which +they realized the power that slumbered in those humble signs, are +illustrated by a remarkable vase from a sepulchral chamber of Caere +built before the invention of the arch, which exhibits the old +Greek model alphabet as it came to Etruria, and also an Etruscan +syllabarium formed from it, which may be compared to that +of Palamedes--evidently a sacred relic of the introduction and +acclimatization of alphabetic writing in Etruria. + + +Development of Alphabets in Italy + + +Not less important for history than the derivation of the alphabet +is the further course of its development on Italian soil: perhaps +it is even of more importance; for by means of it a gleam of light +is thrown upon the inland commerce of Italy, which is involved +in far greater darkness than the commerce with foreigners on its +coasts. In the earliest epoch of Etruscan writing, when the alphabet +was used without material alteration as it had been introduced, its +use appears to have been restricted to the Etruscans on the Po and +in what is now Tuscany. In course of time this alphabet, manifestly +diffusing itself from Atria and Spina, reached southward along +the east coast as far as the Abruzzi, northward to the Veneti and +subsequently even to the Celts at the foot of, among, and indeed +beyond the Alps, so that its last offshoots reached as far as the +Tyrol and Styria. The more recent epoch starts with a reform of +the alphabet, the chief features of which were the introduction of +writing in broken-off lines, the suppression of the -"id:o", which +was no longer distinguished in pronunciation from the -"id:u", and +the introduction of a new letter -"id:f" for which the alphabet as +received by them had no corresponding sign. This reform evidently +arose among the western Etruscans, and while it did not find +reception beyond the Apennines, became naturalized among all the +Sabellian tribes, and especially among the Umbrians. In its further +course the alphabet experienced various fortunes in connection with +the several stocks, the Etruscans on the Arno and around Capua, the +Umbrians and the Samnites; frequently the mediae were entirely or +partially lost, while elsewhere again new vowels and consonants +were developed. But that West-Etruscan reform of the alphabet +was not merely as old as the oldest tombs found in Etruria; it was +considerably older, for the syllabarium just mentioned as found +probably in one of these tombs already presents the reformed +alphabet in an essentially modified and modernized shape; and, as +the reformed alphabet itself is relatively recent as compared with +the primitive one, the mind almost fails in the effort to reach back +to the time when that alphabet came to Italy. While the Etruscans +thus appear as the instruments in diffusing the alphabet in the +north, east, and south of the peninsula, the Latin alphabet on +the other hand was confined to Latium, and maintained its ground, +upon the whole, there with but few alterations; only the letters +-"id:gamma" -"id:kappa" and -"id:zeta" -"id:sigma" gradually +became coincident in sound, the consequence of which was, that in +each case one of the homophonous signs (-"id:kappa" -"id:zeta") +disappeared from writing. In Rome it can be shown that these were +already laid aside before the end of the fourth century of the +city,(15) and the whole monumental and literary tradition that has +reached us knows nothing of them, with a single exception.(16) Now +when we consider that in the oldest abbreviations the distinction +between -"id:gamma" -"id:c" and -"id:kappa" -"id:k" is still +regularly maintained;(17) that the period, accordingly, when the +sounds became in pronunciation coincident, and before that again +the period during which the abbreviations became fixed, lies beyond +the beginning of the Samnite wars; and lastly, that a considerable +interval must necessarily have elapsed between the introduction +of writing and the establishment of a conventional system of +abbreviation; we must, both as regards Etruria and Latium, carry +back the commencement of the art of writing to an epoch which +more closely approximates to the first incidence of the Egyptian +Sirius-period within historical times, the year 1321 B.C., than to +the year 776, with which the chronology of the Olympiads began in +Greece.(18) The high antiquity of the art of writing in Rome is +evinced otherwise by numerous and plain indications. The existence +of documents of the regal period is sufficiently attested; such +was the special treaty between Rome and Gabii, which was concluded +by a king Tarquinius and probably not by the last of that name, +and which, written on the skin of the bullock sacrificed on the +occasion, was preserved in the temple of Sancus on the Quirinal, +which was rich in antiquities and probably escaped the conflagration +of the Gauls; and such was the alliance which king Servius Tullius +concluded with Latium, and which Dionysius saw on a copper tablet +in the temple of Diana on the Aventine. What he saw, however, was +probably a copy restored after the fire with the help of a Latin +exemplar, for it was not likely that engraving on metal was practised +as early as the time of the kings. The charters of foundation of +the imperial period still refer to the charter founding this temple +as the oldest document of the kind in Rome and the common model for +all. But even then they scratched (-exarare-, -scribere-, akin to +-scrobes- (19)) or painted (-linere-, thence -littera-) on leaves +(-folium-), inner bark (-liber-), or wooden tablets (-tabula-, +-album-), afterwards also on leather and linen. The sacred records +of the Samnites as well as of the priesthood of Anagnia were +inscribed on linen rolls, and so were the oldest lists of the Roman +magistrates preserved in the temple of the goddess of recollection +(-Iuno moneta-) on the Capitol. It is scarcely necessary to recall +further proofs in the primitive marking of the pastured cattle +(-scriptura-), in the mode of addressing the senate, "fathers and +enrolled" (-patres conscripti-), and in the great antiquity of +the books of oracles, the clan-registers, and the Alban and Roman +calendars. When Roman tradition speaks of halls in the Forum, +where the boys and girls of quality were taught to read and write, +already in the earliest times of the republic, the statement may +be, but is not necessarily to be deemed, an invention. We have +been deprived of information as to the early Roman history, not in +consequence of the want of a knowledge of writing, or even perhaps +of the lack of documents, but in consequence of the incapacity of +the historians of the succeeding age, which was called to investigate +the history, to work out the materials furnished by the archives, +and of the perversity which led them to desire for the earliest +epoch a delineation of motives and of characters, accounts of +battles and narratives of revolutions, and while engaged in inventing +these, to neglect what the extant written tradition would not have +refused to yield to the serious and self-denying inquirer. + + +Results + + +The history of Italian writing thus furnishes in the first place +a confirmation of the weak and indirect influence exercised by the +Hellenic character over the Sabellians as compared with the more +western peoples. The fact that the former received their alphabet +from the Etruscans and not from the Romans is probably to be +explained by supposing that they already possessed it before they +entered upon their migration along the ridge of the Apennines, and +that therefore the Sabines as well as Samnites carried it along +with them from the mother-land to their new abodes. On the other +hand this history of writing contains a salutary warning against the +adoption of the hypothesis, originated by the later Roman culture +in its devotedness to Etruscan mysticism and antiquarian trifling, +and patiently repeated by modern and even very recent inquirers, +that Roman civilization derived its germ and its pith from Etruria. +If this were the truth, some trace of it ought to be more especially +apparent in this field; but on the contrary the germ of the Latin +art of writing was Greek, and its development was so national, +that it did not even adopt the very desirable Etruscan sign for +-"id:f".(20) Indeed, where there is an appearance of borrowing, +as in the numeral signs, it is on the part of the Etruscans, who +took over from the Romans at least the sign for 50. + + +Corruption of Language and Writing + + +Lastly it is a significant fact, that among all the Italian stocks +the development of the Greek alphabet primarily consisted in a +process of corruption. Thus the -mediae- disappeared in the whole +of the Etruscan dialects, while the Umbrians lost -"id:gamma" and +-"id:d", the Samnites -"id:d", and the Romans -"id:gamma"; and among +the latter -"id:d" also threatened to amalgamate with -"id:r". +In like manner among the Etruscans -"id:o" and -"id:u" early +coalesced, and even among the Latins we meet with a tendency to +the same corruption. Nearly the converse occurred in the case of +the sibilants; for while the Etruscan retained the three signs +-"id:z", -"id:s", -"id:sh", and the Umbrian rejected the last but +developed two new sibilants in its room, the Samnite and the Faliscan +confined themselves like the Greek to -"id:s" and -"id:z", and the +Roman of later times even to -"id:s" alone. It is plain that the +more delicate distinctions of sound were duly felt by the introducers +of the alphabet, men of culture and masters of two languages; +but after the national writing Became wholly detached from the +Hellenic mother-alphabet, the -mediae- and their -tenues- gradually +came to coincide, and the sibilants and vowels were thrown into +disorder--transpositions or rather destructions of sound, of which +the first in particular is entirely foreign to the Greek. The +destruction of the forms of flexion and derivation went hand in +hand with this corruption of sounds. The cause of this barbarization +was thus, upon the whole, simply the necessary process of +corruption which is continuously eating away every language, where +its progress is not stemmed by literature and reason; only in this +case indications of what has elsewhere passed away without leaving a +trace have been preserved in the writing of sounds. The circumstance +that this barbarizing process affected the Etruscans more strongly +than any other of the Italian stocks adds to the numerous proofs +of their inferior capacity for culture. The fact on the other hand +that, among the Italians, the Umbrians apparently were the most +affected by a similar corruption of language, the Romans less so, +the southern Sabellians least of all, probably finds its explanation, +at least in part, in the more lively intercourse maintained by the +former with the Etruscans, and by the latter with the Greeks. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter XIV + + + +1. I. II. Indo-Germanic Culture + +2. I. II. Indo-Germanic Culture + +3. I. XII. Inland Commerce of the Italians + +4. I. II. Agriculture + +5. I. XII. Priests + +6. Originally both the -actus-, "riving," and its still more +frequently occurring duplicate, the -jugerum-, "yoking," were, +like the German "morgen," not measures of surface, but measures of +labour; the latter denoting the day's work, the former the half-day's +work, with reference to the sharp division of the day especially +in Italy by the ploughman's rest at noon. + +7. I. XIII. Etrusco-Attic and Latino-Sicilian Commerce + +8. I. XII. Nature of the Roman Gods + +9. From the same cause all the festival-days are odd, as well those +recurring every month (-kalendae- on the 1st. -nonae- on the 5th +or 7th, -idus- on the 13th or 15th), as also, with but two exceptions, +those of the 45 annual festivals mentioned above (xii. Oldest Table +Of Roman Festivals). This is carried so far, that in the case of +festivals of several days the intervening even days were dropped +out, and so, for example, that of Carmentis was celebrated on Jan. +11, 15, that of the Grove-festival (-Lucaria-) on July 19, 21, and +that of the Ghosts-festival on May 9, 11, and 13. + +10. I. XIV. Decimal System + +11. The history of the alphabet among the Hellenes turns essentially +on the fact that--assuming the primitive alphabet of 23 letters, +that is to say, the Phoenician alphabet vocalized and enlarged by +the addition of the -"id:u" --proposals of very various kinds were +made to supplement and improve it, and each of these proposals has +a history of its own. The most important of these, which it is +interesting to keep in view as bearing on the history of Italian +writing, are the following:--I. The introduction of special signs +for the sounds --"id:xi" --"id:phi" --"id:chi". This proposal +is so old that all the Greek alphabets--with the single exception +of that of the islands Thera, Melos, and Crete--and all alphabets +derived from the Greek without exception, exhibit its influence. +At first probably the aim was to append the signs --"id:CHI" += --"id:xi iota", --"id:PHI" = --"id:phi iota", and --"id:PSI"= +--"id:chi iota" to the close of the alphabet, and in this shape it +was adopted on the mainland of Hellas--with the exception of Athens +and Corinth--and also among the Sicilian and Italian Greeks. The +Greeks of Asia Minor on the other hand, and those of the islands of +the Archipelago, and also the Corinthians on the mainland appear, +when this proposal reached them, to have already had in use for the +sound --"id:xi iota" the fifteenth sign of the Phoenician alphabet +--"id:XI" (Samech); accordingly of the three new signs they adopted +the --"id:PHI" for --"id:phi iota", but employed the --"id:CHI" +not for --"id:xi iota", but for --"id:chi iota". The third sign +originally invented for --"id:chi iota" was probably allowed in +most instances to drop; only on the mainland of Asia Minor it was +retained, but received the value of --"id:psi iota". The mode of +writing adopted in Asia Minor was followed also by Athens; only in +its case not merely the --"id:psi iota", but the --"id:xi iota" also, +was not received and in their room the two consonants continued to +be written as before.--II. Equally early, if not still earlier, +an effort was made to obviate the confusion that might so easily +occur between the forms for --"id:iota S" and for --"id:s E"; for +all the Greek alphabets known to us bear traces of the endeavour to +distinguish them otherwise and more precisely. Already in very +early times two such proposals of change must have been made, +each of which found a field for its diffusion. In the one case +they employed for the sibilant--for which the Phoenician alphabet +furnished two signs, the fourteenth ( --"id:/\/\") for --"id:sh" and +the eighteenth (--"id:E") for --"id:s" --not the latter, which was +in sound the more suitable, but the former; and such was in earlier +times the mode of writing in the eastern islands, in Corinth and +Corcyra, and among the Italian Achaeans. In the other case they +substituted for the sign of --"id:i" the simple stroke --"id:I", +which was by far the more usual, and at no very late date became +at least so far general that the broken --"id:iota S" everywhere +disappeared, although individual communities retained the --"id:s" +in the form --"id:/\/\" alongside of the --"I".--III. Of later +date is the substitution of --"id:\/" for --"id:/\" (--"id:lambda") +which might readily be confounded with --"id:GAMMA gamma". This we +meet with in Athens and Boeotia, while Corinth and the communities +dependent on Corinth attained the same object by giving +to the --"id:gamma" the semicircular form --"id:C" instead of the +hook-shape.--IV. The forms for --"id:p" --"id:P (with broken-loop)" +and --"id:r" --"id:P", likewise very liable to be confounded, were +distinguished by transforming the latter into --"id:R"; which more +recent form was not used by the Greeks of Asia Minor, the Cretans, +the Italian Achaeans, and a few other districts, but on the other +hand greatly preponderated both in Greece proper and in Magna +Graecia and Sicily. Still the older form of the --"id:r" --"id:P" +did not so early and so completely disappear there as the older +form of the --"id:l"; this alteration therefore beyond doubt is to +be placed later.--V. The differentiating of the long and short -e +and the long and short -o remained in the earlier times confined +to the Greeks of Asia Minor and of the islands of the Aegean Sea. + +All these technical improvements are of a like nature and from a +historical point of view of like value, in so far as each of them +arose at a definite time and at a definite place and thereafter +took its own mode of diffusion and found its special development. +The excellent investigation of Kirchhoff (-Studien zur Geschichte +des griechischen Alphabets-), which has thrown a clear light on +the previously so obscure history of the Hellenic alphabet, and has +also furnished essential data for the earliest relations between the +Hellenes and Italians--establishing, in particular, incontrovertibly +the previously uncertain home of the Etruscan alphabet--is affected +by a certain one-sidedness in so far as it lays proportionally too +great stress on a single one of these proposals. If systems are +here to be distinguished at all, we may not divide the alphabets into +two classes according to the value of the --"id:X" as --"id:zeta" +or as --"id:chi", but we shall have to distinguish the alphabet +of 23 from that of 25 or 26 letters, and perhaps further in this +latter case to distinguish the Ionic of Asia Minor, from which the +later common alphabet proceeded, from the common Greek of earlier +times. In dealing, however, with the different proposals for +the modification of the alphabet the several districts followed +an essentially eclectic course, so that one was received here and +another there; and it is just in this respect that the history of +the Greek alphabet is so instructive, because it shows how particular +groups of the Greek lands exchanged improvements in handicraft +and art, while others exhibited no such reciprocity. As to Italy +in particular we have already called attention to the remarkable +contrast between the Achaean agricultural towns and the Chalcidic +and Doric colonies of a more mercantile character (x. Iono-Dorian +Towns); in the former the primitive forms were throughout retained, +in the latter the improved forms were adopted, even those which +coming from different quarters were somewhat inconsistent, such +as the --"id:C" --"id:gamma" alongside of the --"id:\/" --"id:l". +The Italian alphabets proceed, as Kirchhoff has shown, wholly +from the alphabet of the Italian Greeks and in fact from the +Chalcidico-Doric; but that the Etruscans and Latins received their +alphabet not the one from the other but both directly from the +Greeks, is placed beyond doubt especially by the different form of +the --"id:r". For, while of the four modifications of the alphabet +above described which concern the Italian Greeks (the fifth +was confined to Asia Minor) the first three were already carried +out before the alphabet passed to the Etruscans and Latins, the +differentiation of --"id:p" and --"id:r" had not yet taken place +when it came to Etruria, but on the other hand had at least begun +when the Latins received it; for which reason the Etruscans do +not at all know the form -"id:R" for -"id:r", whereas among the +Faliscans and the Latins, with the single exception of the Dressel +vase (xiv. Note 14 ), the younger form is met with exclusively. + +12. I. XIII. Etrusco-Attic and Latino-Sicilian Commerce + +13. That the Etruscans always were without the koppa, seems +not doubtful; for not only is no sure trace of it to be met with +elsewhere, but it is wanting in the model alphabet of the Galassi +vase. The attempt to show its presence in the syllabarium of the +latter is at any rate mistaken, for the syllabarium can and does +only take notice of the Etruscan letters that were afterwards +in common use, and to these the koppa notoriously did not belong; +moreover the sign placed at the close cannot well from its position +have any other value than that of the -f, which was in fact the last +letter in the Etruscan alphabet, and which could not be omitted in +a syllabarium exhibiting the variations of that alphabet from its +model. It is certainly surprising that the koppa should be absent +from the Greek alphabet that came to Etruria, when it otherwise +so long maintained its place in the Chalcidico-Doric ; but this +may well have been a local peculiarity of the town whose alphabet +first reached Etruria. Caprice and accident have at all times had +a share in determining whether a sign becoming superfluous shall +be retained or dropped from the alphabet; thus the Attic alphabet +lost the eighteenth Phoenician sign, but retained the others which +had disappeared from the -u. + +14. The golden bracelet of Praeneste recently brought to light +(Mitth. der rom. Inst. 1887), far the oldest of the intelligible +monuments of the Latin language and Latin writing, shows the older +form of the -"id:m"; the enigmatic clay vase from the Quirinal +(published by Dressel in the Annali dell Instituto, 1880) shows +the older form of the -"id:r". + +15. At this period we shall have to place that recorded form of the +Twelve Tables, which subsequently lay before the Roman philologues, +and of which we possess fragments. Beyond doubt the code was +at its very origin committed to writing; but that those scholars +themselves referred their text not to the original exemplar, but to +an official document written down after the Gallic conflagration, +is proved by the story of the Tables having undergone reproduction +at that time. This enables us easily to explain how their text by +no means exhibited the oldest orthography, which was not unknown to +them; even apart from the consideration that in the case of such +a written document, employed, moreover, for the purpose of being +committed to memory by the young, a philologically exact transmission +cannot possibly be assumed. + +16. This is the inscription of the bracelet of Praeneste which +has been mentioned at xiv, note 14. On the other hand even on the +Ficoroni cista -"id:C" has the later form of -"id:K". + +17. Thus -"id:C" represents -Gaius-; -"id:CN" -Gnaeus-; while +-"id:K" stands for -Kaeso-. With the more recent abbreviations of +course this is not the case; in these -"id:gamma" is represented +not by -"id:C", but by -"id:G" (-GAL- -Galeria-), --"id:kappa", as +a rule, by -"id:C" (-C- -centum- -COS- -consul; -COL -Collina-), or +before -"id:a" by -"id:K" (-KAR- -karmetalia-; -MERK- -merkatus-). +For they expressed for a time the sound --k before the vowels -e +-i -o and before all consonants by -"id:C", before -a on the other +hand by -"id:K", before -u by the old sign of the koppa -"id:Q". + +18. If this view is correct, the origin of the Homeric poems (though +of course not exactly that of the redaction in which we now have +them) must have been far anterior to the age which Herodotus assigns +for the flourishing of Homer (100 before Rome); for the introduction +of the Hellenic alphabet into Italy, as well as the beginning of +intercourse at all between Hellas and Italy, belongs only to the +post-Homeric period. + +19. Just as the old Saxon -writan- signifies properly to tear, +thence to write. + +20. The enigma as to how the Latins came to employ the Greek sign +corresponding to -v for the -f quite different in sound, has been +solved by the bracelet of Praeneste (xiv. Developments Of Alphabets +in Italy, note) with its -fhefhaked- for -fecit-, and thereby at the +same time the derivation of the Latin alphabet from the Chalcidian +colonies of Lower Italy has been confirmed. For in a Boeotian +inscription belonging to the same alphabet we find in the word +-fhekadamoe-(Gustav Meyer, Griech. Grammatik, sec. 244, ap. fin.) +the same combination of sound, and an aspirated v might certainly +approximate in sound to the Latin -f. + +20. -Ratio Tuscanica,: cavum aedium Tuscanicum.- + +21. When Varro (ap. Augustin. De Civ. Dei, iv. 31; comp. Plutarch +Num. 8) affirms that the Romans for more than one hundred and +seventy years worshipped the gods without images, he is evidently +thinking of this primitive piece of carving, which, according to +the conventional chronology, was dedicated between 176 and 219, and, +beyond doubt, was the first statue of the gods, the consecration +of which was mentioned in the authorities which Varro had before +him. Comp, above, XIV. Development of Alphabets in Italy. + +22. I. XIII. Handicrafts + +23. I. XII. Nature of the Roman Gods + +24. I. XII. Pontifices + + + + +Chapter XV + +Art + + + +Artistic Endowment of the Italians + + +Poetry is impassioned language, and its modulation is melody. While +in this sense no people is without poetry and music, some nations +have received a pre-eminent endowment of poetic gifts. The Italian +nation, however, was not and is not one of these. The Italian is +deficient in the passion of the heart, in the longing to idealize +what is human and to confer humanity on what is lifeless, which +form the very essence of poetic art. His acuteness of perception +and his graceful versatility enabled him to excel in irony and in +the vein of tale-telling which we find in Horace and Boccaccio, +in the humorous pleasantries of love and song which are presented +in Catullus and in the good popular songs of Naples, above all in +the lower comedy and in farce. Italian soil gave birth in ancient +times to burlesque tragedy, and in modern times to mock-heroic +poetry. In rhetoric and histrionic art especially no other nation +equalled or equals the Italians. But in the more perfect kinds of +art they have hardly advanced beyond dexterity of execution, and +no epoch of their literature has produced a true epos or a genuine +drama. The very highest literary works that have been successfully +produced in Italy, divine poems like Dante's Commedia, and historical +treatises such as those of Sallust and Macchiavelli, of Tacitus and +Colletta, are pervaded by a passion more rhetorical than spontaneous. +Even in music, both in ancient and modern times, really creative +talent has been far less conspicuous than the accomplishment which +speedily assumes the character of virtuosoship, and enthrones in +the room of genuine and genial art a hollow and heart-withering +idol. The field of the inward in art--so far as we may in the case +of art distinguish an inward and an outward at all--is not that +which has fallen to the Italian as his special province; the power +of beauty, to have its full effect upon him, must be placed not +ideally before his mind, but sensuously before his eyes. Accordingly +he is thoroughly at home in architecture, painting, and sculpture; +in these he was during the epoch of ancient culture the best disciple +of the Hellenes, and in modern times he has become the master of +all nations. + + +Dance, Music, and Song in Latium + + +From the defectiveness of our traditional information it is +not possible to trace the development of artistic ideas among the +several groups of nations in Italy; and in particular we are no +longer in a position to speak of the poetry of Italy; we can only +speak of that of Latium. Latin poetry, like that of every other +nation, began in the lyrical form, or, to speak more correctly, +sprang out of those primitive festal rejoicings, in which dance, +music, and song were still inseparably blended. It is remarkable, +however, that in the most ancient religious usages dancing, and +next to dancing instrumental music, were far more prominent than +song. In the great procession, with which the Roman festival of +victory was opened, the chief place, next to the images of the gods +and the champions, was assigned to the dancers grave and merry. +The grave dancers were arranged in three groups of men, youths, +and boys, all clad in red tunics with copper belts, with swords +and short lances, the men being moreover furnished with helmets, +and generally in full armed attire. The merry dancers were divided +into two companies--"the sheep" in sheep-skins with a party-coloured +over-garment, and "the goats" naked down to the waist, with a buck's +skin thrown over them. In like manner the "leapers" (-salii-) +were perhaps the most ancient and sacred of all the priesthoods,(1) +and dancers (-ludii-, -ludiones-) were indispensable in all public +processions, and particularly at funeral solemnities; so that +dancing became even in ancient times a common trade. But, wherever +the dancers made their appearance, there appeared also the musicians +or--which was in the earliest times the same thing--the pipers. +They too were never wanting at a sacrifice, at a marriage, or at +a funeral; and by the side of the primitive public priesthood of +the "leapers" there was ranged, of equal antiquity although of far +inferior rank, the guild of the "pipers" (-collegium tibicinum-(2)), +whose true character as strolling musicians is evinced by their +ancient privilege--maintained even in spite of the strictness +of Roman police--of wandering through the streets at their annual +festival, wearing masks and full of sweet wine. While dancing thus +presents itself as an honourable function and music as one subordinate +but still necessary, so that public corporations were instituted +for both of them, poetry appears more as a matter incidental and, +in some measure, indifferent, whether it may have come into existence +on its own account or to serve as an accompaniment to the movements +of the dancers. + + +Religious Chants + + +The earliest chant, in the view of the Romans, was that which the +leaves sang to themselves in the green solitude of the forest. The +whispers and pipings of the "favourable spirit" (-faunus-, from +-favere-) in the grove were reproduced for men, by those who had +the gift of listening to him, in rhythmically measured language +(-casmen-, afterwards -carmen-, from -canere-). Of a kindred nature +to these soothsaying songs of inspired men and women (-vates-) were +the incantations properly so called, the formulae for conjuring +away diseases and other troubles, and the evil spells by which they +prevented rain and called down lightning or even enticed the seed +from one field to another; only in these instances, probably from +the outset, formulae of mere sounds appear side by side with formulae +of words.(3) More firmly rooted in tradition and equally ancient +were the religious litanies which were sung and danced by the Salii +and other priesthoods; the only one of which that has come down to +us, a dance-chant of the Arval Brethren in honour of Mars probably +composed to be sung in alternate parts, deserves a place here. + +-Enos, Lases, iuvate! +Ne velue rue, Marmar, sins incurrere in pleores! +Satur fu, fere Mars! limen sali! sta! berber! +Semunis alternei advocapit conctos! +Enos, Marmar, iuvato! +Triumpe!- + +Which may be thus interpreted: + +To the gods: +-Nos, Lares, iuvate! +Ne veluem (= malam luem) ruem (= ruinam), Mamers, + sinas incurrere in plures! +Satur esto, fere Mars! + +To the individual brethren: +In limen insili! sta! verbera (limen?)! + +To all the brethren: +Semones alterni advocate cunctos! + +To the god: +Nos, Mamers, iuvato! + +To the individual brethren: +Tripudia!-(4) + +The Latin of this chant and of kindred fragments of the Salian +songs, which were regarded even by the philologues of the Augustan +age as the oldest documents of their mother-tongue, is related +to the Latin of the Twelve Tables somewhat as the language of the +Nibelungen is related to the language of Luther; and we may perhaps +compare these venerable litanies, as respects both language and +contents, with the Indian Vedas. + + +Panegyrics and Lampoons + + +Lyrical panegyrics and lampoons belonged to a later epoch. We might +infer from the national character of the Italians that satirical +songs must have abounded in Latium in ancient times, even if their +prevalence had not been attested by the very ancient measures of +police directed against them. But the panegyrical chants became +of more importance. When a burgess was borne to burial, the bier +was followed by a female relative or friend, who, accompanied by a +piper, sang his dirge (-nenia-). In like manner at banquets boys, +who according to the fashion of those days attended their fathers +even at feasts out of their own houses, sang by turns songs in +praise of their ancestors, sometimes to the pipe, sometimes simply +reciting them without accompaniment (-assa voce canere-). The custom +of men singing in succession at banquets was presumably borrowed +from the Greeks, and that not till a later age. We know no further +particulars of these ancestral lays; but it is self-evident that +they must have attempted description and narration and thus have +developed, along with and out of the lyrical element, the features +of epic poetry. + + +The Masked Farce + + +Other elements of poetry were called into action in the primitive +popular carnival, the comic dance or -satura-,(5) which beyond +doubt reached back to a period anterior to the separation of the +stocks. On such occasions song would never be wanting; and the +circumstances under which such pastimes were exhibited, chiefly +at public festivals and marriages, as well as the mainly practical +shape which they certainly assumed, naturally suggested that several +dancers, or sets of dancers, should take up reciprocal parts; +so that the singing thus came to be associated with a species of +acting, which of course was chiefly of a comical and often of a +licentious character. In this way there arose not merely alternative +chants, such as afterwards went by the name of Fescennine songs, but +also the elements of a popular comedy--which were in this instance +planted in a soil admirably adapted for their growth, as an acute +sense of the outward and the comic, and a delight in gesticulation +and masquerade have ever been leading traits of Italian character. + +No remains have been preserved of these -incunabula- of the Roman +epos and drama. That the ancestral lays were traditional is +self-evident, and is abundantly demonstrated by the fact that they +were regularly recited by children; but even in the time of Cato +the Elder they had completely passed into oblivion. The comedies +again, if it be allowable so to name them, were at this period and +long afterwards altogether improvised. Consequently nothing of +this popular poetry and popular melody could be handed down but +the measure, the accompaniment of music and choral dancing, and +perhaps the masks. + + +Metre + + +Whether what we call metre existed in the earlier times is doubtful; +the litany of the Arval Brethren scarcely accommodates itself to +an outwardly fixed metrical system, and presents to us rather the +appearance of an animated recitation. On the other hand we find in +subsequent times a very ancient rhythm, the so-called Saturnian(6) +or Faunian metre, which is foreign to the Greeks, and may be +conjectured to have arisen contemporaneously with the oldest Latin +popular poetry. The following poem, belonging, it is true, to a +far later age, may give an idea of it:-- + + +Quod re sua difeidens--aspere afleicta + +Parens timens heic vovit--voto hoc soluto +___ +Decuma facta poloucta--leibereis lubentis + ____ _____ +Donu danunt__hercolei--maxsume--mereto + _____ +Semol te orant se voti--crebro con__demnes. + +__--'__--'__--'__^/ __--'__--'__--'_^ + + +That which, misfortune dreading--sharply to afflict him, An anxious +parent vowed here,--when his wish was granted, A sacred tenth for +banquet--gladly give his children to Hercules a tribute--most of +all deserving; And now they thee beseech, that--often thou wouldst +hear them. + +Panegyrics as well as comic songs appear to have been uniformly +sung in Saturnian metre, of course to the pipe, and presumably in +such a way that the -caesura- in particular in each line was strongly +marked; and in alternate singing the second singer probably took +up the verse at this point. The Saturnian measure is, like every +other occurring in Roman and Greek antiquity, based on quantity; +but of all the antique metres perhaps it is the least thoroughly +elaborated, for besides many other liberties it allows itself the +greatest license in omitting the short syllables, and it is at the +same time the most imperfect in construction, for these iambic and +trochaic half-lines opposed to each other were but little fitted +to develop a rhythmical structure adequate for the purposes of the +higher poetry. + + +Melody + + +The fundamental elements of the national music and choral dancing +in Latium, which must likewise have been established during this +period, are buried for us in oblivion; except that the Latin pipe +is reported to have been a short and slender instrument, provided +with only four holes, and originally, as the name shows, made out +of the light thighbone of some animal. + + +Masks + + +Lastly, the masks used in after times for the standing characters +of the Latin popular comedy or the Atellana, as it was called: +Maccus the harlequin, Bucco the glutton, Pappus the good papa, and +the wise Dossennus--masks which have been cleverly and strikingly +compared to the two servants, the -pantalon- and the -dottore-, in +the Italian comedy of Pulcinello--already belonged to the earliest +Latin popular art. That they did so cannot of course be strictly +proved; but as the use of masks for the face in Latium in the case +of the national drama was of immemorial antiquity, while the Greek +drama in Rome did not adopt them for a century after its first +establishment, as, moreover, those Atellane masks were of decidedly +Italian origin, and as, in fine, the origination as well as +the execution of improvised pieces cannot well be conceived apart +from fixed masks assigning once for all to the player his proper +position throughout the piece, we must associate fixed masks with +the rudiments of the Roman drama, or rather regard them as constituting +those rudiments themselves. + + +Earliest Hellenic Influences + + +If our information respecting the earliest indigenous culture and +art of Latium is so scanty, it may easily be conceived that our +knowledge will be still scantier regarding the earliest impulses +imparted in this respect to the Romans from without. In a certain +sense we may include under this head their becoming acquainted with +foreign languages, particularly the Greek. To this latter language, of +course, the Latins generally were strangers, as was shown by their +enactment in respect to the Sibylline oracles;(7) but an acquaintance +with it must have been not at all uncommon in the case of merchants. +The same may be affirmed of the knowledge of reading and writing, +closely connected as it was with the knowledge of Greek.(8) The +culture of the ancient world, however, was not based either +on the knowledge of foreign languages or on elementary technical +accomplishments. An influence more important than any thus imparted +was exercised over the development of Latium by the elements of the +fine arts, which were already in very early times received from the +Hellenes. For it was the Hellenes alone, and not the Phoenicians +or the Etruscans, that in this respect exercised an influence on +the Italians. We nowhere find among the latter any stimulus of +the fine arts which can be referred to Carthage or Caere, and the +Phoenician and Etruscan forms of civilization may be in general +perhaps classed with those that are hybrid, and for that reason +not further productive.(9) But the influence of Greece did not +fail to bear fruit. The Greek seven-stringed lyre, the "strings" +(-fides-, from --sphidei--, gut; also -barbitus-, --barbitos--), +was not like the pipe indigenous in Latium, and was always regarded +there as an instrument of foreign origin; but the early period at +which it gained a footing is demonstrated partly by the barbarous +mutilation of its Greek name, partly by its being employed even in +ritual.(10) That some of the legendary stores of the Greeks during +this period found their way into Latium, is shown by the ready +reception of Greek works of sculpture with their representations +based so thoroughly upon the poetical treasures of the nation; and +the old Latin barbarous conversions of Persephone into Prosepna, +Bellerophontes into Melerpanta, Kyklops into Cocles, Laomedon into +Alumentus, Ganymedes into Catamitus, Neilos into Melus, Semele into +Stimula, enable us to perceive at how remote a period such stories +had been heard and repeated by the Latins. Lastly and especially, +the Roman chief festival or festival of the city (-ludi maximi-, +-Romani-) must in all probability have owed, if not its origin, +at any rate its later arrangements to Greek influence. It was an +extraordinary thanksgiving festival celebrated in honour of the +Capitoline Jupiter and the gods dwelling along with him, ordinarily +in pursuance of a vow made by the general before battle, and +therefore usually observed on the return home of the burgess-force +in autumn. A festal procession proceeded toward the Circus staked +off between the Palatine and Aventine, and furnished with an arena +and places for spectators; in front the whole boys of Rome, arranged +according to the divisions of the burgess-force, on horseback and +on foot; then the champions and the groups of dancers which we have +described above, each with their own music; thereafter the servants +of the gods with vessels of frankincense and other sacred utensils; +lastly the biers with the images of the gods themselves. The +spectacle itself was the counterpart of war as it was waged in +primitive times, a contest on chariots, on horseback, and on foot. +First there ran the war-chariots, each of which carried in Homeric +fashion a charioteer and a combatant; then the combatants who had +leaped off; then the horsemen, each of whom appeared after the Roman +style of fighting with a horse which he rode and another led by the +hand (-desultor-); lastly, the champions on foot, naked to the girdle +round their loins, measured their powers in racing, wrestling, and +boxing. In each species of contest there was but one competition, +and that between not more than two competitors. A chaplet rewarded +the victor, and the honour in which the simple branch which formed +the wreath was held is shown by the law permitting it to be laid +on the bier of the victor when he died. The festival thus lasted +only one day, and the competitions probably still left sufficient +time on that day for the carnival proper, at which the groups of +dancers may have displayed their art and above all exhibited their +farces; and doubtless other representations also, such as competitions +in juvenile horsemanship, found a place.(11) The honours won in +real war also played their part in this festival; the brave warrior +exhibited on this day the equipments of the antagonist whom he had +slain, and was decorated with a chaplet by the grateful community +just as was the victor in the competition. + +Such was the nature of the Roman festival of victory or city-festival; +and the other public festivities of Rome may be conceived to +have been of a similar character, although less ample in point of +resources. At the celebration of a public funeral dancers regularly +bore a part, and along with them, if there was to be any further +exhibition, horse-racers; in that case the burgesses were specially +invited beforehand to the funeral by the public crier. + +But this city-festival, so intimately bound up with the manners +and exercises of the Romans, coincides in all essentials with the +Hellenic national festivals: more especially in the fundamental +idea of combining a religious solemnity and a competition in warlike +sports; in the selection of the several exercises, which at the +Olympic festival, according to Pindar's testimony, consisted from +the first in running, wrestling, boxing, chariot-racing, and throwing +the spear and stone; in the nature of the prize of victory, which +in Rome as well as in the Greek national festivals was a chaplet, +and in the one case as well as in the other was assigned not to the +charioteer, but to the owner of the team; and lastly in introducing +the feats and rewards of general patriotism in connection with +the general national festival. This agreement cannot have been +accidental, but must have been either a remnant of the primitive +connection between the peoples, or a result of the earliest +international intercourse; and the probabilities preponderate in +favour of the latter hypothesis. The city-festival, in the form +in which we are acquainted with it, was not one of the oldest +institutions of Rome, for the Circus itself was only laid out in the +later regal period;(12) and just as the reform of the constitution +then took place under Greek influence,(13) the city-festival may +have been at the same time so far transformed as to combine Greek +races with, and eventually to a certain extent to substitute them +for, an older mode of amusement--the "leap" (-triumpus-,(14)), and +possibly swinging, which was a primitive Italian custom and long +continued in use at the festival on the Alban mount. Moreover, +while there is some trace of the use of the war-chariot in actual +warfare in Hellas, no such trace exists in Latium. Lastly, the +Greek term --stadion-- (Doric --spadion--) was at a very early period +transferred to the Latin language, retaining its signification, +as -spatium-; and there exists even an express statement that the +Romans derived their horse and chariot races from the people of +Thurii, although, it is true, another account derives them from +Etruria. It thus appears that, in addition to the impulses imparted +by the Hellenes in music and poetry, the Romans were indebted to +them for the fruitful idea of gymnastic competitions. + + +Character of Poetry and of Education in Latium + + +Thus there not only existed in Latium the same fundamental elements +out of which Hellenic culture and art grew, but Hellenic culture +and art themselves exercised a powerful influence over Latium in +very early times. Not only did the Latins possess the elements +of gymnastic training, in so far as the Roman boy learned like +every farmer's son to manage horses and waggon and to handle the +hunting-spear, and as in Rome every burgess was at the same time +a soldier; but the art of dancing was from the first an object +of public care, and a powerful impulse was further given to such +culture at an early period by the introduction of the Hellenic +games. The lyrical poetry and tragedy of Hellas grew out of songs +similar to the festal lays of Rome; the ancestral lay contained the +germs of epos, the masked farce the germs of comedy; and in this +field also Grecian influences were not wanting. + +In such circumstances it is the more remarkable that these germs +either did not spring up at all, or were soon arrested in their +growth. The bodily training of the Latin youth continued to be +solid and substantial, but far removed from the idea of artistic +culture for the body, such as was the aim of Hellenic gymnastics. +The public games of the Hellenes when introduced into Italy, changed +not so much their formal rules as their essential character. While +they were intended to be competitions of burgesses and beyond doubt +were so at first in Rome, they became contests of professional +riders and professional boxers, and, while the proof of free and +Hellenic descent formed the first condition for participating in +the Greek festal games, those of Rome soon passed into the hands +of freedmen and foreigners and even of persons not free at all. +Consequently the circle of fellow-competitors became converted into +a public of spectators, and the chaplet of the victorious champion, +which has been with justice called the badge of Hellas, was afterwards +hardly ever mentioned in Latium. + +A similar fate befel poetry and her sisters. The Greeks and Germans +alone possess a fountain of song that wells up spontaneously; from +the golden vase of the Muses only a few drops have fallen on the +green soil of Italy. There was no formation of legend in the strict +sense there. The Italian gods were abstractions and remained such; +they never became elevated into or, as some may prefer to say, +obscured under, a true personal shape. In like manner men, even the +greatest and noblest, remained in the view of the Italian without +exception mortal, and were not, as in the longing recollection +and affectionately cherished tradition of Greece, elevated in the +conception of the multitude into god-like heroes. But above all +no development of national poetry took place in Latium. It is +the deepest and noblest effect of the fine arts and above all of +poetry, that they break down the barriers of civil communities and +create out of tribes a nation and out of the nations a world. As +in the present day by means of our cosmopolitan literature the +distinctions of civilized nations are done away, so Greek poetic +art transformed the narrow and egoistic sense of tribal relationship +into the consciousness of Hellenic nationality, and this again +into the consciousness of a common humanity. But in Latium nothing +similar occurred. There might be poets in Alba and in Rome, but there +arose no Latin epos, nor even--what were still more conceivable--a +catechism for the Latin farmer of a kind similar to the "Works and +Days" of Hesiod. The Latin federal festival might well have become +a national festival of the fine arts, like the Olympian and Isthmian +games of the Greeks. A cycle of legends might well have gathered +around the fall of Alba, such as was woven around the conquest of +Ilion, and every community and every noble clan of Latium might +have discovered in it, or imported into it, the story of its own +origin. But neither of these results took place, and Italy remained +without national poetry or art. + +The inference which of necessity follows from these facts, that the +development of the fine arts in Latium was rather a shrivelling up +than an expanding into bloom, is confirmed in a manner even now not +to be mistaken by tradition. The beginnings of poetry everywhere, +perhaps, belong rather to women than to men; the spell of incantation +and the chant for the dead pertain pre-eminently to the former, +and not without reason the spirits of song, the Casmenae or Camenae +and the Carmentis of Latium, like the Muses of Hellas, were conceived +as feminine. But the time came in Hellas, when the poet relieved +the songstress and Apollo took his place at the head of the Muses. +In Latium there was no national god of song, and the older Latin +language had no designation for the poet.(15) The power of song +emerging there was out of all proportion weaker, and was rapidly +arrested in its growth. The exercise of the fine arts was there +early restricted, partly to women and children, partly to incorporated +or unincorporated tradesmen. We have already mentioned that funeral +chants were sung by women and banquet-lays by boys; the religious +litanies also were chiefly executed by children. The musicians formed +an incorporated, the dancers and the wailing women (-praeficae-) +unincorporated, trades. While dancing, music, and singing remained +constantly in Greece--as they were originally also in Latium--reputable +employments redounding to the honour of the burgess and of the +community to which he belonged, in Latium the better portion of the +burgesses drew more and more aloof from these vain arts, and that +the more decidedly, in proportion as art came to be more publicly +exhibited and more thoroughly penetrated by the quickening impulses +derived from other lands. The use of the native pipe was sanctioned, +but the lyre remained despised; and while the national amusement of +masks was allowed, the foreign amusements of the -palaestra- were +not only regarded with indifference, but esteemed disgraceful. While +the fine arts in Greece became more and more the common property of +the Hellenes individually and collectively and thereby became the +means of developing a universal culture, they gradually disappeared +in Latium from the thoughts and feelings of the people; and, as +they degenerated into utterly insignificant handicrafts, the idea +of a general national culture to be communicated to youth never +suggested itself at all. The education of youth remained entirely +confined within the limits of the narrowest domesticity. The boy +never left his father's side, and accompanied him not only to the +field with the plough and the sickle, but also to the house of +a friend or to the council-hall, when his father was invited as a +guest or summoned to the senate. This domestic education was well +adapted to preserve man wholly for the household and wholly for +the state. The permanent intercommunion of life between father +and son, and the mutual reverence felt by adolescence for ripened +manhood and by the mature man for the innocence of youth, lay at the +root of the steadfastness of the domestic and political traditions, +of the closeness of the family bond, and in general of the grave +earnestness (-gravitas-) and character of moral worth in Roman life. +This mode of educating youth was in truth one of those institutions +of homely and almost unconscious wisdom, which are as simple as +they are profound. But amidst the admiration which it awakens we +may not overlook the fact that it could only be carried out, and +was only carried out, by the sacrifice of true individual culture +and by a complete renunciation of the equally charming and perilous +gifts of the Muses. + + +Dance, Music, and Song among the Sabellians and Etruscans + + +Regarding the development of the fine arts among the Etruscans +and Sabellians our knowledge is little better than none.(16) We +can only notice the fact that in Etruria the dancers (-histri-, +-histriones-) and the pipe-players (-subulones-) early made a trade +of their art, probably earlier even than in Rome, and exhibited +themselves in public not only at home, but also in Rome for small +remuneration and less honour. It is a circumstance more remarkable +that at the Etruscan national festival, in the exhibition of which +the whole twelve cities were represented by a federal priest, games +were given like those of the Roman city-festival; we are, however, +no longer in a position to answer the question which it suggests, +how far the Etruscans were more successful than the Latins in +attaining a national form of fine art beyond that of the individual +communities. On the other hand a foundation probably was laid in +Etruria, even in early times, for that insipid accumulation of learned +lumber, particularly of a theological and astrological nature, by +virtue of which afterwards, when amidst the general decay antiquarian +dilettantism began to flourish, the Tuscans divided with the Jews, +Chaldeans, and Egyptians the honour of being admired as primitive +sources of divine wisdom. We know still less, if possible, of +Sabellian art; but that of course by no means warrants the inference +that it was inferior to that of the neighbouring stocks. On the +contrary, it may be conjectured from what we otherwise know of +the character of the three chief races of Italy, that in artistic +gifts the Samnites approached nearest to the Hellenes and the +Etruscans were farthest removed from them; and a sort of confirmation +of this hypothesis is furnished by the fact, that the most gifted +and most original of the Roman poets, such as Naevius, Ennius, +Lucilius, and Horace, belonged to the Samnite lands, whereas +Etruria has almost no representatives in Roman literature except +the Arretine Maecenas, the most insufferable of all heart-withered +and affected(17) court-poets, and the Volaterran Persius, the true +ideal of a conceited and languid, poetry-smitten, youth. + + +Earliest Italian Architecture + + +The elements of architecture were, as has been already indicated, +a primitive common possession of the stocks. The dwelling-house +constitutes the first attempt of structural art; and it was the +same among Greeks and Italians. Built of wood, and covered with a +pointed roof of straw or shingles it formed a square dwelling-chamber, +which let out the smoke and let in the light by an opening in the +roof corresponding with a hole for carrying off the rain in the +ground (-cavum aedium-). Under this "black roof" (-atrium-) the +meals were prepared and consumed; there the household gods were +worshipped, and the marriage bed and the bier were set out; there +the husband received his guests, and the wife sat spinning amid the +circle of her maidens. The house had no porch, unless we take as +such the uncovered space between the house door and the street, +which obtained its name -vestibulum-, i. e. dressing-place, from +the circumstance that the Romans were in the habit of going about +within doors in their tunics, and only wrapped the toga around +them when they went abroad. There was, moreover, no division of +apartments except that sleeping and store closets might be provided +around the dwelling-room; and still less were there stairs, or +stories placed one above another. + + +Earliest Hellenic Influence + + +Whether, or to what extent, a national Italian architecture arose +o ut of these beginnings can scarcely be determined, for in this +field Greek influence, even in the earliest times, had a very +powerful effect and almost wholly overgrew such national attempts +as possibly had preceded it. The very oldest Italian architecture +with which we are acquainted is not much less under the influence +of that of Greece than the architecture of the Augustan age. The +primitive tombs of Caere and Alsium, and probably the oldest one +also of those recently discovered at Praeneste, have been, exactly +like the --thesauroi--of Orchomenos and Mycenae, roofed over with +courses of stone placed one above another, gradually overlapping, +and closed by a large stone cover. A very ancient building at +the city wall of Tusculum was roofed in the same way, and so was +originally the well-house (-tullianum-) at the foot of the Capitol, +till the top was pulled down to make room for another building. +The gates constructed on the same system are entirely similar in +Arpinum and in Mycenae. The tunnel which drains the Alban lake(18) +presents the greatest resemblance to that of lake Copais. What are +called Cyclopean ring-walls frequently occur in Italy, especially +in Etruria, Umbria, Latium, and Sabina, and decidedly belong in +point of design to the most ancient buildings of Italy, although +the greater portion of those now extant were probably not executed +till a much later age, several of them certainly not till the +seventh century of the city. They are, just like those of Greece, +sometimes quite roughly formed of large unwrought blocks of rock +with smaller stones inserted between them, sometimes disposed +in square horizontal courses,(19) sometimes composed of polygonal +dressed blocks fitting into each other. The selection of one or +other of these systems was doubtless ordinarily determined by the +material, and accordingly the polygonal masonry does not occur in +Rome, where in the most ancient times tufo alone was employed for +building. The resemblance in the case of the two former and simpler +styles may perhaps be traceable to the similarity of the materials +employed and of the object in view in building; but it can hardly +be deemed accidental that the artistic polygonal wall-masonry, and +the gate with the path leading up to it universally bending to the +left and so exposing the unshielded right side of the assailant to +the defenders, belong to the Italian fortresses as well as to the +Greek. The facts are significant that in that portion of Italy +which was not reduced to subjection by the Hellenes but yet was +in lively intercourse with them, the true polygonal masonry was at +home, and it is found in Etruria only at Pyrgi and at the towns, +not very far distant from it, of Cosa and Saturnia; as the design +of the walls of Pyrgi, especially when we take into account the +significant name ("towers"), may just as certainly be ascribed to +the Greeks as that of the walls of Tiryns, in them most probably +there still stands before our eyes one of the models from which +the Italians learned how to build their walls. The temple in fine, +which in the period of the empire was called the Tuscanic and was +regarded as a kind of style co-ordinate with the various Greek +temple-structures, not only generally resembled the Greek temple +in being an enclosed space (-cello-) usually quadrangular, over +which walls and columns raised aloft a sloping roof, but was also +in details, especially in the column itself and its architectural +features, thoroughly dependent on the Greek system. It is in accordance +with all these facts probable, as it is credible of itself, that +Italian architecture previous to its contact with the Hellenes was +confined to wooden huts, abattis, and mounds of earth and stones, +and that construction in stone was only adopted in consequence of +the example and the better tools of the Greeks. It is scarcely +to be doubted that the Italians first learned from them the use of +iron, and derived from them the preparation of mortar (-cal[e]x-, +-calecare-, from --chaliz--), the machine (-machina-, --meichanei--), +the measuring-rod (-groma-, a corruption from --gnomon--, --gnoma--), +and the artificial latticework (-clathri-, --kleithron--). Accordingly +we can scarcely speak of an architecture peculiarly Italian. Yet +in the woodwork of the Italian dwelling-house--alongside of +alterations produced by Greek influence--various peculiarities may +have been retained or even for the first time developed, and these +again may have exercised a reflex influence on the building of +the Italian temples. The architectural development of the house +proceeded in Italy from the Etruscans. The Latin and even the +Sabellian still adhered to the hereditary wooden hut and to the +good old custom of assigning to the god or spirit not a consecrated +dwelling, but only a consecrated space, while the Etruscan had +already begun artistically to transform his dwelling-house, and to +erect after the model of the dwelling-house of man a temple also +for the god and a sepulchral chamber for the spirit. That the +advance to such luxurious structures in Latium first took place +under Etruscan influence, is proved by the designation of the +oldest style of temple architecture and of the oldest style of house +architecture respectively as Tuscanic.(20) As concerns the character +of this transference, the Grecian temple probably imitated the +general outlines of the tent or dwelling-house; but it was essentially +built of hewn stone and covered with tiles, and the nature of the +stone and the baked clay suggested to the Greek the laws of necessity +and beauty. The Etruscan on the other hand remained a stranger to +the strict Greek distinction between the dwelling of man necessarily +erected of wood and the dwelling of the gods necessarily formed +of stone. The peculiar characteristics of the Tuscan temple--the +outline approaching nearer to a square, the higher gable, the +greater breadth of the intervals between the columns, above all, +the increased inclination of the roof and the singular projection +of the roof-corbels beyond the supporting columns--all arose out +of the greater approximation of the temple to the dwelling-house, +and out of the peculiarities of wooden architecture. + + +Plastic Art in Italy + + +The plastic and delineative arts are more recent than architecture; +the house must be built before any attempt is made to decorate +gable and walls. It is not probable that these arts really gained +a place in Italy during the regal period of Rome; it was only +in Etruria, where commerce and piracy early gave rise to a great +concentration of riches, that art or handicraft--if the term be +preferred--obtained a footing in the earliest times. Greek art, +when it acted on Etruria, was still, as its copy shows, at a very +primitive stage, and the Etruscans may have learned from the Greeks +the art of working in clay and metal at a period not much later than +that at which they borrowed from them the alphabet. The silver +coins of Populonia, almost the only works that can be with any +precision assigned to this period, give no very high idea of Etruscan +artistic skill as it then stood; yet the best of the Etruscan works +in bronze, to which the later critics of art assigned so high a +place, may have belonged to this primitive age; and the Etruscan +terra-cottas also cannot have been altogether despicable, for the +oldest works in baked clay placed in the Roman temples--the statue +of the Capitoline Jupiter, and the four-horse chariot on the roof +of his temple--were executed in Veii, and the large ornaments of a +similar kind placed on the roofs of temples passed generally among +the later Romans under the name of "Tuscanic works." + +On the other hand, among the Italians--not among the Sabellian +stocks merely, but even among the Latins--native sculpture and +design were at this period only coming into existence. The most +considerable works of art appear to have been executed abroad. +We have just mentioned the statues of clay alleged to have been +executed in Veii; and very recent excavations have shown that works +in bronze made in Etruria, and furnished with Etruscan inscriptions, +circulated in Praeneste at least, if not generally throughout +Latium. The statue of Diana in the Romano-Latin federal temple on +the Aventine, which was considered the oldest statue of a divinity +in Rome,(21) exactly resembled the Massiliot statue of the Ephesian +Artemis, and was perhaps manufactured in Velia or Massilia. The +guilds, which from ancient times existed in Rome, of potters, +coppersmiths, and goldsmiths,(22) are almost the only proofs of +the existence of native sculpture and design there; respecting the +position of their art it is no longer possible to gain any clear +idea. + +Artistic Relations and Endowments of the Etruscans and Italians + +If we endeavour to obtain historical results from the archives of +the tradition and practice of primitive art, it is in the first place +manifest that Italian art, like the Italian measures and Italian +writing, developed itself not under Phoenician, but exclusively +under Hellenic influence. There is not a single one of the aspects +of Italian art which has not found its definite model in the art +of ancient Greece; and, so far, the legend is fully warranted which +traces the manufacture of painted clay figures, beyond doubt the +most ancient form of art in Italy, to the three Greek artists, +the "moulder," "fitter," and "draughtsman," Eucheir, Diopos, and +Eugrammos, although it is more than doubtful whether this art came +directly from Corinth or came directly to Tarquinii. There is +as little trace of any immediate imitation of oriental models as +there is of an independently-developed form of art. The Etruscan +lapidaries adhered to the form of the beetle or -scarabaeus-, which +was originally Egyptian; but --scarabaei-- were also used as models +for carving in Greece in very early times (e. g. such a beetle-stone, +with a very ancient Greek inscription, has been found in Aegina), +and therefore they may very well have come to the Etruscans through +the Greeks. The Italians may have bought from the Phoenician; they +learned only from the Greek. + +To the further question, from what Greek stock the Etruscans in +the first instance received their art-models, a categorical answer +cannot be given; yet relations of a remarkable kind subsist between +the Etruscan and the oldest Attic art. The three forms of art, which +were practised in Etruria at least in after times very extensively, +but in Greece only to an extent very limited, tomb-painting, +mirror-designing, and graving on stone, have been hitherto met with +on Grecian soil only in Athens and Aegina. The Tuscan temple does +not correspond exactly either to the Doric or to the Ionic; but in +the more important points of distinction, in the course of columns +carried round the -cella-, as well as in the placing of a separate +pedestal under each particular column, the Etruscan style follows +the more recent Ionic; and it is this same Iono-Attic style of +building still pervaded by a Doric element, which in its general +design stands nearest of all the Greek styles to the Tuscan. In +the case of Latium there is an almost total absence of any certain +traces of intercourse bearing on the history of art. If it was--as +is indeed almost self-evident--the general relations of traffic +and intercourse that determined also the introduction of models +in art, it may be assumed with certainty that the Campanian and +Sicilian Hellenes were the instructors of Latium in art, as in +the alphabet; and the analogy between the Aventine Diana and the +Ephesian Artemis is at least not inconsistent with such an hypothesis. +Of course the older Etruscan art also served as a model for Latium. +As to the Sabellian tribes, if Greek architectural and plastic art +reached them at all, it must, like the Greek alphabet, have come +to them only through the medium of the more western Italian stocks. + +If, in conclusion, we are to form a judgment respecting the artistic +endowments of the different Italian nations, we already at this +stage perceive--what becomes indeed far more obvious in the later +stages of the history of art--that while the Etruscans attained to +the practice of art at an earlier period and produced more massive +and rich workmanship, their works are inferior to those of the +Latins and Sabellians in appropriateness and utility no less than +in spirit and beauty. This certainly is apparent, in the case of +our present epoch, only in architecture. The polygonal wall-masonry, +as appropriate to its object as it was beautiful, was frequent in +Latium and in the inland country behind it; while in Etruria it was +rare, and not even the walls of Caere are constructed of polygonal +blocks. Even in the religious prominence--remarkable also as +respects the history of art--assigned to the arch(23) and to the +bridge(24) in Latium, we may be allowed to perceive, as it were, +an anticipation of the future aqueducts and consular highways of +Rome. On the other hand, the Etruscans repeated, and at the same +time corrupted, the ornamental architecture of the Greeks: for +while they transferred the laws established for building in stone +to architecture in wood, they displayed no thorough skill of +adaptation, and by the lowness of their roof and the wide intervals +between their columns gave to their temples, to use the language +of an ancient architect, a "heavy, mean, straggling, and clumsy +appearance." The Latins found in the rich stores of Greek art +but very little that was congenial to their thoroughly realistic +tastes; but what they did adopt they appropriated truly and +heartily as their own, and in the development of the polygonal +wall-architecture perhaps excelled their instructors. Etruscan art +is a remarkable evidence of accomplishments mechanically acquired +and mechanically retained, but it is, as little as the Chinese, an +evidence even of genial receptivity. As scholars have long since +desisted from the attempt to derive Greek art from that of the +Etruscans, so they must, with whatever reluctance, make up their +minds to transfer the Etruscans from the first to the lowest place +in the history of Italian art. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter XV + + + +1. I. XII. Priests + +2. I. XIII. Handicrafts + +3. Thus Cato the Elder (de R. R. 160) gives as potent against sprains +the formula: -hauat hauat hauat ista pista sista damia bodannaustra-, +which was presumably quite as obscure to its inventor as it is to +us. Of course, along with these there were also formulae of words; +e. g. it was a remedy for gout, to think, while fasting, on some +other person, and thrice nine times to utter the words, touching +the earth at the same time and spitting:--"I think of thee, mend +my feet. Let the earth receive the ill, let health with me dwell" +(-terra pestem teneto, salus hie maneto-. Varro de R. R. i. 2, +27). + +4. Each of the first five lines was repeated thrice, and the call +at the close five times. Various points in the interpretation are +uncertain, particularly as respects the third line. --The three +inscriptions of the clay vase from the Quirinal (p. 277, note) +run thus: -iove sat deiuosqoi med mitat nei ted endo gosmis uirgo +sied--asted noisi ope toilesiai pakariuois--duenos med faked +(=bonus me fecit) enmanom einom dze noine (probably=die noni) med +malo statod.-Only individual words admit of being understood with +certainty; it is especially noteworthy that forms, which we have +hitherto known only as Umbrian and Oscan, like the adjective -pacer- +and the particle -einom with the value of -et, here probably meet +us withal as old-Latin. + +5. I. II. Art + +6. The name probably denotes nothing but "the chant-measure," +inasmuch as the -satura- was originally the chant sung at the +carnival (II. Art). The god of sowing, -Saeturnus- or -Saiturnus-, +afterwards -Saturnus-, received his name from the same root; his +feast, the Saturnalia, was certainly a sort of carnival, and it is +possible that the farces were originally exhibited chiefly at this +feast. But there are no proofs of a relation between the Satura +and the Saturnalia, and it may be presumed that the immediate +association of the -versus saturnius- with the god Saturn, and the +lengthening of the first syllable in connection with that view, +belong only to later times. + +7. I. XII. Foreign Worships + +8. I. XIV. Introduction of Hellenic Alphabets into Italy + +9. The statement that "formerly the Roman boys were trained in +Etruscan culture, as they were in later times in Greek" (Liv. ix. +36), is quite irreconcilable with the original character of the +Roman training of youth, and it is not easy to see what the Roman +boys could have learned in Etruria. Even the most zealous modern +partizans of Tages-worship will not maintain that the study of the +Etruscan language played such a part in Rome then as the learning +of French does now with us; that a non-Etruscan should understand +anything of the art of the Etruscan -haruspices- was considered, +even by those who availed themselves of that art, to be a disgrace +or rather an impossibility (Muller, Etr. ii. 4). Perhaps the +statement was concocted by the Etruscizing antiquaries of the last +age of the republic out of stories of the older annals, aiming +at a causal explanation of facts, such as that which makes Mucius +Scaevola learn Etruscan when a child for the sake of his conversation +with Porsena (Dionysius, v. 28; Plutarch, Poplicola, 17; comp. +Dionysius, iii. 70). But there was at any rate an epoch when the +dominion of Rome over Italy demanded a certain knowledge of the +language of the country on the part of Romans of rank. + +10. The employment of the lyre in ritual is attested by Cicero +de Orat. iii. 51, 197; Tusc. iv. 2, 4; Dionysius, vii. 72; Appian, +Pun. 66; and the inscription in Orelli, 2448, comp. 1803. It +was likewise used at the -neniae- (Varro ap. Nonium, v. -nenia- +and -praeficae-). But playing on the lyre remained none the less +unbecoming (Scipio ap. Macrob. Sat. ii. 10, et al.). The prohibition +of music in 639 exempted only the "Latin player on the pipe along +with the singer," not the player on the lyre, and the guests at meals +sang only to the pipe (Cato in Cic. Tusc. i. 2, 3; iv. 2, 3; Varro +ap. Nonium, v. -assa voce-; Horace, Carm. iv. 15, 30). Quintilian, +who asserts the reverse (Inst. i. 10, 20), has inaccurately +transferred to private banquets what Cicero (de Orat. iii. 51) +states in reference to the feasts of the gods. + +11. The city festival can have only lasted at first for a single +day, for in the sixth century it still consisted of four days of +scenic and one day of Circensian sports (Ritschl, Parerga, i. 313) +and it is well known that the scenic amusements were only a subsequent +addition. That in each kind of contest there was originally +only one competition, follows from Livy, xliv. 9; the running +of five-and-twenty pairs of chariots in succession on one day was +a subsequent innovation (Varro ap. Serv. Georg. iii. 18). That +only two chariots--and likewise beyond doubt only two horsemen +and two wrestlers--strove for the prize, may be inferred from the +circumstance, that at all periods in the Roman chariot-races only +as many chariots competed as there were so-called factions; and of +these there were originally only two, the white and the red. The +horsemanship-competition of patrician youths which belonged to +the Circensian games, the so-called Troia, was, as is well known, +revived by Caesar; beyond doubt it was connected with the cavalcade +of the boy-militia, which Dionysius mentions (vii. 72). + +12. I. VII. Servian Wall + +13. I. VI. Time and Occasion of the Reform + +14. I. II. Religion + +15. -Vates- probably denoted in the first instance the "leader of +the singing" (for so the -vates- of the Salii must be understood) +and thereafter in its older usage approximated to the Greek +--propheiteis--; it was a word be longing to religious ritual, +and even when subsequently used of the poet, always retained the +accessory idea of a divinely-inspired singer--the priest of the +Muses. + +16. We shall show in due time that the Atellanae and Fescenninae +belonged not to Campanian and Etruscan, but to Latin art. + +17. Literally "word-crisping," in allusion to the -calamistri +Maecenatis-. + +18. I. III. Alba + +19. Of this character were the Servian walls. They consisted +partly of a strengthening of the hill-slopes by facing them with +lining-walls as much as 4 metres thick, partly--in the intervals, +above all on the Viminal and Quirinal, where from the Esquiline +to the Colline gate there was an absence of natural defence--of an +earthen mound, which was finished off on the outside by a similar +lining-wall. On these lining-walls rested the breastwork. A trench, +according to trustworthy statements of the ancients 30 feet deep +and 100 feet broad, stretched along in front of the wall, for +which the earth was taken from this same trench.--The breastwork +has nowhere been preserved; of the lining-walls extensive remains +have recently been brought to light. The blocks of tufo composing +them are hewn in longish rectangles, on an average of 60 centimetres +(= 2 Roman feet) in height and breadth, while the length varies +from 70 centimetres to 3 metres, and they are, without application +of mortar, laid together in several rows, alternately with the long +and with the narrow side outermost. + +The portion of the Servian wall near the Viminal gate, discovered in +the year 1862 at the Villa Negroni, rests on a foundation of huge +blocks of tufo of 3 to 4 metres in height and breadth, on which was +then raised the outer wall from blocks of the same material and of +the same size as those elsewhere employed in the wall. The earthen +rampart piled up behind appears to have had on the upper surface +a breadth extending about 13 metres or fully 40 Roman feet, and +the whole wall-defence, including the outer wall of freestone, to +have had a breadth of as much as 15 metres or 50 Roman feet. The +portions formed of peperino blocks, which are bound with iron +clamps, have only been added in connection with subsequent labours +of repair.--Essentially similar to the Servian walls are those +discovered in the Vigna Nussiner, on the slope of the Palatine +towards the side of the Capitol, and at other points of the Palatine, +which have been declared by Jordan (Topographic, ii. 173), probably +with reason, to be remnants of the citadel-wall of the Palatine +Rome, + +20. -Ratio Tuscanica,: cavum aedium Tuscanicum.- + +21. When Varro (ap. Augustin. De Civ. Dei, iv. 31; comp. Plutarch +Num. 8) affirms that the Romans for more than one hundred and +seventy years worshipped the gods without images, he is evidently +thinking of this primitive piece of carving, which, according to +the conventional chronology, was dedicated between 176 and 219, and, +beyond doubt, was the first statue of the gods, the consecration +of which was mentioned in the authorities which Varro had before +him. Comp, above, XIV. Development of Alphabets in Italy. + +22. I. XIII. Handicrafts + +23. I. XII. Nature of the Roman Gods + +24. I. XII. Pontifices + + + +End of Book I + + + + + + +TABLE OF CALENDAR EQUIVALENTS--A. U. C vs. B. C. + +A.U.C.* B.C. B.C. A.U.C. +----------------------------------------------------------- +000 753 753 000 +025 728 750 003 +050 703 725 028 +075 678 700 053 +100 653 675 078 +125 628 650 103 +150 603 625 128 +175 578 600 153 +200 553 575 178 +225 528 550 203 +250 503 525 228 +275 478 500 253 +300 453 475 278 +325 428 450 303 +350 303 425 328 +375 378 400 353 +400 353 375 378 +425 328 350 403 +450 303 325 428 +475 278 300 453 +500 253 275 478 +525 228 250 503 +550 203 225 528 +575 178 200 553 +600 153 175 578 +625 128 150 603 +650 103 125 628 +675 078 100 653 +700 053 075 678 +725 028 050 703 +750 003 025 728 +753 000 000 753 + +*A. U. C.--Ab Urbe Condi (from the founding of the City of Rome) + +*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK 10701 *** diff --git a/LICENSE.txt b/LICENSE.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..6312041 --- /dev/null +++ b/LICENSE.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11 @@ +This eBook, including all associated images, markup, improvements, +metadata, and any other content or labor, has been confirmed to be +in the PUBLIC DOMAIN IN THE UNITED STATES. + +Procedures for determining public domain status are described in +the "Copyright How-To" at https://www.gutenberg.org. + +No investigation has been made concerning possible copyrights in +jurisdictions other than the United States. Anyone seeking to utilize +this eBook outside of the United States should confirm copyright +status under the laws that apply to them. diff --git a/README.md b/README.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..9826fcd --- /dev/null +++ b/README.md @@ -0,0 +1,2 @@ +Project Gutenberg (https://www.gutenberg.org) public repository for +eBook #10701 (https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/10701) diff --git a/old/10701.txt b/old/10701.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..f90c2b0 --- /dev/null +++ b/old/10701.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11974 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, The History of Rome, Book I, by Theodor +Mommsen, Translated by William Purdie Dickson + + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + + + + +Title: The History of Rome, Book I + +Author: Theodor Mommsen + +Release Date: June 2006 [eBook #10701] +Most recently updated March 16, 2005 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF ROME, BOOK I*** + + +E-text prepared by David Ceponis + + + +Note: A compilation of all five volumes of this work is also available + individually in the Project Gutenberg library. + See https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/10706 + + The original German version of this work, Roemische Geschichte, + Erstes Buch: bis zur Abschaffung des roemischen Koenigtums, is + in the Project Gutenberg E-Library as E-book #3060. + See https://www.gutenberg.org/etext/3060 + + + + + +THE HISTORY OF ROME + +The Period Anterior to the Abolition of the Monarchy + +by + +THEODOR MOMMSEN + +Translated with the Sanction of the Author + +by + +William Purdie Dickson, D.D., LL.D. +Professor of Divinity in the University of Glasgow + +A New Edition Revised throughout and Embodying Recent Additions + + + + +Preparer's Note + + +This work contains many literal citations of and references to foreign +words, sounds, and alphabetic symbols drawn from many languages, +including Gothic and Phoenician, but chiefly Latin and Greek. This +English Gutenberg edition, constrained to the characters of 7-bit +ASCII code, adopts the following orthographic conventions: + +1) Except for Greek, all literally cited non-English words that +do not refer to texts cited as academic references, words that in +the source manuscript appear italicized, are rendered with a single +preceding, and a single following dash; thus, -xxxx-. + +2) Greek words, first transliterated into Roman alphabetic equivalents, +are rendered with a preceding and a following double-dash; thus, +--xxxx--. Note that in some cases the root word itself is a compound +form such as xxx-xxxx, and is rendered as --xxx-xxx-- + +3) Simple unideographic references to vocalic sounds, single +letters, or alphabeic dipthongs; and prefixes, suffixes, and syllabic +references are represented by a single preceding dash; thus, -x, +or -xxx. + +4) (Especially for the complex discussion of alphabetic evolution +in Ch. XIV: Measuring And Writing). Ideographic references, +meaning pointers to the form of representation itself rather than +to its content, are represented as -"id:xxxx"-. "id:" stands for +"ideograph", and indicates that the reader should form a picture +based on the following "xxxx"; which may be a single symbol, a +word, or an attempt at a picture composed of ASCII characters. E. +g. --"id:GAMMA gamma"-- indicates an uppercase Greek gamma-form +followed by the form in lowercase. Some such exotic parsing as +this is necessary to explain alphabetic development because a single +symbol may have been used for a number of sounds in a number of +languages, or even for a number of sounds in the same language at +different times. Thus, -"id:GAMMA gamma" might very well refer to +a Phoenician construct that in appearance resembles the form that +eventually stabilized as an uppercase Greek "gamma" juxtaposed to +one of lowercase. Also, a construct such as --"id:E" indicates +a symbol that with ASCII resembles most closely a Roman uppercase +"E", but, in fact, is actually drawn more crudely. + +5) Dr. Mommsen has given his dates in terms of Roman usage, A.U.C.; +that is, from the founding of Rome, conventionally taken to be 753 +B. C. The preparer of this document, has appended to the end of +each volume a table of conversion between the two systems. + + + + +PREFACE BY THE TRANSLATOR + + +When the first portion of this translation appeared in 1861, it was +accompanied by a Preface, for which I was indebted to the kindness +of the late Dr. Schmitz, introducing to the English reader the +work of an author whose name and merits, though already known to +scholars, were far less widely familiar than they are now. After +thirty-three years such an introduction is no longer needed, but +none the less gratefully do I recall how much the book owed at the +outset to Dr. Schmitz's friendly offices. + +The following extracts from my own "Prefatory Note" dated "December +1861" state the circumstances under which I undertook the translation, +and give some explanations as to its method and aims:-- + +"In requesting English scholars to receive with indulgence this first +portion of a translation of Dr. Mommsen's 'Romische Geschichte,' +I am somewhat in the position of Albinus; who, when appealing to +his readers to pardon the imperfections of the Roman History which +he had written in indifferent Greek, was met by Cato with the +rejoinder that he was not compelled to write at all--that, if the +Amphictyonic Council had laid their commands on him, the case would +have been different--but that it was quite out of place to ask the +indulgence of his readers when his task had been self-imposed. I +may state, however, that I did not undertake this task, until +I had sought to ascertain whether it was likely to be taken up by +any one more qualified to do justice to it. When Dr. Mommsen's +work accidentally came into my hands some years after its first +appearance, and revived my interest in studies which I had long +laid aside for others more strictly professional, I had little doubt +that its merits would have already attracted sufficient attention +amidst the learned leisure of Oxford to induce some of her great +scholars to clothe it in an English dress. But it appeared on +inquiry that, while there was a great desire to see it translated, +and the purpose of translating it had been entertained in more +quarters than one, the projects had from various causes miscarried. +Mr. George Robertson published an excellent translation (to which, +so far as it goes, I desire to acknowledge my obligations) of the +introductory chapters on the early inhabitants of Italy; but other +studies and engagements did not permit him to proceed with it. I +accordingly requested and obtained Dr. Mommsen's permission to +translate his work. + +"The translation has been prepared from the third edition of the +original, published in the spring of the present year at Berlin. +The sheets have been transmitted to Dr. Mommsen, who has kindly +communicated to me such suggestions as occurred to him. I have +thus been enabled, more especially in the first volume, to correct +those passages where I had misapprehended or failed to express the +author's meaning, and to incorporate in the English work various +additions and corrections which do not appear in the original. + +"In executing the translation I have endeavoured to follow the original +as closely as is consistent with a due regard to the difference of +idiom. Many of our translations from the German are so literal as +to reproduce the very order of the German sentence, so that they +are, if not altogether unintelligible to the English reader, at +least far from readable, while others deviate so entirely from the +form of the original as to be no longer translations in the proper +sense of the term. I have sought to pursue a middle course between +a mere literal translation, which would be repulsive, and a loose +paraphrase, which would be in the case of such a work peculiarly +unsatisfactory. Those who are most conversant with the difficulties +of such a task will probably be the most willing to show forbearance +towards the shortcomings of my performance, and in particular towards +the too numerous traces of the German idiom, which, on glancing +over the sheets, I find it still to retain. + +"The reader may perhaps be startled by the occurrence now and then +of modes of expression more familiar and colloquial than is usually +the case in historical works. This, however, is a characteristic +feature of the original, to which in fact it owes not a little +of its charm. Dr. Mommsen often uses expressions that are not +to be found in the dictionary, and he freely takes advantage of +the unlimited facilities afforded by the German language for the +coinage or the combination of words. I have not unfrequently, in +deference to his wishes, used such combinations as 'Carthagino-Sicilian,' +'Romano-Hellenic,' although less congenial to our English idiom, +for the sake of avoiding longer periphrases. + +"In Dr. Mommsen's book, as in every other German work that has +occasion to touch on abstract matters, there occur sentences couched +in a peculiar terminology and not very susceptible of translation. +There are one or two sentences of this sort, more especially in +the chapter on Religion in the 1st volume, and in the critique of +Euripides as to which I am not very confident that I have seized +or succeeded in expressing the meaning. In these cases I have +translated literally. + +"In the spelling of proper names I have generally adopted the Latin +orthography as more familiar to scholars in this country, except +in cases where the spelling adopted by Dr. Mommsen is marked by any +special peculiarity. At the same time entire uniformity in this +respect has not been aimed at. + +"I have ventured in various instances to break up the paragraphs of +the original and to furnish them with additional marginal headings, +and have carried out more fully the notation of the years B.C. on +the margin. + +"It is due to Dr. Schmitz, who has kindly encouraged me in +this undertaking, that I should state that I alone am responsible +for the execution of the translation. Whatever may be thought of +it in other respects, I venture to hope that it may convey to the +English reader a tolerably accurate impression of the contents and +general spirit of the book." + +In a new Library edition, which appeared in 1868, I incorporated all +the additions and alterations which were introduced in the fourth +edition of the German, some of which were of considerable importance; +and I took the opportunity of revising the translation, so as to +make the rendering more accurate and consistent. + +Since that time no change has been made, except the issue in 1870 +of an Index. But, as Dr. Mommsen was good enough some time ago +to send to me a copy in which he had taken the trouble to mark the +alterations introduced in the more recent editions of the original, +I thought it due to him and to the favour with which the translation +had been received that I should subject it to such a fresh revision +as should bring it into conformity with the last form (eighth +edition) of the German, on which, as I learn from him, he hardly +contemplates further change. As compared with the first English +edition, the more considerable alterations of addition, omission, +or substitution amount, I should think, to well-nigh a hundred pages. +I have corrected various errors in renderings, names, and dates +(though not without some misgiving that others may have escaped +notice or been incurred afresh); and I have still further broken +up the text into paragraphs and added marginal headings. + +The Index, which was not issued for the German book till nine years +after the English translation was published, has now been greatly +enlarged from its more recent German form, and has been, at the +expenditure of no small labour, adapted to the altered paging of +the English. I have also prepared, as an accompaniment to it, a +collation of pagings, which will materially facilitate the finding of +references made to the original or to the previous English editions. + +I have had much reason to be gratified by the favour with which +my translation has been received on the part alike of Dr. Mommsen +himself and of the numerous English scholars who have made it the +basis of their references to his work.(1) I trust that in the +altered form and new dress, for which the book is indebted to the +printers, it may still further meet the convenience of the reader. + +September 1894. + + + + +Notes for Preface + + +1. It has, I believe, been largely in use at Oxford for the last +thirty years; but it has not apparently had the good fortune to +have come to the knowledge of the writer of an article on "Roman +History" published in the Encyclopedia Britannica in 1886, which at +least makes no mention of its existence, or yet of Mr. Baring-Gould, +who in his Tragedy of the Caesars (vol. 1. p. 104f.) has presented +Dr. Mommsen's well-known "character" of Caesar in an independent +version. His rendering is often more spirited than accurate. While +in several cases important words, clauses, or even sentences, are +omitted, in others the meaning is loosely or imperfectly conveyed--e.g. +in "Hellenistic" for "Hellenic"; "success" for "plenitude of power"; +"attempts" or "operations" for "achievements"; "prompt to recover" +for "ready to strike"; "swashbuckler" for "brilliant"; "many" for +"unyielding"; "accessible to all" for "complaisant towards every +one"; "smallest fibre" for "Inmost core"; "ideas" for "ideals"; +"unstained with blood" for "as bloodless as possible"; "described" +for "apprehended"; "purity" for "clearness"; "smug" for "plain" +(or homely); "avoid" for "avert"; "taking his dark course" for +"stealing towards his aim by paths of darkness"; "rose" for "transformed +himself"; "checked everything like a praetorian domination" for +"allowed no hierarchy of marshals or government of praetorians +to come into existence"; and in one case the meaning is exactly +reversed, when "never sought to soothe, where he could not cure, +intractable evils" stands for "never disdained at least to mitigate +by palliatives evils that were incurable." + + + + +INTRODUCTORY NOTE BY DR. MOMMSEN + + +The Varronian computation by years of the City is retained in the +text; the figures on the margin indicate the corresponding year +before the birth of Christ. + +In calculating the corresponding years, the year 1 of the City has +been assumed as identical with the year 753 B.C., and with Olymp. +6, 4; although, if we take into account the circumstance that the +Roman solar year began with the 1st day of March, and the Greek +with the 1st day of July, the year 1 of the City would, according +to more exact calculation, correspond to the last ten months of 753 +and the first two months of 752 B.C., and to the last four months +of Ol. 6, 3 and the first eight of Ol. 6, 4. + +The Roman and Greek money has uniformly been commuted on the basis +of assuming the libral as and sestertius, and the denarius and +Attic drachma, respectively as equal, and taking for all sums above +100 denarii the present value in gold, and for all sums under 100 +denarii the present value in silver, of the corresponding weight. +The Roman pound (=327.45 grammes) of gold, equal to 4000 sesterces, +has thus, according to the ratio of gold to silver 1:15.5, been +reckoned at 304 1/2 Prussian thalers [about 43 pounds sterling], +and the denarius, according to the value of silver, at 7 Prussian +groschen [about 8d.].(1) + +Kiepert's map will give a clearer idea of the military consolidation +of Italy than can be conveyed by any description. + +1. I have deemed it, in general, sufficient to give the value of +the Roman money approximately in round numbers, assuming for that +purpose 100 sesterces as equivalent to 1 pound sterling.--TR. + + + + +DEDICATIONS + + + +The First Volume of the original bears the inscription:-- + +To My Friend + +MORIZ HAUPT Of Berin + +The Second:-- + +To My Dear Associates + +FERDINAND HITZIG Of Zurich + +And + +KARL LUDWIG Of Vienna 1852, 1853, 1854 + +And the Third:-- + +Dedicated With Old And Loyal Affection To + +OTTO JAHN Of Bonn + + + + +CONTENTS + +BOOK I: The Period Anterior to the Abolition of the Monarchy + + CHAPTER + + I. Introduction + + II. The Earliest Migrations into Italy + + III. The Settlements of the Latins + + IV. The Beginnings of Rome + + V. The Original Constitution of Rome + + VI. The Non-Burgesses and the Reformed Constitution + + VII. The Hegemony of Rome in Latium + + VIII. The Umbro-Sabellian Stocks--Beginnings of the Samnites + + IX. The Etruscans + + X. The Hellenes in Italy--Maritime Supremacy of the Tuscans + and Carthaginians + + XI. Law and Justice + + XII. Religion + + XIII. Agriculture, Trade, and Commerce + + XIV. Measuring and Writing + + XV. Art + + + + + +BOOK FIRST + +The Period Anterior to the Abolition of the Monarchy + + + + +--Ta palaiotera saphos men eurein dia chronou pleithos adunata +ein ek de tekmeirion on epi makrotaton skopounti moi pisteusai +xumbainei ou megala nomizo genesthai oute kata tous polemous oute +es ta alla.-- + +Thucydides. + + + + +CHAPTER I + +Introduction + + + +Ancient History + + +The Mediterranean Sea with its various branches, penetrating far +into the great Continent, forms the largest gulf of the ocean, +and, alternately narrowed by islands or projections of the land and +expanding to considerable breadth, at once separates and connects +the three divisions of the Old World. The shores of this inland +sea were in ancient times peopled by various nations belonging in +an ethnographical and philological point of view to different races, +but constituting in their historical aspect one whole. This historic +whole has been usually, but not very appropriately, entitled the +history of the ancient world. It is in reality the history of +civilization among the Mediterranean nations; and, as it passes +before us in its successive stages, it presents four great phases +of development--the history of the Coptic or Egyptian stock dwelling +on the southern shore, the history of the Aramaean or Syrian nation +which occupied the east coast and extended into the interior of +Asia as far as the Euphrates and Tigris, and the histories of the +twin-peoples, the Hellenes and Italians, who received as their heritage +the countries on the European shore. Each of these histories was +in its earlier stages connected with other regions and with other +cycles of historical evolution; but each soon entered on its own +distinctive career. The surrounding nations of alien or even of +kindred extraction--the Berbers and Negroes of Africa, the Arabs, +Persians, and Indians of Asia, the Celts and Germans of Europe--came +into manifold contact with the peoples inhabiting the borders of +the Mediterranean, but they neither imparted unto them nor received +from them any influences exercising decisive effect on their +respective destinies. So far, therefore, as cycles of culture admit +of demarcation at all, the cycle which has its culminating points +denoted by the names Thebes, Carthage, Athens, and Rome, may be +regarded as an unity. The four nations represented by these names, +after each of them had attained in a path of its own a peculiar +and noble civilization, mingled with one another in the most varied +relations of reciprocal intercourse, and skilfully elaborated and +richly developed all the elements of human nature. At length their +cycle was accomplished. New peoples who hitherto had only laved +the territories of the states of the Mediterranean, as waves lave +the beach, overflowed both its shores, severed the history of its +south coast from that of the north, and transferred the centre of +civilization from the Mediterranean to the Atlantic Ocean. The +distinction between ancient and modern history, therefore, is no +mere accident, nor yet a mere matter of chronological convenience. +What is called modern history is in reality the formation of a new +cycle of culture, connected in several stages of its development +with the perishing or perished civilization of the Mediterranean +states, as this was connected with the primitive civilization of +the Indo-Germanic stock, but destined, like the earlier cycle, to +traverse an orbit of its own. It too is destined to experience in +full measure the vicissitudes of national weal and woe, the periods +of growth, of maturity, and of age, the blessedness of creative +effort in religion, polity, and art, the comfort of enjoying the +material and intellectual acquisitions which it has won, perhaps +also, some day, the decay of productive power in the satiety of +contentment with the goal attained. And yet this goal will only +be temporary: the grandest system of civilization has its orbit, +and may complete its course but not so the human race, to which, +just when it seems to have reached its goal, the old task is ever +set anew with a wider range and with a deeper meaning. + + +Italy + + +Our aim is to exhibit the last act of this great historical drama, +to relate the ancient history of the central peninsula projecting +from the northern continent into the Mediterranean. It is formed +by the mountain-system of the Apennines branching off in a southern +direction from the western Alps. The Apennines take in the first +instance a south-eastern course between the broader gulf of the +Mediterranean on the west, and the narrow one on the east; and in the +close vicinity of the latter they attain their greatest elevation, +which, however, scarce reaches the line of perpetual snow, in +the Abruzzi. From the Abruzzi the chain continues in a southern +direction, at first undivided and of considerable height; after +a depression which forms a hill-country, it splits into a somewhat +flattened succession of heights towards the south-east and a more +rugged chain towards the south, and in both directions terminates +in the formation of narrow peninsulas. + +The flat country on the north, extending between the Alps and the +Apennines as far down as the Abruzzi, does not belong geographically, +nor until a very late period even historically, to the southern land +of mountain and hill, the Italy whose history is here to engage +our attention. It was not till the seventh century of the city +that the coast-district from Sinigaglia to Rimini, and not till the +eighth that the basin of the Po, became incorporated with Italy. +The ancient boundary of Italy on the north was not the Alps but +the Apennines. This mountain-system nowhere rises abruptly into +a precipitous chain, but, spreading broadly over the land and +enclosing many valleys and table-lands connected by easy passes, +presents conditions which well adapt it to become the settlement of +man. Still more suitable in this respect are the adjacent slopes +and the coast-districts on the east, south, and west. On the +east coast the plain of Apulia, shut in towards the north by the +mountain-block of the Abruzzi and only broken by the steep isolated +ridge of Garganus, stretches in a uniform level with but a scanty +development of coast and stream. On the south coast, between the +two peninsulas in which the Apennines terminate, extensive lowlands, +poorly provided with harbours but well watered and fertile, +adjoin the hill-country of the interior. The west coast presents +a far-stretching domain intersected by considerable streams, in +particular by the Tiber, and shaped by the action of the waves and +of the once numerous volcanoes into manifold variety of hill and +valley, harbour and island. Here the regions of Etruria, Latium, +and Campania form the very flower of the land of Italy. South of +Campania, the land in front of the mountains gradually diminishes, +and the Tyrrhenian Sea almost washes their base. Moreover, as +the Peloponnesus is attached to Greece, so the island of Sicily is +attached to Italy--the largest and fairest isle of the Mediterranean, +having a mountainous and partly desert interior, but girt, especially +on the east and south, by a broad belt of the finest coast-land, +mainly the result of volcanic action. Geographically the Sicilian +mountains are a continuation of the Apennines, hardly interrupted +by the narrow "rent" --Pegion--of the straits; and in its historical +relations Sicily was in earlier times quite as decidedly a part of +Italy as the Peloponnesus was of Greece, a field for the struggles +of the same races, and the seat of a similar superior civilization. + +The Italian peninsula resembles the Grecian in the temperate climate +and wholesome air that prevail on the hills of moderate height, and +on the whole, also, in the valleys and plains. In development of +coast it is inferior; it wants, in particular, the island-studded +sea which made the Hellenes a seafaring nation. Italy on the +other hand excels its neighbour in the rich alluvial plains and +the fertile and grassy mountain-slopes, which are requisite for +agriculture and the rearing of cattle. Like Greece, it is a noble +land which calls forth and rewards the energies of man, opening +up alike for restless adventure the way to distant lands and for +quiet exertion modes of peaceful gain at home. + +But, while the Grecian peninsula is turned towards the east, the +Italian is turned towards the west. As the coasts of Epirus and +Acarnania had but a subordinate importance in the case of Hellas, +so had the Apulian and Messapian coasts in that of Italy; and, while +the regions on which the historical development of Greece has been +mainly dependent--Attica and Macedonia--look to the east, Etruria, +Latium, and Campania look to the west. In this way the two peninsulas, +so close neighbours and almost sisters, stand as it were averted +from each other. Although the naked eye can discern from Otranto +the Acroceraunian mountains, the Italians and Hellenes came into +earlier and closer contact on every other pathway rather than on the +nearest across the Adriatic Sea, In their instance, as has happened +so often, the historical vocation of the nations was prefigured +in the relations of the ground which they occupied; the two great +stocks, on which the civilization of the ancient world grew, threw +their shadow as well as their seed, the one towards the east, the +other towards the west. + + +Italian History + + +We intend here to relate the history of Italy, not simply the history +of the city of Rome. Although, in the formal sense of political +law, it was the civic community of Rome which gained the sovereignty +first of Italy and then of the world, such a view cannot be held +to express the higher and real meaning of history. What has been +called the subjugation of Italy by the Romans appears rather, +when viewed in its true light, as the consolidation into an united +state of the whole Italian stock--a stock of which the Romans were +doubtless the most powerful branch, but still were only a branch. + +The history of Italy falls into two main sections: (1) its internal +history down to its union under the leadership of the Latin stock, +and (2) the history of its sovereignty over the world. Under the +first section, which will occupy the first two books, we shall have +to set forth the settlement of the Italian stock in the peninsula; +the imperilling of its national and political existence, and +its partial subjugation, by nations of other descent and older +civilization, Greeks and Etruscans; the revolt of the Italians +against the strangers, and the annihilation or subjection of the +latter; finally, the struggles between the two chief Italian stocks, +the Latins and the Samnites, for the hegemony of the peninsula, and +the victory of the Latins at the end of the fourth century before +the birth of Christ--or of the fifth century of the city. The second +section opens with the Punic wars; it embraces the rapid extension +of the dominion of Rome up to and beyond the natural boundaries of +Italy, the long status quo of the imperial period, and the collapse +of the mighty empire. These events will be narrated in the third +and following books. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter I + + + +1. The dates as hereafter inserted in the text are years of the +City (A.U.C.); those in the margin give the corresponding years +B.C. + + + + +CHAPTER II + +The Earliest Migrations into Italy + + + +Primitive Races of Italy + + +We have no information, not even a tradition, concerning the first +migration of the human race into Italy. It was the universal +belief of antiquity that in Italy, as well as elsewhere, the first +population had sprung from the soil. We leave it to the province +of the naturalist to decide the question of the origin of different +races, and of the influence of climate in producing their diversities. +In a historical point of view it is neither possible, nor is it of +any importance, to determine whether the oldest recorded population +of a country were autochthones or immigrants. But it is incumbent +on the historical inquirer to bring to light the successive strata of +population in the country of which he treats, in order to trace, +from as remote an epoch as possible, the gradual progress of +civilization to more perfect forms, and the suppression of races +less capable of, or less advanced in, culture by nations of higher +standing. + +Italy is singularly poor in memorials of the primitive period, and +presents in this respect a remarkable contrast to other fields of +civilization. The results of German archaeological research lead +to the conclusion that in England, France, the North of Germany +and Scandinavia, before the settlement of the Indo-Germans in those +lands, there must have dwelt, or rather roamed, a people, perhaps +of Mongolian race, gaining their subsistence by hunting and fishing, +making their implements of stone, clay, or bones, adorning themselves +with the teeth of animals and with amber, but unacquainted with +agriculture and the use of the metals. In India, in like manner, the +Indo-Germanic settlers were preceded by a dark-coloured population +less susceptible of culture. But in Italy we neither meet with +fragments of a supplanted nation, such as the Finns and Lapps in the +Celto-Germanic domain and the black tribes in the Indian mountains; +nor have any remains of an extinct primitive people been hitherto +pointed out there, such as appear to be revealed in the peculiarly-formed +skeletons, the places of assembling, and the burial mounds of what +is called the stone-period of Germanic antiquity. Nothing has +hitherto been brought to light to warrant the supposition that +mankind existed in Italy at a period anterior to the knowledge of +agriculture and of the smelting of the metals; and if the human +race ever within the bounds of Italy really occupied the level of +that primitive stage of culture which we are accustomed to call +the savage state, every trace of such a fact has disappeared. + +Individual tribes, or in other words, races or stocks, are the +constituent elements of the earliest history. Among the stocks which +in later times we meet with in Italy, the immigration of some, of +the Hellenes for instance, and the denationalization of others, +such as the Bruttians and the inhabitants of the Sabine territory, +are historically attested. Setting aside both these classes, there +remain a number of stocks whose wanderings can no longer be traced +by means of historical testimony, but only by a priori inference, +and whose nationality cannot be shown to have undergone any radical +change from external causes. To establish the national individuality +of these is the first aim of our inquiry. In such an inquiry, +had we nothing to fall back upon but the chaotic mass of names of +tribes and the confusion of what professes to be historical tradition, +the task might well be abandoned as hopeless. The conventionally +received tradition, which assumes the name of history, is composed +of a few serviceable notices by civilized travellers, and a mass +of mostly worthless legends, which have usually been combined with +little discrimination of the true character either of legend or +of history. But there is another source of tradition to which we +may resort, and which yields information fragmentary but authentic; +we mean the indigenous languages of the stocks settled in Italy from +time immemorial. These languages, which have grown with the growth +of the peoples themselves, have had the stamp of their process +of growth impressed upon them too deeply to be wholly effaced +by subsequent civilization. One only of the Italian languages is +known to us completely; but the remains which have been preserved +of several of the others are sufficient to afford a basis for +historical inquiry regarding the existence, and the degrees, of +family relationship among the several languages and peoples. + +In this way philological research teaches us to distinguish three +primitive Italian stocks, the Iapygian, the Etruscan, and that +which we shall call the Italian. The last is divided into two main +branches,--the Latin branch, and that to which the dialects of the +Umbri, Marsi, Volsci, and Samnites belong. + + +Iapygians + + +As to the Iapygian stock, we have but little information. At the +south-eastern extremity of Italy, in the Messapian or Calabrian +peninsula, inscriptions in a peculiar extinct language(1) have been +found in considerable numbers; undoubtedly remains of the dialect +of the Iapygians, who are very distinctly pronounced by tradition +also to have been different from the Latin and Samnite stocks. +Statements deserving of credit and numerous indications lead to the +conclusion that the same language and the same stock were indigenous +also in Apulia. What we at present know of this people suffices +to show clearly that they were distinct from the other Italians, +but does not suffice to determine what position should be assigned +to them and to their language in the history of the human race. The +inscriptions have not yet been, and it is scarcely to be expected +that they ever will be, deciphered. The genitive forms, -aihi- and +-ihi-, corresponding to the Sanscrit -asya- and the Greek --oio--, +appear to indicate that the dialect belongs to the Indo-Germanic +family. Other indications, such as the use of the aspirated consonants +and the avoiding of the letters m and t as terminal sounds, show +that this Iapygian dialect was essentially different from the +Italian and corresponded in some respects to the Greek dialects. +The supposition of an especially close affinity between the Iapygian +nation and the Hellenes finds further support in the frequent +occurrence of the names of Greek divinities in the inscriptions, +and in the surprising facility with which that people became +Hellenized, presenting a striking contrast to the shyness in this +respect of the other Italian nations. Apulia, which in the time +of Timaeus (400) was still described as a barbarous land, had in +the sixth century of the city become a province thoroughly Greek, +although no direct colonization from Greece had taken place; +and even among the ruder stock of the Messapii there are various +indications of a similar tendency. With the recognition of such +a general family relationship or peculiar affinity between the +Iapygians and Hellenes (a recognition, however, which by no means +goes so far as to warrant our taking the Iapygian language to be a +rude dialect of Greek), investigation must rest content, at least +in the meantime, until some more precise and better assured result +be attainable.(2) The lack of information, however, is not much +felt; for this race, already on the decline at the period when +our history begins, comes before us only when it is giving way and +disappearing. The character of the Iapygian people, little capable +of resistance, easily merging into other nationalities, agrees +well with the hypothesis, to which their geographical position adds +probability, that they were the oldest immigrants or the historical +autochthones of Italy. There can be no doubt that all the primitive +migrations of nations took place by land; especially such as were +directed towards Italy, the coast of which was accessible by sea +only to skilful sailors and on that account was still in Homer's +time wholly unknown to the Hellenes. But if the earlier settlers +came over the Apennines, then, as the geologist infers the origin +of mountains from their stratification, the historical inquirer +may hazard the conjecture that the stocks pushed furthest towards +the south were the oldest inhabitants of Italy; and it is just +at its extreme south-eastern verge that we meet with the Iapygian +nation. + + +Italians + + +The middle of the peninsula was inhabited, as far back as trustworthy +tradition reaches, by two peoples or rather two branches of the +same people, whose position in the Indo-Germanic family admits of +being determined with greater precision than that of the Iapygian +nation. We may with propriety call this people the Italian, since +upon it rests the historical significance of the peninsula. It is +divided into the two branch-stocks of the Latins and the Umbrians; +the latter including their southern offshoots, the Marsians and +Samnites, and the colonies sent forth by the Samnites in historical +times. The philological analysis of the idioms of these stocks +has shown that they together constitute a link in the Indo-Germanic +chain of languages, and that the epoch in which they still formed +an unity is a comparatively late one. In their system of sounds +there appears the peculiar spirant -f, in the use of which they +agree with the Etruscans, but decidedly differ from all Hellenic +and Helleno-barbaric races as well as from the Sanscrit itself. +The aspirates, again, which are retained by the Greeks throughout, +and the harsher of them also by the Etruscans, were originally +foreign to the Italians, and are represented among them by one of +their elements--either by the media, or by the breathing alone -f +or -h. The finer spirants, -s, -w, -j, which the Greeks dispense +with as much as possible, have been retained in the Italian languages +almost unimpaired, and have been in some instances still further +developed. The throwing back of the accent and the consequent +destruction of terminations are common to the Italians with some +Greek stocks and with the Etruscans; but among the Italians this +was done to a greater extent than among the former, and to a lesser +extent than among the latter. The excessive disorder of the +terminations in the Umbrian certainly had no foundation in the +original spirit of the language, but was a corruption of later date, +which appeared in a similar although weaker tendency also at Rome. +Accordingly in the Italian languages short vowels are regularly +dropped in the final sound, long ones frequently: the concluding +consonants, on the other hand, have been tenaciously retained in +the Latin and still more so in the Samnite; while the Umbrian drops +even these. In connection with this we find that the middle voice +has left but slight traces in the Italian languages, and a peculiar +passive formed by the addition of -r takes its place; and further +that the majority of the tenses are formed by composition with the +roots -es and -fu, while the richer terminational system of the +Greeks along with the augment enables them in great part to dispense +with auxiliary verbs. While the Italian languages, like the Aeolic +dialect, gave up the dual, they retained universally the ablative +which the Greeks lost, and in great part also the locative. The +rigorous logic of the Italians appears to have taken offence at +the splitting of the idea of plurality into that of duality and +of multitude; while they have continued with much precision to +express the relations of words by inflections. A feature peculiarly +Italian, and unknown even to the Sanscrit, is the mode of imparting +a substantive character to the verb by gerunds and supines,--a +process carried out more completely here than in any other language. + + +Relation of the Italians to the Greeks + + +These examples selected from a great abundance of analogous phenomena +suffice to establish the individuality of the Italian stock as +distinguished from the other members of the Indo-Germanic family, +and at the same time show it to be linguistically the nearest +relative, as it is geographically the next neighbour, of the Greek. +The Greek and the Italian are brothers; the Celt, the German, and +the Slavonian are their cousins. The essential unity of all the +Italian as of all the Greek dialects and stocks must have dawned +early and clearly on the consciousness of the two great nations +themselves; for we find in the Roman language a very ancient word +of enigmatical origin, -Graius-or -Graicus-, which is applied to +every Greek, and in like manner amongst the Greeks the analogous +appellation --Opikos-- which is applied to all the Latin and +Samnite stocks known to the Greeks in earlier times, but never to +the Iapygians or Etruscans. + + +Relation of the Latins to the Umbro-Samnites + + +Among the languages of the Italian stock, again, the Latin stands +in marked contrast with the Umbro-Samnite dialects. It is true +that of these only two, the Umbrian and the Samnite or Oscan, are +in some degree known to us, and these even in a manner extremely +defective and uncertain. Of the rest some, such as the Marsian +and the Volscian, have reached us in fragments too scanty to enable +us to form any conception of their individual peculiarities or to +classify the varieties of dialect themselves with certainty and +precision, while others, like the Sabine, have, with the exception +of a few traces preserved as dialectic peculiarities in provincial +Latin, completely disappeared. A conjoint view, however, of the +facts of language and of history leaves no doubt that all these +dialects belonged to the Umbro-Samnite branch of the great Italian +stock, and that this branch, although much more closely related to +Latin than to Greek, was very decidedly distinct from the Latin. +In the pronoun and other cases frequently the Samnite and Umbrian +used -p where the Roman used -q, as -pis- for -quis-; just as languages +otherwise closely related are found to differ; for instance, -p +is peculiar to the Celtic in Brittany and Wales, -k to the Gaelic +and Erse. Among the vowel sounds the diphthongs in Latin, and +in the northern dialects generally, appear very much destroyed, +whereas in the southern Italian dialects they have suffered little; +and connected with this is the fact, that in composition the Roman +weakens the radical vowel otherwise so strictly preserved,--a +modification which does not take place in the kindred group of +languages. The genitive of words in -a is in this group as among +the Greeks -as, among the Romans in the matured language -ae; +that of words in -us is in the Samnite -eis, in the Umbrian -es, +among the Romans -ei; the locative disappeared more and more from +the language of the latter, while it continued in full use in the +other Italian dialects; the dative plural in -bus is extant only +in Latin. The Umbro-Samnite infinitive in -um is foreign to the +Romans; while the Osco-Umbrian future formed from the root -es after +the Greek fashion (-her-est- like --leg-so--) has almost, perhaps +altogether, disappeared in Latin, and its place is supplied by +the optative of the simple verb or by analogous formations from +-fuo-(-amabo-). In many of these instances, however--in the forms +of the cases, for example--the differences only exist in the two +languages when fully formed, while at the outset they coincide. It +thus appears that, while the Italian language holds an independent +position by the side of the Greek, the Latin dialect within it +bears a relation to the Umbro-Samnite somewhat similar to that of +the Ionic to the Doric; and the differences of the Oscan and Umbrian +and kindred dialects may be compared with the differences between +the Dorism of Sicily and the Dorism of Sparta. + +Each of these linguistic phenomena is the result and the attestation +of an historical event. With perfect certainty they guide us to +the conclusion, that from the common cradle of peoples and languages +there issued a stock which embraced in common the ancestors of the +Greeks and the Italians; that from this, at a subsequent period, +the Italians branched off; and that these again divided into the +western and eastern stocks, while at a still later date the eastern +became subdivided into Umbrians and Oscans. + +When and where these separations took place, language of course +cannot tell; and scarce may adventurous thought attempt to grope +its conjectural way along the course of those revolutions, the +earliest of which undoubtedly took place long before that migration +which brought the ancestors of the Italians across the Apennines. +On the other hand the comparison of languages, when conducted with +accuracy and caution, may give us an approximate idea of the degree +of culture which the people had reached when these separations took +place, and so furnish us with the beginnings of history, which is +nothing but the development of civilization. For language, especially +in the period of its formation, is the true image and organ of the +degree of civilization attained; its archives preserve evidence of +the great revolutions in arts and in manners, and from its records +the future will not fail to draw information as to those times +regarding which the voice of direct tradition is dumb. + + +Indo-Germanic Culture + + +During the period when the Indo-Germanic nations which are now +separated still formed one stock speaking the same language, they +attained a certain stage of culture, and they had a vocabulary +corresponding to it. This vocabulary the several nations carried +along with them, in its conventionally established use, as a common +dowry and a foundation for further structures of their own. In it +we find not merely the simplest terms denoting existence, actions, +perceptions, such as -sum-, -do-, -pater-, the original echo of the +impression which the external world made on the mind of man, but +also a number of words indicative of culture (not only as respects +their roots, but in a form stamped upon them by custom) which are +the common property of the Indo-Germanic family, and which cannot +be explained either on the principle of an uniform development +in the several languages, or on the supposition of their having +subsequently borrowed one from another. In this way we possess +evidence of the development of pastoral life at that remote epoch +in the unalterably fixed names of domestic animals; the Sanscrit +-gaus- is the Latin -bos-, the Greek --bous--; Sanscrit -avis- is +the Latin -ovis-, Greek --ois--; Sanscrit -asvas-, Latin -equus-, +Greek --ippos--; Sanscrit -hansas-, Latin -anser-, Greek --chein--; +Sanscrit -atis-, Latin -anas-, Greek --neissa--; in like manner +-pecus-, -sus-, -porcus-, -taurus-, -canis-, are Sanscrit words. +Even at this remote period accordingly the stock, on which from the +days of Homer down to our own time the intellectual development of +mankind has been dependent, had already advanced beyond the lowest +stage of civilization, the hunting and fishing epoch, and had +attained at least comparative fixity of abode. On the other hand, +we have as yet no certain proofs of the existence of agriculture +at this period. Language rather favours the negative view. Of the +Latin-Greek names of grain none occurs in Sanscrit with the single +exception of --zea--, which philologically represents the Sanscrit +-yavas-, but denotes in the Indian barley, in Greek spelt. It must +indeed be granted that this diversity in the names of cultivated +plants, which so strongly contrasts with the essential agreement in +the appellations of domestic animals, does not absolutely preclude +the supposition of a common original agriculture. In the circumstances +of primitive times transport and acclimatizing are more difficult +in the case of plants than of animals; and the cultivation of rice +among the Indians, that of wheat and spelt among the Greeks and +Romans, and that of rye and oats among the Germans and Celts, may +all be traceable to a common system of primitive tillage. On the +other hand the name of one cereal common to the Greeks and Indians +only proves, at the most, that before the separation of the stocks +they gathered and ate the grains of barley and spelt growing wild +in Mesopotamia,(3) not that they already cultivated grain. While, +however, we reach no decisive result in this way, a further light +is thrown on the subject by our observing that a number of the most +important words bearing on this province of culture occur certainly +in Sanscrit, but all of them in a more general signification. +-Agras-among the Indians denotes a level surface in general; -kurnu-, +anything pounded; -aritram-, oar and ship; -venas-, that which is +pleasant in general, particularly a pleasant drink. The words are +thus very ancient; but their more definite application to the field +(-ager-), to the grain to be ground (-granum-), to the implement +which furrows the soil as the ship furrows the surface of the sea +(-aratrum-), to the juice of the grape (-vinum-), had not yet taken +place when the earliest division of the stocks occurred, and it +is not to be wondered at that their subsequent applications came +to be in some instances very different, and that, for example, the +corn intended to be ground, as well as the mill for grinding it +(Gothic -quairinus-, Lithuanian -girnos-,(4)) received their names +from the Sanscrit -kurnu-. We may accordingly assume it as probable, +that the primeval Indo-Germanic people were not yet acquainted with +agriculture, and as certain, that, if they were so, it played but +a very subordinate part in their economy; for had it at that time +held the place which it afterwards held among the Greeks and Romans, +it would have left a deeper impression upon the language. + +On the other hand the building of houses and huts by the Indo-Germans +is attested by the Sanscrit -dam(as)-, Latin -domus-, Greek --domos--; +Sanscrit -vesas-, Latin -vicus-, Greek --oikos--; Sanscrit -dvaras-, +Latin -fores-, Greek --thura--; further, the building of oar-boats +by the names of the boat, Sanscrit -naus-, Latin -navis-, Greek +--naus--, and of the oar, Sanscrit -aritram-, Greek --eretmos--, +Latin -remus-, -tri-res-mis-; and the use of waggons and the breaking +in of animals for draught and transport by the Sanscrit -akshas- +(axle and cart), Latin -axis-, Greek --axon--, --am-axa--; Sanscrit +-iugam-, Latin -iugum-, Greek --zugon--. The words that denote +clothing- Sanscrit -vastra-, Latin -vestis-, Greek --esthes--; as +well as those that denote sewing and spinning-Sanscrit -siv-, Latin +-suo-; Sanscrit -nah-, Latin -neo-, Greek --netho--, are alike +in all Indo-Germanic languages. This cannot, however, be equally +affirmed of the higher art of weaving.(5) The knowledge of the +use of fire in preparing food, and of salt for seasoning it, is a +primeval heritage of the Indo-Germanic nations; and the same may +be affirmed regarding the knowledge of the earliest metals employed +as implements or ornaments by man. At least the names of copper +(-aes-) and silver (-argentum-), perhaps also of gold, are met with +in Sanscrit, and these names can scarcely have originated before +man had learned to separate and to utilize the ores; the Sanscrit +-asis-, Latin -ensis-, points in fact to the primeval use of metallic +weapons. + +No less do we find extending back into those times the fundamental +ideas on which the development of all Indo-Germanic states ultimately +rests; the relative position of husband and wife, the arrangement +in clans, the priesthood of the father of the household and the +absence of a special sacerdotal class as well as of all distinctions +of caste in general, slavery as a legitimate institution, the days +of publicly dispensing justice at the new and full moon. On the +other hand the positive organization of the body politic, the decision +of the questions between regal sovereignty and the sovereignty of +the community, between the hereditary privilege of royal and noble +houses and the unconditional legal equality of the citizens, belong +altogether to a later age. + +Even the elements of science and religion show traces of a community +of origin. The numbers are the same up to one hundred (Sanscrit +-satam-, -ekasatam-, Latin -centum-, Greek --e-katon--, Gothic +-hund-); and the moon receives her name in all languages from the +fact that men measure time by her (-mensis-). The idea of Deity +itself (Sanscrit -devas-, Latin -deus-, Greek --theos--), and many +of the oldest conceptions of religion and of natural symbolism, +belong to the common inheritance of the nations. The conception, +for example, of heaven as the father and of earth as the mother of +being, the festal expeditions of the gods who proceed from place +to place in their own chariots along carefully levelled paths, +the shadowy continuation of the soul's existence after death, are +fundamental ideas of the Indian as well as of the Greek and Roman +mythologies. Several of the gods of the Ganges coincide even +in name with those worshipped on the Ilissus and the Tiber:--thus +the Uranus of the Greeks is the Varunas, their Zeus, Jovis pater, +Diespiter is the Djaus pita of the Vedas. An unexpected light has +been thrown on various enigmatical forms in the Hellenic mythology +by recent researches regarding the earlier divinities of India. The +hoary mysterious forms of the Erinnyes are no Hellenic invention; +they were immigrants along with the oldest settlers from the East. +The divine greyhound Sarama, who guards for the Lord of heaven the +golden herd of stars and sunbeams and collects for him the nourishing +rain-clouds as the cows of heaven to the milking, and who moreover +faithfully conducts the pious dead into the world of the blessed, +becomes in the hands of the Greeks the son of Sarama, Sarameyas, +or Hermeias; and the enigmatical Hellenic story of the stealing +of the cattle of Helios, which is beyond doubt connected with the +Roman legend about Cacus, is now seen to be a last echo (with the +meaning no longer understood) of that old fanciful and significant +conception of nature. + + +Graeco-Italian Culture + + +The task, however, of determining the degree of culture which +the Indo-Germans had attained before the separation of the stocks +properly belongs to the general history of the ancient world. It +is on the other hand the special task of Italian history to ascertain, +so far as it is possible, what was the state of the Graeco-Italian +nation when the Hellenes and the Italians parted. Nor is this +a superfluous labour; we reach by means of it the stage at which +Italian civilization commenced, the starting-point of the national +history. + + +Agriculture + + +While it is probable that the Indo-Germans led a pastoral life +and were acquainted with the cereals, if at all, only in their wild +state, all indications point to the conclusion that the Graeco-Italians +were a grain-cultivating, perhaps even a vine-cultivating, people. +The evidence of this is not simply the knowledge of agriculture +itself common to both, for this does not upon the whole warrant +the inference of community of origin in the peoples who may exhibit +it. An historical connection between the Indo-Germanic agriculture +and that of the Chinese, Aramaean, and Egyptian stocks can hardly be +disputed; and yet these stocks are either alien to the Indo-Germans, +or at any rate became separated from them at a time when agriculture +was certainly still unknown. The truth is, that the more advanced +races in ancient times were, as at the present day, constantly +exchanging the implements and the plants employed in cultivation; +and when the annals of China refer the origin of Chinese agriculture +to the introduction of five species of grain that took place under +a particular king in a particular year, the story undoubtedly depicts +correctly, at least in a general way, the relations subsisting in +the earliest epochs of civilization. A common knowledge of agriculture, +like a common knowledge of the alphabet, of war chariots, of purple, +and other implements and ornaments, far more frequently warrants the +inference of an ancient intercourse between nations than of their +original unity. But as regards the Greeks and Italians, whose +mutual relations are comparatively well known, the hypothesis that +agriculture as well as writing and coinage first came to Italy by +means of the Hellenes may be characterized as wholly inadmissible. +On the other hand, the existence of a most intimate connection +between the agriculture of the one country and that of the other is +attested by their possessing in common all the oldest expressions +relating to it; -ager-, --agros--; -aro aratrum-, --aroo arotron--; +-ligo-alongside of --lachaino--; -hortus-, --chortos--; -hordeum-, +--krithei--; -milium-, --melinei--; -rapa-, --raphanis-; -malva-, +--malachei--; -vinum-, --oinos--. It is likewise attested by +the agreement of Greek and Italian agriculture in the form of the +plough, which appears of the same shape on the old Attic and the old +Roman monuments; in the choice of the most ancient kinds of grain, +millet, barley, spelt; in the custom of cutting the ears with the +sickle and having them trodden out by cattle on the smooth-beaten +threshing-floor; lastly, in the mode of preparing the grain -puls- +--poltos--, -pinso- --ptisso--, -mola- --mulei--; for baking was +of more recent origin, and on that account dough or pap was always +used in the Roman ritual instead of bread. That the culture of the +vine too in Italy was anterior to the earliest Greek immigration, +is shown by the appellation "wine-land" (--Oinotria--), which +appears to reach back to the oldest visits of Greek voyagers. It +would thus appear that the transition from pastoral life to agriculture, +or, to speak more correctly, the combination of agriculture with the +earlier pastoral economy, must have taken place after the Indians +had departed from the common cradle of the nations, but before the +Hellenes and Italians dissolved their ancient communion. Moreover, +at the time when agriculture originated, the Hellenes and Italians +appear to have been united as one national whole not merely with +each other, but with other members of the great family; at least, +it is a fact, that the most important of those terms of cultivation, +while they are foreign to the Asiatic members of the Indo-Germanic +family, are used by the Romans and Greeks in common with the Celtic +as well as the Germanic, Slavonic, and Lithuanian stocks.(6) + +The distinction between the common inheritance of the nations and +their own subsequent acquisitions in manners and in language is +still far from having been wrought out in all the variety of its +details and gradations. The investigation of languages with this +view has scarcely begun, and history still in the main derives its +representation of primitive times, not from the rich mine of language, +but from what must be called for the most part the rubbish-heap of +tradition. For the present, therefore, it must suffice to indicate +the differences between the culture of the Indo-Germanic family in +its oldest undivided form, and the culture of that epoch when the +Graeco-Italians still lived together. The task of discriminating +the results of culture which are common to the European members of +this family, but foreign to its Asiatic members, from those which +the several European groups, such as the Graeco-Italian and the +Germano-Slavonic, have wrought out for themselves, can only be +accomplished, if at all, after greater progress has been made in +linguistic and historical inquiries. But there can be no doubt +that, with the Graeco-Italians as with all other nations, agriculture +became and in the mind of the people remained the germ and core of +their national and of their private life. The house and the fixed +hearth, which the husbandman constructs instead of the light hut +and shifting fireplace of the shepherd, are represented in the +spiritual domain and idealized in the goddess Vesta or --Estia-- +almost the only divinity not Indo-Germanic yet from the first +common to both nations. One of the oldest legends of the Italian +stock ascribes to king Italus, or, as the Italians must have +pronounced the word, Vitalus or Vitulus, the introduction of the +change from a pastoral to an agricultural life, and shrewdly connects +with it the original Italian legislation. We have simply another +version of the same belief in the legend of the Samnite stock which +makes the ox the leader of their primitive colonies, and in the +oldest Latin national names which designate the people as reapers +(-Siculi-, perhaps also -Sicani-), or as field-labourers (-Opsci-). +It is one of the characteristic incongruities which attach to the +so-called legend of the origin of Rome, that it represents a pastoral +and hunting people as founding a city. Legend and faith, laws and +manners, among the Italians as among the Hellenes are throughout +associated with agriculture.(7) + +Cultivation of the soil cannot be conceived without some measurement +of it, however rude. Accordingly, the measures of surface and the +mode of setting off boundaries rest, like agriculture itself, on +a like basis among both peoples. The Oscan and Umbrian -vorsus- +of one hundred square feet corresponds exactly with the Greek +--plethron--. The principle of marking off boundaries was also +the same. The land-measurer adjusted his position with reference +to one of the cardinal points, and proceeded to draw in the first +place two lines, one from north to south, and another from east to +west, his station being at their point of intersection (-templum-, +--temenos-- from --temno--); then he drew at certain fixed distances +lines parallel to these, and by this process produced a series of +rectangular pieces of ground, the corners of which were marked by +boundary posts (-termini-, in Sicilian inscriptions -termones-, +usually --oroi--). This mode of defining boundaries, which is +probably also Etruscan but is hardly of Etruscan origin, we find +among the Romans, Umbrians, Samnites, and also in very ancient +records of the Tarentine Heracleots, who are as little likely to have +borrowed it from the Italians as the Italians from the Tarentines: +it is an ancient possession common to all. A peculiar characteristic +of the Romans, on the other hand, was their rigid carrying out of +the principle of the square; even where the sea or a river formed +a natural boundary, they did not accept it, but wound up their +allocation of the land with the last complete square. + + +Other Features of Their Economy + + +It is not solely in agriculture, however, that the especially close +relationship of the Greeks and Italians appears; it is unmistakably +manifest also in the other provinces of man's earliest activity. +The Greek house, as described by Homer, differs little from the +model which was always adhered to in Italy. The essential portion, +which originally formed the whole interior accommodation of the +Latin house, was the -atrium-, that is, the "blackened" chamber, +with the household altar, the marriage bed, the table for meals, +and the hearth; and precisely similar is the Homeric --megaron--, +with its household altar and hearth and smoke-begrimed roof. We +cannot say the same of ship-building. The boat with oars was an +old common possession of the Indo-Germans; but the advance to the +use of sailing vessels can scarcely be considered to have taken +place during the Graeco-Italian period, for we find no nautical +terms originally common to the Greeks and Italians except such +as are also general among the Indo-Germanic family. On the other +hand the primitive Italian custom of the husbandmen having common +midday meals, the origin of which the myth connects with the +introduction of agriculture, is compared by Aristotle with the +Cretan Syssitia; and the earliest Romans further agreed with the +Cretans and Laconians in taking their meals not, as was afterwards +the custom among both peoples, in a reclining, but in a sitting +posture. The mode of kindling fire by the friction of two pieces +of wood of different kinds is common to all peoples; but it is +certainly no mere accident that the Greeks and Italians agree in the +appellations which they give to the two portions of the touch-wood, +"the rubber" (--trypanon--, -terebra-), and the "under-layer" +(--storeus--, --eschara--, -tabula-, probably from -tendere-, +--tetamai--). In like manner the dress of the two peoples +is essentially identical, for the -tunica- quite corresponds with +the --chiton--, and the -toga- is nothing but a fuller --himation--. +Even as regards weapons of war, liable as they are to frequent change, +the two peoples have this much at least in common, that their two +principal weapons of attack were the javelin and the bow,--a fact +which is clearly expressed, as far as Rome is concerned, in the +earliest names for warriors (-pilumni--arquites-),(8) and is in +keeping with the oldest mode of fighting which was not properly +adapted to a close struggle. Thus, in the language and manners of +Greeks and Italians, all that relates to the material foundations +of human existence may be traced back to the same primary elements; +the oldest problems which the world proposes to man had been +jointly solved by the two peoples at a time when they still formed +one nation. + + +Difference of the Italian and the Greek Character + + +It was otherwise in the mental domain. The great problem of man--how +to live in conscious harmony with himself, with his neighbour, and +with the whole to which he belongs--admits of as many solutions +as there are provinces in our Father's kingdom; and it is in this, +and not in the material sphere, that individuals and nations display +their divergences of character. The exciting causes which gave +rise to this intrinsic contrast must have been in the Graeco-Italian +period as yet wanting; it was not until the Hellenes and Italians +had separated that that deep-seated diversity of mental character +became manifest, the effects of which continue to the present day. +The family and the state, religion and art, received in Italy and +in Greece respectively a development so peculiar and so thoroughly +national, that the common basis, on which in these respects also +the two peoples rested, has been so overgrown as to be almost +concealed from our view. That Hellenic character, which sacrificed +the whole to its individual elements, the nation to the township, +and the township to the citizen; which sought its ideal of life in +the beautiful and the good, and, but too often, in the enjoyment of +idleness; which attained its political development by intensifying +the original individuality of the several cantons, and at length +produced the internal dissolution of even local authority; which in +its view of religion first invested the gods with human attributes, +and then denied their existence; which allowed full play to the +limbs in the sports of the naked youth, and gave free scope to +thought in all its grandeur and in all its awfulness;--and that +Roman character, which solemnly bound the son to reverence the +father, the citizen to reverence the ruler, and all to reverence the +gods; which required nothing and honoured nothing but the useful +act, and compelled every citizen to fill up every moment of his +brief life with unceasing work; which made it a duty even in the +boy modestly to cover the body; which deemed every one a bad citizen +who wished to be different from his fellows; which regarded the +state as all in all, and a desire for the state's extension as the +only aspiration not liable to censure,--who can in thought trace +back these sharply-marked contrasts to that original unity which +embraced them both, prepared the way for their development, and at +length produced them? It would be foolish presumption to desire +to lift this veil; we shall only endeavour to indicate in brief +outline the beginnings of Italian nationality and its connections +with an earlier period--to direct the guesses of the discerning +reader rather than to express them. + + +The Family and the State + + +All that may be called the patriarchal element in the state rested +in Greece and Italy on the same foundations. Under this head comes +especially the moral and decorous arrangement of social life,(9) +which enjoined monogamy on the husband and visited with heavy +penalties the infidelity of the wife, and which recognized the +equality of the sexes and the sanctity of marriage in the high +position which it assigned to the mother within the domestic circle. +On the other hand the rigorous development of the marital and still +more of the paternal authority, regardless of the natural rights of +persons as such, was a feature foreign to the Greeks and peculiarly +Italian; it was in Italy alone that moral subjection became +transformed into legal slavery. In the same way the principle of +the slave being completely destitute of legal rights--a principle +involved in the very nature of slavery--was maintained by the Romans +with merciless rigour and carried out to all its consequences; +whereas among the Greeks alleviations of its harshness were early +introduced both in practice and in legislation, the marriage of +slaves, for example, being recognized as a legal relation. + +On the household was based the clan, that is, the community of the +descendants of the same progenitor; and out of the clan among the +Greeks as well as the Italians arose the state. But while under +the weaker political development of Greece the clan-bond maintained +itself as a corporate power in contradistinction to that of +the state far even into historical times, the state in Italy made +its appearance at once complete, in so far as in presence of its +authority the clans were quite neutralized and it exhibited an +association not of clans, but of citizens. Conversely, again, the +individual attained, in presence of the clan, an inward independence +and freedom of personal development far earlier and more completely +in Greece than in Rome--a fact reflected with great clearness in +the Greek and Roman proper names, which, originally similar, came +to assume very different forms. In the more ancient Greek names +the name of the clan was very frequently added in an adjective form +to that of the individual; while, conversely, Roman scholars were +aware that their ancestors bore originally only one name, the later +-praenomen-. But while in Greece the adjectival clan-name early +disappeared, it became, among the Italians generally and not merely +among the Romans, the principal name; and the distinctive individual +name, the -praenomen-, became subordinate. It seems as if the small +and ever diminishing number and the meaningless character of the +Italian, and particularly of the Roman, individual names, compared +with the luxuriant and poetical fulness of those of the Greeks, +were intended to illustrate the truth that it was characteristic +of the one nation to reduce all to a level, of the other to promote +the free development of personality. The association in communities +of families under patriarchal chiefs, which we may conceive to +have prevailed in the Graeco-Italian period, may appear different +enough from the later forms of Italian and Hellenic polities; yet +it must have already contained the germs out of which the future +laws of both nations were moulded. The "laws of king Italus," +which were still applied in the time of Aristotle, may denote the +institutions essentially common to both. These laws must have +provided for the maintenance of peace and the execution of justice +within the community, for military organization and martial law +in reference to its external relations, for its government by a +patriarchal chief, for a council of elders, for assemblies of the +freemen capable of bearing arms, and for some sort of constitution. +Judicial procedure (-crimen-, --krinein--, expiation (-poena-, +--poinei--), retaliation (-talio-, --talao--, --tleinai--, are +Graeco-Italian ideas. The stern law of debt, by which the debtor +was directly responsible with his person for the repayment of what +he had received, is common to the Italians, for example, with +the Tarentine Heracleots. The fundamental ideas of the Roman +constitution--a king, a senate, and an assembly entitled simply to +ratify or to reject the proposals which the king and senate should +submit to it--are scarcely anywhere expressed so distinctly as +in Aristotle's account of the earlier constitution of Crete. The +germs of larger state-confederacies in the political fraternizing +or even amalgamation of several previously independent stocks +(symmachy, synoikismos) are in like manner common to both nations. +The more stress is to be laid on this fact of the common foundations +of Hellenic and Italian polity, that it is not found to extend to +the other Indo-Germanic stocks; the organization of the Germanic +community, for example, by no means starts, like that of the Greeks +and Romans, from an elective monarchy. But how different the +polities were that were constructed on this common basis in Italy +and Greece, and how completely the whole course of their political +development belongs to each as its distinctive property,(10) it +will be the business of the sequel to show. + + +Religion + + +It is the same in religion. In Italy, as in Hellas, there lies +at the foundation of the popular faith the same common treasure +of symbolic and allegorical views of nature: on this rests that +general analogy between the Roman and the Greek world of gods and +of spirits, which was to become of so much importance in later +stages of development. In many of their particular conceptions +also,--in the already mentioned forms of Zeus-Diovis and Hestia-Vesta, +in the idea of the holy space (--temenos--, -templum-), in various +offerings and ceremonies--the two modes of worship do not by mere +accident coincide. Yet in Hellas, as in Italy, they assumed a shape +so thoroughly national and peculiar, that but little even of the +ancient common inheritance was preserved in a recognizable form, and +that little was for the most part misunderstood or not understood +at all. It could not be otherwise; for, just as in the peoples +themselves the great contrasts, which during the Graeco-Italian +period had lain side by side undeveloped, were after their division +distinctly evolved, so in their religion also a separation took +place between the idea and the image, which had hitherto been but +one whole in the soul. Those old tillers of the ground, when the +clouds were driving along the sky, probably expressed to themselves +the phenomenon by saying that the hound of the gods was driving +together the startled cows of the herd. The Greek forgot that the +cows were really the clouds, and converted the son of the hound +of the gods--a form devised merely for the particular purposes of +that conception--into the adroit messenger of the gods ready for +every service. When the thunder rolled among the mountains, he +saw Zeus brandishing his bolts on Olympus; when the blue sky again +smiled upon him, he gazed into the bright eye of Athenaea, the +daughter of Zeus; and so powerful over him was the influence of the +forms which he had thus created, that he soon saw nothing in them +but human beings invested and illumined with the splendour of +nature's power, and freely formed and transformed them according to +the laws of beauty. It was in another fashion, but not less strongly, +that the deeply implanted religious feeling of the Italian race +manifested itself; it held firmly by the idea and did not suffer +the form to obscure it. As the Greek, when he sacrificed, raised +his eyes to heaven, so the Roman veiled his head; for the prayer +of the former was contemplation, that of the latter reflection. +Throughout the whole of nature he adored the spiritual and the +universal. To everything existing, to the man and to the tree, to +the state and to the store-room, was assigned a spirit which came +into being with it and perished along with it, the counterpart of +the natural phenomenon in the spiritual domain; to the man the male +Genius, to the woman the female Juno, to the boundary Terminus, +to the forest Silvanus, to the circling year Vertumnus, and so on +to every object after its kind. In occupations the very steps of +the process were spiritualized: thus, for example, in the prayer +for the husbandman there was invoked the spirit of fallowing, of +ploughing, of furrowing, sowing, covering-in, harrowing, and so +forth down to that of the in-bringing, up-storing, and opening of +the granaries. In like manner marriage, birth, and every other +natural event were endowed with a sacred life. The larger the +sphere embraced in the abstraction, the higher rose the god and the +reverence paid by man. Thus Jupiter and Juno are the abstractions +of manhood and womanhood; Dea Dia or Ceres, the creative power; +Minerva, the power of memory; Dea Bona, or among the Samnites +Dea Cupra, the good deity. While to the Greek everything assumed +a concrete and corporeal shape, the Roman could only make use of +abstract, completely transparent formulae; and while the Greek for +the most part threw aside the old legendary treasures of primitive +times, because they embodied the idea in too transparent a form, the +Roman could still less retain them, because the sacred conceptions +seemed to him dimmed even by the lightest veil of allegory. Not +a trace has been preserved among the Romans even of the oldest and +most generally diffused myths, such as that current among the Indians, +the Greeks, and even the Semites, regarding a great flood and its +survivor, the common ancestor of the present human race. Their +gods could not marry and beget children, like those of the Hellenes; +they did not walk about unseen among mortals; and they needed no +nectar. But that they, nevertheless, in their spirituality--which +only appears tame to dull apprehension--gained a powerful hold on +men's minds, a hold more powerful perhaps than that of the gods of +Hellas created after the image of man, would be attested, even if +history were silent on the subject, by the Roman designation of faith +(the word and the idea alike foreign to the Hellenes), -Religlo-, +that is to say, "that which binds." As India and Iran developed from +one and the same inherited store, the former, the richly varied +forms of its sacred epics, the latter, the abstractions of the +Zend-Avesta; so in the Greek mythology the person is predominant, +in the Roman the idea, in the former freedom, in the latter necessity. + + +Art + + +Lastly, what holds good of real life is true also of its counterfeit +in jest and play, which everywhere, and especially in the earliest +period of full and simple existence, do not exclude the serious, +but veil it. The simplest elements of art are in Latium and Hellas +quite the same; the decorous armed dance, the "leap" (-triumpus-, +--thriambos--, --di-thyrambos--); the masquerade of the "full people" +(--satyroi--, -satura-), who, wrapped in the skins of sheep and +goats, wound up the festival with their jokes; lastly, the pipe, +which with suitable strains accompanied and regulated the solemn +as well as the merry dance. Nowhere, perhaps, does the especially +close relationship of the Hellenes and Italians come to light so +clearly as here; and yet in no other direction did the two nations +manifest greater divergence as they became developed. The training +of youth remained in Latium strictly confined to the narrow limits +of domestic education; in Greece the yearning after a varied +yet harmonious training of mind and body created the sciences of +Gymnastics and Paideia, which were cherished by the nation and by +individuals as their highest good. Latium in the poverty of its +artistic development stands almost on a level with uncivilized +peoples; Hellas developed with incredible rapidity out of its +religious conceptions the myth and the worshipped idol, and out of +these that marvellous world of poetry and sculpture, the like of +which history has not again to show. In Latium no other influences +were powerful in public and private life but prudence, riches, and +strength; it was reserved for the Hellenes to feel the blissful +ascendency of beauty, to minister to the fair boy-friend with an +enthusiasm half sensuous, half ideal, and to reanimate their lost +courage with the war-songs of the divine singer. + +Thus the two nations in which the civilization of antiquity +culminated stand side by side, as different in development as they +were in origin identical. The points in which the Hellenes excel +the Italians are more universally intelligible and reflect a more +brilliant lustre; but the deep feeling in each individual that he +was only a part of the community, a rare devotedness and power of +self-sacrifice for the common weal, an earnest faith in its own +gods, form the rich treasure of the Italian nation. Both nations +underwent a one-sided, and therefore each a complete, development; +it is only a pitiful narrow-mindedness that will object to the +Athenian that he did not know how to mould his state like the Fabii +and the Valerii, or to the Roman that he did not learn to carve +like Pheidias and to write like Aristophanes. It was in fact the +most peculiar and the best feature in the character of the Greek +people, that rendered it impossible for them to advance from national +to political unity without at the same time exchanging their polity +for despotism. The ideal world of beauty was all in all to the +Greeks, and compensated them to some extent for what they wanted +in reality. Wherever in Hellas a tendency towards national union +appeared, it was based not on elements directly political, but +on games and art: the contests at Olympia, the poems of Homer, +the tragedies of Euripides, were the only bonds that held Hellas +together. Resolutely, on the other hand, the Italian surrendered +his own personal will for the sake of freedom, and learned to obey +his father that he might know how to obey the state. Amidst this +subjection individual development might be marred, and the germs +of fairest promise in man might be arrested in the bud; the Italian +gained in their stead a feeling of fatherland and of patriotism +such as the Greek never knew, and alone among all the civilized +nations of antiquity succeeded in working out national unity in +connection with a constitution based on self-government--a national +unity, which at last placed in his hands the mastery not only over +the divided Hellenic stock, but over the whole known world. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter II + + + +1. Some of the epitaphs may give us an idea of its sound; +as -theotoras artahiaihi bennarrihino- and -dasiihonas platorrihi +bollihi-. + +2. The hypothesis has been put forward of an affinity between +the Iapygian language and the modern Albanian; based, however, on +points of linguistic comparison that are but little satisfactory +in any case, and least of all where a fact of such importance is +involved. Should this relationship be confirmed, and should the +Albanians on the other hand--a race also Indo-Germanic and on a par +with the Hellenic and Italian races--be really a remnant of that +Hellene-barbaric nationality traces of which occur throughout all +Greece and especially in the northern provinces, the nation that +preceded the Hellenes would be demonstrated as identical with +that which preceded the Italians. Still the inference would not +immediately follow that the Iapygian immigration to Italy had taken +place across the Adriatic Sea. + +3. Barley, wheat, and spelt were found growing together in a wild +state on the right bank of the Euphrates, north-west from Anah +(Alph. de Candolle, Geographie botanique raisonnee, ii. p. 934). +The growth of barley and wheat in a wild state in Mesopotamia had +already been mentioned by the Babylonian historian Berosus (ap. +Georg. Syncell. p. 50 Bonn.). + +4. Scotch -quern-. Mr. Robertson. + +5. If the Latin -vieo-, -vimen-, belong to the same root as our +weave (German -weben-) and kindred words, the word must still, when +the Greeks and Italians separated, have had the general meaning "to +plait," and it cannot have been until a later period, and probably +in different regions independently of each other, that it assumed +that of "weaving." The cultivation of flax, old as it is, does not +reach back to this period, for the Indians, though well acquainted +with the flax-plant, up to the present day use it only for the +preparation of linseed-oil. Hemp probably became known to the +Italians at a still later period than flax; at least -cannabis- +looks quite like a borrowed word of later date. + +6. Thus -aro-, -aratrum- reappear in the old German -aran- +(to plough, dialectically -eren-), -erida-, in Slavonian -orati-, +-oradlo-, in Lithuanian -arti-, -arimnas-, in Celtic -ar-, -aradar-. +Thus alongside of -ligo- stands our rake (German -rechen-), of +-hortus- our garden (German -garten-), of -mola- our mill (German +-muhle-, Slavonic -mlyn-, Lithuanian -malunas-, Celtic -malin-). + +With all these facts before us, we cannot allow that there ever was +a time when the Greeks in all Hellenic cantons subsisted by purely +pastoral husbandry. If it was the possession of cattle, and not of +land, which in Greece as in Italy formed the basis and the standard +of all private property, the reason of this was not that agriculture +was of later introduction, but that it was at first conducted on +the system of joint possession. Of course a purely agricultural +economy cannot have existed anywhere before the separation of +the stocks; on the contrary, pastoral husbandry was (more or less +according to locality) combined with it to an extent relatively +greater than was the case in later times. + +7. Nothing is more significant in this respect than the close connection +of agriculture with marriage and the foundation of cities during +the earliest epoch of culture. Thus the gods in Italy immediately +concerned with marriage are Ceres and (or?) Tellus (Plutarch, +Romul. 22; Servius on Aen. iv. 166; Rossbach, Rom. Ehe, 257, 301), +in Greece Demeter (Plutarch, Conjug. Praec. init.); in old Greek +formulas the procreation of children is called --arotos--(ii. +The Family and the State, note); indeed the oldest Roman formof +marriage, -confarreatio-, derives its name and its ceremony from +the cultivation of corn. The use of the plough in the founding of +cities is well known. + +8. Among the oldest names of weapons on both sides scarcely any +can be shown to be certainly related; -lancea-, although doubtless +connected with -logchei-, is, as a Roman word, recent, and perhaps +borrowed from the Germans or Spaniards. + +9. Even in details this agreement appears; e.g., in the designation of +lawful wedlock as "marriage concluded for the obtaining of lawful +children" (--gauos epi paidon gneision aroto--, -matrimonium +liberorum quaerendorum causa-). + +10. Only we must, of course, not forget that like pre-existing +conditions lead everywhere to like institutions. For instance, +nothing is more certain than that the Roman plebeians were a growth +originating within the Roman commonwealth, and yet they everywhere +find their counterpart where a body of -metoeci- has arisen alongside +of a body of burgesses. As a matter of course, chance also plays +in such cases its provoking game. + + + + +CHAPTER III + +The Settlements of the Latins + + + +Indo-Germanic Migrations + + +The home of the Indo-Germanic stock lay in the western portion of +central Asia; from this it spread partly in a south-eastern direction +over India, partly in a northwestern over Europe. It is difficult +to determine the primitive seat of the Indo-Germans more precisely: +it must, however, at any rate have been inland and remote from +the sea, as there is no name for the sea common to the Asiatic and +European branches. Many indications point more particularly to the +regions of the Euphrates; so that, singularly enough, the primitive +seats of the two most important civilized stocks, --the Indo-Germanic +and the Aramaean,--almost coincide as regards locality. This +circumstance gives support to the hypothesis that these races also +were originally connected, although, if there was such a connection, +it certainly must have been anterior to all traceable development +of culture and language. We cannot define more exactly their original +locality, nor are we able to accompany the individual stocks in the +course of their migrations. The European branch probably lingered +in Persia and Armenia for some considerable time after the departure +of the Indians; for, according to all appearance, that region has +been the cradle of agriculture and of the culture of the vine. +Barley, spelt, and wheat are indigenous in Mesopotamia, and the +vine tothe south of the Caucasus and of the Caspian Sea: there too +the plum, the walnut, and others of the more easily transplanted +fruit trees are native. It is worthy of notice that the name for +the sea is common to most of the European stocks--Latins, Celts, +Germans, and Slavonians; they must probably therefore before their +separation have reached the coast of the Black Sea or of the Caspian. +By what route from those regions the Italians reached the chain +of the Alps, and where in particular they were settled while still +united with the Hellenes alone, are questions that can only be +answered when the problem is solved by what route--whether from +Asia Minor or from the regions of the Danube--the Hellenes arrived +in Greece. It may at all events be regarded as certain that the +Italians, like the Indians, migrated into their peninsula from the +north.(1) + +The advance of the Umbro-Sabellian stock along the central +mountain-ridge of Italy, in a direction from north to south, can +still be clearly traced; indeed its last phases belong to purely +historical times. Less is known regarding the route which the Latin +migration followed. Probably it proceeded in a similar direction +along the west coast, long, in all likelihood, before the first +Sabellian stocks began to move. The stream only overflows the heights +when the lower grounds are already occupied; and only through the +supposition that there were Latin stocks already settled on the coast +are we able to explain why the Sabellians should have contented +themselves with the rougher mountain districts, from which they +afterwards issued and intruded, wherever it was possible, between +the Latin tribes. + + +Extension of the Latins in Italy + + +It is well known that a Latin stock inhabited the country from +the left bank of the Tiber to the Volscian mountains; but these +mountains themselves, which appear to have been neglected on occasion +of the first immigration when the plains of Latium and Campania +still lay open to the settlers, were, as the Volscian inscriptions +show, occupied by a stock more nearly related to the Sabellians +than to the Latins. On the other hand, Latins probably dwelt in +Campania before the Greek and Samnite immigrations; for the Italian +names Novla or Nola (newtown), Campani Capua, Volturnus (from +-volvere-, like -Iuturna- from -iuvare-), Opsci (labourers), are +demonstrably older than the Samnite invasion, and show that, at the +time when Cumae was founded by the Greeks, an Italian and probably +Latin stock, the Ausones, were in possession of Campania. The +primitive inhabitants of the districts which the Lucani and Bruttii +subsequently occupied, the Itali proper (inhabitants of the land of +oxen), are associated by the best observers not with the Iapygian, +but with the Italian stock; and there is nothing to hinder our regarding +them as belonging to its Latin branch, although the Hellenizing of +these districts which took place even before the commencement of +the political development of Italy, and their subsequent inundation +by Samnite hordes, have in this instance totally obliterated the +traces of the older nationality. Very ancient legends bring the +similarly extinct stock of the Siculi into relation with Rome. For +instance, the earliest historian of Italy Antiochus of Syracuse +tells us that a man named Sikelos came a fugitive from Rome to +Morges king of Italia (i. e. the Bruttian peninsula). Such stories +appear to be founded on the identity of race recognized by the +narrators as subsisting between the Siculi (of whom there were +some still in Italy in the time of Thucydides) and the Latins. The +striking affinity of certain dialectic peculiarities of Sicilian +Greek with the Latin is probably to be explained rather by the old +commercial connections subsisting between Rome and the Sicilian +Greeks, than by the ancient identity of the languages of the Siculi +and the Romans. According to all indications, however, not only +Latium, but probably also the Campanian and Lucanian districts, +the Italia proper between the gulfs of Tarentum and Laus, and the +eastern half of Sicily were in primitive times inhabited by different +branches of the Latin nation. + +Destinies very dissimilar awaited these different branches. Those +settled in Sicily, Magna Graecia, and Campania came into contact +with the Greeks at a period when they were unable to offer resistance +to their civilization, and were either completely Hellenized, as in +the case of Sicily, or at any rate so weakened that they succumbed +without marked resistance to the fresh energy of the Sabine tribes. +In this way the Siculi, the Itali and Morgetes, and the Ausonians +never came to play an active part in the history of the peninsula. +It was otherwise with Latium, where no Greek colonies were +founded, and the inhabitants after hard struggles were successful +in maintaining their ground against the Sabines as well as against +their northern neighbours. Let us cast a glance at this district, +which was destined more than any other to influence the fortunes +of the ancient world. + + +Latium + + +The plain of Latium must have been in primeval times the scene of +the grandest conflicts of nature, while the slowly formative agency +of water deposited, and the eruptions of mighty volcanoes upheaved, +the successive strata of that soil on which was to be decided the +question to what people the sovereignty of the world should belong. +Latium is bounded on the east by the mountains of the Sabines and +Aequi which form part of the Apennines; and on the south by the +Volscian range rising to the height of 4000 feet, which is separated +from the main chain of the Apennines by the ancient territory of +the Hernici, the tableland of the Sacco (Trerus, a tributary of the +Liris), and stretching in a westerly direction terminates in the +promontory of Terracina. On the west its boundary is the sea, which +on this part of the coast forms but few and indifferent harbours. +On the north it imperceptibly merges into the broad hill-land +of Etruria. The region thus enclosed forms a magnificent plain +traversed by the Tiber, the "mountain-stream" which issues from +the Umbrian, and by the Anio, which rises in the Sabine mountains. +Hills here and there emerge, like islands, from the plain; some +of them steep limestone cliffs, such as that of Soracte in the +north-east, and that of the Circeian promontory on the south-west, +as well as the similar though lower height of the Janiculum near +Rome; others volcanic elevations, whose extinct craters had become +converted into lakes which in some cases still exist; the most +important of these is the Alban range, which, free on every side, +stands forth from the plain between the Volscian chain and the +river Tiber. + +Here settled the stock which is known to history under the name +of the Latins, or, as they were subsequently called by way of +distinction from the Latin communities beyond the bounds of Latium, +the "Old Latins" (-prisci Latini-). But the territory occupied +by them, the district of Latium, was only a small portion of the +central plain of Italy. All the country north of the Tiber was to +the Latins a foreign and even hostile domain, with whose inhabitants +no lasting alliance, no public peace, was possible, and such armistices +as were concluded appear always to have been for a limited period. +The Tiber formed the northern boundary from early times; and neither +in history nor in the more reliable traditions has any reminiscence +been preserved as to the period or occasion of the establishment +of a frontier line so important in its results. We find, at the +time when our history begins, the flat and marshy tracts to the +south of the Alban range in the hands of Umbro-Sabellian stocks, the +Rutuli and Volsci; Ardea and Velitrae are no longer in the number +of originally Latin towns. Only the central portion of that region +between the Tiber, the spurs of the Apennines, the Alban Mount, and +the sea--a district of about 700 square miles, not much larger than +the present canton of Zurich--was Latium proper, the "plain,"(2) +as it appears to the eye of the observer from the heights of Monte +Cavo. Though the country is a plain, it is not monotonously flat. +With the exception of the sea-beach which is sandy and formed in +part by the accumulations of the Tiber, the level is everywhere +broken by hills of tufa moderate in height though often somewhat +steep, and by deep fissures of the ground. These alternating +elevations and depressions of the surface lead to the formation +of lakes in winter; and the exhalations proceeding in the heat of +summer from the putrescent organic substances which they contain +engender that noxious fever-laden atmosphere, which in ancient +times tainted the district as it taints it at the present day. It +is a mistake to suppose that these miasmata were first occasioned +by the neglect of cultivation, which was the result of the misgovernment +in the last century of the Republic and under the Papacy. Their +cause lies rather in the want of natural outlets for the water; +and it operates now as it operated thousands of years ago. It is +true, however, that the malaria may to a certain extent be banished +by thoroughness of tillage--a fact which has not yet received its +full explanation, but may be partly accounted for by the circumstance +that the working of the surface accelerates the drying up of the +stagnant waters. It must always remain a remarkable phenomenon, +that a dense agricultural population should have arisen in regions +where no healthy population can at present subsist, and where the +traveller is unwilling to tarry even for a single night, such as +the plain of Latium and the lowlands of Sybaris and Metapontum. +We must bear in mind that man in a low stage of civilization +has generally a quicker perception of what nature demands, and a +greater readiness in conforming to her requirements; perhaps, also, +a more elastic physical constitution, which accommodates itself +more readily to the conditions of the soil where he dwells. In +Sardinia agriculture is prosecuted under physical conditions +precisely similar even at the present day; the pestilential atmosphere +exists, but the peasant avoids its injurious effects by caution in +reference to clothing, food, and the choice of his hours of labour. +In fact, nothing is so certain a protection against the "aria cattiva" +as wearing the fleece of animals and keeping a blazing fire; which +explains why the Roman countryman went constantly clothed in heavy +woollen stuffs, and never allowed the fire on his hearth to be +extinguished. In other respects the district must have appeared +attractive to an immigrant agricultural people: the soil is easily +laboured with mattock and hoe and is productive even without +being manured, although, tried by an Italian standard, it does not +yield any extraordinary return: wheat yields on an average about +five-fold.(3) Good water is not abundant; the higher and more +sacred on that account was the esteem in which every fresh spring +was held by the inhabitants. + + +Latin Settlements + + +No accounts have been preserved of the mode in which the settlements +of the Latins took place in the district which has since borne +their name; and we are left to gather what we can almost exclusively +from a posteriori inference regarding them. Some knowledge may, +however, in this way be gained, or at any rate some conjectures +that wear an aspect of probability. + + +Clan-Villages + + +The Roman territory was divided in the earliest times into a number +of clan-districts, which were subsequently employed in the formation +of the earliest "rural wards" (-tribus rusticae-). Tradition +informs us as to the -tribus Claudia-, that it originated from +the settlement of the Claudian clansmen on the Anio; and that the +other districts of the earliest division originated in a similar +manner is indicated quite as certainly by their names. These +names are not, like those of the districts added at a later period, +derived from the localities, but are formed without exception from +the names of clans; and the clans who thus gave their names to +the wards of the original Roman territory are, so far as they have +not become entirely extinct (as is the case with the -Camilii-, +-Galerii-, -Lemonii-, -Pollii-, -Pupinii-, -Voltinii-), the very +oldest patrician families of Rome, the -Aemilii-, -Cornelii-, -Fabii-, +-Horatii-, -Menenii-, -Papirii-, -Romilii-, -Sergii-, -Voturii-. +It is worthy of remark, that not one of these clans can be shown to +have taken up its settlement in Rome only at a later epoch. Every +Italian, and doubtless also every Hellenic, canton must, like the +Roman, have been divided into a number of groups associated at once +by locality and by clanship; such a clan-settlement is the "house" +(--oikia--) of the Greeks, from which very frequently the --komai-- +and --demoi-- originated among them, like the tribus in Rome. The +corresponding Italian terms "house" -vicus-or "district" (-pagus-, +from -pangere-) indicate, in like manner, the joint settlement +of the members of a clan, and thence come by an easily understood +transition to signify in common use hamlet or village. As each +household had its own portion of land, so the clan-household or +village had a clan-land belonging to it, which, as will afterwards +be shown, was managed up to a comparatively late period after the +analogy of household--land, that is, on the system of joint-possession. +Whether it was in Latium itself that the clan-households became +developed into clan-villages, or whether the Latins were already +associated in clans when they immigrated into Latium, are questions +which we are just as little able to answer as we are to determine +what was the form assumed by the management on joint account, +which such an arrangement required,(4) or how far, in addition to +the original ground of common ancestry, the clan may have been based +on the incorporation or co-ordination from without of individuals +not related to it by blood. + + +Cantons + + +These clanships, however, were from the beginning regarded not as +independent societies, but as the integral parts of a political +community (-civitas-, -populus-). This first presents itself as an +aggregate of a number of clan-villages of the same stock, language, +and manners, bound to mutual observance of law and mutual legal +redress and to united action in aggression and defence. A fixed +local centre was quite as necessary in the case of such a canton +as in that of a clanship; but as the members of the clan, or in +other words the constituent elements of the canton, dwelt in their +villages, the centre of the canton cannot have been a place of joint +settlement in the strict sense--a town. It must, on the contrary, +have been simply a place of common assembly, containing the seat of +justice and the common sanctuary of the canton, where the members +of the canton met every eighth day for purposes of intercourse and +amusement, and where, in case of war, they obtained for themselves +and their cattle a safer shelter from the invading enemy than in +the villages: in ordinary circumstances this place of meeting was +not at all or but scantily inhabited. Ancient places of refuge, +of a kind quite similar, may still be recognized at the present +day on the tops of several of the hills in the highlands of east +Switzerland. Such a place was called in Italy "height" (-capitolium-, +like --akra--, the mountain-top), or "stronghold" (-arx-, from +-arcere-); it was not a town at first, but it became the nucleus of +one, as houses naturally gathered round the stronghold and were +afterwards surrounded with the "ring" (-urbs-, connected with +-urvus-, -rurvus-, perhaps also with -orbis-). The stronghold and +town were visibly distinguished from each other by the number of +gates, of which the stronghold has as few as possible, and the town +many, the former ordinarily but one, the latter at least three. +Such fortresses were the bases of that cantonal constitution which +prevailed in Italy anterior to the existence of towns: a constitution, +the nature of which may still be recognized with some degree of +clearness in those provinces of Italy which did not until a late +period reach, and in some cases have not yet fully reached, the +stage of aggregation in towns, such as the land of the Marsi and +the small cantons of the Abruzzi. The country if the Aequiculi, +who even in the imperial period dwelt not in towns, but in numerous +open hamlets, presents a number of ancient ring-walls, which, +regarded as "deserted towns" with their solitary temples, excited +the astonishment of the Roman as well as of modern archaeologists, +who have fancied that they could find accommodation there, the +former for their "primitive inhabitants" (-aborigines-), the latter +for their Pelasgians. We shall certainly be nearer the truth in +recognizing these structures not as walled towns, but as places of +refuge for the inhabitants of the district, such as were doubtless +found in more ancient times over all Italy, although constructed +in less artistic style. It was natural that at the period when the +stocks that had made the transition to urban life were surrounding +their towns with stone walls, those districts whose inhabitants +continued to dwell in open hamlets should replace the earthen ramparts +and palisades of their strongholds with buildings of stone. When +peace came to be securely established throughout the land and +such fortresses were no longer needed, these places of refuge were +abandoned and soon became a riddle to after generations. + + +Localities of the Oldest Cantons + + +These cantons accordingly, having their rendezvous in some +stronghold, and including a certain number of clanships, form the +primitive political unities with which Italian history begins. At +what period, and to what extent, such cantons were formed in Latium, +cannot be determined with precision; nor is it a matter of special +historical interest The isolated Alban range, that natural stronghold +of Latium, which offered to settlers the most wholesome air, the +freshest springs, and the most secure position, would doubtless be +first occupied by the new comers. + + +Alba + + +Here accordingly, along the narrow plateau above Palazzuola, between +the Alban lake (-Lago di Castello-) and the Alban mount (-Monte +Cavo-), extended the town of Alba, which was universally regarded +as the primitive seat of the Latin stock, and the mother-city of +Rome as well as of all the other Old Latin communities; here, too, +on the slopes lay the very ancient Latin canton-centres of Lanuvium, +Aricia, and Tusculum. Here are found some of those primitive works +of masonry, which usually mark the beginnings of civilization and +seem to stand as a witness to posterity that in reality Pallas +Athena when she does appear, comes into the world full grown. Such +is the escarpment of the wall of rock below Alba in the direction +of Palazzuola, whereby the place, which is rendered naturally +inaccessible by the steep declivities of Monte Cavo on the south, +is rendered equally unapproachable on the north, and only the two +narrow approaches on the east and west, which are capable of being +easily defended, are left open for traffic. Such, above all, is +the large subterranean tunnel cut--so that a man can stand upright +within it--through the hard wall of lava, 6000 feet thick, by which +the waters of the lake formed in the old crater of the Alban Mount +were reduced to their present level and a considerable space was +gained for tillage on the mountain itself. + +The summits of the last offshoots of the Sabine range form natural +fastnesses of the Latin plain; and the canton-strongholds there +gave rise at a later period to the considerable towns of Tibur and +Praeneste. Labici too, Gabii, and Nomentum in the plain between the +Alban and Sabine hills and the Tiber, Rome on the Tiber, Laurentum +and Lavinium on the coast, were all more or less ancient centres +of Latin colonization, not to speak of many others less famous and +in some cases almost forgotten. + + +The Latin League + + +All these cantons were in primitive times politically sovereign, +and each of them was governed by its prince with the co-operation +of the council of elders and the assembly of warriors. Nevertheless +the feeling of fellowship based on community of descent and of +language not only pervaded the whole of them, but manifested itself +in an important religious and political institution--the perpetual +league of the collective Latin cantons. The presidency belonged +originally, according to the universal Italian as well as Hellenic +usage, to that canton within whose bounds lay the meeting-place of +the league; in this case it was the canton of Alba, which, as we +have said, was generally regarded as the oldest and most eminent +of the Latin cantons. The communities entitled to participate in +the league were in the beginning thirty--a number which we find +occurring with singular frequency as the sum of the constituent +parts of a commonwealth in Greece and Italy. What cantons originally +made up the number of the thirty old Latin communities or, as with +reference to the metropolitan rights of Alba they are also called, +the thirty Alban colonies, tradition has not recorded, and we can +no longer ascertain. The rendezvous of this union was, like the +Pamboeotia and the Panionia among the similar confederacies of the +Greeks, the "Latin festival" (-feriae Latinae-), at which, on the +"Mount of Alba" (-Mons Albanus-, -Monte Cavo-), upon a day annually +appointed by the chief magistrate for the purpose, an ox was +offered in sacrifice by the assembled Latin stock to the "Latin god" +(-Jupiter Latiaris-). Each community taking part in the ceremony +had to contribute to the sacrificial feast its fixed proportion +of cattle, milk, and cheese, and to receive in return a portion of +the roasted victim. These usages continued down to a late period, +and are well known: respecting the more important legal bearings +of this association we can do little else than institute conjectures. + +From the most ancient times there were held, in connection with +the religious festival on the Mount of Alba, assemblies of the +representatives of the several communities at the neighbouring +Latin seat of justice at the source of the Ferentina (near Marino). +Indeed such a confederacy cannot be conceived to exist without +having a certain power of superintendence over the associated body, +and without possessing a system of law binding on all. Tradition +records, and we may well believe, that the league exercised +jurisdiction in reference to violations of federal law, and that +it could in such cases pronounce even sentence of death. The later +communion of legal rights and, in some sense, of marriage that +subsisted among the Latin communities may perhaps be regarded as +an integral part of the primitive law of the league, so that any +Latin man could beget lawful children with any Latin woman and +acquire landed property and carry on trade in any part of Latium. +The league may have also provided a federal tribunal of arbitration +for the mutual disputes of the cantons; on the other hand, there +is no proof that the league imposed any limitation on the sovereign +right of each community to make peace or war. In like manner +there can be no doubt that the constitution of the league implied +the possibility of its waging defensive or even aggressive war +in its own name; in which case, of course, it would be necessary +to have a federal commander-in-chief. But we have no reason to +suppose that in such an event each community was compelled by law +to furnish a contingent for the army, or that, conversely, any +one was interdicted from undertaking a war on its own account even +against a member of the league. There are, however, indications +that during the Latin festival, just as was the case during the +festivals of the Hellenic leagues, "a truce of God" was observed +throughout all Latium;(5) and probably on that occasion even tribes +at feud granted safe-conducts to each other. + +It is still less in our power to define the range of the privileges +of the presiding canton; only we may safely affirm that there is +no reason for recognizing in the Alban presidency a real political +hegemony over Latium, and that possibly, nay probably, it had no +more significance in Latium than the honorary presidency of Elis +had in Greece.(6) On the whole it is probable that the extent of +this Latin league, and the amount of its jurisdiction, were somewhat +unsettled and fluctuating; yet it remained throughout not an +accidental aggregate of various communities more or less alien to +each other, but the just and necessary expression of the relationship +of the Latin stock. The Latin league may not have at all times +included all Latin communities, but it never at any rate granted +the privilege of membership to any that were not Latin. Its +counterpart in Greece was not the Delphic Amphictyony, but the +Boeotian or Aetolian confederacy. + +These very general outlines must suffice: any attempt to draw the +lines more sharply would only falsify the picture. The manifold play +of mutual attraction and repulsion among those earliest political +atoms, the cantons, passed away in Latium without witnesses competent +to tell the tale. We must now be content to realise the one great +abiding fact that they possessed a common centre, to which they +did not sacrifice their individual independence, but by means of +which they cherished and increased the feeling of their belonging +collectively to the same nation. By such a common possession the +way was prepared for their advance from that cantonal individuality, +with which the history of every people necessarily begins, to the +national union with which the history of every people ends or at +any rate ought to end. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter III + + + +1. I. II. Italians + +2. Like -latus- (side) and --platus-- (flat); it denotes therefore +the flat country in contrast to the Sabine mountain-land, just +as Campania, the "plain," forms the contrast to Samnium. Latus, +formerly -stlatus-, has no connection with Latium. + +3. A French statist, Dureau de la Malle (-Econ. Pol. des Romains-, +ii. 226), compares with the Roman Campagna the district of Limagne +in Auvergne, which is likewise a wide, much intersected, and uneven +plain, with a superficial soil of decomposed lava and ashes--the +remains of extinct volcanoes. The population, at least 2500 +to the square league, is one of the densest to be found in purely +agricultural districts: property is subdivided to an extraordinary +extent. Tillage is carried on almost entirely by manual labour, +with spade, hoe, or mattock; only in exceptional cases a light +plough is substituted drawn by two cows, the wife of the peasant +not unfrequently taking the place of one of them in the yoke. The +team serves at once to furnish milk and to till the land. They +have two harvests in the year, corn and vegetables; there is no +fallow. The average yearly rent for an arpent of arable land is +100 francs. If instead Of such an arrangement this same land were +to be divided among six or seven large landholders, and a system +of management by stewards and day labourers were to supersede the +husbandry of the small proprietors, in a hundred years the Limagne +would doubtless be as waste, forsaken, and miserable as the Campagna +di Roma is at the present day. + +4. In Slavonia, where the patriarchal economy is retained up to +the present day, the whole family, often to the number of fifty +or even a hundred persons, remains together in the same house under +the orders of the house-father (Goszpodar) chosen by the whole +family for life. The property of the household, which consists +chiefly in cattle, is administered by the house-father; the +surplus is distributed according to the family-branches. Private +acquisitions by industry and trade remain separate property. +Instances of quitting the household occur, in the case even of men, +e. g. by marrying into a stranger household (Csaplovies, -Slavonien-, +i. 106, 179). --Under such circumstances, which are probably +not very widely different from the earliest Roman conditions, the +household approximates in character to the community. + +5. The Latin festival is expressly called "armistice" (-indutiae-, +Macrob. Sat. i. 16; --ekecheipiai--, Dionys. iv. 49); and a war +was not allowed to be begun during its continuance (Macrob. l. c.) + +6. The assertion often made in ancient and modern times, that +Alba once ruled over Latium under the forms of a symmachy, nowhere +finds on closer investigation sufficient support. All history +begins not with the union, but with the disunion of a nation; and +it is very improbable that the problem of the union of Latium, which +Rome finally solved after some centuries of conflict, should have +been already solved at an earlier period by Alba. It deserves to +be remarked too that Rome never asserted in the capacity of heiress +of Alba any claims of sovereignty proper over the Latin communities, +but contented herself with an honorary presidency; which no doubt, +when it became combined with material power, afforded a handle for +her pretensions of hegemony. Testimonies, strictly so called, can +scarcely be adduced on such a question; and least of all do such +passages as Festus -v. praetor-, p. 241, and Dionys. iii. 10, +suffice to stamp Alba as a Latin Athens. + + + + +CHAPTER IV + +The Beginnings of Rome + + + +Ramnes + + +About fourteen miles up from the mouth of the river Tiber hills of +moderate elevation rise on both banks of the stream, higher on the +right, lower on the left bank. With the latter group there has been +closely associated for at least two thousand five hundred years the +name of the Romans. We are unable, of course, to tell how or when +that name arose; this much only is certain, that in the oldest +form of it known to us the inhabitants of the canton are called not +Romans, but Ramnians (Ramnes); and this shifting of sound, which +frequently occurs in the older period of a language, but fell very +early into abeyance in Latin,(1) is an expressive testimony to the +immemorial antiquity of the name. Its derivation cannot be given with +certainty; possibly "Ramnes" may mean "the people on the stream." + + +Tities, Luceres + + +But they were not the only dwellers on the hills by the bank +of the Tiber. In the earliest division of the burgesses of Rome a +trace has been preserved of the fact that that body arose out of +the amalgamation of three cantons once probably independent, the +Ramnians, Tities, and Luceres, into a single commonwealth--in other +words, out of such a --synoikismos-- as that from which Athens +arose in Attica.(2) The great antiquity of this threefold division +of the community(3) is perhaps best evinced by the fact that the +Romans, in matters especially of constitutional law, regularly +used the forms -tribuere- ("to divide into three") and -tribus- +("a third") in the general sense of "to divide" and "a part," and +the latter expression (-tribus-), like our "quarter," early lost +its original signification of number. After the union each of these +three communities--once separate, but now forming subdivisions of +a single community--still possessed its third of the common domain, +and had its proportional representation in the burgess-force and +in the council of the elders. In ritual also, the number divisible +by three of the members of almost all the oldest colleges--of the +Vestal Virgins, the Salii, the Arval Brethren, the Luperci, the +Augurs-- probably had reference to that three-fold partition. These +three elements into which the primitive body of burgesses in Rome +was divided have had theories of the most extravagant absurdity +engrafted upon them. The irrational opinion that the Roman nation +was a mongrel people finds its support in that division, and its +advocates have striven by various means to represent the three +great Italian races as elements entering into the composition of +the primitive Rome, and to transform a people which has exhibited +in language, polity, and religion, a pure and national development +such as few have equalled, into a confused aggregate of Etruscan +and Sabine, Hellenic and, forsooth! even Pelasgian fragments. + +Setting aside self-contradictory and unfounded hypotheses, we may +sum up in a few words all that can be said respecting the nationality +of the component elements of the primitive Roman commonwealth. +That the Ramnians were a Latin stock cannot be doubted, for they +gave their name to the new Roman commonwealth and therefore must have +substantially determined the nationality of the united community. +Respecting the origin of the Luceres nothing can be affirmed, except +that there is no difficulty in the way of our assigning them, like +the Ramnians, to the Latin stock. The second of these communities, +on the other hand, is with one consent derived from Sabina; and +this view can at least be traced to a tradition preserved in the +Titian brotherhood, which represented that priestly college as +having been instituted, on occasion of the Tities being admitted +into the collective community, for the preservation of their +distinctive Sabine ritual. It may be, therefore, that at a period +very remote, when the Latin and Sabellian stocks were beyond question +far less sharply contrasted in language, manners, and customs than +were the Roman and the Samnite of a later age, a Sabellian community +entered into a Latin canton-union; and, as in the older and more +credible traditions without exception the Tities take precedence +of the Ramnians, it is probable that the intruding Tities compelled +the older Ramnians to accept the --synoikismos--. A mixture +of different nationalities certainly therefore took place; but +it hardly exercised an influence greater than the migration, for +example, which occurred some centuries afterwards of the Sabine +Attus Clauzus or Appius Claudius and his clansmen and clients to +Rome. The earlier admission of the Tities among the Ramnians does +not entitle us to class the community among mongrel peoples any +more than does that subsequent reception of the Claudii among the +Romans. With the exception, perhaps, of isolated national institutions +handed down in connection with ritual, the existence of Sabellian +elements can nowhere be pointed out in Rome; and the Latin +language in particular furnishes absolutely no support to any such +hypothesis.(4) It would in fact be more than surprising, if the +Latin nation should have had its nationality in any sensible degree +affected by the insertion of a single community from a stock so +very closely related to it; and, besides, it must not be forgotten +that at the time when the Tides settled beside the Ramnians, Latin +nationality rested on Latium as its basis, and not on Rome. The new +tripartite Roman commonwealth was, notwithstanding some incidental +elements which were originally Sabellian, just what the community +of the Ramnians had previously been--a portion of the Latin nation. + + +Rome the Emporium of Latium + + +Long, in all probability, before an urban settlement arose on the +Tiber, these Ramnians, Tities, and Luceres, at first separate, +afterwards united, had their stronghold on the Roman hills, and +tilled their fields from the surrounding villages. The "wolf-festival" +(Lupercalia) which the gens of the Quinctii celebrated on the +Palatine hill, was probably a tradition from these primitive times--a +festival of husbandmen and shepherds, which more than any other +preserved the homely pastimes of patriarchal simplicity, and, +singularly enough, maintained itself longer than all the other +heathen festivals in Christian Rome, + + +Character of Its Site + + +From these settlements the later Rome arose. The founding of a city +in the strict sense, such as the legend assumes, is of course to +be reckoned altogether out of the question: Rome was not built in +a day. But the serious consideration of the historian may well be +directed to the inquiry, in what way Rome can have so early attained +the prominent political position which it held in Latium--so +different from what the physical character of the locality would +have led us to anticipate. The site of Rome is less healthy and +less fertile than that of most of the old Latin towns. Neither the +vine nor the fig succeed well in the immediate environs, and there +is a want of springs yielding a good supply of water; for neither +the otherwise excellent fountain of the Camenae before the Porta +Capena, nor the Capitoline well, afterwards enclosed within the +Tullianum, furnish it in any abundance. Another disadvantage arises +from the frequency with which the river overflows its banks. Its +very slight fall renders it unable to carry off the water, which +during the rainy season descends in large quantities from the +mountains, with sufficient rapidity to the sea, and in consequence +it floods the low-lying lands and the valleys that open between the +hills, and converts them into swamps. For a settler the locality +was anything but attractive. In antiquity itself an opinion was +expressed that the first body of immigrant cultivators could scarce +have spontaneously resorted in search of a suitable settlement to +that unhealthy and unfruitful spot in a region otherwise so highly +favoured, and that it must have been necessity, or rather some +special motive, which led to the establishment of a city there. +Even the legend betrays its sense of the strangeness of the fact: +the story of the foundation of Rome by refugees from Alba under +the leadership of the sons of an Alban prince, Romulus and Remus, +is nothing but a naive attempt of primitive quasi-history to explain +the singular circumstance of the place having arisen on a site so +unfavourable, and to connect at the same time the origin of Rome +with the general metropolis of Latium. Such tales, which profess +to be historical but are merely improvised explanations of no very +ingenious character, it is the first duty of history to dismiss; but +it may perhaps be allowed to go a step further, and after weighing +the special relations of the locality to propose a positive conjecture +not regarding the way in which the place originated, but regarding +the circumstances which occasioned its rapid and surprising prosperity +and led to its occupying its peculiar position in Latium. + + +Earliest Limits of the Roman Territory + + +Let us notice first of all the earliest boundaries of the Roman +territory. Towards the east the towns of Antemnae, Fidenae, Caenina, +and Gabii lie in the immediate neighbourhood, some of them not five +miles distant from the Servian ring-wall; and the boundary of the +canton must have been in the close vicinity of the city gates. +On the south we find at a distance of fourteen miles the powerful +communities of Tusculum and Alba; and the Roman territory appears +not to have extended in this direction beyond the -Fossa Cluilia-, +five miles from Rome. In like manner, towards the south-west, the +boundary betwixt Rome and Lavinium was at the sixth milestone. +While in a landward direction the Roman canton was thus everywhere +confined within the narrowest possible limits, from the earliest +times, on the other hand, it extended without hindrance on both +banks of the Tiber towards the sea. Between Rome and the coast there +occurs no locality that is mentioned as an ancient canton-centre, +and no trace of any ancient canton-boundary. The legend indeed, +which has its definite explanation of the origin of everything, +professes to tell us that the Roman possessions on the right bank of +the Tiber, the "seven hamlets" (-septem pagi-), and the important +salt-works at its mouth, were taken by king Romulus from the Veientes, +and that king Ancus fortified on the right bank the -tete de pont-, +the "mount of Janus" (-Janiculum-), and founded on the left the +Roman Peiraeus, the seaport at the river's "mouth" (-Ostia-). But +in fact we have evidence more trustworthy than that of legend, that +the possessions on the Etruscan bank of the Tiber must have belonged +to the original territory of Rome; for in this very quarter, at +the fourth milestone on the later road to the port, lay the grove +of the creative goddess (-Dea Dia-), the primitive chief seat of +the Arval festival and Arval brotherhood of Rome. Indeed from time +immemorial the clan of the Romilii, once the chief probably of all +the Roman clans, was settled in this very quarter; the Janiculum +formed a part of the city itself, and Ostia was a burgess colony +or, in other words, a suburb. + + +The Tiber and Its Traffic + + +This cannot have been the result of mere accident. The Tiber was +the natural highway for the traffic of Latium; and its mouth, on +a coast scantily provided with harbours, became necessarily the +anchorage of seafarers. Moreover, the Tiber formed from very ancient +times the frontier defence of the Latin stock against their northern +neighbours. There was no place better fitted for an emporium of the +Latin river and sea traffic, and for a maritime frontier fortress +of Latium, than Rome. It combined the advantages of a strong position +and of immediate vicinity to the river; it commanded both banks of +the stream down to its mouth; it was so situated as to be equally +convenient for the river navigator descending the Tiber or the +Anio, and for the seafarer with vessels of so moderate a size as +those which were then used; and it afforded greater protection from +pirates than places situated immediately on the coast. That Rome +was indebted, if not for its origin, at any rate for its importance, +to these commercial and strategical advantages of its position, +there are accordingly numerous further indications, which are +of very different weight from the statements of quasi-historical +romances. Thence arose its very ancient relations with Caere, which +was to Etruria what Rome was to Latium, and accordingly became Rome's +most intimate neighbour and commercial ally. Thence arose the unusual +importance of the bridge over the Tiber, and of bridge-building +generally in the Roman commonwealth. Thence came the galley in the +city arms; thence, too, the very ancient Roman port-duties on the +exports and imports of Ostia, which were from the first levied only +on what was to be exposed for sale (-promercale-), not on what was +for the shipper's own use (-usuarium-), and which were therefore +in reality a tax upon commerce. Thence, to anticipate, the +comparatively early occurrence in Rome of coined money, and of +commercial treaties with transmarine states. In this sense, then, +certainly Rome may have been, as the legend assumes, a creation +rather than a growth, and the youngest rather than the oldest among +the Latin cities. Beyond doubt the country was already in some +degree cultivated, and the Alban range as well as various other +heights of the Campagna were occupied by strongholds, when the Latin +frontier emporium arose on the Tiber. Whether it was a resolution +of the Latin confederacy, or the clear-sighted genius of some +unknown founder, or the natural development of traffic, that called +the city of Rome into being, it is vain even to surmise. + + +Early Urban Character of Rome + + +But in connection with this view of the position of Rome as the +emporium of Latium another observation suggests itself. At the time +when history begins to dawn on us, Rome appears, in contradistinction +to the league of the Latin communities, as a compact urban unity. +The Latin habit of dwelling in open villages, and of using the +common stronghold only for festivals and assemblies or in case of +special need, was subjected to restriction at a far earlier period, +probably, in the canton of Rome than anywhere else in Latium. The +Roman did not cease to manage his farm in person, or to regard it +as his proper home; but the unwholesome atmosphere of the Campagna +could not but induce him to take up his abode as much as possible +on the more airy and salubrious city hills; and by the side of the +cultivators of the soil there must have been a numerous non-agricultural +population, partly foreigners, partly native, settled there from +very early times. This to some extent accounts for the dense +population of the old Roman territory, which may be estimated at +the utmost at 115 square miles, partly of marshy or sandy soil, and +which, even under the earliest constitution of the city, furnished +a force of 3300 freemen; so that it must have numbered at least +10,000 free inhabitants. But further, every one acquainted with +the Romans and their history is aware that it is their urban and +mercantile character which forms the basis of whatever is peculiar +in their public and private life, and that the distinction between +them and the other Latins and Italians in general is pre-eminently +the distinction between citizen and rustic. Rome, indeed, was +not a mercantile city like Corinth or Carthage; for Latium was an +essentially agricultural region, and Rome was in the first instance, +and continued to be, pre-eminently a Latin city. But the distinction +between Rome and the mass of the other Latin towns must certainly +be traced back to its commercial position, and to the type of +character produced by that position in its citizens. If Rome was +the emporium of the Latin districts, we can readily understand +how, along with and in addition to Latin husbandry, an urban life +should have attained vigorous and rapid development there and thus +have laid the foundation for its distinctive career. + +It is far more important and more practicable to follow out the +course of this mercantile and strategical growth of the city of +Rome, than to attempt the useless task of chemically analysing the +insignificant and but little diversified communities of primitive +times. This urban development may still be so far recognized +in the traditions regarding the successive circumvallations and +fortifications of Rome, the formation of which necessarily kept +pace with the growth of the Roman commonwealth in importance as a +city. + + +The Palatine City + + +The town, which in the course of centuries grew up as Rome, in its +original form embraced according to trustworthy testimony only the +Palatine, or "square Rome" (-Roma quadrata-), as it was called in +later times from the irregularly quadrangular form of the Palatine +hill. The gates and walls that enclosed this original city remained +visible down to the period of the empire: the sites of two of the +former, the Porta Romana near S. Giorgio in Velabro, and the Porta +Mugionis at the Arch of Titus, are still known to us, and the +Palatine ring-wall is described by Tacitus from his own observation +at least on the sides looking towards the Aventine and Caelian. +Many traces indicate that this was the centre and original seat of +the urban settlement. On the Palatine was to be found the sacred +symbol of that settlement, the "outfit-vault" (-mundus-) as it +was called, in which the first settlers deposited a sufficiency +of everything necessary for a household and added a clod of their +dear native earth. There, too, was situated the building in which +all the curies assembled for religious and other purposes, each at +its own hearth (-curiae veteres-). There stood the meetinghouse of +the "Leapers" (-curia Saliorum-) in which also the sacred shields +of Mars were preserved, the sanctuary of the "Wolves" (-Lupercal-), +and the dwelling of the priest of Jupiter. On and near this hill +the legend of the founding of the city placed the scenes of its +leading incidents, and the straw-covered house of Romulus, the +shepherd's hut of his foster-father Faustulus, the sacred fig-tree +towards which the cradle with the twins had floated, the cornelian +cherry-tree that sprang from the shaft of the spear which the +founder of the city had hurled from the Aventine over the valley of +the Circus into this enclosure, and other such sacred relics were +pointed out to the believer. Temples in the proper sense of the +term were still at this time unknown, and accordingly the Palatine +has nothing of that sort to show belonging to the primitive age. +The public assemblies of the community were early transferred to +another locality, so that their original site is unknown; only it +may be conjectured that the free space round the -mundus-, afterwards +called the -area Apollinis-, was the primitive place of assembly +for the burgesses and the senate, and the stage erected over the +-mundus- itself the primitive seat of justice of the Roman community. + + +The Seven Mounts + + +The "festival of the Seven Mounts" (-septimontium-), again, has +preserved the memory of the more extended settlement which gradually +formed round the Palatine. Suburbs grew up one after another, each +protected by its own separate though weaker circumvallation and +joined to the original ring-wall of the Palatine, as in fen districts +the outer dikes are joined on to the main dike. The "Seven Rings" +were, the Palatine itself; the Cermalus, the slope of the Palatine +in the direction of the morass that extended between it and the +Capitol towards the river (-velabrum-); the Velia, the ridge which +connected the Palatine with the Esquiline, but in subsequent times +was almost wholly obliterated by the buildings of the empire; the +Fagutal, the Oppius, and the Cispius, the three summits of the +Esquiline; lastly, the Sucusa, or Subura, a fortress constructed +outside of the earthen rampart which protected the new town on the +Carinae, in the depression between the Esquiline and the Quirinal +beneath S. Pietro in Vincoli. These additions, manifestly the +results of a gradual growth, clearly reveal to a certain extent the +earliest history of the Palatine Rome, especially when we compare +with them the Servian arrangement of districts which was afterwards +formed on the basis of this earliest division. + + +Oldest Settlements in the Palatine and Suburan Regions + + +The Palatine was the original seat of the Roman community, the oldest +and originally the only ring-wall. The urban settlement, however, +began at Rome as well as elsewhere not within, but under the +protection of, the stronghold; and the oldest settlements with +which we are acquainted, and which afterwards formed the first and +second regions in the Servian division of the city, lay in a circle +round the Palatine. These included the settlement on the declivity +of the Cermalus with the "street of the Tuscans"--a name in which +there may have been preserved a reminiscence of the commercial +intercourse between the Caerites and Romans already perhaps carried +on with vigour in the Palatine city--and the settlement on the +Velia; both of which subsequently along with the stronghold-hill +itself constituted one region in the Servian city. Further, there +were the component elements of the subsequent second region--the +suburb on the Caelian, which probably embraced only its extreme point +above the Colosseum; that on the Carinae, the spur which projects +from the Esquiline towards the Palatine; and, lastly, the valley +and outwork of the Subura, from which the whole region received +its name. These two regions jointly constituted the incipient city; +and the Suburan district of it, which extended at the base of the +stronghold, nearly from the Arch of Constantine to S. Pietro in +Vincoli, and over the valley beneath, appears to have been more +considerable and perhaps older than the settlements incorporated +by the Servian arrangement in the Palatine district, because in the +order of the regions the former takes precedence of the latter. A +remarkable memorial of the distinction between these two portions +of the city was preserved in one of the oldest sacred customs of +the later Rome, the sacrifice of the October horse yearly offered +in the -Campus Martius-: down to a late period a struggle took +place at this festival for the horse's head between the men of the +Subura and those of the Via Sacra, and according as victory lay +with the former or with the latter, the head was nailed either to +the Mamilian Tower (site unknown) in the Subura, or to the king's +palace under the Palatine. It was the two halves of the old city +that thus competed with each other on equal terms. At that time, +accordingly, the Esquiliae (which name strictly used is exclusive +of the Carinae) were in reality what they were called, the "outer +buildings" (-exquiliae-, like -inquilinus-, from -colere-) or +suburb: this became the third region in the later city division, +and it was always held in inferior consideration as compared with +the Suburan and Palatine regions. Other neighbouring heights also, +such as the Capitol and the Aventine, may probably have been occupied +by the community of the Seven Mounts; the "bridge of piles" in +particular (-pons sublicius-), thrown over the natural pier of the +island in the Tiber, must have existed even then--the pontifical +college alone is sufficient evidence of this--and the -tete de +pont- on the Etruscan bank, the height of the Janiculum, would not +be left unoccupied; but the community had not as yet brought either +within the circuit of its fortifications. The regulation which +was adhered to as a ritual rule down to the latest times, that the +bridge should be composed simply of wood without iron, manifestly +shows that in its original practical use it was to be merely a +flying bridge, which must be capable of being easily at any time +broken off or burnt. We recognize in this circumstance how insecure +for a long time and liable to interruption was the command of the +passage of the river on the part of the Roman community. + +No relation is discoverable between the urban settlements thus +gradually formed and the three communities into which from an +immemorially early period the Roman commonwealth was in political +law divided. As the Ramnes, Tities, and Luceres appear to have +been communities originally independent, they must have had their +settlements originally apart; but they certainly did not dwell +in separate circumvallations on the Seven Hills, and all fictions +to this effect in ancient or modern times must be consigned by +the intelligent inquirer to the same fate with the charming tale +of Tarpeia and the battle of the Palatine. On the contrary each +of the three tribes of Ramnes, Tities, and Luceres must have been +distributed throughout the two regions of the oldest city, the +Subura and Palatine, and the suburban region as well: with this +may be connected the fact, that afterwards not only in the Suburan +and Palatine, but in each of the regions subsequently added to the +city, there were three pairs of Argean chapels. The Palatine city +of the Seven Mounts may have had a history of its own; no other +tradition of it has survived than simply that of its having once +existed. But as the leaves of the forest make room for the new +growth of spring, although they fall unseen by human eyes, so has +this unknown city of the Seven Mounts made room for the Rome of +history. + + +The Hill-Romans on the Quirinal + + +But the Palatine city was not the only one that in ancient times +existed within the circle afterwards enclosed by the Servian walls; +opposite to it, in its immediate vicinity, there lay a second city +on the Quirinal. The "old stronghold" (-Capitolium vetus-) with a +sanctuary of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, and a temple of the goddess +of Fidelity in which state treaties were publicly deposited, forms +the evident counterpart of the later Capitol with its temple to +Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, and with its shrine of Fides Romana +likewise destined as it were for a repository of international +law, and furnishes a sure proof that the Quirinal also was once +the centre of an independent commonwealth. The same fact may be +inferred from the double worship of Mars on the Palatine and the +Quirinal; for Mars was the type of the warrior and the oldest chief +divinity of the burgess communities of Italy. With this is connected +the further circumstance that his ministers, the two primitive +colleges of the "Leapers" (-Salii-) and of the "Wolves" (-Luperci-) +existed in the later Rome in duplicate: by the side of the Salii +of the Palatine there were also Salii of the Quirinal; by the side +of the Quinctian Luperci of the Palatine there was a Fabian guild +of Luperci, which in all probability had their sanctuary on the +Quirinal.(5) + +All these indications, which even in themselves are of great weight, +become more significant when we recollect that the accurately +known circuit of the Palatine city of the Seven Mounts excluded the +Quirinal, and that afterwards in the Servian Rome, while the first +three regions corresponded to the former Palatine city, a fourth +region was formed out of the Quirinal along with the neighbouring +Viminal. Thus, too, we discover an explanation of the reason why +the strong outwork of the Subura was constructed beyond the city +wall in the valley between the Esquiline and Quirinal; it was at +that point, in fact, that the two territories came into contact, +and the Palatine Romans, after having taken possession of the low +ground, were under the necessity of constructing a stronghold for +protection against those of the Quirinal. + +Lastly, even the name has not been lost by which the men of the +Quirinal distinguished themselves from their Palatine neighbours. +As the Palatine city took the name of "the Seven Mounts," its +citizens called themselves the "mount-men" (-montani-), and the +term "mount," while applied to the other heights belonging to the +city, was above all associated with the Palatine; so the Quirinal +height--although not lower, but on the contrary somewhat higher, +than the former--as well as the adjacent Viminal never in the strict +use of the language received any other name than "hill" (collis). +In the ritual records, indeed, the Quirinal was not unfrequently +designated as the "hill" without further addition. In like manner +the gate leading out from this height was usually called the +"hill-gate" (-porta collina-); the priests of Mars settled there +were called those "of the hill" (-Salii collini-) in contrast to +those of the Palatium (-Salii Palatini-) and the fourth Servian +region formed out of this district was termed the hill-region +(-tribus collina-)(6) The name of Romans primarily associated with +the locality was probably appropriated by these "Hill-men" as well +as by those of the "Mounts;" and the former perhaps designated +themselves as "Romans of the Hill" (-Romani collini-). That a +diversity of race may have lain at the foundation of this distinction +between the two neighbouring cities is possible; but evidence +sufficient to warrant our pronouncing a community established on +Latin soil to be of alien lineage is, in the case of the Quirinal +community, totally wanting.(7) + + +Relations between the Palatine and Quirinal Communities + + +Thus the site of the Roman commonwealth was still at this period +occupied by the Mount-Romans of the Palatine and the Hill-Romans +of the Quirinal as two separate communities confronting each other +and doubtless in many respects at feud, in some degree resembling +the Montigiani and the Trasteverini in modern Rome. That the +community of the Seven Mounts early attained a great preponderance +over that of the Quirinal may with certainty be inferred both from +the greater extent of its newer portions and suburbs, and from +the position of inferiority in which the former Hill-Romans were +obliged to acquiesce under the later Servian arrangement. But +even within the Palatine city there was hardly a true and complete +amalgamation of the different constituent elements of the settlement. +We have already mentioned how the Subura and the Palatine annually +contended for the horse's head; the several Mounts also, and even +the several curies (there was as yet no common hearth for the +city, but the various hearths of the curies subsisted side by side, +although in the same locality) probably felt themselves to be as +yet more separated than united; and Rome as a whole was probably +rather an aggregate of urban settlements than a single city. It +appears from many indications that the houses of the old and powerful +families were constructed somewhat after the manner of fortresses +and were rendered capable of defence--a precaution, it may be +presumed, not unnecessary. It was the magnificent structure ascribed +to king Servius Tullius that first surrounded not merely those two +cities of the Palatine and Quirinal, but also the heights of the +Capitol and the Aventine which were not comprehended within their +enclosure, with a single great ring-wall, and thereby created +the new Rome--the Rome of history. But ere this mighty work was +undertaken, the relations of Rome to the surrounding country had +beyond doubt undergone a complete revolution. As the period, during +which the husbandman guided his plough on the seven hills of Rome +just as on the other hills of Latium, and the usually unoccupied +places of refuge on particular summits alone presented the germs +of a more permanent settlement, corresponds to the earliest epoch +of the Latin stock without trace of traffic or achievement; as +thereafter the flourishing settlement on the Palatine and in the +"Seven Rings" was coincident with the occupation of the mouths of +the Tiber by the Roman community, and with the progress of the Latins +to a more stirring and freer intercourse, to an urban civilization +in Rome more especially, and perhaps also to a more consolidated +political union in the individual states as well as in the confederacy; +so the Servian wall, which was the foundation of a single great +city, was connected with the epoch at which the city of Rome was +able to contend for, and at length to achieve, the sovereignty of +the Latin league. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter IV + +1. A similar change of sound is exhibited in the case of the following +formations, all of them of a very ancient kind: -pars--portio-, +-Mars- -Mors-, -farreum- ancient form for -horreum-, -Fabii- -Fovii-, +-Valerius- -Volesus-, -vacuus- -vacivus-. + +2. The --synoikismos-- did not necessarily involve an actual +settlement together at one spot; but while each resided as formerly +on his own land, there was thenceforth only one council-hall and +court-house for the whole (Thucyd. ii. 15; Herodot. i. 170). + +3. We might even, looking to the Attic --trittus-- and the Umbrian +-trifo-, raise the question whether a triple division of the +community was not a fundamental principle of the Graeco-ltalians: +in that case the triple division of the Roman community would not be +referable to the amalgamation of several once independent tribes. +But, in order to the establishment of a hypothesis so much at +variance with tradition, such a threefold division would require to +present itself more generally throughout the Graeco-Italian field +than seems to be the case, and to appear uniformly everywhere as +the ground-scheme. The Umbrians may possibly have adopted the word +-tribus- only when they came under the influence of Roman rule; it +cannot with certainty be traced in Oscan. + +4. Although the older opinion, that Latin is to be viewed as +a mixed language made up of Greek and non-Greek elements, has been +now abandoned on all sides, judicious inquirers even (e. g. Schwegler, +R. G. i. 184, 193) still seek to discover in Latin a mixture of +two nearly related Italian dialects. But we ask in vain for the +linguistic or historical facts which render such an hypothesis +necessary. When a language presents the appearance of being an +intermediate link between two others, every philologist knows that +the phenomenon may quite as probably depend, and more frequently +does depend, on organic development than on external intermixture. + +5. That the Quinctian Luperci had precedence in rank over the Fabian +is evident from the circumstance that the fabulists attribute the +Quinctii to Romulus, the Fabii to Remus (Ovid, Fast. ii. 373 seq.; +Vict. De Orig. 22). That the Fabii belonged to the Hill-Romans is +shown by the sacrifice of their -gens- on the Quirinal (Liv. v. +46, 52), whether that sacrifice may or may not have been connected +with the Lupercalia. + +Moreover, the Lupercus of the former college is called in +inscriptions (Orelli, 2253) -Lupercus Quinctialis vetus-; and the +-praenomen-Kaeso, which was most probably connected with the Lupercal +worship (see Rom. Forschungen, i. 17), is found exclusively among +the Quinctii and Fabii: the form commonly occurring in authors, +-Lupercus Quinctilius- and -Quinctilianus-, is therefore a misnomer, +and the college belonged not to the comparatively recent Quinctilii, +but to the far older Quinctii. When, again, the Quinctii (Liv. i. +30), or Quinctilii (Dion. iii. 29), are named among the Alban clans, +the latter reading is here to be preferred, and the Quinctii are +to be regarded rather as an old Roman -gens-. + +6. Although the name "Hill of Quirinus" was afterwards ordinarily +used to designate the height where the Hill-Romans had their abode, +we need not at all on that account regard the name "Quirites" as +having been originally reserved for the burgesses on the Quirinal. +For, as has been shown, all the earliest indications point, +as regards these, to the name -Collini-; while it is indisputably +certain that the name Quirites denoted from the first, as well as +subsequently, simply the full burgess, and had no connection with +the distinction between montani and collini (comp. chap. v. infra). +The later designation of the Quirinal rests on the circumstance +that, while the -Mars quirinus-, the spear-bearing god of Death, was +originally worshipped as well on the Palatine as on the Quirinal--as +indeed the oldest inscriptions found at what was afterwards called +the Temple of Quirinus designate this divinity simply as Mars,--at +a later period for the sake of distinction the god of the Mount-Romans +more especially was called Mars, the god of the Hill Romans more +especially Quirinus. + +When the Quirinal is called -collis agonalis-, "hill of sacrifice," +it is so designated merely as the centre of the religious rites of +the Hill-Romans. + +7. The evidence alleged for this (comp. e. g. Schwegler, S. G. i. +480) mainly rests on an etymologico-historical hypothesis started +by Varro and as usual unanimously echoed by later writers, that the +Latin -quiris- and -quirinus- are akin to the name of the Sabine +town -Cures-, and that the Quirinal hill accordingly had been peopled +from -Cures-. Even if the linguistic affinity of these words were +more assured, there would be little warrant for deducing from it such +a historical inference. That the old sanctuaries on this eminence +(where, besides, there was also a "Collis Latiaris") were Sabine, +has been asserted, but has not been proved. Mars quirinus, Sol, +Salus, Flora, Semo Sancus or Deus fidius were doubtless Sabine, +but they were also Latin, divinities, formed evidently during the +epoch when Latins and Sabines still lived undivided. If a name like +that of Semo Sancus (which moreover occurs in connection with the +Tiber-island) is especially associated with the sacred places of +the Quirinal which afterwards diminished in its importance (comp. +the Porta Sanqualis deriving its name therefrom), every unbiassed +inquirer will recognize in such a circumstance only a proof of the +high antiquity of that worship, not a proof of its derivation from +a neighbouring land. In so speaking we do not mean to deny that +it is possible that old distinctions of race may have co-operated +in producing this state of things; but if such was the case, they +have, so far as we are concerned, totally disappeared, and the views +current among our contemporaries as to the Sabine element in the +constitution of Rome are only fitted seriously to warn us against +such baseless speculations leading to no result. + + + + +CHAPTER V + +The Original Constitution of Rome + + + +The Roman House + + +Father and mother, sons and daughters, home and homestead, +servants and chattels--such are the natural elements constituting +the household in all cases, where polygamy has not obliterated the +distinctive position of the mother. But the nations that have been +most susceptible of culture have diverged widely from each other +in their conception and treatment of the natural distinctions which +the household thus presents. By some they have been apprehended +and wrought out more profoundly, by others more superficially; +by some more under their moral, by others more under their legal +aspects. None has equalled the Roman in the simple but inexorable +embodiment in law of the principles pointed out by nature herself. + + +The House-father and His Household + + +The family formed an unity. It consisted of the free man who upon +his father's death had become his own master, and the spouse whom +the priests by the ceremony of the sacred salted cake (-confarreatio-) +had solemnly wedded to share with him water and fire, with their son +and sons' sons and the lawful wives of these, and their unmarried +daughters and sons' daughters, along with all goods and substance +pertaining to any of its members. The children of daughters on +the other hand were excluded, because, if born in wedlock, they +belonged to the family of the husband; and if begotten out of +wedlock, they had no place in a family at all. To the Roman citizen +a house of his own and the blessing of children appeared the end +and essence of life. The death of the individual was not an evil, +for it was a matter of necessity; but the extinction of a household +or of a clan was injurious to the community itself, which in the +earliest times therefore opened up to the childless the means of +avoiding such a fatality by their adopting the children of others +as their own. + +The Roman family from the first contained within it the conditions +of a higher culture in the moral adjustment of the mutual relations of +its members. Man alone could be head of a family. Woman did not +indeed occupy a position inferior to man in the acquiring of property +and money; on the contrary the daughter inherited an equal share +with her brother, and the mother an equal share with her children. +But woman always and necessarily belonged to the household, not +to the community; and in the household itself she necessarily held +a position of domestic subjection--the daughter to her father, +the wife to her husband,(1) the fatherless unmarried woman to her +nearest male relatives; it was by these, and not by the king, that +in case of need woman was called to account. Within the house, +however, woman was not servant but mistress. Exempted from the +tasks of corn-grinding and cooking which according to Roman ideas +belonged to the menials, the Roman housewife devoted herself in +the main to the superintendence of her maid-servants, and to the +accompanying labours of the distaff, which was to woman what the +plough was to man.(2) In like manner, the moral obligations of +parents towards their children were fully and deeply felt by the +Roman nation; and it was reckoned a heinous offence if a father +neglected or corrupted his child, or if he even squandered his +property to his child's disadvantage. + +In a legal point of view, however, the family was absolutely guided +and governed by the single all-powerful will of the "father of +the household" (-pater familias-). In relation to him all in the +household were destitute of legal rights--the wife and the child +no less than the bullock or the slave. As the virgin became by the +free choice of her husband his wedded wife, so it rested with his +own free will to rear or not to rear the child which she bore to +him. This maxim was not suggested by indifference to the possession +of a family; on the contrary, the conviction that the founding of +a house and the begetting of children were a moral necessity and a +public duty had a deep and earnest hold of the Roman mind. Perhaps +the only instance of support accorded on the part of the community +in Rome is the enactment that aid should be given to the father who +had three children presented to him at a birth; while their ideas +regarding exposure are indicated by the prohibition of it so far +as concerned all the sons--deformed births excepted--and at least +the first daughter. Injurious, however, to the public weal as +exposure might appear, the prohibition of it soon changed its form +from that of legal punishment into that of religious curse; for +the father was, above all, thoroughly and absolutely master in his +household. The father of the household not only maintained the +strictest discipline over its members, but he had the right and duty +of exercising judicial authority over them and of punishing them as +he deemed fit in life and limb. The grown-up son might establish +a separate household or, as the Romans expressed it, maintain his +"own cattle" (-peculium-) assigned to him by his father; but in +law all that the son acquired, whether by his own labour or by gift +from a stranger, whether in his father's household or in his own, +remained the father's property. So long as the father lived, the +persons legally subject to him could never hold property of their +own, and therefore could not alienate unless by him so empowered, +or yet bequeath. In this respect wife and child stood quite on +the same level with the slave, who was not unfrequently allowed +to manage a household of his own, and who was likewise entitled to +alienate when commissioned by his master. Indeed a father might +convey his son as well as his slave in property to a third person: +if the purchaser was a foreigner, the son became his slave; if +he was a Roman, the son, while as a Roman he could not become a +Roman's slave, stood at least to his purchaser in a slave's stead +(-in mancipii causa-). The paternal and marital power was subject +to a legal restriction, besides the one already mentioned on the +right Of exposure, only in so far as some of the worst abuses were +visited by legal punishment as well as by religious curse. Thus +these penalties fell upon the man who sold his wife or married +son; and it was a matter of family usage that in the exercise of +domestic jurisdiction the father, and still more the husband, should +not pronounce sentence on child or wife without having previously +consulted the nearest blood-relatives, his wife's as well as his +own. But the latter arrangement involved no legal diminution of +power, for the blood-relatives called in to the domestic judgment +had not to judge, but simply to advise the father of the household +in judging. + +But not only was the power of the master of the house substantially +unlimited and responsible to no one on earth; it was also, as long +as he lived, unchangeable and indestructible. According to the +Greek as well as Germanic laws the grown-up son, who was practically +independent of his father, was also independent legally; but the +power of the Roman father could not be dissolved during his life +either by age or by insanity, or even by his own free will, excepting +only that the person of the holder of the power might change, for +the child might certainly pass by way of adoption into the power +of another father, and the daughter might pass by a lawful marriage +out of the hand of her father into the hand of her husband and, +leaving her own -gens- and the protection of her own god to enter +into the -gens- of her husband and the protection of his god, +became thenceforth subject to him as she had hitherto been to her +father. According to Roman law it was made easier for the slave to +obtain release from his master than for the son to obtain release +from his father; the manumission of the former was permitted at an +early period, and by simple forms; the release of the latter was +only rendered possible at a much later date, and by very circuitous +means. Indeed, if a master sold his slave and a father his son +and the purchaser released both, the slave obtained his freedom, +but the son by the release simply reverted into his father's power +as before. Thus the inexorable consistency with which the Romans +carried out their conception of the paternal and marital power +converted it into a real right of property. + +Closely, however, as the power of the master of the household over +wife and child approximated to his proprietary power over slaves +and cattle, the members of the family were nevertheless separated +by a broad line of distinction, not merely in fact but in law, from +the family property. The power of the house-master--even apart from +the fact that it appeared in operation only within the house--was +of a transient, and in some degree of a representative, character. +Wife and child did not exist merely for the house-father's sake in +the sense in which property exists only for the proprietor, or in +which the subjects of an absolute state exist only for the king; +they were the objects indeed of a legal right on his part, but they +had at the same time capacities of right of their own; they were +not things, but persons. Their rights were dormant in respect of +exercise, simply because the unity of the household demanded that +it should be governed by a single representative; but when the +master of the household died, his sons at once came forward as its +masters and now obtained on their own account over the women and +children and property the rights hitherto exercised over these by +the father. On the other hand the death of the master occasioned +no change in the legal position of the slave. + + +Family and Clan (-Gens-) + + +So strongly was the unity of the family realized, that even the +death of the master of the house did not entirely dissolve it. +The descendants, who were rendered by that occurrence independent, +regarded themselves as still in many respects an unity; a principle +which was made use of in arranging the succession of heirs and in +many other relations, but especially in regulating the position +of the widow and unmarried daughters. As according to the older +Roman view a woman was not capable of having power either over +others or over herself, the power over her, or, as it was in this +case more mildly expressed, the "guardianship" (-tutela-) remained +with the house to which she belonged, and was now exercised in the +room of the deceased house-master by the whole of the nearest male +members of the family; ordinarily, therefore, by sons over their +mother and by brothers over their sisters. In this sense the +family, once founded, endured unchanged till the male stock of its +founder died out; only the bond of connection must of course have +become practically more lax from generation to generation, until +at length it became impossible to prove the original unity. On +this, and on this alone, rested the distinction between family and +clan, or, according to the Roman expression, between -agnati- and +-gentiles-. Both denoted the male stock; but the family embraced +only those individuals who, mounting up from generation to generation, +were able to set forth the successive steps of their descent from +a common progenitor; the clan (-gens-) on the other hand comprehended +also those who were merely able to lay claim to such descent from +a common ancestor, but could no longer point out fully the intermediate +links so as to establish the degree of their relationship. This +is very clearly expressed in the Roman names: when they speak +of "Quintus, son of Quintus, grandson of Quintus and so on, +the Quintian," the family reaches as far as the ascendants are +designated individually, and where the family terminates the clan +is introduced supplementary, indicating derivation from the common +ancestor who has bequeathed to all his descendants the name of the +"children of Quintus." + + +Dependents of the Household + + +To these strictly closed unities--the family or household united +under the control of a living master, and the clan which originated +out of the breaking-up of such households--there further belonged +the dependents or "listeners" (-clientes-, from -cluere-). This +term denoted not the guests, that is, the members of other similar +circles who were temporarily sojourning in another household than +their own, and as little the slaves, who were looked upon in law +as the property of the household and not as members of it, but +those individuals who, while they were not free burgesses of any +commonwealth, yet lived within one in a condition of protected +freedom. These included refugees who had found a reception with a +foreign protector, and those slaves in respect of whom their master +had for the time being waived the exercise of his rights, and so +conferred on them practical freedom. This relation had not the +distinctive character of a strict relation -de jure-, like that of +a man to his guest: the client remained a man non-free, in whose +case good faith and use and wont alleviated the condition of +non-freedom. Hence the "listeners" of the household (-clientes-) +together with the slaves strictly so called formed the "body +of servants" (-familia-) dependent on the will of the "burgess" +(-patronus-, like -patricius-). Hence according to original right +the burgess was entitled partially or wholly to resume the property +of the client, to reduce him on emergency once more to the state +of slavery, to inflict even capital punishment on him; and it was +simply in virtue of a distinction -de facto-, that these patrimonial +rights were not asserted with the same rigour against the client +as against the actual slave, and that on the other hand the moral +obligation of the master to provide for his own people and to protect +them acquired a greater importance in the case of the client, who +was practically in a more free position, than in the case of the +slave. Especially must the -de facto- freedom of the client have +approximated to freedom -de jure- in those cases where the relation +had subsisted for several generations: when the releaser and the +released had themselves died, the -dominium- over the descendants +of the released person could not be without flagrant impiety claimed +by the heirs at law of the releaser; and thus there was gradually +formed within the household itself a class of persons in dependent +freedom, who were different alike from the slaves and from the +members of the -gens- entitled in the eye of the law to full and +equal rights. + + +The Roman Community + + +On this Roman household was based the Roman state, as respected +both its constituent elements and its form. The community of the +Roman people arose out of the junction (in whatever way brought +about) of such ancient clanships as the Romilii, Voltinii, Fabii, +etc.; the Roman domain comprehended the united lands of those +clans.(3) Whoever belonged to one of these clans was a burgess +of Rome. Every marriage concluded in the usual forms within this +circle was valid as a true Roman marriage, and conferred burgess-rights +on the children begotten of it. Whoever was begotten in an illegal +marriage, or out of marriage, was excluded from the membership of +the community. On this account the Roman burgesses assumed the name +of the "father's children" (-patricii-), inasmuch as they alone in +the eye of the law had a father. The clans with all the families +that they contained were incorporated with the state just as +they stood. The spheres of the household and the clan continued +to subsist within the state; but the position which a man held in +these did not affect his relations towards the state. The son was +subject to the father within the household, but in political duties +and rights he stood on a footing of equality. The position of the +protected dependents was naturally so far changed that the freedmen +and clients of every patron received on his account toleration in +the community at large; they continued indeed to be immediately +dependent on the protection of the family to which they belonged, +but the very nature of the case implied that the clients of members +of the community could not be wholly excluded from its worship and +its festivals, although, of course, they were not capable of the +proper rights or liable to the proper duties of burgesses. This +remark applies still more to the case of the protected dependents +of the community at large. The state thus consisted, like the +household, of persons properly belonging to it and of dependents--of +"burgesses" and of "inmates" or --metoeci--. + + +The King + + +As the clans resting upon a family basis were the constituent +elements of the state, so the form of the body-politic was modelled +after the family both generally and in detail. The household was +provided by nature herself with a head in the person of the father +with whom it originated, and with whom it perished. But in the +community of the people, which was designed to be imperishable, +there was no natural master; not at least in that of Rome, which +was composed of free and equal husbandmen and could not boast of a +nobility by the grace of God. Accordingly one from its own ranks +became its "leader" (-rex-) and lord in the household of the Roman +community; as indeed at a later period there were to be found in or +near to his dwelling the always blazing hearth and the well-barred +store-chamber of the community, the Roman Vestas and the Roman +Penates--indications of the visible unity of that supreme household +which included all Rome. The regal office began at once and by +right, when the position had become vacant and the successor had +been designated; but the community did not owe full obedience to +the king until he had convoked the assembly of freemen capable of +bearing arms and had formally challenged its allegiance. Then he +possessed in its entireness that power over the community which +belonged to the house-father in his household; and, like him, he +ruled for life. He held intercourse with the gods of the community, +whom he consulted and appeased (-auspicia publica-), and he nominated +all the priests and priestesses. The agreements which he concluded +in name of the community with foreigners were binding upon the whole +people; although in other instances no member of the community was +bound by an agreement with a non-member. His "command" (-imperium-) +was all-powerful in peace and in war, on which account "messengers" +(-lictores-, from -licere-, to summon) preceded him with axes and +rods on all occasions when he appeared officially. He alone had +the right of publicly addressing the burgesses, and it was he who +kept the keys of the public treasury. He had the same right as a +father had to exercise discipline and jurisdiction. He inflicted +penalties for breaches of order, and, in particular, flogging +for military offences. He sat in judgment in all private and in +all criminal processes, and decided absolutely regarding life and +death as well as regarding freedom; he might hand over one burgess +to fill the place of a slave to another; he might even order +a burgess to be sold into actual slavery or, in other words, into +banishment. When he had pronounced sentence of death, he was +entitled, but not obliged, to allow an appeal to the people for +pardon. He called out the people for service in war and commanded +the army; but with these high functions he was no less bound, when +an alarm of fire was raised, to appear in person at the scene of +the burning. + +As the house-master was not simply the greatest but the only power +in the house, so the king was not merely the first but the only +holder of power in the state. He might indeed form colleges of +men of skill composed of those specially conversant with the rules +of sacred or of public law, and call upon them for their advice; +he might, to facilitate his exercise of power, entrust to others +particular functions, such as the making communications to the +burgesses, the command in war, the decision of processes of minor +importance, the inquisition of crimes; he might in particular, if +he was compelled to quit the bounds of the city, leave behind him +a "city-warden" (-praefectus urbi-) with the full powers of an +-alter ego-; but all official power existing by the side of the +king's was derived from the latter, and every official held his +office by the king's appointment and during the king's pleasure. All +the officials of the earliest period, the extraordinary city-warden +as well as the "leaders of division" (-tribuni-, from -tribus-, +part) of the infantry (-milites-) and of the cavalry (-celeres-) +were merely commissioned by the king, and not magistrates in the +subsequent sense of the term. The regal power had not and could +not have any external check imposed upon it by law: the master of +the community had no judge of his acts within the community, any +more than the housefather had a judge within his household. Death +alone terminated his power. The choice of the new king lay with the +council of elders, to which in case of a vacancy the interim-kingship +(-interregnum-) passed. A formal cooperation in the election +of king pertained to the burgesses only after his nomination; -de +jure- the kingly office was based on the permanent college of the +Fathers (-patres-), which by means of the interim holder of the +power installed the new king for life. Thus "the august blessing +of the gods, under which renowned Rome was founded," was transmitted +from its first regal recipient in constant succession to those that +followed him, and the unity of the state was preserved unchanged +notwithstanding the personal change of the holders of power. + +This unity of the Roman people, represented in the field of +religion by the Roman Diovis, was in the field of law represented +by the prince, and therefore his costume was the same as that of +the supreme god; the chariot even in the city, where every one else +went on foot, the ivory sceptre with the eagle, the vermilion-painted +face, the chaplet of oaken leaves in gold, belonged alike to the +Roman god and to the Roman king. It would be a great error, however, +to regard the Roman constitution on that account as a theocracy: +among the Italians the ideas of god and king never faded away into +each other, as they did in Egypt and the East. The king was not +the god of the people; it were much more correct to designate him as +the proprietor of the state. Accordingly the Romans knew nothing +of special divine grace granted to a particular family, or of +any other sort of mystical charm by which a king should be made +of different stuff from other men: noble descent and relationship +with earlier rulers were recommendations, but were not necessary +conditions; the office might be lawfully filled by any Roman come +to years of discretion and sound in body and mind.(4) The king +was thus simply an ordinary burgess, whom merit or fortune, and +the primary necessity of having one as master in every house, had +placed as master over his equals--a husbandman set over husbandmen, +a warrior set over warriors. As the son absolutely obeyed his father +and yet did not esteem himself inferior, so the burgess submitted +to his ruler without precisely accounting him his better. This +constituted the moral and practical limitation of the regal power. +The king might, it is true, do much that was inconsistent with equity +without exactly breaking the law of the land: he might diminish his +fellow-combatants' share of the spoil; he might impose exorbitant +task-works or otherwise by his imposts unreasonably encroach upon +the property of the burgess; but if he did so, he forgot that his +plenary power came not from God, but under God's consent from the +people, whose representative he was; and who was there to protect +him, if the people should in return forget the oath of allegiance +which they had sworn? The legal limitation, again, of the king's +power lay in the principle that he was entitled only to execute the +law, not to alterit. Every deviation from the law had to receive +the previous approval of the assembly of the people and the council +of elders; if it was not so approved, it was a null and tyrannical +act carrying no legal effect. Thus the power of the king in Rome +was, both morally and legally, at bottom altogether different from +the sovereignty of the present day; and there is no counterpart at +all in modern life either to the Roman household or to the Roman +state. + + +The Community + + +The division of the body of burgesses was based on the "wardship," +-curia- (probably related to -curare- = -coerare-, --koiranos--); +ten wardships formed the community; every wardship furnished a +hundred men to the infantry (hence -mil-es-, like -equ-es-, the +thousand-walker), ten horsemen and ten councillors. When communities +combined, each of course appeared as a part (-tribus-) of the +whole community (-tota-in Umbrian and Oscan), and the original unit +became multiplied by the number of such parts. This division had +reference primarily to the personal composition of the burgess-body, +but it was applied also to the domain so far as the latter was +apportioned at all. That the curies had their lands as well as the +tribes, admits of the less doubt, since among the few names of the +Roman curies that have been handed down to us we find along with +some apparently derived from -gentes-, e. g. -Faucia-, others +certainly of local origin, e. g. -Veliensis-; each one of them +embraced, in this primitive period of joint possession of land, a +number of clan-lands, of which we have already spoken.(5) + +We find this constitution under its simplest form(6) in the scheme +of the Latin or burgess communities that subsequently sprang up +under the influence of Rome; these had uniformly the number of a +hundred councillors (-centumviri-). But the same normal numbers make +their appearance throughout in the earliest tradition regarding the +tripartite Rome, which assigns to it thirty curies, three hundred +horsemen, three hundred senators, three thousand foot-soldiers. + +Nothing is more certain than that this earliest constitutional +scheme did not originate in Rome; it was a primitive institution +common to all the Latins, and perhaps reached back to a period +anterior to the separation of the stocks. The Roman constitutional +tradition quite deserving of credit in such matters, while it +accounts historically for the other divisions of the burgesses, +makes the division into curies alone originate with the origin of +the city; and in entire harmony with that view not only does the +curial constitution present itself in Rome, but in the recently +discovered scheme of the organization of the Latin communities it +appears as an essential part of the Latin municipal system. + +The essence of this scheme was, and remained, the distribution +into curies. The tribes ("parts") cannot have been an element of +essential importance for the simple reason that their occurrence +at all was, not less than their number, the result of accident; +where there were tribes, they certainly had no other significance +than that of preserving the remembrance of an epoch when such +"parts" had themselves been wholes.(7) There is no tradition that +the individual tribes had special presiding magistrates or special +assemblies of their own; and it is highly probable that in the +interest of the unity of the commonwealth the tribes which had +joined together to form it were never in reality allowed to have +such institutions. Even in the army, it is true, the infantry had +as many pairs of leaders as there were tribes; but each of these +pairs of military tribunes did not command the contingent of a +tribe; on the contrary each individual war-tribune, as well as all +in conjunction, exercised command over the whole infantry. The +clans were distributed among the several curies; their limits and +those of the household were furnished by nature. That the legislative +power interfered in these groups by way of modification, that it +subdivided the large clan and counted it as two, or joined several +weak ones together, there is no indication at all in Roman tradition; +at any rate this took place only in a way so limited that the +fundamental character of affinity belonging to the clan was not +thereby altered. We may not therefore conceive the number of the +clans, and still less that of the households, as a legally fixed +one; if the -curia- had to furnish a hundred men on foot and ten +horsemen, it is not affirmed by tradition, nor is it credible, that +one horseman was taken from each clan and one foot-soldier from +each house. The only member that discharged functions in the oldest +constitutional organization was the -curia-. Of these there were +ten, or, where there were several tribes, ten to each tribe. Such +a "wardship" was a real corporate unity, the members of which +assembled at least for holding common festivals. Each wardship was +under the charge of a special warden (-curio-), and had a priest of +its own (-flamen curialis-); beyond doubt also levies and valuations +took place according to curies, and in judicial matters the burgesses +met by curies and voted by curies. This organization, however, +cannot have been introduced primarily with a view to voting, for in +that case they would certainly have made the number of subdivisions +uneven. + + +Equality of the Burgesses + + +Sternly defined as was the contrast between burgess and non-burgess, +the equality of rights within the burgess-body was complete. No +people has ever perhaps equalled that of Rome in the inexorable +rigour with which it has carried out these principles, the one as +fully as the other. The strictness of the Roman distinction between +burgesses and non-burgesses is nowhere perhaps brought out with +such clearness as in the treatment of the primitive institution +of honorary citizenship, which was originally designed to mediate +between the two. When a stranger was, by resolution of the community, +adopted into the circle of the burgesses, he might surrender his +previous citizenship, in which case he passed over wholly into the +new community; but he might also combine his former citizenship with +that which had just been granted to him. Such was the primitive +custom, and such it always remained in Hellas, where in later +ages the same person not unfrequently held the freedom of several +communities at the same time. But the greater vividness with which +the conception of the community as such was realized in Latium +could not tolerate the idea that a man might simultaneously belong +in the character of a burgess to two communities; and accordingly, +when the newly-chosen burgess did not intend to surrender his +previous franchise, it attached to the nominal honorary citizenship +no further meaning than that of an obligation to befriend and protect +the guest (-jus hospitii-), such as had always been recognized as +incumbent in reference to foreigners. But this rigorous retention +of barriers against those that were without was accompanied by an +absolute banishment of all difference of rights among the members +included in the burgess community of Rome. We have already mentioned +that the distinctions existing in the household, which of course +could not be set aside, were at least ignored in the community; the +son who as such was subject in property to his father might thus, +in the character of a burgess, come to have command over his father +as master. There were no class-privileges: the fact that the Tities +took precedence of the Ramnes, and both ranked before the Luceres, +did not affect their equality in all legal rights. The burgess +cavalry, which at this period was used for single combat in front +of the line on horseback or even on foot, and was rather a select +or reserve corps than a special arm of the service, and which +accordingly contained by far the wealthiest, best-armed, and +best-trained men, was naturally held in higher estimation than the +burgess infantry; but this was a distinction purely -de facto-, and +admittance to the cavalry was doubtless conceded to any patrician. +It was simply and solely the constitutional subdivision of the +burgess-body that gave rise to distinctions recognized by the law; +otherwise the legal equality of all the members of the community +was carried out even in their external appearance. Dress indeed +served to distinguish the president of the community from its members, +the grown-up man under obligation of military service from the boy +not yet capable of enrolment; but otherwise the rich and the noble +as well as the poor and low-born were only allowed to appear in +public in the like simple wrapper (-toga-) of white woollen stuff. +This complete equality of rights among the burgesses had beyond +doubt its original basis in the Indo-Germanic type of constitution; +but in the precision with which it was thus apprehended and +embodied it formed one of the most characteristic and influential +peculiarities of the Latin nation. And in connection with this we +may recall the fact that in Italy we do not meet with any race of +earlier settlers less capable of culture, that had become subject +to the Latin immigrants.(8) They had no conquered race to deal +with, and therefore no such condition of things as that which gave +rise to the Indian system of caste, to the nobility of Thessaly +and Sparta and perhaps of Hellas generally, and probably also to +the Germanic distinction of ranks. + + +Burdens of the Burgesses + + +The maintenance of the state economy devolved, of course, upon +the burgesses. The most important function of the burgess was his +service in the army; for the burgesses had the right and duty of +bearing arms. The burgesses were at the same time the "body of +warriors" (-populus-, related to -populari-, to lay waste): in the +old litanies it is upon the "spear-armed body of warriors" (-pilumnus +poplus-) that the blessing of Mars is invoked; and even the designation +with which the king addresses them, that of Quirites,(9) is taken +as signifying "warrior." We have already stated how the army of +aggression, the "gathering" (-legio-), was formed. In the tripartite +Roman community it consisted of three "hundreds" (-centuriae-) of +horsemen (-celeres-, "the swift," or -flexuntes-, "the wheelers") +under the three leaders-of-division of the horsemen (-tribuni +celerum-)(10) and three "thousands" of footmen (-milties-) under +the three leaders-of-division of the infantry (-tribuni militum-), +the latter were probably from the first the flower of the general +levy. To these there may perhaps have been added a number +of light-armed men, archers especially, fighting outside of the +ranks.(11) The general was regularly the king himself. Besides +service in war, other personal burdens might devolve upon the burgesses; +such as the obligation of undertaking the king's commissions in +peace and in war,(12) and the task-work of tilling the king's lands +or of constructing public buildings. How heavily in particular the +burden of building the walls of the city pressed upon the community, +is evidenced by the fact that the ring-walls retained the name +of "tasks" (-moenia-). There was no regular direct taxation, nor +was there any direct regular expenditure on the part of the state. +Taxation was not needed for defraying the burdens of the community, +since the state gave no recompense for serving in the army, for +task-work, or for public service generally; so far as there was any +such recompense at all, it was given to the person who performed +the service either by the district primarily concerned in it, or by +the person who could not or would not himself serve. The victims +needed for the public service of the gods were procured by a tax +on actions at law; the defeated party in an ordinary process paid +down to the state a cattle-fine (-sacramentum-) proportioned to +the value of the object in dispute. There is no mention of any +regular presents to the king on the part of the burgesses. On the +other hand there flowed into the royal coffers the port-duties,(13) +as well as the income from the domains--in particular, the pasture +tribute (-scriptura-) from the cattle driven out upon the common +pasture, and the quotas of produce (-vectigalia-) which those +enjoying the use of the lands of the state had to pay instead of +rent. To this was added the produce of cattle-fines and confiscations +and the gains of war. In cases of need a contribution (-tributum-) +was imposed, which was looked upon, however, as a forced loan and +was repaid when the times improved; whether it fell upon the burgesses +generally, or only upon the --metoeci--, cannot be determined; the +latter supposition is, however, the more probable. + +The king managed the finances. The property of the state, +however, was not identified with the private property of the king; +which, judging from the statements regarding the extensive landed +possessions of the last Roman royal house, the Tarquins, must have +been considerable. The ground won by arms, in particular, appears to +have been constantly regarded as property of the state. Whether and +how far the king was restricted by use and wont in the administration +of the public property, can no longer be ascertained; only the +subsequent course of things shows that the burgesses can never have +been consulted regarding it, whereas it was probably the custom to +consult the senate in the imposition of the -tributum- and in the +distribution of the lands won in war. + + +Rights of the Burgesses + + +The Roman burgesses, however, do not merely come into view as +furnishing contributions and rendering service; they also bore a +part in the public government. For this purpose all the members +of the community (with the exception of the women, and the children +still incapable of bearing arms)--in other words, the "spearmen" +(-quirites-) as in addressing them they were designated--assembled +at the seat of justice, when the king convoked them for the purpose +of making a communication (-conventio-, -contio-) or formally bade +them meet (-comitia-) for the third week (-in trinum noundinum-), +to consult them by curies. He appointed such formal assemblies +of the community to be held regularly twice a year, on the 24th of +March and the 24th of May, and as often besides as seemed to him +necessary. The burgesses, however, were always summoned not to +speak, but to hear; not to ask questions, but to answer. No one +spoke in the assembly but the king, or he to whom the king saw +fit to grant liberty of speech; and the speaking of the burgesses +consisted of a simple answer to the question of the king, +without discussion, without reasons, without conditions, without +breaking up the question even into parts. Nevertheless the Roman +burgess-community, like the Germanic and not improbably the primitive +Indo-Germanic communities in general, was the real and ultimate +basis of the political idea of sovereignty. But in the ordinary +course of things this sovereignty was dormant, or only had its +expression in the fact that the burgess-body voluntarily bound +itself to render allegiance to its president. For that purpose +the king, after he had entered on his office, addressed to the +assembled curies the question whether they would be true and loyal +to him and would according to use and wont acknowledge himself as +well as his messengers (-lictores-); a question, which undoubtedly +might no more be answered in the negative than the parallel homage +in the case of a hereditary monarchy might be refused. + +It was in thorough consistency with constitutional principles that +the burgesses, just as being the sovereign power, should not on +ordinary occasions take part in the course of public business. So +long as public action was confined to the carrying into execution +of the existing legal arrangements, the power which was, properly +speaking, sovereign in the state could not and might not interfere: +the laws governed, not the lawgiver. But it was different where a +change of the existing legal arrangements or even a mere deviation +from them in a particular case was necessary; and here accordingly, under +the Roman constitution, the burgesses emerge without exception as +actors; so that each act of the sovereign authority is accomplished +by the co-operation of the burgesses and the king or -interrex-. +As the legal relation between ruler and ruled was itself sanctioned +after the manner of a contract by oral question and answer, so +every sovereign act of the community was accomplished by means of +a question (-rogatio-), which the king addressed to the burgesses, +and to which the majority of the curies gave an affirmative answer. +In this case their consent might undoubtedly be refused. Among +the Romans, therefore, law was not primarily, as we conceive it, +a command addressed by the sovereign to the whole members of the +community, but primarily a contract concluded between the constitutive +powers of the state by address and counter-address.(14) Such +a legislative contract was -de jure- requisite in all cases which +involved a deviation from the ordinary consistency of the legal +system. In the ordinary course of law any one might without +restriction give away his property to whom he would, but only +upon condition of its immediate transfer: that the property should +continue for the time being with the owner, and at his death pass +over to another, was a legal impossibility--unless the community +should allow it; a permission which in this case the burgesses +could grant not only when assembled in their curies, but also when +drawn up for battle. This was the origin of testaments. In the +ordinary course of law the freeman could not lose or surrender the +inalienable blessing of freedom, and therefore one who was subject +to no housemaster could not subject himself to another in the place +of a son--unless the community should grant him leave to do so. This +was the -abrogatio-. In the ordinary course of law burgess-rights +could only be acquired by birth and could never be lost--unless +the community should confer the patriciate or allow its surrender; +neither of which acts, doubtless, could be validly done originally +without a decree of the curies. In the ordinary course of law +the criminal whose crime deserved death, when once the king or his +deputy had pronounced sentence according to judgment and justice, +was inexorably executed; for the king could only judge, not +pardon--unless the condemned burgess appealed to the mercy of the +community and the judge allowed him the opportunity of pleading +for pardon. This was the beginning of the -provocatio-, which for +that reason was especially permitted not to the transgressor who +had refused to plead guilty and had been convicted, but to him +who confessed his crime and urged reasons in palliation of it. In +the ordinary course of law the perpetual treaty concluded with a +neighbouring state might not be broken--unless the burgesses deemed +themselves released from it on account of injuries inflicted on +them. Hence it was necessary that they should be consulted when an +aggressive war was contemplated, but not on occasion of a defensive +war, where the other state had broken the treaty, nor on the +conclusion of peace; it appears, however, that the question was in +such a case addressed not to the usual assembly of the burgesses, +but to the army. Thus, in general, it was necessary to consult the +burgesses whenever the king meditated any innovation, any change +of the existing public law; and in so far the right of legislation +was from antiquity not a right of the king, but a right of the king +and the community. In these and all similar cases the king could +not act with legal effect without the cooperation of the community; +the man whom the king alone declared a patrician remained as before +a non-burgess, and the invalid act could only carry consequences +possibly -de facto-, not -de jure-. Thus far the assembly of the +community, however restricted and bound at its emergence, was yet +from antiquity a constituent element of the Roman commonwealth, +and was in law superior to, rather than co-ordinate with, the king. + + +The Senate + + +But by the side of the king and of the burgess-assembly there +appears in the earliest constitution of the community a third +original power, not destined for acting like the former or for +resolving like the latter, and yet co-ordinate with both and within +its own rightful sphere placed over both. This was the council +of elders or -senatus-. Beyond doubt it had its origin in the +clan-constitution: the old tradition that in the original Rome the +senate was composed of all the heads of households is correct in +state-law to this extent, that each of the clans of the later Rome +which had not merely migrated thither at a more recent date referred +its origin to one of those household-fathers of the primitive +city as its ancestor and patriarch. If, as is probable, there was +once in Rome or at any rate in Latium a time when, like the state +itself, each of its ultimate constituents, that is to say each +clan, had virtually a monarchical organization and was under the +rule of an elder--whether raised to that position by the choice +of the clansmen or of his predecessor, or in virtue of hereditary +succession--the senate of that time was nothing but the collective +body of these clan-elders, and accordingly an institution independent +of the king and of the burgess-assembly; in contradistinction to +the latter, which was directly composed of the whole body of the +burgesses, it was in some measure a representative assembly of +persons acting for the people. Certainly that stage of independence +when each clan was virtually a state was surmounted in the Latin +stock at an immemorially early period, and the first and perhaps +most difficult step towards developing the community out of +the clan-organization--the setting aside of the clan-elders--had +possibly been taken in Latium long before the foundation of Rome; +the Roman clan, as we know it, is without any visible head, and no +one of the living clansmen is especially called to represent the +common patriarch from whom all the clansmen descend or profess to +descend so that even inheritance and guardianship, when they fall +by death to the clan, devolve on the clan-members as a whole. +Nevertheless the original character of the council of elders +bequeathed many and important legal consequences to the Roman +senate. To express the matter briefly, the position of the senate +as something other and more than a mere state-council--than an +assemblage of a number of trusty men whose advice the king found +it fitting to obtain--hinged entirely on the fact that it was once +an assembly, like that described by Homer, of the princes and rulers +of the people sitting for deliberation in a circle round the king. +So long as the senate was formed by the aggregate of the heads +of clans, the number of the members cannot have been a fixed one, +since that of the clans was not so; but in the earliest, perhaps +even in pre-Roman, times the number of the members of the council +of elders for the community had been fixed without respect to +the number of the then existing clans at a hundred, so that the +amalgamation of the three primitive communities had in state-law +the necessary consequence of an increase of the seats in the senate +to what was thenceforth the fixed normal number of three hundred. +Moreover the senators were at all times called to sit for life; and +if at a later period the lifelong tenure subsisted more -de facto- +than -de jure-, and the revisions of the senatorial list that +took place from time to time afforded an opportunity to remove the +unworthy or the unacceptable senator, it can be shown that this +arrangement only arose in the course of time. The selection of +the senators certainly, after there were no longer heads of clans, +lay with the king; but in this selection during the earlier epoch, +so long as the people retained a vivid sense of the individuality +of the clans, it was probably the rule that, when a senator died, +the king should call another experienced and aged man of the same +clanship to fill his place. It was only, we may surmise, when the +community became more thoroughly amalgamated and inwardly united, +that this usage was departed from and the selection of the senators +was left entirely to the free judgment of the king, so that he was +only regarded as failing in his duty when he omitted to fill up +vacancies. + + +Prerogatives of the Senate. The -Interregnum- + + +The prerogatives of this council of elders were based on the view +that the rule over the community composed of clans rightfully +belonged to the collective clan-elders, although in accordance +with the monarchical principle of the Romans, which already found +so stern an expression in the household, that rule could only be +exercised for the time being by one of these elders, namely the +king. Every member of the senate accordingly was as such, not in +practice but in prerogative, likewise king of the community; and +therefore his insignia, though inferior to those of the king, were +of a similar character: he wore the red shoe like the king; only +that of the king was higher and more handsome than that of the +senator. On this ground, moreover, as was already mentioned, the +royal power in the Roman community could never be left vacant When +the king died, the elders at once took his place and exercised the +prerogatives of regal power. According to the immutable principle +however that only one can be master at a time, even now it was only +one of them that ruled, and such an "interim king" (-interrex-) was +distinguished from the king nominated for life simply in respect +to the duration, not in respect to the plenitude, of his authority. +The duration of the office of -interrex- was fixed for the individual +holders at not more than five days; it circulated accordingly among +the senators on the footing that, until the royal office was again +permanently filled up, the temporary holder at the expiry of that +term nominated a successor to himself, likewise for five days, +agreeably to the order of succession fixed by lot. There was not, +as may readily be conceived, any declaration of allegiance to the +-interrex- on the part of the community. Nevertheless the -interrex- +was entitled and bound not merely to perform all the official acts +otherwise pertaining to the king, but even to nominate a king for +life-- with the single exception, that this latter right was not +vested in the first who held the office, presumably because the +first was regarded as defectively appointed inasmuch as he was not +nominated by his predecessor. Thus this assembly of elders was +the ultimate holder of the ruling power (-imperium-) and the divine +protection (-auspicia-) of the Roman commonwealth, and furnished +the guarantee for the uninterrupted continuance of that commonwealth +and of its monarchical--though not hereditarily monarchical--organization. +If therefore this senate subsequently seemed to the Greeks to be +an assembly of kings, this was only what was to be expected; it +had in fact been such originally. + + +The Senate and the Resolutions of the Community: -Patrum Auctoritas- + + +But it was not merely in so far as the idea of a perpetual kingdom +found its living expression in this assembly, that it was an essential +member of the Roman constitution. The council of elders, indeed, +had no title to interfere with the official functions of the king. +The latter doubtless, in the event of his being unable personally +to lead the army or to decide a legal dispute, took his deputies +at all times from the senate; for which reason subsequently the +highest posts of command were regularly bestowed on senators alone, +and senators were likewise employed by preference as jurymen. But +the senate, in its collective capacity, was never consulted in +the leading of the army or in the administration of justice; and +therefore there was no right of military command and no jurisdiction +vested in the senate of the later Rome. On the other hand the +council of elders was held as called to the guardianship of the +existing constitution against encroachments by the king and the +burgesses. On the senate devolved the duty of examining every +resolution adopted by the burgesses at the suggestion of the king, +and of refusing to confirm it if it seemed to violate existing +rights; or, which was the same thing, in all cases where a resolution +of the community was constitutionally requisite--as on every +alteration of the constitution, on the reception of new burgesses, +on the declaration of an aggressive war--the council of elders had +a right of veto. This may not indeed be regarded in the light of +legislation pertaining jointly to the burgesses and the senate, +somewhat in the same way as to the two chambers in the constitutional +state of the present day; the senate was not so much law-maker as +law-guardian, and could only cancel a decree when the community +seemed to have exceeded its competence--to have violated by its +decree existing obligations towards the gods or towards foreign +states or organic institutions of the community. But still it was +a matter of the greatest importance that--to take an example--when +the Roman king had proposed a declaration of war and the burgesses +had converted it into a decree, and when the satisfaction which +the foreign community seemed bound to furnish had been demanded in +vain, the Roman envoy invoked the gods as witnesses of the wrong +and concluded with the words, "But on these matters we shall consult +the elders at home how we may obtain our rights;" it was only when +the council of elders had declared its consent, that the war now +decreed by the burgesses and approved by the senate was formally +declared. Certainly it was neither the design nor the effect of +this rule to occasion a constant interference of the senate with +the resolutions of the burgesses, and by such guardianship to divest +them of their sovereign power; but, as in the event of a vacancy +in the supreme office the senate secured the continuance of the +constitution, we find it here also as the shield of legal order in +opposition even to the supreme power--the community. + + +The Senate As State-Council + + +With this arrangement was probably connected the apparently very +ancient usage, in virtue of which the king previously submitted +to the senate the proposals that were to be brought before the +burgesses, and caused all its members one after another to give their +opinion on the subject. As the senate had the right of cancelling +the resolution adopted, it was natural for the king to assure +himself beforehand that no opposition was to be apprehended from +that quarter; as indeed in general, on the one hand, it was in +accordance with Roman habits not to decide matters of importance +without having taken counsel with other men, and on the other hand +the senate was called, in virtue of its very composition, to act as +a state-council to the ruler of the community. It was from this +usage of giving counsel, far more than from the prerogatives which +we have previously described, that the subsequent extensive powers +of the senate were developed; but it was in its origin insignificant +and really amounted only to the prerogative of the senators to +answer, when they were asked a question. It may have been usual +to ask the previous opinion of the senate in affairs of importance +which were neither judicial nor military, as, for instance--apart +from the proposals to be submitted to the assembly of the people--in +the imposition of task-works and taxes, in the summoning of the +burgesses to war-service, and in the disposal of the conquered +territory; but such a previous consultation, though usual, was not +legally necessary. The king convoked the senate when he pleased, +and laid before it his questions; no senator might declare his +opinion unasked, still less might the senate meet without being +summoned, except in the single case of its meeting on occasion +of a vacancy to settle the order of succession in the office of +-interrex-. That the king was moreover at liberty to call in and +consult other men whom he trusted alongside of, and at the same +time with, the senators, is in a high degree probable. The advice, +accordingly, was not a command; the king might omit to comply with +it, while the senate had no other means for giving practical effect +to its views except the already-mentioned right of cassation, which +was far from being universally applicable. "I have chosen you, +not that ye may be my guides, but that ye may do my bidding:" these +words, which a later author puts into the mouth of king Romulus, +certainly express with substantial correctness the position of the +senate in this respect. + + +The Original Constitution of Rome + + +Let us now sum up the results. Sovereignty, as conceived by +the Romans, was inherent in the community of burgesses; but the +burgess-body was never entitled to act alone, and was only entitled +to co-operate in action, when there was to be a departure from +existing rules. By its side stood the assembly of the elders of +the community appointed for life, virtually a college of magistrates +with regal power, called in the event of a vacancy in the royal +office to administer it by means of their own members until it +should be once more definitively filled, and entitled to overturn +the illegal decrees of the community. The royal power itself was, +as Sallust says, at once absolute and limited by the laws (-imperium +legitimum-); absolute, in so far as the king's command, whether +righteous or not, must in the first instance be unconditionally +obeyed; limited, in so far as a command contravening established +usage and not sanctioned by the true sovereign--the people--carried +no permanent legal consequences. The oldest constitution of Rome +was thus in some measure constitutional monarchy inverted. In +that form of government the king is regarded as the possessor and +vehicle of the plenary power of the state, and accordingly acts of +grace, for example, proceed solely from him, while the administration +of the state belongs to the representatives of the people and to +the executive responsible to them. In the Roman constitution the +community of the people exercised very much the same functions as +belong to the king in England: the right of pardon, which in England +is a prerogative of the crown, was in Rome a prerogative of the +community; while all government was vested in the president of the +state. + +If, in conclusion, we inquire as to the relation of the state itself +to its individual members, we find the Roman polity equally remote +from the laxity of a mere defensive combination and from the +modern idea of an absolute omnipotence of the state. The community +doubtless exercised power over the person of the burgess in the +imposition of public burdens, and in the punishment of offences and +crimes; but any special law inflicting, or threatening to inflict, +punishment on an individual on account of acts not universally +recognized as penal always appeared to the Romans, even when there +was no flaw in point of form, an arbitrary and unjust proceeding. +Far more restricted still was the power of the community in respect +of the rights of property and the rights of family which were +coincident, rather than merely connected, with these; in Rome the +household was not absolutely annihilated and the community aggrandized +at its expense, as was the case in the police organization of +Lycurgus. It was one of the most undeniable as well as one of the +most remarkable principles of the primitive constitution of Rome, +that the state might imprison or hang the burgess, but might not take +away from him his son or his field or even lay permanent taxation +on him. In these and similar things the community itself was +restricted from encroaching on the burgess, nor was this restriction +merely ideal; it found its expression and its practical application +in the constitutional veto of the senate, which was certainly entitled +and bound to annul any resolution of the community contravening +such an original right. No community was so all-powerful within +its own sphere as the Roman; but in no community did the burgess +who conducted himself un-blameably live in an equally absolute +security from the risk of encroachment on the part either of his +fellow-burgesses or of the state itself. + +These were the principles on which the community of Rome governed +itself--a free people, understanding the duty of obedience, clearly +disowning all mystical priestly delusion, absolutely equal in the +eye of the law and one with another, bearing the sharply-defined +impress of a nationality of their own, while at the same time (as +will be afterwards shown) they wisely as well as magnanimously +opened their gates wide for intercourse with other lands. This +constitution was neither manufactured nor borrowed; it grew up +amidst and along with the Roman people. It was based, of course, +upon the earlier constitutions--the Italian, the Graeco-Italian, +and the Indo-Germanic; but a long succession of phases of political +development must have intervened between such constitutions as the +poems of Homer and the Germania of Tacitus delineate and the oldest +organization of the Roman community. In the acclamation of the +Hellenic and in the shield-striking of the Germanic assemblies there +was involved an expression of the sovereign power of the community; +but a wide interval separated forms such as these from the organized +jurisdiction and the regulated declaration of opinion of the Latin +assembly of curies. It is possible, moreover, that as the Roman +kings certainly borrowed the purple mantle and the ivory sceptre +from the Greeks (not from the Etruscans), the twelve lictors also +and various other external arrangements were introduced from abroad. +But that the development of the Roman constitutional law belonged +decidedly to Rome or, at any rate, to Latium, and that the borrowed +elements in it are but small and unimportant, is clearly demonstrated +by the fact that all its ideas are uniformly expressed by words of +Latin coinage. This constitution practically established for all +time the fundamental conceptions of the Roman state; for, as long +as there existed a Roman community, in spite of changes of form +it was always held that the magistrate had absolute command, that +the council of elders was the highest authority in the state, and +that every exceptional resolution required the sanction of the +sovereign or, in other words, of the community of the people. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter V + + + +1. This was not merely the case under the old religious marriage +(-matrimonium confarreatione-); the civil marriage also (-matrimonium +consensu-), although not in itself giving to the husband proprietary +power over his wife, opened up the way for his acquiring this +proprietary power, inasmuch as the legal ideas of "formal delivery" +(-coemptio-), and "prescription" (-usus-), were applied without +ceremony to such a marriage. Till he acquired it, and in particular +therefore during the period which elapsed before the completion of +the prescription, the wife was (just as in the later marriage by +-causae probatio-, until that took place), not -uxor-, but -pro +uxore-. Down to the period when Roman jurisprudence became a +completed system the principle maintained its ground, that the wife +who was not in her husband's power was not a married wife, but only +passed as such (-uxor tantummodo habetur-. Cicero, Top. 3, 14). + +2. The following epitaph, although belonging to a much later period, +is not unworthy to have a place here. It is the stone that speaks:-- + +-Hospes, quod deico, paullum est. Asta ac pellige. Heic est +sepulcrum haud pulcrum pulcrai feminae, Nomen parentes nominarunt +Claudiam, Suom mareitum corde dilexit sovo, Gnatos duos creavit, +horunc alterum In terra linquit, alium sub terra locat; Sermone +lepido, tum autem incessu commodo, Domum servavit, lanam fecit. +Dixi. Abei.- + +(Corp. Inscr. Lat. 1007.) + +Still more characteristic, perhaps, is the introduction of wool-spinning +among purely moral qualities; which is no very unusual occurrence +in Roman epitaphs. Orelli, 4639: -optima et pulcherrima, lanifica +pia pudica frugi casta domiseda-. Orelli, 4861: -modestia probitate +pudicitia obsequio lanificio diligentia fide par similisque cetereis +probeis femina fuit-. Epitaph of Turia, i. 30: domestica bona +pudicitiae, opsequi, comitatis, facilitatis, lanificiis [tuis +adsiduitatis, religionis] sine superstitione, ornatus non conspiciendi, +cultus modici. + +3. I. III. Clan-villages + +4. Dionysius affirms (v. 25) that lameness excluded from the supreme +magistracy. That Roman citizenship was a condition for the regal +office as well as for the consulate, is so very self-evident as to +make it scarcely worth while to repudiate expressly the fictions +respecting the burgess of Cures. + +5. I. III. Clan-villages + +6. Even in Rome, where the simple constitution of ten curies otherwise +early disappeared, we still discover one practical application of +it, and that singularly enough in the very same formality which we +have other reasons for regarding as the oldest of all those that +are mentioned in our legal traditions, the -confarreatio-. It seems +scarcely doubtful that the ten witnesses in that ceremony had the +same relation to the constitution of ten curies the thirty lictors +had to the constitution of thirty curies. + +7. This is implied in their very name. The "part" (-tribus-) is, +as jurists know, simply that which has once been or may hereafter +come to be a whole, and so has no real standing of its own in the +present. + +8. I. II. Primitive Races of Italy + +9. -Quiris-, -quiritis-, or -quirinus- is interpreted by the +ancients as "lance-bearer," from -quiris- or -curis- = lance and +-ire-, and so far in their view agrees with -samnis-, -samnitis- +and -sabinus-, which also among the ancients was derived from +--saunion--, spear. This etymology, which associates the word +with -arquites-, -milites-, -pedites-, -equites-, -velites- --those +respectively who go with the bow, in bodies of a thousand, on +foot, on horseback, without armour in their mere over-garment--may +be incorrect, but it is bound up with the Roman conception of a +burgess. So too Juno quiritis, (Mars) quirinus, Janus quirinus, +are conceived as divinities that hurl the spear; and, employed in +reference to men, -quiris- is the warrior, that is, the full burgess. +With this view the -usus loquendi- coincides. Where the locality +was to be referred to, "Quirites" was never used, but always "Rome" +and "Romans" (-urbs Roma-, -populus-, -civis-, -ager Romanus-), +because the term -quiris- had as little of a local meaning as +-civis- or -miles-. For the same reason these designations could +not be combined; they did not say -civis quiris-, because both +denoted, though from different points of view, the same legal +conception. On the other hand the solemn announcement of the +funeral of a burgess ran in the words "this warrior has departed +in death" (-ollus quiris leto datus-); and in like manner the king +addressed the assembled community by this name, and, when he sat in +judgment, gave sentence according to the law of the warrior-freemen +(-ex iure quiritium-, quite similar to the later -ex iure civili-). +The phrase -populus Romanus-, -quirites- (-populus Romanus quiritium-is +not sufficiently attested), thus means "the community and the +individual burgesses," and therefore in an old formula (Liv. i. +32) to the -populus Romanus- are opposed the -prisci Latini-, to +the -quirites- the -homines prisci Latini- (Becker, Handb. ii. 20 +seq.) + +In the face of these facts nothing but ignorance of language and of +history can still adhere to the idea that the Roman community was +once confronted by a Quirite community of a similar kind, and that +after their incorporation the name of the newly received community +supplanted in ritual and legal phraseology that of the receiver.--Comp. +iv. The Hill-Romans On The Quirinal, note. + +10. Among the eight ritual institutions of Numa, Dionysius (ii. 64) +after naming the Curiones and Flamines, specifies as the third the +leaders of the horsemen (--oi eigemones ton Kelerion--). According to +the Praenestine calendar a festival was celebrated at the Comitium +on the 19th March [adstantibus pon]tificibus et trib(unis) celer(um). +Valerius Antias (in Dionys. i. 13, comp. iii. 41) assigns to +the earliest Roman cavalry a leader, Celer, and three centurions; +whereas in the treatise De viris ill. i, Celer himself is termed +-centurio-. Moreover Brutus is affirmed to have been -tribunus +celerum- at the expulsion of the kings (Liv. i. 59), and according +to Dionysius (iv. 71) to have even by virtue of this office made the +proposal to banish the Tarquins. And, lastly, Pomponius (Dig. i. +2, 2, 15, 19) and Lydus in a similar way, partly perhaps borrowing +from him (De Mag. i. 14, 37), identify the -tribunus celerum- with +the Celer of Antias, the -magister equitum- of the dictator under +the republic, and the -Praefectus praetorio- of the empire. + +Of these-the only statements which are extant regarding the -tribuni +celerum- --the last mentioned not only proceeds from late and quite +untrustworthy authorities, but is inconsistent with the meaning of +the term, which can only signify "divisional leaders of horsemen," +and above all the master of the horse of the republican period, who +was nominated only on extraordinary occasions and was in later times +no longer nominated at all, cannot possibly have been identical with +the magistracy that was required for the annual festival of the +19th March and was consequently a standing office. Laying aside, as +we necessarily must, the account of Pomponius, which has evidently +arisen solely out of the anecdote of Brutus dressed up with +ever-increasing ignorance as history, we reach the simple result that +the -tribuni celerum- entirely correspond in number and character +to the -tribuni militum-, and that they were the leaders-of-division +of the horsemen, consequently quite distinct from the -magister +equitum-. + +11. This is indicated by the evidently very old forms -velites-and +-arquites-and by the subsequent organization of the legion. + +12. I. V. The King + +13. I. IV. The Tibur and Its Traffic + +14. -Lex- ("that which binds," related to -legare-, "to bind +to something") denotes, as is well known, a contract in general, +along, however, with the connotation of a contract whose terms the +proposer dictates and the other party simply accepts or declines; +as was usually the case, e. g. with public -licitationes-. In the +-lex publica populi Romani- the proposer was the king, the acceptor +the people; the limited co-operation of the latter was thus +significantly indicated in the very language. + + + + +CHAPTER VI + +The Non-Burgesses and the Reformed Constitution + + + +Amalgamation of the Palatine and Quirinal Cities + + +The history of every nation, and of Italy more especially, is a +--synoikismos-- on a great scale. Rome, in the earliest form in +which we have any knowledge of it, was already triune, and similar +incorporations only ceased when the spirit of Roman vigour had wholly +died away. Apart from that primitive process of amalgamation of +the Ramnes, Titles, and Luceres, of which hardly anything beyond the +bare fact is known, the earliest act of incorporation of this sort +was that by which the Hill-burgesses became merged in the Palatine +Rome. The organization of the two communities, when they were +about to be amalgamated, may be conceived to have been substantially +similar; and in solving the problem of union they would have to +choose between the alternatives of retaining duplicate institutions +or of abolishing one set of these and extending the other to the whole +united community. They adopted the former course with respect to +all sanctuaries and priesthoods. Thenceforth the Roman community +had its two guilds of Salii and two of Luperci, and as it had +two forms of Mars, it had also two priests for that divinity--the +Palatine priest, who afterwards usually took the designation of +priest of Mars, and the Colline, who was termed priest of Quirinus. +It is likely, although it can no longer be proved, that all the +old Latin priesthoods of Rome--the Augurs, Pontifices, Vestals, +and Fetials--originated in the same way from a combination of the +priestly colleges of the Palatine and Quirinal communities. In +the division into local regions the town on the Quirinal hill was +added as a fourth region to the three belonging to the Palatine +city, viz. the Suburan, Palatine, and suburban (-Esquiliae-). In +the case of the original --synoikismos-- the annexed community was +recognized after the union as at least a tribe (part) of the new +burgess-body, and thus had in some sense a continued political +existence; but this course was not followed in the case of the +Hill-Romans or in any of the later processes of annexation. After +the union the Roman community continued to be divided as formerly +into three tribes, each containing ten wardships (-curiae-); and the +Hill-Romans--whether they were or were not previously distributed +into tribes of their own--must have been inserted into the existing +tribes and wardships. This insertion was probably so arranged that, +while each tribe and wardship received its assigned proportion of +the new burgesses, the new burgesses in these divisions were not +amalgamated completely with the old; the tribes henceforth presented +two ranks: the Tities, Ramnes, and Luceres being respectively +subdivided into first and second (-priores-, -posteriores-). With +this division was connected in all probability that arrangement +of the organic institutions of the community in pairs, which meets +us everywhere. The three pairs of Sacred Virgins are expressly +described as representatives of the three tribes with their first +and second ranks; and it may be conjectured that the pair of Lares +worshipped in each street had a similar origin. This arrangement +is especially apparent in the army: after the union each half-tribe +of the tripartite community furnished a hundred horsemen, and the +Roman burgess cavalry was thus raised to six "hundreds," and the +number of its captains probably from three to six. There is no +tradition of any corresponding increase to the infantry; but to +this origin we may refer the subsequent custom of calling out the +legions regularly two by two, and this doubling of the levy probably +led to the rule of having not three, as was perhaps originally +the case, but six leaders-of-division to command the legion. It +is certain that no corresponding increase of seats in the senate +took place: on the contrary, the primitive number of three hundred +senators remained the normal number down to the seventh century; +with which it is quite compatible that a number of the more prominent +men of the newly annexed community may have been received into the +senate of the Palatine city. The same course was followed with +the magistracies: a single king presided over the united community, +and there was no change as to his principal deputies, particularly +the warden of the city. It thus appears that the ritual institutions +of the Hill-city were continued, and that the doubled burgess-body +was required to furnish a military force of double the numerical +strength; but in other respects the incorporation of the Quirinal +city into the Palatine was really a subordination of the former to +the latter. If we have rightly assumed that the contrast between +the Palatine old and the Quirinal new burgesses was identical +with the contrast between the first and second Tities, Ramnes, and +Luceres, it was thus the -gentes-of the Quirinal city that formed +the "second" or the "lesser." The distinction, however, was +certainly more an honorary than a legal precedence. At the taking +of the vote in the senate the senators taken from the old clans +were asked before those of the "lesser." In like manner the Colline +region ranked as inferior even to the suburban (Esquiline) region +of the Palatine city; the priest of the Quirinal Mars as inferior +to the priest of the Palatine Mars; the Quirinal Salii and Luperci +as inferior to those of the Palatine. It thus appears that the +--synoikismos--, by which the Palatine community incorporated that +of the Quirinal, marked an intermediate stage between the earliest +--synoikismos-- by which the Tities, Ramnes, and Luceres became +blended, and all those that took place afterwards. The annexed +community was no longer allowed to form a separate tribe in the new +whole, but it was permitted to furnish at least a distinct portion +of each tribe; and its ritual institutions were not only allowed to +subsist--as was afterwards done in other cases, after the capture +of Alba for example--but were elevated into institutions of the +united community, a course which was not pursued in any subsequent +instance. + + +Dependents and Guests + + +This amalgamation of two substantially similar commonwealths +produced rather an increase in the size than a change in the +intrinsic character of the existing community. A second process +of incorporation, which was carried out far more gradually and had +far deeper effects, may be traced back, so far as the first steps +in it are concerned, to this epoch; we refer to the amalgamation +of the burgesses and the --metoeci--. At all times there existed +side by side with the burgesses in the Roman community persons who +were protected, the "listeners" (-clientes-), as they were called +from their being dependents on the several burgess-households, or +the "multitude" (-plebes-, from -pleo-, -plenus-), as they were +termed negatively with reference to their want of political rights.(1) +The elements of this intermediate stage between the freeman and +the slave were, as has been shown(2) already in existence in the +Roman household: but in the community this class necessarily acquired +greater importance -de facto- and -de jure-, and that from two +reasons. In the first place the community might itself possess +half-free clients as well as slaves; especially after the conquest +of a town and the breaking up of its commonwealth it might often +appear to the conquering community advisable not to sell the mass +of the burgesses formally as slaves, but to allow them the continued +possession of freedom -de facto-, so that in the capacity as it +were of freedmen of the community they entered into relations of +clientship whether to the clans, or to the king. In the second +place by means of the community and its power over the individual +burgesses, there was given the possibility of protecting the clients +against an abusive exercise of the -dominium- still subsisting in +law. At an immemorially early period there was introduced into +Roman law the principle on which rested the whole legal position +of the --metoeci--, that, when a master on occasion of a public +legal act--such as in the making of a testament, in an action at law, +or in the census--expressly or tacitly surrendered his -dominium-, +neither he himself nor his lawful successors should ever have power +arbitrarily to recall that resignation or reassert a claim to the +person of the freedman himself or of his descendants. The clients +and their posterity did not by virtue of their position possess +either the rights of burgesses or those of guests: for to constitute +a burgess a formal bestowal of the privilege was requisite on the +part of the community, while the relation of guest presumed the +holding of burgess-rights in a community which had a treaty with +Rome. What they did obtain was a legally protected possession of +freedom, while they continued to be -de jure- non-free. Accordingly +for a lengthened period their relations in all matters of property +seem to have been, like those of slaves, regarded in law as +relations of the patron, so that it was necessary that the latter +should represent them in processes at law; in connection with which +the patron might levy contributions from them in case of need, and +call them to account before him criminally. By degrees, however, +the body of --metoeci-- outgrew these fetters; they began to +acquire and to alienate in their own name, and to claim and obtain +legal redress from the Roman burgess-tribunals without the formal +intervention of their patron. + +In matters of marriage and inheritance, equality of rights with the +burgesses was far sooner conceded to foreigners(3) than to those +who were strictly non-free and belonged to no community; but the +latter could not well be prohibited from contracting marriages in +their own circle and from forming the legal relations arising out +of marriage--those of marital and paternal power, of -agnatio- and +-gentilitas- of heritage and of tutelage--after the model of the +corresponding relations among the burgesses. + +Similar consequences to some extent were produced by the exercise +of the -ius hospitii-, in so far as by virtue of it foreigners settled +permanently in Rome and established a domestic position there. In +this respect the most liberal principles must have prevailed in +Rome from primitive times. The Roman law knew no distinctions of +quality in inheritance and no locking up of estates. It allowed +on the one hand to every man capable of making a disposition the +entirely unlimited disposal of his property during his lifetime; and +on the other hand, so far as we know, to every one who was at all +entitled to have dealings with Roman burgesses, even to the foreigner +and the client, the unlimited right of acquiring moveable, and +(from the time when immoveables could be held as private property +at all) within certain limits also immoveable, estate in Rome. Rome +was in fact a commercial city, which was indebted for the commencement +of its importance to international commerce, and which with a noble +liberality granted the privilege of settlement to every child of an +unequal marriage, to every manumitted slave, and to every stranger +who surrendering his rights in his native land emigrated to Rome. + + +Class of --Metoeci-- Subsisting by the Side of the Community + + +At first, therefore, the burgesses were in reality the protectors, +the non-burgesses were the protected; but in Rome as in all communities +which freely admit settlement but do not throw open the rights of +citizenship, it soon became a matter of increasing difficulty to +harmonize this relation -de jure- with the actual state of things. +The flourishing of commerce, the full equality of private rights +guaranteed to all Latins by the Latin league (including even the +acquisition of landed property), the greater frequency of manumissions +as prosperity increased, necessarily occasioned even in peace a +disproportionate increase of the number of --metoeci--. That number +was further augmented by the greater part of the population of the +neighbouring towns subdued by force of arms and incorporated with +Rome; which, whether it removed to the city or remained in its old +home now reduced to the rank of a village, ordinarily exchanged its +native burgess-rights for those of a Roman --metoikos--. Moreover +the burdens of war fell exclusively on the old burgesses and were +constantly thinning the ranks of their patrician descendants, while +the --metoeci-- shared in the results of victory without having to +pay for it with their blood. + +Under such circumstances the only wonder is that the Roman patriciate +did not disappear much more rapidly than it actually did. The fact +of its still continuing for a prolonged period a numerous community +can scarcely be accounted for by the bestowal of Roman burgess-rights +on several distinguished foreign clans, which after emigrating +from their homes or after the conquest of their cities received +the Roman franchise--for such grants appear to have occurred but +sparingly from the first, and to have become always the more rare +as the franchise increased in value. A cause of greater influence, +in all likelihood, was the introduction of the civil marriage, +by which a child begotten of patrician parents living together as +married persons, although without -confarreatio-, acquired full +burgess-rights equally with the child of a -confarreatio- marriage. +It is at least probable that the civil marriage, which already +existed in Rome before the Twelve Tables but was certainly not an +original institution, was introduced for the purpose of preventing +the disappearance of the patriciate.(4) To this connection +belong also the measures which were already in the earliest times +adopted with a view to maintain a numerous posterity in the several +households.(5) + +Nevertheless the number of the --metoeci-- was of necessity +constantly on the increase and liable to no diminution, while that +of the burgesses was at the utmost perhaps not decreasing; and in +consequence the --metoeci-- necessarily acquired by imperceptible +degrees another and a freer position. The non-burgesses were no +longer merely emancipated slaves or strangers needing protection; +their ranks included the former burgesses of the Latin communities +vanquished in war, and more especially the Latin settlers who lived +in Rome not by the favour of the king or of any other burgess, but +by federal right. Legally unrestricted in the acquiring of property, +they gained money and estate in their new home, and bequeathed, like +the burgesses, their homesteads to their children and children's +children. The vexatious relation of dependence on particular +burgess-households became gradually relaxed. If the liberated slave +or the immigrant stranger still held an entirely isolated position +in the state, such was no longer the case with his children, still +less with his grandchildren, and this very circumstance of itself +rendered their relations to the patron of less moment. While in +earlier times the client was exclusively left dependent for legal +protection on the intervention of the patron, the more the state +became consolidated and the importance of the clanships and households +in consequence diminished, the more frequently must the individual +client have obtained justice and redress of injury, even without +the intervention of his patron, from the king. A great number of +the non-burgesses, particularly the members of the dissolved Latin +communities, had, as we have already said, probably from the outset +not any place as clients of the royal or other great clans, and +obeyed the king nearly in the same manner as did the burgesses. The +king, whose sovereignty over the burgesses was in truth ultimately +dependent on the good-will of those obeying, must have welcomed the +means of forming out of his own -proteges- essentially dependent +on him a body bound to him by closer ties. + + +Plebs + + +Thus there grew up by the side of the burgesses a second community +in Rome: out of the clients arose the Plebs. This change of name +is significant. In law there was no difference between the client +and the plebeian, the "dependent" and the "man of the multitude;" +but in fact there was a very important one, for the former term +brought into prominence the relation of dependence on a member of +the politically privileged class; the latter suggested merely the +want of political rights. As the feeling of special dependence +diminished, that of political inferiority forced itself on the +thoughts of the free --metoeci--; and it was only the sovereignty +of the king ruling equally over all that prevented the outbreak of +political conflict between the privileged and the non-privileged +classes. + + +The Servian Constitution + + +The first step, however, towards the amalgamation of the two +portions of the people scarcely took place in the revolutionary +way which their antagonism appeared to foreshadow. The reform of +the constitution, which bears the name of king Servius Tullius, is +indeed, as to its historical origin, involved in the same darkness +with all the events of a period respecting which we learn whatever +we know not by means of historical tradition, but solely by means of +inference from the institutions of later times. But its character +testifies that it cannot have been a change demanded by the +plebeians, for the new constitution assigned to them duties alone, +and not rights. It must rather have owed its origin either to the +wisdom of one of the Roman kings, or to the urgency of the burgesses +that they should be delivered from exclusive liability to burdens, +and that the non-burgesses should be made to share on the one hand +in taxation--that is, in the obligation to make advances to the +state (the -tributum-)--and rendering task-work, and on the other +hand in the levy. Both were comprehended in the Servian constitution, +but they hardly took place at the same time. The bringing in of +the non-burgesses presumably arose out of the economic burdens; +these were early extended to such as were "possessed of means" +(-locupletes-) or "settled people" (-adsidui-, freeholders), and only +those wholly without means, the "children-producers" (-proletarii-, +-capite censi-) remained free from them. Thereupon followed the +politically more important step of bringing in the non-burgesses +to military duty. This was thenceforth laid not upon the burgesses +as such, but upon the possessors of land, the -tribules-, whether +they might be burgesses or mere --metoeci--; service in the army +was changed from a personal burden into a burden on property. The +details of the arrangement were as follow. + + +The Five Classes + + +Every freeholder from the eighteenth to the sixtieth year of his +age, including children in the household of freeholder fathers, +without distinction of birth, was under obligation of service, so +that even the manumitted slave had to serve, if in an exceptional +case he had come into possession of landed property. The Latins +also possessing land--others from without were not allowed to acquire +Roman soil--were called in to service, so far as they had, as was +beyond doubt the case with most of them, taken up their abode on +Roman territory. The body of men liable to serve was distributed, +according to the size of their portions of land, into those bound +to full service or the possessors of a full hide,(6) who were obliged +to appear in complete armour and in so far formed pre-eminently +the war army (-classis-), and the four following ranks of smaller +landholders--the possessors respectively of three fourths, of +a half, of a quarter, or of an eighth of a whole farm--from whom +was required fulfilment of service, but not equipment in complete +armour, and they thus had a position below the full rate (-infra +classem-). As the land happened to be at that time apportioned, +almost the half of the farms were full hides, while each of the +classes possessing respectively three-fourths, the half, and the +quarter of a hide, amounted to scarcely an eighth of the freeholders, +and those again holding an eighth of a hide amounted to fully an +eighth. It was accordingly laid down as a rule that in the case +of the infantry the levy should be in the proportion of eighty +holders of a full hide, twenty from each of the three next ranks, +and twenty-eight from the last. + + +Cavalry + + +The cavalry was similarly dealt with. The number of divisions +in it was tripled, and the only difference in this case was that +the six divisions already existing with the old names (-Tities-, +-Ramnes-, -Luceres- -primi- and -secundi-) were left to the +patricians, while the twelve new divisions were formed chiefly from +the non-burgesses. The reason for this difference is probably to +be sought in the fact that at that period the infantry were formed +anew for each campaign and discharged on their return home, whereas +the cavalry with their horses were on military grounds kept together +also in time of peace, and held their regular drills, which continued +to subsist as festivals of the Roman equites down to the latest +times.(7) Accordingly the squadrons once constituted were allowed, +even under this reform, to keep their ancient names. In order to +make the cavalry accessible to every burgess, the unmarried women +and orphans under age, so far as they had possession of land, +were bound instead of personal service to provide the horses for +particular troopers (each trooper had two of them), and to furnish +them with fodder. On the whole there was one horseman to nine +foot-soldiers; but in actual service the horsemen were used more +sparingly. + +The non-freeholders (-adcensi-, people standing at the side of the +list of those owing military service) had to supply the army with +workmen and musicians as well as with a number of substitutes +who marched with the army unarmed (-velati-), and, when vacancies +occurred in the field, took their places in the ranks equipped with +the weapons of the sick or of the fallen. + + +Levy-Districts + + +To facilitate the levying of the infantry, the city was distributed +into four "parts" (-tribus-); by which the old triple division was +superseded, at least so far as concerned its local significance. +These were the Palatine, which comprehended the height of that name +along with the Velia; the Suburan, to which the street so named, the +Carinae, and the Caelian belonged; the Esquiline; and the Colline, +formed by the Quirinal and Viminal, the "hills" as contrasted with +the "mounts" of the Capitol and Palatine. We have already spoken +of the formation of these regions(8) and shown how they originated +out of the ancient double city of the Palatine and the Quirinal. +By what process it came to pass that every freeholder burgess +belonged to one of those city-districts, we cannot tell; but this +was now the case; and that the four regions were nearly on an +equality in point of numbers, is evident from their being equally +drawn upon in the levy. This division, which had primary reference to +the soil alone and applied only inferentially to those who possessed +it, was merely for administrative purposes, and in particular +never had any religious significance attached to it; for the fact +that in each of the city-districts there were six chapels of the +enigmatical Argei no more confers upon them the character of ritual +districts than the erection of an altar to the Lares in each street +implies such a character in the streets. + +Each of these four levy-districts had to furnish approximately the +fourth part not only of the force as a whole, but of each of its +military subdivisions, so that each legion and each century numbered +an equal proportion of conscripts from each region, in order to +merge all distinctions of a gentile and local nature in the one +common levy of the community and, especially through the powerful +levelling influence of the military spirit, to blend the --metoeci-- +and the burgesses into one people. + + +Organization of the Army + + +In a military point of view, the male population capable of +bearing arms was divided into a first and second levy, the former +of which, the "juniors" from the commencement of the eighteenth to +the completion of the forty-sixth year, were especially employed +for service in the field, while the "seniors" guarded the walls at +home. The military unit came to be in the infantry the now doubled +legion(9)--a phalanx, arranged and armed completely in the old +Doric style, of 6000 men who, six file deep, formed a front of 1000 +heavy-armed soldiers; to which were attached 2400 "unarmed".(10) +The four first ranks of the phalanx, the -classis-, were formed by +the fully-armed hoplites of those possessing a full hide; in the +fifth and sixth were placed the less completely equipped farmers of +the second and third division; the two last divisions were annexed +as rear ranks to the phalanx or fought by its side as light-armed +troops. Provision was made for readily supplying the accidental +gaps which were so injurious to the phalanx. Thus there served in +it 84 centuries or 8400 men, of whom 6000 were hoplites, 4000 of +the first division, 1000 from each of the two following, and 2400 +light-armed, of whom 1000 belonged to the fourth, and 1200 to the +fifth division; approximately each levy-district furnished to the +phalanx 2100, and to each century 25 men. This phalanx was the army +destined for the field, while a like force of troops was reckoned +for the seniors who remained behind to defend the city. In this way +the normal amount of the infantry came to 16,800 men, 80 centuries +of the first division, 20 from each of the three following, and 28 +from the last division--not taking into account the two centuries +of substitutes or those of the workmen or the musicians. To all +these fell to be added the cavalry, which consisted of 1800 horse; +often when the army took the field, however, only the third part +of the whole number was attached to it. The normal amount of the +Roman army of the first and second levy rose accordingly to close +upon 20,000 men: which number must beyond doubt have corresponded +on the whole to the effective strength of the Roman population +capable of arms, as it stood at the time when this new organization +was introduced. As the population increased the number of centuries +was not augmented, but the several divisions were strengthened by +persons added, without altogether losing sight, however, of the +fundamental number. Indeed the Roman corporations in general, closed +as to numbers, very frequently evaded the limit imposed upon them +by admitting supernumerary members. + + +Census + + +This new organization of the army was accompanied by a more careful +supervision of landed property on the part of the state. It was +now either ordained for the first time or, if not, at any rate +defined more carefully, that a land-register should be established, +in which the several proprietors of land should have their fields +with all their appurtenances, servitudes, slaves, beasts of draught +and of burden, duly recorded. Every act of alienation, which did +not take place publicly and before witnesses, was declared null; +and a revision of the register of landed property, which was at +the same time the levy-roll, was directed to be made every fourth +year. The -mancipatio- and the -census- thus arose out of the +Servian military organization. + + +Political Effects of the Servian Military Organization + + +It is evident at a glance that this whole institution was from the +outset of a military nature. In the whole detailed scheme we do +not encounter a single feature suggestive of any destination of the +centuries to other than purely military purposes; and this alone +must, with every one accustomed to consider such matters, form +a sufficient reason for pronouncing its application to political +objects a later innovation. If, as is probable, in the earliest +period every one who had passed his sixtieth year was excluded from +the centuries, this has no meaning, so far as they were intended +from the first to form a representation of the burgess-community +similar to and parallel with the curies. Although, however, the +organization of the centuries was introduced merely to enlarge +the military resources of the burgesses by the inclusion of +the --metoeci-- and, in so far, there is no greater error than to +exhibit the Servian organization as the introduction of a timocracy +in Rome--yet the new obligation imposed upon the inhabitants to +bear arms exercised in its consequences a material influence on +their political position. He who is obliged to become a soldier +must also, so long as the state is not rotten, have it in his power +to become an officer; beyond question plebeians also could now be +nominated in Rome as centurions and as military tribunes. Although, +moreover, the institution of the centuries was not intended +to curtail the political privileges exclusively possessed by the +burgesses as hitherto represented in the curies, yet it was inevitable +that those rights, which the burgesses hitherto had exercised not +as the assembly of curies, but as the burgess-levy, should pass over +to the new centuries of burgesses and --metoeci--. Henceforward, +accordingly, it was the centuries whose consent the king had +to ask before beginning an aggressive war.(11) It is important, +on account of the subsequent course of development, to note these +first steps towards the centuries taking part in public affairs; +but the centuries came to acquire such rights at first more in the +way of natural sequence than of direct design, and subsequently +to the Servian reform, as before, the assembly of the curies was +regarded as the proper burgess-community, whose homage bound the +whole people in allegiance to the king. By the side of these new +landowning full-burgesses stood the domiciled foreigners from the +allied Latium, as participating in the public burdens, tribute and +task-works (hence -municipes-); while the burgesses not domiciled, +who were beyond the pale of the tribes, and had not the right +to serve in war and vote, came into view only as "owing tribute" +(-aerarii-). + +In this way, while hitherto there had been distinguished only two +classes of members of the community, burgesses and clients, there +were now established those three political classes, which exercised +a dominant influence over the constitutional law of Rome for many +centuries. + + +Time and Occasion of the Reform + + +When and how this new military organization of the Roman community +came into existence, can only be conjectured. It presupposes the +existence of the four regions; in other words, the Servian wall must +have been erected before the reform took place. But the territory +of the city must also have considerably exceeded its original limits, +when it could furnish 8000 holders of full hides and as many who +held lesser portions, or sons of such holders. We are not acquainted +with the superficial extent of the normal Roman farm; but it is +not possible to estimate it as under twenty -jugera-.(12) If we +reckon as a minimum 10,000 full hides, this would imply a superficies +of 190 square miles of arable land; and on this calculation, if we +make a very moderate allowance for pasture, the space occupied by +houses, and ground not capable of culture, the territory, at the +period when this reform was carried out, must have had at least +an extent of 420 square miles, probably an extent still more +considerable. If we follow tradition, we must assume a number of +84,000 burgesses who were freeholders and capable of bearing arms; +for such, we are told, were the numbers ascertained by Servius at +the first census. A glance at the map, however, shows that this +number must be fabulous; it is not even a genuine tradition, but +a conjectural calculation, by which the 16,800 capable of bearing +arms who constituted the normal strength of the infantry appeared +to yield, on an average of five persons to each family, the number +of 84,000 burgesses, and this number was confounded with that +of those capable of bearing arms. But even according to the more +moderate estimates laid down above, with a territory of some 16,000 +hides containing a population of nearly 20,000 capable of bearing +arms and at least three times that number of women, children, and +old men, persons who had no land, and slaves, it is necessary to +assume not merely that the region between the Tiber and Anio had +been acquired, but that the Alban territory had also been conquered, +before the Servian constitution was established; a result with +which tradition agrees. What were the numerical proportions of +patricians and plebeians originally in the army, cannot be ascertained. + +Upon the whole it is plain that this Servian institution did not +originate in a conflict between the orders. On the contrary, it +bears the stamp of a reforming legislator like the constitutions of +Lycurgus, Solon, and Zaleucus; and it has evidently been produced +under Greek influence. Particular analogies may be deceptive, such +as the coincidence noticed by the ancients that in Corinth also +widows and orphans were charged with the provision of horses for +the cavalry; but the adoption of the armour and arrangements of +the Greek hoplite system was certainly no accidental coincidence. +Now if we consider the fact that it was in the second century of +the city that the Greek states in Lower Italy advanced from the pure +clan-constitution to a modified one, which placed the preponderance +in the hands of the landholders, we shall recognize in that movement +the impulse which called forth in Rome the Servian reform--a change +of constitution resting in the main on the same fundamental idea, +and only directed into a somewhat different course by the strictly +monarchical form of the Roman state.(13) + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter VI + +1. I. V. Dependents of the Household + +2. -Habuit plebem in clientelas principium descriptam-. Cicero, +de Rep. ii. 9. + +3. I. III. The Latin League + +4. The enactments of the Twelve Tables respecting -usus- show +clearly that they found the civil marriage already in existence. +In like manner the high antiquity of the civil marriage is clearly +evident from the fact that it, equally with the religious marriage, +necessarily involved the marital power (v. The House-father and +His Household), and only differed from the religious marriage as +respected the manner in which that power was acquired. The religious +marriage itself was held as the proprietary and legally necessary +form of acquiring a wife; whereas, in the case of civil marriage, +one of the general forms of acquiring property used on other +occasions--delivery on the part of a person entitled to give away, +or prescription--was requisite in order to lay the foundation of +a valid marital power. + +5. I. V. The House-father and His Household. + +6. -Hufe-, hide, as much as can be properly tilled with one plough, +called in Scotland a plough-gate. + +7. For the same reason, when the levy was enlarged after +the admission of the Hill-Romans, the equites were doubled, while +in the infantry force instead of the single "gathering" (-legio-) +two legions were called out (vi. Amalgamation of the Palatine and +Quirinal Cities). + +8. I. IV. Oldest Settlements In the Palatine and Suburan Regions + +9. I. V. Burdens of the Burgesses + +10. -velites-, see v. Burdens of the Burgesses, note + +11. I. V. Rights of the Burgesses + +12. Even about 480, allotments of land of seven -jugera- appeared +to those that received them small (Val. Max. iii. 3, 5; Colum. i, +praef. 14; i. 3, ii; Plin. H. N. xviii. 3, 18: fourteen -jugera-, +Victor, 33; Plutarch, Apophth. Reg. et Imp. p. 235 Dubner, in +accordance with which Plutarch, Crass. 2, is to be corrected). + +A comparison of the Germanic proportions gives the same result. +The -jugerum- and the -morgen- [nearly 5/8 of an English acre], +both originally measures rather of labour than of surface, may be +looked upon as originally identical. As the German hide consisted +ordinarily of 30, but not unfrequently of 20 or 40 -morgen-, and +the homestead frequently, at least among the Anglo-Saxons, amounted +to a tenth of the hide, it will appear, taking into account the +diversity of climate and the size of the Roman -heredium- of 2 +-jugera-, that the hypothesis of a Roman hide of 20 -jugera- is not +unsuitable to the circumstances of the case. It is to be regretted +certainly that on this very point tradition leaves us without +precise information. + +13. The analogy also between the so-called Servian constitution and +the treatment of the Attic --metoeci-- deserves to be particularly +noticed. Athens, like Rome, opened her gates at a comparatively +early period to the --metoeci--, and afterwards summoned them also +to share the burdens of the state. We cannot suppose that any +direct connection existed in this instance between Athens and Rome; +but the coincidence serves all the more distinctly to show how the +same causes--urban centralization and urban development--everywhere +and of necessity produce similar effects. + + + + +CHAPTER VII + +The Hegemony of Rome in Latium + + + +Extension of the Roman Territory + + +The brave and impassioned Italian race doubtless never lacked +feuds among themselves and with their neighbours: as the country +flourished and civilization advanced, feuds must have become +gradually changed into war and raids for pillage into conquest, +and political powers must have begun to assume shape. No Italian +Homer, however, has preserved for us a picture of these earliest +frays and plundering excursions, in which the character of nations +is moulded and expressed like the mind of the man in the sports +and enterprises of the boy; nor does historical tradition enable +us to form a judgment, with even approximate accuracy, as to the +outward development of power and the comparative resources of the +several Latin cantons. It is only in the case of Rome, at the +utmost, that we can trace in some degree the extension of its power +and of its territory. The earliest demonstrable boundaries of the +united Roman community have been already stated;(1) in the landward +direction they were on an average just about five miles distant +from the capital of the canton, and it was only toward the coast +that they extended as far as the mouth of the Tiber (-Ostia-), at +a distance of somewhat more than fourteen miles from Rome. "The +new city," says Strabo, in his description of the primitive Rome, +"was surrounded by larger and smaller tribes, some of whom dwelt +in independent villages and were not subordinate to any national +union." It seems to have been at the expense of these neighbours +of kindred lineage in the first instance that the earliest extensions +of the Roman territory took place. + + +Territory on the Anio--Alba + + +The Latin communities situated on the upper Tiber and between the +Tiber and the Anio-Antemnae, Crustumerium, Ficulnea, Medullia, +Caenina, Corniculum, Cameria, Collatia,--were those which pressed +most closely and sorely on Rome, and they appear to have forfeited +their independence in very early times to the arms of the Romans. +The only community that subsequently appears as independent in this +district was Nomentum; which perhaps saved its freedom by alliance +with Rome. The possession of Fidenae, the -tete de pont- of the +Etruscans on the left bank of the Tiber, was contested between the +Latins and the Etruscans--in other words, between the Romans and +Veientes--with varying results. The struggle with Gabii, which +held the plain between the Anio and the Alban hills, was for a +long period equally balanced: down to late times the Gabine dress +was deemed synonymous with that of war, and Gabine ground the +prototype of hostile soil.(2) By these conquests the Roman territory +was probably extended to about 190 square miles. Another very +early achievement of the Roman arms was preserved, although in a +legendary dress, in the memory of posterity with greater vividness +than those obsolete struggles: Alba, the ancient sacred metropolis +of Latium, was conquered and destroyed by Roman troops. How the +collision arose, and how it was decided, tradition does not tell: +the battle of the three Roman with the three Alban brothers born at +one birth is nothing but a personification of the struggle between +two powerful and closely related cantons, of which the Roman at +least was triune. We know nothing at all beyond the naked fact of +the subjugation and destruction of Alba by Rome.(3) + +It is not improbable, although wholly a matter of conjecture, that, +at the same period when Rome was establishing herself on the Anio +and on the Alban hills, Praeneste, which appears at a later date +as mistress of eight neighbouring townships, Tibur, and others of +the Latin communities were similarly occupied in enlarging their +territory and laying the foundations of their subsequent far from +inconsiderable power. + + +Treatment of the Earliest Acquisitons + + +We feel the want of accurate information as to the legal character +and legal effects of these early Latin conquests, still more than +we miss the records of the wars in which they were won. Upon the +whole it is not to be doubted that they were treated in accordance +with the system of incorporation, out of which the tripartite community +of Rome had arisen; excepting that the cantons who were compelled +by arms to enter the combination did not, like the primitive three, +preserve some sort of relative independence as separate regions +in the new united community, but became so entirely merged in the +general whole as to be no longer traced.(4) However far the power +of a Latin canton might extend, in the earliest times it tolerated +no political centre except the proper capital; and still less +founded independent settlements, such as the Phoenicians and the +Greeks established, thereby creating in their colonies clients +for the time being and future rivals to the mother city. In this +respect, the treatment which Ostia experienced from Rome deserves +special notice: the Romans could not and did not wish to prevent +the rise -de facto- of a town at that spot, but they allowed the +place no political independence, and accordingly they did not bestow +on those who settled there any local burgess-rights, but merely +allowed them to retain, if they already possessed, the general +burgess-rights of Rome.(5) This principle also determined the +fate of the weaker cantons, which by force of arms or by voluntary +submission became subject to a stronger. The stronghold of the canton +was razed, its domain was added to the domain of the conquerors, +and a new home was instituted for the inhabitants as well as for +their gods in the capital of the victorious canton. This must not +be understood absolutely to imply a formal transportation of the +conquered inhabitants to the new capital, such as was the rule at +the founding of cities in the East. The towns of Latium at this +time can have been little more than the strongholds and weekly +markets of the husbandmen: it was sufficient in general that the +market and the seat of justice should be transferred to the new +capital. That even the temples often remained at the old spot +is shown in the instances of Alba and of Caenina, towns which must +still after their destruction have retained some semblance of +existence in connection with religion. Even where the strength +of the place that was razed rendered it really necessary to remove +the inhabitants, they would be frequently settled, with a view +to the cultivation of the soil, in the open hamlets of their old +domain. That the conquered, however, were not unfrequently compelled +either as a whole or in part to settle in their new capital, +is proved, more satisfactorily than all the several stories from +the legendary period of Latium could prove it, by the maxim of +Roman state-law, that only he who had extended the boundaries of +the territory was entitled to advance the wall of the city (the +-pomerium-). Of course the conquered, whether transferred or not, +were ordinarily compelled to occupy the legal position of clients;(6) +but particular individuals or clans occasionally had burgess-rights +or, in other words, the patriciate conferred upon them. In the +time of the empire there were still recognized Alban clans which +were introduced among the burgesses of Rome after the fall of their +native seat; amongst these were the Julii, Servilii, Quinctilii, +Cloelii, Geganii, Curiatii, Metilii: the memory of their descent was +preserved by their Alban family shrines, among which the sanctuary +of the -gens- of the Julii at Bovillae again rose under the empire +into great repute. + +This centralizing process, by which several small communities +became absorbed in a larger one, of course was far from being an +idea specially Roman. Not only did the development of Latium and +of the Sabellian stocks hinge upon the distinction between national +centralization and cantonal independence; the case was the same +with the development of the Hellenes. Rome in Latium and Athens +in Attica arose out of a like amalgamation of many cantons into +one state; and the wise Thales suggested a similar fusion to the +hard-pressed league of the Ionic cities as the only means of saving +their nationality. But Rome adhered to this principle of unity with +more consistency, earnestness, and success than any other Italian +canton; and just as the prominent position of Athens in Hellas +was the effect of her early centralization, so Rome was indebted +for her greatness solely to the same system, in her case far more +energetically applied, + + +The Hegemony of Rome over Latium--Alba + + +While the conquests of Rome in Latium may be mainly regarded as +direct extensions of her territory and people presenting the same +general features, a further and special significance attached to +the conquest of Alba. It was not merely the problematical size and +presumed riches of Alba that led tradition to assign a prominence +so peculiar to its capture. Alba was regarded as the metropolis +of the Latin confederacy, and had the right of presiding among the +thirty communities that belonged to it. The destruction of Alba, +of course, no more dissolved the league itself than the destruction +of Thebes dissolved the Boeotian confederacy;(7) but, in entire +consistency with the strict application of the -ius privatum- which +was characteristic of the Latin laws of war, Rome now claimed the +presidency of the league as the heir-at-law of Alba. What sort +of crises, if any, preceded or followed the acknowledgment of this +claim, we cannot tell. Upon the whole the hegemony of Rome over +Latium appears to have been speedily and generally recognized, +although particular communities, such as Labici and above all +Gabii, may for a time have declined to own it. Even at that time +Rome was probably a maritime power in contrast to the Latin "land," +a city in contrast to the Latin villages, and a single state in +contrast to the Latin confederacy; even at that time it was only in +conjunction with and by means of Rome that the Latins could defend +their coasts against Carthaginians, Hellenes, and Etruscans, and +maintain and extend their landward frontier in opposition to their +restless neighbours of the Sabellian stock. Whether the accession +to her material resources which Rome obtained by the subjugation +of Alba was greater than the increase of her power obtained by +the capture of Antemnae or Collatia, cannot be ascertained: it is +quite possible that it was not by the conquest of Alba that Rome +was first constituted the most powerful community in Latium; she +may have been so long before; but she did gain in consequence of +that event the presidency at the Latin festival, which became the +basis of the future hegemony of the Roman community over the whole +Latin confederacy. It is important to indicate as definitely as +possible the nature of a relation so influential. + + +Relation of Rome to Latium + + +The form of the Roman hegemony over Latium was, in general, that +of an alliance on equal terms between the Roman community on the +one hand and the Latin confederacy on the other, establishing a +perpetual peace throughout the whole domain and a perpetual league +for offence and defence. "There shall be peace between the Romans +and all communities of the Latins, as long as heaven and earth +endure; they shall not wage war with each other, nor call enemies +into the land, nor grant passage to enemies: help shall be rendered +by all in concert to any community assailed, and whatever is won +in joint warfare shall be equally distributed." The stipulated +equality of rights in trade and exchange, in commercial credit +and in inheritance, tended, by the manifold relations of business +intercourse to which it led, still further to interweave the +interests of communities already connected by the ties of similar +language and manners, and in this way produced an effect somewhat +similar to that of the abolition of customs-restrictions in our own +day. Each community certainly retained in form its own law: down +to the time of the Social war Latin law was not necessarily identical +with Roman: we find, for example, that the enforcing of betrothal +by action at law, which was abolished at an early period in Rome, +continued to subsist in the Latin communities. But the simple and +purely national development of Latin law, and the endeavour to +maintain as far as possible uniformity of rights, led at length +to the result, that the law of private relations was in matter and +form substantially the same throughout all Latium. This uniformity +of rights comes most distinctly into view in the rules laid down +regarding the loss and recovery of freedom on the part of the +individual burgess. According to an ancient and venerable maxim +of law among the Latin stock no burgess could become a slave +in the state wherein he had been free, or suffer the loss of his +burgess-rights while he remained within it: if he was to be punished +with the loss of freedom and of burgess-rights (which was the same +thing), it was necessary that he should be expelled from the state +and should enter on the condition of slavery among strangers. This +maxim of law was now extended to the whole territory of the league; +no member of any of the federal states might live as a slave within +the bounds of the league. Applications of this principle are seen +in the enactment embodied in the Twelve Tables, that the insolvent +debtor, in the event of his creditor wishing to sell him, must be +sold beyond the boundary of the Tiber, in other words, beyond the +territory of the league; and in the clause of the second treaty +between Rome and Carthage, that an ally of Rome who might be taken +prisoner by the Carthaginians should be free so soon as he entered +a Roman seaport. Although there did not probably subsist a general +intercommunion of marriage within the league, yet, as has been +already remarked(8) intermarriage between the different communities +frequently occurred. Each Latin could primarily exercise political +rights only where he was enrolled as a burgess; but on the other +hand it was implied in an equality of private rights, that any Latin +could take up his abode in any place within the Latin bounds; or, +to use the phraseology of the present day, there existed, side by +side with the special burgess-rights of the individual communities, +a general right of settlement co-extensive with the confederacy; +and, after the plebeian was acknowledged in Rome as a burgess, +this right became converted as regards Rome into full freedom of +settlement. It is easy to understand how this should have turned +materially to the advantage of the capital, which alone in Latium +offered the means of urban intercourse, urban acquisition, and urban +enjoyments; and how the number of --metoeci-- in Rome should have +increased with remarkable rapidity, after the Latin land came to +live in perpetual peace with Rome. + +In constitution and administration the several communities not +only remained independent and sovereign, so far as the federal +obligations did not interfere, but, what was of more importance, +the league of the thirty communities as such retained its autonomy +in contradistinction to Rome. When we are assured that the position +of Alba towards the federal communities was a position superior +to that of Rome, and that on the fall of Alba these communities +attained autonomy, this may well have been the case, in so far as +Alba was essentially a member of the league, while Rome from the +first had rather the position of a separate state confronting the +league than of a member included in it; but, just as the states +of the confederation of the Rhine were formally sovereign, while +those of the German empire had a master, the presidency of Alba may +have been in reality an honorary right(9) like that of the German +emperors, and the protectorate of Rome from the first a supremacy +like that of Napoleon. In fact Alba appears to have exercised the +right of presiding in the federal council, while Rome allowed the +Latin deputies to hold their consultations by themselves under the +guidance, as it appears, of a president selected from their own +number, and contented herself with the honorary presidency at the +federal festival where sacrifice was offered for Rome and Latium, +and with the erection of a second federal sanctuary in Rome--the +temple of Diana on the Aventine--so that thenceforth sacrifice was +offered both on Roman soil for Rome and Latium, and on Latin soil +for Latium and Rome. With equal deference to the interests of +the league the Romans in the treaty with Latium bound themselves +not to enter into a separate alliance with any Latin community--a +stipulation which very clearly reveals the apprehensions entertained, +doubtless not without reason, by the confederacy with reference to +the powerful community taking the lead. The position of Rome not +within, but alongside of Latium, is most clearly apparent in the +arrangements for warfare. The fighting force of the league was +composed, as the later mode of making the levy incontrovertibly +shows, of two masses of equal strength, a Roman and a Latin. The +supreme command lay once for all with the Roman generals; year by +year the Latin contingent had to appear before the gates of Rome, +and there saluted the elected commander by acclamation as its +general, after the Romans commissioned by the Latin federal council +to take the auspices had thereby assured themselves of the contentment +of the gods with the choice that had been made. Whatever land or +property was acquired in the wars of the league was apportioned +among its members according to the judgment of the Romans. That +the Romano-Latin federation was represented as regards its external +relations solely by Rome, cannot with certainty be maintained. +The federal agreement did not prohibit either Rome or Latium from +undertaking an aggressive war on their own behoof; and if a war +was waged by the league, whether pursuant to a resolution of its +own or in consequence of a hostile attack, the Latin federal council +may have been legally entitled to take part in the conduct as well +as in the termination of the war. Practically indeed Rome must +have possessed the hegemony even then, for, wherever a single state +and a federation enter into a permanent connection with each other, +the preponderance usually falls to the side of the former. + + +Extension of the Roman Territory after the Fall of Alba--Hernici--Rutulli +and Volscii + + +The steps by which after the fall of Alba Rome--now mistress of a +territory comparatively considerable, and presumably the leading +power in the Latin confederacy--extended still further her direct +and indirect dominion, can no longer be traced. There was no lack +of feuds with the Etruscans and with the Veientes in particular, +chiefly respecting the possession of Fidenae; but it does not appear +that the Romans were successful in acquiring permanent mastery over +that Etruscan outpost, which was situated on the Latin bank of the +river not much more than five miles from Rome, or in dislodging +the Veientes from that formidable basis of offensive operations. +On the other hand they maintained apparently undisputed possession +of the Janiculum and of both banks of the mouth of the Tiber. As +regards the Sabines and Aequi Rome appears in a more advantageous +position; the connection which afterwards became so intimate with +the more distant Hernici must have had at least its beginning +under the monarchy, and the united Latins and Hernici enclosed on +two sides and held in check their eastern neighbours. But on the +south frontier the territory of the Rutuli and still more that of +the Volsci were scenes of perpetual war. The earliest extension +of the Latin land took place in this direction, and it is here that +we first encounter those communities founded by Rome and Latium +on the enemy's soil and constituted as autonomous members of the +Latin confederacy--the Latin colonies, as they were called--the +oldest of which appear to reach back to the regal period. How +far, however, the territory reduced under the power of the Romans +extended at the close of the monarchy, can by no means be determined. +Of feuds with the neighbouring Latin and Volscian communities the +Roman annals of the regal period recount more than enough; but +only a few detached notices, such as that perhaps of the capture +of Suessa in the Pomptine plain, can be held to contain a nucleus +of historical fact. That the regal period laid not only the +political foundations of Rome, but the foundations also of her +external power, cannot be doubted; the position of the city of +Rome as contradistinguished from, rather than forming part of, the +league of Latin states is already decidedly marked at the beginning +of the republic, and enables us to perceive that an energetic +development of external power must have taken place in Rome during +the time of the kings. Certainly great deeds, uncommon achievements +have in this case passed into oblivion; but the splendour of them +lingers over the regal period of Rome, especially over the royal +house of the Tarquins, like a distant evening twilight in which +outlines disappear. + + +Enlargement of the City of Rome--Servian Wall + + +While the Latin stock was thus tending towards union under the +leadership of Rome and was at the same time extending its territory +on the east and south, Rome itself, by the favour of fortune and +the energy of its citizens, had been converted from a stirring +commercial and rural town into the powerful capital of a flourishing +country. The remodelling of the Roman military system and the +political reform of which it contained the germ, known to us by +the name of the Servian constitution, stand in intimate connection +with this internal change in the character of the Roman community. +But externally also the character of the city cannot but have changed +with the influx of ampler resources, with the rising requirements +of its position, and with the extension of its political horizon. +The amalgamation of the adjoining community on the Quirinal with +that on the Palatine must have been already accomplished when the +Servian reform, as it is called, took place; and after this reform +had united and consolidated the military strength of the community, +the burgesses could no longer rest content with entrenching the +several hills, as one after another they were filled with buildings, +and with possibly also keeping the island in the Tiber and the +height on the opposite bank occupied so that they might command +the course of the river. The capital of Latium required another +and more complete system of defence; they proceeded to construct +the Servian wall. The new continuous city-wall began at the river +below the Aventine, and included that hill, on which there have been +brought to light recently (1855) at two different places, the one +on the western slope towards the river, the other on the opposite +eastern slope, colossal remains of those primitive fortifications--portions +of wall as high as the walls of Alatri and Ferentino, built of large +square hewn blocks of tufo in courses of unequal height--emerging +as it were from the tomb to testify to the might of an epoch, whose +buildings subsist imperishably in these walls of rock, and whose +intellectual achievements will continue to exercise an influence +more lasting even than these. The ring-wall further embraced the +Caelian and the whole space of the Esquiline, Viminal, and Quirinal, +where a structure likewise but recently brought to light on a +great scale (1862)--on the outside composed of blocks of peperino +and protected by a moat in front, on the inside forming a huge +earthen rampart sloped towards the city and imposing even at the +present day--supplied the want of natural means of defence. From +thence it ran to the Capitoline, the steep declivity of which towards +the Campus Martius served as part of the city-wall, and it again +abutted on the river above the island in the Tiber. The Tiber +island with the bridge of piles and the Janiculum did not belong +strictly to the city, but the latter height was probably a fortified +outwork. Hitherto the Palatine had been the stronghold, but now +this hill was left open to be built upon by the growing city; and on +the other hand upon the Tarpeian Hill, standing free on every side, +and from its moderate extent easily defensible, there was constructed +the new "stronghold" (-arx-, -capitolium-(10)), containing the +stronghold-spring, the carefully enclosed "well-house" (-tullianum-), +the treasury (-aerarium-), the prison, and the most ancient place +of assemblage for the burgesses (-area Capitolina-), where still in +after times the regular announcements of the changes of the moon +continued to be made. Private dwellings of a permanent kind, +on the other hand, were not tolerated in earlier times on the +stronghold-hill;(11) and the space between the two summits of the +hill, the sanctuary of the evil god (-Ve-diovis-), or as it was +termed in the later Hellenizing epoch, the Asylum, was covered with +wood and presumably intended for the reception of the husbandmen +and their herds, when inundation or war drove them from the plain. +The Capitol was in reality as well as in name the Acropolis of Rome, +an independent castle capable of being defended even after the city +had fallen: its gate lay probably towards what was afterwards the +Forum.(12) The Aventine seems to have been fortified in a similar +style, although less strongly, and to have been preserved free from +permanent occupation. With this is connected the fact, that for +purposes strictly urban, such as the distribution of the introduced +water, the inhabitants of Rome were divided into the inhabitants +of the city proper (-montani-), and those of the districts situated +within the general ring-wall, but yet not reckoned as strictly +belonging to the city (-pagani Aventinensis-, -Ianiculenses-, +-collegia Capitolinorum et Mercurialium-).(13) The space enclosed +by the new city wall thus embraced, in addition to the former +Palatine and Quirinal cities, the two federal strongholds of the +Capitol and the Aventine, and also the Janiculum;(14) the Palatine, +as the oldest and proper city, was enclosed by the other heights +along which the wall was carried, as if encircled with a wreath, +and the two castles occupied the middle. + +The work, however, was not complete so long as the ground, protected +by so laborious exertions from outward foes, was not also reclaimed +from the dominion of the water, which permanently occupied the +valley between the Palatine and the Capitol, so that there was +perhaps even a ferry there, and which converted the valleys between +the Capitol and the Velia and between the Palatine and the Aventine +into marshes. The subterranean drains still existing at the +present day, composed of magnificent square blocks, which excited +the astonishment of posterity as a marvellous work of regal Rome, +must rather be reckoned to belong to the following epoch, for +travertine is the material employed and we have many accounts of +new structures of the kind in the times of the republic; but the +scheme itself belongs beyond doubt to the regal period, although +presumably to a later epoch than the designing of the Servian wall +and the Capitoline stronghold. The spots thus drained or dried +supplied large open spaces such as were needed by the new enlarged +city. The assembling-place of the community, which had hitherto been +the Area Capitolina at the stronghold itself, was now transferred to +the flat space, where the ground fell from the stronghold towards +the city (-comitium-), and which stretched thence between the +Palatine and the Carinae, in the direction of the Velia. At that +side of the -comitium- which adjoined the stronghold, and upon the +stronghold-wall which arose above the -comitium- in the fashion +of a balcony, the members of the senate and the guests of the city +had the place of honour assigned to them on occasion of festivals +and assemblies of the people; and at the place of assembly itself +was erected the senate-house, which afterwards bore the name of the +Curia Hostilia. The platform for the judgment-seat (-tribunal-), +and the stage whence the burgesses were addressed (the later rostra), +were likewise erected on the -comitium- itself. Its prolongation in +the direction of the Velia became the new market (-forum Romanum-). +At the end of the latter, beneath the Palatine, rose the +community-house, which included the official dwelling of the king +(-regia-) and the common hearth of the city, the rotunda forming +the temple of Vesta; at no great distance, on the south side of the +Forum, there was erected a second round building connected with the +former, the store-room of the community or temple of the Penates, +which still stands at the present day as the porch of the church +Santi Cosma e Damiano. It is a feature significant of the new city +now united in a way very different from the settlement of the "seven +mounts," that, over and above the hearths of the thirty curies +which the Palatine Rome had been content with associating in one +building, the Servian Rome presented this general and single hearth +for the city at large.(15) Along the two longer sides of the Forum +butchers' shops and other traders' stalls were arranged. In the +valley between the Palatine and Aventine a "ring" was staked off +for races; this became the Circus. The cattle-market was laid out +immediately adjoining the river, and this soon became one of the +most densely peopled quarters of Rome. Temples and sanctuaries +arose on all the summits, above all the federal sanctuary of Diana on +the Aventine,(16) and on the summit of the stronghold the far-seen +temple of Father Diovis, who had given to his people all this glory, +and who now, when the Romans were triumphing over the surrounding +nations, triumphed along with them over the subject gods of the +vanquished. + +The names of the men, at whose bidding these great buildings of +the city arose, are almost as completely lost in oblivion as those +of the leaders in the earliest battles and victories of Rome. +Tradition indeed assigns the different works to different kings--the +senate-house to Tullus Hostilius, the Janiculum and the wooden +bridge to Ancus Marcius, the great Cloaca, the Circus, and the +temple of Jupiter to the elder Tarquinius, the temple of Diana and +the ring-wall to Servius Tullius. Some of these statements may +perhaps be correct; and it is apparently not the result of accident +that the building of the new ring-wall is associated both as to date +and author with the new organization of the army, which in fact bore +special reference to the regular defence of the city walls. But +upon the whole we must be content to learn from this tradition--what +is indeed evident of itself--that this second creation of Rome stood +in intimate connection with the commencement of her hegemony over +Latium and with the remodelling of her burgess-army, and that, while +it originated in one and the same great conception, its execution +was not the work either of a single man or of a single generation. +It is impossible to doubt that Hellenic influences exercised +a powerful effect on this remodelling of the Roman community, but +it is equally impossible to demonstrate the mode or the degree of +their operation. It has already been observed that the Servian +military constitution is essentially of an Hellenic type;(17) +and it will be afterwards shown that the games of the Circus were +organized on an Hellenic model. The new -regia-with the city hearth +was quite a Greek --prytaneion--, and the round temple of Vesta, +looking towards the east and not so much as consecrated by the +augurs, was constructed in no respect according to Italian, but +wholly in accordance with Hellenic, ritual. With these facts before +us, the statement of tradition appears not at all incredible that +the Ionian confederacy in Asia Minor to some extent served as a model +for the Romano-Latin league, and that the new federal sanctuary on +the Aventine was for that reason constructed in imitation of the +Artemision at Ephesus. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter VII + + + +1. I. IV. Earliest Limits of the Roman Territory + +2. The formulae of accursing for Gabii and Fidenae are quite +as characteristic (Macrob. Sat. iii. 9). It cannot, however, be +proved and is extremely improbable that, as respects these towns, +there was an actual historical accursing of the ground on which +they were built, such as really took place at Veii, Carthage, and +Fregellae. It may be conjectured that old accursing formularies +were applied to those two hated towns, and were considered by later +antiquaries as historical documents. + +3. But there seems to be no good ground for the doubt recently +expressed in a quarter deserving of respect as to the destruction +of Alba having really been the act of Rome. It is true, indeed, +that the account of the destruction of Alba is in its details a +series of improbabilities and impossibilities; but that is true of +every historical fact inwoven into legend. To the question as to +the attitude of the rest of Latium towards the struggle between +Rome and Alba, we are unable to give an answer; but the question +itself rests on a false assumption, for it is not proved that the +constitution of the Latin league absolutely prohibited a separate +war between two Latin communities (I. III. The Latin League). Still +less is the fact that a number of Alban families were received +into the burgess-union of Rome inconsistent with the destruction +of Alba by the Romans. Why may there not have been a Roman party +in Alba just as there was in Capua? The circumstance, however, +of Rome claiming to be in a religious and political point of view +the heir-at-law of Alba may be regarded as decisive of the matter; +for such a claim could not be based on the migration of individual +clans to Rome, but could only be based, as it actually was, on the +conquest of the town. + +4. I. VI. Amalgamation of the Palatine and Quirinal Cities + +5. Hence was developed the conception, in political law, of the +maritime colony or colony of burgesses (-colonia civium Romanorum-), +that is, of a community separate in fact, but not independent or +possessing a will of its own in law; a community which merged in +the capital as the -peculium- of the son merged in the property +of the father, and which as a standing garrison was exempt from +serving in the legion. + +6. To this the enactment of the Twelve Tables undoubtedly has +reference: -Nex[i mancipiique] forti sanatique idem ius esto-, +that is, in dealings of private law the "sound" and the "recovered" +shall be on a footing of equality. The Latin allies cannot be here +referred to, because their legal position was defined by federal +treaties, and the law of the Twelve Tables treated only of the law +of Rome. The -sanates- were the -Latini prisci cives Romani-, or +in other words, the communities of Latium compelled by the Romans +to enter the plebeiate. + +7. The community of Bovillae appears even to have been formed out +of part of the Alban domain, and to have been admitted in room of +Alba among the autonomous Latin towns. Its Alban origin is attested +by its having been the seat of worship for the Julian gens and by +the name -Albani Longani Bovillenses- (Orelli-Henzen, 119, 2252, +6019); its autonomy by Dionysius, v. 61, and Cicero, pro Plancio, +9, 23. + +8. I. III. The Latin League + +9. I. III. The Latin League + +10. Both names, although afterwards employed as local names +(-capitolium- being applied to the summit of the stronghold-hill +that lay next to the river, -arx- to that next to the Quirinal), +were originally appellatives, corresponding exactly to the Greek +--akra-- and --koruphei-- every Latin town had its -capitolium-as +well as Rome. The local name of the Roman stronghold-hill was +-mons Tarpeius-. + +11. The enactment -ne quis patricius in arce aut capitolio +habitaret-probably prohibited only the conversion of the ground into +private property, not the construction of dwelling-houses. Comp. +Becker, Top. p. 386. + +12. For the chief thoroughfare, the -Via Sacra-, led from that +quarter to the stronghold; and the bending in towards the gate may +still be clearly recognized in the turn which this makes to the +left at the arch of Severus. The gate itself must have disappeared +under the huge structures which were raised in after ages on the +Clivus. The so-called gate at the steepest part of the Capitoline +Mount, which is known by the name of Janualis or Saturnia, or the +"open," and which had to stand always open in times of war, evidently +had merely a religious significance, and never was a real gate. + +13. Four such guilds are mentioned (1) the -Capitolini- (Cicero, +ad Q. fr. ii. 5, 2), with -magistri- of their own (Henzen, 6010, +6011), and annual games (Liv. v. 50; comp. Corp. Inscr. Lat. i. n. +805); (2) the -Mercuriales- (Liv. ii. 27; Cicero, l. c.; Preller, +Myth. p. 597) likewise with -magistri- (Henzen, 6010), the guild +from the valley of the Circus, where the temple of Mercury stood; +(3) the -pagani Aventinenses- likewise with -magistri- (Henzen, +6010); and (4) the -pagani pagi Ianiculensis- likewise with -magistri- +(C. I. L. i. n. 801, 802). It is certainly not accidental that +these four guilds, the only ones of the sort that occur in Rome, +belong to the very two hills excluded from the four local tribes +but enclosed by the Servian wall, the Capitol and the Aventine, and +the Janiculum belonging to the same fortification; and connected +with this is the further fact that the expression -montani paganive- +is employed as a designation of the whole inhabitants in connection +with the city (comp. besides the well-known passage, Cic. de Domo, +28, 74, especially the law as to the city aqueducts in Festus, v. +sifus, p. 340; [-mon]tani paganive si[fis aquam dividunto-]). The +-montani-, properly the inhabitants of the three regions of the +Palatine town (iv. The Hill-Romans On the Quirinal), appear to be +here put -a potiori- for the whole population of the four regions +of the city proper. The -pagani- are, undoubtedly, the residents +of the Aventine and Janiculum not included in the tribes, and the +analogous -collegia- of the Capitol and the Circus valley. + +14. The "Seven-hill-city" in the proper and religious sense was +and continued to be the narrower Old-Rome of the Palatine (iv. The +Palatine City). Certainly the Servian Rome also regarded itself, +at least as early as the time of Cicero (comp. e. g. Cic. ad Att. +vi. 5, 2; Plutarch, Q. Rom. 69), as "Seven-hill-city," probably +because the festival of the Septimontium, which was celebrated +with great zeal even under the Empire, began to be regarded as a +festival for the city generally; but there was hardly any definite +agreement reached as to which of the heights embraced by the +Servian ring-wall belonged to the "seven." The enumeration of the +Seven Mounts familiar to us, viz. Palatine, Aventine, Caelian, +Esquiline, Viminal, Quirinal, Capitoline, is not given by any +ancient author. It is put together from the traditional narrative +of the gradual rise of the city (Jordan, Topographie, ii. 206 seq.), +and the Janiculum is passed over in it, simply because otherwise +the number would come out as eight. The earliest authority that +enumerates the Seven Mounts (-montes-) of Rome is the description +of the city from the age of Constantine the Great. It names as +such the Palatine, Aventine, Caelian, Esquiline, Tarpeian, Vatican, +and Janiculum,--where the Quirinal and Viminal are, evidently as +-colles-, omitted, and in their stead two "-montes-" are introduced +from the right bank of the Tiber, including even the Vatican which +lay outside of the Servian wall. Other still later lists are +given by Servius (ad Aen. vi. 783), the Berne Scholia to Virgil's +Georgics (ii. 535), and Lydus (de Mens. p. 118, Bekker). + +15. Both the situation of the two temples, and the express testimony +of Dionysius, ii. 65, that the temple of Vesta lay outside of the +Roma quadrata, prove that these structures were connected with the +foundation not of the Palatine, but of the second (Servian) city. +Posterity reckoned this -regia- with the temple of Vesta as a scheme +of Numa; but the cause which gave rise to that hypothesis is too +manifest to allow of our attaching any weight to it. + +16. I. VII. Relation of Rome to Latium + +17. I. VI. Time and Occasion of the Reform + + + + +CHAPTER VIII + +The Umbro-Sabellian Stocks--Beginnings of the Samnites + + + +Umbro-Sabellian Migration + + +The migration of the Umbrian stocks appears to have begun at +a period later than that of the Latins. Like the Latin, it moved +in a southerly direction, but it kept more in the centre of the +peninsula and towards the east coast. It is painful to speak of +it; for our information regarding it comes to us like the sound +of bells from a town that has been sunk in the sea. The Umbrian +people extended according to Herodotus as far as the Alps, and +it is not improbable that in very ancient times they occupied the +whole of Northern Italy, to the point where the settlements of the +Illyrian stocks began on the east, and those of the Ligurians on +the west. As to the latter, there are traditions of their conflicts +with the Umbrians, and we may perhaps draw an inference regarding +their extension in very early times towards the south from isolated +names, such as that of the island of Ilva (Elba) compared with the +Ligurian Ilvates. To this period of Umbrian greatness the evidently +Italian names of the most ancient settlements in the valley of the +Po, Atria (black-town), and Spina (thorn-town), probably owe their +origin, as well as the numerous traces of Umbrians in southern +Etruria (such as the river Umbro, Camars the old name of Clusium, +Castrum Amerinum). Such indications of an Italian population +having preceded the Etruscan especially occur in the most southern +portion of Etruria, the district between the Ciminian Forest (below +Viterbo) and the Tiber. In Falerii, the town of Etruria nearest +to the frontier of Umbria and the Sabine country, according to +the testimony of Strabo a language was spoken different from the +Etruscan, and inscriptions bearing out that statement have recently +been brought to light there, the alphabet and language of which, +while presenting points of contact with the Etruscan, exhibit +a general resemblance to the Latin.(1) The local worship also +presents traces of a Sabellian character; and a similar inference +is suggested by the primitive relations subsisting in sacred as +well as other matters between Caere and Rome. It is probable that +the Etruscans wrested those southern districts from the Umbrians +at a period considerably subsequent to their occupation of the +country on the north of the Ciminian Forest, and that an Umbrian +population maintained itself there even after the Tuscan conquest. +In this fact we may presumably find the ultimate explanation of +the surprising rapidity with which the southern portion of Etruria +became Latinized, as compared with the tenacious retention of the +Etruscan language and manners in northern Etruria, after the Roman +conquest. That the Umbrians were after obstinate struggles driven +back from the north and west into the narrow mountainous country +between the two arms of the Apennines which they subsequently +held, is clearly indicated by the very fact of their geographical +position, just as the position of the inhabitants of the Grisons +and that of the Basques at the present day indicates the similar +fate that has befallen them. Tradition also has to report that the +Tuscans wrested from the Umbrians three hundred towns; and, what +is of more importance as evidence, in the national prayers of the +Umbrian Iguvini, which we still possess, along with other stocks +the Tuscans especially are cursed as public foes. + +In consequence, as may be presumed, of this pressure exerted upon +them from the north, the Umbrians advanced towards the south, +keeping in general upon the heights, because they found the plains +already occupied by Latin stocks, but beyond doubt frequently +making inroads and encroachments on the territory of the kindred +race, and intermingling with them the more readily, that the +distinction in language and habits could not have been at all so +marked then as we find it afterwards. To the class of such inroads +belongs the tradition of the irruption of the Reatini and Sabines +into Latium and their conflicts with the Romans; similar phenomena +were probably repeated all along the west coast. Upon the whole +the Sabines maintained their footing in the mountains, as in the +district bordering on Latium which has since been called by their +name, and so too in the Volscian land, presumably because the Latin +population did not extend thither or was there less dense; while +on the other hand the well-peopled plains were better able to offer +resistance to the invaders, although they were not in all cases +able or desirous to prevent isolated bands from gaining a footing, +such as the Tities and afterwards the Claudii in Rome.(2) In this +way the stocks here became variously mingled, a state of things +which serves to explain the numerous relations that subsisted +between the Volscians and Latins, and how it happened that their +district, as well as Sabina, afterwards became so early and speedily +Latinized. + + +Samnites + + +The chief branch, however, of the Umbrian stock threw itself eastward +from Sabina into the mountains of the Abruzzi, and the adjacent +hill-country to the south of them. Here, as on the west coast, +they occupied the mountainous districts, whose thinly scattered +population gave way before the immigrants or submitted to their +yoke; while in the plain along the Apulian coast the ancient native +population, the Iapygians, upon the whole maintained their ground, +although involved in constant feuds, especially on the northern +frontier about Luceria and Arpi. When these migrations took place, +cannot of course be determined; but it was presumably about the +time when kings ruled in Rome. Tradition reports that the Sabines, +pressed by the Umbrians, vowed a -ver sacrum-, that is, swore +that they would give up and send beyond their bounds the sons and +daughters born in the year of war, so soon as these should reach +maturity, that the gods might at their pleasure destroy them +or bestow upon them new abodes in other lands. One band was led +by the ox of Mars; these were the Safini or Samnites, who in the +first instance established themselves on the mountains adjoining +the river Sagrus, and at a later period proceeded to occupy the +beautiful plain on the east of the Matese chain, near the sources +of the Tifernus. Both in their old and in their new territory +they named their place of public assembly--which in the one case +was situated near Agnone, in the other near Bojano--from the ox +which led them Bovianum. A second band was led by the woodpecker +of Mars; these were the Picentes, "the woodpecker-people," who +took possession of what is now the March of Ancona. A third band +was led by the wolf (-hirpus-) into the region of Beneventum; +these were the Hirpini. In a similar manner the other small tribes +branched off from the common stock--the Praetuttii near Teramo; the +Vestini on the Gran Sasso; the Marrucini near Chieti; the Frentani +on the frontier of Apulia; the Paeligni on the Majella mountains; +and lastly the Marsi on the Fucine lake, coming in contact with +the Volscians and Latins. All of these tribes retained, as these +legends clearly show, a vivid sense of their relationship and of +their having come forth from the Sabine land. While the Umbrians +succumbed in the unequal struggle and the western offshoots of the +same stock became amalgamated with the Latin or Hellenic population, +the Sabellian tribes prospered in the seclusion of their distant +mountain land, equally remote from collision with the Etruscans, +the Latins, and the Greeks. There was little or no development +of an urban life amongst them; their geographical position almost +wholly precluded them from engaging in commercial intercourse, and +the mountain-tops and strongholds sufficed for the necessities of +defence, while the husbandmen continued to dwell in open hamlets +or wherever each found the well-spring and the forest or pasture +that he desired. In such circumstances their constitution remained +stationary; like the similarly situated Arcadians in Greece, their +communities never became incorporated into a single state; at the +utmost they only formed confederacies more or less loosely connected. +In the Abruzzi especially, the strict seclusion of the mountain +valleys seems to have debarred the several cantons from intercourse +either with each other or with the outer world. They maintained but +little connection with each other and continued to live in complete +isolation from the rest of Italy; and in consequence, notwithstanding +the bravery of their inhabitants, they exercised less influence +than any other portion of the Italian nation on the development of +the history of the peninsula. + + +Their Political Development + + +On the other hand the Samnite people decidedly exhibited the highest +political development among the eastern Italian stock, as the Latin +nation did among the western. From an early period, perhaps from +its first immigration, a comparatively strong political bond held +together the Samnite nation, and gave to it the strength which +subsequently enabled it to contend with Rome on equal terms for the +first place in Italy. We are as ignorant of the time and manner of +the formation of the bond, as we are of its federal constitution; +but it is clear that in Samnium no single community was preponderant, +and still less was there any town to serve as a central rallying +point and bond of union for the Samnite stock, such as Rome was +for the Latins. The strength of the land lay in its -communes- +of husbandmen, and authority was vested in the assembly formed of +their representatives; it was this assembly which in case of need +nominated a federal commander-in-chief. In consequence of its +constitution the policy of this confederacy was not aggressive like +the Roman, but was limited to the defence of its own bounds; only +where the state forms a unity is power so concentrated and passion +so strong, that the extension of territory can be systematically +pursued. Accordingly the whole history of the two nations is +prefigured in their diametrically opposite systems of colonization. +Whatever the Romans gained, was a gain to the state: the conquests +of the Samnites were achieved by bands of volunteers who went +forth in search of plunder and, whether they prospered or were +unfortunate, were left to their own resources by their native home. +The conquests, however, which the Samnites made on the coasts of +the Tyrrhenian and Ionic seas, belong to a later age; during the +regal period in Rome they seem to have been only gaining possession +of the settlements in which we afterwards find them. As a single +incident in the series of movements among the neighbouring peoples +caused by this Samnite settlement may be mentioned the surprise of +Cumae by Tyrrhenians from the Upper Sea, Umbrians, and Daunians in +the year 230. If we may give credit to the accounts of the matter +which present certainly a considerable colouring of romance, it +would appear that in this instance, as was often the case in such +expeditions, the intruders and those whom they supplanted combined +to form one army, the Etruscans joining with their Umbrian enemies, +and these again joined by the Iapygians whom the Umbrian settlers +had driven towards the south. Nevertheless the undertaking proved +a failure: on this occasion at least the Hellenic superiority in +the art of war, and the bravery of the tyrant Aristodemus, succeeded +in repelling the barbarian assault on the beautiful seaport. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter VIII + + + +1. In the alphabet the -"id:r" especially deserves notice, being +of the Latin (-"id:R") and not of the Etruscan form (-"id:D"), +and also the -"id:z" (--"id:XI"); it can only be derived from +the primitive Latin, and must very faithfully represent it. The +language likewise has close affinity with the oldest Latin; -Marci +Acarcelini he cupa-, that is, -Marcius Acarcelinius heic cubat-: +-Menerva A. Cotena La. f...zenatuo sentem..dedet cuando..cuncaptum-, +that is, -Minervae A(ulus?) Cotena La(rtis) f(ilius) de senatus +sententia dedit quando (perhaps=olim) conceptum-. At the same +time with these and similar inscriptions there have been found some +others in a different character and language, undoubtedly Etruscan. + +2. I. IV. Tities, Luceres + + + + +CHAPTER IX + +The Etruscans + + + +Etruscan Nationality + + +The Etruscan people, or Ras,(1) as they called themselves, present +a most striking contrast to the Latin and Sabellian Italians as well +as to the Greeks. They were distinguished from these nations by +their very bodily structure: instead of the slender and symmetrical +proportions of the Greeks and Italians, the sculptures of the Etruscans +exhibit only short sturdy figures with large head and thick arms. +Their manners and customs also, so far as we are acquainted with +them, point to a deep and original diversity from the Graeco-Italian +stocks. The religion of the Tuscans in particular, presenting a +gloomy fantastic character and delighting in the mystical handling +of numbers and in wild and horrible speculations and practices, +is equally remote from the clear rationalism of the Romans and the +genial image-worship of the Hellenes. The conclusion which these +facts suggest is confirmed by the most important and authoritative +evidence of nationality, the evidence of language. The remains +of the Etruscan tongue which have reached us, numerous as they are +and presenting as they do various data to aid in deciphering it, +occupy a position of isolation so complete, that not only has no +one hitherto succeeded in interpreting these remains, but no one +has been able even to determine precisely the place of Etruscan in +the classification of languages. Two periods in the development +of the language may be clearly distinguished. In the older period +the vocalization of the language was completely carried out, +and the collision of two consonants was almost without exception +avoided.(2) By throwing off the vocal and consonantal terminations, +and by the weakening or rejection of the vowels, this soft and +melodious language was gradually changed in character, and became +intolerably harsh and rugged.(3) They changed for example -ramu*af- +into -ram*a-, Tarquinius into -Tarchnaf-, Minerva into -Menrva-, +Menelaos, Polydeukes, Alexandros, into -Menle-, -Pultuke-, -Elchsentre-. +The indistinct and rugged nature of their pronunciation is shown +most clearly by the fact that at a very early period the Etruscans +made no distinction of -o from -u, -b from -p, -c from -g, -d +from -t. At the same time the accent was, as in Latin and in the +more rugged Greek dialects, uniformly thrown back upon the initial +syllable. The aspirate consonants were treated in a similar +fashion; while the Italians rejected them with the exception of +the aspirated -b or the -f, and the Greeks, reversing the case, +rejected this sound and retained the others --theta, --phi, --chi, +the Etruscans allowed the softest and most pleasing of them, the +--phi, to drop entirely except in words borrowed from other languages, +but made use of the other three to an extraordinary extent, even +where they had no proper place; Thetis for example became -Thethis-, +Telephus -Thelaphe-, Odysseus -Utuze- or -Uthuze-. Of the few +terminations and words, whose meaning has been ascertained, the +greater part are far remote from all Graeco-Italian analogies; such +as, all the numerals; the termination -al employed as a designation +of descent, frequently of descent from the mother, e. g. -Cania-, +which on a bilingual inscription of Chiusi is translated by -Cainnia +natus-; and the termination -sa in the names of women, used to +indicate the clan into which they have married, e. g. -Lecnesa- +denoting the spouse of a -Licinius-. So -cela- or -clan- with the +inflection -clensi- means son; -se(--chi)- daughter; -ril- year; +the god Hermes becomes -Turms-, Aphrodite -Turan-, Hephaestos +-Sethlans-, Bakchos -Fufluns-. Alongside of these strange forms and +sounds there certainly occur isolated analogies between the Etruscan +and the Italian languages. Proper names are formed, substantially, +after the general Italian system. The frequent gentile termination +-enas or -ena(4) recurs in the termination -enus which is likewise +of frequent occurrence in Italian, especially in Sabellian clan-names; +thus the Etruscan names -Maecenas- and -Spurinna- correspond +closely to the Roman -Maecius-and -Spurius-. A number of names +of divinities, which occur as Etruscan on Etruscan monuments or +in authors, have in their roots, and to some extent even in their +terminations, a form so thoroughly Latin, that, if these names +were really originally Etruscan, the two languages must have been +closely related; such as -Usil- (sun and dawn, connected with +-ausum-, -aurum-, -aurora-, -sol-), -Minerva-(-menervare-) -Lasa- +(-lascivus-), -Neptunus-, -Voltumna-. As these analogies, however, +may have had their origin only in the subsequent political and +religious relations between the Etruscans and Latins, and in the +accommodations and borrowings to which these relations gave rise, +they do not invalidate the conclusion to which we are led by the +other observed phenomena, that the Tuscan language differed at least +as widely from all the Graeco-Italian dialects as did the language +of the Celts or of the Slavonians. So at least it sounded to the +Roman ear; "Tuscan and Gallic" were the languages of barbarians, +"Oscan and Volscian" were but rustic dialects. + +But, while the Etruscans differed thus widely from the Graeco-Italian +family of languages, no one has yet succeeded in connecting them +with any other known race. All sorts of dialects have been examined +with a view to discover affinity with the Etruscan, sometimes by simple +interrogation, sometimes by torture, but all without exception in +vain. The geographical position of the Basque nation would naturally +suggest it for comparison; but even in the Basque language no +analogies of a decisive character have been brought forward. As +little do the scanty remains of the Ligurian language which have +reached our time, consisting of local and personal names, indicate +any connection with the Tuscans. Even the extinct nation which has +constructed those enigmatical sepulchral towers, called -Nuraghe-, +by thousands in the islands of the Tuscan Sea, especially in +Sardinia, cannot well be connected with the Etruscans, for not a +single structure of the same character is to be met with in Etruscan +territory. The utmost we can say is that several traces, that seem +tolerably trustworthy, point to the conclusion that the Etruscans +may be on the whole numbered with the Indo-Germans. Thus -mi- in the +beginning of many of the older inscriptions is certainly --emi--, +--eimi--, and the genitive form of consonantal stems veneruf -rafuvuf-is +exactly reproduced in old Latin, corresponding to the old Sanscrit +termination -as. In like manner the name of the Etruscan Zeus, +-Tina-or -Tinia-, is probably connected with the Sanscrit -dina-, +meaning day, as --Zan-- is connected with the synonymous -diwan-. +But, even granting this, the Etruscan people appears withal scarcely +less isolated "The Etruscans," Dionysius said long ago, "are like +no other nation in language and manners;" and we have nothing to +add to his statement. + + +Home of the Etruscans + + +It is equally difficult to determine from what quarter the Etruscans +migrated into Italy; nor is much lost through our inability to +answer the question, for this migration belonged at any rate to +the infancy of the people, and their historical development began +and ended in Italy. No question, however, has been handled with +greater zeal than this, in accordance with the principle which induces +antiquaries especially to inquire into what is neither capable of +being known nor worth the knowing--to inquire "who was Hecuba's +mother," as the emperor Tiberius professed to do. As the oldest +and most important Etruscan towns lay far inland--in fact we find +not a single Etruscan town of any note immediately on the coast +except Populonia, which we know for certain was not one of the old +twelve cities-- and the movement of the Etruscans in historical +times was from north to south, it seems probable that they migrated +into the peninsula by land. Indeed the low stage of civilization, +in which we find them at first, would ill accord with the hypothesis +of immigration by sea. Nations even in the earliest times crossed +a strait as they would a stream; but to land on the west coast of +Italy was a very different matter. We must therefore seek for the +earlier home of the Etruscans to the west or north of Italy. It is +not wholly improbable that the Etruscans may have come into Italy +over the Raetian Alps; for the oldest traceable settlers in the +Grisons and Tyrol, the Raeti, spoke Etruscan down to historical +times, and their name sounds similar to that of the Ras. These +may no doubt have been a remnant of the Etruscan settlements on +the Po; but it is at least quite as likely that they may have been +a portion of the people which remained behind in its earlier abode. + + +Story of Their Lydian Origin + + +In glaring contradiction to this simple and natural view stands +the story that the Etruscans were Lydians who had emigrated from +Asia. It is very ancient: it occurs even in Herodotus; and it +reappears in later writers with innumerable changes and additions, +although several intelligent inquirers, such as Dionysius, emphatically +declared their disbelief in it, and pointed to the fact that there +was not the slightest apparent similarity between the Lydians and +Etruscans in religion, laws, manners, or language. It is possible +that an isolated band of pirates from Asia Minor may have reached +Etruria, and that their adventure may have given rise to such tales; +but more probably the whole story rests on a mere verbal mistake. +The Italian Etruscans or the -Turs-ennae- (for this appears to +be the original form and the basis of the Greek --Turs-einnoi--, +--Turreinoi--, of the Umbrian -Turs-ci-, and of the two Roman forms +-Tusci-, -Etrusci-) nearly coincide in name with the Lydian people +of the --Torreiboi-- or perhaps also --Turr-einoi--, so named from +the town --Turra--, This manifestly accidental resemblance in name +seems to be in reality the only foundation for that hypothesis--not +rendered more trustworthy by its great antiquity--and for all the +pile of crude historical speculations that has been reared upon +it. By connecting the ancient maritime commerce of the Etruscans +with the piracy of the Lydians, and then by confounding (Thucydides +is the first who has demonstrably done so) the Torrhebian pirates, +whether rightly or wrongly, with the bucaneering Pelasgians who +roamed and plundered on every sea, there has been produced one of +the most mischievous complications of historical tradition. The +term Tyrrhenians denotes sometimes the Lydian Torrhebi--as is the +case in the earliest sources, such as the Homeric hymns; sometimes +under the form Tyrrheno-Pelasgians or simply that of Tyrrhenians, +the Pelasgian nation; sometimes, in fine, the Italian Etruscans, +although the latter never came into lasting contact with the +Pelasgians or Torrhebians, or were at all connected with them by +common descent. + + +Settlements of the Etruscans in Italy + + +It is, on the other hand, a matter of historical interest to +determine what were the oldest traceable abodes of the Etruscans, +and what were their further movements when they issued thence. +Various circumstances attest that before the great Celtic invasion +they dwelt in the district to the north of the Po, being conterminous +on the east along the Adige with the Veneti of Illyrian (Albanian?) +descent, on the west with the Ligurians. This is proved in particular +by the already-mentioned rugged Etruscan dialect, which was still +spoken in the time of Livy by the inhabitants of the Raetian Alps, +and by the fact that Mantua remained Tuscan down to a late period. +To the south of the Po and at the mouths of that river Etruscans +and Umbrians were mingled, the former as the dominant, the latter +as the older race, which had founded the old commercial towns of +Atria and Spina, while the Tuscans appear to have been the founders +of Felsina (Bologna) and Ravenna. A long time elapsed ere the +Celts crossed the Po; hence the Etruscans and Umbrians left deeper +traces of their existence on the right bank of the river than they +had done on the left, which they had to abandon at an early period. +All the regions, however, to the north of the Apennines passed too +rapidly out of the hands of one nation into those of another to +permit the formation of any continuous national development there. + + +Etruria + + +Far more important in an historical point of view was the great +settlement of the Tuscans in the land which still bears their name. +Although Ligurians or Umbrians were probably at one time(5) settled +there, the traces of them have been almost wholly effaced by the +Etruscan occupation and civilization. In this region, which extends +along the coast from Pisae to Tarquinii and is shut in on the east +by the Apennines, the Etruscan nationality found its permanent abode +and maintained itself with great tenacity down to the time of the +empire. The northern boundary of the proper Tuscan territory was +formed by the Arnus; the region north from the Arnus as far as the +mouth of the Macra and the Apennines was a debateable border land +in the possession sometimes of Ligurians, sometimes of Etruscans, +and for this reason larger settlements were not successful there. +The southern boundary was probably formed at first by the Ciminian +Forest, a chain of hills south of Viterbo, and at a later period by +the Tiber. We have already(6) noticed the fact that the territory +between the Ciminian range and the Tiber with the towns of Sutrium, +Nepete, Falerii, Veii, and Caere appears not to have been taken +possession of by the Etruscans till a period considerably later +than the more northern districts, possibly not earlier than in the +second century of Rome, and that the original Italian population must +have maintained its ground in this region, especially in Falerii, +although in a relation of dependence. + + +Relations of the Etruscans to Latium + + +From the time at which the river Tiber became the line of demarcation +between Etruria on the one side and Umbria and Latium on the other, +peaceful relations probably upon the whole prevailed in that quarter, +and no essential change seems to have taken place in the boundary +line, at least so far as concerned the Latin frontier. Vividly +as the Romans were impressed by the feeling that the Etruscan was +a foreigner, while the Latin was their countryman, they yet seem +to have stood in much less fear of attack or of danger from the +right bank of the river than, for example, from their kinsmen in +Gabii and Alba; and this was natural, for they were protected in +that direction not merely by the broad stream which formed a natural +boundary, but also by the circumstance, so momentous in its bearing +on the mercantile and political development of Rome, that none of +the more powerful Etruscan towns lay immediately on the river, as +did Rome on the Latin bank. The Veientes were the nearest to the +Tiber, and it was with them that Rome and Latium came most frequently +into serious conflict, especially for the possession of Fidenae, +which served the Veientes as a sort of -tete de pont- on the left +bank just as the Janiculum served the Romans on the right, and +which was sometimes in the hands of the Latins, sometimes in those +of the Etruscans. The relations of Rome with the somewhat more +distant Caere were on the whole far more peaceful and friendly than +those which we usually find subsisting between neighbours in early +times. There are doubtless vague legends, reaching back to times +of distant antiquity, about conflicts between Latium and Caere; +Mezentius the king of Caere, for instance, is asserted to have +obtained great victories over the Latins, and to have imposed upon +them a wine-tax; but evidence much more definite than that which +attests a former state of feud is supplied by tradition as to +an especially close connection between the two ancient centres of +commercial and maritime intercourse in Latium and Etruria. Sure +traces of any advance of the Etruscans beyond the Tiber, by land, +are altogether wanting. It is true that Etruscans are named +in the first ranks of the great barbarian host, which Aristodemus +annihilated in 230 under the walls of Cumae;(7) but, even if +we regard this account as deserving credit in all its details, it +only shows that the Etruscans had taken part in a great plundering +expedition. It is far more important to observe that south of the +Tiber no Etruscan settlement can be pointed out as having owed its +origin to founders who came by land; and that no indication whatever +is discernible of any serious pressure by the Etruscans upon the +Latin nation. The possession of the Janiculum and of both banks of +the mouth of the Tiber remained, so far as we can see, undisputed +in the hands of the Romans. As to the migrations of bodies of +Etruscans to Rome, we find an isolated statement drawn from Tuscan +annals, that a Tuscan band, led by Caelius Vivenna of Volsinii and +after his death by his faithful companion Mastarna, was conducted +by the latter to Rome. This may be trustworthy, although the +derivation of the name of the Caelian Mount from this Caelius is +evidently a philological invention, and even the addition that this +Mastarna became king in Rome under the name of Servius Tullius is +certainly nothing but an improbable conjecture of the archaeologists +who busied themselves with legendary parallels. The name of the +"Tuscan quarter" at the foot of the Palatine(8) points further to +Etruscan settlements in Rome. + + +The Tarquins + + +It can hardly, moreover, be doubted that the last regal family which +ruled over Rome, that of the Tarquins, was of Etruscan origin, +whether it belonged to Tarquinii, as the legend asserts, or +to Caere, where the family tomb of the Tarchnas has recently been +discovered. The female name Tanaquil or Tanchvil interwoven with +the legend, while it is not Latin, is common in Etruria. But +the traditional story--according to which Tarquin was the son of +a Greek who had migrated from Corinth to Tarquinii, and came to +settle in Rome as a --metoikos-- is neither history nor legend, +and the historical chain of events is manifestly in this instance +not confused merely, but completely torn asunder. If anything more +can be deduced from this tradition beyond the bare and at bottom +indifferent fact that at last a family of Tuscan descent swayed the +regal sceptre in Rome, it can only be held as implying that this +dominion of a man of Tuscan origin ought not to be viewed either +as a dominion of the Tuscans or of any one Tuscan community over +Rome, or conversely as the dominion of Rome over southern Etruria. +There is, in fact, no sufficient ground either for the one hypothesis +or for the other. The history of the Tarquins had its arena in +Latium, not in Etruria; and Etruria, so far as we can see, during +the whole regal period exercised no influence of any essential +moment on either the language or customs of Rome, and did not at +all interrupt the regular development of the Roman state or of the +Latin league. + +The cause of this comparatively passive attitude of Etruria towards +the neighbouring land of Latium is probably to be sought partly +in the struggles of the Etruscans with the Celts on the Po, which +presumably the Celts did not cross until after the expulsion of the +kings from Rome, and partly in the tendency of the Etruscan people +towards seafaring and the acquisition of supremacy on the sea and +seaboard--a tendency decidedly exhibited in their settlements in +Campania, and of which we shall speak more fully in the next chapter. + + +The Etruscan Constitution + + +The Tuscan constitution, like the Greek and Latin, was based on the +gradual transition of the community to an urban life. The early +direction of the national energies towards navigation, trade, and +manufactures appears to have called into existence urban commonwealths, +in the strict sense of the term, earlier in Etruria than elsewhere +in Italy. Caere is the first of all the Italian towns that is +mentioned in Greek records. On the other hand we find that the +Etruscans had on the whole less of the ability and the disposition +for war than the Romans and Sabellians: the un-Italian custom of +employing mercenaries for fighting occurs among the Etruscans at +a very early period. The oldest constitution of the communities +must in its general outlines have resembled that of Rome. Kings or +Lucumones ruled, possessing similar insignia and probably therefore +a similar plenitude of power with the Roman kings. A strict line +of demarcation separated the nobles from the common people. The +resemblance in the clan-organization is attested by the analogy +of the system of names; only, among the Etruscans, descent on the +mother's side received much more consideration than in Roman law. +The constitution of their league appears to have been very lax. It +did not embrace the whole nation; the northern and the Campanian +Etruscans were associated in confederacies of their own, just +in the same way as the communities of Etruria proper. Each of +these leagues consisted of twelve communities, which recognized a +metropolis, especially for purposes of worship, and a federal head +or rather a high priest, but appear to have been substantially equal +in respect of rights; while some of them at least were so powerful +that neither could a hegemony establish itself, nor could the +central authority attain consolidation. In Etruria proper Volsinii +was the metropolis; of the rest of its twelve towns we know by +trustworthy tradition only Perusia, Vetulonium, Volci, and Tarquinii. +It was, however, quite as unusual for the Etruscans really to act +in concert, as it was for the Latin confederacy to do otherwise. +Wars were ordinarily carried on by a single community, which +endeavoured to interest in its cause such of its neighbours as +it could; and when an exceptional case occurred in which war was +resolved on by the league, individual towns very frequently kept +aloof from it. The Etruscan confederations appear to have been +from the first--still more than the other Italian leagues formed +on a similar basis of national affinity--deficient in a firm and +paramount central authority. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter IX + + + +1. -Ras-ennac-, with the gentile termination mentioned below. + +2. To this period belong e. g. inscriptions on the clay vases of + + + + +umaramlisia(--"id:theta")ipurenaie(--"id:theta")eeraisieepanamine +(--"id:theta")unastavhelefu- or -mi ramu(--"id:theta")af kaiufinaia-. + +3. We may form some idea of the sound which the language now had +from the commencement of the great inscription of Perusia; -eulat +tanna laresul ameva(--"id:chi")r lautn vel(--"id:theta")inase +stlaafunas slele(--"id:theta")caru-. + +4. Such as Maecenas, Porsena, Vivenna, Caecina, Spurinna. The +vowel in the penult is originally long, but in consequence of the +throwing back of the accent upon the initial syllable is frequently +shortened and even rejected. Thus we find Porse(n)na as well as +Porsena, and Ceicne as well as Caecina. + +5. I. VIII. Umbro-Sabellian Migration + +6. I. VIII. Their Political Development + +7. I. VIII. Their Political Development + +8. I. IV. Oldest Settlements in the Palatine and Suburan Regions + + + + +CHAPTER X + +The Hellenes in Italy--Maritime Supremacy of the Tuscans and +Carthaginians + + + +Relations of Italy with Other Lands + + +In the history of the nations of antiquity a gradual dawn ushered +in the day; and in their case too the dawn was in the east. While +the Italian peninsula still lay enveloped in the dim twilight of +morning, the regions of the eastern basin of the Mediterranean had +already emerged into the full light of a varied and richly developed +civilization. It falls to the lot of most nations in the early +stages of their development to be taught and trained by some rival +sister-nation; and such was destined to be in an eminent degree the +lot of the peoples of Italy. The circumstances of its geographical +position, however, prevented this influence from being brought to +bear upon the peninsula by land. No trace is to be found of any +resort in early times to the difficult route by land between Italy +and Greece. There were in all probability from time immemorial +tracks for purposes of traffic, leading from Italy to the lands +beyond the Alps; the oldest route of the amber trade from the Baltic +joined the Mediterranean at the mouth of the Po--on which account +the delta of the Po appears in Greek legend as the home of amber--and +this route was joined by another leading across the peninsula +over the Apennines to Pisae; but from these regions no elements +of civilization could come to the Italians. It was the seafaring +nations of the east that brought to Italy whatever foreign culture +reached it in early times. + + +Phoenicians in Italy + + +The oldest civilized nation on the shores of the Mediterranean, the +Egyptians, were not a seafaring people, and therefore exercised no +influence on Italy. But the same may be with almost equal truth +affirmed of the Phoenicians. It is true that, issuing from their +narrow home on the extreme eastern verge of the Mediterranean, +they were the first of all known races to venture forth in floating +houses on the bosom of the deep, at first for the purpose of +fishing and dredging, but soon also for the prosecution of trade. +They were the first to open up maritime commerce; and at an incredibly +early period they traversed the Mediterranean even to its furthest +extremity in the west. Maritime stations of the Phoenicians appear +on almost all its coasts earlier than those of the Hellenes: in +Hellas itself, in Crete and Cyprus, in Egypt, Libya, and Spain, and +likewise on the western Italian main. Thucydides tells us that all +around Sicily, before the Greeks came thither or at least before +they had established themselves there in any considerable numbers, +the Phoenicians had set up their factories on the headlands +and islets, not with a view to gain territory, but for the sake +of trading with the natives. But it was otherwise in the case of +continental Italy. No sure proof has hitherto been given of the +existence of any Phoenician settlement there excepting one, a Punic +factory at Caere, the memory of which has been preserved partly by +the appellation -Punicum- given to a little village on the Caerite +coast, partly by the other name of the town of Caere itself, +-Agylla-, which is not, as idle fiction asserts, of Pelasgic origin, +but is a Phoenician word signifying the "round town"--precisely +the appearance which Caere presents when seen from the sea. That +this station and any similar establishments which may have elsewhere +existed on the coasts of Italy were neither of much importance nor +of long standing, is evident from their having disappeared almost +without leaving a trace. We have not the smallest reason to think +them older than the Hellenic settlements of a similar kind on the +same coasts. An evidence of no slight weight that Latium at least +first became acquainted with the men of Canaan through the medium +of the Hellenes is furnished by the Latin appellation "Poeni," which +is borrowed from the Greek. All the oldest relations, indeed, of +the Italians to the civilization of the east point decidedly towards +Greece; and the rise of the Phoenician factory at Caere may be very +well explained, without resorting to the pre-Hellenic period, by +the subsequent well-known relations between the commercial state +of Caere and Carthage. In fact, when we recall the circumstance +that the earliest navigation was and continued to be essentially +of a coasting character, it is plain that scarcely any country on +the Mediterranean lay so remote from the Phoenicians as the Italian +mainland. They could only reach it either from the west coast +of Greece or from Sicily; and it may well be believed that the +seamanship of the Hellenes became developed early enough to anticipate +the Phoenicians in braving the dangers of the Adriatic and of the +Tyrrhene seas. There is no ground therefore for the assumption that +any direct influence was originally exercised by the Phoenicians over +the Italians. To the subsequent relations between the Phoenicians +holding the supremacy of the western Mediterranean and the Italians +inhabiting the shores of the Tyrrhene sea our narrative will return +in the sequel. + + +Greeks in Italy--Home of the Greek Immigrants + + +To all appearance, therefore, the Hellenic mariners were the first +among the inhabitants of the eastern basin of the Mediterranean to +navigate the coasts of Italy. Of the important questions however +as to the region from which, and as to the period at which, the Greek +seafarers came thither, only the former admits of being answered +with some degree of precision and fulness. The Aeolian and Ionian +coast of Asia Minor was the region where Hellenic maritime traffic +first became developed on a large scale, and whence issued the +Greeks who explored the interior of the Black Sea on the one hand +and the coasts of Italy on the other. The name of the Ionian Sea, +which was retained by the waters intervening between Epirus and +Sicily, and that of the Ionian gulf, the term by which the Greeks +in earlier times designated the Adriatic Sea, are memorials of +the fact that the southern and eastern coasts of Italy were once +discovered by seafarers from Ionia. The oldest Greek settlement in +Italy, Kyme, was, as its name and legend tell, founded by the town +of the same name on the Anatolian coast. According to trustworthy +Hellenic tradition, the Phocaeans of Asia Minor were the first of +the Hellenes to traverse the more remote western sea. Other Greeks +soon followed in the paths which those of Asia Minor had opened up; +lonians from Naxos and from Chalcis in Euboea, Achaeans, Locrians, +Rhodians, Corinthians, Megarians, Messenians, Spartans. After the +discovery of America the civilized nations of Europe vied with one +another in sending out expeditions and forming settlements there; +and the new settlers when located amidst barbarians recognized their +common character and common interests as civilized Europeans more +strongly than they had done in their former home. So it was with +the new discovery of the Greeks. The privilege of navigating the +western waters and settling on the western land was not the exclusive +property of a single Greek province or of a single Greek stock, +but a common good for the whole Hellenic nation; and, just as in +the formation of the new North American world, English and French, +Dutch and German settlements became mingled and blended, Greek Sicily +and "Great Greece" became peopled by a mixture of all sorts of +Hellenic races often so amalgamated as to be no longer distinguishable. +Leaving out of account some settlements occupying a more isolated +position--such as that of the Locrians with its offsets Hipponium +and Medama, and the settlement of the Phocaeans which was not founded +till towards the close of this period, Hyele (Velia, Elea)--we may +distinguish in a general view three leading groups. The original +Ionian group, comprehended under the name of the Chalcidian towns, +included in Italy Cumae with the other Greek settlements at Vesuvius +and Rhegium, and in Sicily Zankle (afterwards Messana), Naxos, +Catana, Leontini, and Himera. The Achaean group embraced Sybaris +and the greater part of the cities of Magna Graecia. The Dorian +group comprehended Syracuse, Gela, Agrigentum, and the majority +of the Sicilian colonies, while in Italy nothing belonged to it +but Taras (Tarentum) and its offset Heraclea. On the whole the +preponderance lay with the immigrants who belonged to the more +ancient Hellenic influx, that of the lonians and the stocks settled +in the Peloponnesus before the Doric immigration. Among the Dorians +only the communities with a mixed population, such as Corinth and +Megara, took a special part, whereas the purely Doric provinces had +but a subordinate share in the movement. This result was naturally +to be expected, for the lonians were from ancient times a trading +and sea-faring people, while it was only at a comparatively late +period that the Dorian stocks descended from their inland mountains +to the seaboard, and they always kept aloof from maritime commerce. +The different groups of immigrants are very clearly distinguishable, +especially by their monetary standards. The Phocaean settlers coined +according to the Babylonian standard which prevailed in Asia. The +Chalcidian towns followed in the earliest times the Aeginetan, in +other words, that which originally prevailed throughout all European +Greece, and more especially the modification of it which is found +occurring in Euboea. The Achaean communities coined by the Corinthian +standard; and lastly the Doric colonies followed that which Solon +introduced in Attica in the year of Rome 160, with the exception +of Tarentum and Heraclea, which in their principal pieces adopted +rather the standard of their Achaean neighbours than that of the +Dorians in Sicily. + + +Time of the Greek Immigration + + +The dates of the earlier voyages and settlements will probably always +remain enveloped in darkness. We may still, however, distinctly +recognize a certain order of sequence. In the oldest Greek document, +which belongs, like the earliest intercourse with the west, to +the lonians of Asia Minor--the Homeric poems--the horizon scarcely +extends beyond the eastern basin of the Mediterranean. Sailors +driven by storms into the western sea might have brought to Asia +Minor accounts of the existence of a western land and possibly +also of its whirlpools and island-mountains vomiting fire: but in +the age of the Homeric poetry there was an utter want of trustworthy +information respecting Sicily and Italy, even in that Greek land +which was the earliest to enter into intercourse with the west; +and the story-tellers and poets of the east could without fear of +contradiction fill the vacant realms of the west, as those of the +west in their turn filled the fabulous east, with their castles in +the air. In the poems of Hesiod the outlines of Italy and Sicily +appear better defined; there is some acquaintance with the native +names of tribes, mountains, and cities in both countries; but Italy +is still regarded as a group of islands. On the other hand, in +all the literature subsequent to Hesiod, Sicily and even the whole +coast of Italy appear as known, at least in a general sense, to the +Hellenes. The order of succession of the Greek settlements may in +like manner be ascertained with some degree of precision. Thucydides +evidently regarded Cumae as the earliest settlement of note in the +west; and certainly he was not mistaken. It is true that many a +landing-place lay nearer at hand for the Greek mariner, but none +were so well protected from storms and from barbarians as the island +of Ischia, upon which the town was originally situated; and that +such were the prevailing considerations that led to this settlement, +is evident from the very position which was subsequently selected +for it on the mainland--the steep but well-protected cliff, which +still bears to the present day the venerable name of the Anatolian +mother-city. Nowhere in Italy, accordingly, were the scenes of +the legends of Asia Minor so vividly and tenaciously localized as +in the district of Cumae, where the earliest voyagers to the west, +full of those legends of western wonders, first stepped upon the +fabled land and left the traces of that world of story, which they +believed that they were treading, in the rocks of the Sirens and +the lake of Avernus leading to the lower world. On the supposition, +moreover, that it was in Cumae that the Greeks first became the +neighbours of the Italians, it is easy to explain why the name +of that Italian stock which was settled immediately around Cumae, +the name of Opicans, came to be employed by them for centuries +afterwards to designate the Italians collectively. There is a +further credible tradition, that a considerable interval elapsed +between the settlement at Cumae and the main Hellenic immigration +into Lower Italy and Sicily, and that in this immigration Ionians +from Chalcis and from Naxos took the lead. Naxos in Sicily is said +to have been the oldest of all the Greek towns founded by strict +colonization in Italy or Sicily; the Achaean and Dorian colonizations +followed, but not until a later period. + +It appears, however, to be quite impossible to fix the dates of +this series of events with even approximate accuracy. The founding +of the Achaean city of Sybaris in 33, and that of the Dorian city +Tarentum in 46, are probably the most ancient dates in Italian +history, the correctness, or at least approximation to correctness, +of which may be looked upon as established. But how far beyond +that epoch the sending forth of the earlier Ionian colonies reached +back, is quite as uncertain as is the age which gave birth to the +poems of Hesiod or even of Homer. If Herodotus is correct in the +period which he assigns to Homer, the Greeks were still unacquainted +with Italy a century before the foundation of Rome. The date thus +assigned however, like all other statements respecting the Homeric +age, is matter not of testimony, but of inference; and any one who +carefully weighs the history of the Italian alphabets as well as +the remarkable fact that the Italians had become acquainted with +the Greek people before the name "Hellenes" had emerged for the +race, and the Italians borrowed their designation for the Hellenes +from the stock of the -Grai- or -Graeci- that early fell into +abeyance in Hellas,(1) will be inclined to carry back the earliest +intercourse of the Italians with the Greeks to an age considerably +mere remote. + + +Character of the Greek Immigration + + +The history of the Italian and Sicilian Greeks forms no part of +the history of Italy; the Hellenic colonists of the west always +retained the closest connection with their original home and +participated in the national festivals and privileges of Hellenes. +But it is of importance even as bearing on Italy, that we should +indicate the diversities of character that prevailed in the Greek +settlements there, and at least exhibit some of the leading features +which enabled the Greek colonization to exercise so varied an +influence on Italy. + + +The League of the Achaen Cities + + +Of all the Greek settlements, that which retained most thoroughly +its distinctive character and was least affected by influences from +without was the settlement which gave birth to the league of the +Achaean cities, composed of the towns of Siris, Pandosia, Metabus +or Metapontum, Sybaris with its offsets Posidonia and Laus, Croton, +Caulonia, Temesa, Terina, and Pyxus. These colonists, taken as a +whole, belonged to a Greek stock which steadfastly adhered to its +own peculiar dialect, having closest affinity with the Doric, and +for long retained no less steadfastly the old national Hellenic +mode of writing, instead of adopting the more recent alphabet which +had elsewhere come into general use; and which preserved its own +nationality, as distinguished alike from the barbarians and from other +Greeks, by the firm bond of a federal constitution. The language +of Polybius regarding the Achaean symmachy in the Peloponnesus may +be applied also to these Italian Achaeans; "Not only did they live +in federal and friendly communion, but they made use of like laws, +like weights, measures, and coins, as well as of the same magistrates, +councillors, and judges." + +This league of the Achaean cities was strictly a colonization. The +cities had no harbours--Croton alone had a paltry roadstead--and +they had no commerce of their own; the Sybarite prided himself on +growing gray between the bridges of his lagoon-city, and Milesians +and Etruscans bought and sold for him. These Achaean Greeks, +however, were not merely in possession of a narrow belt along the +coast, but ruled from sea to sea in the "land of wine" and "of +oxen" (--Oinotria--, --Italia--) or the "great Hellas;" the native +agricultural population was compelled to farm their lands and to +pay to them tribute in the character of clients or even of serfs. +Sybaris--in its time the largest city in Italy--exercised dominion +over four barbarian tribes and five-and-twenty townships, and was +able to found Laus and Posidonia on the other sea. The exceedingly +fertile low grounds of the Crathis and Bradanus yielded a superabundant +produce to the Sybarites and Metapontines--it was there perhaps +that grain was first cultivated for exportation. The height of +prosperity which these states in an incredibly short time attained +is strikingly attested by the only surviving works of art of +these Italian Achaeans, their coins of chaste antiquely beautiful +workmanship--the earliest monuments of art and writing in Italy +which we possess, as it can be shown that they had already begun to +be coined in 174. These coins show that the Achaeans of the west +did not simply participate in the noble development of plastic art +that was at this very time taking place in the motherland, but were +even superior in technical skill. For, while the silver pieces +which were in use about that time in Greece proper and among the +Dorians in Italy were thick, often stamped only on one side, and +in general without inscription, the Italian Achaeans with great +and independent skill struck from two similar dies partly cut in +relief, partly sunk, large thin silver coins always furnished with +inscriptions, and displaying the advanced organization of a civilized +state in the mode of impression, by which they were carefully +protected from the process of counterfeiting usual in that age--the +plating of inferior metal with thin silver-foil. + +Nevertheless this rapid bloom bore no fruit. Even Greeks speedily +lost all elasticity of body and of mind in a life of indolence, in +which their energies were never tried either by vigorous resistance +on the part of the natives or by hard labour of their own. None +of the brilliant names in Greek art or literature shed glory on the +Italian Achaeans, while Sicily could claim ever so many of them, +and even in Italy the Chalcidian Rhegium could produce its Ibycus +and the Doric Tarentum its Archytas. With this people, among whom +the spit was for ever turning on the hearth, nothing flourished from +the outset but boxing. The rigid aristocracy which early gained +the helm in the several communities, and which found in case of need +a sure reserve of support in the federal power, prevented the rise +of tyrants; but the danger to be apprehended was that the government +of the best might be converted into a government of the few, +especially if the privileged families in the different communities +should combine to assist each other in carrying out their designs. +Such was the predominant aim in the combination of mutually +pledged "friends" which bore the name of Pythagoras. It enjoined +the principle that the ruling class should be "honoured like gods," +and that the subject class should be "held in subservience like +beasts," and by such theory and practice provoked a formidable +reaction, which terminated in the annihilation of the Pythagorean +"friends" and the renewal of the ancient federal constitution. But +frantic party feuds, insurrections en masse of the slaves, social +abuses of all sorts, attempts to supply in practice an impracticable +state-philosophy, in short, all the evils of demoralized civilization +never ceased to rage in the Achaean communities, till under the +accumulated pressure their political power utterly broke down. + +It is no matter of wonder therefore that the Achaeans settled in +Italy exercised less influence on its civilization than the other +Greek settlements. An agricultural people, they had less occasion +than those engaged in commerce to extend their influence beyond +their political bounds. Within their own dominions they enslaved +the native population and crushed the germs of their national +development as Italians, while they refused to open up to them +by means of complete Hellenization a new career. In this way the +Greek characteristics, which were able elsewhere to retain a vigorous +vitality notwithstanding all political misfortunes, disappeared +more rapidly, more completely, and more ingloriously in Sybaris +and Metapontum, in Croton and Posidonia, than in any other region; +and the bilingual mongrel peoples, that arose in subsequent times +out of the remains of the native Italians and Achaeans and the more +recent immigrants of Sabellian descent, never attained any real +prosperity. This catastrophe, however, belongs in point of time +to the succeeding period. + + +Iono-Dorian Towns + + +The settlements of the other Greeks were of a different character, +and exercised a very different effect upon Italy. They by no means +despised agriculture and the acquisition of territory; it was not +the wont of the Hellenes, at least when they had reached their full +vigour, to rest content after the manner of the Phoenicians with a +fortified factory in the midst of a barbarian land. But all their +cities were founded primarily and especially for the sake of trade, +and accordingly, altogether differing from those of the Achaeans, +they were uniformly established beside the best harbours and +lading-places. These cities were very various in their origin and +in the occasion and period of their respective foundations; but +there subsisted between them a certain fellowship, as in the common +use by all of these towns of certain modern forms of the alphabet,(2) +and in the very Dorism of their language, which made its way at an +early date even into those towns that, like Cumae for example,(3) +originally spoke the soft Ionic dialect. These settlements were +of very various degrees of importance in their bearing on the +development of Italy: it is sufficient at present to mention those +which exercised a decided influence over the destinies of the +Italian races, the Doric Tarentum and the Ionic Cumae. + + +Tarentum + + +Of all the Hellenic settlements in Italy, Tarentum was destined +to play the most brilliant part. The excellent harbour, the only +good one on the whole southern coast, rendered the city the natural +emporium for the traffic of the south of Italy, and for some portion +even of the commerce of the Adriatic. The rich fisheries of its +gulf, the production and manufacture of its excellent wool, and +the dyeing of it with the purple juice of the Tarentine -murex-, +which rivalled that of Tyre--both branches of industry introduced +there from Miletus in Asia Minor--employed thousands of hands, and +added to the carrying trade a traffic of export. The coins struck +at Tarentum in greater quantity than anywhere else in Grecian +Italy, and struck pretty numerously even in gold, furnish to us a +significant attestation of the lively and widely extended commerce +of the Tarentines. At this epoch, when Tarentum was still contending +with Sybaris for the first place among the Greek cities of Lower +Italy, its extensive commercial connections must have been already +forming; but the Tarentines seem never to have steadily and +successfully directed their efforts to a substantial extension of +their territory after the manner of the Achaean cities. + + +Greek Cities Near Vesuvius + + +While the most easterly of the Greek settlements in Italy thus rapidly +rose into splendour, those which lay furthest to the north, in the +neighbourhood of Vesuvius, attained a more moderate prosperity. +There the Cumaeans had crossed from the fertile island of Aenaria +(Ischia) to the mainland, and had built a second home on a hill +close by the sea, from whence they founded the seaport of Dicaearchia +(afterwards Puteoli) and, moreover, the "new city" Neapolis. They +lived, like the Chalcidian cities generally in Italy and Sicily, +in conformity with the laws which Charondas of Catana (about 100) +had established, under a constitution democratic but modified by +a high census, which placed the power in the hands of a council +of members selected from the wealthiest men--a constitution which +proved lasting and kept these cities free, upon the whole, from +the tyranny alike of usurpers and of the mob. We know little as to +the external relations of these Campanian Greeks. They remained, +whether from necessity or from choice, confined to a district of +even narrower limits than the Tarentines; and issuing from it not +for purposes of conquest and oppression, but for the holding of +peaceful commercial intercourse with the natives, they created the +means of a prosperous existence for themselves, and at the same time +took the foremost place among the missionaries of Greek civilization +in Italy. + + +Relations of the Adriatic Regions to the Greeks + + +While on the one side of the straits of Rhegium the whole southern +coast of the mainland and its western coast as far as Vesuvius, +and on the other the larger eastern half of the island of Sicily, +were Greek territory, the west coast of Italy northward of Vesuvius +and the whole of the east coast were in a position essentially +different. No Greek settlements arose on the Italian seaboard of +the Adriatic; and with this we may evidently connect the comparatively +small number and subordinate importance of the Greek colonies +planted on the opposite Illyrian shore and on the numerous adjacent +islands. Two considerable mercantile towns, Epidamnus or Dyrrachium +(now Durazzo, 127), and Apollonia (near Avlona, about 167), were +founded upon the portion of this coast nearest to Greece during +the regal period of Rome; but no old Greek colony can be pointed +out further to the north, with the exception perhaps of the +insignificant settlement at Black Corcyra (Curzola, about 174?). No +adequate explanation has yet been given why the Greek colonization +developed itself in this direction to so meagre an extent. Nature +herself appeared to direct the Hellenes thither, and in fact from +the earliest times there existed a regular traffic to that region +from Corinth and still more from the settlement at Corcyra (Corfu) +founded not long after Rome (about 44); a traffic, which had as its +emporia on the Italian coast the towns of Spina and Atria, situated +at the mouth of the Po. The storms of the Adriatic, the inhospitable +character at least of the Illyrian coasts, and the barbarism of +the natives are manifestly not in themselves sufficient to explain +this fact. But it was a circumstance fraught with the most momentous +consequences for Italy, that the elements of civilization which +came from the east did not exert their influence on its eastern +provinces directly, but reached them only through the medium of those +that lay to the west. The Adriatic commerce carried on by Corinth +and Corcyra was shared by the most easterly mercantile city of +Magna Graecia, the Doric Tarentum, which by the possession of Hydrus +(Otranto) had the command, on the Italian side, of the entrance of +the Adriatic. Since, with the exception of the ports at the mouth +of the Po, there were in those times no emporia worthy of mention +along the whole east coast--the rise of Ancona belongs to a far +later period, and later still the rise of Brundisium--it may well +be conceived that the mariners of Epidamnus and Apollonia frequently +discharged their cargoes at Tarentum. The Tarentines had also much +intercourse with Apulia by land; all the Greek civilization to be +met with in the south-east of Italy owed its existence to them. +That civilization, however, was during the present period only in +its infancy; it was not until a later epoch that the Hellenism of +Apulia was developed. + + +Relations of the Western Italians to the Greeks + + +It cannot be doubted, on the other hand, that the west coast +of Italy northward of Vesuvius was frequented in very early times +by the Hellenes, and that there were Hellenic factories on its +promontories and islands. Probably the earliest evidence of such +voyages is the localizing of the legend of Odysseus on the coasts +of the Tyrrhene Sea.(4) When men discovered the isles of Aeolus +in the Lipari islands, when they pointed out at the Lacinian cape +the isle of Calypso, at the cape of Misenum that of the Sirens, +at the cape of Circeii that of Circe, when they recognized in the +steep promontory of Terracina the towering burial-mound of Elpenor, +when the Laestrygones were provided with haunts near Caieta and +Formiae, when the two sons of Ulysses and Circe, Agrius, that is +the "wild," and Latinus, were made to rule over the Tyrrhenians in +the "inmost recess of the holy islands," or, according to a more +recent version, Latinus was called the son of Ulysses and Circe, +and Auson the son of Ulysses and Calypso--we recognize in these +legends ancient sailors' tales of the seafarers of Ionia, who +thought of their native home as they traversed the Tyrrhene Sea. +The same noble vividness of feeling, which pervades the Ionic poem +of the voyages of Odysseus, is discernible in this fresh localization +of the same legend at Cumae itself and throughout the regions +frequented by the Cumaean mariners. + +Other traces of these very ancient voyages are to be found in the +Greek name of the island Aethalia (Ilva, Elba), which appears to +have been (after Aenaria) one of the places earliest occupied by +Greeks, perhaps also in that of the seaport Telamon in Etruria; +and further in the two townships on the Caerite coast, Pyrgi (near +S. Severa) and Alsium (near Palo), the Greek origin of which is +indicated beyond possibility of mistake not only by their names, +but also by the peculiar architecture of the walls of Pyrgi, which +differs essentially in character from that of the walls of Caere +and the Etruscan cities generally. Aethalia, the "fire-island," +with its rich mines of copper and especially of iron, probably +sustained the chief part in this commerce, and there in all likelihood +the foreigners had their central settlement and seat of traffic +with the natives; the more especially as they could not have found +the means of smelting the ores on the small and not well-wooded +island without intercourse with the mainland. The silver mines +of Populonia also on the headland opposite to Elba were perhaps +already known to the Greeks and wrought by them. + +If, as was undoubtedly the case, the foreigners, ever in those times +intent on piracy and plunder as well as trade, did not fail, when +opportunity offered, to levy contributions on the natives and to +carry them off as slaves, the natives on their part exercised the +right of retaliation; and that the Latins and Tyrrhenes retaliated +with greater energy and better fortune than their neighbours in +the south of Italy, is attested not merely by the legends to that +effect, but by the actual results. In these regions the Italians +succeeded in resisting the foreigners and in retaining, or at any +rate soon resuming, the mastery not merely of their own mercantile +cities and mercantile ports, but also of their own sea. The same +Hellenic invasion which crushed and denationalized the races of +the south of Italy, directed the energies of the peoples of Central +Italy--very much indeed against the will of their instructors--towards +navigation and the founding of towns. It must have been in this +quarter that the Italians first exchanged the raft and the boat for +the oared galley of the Phoenicians and Greeks. Here too we first +encounter great mercantile cities, particularly Caere in southern +Etruria and Rome on the Tiber, which, if we may judge from their +Italian names as well as from their being situated at some distance +from the sea, were--like the exactly similar commercial towns at +the mouth of the Po, Spina and Atria, and Ariminum further to the +south--certainly not Greek, but Italian foundations. It is not +in our power, as may easily be supposed, to exhibit the historical +course of this earliest reaction of Italian nationality against +foreign aggression; but we can still recognize the fact, which was +of the greatest importance as bearing upon the further development +of Italy, that this reaction took a different course in Latium and +in southern Etruria from that which it exhibited in the properly +Tuscan and adjoining provinces. + + +Hellenes and Latins + + +Legend itself contrasts in a significant manner the Latin with +the "wild Tyrrhenian," and the peaceful beach at the mouth of the +Tiber with the inhospitable shore of the Volsci. This cannot mean +that Greek colonization was tolerated in some of the provinces of +Central Italy, but not permitted in others. Northward of Vesuvius +there existed no independent Greek community at all in historical +times; if Pyrgi once was such, it must have already reverted, +before the period at which our tradition begins, into the hands of +the Italians or in other words of the Caerites. But in southern +Etruria, in Latium, and likewise on the east coast, peaceful intercourse +with the foreign merchants was protected and encouraged; and such +was not the case elsewhere. The position of Caere was especially +remarkable. "The Caerites," says Strabo, "were held in much repute +among the Hellenes for their bravery and integrity, and because, +powerful though they were, they abstained from robbery." It is +not piracy that is thus referred to, for in this the merchant of +Caere must have indulged like every other. But Caere was a sort +of free port for Phoenicians as well as Greeks. We have already +mentioned the Phoenician station--subsequently called Punicum--and +the two Hellenic stations of Pyrgi and Alsium.(5) It was these +ports that the Caerites refrained from robbing, and it was beyond +doubt through this tolerant attitude that Caere, which possessed +but a wretched roadstead and had no mines in its neighbourhood, +early attained so great prosperity and acquired, in reference to +the earliest Greek commerce, an importance even greater than the +cities of the Italians destined by nature as emporia at the mouths +of the Tiber and Po. The cities we have just named are those which +appear as holding primitive religious intercourse with Greece. The +first of all barbarians to present gifts to the Olympian Zeus was +the Tuscan king Arimnus, perhaps a ruler of Ariminum. Spina and +Caere had their special treasuries in the temple of the Delphic +Apollo, like other communities that had regular dealings with the +shrine; and the sanctuary at Delphi, as well as the Cumaean oracle, +is interwoven with the earliest traditions of Caere and of Rome. +These cities, where the Italians held peaceful sway and carried +on friendly traffic with the foreign merchant, became preeminently +wealthy and powerful, and were genuine marts not only for Hellenic +merchandise, but also for the germs of Hellenic civilization. + + +Hellenes and Etruscans--Etruscan Maritime Power + + +Matters stood on a different footing with the "wild Tyrrhenians." +The same causes, which in the province of Latium, and in the districts +on the right bank of the Tiber and along the lower course of the +Po that were perhaps rather subject to Etruscan supremacy than +strictly Etruscan, had led to the emancipation of the natives +from the maritime power of the foreigner, led in Etruria proper to +the development of piracy and maritime ascendency, in consequence +possibly of the difference of national character disposing the people +to violence and pillage, or it may be for other reasons with which +we are not acquainted. The Etruscans were not content with dislodging +the Greeks from Aethalia and Populonia; even the individual trader +was apparently not tolerated by them, and soon Etruscan privateers +roamed over the sea far and wide, and rendered the name of the +Tyrrhenians a terror to the Greeks. It was not without reason that +the Greeks reckoned the grapnel as an Etruscan invention, and called +the western sea of Italy the sea of the Tuscans. The rapidity +with which these wild corsairs multiplied and the violence of their +proceedings in the Tyrrhene Sea in particular, are very clearly +shown by their establishment on the Latin and Campanian coasts. +The Latins indeed maintained their ground in Latium proper, and +the Greeks at Vesuvius; but between them and by their side the +Etruscans held sway in Antium and in Surrentum. The Volscians became +clients of the Etruscans; their forests contributed the keels for +the Etruscan galleys; and seeing that the piracy of the Antiates was +only terminated by the Roman occupation, it is easy to understand +why the coast of the southern Volscians bore among Greek mariners +the name of the Laestrygones. The high promontory of Sorrento with +the cliff of Capri which is still more precipitous but destitute +of any harbour--a station thoroughly adapted for corsairs on the +watch, commanding a prospect of the Tyrrhene Sea between the bays +of Naples and Salerno--was early occupied by the Etruscans. They are +affirmed even to have founded a "league of twelve towns" of their +own in Campania, and communities speaking Etruscan still existed in +its inland districts in times quite historical. These settlements +were probably indirect results of the maritime dominion of +the Etruscans in the Campanian sea, and of their rivalry with the +Cumaeans at Vesuvius. + + +Etruscan Commerce + + +The Etruscans however by no means confined themselves to robbery +and pillage. The peaceful intercourse which they held with Greek +towns is attested by the gold and silver coins which, at least from +the year 200, were struck by the Etruscan cities, and in particular +by Populonia, after a Greek model and a Greek standard. The +circumstance, moreover, that these coins are modelled not upon +those of Magna Graecia, but rather upon those of Attica and even +Asia Minor, is perhaps an indication of the hostile attitude in +which the Etruscans stood towards the Italian Greeks. For commerce +they in fact enjoyed the most favourable position, far more +advantageous than that of the inhabitants of Latium. Inhabiting +the country from sea to sea, they commanded the great Italian free +ports on the western waters, the mouths of the Po and the Venice +of that time on the eastern sea, and the land route which from +ancient times led from Pisa on the Tyrrhene Sea to Spina on the +Adriatic, while in the south of Italy they commanded the rich plains +of Capua and Nola. They were the holders of the most important +Italian articles of export, the iron of Aethalia, the copper +of Volaterrae and Campania, the silver of Populonia, and even the +amber which was brought to them from the Baltic.(6) Under the +protection of their piracy, which constituted as it were a rude +navigation act, their own commerce could not fail to flourish. +It need not surprise us to find Etruscan and Milesian merchants +competing in the market of Sybaris, nor need we be astonished to +learn that the combination of privateering and commerce on a great +scale generated the unbounded and senseless luxury, in which the +vigour of Etruria early wasted away. + + +Rivalry between the Phoenicians and Hellenes + + +While in Italy the Etruscans and, although in a lesser degree, the +Latins thus stood opposed to the Hellenes, warding them off and +partly treating them as enemies, this antagonism to some extent +necessarily affected the rivalry which then above all dominated the +commerce and navigation of the Mediterranean--the rivalry between +the Phoenicians and Hellenes. This is not the place to set forth +in detail how, during the regal period of Rome, these two great nations +contended for supremacy on all the shores of the Mediterranean, in +Greece even and Asia Minor, in Crete and Cyprus, on the African, +Spanish, and Celtic coasts. This struggle did not take place directly +on Italian soil, but its effects were deeply and permanently felt +in Italy. The fresh energies and more universal endowments of +the younger competitor had at first the advantage everywhere. Not +only did the Hellenes rid themselves of the Phoenician factories +in their own European and Asiatic homes, but they dislodged the +Phoenicians also from Crete and Cyprus, gained a footing in Egypt +and Cyrene, and possessed themselves of Lower Italy and the larger +eastern half of the island of Sicily. On all hands the small trading +stations of the Phoenicians gave way before the more energetic +colonization of the Greeks. Selinus (126) and Agrigentum (174) +were founded in western Sicily; the more remote western sea was +traversed, Massilia was built on the Celtic coast (about 150), and +the shores of Spain were explored, by the bold Phocaeans from Asia +Minor. But about the middle of the second century the progress of +Hellenic colonization was suddenly arrested; and there is no doubt +that the cause of this arrest was the contemporary rapid rise of +Carthage, the most powerful of the Phoenician cities in Libya--a +rise manifestly due to the danger with which Hellenic aggression +threatened the whole Phoenician race. If the nation which had +opened up maritime commerce on the Mediterranean had been already +dislodged by its younger rival from the sole command of the western +half, from the possession of both lines of communication between +the eastern and western basins of the Mediterranean, and from the +monopoly of the carrying trade between east and west, the sovereignty +at least of the seas to the west of Sardinia and Sicily might +still be saved for the Orientals; and to its maintenance Carthage +applied all the tenacious and circumspect energy peculiar to the +Aramaean race. Phoenician colonization and Phoenician resistance +assumed an entirely different character. The earlier Phoenician +settlements, such as those in Sicily described by Thucydides, were +mercantile factories: Carthage subdued extensive territories with +numerous subjects and powerful fortresses. Hitherto the Phoenician +settlements had stood isolated in opposition to the Greeks; now +the powerful Libyan city centralized within its sphere the whole +warlike resources of those akin to it in race with a vigour to +which the history of the Greeks can produce nothing parallel. + + +Phoenicians and Italians in Opposition to the Hellenes + + +Perhaps the element in this reaction which exercised the most +momentous influence in the sequel was the close relation into which +the weaker Phoenicians entered with the natives of Sicily and Italy +in order to resist the Hellenes. When the Cnidians and Rhodians +made an attempt about 175 to establish themselves at Lilybaeum, the +centre of the Phoenician settlements in Sicily, they were expelled +by the natives--the Elymi of Segeste--in concert with the Phoenicians. +When the Phocaeans settled about 217 at Alalia (Aleria) in Corsica +opposite to Caere, there appeared for the purpose of expelling +them a combined fleet of Etruscans and Carthaginians, numbering +a hundred and twenty sail; and although in the naval battle that +ensued--one of the earliest known in history-the fleet of the +Phocaeans, which was only half as strong, claimed the victory, the +Carthaginians and Etruscans gained the object which they had in +view in the attack; the Phocaeans abandoned Corsica, and preferred +to settle at Hyde (Velia) on the less exposed coast of Lucania. A +treaty between Etruria and Carthage not only established regulations +regarding the import of goods and the giving due effect to rights, +but included also an alliance-in-arms (--summachia--), the serious +import of which is shown by that very battle of Alalia. It is a +significant indication of the position of the Caerites, that they +stoned the Phocaean captives in the market at Caere and then sent +an embassy to the Delphic Apollo to atone for the crime. + +Latium did not join in these hostilities against the Hellenes; on +the contrary, we find friendly relations subsisting in very ancient +times between the Romans and the Phocaeans in Velia as well as in +Massilia, and the Ardeates are even said to have founded in concert +with the Zacynthians a colony in Spain, the later Saguntum. Much +less, however, did the Latins range themselves on the side of +the Hellenes: the neutrality of their position in this respect is +attested by the close relations maintained between Caere and Rome, +as well as by the traces of ancient intercourse between the Latins +and the Carthaginians. It was through the medium of the Hellenes +that the Cannanite race became known to the Romans, for, as we have +already seen,(7) they always designated it by its Greek name; but +the fact that they did not borrow from the Greeks either the name +for the city of Carthage(8) or the national name of the -Afri-,(9) +and the circumstance that among the earlier Romans Tyrian wares were +designated by the adjective -Sarranus-,(10) which in like manner +precludes the idea of Greek intervention, demonstrate--what the +treaties of a later period concur in proving--the direct commercial +intercourse anciently subsisting between Latium and Carthage. + +The combined power of the Italians and Phoenicians actually succeeded +in substantially retaining the western half of the Mediterranean +in their hands. The northwestern portion of Sicily, with the +important ports of Soluntum and Panormus on the north coast, and +Motya at the point which looks towards Africa, remained in the +direct or indirect possession of the Carthaginians. About the +age of Cyrus and Croesus, just when the wise Bias was endeavouring +to induce the Ionians to emigrate in a body from Asia Minor and +settle in Sardinia (about 200), the Carthaginian general Malchus +anticipated them, and subdued a considerable portion of that important +island by force of arms; half a century later, the whole coast of +Sardinia appears in the undisputed possession of the Carthaginian +community. Corsica on the other hand, with the towns of Alalia +and Nicaea, fell to the Etruscans, and the natives paid to these +tribute of the products of their poor island, pitch, wax, and honey. +In the Adriatic sea, moreover, the allied Etruscans and Carthaginians +ruled, as in the waters to the west of Sicily and Sardinia. The +Greeks, indeed, did not give up the struggle. Those Rhodians and +Cnidians, who had been driven out of Lilybaeum, established themselves +on the islands between Sicily and Italy and founded there the town +of Lipara (175). Massilia flourished in spite of its isolation, and +soon monopolized the trade of the region from Nice to the Pyrenees. +At the Pyrenees themselves Rhoda (now Rosas) was established as an +offset from Lipara, and it is affirmed that Zacynthians settled in +Saguntum, and even that Greek dynasts ruled at Tingis (Tangiers) +in Mauretania. But the Hellenes no longer gained ground; after +the foundation of Agrigentum they did not succeed in acquiring any +important additions of territory on the Adriatic or on the western +sea, and they remained excluded from the Spanish waters as well +as from the Atlantic Ocean. Every year the Liparaeans had their +conflicts with the Tuscan "sea-robbers," and the Carthaginians with +the Massiliots, the Cyrenaeans, and above all with the Sicilian +Greeks; but no results of permanent moment were on either side +achieved, and the issue of struggles which lasted for centuries +was, on the whole, the simple maintenance of the -status quo-. + +Thus Italy was--if but indirectly--indebted to the Phoenicians for +the exemption of at least her central and northern provinces from +colonization, and for the counter-development of a national maritime +power there, especially in Etruria. But there are not wanting +indications that the Phoenicians already found it worth while +to manifest that jealousy which is usually associated with naval +domination, if not in reference to their Latin allies, at any rate +in reference to their Etruscan confederates, whose naval power was +greater. The statement as to the Carthaginians having prohibited +the sending forth of an Etruscan colony to the Canary islands, whether +true or false, reveals the existence of a rivalry of interests in +the matter. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter X + + + +1. Whether the name of Graeci was originally associated with the +interior of Epirus and the region of Dodona, or pertained rather +to the Aetolians who perhaps earlier reached the western sea, may +be left an open question; it must at a remote period have belonged +to a prominent stock or aggregate of stocks of Greece proper and +have passed over from these to the nation as a whole. In the Eoai +of Hesiod it appears as the older collective name for the nation, +although it is manifest that it is intentionally thrust aside and +subordinated to that of Hellenes. The latter does not occur in +Homer, but, in addition to Hesiod, it is found in Archilochus about +the year 50, and it may very well have come into use considerably +earlier (Duncker, Gesch. d. Alt. iii. 18, 556). Already before this +period, therefore, the Italians were so widely acquainted with the +Greeks that that name, which early fell into abeyance in Hellas, +was retained by them as a collective name for the Greek nation, +even when the latter itself adopted other modes of self-designation. +It was withal only natural that foreigners should have attained to +an earlier and clearer consciousness of the fact that the Hellenic +stocks belonged to one race than the latter themselves, and that +hence the collective designation should have become more definitely +fixed among the former than with the latter--not the less, that it +was not taken directly from the well-known Hellenes who dwelt the +nearest to them. It is difficult to see how we can reconcile with +this fact the statement that a century before the foundation of +Rome Italy was still quite unknown to the Greeks of Asia Minor. +We shall speak of the alphabet below; its history yields entirely +similar results. It may perhaps be characterized as a rash step +to reject the statement of Herodotus respecting the age of Homer +on the strength of such considerations; but is there no rashness +in following implicitly the guidance of tradition in questions of +this kind? + +2. Thus the three old Oriental forms of the --"id:i" (--"id:S"), +--"id:l" (--"id:/\") and --"id:r" (--"id:P"), for which as apt to +be confounded with the forms of the --"id:s", --"id:g", and --"id:p" +the signs --"id:I") --"id:L" --"id:R") were early proposed to be +substituted, remained either in exclusive or in very preponderant +use among the Achaean colonies, while the other Greeks of Italy +and Sicily without distinction of race used exclusively or at any +rate chiefly the more recent forms. + +3. E. g. the inscription on an earthen vase of Cumae runs thus:----Tataies +emi lequthos Fos d' an me klephsei thuphlos estai--. + +4. Among Greek writers this Tyrrhene legend of Odysseus makes its +earliest appearance in the Theogony of Hesiod, in one of its more +recent sections, and thereafter in authors of the period shortly +before Alexander, Ephorus (from whom the so-called Scymnus drew his +materials), and the writer known as Scylax. The first of these +sources belongs to an age when Italy was still regarded by the +Greeks as a group of islands, and is certainly therefore very old; +so that the origin of these legends may, on the whole, be confidently +placed in the regal period of Rome. + +5. I. X. Phoenicians in Italy, I. X. Relations of the Western +Italians to the Greeks + +6. I. X. Relations of Italy with Other Lands + +7. I. X. Phoenicians in Italy + +8. The Phoenician name was Karthada; the Greek, Karchedon; the +Roman, Cartago. + +9. The name -Afri-, already current in the days of Ennius and Cato +(comp. -Scipio Africanus-), is certainly not Greek, and is most +probably cognate with that of the Hebrews. + +10. The adjective -Sarranus- was from early times applied by the +Romans to the Tyrian purple and the Tyrian flute; and -Sarranus-was +in use also as a surname, at least from the time of the war with +Hannibal. -Sarra-, which occurs in Ennius and Plautus as the name +of the city, was perhaps formed from -Sarranus-, not directly from +the native name -Sor-. The Greek form, -Tyrus-, -Tyrius-, seems +not to occur in any Roman author anterior to Afranius (ap. Fest. +p. 355 M.). Compare Movers, Phon. ii. x, 174. + + + + +CHAPTER XI + +Law and Justice + + + +Modern Character of Italian Culture + + +History, as such, cannot reproduce the life of a people in the +infinite variety of its details; it must be content with exhibiting +the development of that life as a whole. The doings and dealings, +the thoughts and imaginings of the individual, however strongly +they may reflect the characteristics of the national mind, form +no part of history. Nevertheless it seems necessary to make some +attempt to indicate--only in the most general outlines--the features +of individual life in the case of those earlier ages which are, +so far as history is concerned, all but lost in oblivion; for it +is in this field of research alone that we acquire some idea of +the breadth of the gulf which separates our modes of thinking and +feeling from those of the civilized nations of antiquity. Tradition, +with its confused mass of national names and its dim legends, +resembles withered leaves which with difficulty we recognize to +have once been green. Instead of threading that dreary maze and +attempting to classify those shreds of humanity, the Chones and +Oenotrians, the Siculi and the Pelasgi, it will be more to the +purpose to inquire how the real life of the people in ancient Italy +expressed itself in their law, and their ideal life in religion; +how they farmed and how they traded; and whence the several nations +derived the art of writing and other elements of culture. Scanty +as our knowledge in this respect is in reference to the Roman people +and still more so in reference to the Sabellians and Etruscans, +even the slight and very defective information which is attainable +will enable the mind to associate with these names some more or +less clear glimpse of the once living reality. The chief result of +such a view (as we may here mention by way of anticipation) may be +summed up in saying that fewer traces comparatively of the primitive +state of things have been preserved in the case of the Italians, +and of the Romans in particular, than in the case of any other +Indo-Germanic race. The bow and arrow, the war-chariot, the incapacity +of women to hold property, the acquiring of wives by purchase, +the primitive form of burial, blood-revenge, the clan-constitution +conflicting with the authority of the community, a vivid natural +symbolism --all these, and numerous phenomena of a kindred character, +must be presumed to have lain at the foundation of civilization in +Italy as well as elsewhere; but at the epoch when that civilization +comes clearly into view they have already wholly disappeared, and +only the comparison of kindred races informs us that such things +once existed. In this respect Italian history begins at a far +later stage of civilization than e.g. the Greek or the Germanic, +and from the first it exhibits a comparatively modern character. + +The laws of most of the Italian stocks are lost in oblivion. Some +information regarding the law of the Latin land alone has survived +in Roman tradition. + + +Jurisdiction + + +All jurisdiction was vested in the community or, in other words, +in the king, who administered justice or "command" (-ius-) on +the "days of utterance" (-dies fasti-) at the "judgment platform" +(-tribunal-) in the place of public assembly, sitting on the +"chariot-seat" (-sella curulis-);(1) by his side stood his "messengers" +(-lictores-), and before him the person accused or the "parties" +(-rei-). No doubt in the case of slaves the decision lay primarily +with the master, and in the case of women with the father, husband, +or nearest male relative;(2) but slaves and women were not primarily +reckoned as members of the community. Over sons and grandsons who +were -in potestate- the power of the -pater familias- subsisted +concurrently with the royal jurisdiction; that power, however, +was not a jurisdiction in the proper sense of the term, but simply +a consequence of the father's inherent right of property in his +children. We find no traces of any jurisdiction appertaining to +the clans as such, or of any judicature at all that did not derive +its authority from the king. As regards the right of self-redress +and in particular the avenging of blood, we still find perhaps in +legends an echo of the original principle that a murderer, or any +one who should illegally protect a murderer, might justifiably be +slain by the kinsmen of the person murdered; but these very legends +characterize this principle as objectionable,(3) and from their +statements blood-revenge would appear to have been very early +suppressed in Rome through the energetic assertion of the authority +of the community. In like manner we perceive in the earliest Roman +law no trace of that influence which under the oldest Germanic +institutions the comrades of the accused and the people present +were entitled to exercise over the pronouncing of judgment; nor +do we find in the former any evidence of the usage so frequent in +the latter, by which the mere will and power to maintain a claim +with arms in hand were treated as judicially necessary or at any +rate admissible. + + +Crimes + + +Judicial procedure took the form of a public or a private process, +according as the king interposed of his own motion or only when +appealed to by the injured party. The former course was taken +only in cases which involved a breach of the public peace. First +of all, therefore, it was applicable in the case of public treason +or communion with the public enemy (-proditio-), and in that of +violent rebellion against the magistracy (-perduellio-). But the +public peace was also broken by the foul murderer (-parricida-), +the sodomite, the violator of a maiden's or matron's chastity, the +incendiary, the false witness, by those, moreover, who with evil +spells conjured away the harvest, or who without due title cut +the corn by night in the field entrusted to the protection of the +gods and of the people; all of these were therefore dealt with as +though they had been guilty of high treason. The king opened and +conducted the process, and pronounced sentence after conferring with +the senators whom he had called in to advise with him. He was at +liberty, however, after he had initiated the process, to commit +the further handling and the adjudication of the matter to deputies +who were, as a rule, taken from the senate. The later extraordinary +deputies, the two men for adjudicating on rebellion (-duoviri +perduellionis-) and the later standing deputies the "trackers of +murder" (-quaestores parricidii-) whose primary duty was to search +out and arrest murderers, and who therefore exercised in some +measure police functions, do not belong to the regal period, but may +probably have sprung out of, or been suggested by, certain of its +institutions. Imprisonment while the case was undergoing investigation +was the rule; the accused might, however, be released on bail. +Torture to compel confession was only applied to slaves. Every one +convicted of having broken the public peace expiated his offence with +his life. The modes of inflicting capital punishment were various: +the false witness, for example, was hurled from the stronghold-rock; +the harvest-thief was hanged; the incendiary was burnt. The king +could not grant pardon, for that power was vested in the community +alone; but the king might grant or refuse to the condemned permission +to appeal for mercy (-provocatio-). In addition to this, the law +recognized an intervention of the gods in favour of the condemned +criminal. He who had made a genuflection before the priest of +Jupiter might not be scourged on the same day; any one under fetters +who set foot in his house had to be released from his bonds; and +the life of a criminal was spared, if on his way to execution he +accidentally met one of the sacred virgins of Vesta. + + +Punishment of Offenses against Order + + +The king inflicted at his discretion fines payable to the state for +trespasses against order and for police offences; they consisted +in a definite number (hence the name -multa-) of cattle or sheep. +It was in his power also to pronounce sentence of scourging. + + +Law of Private Offenses + + +In all other cases, where the individual alone was injured and +not the public peace, the state only interposed upon the appeal of +the party injured, who caused his opponent, or in case of need by +laying violent hands on him compelled him, to appear personally along +with himself before the king. When both parties had appeared and +the plaintiff had orally stated his demand, while the defendant had +in similar fashion refused to comply with it, the king might either +investigate the cause himself or have it disposed of by a deputy +acting in his name. The regular form of satisfaction for such an +injury was a compromise arranged between the injurer and the injured; +the state only interfered supplementarily, when the aggressor did +not satisfy the party aggrieved by an adequate expiation (-poena-), +when any one had his property detained or his just demand was not +fulfilled. + + +Theft + + +Under what circumstances during this epoch theft was regarded as +at all expiable, and what in such an event the person injured was +entitled to demand from the thief, cannot be ascertained. But +the injured party with reason demanded heavier compensation from +a thief caught in the very act than from one detected afterwards, +since the feeling of exasperation which had to be appeased was more +vehement in the case of the former than in that of the latter. If +the theft appeared incapable of expiation, or if the thief was not +in a position to pay the value demanded by the injured party and +approved by the judge, he was by the judge assigned as a bondsman +to the person from whom he had stolen. + + +Injuries + + +In cases of damage (-iniuria-) to person or to property, where the +injury was not of a very serious description, the aggrieved party +was probably obliged unconditionally to accept compensation; if, +on the other hand, any member was lost in consequence of it, the +maimed person could demand eye for eye and tooth for tooth. + + +Property + + +Since the arable land among the Romans was long cultivated upon +the system of joint possession and was not distributed until a +comparatively late age, the idea of property was primarily associated +not with immoveable estate, but with "estate in slaves and cattle" +(-familia pecuniaque-). It was not the right of the stronger that +was regarded as the foundation of a title to it; on the contrary, +all property was considered as conferred by the community upon the +individual burgess for his exclusive possession and use; and therefore +it was only the burgess, and such as the community accounted in +this respect as equal to burgesses, that were capable of holding +property. All property passed freely from hand to hand. The Roman +law made no substantial distinction between moveable and immoveable +estate (from the time that the latter was regarded as private +property at all), and recognized no absolute vested interest of +children or other relatives in the paternal or family property. +Nevertheless it was not in the power of the father arbitrarily +to deprive his children of their right of inheritance, because he +could neither dissolve the paternal power nor execute a testament +except with consent of the whole community, which might be, and +certainly under such circumstances often was, refused. In his +lifetime no doubt the father might make dispositions disadvantageous +to his children; for the law was sparing of personal restrictions +on the proprietor and allowed, upon the whole, every grown-up +man freely to dispose of his property. The regulation, however, +under which he who alienated his hereditary property and deprived +his children of it was placed by order of the magistrate under +guardianship like a lunatic, was probably as ancient as the period +when the arable land was first divided and thereby private property +generally acquired greater importance for the commonwealth. In +this way the two antagonistic principles--the unlimited right of +the owner to dispose of his own, and the preservation of the family +property unbroken--were as far as possible harmonized in the Roman +law. Permanent restrictions on property were in no case allowed, +with the exception of servitudes such as those indispensable in +husbandry. Heritable leases and ground-rents charged upon property +could not legally exist. The law as little recognized mortgaging; +but the same purpose was served by the immediate delivery of the +property in pledge to the creditor as if he were its purchaser, +who thereupon gave his word of honour (-fiducia-) that he would not +alienate the object pledged until the payment fell due, and would +restore it to his debtor when the sum advanced had been repaid. + + +Contracts + + +Contracts concluded between the state and a burgess, particularly +the obligation given by those who became sureties for a payment +to the state (-praevides-, -praedes-), were valid without further +formality. On the other hand, contracts between private persons +under ordinary circumstances gave no claim for legal aid on the +part of the state. The only protection of the creditor was the +debtor's word of honour which was held in high esteem after the +wont of merchants, and possibly also, in those frequent cases where +an oath had been added, the fear of the gods who avenged perjury. +The only contracts legally actionable were those of betrothal (the +effect of which was that the father, in the event of his failing +to give the promised bride, had to furnish satisfaction and +compensation), of purchase (-mancipatio-), and of loan (-nexum-). +A purchase was held to be legally concluded when the seller delivered +the article purchased into the hand of the buyer (-mancipare-) and +the buyer at the same time paid to the seller the stipulated price +in presence of witnesses. This was done, after copper superseded +sheep and cattle as the regular standard of value, by weighing out +the stipulated quantity of copper in a balance adjusted by a neutral +person.(4) These conditions having been complied with, the seller +had to answer for his being the owner, and in addition seller and +purchaser had to fulfil every stipulation specially agreed on; the +party failing to do so made reparation to the other, just as if he +had deprived him of the article in question. But a purchase only +founded an action in the event of its being a transaction for +ready money: a purchase on credit neither gave nor took away the +right of property, and constituted no ground of action. A loan +was negotiated in a similar way; the creditor weighed over to the +debtor in presence of witnesses the stipulated quantity of copper +under the obligation (-nexum-) of repayment. In addition to +the capital the debtor had to pay interest, which under ordinary +circumstances probably amounted to ten per cent per annum.(5) The +repayment of the loan took place, when the time came, with similar +forms. + + +Private Process + + +If a debtor to the state did not fulfil his obligations, he was +without further ceremony sold with all that he had; the simple +demand on the part of the state was sufficient to establish the +debt. If on the other hand a private person informed the king of +any violation of his property (-vindiciae-) or if repayment of the +loan received did not duly take place, the procedure depended on +whether the facts relating to the cause needed to be established, +which was ordinarily the case with actions as to property, or were +already clearly apparent, which in the case of actions as to loans +could easily be accomplished according to the current rules of law +by means of the witnesses. The establishment of the facts assumed +the form of a wager, in which each party made a deposit (-sacramentum-) +against the contingency of his being worsted; in important causes +when the value involved was greater than ten oxen, a deposit of +five oxen, in causes of less amount, a deposit of five sheep. The +judge then decided who had gained the wager, whereupon the deposit +of the losing party fell to the priests for behoof of the public +sacrifices. The party who lost the wager and allowed thirty days +to elapse without giving due satisfaction to his opponent, and the +party whose obligation to pay was established from the first--consequently, +as a rule, the debtor who had got a loan and had not witnesses to +attest its repayment--became liable to proceedings in execution +"by laying on of hands" (-manus iniectio-); the plaintiff seized +him wherever he found him, and brought him to the bar of the judge +simply to satisfy the acknowledged debt. The party seized was not +allowed to defend himself; a third person might indeed intercede for +him and represent this act of violence as unwarranted (-vindex-), +in which case the proceedings were stayed; but such an intercession +rendered the intercessor personally responsible, for which reason +the proletarian could not be intercessor for the tribute-paying +burgess. If neither satisfaction nor intercession took place, the +king adjudged the party seized to his creditor, so that the latter +could lead him away and keep him like a slave. After the expiry +of sixty days during which the debtor had been three times exposed +in the market-place and proclamation had been made to ascertain +whether any one would have compassion upon him, if these steps were +without effect, his creditors had the right to put him to death +and to divide his carcase, or to sell him with his children and his +effects into foreign slavery, or to keep him at home in a slave's +stead; for such an one could not by the Roman law, so long as he +remained within the bounds of the Roman community, become completely +a slave.(6) Thus the Roman community protected every man's estate +and effects with unrelenting rigour as well from the thief and +the injurer, as from the unauthorized possessor and the insolvent +debtor. + + +Guardianship + + +Protection was in like manner provided for the estate of persons +not capable of bearing arms and therefore not capable of protecting +their own property, such as minors and lunatics, and above all +for that of women; in these cases the nearest heirs were called to +undertake the guardianship. + + +Law of Inheritance + + +After a man's death his property fell to the nearest heirs: in the +division all who were equal in proximity of relationship--women +included--shared alike, and the widow along with her children was +admitted to her proportional share. A dispensation from the legal +order of succession could only be granted by the assembly of the +people; previous to which the consent of the priests had to be +obtained on account of the ritual obligations attaching to succession. +Such dispensations appear nevertheless to have become at an early +period very frequent. In the event of a dispensation not being +procured, the want of it might be in some measure remedied by +means of the completely free control which every one had over his +property during his lifetime. His whole property was transferred +to a friend, who distributed it after death according to the wishes +of the deceased. + + +Manumission + + +Manumission was unknown to the law of very early times. The owner +might indeed refrain from exercising his proprietary rights; but +this did not cancel the existing impossibility of master and slave +coming under mutual obligations; still less did it enable the slave +to acquire, in relation to the community, the rights of a guest +or of a burgess. Accordingly manumission must have been at first +simply -de facto-, not -de jure-; and the master cannot have been +debarred from the possibility of again at pleasure treating the +freedman as a slave. But there was a departure from this principle +in cases where the master came under obligation not merely towards +the slave, but towards the community, to leave him in possession +of freedom. There was no special legal form, however, for thus +binding the master--the best proof that there was at first no +such thing as a manumission,--but those methods were employed for +this object which the law otherwise presented, testament, action, +or census. If the master had either declared his slave free when +executing his last will in the assembly of the people, or had allowed +his slave to claim freedom in his own presence before a judge or +to get his name inscribed in the valuation-roll, the freedman was +regarded not indeed as a burgess, but as personally free in relation +to his former master and his heirs, and was accordingly looked upon +at first as a client, and in later times as a plebeian.(7) + +The emancipation of a son encountered greater difficulties than +that of a slave; for while the relation of master to slave was +accidental and therefore capable of being dissolved at will, the +father could never cease to be father. Accordingly in later times +the son was obliged, in order to get free from the father, first +to enter into slavery and then to be set free out of this latter +state; but in the period now before us no emancipation of sons can +have as yet existed. + + +Clients and Foreigners + + +Such were the laws under which burgesses and clients lived in Rome. +Between these two classes, so far as we can see, there subsisted from +the beginning complete equality of private rights. The foreigner +on the other hand, if he had not submitted to a Roman patron and thus +lived as a client, was beyond the pale of the law both in person +and in property. Whatever the Roman burgess took from him was +as rightfully acquired as was the shellfish, belonging to nobody, +which was picked up by the sea-shore; but in the case of ground +lying beyond the Roman bounds, while the Roman burgess might take +practical possession, he could not be regarded as in a legal sense +its proprietor; for the individual burgess was not entitled to +advance the bounds of the community. The case was different in +war: whatever the soldier who was fighting in the ranks of the levy +gained, whether moveable or immoveable property, fell not to him, +but to the state, and accordingly here too it depended upon the +state whether it would advance or contract its bounds. + +Exceptions from these general rules were created by special +state-treaties, which secured certain rights to the members of +foreign communities within the Roman state. In particular, the +perpetual league between Rome and Latium declared all contracts +between Romans and Latins to be valid in law, and at the same time +instituted in their case an accelerated civil process before sworn +"recoverers" (-reciperatores-). As, contrary to Roman usage, +which in other instances committed the decision to a single judge, +these always sat in plural number and that number uneven, they are +probably to be conceived as a court for the cognizance of commercial +dealings, composed of arbiters from both nations and an umpire. +They sat in judgment at the place where the contract was entered +into, and were obliged to have the process terminated at latest +in ten days. The forms, under which the dealings between Romans +and Latins were conducted, were of course the general forms which +regulated the mutual dealings of patricians and plebeians; for +the -mancipatio- and the -nexum- were originally not at all formal +acts, but the significant expression of legal ideas which held a +sway at least as extensive as the range of the Latin language. + +Dealings with countries strictly foreign were carried on in a +different fashion and by means of other forms. In very early times +treaties as to commerce and legal redress must have been entered +into with the Caerites and other friendly peoples, and must have +formed the basis of the international private law (-ius gentium-), +which gradually became developed in Rome alongside of the law of +the land. An indication of the formation of such a law is found +in the remarkable -mutuum-, "the exchange" (from -mutare- like +-dividuus-)--a form of loan, which was not based like the -nexum- +upon a binding declaration of the debtor expressly emitted before +witnesses, but upon the mere transit of the money from one hand +to another, and which as evidently originated in dealings with +foreigners as the -nexum- in business dealings at home. It is +accordingly a significant fact that the word reappears in Sicilian +Greek as --moiton--; and with this is to be connected the reappearance +of the Latin -carcer- in the Sicilian --karkaron--. Since it is +philologically certain that both words were originally Latin, their +occurrence in the local dialect of Sicily becomes an important +testimony to the frequency of the dealings of Latin traders in +the island, which led to their borrowing money there and becoming +liable to that imprisonment for debt, which was everywhere in the +earlier systems of law the consequence of the non-repayment of a +loan. Conversely, the name of the Syracusan prison, "stone-quarries" +or --latomiai--, was transferred at an early period to the enlarged +Roman state-prison, the -lautumiae-. + + +Character of the Roman Law + + +We have derived our outline of these institutions mainly from +the earliest record of the Roman common law prepared about half a +century after the abolition of the monarchy; and their existence in +the regal period, while doubtful perhaps as to particular points of +detail, cannot be doubted in the main. Surveying them as a whole, +we recognize the law of a far-advanced agricultural and mercantile +city, marked alike by its liberality and its consistency. In +its case the conventional language of symbols, such as e. g. the +Germanic laws exhibit, has already quite disappeared. There is no +doubt that such a symbolic language must have existed at one time +among the Italians. Remarkable instances of it are to be found in +the form of searching a house, wherein the searcher must, according +to the Roman as well as the Germanic custom, appear without upper +garment merely in his shirt; and especially in the primitive +Latin formula for declaring war, in which we meet with two symbols +occurring at least also among the Celts and the Germans--the "pure +herb" (-herba pura-, Franconian -chrene chruda-) as a symbol of +the native soil, and the singed bloody staff as a sign of commencing +war. But with a few exceptions, in which reasons of religion +protected the ancient usages--to which class the -confarreatio- +as well as the declaration of war by the college of Fetiales +belonged--the Roman law, as we know it, uniformly and on principle +rejects the symbol, and requires in all cases neither more nor +less than the full and pure expression of will. The delivery of an +article, the summons to bear witness, the conclusion of marriage, +were complete as soon as the parties had in an intelligible manner +declared their purpose; it was usual, indeed, to deliver the article +into the hand of the new owner, to pull the person summoned as +a witness by the ear, to veil the bride's head and to lead her in +solemn procession to her husband's house; but all these primitive +practices were already, under the oldest national law of the +Romans, customs legally worthless. In a way entirely analogous to +the setting aside of allegory and along with it of personification +in religion, every sort of symbolism was on principle expelled from +their law. In like manner that earliest state of things presented +to us by the Hellenic as well as the Germanic institutions, wherein +the power of the community still contends with the authority of +the smaller associations of clans or cantons that are merged in +it, is in Roman law wholly superseded; there is no alliance for the +vindication of rights within the state, to supplement the state's +imperfect aid, by mutual offence and defence; nor is there any +serious trace of vengeance for bloodshed, or of the family property +restricting the individual's power of disposal. Such institutions +must probably at one time have existed among the Italians; traces +of them may perhaps be found in particular institutions of ritual, +e. g. in the expiatory goat, which the involuntary homicide was +obliged to give to the nearest of kin to the slain; but even at the +earliest period of Rome which we can conceive this stage had long +been transcended. The clan and the family doubtless were not +annihilated in the Roman community; but the theoretical as well +as the practical omnipotence of the state in its own sphere was no +more limited by them than by the freedom which the state granted +and guaranteed to the burgess. The ultimate foundation of law was +in all cases the state; freedom was simply another expression for +the right of citizenship in its widest sense; all property was +based on express or tacit transference by the community to the +individual; a contract was valid only so far as the community by +its representatives attested it, a testament only so far as the +community confirmed it. The provinces of public and private law were +definitely and clearly discriminated: the former having reference +to crimes against the state, which immediately called for the +judgment of the state and always involved capital punishment; the +latter having reference to offences against a fellow-burgess or a +guest, which were mainly disposed of in the way of compromise by +expiation or satisfaction made to the party injured, and were never +punished with the forfeit of life, but, at most, with the loss of +freedom. The greatest liberality in the permission of commerce and +the most rigorous procedure in execution went hand in hand; just +as in commercial states at the present day the universal right to +draw bills of exchange appears in conjunction with a strict procedure +in regard to them. The burgess and the client stood in their +dealings on a footing of entire equality; state-treaties conceded +a comprehensive equality of rights also to the guest; women were +placed completely on a level in point of legal capacity with men, +although restricted in action; the boy had scarcely grown up when +he received at once the most comprehensive powers in the disposal +of his estate, and every one who could dispose at all was as +sovereign in his own sphere as was the state in public affairs. A +feature eminently characteristic was the system of credit. There +did not exist any credit on landed security, but instead of a debt +on mortgage the step which constitutes at present the final stage +in mortgage-procedure --the delivery of the property from the debtor +to the creditor--took place at once. On the other hand personal +credit was guaranteed in the most summary, not to say extravagant +fashion; for the lawgiver entitled the creditor to treat his insolvent +debtor like a thief, and granted to him in entire legislative earnest +what Shylock, half in jest, stipulated for from his mortal enemy, +guarding indeed by special clauses the point as to the cutting off +too much more carefully than did the Jew. The law could not have +more clearly expressed its design, which was to establish at once +an independent agriculture free of debt and a mercantile credit, +and to suppress with stringent energy all merely nominal ownership +and all breaches of fidelity. If we further take into consideration +the right of settlement recognized at an early date as belonging +to all the Latins,(8) and the validity which was likewise early +pronounced to belong to civil marriage,(9) we shall perceive that +this state, which made the highest demands on its burgesses and +carried the idea of subordinating the individual to the interest of +the whole further than any state before or since has done, only did +and only could do so by itself removing the barriers to intercourse +and unshackling liberty quite as much as it subjected it to +restriction. In permission or in prohibition the law was always +absolute. As the foreigner who had none to intercede for him was +like the hunted deer, so the guest was on a footing of equality +with the burgess. A contract did not ordinarily furnish a ground +of action, but where the right of the creditor was acknowledged, +it was so all-powerful that there was no deliverance for the poor +debtor, and no humane or equitable consideration was shown towards +him. It seemed as if the law found a pleasure in presenting on all +sides its sharpest spikes, in drawing the most extreme consequences, +in forcibly obtruding on the bluntest understanding the tyrannic +nature of the idea of right. The poetical form and the genial +symbolism, which so pleasingly prevail in the Germanic legal +ordinances, were foreign to the Roman; in his law all was clear and +precise; no symbol was employed, no institution was superfluous. +It was not cruel; everything necessary was performed without much +ceremony, even the punishment of death; that a free man could not +be tortured was a primitive maxim of Roman law, to obtain which +other peoples have had to struggle for thousands of years. Yet this +law was frightful in its inexorable severity, which we cannot suppose +to have been very greatly mitigated by humanity in practice, for +it was really the law of the people; more terrible than Venetian +-piombi- and chambers of torture was that series of living entombments +which the poor man saw yawning before him in the debtors' towers +of the rich. But the greatness of Rome was involved in, and was +based upon, the fact that the Roman people ordained for itself and +endured a system of law, in which the eternal principles of freedom +and of subordination, of property and of legal redress, reigned +and still at the present day reign unadulterated and unmodified. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter XI + + + +1. This "chariot-seat"--philologically no other explanation can +well be given (comp. Servius ad Aen. i. 16)--is most simply explained +by supposing that the king alone was entitled to ride in a chariot +within the city (v. The King)--whence originated the privilege +subsequently accorded to the chief magistrate on solemn occasions--and +that originally, so long as there was no elevated tribunal, he +gave judgment, at the comitium or wherever else he wished, from +the chariot-seat. + +2. I. V. The Housefather and His Household + +3. The story of the death of king Tatius, as given by Plutarch +(Rom. 23, 24), viz. that kinsmen of Tatius had killed envoys from +Laurentum; that Tatius had refused the complaint of the kinsmen +of the slain for redress; that they then put Tatius to death; that +Romulus acquitted the murderers of Tatius, on the ground that murder +had been expiated by murder; but that, in consequence of the penal +judgments of the gods that simultaneously fell upon Rome and +Laurentum, the perpetrators of both murders were in the sequel +subjected to righteous punishment--this story looks quite like a +historical version of the abolition of blood-revenge, just as the +introduction of the -provocatio- lies at the foundation of the myth +of the Horatii. The versions of the same story that occur elsewhere +certainly present considerable variations, but they seem to be +confused or dressed up. + +4. The -mancipatio- in its developed form must have been more recent +than the Servian reform, as the selection of mancipable objects, +which had for its aim the fixing of agricultural property, shows, +and as even tradition must have assumed, for it makes Servius the +inventor of the balance. But in its origin the -mancipatio- must +be far more ancient; for it primarily applies only to objects which +are acquired by grasping with the hand, and must therefore in its +earliest form have belonged to the epoch when property consisted +essentially in slaves and cattle (-familia pecuniaque-). The enumeration +of those objects which had to be acquired by -mancipatio-, falls +accordingly to be ranked as a Servian innovation; the -mancipatio- +itself, and consequently the use also of the balance and of copper, +are older. Beyond doubt -mancipatio- was originally the universal +form of purchase, and occurred in the case of all articles even +after the Servian reform; it was only a misunderstanding of later +ages which put upon the rule, that certain articles had to be +transferred by -mancipatio-, the construction that these articles +only and no others could be so transferred. + +5. Viz. for the year of ten months one twelfth part of the capital +(-uncia-), which amounts to 8 1/3 per cent for the year of ten, +and 10 per cent for the fear of twelve, months. + +6. I. VII. Relation of Rome to Latium + +7. I. VI. Dependents and Guests. + +8. I. VII. Relation of Rome to Latium + +9. I. VI. Class of --Metoeci-- Subsisting by the Side of the +Community + + + + +CHAPTER XII + +Religion + + + +Roman Religion + + +The Roman world of gods, as we have already indicated,(1) was a +higher counterpart, an ideal reflection, of the earthly Rome, in +which the little and the great were alike repeated with painstaking +exactness. The state and the clan, the individual phenomenon of +nature as well as the individual mental operation, every man, every +place and object, every act even falling within the sphere of Roman +law, reappeared in the Roman world of gods; and, as earthly things +come and go in perpetual flux, the circle of the gods underwent +a corresponding fluctuation. The tutelary spirit, which presided +over the individual act, lasted no longer than that act itself: the +tutelary spirit of the individual man lived and died with the man; +and eternal duration belonged to divinities of this sort only in +so far as similar acts and similarly constituted men and therefore +spirits of a similar kind were ever coming into existence afresh. +As the Roman gods ruled over the Roman community, so every foreign +community was presided over by its own gods; but sharp as was the +distinction between the burgess and non-burgess, between the Roman +and the foreign god, both foreign men and foreign divinities could +be admitted by resolution of the community to the freedom of Rome, +and when the citizens of a conquered city were transported to Rome, +the gods of that city were also invited to take up their new abode +there. + + +Oldest Table of Roman Festivals + + +We obtain information regarding the original cycle of the gods, as +it stood in Rome previous to any contact with the Greeks, from the +list of the public and duly named festival-days (-feriae publicae-) +of the Roman community, which is preserved in its calendar and is +beyond all question the oldest document which has reached us from +Roman antiquity. The first place in it is occupied by the gods +Jupiter and Mars along with the duplicate of the latter, Quirinus. +To Jupiter all the days of full moon (-idus-) are sacred, besides +all the wine-festivals and various other days to be mentioned +afterwards; the 21st May (-agonalia-) is dedicated to his counterpart, +the "bad Jovis" (-Ve-diovis-). To Mars belongs the new-year of the +1st March, and generally the great warrior-festival in this month +which derived its very name from the god; this festival, introduced +by the horse-racing (-equirria-) on the 27th February, had during +March its principal solemnities on the days of the shield-forging +(-equirria- or -Mamuralia-, March 14), of the armed dance at the +Comitium (-quinquatrus-, March 19), and of the consecration of +trumpets (-tubilustrium-, March 23). As, when a war was to be waged, +it began with this festival, so after the close of the campaign +in autumn there followed a further festival of Mars, that of +the consecration of arms (-armilustrium-, October 19). Lastly, +to the second Mars, Quirinus, the 17th February was appropriated +(-Quirinalia-). Among the other festivals those which related to +the culture of corn and wine hold the first place, while the pastoral +feasts play a subordinate part. To this class belongs especially +the great series of spring-festivals in April, in the course of +which sacrifices were offered on the 15th to Tellus, the nourishing +earth (-fordicidia-, sacrifice of the pregnant cow), on the 19th +to Ceres, the goddess of germination and growth (-Cerialia-) on the +21st to Pales, the fecundating goddess of the flocks (-Parilia-), +on the 23rd to Jupiter, as the protector of the vines and of the +vats of the previous year's vintage which were first opened on this +day (-Vinalia-), and on the 25th to the bad enemy of the crops, rust +(-Robigus-: -Robigalia-). So after the completion of the work of +the fields and the fortunate ingathering of their produce double +festivals were celebrated in honour of the god and goddess of +inbringing and harvest, Census (from -condere-) and Ops; the first, +immediately after the completion of cutting (August 21, -Consualia-; +August 25, -Opiconsiva-); and the second, in the middle of winter, +when the blessings of the granary are especially manifest (December +15, -Consualia-; December 19, -Opalia-); between these two latter +days the thoughtfulness of the old arrangers of the festivals inserted +that of seed-sowing (Saturnalia from -Saeturnus- or -Saturnus-, +December 17). In like manner the festival of must or of healing +(-meditrinalia-, October 11), so called because a healing virtue +was attributed to the fresh must, was dedicated to Jovis as the +wine-god after the completion of the vintage; the original reference +of the third wine-feast (-Vinalia-, August 19) is not clear. To +these festivals were added at the close of the year the wolf-festival +(-Lupercalia-, February 17) of the shepherds in honour of the +good god, Faunus, and the boundary-stone festival (-Terminalia-, +February 23) of the husbandmen, as also the summer grove-festival +of two days (-Lucaria-, July 19, 21) which may have had reference +to the forest-gods (-Silvani-), the fountain-festival (-Fontinalia-, +October 13), and the festival of the shortest day, which brings in +the new sun (-An-geronalia-, -Divalia-, December 21). + +Of not less importance--as was to be expected in the case of the +port of Latium--were the mariner-festivals of the divinities of the +sea (-Neptunalia-, July 23), of the harbour (-Portunalia-, August +17), and of the Tiber stream (-Volturnalia-, August 27). + +Handicraft and art, on the other hand, are represented in this cycle +of the gods only by the god of fire and of smith's work, Vulcanus, +to whom besides the day named after him (-Volcanalia-, August 23) +the second festival of the consecration of trumpets was dedicated +(-tubilustrium-, May 23), and eventually also by the festival of +Carmentis (-Carmentalia- January 11, 15), who probably was adored +originally as the goddess of spells and of song and only inferentially +as protectress of births. + +Domestic and family life in general were represented by the festival +of the goddess of the house and of the spirits of the storechamber, +Vesta and the Penates (-Vestalia-, June 9); the festival of the +goddess of birth(2) (-Matralia-, June 11); the festival of the +blessing of children, dedicated to Liber and Libera (-Liberalia-, +March 17), the festival of departed spirits (-Feralia-, February +21), and the three days' ghost-celebration (-Lemuria- May 9, +11, 13); while those having reference to civil relations were the +two--otherwise to us somewhat obscure--festivals of the king's +flight (-Regifugium-, February 24) and of the people's flight +(-Poplifugia-, July 5), of which at least the last day was devoted +to Jupiter, and the festival of the Seven Mounts (-Agonia- or +-Septimontium-, December 11). A special day (-agonia-, January +9) was also consecrated to Janus, the god of beginning. The real +nature of some other days--that of Furrina (July 25), and that +of the Larentalia devoted to Jupiter and Acca Larentia, perhaps a +feast of the Lares (December 23)--is no longer known. + +This table is complete for the immoveable public festivals; +and--although by the side of these standing festal days there +certainly occurred from the earliest times changeable and occasional +festivals--this document, in what it says as well as in what it +omits, opens up to us an insight into a primitive age otherwise +almost wholly lost to us. The union of the Old Roman community and +the Hill-Romans had indeed already taken place when this table of +festivals was formed, for we find in it Quirinus alongside of Mars; +but, when this festival-list was drawn up, the Capitoline temple +was not yet in existence, for Juno and Minerva are absent; nor was +the temple of Diana erected on the Aventine; nor was any notion of +worship borrowed from the Greeks. + + +Mars and Jupiter + + +The central object not only of Roman but of Italian worship generally +in that epoch when the Italian stock still dwelt by itself in the +peninsula was, according to all indications, the god Maurs or Mars, +the killing god,(3) preeminently regarded as the divine champion +of the burgesses, hurling the spear, protecting the flock, +and overthrowing the foe. Each community of course possessed its +own Mars, and deemed him to be the strongest and holiest of all; +and accordingly every "-ver sacrum-" setting out to found a new +community marched under the protection of its own Mars. To Mars +was dedicated the first month not only in the Roman calendar of +the months, which in no other instance takes notice of the gods, +but also probably in all the other Latin and Sabellian calendars: +among the Roman proper names, which in like manner contain no allusion +to any gods, Marcus, Mamercus, and Mamurius appear in prevailing +use from very early times; with Mars and his sacred woodpecker was +connected the oldest Italian prophecy; the wolf, the animal sacred +to Mars, was the badge of the Roman burgesses, and such sacred +national legends as the Roman imagination was able to produce +referred exclusively to the god Mars and to his duplicate Quirinus. +In the list of festivals certainly Father Diovis--a purer and +more civil than military reflection of the character of the Roman +community--occupies a larger space than Mars, just as the priest +of Jupiter has precedence over the two priests of the god of war; +but the latter still plays a very prominent part in the list, and +it is even quite likely that, when this arrangement of festivals +was established, Jovis stood by the side of Mars like Ahuramazda +by the side of Mithra, and that the worship of the warlike Roman +community still really centred at this time in the martial god of +death and his March festival, while it was not the "care-destroyer" +afterwards introduced by the Greeks, but Father Jovis himself, who +was regarded as the god of the heart-gladdening wine. + + +Nature of the Roman Gods + + +It is no part of our present task to consider the Roman deities in +detail; but it is important, even in an historical point of view, +to call attention to the peculiar character at once of shallowness +and of fervour that marked the Roman faith. Abstraction +and personification lay at the root of the Roman as well as of +the Hellenic mythology: the Hellenic as well as the Roman god was +originally suggested by some natural phenomenon or some mental +conception, and to the Roman just as to the Greek every divinity +appeared a person. This is evident from their apprehending the +individual gods as male or female; from their style of appeal to +an unknown deity,--"Be thou god or goddess, man or woman;" and from +the deeply cherished belief that the name of the proper tutelary +spirit of the community ought to remain for ever unpronounced, lest +an enemy should come to learn it and calling the god by his name +should entice him beyond the bounds. A remnant of this strongly +sensuous mode of apprehension clung to Mars in particular, the +oldest and most national form of divinity in Italy. But while +abstraction, which lies at the foundation of every religion, elsewhere +endeavoured to rise to wider and more enlarged conceptions and to +penetrate ever more deeply into the essence of things, the forms +of the Roman faith remained at, or sank to, a singularly low level +of conception and of insight. While in the case of the Greek +every influential motive speedily expanded into a group of forms +and gathered around it a circle of legends and ideas, in the case +of the Roman the fundamental thought remained stationary in its +original naked rigidity. The religion of Rome had nothing of its +own presenting even a remote resemblance to the religion of Apollo +investing earthly morality with a halo of glory, to the divine +intoxication of Dionysus, or to the Chthonian and mystical worships +with their profound and hidden meanings. It had indeed its "bad +god" (-Ve-diovis-), its apparitions and ghosts (-lemures-), and +afterwards its deities of foul air, of fever, of diseases, perhaps even +of theft (-laverna-); but it was unable to excite that mysterious +awe after which the human heart has always a longing, or thoroughly +to embody the incomprehensible and even the malignant elements +in nature and in man, which must not be wanting in religion if it +would reflect man as a whole. In the religion of Rome there was +hardly anything secret except possibly the names of the gods of +the city, the Penates; the real character, moreover, even of these +gods was manifest to every one. + +The national Roman theology sought on all hands to form distinct +conceptions of important phenomena and qualities, to express them +in its terminology, and to classify them systematically--in the +first instance, according to that division of persons and things +which also formed the basis of private law--that it might thus be +able in due fashion to invoke the gods individually or by classes, +and to point out (-indigitare-) to the multitude the modes of +appropriate invocation. Of such notions, the products of outward +abstraction--of the homeliest simplicity, sometimes venerable, +sometimes ridiculous--Roman theology was in substance made up. +Conceptions such as sowing (-saeturnus-) and field-labour (-ops-) +ground (-tellus-) and boundary-stone (-terminus-), were among +the oldest and most sacred of Roman divinities. Perhaps the most +peculiar of all the forms of deity in Rome, and probably the only +one for whose worship there was devised an effigy peculiarly Italian, +was the double-headed lanus; and yet it was simply suggestive of the +idea so characteristic of the scrupulous spirit of Roman religion, +that at the commencement of every act the "spirit of opening" should +first be invoked, while it above all betokened the deep conviction +that it was as indispensable to combine the Roman gods in sets as +it was necessary that the more personal gods of the Hellenes should +stand singly and apart.(4) Of all the worships of Rome that which +perhaps had the deepest hold was the worship of the tutelary spirits +that presided in and over the household and the storechamber: these +were in public worship Vesta and the Penates, in family worship +the gods of forest and field, the Silvani, and above all the gods +of the household in its strict sense, the Lases or Lares, to whom +their share of the family meal was regularly assigned, and before +whom it was, even in the time of Cato the Elder, the first duty +of the father of the household on returning home to perform his +devotions. In the ranking of the gods, however, these spirits +of the house and of the field occupied the lowest rather than the +highest place; it was--and it could not be otherwise with a religion +which renounced all attempts to idealize--not the broadest and +most general, but the simplest and most individual abstraction, in +which the pious heart found most nourishment. + +This indifference to ideal elements in the Roman religion was +accompanied by a practical and utilitarian tendency, as is clearly +enough apparent in the table of festivals which has been already +explained. Increase of substance and of prosperity by husbandry +and the rearing of flocks and herds, by seafaring and commerce--this +was what the Roman desired from his gods; and it very well accords +with this view, that the god of good faith (-deus fidius-), the +goddess of chance and good luck (-fors fortuna-), and the god of +traffic (-mercurius-), all originating out of their daily dealings, +although not occurring in that ancient table of festivals, appear +very early as adored far and near by the Romans. Strict frugality +and mercantile speculation were rooted in the Roman character too +deeply not to find their thorough reflection in its divine counterpart. + + +Spirits + + +Respecting the world of spirits little can be said. The departed +souls of mortal men, the "good" (-manes-) continued to exist as +shades haunting the spot where the body reposed (-dii inferi-), and +received meat and drink from the survivors. But they dwelt in the +depths beneath, and there was no bridge that led from the lower +world either to men ruling on earth or upward to the gods above. +The hero-worship of the Greeks was wholly foreign to the Romans, +and the late origin and poor invention of the legend as to the +foundation of Rome are shown by the thoroughly unRoman transformation +of king Romulus into the god Quirinus. Numa, the oldest and most +venerable name in Roman tradition, never received the honours of +a god in Rome as Theseus did in Athens. + + +Priests + + +The most ancient priesthoods in the community bore reference to +Mars; especially the priest of the god of the community, nominated +for life, "the kindler of Mars" (-flamen Martialis-) as he was +designated from presenting burnt-offerings, and the twelve "leapers" +(-salii-), a band of young men who in March performed the war-dance +in honour of Mars and accompanied it by song. We have already +explained(5) how the amalgamation of the Hill-community with that +of the Palatine gave rise to the duplication of the Roman Mars, +and thereby to the introduction of a second priest of Mars--the +-flamen Quirinalis- --and a second guild of dancers--the -salii +collini-. + +To these were added other public worships (some of which probably +had an origin far earlier than that of Rome), for which either +single priests were appointed--as those of Carmentis, of Volcanus, +of the god of the harbour and the river--or the celebration of +which was committed to particular colleges or clans in name of the +people. Such a college was probably that of the twelve "field-brethren" +(-fratres arvales-) who invoked the "creative goddess" (-dea dia-) in +May to bless the growth of the seed; although it is very doubtful +whether they already at this period enjoyed that peculiar consideration +which we find subsequently accorded to them in the time of the +empire. These were accompanied by the Titian brotherhood, which +had to preserve and to attend to the distinctive -cultus- of the +Roman Sabines,(6) and by the thirty "curial kindlers" (-flamines +curiales-), instituted for the hearth of the thirty curies. The +"wolf festival" (-lupercalia-) already mentioned was celebrated for +the protection of the flocks and herds in honour of the "favourable +god" (-faunus-) by the Quinctian clan and the Fabii who were +associated with them after the admission of the Hill-Romans, in +the month of February--a genuine shepherds' carnival, in which the +"Wolves" (-luperci-) jumped about naked with a girdle of goatskin, +and whipped with thongs those whom they met. In like manner the +community may be conceived as represented and participating in the +case of other gentile worships. + +To this earliest worship of the Roman community new rites were +gradually added. The most important of these worships had reference +to the city as newly united and virtually founded afresh by the +construction of the great wall and stronghold. In it the highest +and best lovis of the Capitol--that is, the genius of the Roman +people--was placed at the head of all the Roman divinities, and +his "kindler" thenceforth appointed, the -flamen Dialis-, formed +in conjunction with the two priests of Mars the sacred triad +of high-priests. Contemporaneously began the -cultus- of the new +single city-hearth--Vesta--and the kindred -cultus- of the Penates +of the community.(7) Six chaste virgins, daughters as it were of +the household of the Roman people, attended to that pious service, +and had to maintain the wholesome fire of the common hearth always +blazing as an example(8) and an omen to the burgesses. This +worship, half-domestic, half-public, was the most sacred of all in +Rome, and it accordingly was the latest of all the heathen worships +there to give way before the ban of Christianity. The Aventine, +moreover, was assigned to Diana as the representative of the Latin +confederacy,(9) but for that very reason no special Roman priesthood +was appointed for her; and the community gradually became accustomed +to render definite homage to numerous other deified abstractions +by means of general festivals or by representative priesthoods +specially destined for their service; in particular instances--such +as those of the goddess of flowers (-Flora-) and of fruits (-Pomona-)--it +appointed also special -flamines-, so that the number of these was +at length fifteen. But among them they carefully distinguished +those three "great kindlers" (-flamines maiores-), who down to the +latest times could only be taken from the ranks of the old burgesses, +just as the old incorporations of the Palatine and Quirinal -Salii- +always asserted precedence over all the other colleges of priests. +Thus the necessary and stated observances due to the gods of the +community were entrusted once for all by the state to fixed colleges +or regular ministers; and the expense of sacrifices, which was +presumably not inconsiderable, was covered partly by the assignation +of certain lands to particular temples, partly by the fines.(10) + +It cannot be doubted that the public worship of the other Latin, +and presumably also of the Sabellian, communities was essentially +similar in character. At any rate it can be shown that the Flamines, +Salii, Luperci, and Vestales were institutions not special to Rome, +but general among the Latins, and at least the first three colleges +appear to have been formed in the kindred communities independently +of the Roman model. + +Lastly, as the state made arrangements for the cycle of its gods, +so each burgess might make similar arrangements within his individual +sphere, and might not only present sacrifices, but might also +consecrate set places and ministers, to his own divinities. + + +Colleges of Sacred Lore + + +There was thus enough of priesthood and of priests in Rome. Those, +however, who had business with a god resorted to the god, and not +to the priest. Every suppliant and inquirer addressed himself +directly to the divinity--the community of course by the king as its +mouthpiece, just as the -curia- by the -curio- and the -equites-by +their colonels; no intervention of a priest was allowed to conceal +or to obscure this original and simple relation. But it was no +easy matter to hold converse with a god. The god had his own way +of speaking, which was intelligible only to the man acquainted +with it; but one who did rightly understand it knew not only how +to ascertain, but also how to manage, the will of the god, and even +in case of need to overreach or to constrain him. It was natural, +therefore, that the worshipper of the god should regularly consult +such men of skill and listen to their advice; and thence arose +the corporations or colleges of men specially skilled in religious +lore, a thoroughly national Italian institution, which had a far +more important influence on political development than the individual +priests and priesthoods. These colleges have been often, but +erroneously, confounded with the priesthoods. The priesthoods +were charged with the worship of a specific divinity; the skilled +colleges, on the other hand, were charged with the preservation of +traditional rules regarding those more general religious observances, +the proper fulfilment of which implied a certain amount of knowledge +and rendered it necessary that the state in its own interest should +provide for the faithful transmission of that knowledge. These +close corporations supplying their own vacancies, of course from +the ranks of the burgesses, became in this way the depositaries of +skilled arts and sciences. + + +Augurs--Pontifices + + +Under the Roman constitution and that of the Latin communities in +general there were originally but two such colleges; that of the +augurs and that of the Pontifices.(11) + +The six "bird-carriers" (-augures-) were skilled in interpreting +the language of the gods from the flight of birds; an art which was +prosecuted with great earnestness and reduced to a quasi-scientific +system. The six "bridge-builders" (-Pontifices-) derived their +name from their function, as sacred as it was politically important, +of conducting the building and demolition of the bridge over the +Tiber. They were the Roman engineers, who understood the mystery +of measures and numbers; whence there devolved upon them also the +duty of managing the calendar of the state, of proclaiming to the +people the time of new and full moon and the days of festivals, and +of seeing that every religious and every judicial act took place +on the right day. As they had thus an especial supervision of all +religious observances, it was to them in case of need--on occasion +of marriage, testament, and -adrogatio- --that the preliminary +question was addressed, whether the business proposed did not in +any respect offend against divine law; and it was they who fixed +and promulgated the general exoteric precepts of ritual, which +were known under the name of the "royal laws." Thus they acquired +(although not probably to the full extent till after the abolition +of the monarchy) the general oversight of Roman worship and of +whatever was connected with it--and what was there that was not so +connected? They themselves described the sum of their knowledge +as "the science of things divine and human." In fact the rudiments +of spiritual and temporal jurisprudence as well as of historical +recording proceeded from this college. For all writing of history +was associated with the calendar and the book of annals; and, as +from the organization of the Roman courts of law no tradition could +originate in these courts themselves, it was necessary that the +knowledge of legal principles and procedure should be traditionally +preserved in the college of the Pontifices, which alone was competent +to give an opinion respecting court-days and questions of religious +law. + + +Fetiales + + +By the side of these two oldest and most eminent corporations of men +versed in spiritual lore may be to some extent ranked the college +of the twenty state-heralds (-fetiales-, of uncertain derivation), +destined as a living repository to preserve traditionally the +remembrance of the treaties concluded with neighbouring communities, +to pronounce an authoritative opinion on alleged infractions of +treaty-rights, and in case of need to attempt reconciliation or +declare war. They had precisely the same position with reference +to international, as the Pontifices had with reference to religious, +law; and were therefore, like the latter, entitled to point out +the law, although not to administer it. + +But in however high repute these colleges were, and important and +comprehensive as were the functions assigned to them, it was never +forgotten--least of all in the case of those which held the highest +position--that their duty was not to command, but to tender skilled +advice, not directly to obtain the answer of the gods, but to +explain the answer when obtained to the inquirer. Thus the highest +of the priests was not merely inferior in rank to the king, but +might not even give advice to him unasked. It was the province of +the king to determine whether and when he would take an observation +of birds; the "bird-seer" simply stood beside him and interpreted +to him, when necessary, the language of the messengers of heaven. +In like manner the Fetialis and the Pontifex could not interfere in +matters of international or common law except when those concerned +therewith desired it. The Romans, notwithstanding all their zeal +for religion, adhered with unbending strictness to the principle +that the priest ought to remain completely powerless in the state +and--excluded from all command-- ought like any other burgess to +render obedience to the humblest magistrate. + + +Character of the -Cultus- + + +The Latin worship was grounded essentially on man's enjoyment of +earthly pleasures, and only in a subordinate degree on his fear +of the wild forces of nature; it consisted pre-eminently therefore +in expressions of joy, in lays and songs, in games and dances, and +above all in banquets. In Italy, as everywhere among agricultural +tribes whose ordinary food consists of vegetables, the slaughter +of cattle was at once a household feast and an act of worship: a +pig was the most acceptable offering to the gods, just because it +was the usual roast for a feast. But all extravagance of expense +as well as all excess of rejoicing was inconsistent with the solid +character of the Romans. Frugality in relation to the gods was +one of the most prominent traits of the primitive Latin worship; +and the free play of imagination was repressed with iron severity +by the moral self-discipline which the nation maintained. In +consequence the Latins remained strangers to the excesses which +grow out of unrestrained indulgence. At the very core of the Latin +religion there lay that profound moral impulse which leads men to +bring earthly guilt and earthly punishment into relation with the +world of the gods, and to view the former as a crime against the +gods, and the latter as its expiation. The execution of the criminal +condemned to death was as much an expiatory sacrifice offered to +the divinity as was the killing of an enemy in just war; the thief +who by night stole the fruits of the field paid the penalty to +Ceres on the gallows just as the enemy paid it to mother earth and +the good spirits on the field of battle. The profound and fearful +idea of substitution also meets us here: when the gods of the +community were angry and nobody could be laid hold of as definitely +guilty, they might be appeased by one who voluntarily gave himself +up (-devovere se-); noxious chasms in the ground were closed, +and battles half lost were converted into victories, when a brave +burgess threw himself as an expiatory offering into the abyss or +upon the foe. The "sacred spring" was based on a similar view; +all the offspring whether of cattle or of men within a specified +period were presented to the gods. If acts of this nature are to +be called human sacrifices, then such sacrifices belonged to the +essence of the Latin faith; but we are bound to add that, far back +as our view reaches into the past, this immolation, so far as life +was concerned, was limited to the guilty who had been convicted +before a civil tribunal, or to the innocent who voluntarily chose +to die. Human sacrifices of a different description run counter +to the fundamental idea of a sacrificial act, and, wherever they +occur among the Indo-Germanic stocks at least, are based on later +degeneracy and barbarism. They never gained admission among the +Romans; hardly in a single instance were superstition and despair +induced, even in times of extreme distress, to seek an extraordinary +deliverance through means so revolting. Of belief in ghosts, fear +of enchantments, or dealing in mysteries, comparatively slight +traces are to be found among the Romans. Oracles and prophecy never +acquired the importance in Italy which they obtained in Greece, +and never were able to exercise a serious control over private or +public life. But on the other hand the Latin religion sank into +an incredible insipidity and dulness, and early became shrivelled +into an anxious and dreary round of ceremonies. The god of the +Italian was, as we have already said, above all things an instrument +for helping him to the attainment of very substantial earthly aims; +this turn was given to the religious views of the Italian by his +tendency towards the palpable and the real, and is no less distinctly +apparent in the saint-worship of the modern inhabitants of Italy. +The gods confronted man just as a creditor confronted his debtor; +each of them had a duly acquired right to certain performances and +payments; and as the number of the gods was as great as the number +of the incidents in earthly life, and the neglect or wrong performance +of the worship of each god revenged itself in the corresponding incident, +it was a laborious and difficult task even to gain a knowledge of +a man's religious obligations, and the priests who were skilled +in the law of divine things and pointed out its requirements--the +-Pontifices- --could not fail to attain an extraordinary influence. +The upright man fulfilled the requirements of sacred ritual with +the same mercantile punctuality with which he met his earthly +obligations, and at times did more than was due, if the god had +done so on his part. Man even dealt in speculation with his god; +a vow was in reality as in name a formal contract between the god +and the man, by which the latter promised to the former for a certain +service to be rendered a certain equivalent return; and the Roman +legal principle that no contract could be concluded by deputy was +not the least important of the reasons on account of which all +priestly mediation remained excluded from the religious concerns +of man in Latium. Nay, as the Roman merchant was entitled, without +injury to his conventional rectitude, to fulfil his contract merely +in the letter, so in dealing with the gods, according to the teaching +of Roman theology, the copy of an object was given and received +instead of the object itself. They presented to the lord of the sky +heads of onions and poppies, that he might launch his lightnings at +these rather than at the heads of men. In payment of the offering +annually demanded by father Tiber, thirty puppets plaited of rushes +were annually thrown into the stream.(12) The ideas of divine mercy +and placability were in these instances inseparably mixed up with +a pious cunning, which tried to delude and to pacify so formidable +a master by means of a sham satisfaction. The Roman fear of the +gods accordingly exercised powerful influence over the minds of the +multitude; but it was by no means that sense of awe in the presence +of an all-controlling nature or of an almighty God, that lies at the +foundation of the views of pantheism and monotheism respectively; +on the contrary, it was of a very earthly character, and scarcely +different in any material respect from the trembling with which the +Roman debtor approached his just, but very strict and very powerful +creditor. It is plain that such a religion was fitted rather to +stifle than to foster artistic and speculative views. When the +Greek had clothed the simple thoughts of primitive times with human +flesh and blood, the ideas of the gods so formed not only became +the elements of plastic and poetic art, but acquired also that +universality and elasticity which are the profoundest characteristics +of human nature and for this very reason are essential to all +religions that aspire to rule the world. Through such means the +simple view of nature became expanded into the conception of a +cosmogony, the homely moral notion became enlarged into a principle +of universal humanity; and for a long period the Greek religion +was enabled to embrace within it the physical and metaphysical +views--the whole ideal development of the nation--and to expand +in depth and breadth with the increase of its contents, until +imagination and speculation rent asunder the vessel which had +nursed them. But in Latium the embodiment of the conceptions of +deity continued so wholly transparent that it afforded no opportunity +for the training either of artist or poet, and the Latin religion +always held a distant and even hostile attitude towards art As the +god was not and could not be aught else than the spiritualizattion +of an earthly phenomenon, this same earthly counterpart naturally +formed his place of abode (-templum-) and his image; walls and +effigies made by the hands of men seemed only to obscure and to +embarrass the spiritual conception. Accordingly the original Roman +worship had no images of the gods or houses set apart for them; +and although the god was at an early period worshipped in Latium, +probably in imitation of the Greeks, by means of an image, and +had a little chapel (-aedicula-) built for him, such a figurative +representation was reckoned contrary to the laws of Numa and was +generally regarded as an impure and foreign innovation. The Roman +religion could exhibit no image of a god peculiar to it, with the +exception, perhaps, of the double-headed Ianus; and Varro even +in his time derided the desire of the multitude for puppets and +effigies. The utter want of productive power in the Roman religion +was likewise the ultimate cause of the thorough poverty which always +marked Roman poetry and still more Roman speculation. + +The same distinctive character was manifest, moreover, in the domain +of its practical use. The practical gain which accrued to the Roman +community from their religion was a code of moral law gradually +developed by the priests, and the -Pontifices- in particular, +which on the one hand supplied the place of police regulations +at a time when the state was still far from providing any direct +police-guardianship for its citizens, and on the other hand brought +to the bar of the gods and visited with divine penalties the breach +of moral obligations. To the regulations of the former class +belonged the religious inculcation of a due observance of holidays +and of a cultivation of the fields and vineyards according to the +rules of good husbandry--which we shall have occasion to notice +more fully in the sequel--as well as the worship of the heath or +of the Lares which was connected with considerations of sanitary +police,(13) and above all the practice of burning the bodies of +the dead, adopted among the Romans at a singularly early period, +far earlier than among the Greeks--a practice implying a rational +conception of life and of death, which was foreign to primitive +times and is even foreign to ourselves at the present day. It must +be reckoned no small achievement that the national religion of the +Latins was able to carry out these and similar improvements. But +the civilizing effect of this law was still more important. If +a husband sold his wife, or a father sold his married son; if a +child struck his father, or a daughter-in-law her father-in-law; +if a patron violated his obligation to keep faith with his guest +or dependent; if an unjust neighbour displaced a boundary-stone, or +the thief laid hands by night on the grain entrusted to the common +good faith; the burden of the curse of the gods lay thenceforth +on the head of the offender. Not that the person thus accursed +(-sacer-) was outlawed; such an outlawry, inconsistent in its +nature with all civil order, was only an exceptional occurrence--an +aggravation of the religious curse in Rome at the time of the quarrels +between the orders. It was not the province of the individual +burgess, or even of the wholly powerless priest, to carry into +effect such a divine curse. Primarily the person thus accursed +became liable to the divine penal judgment, not to human caprice; +and the pious popular faith, on which that curse was based, must +have had power even over natures frivolous and wicked. But the +banning was not confined to this; the king was in reality entitled +and bound to carry the ban into execution, and, after the fact, on +which the law set its curse, had been according to his conscientious +conviction established, to slay the person under ban, as it were, +as a victim offered up to the injured deity (-supplicium-), and thus +to purify the community from the crime of the individual. If the +crime was of a minor nature, for the slaying of the guilty there +was substituted a ransom through the presenting of a sacrificial +victim or of similar gifts. Thus the whole criminal law rested as +to its ultimate basis on the religious idea of expiation. + +But religion performed no higher service in Latium than the furtherance +of civil order and morality by such means as these. In this field +Hellas had an unspeakable advantage over Latium; it owed to its +religion not merely its whole intellectual development, but also +its national union, so far as such an union was attained at all; +the oracles and festivals of the gods, Delphi and Olympia, and the +Muses, daughters of faith, were the centres round which revolved all +that was great in Hellenic life and all in it that was the common +heritage of the nation. And yet even here Latium had, as compared +with Hellas, its own advantages. The Latin religion, reduced +as it was to the level of ordinary perception, was completely +intelligible to every one and accessible in common to all; and +therefore the Roman community preserved the equality of its citizens, +while Hellas, where religion rose to the level of the highest +thought, had from the earliest times to endure all the blessing +and curse of an aristocracy of intellect. The Latin religion like +every other had its origin in the effort of faith to fathom the +infinite; it is only to a superficial view, which is deceived as to +the depth of the stream because it is clear, that its transparent +spirit-world can appear to be shallow. This fervid faith disappeared +with the progress of time as necessarily as the dew of morning +disappears before the rising sun, and thus the Latin religion came +subsequently to wither; but the Latins preserved their simplicity +of belief longer than most peoples and longer especially than the +Greeks. As colours are effects of light and at the same time dim +it, so art and science are not merely the creations but also the +destroyers of faith; and, much as this process at once of development +and of destruction is swayed by necessity, by the same law of +nature certain results have been reserved to the epoch of early +simplicity--results which subsequent epochs make vain endeavours +to attain. The mighty intellectual development of the Hellenes, +which created their religious and literary unity (ever imperfect +as that unity was), was the very thing that made it impossible +for them to attain to a genuine political union; they sacrificed +thereby the simplicity, the flexibility, the self-devotion, the +power of amalgamation, which constitute the conditions of any such +union. It is time therefore to desist from that childish view of +history which believes that it can commend the Greeks only at the +expense of the Romans, or the Romans only at the expense of the +Greeks; and, as we allow the oak to hold its own beside the rose, +so should we abstain from praising or censuring the two noblest +organizations which antiquity has produced, and comprehend the truth +that their distinctive excellences have a necessary connection with +their respective defects. The deepest and ultimate reason of the +diversity between the two nations lay beyond doubt in the fact that +Latium did not, and that Hellas did, during the season of growth +come into contact with the East. No people on earth was great +enough by its own efforts to create either the marvel of Hellenic +or at a later period the marvel of Christian culture; history +has produced these most brilliant results only where the ideas of +Aramaic religion have sunk into an Indo-Germanic soil. But if for +this reason Hellas is the prototype of purely human, Latium is not +less for all time the prototype of national, development; and it +is the duty of us their successors to honour both and to learn from +both. + + +Foreign Worships + + +Such was the nature and such the influence of the Roman religion +in its pure, unhampered, and thoroughly national development. Its +national character was not infringed by the fact that, from the +earliest times, modes and systems of worship were introduced from +abroad; no more than the bestowal of the rights of citizenship on +individual foreigners denationalized the Roman state. An exchange +of gods as well as of goods with the Latins in older time must +have been a matter of course; the transplantation to Rome of gods +and worships belonging to less cognate races is more remarkable. +Of the distinctive Sabine worship maintained by the Tities we +have already spoken.(14) Whether any conceptions of the gods were +borrowed from Etruria is more doubtful: for the Lases, the older +designation of the genii (from -lascivus-), and Minerva the goddess +of memory (-mens-, -menervare-), which it is customary to describe +as originally Etruscan, were on the contrary, judging from philological +grounds, indigenous to Latium. It is at any rate certain, and in +keeping with all that we otherwise know of Roman intercourse that +the Greek worship received earlier and more extensive attention +in Rome than any other of foreign origin. The Greek oracles +furnished the earliest occasion of its introduction. The language +of the Roman gods was on the whole confined to Yea and Nay or at +the most to the making their will known by the method of casting +lots, which appears in its origin Italian;(15) while from very ancient +times--although not apparently until the impulse was received from +the East--the more talkative gods of the Greeks imparted actual +utterances of prophecy. The Romans made efforts, even at an early +period, to treasure up such counsels, and copies of the leaves of +the soothsaying priestess of Apollo, the Cumaean Sibyl, were accordingly +a highly valued gift on the part of their Greek guest-friends from +Campania. For the reading and interpretation of the fortune-telling +book a special college, inferior in rank only to the augurs and +Pontifices, was instituted in early times, consisting of two men +of lore (-duoviri sacris faciundis-), who were furnished at the +expense of the state with two slaves acquainted with the Greek +language. To these custodiers of oracles the people resorted in +cases of doubt, when an act of worship was needed in order to avoid +some impending evil and they did not know to which of the gods or +with what rites it was to be performed. But Romans in search of +advice early betook themselves also to the Delphic Apollo himself. +Besides the legends relating to such an intercourse already +mentioned,(16) it is attested partly by the reception of the word +-thesaurus- so closely connected with the Delphic oracle into all +the Italian languages with which we are acquainted, and partly by +the oldest Roman form of the name of Apollo, -Aperta-, the "opener," +an etymologizing alteration of the Doric Apellon, the antiquity of +which is betrayed by its very barbarism. The Greek Herakles was +naturalized in Italy as Herclus, Hercoles, Hercules, at an early +period and under a peculiar conception of his character, apparently +in the first instance as the god of gains of adventure and of any +extraordinary increase of wealth; for which reason the general was +wont to present the tenth of the spoil which he had procured, and +the merchant the tenth of the substance which he had obtained, to +Hercules at the chief altar (-ara maxima-) in the cattle-market. +Accordingly he became the god of mercantile covenants generally, +which in early times were frequently concluded at this altar and +confirmed by oath, and in so far was identified with the old Latin +god of good faith (-deus fidius-). The worship of Hercules was +from an early date among the most widely diffused; he was, to use +the words of an ancient author, adored in every hamlet of Italy, +and altars were everywhere erected to him in the streets of the +cities and along the country roads. The gods also of the mariner, +Castor and Polydeukes or, in Roman form, Pollux, the god of traffic +Hermes--the Roman Mercurius--and the god of healing, Asklapios or +Aesculapius, became early known to the Romans, although their public +worship only began at a later period. The name of the festival +of the "good goddess" (-bona dea-) -damium-, corresponding to the +Greek --damion-- or --deimion--, may likewise reach back as far as +this epoch. It must be the result also of ancient borrowing, that +the old -Liber pater- of the Romans was afterwards conceived as +"father deliverer" and identified with the wine-god of the Greeks, +the "releaser" (-Lyaeos-), and that the Roman god of the lower +regions was called the "dispenser of riches" (-Pluto- - -Dis pater-), +while his spouse Persephone became converted at once by change of +the initial sound and by transference of the idea into the Roman +Proserpina, that is, "germinatrix." Even the goddess of the +Romano-Latin league, Diana of the Aventine, seems to have been +copied from the federal goddess of the lonians of Asia Minor, the +Ephesian Artemis; at least her carved image in the Roman temple +was formed after the Ephesian type.(17) It was in this way alone, +through the myths of Apollo, Dionysus, Pluto, Herakles, and Artemis, +which were early pervaded by Oriental ideas, that the Aramaic +religion exercised at this period a remote and indirect influence +on Italy. We clearly perceive from these facts that the introduction +of the Greek religion was especially due to commercial intercourse, +and that it was traders and mariners who primarily brought the +Greek gods to Italy. + +These individual cases however of derivation from abroad were but +of secondary moment, while the remains of the natural symbolism +of primeval times, of which the legend of the oxen of Cacus may +perhaps be a specimen,(18) had virtually disappeared. In all its +leading features the Roman religion was an organic creation of the +people among whom we find it. + + +Religion of the Sabellians + + +The Sabellian and Umbrian worship, judging from the little we know +of it, rested upon quite the same fundamental views as the Latin +with local variations of colour and form. That it was different +from the Latin is very distinctly apparent from the founding +of a special college at Rome for the preservation of the Sabine +rites;(19) but that very fact affords an instructive illustration +of the nature of the difference. Observation of the flight of +birds was with both stocks the regular mode of consulting the gods; +but the Tities observed different birds from the Ramnian augurs. +Similar relations present themselves, wherever we have opportunity +of comparing them. Both stocks in common regarded the gods as +abstractions of the earthly and as of an impersonal nature; they +differed in expression and ritual. It was natural that these +diversities should appear of importance to the worshippers of those +days; we are no longer able to apprehend what was the characteristic +distinction, if any really existed. + + +Religion of the Etruscans + + +But the remains of the sacred ritual of the Etruscans that have +reached us are marked by a different spirit. Their prevailing +characteristics are a gloomy and withal tiresome mysticism, ringing +the changes on numbers, soothsaying, and that solemn enthroning of +pure absurdity which at all times finds its own circle of devotees. +We are far from knowing the Etruscan worship in such completeness +and purity as we know the Latin; and it is not improbable--indeed +it cannot well be doubted--that several of its features were only +imported into it by the minute subtlety of a later period, and that +the gloomy and fantastic principles, which were most alien to the +Latin worship, are those that have been especially handed down to +us by tradition. But enough still remains to show that the mysticism +and barbarism of this worship had their foundation in the essential +character of the Etruscan people. + +With our very unsatisfactory knowledge we cannot grasp the intrinsic +contrast subsisting between the Etruscan conceptions of deity and +the Italian; but it is clear that the most prominent among the +Etruscan gods were the malignant and the mischievous; as indeed +their worship was cruel, and included in particular the sacrifice +of their captives; thus at Caere they slaughtered the Phocaean, and +at Traquinii the Roman, prisoners. Instead of a tranquil world of +departed "good spirits" ruling peacefully in the realms beneath, +such as the Latins had conceived, the Etruscan religion presented +a veritable hell, in which the poor souls were doomed to be tortured +by mallets and serpents, and to which they were conveyed by the +conductor of the dead, a savage semi-brutal figure of an old man +with wings and a large hammer--a figure which afterwards served in +the gladiatorial games at Rome as a model for the costume of the +man who removed the corpses of the slain from the arena. So fixed +was the association of torture with this condition of the shades, +that there was even provided a redemption from it, which after certain +mysterious offerings transferred the poor soul to the society of +the gods above. It is remarkable that, in order to people their +lower world, the Etruscans early borrowed from the Greeks their +gloomiest notions, such as the doctrine of Acheron and Charon, +which play an important part in the Etruscan discipline. + +But the Etruscan occupied himself above all in the interpretation +of signs and portents. The Romans heard the voice of the gods +in nature; but their bird-seer understood only the signs in their +simplicity, and knew only in general whether the occurrence boded +good or ill. Disturbances of the ordinary course of nature were +regarded by him as boding evil, and put a stop to the business in +hand, as when for example a storm of thunder and lightning dispersed +the comitia; and he probably sought to get rid of them, as, for +example, in the case of monstrous births, which were put to death +as speedily as possible. But beyond the Tiber matters were carried +much further. The profound Etruscan read off to the believer his +future fortunes in detail from the lightning and from the entrails +of animals offered in sacrifice; and the more singular the language +of the gods, the more startling the portent or prodigy, the more +confidently did he declare what they foretold and the means by +which it was possible to avert the mischief. Thus arose the lore +of lightning, the art of inspecting entrails, the interpretation +of prodigies--all of them, and the science of lightning especially, +devised with the hair-splitting subtlety which characterizes the +mind in pursuit of absurdities. A dwarf called Tages with the +figure of a child but with gray hairs, who had been ploughed up +by a peasant in a field near Tarquinii--we might almost fancy that +practices at once so childish and so drivelling had sought to present +in this figure a caricature of themselves--betrayed the secret of +this lore to the Etruscans, and then straightway died. His disciples +and successors taught what gods were in the habit of hurling the +lightning; how the lightning of each god might be recognized by +its colour and the quarter of the heavens whence it came; whether +the lightning boded a permanent state of things or a single event; +and in the latter case whether the event was one unalterably fixed, +or whether it could be up to a certain limit artificially postponed: +how they might convey the lightning away when it struck, or compel +the threatening lightning to strike, and various marvellous arts +of the like kind, with which there was incidentally conjoined no +small desire of pocketing fees. How deeply repugnant this jugglery +was to the Roman character is shown by the fact that, even when +people came at a later period to employ the Etruscan lore in Rome, +no attempt was made to naturalize it; during our present period +the Romans were probably still content with their own, and with +the Greek oracles. + +The Etruscan religion occupied a higher level than the Roman, in +so far as it developed at least the rudiments of what was wholly +wanting among the Romans--a speculation veiled under religious +forms. Over the world and its gods there ruled the veiled gods +(-Dii involuti-), consulted by the Etruscan Jupiter himself; that +world moreover was finite, and, as it had come into being, so was +it again to pass away after the expiry of a definite period of time, +whose sections were the -saecula-. Respecting the intellectual +value which may once have belonged to this Etruscan cosmogony and +philosophy, it is difficult to form a judgment; they appear however +to have been from the very first characterized by a dull fatalism +and an insipid play upon number. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter XII + + + +1. I. II. Religion + +2. This was, to all appearance, the original nature of the +"morning-mother" or -Mater matuta-; in connection with which we may +recall the circumstance that, as the names Lucius and especially +-Manius- show, the morning hour was reckoned as lucky for birth. +-Mater matuta-probably became a goddess of sea and harbour only +at a later epoch under the influence of the myth of Leucothea; the +fact that the goddess was chiefly worshipped by women tells against +the view that she was originally a harbour-goddess. + +3. From -Maurs-, which is the oldest form handed down by tradition, +there have been developed by different treatment of the -u -Mars-, +-Mavors-, -Mors-; the transition to -o (similar to -Paula-, -Pola-, +and the like) appears also in the double form Mar-Mor (comp. +-Ma-murius-) alongside of -Mar-Mor- and -Ma-Mers-. + +4. The facts, that gates and doors and the morning (-ianus +matutinus-) were sacred to Ianus, and that he was always invoked +before any other god and was even represented in the series of +coins before Jupiter and the other gods, indicate unmistakeably that +he was the abstraction of opening and beginning. The double-head +looking both ways was connected with the gate that opened both ways. +To make him god of the sun and of the year is the less justifiable, +because the month that bears his name was originally the eleventh, +not the first; that month seems rather to have derived its name +from the circumstance, that at this season after the rest of the +middle of winter the cycle of the labours of the field began afresh. +It was, however, a matter of course that the opening of the year +should also be included in the sphere of Ianus, especially after +Ianuarius came to be placed at its head. + +5. I. IV. Tities and Luceres + +6. I. VI. Amalgamation of the Palatine and Quirinal Cities + +7. I. VII. Servian Wall + +8. I. III. Latium + +9. I. VII. Relation of Rome to Latium + +10. I. V. Burdens of the Burgesses, I. XI. Crimes + +11. The clearest evidence of this is the fact, that in the +communities organized on the Latin scheme augurs and Pontifices +occur everywhere (e. g. Cic. de Lege Agr. ii. 35, 96, and numerous +inscriptions), as does likewise the -pater patratus- of the Fetiales +in Laurentum (Orelli, 2276), but the other colleges do not. The +former, therefore, stand on the same footing with the constitution of +ten curies and the Flamines, Salii, and Luperci, as very ancient +heirlooms of the Latin stock; whereas the Duoviri -sacris faciundis-, +and the other colleges, like the thirty curies and the Servian tribes +and centuries, originated in, and remained therefore confined to, +Rome. But in the case of the second college--the pontifices--the +influence of Rome probably led to the introduction of that name +into the general Latin scheme instead of some earlier--perhaps +more than one--designation; or--a hypothesis which philologically +has much in its favour-- -pons- originally signified not "bridge," +but "way" generally, and -pontifex- therefore meant "constructor +of ways." + +The statements regarding the original number of the augurs in +particular vary. The view that it was necessary for the number to +be an odd one is refuted by Cicero (de Lege Agr. ii. 35, 96); and +Livy (x. 6) does not say so, but only states that the number of +Roman augurs had to be divisible by three, and so must have had +an odd number as its basis. According to Livy (l. c.) the number +was six down to the Ogulnian law, and the same is virtually +affirmed by Cicero (de Rep. ii. 9, 14) when he represents Romulus +as instituting four, and Numa two, augural stalls. On the number +of the pontifices comp. Staatsrecht, ii. 20. + +12. It is only an unreflecting misconception that can discover +in this usage a reminiscence of ancient human sacrifices. + +13. I. XII. Nature of the Roman Gods + +14. I. XII. Priests + +15. -Sors- from -serere-, to place in row. The -sortes- were +probably small wooden tablets arranged upon a string, which when +thrown formed figures of various kinds; an arrangement which puts +one in mind of the Runic characters. + +16. I. X. Hellenes and Latins + +17. I. VII. Servian Wall + +18. I. II. Indo-Germanic Culture + +19. I. IV. Tities and Luceres + + + + +CHAPTER XIII + +Agriculture, Trade, and Commerce + + + +Agriculture and commerce are so intimately bound up with the +constitution and the external history of states, that the former +must frequently be noticed in the course of describing the latter. +We shall here endeavour to supplement the detached notices which +we have already given, by exhibiting a summary view of Italian and +particularly of Roman economics. + + +Agriculture + + +It has been already observed(1) that the transition from a pastoral +to an agricultural economy preceded the immigration of the Italians +into the peninsula. Agriculture continued to be the main support +of all the communities in Italy, of the Sabellians and Etruscans +no less than of the Latins. There were no purely pastoral tribes +in Italy during historical times, although of course the various +races everywhere combined pastoral husbandry, to a greater or less +extent according to the nature of the locality, with the cultivation +of the soil. The beautiful custom of commencing the formation of +new cities by tracing a furrow with the plough along the line of +the future ring-wall shows how deeply rooted was the feeling that +every commonwealth is dependent on agriculture. In the case of +Rome in particular--and it is only in its case that we can speak of +agrarian relations with any sort of certainty--the Servian reform +shows very clearly not only that the agricultural class originally +preponderated in the state, but also that an effort was made +permanently to maintain the collective body of freeholders as the +pith and marrow of the community. When in the course of time a +large portion of the landed property in Rome had passed into the +hands of non-burgesses and thus the rights and duties of burgesses +were no longer bound up with freehold property, the reformed +constitution obviated this incongruous state of things, and the +perils which it threatened, not merely temporarily but permanently, +by treating the members of the community without reference to their +political position once for all according to their freeholding, +and imposing the common burden of war-service on the freeholders--a +step which in the natural course of things could not but be followed +by the concession of public rights. The whole policy of Roman war +and conquest rested, like the constitution itself, on the basis of +the freehold system; as the freeholder alone was of value in the +state, the aim of war was to increase the number of its freehold +members. The vanquished community was either compelled to +merge entirely into the yeomanry of Rome, or, if not reduced to +this extremity, it was required, not to pay a war-contribution or +a fixed tribute, but to cede a portion, usually a third part, of +its domain, which was thereupon regularly occupied by Roman farms. +Many nations have gained victories and made conquests as the Romans +did; but none has equalled the Roman in thus making the ground +he had won his own by the sweat of his brow, and in securing by +the ploughshare what had been gained by the lance. That which is +gained by war may be wrested from the grasp by war again, but it +is not so with the conquests made by the plough; while the Romans +lost many battles, they scarcely ever on making peace ceded Roman +soil, and for this result they were indebted to the tenacity with +which the farmers clung to their fields and homesteads. The strength +of man and of the state lies in their dominion over the soil; the +greatness of Rome was built on the most extensive and immediate +mastery of her citizens over her soil, and on the compact unity of +the body which thus acquired so firm a hold. + + +System of Joint Cultivation + + +We have already indicated(2) that in the earliest times the arable +land was cultivated in common, probably by the several clans; each +clan tilled its own land, and thereafter distributed the produce +among the several households belonging to it. There exists indeed +an intimate connection between the system of joint tillage and the +clan form of society, and even subsequently in Rome joint residence +and joint management were of very frequent occurrence in the case +of co-proprietors.(3) Even the traditions of Roman law furnish +the information that wealth consisted at first in cattle and the +usufruct of the soil, and that it was not till later that land +came to be distributed among the burgesses as their own special +property.(4) Better evidence that such was the case is afforded +by the earliest designation of wealth as "cattle-stock" or +"slave-and-cattle-stock" (-pecunia-, -familia pecuniaque-), and of +the separate possessions of the children of the household and of +slaves as "small cattle" (-peculium-) also by the earliest form +of acquiring property through laying hold of it with the hand +(-mancipatio-), which was only appropriate to the case of moveable +articles;(5) and above all by the earliest measure of "land of one's +own" (-heredium-, from -herus-lord), consisting of two -jugera- +(about an acre and a quarter), which can only have applied to +garden-ground, and not to the hide.(6) When and how the distribution +of the arable land took place, can no longer be ascertained. This +much only is certain, that the oldest form of the constitution was +based not on freehold settlement, but on clanship as a substitute +for it, whereas the Servian constitution presupposes the distribution +of the land. It is evident from the same constitution that the +great bulk of the landed property consisted of middle-sized farms, +which provided work and subsistence for a family and admitted of +the keeping of cattle for tillage as well as of the application of +the plough. The ordinary extent of such a Roman full hide has not +been ascertained with precision, but can scarcely, as has already +been shown,(7) be estimated at less than twenty -jugera-(12 1/2 +acres nearly). + + +Culture of Grain + + +Their husbandry was mainly occupied with the culture of the cereals. +The usual grain was spelt (-far-);(8) but different kinds of pulse, +roots, and vegetables were also diligently cultivated. + + +Culture of the Vine + + +That the culture of the vine was not introduced for the first time +into Italy by Greek settlers,(9) is shown by the list of the festivals +of the Roman community which reaches back to a time preceding the +Greeks, and which presents three wine-festivals to be celebrated in +honour of "father Jovis," not in honour of the wine-god of more +recent times who was borrowed from the Greeks, the "father deliverer." +The very ancient legend which represents Mezentius king of Caere as +levying a wine-tax from the Latins or the Rutuli, and the various +versions of the widely-spread Italian story which affirms that the +Celts were induced to cross the Alps in consequence of their coming +to the knowledge of the noble fruits of Italy, especially of the +grape and of wine, are indications of the pride of the Latins in +their glorious vine, the envy of all their neighbours. A careful +system of vine-husbandry was early and generally inculcated by the +Latin priests. In Rome the vintage did not begin until the supreme +priest of the community, the -flamen- of Jupiter, had granted +permission for it and had himself made a beginning; in like manner a +Tusculan ordinance forbade the sale of new wine, until the priest +had proclaimed the festival of opening the casks. The early +prevalence of the culture of the vine is likewise attested not +only by the general adoption of wine-libations in the sacrificial +ritual, but also by the precept of the Roman priests promulgated +as a law of king Numa, that men should present in libation to the +gods no wine obtained from uncut grapes; just as, to introduce +the beneficial practice of drying the grain, they prohibited the +offering of grain undried. + + +Culture of the Olive + + +The culture of the olive was of later introduction, and certainly +was first brought to Italy by the Greeks.(10) The olive is said to +have been first planted on the shores of the western Mediterranean +towards the close of the second century of the city; and this view +accords with the fact that the olive-branch and the olive occupy +in the Roman ritual a place very subordinate to the juice of the +vine. The esteem in which both noble trees were held by the Romans +is shown by the vine and the olive-tree which were planted in the +middle of the Forum, not far from the Curtian lake. + + +The Fig + + +The principal fruit-tree planted was the nutritious fig, which was +probably a native of Italy. The legend of the origin of Rome wove +its threads most closely around the old fig-trees, several of which +stood near to and in the Roman Forum.(11) + + +Management of the Farm + + +It was the farmer and his sons who guided the plough, and performed +generally the labours of husbandry: it is not probable that slaves +or free day-labourers were regularly employed in the work of +the ordinary farm. The plough was drawn by the ox or by the cow; +horses, asses, and mules served as beasts of burden. The rearing +of cattle for the sake of meat or of milk did not exist at all as +a distinct branch of husbandry, or was prosecuted only to a very +limited extent, at least on the land which remained the property of +the clan; but, in addition to the smaller cattle which were driven +out together to the common pasture, swine and poultry, particularly +geese, were kept at the farm-yard. As a general rule, there was no +end of ploughing and re-ploughing: a field was reckoned imperfectly +tilled, in which the furrows were not drawn so close that harrowing +could be dispensed with; but the management was more earnest than +intelligent, and no improvement took place in the defective plough +or in the imperfect processes of reaping and of threshing. This +result is probably attributable rather to the scanty development +of rational mechanics than to the obstinate clinging of the farmers +to use and wont; for mere kindly attachment to the system of tillage +transmitted with the patrimonial soil was far from influencing the +practical Italian, and obvious improvements in agriculture, such +as the cultivation of fodder-plants and the irrigation of meadows, +may have been early adopted from neighbouring peoples or independently +developed--Roman literature itself in fact began with the discussion +of the theory of agriculture. Welcome rest followed diligent and +judicious labour; and here too religion asserted her right to soothe +the toils of life even to the humble by pauses for recreation and +for freer human movement and intercourse. Every eighth day (-nonae-), +and therefore on an average four times a month, the farmer went +to town to buy and sell and transact his other business. But rest +from labour, in the strict sense, took place only on the several +festival days, and especially in the holiday-month after the completion +of the winter sowing (-feriae sementivae-): during these set times +the plough rested by command of the gods, and not the farmer only, +but also his slave and his ox, reposed in holiday idleness. + +Such, probably, was the way in which the ordinary Roman farm was +cultivated in the earliest times. The next heirs had no protection +against bad management except the right of having the spendthrift +who squandered his inherited estate placed under wardship as if he +were a lunatic.(12) Women moreover were in substance divested of +their personal right of disposal, and, if they married, a member +of the same clan was ordinarily assigned as husband, in order to +retain the estate within the clan. The law sought to check the +overburdening of landed property with debt partly by ordaining, in +the case of a debt secured over the land, the provisional transference +of the ownership of the object pledged from the debtor to the +creditor, partly, in the case of a simple loan, by the rigour of the +proceedings in execution which speedily led to actual bankruptcy; +the latter means however, as the sequel will show, attained its +object but very imperfectly. No restriction was imposed by law on +the free divisibility of property. Desirable as it might be that +co-heirs should remain in the undivided possession of their heritage, +even the oldest law was careful to keep the power of dissolving +such a partnership open at any time to any partner; it was good that +brethren should dwell together in peace, but to compel them to do +so was foreign to the liberal spirit of Roman law. The Servian +constitution moreover shows that even in the regal period of Rome +there were not wanting cottagers and garden-proprietors, with whom +the mattock took the place of the plough. It was left to custom and +the sound sense of the population to prevent excessive subdivision +of the soil; and that their confidence in this respect was not +misplaced and the landed estates ordinarily remained entire, is +proved by the universal Roman custom of designating them by permanent +individual names. The community exercised only an indirect influence +in the matter by the sending forth of colonies, which regularly led +to the establishment of a number of new full hides, and frequently +doubtless also to the suppression of a number of cottage holdings, +the small landholders being sent forth as colonists. + + +Landed Proprietors + + +It is far more difficult to perceive how matters stood with landed +property on a larger scale. The fact that such larger properties +existed to no inconsiderable extent, cannot be doubted from the +early development of the -equites-, and may be easily explained +partly by the distribution of the clan-lands, which of itself +could not but call into existence a class of larger landowners +in consequence of the necessary inequality in the numbers of +the persons belonging to the several clans and participating in +the distribution, and partly by the abundant influx of mercantile +capital to Rome. But farming on a large scale in the proper +sense, implying a considerable establishment of slaves, such as we +afterwards meet with at Rome, cannot be supposed to have existed +during this period. On the contrary, to this period we must refer +the ancient definition, which represents the senators as called +fathers from the fields which they parcelled out among the common +people as a father among his children; and originally the landowner +must have distributed that portion of his land which he was unable +to farm in person, or even his whole estate, into little parcels +among his dependents to be cultivated by them, as is the general +practice in Italy at the present day. The recipient might be the +house-child or slave of the granter; if he was a free man, his +position was that which subsequently went by the name of "occupancy +on sufferance" (-precarium-). The recipient retained his occupancy +during the pleasure of the granter, and had no legal means of +protecting himself in possession against him; on the contrary, the +granter could eject him at any time when he pleased. The relation +did not necessarily involve any payment on the part of the person +who had the usufruct of the soil to its proprietor; but such +a payment beyond doubt frequently took place and may, as a rule, +have consisted in the delivery of a portion of the produce. The +relation in this case approximated to the lease of subsequent times, +but remained always distinguished from it partly by the absence of +a fixed term for its expiry, partly by its non-actionable character +on either side and the legal protection of the claim for rent depending +entirely on the lessor's right of ejection. It is plain that it +was essentially a relation based on mutual fidelity, which could +not subsist without the help of the powerful sanction of custom +consecrated by religion; and this was not wanting. The institution +of clientship, altogether of a moral-religious nature, beyond +doubt rested fundamentally on this assignation of the profits of +the soil. Nor was the introduction of such an assignation dependent +on the abolition of the system of common tillage; for, just as +after this abolition the individual, so previous to it the clan +might grant to dependents a joint use of its lands; and beyond +doubt with this very state of things was connected the fact that +the Roman clientship was not personal, but that from the outset +the client along with his clan entrusted himself for protection +and fealty to the patron and his clan. This earliest form of Roman +landholding serves to explain how there sprang from the great +landlords in Rome a landed, and not an urban, nobility. As the +pernicious institution of middlemen remained foreign to the Romans, +the Roman landlord found himself not much less chained to his land +than was the tenant and the farmer; he inspected and took part in +everything himself, and the wealthy Roman esteemed it his highest +praise to be reckoned a good landlord. His house was in the country; +in the city he had only a lodging for the purpose of attending to +his business there, and perhaps of breathing the purer air that +prevailed there during the hot season. Above all, however, these +arrangements furnished a moral basis for the relation between the +upper class and the common people, and so materially lessened its +dangers. The free tenants-on-sufferance, sprung from families of +decayed farmers, dependents, and freedmen, formed the great bulk +of the proletariate,(13) and were not much more dependent on the +landlord than the petty leaseholder inevitably is with reference to +the great proprietor. The slaves tilling the fields for a master +were beyond doubt far less numerous than the free tenants. In all +cases where an immigrant nation has not at once reduced to slavery +a population -en masse-, slaves seem to have existed at first only +to a very limited amount, and consequently free labourers seem to +have played a very different part in the state from that in which +they subsequently appear. In Greece "day-labourers" (--theites--) +in various instances during the earlier period occupy the place +of the slaves of a later age, and in some communities, among the +Locrians for instance, there was no slavery down to historical times. +Even the slave, moreover, was ordinarily of Italian descent; the +Volscian, Sabine, or Etruscan war-captive must have stood in a +different relation towards his master from the Syrian and the Celt +of later times. Besides as a tenant he had in fact, though not +in law, land and cattle, wife and child, as the landlord had, and +after manumission was introduced(14) there was a possibility, not +remote, of working out his freedom. If such then was the footing +on which landholding on a large scale stood in the earliest times, +it was far from being an open sore in the commonwealth; on the +contrary, it was of most material service to it. Not only did it +provide subsistence, although scantier upon the whole, for as many +families in proportion as the intermediate and smaller properties; +but the landlords moreover, occupying a comparatively elevated and +free position, supplied the community with its natural leaders and +rulers, while the agricultural and unpropertied tenants-on-sufferance +furnished the genuine material for the Roman policy of colonization, +without which it never would have succeeded; for while the state +may furnish land to him who has none, it cannot impart to one who +knows nothing of agriculture the spirit and the energy to wield +the plough. + + +Pastoral Husbandry + + +Ground under pasture was not affected by the distribution of the +land. The state, and not the clanship, was regarded as the owner +of the common pastures. It made use of them in part for its +own flocks and herds, which were intended for sacrifice and other +purposes and were always kept up by means of the cattle-fines; and +it gave to the possessors of cattle the privilege of driving them +out upon the common pasture for a moderate payment (-scriptura-). +The right of pasturage on the public domains may have originally +borne some relation -de facto- to the possession of land, but no +connection -de jure- can ever have subsisted in Rome between the +particular hides of land and a definite proportional use of the +common pasture; because property could be acquired even by the +--metoikos--, but the right to use the common pasture was only +granted exceptionally to the --metoikos-- by the royal favour. +At this period, however, the public land seems to have held but +a subordinate place in the national economy generally, for the +original common pasturage was not perhaps very extensive, and the +conquered territory was probably for the most part distributed +immediately as arable land among the clans or at a later period +among individuals. + + +Handicrafts + + +While agriculture was the chief and most extensively prosecuted +occupation in Rome, other branches of industry did not fail to +accompany it, as might be expected from the early development of +urban life in that emporium of the Latins. In fact eight guilds of +craftsmen were numbered among the institutions of king Numa, that +is, among the institutions that had existed in Rome from time +immemorial. These were the flute-blowers, the goldsmiths, the +coppersmiths, the carpenters, the fullers, the dyers, the potters, +and the shoemakers--a list which would substantially exhaust the +class of tradesmen working to order on account of others in the very +early times, when the baking of bread and the professional art of +healing were not yet known and wool was spun into clothing by the +women of the household themselves. It is remarkable that there +appears no special guild of workers in iron. This affords a +fresh confirmation of the fact that the manufacture of iron was of +comparatively late introduction in Latium; and on this account in +matters of ritual down to the latest times copper alone might be +used, e.g. for the sacred plough and the shear-knife of the priests. +These bodies of craftsmen must have been of great importance in +early times for the urban life of Rome and for its position towards +the Latin land--an importance not to be measured by the depressed +condition of Roman handicraft in later times, when it was injuriously +affected by the multitude of artisan-slaves working for their +master or on his account, and by the increased import of articles +of luxury. The oldest lays of Rome celebrated not only the mighty +war-god Mamers, but also the skilled armourer Mamurius, who understood +the art of forging for his fellow-burgesses shields similar to the +divine model shield that had fallen from heaven; Volcanus the god +of fire and of the forge already appears in the primitive list of +Roman festivals.(15) Thus in the earliest Rome, as everywhere, +the arts of forging and of wielding the ploughshare and the sword +went hand in hand, and there was nothing of that arrogant contempt +for handicrafts which we afterwards meet with there. After the +Servian organization, however, imposed the duty of serving in the +army exclusively on the freeholders, the industrial classes were +excluded not by any law, but practically in consequence of their +general want of a freehold qualification, from the privilege of +bearing arms, except in the case of special subdivisions chosen +from the carpenters, coppersmiths, and certain classes of musicians +and attached with a military organization to the army; and this may +perhaps have been the origin of the subsequent habit of depreciating +the manual arts and of the position of political inferiority assigned +to them. The institution of guilds doubtless had the same object +as the colleges of priests that resembled them in name; the men of +skill associated themselves in order more permanently and securely +to preserve the tradition of their art. That there was some mode +of excluding unskilled persons is probable; but no traces are to be +met with either of monopolizing tendencies or of protective steps +against inferior manufactures. There is no aspect, however, of +the life of the Roman people respecting which our information is +so scanty as that of the Roman trades. + + +Inland Commerce of the Italians + + +Italian commerce must, it is obvious, have been limited in the +earliest epoch to the mutual dealings of the Italians themselves. +Fairs (-mercatus-), which must be distinguished from the usual weekly +markets (-nundinae-) were of great antiquity in Latium. Probably +they were at first associated with international gatherings and +festivals, and so perhaps were connected in Rome with the festival +at the federal temple on the Aventine; the Latins, who came for this +purpose to Rome every year on the 13th August, may have embraced +at the same time the opportunity of transacting their business +in Rome and of purchasing what they needed there. A similar and +perhaps still greater importance belonged in the case of Etruria +to the annual general assembly at the temple of Voltumna (perhaps +near Montefiascone) in the territory of Volsinii; it served at the +same time as a fair and was regularly frequented by Roman traders. +But the most important of all the Italian fairs was that which was +held at Soracte in the grove of Feronia, a situation than which +none could be found more favourable for the exchange of commodities +among the three great nations. That high isolated mountain, which +appears to have been set down by nature herself in the midst of the +plain of the Tiber as a goal for the traveller, lay on the boundary +which separated the Etruscan and Sabine lands (to the latter +of which it appears mostly to have belonged), and it was likewise +easily accessible from Latium and Umbria. Roman merchants regularly +made their appearance there, and the wrongs of which they complained +gave rise to many a quarrel with the Sabines. + +Beyond doubt dealings of barter and traffic were carried on at these +fairs long before the first Greek or Phoenician vessel entered the +western sea. When bad harvests had occurred, different districts +supplied each other at these fairs with grain; there, too, they +exchanged cattle, slaves, metals, and whatever other articles were +deemed needful or desirable in those primitive times. Oxen and +sheep formed the oldest medium of exchange, ten sheep being reckoned +equivalent to one ox. The recognition of these objects as universal +legal representatives of value or in other words as money, as well +as the scale of proportion between the large and smaller cattle, +may be traced back--as the recurrence of both especially among the +Germans shows--not merely to the Graeco-Italian period, but beyond +this even to the epoch of a purely pastoral economy.(16) In +Italy, where metal in considerable quantity was everywhere required +especially for agricultural purposes and for armour, but few of its +provinces themselves produced the requisite metals, copper (-aes-) +very early made its appearance alongside of cattle as a second +medium of exchange; and so the Latins, who were poor in copper, +designated valuation itself as "coppering" (-aestimatio-). This +establishment of copper as a general equivalent recognized throughout +the whole peninsula, as well as the simplest numeral signs of +Italian invention to be mentioned more particularly below(17) and +the Italian duodecimal system, may be regarded as traces of this +earliest international intercourse of the Italian peoples while +they still had the peninsula to themselves. + + +Transmarine Traffic of the Italians + + +We have already indicated generally the nature of the influence +exercised by transmarine commerce on the Italians who continued +independent. The Sabellian stocks remained almost wholly unaffected +by it. They were in possession of but a small and inhospitable +belt of coast, and received whatever reached them from foreign +nations--the alphabet for instance--only through the medium of the +Tuscans or Latins; a circumstance which accounts for their want of +urban development. The intercourse of Tarentum with the Apulians +and Messapians appears to have been at this epoch still unimportant. +It was otherwise along the west coast. In Campania the Greeks and +Italians dwelt peacefully side by side, and in Latium, and still +more in Etruria, an extensive and regular exchange of commodities +took place. What were the earliest articles of import, may +be inferred partly from the objects found in the primitive tombs, +particularly those at Caere, partly from indications preserved in +the language and institutions of the Romans, partly and chiefly from +the stimulus given to Italian industry; for of course they bought +foreign manufactures for a considerable time before they began +to imitate them. We cannot determine how far the development of +handicrafts had advanced before the separation of the stocks, or +what progress it thereafter made while Italy remained left to its +own resources; it is uncertain how far the Italian fullers, dyers, +tanners, and potters received their impulse from Greece or Phoenicia +or had their own independent development But certainly the trade +of the goldsmiths, which existed in Rome from time immemorial, can +only have arisen after transmarine commerce had begun and ornaments +of gold had to some extent found sale among the inhabitants of the +peninsula. We find, accordingly, in the oldest sepulchral chambers +of Caere and Vulci in Etruria and of Praeneste in Latium, plates +of gold with winged lions stamped upon them, and similar ornaments +of Babylonian manufacture. It may be a question in reference to +the particular object found, whether it has been introduced from +abroad or is a native imitation; but on the whole it admits of +no doubt that all the west coast of Italy in early times imported +metallic wares from the East. It will be shown still more clearly +in the sequel, when we come to speak of the exercise of art, that +architecture and modelling in clay and metal received a powerful +stimulus in very early times through Greek influence, or, in +other words, that the oldest tools and the oldest models came from +Greece. In the sepulchral chambers just mentioned, besides the +gold ornaments, there were deposited vessels of bluish enamel or +greenish clay, which, judging from the materials and style as well +as from the hieroglyphics impressed upon them, were of Egyptian +origin;(18) perfume-vases of Oriental alabaster, several of them +in the form of Isis; ostrich-eggs with painted or carved sphinxes +and griffins; beads of glass and amber. These last may have come +by the land-route from the north; but the other objects prove the +import of perfumes and articles of ornament of all sorts from the +East. Thence came linen and purple, ivory and frankincense, as is +proved by the early use of linen fillets, of the purple dress and +ivory sceptre for the king, and of frankincense in sacrifice, as +well as by the very ancient borrowed names for them (--linon--, +-linum-; --porphura--, -purpura-; --skeiptron--, --skipon--, -scipio-; +perhaps also --elephas--, -ebur-; --thuos--, -thus-). Of similar +significance is the derivation of a number of words relating to +articles used in eating and drinking, particularly the names of +oil,(19) of jugs (--amphoreus--, -amp(h)ora-, -ampulla-, --krateir--, +-cratera-), of feasting (--komazo--, -comissari-), of a dainty dish +(--opsonion--, -opsonium-) of dough (--maza--, -massa-), and various +names of cakes (--glukons--, -lucuns-; --plakons--, -placenta-; +--turons--, -turunda-); while conversely the Latin names for dishes +(-patina-, --patanei--) and for lard (-arvina-, --arbinei--) have +found admission into Sicilian Greek. The later custom of placing +in the tomb beside the dead Attic, Corcyrean, and Campanian vases +proves, what these testimonies from language likewise show, the +early market for Greek pottery in Italy. That Greek leather-work +made its way into Latium at least in the shape of armour is apparent +from the application of the Greek word for leather --skutos-- to +signify among the Latins a shield (-scutum-; like -lorica-, from +-lorum-). Finally, we deduce a similar inference from the numerous +nautical terms borrowed from the Greek (although it is remarkable +that the chief technical expressions in navigation--the terms +for the sail, mast, and yard--are pure Latin forms);(20) and from +the recurrence in Latin of the Greek designations for a letter +(--epistolei--, -epistula-), a token (-tessera-, from --tessara--(21)), +a balance (--stateir--, -statera-), and earnest-money (--arrabon--, +-arrabo-, -arra-); and conversely from the adoption of Italian +law-terms in Sicilian Greek,(22) as well as from the exchange of +the proportions and names of coins, weights, and measures, which +we shall notice in the sequel. The character of barbarism which +all these borrowed terms obviously present, and especially the +characteristic formation of the nominative from the accusative +(-placenta- = --plakounta--; -ampora- = --amphorea--; -statera-= +--stateira--), constitute the clearest evidence of their great +antiquity. The worship of the god of traffic (-Mercurius-) also +appears to have been from the first influenced by Greek conceptions; +and his annual festival seems even to have been fixed on the ides +of May, because the Hellenic poets celebrated him as the son of +the beautiful Maia. + + +Commerce, in Latium Passive, in Etruria Active + + +It thus appears that Italy in very ancient times derived +its articles of luxury, just as imperial Rome did, from the East, +before it attempted to manufacture for itself after the models which +it imported. In exchange it had nothing to offer except its raw +produce, consisting especially of its copper, silver, and iron, +but including also slaves and timber for shipbuilding, amber from +the Baltic, and, in the event of bad harvests occurring abroad, its +grain. From this state of things as to the commodities in demand +and the equivalents to be offered in return, we have already +explained why Italian traffic assumed in Latium a form so differing +from that which it presented in Etruria. The Latins, who were +deficient in all the chief articles of export, could carry on only +a passive traffic, and were obliged even in the earliest times to +procure the copper of which they had need from the Etruscans in +exchange for cattle or slaves--we have already mentioned the very +ancient practice of selling the latter on the right bank of the +Tiber.(23) On the other hand the Tuscan balance of trade must +have been necessarily favourable in Caere as in Populonia, in Capua +as in Spina. Hence the rapid development of prosperity in these +regions and their powerful commercial position; whereas Latium +remained preeminently an agricultural country. The same contrast +recurs in all their individual relations. The oldest tombs constructed +and furnished in the Greek fashion, but with an extravagance to which +the Greeks were strangers, are to be found at Caere, while--with the +exception of Praeneste, which appears to have occupied a peculiar +position and to have been very intimately connected with Falerii +and southern Etruria--the Latin land exhibits only slight ornaments +for the dead of foreign origin, and not a single tomb of luxury +proper belonging to the earlier times; there as among the Sabellians +a simple turf ordinarily sufficed as a covering for the dead. The +most ancient coins, of a time not much later than those of Magna +Graecia, belong to Etruria, and to Populonia in particular: during +the whole regal period Latium had to be content with copper by +weight, and had not even introduced foreign coins, for the instances +are extremely rare in which such coins (e.g. one of Posidonia) +have been found there. In architecture, plastic art, and embossing, +the same stimulants acted on Etruria and on Latium, but it was only +in the case of the former that capital was everywhere brought to +bear on them and led to their being pursued extensively and with +growing technical skill. The commodities were upon the whole the +same, which were bought, sold, and manufactured in Latium and in +Etruria; but the southern land was far inferior to its northern +neighbours in the energy with which its commerce was plied. The +contrast between them in this respect is shown in the fact that +the articles of luxury manufactured after Greek models in Etruria +found a market in Latium, particularly at Praeneste, and even in +Greece itself, while Latium hardly ever exported anything of the +kind. + + +Etrusco-Attic, and Latino-Sicilian Commerce + + +A distinction not less remarkable between the commerce of the Latins +and that of the Etruscans appears in their respective routes or +lines of traffic. As to the earliest commerce of the Etruscans +in the Adriatic we can hardly do more than express the conjecture +that it was directed from Spina and Atria chiefly to Corcyra. +We have already mentioned(24) that the western Etruscans ventured +boldly into the eastern seas, and trafficked not merely with Sicily, +but also with Greece proper. An ancient intercourse with Attica +is indicated by the Attic clay vases, which are so numerous in the +more recent Etruscan tombs, and had been perhaps even at this time +introduced for other purposes than the already-mentioned decoration +of tombs, while conversely Tyrrhenian bronze candlesticks and gold +cups were articles early in request in Attica. Still more definitely +is such an intercourse indicated by the coins. The silver pieces +of Populonia were struck after the pattern of a very old silver +piece stamped on one side with the Gorgoneion, on the other merely +presenting an incuse square, which has been found at Athens and +on the old amber-route in the district of Posen, and which was in +all probability the very coin struck by order of Solon in Athens. +We have mentioned already that the Etruscans had also dealings, and +perhaps after the development of the Etrusco-Carthaginian maritime +alliance their principal dealings, with the Carthaginians. It is +a remarkable circumstance that in the oldest tombs of Caere, besides +native vessels of bronze and silver, there have been found chiefly +Oriental articles, which may certainly have come from Greek merchants, +but more probably were introduced by Phoenician traders. We must +not, however, attribute too great importance to this Phoenician trade, +and in particular we must not overlook the fact that the alphabet, +as well as the other influences that stimulated and matured native +culture, were brought to Etruria by the Greeks, and not by the +Phoenicians. + +Latin commerce assumed a different direction. Rarely as we have +opportunity of instituting comparisons between the Romans and the +Etruscans as regards the reception of Hellenic elements, the cases +in which such comparisons can be instituted exhibit the two nations +as completely independent of each other. This is most clearly +apparent in the case of the alphabet. The Greek alphabet brought +to the Etruscans from the Chalcidico-Doric colonies in Sicily or +Campania varies not immaterially from that which the Latins derived +from the same quarter, so that, although both peoples have drawn +from the same source, they have done so at different times and +different places. The same phenomenon appears in particular words: +the Roman Pollux and the Tuscan Pultuke are independent corruptions +of the Greek Polydeukes; the Tuscan Utuze or Uthuze is formed from +Odysseus, the Roman Ulixes is an exact reproduction of the form of +the name usual in Sicily; in like manner the Tuscan Aivas corresponds +to the old Greek form of this name, the Roman Aiax to a secondary +form that was probably also Sicilian; the Roman Aperta or Apello +and the Samnite Appellun have sprung from the Doric Apellon, the +Tuscan Apulu from Apollon. Thus the language and writing of Latium +indicate that the direction of Latin commerce was exclusively towards +the Cumaeans and Siceliots. Every other trace which has survived +from so remote an age leads to the same conclusion: such as, the +coin of Posidonia found in Latium; the purchase of grain, when +a failure of the harvest occurred in Rome, from the Volscians, +Cumaeans, and Siceliots (and, as was natural, from the Etruscans +as well); above all, the relations subsisting between the Latin +and Sicilian monetary systems. As the local Dorico-Chalcidian +designation of silver coin --nomos--, and the Sicilian measure +--eimina--, were transferred with the same meaning to Latium as +-nummus- and -hemina-, so conversely the Italian designations of +weight, -libra-, -triens-, -quadrans-, -sextans-, -uncia-, which +arose in Latium for the measurement of the copper which was used +by weight instead of money, had found their way into the common +speech of Sicily in the third century of the city under the corrupt +and hybrid forms, --litra--, --trias--, --tetras--, --exas--, +--ougkia--. Indeed, among all the Greek systems of weights and +moneys, the Sicilian alone was brought into a determinate relation +to the Italian copper-system; not only was the value of silver set +down conventionally and perhaps legally as two hundred and fifty +times that of copper, but the equivalent on this computation of a +Sicilian pound of copper (1/120th of the Attic talent, 2/3 of the +Roman pound) was in very early times struck, especially at Syracuse, +as a silver coin (--litra argurion--, i.e. "copper-pound in +silver"). Accordingly it cannot be doubted that Italian bars of +copper circulated also in Sicily instead of money; and this exactly +harmonizes with the hypothesis that the commerce of the Latins +with Sicily was a passive commerce, in consequence of which Latin +money was drained away thither. Other proofs of ancient intercourse +between Sicily and Italy, especially the adoption in the Sicilian +dialect of the Italian expressions for a commercial loan, a prison, +and a dish, and the converse reception of Sicilian terms in Italy, +have been already mentioned.(25) We meet also with several, though +less definite, traces of an ancient intercourse of the Latins with +the Chalcidian cities in Lower Italy, Cumae and Neapolis, and with +the Phocaeans in Velia and Massilia. That it was however far less +active than that with the Siceliots is shown by the well-known +fact that all the Greek words which made their way in earlier times +to Latium exhibit Doric forms--we need only recall -Aesculapius-, +-Latona-, -Aperta-, -machina-. Had their dealings with the originally +Ionian cities, such as Cumae(26) and the Phocaean settlements, +been even merely on a similar scale with those which they had with +the Sicilian Dorians, Ionic forms would at least have made their +appearance along with the others; although certainly Dorism early +penetrated even into these Ionic colonies themselves, and their +dialect varied greatly. While all the facts thus combine to attest +the stirring traffic of the Latins with the Greeks of the western +main generally, and especially with the Sicilians, there hardly +occurred any immediate intercourse with the Asiatic Phoenicians, +and the intercourse with those of Africa, which is sufficiently +attested by statements of authors and by articles found, can only +have occupied a secondary position as affecting the state of culture +in Latium; in particular it is significant that--if we leave out of +account some local names--there is an utter absence of any evidence +from language as to ancient intercourse between the Latins and the +nations speaking the Aramaic tongue.(27) + +If we further inquire how this traffic was mainly carried on, whether +by Italian merchants abroad or by foreign merchants in Italy, the +former supposition has all the probabilities in its favour, at +least so far as Latium is concerned. It is scarcely conceivable +that those Latin terms denoting the substitute for money and the +commercial loan could have found their way into general use in the +language of the inhabitants of Sicily through the mere resort of +Sicilian merchants to Ostia and their receipt of copper in exchange +for ornaments. Lastly, in regard to the persons and classes +by whom this traffic was carried on in Italy, no special superior +class of merchants distinct from and independent of the class of +landed proprietors developed itself in Rome. The reason of this +surprising phenomenon was, that the wholesale commerce of Latium was +from the beginning in the hands of the large landed proprietors--a +hypothesis which is not so singular as it seems. It was natural +that in a country intersected by several navigable rivers the great +landholder, who was paid by his tenants their quotas of produce in +kind, should come at an early period to possess barks; and there is +evidence that such was the case. The transmarine traffic conducted +on the trader's own account must therefore have fallen into the +hands of the great landholder, seeing that he alone possessed the +vessels for it and--in his produce--the articles for export.(28) +In fact the distinction between a landed and a moneyed aristocracy +was unknown to the Romans of earlier times; the great landholders +were at the same time the speculators and the capitalists. In +the case of a very energetic commerce such a combination certainly +could not have been maintained; but, as the previous representation +shows, while there was a comparatively vigorous traffic in Rome in +consequence of the trade of the Latin land being there concentrated, +Rome was by no means essentially a commercial city like Caere or +Tarentum, but was and continued to be the centre of an agricultural +community. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter XIII + + + +1. I. II. Agriculture + +2. I. III. Clan Villages, I. V. The Community + +3. The system which we meet with in the case of the Germanic joint +tillage, combining a partition of the land in property among the +clansmen with its joint cultivation by the clan, can hardly ever +have existed in Italy. Had each clansman been regarded in Italy, +as among the Germans, in the light of proprietor of a particular +spot in each portion of the collective domain that was marked off +for tillage, the separate husbandry of later times would probably +have set out from a minute subdivision of hides. But the very +opposite was the case; the individual names of the Roman hides +(-fundus Cornelianus-) show clearly that the Roman proprietor owned +from the beginning a possession not broken up but united. + +4. Cicero (de Rep. ii. 9, 14, comp. Plutarch, Q. Rom. 15) states: +-Tum (in the time of Romulus) erat res in pecore et locorum +possessionibus, ex quo pecuniosi et locupletes vocabantur--(Numa) +primum agros, quos bello Romulus ceperat, divisit viritim civibus-. +In like manner Dionysius represents Romulus as dividing the land into +thirty curial districts, and Numa as establishing boundary-stones +and introducing the festival of the Terminalia (i. 7, ii. 74; and +thence Plutarch, -Numa-, 16). + +5. I. XI. Contracts + +6. Since this assertion still continues to be disputed, we +shall let the numbers speak for themselves. The Roman writers on +agriculture of the later republic and the imperial period reckon on +an average five -modii- of wheat as sufficient to sow a -jugerum-, and +the produce as fivefold. The produce of a -heredium- accordingly +(even when, without taking into view the space occupied by +the dwelling-house and farm-yard, we regard it as entirely arable +land, and make no account of years of fallow) amounts to fifty, or +deducting the seed forty, modii. For an adult hard-working slave +Cato (c. 56) reckons fifty-one -modii-of wheat as the annual +consumption. These data enable any one to answer for himself the +question whether a Roman family could or could not subsist on the +produce of a -heredium-. The attempted proof to the contrary is +based on the ground that the slave of later times subsisted more +exclusively on corn than the free farmer of the earlier epoch, and +that the assumption of a fivefold return is one too low for this +earlier epoch; both assumptions are probably correct, but for both +there is a limit. Doubtless the subsidiary produce yielded by +the arable land itself and by the common pasture, such as figs, +vegetables, milk, flesh (especially as derived from the old and +zealously pursued rearing of swine), and the like, are specially +to be taken into account for the older period; but the older Roman +pastoral husbandry, though not unimportant, was withal of subordinate +importance, and the chief subsistence of the people was always +notoriously grain. We may, moreover, on account of the thoroughness +of the earlier cultivation obtain a very considerable increase, +especially of the gross produce--and beyond doubt the farmers of +this period drew a larger produce from their lands than the great +landholders of the later republic and the empire obtained (iii. +Latium); but moderation must be exercised in forming such estimates, +because we have to deal with a question of averages and with a mode +of husbandry conducted neither methodically nor with large capital. +The assumption of a tenfold instead of a fivefold return will be +the utmost limit, and yet it is far from sufficing. In no case +can the enormous deficit, which is left even according to those +estimates between the produce of the -heredium- and the requirements +of the household, be covered by mere superiority of cultivation. +In fact the counter-proof can only be regarded as successful, when +it shall have produced a methodical calculation based on rural +economics, according to which among a population chiefly subsisting +on vegetables the produce of a piece of land of an acre and a quarter +proves sufficient on an average for the subsistence of a family. + +It is indeed asserted that instances occur even in historical times +of colonies founded with allotments of two -jugera-; but the only +instance of the kind (Liv. iv. 47) is that of the colony of Labici +in the year 336--an instance, which will certainly not be reckoned +(by such scholars as are worth the arguing with) to belong to the +class of traditions that are trustworthy in their historical details, +and which is beset by other very serious difficulties (see book +ii. ch. 5, note). It is no doubt true that in the non-colonial +assignation of land to the burgesses collectively (-adsignatio +viritana-) sometimes only a few -jugera- were granted (as e. g. +Liv. viii. ii, 21). In these cases however it was the intention +not to create new farms with the allotments, but rather, as a rule, +to add to the existing farms new parcels from the conquered lands +(comp. C. I. L. i. p. 88). At any rate, any supposition is better +than a hypothesis which requires us to believe as it were in +a miraculous multiplication of the food of the Roman household. +The Roman farmers were far less modest in their requirements than +their historiographers; they themselves conceived that they could +not subsist even on allotments of seven -jugera- or a produce of +one hundred and forty -modii-. + +7. I. VI. Time and Occasion of the Reform + +8. Perhaps the latest, although probably not the last, attempt +to prove that a Latin farmer's family might have subsisted on two +-jugera- of land, finds its chief support in the argument that Varro +(de R. R. i. 44, i) reckons the seed requisite for the -jugerum- +at five -modii- of wheat but ten -modii- of spelt, and estimates +the produce as corresponding to this, whence it is inferred that +the cultivation of spelt yielded a produce, if not double, at least +considerably higher than that of wheat. But the converse is more +correct, and the nominally higher quantity sown and reaped is simply +to be explained by the fact that the Romans garnered and sowed the +wheat already shelled, but the spelt still in the husk (Pliny, H. +N. xviii. 7, 61), which in this case was not separated from the +fruit by threshing. For the same reason spelt is at the present +day sown twice as thickly as wheat, and gives a produce twice as +great by measure, but less after deduction of the husks. According +to Wurtemberg estimates furnished to me by G. Hanssen, the average +produce of the Wurtemberg -morgen- is reckoned in the case of +wheat (with a sowing of 1/4 to 1/2 -scheffel-) at 3 -scheffel- of +the medium weight of 275 Ibs. (= 825 Ibs.); in the case of spelt +(with a sowing of 1/2 to 1 1/2 -scheffel-) at least 7 -scheffel- of +the medium weight of 150 lbs. ( = 1050 Ibs.), which are reduced +by shelling to about 4 -scheffel-. Thus spelt compared with wheat +yields in the gross more than double, with equally good soil perhaps +triple the crop, but--by specific weight--before the shelling not +much above, after shelling (as "kernel") less than, the half. It +was not by mistake, as has been asserted, but because it was fitting +in computations of this sort to start from estimates of a like +nature handed down to us, that the calculation instituted above was +based on wheat; it may stand, because, when transferred to spelt, +it does not essentially differ and the produce rather falls than +rises. Spelt is less nice as to soil and climate, and exposed +to fewer risks than wheat; but the latter yields on the whole, +especially when we take into account the not inconsiderable expenses +of shelling, a higher net produce (on an average of fifty years in +the district of Frankenthal in Rhenish Bavaria the -malter- of wheat +stands at 11 -gulden- 3 krz., the -malter- of spelt at 4 -gulden-30 +krz.), and, as in South Germany, where the soil admits, the growing +of wheat is preferred and generally with the progress of cultivation +comes to supersede that of spelt, so the analogous transition of +Italian agriculture from the culture of spelt to that of wheat was +undeniably a progress. + +9. I. II. Agriculture + +10. -Oleum- and -oliva- are derived from --elaion--, --elaia--, +and -amurca- (oil-less) from --amorgei--. + +11. But there is no proper authority for the statement that the +fig-tree which stood in front of the temple of Saturn was cut down +in the year 260 (Plin. H. N. xv. 18, 77); the date CCLX. is wanting +in all good manuscripts, and has been interpolated, probably with +reference to Liv. ii. 21. + +12. I. XI. Property + +13. I. VI. Class of --Metoeci-- Subsisting by the Side of the +Community + +14. I. XI. Guardianship + +15. I. XII. Oldest Table of Roman Festivals + +16. The comparative legal value of sheep and oxen, as is well known, +is proved by the fact that, when the cattle-fines were converted +into money-fines, the sheep was rated at ten, and the ox at a +hundred asses (Festus, v. -peculatus-, p. 237, comp. pp. 34, 144; +Gell. xi. i; Plutarch, Poplicola, ii). By a similar adjustment the +Icelandic law makes twelve rams equivalent to a cow; only in this +as in other instances the Germanic law has substituted the duodecimal +for the older decimal system. + +It is well known that the term denoting cattle was transferred to +denote money both among the Latins (-pecunia-) and among the Germans +(English fee). + +17. I. XIV. Decimal System + +18. There has lately been found at Praeneste a silver mixing-jug, +with a Phoenician and a hieroglyphic inscription (Mon. dell Inst. +x. plate 32), which directly proves that such Egyptian wares as +come to light in Italy have found their way thither through the +medium of the Phoenicians. + +19. comp. I. XIII. Culture of the Olive + +20. -Velum- is certainly of Latin origin; so is -malus-, especially +as that term denotes not merely the mast, but the tree in general: +-antenna- likewise may come from --ana-- (-anhelare-, -antestari-), +and -tendere- = -supertensa-. Of Greek origin, on the other +hand, are -gubenare-, to steer (--kubernan--); -ancora-, anchor +(--agkura--); -prora-, ship's bow (--prora--); -aplustre-, +ship's stern (--aphlaston--); -anquina-, the rope fastening the +yards (--agkoina--); -nausea-, sea-sickness (--nausia--). The +four chief winds of the ancients- -aquilo-, the "eagle-wind," the +north-easterly Tramontana; -voltumus- (of uncertain derivation, +perhaps the "vulture-wind"), the south-easterly; -auster- the +"scorching" southwest wind, the Sirocco; -favonius-, the "favourable" +north-west wind blowing from the Tyrrhene Sea--have indigenous +names bearing no reference to navigation; but all the other Latin +names for winds are Greek (such as -eurus-, -notus-), or translations +from the Greek (e.g. -solanus- = --apelioteis--, -Africus- = +--lips--). + +21. This meant in the first instance the tokens used in the service +of the camp, the --xuleiphia kata phulakein brachea teleos echonta +charakteira-- (Polyb. vi. 35, 7); the four -vigiliae- of the +night-service gave name to the tokens generally. The fourfold +division of the night for the service of watching is Greek as well +as Roman; the military science of the Greeks may well have exercised +an influence--possibly through Pyrrhus (Liv. xxxv. 14)--in the +organization of the measures for security in the Roman camp. The +employment of the non-Doric form speaks for the comparatively late +date at which theword was taken over. + +22. I. XI. Character of the Roman Law + +23. I. VII. Relation of Rome to Latium + +24. I. X. Etruscan Commerce + +25. I. XI. Clients and Foreigners, I. XIII. Commerce, in Latium +Passive, in Etruria Active + +26. I. X. Greek Cities Near Vesuvius + +27. If we leave out of view -Sarranus-, -Afer-, and other local +designations (I. X. Phoenicians and Italians in Opposition to the +Hellenes), the Latin language appears not to possess a single word +immediately derived in early times from the Phoenician. The very +few words from Phoenician roots which occur in it, such as -arrabo- +or -arra- and perhaps also -murra-, -nardus-, and the like, are +plainly borrowed proximately from the Greek, which has a considerable +number of such words of Oriental extraction as indications of its +primitive intercourse with the Aramaeans. That --elephas-- and +-ebur- should have come from the same Phoenician original with or +without the addition of the article, and thus have been each formed +independently, is a linguistic impossibility, as the Phoenician +article is in reality -ha-, and is not so employed; besides the +Oriental primitive word has not as yet been found. The same holds +true of the enigmatical word -thesaurus-; whether it may have been +originally Greek or borrowed by the Greeks from the Phoenician +or Persian, it is at any rate, as a Latin word, derived from the +Greek, as the very retaining of its aspiration proves (xii. Foreign +Worships). + +28. Quintus Claudius, in a law issued shortly before 534, prohibited +the senators from having sea-going vessels holding more than 300 +-amphorae- (1 amph. = nearly 6 gallons): -id satis habitum ad fructus +ex agris vectandos; quaestus omnis patribus indecorus visus- (Liv. +xxi. 63). It was thus an ancient usage, and was still permitted, +that the senators should possess sea-going vessels for the transport +of the produce of their estates: on the other hand, transmarine +mercantile speculation (-quaestus-, traffic, fitting-out of vessels, +&c.) on their part was prohibited. It is a curious fact that the +ancient Greeks as well as the Romans expressed the tonnage of their +sea-going ships constantly in amphorae; the reason evidently being, +that Greece as well as Italy exported wine at a comparatively early +period, and on a larger scale than any other bulky article. + + + + +CHAPTER XIV + +Measuring and Writing + + + +The art of measuring brings the world into subjection to man; +the art of writing prevents his knowledge from perishing along +with himself; together they make man--what nature has not made +him--all-powerful and eternal. It is the privilege and duty of +history to trace the course of national progress along these paths +also. + + +Italian Measures + + +Measurement necessarily presupposes the development of the several +ideas of units of time, of space, and of weight, and of a whole +consisting of equal parts, or in other words of number and of +a numeral system. The most obvious bases presented by nature for +this purpose are, in reference to time, the periodic returns of +the sun and moon, or the day and the month; in reference to space, +the length of the human foot, which is more easily applied in +measuring than the arm; in reference to gravity, the burden which +a man is able to poise (-librare-) on his hand while he holds +his arm stretched out, or the "weight" (-libra-). As a basis for +the notion of a whole made up of equal parts, nothing so readily +suggests itself as the hand with its five, or the hands with their +ten, fingers; upon this rests the decimal system. We have already +observed that these elements of all numeration and measuring +reach back not merely beyond the separation of the Greek and Latin +stocks, but even to the most remote primeval times. The antiquity +in particular of the measurement of time by the moon is demonstrated +by language;(1) even the mode of reckoning the days that elapse +between the several phases of the moon, not forward from the phase +on which it had entered last, but backward from that which was +next to be expected, is at least older than the separation of the +Greeks and Latins. + + +Decimal System + + +The most definite evidence of the antiquity and original exclusive +use of the decimal system among the Indo-Germans is furnished by +the well-known agreement of all Indo-Germanic languages in respect +to the numerals as far as a hundred inclusive.(2) In the case of +Italy the decimal system pervaded all the earliest arrangements: it +may be sufficient to recall the number ten so usual in the case of +witnesses, securities, envoys, and magistrates, the legal equivalence +of one ox and ten sheep, the partition of the canton into ten curies +and the pervading application generally of the decurial system, the +-limitatio-, the tenth in offerings and in agriculture, decimation, +and the praenomen -Decimus-. Among the applications of this most +ancient decimal system in the sphere of measuring and of writing, +the remarkable Italian ciphers claim a primary place. When the Greeks +and Italians separated, there were still evidently no conventional +signs of number. On the other hand we find the three oldest and +most indispensable numerals, one, five, and ten, represented by +three signs--I, V or /\, X, manifestly imitations of the outstretched +finger, and the open hand single and double--which were not derived +either from the Hellenes or the Phoenicians, but were common to +the Romans, Sabellians, and Etruscans. They were the first steps +towards the formation of a national Italian writing, and at the same +time evidences of the liveliness of that earlier inland intercourse +among the Italians which preceded their transmarine commerce.(3) +Which of the Italian stocks invented, and which of them borrowed, +these signs, can of course no longer be ascertained. Other traces +of the pure decimal system occur but sparingly in this field; +among them are the -versus-, the Sabellian measure of surface of +100 square feet,(4) and the Roman year of 10 months. + + +The Duodecimal System + + +Otherwise generally in the case of those Italian measures, which +were not connected with Greek standards and were probably developed +by the Italians before they came into contact with the Greeks, there +prevailed the partition of the "whole" (-as-) into twelve "units" +(-unciae-). The very earliest Latin priesthoods, the colleges of +the Salii and Arvales,(5) as well as the leagues of the Etruscan +cities, were organized on the basis of the number twelve. The +same number predominated in the Roman system of weights and in the +measures of length, where the pound (-libra-) and the foot (-pes-) +were usually subdivided into twelve parts; the unit of the Roman +measures of surface was the "driving" (-actus-) of 120 square feet, +a combination of the decimal and duodecimal systems.(6) Similar +arrangements as to the measures of capacity may have passed into +oblivion. + +If we inquire into the basis of the duodecimal system and consider +how it can have happened that, in addition to ten, twelve should +have been so early and universally singled out from the equal series +of numbers, we shall probably be able to find no other source to +which it can be referred than a comparison of the solar and lunar +periods. Still more than the double hand of ten fingers did the +solar cycle of nearly twelve lunar periods first suggest to man +the profound conception of an unit composed of equal units, and +thereby originate the idea of a system of numbers, the first step +towards mathematical thought. The consistent duodecimal development +of this idea appears to have belonged to the Italian nation, and +to have preceded the first contact with the Greeks. + + +Hellenic Measures in Italy + + +But when at length the Hellenic trader had opened up the route to +the west coast of Italy, the measures of surface remained unaffected, +but the measures of length, of weight, and above all of capacity--in +other words those definite standards without which barter and traffic +are impossible--experienced the effects of the new international +intercourse. The oldest Roman foot has disappeared; that which we +know, and which was in use at a very early period among the Romans, +was borrowed from Greece, and was, in addition to its new Roman +subdivision into twelfths, divided after the Greek fashion into four +hand-breadths (-palmus-) and sixteen finger-breadths (-digitus-). +Further, the Roman weights were brought into a fixed proportional +relation to the Attic system, which prevailed throughout Sicily +but not in Cumae--another significant proof that the Latin traffic +was chiefly directed to the island; four Roman pounds were assumed as +equal to three Attic -minae-, or rather the Roman pound was assumed +as equal to one and a half of the Sicilian -litrae- or half-minae.(7) +But the most singular and chequered aspect is presented by the +Roman measures of capacity, as regards both their names and their +proportions. Their names have come from the Greek terms either by +corruption (-amphora-, -modius- after --medimnos--, -congius- from +--choeus--, -hemina-, -cyathus-) or by translation (-acetabulum-from +--ozubaphon--); while conversely --zesteis-- is a corruption of +-sextarius-. All the measures are not identical, but those in most +common use are so; among liquid measures the -congius- or -chus-, +the -sextarius-, and the -cyathus-, the two last also for dry +goods; the Roman -amphora- was equalized in water-weight to the +Attic talent, and at the same time stood to the Greek --metretes-- +in the fixed ratio of 3:2, and to the Greek --medimnos-- of 2:1. To +one who can decipher the significance of such records, these names +and numerical proportions fully reveal the activity and importance +of the intercourse between the Sicilians and the Latins. The Greek +numeral signs were not adopted; but the Roman probably availed +himself of the Greek alphabet, when it reached him, to form ciphers +for 50 and 1000, perhaps also for 100, out of the signs for the +three aspirated letters which he had no use for. In Etruria the +sign for 100 at least appears to have been obtained in a similar +way. Afterwards, as usually happens, the systems of notation among +the two neighbouring nations became assimilated by the adoption in +substance of the Roman system in Etruria. + + +The Italian Calendar before the Period of Greek Influence in Italy + + +In like manner the Roman calendar--and probably that of the Italians +generally--began with an independent development of its own, but +subsequently came under the influence of the Greeks. In the division +of time the returns of sunrise and sunset, and of the new and full +moon, most directly arrest the attention of man; and accordingly +the day and the month, determined not by cyclic calculation but +by direct observation, were long the exclusive measures of time. +Down to a late age sunrise and sunset were proclaimed in the Roman +market-place by the public crier, and in like manner it may be +presumed that in earlier times, at each of the four phases of the +moon, the number of days that would elapse from that phase until +the next was proclaimed by the priests. The mode of reckoning +therefore in Latium--and the like mode, it may be presumed, was in +use not merely among the Sabellians, but also among the Etruscans--was +by days, which, as already mentioned, were counted not forward +from the phase that had last occurred, but backward from that which +was next expected; by lunar weeks, which varied in length between +7 and 8 days, the average length being 7 3/8; and by lunar months +which in like manner were sometimes of 29, sometimes of 30 days, +the average duration of the synodical month being 29 days 12 hours +44 minutes. For some time the day continued to be among the Italians +the smallest, and the month the largest, division of time. It was +not until afterwards that they began to distribute day and night +respectively into four portions, and it was much later still when +they began to employ the division into hours; which explains why +even stocks otherwise closely related differed in their mode of +fixing the commencement of day, the Romans placing it at midnight, +the Sabellians and the Etruscans at noon. No calendar of the year +had, at least when the Greeks separated from the Italians, as yet +been organized, for the names for the year and its divisions in the +two languages have been formed quite independently of each other. +Nevertheless the Italians appear to have already in the pre-Hellenic +period advanced, if not to the arrangement of a fixed calendar, +at any rate to the institution of two larger units of time. The +simplifying of the reckoning according to lunar months by the +application of the decimal system, which was usual among the Romans, +and the designation of a term of ten months as a "ring" (-annus-) +or complete year, bear in them all the traces of a high antiquity. +Later, but still at a period very early and undoubtedly previous +to the operation of Greek influences, the duodecimal system (as +we have already stated) was developed in Italy, and, as it derived +its very origin from the observation of the fact that the solar +period was equal to twelve lunar periods, it was certainly applied +in the first instance to the reckoning of time. This view accords +with the fact that the individual names of the months--which can +only have originated after the month was viewed as part of a solar +year--particularly those of March and of May, were similar among +the different branches of the Italian stock, while there was +no similarity between the Italian names and the Greek. It is not +improbable therefore that the problem of laying down a practical +calendar which should correspond at once to the moon and the sun--a +problem which may be compared in some sense to the quadrature of the +circle, and the solution of which was only recognized as impossible +and abandoned after the lapse of many centuries--had already employed +the minds of men in Italy before the epoch at which their contact +with the Greeks began; these purely national attempts to solve it, +however, have passed into oblivion. + + +The Oldest Italo-Greek Calendar + + +What we know of the oldest calendar of Rome and of some other Latin +cities--as to the Sabellian and Etruscan measurement of time we +have no traditional information--is decidedly based on the oldest +Greek arrangement of the year, which was intended to answer both +to the phases of the moon and to the seasons of the solar year, +constructed on the assumption of a lunar period of 29 1/2 days and +a solar period of 12 1/2 lunar months or 368 3/4 days, and on the +regular alternation of a full month or month of thirty days with a +hollow month or month of twenty-nine days and of a year of twelve +with a year of thirteen months, but at the same time maintained +in some sort of harmony with the actual celestial phenomena by +arbitrary curtailments and intercalations. It is possible that +this Greek arrangement of the year in the first instance came into +use among the Latins without undergoing any alteration; but the +oldest form of the Roman year which can be historically recognized +varied from its model, not indeed in the cyclical result nor yet in +the alternation of years of twelve with years of thirteen months, +but materially in the designation and in the measuring off of the +individual months. The Roman year began with the beginning of +spring; the first month in it and the only one which bears the name +of a god, was named from Mars (-Martius-), the three following from +sprouting (-aprilis-) growing (-maius-), and thriving (-iunius-), +the fifth onward to the tenth from their ordinal numbers (-quinctilis-, +-sextilis-, -september-, -october-, -november-, -december), the +eleventh from commencing (-ianuarius-),(8) with reference presumably +to the renewal of agricultural operations that followed midwinter +and the season of rest, the twelfth, and in an ordinary year the +last, from cleansing (-februarius-). To this series recurring +in regular succession there was added in the intercalary year a +nameless "labour-month" (-mercedonius-) at the close of the year, +viz. after February. And, as the Roman calendar was independent +as respected the names of the months which were probably taken from +the old national ones, it was also independent as regarded their +duration. Instead of the four years of the Greek cycle, each +composed of six months of 30 and six of 29 days and an intercalary +month inserted every second year alternately of 29 and 30 days (354 + +384 + 354 + 383 = 1475 days), the Roman calendar substituted four +years, each containing four months--the first, third, fifth, and +eighth--of 31 days and seven of 29 days, with a February of 28 +days during three years and of 29 in the fourth, and an intercalary +month of 27 days inserted every second year (355 + 383 + 355 + +382 = 1475 days). In like manner this calendar departed from the +original division of the month into four weeks, sometimes of 7, +sometimes of 8 days; it made the eight-day-week run on through the +years without regard to the other relations of the calendar, as our +Sundays do, and placed the weekly market on the day with which it +began (-noundinae-). Along with this it once for all fixed the +first quarter in the months of 31 days on the seventh, in those +of 29 on the fifth day, and the full moon in the former on the +fifteenth, in the latter on the thirteenth day. As the course of +the months was thus permanently arranged, it was henceforth necessary +to proclaim only the number of days lying between the new moon and +the first quarter; thence the day of the newmoon received the name +of "proclamation-day" (-kalendae-). The first day of the second +section of the month, uniformly of 8 days, was--in conformity with +the Roman custom of reckoning, which included the -terminus ad +quem- --designated as "nine-day" (-nonae-). The day of the full +moon retained the old name of -idus- (perhaps "dividing-day"). +The motive lying at the bottom of this strange remodelling of the +calendar seems chiefly to have been a belief in the salutary virtue +of odd numbers;(9) and while in general it is based on the oldest +form of the Greek year, its variations from that form distinctly +exhibit the influence of the doctrines of Pythagoras, which were +then paramount in Lower Italy, and which especially turned upon a +mystic view of numbers. But the consequence was that this Roman +calendar, clearly as it bears traces of the desire that it should +harmonize with the course both of sun and moon, in reality by +no means so corresponded with the lunar course as did at least on +the whole its Greek model, while, like the oldest Greek cycle, it +could only follow the solar seasons by means of frequent arbitrary +excisions, and did in all probability follow them but very imperfectly, +for it is scarcely likely that the calendar would be handled with +greater skill than was manifested in its original arrangement. +The retention moreover of the reckoning by months or--which is the +same thing--by years of ten months implies a tacit, but not to be +misunderstood, confession of the irregularity and untrustworthiness +of the oldest Roman solar year. This Roman calendar may be regarded, +at least in its essential features, as that generally current +among the Latins. When we consider how generally the beginning of +the year and the names of the months are liable to change, minor +variations in the numbering and designations are quite compatible +with the hypothesis of a common basis; and with such a calendar-system, +which practically was irrespective of the lunar course, the Latins +might easily come to have their months of arbitrary length, possibly +marked off by annual festivals--as in the case of the Alban months, +which varied between 16 and 36 days. It would appear probable +therefore that the Greek --trieteris-- had early been introduced +from Lower Italy at least into Latium and perhaps also among the +other Italian stocks, and had thereafter been subjected in the +calendars of the several cities to further subordinate alterations. + +For the measuring of periods of more than one year the regnal years +of the kings might have been employed: but it is doubtful whether +that method of dating, which was in use in the East, occurred in Greece +or Italy during earlier times. On the other hand the intercalary +period recurring every four years, and the census and lustration +of the community connected with it, appear to have suggested +a reckoning by -lustra- similar in plan to the Greek reckoning by +Olympiads--a method, however, which early lost its chronological +significance in consequence of the irregularity that now prevailed +as to the due holding of the census at the right time. + + +Introduction of Hellenic Alphabets into Italy + + +The art of expressing sounds by written signs was of later origin +than the art of measurement. The Italians did not any more than +the Hellenes develop such an art of themselves, although we may +discover attempts at such a development in the Italian numeral +signs,(10) and possibly also in the primitive Italian custom--formed +independently of Hellenic influence--of drawing lots by means +of wooden tablets. The difficulty which must have attended the +first individualizing of sounds--occurring as they do in so great +a variety of combinations--is best demonstrated by the fact that a +single alphabet propagated from people to people and from generation +to generation has sufficed, and still suffices, for the whole of +Aramaic, Indian, Graeco-Roman, and modern civilization; and this +most important product of the human intellect was the joint creation +of the Aramaeans and the Indo-Germans. The Semitic family of +languages, in which the vowel has a subordinate character and never +can begin a word, facilitates on that very account the individualizing +of the consonants; and it was among the Semites accordingly that +the first alphabet--in which the vowels were still wanting--was +invented. It was the Indians and Greeks who first independently +of each other and by very divergent methods created, out of the +Aramaean consonantal writing brought to them by commerce, a complete +alphabet by the addition of the vowels--which was effected by the +application of four letters, which the Greeks did not use as consonantal +signs, for the four vowels -a -e -i -o, and by the formation of a +new sign for -u --in other words by the introduction of the syllable +into writing instead of the mere consonant, or, as Palamedes says +in Euripides, + +--Ta teis ge leitheis pharmak orthosas monos +Aphona kai phonounta, sullabas te theis, +Ezeupon anthropoisi grammat eidenai.-- + +This Aramaeo-Hellenic alphabet was accordingly brought to the +Italians through the medium, doubtless, of the Italian Hellenes; +not, however, through the agricultural colonies of Magna Graecia, +but through the merchants possibly of Cumae or Tarentum, by whom it +would be brought in the first instance to the very ancient emporia +of international traffic in Latium and Etruria--to Rome and Caere. +The alphabet received by the Italians was by no means the oldest +Hellenic one; it had already experienced several modifications, +particularly the addition of the three letters --"id:xi", --"id:phi", +--"id:chi" and the alteration of the signs for --"id:iota", +--"id:gamma", --"id:lambda".(11) We have already observed(12) that +the Etruscan and Latin alphabets were not derived the one from the +other, but both directly from the Greek; in fact the Greek alphabet +came to Etruria in a form materially different from that which +reached Latium. The Etruscan alphabet has a double sign -s (sigma +-"id:s" and san -"id:sh") and only a single -k,(13) and of the +-r only the older form -"id:P"; the Latin has, so far as we know, +only a single -s, but a double sign for -k (kappa -"id:k" and koppa +-"id:q") and of the -r almost solely the more recent form -"id:R". +The oldest Etruscan writing shows no knowledge of lines, and winds +like the coiling of a snake; the more recent employs parallel +broken-off lines from right to left: the Latin writing, as far as +our monuments reach back, exhibits only the latter form of parallel +lines, which originally perhaps may have run at pleasure from left +to right or from right to left, but subsequently ran among the Romans +in the former, and among the Faliscans in the latter direction. +The model alphabet brought to Etruria must notwithstanding its +comparatively remodelled character reach back to an epoch very ancient, +though not positively to be determined; for, as the two sibilants +sigma and san were always used by the Etruscans as different +sounds side by side, the Greek alphabet which came to Etruria must +doubtless still have possessed both of them in this way as living +signs of sound; but among all the monuments of the Greek language +known to us not one presents sigma and san in simultaneous use. + +The Latin alphabet certainly, as we know it, bears on the whole +a more recent character; and it is not improbable that the Latins +did not simply receive the alphabet once for all, as was the case +in Etruria, but in consequence of their lively intercourse with +their Greek neighbours kept pace for a considerable period with +the alphabet in use among these, and followed its variations. We +find, for instance, that the forms -"id:/\/\/", -"id:P",(14) and +-"id:SIGMA" were not unknown to the Romans, but were superseded +in common use by the later forms -"id:/\/\", -"id:R", and -"id:S" +--a circumstance which can only be explained by supposing that +the Latins employed for a considerable period the Greek alphabet +as such in writing either their mother-tongue or Greek. It is +dangerous therefore to draw from the more recent character of the +Greek alphabet which we meet with in Rome, as compared with the +older character of that brought to Etruria, the inference that +writing was practised earlier in Etruria than in Rome. + +The powerful impression produced by the acquisition of the treasure +of letters on those who received them, and the vividness with which +they realized the power that slumbered in those humble signs, are +illustrated by a remarkable vase from a sepulchral chamber of Caere +built before the invention of the arch, which exhibits the old +Greek model alphabet as it came to Etruria, and also an Etruscan +syllabarium formed from it, which may be compared to that +of Palamedes--evidently a sacred relic of the introduction and +acclimatization of alphabetic writing in Etruria. + + +Development of Alphabets in Italy + + +Not less important for history than the derivation of the alphabet +is the further course of its development on Italian soil: perhaps +it is even of more importance; for by means of it a gleam of light +is thrown upon the inland commerce of Italy, which is involved +in far greater darkness than the commerce with foreigners on its +coasts. In the earliest epoch of Etruscan writing, when the alphabet +was used without material alteration as it had been introduced, its +use appears to have been restricted to the Etruscans on the Po and +in what is now Tuscany. In course of time this alphabet, manifestly +diffusing itself from Atria and Spina, reached southward along +the east coast as far as the Abruzzi, northward to the Veneti and +subsequently even to the Celts at the foot of, among, and indeed +beyond the Alps, so that its last offshoots reached as far as the +Tyrol and Styria. The more recent epoch starts with a reform of +the alphabet, the chief features of which were the introduction of +writing in broken-off lines, the suppression of the -"id:o", which +was no longer distinguished in pronunciation from the -"id:u", and +the introduction of a new letter -"id:f" for which the alphabet as +received by them had no corresponding sign. This reform evidently +arose among the western Etruscans, and while it did not find +reception beyond the Apennines, became naturalized among all the +Sabellian tribes, and especially among the Umbrians. In its further +course the alphabet experienced various fortunes in connection with +the several stocks, the Etruscans on the Arno and around Capua, the +Umbrians and the Samnites; frequently the mediae were entirely or +partially lost, while elsewhere again new vowels and consonants +were developed. But that West-Etruscan reform of the alphabet +was not merely as old as the oldest tombs found in Etruria; it was +considerably older, for the syllabarium just mentioned as found +probably in one of these tombs already presents the reformed +alphabet in an essentially modified and modernized shape; and, as +the reformed alphabet itself is relatively recent as compared with +the primitive one, the mind almost fails in the effort to reach back +to the time when that alphabet came to Italy. While the Etruscans +thus appear as the instruments in diffusing the alphabet in the +north, east, and south of the peninsula, the Latin alphabet on +the other hand was confined to Latium, and maintained its ground, +upon the whole, there with but few alterations; only the letters +-"id:gamma" -"id:kappa" and -"id:zeta" -"id:sigma" gradually +became coincident in sound, the consequence of which was, that in +each case one of the homophonous signs (-"id:kappa" -"id:zeta") +disappeared from writing. In Rome it can be shown that these were +already laid aside before the end of the fourth century of the +city,(15) and the whole monumental and literary tradition that has +reached us knows nothing of them, with a single exception.(16) Now +when we consider that in the oldest abbreviations the distinction +between -"id:gamma" -"id:c" and -"id:kappa" -"id:k" is still +regularly maintained;(17) that the period, accordingly, when the +sounds became in pronunciation coincident, and before that again +the period during which the abbreviations became fixed, lies beyond +the beginning of the Samnite wars; and lastly, that a considerable +interval must necessarily have elapsed between the introduction +of writing and the establishment of a conventional system of +abbreviation; we must, both as regards Etruria and Latium, carry +back the commencement of the art of writing to an epoch which +more closely approximates to the first incidence of the Egyptian +Sirius-period within historical times, the year 1321 B.C., than to +the year 776, with which the chronology of the Olympiads began in +Greece.(18) The high antiquity of the art of writing in Rome is +evinced otherwise by numerous and plain indications. The existence +of documents of the regal period is sufficiently attested; such +was the special treaty between Rome and Gabii, which was concluded +by a king Tarquinius and probably not by the last of that name, +and which, written on the skin of the bullock sacrificed on the +occasion, was preserved in the temple of Sancus on the Quirinal, +which was rich in antiquities and probably escaped the conflagration +of the Gauls; and such was the alliance which king Servius Tullius +concluded with Latium, and which Dionysius saw on a copper tablet +in the temple of Diana on the Aventine. What he saw, however, was +probably a copy restored after the fire with the help of a Latin +exemplar, for it was not likely that engraving on metal was practised +as early as the time of the kings. The charters of foundation of +the imperial period still refer to the charter founding this temple +as the oldest document of the kind in Rome and the common model for +all. But even then they scratched (-exarare-, -scribere-, akin to +-scrobes- (19)) or painted (-linere-, thence -littera-) on leaves +(-folium-), inner bark (-liber-), or wooden tablets (-tabula-, +-album-), afterwards also on leather and linen. The sacred records +of the Samnites as well as of the priesthood of Anagnia were +inscribed on linen rolls, and so were the oldest lists of the Roman +magistrates preserved in the temple of the goddess of recollection +(-Iuno moneta-) on the Capitol. It is scarcely necessary to recall +further proofs in the primitive marking of the pastured cattle +(-scriptura-), in the mode of addressing the senate, "fathers and +enrolled" (-patres conscripti-), and in the great antiquity of +the books of oracles, the clan-registers, and the Alban and Roman +calendars. When Roman tradition speaks of halls in the Forum, +where the boys and girls of quality were taught to read and write, +already in the earliest times of the republic, the statement may +be, but is not necessarily to be deemed, an invention. We have +been deprived of information as to the early Roman history, not in +consequence of the want of a knowledge of writing, or even perhaps +of the lack of documents, but in consequence of the incapacity of +the historians of the succeeding age, which was called to investigate +the history, to work out the materials furnished by the archives, +and of the perversity which led them to desire for the earliest +epoch a delineation of motives and of characters, accounts of +battles and narratives of revolutions, and while engaged in inventing +these, to neglect what the extant written tradition would not have +refused to yield to the serious and self-denying inquirer. + + +Results + + +The history of Italian writing thus furnishes in the first place +a confirmation of the weak and indirect influence exercised by the +Hellenic character over the Sabellians as compared with the more +western peoples. The fact that the former received their alphabet +from the Etruscans and not from the Romans is probably to be +explained by supposing that they already possessed it before they +entered upon their migration along the ridge of the Apennines, and +that therefore the Sabines as well as Samnites carried it along +with them from the mother-land to their new abodes. On the other +hand this history of writing contains a salutary warning against the +adoption of the hypothesis, originated by the later Roman culture +in its devotedness to Etruscan mysticism and antiquarian trifling, +and patiently repeated by modern and even very recent inquirers, +that Roman civilization derived its germ and its pith from Etruria. +If this were the truth, some trace of it ought to be more especially +apparent in this field; but on the contrary the germ of the Latin +art of writing was Greek, and its development was so national, +that it did not even adopt the very desirable Etruscan sign for +-"id:f".(20) Indeed, where there is an appearance of borrowing, +as in the numeral signs, it is on the part of the Etruscans, who +took over from the Romans at least the sign for 50. + + +Corruption of Language and Writing + + +Lastly it is a significant fact, that among all the Italian stocks +the development of the Greek alphabet primarily consisted in a +process of corruption. Thus the -mediae- disappeared in the whole +of the Etruscan dialects, while the Umbrians lost -"id:gamma" and +-"id:d", the Samnites -"id:d", and the Romans -"id:gamma"; and among +the latter -"id:d" also threatened to amalgamate with -"id:r". +In like manner among the Etruscans -"id:o" and -"id:u" early +coalesced, and even among the Latins we meet with a tendency to +the same corruption. Nearly the converse occurred in the case of +the sibilants; for while the Etruscan retained the three signs +-"id:z", -"id:s", -"id:sh", and the Umbrian rejected the last but +developed two new sibilants in its room, the Samnite and the Faliscan +confined themselves like the Greek to -"id:s" and -"id:z", and the +Roman of later times even to -"id:s" alone. It is plain that the +more delicate distinctions of sound were duly felt by the introducers +of the alphabet, men of culture and masters of two languages; +but after the national writing Became wholly detached from the +Hellenic mother-alphabet, the -mediae- and their -tenues- gradually +came to coincide, and the sibilants and vowels were thrown into +disorder--transpositions or rather destructions of sound, of which +the first in particular is entirely foreign to the Greek. The +destruction of the forms of flexion and derivation went hand in +hand with this corruption of sounds. The cause of this barbarization +was thus, upon the whole, simply the necessary process of +corruption which is continuously eating away every language, where +its progress is not stemmed by literature and reason; only in this +case indications of what has elsewhere passed away without leaving a +trace have been preserved in the writing of sounds. The circumstance +that this barbarizing process affected the Etruscans more strongly +than any other of the Italian stocks adds to the numerous proofs +of their inferior capacity for culture. The fact on the other hand +that, among the Italians, the Umbrians apparently were the most +affected by a similar corruption of language, the Romans less so, +the southern Sabellians least of all, probably finds its explanation, +at least in part, in the more lively intercourse maintained by the +former with the Etruscans, and by the latter with the Greeks. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter XIV + + + +1. I. II. Indo-Germanic Culture + +2. I. II. Indo-Germanic Culture + +3. I. XII. Inland Commerce of the Italians + +4. I. II. Agriculture + +5. I. XII. Priests + +6. Originally both the -actus-, "riving," and its still more +frequently occurring duplicate, the -jugerum-, "yoking," were, +like the German "morgen," not measures of surface, but measures of +labour; the latter denoting the day's work, the former the half-day's +work, with reference to the sharp division of the day especially +in Italy by the ploughman's rest at noon. + +7. I. XIII. Etrusco-Attic and Latino-Sicilian Commerce + +8. I. XII. Nature of the Roman Gods + +9. From the same cause all the festival-days are odd, as well those +recurring every month (-kalendae- on the 1st. -nonae- on the 5th +or 7th, -idus- on the 13th or 15th), as also, with but two exceptions, +those of the 45 annual festivals mentioned above (xii. Oldest Table +Of Roman Festivals). This is carried so far, that in the case of +festivals of several days the intervening even days were dropped +out, and so, for example, that of Carmentis was celebrated on Jan. +11, 15, that of the Grove-festival (-Lucaria-) on July 19, 21, and +that of the Ghosts-festival on May 9, 11, and 13. + +10. I. XIV. Decimal System + +11. The history of the alphabet among the Hellenes turns essentially +on the fact that--assuming the primitive alphabet of 23 letters, +that is to say, the Phoenician alphabet vocalized and enlarged by +the addition of the -"id:u" --proposals of very various kinds were +made to supplement and improve it, and each of these proposals has +a history of its own. The most important of these, which it is +interesting to keep in view as bearing on the history of Italian +writing, are the following:--I. The introduction of special signs +for the sounds --"id:xi" --"id:phi" --"id:chi". This proposal +is so old that all the Greek alphabets--with the single exception +of that of the islands Thera, Melos, and Crete--and all alphabets +derived from the Greek without exception, exhibit its influence. +At first probably the aim was to append the signs --"id:CHI" += --"id:xi iota", --"id:PHI" = --"id:phi iota", and --"id:PSI"= +--"id:chi iota" to the close of the alphabet, and in this shape it +was adopted on the mainland of Hellas--with the exception of Athens +and Corinth--and also among the Sicilian and Italian Greeks. The +Greeks of Asia Minor on the other hand, and those of the islands of +the Archipelago, and also the Corinthians on the mainland appear, +when this proposal reached them, to have already had in use for the +sound --"id:xi iota" the fifteenth sign of the Phoenician alphabet +--"id:XI" (Samech); accordingly of the three new signs they adopted +the --"id:PHI" for --"id:phi iota", but employed the --"id:CHI" +not for --"id:xi iota", but for --"id:chi iota". The third sign +originally invented for --"id:chi iota" was probably allowed in +most instances to drop; only on the mainland of Asia Minor it was +retained, but received the value of --"id:psi iota". The mode of +writing adopted in Asia Minor was followed also by Athens; only in +its case not merely the --"id:psi iota", but the --"id:xi iota" also, +was not received and in their room the two consonants continued to +be written as before.--II. Equally early, if not still earlier, +an effort was made to obviate the confusion that might so easily +occur between the forms for --"id:iota S" and for --"id:s E"; for +all the Greek alphabets known to us bear traces of the endeavour to +distinguish them otherwise and more precisely. Already in very +early times two such proposals of change must have been made, +each of which found a field for its diffusion. In the one case +they employed for the sibilant--for which the Phoenician alphabet +furnished two signs, the fourteenth ( --"id:/\/\") for --"id:sh" and +the eighteenth (--"id:E") for --"id:s" --not the latter, which was +in sound the more suitable, but the former; and such was in earlier +times the mode of writing in the eastern islands, in Corinth and +Corcyra, and among the Italian Achaeans. In the other case they +substituted for the sign of --"id:i" the simple stroke --"id:I", +which was by far the more usual, and at no very late date became +at least so far general that the broken --"id:iota S" everywhere +disappeared, although individual communities retained the --"id:s" +in the form --"id:/\/\" alongside of the --"I".--III. Of later +date is the substitution of --"id:\/" for --"id:/\" (--"id:lambda") +which might readily be confounded with --"id:GAMMA gamma". This we +meet with in Athens and Boeotia, while Corinth and the communities +dependent on Corinth attained the same object by giving +to the --"id:gamma" the semicircular form --"id:C" instead of the +hook-shape.--IV. The forms for --"id:p" --"id:P (with broken-loop)" +and --"id:r" --"id:P", likewise very liable to be confounded, were +distinguished by transforming the latter into --"id:R"; which more +recent form was not used by the Greeks of Asia Minor, the Cretans, +the Italian Achaeans, and a few other districts, but on the other +hand greatly preponderated both in Greece proper and in Magna +Graecia and Sicily. Still the older form of the --"id:r" --"id:P" +did not so early and so completely disappear there as the older +form of the --"id:l"; this alteration therefore beyond doubt is to +be placed later.--V. The differentiating of the long and short -e +and the long and short -o remained in the earlier times confined +to the Greeks of Asia Minor and of the islands of the Aegean Sea. + +All these technical improvements are of a like nature and from a +historical point of view of like value, in so far as each of them +arose at a definite time and at a definite place and thereafter +took its own mode of diffusion and found its special development. +The excellent investigation of Kirchhoff (-Studien zur Geschichte +des griechischen Alphabets-), which has thrown a clear light on +the previously so obscure history of the Hellenic alphabet, and has +also furnished essential data for the earliest relations between the +Hellenes and Italians--establishing, in particular, incontrovertibly +the previously uncertain home of the Etruscan alphabet--is affected +by a certain one-sidedness in so far as it lays proportionally too +great stress on a single one of these proposals. If systems are +here to be distinguished at all, we may not divide the alphabets into +two classes according to the value of the --"id:X" as --"id:zeta" +or as --"id:chi", but we shall have to distinguish the alphabet +of 23 from that of 25 or 26 letters, and perhaps further in this +latter case to distinguish the Ionic of Asia Minor, from which the +later common alphabet proceeded, from the common Greek of earlier +times. In dealing, however, with the different proposals for +the modification of the alphabet the several districts followed +an essentially eclectic course, so that one was received here and +another there; and it is just in this respect that the history of +the Greek alphabet is so instructive, because it shows how particular +groups of the Greek lands exchanged improvements in handicraft +and art, while others exhibited no such reciprocity. As to Italy +in particular we have already called attention to the remarkable +contrast between the Achaean agricultural towns and the Chalcidic +and Doric colonies of a more mercantile character (x. Iono-Dorian +Towns); in the former the primitive forms were throughout retained, +in the latter the improved forms were adopted, even those which +coming from different quarters were somewhat inconsistent, such +as the --"id:C" --"id:gamma" alongside of the --"id:\/" --"id:l". +The Italian alphabets proceed, as Kirchhoff has shown, wholly +from the alphabet of the Italian Greeks and in fact from the +Chalcidico-Doric; but that the Etruscans and Latins received their +alphabet not the one from the other but both directly from the +Greeks, is placed beyond doubt especially by the different form of +the --"id:r". For, while of the four modifications of the alphabet +above described which concern the Italian Greeks (the fifth +was confined to Asia Minor) the first three were already carried +out before the alphabet passed to the Etruscans and Latins, the +differentiation of --"id:p" and --"id:r" had not yet taken place +when it came to Etruria, but on the other hand had at least begun +when the Latins received it; for which reason the Etruscans do +not at all know the form -"id:R" for -"id:r", whereas among the +Faliscans and the Latins, with the single exception of the Dressel +vase (xiv. Note 14 ), the younger form is met with exclusively. + +12. I. XIII. Etrusco-Attic and Latino-Sicilian Commerce + +13. That the Etruscans always were without the koppa, seems +not doubtful; for not only is no sure trace of it to be met with +elsewhere, but it is wanting in the model alphabet of the Galassi +vase. The attempt to show its presence in the syllabarium of the +latter is at any rate mistaken, for the syllabarium can and does +only take notice of the Etruscan letters that were afterwards +in common use, and to these the koppa notoriously did not belong; +moreover the sign placed at the close cannot well from its position +have any other value than that of the -f, which was in fact the last +letter in the Etruscan alphabet, and which could not be omitted in +a syllabarium exhibiting the variations of that alphabet from its +model. It is certainly surprising that the koppa should be absent +from the Greek alphabet that came to Etruria, when it otherwise +so long maintained its place in the Chalcidico-Doric ; but this +may well have been a local peculiarity of the town whose alphabet +first reached Etruria. Caprice and accident have at all times had +a share in determining whether a sign becoming superfluous shall +be retained or dropped from the alphabet; thus the Attic alphabet +lost the eighteenth Phoenician sign, but retained the others which +had disappeared from the -u. + +14. The golden bracelet of Praeneste recently brought to light +(Mitth. der rom. Inst. 1887), far the oldest of the intelligible +monuments of the Latin language and Latin writing, shows the older +form of the -"id:m"; the enigmatic clay vase from the Quirinal +(published by Dressel in the Annali dell Instituto, 1880) shows +the older form of the -"id:r". + +15. At this period we shall have to place that recorded form of the +Twelve Tables, which subsequently lay before the Roman philologues, +and of which we possess fragments. Beyond doubt the code was +at its very origin committed to writing; but that those scholars +themselves referred their text not to the original exemplar, but to +an official document written down after the Gallic conflagration, +is proved by the story of the Tables having undergone reproduction +at that time. This enables us easily to explain how their text by +no means exhibited the oldest orthography, which was not unknown to +them; even apart from the consideration that in the case of such +a written document, employed, moreover, for the purpose of being +committed to memory by the young, a philologically exact transmission +cannot possibly be assumed. + +16. This is the inscription of the bracelet of Praeneste which +has been mentioned at xiv, note 14. On the other hand even on the +Ficoroni cista -"id:C" has the later form of -"id:K". + +17. Thus -"id:C" represents -Gaius-; -"id:CN" -Gnaeus-; while +-"id:K" stands for -Kaeso-. With the more recent abbreviations of +course this is not the case; in these -"id:gamma" is represented +not by -"id:C", but by -"id:G" (-GAL- -Galeria-), --"id:kappa", as +a rule, by -"id:C" (-C- -centum- -COS- -consul; -COL -Collina-), or +before -"id:a" by -"id:K" (-KAR- -karmetalia-; -MERK- -merkatus-). +For they expressed for a time the sound --k before the vowels -e +-i -o and before all consonants by -"id:C", before -a on the other +hand by -"id:K", before -u by the old sign of the koppa -"id:Q". + +18. If this view is correct, the origin of the Homeric poems (though +of course not exactly that of the redaction in which we now have +them) must have been far anterior to the age which Herodotus assigns +for the flourishing of Homer (100 before Rome); for the introduction +of the Hellenic alphabet into Italy, as well as the beginning of +intercourse at all between Hellas and Italy, belongs only to the +post-Homeric period. + +19. Just as the old Saxon -writan- signifies properly to tear, +thence to write. + +20. The enigma as to how the Latins came to employ the Greek sign +corresponding to -v for the -f quite different in sound, has been +solved by the bracelet of Praeneste (xiv. Developments Of Alphabets +in Italy, note) with its -fhefhaked- for -fecit-, and thereby at the +same time the derivation of the Latin alphabet from the Chalcidian +colonies of Lower Italy has been confirmed. For in a Boeotian +inscription belonging to the same alphabet we find in the word +-fhekadamoe-(Gustav Meyer, Griech. Grammatik, sec. 244, ap. fin.) +the same combination of sound, and an aspirated v might certainly +approximate in sound to the Latin -f. + +20. -Ratio Tuscanica,: cavum aedium Tuscanicum.- + +21. When Varro (ap. Augustin. De Civ. Dei, iv. 31; comp. Plutarch +Num. 8) affirms that the Romans for more than one hundred and +seventy years worshipped the gods without images, he is evidently +thinking of this primitive piece of carving, which, according to +the conventional chronology, was dedicated between 176 and 219, and, +beyond doubt, was the first statue of the gods, the consecration +of which was mentioned in the authorities which Varro had before +him. Comp, above, XIV. Development of Alphabets in Italy. + +22. I. XIII. Handicrafts + +23. I. XII. Nature of the Roman Gods + +24. I. XII. Pontifices + + + + +Chapter XV + +Art + + + +Artistic Endowment of the Italians + + +Poetry is impassioned language, and its modulation is melody. While +in this sense no people is without poetry and music, some nations +have received a pre-eminent endowment of poetic gifts. The Italian +nation, however, was not and is not one of these. The Italian is +deficient in the passion of the heart, in the longing to idealize +what is human and to confer humanity on what is lifeless, which +form the very essence of poetic art. His acuteness of perception +and his graceful versatility enabled him to excel in irony and in +the vein of tale-telling which we find in Horace and Boccaccio, +in the humorous pleasantries of love and song which are presented +in Catullus and in the good popular songs of Naples, above all in +the lower comedy and in farce. Italian soil gave birth in ancient +times to burlesque tragedy, and in modern times to mock-heroic +poetry. In rhetoric and histrionic art especially no other nation +equalled or equals the Italians. But in the more perfect kinds of +art they have hardly advanced beyond dexterity of execution, and +no epoch of their literature has produced a true epos or a genuine +drama. The very highest literary works that have been successfully +produced in Italy, divine poems like Dante's Commedia, and historical +treatises such as those of Sallust and Macchiavelli, of Tacitus and +Colletta, are pervaded by a passion more rhetorical than spontaneous. +Even in music, both in ancient and modern times, really creative +talent has been far less conspicuous than the accomplishment which +speedily assumes the character of virtuosoship, and enthrones in +the room of genuine and genial art a hollow and heart-withering +idol. The field of the inward in art--so far as we may in the case +of art distinguish an inward and an outward at all--is not that +which has fallen to the Italian as his special province; the power +of beauty, to have its full effect upon him, must be placed not +ideally before his mind, but sensuously before his eyes. Accordingly +he is thoroughly at home in architecture, painting, and sculpture; +in these he was during the epoch of ancient culture the best disciple +of the Hellenes, and in modern times he has become the master of +all nations. + + +Dance, Music, and Song in Latium + + +From the defectiveness of our traditional information it is +not possible to trace the development of artistic ideas among the +several groups of nations in Italy; and in particular we are no +longer in a position to speak of the poetry of Italy; we can only +speak of that of Latium. Latin poetry, like that of every other +nation, began in the lyrical form, or, to speak more correctly, +sprang out of those primitive festal rejoicings, in which dance, +music, and song were still inseparably blended. It is remarkable, +however, that in the most ancient religious usages dancing, and +next to dancing instrumental music, were far more prominent than +song. In the great procession, with which the Roman festival of +victory was opened, the chief place, next to the images of the gods +and the champions, was assigned to the dancers grave and merry. +The grave dancers were arranged in three groups of men, youths, +and boys, all clad in red tunics with copper belts, with swords +and short lances, the men being moreover furnished with helmets, +and generally in full armed attire. The merry dancers were divided +into two companies--"the sheep" in sheep-skins with a party-coloured +over-garment, and "the goats" naked down to the waist, with a buck's +skin thrown over them. In like manner the "leapers" (-salii-) +were perhaps the most ancient and sacred of all the priesthoods,(1) +and dancers (-ludii-, -ludiones-) were indispensable in all public +processions, and particularly at funeral solemnities; so that +dancing became even in ancient times a common trade. But, wherever +the dancers made their appearance, there appeared also the musicians +or--which was in the earliest times the same thing--the pipers. +They too were never wanting at a sacrifice, at a marriage, or at +a funeral; and by the side of the primitive public priesthood of +the "leapers" there was ranged, of equal antiquity although of far +inferior rank, the guild of the "pipers" (-collegium tibicinum-(2)), +whose true character as strolling musicians is evinced by their +ancient privilege--maintained even in spite of the strictness +of Roman police--of wandering through the streets at their annual +festival, wearing masks and full of sweet wine. While dancing thus +presents itself as an honourable function and music as one subordinate +but still necessary, so that public corporations were instituted +for both of them, poetry appears more as a matter incidental and, +in some measure, indifferent, whether it may have come into existence +on its own account or to serve as an accompaniment to the movements +of the dancers. + + +Religious Chants + + +The earliest chant, in the view of the Romans, was that which the +leaves sang to themselves in the green solitude of the forest. The +whispers and pipings of the "favourable spirit" (-faunus-, from +-favere-) in the grove were reproduced for men, by those who had +the gift of listening to him, in rhythmically measured language +(-casmen-, afterwards -carmen-, from -canere-). Of a kindred nature +to these soothsaying songs of inspired men and women (-vates-) were +the incantations properly so called, the formulae for conjuring +away diseases and other troubles, and the evil spells by which they +prevented rain and called down lightning or even enticed the seed +from one field to another; only in these instances, probably from +the outset, formulae of mere sounds appear side by side with formulae +of words.(3) More firmly rooted in tradition and equally ancient +were the religious litanies which were sung and danced by the Salii +and other priesthoods; the only one of which that has come down to +us, a dance-chant of the Arval Brethren in honour of Mars probably +composed to be sung in alternate parts, deserves a place here. + +-Enos, Lases, iuvate! +Ne velue rue, Marmar, sins incurrere in pleores! +Satur fu, fere Mars! limen sali! sta! berber! +Semunis alternei advocapit conctos! +Enos, Marmar, iuvato! +Triumpe!- + +Which may be thus interpreted: + +To the gods: +-Nos, Lares, iuvate! +Ne veluem (= malam luem) ruem (= ruinam), Mamers, + sinas incurrere in plures! +Satur esto, fere Mars! + +To the individual brethren: +In limen insili! sta! verbera (limen?)! + +To all the brethren: +Semones alterni advocate cunctos! + +To the god: +Nos, Mamers, iuvato! + +To the individual brethren: +Tripudia!-(4) + +The Latin of this chant and of kindred fragments of the Salian +songs, which were regarded even by the philologues of the Augustan +age as the oldest documents of their mother-tongue, is related +to the Latin of the Twelve Tables somewhat as the language of the +Nibelungen is related to the language of Luther; and we may perhaps +compare these venerable litanies, as respects both language and +contents, with the Indian Vedas. + + +Panegyrics and Lampoons + + +Lyrical panegyrics and lampoons belonged to a later epoch. We might +infer from the national character of the Italians that satirical +songs must have abounded in Latium in ancient times, even if their +prevalence had not been attested by the very ancient measures of +police directed against them. But the panegyrical chants became +of more importance. When a burgess was borne to burial, the bier +was followed by a female relative or friend, who, accompanied by a +piper, sang his dirge (-nenia-). In like manner at banquets boys, +who according to the fashion of those days attended their fathers +even at feasts out of their own houses, sang by turns songs in +praise of their ancestors, sometimes to the pipe, sometimes simply +reciting them without accompaniment (-assa voce canere-). The custom +of men singing in succession at banquets was presumably borrowed +from the Greeks, and that not till a later age. We know no further +particulars of these ancestral lays; but it is self-evident that +they must have attempted description and narration and thus have +developed, along with and out of the lyrical element, the features +of epic poetry. + + +The Masked Farce + + +Other elements of poetry were called into action in the primitive +popular carnival, the comic dance or -satura-,(5) which beyond +doubt reached back to a period anterior to the separation of the +stocks. On such occasions song would never be wanting; and the +circumstances under which such pastimes were exhibited, chiefly +at public festivals and marriages, as well as the mainly practical +shape which they certainly assumed, naturally suggested that several +dancers, or sets of dancers, should take up reciprocal parts; +so that the singing thus came to be associated with a species of +acting, which of course was chiefly of a comical and often of a +licentious character. In this way there arose not merely alternative +chants, such as afterwards went by the name of Fescennine songs, but +also the elements of a popular comedy--which were in this instance +planted in a soil admirably adapted for their growth, as an acute +sense of the outward and the comic, and a delight in gesticulation +and masquerade have ever been leading traits of Italian character. + +No remains have been preserved of these -incunabula- of the Roman +epos and drama. That the ancestral lays were traditional is +self-evident, and is abundantly demonstrated by the fact that they +were regularly recited by children; but even in the time of Cato +the Elder they had completely passed into oblivion. The comedies +again, if it be allowable so to name them, were at this period and +long afterwards altogether improvised. Consequently nothing of +this popular poetry and popular melody could be handed down but +the measure, the accompaniment of music and choral dancing, and +perhaps the masks. + + +Metre + + +Whether what we call metre existed in the earlier times is doubtful; +the litany of the Arval Brethren scarcely accommodates itself to +an outwardly fixed metrical system, and presents to us rather the +appearance of an animated recitation. On the other hand we find in +subsequent times a very ancient rhythm, the so-called Saturnian(6) +or Faunian metre, which is foreign to the Greeks, and may be +conjectured to have arisen contemporaneously with the oldest Latin +popular poetry. The following poem, belonging, it is true, to a +far later age, may give an idea of it:-- + + +Quod re sua difeidens--aspere afleicta + +Parens timens heic vovit--voto hoc soluto +___ +Decuma facta poloucta--leibereis lubentis + ____ _____ +Donu danunt__hercolei--maxsume--mereto + _____ +Semol te orant se voti--crebro con__demnes. + +__--'__--'__--'__^/ __--'__--'__--'_^ + + +That which, misfortune dreading--sharply to afflict him, An anxious +parent vowed here,--when his wish was granted, A sacred tenth for +banquet--gladly give his children to Hercules a tribute--most of +all deserving; And now they thee beseech, that--often thou wouldst +hear them. + +Panegyrics as well as comic songs appear to have been uniformly +sung in Saturnian metre, of course to the pipe, and presumably in +such a way that the -caesura- in particular in each line was strongly +marked; and in alternate singing the second singer probably took +up the verse at this point. The Saturnian measure is, like every +other occurring in Roman and Greek antiquity, based on quantity; +but of all the antique metres perhaps it is the least thoroughly +elaborated, for besides many other liberties it allows itself the +greatest license in omitting the short syllables, and it is at the +same time the most imperfect in construction, for these iambic and +trochaic half-lines opposed to each other were but little fitted +to develop a rhythmical structure adequate for the purposes of the +higher poetry. + + +Melody + + +The fundamental elements of the national music and choral dancing +in Latium, which must likewise have been established during this +period, are buried for us in oblivion; except that the Latin pipe +is reported to have been a short and slender instrument, provided +with only four holes, and originally, as the name shows, made out +of the light thighbone of some animal. + + +Masks + + +Lastly, the masks used in after times for the standing characters +of the Latin popular comedy or the Atellana, as it was called: +Maccus the harlequin, Bucco the glutton, Pappus the good papa, and +the wise Dossennus--masks which have been cleverly and strikingly +compared to the two servants, the -pantalon- and the -dottore-, in +the Italian comedy of Pulcinello--already belonged to the earliest +Latin popular art. That they did so cannot of course be strictly +proved; but as the use of masks for the face in Latium in the case +of the national drama was of immemorial antiquity, while the Greek +drama in Rome did not adopt them for a century after its first +establishment, as, moreover, those Atellane masks were of decidedly +Italian origin, and as, in fine, the origination as well as +the execution of improvised pieces cannot well be conceived apart +from fixed masks assigning once for all to the player his proper +position throughout the piece, we must associate fixed masks with +the rudiments of the Roman drama, or rather regard them as constituting +those rudiments themselves. + + +Earliest Hellenic Influences + + +If our information respecting the earliest indigenous culture and +art of Latium is so scanty, it may easily be conceived that our +knowledge will be still scantier regarding the earliest impulses +imparted in this respect to the Romans from without. In a certain +sense we may include under this head their becoming acquainted with +foreign languages, particularly the Greek. To this latter language, of +course, the Latins generally were strangers, as was shown by their +enactment in respect to the Sibylline oracles;(7) but an acquaintance +with it must have been not at all uncommon in the case of merchants. +The same may be affirmed of the knowledge of reading and writing, +closely connected as it was with the knowledge of Greek.(8) The +culture of the ancient world, however, was not based either +on the knowledge of foreign languages or on elementary technical +accomplishments. An influence more important than any thus imparted +was exercised over the development of Latium by the elements of the +fine arts, which were already in very early times received from the +Hellenes. For it was the Hellenes alone, and not the Phoenicians +or the Etruscans, that in this respect exercised an influence on +the Italians. We nowhere find among the latter any stimulus of +the fine arts which can be referred to Carthage or Caere, and the +Phoenician and Etruscan forms of civilization may be in general +perhaps classed with those that are hybrid, and for that reason +not further productive.(9) But the influence of Greece did not +fail to bear fruit. The Greek seven-stringed lyre, the "strings" +(-fides-, from --sphidei--, gut; also -barbitus-, --barbitos--), +was not like the pipe indigenous in Latium, and was always regarded +there as an instrument of foreign origin; but the early period at +which it gained a footing is demonstrated partly by the barbarous +mutilation of its Greek name, partly by its being employed even in +ritual.(10) That some of the legendary stores of the Greeks during +this period found their way into Latium, is shown by the ready +reception of Greek works of sculpture with their representations +based so thoroughly upon the poetical treasures of the nation; and +the old Latin barbarous conversions of Persephone into Prosepna, +Bellerophontes into Melerpanta, Kyklops into Cocles, Laomedon into +Alumentus, Ganymedes into Catamitus, Neilos into Melus, Semele into +Stimula, enable us to perceive at how remote a period such stories +had been heard and repeated by the Latins. Lastly and especially, +the Roman chief festival or festival of the city (-ludi maximi-, +-Romani-) must in all probability have owed, if not its origin, +at any rate its later arrangements to Greek influence. It was an +extraordinary thanksgiving festival celebrated in honour of the +Capitoline Jupiter and the gods dwelling along with him, ordinarily +in pursuance of a vow made by the general before battle, and +therefore usually observed on the return home of the burgess-force +in autumn. A festal procession proceeded toward the Circus staked +off between the Palatine and Aventine, and furnished with an arena +and places for spectators; in front the whole boys of Rome, arranged +according to the divisions of the burgess-force, on horseback and +on foot; then the champions and the groups of dancers which we have +described above, each with their own music; thereafter the servants +of the gods with vessels of frankincense and other sacred utensils; +lastly the biers with the images of the gods themselves. The +spectacle itself was the counterpart of war as it was waged in +primitive times, a contest on chariots, on horseback, and on foot. +First there ran the war-chariots, each of which carried in Homeric +fashion a charioteer and a combatant; then the combatants who had +leaped off; then the horsemen, each of whom appeared after the Roman +style of fighting with a horse which he rode and another led by the +hand (-desultor-); lastly, the champions on foot, naked to the girdle +round their loins, measured their powers in racing, wrestling, and +boxing. In each species of contest there was but one competition, +and that between not more than two competitors. A chaplet rewarded +the victor, and the honour in which the simple branch which formed +the wreath was held is shown by the law permitting it to be laid +on the bier of the victor when he died. The festival thus lasted +only one day, and the competitions probably still left sufficient +time on that day for the carnival proper, at which the groups of +dancers may have displayed their art and above all exhibited their +farces; and doubtless other representations also, such as competitions +in juvenile horsemanship, found a place.(11) The honours won in +real war also played their part in this festival; the brave warrior +exhibited on this day the equipments of the antagonist whom he had +slain, and was decorated with a chaplet by the grateful community +just as was the victor in the competition. + +Such was the nature of the Roman festival of victory or city-festival; +and the other public festivities of Rome may be conceived to +have been of a similar character, although less ample in point of +resources. At the celebration of a public funeral dancers regularly +bore a part, and along with them, if there was to be any further +exhibition, horse-racers; in that case the burgesses were specially +invited beforehand to the funeral by the public crier. + +But this city-festival, so intimately bound up with the manners +and exercises of the Romans, coincides in all essentials with the +Hellenic national festivals: more especially in the fundamental +idea of combining a religious solemnity and a competition in warlike +sports; in the selection of the several exercises, which at the +Olympic festival, according to Pindar's testimony, consisted from +the first in running, wrestling, boxing, chariot-racing, and throwing +the spear and stone; in the nature of the prize of victory, which +in Rome as well as in the Greek national festivals was a chaplet, +and in the one case as well as in the other was assigned not to the +charioteer, but to the owner of the team; and lastly in introducing +the feats and rewards of general patriotism in connection with +the general national festival. This agreement cannot have been +accidental, but must have been either a remnant of the primitive +connection between the peoples, or a result of the earliest +international intercourse; and the probabilities preponderate in +favour of the latter hypothesis. The city-festival, in the form +in which we are acquainted with it, was not one of the oldest +institutions of Rome, for the Circus itself was only laid out in the +later regal period;(12) and just as the reform of the constitution +then took place under Greek influence,(13) the city-festival may +have been at the same time so far transformed as to combine Greek +races with, and eventually to a certain extent to substitute them +for, an older mode of amusement--the "leap" (-triumpus-,(14)), and +possibly swinging, which was a primitive Italian custom and long +continued in use at the festival on the Alban mount. Moreover, +while there is some trace of the use of the war-chariot in actual +warfare in Hellas, no such trace exists in Latium. Lastly, the +Greek term --stadion-- (Doric --spadion--) was at a very early period +transferred to the Latin language, retaining its signification, +as -spatium-; and there exists even an express statement that the +Romans derived their horse and chariot races from the people of +Thurii, although, it is true, another account derives them from +Etruria. It thus appears that, in addition to the impulses imparted +by the Hellenes in music and poetry, the Romans were indebted to +them for the fruitful idea of gymnastic competitions. + + +Character of Poetry and of Education in Latium + + +Thus there not only existed in Latium the same fundamental elements +out of which Hellenic culture and art grew, but Hellenic culture +and art themselves exercised a powerful influence over Latium in +very early times. Not only did the Latins possess the elements +of gymnastic training, in so far as the Roman boy learned like +every farmer's son to manage horses and waggon and to handle the +hunting-spear, and as in Rome every burgess was at the same time +a soldier; but the art of dancing was from the first an object +of public care, and a powerful impulse was further given to such +culture at an early period by the introduction of the Hellenic +games. The lyrical poetry and tragedy of Hellas grew out of songs +similar to the festal lays of Rome; the ancestral lay contained the +germs of epos, the masked farce the germs of comedy; and in this +field also Grecian influences were not wanting. + +In such circumstances it is the more remarkable that these germs +either did not spring up at all, or were soon arrested in their +growth. The bodily training of the Latin youth continued to be +solid and substantial, but far removed from the idea of artistic +culture for the body, such as was the aim of Hellenic gymnastics. +The public games of the Hellenes when introduced into Italy, changed +not so much their formal rules as their essential character. While +they were intended to be competitions of burgesses and beyond doubt +were so at first in Rome, they became contests of professional +riders and professional boxers, and, while the proof of free and +Hellenic descent formed the first condition for participating in +the Greek festal games, those of Rome soon passed into the hands +of freedmen and foreigners and even of persons not free at all. +Consequently the circle of fellow-competitors became converted into +a public of spectators, and the chaplet of the victorious champion, +which has been with justice called the badge of Hellas, was afterwards +hardly ever mentioned in Latium. + +A similar fate befel poetry and her sisters. The Greeks and Germans +alone possess a fountain of song that wells up spontaneously; from +the golden vase of the Muses only a few drops have fallen on the +green soil of Italy. There was no formation of legend in the strict +sense there. The Italian gods were abstractions and remained such; +they never became elevated into or, as some may prefer to say, +obscured under, a true personal shape. In like manner men, even the +greatest and noblest, remained in the view of the Italian without +exception mortal, and were not, as in the longing recollection +and affectionately cherished tradition of Greece, elevated in the +conception of the multitude into god-like heroes. But above all +no development of national poetry took place in Latium. It is +the deepest and noblest effect of the fine arts and above all of +poetry, that they break down the barriers of civil communities and +create out of tribes a nation and out of the nations a world. As +in the present day by means of our cosmopolitan literature the +distinctions of civilized nations are done away, so Greek poetic +art transformed the narrow and egoistic sense of tribal relationship +into the consciousness of Hellenic nationality, and this again +into the consciousness of a common humanity. But in Latium nothing +similar occurred. There might be poets in Alba and in Rome, but there +arose no Latin epos, nor even--what were still more conceivable--a +catechism for the Latin farmer of a kind similar to the "Works and +Days" of Hesiod. The Latin federal festival might well have become +a national festival of the fine arts, like the Olympian and Isthmian +games of the Greeks. A cycle of legends might well have gathered +around the fall of Alba, such as was woven around the conquest of +Ilion, and every community and every noble clan of Latium might +have discovered in it, or imported into it, the story of its own +origin. But neither of these results took place, and Italy remained +without national poetry or art. + +The inference which of necessity follows from these facts, that the +development of the fine arts in Latium was rather a shrivelling up +than an expanding into bloom, is confirmed in a manner even now not +to be mistaken by tradition. The beginnings of poetry everywhere, +perhaps, belong rather to women than to men; the spell of incantation +and the chant for the dead pertain pre-eminently to the former, +and not without reason the spirits of song, the Casmenae or Camenae +and the Carmentis of Latium, like the Muses of Hellas, were conceived +as feminine. But the time came in Hellas, when the poet relieved +the songstress and Apollo took his place at the head of the Muses. +In Latium there was no national god of song, and the older Latin +language had no designation for the poet.(15) The power of song +emerging there was out of all proportion weaker, and was rapidly +arrested in its growth. The exercise of the fine arts was there +early restricted, partly to women and children, partly to incorporated +or unincorporated tradesmen. We have already mentioned that funeral +chants were sung by women and banquet-lays by boys; the religious +litanies also were chiefly executed by children. The musicians formed +an incorporated, the dancers and the wailing women (-praeficae-) +unincorporated, trades. While dancing, music, and singing remained +constantly in Greece--as they were originally also in Latium--reputable +employments redounding to the honour of the burgess and of the +community to which he belonged, in Latium the better portion of the +burgesses drew more and more aloof from these vain arts, and that +the more decidedly, in proportion as art came to be more publicly +exhibited and more thoroughly penetrated by the quickening impulses +derived from other lands. The use of the native pipe was sanctioned, +but the lyre remained despised; and while the national amusement of +masks was allowed, the foreign amusements of the -palaestra- were +not only regarded with indifference, but esteemed disgraceful. While +the fine arts in Greece became more and more the common property of +the Hellenes individually and collectively and thereby became the +means of developing a universal culture, they gradually disappeared +in Latium from the thoughts and feelings of the people; and, as +they degenerated into utterly insignificant handicrafts, the idea +of a general national culture to be communicated to youth never +suggested itself at all. The education of youth remained entirely +confined within the limits of the narrowest domesticity. The boy +never left his father's side, and accompanied him not only to the +field with the plough and the sickle, but also to the house of +a friend or to the council-hall, when his father was invited as a +guest or summoned to the senate. This domestic education was well +adapted to preserve man wholly for the household and wholly for +the state. The permanent intercommunion of life between father +and son, and the mutual reverence felt by adolescence for ripened +manhood and by the mature man for the innocence of youth, lay at the +root of the steadfastness of the domestic and political traditions, +of the closeness of the family bond, and in general of the grave +earnestness (-gravitas-) and character of moral worth in Roman life. +This mode of educating youth was in truth one of those institutions +of homely and almost unconscious wisdom, which are as simple as +they are profound. But amidst the admiration which it awakens we +may not overlook the fact that it could only be carried out, and +was only carried out, by the sacrifice of true individual culture +and by a complete renunciation of the equally charming and perilous +gifts of the Muses. + + +Dance, Music, and Song among the Sabellians and Etruscans + + +Regarding the development of the fine arts among the Etruscans +and Sabellians our knowledge is little better than none.(16) We +can only notice the fact that in Etruria the dancers (-histri-, +-histriones-) and the pipe-players (-subulones-) early made a trade +of their art, probably earlier even than in Rome, and exhibited +themselves in public not only at home, but also in Rome for small +remuneration and less honour. It is a circumstance more remarkable +that at the Etruscan national festival, in the exhibition of which +the whole twelve cities were represented by a federal priest, games +were given like those of the Roman city-festival; we are, however, +no longer in a position to answer the question which it suggests, +how far the Etruscans were more successful than the Latins in +attaining a national form of fine art beyond that of the individual +communities. On the other hand a foundation probably was laid in +Etruria, even in early times, for that insipid accumulation of learned +lumber, particularly of a theological and astrological nature, by +virtue of which afterwards, when amidst the general decay antiquarian +dilettantism began to flourish, the Tuscans divided with the Jews, +Chaldeans, and Egyptians the honour of being admired as primitive +sources of divine wisdom. We know still less, if possible, of +Sabellian art; but that of course by no means warrants the inference +that it was inferior to that of the neighbouring stocks. On the +contrary, it may be conjectured from what we otherwise know of +the character of the three chief races of Italy, that in artistic +gifts the Samnites approached nearest to the Hellenes and the +Etruscans were farthest removed from them; and a sort of confirmation +of this hypothesis is furnished by the fact, that the most gifted +and most original of the Roman poets, such as Naevius, Ennius, +Lucilius, and Horace, belonged to the Samnite lands, whereas +Etruria has almost no representatives in Roman literature except +the Arretine Maecenas, the most insufferable of all heart-withered +and affected(17) court-poets, and the Volaterran Persius, the true +ideal of a conceited and languid, poetry-smitten, youth. + + +Earliest Italian Architecture + + +The elements of architecture were, as has been already indicated, +a primitive common possession of the stocks. The dwelling-house +constitutes the first attempt of structural art; and it was the +same among Greeks and Italians. Built of wood, and covered with a +pointed roof of straw or shingles it formed a square dwelling-chamber, +which let out the smoke and let in the light by an opening in the +roof corresponding with a hole for carrying off the rain in the +ground (-cavum aedium-). Under this "black roof" (-atrium-) the +meals were prepared and consumed; there the household gods were +worshipped, and the marriage bed and the bier were set out; there +the husband received his guests, and the wife sat spinning amid the +circle of her maidens. The house had no porch, unless we take as +such the uncovered space between the house door and the street, +which obtained its name -vestibulum-, i. e. dressing-place, from +the circumstance that the Romans were in the habit of going about +within doors in their tunics, and only wrapped the toga around +them when they went abroad. There was, moreover, no division of +apartments except that sleeping and store closets might be provided +around the dwelling-room; and still less were there stairs, or +stories placed one above another. + + +Earliest Hellenic Influence + + +Whether, or to what extent, a national Italian architecture arose +o ut of these beginnings can scarcely be determined, for in this +field Greek influence, even in the earliest times, had a very +powerful effect and almost wholly overgrew such national attempts +as possibly had preceded it. The very oldest Italian architecture +with which we are acquainted is not much less under the influence +of that of Greece than the architecture of the Augustan age. The +primitive tombs of Caere and Alsium, and probably the oldest one +also of those recently discovered at Praeneste, have been, exactly +like the --thesauroi--of Orchomenos and Mycenae, roofed over with +courses of stone placed one above another, gradually overlapping, +and closed by a large stone cover. A very ancient building at +the city wall of Tusculum was roofed in the same way, and so was +originally the well-house (-tullianum-) at the foot of the Capitol, +till the top was pulled down to make room for another building. +The gates constructed on the same system are entirely similar in +Arpinum and in Mycenae. The tunnel which drains the Alban lake(18) +presents the greatest resemblance to that of lake Copais. What are +called Cyclopean ring-walls frequently occur in Italy, especially +in Etruria, Umbria, Latium, and Sabina, and decidedly belong in +point of design to the most ancient buildings of Italy, although +the greater portion of those now extant were probably not executed +till a much later age, several of them certainly not till the +seventh century of the city. They are, just like those of Greece, +sometimes quite roughly formed of large unwrought blocks of rock +with smaller stones inserted between them, sometimes disposed +in square horizontal courses,(19) sometimes composed of polygonal +dressed blocks fitting into each other. The selection of one or +other of these systems was doubtless ordinarily determined by the +material, and accordingly the polygonal masonry does not occur in +Rome, where in the most ancient times tufo alone was employed for +building. The resemblance in the case of the two former and simpler +styles may perhaps be traceable to the similarity of the materials +employed and of the object in view in building; but it can hardly +be deemed accidental that the artistic polygonal wall-masonry, and +the gate with the path leading up to it universally bending to the +left and so exposing the unshielded right side of the assailant to +the defenders, belong to the Italian fortresses as well as to the +Greek. The facts are significant that in that portion of Italy +which was not reduced to subjection by the Hellenes but yet was +in lively intercourse with them, the true polygonal masonry was at +home, and it is found in Etruria only at Pyrgi and at the towns, +not very far distant from it, of Cosa and Saturnia; as the design +of the walls of Pyrgi, especially when we take into account the +significant name ("towers"), may just as certainly be ascribed to +the Greeks as that of the walls of Tiryns, in them most probably +there still stands before our eyes one of the models from which +the Italians learned how to build their walls. The temple in fine, +which in the period of the empire was called the Tuscanic and was +regarded as a kind of style co-ordinate with the various Greek +temple-structures, not only generally resembled the Greek temple +in being an enclosed space (-cello-) usually quadrangular, over +which walls and columns raised aloft a sloping roof, but was also +in details, especially in the column itself and its architectural +features, thoroughly dependent on the Greek system. It is in accordance +with all these facts probable, as it is credible of itself, that +Italian architecture previous to its contact with the Hellenes was +confined to wooden huts, abattis, and mounds of earth and stones, +and that construction in stone was only adopted in consequence of +the example and the better tools of the Greeks. It is scarcely +to be doubted that the Italians first learned from them the use of +iron, and derived from them the preparation of mortar (-cal[e]x-, +-calecare-, from --chaliz--), the machine (-machina-, --meichanei--), +the measuring-rod (-groma-, a corruption from --gnomon--, --gnoma--), +and the artificial latticework (-clathri-, --kleithron--). Accordingly +we can scarcely speak of an architecture peculiarly Italian. Yet +in the woodwork of the Italian dwelling-house--alongside of +alterations produced by Greek influence--various peculiarities may +have been retained or even for the first time developed, and these +again may have exercised a reflex influence on the building of +the Italian temples. The architectural development of the house +proceeded in Italy from the Etruscans. The Latin and even the +Sabellian still adhered to the hereditary wooden hut and to the +good old custom of assigning to the god or spirit not a consecrated +dwelling, but only a consecrated space, while the Etruscan had +already begun artistically to transform his dwelling-house, and to +erect after the model of the dwelling-house of man a temple also +for the god and a sepulchral chamber for the spirit. That the +advance to such luxurious structures in Latium first took place +under Etruscan influence, is proved by the designation of the +oldest style of temple architecture and of the oldest style of house +architecture respectively as Tuscanic.(20) As concerns the character +of this transference, the Grecian temple probably imitated the +general outlines of the tent or dwelling-house; but it was essentially +built of hewn stone and covered with tiles, and the nature of the +stone and the baked clay suggested to the Greek the laws of necessity +and beauty. The Etruscan on the other hand remained a stranger to +the strict Greek distinction between the dwelling of man necessarily +erected of wood and the dwelling of the gods necessarily formed +of stone. The peculiar characteristics of the Tuscan temple--the +outline approaching nearer to a square, the higher gable, the +greater breadth of the intervals between the columns, above all, +the increased inclination of the roof and the singular projection +of the roof-corbels beyond the supporting columns--all arose out +of the greater approximation of the temple to the dwelling-house, +and out of the peculiarities of wooden architecture. + + +Plastic Art in Italy + + +The plastic and delineative arts are more recent than architecture; +the house must be built before any attempt is made to decorate +gable and walls. It is not probable that these arts really gained +a place in Italy during the regal period of Rome; it was only +in Etruria, where commerce and piracy early gave rise to a great +concentration of riches, that art or handicraft--if the term be +preferred--obtained a footing in the earliest times. Greek art, +when it acted on Etruria, was still, as its copy shows, at a very +primitive stage, and the Etruscans may have learned from the Greeks +the art of working in clay and metal at a period not much later than +that at which they borrowed from them the alphabet. The silver +coins of Populonia, almost the only works that can be with any +precision assigned to this period, give no very high idea of Etruscan +artistic skill as it then stood; yet the best of the Etruscan works +in bronze, to which the later critics of art assigned so high a +place, may have belonged to this primitive age; and the Etruscan +terra-cottas also cannot have been altogether despicable, for the +oldest works in baked clay placed in the Roman temples--the statue +of the Capitoline Jupiter, and the four-horse chariot on the roof +of his temple--were executed in Veii, and the large ornaments of a +similar kind placed on the roofs of temples passed generally among +the later Romans under the name of "Tuscanic works." + +On the other hand, among the Italians--not among the Sabellian +stocks merely, but even among the Latins--native sculpture and +design were at this period only coming into existence. The most +considerable works of art appear to have been executed abroad. +We have just mentioned the statues of clay alleged to have been +executed in Veii; and very recent excavations have shown that works +in bronze made in Etruria, and furnished with Etruscan inscriptions, +circulated in Praeneste at least, if not generally throughout +Latium. The statue of Diana in the Romano-Latin federal temple on +the Aventine, which was considered the oldest statue of a divinity +in Rome,(21) exactly resembled the Massiliot statue of the Ephesian +Artemis, and was perhaps manufactured in Velia or Massilia. The +guilds, which from ancient times existed in Rome, of potters, +coppersmiths, and goldsmiths,(22) are almost the only proofs of +the existence of native sculpture and design there; respecting the +position of their art it is no longer possible to gain any clear +idea. + +Artistic Relations and Endowments of the Etruscans and Italians + +If we endeavour to obtain historical results from the archives of +the tradition and practice of primitive art, it is in the first place +manifest that Italian art, like the Italian measures and Italian +writing, developed itself not under Phoenician, but exclusively +under Hellenic influence. There is not a single one of the aspects +of Italian art which has not found its definite model in the art +of ancient Greece; and, so far, the legend is fully warranted which +traces the manufacture of painted clay figures, beyond doubt the +most ancient form of art in Italy, to the three Greek artists, +the "moulder," "fitter," and "draughtsman," Eucheir, Diopos, and +Eugrammos, although it is more than doubtful whether this art came +directly from Corinth or came directly to Tarquinii. There is +as little trace of any immediate imitation of oriental models as +there is of an independently-developed form of art. The Etruscan +lapidaries adhered to the form of the beetle or -scarabaeus-, which +was originally Egyptian; but --scarabaei-- were also used as models +for carving in Greece in very early times (e. g. such a beetle-stone, +with a very ancient Greek inscription, has been found in Aegina), +and therefore they may very well have come to the Etruscans through +the Greeks. The Italians may have bought from the Phoenician; they +learned only from the Greek. + +To the further question, from what Greek stock the Etruscans in +the first instance received their art-models, a categorical answer +cannot be given; yet relations of a remarkable kind subsist between +the Etruscan and the oldest Attic art. The three forms of art, which +were practised in Etruria at least in after times very extensively, +but in Greece only to an extent very limited, tomb-painting, +mirror-designing, and graving on stone, have been hitherto met with +on Grecian soil only in Athens and Aegina. The Tuscan temple does +not correspond exactly either to the Doric or to the Ionic; but in +the more important points of distinction, in the course of columns +carried round the -cella-, as well as in the placing of a separate +pedestal under each particular column, the Etruscan style follows +the more recent Ionic; and it is this same Iono-Attic style of +building still pervaded by a Doric element, which in its general +design stands nearest of all the Greek styles to the Tuscan. In +the case of Latium there is an almost total absence of any certain +traces of intercourse bearing on the history of art. If it was--as +is indeed almost self-evident--the general relations of traffic +and intercourse that determined also the introduction of models +in art, it may be assumed with certainty that the Campanian and +Sicilian Hellenes were the instructors of Latium in art, as in +the alphabet; and the analogy between the Aventine Diana and the +Ephesian Artemis is at least not inconsistent with such an hypothesis. +Of course the older Etruscan art also served as a model for Latium. +As to the Sabellian tribes, if Greek architectural and plastic art +reached them at all, it must, like the Greek alphabet, have come +to them only through the medium of the more western Italian stocks. + +If, in conclusion, we are to form a judgment respecting the artistic +endowments of the different Italian nations, we already at this +stage perceive--what becomes indeed far more obvious in the later +stages of the history of art--that while the Etruscans attained to +the practice of art at an earlier period and produced more massive +and rich workmanship, their works are inferior to those of the +Latins and Sabellians in appropriateness and utility no less than +in spirit and beauty. This certainly is apparent, in the case of +our present epoch, only in architecture. The polygonal wall-masonry, +as appropriate to its object as it was beautiful, was frequent in +Latium and in the inland country behind it; while in Etruria it was +rare, and not even the walls of Caere are constructed of polygonal +blocks. Even in the religious prominence--remarkable also as +respects the history of art--assigned to the arch(23) and to the +bridge(24) in Latium, we may be allowed to perceive, as it were, +an anticipation of the future aqueducts and consular highways of +Rome. On the other hand, the Etruscans repeated, and at the same +time corrupted, the ornamental architecture of the Greeks: for +while they transferred the laws established for building in stone +to architecture in wood, they displayed no thorough skill of +adaptation, and by the lowness of their roof and the wide intervals +between their columns gave to their temples, to use the language +of an ancient architect, a "heavy, mean, straggling, and clumsy +appearance." The Latins found in the rich stores of Greek art +but very little that was congenial to their thoroughly realistic +tastes; but what they did adopt they appropriated truly and +heartily as their own, and in the development of the polygonal +wall-architecture perhaps excelled their instructors. Etruscan art +is a remarkable evidence of accomplishments mechanically acquired +and mechanically retained, but it is, as little as the Chinese, an +evidence even of genial receptivity. As scholars have long since +desisted from the attempt to derive Greek art from that of the +Etruscans, so they must, with whatever reluctance, make up their +minds to transfer the Etruscans from the first to the lowest place +in the history of Italian art. + + + + +Notes for Book I Chapter XV + + + +1. I. XII. Priests + +2. I. XIII. Handicrafts + +3. Thus Cato the Elder (de R. R. 160) gives as potent against sprains +the formula: -hauat hauat hauat ista pista sista damia bodannaustra-, +which was presumably quite as obscure to its inventor as it is to +us. Of course, along with these there were also formulae of words; +e. g. it was a remedy for gout, to think, while fasting, on some +other person, and thrice nine times to utter the words, touching +the earth at the same time and spitting:--"I think of thee, mend +my feet. Let the earth receive the ill, let health with me dwell" +(-terra pestem teneto, salus hie maneto-. Varro de R. R. i. 2, +27). + +4. Each of the first five lines was repeated thrice, and the call +at the close five times. Various points in the interpretation are +uncertain, particularly as respects the third line. --The three +inscriptions of the clay vase from the Quirinal (p. 277, note) +run thus: -iove sat deiuosqoi med mitat nei ted endo gosmis uirgo +sied--asted noisi ope toilesiai pakariuois--duenos med faked +(=bonus me fecit) enmanom einom dze noine (probably=die noni) med +malo statod.-Only individual words admit of being understood with +certainty; it is especially noteworthy that forms, which we have +hitherto known only as Umbrian and Oscan, like the adjective -pacer- +and the particle -einom with the value of -et, here probably meet +us withal as old-Latin. + +5. I. II. Art + +6. The name probably denotes nothing but "the chant-measure," +inasmuch as the -satura- was originally the chant sung at the +carnival (II. Art). The god of sowing, -Saeturnus- or -Saiturnus-, +afterwards -Saturnus-, received his name from the same root; his +feast, the Saturnalia, was certainly a sort of carnival, and it is +possible that the farces were originally exhibited chiefly at this +feast. But there are no proofs of a relation between the Satura +and the Saturnalia, and it may be presumed that the immediate +association of the -versus saturnius- with the god Saturn, and the +lengthening of the first syllable in connection with that view, +belong only to later times. + +7. I. XII. Foreign Worships + +8. I. XIV. Introduction of Hellenic Alphabets into Italy + +9. The statement that "formerly the Roman boys were trained in +Etruscan culture, as they were in later times in Greek" (Liv. ix. +36), is quite irreconcilable with the original character of the +Roman training of youth, and it is not easy to see what the Roman +boys could have learned in Etruria. Even the most zealous modern +partizans of Tages-worship will not maintain that the study of the +Etruscan language played such a part in Rome then as the learning +of French does now with us; that a non-Etruscan should understand +anything of the art of the Etruscan -haruspices- was considered, +even by those who availed themselves of that art, to be a disgrace +or rather an impossibility (Muller, Etr. ii. 4). Perhaps the +statement was concocted by the Etruscizing antiquaries of the last +age of the republic out of stories of the older annals, aiming +at a causal explanation of facts, such as that which makes Mucius +Scaevola learn Etruscan when a child for the sake of his conversation +with Porsena (Dionysius, v. 28; Plutarch, Poplicola, 17; comp. +Dionysius, iii. 70). But there was at any rate an epoch when the +dominion of Rome over Italy demanded a certain knowledge of the +language of the country on the part of Romans of rank. + +10. The employment of the lyre in ritual is attested by Cicero +de Orat. iii. 51, 197; Tusc. iv. 2, 4; Dionysius, vii. 72; Appian, +Pun. 66; and the inscription in Orelli, 2448, comp. 1803. It +was likewise used at the -neniae- (Varro ap. Nonium, v. -nenia- +and -praeficae-). But playing on the lyre remained none the less +unbecoming (Scipio ap. Macrob. Sat. ii. 10, et al.). The prohibition +of music in 639 exempted only the "Latin player on the pipe along +with the singer," not the player on the lyre, and the guests at meals +sang only to the pipe (Cato in Cic. Tusc. i. 2, 3; iv. 2, 3; Varro +ap. Nonium, v. -assa voce-; Horace, Carm. iv. 15, 30). Quintilian, +who asserts the reverse (Inst. i. 10, 20), has inaccurately +transferred to private banquets what Cicero (de Orat. iii. 51) +states in reference to the feasts of the gods. + +11. The city festival can have only lasted at first for a single +day, for in the sixth century it still consisted of four days of +scenic and one day of Circensian sports (Ritschl, Parerga, i. 313) +and it is well known that the scenic amusements were only a subsequent +addition. That in each kind of contest there was originally +only one competition, follows from Livy, xliv. 9; the running +of five-and-twenty pairs of chariots in succession on one day was +a subsequent innovation (Varro ap. Serv. Georg. iii. 18). That +only two chariots--and likewise beyond doubt only two horsemen +and two wrestlers--strove for the prize, may be inferred from the +circumstance, that at all periods in the Roman chariot-races only +as many chariots competed as there were so-called factions; and of +these there were originally only two, the white and the red. The +horsemanship-competition of patrician youths which belonged to +the Circensian games, the so-called Troia, was, as is well known, +revived by Caesar; beyond doubt it was connected with the cavalcade +of the boy-militia, which Dionysius mentions (vii. 72). + +12. I. VII. Servian Wall + +13. I. VI. Time and Occasion of the Reform + +14. I. II. Religion + +15. -Vates- probably denoted in the first instance the "leader of +the singing" (for so the -vates- of the Salii must be understood) +and thereafter in its older usage approximated to the Greek +--propheiteis--; it was a word be longing to religious ritual, +and even when subsequently used of the poet, always retained the +accessory idea of a divinely-inspired singer--the priest of the +Muses. + +16. We shall show in due time that the Atellanae and Fescenninae +belonged not to Campanian and Etruscan, but to Latin art. + +17. Literally "word-crisping," in allusion to the -calamistri +Maecenatis-. + +18. I. III. Alba + +19. Of this character were the Servian walls. They consisted +partly of a strengthening of the hill-slopes by facing them with +lining-walls as much as 4 metres thick, partly--in the intervals, +above all on the Viminal and Quirinal, where from the Esquiline +to the Colline gate there was an absence of natural defence--of an +earthen mound, which was finished off on the outside by a similar +lining-wall. On these lining-walls rested the breastwork. A trench, +according to trustworthy statements of the ancients 30 feet deep +and 100 feet broad, stretched along in front of the wall, for +which the earth was taken from this same trench.--The breastwork +has nowhere been preserved; of the lining-walls extensive remains +have recently been brought to light. The blocks of tufo composing +them are hewn in longish rectangles, on an average of 60 centimetres +(= 2 Roman feet) in height and breadth, while the length varies +from 70 centimetres to 3 metres, and they are, without application +of mortar, laid together in several rows, alternately with the long +and with the narrow side outermost. + +The portion of the Servian wall near the Viminal gate, discovered in +the year 1862 at the Villa Negroni, rests on a foundation of huge +blocks of tufo of 3 to 4 metres in height and breadth, on which was +then raised the outer wall from blocks of the same material and of +the same size as those elsewhere employed in the wall. The earthen +rampart piled up behind appears to have had on the upper surface +a breadth extending about 13 metres or fully 40 Roman feet, and +the whole wall-defence, including the outer wall of freestone, to +have had a breadth of as much as 15 metres or 50 Roman feet. The +portions formed of peperino blocks, which are bound with iron +clamps, have only been added in connection with subsequent labours +of repair.--Essentially similar to the Servian walls are those +discovered in the Vigna Nussiner, on the slope of the Palatine +towards the side of the Capitol, and at other points of the Palatine, +which have been declared by Jordan (Topographic, ii. 173), probably +with reason, to be remnants of the citadel-wall of the Palatine +Rome, + +20. -Ratio Tuscanica,: cavum aedium Tuscanicum.- + +21. When Varro (ap. Augustin. De Civ. Dei, iv. 31; comp. Plutarch +Num. 8) affirms that the Romans for more than one hundred and +seventy years worshipped the gods without images, he is evidently +thinking of this primitive piece of carving, which, according to +the conventional chronology, was dedicated between 176 and 219, and, +beyond doubt, was the first statue of the gods, the consecration +of which was mentioned in the authorities which Varro had before +him. Comp, above, XIV. Development of Alphabets in Italy. + +22. I. XIII. Handicrafts + +23. I. XII. Nature of the Roman Gods + +24. I. XII. Pontifices + + + +End of Book I + + + + + + +TABLE OF CALENDAR EQUIVALENTS--A. U. C vs. B. C. + +A.U.C.* B.C. B.C. A.U.C. +----------------------------------------------------------- +000 753 753 000 +025 728 750 003 +050 703 725 028 +075 678 700 053 +100 653 675 078 +125 628 650 103 +150 603 625 128 +175 578 600 153 +200 553 575 178 +225 528 550 203 +250 503 525 228 +275 478 500 253 +300 453 475 278 +325 428 450 303 +350 303 425 328 +375 378 400 353 +400 353 375 378 +425 328 350 403 +450 303 325 428 +475 278 300 453 +500 253 275 478 +525 228 250 503 +550 203 225 528 +575 178 200 553 +600 153 175 578 +625 128 150 603 +650 103 125 628 +675 078 100 653 +700 053 075 678 +725 028 050 703 +750 003 025 728 +753 000 000 753 + +*A. U. C.--Ab Urbe Condi (from the founding of the City of Rome) + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE HISTORY OF ROME, BOOK I*** + + +******* This file should be named 10701.txt or 10701.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +https://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/1/0/7/0/10701 + + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. 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