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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/32356-8.txt b/32356-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..1444361 --- /dev/null +++ b/32356-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11053 @@ +The Project Gutenberg eBook, Roman Women, by Alfred Brittain + + +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: Roman Women + Woman: In All Ages and in All Countries, Volume 2 (of 10) + + +Author: Alfred Brittain + + + +Release Date: May 12, 2010 [eBook #32356] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROMAN WOMEN*** + + +E-text prepared by Thierry Alberto, Rénald Lévesque, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreaders Europe (http://dp.rastko.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 32356-h.htm or 32356-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32356/32356-h/32356-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32356/32356-h.zip) + + + + + +WOMAN + +VOLUME II + +In All Ages and in All Countries + +ROMAN WOMEN + +by + +Rev. ALFRED BRITTAIN + + + + + + + +Philadelphia +George Barrie & Sons, Publishers + +Copyright, 1907 by George Barrie & Sons +Entered at Stationers' Hall, London + + + + +[Illustration 1: +TULLIA, DAUGHTER OF SERVIUS +_After the painting by E. Hildebrand_ + +_We have had the good queen, now we encounter the +bad..... Tullia was of that type of which Shakespeare +has given a picture in Lady Macbeth..... +Lucius, her husband, with an armed band, repaired to the +Senate and seated himself on the throne. King Servius +appeared, but no one thought it worth while to hinder +Lucius from throwing the aged ruler down the steps of +the Senate house; which me manfully did. + +Tullia was the instigator of this_ coup d'état; _and +impatient to learn its success, drove to the Forum, and, +calling her husband from the Senate chamber, was the +first to hail him as king. But Lucius commanded her +to return home; and the tradition runs that as she was +going thither her chariot wheels passed over the dead +body of her royal father._] + + + + +PREFACE + +The student of history does not proceed far in his researches before he +discovers that human nature is a fixed quality. Other lands, other +manners; other times, other customs. But the man behind the manner is +essentially the same; the woman under the changed custom is not thereby +rendered essentially different, any more than she is by a varying of +costume. The women of ancient Rome exemplified the same virtues, and +were impelled by the same foibles as are the women of to-day. And the +difference in environment, the vanished conditions of Roman life, gain +large scientific interest from the fact that they did not result in any +dissimilarity of fundamental character. If, by the most violent exercise +of the imagination, it were possible to transport a female infant of the +twentieth century, and cause her to be reared among the women of the +Augustan age, she would fit as naturally into her surroundings as she +would into the present society of London or of New York. Her legal +status would be different; her moral conceptions would be unlike those +of the present age; her duties, pleasures, privileges, and limitations +would combine to make the accidents of life very different. But +underneath all this, the same humanity, the same femininity, the same +habits of mind are revealed. Herein is the chief use of history--above +that of gratifying natural curiosity--the ascertaining how human nature +will comport itself under varying conditions. The author hopes that the +following pages, wherein the Roman woman is taken as an illustration, +will be found of use to the student of the science of humanity, and not +uninteresting to the reader inquisitive as to the manner of the ancient +civilization. + + ALFRED BRITTAIN. + + + + +I + +THE WOMAN OF LEGENDARY ROME + +The conditions which governed the life of woman in the earliest days of +Roman history are too far removed from the searchlight of historical +investigation for us to essay to indicate them with any degree of +fulness and accuracy of detail. While it is true that the ancient +writers have bequeathed to us records of historic events from the very +founding of their nation, the source of their information is very +questionable and its authenticity extremely doubtful. Rome did not +cultivate literature until very late in her history; she was too greatly +preoccupied in her rôle of conquering the world. At a time when every +Greek was acquainted with the noblest poetry produced by his gifted +race, Rome had not produced a single writer whose name has been +preserved. And if at that time she had possessed any men of letters, it +is quite certain that there were few of her citizens who would have been +able to read their works. Hence, when the first attempt was made to +write her history, the authors depended principally for their material +on traditions and legends which, as is the case with all such lore, had +gained greatly in marvellousness at the expense of historical value. In +addition to these sources, it is probable that during the early +centuries annals were kept of the principal happenings in the State. +According to Cicero, they were written at the end of each year by the +high priest. These records were used by the first historians; and it is +likely that the latter were not so greatly restrained, by their literary +conscience, from enlarging on the material, as they were tempted, +according to the power of their imagination, to present a picture both +interesting and satisfactory to the national pride. In many cases, as +where the exact words of their characters are reported, the ancient +historians evidently deemed that any deficiencies in the matter of proof +were abundantly atoned for by the explicitness of the information given. + +As to the historical value of legends, that is a question upon which +modern writers are inclined to disagree. Since the inauguration of the +higher criticism, it has been the fashion for extremists entirely to +disown any belief in the _dramatis personæ_ of ancient traditions. They +claim that the names and the actions thus celebrated usually represent +natural forces and historic evolutions; though, to the ordinary student, +this would seem to require a remarkable amount of poetic inventiveness +on the part of an undeveloped people. Moreover, it is not, perhaps, +without reason that the student often looks upon the manner in which +modern scholars reject the traditional contributions of the old +historians as being a little arbitrary. What traveller has not found his +patience sorely tried, while viewing with reverence the reputed site of +some heroic or sacred occurrence of far-off days, as he recalled to +memory the fact that the latest authorities hold that, while the thing +might have taken place a few miles to the east or a short distance to +the north, it, for certain erudite but unconvincing reasons, could not +possibly have occurred on the spot where it has been located by the +continuous belief of centuries? + +The story of Rome from its founding to the end of the regal period, as +it is told in the ancient classics, is no longer accepted as history. It +is, for the most part, classified with those mythical creations with +which an uncultured people endeavor to account for the origin and the +evolution and revolutions of their race. Yet, passing over the +marvellous and the manifestly impossible, why may we not at least claim +the right to believe the compilers of these ancient legends, when they +tell us of certain names that were great in the beginning of their +nation? Modern criticism may be right in asserting that it is not likely +that the city on the Tiber was called Roma because a man named Romulus +selected an uninhabited site and built upon it. Yet why may we not be +allowed to believe that in those early times there was one hero so +strong and masterful that he came to be known as preëminently the "Man +of Rome"? The character may have been a real one, even though the city +gave him his name, instead of the reverse, as later generations +surmised. And inasmuch as there is an Alexandria, not to speak of +innumerable modern "villes" with well-known surnames for prefixes, it +need not be thought a thing entirely incredible that the ancient city +was really called after the man who established its importance. + +It is the habit of modern historians to look with suspicion upon stories +such as those which form our sole material for any personal illustration +in this present chapter, because they are of a kind so generally found +in the legends of all nations. But may not the multiplication of these +long-lived narratives, instead of disproving the intrinsic truth of any +given one, simply serve to illustrate the fact that, human nature being +a permanent factor, the doings of men under similar circumstances, in +any age or locality, will be marked by a uniformity of character? For +our present purpose, however, if in such twilight as is given by +long-preserved monuments and ancient relics, we choose to fancy that we +perceive, moving about in their daily life, the feminine forms of +traditional lore, the combination will only serve to form a more human, +and really not less accurate, picture. + +The limits of our subject do not require that we should go back so far +as the epoch of Æneas, the hero of Troy; nor need we take into +consideration the part which he and Lavinia, his wife, may have played +upon the Latin shores. Their traditional coming to Italy simply serves +to indicate the fact that nearly all the tribes which inhabited the +country at the commencement of Roman history were of the same branch of +the great Aryan race as the Greeks. The Romans were the brothers of the +Greeks. The former were of that same lithe, supple-bodied, +straight-featured type which the wonderful art of the latter has +enthroned, for all the ages, as the noblest realization of ideal +physical beauty. + +But when we consider the rude conditions under which life was passed, it +is probable that the highest examples of feminine grace would, in many +respects, be open to severe criticism from the civilized and artificial +taste which has prevailed in after ages. Those were the days of Arcadian +simplicity, which poetry has peopled with sweet and enticing Phyllises +and Chloes, whose only occupation was to listen to the pipings of +languishing shepherds. But, in reality, though life was simple and wants +were few, the women, as in all semi-civilized communities, gave an +overplus of labor in return for the special exertions of the men in the +chase and the combat. Hence, though the poetic conception may be +alluring, we are compelled to believe that the reality possessed but few +advantages that could arouse the envy of a modern village maiden. The +woman of earliest Rome was wholly a product of nature, endowed only +with the unfailing charms of femininity, which were solely reinforced +with the perfect health and vigor which come from a simple life. + +Of such a type we may imagine Rhea Sylvia, the legendary mother of +Romulus and Remus. She was the daughter of a king, but one who was not a +monarch in the later significance of the title. Of kings there were many +in the Latium of those days. The title meant merely the patriarch of a +clan, or the head man of a small city. The regal abode was probably a +small, round structure, built of wood and roofed with straw. It may have +consisted of only one room, with a hole in the ceiling to admit light +and allow the smoke to escape. Of furniture there was little more than +rude tables and grass or leaf covered couches, together with the Lares, +or household gods. But though life conditioned by such meagre +accessories was simple, it was by no means idle, and there existed no +such contempt for labor and handicraft among the Latin tribesmen as grew +up in later times. The king himself followed the plow, while his wife +and daughters were busy with the distaff and spindle, the hand loom and +the needle. It was the duty of the women to spin the wool and to make +all the clothing for the household. Education consisted solely of the +training in the requirements of this simple life, and was provided by no +school other than the daily experience which the boys and girls gathered +among their elders. The art of writing was in the earliest days not +entirely unknown, though, during long years of slow development, it was +employed only in painting public records on leaves and skins; or, if +greater permanence was required, the records were scratched upon tablets +of wood. The amusements of the people consisted mainly of the festivals +and athletic games which were held in honor of the gods. If it might +only be believed that this life was as pleasant as it is pictured by +Virgil, it would be easy to sympathize with the poet when he declares +that he pined for such an existence himself. "The husbandman cleaves the +earth with the crooked plow.... Winter comes: the Sicyonian berry is +pounded in the oil presses; and the autumn lays down its various +productions.... Meanwhile, the sweet babes twine around their parents' +necks; his chaste family maintain their purity. The swain himself +celebrates festal days; and extended on the grass, where a fire is in +the middle, and where his companions crown the bowl, invokes thee, O +Lanæus, making libation. On an elm is set forth to the masters of the +flock prizes to be contended for with the winged javelin; and they strip +their rustic bodies for the friendly struggle." Elsewhere the poet +describes a home scene, where the man is working by the light of the +winter fire: "Meanwhile, his spouse, cheering by song her tedious labor, +runs over the webs with the shrill shuttle; or over the fire boils down +the liquor of the luscious must, and skims with leaves the tide of the +trembling cauldron. This life of old the ancient Sabines followed; this, +Remus and his brother strictly observed; thus Etruria grew in strength; +and thus too did Rome become the glory and beauty of the world." + +Unlike their sisters of Greece, the women of Rome were never secluded; +yet their duties and responsibilities were strictly confined to domestic +bounds. Here, however, while the husband was master, the wife was +mistress. She took equal part with him in the worship of the family +Lares, which worship was a prominent feature in every Roman household; +and if he were a priest, she, by her marriage to him, became a +priestess. But, except in certain religious institutions, she had not +the slightest active connection with State or public affairs. That is, +she had no such connection in theory and according to law; but it was in +Rome as it has been in all ages and in all countries: there were no laws +or customs that could prevent a woman who possessed gifts of mind and +cherished ambitious projects from gaining some tool by means of whom her +hand might turn the affairs of State to her will. + +To this strenuous class of women, however, Rhea Sylvia did not belong. +Her euphonious name has been preserved, not because of any active +influence which she wielded over the destinies of men, but because, +through the simple function of motherhood, she introduced into the +history of the world a strong man. She was the daughter of Numitor, to +whom his father had bequeathed the kingdom of the Sylvian clan. But +Amulius, another son, had driven his brother into exile, and, in order +to secure himself in his usurpation, had put all his nephews to death. +Rhea was spared, probably on account of the fact that the law did not +allow women to reign, and hence her existence held no threat. +Nevertheless, since of the women of princely houses are born possible +claimants to thrones. Amulius deemed it best that some preventive +measure should be taken. He evidently did not wish to commit unnecessary +barbarities; and he also liked, if possible, to cover his +self-protective actions with a gloss of seeming generosity. Rhea Sylvia +should be the priestess of Vesta. Hers should be the honorable duty of +guarding the perpetual fire which burned on the sacred hearth of the +city. Thus she, as was befitting the daughter of Numitor, would be held +in as high regard among the people as the queen herself. Incidentally, +this would also preclude the possibility of any grandson appearing to +claim the throne of the exiled Numitor; for the Vestals were most +rigidly pledged to a life of constant virginity. But how often have the +gods, and sometimes even Nature herself, thwarted the most cunningly +devised schemes of men! Upon this truism Amulius must have reflected, +when, without any previous declaration of her intention, Rhea Sylvia +introduced to the community a sturdy pair of twins. She declared that +Mars was the father of her offspring; either, as Livy discreetly +remarks, because she believed it to be so, or because a god seemed the +most creditable author of her offence. In those times, the possibility +and the frequent occurrence of such matches were devoutly believed, and +the first historians freely availed themselves of this belief to enhance +the glory of their race, or of a powerful family, by establishing for it +the reputation of a divine origin. The idea of superhuman parentage was +also a convenient means by which to account for, and sometimes excuse, +the unusual character and extraordinary deeds of ancient heroes. In +those days, when men's faith was simple and uncritical, belief in divine +incarnation presented no serious difficulty. + +It is evident, however, that Amulius was not greatly impressed with a +sense of the sacredness of the children of the warrior-god. He threw the +mother into prison, and ordered her sons to be drowned in the Tiber. +But, as is usually and fortunately the case in legendary history, this +order was intrusted to one who was either too pitiful or too careless to +give it thorough execution. The infants, in their cradle or upon a rude +raft, were set afloat on the river, which was at that time in flood; the +waters, however, quickly subsided, and the boys were left alive on dry +ground. Their cries attracted a shepherd named Faustulus, and by him +they were carried to his home, where they were reared by his wife +Laurentia. This woman is given a bad name by the ancients. They say +that she was also called Lupa; and Lupa being the name applied to a +woman of unchaste character, as well as the term used to designate a +she-wolf, in this manner the sceptics accounted for the marvellous story +of the sons of Rhea being suckled by a wolf. But whatever may have been +the failings of Laurentia, if there be any truth whatever in the legend, +she made atonement by preserving the life of the founder of Rome. We +will not follow these traditions in their well-known details. Whether or +not Romulus was indeed the first to select the site of the city which +was to spread over seven hills by the Tiber and from them dominate the +world is as impossible to determine as it would be unimportant to our +subject if ascertained. The purpose before us is solely to inquire what +part and lot woman had in the founding of the infant State. That her +rôle was mainly a passive one may be taken for granted, as being in +accordance with the status of the weaker sex in the childhood of every +race and nation. + +The ancient historians, who accepted the Romulus legend without +question, portray for us the growing town, so sturdily and rapidly +advancing in power and fame as to excite the wonder and the jealousy of +neighboring communities. One cause to which is attributed this +prosperity is interesting, since it led to a famous episode in which +women played a leading though an unwilling part. We are told that +Romulus opened within, the bounds of the city an asylum, or place of +refuge, where fugitives from justice or from servitude were received +under the protection of the gods. This attracted new citizens in great +numbers, but such as contributed nothing to the respectability of the +new State. The new-comers were, almost entirely, unmarried men; and soon +the paucity of women in Rome gave cause for grave concern. Romulus had +appointed a number of the leading citizens, whom he named as Senators, +to assist him in the government. But it was not in the power of these +city fathers to aid him materially in securing a continued growth of the +community, unless wives could be provided. Ambassadors were despatched +to the neighboring States, requesting treaties of alliance, and +especially begging the privilege of intermarriage. Owing, doubtless, to +the questionable character of the newly acquired inhabitants of Rome, +this was a favor which no city was disposed to grant. Everywhere the +ambassadors were confronted with the suggestion that an asylum be opened +for women also, for only by such a plan could suitable mates be obtained +for the men of Rome. Another reason, however, why wives were hard to +obtain was the fact that women were comparatively scarce throughout +Latium. The custom of exposing female infants to death was prevalent +there, as in many other ancient races, daughters being looked upon as a +source of weakness and expense to a family, as sons were a gain and a +strength. Wives, however, being a necessity, the fathers of boys often +secured as brides for their sons girls as soon as they were born. This +laid upon the parents of the latter the obligation to spare their lives +and rear them. There is no evidence that the purchase of wives was ever +a custom among the Romans. Indeed, the opposite was from time immemorial +the practice; a dower went with the bride. Hence it is easy to see why +the Latin fathers were unwilling to bestow their daughters,--who were +not likely to remain on their hands for lack of suitors,--and especially +the dowers that went with them, upon the adventurous young men who had +sought at Rome asylum from justice or vengeance. + +But in those ages, and especially in such a matter as the winning of +wives, diplomacy was a resource not wholly depended upon. Among the +marriage ceremonies of later times, there was a custom of parting the +hair of the Roman bride with a spear. In this we find a reminiscence of +the period when marriage by capture was resorted to when there seemed +urgent necessity. Thus Romulus determined that what could not be gained +by fair means should be obtained by the best method which came to hand. +At the festival of the god Consus, appropriately the deity who presided +over hidden deliberations, the seizure of the Sabine maidens was planned +and carried out; and thus the Romans took to themselves wives. How +closely this well-known story corresponds with facts, of course, cannot +be determined. Possibly many of its details are attempts of later ages +to account for wedding customs, the origin of which had been forgotten. +But it is very probable that marriage by capture was common in the +embryonic civilization of early Rome. And there may have been one +occasion when this rude method of wooing was adopted in so flagrant and +wholesale a manner that it led to a war with the Sabines, by which the +remembrance of the event was perpetuated in the traditions of the +people. Michelet, commenting on this story in his brilliant manner, +says: "The progress of humanity is striking. Springing in India from +mystical love, the ideal of woman assumes in Germany the features of +savage virginity and gigantic force; in Greece, those of grace and +stratagem, to arrive among the Romans at the highest pagan morality, to +virgin and conjugal dignity. The Sabines only follow their ravishers on +compulsion, but, become Roman matrons, they refuse to return to the +paternal mansion, disarm their fathers and their husbands, and unite +them in one city." Plutarch says that it was in order to obtain +forgiveness that the Romans assured certain privileges to their wives. +No labor other than spinning should be demanded of them; they should +take the inside of the path; nothing indecent should be done or said in +their presence; they should not be summoned before the criminal judges; +and their children should wear the _pretexta_ and the _bulla_. Thus in +the time of the Greek historian the barbarism of the old times was +forgotten, and to the primitive constitution was attributed all the +civilization which it required centuries to bring about. + +As fair Helen brought woe to Troy, so the abduction of the Sabine +maidens was followed by the bitter vengeance of their indignant +masculine relatives. If we may believe the old historians, the women +soon became reconciled to their enforced condition as wives of the +Romans. Doubtless the writers drew this conclusion more from their +knowledge of the yielding disposition of feminine nature than from any +precise acquaintance with the facts. It being totally uncustomary for +the woman to be allowed any decision in the matter, it was a thing of +small importance to her whether she was taken by her husband, without +either her consent or that of her father, or whether she was given by +her father to her husband, equally without being consulted. + +The Sabines waited patiently for a favorable opportunity; and when it +came, they attacked the Romans with good success. They even gained +possession of the strongest fortifications of the city. But, according +to the legend, they could not have won such advantage had it not been +for the love of gaud of Tarpeia, the daughter of one of the captains of +Romulus. Tatius, the King of the Sabines, induced her to open for him +the gates, promising as a reward the golden bracelets which his soldiers +wore upon their left arms. It is noticeable that the difficulties which +must have surrounded an interview between the king and the maiden are +discreetly ignored by the tradition. She agreed to open the gate, on the +pretence of going forth to draw water for the sacrifice, and the Sabine +men were thereupon to rush in. Everything took place as arranged, except +that the misguided Tarpeia received much more than she had bargained +for. Her request was for "that which they wore upon their left arms," +not remembering the fact that upon that arm they also carried their +shields. The soldiers, as they entered, either through haste, or because +they hated treachery though willing to avail themselves of it, threw at +her their shields as well as their bracelets, and the girl was crushed +to death beneath their weight. A part of the hill which the Sabines thus +gained was ever afterward called the Tarpeian Rock; and it became a +place of execution, traitors being hurled from its summit. There is much +about this story which justifies the suspicion that it arose from, or at +least was adopted by, a desire on the part of the Romans to explain a +defeat, rather than from any verifiable historical foundation. It looks +like a case of the natural vanity of warlike men saving itself by means +of an ungallant slur on the characteristic vanity of women. + +Taking the account as it stands, matters were now very serious for the +Romans. The enemy had gained the citadel, and a bloody conflict ensued. +But the women whose abduction had brought on these troubles were also to +be the means of making peace. As the battle was raging, the two armies +were astounded to behold the Sabine women rushing from the homes of the +Romans, not to make their escape, but to throw themselves between the +combatants. With tears, they entreated their fathers and brothers to +hear them. Their plea was voiced by a captive named Hersilia, who some +historians hold was the wife of that Hostilius who afterward became King +of Rome, while others claim that she had been taken by Romulus himself. +Plutarch gives us her speech--of course, drawing from his own +imagination, though he is not far from what might have been the truth; +for anyone may guess what would be likely on such an occasion. She said: +"It is true we were ravished away unjustly and violently by those whose +wives we now are; but that being done, we are bound to them by the +strictest bonds, so that it is impossible for us not to weep and tremble +at the danger of the men whom once we hated. You now come to force away +wives from their husbands, and mothers from their children. Which shall +we call the worse, their love making or your compassion? Restore to us +our parents and kindred, but do not rob us of our husbands and children. +We entreat you not to make us twice captive." Whereupon, the Sabines +learning that their daughters were not yearning to be rescued, and +having no other good reason for carrying on the fight, a truce was +declared. With a zealous determination to leave nothing unaccounted for, +the tradition relates how the women took their kindred into the city and +proudly exhibited the comforts and indulgences they enjoyed with their +husbands, whose wooing had been so unmannerly. This might well be, as +the Sabines were a pastoral people and unaccustomed to what were to them +the luxuries of city life. So peace was made; and we are told that it +was in commemoration of this event that the ladies of Rome ever +afterward celebrated the festival of the Matronalia on the first of +March. It was their custom to ascend in the morning in procession to the +temple of Juno, and place at the feet of the goddess the flowers with +which their heads were crowned. In the evening, in memory of the tokens +of gratitude which the Sabine women received from their Roman husbands, +they remained at home, adorned in their best attire, waiting for the +customary gifts of their husbands and friends. At a date far later, we +find Tibullus debating with himself, in an exquisite little poem, what +gift he shall send to his beloved Neæra on the Calends of March. With +the customary valuation which an author sets upon his own productions, +he decides that he can give her nothing more acceptable than a copy of +his poems, beautifully bound and adorned. + +Every nation has its traditional Golden Age, a period to which the +poetic philosophers of degenerate after times love to refer in the +assumption that then all things were at their best and men were +perfectly happy. So all Roman ideals of civic concord are concentrated +in and derived from the legendary reign of Numa Pompilius. He is +described as not seeking the kingdom, but preferring the pleasures of +reflection in a quiet life with Tatia, his like-minded and noble wife. +But the honor was forced upon him, and he reigned in the spirit of a +true philosopher. He formulated laws and established a system of morals +in accordance with principles worthy of Marcus Aurelius. To him is given +the credit of organizing the religious institutions of the Romans, and +especially the college of Vestal Virgins. We have seen that, before his +time, to certain maidens was assigned the duty of guarding the sacred +fire, and at the same time their virgin purity. But Numa was said to +have formulated the rules of the order, to have assigned precisely its +duties, and to have built a house for Vesta. But there is not the least +doubt that around the name Numa have clustered, and to him have been +attributed, many advances in civilization which were the growth of +centuries. This seems especially probable in view of the fact that Numa +was a Sabine, one of the pastoral race which was naturally less advanced +in culture than the people who were gathered in cities. + +What improvement may have found its way into the conditions of feminine +life during this period, it is difficult to determine. The useful arts +are said to have grown greatly in favor. Numa is credited with having +instituted guilds for the encouragement of flute blowers, goldsmiths, +coppersmiths, carpenters, fullers, dyers, potters, and shoemakers. Life +would thus become more comfortable, and also be brightened by that which +was pleasurable and ornamental. This supposes an enlargement of the +sphere of the home, a consequent increasing of the interests and +responsibilities of the women, and a softening effect upon their nature. +There is also an indication that, as in ancient Germany, though the +women may have had no part in the direct government of the State, yet +the counsels of certain of their sex were followed by the lawmakers with +a reverence akin to religion. There is a strong suggestion of feminine +influence in the legends concerning the marital relations of Numa. +Plutarch relates that Tatia, Numa's estimable first wife, was separated +from him by death after thirteen years of wedded felicity, and that +after this he never married again, but sought to console himself by +melancholy ramblings in the fields and woods. This gave rise to the +story that, in a certain grove, he was accustomed to meet the goddess +Egeria, who not only favored him with her love, but also endowed him +with the wisdom to perform his duties with marvellous success. On the +other hand, Livy, who probably knew neither more nor less about it, says +that Numa consecrated this grove, with its grotto and spring of living +water, to the Muses, who were accustomed there to meet his wife Egeria. +Whether this Egeria is to be regarded as a mortal woman, perhaps the +lawful wife of the king, or, what is considerably less likely, a divine +being, cannot be decided from these traditions. But they surely have a +value in that they indicate the willingness of the earliest Romans to +attribute excellence in statesmanship on the part of their best men to +the inspiration of members of the fair and gentle, sex. + +After the death of Numa, the Romans elected as their king Tullus +Hostilius, and thus a turbulent warrior succeeded the peace-loving +lawgiver. In this reign, instead of the poetic anachronism which +portrays an abnormally advanced civilization, we are brought back again +to earth and to history and to a more accurate description of the +progress of the people. Much is revealed in the story by which Livy, in +his inimitable manner, accounts for the Sororium Tigillium, or the +Sister's Post, a monument which he says was existent in his own day. +Here we not only encounter the terrible right of the father of a family +over the lives of his children, but we also see that the tender +instincts of a woman's love were accounted as nothing in comparison with +loyalty to the family and her duty of hatred to the enemies of the +State. The heroic Horatius, single-handed after the death of his +brothers, had slain the three champions of the Alban army, and thus +provided the first taste of the delight of subjugation to the city which +was destined to become the mistress of the world. In the triumphal +return to Rome, Horatius marched foremost of all the army, carrying +before him the spoils of the three Alban brothers. As they neared the +Porto Capena, the Roman women came forth to welcome the victors home. +Among the rest came Horatia, the sister of the youthful conqueror. As +she ran to embrace him, she noticed upon his shoulder a familiar robe; +in fact, it was a soldier's tunic which she had wrought with her own +hands for one of the vanquished Curiatii, to whom she had been +betrothed. The truth flashed upon the damsel's mind in an instant. Her +lover was dead, and that by the hand of her brother. With tears and +lamentations, she began to call upon the name of her betrothed. Possibly +with her cries of grief she joined bitter upbraidings of her brother, +who had saved himself and Rome at the cost of her bereavement. His +sister's lamentations, in the midst of his own triumph and the great +public rejoicing, so greatly angered the excited youth that he drew his +sword and stabbed her to the heart. As he did this, he cried: "Go with +thy unseasonable love; go and rejoin thy betrothed, thou who forgettest +thy dead brothers, and him who remains, and thy country! So perish every +woman who shall dare to lament the death of an enemy!" This atrocious +murder raised, of course, a profound sensation among the people. They +did not know which ought to outweigh the other: his awful crime or his +brilliant exploit for the public good. The king appointed duumvirs to +try him. By these he was condemned to be beaten with rods, within or +without the walls of the city, and then to be hanged. + +But the law gave to Horatius the right of appeal to the people, and in +this second trial he found an effective advocate in his own father. The +old man declared that he considered his daughter deservedly slain. Were +it not so, he said, he would by his own authority as father have +inflicted punishment on his son. It seems probable, however, that +Horatius senior took this course of argument, not because he did not +regret his daughter, but because he hoped thereby to save himself from +being bereft of all his children. "Go, lictor," he said, "bind those +hands which but a little while since, being armed, established +sovereignty for the Roman people. Strike him within the town, if thou +wilt, but in presence of these trophies and spoils; without the town, +but in the midst of the tombs of the Curiatii. Into what place can you +lead him where the monuments of his glory do not protest against the +horror of his punishment?" The tears of the father and the intrepidity +of the son won for the latter absolution; but the father was commanded +to make expiatory sacrifices, and these were ever afterward continued in +the Horatian family. As a further punishment, a beam was laid across the +street and the young man made to pass under it, with veiled head, as +under a yoke. + +Chronologically, this seems to be the appropriate place to introduce +some reference to another race which, to no small extent, affected the +early history of Rome and also the status of the Roman woman. From +Etruria came the ancestor of the Tarquins, that proud dynasty which +provided two legends of the extreme opposite types of women: Tullia, the +cruel and ambitious queen, and Lucretia, the ideal of conjugal +faithfulness. Tanaquil, the never-forgotten helpmeet of an able man, +also came from this people. + +The Etruscans have ever been a puzzle to historians and one of the +principal enigmas in ethnology. Entirely unlike the Hellenic or Italiote +races in appearance as well as in customs, even the ancients were at a +loss to surmise whence this remarkable people originated. Dionysius +says, "they claimed alliance with no people in the world." Inquiry +regarding them would not be so interesting, were it not that they have +left such an abundance of proofs of their proficiency in art and +advancement in civilized industry. At the time of which we are writing, +they possessed the very respectable beginning of a literature. We have +nearly two thousand of their inscriptions; but hardly a word are we able +to interpret, for the Etruscan language is to-day what the Egyptian +hieroglyphics were before Champollion. These people were the artists and +the manufacturers for all Italy. In the museums of Europe are to be seen +specimens of their art, such as statues, beautifully ornamented vases, +bas-reliefs, and jewelry, which can but excite the wonder of the +beholder by the richness of their execution. Their tombs have been +found to contain great quantities of such treasures, which they were in +the habit of burying with their chiefs. Reclining on one of these tombs +are the carved effigies of a man and his wife, represented as though +resting upon a couch. If these figures give as correct an idea of the +appearance of the Etruscans as they indicate artistic ability, they were +a thickset people, with retreating foreheads, aquiline noses, and eyes +rather oblique--all suggestive of the Asiatic type. The barbarous +religious ideas of the Etruscans rendered the race gloomy and +fatalistic. Their priests were supposed to be experts in divining the +future; and their gods often required to be propitiated with human +sacrifices. Their civilization had a powerful effect upon that of Rome. +In Etruria women were treated with a respect unusual among the races of +that time; and it may have been owing to this influence that the women +of Rome enjoyed so much more liberty than their sisters of Greece. On +the other hand, to the Etruscans' characteristic delight in cruel sports +has been attributed the introduction of gladiatorial contests in the +arena at Rome. + +The traditional account of the origin of the Tarquin family is very +uncertain historical data, the founder being represented as the son of a +foreigner in Tarquinii, a city of Etruria, and his name Lucumo; while +history seems to indicate that the _lucumon_ was an Etruscan chief +magistrate. However, we will take the legendary account as it stands. In +it we are told that Lucumo had married a noble maiden of Tarquinii, +called Tanaquil, a name that in after times became a household word +among the Romans. When they wished to hold before their daughters the +ideal of a good housewife, they exhorted them to emulate Queen Tanaquil. +She was also called Caia Cæcilia, "the good spinner"; and to her memory +and industry all young brides paid honor. From what is told of her, +however, she seems rather to have been an extraordinary type of the +women whose ambitions urge their husbands in the quest of high political +position and whose wise intuitions help to support their spouses in +those positions when attained. + +These Etruscans were wealthy; but Lucumo could hope for no place of +influence in Etruria, for the reason that he was the son of a foreigner. +It is to Tanaquil, however, that the credit is given of having persuaded +him to migrate to Rome. We can imagine her argument to have been that, +in the new State, where all the nobility were of recent origin and where +men were elevated for merit rather than for family descent, the courage +and energy of her husband would give him the best chances of success. +The story relates that, as they were about to enter Rome, an eagle +swooped down from the skies and seized Lucumo's cap in its talons. After +flying around the chariot with loud screams, to their great astonishment +the bird replaced the cap on the man's head. In those times, the +movements of birds were looked upon as the surest kind of omens, as +indeed they were so regarded for centuries afterward; and among the +first historians, the tradition of the entrance into Rome of a man +destined to be its king, in which there was no mention made of an omen, +would simply indicate a defect in the narrative which literary justice +would require them to make good. Tanaquil, availing herself of the +science of augury, in which the Etruscans were especially expert, +declared that this was a sign that the highest honors were to be heaped +upon her husband's head. Down to very late times, Romans, even those of +the keenest intellect, were largely influenced in their actions and +decisions by such signs; and it is easy to see how omens might seem +valid, inasmuch as they contributed in no small degree to their own +fulfilment by encouraging or depressing those who thoroughly believed in +them. + +[Illustration 2: +_THE CONVERT +After the painting by G. R. C. Boulanger +The noble matron Pomponia Græcina has been credited +by tradition with having found consolation for the sorrows +of the times in that new faith which was undermining +old Rome, both literally in the catacombs and figuratively +in the rapidity with which it was making converts; +but we know not with certainty..... Græcina was +accused of yielding to foreign superstitions. This may +have been owing to the peculiarities of her manner. She +had been the close friend of that Julia, daughter of Drusus, +whom Messalina had forced to kill herself. From this +time on, for the space of forty years, Græcina wore nothing +but mourning, and was never seen to smile..... When +the charge of entertaining foreign superstitions was laid +against her, she was, in accordance with the ancient law, +consigned to the adjudication of her husband..... She +was adjudged innocent._] + + +In the city, our legendary Etruscan changed his name to Lucius +Tarquinius Priscus. His riches and talents soon availed with the Romans, +and he was appointed guardian to the king's children. When Ancus died, +Tarquin succeeded in persuading the people to elect him to the throne; +and he was not mistaken in his estimation of his own fitness for that +position, for his rule was in every way beneficial. He enlarged the +territory of the State and undertook many worthy public works. To this +period is attributed the building of the great subterranean sewers for +draining the city. Lasting, though inelegant, monuments these; for after +twenty-five centuries have passed away, and after so many Romes have +arisen and fallen above them, the _cloacae_ of Tarquinius Priscus still +remain and admirably serve their purpose. The historians further tell us +that this Etruscan introduced into the kingly style a magnificence +hitherto unknown in Rome. This was especially manifested in his +embroidered robes, which were the skilful work of Tanaquil the Spinner. +Here was a queen who might have been taken for the model of the virtuous +woman depicted in the Book of Proverbs. The heart of her husband could +safely trust in her. She did him good and not evil all the days of her +life. "She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands." +But Tanaquil was as well qualified to assist her husband in his +political projects as to array him in a manner befitting his station. +This is evidenced by her behavior at his death, which took place at the +hand of assassins. We will allow Livy to relate in his own words what +happened, "When those who were around had raised up the king in a dying +state, the lictors seized on the men who were endeavoring to escape. +Upon this followed an uproar and concourse of the people, wondering +what the matter was. Tanaquil, during the tumult, orders the palace to +be shut up, thrusts out all who were present; at the same time, she +sedulously prepares everything necessary for dressing the wound, as if a +hope still remained; yet, in case her hopes should disappoint her, she +projects other means of safety. Sending immediately for Servius,--who +had married her daughter,--after she had showed him her husband almost +expiring, holding his right hand, she entreats him not to suffer the +death of his father-in-law to pass unavenged, or his mother-in-law to be +an object of insult to their enemies. 'Servius, she said, 'if you are a +man, the kingdom is yours, not theirs, who, by the hands of others, have +perpetrated the worst of crimes. Exert yourself, and follow the guidance +of the gods. Now awake in earnest. We, too, though foreigners, have +reigned. Consider who you are, not whence you have sprung. If your own +plans are not matured by reason of the suddenness of this event, then +follow mine.' When the uproar and violence of the multitude could +scarcely be withstood, Tanaquil addressed the populace from the upper +part of the palace through the windows facing the new street--for the +royal family resided near the temple of Jupiter Stator. She bids them be +of good courage; tells them that the king was stunned by the suddenness +of the blow; that the weapon had not sunk deep into his body; that he +was already come to himself again; that the wound had been examined, the +blood having been wiped off; that all the symptoms were favorable; that +she hoped they would see him very soon; and that, in the meantime, he +commanded the people to obey the orders of Servius Tullius. That he +would administer justice, and perform all the functions of the king. +Servius comes forth with the trabea and the lictors, and, seating +himself on the king's throne, decides some cases, but with respect to +others pretends that he will consult the king. Therefore, the death +being concealed for several days, though Tarquin had already expired, +he, under pretence of discharging the duties of another, strengthened +his own interest. Then, at length, the matter being made public, and +lamentations being raised in the palace, Servius, supported by a strong +guard, took possession of the kingdom by the consent of the Senate, +being the first who did so without the orders of the people." + +Of course, however much or little of all this may have really taken +place, the effect of the account is greatly heightened by the brilliant +imagination of the historian. But we believe that at least there is +enough historical truth in it to show that the early Romans did not +consider able statecraft on the part of women an entire impossibility. +In regard to Tanaquil's after career as queen-dowager, the legends are +totally and regrettably silent; and it is left to us to surmise without +data as to how the new king held his own with such an extraordinarily +clever mother-in-law; but, from what has just been related, he would +seem to have had both the wisdom to appreciate her counsels and the +ability to put them into effect. + +The Tarquinian dynasty was prolific of remarkable women; and in the +legendary history they are set over against each other in sharp +contrast. We have had the good queen, now we encounter the bad. Again it +is the story of a woman who was ambitious, but this time of one who +possessed no moral sentiment to soften her methods, whose respect for +that which is honorable in woman weighed nothing against her desire for +position. Expediency being furthered by cruelty, she could easily +overcome her feminine instincts. She was an exaggerated specimen of that +type of which Shakespeare has given an unfading picture in Lady +Macbeth. More than this, Tullia represented for the Romans the very acme +of wickedness. All feminine virtue with them culminated in filial +obedience and marital faithfulness; Tullia murdered her husband and +plotted against her father, and was accessory to his death. The Romans +were not abstract thinkers; and it is more than likely that this legend +is an accumulation, in one imaginary concrete example, of all feminine +depravity, rather than a veritable account of a historic personage. Yet +we have no good reason to doubt that there was a vicious Tullia, on +whose character this ideal of wickedness was erected. + +Servius, the good king, had two daughters, Tullia being the younger. +These young women were married to the two sons of Tarquinius Priscus, +Lucius and Aruns; the eider daughter being given to the elder son. The +consequence of this arbitrary choice on the part of the parents was that +a most contrary assortment was made. A stirring and prideful man found +himself coupled with a woman of easy, good-natured disposition; and a +man of contented mind and contemplative habits was afflicted with a +high-spirited and ambitious wife. The haughty Tullia could not endure +the thought that there was no material in her husband either for daring +or energetic action. She gave her regard to Lucius, who, as she +considerately informed Aruns, was worthy to be called a man. She went so +far as to intimate to Lucius that if the gods had been possessed of +sufficient good judgment to have given her the only man who could +appreciate her abilities she would soon see the crown in her own house, +instead of in that of her father. This inspired the young man; and they +both agreed that the mistakes of the deities should be rectified. It +soon conveniently happened that two deaths gave the opportunity for a +reassortment; and the nuptials of Lucius and Tullia were quickly +celebrated. + +Having thus far hurried forward the matter, it was not in the nature of +the woman to wait patiently for death to make vacant the throne of the +aged Servius. She said that she wanted a husband who would rather +possess a throne than hope for it. She stimulated Lucius's courage by +asking why he allowed himself to be called a prince, if he had not the +spirit to take his own. She suggested that, his grandfather having been +a merchant, perhaps it would be as well for him to return to Tarquinii, +the original home of the family, and engage in the same peaceful +occupation; which is evidence that the facile keenness of a woman's +power of expression is not a development of modern education. Being thus +encouraged, Lucius, as probably many another statesman has done, +considered it more advisable to take the chances of public strife than +to live in the certainty of domestic unrest. The time seeming +propitious, he repaired with an armed band to the Senate house and +seated himself on the throne. King Servius appeared, but no one thought +it worth while to hinder Lucius from throwing the aged ruler down the +steps of the Senate house; which he manfully did. + +Tullia was the instigator of this _coup d'état_; and impatient to learn +its success, she drove to the Forum, and, calling her husband from the +Senate chamber, was the first to hail him as king. But Lucius commanded +her to return home; and the tradition runs that as she was going thither +her chariot wheels passed over the dead body of her royal father as it +lay in the narrow street. More of the story of this Roman +personification of filial iniquity we are not told, except that, in +accordance with the inevitable rule of legendary history, she met the +Nemesis of her crimes on a later day. The manner of it we shall see in +the expulsion of her family from Rome. + +The reign of Lucius Tarquin, surnamed Superbus on account of his +extraordinary pride, was strong and tyrannous; but its effect was the +aggrandizement of Rome and the increase of her power in Italy. He is +credited with some extensive public works, the chief of which was the +Capitol. This temple he erected upon the hill which had from time +immemorial been held sacred to Jove; for thereupon the people had +ofttimes beheld the deity, as Virgil says, "with his right hand shaking +his black shield, and summoning the storm clouds to him." For his +architectural undertakings the Roman king hired skilled Etruscan +workmen, which indicates that his own subjects were as yet laggards in +the pursuit of the arts and sciences. Indeed, everything goes to show +that the only infant industries which the Romans zealously cultivated at +this time were warfare and such agriculture as was necessary to supply +the wants of their abstemious life. For their few artistic needs, they +depended almost entirely upon the other Italian cities, which in these +respects were further advanced. + +In the traditional history of the reign of Tarquin Superbus there is +included a legend concerning the Sibyl of Cumæ. Of those mysterious +women called Sibyls, ten were reputed to have flourished in various +parts of the ancient world. She of Cumæ was said to have lived one +thousand years; seven hundred of which had expired when Æneas came to +Italy and profited by her advice. The probable fact is that there +existed a school, or at any rate a succession, of pythonesses at Cumæ, +and it is borne out by the fact that to the Sibyl are given no less than +seven different names by various ancient authors. These prophetic women +used to write their predictions on leaves, which they placed at the +entrance of their grotto; and it was very necessary to secure these +leaves before they were dispersed by the wind, since, once scattered, +they could never again be brought together. It seems, however, that the +pythonesses at times transmitted their wisdom in a more substantial +manner; for the Sibyl who came to the palace of Tarquin brought with her +nine volumes, which she offered for sale at a very high price. On the +monarch's refusal to buy them, she burned three of the books, and +demanded the same amount for the remaining six. Tarquin declined to +purchase these, and she immediately committed three more to the flames, +asking the same sum of money for the remainder. This extraordinary +conduct so excited the king's curiosity that he bought the books; and +the Sibyl vanished, never again to be seen. It is very appropriate that +the last of the Sibyls should disappear just as we begin to find +verifiable history taking the place of traditional lore. + +What the contents of these books were, or whether the king found reason +very greatly to regret that he did not accept the Sibyl's first offer of +the whole nine, we do not know. That they were highly valued by the +Roman people is shown by the fact that a college of priests was +instituted to have the care of them; and they remained in existence +until the time of Sylla, when they were destroyed in the flames of the +Capitol. The Sibylline verses now extant are universally deemed to be +spurious. + +The name of Tarquin has been placed on the world's roll of dishonor +because of the part one of his family played in that sad story which +describes how the rule of the kings of Rome came to an end under a cloud +of blackness and blood. The tragedy of Lucretia is one of those pictures +which are preserved forever on account of their simplicity and +naturalness. The figures are almost titanic in their strength; but they +will be recognized as typical of humanity in all time. The actions are +coarse, because they proceed from the fundamental virtues and vices +which are never separate from the hearts of men and women. The great +English dramatist has idealized the workings of thought and conscience +in the principal actors; but there was really nothing except bare, +unadorned humanism in every situation. There was the tyranny which +always accompanies unbridled power; there was the honest soldier's +outspoken pride in the unrivalled beauty and goodness of his wife at +home; there was the brutal animalism of the man who heeded no higher +instincts; there was the wounded heart that saw no hope but to retrieve +honor at the expense of life; there were ensuing grief and revenge. In +all this there is nothing subtle, nothing strange, to human knowledge. +It simply masses together all the general experiences of the universal +man. Yet here is one of the world's most notable dramas; and the picture +is interesting, because it portrays with strong colors in one scene all +the great motives and traits which sway and color human life. + +Lucretia was the daughter of a Roman noble, and she was the wife of +Collatinus, one of the Tarquinian family. The Roman army was investing +the city of Ardea, the capital of the Rutulians; and the young princes +had too little to occupy their time, as the sequel shows, to keep them +out of mischief. One day, they were drinking and conversing in the tent +of Sextus, the king's son. Soldier fashion, being occupied with wine, +their talk turned on the subject of women. Each man extolled the +superior charms of his own wife or betrothed. Their conversation +doubtless did not range beyond lawful wedded mates, or those who were +such in prospect; for in the Rome of those days there existed no class +of demi-monde, nor, indeed, were there many women whose reputation for +chastity would be liable to criticism even in the freedom of a soldiers' +camp. Life then was austere, and morality was intensive rather than +extensive. The gallant contention waxed more and more enthusiastic among +the comrades, until Collatinus said that there needed to be no dispute +about the matter; that it could be easily seen in a few hours how far +his Lucretia exceeded all the rest. Whereupon he challenged them all to +ride to Rome and let the matter be decided as each one found his wife +occupied on his unexpected arrival. To this they agreed, and immediately +galloped to Rome, which they reached in the dusk of the evening. The +king's sons found their wives spending their time in luxurious +entertainments; whether or not they agreed on any one as being superior +to the others, we are not told. But Collatinus's home was some miles out +in the country, so that it was visited last of all. Late as it was, they +found Lucretia, with her maids, spinning wool in the atrium, or middle +hall of the house. Collatinus and his friends were gladly welcomed by +the industrious Lucretia, and were provided with bountiful +entertainment; and they were not slow to vote that she had easily won +the contest. But the beauty of Lucretia's person and mind had made far +too deep an impression on Sextus, the son of Tarquin. Throughout the +journey back to camp he was revolving in his mind how he might again +make a visit to the house at Collatia, in which he did not desire the +company of its master. + +A few days later, Sextus appeared at Lucretia's door and met a kindly +welcome, in which her pure mind mingled no misgiving. There were no +locks on the inner doors of the Roman house; for, as Shakespeare makes +poor Lucretia tell her story: + + "... to the dreadful dead of dark midnight, + With shining falchion in my chamber came + A creeping creature with a flaming light, + And softly cried, 'Awake, thou Roman dame, + And entertain my love; else lasting shame + On thee and thine this night I will inflict, + If thou my love's desire do contradict.'" + +His threat was to murder both the lady and one of her male slaves, and +to place them so that it would appear that he had killed them to avenge +the honor of Collatinus. Thus we may see how poor Lucretia could truly +plead: + + "Mine enemy was strong, my poor self weak, + And far the weaker with so strong a fear; + My bloody judge forbad my tongue to speak; + No rightful plea might plead for justice there; + His scarlet lust came evidence to swear + That my poor beauty had purloin'd his eyes, + And when the judge is rob'd, the prisoner dies." + +The next day, she sent messengers to call her husband and her father. +They hastened to her at once, the former bringing with him Brutus, who +was to be the leader in liberating Rome from the infamous race of +Tarquin. When Lucretia had told her story, she made her relatives first +swear that the criminal should not go unpunished. To this they savagely +pledged themselves; but they tried to console her with the fact that, +her mind being pure, she had incurred no guilt. Lucretia replied; "It +remains for you to see to what is due to Tarquin. As for me, though I +acquit myself of guilt, from punishment I do not discharge myself; nor +shall any Roman woman survive her dishonor in pleading the example of +Lucretia." Thus saying, she drew a knife which she had concealed in her +garments, and plunged it into her heart. + +Brutus, while they were all overcome with grief, gently drew the weapon +from the wound; and holding it up, dripping as it was with Lucretia's +life blood, he cried: "By this blood, most pure before the pollution of +royal villainy, I swear, and I call you, O gods, to witness my oath, +that I shall pursue Lucius Tarquin the Proud, his wicked wife, and all +their race, with fire and sword, and all other means in my power; nor +shall I ever suffer them or any other to reign at Rome." In this oath +Collatinus and the others joined. They carried the dead body of Lucretia +to Rome, and succeeded in giving the populace the last incentive +necessary to drive out the already hated Tarquins. Thus the misfortunes +of noble Lucretia brought vengeance upon the wickedness of Tullia; for +the historian says that "she fled from her house, both men and women +cursing her wherever she went and invoking on her the Furies, the +avengers of parents." + +What portion of these stories of the women of legendary Rome may be +accepted as fact, and what must be relegated to the realm of fiction, it +is not within the capacity of research to ascertain. Probably we shall +not be far wrong if we consider these legends as moralizings founded on +facts. Tullia represented to the Romans all the viciousness against +which women were warned; in Lucretia, there were accumulated all the +virtues to which a woman was taught to aspire. They were pictorial moral +discourses; and, just as the moral character of a modern age might be +discovered from the sermons of the period, so these legends represent +what was lowest and highest in the ethical conceptions of earliest +Rome. + + + + +II + +NOBLE MATRONS OF THE REPUBLIC + +After the revolution, of which the tragedy of Lucretia was the +traditional cause and which ended forever monarchical rule in Rome, our +subject begins to emerge from the haziness of legendary narratives into +the clearer light of veritable history. It now becomes possible for us +to catch glimpses of the women of Rome, living and moving amid scenes +that were real and under conditions which undoubtedly prevailed. + +Roman society at the beginning of the Republic was most distinctly and +rigidly classified. Not only were the people divided by the +circumstances of birth into separate classes, but the law preordained +for every person his precise station, his duties, his privileges, and +his limitations. The citizen could no more go beyond these than he could +transfer himself into another order of creation; for law, in Rome, was +as absolute as it was rigid. Speaking generally, there were two orders, +the patrician and the plebeian. A common opinion of the old writers was +that out of the influx of adventurers who crowded to Rome at its +founding Romulus chose one hundred Senators, their qualification being +that they could name their fathers. Their children were called +patricians. In the third century before Christ, when the plebeians had +wrested many privileges and offices from the unwilling higher class, +Publius Decius, himself a plebeian, uses this theory of the origin of +the patricians to great advantage. Contending in debate for the right of +his order to serve in the priesthood, he said: "Have ye never heard that +the first-created patricians were not men sent down from heaven, but +such as could cite their fathers; that is, nothing more than freeborn? +Well, I can cite my father; he was a consul; and my son will be able to +cite a grandfather." This excessive pride which Roman citizens took in +the fact that they could trace their paternity through more or less +generations must not be understood as reflecting, in any way, upon the +character of the early matrons; it arose simply from the fact that they +could so surely name their ancestry as to eliminate possibility of +descent from one of the common herd of unenfranchised inhabitants. + +These latter were the plebeians. This class was made up of the +descendants of the ancient people who of old had inhabited the country, +ordinary foreigners who were attracted to the city, and the children of +captives who had been given their liberty. At first, the plebeians +enjoyed no rights whatever. They lived, it is true, under the shelter of +the walls of the city, but on the outside. They possessed no right of +suffrage, and were not allowed to interfere in any public affair. But +they were free. They held property and engaged in handicrafts and in +commerce. It soon came to pass that the increase of their number and +their importance rendered their repression by the nobles more and more +difficult. Under King Servius the plebeians became citizens; and, as is +the case in every land, the internal history of Rome contains nothing +more interesting than the indomitable and successful struggle of this +lower class to wrest ever larger privileges from the tenacious rulers. +It was not, however, until B.C. 444 that equality of rights had made +sufficient progress for matrimonial alliances to be countenanced between +patricians and plebeians. By the commencement of the Christian era all +practical distinction between these two classes had vanished. + +In addition to the two principal orders, there was that of the clients. +These were in reality vassals, who preferred dependence on the great and +wealthy to living independently in a precarious liberty. They were +called by the names of their patrons and were numbered in the latter's +tribe. By enactments of law, the patron was made responsible for the +support and protection of his clients. In return, the patrician could +depend upon his clients to fight his battles, support his cause, and +prove themselves loyal retainers of his house in both good fortune and +evil. The subservience of these clients, and the conscienceless zeal +with which they furthered the designs, even the most wicked, of their +masters, are well illustrated in the part which Marcus Claudius played +in the persecution of Virginia by the decemvir Appius. Another dependent +class was that of the slaves. At first the number of these was +comparatively small; but as the conquering arms of Rome spread over the +world her avaricious sway, the captives dragged in barbarous triumph to +the city grew out of all proportion to the population. They enjoyed +fewer rights and suffered under a regime more inhuman than in any other +slaveholding nation in history. + +That which distinguished one class from another in early Roman society +had nothing whatever to do with the character of the occupation of the +people comprising it. The noblest of the early patricians, as well as +the commonest plebeians, tilled the soil with their own hands; nor did +they disdain to engage in trade, or even in the letting of money on +usury. Wealth was no more a consideration than occupation in +determining to which order a man or a woman belonged. In course of time, +the plebeians, despite the patricians' unneglected privilege of +practising robbery under due process of law, numbered many families of +great wealth; but no man could therewith purchase entrance to the higher +class. It was the blood line that marked these distinctions; it was +ancestry alone that could give the patent of nobility. Nor is it +surprising that a people who believed in the divine origin of some of +their tribes should acknowledge superior rights as attached to a +well-authenticated pedigree. + +In most societies, the advantages of class are more markedly displayed +in the life of the women than in that of the men. This does not appear +to have been the case in the early times of the Roman Republic. In fact, +it is difficult to see how difference in class greatly distinguished the +patrician matron from her plebeian sister. Neither had any legal part +whatever in State affairs or in any public functions, excepting those of +a religious nature. The duties of each were confined to the home, and no +woman was relieved from the obligation of personal and diligent +industry. On the epitaphs of many noble women were praises for their +chastity and their proficiency in spinning. Indeed, the evidence seems +to indicate that any other qualities than these two, and that of +fertility, were deprecated rather than admired by the Romans of this +period. The only advantages which a patrician woman could possess were +her natural pride in the privileges of her family and what honor was +reflected upon her from the positions held by her male relatives. The +term "Head of the Family" never had so tyrannical a meaning as in most +ancient Rome. It was a place which a woman could not hold. The husband +was all in all; no one else was recognized by law. Wife, children, +clients, and slaves were alike persons without will of their own. They +were _mancipia_, under the hand of the father. He it was who answered +for them to the State and who judged them. If a wife was accused of +crime, she was committed to her husband for judgment. And this was the +law even down to the time of Nero, when Pomponia Græcina, charged with +embracing a foreign superstition, was "consigned to the adjudication of +her husband." A man could even condemn his wife to death for certain +offences, such as the violation of her marriage vows, or even for +forging false keys in order to steal his wine. At her husband's death, +the wife could not claim any of his property if he had bequeathed it to +another, even though it were willed to an entire stranger. In this +severely disciplined society, the woman never escaped from guardianship. +She was looked upon as belonging to the family rather than to the State. +The latter consisted only of men, to whom the women were merely +necessary accessories. No one thought that a woman possessed any claim +or right to independence of individuality. She was always under a +master: her father, when she was a girl; her husband, when she was +married; and her nearest male relative, if she became a widow. If she +obtained any share in her father's property or in that of her husband, +she could not transfer or bequeath it without the consent of her male +guardian, unless she were a Vestal; nor could she marry without the same +consent. + +But, however dependent her position may have been, whether maid or +matron, the Roman woman was always treated with reverence. The _stola_, +the characteristic robe of the matron, corresponding to the toga of the +male citizen, always ensured for its wearer respect, it being not merely +an article of attire, but also an insignia which could only be retained +by strict rectitude of life, market days or assembly days. In the +villa--a miserable cabin made of mud, rafters, and branches--not a day, +not a moment, was lost. Horace does not draw a more agreeable picture of +ancient city manners. He tells us that "at Rome, for a long time a man +knew no other pleasure and no other festival than to open his door at +dawn, to explain the law to his clients, and to lay out his money on +good security. They learned from their elders, and taught beginners, the +art of increasing their savings." But when it is remembered that Cato +was a sour and miserly Puritan, who adopted austerity as his pose, and +that Horace was a poet, not untouched with cynicism, who lived in a +society in which the charm of simple enjoyments was entirely forgotten, +we may consider both pictures, though from differing causes, slightly +overdrawn. Nevertheless they serve to indicate how circumscribed was the +life of the wives of the early Romans. + +Those strong-minded, intense, practical people were not, however, +without their entertainments. Music, both vocal and instrumental, was +cultivated. There were religious festivals, in which processions of boys +and maidens sang pious hymns. We also learn from Cicero that it was the +custom for the guests at a feast to sing the praises of their great men +to the sound of the flute. It is easy for us to imagine a home scene in +which Veturia, the mother of the youthful Cnæus Martius, tells over +again to the inquiring boy those inspiring stories which he has heard +chanted by his father's hearth and which are to prepare him to emulate +heroic deeds at Corioli and earn for himself an honorable name. + +But, habitually solemn and grave as were those old Romans, they were +also much addicted to amusements of a coarse and grotesque nature. Even +in their religious processions they included monstrous mechanical +shapes, with formidable teeth and huge jaws which, by their opening and +closing, frightened the women and children, to the great enjoyment of +the men. Hideous masks were also worn for the same purpose. In fact, so +little refinement characterized the minds of the people of these times, +that they could find entertainment in only the rudest and coarsest of +jests. Farces, which were nothing more than the absurd antics and +personal witticisms of buffoons, had been introduced from Atella. But +the beginning of Roman drama may be dated from B.C. 364, when, on +account of a pestilence which devastated the city, Etruscan actors were +imported to institute scenic games in honor of the gods. The pestilence +ended; and consequently the games, being regarded as the efficacious +remedy, were retained. These games consisted of combined dances and +songs, which were accompanied by appropriate but not altogether proper +gestures. Later, there was instituted the floral festival, the purpose +of which was to induce the goddess of spring to grant that all the +flowers which decked the fields at the time of blossoming should be +represented by fruit in the harvest. In these games, dancing girls +appeared upon the stage; and we may draw our own conclusions from the +fact that in the time of Cato the scene was regarded as too frivolous +for the eyes of so grave a personage. But the most popular of all the +early festivals was that of Anna Perenna, the goddess of life. In this, +restraint was abandoned. To drink extravagantly, and to listen to a +recitation of the mistakes of Mars in taking a hideous goddess for the +beautiful Minerva, were regarded as works of piety. Young girls were +required to sing this story, which was full of the coarsest allusions. +But the ancients did not consider the requirements of modesty in the +same light as we do. They did not esteem that innocence born of +ignorance, in which modern times deem it sacrificed to honor was the +signal for the expulsion of tyranny. + +It was not alone in the incitement of the populace to measures for her +protection that the influence of woman was felt in matters of State. +There were occasions when by her means calamities were averted, as well +as times when civil strife was for her sake produced. The memory of the +good service done for the city by Veturia, the mother, and Volumnia, the +wife of Coriolanus, was never allowed to fade. + +In the history of this brave and haughty warrior we have a picture of +Roman political life. Rough politics they were; rock-faced episodes, +befitting the character of the times, in which men knew nothing of +_finesse_, and when appeal was made directly from reason to brute force +and to the natural feelings of men. Perhaps it would be bordering on +literary impiety to think that Shakespeare, in his Coriolanus, has not +given the best interpretation possible of this fragment from the old +Republic; but it is not one of his greatest pieces, because the material +is lacking in those human qualities which are necessary to arouse +profound interest. It is a drama with but one motive--filial respect. +Yet the most is made of this; and the great dramatist has succeeded in +vivifying the principal characters. In the portrayal of the mother of +Coriolanus we see a matron who is worthy of such a son; the wife's part +is that of passive resignation to the will of stronger spirits. Mrs. +Jameson, in her _Characteristics of Women_, says: "In Volumnia, +Shakespeare has given us the portrait of a Roman matron, conceived in +the true antique spirit, and finished in every part. Although Coriolanus +is the hero of the play, yet much of the interest of the action and the +final catastrophe turn upon the character of his mother, and the power +she exercised over his mind, by which, according to the story, 'she +saved Rome and lost her son.' Her lofty patriotism, her patrician +haughtiness, her maternal pride, her eloquence, and her towering spirit, +are exhibited with the utmost power of effect; yet the truth of female +nature is beautifully preserved, and the portrait, with all its vigor, +is without harshness." We may well believe that Veturia--whom, following +Plutarch, Shakespeare calls Volumnia--was a woman who could say: "When +yet he was tender-bodied, and the only son of my womb ... I was pleased +to let him seek danger where he was like to find fame. To a cruel war I +sent him, whence he returned, his brows bound with oak." And when the +wife tremblingly inquires: "But had he died in the business, madam--what +then?" it was in the mother to reply: "Then, his good report should have +been my son." This is in accord with the Greek historian's statement +that Coriolanus fought heroically, not only for glory and the passion of +battle, but to win the meed of praise from his mother. + +The action in the story of Veturia and her son is entirely political. +The balance of power between the patricians and the plebeians was very +narrow, especially when hardship aroused the latter to make inquiry into +the claims of the former. A famine was more than sufficient to incite +the lower order to threaten the privileges of the upper class; and Rome +was at that time suffering from a scarcity of corn. The populace was not +entirely convinced by Menenius's parable that the whole duty of the +patrician order consisted in being the belly of the State organism. The +people clamored; their tribunes saw in this an opportunity to gain +increased powers; the Senators were inclined to be subservient. But the +haughty spirit of Coriolanus would yield nothing of the ancient +privileges. For his mother's sake, he sought the consulship; +nevertheless, he angered the commons, though he could not gain the +office without their suffrages. The stress became so great that his +patrician friends could not prevent his exile. He left Rome, only to +return to wreak vengeance at the head of a Volscian army. This enemy +being already a menace to Rome, the defection of the great leader to +their ranks placed the disordered city at their mercy. Then it was that +the Romans remembered that though women were incapacitated for political +action and were unable to fight, yet they were powerful factors in the +appeal to those feelings of the human heart whence flow justice and +pity. The arguments of ambassadors and the behests of the priests had +not availed; the authorities were constrained to adventure what might be +effected by the tears of the women for whom alone, of all that was +Roman, Coriolanus retained any regard. His mother and his wife were +implored to make the last appeal. This plan had come by inspiration into +the mind of Valeria, sister of the great Publicola, as she was praying +with the other matrons in the temple of Jupiter. Veturia and Volumnia, +leading the two sons of Coriolanus, went forth to the Voiscian camp. As +they drew near, Coriolanus, though resolved to remain obdurate, showed +himself not lacking in filial respect; he advanced to meet them, +ordering the fasces to be lowered in the presence of his mother. The +Roman historians clothe Veturia with noble dignity as she makes her +appeal. "Before I receive your embrace, let me know if I have come to an +enemy or to a son; whether I am in your camp a captive or a mother. Has +length of life and a hapless old age reserved me for this--to behold you +an exile and an enemy?... So then, had I not been a mother, Rome would +not be besieged; had I not a son, I might have died free in a free +country." The spirit of this is truly Roman. Even the women were trained +to force the claims of blood and the natural affections into a place +secondary to the duty of loyalty to the State. This appeal; joined with +the embraces of his wife and the lamentations of the other matrons, +prevailed over the anger of Coriolanus; and again Rome was saved by the +Roman women. As a reward, a monumental temple was erected by the men of +the city, and dedicated to Female Fortune. + +It was not alone as peacemakers that the Roman matrons served the public +interests of the city. On more than one occasion the treasury was +rendered efficient by means of their generous contributions. More than +once the golden ornaments of the wives became auxiliary to the iron arms +of their husbands, and in one instance they accomplished that which the +latter could not achieve. When the Gauls burned the city, and were only +turned from the citadel by the payment of one thousand pounds of gold, +with the sword of Brennus thrown on the Gallic side of the scale to +insure good weight, the amount could not have been raised but for the +self-sacrifice of the matrons. In gratitude for this, the Conscript +Fathers voted that thenceforth funeral orations might be made for women. +The gold was afterward repaid to the women out of Etrurian plunder. +Again, when, in accordance with the vow of Camillus, a tribute was to be +presented to Apollo, the matrons brought what they possessed of the +precious metal, it was especially honored by being made into a golden +bowl, which was carried to Delphos. On this occasion also they were +rewarded; for the Senate conferred on them the privilege of riding to +public worship and to the games in covered chariots, and on other +errands in open carriages. The historian introduces this latter +information with "they say"; whether or not, previous to this, the Roman +ladies had been obliged to walk is left to be surmised without further +evidence. + +Some Idea of what those golden ornaments were may be gathered from the +account of a voluntary contribution which was made in Rome at a later +period. Funds were required to equip a fleet against Philip of Macedon, +the ally of Hannibal. Lævinus the consul, urging upon his fellow +Senators the duty to set an example of public generosity, says: "Let us +bring into the treasury to-morrow all our gold, silver, and coined +brass, each reserving rings for himself, his wife and children, and a +bulla for his son; and he who has a wife or daughters, an ounce weight +of gold for each. Let those who have sat in a curule chair have the +ornaments of a horse, and a pound weight of silver, that they may have a +salt-cellar, and a dish for the service of the gods ..." Notwithstanding +the fact that, in response to this appeal, the needs of the fleet were +abundantly provided for, the indication is that at this period, about +B.C. 280, the decorative tastes of the Roman ladies had in no wise +acquired that luxuriousness with which they afterward became +characterized. There was no ornament so common as the ring, the place of +which, in these early times when only one was worn, was the third finger +of the left hand. It was used for the purpose of sealing letters and +papers, and long before the end of the Republic the custom arose of +setting rings with precious stones. Indeed, the people of the early +Republic were not unacquainted with most exquisite work of the +goldsmiths' art; but there was still prevalent that consciousness of the +surpassing value of personal excellences which could afford to be +independent of outward adornment, and of which Cornelia's reference to +her sons as her jewels was a surviving echo. + +But the times were soon to change. Hitherto we have seen the Roman +matrons living the simple, diligent, unsophisticated lives of women who +were fitting mates for men who held to the plow for support, but dared +not let drop the sword. Until then, Rome had been nothing but a city +struggling for existence--sometimes a precarious existence. Instances +there were when her fortunes waned almost to the vanishing point; when +the tide of progress seemed to hang at the ebb. The god of victory, +though honored as the tutelary deity of Rome, was frequently partial to +her Italian neighbors; her walls were entered and her houses razed by +the barbarian Gauls; and once she was at the point of being deserted by +her citizens, the majority of whom could hardly be restrained by the +ideals of religion from removing the State and the Capitol to Veii. Yet +her star of empire persisted and, despite temporary eclipses, remained +in the ascendant. + +How did those centuries of varying civic fortune affect the status of +the women? They were, by the necessities of their circumstances, trained +to endure hardship. The temple of Janus was never closed, for warfare +was unceasing; and it was usual for the widow's wailing death dirge to +be embittered by the fact that the husband had been slain in his +strength and prime. Slavery and outrage, the concomitants of barbarous +warfare, were always included within the possibilities of a Roman +matron's fate. Under such circumstances civilization necessarily +advanced slowly; it is only as life and liberty and leisure are secured +that existence can acquire the social graces. Hence the probability is +that, during the first two and a half centuries of the Republic,--that +is, until Rome was fully launched upon her career of conquest,--the +position and the habits and manner of life of the women did not greatly +change. It is true that there was a continuous internal development of +the State; but this manifested itself in an accentuation of those laws +which reveal the hardness of the old Roman character, rather than in any +tendency toward the easement of the individual lives of the citizens. +Never has personal privilege been so completely subjugated to State +prerogative. The laws, which were rigidly--even slavishly--interpreted +according to the letter and never according to the spirit, considered +the individual from the standpoint of his value to the State, and rarely +from that of his own rights. The woman's value to the State was entirely +submerged in that of her husband. Therefore, we find that it was only +with the greatest difficulty that edicts granting privileges to woman +could be passed, unless it were in payment for some special act of +loyalty on her part to the State. Hard and inflexible in their ideas of +life were those old Romans, practical and unsentimental in their +relations with each other, narrow in their conceptions, proud to +arrogance of their State, and reverencing only their institutions. + +But in course of time they broke through their insularity with the force +of their own arms. Victorious contact with other States gave them a +larger acquaintance with the fruits of civilization, and the spoils of +conquest afforded them the means to enjoy it. Hence, during the latter +half of the republican period we see life in Rome rapidly undergoing a +change. As typical of this new state of things, as it affected the +character, status, and condition of women, there is only one woman whom +we need to select. In Cornelia, the daughter of Scipio Africanus and the +wife of Sempronius Gracchus, is found the ideal of Roman femininity of +that day. She was in every way worthy of her patrician ancestry, which +had produced a greater number of eminent men than any other family, +twenty-one consulships being held by the Cornelii in eighty-six years. +Cornelia lived in a Rome which we can understand and appreciate; we +begin to recognize social features upon which the imagination can lay +hold and from them piece together some idea of the reality. Hitherto +the data has been too foreign and too meagre for any great success in +this; but when we read of Cornelia providing herself with a country +house, riding to public worship, listening to the gossip of her friends +respecting each other's jewelry, and interesting herself in Greek +literature, we discover that the main features of a Roman matron's life +were not essentially dissimilar from those which characterize polite +feminine society in our own time. Indeed, there is more to evoke our +sympathetic appreciation in the Rome of B.C. 150 than in the Europe of +A.D. 1000 or in the Asiatic civilizations of to-day. We feel more at +home in the patrician villas than in the mediæval castles; just as we +find more that is applicable to modern life in the Roman poets than we +do in the bards of chivalry. In studying the period when the ancient +civilization of Italy was at its best, we discover habits of thought, +bits of life, and social customs, which really startle us with their +similitude to those to which we ourselves are accustomed. + +The city, in the time of Cornelia, showed few outward signs of the +magnificence it was to acquire under the emperors. The houses were +mostly of brick, though domestic architecture had become quite ambitious +in its character, Cornelia herself having built, as has been said, a +very expensive villa at Misenum; those of the wealthy were filled with +costly furniture and precious works of art, which the Romans first +learned to admire in the countries which they subdued; and having +acquired a taste for beautiful things, they made no scruple of +appropriating them. Rome had now grown wealthy with the spoils of her +extensive victories, and, as always comes to pass with the advent of +riches, there had been brought about a great differentiation in the +condition of the population. Polybius gives us a picture of the +extravagant style in which Æmilia, the mother of Cornelia, appeared in +public. "When she left home to go to the temple," says he, "she seated +herself in a glittering chariot, herself attired with extreme luxury. +Before her were carried with solemn ceremony the vases of gold and +silver required for the sacrifice, and a numerous train of slaves and +servants accompanied her." And this notwithstanding the Oppian law, +which limited matrons to a half-ounce of gold on their wearing apparel +and prohibited them from riding in carriages in the city, and which had +not yet been repealed. As this modish lady passed through the streets of +Rome with her brilliant retinue, exciting the envy of other matrons, and +bestowing gracious recognition upon white-robed, stately patricians, she +must have beheld as many signs of abject, suffering poverty as are +prevalent in our own great cities. By this time, the plebeian order had +been raised to equal legal privilege with the patrician, and society had +now come to be divided into the enormously rich and the extremely poor. +The former rendered their position secure by means of extortion in the +provinces; the condition of the latter was made hopeless by the fact +that all labor was performed by slaves. A state of things unknown to the +old times was now prevalent in Rome: men and women were idle, willingly +or perforce, according to their circumstances. + +The position of women had also changed. They were now beginning to make +a stand for their rights--a thing undreamed of in the old days. The +father of the family was no longer allowed to execute his arbitrary +power entirely unquestioned. Livy narrates an incident which illustrates +this development and bears interestingly upon the character of Æmilia +and the history of Cornelia. He relates that "the Senators, happening to +sup one day in the Capitol, rose up together and requested of Africanus, +before the company departed, to betroth his daughter to Gracchus; the +contract was accordingly executed in due form, in the presence of this +assembly. Scipio, on his return home, told his wife Æmilia that he had +concluded a match for her younger daughter. She, feeling her female +pride hurt, expressed some resentment at not having been consulted in +the disposal of their common child, adding that, even were he giving her +to Tiberius Gracchus, her mother ought not to be kept in ignorance of +his intention; to which Scipio, rejoiced that her judgment concurred so +entirely with his own, replied that she was betrothed to that very man." + +It has been well said that the words which Plautus puts into the mouth +of Alcmena may be applied to the character of Cornelia, who was thus +bestowed by her great father upon a no less worthy man: "My dower is +chastity, modesty, and the fear of the gods; it is love to my kindred; +it is to be submissive to my husband, kind toward good people, helpful +to the brave." She also received a _dot_, an accompaniment of marriage +which was beginning to be highly considered among the matrons of Rome as +of more practical value than the above-mentioned moral qualities. It +consisted of fifty talents of gold. But the time had not yet arrived +when the riches of virtue and goodness were entirely unappreciated; +there were still matrons who could enter, with faces neither brazen nor +abashed, the temple erected to chastity; and upon the tombs of many of +them might have been truthfully inscribed, as upon that of Claudia: +_Gentle in words, graceful in manner, she loved her husband devotedly; +she kept her house, she spun wool_. Among these chaste matrons Cornelia +excelled; her fame remains as that of the highest type of the +pure-principled, noble-minded, cultured Roman matron. She lived in +entire sympathy with her husband; and we may well believe that it was +partly owing to her influence that the generous Sempronius Gracchus +found it in himself to command an army enlisted from among the slaves, +and to emancipate them upon the battlefield as a reward for the bravery +which his leadership incited. + +Plutarch, in his lives of the sons of Gracchus, repeats a story which, +though characterized by the superstitions of the times, indicates in +what estimation Cornelia was held by her husband and all who knew her. +It relates that Gracchus once found in his bed chamber a couple of +snakes, and that the soothsayers, being consulted concerning the +prodigy, advised that he should neither kill them both nor let them both +escape; adding that if the male serpent were killed, Gracchus would die, +and, if the female, Cornelia would perish. Therefore, as he extremely +loved his wife, he thought that it was much more his part, who was an +old man, to die than it was hers, who as yet was but a young woman; so +he killed the male serpent and let the female escape. Soon after this, +he died, leaving his wife and the twelve children which she had borne to +him. "Cornelia, taking upon herself all the care of the household and +the education of her children, approved herself so discreet a matron, so +affectionate a mother, and so constant and noble-spirited a widow, that +Tiberius seemed to all men to have done nothing unreasonable in choosing +to die for such a woman; who, when King Ptolemy himself proffered her +his crown and would have married her, refused it, and chose rather to +live a widow. In this state she continued, and lost all her children, +except one daughter, who was married to Scipio the Younger, and two +sons, Tiberius and Caius." The daughter, Sempronia, seems to have been +in every respect unlike her mother. Unattractive and childless, she +neither loved nor was loved by her husband; and, indeed, suspicion was +cast upon her of having brought about his death. + +Cornelia was well equipped to undertake the education of her children. +What is told of her indicates a woman who was alert to advance with all +that was progressive in her time. The spirit of literature had but +recently attained its reincarnation, and that for the first time upon +Roman soil. It was begotten, as it was again fifteen centuries later, by +the immortal genius of Greek poesy. The Romans conquered Greece +physically; but Hellenic learning subjugated Roman ideas. The Scipios +were the ardent supporters of Greek culture; and in this, as in all +other respects, Cornelia took a foremost position among the +representatives of her gifted family. + +She provided for her children the most erudite of Greek masters, and +spared no efforts in training their minds in the love of all that was +graceful and cultured. In the justly renowned eloquence of her sons, +there was recognized a gift which they inherited from their mother, as +was testified by Cicero, who had seen her letters. She possessed the +ability and also the courage to incite them to noble deeds for their +country. It was probably not so much ambition for herself as for them +which caused her to reproach her sons with the fact that she was still +known as the widow of Scipio and not as the Mother of the Gracchi. But +they lost no time in earning for her, both on account of their deeds on +the battlefield and by their devotion to the civil affairs of the State, +the distinction of this latter title. + +The Roman Republic had so far degenerated as to submit to be governed by +an oligarchy consisting of a few proud and wealthy families--the worst +of all forms of government. The Senators were flagrantly using their +power to accumulate enormous riches and to monopolize the land by +seizing upon the public domain. Middle-class independence was rapidly +diminishing, and the growing masses of the people were oppressed by a +poverty from which they had no means of freeing themselves. The Gracchi +sought to relieve these evils by passing laws limiting the amount of +land which might be held by one person, and offsetting the power of the +nobility by securing the economic independence of the people. The +Gracchi were reformers; and they each in turn attained to dictatorial +power. But though they secured the enactment of their measures, they +could not put them into effect; and in the end,--as is frequently the +case with reformers,--because they were far-sighted enough to see evil +in that which the majority of the rulers considered good, there was +nothing for them but martyrdom. This they suffered in turn: Caius taking +up the work where Tiberius was compelled, by assassination, to +relinquish it. + +The parting of Caius from his wife on the morning of his own death is a +scene from a heroic tragedy. He could not be persuaded to arm himself, +with the exception of a small dagger underneath his toga. As he was +going out, Licinia stopped him at the threshold, holding him by one hand +and their little son by the other. She pleaded that he would not expose +himself to the murderers of his brother. "Had your brother," she urged, +"fallen before Numantia, the enemy would have given back what then had +remained of Tiberius; but such is my hard fate, that I probably must be +a suppliant to the floods or the waves, that they would somewhere +restore to me your relics. For since Tiberius was not spared, what trust +can we place either in the laws or in the gods?" But Caius, gently +withdrawing himself from her embraces, departed; and Licinia, falling in +a faint, was carried as though dead into the house of her brother +Crassus. + +Cornelia bore the death of her two sons with her characteristic nobility +of mind. She removed to her seaside home at Cape Misenum; and there she +surrounded herself with learned men, and especially delighted in +entertaining the exponents of Greek literature. She was held in the +highest esteem by all; and her friends desired no greater privilege than +to listen to her reminiscences of her father, Scipio Africanus. She +would proudly add: "The grandsons of that great man were my children. +They perished in the temple and grove sacred to the gods. They have the +tombs that their virtues merited, for they sacrificed their lives to the +noblest of aims,--the desire to promote the welfare of the people." Such +was Cornelia; and she was the noblest of the matrons of the Republic. No +greater thing can be said of her than that she gloried most in the +reflected honor which came upon her as being the mother of the Gracchi; +yet she has been deservedly given a high place among the great and good +women of all time. + + + + +III + +WOMAN'S PART IN RELIGION + +In these modern times and in Christian countries, we are accustomed to +seeing religious matters take a more prominent place in the life of the +women than in that of the men. This is because our form of religion +concerns itself more with the emotions and with those subjects which +appeal to sentiment than it does with the practical affairs of life. +Wherever the details or the appliances of worship are brought into +intimate relation with the common occupations in which a people are +engaged, it at once becomes less peculiarly the province of women. For +instance, where there is union between Church and State, according to +the extent to which that union exists, and owing to the fact that women +are to a large extent shut out of the management of State affairs, the +Church more particularly engages the attention of the male portion of +the population. Also, where, as in Asia, an undertaking is supposed to +be liable to miscarriage unless entered into conformably with the +prevailing religious rites, men are less likely to be negligent in +paying their respects to the gods. When, as in mediæval Europe, every +phase of human activity was under the supervision of the Church, the +arts finding in it a large proportion of their subject matter, and +every transaction needing its sanction, woman's influence in religion +was much less predominant than it now is. All of which goes to show that +there is less of material self-seeking in feminine worship than in that +of men. + +Never was the intimate relation between the material and the spiritual +more strongly accentuated than in ancient Rome. The acts of the gods and +goddesses were a part of the lives of the people. Nothing existed or +came to pass in State, society, or private life without its cause being +attributed to the supernatural. The consequence was that every Roman +citizen looked upon the worship of his deities as a practical duty, the +neglect of which entailed practical consequences. At the same time, the +possession by woman of an important place in religion was assured, not +only by her nature, but also by the fact that reverence for the +supernatural was conjoined with every phase of life. Worship was no less +a private interest than a public affair. It entered into everything. +Consequently, a woman's religious duties and privileges were exactly +coextensive with the activities of her life. According to Roman +theology, the supernatural world was the precise counterpart of the +natural world. Everything had its special deity. There were the powerful +gods and goddesses who presided over the national interests, over war +and peace, prosperity and chastisement, counsel and justice; there were +the divinities who were to be depended upon for the natural phenomena, +the seasons, the weather, germination, and harvest; there were also +minor spirits upon whose pleasure depended the success of every human +action. + +According to the Roman conception, nothing took place without the +assistance of some special divinity whose province it was to further +that particular form of activity. It is said that Varro, at the close of +the era of the Republic, was able to enumerate thirty thousand of these +gods and goddesses. Roman life, public and private, was never for a +moment dissociated from religion. The Senate met for deliberation in the +temple of Jupiter; an important part of the general's duty on the +battlefield was to invoke the god of war; the infliction of punishment +on wrong-doers was a sacrifice to offended deity; all public +entertainments were held in honor of the gods; all the ordered events in +an individual's life were religious ceremonies; for even a family meal +was not supposed to be partaken of without a portion being set apart for +the household gods; and always on entering a house reverence was first +made to the Lares. Hence it necessarily followed that the part woman +took in religion was commensurate with her part in Roman life. It can +hardly be said that her position in this respect was a subordinate one. +If Mars, the god of battle, was the central object of Roman worship, an +equal devotion was paid to Vesta at the communal hearth which symbolized +the existence and the well-being of the city; and as it was more +particularly the province of men to invoke the warlike deity, so from +among the women, who were the home-keepers, were selected the honored +guardians of the sacred fire. It is also important to observe another +fact. Though there were priests appointed to conduct the ceremonies of +public worship, they were in no sense intermediaries. Every suppliant +addressed himself directly to the divinity. He might consider it to his +advantage to consult the professional men, who were skilled in the +knowledge of how most persuasively to approach the gods; but the act of +intercession was each person's own affair, and did not need the +intervention of a proxy. Therefore, the women were as free to address +the gods as were the men; and, in fact, in the many matters which +concerned their sex particularly, and in other things in which it +seemed fitting, they alone could properly do so. + +Bespeaking the favor of a particular deity consisted in paying that god +more or less extra attention; generally it was a very simple process. +There is in existence a painting, found at Rome, which represents two +women offering incense to Mars, their husbands probably being absent +with the army. Each of these matrons has brought a portable altar, and +into the rising flames, before a small figure of the deity, they are +dropping the fragrant oblation. This sacrifice may have taken place in +the open air; probably in the Forum. Thus easy was it for women to pay +their devotions and to invoke protection for those in whose welfare they +were interested. The practical Romans looked upon their relations to the +deities as partaking somewhat of the nature of commerce; for a certain +amount of attention they were justified in expecting a corresponding +amount of protection. They even practised what might truly be called +pious frauds upon the powers whom they worshipped. In certain cases, it +seemed to them that, inasmuch as the gods could not make use of the +reality, an inexpensive substitute might well take its place. For +instance, it is a relief to know that the yearly sacrifice of men which +the Vestals made to Father Tiber from the Sublician Bridge had nothing +in it more human than representations of men made out of osiers; but +when we read of the heads of poppies and even onions being presented to +Jupiter, in order that he might practise his thunderbolts upon them, +instead of upon the heads of the citizens, the instinct of +self-preservation is more apparent than is the reasoning faculty which +they attributed to the god. The Romans studied economy in their +religion. Their meat offerings constituted the family meal; and a pig +seemed to them the more proper object to sacrifice to the gods, in that +its flesh was a favorite article of diet with themselves. + +In many instances, the Romans committed, as they believed, the fortunes +of the State to the religious zeal of the women. There were several +divine protectresses whose worship was the exclusive duty of the gentler +sex. The most important of all was Vesta; to permit her sacred flame to +expire was one of the greatest of public calamities. The fact that these +offices held by women were looked upon by the Romans as of exceeding +importance could but reflect a dignity upon womanhood and enhance the +respect in which the sex was held. In fact, though women held no +recognized place in civil and State affairs, in religion they attained +much nearer to equal rights with the men. If a man were a priest, his +wife was a priestess. So firmly did women assert the authority gained +through possession of religious office, that in the reign of Tiberius it +was deemed necessary to pass a law that in things sacred the priestess +of Jupiter should be subject to her husband. + +One of the most interesting features of Roman religion was the worship +of Vesta and the institution of an order of virgins devoted to her +service. Nothing more clearly illustrates than this the fact that Roman +religion was suggested by racial customs. A study of the earliest +history of the Aryan race shows that during the migrations of the tribes +it would naturally fall to the duty of the young girls to kindle the +camp fire whenever their people stopped to rest; and as the primitive +method of procuring fire by rubbing together dry sticks rendered this no +easy matter, it was important to preserve the flame when once it was +produced. Then, too, the camp fire signified much; it stood for comfort, +sustenance, health, family, and social community; it was either the +source or the representation of the best in primeval life. The bright +flame was to the tribesmen a beneficent deity, a goddess, of course; +for by it the work of women was especially furthered--a chastity-loving +goddess, for what so pure as fire? Hence the idea that virgins, such as +those who enkindle the useful flame, should attend the communal hearth +consecrated to the honor of the divinity and symbolical of the life of +the tribe. + +Numa Pompilius, the second of Rome's legendary kings, is said, as +already mentioned, to have instituted the college of the Vestal Virgins +and to have formulated the rules of the life to which they were bound. +It seems probable, however, that the order was more ancient than even +the city itself; reaching back, as has been indicated, to the +prehistoric time when the ancestors of the Latin tribes migrated from +the common Aryan home. At first the Roman Vestals were four in number, +two for each of the original Roman tribes, the Ramnes and the Tities; +after the addition of the Luceres, the number was increased to six. +Maidens were made Vestals when between six and ten years of age. +Whenever a vacancy occurred, the chief pontiff chose twenty girls from +the patrician order, care being taken to select only those who were in +perfect health, free from the least physical blemish, and showing +promise of future beauty. Then the casting of lots was resorted to, in +order that the goddess herself might have an opportunity to designate +which of the number should be selected as her priestess. The maiden to +whom fell this fortune gave her right hand to the pontiff, who said: "I +take thee; thou shalt be priestess of Vesta, and shalt perform the +sacred rites for the safety of the Roman people." Then the girl was +conducted to the house of the sacred virgins, who cut off her hair and +clothed her in the white robes of the order. The ceremony in many +respects corresponded to that of the modern nun in taking the veil. The +term of consecration was thirty years, thus giving the votaries ten +years in which to learn their duties, ten for the practice of them as +serving members, and ten in which they governed the order and enjoyed +the highest honors in its gift. After thirty years, the Vestals were at +liberty to return to their families, or to marry, if they so desired; +but advantage was rarely taken of this permission, they preferring the +service of the goddess to whom they had vowed their virginity. + +The principal duty of the Vestals was to preserve the fire which burned +day and night on the altar of their divinity. If through rare mischance +it became extinguished, it was the rule that the sacred flame might only +be rekindled by rubbing together pieces of wood from a particular tree +which was resorted to with great and solemn ceremony. Later, however, +there was adopted the method of concentrating the rays of the sun in a +vase of burnished metal. The Vestals had other important functions, +chief of which were the offering of certain sacrifices and the +protection of records and important documents as well as of the +venerable relics of the city. These were preserved in the most secret +part of the temple; and among them were the fetiches which were said to +have been brought to Troy by Dardanus, and from Troy to Italy by Æneas. +These were believed by the Romans to be the guaranties for the existence +of the Empire. No one but the Chief Vestal was permitted to enter the +inner sanctuary, where they were kept. It is no wonder that, as the +functions committed to their charge were believed to be fraught with +such tremendous import to the State, to these priestesses was paid a +respect as great if not greater than any Roman official might claim. +They were most carefully guarded against insult or offence, anyone +offering such being punished with death. Whenever a Vestal appeared in +public, she was preceded by a lictor, before whom everyone made way, +even the highest officer of the State. The fasces were always lowered in +her presence. She was free from that guardianship by male relatives to +which all other Roman women were subject. Consequently, a Vestal not +only could receive legacies, but also enjoyed an untrammelled right in +the disposal of her property. In a court of justice she could make a +deposition without being required to take the oath. At all public games +and religious banquets she had the seat of honor. If a criminal, even on +the way to execution, met her by accident in the street, he was +immediately set free. + +On the other hand, if their privileges were great, the discipline was +severe. If they transgressed the minor rules of the order, chastisement +was administered by the Chief Vestal. If she herself were the offender, +or if the offence were something of so serious a nature as permitting +the extinction of the sacred fire, the delinquent maiden was stripped +and then scourged by the chief pontiff in the gloom of a darkened room. +If a Vestal broke her vow of chastity, a horrible death awaited her. In +a place called _campus sceleratus_--the accursed field--an underground +chamber was prepared. This chamber was carefully furnished with a bed, a +lamp, a small quantity of oil, bread, water, and milk. The victim was +placed upon a bier and borne with funeral pomp to the place of doom. +There, in the presence of the multitude, after the priest had uttered +certain prayers, the Vestal descended into her living tomb. The vault +was quickly covered, and then roofed with brick; the earth was replaced +and carefully levelled; thus all traces of the death chamber were +obliterated, and the unfortunate victim was left to her fate. The +witnesses of the execution turned away from the spot in the belief that +the death of the criminal would avert dire evils from themselves and +their families. + +Though it may be they are not sufficiently well attested to preclude the +doubt that the innocent were sometimes sacrificed, it is interesting to +note that there are occasions on record when Vesta came to the rescue of +her servants. Dionysius relates how, when Æmilia was about to be +punished for intrusting the sacred fire to a novice, who let it go out, +the Vestal, having first prayed to the goddess, tore a strip from her +robe and cast it upon the ashes, when the fire immediately blazed up. +Tuccia, who was accused of violating her vow of continence, appealed to +the goddess and said: "O Vesta, if I have ever approached thee with +clean hands, grant me a sign to prove my innocence." Then, as though by +inspiration, she took a sieve, and going to the Tiber brought it back +full of water, thus showing that miracles are never lacking in any +religion when its votaries in after ages have sufficient faith to +believe in them. This occurrence was made the subject of the engraving +on the seal of the order, a specimen of which has been preserved to the +present time. In the fourth century before Christ, Postumia was charged +with a like offence. She succeeded in proving her innocence without +summoning the gods as witnesses; but the chief pontiff, "by the +instruction of the college, commanded her to refrain from indiscreet +mirth, and to dress with more regard to sanctity than elegance." + +The temple of Vesta stood at the east end of the Forum, the site being +well authenticated by the ruins which remain. Tradition held that the +first temple was built by Numa; this was destroyed in B.C. 390, when the +city was burned by the Gauls. It was afterward rebuilt no less than four +times, always on the exact site, the same form and size being adhered +to. It was small and circular in shape, the domed roof being supported +on columns which surrounded the inner wall. In the interior was the +low, round altar where burned continually the sacred fire, to the care +of which the virgin priestesses were devoted. The house in which the +Vestals resided stood behind the temple, toward the Palatine hill. A few +years ago, excavations were made in the accumulated soil at the foot of +the hill, and a rich reward was gained in the discovery of this house, +in a remarkably fine state of preservation. It has the large atrium, +common to ancient Roman houses, and into which the rooms open from all +sides. The stairs remain, and many of the rooms on the upper floor are +still intact. That the Vestals lived in luxurious style is attested by +the richness of the decorations and by the remains of bathrooms and +hot-air flues. The latter were used for heating Roman buildings from a +furnace, very much in the same manner as the method to which we are +accustomed. That which interests us far more than anything else about +this house, however, is the fact that there were found in it a large +number of statues representing the Vestals themselves. Each statue +originally stood upon a pedestal bearing the name and a dedicatory +inscription. Presumably, the faces and the figures do not flatter the +sacred maidens, for they are neither beautiful nor graceful; but they +give us their names, and, what is perhaps of still greater interest, +they represent the Vestal dress. This consisted of a long gown, with a +cord around the waist, knotted in front. Over this there is a large +mantle, so arranged as to be drawn over the head like a hood; this falls +in great folds, with heavy tassels at the corners. Around the head is +the characteristic diadem-like band of wool which always distinguished +the Vestals, and was to them what the veil is to a nun. The feet are +covered with boots of some soft material. The inscriptions on the +pedestals are dated, the latest date being that of A.D. 364. This +pedestal is particularly interesting because of the fact that the +Vestal's name has been defaced, not, however, by an act of purposeless +vandalism. It was evidently done with deliberate intent to obliterate +the name; for the initial "C" has been left, in order that, though she +were disowned, the identity of the offending virgin might not be +forgotten. She was Claudia, who became a convert to the Christian faith. + +The glorification of virginity in the Vestal order must have helped to +sustain the high moral tone which prevailed among the women of early +Rome. They constantly beheld, in the very centre of the civic life, a +group of maidens who held a position of surpassing honor as a reward for +absolute purity of character. Although celibacy was not esteemed for its +own sake, nor in any instance save that of the votaries of Vesta and +Ceres, in them it could but be effective as an example of virtue. And +when to the sanctity essential to the office was added the personal +reputation of those virgins whose fame for holiness was augmented by +many years of devotion, the influence must have been all in favor of +good morals. What need, it may pertinently be asked, had the Roman women +to worship at the shrine of the goddess of chastity, when they had +Occia, who, as Tacitus informs us, presided over the Vestals for +fifty-seven years with the greatest sanctity? That such an example was +not more effective than it really was must be attributed to the fact +that the maids and matrons of Rome considered, as is quite consistent +with human wont in all times, that the supererogatory virtue of the +Vestals atoned for any deficiencies in their own. It may be that this +attribution of a vicarious character thereto partly accounts for the +high valuation set upon Vestal virginity. And though a time came when an +untarnished reputation was contentedly dispensed with elsewhere, it was +still rigidly demanded in the house of Vesta. + +Yet, despite all this care, the order was not entirely immune from the +counteracting influence of the times. As Roman morals relaxed, it became +a less infrequent thing for scandals derogatory to the reputation of the +Vestals to be whispered through the city. Toward the close of the +Republic, an intrigue with one of these maidens was considered by the +young nobility as all the more attractive on account of the difficulty +and danger accompanying it; and there is evidence to support the belief +that the attempt was not always unsuccessful. When Rome became infected +with the turpitude which marked its decadence, the college of Vesta did +not escape. There were occasions, however, down to the latest pagan +times, when the priestesses were violently brought to a consciousness of +the requirements of their office; as when Domitian severely punished +them for delinquencies which, strange to say, had been overlooked by +Vespasian and Titus. + +Another cult closely affecting the feminine portion of Roman society was +the worship of Ceres, one of the twelve great deities of the Capitol. +She was the goddess of corn and the harvest, the mythical daughter of +Saturn and Vesta, and, like her divine mother, demanded a virgin +priestess; and the women who were devoted to her service enjoyed +privileges almost equal to those of the Vestals. The Romans paid her +great adoration, and her festival, lasting eight days, was celebrated by +the matrons every year during the month of April. They bore lighted +torches, in commemoration of the myth which describes the goddess as +lighting torches at the flames of Mount Ætna, to go in search of +Proserpine, her daughter, who had been carried off by Pluto. It was +required of all the matrons who took part in her mysteries that they +should undergo an initiation; to attend the festival without first being +initiated was punishable with death. + +As the Roman women worshipped Vesta and Ceres, so they also paid +reverence to Bona Dea, the good goddess, who blessed matrimonial unions +with fruitfulness. In her character, as conceived in the earliest times, +was exemplified that chastity which at first was estimated so highly and +later abandoned so lightly. The myth regarding her states that, after +her marriage, she was seen by no man except her husband. In allusion to +this, her festival was celebrated at night by the Roman matrons, in the +houses of the highest officers of the State. On such occasions, the man +of the house left his abode in the evening, and with him was sent forth +every male creature. All the statues of men that were in the house were +carefully veiled, and for that night the women were in sole possession. +As to the nature of the ceremonies, we have no very definite +information; for, though they were not always safe from male intrusion, +the matrons seem at least to have succeeded well in preserving the +secret of their mysteries; but, as the Roman method of doing honor to +the gods always included entertainment for the worshippers, we may take +it for granted that the festival of Bona Dea consisted principally of +banqueting, music, and games. It is alleged, however, that in later +times these developed into practices far less innocent. + +Juvenal says: "The secrets of Bona Dea are well known. When the music +excites them and they are inflamed with it and the wine, these Mænads of +Priapus rush wildly around, and whirl their locks and howl." Then he +goes on to accuse the participators in these celebrations of the most +depraved excesses. But Juvenal's shafts of satire are not so greatly +characterized by the sharpness of their point as by the force with which +they are launched; and it is very apparent that, in order to make his +invectives tell, he never hesitated in resorting to exaggeration. While +all authorities agree that the rites employed in the worship of Bona Dea +were accompanied in later times by unlicensed conduct on the part of the +matrons, history gives no very conclusive proof of the veracity of the +accusation. There is the intrusion of Clodius in the house of Julius +Cæsar on such an occasion; but to cite this as evidence does not +materially substantiate the charge, for the only woman who seemed +willing to consent to his presence was Pompeia, and she did not have an +opportunity to meet him, as the others very promptly drove him from the +house. + +The continual degeneration of Roman morals will compel us later on to +depict a social life in which there is little to relieve the monotony of +misconduct; hence it is only giving the Roman woman the full advantage +of everything that may be said in her favor, if we glance back at an +incident which happened in the times when virtuous matrons were still +the rule and not the exception. In B.C. 295, the Senate, in order to +avert evils predicted by the omens, decreed that two days should be +spent in religious devotions. Livy relates that at this time a +disagreement arose among the matrons who were worshipping at the Temple +of Patrician Chastity. It is illustrative of the fact that it is +difficult for women--though possibly the criticism should not be +confined to their sex--to be faultless in essentials without being +censorious in indifferent matters. We will allow the Roman historian to +tell the story in his own fashion. "Virginia, daughter of Aulus, a +patrician, but married to Volumnius the consul, a plebeian, was excluded +by the other matrons from sharing in the sacred rites, because she had +married out of the patrician order. A short altercation ensued, which +was afterward, through the intemperance of passion incident to the sex, +kindled into a flame of contention. Virginia boasted with truth that +she had a right to enter the Temple of Patrician Chastity, as being of +patrician birth and chaste in her character, and, besides, the wife of +one husband, to whom she was betrothed a virgin, and, moreover, she had +no reason to be dissatisfied either with her husband, his exploits, or +his honors. To her high-spirited words she added importance by an +extraordinary act. She enclosed with a partition a part of her house, of +a size sufficient for a small shrine, and there erected an altar. Then, +calling together the plebeian matrons, and complaining of the injurious +behavior of the patrician ladies, she said: 'This altar I dedicate to +Plebeian Chastity, and exhort you that the same degree of emulation +which prevails among the men of the State on the point of valor may be +maintained by the women on the point of virtue; and that you contribute +your best care that this altar may have the credit of being attended +with a greater degree of sanctity and by chaster women than the other, +if possible.' Solemn rites were performed at this altar under almost the +same regulations as those of the more ancient one, no person being +allowed the privilege of taking part in the sacrifices unless a woman of +approved chastity, and who was the wife of one husband." + +Livy goes on to relate that the plebeian shrine did not maintain the +high standard set by its founder; for it afterward received women who +were very far from living up to the rules originally laid down. It +eventually passed out of existence; but that the patrician temple of +chastity stood as a rebuke to the license of later generations is shown +by Juvenal when he says: "With what sort of scorn Tullia snuffs the air +when she passes the ancient altar of chastity." + +The piety of the Roman women added many to the great number of temples +erected for the worship of the gods, and sacred edifices consecrated to +goddesses were numerous. Sometimes temples were built by the State for +the especial use of women. After the wrath of Coriolanus was appeased by +women's instrumentality, the Temple of Female Fortune was presented to +them as a reward. Another temple was consecrated to _Fortuna virilis_. +The function of this goddess at first was to preserve to wives the +affections of their husbands; but, as times changed, the divinity also +forfeited her former good character, and degenerated into a patroness of +the most unprincipled coquettes. This temple is one of the ancient +edifices which have been preserved and turned to modern uses; for over a +thousand years it has served as a Christian church, under the name of +Saint Mary of Egypt. It belongs to Armenians of the Roman Catholic faith +who reside in Rome; and the thought suggests itself that that +vicissitude is not entirely inappropriate which has brought to pass that +the temple, where ancient courtesans sought the aid of the goddess of +chance, is now dedicated to Mary, the famous penitent of Egypt. + +It was customary in imperial Rome for temples to be erected in honor of +the emperors, but the memory of only one woman was ever thus celebrated; +and in this case the devotion of the husband, rather than worthiness on +the part of his wife, is indicated. This was the temple of Faustina, +built after her death by the noble Antoninus Pius. If the historians of +the time can be relied upon in the matter, there were no qualities in +Faustina save her beauty which her imperial husband could justly +commemorate. But Antoninus thought differently; and, in the history of +the emperors, there is certainly nothing so affecting as the sanctity in +which, to the day of his death, he held her memory. However faulty +Faustina may have been, surely she was as worthy of being deified as +most of the emperors who received that honor. This, undoubtedly, was +the thought of her husband, who was too much of a philosopher to believe +seriously in any of the Roman deities, human or supernatural. He simply +adopted the popular method in his desire to pay the highest honor +possible to his wife. This temple, parts of which still remain, was also +used as a church during the Middle Ages; but its chief interest at the +present day is found in the numerous ancient scribblings that have been +discovered upon its columns and their bases. + +During the earlier years of the Republic, religion had an extremely good +effect upon the morals of the people. Men dared not invoke the aid of +Jove in an unjust cause; women could hope for favors at the hands of +Vesta, Ceres, or Bona Dea only by pledging the rectitude of their +conduct. But as the people lived continually in the fear of the gods, +their religion was more effective as a police institution than it was +productive as a source of comfort. As is inevitable with all religions, +the spirit demanded new forms before the people became conscious that +the old were outgrown; and the time came when Roman worship became +nothing more than tiresome, uninteresting ceremonies, which were +conducted with incredibly slavish care respecting niceties of ritual. +This ceased to appeal to the heart, and could no longer commend itself +convincingly to the mind. Hence, when foreign deities and new forms of +worship came to Rome in the triumphal processions of the victorious +generals, the people were ready to receive them with that hope which +always welcomes untried possibilities. + +A new deity ushered into their well-filled pantheon always seemed to the +Romans a valuable acquisition. A god in Rome was a god for Rome; and to +extend cordial hospitality to all known divinities was a part of the +national policy. As the conquering armies carried the fame of Rome +further in the world, the women at home had an ever-widening range of +divinities at whose altars they might make supplication for the success +of the warriors. The city at last became as cosmopolitan in its pantheon +as in its population. If the matrons tired of, or were disappointed +with, time-honored Vesta and Ceres, they might turn to the +passion-exciting rites of the Syrian Astarte, to the weird ceremonies of +the Phrygian Cybele, or to the more intellectual mysteries of the +Egyptian Isis. When Veii was captured, the most highly valued spoil was +the statue of Matuta; and as fortune had forsaken the city, the goddess +seemed content to depart with it. So at least the Romans believed; for +they asserted that when the deity was asked if she were willing to take +up her abode at Rome, she assented with a perceptible nod of the head. +This was considered a piece of good fortune of almost equal worth with +the gain of the city. The worship of Matuta being more peculiarly the +function of the women, the fact that they outdid the men in their +rejoicing is thus accounted for, history informing us that they crowded +the temples to give thanks even before the people were ordered to do so +by the Senate. Only married women, and of these only the freeborn, were +allowed in the temple of Matuta, except when they carried thither their +children for the blessing of the goddess. + +But the first marked deterioration of the ancient Roman worship through +the influence of foreign rites occurred with the advent of the Idæan +Mother. In B.C. 203, the Romans, at the command of the Sybilline +oracles, sent to Asia Minor for the famous Phrygian deity Cybele, the +mythical mother of the gods. The Senate was required to appoint the most +virtuous man in the Republic to the duty of receiving the image of the +goddess. This honor was awarded to Publius Scipio; but it was reserved +to a matron to derive from the incident a more lasting fame and a +greater present advantage. The women of Rome went to Ostia to escort the +deity to the city. The legend narrates that the vessel bearing the image +ran upon a shoal at the mouth of the Tiber, and all efforts to get it +off proved ineffectual. One of the noblest of the matrons present was +Claudia Quinta. Whether justly or otherwise, this lady had been brought +under suspicion in regard to her conduct. Seeing in the predicament of +the goddess a grand opportunity, she adventured her reputation upon a +daring chance for vindication. Making her way to the side of the vessel, +it being close to the bank, she supplicated the divine mother to bear +witness to her virtue by following the persuasion of her chaste hands. +Then she fastened her girdle to the prow of the boat, and, to the wonder +of all and to the overthrow of her slanderers, the vessel easily yielded +to her slight exertion. As a proof of the truth of this, following +generations could point to the statue of Claudia which the men of the +time erected at the door of the temple of Cybele. + +Victor Duruy, commenting on the change wrought by these new divinities, +says, "they gave a new cast to the religious convictions of people to +whom a very crude form of worship had so long sufficed. Born in the +scorching East, these deities required savage rites and pious orgies. +Dramatic spectacles, intoxicating ceremonies, affected violently the +dull Roman mind, and excited religious frenzy; for the first time the +Roman felt those transports which, according to the character of the +doctrine and the condition of the mind, produce effects diametrically +opposite,--absolute purity of life, or the excess of debauchery +sanctified by religious belief." Lucretius bears testimony to the truth +of this in the vivid picture he draws of the extravagancies which +characterized the festival of Cybele. He describes her attendants in +their pageants through the streets, dancing with ropes, leaping about to +the sound of horrid music, while blood streams from their self-inflicted +wounds. How this affected the women may be gathered from Juvenal, who +pictures this furious chorus entering a house, and the priest +threatening the matron with coming disasters, which she willingly seeks +to avert with costly offerings. In another place he refers to the temple +of "the imported mother of the gods" as being frequented by the +abandoned women, who took part in the orgies performed in her honor. +That the women were more addicted than the men to the worship of foreign +deities is perhaps suggested by a passage in Tibullus. The poet is away +from Rome, and sick. He complains: "There is no Delia here, who, when +she was about to let me go from the city, first consulted all the +gods.... Everything prognosticated my return, yet nothing could hinder +her from weeping and turning to look after me as I went.... What does +your Isis for me now, Delia? What avail me those brazen sistra of hers +so often shaken by your hand? Now, goddess, succor me; for that man may +be healed by thee is proved by many a picture in thy temples. Let my +Delia, dressed in linen, sit before thy sacred doors, performing vigils +vowed for me; and twice a day, with hair unbound, let her recite thy due +praises. But be it my lot to celebrate my native Penates, and to offer +monthly incense to my ancient Lar." + +But the most injurious of all the foreign superstitions was the +Bacchanalian cult, which was introduced into Rome during the second +century before Christ by a lowborn Greek from Etruria. He professed +himself to be a priest in charge of secret nocturnal rites. By appealing +to the very worst propensities of which human nature is capable, he +soon gathered around him a large following of men and women, and these +included representatives of the noblest families. They engaged in +certain religious performances; but the chief attraction was an +unrestrained indulgence in wine, feasting, and passion. Naturally, this +organization also became a hotbed for every sort of crime, including +murder and conspiracy. Owing to the pledge of secrecy extorted from the +initiates, the contagion had spread to a prodigious extent before it +came to the notice of the Senate. In the manner of its discovery, we +have an interesting drama which throws light, not only upon the matter +itself, but also reveals somewhat of the position of a certain class of +Roman women, of which history takes little personal account. + +Publius Æbutius was a young man of knightly rank, whose father was dead +and whose mother, Duronia, had married again. His stepfather, having +abused the property of Æbutius, and being unwilling to give an account, +conspired with the unnatural mother so to manage that her son would not +be in a position to demand an accounting. They agreed that the +Bacchanalian rites were the only way to effect the ruin of the young +man. Accordingly, his mother informed him that during his sickness she +had vowed that, if through the kindness of the gods he should recover, +she would initiate him into the rites of the Bacchanalians. She +instructed him for ten days how to prepare himself, and promised that on +the tenth she would conduct him to the place of meeting. The youth very +innocently agreed to this, thinking that it was only the due of the gods +by whose favor he enjoyed his restored health. All would have gone as +his mother desired, had it not been for the fact that he had formed a +strong attachment for a courtesan named Hispala Fecenia. This young +freedwoman was of a character far superior to the mode of life into +which she had been forced while still a slave. Hispala knew more of the +world than did Æbutius; and when he informed her that he was about to be +initiated into the rites of the Bacchanalians, she declared that it +would be better for him and also for her to lose their lives than that +he should do such a thing. She told him that when she was a slave she +had been taken to those rites by her mistress, though since her +emancipation she had been exceedingly careful to avoid the place. She +said that she knew it to be the haunt of all kinds of debauchery. Before +they parted, the young man gave her his solemn promise that he would +keep clear of those rites. The result of his adherence to this was that +his mother and stepfather drove him from home, and he was goaded into +telling the whole affair to the Consul Postumius, after first taking +counsel with his aunt Æbutia. + +After certain inquiries, Hispala was brought into the presence of the +consul, to whom she gave a full account of the origin of the mysteries. +She said that, at first, the rites were performed only by women. No man +was admitted. At that time, they had three stated days in the year on +which persons were initiated, but only in the daytime. The matrons then +used to be appointed priestesses in rotation. Paculla Minia, a +Campanian, when priestess, rearranged the whole system, alleging that +she did so by the direction of the gods. She introduced men, the first +being her own sons; she changed the time of celebration from day to +night; and instead of three days in the year, appointed five days in +each month for initiation. From the time that the rites were made thus +common, and the licentious freedom of the night was added, there was +nothing wicked, nothing flagitious, that had not been practised among +them. To think nothing unlawful was the grand maxim of their religion. + +After Hispala had made this revelation, Postumius proceeded to lay the +whole matter before the Senate. A vigorous prosecution of the +Bacchanalians ensued; and it was found that over seven thousand men and +women had taken the oath of the association, thus proving that the rapid +growth of a religion gives no assurance of the truth of its doctrines or +the purity of its principles. Those who were found to be most deeply +stained by evil practices were put to death; many put an end to +themselves, so as to avoid punishment at the hands of the authorities; +the others were imprisoned. The women who were condemned were delivered +to their relations, or to those under whose guardianship they were, to +be punished in private; but if there did not appear any proper person of +the kind to execute the sentence, the punishment was nevertheless +inflicted, but in private and by a person appointed by the court. + +The Senate also passed a vote, on the suggestion of the Consul +Postumius, that the city quæstors should give to both Æbutius and +Hispala a certain goodly sum of money out of the public treasury, as a +reward for discovering the iniquitous Bacchanalian ceremonies. Æbutius +was exempted from compulsory service in the army; and to Hispala it was +granted that she should enjoy the unique privileges of disposing in any +way she chose of her property; that she should be at liberty to wed a +man of honorable birth, and that there should be no disgrace to him who +should marry her; and that it should be the business of the consuls then +in office, and of their successors, to take care that no injury should +ever be offered to her. + +Though the Bacchanalian abuses were thus strenuously dealt with by the +Roman authorities, this and other like parasitical growths which +fastened themselves upon the religious instincts of the people were not +to be shaken off. Among the many noxious developments that crept over +and eventually choked the life out of the sturdy ancient stock, we find +every vicious substitute for religion known to the ante-Christian world. +During the decadence of Rome, the ancient national religion became +disintegrated and almost wholly superseded. Many of the empresses +patronized the foreign orgiastic cults; and, taking the many-sided +development of Roman religion as a whole, the strange spectacle is +presented of a remarkable improvement in philosophy accompanying a great +deterioration in morals. On the one hand, there were those who were +struggling to a conception of the transcendental nature of the deity and +the unity of nature; on the other hand were those who were doing in the +name of the gods everything that is considered unworthy of humanity. And +in all the evil fructification of base conceptions of religion, as well +as in the knowledge of the higher philosophy, woman had her full share. +No Roman woman was irreligious, however great the obliquity of her moral +character, though sometimes her piety took a form so bizarre that the +fact outruns imagination. Agrippina the Younger, for an example, was +created priestess to the deified Claudius, whom she had cajoled into +marrying her despite the fact that he was her uncle. + +It must not be imagined, however, that because Roman religion developed +these excesses through the infusion of Oriental superstitions, it came +to be devoid of those uplifting influences which are the province of +faith in the divine. There were never wanting those who, loving the +good, the beautiful, and the true, supported their aspirations by their +belief in the providence of deity; and the doctrine of a future life, +though held only with much vacillation by the philosophers, was +continually resorted to for comfort by the multitude. How widespread +were these ideas, and how greatly similar to our own were the thoughts +of those ancient Romans, are matters lost sight of by people who need no +further reason for dismissing a religion from their consideration than +the mere fact that it is pagan. Plutarch, who defended the dogma of the +unity of God, of His providence, and of the immortality of the soul, +wrote to his wife: "You know that there are those who persuade the +multitude that the soul, when once freed from the body, suffers no +inconvenience nor evil." The more positive, though less philosophical, +faith of the people is illustrated by the words a mother carved upon the +sepulchre of her child: "We are afflicted by a cruel wound; but thou, +renewed in thy existence, livest in the Elysian fields. The gods order +that he who has deserved the light of day should return under another +form; this is a reward which thy goodness has gained thee. Now, in a +flowery mead, the blessed, marked with the sacred seal, admit thee to +the flock of Bacchus, where the Naiades, who bear the sacred baskets, +claim thee as their companion in leading the solemn processions by the +light of the torches." Except for somewhat of the imagery, and the pagan +names, this woman's faith might easily be accepted as Christian. + + + + +IV + +THE PASSING OF OLD ROMAN SIMPLICITY + +With the spread of her foreign conquests, Rome herself was subjugated +by a rapid revolution in thought and habit. From the middle of the +second century before Christ, we look in vain for the old Republic. +Religion, manners, morals, occupations, amusements--all have changed. +The old-time Roman character is passing away, like a tide, through the +narrowing channel of the ever-decreasing number of those who cling to +the ancient ideals. Morality has started upon that ebb of which the days +of Caligula and Nero saw the lowest mark to which a civilized people +ever fell. The Romans could not withstand the temptations incidental to +conquest. Physically invincible, they were not armed against the onset +of foreign vices. The State grew inordinately wealthy by pillage and +exaction; a single campaign yielded booty to the value of nine million +six hundred thousand dollars. Scipio wept when he took Carthage; for +well he knew that his people were in no way prepared to assume such +extensive dominion, except at the cost of national character. Polybius +says that after the conquest of Macedon men believed themselves able to +enjoy in all security the conquest of the world and the spoils thereof. + +But wealth was not the sole constituent of the harvest gathered in by +Roman swords. After the transmarine wars, new ideas and Greek learning +became common among a people who were not adapted, as the Greeks, to +mere theorizing, but carried out their thoughts, whether for good or +ill, to the full extent of their powers. The consequence was that Rome +plunged with deadly earnestness into newly acquired vices; and the novel +teachings of Hellenism, instead of elevating the minds of the people, +served only to create indifference to the ancient divinities. "You ask," +says Juvenal, "whence arise our disorders? A humble life in other days +preserved the innocence of the Latin women. Protracted vigils, hands +hardened by toil, Hannibal at the gates of Rome, and Roman citizens in +arms upon her walls, guarded from vice the modest dwellings of our +fathers. Now we endure the evils of a long peace; luxury has fallen upon +us, more formidable than the sword, and the conquered world has avenged +itself upon us by the gift of its vices. Since Rome has lost her noble +poverty, Sybaris and Rhodes, Miletus and Tarentum, crowned with roses +and scented with perfumes, have entered our walls." All the ancient +writers agree upon the same verdict. The old austerity of life was more +the result of poverty than of conscience; the simple habits of the first +centuries of the Republic were cherished only so long as there were no +means to render them more luxurious. Had wealth come to Rome through +industry, the slower process, which alone develops the power of +appreciation, would have fitted the people to make good use of their +better fortune. + +But riches surprised them; and we see ostentatious depravity quickly +taking the place of a pure, though meagre, life. To quote again from +Polybius, who himself was carried from Macedon to Rome as a prisoner of +war: "Most of the Romans live in strange dissipation. The young allow +themselves to be carried away by the most shameful excesses. They are +given to shows, to feasts, to luxury and disorder of every kind, which +it is too evident they have learned from the Greeks during the war with +Perseus." Cato calls attention to the new manners with that bitter scorn +which was so strong in the old Roman. "See this Roman," he says; "he +descends from his chariot, he pirouettes, he recites buffooneries and +jokes and vile stories, then sings or declaims Greek verses, and then +resumes his pirouettes." Imitation of the Greeks was zealously adopted +in the education of the young. Scipio Æmilianus says: "When I entered +one of the schools to which the nobles send their sons, great gods! I +found there more than five hundred young girls and lads who were +receiving among actors and infamous persons lessons on the lyre, in +singing, in posturing; and I saw a child of twelve, the son of a +candidate for office, executing a dance worthy of the most licentious +slave." The school here referred to must not be understood as the +regular institution for the imparting of knowledge to Roman children; +the purpose of that described seems to have been the cultivation of what +the Romans had come to regard as genteel accomplishments. There were +other schools for instruction in reading, writing, and the usual +branches of knowledge. These schools also were as free of access to +girls as to boys, and were always conducted as private enterprises +rather than by the State. + +The remarkable revolution in thought and manners which Hellenism +introduced into Rome could not fail profoundly to affect the existence +of woman. That she was not far behind man in "running to every excess of +riot" is abundantly shown by the historians and other writers of the +time. In that city which was once remarkable for the purity of its +morals, houses of ill repute became plentiful. These were occupied +principally by women who had been slaves, but had gained their liberty +by the sacrifice of their honor. Houses of this character are the scenes +of nearly all the comedies of Plautus and Terence, who found all their +material in Rome, though they located the brothels of which they write +at Athens and used Greek names for their characters. Prostitution, +however, was not confined to the freedwomen; women of all classes were +necessarily drawn into the vortex of degeneracy. Notwithstanding the +fact that in B.C. 141 the Senate made a serious effort to resist the +increasing looseness of morals, going so far as to build a temple to +Venus Verticordia, the Venus who was supposed to convert women's hearts +to virtue, the character of the times devoted the whole sex too +zealously to Aphrodite for anything noteworthy to result from the appeal +to her nobler namesake. + +Yet it must not be imagined that all the new impulses which came from +victorious contact with foreign lands had no other than a detrimental +effect upon the life of the women of Rome. The changes which were taking +place provided a door to liberty, though to very many it meant nothing +else but an egress to unrestrained license. In any case, the horizon of +the Roman woman's outlook became greatly extended; her mind expanded as +it busied itself about an increasing number of subjects, and the range +of her activities was materially widened. As her husband now had other +interests besides those of the warrior, the citizen, and the +agriculturist, in the last of which she had alone been allowed a +recognized part, a larger field was now provided in which she might be +his companion; henceforward she became less an appendage and more an +equal. Not, however, because new laws were passed in her favor; indeed, +the laws were framed rather with the purpose of overcoming the results +of those circumstances which were effecting her emancipation. But it is +impossible to overcome a development which is the natural result of +conditions that are welcomed by the people; so, in the new society by +which the old order was superseded in Italy, women soon learned how, by +means of legal fictions, they might accomplish ends which were still +illegal. It is altogether a new woman that we find in the last century +of the Republic, taking the place of the old-time matron. She drives +about the city in an equipage befitting her wealth and position; she +entertains in her sumptuous home learned men, with whom she studies the +Greek authors; she brings such influence to bear on the Senate as to +cause laws to be passed in her favor; she frequently intrigues in +matters political; she is not unaccustomed to divorce and remarriage; +and, thus engaged, she leaves the spinning of wool, the occupation from +time immemorial esteemed honorable by matrons, entirely to her domestics +and her slaves. + +These great changes in the status of woman did not take place without a +protest. They were the occasion of serious contentions in the Senate and +of bitter reproaches on the part of the lovers of the old-fashioned +ways, Hellenism being blamed for the mischief, on one occasion all Greek +philosophers were driven from the city; but that was like removing the +old seed after the well-matured plant had grown to depend upon its own +roots. The people of Rome were in reality divided into three classes in +respect to the new order of things. There were the younger men and women +of the nobility, who welcomed the change, but who were intoxicated with +the novel pleasures to which wealth gave them access, and into which +they rushed with an utter disregard of propriety. Among them, however, +were some thoughtful souls,--a class of a better character,--who, while +they most cordially entertained that which Hellenism had to teach them +in regard to a broader style of life, knew how to winnow the chaff from +the grain and to feed their minds with the latter. These found their +best representatives in the Scipio family, all of whom were zealous +patrons of Greek learning. As we have noticed in a previous chapter, +Cornelia, the daughter of Scipio Africanus, maintained her house at +Misenum in a most liberal manner, making it a centre of erudition and +gathering around her many of the learned men of her time. In opposition +to both these classes were men whose type may be found in all ages, who +were uncompromising in their conservatism and who could see nothing but +a presage of national disaster in every change from the old methods of +life. Their complete idea of what a woman should be and do was expressed +in the formula: "She is virtuous; she stays at home; she spins wool." +This party was ably headed by Cato the Censor, who was entirely +incapable of understanding why the women of his day should desire +anything other than that which satisfied their feminine antecedents in +the poverty-pinched times of the early Republic. + +The ultra-conservative ideal was, of course, incapable of realization, +though there was still in the minds of the people a large residuum of +sentiment which could be employed in its favor; but when the times are +ready to change, the most powerful appeal is futile. The wiser course +was taken by the Scipios and the Gracchi, who endeavored to steer the +new movement in the way of betterment and reform. This, if successful, +would have conserved the ancient principles by adapting them to the new +conditions, and Rome would have maintained her moral greatness while +still enhancing her material prestige; but the momentum given by the +haste of the people to acquire what as yet they knew not how to enjoy +carried Roman society past every turn in the right direction. +Consequently, the mother of the Gracchi was honored as a prodigy of +female excellence rather than, as she might have been, an example of +what Roman matrons might become in the new liberty. Then began the +loosening of moral restraint, by which Rome fell to a condition of +savagery which was rendered all the more horrible by the presence of the +material concomitants of civilization. + +It must be remembered, however, that the common people of any age or +country change their customs more slowly than do the more favored +classes. Unfortunately, the historians have never regarded the lives of +people of the ordinary populace as being worthy of record; hence, we +have the names and the doings of only the women of the Roman nobility. +Were it otherwise, it is probable that we should discover that among the +matrons of the middle class in Italy there were in each generation many +who maintained, in their quiet lives, the virtue of the ancient ideals, +until the time came when their life principle was reinforced by new +teaching, not from Greece, but from Galilee. Doubtless also, such as +these were more greatly encouraged to perseverance by the stern +conservatives who upheld the past--a model which they at least could +comprehend--than they were by the high-minded progressivists, who led in +paths which were as yet untried. For this reason, it may be well for us +to take a glance at the home of Cato, who sturdily antagonized the new +movement and was the uncompromising opposer of every effort to alter the +fashion of female life. He was the valedictorian of ancient Roman +simplicity. That the common people were in sympathy with him is shown by +the fact that they erected his statue in the Temple of Health, and, +instead of recounting his exploits in battle, simply placed upon the +pedestal an inscription saying that he was Cato the Censor, who +vigilantly watched over the moral health of the State. + +If the house of Cato is to be regarded as an example of the ancient +manner of life, the suspicion is forced upon us that the young Roman +women of the time must have been thankful that in the great statesman's +home they saw the last of the old régime. It was a small house, situated +on the censor's lands in the Sabine country, where the luxuriousness of +the city was unknown. Here his wife dwelt, superintending the +agricultural and domestic activities, while her husband was absent at +Rome or in the wars. We may be sure that Cato's wife remained at home; +this her husband's antipathy to expense sufficiently guarantees. The man +who sold his horse, which had carried him through a severe campaign, +because he would not charge the State with the cost of conveying it from +Spain, would doubtless, by reason of the extra expense, refrain from +giving his wife an invitation to join him in his official residence at +the metropolis. Moreover, detesting the growing profligacy of the times, +he had no mind to bring her into contact with that luxury which, as +censor, he strove so mightily to eradicate. For amusement, she was +obliged to content herself with the rustic festivals, which were more +cheerful than exciting, and knew nothing of the terrible scenes of the +circus and the amphitheatre, which the fashionable ladies of the city +were accustoming themselves to witness with a calmness unbecoming to +their sex. Her religious devotions were performed before the household +gods and in the simple country shrines, if not with as great +satisfaction, certainly with as good effect as they might have been in +the splendid temples at Rome. In the conduct of her house were observed +the strictest rules of frugality. There was no waste; everything which +the family could not use was sold, if only for a farthing. + +Rectitude, justice, and thrift were the only ideals followed in this +home. If Cato's wife possessed anything of the artistic in her +temperament, she enjoyed little opportunity for its indulgence. Her +husband was very far from the opinion that the gods and goddesses were +more easily propitiated by devotions paid before beautiful Grecian +statuary than when represented by the ill-shaped images of Roman +creation. In the otherwise undecorated atrium were the Penates and the +Lares--small and homely figures indeed, but endowed with all the +accumulated glory of the family; for to them was attributed all the +success of the past, and, if faithfully reverenced, as they were likely +to be in such a household, they were pledges for the prosperity of the +future. Religion must have been of especial value in Cato's family, for +its offices were the only form of sentiment that was given any freedom +of expression; all else was under the ban of the most arid practicality. +There were no old retainers who, by many years of devoted service, had +gained an established place in the affections of those upon whom they +waited; and if the mistress had been inclined to cherish such natural +regard, it was ruthlessly ignored, it being a rule with her husband to +sell his slaves for anything they would bring, as soon as they became +old and infirm. Even the bondwomen at whose breasts his children had +been nursed had for him, no other than a monetary value. The signs of +affection were, in his judgment, the marks of weakness. What a +barren-hearted puritan he must have been who could expel an honored +citizen from the Senate for no other reason than that he had kissed his +own wife in the presence of their daughter! And what a husband, who +could make his boast that he had never caressed his wife--presumably, +he meant under circumstances where others might witness such flagitious +conduct--except on the occasion of a severe thunderstorm, when he was +obliged to resort to that means of soothing her! This was evidently, +however, an affectation; for Cato admitted that it was a pleasure to him +when Jove thundered. It is apparent that his idea of the good old Roman +manner of treating a wife did not recognize the need of indulgence; and +it is not likely that one who himself took great pride in wearing the +most inexpensive quality of clothing, and was, as we shall see, the +inveterate enemy of costliness and changing fashion in woman's attire, +ever gratified his wife with a present of wearing apparel from the +city--unless she, like himself, could rate the worth of an article by +the cheapness of the bargain. Yet it is on record that he was an +excellent husband, and that he greatly appreciated his wife, whom he +married for her noble nature, despite the fact that she brought him but +a small dowry and was not of a family high in position. Doubtless his +good qualities were appreciated by his wife, especially if she was meek +enough in disposition to submit willingly to an unceasing surveillance +and interference in the minutest household matters, even, as Plutarch +informs us, to the bathing and dressing of the infants. + +Such was the family of Cato. It was modelled after what he conceived to +be the best traditions of Roman society before it became corrupted by +the pernicious foreign influence. He governed his own household by those +same stern principles which he sought by precept, example, and authority +to enforce upon the Roman people of his time. But his home was the last +survival of the old simplicity. An age had dawned when Roman matrons +were to become more of a factor in public life and would no longer be +satisfied to abide in the shadow of domestic routine. In their newly +gained liberty they ran to the furthest extreme of unreasonableness; but +Cato's ideas were too illiberal for nature. + +During the early part of the second century before Christ, there was +enacted around the Forum a scene such as never before had been witnessed +or dreamed of in Rome. Crowds of matrons were there assembled to +implore, and to gain by their importunity, the repeal of a law which +curtailed their expenditure on dress. This was the Oppian law, which had +been passed a few years previously, during the Second Punic War, when +money was needed for the public service, and the people, not excluding +the women, had responded with unbounded enthusiasm. The law in question +decreed that "No woman should possess more than half an ounce of gold, +or wear a garment of various colors, or ride in a carriage drawn by +horses, in a city or any town or any place nearer thereto than one mile, +except on occasion of some public religious solemnity." It is assumed by +all writers that the half-ounce of gold to which the women were +restricted put a restraint, beyond that limit, on the ornamentation of +their dress; this is based on the very natural supposition that whatever +of the precious metal they possessed would surely be displayed upon +their persons. It is a little doubtful whether the decree concerning +vehicles was inserted into the measure in order that the horses might be +placed at the disposal of the army, or whether this was a crafty +interpolation for the purpose of restricting the growing ostentation of +the ladies. However, the law had been passed without any objection, so +far as is known, from the women. But patient, uncomplaining submission +on the part of the Roman women to their male guardians, whether +collective or individual, was now becoming a thing of the past. They +could neither make nor repeal laws; but they were no longer afraid to +bring their influence to bear on those in whom lay that power. Champions +of their cause were found in the two plebeian tribunes, and these moved +in the Senate for the repeal of the Oppian law. Then ensued such a +turmoil as if Hannibal were again menacing the gates of Rome, except +that there was no unanimity of mind as to what should be done. This, +however, only describes the attitude of the men; the women were united +and, what is more, they were determined. They adopted what has become a +common method in modern times; not that of forwarding to the legislators +a numerously signed petition,--which is always a stronger protest than +an effective influence,--but the more powerful one of pertinacious +"lobbying." Crowds of women, reinforced by many who came in from the +country towns and villages, thronged the streets leading to the Forum +and importuned the men who were to decide the matter in which they were +concerned. But they found an inexorable opponent in the redoubtable +Cato. Livy gives us what he conceives the forceful orator to have said +on the occasion: + +[Illustration 3: +_THE "NEW" WOMAN IN ROME +After the painting by G. R. C. Boulanger +In the new society by which the old order was superseded in Italy, +women soon learned how, by means of legal fictions, they might +accomplish ends which were still illegal. It is altogether a new woman +that we find in the last century of the Republic, taking the place of +the old-time matron. She drives on the Appian Way and about the +city in an equipage befitting her wealth and position; her naked +African slaves wear silver collars and beat off the beggar boys, if +she halts to purchase flowers; she entertains in her sumptuous home +learned men, with whom she studies the Greek authors; she brings +such influence to bear on the Senate as to cause laws to be passed in her +favor; she frequently intrigues in matters political; she is not +unaccustomed to divorce and remarriage; and, thus engaged, she leaves +the spinning of wool, the occupation from time immemorial esteemed +honorable by matrons, entirely to her domestics and her slaves._] + +"If, Romans, every individual among us had made it a rule to maintain +the prerogative and authority of a husband with respect to his own wife, +we should have less trouble with the whole sex. But now, our privileges, +overpowered at home by female contumacy, are, even here in the Forum, +spurned and trodden under foot; and because we are not able to withstand +each separately, we now dread their collective body.... It was not +without painful emotions of shame that I, just now, made my way to the +Forum through the midst of a band of women. Had I not been restrained by +respect for the modesty and dignity of some individuals among them, +rather than of the whole number, and been unwilling that they should be +seen rebuked by a consul, I should have said to them: 'What sort of +practice is this, of running into public, besetting the streets, and +addressing other women's husbands? Could not each have made the same +request to her husband at home?. Are your blandishments more seducing in +public than in private, and with other women's husbands than your own? +Although, if the modesty of matrons confined them within the limits of +their own rights, it did not become you, even at home, to concern +yourselves about what laws might be passed or repealed here.' Our +ancestors thought it not proper that women should perform any, even +private, business, without a director; but that they should ever be +under the control of parents, brothers, or husbands. We, it seems, +suffer them now to interfere in the management of State affairs, and to +introduce themselves into the Forum, into general assemblies, and into +assemblies of election. For, what are they doing at this moment in your +streets and lanes? What but arguing, some in support of the motion of +the plebeian tribunes, others for the repeal of the law? Will you give +the reins to their intractable nature, and their uncontrolled passions, +and then expect that they themselves should set bounds to their +lawlessness, when you have failed to do so? This is the smallest of the +injunctions laid on them by usage or the laws, all of which women bear +with impatience. They long for liberty, or rather, to speak the truth, +for unbounded freedom in every particular. For what will they not +attempt, if they now come off victorious? + +"Recollect all the institutions respecting the sex, by which our +forefathers restrained their undue freedom, and by which they subjected +them to their husbands; and yet, even with the help of all these +restrictions, you can hardly keep them within bounds. If, then, you +suffer them to throw these off one by one, to tear them all asunder, +and, at last, to set themselves on an equal footing with yourselves, can +you imagine that they will be any longer tolerable by you? The moment +that they have arrived at an equality with you, they will have become +your superiors. But, forsooth, they only object to any new law being +made against them; they mean not to deprecate justice, but severity. +Nay, their wish is that a law which you have admitted, established by +your suffrages, and confirmed by the practice and experience of so many +years to be beneficial, should now be repealed; that is, by abolishing +one law you should weaken all the rest. No law perfectly suits the +convenience of every member of the community; the only consideration is, +whether, upon the whole, it be profitable for the greater part.... I +should like, however, to know what this important affair is which has +induced the matrons thus to run out into public in this excited manner, +scarcely restraining from pushing into the Forum and the assembly of the +people.... What motive, that even common decency will allow to be +mentioned, is pretended for this female insurrection? Why, say they, +that we may shine in gold and purple; that, both on festal and common +days, we may ride through the city in our chariots, triumphing over +vanquished and abrogated law, after having captured and wrested from you +your suffrages; and that there may be no bounds to our expenses and our +luxury. + +"Often have you heard me complain of the profuse expenses of the +women--often of those of the men; and that not only of men in private +stations, but of the magistrates; and that the State was endangered by +two opposite vices--luxury and avarice, those pests which have been the +ruin of all great empires. These I dread the more, as the circumstances +of the commonwealth grow daily more prosperous and happy. As the Empire +increases, as we have now passed over into Greece and Asia, places +abounding with every kind of temptation that can inflame the passions, +so much the more do I fear that these matters will bring us into +captivity, rather than we them. Believe me, those statues from Syracuse +were brought into this city with harmful effect. I already hear too many +commending and admiring the decorations of Athens and Corinth, and +ridiculing the earthen images of our Roman gods that stand on the fronts +of their temples. For my part, I prefer these gods--propitious as they +are, and I hope will continue to be, if we allow them to remain in their +own mansions.... When the dress of all is alike, why should any one of +you fear lest she should not be an object of observation? Of all kinds +of shame, the worst, surely, is the being ashamed of frugality or of +poverty; but this law relieves you with regard to both; since that which +you have not it is unlawful for you to possess. This equalization, says +the rich matron, is the very thing that I cannot endure. Why do I not +make a figure, distinguished with gold and purple? Why is the poverty of +others concealed under this cover of a law, so that it should be thought +that, if the law permitted, they would have such things as they are not +now able to procure? Romans, do you wish to excite among your wives an +emulation of this sort, that the rich should wish to have what none +other can have; and the poor, lest they be despised as such, should +extend their expenses beyond their means? Be assured that when a woman +once begins to be ashamed of what she ought not to be ashamed of, she +will not be ashamed of what she ought. She who can will purchase out of +her own purse; she who cannot will ask her husband. Unhappy is the +husband, both he who complies with the request, and he who does not; +for what he will not give himself he will see given by another.... So +soon as the law shall cease to limit the expenses of your wife, you +yourself will never be able to do so. Do not suppose that the matter +will hereafter be in the same state in which it was before the law was +made on the subject. It is safer that a wicked man should never be +accused than that he should be acquitted; and luxury, if it had never +been meddled with, would be more tolerable than it would be when, like a +wild beast, irritated by being chained, it is let loose. My opinion is +that the Oppian law ought, on no account, to be repealed." + +The women, however, were not without their champion. In a debate on some +ordinary affair of State, Lucius Valerius the Tribune would have been an +inconsiderable antagonist for Cato; but, on this occasion, what he +lacked in oratorical prestige was atoned for in that he had by far the +more reasonable side of the argument. The fact that it was the custom of +the Roman historians to compose, rather than report, the addresses of +their orators renders any comparison of these two Senatorial speeches on +woman's rights entirely uninteresting. Valerius is made to say: "Shall +our wives alone reap none of the fruits of the public peace and +tranquillity? Shall we men have the use of the purple? Shall our +children wear gowns bordered with the same color, and shall we interdict +the use of it to women alone? Shall your horse, even, be more splendidly +caparisoned than your wife is clothed?" An appeal to the sympathy of the +voters is made, as the matrons of Rome are represented as "seeing those +ornaments allowed to the wives of the Latin confederates, of which they +themselves have been deprived. They will behold those riding through the +city in their carriages, and decorated with gold and purple, while they +are obliged to follow on foot.... This would hurt the feelings even of +men, and what do you think must be its effect on weak women, whom even +trifles can disturb? Neither offices of State nor of the priesthood, nor +triumphs, nor badges of distinction, nor military presents, nor spoils, +may fall to their share. Elegance of appearance, and ornaments, and +dress--these are the women's badges of distinction; in these they +delight and glory; these our ancestors called the women's world." + +The Oppian law was repealed, and Cato, as if he wished to escape the +sight of the resulting disasters which he anticipated, took the command +of a fleet of war vessels and sailed away to Spain. How the new liberty +affected his own wife we are left to surmise; which is not difficult, in +view of the opening sentences of his address. + +While we are on the subject of the extraordinary fight of the women for +the repeal of this sumptuary law, it will not be inappropriate to take a +glance at the female dress of the time. There is ample evidence to show +that the women of ancient Rome were as prone to changing fashions as are +the ladies of our own day; but for several centuries the various parts +of their attire remained very much the same, the varying style affecting +chiefly the material and the quality. The costume of a Roman lady +consisted of three principal garment?,--the under tunic, the stola, and +the _palla_. + +The under tunic was simply a sleeveless chemise, which was worn next to +the body. Stays, of course, were utterly unknown to the ancients, as is +shown by their statuary, which in these times affords us our only +opportunity of knowing what a naturally developed female figure is like. +A bosom band, or, as it was called, a strophium, made of leather, was +frequently worn above the tunic. + +The stola was a white garment with sleeves, which covered only the upper +part of the arm; it was fastened above the shoulder with a clasp. The +_stola_ hung in large folds reaching to and covering the feet; around +the bottom was sewn a broad flounce, called the _instita_. Above this +_instita_ was a purple band, which was the only color, other than white, +ever used for the _stola_, except a colored stripe or sometimes gold +around the neck. Among the Romans, the _stola_ had a serious +significance, beyond its use as an article of attire. Only matrons of +unsullied reputation were permitted to wear it. Women of tarnished +character were obliged to wear a dark-colored _toga_, somewhat similar +to that of the men; we find Horace speaking of the _togata_,--in +contradistinction to the matrons, and Tibullus writes of the prostitute +with her _toga_. + +The _palla_, the out-of-doors garment, was to the women what the _toga_ +was to the men. This was a large, white, and probably square, robe, or +mantle,--later on, colors became fashionable,--and the complex manner of +wearing it may best be understood by an examination of Roman statuary. +The feet were protected by sandals in the house, and shoes for street or +public wear; these were greatly ornamented. The shoes were of various +colors, generally white, but frequently green or yellow, and fastened +with red strings. + +The Roman ladies, like those of modern times, exercised great care in +the dressing and arranging of their hair; and it is not to be denied +that they frequently sought, by artificial means, to rectify mistakes +which they deemed nature had made in the selection of color. In the time +of Juvenal, blonde seems to have had the preference. The ordinary style +was to carry the hair in smooth braids to the back of the head and there +fasten it in a knot, as usually seen in the statues. In ancient Rome the +curling iron was no less an intimate and indispensable friend of the +lady of fashion than it is at present; by this and other means, too +intricate for explanation by the uninitiated, marvellous creations were +produced. The satirist says: "Into so many tiers she forms her curls, so +many stories high she builds her head; in front you will look upon an +Andromache, behind she is a dwarf,--you would imagine her another +person." History reveals no age in which attention to personal adornment +was not such an intimate characteristic of female nature that women, +when unendowed with remarkable beauty, have been able to refrain from +unwisely seeking to attract notice by disfiguring themselves. + +The Roman women wore ornaments in considerable profusion. These +consisted principally of necklaces, arm bands, finger rings, and ear +rings. Generally they were of gold, set with precious stones, and the +workmanship was often of a most exquisite character. A necklace was +found at Pompeii which was made of a band of plaited gold; on each half +of the clasp there is a well-executed frog, and on the edges where the +clasp joined were rubies, one of which still remains in its setting; +suspended to the necklace are seventy-one small, artistically shaped +pendants. Very many specimens of the jewelry worn by the women of +ancient Rome are still in existence, and they indicate fine artistic +taste on the part of the wearers, as well as great ability in design and +execution on that of the makers. + +On the dressing table of the fashionable Roman lady there appeared a +wealth and a variety of cosmetics and costly essences in boxes and +receptacles delicately formed of ivory and precious metals, as well as +many other appliances for the toilet; so that her advantages in these +respects were probably in no way inferior to those of her fair +successors in modern times. An age was drawing near which, among many +other examples of its monstrous luxuriousness, gave birth to efforts to +enhance feminine attractiveness--efforts which doubtless were as futile +as they were foolish. + +The time, however, had already come when, notwithstanding that their +manners were under the eye of such a censor as Cato, the women of Rome +had entirely and forever abandoned their old simplicity of life. In the +_Epidicus_ of Plautus, written at about the time of the disturbance over +the Oppian law, the matrons were represented on the stage as though +decked out with valuable estates; the cost of a cloak was the price of a +farm. + +The new woman had begun to make her appearance in Rome. This proverbial +phenomenon, so greatly talked of in our own time, is by no means a +modern discovery. She is a principal and an inevitable accompaniment of +progress in every age and race. She is either a natural evolution or a +monstrosity, according to the social conditions of her time. When +progress is normal and national development healthy, a more enlightened +and more sanely independent type of woman is continually appearing; but +so naturally and so quietly does she step into the higher position for +which she has been enabled to prepare herself that her coming is without +observation. On the other hand, where society is decadent, where +abnormal growths are favored by the heat of unrestrained passions, and +where volcanic revolutions in a nation may exalt characters which belong +to the shades of inferiority to positions of high conspicuity, there +appear feminine wonders upon earth; and men's hearts fail them for fear, +as they await with consternation the things which are shortly to come to +pass. Rome, during the latter years of the republican period, was in a +condition favorable to the production of anything bizarre and +phenomenal. The new wealth, the new learning, the new idleness, and the +new vices were fit soil for the production of a new woman who would +astonish the world for all time with her capacity for every excess of +moral insanity. + +We do not, however, mean to allege that with the greater privileges and +increased freedom which entered into woman's life the old virtues and +time-honored excellences entirely disappeared. As Cornelia graced with +her learning and dignity the Rome of Cato's day, so did Cæcilia with her +charity and her goodness the Rome of Cicero. That orator was undoubtedly +prejudiced in her favor on account of the great kindness she showed to +Roscius, his client; but he could not have eulogized this matron as he +did, had not public opinion concurred with him in setting her up as a +model for all other women. "An incomparable woman," her accomplished +relations had no less honor conferred on them by her character than she +received by their dignity. Thus an unbroken chain of noble-minded +matrons may be traced through the darkest days of Rome's decadent +morality. Nevertheless, though virtue did not cease to be exemplified by +the few, or to be extolled by the writers, the growing depravity of the +times made it constantly easier for unprincipled and impudent women to +find their conduct accepted as the ordinary rule of life. + +One chief cause--perhaps it is more correct to call it an +accompaniment--of the breaking-down of the ancient ideals is found in +the increasing tendency to deprecate the indissolubleness of marital +bonds. Divorce became common and easy, so that the student of Roman +biography finds it increasingly difficult to trace his characters +through the many involutions of their various matrimonial alliances. +Pompey married five times. Concerning his first two wives, Plutarch +makes the following comment: "Sylla, admiring the valor and conduct of +Pompey, ... sought means to attach him to himself by some personal +alliance, and his wife Metella joining in his wishes, they persuaded +Pompey to put away Antistia, and marry Æmilia, the stepdaughter of +Sylla, she being at that very time the wife of another man, living with +him, and with child by him. These were the very tyrannies of marriage, +and much more agreeable to the times under Sylla than to the nature and +habits of Pompey, that Æmilia, great with child, should be, as it were, +ravished from the embraces of another for him, and that Antistia should +be divorced with dishonor and misery by him for whose sake she had just +before been bereft of her father--for Antistius was murdered in the +Senate because he was suspected to be a favorer of Sylla for Pompey's +sake. Antistia's mother, likewise, after she had seen all these +indignities, made away with herself, a new calamity to be added to the +tragic accompaniments of this marriage; and that there might be nothing +wanting to complete them, Æmilia herself died, almost immediately after +entering Pompey's house, in childbed." + +Down to a very late date, a divorce is not met with in the annals of +Rome; but with what unconcern the undoing of the marriage knot came to +be regarded is well illustrated in the life of Cato the Younger. +Attilia, his first wife, was put away for misconduct. Then he married +Marcia, against whose reputation no blighting wind of scandal ever +raged. Among the dearest friends of her husband was Hortensius, known as +a man of good position and excellent character. Evidently, as the sequel +shows, in all seriousness he sought to persuade Cato that the latter's +daughter Portia, who was married to a man to whom she had borne two +children, might be given to him. His argument was that she, as a fair +plot of land, ought to bear fruit; but that it was not right that one +man should be provided with a larger family than he could support, +while another had none. Cato answered that he loved Hortensius very +well, and much approved of uniting their houses; but he could not +approve of forcibly taking away his daughter from her husband. Then +Hortensius was bold enough to request that Cato, who, he thought, had +enough children, should relinquish to him his own wife. Cato, seeing +that he was in earnest, consented to do this, stipulating first that his +wife's father should be consulted. No objection being raised in that +quarter, a marriage was performed between Marcia and Hortensius, Cato +assisting at the ceremony. In all this there is no mention made of +Marcia's consent being given or even asked. Some years afterward, Cato, +wanting someone to keep his house and take care of his daughters, took +Marcia again, Hortensius being now dead and having left her all his +estate. Cæsar, upon this, reproached Cato with covetousness; "for," he +said, "if he had need of a wife, why did he part with her? And if he had +not, why did he take her again? unless he gave her only as a bait to +Hortensius, and lent her when she was young, to have her again when she +was rich." The historian answers this by quoting the verse of Euripides: + + "'To speak of mysteries-the chief of these + Surely were cowardice in Hercules.' + +"For," he says, "it were much the same thing to reproach Hercules for +cowardice and to accuse Cato of covetousness." The explanation of this +singular action, the cold nature which Cato inherited from his +grandfather the Censor being taken into consideration, seems to lie in +the fact that the Roman idea of the necessary guardianship over women +precluded any just conception of their rights in the disposal of their +own persons. The giving and the taking of a woman in marriage was +wholly the business of her father and her suitor; nothing was required +of her in the transaction save thankful obedience. Cato was perfectly at +liberty to give away his wife, if he so desired; this right was +guaranteed to him by the simple fact that she was his property. + +For the same reason, while chastity on the part of the wife was regarded +as an absolute essential, the same virtue was by no means considered as +necessary to the good character of the man. The demand for purity in the +wife was largely based on the idea of proprietary rights which the +husband had in her person; hence the man could divorce the woman for +infidelity, but the reverse was not conceded. Plautus introduces upon +the stage two matrons, one of whom complains of her husband, and the +other consoles and exhorts her thus: "Listen to me. Do not quarrel with +your husband; let him love whom, and let him do what, he pleases, since +you have everything you want at home; keep in mind the fearful sentence: +'Begone, woman!'" + +The new era which had dawned in Rome brought a certain freedom of +circumstances and activity within the reach of women; but it did not +give them in the marriage contract any more liberty than they had of +old. The only women who were allowed the disposal of their own persons +were the courtesans. There are many evidences that these were not +regarded with the disrespect in which their class is held in modern +times. For an example, Flora, who was famous in the last days of the +Republic, received on account of her exquisite beauty the high honor of +having her statue dedicated to the temple of Castor and Pollux; which +may be regarded as a kind of precedent for artists who in an Italy of a +much later date employed their mistresses as models for their Madonnas. +That this class of women did not hesitate to place a high value upon +themselves is proved by the instance of Tertia, to whom Verres presented +a Sicilian city. Lucretius speaks of the cost of their favors, giving us +also an interesting picture of the gayly dressed wanton: + + "Amply though endowed. + His wealth decays, his debts with speed augment, + The post of duty never fills he more, + And all his sick'ning reputation dies. + Meanwhile rich unguents from his mistress laugh, + Laugh from her feet sott Sicyon's shoes superb; + The green-rayed emerald o'er her, dropt in gold, + Gleams large and numerous; and the sea-blue silk; + Deep-worn, enclasps her. + What his sires amassed + Now flaunts in ribbands, in tiaras flames + Full o'er her front, and now to robes converts + Of Chian loose, or Alidonian mould; + While feasts and festivals of boundless pomp, + And costliest viands, garlands, odors, wines, + And scattered roses ceaseless are renewed." + +The Voconian law, which had been enacted in the days of the elder Cato, +the purpose of which was the prevention of large accumulations of +property in female hands, did not prevent women from becoming rich in +the manner suggested above. A man might give away all his property while +alive; the law only vetoed excessive legacies. By its provisions, no +woman was allowed to receive by inheritance property exceeding the value +of one hundred thousand sesterces. "Since with the growing power of the +Empire the riches of private persons were increasing, fear was felt lest +the minds of women, being rather inclined by nature to luxury and the +pursuit of a more elegant routine of life, and deriving from unbounded +wealth incentives to desire, should fall into immoderate expenses and +luxury, and should subsequently chance to depart from the ancient +sanctity of manners, so that there would be a change of morals no less +than of the manner of living." These were the reasons for the enactment +of this measure. It was the kind of law which was dear to the heart of +the Censor, and it was with great delight that he lent his aid to its +passage. The people were a little doubtful as to its justice; but Cato +put an end to all hesitation by inveighing, with his usual asperity, +against the tyranny of women and their insufferable insolence when +opulent. He complained that oftentimes, when they brought a rich dowry +to their husbands, they kept back a large part of the money, and then +made loans to their husbands as though these were mere debtors. The +historian says that this assertion, enforced with a loud voice and good +lungs, moved the people to indignation, and they voted to pass the law. +It was exceedingly characteristic of the sentiments of the ancient +Romans to be convinced by Cato as he strenuously objected to that in +women which he strongly advocated as a rule for men. + +There are two feminine names which, though belonging to women who were +contemporaries, well represent different aspects of the transition from +the old Rome of uncultured simplicity to the new Rome of immoral +refinement. One is Cornelia, who was the fifth wife of Pompey the Great; +the other is Clodia, the sister of Clodius the Turbulent. One conjoined +the new learning with the ancient purity of life, the other united +luxurious living with an abandoned career; one was a worthy successor of +her worthy namesake of a former generation, the other was a forerunner +of the amazing female characters of the most depraved days of the +Empire. + +Cornelia, like the mother of the Gracchi, belonged to the renowned +family of the Scipios. Though but a very young woman when she was +married to Pompey, she had already been the wife of that son of Crassus +who was slain in Parthia. That her first marriage was a happy one may be +argued from the fact that when Pompey fell into misfortune, and she, for +some sentimental reason, imagined herself as uniting him to woes which +rightly belonged to her own fate, she reproached herself for not having +followed the husband of her youth in his death, as she had designed. + +Plutarch informs us that the young lady possessed other attractions +besides those of youth and beauty. She was highly educated, as might be +expected in a daughter of Metellus Scipio; she was an accomplished +performer upon the lute; she understood geometry, and was accustomed to +listen with profit and appreciation to lectures on philosophy. The +historian takes great satisfaction in informing us also that, with all +this, she had escaped that pretentiousness and unamiability which too +frequently spoiled the effect of learning in women of unusual +acquirements. + +Owing to the terrible civil strife which afflicted Rome in the last days +of the Republic, and to Pompey's leading share in it, Cornelia's home +was frequently the martial camp of her husband. The Empire of Rome had +grown to be the whole extent of civilization, and Cornelia's learning +found ample opportunity, through her travels, to become reinforced by +that liberality of mind which is the result of wide observation. She +appears to have gained the high regard of her husband's army; for once, +after a struggle with Cæsar, in which Pompey was for the moment +victorious, some of the soldiers, of their own accord, sailed to Lesbos +to carry to her the joyful tidings that the war was ended. Her pleasure +in this news was of short duration; for it was soon to be her unhappy +lot to accompany her husband to Egypt, in his flight from the +all-subduing Cæsar. There she witnessed his assassination by the +perfidious hands from which he sought protection. + +It is unfortunate that the after career of Cornelia is lost sight of by +history; but even this silence in a manner speaks in her favor; for, +while the natural nobility of her character could not suffer by the +quenching of the strong light which shone around Pompey, there is some +warrant for assurance, in the very fact that her doings were not the +subject of comment, that her life continued honorable. + +Clodia was a woman of altogether different character. She was of the +great Claudian _gens_; and no member of that powerful family ever lived +so quietly as not to be the subject of discourse in Rome. To be one of +the Claudii meant to be impetuous and dominant, either in good or in +evil. It was a Vestal of this family who, when her father was refused a +triumph by the Roman people, placed herself in his chariot so as to +prevent his being interrupted in his progress through the city. Clodia, +studied from the point of heredity, might have been either good or bad; +but she would have contravened all precedents in her family had she not +been extreme in one or the other. As it was, she made a fitting sister +for that Clodius who stormed in Rome during the days of Cicero and kept +the city by the ears, both on account of his ambitions and his +ill-considered exploits. + +Clodia was married to Quintus Metellus, to whom Cicero affords a most +honorable tribute; but she did not allow the fact of her marriage to +place any restraint upon the licentiousness of her conduct. Her +luxurious house by the Tiber was a meeting place, not for men of +learning, but for all the idle, fashionable, and dissolute young men of +the city. Her reputation has been pilloried forever by the eloquent +advocate in his defence of Marcus Coelius. This young man was accused of +having attempted to poison Clodia, in order to rid himself of the +necessity of paying back some gold he was said to have borrowed from +her. The real truth appears to be that this prosecution was mainly +instituted by Clodia, who considered herself slighted by Coelius, who +had been her lover, but whose ardor was waning. The character and manner +of life of this irrepressible young Roman matron may be gathered from +the following arraignment of her in Cicero's oration. "If I am to +proceed in the old-fashioned way and manner of pleading, then I must +summon up from the Shades below one of those bearded old men,--not men +with those little bits of imperials which she takes such a fancy to, but +a man with that long, shaggy beard which we see on the ancient statues +and images,--to reproach the woman, and to speak in my stead, lest she +by any chance get angry with me. Let, then, some one of her own family +rise up, and above all others that great blind Claudius of old time. For +he will feel the least grief, inasmuch as he will not see her. And, in +truth, if he can come forth from the dead, he will deal with her thus; +he will say: 'Woman, what have you to do with Coelius? Why have you been +so intimate with him as to lend him gold, or so much an enemy as to fear +his poison? Was he a relation? A connection? Was he a friend of your +husband? Nothing of the sort. What was the reason, then, except some +folly? Even if the images of us, the men of your family, had no +influence over you, did not even my own daughter, that celebrated +Claudia Quinta, admonish you to emulate the praise belonging to our +house from the glory of its women? Did not that Vestal Claudia recur to +your mind, who embraced her father while celebrating his triumph, and +prevented his being dragged from his chariot by a hostile tribune of the +people? Why had the vices of your brother more weight with you than the +virtues of your father, of your grandfather, and others In regular +descent ever since my own time--virtues exemplified not only in the men, +but also in the women? Was it for this that I broke the treaty which was +concluded with Pyrrhus, that you should every day make new treaties of +most disgraceful love? Was it for this I made the Appian Way, that you +should travel along it escorted by other men besides your husband?'" + +This reincarnation of the severe old ancestor ought to have been +sufficient to strike terror and repentance into any woman's heart. But +Cicero was more concerned with exonerating Coelius than he was about +reforming Clodia, and doubtless he had more hope of convicting her of +being a follower of undue courses than he had of converting her from her +ways. So he goes on: "But if you wish me to deal more courteously with +you, I will put away that harsh and almost boorish old man; and out of +these kinsmen of yours here present I will take some one, and, before +all, I will select your youngest brother, who is one of the best-bred +men of his class, who is exceedingly fond of you, and who, on account of +some childish timidity, I suppose, and some groundless fears of what may +happen by night, always, when he was but a little boy, slept with you, +his eldest sister. Suppose, then, that he speaks to you in this way: +'What are you making this disturbance about, my sister? Why are you so +mad? You saw a young man become your neighbor; his fair complexion, his +height, his countenance, and his eyes made an impression on you; you +wished to see him oftener; you were sometimes seen in the same gardens +with him, being a woman of high rank; you are unable with all your +riches to detain him, the son of a thrifty and parsimonious father. He +rejects you, he does not think your presents worth so much as you +require of him. Try someone else. You have gardens on the Tiber, and you +carefully made them in that particular spot to which all the youths of +the city come to bathe. From that spot you may every day pick out people +to suit you. Why do you annoy this one man who scorns you?'" + +If the orator was just in all that he insinuates against her, Clodia, +the wealthy, fashionable, and doubtless beautiful daughter of the great +patrician family, was well qualified to be the high priestess of +Aphrodite for the city of Rome. + + + + +V + +ROMAN MARRIAGE + +The position of woman in ancient Rome was always one of honor and +respect. A Roman matron enjoyed many more social privileges and a much +greater independence than did the Greek wife. In Athens the women were +treated as children; and the more respectable their character, the more +completely were they shut out from the social life and the public +amusements of the men. In Rome, on the contrary, though the wife was +subordinate to her husband and, as a rule, did not make herself +conspicuous in public affairs, she was in no way secluded, and was +everywhere treated with the highest respect. In the home, she was the +mistress of the whole household economy, supervising the instruction of +the children and governing the domestic slaves. She stood side by side +with her husband, sharing in all his dignities, and in all matters +pertaining to the family wielding an authority second only to his. +Somewhere between the civilizations of Greece and Rome was the boundary +line, starting from which the status of woman degraded to the Oriental +or developed into the Occidental type. In the one case, subject to the +jealous veil, the espionage of eunuch slaves, the debasing, +soul-benumbing servilities of the harem; in the other, living in the +open, the sole mate of one man, and, subject to her husband alone, +clothed with all authority in her home. While Greece looked to the East, +and subjected her women to some of those customs which characterized the +harems of Babylon, Rome was essentially Western, and its women enjoyed a +goodly portion of dignity and honor. Both Greeks and Romans were of the +same branch of the great Aryan race, and the indications are that in the +earliest times their women enjoyed equal freedom; but Greece, to a +certain extent, fell under the influence of Semitic ideas, which saw in +the wife a voluptuous possession to be jealously guarded. The Roman +woman, on the other hand, was taught to prize and protect her own +virtue. + +The comparatively free and respected position of the matrons of +republican Rome accounts in no small degree for the glory and greatness +of the State. Where woman is treated as a slave, there is no genuine +love of liberty. Great men can only be born of noble mothers; and +nobility, feminine as well as masculine, can only flourish in freedom. +Veturia and Cornelia were mistresses in their homes; they knew no +restraint in their goings save the requirements of honor, they were +respected by their husbands and reverenced by all men; therefore, in +ways natural to such mothers, they were able to fit their sons for deeds +worthy of men. + +In the Roman house there were no secluded women's quarters corresponding +to those of eastern nations; and the Roman women walked abroad, +frequented the public theatres, and took their places at festive +banquets with the men, Conelius Nepos, writing on this subject, says: +"What Roman is ashamed to bring his wife to a feast; and does she not +occupy the best room in the house, and live in the midst of company? But +in Greece the case is far otherwise; for a wife is neither admitted to a +feast, except among relations, nor does she sit anywhere but in the +innermost apartment of the house, which is called the gynæconitis, and +into which nobody goes who is not connected with her by near +relationship." The most important room in the Roman house was the +atrium. Here, in the midst of her slaves, the mistress pursued her +domestic occupations; here was placed the _lectus genialis_ or +_adversus_, in ancient times the real, afterward the symbolical, bridal +bed, her own proper seat of honor. + +Notwithstanding this independent position of the women, Roman marriage, +if it be judged by the strict letter of its laws and customs, was not +very indulgent to the weaker sex. But, as we have indicated in preceding +chapters, the power of the father of the family was much greater in +theory than it was in reality. Roman wedlock was of two kinds: +_matrimonium justum_ and _non justum;_ that is, marriage in due form, +and marriage without the perfect ceremonies. The first required the +right on either side to fulfil a lawful marriage according to the +ancient rites. In the earliest times, equality of condition was +demanded, patricians and plebeians being allowed to marry only in their +own class. After B.C. 445, this restriction was removed; but it was +still necessary that both parties to the contract should be citizens. +But even in cases where the ancient rites were not permitted, marriage, +if it took place, was regarded as none the less lawful and binding. +Among the Romans, first cousins were not allowed to marry, though in the +days of the emperors the restrictions of consanguinity were not strictly +adhered to; Agrippina was married to Claudius, who was her uncle. + +A contract of legal marriage was made in three different ways, called, +respectively, _usus, confarreatio,_ and _coemptio. Us us,_ or usage, was +when a woman, with the consent of her parents or guardians, lived with a +man a whole year without dowry, whom he cannot portion off to anyone. +And Horace says that "Queen Money, when she gives a spouse with an ample +dowry, seems to give at the same time beauty, nobility, friends, and +conjugal fidelity." Juvenal supposes someone to argue that Cesennia, a +woman of his time, is, by her husband's showing, the best of wives. But +he answers: "She brought him a thousand sestertia; that is the price at +which he calls her chaste. It is not with Venus's quiver that he grows +thin, or with her torch that he burns. It is from that his fires are +fed; from her dowry it is that the arrows are sent. She has purchased +her liberty; therefore, even in her husband's presence she may exchange +signals, and answer her billets-doux. A rich wife, with a covetous +husband, has all a widow's privileges." + +In the early days of the Republic, dowries were very small. The +daughters of the greatest men, says Valerius Maximus, often brought +nothing in marriage save the glory of their fathers or of their +families. Scipio, when commanding in Spain, petitioned the Senate to +allow him to return, so that he might arrange the marriage of his +daughter. The Senators, in order that the State might not be deprived of +the services of so able a general, refused his request, but took upon +themselves the duty of marrying the maiden. They chose for her a +husband, and assigned to her from the public treasury a marriage portion +of eleven thousand ases. This doubtless was at the time considered +ample, though Seneca, in the later days of luxury, declared that it +would not suffice to purchase a mirror for the daughter of a freedman. +In those same early days, when wealth was reckoned in small figures, a +woman called Megulla was surnamed Dotata, or "The Great Fortune," +because she had fifty thousand ases, less than eight hundred dollars of +our money. But as wealth increased, the marriage portions of the women +became correspondingly great, until in the time of Martial a dowry +equivalent to three-quarters of a million dollars was not uncommon. The +wife's dowry was, of course, at the disposal of her husband; but his +right to it ceased in case of the dissolution of the marriage, except +when the wife sought divorce without just cause, in which case the +husband was allowed to keep a sixth of the dowry for each of their +children, to the amount of three-sixths. If, however, the wife died +before her husband, and left no children, her dowry reverted to her +father, so that he might not suffer the double affliction of losing both +his money and his daughter. Sometimes the wife reserved to herself a +part of the marriage portion, in order that she might have something to +spend for which she had not to give account to her husband; occasionally +also, there went with the bride a slave, who, it was stipulated, was not +to be subject to the husband's disposal or command. The wife of +Apuleius, who married him when she was a widow and possessed four +million sesterces in her own right, transferred only three hundred +thousand in the marriage settlement. This power of the wife to own +personal property of a non-distrainable character afforded the Roman an +opportunity, such as is frequently seized to-day by men on the verge of +bankruptcy, to secure his assets by making them over to his wife. + +It often happened, of course, that a maiden's family, though honorable, +was not in such circumstances that she could base her hopes of marriage +upon the tempting bait of a rich dowry. Then her personal qualities were +her sole reliance. In the later days of the Republic, Roman parents seem +to have been fully appreciative of the desirability of a liberal +education for their daughters. Even in the most wealthy families, before +the days when Roman society entered upon its decadence, the girls were +zealously instructed in those domestic duties which would prepare them +to become good housewives. In addition to this, they were thoroughly +trained in both Greek and Latin literature, especial attention being +given to the poets. Their accomplishments also included music, singing, +and dancing; for these, says Statius, helped to procure a husband. But +we may be certain that in those times, as in the present, the natural +anxiety of many a mother caused her to resort to other arts besides that +of music, in order to provide a good match for her none too much sought +after daughter. If the comedies are to be credited, that which the +father's wealth could not accomplish it was hoped might be attained +through the mother's wiles. "Look at the mothers," says one of Terence's +characters; "they are carefully occupied in lowering their daughters' +shoulders, in drawing in their waists to make them look slender. Is +there one of them who is inclined to be stout? The mother immediately +exclaims, 'she is an athlete,' and diminishes the girl's meals until, in +spite of constitutional tendencies, she has rendered her daughter as +thin as a spindle." + +A girl, by means of either her real or artificial qualities, has won the +regard of some young Roman; let us witness, so far as they may be +ascertained from the ancient authors, the ceremonies of her betrothal +and nuptials. The consent of the parents of both parties must first be +obtained. If the suitor is regarded with favor, the father of the maiden +says: "I give up to you my dear daughter, and may it be happy for me, +for you, and for her." Then the betrothal or espousal takes place. This +is a family festival; everyone connected with the house makes it a +holiday. The relatives are invited to share in the rejoicing and also to +witness the contract of engagement. The Roman maiden did not engage +herself to be married in the manner Ruskin complained of as +characterizing modern times,--by moonlight, starlight, gaslight, +candlelight, or anything but daylight. Her engagement was a solemnity +which took place under the eyes of all her relatives and as many friends +as her father cared and could afford to invite. The inevitable augurs +are also present, in order that they may ascertain, by examining the +entrails of some bird, whether or not the Fates will be propitious. +Their verdict will largely depend upon the manner in which they are +treated by the parties concerned; for Cato declared that he never could +understand how two members of this profession could look each other in +the face without laughing. One wonders if any Roman girl ever availed +herself of the science of these gentlemen to escape an undesirable +suitor; for in the minds of most of the people the superstition was so +firmly implanted that if an augur could have been induced to perceive +misfortune in the auspices, that would have been sufficient to prevent +the engagement. But we will suppose that the signs are pronounced +favorable. A _stipula_, or straw, is broken between the parties, +signifying that a contract is made. The agreement is also put in +writing, for the sake of future reference. The man gives the maiden a +plain iron ring, which he places upon the finger next to the smallest on +the left hand, there being a belief that a nerve runs from that finger +directly to the heart. He also gives presents to those who have made +themselves useful in helping to bring about the engagement, and he +receives a present from the girl. The contract of betrothal was not +irrevocable; but for either party to withdraw from it was much more +likely to result in a suit at law than is the case at the present time; +and the Roman had the advantage over the jilted man in our day, in that +it was not considered that damages for a breach of promise were properly +due only to a woman. Marriage engagements were frequently of long +continuance among the Romans; for sometimes even infants were betrothed. +The minimum age at which the marriage could legally take place was +twelve for the girl and fourteen for the man. + +The selection of the wedding day was a matter in which more than the +inclination and the convenience of the parties concerned had to be +considered; the important thing was to choose a fortunate day. Ovid +says: "There are days when neither widow nor virgin may light the torch +of Hymen; she who is married then will surely die." The Calends, the +Ides, and the Nones were especially to be avoided. The whole month of +May was considered particularly unfavorable, because it was devoted to +the propitiation of the Lemurs, or the evil spirits. It was a common +saying that no good woman would marry in the month of May. February was +also avoided. June, on the contrary, of all the months in the year, was +believed to be the most propitious for marriages, but not until after +the Ides, or the thirteenth day. Ovid states, on the authority of the +wife of the _flamen dialis_, that for a fortunate marriage it was +necessary to wait until the refuse from the Temple of Vesta had been +carried by the Tiber to the sea; and this was not supposed to be +accomplished until the thirteenth of June. + +The friends of our couple have decided upon a day which, in the common +opinion, has no predilection for mischief. Everything necessary for the +performance of the marriage ceremonies is provided. These ceremonies are +of the nature of ancient usages rather than legal requirements. They are +intensely symbolical, and are calculated to impress upon the minds of +the bride and bridegroom a lively sense of the duties belonging to the +new relationship into which they are entering. + +This Roman bride is relieved of one grave anxiety which usually +accompanies the anticipatory pleasure in an approaching modern wedding. +It is not necessary for her to give any thought as to the color and +fashion of her wedding dress. This was always the same among the Romans; +and even if that worn by the maiden whose marriage is now being +described should happen to be an heirloom from her great-grandmother, +she need not fear that it is out of style. It consists of a long white +robe, woven in a particular manner. If the circumstances of her family +have improved, she may perhaps sew a purple fringe around the border; +but that is absolutely the only change allowed. This robe will be +fastened around her waist with a woollen girdle, white wool being always +a symbol of chastity. This will be tied in a Hercules knot, to loose +which, at the end of the ceremonies, will be the husband's privilege. +Her hair, allowed to fall around her shoulders, on the wedding morn is +parted with the head of a spear. Plutarch and other writers say that +this custom had its origin in the rape of the Sabines, and betokened the +fact that the first Roman marriages were brought about by capture, and +that it accordingly also indicated that a wife should be in subjection +to her husband. Over her head the bride wears a yellow or flame-colored +veil, this hue being held to be of good significance. Her brow is also +crowned with a chaplet of vervain, gathered and wreathed by her own +hands, for this herb signifies fecundity. Her shoes are also of yellow, +and so constructed as to make her appear taller than her real height. + +Thus attired, the bridal party go first to the temple, for the purpose +of offering sacrifice, as Virgil says, "above all, to Juno, whose +province is the nuptial tie." The victim considered as most appropriate +is a hog; and care is to be taken to throw the gall of the animal as far +away as possible, with the hope that in like manner all bitterness will +be put far away from this conjugal union. Then, if the ceremony of +_confarreatio_ is used, the couple, having returned to the bride's home, +are seated side by side, with a sheepskin covering both chairs; by which +it is signified that although the man and the woman occupy two different +parts of the house, they are nevertheless united by a common bond. The +chief priest now gives the wedded pair the sacred cake, which they eat +together in token of the fact that they are henceforth to share with +each other the necessaries of life. Although the modern wedding cake has +developed into something far more elaborate than the simple Roman wafer +of flour, water, and salt, the probability is that the former had its +origin in the latter. + +The appearance of the star Venus in the sky is the signal for the +bride's departure to her new home. In a formal manner, her father hands +her over to her husband's family, for he only can sever the bond which +holds her to his guardianship. Henceforth her husband has the right by +law to exercise over her that authority which has been held by her +father. There is a pretence made of taking her by force from the arms of +her mother or her sisters, in memory of the violent abduction of the +Sabine women. Then the bridal party walk in procession to the husband's +house. Preceding them, lighting the way, are four married women carrying +torches. The bride is directly attended by three boys, in selecting whom +the important thing to be borne in mind is to take only those who have +both parents living, otherwise it would be an extremely bad omen. Two of +these support her by the arms, while the other carries a flambeau of +white pine before her to dissipate all lurking enchantments and dispel +all evil incantations. Then follow maid-servants with a distaff, a +spindle, and wool, intimating that she is to labor at spinning, as did +the Roman matrons of the old time. After these comes a boy, who for this +occasion is named Camillus; his office is to carry in an open basket +other instruments for feminine work; and especially it has been +remembered to include playthings and toys for the bride's prospective +children. All the relatives and friends join in this festive procession. +In place of the rice which in these days accompanies the adieus bestowed +on a newly wedded pair, the Roman bride was the target for all the jests +and raillery which the wit of the spectators might suggest. When she +reaches her new home, the bridegroom, standing in the doorway, which is +decked with garlands of flowers, inquires who she is. Her reply is: +"Where thou art Caius, there am I Caia;" thus beautifully intimating +that comradeship in all things which is the ideal of marriage. Then, +after the bride has anointed the doorposts with the fat of swine in +order to turn away all enchantments, she is lifted over the threshold, +which, being consecrated to Vesta, it would be a bad omen for the bride +to touch with her foot. Her husband now presents her with the keys, for +she is henceforth to be intrusted with the management of his house. Both +touch fire and water, in token that they together share these essentials +of life and well-being. A yoke is placed about their necks, symbolizing +that which they have taken upon themselves in their marriage; from this +comes the word _conjugium_. The first joint act of the bride and +bridegroom is to unite in the worship of the household gods, the husband +thus introducing his wife to the guardian spirits of his home--the most +sacred things of his family. She is henceforth to be associated with him +in his domestic worship, and she has become a sharer in the inheritance +of fame left by his ancestors, who are venerated in the adoration of +their Manes. These solemn observances being ended, now follows the +banquet. At this, the bride reclines on the same divan with her husband +at the head of the table; for she is already hostess where he is host. +Now has come the opportunity for boisterous hilarity. The solemnities +are all completed, and the remaining time is wholly given up to the +merriment which is always deemed a fitting accompaniment to the first +adventure of a couple among the changes and chances of the marriage +state. All the guests join in singing the Thalassius,--a chant in which +every bridegroom is congratulated on being as fortunate in his lot as +was that traditional Quirite who obtained the brightest flower of the +Sabine maidens. + +The banquet being ended, the bride is conducted by the matrons to the +nuptial chamber, which is always the atrium, or the central room of the +house. Here is placed the _lectus genialis_, richly adorned and covered +with flowers. The bridegroom throws nuts among his former companions, as +a sign that he is now forsaking the life of his boyhood for the +responsibilities of man's estate. After his departure, the young people +entertain the newly married couple by singing outside the door +fescennine verses, in which is indulged a liberty of expression to which +modern ears are unaccustomed. + +Commonly, the songs chanted at the celebration of Roman marriages had no +literary merit whatever, and were chiefly characterized by their +grossness; but sometimes these occasions inspired the genius of the best +poets, from which resulted some of the most beautiful Latin verse. +Catullus has three such pieces. In his _Nuptial Song_, youths and +maidens are represented as contending with each other in improvised +versification. Hesperus, the evening star, is reproached by the virgins +and lauded by the young men as being the signal for the bride to leave +her mother's arms for those of her husband. In the last chorus, both +parties unite in exhorting the young wife to use complaisance with her +husband, and not to "strive against two parents who have bestowed their +own rights along with thy dowry on their son-in-law." _The Marriage of +Peleus and Thetis_, the longest of the poems of Catullus, may not have +been intended to be sung at a wedding; though that is a question on +which classic scholars are not agreed. It treats of marriage, however, +in a very interesting and original fashion; and may throw some light on +Roman customs, notwithstanding the fact that the characters introduced +are the offspring of the gods. "The mansion, in every part of its +opulent interior, glitters with shining gold and silver; white are the +ivory seats; goblets gleam on the tables; the whole dwelling rejoices in +the splendor of regal wealth. In the midst of the mansion is placed the +genial couch of the goddess, inlaid with polished Indian tooth, and +covered with purple dyed with the shell's rosy juice. This coverlet, +diversified with figures of the men of yore, portrays the virtues of +heroes with wondrous art." Then follows the principal part of the poem, +which is a description of the pictures worked upon the tapestry of the +bed. The subject of these is the history of Ariadne. We are to imagine +the poet standing by the couch and pointing out the incidents portrayed, +with their causes and consequences. This being concluded, the gods, and +especially the Parcæ, are introduced to the marriage feast; and the +latter, as they spin their thread, "utter soothsaying canticles." + +Catullus has given us a veritable example of the Roman wedding song in +his epithalamium on the marriage of Manlius and Julia. Of this Julia we +know nothing further than that she was of the Cotta family; Manlius was +of the illustrious lineage of the Torquati. If only there were historic +warrant for believing that this couple were as charming in their +personalities as they are described in this poem, and that all the good +wishes therein expressed did really materialize, the marriage of Manlius +and Julia might stand for all time as the _summum bonum_ of wedded +felicity. A few stanzas from Lamb's translation will serve to illustrate +the character of the epithalamium, and will also fairly indicate the +place and nature of sentiment in the Roman conception of the marriage +relation. + + "When Venus claim'd the golden prize, + And bless'd the Phrygian shepherd's eyes; + No brighter charms his judgment sway'd + Than those that grace this mortal maid; + And every sigh and omen fair + The nuptials hail, and greet the pair. + + "Propitiate here the maiden's vows, + And lead her fondly to her spouse; + And firm as ivy clinging holds + The tree it grasps in mazy folds, + Let virtuous love as firmly bind + The tender passions of her mind. + + "Ye virgins, whom a day like this + Awaits to greet with equal bliss, + Oh! join the song, your voices raise + To hail the god we love to praise. + O Hymen! god of faithful pairs; + O Hymen! hear our earnest prayers. + + "Invoked by sires with anxious fear, + Their children's days with bliss to cheer; + By maidens, who to thee alone + Unloose the chaste, the virgin zone; + By fervid bridegrooms, whose delight + Is stay'd till thou hast bless'd the rite. + + "Raise, boys, the beaming torches high! + She comes--but veil'd from every eye; + The deeper dyes her blushes hide; + With songs, with pæans greet the bride! + Hail, Hymen! god of faithful pairs, + Hail, Hymen! who hast heard our prayers. + + "Riches, and power, and rank, and state, + With Manlius' love thy days await; + These all thy youth shall proudly cheer, + And these shall nurse thy latest year. + Hail, Hymen! god of faithful pairs! + Hail, Hymen! who hast heard our prayers. + + "Oh! boundless be your love's excess, + And soon our hopes let children bless; + Let not this ancient honor'd name + Want heirs to guard its future fame; + Nor any length of years assign + A limit to the glorious line. + + "Let young Torquatus' look avow + All Manlius' features in his brow; + That those, who know him not, may trace + The knowledge of his noble race; + And by his lineal brow declare + His lovely mother chaste as fair. + + "Now close the doors, ye maiden friends; + Our sports, our rite, our service ends. + With you let virtue still reside, + O bridegroom brave, and gentle bride, + And youth its lusty hours employ + In constant love and ardent joy." + +The bluntly practical disposition of the Romans reveals itself even in +their attitude toward that phase of human life which preëminently +furnished scope for romance. In their expressions concerning marriage, +its physical basis is acknowledged with unnecessary frankness. No +vestige is found among them of any pretence of belief in that exalted +communion which, though it is probably nothing more than an imaginary +refinement, is commonly talked of as Platonic love. There is no +idealizing of the amatory emotions,--such as we are accustomed to in +novels which are not "realistic"--thereby affording an opportunity to +ignore the lower aspect. + +A woman, after marriage, retained her former name; but it was joined to +that of her husband, as, for example, Julia Pompeii, Terentia Ciceronis. +She was also called _domina_, the mistress. On the day after her +marriage, the Roman bride, by a sacrifice which she offered to the +Lares, formally took possession of her position as mistress of the +household. Then she assumed the control of the servants and slaves, +setting them their tasks and taking upon herself the superintendence of +all things in the home. By unwritten law, no servile work was required +of the Roman matron, unless she were so poor as not to own a slave. She +might spin, and, indeed, it was to her credit if she thus diligently +employed herself, for this was an occupation which the most cherished +traditions would not permit the noblest to despise. It was carried on in +the atrium, where the matron sat surrounded by her husband's ancestral +images and where she received her friends. When she went abroad, she was +known to be a matron because of her _stola_; the inner side of the walk +was given to her by every Roman citizen she might happen to meet; and if +anything indecent was said or done in her presence, it was an offence +which might be punished by law. + +In the earliest times, the dissolution of the marriage bond was of +extremely rare occurrence, for the praiseworthy reason that the manners +of the people were such that there seldom arose an occasion for divorce. +In those first ages, however, the laws concerning this matter were +characterized by an exceeding severity and unfairness to the woman. In +no case was she allowed to divorce her husband; though she might be put +away by him, not only for conjugal infidelity and such crimes as using +drugs to prevent the possibility of childbearing, or for deceiving him +by the introduction of fictitious children, but even if she +counterfeited his keys or surreptitiously drank his wine, and, in the +earliest times, if she drank wine at all. Carvilius is said to have been +the first Roman to put away his wife; but it is difficult to believe +that, notwithstanding the fact that laws providing for such a proceeding +existed from the time of the kingdom, no divorce really took place until +B.C. 231. Probably certain circumstances connected with this divorce +gave it such notoriety that it was the first which impressed itself upon +the attention of the historians. It is said that Carvilius, though he +loved his wife, divorced her on account of barrenness, he having, with +many other citizens, made a vow to marry for the sake of offspring. + +In later times, the women gained the right to secure divorce; and as +morals began to show the signs of decadence, there was nothing so +indicative of the terrible laxity which prevailed as the trivial causes +for which husbands and wives were allowed to separate. Incompatibility +of temperament was the common complaint. In the ancient and nobler +times, there was a small temple dedicated to Viriplaca, the marital +peacemaker; and when a difference occurred between husband and wife, +they met and entered into explanations before the goddess, usually with +the result of a restoration of harmony; but Viriplaca was gradually +forgotten, and matrimonial chaos ensued. + +When this laxity came to be the prevailing rule, the wife who was rich +and, moreover, inclined to be in any way disagreeable held her husband +at her mercy. If he divorced her without any considerable fault of hers, +or if they parted by mutual consent, she took her dowry and left him +with the children. If, as was very likely to be the case, he had married +her for her property, he was obliged to be submissive. Plautus says: +"The portionless wife is subject to her husband's will; wives with +dowries are as executioners for their husbands." Martial, inveighing +against a miserly woman who will not furnish her husband with a new +cloak as a New Year's gift, says: "Why, Proculeia, do you cast off your +husband in the month of January? This is not in your case a divorce; it +is a good stroke of business." During the worst times, the law +restricted the number of divorces obtainable by an individual to eight. +If we are to believe Juvenal, there were women who were sufficiently +enterprising to reach the limit in five years. The satirist describes +them as leaving the doors only recently adorned, the tapestry used for +the marriage festival still hanging on the house, and the branches still +green upon the threshold. Seneca says that in his time it had come to +such a pass that women reckoned the years, not by the names of the +consuls, but by the husbands they had divorced. + +Yet, notwithstanding--perhaps it would be more correct to say, on +account of--this excessive willingness on the part of the women to enter +into contracts of marriage, it became necessary in the time of the first +empire to decree severe penalties against celibacy; and bonuses were +awarded to those in whose families children were born. Even as early as +B.C. 121, Metellus the Censor, complaining in the Senate of the +increasing tendency to avoid the responsibilities of matrimony, said: +"Could we exist without wives at all, doubtless we should rid ourselves +of the plague they are to us; since, however, nature has decreed that we +cannot dispense with the infliction, it is best to bear it manfully, and +rather look to the permanent conservation of the State than to our own +passing comfort." + +In a condition of society in which the most conspicuous women were +unrestrained by any worthy ideals of the responsibilities of wifehood, +and where men were at liberty, and found abundant opportunity, to +gratify their basest propensities with no fear of any reproof other than +being made the subject of humorous allusion, it is not to be wondered at +that the latter were inclined to shun the cares and the vicissitudes of +marriage. Juvenal claimed that a good wife was rarer than a white crow; +and Pliny held that celibacy alone afforded an unobstructed road to +power and fortune. The former's terrible sixth satire was written as a +warning against matrimony. "And yet you are preparing your marriage +covenant, and the settlement, and betrothal, in our days; and are +already under the hands of the master barber, and perhaps have already +given the pledge for her finger. Well, you used to be sane, at all +events! You, Postumus, going to marry! Say, what Tisiphone, what snakes, +are driving you mad? Can you submit to be the slave of any woman, while +so many halters are to be had? so long as high and dizzy windows are +accessible, and the Æmilian bridge presents itself so near at hand?" The +women are accused of every enormity known in that Rome where vice +attained such proportions as have never been approached in any +civilization in the history of the world. But it is contrary to the +office of the satirist to present a true picture of the whole. Writing +of vice, he sees nothing but iniquity; of the good he has nothing to +say, for it is not in his province. That even then there were good women +we know full well. Julia, the aunt of Cæsar; Octavia, faithful to her +marriage vows despite the ill returns she received from Mark Antony; +Agrippina, the beloved and faithful wife of the noble Germanicus; Livia +also, the wife of Augustus, whose matrimonial fidelity--whatever may +have been her character in other respects--no suspicion ever assailed. +If these women, in their high stations, could exemplify all the best +traditions of the matrons of the old time, we may be sure that there +were innumerable good wives in the commoner ranks. + +Out on the Appian Way, there is to be seen one of the strangest +monuments that a grotesque fancy ever devised. It is the tomb of Marcus +Vergilius Eurysaces, who was baker to the _apparetores_. The monument +consists of a row of great cylinders representing measures for grain. +Upon these, in three tiers, are huge kneading troughs, placed with their +mouths turned outward. Above is a frieze representing various incidents +connected with the baker's trade. There is evidence that originally +there was a similar monument standing by the side of this, for an +inscription was found which reads: _Antistia was my wife; she was the +best woman alive; of whose body the remains which are left are in this +bread basket_. Here was a man of the people who appreciated his wife. +Doubtless Antistia was a good woman, and lived happily with the baker, +just as there were myriads of other faithful pairs whose names are not +recorded on monuments nor have any place in history. + +And yet, even the highest Roman standards of morality were not such as +have been evolved through many centuries of inculcation of Christian +principles. Among the best of the pagan Romans, concubinage was looked +upon as a defensible institution. The laws in regard to citizenship shut +out a large class of women from the privilege of marriage with freeborn +Romans; as, for instance, the daughters of foreigners who had not been +naturalized. These could only become mistresses or enter into +left-handed marriages. If a citizen who was unmarried wished to live +with such a woman, of course no ceremony was needed; there was nothing +binding about the union, and at the same time it was not considered to +be in any wise indecent. On more than one tomb there is found an +inscription to "the beloved concubine," Acte held this relationship with +the Emperor Nero; and to her credit it surely must be allowed that she +was the only person near him against whom he did not maliciously turn, +and who seemed to have with him some slight influence for good. +Antoninus Pius, one of the very best of the Roman emperors, when his +beloved Faustina died, took a concubine. He would not marry again, +because he did not wish to bring his four children under the uncertain +care of a stepmother. And having before him the domestic history of more +than one imperial family in which were exhibited the tender mercies of +such a stepmother as was Livia the wife of Augustus, Antoninus may well +be excused for his precaution. What was the name of the woman he took we +do not know, nor are we informed as to her character; only, Marcus +Aurelius says: "I am thankful to the gods that I was not longer brought +up with my father's concubine." + + + + +VI + +WOMAN UNDER JULIUS CÆSAR + +Rome was now riven and torn by cataclysms of civil strife. The +foundations of the Republic were shaken by the explosion of new social +forces, the growth of which was naturally attendant upon the spread of +conquest, and which could no longer be confined within the narrow limits +of the old constitution. Marius, Sylla, Pompey, and Cæsar--these are the +names around which gathers the history of the pains and death groans of +the expiring Republic. Crimson was the color of each political party; +and the blood of opponents was the means used for its exhibition. Rome +had become too great for her ancient civic constitution: she was +restlessly awaiting the arrival of a man who could thrust himself above +all opposition, and in his own person unify the government. Imperialism +or anarchy must necessarily follow such a Republic as Rome had become in +the closing century of the pre-Christian era. + +During those fierce political disturbances and bloody revolutions, how +did woman fare? She was by no means secure in that quiet, unmolested +round of conjugal duty and domestic life which had so long been hers by +right. In the sanguinary civil wars and murderous proscriptions which +resulted from the ambitions of the leaders, life for the Roman people +was of extremely uncertain tenure. It is easy to surmise what the women +of many Italian cities suffered when whole populations were put to the +sword under the merciless Sylla. Death, outrage, and slavery became so +common that there was developed in the Roman women that indifference to +the sight of human suffering which appears to us as nothing less than +monstrous. Under Sylla, wives were accustomed to being simultaneously +robbed of their husbands and their sustenance; as in the case of that +peaceful citizen who, finding his own name in the lists of the +proscribed, exclaimed: "My Alban farm has informed against me," and was +immediately thereafter slain. + +The political changes of the time wrought no marked alteration in the +status of the women; that is, no legislation was enacted which, in any +special manner, bore upon their condition and privileges. Certain +developments did take place in the manner of life of the women of Rome; +but these were the natural results of the character of the times. The +weakening of moral principle which we have noticed in a preceding +chapter continued with accelerated rapidity. The bounds set by +traditional honor were overthrown with increasing recklessness, and the +habits of many of the upper-class women carried the sex still further +beyond the limits of old-fashioned morality. + +In this period we also See the women beginning to lay their hands to +that particular sort of political work to which they are adapted. In the +days of the Gracchi, it had become possible for a bright and +intellectual lady to draw around her learned men, grammarians, and +philosophers; we shall now see such women, who have other ambitions, +gathering politicians, and sometimes conspirators, in their atriums. +There was Sempronia, for example, who was of the family of the Gracchi +and the wife of Decimus Brutus. In her house Catiline was in the habit +of meeting his followers for the purpose of plotting his conspiracy. Of +her character and attainments Sallust gives us this interesting +description: "A woman who had committed many crimes, with the spirit of +a man. In birth and beauty, in her husband and her children, she was +extremely fortunate; she was skilled in Greek and Roman literature; she +could sing, play, and dance, with greater elegance than became a woman +of virtue, and possessed many other accomplishments that tend to excite +the passions. But nothing was ever less valued by her than honor or +chastity. Whether she was more prodigal of her money or her reputation, +it would have been difficult to decide. She had frequently, before this +period, forfeited her word, forsworn debts, been privy to murder, and +hurried into the utmost excesses by her extravagances and poverty. But +her abilities were by no means despicable; she could compose verses, +jest, and join in conversation either modest, tender, or licentious. In +a word, she was distinguished by much refinement of wit and much grace +of expression." She seems to have been the equal of Cornelia in ability, +and her reverse in character; which, perhaps, illustrates the degeneracy +of the times as much as it does the special turpitude of this particular +woman. + +The Romans were learning the political uses of a salon. The women began +to acquire the knowledge that, for those who have access to the powerful +male leaders, much may be accomplished by a fair face if backed by an +active brain, even though the ballot be denied. The way was being +prepared for a Livia and an Agrippina. The women were forced to take a +greater interest in politics, for the simple reason that politics had +become a most hazardous business. Their husbands might be riding in +triumph one day, and finding their names in the lists of the proscribed +the next; hence, it often happened that only by mingling in political +intrigues could the wives secure their own safety and that of those to +whom they were united by affection. The times had changed. In the old +days, the women were accustomed, with patriotic ardor, to encourage +their male relatives as they marched out against the public enemy, and +they bravely devoted their sons to the welfare of the State; but in the +times of which we are now treating, those did the best service who +possessed the wit to discover a plot. It was to a courtesan named Fulvia +that Cicero was indebted for the detection of the Catiline conspiracy. + +In the general estimation of the men, however, the chief political use +which women might serve was to reinforce, by marriage, the strained +relations between rival politicians. Accordingly, the daughter of a +powerful leader would be married and divorced, passed from one man to +another, with almost as much facility as a detachment of light cavalry +might appear first in one part and then in another of a battlefield. +These enforced marriages for political purposes had the effect of so +training the women that, in the succeeding generations, they could with +all the greater levity sever the bonds of matrimony for their own +capricious ends. With what nonchalant freedom women made such entrance +into the hazardous arena of public life is indicated in the story of +Valeria. She was a sprightly young lady, who had been divorced from her +husband. One day, in the theatre, as she passed behind Sylla on the way +to her seat, she stopped for a moment and plucked a little bit of wool +from the dictator's cloak. This caused him to turn and regard her with +some wonderment. Whereupon she said: "Surely, sir, you cannot object if +in picking a little thread from your garment I also desired to share a +small portion of your good fortune." She went on to her seat; but it +soon became apparent that Sylla was not displeased. During the +performance, the lady was of more interest to him than the gladiatorial +spectacle, and it was not long before a marriage was arranged. + +This made the fifth time that Sylla had wedded. Just previously to his +thus romantically making the acquaintance of Valeria he had lost by +death Caecilia Metella, to whom reference has heretofore been made, and +who was one of the best women of her time. Kind and compassionate by +nature, she often successfully interceded for the lives of men whom her +relentless husband had foredoomed. At her death, though there is every +indication that he held her in the highest regard, his action was +peculiar and extremely characteristic of the man. Because the priest of +Venus Victrix, to which goddess he was especially devoted, forbade him +to allow his house to be polluted by mourning, while Metella was on her +deathbed he sent her a bill of divorce and caused her to be removed to +the home of one of her relatives. Yet, after her death he went so far as +to transgress his own law against funeral expense, and provided the most +elaborate obsequies in her honor. + +Sylla was absolutely without conscience in his employment of marriage +and divorce for political ends. Metella's daughter by her first husband +had been married to Glabrio the Censor. The dictator saw a more useful +ally in young Cnæus Pompeius, who was already married to Antistia; +therefore, he commanded Glabrio and Pompeius to divorce their wives, and +the latter to take Æmilia, his stepdaughter. Piso, also at his +suggestion, had divorced his wife Annia. But when Sylla attempted to +employ the same tactics with Cæsar, he made the discovery that he had +encountered a man of altogether different metal. The latter had married +Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna. They had one child, a little daughter +named Julia, who afterward became the wife of Pompey. When Cæsar was +ordered by the all-powerful dictator to divorce Cornelia, he absolutely +refused, preferring death to subjection to such tyranny. There is every +warrant for belief that Cornelia was worthy of the devotion of her +husband, which she enjoyed to the day of her death. + +Cæsar was a turning point in the course of Roman history, a crisis in +the history of the world. His labors affected an epoch, and the tragedy +of his passing is a memory which can never be relinquished by the human +mind. Yet, inasmuch as a man's greatness is always in large measure +attributable to the character of the times in which he lives, the same +conditions which he seizes to raise himself to the highest position +serve also to surround him with other men who approach him in that +wisdom strength, and valor which are developed by the common +environment. Cæsar was first in a community of heroic souls. Pompey, +Mark Antony, Brutus, Cato, and Cassius, all exhibit in their character +and their powers a greater or lesser participation in those qualities +which made Caesar preëminent. This is none the less true also of the +women of the day; the times wrought greatness of soul in them to as +liberal a degree as in the men. Hazard, ambition, and high enterprise +carried the women of this period far in the development of those +qualities which are brought out by such means. Portia, Calpurnia, +Fulvia, Julia, and Cornelia were fit companions for their renowned +masculine associates. + +Hence, independent of how little or how much the feminine participants +in this great world-drama may appear upon the stage, we may be certain +that when they are seen we have before us some of the most remarkable +women in history, if for no other reason than that they are connected +with the plot of that drama. + +The attention is naturally first drawn to those women who were most +intimately connected with Julius Cæsar. To Aurelia, the daughter of M. +Aurelius Cotta, was destined the honor of bringing into the world the +man who was to bear one of the three most renowned names in its military +history. She lost her husband, Caius Julius, while their son was yet a +boy; but, from what is known of her character, it is evident that she +was not unequal to the task of superintending alone the completion of +young Cæsar's education. It was undoubtedly to her influence that he +owed the development of those traits which are most pleasing in his +greatness. Tacitus is sufficient authority for this, likening as he does +Aurelia to the mother of the Gracchi. She was one of the few surviving +representatives of that matronal dignity and virtue which beautified the +austerity of the earlier days of the Republic. Her house, small and +frugally managed, was situated under the Esquiline and Viminal hills, in +that low part of Rome called the Subura. It was not a fashionable +quarter; in fact, it was a street of shops and taverns. It resounded +with the clamor of traffic and the noise of such broils and revelry as +are usual in the vicinity of pothouses. At the top of the street, there +was a depressed, open space, called the Lacus Orphei because of a statue +of Orpheus which stood there. To this spot, which must have made an +admirable playground, Aurelia was in the habit of sending a slave to +look for the young Csesar when the shades of night fell on the unlighted +streets. It is also likely that she as frequently, and with much more +satisfaction, caused him to be looked for in the Vicus Sandaliarius, a +street running parallel with her own, where were the booksellers' shops. + +In her unpretentious residence, with its plebeian surroundings, Aurelia +kept house for her son. When he brought home Cornelia, the daughter of +Cinna the Consul, as his bride, his mother decked the threshold and +prepared the modest atrium for the nuptial ceremonies. Here was born the +little Julia, the only child that ever blessed the home of Cæsar. + +When the order came from Sylla that, if he would preserve his life and +serve his best interests, Cæsar must put away his wife so as to be free +to form a matrimonial union with the dictator's party, there is no doubt +that Aurelia's virtuous counsel supported her son's courage in refusing +to comply with so tyrannical a command. The result was that Cæsar was +obliged to leave the city, hardly escaping the assassin's hand; and the +two women were left for two years to comfort each other as best they +could in the absence of a husband and a son. That they were impoverished +by the rapacious Sylla--who, when he could not touch the person of an +enemy, contented himself with seizing his property--we know. Fortunate +were they if their lives were not still more embittered by the knowledge +of those vile slanders which came from Bithynia, for the disproof of +which there is no evidence needed beside the character of him whose name +was so maliciously besmirched. + +After two years of loneliness, these devoted women were made happy by +receiving the exile home. From that time on, Aurelia's maternal pride +was satisfied by beholding the star of her son's fortunes, though at +times beclouded by rivalry, always ascending and brightening. He rose +from one office to another, until the day came when she saw him elected +chief pontiff over the heads of two candidates who were his superiors in +age, rank, and wealth. On this election he had staked everything. If he +failed, his debts would overwhelm him. In the morning, as he left the +little house in the Subura, kissing his mother good-bye, he had said: +"Mother, I will return home pontiff, or not at all." How anxiously she +must have awaited the result! All through the day, she heard his name +shouted with approbation by the people on the street; and in the +evening, he returned to inform her that she must move with him to the +palace of the pontificate on the Via Sacra. + +Cornelia was no longer there to share in Aurelia's pride and Cæsar's +good fortune. During the year B.C. 68, Caesar had pronounced two funeral +panegyrics. One was for his aunt, Julia, the wife of that unpolished but +indomitable soldier, Marius. Little is known of this lady; but at Les +Baux, in Provence, there is a monument on which are represented Marius +and Julia, and between them--suggestive it may be of private trials +endured by the latter--Martha, the Syrian prophetess, who accompanied +and advised Marius in all his adventurous undertakings. The second +funeral oration delivered by Cæsar was for his faithful wife Cornelia. +Matrons so young as she were not often honored with a panegyric at their +obsequies; and it testifies no less to the worth of her character than +to her husband's devotion that he, in this instance, transgressed the +custom with the approval of the people. + +It was not long, however, before Aurelia was called upon to welcome a +new bride of her son, this time to the magnificence of the pontifical +abode. Marriage was looked upon by the best Romans as a citizen's duty; +and for a man to abbreviate his widowed regrets was not regarded as +censurable conduct; though, on the other hand, the constancy of widowed +matrons was held in the highest honor. The Romans, notwithstanding their +aptitude for law, cared little for consistency in their distribution of +privileges between men and women. + +Cæsar's second wife was Pompeia, the granddaughter of Sylla, whose +family Aurelia had but little cause to love. What the mother's attitude +toward the new bride was we do not know. Two things are certain from the +narrative of the sequel to this marriage: Aurelia continued to maintain +the position of _domina_ in the house of her son, for it was she who had +charge of the ceremonies of the Bona Dea which Clodius interrupted by +his intrusion; and the inferences are all against the innocence of +Pompeia, for, had she been faithful, Clodius would not have ventured +into the house at such a time. She was divorced by Cæsar; but he took no +active part in the proceedings against Clodius. When called upon to +testify, he contented himself with the declaration that he knew nothing +about the affair; which was true in a sense, inasmuch as he was not +present. The matter might have been hushed, had it not been for the +matrons, who could not brook that their sacred mysteries should be thus +invaded. Terentia, the wife of Cicero, was especially persistent. She +was a woman who interfered in political matters to such a degree that, +when her husband was consul, she was spoken of sarcastically as being +his colleague. Having a private grudge against Clodius, she so incited +Cicero that the powerful advocate completely refuted the defendant's +strong plea of an alibi. + +Cæsar's testimony that he was uninformed as to what had happened at his +house was not satisfactory to the prosecutor, who shrewdly inquired: +"Why, then, did you divorce Pompeia?" The reply was: "Cæsar's wife must +be above suspicion!"--a reply haughty enough to be characteristic of the +man, and deemed a sufficient check to all further cross-examination. +But, viewing the whole situation from our standpoint, it is impossible +to refrain from the comment that, if Cæsar had been equipped with +anything corresponding to a modern conscience, he could scarcely have +had the effrontery to utter such a saying. Just and generous as he was, +he was incapable of entertaining the idea that there should be but one +code of morals for the woman and the man. If Cæsar's wife had said: "The +husband of Pompeia must be above suspicion," it would have appeared as +ridiculous to her contemporaries as it was impossible of realization. + +We may well give as little heed as did Cæsar himself to the calumnious +stigma upon his name which disgraces the pages of the historians and the +verse of Catullus. Yet, setting this aside as unworthy of credence, +evidence seems to prove abundantly his propensity for those gallantries +which were considered among the least reprehensible immoralities by the +men of his time. The names of many women were connected with that of the +great soldier in a manner which is detrimental to the reputation of all +concerned. Unless higher criticism of a most radical and partial kind is +adopted in the study of the ancient historians, we must take their word +that ladies of the highest quality surrendered to Cæsar's attractions. +It is said that Pompey was wont to refer to the chief pontiff as +Ægisthus; and that when he spoke of him it was with a sigh which was +elicited not so much on account of Cæsar's greater success in affairs of +State as by his rivalry in the affections of Mucia, who, like +Clytemnestra, was won by the pontiff while her husband was absent in +war. Posthumia, wife of Servius Sulpicius, Lollia, wife of Aulus +Gabinius, and Tertulla, wife of Marcus Crassus, come under the same +indictment. The husbands named were close friends of the man who shared +with them in their conjugal rights, as well as climbed over their +shoulders in political ascendency; and they served him well in the +furtherance of his latter-mentioned projects. It has been argued that if +Cæsar's conduct had really been as blameworthy as is alleged, he could +not have retained the amity of these men; but the argument proves +nothing. What if he were a sufficient adept in policy--a thing not +unknown in the history of human experience--to be able to command the +hands and the heads of the husbands through the hearts of their wives? + +There was one woman who had for Cæsar a passionate attachment which was +returned by him with an ardent and lasting affection in which political +ambition played no part. This was Servilia, the half-sister of Cato and +the mother of Marcus Brutus. Unfortunately, this lady's regard for her +powerful lover did not carry with it the confidence and the friendship +of her brother and her son. Modern writers, notably Froude and Baring +Gould, strive to eliminate everything of an unworthy nature from the +mutual affection which is known to have existed between Servilia and +Cæsar; but their argument is devoid of historical proof. Much as we may +be inclined to eradicate from the character of the great Roman +everything that is unpleasant, it will not do to ignore or explain away +every tittle of evidence that has been handed down by the ancient +authorities on this subject. It may have been but the unfounded surmise +of the gossips that it was a billet-doux from his sister which caused +Cato to demand of Cæsar, during an acrimonious Senatorial debate, that +he make known the contents of a note the latter had just received; +nevertheless, we have it on the authority of Plutarch that Cæsar +believed Brutus to be his own son. In this the great Imperator may very +easily have been mistaken; but as to the fact that he had reason to +believe in the possibility of such a thing, surely the conclusions of +modern writers should have less weight than the plain statements of the +ancient historians, which are the sole and only source of any knowledge +whatsoever that we may have on the subject. It is true that slanderers +were even coarser-minded and less restrained among the Romans of those +days than they are in our own time; and among them Cicero was as +preëminently conscienceless as he was clever. Hence, it is not necessary +for us to take seriously his pun on the name of Servilia's daughter, +when, remarking on the low price at which Servilia obtained some lands +from Cæsar, he says: "Between ourselves, Tertia [or, a third] was +deducted," intimating that the mother profited by her daughter's +dishonor. + +Calpurnia, the daughter of L. Calpurnius Piso, was the third wife of +Cæsar. For fourteen years she occupied the Regia, the pontifical +residence, as its _domina_. Thus she was the highest lady in Rome and in +the Empire. That she became the consort of Cæsar for reasons of +expediency is very probable; but that she was possessed of a deep and +lasting affection for her husband, which was reciprocated by him with +tender regard, is shown by their conduct on the eve of his death. During +the years of Calpurnia's union with Cæsar, though he crowded them with +events of tremendous import in the history of Rome, nothing whatever is +recorded of his wife. Her name has come down to us untarnished with any +scandal; which, considering the fact that the historians of that time +incorporated such stories in their records on the least possible +warrant, is a very strong testimony to the purity of her life, which was +devoted to furthering the interests of Cæsar among his friends, caring +for his home during his many and lengthened absences, and ministering to +his comfort in the short respites which his innumerable cares afforded +him. All that we really know of her character is revealed in his time of +danger, in which everything is to her credit. + +In the plot of _Julius Cæsar_, Shakespeare, with historical accuracy, +introduces only two feminine characters: Calpurnia and Portia, the +latter the worthy wife of the noblest of the conspirators. Were they +friends, these two ladies, as their husbands were supposed to be? Did +they visit each other and engage in the discussion of those topics which +were then current in the atriums and gardens of Rome? Did Calpurnia +sometimes spend an afternoon with Portia in her house on the Aventine; +and though somewhat chilled by the austere and philosophical demeanor of +the descendant of the Censor, yet cordially invite her to the more +magnificent palace of Cæsar? This we do not know. Possibly the terrible +event which was in store cast a shadow upon any intercourse which the +women may have had; especially since Cato, the brother of Portia, had +found in Calpurnia's marriage occasion for denunciation, for the reason +that her father was immediately thereupon made consul. + +Of the two women, Portia is much the better known; and, though she may +not really have been superior to the wife of Cæsar, she may justly be +taken as the best representative of the noblest type of Roman matron of +that period. In her we see the effect of stoical training on the +character of a normal woman. There have been many women of greater +firmness of mind, more self-control, more power to witness and take part +in fearsome deeds without a tremor of the lips, or a blanching of the +countenance. These are abnormal women, in whose character nature had +mingled an undue amount of the masculine element. But in Portia we have +no Lady Macbeth; she did not and could not have instigated her husband +to bloody deeds. Her character was of itself gentle and most womanly; +her conduct was the result of education. She herself admitted that, if +she were stronger than her sex, it was the result of being "so fathered +and so husbanded." Her philosophy taught her to strive for stoical +firmness, but she ever found in herself nothing but a woman's strength. +This is seen in the historian's account, and is wonderfully brought out +by Shakespeare in the scene in which he portrays her almost dying for +news from the Capitol. + + "PORTIA.--I prithee, boy, run to the senate-house; + Stay not to answer me, but get thee gone: + Why dost thou stay? + + LUCIUS.--To know my errand, madam. + + PORTIA.--I would have had thee there, and here again, + Ere I can tell thee what thou shouldst do there.-- + O constancy, be strong upon my side! + Set a huge mountain 'tween my heart and tongue! + I have a man's mind, but a woman's might. + How hard it is for women to keep counsel!-- + Art thou here yet? + + LUCIUS.--Madam, what should I do? + Run to the Capitol, and nothing else? + And so return to you, and nothing else? + + PORTIA.--Yes, bring me word, boy, if thy lord look well, + For he went sickly forth: and take good note + What Cæsar doth, what suitors press to him. + Hark, boy! what noise is that? + + LUCIUS.--I hear none, madam. + + PORTIA.--Prithee, listen well; + I heard a bustling rumour, like a fray, + And the wind brings it from the Capitol. + +Then, after the conversation with the soothsayer: + + "I must go in.--Ay me, how weak a thing + The heart of woman is! O Brutus, + The heavens speed thee in thine enterprise!-- + Sure, the boy heard me.--Brutus hath a suit, + That Cæsar will not grant--O, I grow faint:-- + Run, Lucius, and commend me to my lord; + Say, I am merry: come to me again, + And bring me word what he doth say to thee." + +All this feeling and acute anxiety she doubtless underwent; not however, +from sympathy with the motive and purpose of Brutus, though she believed +in these as fully as he did, but for sheer and simple love of her +husband. By nature she was no stoic--as no true woman has ever been or +can be; but she had trained herself in the estimation of self-control +and dignified endurance as moral excellences of the highest value. There +were other women in Rome who, like Portia, had studied and adopted as +their rule of life the principles of Zeno. We can see them walking +amidst the frivolity of their times with the hauteur of too conscious +superiority. It was a part which, if taken up by women at all, they must +necessarily overdo. The principles of their philosophy might carry them +far, even to death "after the high Roman fashion"; but whether the +stoicism was only a mask of pride or a real grandeur of character, there +was always some point at which the woman's heart showed itself. A man, +whether bent on sentimental or serious purposes, needed not to stand +greatly in awe of those stoical Roman ladies. + +School herself in dignified impassiveness as she might, every thought of +Portia's mind, as well as every impulse of her heart, betrayed her +philosophy. Her affectionate solicitude allowed no sigh escaping the +breast of her lord, no absent-mindedness clouding his brow and boding +care, to escape her observation. It was plain to her that Brutus had +some great trouble weighing upon his mind. She longed to share its +knowledge, not for the gratification of curiosity, but because she could +not endure to be deemed by her husband anything less than his loyal +comrade. But was she worthy to be the custodian of her husband's +secrets? Doubtless she was assured that they related to State affairs. +It was not the custom among the Romans to put freeborn women to the +torture; yet Portia, before she would ask to know her husband's mind, +would test her power of enduring pain. Let Plutarch present the picture +in his own fashion: + +"Now Brutus, feeling that the noblest spirits of Rome, for virtue, +birth, or courage, were depending upon him, and surveying with himself +all the circumstances of the dangers they were to encounter, strove +indeed as much as possible, when abroad, to keep his uneasiness of mind +to himself, and to compose his thoughts; but at home, and especially at +night, he was not the same man, but sometimes against his will his +working care would make him start out of his steep, and other times he +was taken up with further reflection and consideration of his +difficulties, so that his wife that lay with him could not choose but +take notice that he was full of unusual trouble, and had in agitation +some dangerous and perplexing question. Portia, as was said before, was +the daughter of Cato, and Brutus, her cousin-german, had married her +very young, though not a maid, but after the death of a former husband. +This Portia, being interested in philosophy, a great lover of her +husband, and full of an understanding courage, resolved not to inquire +into Brutus's secrets before she had made trial of herself. She turned +all her attendants out of her chamber; and taking a little knife, such +as they use to cut nails with, she gave herself a deep gash in the +thigh; upon which followed a great flow of blood, and, soon after, +violent pains and a shivering fever, occasioned by the wound. Now when +Brutus was exceedingly anxious and afflicted for her, she, in the height +of her pain, spoke thus to him: 'I, Brutus, being the daughter of Cato, +was given to you in marriage, not like a concubine, to partake only in +the common intercourse of bed and board, but to bear a part in all your +good and all your evil fortunes; and for your part, as regards your care +for me, I find no reason to complain; but from me, what evidence of my +love, what satisfaction can you receive, if I may not share with you in +bearing your hidden griefs, or be admitted to any of your counsels that +require secrecy and trust? I know very well that women seem to be of too +weak a nature to be trusted with secrets; but surely, Brutus, a virtuous +birth and education, and the company of the good and honorable, are of +some force in the forming of manners; and I can boast that I am the +daughter of Cato and the wife of Brutus, in which two titles though +before I put less confidence, yet now I have tried myself, and find I +can bid defiance to pain.' Having spoken these words, she showed him her +wound, and related to him the trial she had made of her constancy; at +which, being astonished, he lifted up his hands to heaven, and begged +the assistance of the gods in his enterprise, that he might show himself +a husband worthy of such a wife as Portia." + +From that time, she shared the secret of Brutus in his direful purpose; +moreover, her heart and mind were oppressed with the added burden of +anxiety for him. + +Another woman in Rome had once waited with great impatience while her +husband thrust the ruler from his throne; and though the plot meant the +death of her own father, Tullia could ride to the Senate chamber to +ascertain with her own eyes if everything were in satisfactory progress. +But there is no comparison to be drawn between Tullia and Portia. There +is nothing to indicate that the latter was in the least stirred by +ambition. She simply believed in her husband to the extent that if it +were he who purposed assassination, she must deem it justified. Yet she +could not ask: "Is Cæsar yet gone to the Capitol?" without danger of +swooning. + +At the Imperator's palace, there was another woman whose mind was +troubled with dire misgivings, and who feared that which Portia +impatiently awaited to hear was done. Calpurnia's womanly instinct was +quicker than the suspicion of Cæsar and his friends. She was not given +to superstitious fears; but now even the very air seemed portentous of +coming disaster. She dreamed, and cried out in her sleep: "They murder +Caesar." + +Thus has the great dramatist, in a manner which it would be folly to +imitate or replace, depicted the scene: + + "CALPURNIA.--What mean you, Cæsar? Think you to walk forth? + You shall not stir out of your house to-day. + + CÆSAR.--Cæsar shall forth. The things that threaten'd me + Ne'er look'd but on my back; when they shall see + The face of Cæsar, they are vanish'd. + + CALPURNIA.---Cæsar, I never stood on ceremonies, + Yet now they fright me. There is one within, + Besides the things that we have heard and seen, + Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch. + O Cæsar! these things are beyond all use, + And I do fear them. + + CÆSAR.-- What can be avoided, + Whose end is purpos'd by the mighty gods? + Yet Cæsar shall go forth; for these predictions + Are to the world in general as to Cæsar. + + CALPURNIA.---When beggars die, there are no comets seen; + The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes. + +The wife is supported in her plea by the warnings of the augurs; and +Cæsar has decided to allow Mark Antony to say he is not well. But +Decius, the false coward, comes, and for his private satisfaction, +because Cæsar loves him, he is told that: + + "Calpurnia here, my wife stays me at home: + She dream'd to-night she saw my statua, + Which, like a fountain with an hundred spouts, + Did run pure blood; and many lusty Romans + Came smiling, and did bathe their hands in it. + And these does she apply for warnings and portents. + And evils imminent; and on her knee + Hath begged that I will stay at home to-day." + +Decius easily puts a better interpretation upon the vision; and he +changes Cæsar's mind by cunningly suggesting how the Senate may sneer +at being adjourned until "another time, + + When Cæsar's wife shall meet with better dreams." + +So he leaves her sadly to reflect that his "death, a necessary end, + + Will come when it will come." + +Of Calpurnia we learn nothing more save that her wisdom made her quick +to place her husband's papers in the hands of Mark Antony, who so +successfully took upon himself the task of avenging the death of his +friend. + +Portia fled from Italy with her husband, and it was well for her that +she did so; for under the Triumvirate there was inaugurated a reign of +terror which caused the people of Rome to recall the bloody +proscriptions of Sylla, and in which the wife of Cæsar's murderer would +hardly have been secure. Hatred, greed, and all evil passions were let +loose. It became easy for heirs to hasten to the possession of legacies +by having the owners' names placed on the lists of the proscribed. The +toga was given to children, in order that their property, they being +then considered of age, might come into their own possession; then they +were condemned to death. + +During this reign of terror, the citizens of Rome were cowed by the +soldiery into abject silence and inactivity; but, to their honor, it is +recorded that the women did not suffer so resignedly the despoiling of +their goods. A heavy contribution was levied upon fourteen hundred of +the richest matrons. Led by Hortensia, the daughter of the orator, these +ladies went to the Forum and appeared in the presence of the +Triumvirate. Hortensia spoke. "Before presenting ourselves before you" +she said, "we have solicited the intervention of Fulvia; her refusal +has obliged us to come hither. You have taken away our fathers, our +children, our brothers, our husbands; to deprive us of our fortune also +is to reduce us to a condition which befits neither our birth, nor our +habits, nor our sex; it is to extend your proscriptions to us. But have +we raised soldiers against you, or sought after your offices? Do we +dispute the power for which you are fighting? From the time of Hannibal, +Roman women have willingly given to the treasury their jewels and +ornaments; let the Gauls or the Parthians come, and there will be found +in us no less patriotism. But do not ask us to contribute to this +fratricidal war which is rending the Republic; neither Marius, nor Cinna, +nor even Sylla during his tyranny, dared to do so." The triumvirs were +inclined to drive the matrons from the Forum; but the people began to be +stirred, so they yielded and set forth another edict, reducing to four +hundred the number of women who were to be taxed. + +Much of this cruelty was instigated by a woman whom Hortensia mentions. +Antony, whose amatory experiences were as varied as they were numerous, +was at one time engaged in an intrigue with Fulvia, then the wife of +Clodius. She afterward became Antony's wife. Here was a woman the exact +opposite of Portia; a resentful, stubborn, masculine woman, "in whom," +says Velleius Paterculus, "there was nothing feminine but her body." It +is told of her that when Cicero was murdered, his head was brought to +her, and she drove her bodkin through the tongue which had so bitterly +rated her and her husband. On another occasion, the head of one of the +proscribed was brought to Antony. "I do not know it," he said; "let it +be taken to my wife." It was the head of a citizen of whom nothing worse +is known than that he had refused to sell a farm which Fulvia desired to +obtain. Plutarch relates that Antony was obliged to resort to all sorts +of boyish tricks in order to keep Fulvia in good humor. Among other like +stories which he says were current, he gives the following, relating to +the triumvir's sudden return to Rome: "Disguising himself, he came to +her by night, muffled up as a servant that brought letters from Antony. +She, with great impatience, before she receives the letter, asks if +Antony were well, and instead of an answer he gives her the letter; and, +as she was opening it, he takes her about the neck and kisses her." The +historian gives this characterization of Fulvia: "a woman not born for +spinning or housewifery, nor one that could be content with ruling a +private husband, but prepared to govern a first magistrate, or give +orders to a commander-in-chief. So that Cleopatra was under great +obligations to her for having taught Antony to be so good a servant, he +coming to her hands tame and broken into entire obedience to the +commands of a mistress." Evidently, we must regard Mark Antony as being +the great historical type of the "henpecked" husband; there is, however, +no occasion for sympathy; his punishment was no greater than he +deserved. The chief misfortune lay in the fact that Fulvia died, and +thus made room for the noble and much-abused Octavia, whom he afterward +married. + +Let us return to Portia. There is a beautiful incident related of her +final parting from Brutus in the island of Nisida. She was overcome with +grief, but refrained from showing it for fear that it might shake her +husband's fortitude. But in passing through a hall, a picture which she +there saw accidentally betrayed her. It was a representation of Hector +parting from Andromache when he went to engage the Greeks. He was in the +act of giving his little son Astyanax into her arms, while she fixes her +tearful eyes for the last time upon her husband. Portia could not look +upon this piece, so suggestive of her own circumstances, without +weeping; and every day, as long as she remained in the place, she went +to gaze upon it. It was on one of those occasions that Acilius, a friend +of Brutus, repeated from Homer the lines where Andromache speaks to +Hector: + "'But, Hector, you + To me are father and are mother too, + My brother, and my loving husband true.'" + +Brutus, sadly smiling, replied, "But I must not answer Portia, as Hector +did Andromache: + + "'Mind you your loom, and to your maids give law.' + +For though the natural weakness of her body hinders her from doing what +only the strength of men can perform, yet she has a mind as valiant and +as active for the good of her country as the best of us." + +As to the time and manner of Portia's death, the ancient writers are not +fully agreed? But the best authenticated account is that which is thus +represented by Shakespeare: + + "BRUTUS.--O Cassius! I am sick of many griefs. + + CASSIUS.--Of your philosophy you make no use, + If you give place to accidental evils. + + BRUTUS.--No man bears sorrow better; Portia is dead. + + CASSIUS.--Ha!--Portia? + + BRUTUS.--She is dead. + + CASSIUS.--How 'scap'd I killing, when I cross'd you so? + O insupportable and touching loss!--Upon + what sickness? + + BRUTUS.--Impatient of my absence, + And grief that young Octavius with Mark Antony + Had made themselves so strong;--for with her death + These tidings came.--With this she fell distract, + And, her attendants absent, swallow'd fire." + +In Portia and Brutus we see that close and mutual sympathy, than which +marriage in any period of the world's history has nothing better to +show. The ancient historians took great delight in eulogizing her +character and praising her qualities. They are a unit in the belief +that, in all points, she was worthy to be the consort of him whom Antony +justly honored as "The noblest Roman of them all." + + + + +VII + +THE ROMAN WOMAN IN POLITICS + +In the disordered conditions which followed the death of Cæsar, the old +Roman constitution lost what little force it had seemed to retain under +the preceding dictators. The offices of the State remained the same in +name, and were still supposed to be filled by men who were freely chosen +by the people; but all were under the hand of a power which the Senate +dared not resist, and in which the people, weary of the bloody +contentions of the oligarchy, were willing to acquiesce so long as bread +and games were forthcoming. This power was the army. Whosoever +controlled the army found the interpretation of his own political rights +not difficult. The forces of the Empire were in the hands of three men: +Lepidus, who commanded the legions which at the opportune moment were +near Rome; Antony, who was the idol of the people; and the young +Octavius, who stood on the vantage of his relationship to the great +Cæsar, These men divided the world among themselves; but, in the end, +Octavius, by the steadiness of his mind, the fixity of his purpose, and +the scope of his executive ability, won for himself the Empire. During +the years of civil war and political turmoil which accompanied these +changes, much in the Roman social construction which had hitherto been +beneath found its way to the surface. It was a struggle in which any +strength, skill, or art that enabled its possessor to best his fellows +meant political advantage. Though deficient in strength, women, having a +certain skill peculiar to their sex and being especially adapted to the +practice of those arts by means of which political situations are +managed from behind the scenes, became much more influential in State +affairs than formerly. Their prominence grew as the government narrowed +down from the free Senate to the person of the emperor. Women have +always been powerful in a monarchical or an imperial court, but have +never enjoyed any notable political rights in a republic. + +The period which we are now studying is rich in the names of women who, +standing around Cæsar's throne, often found means to further or thwart +the designs of its occupant. Among them we may select Livia, not for the +dignity of her character or the ability of her mind,--though she was not +lacking in either of these qualities,--but because of her position as +the Augusta and her long life, she, better than any other, serves to +represent the women who were influential in Roman public affairs. Though +if Fulvia had lived and Antony had been discreet, Rome might have been +governed by a woman, and Fulvia instead of Livia would have been the +type we should have chosen. While her husband was following Cleopatra to +Egypt, a prisoner to her fascinations, Fulvia had control of the consuls +and was making war against Octavius. If this ambitious, strong-minded +woman, who held reviews of the troops with a sword at her side, had been +possessed of sufficient funds, Octavius might never have won the purple; +but the only means by which the army could be held were wasted by her +husband in monstrous extravagances. Defeated in her schemes through the +non-coöperation of her husband, Fulvia became ill through vexation and +shame, and died about B.C. 39. + +Livia possessed an entirely different character from that which +dominated Fulvia; yet, being of the Claudian race,--that family which, +as Niebuhr says, "in all ages distinguished itself alike by a spirit of +haughty defiance, by disdain for the laws, and iron hardness of +heart,"--it would have been strange if Livia had not made her influence +felt in the house of Cæsar and to the sorrow of those who stood in her +way. When Livia first met Octavius, she was eighteen years old and the +wife of Tiberius Claudius Nero, a man probably much older than herself. +The varying aspects of the Civil War made it difficult for a man who +sought before all things his own security to know which cause to +support. Ill luck seemed to prompt Claudius Nero in his choice; first he +threw in his lot with Brutus and Cassius, though he was indebted to +Cæsar for many favors; then, after the defeat of these, he joined Antony +against Augustus. The consequence was that he spent much time in the +endeavor to rectify his mistakes of policy by fleeing from one commander +to another. In all these journeyings and adventures his wife accompanied +him, carrying with her their young child Tiberius, who was destined to +become Emperor of Rome. At times she was exposed to great danger; for +instance, in Lacedæmon, during an escape by night from their enemies, +the forest through which they were passing was on fire, and her hair and +clothing were scorched by the flames. Claudius Nero succeeded in gaining +a pardon from Octavius, and he and his wife returned to Rome. Whether +this grace resulted from the representations he made in his own defence, +or from the interest excited by Livia in the mind of Octavius, history +does not inform us; but certain conclusions are unavoidable, inasmuch as +Octavius compelled Claudius Nero to divorce his wife so that he himself +might marry her. + +In order that this marriage might take place, a double divorce was +necessary; for Octavius was already united to Scribonia, by whom he had +a daughter, Julia, the only child that was ever born to him. He had +married Scribonia for purposes of political expediency. At the time of +his marriage he was only twenty-three years old, while his bride was his +senior by many years and had already lost two husbands by death. The +object of this marriage was to win for Octavius the support of Libo, the +brother of Scribonia, and through him his son-in-law Sextus Pompeius, +who was a man of great influence. This purpose being served, the young +ruler found himself at the same time secure in his position and tired of +the marital alliance which he had formed for the sake of that security. +He alleged perversity of character and incompatibility of temperament--- +the only charges he could prefer--in Scribonia, and sent her a letter of +separation only a few days after his child had been born. + +"By this act," says Adolf Stahr, as quoted by S. Baring Gould, "Octavius +himself strewed the seeds of discord which were to disturb fatally the +concord of the imperial family, not only during his own life, but far +beyond it, Scribonia would have been no woman not to have felt deadly +hatred toward that woman in whom she saw the robber of her honor, the +wrecker of her happiness, the overthrower of her ambition, and by means +of whom a new family forced its way into that place which should have +been hers and usurped her claims and her hopes. As the mother of Julia, +the only daughter of the sovereign, as the ancestress of Julia's +children and grandchildren, she remained, in spite of the separation, +the head of the Julian race, the dynasty called to sovereignty. No +wonder, then, that henceforth she stood in hostile opposition to the +Claudian Livia and her two children. This deadly animosity between the +two family branches of the imperial house was reflected more than two +generations later in the memoirs of the great-grandchild of Scribonia, +the second Agrippina, wife of the Emperor Claudius, and mother of Nero, +the source whence, poisoned as it was with fiercest hate toward Livia +and her son, the Emperor Tiberius, Tacitus drew the colors with which he +painted both one and the other in his _Annals_." + +There is good ground for believing that the marriage of Octavius and +Livia was a love match. Though the new bride was descended from one of +the most aristocratic and powerful families of Rome, her relatives were +not especially prominent at that time; so it would seem that the +triumvir's regard for her was not regulated by the calculations of +expediency. Livia possessed not only beauty, but also the character of +mind which was likely to charm a man with the disposition of Octavius. +She was quick to understand and appreciate his intelligent purposes and +far-reaching achievements. There was between the two that sympathy which +is the absolute requisite of a happy marriage. + +As to Livia's personal attractions, Ovid assures us that she had the +features of Venus and the manners of Juno. Making not a little allowance +for the flattery made necessary by the position of the courtier, and +some for the license of the poet, we may still believe that the wife of +the first emperor was a very beautiful woman. There are yet in existence +a great many representations of her. She was the first Roman woman to +have her face displayed upon the coin of the realm; but we cannot accept +these images as portraits, though they bear her name. There is one Roman +medal, however, which represents Livia in old age; consequently, we may +safely consider it as authentic. No picture of the youthful loveliness +which captivated Octavius has been preserved; but there is in the Louvre +a magnificent statue which represents Livia as the goddess Ceres. There +is much character in the face, and there is a sufficient resemblance to +Tiberius to authorize the belief that it really portrays his mother. The +form and features are those of a matron on the declining side of thirty. +The figure is majestic, possibly made more so than the original for +reasons complimentary to the divinity; yet it seems to justify Ovid's +account of the Juno-like manners of the Augusta. The charm of youthful +beauty has not yet deserted the face. The eyes, so far as can be judged +from the cold, colorless marble, were lustrous and large; the mouth, +with its short upper lip, was capable of both power and variety of +expression, and doubtless aided Livia to obtain her will of Augustus as +much by its silent eloquence as by its articulate enunciation. To the +slight arch of the Roman nose she of course could claim a national +right. + +Three months after her marriage to Octavius, Livia gave birth to her +second son. On this occasion, Caesar wrote in his journal: "To-day my +wife bore me a boy, whom I caused to be sent to his father Nero." But +Nero dying soon afterward, and having in his will left this child--who +was named Drusus--and also the latter's brother Tiberius to the +guardianship of Octavius, the children were again restored to Livia and +trained as the sons of her imperial husband. + +Livia's marriage with Octavius, whatever may be said of the +circumstances under which it was brought about, was a happy one. For +fifty-two years they lived together, a period ending only with +Octavius's death; and upon her character as a wife there was never cast, +even by those whose hatred she excited, the slightest reflection. In +the midst of a corrupt and luxurious society, she lived in accordance +with those chaste and simple principles which governed the matrons of +the early Republic. It is said that her husband commonly wore clothing +which was wrought by the hands of his wife and the other female members +of his family. While, however, the house of Octavius was conducted after +the old-fashioned method, Livia was by no means such a political +nonentity as had been the matron of ancient times. She was obedient to +her husband, and in all things subservient to his wishes, even going so +far--if Suetonius is to be credited in the matter--as to more than +condone his wandering inclinations of an amorous nature. Livia knew how +to manage the first man who was able to capture and hold the government +of the Roman Empire. Her tact and good sense, conjoined with his +affection, enabled her to wield an influence over the emperor which had +its effect in the weightiest affairs of State. Her counsel was usually +in the interest of kindness and forbearance; more than once, when he was +inclined to exercise severity in the punishment of his enemies, she won +him to gentler methods. That he frequently sought her advice in +important political matters, we know; and it is on record that +sometimes, when he wished to consult her on subjects of grave moment, he +would first write out that which he desired to say, in order that he +might present his ideas as clearly and correctly as possible. + +The picture given us of Livia by the ancient historians is of a double +and somewhat inconsistent character. The wife of Augustus was a model of +uprightness and honor; the empress shown us by Tacitus as seeking to +bring to pass her own designs in regard to the succession was heartless +and unprincipled. Here are the conclusions drawn by Merivale, and they +form a verdict in which probably most students of Roman history will +agree: "In her second home, she directed all her arts to securing her +position, and became, perhaps, in no long course of time, as consummate +a dissembler and intriguer as Octavius himself. While, indeed, she +seconded him in his efforts to cajole the Roman people, she was engaged, +not less successfully, in cajoling him. Her elegant manners, in which +she was reputed to exceed the narrow limits allowed by fashion and +opinion to the Roman matrons, proved no less fascinating to him than her +beauty. Her intellect was undoubtedly of a high order; and when her +personal charms failed to enchain his roving inclinations, she was +content with the influence she still continued to hold over his +understanding The sway she acquired over him in the first transports of +courtship she retained without change or interruption to the day of his +death." + +Before we turn our attention to the history of Livia's efforts to secure +the succession for her son Tiberius, let us fill out the picture in +which she stands by placing in it some of the noted women by whom she +was surrounded. First and foremost, there is Octavia, the half-sister of +Cæsar Augustus. For this noble woman the ancient writers have nothing +but the most enthusiastic praise. Plutarch briefly describes her as a +"wonder of a woman." Fortunately, we know more of her than is expressed +in that superlative phrase. Her mother's name was Atia, and she was a +few years older than Octavius. The historian above quoted claims for her +so much beauty that she did not suffer in that respect in comparison +with her great Egyptian rival, Cleopatra; but the figures of her which +are extant hardly support the claim. Nor was she clever like Cleopatra; +indeed, she had little to recommend her except her relationship with the +powerful Octavius, her sterling goodness, and the sweet amiability of +her character. For this reason her marriage to Antony was as great a +failure in the purpose for which it was intended--the winning of the +triumvir from his infatuation--as it was a misfortune to herself. That a +woman like Octavia should be united to such a man as Mark Antony did not +seem to the ancients such a tragedy as it appears to us; and probably +the sister of Octavius endured with an unconcern incomprehensible to us +the knowledge that her husband had been the lover of many women, some +even of the most abandoned sort. + +For a while, Octavia did exercise a restraining influence over her +wayward husband; and though she could not gird on a sword and harangue +the legions, as did Fulvia, more than once by her prudence and good +sense she helped Antony materially in his time of need. It also seems +that while his wife was by his side he was able to withstand any +propensity that was in him to go down into Egypt. Plutarch recounts that +Antony having a misunderstanding with Octavius, the two were about to +oppose their forces in civil strife at Tarentum. Octavia, however, +obtained leave of her husband to visit the camp of her brother; "and as +she was on her way she met Cæsar, with his two friends Agrippa and +Mæcenas, and, taking these two aside, with urgent entreaties and much +lamentation she told them that from being the most fortunate woman upon +earth she was in danger of becoming the most unhappy; for as yet +everyone's eyes were fixed upon her as the wife and sister of the two +great commanders, but, if rash counsels should prevail, and war ensue, +'I shall be miserable,' said she, 'without redress; for on what side +soever victory falls, I shall be sure to be a loser.'" Caesar was +overcome by these entreaties, and advanced in a peaceable temper to +Tarentum, where he was entertained by Antony. "And when at length an +agreement was made between them ... Octavia further obtained of her +husband twenty light ships for her brother, and of her brother a +thousand foot for her husband. So, having parted good friends, Caesar +went immediately to make war with Pompey to conquer Sicily," and Antony +repaired to Syria, where he once more met the Egyptian queen; and from +this infatuation Octavia was never again able to win him. + +Yet this admirable woman did not cease to fulfil her part as a dutiful +and helpful wife. When her husband returned from his disastrous +expedition against the Parthians, having lost a great part of his forces +and all his supplies, he received a message from Octavia asking where +she might meet him. The answer received by her was a peremptory and +unfeeling command not to proceed further than Athens, as he was about to +start on a new expedition. Displeased though she was, being fully aware +of the cause wherefore she was not welcome, she wrote again, asking to +know to what place she should send the soldiers, money, and presents she +had brought for his use. + +On her return to Rome, Cæsar, incensed at the treatment his sister had +received, commanded her to leave Antony's house and repudiate all +further connection with him. This she steadfastly refused to do. She +continued to live in her husband's house until she was obliged to leave +by his own command. Then she took with her own children those of Fulvia; +and after the death of Antony, she even welcomed to her home the +daughter which had been born to him by her Egyptian rival, and it was +impossible for the Romans to perceive that she gave less motherly care +to the young Cleopatra than she bestowed upon her own offspring. + +Judging by what we know of her, no age has produced a more beautiful +character than that of Octavia. In her were exemplified the fairest of +those qualities which are especially inculcated by the principles of +Christianity. Goodness, long-suffering, forbearance, and gentleness: +these were exhibited in her life to a degree which after ages refused to +believe possible under paganism; which goes to show that the idea that +the noblest graces of character could not ripen previous to the present +era is an unwarranted assumption. It arises from the fact that in the +accounts we have of the ancient world there is more said of the exercise +and the consequences of violent passions and human depravity than there +is of pure love and kindly forbearance; but this may be accounted for by +the well-attested axiom that peaceful lives furnish no history. If +Octavia, living in the very centre of all the varied influences which +fomented around the Palatine Hill, could maintain a pure and noble +character, we may be very sure that the women who followed her example +in the humbler walks of life were not so few as the Pagan satirists and +the Christian apologists combine in leading us to suppose. There is no +record of Octavia's having taken part in any of those activities by +which Livia and other feminine members of the Cæsarian household +endeavored to affect the course of political events. When all hope of +there being any male issue of Augustus to inherit his rule was +abandoned, the chance that Octavia's son by her first husband would be +the next emperor seemed to become a certainty. Of her bereavement in his +death we will speak later on. As the women with which this chapter deals +were all of one family, and consequently were at home under the same +roof, and, moreover, as the art of building had at this time attained +its perfection at Rome, it will enable us to form a better picture of +the life of these women if we see them in the house, their peculiar +sphere. + +About the time that Augustus married Livia, he built for himself a new +residence. The Domus Augustana was erected on the Palatine Hill, and +from the fact that this site was adopted for the imperial abode the +magnificent structures reared upon it were called palaces; thus a word +of differentiation was provided for the dwelling houses of the rulers. +Livia's palace was not a large building, judging from what was +considered necessary at a time when rich families were served by +hundreds of slaves; but Livia was married to a man who was quite willing +to have others of a lower rank outstrip him in extravagant living, so +long as he had the power to decide whether or not it were best for the +interests of the State that they be allowed to live at all; and as the +Augusta had some influence in these decisions, she may have been able +contentedly to visit the wife of Mæcenas, who lived in a house of far +greater magnificence than her own. As the better class of Roman abodes +were all constructed after the same general plan, it is not difficult, +in imagination, out of the materials of information which we possess, to +reërect upon its ruins, which still exist, the Domus Augustana. + +The portico which adorned the outside extended the whole length of the +front of the house, and possibly around the sides. It was a colonnade of +native travertine--some of the later occupants of the imperial throne +were hardly satisfied with the costliest marble. The vestibule was a +large apartment, which was always freely open to clients and callers. +The _Salve_ inscribed or worked in mosaic upon the threshold of the +outer door expressed the generous hospitality which characterized all +Roman dwellings of that time. From the vestibule another door led to the +_atrium_, the most important room in the house. It was large, and +decorated with all the splendor which the wealth of the owner could +warrant, and with such beauty as his taste might dictate. It was +roofed, with the exception of an opening in the centre, called the +_compluvium_, through which was admitted the rain water into a cistern +in the floor. In the early times the _atrium_ was the common room of the +family, and in it were carried on the domestic occupations presided over +by the mistress of the house, but in the days of Livia it was the +audience chamber of the owner. The walls of this apartment were highly +decorated with landscape paintings, or else lined with beautiful +marbles. Some of the paintings which covered the walls of the Domus +Augustana have been preserved, and in the great spaces through which +they were seen their brilliant colors must have been very effective. + +Opening from the _atrium_ was the _tablinum_; here were the family +archives, the statues, pictures, and other ancestral relics. Around +these great apartments ware smaller chambers, which were commonly used +for the lodging of guests, though it is probable that Livia's +establishment included a house set apart for this purpose. Behind the +apartments we have described, and reached through _fauces_, or narrow +passages, was the real interior and private portion of the palace. First +there came the peristyle. This was a large, oblong court, open to the +sky in the middle and surrounded by a colonnade of polished marble +pillars. The centre of this court was filled with shrubs and flowers, +grown in great boxes of earth; and the beauty and comfort of this +charming "drawing room" were enhanced by the cool fountains of water +with which Rome was so bountifully supplied. Here was Livia's forum. +Here was the fitting stage where she displayed those gifts of mind and +graces of person which never lost their potent influence with her +husband and gave her title of Augusta a real political significance. + +Opening from the peristyle was the _triclinium_, or dining hall. It was +here that the extravagance of the Romans was especially exhibited. In +_La Palais de Scaurus_, by Mazois, there is a pen picture of a +_triclinium_, every detail of which is authenticated by ancient +authorities. It reveals a luxury and a disregard of expense to which our +day furnishes no parallel. But the banquet hall of the Augustan house +was not equipped in so costly a fashion; there was still cherished some +remembrance of the ancient Sabine simplicity. + +In addition to the apartments mentioned, there were spacious halls and +salons used for such purpose as that of a picture gallery or a library. +The bed chambers were usually placed between the outer walls of the +house and the more important rooms; the only remarkable features about +them were their smallness and inconvenience. There was an upper story, +which was used principally for sleeping apartments, and probably there +were no windows opening to the street except on this second floor. The +rear part of the house was given up to the kitchen, the bakery, and the +mill for grinding flour. Above all, in a literal and also commendatory +sense of the word, was the solarium. This was a delightful retreat on +the roof, furnished with plants, flowers, and fountains. + +It was to such an abode as this that Livia came, and there brought her +influence to bear on one of the most brilliant epochs of the world's +history. After her repudiation by Antony, Octavia and her children also +came to reside at the Domus Augustana; and there lived also the little +Julia, the daughter of Scribonia and Octavius. + +How early in her career Livia commenced laying her plans for the +succession of her son to the imperial rule, we do not know; nor is there +any certainty as to the extent of her culpability in carrying them out. +It is most likely that her hope that she might bear a son to Augustus +who would have an indisputable claim to the heritage allowed her at +first to view with complacency the already existing putative but more +removed successors. Time wore on, and her expectations failed of +realization. Her sons, Tiberius and Drusus, were growing up, and both +were manifesting those qualities which showed them worthy of taking the +reins of government. The habit of exercising an influence in the affairs +of State, through the confidence placed in her by her husband, made the +prospect of having to relinquish that power, in the event of the death +of Augustus, constantly more intolerable; but the woman who was called +"a female Ulysses" was likely to win her way. + +Julia, though the only child born in the purple, might not inherit the +imperial sceptre, being a woman. But Octavia had a son of her first +marriage, named Marcellus, of whom Augustus was especially fond. While +he was but a youth of seventeen, Julia, then fourteen years old, was +given to him in marriage; and thus it was hoped the succession would be +continued by means of the union of the daughter and the nephew of the +emperor. These anticipations were doomed to disappointment, as Marcellus +died shortly after the marriage. One historian, Dion Cassius, informs us +that it was whispered about that Livia was responsible for the death of +Julia's husband, being jealous because Cæsar heaped upon him favors +which were denied to her own sons; but, while relating this, the +historian claims that it was a groundless accusation. However, we have +it on the authority of so trustworthy a witness as Seneca that Octavia, +in this sad bereavement, for once was unworthy of herself. He says that +"she turned to hate all mothers, and the angry passion of her sorrow was +directed principally against Livia, because that now the hope and +prospects that had belonged to her own son were transferred to the son +of Livia." Such unreasoning grief in this otherwise noble woman was a +mark of common human frailty; but it does not present so pleasing a +picture as that memorable scene in which Virgil, at the command of +Augustus, read before Octavia the sixth book of his Æneid, in which he +has commemorated Marcellus. Grief-stricken and dejected as she was, +Octavia probably gave but little attention to the opening lines; but her +interest was aroused as the poet proceeded to describe Æneas's visit to +the under world, where dwelt those who had been dearest to her, and +whither she knew herself to be rapidly tending. When she heard the +lines-- + + "This youth, the blissful vision of a day, + Shall just be shown on earth, then snatched away," + +she was startled by the description of her own son, and, hiding her +face, she burst into tears; and when the poet uttered the words "_Tu +Marcellus eris_," which he had wisely withheld to the end of the +passage, she could endure no more and swooned because of the intensity +of her sorrowful emotion. The information that she ordered Virgil to be +presented with ten thousand sesterces for every line of the passage +relating to her son is interesting, but does not add particularly to the +beauty of the scene. Shortly after this, occurred her death. Augustus +caused certain public buildings which he was at this time erecting to be +dedicated in honor of his sister. + +Now that Julia was married, she was freed to some extent from that +severe discipline in which Augustus deemed it necessary to bring up the +girls of his family. Her training had been very strict. She had even +been obliged, at a time when other girls of far inferior birth were +perfecting themselves in more fashionable accomplishments, to assist her +aunt and her stepmother in spinning wool for her father's clothes. She +was denied any freedom of intercourse with the youths of her own age. +Augustus once wrote to a young nobleman: "You have not behaved with +proper respect in paying a visit to my daughter at Baiæ." But natural +inclination, always stronger than discipline in determining the +direction of a moral career, led Julia into evil courses. For many +years, however, her father saw nothing less innocent in her conduct than +that wit and gayety of spirit which he easily condoned. She well knew +how to turn the edge of the mild rebukes of a fond parent. On one +occasion, seeing her surrounded at a public exhibition by a number of +the young fashionables of the city, and noticing that she did not +maintain that dignity of deportment which he thought becoming in the +daughter of an emperor, Augustus wrote her a letter expressing his +displeasure and holding up before her the example of Livia, who +encouraged in her company none but "grave and reverend signiors." Julia +had a ready reply; this was the note scribbled on a tablet and sent back +to her father: "These young men will also have become old fogies by the +time I am an old woman." One day, later in her life, her father found a +slave engaged in plucking the gray hairs from his daughter's head. This +operation suddenly ceased on his entrance, and he feigned not to have +noticed it. Then he asked abruptly: "Julia, which would you rather +be--gray or bald?" "Why, father, gray, of course," "You little liar," +replied Augustus, "see here," and he held up some of the gray hairs +which had fallen on her dressing gown. + +Shortly after the death of Marcellus, Julia was again married, this time +to the great warrior Agrippa, the staunch friend of her father. This +also was distinctly a political marriage. Julia was eighteen, Agrippa +was forty-two, while at the time of betrothal he was already wedded to +Marcella, the daughter of Octavia. The usual divorce severed these +bonds, and Marcella was given to Antonius, the son of the triumvir. Both +Octavia and Scribonia were desirous of this matrimonial readjustment. +They probably saw that Julia needed a firm disciplinarian like Agrippa +to keep the questionable proclivities of her character from attaining +too exuberant a freedom. It is also likely that they hoped that this +union would result in heirs who would frustrate the expectations of +Livia and her sons. But to their check thus played, Livia, in due time, +answered with a decisive mate. To Julia and Agrippa there were born +three sons and one daughter, named respectively Lucius, Caius, Agrippa +Posthumus, and Julia. Thus Tacitus relates the dénouement: "Augustus had +adopted Lucius and Caius into the Cæsarian family; and although they had +not yet laid aside the puerile garment, his ambition was strong to see +them declared princes of the Roman youth, and even mentioned for the +consulship; at the same time, he affected to decline these honors for +them. Upon the death of Agrippa, they were cut off, either by a decease +premature but natural, or by the arts of their stepmother Livia: Lucius +on his journey to the armies in Spain, Caius on his return from Armenia, +ill of a wound. And as Drusus had been long since dead, Tiberius Nero +was the only surviving stepson. On him every honor was accumulated, he +was adopted by Augustus as his son and a colleague in the Empire ... and +this was brought about, not by the secret machinations of his mother, as +heretofore, but at her open suit. For over Augustus, now aged, she had +obtained such absolute sway that he had banished his only surviving +grandson, Agrippa Posthumus, a person of clownish brutality, with great +bodily strength, but convicted of no heinous offence." + +Julia had by this time worked out her own condemnation. Those stories of +her flagrant misconduct which for years had been part of the common +gossip of the baths and porticoes of the city at last reached the ears +of her father. He tried not to believe them. Gazing fondly upon his only +child, he said; "Just like her I am sure that Claudia must have looked, +of whom our forefathers told that she was slandered. But she proved her +innocence." Those to whom he said this listened respectfully; but behind +his back they sneered. After Agrippa's death, Julia had made another +political marriage. Tiberius had been compelled to put away his wife, +Vipsania, the daughter of Agrippa, whom he dearly loved,--she was +probably the only human being for whom this morose man ever had any real +affection,--and was forced, much against his will, to replace her by +Agrippa's widow. Tiberius knew Julia as her father did not; and, rather +than live with her, he betook himself to a voluntary exile in Rhodes. By +thus doing, he seemed to frustrate all his mother's plans for his +advancement; but she, with deadly persistency, determined that there +should be in Cæsar's family no other candidate for the imperial +position, which must soon be vacated. There is some hint of Julia's +misdoings coming to light through the discovery of a plot, in which +Livia had no part, to shorten the emperor's days; but there is no proof, +nor does it seem probable, that Julia was a conspirator against her +father's life. She was probably the tool of others. Augustus, however, +was constrained to institute an investigation, which revealed to him all +the turpitude of his daughter's conduct; she was banished to an island +in the Bay of Naples, and there strictly guarded until the day of her +death. + +The case of Julia gives no occasion for pity, except for the gray-haired +old man who had lost by death all those upon whom he had rested his +ambitious hopes for the future of his house. None were left save +Livia,--probably Augustus himself never for a moment entertained a +suspicion that his wife was the cause of his misfortunes,--Tiberius, +whom he never loved, and this woman, whom he wished had died in her +infancy. And yet the edge is taken from any sympathy one might have for +Augustus, when it is remembered that, notwithstanding his stern demand +for chastity on the part of the women of his own family and all of noble +birth, his own conduct, if Suetonius reports truthfully, was no better +than that of his daughter. But to condemn licentiousness in their women +and to practise it themselves did not seem to the men of Rome to be +either illogical or inconsistent. + +Julia represented the prevalent social conditions of her time. +Licentiousness, like a cancer, was eating into the heart of Roman +society; and this was to grow still worse. It must be admitted also that +female degeneracy kept pace with the increase of woman's influence in +the political world. Livia and Agrippina the Elder were exceptions; but +the rule was, and has been in all history, that the activity of women in +State affairs was accompanied by an abundance of meretricious amatory +intrigues. It is a remarkable fact that in the history of the Roman +woman--and possibly this statement might be given a much wider +application--there is no instance where any individual woman designedly +helped to bring about the enactment of a law for the public weal. Female +politics always had for their object the advancement of the female +politician's own personal interests or those of some male favorite. And +women could never have favorites outside their own families with safety +to their honor. Whenever women have sought high favors either from men +or for men, their personal charms have ever been their principal +argument and illicit love their chief inducement. + +One of the most radical of the early changes made in the Roman +constitution was brought about by the piqued vanity of a woman. Fabius +Ambustus, a man of power and renown in the ancient Republic, had two +daughters. One of them was married to a patrician named Sulpicius, while +the other was espoused to Stolo, a plebeian tribune. This office was the +highest to which at the time a man of plebeian birth could lawfully +aspire. One day the wife of Stolo, being at her sister's house, was +startled by the sound of the lictor's staff at the door--a mode of +announcement to which plebeian ears were unaccustomed. Being laughed at +by Sulpicia, she went to her own home in high dudgeon, and henceforth +neither Fabius Ambustus nor Stolo could gain any relief from her +complaints until they had brought it to pass that the Senate consented +to the conferring of magisterial office upon plebeians, with the +consequence that her husband also might be attended by a lictor with his +axe and rods. The story is important because it illustrates the greater +portion of the Roman woman's interest in politics. + +Livia was now the sole woman of influence in the imperial palace. +Scribonia had voluntarily accompanied her daughter into exile; and the +daughter of Julia, who had inherited both her mother's name and her +failings, was banished from the city. It was not difficult now for Livia +to secure the adoption of Tiberius by Augustus as his son and also as +his heir. This, however, was not done without causing some misgivings in +the minds of the Romans, who, as Tacitus says, feared to be under +bondage to a woman "with the ungovernable spirit peculiar to her sex." + +On the nineteenth of August, A.D. 14, Livia and the intimate friends of +Augustus were gathered around the emperor's deathbed. "Tell me," said +the great emperor, "have I played well my part?" Posterity has never +questioned the nature or the truth of their answer. Then he said: "Let +all applaud and clap their hands." His last words, which throw more +light on the character of this great woman than all the good and bad +that is said of her, were: "Livia! live mindful of our union; and now, +farewell." + +The Augusta had sent urgent messengers to recall her son; and she caused +the people to be kept in ignorance of the true condition of her husband +until the news of his death and of the succession of Tiberius could be +announced at the same time. But, although she had labored so +persistently, and, if the historians are correct, so unscrupulously, for +the accession of her son, with the death of Augustus, Livia's power also +came to an end. Tiberius was impatient of any female interference, even +that of his mother. She was made priestess of the deified Augustus; but +Tiberius declared that public honors should be adjudged to women with +extreme moderation, and he refused to allow a lictor to be appointed for +her service. Still, after a fashion of his own, he treated her with the +greatest respect until the day of her death; and he always allowed her +politic counsels to have considerable weight in his decisions, well +aware that no one else would so jealously guard his interests. + +There is one incident which redounds to the credit of Tiberius, whose +sadly damaged reputation needs everything that can be said in his favor, +and which is worth noticing because it not only illustrates his manner +of dealing with the imperious Augusta, but also indicates the kind of +purposes for which the political power of influential women was +exercised. Livia, presuming on her position, demanded that Piso should +be punished for insulting her by suing Urgulania, one of her favorites, +for the payment of money which was clearly due to him. Tiberius refused +so unjust a request, but gave his mother to understand that no less a +person than himself would plead her cause before the judges. He +fulfilled his word by loitering so long on his way to the court that by +the time he reached it the judges had awarded the claimant his right, so +that the empress found no way open by which she could save her friend +except by paying the money herself. + +Livia's old age was embittered to herself, and still more discredited +with many of her contemporaries, by a new phase of the old feud which +had for so long rent the imperial family. Agrippina, the daughter of +Julia and Agrippa, had been married to Germanicus, the son of Antonia +and the elder Drusus. In the wedded life of these two was exemplified an +excellence of conjugal union that was almost perfect. Germanicus was a +brave and able soldier and a man whose moral character was far superior +to the standard of his time. Agrippina was a woman whose purity of life +was worthy of the principles which guided the matrons of the ancient +Republic, but whose disposition would not permit her to relinquish any +privilege which was open to the women of the new times and warranted by +her position. + +Livia's grudge against Agrippina seems to have been a continuation of +the old discord between the Claudian and the Julian branches of the +governing house. Each of these women had her adherents, who by their +machinations and recriminations made peace an utter stranger in the +imperial palace. Livia, however, possessed a threefold advantage over +Agrippina: the latter was precluded by her nature from adopting against +an enemy any nefarious design--a scruple of which history has been able +to discover no trace in the conduct of the former lady; the Augusta was +strongly supported in her dislike by the Emperor Tiberius; and Agrippina +was away from Rome a great part of the time. She elected to accompany +her husband, even on his most dangerous expeditions. On one occasion, +when their lives were threatened by the mutinous legions and he urged +her to depart to safer quarters, she proudly answered that, being the +granddaughter of the deified Augustus, she was not so degenerate as to +shrink from danger. + +To what extent this animosity between the two ladies was carried it is +difficult to determine. Some historians claim that it resulted in +placing another awful crime to Livia's account. Germanicus died in +Seleucia in the thirty-fourth year of his age, of some mysterious +malady; and there were many who at once whispered that Livia had been +the means of bringing about his death by poisoning. But there is no +proof of this, and a careful study of the known facts causes it to seem +improbable. There was no motive for such an act, beyond the fact that +the husband of Agrippina was exceedingly popular with the army and the +people; but this was offset by his undoubted and enthusiastic devotion +to Tiberius. The facts, so far as they are now ascertainable, are these: +Piso, who was Proconsul of Syria, was instigated by his wife Plancina to +acts of disrespect and animosity against Germanicus and Agrippina. This +woman, who was of an exceedingly masculine temperament,--as is shown +among other things by her habit of taking part in the exercises of the +cavalry,--was a great favorite with Livia and shared her closest +confidence. Plancina is said to have kept about her a woman named +Martina, who had an evil reputation as being expert in the use of +poisonous drugs, but of whose existence nothing more is known than the +little that is told in this connection, Germanicus, on his deathbed, +declared that he was cut short in his career by the dark devices of a +woman. The news of his decease did not affect Livia with the same degree +of sorrow as it did the populace; which fact tended to strengthen +suspicion in the minds of the latter. But all this proves nothing, even +though Piso, despairing of acquittal, destroyed himself during his +trial, after having written a letter protesting his innocence. Nor does +the fact that Plancina was protected by Livia furnish any proof that the +aged and much-maligned empress was guilty of instigating the crime, if +crime it was. + +Agrippina, after the body of her husband had been burned on the funeral +pyre, set forth in the depth of winter on her journey to Rome with his +ashes. At every port where the fleet touched she received a sad but an +imposing ovation. All the friends of her husband crowded to Brundusium, +where she was to disembark; but they could not agree as to whether she +should be received in respectful silence or with some more demonstrative +expression of their sympathy. Tacitus thus depicts the affecting scene: +"Nothing was settled when the fleet came sweeping slowly in, not rigged +out in sprightly fashion, but wearing the ensigns of sadness. When, +however, the widow descended from the ship, bearing the funeral urn in +her hand, accompanied by her two infants and with her eyes steadily +fixed on the ground, one simultaneous groan burst from the entire +assemblage." Neither Tiberius, nor Livia, nor Antonia, the mother of +Germanicus, attended the funeral. Tacitus gives the reasons that were +alleged, but does not decide which was nearest the truth. "Tiberius and +Livia either thought public lamentation beneath their dignity, or else +they feared lest if folk peered into their faces their hypocrisy would +be discovered. Whether sickness detained Antonia, or overmuch sorrow and +inability to go through the ceremony, is not known. I would rather +believe that she was held back by Tiberius and Livia, who did not leave +the palace, that they might seem to mourn in private." + +Agrippina had been exhorted by her dying husband, "as she would cherish +his memory, and for the sake of their children, to divest herself of her +unyielding spirit, and humble herself to Fortune in the storm of her +displeasure; and, on her return to the city, not to irritate, in a +competition for the mastery, those who were more than a match for her." +Such advice given to a Roman matron would have appeared unnecessary to +the men of the old regime; but there was now a throne in Rome, and +consequently women jostled each other for the place of power behind it. + +Agrippina needed just such counsel; but her nature would not allow her +to profit by it. Irreproachable in her life, her virtues were not +beautified by the divine gift of good humor; and she possessed no +philosophy. Her mind was of that sort, more common among women than men, +in which an idea having once been entertained is henceforth unassailable +and undetachable by reason. Than this class of mind there is nothing +more exasperating in human knowledge, and it is not to be wondered at +that she irritated Tiberius. These two angered each other on every +occasion of their meeting: the emperor by his cruel persecution of +Agrippina's friends, and she him both by her air of martyrdom and by her +evident and constant suspicion that he was planning some nefarious +project against herself. + +There lacked not ambitious men at the time who were ready to gather +around the noble widow on the pretence of siding with her in her +complaints against the emperor; they even sought to raise a party for +the advantage of her children. She probably lent herself to some extent +to these schemes, but not in sufficient degree to bring upon herself the +violence of the suspicious and resentful Tiberius. Nevertheless, all her +sons perished, except Caligula, whom a destiny unkind to the Roman +people protected from the fate of his brothers. + +Sejanus, the all-powerful favorite of the emperor, adroitly fanned the +ever-smoldering animosity which naturally existed between Tiberius and +Agrippina. He warned her to beware of poison, after having informed +Tiberius that the matron suspected that the emperor had designs on her +life. So, when the emperor politely handed her fruit, calling her +attention to its excellence, she silently passed it to the slaves. "Can +I avoid," he exclaimed to Livia, "treating this woman with harshness, +when she accuses me to my face of seeking to poison her?" + +The favorite Sejanus aimed at removing every heir to the imperial +throne, in order that at the death of Tiberius he might rule in name, as +he already did in effect. To achieve this end, he first seduced Livilla, +the wife of the son of Drusus Tiberius; then he procured by her means +the death of Drusus and asked Livilla in marriage. This the emperor +refused. At length,--not, however, until after Agrippina's sons had been +destroyed,--Antonia, the mother of Livilla, was constrained to write to +Tiberius of the conspiracy of Sejanus, and by her means he was brought +to justice. Livilla was starved to death by the command of her mother. + +Livia seems to have been at all times an obedient and submissive wife. +She was honored by the confidence of her husband. She shared in the +knowledge of his deepest political projects, and her advice was asked in +regard thereto. But there is no indication that she ever sought to +dictate. It was otherwise, however, with Tiberius. Whether Livia +considered that a mother's prerogative was more commanding than that of +a wife, or that a larger share of the rule might be claimed by her on +account of the fact that she had secured it for Tiberius, certain it is +that the latter found there was not enough room for himself and the +Augusta in the imperial palace. Suetonius informs us that on one +occasion, when Tiberius had haughtily objected to his mother's sharing +the government with him, Livia produced some letters which Augustus had +written to her complaining of the pride and arrogance of Tiberius. The +discovery that his mother had treasured these letters against him for so +many years so wounded the emperor that he immediately left the city, and +he never again saw his mother except for a few hours on one occasion. + +It is said that during her last days, when there was little more to hope +for and nothing else to do, Livia strove to defend Agrippina from the +machinations of Sejanus and the hatred of Tiberius. For twenty years she +had done somewhat to relieve the hardship of her daughter-in-law Julia's +exile; but she never sought to have her recalled. Tacitus says that, +having secretly overthrown her stepchildren in their prosperity, it was +her custom to make an open show of compassion toward them in their +adversity. + +Livia the Augusta died in A.D. 29, at the age of eighty-five. The +verdict of the historian is that she had been a stepmother to the +commonwealth of Rome; and this perhaps expresses her politics better +than any other term that could be employed. A faithful wife, a fond +mother, she had relentlessly witnessed the removal of every obstacle in +the way of Tiberius. For the sake of her son, she had done and suffered +everything; for the people, she had done nothing. Her powerful influence +had at all times been directed by her emotions; and if we should carry +the study to the end of the Empire, bringing into review all the +consorts and female associates of the emperors, this would still be the +summary of the story of the Roman woman in politics. + +Tiberius refused to permit the apotheosis of Livia; but after his death +the highest honors which a superstitious people could devise were paid +to her memory. Claudius caused her to be deified, and the worship of +Livia was constituted one of the functions of the Vestals. An idealized +statue of her was placed in the temple of Augustus. Medals were +impressed with the image of her head, and it was ordered that when the +women of Rome had occasion to swear, it should be "By Livia." + +On the whole, the Roman people, who understood Livia's character better +than it is possible for us to do at this late day, judged her very +kindly. Her virtues, which were conjugal and domestic, were always +popularly respected, though not generally followed. Her pride and cruel +vices were readily condoned, because they were considered indispensable +to the policy of rulers. Her husband was a successful statesman; he +maintained his position on the throne and accomplished much for the best +interests of the Empire. Livia was a successful politician; she kept the +people enamored of her supremacy, but furthered no interests save those +of herself and her son. + +Soon after the death of Livia, Agrippina was banished to the island of +Pandataria, where her mother Julia had been confined for so many +repentant years. It seems that her redoubtable spirit would not allow +her to submit to this tyranny without a struggle; and so brutal were the +soldiers in enforcing the emperor's command upon her who had once been +known as "The Mother of the Camps," that she lost the sight of one of +her eyes. After four years of miserable exile, she ended her life in the +"high Roman manner" by voluntary starvation. + +In the Capitol Museum there is a seated figure of Agrippina. It is one +of the noblest pieces of statuary in the world. In it is seen none of +that feminine sweetness which endeared the young wife of Germanicus to +the hearts of the Roman legions; but there is that proud consciousness +of moral dignity which Livia could not rival and that imperial manner +which Tiberius could not cow. It is a sad, strong-hearted woman. One +could fancy that a composite of all the noblest Roman matrons might have +made just such a picture. Or it might be the goddess Roma, in whose +personification are included the femininity of her daughters and also +the sternness of her sons. + +In the daughter of Germanicus we have another Agrippina, who was a much +more adroit politician than her mother. She was shrewder even than +Livia, and more unprincipled; and was favored beyond parallel in +position, for she was daughter by adoption of Tiberius, mother of Nero, +sister of Caligula, and wife of Claudius. The last mentioned relation +gave her a much more effective position of vantage than Livia had +enjoyed--first, on account of Claudius's incapacity, and also because +the Romans had allowed themselves to drift further away from the old +republican ideas. Hereafter we shall study the character of Agrippina +and shall be compelled to place her among those notorious women who +helped to make the Neronian age the most corrupt period in the world's +history. Here we notice but briefly her political ambitions. She managed +the emperor, securing with slight persuasion the appointment or the +dismissal of the most important State officers. She established colonies +in her own name. Nor was she satisfied to remain merely the power behind +the throne. When Caractacus the British king was carried prisoner to +Rome, and for his courageous bearing gained for himself his wife and his +brothers from the emperor, the prisoners did homage not only to +Claudius, but also to Agrippina. The empress occupied a second throne +and received an equal share of the gratitude of the prisoners and the +plaudits of the people. Here was seen, as Tacitus remarks, a spectacle +strange and unauthorized by any former custom. A woman had never before +presided over the Roman ensigns. Agrippina boldly claimed to be a +partner in the Empire which her ancestors had wrested from the ancient +republican suffrage. + +It was with Agrippina the Second as it had been with Livia, every +political aspiration was concentrated upon one object--the elevation of +her own son to the imperial rule, and all the activities emanating from +her energetic, resourceful nature were employed in hewing a path for +Nero's advancement. Woe befell the persons who stood in that path or +seemed likely at any time to have it in their power and inclination to +impede that advancement. They were ruthlessly cut down in that +unrelenting manner of which only an ambitious woman is capable. There +were no public works, nothing broad-minded, no thought of the common +good: the sole motif of the Roman woman in politics was personal +preferment. + + + + +_VIII_ + +THE ROMAN WOMAN IN LITERATURE + +There was in ancient Rome a street called Argiletus, which we learn from +Martial was occupied principally by booksellers. Here those works which +are cherished not alone for their antiquity, and some others possibly as +good but which in the misfortunes of many centuries have disappeared, +were bought fresh from their authors' hands and sold to the eager lovers +of literature. Here, when a new piece by Virgil or Horace was announced, +the reading public would flock, urged by the most commendable form of +curiosity known to the cultured human mind. Here hundreds of scribes +were employed in the multiplication of copies of those classics over +which in later days have labored scores of generations of youthful +students, with deep regret that those classics were not written in their +own mother tongue. Those shops, or _taberna libraria_, were the lounging +places of the famous men who created this literature and of those who +did good service to posterity by constituting themselves the patrons of +the geniuses of their age, who otherwise would have been as indigent and +as barren as are the neglected authors of our own times. The men and +women who received an ancient author in the name of a poet are entitled +to receive a poet's reward. In the shops of Secundus and the Sosii +brothers, the literati of Rome and their admirers gathered to indulge in +that most fascinating of all conversational intercourse: book talk. + +While it is probable that the presence of women was not so marked and +frequent in these haunts of the cultured fraternity as it is in the book +shops and publishing houses of modern times, this does not signify that +the ladies of Rome did not take a deep and influential interest in +literature. Did not Augustus dedicate a public library in the name of +his sister Octavia? There was in the Roman world a reading public so +great as to appear to us nothing less than marvellous in view of the +lack of the printing press; but slaves who could be set to copying were +plentiful, and if a lady wished a copy of the poems of Propertius or +Catullus she could procure it for a small sum in the street Argiletus, +or she could borrow it from a friend and have it transcribed at home. + +Great attention was paid to the education of girls in Greek and Latin +literature. Even those of the poorer class received this instruction; +for such an accomplishment, especially if assisted by personal +attractions, often availed in place of a rich dowry to secure a +desirable match. Women also were not rare who, like Sempronia, could +write verses of sufficient merit to be mentioned by the serious +historians of their times, though unfortunately their productions have +not been preserved to us. Mommsen, commenting on the flood of literature +which characterized the period of the commencement of the Empire, +assures us that "The female world also took a lively part in these +literary pursuits; the ladies did not confine themselves to dancing and +music, but by their spirit and wit ruled conversation and talked +excellently on Greek and Latin literature; and when poetry laid siege to +a maiden's heart, the beleaguered fortress not seldom surrendered +likewise in graceful verses. Rhythm became more and more the fashionable +plaything of the big children of both sexes." + +If it can be shown that the law of the "survival of the fittest" +operates with any degree of inevitability in the preservation of books, +we shall be obliged to conclude that few of the writings that owed their +existence to the lady authors of ancient Rome were remarkable for their +merit. It is difficult even to indulge a natural desire to be gallant by +assuming that to the accidents of time may be attributed the loss of +much that was worthy of preservation; for the number of female writers +who are mentioned in contemporary works as having attained to any great +degree of excellence in authorship is remarkably limited. Some, however, +there are. Pliny says: "Pompeius Saturninus has lately read to me some +letters he says are from his wife. I fancied myself listening to Plautus +or Terence in prose. Whether they are his wife's, as he affirms, or his +own, as he denies them to be, he is entitled to equal credit: in the one +case, for producing such compositions; in the other, for transforming +his wife, a mere girl when he married her, into such a learned and +finished woman." Martial also tells of a young woman who, he says, had +the eloquence of Plato, the austerity of the Porch, and composed verses +worthy of a chaste Sappho. Sidonius Apollinaris recites a list of Latin +poetesses; but of them all there is only one whose work may be read at +the present time. We do not refer to Balbilla, who wisely engraved her +verses and also her genealogy upon the leg of the statue of Memnon; the +fact that these have endured is attributable solely to the lasting +nature of the medium upon which they were written. + +Sulpicia, the only Roman poetess whose work is still extant and well +authenticated, lived in the time of the Emperor Domitian. She came of a +famous patrician family, many members of which had been able men of +affairs in their time. She was a great and highly respected friend of +the poet Martial, to whose two epigrams on herself and her husband we +are indebted for almost all that we know of this talented woman. Her +husband's name was Calenus; and with him she lived for fifteen years, in +a felicity of reciprocated conjugal affection which, notwithstanding the +degeneracy of the age, seems to have been ideal. Martial bears testimony +not only to her surpassing ability as a votary of the poetic muse, but +also to the fact that in her life and character she exemplified a purity +such as would beautify any age or society. + +There is in existence but one poem known to have been written by +Sulpicia; it was called forth by an act of tyranny which she rebuked +with as much beauty as spirit. During the reign of Domitian, the +philosophers were banished from Rome by edict of the emperor. Those +against whom this measure was particularly directed were of the Stoic +school; this fact helps to explain the cause of their expulsion and also +the poem which Sulpicia wrote upon the occasion. Their tenets inculcated +an independence of thought and manner which was entirely at variance +with that servility which could allow the people to rest peacefully +under the despotism of such a ruler as was Domitian. The philosophers +were considered, and probably justly so, a menace to the government of +the tyrant. Whether Sulpicia was directly connected with these people +and whether she was included in the edict of banishment, we do not know; +in any case, it is quite clear that her sympathies were entirely with +the expelled philosophers. Her satire on this incident bewails the +weakness that had evidently fallen upon the Roman race, causing men to +submit so easily to such tyranny as that to which her friends were +subjected. She asks if "the Father of the Gods" is about to allow the +Romans to revert to primeval barbarism, "to stoop again to acorns and +the pure stream"; or if he has forsaken them for the care of other +nations. She declares that "adversity alone is salutary for a State," +"for when the love of country urges them to defend themselves by arms, +and to regain their wives, held prisoners with their household gods, +they combine like wasps when their home and citadel is assaulted." Then +she implores her divine patroness that at least her husband may not be +unwilling to abandon this inglorious ease and to leave Rome and its +vicinity, since all the good and estimable have been driven from it. The +poem is a noble, high-spirited production; and it proves Sulpicia to +have been a woman of extraordinary intelligence and a fearless exponent +of principles and ideas which the majority of men in her time found it +more convenient to forget. + +Sulpicia was also the author of a poem on conjugal affection which is +most highly commended by Martial; but unfortunately it has been lost. +Indeed, from the reference in the beginning of her satire to her +"thousand sportive effusions," we gather that she was a prolific writer +and that all her poetry was not of the philosophic or didactic kind. + +With this brief reference to Sulpicia, our account of woman's creative +participation in Roman literature must end for want of material. The +real part which the women of the Roman world played in the formation of +the literature of their time must be sought rather in the view which the +authors present of their character and the inspiration which the poets +drew from their love and friendship. That is to say, we meet the Roman +woman in the poetic art of her nation as the model and also as the +motive, but not as the artist. But it is very essential that we should +give attention to both these phases of feminine life. Hitherto we have +dealt only with historic personages, and those of the highest class; to +obtain a complete view of the Roman woman, it is necessary to see her in +that broader light in which she is sketched by the makers of other +literature than history. And in order that our attention may not be +confined to the women of one class, we must take notice of those ladies +of whom the poets sing and to whom they address their effusions. + +First let us consider the woman drawn by Roman creative art. In her +image, as it is portrayed in literature, we see the real person of flesh +and blood, as she appeared to the literary artists. Virgil says: "Woman +is a fickle and ever changeable creature;" and yet he must have found in +the women of his time the qualities with which he endowed Queen Dido. +She is a Roman woman, because she is the creation of a Roman. She is an +ideal queen; yet one who governs her kingdom in the same manner in which +a noble matron presided over the activities of her household, +"dispensing justice and laws to her subjects" from the middle room, or +atrium, of the temple, and "in equal portions distributing their tasks +or settling them by lot." Furthermore, she is a true woman. She is the +sole contribution of Roman poetry to that gallery of imaginary men and +women who, having their existence only in literature, are immortal +because they faithfully represent the real. In Dido, Virgil, though he +calls her a Sidonian, shows how a woman of pagan Rome could love; and +how, her heart being broken and her pride injured by rejection, she +could die in the high-spirited manner peculiar to her prideful race. + +But in all Latin poesy there is no other character such as Dido. When we +turn to Plautus and Terence, we learn a great deal about women, but we +encounter none that live and move and have a being. These authors did +not lay their scenes in the houses of the patricians or in the seats of +the mighty; they show us a class of women that we have not hitherto met. +Having studied the highest, we now turn to the lowest stratum of Roman +society. We are introduced to a class of people who traffic in female +beauty; and much insight is gained into that laxity of morals which was +countenanced both by the laws and customs of ancient Rome. Here we are +informed of the multitude of girls who were carefully trained and +educated, both in mind and person, that they might make profit for their +owners by the prostitution of their charms. We meet these girls as they +are being sent to school in order that, at the same time, their +intellects may be developed and their commercial value enhanced. In +these plays, we are shown the women of the brothel; and we are less +astounded at the greatness of their number than we are at the +complacency with which their existence was tolerated in Roman society. +These women were principally unfortunates who had been captured in war +or were born in slavery, and the only redeeming feature in the picture +of their situation is the intimation that now and again one, by signal +success in a bad business, might hope to earn her freedom. + +It is said that because a sacrifice of virtue is made by one class of +women, the members of another class are enabled to live purely. If we +accept Juvenal's description of the character of the Roman women as a +true one, it must be concluded that the morality of the more fortunate +ladies gained little by the immorality of those who were courtesans +perforce or by profession; but in satire it is essential to fasten upon +the worst, and to hold it up to public ridicule as representative of the +whole. There is no balance, no justice, no offsetting the indecent by +that which is noble and good. The Roman woman was not at any period +such a morally deformed creature as Juvenal paints her; nor could the +ladies who patronized literature have been quite so disagreeable as he +would have us believe. It is certain that he was not blessed with a +patroness, or, in his description of the Roman "bluestocking," the +shafts of satire would not have been embittered with so much prejudice. +Yet, as indicating how some men regarded the devotion to belles-lettres +which was affected by the women, we will quote what the great satirist +says on the subject. After depicting some monstrously disagreeable +females, he declares: + + "But she is more intolerable yet, + Who plays at critic when at table set: + Calls Virgil charming, and attempts to prove + Poor Dido right in venturing all for love. + From Maro and Mæonides she quotes + The striking passages, and, while she notes + Their beauties and defects, adjusts her scales, + And accurately weighs which bard prevails. + The astonished guests sit mute; grammarians yield, + Loud rhetoricians, baffled, quit the field; + Even auctioneers and lawyers stand aghast, + And not a woman speaks.--So thick and fast + The wordy shower descends, that you would swear + A thousand bells were jangling in your ear, + A thousand basins clattering. Vex no more + Your trumpets and your timbrels, as of yore, + To ease the laboring moon; her single yell + Can drown their clangor, and dissolve the spell + She lectures too in Ethics, and declaims + On the Chief Good!--but, surely, she who aims + To seem too learned, should take the male array; + A hog, due offering, to Sylvanus slay, + And, with the Stoic's privilege, repair + To farthing baths, and strip in public there. + Oh, never may the partner of my bed + With subtleties of logic stuff her head; + Nor whirl her rapid syllogisms round, + Nor with imperfect enthymemes confound. + Enough for me. If common things she know, + And boast the little learning schools bestow. + I hate the female pedagogue, who pores + O'er her Palaemon hourly; who explores + All modes of speech, regardless of the sense, + But tremblingly alive to mood and tense; + Who puzzles me with many an uncouth phrase + From some old canticle of Numa's days; + Corrects her country friends, and cannot hear + Her husband solecize without a sneer." + +It may be that the horror of learned women which was affected by Juvenal +arose from his realization of that proverb which declares the inability +of two who are engaged in the same trade to maintain intimate and happy +relations. Whether or not he was so unfortunate as to learn this by +personal experience, we have no means of ascertaining; but it is certain +that while many of the Roman authors gained inspiration and influence +from the women with whom they were connected, others discovered in their +matrimonial relations a want of harmony unfavorable to the cultivation +of the muse. In Terentia, for example, Cicero was burdened with a wife +who entirely lacked that power of sympathy which is the glory of +womanhood. Terentia did not appreciate her brilliant husband; and she +could not anticipate the honor in which she might have been held by +posterity, had she proved herself the devoted wife of so famous a man. +But, after all has been said, she probably knew Cicero better than he is +known by posterity. He alleged that she was so overbearing that at last +he was compelled to divorce her; but in Terentia the old adage was +justified which says that what is one man's poison is another man's +pleasure, for, being repudiated by Cicero to the great relief of +himself, she was at once accepted by the historian Sallust; and in as much +as there appears to have been no other motive for their union, it seems +probable that the bond between them was that of sentiment. + +Then there was that other Terentia, who was such a trial to the patience +of Mæcenas, the great patron of literature in the days of Augustus. Her +he repudiated so often, and yet received back so regularly, that it was +said of him that he had been married a thousand times, and yet all the +while had but one wife. + +There was another class of women which furnished many of the names +intimately connected with Roman poetry, not for what these women +themselves did, but because of their intimate relations with the poets. +As the exquisite tracery of primordial ferns is sometimes found embedded +in the carboniferous strata, so these women, whose names would otherwise +have perished with their generation, were, by the chances of their birth +and fortune, brought into connection with literary men, and their memory +has thus been preserved in Latin poesy. It is to Martial himself that we +are indebted for the information that, returning to his country home +after many years of absence in Rome, he finds comfort for the lack of +his urban pleasures and conveniences in the society of Marcella, a lady +of uncommon intellectual development and grace of person. Her relation +to the poet was rather that of patroness than mistress. It would seem +unimportant either way; yet she assisted in the production of literature +more durable than the Empire, and her name is known to posterity. + +Every reader of Horace knows of Lydia, Glycera, Phyllis, and Barine. Who +were they? To have found them in that ancient Rome, it would have been +necessary to go, not to houses such as have been described as the homes +of the imperial women, but to those _insulæ,_ or huge tenements, in +which the great mass of the people lived. There these women inhabited +one room or many, according as their poverty or wealth would warrant. +The latter depended largely upon their youth and beauty; for these women +were light-o'-loves, who were inured to the changes and chances of their +position, and could turn from one lover to another with as few heart +pangs as were suffered by their inconstant friends. In many cases, they +were the daughters of unnaturalized foreigners, whom Roman citizens +could not marry and to whom no lot other than that of the mistress was +open. That such women were the intimates of Horace is revealed by the +manner in which he descants in his Satires on the danger attending +liaisons with married women--so also is the sincerity of that affection +to which he swears in his Odes. Speaking of those ladies who were not +eligible for marriage bonds, he says: "When I am in the company of such +an one, she is my Ilia and Ægeria; in short, I give her any tender +name." + +The favorite of Horace seems to have been Lydia, of whose undistinguished +fame he tells, but does not inform us on what account she was famous. +Among the amorous epistles in which he addresses her, there is more than +one that reveals his jealous knowledge of the fact that he is not the +sole recipient of her favors. As a punishment for her occasional +inhospitable treatment of him, he writes an insulting ode in which it is +averred that she has grown too old for lovers and that her slumbers will +no more be disturbed by the serenade. Horace possessed the ability, and +did not lack the meanness, to castigate these women in his poetry after +the most shameful manner; and that not for their moral delinquencies, +but because of the suspension of their preferences for himself. Witness +the manner in which he gloats over the fading of the charms of Lyce, who +had sometime disdained his advances: "Wrinkles and snowy hair render +you odious. Now neither Coan purples nor sparkling jewels restore those +years which winged time has inserted in the public annals. Whither is +your beauty gone? Alas! or whither your bloom? Whither your graceful +deportment? What have you remaining of her, of her who breathed loves +and ravished me from myself? Happy in accomplishments next to Cynara, +and distinguished for an aspect of graceful delicacies. But the Fates +granted but a few years to Cynara, intending to preserve Lyce for a long +time, to rival in years the aged raven; that the fervid young fellows +might see, not without excessive laughter, that torch, which once so +brightly scorched, now reduced to ashes." + +As a finale at once to his love epistles and amorous relationships, he +invites Phyllis to an entertainment in his country villa on Maecenas's +birthday; and among the provisions for this festive occasion he mentions +a caskful of Albanian wine, upward of nine years old, besides parsley +for the weaving of chaplets, and ivy to bind her hair. "Come, then, last +of my loves: learn with me such measures as you may recite with your +lovely voice; our gloomy cares shall be mitigated with an ode." + +Through Ovid we learn of Corinna, who was his mistress and the heroine +of his love elegies; but his passion for her was no more sincere than we +should expect from that manual of libertinism--his _Ars amatoria_. This +work is the glorification of animalism and indirectly a defamation of +woman. It assumes with the most undisguised frankness that the root and +source of the principal part of the attention which men pay to women is +their availability for the purpose of satisfying amatory desire, and it +alleges the theory that any woman will capitulate the citadel of her +honor, if only it be besieged with indefatigableness and resource. It +was by such poetry as this that the women of Rome were prepared for that +carnival of vice into which they threw themselves with such frenzied +abandonment in the days of Claudius and Nero. In the eroticism of Latin +poetry is revealed a society in which illicit love is put to the +experiment; in Roman history is made manifest the resulting moral chaos. + +The master of this school was Catullus; and he immortalized one Lesbia, +who was the principal heroine in his love poems. It has been said by one +of the best-informed students of Roman literature that the poems of +Catullus to Lesbia are unique in Roman letters for the intensity and +self-oblivion of the passion they portray. We learn from Apuleius that +Clodia was the real name of Lesbia; and it is supposed that the latter +name was given her by her lover because of his admiration of the Lesbian +poetess. Many have concluded from the statement of Apuleius that Lesbia +was the notoriously fascinating sister of Clodius, the woman whom Cicero +so mercilessly pilloried before the judges; but the possibility of this +seems to be precluded by the fact that Catullus incited a poem to Cicero +in which he terms him the "best of all advocates "--a courtesy which +hardly could have been overlooked or forgiven by the woman to whom the +advocate had given such ample cause for hatred. + +Many of Catullus's brightest pieces are addressed to Lesbia; but all are +touched by the poet's consciousness of her inconstancy. At last she +leaves him, and he bids her adieu in the lines which have thus been so +beautifully rendered by Moore: + + "Comrades and friends, with whom where'er + The Fates have willed through life I've roved, + Now speed ye home, and with you bear + These bitter words to her I've loved. + + "Tell her from fool to fool to run, + Where'er her vain caprice may call; + Of all her dupes, not loving one, + But ruining and maddening all. + + "Bid her forget--what now is past-- + Our once dear love, whose ruin lies + Like a fair flower, the meadow's last, + That feels the ploughshare's edge, and dies." + +In Cynthia, whose love and beauty inspired the pen of Propertius, is +seen the sympathetic helpmate as well as the mistress. She was the +granddaughter of Lucius Hostius, who wrote a poem on the Illyrian War. +She inherited her ancestor's love of literature, and there consequently +existed between her and Propertius that fellowship in poetic labor which +is the most perfect companionship known to human experience. Though of +the highest type of that class of women, she was a courtesan; which +accounts for the fact that the poet could not, as he desired, make her +his lawful wife. Her house was situated in the Suburra, which was the +centre of "Bohemian" life in Rome and the quarter especially favored by +women of her class. The intimacy between her and Propertius lasted for +six years; but, notwithstanding their sympathetic tastes, those years +were not passed in unbroken concord. Cynthia, besides other faults, +seems to have possessed a violent temper, and in some outburst of this +Propertius was banished. After this, though their friendship was +renewed, neither was faithful to the other. During the illness which +preceded her death, they were again reconciled to each other, which +fact, more than anything else, indicates the hold that Cynthia must have +had upon the sincere affection of the poet. In the seventh poem of his +last book, Propertius gives an account of a dream he had of Cynthia +after her death; and from certain allusions therein contained it may be +inferred that she left to him the duty of disposing of her property and +arranging her funeral. + +Women like Cynthia were not in any degree conspicuous among their +contemporaries; they were nothing more than ciphers in the estimation of +those great ladies who took a part in the game of politics. They are +only known to us because their names chanced to be embalmed in the +writings of the men whose companions they were; but from this distance, +whence the names of the women of Rome may be seen as divested of that +fictitious glory which was a mere accident of their birth, a Cynthia +gains more interest from her connection with a poet than does a Julia +from her relation to an emperor. + +These women look out at us from the _insulæ_ in which were massed the +common people. We catch glimpses of their fair faces and hear somewhat +of their sportive talk, but unfortunately we know little of their lives. +History has not individualized the woman of the common people; +literature has dressed her up in all her finery, and has posed her in +natural but unusual situations. Delia, Nemesis, and Neaera, women whose +love and whose loss Tibullus sang in such passionate strains, though +human enough, as is attested by their fickleness, are credited with +those charms which have their existence only in the imagination of a +poet and in a lover's fancy. + +Tibullus, unlike Horace, took his love affairs too seriously; +consequently, owing to the character of the women to whom he became +attached, they brought him more grief than pleasure. The first object of +his affection was Delia, whose real name, according to Apuleius, was +Plania. "She belonged," says Milman, "to that class of females of the +middle order, not of good family, but above poverty, which answered to +the Greek hetaeræ." Tibullus longed to retire with her to the +undisturbed seclusion of the country. For her sake he rejected a +flattering offer from his great patron Messala, who desired the poet's +companionship on a martial expedition. "The bonds of a fair girl hold me +captive, and I sit like a gatekeeper before her obdurate door. I care +not to be praised, my Delia; only let me be with thee, and I am content +to be called slow and spiritless." It would have been very surprising if +the poet had been able to retain the fidelity of Delia by such arguments +as these. The time had not yet come when the women of Rome did not love +soldierly valor; the time never came when they were not influenced by +the hope of a participation in the spoils of conquest. Shortly after the +rejection of Messala's offer, the poet seems to have been obliged to +leave the city; and when he returns, he finds that Delia has married; +upon which, in the imagery of poetic numbers, he drowns his grief in +wine. However, he soon recalls to his mind the fact that a husband is +not necessarily an insurmountable barrier between himself and the lady. +She must be taught how to elude observing eyes. He pretends--the wish +probably being father to the thought--that he has a magic which will +render them invisible. "Chant thrice, spit thrice after reciting the +charm; your husband will be unable to believe the testimony of his own +eyes." But Delia could not remain faithful even to such a pertinacious +lover. What a moving scene is that in the fifth elegy of the first book! +It is worthy of quotation, if for no other reason than that in it the +poet recites the efficacious means which he has employed for the +recovery of Delia, who has been ill. + + "What can atone, my fair, for crimes like these? + I'll bear with patience, use me as you please. + Yet, by Love's shafts, and by your braided hair, + By all the joys we stole, your suppliant spare. + When sickness dimmed of late your radiant eyes, + My restless, fond petitions won the skies. + Thrice I with sulphur purified you round, + And thrice the rite, with songs, the enchantress bound; + The cake, by me thrice sprinkled, put to flight + The death-denouncing phantoms of the night; + And I nine times, in linen garbs arrayed, + In silent night, nine times to Trivia prayed. + What did I not? Yet what reward have I? + You love another, your preserver fly." + +The Romans most firmly believed that there was efficacy in odd numbers. + +In the seventh elegy, the poet complains that he has been caught in his +own trap; for Delia is practising upon himself those arts by which he +has taught her to deceive her husband. Then he appeals to her husband to +assist him in watching her and keeping her from others. This appears to +be a rather bold step; but, considering the class to which Delia +belonged, it is likely that her intimacy with Tibullus was no news to +her spouse. The address to him is nothing more than a most exquisite +piece of persiflage. From this time on, however, we hear no more of +Delia. + +The poet now turns to Nemesis, with whom he is no more fortunate. +Besides being fickle, she is avaricious; from which fault Tibullus tries +to save her, possibly not altogether without a thought of the limitation +of his own means. "The girl who is good-natured and not avaricious, +though she live a hundred years, shall be wept for before the blazing +pyre; and some aged man, revering the memory of his old love, shall +yearly deck her reared tomb with flowers, and say as he leaves it: 'Rest +well and placidly, and light be the earth above thy quiet bones!'" + +The third book of elegies is dedicated to Neæra. On the first of March, +it was customary for the Roman women to expect presents from their +husbands and lovers. Tibullus was betrothed to Neaera, and was +confronted with the question as to what he should send her for a New +Year's gift. The Muses inform him that the lovely are won with song; +hence he determines to send her a book of his own poems. It was made of +the finest paper; and upon the cover--which was yellow, the color sacred +to marriage--the recipient's name was beautifully inscribed, with the +dedication: _Your husband that will be, chaste Neæra, sends you this +little gift and begs you to accept it_. + +To what degree Neæra prized the volume is not known; but Tibullus was no +more fortunate with her than he had been with the others. In a dream it +is revealed to him that: "She who is celebrated in thy songs, the +beautiful Neæra, prefers to be the bride of another." "Ah, cruel sex! +woman, faithless name!" exclaims the poet; and then: "But she may be won +yet; their minds are changeable." + +The fourth book of poems published under his name was probably not +written by Tibullus. Eleven of these poems relate to the love of +Sulpicia, a Roman lady of high station, and the daughter of Valeria, the +sister of Messala. She had fallen in love with a youth named Cerinthus, +and these poems tell the story. It is thought by many that Sulpicia was +the author of them and that, in fact, some of them are nothing other +than her own letters to her lover. These "letters" are very short; but, +if this supposition is correct, they are the only love poems by a Roman +woman that have survived. + +Thus she writes to Cerinthus from her couch, to which she is confined by +a racking fever: + + "On my account, to grief a ceaseless prey, + Dost thou a sympathetic anguish prove? + I would not wish to live another day, + If my recovery did not charm my love; + For what were life, and health, and bloom to me, + Wore they displeasing, beauteous youth! to thee?" + +There is another Roman woman who may be counted on the list of authors, +and whose writings, had they only been preserved, would have proved of +exceeding interest. This was the brilliant and accomplished Agrippina +the Younger; a woman who was as finished a scholar as she was an +experienced and successful politician. She wrote her _Memoirs_, not so +much from a desire to make a contribution to history as to use them to +blacken the character of the enemies of her house. She dipped her pen in +the venom of hate and envy, and she found her material in the scandalous +stories which floated about Rome, growing daily more exaggerated from an +origin which no one knew. From this work of Agrippina, Suetonius and +Tacitus doubtless drew much of the information which in their more +serious productions blackens the character of Tiberius. It is also +likely that, if it had not been for the facile and unrestrained pen of +her successor, Messalina would have been known to us as a far less +disreputable woman than she is made to appear. + +Although there is no writing of Agrippina's extant, we do have what +purports to be the speech in her defence which she made when accused by +Junia Silana with a design of inciting Plautus to effect a change in the +State, and, by marrying him, to regain her power in the commonwealth, +which Nero had taken out of her hands. In it all we see nothing but the +backbitings of two rancorous old women; but it was represented to Nero +as a horrible affair. Nero's fears were so excited that it was with +difficulty that he could be induced to allow his mother to survive until +morning and have an opportunity to make her own defence. We have her +speech as it is given by Tacitus. Possibly it is the historian's own +composition; but it is exactly what we might expect from the fierce old +empress-mother. And as it is certain that Seneca and Burrhus, to whom +it was addressed, would have with them shorthand writers, it is not +improbable that Tacitus took it from the official records. "I wonder +not," said Agrippina, "that Silana, who never bore a child, should be a +stranger to the affections of a mother; for, in truth, children are not +so easily renounced by their parents, as adulterers are changed by a +profligate. Nor, because Iturius and Calvisus, after having consumed +their whole fortunes, as a last resource pay back to an old woman their +services in undertaking my accusation, as an equivalent for their hire, +does it follow that I am to be branded with the infamy, or that Cæsar +should conceive the guilt of parricide. As to Domitia, I would thank her +for all the efforts of her enmity to me, if she strove to exceed me in +kindness to her nephew, my Nero. At present, by the ministration of +Atimetus, her minion, and the merry-andrew Paris, she is framing a farce +to fit for the stage. Where was she when I by my counsels obtained the +adoption of her nephew and my son into the Claudian house? when I +advanced his cause in every way necessary for getting him the +Empire?--Admiring her fishponds at Baiæ." If this is Agrippina's +composition, there is certainly no lack of force in it and she was +preëminently an adept in the use of innuendo. We would like to have seen +those _Memoirs_. + +To turn to a pleasanter subject and introduce a more amiable, though +less picturesque, character. While there were few women authors, there +were many ladies who knew how to appreciate the work of their literary +husbands; matrons who, in the bonds of legal marriage, were companions +to their husbands in learning as well as in other things. Pliny has left +us a most beautiful pen portrait of his young wife. He tells how, to +please him more, she studied polite literature, learned his books by +heart, set his verses to music, and accompanied them on her lyre. "How +great is her anxiety," he says, "when she sees me going to speak in +court, and how great her joy when I have spoken! She sets messengers +about to report to her what favor and applause I have excited, and what +is the result of the trial. Then whenever I recite she sits hard by, +separated only from us by a curtain, and catches up with eager ears the +praise bestowed on me." + + + + +IX + +WOMAN AT HER WORST + +In the course of this study there have come within our view some of the +noblest women of whom the history of the world can boast. We have seen +women of exalted purity in high positions, stately, dignified matrons, +women renowned for intellect and noble spirit, women who have bravely +endured unmerited suffering; we have also noted the women of the common +people, and the gay ladies who ministered to love and laughter. But our +account will be incomplete, the picture will not be a true one, unless +it also represents the worst that human nature has produced, women +stained with some of the basest crimes recorded in the annals of human +depravity. It is a story in which the sober truth can only be told in +superlative terms. What Scipio feared and Cato endeavored to prevent +came to pass; and at the time when Rome centred in herself all the power +and glory of the world, she also reached the climax of the vice and +degradation of all ages. + +The moral conditions which characterized the period between the reigns +of Tiberius and Nero are, in these days, impossible of adequate +comprehension. It was a continuous Saturnalia, a perpetual reign of +terror, a paroxysm of indecency. What renders the situation so amazing +and so difficult to describe is its strange mixture of civilization and +savagery, of art and anarchy. The atrocious cruelties which render the +history of that time so terrible and the lust which makes it so +revolting are not attributed to half-clad barbarians or ignorant +Asiatics; they were participated in by men and women whose outward life +was marked and distinguished by all the signs and appointments of +culture. The Julias and the Poppæas of the age were women who lived in +beautiful houses; they were surrounded by a magnificence of art such as +never since has been witnessed; they were the students of a literature +which the world has never ceased to admire. Nor was the extravagant +wickedness of the time a revolt against law; on the contrary, everything +was done in accordance with legal forms. Vistilia, the wife of a Roman +knight, in order that she might be unrestrained in her lasciviousness, +went before the ædiles and proclaimed herself a prostitute, the law +considering that prostitutes were sufficiently punished by merely thus +avowing their shame. Even when the innocent children of Sejanus were put +to death for the misdeeds of their father, the little girl--who asked +what she had done that was wrong and if they were going to whip +her--must be outraged by the executioner before he strangled her; for it +was unlawful to inflict capital punishment upon virgins. While such +things were being perpetrated, the ladies of Rome were studying the +Greek philosophers, reading their own Virgil, and improving their +diction by an acquaintance with the elegant periods of Cicero. It was an +age in which the arts of civilization were entirely divorced from the +best impulses of humanity, an age when the highest mental attainments +were joined with the lowest moral conditions. The depraved Messalina was +contemporary with the philosophic Seneca; the conscienceless Agrippina +the Younger was a student of letters and an author. + +It is easy to perceive that the cruelty and lust which render the +history of the first two centuries of the Christian era so lurid are +simply the natural developments from preceding conditions. The +proscriptions and massacres of Sylla and the two triumvirates could but +produce a society which would witness bloodshed with apathy, if not with +delight. The total disregard of the sacredness of matrimonial vows, when +political purposes were to be served, necessarily resulted in a +generation of women among whom chastity was a matter of indifference and +honor a thing unknown. Given a society thus, by heritage and training, +predisposed to inhumanity and licentiousness, and it only needed the +presence of favorable conditions for the introduction upon the imperial +stage of a company of women upon whose actions the world has ever since +gazed with profound amazement. Such conditions were then present in Rome +in such a degree as they have never been at any other time or among any +other people. The age was propitious and the circumstances were ripe for +a climax in human depravity. The spoil of the conquered world provided +Rome with incalculable riches; the Empire was the prize of him who could +win and hold it, and of her who could maintain her position by the side +of the ruler; power and the absence of restraint gave free rein to +impulses which the existent conditions necessarily rendered evil. This +was the _entourage_ of the women of Rome under the first emperors. The +ladies of the nobility were trained and urged to cruelty and +prostitution by the exigencies of their position; the women of the +common class, for whom tributary bread and sanguinary spectacles were +freely provided, were impelled in the same direction by example and +idleness. + +The acme of female turpitude was attained by Messalina, whose name has +ever since served as a byword for unparalleled incontinence. Valeria +Messalina was the great-granddaughter of Octavia, the sister of +Augustus, both on her father's and her mother's side; thus in her veins +united a twofold stream of the sacred Julian blood, which fact she never +allowed herself to forget while insisting upon her demands, though it +had no restraining effect upon her conduct. When only sixteen years of +age, she became the third wife of the feeble, half-imbecile Claudius; +one of her predecessors was Plautia Urgulanilla, the daughter of that +proud Urgulania whose debts Livia Augusta had been compelled to pay. +Plautia was divorced for "scandalous lewdness" and on the suspicion of +murder, after she had given birth to two children, the youngest of whom +Claudius exposed, being convinced that it had no just claims upon his +paternal authority. But his honor as a husband was far less safe with +Messalina than it had been with Plautia. That she should have any +affection for the doddering, gormandizing old man--he was nearly +fifty--was hardly to be expected. During the first three years after the +marriage, her position was comparatively private, her husband having no +expectation of attaining to the imperial throne. + +During the reign of the demented Caligula, the women of the court +present no figure of political importance, and are not interesting +except as they illustrate the depravity of the times. This emperor was +possessed with an exaggerated idea of the divinity that was inherent in +the Augustan race. Therefore he deemed that, like the kings of Egypt, he +should conserve that dignity by marrying his own sister. Suetonius will +have us believe that all three of the sisters of Caligula were +dishonored by their brother; but Drusilla was his favorite. She had been +given to Cassius Longinus, but Caligula took her from him and kept her +as though she were his lawful wife. He made a will appointing her +heiress of his private estates and also of the Empire; and at her death +he ordered for her a public mourning, and threatened capital punishment +against any person who should laugh or bathe or seek any amusement +during the period. It was also declared that she had been received among +the heavenly deities; and as Panthea, the universal goddess, her worship +was enjoined upon all the cities of Italy and the provinces. + +The other sisters, Agrippina and Julia, became involved in a conspiracy +with Marcus Æmillius Lepidus against the life of their brother; and when +the plot was discovered, though the lives of these women were +spared,--probably owing to Caligula's intense respect for the Julian +blood,--their property was confiscated and they were both sent into +exile. Agrippina, however, was first compelled to perform a most +unpleasant office. The family of Lepidus begged that his ashes might +rest in the family mausoleum at Rome, and the disordered mind of +Caligula recalled a journey which his mother had made, bearing the ashes +of Germanicus. So he forced Agrippina, who had schemed to marry Lepidus +in the hope of gaining for him the succession, to carry the urn that +contained his remains from Germany to Rome, and never once allowed her, +night or day, to rest from bearing her burden. + +Of the wives of Caligula, Suetonius says: "Whether in repudiating them +or retaining them he acted with greater infamy, it is difficult to say." +Being at the wedding of Caius Piso with Livia Orestilla, he ordered the +bride to be carried to his own house; but within a few days divorced +her, and two years after banished her, because, as was thought, upon her +divorce she had returned to her former husband. Lollia Paulina, who was +married to a man of consular rank in command of an army, having been +mentioned to Caligula as much resembling her grandmother, who had been +a famous beauty, the emperor suddenly called her from the province where +she resided with her husband, and married her; but he soon repudiated +her, interdicting her from ever afterward marrying another man. He loved +with a most passionate and constant affection Cæsonia, who was neither +handsome nor young, and who was the mother of three daughters by another +man; but she was a woman of excessive wantonness. He would frequently +exhibit her to the soldiers, riding by his side, dressed in a military +cloak, with shield and helmet. To his friends he showed her in a guise +far less elaborate and much more improper. After she had borne a child +to him, she was honored with the title of wife. Caligula named the +infant Julia Drusilla, and, carrying it around the temples of all the +goddesses, he laid it on the lap of Minerva, from whom he begged the +care of bringing up and instructing this daughter. He considered her as +his own child, for no better reason than that her temper was so savage +that even in infancy she would attack with her nails the faces and eyes +of the children at play with her. + +Cæsonia could hardly have enjoyed her position, especially on those +occasions when her demoniacal husband would amuse himself with the idea +of having it in his power to sever her neck at any time that it might +please him so to do. She was killed at the time of his assassination; +and, fortunately, her vicious offspring perished with her. The manner in +which Cæsonia met her death seems to indicate that the woman not only +possessed courage, but also that she cherished some sort of affection +for her husband. The conspirators hesitated over the question as to +whether she should share his fate; but it was only for a few minutes. It +was believed by many that it was through her love philtres and +licentious practices that his mind had become disordered and that +therefore she was, in a sense, the author of his evil doings. It being +determined that she should die, the men who went in search of her found +Cæsonia embracing the body of Caligula as it lay upon the ground, and +they heard her bewailing the fact that he had not been governed by her +advice. Whether that advice had been to restrain himself in his madness, +or to follow with vengeful measures a clue which she had given him in +regard to the conspiracy, those who heard her could not decide. Their +minds were predisposed to believe in the latter explanation. When she +saw Lupus, the man who had her death in charge, approaching, she sat up, +all besmeared as she was with her husband's blood, and, baring her +throat, requested the assassin not to be awkward in finishing the +tragedy. She received the death stroke cheerfully, and the little +daughter, who was by her mother's side, perished by the same sword. + +To his own intense astonishment, Claudius suddenly found himself +proclaimed and accepted as Emperor of the Romans. There is no evidence +to show that Messalina had anticipated this change of fortunes any more +than had her husband. Finding herself, however, in the position of +empress, she had no mind to do otherwise than maintain herself secure in +its enjoyment. The times were such that this could be done only by means +of merciless expedients. This fact should constantly be kept in mind as +we study the women of imperial Rome. No individual can be governed by +the ideas that are prevalent in the society in which he lives and, at +the same time, dispense with the methods ordinarily employed by that +society. The Romans of the period which we are now reviewing believed +that the best, as well as the easiest, way in which to placate an enemy +or to outwit a rival was to destroy him. Messalina had no desire to do +better than her surroundings warranted; in fact, she represents the +climax of immorality. There were two causes which led her freely to +dispense destruction among her associates. First, there were plenty of +women who would gladly have rivalled her in the affection of the amorous +Claudius; and while she did not in the least reciprocate her husband's +affection, its retention was necessary to the maintenance of her +position. Again, her innumerable amours were constantly furnishing +weapons against herself, and it was only by inspiring dread that she +could restrain her enemies from making use of them to her own +destruction. + +In such a position as she found herself, and among such surroundings, it +is not surprising that Messalina was bad. Raised, when only a mere girl, +to a dizzy height; flattered and sought after by all the most dissolute +of the imperial court; the wife of a doting husband who, as she quickly +discovered, was absolutely under her influence; all this would have +tested a woman in whose character good impulses were perceptibly +present. So far as can be learned, Messalina possessed no such impulses; +on the contrary, everything in her contributed to the strength of the +evil influences of her environment. Her glaring immoralities, combined +with the consummate art with which she contrived to befool her husband, +have rendered this woman's history a monument of conjugal infidelity for +all the ages. + +We may be fairly certain as to Messalina's personal appearance, for +there are a number of cameos and busts of her in existence, though, of +course, some of these are ideal and others are not well executed. Baring +Gould, who has made a careful study of the sculptured portraits of the +Cæsarian family, regards it as certain that in the onyx cameo which is +in the Cabinet of Antiques at Vienna and in the bust now preserved in +the Uffizi Palace we have what may be considered correct representations +of Messalina. Of the former, he says: "The hair is arranged in small +curls covered with a species of crown wreathed with corn. This is the +usual mark of the deification of an empress as Ceres. The brow is low, +the nose straight and a little retrousse at the end, the mouth +remarkable for the thinness of the lips; the chin is not prominent, and +a peculiar feature is the slope from the chin to the throat, forming a +marked contrast in formation to that of Livia opposite. The mouth turns +down, but there is a slight contraction in the corner." Of the bust, he +tells us: "The profile there has a remarkable likeness to the +type-giving face on the cameo. The hair is in curls, but hangs down in +plaits behind, the brow is low, the eyes full, and the mouth with its +thin lips and cruel expression seems thoroughly to express the character +of the woman as known to us by history. The head is flat. There is +insolence in the mouth, and a curl in the corner, noticeable also in the +gem. One eye is larger than the other. They are not in line. The nose +has been restored, so that we cannot compare it with that on the cameo. +The rest agrees perfectly, though the slope from the chin is not so +perceptible in the bust owing to the difference in position of the head. +The brows are straight, not arched. Not only are the eyes of different +shapes, but the chin is on one side. The end of the chin is square, the +mouth is small, the lips fuller on the left side than on the right, and +the right corner drawn up. The expression of the face is different when +seen from each side, owing to the singular lack of uniformity in the +sides of the face. In the same gallery is a so-called young Britannicus, +and the resemblance of this child, as far as the formation of the lower +part of the head goes, to the Messalina above described is remarkable. +Still more remarkable is that of the beautiful statue in the Lateran, +where the resemblance is very close. The boy's lips are fuller, but the +whole structure of the jaws and chin, and the curl of the lower lip, +are the same as in the Messalina of Florence. If this be Britannicus, +then the bust at Florence is that of his mother; and it is hard to say +who else can be intended by this charming statue in military costume. + +"A medical man of large experience, who at my request studied the bust +of Messalina in the Florence gallery, informs me that it is that of a +woman physically unsound; the flattening of the top of the head +indicates an imperfect mental development, and the general aspect of the +face, evidently a close study from life without any attempt at hiding +blemishes and idealizing, is that of a woman whose span of life would +naturally be short. There would probably be malformation of the chest. +The face is that of one with feverish blood, whose flame of life burnt +too fast. The face is not in itself sensual, nor at all animal, but it +is insolent and cruel. The low, flat brow as well as the low, flat head +show that she was deficient in all the higher and nobler qualities. In +this bust the formation of the throat is peculiar. M. Mayor remarks: +'Thin lips, evil smile, ears hardly visible, jaw advancing and +remarkably massive, eyes close together, profoundly sunk under their +arcade, nostrils fine and flexible, lips asymmetrical, the upper lip +lifted on the right, as in a beast prepared to bite, the same +characteristic feature observed in Caligula and commented on by Darwin. +Facial asymmetry. The left eye highest and furthest from the nose (the +same noticeable in Nero and Claudius, etc.). The look cruel rather than +voluptuous. An ironical smile, the by no means uncommon mask worn by +pathological corruption and nymphomania,'" M. Menière, in a book +entitled _Medical Studies from the Latin Poets_, also gives it as his +opinion that Messalina was a victim of nymphomania. He says: "At the +Salpêtrière, there are Messalinas, cases which have absolutely nothing +to do with morals." This probably may safely be accepted as the true +explanation of the case, if one can rid one's mind of two suspicions. +The first of these is that this much-talked-of asymmetry may be nothing +other than inferior or careless artistic work. The sculptor may not have +been able, or he may not have given himself the time, to carve both +sides of the face so absolutely alike as to defy the criticism of sharp +scientists, bent on discovering a cause for the poetical effect found in +Juvenal and others. The mention of the satirist suggests our second +suspicion, which is that in his astonishing account of the criminal +appetites of Messalina he is straining after effect. + +Now, in regard to the first of these suspicions, we have the assurance +of eminent students of art that, in their sculpture, the Romans were +exceedingly jealous of exact representation. Viktor Rydberg says: "It is +impossible to reproach the Roman art of portraiture with flattery. It +gave what the Romans insisted on--rigid fidelity to nature. It made no +exception in favor of the Cæsars and their house, not even for the +women. Proofs of this almost repulsive fidelity to nature are to be +found. An empress, arrived at a more than mature age, is to be +represented as Venus. It is possible that she would be glad to decline +the honor. She belongs to that period in life when old ladies drape +their withered beauties; but she has duties as Cæsar's spouse, and must +resign herself to her fate. The goddess of love was the ancestress of +the Julian race; and so her attributes, but not her beauty, descend to +the empress. The artist has to immortalize her undraped charms, and he +does it with almost brutal frankness, so that the little cupid, with +finger to his mouth, at her feet, seems to sigh: 'Oh! for a curtain.'" +All this may be very true of particular instances; but we know that +there were cases when the artist did idealize, as would any sculptor who +would place the head of a Cæsar on the trunk of a Greek god, if he were +so required. Again, at no period of the world's history has the +fraternity of artists been undiversified by members of varying ability, +and the task of representing Messalina may have fallen into the hands of +an inferior workman. Yet, after all, it is quite possible that the +asymmetry in question may have characterized the face of the voluptuous +empress; still, it should require something more than a little +inequality of feature in a statue not absolutely identified to cause to +accept, without a large grain of salt, Juvenal's statement in regard to +the wife of Claudius. That Messalina was in the habit of stealing forth +from the imperial palace at night to occupy a booth in a brothel as a +common demirep under the name of Lycisca is almost too improbable for +credence. It is possible that in this Juvenal enlarges on some allusion +made by Agrippina the Younger, who wrote the empress's memoirs and who +was never a friend to Messalina. + +The palace of Claudius was full of freedmen--men who had been +emancipated from slavery and had found the means to amass wealth and +attain influence--and of Greek adventurers. These men performed services +for the emperor and his wife which as yet were not submitted to by the +aristocratic or even the equestrian families. Such men as these had been +the only associates of Claudius before his advancement, and they +retained great influence with him during his reign. Messalina also was +obliged to consider them. Their silence, in regard to her intrigues, had +to be purchased; she was obliged to ally herself with them, in order +that she might retain her influence over her husband; their selling of +appointments and taking of bribes she had to countenance; and at last +she fell into their toils and was brought to ruin by their +machinations. + +At the commencement of the reign of Claudius, the two sisters of +Caligula, Julia and Agrippina, were recalled from exile and their +property restored to them. They were the daughters of Germanicus, +descendants of the great Augustus; therefore, it was not long before +they were the centre of a clique of dissatisfied nobles. Julia, who was +as unprincipled as she was beautiful, seemed to attract the attention of +Claudius. This was an offence which Messalina could not brook. Whatever +might be the extent of her own failings, she could not afford to run the +slightest risk of encountering a rival in the affections of the emperor. +It is remarkable, in an age of unparalleled laxity of morals, that when +means were sought by which to bring about the destruction of an enemy, +an accusation of adultery was usually successful. Those Romans were +human enough to condemn in others what they condoned in themselves. +Think of Messalina preaching of morals! She preferred charges of +incontinence against Julia, and induced the easily influenced emperor to +send the unfortunate woman back to exile, where she was quickly followed +by an assassin under the orders of the empress. This incident is all the +more memorable on account of the fact that Seneca, whose conduct never +very closely conformed to his teaching, was accused of being the +accomplice of Julia and was banished at the same time. The fate of her +sister was a warning to Agrippina. She saw how necessary it was to use +wariness in order that she might not offend, or at least that she might +not fall under the power of the empress; and Messalina, though she far +outdid her in vice, was no match for the clever politician, Agrippina. + +It would prove as tiresome as it would be unprofitable to recount all +the instances with which history illustrates Messalina's cruelty and +licentiousness; and even though our object be to show to what depths of +iniquity woman may descend under certain conditions, we will only refer +to a few incidents in the empress's profligate career. The first victim +of her power and criminality was her own stepfather, Silanus; Suetonius +conjectures that the reason for her resentment against her relative was +that he disdained her improper advances. The manner of his taking-off +was unique and indicates a genius for the invention of plots which may +well be envied by the modern romancist. One morning, Narcissus, a +favorite freedman, rushed into the presence of Claudius, showing signs +of the intensest alarm. He had dreamed that the emperor had been killed +by the hand of Silanus. Soon afterward, Messalina appeared and inquired +with much perturbation of manner as to the safety of her husband. Her +rest had been broken and her mind alarmed by a dream similar to that of +Narcissus. Other things were insinuated which seemed to warrant this +great and concurrent alarm on the part of the emperor's friends, so +that, his fears being thus cunningly worked upon, he at once gave orders +for the execution of Silanus. + +Messalina was bent on acquiring for herself two desirable pieces of +property. One was the beautiful gardens which had been commenced by +Lucullus, and completed on a most magnificent scale by Valerius +Asiaticus; the other was Mnester, a famous actor of that time. The +gardens were owned by Asiaticus; and Poppæa, who was one of the most +beautiful women of her day, seemed to interest the actor more than did +the empress. The latter determined to remove both these hindrances to +her desires at one stroke. She bribed Suillus, a man in high position +and notoriously venal, to accuse Asiaticus and Poppæa of being engaged +in an improper intrigue. Against the former, charges of a baser nature +were included and acts prejudicial to the safety of the emperor were +insinuated. Tacitus informs us that the unfortunate man was not allowed +a hearing before the Senate, but was tried privately in a chamber of the +palace and in the presence of Messalina. When speaking in his own +defence, he wrought so powerfully upon the feelings of Claudius that he +would certainly have been acquitted; but Messalina, who could not +restrain her own tears, as she left the room, whispered to Vitellius: +"Let not the accused escape." Then followed an exhibition of perfidy in +which it is doubtful if a mere Judas would have been unprincipled enough +to take the leading part. Vitellius began in the most sympathetic manner +to plead with the emperor--who was already meditating the acquittal of +Asiaticus--to remember the great services which had been rendered by the +accused to the State, and to exercise clemency by allowing Asiaticus to +choose his own mode of death; a sort of clemency to which Claudius +readily consented. Thus Messalina's purpose was so far attained. "She +hastened herself to accomplish the doom of Poppæa, by suborning persons +to drive her to a voluntary end by the terrors of imprisonment; a +catastrophe of which the emperor was so utterly unapprised, that a few +days after, as her husband Scipio was at table with him, he asked why he +had not brought his wife. Scipio answered that she was no more." + +The Vitellius who accomplished the above described piece of finesse with +such diplomacy was the father of the future emperor of the same name. +His chief characteristic was his extraordinary facility and lack of +conscience in the use of flattery. When asked by Caligula if Vitellius +had not seen the emperor in conversation with Diana, Vitellius answered +that it was not permitted to mere mortals like himself to witness the +intercourse of deities. On one occasion, in the presence of Claudius, he +begged the gift of one of Messalina's slippers. His request being +granted by the empress, he placed his acquisition in his bosom, and ever +afterward, at opportune moments, would draw it forth and kiss it in most +devoted fashion. Thus he strongly entrenched himself in the favor of +Messalina, and the modesty of his request did not lower him in the +estimation of her husband. + +In April of A.D. 47 occurred the centenary festival of the founding of +Rome. Vitellius saluted the emperor with: "May you often repeat these +celebrations." During the games, there took place an incident which was +of special interest to Agrippina, the rival of Messalina, and which +might easily have ended disastrously for her. The respective sons of +these two women appeared in one of the games. Britannicus was then six +years of age and Nero was nine; it was the first appearance of the +latter upon that stage which it was afterward his unworthy ambition to +hold. On this occasion, the populace were so inconsiderate as to place +Agrippina and her son in a position of great jeopardy by showing for +them the most enthusiastic partiality, while Britannicus was received in +that silence which denoted ill will to his mother. + +Messalina was at this time meditating an enterprise which eclipsed all +her former exploits and which she probably thought would conclusively +determine her own future and that of her son. Thus Tacitus recounts the +story: "She was so vehemently enamored of Caius Silius, the handsomest +of the Roman youth, that she obliged him to divorce his wife, Julia +Silana, a lady of high quality, and had him to herself. Nor was Silius +blind to the danger and the malignity of his crime; but, as it was +certain destruction to decline her suit, and there were some hopes of +beguiling Claudius, and great rewards being held out to him, he was +content to enjoy the present advantages and take the chance of what +might happen thereafter. The empress proceeded not stealthily, but went +to his house frequently, with a numerous train, accompanied him +incessantly abroad, loaded him with presents and honors; and at last, as +if the fortune of the Empire had been transferred with the emperor's +wife, at the house of Silius were now seen the slaves, freedmen, and +equipage of the prince." + +All this time, Claudius, ignorant of the conduct of his wife,--a fact +which must be attributed to the complete subjection under which he was +held by Messalina and the freedmen,--was exercising the functions of +moral censor and rebuking the people for the immorality of their +conduct. What a spectacle to men, not to speak of the ancient deities, +must have been the Roman government of those days! It is easy to see the +connection between the licentiousness of the times and the decline of +the State. + +Messalina, a course of the most promiscuous and unrestrained +licentiousness having produced satiety, now proceeded to an act of which +the emperors had many times set the example: she repudiated Claudius, +and united herself with matrimonial solemnities to Silius. Caius +Caligula had dismissed one wife to make room for another with scant if +any ceremony; but for a woman to do the same thing was another matter. +Tacitus says: "I am aware that it will appear fabulous that any human +beings should have exhibited such recklessness of consequences; and +that, in a city where everything was known and talked of, anyone, much +more a consul-elect, should have met the emperor's wife, on a stated +day, in the presence of persons called in to seal the deeds, and that +she should have heard the words of the augurs, entered the house of the +husband, sacrificed to the gods, sat down with the guests at the nuptial +banquet, and in every way comported herself as though she had been +given away in a marriage entirely lawful. But I would not dress up my +narrative with fictions to give it an air of marvel, rather than relate +what has been stated to me or written by my seniors." + +There are indications which seem to warrant the belief that if this +affair had succeeded in its object it would not have appeared so +thoroughly atrocious in the eyes of those who recorded it. The whole +matter is shrouded in that mystery which often characterizes the +transactions of rulers. Suetonius declares that it is beyond all belief +that Claudius himself, at the marriage of Messalina with Silius, should +have actually signed the writings relative to her dowry, induced thereto +by the design of diverting from himself and transferring to another the +effect of certain bad omens relative to the husband of Messalina. But, +considering the superstition of the time, of which Claudius had an +abundant share, and the cunning with which Messalina appears to have +been endowed, it seems entirely probable that here we have the key of +the whole situation. As is suggested by Victor Duruy, Claudius, timid +and credulous as he was, doubtless assured himself in accordance with +the formalistic notions of those times, or was persuaded by others, that +destiny would be satisfied with a marriage accomplished in conformity +with legal formulas, but a union only in name. He expected that thereby +he would save himself, and at the same time his honor might be avenged +by the death of Silius, thus fulfilling the oracle. + +But Messalina and her lover had other plans. By working on the old +emperor's fears, she had induced him to sign the writing, so that +afterward it might appear as though he had given his consent to his own +repudiation. Presuming on her Julian descent, she may have persuaded +herself that, once wedded to the young patrician and consul-elect, +together they might wrest the government from the feeble hand of +Claudius and share the imperial dignity. + +While the emperor was away at Ostia, the nuptials were consummated. The +marriage was solemnized in due and ample form, including all the ancient +rites. Silius may have pretended to drag the seemingly unwilling bride +from the embraces of her friends; but the yellow wedding veil was not +necessary to hide any blushes that were likely to flush the cheek of +Messalina. That the ceremonies were executed in due form may be +concluded from the fact that Mnester, the popular actor, took part in +them, probably as director. + +If Messalina counted on the fidelity of the freedmen, to whose +friendship she had many times confided her safety, she erred: for on +this occasion they fatally betrayed her. When Claudius was not being +guided by his wife for her own purposes, he was under the control of the +freedmen; what their position under Silius might be was problematical. +Narcissus, the most active of these courtiers, hurried at once to Ostia, +taking with him Calpurnia and Cleopatra, two women who had witnessed the +marriage. It was necessary that he should thoroughly arouse the +phlegmatic emperor and bring upon Messalina speedy destruction, or his +own doom would be accomplished. "The marriage has been made public," he +said. "Unless you act promptly, Silius will be master of Rome." He +induced Claudius to transfer the command of the prætorians to himself +for a day. He hurried the emperor back to the city, taking every +precaution that the latter should not be left alone with Messalina's +friends and that she herself should not be afforded the opportunity of a +personal interview. + +This unwonted suddenness of action on the part of the emperor was +precisely what Messalina and Silius did not anticipate. Instead of +intrenching themselves by energetic preparations, they wasted the time +in voluptuous revelry. It was the season of the grape harvest, and all +Rome was engaged in the customary celebration of the vintage. Messalina, +in the gardens of the palace, was enacting a Bacchanalian scene. Men +were treading the grapes and wine was flowing into casks; women in the +scant attire of Bacchantes were dancing around them; and Messalina, with +the symbolic thyrsus in her hand, joined in the revelry, accompanied by +Silius, who was crowned with ivy. The utmost licentiousness of speech +and action was the order of the day. At last, Vettius Valens, who +himself had been a lover of the empress, climbed to the top of a high +tree. "What can you see from up there?" someone shouted. "I see," he +replied, "a storm coming from Ostia." It was prophetic of what was soon +to fall upon the chief participators in the scene. Rumors, quickly +followed by the couriers of the emperor, announced that the latter was +approaching in great indignation. Messalina was immediately deserted by +all. The revellers went their own ways, and Silius repaired to the Forum +as though with no thought but to attend to his official duties. The +empress, thoroughly awakened at last to the gravity of her situation, +began to make preparations for her defence. She saw that her only hope +was in the easy, vacillating disposition of Claudius; she had never yet +failed to manage him, and her assurance was great. Sending forth her two +children, Octavia and Britannicus, to meet their father, she next +induced Vibidia, the chief of the Vestals, to obtain audience with the +emperor and implore his pardon for his guilty wife. + +Deserted by all the court with the exception of three persons, Messalina +traversed the city on foot; and finding on the outskirts one of the +carts used to convey the rubbish of the streets and gardens, she got +into it and started forth to meet her outraged husband. Coming within +hearing of the emperor, she began to call upon him to listen to the +mother of his children; but Narcissus drowned her voice with the story +of her crime and placed in the hands of Claudius a paper reciting all +Messalina's adulteries, so that, reading it, his eyes might not be +turned upon his wife. Vibidia pleaded with the emperor that he should +not allow the empress to be destroyed without a hearing; but she was +sent away by the freedman, who advised her to attend to the proper +duties of her vocation. + +Had it not been for the hasty manner in which this affair was brought to +a fatal termination by Narcissus, Messalina would probably have won a +pardon from her doting husband. It is true that when the emperor was +taken to the house of Silius and there shown valuable furniture, +heirlooms from his own palace, his indignation was great; he allowed +himself to be conducted to the camp, where he made a short speech to the +soldiers and constituted them judges of the criminals; but after having +partaken of a sumptuous repast, his good nature, or rather his +indifference, returned, and he ordered his servants to go and "acquaint +the miserable woman that to-morrow she may plead her cause." The +freedman knew that if Messalina obtained the opportunity to talk with +the emperor, her alluring methods would save her life, and Claudius +would turn to make common cause with her against her accusers. Narcissus +therefore hurried forth and commanded the tribune on duty to "despatch +the execution," for such, he said, was the emperor's command. + +The soldiers found Messalina in the gardens of Lucullus, lying upon the +ground, and by her side her mother, Lepida, who was seeking to persuade +her wretched daughter not to wait for the executioner, but to die +becomingly by her own hand. This, however, the woman had not the +courage to do. At times, she would recite to her mother the speeches +with which she hoped to justify herself to her husband, and then she +would give way to imprecations and vain lamentations. Thus she was +employed when the door was burst open and the soldiers and Narcissus +appeared before her. The freedman indulged his spite and taunted her +with insolent reproaches. Then the unhappy woman, accepting the dagger +from her mother's hand, held it to her breast, but dared not strike; so +the tribune, in mercy as well as in justice, despatched her with his +sword. The news was carried to Claudius that "Messalina was no more"; +and without asking how she died or by whose hand, he called for a cup of +wine and continued the feast. + +Silius made no attempt to exonerate or defend himself, but simply asked +for a speedy death. With him died a number of other illustrious knights, +their offence being like his, though not so public or so heinous. +Mnester the actor thought to save his life by reminding the emperor that +it was by the latter's own command that he had been obliged to submit to +the orders of Messalina; but though this plea caused some hesitation in +the mind of Claudius, it was overruled by the merciless freedmen. It was +thus also with Traulus Montanus, a young man of remarkable beauty; he +could urge that only on one occasion had he been summoned to the +apartments of the empress, and then immediately cast off; this plea, +however, did not avail to save him. + +It has been our purpose in this chapter to show how, in the midst of +artistic surroundings, in a polished society, at a time when poetical +and philosophical literature was universally cultivated, women, by the +enormity of their excesses, touched the lowest depth of moral +depravity. All that appeared necessary was to piece together the +fragmentary information provided by the ancient historians and so +present a picture of this single astounding character, Messalina. She +was the ultimity of feminine vice. She did not stand alone; but in her +there was a unique combination of extraordinary political power, +unbounded opportunity for lawlessness, and inordinate concupiscence. + +But one human life is not sufficient in which to display all the +possible varieties of moral unrestraint. Messalina died, and Agrippina +reigned in her stead. In the daughter of Germanicus was exemplified a +character very different from that of the woman we have just dismissed. +Agrippina was less wanton, but she was not more womanly. Messalina +sacrificed human life in caprice, Agrippina assigned men to death in +cold calculation. The aim of the one was pleasure, the object of the +other was power. Messalina was a most unworthy mother; Agrippina +contravened every other womanly instinct in order that her son might +reign. + +After Messalina's death, Claudius declared before the praetorians: "As I +have been unhappy in my marriages, I am resolved henceforth to remain +single; and if I should not, I give you leave to stab me." But he was +not able to persist in this resolution; there were many women who, for +the sake of bearing the name of empress, sought matrimonial union with +him. Agrippina, however, had marked that position for her own, and she +was intellectually the strongest, as well as one of the most beautiful +women in Rome. She was now thirty-four years of age. It was no new +undertaking for her to bestir herself in the search for a husband. At +the age of thirteen she had been married to Cnæus Domitius Ahenobarbus; +but he had died in A.D. 40, leaving her with Nero, their only child. On +her retum from exile at the beginning of Claudius's reign, she had +endeavored to form a union with a powerful patrician named Galba, who +had a wife then living; but for her pains she got her face slapped by +Galba's mother-in-law. She was soon married, however, to an orator +called Passienus, who was a man remarkable for his wit, wealth, and good +nature. He died before Agrippina had set her hopes upon a marriage with +Claudius. + +It was Agrippina's determination to be empress, in order that her son +might be emperor. Some years previous, an astrologer had said of the boy +that he would reign, but that he would be the death of his mother. "Let +me die, then," said she, "so he but reign." + +Her marriage with Claudius would be illegal and incestuous, he being her +uncle. But Agrippina aroused the emperor's desire for the match by the +endearments for which her relationship provided the opportunity, and the +complacent Senate passed an enactment that henceforth such marriages +should be lawful. Before the nuptials were celebrated, Agrippina +obtained the promise of the hand of Octavia, the daughter of Claudius by +Messalina, for her son, thus doubly securing her position; this was done +despite the fact that Octavia had already been betrothed to another man. +Being thus able to have her way before marriage, it is not wonderful +that after that event Claudius should be wholly under his wife's rule. +Tacitus says: "From this moment the city assumed a different character, +and a woman had the control of everything. She, however, did not, like +Messalina, mock and trample upon the interests of the State in the +extravagance of her lewdness. The despotism exercised was as thorough as +though it were under the direction of a man. In her public conduct she +was grave and rigid, frequently haughty and overbearing. No departure +was observable in her domestic deportment, unless it were necessary to +support her power; but an insatiable thirst for money was veiled under +the pretext of its being used to maintain the imperial authority." + +As an instance of Agrippina's cruelty, it may be mentioned that she +brought about the condemnation of Lollia, who had been her rival for the +hand of Claudius, and compelled the unfortunate woman to destroy +herself. Calpurnia, another illustrious lady, she also doomed to ruin, +for no other reason than that the emperor once made a casual remark upon +her beauty. + +The advancement of her son was the object ever before the eyes of +Agrippina; for this she lived and for the attainment of this +consummation she spared no promising effort, whether lawful or +otherwise. Through the influence of Pallas, one of the favorite +freedmen, she brought it to pass that her son was adopted by the emperor +as his own, and the historians aver that as a reward for this service +Pallas received favors which belonged solely to Claudius. Step by step, +Nero was preferred, and at the same time the son of Messalina and the +emperor was depreciated. Britannicus seems to have been a boy of spirit. +Because he persisted in addressing her son by the name Ahenobarbus +[Brazenbeard], Agrippina placed over him tutors whose duty it was to +teach him to respect the decree of the Senate, by which the more +honorable name of Nero had been conferred on her offspring. Still, +everything did not go forward quite to Agrippina's satisfaction. She +found in Narcissus almost as great an enemy as had Messalina, and even +the emperor was somewhat uncertain in his favor; on one occasion, he was +heard to mutter something to the effect that he seemed fated to suffer +the iniquities of his wives, and then to punish them. Nero was now +seventeen years of age, and through the shrewd policy of his mother had +not only been named by the emperor as his successor, but had been +generally recognized as the heir-apparent by the people; it needed only +the death of Claudius to raise him to the imperial throne. + +New wants create new professions. In despotic governments, the lives of +certain persons are often too prolonged in the opinion of others who +have their own purposes to pursue, and there never have been lacking +those who in such a juncture could make themselves extremely useful. In +the time of Agrippina there lived a woman named Locusta, who, as Tacitus +informs us, was a famous artist in the mixing of drugs. Her skill seems +always to have had for its object, not the cure of patients who were +confided to her care, but their judicious taking-off. The +above-mentioned historian informs us that Agrippina allowed this woman +to employ her art upon Claudius; and as no other writer approximate to +that age seeks to purge the empress of this accusation, it must be +reckoned to her account. "In fact," says Tacitus, "all the particulars +of this transaction were soon afterward so thoroughly known, that the +writers of those times are able to recount how the poison was poured +into a dish of mushrooms, of which he was particularly fond; but whether +it was that his senses were stupefied, or from the wine he had drunk, +the effect of the poison was not immediately perceived." Agrippina +therefore became dismayed; but as her life was at stake, she thought +little of the odium of her present proceedings, and called in the aid of +Xenophon the physician, whom she had already implicated in her guilty +project. It is believed that he, as if he purposed to assist Claudius in +his efforts to vomit, put down his throat a feather besmeared with +deadly poison. + +After the death of Claudius, Agrippina discovered that the day was +ill-omened, so that she hesitated to have her son proclaimed. The fact +of the emperor's death was therefore kept a secret for some hours. The +people were so far imposed upon that they believed that Claudius was +approving and desired to be entertained. Buffoons were Produced, who +played their antics and cracked their jokes in the presence of the +corpse; the empress, in the meantime, feigning to be overcome with +grief, was clasping the young Britannicus in her arms and declaring that +he was the very image of his father. + +At noon, it being the thirteenth of October in the year 4, the death of +Claudius was announced, and Nero was received by the soldiers with +shouts of joy. The Senate confirmed his accession, and that night, when +the tribune asked the new emperor for the watchword, he gave "the best +of mothers." + +Claudius, unless the Roman historians are to be considered entirely +unworthy of credence, had been murdered by his wife; but, +notwithstanding this fact and also that she had despised him while he +lived, she hastened to propose his apotheosis as soon as he was dead. +How much those divine honors which were decreed to deceased members of +the imperial family meant to the Romans may be gathered from the +fragments which have been preserved of a satire written by Seneca at +this time; the satire also indicates the contempt into which the ancient +religion had fallen. Seneca claims that from him who saw Drusilla, the +sister of Caligula, ascend into heaven, he derived his information as to +what happened in Olympus when "a respectable-looking old man, with +shaking head, lame foot, and some kind of threat upon his lips" +[Claudius] arrived thither. The Olympian Senate, notwithstanding the +labors of Hercules on his behalf, voted that Claudius was not to be +admitted. + +After the inauguration of Nero's reign, there followed for the Empire +five years of what seemed to the people, so accustomed were they to the +worst horrors in the name of government, a wise and upright +administration. Nero was to a certain extent under the influence of +Seneca and Burrhus, men who perhaps were as good as any of their time. +Credit must be given Agrippina for having at least selected the best men +she could find to take charge of the education of her son. Nevertheless, +during those five years occurred her own murder and that of Britannicus. +After the death of the latter, Locusta--for whom Nero had found ample +employment--was permitted to retire to the enjoyment of the immense +wealth with which she had been rewarded for her services to those in +power; it was stipulated, however, that she should train other women in +the practice of her art. + +Agrippina had done and suffered much to secure the Empire for her son; +but she never contemplated that he would reign alone while she lived. +She expected to occupy a throne by his side. Her officious dominance +soon became intolerable to the young emperor. He also fell under the +fascination of the beautiful but unprincipled Poppæa, who refused to +share his palace with so jealous and imperious a mother-in-law. Bitter +must have been the reflections of Agrippina when she found herself not +only disappointed of this part of her ambition, but also saw that her +son was impatiently awaiting her death. Indeed, he was devising means to +bring it to pass; but she who was herself so well practised in the +methods of assassination was not an easy victim. The sword was too open +a method, and she was believed to have prepared herself, by taking +antidotes, against all kinds of poisons. But there was a genius at the +court. Anicetus, an enfranchised slave, now commander of the fleet, +could construct a vessel that would fall to pieces at sea at any given +moment. Agrippina was invited to join her son at Baise. He was all +affection and again seemed willing to commit himself to her influence. +A magnificent vessel was provided to convey her to and from the villa +where he had provided an entertainment. As she was returning over the +smooth waters, lighted by the brilliant stars, the roof of the cabin, +which had been weighted with lead, suddenly fell in, killing a man who +belonged to her train. Agrippina and Aceronia, her woman attendant, +escaped from this part of the prearranged accident; but the boat then +upsetting, they were thrown into the sea. Aceronia, in order that she +might be rescued, cried out that she was the emperor's mother, and she +was immediately killed by oars and boathooks in the hands of the crew. +Her mistress, however, suspecting at once the real nature of what had +taken place, remained quiet, and swam until she was picked up by passing +boats and conveyed to her own villa. + +At the prospect of his mother's death, Nero exclaimed: "At last I shall +reign"; but when the news reached him that the cunningly contrived +shipwreck had proved a failure, his fury knew no bounds. At that +juncture, a messenger arrived from Agrippina to say that his mistress +had been preserved--she deemed it prudent to appear to take it for +granted that her son was not implicated in the attempt upon her life. +While the messenger was speaking, Anicetus picked up a dagger from the +floor and pretended that the man had dropped it; it was then declared +that Agrippina must have sent him to assassinate her son. A party of men +were at once sent to her villa. They broke into her bedchamber. "If you +are come for murderous purposes," she cried, "I will not believe that it +is by the order of my son." She was quickly despatched with many wounds. + +In the busts and medal portraits of Agrippina that have been preserved +we see a face remarkably suggestive of refinement of character. Looking +at that face and remembering the accusations which have been laid +against her, one is naturally inclined to take up a brief in her +defence. It does not seem possible that she could have been guilty of +these crimes; nor, indeed, in other times and circumstances would it +have been possible. It was not a depraved will like that of Messalina +that led Agrippina to the adoption of evil courses. The causes were +several. She was proud; she had an insatiate craving for power; above +all, her unyielding will was wholly bent on the project of placing her +son upon the imperial throne. Had she lived at a time when violent +measures were not permissible, her methods would probably have been more +humane; but her ambition would doubtless have been as great and her +determination as tenacious. In her age, murder was a common expedient +for clearing the way to a prize. In her time, female modesty was a +quality almost impossible to be retained, and but little valued in those +few by whom it was preserved. To acquit Agrippina of murder and +unchastity would be not only to fault history but to impute to the +empress an innocence which in the nature of the case it was impossible +she should possess. + + + + +X + +THE WOMEN OF DECADENT ROME + +At the period with which we are now engaged, the vast majority of the +people of Rome were giving their attention to one all-absorbing +occupation--that of amusing themselves. The wealthy had little else to +do; the chief industries of the poor contributed to this end. Never in +the history of the world has a nation been so completely given over to +pleasure. Production was almost entirely limited to such occupations as +had for their object the extravagant supply of the luxuries of art and +entertainment; common necessaries, such as wheat, were extorted from the +provinces. Agriculture had become almost unknown in Italy. The rich men +no longer, like the great republican patricians, prided themselves on +their skill in tilling the soil; it better suited their tastes, and was +more lucrative, to farm taxes. "We have abandoned the care of our ground +to the lowest of our slaves," said Columelia, "and they treat it like +barbarians. We have schools of rhetoricians, geometers, and musicians. I +have even seen where they teach the lowest trades, such as the art of +cooking, or of dressing the hair; but nowhere have I found for +agriculture a teacher or a pupil. Meanwhile, even in Latium, that we may +avoid famine, we must bring our corn from foreign countries and our +wine from the Cyclades, Boetica, and Gaul." The land had come to be held +almost wholly by the few who were exceedingly rich. Their interests were +in Rome. For the country they cared nothing, except as it provided them +with luxurious retreats where they might, for a short space, renew their +enervated faculties after the dissipations of the city. Their land they +gave up to pasture and cattle raising, as being more profitable and +requiring less care than tilling the soil. Thus there was no employment +or means of subsistence for poor freedmen in the country; and so they +flocked to the cities, crowding the wretched _insulæ_, or tenements, and +depending mainly upon the free distributions of corn for their living. +The mass of the people, however, were drawn to Rome and the other great +Italian cities as much by their desire to participate in the feverish +life of the times as they were driven thither by lack of employment in +the country. These were the people who amused Nero by fighting for +places in the Great Circus; these were the people who howled for bread +and for games, and rewarded an ample supply of the same by supporting +tyrants in their monstrous excesses. When it is remembered that all +domestic labor, as well as all work belonging to many other branches of +industry, was performed by slaves, we are necessarily left to suppose +that the proletariat of Rome had little with which to occupy itself +beyond the public exhibitions and the pothouses, of which there existed +an enormous number; great numbers of men were, however, required for the +immense armies which garrisoned the provinces. + +Of the domestic life of the common people of Rome we have only the most +meagre information. We know that they inhabited huge tenements, in which +small apartments were rented at excessive rates. Housekeeping in these +tenements must have been conducted on a very simple scale, as one of the +comic writers pictures a poor family moving to other quarters and +carrying all their effects in their hands at one journey. Yet the men +who issued thence wore the _toga_ of the Roman citizen, tattered though +it might be and having no other significance than the mere fact that its +wearers were not slaves. For these men there was little occupation +except wandering about the city in search of amusement and the +opportunity to make a little gain by any means that came to hand. Of +course, there were trades and commerce, the workshop and the store; but +slavery made it impossible for a large proportion of the impecunious +citizens of Rome to make an honorable living by means of their own +labor. There was a larger army of the unemployed than our modern cities +can show. Yet the Roman government, laying tribute as it did upon the +whole civilized world, could keep the citizens of Rome from starving. +For the women, beyond their simple domestic duties, the field of honest +industry was yet more limited. They were employed as professional +mourners to sing songs of lamentation at funerals; they could work at +some few mechanical trades, such as cloth weaving; they could keep a +shop. Occasionally, there was a woman of exceptional talent who made +large profits by means of decorative art; among the wall pictures of +Pompeii there is one which represents a female artist engaged in +painting upon canvas a figure of Bacchus from a statue which serves her +for a model. We read of Iaia, who, though a Greek, lived in Rome and of +whom Pliny says that she was very successful in painting portraits, and +especially in engraving female figures upon ivory. One matron found a +unique occupation; she made large sums yearly by fattening and selling +thrushes for the tables of epicures. But the majority of women who were +able to make a living did so by virtue of their personal attractions and +by ministering to the voluptuousness of the wealthy, as harp players, +dancers, and in other avocations still more questionable. + +During the reign of Nero, there were no wars of any great moment. The +old Roman passion for territorial expansion was in abeyance. The +government was concentrated in the person of a man whose ambitions were +histrionic rather than military. Nero was part actor, part clown, wholly +debased; what could be expected from the associates of such a man, or +from the people who tolerated him? If it be true that every nation has +the government of which it is deserving, then the officers and people of +the Roman Empire in Nero's time must be accounted as subordinates and +supernumeraries in a fatuous burlesque which frequently deepened into +mad tragedy. The way to the emperor's favor was not through victorious +conflicts with the enemies of the State, but by means of the lavishment +of fulsome applause of his own imbecile performances in the theatre and +the circus. Nero never entered Rome in military triumph, as had his +predecessors, followed by wagons filled with plunder and a train of +captives who had been formidable to the State; he was content to win +crowns from a debased people who hypocritically admired his voice and +his acting, and to triumphantly enter Rome as conqueror in the Grecian +games. "He made his entry into the city riding in the same chariot in +which Augustus had triumphed. For the occasion he wore a purple tunic +and a cloak embroidered with golden stars, having on his head the crown +won at Olympia, and in his right hand that which was given him at the +Parthian games; the rest were carried in a procession before him, with +inscriptions denoting the places where they had been won, from whom, and +in what plays or performances. A train followed him with loud +acclamations, crying out that they were the emperor's attendants, and +the soldiers of his triumph. He suspended the sacred crowns in his +chambers, about his beds, and caused statues of himself to be erected, +in the attire of a harper, and had his likeness stamped upon coins, in +the same dress. He offered his friendship or avowed open enmity to many, +according as they were lavish or sparing in giving him their applause." +Thus the Roman historian describes the order of that day, and from this +we may judge of the environment of the principal women of Rome in those +times. + +Virtue and womanly dignity were inconsiderable qualities in the days of +Nero. The ladies of the court could only attain and hold their positions +by means of their personal attractions and by taking part in excesses +from which every vestige of virtue was eradicated. Prostitution had now +become fashionable. It is possible to give Messalina the benefit of a +doubt as to whether or not she were a mere freak of nature. Agrippina +was monstrously ambitious and as merciless as a tigress whose young are +threatened; but she adopted the only means which her times afforded. In +Poppæa, however, we see the typical woman of decadent Rome--of ordinary +intellect, intensely voluptuous, and devoid of natural affection. + +Poppæa was the daughter of that beautiful but wanton lady of the same +name whom Messalina had forced to seek death by her own hand. In this +instance, heredity claimed its vindication; to the daughter descended +the loveliness of person and also the lax principles which characterized +the mother. "This woman," says Tacitus, "possessed everything but an +honest mind. Her wealth was equal to the dignity of her birth; she had a +fascinating conversation, and was not deficient in wit. She observed an +outward decorum, but in her heart was wanton; she rarely appeared in +public, and when she did she wore a veil, either because she did not +want to glut people's eyes with her beauty, or because she thought a +veil became her." It is said of her that she employed all the recipes at +that time known--and they were very numerous--to prevent the inroads +which age will make. She covered her face with a mask when out of doors, +in order to shield it from the sun; and when at last her mirror informed +her that the charms of that face were beginning to wane, she cried: "Let +me die rather than lose my beauty!"--a wish by no means unnatural, for +in the game which she so desperately played her beauty was her only +stake. Nero married her solely for her loveliness of person. The +conjugal fidelity which stands the test of changing years was not then +common; and the law did not enforce it upon the unwilling. Juvenal +doubtless truly pictures the contretemps which women like Poppsea had to +fear: + + "Sertorius what I say disproves, + For though his Bibula is poor, he loves. + True! but examine him; and on my life, + You'll find he loves the beauty, not the wife. + Let but a wrinkle on her forehead rise, + And time obscure the lustre of her eyes; + Let but the moisture leave her flaccid skin, + And her teeth blacken, and her cheeks grow thin; + And you shall hear the insulting freedman say: + 'Pack up your trumpery, madam, and away! + Nay, bustle, bustle; here you give offence, + With snivelling night and day;--take your nose hence!'" + +We have no very trustworthy representation of Poppæa's appearance. There +are in existence medals showing her reputed portrait, especially a Greek +coin with the head of Nero on one side and that of his wife on the +other; but as the former is certainly not a good likeness, it is +Reasonable to suppose that the other is no better. Her face, as it is +here portrayed, is of the ideal Greek type--straight brows, and nose +almost in a line with the forehead. There is also a bust in existence, +which, according to archaeological students, may be held to represent +either the mythical Clytie or the famous wife of Nero. Her hair is said +to have been remarkably beautiful. It was very abundant and of a golden +amber color. Nero composed verses upon it. + +There were serious obstacles between Poppæa and the imperial throne +which she speedily manifested an ambition to share--obstacles which, in +more virtuous days, or among women possessing the slightest degree of +modesty, would have been absolutely insurmountable; but with the rulers +of Rome in those times nothing was impossible except self-control for +the sake of honor. Nero was married to Octavia, the daughter of +Messalina and Claudius. Poppæa was also married. She had been divorced +from Rufus Crispinus, a Roman knight, to whom she had borne a son, and +was now joined in matrimony to Otho, the profligate confidant of the +young emperor. There are indications that Otho was fond of his +unprincipled wife. She was the choicest treasure in his magnificently +furnished house. He boasted of her beauty to Nero, and excited the young +ruler's pride as well as his passion by telling him that though he were +the emperor he could not vie with his subject in the possession of such +an example of female loveliness. He even permitted Nero to visit his +wife, but, in his self-esteem, did not count upon the result. Otho +maintained Poppæa in inordinate splendor; but he was not the emperor. He +could give her incalculable riches; but he could not make her the +mistress of the world. Poppæa saw her opportunity. She lavished upon +Nero all the powers of her coquetry; she intimated that she was smitten +with regard for him; she allowed him to flatter himself that he had won +her. But she would hear of nothing but marriage. Nero was at her feet; +but, having so far attained her end, she would listen to no +protestations until he removed all hindrances to their union. She would +be empress or nothing. With her beauty for a bait, she led Nero on to +the committal of the most heinous crimes. Agrippina was murdered because +Poppæa taunted Nero with being under the care of a governess. "Why did +he delay to marry her?" Tacitus represents her as asking. "Had he +objections to her person or her ancestry? Or was he dissatisfied because +she had given proof of her fertility? Did he doubt the sincerity of her +affection? No; the truth must be that he was afraid that if she were his +wife she would expose the insolence and the rapaciousness of his mother. +But if Agrippina would bear no daughter-in-law who was not virulently +opposed to her son, she desired to be sent to Otho. She was ready to +withdraw to any quarter of the earth, rather than behold the emperor's +degradation." Otho, in order that he might be out of the way, had been +appointed Governor of Lusitania. + +It was some time after the death of Agrippina before Octavia was +removed, first by repudiation and then by death. We shall have occasion +to notice the character of this estimable woman in a later chapter. In +the meantime, the emperor did not have to wait wholly unrewarded by the +favors of Poppæa. He was entirely under her influence; but the memory of +the remorse which had seized him after the murder of his mother +restrained him, for a while, from adding to that crime another of equal +atrocity. Again, however, Poppæa cunningly worked upon his fears, +insinuating that unless he reinstated Octavia, whom he hated, as +empress, the people would give her another husband, whom they would make +emperor. This sealed Octavia's doom; shortly afterward, her head was +brought to Rome and laid at the feet of her infamous successor, Poppaea +was at last the empress in name as well as in fact; and when she +presented Nero with a daughter, he made a mockery of the title by naming +ner, as well as the child, Augusta. But the little one soon died, and +the Senate was obliged to console the father by decreeing that his +infant daughter had become a goddess. + +All the historians agree that subsequent to his connection with Poppæa, +Nero deteriorated in his character, or at least in his conduct. The +influence of the woman seemed to bring out and encourage the worst that +was in him. For Poppæa, however, there was compensation; her principal +gain, in her own estimation, may perhaps be best typified by the palace +which Nero built. She cared little for political power; imperial +magnificence was the attraction that enticed her. Surely never did woman +have her wish in this respect so completely gratified as did the wife of +Nero! He built himself a house, having first destroyed many another in +order to furnish a site. The author of _Rome of To-day and Yesterday_ +says: "It was upon the palace for the emperor that Severus and Celer, +the first architects ever mentioned by name in Roman history, lavished +all the resources of his boundless wealth and their skill. It seems so +extravagant to say that the Golden House extended over an area of nearly +a square mile in the very midst of the city, that if there had not been +left, from point to point, remains of it over a considerable part of +this area, the statement of the old writers to that effect would not +have seemed worthy of belief." By the Golden House is, of course, not +meant one continuous building; but there was an enclosure by means of +three colonnades, each a mile in length, and an entrance portico +somewhat narrower on the side opposite the Forum. Within this enclosure +were great courts resembling parks, fountains, and fishponds, besides +the residence buildings and baths. "In parts," says Suetonius, "this +house was entirely overlaid with gold and adorned with jewels and +mother-of-pearl. The supper rooms were vaulted, and compartments of the +ceilings, inlaid with ivory, were made to revolve and scatter flowers; +moreover, they were provided with pipes which shed essences on the +guests. The chief banqueting room was circular, and revolved +perpetually, night and day, in imitation of the motion of the celestial +bodies. The baths were supplied from the sea and from Albula. Upon the +dedication of this magnificent house, when finished, all Nero said in +approval of it was: 'Well, now at last I am housed as a man should be!'" + +Amidst this magnificent splendor, Poppæa lived. We will endeavor to +recount her manner of living as closely as we may, in order that we may +know what was the ideal existence in the estimation of the majority of +the women of her time. + +The chief concern of Poppæa, as of all the women of that period whom age +or nature had not unkindly relieved of this responsibility, was the +preservation of her beauty. The Roman authors have mercilessly laid bare +the methods and mysteries to which their ladies resorted for this +purpose. No pains or discomforts were avoided in order to retain the +freshness of complexion which was apt, in the dissipated life of the +palace, quickly to disappear. Poppæa is reputed to have invented many +cosmetics and face washes, and especially a mask which was worn at +night, which was composed of dough mixed with ass's milk; while for the +purpose of removing wrinkles another mask, composed of rice, was worn, +Juvenal mocks at the appearance of the ladies with their faces thus +encased, "ridiculous and swollen with the great poultice." He suggests +that what is fomented so often, anointed with so many ointments, and +receives so many poultices, ought to be considered a sore rather than a +face. It was held to be of great importance that these applications +should be washed off with ass's milk, and the old writers assert that +Poppæa kept large herds of these animals in order that she might bathe +in their warm milk every day. The Roman ladies were by no means averse +to assisting nature in augmenting their charms; they used white and red +paints with artistic effect. These were ordinarily moistened with +saliva, possibly on account of the Roman superstition in regard to the +efficacy of lustration. The brows and eyelashes were frequently dyed; +and so careful were the women to render nature all the assistance +possible, that even the delicate veins of the temples were heightened in +their effect by a faint touch of blue. The teeth had always received +most careful attention. There were many pastes and powders known to the +Roman beauty. Artificial teeth made of ivory had been in use from very +ancient times, for in the laws of the Twelve Tables there was one which +prohibited the deposition of gold in the graves of the dead, excepting +the material used for the fastening of false teeth. "You have your hair +curled, Galla," says Juvenal, "at a hair dresser's in Suburra Street, +and your eyebrows are brought to you every morning. At night, you remove +your teeth as you do your dress. Your charms are enclosed in a hundred +different pots, and your face does not go to bed with you." Many +instances are recorded of the costliness of the attire of these Roman +ladies. They wore silk which was sold at its weight in gold. There was a +kind of muslin so transparent that it was known as "woven air." Tunics +were ornamented with figures embroidered in gold thread, and encrusted +with pearls and precious stones. Pliny relates that he saw Lollia +Paulina wearing a dress which was covered with emeralds and pearls from +her head to her feet. She carried with her the receipts to show that +upon her person she wore a value of forty million sesterces; and this +was not her best dress, for the occasion was only a second-class +betrothal feast. At an entertainment given by Claudius on Lake Fucinus, +Agrippina wore a garment which was woven entirely of gold thread. + +The women of Poppæa's day seem to have been fully acquainted with the +benefits to be derived from physical exercise. Agrippina, as we have +seen, could swim with no less expertness than Cloelia of ancient renown. +Indeed, Juvenal pictures the women breaking the ice and plunging into +the river in the depth of winter, and diving beneath the eddies of the +Tiber at early dawn. This, however, was for religious and propitiatory +reasons. The same satirist refers with evident disapproval to women +exercising with heavy dumb-bells in the same fashion as did the men when +preparing for the bath. It is apparent that in this age women deemed it +to be in keeping with their rights to share, as closely as nature would +permit, in the pursuits and the privileges of the men; just as there +were men who, beyond the boundary set by nature, usurped the position +which belonged to women. + +We have spoken of the bath; and it being so large a feature in Roman +city life and so good an illustration--though the most innocent--of the +luxury of the times, it will not be amiss to afford a little space to +its description. + +The Golden House and many of the palaces of the wealthy contained baths +which, while not on so large a plan as the public _thermæ_, were +doubtless even more luxuriously appointed. We will take, however, the +public baths for our example. In the period of the early Republic, the +Romans, though scrupulously cleanly as the warmth of their country +required, contented themselves with washing in the Tiber. Every ninth +day was deemed sufficient for a complete immersion. As the arts of +civilization advanced, tubs were placed in the houses, and a daily bath +before the evening meal became customary. The first aqueduct for the +conveyance of water into the city was built by Appius Claudius about +B.C. 310. Seven or eight others were afterward constructed, notably that +of Agrippa; so that no city was ever better supplied with water than was +ancient Rome. This made possible the public baths, which early made +their appearance and which must have been such a boon to the people. At +first these baths were solely for lavatory purposes, and were neither so +magnificent nor so much a social feature as they afterward became. +Seneca relates that at first the ædiles superintended not only the +decorum of the bathers, but also the temperature of the baths. Under +Augustus, these public conveniences began to be characterized with that +magnificence of structure in which all the emperors delighted. A great +many of these buildings were erected in various parts of the city; as +many as eight hundred have been enumerated. Some of these were +marvellous, not only for their dimensions, but also for the costliness +of the material and the artistic decorations. The baths of Caracalla +were adorned with two hundred columns of the finest marble and furnished +with sixteen hundred seats of marble, and it is said that eighteen +thousand persons might conveniently bathe there at one time. Yet these +were excelled both in size and magnificence by the Thermæ Dioclesianæ. +The gift of these establishments was one of the means by which the +emperors kept themselves in favor with the people. For a trifling sum, a +citizen of any degree could repair to this scene of magnificence and +luxury, where there were crowds of slaves to minister to his comfort in +a style which might arouse the envy of the proudest Oriental monarch. +Besides the various kinds of hot and cold baths, swimming tanks, etc., +there were stately porticoes for games and exercise, there were +gymnasiums, magnificent galleries for the exhibition of specimens of +painting and sculpture, and frequently there were libraries where the +studious might rest and read after the refreshing luxury of the baths. +The bathrooms proper were duplicated in each establishment, one part +being open for the use of the men, the other set apart for the women. +There is a hint, however, that, during the reign of some of the worst of +the emperors, this propriety was not always strictly adhered to. Unless +the Latin writers wilfully calumniate their own times, it was not a +thing unknown for both men and women, in the private baths of palatial +residences, to be waited on by slaves of the opposite sex. + +Whether or not Poppæa condescended to make use of the public baths, it +is impossible to ascertain. It is certain, however, that the emperors +frequently joined the multitude in their sports and lavations. At two +o'clock each day, the opening of the baths was announced by the ringing +of a bell. Everybody repaired thither; it was the common rendezvous for +gossip, recreation, and amusement. Authors frequently read at the baths +their new productions to those of the crowds who cared to listen. Much +of the afternoon was spent in this manner. Before taking the bath, +exercise was indulged in, a favorite form of which was ball playing. +Then one entered the _caldarium_, in which hot air was diffused by means +of pipes leading from a furnace in the basement; then came the +_tepidarium_, always followed by a plunge in cold water. While bathing, +the skin was rubbed or scraped with a silver instrument called a +_strigula_. The Romans concluded the toilet by rubbing the body with +odoriferous ointments, and, thus refreshed and anointed, proceeded to +the banquet. + +In the early days of the Republic, meals were prepared with care, but +there was no sumptuousness, no art. The first signs of Asiatic luxury +made themselves noted on the table; delicacy and profusion were carried +to excess, resulting in extravagance and gluttony. The cook, who had +anciently been the lowest of the slaves, came to be the most important +officer in the establishments of the rich; that which at first was only +a low and necessary employment came to be a difficult and a highly +esteemed art. The price of a cook, says Pliny, was rated at as much as +would have formerly sufficed for the expense of a triumph, and a fish +was bought at the price anciently paid for a cook. + +To make provision for banquets seems to have been more the province of +the master of a Roman house than it was that of the mistress. There is a +great contrast between the position of a Roman matron and that of a +modern lady in this respect; the responsibility for the entertainment of +guests did not so peculiarly rest upon the former as it does upon the +latter. We frequently read of banquets given by men in the account of +which no mention whatever is made of the wife, and these were ordinary +occasions when there can be no doubt as to her presence. The guests were +usually invited solely in the master's name. In Petronius's account of +Trimalchio's Feast, he represents one guest asking another who is the +woman that so often scuttles up and down the room. He is told that she +is Fortunata, Trimalchio's wife, that she counts her money by the +bushel, but that she has an eye everywhere, and when you least think to +meet her she is at your elbow. Her propensity for petty management seems +to have been stronger than her love for the entertainment; for another +visitor coming in later asks "why Fortunata sits not among us?" The host +replies: "Till she has gotten her plate together and has distributed +what we leave among the servants, not a sup of anything goes down her +throat." But that this was unusual is shown by the inquirer threatening +to leave unless the mistress sat down with them. + +We have elsewhere described the Roman dining hall, or _triclinium_. +Doubtless the Golden House had many of these splendid salons. Lucullus, +who was famous for the enormous expense at which he lived, called each +of his numerous dining halls by the name of some divinity, and every +hall had a set rate of expense at which an entertainment in it was +given; so that when he ordered his household steward to prepare a +banquet in a certain salon, the servant knew exactly what to provide and +at how great a cost his master wished to entertain. It is told that +Cicero and Pompey once met Lucullus in the Forum and invited themselves +to supper with him. They declared that they wished to share the meal of +which he himself would partake if he were without company, and they +would not allow him to give any directions to the servants, only +permitting him to order his steward to prepare the table in the +Triclinium Apollo. The man knew exactly what to do, and the supper was a +great surprise to the guests, for a banquet in that hall was never +served at an expense of less than fifty thousand drachmas [nearly nine +thousand dollars]. + +In order that we may obtain as complete a picture as possible of the +Roman woman's life, we must attend in imagination one of those banquets +which she attended in reality. + +On entering the dining hall, we notice that around the table,--or +tables, for there will be many if the company is a large one,--in place +of chairs, are couches with an abundance of soft pillows. These couches +are placed on three sides of the table; for it was the custom of the +Romans to recline at their meals. When this custom was first introduced +from Asia, the women did not think that it comported with their modesty +to adopt this new style, and until the end of the Republic they retained +the old habit of sitting at table, while the men lay on the couches; but +at the time of Poppæa women had entirely relinquished this relic of +their former scrupulousness of demeanor and were accustomed to follow +the habit for which the lassitude resulting from the bath prepared them +and which these prolonged feasts made necessary for comfort. + +Having taken our places at the table, our attention is first drawn to +the fact that all the slaves, as they move about the room on their +various errands, are singing in a low voice. This is the custom of the +house; at the banquet everything must be done to the sound of music. All +the guests receive a crown or a wreath of flowers, which is worn upon +the head during the feast. Roses are to be seen everywhere in great +profusion. We are first served with some dishes which are designed to +excite rather than appease the appetite; these consist of dormice +covered with honey and pepper, hot sausages, and a large pannier filled +with both white and black olives. On the dishes in which these viands +are served we notice not only the host's name, but also the number of +ounces of silver of which the utensils are composed. An ostentatious +display of excellence was always sought after by the Romans. + +A banquet must always begin with eggs; so, having picked a little of the +afore-mentioned dainties to sharpen our hunger, the repast really +commences. A table is brought in, on which we see a large hen, carved in +wood, sitting as on a nest. The slaves search in the straw and bring +forth the eggs, which are handed around. The host, after examining these +simple articles of diet, says that he commanded to have them placed +under a hen for a short time, but he is afraid that they are half +hatched. Just as we are inclined to put ours aside, we discover that +what appears to be the shell is nothing but paste, and, breaking it +open, find inside a delicately cooked little bird of the wheatear +species. We must be prepared for such culinary surprises. Then the music +strikes up, and the slaves clear the table, dancing instead of walking. +If a slave drops a valuable dish, she will not be scolded so much for +the loss as she will be if she stops to pick up the fragments, as though +the loss were of consequence. Wine is now brought in. It is contained in +sealed glass vessels, each with a label setting forth the age of the +vintage. Wine is plentiful; it is even passed to us in place of water in +which to wash our hands. + +Now the viands are brought on in bewildering variety; and the marvellous +conceits of the cook baffle description. Here is an immense silver +charger, around which are carved the signs of the zodiac; and upon each +sign there is something suited to it, either in reality or its image in +pastry: a lobster, a goose, two pilchards, etc. There is a splendid +fish, and upon the sides of the dish are four little images which spout +a delicious sauce. + +There must also be somewhat to amuse us; for this banquet is to be of +long continuance, and there is a limit to one's eating. A lengthy +interval occurs, during which a company of actors, women as well as men, +take their places in the lower part of the hall, which is left clear for +the purpose, and there enact a farce which ridicules the follies of the +times and causes us much laughter. Other women perform upon the harp; +some exhibit their marvellous acrobatic skill; and one girl, clothed +only in a diaphanous, silky robe which reveals more of her person than +it hides, performs a dance which is as remarkable for its grace as for +its immodesty. We may be glad that we are not treated to a gladiatorial +combat, as has sometimes been the case in this same house. + +After these entertainments have been concluded, an enormous dish is set +before us, and in it a great boar. On his tusks hang two baskets, one +filled with dates, the other with almonds. About him are little pigs +made of sweetmeats. They are presents which we are to carry away with +us; for it is always the custom for the men at a banquet to carry some +part of it home to those women of their families who have not been +present. To our great astonishment, when the servant makes a hole in the +side of this boar, as though to carve it, there fly out a number of +blackbirds, which continue to flutter about the room until they are +again captured. + +While we are beguiling our time with wine and conversing with the ladies +present, a large and entire hog is brought upon the table. Whereupon our +host, having examined the animal closely, expresses it as his belief +that it has not been disembowelled by the cook. That officer being sent +for, he confesses that in his haste that part of the preparation had +truly been forgotten. He is ordered to be flogged, and the executioners +prepare to carry out the command upon the spot in the presence of us +all; but mercy is implored for him by the women, and his master contents +himself by ordering him to finish his work there upon the table. At +this, the cook takes a knife and cuts open the hog's belly, and there +immediately tumble out a heap of delicious sausages of various kinds and +sizes. This done, all the slaves cheer their master, and a present of +silver is made to the cook. + +While we are discussing this and the various other interesting episodes +of the feast, we are startled by the ceiling giving a great crack, and, +as we gaze up in considerable alarm, the main beam opens in the middle. +A large aperture appears, from which descends a great disk and upon it +are hung many beautiful presents for the guests, also fruits of various +kinds which when touched throw out a delicious liquid perfume. + +Thus, eating and conversing and viewing these wonders and the various +performances of the entertainers, the feast begun in the early evening +has endured until the night has grown late. Wine has been flowing +without stint, and its effect is to be seen among the company. The +ladies present have indulged with almost as great freedom as the men. +Tongues have become loosened and stories are told and allusions made +which might bring the blush to some cheeks, were they not already +flushed with wine. The feast is likely to end in a revel. Men take the +wreaths of flowers from the heads of the women and dip them in the wine, +which they then drink as a mark of gallantry. There is no longer need +for the actors and female entertainers; the male guests play the +buffoon, and matrons, throwing aside their robes, dance, though possibly +with less grace, certainly with no more modesty than did the +professional women who had been hired for that purpose. Pranks are +played upon those who have fallen into an intoxicated stupor. Some are +roaring bacchic songs, some are loudly arguing concerning politics, +giving vent to opinions for which they may have to give an account to +the emperor on another day; some are brawling, while others are +conversing with the women in such unrestrained fashion as leaves no room +for wonder at the numerous matrimonial readjustments which are +characteristic of these times. + +[Illustration 4: +_A ROMAN BANQUET +After the painting by Albert Baur +Around the tables, in place of chairs, are couches with an +abundance of soft pillow. These couches are placed on three sides of +the table; for it was the custom of the Romans to recline at their +meals. When this custom was first introduced from Asia, the +women did not think that it comported with their modesty to adopt +this new style, and until the end of the Republic they retained the +old habit of sitting at table.... After these entertainments have +been concluded, an enormous disk is set, and in it a great boar. +On his tusks, hang two baskets, one filled with dates, the other with +almonds. About him are little pigs made of sweetmeats; they are +presents to be carried away; it is the custom for men at a banquet +to carry some part of it to those women of their families who have +not been present..... when the servant makes a hole in the side +of this boar, as though to carve it, out fly a number of blackbirds, +which continue to flutter about the room until recaptured._] + +These are some of the features of such banquets as those to which the +women of Poppæa's time were accustomed. We have drawn our description +principally from Petronius's inimitable account. Though in Trimalchio's +Feast there was, so far as it appears, no other woman besides his wife, +yet we know from other sources that the presence of women at such +entertainments was common. There is no evidence to the effect that they +were in the habit of leaving the _triclinium_ before the unrestrained +indulgence in wine had made their presence there entirely inconsistent +with any ideas of strict propriety; indeed, if the poets are to be +credited, it often happened that love making of an ardent nature was +carried on in the confusion which marked the termination of these +feasts. + +Poppæa had married an imperial actor. Even at so late a period as the +days of Julius Cæsar, a citizen lost his civic rights by appearing on +the stage; but now the whole Roman Empire bent in fulsome adulation +before a crazy ruler who strained a wretched voice to sing _Canace in +Labor_. The Forum had become silent; the temples were frequented, but +with little faith or sincerity on the part of the worshippers. The +public life of Rome centred in the theatre and the circus. "After the +market place has been designed," says Vitruvius, "a very healthy spot +must be chosen for the theatre, where the people can witness the dramas +on the feast days of the immortal gods." In the days of Nero, the Roman +people did not wait for a religious motive in order that they might +indulge in shows which were certainly morally unhealthy, however +salubrious may have been the site of the theatre. The most popular and +best remunerated public servants were actors and actresses, dancing +women and female musicians. Mommsen, commenting on the condition of +theatrical art at an earlier time than that of Nero, says: "There was +hardly any more lucrative trade in Rome than that of the actor and the +dancing girl of the first rank. The princely estate of the tragic actor +Æsopus amounted to two hundred thousand pounds sterling; his still more +celebrated contemporary Roscius estimated his annual income at six +thousand pounds, and Dionysia the dancer estimated hers at two thousand +pounds." Later he adds, as indicating what was popular at the time: "It +was nothing unusual for the Roman dancing girls to throw off at the +finale the upper robe and to give a dance in undress for the benefit of +the public." + +There is in existence an epitaph of a girl named Licinia Eucharis, who +is reputed to have been the first female to appear on the public Greek +stage in Rome. She died at the age of fourteen; but, notwithstanding her +tender years, she was "well instructed and taught in all arts by the +Muses themselves." + +The theatrical displays of the Romans had always been characterized by +vulgarity and coarseness. The ancient Atellan farces were as full of +obscenity as were the fescennine songs of broad allusions. This being +so, even in the days when the Roman people deified chastity, it +naturally follows that unbounded license must have prevailed in the +degenerate days of the Empire. The surfeited taste of the licentious +populace was gratified by hordes of women as well as men, who strove to +give new piquancy to their exhibitions by the shamelessness of their +performances. + +There is some evidence, however, to show that now and again there was an +actress who endeavored to "elevate the stage." Horace reports that when +Arbuscula was hissed by the people, though doubtless she was giving a +good performance, she had the courage to retort: "It is enough for me +that the knight Mæcenas applauds"; but such a spirit was unusual, and +the Roman theatre continued to deteriorate. As is always the case in +such matters, the demand created the supply; but the supply also renewed +and strengthened the taste from which sprung the demand. Watching some +gladiators who had been condemned to mortal combat, a Roman argued with +Seneca that they were criminals and deserved their fate. "Yes," answered +the philosopher; "but what have you done that you should be condemned to +witness such an exhibition?" + +The moralist's stricture on their amusements was not concurred in by the +great mass of his female compatriots. Patrician and plebeian, rich and +poor, the women of Rome craved the realistic scenes of the theatre and +the terrible excitements of the circus with as much avidity as did the +men. Augustus had ordered that women should not be present at the +exhibitions of wrestlers, and that they should only be allowed to +witness gladiatorial combats from the upper and remote part of the +theatre; but in the days of Nero, the sex was placed under no such +restrictions. Augustus also severely punished an actor who allowed a +married woman, dressed as a boy, to wait upon him at table; but +afterward it became common for patrician ladies to be the paramours of +gladiators and pantomimists, with no fear of punishment save the +immortal lashings of the poetic satirists. These lashings, it is +evident, had no deterrent effect; despite the sarcasms of Juvenal, the +Ælias and Hispullas continued to be enamored of tragic actors. Hippia, +though the wife of a Senator, accompanies a gladiator to Alexandria. She +dines among the seamen, walks the deck in a rolling sea, and delights to +take a hand at the ropes. What was the attribute that captivated her? +Sergius was not handsome; "but then, he was a swordsman. The sword made +its wielder as beautiful as Hyacinthus. It was this she preferred to her +children, her native land, and her husband. It is the steel of which +women are enamored. This same Sergius, if he were discharged from the +arena, would be no better than her husband in her eyes." + +In the times of the most dissolute emperors, the people of Rome lived +chiefly to attend the theatre and the circus; after bread, all they +asked for was shows. There were theatres in Rome capable of seating +eighty thousand persons. We may imagine such a concourse waiting while +Nero dines in their presence in the imperial box, and allays their +impatience by shouting: "One more sup, and then I will present you with +something that will make your ears tingle." But it is likely that the +Roman ladies of noble birth were wont to hear the announcement of Nero's +performances with little anticipatory pleasure. They dared not absent +themselves, for there were spies who would report to the emperor their +failure to attend; and, being present, they were compelled to submit to +the infliction of the whole of the wretched exhibition; for on such +occasions the doors were absolutely closed against all egress. So +thoroughly was this rule carried out that there are reports of infants +having been born in the theatre while Nero was displaying his skill as +an actor. More than that, it was never known when or under what +circumstances the lightning of his malicious displeasure would fall upon +some unlucky head. Once, when he was playing and singing in the theatre, +he observed a married lady dressed in the shade of purple which he had +prohibited. He pointed her out to his officers, and she was not only +stripped of her raiment, but her property was also practically +confiscated by means of fines. + +Yet doubtless the fact that they were afforded the strange privilege of +witnessing the acting of an emperor did serve to arouse the interest of +the blasé Roman populace. Legitimate histrionic art had become for them +tiresome, as it always does where luxury and pampered idleness tend to +blunt the artistic conscience. Nothing less than libidinous vaudeville, +in which matrons of noble birth were by bribes or threats induced to +take part, could create the least sensation. Realistic performances were +more popular still. The actors in these were found in the dungeons, +therefore they were not costly and required little training. A much +truer idea of agony is obtained by watching a man really suffer than by +seeing it mimicked by an actor; and if the piece to be staged includes a +death, why not provide the audience with the opportunity of seeing a +criminal die in the manner designated? These were the scenes to which +the women of Rome grew accustomed, with the result that, for the +evil-disposed, bloodshed was no more than a pastime, while for the +better-natured it at least enabled them to look upon their own death +with diminished terror. But the favorite exhibition with the Roman +populace was the sanguinary gladiatorial encounter. Ten thousand men +were constantly kept and trained, that the people might witness their +combats to the death with each other or with ferocious animals. These +combats were to be seen in greater perfection at a later day than that +of Poppæa, in the Colosseum--the most stupendous show place ever erected +by man, and in which was exemplified the most enormous wickedness that +has disgraced the name of humanity. In the central space was "the sand," +the arena, often red and soaked like a battlefield with human blood. +Around this was a gilded fence to prevent the animals or the more +desperate men from rushing with deadly hate upon the unfeeling audience. +Behind that stood the marble _podium_, on which were placed the imperial +seats and those of the nobility. Then came, tier above tier, the seats +of the commoner people, who ofttimes made the vast edifice resound with +their roar--more dreadful than that of the forest king: "To the lions!" +In the front seats and behind them sat women, beautiful of face but +hardened in disposition, who, when a man was mortally wounded, cried: +"_hoc habet_ [he has it!]" with an excitement as unsympathetic as that +which delighted their male companions; and who, when an unfortunate +combatant lowered his arms in token of defeat, were as likely to point +their thumbs downward, in sign that the unfortunate man was forthwith to +be despatched, as to raise them in token of mercy. + +So long as Petronius, the man of taste, was the "arbiter" of Nero's +amusements, the people of Rome were not called upon to witness the most +outrageous examples of imperial depravity. Yet it must be confessed +that, if the women described in the _Satyrikon_ are to be accepted as +being typical of the majority of the Roman ladies, their morals could +not suffer much by the influence even of a Nero. Tigellinus incited the +emperor to greater lengths of profligacy than he otherwise would have +reached. Tacitus describes the feast given by Tigellinus, for which "he +built, in the lake of Agrippa, a raft which supported the banquet, which +was moved to and fro by other vessels drawing it after them. He had +procured fowl and venison from remote regions, and fish from far-off +seas. Upon the margin of the lake were erected brothels, filled with +ladies of distinction, and over against them other women whose +profession was apparent by the scantiness of their attire. As soon as +darkness came on, the surrounding dwellings echoed with the music, and +in the groves brilliant lights revealed everything that was obscene and +improper." + +During the reign of the dissolute emperors, the virtue of women was but +little respected. Nero denied that any person was sincerely chaste. If a +woman of any social prominence in those days desired to retain her +honor, her beauty was her greatest misfortune. No ties or obligations, +not even the sanctity of the Vestals, were respected by the lustful +tyrants. If a man rejoiced in a beautiful and modest wife, she might +any day be requested to appear at the palace; and the husband, if he +would preserve his life, was compelled to bear the dishonor in silence. +Occasionally, however, there was a woman who showed more spirit; +Mallonia publicly upbraided Tiberius for his wickedness, and then went +home and killed herself. But the condition of morals was such that there +were a great many wives and husbands who did not regard such tyranny +with any special degree of horror. Piso, who was put to death for his +conspiracy against Nero, had robbed his friend Domitius Silius of his +wife, who was, the historian informs us, a depraved woman and void of +every recommendation but personal beauty; but "both concurred, her +husband by his passiveness, she by her wantonness, to blazon the infamy +of Piso." + +Among these characters there was but little of that chaste love which +glorifies the marriage bond. Poppæa could have had no regard for the +despicable Nero; her sole concern was that she might be empress, and +maintain herself in that exalted position. The emperor prized nothing in +his wife except her incomparable beauty; and he placed her beside +himself on the throne only because it was necessary that Cæsar should +have legitimate heirs. + +As to the character of Poppæa, Josephus credits her with being very +religious, and Tacitus says that she was much given to consulting with +soothsayers and eastern charlatans. Yet it may have been that, +notwithstanding her wild profligacy and shameless ambition, Poppæa felt +the vacuity of the glittering show by which she was surrounded, and that +at times a restless conscience compelled her to grope among the tangled +mysteries of the spiritual life. At the same time, it has been +suspected--and the suspicion is not totally without warrant--that the +Roman Jews, in their bitter animosity against the Christians, were +aided by the empress in instigating that persecution which rendered the +reign of Nero so superlatively infamous. + +It was rare for an imperial consort to come to other than a violent end; +and Poppæa was no exception to the rule. Her death was the act, though +unpremeditated, of her husband. One day, she found fault with him for +returning later than she desired from a chariot drive. Angered by her +upbraidings and brutal by nature, he kicked her, and, being in a +condition of pregnancy at the time, she shortly afterward died of the +blow. It is said that her body was not consumed by fire, as was the +custom of the Romans, but embalmed in Jewish fashion and placed in the +tomb of the Julian family. She was, however, given a splendid funeral; +and there is no stronger witness to the terrible moral apathy which +characterized the times than the fact that her murderous husband +delivered on the occasion a laudatory oration. From the rostrum, he +magnified "her beauty and her lot, in having been the mother of an +infant enrolled among the gods." There being nothing else in her +character to extol, he treated her gifts of fortune as having been so +many virtues. It is impossible to doubt that the ancient historian is +correct when he asserts that though the people were obliged to put on an +appearance of mourning, they could but rejoice at the death of this +woman, when they remembered her lewdness and her cruelty; and although, +as Pliny tells us, all Arabia did not produce in a whole year as many +spices as were consumed at the funeral of Poppæa, there was no incense, +material or eulogistic, by which it was possible to overcome the evil +odor of her life. + +The reign of Nero was typical of other ages that were to follow. The +Roman people were to drink still deeper of the dregs of servility, and +they were to become yet more morally apathetic, before they would awaken +to better things. Poppæa was simply a woman of her time, and she was +followed by generations of women, both of high and low degree, who were +like-minded with herself. Imperial prostitutes and plebeian courtesans +run riot through all the long drawn out decadence of the Roman Empire; +but, although a veritable picture of the Roman woman could not be given +without the inclusion of such types as those delineated in this and the +preceding chapter, we will at least spare ourselves and the reader +further recital of vice and crime by confining the exemplification to +this one period. We have not refrained from including the worst features +and employing the darkest colors that history warrants, in order that, +to use the expression of Tacitus, we may not have to repeat instances of +similar extravagance. + +Although Nero was a monster of iniquity, he was not denied the +disinterested love of women. That strange, strong passion which holds +woman's heart to the most unworthy objects and feeds itself with +idealizations made the name of Nero dear to some when it was execrated +by all the world besides. And when at last he was driven from the +throne, and, uttering the words: "I yet live, to my shame and disgrace," +drove the suicidal dagger through his throat, there were women who +tenderly cared for that body which sycophantic courtiers extolled while +it lived and neglected when it was dead and powerless. His nurses Ecloge +and Alexandra, who had cared for him when he was an innocent boy, and +that Acte who had been his first love and who had never entirely lost +her influence over him, laid his ashes in the tomb of his fathers, and +grieved over a death which gave to the world at large great cause for +rejoicing. + + + + +XI + +GOOD WOMEN OF NERO'S REIGN + +The immoralities which characterized the reigns of some of the first +emperors must be considered as abnormal outbreaks rather than as +permanent conditions. The element of corruption is always present in the +social body. As a rule, it reveals itself only to those who look for it +in the slums and prisons and criminal haunts, but at times and under +certain conditions it breaks out with excessive virulence, and, to adopt +a Biblical figure, there seems to be no soundness in the whole body. +Such conditions were present during the period we have been studying. +Many circumstances combined to bring all the corruption and immorality +which are usually veiled or disguised into prominent view and to make +them fashionable. The accidents of birth placed upon the imperial throne +men who were morally insane; consequently, the evil-disposed found +themselves in a paradise of crime, while the ambitious, the covetous, +and the cowardly were enabled to gain their ends and preserve their +safety only by becoming caterers to and companions in their masters' +lusts. + +It is very easy, however, for a student of history to encourage an +exaggerated idea of Roman depravity, even as it was in the days of +Messalina and Poppsea. Whence do we obtain our picture of the Rome of +those times? Partly from historians; but very largely from such writers +as Juvenal, Petronius, and Apuleius. The historians confined their +accounts to the prominent people of their times, and it not unfrequently +happened that the most prominent and successful were the least +commendable from the moral standpoint. The moralists necessarily placed +the worst in the boldest relief, in order to ensure a more telling +effect. Seneca held such writers up to ridicule, when he said: "Morals +are gone; evil triumphs; all virtue, all justice, is disappearing; the +world is degenerating. This is what was said in our fathers' days, it is +what men say to-day, and it will be the cry of our children." And yet, +the world does not grow worse. As for the society portrayed by Petronius +and Apuleius, these men sought their characters among the low pothouses +and the brothels of Rome. The morals of the ordinary Roman home must not +be judged by a scene either in a house of ill fame or in the palace of a +crazy and dissolute tyrant, any more than the common life of Herculaneum +or Pompeii is to be conjectured solely from the obscene pictures found +on the walls of their ruined dwellings. + +In this present chapter, the women we shall cite are chiefly those who +were ennobled in their deaths rather than in their lives. That is to +say, though they lived well, had it not been for their brave manner of +dying their names would not have been preserved in history. + +As has been said, Roman society was not wholly corrupt, even though an +adulterous Messalina, an unprincipled Poppæa, or a cruel and ambitious +Agrippina, shared the throne. Contemporary with these were women who +still with pure hands and sincere hearts invoked the ancient goddess of +chastity. There were those who had mother love for their children, but +were free from deadly ambition. Among the more ordinary homes were many +that were graced with the same family loyalty and tender affection as +beautify our homes to-day. + +The young women of the days of Claudius were not obliged to search in +the musty annals of past times for examples of feminine honor and +virtue. They had all known Antonia, the virtuous daughter of Octavia and +Antony, who, like Agrippina, had honored her widowhood by a long and +irreproachable chastity. Yet the maidens of Messalina's age may have +been the less attracted by the example of Antonia because, while she +retained the old Roman purity of morals, she also exemplified the old +Roman severity of manners. Claudius, her son, never ceased to stand in +awe of her, and during his childhood her severity to him was such that +it is supposed that it helped to induce his imbecility. When her +daughter Livilla had been betrayed into crime by means of the arts of +Sejanus, Antonia was even more inexorable than Tiberius, against whom +the plot had been laid, and she caused the young woman to be starved to +death. It was not an instance of cruelty, it was simply the old Roman +justice, in which personal or even maternal feeling was allowed no +place. Antonia's goodness was not of the attractive kind. We must +imagine her as a proud, puritanical old matron, who made herself a +terror to wrong doers. She courageously rebuked her grandson Caligula +for his enormities; but the young ruffian, who possessed neither the +mind nor the conscience to respect age or kinship, in return caused +Antonia to be put to death--though it is possible that the actual deed +may have been her own. + +It was asked of old: "Can a clean thing come out of an unclean?" The +affirmative answer to this question is found in the person and character +of Octavia, the daughter of Messalina the infamous. Indeed, the axiom +that "like produces like" cannot be applied to moral character; so many +instances are met with of bad offspring from noble parentage and +virtuous children from immoral antecedents that they cannot be regarded +as exceptions to the rule. + +Octavia was fortunate in nothing but her character. She was the +plaything of a relentlessly adverse fate. The whole of her short life is +an illustration of the fact that goodness of disposition does not +protect its possessor from the worst evils of existence. That this young +girl remained virtuous amid the whirl of immorality in which she was +reared, with no lovable example and no motherly advice, is a proof of +the invincibility of a good disposition if nature has woven it into a +human character. + +As a little child, Octavia had been petted and fondled by her father, +the poor old Emperor Claudius, who, dull and phlegmatic as he was, would +have been a good-hearted man if he had not been thrust into a position +for which he was totally unfitted. He loved to take Octavia and her +little brother Britannicus to the theatre and hold them with a father's +pride before the admiring eyes of the people. This was all the love that +Octavia ever knew. One of her earliest and saddest experiences was to be +sent by Messalina out upon the road to Ostia, to meet Claudius and plead +vainly for that unworthy mother's life. Then Agrippina came to the +palace; and with her in the double capacity of empress and stepmother, +Octavia found no cause of thankfulness for the change. Hitherto she at +least had not been used as a mere tool to effect some other's political +ambitions. Her father Claudius had betrothed her to Lucius Silanus, a +celebrated and favorite Senator. Had this match been allowed to remain +undisturbed, it is possible that Octavia's lot might have been peaceful +and happy; but a false charge against Silanus was trumped up by the +perfidious Vitellius, so that the former was degraded from the Senate, +and immediately afterward he committed suicide, Octavia lived on and +encountered the terrible misfortune of being betrothed to Nero, whom +Seneca was advising to "compensate himself with the pleasures of youth +without compunction." Agrippina threw Octavia to her son, just as a rope +might be tossed to a mountain climber to enable him to ascend a +difficult pass; when its use has been served, it is looked upon as a +piece of mere cumbersome baggage. So Nero considered his wife, after he +had obtained the Empire. When he expressed his dislike for her, the +plain-spoken Burrhus said: "Very well, send her away; but of course you +will give up her dower with her;" which was nothing less than the throne +of Claudius. + +Had Octavia been supported by some all-powerful and sympathetic relative +like Augustus, she might have survived and have shown as great patience +with the vices of Nero as her ancestral namesake showed with those of +Antony; but she was left unprotected amidst numerous opposing forces +which, when not aimed with deadly hatred against her, were indifferent +to her welfare, with the consequence that she was speedily and +mercilessly crushed. + +The first woman who took the place which Octavia never held in Nero's +affections was the Greek freedwoman Acte. The wild young emperor would +have divorced his wife and married the Greek forthwith, but he was still +under the domination of the powerful Agrippina. This first thwarting of +the imperial will was the beginning of Agrippina's downfall. It was not +long before she and the young wife saw a fearful presage of their own +fate when the young Britannicus fell dead upon the banquet floor, +poisoned by the diabolical art of Nero's instrument, Locusta. Octavia, +though so young, was not entirely ignorant as to what the perils of her +situation demanded. She had received early lessons in a terrible school. +Consequently, when Nero declared to the alarmed guests that her brother +was habitually afflicted with the falling sickness, she disguised her +sisterly grief and composedly retained her place at the banquet. + +But the time came when Agrippina had also fallen a victim to her son's +inhumanity, and Nero, responsible to no human being, had become enamored +by the more attractive fascinations of a more unprincipled woman than +Acte. "Why does not Nero," the tyrant asks of himself, "banishing all +fear, set about expediting his marriage with Poppæa? Why not put away +his wife Octavia, although her conduct is that of a modest woman, since +the name of her father and the affection of the people have made her an +eyesore to him?" With Poppæa urging him on and the villainous Tigellinus +exercising his diabolical ingenuity to find a plausible excuse, it was +not long before the courage of Nero was equal to the audacious act of +driving from the imperial palace the woman through connection with whom +he had his right of tenure there. Octavia was divorced by process of +law, under the allegation that she was barren. At first she was awarded +the house of Burrhus and the estate of Plautus, whom Nero had recently +put to death. The divorce being sought by her husband for no fault of +hers, he was obliged, if the strict letter of the law had been observed, +to give up with her the whole of her dowry; but for men like Nero, who +execute the laws, a mere pretence of legality suffices. Poppæa had +brazenly endeavored to trump up a far more serious charge against the +woman she injured; but it could not be made to hold. She bribed one of +Octavia's domestics to assert that her mistress had participated in an +amour with Eucerus, an Alexandrian flute player; but this accusation was +so preposterously inconsistent with Octavia's well-known character that, +even though they tortured her servants, they could gain no evidence +which they dared to set before the people in substantiation of the +charge. There could be no stronger testimony to the amiability and +lovableness of Octavia, as well as to the purity of her character, than +the fidelity with which her servants defended her reputation from all +aspersions, even while they were undergoing the most intense torture. +One brave maid, while being examined upon the rack, spat in the face of +Tigellinus, who was urging a confession, and declared aloud that "the +womb of Octavia was purer than his mouth." It was among slaves like +these that the first Christian martyrs were found; women who gave their +bodies to the most excruciating torture, but could not be induced to +deny their faith. + +Soon after Octavia's divorce, she was banished into Campania, where she +was kept in close confinement, and a guard of soldiers was placed over +her. But though the Senate and the nobility had become absolutely +enslaved to the imperial tyrant's will, there was always the people to +reckon with. The common women talked loudly but sympathetically of +Octavia's persecuted innocence. The men took up the cry; they made it +heard in the theatre and they scribbled it upon the walls. The people +could not be individualized. They had not but one neck, as Caligula had +so maliciously wished. Their number and individual insignificance +rendered it possible for them to express their mind with impunity. Nero +hastened to recall Octavia to the city. + +That was a day of proud but dangerous joy for the unfortunate young +empress. At least she had the satisfaction of knowing that all the world +believed in her innocence. In their happiness, the multitude went to the +Capitol and thanked all the gods for her return. They threw down the +statues of Poppæa, and wherever they could find one of Octavia they +wreathed It with flowers and removed it to the Forum or to some temple. +They even went to the palace to applaud Nero for bringing back his +banished wife, but were driven thence by the soldiery. + +AH this served only to incite Poppæa to take the most desperate +measures. She approached Nero with such artful insinuations in regard to +the possibility of the people's revolting in favor of Octavia, and at +the same time with a pretence of such meek submissiveness in regard to +her own personal fortunes, that the emperor was induced both by fear and +passion to take the course which she desired. + +A method of getting rid of Octavia without incurring danger was not easy +to devise; but Nero had at his court a man who was a genius in the art +of removing formidable impediments. Anicetus had proved his ability upon +Agrippina. He was not only resourceful, but absolutely without either +honor or conscience. It was not alone necessary that Octavia should be +destroyed, but her death must take on the semblance of a justified +punishment. There was none who could or would testify aught against her. +Nero summoned Anicetus and told him "that he alone had saved the life of +his prince from the dark devices of his mother; now an opportunity for a +service of no less magnitude presented itself, by relieving him from a +wife who was his mortal enemy. There was no need of force or arms; he +had only to admit of adultery with Octavia!" The dastardly freedman +forthwith began to boast among his friends of the favors he received +from the young empress. On being summoned to a council of the friends of +Nero, he made a pretended confession. He was condemned to banishment to +Sardinia, where he lived in great luxury until he died a natural death. + +Nero published an edict in which he stated that Octavia had been +discovered seeking, through the corruption of Anicetus, the admiral, to +engage the fleet in a conspiracy, and that her infidelity was clearly +proved. Octavia was sent to the island of Pandataria. Tacitus says: +"Never was there any exile who touched the hearts of the beholders with +deeper compassion. Some there were who still remembered to have seen +Agrippina the Elder banished by Tiberius; the more recent sufferings of +Julia were likewise recalled to mind--that Julia who had been confined +there by Claudius. But they had experienced some happiness, and the +recollection of their former splendor proved some alleviation of their +present horrors." Everything in Octavia's life that promised pleasure +had been turned to gall. Her home recalled the scenes of her father's +poisoning and her brother's murder; her marriage rights had been first +usurped by a handmaid and then by a woman known to be of infamous +character; and now even her memory was to be stained with the imputation +of a crime which was more intolerable to her than death itself. There is +no sadder picture in all history than that of this girl,--she was only +twenty,--after her short life of uninterrupted sorrow and unstained +innocence, thrown among centurions and common soldiers, who dared not +help her even if a feeling of pity entered their hearts. They commanded +her to die; but she had not the strength or the courage of Antonia. She +pleaded that she was now a widow, and that the emperor's object having +been gained he had no cause to fear anything from her. She invoked the +name of Agrippina, and said "that had she lived, her marriage would have +been made no less wretched, but she would not have been doomed to +destruction." When those in charge saw that it was hopeless to expect +that she would take the unpleasant task off their hands, they bound her +and opened her veins; but, the blood flowing too slowly, her death was +accelerated by the vapor of a bath heated to the highest point. After +life was extinct, they severed her head from her body and carried it to +Poppaea, in order that she might see that the deed by which she was made +Empress of Rome was surely accomplished. + +The abject Senate, when they learned that the whole matter was thus +concluded, decreed that offerings should be made at the temples, as a +thanksgiving for the deliverance of the emperor from the dangers which +had threatened him through the conspiracy of his wife. Tacitus declares +that he records this circumstance "in order that all those who shall +read the calamities of those times, as they are delivered by me or any +other authors, may conclude, by anticipation, that as often as a +banishment or a murder was perpetrated by the prince's orders, so often +thanks were offered to the gods; and those acts which in former times +were resorted to in order that prosperous occurrences might be +distinguished, were now made the tokens of public disasters." + +These were the days of the martyrs. During this reign, the burning +bodies of Christians lighted the gardens of the malevolent tyrant, +innocent women and tender girls were exposed to fierce beasts in the +arena, and by their sufferings were made to contribute interest to a +Roman holiday. These died for their faith. They died gladly, in the +belief that their pains and faithfulness were to be rewarded with an +unfading crown in a land beyond the skies. They cheered each other in +the face of death, and they were comforted by those friends who were +still at liberty with the promise of a meeting where no tyrant's hand +could harm them. Octavia was not of this faith. It is probable that she +knew nothing of the strange doctrines which were making converts among +the Roman slaves. Yet there was no martyr more innocent than herself, +none more worthy of canonization. There was none whose purity and whose +fidelity to the principles which were cherished by high souls could +present a better claim for the victor's palm and the martyr's crown than +her own. Octavia knew nothing of the Christian hope of immortality; her +religious faith at the best could teach her no more than the vague +surmise that possibly in some dreary under world the shades of mortals +retained a melancholy consciousness. Yet a consistent justice at the +present day cannot do other than place side by side the persecuted girl +from the imperial palace and the Christian slave maiden whose blood +dripped from the jaws of the beasts of the arena, and believe that +whatever consolation eternal fate provided for the one was equally +shared in by the other. + +As we have said, the first woman to attract the affections of Nero, +which were never turned toward Octavia, was Acte. She had probably been +brought as a slave from Asia. How old she was when Nero first knew her +it is impossible for us to conjecture, but it is likely that she was +somewhat older than the youthful emperor; it frequently happens that a +boy's first love is aroused by a woman his superior in age. Then, too, +Acte was at this time a freedwoman. Liberty was often gained by female +slaves by means of the charms of their persons; but this result was not +likely to be secured before those charms were fully matured. So profound +was Nero's passion for Acte that, had he not been with difficulty +restrained, he would have divorced Octavia forthwith and married the +Greek. He is said to have induced men of consular rank to swear that she +was of royal descent. It is by no means impossible that such an +assertion should be true; for the slave markets which supplied Rome were +to a large extent recruited by kidnapped children, picked up wherever +they might be found. It is remarkable that not a word that is +detrimental to the character of Acte is recorded in history. Indeed, we +know but very little about her, though she has always been regarded with +a sort of poetical approbation. There is no evidence of her having used +her power with the emperor for the injury of an enemy. She seems to have +been modest and unassuming, and it is certain that her love for Nero was +sincere; for it not only outlasted his, but remained true to the latest +hour of his life. When all others had forsaken the fallen prince whom +they had fawned upon, it was Acte who tenderly cared for his remains. + +Tacitus represents her as warning Nero from his early evil +extravagances. She remained queen of his affections for four years,--the +best four years of his reign,--and it is said that when he turned from +her to Poppaea she sank into a profound melancholy. Upon all this has +been founded the surmise that Acte was a Christian; but it is nothing +more than conjecture. Whatever may have been the facts in regard to +this, in the little glimpses we obtain of her presence in the awful +tragedies of her age we catch the outline of one whom we are assured +must have been a good woman--a woman innately pure, but forced into +contact with vice by circumstances over which she had no control. + +There are numerous examples from history to prove that in the dissolute +reign of Nero feminine goodness was not a rarity; but there are no +pictures of pure light-heartedness and gladsome simplicity such as were +known in the older days. Everything was sombre; death was in the air; +the only gayety was that found in the scenes of reckless profligacy. It +was an age of extremes; on the one side, unrestrained profligacy; on the +other, fear and sorrow occasioned by a tyrant's cruel caprice. It was an +age in which all the experiences of life were intensified. Human life +of the period can only be pictured in high lights and deep shadows; +everything must be shown in strong relief. The fortune of nearly all the +good women of this time whose names we know was to suffer patiently and +die heroically. + +Like Acte, the noble matron Pomponia Græcina has been credited by +tradition with having found consolation for the sorrows of the times in +that new faith which was undermining old Rome, both literally in the +catacombs and figuratively in the rapidity with which it was making +converts; but we know not with certainty. It would be unjust to paganism +and untrue to history to claim every instance of moral superiority for +the modern faith. Still, Græcina was accused of yielding to foreign +superstitions. This may have been owing to the peculiarities of her +manner. She had been the close friend of that Julia, daughter of Drusus, +whom Messalina had forced to kill herself. From this time on, for the +space of forty years, Græcina wore nothing but mourning, and was never +seen to smile. Sienkiewicz founds the plot of his Neronian novel on the +idea that Græcina was a Christian; but there are no facts by which this +supposition can be verified. When the charge of entertaining foreign +superstitions was laid against her, she was, in accordance with the +ancient law, consigned to the adjudication of her husband. Plautius +assembled her kindred, and, in compliance with the institutions of early +times, having in their presence made solemn inquisition into the +character and conduct of his wife, adjudged her innocent. She survived +to a great age and was always held in high estimation by the people, but +she never recovered from her melancholy. + +When the noble Thrasea had been condemned to death by Nero, the officer +who brought the tidings found him walking in the portico of his house. +He had already opened his veins, and as he stretched out his arms the +blood began to flow. Calling the quæstor to him, and sprinkling the +blood upon the floor, he said: "Let us make a libation to Jove the +Deliverer. Behold, young man, and may the gods avert the omen, but you +are fallen upon such times that it may be useful to fortify your mind by +examples of unflinching firmness." Arria, his wife, wished to share her +husband's fate, but he bade her live for their daughter's sake. + +There were many women who presented examples of the same unflinching +firmness for the encouragement of their own sex. The mother of Thrasea's +wife, whose name was also Arria, exhibited a strength of mind and a +magnanimity of spirit equal to that of the noblest Romans in the best +days of the Republic. Duruy recounts two episodes in the career of this +noble woman which illustrate all we have claimed for her as one of the +best of her sex. + +"Arria's husband, Cæcina Pætus, and his son were affected with a serious +malady; the son died. His mother took such measures respecting the +funeral that the father knew nothing of it. Every time she entered his +room she gave him news of the sufferer,--he had not slept badly, or +perhaps he was recovering his appetite; and when she could no longer +restrain her tears she went out for a moment, and then returned with dry +eyes and a calm face, having left her grief behind her. At a later +period, her husband, being concerned in the conspiracy of Scribonianus, +was captured and taken to Rome. He was put on board a ship, and Arria +begged the soldiers to allow her to go with him, 'You cannot refuse,' +she said to them, 'to a man of consular rank a few slaves to wait on him +and dress him; I alone will do him these services.' As they continued +inexorable, she hired a fishing boat and followed across the Adriatic +the vessel in which her husband was conveyed. At Rome, she met the wife +of Scribonianus, who attempted to speak to her. 'How can I listen to +you,' she said to her, 'who have seen your husband killed in your arms, +and who are still alive?' Foreseeing the condemnation of Pætus, she +determined not to survive him. Thrasea, her son-in-law, begged her to +give up this determination. 'Is it your wish, then,' he said to her, 'if +I should be compelled to die, that your daughter should die with me?' +'If she shall have lived as long and as united a life with you as I with +Pætus, it is my wish,' was the reply. Her family watched her carefully, +to prevent her fatal design. 'You are wasting your time,' she said; 'you +will make me die a more painful death, but it is not in your power to +prevent me from dying.' Thereupon she dashed her head against the wall +with such violence that she fell down as if dead. When she recovered her +senses, she said to them: 'I have already warned you that I should find +some means of death, however hard, if you denied me an easy one.' We +cannot wonder that, to decide her hesitating husband, she struck herself +a fatal blow with a poniard; then handed him the weapon, saying: 'Pætus, +it gives no pain.'" + +Pliny gives an account of an incident showing similar conjugal devotion +and self-sacrificing courage. "I was sailing lately," says he, "on our +Lake Larius, when an elderly friend pointed out to me a house, one of +whose rooms projected above the waves. 'From that spot,' he said, 'a +townswoman of ours threw herself out with her husband. The latter had +long been ill, suffering from an incurable ulcer. When she was convinced +that he could not recover from his disease, she exhorted him to kill +himself, and became his companion in death--nay, rather his example and +leader, for she tied her husband to her and jumped into the lake.'" This +was a woman of the common citizens; we do not even know her name. +Modern times have no examples to show of a closer marital sympathy than +this. Our ideas compel us to deprecate the act of self-destruction; but +we cannot question, or more than rival, such devotion. The like degree +of faithfulness between married couples was common among the Romans; and +this was their manner of showing it. + +We have, more than once, seen the statement advanced in all seriousness +by well-informed writers and public speakers that marital affection, in +the modern understanding of the expression, was almost unknown among the +ancients. The object of the contention is to enhance the appreciation of +the effects of Christianity; but the argument is as absurdly +inconsistent with history as it is with common sense. True, Christianity +discourages conjugal unions in which that affection does not exist, but +it does not create it; nor was there anything whatever in pagan customs +or institutions to prevent the existence of the warmest and purest +affection between husband and wife. The sole conditions in the ancient +world that militated against pure and constant married love were the +customary unions of expediency and the inferior position of the wife. As +to the first of these customs, it is by no means unknown in the modern +world and to Christian times; in regard to the second, the Roman wife in +the period with which we are now engaged was almost equally as well off +as her modern descendant. + +Principles of virtue, honor, and duty of a high order had been +inculcated through many generations of ancient Romans; and it could not +be otherwise than that these would reappear and manifest themselves with +invincible insistence, even in the most corrupt days of the Empire. What +higher or more dignified sense of duty could there be than that +exhibited by the lady who had determined to send substantial relief to +a friend of hers, banished by Domitian? It was represented to her that +this money would be certain to fall into the tyrant's hands, and that +hence she would be only wasting her means and gratifying the unworthy. +"It is of little consequence to me," she said, "if Domitian steal it; +but it is of great moment for me to send it." She possessed the sublime +conviction that she was responsible to her consciousness of what +friendship demanded, even though she might be certain of the miscarriage +of her efforts. + +There were also women whose spirits were stirred by the love of freedom, +and who were willing to do and dare and suffer in the attempt to wrest +the nation from a tyrant's grasp. Among those who have sacrificed their +own lives at the altar of Liberty, the Roman woman can claim +representatives. + +We are told that into the conspiracy against Nero which was headed by +Caius Piso, "senators, knights, soldiers, and even women entered with +the ardor of competition." The plot was to attack Nero while he was +singing upon the stage, though it was considered by some that it would +be a better plan to set his house on fire and then despatch him while he +was excitedly hurrying about unattended by his guards. "While the +conspirators were hesitating, and protracting the issue of their hopes +and fears, a woman named Epicharis--and how she became acquainted with +the affair is involved in mystery, nor had she ever manifested a concern +for worthy objects before--began to animate the conspirators, and goad +them on by reproaches; but at length, disgusted by their dilatoriness, +while sojourning in Campania, she tried every effort to shake the +allegiance of the officers of the fleet at Misenum, and engage them in +the plot." + +But, though an enthusiastic conspirator, Epicharis proved herself an +unwary recruiting agent. She especially applied herself to an old +acquaintance named Proculus, who confided to her the fact that he had +been one of the party concerned in the assassination of the emperor's +mother, and that he was dissatisfied with the reward he had received for +such eminent service, he being only a minor officer in the fleet. He +added that it was his settled purpose to be revenged, should a fitting +opportunity present itself. Epicharis did not wait to consider the +unwisdom of incontinently intrusting the knowledge of the whole plot to +a man of insufficient principle to prevent him from looking upon the +murder of a defenceless woman as an exploit to be liberally rewarded. +Moreover, it is likely that she inadvertently had dropped some hint of +what was in her mind, and Proculus lured her on by suggesting the +possibility of himself as a convert. Epicharis first gave him the whole +plot, and then set about persuading him to join it. She recounted all +the atrocities of the emperor; and concluded with the remark "that Nero +had stripped the Senate of all its powers; but," she added, "measures +had been taken to punish him for overturning the constitution; and +Proculus had only to address himself manfully to the work and bring over +to their side the most energetic of the troops, and he might depend upon +receiving suitable rewards." + +One indiscretion she did not commit: she did not divulge the names of +the conspirators. So, when Proculus laid information before the +emperor--thinking doubtless that this was a readier path to reward than +any plot of assassination of which a woman would be cognizant--his +evidence was of little avail; but Nero considered it best to detain +Epicharis in prison, in anticipation of anything that might occur. + +The conspirators at last concluded to perpetrate their design at the +Cirensian games. Lateranus, a man of determined spirit and gigantic +strength, was to approach the emperor as a suppliant and, apparently by +accident, throw him down. Scævinus was to perform the principal part +with a dagger he had procured from the temple of Fortune for the +purpose. Piso was to wait at the temple of Ceres until he was summoned +to the camp, which he was to enter attended by Antonia, the daughter of +Claudius Cæsar,--a woman of an entirely opposite character to that of +her grandmother, after whom she was named,--and who, it was hoped, would +conciliate the favor of the people. How deeply Antonia was involved in +this plot it is impossible to say. It appears improbable, as Tacitus +remarks, that she should have lent her name and hazarded her life in a +project from which she had nothing to hope. + +It was through the dagger mentioned above, and also the cupidity of a +woman, that the whole conspiracy came to light. Scævinus impatiently +ordered his freedman Milichus to put the weapon to the grindstone and +bring it to a sharp point. Milichus, putting together this and other +preparations he witnessed, guessed the project that was on foot. He told +his suspicions to the emperor. Scævinus was arrested; but his bearing +was so confident that the accuser would have broken down had not the +wife of Milichus reminded him that "Natalis had taken part in many +secret conversations with Scævinus, and that both were confidants of +Piso." Then followed numerous arrests, confessions, and accusations, +each conspirator endeavoring to lighten the burden of his own guilt by +revealing how many there were who shared it. Lucan the poet even +informed against his own mother, Atilla. + +Amid all this disaster, there was one spirit that remained undaunted, +one tongue that could not be persuaded by promises or compelled by +torment to confess and thus implicate others. Epicharis had been held +in custody from the time of her unguarded enthusiasm in Campania. Nero +recollected her, and commanded that she should be put to the torture. +"But," says the historian, "neither stripes, nor fire, nor the rage of +the tormentors, who tore her with the more vehemence, lest they should +be scorned by a woman, could vanquish her." Thus the first day of +torture was passed without producing any effect upon her. "The day +following, as she was being brought back to suffer the same torments, +riding in a chair, for all her members being disjointed, she could not +support herself, taking off the girdle that bound her breast, she tied +it in a noose to the canopy of the chair, and, placing her neck in it, +hung upon it with the weight of her whole body, and thus forced out the +slender remains of life. A freedwoman, by thus screening strangers and +persons almost unknown to her, though pressed to divulge their names by +the most extreme torture, exhibited an example which derived augmented +lustre from the fact that freeborn persons, men, Roman knights, and +Senators, untouched by the instruments of inquisition, all betrayed +their dearest pledges of affection." + +Among the many who suffered from the discovery of this conspiracy was +Seneca, the aged philosopher and the former tutor of Nero. It is +probable that he was innocent; but he had incurred Nero's displeasure, +and the tyrant was glad of the opportunity to destroy him with seeming +justice. The parting of Seneca with his wife and her conduct at the time +well merit the pains which the historian has taken with the recital. +Embracing his wife, he implored her to "refrain from surrendering +herself to endless grief; but to endeavor to mitigate her regret for her +husband by means of those honorable consolations which she would +experience in the contemplation of his virtuous life." Paullina, +however, expressed her determination to die with her husband, and called +for the assistance of the executioner to open her veins. Seneca, proud +of her devotion and as willing to see her acquire the glory of such an +act as he was to be assured that she was safe from the hard usages of +the world, replied: "I had pointed out to you how to soften the ills of +life; but you prefer the renown of dying. I will not envy you the honor +of the example. Though both display the same unflinching fortitude in +encountering death, still the glory of your exit will be superior to +mine." Then they had the veins of their arms opened at the same moment; +but being unable to bear up under the excessive torture, and afraid lest +the sight of his sufferings should overpower her, Seneca persuaded his +wife to retire into another room. + +When Nero heard what was being done, having no dislike to Paullina, and +not willing to incur the odium of a double death and one so affecting, +he ordered her wounds to be dressed and the flow of blood stanched. She +survived but a few years, and these were devoted to the memory of her +husband. It is also said that an excessive paleness was the continuous +witness to the sacrifice to conjugal devotion which she had done her +best to make. + +Not so fortunate was Servilia, a young woman of twenty who, at this +time, was arraigned before the Senate, charged with having distributed +sums of money among the magi. Servilia was the daughter of Soranus, who +had been Proconsul of Asia. There was no accusation against Servilia's +father more severe than that he was a friend of Plautus, whom Nero, for +reasons utterly unjust, but entirely satisfactory to himself, had caused +to be executed. Tacitus suggests the picture of her trial: the consuls +on the judgment seat in the presence of the assembled Senate; on one +side of that tribunal, an old, gray-haired man who for many years has +served his country with honor and integrity; on the other side, the +daughter, so young and yet widowed, for her husband has been sent into +banishment, and hence is as dead to her. The thought that she, who had +endeavored to aid and comfort her father, had only added to his dangers +is so oppressive that she has not the heart to look at him. The accuser +questions her: "Did you not sell your bridal ornaments, and even the +chain off your neck, to raise money for the performance of magic rites?" +Instead of answering, the unfortunate girl falls to the floor, embracing +the altar, as though hoping that divine aid would be given, where human +mercy was not to be expected. At last she gathers voice, and is able to +falter: "I have used no spells; nor did I seek aught by my unhappy +prayers than that you, Cæsar, and you, fathers, would preserve this best +of fathers unharmed. It was with this object alone I gave up my jewels, +my raiment, and the ornaments belonging to my station; as I would have +given up my blood and life, had the magi required them. To those men, +till then unknown to me, it belongs to declare whose ministers they are, +and what mysteries they use; the prince's name was never uttered by me, +save as one speaks of the gods. Yet to all this proceeding of mine, if +guilty it be, my most unhappy father is a stranger; and if it is a +crime, I alone am the criminal." Then Soranus pleads for his daughter. +Her age is so tender that she could not have known Plautus, whose friend +they accuse himself of being. Do they impeach him for mismanagement of +his province? Let it be so; yet his daughter had not accompanied him to +Asia. Her only crime was too much filial piety, too great solicitude for +her father. He would gladly submit to whatever fate awaited him, if only +they would separate her case from his. Overcome with emotion, the old +man totters forward with outstretched hands to embrace his daughter, +who springs to meet him; but the stern lictors interpose the fasces and +deny them this sad comfort. + +The Senate exercises a heartless clemency; Servilia and Soranus are +allowed to choose their own deaths. This faithful daughter, for seeking +by means of her religion to aid her father, is privileged to die with +him. With them also perished Thrasea, who had added to his crime of +disbelieving in the deification of Poppæa that of neglecting to +sacrifice for the preservation of Nero's beautiful voice! + +A strikingly magnificent feature of the old Roman character is the +manner in which these people met death. This was the one virtue which +the Romans, down to the latest period of the decadence, did not cease to +retain. In the most dissolute times, the Roman might live badly, but at +least he could die bravely. This was the one opportunity always left +when atonement might be made for the errors of life. In this ability to +meet death with calm fortitude the women shared no less than the men. +The maids and matrons of Rome were habituated by training and by their +best traditional examples to look upon the possibility of exit from the +world as an ever ready refuge from unendurable ills. Lucretia was for +Roman matrons an ideal in her death as well as in her life; and they +seem to have found it less irksome to follow her in the former respect +than in the latter. + +In the endeavor to show how, even in the days of Nero, when wickedness +reached its climax, virtue and honor and devotion were not utterly gone +out of the world, it has been necessary to adopt as illustrations some +of the saddest of the many tragedies of human history. Neither side of +any true picture of this period can be a pleasing one. Human life in the +city of Rome during the middle of the first century of our era was for +the most part either insane or sad. To exult in unrighteousness or +mourn in bereavement was the lot of every prominent personage; for there +were few quiet, honorable folk whom the hand of tyranny did not touch +through their friends. Therefore, in the endeavor to show the better +side of the life of this time, the necessity has been forced upon us to +illustrate how the prevailing remnant of the ancient virtue was +manifested in the devotion of women to their stricken husbands and +friends, and in the firm manner in which they met their own death. + +That which belongs to the ordinary routine of woman's life did not +undergo any change during this period. The status of woman remained +unaltered; her manners, customs, and occupations were the same. There +was no progress. It was like the conditions existing in a home during a +terrific electrical storm; all other interests are in abeyance until it +is over. + +This statement, however, applies more particularly to the city of Rome +and to Italy. In the outlying parts of that country and in the +provinces, the storm was hardly felt. Women who lived out of the sight +of Nero and whose male friends did not hold office were secure from +imperial cruelty and caprice. Their lives ran on in the ordinary manner +of civilization. They were betrothed and married according to the +ancient ceremonies; for customs changed slowly away from the metropolis. +They worshipped the old gods, though they heard now and again of a +certain sect of fanatical people who courted their own destruction from +the officials, if not from Olympus, by denouncing the ancient worship. +They managed their homes and their slaves, read their books, as we have +seen in the case of Calpurnia, the wife of Pliny, and visited the +amphitheatre. The only anxieties of the women who belonged to the +unofficial class were those incidental to the rule of the proconsuls who +were sent to govern them in the name of the emperor. Sometimes these +men were lustful; frequently they were tyrannical; they were always +rapacious. The people were oppressed to meet the demands of the tax +collectors; but these were ills that were always with them and +represented a condition of affairs that was normal. + +In his biography of his father-in-law, Agricola, who was himself a +provincial, Tacitus says: "He married Domitia Decidiana, a lady of +illustrious descent, from which connection he derived credit and support +in his pursuit of greater things. They lived together in admirable +harmony and mutual affection, each giving the preference to the other; +a conduct equally laudable in both, except that a greater degree of +praise is due to a good wife, in proportion as a bad one deserves the +greater censure." What more touching expression of family affection can +there be found than the words Tacitus wrote in respect to Agricola's +death? Apostrophizing him, he says: "But to myself and your daughter, +besides the affliction of losing a parent, the aggravating affliction +remains that it was not our lot to watch over your sickbed. With what +attention should we have received your last instructions, and graven +them on our hearts! This is our sorrow. Everything, doubtless, O best of +parents, was administered for your comfort and honor, while a most +affectionate wife sat beside you; yet fewer tears were shed upon your +bier, and in the last light which your eyes beheld, something was +wanting." There is nothing in modern times superior to this in chaste +and cultivated sympathy. + +Seneca also, who was born at Cordova, describes his mother as having +been "brought up in a strict home"; and he assures us that his aunt, +during the sixteen years that her husband governed Egypt, was "unknown +in the province," so devoted was she to her family and home duties. +There was also Polla, the wife of Lucan, whose inconsolable grief at her +husband's death was so beautifully described by Statius. We read also of +Minicius Macrinus, who lived thirty-nine years with his consort without +a single cloud ever rising between them; while Martial tells us of +Spurinna, a man of consular family loaded with years and honors, who +lived in the country with his aged wife, each resting in the other's +affection, and finishing together "the evening of a fair life." + + + + +XII + +UNDER THE FLAVIANS + +Such sober-minded people as had survived the reign of Nero hailed the +tyrant's death as a deliverance, though they had no guaranty of the +inauguration of a better state of things. No conceivable change could be +otherwise than for the better. At first sight, it seems marvellous that +the better class of Romans endured so long and with such supineness a +shameful monstrosity like the government of Nero; but it must be +remembered that no government is other than the majority of the people +desire, or better than they deserve. The mass of the people in the +capital were satisfied to have an imperial mountebank ruling over them. +Politics had ceased to interest them, they having wholly forfeited their +liberties. They cared naught for the fortunes of the Empire, so long as +the wheat ships came regularly from Alexandria. The only vestige of +independence they retained was the privilege of shouting with impatience +when the games were delayed; there were no further rights they cared to +demand when Nero, dining in his box at the amphitheatre, threw his +napkin from behind the curtains as a signal that he had finished and +that the sport might commence. With such a populace as this, the nobler +spirits in the city could hope to accomplish nothing. Their only +recourse was to glorify their passive sufferings and their death with +stoical calmness and undismayed pride. How hopeless it was to expect the +inauguration of a revolt among the common people of Rome is shown by the +attitude of these people toward Nero's memory after his death. For a +long time, his tomb was continually decked with flowers. Sometimes, his +admirers placed his image upon the rostra, dressed in robes of state; +again, they would publish proclamations in his name, as though he were +yet alive and would shortly return and avenge himself upon his enemies. +Occasionally, there were rumors of his reappearance, for the reality of +his death was doubted in many quarters, and the undisguised satisfaction +with which these reports were received is evidence that the Roman people +generally were not yearning for reform. + +But those who were absent in the provinces, being neither under the +immediate power of Nero nor partners in his excesses, did not endure +with such complacence the shame he put upon the Roman name. Men like +Galba and Vespasian heard with great indignation from scoffing +foreigners how, at Rome, they had seen the emperor acting Orestes or +even Canace on the stage. These men could not endure the thought of +serving under a ruler who competed with a slaveborn pantomimist. Revolt +flamed up among the legions in various parts of the Empire; the guards +at Rome joined in it; and when Galba came, who had been proclaimed +emperor, they gladly welcomed him. + +Rome was shaken in the very foundations of her constitutional ideals. +The discovery of the possibility that an emperor could be created away +from the city marked the entering of the wedge which was eventually to +bring about the disintegration of the Empire. The legions had come +clearly to realize that the gift of the Empire was in their hands. The +Senate was henceforth supernumerary. The city was no longer to be +viewed with that superstitious reverence which had made men deem nothing +sacred or authoritative that had not issued therefrom; it was the +centre, but no longer the source of Empire. It soon came to pass that +"Roman" signified wide-spreading national inclusion rather than, as +heretofore, racial exclusion; even a Jew might now claim to be a freeborn +Roman citizen, though he had never seen the Capitol. + +In consequence of opposing claims to the succession, Italy was once more +torn with civil strife, an experience from which she had been free ever +since the days of the last Triumvirate. Within eighteen months three +emperors were created and destroyed. + +Our story, however, does not deal with emperors or with the political +history of Rome, except as it is necessary to refer to it as a +background for, or an explanation of, the conduct of the women who are +herein introduced. Women played no important part in the disturbances +which shook the Empire after the death of Nero, and which thus differed +from many of the previous revolutions in the State; yet it is entirely +consistent with the plan of this work to mention the women who were +connected with the principal actors. + +Galba, who was an old man when he came to the throne, had been in his +youth a great favorite of the Empress Livia. By her he had been advanced +in fortune and position. His mother's name was Mummia Achaica, the +daughter of Catulus; but she probably died when he was very young, and +he owed the benefits of his training to Ocellina, his stepmother, who +was a very remarkable woman in more than one respect. Beautiful and very +wealthy, she herself made the advances in courtship to Galba's father. +The elder Galba became consul and was of considerable importance in the +State; but he was a very short man and deformed. There is an +interesting story to the effect that once, when Ocellina was pressing +her suit, Galba, in order that if there were to be any disillusionment +on her part in regard to himself it might take place before he gave her +his hand, took off in her presence the _toga_ which hid the deformity of +his back. The incident shows a praiseworthy ingenuousness of disposition +on the part of Galba; it also indicates, what is of more interest to us, +the fact that Roman ladies were not unaccustomed to making matrimonial +advances in person and with unmistakable directness of purpose. Galba, +the future emperor, was adopted by Ocellina as her own son; and it is +safe to assume that the honesty of his character was in a large degree +the result of her training as well as an inheritance from his father. + +Galba was married to Æmilia Lepida, a descendant of the triumvir; but +she died during the reign of Claudius, and he never afterward married, +even though he was ardently sought by Agrippina the Younger, who had +been cuffed by his mother-in-law for seeking to usurp the place of +Lepida while the latter still lived. + +During the short eight months of his reign, Galba was almost entirely +ruled by the influence of Titus Vinius and Piso Licinianus, both of whom +perished with him, the latter having been designated by him as his +successor. Vinius met a fate which he richly deserved, and which, +unfortunately for many Romans, he escaped, though barely, in the days of +Caligula. At that time, he disgraced himself as the accomplice and +paramour of Cornelia, the wife of his commander, Sabinus, she who +paraded the camp at night in the dress of a common soldier. Cornelia, +however, expiated her crime by her devotion to her husband in his +misfortune at a later day. Vinius attained to fortune by means of +methods which are well illustrated by the indignity to which he +submitted his daughter Crispina at the hands of the depraved Tigellinus. +During Galba's reign, the people, believing Nero to have been incited to +his worst acts by Tigellinus, demanded the latter's execution, Vinius +preserved him from their rage, and thereupon Tigellinus gave a splendid +banquet as a thanksgiving for his deliverance. This entertainment +Crispina attended, accompanied by her father, who allowed her to receive +from their host an immense sum of money. Tigellinus on the same occasion +commanded his chief concubine to take from her own neck an extremely +valuable necklace and place it upon that of Crispina. But she was soon +compelled to expend her ill-gotten gains in a most pitiable manner. +After the death of Galba, Piso, and Vinius, the soldiers amused +themselves by carrying their heads about the city on the points of +spears. When Crispina and Verania, the wife of Piso, visited the camp +for the purpose of imploring the heads of their relatives, in order that +they might be disposed of with funereal honor, Crispina was not allowed +to take that of her father until she had purchased it at a cost of +twenty-five thousand drachmas. + +Otho, who had been the husband of Poppæa Sabina, was the next emperor; +but his reign lasted less than four months, and his only praiseworthy +act is the noble manner in which he died. Then came the brief and +shameful reign of Vitellius. Rome needed only to come under the rule of +a glutton to have exhibited by turn upon her throne a monstrous example +of every form of vice to which human nature can become addicted. + +This man was the son of that Vitellius who had so shamelessly flattered +Messalina and so basely deserted her in her extremity of need. His +mother's name was Sextilia, and she is reported to have been a most +excellent and respectable woman, whose character was formed on the +model of the ancient morals. Her death is said to have been brought +about by her son, in order that the prediction of a German prophetess +might be certain of fulfilment, she having told him that, he would reign +in security, if he survived his mother. He is accused of having denied +her proper nourishment during her illness. Suetonius, however, adds, +"that being quite weary of the woeful state of affairs, and apprehensive +of the future, she obtained without difficulty a dose of poison from her +son." + +Petronia was the first wife of Vitellius. A separation took place which +was probably mutually agreed upon, for Petronia bequeathed her property +to their son; first requiring, however, that he be released from his +father's authority, Vitellius agreed to this; but shortly after, the son +died by poison believed to have been administered by his father. A woman +named Galeria Fundano became the second wife of Vitellius; but of her +nothing more is known than that Tacitus speaks of her gentle +disposition. + +With Vitellius, to reign meant merely to feast royally. In this, +however, he was only the leading and most noteworthy exponent of a vice +characteristic of his time. Gluttony, among the Romans, had come to be +exalted to an art; and, in proof that the women of those days were not +exempt from it, historians inform us that it was common for individuals +of the female sex to be afflicted with the gout. Suetonius thus +describes the kind of feasting to which Vitellius accustomed the +nobility of Rome: "At a supper given him by his brother, on the day of +his arrival in Rome, there were served two thousand rare fishes and +seven thousand birds. But Vitellius threw into the shade all this +profusion by using on his own table a huge dish, which he named the +Shield of Minerva. In it were livers of plaice, brains of pheasants and +peacocks, flamingoes' tongues, roe of lamprey, and a thousand other +things which the ships of war had sought from the remotest border of +the Euxine to the Pillars of Hercules." + +This dish of Vitellius was made of silver. What its exact weight was we +do not know; but inasmuch as a freedman of Claudius had constructed one +of five hundred pounds weight, which was evidently inferior, we can well +believe the ancient writer when he tells us that the Shield of Minerva +was of such prodigious size that a special furnace had to be constructed +for its manufacture. It was kept as a monument of extravagance until the +time of Hadrian, who caused it to be melted. + +The brief reign of Vitellius was closed in a paroxysm of civil strife, +which ended within the walls of the city itself. For more than a hundred +years,--ever since the sack of Perusia, in which Fulvia played so +prominent a part,--the women of Italy had been free from the bitter +experiences of war. They knew nothing of the cruelties and atrocities +which followed in the wake of ancient battle, except from stories told +by grandmothers at nightfall. Now they were to suffer those evils +themselves. + +In warfare, more than in any other experience, man reverts to his +original barbarous, or rather purely animal, type. It is noticeable also +that in war, and especially in civil war, women regain some of that +ferocity which characterizes the female of the lower types of animals. +In the reign of terror during the French Revolution, there were many +women who showed themselves as bloodthirsty as any of the men who +composed the Committee of Public Safety. So, in the struggles which +accompanied the short-lived reigns of these three Roman emperors there +were many women who engaged in the battles; and there were some who +distinguished themselves by conduct not often exhibited to the discredit +of the female sex. Triaria, for example, who was the wife of Lucius +Vitellius, the brother of the emperor, is described as having been a +woman of the most furious spirit. When Dolabella, who had married +Petronia, was in danger of his life, Triaria warned a friend who sought +to save him that it would not be good for that friend to seek the +exercise of clemency; and when Tarracina was sacked by the Vitellian +soldiers, this same Triaria, armed with the sword of a soldier, urged on +the men to murder and rapine. + +In the final strife between the forces of Vitellius and Vespasian, the +city of Cremona, which was held by the former, was besieged. Tacitus +informs us that, in their zeal for the cause which their city had +adopted, some of the women of Cremona took part on the field of battle +and were slain. In view of what followed at the taking of their city, +they were fortunate in their lot. "Forty thousand men," says the +historian, "poured into it. The number of drudges and camp followers was +still larger, and more addicted to lust and cruelty. Neither age nor +dignity served as a protection; deeds of lust were perpetrated amidst +scenes of carnage, and murder was added to rape. Aged women who had +passed their prime, and who were useless as booty, were made the objects +of brutal sport. Maidens were contended for by ruffians who ended by +turning their swords against each other." + +The bloodshed and rapine were carried into the city of Rome itself. When +he saw that his case was hopeless, the ignoble, indolent Vitellius +wished to abdicate; but this neither his soldiers nor the people would +allow him to do. Flavius Sabinus was prefect of the city, and he, with +the soldiers of the Vespasian party, took refuge in the Capitol. There +were women who voluntarily took their places with these besieged men. +Among them was Verulana Gratilla, who, having neither children nor +relatives, followed the fortunes of the war for no other apparent reason +than the pleasure she derived from scenes of carnage. In this conflict +the Capitol was fired and the temple of the Empire reduced to ashes. +Yet, while all these things were occurring, the common people of Rome, +indifferent as to whether they were ruled by Vitellius or Vespasian, +looked on as if they were at a gladiatorial show. It was to them nothing +more than a spectacle, except that it was also an occasion for absolute +lawlessness and an incitement to frenzied indulgence in everything +vicious. So brutalized were the people that, while in some parts of the +great city the streets were filled with heaps of slain, in other parts, +to which the conflict did not extend, there prevailed revelry of the +most frantic kind, in which shameless women took a leading part. + +The legions of Vespasian conquered; and with his enthronement Rome +returned to peace and sanity. The enormities in which she had indulged +since the reign of Augustus were for the time expiated. + +In the Flavians, a new and healthy dynasty came to the throne of the +Cæsars, though not later than the third reign, that of Domitian, it also +was to succumb to the effects of the possession of unbounded power. +Vespasian had come from an obscure family living at Reate in the Sabine +country. His father had collected the revenue in the province of Asia, +where his statue had been erected with the inscription: _The Honest Tax +Collector_. His mother, whose name was Vespasia Polla, was descended +from a good Umbrian family. Tertulla, his grandmother by his father's +side, had charge of his education, and her memory was always held by him +in the highest regard; much more than appears is suggested in the remark +of Suetonius that, after his advancement to the Empire, Vespasian loved +to visit the place where he spent his childhood. The house and all the +surroundings were kept exactly in the same condition, so that amid +unchanged scenes he might live over again his boyhood days. It was a +simple country house, with no pretension to the splendor in which the +great mansions of the city vied with each other; yet it was artistic. + +In those times, not even the simplest farmstead was without its +statuary; and we may well believe that, as Tertulla, in the courts of +Phalacrine, superintended the education of the future builder of the +Colosseum, she could point to examples of sculptured beauty to +illustrate those ideas of art which were included in every Roman's +training. In the great common room, where the work of the house was +done, and where, on winter evenings, the slaves were kept busy with +useful occupations, Polla presided, as had the matrons of the old days. +In the atrium she entertained her rural neighbors in simple style; and +there also she sometimes lectured her son, who greatly displeased her by +his tardiness in putting off his boyish ways. She was ambitious for him, +and longed to hurry him away to Rome, that in the stir of the city or +the camp he might win renown for the Vespasian name. Polla little +understood that the time her son spent, idly, as she supposed, watching +the teams and cattle about the drinking troughs of the inner court, was +fortifying him to withstand the moral dangers of a court of another +sort. The rugged, straightforward, simple-mannered soldier, who honored +festival occasions by drinking from a silver cup which he treasured as a +keepsake from his grandmother, was such an emperor as the Romans had not +before seen the like of. + +Flavia Domitilla was the wife of Vespasian; but she did not survive to +participate with him in the imperial dignity. Of her life and character +we know little. There is in existence but one likeness of her--a +colossal head found near Puteoli and now preserved in the Campana +Museum. This gives her the appearance of a strikingly handsome woman, +with a suggestion of pride, but not too powerful to overcome the aspect +of good nature. Suetonius says that she was at first the mistress of +Statilius Capella, a Roman knight. It may seem strange that a man of +Vespasian's character should marry a woman who had sustained such a +former relation; but in those times, wives with a past history in which +their present husbands had played no part were not so rare that they +were even remarkable. Domitilla enjoyed by birth all the legal +privileges of a Latin woman, but she was not a citizen of Rome until a +suit had been brought by her father for her in the courts. Possibly this +suit was instituted in regard to her inheritance of property; for the +privileges of citizenship, as they related to women, consisted of the +ability to receive legacies and bequeath property, and to form such +matrimonial unions as would be held valid when brought into question in +matters concerning property. It is very likely that the explanation of +the fact that Domitilla is spoken of as the mistress rather than the +wife of Statilius is to be found in the further fact that, he being a +Roman knight and she not yet a citizen of Rome, legal marriage could not +take place between the two. Suetonius tells us that after the death of +Domitilla, Vespasian renewed his union with his former concubine Cænis, +the freedwoman and former amanuensis of Antonia, whom he treated, even +after he became emperor, almost as if she had been his legal wife; and +it is safe for us to suppose that, had he been legally able to do so, +Vespasian would have made Cænis Empress of Rome. + +Domitilla bore her husband three children: Titus and Doraitian, who +became emperors in succession, and Domitilla, who died before her father +attained to the purple. + +The salutary influence of Vespasian's character was soon made apparent +in the improvement of Roman morals. He was not an energetic reformer; +but he curtailed those abuses which were most flagrant, and himself set +an example which those who desired his favor found it to their advantage +to follow. He expelled from the Senate those who were extraordinarily +vicious in their lives, and among them one who had, by request of Nero, +contended with a Greek girl in the arena. He required the Senate to pass +a decree that any woman who entered into a liaison with the slave of +another person should be herself considered a slave--a law which +indicates to what lengths the license of women had carried them during +the preceding reigns. + +One act of cruelty to a woman stains the records of this reign. An +insurrection had been stamped out in Belgium; but Sabinus, the leader, +had made his escape. His house was burned; still he could easily have +escaped into Germany, but that he was unwilling to leave his young wife, +Eponia, unprotected as well as homeless. "He concealed himself in an +underground hiding place, whose entrance was known only to two faithful +freedmen. He was believed to be dead; and his wife, sharing the opinion +of those around her, had been for three days plunged in inconsolable +affliction. Being secretly informed, however, that Sabinus was alive, +she concealed her delight, and was conducted to his place of refuge, +where in the end she determined also to remain. After seven months, the +husband and wife ventured to emerge, and made a journey to Rome for the +purpose of soliciting pardon. But being warned in season that the +petition would be in vain, they left Rome without seeing the emperor, +and again sheltered themselves in their subterranean refuge. Here they +lived together during nine years. Being at last discovered, Sabinus was +taken to Rome, where Vespasian ordered his execution. Eponia had +followed her husband, and she threw herself at the emperor's feet. +'Cæsar,' she cried, showing her two sons, who were with her, 'these have +I brought forth and nourished in the tombs, that two more suppliants +might implore thy clemency.' Those present were moved to tears, and even +Vespasian himself was affected; but he remained inflexible. Eponia then +asked to die with him whom she had been unable to save. 'I have been +more happy with him,' she said, 'in darkness and under ground, than thou +in supreme power,' Her second request was granted her. Plutarch met at +Delphi one of their children, who related to him this sad and touching +story." Why this usually tolerant and always sensible emperor should +have been so inexorable on this occasion is a mystery. + +There is another instance recorded, in which a woman of different +character, presenting a petition of another kind, received an +acquiescent response. A lady of rank pretending, as Suetonius puts it, +to be desperately enamored of Vespasian,--it must have been that she +hoped to achieve a permanent relationship with the widowed +emperor,--requested that which it would have been more consistent with +her modesty to have avoided. In addition to granting her petition, +Vespasian made her a present of four hundred thousand sesterces. When +his steward asked how he would have the sum entered in his accounts, he +replied: "For Vespasian's being seduced." Considering, however, the +parsimonious character which the historian attributes to this emperor, +we are more inclined to think that the sum must have been entered on the +credit side of the ledger. + +Vespasian died in A.D. 79. The humor--which is the same thing as saying +the sanity--of the man is manifested in his remark, as he felt his life +ebbing away: "Well, I suppose I shall soon be a god." Pliny says of +him, "Greatness and majesty produced in him no other effect than to +render his power of doing good equal to his desire." Suetonius declares: +"By him the State was strengthened and adorned." + +In this same year occurred the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum. +These two cities, by the manner in which they were by one event both +destroyed and preserved, have afforded us so much material for the study +of Roman home life that a reference to them is entirely in accord with +the plan of this book. Among the Romans, even more so than among +ourselves, woman's life was home life. As we look into those Pompeian +houses, which the catastrophe of a day rendered impregnable to the siege +of centuries, we see in reality before us much which the scraps of +information afforded by the ancient writers fail to make intelligible. +By a singular good fortune, we are in possession of the narrative +furnished by a trustworthy eyewitness of the disaster which overwhelmed +Pompeii; it is contained in the two letters which Pliny the Younger +wrote to Tacitus, informing him how Pliny and his mother watched the +eruption of Vesuvius while his uncle was perishing in the attempt to +rescue the wife of a friend and at the same time to satisfy his spirit +of inquiry. We will not recite the well-known account, except as it +refers to the women who, if for no other reason than that it was their +fate or fortune to be present on this memorable occasion, deserve a +mention in the history of Roman women. Pliny says: "On the twenty-fourth +of August, about one in the afternoon, my uncle was desired by my mother +to observe a cloud which appeared of a very unusual size and shape.... +This extraordinary phenomenon excited his philosophical curiosity to +take a nearer view of it. He ordered a light vessel to be got ready, and +gave me the liberty, if I thought proper, to attend him. I preferred to +continue my studies.... As he was coming out of the house, he received a +note from Rectina, the wife of Bassus, who was in the utmost alarm at +the imminent danger which threatened her; for her villa being situated +at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, there was no way to escape but by sea; +she earnestly entreated him, therefore, to come to her assistance. He +accordingly changed his first design, and what he began with a +philosophical turn of mind he pursued with heroic purpose. He ordered +the galleys to put to sea and himself went on board, with an intention +of assisting not only Rectina, but several others, for villas stand +extremely thick upon that beautiful coast." In this design he was +unsuccessful; so he went to what is now called Castellamare, in the Gulf +of Naples. While there he was suffocated by the poisonous gases which +accompanied the eruption. In a second letter, Pliny describes his mother +and himself seeking to escape from the effects of a "black and dreadful +cloud, bursting with an igneous, serpentine vapor, darting out a long +train of fire, resembling flashes of lightning, but much larger.... Soon +the cloud seemed to descend, and cover the whole ocean, as indeed it +entirely hid the island of Caprese and the promontory of Misenum. My +mother strongly conjured me to make my escape, at any rate, which, as I +was young, I might easily do; as for herself, she said, her age and +corpulency rendered all attempts of that sort impossible. However, she +would willingly meet death, if she could have the satisfaction of seeing +that she was not the occasion of mine. But I absolutely refused to leave +her, and taking her by the hand I led her on, she complying with great +reluctance, and with many reproaches to herself for retarding my +flight.... Darkness overspread us, not like that of a cloudy night, or +when there is no moon, but of a room when it is shut up and all the +lights are extinct. Nothing was then to be heard but the shrieks of +women, the screams of children, and the cries of men. Some calling for +their children, others for their parents, others for their husbands, and +only distinguishing each other by their voices; one lamenting his own +fate, another that of his family; some wishing to die from the very fear +of dying; some lifting their hands to the gods; but the greater part +imagining that the last and eternal night was come, which was to destroy +the gods and the world together.... Heavy showers of ashes rained upon +us, which we were obliged every now and then to shake off, otherwise we +should have been crushed and buried in the heap." The mother and the son +escaped, however, and returned to Misenum, where in the midst of still +threatening danger they awaited news of the intrepid and fated +naturalist. + +[Illustration 5: +_A POMPEIAN HOUSE +From a water-color by M. Hoffbauer, after a restoration by +Jules Bouchot from Pliny's description. + +This interior, called the house of Pansa, is surrounded by +three streets and an alley. The view is from the vestibule. +In the centre is a basin, formed to receive water which fell +from the roof through an opening which also gave light +to the rooms, the doors and portières of which are seen on +each side. Near to the basin was the altar for the household +god; the space beyond this was the dining room, which +led to the peristyle, reception room, and garden. As in the +atrium, rooms opened into the peristyle and other parts. + +The ground-floor exteriors were usually rented for shops. +Trade by the Roman nobility was always considered degrading, +especially if not extensive, says Cicero; they +therefore traded by making their slaves or freedmen the +ostensible merchants._] + +Two-fifths of the city of Pompeii have now been cleared, and we can see +the external conditions of the Roman woman's life as it would have been +impossible for modern times to conceive them had it not been for that +ancient catastrophe. We can see the streets as they were in the days of +Agrippina; we can look into the shops where the women of ancient Italy +sought bargains across the marble counters; we can go to the temples +where they worshipped, to the theatre where they were thrilled and +amused; indeed, we have a theatre ticket, with the number of the seat +and the name of the play. Best of all, we can enter houses almost +intact, and examine the environments of that home life which in all ages +is the special domain of woman. No account of woman can be made complete +without a study of her home, and for this reason we quote freely from M. +Boissier's fine description of the Pompeian residence. "The principal +rooms are all on the ground floor. The richest inhabitants build +themselves houses situated on four streets, thus occupying the whole +block. If they were economical, they cut off from this large plot of +ground some strips, which they let for a good sum; and we sometimes find +shops occupying the whole exterior of the house. While with us the front +is reserved for the best rooms, in Pompeii it was given up to business +purposes, or else closed with thick walls, in which there were no +openings. The whole house, instead of looking toward the street, faces +the interior. It communicates with the outer world only by the entrance +door, kept strictly closed and guarded; there are few windows, and these +only in the upper stories. Families wished to live in private, far from +the indifferent and from strangers.... The head of the house did not +desire to look into the street, and he was specially averse to having +persons in the street look into his house. Even within the mansion he +had divisions and distinctions. The part into which he welcomed his +visitors was not that to which he retired with his family; and it was +not easy to penetrate into this sanctuary, separated from every other +part by corridors, closed by doors or hangings, and guarded by porters. +The owner received when he wished, he remained in seclusion when so +inclined; and in case any client, more troublesome and obstinate than +usual, lingered in the vestibule to meet him on his way out, he had a +back door on a narrow street, which permitted him to escape.... + +"If the rooms are not large, they are numerous. The Roman used his +residence as he did his slaves; he had different rooms for each event of +the day, as he had servants for every necessity of life. Each room in +his house is made precisely for the use to which it is destined. He is +not satisfied, as we are, with a single dining room; he has them of +various sizes, and he uses one or another at different seasons of the +year, or according to the number of friends whom he wishes to +entertain. The chamber where he takes his siesta during the day and that +to which he retires to sleep at night are very small, admitting light +and air only through the door, which is not a disadvantage in the South, +where coolness is promoted by darkness. Besides, he is there only while +he is asleep; for the rest he has his _atrium_ and his _peristylium_. + +"Here he prefers to stay when he is at home. He is here not only with +his wife and children, but under the eyes of his servants, and sometimes +in their society. In spite of his fancy for seclusion and isolation, of +which I have spoken, he does not shun their company; for the family of +antiquity is more extensive than ours. It embraces, while recognizing +their inferiority, the slave and the freedman; so that the master, in +living with them, feels himself among his own people. These open and +closed _atria_, where the family spends its time, are found in all +Pompeian houses without exception; they are indispensable to furnish +light for the rest of the dwelling. Consequently, all persons, even the +poorer classes, took pleasure in ornamenting them tastefully, and +sometimes with profusion. If the extent of ground permitted it, various +shrubs were planted, and a few flowers were made to grow." + +Rome had for its next emperor Titus, who, in the two years of his reign, +showed himself the best and wisest ruler Rome had ever known. "I have +lost a day," he said, when at evening he could not remember having +afforded anyone assistance. He inherited his father's good sense, he had +profited by the elder's experience, and he came to the throne after +having tasted and become satiated with the vices common to his age. He +first married Arrisidia, the daughter of a knight. Of her we know +nothing further. After her death, he took to wife Marcia Furnilla, a +woman of very noble family, but probably of ignoble mind, for he +divorced her, and retained the custody of their daughter. This was a +Julia, who was true to the character common to the imperial women of +that name. We shall have occasion to discuss her a little later. + +The woman with whose history the name of Titus was chiefly connected and +who exerted more influence upon his life than any other was Berenice, +the daughter of Agrippa the Great. She was a Jewess by race, but Roman +in sympathy as well as by allegiance; and for character she may well be +classed with such Roman ladies as Poppaea or Julia the daughter of +Augustus. She was first married to Herod of Chalcis; but he died, and +for a long while she remained a widow in the company and under the +protection of her brother Agrippa. During this time, the pair paid a +visit to Rome, and while on the way stopped at Cæsarea, where Festus was +governor. Here Berenice listened to the Apostle Paul, as he made his +eloquent plea in answer to his accusers and appealed to the tribunal of +Caesar. Berenice's continued widowhood, joined with the known laxity of +her morals, caused ugly stories to be set afloat regarding her relations +with her brother; whereupon she induced Polemon, King of Cilicia, to +become a proselyte to Judaism and marry her. This marriage seems to have +been unsatisfactory to both parties, for Berenice soon returned to +Jerusalem, and Polemon recanted from his Jewish faith. At this time, +Titus was with his father in Judea, and, though Berenice was much older +than he, the young Roman was fascinated by her extraordinary beauty, so +much so that he took her with him on his return to Rome. She was given +apartments in the palace, and there, to all appearance, she lived with +Titus as his wife. In fact, he would have made her his wife indeed, had +it not been for the strong prejudices of the Romans against foreign +alliances; but when he succeeded to the throne, rather than that his +rule should be impaired by any scandal, he sent Berenice away, though +the separation was the source of poignant grief to them both. + +Titus died twenty-six months after he came to the throne, and his +brother Domitian--who, unfortunately for the history of Rome, possessed +a healthier constitution as well as an inferior disposition--reigned in +his stead. Domitian has been called the second Nero, the character of +his reign being very similar to that of Nero's rule. This unworthy son +of Vespasian had disgraced his youth by vicious extravagances of all +kinds; but, on coming to the throne, he seemed to have reformed. This, +however, was only temporary. As has been remarked, on the day of +coronation there are few bad monarchs. All begin well; but the majority +of despots end badly. + +Domitian even began his reign as a reformer. He constituted himself +censor. In this capacity his attention was turned first to the college +of Vestal Virgins, who had so far forgotten the character which was the +prime essential to their office that they had become notorious for the +licentiousness of their conduct. Three of these priestesses received an +order to make away with themselves. Cornelia, the chief Vestal and the +worst offender, was condemned to suffer the prescribed punishment of +entombment. In the story of her death there is an incident worthy of +note as illustrating the effrontery which may be developed in a woman by +a habitual though unwarranted assumption of superior holiness. As she +was descending to the tomb, Cornelia's veil caught on the steps; when an +official offered to disentangle it, the Vestal in a horrified manner +bade him desist, as her consecrated character could not endure the +profane touch of a man. + +Domitian, moreover, passed an edict prohibiting to prostitutes the use +of the _lectica_, or travelling chair; they also lost the right of +receiving legacies or inheriting estates. But this enthusiasm for +morality was short-lived, and his censorship never interfered with his +own indulgences or extended to his own family. The empress of that day +was Domitia Longina, who seems to have been a woman who would find the +extravagances of Nero's libidinous entertainments entirely consistent +with her character and tastes. She fell desperately in love with Paris, +the famous actor of the time. In consequence she was divorced; but her +husband, unable to endure the separation, recalled her on the pretence +that it was demanded by the people. Her influence over the emperor is +perhaps further indicated by the fact that we hear of nothing sinister +having happened to Paris; but the Senator Helvidius, who, under the +character of OEnone, held Domitia up to scorn in a farce which he wrote, +was put to death. There is in existence a bust of Domitia Longina, but +the sole reflection which her appearance suggests is the amount of labor +and care which must have been demanded of her slaves in the production +of the innumerable tiny curls in which her hair is arranged. During the +lifetime of Titus, his daughter Julia was offered to Domitian in +marriage, the example of Agrippina and Claudius having established the +legality of a union between an uncle and a niece. But at this time +Domitia ruled the heart of the future emperor. Afterward, the unhappy +Julia was induced to enter into a criminal intercourse with Domitian, +and lost her life in an attempt to destroy its proof. This was a danger +which was frequently incurred by married women, in order to prevent the +birth of legitimate offspring. Large families in wealthy houses were +exceedingly rare. In the Museum of the Vatican there is a statue of +Julia, represented as the goddess Clemency. There is also in existence a +profile engraved upon stone, as well as a bust which is preserved in +the Uffizi Gallery. It requires but a glance at these likenesses to +enable one to understand why the Greeks called Julia "The New Juno." + +During the reign of Domitian, the Colosseum, the building of which had +been commenced by Vespasian, was completed and opened. In this immense +amphitheatre there were seats for eighty-seven thousand spectators, and +fifteen thousand more were able to find standing room. In its arena, +during each year, hundreds of men--gladiators, criminals, and +Christians--fought and fell in mortal agony for the amusement of those +great audiences, of which women formed a goodly proportion. There sat +the empress in a front box which was especially designed for the +Vestals; and it frequently happened that the scene upon which the eyes +of those ladies rested was the mangling of the bodies of Christian women +by the claws and teeth of ferocious beasts. + +Women also voluntarily took their places in the arena. Races in the +_stadium_ between young girls were frequent, nor was it a thing entirely +unknown for women to engage in the deadly sport of the gladiators. +Sometimes they faced the wild animals; and at times they even took the +trident and the net of the _retiarii_ and tried their skill against the +swordsmen. Juvenal has his fling at Mævia, who, "with breast exposed, +grasps the hunting spear and transfixes the Tuscan boar." The satirist +also exercises his grim humor on the picture of a woman practising the +art of fencing. "Who has not beheld the wounds of the wooden post, which +she dints with courageous foil, and attacks with her shield, and goes +against with skilful precision? A matron most preeminently worthy to +dance to the trumpet at the indecent Floral games. Perhaps, however, she +is meditating a more serious purpose, and intends to engage in real +earnest at the amphitheatre, for hire. What modesty can a woman show +that wears a helmet, eschews her sex, and delights in feats of +strength?" + +It would have been a marvel if Domitian had been allowed to end his life +otherwise than by violent means. Suetonius accuses Domitia of being +privy to her husband's assassination, but does not explain in what way +she took part in it. Suetonius had a rare nose for scandal, and always +believed the worst. The emperor was killed by a freedman, a steward of +Domitilla. + + "When he dreadful to the rabble grew, + Him, who so many lords had slain, they slew." + +Again in the death of this tyrant we see how the woman love for an +innocent babe will survive every vice of the grown man. There was in the +palace a woman named Phyllis, who had been Domitian's nurse. She was the +only one who showed any respect for the dead emperor. First, she had his +body interred at his villa in the Latin Way; then, when she found a safe +opportunity, she burned the remains and, carrying the ashes to the +mausoleum of the Flavian family, mingled them with those of Julia, whose +nurse she had also been. + +The Empress Domitia seems to have survived her husband many years; for +an inscription, the date of which corresponds with the year 140, +mentions that one of her freedmen, after building a temple to her, +offers the _decuriones_ of Gabii fifteen thousand sesterces, the income +of which was to be spent in keeping the building in repair and in +celebrating the birthday of his mistress. + +The period of Roman history which we have traversed in our study of +woman shows the ancient pagan Empire at its best materially and at its +worst morally. We are about to enter upon a new epoch. We shall speedily +begin to notice premonitions of decline, but we shall not again witness +such an absolute and all-prevalent abandonment of the requirements of +morality. From the days of Cæsar Augustus down to the end of the reign +of Domitian, all that is recorded of Roman women, with a few noble +exceptions, is little more than a wearisome repetition of instances of +astonishing sensuality. Why was it that the women of this period +indulged to such an unnatural and unrestrained degree the grosser +appetites? It was not because they were unacquainted with the most +emphatic precepts of morality. Their ancestors had idealized feminine +chastity as it has been exalted among no other people in the history of +the world. The virtue of temperance was taught by their philosophers in +the most eloquent language; and the diatribes of their satirists are +evidence that the Roman conscience was not wholly at rest in regard to +the excesses which were prevalent. How then are we to account for this +monotonous orgy of libidinosity? + +So far as the question concerns the emperors, there is but one answer: +it is found in their unbounded power, in which, their will being +responsible to no one, they were absolutely at liberty to indulge +caprice or lustful impulse to the extent of their personal capabilities. +When, as was natural in the circumstances, the characters of these +potentates were warped in the wrong direction, their influence, not to +speak of their tyrannical power, was incalculably detrimental to female +virtue. But the real underlying cause for the sensuality of the women +whom we have brought into review was the utter purposelessness of their +lives, joined to an entire lack of all spiritual impulses in the +direction of self-respect. The Roman woman's life during the period +under discussion was one of absolute ease and unbounded luxury, although +the possibility of abject physical misery, in the form of banishment or +a violent death, always hovered near. Luxury is always conducive to +sexual incontinence; and, as is well known, customary peril engenders +recklessness. The minds of the Roman women were not fortified by +adequate spiritual impressions to offset these impulses. Such ideas of +chastity as were inherited from the ancient customs were not founded on +a belief in the dignity of womanhood, but rather on the conception of +marriage as a property right held by the husband in the person of the +wife. Adultery was the infringement of the husband's property rights, +rather than an injury to a woman's personal worth to herself. When +divorce for political reasons became common, the sense of the validity +of those rights grew correspondingly dim. A woman, seeing that she was +married not for her person, but for the sake of her friends, came +herself to set little store by that which to her husband was not the +chief item in the contract. The arid formalism of her religion also gave +but little support to any restraining instincts of self-respect. It +needed a new religion to enable woman to rediscover in herself a +spiritual nature, which could be tainted and injured by the abuse of the +body. + +[Illustration 6: +_THE CHIEF VESTAL +After the painting by Henri P. Motte +Vestals were believed by the Romans to be the guaranties for the +existence of the Empire. To these priestesses was paid a respect as +great if not greater than any Roman official might claim. Anyone +offering insult was punished with death. Whenever a Vestal appeared +in public, she was preceded by a lictor, before whom everyone +made way, even the highest officer of the State. The faces +were always lowered in her presence..... Domitian constituted +himself censor; his attention was turned first to the college of Vestal +Virgins, who had become notorious for licentiousness. Three priestesses +received an order to make away with themselves. Cornelia, +the chief Vestal and the worst offender, was condemned to suffer the +punishment of entombment. As she was descending to the tomb, +Cornelia's veil caught on the steps; when an official offered to +disentangle it, the Vestal in a horrified manner bade him to desist, +as her consecrated character could not endure the profane touch of a man._] + + + + +XIII + +THE SUNSET GLOW OF PAGANISM + +Gibbon expresses the opinion that in no period of the world's history +has the human race been happier or more prosperous than during the time +which elapsed between the reigns of Domitian and Commodus. There is not +a little that may be said in support of this remarkable conclusion. +Under Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines, the Empire enjoyed the +calm and brilliant evening following a long day of bitter strife and +perilous turmoil, and preceding the moral darkness of the rule of the +tyrants under whom paganism was fated to expire. + +During this period, Italy and the interior provinces of the Empire were +entirely free from the rude alarms of war. The home of that day was as +secure from violence as it is among ourselves at the present time. No +wife or daughter had occasion unavailingly to beg the life of husband or +father from the jealous or timid cruelty of a self-indulgent ruler. In +the home circle, there was no foreboding dread of proscription. The +terrible laws regarding _crimen majestatis_, under which so many +cruelties had been perpetrated and so many families unjustly bereaved, +were held in abeyance. Pliny writes to Trajan: "It is said, sir, that a +woman and her sons have been buried in the same place where your statue +is set up." This, under some of the former emperors, would have been a +grave matter; a woman was executed under Domitian because she disrobed +before a statue of the emperor. But Trajan writes: "You should not have +hesitated about such a question, for you know very well that I do not +propose to make my name respected by terror and by accusations of +treason. Dismiss this charge, which I shall not consider." + +The people were prosperous. The vast extent of the Roman dominion, with +its thoroughly organized and centralized government and its easy means +of communication, interchanged a wonderful abundance and variety of the +products of industry and commerce. At no time previous to the discovery +of America did housewife ever draw the supplies for her table and her +wardrobe from such widely separated quarters of the earth's surface as +did the Roman woman in the time of Hadrian. As a modern historian has +said: "The world was opened; the most secluded places had become +accessible; all things circulated without let or hindrance. It was free +trade, with its advantageous results in abundance and low prices. All +the produce of the world came into Rome by the Tiber. The women of the +Bernese Oberland bought their ornaments of a jeweller in Asia Minor, and +thought less of it than we of procuring rugs from Smyrna or Damascus." + +The people also were protected by salutary laws. The women of that day, +when they went to the shops and purchased by weight or measure, were +assured of honest dealing. There were standards kept in the municipal +cities, and every tradesman was obliged to have his weights and measures +tested by them; he was also subject to unannounced inspection. Never +were wise laws more perfectly executed. How thoroughly the mind of +Trajan was imbued with the idea that his mission was to administer the +Empire for the benefit of the people is shown by his correspondence +with Pliny. Hadrian spent almost the whole of his reign in travelling +from one province to another, in order that he might not only satisfy +his curiosity, but also secure good government by personal inspection. + +The people also enjoyed a fair semblance of liberty. True, they were not +free. The rule of the Antonines was as absolute as that of the first +Cæsars; but the emperors of the period we are describing, ostentatiously +and to the great contentment of the people, professed to administer the +laws only as they were enacted by the Senate and to be themselves +governed by the constitution. It was but a phantom of liberty, truly; +but when has the world really seen more? The five emperors who followed +Domitian exercised their absolute power under the guidance of virtue and +wisdom; and, whether or not it were an honorable peace, the people were +contented and happy. + +The effect of this wise, strong, all-pervading government must have been +made especially apparent in the woman's world of that time. There are no +gains for women in war. The glory sought by man is no compensation for +the wife's anxiety entailed by her fear of bereavement. In the hazards +of foreign strife or the dangers of civil turmoil, woman may exemplify +those possibilities of her character which reveal themselves in the +heroism of devotion or resignation; but the normal qualities of her +nature do not expand as in the quiet comfort of a home life where safety +is assured. + +In the history of Roman women, down to the period which we have now +reached, there has been no opportunity to ascertain what the combined +influences of culture and peace might accomplish. In the ancient +Republic, culture of any appreciable degree was absent and life was +continuously strenuous. In later days, when Roman hardihood was first +touched by Greek civilization, and the love of letters began to find a +place in woman's life, the Roman matron, though admirable and +statuesque, was too heroic in her virtue to be altogether attractive. A +writer of a later day--than whom none more keenly regretted the ancient +purity--felt this. "Let her be more chaste than any single Sabine that, +with hair dishevelled, rushed between the combatants and brought the war +to a close; let her be a very phoenix upon earth, rare as a black swan; +who could tolerate a wife in whom all excellencies are concentrated! I +would rather, far rather, have a country maiden from Venusia than you, O +Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, if along with your estimable virtues +you bring as part of your dower a haughty and disdainful brow, and +reckon as a portion of your fortune the triumphs of your house! Away, I +beg, with your Hannibal and Syphax conquered in his camp, and march with +all your Carthage!" + +Equally unconducive to a feminine life combining sweetness with nobility +were those later times, when danger was always imminent from a tyrant's +lust or jealousy. Agrippina, travelling with Germanicus in expeditions +against the Teutonic tribes, might earn the title "Mother of the Camps"; +menaced by Tiberius, she might strengthen her mind in anticipation of +the inevitable storm with the stern fortitude becoming to a Roman matron +of the house of Augustus; but with years and affliction comes an +unamiable sourness of disposition. Livia, Agrippina, and Antonia were +women of the most unquestionable virtue; but they were ungentle in their +manner and capable of extreme harshness in their methods. We know them +fairly well; but there is no indication of their interesting themselves +in any such womanly work as those public charities which graced the +reign of Trajan, and with which we may be reasonably certain that +Plotina, his noble consort, actively sympathized. With assured security +of life, woman's heart expanded and her sympathies widened. Faustina, +the wife of Aurelius, may not have been irreproachable; but she is +represented in the position of the Lady Bountiful by the side of her +husband in the public distributions. Under these noble emperors, a +social conscience was developed; and there was nothing to prevent or +disturb any of the genial graces of the home life, which are only +possible when women are respected and happy. + +During this period, the legal condition of the Roman woman was also +greatly ameliorated. The acute sense of justice which actuated these +emperors could not neglect this result of civilization. On one occasion, +a matron stopped Hadrian in the street and begged leave to submit to him +a matter in which she was suffering injustice. He refused to be delayed. +"Why, then, are you emperor?" she bitterly exclaimed. This appealed to +him; for he was conscious that he had no right to govern unless he +allowed the salutary influence of his rule to extend to all alike. + +A man and a woman, who, though they had cohabited, were not legally +married, disputed as to the possession of their child in order to +receive its share of the public allowance. "With whom do you live?" +asked Hadrian of the child. "My mother," was the answer. "You rascal," +said the emperor to the man, "you have no right to this allowance." + +"I implore you," cried another woman, "to order that a part of my son's +allowance be given to me." "But, my lord," said the son, "I do not +acknowledge her to be my mother." "Then," answered Hadrian, "I shall not +acknowledge you as a citizen." + +These, it may be, were only casual incidents; but they indicate the sort +of rule under which Rome had come, and they must have formed powerful +precedents in future rulings in such cases. Laws were also passed which +helped to relieve the burden of legal injustice which from the first had +rested upon the Roman woman. A father had it always in his power to +compel his son to put away his wife, and could thus, if he chose, +shatter the life of a faithful, loving woman and drive her from her +home. Marcus Aurelius amended this tyrannical law, so that it could only +be executed for great and just cause. Under the old code, a child was +always subject to the condition of his mother at his birth; hence, if a +free woman, after conception, was relegated to servitude by sentence of +law, her child was born a slave. Hadrian decreed that if a woman was +free at any time during her pregnancy, her child should be free. This +would seem to be more of a relief to the child so born than to the +mother; but, apart from the mother sympathy, the parent of a free son +would be much more likely to regain her own liberty. This emperor also +decided that women should have the power to dispose of the whole of +their property by will, on obtaining the consent of their guardians. It +was soon afterward decreed that such a will should be valid without such +consent, and this made the property rights of the Roman woman as +untrammelled as such laws have been in any country, almost down to the +present time. There was also a modification of the law of inheritance, +so that women were allowed to take from their sons; but to avail herself +of this new law a freedwoman must have had no less than four children. + +This material comfort and security of life would, of itself, hardly +suffice to substantiate Gibbon's opinion as to the superior happiness of +this particular period of the world's history; but there was something +more. Human life is not rendered felicitous solely by the abundance of +the things which a people possesses; there must be the power to make +the most of and enjoy them. It is with the life of a nation as it is +with that of an individual--the happiest age is that immediately +previous to the beginning of decadence; prior to that, the attention and +energy are wholly taken up with the process of acquiring. The Roman +Empire was now, as it were, balanced and resting on the summit of its +greatness. + +With one or two exceptions, never in the history of the world has so +large a proportion of the citizens of a nation been capable of so fully +appreciating the highest mental enjoyments. Art in those days was +closely inwoven with the life of the people; they lived artistic lives. +The women of that day moved habitually among those objects which the +ladies of our time go to museums to admire. Their eyes were every day +accustomed to rest upon the beautiful structures and statuary which are +the wonder and the models of modern times. Every home, however modest, +had about it much of the artistic; every public building was a +magnificent example of architecture. Nothing was purely utilitarian, for +life was not sordid. With an ample supply of the necessaries and +luxuries of existence, and perfect protection through wise and +beneficently administered laws, this added grace and beauty which +pervaded everything lacked little to make the life of women in the days +of Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines broader and happier than it has +been in any other period, ancient or modern. + +There were, however, two classes of persons which must not be left out +of the estimate; and it may be suggested that a proper understanding of +the conditions of their existence may detract greatly from the foregoing +appreciation of the period under discussion: these are the slaves and +the poor. But, inasmuch as what has been said is of the nature of a +comparison, it can be justly answered that the poor we have always with +us, and until recently the institution of slavery has been a cherished +one. At any rate, it was rare that a Roman slave woman was ill fed, +while compulsory hunger is by no means uncommon in modern times. + +Since so large a portion of those Roman slaves were women, it will be +quite pertinent to our subject if we take a glance at this institution +of slavery as it existed in the ancient world. + +It is estimated that at one time no less than one-fifth of the +population of Rome was in a condition of compulsory servitude. The +number was kept up by birth, by the slave market, and by war. In ancient +times, the creditor could sell the family of the debtor; the father also +could dispose of his children in the same manner. These barbarous +measures, however, were less resorted to as manners grew milder, though +the laws permitting them were not repealed until the time of Diocletian. +Parents had the legal right to expose their unwelcome children, and +whoever chose to take the abandoned infants owned them as slaves; but +Trajan granted to such children the perpetual right of claiming their +freedom, on condition that they could prove that of their parents. + +By the ancient law, the slave was nothing but a chattel. He possessed no +rights, he had no will of his own, he was not a person, and could not +seek protection from the law. Over him his master owned absolute power +of life and death. Women slaves were wholly subject to their owner's +will. They might be required to bear offspring for the mere sake of +increasing their master's number of servants, with absolutely no regard +to any sentiment they might cherish relative to such a matter. A slave +could not legally marry; and for many centuries no union of that nature +was held to have any binding force. When it is considered that a large +proportion of the slaves owned by Roman masters were secured as the +spoils of war, or by kidnapping, and consequently included many persons +of both sexes who were well born and educated, it is seen how peculiarly +cruel was slavery in those times. + +Gradually, principles of humanity prevailed in the softening of this +condition, and it is probable that instincts of humanity on the part of +the majority of owners induced them to do better than the law demanded. +In the house of Columella, every slave woman who had three children was +set free from labor, and she who had more was emancipated. During the +period of the Antonines, laws were passed prohibiting masters from +selling slaves to fight in the arena unless these had been convicted of +some crime by public authority. They were not allowed to be left by will +with the understanding that they were to fight with beasts. The killing +of slaves became punishable as for murder; and even the slave's honor +came to be protected, for a complaint could be lodged against the master +for an attempt on the slave's modesty. Regard was also paid to the +natural feelings of these unfortunate persons; for while those in a +condition of slavery could not legally marry, yet, where the nuptial +union had been formed it was not permitted that the husband and wife +should be separated by sale. Thus we see that the Roman slaves, from a +condition of absolute inhumanity in the days of the early Republic, came +in the time of the Antonines to be so hedged about with the protection +of the law that there was left little to be desired save the possession +of their own persons. Still, it is not meant to be asserted that even in +this mild period there was not ample scope for cruelty on the part of +barbarous or ill-natured owners. Juvenal describes with great +indignation how women would cause their female attendants to be +unmercifully whipped. But a just complaint of intolerable treatment +was, in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, legal ground for compelling the +emancipation of the slave, or at least for providing him or her with a +kinder owner. + +Paganism has often been accused of having paid no attention whatsoever +to public charities. On the contrary, during the period with which we +are now occupied institutions of poor-relief were founded and were as +remarkable for the wisdom with which they were organized as for the +spirit of beneficence which they manifested. There was abundance of +evidence in Pliny's time to show that his beautiful words were not mere +rhetoric: "It is a duty to seek out those who are in want, to bring them +aid, to support, and make them in a sense one's own family." Has the +modern spirit anything better to say than this sentence which was +inscribed upon a tomb: _Therc is in life but one beautiful thing, and +this is beneficence._ The Romans of the Antonine period put this +sentiment into practical operation in more ways than one. Nerva +conceived the project of rendering State aid to poor parents to enable +them to rear their children. Trajan, his successor, adopted this scheme +and developed it on a magnificent scale. As early as the year 100, there +were, in the city of Rome, as we learn from Pliny, no less than five +thousand children who received this assistance. So much consideration +was shown in the arrangement for this distribution, that it was ordered +that the apportionment of the sick or absent should be reserved until it +was sent for. From the Inscription of Veleia, one of the longest which +have come down to us, and the table of the Bæbiani for the apportionment +of food among the poor, we learn of the poor-relief system under which +two hundred and sixty-four boys and thirty-six girls were supported. +"The boys received annually one hundred and ninety-two sesterces +[$9.20], the girls one hundred and forty-four [$6.90]. The foundation +was established for a definite number of children, a number that did not +change so long as the foundation was not increased; but the assistance +varied, doubtless with the price of provisions, in different localities; +thus, at Veleia, sixteen sesterces per month; at Tarracina, twenty." The +writer of the above demonstrates by authorities and examples that from +sixteen to twenty sesterces per month was sufficient to support a Roman +child. He continues: + +"It cannot be affirmed that the institution was in a general measure +established in the whole of Italy; but coins, inscriptions, and even +sculptures, enable us to discover it in many places. Thus the +bas-reliefs of the Arch of Beneventum represent men carrying boys on +their shoulders, and four women, their heads adorned with mural crowns, +conducting young girls to Trajan. Do these women represent the four +towns of the vicinity, or are they the symbol of all the cities of Italy +which had profited by the same benefaction? The second hypothesis is the +more probable, and Dion confirms it. + +"Provincial cities and wealthy individuals followed the example given by +the emperors; this pagan society, which ameliorated the lot of the +slave, which was mindful of the destitution of its poor, thus showed +before its downfall that it possessed within itself powers of renewal +sufficient to save it, had it not been ruined by bad legislation." + +This annuity did not cease with the end of Trajan's reign. Hadrian +increased the length of time through which the boys and girls were to +receive it. It is noticeable that fewer girls than boys were assisted, +and, while the latter received the pension until the age of eighteen, it +was taken from the girls at the age of fourteen. It must be confessed +that this introduced a suspicion of utilitarianism into the +beneficence, girls at that time being considered of less advantage to +the State than their brothers; but Antoninus, who was a man of peace and +who would have much liked to be able to dispense with the army, in honor +of his wife increased the number of girls on the lists for support; +while on the death of the second Faustina, Marcus Aurelius followed his +predecessor's example. Private persons, and especially ladies, also +established foundations of this kind. To provide for a hundred children +at Tarracina, Cælia Macrina bequeathed one million sesterces; Hispalis +profited in a similar way by the legacy of a wealthy lady resident. The +spirit in which the times viewed this subject is shown in the words of +Paulus: "Donations," says he, "may be made to the city, either for its +adornment or for its honor; and among the things which honor a city the +most is the practice of giving support to infirm old men and to young +children of both sexes." There is also proof that in many cities +physicians were salaried by the municipality and required to render +gratuitous assistance to the poor. + +It is a fact exceedingly to be regretted that, while we find so much +that is admirable in this period by means of which the female portion of +society was benefited and for the existence of which much credit is +undoubtedly owing to the noble women of the time, yet the records of +individual women are extremely unsatisfactory. In the first place, they +are very meagre. Unfortunately, there are no such brilliant and copious +histories of the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian as of those of the +previous and less worthy emperors. Of individual women, apart from those +of the imperial house of this period, we know nothing. The records of +the empresses and of their female relatives exhibit a similarity to the +scandalous accounts of their predecessors which is sadly monotonous and +entirely unworthy of the otherwise wonderfully improved conditions. It +is doubtful whether or not the characters of the Faustinas could be +rehabilitated if trustworthy evidence were obtainable; but, even if that +were possible, there would still be nothing to secure for them equal +moral rank with their noble husbands. There is a fine exception, +however, in the character of Plotina, the wife of Trajan. In the Vatican +Museum there is a bust of this noble woman. It shows a lady advanced in +years, but with a countenance charmingly suggestive of intelligence and +moral dignity. + +Trajan was a plain, honest soldier, who, when he was proclaimed emperor +on the death of Nerva, entered the city on foot and recognized his old +friends as he passed on his way to the palace. Plotina Pompeia +accompanied him; and as she mounted the steps of the imperial abode, she +turned to the people and said: "Such as I am entering here, I desire to +be when I leave here." She must have been then in the prime of her +womanhood; for her husband reigned nineteen years, and she outlived him. +Her life in the palace, unlike that of the majority of her predecessors, +was distinguished by her unassailable virtue, her affability, and her +charitable activity on behalf of the poor and needy. We may safely be +assured that though the charitable scheme already described was +developed by the mind of her husband, he was stimulated thereto by the +gracious counsel of Plotina. She accompanied her husband on his +expedition in the East, and was with him when he died in Cilicia, whence +she carried his ashes to Rome. Under Hadrian she still continued to +enjoy all the honors and titles of a Roman empress. + +The accession of Hadrian to the throne is surrounded by a mystery which +must forever remain impenetrable. Gibbon repeats the gossip which the +ancient historians handed down as veritable fact, when he says: "We may +readily believe that the father of his country hesitated whether he +ought to intrust the various and doubtful character of his kinsman +Hadrian with sovereign power. In his last moments, the arts of the +Empress Plotina either fixed the irresolution of Trajan, or boldly +supposed a fictitious adoption; the truth of which could not be safely +disputed, and Hadrian was peaceably acknowledged as his lawful +successor." Dion asserted on the authority of his father, who was +Governor of Cilicia, where Trajan died, that the adoption never took +place and that Plotina forged the letters which were sent to Rome, +apparently from Trajan, informing the Senate of his choice. Some even +went so far as to say that, the moment after the emperor's death, he not +having named Hadrian, Plotina caused a man to be placed in his bed to +simulate his dying voice saying that he appointed Hadrian his successor. + +This is a flimsy story, and rather suggests the triviality of the minds +of those who concocted it than it impairs the character of Plotina. +Hadrian had married Sabina, the daughter of Matilda, who was in turn the +daughter of Marciana, Trajan's sister. Moreover, the emperor had +showered favors upon him, and appointed him to the highest offices. To +whom else should Trajan leave the Empire? Nevertheless, it is probable +that Hadrian was greatly liked by the powerful empress, and she may have +shown a deep interest in the adoption of the youth by her husband. In +courts, where there are of necessity jealousy and rival ambitions, from +such innocent facts will formidable scandals grow. Every other mention +of her is evidence against the insinuation that the maternal affection +of Plotina for Hadrian was tinctured with love of a stronger nature. + +Hadrian's mother was a native of Cadiz. How she was held in the esteem +of her imperial son is indicated in the following letter which he wrote +her: "All hail, very dear and excellent mother. Whatever you ask of the +gods for me, I ask the same for you. By Hercules, I am delighted that my +acts seem to you worthy of praise. To-day is my birthday; we must take +supper together. Come, then, well dressed, with my sisters. Sabina, who +is at our villa, has sent her share for the family repast." + +Through the meagre and inconclusive accounts we have of the private +affairs of Hadrian, the allegation is circulated that his life with +Sabina was far from being an amicable one. The empress was said to be of +a morose and sour disposition, and Hadrian is even accused of having rid +himself of her by the help of poison. The latter is a calumny unworthy +of serious attention. It is altogether impossible to believe that, even +if the chasm between the two were as wide as is reported, the emperor +would not have sought relief in divorce rather than in murder. However +praiseworthy may have been Hadrian's character as an emperor, if Sabina +stood upon her rights as a wife, she had every reason for holding him in +supreme contempt; for common as may have been the vice to which there +seems to be little doubt Hadrian was addicted, it is difficult to +believe that any woman retaining the least respect for herself could at +the same time retain any regard for such a husband. The state of affairs +between this imperial couple may have been very unpleasant; but at least +a semblance of harmony was preserved. Hadrian even protected his wife; +when Suetonius the historian in some way failed in proper respect for +Sabina, the emperor immediately banished him from the court. The empress +also seems to have accompanied her husband on many of his extensive +journeys. We have an interesting proof and record of her having been +with him in Egypt. She ascended the Nile as far as Thebes and visited +the statue of Memnon, the son of Aurora, who was reported to sing every +morning in honor of his radiant mother's return. Balbilla the poetess +caused three of her verses to be engraved on the leg of the statue, in +which she records this visit. They are dated the twentieth and +twenty-first of November, 130. It seems that the god did not show proper +respect for Sabina, nor did he in the least stand in awe of "the angry +countenance of the empress," for on the occasion of her first visit he +was not in a singing mood. + +From her portraits, one would not judge Sabina to have been of a morose +and bitter disposition. There is in the Vatican a statue of the empress +represented as Venus Genitrix, while there is also a bust of her in the +Capitol Museum. If these are faithful likenesses, it is as difficult to +believe that Sabina was of an unamiable disposition as it is to +understand Hadrian's preference for Antinous. In connection with this +subject Gibbon says that, down to the time of Hadrian, Claudius was the +only emperor whose taste in love matters was at all correct. This being +the case, it is only just to say that, if example could afford it, the +empresses had ample excuse for the most flagrant irregularities recorded +of them. + +Antoninus Pius was adopted by Hadrian and designated his successor, +without the aid of any woman whatsoever--except that Sabina failed to +provide an occupant for the throne by the act of maternity. + +The wife of Antoninus was Annia Galeria Faustina. She had borne him four +children; but at the time of his accession only one daughter, named +after her mother, survived. The annals of the period of this reign are +extremely meagre and unsatisfactory. It has been said that while the +unanimous praises that are bestowed upon the virtues of Antoninus earn +for him in pagan history the place held by Saint Louis among Christian +kings, his political career is so uncertain that, as emperor, he +appears before us a half-effaced figure, whose outlines are wholly +indistinct. + +Faustina the Elder did not live long to enjoy the dignity of empress; +but in private life she had established for herself such a reputation, +if all accounts be true, that she simply added one more to the list of +immoral empresses who had disgraced the palace. Yet it must be admitted +that these reflections upon her character are extremely ill-founded, and +indeed there is evidence to the contrary which tends to make them seem +absurd. Fronto, a philosopher of the period, pronounced a eulogy upon +her, concerning which Antoninus wrote: "In the discourse which thou hast +devoted to my Faustina I have found even more truth than eloquence. For +it is the fact--yes, by the gods! I would rather live with her on the +desert island of Gyaros than without her in the palace." This is not +merely affection; from a man of Antoninus's character, it indicates an +esteem which it would have been impossible for him to cherish, or even +express, had Faustina been the wanton that the unreliable memoirs of the +time describe her. + +After the death of his wife, Antoninus refused to marry again, though he +consoled himself with a concubine; he would not impart to another woman +the honors and the position which he had rejoiced to share with +Faustina. Indeed, such devoted affection is shown in the manner in which +this emperor revered the memory of his deceased wife, that it would be +one of the beautiful things in history were it not for the fact that the +suspicion fastened upon her reputation, though very improbable, cannot +be entirely eradicated, for lack of evidence to the contrary. Antoninus +built a temple to her honor, and after his death the Senate +reconsecrated it: _To the god Antoninus and to the goddess Faustina_. +The emperor also did what was far more advantageous to his people, and +was an equal proof of his love for Faustina: he established in the name +of his wife a charitable foundation for the support and education of +girls. There is in existence a medal bearing the empress's image, and on +the reverse a representation of Antoninus surrounded by young children, +with this inscription: _Puelloe Faustinianoe_. + +When Hadrian appointed Antoninus as his successor, he obliged the latter +to adopt as his son Marcus Annius Verus, known in history and in +philosophy as Marcus Aurelius. The mother of Marcus Aurelius was Domitia +Lucilla, a lady of consular rank and a descendant of Domitius Afer. She +seems to have been a woman in every way an ornament to these better +times. In his _Meditations_, the imperial philosopher acknowledges that +from his mother he inherited "piety, and beneficence, and abstinence not +only from evil deeds, but even from evil thoughts; and further, +simplicity of life far removed from the habits of the rich." One would +like to dwell on the character of this sweet-natured, pure-hearted +Lucilla. It would be an inestimable boon to the interests of history and +also of moral philosophy if we had a biography of the mother of a good +emperor; but unfortunately the pitiable historians of the time have +given us instead scandals regarding Faustina. There are, however, one or +two little incidents recorded which warrant us in the belief that if we +only knew more of her life we should have in Lucilla a name and a +portrait worthy of a place among those of the most honored women of the +world. She encouraged her son in his philosophic studies; but when his +enthusiasm carried him to such an excess of self-discipline that he +purposed to sleep on bare boards, his mother prevailed on him to indulge +himself with the luxury of a sheepskin rug. + +Marcus Aurelius expresses his thankfulness that "though it was my +mother's fate to die young, she spent the last years of her life with +me." In one of his letters to Fronto, he describes a day spent in the +country during the vintage. "When I returned home," he says, "I studied +a little, but not to much advantage. I had a long talk with my mother, +who was lying on her couch." Those talks with a mother from whom he had +learned to hate the thought of evil were of inestimable value to his +character, and thus have not been wholly lost to the world. + +On one occasion, Lucilla was noticed by Antoninus Pius in the act of +earnest prayer before the image of Apollo. "What think you she is +praying for so intently?" insinuated a mischief maker named Valerius +Omulus; "it is that you may die, and her son reign in your stead." +Antoninus ignored the base suggestion in silent contempt. It is very +possible that Lucilla was praying for her son's reign, but for the +worthiness of its character rather than for the speediness of its +commencement. + +Unfortunately, though it may not be necessary to believe all that is +said against her, it is at least very apparent that Faustina the wife of +Marcus Aurelius was not such a woman as Lucilla his mother. Gibbon sums +up in the following paragraph the whole story as it may be gleaned from +the very indifferent ancient authorities: + +"Faustina, the daughter of Pius and the wife of Marcus, has been as much +celebrated for her gallantries as for her beauty. The grave simplicity +of the philosopher was ill calculated to engage her wanton levity, or to +fix that unbounded passion for variety which often discovered merit in +the meanest of mankind. The Cupid of the ancients was, in general, a +very sensual deity; and the amours of an empress, as they exact on her +side the plainest advances, are seldom susceptible of much sentimental +delicacy, Marcus was the only man in the Empire who seemed ignorant or +insensible of the irregularities of Faustina; which, according to the +prejudices of every age, reflected some disgrace on the injured husband. +He promoted several of her lovers to posts of honor and profit, and, +during a connection of thirty years, invariably gave her proofs of the +most tender confidence and of a respect which ended not with her life. +In his _Meditations_, he thanks the gods who had bestowed on him a wife +so faithful, so gentle, and of such a wonderful simplicity of manners. +The obsequious Senate, at his earnest request, declared her a goddess. +She was represented in her temples with the attributes of Juno, Venus, +and Ceres; and it was decreed that, on the day of their nuptials, the +youth of either sex should pay their vows before the altar of their +chaste patroness." + +It would be a preposterous undertaking to accept a brief for Faustina; +and yet, judging such evidence as we have in the light of common sense, +one is inclined to acquit her of some charges, or at least to demand for +her a verdict of "not proven." Who are the witnesses against her? +Capitolinus, who wrote the life of Marcus Aurelius, is one. He wrote in +the time of Diocletian, one hundred and twenty years after the events. +Surely the lapse of time will to a certain degree depreciate the value +of the evidence; and then Capitolinus is an exceedingly poor biographer. +Dion Cassius is the principal witness; but it is very apparent that Dion +Cassius was accustomed to report indiscriminately every bit of scandal +he heard about anybody. He was constitutionally malignant. It is very +doubtful if any modern jury, knowing his character, would convict a +petty thief on the evidence of Dion Cassius. Because Commodus, the son +of Faustina, developed an abnormal love for bloody sports and manifested +a strong regard for the heroes of the arena, malicious tongues asserted +that he was the son of a gladiator; but the strong resemblance which may +be traced in the statues and bust of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus is +sufficient to refute this part of the charge. This likeness is also +attested by Fronto, who, though he may have desired to compliment the +emperor, was assuredly a man of too much character to adopt this +particular method if he knew Faustina to be the woman she is +represented. Then again, if her habits were as vicious as they are +described, it is absolutely inconceivable that her husband should have +remained in ignorance of the fact; it would imply that he must have been +nothing more or less than an imbecile, which Marcus Aurelius decidedly +was not. If, on the other hand, he knew of his wife's promiscuous +amours, it is incredible that he should have had the effrontery to laud +his wife's faithfulness and virtue before the public; it is +inconceivable that he should have manifested toward her such confidence +and esteem in their private relations. Our judgment is influenced more +by the treatment she received from her husband than by the venomous +testimony of Dion. + +One of the charges against Faustina is that she abetted the conspiracy +of Avidius Cassius by offering him her hand in the event of her +husband's being slain. This even the biographer of Cassius denies, and +quotes a letter of Faustina's in proof. + +There must, however, have been some cause for these reports of the +empress's conduct, even though they are greatly exaggerated. We may take +it for granted that Faustina was not worthy of her noble husband. It is +very possible that she had little regard for his philosophical maxims +and less liking for his austerities. She may have been more forcibly +attracted by the handsome appearance and gay manner of Verus, her +husband's colleague in the Empire; but that she was so absolutely +wanton as the ancient anecdotists describe requires no contravention of +the principles of historical criticism to disbelieve. + +The letters of Faustina to Marcus Aurelius were preserved by Vulcatius +Gallicanus, and Victor Duruy says they are those of an empress, a wife, +and a mother. She often accompanied her husband on his many trying +expeditions, and thus gained from the soldiers the title of "Mother of +the Camps." It was on such a journey, at the foot of Mount Taurus, that +she died. There has been preserved a bas-relief which represents +Faustina carried by a winged being in human form from the funeral pyre +to heaven; the emperor sits below and points out to his daughter the +apotheosis of her mother, while he himself follows the departing figure +with affectionate eyes. At the theatre, her statue, formed of gold, was +placed in the position which she had been accustomed to occupy. To honor +her memory, a new foundation for the support of the daughters of +indigent parents was instituted; and at the Villa Albani there is +another bas-relief, which represents Faustina surrounded by young girls +and distributing among them corn, which they receive in the folds of +their dresses. + +In the period of the Antonines, paganism was at its best. It was then +afforded a magnificent opportunity to show how far in the direction of +social progress and moral development the human race could be carried +under its influence. It was on its trial before the evolutionary forces +of the universe. What is the verdict? That paganism has disappeared +cannot be said; for much that was essential to the system is still +inherent in the prevailing religion of the civilized world to-day. But +how did the ancient system of religion respond to the quest for those +influences which make for human happiness, both for the man and the +woman--for here there can be no distinction? There is much in the old +system, as it answers for itself in the period under discussion, that is +extremely satisfactory, much that will compare most favorably with like +conditions in modern times. We have seen how a social conscience was +evolved, and how most admirable methods were adopted for the purpose of +supporting poor girls and boys. It has been noticed how in this period +life was secure, happy, and beautiful. The conditions of slavery were +ameliorated, so that involuntary servitude became, in some respects, +less severe than it was in Christian lands during the last century. +Woman's legal position was greatly improved, affording her an +independence, all things considered, which she did not enjoy during the +Middle Ages. This banner age of paganism was also capable of producing +such men as Pliny and the Antonines. Unfortunately, history lacks such +records as would reveal the best examples of the women who graced this +period. Instead of the noblest, we have only the most conspicuous. We +are shown the Faustinas, because they lived in the palace; but, +notwithstanding the excellence of the husbands of these women, it is +true that a palace is the least promising soil for the cultivation of +moral beauty. Yet in Plotina and Lucilla we find such characters as +warrant the belief that in humbler walks there were many women whose +lives would not have suffered severe criticism if they had been tried by +the principles of the modern morality. + +Much was accomplished under the ancient system; but the time exhibited +the best possibilities of paganism. It could do no better; and it soon +prepared to leave the field in the possession of a victor. It could not +soften the heart and thus dispense with its cruelties. It could not +emancipate all its slaves; it contained in itself no indictment of +slavery. It recognized that all men are of one blood, but it did not +evolve the idea of universal brotherhood or the Golden Rule. It had no +argument for morality which could appeal to the unphilosophic common +multitude. In these things it was weighed and found wanting; for these +reasons it could not perpetuate itself. + + + + +XIV + +THE PASSING OF PAGANISM + +From the reign of Commodus must be dated the beginning of the Decline. +From now on, two influences are at work undermining the structure of the +ancient Empire; we see the double process of disintegration and +conversion. Pagan civilization had finished its day and must make way +for the dawn of a new era. The Roman Empire fell to pieces because the +sword, which was the only bond by which its heterogeneous conquests +could be held together, became insubordinate to the political authority. +After the second century, the army was rarely led to new foreign +victories. It became the instrument of revolt; it bartered the Empire, +and supported or assassinated adventitious claimants for the throne at +its wild caprice. At last, the old Roman spirit having entirely +departed, the barbarians made an easy prey of the decaying body. + +In the meantime the gods, who, so far as their effective existence was +concerned, had been long since discredited, were deposed from the minds +of an increasing number of the people, to make room for a new and purer +faith. But the rise of Christianity did not follow the brilliant day of +paganism without an intervening night. Literature, art, and the science +of domestic and social life deteriorated, as European society fell to +the rude habits of the dark ages of feudalism. In this closing chapter, +it is our purpose to follow the fortunes of pagan woman life down to the +time when, under Constantine, Christianity became the State religion. + +In the accession of Commodus is seen the return to the rule of that +despotism, joined with moral insanity, from which Rome had been free +since the days of Domitian. The Empire was again allowed to take care of +itself, while the emperor occupied himself with abominable indulgences +and murderous executions. + +Under the preceding emperors, moral courtiers had been in favor. Now, +the opposite example was set, and the women as well as the men were much +more eager to rush into profligacy than they had been, under Marcus +Aurelius, to take up philosophy. The two empresses were leaders in the +new fashion. Crispina, the wife of Commodus, either carried her +intrigues too far or in some other way made herself obnoxious to her +husband, for she was banished to Capri and shortly afterward put to +death. It is noticeable that the worst men were the quickest to punish +laxity in the conduct of their own wives. They were more suspicious; +they had a more alert sense of amorous possibilities; they were in a +better position to discover clues; and they were devoid of conscience, +which, at least, might have dictated to them a policy of fair play. + +Lucilla, the daughter of Marcus Aurelius and the sister of Commodus, +inherited nothing of her grandmother's character with her name. Atavism +in her case was not effectual. She had been the spouse of her father's +colleague, Verus, and she retained her imperial honors from this +connection; so that she occupied the emperor's box at the theatre and +had the sacred fire, the symbol of majesty, carried before her as she +passed through the streets. Her lovers were numerous. + +Apart from such failings as those sensual indulgences so customary among +the Romans, the reign of Commodus for the first three years was fairly +respectable. He had as yet shown no symptom of mercilessness; but one +night, as he was traversing an ill-lighted passage in the palace, a +Senator rushed upon him with the words: "The Senate sends you this." The +threat saved the emperor's life, the guards at once overpowering the +assassin. The plot owed its origin to Lucilla. Dissatisfied with the +second place in the Empire, the misguided woman designed, upon the death +of her brother, to place on the throne one of her lovers, with whom she +would reign in concert. That her destined accomplice was not Claudius +Pompeianus, her respectable though somewhat aged husband, may be assumed +from the fact that he was not privy to the plot. Lucilla was punished +with exile and, later, with death. From this time, Commodus gave rein to +his cruel disposition without restraint; the slightest suspicion on his +part, or an insinuation on that of his favorites, sufficed to authorize +an execution. Rome had once been at the mercy of a buffoon who was +deluded with the idea that he possessed a heavenly voice; she was now +ravaged by a gladiator who believed himself to be a second Hercules. His +extravagance being enormous, and the execution of the rich being the +easiest way to recuperate the treasury, many women as well as men lost +their lives on account of their wealth. + +Among the possessions of one of his victims, Commodus discovered a very +beautiful woman, with whom he at once fell desperately in love. There is +in the Cabinet de France a bronze medallion representing the features of +Commodus and Marcia conjoined in profile. There are also other +indications that this woman, whom the emperor made his concubine, was +accorded almost the honors of an empress. She is traditionally credited +with having been a Christian; but, though she may have favored +Christianity, and probably it was to her influence that its adherents +owed their safety during this reign, her own life did not so closely +correspond with the teaching of that faith as to render her worthy of +the title of Christian. + +Marcia endeavored to dissuade her imperial lover from some of his +bloodthirsty purposes, and as a reward he placed her own name with that +of two of his chief officials on his tablets which contained the list of +the fated. These tablets were discovered under his pillow and fell into +Marcia's hands. She realized that desperate measures were immediately +demanded. Consulting with the others whose lives were threatened, they +decided that she should administer to the emperor poison in his wine. +This she did; but, doubtful as to the effect, they introduced a young +wrestler, who strangled Commodus in his sleep. No assassination planned +by a female mind was ever more excusable than this. The act saved Marcia +her life, and rid the world of one in comparison with whom the monsters +slain by Perseus were desirable neighbors. + +For a time the Empire went begging for a ruler. Pertinax, a man who from +being the son of a charcoal dealer had raised himself to the position of +consul, was chosen by the assassins of Commodus; but Pertinax was not +eager for the exalted but dangerous position of emperor. He offered it +to some of the Senators, but they declined the magnificent gift with +thanks. The soldiers, finding in their camp a Senator whom they +preferred to Pertinax, proposed to make him emperor; but he escaped and +ran away from the city. Pertinax was at last induced to accept; and +could he have retained the rule, Rome would have entered again upon a +period like that of Trajan. He refused to allow his wife to take the +title of Augusta, judging that she had done nothing to earn it. He put +up to auction the inmates of the seraglio of Commodus, in order to +replenish the empty treasury, giving, however, their liberty to those +who had been forcibly abducted from their homes. But his government was +too rigid for the prætorian guard, and they ended it by assassinating +him after a reign of only eighty days. + +There was in Rome at this time a woman named Manlia Scantilla. She was +the wife of a Senator, by name Julianus, who possessed immense wealth +and had filled all the highest offices of the State. After the murder of +Pertinax, Manlia heard that the prætorian guards were offering the +Empire to the highest bidder. Her household was at the moment sitting +down to a sumptuous banquet. Manlia and her daughter, carried away by +their ambition, urged Julianus not to miss so favorable an opportunity +to seat himself on the throne and to clothe them in the imperial purple; +if wealth was the only qualification, Julianus possessed it. He hurried +to the camp, and while the father-in-law of the dead Pertinax made his +offers from within he raised them from without the ramparts. At last the +Empire was knocked down to him for six thousand two hundred and fifty +drachmas [about one thousand two hundred and fifty dollars] to each +prætorian. After he had received the oaths of his new guards and had +been presented to the Senate, he went to the palace. There he saw, still +untouched, the frugal meal which had been prepared for Pertinax. +Contemptuously sneering at this, he commanded a banquet to be served +that was worthy of an emperor, at which he, Manlia, and their friends, +while regaling themselves, were entertained by the performances of +Pylades, a celebrated dancer. Their occupancy of the palace, however, +was brief. The people were disgusted, and the legions in the provinces +were roused to furious indignation. Pescennius Niger, commanding in +Syria, was proclaimed emperor by his soldiers, and Septimus Severus +received the same honor in Upper Pannonia. The latter marched upon Rome, +and Julianus was soon convinced that his high-priced glory was not a +good bargain. He was without support, though he endeavored to maintain +the regard of the prætorians by executing Marcia, who had slain their +darling Commodus; but the guards who had sold him the Empire were not +minded to sacrifice themselves by maintaining him in its possession. +They made no resistance when the Senate passed a decree of deposition +and death against Julianus, at the same time acknowledging Severus as +emperor. The former was beheaded, after reigning sixty-six days. + +Once more Rome was to have an emperor worthy of the name. The manner in +which Severus was received in the city was a good omen for his reign. +"At the city's gates," says Dion Cassius, "Severus dismounted from his +horse, and laid aside his military dress before entering Rome; but his +whole army followed him into the city. It was the most imposing sight I +ever saw. Throughout the city were garlands of flowers and laurel +wreaths; the houses, adorned with hangings of different colors, were +resplendent with the fire of sacrifices and the light of torches. The +citizens, clad in white, filled the air with acclamations, and the +soldiers advanced in martial order, as if at a triumph. We Senators +headed the procession, wearing the insignia of our rank." + +With the enthronement of Septimus Severus, there came to the city as his +wife one of the most remarkable women of Roman history. Julia Domna was +a native of Emesa in Syria, but at the same time a Roman subject. +Severus had lost his first wife while he was governor in Gaul; and while +he was commanding in Syria he became acquainted with the daughter of +Bassianus, priest of the Sun. It was not alone Julia's beauty that +captivated him, though the bust and the noble stola-clad statue which +are still preserved at Rome warrant the opinion that a single man of any +susceptibility might well have excused in himself the lack of any other +consideration. Severus, however, was a student of omens and divination, +and well versed in the science of astrology. Julia's nativity had been +cast, and the stars indicated that she was to be the wife of a +sovereign. This decided Severus. He concluded that he could not do +better than link his fortunes with those of a young lady who, though +poor at present, had in prospect a future so promising. Julia Domna +deserved all that the stars could predict for her. With the attractions +of her person were united unusual powers of mind. It is said of her that +she was capable of great boldness of purpose and equal prudence in +putting her plans into effect; and to her is attributed also a strength +of mind that is uncommon in her sex. Severus held her in the highest +regard, and she was so accustomed to accompany him on his expeditions +that she also earned that title which the soldiers always bestowed on +such ladies--"The Mother of the Camps." On inscriptions she was spoken +of as _domina_--the mistress. The number of these inscriptions proves +the popularity of Julia among the Greeks also, by whom she was honored +as "a new Demeter." + +This empress was a patroness of letters; her friends were principally +among the learned and the students of philosophy. Severus himself, we +are told, greatly admired one of the ladies of her circle because she +could read and understand Plato. It is extremely pleasant, after a long +list of empresses the records of whose frailties are exceedingly +monotonous, to imagine Julia Domna engaged in the study of the highest +problems of life and befriending such men as Ulpian and Galen. She thus +earned for herself the title of Julia the Philosopher. There is every +reason to believe that Diogenes Laertius dedicated to her his _History +of the Greek Philosophers_. The book is dedicated to a woman who greatly +admired the Academy; but as the name and the dedicatory epistle are +missing, it is not absolutely certain whether it was Arria, mentioned in +an earlier chapter, or the empress, who was thus honored. There is no +doubt, however, that Julia engaged Philostratus to write for her the +life of Apollonius of Tyana, the great Pythagorean thaumaturgist. + +The great historian of the Decline of the Roman Empire says that while +the grateful flattery of these learned men has extolled the virtues of +the wife of Severus, "if we may credit the scandal of ancient history, +chastity was very far from being the most conspicuous virtue of the +Empress Julia." But Gibbon rarely questions an allegation of this sort; +on the other hand, Dion Cassius, who zealously reports every such +accusation, is, for a wonder, silent on this. Julia's intellectual +tastes, not to speak of her four children, would be likely to preclude +her falling into any gross immoralities. + +Associated with the empress in the palace were her sister and two +nieces, all bearing like her the name Julia. Her sister, Julia Mæsa, was +no less remarkable than the empress; and in later days, by placing her +grandsons on the throne, she presided over the destinies of the Empire +as no other woman had hitherto done. Julia Soæmias is represented on +coins as the Heavenly Virgin; but if the statement of Lampridius in +regard to her mundane frailties is to be credited, her lightly adorned +statue as Venus was more in character. Then there was Julia Mammæa, who +reared one of the best, though not of the strongest, men who attained to +the purple, and who, by her influence over his mind, held the reins of +government greatly to the immediate profit of the Empire. + +Another lady of the court which surrounded Julia Domna was Plautilla, +the daughter of Plautianus the prefect. Plautianus was the emperor's +relative, and by him vested with powers almost equal to his own. He was +an ambitious man, and, while probably faithful to his master, sought to +secure his own position by marrying his daughter to the young prince +Caracalla. This marriage was forced upon Caracalla much against his +will, and proved disastrous to Plautilla; but it was an astoundingly +magnificent affair. Dion relates that he saw the dowry of the bride +carried into the palace, and declares that it was enough for fifty +kings' daughters. The same historian tells of many tyrannous +extravagances which Plautianus allowed himself on this occasion; but +when he informs us that the latter caused one hundred freeborn Romans, +many of them husbands and fathers of families, to be mutilated, in order +that his daughter might be attended by a retinue of eunuchs in the +Oriental fashion, our sense of what is possible, even in the most +despotic circumstances, rebels. The ancient anecdotist further says that +"the thing was not known until after Plautianus's death." It is surely +inconceivable that the wives of these victims should have allowed such a +thing to pass in silence. + +Caracalla threatened the destruction of his bride and her father when he +should come to the throne. The latter part of this menace he put into +effect without waiting for his father's death. Plautilla seems not to +have been blameless in the matter. Her father made himself the enemy of +the empress and her son, and Plautilla with him turned the indifference +of her husband into positive hatred. The imperial family was rent with +discord. Julia Domna did not endeavor to conciliate the powerful +favorite, and he sought her ruin by means of the new laws which had been +passed against conjugal infidelity. If Dion may be believed in the +matter, the prefect went so far as to subject women of noble family to +torture, in order to procure evidence against the empress. This attempt +does not seem to have been successful, and Caracalla soon found an +opportunity to avenge the attempt to injure the reputation of his +mother. Surprising his father with an accusation of treason on the part +of the prefect, he caused the latter to be struck down before the +emperor had time to ascertain the truth. Shortly afterward, Plautilla +was exiled to Lipari; and when her husband came to the throne he caused +her to be put to death. + +Under Severus were decreed a number of laws which affected the life and +the status of women. He had a strong sense of justice. When persons were +banished, the law required that their property should be confiscated. On +one occasion, when a mother and her son were about to suffer that +punishment, the mother begged that enough might be taken from her +possessions to afford her son the bare necessaries of life. The son also +pleaded that from his property his mother might receive the same mercy. +This mutual solicitude touched the emperor, and he said: "I cannot +change the law; but it shall be as you desire." + +He decreed that the husband who did not avenge his murdered wife should +forfeit whatever of her dowry would otherwise legally fall to him. He +also commanded that women who deprived their husbands of the hope of +children by producing abortion should be condemned to temporary exile. + +There were many women who, in slavery, were reduced to the necessity of +earning money for their owners by their own prostitution. This was their +only means of securing their liberty. It was made a misdemeanor for +anyone to reproach them for this misfortune, nor was it allowed that any +woman should be forced against her will to adopt a life of infamy. Women +were also prohibited from fighting in the arena. The laws against +adultery were rendered more severe; but, from what we can learn of the +times, this did not result in any marked effect upon social morality. + +There was in existence a law forbidding provincial officials, and even +their sons, to take wives from the province to which they were +appointed. This was a wise measure; for it is easy to see how these +officials, by the power afforded them through their position, might, in +order to secure rich dowries, compel unwilling brides to accept their +suit. Nevertheless, such marriages at times did take place. In order to +enforce the spirit of the law, and to protect provincials from official +tyranny in this respect, Severus ordered that an official who had +married a wealthy heiress in his province should not be allowed to +inherit from her. + +Since Rome had possessed a standing army it had always been the rule +that the soldiers should not be permitted to marry. The consequence was +that the camps were surrounded by crowds of profligate women, as well as +other women who had become the constant companions of soldiers but could +not be legally married. Severus repealed this law and allowed the +legionaries to contract legitimate marriages. Anyone who is cognizant of +the effect of the residence of a garrison of unmarried soldiers in a +European town can understand what a salutary influence this enactment of +Severus would have upon general morality. + +The principal thing in the life of Severus for which he can be justly +criticised with severity is his appointment of Caracalla as one of his +successors, and thus allowing his parental affection to overcome his +judgment of what was good for the Empire. + +On their father's death, Caracalla and his greatly superior brother Geta +were made joint emperors; but they were jealous of each other and could +not agree. They proposed to divide the Empire. "But will you also divide +your mother?" asked Julia; and with many exhortations she dissuaded them +from resorting to this impracticable scheme. + +Rome was once more to be harassed by the fury of a youthful monster. +Caracalla concluded that one emperor would suffice. In order to carry +out his purpose, he agreed to meet his brother in their mother's +apartments and there discuss terms of reconciliation. While he was +conversing with Geta, some centurions rushed into the room; and though +his mother tried to protect her younger son with her arms, Caracalla +urged the assassins to their work, and the empress herself was wounded +and also covered with Geta's blood. Afterward, when the murderer found +his mother in the midst of her female friends weeping over the fate of +his brother, he threatened them all with death. This menace was indeed +executed upon Fadilla, a surviving daughter of Marcus Aurelius. Milman +says: "The most valuable paragraph of Dion, which the industry of M. Mai +has recovered, relates to this daughter of Marcus, executed by +Caracalla. Her name, as appears from Fronto, as well as from Dion, was +Cornificia. When commanded to choose the kind of death she was to +suffer, she burst into womanish tears; but remembering her father +Marcus, she thus spoke: 'O my hapless soul, now imprisoned in the body, +burst forth! be free! Show them, however reluctant to believe it, that +thou art the daughter of Marcus.' She then laid aside all her ornaments, +and, preparing herself for death, ordered her veins to be opened." Many +other women died at this time because they were supposed to be +sympathizers with Geta. + +It would have been an unnatural thing and a disgrace to humanity if +Caracalla himself had escaped the assassin's hand. His fate came to him +in his twenty-ninth year, as he was on a pilgrimage to the temple of the +Moon; and Macrinus, who began life as a slave and was at one time a +gladiator, reigned in his stead. + +The Empress Julia Domna did not long outlive her son. Hers had been a +strange career. From a humble position she had been raised to that of +the highest lady in the world; and she had been a power in her time. +During the reign of Caracalla, though she could not restrain his +enormities, she had really administered the Empire. With her exaltation +had also come the most bitter sorrow. One son had been killed in her +arms by the other; and now the fratricide had fallen by the assassin's +weapon. She was at Antioch when she heard of her son's death. The news +wounded her both as a mother and also as an empress; one who had been +the servant of her husband was now to rule over her. Though Macrinus +treated her with great consideration, life seemed no longer tolerable, +and she resolved to starve herself to death. This resolution was not +less easy to form, inasmuch as she was suffering from an incurable +disease. There are some intimations that she first thought it possible +to raise herself to the throne and reign, as did some of her famous +female contemporaries in the East; but she soon carried out the project +dictated by hopelessness and starved herself to death. + +After the death of Julia Domna, the other three Julias were commanded to +return to Emesa, where was the temple of the Sun, in which the father of +the family had been a priest. They were allowed to carry with them +their wealth; and this gold they soon found a means of using to the +overthrow of Macrinus. Soæmias had a son named Bassianus, and Mammæa +also had a son, who is most favorably known as the Emperor Alexander. + +Bassianus was consecrated to the priesthood of the Sun. Macrinus had +made the mistake of stationing a great many troops at Emesa, where he +had sent these women, with minds full of dislike for himself and a house +full of gold which they might use to his disadvantage. The soldiers fell +in love with the young Bassianus, as they viewed his fine figure arrayed +in the magnificent robes of his priestly office. Mæsa spread the idea +among these legionaries that Bassianus was the son of the murdered +Caracalla; the men thought they could detect a likeness, and Mæsa gave +them large quantities of gold in order to improve their vision. Then +they were sure that Bassianus bore a strong likeness to Caracalla, who +must therefore have been his father. Mæsa had no more compunction about +sacrificing her money than she had about casting an imputation upon her +daughter's honor; she considered that the Empire would make amends for +both, if she could only secure it. Bassianus--who was afterward known by +the name of his god, Elagabalus--was but a youth of fifteen; he was sent +by his grandmother to the camp, with wagons filled with gold. After +distributing these arguments, he was proclaimed emperor under the name +of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, it being supposed that this honor to the +great philosopher would gain him favor with the people; and never was a +better name adopted for the furtherance of a base purpose. + +This was a conspiracy of women; but, owing to the corrupt character and +the power of the soldiery, it succeeded. Macrinus made one hesitating +effort to maintain his position on the throne; he scattered donations, +and his troops fought a battle with those of Elagabalus. The latter +were on the point of being defeated, when Mæsa and Soæmias threw +themselves into the fight, and by their courage and ardor reheartened +the soldiers and thus gained the day. + +Macrinus was not a bad emperor. He was considering plans of reform which +would have been greatly for the benefit of the people; but he was +removed to make way for the dissolute, effeminate Syrian priest of the +Sun. There is a cameo of the time, which represents Elagabalus riding in +a chariot drawn by two women who are crawling on their hands and knees. +Mæsa and Soæmias assuredly did debase themselves in dragging such an +emperor to the palace. His impure religion, added to his natural +disposition, his absolute power, and his youth, made of his reign the +very apotheosis of lust. The Senate received an emperor arrayed in the +silken robes of his priesthood to a Syrian god, adorned with a tiara, +necklaces, and bracelets, with his eyebrows tinged and his cheeks +painted like those of an Oriental woman. + +His grandmother and her two daughters accompanied him to Rome. These +women differed in their character, and consequently in their conception +of how Elagabalus and themselves should employ the newly gained power. +Mæsa had been trained under the strict rule of Severus. She knew how +moderation and attention to the welfare of the Empire was the course +most likely to bring good results to the ruler and his family. The +administration she proposed to keep in her own hands; but she desired +her grandson at least to keep himself within the bounds of that liberty +which in those times was considered decent. Soæmias, on the other hand, +encouraged the young profligate in the belief that it was his right to +indulge himself in any manner which his inclination warranted and his +power made possible. Her advice seemed to him the more sensible, and he +acted accordingly. He allowed his grandmother to take full charge of +all public matters, only requiring that she should not interfere with +him in his pleasures. Mæsa had her seat in the Senate, near that of the +Consuls; and for the first time Rome was confessedly under the rule of a +woman. To his mother Elagabalus gave an appointment which was in accord +with her tastes; she was made president of the woman's senate, which +determined for the matrons their rank, costumes, and the quantity and +nature of ornaments which each might wear according to her social +position. Mammæa, however, kept in retirement, and endeavored as far as +possible to shield her son from the contamination which surrounded them +and also from the dangers of public notice. + +The astounding follies of this reign, the licentiousness, the tyrannies, +especially as they affected women, cannot better be summed up than in +this picture drawn by Gibbon: "Elagabalus lavished away the treasures of +the people in the wildest extravagance, his own voice and that of his +flatterers applauded a spirit and magnificence unknown to the tameness +of his predecessors. To confound the order of seasons and climates, to +sport with the passions and prejudices of his subjects, to subvert every +law of nature and decency, were in the number of his most delicious +amusements. A long train of concubines, and a rapid succession of wives, +among whom was a Vestal virgin, ravished by force from her sacred +asylum, were insufficient to satisfy the impotence of his passions. The +master of the Roman world affected to copy the dress and manners of the +female sex, preferred the distaff to the sceptre, and dishonored the +principal dignities of the Empire by distributing them among his +numerous lovers, one of whom was publicly invested with the title and +authority of the emperor's, or, as he more properly styled himself, of +the empress's husband." + +What a fall was this from the stern independence and the grand morality +of the Romans who knew the mother of the Gracchi! The Roman Senators had +become the slaves of a youth who pretended to be a dissolute woman; the +best ladies of the Empire, however virtuously inclined, had no +protection for their honor and no redress for their injuries, if they +attracted the fancy of the emperor or his favorites. The ancient gods +and goddesses, who, though the creations of superstitious imagination, +had inspired the Romans in their struggle for empire and in that manner +had aided them in securing it, were made the courtiers of the Syrian +Sun-god, represented by a shapeless black stone. + +The shrewd Mæsa saw that it would be impossible for Elagabalus to retain +the throne and at the same time insult prejudices which were still dear +and deep-rooted in the minds of the otherwise indifferent Romans. She +determined, however, still to keep her family in power. The means +thereto she found in her other grandson, Alexander, the son of Mammæa. +By employing the argument that the high priest of the Sun should be +uninterrupted in his heavenly calling and in his pleasures by the +affairs of the world, she induced Elagabalus to adopt his cousin and +invest him with the dignity of Cæsar. + +Mammæa had encouraged the natural disposition of her son, who was +inclined to amiability and uprightness; he speedily became a great +favorite with the people and, what was to more purpose, with the +soldiery. The son of Soæmias was not so blinded by his follies but that +he saw with envy the growing popularity of his younger colleague; but +instead of seeking to emulate his cousin in the good graces of the +people by reforming his own life, he determined to remove his rival +after the customary Roman fashion. But the watchful Mammæa so hedged her +son about with faithful servants that Elagabalus, who was weak-minded +enough to talk of all his purposes, could find no instrument capable of +penetrating this armor of a mother's care. + +At last the emperor ordered the Senate to degrade Alexander from the +dignity of Cæsar, while at the same time he sent assassins to murder +him. The latter, for the reason already stated, failed in their errand; +and the Senate received the command in silence and indignation. The +soldiers were furious. They commanded the boys to be brought before the +Senate, and charged that body to protect the one and see to the +reformation of the manners of the other. The soldiers reproving the +conduct of their emperor represents exactly the position which the +supposed chief ruler of the Roman world now occupied. He was the subject +of the army. + +The rivalry between the two princes soon came to a crisis, and Mammæa, +in order to save her son, set herself against her sister. Each of the +two women endeavored to incite the prætorians against the other. Mammæa +won; and Soæmias and her infamous son were slain. + +Alexander was raised to the supreme position; but, being a dutiful and +obedient youth, he allowed those two noble women, his grandmother and +his mother, to hold the reins of government and also to advise him in +his own personal conduct. The former, however, soon died, and Mammæa was +constituted sole regent. + +Mammæa was a woman who exhibited in herself the highest type of +intelligence, as well as an honorably regulated life. She was a +patroness of all learning and a student of philosophy. It was her desire +to become acquainted with all theories concerning the highest problems +of human existence; so much so that she sent for Origen, the +best-educated Christian of his time, in order that she might satisfy her +curiosity in regard to the teachings of that rapidly spreading faith. +She did not, however, become a Christian; even had she been convinced of +the truth of Origen's doctrines, her position demanded of her a policy +which, viewed from an entirely mundane standpoint, she could not afford +to abandon. She had provided her son with instructors who were not only +noted for their learning, but also for their unquestioned integrity. +Herodian says: "The statues of the gods which Elagabalus had taken away +were at once restored to their places. Those officials who had +unworthily obtained office were dismissed and their places filled by the +most capable citizens. In order to preserve the emperor from the +mistakes which might be caused by absolute authority, the ardor of +youth, or by some of the vices natural to his family, Mammæa strictly +guarded the entrance to the palace, and allowed no man to gain admission +whose morals were of bad repute." + +Mammæa not only guarded her son, but, in his name and so far as the +palace was able to reserve any real authority from the power of the +camp, she ruled the Empire. She was wise and broad-minded enough to care +nothing for the title and pageantry of rule; indeed, the indications +seem to be that she was more anxious to reëstablish good government than +to hold the reins herself. Herodian says that she made an effort to +bring back good morals and the ancient dignified demeanor. She caused to +be chosen sixteen Senators, the most eminent for experience and +integrity of life, to form an imperial council, and without their +approval no measures were carried into execution. The people, the army, +the Senate, the historian assures us, were delighted with this new form +of government, which replaced the most insolent of tyrannies by a sort +of aristocracy. From the time of Commodus to that of Constantine, Rome +had no better government than that which was inspired by the genius and +ability of Mammæa; and if the organization and the subordination which +existed in the time of Trajan had still prevailed, the rule of this +remarkable woman would have equalled in uprightness and beneficence that +of any period in the history of the Empire. + +The care of Mammæa in the education of her son was rewarded by its good +effect upon his character. Virtue for him never lost its charm, and a +fearless advocacy of the right made him respected by all. He inscribed +over the entrance to his palace, and had the heralds proclaim when +criminals were chastised, these words, which it is probable his mother +may have learned from her interview with Origen: _Do not to another what +you would not have done to yourself_. + +While Mammæa was not jealous of public honors and titles, she was +avaricious in regard to the affections of her son; there she could not +endure a rival. With her consent, he married the daughter of a +patrician; but his love for his young wife, as much as his respect for +his father-in-law, caused Mammæa to have the latter executed on a charge +of treason and to banish the empress into Africa. It is somewhat +derogatory to the character of Alexander if, as Dion assures us, he +lamented the fate of his wife but durst not oppose it. How his second +wife fared with his mother we do not know. Her name was Sallustia +Orbiana. On a medallion she is represented as wearing a diadem; the +other side of the medal is inscribed with the words _FECVNDITAS +TEMPORVM_, and there Orbiana is shown seated, while Fecundity, kneeling +before her, holds a horn of plenty and carries two children. + +The faults of Mammæa were avarice and her insistence upon dominating +over her son after he had attained the years of manhood; and these +errors in the end brought about the ruin of herself and Alexander. The +people were glad of a respite after the excesses of Caracalla and +Elagabalus; but they were not prepared for an empress-regent who spent +nothing on entertainments and gave no donations, or for an emperor whose +policy was formed on Plato's _Republic_. Julian, who characterized the +Cæsars, represents Alexander Severus sitting sadly on the steps of the +hall where the emperors and the gods are banqueting; Silenus mocks at +him and at his mother, who hoards her treasure; while Justice consents +to chastise his murderers, but has little sympathy for "the poor fool, +the great simpleton, who in a corner bewails his misfortune." + +Only a strong man who could manage the army as Severus had done could +save himself in the Rome of that day. When Maximin, a barbarian of +immense personal strength and lifelong military experience, headed a +revolt in the army, the soldiers were quite ready to believe that the +Empire had long enough been ruled by "a parsimonious woman and a +pusillanimous boy." While on an expedition, the emperor endeavored to +maintain peace by making presents of gold to the Germans; this, above +all things, was displeasing to soldiers who, besides being eager to ply +their trade, expected to gain gold by war rather than by it to purchase +peace. The emperor was slain in his tent, after reigning thirteen years, +and his mother, who had been at all times the real ruler, perished with +him. + +Alexander had favored the enemies of the ancient gods, and even decided +to the advantage of the Christians when there occurred a dispute in +regard to some land in Rome which they claimed in opposition to certain +innkeepers. "It is better," he said, "that this spot should be occupied +by a house of prayer than by a house of debauchery." Mammæa has even +been claimed for Christianity; but on her coins she was represented as +the beneficent Juno, and at her death the Senate decreed her apotheosis. +The end of paganism was not yet. It was to prove its lingering vitality +by its fierce and final death struggles under Decius and Diocletian. + +From this time there was a quick succession of emperors, most of whom +were slain almost as soon as created. The State was becoming constantly +more disorganized. Every province desired its own emperor; and down to +the time of Diocletian, civil war was almost constant. Morals did not +improve, and families took on more and more the appearance of Oriental +establishments. We read of one emperor, Carinus, in the course of a few +months taking successively no less than nine wives, each of whom was +divorced to make room for the next. In his time, the palace was filled +with dancers and prostitutes, who were even invited to the imperial +table. Though morality suffered in the palace and among the nobility, +among the common and middle-class people there was working a leaven +which provided a new and more effective argument for the ancient purity +of manners. + +The status and condition of women underwent no legal change during this +period. Their manner of life remained very much the same, for in those +days there were no inventions such as in modern times change the whole +aspect of social life within fifty years; but all the time there was +passing away from among the people that ancient spirit which we now +speak of as classic. Art was depreciating; the old religion was living +on its past. Imagination was dead, and consequently creation had ceased. +Paganism, that had learned to satisfy itself with the black stone of +Elagabalus, had no need of art. Statues were still made, temples were +frequently built; but there was no original genius. The Christianity of +that early time did not favor art. In literature, the educated had also +to depend on the past, except as they were satisfied with productions +so inferior that nothing save accident can explain their preservation. +The old Roman largeness of life was no more, and even the joyousness +which had associated itself with some phases of paganism had departed. +The twilight preceding the dark ages was deepening; the cycle of history +was again falling toward the lowest point of its orbit. + +In the Museum of the Capitol, there is one bust of an empress in which +it is easy to fancy that one sees typified the spiritlessness of the +life of the woman of the period. It is that of the Empress Salonina, the +wife of Gallienus. The face is finely featured, but profoundly sad; it +reminds one more of a pictured saint of the Middle Ages than of a pagan +Roman empress. The hair, parted in the middle, hangs in a plain loop +behind; there is none of that gay and frequently bizarre dressing which +characterized the heads of the women of a former time. We can account +partly for Salonina's sad demeanor. Her husband brought home one Pipa, +the fair-haired daughter of a barbarian king; this Pipa he not only made +his concubine, but seated her on the throne, beside the empress. +Salonina could only console herself with her empty honors, and occupy +her mind with researches into the mazy philosophy of the Neo-platonists. +It has been thought, on account of a medal bearing her image and the +words _in pace_, that she became a Christian; but, though undoubtedly +she was greatly interested in the tenets of Christianity, and though her +husband, it may be by her advice, published a decree of toleration in +regard to the growing faith, the Church could not have admitted one who +built a temple to a pagan goddess and never abjured the practice of the +old religion. The countenance of Salonina is a type of the face of the +ancient life, out of which the light has departed and which has not yet +become illumined by the hope inherent in the new faith. + +Religious ideas were now greatly confused. There were many who were not +prepared to abandon the old gods and who were yet impressed with the new +doctrine. One lady built a chapel in which she burnt incense before +statues of Jesus, Pythagoras, Homer, and others. Frequently, in the +persecutions, noble women were obliged to offer sacrifices in order to +prove to the judges that they were not Christians. In many cases, the +historians of the new religion claimed for adherents those who were only +tolerant inquirers. Even in those days, the high position which a lady +held made the bishops anxious to claim her as an adherent, before her +conduct had become conformed to the Christian requirements. + +The ancient deities were ready to take their departure, since even those +who consistently supported the State religion retained but little faith +in them; but Diocletian proved himself not only a firm ruler but also a +lover of the old system. His decree ran: "The Christians oppose +themselves to the laws of the State, which enjoin the worship of the +gods; let them either sacrifice or suffer the penalty." Even the +imperial household was to be put to the test, and it is believed that it +was with reluctance that the emperor's wife and daughter burned the +grains of incense. + +In the province governed by Constantius, however, the edict was carried +out with great lukewarmness; and soon the son of Constantius sat on the +throne of Diocletian, and by his side was the Christian Helena. In this +woman we see the transition from paganism to the new religion. Yet there +is no clear record of her conversion; there is no mark in her life to +indicate that it was in any moral sense created anew. So it was with +Roman society. Women intrigued and took part in sensual indulgence and +cruel revenge after Constantine had seen the Cross in the sky, just as +they had done before. The new doctrine was a leaven which required many +centuries to spread; but in the meantime the ancient paganism, with all +its grandeur and all its weakness, had disappeared, just as the ancient +type of Roman womanhood had given place to a new womanhood of +conglomerate nationality, with more privilege but not more character. + +In the days of Valentinian, when the pagan worship was definitely +prohibited, the orator Symmachus represented the old religion as an aged +matron pleading thus for tolerance: "Most excellent princes, fathers of +your country, pity and respect my age, which has hitherto flowed in an +uninterrupted course of piety. Since I do not repent, permit me to +continue in the practice of my ancient rites. Since I am born free, +allow me to enjoy my domestic institutions. This religion has reduced +the world under my laws. These rites have repelled Hannibal from the +city and the Gauls from the Capitol. Were my gray hairs reserved for +such intolerable disgrace? I am ignorant of the new system I am required +to adopt; but I am well assured that the correction of old age is always +an ungrateful and ignominious office." + +The history of the Roman woman we have essayed to recount has run +contemporaneously with the life of this worship of the old gods. What +she was that religion largely made her. In it she found inspiration for +her brave deeds; its ideals were the expression of her love of beauty; +it strengthened her fortitude in times of trial; and when we remember +her frailties, charity must also remind us that, apart from her own +nature and the custom of her time, this religion was all that she had. + + + + +CONTENTS + + PREFACE + I THE WOMAN OF LEGENDARY ROME + II NOBLE MATRONS OF THE REPUBLIC + III WOMAN'S PART IN RELIGION + IV THE PASSING OF OLD ROMAN SIMPLICITY + V ROMAN MARRIAGE + VI WOMAN UNDER JULIUS CÆSAR + VII THE ROMAN WOMAN IN POLITICS + VIII THE ROMAN WOMAN INI LITERATURE + IX WOMAN AT HER WORST + X THE WOMEN OF DECADENT ROME + XI GOOD WOMEN OF NERO'S REIGN + XII UNDER THE FLAVIANS + XIII THE SUNSET GLOW OF PAGANISM + XIV THE PASSING OF PAGANISM + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + SUBJECT ARTIST + + Tullia, daughter of Servius _E. Hildebrand_ + The Convert _G. R. C. Boulanger_ + The "new" woman in Rome _G. R. C. Boulanger_ + A Roman banquet _Albert Baur_ + A Pompeian house _From a water-color by M. + Hoffbauer, after a restoration + by Jules Bouchot from + Pliny's description_ + The chief vestal _Henri P. Motte_ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROMAN WOMEN*** + + +******* This file should be named 32356-8.txt or 32356-8.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/2/3/5/32356 + + + +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. 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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 <a href = "http://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a></pre> +<p>Title: Roman Women</p> +<p> Woman: In All Ages and in All Countries, Volume 2 (of 10)</p> +<p>Author: Alfred Brittain</p> +<p>Release Date: May 12, 2010 [eBook #32356]</p> +<p>Language: English</p> +<p>Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1</p> +<p>***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROMAN WOMEN***</p> +<br><br><center><h3>E-text prepared by Thierry Alberto, Rénald Lévesque,<br> + and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreaders Europe<br> + (http://dp.rastko.net)</h3></center><br><br> +<p> </p> +<hr class="pg" noshade> +<p> </p> +<p> </p> + +<h2>WOMAN</h2> + +<hr class="short"> + +<h5>VOLUME II</h5> + +<h3>ROMAN WOMEN</h3> + +<h5>by</h5> + +<h4>Rev. ALFRED BRITTAIN</h4> + +<br><br><br> +<a name="ill1" id="ill1"></a> + + +<p class="mid"><img alt="" src="images/001.png"><br> +<b><i>TULLIA, DAUGHTER OF SERVIUS<br> + After the painting by E. Hildebrand</i></b><P> +<blockquote> + <b><i>We have had the good queen, now we encounter the + bad..... Tullia was of that type of which Shakespeare + has given a picture in Lady Macbeth..... + Lucius, her husband, with an armed band, repaired to the + Senate and seated himself on the throne. King Servius + appeared, but no one thought it worth while to hinder + Lucius from throwing the aged ruler down the steps of + the Senate house; which me manfully did.<br><br> + + Tullia was the instigator of this</i> coup d'état; <i> and + impatient to learn its success, drove to the Forum, and, + calling her husband from the Senate chamber, was the + first to hail him as king. But Lucius commanded her + to return home; and the tradition runs that as she was + going thither her chariot wheels passed over the dead + body of her royal father.</i></b> +</blockquote> + +<br><br> + +<h1 class="red">WOMAN</h1> + +<h4>In All Ages and in All Countries</h4> + +<h4>VOLUME II</h4> + +<br><br> + +<h2>ROMAN WOMEN</h2> + +<h5>by</h5> + +<h3>Rev. ALFRED BRITTAIN</h3> + + +<br><br> + +<h2 class="red">Illustrated</h2> + +<br><br> + +<p class="mid">PHILADELPHIA<br> +GEORGE BARRIE & SONS, PUBLISHERS</p> +<a name="pre" id="pre"></a> +<br><br><br> + +<h3>PREFACE</h3> + +<p>The student of history does not proceed far in his researches before he +discovers that human nature is a fixed quality. Other lands, other +manners; other times, other customs. But the man behind the manner is +essentially the same; the woman under the changed custom is not thereby +rendered essentially different, any more than she is by a varying of +costume. The women of ancient Rome exemplified the same virtues, and +were impelled by the same foibles as are the women of to-day. And the +difference in environment, the vanished conditions of Roman life, gain +large scientific interest from the fact that they did not result in any +dissimilarity of fundamental character. If, by the most violent exercise +of the imagination, it were possible to transport a female infant of the +twentieth century, and cause her to be reared among the women of the +Augustan age, she would fit as naturally into her surroundings as she +would into the present society of London or of New York. Her legal +status would be different; her moral conceptions would be unlike those +of the present age; her duties, pleasures, privileges, and limitations +would combine to make the accidents of life very different. But +underneath all this, the same humanity, the same femininity, the same +habits of mind are revealed. Herein is the chief use of history--above +that of gratifying natural curiosity--the ascertaining how human nature +will comport itself under varying conditions. The author hopes that the +following pages, wherein the Roman woman is taken as an illustration, +will be found of use to the student of the science of humanity, and not +uninteresting to the reader inquisitive as to the manner of the ancient +civilization.<br> + +<span class="rig">ALFRED BRITTAIN.</span></p> +<a name="c1" id="c1"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>I</h3> + +<h3>THE WOMAN OF LEGENDARY ROME</h3> + +<p>The conditions which governed the life of woman in the earliest days of +Roman history are too far removed from the searchlight of historical +investigation for us to essay to indicate them with any degree of +fulness and accuracy of detail. While it is true that the ancient +writers have bequeathed to us records of historic events from the very +founding of their nation, the source of their information is very +questionable and its authenticity extremely doubtful. Rome did not +cultivate literature until very late in her history; she was too greatly +preoccupied in her rôle of conquering the world. At a time when every +Greek was acquainted with the noblest poetry produced by his gifted +race, Rome had not produced a single writer whose name has been +preserved. And if at that time she had possessed any men of letters, it +is quite certain that there were few of her citizens who would have been +able to read their works. Hence, when the first attempt was made to +write her history, the authors depended principally for their material +on traditions and legends which, as is the case with all such lore, had +gained greatly in marvellousness at the expense of historical value. In +addition to these sources, it is probable that during the early +centuries annals were kept of the principal happenings in the State. +According to Cicero, they were written at the end of each year by the +high priest. These records were used by the first historians; and it is +likely that the latter were not so greatly restrained, by their literary +conscience, from enlarging on the material, as they were tempted, +according to the power of their imagination, to present a picture both +interesting and satisfactory to the national pride. In many cases, as +where the exact words of their characters are reported, the ancient +historians evidently deemed that any deficiencies in the matter of proof +were abundantly atoned for by the explicitness of the information given.</p> + +<p>As to the historical value of legends, that is a question upon which +modern writers are inclined to disagree. Since the inauguration of the +higher criticism, it has been the fashion for extremists entirely to +disown any belief in the <i>dramatis personæ</i> of ancient traditions. They +claim that the names and the actions thus celebrated usually represent +natural forces and historic evolutions; though, to the ordinary student, +this would seem to require a remarkable amount of poetic inventiveness +on the part of an undeveloped people. Moreover, it is not, perhaps, +without reason that the student often looks upon the manner in which +modern scholars reject the traditional contributions of the old +historians as being a little arbitrary. What traveller has not found his +patience sorely tried, while viewing with reverence the reputed site of +some heroic or sacred occurrence of far-off days, as he recalled to +memory the fact that the latest authorities hold that, while the thing +might have taken place a few miles to the east or a short distance to +the north, it, for certain erudite but unconvincing reasons, could not +possibly have occurred on the spot where it has been located by the +continuous belief of centuries?</p> + +<p>The story of Rome from its founding to the end of the regal period, as +it is told in the ancient classics, is no longer accepted as history. It +is, for the most part, classified with those mythical creations with +which an uncultured people endeavor to account for the origin and the +evolution and revolutions of their race. Yet, passing over the +marvellous and the manifestly impossible, why may we not at least claim +the right to believe the compilers of these ancient legends, when they +tell us of certain names that were great in the beginning of their +nation? Modern criticism may be right in asserting that it is not likely +that the city on the Tiber was called Roma because a man named Romulus +selected an uninhabited site and built upon it. Yet why may we not be +allowed to believe that in those early times there was one hero so +strong and masterful that he came to be known as preëminently the "Man +of Rome"? The character may have been a real one, even though the city +gave him his name, instead of the reverse, as later generations +surmised. And inasmuch as there is an Alexandria, not to speak of +innumerable modern "villes" with well-known surnames for prefixes, it +need not be thought a thing entirely incredible that the ancient city +was really called after the man who established its importance.</p> + +<p>It is the habit of modern historians to look with suspicion upon stories +such as those which form our sole material for any personal illustration +in this present chapter, because they are of a kind so generally found +in the legends of all nations. But may not the multiplication of these +long-lived narratives, instead of disproving the intrinsic truth of any +given one, simply serve to illustrate the fact that, human nature being +a permanent factor, the doings of men under similar circumstances, in +any age or locality, will be marked by a uniformity of character? For +our present purpose, however, if in such twilight as is given by +long-preserved monuments and ancient relics, we choose to fancy that we +perceive, moving about in their daily life, the feminine forms of +traditional lore, the combination will only serve to form a more human, +and really not less accurate, picture.</p> + +<p>The limits of our subject do not require that we should go back so far +as the epoch of Æneas, the hero of Troy; nor need we take into +consideration the part which he and Lavinia, his wife, may have played +upon the Latin shores. Their traditional coming to Italy simply serves +to indicate the fact that nearly all the tribes which inhabited the +country at the commencement of Roman history were of the same branch of +the great Aryan race as the Greeks. The Romans were the brothers of the +Greeks. The former were of that same lithe, supple-bodied, +straight-featured type which the wonderful art of the latter has +enthroned, for all the ages, as the noblest realization of ideal +physical beauty.</p> + +<p>But when we consider the rude conditions under which life was passed, it +is probable that the highest examples of feminine grace would, in many +respects, be open to severe criticism from the civilized and artificial +taste which has prevailed in after ages. Those were the days of Arcadian +simplicity, which poetry has peopled with sweet and enticing Phyllises +and Chloes, whose only occupation was to listen to the pipings of +languishing shepherds. But, in reality, though life was simple and wants +were few, the women, as in all semi-civilized communities, gave an +overplus of labor in return for the special exertions of the men in the +chase and the combat. Hence, though the poetic conception may be +alluring, we are compelled to believe that the reality possessed but few +advantages that could arouse the envy of a modern village maiden. The +woman of earliest Rome was wholly a product of nature, endowed only +with the unfailing charms of femininity, which were solely reinforced +with the perfect health and vigor which come from a simple life.</p> + +<p>Of such a type we may imagine Rhea Sylvia, the legendary mother of +Romulus and Remus. She was the daughter of a king, but one who was not a +monarch in the later significance of the title. Of kings there were many +in the Latium of those days. The title meant merely the patriarch of a +clan, or the head man of a small city. The regal abode was probably a +small, round structure, built of wood and roofed with straw. It may have +consisted of only one room, with a hole in the ceiling to admit light +and allow the smoke to escape. Of furniture there was little more than +rude tables and grass or leaf covered couches, together with the Lares, +or household gods. But though life conditioned by such meagre +accessories was simple, it was by no means idle, and there existed no +such contempt for labor and handicraft among the Latin tribesmen as grew +up in later times. The king himself followed the plow, while his wife +and daughters were busy with the distaff and spindle, the hand loom and +the needle. It was the duty of the women to spin the wool and to make +all the clothing for the household. Education consisted solely of the +training in the requirements of this simple life, and was provided by no +school other than the daily experience which the boys and girls gathered +among their elders. The art of writing was in the earliest days not +entirely unknown, though, during long years of slow development, it was +employed only in painting public records on leaves and skins; or, if +greater permanence was required, the records were scratched upon tablets +of wood. The amusements of the people consisted mainly of the festivals +and athletic games which were held in honor of the gods. If it might +only be believed that this life was as pleasant as it is pictured by +Virgil, it would be easy to sympathize with the poet when he declares +that he pined for such an existence himself. "The husbandman cleaves the +earth with the crooked plow.... Winter comes: the Sicyonian berry is +pounded in the oil presses; and the autumn lays down its various +productions.... Meanwhile, the sweet babes twine around their parents' +necks; his chaste family maintain their purity. The swain himself +celebrates festal days; and extended on the grass, where a fire is in +the middle, and where his companions crown the bowl, invokes thee, O +Lanæus, making libation. On an elm is set forth to the masters of the +flock prizes to be contended for with the winged javelin; and they strip +their rustic bodies for the friendly struggle." Elsewhere the poet +describes a home scene, where the man is working by the light of the +winter fire: "Meanwhile, his spouse, cheering by song her tedious labor, +runs over the webs with the shrill shuttle; or over the fire boils down +the liquor of the luscious must, and skims with leaves the tide of the +trembling cauldron. This life of old the ancient Sabines followed; this, +Remus and his brother strictly observed; thus Etruria grew in strength; +and thus too did Rome become the glory and beauty of the world."</p> + +<p>Unlike their sisters of Greece, the women of Rome were never secluded; +yet their duties and responsibilities were strictly confined to domestic +bounds. Here, however, while the husband was master, the wife was +mistress. She took equal part with him in the worship of the family +Lares, which worship was a prominent feature in every Roman household; +and if he were a priest, she, by her marriage to him, became a +priestess. But, except in certain religious institutions, she had not +the slightest active connection with State or public affairs. That is, +she had no such connection in theory and according to law; but it was in +Rome as it has been in all ages and in all countries: there were no laws +or customs that could prevent a woman who possessed gifts of mind and +cherished ambitious projects from gaining some tool by means of whom her +hand might turn the affairs of State to her will.</p> + +<p>To this strenuous class of women, however, Rhea Sylvia did not belong. +Her euphonious name has been preserved, not because of any active +influence which she wielded over the destinies of men, but because, +through the simple function of motherhood, she introduced into the +history of the world a strong man. She was the daughter of Numitor, to +whom his father had bequeathed the kingdom of the Sylvian clan. But +Amulius, another son, had driven his brother into exile, and, in order +to secure himself in his usurpation, had put all his nephews to death. +Rhea was spared, probably on account of the fact that the law did not +allow women to reign, and hence her existence held no threat. +Nevertheless, since of the women of princely houses are born possible +claimants to thrones. Amulius deemed it best that some preventive +measure should be taken. He evidently did not wish to commit unnecessary +barbarities; and he also liked, if possible, to cover his +self-protective actions with a gloss of seeming generosity. Rhea Sylvia +should be the priestess of Vesta. Hers should be the honorable duty of +guarding the perpetual fire which burned on the sacred hearth of the +city. Thus she, as was befitting the daughter of Numitor, would be held +in as high regard among the people as the queen herself. Incidentally, +this would also preclude the possibility of any grandson appearing to +claim the throne of the exiled Numitor; for the Vestals were most +rigidly pledged to a life of constant virginity. But how often have the +gods, and sometimes even Nature herself, thwarted the most cunningly +devised schemes of men! Upon this truism Amulius must have reflected, +when, without any previous declaration of her intention, Rhea Sylvia +introduced to the community a sturdy pair of twins. She declared that +Mars was the father of her offspring; either, as Livy discreetly +remarks, because she believed it to be so, or because a god seemed the +most creditable author of her offence. In those times, the possibility +and the frequent occurrence of such matches were devoutly believed, and +the first historians freely availed themselves of this belief to enhance +the glory of their race, or of a powerful family, by establishing for it +the reputation of a divine origin. The idea of superhuman parentage was +also a convenient means by which to account for, and sometimes excuse, +the unusual character and extraordinary deeds of ancient heroes. In +those days, when men's faith was simple and uncritical, belief in divine +incarnation presented no serious difficulty.</p> + +<p>It is evident, however, that Amulius was not greatly impressed with a +sense of the sacredness of the children of the warrior-god. He threw the +mother into prison, and ordered her sons to be drowned in the Tiber. +But, as is usually and fortunately the case in legendary history, this +order was intrusted to one who was either too pitiful or too careless to +give it thorough execution. The infants, in their cradle or upon a rude +raft, were set afloat on the river, which was at that time in flood; the +waters, however, quickly subsided, and the boys were left alive on dry +ground. Their cries attracted a shepherd named Faustulus, and by him +they were carried to his home, where they were reared by his wife +Laurentia. This woman is given a bad name by the ancients. They say +that she was also called Lupa; and Lupa being the name applied to a +woman of unchaste character, as well as the term used to designate a +she-wolf, in this manner the sceptics accounted for the marvellous story +of the sons of Rhea being suckled by a wolf. But whatever may have been +the failings of Laurentia, if there be any truth whatever in the legend, +she made atonement by preserving the life of the founder of Rome. We +will not follow these traditions in their well-known details. Whether or +not Romulus was indeed the first to select the site of the city which +was to spread over seven hills by the Tiber and from them dominate the +world is as impossible to determine as it would be unimportant to our +subject if ascertained. The purpose before us is solely to inquire what +part and lot woman had in the founding of the infant State. That her +rôle was mainly a passive one may be taken for granted, as being in +accordance with the status of the weaker sex in the childhood of every +race and nation.</p> + +<p>The ancient historians, who accepted the Romulus legend without +question, portray for us the growing town, so sturdily and rapidly +advancing in power and fame as to excite the wonder and the jealousy of +neighboring communities. One cause to which is attributed this +prosperity is interesting, since it led to a famous episode in which +women played a leading though an unwilling part. We are told that +Romulus opened within, the bounds of the city an asylum, or place of +refuge, where fugitives from justice or from servitude were received +under the protection of the gods. This attracted new citizens in great +numbers, but such as contributed nothing to the respectability of the +new State. The new-comers were, almost entirely, unmarried men; and soon +the paucity of women in Rome gave cause for grave concern. Romulus had +appointed a number of the leading citizens, whom he named as Senators, +to assist him in the government. But it was not in the power of these +city fathers to aid him materially in securing a continued growth of the +community, unless wives could be provided. Ambassadors were despatched +to the neighboring States, requesting treaties of alliance, and +especially begging the privilege of intermarriage. Owing, doubtless, to +the questionable character of the newly acquired inhabitants of Rome, +this was a favor which no city was disposed to grant. Everywhere the +ambassadors were confronted with the suggestion that an asylum be opened +for women also, for only by such a plan could suitable mates be obtained +for the men of Rome. Another reason, however, why wives were hard to +obtain was the fact that women were comparatively scarce throughout +Latium. The custom of exposing female infants to death was prevalent +there, as in many other ancient races, daughters being looked upon as a +source of weakness and expense to a family, as sons were a gain and a +strength. Wives, however, being a necessity, the fathers of boys often +secured as brides for their sons girls as soon as they were born. This +laid upon the parents of the latter the obligation to spare their lives +and rear them. There is no evidence that the purchase of wives was ever +a custom among the Romans. Indeed, the opposite was from time immemorial +the practice; a dower went with the bride. Hence it is easy to see why +the Latin fathers were unwilling to bestow their daughters,--who were +not likely to remain on their hands for lack of suitors,--and especially +the dowers that went with them, upon the adventurous young men who had +sought at Rome asylum from justice or vengeance.</p> + +<p>But in those ages, and especially in such a matter as the winning of +wives, diplomacy was a resource not wholly depended upon. Among the +marriage ceremonies of later times, there was a custom of parting the +hair of the Roman bride with a spear. In this we find a reminiscence of +the period when marriage by capture was resorted to when there seemed +urgent necessity. Thus Romulus determined that what could not be gained +by fair means should be obtained by the best method which came to hand. +At the festival of the god Consus, appropriately the deity who presided +over hidden deliberations, the seizure of the Sabine maidens was planned +and carried out; and thus the Romans took to themselves wives. How +closely this well-known story corresponds with facts, of course, cannot +be determined. Possibly many of its details are attempts of later ages +to account for wedding customs, the origin of which had been forgotten. +But it is very probable that marriage by capture was common in the +embryonic civilization of early Rome. And there may have been one +occasion when this rude method of wooing was adopted in so flagrant and +wholesale a manner that it led to a war with the Sabines, by which the +remembrance of the event was perpetuated in the traditions of the +people. Michelet, commenting on this story in his brilliant manner, +says: "The progress of humanity is striking. Springing in India from +mystical love, the ideal of woman assumes in Germany the features of +savage virginity and gigantic force; in Greece, those of grace and +stratagem, to arrive among the Romans at the highest pagan morality, to +virgin and conjugal dignity. The Sabines only follow their ravishers on +compulsion, but, become Roman matrons, they refuse to return to the +paternal mansion, disarm their fathers and their husbands, and unite +them in one city." Plutarch says that it was in order to obtain +forgiveness that the Romans assured certain privileges to their wives. +No labor other than spinning should be demanded of them; they should +take the inside of the path; nothing indecent should be done or said in +their presence; they should not be summoned before the criminal judges; +and their children should wear the <i>pretexta</i> and the <i>bulla</i>. Thus in +the time of the Greek historian the barbarism of the old times was +forgotten, and to the primitive constitution was attributed all the +civilization which it required centuries to bring about.</p> + +<p>As fair Helen brought woe to Troy, so the abduction of the Sabine +maidens was followed by the bitter vengeance of their indignant +masculine relatives. If we may believe the old historians, the women +soon became reconciled to their enforced condition as wives of the +Romans. Doubtless the writers drew this conclusion more from their +knowledge of the yielding disposition of feminine nature than from any +precise acquaintance with the facts. It being totally uncustomary for +the woman to be allowed any decision in the matter, it was a thing of +small importance to her whether she was taken by her husband, without +either her consent or that of her father, or whether she was given by +her father to her husband, equally without being consulted.</p> + +<p>The Sabines waited patiently for a favorable opportunity; and when it +came, they attacked the Romans with good success. They even gained +possession of the strongest fortifications of the city. But, according +to the legend, they could not have won such advantage had it not been +for the love of gaud of Tarpeia, the daughter of one of the captains of +Romulus. Tatius, the King of the Sabines, induced her to open for him +the gates, promising as a reward the golden bracelets which his soldiers +wore upon their left arms. It is noticeable that the difficulties which +must have surrounded an interview between the king and the maiden are +discreetly ignored by the tradition. She agreed to open the gate, on the +pretence of going forth to draw water for the sacrifice, and the Sabine +men were thereupon to rush in. Everything took place as arranged, except +that the misguided Tarpeia received much more than she had bargained +for. Her request was for "that which they wore upon their left arms," +not remembering the fact that upon that arm they also carried their +shields. The soldiers, as they entered, either through haste, or because +they hated treachery though willing to avail themselves of it, threw at +her their shields as well as their bracelets, and the girl was crushed +to death beneath their weight. A part of the hill which the Sabines thus +gained was ever afterward called the Tarpeian Rock; and it became a +place of execution, traitors being hurled from its summit. There is much +about this story which justifies the suspicion that it arose from, or at +least was adopted by, a desire on the part of the Romans to explain a +defeat, rather than from any verifiable historical foundation. It looks +like a case of the natural vanity of warlike men saving itself by means +of an ungallant slur on the characteristic vanity of women.</p> + +<p>Taking the account as it stands, matters were now very serious for the +Romans. The enemy had gained the citadel, and a bloody conflict ensued. +But the women whose abduction had brought on these troubles were also to +be the means of making peace. As the battle was raging, the two armies +were astounded to behold the Sabine women rushing from the homes of the +Romans, not to make their escape, but to throw themselves between the +combatants. With tears, they entreated their fathers and brothers to +hear them. Their plea was voiced by a captive named Hersilia, who some +historians hold was the wife of that Hostilius who afterward became King +of Rome, while others claim that she had been taken by Romulus himself. +Plutarch gives us her speech--of course, drawing from his own +imagination, though he is not far from what might have been the truth; +for anyone may guess what would be likely on such an occasion. She said: +"It is true we were ravished away unjustly and violently by those whose +wives we now are; but that being done, we are bound to them by the +strictest bonds, so that it is impossible for us not to weep and tremble +at the danger of the men whom once we hated. You now come to force away +wives from their husbands, and mothers from their children. Which shall +we call the worse, their love making or your compassion? Restore to us +our parents and kindred, but do not rob us of our husbands and children. +We entreat you not to make us twice captive." Whereupon, the Sabines +learning that their daughters were not yearning to be rescued, and +having no other good reason for carrying on the fight, a truce was +declared. With a zealous determination to leave nothing unaccounted for, +the tradition relates how the women took their kindred into the city and +proudly exhibited the comforts and indulgences they enjoyed with their +husbands, whose wooing had been so unmannerly. This might well be, as +the Sabines were a pastoral people and unaccustomed to what were to them +the luxuries of city life. So peace was made; and we are told that it +was in commemoration of this event that the ladies of Rome ever +afterward celebrated the festival of the Matronalia on the first of +March. It was their custom to ascend in the morning in procession to the +temple of Juno, and place at the feet of the goddess the flowers with +which their heads were crowned. In the evening, in memory of the tokens +of gratitude which the Sabine women received from their Roman husbands, +they remained at home, adorned in their best attire, waiting for the +customary gifts of their husbands and friends. At a date far later, we +find Tibullus debating with himself, in an exquisite little poem, what +gift he shall send to his beloved Neæra on the Calends of March. With +the customary valuation which an author sets upon his own productions, +he decides that he can give her nothing more acceptable than a copy of +his poems, beautifully bound and adorned.</p> + +<p>Every nation has its traditional Golden Age, a period to which the +poetic philosophers of degenerate after times love to refer in the +assumption that then all things were at their best and men were +perfectly happy. So all Roman ideals of civic concord are concentrated +in and derived from the legendary reign of Numa Pompilius. He is +described as not seeking the kingdom, but preferring the pleasures of +reflection in a quiet life with Tatia, his like-minded and noble wife. +But the honor was forced upon him, and he reigned in the spirit of a +true philosopher. He formulated laws and established a system of morals +in accordance with principles worthy of Marcus Aurelius. To him is given +the credit of organizing the religious institutions of the Romans, and +especially the college of Vestal Virgins. We have seen that, before his +time, to certain maidens was assigned the duty of guarding the sacred +fire, and at the same time their virgin purity. But Numa was said to +have formulated the rules of the order, to have assigned precisely its +duties, and to have built a house for Vesta. But there is not the least +doubt that around the name Numa have clustered, and to him have been +attributed, many advances in civilization which were the growth of +centuries. This seems especially probable in view of the fact that Numa +was a Sabine, one of the pastoral race which was naturally less advanced +in culture than the people who were gathered in cities.</p> + +<p>What improvement may have found its way into the conditions of feminine +life during this period, it is difficult to determine. The useful arts +are said to have grown greatly in favor. Numa is credited with having +instituted guilds for the encouragement of flute blowers, goldsmiths, +coppersmiths, carpenters, fullers, dyers, potters, and shoemakers. Life +would thus become more comfortable, and also be brightened by that which +was pleasurable and ornamental. This supposes an enlargement of the +sphere of the home, a consequent increasing of the interests and +responsibilities of the women, and a softening effect upon their nature. +There is also an indication that, as in ancient Germany, though the +women may have had no part in the direct government of the State, yet +the counsels of certain of their sex were followed by the lawmakers with +a reverence akin to religion. There is a strong suggestion of feminine +influence in the legends concerning the marital relations of Numa. +Plutarch relates that Tatia, Numa's estimable first wife, was separated +from him by death after thirteen years of wedded felicity, and that +after this he never married again, but sought to console himself by +melancholy ramblings in the fields and woods. This gave rise to the +story that, in a certain grove, he was accustomed to meet the goddess +Egeria, who not only favored him with her love, but also endowed him +with the wisdom to perform his duties with marvellous success. On the +other hand, Livy, who probably knew neither more nor less about it, says +that Numa consecrated this grove, with its grotto and spring of living +water, to the Muses, who were accustomed there to meet his wife Egeria. +Whether this Egeria is to be regarded as a mortal woman, perhaps the +lawful wife of the king, or, what is considerably less likely, a divine +being, cannot be decided from these traditions. But they surely have a +value in that they indicate the willingness of the earliest Romans to +attribute excellence in statesmanship on the part of their best men to +the inspiration of members of the fair and gentle, sex.</p> + +<p>After the death of Numa, the Romans elected as their king Tullus +Hostilius, and thus a turbulent warrior succeeded the peace-loving +lawgiver. In this reign, instead of the poetic anachronism which +portrays an abnormally advanced civilization, we are brought back again +to earth and to history and to a more accurate description of the +progress of the people. Much is revealed in the story by which Livy, in +his inimitable manner, accounts for the Sororium Tigillium, or the +Sister's Post, a monument which he says was existent in his own day. +Here we not only encounter the terrible right of the father of a family +over the lives of his children, but we also see that the tender +instincts of a woman's love were accounted as nothing in comparison with +loyalty to the family and her duty of hatred to the enemies of the +State. The heroic Horatius, single-handed after the death of his +brothers, had slain the three champions of the Alban army, and thus +provided the first taste of the delight of subjugation to the city which +was destined to become the mistress of the world. In the triumphal +return to Rome, Horatius marched foremost of all the army, carrying +before him the spoils of the three Alban brothers. As they neared the +Porto Capena, the Roman women came forth to welcome the victors home. +Among the rest came Horatia, the sister of the youthful conqueror. As +she ran to embrace him, she noticed upon his shoulder a familiar robe; +in fact, it was a soldier's tunic which she had wrought with her own +hands for one of the vanquished Curiatii, to whom she had been +betrothed. The truth flashed upon the damsel's mind in an instant. Her +lover was dead, and that by the hand of her brother. With tears and +lamentations, she began to call upon the name of her betrothed. Possibly +with her cries of grief she joined bitter upbraidings of her brother, +who had saved himself and Rome at the cost of her bereavement. His +sister's lamentations, in the midst of his own triumph and the great +public rejoicing, so greatly angered the excited youth that he drew his +sword and stabbed her to the heart. As he did this, he cried: "Go with +thy unseasonable love; go and rejoin thy betrothed, thou who forgettest +thy dead brothers, and him who remains, and thy country! So perish every +woman who shall dare to lament the death of an enemy!" This atrocious +murder raised, of course, a profound sensation among the people. They +did not know which ought to outweigh the other: his awful crime or his +brilliant exploit for the public good. The king appointed duumvirs to +try him. By these he was condemned to be beaten with rods, within or +without the walls of the city, and then to be hanged.</p> + +<p>But the law gave to Horatius the right of appeal to the people, and in +this second trial he found an effective advocate in his own father. The +old man declared that he considered his daughter deservedly slain. Were +it not so, he said, he would by his own authority as father have +inflicted punishment on his son. It seems probable, however, that +Horatius senior took this course of argument, not because he did not +regret his daughter, but because he hoped thereby to save himself from +being bereft of all his children. "Go, lictor," he said, "bind those +hands which but a little while since, being armed, established +sovereignty for the Roman people. Strike him within the town, if thou +wilt, but in presence of these trophies and spoils; without the town, +but in the midst of the tombs of the Curiatii. Into what place can you +lead him where the monuments of his glory do not protest against the +horror of his punishment?" The tears of the father and the intrepidity +of the son won for the latter absolution; but the father was commanded +to make expiatory sacrifices, and these were ever afterward continued in +the Horatian family. As a further punishment, a beam was laid across the +street and the young man made to pass under it, with veiled head, as +under a yoke.</p> + +<p>Chronologically, this seems to be the appropriate place to introduce +some reference to another race which, to no small extent, affected the +early history of Rome and also the status of the Roman woman. From +Etruria came the ancestor of the Tarquins, that proud dynasty which +provided two legends of the extreme opposite types of women: Tullia, the +cruel and ambitious queen, and Lucretia, the ideal of conjugal +faithfulness. Tanaquil, the never-forgotten helpmeet of an able man, +also came from this people.</p> + +<p>The Etruscans have ever been a puzzle to historians and one of the +principal enigmas in ethnology. Entirely unlike the Hellenic or Italiote +races in appearance as well as in customs, even the ancients were at a +loss to surmise whence this remarkable people originated. Dionysius +says, "they claimed alliance with no people in the world." Inquiry +regarding them would not be so interesting, were it not that they have +left such an abundance of proofs of their proficiency in art and +advancement in civilized industry. At the time of which we are writing, +they possessed the very respectable beginning of a literature. We have +nearly two thousand of their inscriptions; but hardly a word are we able +to interpret, for the Etruscan language is to-day what the Egyptian +hieroglyphics were before Champollion. These people were the artists and +the manufacturers for all Italy. In the museums of Europe are to be seen +specimens of their art, such as statues, beautifully ornamented vases, +bas-reliefs, and jewelry, which can but excite the wonder of the +beholder by the richness of their execution. Their tombs have been +found to contain great quantities of such treasures, which they were in +the habit of burying with their chiefs. Reclining on one of these tombs +are the carved effigies of a man and his wife, represented as though +resting upon a couch. If these figures give as correct an idea of the +appearance of the Etruscans as they indicate artistic ability, they were +a thickset people, with retreating foreheads, aquiline noses, and eyes +rather oblique--all suggestive of the Asiatic type. The barbarous +religious ideas of the Etruscans rendered the race gloomy and +fatalistic. Their priests were supposed to be experts in divining the +future; and their gods often required to be propitiated with human +sacrifices. Their civilization had a powerful effect upon that of Rome. +In Etruria women were treated with a respect unusual among the races of +that time; and it may have been owing to this influence that the women +of Rome enjoyed so much more liberty than their sisters of Greece. On +the other hand, to the Etruscans' characteristic delight in cruel sports +has been attributed the introduction of gladiatorial contests in the +arena at Rome.</p> + +<p>The traditional account of the origin of the Tarquin family is very +uncertain historical data, the founder being represented as the son of a +foreigner in Tarquinii, a city of Etruria, and his name Lucumo; while +history seems to indicate that the <i>lucumon</i> was an Etruscan chief +magistrate. However, we will take the legendary account as it stands. In +it we are told that Lucumo had married a noble maiden of Tarquinii, +called Tanaquil, a name that in after times became a household word +among the Romans. When they wished to hold before their daughters the +ideal of a good housewife, they exhorted them to emulate Queen Tanaquil. +She was also called Caia Cæcilia, "the good spinner"; and to her memory +and industry all young brides paid honor. From what is told of her, +however, she seems rather to have been an extraordinary type of the +women whose ambitions urge their husbands in the quest of high political +position and whose wise intuitions help to support their spouses in +those positions when attained.</p> + +<p>These Etruscans were wealthy; but Lucumo could hope for no place of +influence in Etruria, for the reason that he was the son of a foreigner. +It is to Tanaquil, however, that the credit is given of having persuaded +him to migrate to Rome. We can imagine her argument to have been that, +in the new State, where all the nobility were of recent origin and where +men were elevated for merit rather than for family descent, the courage +and energy of her husband would give him the best chances of success. +The story relates that, as they were about to enter Rome, an eagle +swooped down from the skies and seized Lucumo's cap in its talons. After +flying around the chariot with loud screams, to their great astonishment +the bird replaced the cap on the man's head. In those times, the +movements of birds were looked upon as the surest kind of omens, as +indeed they were so regarded for centuries afterward; and among the +first historians, the tradition of the entrance into Rome of a man +destined to be its king, in which there was no mention made of an omen, +would simply indicate a defect in the narrative which literary justice +would require them to make good. Tanaquil, availing herself of the +science of augury, in which the Etruscans were especially expert, +declared that this was a sign that the highest honors were to be heaped +upon her husband's head. Down to very late times, Romans, even those of +the keenest intellect, were largely influenced in their actions and +decisions by such signs; and it is easy to see how omens might seem +valid, inasmuch as they contributed in no small degree to their own +fulfilment by encouraging or depressing those who thoroughly believed in +them.</p> + +<a name="ill2" id="ill2"></a> +<p class="mid"><img alt="" src="images/002.png"><br> +<b><i> + THE CONVERT<br> + After the painting by G. R. C. Boulanger</i></b></p> +<blockquote> +<b><i>The noble matron Pomponia Græcina has been credited + by tradition with having found consolation for the sorrows + of the times in that new faith which was undermining + old Rome, both literally in the catacombs and figuratively + in the rapidity with which it was making converts; + but we know not with certainty..... Græcina was + accused of yielding to foreign superstitions. This may + have been owing to the peculiarities of her manner. She + had been the close friend of that Julia, daughter of Drusus, + whom Messalina had forced to kill herself. From this + time on, for the space of forty years, Græcina wore nothing + but mourning, and was never seen to smile..... When + the charge of entertaining foreign superstitions was laid + against her, she was, in accordance with the ancient law, + consigned to the adjudication of her husband..... She + was adjudged innocent.</i></b> +</blockquote> + +<p>In the city, our legendary Etruscan changed his name to Lucius +Tarquinius Priscus. His riches and talents soon availed with the Romans, +and he was appointed guardian to the king's children. When Ancus died, +Tarquin succeeded in persuading the people to elect him to the throne; +and he was not mistaken in his estimation of his own fitness for that +position, for his rule was in every way beneficial. He enlarged the +territory of the State and undertook many worthy public works. To this +period is attributed the building of the great subterranean sewers for +draining the city. Lasting, though inelegant, monuments these; for after +twenty-five centuries have passed away, and after so many Romes have +arisen and fallen above them, the <i>cloacae</i> of Tarquinius Priscus still +remain and admirably serve their purpose. The historians further tell us +that this Etruscan introduced into the kingly style a magnificence +hitherto unknown in Rome. This was especially manifested in his +embroidered robes, which were the skilful work of Tanaquil the Spinner. +Here was a queen who might have been taken for the model of the virtuous +woman depicted in the Book of Proverbs. The heart of her husband could +safely trust in her. She did him good and not evil all the days of her +life. "She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands." +But Tanaquil was as well qualified to assist her husband in his +political projects as to array him in a manner befitting his station. +This is evidenced by her behavior at his death, which took place at the +hand of assassins. We will allow Livy to relate in his own words what +happened, "When those who were around had raised up the king in a dying +state, the lictors seized on the men who were endeavoring to escape. +Upon this followed an uproar and concourse of the people, wondering +what the matter was. Tanaquil, during the tumult, orders the palace to +be shut up, thrusts out all who were present; at the same time, she +sedulously prepares everything necessary for dressing the wound, as if a +hope still remained; yet, in case her hopes should disappoint her, she +projects other means of safety. Sending immediately for Servius,--who +had married her daughter,--after she had showed him her husband almost +expiring, holding his right hand, she entreats him not to suffer the +death of his father-in-law to pass unavenged, or his mother-in-law to be +an object of insult to their enemies. 'Servius, she said, 'if you are a +man, the kingdom is yours, not theirs, who, by the hands of others, have +perpetrated the worst of crimes. Exert yourself, and follow the guidance +of the gods. Now awake in earnest. We, too, though foreigners, have +reigned. Consider who you are, not whence you have sprung. If your own +plans are not matured by reason of the suddenness of this event, then +follow mine.' When the uproar and violence of the multitude could +scarcely be withstood, Tanaquil addressed the populace from the upper +part of the palace through the windows facing the new street--for the +royal family resided near the temple of Jupiter Stator. She bids them be +of good courage; tells them that the king was stunned by the suddenness +of the blow; that the weapon had not sunk deep into his body; that he +was already come to himself again; that the wound had been examined, the +blood having been wiped off; that all the symptoms were favorable; that +she hoped they would see him very soon; and that, in the meantime, he +commanded the people to obey the orders of Servius Tullius. That he +would administer justice, and perform all the functions of the king. +Servius comes forth with the trabea and the lictors, and, seating +himself on the king's throne, decides some cases, but with respect to +others pretends that he will consult the king. Therefore, the death +being concealed for several days, though Tarquin had already expired, +he, under pretence of discharging the duties of another, strengthened +his own interest. Then, at length, the matter being made public, and +lamentations being raised in the palace, Servius, supported by a strong +guard, took possession of the kingdom by the consent of the Senate, +being the first who did so without the orders of the people."</p> + +<p>Of course, however much or little of all this may have really taken +place, the effect of the account is greatly heightened by the brilliant +imagination of the historian. But we believe that at least there is +enough historical truth in it to show that the early Romans did not +consider able statecraft on the part of women an entire impossibility. +In regard to Tanaquil's after career as queen-dowager, the legends are +totally and regrettably silent; and it is left to us to surmise without +data as to how the new king held his own with such an extraordinarily +clever mother-in-law; but, from what has just been related, he would +seem to have had both the wisdom to appreciate her counsels and the +ability to put them into effect.</p> + +<p>The Tarquinian dynasty was prolific of remarkable women; and in the +legendary history they are set over against each other in sharp +contrast. We have had the good queen, now we encounter the bad. Again it +is the story of a woman who was ambitious, but this time of one who +possessed no moral sentiment to soften her methods, whose respect for +that which is honorable in woman weighed nothing against her desire for +position. Expediency being furthered by cruelty, she could easily +overcome her feminine instincts. She was an exaggerated specimen of that +type of which Shakespeare has given an unfading picture in Lady +Macbeth. More than this, Tullia represented for the Romans the very acme +of wickedness. All feminine virtue with them culminated in filial +obedience and marital faithfulness; Tullia murdered her husband and +plotted against her father, and was accessory to his death. The Romans +were not abstract thinkers; and it is more than likely that this legend +is an accumulation, in one imaginary concrete example, of all feminine +depravity, rather than a veritable account of a historic personage. Yet +we have no good reason to doubt that there was a vicious Tullia, on +whose character this ideal of wickedness was erected.</p> + +<p>Servius, the good king, had two daughters, Tullia being the younger. +These young women were married to the two sons of Tarquinius Priscus, +Lucius and Aruns; the eider daughter being given to the elder son. The +consequence of this arbitrary choice on the part of the parents was that +a most contrary assortment was made. A stirring and prideful man found +himself coupled with a woman of easy, good-natured disposition; and a +man of contented mind and contemplative habits was afflicted with a +high-spirited and ambitious wife. The haughty Tullia could not endure +the thought that there was no material in her husband either for daring +or energetic action. She gave her regard to Lucius, who, as she +considerately informed Aruns, was worthy to be called a man. She went so +far as to intimate to Lucius that if the gods had been possessed of +sufficient good judgment to have given her the only man who could +appreciate her abilities she would soon see the crown in her own house, +instead of in that of her father. This inspired the young man; and they +both agreed that the mistakes of the deities should be rectified. It +soon conveniently happened that two deaths gave the opportunity for a +reassortment; and the nuptials of Lucius and Tullia were quickly +celebrated.</p> + +<p>Having thus far hurried forward the matter, it was not in the nature of +the woman to wait patiently for death to make vacant the throne of the +aged Servius. She said that she wanted a husband who would rather +possess a throne than hope for it. She stimulated Lucius's courage by +asking why he allowed himself to be called a prince, if he had not the +spirit to take his own. She suggested that, his grandfather having been +a merchant, perhaps it would be as well for him to return to Tarquinii, +the original home of the family, and engage in the same peaceful +occupation; which is evidence that the facile keenness of a woman's +power of expression is not a development of modern education. Being thus +encouraged, Lucius, as probably many another statesman has done, +considered it more advisable to take the chances of public strife than +to live in the certainty of domestic unrest. The time seeming +propitious, he repaired with an armed band to the Senate house and +seated himself on the throne. King Servius appeared, but no one thought +it worth while to hinder Lucius from throwing the aged ruler down the +steps of the Senate house; which he manfully did.</p> + +<p>Tullia was the instigator of this <i>coup d'état</i>; and impatient to learn +its success, she drove to the Forum, and, calling her husband from the +Senate chamber, was the first to hail him as king. But Lucius commanded +her to return home; and the tradition runs that as she was going thither +her chariot wheels passed over the dead body of her royal father as it +lay in the narrow street. More of the story of this Roman +personification of filial iniquity we are not told, except that, in +accordance with the inevitable rule of legendary history, she met the +Nemesis of her crimes on a later day. The manner of it we shall see in +the expulsion of her family from Rome.</p> + +<p>The reign of Lucius Tarquin, surnamed Superbus on account of his +extraordinary pride, was strong and tyrannous; but its effect was the +aggrandizement of Rome and the increase of her power in Italy. He is +credited with some extensive public works, the chief of which was the +Capitol. This temple he erected upon the hill which had from time +immemorial been held sacred to Jove; for thereupon the people had +ofttimes beheld the deity, as Virgil says, "with his right hand shaking +his black shield, and summoning the storm clouds to him." For his +architectural undertakings the Roman king hired skilled Etruscan +workmen, which indicates that his own subjects were as yet laggards in +the pursuit of the arts and sciences. Indeed, everything goes to show +that the only infant industries which the Romans zealously cultivated at +this time were warfare and such agriculture as was necessary to supply +the wants of their abstemious life. For their few artistic needs, they +depended almost entirely upon the other Italian cities, which in these +respects were further advanced.</p> + +<p>In the traditional history of the reign of Tarquin Superbus there is +included a legend concerning the Sibyl of Cumæ. Of those mysterious +women called Sibyls, ten were reputed to have flourished in various +parts of the ancient world. She of Cumæ was said to have lived one +thousand years; seven hundred of which had expired when Æneas came to +Italy and profited by her advice. The probable fact is that there +existed a school, or at any rate a succession, of pythonesses at Cumæ, +and it is borne out by the fact that to the Sibyl are given no less than +seven different names by various ancient authors. These prophetic women +used to write their predictions on leaves, which they placed at the +entrance of their grotto; and it was very necessary to secure these +leaves before they were dispersed by the wind, since, once scattered, +they could never again be brought together. It seems, however, that the +pythonesses at times transmitted their wisdom in a more substantial +manner; for the Sibyl who came to the palace of Tarquin brought with her +nine volumes, which she offered for sale at a very high price. On the +monarch's refusal to buy them, she burned three of the books, and +demanded the same amount for the remaining six. Tarquin declined to +purchase these, and she immediately committed three more to the flames, +asking the same sum of money for the remainder. This extraordinary +conduct so excited the king's curiosity that he bought the books; and +the Sibyl vanished, never again to be seen. It is very appropriate that +the last of the Sibyls should disappear just as we begin to find +verifiable history taking the place of traditional lore.</p> + +<p>What the contents of these books were, or whether the king found reason +very greatly to regret that he did not accept the Sibyl's first offer of +the whole nine, we do not know. That they were highly valued by the +Roman people is shown by the fact that a college of priests was +instituted to have the care of them; and they remained in existence +until the time of Sylla, when they were destroyed in the flames of the +Capitol. The Sibylline verses now extant are universally deemed to be +spurious.</p> + +<p>The name of Tarquin has been placed on the world's roll of dishonor +because of the part one of his family played in that sad story which +describes how the rule of the kings of Rome came to an end under a cloud +of blackness and blood. The tragedy of Lucretia is one of those pictures +which are preserved forever on account of their simplicity and +naturalness. The figures are almost titanic in their strength; but they +will be recognized as typical of humanity in all time. The actions are +coarse, because they proceed from the fundamental virtues and vices +which are never separate from the hearts of men and women. The great +English dramatist has idealized the workings of thought and conscience +in the principal actors; but there was really nothing except bare, +unadorned humanism in every situation. There was the tyranny which +always accompanies unbridled power; there was the honest soldier's +outspoken pride in the unrivalled beauty and goodness of his wife at +home; there was the brutal animalism of the man who heeded no higher +instincts; there was the wounded heart that saw no hope but to retrieve +honor at the expense of life; there were ensuing grief and revenge. In +all this there is nothing subtle, nothing strange, to human knowledge. +It simply masses together all the general experiences of the universal +man. Yet here is one of the world's most notable dramas; and the picture +is interesting, because it portrays with strong colors in one scene all +the great motives and traits which sway and color human life.</p> + +<p>Lucretia was the daughter of a Roman noble, and she was the wife of +Collatinus, one of the Tarquinian family. The Roman army was investing +the city of Ardea, the capital of the Rutulians; and the young princes +had too little to occupy their time, as the sequel shows, to keep them +out of mischief. One day, they were drinking and conversing in the tent +of Sextus, the king's son. Soldier fashion, being occupied with wine, +their talk turned on the subject of women. Each man extolled the +superior charms of his own wife or betrothed. Their conversation +doubtless did not range beyond lawful wedded mates, or those who were +such in prospect; for in the Rome of those days there existed no class +of demi-monde, nor, indeed, were there many women whose reputation for +chastity would be liable to criticism even in the freedom of a soldiers' +camp. Life then was austere, and morality was intensive rather than +extensive. The gallant contention waxed more and more enthusiastic among +the comrades, until Collatinus said that there needed to be no dispute +about the matter; that it could be easily seen in a few hours how far +his Lucretia exceeded all the rest. Whereupon he challenged them all to +ride to Rome and let the matter be decided as each one found his wife +occupied on his unexpected arrival. To this they agreed, and immediately +galloped to Rome, which they reached in the dusk of the evening. The +king's sons found their wives spending their time in luxurious +entertainments; whether or not they agreed on any one as being superior +to the others, we are not told. But Collatinus's home was some miles out +in the country, so that it was visited last of all. Late as it was, they +found Lucretia, with her maids, spinning wool in the atrium, or middle +hall of the house. Collatinus and his friends were gladly welcomed by +the industrious Lucretia, and were provided with bountiful +entertainment; and they were not slow to vote that she had easily won +the contest. But the beauty of Lucretia's person and mind had made far +too deep an impression on Sextus, the son of Tarquin. Throughout the +journey back to camp he was revolving in his mind how he might again +make a visit to the house at Collatia, in which he did not desire the +company of its master.</p> + +<p>A few days later, Sextus appeared at Lucretia's door and met a kindly +welcome, in which her pure mind mingled no misgiving. There were no +locks on the inner doors of the Roman house; for, as Shakespeare makes +poor Lucretia tell her story:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i14"> "... to the dreadful dead of dark midnight,</p> +<p class="i14"> With shining falchion in my chamber came</p> +<p class="i14"> A creeping creature with a flaming light,</p> +<p class="i14"> And softly cried, 'Awake, thou Roman dame,</p> +<p class="i14"> And entertain my love; else lasting shame</p> +<p class="i14"> On thee and thine this night I will inflict,</p> +<p class="i14"> If thou my love's desire do contradict.'"</p> +</div></div> + +<p>His threat was to murder both the lady and one of her male slaves, and +to place them so that it would appear that he had killed them to avenge +the honor of Collatinus. Thus we may see how poor Lucretia could truly +plead:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i14"> "Mine enemy was strong, my poor self weak,</p> +<p class="i14"> And far the weaker with so strong a fear;</p> +<p class="i14"> My bloody judge forbad my tongue to speak;</p> +<p class="i14"> No rightful plea might plead for justice there;</p> +<p class="i14"> His scarlet lust came evidence to swear</p> +<p class="i14"> That my poor beauty had purloin'd his eyes,</p> +<p class="i14"> And when the judge is rob'd, the prisoner dies."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The next day, she sent messengers to call her husband and her father. +They hastened to her at once, the former bringing with him Brutus, who +was to be the leader in liberating Rome from the infamous race of +Tarquin. When Lucretia had told her story, she made her relatives first +swear that the criminal should not go unpunished. To this they savagely +pledged themselves; but they tried to console her with the fact that, +her mind being pure, she had incurred no guilt. Lucretia replied; "It +remains for you to see to what is due to Tarquin. As for me, though I +acquit myself of guilt, from punishment I do not discharge myself; nor +shall any Roman woman survive her dishonor in pleading the example of +Lucretia." Thus saying, she drew a knife which she had concealed in her +garments, and plunged it into her heart.</p> + +<p>Brutus, while they were all overcome with grief, gently drew the weapon +from the wound; and holding it up, dripping as it was with Lucretia's +life blood, he cried: "By this blood, most pure before the pollution of +royal villainy, I swear, and I call you, O gods, to witness my oath, +that I shall pursue Lucius Tarquin the Proud, his wicked wife, and all +their race, with fire and sword, and all other means in my power; nor +shall I ever suffer them or any other to reign at Rome." In this oath +Collatinus and the others joined. They carried the dead body of Lucretia +to Rome, and succeeded in giving the populace the last incentive +necessary to drive out the already hated Tarquins. Thus the misfortunes +of noble Lucretia brought vengeance upon the wickedness of Tullia; for +the historian says that "she fled from her house, both men and women +cursing her wherever she went and invoking on her the Furies, the +avengers of parents."</p> + +<p>What portion of these stories of the women of legendary Rome may be +accepted as fact, and what must be relegated to the realm of fiction, it +is not within the capacity of research to ascertain. Probably we shall +not be far wrong if we consider these legends as moralizings founded on +facts. Tullia represented to the Romans all the viciousness against +which women were warned; in Lucretia, there were accumulated all the +virtues to which a woman was taught to aspire. They were pictorial moral +discourses; and, just as the moral character of a modern age might be +discovered from the sermons of the period, so these legends represent +what was lowest and highest in the ethical conceptions of earliest +Rome.</p> +<a name="c2" id="c2"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>II</h3> + +<h3>NOBLE MATRONS OF THE REPUBLIC</h3> + +<p>After the revolution, of which the tragedy of Lucretia was the +traditional cause and which ended forever monarchical rule in Rome, our +subject begins to emerge from the haziness of legendary narratives into +the clearer light of veritable history. It now becomes possible for us +to catch glimpses of the women of Rome, living and moving amid scenes +that were real and under conditions which undoubtedly prevailed.</p> + +<p>Roman society at the beginning of the Republic was most distinctly and +rigidly classified. Not only were the people divided by the +circumstances of birth into separate classes, but the law preordained +for every person his precise station, his duties, his privileges, and +his limitations. The citizen could no more go beyond these than he could +transfer himself into another order of creation; for law, in Rome, was +as absolute as it was rigid. Speaking generally, there were two orders, +the patrician and the plebeian. A common opinion of the old writers was +that out of the influx of adventurers who crowded to Rome at its +founding Romulus chose one hundred Senators, their qualification being +that they could name their fathers. Their children were called +patricians. In the third century before Christ, when the plebeians had +wrested many privileges and offices from the unwilling higher class, +Publius Decius, himself a plebeian, uses this theory of the origin of +the patricians to great advantage. Contending in debate for the right of +his order to serve in the priesthood, he said: "Have ye never heard that +the first-created patricians were not men sent down from heaven, but +such as could cite their fathers; that is, nothing more than freeborn? +Well, I can cite my father; he was a consul; and my son will be able to +cite a grandfather." This excessive pride which Roman citizens took in +the fact that they could trace their paternity through more or less +generations must not be understood as reflecting, in any way, upon the +character of the early matrons; it arose simply from the fact that they +could so surely name their ancestry as to eliminate possibility of +descent from one of the common herd of unenfranchised inhabitants.</p> + +<p>These latter were the plebeians. This class was made up of the +descendants of the ancient people who of old had inhabited the country, +ordinary foreigners who were attracted to the city, and the children of +captives who had been given their liberty. At first, the plebeians +enjoyed no rights whatever. They lived, it is true, under the shelter of +the walls of the city, but on the outside. They possessed no right of +suffrage, and were not allowed to interfere in any public affair. But +they were free. They held property and engaged in handicrafts and in +commerce. It soon came to pass that the increase of their number and +their importance rendered their repression by the nobles more and more +difficult. Under King Servius the plebeians became citizens; and, as is +the case in every land, the internal history of Rome contains nothing +more interesting than the indomitable and successful struggle of this +lower class to wrest ever larger privileges from the tenacious rulers. +It was not, however, until B.C. 444 that equality of rights had made +sufficient progress for matrimonial alliances to be countenanced between +patricians and plebeians. By the commencement of the Christian era all +practical distinction between these two classes had vanished.</p> + +<p>In addition to the two principal orders, there was that of the clients. +These were in reality vassals, who preferred dependence on the great and +wealthy to living independently in a precarious liberty. They were +called by the names of their patrons and were numbered in the latter's +tribe. By enactments of law, the patron was made responsible for the +support and protection of his clients. In return, the patrician could +depend upon his clients to fight his battles, support his cause, and +prove themselves loyal retainers of his house in both good fortune and +evil. The subservience of these clients, and the conscienceless zeal +with which they furthered the designs, even the most wicked, of their +masters, are well illustrated in the part which Marcus Claudius played +in the persecution of Virginia by the decemvir Appius. Another dependent +class was that of the slaves. At first the number of these was +comparatively small; but as the conquering arms of Rome spread over the +world her avaricious sway, the captives dragged in barbarous triumph to +the city grew out of all proportion to the population. They enjoyed +fewer rights and suffered under a regime more inhuman than in any other +slaveholding nation in history.</p> + +<p>That which distinguished one class from another in early Roman society +had nothing whatever to do with the character of the occupation of the +people comprising it. The noblest of the early patricians, as well as +the commonest plebeians, tilled the soil with their own hands; nor did +they disdain to engage in trade, or even in the letting of money on +usury. Wealth was no more a consideration than occupation in +determining to which order a man or a woman belonged. In course of time, +the plebeians, despite the patricians' unneglected privilege of +practising robbery under due process of law, numbered many families of +great wealth; but no man could therewith purchase entrance to the higher +class. It was the blood line that marked these distinctions; it was +ancestry alone that could give the patent of nobility. Nor is it +surprising that a people who believed in the divine origin of some of +their tribes should acknowledge superior rights as attached to a +well-authenticated pedigree.</p> + +<p>In most societies, the advantages of class are more markedly displayed +in the life of the women than in that of the men. This does not appear +to have been the case in the early times of the Roman Republic. In fact, +it is difficult to see how difference in class greatly distinguished the +patrician matron from her plebeian sister. Neither had any legal part +whatever in State affairs or in any public functions, excepting those of +a religious nature. The duties of each were confined to the home, and no +woman was relieved from the obligation of personal and diligent +industry. On the epitaphs of many noble women were praises for their +chastity and their proficiency in spinning. Indeed, the evidence seems +to indicate that any other qualities than these two, and that of +fertility, were deprecated rather than admired by the Romans of this +period. The only advantages which a patrician woman could possess were +her natural pride in the privileges of her family and what honor was +reflected upon her from the positions held by her male relatives. The +term "Head of the Family" never had so tyrannical a meaning as in most +ancient Rome. It was a place which a woman could not hold. The husband +was all in all; no one else was recognized by law. Wife, children, +clients, and slaves were alike persons without will of their own. They +were <i>mancipia</i>, under the hand of the father. He it was who answered +for them to the State and who judged them. If a wife was accused of +crime, she was committed to her husband for judgment. And this was the +law even down to the time of Nero, when Pomponia Græcina, charged with +embracing a foreign superstition, was "consigned to the adjudication of +her husband." A man could even condemn his wife to death for certain +offences, such as the violation of her marriage vows, or even for +forging false keys in order to steal his wine. At her husband's death, +the wife could not claim any of his property if he had bequeathed it to +another, even though it were willed to an entire stranger. In this +severely disciplined society, the woman never escaped from guardianship. +She was looked upon as belonging to the family rather than to the State. +The latter consisted only of men, to whom the women were merely +necessary accessories. No one thought that a woman possessed any claim +or right to independence of individuality. She was always under a +master: her father, when she was a girl; her husband, when she was +married; and her nearest male relative, if she became a widow. If she +obtained any share in her father's property or in that of her husband, +she could not transfer or bequeath it without the consent of her male +guardian, unless she were a Vestal; nor could she marry without the same +consent.</p> + +<p>But, however dependent her position may have been, whether maid or +matron, the Roman woman was always treated with reverence. The <i>stola</i>, +the characteristic robe of the matron, corresponding to the toga of the +male citizen, always ensured for its wearer respect, it being not merely +an article of attire, but also an insignia which could only be retained +by strict rectitude of life, market days or assembly days. In the +villa--a miserable cabin made of mud, rafters, and branches--not a day, +not a moment, was lost. Horace does not draw a more agreeable picture of +ancient city manners. He tells us that "at Rome, for a long time a man +knew no other pleasure and no other festival than to open his door at +dawn, to explain the law to his clients, and to lay out his money on +good security. They learned from their elders, and taught beginners, the +art of increasing their savings." But when it is remembered that Cato +was a sour and miserly Puritan, who adopted austerity as his pose, and +that Horace was a poet, not untouched with cynicism, who lived in a +society in which the charm of simple enjoyments was entirely forgotten, +we may consider both pictures, though from differing causes, slightly +overdrawn. Nevertheless they serve to indicate how circumscribed was the +life of the wives of the early Romans.</p> + +<p>Those strong-minded, intense, practical people were not, however, +without their entertainments. Music, both vocal and instrumental, was +cultivated. There were religious festivals, in which processions of boys +and maidens sang pious hymns. We also learn from Cicero that it was the +custom for the guests at a feast to sing the praises of their great men +to the sound of the flute. It is easy for us to imagine a home scene in +which Veturia, the mother of the youthful Cnæus Martius, tells over +again to the inquiring boy those inspiring stories which he has heard +chanted by his father's hearth and which are to prepare him to emulate +heroic deeds at Corioli and earn for himself an honorable name.</p> + +<p>But, habitually solemn and grave as were those old Romans, they were +also much addicted to amusements of a coarse and grotesque nature. Even +in their religious processions they included monstrous mechanical +shapes, with formidable teeth and huge jaws which, by their opening and +closing, frightened the women and children, to the great enjoyment of +the men. Hideous masks were also worn for the same purpose. In fact, so +little refinement characterized the minds of the people of these times, +that they could find entertainment in only the rudest and coarsest of +jests. Farces, which were nothing more than the absurd antics and +personal witticisms of buffoons, had been introduced from Atella. But +the beginning of Roman drama may be dated from B.C. 364, when, on +account of a pestilence which devastated the city, Etruscan actors were +imported to institute scenic games in honor of the gods. The pestilence +ended; and consequently the games, being regarded as the efficacious +remedy, were retained. These games consisted of combined dances and +songs, which were accompanied by appropriate but not altogether proper +gestures. Later, there was instituted the floral festival, the purpose +of which was to induce the goddess of spring to grant that all the +flowers which decked the fields at the time of blossoming should be +represented by fruit in the harvest. In these games, dancing girls +appeared upon the stage; and we may draw our own conclusions from the +fact that in the time of Cato the scene was regarded as too frivolous +for the eyes of so grave a personage. But the most popular of all the +early festivals was that of Anna Perenna, the goddess of life. In this, +restraint was abandoned. To drink extravagantly, and to listen to a +recitation of the mistakes of Mars in taking a hideous goddess for the +beautiful Minerva, were regarded as works of piety. Young girls were +required to sing this story, which was full of the coarsest allusions. +But the ancients did not consider the requirements of modesty in the +same light as we do. They did not esteem that innocence born of +ignorance, in which modern times deem it sacrificed to honor was the +signal for the expulsion of tyranny.</p> + +<p>It was not alone in the incitement of the populace to measures for her +protection that the influence of woman was felt in matters of State. +There were occasions when by her means calamities were averted, as well +as times when civil strife was for her sake produced. The memory of the +good service done for the city by Veturia, the mother, and Volumnia, the +wife of Coriolanus, was never allowed to fade.</p> + +<p>In the history of this brave and haughty warrior we have a picture of +Roman political life. Rough politics they were; rock-faced episodes, +befitting the character of the times, in which men knew nothing of +<i>finesse</i>, and when appeal was made directly from reason to brute force +and to the natural feelings of men. Perhaps it would be bordering on +literary impiety to think that Shakespeare, in his Coriolanus, has not +given the best interpretation possible of this fragment from the old +Republic; but it is not one of his greatest pieces, because the material +is lacking in those human qualities which are necessary to arouse +profound interest. It is a drama with but one motive--filial respect. +Yet the most is made of this; and the great dramatist has succeeded in +vivifying the principal characters. In the portrayal of the mother of +Coriolanus we see a matron who is worthy of such a son; the wife's part +is that of passive resignation to the will of stronger spirits. Mrs. +Jameson, in her <i>Characteristics of Women</i>, says: "In Volumnia, +Shakespeare has given us the portrait of a Roman matron, conceived in +the true antique spirit, and finished in every part. Although Coriolanus +is the hero of the play, yet much of the interest of the action and the +final catastrophe turn upon the character of his mother, and the power +she exercised over his mind, by which, according to the story, 'she +saved Rome and lost her son.' Her lofty patriotism, her patrician +haughtiness, her maternal pride, her eloquence, and her towering spirit, +are exhibited with the utmost power of effect; yet the truth of female +nature is beautifully preserved, and the portrait, with all its vigor, +is without harshness." We may well believe that Veturia--whom, following +Plutarch, Shakespeare calls Volumnia--was a woman who could say: "When +yet he was tender-bodied, and the only son of my womb ... I was pleased +to let him seek danger where he was like to find fame. To a cruel war I +sent him, whence he returned, his brows bound with oak." And when the +wife tremblingly inquires: "But had he died in the business, madam--what +then?" it was in the mother to reply: "Then, his good report should have +been my son." This is in accord with the Greek historian's statement +that Coriolanus fought heroically, not only for glory and the passion of +battle, but to win the meed of praise from his mother.</p> + +<p>The action in the story of Veturia and her son is entirely political. +The balance of power between the patricians and the plebeians was very +narrow, especially when hardship aroused the latter to make inquiry into +the claims of the former. A famine was more than sufficient to incite +the lower order to threaten the privileges of the upper class; and Rome +was at that time suffering from a scarcity of corn. The populace was not +entirely convinced by Menenius's parable that the whole duty of the +patrician order consisted in being the belly of the State organism. The +people clamored; their tribunes saw in this an opportunity to gain +increased powers; the Senators were inclined to be subservient. But the +haughty spirit of Coriolanus would yield nothing of the ancient +privileges. For his mother's sake, he sought the consulship; +nevertheless, he angered the commons, though he could not gain the +office without their suffrages. The stress became so great that his +patrician friends could not prevent his exile. He left Rome, only to +return to wreak vengeance at the head of a Volscian army. This enemy +being already a menace to Rome, the defection of the great leader to +their ranks placed the disordered city at their mercy. Then it was that +the Romans remembered that though women were incapacitated for political +action and were unable to fight, yet they were powerful factors in the +appeal to those feelings of the human heart whence flow justice and +pity. The arguments of ambassadors and the behests of the priests had +not availed; the authorities were constrained to adventure what might be +effected by the tears of the women for whom alone, of all that was +Roman, Coriolanus retained any regard. His mother and his wife were +implored to make the last appeal. This plan had come by inspiration into +the mind of Valeria, sister of the great Publicola, as she was praying +with the other matrons in the temple of Jupiter. Veturia and Volumnia, +leading the two sons of Coriolanus, went forth to the Voiscian camp. As +they drew near, Coriolanus, though resolved to remain obdurate, showed +himself not lacking in filial respect; he advanced to meet them, +ordering the fasces to be lowered in the presence of his mother. The +Roman historians clothe Veturia with noble dignity as she makes her +appeal. "Before I receive your embrace, let me know if I have come to an +enemy or to a son; whether I am in your camp a captive or a mother. Has +length of life and a hapless old age reserved me for this--to behold you +an exile and an enemy?... So then, had I not been a mother, Rome would +not be besieged; had I not a son, I might have died free in a free +country." The spirit of this is truly Roman. Even the women were trained +to force the claims of blood and the natural affections into a place +secondary to the duty of loyalty to the State. This appeal; joined with +the embraces of his wife and the lamentations of the other matrons, +prevailed over the anger of Coriolanus; and again Rome was saved by the +Roman women. As a reward, a monumental temple was erected by the men of +the city, and dedicated to Female Fortune.</p> + +<p>It was not alone as peacemakers that the Roman matrons served the public +interests of the city. On more than one occasion the treasury was +rendered efficient by means of their generous contributions. More than +once the golden ornaments of the wives became auxiliary to the iron arms +of their husbands, and in one instance they accomplished that which the +latter could not achieve. When the Gauls burned the city, and were only +turned from the citadel by the payment of one thousand pounds of gold, +with the sword of Brennus thrown on the Gallic side of the scale to +insure good weight, the amount could not have been raised but for the +self-sacrifice of the matrons. In gratitude for this, the Conscript +Fathers voted that thenceforth funeral orations might be made for women. +The gold was afterward repaid to the women out of Etrurian plunder. +Again, when, in accordance with the vow of Camillus, a tribute was to be +presented to Apollo, the matrons brought what they possessed of the +precious metal, it was especially honored by being made into a golden +bowl, which was carried to Delphos. On this occasion also they were +rewarded; for the Senate conferred on them the privilege of riding to +public worship and to the games in covered chariots, and on other +errands in open carriages. The historian introduces this latter +information with "they say"; whether or not, previous to this, the Roman +ladies had been obliged to walk is left to be surmised without further +evidence.</p> + +<p>Some Idea of what those golden ornaments were may be gathered from the +account of a voluntary contribution which was made in Rome at a later +period. Funds were required to equip a fleet against Philip of Macedon, +the ally of Hannibal. Lævinus the consul, urging upon his fellow +Senators the duty to set an example of public generosity, says: "Let us +bring into the treasury to-morrow all our gold, silver, and coined +brass, each reserving rings for himself, his wife and children, and a +bulla for his son; and he who has a wife or daughters, an ounce weight +of gold for each. Let those who have sat in a curule chair have the +ornaments of a horse, and a pound weight of silver, that they may have a +salt-cellar, and a dish for the service of the gods ..." Notwithstanding +the fact that, in response to this appeal, the needs of the fleet were +abundantly provided for, the indication is that at this period, about +B.C. 280, the decorative tastes of the Roman ladies had in no wise +acquired that luxuriousness with which they afterward became +characterized. There was no ornament so common as the ring, the place of +which, in these early times when only one was worn, was the third finger +of the left hand. It was used for the purpose of sealing letters and +papers, and long before the end of the Republic the custom arose of +setting rings with precious stones. Indeed, the people of the early +Republic were not unacquainted with most exquisite work of the +goldsmiths' art; but there was still prevalent that consciousness of the +surpassing value of personal excellences which could afford to be +independent of outward adornment, and of which Cornelia's reference to +her sons as her jewels was a surviving echo.</p> + +<p>But the times were soon to change. Hitherto we have seen the Roman +matrons living the simple, diligent, unsophisticated lives of women who +were fitting mates for men who held to the plow for support, but dared +not let drop the sword. Until then, Rome had been nothing but a city +struggling for existence--sometimes a precarious existence. Instances +there were when her fortunes waned almost to the vanishing point; when +the tide of progress seemed to hang at the ebb. The god of victory, +though honored as the tutelary deity of Rome, was frequently partial to +her Italian neighbors; her walls were entered and her houses razed by +the barbarian Gauls; and once she was at the point of being deserted by +her citizens, the majority of whom could hardly be restrained by the +ideals of religion from removing the State and the Capitol to Veii. Yet +her star of empire persisted and, despite temporary eclipses, remained +in the ascendant.</p> + +<p>How did those centuries of varying civic fortune affect the status of +the women? They were, by the necessities of their circumstances, trained +to endure hardship. The temple of Janus was never closed, for warfare +was unceasing; and it was usual for the widow's wailing death dirge to +be embittered by the fact that the husband had been slain in his +strength and prime. Slavery and outrage, the concomitants of barbarous +warfare, were always included within the possibilities of a Roman +matron's fate. Under such circumstances civilization necessarily +advanced slowly; it is only as life and liberty and leisure are secured +that existence can acquire the social graces. Hence the probability is +that, during the first two and a half centuries of the Republic,--that +is, until Rome was fully launched upon her career of conquest,--the +position and the habits and manner of life of the women did not greatly +change. It is true that there was a continuous internal development of +the State; but this manifested itself in an accentuation of those laws +which reveal the hardness of the old Roman character, rather than in any +tendency toward the easement of the individual lives of the citizens. +Never has personal privilege been so completely subjugated to State +prerogative. The laws, which were rigidly--even slavishly--interpreted +according to the letter and never according to the spirit, considered +the individual from the standpoint of his value to the State, and rarely +from that of his own rights. The woman's value to the State was entirely +submerged in that of her husband. Therefore, we find that it was only +with the greatest difficulty that edicts granting privileges to woman +could be passed, unless it were in payment for some special act of +loyalty on her part to the State. Hard and inflexible in their ideas of +life were those old Romans, practical and unsentimental in their +relations with each other, narrow in their conceptions, proud to +arrogance of their State, and reverencing only their institutions.</p> + +<p>But in course of time they broke through their insularity with the force +of their own arms. Victorious contact with other States gave them a +larger acquaintance with the fruits of civilization, and the spoils of +conquest afforded them the means to enjoy it. Hence, during the latter +half of the republican period we see life in Rome rapidly undergoing a +change. As typical of this new state of things, as it affected the +character, status, and condition of women, there is only one woman whom +we need to select. In Cornelia, the daughter of Scipio Africanus and the +wife of Sempronius Gracchus, is found the ideal of Roman femininity of +that day. She was in every way worthy of her patrician ancestry, which +had produced a greater number of eminent men than any other family, +twenty-one consulships being held by the Cornelii in eighty-six years. +Cornelia lived in a Rome which we can understand and appreciate; we +begin to recognize social features upon which the imagination can lay +hold and from them piece together some idea of the reality. Hitherto +the data has been too foreign and too meagre for any great success in +this; but when we read of Cornelia providing herself with a country +house, riding to public worship, listening to the gossip of her friends +respecting each other's jewelry, and interesting herself in Greek +literature, we discover that the main features of a Roman matron's life +were not essentially dissimilar from those which characterize polite +feminine society in our own time. Indeed, there is more to evoke our +sympathetic appreciation in the Rome of B.C. 150 than in the Europe of +A.D. 1000 or in the Asiatic civilizations of to-day. We feel more at +home in the patrician villas than in the mediæval castles; just as we +find more that is applicable to modern life in the Roman poets than we +do in the bards of chivalry. In studying the period when the ancient +civilization of Italy was at its best, we discover habits of thought, +bits of life, and social customs, which really startle us with their +similitude to those to which we ourselves are accustomed.</p> + +<p>The city, in the time of Cornelia, showed few outward signs of the +magnificence it was to acquire under the emperors. The houses were +mostly of brick, though domestic architecture had become quite ambitious +in its character, Cornelia herself having built, as has been said, a +very expensive villa at Misenum; those of the wealthy were filled with +costly furniture and precious works of art, which the Romans first +learned to admire in the countries which they subdued; and having +acquired a taste for beautiful things, they made no scruple of +appropriating them. Rome had now grown wealthy with the spoils of her +extensive victories, and, as always comes to pass with the advent of +riches, there had been brought about a great differentiation in the +condition of the population. Polybius gives us a picture of the +extravagant style in which Æmilia, the mother of Cornelia, appeared in +public. "When she left home to go to the temple," says he, "she seated +herself in a glittering chariot, herself attired with extreme luxury. +Before her were carried with solemn ceremony the vases of gold and +silver required for the sacrifice, and a numerous train of slaves and +servants accompanied her." And this notwithstanding the Oppian law, +which limited matrons to a half-ounce of gold on their wearing apparel +and prohibited them from riding in carriages in the city, and which had +not yet been repealed. As this modish lady passed through the streets of +Rome with her brilliant retinue, exciting the envy of other matrons, and +bestowing gracious recognition upon white-robed, stately patricians, she +must have beheld as many signs of abject, suffering poverty as are +prevalent in our own great cities. By this time, the plebeian order had +been raised to equal legal privilege with the patrician, and society had +now come to be divided into the enormously rich and the extremely poor. +The former rendered their position secure by means of extortion in the +provinces; the condition of the latter was made hopeless by the fact +that all labor was performed by slaves. A state of things unknown to the +old times was now prevalent in Rome: men and women were idle, willingly +or perforce, according to their circumstances.</p> + +<p>The position of women had also changed. They were now beginning to make +a stand for their rights--a thing undreamed of in the old days. The +father of the family was no longer allowed to execute his arbitrary +power entirely unquestioned. Livy narrates an incident which illustrates +this development and bears interestingly upon the character of Æmilia +and the history of Cornelia. He relates that "the Senators, happening to +sup one day in the Capitol, rose up together and requested of Africanus, +before the company departed, to betroth his daughter to Gracchus; the +contract was accordingly executed in due form, in the presence of this +assembly. Scipio, on his return home, told his wife Æmilia that he had +concluded a match for her younger daughter. She, feeling her female +pride hurt, expressed some resentment at not having been consulted in +the disposal of their common child, adding that, even were he giving her +to Tiberius Gracchus, her mother ought not to be kept in ignorance of +his intention; to which Scipio, rejoiced that her judgment concurred so +entirely with his own, replied that she was betrothed to that very man."</p> + +<p>It has been well said that the words which Plautus puts into the mouth +of Alcmena may be applied to the character of Cornelia, who was thus +bestowed by her great father upon a no less worthy man: "My dower is +chastity, modesty, and the fear of the gods; it is love to my kindred; +it is to be submissive to my husband, kind toward good people, helpful +to the brave." She also received a <i>dot</i>, an accompaniment of marriage +which was beginning to be highly considered among the matrons of Rome as +of more practical value than the above-mentioned moral qualities. It +consisted of fifty talents of gold. But the time had not yet arrived +when the riches of virtue and goodness were entirely unappreciated; +there were still matrons who could enter, with faces neither brazen nor +abashed, the temple erected to chastity; and upon the tombs of many of +them might have been truthfully inscribed, as upon that of Claudia: +<i>Gentle in words, graceful in manner, she loved her husband devotedly; +she kept her house, she spun wool</i>. Among these chaste matrons Cornelia +excelled; her fame remains as that of the highest type of the +pure-principled, noble-minded, cultured Roman matron. She lived in +entire sympathy with her husband; and we may well believe that it was +partly owing to her influence that the generous Sempronius Gracchus +found it in himself to command an army enlisted from among the slaves, +and to emancipate them upon the battlefield as a reward for the bravery +which his leadership incited.</p> + +<p>Plutarch, in his lives of the sons of Gracchus, repeats a story which, +though characterized by the superstitions of the times, indicates in +what estimation Cornelia was held by her husband and all who knew her. +It relates that Gracchus once found in his bed chamber a couple of +snakes, and that the soothsayers, being consulted concerning the +prodigy, advised that he should neither kill them both nor let them both +escape; adding that if the male serpent were killed, Gracchus would die, +and, if the female, Cornelia would perish. Therefore, as he extremely +loved his wife, he thought that it was much more his part, who was an +old man, to die than it was hers, who as yet was but a young woman; so +he killed the male serpent and let the female escape. Soon after this, +he died, leaving his wife and the twelve children which she had borne to +him. "Cornelia, taking upon herself all the care of the household and +the education of her children, approved herself so discreet a matron, so +affectionate a mother, and so constant and noble-spirited a widow, that +Tiberius seemed to all men to have done nothing unreasonable in choosing +to die for such a woman; who, when King Ptolemy himself proffered her +his crown and would have married her, refused it, and chose rather to +live a widow. In this state she continued, and lost all her children, +except one daughter, who was married to Scipio the Younger, and two +sons, Tiberius and Caius." The daughter, Sempronia, seems to have been +in every respect unlike her mother. Unattractive and childless, she +neither loved nor was loved by her husband; and, indeed, suspicion was +cast upon her of having brought about his death.</p> + +<p>Cornelia was well equipped to undertake the education of her children. +What is told of her indicates a woman who was alert to advance with all +that was progressive in her time. The spirit of literature had but +recently attained its reincarnation, and that for the first time upon +Roman soil. It was begotten, as it was again fifteen centuries later, by +the immortal genius of Greek poesy. The Romans conquered Greece +physically; but Hellenic learning subjugated Roman ideas. The Scipios +were the ardent supporters of Greek culture; and in this, as in all +other respects, Cornelia took a foremost position among the +representatives of her gifted family.</p> + +<p>She provided for her children the most erudite of Greek masters, and +spared no efforts in training their minds in the love of all that was +graceful and cultured. In the justly renowned eloquence of her sons, +there was recognized a gift which they inherited from their mother, as +was testified by Cicero, who had seen her letters. She possessed the +ability and also the courage to incite them to noble deeds for their +country. It was probably not so much ambition for herself as for them +which caused her to reproach her sons with the fact that she was still +known as the widow of Scipio and not as the Mother of the Gracchi. But +they lost no time in earning for her, both on account of their deeds on +the battlefield and by their devotion to the civil affairs of the State, +the distinction of this latter title.</p> + +<p>The Roman Republic had so far degenerated as to submit to be governed by +an oligarchy consisting of a few proud and wealthy families--the worst +of all forms of government. The Senators were flagrantly using their +power to accumulate enormous riches and to monopolize the land by +seizing upon the public domain. Middle-class independence was rapidly +diminishing, and the growing masses of the people were oppressed by a +poverty from which they had no means of freeing themselves. The Gracchi +sought to relieve these evils by passing laws limiting the amount of +land which might be held by one person, and offsetting the power of the +nobility by securing the economic independence of the people. The +Gracchi were reformers; and they each in turn attained to dictatorial +power. But though they secured the enactment of their measures, they +could not put them into effect; and in the end,--as is frequently the +case with reformers,--because they were far-sighted enough to see evil +in that which the majority of the rulers considered good, there was +nothing for them but martyrdom. This they suffered in turn: Caius taking +up the work where Tiberius was compelled, by assassination, to +relinquish it.</p> + +<p>The parting of Caius from his wife on the morning of his own death is a +scene from a heroic tragedy. He could not be persuaded to arm himself, +with the exception of a small dagger underneath his toga. As he was +going out, Licinia stopped him at the threshold, holding him by one hand +and their little son by the other. She pleaded that he would not expose +himself to the murderers of his brother. "Had your brother," she urged, +"fallen before Numantia, the enemy would have given back what then had +remained of Tiberius; but such is my hard fate, that I probably must be +a suppliant to the floods or the waves, that they would somewhere +restore to me your relics. For since Tiberius was not spared, what trust +can we place either in the laws or in the gods?" But Caius, gently +withdrawing himself from her embraces, departed; and Licinia, falling in +a faint, was carried as though dead into the house of her brother +Crassus.</p> + +<p>Cornelia bore the death of her two sons with her characteristic nobility +of mind. She removed to her seaside home at Cape Misenum; and there she +surrounded herself with learned men, and especially delighted in +entertaining the exponents of Greek literature. She was held in the +highest esteem by all; and her friends desired no greater privilege than +to listen to her reminiscences of her father, Scipio Africanus. She +would proudly add: "The grandsons of that great man were my children. +They perished in the temple and grove sacred to the gods. They have the +tombs that their virtues merited, for they sacrificed their lives to the +noblest of aims,--the desire to promote the welfare of the people." Such +was Cornelia; and she was the noblest of the matrons of the Republic. No +greater thing can be said of her than that she gloried most in the +reflected honor which came upon her as being the mother of the Gracchi; +yet she has been deservedly given a high place among the great and good +women of all time.</p> +<a name="c3" id="c3"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>III</h3> + +<h3>WOMAN'S PART IN RELIGION</h3> + +<p>In these modern times and in Christian countries, we are accustomed to +seeing religious matters take a more prominent place in the life of the +women than in that of the men. This is because our form of religion +concerns itself more with the emotions and with those subjects which +appeal to sentiment than it does with the practical affairs of life. +Wherever the details or the appliances of worship are brought into +intimate relation with the common occupations in which a people are +engaged, it at once becomes less peculiarly the province of women. For +instance, where there is union between Church and State, according to +the extent to which that union exists, and owing to the fact that women +are to a large extent shut out of the management of State affairs, the +Church more particularly engages the attention of the male portion of +the population. Also, where, as in Asia, an undertaking is supposed to +be liable to miscarriage unless entered into conformably with the +prevailing religious rites, men are less likely to be negligent in +paying their respects to the gods. When, as in mediæval Europe, every +phase of human activity was under the supervision of the Church, the +arts finding in it a large proportion of their subject matter, and +every transaction needing its sanction, woman's influence in religion +was much less predominant than it now is. All of which goes to show that +there is less of material self-seeking in feminine worship than in that +of men.</p> + +<p>Never was the intimate relation between the material and the spiritual +more strongly accentuated than in ancient Rome. The acts of the gods and +goddesses were a part of the lives of the people. Nothing existed or +came to pass in State, society, or private life without its cause being +attributed to the supernatural. The consequence was that every Roman +citizen looked upon the worship of his deities as a practical duty, the +neglect of which entailed practical consequences. At the same time, the +possession by woman of an important place in religion was assured, not +only by her nature, but also by the fact that reverence for the +supernatural was conjoined with every phase of life. Worship was no less +a private interest than a public affair. It entered into everything. +Consequently, a woman's religious duties and privileges were exactly +coextensive with the activities of her life. According to Roman +theology, the supernatural world was the precise counterpart of the +natural world. Everything had its special deity. There were the powerful +gods and goddesses who presided over the national interests, over war +and peace, prosperity and chastisement, counsel and justice; there were +the divinities who were to be depended upon for the natural phenomena, +the seasons, the weather, germination, and harvest; there were also +minor spirits upon whose pleasure depended the success of every human +action.</p> + +<p>According to the Roman conception, nothing took place without the +assistance of some special divinity whose province it was to further +that particular form of activity. It is said that Varro, at the close of +the era of the Republic, was able to enumerate thirty thousand of these +gods and goddesses. Roman life, public and private, was never for a +moment dissociated from religion. The Senate met for deliberation in the +temple of Jupiter; an important part of the general's duty on the +battlefield was to invoke the god of war; the infliction of punishment +on wrong-doers was a sacrifice to offended deity; all public +entertainments were held in honor of the gods; all the ordered events in +an individual's life were religious ceremonies; for even a family meal +was not supposed to be partaken of without a portion being set apart for +the household gods; and always on entering a house reverence was first +made to the Lares. Hence it necessarily followed that the part woman +took in religion was commensurate with her part in Roman life. It can +hardly be said that her position in this respect was a subordinate one. +If Mars, the god of battle, was the central object of Roman worship, an +equal devotion was paid to Vesta at the communal hearth which symbolized +the existence and the well-being of the city; and as it was more +particularly the province of men to invoke the warlike deity, so from +among the women, who were the home-keepers, were selected the honored +guardians of the sacred fire. It is also important to observe another +fact. Though there were priests appointed to conduct the ceremonies of +public worship, they were in no sense intermediaries. Every suppliant +addressed himself directly to the divinity. He might consider it to his +advantage to consult the professional men, who were skilled in the +knowledge of how most persuasively to approach the gods; but the act of +intercession was each person's own affair, and did not need the +intervention of a proxy. Therefore, the women were as free to address +the gods as were the men; and, in fact, in the many matters which +concerned their sex particularly, and in other things in which it +seemed fitting, they alone could properly do so.</p> + +<p>Bespeaking the favor of a particular deity consisted in paying that god +more or less extra attention; generally it was a very simple process. +There is in existence a painting, found at Rome, which represents two +women offering incense to Mars, their husbands probably being absent +with the army. Each of these matrons has brought a portable altar, and +into the rising flames, before a small figure of the deity, they are +dropping the fragrant oblation. This sacrifice may have taken place in +the open air; probably in the Forum. Thus easy was it for women to pay +their devotions and to invoke protection for those in whose welfare they +were interested. The practical Romans looked upon their relations to the +deities as partaking somewhat of the nature of commerce; for a certain +amount of attention they were justified in expecting a corresponding +amount of protection. They even practised what might truly be called +pious frauds upon the powers whom they worshipped. In certain cases, it +seemed to them that, inasmuch as the gods could not make use of the +reality, an inexpensive substitute might well take its place. For +instance, it is a relief to know that the yearly sacrifice of men which +the Vestals made to Father Tiber from the Sublician Bridge had nothing +in it more human than representations of men made out of osiers; but +when we read of the heads of poppies and even onions being presented to +Jupiter, in order that he might practise his thunderbolts upon them, +instead of upon the heads of the citizens, the instinct of +self-preservation is more apparent than is the reasoning faculty which +they attributed to the god. The Romans studied economy in their +religion. Their meat offerings constituted the family meal; and a pig +seemed to them the more proper object to sacrifice to the gods, in that +its flesh was a favorite article of diet with themselves.</p> + +<p>In many instances, the Romans committed, as they believed, the fortunes +of the State to the religious zeal of the women. There were several +divine protectresses whose worship was the exclusive duty of the gentler +sex. The most important of all was Vesta; to permit her sacred flame to +expire was one of the greatest of public calamities. The fact that these +offices held by women were looked upon by the Romans as of exceeding +importance could but reflect a dignity upon womanhood and enhance the +respect in which the sex was held. In fact, though women held no +recognized place in civil and State affairs, in religion they attained +much nearer to equal rights with the men. If a man were a priest, his +wife was a priestess. So firmly did women assert the authority gained +through possession of religious office, that in the reign of Tiberius it +was deemed necessary to pass a law that in things sacred the priestess +of Jupiter should be subject to her husband.</p> + +<p>One of the most interesting features of Roman religion was the worship +of Vesta and the institution of an order of virgins devoted to her +service. Nothing more clearly illustrates than this the fact that Roman +religion was suggested by racial customs. A study of the earliest +history of the Aryan race shows that during the migrations of the tribes +it would naturally fall to the duty of the young girls to kindle the +camp fire whenever their people stopped to rest; and as the primitive +method of procuring fire by rubbing together dry sticks rendered this no +easy matter, it was important to preserve the flame when once it was +produced. Then, too, the camp fire signified much; it stood for comfort, +sustenance, health, family, and social community; it was either the +source or the representation of the best in primeval life. The bright +flame was to the tribesmen a beneficent deity, a goddess, of course; +for by it the work of women was especially furthered--a chastity-loving +goddess, for what so pure as fire? Hence the idea that virgins, such as +those who enkindle the useful flame, should attend the communal hearth +consecrated to the honor of the divinity and symbolical of the life of +the tribe.</p> + +<p>Numa Pompilius, the second of Rome's legendary kings, is said, as +already mentioned, to have instituted the college of the Vestal Virgins +and to have formulated the rules of the life to which they were bound. +It seems probable, however, that the order was more ancient than even +the city itself; reaching back, as has been indicated, to the +prehistoric time when the ancestors of the Latin tribes migrated from +the common Aryan home. At first the Roman Vestals were four in number, +two for each of the original Roman tribes, the Ramnes and the Tities; +after the addition of the Luceres, the number was increased to six. +Maidens were made Vestals when between six and ten years of age. +Whenever a vacancy occurred, the chief pontiff chose twenty girls from +the patrician order, care being taken to select only those who were in +perfect health, free from the least physical blemish, and showing +promise of future beauty. Then the casting of lots was resorted to, in +order that the goddess herself might have an opportunity to designate +which of the number should be selected as her priestess. The maiden to +whom fell this fortune gave her right hand to the pontiff, who said: "I +take thee; thou shalt be priestess of Vesta, and shalt perform the +sacred rites for the safety of the Roman people." Then the girl was +conducted to the house of the sacred virgins, who cut off her hair and +clothed her in the white robes of the order. The ceremony in many +respects corresponded to that of the modern nun in taking the veil. The +term of consecration was thirty years, thus giving the votaries ten +years in which to learn their duties, ten for the practice of them as +serving members, and ten in which they governed the order and enjoyed +the highest honors in its gift. After thirty years, the Vestals were at +liberty to return to their families, or to marry, if they so desired; +but advantage was rarely taken of this permission, they preferring the +service of the goddess to whom they had vowed their virginity.</p> + +<p>The principal duty of the Vestals was to preserve the fire which burned +day and night on the altar of their divinity. If through rare mischance +it became extinguished, it was the rule that the sacred flame might only +be rekindled by rubbing together pieces of wood from a particular tree +which was resorted to with great and solemn ceremony. Later, however, +there was adopted the method of concentrating the rays of the sun in a +vase of burnished metal. The Vestals had other important functions, +chief of which were the offering of certain sacrifices and the +protection of records and important documents as well as of the +venerable relics of the city. These were preserved in the most secret +part of the temple; and among them were the fetiches which were said to +have been brought to Troy by Dardanus, and from Troy to Italy by Æneas. +These were believed by the Romans to be the guaranties for the existence +of the Empire. No one but the Chief Vestal was permitted to enter the +inner sanctuary, where they were kept. It is no wonder that, as the +functions committed to their charge were believed to be fraught with +such tremendous import to the State, to these priestesses was paid a +respect as great if not greater than any Roman official might claim. +They were most carefully guarded against insult or offence, anyone +offering such being punished with death. Whenever a Vestal appeared in +public, she was preceded by a lictor, before whom everyone made way, +even the highest officer of the State. The fasces were always lowered in +her presence. She was free from that guardianship by male relatives to +which all other Roman women were subject. Consequently, a Vestal not +only could receive legacies, but also enjoyed an untrammelled right in +the disposal of her property. In a court of justice she could make a +deposition without being required to take the oath. At all public games +and religious banquets she had the seat of honor. If a criminal, even on +the way to execution, met her by accident in the street, he was +immediately set free.</p> + +<p>On the other hand, if their privileges were great, the discipline was +severe. If they transgressed the minor rules of the order, chastisement +was administered by the Chief Vestal. If she herself were the offender, +or if the offence were something of so serious a nature as permitting +the extinction of the sacred fire, the delinquent maiden was stripped +and then scourged by the chief pontiff in the gloom of a darkened room. +If a Vestal broke her vow of chastity, a horrible death awaited her. In +a place called <i>campus sceleratus</i>--the accursed field--an underground +chamber was prepared. This chamber was carefully furnished with a bed, a +lamp, a small quantity of oil, bread, water, and milk. The victim was +placed upon a bier and borne with funeral pomp to the place of doom. +There, in the presence of the multitude, after the priest had uttered +certain prayers, the Vestal descended into her living tomb. The vault +was quickly covered, and then roofed with brick; the earth was replaced +and carefully levelled; thus all traces of the death chamber were +obliterated, and the unfortunate victim was left to her fate. The +witnesses of the execution turned away from the spot in the belief that +the death of the criminal would avert dire evils from themselves and +their families.</p> + +<p>Though it may be they are not sufficiently well attested to preclude the +doubt that the innocent were sometimes sacrificed, it is interesting to +note that there are occasions on record when Vesta came to the rescue of +her servants. Dionysius relates how, when Æmilia was about to be +punished for intrusting the sacred fire to a novice, who let it go out, +the Vestal, having first prayed to the goddess, tore a strip from her +robe and cast it upon the ashes, when the fire immediately blazed up. +Tuccia, who was accused of violating her vow of continence, appealed to +the goddess and said: "O Vesta, if I have ever approached thee with +clean hands, grant me a sign to prove my innocence." Then, as though by +inspiration, she took a sieve, and going to the Tiber brought it back +full of water, thus showing that miracles are never lacking in any +religion when its votaries in after ages have sufficient faith to +believe in them. This occurrence was made the subject of the engraving +on the seal of the order, a specimen of which has been preserved to the +present time. In the fourth century before Christ, Postumia was charged +with a like offence. She succeeded in proving her innocence without +summoning the gods as witnesses; but the chief pontiff, "by the +instruction of the college, commanded her to refrain from indiscreet +mirth, and to dress with more regard to sanctity than elegance."</p> + +<p>The temple of Vesta stood at the east end of the Forum, the site being +well authenticated by the ruins which remain. Tradition held that the +first temple was built by Numa; this was destroyed in B.C. 390, when the +city was burned by the Gauls. It was afterward rebuilt no less than four +times, always on the exact site, the same form and size being adhered +to. It was small and circular in shape, the domed roof being supported +on columns which surrounded the inner wall. In the interior was the +low, round altar where burned continually the sacred fire, to the care +of which the virgin priestesses were devoted. The house in which the +Vestals resided stood behind the temple, toward the Palatine hill. A few +years ago, excavations were made in the accumulated soil at the foot of +the hill, and a rich reward was gained in the discovery of this house, +in a remarkably fine state of preservation. It has the large atrium, +common to ancient Roman houses, and into which the rooms open from all +sides. The stairs remain, and many of the rooms on the upper floor are +still intact. That the Vestals lived in luxurious style is attested by +the richness of the decorations and by the remains of bathrooms and +hot-air flues. The latter were used for heating Roman buildings from a +furnace, very much in the same manner as the method to which we are +accustomed. That which interests us far more than anything else about +this house, however, is the fact that there were found in it a large +number of statues representing the Vestals themselves. Each statue +originally stood upon a pedestal bearing the name and a dedicatory +inscription. Presumably, the faces and the figures do not flatter the +sacred maidens, for they are neither beautiful nor graceful; but they +give us their names, and, what is perhaps of still greater interest, +they represent the Vestal dress. This consisted of a long gown, with a +cord around the waist, knotted in front. Over this there is a large +mantle, so arranged as to be drawn over the head like a hood; this falls +in great folds, with heavy tassels at the corners. Around the head is +the characteristic diadem-like band of wool which always distinguished +the Vestals, and was to them what the veil is to a nun. The feet are +covered with boots of some soft material. The inscriptions on the +pedestals are dated, the latest date being that of A.D. 364. This +pedestal is particularly interesting because of the fact that the +Vestal's name has been defaced, not, however, by an act of purposeless +vandalism. It was evidently done with deliberate intent to obliterate +the name; for the initial "C" has been left, in order that, though she +were disowned, the identity of the offending virgin might not be +forgotten. She was Claudia, who became a convert to the Christian faith.</p> + +<p>The glorification of virginity in the Vestal order must have helped to +sustain the high moral tone which prevailed among the women of early +Rome. They constantly beheld, in the very centre of the civic life, a +group of maidens who held a position of surpassing honor as a reward for +absolute purity of character. Although celibacy was not esteemed for its +own sake, nor in any instance save that of the votaries of Vesta and +Ceres, in them it could but be effective as an example of virtue. And +when to the sanctity essential to the office was added the personal +reputation of those virgins whose fame for holiness was augmented by +many years of devotion, the influence must have been all in favor of +good morals. What need, it may pertinently be asked, had the Roman women +to worship at the shrine of the goddess of chastity, when they had +Occia, who, as Tacitus informs us, presided over the Vestals for +fifty-seven years with the greatest sanctity? That such an example was +not more effective than it really was must be attributed to the fact +that the maids and matrons of Rome considered, as is quite consistent +with human wont in all times, that the supererogatory virtue of the +Vestals atoned for any deficiencies in their own. It may be that this +attribution of a vicarious character thereto partly accounts for the +high valuation set upon Vestal virginity. And though a time came when an +untarnished reputation was contentedly dispensed with elsewhere, it was +still rigidly demanded in the house of Vesta.</p> + +<p>Yet, despite all this care, the order was not entirely immune from the +counteracting influence of the times. As Roman morals relaxed, it became +a less infrequent thing for scandals derogatory to the reputation of the +Vestals to be whispered through the city. Toward the close of the +Republic, an intrigue with one of these maidens was considered by the +young nobility as all the more attractive on account of the difficulty +and danger accompanying it; and there is evidence to support the belief +that the attempt was not always unsuccessful. When Rome became infected +with the turpitude which marked its decadence, the college of Vesta did +not escape. There were occasions, however, down to the latest pagan +times, when the priestesses were violently brought to a consciousness of +the requirements of their office; as when Domitian severely punished +them for delinquencies which, strange to say, had been overlooked by +Vespasian and Titus.</p> + +<p>Another cult closely affecting the feminine portion of Roman society was +the worship of Ceres, one of the twelve great deities of the Capitol. +She was the goddess of corn and the harvest, the mythical daughter of +Saturn and Vesta, and, like her divine mother, demanded a virgin +priestess; and the women who were devoted to her service enjoyed +privileges almost equal to those of the Vestals. The Romans paid her +great adoration, and her festival, lasting eight days, was celebrated by +the matrons every year during the month of April. They bore lighted +torches, in commemoration of the myth which describes the goddess as +lighting torches at the flames of Mount Ætna, to go in search of +Proserpine, her daughter, who had been carried off by Pluto. It was +required of all the matrons who took part in her mysteries that they +should undergo an initiation; to attend the festival without first being +initiated was punishable with death.</p> + +<p>As the Roman women worshipped Vesta and Ceres, so they also paid +reverence to Bona Dea, the good goddess, who blessed matrimonial unions +with fruitfulness. In her character, as conceived in the earliest times, +was exemplified that chastity which at first was estimated so highly and +later abandoned so lightly. The myth regarding her states that, after +her marriage, she was seen by no man except her husband. In allusion to +this, her festival was celebrated at night by the Roman matrons, in the +houses of the highest officers of the State. On such occasions, the man +of the house left his abode in the evening, and with him was sent forth +every male creature. All the statues of men that were in the house were +carefully veiled, and for that night the women were in sole possession. +As to the nature of the ceremonies, we have no very definite +information; for, though they were not always safe from male intrusion, +the matrons seem at least to have succeeded well in preserving the +secret of their mysteries; but, as the Roman method of doing honor to +the gods always included entertainment for the worshippers, we may take +it for granted that the festival of Bona Dea consisted principally of +banqueting, music, and games. It is alleged, however, that in later +times these developed into practices far less innocent.</p> + +<p>Juvenal says: "The secrets of Bona Dea are well known. When the music +excites them and they are inflamed with it and the wine, these Mænads of +Priapus rush wildly around, and whirl their locks and howl." Then he +goes on to accuse the participators in these celebrations of the most +depraved excesses. But Juvenal's shafts of satire are not so greatly +characterized by the sharpness of their point as by the force with which +they are launched; and it is very apparent that, in order to make his +invectives tell, he never hesitated in resorting to exaggeration. While +all authorities agree that the rites employed in the worship of Bona Dea +were accompanied in later times by unlicensed conduct on the part of the +matrons, history gives no very conclusive proof of the veracity of the +accusation. There is the intrusion of Clodius in the house of Julius +Cæsar on such an occasion; but to cite this as evidence does not +materially substantiate the charge, for the only woman who seemed +willing to consent to his presence was Pompeia, and she did not have an +opportunity to meet him, as the others very promptly drove him from the +house.</p> + +<p>The continual degeneration of Roman morals will compel us later on to +depict a social life in which there is little to relieve the monotony of +misconduct; hence it is only giving the Roman woman the full advantage +of everything that may be said in her favor, if we glance back at an +incident which happened in the times when virtuous matrons were still +the rule and not the exception. In B.C. 295, the Senate, in order to +avert evils predicted by the omens, decreed that two days should be +spent in religious devotions. Livy relates that at this time a +disagreement arose among the matrons who were worshipping at the Temple +of Patrician Chastity. It is illustrative of the fact that it is +difficult for women--though possibly the criticism should not be +confined to their sex--to be faultless in essentials without being +censorious in indifferent matters. We will allow the Roman historian to +tell the story in his own fashion. "Virginia, daughter of Aulus, a +patrician, but married to Volumnius the consul, a plebeian, was excluded +by the other matrons from sharing in the sacred rites, because she had +married out of the patrician order. A short altercation ensued, which +was afterward, through the intemperance of passion incident to the sex, +kindled into a flame of contention. Virginia boasted with truth that +she had a right to enter the Temple of Patrician Chastity, as being of +patrician birth and chaste in her character, and, besides, the wife of +one husband, to whom she was betrothed a virgin, and, moreover, she had +no reason to be dissatisfied either with her husband, his exploits, or +his honors. To her high-spirited words she added importance by an +extraordinary act. She enclosed with a partition a part of her house, of +a size sufficient for a small shrine, and there erected an altar. Then, +calling together the plebeian matrons, and complaining of the injurious +behavior of the patrician ladies, she said: 'This altar I dedicate to +Plebeian Chastity, and exhort you that the same degree of emulation +which prevails among the men of the State on the point of valor may be +maintained by the women on the point of virtue; and that you contribute +your best care that this altar may have the credit of being attended +with a greater degree of sanctity and by chaster women than the other, +if possible.' Solemn rites were performed at this altar under almost the +same regulations as those of the more ancient one, no person being +allowed the privilege of taking part in the sacrifices unless a woman of +approved chastity, and who was the wife of one husband."</p> + +<p>Livy goes on to relate that the plebeian shrine did not maintain the +high standard set by its founder; for it afterward received women who +were very far from living up to the rules originally laid down. It +eventually passed out of existence; but that the patrician temple of +chastity stood as a rebuke to the license of later generations is shown +by Juvenal when he says: "With what sort of scorn Tullia snuffs the air +when she passes the ancient altar of chastity."</p> + +<p>The piety of the Roman women added many to the great number of temples +erected for the worship of the gods, and sacred edifices consecrated to +goddesses were numerous. Sometimes temples were built by the State for +the especial use of women. After the wrath of Coriolanus was appeased by +women's instrumentality, the Temple of Female Fortune was presented to +them as a reward. Another temple was consecrated to <i>Fortuna virilis</i>. +The function of this goddess at first was to preserve to wives the +affections of their husbands; but, as times changed, the divinity also +forfeited her former good character, and degenerated into a patroness of +the most unprincipled coquettes. This temple is one of the ancient +edifices which have been preserved and turned to modern uses; for over a +thousand years it has served as a Christian church, under the name of +Saint Mary of Egypt. It belongs to Armenians of the Roman Catholic faith +who reside in Rome; and the thought suggests itself that that +vicissitude is not entirely inappropriate which has brought to pass that +the temple, where ancient courtesans sought the aid of the goddess of +chance, is now dedicated to Mary, the famous penitent of Egypt.</p> + +<p>It was customary in imperial Rome for temples to be erected in honor of +the emperors, but the memory of only one woman was ever thus celebrated; +and in this case the devotion of the husband, rather than worthiness on +the part of his wife, is indicated. This was the temple of Faustina, +built after her death by the noble Antoninus Pius. If the historians of +the time can be relied upon in the matter, there were no qualities in +Faustina save her beauty which her imperial husband could justly +commemorate. But Antoninus thought differently; and, in the history of +the emperors, there is certainly nothing so affecting as the sanctity in +which, to the day of his death, he held her memory. However faulty +Faustina may have been, surely she was as worthy of being deified as +most of the emperors who received that honor. This, undoubtedly, was +the thought of her husband, who was too much of a philosopher to believe +seriously in any of the Roman deities, human or supernatural. He simply +adopted the popular method in his desire to pay the highest honor +possible to his wife. This temple, parts of which still remain, was also +used as a church during the Middle Ages; but its chief interest at the +present day is found in the numerous ancient scribblings that have been +discovered upon its columns and their bases.</p> + +<p>During the earlier years of the Republic, religion had an extremely good +effect upon the morals of the people. Men dared not invoke the aid of +Jove in an unjust cause; women could hope for favors at the hands of +Vesta, Ceres, or Bona Dea only by pledging the rectitude of their +conduct. But as the people lived continually in the fear of the gods, +their religion was more effective as a police institution than it was +productive as a source of comfort. As is inevitable with all religions, +the spirit demanded new forms before the people became conscious that +the old were outgrown; and the time came when Roman worship became +nothing more than tiresome, uninteresting ceremonies, which were +conducted with incredibly slavish care respecting niceties of ritual. +This ceased to appeal to the heart, and could no longer commend itself +convincingly to the mind. Hence, when foreign deities and new forms of +worship came to Rome in the triumphal processions of the victorious +generals, the people were ready to receive them with that hope which +always welcomes untried possibilities.</p> + +<p>A new deity ushered into their well-filled pantheon always seemed to the +Romans a valuable acquisition. A god in Rome was a god for Rome; and to +extend cordial hospitality to all known divinities was a part of the +national policy. As the conquering armies carried the fame of Rome +further in the world, the women at home had an ever-widening range of +divinities at whose altars they might make supplication for the success +of the warriors. The city at last became as cosmopolitan in its pantheon +as in its population. If the matrons tired of, or were disappointed +with, time-honored Vesta and Ceres, they might turn to the +passion-exciting rites of the Syrian Astarte, to the weird ceremonies of +the Phrygian Cybele, or to the more intellectual mysteries of the +Egyptian Isis. When Veii was captured, the most highly valued spoil was +the statue of Matuta; and as fortune had forsaken the city, the goddess +seemed content to depart with it. So at least the Romans believed; for +they asserted that when the deity was asked if she were willing to take +up her abode at Rome, she assented with a perceptible nod of the head. +This was considered a piece of good fortune of almost equal worth with +the gain of the city. The worship of Matuta being more peculiarly the +function of the women, the fact that they outdid the men in their +rejoicing is thus accounted for, history informing us that they crowded +the temples to give thanks even before the people were ordered to do so +by the Senate. Only married women, and of these only the freeborn, were +allowed in the temple of Matuta, except when they carried thither their +children for the blessing of the goddess.</p> + +<p>But the first marked deterioration of the ancient Roman worship through +the influence of foreign rites occurred with the advent of the Idæan +Mother. In B.C. 203, the Romans, at the command of the Sybilline +oracles, sent to Asia Minor for the famous Phrygian deity Cybele, the +mythical mother of the gods. The Senate was required to appoint the most +virtuous man in the Republic to the duty of receiving the image of the +goddess. This honor was awarded to Publius Scipio; but it was reserved +to a matron to derive from the incident a more lasting fame and a +greater present advantage. The women of Rome went to Ostia to escort the +deity to the city. The legend narrates that the vessel bearing the image +ran upon a shoal at the mouth of the Tiber, and all efforts to get it +off proved ineffectual. One of the noblest of the matrons present was +Claudia Quinta. Whether justly or otherwise, this lady had been brought +under suspicion in regard to her conduct. Seeing in the predicament of +the goddess a grand opportunity, she adventured her reputation upon a +daring chance for vindication. Making her way to the side of the vessel, +it being close to the bank, she supplicated the divine mother to bear +witness to her virtue by following the persuasion of her chaste hands. +Then she fastened her girdle to the prow of the boat, and, to the wonder +of all and to the overthrow of her slanderers, the vessel easily yielded +to her slight exertion. As a proof of the truth of this, following +generations could point to the statue of Claudia which the men of the +time erected at the door of the temple of Cybele.</p> + +<p>Victor Duruy, commenting on the change wrought by these new divinities, +says, "they gave a new cast to the religious convictions of people to +whom a very crude form of worship had so long sufficed. Born in the +scorching East, these deities required savage rites and pious orgies. +Dramatic spectacles, intoxicating ceremonies, affected violently the +dull Roman mind, and excited religious frenzy; for the first time the +Roman felt those transports which, according to the character of the +doctrine and the condition of the mind, produce effects diametrically +opposite,--absolute purity of life, or the excess of debauchery +sanctified by religious belief." Lucretius bears testimony to the truth +of this in the vivid picture he draws of the extravagancies which +characterized the festival of Cybele. He describes her attendants in +their pageants through the streets, dancing with ropes, leaping about to +the sound of horrid music, while blood streams from their self-inflicted +wounds. How this affected the women may be gathered from Juvenal, who +pictures this furious chorus entering a house, and the priest +threatening the matron with coming disasters, which she willingly seeks +to avert with costly offerings. In another place he refers to the temple +of "the imported mother of the gods" as being frequented by the +abandoned women, who took part in the orgies performed in her honor. +That the women were more addicted than the men to the worship of foreign +deities is perhaps suggested by a passage in Tibullus. The poet is away +from Rome, and sick. He complains: "There is no Delia here, who, when +she was about to let me go from the city, first consulted all the +gods.... Everything prognosticated my return, yet nothing could hinder +her from weeping and turning to look after me as I went.... What does +your Isis for me now, Delia? What avail me those brazen sistra of hers +so often shaken by your hand? Now, goddess, succor me; for that man may +be healed by thee is proved by many a picture in thy temples. Let my +Delia, dressed in linen, sit before thy sacred doors, performing vigils +vowed for me; and twice a day, with hair unbound, let her recite thy due +praises. But be it my lot to celebrate my native Penates, and to offer +monthly incense to my ancient Lar."</p> + +<p>But the most injurious of all the foreign superstitions was the +Bacchanalian cult, which was introduced into Rome during the second +century before Christ by a lowborn Greek from Etruria. He professed +himself to be a priest in charge of secret nocturnal rites. By appealing +to the very worst propensities of which human nature is capable, he +soon gathered around him a large following of men and women, and these +included representatives of the noblest families. They engaged in +certain religious performances; but the chief attraction was an +unrestrained indulgence in wine, feasting, and passion. Naturally, this +organization also became a hotbed for every sort of crime, including +murder and conspiracy. Owing to the pledge of secrecy extorted from the +initiates, the contagion had spread to a prodigious extent before it +came to the notice of the Senate. In the manner of its discovery, we +have an interesting drama which throws light, not only upon the matter +itself, but also reveals somewhat of the position of a certain class of +Roman women, of which history takes little personal account.</p> + +<p>Publius Æbutius was a young man of knightly rank, whose father was dead +and whose mother, Duronia, had married again. His stepfather, having +abused the property of Æbutius, and being unwilling to give an account, +conspired with the unnatural mother so to manage that her son would not +be in a position to demand an accounting. They agreed that the +Bacchanalian rites were the only way to effect the ruin of the young +man. Accordingly, his mother informed him that during his sickness she +had vowed that, if through the kindness of the gods he should recover, +she would initiate him into the rites of the Bacchanalians. She +instructed him for ten days how to prepare himself, and promised that on +the tenth she would conduct him to the place of meeting. The youth very +innocently agreed to this, thinking that it was only the due of the gods +by whose favor he enjoyed his restored health. All would have gone as +his mother desired, had it not been for the fact that he had formed a +strong attachment for a courtesan named Hispala Fecenia. This young +freedwoman was of a character far superior to the mode of life into +which she had been forced while still a slave. Hispala knew more of the +world than did Æbutius; and when he informed her that he was about to be +initiated into the rites of the Bacchanalians, she declared that it +would be better for him and also for her to lose their lives than that +he should do such a thing. She told him that when she was a slave she +had been taken to those rites by her mistress, though since her +emancipation she had been exceedingly careful to avoid the place. She +said that she knew it to be the haunt of all kinds of debauchery. Before +they parted, the young man gave her his solemn promise that he would +keep clear of those rites. The result of his adherence to this was that +his mother and stepfather drove him from home, and he was goaded into +telling the whole affair to the Consul Postumius, after first taking +counsel with his aunt Æbutia.</p> + +<p>After certain inquiries, Hispala was brought into the presence of the +consul, to whom she gave a full account of the origin of the mysteries. +She said that, at first, the rites were performed only by women. No man +was admitted. At that time, they had three stated days in the year on +which persons were initiated, but only in the daytime. The matrons then +used to be appointed priestesses in rotation. Paculla Minia, a +Campanian, when priestess, rearranged the whole system, alleging that +she did so by the direction of the gods. She introduced men, the first +being her own sons; she changed the time of celebration from day to +night; and instead of three days in the year, appointed five days in +each month for initiation. From the time that the rites were made thus +common, and the licentious freedom of the night was added, there was +nothing wicked, nothing flagitious, that had not been practised among +them. To think nothing unlawful was the grand maxim of their religion.</p> + +<p>After Hispala had made this revelation, Postumius proceeded to lay the +whole matter before the Senate. A vigorous prosecution of the +Bacchanalians ensued; and it was found that over seven thousand men and +women had taken the oath of the association, thus proving that the rapid +growth of a religion gives no assurance of the truth of its doctrines or +the purity of its principles. Those who were found to be most deeply +stained by evil practices were put to death; many put an end to +themselves, so as to avoid punishment at the hands of the authorities; +the others were imprisoned. The women who were condemned were delivered +to their relations, or to those under whose guardianship they were, to +be punished in private; but if there did not appear any proper person of +the kind to execute the sentence, the punishment was nevertheless +inflicted, but in private and by a person appointed by the court.</p> + +<p>The Senate also passed a vote, on the suggestion of the Consul +Postumius, that the city quæstors should give to both Æbutius and +Hispala a certain goodly sum of money out of the public treasury, as a +reward for discovering the iniquitous Bacchanalian ceremonies. Æbutius +was exempted from compulsory service in the army; and to Hispala it was +granted that she should enjoy the unique privileges of disposing in any +way she chose of her property; that she should be at liberty to wed a +man of honorable birth, and that there should be no disgrace to him who +should marry her; and that it should be the business of the consuls then +in office, and of their successors, to take care that no injury should +ever be offered to her.</p> + +<p>Though the Bacchanalian abuses were thus strenuously dealt with by the +Roman authorities, this and other like parasitical growths which +fastened themselves upon the religious instincts of the people were not +to be shaken off. Among the many noxious developments that crept over +and eventually choked the life out of the sturdy ancient stock, we find +every vicious substitute for religion known to the ante-Christian world. +During the decadence of Rome, the ancient national religion became +disintegrated and almost wholly superseded. Many of the empresses +patronized the foreign orgiastic cults; and, taking the many-sided +development of Roman religion as a whole, the strange spectacle is +presented of a remarkable improvement in philosophy accompanying a great +deterioration in morals. On the one hand, there were those who were +struggling to a conception of the transcendental nature of the deity and +the unity of nature; on the other hand were those who were doing in the +name of the gods everything that is considered unworthy of humanity. And +in all the evil fructification of base conceptions of religion, as well +as in the knowledge of the higher philosophy, woman had her full share. +No Roman woman was irreligious, however great the obliquity of her moral +character, though sometimes her piety took a form so bizarre that the +fact outruns imagination. Agrippina the Younger, for an example, was +created priestess to the deified Claudius, whom she had cajoled into +marrying her despite the fact that he was her uncle.</p> + +<p>It must not be imagined, however, that because Roman religion developed +these excesses through the infusion of Oriental superstitions, it came +to be devoid of those uplifting influences which are the province of +faith in the divine. There were never wanting those who, loving the +good, the beautiful, and the true, supported their aspirations by their +belief in the providence of deity; and the doctrine of a future life, +though held only with much vacillation by the philosophers, was +continually resorted to for comfort by the multitude. How widespread +were these ideas, and how greatly similar to our own were the thoughts +of those ancient Romans, are matters lost sight of by people who need no +further reason for dismissing a religion from their consideration than +the mere fact that it is pagan. Plutarch, who defended the dogma of the +unity of God, of His providence, and of the immortality of the soul, +wrote to his wife: "You know that there are those who persuade the +multitude that the soul, when once freed from the body, suffers no +inconvenience nor evil." The more positive, though less philosophical, +faith of the people is illustrated by the words a mother carved upon the +sepulchre of her child: "We are afflicted by a cruel wound; but thou, +renewed in thy existence, livest in the Elysian fields. The gods order +that he who has deserved the light of day should return under another +form; this is a reward which thy goodness has gained thee. Now, in a +flowery mead, the blessed, marked with the sacred seal, admit thee to +the flock of Bacchus, where the Naiades, who bear the sacred baskets, +claim thee as their companion in leading the solemn processions by the +light of the torches." Except for somewhat of the imagery, and the pagan +names, this woman's faith might easily be accepted as Christian.</p> +<a name="c4" id="c4"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>IV</h3> + +<h3>THE PASSING OF OLD ROMAN SIMPLICITY</h3> + +<p>With the spread of her foreign conquests, Rome herself was subjugated +by a rapid revolution in thought and habit. From the middle of the +second century before Christ, we look in vain for the old Republic. +Religion, manners, morals, occupations, amusements--all have changed. +The old-time Roman character is passing away, like a tide, through the +narrowing channel of the ever-decreasing number of those who cling to +the ancient ideals. Morality has started upon that ebb of which the days +of Caligula and Nero saw the lowest mark to which a civilized people +ever fell. The Romans could not withstand the temptations incidental to +conquest. Physically invincible, they were not armed against the onset +of foreign vices. The State grew inordinately wealthy by pillage and +exaction; a single campaign yielded booty to the value of nine million +six hundred thousand dollars. Scipio wept when he took Carthage; for +well he knew that his people were in no way prepared to assume such +extensive dominion, except at the cost of national character. Polybius +says that after the conquest of Macedon men believed themselves able to +enjoy in all security the conquest of the world and the spoils thereof.</p> + +<p>But wealth was not the sole constituent of the harvest gathered in by +Roman swords. After the transmarine wars, new ideas and Greek learning +became common among a people who were not adapted, as the Greeks, to +mere theorizing, but carried out their thoughts, whether for good or +ill, to the full extent of their powers. The consequence was that Rome +plunged with deadly earnestness into newly acquired vices; and the novel +teachings of Hellenism, instead of elevating the minds of the people, +served only to create indifference to the ancient divinities. "You ask," +says Juvenal, "whence arise our disorders? A humble life in other days +preserved the innocence of the Latin women. Protracted vigils, hands +hardened by toil, Hannibal at the gates of Rome, and Roman citizens in +arms upon her walls, guarded from vice the modest dwellings of our +fathers. Now we endure the evils of a long peace; luxury has fallen upon +us, more formidable than the sword, and the conquered world has avenged +itself upon us by the gift of its vices. Since Rome has lost her noble +poverty, Sybaris and Rhodes, Miletus and Tarentum, crowned with roses +and scented with perfumes, have entered our walls." All the ancient +writers agree upon the same verdict. The old austerity of life was more +the result of poverty than of conscience; the simple habits of the first +centuries of the Republic were cherished only so long as there were no +means to render them more luxurious. Had wealth come to Rome through +industry, the slower process, which alone develops the power of +appreciation, would have fitted the people to make good use of their +better fortune.</p> + +<p>But riches surprised them; and we see ostentatious depravity quickly +taking the place of a pure, though meagre, life. To quote again from +Polybius, who himself was carried from Macedon to Rome as a prisoner of +war: "Most of the Romans live in strange dissipation. The young allow +themselves to be carried away by the most shameful excesses. They are +given to shows, to feasts, to luxury and disorder of every kind, which +it is too evident they have learned from the Greeks during the war with +Perseus." Cato calls attention to the new manners with that bitter scorn +which was so strong in the old Roman. "See this Roman," he says; "he +descends from his chariot, he pirouettes, he recites buffooneries and +jokes and vile stories, then sings or declaims Greek verses, and then +resumes his pirouettes." Imitation of the Greeks was zealously adopted +in the education of the young. Scipio Æmilianus says: "When I entered +one of the schools to which the nobles send their sons, great gods! I +found there more than five hundred young girls and lads who were +receiving among actors and infamous persons lessons on the lyre, in +singing, in posturing; and I saw a child of twelve, the son of a +candidate for office, executing a dance worthy of the most licentious +slave." The school here referred to must not be understood as the +regular institution for the imparting of knowledge to Roman children; +the purpose of that described seems to have been the cultivation of what +the Romans had come to regard as genteel accomplishments. There were +other schools for instruction in reading, writing, and the usual +branches of knowledge. These schools also were as free of access to +girls as to boys, and were always conducted as private enterprises +rather than by the State.</p> + +<p>The remarkable revolution in thought and manners which Hellenism +introduced into Rome could not fail profoundly to affect the existence +of woman. That she was not far behind man in "running to every excess of +riot" is abundantly shown by the historians and other writers of the +time. In that city which was once remarkable for the purity of its +morals, houses of ill repute became plentiful. These were occupied +principally by women who had been slaves, but had gained their liberty +by the sacrifice of their honor. Houses of this character are the scenes +of nearly all the comedies of Plautus and Terence, who found all their +material in Rome, though they located the brothels of which they write +at Athens and used Greek names for their characters. Prostitution, +however, was not confined to the freedwomen; women of all classes were +necessarily drawn into the vortex of degeneracy. Notwithstanding the +fact that in B.C. 141 the Senate made a serious effort to resist the +increasing looseness of morals, going so far as to build a temple to +Venus Verticordia, the Venus who was supposed to convert women's hearts +to virtue, the character of the times devoted the whole sex too +zealously to Aphrodite for anything noteworthy to result from the appeal +to her nobler namesake.</p> + +<p>Yet it must not be imagined that all the new impulses which came from +victorious contact with foreign lands had no other than a detrimental +effect upon the life of the women of Rome. The changes which were taking +place provided a door to liberty, though to very many it meant nothing +else but an egress to unrestrained license. In any case, the horizon of +the Roman woman's outlook became greatly extended; her mind expanded as +it busied itself about an increasing number of subjects, and the range +of her activities was materially widened. As her husband now had other +interests besides those of the warrior, the citizen, and the +agriculturist, in the last of which she had alone been allowed a +recognized part, a larger field was now provided in which she might be +his companion; henceforward she became less an appendage and more an +equal. Not, however, because new laws were passed in her favor; indeed, +the laws were framed rather with the purpose of overcoming the results +of those circumstances which were effecting her emancipation. But it is +impossible to overcome a development which is the natural result of +conditions that are welcomed by the people; so, in the new society by +which the old order was superseded in Italy, women soon learned how, by +means of legal fictions, they might accomplish ends which were still +illegal. It is altogether a new woman that we find in the last century +of the Republic, taking the place of the old-time matron. She drives +about the city in an equipage befitting her wealth and position; she +entertains in her sumptuous home learned men, with whom she studies the +Greek authors; she brings such influence to bear on the Senate as to +cause laws to be passed in her favor; she frequently intrigues in +matters political; she is not unaccustomed to divorce and remarriage; +and, thus engaged, she leaves the spinning of wool, the occupation from +time immemorial esteemed honorable by matrons, entirely to her domestics +and her slaves.</p> + +<p>These great changes in the status of woman did not take place without a +protest. They were the occasion of serious contentions in the Senate and +of bitter reproaches on the part of the lovers of the old-fashioned +ways, Hellenism being blamed for the mischief, on one occasion all Greek +philosophers were driven from the city; but that was like removing the +old seed after the well-matured plant had grown to depend upon its own +roots. The people of Rome were in reality divided into three classes in +respect to the new order of things. There were the younger men and women +of the nobility, who welcomed the change, but who were intoxicated with +the novel pleasures to which wealth gave them access, and into which +they rushed with an utter disregard of propriety. Among them, however, +were some thoughtful souls,--a class of a better character,--who, while +they most cordially entertained that which Hellenism had to teach them +in regard to a broader style of life, knew how to winnow the chaff from +the grain and to feed their minds with the latter. These found their +best representatives in the Scipio family, all of whom were zealous +patrons of Greek learning. As we have noticed in a previous chapter, +Cornelia, the daughter of Scipio Africanus, maintained her house at +Misenum in a most liberal manner, making it a centre of erudition and +gathering around her many of the learned men of her time. In opposition +to both these classes were men whose type may be found in all ages, who +were uncompromising in their conservatism and who could see nothing but +a presage of national disaster in every change from the old methods of +life. Their complete idea of what a woman should be and do was expressed +in the formula: "She is virtuous; she stays at home; she spins wool." +This party was ably headed by Cato the Censor, who was entirely +incapable of understanding why the women of his day should desire +anything other than that which satisfied their feminine antecedents in +the poverty-pinched times of the early Republic.</p> + +<p>The ultra-conservative ideal was, of course, incapable of realization, +though there was still in the minds of the people a large residuum of +sentiment which could be employed in its favor; but when the times are +ready to change, the most powerful appeal is futile. The wiser course +was taken by the Scipios and the Gracchi, who endeavored to steer the +new movement in the way of betterment and reform. This, if successful, +would have conserved the ancient principles by adapting them to the new +conditions, and Rome would have maintained her moral greatness while +still enhancing her material prestige; but the momentum given by the +haste of the people to acquire what as yet they knew not how to enjoy +carried Roman society past every turn in the right direction. +Consequently, the mother of the Gracchi was honored as a prodigy of +female excellence rather than, as she might have been, an example of +what Roman matrons might become in the new liberty. Then began the +loosening of moral restraint, by which Rome fell to a condition of +savagery which was rendered all the more horrible by the presence of the +material concomitants of civilization.</p> + +<p>It must be remembered, however, that the common people of any age or +country change their customs more slowly than do the more favored +classes. Unfortunately, the historians have never regarded the lives of +people of the ordinary populace as being worthy of record; hence, we +have the names and the doings of only the women of the Roman nobility. +Were it otherwise, it is probable that we should discover that among the +matrons of the middle class in Italy there were in each generation many +who maintained, in their quiet lives, the virtue of the ancient ideals, +until the time came when their life principle was reinforced by new +teaching, not from Greece, but from Galilee. Doubtless also, such as +these were more greatly encouraged to perseverance by the stern +conservatives who upheld the past--a model which they at least could +comprehend--than they were by the high-minded progressivists, who led in +paths which were as yet untried. For this reason, it may be well for us +to take a glance at the home of Cato, who sturdily antagonized the new +movement and was the uncompromising opposer of every effort to alter the +fashion of female life. He was the valedictorian of ancient Roman +simplicity. That the common people were in sympathy with him is shown by +the fact that they erected his statue in the Temple of Health, and, +instead of recounting his exploits in battle, simply placed upon the +pedestal an inscription saying that he was Cato the Censor, who +vigilantly watched over the moral health of the State.</p> + +<p>If the house of Cato is to be regarded as an example of the ancient +manner of life, the suspicion is forced upon us that the young Roman +women of the time must have been thankful that in the great statesman's +home they saw the last of the old régime. It was a small house, situated +on the censor's lands in the Sabine country, where the luxuriousness of +the city was unknown. Here his wife dwelt, superintending the +agricultural and domestic activities, while her husband was absent at +Rome or in the wars. We may be sure that Cato's wife remained at home; +this her husband's antipathy to expense sufficiently guarantees. The man +who sold his horse, which had carried him through a severe campaign, +because he would not charge the State with the cost of conveying it from +Spain, would doubtless, by reason of the extra expense, refrain from +giving his wife an invitation to join him in his official residence at +the metropolis. Moreover, detesting the growing profligacy of the times, +he had no mind to bring her into contact with that luxury which, as +censor, he strove so mightily to eradicate. For amusement, she was +obliged to content herself with the rustic festivals, which were more +cheerful than exciting, and knew nothing of the terrible scenes of the +circus and the amphitheatre, which the fashionable ladies of the city +were accustoming themselves to witness with a calmness unbecoming to +their sex. Her religious devotions were performed before the household +gods and in the simple country shrines, if not with as great +satisfaction, certainly with as good effect as they might have been in +the splendid temples at Rome. In the conduct of her house were observed +the strictest rules of frugality. There was no waste; everything which +the family could not use was sold, if only for a farthing.</p> + +<p>Rectitude, justice, and thrift were the only ideals followed in this +home. If Cato's wife possessed anything of the artistic in her +temperament, she enjoyed little opportunity for its indulgence. Her +husband was very far from the opinion that the gods and goddesses were +more easily propitiated by devotions paid before beautiful Grecian +statuary than when represented by the ill-shaped images of Roman +creation. In the otherwise undecorated atrium were the Penates and the +Lares--small and homely figures indeed, but endowed with all the +accumulated glory of the family; for to them was attributed all the +success of the past, and, if faithfully reverenced, as they were likely +to be in such a household, they were pledges for the prosperity of the +future. Religion must have been of especial value in Cato's family, for +its offices were the only form of sentiment that was given any freedom +of expression; all else was under the ban of the most arid practicality. +There were no old retainers who, by many years of devoted service, had +gained an established place in the affections of those upon whom they +waited; and if the mistress had been inclined to cherish such natural +regard, it was ruthlessly ignored, it being a rule with her husband to +sell his slaves for anything they would bring, as soon as they became +old and infirm. Even the bondwomen at whose breasts his children had +been nursed had for him, no other than a monetary value. The signs of +affection were, in his judgment, the marks of weakness. What a +barren-hearted puritan he must have been who could expel an honored +citizen from the Senate for no other reason than that he had kissed his +own wife in the presence of their daughter! And what a husband, who +could make his boast that he had never caressed his wife--presumably, +he meant under circumstances where others might witness such flagitious +conduct--except on the occasion of a severe thunderstorm, when he was +obliged to resort to that means of soothing her! This was evidently, +however, an affectation; for Cato admitted that it was a pleasure to him +when Jove thundered. It is apparent that his idea of the good old Roman +manner of treating a wife did not recognize the need of indulgence; and +it is not likely that one who himself took great pride in wearing the +most inexpensive quality of clothing, and was, as we shall see, the +inveterate enemy of costliness and changing fashion in woman's attire, +ever gratified his wife with a present of wearing apparel from the +city--unless she, like himself, could rate the worth of an article by +the cheapness of the bargain. Yet it is on record that he was an +excellent husband, and that he greatly appreciated his wife, whom he +married for her noble nature, despite the fact that she brought him but +a small dowry and was not of a family high in position. Doubtless his +good qualities were appreciated by his wife, especially if she was meek +enough in disposition to submit willingly to an unceasing surveillance +and interference in the minutest household matters, even, as Plutarch +informs us, to the bathing and dressing of the infants.</p> + +<p>Such was the family of Cato. It was modelled after what he conceived to +be the best traditions of Roman society before it became corrupted by +the pernicious foreign influence. He governed his own household by those +same stern principles which he sought by precept, example, and authority +to enforce upon the Roman people of his time. But his home was the last +survival of the old simplicity. An age had dawned when Roman matrons +were to become more of a factor in public life and would no longer be +satisfied to abide in the shadow of domestic routine. In their newly +gained liberty they ran to the furthest extreme of unreasonableness; but +Cato's ideas were too illiberal for nature.</p> + +<p>During the early part of the second century before Christ, there was +enacted around the Forum a scene such as never before had been witnessed +or dreamed of in Rome. Crowds of matrons were there assembled to +implore, and to gain by their importunity, the repeal of a law which +curtailed their expenditure on dress. This was the Oppian law, which had +been passed a few years previously, during the Second Punic War, when +money was needed for the public service, and the people, not excluding +the women, had responded with unbounded enthusiasm. The law in question +decreed that "No woman should possess more than half an ounce of gold, +or wear a garment of various colors, or ride in a carriage drawn by +horses, in a city or any town or any place nearer thereto than one mile, +except on occasion of some public religious solemnity." It is assumed by +all writers that the half-ounce of gold to which the women were +restricted put a restraint, beyond that limit, on the ornamentation of +their dress; this is based on the very natural supposition that whatever +of the precious metal they possessed would surely be displayed upon +their persons. It is a little doubtful whether the decree concerning +vehicles was inserted into the measure in order that the horses might be +placed at the disposal of the army, or whether this was a crafty +interpolation for the purpose of restricting the growing ostentation of +the ladies. However, the law had been passed without any objection, so +far as is known, from the women. But patient, uncomplaining submission +on the part of the Roman women to their male guardians, whether +collective or individual, was now becoming a thing of the past. They +could neither make nor repeal laws; but they were no longer afraid to +bring their influence to bear on those in whom lay that power. Champions +of their cause were found in the two plebeian tribunes, and these moved +in the Senate for the repeal of the Oppian law. Then ensued such a +turmoil as if Hannibal were again menacing the gates of Rome, except +that there was no unanimity of mind as to what should be done. This, +however, only describes the attitude of the men; the women were united +and, what is more, they were determined. They adopted what has become a +common method in modern times; not that of forwarding to the legislators +a numerously signed petition,--which is always a stronger protest than +an effective influence,--but the more powerful one of pertinacious +"lobbying." Crowds of women, reinforced by many who came in from the +country towns and villages, thronged the streets leading to the Forum +and importuned the men who were to decide the matter in which they were +concerned. But they found an inexorable opponent in the redoubtable +Cato. Livy gives us what he conceives the forceful orator to have said +on the occasion:</p> + +<a name="ill3" id="ill3"></a> +<p class="mid"><img alt="" src="images/003.png"><br> +<b><i>THE "NEW" WOMAN IN ROME<br> + After the painting by G. R. C. Boulanger</i></b></p> +<blockquote> +<b><i>In the new society by which the old order was superseded in Italy, + women soon learned how, by means of legal fictions, they might + accomplish ends which were still illegal. It is altogether a new woman + that we find in the last century of the Republic, taking the place of + the old-time matron. She drives on the Appian Way and about the + city in an equipage befitting her wealth and position; her naked + African slaves wear silver collars and beat off the beggar boys, if + she halts to purchase flowers; she entertains in her sumptuous home + learned men, with whom she studies the Greek authors; she brings + such influence to bear on the Senate as to cause laws to be passed in her + favor; she frequently intrigues in matters political; she is not + unaccustomed to divorce and remarriage; and, thus engaged, she leaves + the spinning of wool, the occupation from time immemorial esteemed + honorable by matrons, entirely to her domestics and her slaves. + </i></b> +</blockquote> + +<p>"If, Romans, every individual among us had made it a rule to maintain +the prerogative and authority of a husband with respect to his own wife, +we should have less trouble with the whole sex. But now, our privileges, +overpowered at home by female contumacy, are, even here in the Forum, +spurned and trodden under foot; and because we are not able to withstand +each separately, we now dread their collective body.... It was not +without painful emotions of shame that I, just now, made my way to the +Forum through the midst of a band of women. Had I not been restrained by +respect for the modesty and dignity of some individuals among them, +rather than of the whole number, and been unwilling that they should be +seen rebuked by a consul, I should have said to them: 'What sort of +practice is this, of running into public, besetting the streets, and +addressing other women's husbands? Could not each have made the same +request to her husband at home?. Are your blandishments more seducing in +public than in private, and with other women's husbands than your own? +Although, if the modesty of matrons confined them within the limits of +their own rights, it did not become you, even at home, to concern +yourselves about what laws might be passed or repealed here.' Our +ancestors thought it not proper that women should perform any, even +private, business, without a director; but that they should ever be +under the control of parents, brothers, or husbands. We, it seems, +suffer them now to interfere in the management of State affairs, and to +introduce themselves into the Forum, into general assemblies, and into +assemblies of election. For, what are they doing at this moment in your +streets and lanes? What but arguing, some in support of the motion of +the plebeian tribunes, others for the repeal of the law? Will you give +the reins to their intractable nature, and their uncontrolled passions, +and then expect that they themselves should set bounds to their +lawlessness, when you have failed to do so? This is the smallest of the +injunctions laid on them by usage or the laws, all of which women bear +with impatience. They long for liberty, or rather, to speak the truth, +for unbounded freedom in every particular. For what will they not +attempt, if they now come off victorious?</p> + +<p>"Recollect all the institutions respecting the sex, by which our +forefathers restrained their undue freedom, and by which they subjected +them to their husbands; and yet, even with the help of all these +restrictions, you can hardly keep them within bounds. If, then, you +suffer them to throw these off one by one, to tear them all asunder, +and, at last, to set themselves on an equal footing with yourselves, can +you imagine that they will be any longer tolerable by you? The moment +that they have arrived at an equality with you, they will have become +your superiors. But, forsooth, they only object to any new law being +made against them; they mean not to deprecate justice, but severity. +Nay, their wish is that a law which you have admitted, established by +your suffrages, and confirmed by the practice and experience of so many +years to be beneficial, should now be repealed; that is, by abolishing +one law you should weaken all the rest. No law perfectly suits the +convenience of every member of the community; the only consideration is, +whether, upon the whole, it be profitable for the greater part.... I +should like, however, to know what this important affair is which has +induced the matrons thus to run out into public in this excited manner, +scarcely restraining from pushing into the Forum and the assembly of the +people.... What motive, that even common decency will allow to be +mentioned, is pretended for this female insurrection? Why, say they, +that we may shine in gold and purple; that, both on festal and common +days, we may ride through the city in our chariots, triumphing over +vanquished and abrogated law, after having captured and wrested from you +your suffrages; and that there may be no bounds to our expenses and our +luxury.</p> + +<p>"Often have you heard me complain of the profuse expenses of the +women--often of those of the men; and that not only of men in private +stations, but of the magistrates; and that the State was endangered by +two opposite vices--luxury and avarice, those pests which have been the +ruin of all great empires. These I dread the more, as the circumstances +of the commonwealth grow daily more prosperous and happy. As the Empire +increases, as we have now passed over into Greece and Asia, places +abounding with every kind of temptation that can inflame the passions, +so much the more do I fear that these matters will bring us into +captivity, rather than we them. Believe me, those statues from Syracuse +were brought into this city with harmful effect. I already hear too many +commending and admiring the decorations of Athens and Corinth, and +ridiculing the earthen images of our Roman gods that stand on the fronts +of their temples. For my part, I prefer these gods--propitious as they +are, and I hope will continue to be, if we allow them to remain in their +own mansions.... When the dress of all is alike, why should any one of +you fear lest she should not be an object of observation? Of all kinds +of shame, the worst, surely, is the being ashamed of frugality or of +poverty; but this law relieves you with regard to both; since that which +you have not it is unlawful for you to possess. This equalization, says +the rich matron, is the very thing that I cannot endure. Why do I not +make a figure, distinguished with gold and purple? Why is the poverty of +others concealed under this cover of a law, so that it should be thought +that, if the law permitted, they would have such things as they are not +now able to procure? Romans, do you wish to excite among your wives an +emulation of this sort, that the rich should wish to have what none +other can have; and the poor, lest they be despised as such, should +extend their expenses beyond their means? Be assured that when a woman +once begins to be ashamed of what she ought not to be ashamed of, she +will not be ashamed of what she ought. She who can will purchase out of +her own purse; she who cannot will ask her husband. Unhappy is the +husband, both he who complies with the request, and he who does not; +for what he will not give himself he will see given by another.... So +soon as the law shall cease to limit the expenses of your wife, you +yourself will never be able to do so. Do not suppose that the matter +will hereafter be in the same state in which it was before the law was +made on the subject. It is safer that a wicked man should never be +accused than that he should be acquitted; and luxury, if it had never +been meddled with, would be more tolerable than it would be when, like a +wild beast, irritated by being chained, it is let loose. My opinion is +that the Oppian law ought, on no account, to be repealed."</p> + +<p>The women, however, were not without their champion. In a debate on some +ordinary affair of State, Lucius Valerius the Tribune would have been an +inconsiderable antagonist for Cato; but, on this occasion, what he +lacked in oratorical prestige was atoned for in that he had by far the +more reasonable side of the argument. The fact that it was the custom of +the Roman historians to compose, rather than report, the addresses of +their orators renders any comparison of these two Senatorial speeches on +woman's rights entirely uninteresting. Valerius is made to say: "Shall +our wives alone reap none of the fruits of the public peace and +tranquillity? Shall we men have the use of the purple? Shall our +children wear gowns bordered with the same color, and shall we interdict +the use of it to women alone? Shall your horse, even, be more splendidly +caparisoned than your wife is clothed?" An appeal to the sympathy of the +voters is made, as the matrons of Rome are represented as "seeing those +ornaments allowed to the wives of the Latin confederates, of which they +themselves have been deprived. They will behold those riding through the +city in their carriages, and decorated with gold and purple, while they +are obliged to follow on foot.... This would hurt the feelings even of +men, and what do you think must be its effect on weak women, whom even +trifles can disturb? Neither offices of State nor of the priesthood, nor +triumphs, nor badges of distinction, nor military presents, nor spoils, +may fall to their share. Elegance of appearance, and ornaments, and +dress--these are the women's badges of distinction; in these they +delight and glory; these our ancestors called the women's world."</p> + +<p>The Oppian law was repealed, and Cato, as if he wished to escape the +sight of the resulting disasters which he anticipated, took the command +of a fleet of war vessels and sailed away to Spain. How the new liberty +affected his own wife we are left to surmise; which is not difficult, in +view of the opening sentences of his address.</p> + +<p>While we are on the subject of the extraordinary fight of the women for +the repeal of this sumptuary law, it will not be inappropriate to take a +glance at the female dress of the time. There is ample evidence to show +that the women of ancient Rome were as prone to changing fashions as are +the ladies of our own day; but for several centuries the various parts +of their attire remained very much the same, the varying style affecting +chiefly the material and the quality. The costume of a Roman lady +consisted of three principal garment?,--the under tunic, the stola, and +the <i>palla</i>.</p> + +<p>The under tunic was simply a sleeveless chemise, which was worn next to +the body. Stays, of course, were utterly unknown to the ancients, as is +shown by their statuary, which in these times affords us our only +opportunity of knowing what a naturally developed female figure is like. +A bosom band, or, as it was called, a strophium, made of leather, was +frequently worn above the tunic.</p> + +<p>The stola was a white garment with sleeves, which covered only the upper +part of the arm; it was fastened above the shoulder with a clasp. The +<i>stola</i> hung in large folds reaching to and covering the feet; around +the bottom was sewn a broad flounce, called the <i>instita</i>. Above this +<i>instita</i> was a purple band, which was the only color, other than white, +ever used for the <i>stola</i>, except a colored stripe or sometimes gold +around the neck. Among the Romans, the <i>stola</i> had a serious +significance, beyond its use as an article of attire. Only matrons of +unsullied reputation were permitted to wear it. Women of tarnished +character were obliged to wear a dark-colored <i>toga</i>, somewhat similar +to that of the men; we find Horace speaking of the <i>togata</i>,--in +contradistinction to the matrons, and Tibullus writes of the prostitute +with her <i>toga</i>.</p> + +<p>The <i>palla</i>, the out-of-doors garment, was to the women what the <i>toga</i> +was to the men. This was a large, white, and probably square, robe, or +mantle,--later on, colors became fashionable,--and the complex manner of +wearing it may best be understood by an examination of Roman statuary. +The feet were protected by sandals in the house, and shoes for street or +public wear; these were greatly ornamented. The shoes were of various +colors, generally white, but frequently green or yellow, and fastened +with red strings.</p> + +<p>The Roman ladies, like those of modern times, exercised great care in +the dressing and arranging of their hair; and it is not to be denied +that they frequently sought, by artificial means, to rectify mistakes +which they deemed nature had made in the selection of color. In the time +of Juvenal, blonde seems to have had the preference. The ordinary style +was to carry the hair in smooth braids to the back of the head and there +fasten it in a knot, as usually seen in the statues. In ancient Rome the +curling iron was no less an intimate and indispensable friend of the +lady of fashion than it is at present; by this and other means, too +intricate for explanation by the uninitiated, marvellous creations were +produced. The satirist says: "Into so many tiers she forms her curls, so +many stories high she builds her head; in front you will look upon an +Andromache, behind she is a dwarf,--you would imagine her another +person." History reveals no age in which attention to personal adornment +was not such an intimate characteristic of female nature that women, +when unendowed with remarkable beauty, have been able to refrain from +unwisely seeking to attract notice by disfiguring themselves.</p> + +<p>The Roman women wore ornaments in considerable profusion. These +consisted principally of necklaces, arm bands, finger rings, and ear +rings. Generally they were of gold, set with precious stones, and the +workmanship was often of a most exquisite character. A necklace was +found at Pompeii which was made of a band of plaited gold; on each half +of the clasp there is a well-executed frog, and on the edges where the +clasp joined were rubies, one of which still remains in its setting; +suspended to the necklace are seventy-one small, artistically shaped +pendants. Very many specimens of the jewelry worn by the women of +ancient Rome are still in existence, and they indicate fine artistic +taste on the part of the wearers, as well as great ability in design and +execution on that of the makers.</p> + +<p>On the dressing table of the fashionable Roman lady there appeared a +wealth and a variety of cosmetics and costly essences in boxes and +receptacles delicately formed of ivory and precious metals, as well as +many other appliances for the toilet; so that her advantages in these +respects were probably in no way inferior to those of her fair +successors in modern times. An age was drawing near which, among many +other examples of its monstrous luxuriousness, gave birth to efforts to +enhance feminine attractiveness--efforts which doubtless were as futile +as they were foolish.</p> + +<p>The time, however, had already come when, notwithstanding that their +manners were under the eye of such a censor as Cato, the women of Rome +had entirely and forever abandoned their old simplicity of life. In the +<I>Epidicus</I> of Plautus, written at about the time of the disturbance over +the Oppian law, the matrons were represented on the stage as though +decked out with valuable estates; the cost of a cloak was the price of a +farm.</p> + +<p>The new woman had begun to make her appearance in Rome. This proverbial +phenomenon, so greatly talked of in our own time, is by no means a +modern discovery. She is a principal and an inevitable accompaniment of +progress in every age and race. She is either a natural evolution or a +monstrosity, according to the social conditions of her time. When +progress is normal and national development healthy, a more enlightened +and more sanely independent type of woman is continually appearing; but +so naturally and so quietly does she step into the higher position for +which she has been enabled to prepare herself that her coming is without +observation. On the other hand, where society is decadent, where +abnormal growths are favored by the heat of unrestrained passions, and +where volcanic revolutions in a nation may exalt characters which belong +to the shades of inferiority to positions of high conspicuity, there +appear feminine wonders upon earth; and men's hearts fail them for fear, +as they await with consternation the things which are shortly to come to +pass. Rome, during the latter years of the republican period, was in a +condition favorable to the production of anything bizarre and +phenomenal. The new wealth, the new learning, the new idleness, and the +new vices were fit soil for the production of a new woman who would +astonish the world for all time with her capacity for every excess of +moral insanity.</p> + +<p>We do not, however, mean to allege that with the greater privileges and +increased freedom which entered into woman's life the old virtues and +time-honored excellences entirely disappeared. As Cornelia graced with +her learning and dignity the Rome of Cato's day, so did Cæcilia with her +charity and her goodness the Rome of Cicero. That orator was undoubtedly +prejudiced in her favor on account of the great kindness she showed to +Roscius, his client; but he could not have eulogized this matron as he +did, had not public opinion concurred with him in setting her up as a +model for all other women. "An incomparable woman," her accomplished +relations had no less honor conferred on them by her character than she +received by their dignity. Thus an unbroken chain of noble-minded +matrons may be traced through the darkest days of Rome's decadent +morality. Nevertheless, though virtue did not cease to be exemplified by +the few, or to be extolled by the writers, the growing depravity of the +times made it constantly easier for unprincipled and impudent women to +find their conduct accepted as the ordinary rule of life.</p> + +<p>One chief cause--perhaps it is more correct to call it an +accompaniment--of the breaking-down of the ancient ideals is found in +the increasing tendency to deprecate the indissolubleness of marital +bonds. Divorce became common and easy, so that the student of Roman +biography finds it increasingly difficult to trace his characters +through the many involutions of their various matrimonial alliances. +Pompey married five times. Concerning his first two wives, Plutarch +makes the following comment: "Sylla, admiring the valor and conduct of +Pompey, ... sought means to attach him to himself by some personal +alliance, and his wife Metella joining in his wishes, they persuaded +Pompey to put away Antistia, and marry Æmilia, the stepdaughter of +Sylla, she being at that very time the wife of another man, living with +him, and with child by him. These were the very tyrannies of marriage, +and much more agreeable to the times under Sylla than to the nature and +habits of Pompey, that Æmilia, great with child, should be, as it were, +ravished from the embraces of another for him, and that Antistia should +be divorced with dishonor and misery by him for whose sake she had just +before been bereft of her father--for Antistius was murdered in the +Senate because he was suspected to be a favorer of Sylla for Pompey's +sake. Antistia's mother, likewise, after she had seen all these +indignities, made away with herself, a new calamity to be added to the +tragic accompaniments of this marriage; and that there might be nothing +wanting to complete them, Æmilia herself died, almost immediately after +entering Pompey's house, in childbed."</p> + +<p>Down to a very late date, a divorce is not met with in the annals of +Rome; but with what unconcern the undoing of the marriage knot came to +be regarded is well illustrated in the life of Cato the Younger. +Attilia, his first wife, was put away for misconduct. Then he married +Marcia, against whose reputation no blighting wind of scandal ever +raged. Among the dearest friends of her husband was Hortensius, known as +a man of good position and excellent character. Evidently, as the sequel +shows, in all seriousness he sought to persuade Cato that the latter's +daughter Portia, who was married to a man to whom she had borne two +children, might be given to him. His argument was that she, as a fair +plot of land, ought to bear fruit; but that it was not right that one +man should be provided with a larger family than he could support, +while another had none. Cato answered that he loved Hortensius very +well, and much approved of uniting their houses; but he could not +approve of forcibly taking away his daughter from her husband. Then +Hortensius was bold enough to request that Cato, who, he thought, had +enough children, should relinquish to him his own wife. Cato, seeing +that he was in earnest, consented to do this, stipulating first that his +wife's father should be consulted. No objection being raised in that +quarter, a marriage was performed between Marcia and Hortensius, Cato +assisting at the ceremony. In all this there is no mention made of +Marcia's consent being given or even asked. Some years afterward, Cato, +wanting someone to keep his house and take care of his daughters, took +Marcia again, Hortensius being now dead and having left her all his +estate. Cæsar, upon this, reproached Cato with covetousness; "for," he +said, "if he had need of a wife, why did he part with her? And if he had +not, why did he take her again? unless he gave her only as a bait to +Hortensius, and lent her when she was young, to have her again when she +was rich." The historian answers this by quoting the verse of Euripides:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i14"> 'To speak of mysteries-the chief of these</p> +<p class="i14"> Surely were cowardice in Hercules.'</p> +</div></div> + +<p>"For," he says, "it were much the same thing to reproach Hercules for +cowardice and to accuse Cato of covetousness." The explanation of this +singular action, the cold nature which Cato inherited from his +grandfather the Censor being taken into consideration, seems to lie in +the fact that the Roman idea of the necessary guardianship over women +precluded any just conception of their rights in the disposal of their +own persons. The giving and the taking of a woman in marriage was +wholly the business of her father and her suitor; nothing was required +of her in the transaction save thankful obedience. Cato was perfectly at +liberty to give away his wife, if he so desired; this right was +guaranteed to him by the simple fact that she was his property.</p> + +<p>For the same reason, while chastity on the part of the wife was regarded +as an absolute essential, the same virtue was by no means considered as +necessary to the good character of the man. The demand for purity in the +wife was largely based on the idea of proprietary rights which the +husband had in her person; hence the man could divorce the woman for +infidelity, but the reverse was not conceded. Plautus introduces upon +the stage two matrons, one of whom complains of her husband, and the +other consoles and exhorts her thus: "Listen to me. Do not quarrel with +your husband; let him love whom, and let him do what, he pleases, since +you have everything you want at home; keep in mind the fearful sentence: +'Begone, woman!'"</p> + +<p>The new era which had dawned in Rome brought a certain freedom of +circumstances and activity within the reach of women; but it did not +give them in the marriage contract any more liberty than they had of +old. The only women who were allowed the disposal of their own persons +were the courtesans. There are many evidences that these were not +regarded with the disrespect in which their class is held in modern +times. For an example, Flora, who was famous in the last days of the +Republic, received on account of her exquisite beauty the high honor of +having her statue dedicated to the temple of Castor and Pollux; which +may be regarded as a kind of precedent for artists who in an Italy of a +much later date employed their mistresses as models for their Madonnas. +That this class of women did not hesitate to place a high value upon +themselves is proved by the instance of Tertia, to whom Verres presented +a Sicilian city. Lucretius speaks of the cost of their favors, giving us +also an interesting picture of the gayly dressed wanton:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i20"> "Amply though endowed.</p> +<p class="i14"> His wealth decays, his debts with speed augment,</p> +<p class="i14"> The post of duty never fills he more,</p> +<p class="i14"> And all his sick'ning reputation dies.</p> +<p class="i14"> Meanwhile rich unguents from his mistress laugh,</p> +<p class="i14"> Laugh from her feet sott Sicyon's shoes superb;</p> +<p class="i14"> The green-rayed emerald o'er her, dropt in gold,</p> +<p class="i14"> Gleams large and numerous; and the sea-blue silk;</p> +<p class="i20"> Deep-worn, enclasps her.</p> +<p class="i20"> What his sires amassed</p> +<p class="i14"> Now flaunts in ribbands, in tiaras flames</p> +<p class="i14"> Full o'er her front, and now to robes converts</p> +<p class="i14"> Of Chian loose, or Alidonian mould;</p> +<p class="i14"> While feasts and festivals of boundless pomp,</p> +<p class="i14"> And costliest viands, garlands, odors, wines,</p> +<p class="i14"> And scattered roses ceaseless are renewed."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The Voconian law, which had been enacted in the days of the elder Cato, +the purpose of which was the prevention of large accumulations of +property in female hands, did not prevent women from becoming rich in +the manner suggested above. A man might give away all his property while +alive; the law only vetoed excessive legacies. By its provisions, no +woman was allowed to receive by inheritance property exceeding the value +of one hundred thousand sesterces. "Since with the growing power of the +Empire the riches of private persons were increasing, fear was felt lest +the minds of women, being rather inclined by nature to luxury and the +pursuit of a more elegant routine of life, and deriving from unbounded +wealth incentives to desire, should fall into immoderate expenses and +luxury, and should subsequently chance to depart from the ancient +sanctity of manners, so that there would be a change of morals no less +than of the manner of living." These were the reasons for the enactment +of this measure. It was the kind of law which was dear to the heart of +the Censor, and it was with great delight that he lent his aid to its +passage. The people were a little doubtful as to its justice; but Cato +put an end to all hesitation by inveighing, with his usual asperity, +against the tyranny of women and their insufferable insolence when +opulent. He complained that oftentimes, when they brought a rich dowry +to their husbands, they kept back a large part of the money, and then +made loans to their husbands as though these were mere debtors. The +historian says that this assertion, enforced with a loud voice and good +lungs, moved the people to indignation, and they voted to pass the law. +It was exceedingly characteristic of the sentiments of the ancient +Romans to be convinced by Cato as he strenuously objected to that in +women which he strongly advocated as a rule for men.</p> + +<p>There are two feminine names which, though belonging to women who were +contemporaries, well represent different aspects of the transition from +the old Rome of uncultured simplicity to the new Rome of immoral +refinement. One is Cornelia, who was the fifth wife of Pompey the Great; +the other is Clodia, the sister of Clodius the Turbulent. One conjoined +the new learning with the ancient purity of life, the other united +luxurious living with an abandoned career; one was a worthy successor of +her worthy namesake of a former generation, the other was a forerunner +of the amazing female characters of the most depraved days of the +Empire.</p> + +<p>Cornelia, like the mother of the Gracchi, belonged to the renowned +family of the Scipios. Though but a very young woman when she was +married to Pompey, she had already been the wife of that son of Crassus +who was slain in Parthia. That her first marriage was a happy one may be +argued from the fact that when Pompey fell into misfortune, and she, for +some sentimental reason, imagined herself as uniting him to woes which +rightly belonged to her own fate, she reproached herself for not having +followed the husband of her youth in his death, as she had designed.</p> + +<p>Plutarch informs us that the young lady possessed other attractions +besides those of youth and beauty. She was highly educated, as might be +expected in a daughter of Metellus Scipio; she was an accomplished +performer upon the lute; she understood geometry, and was accustomed to +listen with profit and appreciation to lectures on philosophy. The +historian takes great satisfaction in informing us also that, with all +this, she had escaped that pretentiousness and unamiability which too +frequently spoiled the effect of learning in women of unusual +acquirements.</p> + +<p>Owing to the terrible civil strife which afflicted Rome in the last days +of the Republic, and to Pompey's leading share in it, Cornelia's home +was frequently the martial camp of her husband. The Empire of Rome had +grown to be the whole extent of civilization, and Cornelia's learning +found ample opportunity, through her travels, to become reinforced by +that liberality of mind which is the result of wide observation. She +appears to have gained the high regard of her husband's army; for once, +after a struggle with Cæsar, in which Pompey was for the moment +victorious, some of the soldiers, of their own accord, sailed to Lesbos +to carry to her the joyful tidings that the war was ended. Her pleasure +in this news was of short duration; for it was soon to be her unhappy +lot to accompany her husband to Egypt, in his flight from the +all-subduing Cæsar. There she witnessed his assassination by the +perfidious hands from which he sought protection.</p> + +<p>It is unfortunate that the after career of Cornelia is lost sight of by +history; but even this silence in a manner speaks in her favor; for, +while the natural nobility of her character could not suffer by the +quenching of the strong light which shone around Pompey, there is some +warrant for assurance, in the very fact that her doings were not the +subject of comment, that her life continued honorable.</p> + +<p>Clodia was a woman of altogether different character. She was of the +great Claudian <i>gens</i>; and no member of that powerful family ever lived +so quietly as not to be the subject of discourse in Rome. To be one of +the Claudii meant to be impetuous and dominant, either in good or in +evil. It was a Vestal of this family who, when her father was refused a +triumph by the Roman people, placed herself in his chariot so as to +prevent his being interrupted in his progress through the city. Clodia, +studied from the point of heredity, might have been either good or bad; +but she would have contravened all precedents in her family had she not +been extreme in one or the other. As it was, she made a fitting sister +for that Clodius who stormed in Rome during the days of Cicero and kept +the city by the ears, both on account of his ambitions and his +ill-considered exploits.</p> + +<p>Clodia was married to Quintus Metellus, to whom Cicero affords a most +honorable tribute; but she did not allow the fact of her marriage to +place any restraint upon the licentiousness of her conduct. Her +luxurious house by the Tiber was a meeting place, not for men of +learning, but for all the idle, fashionable, and dissolute young men of +the city. Her reputation has been pilloried forever by the eloquent +advocate in his defence of Marcus Coelius. This young man was accused of +having attempted to poison Clodia, in order to rid himself of the +necessity of paying back some gold he was said to have borrowed from +her. The real truth appears to be that this prosecution was mainly +instituted by Clodia, who considered herself slighted by Coelius, who +had been her lover, but whose ardor was waning. The character and manner +of life of this irrepressible young Roman matron may be gathered from +the following arraignment of her in Cicero's oration. "If I am to +proceed in the old-fashioned way and manner of pleading, then I must +summon up from the Shades below one of those bearded old men,--not men +with those little bits of imperials which she takes such a fancy to, but +a man with that long, shaggy beard which we see on the ancient statues +and images,--to reproach the woman, and to speak in my stead, lest she +by any chance get angry with me. Let, then, some one of her own family +rise up, and above all others that great blind Claudius of old time. For +he will feel the least grief, inasmuch as he will not see her. And, in +truth, if he can come forth from the dead, he will deal with her thus; +he will say: 'Woman, what have you to do with Coelius? Why have you been +so intimate with him as to lend him gold, or so much an enemy as to fear +his poison? Was he a relation? A connection? Was he a friend of your +husband? Nothing of the sort. What was the reason, then, except some +folly? Even if the images of us, the men of your family, had no +influence over you, did not even my own daughter, that celebrated +Claudia Quinta, admonish you to emulate the praise belonging to our +house from the glory of its women? Did not that Vestal Claudia recur to +your mind, who embraced her father while celebrating his triumph, and +prevented his being dragged from his chariot by a hostile tribune of the +people? Why had the vices of your brother more weight with you than the +virtues of your father, of your grandfather, and others In regular +descent ever since my own time--virtues exemplified not only in the men, +but also in the women? Was it for this that I broke the treaty which was +concluded with Pyrrhus, that you should every day make new treaties of +most disgraceful love? Was it for this I made the Appian Way, that you +should travel along it escorted by other men besides your husband?'"</p> + +<p>This reincarnation of the severe old ancestor ought to have been +sufficient to strike terror and repentance into any woman's heart. But +Cicero was more concerned with exonerating Coelius than he was about +reforming Clodia, and doubtless he had more hope of convicting her of +being a follower of undue courses than he had of converting her from her +ways. So he goes on: "But if you wish me to deal more courteously with +you, I will put away that harsh and almost boorish old man; and out of +these kinsmen of yours here present I will take some one, and, before +all, I will select your youngest brother, who is one of the best-bred +men of his class, who is exceedingly fond of you, and who, on account of +some childish timidity, I suppose, and some groundless fears of what may +happen by night, always, when he was but a little boy, slept with you, +his eldest sister. Suppose, then, that he speaks to you in this way: +'What are you making this disturbance about, my sister? Why are you so +mad? You saw a young man become your neighbor; his fair complexion, his +height, his countenance, and his eyes made an impression on you; you +wished to see him oftener; you were sometimes seen in the same gardens +with him, being a woman of high rank; you are unable with all your +riches to detain him, the son of a thrifty and parsimonious father. He +rejects you, he does not think your presents worth so much as you +require of him. Try someone else. You have gardens on the Tiber, and you +carefully made them in that particular spot to which all the youths of +the city come to bathe. From that spot you may every day pick out people +to suit you. Why do you annoy this one man who scorns you?'"</p> + +<p>If the orator was just in all that he insinuates against her, Clodia, +the wealthy, fashionable, and doubtless beautiful daughter of the great +patrician family, was well qualified to be the high priestess of +Aphrodite for the city of Rome.</p> +<a name="c5" id="c5"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>V</h3> + +<h3>ROMAN MARRIAGE</h3> + +<p>The position of woman in ancient Rome was always one of honor and +respect. A Roman matron enjoyed many more social privileges and a much +greater independence than did the Greek wife. In Athens the women were +treated as children; and the more respectable their character, the more +completely were they shut out from the social life and the public +amusements of the men. In Rome, on the contrary, though the wife was +subordinate to her husband and, as a rule, did not make herself +conspicuous in public affairs, she was in no way secluded, and was +everywhere treated with the highest respect. In the home, she was the +mistress of the whole household economy, supervising the instruction of +the children and governing the domestic slaves. She stood side by side +with her husband, sharing in all his dignities, and in all matters +pertaining to the family wielding an authority second only to his. +Somewhere between the civilizations of Greece and Rome was the boundary +line, starting from which the status of woman degraded to the Oriental +or developed into the Occidental type. In the one case, subject to the +jealous veil, the espionage of eunuch slaves, the debasing, +soul-benumbing servilities of the harem; in the other, living in the +open, the sole mate of one man, and, subject to her husband alone, +clothed with all authority in her home. While Greece looked to the East, +and subjected her women to some of those customs which characterized the +harems of Babylon, Rome was essentially Western, and its women enjoyed a +goodly portion of dignity and honor. Both Greeks and Romans were of the +same branch of the great Aryan race, and the indications are that in the +earliest times their women enjoyed equal freedom; but Greece, to a +certain extent, fell under the influence of Semitic ideas, which saw in +the wife a voluptuous possession to be jealously guarded. The Roman +woman, on the other hand, was taught to prize and protect her own +virtue.</p> + +<p>The comparatively free and respected position of the matrons of +republican Rome accounts in no small degree for the glory and greatness +of the State. Where woman is treated as a slave, there is no genuine +love of liberty. Great men can only be born of noble mothers; and +nobility, feminine as well as masculine, can only flourish in freedom. +Veturia and Cornelia were mistresses in their homes; they knew no +restraint in their goings save the requirements of honor, they were +respected by their husbands and reverenced by all men; therefore, in +ways natural to such mothers, they were able to fit their sons for deeds +worthy of men.</p> + +<p>In the Roman house there were no secluded women's quarters corresponding +to those of eastern nations; and the Roman women walked abroad, +frequented the public theatres, and took their places at festive +banquets with the men, Conelius Nepos, writing on this subject, says: +"What Roman is ashamed to bring his wife to a feast; and does she not +occupy the best room in the house, and live in the midst of company? But +in Greece the case is far otherwise; for a wife is neither admitted to a +feast, except among relations, nor does she sit anywhere but in the +innermost apartment of the house, which is called the gynæconitis, and +into which nobody goes who is not connected with her by near +relationship." The most important room in the Roman house was the +atrium. Here, in the midst of her slaves, the mistress pursued her +domestic occupations; here was placed the <i>lectus genialis</i> or +<i>adversus</i>, in ancient times the real, afterward the symbolical, bridal +bed, her own proper seat of honor.</p> + +<p>Notwithstanding this independent position of the women, Roman marriage, +if it be judged by the strict letter of its laws and customs, was not +very indulgent to the weaker sex. But, as we have indicated in preceding +chapters, the power of the father of the family was much greater in +theory than it was in reality. Roman wedlock was of two kinds: +<i>matrimonium justum</i> and <i>non justum;</i> that is, marriage in due form, +and marriage without the perfect ceremonies. The first required the +right on either side to fulfil a lawful marriage according to the +ancient rites. In the earliest times, equality of condition was +demanded, patricians and plebeians being allowed to marry only in their +own class. After B.C. 445, this restriction was removed; but it was +still necessary that both parties to the contract should be citizens. +But even in cases where the ancient rites were not permitted, marriage, +if it took place, was regarded as none the less lawful and binding. +Among the Romans, first cousins were not allowed to marry, though in the +days of the emperors the restrictions of consanguinity were not strictly +adhered to; Agrippina was married to Claudius, who was her uncle.</p> + +<p>A contract of legal marriage was made in three different ways, called, +respectively, <i>usus, confarreatio,</i> and <i>coemptio. Us us,</i> or usage, was +when a woman, with the consent of her parents or guardians, lived with a +man a whole year without dowry, whom he cannot portion off to anyone. +And Horace says that "Queen Money, when she gives a spouse with an ample +dowry, seems to give at the same time beauty, nobility, friends, and +conjugal fidelity." Juvenal supposes someone to argue that Cesennia, a +woman of his time, is, by her husband's showing, the best of wives. But +he answers: "She brought him a thousand sestertia; that is the price at +which he calls her chaste. It is not with Venus's quiver that he grows +thin, or with her torch that he burns. It is from that his fires are +fed; from her dowry it is that the arrows are sent. She has purchased +her liberty; therefore, even in her husband's presence she may exchange +signals, and answer her billets-doux. A rich wife, with a covetous +husband, has all a widow's privileges."</p> + +<p>In the early days of the Republic, dowries were very small. The +daughters of the greatest men, says Valerius Maximus, often brought +nothing in marriage save the glory of their fathers or of their +families. Scipio, when commanding in Spain, petitioned the Senate to +allow him to return, so that he might arrange the marriage of his +daughter. The Senators, in order that the State might not be deprived of +the services of so able a general, refused his request, but took upon +themselves the duty of marrying the maiden. They chose for her a +husband, and assigned to her from the public treasury a marriage portion +of eleven thousand ases. This doubtless was at the time considered +ample, though Seneca, in the later days of luxury, declared that it +would not suffice to purchase a mirror for the daughter of a freedman. +In those same early days, when wealth was reckoned in small figures, a +woman called Megulla was surnamed Dotata, or "The Great Fortune," +because she had fifty thousand ases, less than eight hundred dollars of +our money. But as wealth increased, the marriage portions of the women +became correspondingly great, until in the time of Martial a dowry +equivalent to three-quarters of a million dollars was not uncommon. The +wife's dowry was, of course, at the disposal of her husband; but his +right to it ceased in case of the dissolution of the marriage, except +when the wife sought divorce without just cause, in which case the +husband was allowed to keep a sixth of the dowry for each of their +children, to the amount of three-sixths. If, however, the wife died +before her husband, and left no children, her dowry reverted to her +father, so that he might not suffer the double affliction of losing both +his money and his daughter. Sometimes the wife reserved to herself a +part of the marriage portion, in order that she might have something to +spend for which she had not to give account to her husband; occasionally +also, there went with the bride a slave, who, it was stipulated, was not +to be subject to the husband's disposal or command. The wife of +Apuleius, who married him when she was a widow and possessed four +million sesterces in her own right, transferred only three hundred +thousand in the marriage settlement. This power of the wife to own +personal property of a non-distrainable character afforded the Roman an +opportunity, such as is frequently seized to-day by men on the verge of +bankruptcy, to secure his assets by making them over to his wife.</p> + +<p>It often happened, of course, that a maiden's family, though honorable, +was not in such circumstances that she could base her hopes of marriage +upon the tempting bait of a rich dowry. Then her personal qualities were +her sole reliance. In the later days of the Republic, Roman parents seem +to have been fully appreciative of the desirability of a liberal +education for their daughters. Even in the most wealthy families, before +the days when Roman society entered upon its decadence, the girls were +zealously instructed in those domestic duties which would prepare them +to become good housewives. In addition to this, they were thoroughly +trained in both Greek and Latin literature, especial attention being +given to the poets. Their accomplishments also included music, singing, +and dancing; for these, says Statius, helped to procure a husband. But +we may be certain that in those times, as in the present, the natural +anxiety of many a mother caused her to resort to other arts besides that +of music, in order to provide a good match for her none too much sought +after daughter. If the comedies are to be credited, that which the +father's wealth could not accomplish it was hoped might be attained +through the mother's wiles. "Look at the mothers," says one of Terence's +characters; "they are carefully occupied in lowering their daughters' +shoulders, in drawing in their waists to make them look slender. Is +there one of them who is inclined to be stout? The mother immediately +exclaims, 'she is an athlete,' and diminishes the girl's meals until, in +spite of constitutional tendencies, she has rendered her daughter as +thin as a spindle."</p> + +<p>A girl, by means of either her real or artificial qualities, has won the +regard of some young Roman; let us witness, so far as they may be +ascertained from the ancient authors, the ceremonies of her betrothal +and nuptials. The consent of the parents of both parties must first be +obtained. If the suitor is regarded with favor, the father of the maiden +says: "I give up to you my dear daughter, and may it be happy for me, +for you, and for her." Then the betrothal or espousal takes place. This +is a family festival; everyone connected with the house makes it a +holiday. The relatives are invited to share in the rejoicing and also to +witness the contract of engagement. The Roman maiden did not engage +herself to be married in the manner Ruskin complained of as +characterizing modern times,--by moonlight, starlight, gaslight, +candlelight, or anything but daylight. Her engagement was a solemnity +which took place under the eyes of all her relatives and as many friends +as her father cared and could afford to invite. The inevitable augurs +are also present, in order that they may ascertain, by examining the +entrails of some bird, whether or not the Fates will be propitious. +Their verdict will largely depend upon the manner in which they are +treated by the parties concerned; for Cato declared that he never could +understand how two members of this profession could look each other in +the face without laughing. One wonders if any Roman girl ever availed +herself of the science of these gentlemen to escape an undesirable +suitor; for in the minds of most of the people the superstition was so +firmly implanted that if an augur could have been induced to perceive +misfortune in the auspices, that would have been sufficient to prevent +the engagement. But we will suppose that the signs are pronounced +favorable. A <i>stipula</i>, or straw, is broken between the parties, +signifying that a contract is made. The agreement is also put in +writing, for the sake of future reference. The man gives the maiden a +plain iron ring, which he places upon the finger next to the smallest on +the left hand, there being a belief that a nerve runs from that finger +directly to the heart. He also gives presents to those who have made +themselves useful in helping to bring about the engagement, and he +receives a present from the girl. The contract of betrothal was not +irrevocable; but for either party to withdraw from it was much more +likely to result in a suit at law than is the case at the present time; +and the Roman had the advantage over the jilted man in our day, in that +it was not considered that damages for a breach of promise were properly +due only to a woman. Marriage engagements were frequently of long +continuance among the Romans; for sometimes even infants were betrothed. +The minimum age at which the marriage could legally take place was +twelve for the girl and fourteen for the man.</p> + +<p>The selection of the wedding day was a matter in which more than the +inclination and the convenience of the parties concerned had to be +considered; the important thing was to choose a fortunate day. Ovid +says: "There are days when neither widow nor virgin may light the torch +of Hymen; she who is married then will surely die." The Calends, the +Ides, and the Nones were especially to be avoided. The whole month of +May was considered particularly unfavorable, because it was devoted to +the propitiation of the Lemurs, or the evil spirits. It was a common +saying that no good woman would marry in the month of May. February was +also avoided. June, on the contrary, of all the months in the year, was +believed to be the most propitious for marriages, but not until after +the Ides, or the thirteenth day. Ovid states, on the authority of the +wife of the <i>flamen dialis</i>, that for a fortunate marriage it was +necessary to wait until the refuse from the Temple of Vesta had been +carried by the Tiber to the sea; and this was not supposed to be +accomplished until the thirteenth of June.</p> + +<p>The friends of our couple have decided upon a day which, in the common +opinion, has no predilection for mischief. Everything necessary for the +performance of the marriage ceremonies is provided. These ceremonies are +of the nature of ancient usages rather than legal requirements. They are +intensely symbolical, and are calculated to impress upon the minds of +the bride and bridegroom a lively sense of the duties belonging to the +new relationship into which they are entering.</p> + +<p>This Roman bride is relieved of one grave anxiety which usually +accompanies the anticipatory pleasure in an approaching modern wedding. +It is not necessary for her to give any thought as to the color and +fashion of her wedding dress. This was always the same among the Romans; +and even if that worn by the maiden whose marriage is now being +described should happen to be an heirloom from her great-grandmother, +she need not fear that it is out of style. It consists of a long white +robe, woven in a particular manner. If the circumstances of her family +have improved, she may perhaps sew a purple fringe around the border; +but that is absolutely the only change allowed. This robe will be +fastened around her waist with a woollen girdle, white wool being always +a symbol of chastity. This will be tied in a Hercules knot, to loose +which, at the end of the ceremonies, will be the husband's privilege. +Her hair, allowed to fall around her shoulders, on the wedding morn is +parted with the head of a spear. Plutarch and other writers say that +this custom had its origin in the rape of the Sabines, and betokened the +fact that the first Roman marriages were brought about by capture, and +that it accordingly also indicated that a wife should be in subjection +to her husband. Over her head the bride wears a yellow or flame-colored +veil, this hue being held to be of good significance. Her brow is also +crowned with a chaplet of vervain, gathered and wreathed by her own +hands, for this herb signifies fecundity. Her shoes are also of yellow, +and so constructed as to make her appear taller than her real height.</p> + +<p>Thus attired, the bridal party go first to the temple, for the purpose +of offering sacrifice, as Virgil says, "above all, to Juno, whose +province is the nuptial tie." The victim considered as most appropriate +is a hog; and care is to be taken to throw the gall of the animal as far +away as possible, with the hope that in like manner all bitterness will +be put far away from this conjugal union. Then, if the ceremony of +<i>confarreatio</i> is used, the couple, having returned to the bride's home, +are seated side by side, with a sheepskin covering both chairs; by which +it is signified that although the man and the woman occupy two different +parts of the house, they are nevertheless united by a common bond. The +chief priest now gives the wedded pair the sacred cake, which they eat +together in token of the fact that they are henceforth to share with +each other the necessaries of life. Although the modern wedding cake has +developed into something far more elaborate than the simple Roman wafer +of flour, water, and salt, the probability is that the former had its +origin in the latter.</p> + +<p>The appearance of the star Venus in the sky is the signal for the +bride's departure to her new home. In a formal manner, her father hands +her over to her husband's family, for he only can sever the bond which +holds her to his guardianship. Henceforth her husband has the right by +law to exercise over her that authority which has been held by her +father. There is a pretence made of taking her by force from the arms of +her mother or her sisters, in memory of the violent abduction of the +Sabine women. Then the bridal party walk in procession to the husband's +house. Preceding them, lighting the way, are four married women carrying +torches. The bride is directly attended by three boys, in selecting whom +the important thing to be borne in mind is to take only those who have +both parents living, otherwise it would be an extremely bad omen. Two of +these support her by the arms, while the other carries a flambeau of +white pine before her to dissipate all lurking enchantments and dispel +all evil incantations. Then follow maid-servants with a distaff, a +spindle, and wool, intimating that she is to labor at spinning, as did +the Roman matrons of the old time. After these comes a boy, who for this +occasion is named Camillus; his office is to carry in an open basket +other instruments for feminine work; and especially it has been +remembered to include playthings and toys for the bride's prospective +children. All the relatives and friends join in this festive procession. +In place of the rice which in these days accompanies the adieus bestowed +on a newly wedded pair, the Roman bride was the target for all the jests +and raillery which the wit of the spectators might suggest. When she +reaches her new home, the bridegroom, standing in the doorway, which is +decked with garlands of flowers, inquires who she is. Her reply is: +"Where thou art Caius, there am I Caia;" thus beautifully intimating +that comradeship in all things which is the ideal of marriage. Then, +after the bride has anointed the doorposts with the fat of swine in +order to turn away all enchantments, she is lifted over the threshold, +which, being consecrated to Vesta, it would be a bad omen for the bride +to touch with her foot. Her husband now presents her with the keys, for +she is henceforth to be intrusted with the management of his house. Both +touch fire and water, in token that they together share these essentials +of life and well-being. A yoke is placed about their necks, symbolizing +that which they have taken upon themselves in their marriage; from this +comes the word <i>conjugium</i>. The first joint act of the bride and +bridegroom is to unite in the worship of the household gods, the husband +thus introducing his wife to the guardian spirits of his home--the most +sacred things of his family. She is henceforth to be associated with him +in his domestic worship, and she has become a sharer in the inheritance +of fame left by his ancestors, who are venerated in the adoration of +their Manes. These solemn observances being ended, now follows the +banquet. At this, the bride reclines on the same divan with her husband +at the head of the table; for she is already hostess where he is host. +Now has come the opportunity for boisterous hilarity. The solemnities +are all completed, and the remaining time is wholly given up to the +merriment which is always deemed a fitting accompaniment to the first +adventure of a couple among the changes and chances of the marriage +state. All the guests join in singing the Thalassius,--a chant in which +every bridegroom is congratulated on being as fortunate in his lot as +was that traditional Quirite who obtained the brightest flower of the +Sabine maidens.</p> + +<p>The banquet being ended, the bride is conducted by the matrons to the +nuptial chamber, which is always the atrium, or the central room of the +house. Here is placed the <i>lectus genialis</i>, richly adorned and covered +with flowers. The bridegroom throws nuts among his former companions, as +a sign that he is now forsaking the life of his boyhood for the +responsibilities of man's estate. After his departure, the young people +entertain the newly married couple by singing outside the door +fescennine verses, in which is indulged a liberty of expression to which +modern ears are unaccustomed.</p> + +<p>Commonly, the songs chanted at the celebration of Roman marriages had no +literary merit whatever, and were chiefly characterized by their +grossness; but sometimes these occasions inspired the genius of the best +poets, from which resulted some of the most beautiful Latin verse. +Catullus has three such pieces. In his <i>Nuptial Song</i>, youths and +maidens are represented as contending with each other in improvised +versification. Hesperus, the evening star, is reproached by the virgins +and lauded by the young men as being the signal for the bride to leave +her mother's arms for those of her husband. In the last chorus, both +parties unite in exhorting the young wife to use complaisance with her +husband, and not to "strive against two parents who have bestowed their +own rights along with thy dowry on their son-in-law." <i>The Marriage of +Peleus and Thetis</i>, the longest of the poems of Catullus, may not have +been intended to be sung at a wedding; though that is a question on +which classic scholars are not agreed. It treats of marriage, however, +in a very interesting and original fashion; and may throw some light on +Roman customs, notwithstanding the fact that the characters introduced +are the offspring of the gods. "The mansion, in every part of its +opulent interior, glitters with shining gold and silver; white are the +ivory seats; goblets gleam on the tables; the whole dwelling rejoices in +the splendor of regal wealth. In the midst of the mansion is placed the +genial couch of the goddess, inlaid with polished Indian tooth, and +covered with purple dyed with the shell's rosy juice. This coverlet, +diversified with figures of the men of yore, portrays the virtues of +heroes with wondrous art." Then follows the principal part of the poem, +which is a description of the pictures worked upon the tapestry of the +bed. The subject of these is the history of Ariadne. We are to imagine +the poet standing by the couch and pointing out the incidents portrayed, +with their causes and consequences. This being concluded, the gods, and +especially the Parcæ, are introduced to the marriage feast; and the +latter, as they spin their thread, "utter soothsaying canticles."</p> + +<p>Catullus has given us a veritable example of the Roman wedding song in +his epithalamium on the marriage of Manlius and Julia. Of this Julia we +know nothing further than that she was of the Cotta family; Manlius was +of the illustrious lineage of the Torquati. If only there were historic +warrant for believing that this couple were as charming in their +personalities as they are described in this poem, and that all the good +wishes therein expressed did really materialize, the marriage of Manlius +and Julia might stand for all time as the <i>summum bonum</i> of wedded +felicity. A few stanzas from Lamb's translation will serve to illustrate +the character of the epithalamium, and will also fairly indicate the +place and nature of sentiment in the Roman conception of the marriage +relation.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i14"> "When Venus claim'd the golden prize,</p> +<p class="i14"> And bless'd the Phrygian shepherd's eyes;</p> +<p class="i14"> No brighter charms his judgment sway'd</p> +<p class="i14"> Than those that grace this mortal maid;</p> +<p class="i14"> And every sigh and omen fair</p> +<p class="i14"> The nuptials hail, and greet the pair.</p> +<br> +<p class="i14"> "Propitiate here the maiden's vows,</p> +<p class="i14"> And lead her fondly to her spouse;</p> +<p class="i14"> And firm as ivy clinging holds</p> +<p class="i14"> The tree it grasps in mazy folds,</p> +<p class="i14"> Let virtuous love as firmly bind</p> +<p class="i14"> The tender passions of her mind.</p> +<br> +<p class="i14"> "Ye virgins, whom a day like this</p> +<p class="i14"> Awaits to greet with equal bliss,</p> +<p class="i14"> Oh! join the song, your voices raise</p> +<p class="i14"> To hail the god we love to praise.</p> +<p class="i14"> O Hymen! god of faithful pairs;</p> +<p class="i14"> O Hymen! hear our earnest prayers.</p> +<br> +<p class="i14"> "Invoked by sires with anxious fear,</p> +<p class="i14"> Their children's days with bliss to cheer;</p> +<p class="i14"> By maidens, who to thee alone</p> +<p class="i14"> Unloose the chaste, the virgin zone;</p> +<p class="i14"> By fervid bridegrooms, whose delight</p> +<p class="i14"> Is stay'd till thou hast bless'd the rite.</p> +<br> +<p class="i14"> "Raise, boys, the beaming torches high!</p> +<p class="i14"> She comes--but veil'd from every eye;</p> +<p class="i14"> The deeper dyes her blushes hide;</p> +<p class="i14"> With songs, with pæans greet the bride!</p> +<p class="i14"> Hail, Hymen! god of faithful pairs,</p> +<p class="i14"> Hail, Hymen! who hast heard our prayers.</p> +<br> +<p class="i14"> "Riches, and power, and rank, and state,</p> +<p class="i14"> With Manlius' love thy days await;</p> +<p class="i14"> These all thy youth shall proudly cheer,</p> +<p class="i14"> And these shall nurse thy latest year.</p> +<p class="i14"> Hail, Hymen! god of faithful pairs!</p> +<p class="i14"> Hail, Hymen! who hast heard our prayers.</p> +<br> +<p class="i14"> "Oh! boundless be your love's excess,</p> +<p class="i14"> And soon our hopes let children bless;</p> +<p class="i14"> Let not this ancient honor'd name</p> +<p class="i14"> Want heirs to guard its future fame;</p> +<p class="i14"> Nor any length of years assign</p> +<p class="i14"> A limit to the glorious line.</p> +<br> +<p class="i14"> "Let young Torquatus' look avow</p> +<p class="i14"> All Manlius' features in his brow;</p> +<p class="i14"> That those, who know him not, may trace</p> +<p class="i14"> The knowledge of his noble race;</p> +<p class="i14"> And by his lineal brow declare</p> +<p class="i14"> His lovely mother chaste as fair.</p> +<br> +<p class="i14"> "Now close the doors, ye maiden friends;</p> +<p class="i14"> Our sports, our rite, our service ends.</p> +<p class="i14"> With you let virtue still reside,</p> +<p class="i14"> O bridegroom brave, and gentle bride,</p> +<p class="i14"> And youth its lusty hours employ</p> +<p class="i14"> In constant love and ardent joy."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The bluntly practical disposition of the Romans reveals itself even in +their attitude toward that phase of human life which preëminently +furnished scope for romance. In their expressions concerning marriage, +its physical basis is acknowledged with unnecessary frankness. No +vestige is found among them of any pretence of belief in that exalted +communion which, though it is probably nothing more than an imaginary +refinement, is commonly talked of as Platonic love. There is no +idealizing of the amatory emotions,--such as we are accustomed to in +novels which are not "realistic"--thereby affording an opportunity to +ignore the lower aspect.</p> + +<p>A woman, after marriage, retained her former name; but it was joined to +that of her husband, as, for example, Julia Pompeii, Terentia Ciceronis. +She was also called <i>domina</i>, the mistress. On the day after her +marriage, the Roman bride, by a sacrifice which she offered to the +Lares, formally took possession of her position as mistress of the +household. Then she assumed the control of the servants and slaves, +setting them their tasks and taking upon herself the superintendence of +all things in the home. By unwritten law, no servile work was required +of the Roman matron, unless she were so poor as not to own a slave. She +might spin, and, indeed, it was to her credit if she thus diligently +employed herself, for this was an occupation which the most cherished +traditions would not permit the noblest to despise. It was carried on in +the atrium, where the matron sat surrounded by her husband's ancestral +images and where she received her friends. When she went abroad, she was +known to be a matron because of her <i>stola</i>; the inner side of the walk +was given to her by every Roman citizen she might happen to meet; and if +anything indecent was said or done in her presence, it was an offence +which might be punished by law.</p> + +<p>In the earliest times, the dissolution of the marriage bond was of +extremely rare occurrence, for the praiseworthy reason that the manners +of the people were such that there seldom arose an occasion for divorce. +In those first ages, however, the laws concerning this matter were +characterized by an exceeding severity and unfairness to the woman. In +no case was she allowed to divorce her husband; though she might be put +away by him, not only for conjugal infidelity and such crimes as using +drugs to prevent the possibility of childbearing, or for deceiving him +by the introduction of fictitious children, but even if she +counterfeited his keys or surreptitiously drank his wine, and, in the +earliest times, if she drank wine at all. Carvilius is said to have been +the first Roman to put away his wife; but it is difficult to believe +that, notwithstanding the fact that laws providing for such a proceeding +existed from the time of the kingdom, no divorce really took place until +B.C. 231. Probably certain circumstances connected with this divorce +gave it such notoriety that it was the first which impressed itself upon +the attention of the historians. It is said that Carvilius, though he +loved his wife, divorced her on account of barrenness, he having, with +many other citizens, made a vow to marry for the sake of offspring.</p> + +<p>In later times, the women gained the right to secure divorce; and as +morals began to show the signs of decadence, there was nothing so +indicative of the terrible laxity which prevailed as the trivial causes +for which husbands and wives were allowed to separate. Incompatibility +of temperament was the common complaint. In the ancient and nobler +times, there was a small temple dedicated to Viriplaca, the marital +peacemaker; and when a difference occurred between husband and wife, +they met and entered into explanations before the goddess, usually with +the result of a restoration of harmony; but Viriplaca was gradually +forgotten, and matrimonial chaos ensued.</p> + +<p>When this laxity came to be the prevailing rule, the wife who was rich +and, moreover, inclined to be in any way disagreeable held her husband +at her mercy. If he divorced her without any considerable fault of hers, +or if they parted by mutual consent, she took her dowry and left him +with the children. If, as was very likely to be the case, he had married +her for her property, he was obliged to be submissive. Plautus says: +"The portionless wife is subject to her husband's will; wives with +dowries are as executioners for their husbands." Martial, inveighing +against a miserly woman who will not furnish her husband with a new +cloak as a New Year's gift, says: "Why, Proculeia, do you cast off your +husband in the month of January? This is not in your case a divorce; it +is a good stroke of business." During the worst times, the law +restricted the number of divorces obtainable by an individual to eight. +If we are to believe Juvenal, there were women who were sufficiently +enterprising to reach the limit in five years. The satirist describes +them as leaving the doors only recently adorned, the tapestry used for +the marriage festival still hanging on the house, and the branches still +green upon the threshold. Seneca says that in his time it had come to +such a pass that women reckoned the years, not by the names of the +consuls, but by the husbands they had divorced.</p> + +<p>Yet, notwithstanding--perhaps it would be more correct to say, on +account of--this excessive willingness on the part of the women to enter +into contracts of marriage, it became necessary in the time of the first +empire to decree severe penalties against celibacy; and bonuses were +awarded to those in whose families children were born. Even as early as +B.C. 121, Metellus the Censor, complaining in the Senate of the +increasing tendency to avoid the responsibilities of matrimony, said: +"Could we exist without wives at all, doubtless we should rid ourselves +of the plague they are to us; since, however, nature has decreed that we +cannot dispense with the infliction, it is best to bear it manfully, and +rather look to the permanent conservation of the State than to our own +passing comfort."</p> + +<p>In a condition of society in which the most conspicuous women were +unrestrained by any worthy ideals of the responsibilities of wifehood, +and where men were at liberty, and found abundant opportunity, to +gratify their basest propensities with no fear of any reproof other than +being made the subject of humorous allusion, it is not to be wondered at +that the latter were inclined to shun the cares and the vicissitudes of +marriage. Juvenal claimed that a good wife was rarer than a white crow; +and Pliny held that celibacy alone afforded an unobstructed road to +power and fortune. The former's terrible sixth satire was written as a +warning against matrimony. "And yet you are preparing your marriage +covenant, and the settlement, and betrothal, in our days; and are +already under the hands of the master barber, and perhaps have already +given the pledge for her finger. Well, you used to be sane, at all +events! You, Postumus, going to marry! Say, what Tisiphone, what snakes, +are driving you mad? Can you submit to be the slave of any woman, while +so many halters are to be had? so long as high and dizzy windows are +accessible, and the Æmilian bridge presents itself so near at hand?" The +women are accused of every enormity known in that Rome where vice +attained such proportions as have never been approached in any +civilization in the history of the world. But it is contrary to the +office of the satirist to present a true picture of the whole. Writing +of vice, he sees nothing but iniquity; of the good he has nothing to +say, for it is not in his province. That even then there were good women +we know full well. Julia, the aunt of Cæsar; Octavia, faithful to her +marriage vows despite the ill returns she received from Mark Antony; +Agrippina, the beloved and faithful wife of the noble Germanicus; Livia +also, the wife of Augustus, whose matrimonial fidelity--whatever may +have been her character in other respects--no suspicion ever assailed. +If these women, in their high stations, could exemplify all the best +traditions of the matrons of the old time, we may be sure that there +were innumerable good wives in the commoner ranks.</p> + +<p>Out on the Appian Way, there is to be seen one of the strangest +monuments that a grotesque fancy ever devised. It is the tomb of Marcus +Vergilius Eurysaces, who was baker to the <i>apparetores</i>. The monument +consists of a row of great cylinders representing measures for grain. +Upon these, in three tiers, are huge kneading troughs, placed with their +mouths turned outward. Above is a frieze representing various incidents +connected with the baker's trade. There is evidence that originally +there was a similar monument standing by the side of this, for an +inscription was found which reads: <i>Antistia was my wife; she was the +best woman alive; of whose body the remains which are left are in this +bread basket</i>. Here was a man of the people who appreciated his wife. +Doubtless Antistia was a good woman, and lived happily with the baker, +just as there were myriads of other faithful pairs whose names are not +recorded on monuments nor have any place in history.</p> + +<p>And yet, even the highest Roman standards of morality were not such as +have been evolved through many centuries of inculcation of Christian +principles. Among the best of the pagan Romans, concubinage was looked +upon as a defensible institution. The laws in regard to citizenship shut +out a large class of women from the privilege of marriage with freeborn +Romans; as, for instance, the daughters of foreigners who had not been +naturalized. These could only become mistresses or enter into +left-handed marriages. If a citizen who was unmarried wished to live +with such a woman, of course no ceremony was needed; there was nothing +binding about the union, and at the same time it was not considered to +be in any wise indecent. On more than one tomb there is found an +inscription to "the beloved concubine," Acte held this relationship with +the Emperor Nero; and to her credit it surely must be allowed that she +was the only person near him against whom he did not maliciously turn, +and who seemed to have with him some slight influence for good. +Antoninus Pius, one of the very best of the Roman emperors, when his +beloved Faustina died, took a concubine. He would not marry again, +because he did not wish to bring his four children under the uncertain +care of a stepmother. And having before him the domestic history of more +than one imperial family in which were exhibited the tender mercies of +such a stepmother as was Livia the wife of Augustus, Antoninus may well +be excused for his precaution. What was the name of the woman he took we +do not know, nor are we informed as to her character; only, Marcus +Aurelius says: "I am thankful to the gods that I was not longer brought +up with my father's concubine."</p> +<a name="c6" id="c6"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>VI</h3> + +<h3>WOMAN UNDER JULIUS CÆSAR</h3> + +<p>Rome was now riven and torn by cataclysms of civil strife. The +foundations of the Republic were shaken by the explosion of new social +forces, the growth of which was naturally attendant upon the spread of +conquest, and which could no longer be confined within the narrow limits +of the old constitution. Marius, Sylla, Pompey, and Cæsar--these are the +names around which gathers the history of the pains and death groans of +the expiring Republic. Crimson was the color of each political party; +and the blood of opponents was the means used for its exhibition. Rome +had become too great for her ancient civic constitution: she was +restlessly awaiting the arrival of a man who could thrust himself above +all opposition, and in his own person unify the government. Imperialism +or anarchy must necessarily follow such a Republic as Rome had become in +the closing century of the pre-Christian era.</p> + +<p>During those fierce political disturbances and bloody revolutions, how +did woman fare? She was by no means secure in that quiet, unmolested +round of conjugal duty and domestic life which had so long been hers by +right. In the sanguinary civil wars and murderous proscriptions which +resulted from the ambitions of the leaders, life for the Roman people +was of extremely uncertain tenure. It is easy to surmise what the women +of many Italian cities suffered when whole populations were put to the +sword under the merciless Sylla. Death, outrage, and slavery became so +common that there was developed in the Roman women that indifference to +the sight of human suffering which appears to us as nothing less than +monstrous. Under Sylla, wives were accustomed to being simultaneously +robbed of their husbands and their sustenance; as in the case of that +peaceful citizen who, finding his own name in the lists of the +proscribed, exclaimed: "My Alban farm has informed against me," and was +immediately thereafter slain.</p> + +<p>The political changes of the time wrought no marked alteration in the +status of the women; that is, no legislation was enacted which, in any +special manner, bore upon their condition and privileges. Certain +developments did take place in the manner of life of the women of Rome; +but these were the natural results of the character of the times. The +weakening of moral principle which we have noticed in a preceding +chapter continued with accelerated rapidity. The bounds set by +traditional honor were overthrown with increasing recklessness, and the +habits of many of the upper-class women carried the sex still further +beyond the limits of old-fashioned morality.</p> + +<p>In this period we also See the women beginning to lay their hands to +that particular sort of political work to which they are adapted. In the +days of the Gracchi, it had become possible for a bright and +intellectual lady to draw around her learned men, grammarians, and +philosophers; we shall now see such women, who have other ambitions, +gathering politicians, and sometimes conspirators, in their atriums. +There was Sempronia, for example, who was of the family of the Gracchi +and the wife of Decimus Brutus. In her house Catiline was in the habit +of meeting his followers for the purpose of plotting his conspiracy. Of +her character and attainments Sallust gives us this interesting +description: "A woman who had committed many crimes, with the spirit of +a man. In birth and beauty, in her husband and her children, she was +extremely fortunate; she was skilled in Greek and Roman literature; she +could sing, play, and dance, with greater elegance than became a woman +of virtue, and possessed many other accomplishments that tend to excite +the passions. But nothing was ever less valued by her than honor or +chastity. Whether she was more prodigal of her money or her reputation, +it would have been difficult to decide. She had frequently, before this +period, forfeited her word, forsworn debts, been privy to murder, and +hurried into the utmost excesses by her extravagances and poverty. But +her abilities were by no means despicable; she could compose verses, +jest, and join in conversation either modest, tender, or licentious. In +a word, she was distinguished by much refinement of wit and much grace +of expression." She seems to have been the equal of Cornelia in ability, +and her reverse in character; which, perhaps, illustrates the degeneracy +of the times as much as it does the special turpitude of this particular +woman.</p> + +<p>The Romans were learning the political uses of a salon. The women began +to acquire the knowledge that, for those who have access to the powerful +male leaders, much may be accomplished by a fair face if backed by an +active brain, even though the ballot be denied. The way was being +prepared for a Livia and an Agrippina. The women were forced to take a +greater interest in politics, for the simple reason that politics had +become a most hazardous business. Their husbands might be riding in +triumph one day, and finding their names in the lists of the proscribed +the next; hence, it often happened that only by mingling in political +intrigues could the wives secure their own safety and that of those to +whom they were united by affection. The times had changed. In the old +days, the women were accustomed, with patriotic ardor, to encourage +their male relatives as they marched out against the public enemy, and +they bravely devoted their sons to the welfare of the State; but in the +times of which we are now treating, those did the best service who +possessed the wit to discover a plot. It was to a courtesan named Fulvia +that Cicero was indebted for the detection of the Catiline conspiracy.</p> + +<p>In the general estimation of the men, however, the chief political use +which women might serve was to reinforce, by marriage, the strained +relations between rival politicians. Accordingly, the daughter of a +powerful leader would be married and divorced, passed from one man to +another, with almost as much facility as a detachment of light cavalry +might appear first in one part and then in another of a battlefield. +These enforced marriages for political purposes had the effect of so +training the women that, in the succeeding generations, they could with +all the greater levity sever the bonds of matrimony for their own +capricious ends. With what nonchalant freedom women made such entrance +into the hazardous arena of public life is indicated in the story of +Valeria. She was a sprightly young lady, who had been divorced from her +husband. One day, in the theatre, as she passed behind Sylla on the way +to her seat, she stopped for a moment and plucked a little bit of wool +from the dictator's cloak. This caused him to turn and regard her with +some wonderment. Whereupon she said: "Surely, sir, you cannot object if +in picking a little thread from your garment I also desired to share a +small portion of your good fortune." She went on to her seat; but it +soon became apparent that Sylla was not displeased. During the +performance, the lady was of more interest to him than the gladiatorial +spectacle, and it was not long before a marriage was arranged.</p> + +<p>This made the fifth time that Sylla had wedded. Just previously to his +thus romantically making the acquaintance of Valeria he had lost by +death Caecilia Metella, to whom reference has heretofore been made, and +who was one of the best women of her time. Kind and compassionate by +nature, she often successfully interceded for the lives of men whom her +relentless husband had foredoomed. At her death, though there is every +indication that he held her in the highest regard, his action was +peculiar and extremely characteristic of the man. Because the priest of +Venus Victrix, to which goddess he was especially devoted, forbade him +to allow his house to be polluted by mourning, while Metella was on her +deathbed he sent her a bill of divorce and caused her to be removed to +the home of one of her relatives. Yet, after her death he went so far as +to transgress his own law against funeral expense, and provided the most +elaborate obsequies in her honor.</p> + +<p>Sylla was absolutely without conscience in his employment of marriage +and divorce for political ends. Metella's daughter by her first husband +had been married to Glabrio the Censor. The dictator saw a more useful +ally in young Cnæus Pompeius, who was already married to Antistia; +therefore, he commanded Glabrio and Pompeius to divorce their wives, and +the latter to take Æmilia, his stepdaughter. Piso, also at his +suggestion, had divorced his wife Annia. But when Sylla attempted to +employ the same tactics with Cæsar, he made the discovery that he had +encountered a man of altogether different metal. The latter had married +Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna. They had one child, a little daughter +named Julia, who afterward became the wife of Pompey. When Cæsar was +ordered by the all-powerful dictator to divorce Cornelia, he absolutely +refused, preferring death to subjection to such tyranny. There is every +warrant for belief that Cornelia was worthy of the devotion of her +husband, which she enjoyed to the day of her death.</p> + +<p>Cæsar was a turning point in the course of Roman history, a crisis in +the history of the world. His labors affected an epoch, and the tragedy +of his passing is a memory which can never be relinquished by the human +mind. Yet, inasmuch as a man's greatness is always in large measure +attributable to the character of the times in which he lives, the same +conditions which he seizes to raise himself to the highest position +serve also to surround him with other men who approach him in that +wisdom strength, and valor which are developed by the common +environment. Cæsar was first in a community of heroic souls. Pompey, +Mark Antony, Brutus, Cato, and Cassius, all exhibit in their character +and their powers a greater or lesser participation in those qualities +which made Caesar preëminent. This is none the less true also of the +women of the day; the times wrought greatness of soul in them to as +liberal a degree as in the men. Hazard, ambition, and high enterprise +carried the women of this period far in the development of those +qualities which are brought out by such means. Portia, Calpurnia, +Fulvia, Julia, and Cornelia were fit companions for their renowned +masculine associates.</p> + +<p>Hence, independent of how little or how much the feminine participants +in this great world-drama may appear upon the stage, we may be certain +that when they are seen we have before us some of the most remarkable +women in history, if for no other reason than that they are connected +with the plot of that drama.</p> + +<p>The attention is naturally first drawn to those women who were most +intimately connected with Julius Cæsar. To Aurelia, the daughter of M. +Aurelius Cotta, was destined the honor of bringing into the world the +man who was to bear one of the three most renowned names in its military +history. She lost her husband, Caius Julius, while their son was yet a +boy; but, from what is known of her character, it is evident that she +was not unequal to the task of superintending alone the completion of +young Cæsar's education. It was undoubtedly to her influence that he +owed the development of those traits which are most pleasing in his +greatness. Tacitus is sufficient authority for this, likening as he does +Aurelia to the mother of the Gracchi. She was one of the few surviving +representatives of that matronal dignity and virtue which beautified the +austerity of the earlier days of the Republic. Her house, small and +frugally managed, was situated under the Esquiline and Viminal hills, in +that low part of Rome called the Subura. It was not a fashionable +quarter; in fact, it was a street of shops and taverns. It resounded +with the clamor of traffic and the noise of such broils and revelry as +are usual in the vicinity of pothouses. At the top of the street, there +was a depressed, open space, called the Lacus Orphei because of a statue +of Orpheus which stood there. To this spot, which must have made an +admirable playground, Aurelia was in the habit of sending a slave to +look for the young Csesar when the shades of night fell on the unlighted +streets. It is also likely that she as frequently, and with much more +satisfaction, caused him to be looked for in the Vicus Sandaliarius, a +street running parallel with her own, where were the booksellers' shops.</p> + +<p>In her unpretentious residence, with its plebeian surroundings, Aurelia +kept house for her son. When he brought home Cornelia, the daughter of +Cinna the Consul, as his bride, his mother decked the threshold and +prepared the modest atrium for the nuptial ceremonies. Here was born the +little Julia, the only child that ever blessed the home of Cæsar.</p> + +<p>When the order came from Sylla that, if he would preserve his life and +serve his best interests, Cæsar must put away his wife so as to be free +to form a matrimonial union with the dictator's party, there is no doubt +that Aurelia's virtuous counsel supported her son's courage in refusing +to comply with so tyrannical a command. The result was that Cæsar was +obliged to leave the city, hardly escaping the assassin's hand; and the +two women were left for two years to comfort each other as best they +could in the absence of a husband and a son. That they were impoverished +by the rapacious Sylla--who, when he could not touch the person of an +enemy, contented himself with seizing his property--we know. Fortunate +were they if their lives were not still more embittered by the knowledge +of those vile slanders which came from Bithynia, for the disproof of +which there is no evidence needed beside the character of him whose name +was so maliciously besmirched.</p> + +<p>After two years of loneliness, these devoted women were made happy by +receiving the exile home. From that time on, Aurelia's maternal pride +was satisfied by beholding the star of her son's fortunes, though at +times beclouded by rivalry, always ascending and brightening. He rose +from one office to another, until the day came when she saw him elected +chief pontiff over the heads of two candidates who were his superiors in +age, rank, and wealth. On this election he had staked everything. If he +failed, his debts would overwhelm him. In the morning, as he left the +little house in the Subura, kissing his mother good-bye, he had said: +"Mother, I will return home pontiff, or not at all." How anxiously she +must have awaited the result! All through the day, she heard his name +shouted with approbation by the people on the street; and in the +evening, he returned to inform her that she must move with him to the +palace of the pontificate on the Via Sacra.</p> + +<p>Cornelia was no longer there to share in Aurelia's pride and Cæsar's +good fortune. During the year B.C. 68, Caesar had pronounced two funeral +panegyrics. One was for his aunt, Julia, the wife of that unpolished but +indomitable soldier, Marius. Little is known of this lady; but at Les +Baux, in Provence, there is a monument on which are represented Marius +and Julia, and between them--suggestive it may be of private trials +endured by the latter--Martha, the Syrian prophetess, who accompanied +and advised Marius in all his adventurous undertakings. The second +funeral oration delivered by Cæsar was for his faithful wife Cornelia. +Matrons so young as she were not often honored with a panegyric at their +obsequies; and it testifies no less to the worth of her character than +to her husband's devotion that he, in this instance, transgressed the +custom with the approval of the people.</p> + +<p>It was not long, however, before Aurelia was called upon to welcome a +new bride of her son, this time to the magnificence of the pontifical +abode. Marriage was looked upon by the best Romans as a citizen's duty; +and for a man to abbreviate his widowed regrets was not regarded as +censurable conduct; though, on the other hand, the constancy of widowed +matrons was held in the highest honor. The Romans, notwithstanding their +aptitude for law, cared little for consistency in their distribution of +privileges between men and women.</p> + +<p>Cæsar's second wife was Pompeia, the granddaughter of Sylla, whose +family Aurelia had but little cause to love. What the mother's attitude +toward the new bride was we do not know. Two things are certain from the +narrative of the sequel to this marriage: Aurelia continued to maintain +the position of <i>domina</i> in the house of her son, for it was she who had +charge of the ceremonies of the Bona Dea which Clodius interrupted by +his intrusion; and the inferences are all against the innocence of +Pompeia, for, had she been faithful, Clodius would not have ventured +into the house at such a time. She was divorced by Cæsar; but he took no +active part in the proceedings against Clodius. When called upon to +testify, he contented himself with the declaration that he knew nothing +about the affair; which was true in a sense, inasmuch as he was not +present. The matter might have been hushed, had it not been for the +matrons, who could not brook that their sacred mysteries should be thus +invaded. Terentia, the wife of Cicero, was especially persistent. She +was a woman who interfered in political matters to such a degree that, +when her husband was consul, she was spoken of sarcastically as being +his colleague. Having a private grudge against Clodius, she so incited +Cicero that the powerful advocate completely refuted the defendant's +strong plea of an alibi.</p> + +<p>Cæsar's testimony that he was uninformed as to what had happened at his +house was not satisfactory to the prosecutor, who shrewdly inquired: +"Why, then, did you divorce Pompeia?" The reply was: "Cæsar's wife must +be above suspicion!"--a reply haughty enough to be characteristic of the +man, and deemed a sufficient check to all further cross-examination. +But, viewing the whole situation from our standpoint, it is impossible +to refrain from the comment that, if Cæsar had been equipped with +anything corresponding to a modern conscience, he could scarcely have +had the effrontery to utter such a saying. Just and generous as he was, +he was incapable of entertaining the idea that there should be but one +code of morals for the woman and the man. If Cæsar's wife had said: "The +husband of Pompeia must be above suspicion," it would have appeared as +ridiculous to her contemporaries as it was impossible of realization.</p> + +<p>We may well give as little heed as did Cæsar himself to the calumnious +stigma upon his name which disgraces the pages of the historians and the +verse of Catullus. Yet, setting this aside as unworthy of credence, +evidence seems to prove abundantly his propensity for those gallantries +which were considered among the least reprehensible immoralities by the +men of his time. The names of many women were connected with that of the +great soldier in a manner which is detrimental to the reputation of all +concerned. Unless higher criticism of a most radical and partial kind is +adopted in the study of the ancient historians, we must take their word +that ladies of the highest quality surrendered to Cæsar's attractions. +It is said that Pompey was wont to refer to the chief pontiff as +Ægisthus; and that when he spoke of him it was with a sigh which was +elicited not so much on account of Cæsar's greater success in affairs of +State as by his rivalry in the affections of Mucia, who, like +Clytemnestra, was won by the pontiff while her husband was absent in +war. Posthumia, wife of Servius Sulpicius, Lollia, wife of Aulus +Gabinius, and Tertulla, wife of Marcus Crassus, come under the same +indictment. The husbands named were close friends of the man who shared +with them in their conjugal rights, as well as climbed over their +shoulders in political ascendency; and they served him well in the +furtherance of his latter-mentioned projects. It has been argued that if +Cæsar's conduct had really been as blameworthy as is alleged, he could +not have retained the amity of these men; but the argument proves +nothing. What if he were a sufficient adept in policy--a thing not +unknown in the history of human experience--to be able to command the +hands and the heads of the husbands through the hearts of their wives?</p> + +<p>There was one woman who had for Cæsar a passionate attachment which was +returned by him with an ardent and lasting affection in which political +ambition played no part. This was Servilia, the half-sister of Cato and +the mother of Marcus Brutus. Unfortunately, this lady's regard for her +powerful lover did not carry with it the confidence and the friendship +of her brother and her son. Modern writers, notably Froude and Baring +Gould, strive to eliminate everything of an unworthy nature from the +mutual affection which is known to have existed between Servilia and +Cæsar; but their argument is devoid of historical proof. Much as we may +be inclined to eradicate from the character of the great Roman +everything that is unpleasant, it will not do to ignore or explain away +every tittle of evidence that has been handed down by the ancient +authorities on this subject. It may have been but the unfounded surmise +of the gossips that it was a billet-doux from his sister which caused +Cato to demand of Cæsar, during an acrimonious Senatorial debate, that +he make known the contents of a note the latter had just received; +nevertheless, we have it on the authority of Plutarch that Cæsar +believed Brutus to be his own son. In this the great Imperator may very +easily have been mistaken; but as to the fact that he had reason to +believe in the possibility of such a thing, surely the conclusions of +modern writers should have less weight than the plain statements of the +ancient historians, which are the sole and only source of any knowledge +whatsoever that we may have on the subject. It is true that slanderers +were even coarser-minded and less restrained among the Romans of those +days than they are in our own time; and among them Cicero was as +preëminently conscienceless as he was clever. Hence, it is not necessary +for us to take seriously his pun on the name of Servilia's daughter, +when, remarking on the low price at which Servilia obtained some lands +from Cæsar, he says: "Between ourselves, Tertia [or, a third] was +deducted," intimating that the mother profited by her daughter's +dishonor.</p> + +<p>Calpurnia, the daughter of L. Calpurnius Piso, was the third wife of +Cæsar. For fourteen years she occupied the Regia, the pontifical +residence, as its <i>domina</i>. Thus she was the highest lady in Rome and in +the Empire. That she became the consort of Cæsar for reasons of +expediency is very probable; but that she was possessed of a deep and +lasting affection for her husband, which was reciprocated by him with +tender regard, is shown by their conduct on the eve of his death. During +the years of Calpurnia's union with Cæsar, though he crowded them with +events of tremendous import in the history of Rome, nothing whatever is +recorded of his wife. Her name has come down to us untarnished with any +scandal; which, considering the fact that the historians of that time +incorporated such stories in their records on the least possible +warrant, is a very strong testimony to the purity of her life, which was +devoted to furthering the interests of Cæsar among his friends, caring +for his home during his many and lengthened absences, and ministering to +his comfort in the short respites which his innumerable cares afforded +him. All that we really know of her character is revealed in his time of +danger, in which everything is to her credit.</p> + +<p>In the plot of <i>Julius Cæsar</i>, Shakespeare, with historical accuracy, +introduces only two feminine characters: Calpurnia and Portia, the +latter the worthy wife of the noblest of the conspirators. Were they +friends, these two ladies, as their husbands were supposed to be? Did +they visit each other and engage in the discussion of those topics which +were then current in the atriums and gardens of Rome? Did Calpurnia +sometimes spend an afternoon with Portia in her house on the Aventine; +and though somewhat chilled by the austere and philosophical demeanor of +the descendant of the Censor, yet cordially invite her to the more +magnificent palace of Cæsar? This we do not know. Possibly the terrible +event which was in store cast a shadow upon any intercourse which the +women may have had; especially since Cato, the brother of Portia, had +found in Calpurnia's marriage occasion for denunciation, for the reason +that her father was immediately thereupon made consul.</p> + +<p>Of the two women, Portia is much the better known; and, though she may +not really have been superior to the wife of Cæsar, she may justly be +taken as the best representative of the noblest type of Roman matron of +that period. In her we see the effect of stoical training on the +character of a normal woman. There have been many women of greater +firmness of mind, more self-control, more power to witness and take part +in fearsome deeds without a tremor of the lips, or a blanching of the +countenance. These are abnormal women, in whose character nature had +mingled an undue amount of the masculine element. But in Portia we have +no Lady Macbeth; she did not and could not have instigated her husband +to bloody deeds. Her character was of itself gentle and most womanly; +her conduct was the result of education. She herself admitted that, if +she were stronger than her sex, it was the result of being "so fathered +and so husbanded." Her philosophy taught her to strive for stoical +firmness, but she ever found in herself nothing but a woman's strength. +This is seen in the historian's account, and is wonderfully brought out +by Shakespeare in the scene in which he portrays her almost dying for +news from the Capitol.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i4"> "PORTIA.--I prithee, boy, run to the senate-house;</p> +<p class="i4"> Stay not to answer me, but get thee gone:</p> +<p class="i4"> Why dost thou stay?</p> +<br> +<p class="i4"> LUCIUS.--To know my errand, madam.</p> +<br> +<p class="i4"> PORTIA.--I would have had thee there, and here again,</p> +<p class="i4"> Ere I can tell thee what thou shouldst do there.--</p> +<p class="i4"> O constancy, be strong upon my side!</p> +<p class="i4"> Set a huge mountain 'tween my heart and tongue!</p> +<p class="i4"> I have a man's mind, but a woman's might.</p> +<p class="i4"> How hard it is for women to keep counsel!--</p> +<p class="i4"> Art thou here yet?</p> +<br> +<p class="i4"> LUCIUS.--Madam, what should I do?</p> +<p class="i4"> Run to the Capitol, and nothing else?</p> +<p class="i4"> And so return to you, and nothing else?</p> +<br> +<p class="i4"> PORTIA.--Yes, bring me word, boy, if thy lord look well,</p> +<p class="i4"> For he went sickly forth: and take good note</p> +<p class="i4"> What Cæsar doth, what suitors press to him.</p> +<p class="i4"> Hark, boy! what noise is that?</p> +<br> +<p class="i4"> LUCIUS.--I hear none, madam.</p> +<br> +<p class="i4"> PORTIA.--Prithee, listen well;</p> +<p class="i4"> I heard a bustling rumour, like a fray,</p> +<p class="i4"> And the wind brings it from the Capitol.</p> +</div></div> + +<p> Then, after the conversation with the soothsayer:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i4"> "I must go in.--Ay me, how weak a thing</p> +<p class="i4"> The heart of woman is! O Brutus,</p> +<p class="i4"> The heavens speed thee in thine enterprise!--</p> +<p class="i4"> Sure, the boy heard me.--Brutus hath a suit,</p> +<p class="i4"> That Cæsar will not grant--O, I grow faint:--</p> +<p class="i4"> Run, Lucius, and commend me to my lord;</p> +<p class="i4"> Say, I am merry: come to me again,</p> +<p class="i4"> And bring me word what he doth say to thee."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>All this feeling and acute anxiety she doubtless underwent; not however, +from sympathy with the motive and purpose of Brutus, though she believed +in these as fully as he did, but for sheer and simple love of her +husband. By nature she was no stoic--as no true woman has ever been or +can be; but she had trained herself in the estimation of self-control +and dignified endurance as moral excellences of the highest value. There +were other women in Rome who, like Portia, had studied and adopted as +their rule of life the principles of Zeno. We can see them walking +amidst the frivolity of their times with the hauteur of too conscious +superiority. It was a part which, if taken up by women at all, they must +necessarily overdo. The principles of their philosophy might carry them +far, even to death "after the high Roman fashion"; but whether the +stoicism was only a mask of pride or a real grandeur of character, there +was always some point at which the woman's heart showed itself. A man, +whether bent on sentimental or serious purposes, needed not to stand +greatly in awe of those stoical Roman ladies.</p> + +<p>School herself in dignified impassiveness as she might, every thought of +Portia's mind, as well as every impulse of her heart, betrayed her +philosophy. Her affectionate solicitude allowed no sigh escaping the +breast of her lord, no absent-mindedness clouding his brow and boding +care, to escape her observation. It was plain to her that Brutus had +some great trouble weighing upon his mind. She longed to share its +knowledge, not for the gratification of curiosity, but because she could +not endure to be deemed by her husband anything less than his loyal +comrade. But was she worthy to be the custodian of her husband's +secrets? Doubtless she was assured that they related to State affairs. +It was not the custom among the Romans to put freeborn women to the +torture; yet Portia, before she would ask to know her husband's mind, +would test her power of enduring pain. Let Plutarch present the picture +in his own fashion:</p> + +<p>"Now Brutus, feeling that the noblest spirits of Rome, for virtue, +birth, or courage, were depending upon him, and surveying with himself +all the circumstances of the dangers they were to encounter, strove +indeed as much as possible, when abroad, to keep his uneasiness of mind +to himself, and to compose his thoughts; but at home, and especially at +night, he was not the same man, but sometimes against his will his +working care would make him start out of his steep, and other times he +was taken up with further reflection and consideration of his +difficulties, so that his wife that lay with him could not choose but +take notice that he was full of unusual trouble, and had in agitation +some dangerous and perplexing question. Portia, as was said before, was +the daughter of Cato, and Brutus, her cousin-german, had married her +very young, though not a maid, but after the death of a former husband. +This Portia, being interested in philosophy, a great lover of her +husband, and full of an understanding courage, resolved not to inquire +into Brutus's secrets before she had made trial of herself. She turned +all her attendants out of her chamber; and taking a little knife, such +as they use to cut nails with, she gave herself a deep gash in the +thigh; upon which followed a great flow of blood, and, soon after, +violent pains and a shivering fever, occasioned by the wound. Now when +Brutus was exceedingly anxious and afflicted for her, she, in the height +of her pain, spoke thus to him: 'I, Brutus, being the daughter of Cato, +was given to you in marriage, not like a concubine, to partake only in +the common intercourse of bed and board, but to bear a part in all your +good and all your evil fortunes; and for your part, as regards your care +for me, I find no reason to complain; but from me, what evidence of my +love, what satisfaction can you receive, if I may not share with you in +bearing your hidden griefs, or be admitted to any of your counsels that +require secrecy and trust? I know very well that women seem to be of too +weak a nature to be trusted with secrets; but surely, Brutus, a virtuous +birth and education, and the company of the good and honorable, are of +some force in the forming of manners; and I can boast that I am the +daughter of Cato and the wife of Brutus, in which two titles though +before I put less confidence, yet now I have tried myself, and find I +can bid defiance to pain.' Having spoken these words, she showed him her +wound, and related to him the trial she had made of her constancy; at +which, being astonished, he lifted up his hands to heaven, and begged +the assistance of the gods in his enterprise, that he might show himself +a husband worthy of such a wife as Portia."</p> + +<p>From that time, she shared the secret of Brutus in his direful purpose; +moreover, her heart and mind were oppressed with the added burden of +anxiety for him.</p> + +<p>Another woman in Rome had once waited with great impatience while her +husband thrust the ruler from his throne; and though the plot meant the +death of her own father, Tullia could ride to the Senate chamber to +ascertain with her own eyes if everything were in satisfactory progress. +But there is no comparison to be drawn between Tullia and Portia. There +is nothing to indicate that the latter was in the least stirred by +ambition. She simply believed in her husband to the extent that if it +were he who purposed assassination, she must deem it justified. Yet she +could not ask: "Is Cæsar yet gone to the Capitol?" without danger of +swooning.</p> + +<p>At the Imperator's palace, there was another woman whose mind was +troubled with dire misgivings, and who feared that which Portia +impatiently awaited to hear was done. Calpurnia's womanly instinct was +quicker than the suspicion of Cæsar and his friends. She was not given +to superstitious fears; but now even the very air seemed portentous of +coming disaster. She dreamed, and cried out in her sleep: "They murder +Caesar."</p> + +<p>Thus has the great dramatist, in a manner which it would be folly to +imitate or replace, depicted the scene:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i4"> "CALPURNIA.--What mean you, Cæsar? Think you to walk forth?</p> +<p class="i4"> You shall not stir out of your house to-day.</p> +<br> +<p class="i4"> CÆSAR.--Cæsar shall forth. The things that threaten'd me</p> +<p class="i4"> Ne'er look'd but on my back; when they shall see</p> +<p class="i4"> The face of Cæsar, they are vanish'd.</p> +<br> +<p class="i4"> CALPURNIA.---Cæsar, I never stood on ceremonies,</p> +<p class="i4"> Yet now they fright me. There is one within,</p> +<p class="i4"> Besides the things that we have heard and seen,</p> +<p class="i4"> Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch.</p> +<p class="i4"> O Cæsar! these things are beyond all use,</p> +<p class="i4"> And I do fear them.</p> +<br> +<p class="i4"> CÆSAR.-- What can be avoided,</p> +<p class="i4"> Whose end is purpos'd by the mighty gods?</p> +<p class="i4"> Yet Cæsar shall go forth; for these predictions</p> +<p class="i4"> Are to the world in general as to Cæsar.</p> +<br> +<p class="i4"> CALPURNIA.---When beggars die, there are no comets seen;</p> +<p class="i4"> The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes.</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The wife is supported in her plea by the warnings of the augurs; and +Cæsar has decided to allow Mark Antony to say he is not well. But +Decius, the false coward, comes, and for his private satisfaction, +because Cæsar loves him, he is told that:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i14"> "Calpurnia here, my wife stays me at home:</p> +<p class="i14"> She dream'd to-night she saw my statua,</p> +<p class="i14"> Which, like a fountain with an hundred spouts,</p> +<p class="i14"> Did run pure blood; and many lusty Romans</p> +<p class="i14"> Came smiling, and did bathe their hands in it.</p> +<p class="i14"> And these does she apply for warnings and portents.</p> +<p class="i14"> And evils imminent; and on her knee</p> +<p class="i14"> Hath begged that I will stay at home to-day."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Decius easily puts a better interpretation upon the vision; and he +changes Cæsar's mind by cunningly suggesting how the Senate may sneer +at being adjourned until "another time,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i14"> When Cæsar's wife shall meet with better dreams."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>So he leaves her sadly to reflect that his "death, a necessary end,</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i14"> Will come when it will come."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Of Calpurnia we learn nothing more save that her wisdom made her quick +to place her husband's papers in the hands of Mark Antony, who so +successfully took upon himself the task of avenging the death of his +friend.</p> + +<p>Portia fled from Italy with her husband, and it was well for her that +she did so; for under the Triumvirate there was inaugurated a reign of +terror which caused the people of Rome to recall the bloody +proscriptions of Sylla, and in which the wife of Cæsar's murderer would +hardly have been secure. Hatred, greed, and all evil passions were let +loose. It became easy for heirs to hasten to the possession of legacies +by having the owners' names placed on the lists of the proscribed. The +toga was given to children, in order that their property, they being +then considered of age, might come into their own possession; then they +were condemned to death.</p> + +<p>During this reign of terror, the citizens of Rome were cowed by the +soldiery into abject silence and inactivity; but, to their honor, it is +recorded that the women did not suffer so resignedly the despoiling of +their goods. A heavy contribution was levied upon fourteen hundred of +the richest matrons. Led by Hortensia, the daughter of the orator, these +ladies went to the Forum and appeared in the presence of the +Triumvirate. Hortensia spoke. "Before presenting ourselves before you" +she said, "we have solicited the intervention of Fulvia; her refusal +has obliged us to come hither. You have taken away our fathers, our +children, our brothers, our husbands; to deprive us of our fortune also +is to reduce us to a condition which befits neither our birth, nor our +habits, nor our sex; it is to extend your proscriptions to us. But have +we raised soldiers against you, or sought after your offices? Do we +dispute the power for which you are fighting? From the time of Hannibal, +Roman women have willingly given to the treasury their jewels and +ornaments; let the Gauls or the Parthians come, and there will be found +in us no less patriotism. But do not ask us to contribute to this +fratricidal war which is rending the Republic; neither Marius, nor Cinna, +nor even Sylla during his tyranny, dared to do so." The triumvirs were +inclined to drive the matrons from the Forum; but the people began to be +stirred, so they yielded and set forth another edict, reducing to four +hundred the number of women who were to be taxed.</p> + +<p>Much of this cruelty was instigated by a woman whom Hortensia mentions. +Antony, whose amatory experiences were as varied as they were numerous, +was at one time engaged in an intrigue with Fulvia, then the wife of +Clodius. She afterward became Antony's wife. Here was a woman the exact +opposite of Portia; a resentful, stubborn, masculine woman, "in whom," +says Velleius Paterculus, "there was nothing feminine but her body." It +is told of her that when Cicero was murdered, his head was brought to +her, and she drove her bodkin through the tongue which had so bitterly +rated her and her husband. On another occasion, the head of one of the +proscribed was brought to Antony. "I do not know it," he said; "let it +be taken to my wife." It was the head of a citizen of whom nothing worse +is known than that he had refused to sell a farm which Fulvia desired to +obtain. Plutarch relates that Antony was obliged to resort to all sorts +of boyish tricks in order to keep Fulvia in good humor. Among other like +stories which he says were current, he gives the following, relating to +the triumvir's sudden return to Rome: "Disguising himself, he came to +her by night, muffled up as a servant that brought letters from Antony. +She, with great impatience, before she receives the letter, asks if +Antony were well, and instead of an answer he gives her the letter; and, +as she was opening it, he takes her about the neck and kisses her." The +historian gives this characterization of Fulvia: "a woman not born for +spinning or housewifery, nor one that could be content with ruling a +private husband, but prepared to govern a first magistrate, or give +orders to a commander-in-chief. So that Cleopatra was under great +obligations to her for having taught Antony to be so good a servant, he +coming to her hands tame and broken into entire obedience to the +commands of a mistress." Evidently, we must regard Mark Antony as being +the great historical type of the "henpecked" husband; there is, however, +no occasion for sympathy; his punishment was no greater than he +deserved. The chief misfortune lay in the fact that Fulvia died, and +thus made room for the noble and much-abused Octavia, whom he afterward +married.</p> + +<p>Let us return to Portia. There is a beautiful incident related of her +final parting from Brutus in the island of Nisida. She was overcome with +grief, but refrained from showing it for fear that it might shake her +husband's fortitude. But in passing through a hall, a picture which she +there saw accidentally betrayed her. It was a representation of Hector +parting from Andromache when he went to engage the Greeks. He was in the +act of giving his little son Astyanax into her arms, while she fixes her +tearful eyes for the last time upon her husband. Portia could not look +upon this piece, so suggestive of her own circumstances, without +weeping; and every day, as long as she remained in the place, she went +to gaze upon it. It was on one of those occasions that Acilius, a friend +of Brutus, repeated from Homer the lines where Andromache speaks to +Hector:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i20"> "'But, Hector, you</p> +<p class="i14"> To me are father and are mother too,</p> +<p class="i14"> My brother, and my loving husband true.'"</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Brutus, sadly smiling, replied, "But I must not answer Portia, as Hector +did Andromache:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i14"> "'Mind you your loom, and to your maids give law.'</p> +</div></div> + +<p>For though the natural weakness of her body hinders her from doing what +only the strength of men can perform, yet she has a mind as valiant and +as active for the good of her country as the best of us."</p> + +<p>As to the time and manner of Portia's death, the ancient writers are not +fully agreed? But the best authenticated account is that which is thus +represented by Shakespeare:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p> "BRUTUS.--O Cassius! I am sick of many griefs.</p> +<br> +<p> CASSIUS.--Of your philosophy you make no use, + If you give place to accidental evils.</p> +<br> +<p> BRUTUS.--No man bears sorrow better; Portia is dead.</p> +<br> +<p> CASSIUS.--Ha!--Portia?</p> +<br> +<p> BRUTUS.--She is dead.</p> +<br> +<p> CASSIUS.--How 'scap'd I killing, when I cross'd you so? + O insupportable and touching loss!--Upon + what sickness?</p> +<br> +<p> BRUTUS.--Impatient of my absence, + And grief that young Octavius with Mark Antony + Had made themselves so strong;--for with her death + These tidings came.--With this she fell distract, + And, her attendants absent, swallow'd fire."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>In Portia and Brutus we see that close and mutual sympathy, than which +marriage in any period of the world's history has nothing better to +show. The ancient historians took great delight in eulogizing her +character and praising her qualities. They are a unit in the belief +that, in all points, she was worthy to be the consort of him whom Antony +justly honored as "The noblest Roman of them all."</p> +<a name="c7" id="c7"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>VII</h3> + +<h3>THE ROMAN WOMAN IN POLITICS</h3> + +<p>In the disordered conditions which followed the death of Cæsar, the old +Roman constitution lost what little force it had seemed to retain under +the preceding dictators. The offices of the State remained the same in +name, and were still supposed to be filled by men who were freely chosen +by the people; but all were under the hand of a power which the Senate +dared not resist, and in which the people, weary of the bloody +contentions of the oligarchy, were willing to acquiesce so long as bread +and games were forthcoming. This power was the army. Whosoever +controlled the army found the interpretation of his own political rights +not difficult. The forces of the Empire were in the hands of three men: +Lepidus, who commanded the legions which at the opportune moment were +near Rome; Antony, who was the idol of the people; and the young +Octavius, who stood on the vantage of his relationship to the great +Cæsar, These men divided the world among themselves; but, in the end, +Octavius, by the steadiness of his mind, the fixity of his purpose, and +the scope of his executive ability, won for himself the Empire. During +the years of civil war and political turmoil which accompanied these +changes, much in the Roman social construction which had hitherto been +beneath found its way to the surface. It was a struggle in which any +strength, skill, or art that enabled its possessor to best his fellows +meant political advantage. Though deficient in strength, women, having a +certain skill peculiar to their sex and being especially adapted to the +practice of those arts by means of which political situations are +managed from behind the scenes, became much more influential in State +affairs than formerly. Their prominence grew as the government narrowed +down from the free Senate to the person of the emperor. Women have +always been powerful in a monarchical or an imperial court, but have +never enjoyed any notable political rights in a republic.</p> + +<p>The period which we are now studying is rich in the names of women who, +standing around Cæsar's throne, often found means to further or thwart +the designs of its occupant. Among them we may select Livia, not for the +dignity of her character or the ability of her mind,--though she was not +lacking in either of these qualities,--but because of her position as +the Augusta and her long life, she, better than any other, serves to +represent the women who were influential in Roman public affairs. Though +if Fulvia had lived and Antony had been discreet, Rome might have been +governed by a woman, and Fulvia instead of Livia would have been the +type we should have chosen. While her husband was following Cleopatra to +Egypt, a prisoner to her fascinations, Fulvia had control of the consuls +and was making war against Octavius. If this ambitious, strong-minded +woman, who held reviews of the troops with a sword at her side, had been +possessed of sufficient funds, Octavius might never have won the purple; +but the only means by which the army could be held were wasted by her +husband in monstrous extravagances. Defeated in her schemes through the +non-coöperation of her husband, Fulvia became ill through vexation and +shame, and died about B.C. 39.</p> + +<p>Livia possessed an entirely different character from that which +dominated Fulvia; yet, being of the Claudian race,--that family which, +as Niebuhr says, "in all ages distinguished itself alike by a spirit of +haughty defiance, by disdain for the laws, and iron hardness of +heart,"--it would have been strange if Livia had not made her influence +felt in the house of Cæsar and to the sorrow of those who stood in her +way. When Livia first met Octavius, she was eighteen years old and the +wife of Tiberius Claudius Nero, a man probably much older than herself. +The varying aspects of the Civil War made it difficult for a man who +sought before all things his own security to know which cause to +support. Ill luck seemed to prompt Claudius Nero in his choice; first he +threw in his lot with Brutus and Cassius, though he was indebted to +Cæsar for many favors; then, after the defeat of these, he joined Antony +against Augustus. The consequence was that he spent much time in the +endeavor to rectify his mistakes of policy by fleeing from one commander +to another. In all these journeyings and adventures his wife accompanied +him, carrying with her their young child Tiberius, who was destined to +become Emperor of Rome. At times she was exposed to great danger; for +instance, in Lacedæmon, during an escape by night from their enemies, +the forest through which they were passing was on fire, and her hair and +clothing were scorched by the flames. Claudius Nero succeeded in gaining +a pardon from Octavius, and he and his wife returned to Rome. Whether +this grace resulted from the representations he made in his own defence, +or from the interest excited by Livia in the mind of Octavius, history +does not inform us; but certain conclusions are unavoidable, inasmuch as +Octavius compelled Claudius Nero to divorce his wife so that he himself +might marry her.</p> + +<p>In order that this marriage might take place, a double divorce was +necessary; for Octavius was already united to Scribonia, by whom he had +a daughter, Julia, the only child that was ever born to him. He had +married Scribonia for purposes of political expediency. At the time of +his marriage he was only twenty-three years old, while his bride was his +senior by many years and had already lost two husbands by death. The +object of this marriage was to win for Octavius the support of Libo, the +brother of Scribonia, and through him his son-in-law Sextus Pompeius, +who was a man of great influence. This purpose being served, the young +ruler found himself at the same time secure in his position and tired of +the marital alliance which he had formed for the sake of that security. +He alleged perversity of character and incompatibility of temperament--- +the only charges he could prefer--in Scribonia, and sent her a letter of +separation only a few days after his child had been born.</p> + +<p>"By this act," says Adolf Stahr, as quoted by S. Baring Gould, "Octavius +himself strewed the seeds of discord which were to disturb fatally the +concord of the imperial family, not only during his own life, but far +beyond it, Scribonia would have been no woman not to have felt deadly +hatred toward that woman in whom she saw the robber of her honor, the +wrecker of her happiness, the overthrower of her ambition, and by means +of whom a new family forced its way into that place which should have +been hers and usurped her claims and her hopes. As the mother of Julia, +the only daughter of the sovereign, as the ancestress of Julia's +children and grandchildren, she remained, in spite of the separation, +the head of the Julian race, the dynasty called to sovereignty. No +wonder, then, that henceforth she stood in hostile opposition to the +Claudian Livia and her two children. This deadly animosity between the +two family branches of the imperial house was reflected more than two +generations later in the memoirs of the great-grandchild of Scribonia, +the second Agrippina, wife of the Emperor Claudius, and mother of Nero, +the source whence, poisoned as it was with fiercest hate toward Livia +and her son, the Emperor Tiberius, Tacitus drew the colors with which he +painted both one and the other in his <i>Annals</i>."</p> + +<p>There is good ground for believing that the marriage of Octavius and +Livia was a love match. Though the new bride was descended from one of +the most aristocratic and powerful families of Rome, her relatives were +not especially prominent at that time; so it would seem that the +triumvir's regard for her was not regulated by the calculations of +expediency. Livia possessed not only beauty, but also the character of +mind which was likely to charm a man with the disposition of Octavius. +She was quick to understand and appreciate his intelligent purposes and +far-reaching achievements. There was between the two that sympathy which +is the absolute requisite of a happy marriage.</p> + +<p>As to Livia's personal attractions, Ovid assures us that she had the +features of Venus and the manners of Juno. Making not a little allowance +for the flattery made necessary by the position of the courtier, and +some for the license of the poet, we may still believe that the wife of +the first emperor was a very beautiful woman. There are yet in existence +a great many representations of her. She was the first Roman woman to +have her face displayed upon the coin of the realm; but we cannot accept +these images as portraits, though they bear her name. There is one Roman +medal, however, which represents Livia in old age; consequently, we may +safely consider it as authentic. No picture of the youthful loveliness +which captivated Octavius has been preserved; but there is in the Louvre +a magnificent statue which represents Livia as the goddess Ceres. There +is much character in the face, and there is a sufficient resemblance to +Tiberius to authorize the belief that it really portrays his mother. The +form and features are those of a matron on the declining side of thirty. +The figure is majestic, possibly made more so than the original for +reasons complimentary to the divinity; yet it seems to justify Ovid's +account of the Juno-like manners of the Augusta. The charm of youthful +beauty has not yet deserted the face. The eyes, so far as can be judged +from the cold, colorless marble, were lustrous and large; the mouth, +with its short upper lip, was capable of both power and variety of +expression, and doubtless aided Livia to obtain her will of Augustus as +much by its silent eloquence as by its articulate enunciation. To the +slight arch of the Roman nose she of course could claim a national +right.</p> + +<p>Three months after her marriage to Octavius, Livia gave birth to her +second son. On this occasion, Caesar wrote in his journal: "To-day my +wife bore me a boy, whom I caused to be sent to his father Nero." But +Nero dying soon afterward, and having in his will left this child--who +was named Drusus--and also the latter's brother Tiberius to the +guardianship of Octavius, the children were again restored to Livia and +trained as the sons of her imperial husband.</p> + +<p>Livia's marriage with Octavius, whatever may be said of the +circumstances under which it was brought about, was a happy one. For +fifty-two years they lived together, a period ending only with +Octavius's death; and upon her character as a wife there was never cast, +even by those whose hatred she excited, the slightest reflection. In +the midst of a corrupt and luxurious society, she lived in accordance +with those chaste and simple principles which governed the matrons of +the early Republic. It is said that her husband commonly wore clothing +which was wrought by the hands of his wife and the other female members +of his family. While, however, the house of Octavius was conducted after +the old-fashioned method, Livia was by no means such a political +nonentity as had been the matron of ancient times. She was obedient to +her husband, and in all things subservient to his wishes, even going so +far--if Suetonius is to be credited in the matter--as to more than +condone his wandering inclinations of an amorous nature. Livia knew how +to manage the first man who was able to capture and hold the government +of the Roman Empire. Her tact and good sense, conjoined with his +affection, enabled her to wield an influence over the emperor which had +its effect in the weightiest affairs of State. Her counsel was usually +in the interest of kindness and forbearance; more than once, when he was +inclined to exercise severity in the punishment of his enemies, she won +him to gentler methods. That he frequently sought her advice in +important political matters, we know; and it is on record that +sometimes, when he wished to consult her on subjects of grave moment, he +would first write out that which he desired to say, in order that he +might present his ideas as clearly and correctly as possible.</p> + +<p>The picture given us of Livia by the ancient historians is of a double +and somewhat inconsistent character. The wife of Augustus was a model of +uprightness and honor; the empress shown us by Tacitus as seeking to +bring to pass her own designs in regard to the succession was heartless +and unprincipled. Here are the conclusions drawn by Merivale, and they +form a verdict in which probably most students of Roman history will +agree: "In her second home, she directed all her arts to securing her +position, and became, perhaps, in no long course of time, as consummate +a dissembler and intriguer as Octavius himself. While, indeed, she +seconded him in his efforts to cajole the Roman people, she was engaged, +not less successfully, in cajoling him. Her elegant manners, in which +she was reputed to exceed the narrow limits allowed by fashion and +opinion to the Roman matrons, proved no less fascinating to him than her +beauty. Her intellect was undoubtedly of a high order; and when her +personal charms failed to enchain his roving inclinations, she was +content with the influence she still continued to hold over his +understanding The sway she acquired over him in the first transports of +courtship she retained without change or interruption to the day of his +death."</p> + +<p>Before we turn our attention to the history of Livia's efforts to secure +the succession for her son Tiberius, let us fill out the picture in +which she stands by placing in it some of the noted women by whom she +was surrounded. First and foremost, there is Octavia, the half-sister of +Cæsar Augustus. For this noble woman the ancient writers have nothing +but the most enthusiastic praise. Plutarch briefly describes her as a +"wonder of a woman." Fortunately, we know more of her than is expressed +in that superlative phrase. Her mother's name was Atia, and she was a +few years older than Octavius. The historian above quoted claims for her +so much beauty that she did not suffer in that respect in comparison +with her great Egyptian rival, Cleopatra; but the figures of her which +are extant hardly support the claim. Nor was she clever like Cleopatra; +indeed, she had little to recommend her except her relationship with the +powerful Octavius, her sterling goodness, and the sweet amiability of +her character. For this reason her marriage to Antony was as great a +failure in the purpose for which it was intended--the winning of the +triumvir from his infatuation--as it was a misfortune to herself. That a +woman like Octavia should be united to such a man as Mark Antony did not +seem to the ancients such a tragedy as it appears to us; and probably +the sister of Octavius endured with an unconcern incomprehensible to us +the knowledge that her husband had been the lover of many women, some +even of the most abandoned sort.</p> + +<p>For a while, Octavia did exercise a restraining influence over her +wayward husband; and though she could not gird on a sword and harangue +the legions, as did Fulvia, more than once by her prudence and good +sense she helped Antony materially in his time of need. It also seems +that while his wife was by his side he was able to withstand any +propensity that was in him to go down into Egypt. Plutarch recounts that +Antony having a misunderstanding with Octavius, the two were about to +oppose their forces in civil strife at Tarentum. Octavia, however, +obtained leave of her husband to visit the camp of her brother; "and as +she was on her way she met Cæsar, with his two friends Agrippa and +Mæcenas, and, taking these two aside, with urgent entreaties and much +lamentation she told them that from being the most fortunate woman upon +earth she was in danger of becoming the most unhappy; for as yet +everyone's eyes were fixed upon her as the wife and sister of the two +great commanders, but, if rash counsels should prevail, and war ensue, +'I shall be miserable,' said she, 'without redress; for on what side +soever victory falls, I shall be sure to be a loser.'" Caesar was +overcome by these entreaties, and advanced in a peaceable temper to +Tarentum, where he was entertained by Antony. "And when at length an +agreement was made between them ... Octavia further obtained of her +husband twenty light ships for her brother, and of her brother a +thousand foot for her husband. So, having parted good friends, Caesar +went immediately to make war with Pompey to conquer Sicily," and Antony +repaired to Syria, where he once more met the Egyptian queen; and from +this infatuation Octavia was never again able to win him.</p> + +<p>Yet this admirable woman did not cease to fulfil her part as a dutiful +and helpful wife. When her husband returned from his disastrous +expedition against the Parthians, having lost a great part of his forces +and all his supplies, he received a message from Octavia asking where +she might meet him. The answer received by her was a peremptory and +unfeeling command not to proceed further than Athens, as he was about to +start on a new expedition. Displeased though she was, being fully aware +of the cause wherefore she was not welcome, she wrote again, asking to +know to what place she should send the soldiers, money, and presents she +had brought for his use.</p> + +<p>On her return to Rome, Cæsar, incensed at the treatment his sister had +received, commanded her to leave Antony's house and repudiate all +further connection with him. This she steadfastly refused to do. She +continued to live in her husband's house until she was obliged to leave +by his own command. Then she took with her own children those of Fulvia; +and after the death of Antony, she even welcomed to her home the +daughter which had been born to him by her Egyptian rival, and it was +impossible for the Romans to perceive that she gave less motherly care +to the young Cleopatra than she bestowed upon her own offspring.</p> + +<p>Judging by what we know of her, no age has produced a more beautiful +character than that of Octavia. In her were exemplified the fairest of +those qualities which are especially inculcated by the principles of +Christianity. Goodness, long-suffering, forbearance, and gentleness: +these were exhibited in her life to a degree which after ages refused to +believe possible under paganism; which goes to show that the idea that +the noblest graces of character could not ripen previous to the present +era is an unwarranted assumption. It arises from the fact that in the +accounts we have of the ancient world there is more said of the exercise +and the consequences of violent passions and human depravity than there +is of pure love and kindly forbearance; but this may be accounted for by +the well-attested axiom that peaceful lives furnish no history. If +Octavia, living in the very centre of all the varied influences which +fomented around the Palatine Hill, could maintain a pure and noble +character, we may be very sure that the women who followed her example +in the humbler walks of life were not so few as the Pagan satirists and +the Christian apologists combine in leading us to suppose. There is no +record of Octavia's having taken part in any of those activities by +which Livia and other feminine members of the Cæsarian household +endeavored to affect the course of political events. When all hope of +there being any male issue of Augustus to inherit his rule was +abandoned, the chance that Octavia's son by her first husband would be +the next emperor seemed to become a certainty. Of her bereavement in his +death we will speak later on. As the women with which this chapter deals +were all of one family, and consequently were at home under the same +roof, and, moreover, as the art of building had at this time attained +its perfection at Rome, it will enable us to form a better picture of +the life of these women if we see them in the house, their peculiar +sphere.</p> + +<p>About the time that Augustus married Livia, he built for himself a new +residence. The Domus Augustana was erected on the Palatine Hill, and +from the fact that this site was adopted for the imperial abode the +magnificent structures reared upon it were called palaces; thus a word +of differentiation was provided for the dwelling houses of the rulers. +Livia's palace was not a large building, judging from what was +considered necessary at a time when rich families were served by +hundreds of slaves; but Livia was married to a man who was quite willing +to have others of a lower rank outstrip him in extravagant living, so +long as he had the power to decide whether or not it were best for the +interests of the State that they be allowed to live at all; and as the +Augusta had some influence in these decisions, she may have been able +contentedly to visit the wife of Mæcenas, who lived in a house of far +greater magnificence than her own. As the better class of Roman abodes +were all constructed after the same general plan, it is not difficult, +in imagination, out of the materials of information which we possess, to +reërect upon its ruins, which still exist, the Domus Augustana.</p> + +<p>The portico which adorned the outside extended the whole length of the +front of the house, and possibly around the sides. It was a colonnade of +native travertine--some of the later occupants of the imperial throne +were hardly satisfied with the costliest marble. The vestibule was a +large apartment, which was always freely open to clients and callers. +The <i>Salve</i> inscribed or worked in mosaic upon the threshold of the +outer door expressed the generous hospitality which characterized all +Roman dwellings of that time. From the vestibule another door led to the +<i>atrium</i>, the most important room in the house. It was large, and +decorated with all the splendor which the wealth of the owner could +warrant, and with such beauty as his taste might dictate. It was +roofed, with the exception of an opening in the centre, called the +<i>compluvium</i>, through which was admitted the rain water into a cistern +in the floor. In the early times the <i>atrium</i> was the common room of the +family, and in it were carried on the domestic occupations presided over +by the mistress of the house, but in the days of Livia it was the +audience chamber of the owner. The walls of this apartment were highly +decorated with landscape paintings, or else lined with beautiful +marbles. Some of the paintings which covered the walls of the Domus +Augustana have been preserved, and in the great spaces through which +they were seen their brilliant colors must have been very effective.</p> + +<p>Opening from the <i>atrium</i> was the <i>tablinum</i>; here were the family +archives, the statues, pictures, and other ancestral relics. Around +these great apartments ware smaller chambers, which were commonly used +for the lodging of guests, though it is probable that Livia's +establishment included a house set apart for this purpose. Behind the +apartments we have described, and reached through <i>fauces</i>, or narrow +passages, was the real interior and private portion of the palace. First +there came the peristyle. This was a large, oblong court, open to the +sky in the middle and surrounded by a colonnade of polished marble +pillars. The centre of this court was filled with shrubs and flowers, +grown in great boxes of earth; and the beauty and comfort of this +charming "drawing room" were enhanced by the cool fountains of water +with which Rome was so bountifully supplied. Here was Livia's forum. +Here was the fitting stage where she displayed those gifts of mind and +graces of person which never lost their potent influence with her +husband and gave her title of Augusta a real political significance.</p> + +<p>Opening from the peristyle was the <i>triclinium</i>, or dining hall. It was +here that the extravagance of the Romans was especially exhibited. In +<i>La Palais de Scaurus</i>, by Mazois, there is a pen picture of a +<i>triclinium</i>, every detail of which is authenticated by ancient +authorities. It reveals a luxury and a disregard of expense to which our +day furnishes no parallel. But the banquet hall of the Augustan house +was not equipped in so costly a fashion; there was still cherished some +remembrance of the ancient Sabine simplicity.</p> + +<p>In addition to the apartments mentioned, there were spacious halls and +salons used for such purpose as that of a picture gallery or a library. +The bed chambers were usually placed between the outer walls of the +house and the more important rooms; the only remarkable features about +them were their smallness and inconvenience. There was an upper story, +which was used principally for sleeping apartments, and probably there +were no windows opening to the street except on this second floor. The +rear part of the house was given up to the kitchen, the bakery, and the +mill for grinding flour. Above all, in a literal and also commendatory +sense of the word, was the solarium. This was a delightful retreat on +the roof, furnished with plants, flowers, and fountains.</p> + +<p>It was to such an abode as this that Livia came, and there brought her +influence to bear on one of the most brilliant epochs of the world's +history. After her repudiation by Antony, Octavia and her children also +came to reside at the Domus Augustana; and there lived also the little +Julia, the daughter of Scribonia and Octavius.</p> + +<p>How early in her career Livia commenced laying her plans for the +succession of her son to the imperial rule, we do not know; nor is there +any certainty as to the extent of her culpability in carrying them out. +It is most likely that her hope that she might bear a son to Augustus +who would have an indisputable claim to the heritage allowed her at +first to view with complacency the already existing putative but more +removed successors. Time wore on, and her expectations failed of +realization. Her sons, Tiberius and Drusus, were growing up, and both +were manifesting those qualities which showed them worthy of taking the +reins of government. The habit of exercising an influence in the affairs +of State, through the confidence placed in her by her husband, made the +prospect of having to relinquish that power, in the event of the death +of Augustus, constantly more intolerable; but the woman who was called +"a female Ulysses" was likely to win her way.</p> + +<p>Julia, though the only child born in the purple, might not inherit the +imperial sceptre, being a woman. But Octavia had a son of her first +marriage, named Marcellus, of whom Augustus was especially fond. While +he was but a youth of seventeen, Julia, then fourteen years old, was +given to him in marriage; and thus it was hoped the succession would be +continued by means of the union of the daughter and the nephew of the +emperor. These anticipations were doomed to disappointment, as Marcellus +died shortly after the marriage. One historian, Dion Cassius, informs us +that it was whispered about that Livia was responsible for the death of +Julia's husband, being jealous because Cæsar heaped upon him favors +which were denied to her own sons; but, while relating this, the +historian claims that it was a groundless accusation. However, we have +it on the authority of so trustworthy a witness as Seneca that Octavia, +in this sad bereavement, for once was unworthy of herself. He says that +"she turned to hate all mothers, and the angry passion of her sorrow was +directed principally against Livia, because that now the hope and +prospects that had belonged to her own son were transferred to the son +of Livia." Such unreasoning grief in this otherwise noble woman was a +mark of common human frailty; but it does not present so pleasing a +picture as that memorable scene in which Virgil, at the command of +Augustus, read before Octavia the sixth book of his Æneid, in which he +has commemorated Marcellus. Grief-stricken and dejected as she was, +Octavia probably gave but little attention to the opening lines; but her +interest was aroused as the poet proceeded to describe Æneas's visit to +the under world, where dwelt those who had been dearest to her, and +whither she knew herself to be rapidly tending. When she heard the +lines--</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i14"> "This youth, the blissful vision of a day,</p> +<p class="i14"> Shall just be shown on earth, then snatched away,"</p> +</div></div> + +<p>she was startled by the description of her own son, and, hiding her +face, she burst into tears; and when the poet uttered the words "<i>Tu +Marcellus eris</i>," which he had wisely withheld to the end of the +passage, she could endure no more and swooned because of the intensity +of her sorrowful emotion. The information that she ordered Virgil to be +presented with ten thousand sesterces for every line of the passage +relating to her son is interesting, but does not add particularly to the +beauty of the scene. Shortly after this, occurred her death. Augustus +caused certain public buildings which he was at this time erecting to be +dedicated in honor of his sister.</p> + +<p>Now that Julia was married, she was freed to some extent from that +severe discipline in which Augustus deemed it necessary to bring up the +girls of his family. Her training had been very strict. She had even +been obliged, at a time when other girls of far inferior birth were +perfecting themselves in more fashionable accomplishments, to assist her +aunt and her stepmother in spinning wool for her father's clothes. She +was denied any freedom of intercourse with the youths of her own age. +Augustus once wrote to a young nobleman: "You have not behaved with +proper respect in paying a visit to my daughter at Baiæ." But natural +inclination, always stronger than discipline in determining the +direction of a moral career, led Julia into evil courses. For many +years, however, her father saw nothing less innocent in her conduct than +that wit and gayety of spirit which he easily condoned. She well knew +how to turn the edge of the mild rebukes of a fond parent. On one +occasion, seeing her surrounded at a public exhibition by a number of +the young fashionables of the city, and noticing that she did not +maintain that dignity of deportment which he thought becoming in the +daughter of an emperor, Augustus wrote her a letter expressing his +displeasure and holding up before her the example of Livia, who +encouraged in her company none but "grave and reverend signiors." Julia +had a ready reply; this was the note scribbled on a tablet and sent back +to her father: "These young men will also have become old fogies by the +time I am an old woman." One day, later in her life, her father found a +slave engaged in plucking the gray hairs from his daughter's head. This +operation suddenly ceased on his entrance, and he feigned not to have +noticed it. Then he asked abruptly: "Julia, which would you rather +be--gray or bald?" "Why, father, gray, of course," "You little liar," +replied Augustus, "see here," and he held up some of the gray hairs +which had fallen on her dressing gown.</p> + +<p>Shortly after the death of Marcellus, Julia was again married, this time +to the great warrior Agrippa, the staunch friend of her father. This +also was distinctly a political marriage. Julia was eighteen, Agrippa +was forty-two, while at the time of betrothal he was already wedded to +Marcella, the daughter of Octavia. The usual divorce severed these +bonds, and Marcella was given to Antonius, the son of the triumvir. Both +Octavia and Scribonia were desirous of this matrimonial readjustment. +They probably saw that Julia needed a firm disciplinarian like Agrippa +to keep the questionable proclivities of her character from attaining +too exuberant a freedom. It is also likely that they hoped that this +union would result in heirs who would frustrate the expectations of +Livia and her sons. But to their check thus played, Livia, in due time, +answered with a decisive mate. To Julia and Agrippa there were born +three sons and one daughter, named respectively Lucius, Caius, Agrippa +Posthumus, and Julia. Thus Tacitus relates the dénouement: "Augustus had +adopted Lucius and Caius into the Cæsarian family; and although they had +not yet laid aside the puerile garment, his ambition was strong to see +them declared princes of the Roman youth, and even mentioned for the +consulship; at the same time, he affected to decline these honors for +them. Upon the death of Agrippa, they were cut off, either by a decease +premature but natural, or by the arts of their stepmother Livia: Lucius +on his journey to the armies in Spain, Caius on his return from Armenia, +ill of a wound. And as Drusus had been long since dead, Tiberius Nero +was the only surviving stepson. On him every honor was accumulated, he +was adopted by Augustus as his son and a colleague in the Empire ... and +this was brought about, not by the secret machinations of his mother, as +heretofore, but at her open suit. For over Augustus, now aged, she had +obtained such absolute sway that he had banished his only surviving +grandson, Agrippa Posthumus, a person of clownish brutality, with great +bodily strength, but convicted of no heinous offence."</p> + +<p>Julia had by this time worked out her own condemnation. Those stories of +her flagrant misconduct which for years had been part of the common +gossip of the baths and porticoes of the city at last reached the ears +of her father. He tried not to believe them. Gazing fondly upon his only +child, he said; "Just like her I am sure that Claudia must have looked, +of whom our forefathers told that she was slandered. But she proved her +innocence." Those to whom he said this listened respectfully; but behind +his back they sneered. After Agrippa's death, Julia had made another +political marriage. Tiberius had been compelled to put away his wife, +Vipsania, the daughter of Agrippa, whom he dearly loved,--she was +probably the only human being for whom this morose man ever had any real +affection,--and was forced, much against his will, to replace her by +Agrippa's widow. Tiberius knew Julia as her father did not; and, rather +than live with her, he betook himself to a voluntary exile in Rhodes. By +thus doing, he seemed to frustrate all his mother's plans for his +advancement; but she, with deadly persistency, determined that there +should be in Cæsar's family no other candidate for the imperial +position, which must soon be vacated. There is some hint of Julia's +misdoings coming to light through the discovery of a plot, in which +Livia had no part, to shorten the emperor's days; but there is no proof, +nor does it seem probable, that Julia was a conspirator against her +father's life. She was probably the tool of others. Augustus, however, +was constrained to institute an investigation, which revealed to him all +the turpitude of his daughter's conduct; she was banished to an island +in the Bay of Naples, and there strictly guarded until the day of her +death.</p> + +<p>The case of Julia gives no occasion for pity, except for the gray-haired +old man who had lost by death all those upon whom he had rested his +ambitious hopes for the future of his house. None were left save +Livia,--probably Augustus himself never for a moment entertained a +suspicion that his wife was the cause of his misfortunes,--Tiberius, +whom he never loved, and this woman, whom he wished had died in her +infancy. And yet the edge is taken from any sympathy one might have for +Augustus, when it is remembered that, notwithstanding his stern demand +for chastity on the part of the women of his own family and all of noble +birth, his own conduct, if Suetonius reports truthfully, was no better +than that of his daughter. But to condemn licentiousness in their women +and to practise it themselves did not seem to the men of Rome to be +either illogical or inconsistent.</p> + +<p>Julia represented the prevalent social conditions of her time. +Licentiousness, like a cancer, was eating into the heart of Roman +society; and this was to grow still worse. It must be admitted also that +female degeneracy kept pace with the increase of woman's influence in +the political world. Livia and Agrippina the Elder were exceptions; but +the rule was, and has been in all history, that the activity of women in +State affairs was accompanied by an abundance of meretricious amatory +intrigues. It is a remarkable fact that in the history of the Roman +woman--and possibly this statement might be given a much wider +application--there is no instance where any individual woman designedly +helped to bring about the enactment of a law for the public weal. Female +politics always had for their object the advancement of the female +politician's own personal interests or those of some male favorite. And +women could never have favorites outside their own families with safety +to their honor. Whenever women have sought high favors either from men +or for men, their personal charms have ever been their principal +argument and illicit love their chief inducement.</p> + +<p>One of the most radical of the early changes made in the Roman +constitution was brought about by the piqued vanity of a woman. Fabius +Ambustus, a man of power and renown in the ancient Republic, had two +daughters. One of them was married to a patrician named Sulpicius, while +the other was espoused to Stolo, a plebeian tribune. This office was the +highest to which at the time a man of plebeian birth could lawfully +aspire. One day the wife of Stolo, being at her sister's house, was +startled by the sound of the lictor's staff at the door--a mode of +announcement to which plebeian ears were unaccustomed. Being laughed at +by Sulpicia, she went to her own home in high dudgeon, and henceforth +neither Fabius Ambustus nor Stolo could gain any relief from her +complaints until they had brought it to pass that the Senate consented +to the conferring of magisterial office upon plebeians, with the +consequence that her husband also might be attended by a lictor with his +axe and rods. The story is important because it illustrates the greater +portion of the Roman woman's interest in politics.</p> + +<p>Livia was now the sole woman of influence in the imperial palace. +Scribonia had voluntarily accompanied her daughter into exile; and the +daughter of Julia, who had inherited both her mother's name and her +failings, was banished from the city. It was not difficult now for Livia +to secure the adoption of Tiberius by Augustus as his son and also as +his heir. This, however, was not done without causing some misgivings in +the minds of the Romans, who, as Tacitus says, feared to be under +bondage to a woman "with the ungovernable spirit peculiar to her sex."</p> + +<p>On the nineteenth of August, A.D. 14, Livia and the intimate friends of +Augustus were gathered around the emperor's deathbed. "Tell me," said +the great emperor, "have I played well my part?" Posterity has never +questioned the nature or the truth of their answer. Then he said: "Let +all applaud and clap their hands." His last words, which throw more +light on the character of this great woman than all the good and bad +that is said of her, were: "Livia! live mindful of our union; and now, +farewell."</p> + +<p>The Augusta had sent urgent messengers to recall her son; and she caused +the people to be kept in ignorance of the true condition of her husband +until the news of his death and of the succession of Tiberius could be +announced at the same time. But, although she had labored so +persistently, and, if the historians are correct, so unscrupulously, for +the accession of her son, with the death of Augustus, Livia's power also +came to an end. Tiberius was impatient of any female interference, even +that of his mother. She was made priestess of the deified Augustus; but +Tiberius declared that public honors should be adjudged to women with +extreme moderation, and he refused to allow a lictor to be appointed for +her service. Still, after a fashion of his own, he treated her with the +greatest respect until the day of her death; and he always allowed her +politic counsels to have considerable weight in his decisions, well +aware that no one else would so jealously guard his interests.</p> + +<p>There is one incident which redounds to the credit of Tiberius, whose +sadly damaged reputation needs everything that can be said in his favor, +and which is worth noticing because it not only illustrates his manner +of dealing with the imperious Augusta, but also indicates the kind of +purposes for which the political power of influential women was +exercised. Livia, presuming on her position, demanded that Piso should +be punished for insulting her by suing Urgulania, one of her favorites, +for the payment of money which was clearly due to him. Tiberius refused +so unjust a request, but gave his mother to understand that no less a +person than himself would plead her cause before the judges. He +fulfilled his word by loitering so long on his way to the court that by +the time he reached it the judges had awarded the claimant his right, so +that the empress found no way open by which she could save her friend +except by paying the money herself.</p> + +<p>Livia's old age was embittered to herself, and still more discredited +with many of her contemporaries, by a new phase of the old feud which +had for so long rent the imperial family. Agrippina, the daughter of +Julia and Agrippa, had been married to Germanicus, the son of Antonia +and the elder Drusus. In the wedded life of these two was exemplified an +excellence of conjugal union that was almost perfect. Germanicus was a +brave and able soldier and a man whose moral character was far superior +to the standard of his time. Agrippina was a woman whose purity of life +was worthy of the principles which guided the matrons of the ancient +Republic, but whose disposition would not permit her to relinquish any +privilege which was open to the women of the new times and warranted by +her position.</p> + +<p>Livia's grudge against Agrippina seems to have been a continuation of +the old discord between the Claudian and the Julian branches of the +governing house. Each of these women had her adherents, who by their +machinations and recriminations made peace an utter stranger in the +imperial palace. Livia, however, possessed a threefold advantage over +Agrippina: the latter was precluded by her nature from adopting against +an enemy any nefarious design--a scruple of which history has been able +to discover no trace in the conduct of the former lady; the Augusta was +strongly supported in her dislike by the Emperor Tiberius; and Agrippina +was away from Rome a great part of the time. She elected to accompany +her husband, even on his most dangerous expeditions. On one occasion, +when their lives were threatened by the mutinous legions and he urged +her to depart to safer quarters, she proudly answered that, being the +granddaughter of the deified Augustus, she was not so degenerate as to +shrink from danger.</p> + +<p>To what extent this animosity between the two ladies was carried it is +difficult to determine. Some historians claim that it resulted in +placing another awful crime to Livia's account. Germanicus died in +Seleucia in the thirty-fourth year of his age, of some mysterious +malady; and there were many who at once whispered that Livia had been +the means of bringing about his death by poisoning. But there is no +proof of this, and a careful study of the known facts causes it to seem +improbable. There was no motive for such an act, beyond the fact that +the husband of Agrippina was exceedingly popular with the army and the +people; but this was offset by his undoubted and enthusiastic devotion +to Tiberius. The facts, so far as they are now ascertainable, are these: +Piso, who was Proconsul of Syria, was instigated by his wife Plancina to +acts of disrespect and animosity against Germanicus and Agrippina. This +woman, who was of an exceedingly masculine temperament,--as is shown +among other things by her habit of taking part in the exercises of the +cavalry,--was a great favorite with Livia and shared her closest +confidence. Plancina is said to have kept about her a woman named +Martina, who had an evil reputation as being expert in the use of +poisonous drugs, but of whose existence nothing more is known than the +little that is told in this connection, Germanicus, on his deathbed, +declared that he was cut short in his career by the dark devices of a +woman. The news of his decease did not affect Livia with the same degree +of sorrow as it did the populace; which fact tended to strengthen +suspicion in the minds of the latter. But all this proves nothing, even +though Piso, despairing of acquittal, destroyed himself during his +trial, after having written a letter protesting his innocence. Nor does +the fact that Plancina was protected by Livia furnish any proof that the +aged and much-maligned empress was guilty of instigating the crime, if +crime it was.</p> + +<p>Agrippina, after the body of her husband had been burned on the funeral +pyre, set forth in the depth of winter on her journey to Rome with his +ashes. At every port where the fleet touched she received a sad but an +imposing ovation. All the friends of her husband crowded to Brundusium, +where she was to disembark; but they could not agree as to whether she +should be received in respectful silence or with some more demonstrative +expression of their sympathy. Tacitus thus depicts the affecting scene: +"Nothing was settled when the fleet came sweeping slowly in, not rigged +out in sprightly fashion, but wearing the ensigns of sadness. When, +however, the widow descended from the ship, bearing the funeral urn in +her hand, accompanied by her two infants and with her eyes steadily +fixed on the ground, one simultaneous groan burst from the entire +assemblage." Neither Tiberius, nor Livia, nor Antonia, the mother of +Germanicus, attended the funeral. Tacitus gives the reasons that were +alleged, but does not decide which was nearest the truth. "Tiberius and +Livia either thought public lamentation beneath their dignity, or else +they feared lest if folk peered into their faces their hypocrisy would +be discovered. Whether sickness detained Antonia, or overmuch sorrow and +inability to go through the ceremony, is not known. I would rather +believe that she was held back by Tiberius and Livia, who did not leave +the palace, that they might seem to mourn in private."</p> + +<p>Agrippina had been exhorted by her dying husband, "as she would cherish +his memory, and for the sake of their children, to divest herself of her +unyielding spirit, and humble herself to Fortune in the storm of her +displeasure; and, on her return to the city, not to irritate, in a +competition for the mastery, those who were more than a match for her." +Such advice given to a Roman matron would have appeared unnecessary to +the men of the old regime; but there was now a throne in Rome, and +consequently women jostled each other for the place of power behind it.</p> + +<p>Agrippina needed just such counsel; but her nature would not allow her +to profit by it. Irreproachable in her life, her virtues were not +beautified by the divine gift of good humor; and she possessed no +philosophy. Her mind was of that sort, more common among women than men, +in which an idea having once been entertained is henceforth unassailable +and undetachable by reason. Than this class of mind there is nothing +more exasperating in human knowledge, and it is not to be wondered at +that she irritated Tiberius. These two angered each other on every +occasion of their meeting: the emperor by his cruel persecution of +Agrippina's friends, and she him both by her air of martyrdom and by her +evident and constant suspicion that he was planning some nefarious +project against herself.</p> + +<p>There lacked not ambitious men at the time who were ready to gather +around the noble widow on the pretence of siding with her in her +complaints against the emperor; they even sought to raise a party for +the advantage of her children. She probably lent herself to some extent +to these schemes, but not in sufficient degree to bring upon herself the +violence of the suspicious and resentful Tiberius. Nevertheless, all her +sons perished, except Caligula, whom a destiny unkind to the Roman +people protected from the fate of his brothers.</p> + +<p>Sejanus, the all-powerful favorite of the emperor, adroitly fanned the +ever-smoldering animosity which naturally existed between Tiberius and +Agrippina. He warned her to beware of poison, after having informed +Tiberius that the matron suspected that the emperor had designs on her +life. So, when the emperor politely handed her fruit, calling her +attention to its excellence, she silently passed it to the slaves. "Can +I avoid," he exclaimed to Livia, "treating this woman with harshness, +when she accuses me to my face of seeking to poison her?"</p> + +<p>The favorite Sejanus aimed at removing every heir to the imperial +throne, in order that at the death of Tiberius he might rule in name, as +he already did in effect. To achieve this end, he first seduced Livilla, +the wife of the son of Drusus Tiberius; then he procured by her means +the death of Drusus and asked Livilla in marriage. This the emperor +refused. At length,--not, however, until after Agrippina's sons had been +destroyed,--Antonia, the mother of Livilla, was constrained to write to +Tiberius of the conspiracy of Sejanus, and by her means he was brought +to justice. Livilla was starved to death by the command of her mother.</p> + +<p>Livia seems to have been at all times an obedient and submissive wife. +She was honored by the confidence of her husband. She shared in the +knowledge of his deepest political projects, and her advice was asked in +regard thereto. But there is no indication that she ever sought to +dictate. It was otherwise, however, with Tiberius. Whether Livia +considered that a mother's prerogative was more commanding than that of +a wife, or that a larger share of the rule might be claimed by her on +account of the fact that she had secured it for Tiberius, certain it is +that the latter found there was not enough room for himself and the +Augusta in the imperial palace. Suetonius informs us that on one +occasion, when Tiberius had haughtily objected to his mother's sharing +the government with him, Livia produced some letters which Augustus had +written to her complaining of the pride and arrogance of Tiberius. The +discovery that his mother had treasured these letters against him for so +many years so wounded the emperor that he immediately left the city, and +he never again saw his mother except for a few hours on one occasion.</p> + +<p>It is said that during her last days, when there was little more to hope +for and nothing else to do, Livia strove to defend Agrippina from the +machinations of Sejanus and the hatred of Tiberius. For twenty years she +had done somewhat to relieve the hardship of her daughter-in-law Julia's +exile; but she never sought to have her recalled. Tacitus says that, +having secretly overthrown her stepchildren in their prosperity, it was +her custom to make an open show of compassion toward them in their +adversity.</p> + +<p>Livia the Augusta died in A.D. 29, at the age of eighty-five. The +verdict of the historian is that she had been a stepmother to the +commonwealth of Rome; and this perhaps expresses her politics better +than any other term that could be employed. A faithful wife, a fond +mother, she had relentlessly witnessed the removal of every obstacle in +the way of Tiberius. For the sake of her son, she had done and suffered +everything; for the people, she had done nothing. Her powerful influence +had at all times been directed by her emotions; and if we should carry +the study to the end of the Empire, bringing into review all the +consorts and female associates of the emperors, this would still be the +summary of the story of the Roman woman in politics.</p> + +<p>Tiberius refused to permit the apotheosis of Livia; but after his death +the highest honors which a superstitious people could devise were paid +to her memory. Claudius caused her to be deified, and the worship of +Livia was constituted one of the functions of the Vestals. An idealized +statue of her was placed in the temple of Augustus. Medals were +impressed with the image of her head, and it was ordered that when the +women of Rome had occasion to swear, it should be "By Livia."</p> + +<p>On the whole, the Roman people, who understood Livia's character better +than it is possible for us to do at this late day, judged her very +kindly. Her virtues, which were conjugal and domestic, were always +popularly respected, though not generally followed. Her pride and cruel +vices were readily condoned, because they were considered indispensable +to the policy of rulers. Her husband was a successful statesman; he +maintained his position on the throne and accomplished much for the best +interests of the Empire. Livia was a successful politician; she kept the +people enamored of her supremacy, but furthered no interests save those +of herself and her son.</p> + +<p>Soon after the death of Livia, Agrippina was banished to the island of +Pandataria, where her mother Julia had been confined for so many +repentant years. It seems that her redoubtable spirit would not allow +her to submit to this tyranny without a struggle; and so brutal were the +soldiers in enforcing the emperor's command upon her who had once been +known as "The Mother of the Camps," that she lost the sight of one of +her eyes. After four years of miserable exile, she ended her life in the +"high Roman manner" by voluntary starvation.</p> + +<p>In the Capitol Museum there is a seated figure of Agrippina. It is one +of the noblest pieces of statuary in the world. In it is seen none of +that feminine sweetness which endeared the young wife of Germanicus to +the hearts of the Roman legions; but there is that proud consciousness +of moral dignity which Livia could not rival and that imperial manner +which Tiberius could not cow. It is a sad, strong-hearted woman. One +could fancy that a composite of all the noblest Roman matrons might have +made just such a picture. Or it might be the goddess Roma, in whose +personification are included the femininity of her daughters and also +the sternness of her sons.</p> + +<p>In the daughter of Germanicus we have another Agrippina, who was a much +more adroit politician than her mother. She was shrewder even than +Livia, and more unprincipled; and was favored beyond parallel in +position, for she was daughter by adoption of Tiberius, mother of Nero, +sister of Caligula, and wife of Claudius. The last mentioned relation +gave her a much more effective position of vantage than Livia had +enjoyed--first, on account of Claudius's incapacity, and also because +the Romans had allowed themselves to drift further away from the old +republican ideas. Hereafter we shall study the character of Agrippina +and shall be compelled to place her among those notorious women who +helped to make the Neronian age the most corrupt period in the world's +history. Here we notice but briefly her political ambitions. She managed +the emperor, securing with slight persuasion the appointment or the +dismissal of the most important State officers. She established colonies +in her own name. Nor was she satisfied to remain merely the power behind +the throne. When Caractacus the British king was carried prisoner to +Rome, and for his courageous bearing gained for himself his wife and his +brothers from the emperor, the prisoners did homage not only to +Claudius, but also to Agrippina. The empress occupied a second throne +and received an equal share of the gratitude of the prisoners and the +plaudits of the people. Here was seen, as Tacitus remarks, a spectacle +strange and unauthorized by any former custom. A woman had never before +presided over the Roman ensigns. Agrippina boldly claimed to be a +partner in the Empire which her ancestors had wrested from the ancient +republican suffrage.</p> + +<p>It was with Agrippina the Second as it had been with Livia, every +political aspiration was concentrated upon one object--the elevation of +her own son to the imperial rule, and all the activities emanating from +her energetic, resourceful nature were employed in hewing a path for +Nero's advancement. Woe befell the persons who stood in that path or +seemed likely at any time to have it in their power and inclination to +impede that advancement. They were ruthlessly cut down in that +unrelenting manner of which only an ambitious woman is capable. There +were no public works, nothing broad-minded, no thought of the common +good: the sole motif of the Roman woman in politics was personal +preferment.</p> +<a name="c8" id="c8"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3><b>VIII</b></h3> + +<h3>THE ROMAN WOMAN IN LITERATURE</h3> + +<p>There was in ancient Rome a street called Argiletus, which we learn from +Martial was occupied principally by booksellers. Here those works which +are cherished not alone for their antiquity, and some others possibly as +good but which in the misfortunes of many centuries have disappeared, +were bought fresh from their authors' hands and sold to the eager lovers +of literature. Here, when a new piece by Virgil or Horace was announced, +the reading public would flock, urged by the most commendable form of +curiosity known to the cultured human mind. Here hundreds of scribes +were employed in the multiplication of copies of those classics over +which in later days have labored scores of generations of youthful +students, with deep regret that those classics were not written in their +own mother tongue. Those shops, or <i>taberna libraria</i>, were the lounging +places of the famous men who created this literature and of those who +did good service to posterity by constituting themselves the patrons of +the geniuses of their age, who otherwise would have been as indigent and +as barren as are the neglected authors of our own times. The men and +women who received an ancient author in the name of a poet are entitled +to receive a poet's reward. In the shops of Secundus and the Sosii +brothers, the literati of Rome and their admirers gathered to indulge in +that most fascinating of all conversational intercourse: book talk.</p> + +<p>While it is probable that the presence of women was not so marked and +frequent in these haunts of the cultured fraternity as it is in the book +shops and publishing houses of modern times, this does not signify that +the ladies of Rome did not take a deep and influential interest in +literature. Did not Augustus dedicate a public library in the name of +his sister Octavia? There was in the Roman world a reading public so +great as to appear to us nothing less than marvellous in view of the +lack of the printing press; but slaves who could be set to copying were +plentiful, and if a lady wished a copy of the poems of Propertius or +Catullus she could procure it for a small sum in the street Argiletus, +or she could borrow it from a friend and have it transcribed at home.</p> + +<p>Great attention was paid to the education of girls in Greek and Latin +literature. Even those of the poorer class received this instruction; +for such an accomplishment, especially if assisted by personal +attractions, often availed in place of a rich dowry to secure a +desirable match. Women also were not rare who, like Sempronia, could +write verses of sufficient merit to be mentioned by the serious +historians of their times, though unfortunately their productions have +not been preserved to us. Mommsen, commenting on the flood of literature +which characterized the period of the commencement of the Empire, +assures us that "The female world also took a lively part in these +literary pursuits; the ladies did not confine themselves to dancing and +music, but by their spirit and wit ruled conversation and talked +excellently on Greek and Latin literature; and when poetry laid siege to +a maiden's heart, the beleaguered fortress not seldom surrendered +likewise in graceful verses. Rhythm became more and more the fashionable +plaything of the big children of both sexes."</p> + +<p>If it can be shown that the law of the "survival of the fittest" +operates with any degree of inevitability in the preservation of books, +we shall be obliged to conclude that few of the writings that owed their +existence to the lady authors of ancient Rome were remarkable for their +merit. It is difficult even to indulge a natural desire to be gallant by +assuming that to the accidents of time may be attributed the loss of +much that was worthy of preservation; for the number of female writers +who are mentioned in contemporary works as having attained to any great +degree of excellence in authorship is remarkably limited. Some, however, +there are. Pliny says: "Pompeius Saturninus has lately read to me some +letters he says are from his wife. I fancied myself listening to Plautus +or Terence in prose. Whether they are his wife's, as he affirms, or his +own, as he denies them to be, he is entitled to equal credit: in the one +case, for producing such compositions; in the other, for transforming +his wife, a mere girl when he married her, into such a learned and +finished woman." Martial also tells of a young woman who, he says, had +the eloquence of Plato, the austerity of the Porch, and composed verses +worthy of a chaste Sappho. Sidonius Apollinaris recites a list of Latin +poetesses; but of them all there is only one whose work may be read at +the present time. We do not refer to Balbilla, who wisely engraved her +verses and also her genealogy upon the leg of the statue of Memnon; the +fact that these have endured is attributable solely to the lasting +nature of the medium upon which they were written.</p> + +<p>Sulpicia, the only Roman poetess whose work is still extant and well +authenticated, lived in the time of the Emperor Domitian. She came of a +famous patrician family, many members of which had been able men of +affairs in their time. She was a great and highly respected friend of +the poet Martial, to whose two epigrams on herself and her husband we +are indebted for almost all that we know of this talented woman. Her +husband's name was Calenus; and with him she lived for fifteen years, in +a felicity of reciprocated conjugal affection which, notwithstanding the +degeneracy of the age, seems to have been ideal. Martial bears testimony +not only to her surpassing ability as a votary of the poetic muse, but +also to the fact that in her life and character she exemplified a purity +such as would beautify any age or society.</p> + +<p>There is in existence but one poem known to have been written by +Sulpicia; it was called forth by an act of tyranny which she rebuked +with as much beauty as spirit. During the reign of Domitian, the +philosophers were banished from Rome by edict of the emperor. Those +against whom this measure was particularly directed were of the Stoic +school; this fact helps to explain the cause of their expulsion and also +the poem which Sulpicia wrote upon the occasion. Their tenets inculcated +an independence of thought and manner which was entirely at variance +with that servility which could allow the people to rest peacefully +under the despotism of such a ruler as was Domitian. The philosophers +were considered, and probably justly so, a menace to the government of +the tyrant. Whether Sulpicia was directly connected with these people +and whether she was included in the edict of banishment, we do not know; +in any case, it is quite clear that her sympathies were entirely with +the expelled philosophers. Her satire on this incident bewails the +weakness that had evidently fallen upon the Roman race, causing men to +submit so easily to such tyranny as that to which her friends were +subjected. She asks if "the Father of the Gods" is about to allow the +Romans to revert to primeval barbarism, "to stoop again to acorns and +the pure stream"; or if he has forsaken them for the care of other +nations. She declares that "adversity alone is salutary for a State," +"for when the love of country urges them to defend themselves by arms, +and to regain their wives, held prisoners with their household gods, +they combine like wasps when their home and citadel is assaulted." Then +she implores her divine patroness that at least her husband may not be +unwilling to abandon this inglorious ease and to leave Rome and its +vicinity, since all the good and estimable have been driven from it. The +poem is a noble, high-spirited production; and it proves Sulpicia to +have been a woman of extraordinary intelligence and a fearless exponent +of principles and ideas which the majority of men in her time found it +more convenient to forget.</p> + +<p>Sulpicia was also the author of a poem on conjugal affection which is +most highly commended by Martial; but unfortunately it has been lost. +Indeed, from the reference in the beginning of her satire to her +"thousand sportive effusions," we gather that she was a prolific writer +and that all her poetry was not of the philosophic or didactic kind.</p> + +<p>With this brief reference to Sulpicia, our account of woman's creative +participation in Roman literature must end for want of material. The +real part which the women of the Roman world played in the formation of +the literature of their time must be sought rather in the view which the +authors present of their character and the inspiration which the poets +drew from their love and friendship. That is to say, we meet the Roman +woman in the poetic art of her nation as the model and also as the +motive, but not as the artist. But it is very essential that we should +give attention to both these phases of feminine life. Hitherto we have +dealt only with historic personages, and those of the highest class; to +obtain a complete view of the Roman woman, it is necessary to see her in +that broader light in which she is sketched by the makers of other +literature than history. And in order that our attention may not be +confined to the women of one class, we must take notice of those ladies +of whom the poets sing and to whom they address their effusions.</p> + +<p>First let us consider the woman drawn by Roman creative art. In her +image, as it is portrayed in literature, we see the real person of flesh +and blood, as she appeared to the literary artists. Virgil says: "Woman +is a fickle and ever changeable creature;" and yet he must have found in +the women of his time the qualities with which he endowed Queen Dido. +She is a Roman woman, because she is the creation of a Roman. She is an +ideal queen; yet one who governs her kingdom in the same manner in which +a noble matron presided over the activities of her household, +"dispensing justice and laws to her subjects" from the middle room, or +atrium, of the temple, and "in equal portions distributing their tasks +or settling them by lot." Furthermore, she is a true woman. She is the +sole contribution of Roman poetry to that gallery of imaginary men and +women who, having their existence only in literature, are immortal +because they faithfully represent the real. In Dido, Virgil, though he +calls her a Sidonian, shows how a woman of pagan Rome could love; and +how, her heart being broken and her pride injured by rejection, she +could die in the high-spirited manner peculiar to her prideful race.</p> + +<p>But in all Latin poesy there is no other character such as Dido. When we +turn to Plautus and Terence, we learn a great deal about women, but we +encounter none that live and move and have a being. These authors did +not lay their scenes in the houses of the patricians or in the seats of +the mighty; they show us a class of women that we have not hitherto met. +Having studied the highest, we now turn to the lowest stratum of Roman +society. We are introduced to a class of people who traffic in female +beauty; and much insight is gained into that laxity of morals which was +countenanced both by the laws and customs of ancient Rome. Here we are +informed of the multitude of girls who were carefully trained and +educated, both in mind and person, that they might make profit for their +owners by the prostitution of their charms. We meet these girls as they +are being sent to school in order that, at the same time, their +intellects may be developed and their commercial value enhanced. In +these plays, we are shown the women of the brothel; and we are less +astounded at the greatness of their number than we are at the +complacency with which their existence was tolerated in Roman society. +These women were principally unfortunates who had been captured in war +or were born in slavery, and the only redeeming feature in the picture +of their situation is the intimation that now and again one, by signal +success in a bad business, might hope to earn her freedom.</p> + +<p>It is said that because a sacrifice of virtue is made by one class of +women, the members of another class are enabled to live purely. If we +accept Juvenal's description of the character of the Roman women as a +true one, it must be concluded that the morality of the more fortunate +ladies gained little by the immorality of those who were courtesans +perforce or by profession; but in satire it is essential to fasten upon +the worst, and to hold it up to public ridicule as representative of the +whole. There is no balance, no justice, no offsetting the indecent by +that which is noble and good. The Roman woman was not at any period +such a morally deformed creature as Juvenal paints her; nor could the +ladies who patronized literature have been quite so disagreeable as he +would have us believe. It is certain that he was not blessed with a +patroness, or, in his description of the Roman "bluestocking," the +shafts of satire would not have been embittered with so much prejudice. +Yet, as indicating how some men regarded the devotion to belles-lettres +which was affected by the women, we will quote what the great satirist +says on the subject. After depicting some monstrously disagreeable +females, he declares:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i16"> "But she is more intolerable yet,</p> +<p class="i14"> Who plays at critic when at table set:</p> +<p class="i14"> Calls Virgil charming, and attempts to prove</p> +<p class="i14"> Poor Dido right in venturing all for love.</p> +<p class="i14"> From Maro and Mæonides she quotes</p> +<p class="i14"> The striking passages, and, while she notes</p> +<p class="i14"> Their beauties and defects, adjusts her scales,</p> +<p class="i14"> And accurately weighs which bard prevails.</p> +<p class="i14"> The astonished guests sit mute; grammarians yield,</p> +<p class="i14"> Loud rhetoricians, baffled, quit the field;</p> +<p class="i14"> Even auctioneers and lawyers stand aghast,</p> +<p class="i14"> And not a woman speaks.--So thick and fast</p> +<p class="i14"> The wordy shower descends, that you would swear</p> +<p class="i14"> A thousand bells were jangling in your ear,</p> +<p class="i14"> A thousand basins clattering. Vex no more</p> +<p class="i14"> Your trumpets and your timbrels, as of yore,</p> +<p class="i14"> To ease the laboring moon; her single yell</p> +<p class="i14"> Can drown their clangor, and dissolve the spell</p> +<p class="i16"> She lectures too in Ethics, and declaims</p> +<p class="i14"> On the Chief Good!--but, surely, she who aims</p> +<p class="i14"> To seem too learned, should take the male array;</p> +<p class="i14"> A hog, due offering, to Sylvanus slay,</p> +<p class="i14"> And, with the Stoic's privilege, repair</p> +<p class="i14"> To farthing baths, and strip in public there.</p> +<p class="i16"> Oh, never may the partner of my bed</p> +<p class="i14"> With subtleties of logic stuff her head;</p> +<p class="i14"> Nor whirl her rapid syllogisms round,</p> +<p class="i14"> Nor with imperfect enthymemes confound.</p> +<p class="i14"> Enough for me. If common things she know,</p> +<p class="i14"> And boast the little learning schools bestow.</p> +<p class="i14"> I hate the female pedagogue, who pores</p> +<p class="i14"> O'er her Palaemon hourly; who explores</p> +<p class="i14"> All modes of speech, regardless of the sense,</p> +<p class="i14"> But tremblingly alive to mood and tense;</p> +<p class="i14"> Who puzzles me with many an uncouth phrase</p> +<p class="i14"> From some old canticle of Numa's days;</p> +<p class="i14"> Corrects her country friends, and cannot hear</p> +<p class="i14"> Her husband solecize without a sneer."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>It may be that the horror of learned women which was affected by Juvenal +arose from his realization of that proverb which declares the inability +of two who are engaged in the same trade to maintain intimate and happy +relations. Whether or not he was so unfortunate as to learn this by +personal experience, we have no means of ascertaining; but it is certain +that while many of the Roman authors gained inspiration and influence +from the women with whom they were connected, others discovered in their +matrimonial relations a want of harmony unfavorable to the cultivation +of the muse. In Terentia, for example, Cicero was burdened with a wife +who entirely lacked that power of sympathy which is the glory of +womanhood. Terentia did not appreciate her brilliant husband; and she +could not anticipate the honor in which she might have been held by +posterity, had she proved herself the devoted wife of so famous a man. +But, after all has been said, she probably knew Cicero better than he is +known by posterity. He alleged that she was so overbearing that at last +he was compelled to divorce her; but in Terentia the old adage was +justified which says that what is one man's poison is another man's +pleasure, for, being repudiated by Cicero to the great relief of +himself, she was at once accepted by the historian Sallust; and in as much +as there appears to have been no other motive for their union, it seems +probable that the bond between them was that of sentiment.</p> + +<p>Then there was that other Terentia, who was such a trial to the patience +of Mæcenas, the great patron of literature in the days of Augustus. Her +he repudiated so often, and yet received back so regularly, that it was +said of him that he had been married a thousand times, and yet all the +while had but one wife.</p> + +<p>There was another class of women which furnished many of the names +intimately connected with Roman poetry, not for what these women +themselves did, but because of their intimate relations with the poets. +As the exquisite tracery of primordial ferns is sometimes found embedded +in the carboniferous strata, so these women, whose names would otherwise +have perished with their generation, were, by the chances of their birth +and fortune, brought into connection with literary men, and their memory +has thus been preserved in Latin poesy. It is to Martial himself that we +are indebted for the information that, returning to his country home +after many years of absence in Rome, he finds comfort for the lack of +his urban pleasures and conveniences in the society of Marcella, a lady +of uncommon intellectual development and grace of person. Her relation +to the poet was rather that of patroness than mistress. It would seem +unimportant either way; yet she assisted in the production of literature +more durable than the Empire, and her name is known to posterity.</p> + +<p>Every reader of Horace knows of Lydia, Glycera, Phyllis, and Barine. Who +were they? To have found them in that ancient Rome, it would have been +necessary to go, not to houses such as have been described as the homes +of the imperial women, but to those <i>insulæ,</i> or huge tenements, in +which the great mass of the people lived. There these women inhabited +one room or many, according as their poverty or wealth would warrant. +The latter depended largely upon their youth and beauty; for these women +were light-o'-loves, who were inured to the changes and chances of their +position, and could turn from one lover to another with as few heart +pangs as were suffered by their inconstant friends. In many cases, they +were the daughters of unnaturalized foreigners, whom Roman citizens +could not marry and to whom no lot other than that of the mistress was +open. That such women were the intimates of Horace is revealed by the +manner in which he descants in his Satires on the danger attending +liaisons with married women--so also is the sincerity of that affection +to which he swears in his Odes. Speaking of those ladies who were not +eligible for marriage bonds, he says: "When I am in the company of such +an one, she is my Ilia and Ægeria; in short, I give her any tender +name."</p> + +<p>The favorite of Horace seems to have been Lydia, of whose undistinguished +fame he tells, but does not inform us on what account she was famous. +Among the amorous epistles in which he addresses her, there is more than +one that reveals his jealous knowledge of the fact that he is not the +sole recipient of her favors. As a punishment for her occasional +inhospitable treatment of him, he writes an insulting ode in which it is +averred that she has grown too old for lovers and that her slumbers will +no more be disturbed by the serenade. Horace possessed the ability, and +did not lack the meanness, to castigate these women in his poetry after +the most shameful manner; and that not for their moral delinquencies, +but because of the suspension of their preferences for himself. Witness +the manner in which he gloats over the fading of the charms of Lyce, who +had sometime disdained his advances: "Wrinkles and snowy hair render +you odious. Now neither Coan purples nor sparkling jewels restore those +years which winged time has inserted in the public annals. Whither is +your beauty gone? Alas! or whither your bloom? Whither your graceful +deportment? What have you remaining of her, of her who breathed loves +and ravished me from myself? Happy in accomplishments next to Cynara, +and distinguished for an aspect of graceful delicacies. But the Fates +granted but a few years to Cynara, intending to preserve Lyce for a long +time, to rival in years the aged raven; that the fervid young fellows +might see, not without excessive laughter, that torch, which once so +brightly scorched, now reduced to ashes."</p> + +<p>As a finale at once to his love epistles and amorous relationships, he +invites Phyllis to an entertainment in his country villa on Maecenas's +birthday; and among the provisions for this festive occasion he mentions +a caskful of Albanian wine, upward of nine years old, besides parsley +for the weaving of chaplets, and ivy to bind her hair. "Come, then, last +of my loves: learn with me such measures as you may recite with your +lovely voice; our gloomy cares shall be mitigated with an ode."</p> + +<p>Through Ovid we learn of Corinna, who was his mistress and the heroine +of his love elegies; but his passion for her was no more sincere than we +should expect from that manual of libertinism--his <i>Ars amatoria</i>. This +work is the glorification of animalism and indirectly a defamation of +woman. It assumes with the most undisguised frankness that the root and +source of the principal part of the attention which men pay to women is +their availability for the purpose of satisfying amatory desire, and it +alleges the theory that any woman will capitulate the citadel of her +honor, if only it be besieged with indefatigableness and resource. It +was by such poetry as this that the women of Rome were prepared for that +carnival of vice into which they threw themselves with such frenzied +abandonment in the days of Claudius and Nero. In the eroticism of Latin +poetry is revealed a society in which illicit love is put to the +experiment; in Roman history is made manifest the resulting moral chaos.</p> + +<p>The master of this school was Catullus; and he immortalized one Lesbia, +who was the principal heroine in his love poems. It has been said by one +of the best-informed students of Roman literature that the poems of +Catullus to Lesbia are unique in Roman letters for the intensity and +self-oblivion of the passion they portray. We learn from Apuleius that +Clodia was the real name of Lesbia; and it is supposed that the latter +name was given her by her lover because of his admiration of the Lesbian +poetess. Many have concluded from the statement of Apuleius that Lesbia +was the notoriously fascinating sister of Clodius, the woman whom Cicero +so mercilessly pilloried before the judges; but the possibility of this +seems to be precluded by the fact that Catullus incited a poem to Cicero +in which he terms him the "best of all advocates "--a courtesy which +hardly could have been overlooked or forgiven by the woman to whom the +advocate had given such ample cause for hatred.</p> + +<p>Many of Catullus's brightest pieces are addressed to Lesbia; but all are +touched by the poet's consciousness of her inconstancy. At last she +leaves him, and he bids her adieu in the lines which have thus been so +beautifully rendered by Moore:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i14"> "Comrades and friends, with whom where'er</p> +<p class="i14"> The Fates have willed through life I've roved,</p> +<p class="i14"> Now speed ye home, and with you bear</p> +<p class="i14"> These bitter words to her I've loved.</p> +<br> +<p class="i14"> "Tell her from fool to fool to run,</p> +<p class="i14"> Where'er her vain caprice may call;</p> +<p class="i14"> Of all her dupes, not loving one,</p> +<p class="i14"> But ruining and maddening all.</p> +<br> +<p class="i14"> "Bid her forget--what now is past--</p> +<p class="i14"> Our once dear love, whose ruin lies</p> +<p class="i14"> Like a fair flower, the meadow's last,</p> +<p class="i14"> That feels the ploughshare's edge, and dies."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>In Cynthia, whose love and beauty inspired the pen of Propertius, is +seen the sympathetic helpmate as well as the mistress. She was the +granddaughter of Lucius Hostius, who wrote a poem on the Illyrian War. +She inherited her ancestor's love of literature, and there consequently +existed between her and Propertius that fellowship in poetic labor which +is the most perfect companionship known to human experience. Though of +the highest type of that class of women, she was a courtesan; which +accounts for the fact that the poet could not, as he desired, make her +his lawful wife. Her house was situated in the Suburra, which was the +centre of "Bohemian" life in Rome and the quarter especially favored by +women of her class. The intimacy between her and Propertius lasted for +six years; but, notwithstanding their sympathetic tastes, those years +were not passed in unbroken concord. Cynthia, besides other faults, +seems to have possessed a violent temper, and in some outburst of this +Propertius was banished. After this, though their friendship was +renewed, neither was faithful to the other. During the illness which +preceded her death, they were again reconciled to each other, which +fact, more than anything else, indicates the hold that Cynthia must have +had upon the sincere affection of the poet. In the seventh poem of his +last book, Propertius gives an account of a dream he had of Cynthia +after her death; and from certain allusions therein contained it may be +inferred that she left to him the duty of disposing of her property and +arranging her funeral.</p> + +<p>Women like Cynthia were not in any degree conspicuous among their +contemporaries; they were nothing more than ciphers in the estimation of +those great ladies who took a part in the game of politics. They are +only known to us because their names chanced to be embalmed in the +writings of the men whose companions they were; but from this distance, +whence the names of the women of Rome may be seen as divested of that +fictitious glory which was a mere accident of their birth, a Cynthia +gains more interest from her connection with a poet than does a Julia +from her relation to an emperor.</p> + +<p>These women look out at us from the <i>insulæ</i> in which were massed the +common people. We catch glimpses of their fair faces and hear somewhat +of their sportive talk, but unfortunately we know little of their lives. +History has not individualized the woman of the common people; +literature has dressed her up in all her finery, and has posed her in +natural but unusual situations. Delia, Nemesis, and Neaera, women whose +love and whose loss Tibullus sang in such passionate strains, though +human enough, as is attested by their fickleness, are credited with +those charms which have their existence only in the imagination of a +poet and in a lover's fancy.</p> + +<p>Tibullus, unlike Horace, took his love affairs too seriously; +consequently, owing to the character of the women to whom he became +attached, they brought him more grief than pleasure. The first object of +his affection was Delia, whose real name, according to Apuleius, was +Plania. "She belonged," says Milman, "to that class of females of the +middle order, not of good family, but above poverty, which answered to +the Greek hetaeræ." Tibullus longed to retire with her to the +undisturbed seclusion of the country. For her sake he rejected a +flattering offer from his great patron Messala, who desired the poet's +companionship on a martial expedition. "The bonds of a fair girl hold me +captive, and I sit like a gatekeeper before her obdurate door. I care +not to be praised, my Delia; only let me be with thee, and I am content +to be called slow and spiritless." It would have been very surprising if +the poet had been able to retain the fidelity of Delia by such arguments +as these. The time had not yet come when the women of Rome did not love +soldierly valor; the time never came when they were not influenced by +the hope of a participation in the spoils of conquest. Shortly after the +rejection of Messala's offer, the poet seems to have been obliged to +leave the city; and when he returns, he finds that Delia has married; +upon which, in the imagery of poetic numbers, he drowns his grief in +wine. However, he soon recalls to his mind the fact that a husband is +not necessarily an insurmountable barrier between himself and the lady. +She must be taught how to elude observing eyes. He pretends--the wish +probably being father to the thought--that he has a magic which will +render them invisible. "Chant thrice, spit thrice after reciting the +charm; your husband will be unable to believe the testimony of his own +eyes." But Delia could not remain faithful even to such a pertinacious +lover. What a moving scene is that in the fifth elegy of the first book! +It is worthy of quotation, if for no other reason than that in it the +poet recites the efficacious means which he has employed for the +recovery of Delia, who has been ill.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i14"> "What can atone, my fair, for crimes like these?</p> +<p class="i14"> I'll bear with patience, use me as you please.</p> +<p class="i14"> Yet, by Love's shafts, and by your braided hair,</p> +<p class="i14"> By all the joys we stole, your suppliant spare.</p> +<p class="i14"> When sickness dimmed of late your radiant eyes,</p> +<p class="i14"> My restless, fond petitions won the skies.</p> +<p class="i14"> Thrice I with sulphur purified you round,</p> +<p class="i14"> And thrice the rite, with songs, the enchantress bound;</p> +<p class="i14"> The cake, by me thrice sprinkled, put to flight</p> +<p class="i14"> The death-denouncing phantoms of the night;</p> +<p class="i14"> And I nine times, in linen garbs arrayed,</p> +<p class="i14"> In silent night, nine times to Trivia prayed.</p> +<p class="i14"> What did I not? Yet what reward have I?</p> +<p class="i14"> You love another, your preserver fly."</p> +</div></div> + +<p>The Romans most firmly believed that there was efficacy in odd numbers.</p> + +<p>In the seventh elegy, the poet complains that he has been caught in his +own trap; for Delia is practising upon himself those arts by which he +has taught her to deceive her husband. Then he appeals to her husband to +assist him in watching her and keeping her from others. This appears to +be a rather bold step; but, considering the class to which Delia +belonged, it is likely that her intimacy with Tibullus was no news to +her spouse. The address to him is nothing more than a most exquisite +piece of persiflage. From this time on, however, we hear no more of +Delia.</p> + +<p>The poet now turns to Nemesis, with whom he is no more fortunate. +Besides being fickle, she is avaricious; from which fault Tibullus tries +to save her, possibly not altogether without a thought of the limitation +of his own means. "The girl who is good-natured and not avaricious, +though she live a hundred years, shall be wept for before the blazing +pyre; and some aged man, revering the memory of his old love, shall +yearly deck her reared tomb with flowers, and say as he leaves it: 'Rest +well and placidly, and light be the earth above thy quiet bones!'"</p> + +<p>The third book of elegies is dedicated to Neæra. On the first of March, +it was customary for the Roman women to expect presents from their +husbands and lovers. Tibullus was betrothed to Neaera, and was +confronted with the question as to what he should send her for a New +Year's gift. The Muses inform him that the lovely are won with song; +hence he determines to send her a book of his own poems. It was made of +the finest paper; and upon the cover--which was yellow, the color sacred +to marriage--the recipient's name was beautifully inscribed, with the +dedication: <i>Your husband that will be, chaste Neæra, sends you this +little gift and begs you to accept it</i>.</p> + +<p>To what degree Neæra prized the volume is not known; but Tibullus was no +more fortunate with her than he had been with the others. In a dream it +is revealed to him that: "She who is celebrated in thy songs, the +beautiful Neæra, prefers to be the bride of another." "Ah, cruel sex! +woman, faithless name!" exclaims the poet; and then: "But she may be won +yet; their minds are changeable."</p> + +<p>The fourth book of poems published under his name was probably not +written by Tibullus. Eleven of these poems relate to the love of +Sulpicia, a Roman lady of high station, and the daughter of Valeria, the +sister of Messala. She had fallen in love with a youth named Cerinthus, +and these poems tell the story. It is thought by many that Sulpicia was +the author of them and that, in fact, some of them are nothing other +than her own letters to her lover. These "letters" are very short; but, +if this supposition is correct, they are the only love poems by a Roman +woman that have survived.</p> + +<p>Thus she writes to Cerinthus from her couch, to which she is confined by +a racking fever:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i14"> "On my account, to grief a ceaseless prey,</p> +<p class="i14"> Dost thou a sympathetic anguish prove?</p> +<p class="i14"> I would not wish to live another day,</p> +<p class="i14"> If my recovery did not charm my love;</p> +<p class="i14"> For what were life, and health, and bloom to me,</p> +<p class="i14"> Wore they displeasing, beauteous youth! to thee?"</p> +</div></div> + +<p>There is another Roman woman who may be counted on the list of authors, +and whose writings, had they only been preserved, would have proved of +exceeding interest. This was the brilliant and accomplished Agrippina +the Younger; a woman who was as finished a scholar as she was an +experienced and successful politician. She wrote her <i>Memoirs</i>, not so +much from a desire to make a contribution to history as to use them to +blacken the character of the enemies of her house. She dipped her pen in +the venom of hate and envy, and she found her material in the scandalous +stories which floated about Rome, growing daily more exaggerated from an +origin which no one knew. From this work of Agrippina, Suetonius and +Tacitus doubtless drew much of the information which in their more +serious productions blackens the character of Tiberius. It is also +likely that, if it had not been for the facile and unrestrained pen of +her successor, Messalina would have been known to us as a far less +disreputable woman than she is made to appear.</p> + +<p>Although there is no writing of Agrippina's extant, we do have what +purports to be the speech in her defence which she made when accused by +Junia Silana with a design of inciting Plautus to effect a change in the +State, and, by marrying him, to regain her power in the commonwealth, +which Nero had taken out of her hands. In it all we see nothing but the +backbitings of two rancorous old women; but it was represented to Nero +as a horrible affair. Nero's fears were so excited that it was with +difficulty that he could be induced to allow his mother to survive until +morning and have an opportunity to make her own defence. We have her +speech as it is given by Tacitus. Possibly it is the historian's own +composition; but it is exactly what we might expect from the fierce old +empress-mother. And as it is certain that Seneca and Burrhus, to whom +it was addressed, would have with them shorthand writers, it is not +improbable that Tacitus took it from the official records. "I wonder +not," said Agrippina, "that Silana, who never bore a child, should be a +stranger to the affections of a mother; for, in truth, children are not +so easily renounced by their parents, as adulterers are changed by a +profligate. Nor, because Iturius and Calvisus, after having consumed +their whole fortunes, as a last resource pay back to an old woman their +services in undertaking my accusation, as an equivalent for their hire, +does it follow that I am to be branded with the infamy, or that Cæsar +should conceive the guilt of parricide. As to Domitia, I would thank her +for all the efforts of her enmity to me, if she strove to exceed me in +kindness to her nephew, my Nero. At present, by the ministration of +Atimetus, her minion, and the merry-andrew Paris, she is framing a farce +to fit for the stage. Where was she when I by my counsels obtained the +adoption of her nephew and my son into the Claudian house? when I +advanced his cause in every way necessary for getting him the +Empire?--Admiring her fishponds at Baiæ." If this is Agrippina's +composition, there is certainly no lack of force in it and she was +preëminently an adept in the use of innuendo. We would like to have seen +those <i>Memoirs</i>.</p> + +<p>To turn to a pleasanter subject and introduce a more amiable, though +less picturesque, character. While there were few women authors, there +were many ladies who knew how to appreciate the work of their literary +husbands; matrons who, in the bonds of legal marriage, were companions +to their husbands in learning as well as in other things. Pliny has left +us a most beautiful pen portrait of his young wife. He tells how, to +please him more, she studied polite literature, learned his books by +heart, set his verses to music, and accompanied them on her lyre. "How +great is her anxiety," he says, "when she sees me going to speak in +court, and how great her joy when I have spoken! She sets messengers +about to report to her what favor and applause I have excited, and what +is the result of the trial. Then whenever I recite she sits hard by, +separated only from us by a curtain, and catches up with eager ears the +praise bestowed on me."</p> +<a name="c9" id="c9"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>IX</h3> + +<h3>WOMAN AT HER WORST</h3> + +<p>In the course of this study there have come within our view some of the +noblest women of whom the history of the world can boast. We have seen +women of exalted purity in high positions, stately, dignified matrons, +women renowned for intellect and noble spirit, women who have bravely +endured unmerited suffering; we have also noted the women of the common +people, and the gay ladies who ministered to love and laughter. But our +account will be incomplete, the picture will not be a true one, unless +it also represents the worst that human nature has produced, women +stained with some of the basest crimes recorded in the annals of human +depravity. It is a story in which the sober truth can only be told in +superlative terms. What Scipio feared and Cato endeavored to prevent +came to pass; and at the time when Rome centred in herself all the power +and glory of the world, she also reached the climax of the vice and +degradation of all ages.</p> + +<p>The moral conditions which characterized the period between the reigns +of Tiberius and Nero are, in these days, impossible of adequate +comprehension. It was a continuous Saturnalia, a perpetual reign of +terror, a paroxysm of indecency. What renders the situation so amazing +and so difficult to describe is its strange mixture of civilization and +savagery, of art and anarchy. The atrocious cruelties which render the +history of that time so terrible and the lust which makes it so +revolting are not attributed to half-clad barbarians or ignorant +Asiatics; they were participated in by men and women whose outward life +was marked and distinguished by all the signs and appointments of +culture. The Julias and the Poppæas of the age were women who lived in +beautiful houses; they were surrounded by a magnificence of art such as +never since has been witnessed; they were the students of a literature +which the world has never ceased to admire. Nor was the extravagant +wickedness of the time a revolt against law; on the contrary, everything +was done in accordance with legal forms. Vistilia, the wife of a Roman +knight, in order that she might be unrestrained in her lasciviousness, +went before the ædiles and proclaimed herself a prostitute, the law +considering that prostitutes were sufficiently punished by merely thus +avowing their shame. Even when the innocent children of Sejanus were put +to death for the misdeeds of their father, the little girl--who asked +what she had done that was wrong and if they were going to whip +her--must be outraged by the executioner before he strangled her; for it +was unlawful to inflict capital punishment upon virgins. While such +things were being perpetrated, the ladies of Rome were studying the +Greek philosophers, reading their own Virgil, and improving their +diction by an acquaintance with the elegant periods of Cicero. It was an +age in which the arts of civilization were entirely divorced from the +best impulses of humanity, an age when the highest mental attainments +were joined with the lowest moral conditions. The depraved Messalina was +contemporary with the philosophic Seneca; the conscienceless Agrippina +the Younger was a student of letters and an author.</p> + +<p>It is easy to perceive that the cruelty and lust which render the +history of the first two centuries of the Christian era so lurid are +simply the natural developments from preceding conditions. The +proscriptions and massacres of Sylla and the two triumvirates could but +produce a society which would witness bloodshed with apathy, if not with +delight. The total disregard of the sacredness of matrimonial vows, when +political purposes were to be served, necessarily resulted in a +generation of women among whom chastity was a matter of indifference and +honor a thing unknown. Given a society thus, by heritage and training, +predisposed to inhumanity and licentiousness, and it only needed the +presence of favorable conditions for the introduction upon the imperial +stage of a company of women upon whose actions the world has ever since +gazed with profound amazement. Such conditions were then present in Rome +in such a degree as they have never been at any other time or among any +other people. The age was propitious and the circumstances were ripe for +a climax in human depravity. The spoil of the conquered world provided +Rome with incalculable riches; the Empire was the prize of him who could +win and hold it, and of her who could maintain her position by the side +of the ruler; power and the absence of restraint gave free rein to +impulses which the existent conditions necessarily rendered evil. This +was the <i>entourage</i> of the women of Rome under the first emperors. The +ladies of the nobility were trained and urged to cruelty and +prostitution by the exigencies of their position; the women of the +common class, for whom tributary bread and sanguinary spectacles were +freely provided, were impelled in the same direction by example and +idleness.</p> + +<p>The acme of female turpitude was attained by Messalina, whose name has +ever since served as a byword for unparalleled incontinence. Valeria +Messalina was the great-granddaughter of Octavia, the sister of +Augustus, both on her father's and her mother's side; thus in her veins +united a twofold stream of the sacred Julian blood, which fact she never +allowed herself to forget while insisting upon her demands, though it +had no restraining effect upon her conduct. When only sixteen years of +age, she became the third wife of the feeble, half-imbecile Claudius; +one of her predecessors was Plautia Urgulanilla, the daughter of that +proud Urgulania whose debts Livia Augusta had been compelled to pay. +Plautia was divorced for "scandalous lewdness" and on the suspicion of +murder, after she had given birth to two children, the youngest of whom +Claudius exposed, being convinced that it had no just claims upon his +paternal authority. But his honor as a husband was far less safe with +Messalina than it had been with Plautia. That she should have any +affection for the doddering, gormandizing old man--he was nearly +fifty--was hardly to be expected. During the first three years after the +marriage, her position was comparatively private, her husband having no +expectation of attaining to the imperial throne.</p> + +<p>During the reign of the demented Caligula, the women of the court +present no figure of political importance, and are not interesting +except as they illustrate the depravity of the times. This emperor was +possessed with an exaggerated idea of the divinity that was inherent in +the Augustan race. Therefore he deemed that, like the kings of Egypt, he +should conserve that dignity by marrying his own sister. Suetonius will +have us believe that all three of the sisters of Caligula were +dishonored by their brother; but Drusilla was his favorite. She had been +given to Cassius Longinus, but Caligula took her from him and kept her +as though she were his lawful wife. He made a will appointing her +heiress of his private estates and also of the Empire; and at her death +he ordered for her a public mourning, and threatened capital punishment +against any person who should laugh or bathe or seek any amusement +during the period. It was also declared that she had been received among +the heavenly deities; and as Panthea, the universal goddess, her worship +was enjoined upon all the cities of Italy and the provinces.</p> + +<p>The other sisters, Agrippina and Julia, became involved in a conspiracy +with Marcus Æmillius Lepidus against the life of their brother; and when +the plot was discovered, though the lives of these women were +spared,--probably owing to Caligula's intense respect for the Julian +blood,--their property was confiscated and they were both sent into +exile. Agrippina, however, was first compelled to perform a most +unpleasant office. The family of Lepidus begged that his ashes might +rest in the family mausoleum at Rome, and the disordered mind of +Caligula recalled a journey which his mother had made, bearing the ashes +of Germanicus. So he forced Agrippina, who had schemed to marry Lepidus +in the hope of gaining for him the succession, to carry the urn that +contained his remains from Germany to Rome, and never once allowed her, +night or day, to rest from bearing her burden.</p> + +<p>Of the wives of Caligula, Suetonius says: "Whether in repudiating them +or retaining them he acted with greater infamy, it is difficult to say." +Being at the wedding of Caius Piso with Livia Orestilla, he ordered the +bride to be carried to his own house; but within a few days divorced +her, and two years after banished her, because, as was thought, upon her +divorce she had returned to her former husband. Lollia Paulina, who was +married to a man of consular rank in command of an army, having been +mentioned to Caligula as much resembling her grandmother, who had been +a famous beauty, the emperor suddenly called her from the province where +she resided with her husband, and married her; but he soon repudiated +her, interdicting her from ever afterward marrying another man. He loved +with a most passionate and constant affection Cæsonia, who was neither +handsome nor young, and who was the mother of three daughters by another +man; but she was a woman of excessive wantonness. He would frequently +exhibit her to the soldiers, riding by his side, dressed in a military +cloak, with shield and helmet. To his friends he showed her in a guise +far less elaborate and much more improper. After she had borne a child +to him, she was honored with the title of wife. Caligula named the +infant Julia Drusilla, and, carrying it around the temples of all the +goddesses, he laid it on the lap of Minerva, from whom he begged the +care of bringing up and instructing this daughter. He considered her as +his own child, for no better reason than that her temper was so savage +that even in infancy she would attack with her nails the faces and eyes +of the children at play with her.</p> + +<p>Cæsonia could hardly have enjoyed her position, especially on those +occasions when her demoniacal husband would amuse himself with the idea +of having it in his power to sever her neck at any time that it might +please him so to do. She was killed at the time of his assassination; +and, fortunately, her vicious offspring perished with her. The manner in +which Cæsonia met her death seems to indicate that the woman not only +possessed courage, but also that she cherished some sort of affection +for her husband. The conspirators hesitated over the question as to +whether she should share his fate; but it was only for a few minutes. It +was believed by many that it was through her love philtres and +licentious practices that his mind had become disordered and that +therefore she was, in a sense, the author of his evil doings. It being +determined that she should die, the men who went in search of her found +Cæsonia embracing the body of Caligula as it lay upon the ground, and +they heard her bewailing the fact that he had not been governed by her +advice. Whether that advice had been to restrain himself in his madness, +or to follow with vengeful measures a clue which she had given him in +regard to the conspiracy, those who heard her could not decide. Their +minds were predisposed to believe in the latter explanation. When she +saw Lupus, the man who had her death in charge, approaching, she sat up, +all besmeared as she was with her husband's blood, and, baring her +throat, requested the assassin not to be awkward in finishing the +tragedy. She received the death stroke cheerfully, and the little +daughter, who was by her mother's side, perished by the same sword.</p> + +<p>To his own intense astonishment, Claudius suddenly found himself +proclaimed and accepted as Emperor of the Romans. There is no evidence +to show that Messalina had anticipated this change of fortunes any more +than had her husband. Finding herself, however, in the position of +empress, she had no mind to do otherwise than maintain herself secure in +its enjoyment. The times were such that this could be done only by means +of merciless expedients. This fact should constantly be kept in mind as +we study the women of imperial Rome. No individual can be governed by +the ideas that are prevalent in the society in which he lives and, at +the same time, dispense with the methods ordinarily employed by that +society. The Romans of the period which we are now reviewing believed +that the best, as well as the easiest, way in which to placate an enemy +or to outwit a rival was to destroy him. Messalina had no desire to do +better than her surroundings warranted; in fact, she represents the +climax of immorality. There were two causes which led her freely to +dispense destruction among her associates. First, there were plenty of +women who would gladly have rivalled her in the affection of the amorous +Claudius; and while she did not in the least reciprocate her husband's +affection, its retention was necessary to the maintenance of her +position. Again, her innumerable amours were constantly furnishing +weapons against herself, and it was only by inspiring dread that she +could restrain her enemies from making use of them to her own +destruction.</p> + +<p>In such a position as she found herself, and among such surroundings, it +is not surprising that Messalina was bad. Raised, when only a mere girl, +to a dizzy height; flattered and sought after by all the most dissolute +of the imperial court; the wife of a doting husband who, as she quickly +discovered, was absolutely under her influence; all this would have +tested a woman in whose character good impulses were perceptibly +present. So far as can be learned, Messalina possessed no such impulses; +on the contrary, everything in her contributed to the strength of the +evil influences of her environment. Her glaring immoralities, combined +with the consummate art with which she contrived to befool her husband, +have rendered this woman's history a monument of conjugal infidelity for +all the ages.</p> + +<p>We may be fairly certain as to Messalina's personal appearance, for +there are a number of cameos and busts of her in existence, though, of +course, some of these are ideal and others are not well executed. Baring +Gould, who has made a careful study of the sculptured portraits of the +Cæsarian family, regards it as certain that in the onyx cameo which is +in the Cabinet of Antiques at Vienna and in the bust now preserved in +the Uffizi Palace we have what may be considered correct representations +of Messalina. Of the former, he says: "The hair is arranged in small +curls covered with a species of crown wreathed with corn. This is the +usual mark of the deification of an empress as Ceres. The brow is low, +the nose straight and a little retrousse at the end, the mouth +remarkable for the thinness of the lips; the chin is not prominent, and +a peculiar feature is the slope from the chin to the throat, forming a +marked contrast in formation to that of Livia opposite. The mouth turns +down, but there is a slight contraction in the corner." Of the bust, he +tells us: "The profile there has a remarkable likeness to the +type-giving face on the cameo. The hair is in curls, but hangs down in +plaits behind, the brow is low, the eyes full, and the mouth with its +thin lips and cruel expression seems thoroughly to express the character +of the woman as known to us by history. The head is flat. There is +insolence in the mouth, and a curl in the corner, noticeable also in the +gem. One eye is larger than the other. They are not in line. The nose +has been restored, so that we cannot compare it with that on the cameo. +The rest agrees perfectly, though the slope from the chin is not so +perceptible in the bust owing to the difference in position of the head. +The brows are straight, not arched. Not only are the eyes of different +shapes, but the chin is on one side. The end of the chin is square, the +mouth is small, the lips fuller on the left side than on the right, and +the right corner drawn up. The expression of the face is different when +seen from each side, owing to the singular lack of uniformity in the +sides of the face. In the same gallery is a so-called young Britannicus, +and the resemblance of this child, as far as the formation of the lower +part of the head goes, to the Messalina above described is remarkable. +Still more remarkable is that of the beautiful statue in the Lateran, +where the resemblance is very close. The boy's lips are fuller, but the +whole structure of the jaws and chin, and the curl of the lower lip, +are the same as in the Messalina of Florence. If this be Britannicus, +then the bust at Florence is that of his mother; and it is hard to say +who else can be intended by this charming statue in military costume.</p> + +<p>"A medical man of large experience, who at my request studied the bust +of Messalina in the Florence gallery, informs me that it is that of a +woman physically unsound; the flattening of the top of the head +indicates an imperfect mental development, and the general aspect of the +face, evidently a close study from life without any attempt at hiding +blemishes and idealizing, is that of a woman whose span of life would +naturally be short. There would probably be malformation of the chest. +The face is that of one with feverish blood, whose flame of life burnt +too fast. The face is not in itself sensual, nor at all animal, but it +is insolent and cruel. The low, flat brow as well as the low, flat head +show that she was deficient in all the higher and nobler qualities. In +this bust the formation of the throat is peculiar. M. Mayor remarks: +'Thin lips, evil smile, ears hardly visible, jaw advancing and +remarkably massive, eyes close together, profoundly sunk under their +arcade, nostrils fine and flexible, lips asymmetrical, the upper lip +lifted on the right, as in a beast prepared to bite, the same +characteristic feature observed in Caligula and commented on by Darwin. +Facial asymmetry. The left eye highest and furthest from the nose (the +same noticeable in Nero and Claudius, etc.). The look cruel rather than +voluptuous. An ironical smile, the by no means uncommon mask worn by +pathological corruption and nymphomania,'" M. Menière, in a book +entitled <i>Medical Studies from the Latin Poets</i>, also gives it as his +opinion that Messalina was a victim of nymphomania. He says: "At the +Salpêtrière, there are Messalinas, cases which have absolutely nothing +to do with morals." This probably may safely be accepted as the true +explanation of the case, if one can rid one's mind of two suspicions. +The first of these is that this much-talked-of asymmetry may be nothing +other than inferior or careless artistic work. The sculptor may not have +been able, or he may not have given himself the time, to carve both +sides of the face so absolutely alike as to defy the criticism of sharp +scientists, bent on discovering a cause for the poetical effect found in +Juvenal and others. The mention of the satirist suggests our second +suspicion, which is that in his astonishing account of the criminal +appetites of Messalina he is straining after effect.</p> + +<p>Now, in regard to the first of these suspicions, we have the assurance +of eminent students of art that, in their sculpture, the Romans were +exceedingly jealous of exact representation. Viktor Rydberg says: "It is +impossible to reproach the Roman art of portraiture with flattery. It +gave what the Romans insisted on--rigid fidelity to nature. It made no +exception in favor of the Cæsars and their house, not even for the +women. Proofs of this almost repulsive fidelity to nature are to be +found. An empress, arrived at a more than mature age, is to be +represented as Venus. It is possible that she would be glad to decline +the honor. She belongs to that period in life when old ladies drape +their withered beauties; but she has duties as Cæsar's spouse, and must +resign herself to her fate. The goddess of love was the ancestress of +the Julian race; and so her attributes, but not her beauty, descend to +the empress. The artist has to immortalize her undraped charms, and he +does it with almost brutal frankness, so that the little cupid, with +finger to his mouth, at her feet, seems to sigh: 'Oh! for a curtain.'" +All this may be very true of particular instances; but we know that +there were cases when the artist did idealize, as would any sculptor who +would place the head of a Cæsar on the trunk of a Greek god, if he were +so required. Again, at no period of the world's history has the +fraternity of artists been undiversified by members of varying ability, +and the task of representing Messalina may have fallen into the hands of +an inferior workman. Yet, after all, it is quite possible that the +asymmetry in question may have characterized the face of the voluptuous +empress; still, it should require something more than a little +inequality of feature in a statue not absolutely identified to cause to +accept, without a large grain of salt, Juvenal's statement in regard to +the wife of Claudius. That Messalina was in the habit of stealing forth +from the imperial palace at night to occupy a booth in a brothel as a +common demirep under the name of Lycisca is almost too improbable for +credence. It is possible that in this Juvenal enlarges on some allusion +made by Agrippina the Younger, who wrote the empress's memoirs and who +was never a friend to Messalina.</p> + +<p>The palace of Claudius was full of freedmen--men who had been +emancipated from slavery and had found the means to amass wealth and +attain influence--and of Greek adventurers. These men performed services +for the emperor and his wife which as yet were not submitted to by the +aristocratic or even the equestrian families. Such men as these had been +the only associates of Claudius before his advancement, and they +retained great influence with him during his reign. Messalina also was +obliged to consider them. Their silence, in regard to her intrigues, had +to be purchased; she was obliged to ally herself with them, in order +that she might retain her influence over her husband; their selling of +appointments and taking of bribes she had to countenance; and at last +she fell into their toils and was brought to ruin by their +machinations.</p> + +<p>At the commencement of the reign of Claudius, the two sisters of +Caligula, Julia and Agrippina, were recalled from exile and their +property restored to them. They were the daughters of Germanicus, +descendants of the great Augustus; therefore, it was not long before +they were the centre of a clique of dissatisfied nobles. Julia, who was +as unprincipled as she was beautiful, seemed to attract the attention of +Claudius. This was an offence which Messalina could not brook. Whatever +might be the extent of her own failings, she could not afford to run the +slightest risk of encountering a rival in the affections of the emperor. +It is remarkable, in an age of unparalleled laxity of morals, that when +means were sought by which to bring about the destruction of an enemy, +an accusation of adultery was usually successful. Those Romans were +human enough to condemn in others what they condoned in themselves. +Think of Messalina preaching of morals! She preferred charges of +incontinence against Julia, and induced the easily influenced emperor to +send the unfortunate woman back to exile, where she was quickly followed +by an assassin under the orders of the empress. This incident is all the +more memorable on account of the fact that Seneca, whose conduct never +very closely conformed to his teaching, was accused of being the +accomplice of Julia and was banished at the same time. The fate of her +sister was a warning to Agrippina. She saw how necessary it was to use +wariness in order that she might not offend, or at least that she might +not fall under the power of the empress; and Messalina, though she far +outdid her in vice, was no match for the clever politician, Agrippina.</p> + +<p>It would prove as tiresome as it would be unprofitable to recount all +the instances with which history illustrates Messalina's cruelty and +licentiousness; and even though our object be to show to what depths of +iniquity woman may descend under certain conditions, we will only refer +to a few incidents in the empress's profligate career. The first victim +of her power and criminality was her own stepfather, Silanus; Suetonius +conjectures that the reason for her resentment against her relative was +that he disdained her improper advances. The manner of his taking-off +was unique and indicates a genius for the invention of plots which may +well be envied by the modern romancist. One morning, Narcissus, a +favorite freedman, rushed into the presence of Claudius, showing signs +of the intensest alarm. He had dreamed that the emperor had been killed +by the hand of Silanus. Soon afterward, Messalina appeared and inquired +with much perturbation of manner as to the safety of her husband. Her +rest had been broken and her mind alarmed by a dream similar to that of +Narcissus. Other things were insinuated which seemed to warrant this +great and concurrent alarm on the part of the emperor's friends, so +that, his fears being thus cunningly worked upon, he at once gave orders +for the execution of Silanus.</p> + +<p>Messalina was bent on acquiring for herself two desirable pieces of +property. One was the beautiful gardens which had been commenced by +Lucullus, and completed on a most magnificent scale by Valerius +Asiaticus; the other was Mnester, a famous actor of that time. The +gardens were owned by Asiaticus; and Poppæa, who was one of the most +beautiful women of her day, seemed to interest the actor more than did +the empress. The latter determined to remove both these hindrances to +her desires at one stroke. She bribed Suillus, a man in high position +and notoriously venal, to accuse Asiaticus and Poppæa of being engaged +in an improper intrigue. Against the former, charges of a baser nature +were included and acts prejudicial to the safety of the emperor were +insinuated. Tacitus informs us that the unfortunate man was not allowed +a hearing before the Senate, but was tried privately in a chamber of the +palace and in the presence of Messalina. When speaking in his own +defence, he wrought so powerfully upon the feelings of Claudius that he +would certainly have been acquitted; but Messalina, who could not +restrain her own tears, as she left the room, whispered to Vitellius: +"Let not the accused escape." Then followed an exhibition of perfidy in +which it is doubtful if a mere Judas would have been unprincipled enough +to take the leading part. Vitellius began in the most sympathetic manner +to plead with the emperor--who was already meditating the acquittal of +Asiaticus--to remember the great services which had been rendered by the +accused to the State, and to exercise clemency by allowing Asiaticus to +choose his own mode of death; a sort of clemency to which Claudius +readily consented. Thus Messalina's purpose was so far attained. "She +hastened herself to accomplish the doom of Poppæa, by suborning persons +to drive her to a voluntary end by the terrors of imprisonment; a +catastrophe of which the emperor was so utterly unapprised, that a few +days after, as her husband Scipio was at table with him, he asked why he +had not brought his wife. Scipio answered that she was no more."</p> + +<p>The Vitellius who accomplished the above described piece of finesse with +such diplomacy was the father of the future emperor of the same name. +His chief characteristic was his extraordinary facility and lack of +conscience in the use of flattery. When asked by Caligula if Vitellius +had not seen the emperor in conversation with Diana, Vitellius answered +that it was not permitted to mere mortals like himself to witness the +intercourse of deities. On one occasion, in the presence of Claudius, he +begged the gift of one of Messalina's slippers. His request being +granted by the empress, he placed his acquisition in his bosom, and ever +afterward, at opportune moments, would draw it forth and kiss it in most +devoted fashion. Thus he strongly entrenched himself in the favor of +Messalina, and the modesty of his request did not lower him in the +estimation of her husband.</p> + +<p>In April of A.D. 47 occurred the centenary festival of the founding of +Rome. Vitellius saluted the emperor with: "May you often repeat these +celebrations." During the games, there took place an incident which was +of special interest to Agrippina, the rival of Messalina, and which +might easily have ended disastrously for her. The respective sons of +these two women appeared in one of the games. Britannicus was then six +years of age and Nero was nine; it was the first appearance of the +latter upon that stage which it was afterward his unworthy ambition to +hold. On this occasion, the populace were so inconsiderate as to place +Agrippina and her son in a position of great jeopardy by showing for +them the most enthusiastic partiality, while Britannicus was received in +that silence which denoted ill will to his mother.</p> + +<p>Messalina was at this time meditating an enterprise which eclipsed all +her former exploits and which she probably thought would conclusively +determine her own future and that of her son. Thus Tacitus recounts the +story: "She was so vehemently enamored of Caius Silius, the handsomest +of the Roman youth, that she obliged him to divorce his wife, Julia +Silana, a lady of high quality, and had him to herself. Nor was Silius +blind to the danger and the malignity of his crime; but, as it was +certain destruction to decline her suit, and there were some hopes of +beguiling Claudius, and great rewards being held out to him, he was +content to enjoy the present advantages and take the chance of what +might happen thereafter. The empress proceeded not stealthily, but went +to his house frequently, with a numerous train, accompanied him +incessantly abroad, loaded him with presents and honors; and at last, as +if the fortune of the Empire had been transferred with the emperor's +wife, at the house of Silius were now seen the slaves, freedmen, and +equipage of the prince."</p> + +<p>All this time, Claudius, ignorant of the conduct of his wife,--a fact +which must be attributed to the complete subjection under which he was +held by Messalina and the freedmen,--was exercising the functions of +moral censor and rebuking the people for the immorality of their +conduct. What a spectacle to men, not to speak of the ancient deities, +must have been the Roman government of those days! It is easy to see the +connection between the licentiousness of the times and the decline of +the State.</p> + +<p>Messalina, a course of the most promiscuous and unrestrained +licentiousness having produced satiety, now proceeded to an act of which +the emperors had many times set the example: she repudiated Claudius, +and united herself with matrimonial solemnities to Silius. Caius +Caligula had dismissed one wife to make room for another with scant if +any ceremony; but for a woman to do the same thing was another matter. +Tacitus says: "I am aware that it will appear fabulous that any human +beings should have exhibited such recklessness of consequences; and +that, in a city where everything was known and talked of, anyone, much +more a consul-elect, should have met the emperor's wife, on a stated +day, in the presence of persons called in to seal the deeds, and that +she should have heard the words of the augurs, entered the house of the +husband, sacrificed to the gods, sat down with the guests at the nuptial +banquet, and in every way comported herself as though she had been +given away in a marriage entirely lawful. But I would not dress up my +narrative with fictions to give it an air of marvel, rather than relate +what has been stated to me or written by my seniors."</p> + +<p>There are indications which seem to warrant the belief that if this +affair had succeeded in its object it would not have appeared so +thoroughly atrocious in the eyes of those who recorded it. The whole +matter is shrouded in that mystery which often characterizes the +transactions of rulers. Suetonius declares that it is beyond all belief +that Claudius himself, at the marriage of Messalina with Silius, should +have actually signed the writings relative to her dowry, induced thereto +by the design of diverting from himself and transferring to another the +effect of certain bad omens relative to the husband of Messalina. But, +considering the superstition of the time, of which Claudius had an +abundant share, and the cunning with which Messalina appears to have +been endowed, it seems entirely probable that here we have the key of +the whole situation. As is suggested by Victor Duruy, Claudius, timid +and credulous as he was, doubtless assured himself in accordance with +the formalistic notions of those times, or was persuaded by others, that +destiny would be satisfied with a marriage accomplished in conformity +with legal formulas, but a union only in name. He expected that thereby +he would save himself, and at the same time his honor might be avenged +by the death of Silius, thus fulfilling the oracle.</p> + +<p>But Messalina and her lover had other plans. By working on the old +emperor's fears, she had induced him to sign the writing, so that +afterward it might appear as though he had given his consent to his own +repudiation. Presuming on her Julian descent, she may have persuaded +herself that, once wedded to the young patrician and consul-elect, +together they might wrest the government from the feeble hand of +Claudius and share the imperial dignity.</p> + +<p>While the emperor was away at Ostia, the nuptials were consummated. The +marriage was solemnized in due and ample form, including all the ancient +rites. Silius may have pretended to drag the seemingly unwilling bride +from the embraces of her friends; but the yellow wedding veil was not +necessary to hide any blushes that were likely to flush the cheek of +Messalina. That the ceremonies were executed in due form may be +concluded from the fact that Mnester, the popular actor, took part in +them, probably as director.</p> + +<p>If Messalina counted on the fidelity of the freedmen, to whose +friendship she had many times confided her safety, she erred: for on +this occasion they fatally betrayed her. When Claudius was not being +guided by his wife for her own purposes, he was under the control of the +freedmen; what their position under Silius might be was problematical. +Narcissus, the most active of these courtiers, hurried at once to Ostia, +taking with him Calpurnia and Cleopatra, two women who had witnessed the +marriage. It was necessary that he should thoroughly arouse the +phlegmatic emperor and bring upon Messalina speedy destruction, or his +own doom would be accomplished. "The marriage has been made public," he +said. "Unless you act promptly, Silius will be master of Rome." He +induced Claudius to transfer the command of the prætorians to himself +for a day. He hurried the emperor back to the city, taking every +precaution that the latter should not be left alone with Messalina's +friends and that she herself should not be afforded the opportunity of a +personal interview.</p> + +<p>This unwonted suddenness of action on the part of the emperor was +precisely what Messalina and Silius did not anticipate. Instead of +intrenching themselves by energetic preparations, they wasted the time +in voluptuous revelry. It was the season of the grape harvest, and all +Rome was engaged in the customary celebration of the vintage. Messalina, +in the gardens of the palace, was enacting a Bacchanalian scene. Men +were treading the grapes and wine was flowing into casks; women in the +scant attire of Bacchantes were dancing around them; and Messalina, with +the symbolic thyrsus in her hand, joined in the revelry, accompanied by +Silius, who was crowned with ivy. The utmost licentiousness of speech +and action was the order of the day. At last, Vettius Valens, who +himself had been a lover of the empress, climbed to the top of a high +tree. "What can you see from up there?" someone shouted. "I see," he +replied, "a storm coming from Ostia." It was prophetic of what was soon +to fall upon the chief participators in the scene. Rumors, quickly +followed by the couriers of the emperor, announced that the latter was +approaching in great indignation. Messalina was immediately deserted by +all. The revellers went their own ways, and Silius repaired to the Forum +as though with no thought but to attend to his official duties. The +empress, thoroughly awakened at last to the gravity of her situation, +began to make preparations for her defence. She saw that her only hope +was in the easy, vacillating disposition of Claudius; she had never yet +failed to manage him, and her assurance was great. Sending forth her two +children, Octavia and Britannicus, to meet their father, she next +induced Vibidia, the chief of the Vestals, to obtain audience with the +emperor and implore his pardon for his guilty wife.</p> + +<p>Deserted by all the court with the exception of three persons, Messalina +traversed the city on foot; and finding on the outskirts one of the +carts used to convey the rubbish of the streets and gardens, she got +into it and started forth to meet her outraged husband. Coming within +hearing of the emperor, she began to call upon him to listen to the +mother of his children; but Narcissus drowned her voice with the story +of her crime and placed in the hands of Claudius a paper reciting all +Messalina's adulteries, so that, reading it, his eyes might not be +turned upon his wife. Vibidia pleaded with the emperor that he should +not allow the empress to be destroyed without a hearing; but she was +sent away by the freedman, who advised her to attend to the proper +duties of her vocation.</p> + +<p>Had it not been for the hasty manner in which this affair was brought to +a fatal termination by Narcissus, Messalina would probably have won a +pardon from her doting husband. It is true that when the emperor was +taken to the house of Silius and there shown valuable furniture, +heirlooms from his own palace, his indignation was great; he allowed +himself to be conducted to the camp, where he made a short speech to the +soldiers and constituted them judges of the criminals; but after having +partaken of a sumptuous repast, his good nature, or rather his +indifference, returned, and he ordered his servants to go and "acquaint +the miserable woman that to-morrow she may plead her cause." The +freedman knew that if Messalina obtained the opportunity to talk with +the emperor, her alluring methods would save her life, and Claudius +would turn to make common cause with her against her accusers. Narcissus +therefore hurried forth and commanded the tribune on duty to "despatch +the execution," for such, he said, was the emperor's command.</p> + +<p>The soldiers found Messalina in the gardens of Lucullus, lying upon the +ground, and by her side her mother, Lepida, who was seeking to persuade +her wretched daughter not to wait for the executioner, but to die +becomingly by her own hand. This, however, the woman had not the +courage to do. At times, she would recite to her mother the speeches +with which she hoped to justify herself to her husband, and then she +would give way to imprecations and vain lamentations. Thus she was +employed when the door was burst open and the soldiers and Narcissus +appeared before her. The freedman indulged his spite and taunted her +with insolent reproaches. Then the unhappy woman, accepting the dagger +from her mother's hand, held it to her breast, but dared not strike; so +the tribune, in mercy as well as in justice, despatched her with his +sword. The news was carried to Claudius that "Messalina was no more"; +and without asking how she died or by whose hand, he called for a cup of +wine and continued the feast.</p> + +<p>Silius made no attempt to exonerate or defend himself, but simply asked +for a speedy death. With him died a number of other illustrious knights, +their offence being like his, though not so public or so heinous. +Mnester the actor thought to save his life by reminding the emperor that +it was by the latter's own command that he had been obliged to submit to +the orders of Messalina; but though this plea caused some hesitation in +the mind of Claudius, it was overruled by the merciless freedmen. It was +thus also with Traulus Montanus, a young man of remarkable beauty; he +could urge that only on one occasion had he been summoned to the +apartments of the empress, and then immediately cast off; this plea, +however, did not avail to save him.</p> + +<p>It has been our purpose in this chapter to show how, in the midst of +artistic surroundings, in a polished society, at a time when poetical +and philosophical literature was universally cultivated, women, by the +enormity of their excesses, touched the lowest depth of moral +depravity. All that appeared necessary was to piece together the +fragmentary information provided by the ancient historians and so +present a picture of this single astounding character, Messalina. She +was the ultimity of feminine vice. She did not stand alone; but in her +there was a unique combination of extraordinary political power, +unbounded opportunity for lawlessness, and inordinate concupiscence.</p> + +<p>But one human life is not sufficient in which to display all the +possible varieties of moral unrestraint. Messalina died, and Agrippina +reigned in her stead. In the daughter of Germanicus was exemplified a +character very different from that of the woman we have just dismissed. +Agrippina was less wanton, but she was not more womanly. Messalina +sacrificed human life in caprice, Agrippina assigned men to death in +cold calculation. The aim of the one was pleasure, the object of the +other was power. Messalina was a most unworthy mother; Agrippina +contravened every other womanly instinct in order that her son might +reign.</p> + +<p>After Messalina's death, Claudius declared before the praetorians: "As I +have been unhappy in my marriages, I am resolved henceforth to remain +single; and if I should not, I give you leave to stab me." But he was +not able to persist in this resolution; there were many women who, for +the sake of bearing the name of empress, sought matrimonial union with +him. Agrippina, however, had marked that position for her own, and she +was intellectually the strongest, as well as one of the most beautiful +women in Rome. She was now thirty-four years of age. It was no new +undertaking for her to bestir herself in the search for a husband. At +the age of thirteen she had been married to Cnæus Domitius Ahenobarbus; +but he had died in A.D. 40, leaving her with Nero, their only child. On +her retum from exile at the beginning of Claudius's reign, she had +endeavored to form a union with a powerful patrician named Galba, who +had a wife then living; but for her pains she got her face slapped by +Galba's mother-in-law. She was soon married, however, to an orator +called Passienus, who was a man remarkable for his wit, wealth, and good +nature. He died before Agrippina had set her hopes upon a marriage with +Claudius.</p> + +<p>It was Agrippina's determination to be empress, in order that her son +might be emperor. Some years previous, an astrologer had said of the boy +that he would reign, but that he would be the death of his mother. "Let +me die, then," said she, "so he but reign."</p> + +<p>Her marriage with Claudius would be illegal and incestuous, he being her +uncle. But Agrippina aroused the emperor's desire for the match by the +endearments for which her relationship provided the opportunity, and the +complacent Senate passed an enactment that henceforth such marriages +should be lawful. Before the nuptials were celebrated, Agrippina +obtained the promise of the hand of Octavia, the daughter of Claudius by +Messalina, for her son, thus doubly securing her position; this was done +despite the fact that Octavia had already been betrothed to another man. +Being thus able to have her way before marriage, it is not wonderful +that after that event Claudius should be wholly under his wife's rule. +Tacitus says: "From this moment the city assumed a different character, +and a woman had the control of everything. She, however, did not, like +Messalina, mock and trample upon the interests of the State in the +extravagance of her lewdness. The despotism exercised was as thorough as +though it were under the direction of a man. In her public conduct she +was grave and rigid, frequently haughty and overbearing. No departure +was observable in her domestic deportment, unless it were necessary to +support her power; but an insatiable thirst for money was veiled under +the pretext of its being used to maintain the imperial authority."</p> + +<p>As an instance of Agrippina's cruelty, it may be mentioned that she +brought about the condemnation of Lollia, who had been her rival for the +hand of Claudius, and compelled the unfortunate woman to destroy +herself. Calpurnia, another illustrious lady, she also doomed to ruin, +for no other reason than that the emperor once made a casual remark upon +her beauty.</p> + +<p>The advancement of her son was the object ever before the eyes of +Agrippina; for this she lived and for the attainment of this +consummation she spared no promising effort, whether lawful or +otherwise. Through the influence of Pallas, one of the favorite +freedmen, she brought it to pass that her son was adopted by the emperor +as his own, and the historians aver that as a reward for this service +Pallas received favors which belonged solely to Claudius. Step by step, +Nero was preferred, and at the same time the son of Messalina and the +emperor was depreciated. Britannicus seems to have been a boy of spirit. +Because he persisted in addressing her son by the name Ahenobarbus +[Brazenbeard], Agrippina placed over him tutors whose duty it was to +teach him to respect the decree of the Senate, by which the more +honorable name of Nero had been conferred on her offspring. Still, +everything did not go forward quite to Agrippina's satisfaction. She +found in Narcissus almost as great an enemy as had Messalina, and even +the emperor was somewhat uncertain in his favor; on one occasion, he was +heard to mutter something to the effect that he seemed fated to suffer +the iniquities of his wives, and then to punish them. Nero was now +seventeen years of age, and through the shrewd policy of his mother had +not only been named by the emperor as his successor, but had been +generally recognized as the heir-apparent by the people; it needed only +the death of Claudius to raise him to the imperial throne.</p> + +<p>New wants create new professions. In despotic governments, the lives of +certain persons are often too prolonged in the opinion of others who +have their own purposes to pursue, and there never have been lacking +those who in such a juncture could make themselves extremely useful. In +the time of Agrippina there lived a woman named Locusta, who, as Tacitus +informs us, was a famous artist in the mixing of drugs. Her skill seems +always to have had for its object, not the cure of patients who were +confided to her care, but their judicious taking-off. The +above-mentioned historian informs us that Agrippina allowed this woman +to employ her art upon Claudius; and as no other writer approximate to +that age seeks to purge the empress of this accusation, it must be +reckoned to her account. "In fact," says Tacitus, "all the particulars +of this transaction were soon afterward so thoroughly known, that the +writers of those times are able to recount how the poison was poured +into a dish of mushrooms, of which he was particularly fond; but whether +it was that his senses were stupefied, or from the wine he had drunk, +the effect of the poison was not immediately perceived." Agrippina +therefore became dismayed; but as her life was at stake, she thought +little of the odium of her present proceedings, and called in the aid of +Xenophon the physician, whom she had already implicated in her guilty +project. It is believed that he, as if he purposed to assist Claudius in +his efforts to vomit, put down his throat a feather besmeared with +deadly poison.</p> + +<p>After the death of Claudius, Agrippina discovered that the day was +ill-omened, so that she hesitated to have her son proclaimed. The fact +of the emperor's death was therefore kept a secret for some hours. The +people were so far imposed upon that they believed that Claudius was +approving and desired to be entertained. Buffoons were Produced, who +played their antics and cracked their jokes in the presence of the +corpse; the empress, in the meantime, feigning to be overcome with +grief, was clasping the young Britannicus in her arms and declaring that +he was the very image of his father.</p> + +<p>At noon, it being the thirteenth of October in the year 4, the death of +Claudius was announced, and Nero was received by the soldiers with +shouts of joy. The Senate confirmed his accession, and that night, when +the tribune asked the new emperor for the watchword, he gave "the best +of mothers."</p> + +<p>Claudius, unless the Roman historians are to be considered entirely +unworthy of credence, had been murdered by his wife; but, +notwithstanding this fact and also that she had despised him while he +lived, she hastened to propose his apotheosis as soon as he was dead. +How much those divine honors which were decreed to deceased members of +the imperial family meant to the Romans may be gathered from the +fragments which have been preserved of a satire written by Seneca at +this time; the satire also indicates the contempt into which the ancient +religion had fallen. Seneca claims that from him who saw Drusilla, the +sister of Caligula, ascend into heaven, he derived his information as to +what happened in Olympus when "a respectable-looking old man, with +shaking head, lame foot, and some kind of threat upon his lips" +[Claudius] arrived thither. The Olympian Senate, notwithstanding the +labors of Hercules on his behalf, voted that Claudius was not to be +admitted.</p> + +<p>After the inauguration of Nero's reign, there followed for the Empire +five years of what seemed to the people, so accustomed were they to the +worst horrors in the name of government, a wise and upright +administration. Nero was to a certain extent under the influence of +Seneca and Burrhus, men who perhaps were as good as any of their time. +Credit must be given Agrippina for having at least selected the best men +she could find to take charge of the education of her son. Nevertheless, +during those five years occurred her own murder and that of Britannicus. +After the death of the latter, Locusta--for whom Nero had found ample +employment--was permitted to retire to the enjoyment of the immense +wealth with which she had been rewarded for her services to those in +power; it was stipulated, however, that she should train other women in +the practice of her art.</p> + +<p>Agrippina had done and suffered much to secure the Empire for her son; +but she never contemplated that he would reign alone while she lived. +She expected to occupy a throne by his side. Her officious dominance +soon became intolerable to the young emperor. He also fell under the +fascination of the beautiful but unprincipled Poppæa, who refused to +share his palace with so jealous and imperious a mother-in-law. Bitter +must have been the reflections of Agrippina when she found herself not +only disappointed of this part of her ambition, but also saw that her +son was impatiently awaiting her death. Indeed, he was devising means to +bring it to pass; but she who was herself so well practised in the +methods of assassination was not an easy victim. The sword was too open +a method, and she was believed to have prepared herself, by taking +antidotes, against all kinds of poisons. But there was a genius at the +court. Anicetus, an enfranchised slave, now commander of the fleet, +could construct a vessel that would fall to pieces at sea at any given +moment. Agrippina was invited to join her son at Baise. He was all +affection and again seemed willing to commit himself to her influence. +A magnificent vessel was provided to convey her to and from the villa +where he had provided an entertainment. As she was returning over the +smooth waters, lighted by the brilliant stars, the roof of the cabin, +which had been weighted with lead, suddenly fell in, killing a man who +belonged to her train. Agrippina and Aceronia, her woman attendant, +escaped from this part of the prearranged accident; but the boat then +upsetting, they were thrown into the sea. Aceronia, in order that she +might be rescued, cried out that she was the emperor's mother, and she +was immediately killed by oars and boathooks in the hands of the crew. +Her mistress, however, suspecting at once the real nature of what had +taken place, remained quiet, and swam until she was picked up by passing +boats and conveyed to her own villa.</p> + +<p>At the prospect of his mother's death, Nero exclaimed: "At last I shall +reign"; but when the news reached him that the cunningly contrived +shipwreck had proved a failure, his fury knew no bounds. At that +juncture, a messenger arrived from Agrippina to say that his mistress +had been preserved--she deemed it prudent to appear to take it for +granted that her son was not implicated in the attempt upon her life. +While the messenger was speaking, Anicetus picked up a dagger from the +floor and pretended that the man had dropped it; it was then declared +that Agrippina must have sent him to assassinate her son. A party of men +were at once sent to her villa. They broke into her bedchamber. "If you +are come for murderous purposes," she cried, "I will not believe that it +is by the order of my son." She was quickly despatched with many wounds.</p> + +<p>In the busts and medal portraits of Agrippina that have been preserved +we see a face remarkably suggestive of refinement of character. Looking +at that face and remembering the accusations which have been laid +against her, one is naturally inclined to take up a brief in her +defence. It does not seem possible that she could have been guilty of +these crimes; nor, indeed, in other times and circumstances would it +have been possible. It was not a depraved will like that of Messalina +that led Agrippina to the adoption of evil courses. The causes were +several. She was proud; she had an insatiate craving for power; above +all, her unyielding will was wholly bent on the project of placing her +son upon the imperial throne. Had she lived at a time when violent +measures were not permissible, her methods would probably have been more +humane; but her ambition would doubtless have been as great and her +determination as tenacious. In her age, murder was a common expedient +for clearing the way to a prize. In her time, female modesty was a +quality almost impossible to be retained, and but little valued in those +few by whom it was preserved. To acquit Agrippina of murder and +unchastity would be not only to fault history but to impute to the +empress an innocence which in the nature of the case it was impossible +she should possess.</p> +<a name="c10" id="c10"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>X</h3> + +<h3>THE WOMEN OF DECADENT ROME</h3> + +<p>At the period with which we are now engaged, the vast majority of the +people of Rome were giving their attention to one all-absorbing +occupation--that of amusing themselves. The wealthy had little else to +do; the chief industries of the poor contributed to this end. Never in +the history of the world has a nation been so completely given over to +pleasure. Production was almost entirely limited to such occupations as +had for their object the extravagant supply of the luxuries of art and +entertainment; common necessaries, such as wheat, were extorted from the +provinces. Agriculture had become almost unknown in Italy. The rich men +no longer, like the great republican patricians, prided themselves on +their skill in tilling the soil; it better suited their tastes, and was +more lucrative, to farm taxes. "We have abandoned the care of our ground +to the lowest of our slaves," said Columelia, "and they treat it like +barbarians. We have schools of rhetoricians, geometers, and musicians. I +have even seen where they teach the lowest trades, such as the art of +cooking, or of dressing the hair; but nowhere have I found for +agriculture a teacher or a pupil. Meanwhile, even in Latium, that we may +avoid famine, we must bring our corn from foreign countries and our +wine from the Cyclades, Boetica, and Gaul." The land had come to be held +almost wholly by the few who were exceedingly rich. Their interests were +in Rome. For the country they cared nothing, except as it provided them +with luxurious retreats where they might, for a short space, renew their +enervated faculties after the dissipations of the city. Their land they +gave up to pasture and cattle raising, as being more profitable and +requiring less care than tilling the soil. Thus there was no employment +or means of subsistence for poor freedmen in the country; and so they +flocked to the cities, crowding the wretched <i>insulæ</i>, or tenements, and +depending mainly upon the free distributions of corn for their living. +The mass of the people, however, were drawn to Rome and the other great +Italian cities as much by their desire to participate in the feverish +life of the times as they were driven thither by lack of employment in +the country. These were the people who amused Nero by fighting for +places in the Great Circus; these were the people who howled for bread +and for games, and rewarded an ample supply of the same by supporting +tyrants in their monstrous excesses. When it is remembered that all +domestic labor, as well as all work belonging to many other branches of +industry, was performed by slaves, we are necessarily left to suppose +that the proletariat of Rome had little with which to occupy itself +beyond the public exhibitions and the pothouses, of which there existed +an enormous number; great numbers of men were, however, required for the +immense armies which garrisoned the provinces.</p> + +<p>Of the domestic life of the common people of Rome we have only the most +meagre information. We know that they inhabited huge tenements, in which +small apartments were rented at excessive rates. Housekeeping in these +tenements must have been conducted on a very simple scale, as one of the +comic writers pictures a poor family moving to other quarters and +carrying all their effects in their hands at one journey. Yet the men +who issued thence wore the <i>toga</i> of the Roman citizen, tattered though +it might be and having no other significance than the mere fact that its +wearers were not slaves. For these men there was little occupation +except wandering about the city in search of amusement and the +opportunity to make a little gain by any means that came to hand. Of +course, there were trades and commerce, the workshop and the store; but +slavery made it impossible for a large proportion of the impecunious +citizens of Rome to make an honorable living by means of their own +labor. There was a larger army of the unemployed than our modern cities +can show. Yet the Roman government, laying tribute as it did upon the +whole civilized world, could keep the citizens of Rome from starving. +For the women, beyond their simple domestic duties, the field of honest +industry was yet more limited. They were employed as professional +mourners to sing songs of lamentation at funerals; they could work at +some few mechanical trades, such as cloth weaving; they could keep a +shop. Occasionally, there was a woman of exceptional talent who made +large profits by means of decorative art; among the wall pictures of +Pompeii there is one which represents a female artist engaged in +painting upon canvas a figure of Bacchus from a statue which serves her +for a model. We read of Iaia, who, though a Greek, lived in Rome and of +whom Pliny says that she was very successful in painting portraits, and +especially in engraving female figures upon ivory. One matron found a +unique occupation; she made large sums yearly by fattening and selling +thrushes for the tables of epicures. But the majority of women who were +able to make a living did so by virtue of their personal attractions and +by ministering to the voluptuousness of the wealthy, as harp players, +dancers, and in other avocations still more questionable.</p> + +<p>During the reign of Nero, there were no wars of any great moment. The +old Roman passion for territorial expansion was in abeyance. The +government was concentrated in the person of a man whose ambitions were +histrionic rather than military. Nero was part actor, part clown, wholly +debased; what could be expected from the associates of such a man, or +from the people who tolerated him? If it be true that every nation has +the government of which it is deserving, then the officers and people of +the Roman Empire in Nero's time must be accounted as subordinates and +supernumeraries in a fatuous burlesque which frequently deepened into +mad tragedy. The way to the emperor's favor was not through victorious +conflicts with the enemies of the State, but by means of the lavishment +of fulsome applause of his own imbecile performances in the theatre and +the circus. Nero never entered Rome in military triumph, as had his +predecessors, followed by wagons filled with plunder and a train of +captives who had been formidable to the State; he was content to win +crowns from a debased people who hypocritically admired his voice and +his acting, and to triumphantly enter Rome as conqueror in the Grecian +games. "He made his entry into the city riding in the same chariot in +which Augustus had triumphed. For the occasion he wore a purple tunic +and a cloak embroidered with golden stars, having on his head the crown +won at Olympia, and in his right hand that which was given him at the +Parthian games; the rest were carried in a procession before him, with +inscriptions denoting the places where they had been won, from whom, and +in what plays or performances. A train followed him with loud +acclamations, crying out that they were the emperor's attendants, and +the soldiers of his triumph. He suspended the sacred crowns in his +chambers, about his beds, and caused statues of himself to be erected, +in the attire of a harper, and had his likeness stamped upon coins, in +the same dress. He offered his friendship or avowed open enmity to many, +according as they were lavish or sparing in giving him their applause." +Thus the Roman historian describes the order of that day, and from this +we may judge of the environment of the principal women of Rome in those +times.</p> + +<p>Virtue and womanly dignity were inconsiderable qualities in the days of +Nero. The ladies of the court could only attain and hold their positions +by means of their personal attractions and by taking part in excesses +from which every vestige of virtue was eradicated. Prostitution had now +become fashionable. It is possible to give Messalina the benefit of a +doubt as to whether or not she were a mere freak of nature. Agrippina +was monstrously ambitious and as merciless as a tigress whose young are +threatened; but she adopted the only means which her times afforded. In +Poppæa, however, we see the typical woman of decadent Rome--of ordinary +intellect, intensely voluptuous, and devoid of natural affection.</p> + +<p>Poppæa was the daughter of that beautiful but wanton lady of the same +name whom Messalina had forced to seek death by her own hand. In this +instance, heredity claimed its vindication; to the daughter descended +the loveliness of person and also the lax principles which characterized +the mother. "This woman," says Tacitus, "possessed everything but an +honest mind. Her wealth was equal to the dignity of her birth; she had a +fascinating conversation, and was not deficient in wit. She observed an +outward decorum, but in her heart was wanton; she rarely appeared in +public, and when she did she wore a veil, either because she did not +want to glut people's eyes with her beauty, or because she thought a +veil became her." It is said of her that she employed all the recipes at +that time known--and they were very numerous--to prevent the inroads +which age will make. She covered her face with a mask when out of doors, +in order to shield it from the sun; and when at last her mirror informed +her that the charms of that face were beginning to wane, she cried: "Let +me die rather than lose my beauty!"--a wish by no means unnatural, for +in the game which she so desperately played her beauty was her only +stake. Nero married her solely for her loveliness of person. The +conjugal fidelity which stands the test of changing years was not then +common; and the law did not enforce it upon the unwilling. Juvenal +doubtless truly pictures the contretemps which women like Poppsea had to +fear:</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i14"> "Sertorius what I say disproves,</p> +<p class="i14"> For though his Bibula is poor, he loves.</p> +<p class="i14"> True! but examine him; and on my life,</p> +<p class="i14"> You'll find he loves the beauty, not the wife.</p> +<p class="i14"> Let but a wrinkle on her forehead rise,</p> +<p class="i14"> And time obscure the lustre of her eyes;</p> +<p class="i14"> Let but the moisture leave her flaccid skin,</p> +<p class="i14"> And her teeth blacken, and her cheeks grow thin;</p> +<p class="i14"> And you shall hear the insulting freedman say:</p> +<p class="i14"> 'Pack up your trumpery, madam, and away!</p> +<p class="i14"> Nay, bustle, bustle; here you give offence,</p> +<p class="i14"> With snivelling night and day;--take your nose hence!'"</p> +</div></div> + +<p>We have no very trustworthy representation of Poppæa's appearance. There +are in existence medals showing her reputed portrait, especially a Greek +coin with the head of Nero on one side and that of his wife on the +other; but as the former is certainly not a good likeness, it is +Reasonable to suppose that the other is no better. Her face, as it is +here portrayed, is of the ideal Greek type--straight brows, and nose +almost in a line with the forehead. There is also a bust in existence, +which, according to archaeological students, may be held to represent +either the mythical Clytie or the famous wife of Nero. Her hair is said +to have been remarkably beautiful. It was very abundant and of a golden +amber color. Nero composed verses upon it.</p> + +<p>There were serious obstacles between Poppæa and the imperial throne +which she speedily manifested an ambition to share--obstacles which, in +more virtuous days, or among women possessing the slightest degree of +modesty, would have been absolutely insurmountable; but with the rulers +of Rome in those times nothing was impossible except self-control for +the sake of honor. Nero was married to Octavia, the daughter of +Messalina and Claudius. Poppæa was also married. She had been divorced +from Rufus Crispinus, a Roman knight, to whom she had borne a son, and +was now joined in matrimony to Otho, the profligate confidant of the +young emperor. There are indications that Otho was fond of his +unprincipled wife. She was the choicest treasure in his magnificently +furnished house. He boasted of her beauty to Nero, and excited the young +ruler's pride as well as his passion by telling him that though he were +the emperor he could not vie with his subject in the possession of such +an example of female loveliness. He even permitted Nero to visit his +wife, but, in his self-esteem, did not count upon the result. Otho +maintained Poppæa in inordinate splendor; but he was not the emperor. He +could give her incalculable riches; but he could not make her the +mistress of the world. Poppæa saw her opportunity. She lavished upon +Nero all the powers of her coquetry; she intimated that she was smitten +with regard for him; she allowed him to flatter himself that he had won +her. But she would hear of nothing but marriage. Nero was at her feet; +but, having so far attained her end, she would listen to no +protestations until he removed all hindrances to their union. She would +be empress or nothing. With her beauty for a bait, she led Nero on to +the committal of the most heinous crimes. Agrippina was murdered because +Poppæa taunted Nero with being under the care of a governess. "Why did +he delay to marry her?" Tacitus represents her as asking. "Had he +objections to her person or her ancestry? Or was he dissatisfied because +she had given proof of her fertility? Did he doubt the sincerity of her +affection? No; the truth must be that he was afraid that if she were his +wife she would expose the insolence and the rapaciousness of his mother. +But if Agrippina would bear no daughter-in-law who was not virulently +opposed to her son, she desired to be sent to Otho. She was ready to +withdraw to any quarter of the earth, rather than behold the emperor's +degradation." Otho, in order that he might be out of the way, had been +appointed Governor of Lusitania.</p> + +<p>It was some time after the death of Agrippina before Octavia was +removed, first by repudiation and then by death. We shall have occasion +to notice the character of this estimable woman in a later chapter. In +the meantime, the emperor did not have to wait wholly unrewarded by the +favors of Poppæa. He was entirely under her influence; but the memory of +the remorse which had seized him after the murder of his mother +restrained him, for a while, from adding to that crime another of equal +atrocity. Again, however, Poppæa cunningly worked upon his fears, +insinuating that unless he reinstated Octavia, whom he hated, as +empress, the people would give her another husband, whom they would make +emperor. This sealed Octavia's doom; shortly afterward, her head was +brought to Rome and laid at the feet of her infamous successor, Poppaea +was at last the empress in name as well as in fact; and when she +presented Nero with a daughter, he made a mockery of the title by naming +ner, as well as the child, Augusta. But the little one soon died, and +the Senate was obliged to console the father by decreeing that his +infant daughter had become a goddess.</p> + +<p>All the historians agree that subsequent to his connection with Poppæa, +Nero deteriorated in his character, or at least in his conduct. The +influence of the woman seemed to bring out and encourage the worst that +was in him. For Poppæa, however, there was compensation; her principal +gain, in her own estimation, may perhaps be best typified by the palace +which Nero built. She cared little for political power; imperial +magnificence was the attraction that enticed her. Surely never did woman +have her wish in this respect so completely gratified as did the wife of +Nero! He built himself a house, having first destroyed many another in +order to furnish a site. The author of <i>Rome of To-day and Yesterday</i> +says: "It was upon the palace for the emperor that Severus and Celer, +the first architects ever mentioned by name in Roman history, lavished +all the resources of his boundless wealth and their skill. It seems so +extravagant to say that the Golden House extended over an area of nearly +a square mile in the very midst of the city, that if there had not been +left, from point to point, remains of it over a considerable part of +this area, the statement of the old writers to that effect would not +have seemed worthy of belief." By the Golden House is, of course, not +meant one continuous building; but there was an enclosure by means of +three colonnades, each a mile in length, and an entrance portico +somewhat narrower on the side opposite the Forum. Within this enclosure +were great courts resembling parks, fountains, and fishponds, besides +the residence buildings and baths. "In parts," says Suetonius, "this +house was entirely overlaid with gold and adorned with jewels and +mother-of-pearl. The supper rooms were vaulted, and compartments of the +ceilings, inlaid with ivory, were made to revolve and scatter flowers; +moreover, they were provided with pipes which shed essences on the +guests. The chief banqueting room was circular, and revolved +perpetually, night and day, in imitation of the motion of the celestial +bodies. The baths were supplied from the sea and from Albula. Upon the +dedication of this magnificent house, when finished, all Nero said in +approval of it was: 'Well, now at last I am housed as a man should be!'"</p> + +<p>Amidst this magnificent splendor, Poppæa lived. We will endeavor to +recount her manner of living as closely as we may, in order that we may +know what was the ideal existence in the estimation of the majority of +the women of her time.</p> + +<p>The chief concern of Poppæa, as of all the women of that period whom age +or nature had not unkindly relieved of this responsibility, was the +preservation of her beauty. The Roman authors have mercilessly laid bare +the methods and mysteries to which their ladies resorted for this +purpose. No pains or discomforts were avoided in order to retain the +freshness of complexion which was apt, in the dissipated life of the +palace, quickly to disappear. Poppæa is reputed to have invented many +cosmetics and face washes, and especially a mask which was worn at +night, which was composed of dough mixed with ass's milk; while for the +purpose of removing wrinkles another mask, composed of rice, was worn, +Juvenal mocks at the appearance of the ladies with their faces thus +encased, "ridiculous and swollen with the great poultice." He suggests +that what is fomented so often, anointed with so many ointments, and +receives so many poultices, ought to be considered a sore rather than a +face. It was held to be of great importance that these applications +should be washed off with ass's milk, and the old writers assert that +Poppæa kept large herds of these animals in order that she might bathe +in their warm milk every day. The Roman ladies were by no means averse +to assisting nature in augmenting their charms; they used white and red +paints with artistic effect. These were ordinarily moistened with +saliva, possibly on account of the Roman superstition in regard to the +efficacy of lustration. The brows and eyelashes were frequently dyed; +and so careful were the women to render nature all the assistance +possible, that even the delicate veins of the temples were heightened in +their effect by a faint touch of blue. The teeth had always received +most careful attention. There were many pastes and powders known to the +Roman beauty. Artificial teeth made of ivory had been in use from very +ancient times, for in the laws of the Twelve Tables there was one which +prohibited the deposition of gold in the graves of the dead, excepting +the material used for the fastening of false teeth. "You have your hair +curled, Galla," says Juvenal, "at a hair dresser's in Suburra Street, +and your eyebrows are brought to you every morning. At night, you remove +your teeth as you do your dress. Your charms are enclosed in a hundred +different pots, and your face does not go to bed with you." Many +instances are recorded of the costliness of the attire of these Roman +ladies. They wore silk which was sold at its weight in gold. There was a +kind of muslin so transparent that it was known as "woven air." Tunics +were ornamented with figures embroidered in gold thread, and encrusted +with pearls and precious stones. Pliny relates that he saw Lollia +Paulina wearing a dress which was covered with emeralds and pearls from +her head to her feet. She carried with her the receipts to show that +upon her person she wore a value of forty million sesterces; and this +was not her best dress, for the occasion was only a second-class +betrothal feast. At an entertainment given by Claudius on Lake Fucinus, +Agrippina wore a garment which was woven entirely of gold thread.</p> + +<p>The women of Poppæa's day seem to have been fully acquainted with the +benefits to be derived from physical exercise. Agrippina, as we have +seen, could swim with no less expertness than Cloelia of ancient renown. +Indeed, Juvenal pictures the women breaking the ice and plunging into +the river in the depth of winter, and diving beneath the eddies of the +Tiber at early dawn. This, however, was for religious and propitiatory +reasons. The same satirist refers with evident disapproval to women +exercising with heavy dumb-bells in the same fashion as did the men when +preparing for the bath. It is apparent that in this age women deemed it +to be in keeping with their rights to share, as closely as nature would +permit, in the pursuits and the privileges of the men; just as there +were men who, beyond the boundary set by nature, usurped the position +which belonged to women.</p> + +<p>We have spoken of the bath; and it being so large a feature in Roman +city life and so good an illustration--though the most innocent--of the +luxury of the times, it will not be amiss to afford a little space to +its description.</p> + +<p>The Golden House and many of the palaces of the wealthy contained baths +which, while not on so large a plan as the public <i>thermæ</i>, were +doubtless even more luxuriously appointed. We will take, however, the +public baths for our example. In the period of the early Republic, the +Romans, though scrupulously cleanly as the warmth of their country +required, contented themselves with washing in the Tiber. Every ninth +day was deemed sufficient for a complete immersion. As the arts of +civilization advanced, tubs were placed in the houses, and a daily bath +before the evening meal became customary. The first aqueduct for the +conveyance of water into the city was built by Appius Claudius about +B.C. 310. Seven or eight others were afterward constructed, notably that +of Agrippa; so that no city was ever better supplied with water than was +ancient Rome. This made possible the public baths, which early made +their appearance and which must have been such a boon to the people. At +first these baths were solely for lavatory purposes, and were neither so +magnificent nor so much a social feature as they afterward became. +Seneca relates that at first the ædiles superintended not only the +decorum of the bathers, but also the temperature of the baths. Under +Augustus, these public conveniences began to be characterized with that +magnificence of structure in which all the emperors delighted. A great +many of these buildings were erected in various parts of the city; as +many as eight hundred have been enumerated. Some of these were +marvellous, not only for their dimensions, but also for the costliness +of the material and the artistic decorations. The baths of Caracalla +were adorned with two hundred columns of the finest marble and furnished +with sixteen hundred seats of marble, and it is said that eighteen +thousand persons might conveniently bathe there at one time. Yet these +were excelled both in size and magnificence by the Thermæ Dioclesianæ. +The gift of these establishments was one of the means by which the +emperors kept themselves in favor with the people. For a trifling sum, a +citizen of any degree could repair to this scene of magnificence and +luxury, where there were crowds of slaves to minister to his comfort in +a style which might arouse the envy of the proudest Oriental monarch. +Besides the various kinds of hot and cold baths, swimming tanks, etc., +there were stately porticoes for games and exercise, there were +gymnasiums, magnificent galleries for the exhibition of specimens of +painting and sculpture, and frequently there were libraries where the +studious might rest and read after the refreshing luxury of the baths. +The bathrooms proper were duplicated in each establishment, one part +being open for the use of the men, the other set apart for the women. +There is a hint, however, that, during the reign of some of the worst of +the emperors, this propriety was not always strictly adhered to. Unless +the Latin writers wilfully calumniate their own times, it was not a +thing unknown for both men and women, in the private baths of palatial +residences, to be waited on by slaves of the opposite sex.</p> + +<p>Whether or not Poppæa condescended to make use of the public baths, it +is impossible to ascertain. It is certain, however, that the emperors +frequently joined the multitude in their sports and lavations. At two +o'clock each day, the opening of the baths was announced by the ringing +of a bell. Everybody repaired thither; it was the common rendezvous for +gossip, recreation, and amusement. Authors frequently read at the baths +their new productions to those of the crowds who cared to listen. Much +of the afternoon was spent in this manner. Before taking the bath, +exercise was indulged in, a favorite form of which was ball playing. +Then one entered the <i>caldarium</i>, in which hot air was diffused by means +of pipes leading from a furnace in the basement; then came the +<i>tepidarium</i>, always followed by a plunge in cold water. While bathing, +the skin was rubbed or scraped with a silver instrument called a +<i>strigula</i>. The Romans concluded the toilet by rubbing the body with +odoriferous ointments, and, thus refreshed and anointed, proceeded to +the banquet.</p> + +<p>In the early days of the Republic, meals were prepared with care, but +there was no sumptuousness, no art. The first signs of Asiatic luxury +made themselves noted on the table; delicacy and profusion were carried +to excess, resulting in extravagance and gluttony. The cook, who had +anciently been the lowest of the slaves, came to be the most important +officer in the establishments of the rich; that which at first was only +a low and necessary employment came to be a difficult and a highly +esteemed art. The price of a cook, says Pliny, was rated at as much as +would have formerly sufficed for the expense of a triumph, and a fish +was bought at the price anciently paid for a cook.</p> + +<p>To make provision for banquets seems to have been more the province of +the master of a Roman house than it was that of the mistress. There is a +great contrast between the position of a Roman matron and that of a +modern lady in this respect; the responsibility for the entertainment of +guests did not so peculiarly rest upon the former as it does upon the +latter. We frequently read of banquets given by men in the account of +which no mention whatever is made of the wife, and these were ordinary +occasions when there can be no doubt as to her presence. The guests were +usually invited solely in the master's name. In Petronius's account of +Trimalchio's Feast, he represents one guest asking another who is the +woman that so often scuttles up and down the room. He is told that she +is Fortunata, Trimalchio's wife, that she counts her money by the +bushel, but that she has an eye everywhere, and when you least think to +meet her she is at your elbow. Her propensity for petty management seems +to have been stronger than her love for the entertainment; for another +visitor coming in later asks "why Fortunata sits not among us?" The host +replies: "Till she has gotten her plate together and has distributed +what we leave among the servants, not a sup of anything goes down her +throat." But that this was unusual is shown by the inquirer threatening +to leave unless the mistress sat down with them.</p> + +<p>We have elsewhere described the Roman dining hall, or <i>triclinium</i>. +Doubtless the Golden House had many of these splendid salons. Lucullus, +who was famous for the enormous expense at which he lived, called each +of his numerous dining halls by the name of some divinity, and every +hall had a set rate of expense at which an entertainment in it was +given; so that when he ordered his household steward to prepare a +banquet in a certain salon, the servant knew exactly what to provide and +at how great a cost his master wished to entertain. It is told that +Cicero and Pompey once met Lucullus in the Forum and invited themselves +to supper with him. They declared that they wished to share the meal of +which he himself would partake if he were without company, and they +would not allow him to give any directions to the servants, only +permitting him to order his steward to prepare the table in the +Triclinium Apollo. The man knew exactly what to do, and the supper was a +great surprise to the guests, for a banquet in that hall was never +served at an expense of less than fifty thousand drachmas [nearly nine +thousand dollars].</p> + +<p>In order that we may obtain as complete a picture as possible of the +Roman woman's life, we must attend in imagination one of those banquets +which she attended in reality.</p> + +<p>On entering the dining hall, we notice that around the table,--or +tables, for there will be many if the company is a large one,--in place +of chairs, are couches with an abundance of soft pillows. These couches +are placed on three sides of the table; for it was the custom of the +Romans to recline at their meals. When this custom was first introduced +from Asia, the women did not think that it comported with their modesty +to adopt this new style, and until the end of the Republic they retained +the old habit of sitting at table, while the men lay on the couches; but +at the time of Poppæa women had entirely relinquished this relic of +their former scrupulousness of demeanor and were accustomed to follow +the habit for which the lassitude resulting from the bath prepared them +and which these prolonged feasts made necessary for comfort.</p> + +<p>Having taken our places at the table, our attention is first drawn to +the fact that all the slaves, as they move about the room on their +various errands, are singing in a low voice. This is the custom of the +house; at the banquet everything must be done to the sound of music. All +the guests receive a crown or a wreath of flowers, which is worn upon +the head during the feast. Roses are to be seen everywhere in great +profusion. We are first served with some dishes which are designed to +excite rather than appease the appetite; these consist of dormice +covered with honey and pepper, hot sausages, and a large pannier filled +with both white and black olives. On the dishes in which these viands +are served we notice not only the host's name, but also the number of +ounces of silver of which the utensils are composed. An ostentatious +display of excellence was always sought after by the Romans.</p> + +<p>A banquet must always begin with eggs; so, having picked a little of the +afore-mentioned dainties to sharpen our hunger, the repast really +commences. A table is brought in, on which we see a large hen, carved in +wood, sitting as on a nest. The slaves search in the straw and bring +forth the eggs, which are handed around. The host, after examining these +simple articles of diet, says that he commanded to have them placed +under a hen for a short time, but he is afraid that they are half +hatched. Just as we are inclined to put ours aside, we discover that +what appears to be the shell is nothing but paste, and, breaking it +open, find inside a delicately cooked little bird of the wheatear +species. We must be prepared for such culinary surprises. Then the music +strikes up, and the slaves clear the table, dancing instead of walking. +If a slave drops a valuable dish, she will not be scolded so much for +the loss as she will be if she stops to pick up the fragments, as though +the loss were of consequence. Wine is now brought in. It is contained in +sealed glass vessels, each with a label setting forth the age of the +vintage. Wine is plentiful; it is even passed to us in place of water in +which to wash our hands.</p> + +<p>Now the viands are brought on in bewildering variety; and the marvellous +conceits of the cook baffle description. Here is an immense silver +charger, around which are carved the signs of the zodiac; and upon each +sign there is something suited to it, either in reality or its image in +pastry: a lobster, a goose, two pilchards, etc. There is a splendid +fish, and upon the sides of the dish are four little images which spout +a delicious sauce.</p> + +<p>There must also be somewhat to amuse us; for this banquet is to be of +long continuance, and there is a limit to one's eating. A lengthy +interval occurs, during which a company of actors, women as well as men, +take their places in the lower part of the hall, which is left clear for +the purpose, and there enact a farce which ridicules the follies of the +times and causes us much laughter. Other women perform upon the harp; +some exhibit their marvellous acrobatic skill; and one girl, clothed +only in a diaphanous, silky robe which reveals more of her person than +it hides, performs a dance which is as remarkable for its grace as for +its immodesty. We may be glad that we are not treated to a gladiatorial +combat, as has sometimes been the case in this same house.</p> + +<p>After these entertainments have been concluded, an enormous dish is set +before us, and in it a great boar. On his tusks hang two baskets, one +filled with dates, the other with almonds. About him are little pigs +made of sweetmeats. They are presents which we are to carry away with +us; for it is always the custom for the men at a banquet to carry some +part of it home to those women of their families who have not been +present. To our great astonishment, when the servant makes a hole in the +side of this boar, as though to carve it, there fly out a number of +blackbirds, which continue to flutter about the room until they are +again captured.</p> + +<p>While we are beguiling our time with wine and conversing with the ladies +present, a large and entire hog is brought upon the table. Whereupon our +host, having examined the animal closely, expresses it as his belief +that it has not been disembowelled by the cook. That officer being sent +for, he confesses that in his haste that part of the preparation had +truly been forgotten. He is ordered to be flogged, and the executioners +prepare to carry out the command upon the spot in the presence of us +all; but mercy is implored for him by the women, and his master contents +himself by ordering him to finish his work there upon the table. At +this, the cook takes a knife and cuts open the hog's belly, and there +immediately tumble out a heap of delicious sausages of various kinds and +sizes. This done, all the slaves cheer their master, and a present of +silver is made to the cook.</p> + +<p>While we are discussing this and the various other interesting episodes +of the feast, we are startled by the ceiling giving a great crack, and, +as we gaze up in considerable alarm, the main beam opens in the middle. +A large aperture appears, from which descends a great disk and upon it +are hung many beautiful presents for the guests, also fruits of various +kinds which when touched throw out a delicious liquid perfume.</p> + +<p>Thus, eating and conversing and viewing these wonders and the various +performances of the entertainers, the feast begun in the early evening +has endured until the night has grown late. Wine has been flowing +without stint, and its effect is to be seen among the company. The +ladies present have indulged with almost as great freedom as the men. +Tongues have become loosened and stories are told and allusions made +which might bring the blush to some cheeks, were they not already +flushed with wine. The feast is likely to end in a revel. Men take the +wreaths of flowers from the heads of the women and dip them in the wine, +which they then drink as a mark of gallantry. There is no longer need +for the actors and female entertainers; the male guests play the +buffoon, and matrons, throwing aside their robes, dance, though possibly +with less grace, certainly with no more modesty than did the +professional women who had been hired for that purpose. Pranks are +played upon those who have fallen into an intoxicated stupor. Some are +roaring bacchic songs, some are loudly arguing concerning politics, +giving vent to opinions for which they may have to give an account to +the emperor on another day; some are brawling, while others are +conversing with the women in such unrestrained fashion as leaves no room +for wonder at the numerous matrimonial readjustments which are +characteristic of these times.</p> + +<a name="ill4" id="ill4"></a> +<p class="mid"><img alt="" src="images/004.png"><br> +<b><i> + A ROMAN BANQUET<br> + After the painting by Albert Baur</i></b></p> +<blockquote> +<b><i>Around the tables, in place of chairs, are couches with an + abundance of soft pillow. These couches are placed on three sides of + the table; for it was the custom of the Romans to recline at their + meals. When this custom was first introduced from Asia, the + women did not think that it comported with their modesty to adopt + this new style, and until the end of the Republic they retained the + old habit of sitting at table.... After these entertainments have + been concluded, an enormous disk is set, and in it a great boar. + On his tusks, hang two baskets, one filled with dates, the other with + almonds. About him are little pigs made of sweetmeats; they are + presents to be carried away; it is the custom for men at a banquet + to carry some part of it to those women of their families who have + not been present..... when the servant makes a hole in the side + of this boar, as though to carve it, out fly a number of blackbirds, + which continue to flutter about the room until recaptured.</i></b> +</blockquote> + +<p>These are some of the features of such banquets as those to which the +women of Poppæa's time were accustomed. We have drawn our description +principally from Petronius's inimitable account. Though in Trimalchio's +Feast there was, so far as it appears, no other woman besides his wife, +yet we know from other sources that the presence of women at such +entertainments was common. There is no evidence to the effect that they +were in the habit of leaving the <i>triclinium</i> before the unrestrained +indulgence in wine had made their presence there entirely inconsistent +with any ideas of strict propriety; indeed, if the poets are to be +credited, it often happened that love making of an ardent nature was +carried on in the confusion which marked the termination of these +feasts.</p> + +<p>Poppæa had married an imperial actor. Even at so late a period as the +days of Julius Cæsar, a citizen lost his civic rights by appearing on +the stage; but now the whole Roman Empire bent in fulsome adulation +before a crazy ruler who strained a wretched voice to sing <i>Canace in +Labor</i>. The Forum had become silent; the temples were frequented, but +with little faith or sincerity on the part of the worshippers. The +public life of Rome centred in the theatre and the circus. "After the +market place has been designed," says Vitruvius, "a very healthy spot +must be chosen for the theatre, where the people can witness the dramas +on the feast days of the immortal gods." In the days of Nero, the Roman +people did not wait for a religious motive in order that they might +indulge in shows which were certainly morally unhealthy, however +salubrious may have been the site of the theatre. The most popular and +best remunerated public servants were actors and actresses, dancing +women and female musicians. Mommsen, commenting on the condition of +theatrical art at an earlier time than that of Nero, says: "There was +hardly any more lucrative trade in Rome than that of the actor and the +dancing girl of the first rank. The princely estate of the tragic actor +Æsopus amounted to two hundred thousand pounds sterling; his still more +celebrated contemporary Roscius estimated his annual income at six +thousand pounds, and Dionysia the dancer estimated hers at two thousand +pounds." Later he adds, as indicating what was popular at the time: "It +was nothing unusual for the Roman dancing girls to throw off at the +finale the upper robe and to give a dance in undress for the benefit of +the public."</p> + +<p>There is in existence an epitaph of a girl named Licinia Eucharis, who +is reputed to have been the first female to appear on the public Greek +stage in Rome. She died at the age of fourteen; but, notwithstanding her +tender years, she was "well instructed and taught in all arts by the +Muses themselves."</p> + +<p>The theatrical displays of the Romans had always been characterized by +vulgarity and coarseness. The ancient Atellan farces were as full of +obscenity as were the fescennine songs of broad allusions. This being +so, even in the days when the Roman people deified chastity, it +naturally follows that unbounded license must have prevailed in the +degenerate days of the Empire. The surfeited taste of the licentious +populace was gratified by hordes of women as well as men, who strove to +give new piquancy to their exhibitions by the shamelessness of their +performances.</p> + +<p>There is some evidence, however, to show that now and again there was an +actress who endeavored to "elevate the stage." Horace reports that when +Arbuscula was hissed by the people, though doubtless she was giving a +good performance, she had the courage to retort: "It is enough for me +that the knight Mæcenas applauds"; but such a spirit was unusual, and +the Roman theatre continued to deteriorate. As is always the case in +such matters, the demand created the supply; but the supply also renewed +and strengthened the taste from which sprung the demand. Watching some +gladiators who had been condemned to mortal combat, a Roman argued with +Seneca that they were criminals and deserved their fate. "Yes," answered +the philosopher; "but what have you done that you should be condemned to +witness such an exhibition?"</p> + +<p>The moralist's stricture on their amusements was not concurred in by the +great mass of his female compatriots. Patrician and plebeian, rich and +poor, the women of Rome craved the realistic scenes of the theatre and +the terrible excitements of the circus with as much avidity as did the +men. Augustus had ordered that women should not be present at the +exhibitions of wrestlers, and that they should only be allowed to +witness gladiatorial combats from the upper and remote part of the +theatre; but in the days of Nero, the sex was placed under no such +restrictions. Augustus also severely punished an actor who allowed a +married woman, dressed as a boy, to wait upon him at table; but +afterward it became common for patrician ladies to be the paramours of +gladiators and pantomimists, with no fear of punishment save the +immortal lashings of the poetic satirists. These lashings, it is +evident, had no deterrent effect; despite the sarcasms of Juvenal, the +Ælias and Hispullas continued to be enamored of tragic actors. Hippia, +though the wife of a Senator, accompanies a gladiator to Alexandria. She +dines among the seamen, walks the deck in a rolling sea, and delights to +take a hand at the ropes. What was the attribute that captivated her? +Sergius was not handsome; "but then, he was a swordsman. The sword made +its wielder as beautiful as Hyacinthus. It was this she preferred to her +children, her native land, and her husband. It is the steel of which +women are enamored. This same Sergius, if he were discharged from the +arena, would be no better than her husband in her eyes."</p> + +<p>In the times of the most dissolute emperors, the people of Rome lived +chiefly to attend the theatre and the circus; after bread, all they +asked for was shows. There were theatres in Rome capable of seating +eighty thousand persons. We may imagine such a concourse waiting while +Nero dines in their presence in the imperial box, and allays their +impatience by shouting: "One more sup, and then I will present you with +something that will make your ears tingle." But it is likely that the +Roman ladies of noble birth were wont to hear the announcement of Nero's +performances with little anticipatory pleasure. They dared not absent +themselves, for there were spies who would report to the emperor their +failure to attend; and, being present, they were compelled to submit to +the infliction of the whole of the wretched exhibition; for on such +occasions the doors were absolutely closed against all egress. So +thoroughly was this rule carried out that there are reports of infants +having been born in the theatre while Nero was displaying his skill as +an actor. More than that, it was never known when or under what +circumstances the lightning of his malicious displeasure would fall upon +some unlucky head. Once, when he was playing and singing in the theatre, +he observed a married lady dressed in the shade of purple which he had +prohibited. He pointed her out to his officers, and she was not only +stripped of her raiment, but her property was also practically +confiscated by means of fines.</p> + +<p>Yet doubtless the fact that they were afforded the strange privilege of +witnessing the acting of an emperor did serve to arouse the interest of +the blasé Roman populace. Legitimate histrionic art had become for them +tiresome, as it always does where luxury and pampered idleness tend to +blunt the artistic conscience. Nothing less than libidinous vaudeville, +in which matrons of noble birth were by bribes or threats induced to +take part, could create the least sensation. Realistic performances were +more popular still. The actors in these were found in the dungeons, +therefore they were not costly and required little training. A much +truer idea of agony is obtained by watching a man really suffer than by +seeing it mimicked by an actor; and if the piece to be staged includes a +death, why not provide the audience with the opportunity of seeing a +criminal die in the manner designated? These were the scenes to which +the women of Rome grew accustomed, with the result that, for the +evil-disposed, bloodshed was no more than a pastime, while for the +better-natured it at least enabled them to look upon their own death +with diminished terror. But the favorite exhibition with the Roman +populace was the sanguinary gladiatorial encounter. Ten thousand men +were constantly kept and trained, that the people might witness their +combats to the death with each other or with ferocious animals. These +combats were to be seen in greater perfection at a later day than that +of Poppæa, in the Colosseum--the most stupendous show place ever erected +by man, and in which was exemplified the most enormous wickedness that +has disgraced the name of humanity. In the central space was "the sand," +the arena, often red and soaked like a battlefield with human blood. +Around this was a gilded fence to prevent the animals or the more +desperate men from rushing with deadly hate upon the unfeeling audience. +Behind that stood the marble <i>podium</i>, on which were placed the imperial +seats and those of the nobility. Then came, tier above tier, the seats +of the commoner people, who ofttimes made the vast edifice resound with +their roar--more dreadful than that of the forest king: "To the lions!" +In the front seats and behind them sat women, beautiful of face but +hardened in disposition, who, when a man was mortally wounded, cried: +"<i>hoc habet</i> [he has it!]" with an excitement as unsympathetic as that +which delighted their male companions; and who, when an unfortunate +combatant lowered his arms in token of defeat, were as likely to point +their thumbs downward, in sign that the unfortunate man was forthwith to +be despatched, as to raise them in token of mercy.</p> + +<p>So long as Petronius, the man of taste, was the "arbiter" of Nero's +amusements, the people of Rome were not called upon to witness the most +outrageous examples of imperial depravity. Yet it must be confessed +that, if the women described in the <i>Satyrikon</i> are to be accepted as +being typical of the majority of the Roman ladies, their morals could +not suffer much by the influence even of a Nero. Tigellinus incited the +emperor to greater lengths of profligacy than he otherwise would have +reached. Tacitus describes the feast given by Tigellinus, for which "he +built, in the lake of Agrippa, a raft which supported the banquet, which +was moved to and fro by other vessels drawing it after them. He had +procured fowl and venison from remote regions, and fish from far-off +seas. Upon the margin of the lake were erected brothels, filled with +ladies of distinction, and over against them other women whose +profession was apparent by the scantiness of their attire. As soon as +darkness came on, the surrounding dwellings echoed with the music, and +in the groves brilliant lights revealed everything that was obscene and +improper."</p> + +<p>During the reign of the dissolute emperors, the virtue of women was but +little respected. Nero denied that any person was sincerely chaste. If a +woman of any social prominence in those days desired to retain her +honor, her beauty was her greatest misfortune. No ties or obligations, +not even the sanctity of the Vestals, were respected by the lustful +tyrants. If a man rejoiced in a beautiful and modest wife, she might +any day be requested to appear at the palace; and the husband, if he +would preserve his life, was compelled to bear the dishonor in silence. +Occasionally, however, there was a woman who showed more spirit; +Mallonia publicly upbraided Tiberius for his wickedness, and then went +home and killed herself. But the condition of morals was such that there +were a great many wives and husbands who did not regard such tyranny +with any special degree of horror. Piso, who was put to death for his +conspiracy against Nero, had robbed his friend Domitius Silius of his +wife, who was, the historian informs us, a depraved woman and void of +every recommendation but personal beauty; but "both concurred, her +husband by his passiveness, she by her wantonness, to blazon the infamy +of Piso."</p> + +<p>Among these characters there was but little of that chaste love which +glorifies the marriage bond. Poppæa could have had no regard for the +despicable Nero; her sole concern was that she might be empress, and +maintain herself in that exalted position. The emperor prized nothing in +his wife except her incomparable beauty; and he placed her beside +himself on the throne only because it was necessary that Cæsar should +have legitimate heirs.</p> + +<p>As to the character of Poppæa, Josephus credits her with being very +religious, and Tacitus says that she was much given to consulting with +soothsayers and eastern charlatans. Yet it may have been that, +notwithstanding her wild profligacy and shameless ambition, Poppæa felt +the vacuity of the glittering show by which she was surrounded, and that +at times a restless conscience compelled her to grope among the tangled +mysteries of the spiritual life. At the same time, it has been +suspected--and the suspicion is not totally without warrant--that the +Roman Jews, in their bitter animosity against the Christians, were +aided by the empress in instigating that persecution which rendered the +reign of Nero so superlatively infamous.</p> + +<p>It was rare for an imperial consort to come to other than a violent end; +and Poppæa was no exception to the rule. Her death was the act, though +unpremeditated, of her husband. One day, she found fault with him for +returning later than she desired from a chariot drive. Angered by her +upbraidings and brutal by nature, he kicked her, and, being in a +condition of pregnancy at the time, she shortly afterward died of the +blow. It is said that her body was not consumed by fire, as was the +custom of the Romans, but embalmed in Jewish fashion and placed in the +tomb of the Julian family. She was, however, given a splendid funeral; +and there is no stronger witness to the terrible moral apathy which +characterized the times than the fact that her murderous husband +delivered on the occasion a laudatory oration. From the rostrum, he +magnified "her beauty and her lot, in having been the mother of an +infant enrolled among the gods." There being nothing else in her +character to extol, he treated her gifts of fortune as having been so +many virtues. It is impossible to doubt that the ancient historian is +correct when he asserts that though the people were obliged to put on an +appearance of mourning, they could but rejoice at the death of this +woman, when they remembered her lewdness and her cruelty; and although, +as Pliny tells us, all Arabia did not produce in a whole year as many +spices as were consumed at the funeral of Poppæa, there was no incense, +material or eulogistic, by which it was possible to overcome the evil +odor of her life.</p> + +<p>The reign of Nero was typical of other ages that were to follow. The +Roman people were to drink still deeper of the dregs of servility, and +they were to become yet more morally apathetic, before they would awaken +to better things. Poppæa was simply a woman of her time, and she was +followed by generations of women, both of high and low degree, who were +like-minded with herself. Imperial prostitutes and plebeian courtesans +run riot through all the long drawn out decadence of the Roman Empire; +but, although a veritable picture of the Roman woman could not be given +without the inclusion of such types as those delineated in this and the +preceding chapter, we will at least spare ourselves and the reader +further recital of vice and crime by confining the exemplification to +this one period. We have not refrained from including the worst features +and employing the darkest colors that history warrants, in order that, +to use the expression of Tacitus, we may not have to repeat instances of +similar extravagance.</p> + +<p>Although Nero was a monster of iniquity, he was not denied the +disinterested love of women. That strange, strong passion which holds +woman's heart to the most unworthy objects and feeds itself with +idealizations made the name of Nero dear to some when it was execrated +by all the world besides. And when at last he was driven from the +throne, and, uttering the words: "I yet live, to my shame and disgrace," +drove the suicidal dagger through his throat, there were women who +tenderly cared for that body which sycophantic courtiers extolled while +it lived and neglected when it was dead and powerless. His nurses Ecloge +and Alexandra, who had cared for him when he was an innocent boy, and +that Acte who had been his first love and who had never entirely lost +her influence over him, laid his ashes in the tomb of his fathers, and +grieved over a death which gave to the world at large great cause for +rejoicing.</p> +<a name="c11" id="c11"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>XI</h3> + +<h3>GOOD WOMEN OF NERO'S REIGN</h3> + +<p>The immoralities which characterized the reigns of some of the first +emperors must be considered as abnormal outbreaks rather than as +permanent conditions. The element of corruption is always present in the +social body. As a rule, it reveals itself only to those who look for it +in the slums and prisons and criminal haunts, but at times and under +certain conditions it breaks out with excessive virulence, and, to adopt +a Biblical figure, there seems to be no soundness in the whole body. +Such conditions were present during the period we have been studying. +Many circumstances combined to bring all the corruption and immorality +which are usually veiled or disguised into prominent view and to make +them fashionable. The accidents of birth placed upon the imperial throne +men who were morally insane; consequently, the evil-disposed found +themselves in a paradise of crime, while the ambitious, the covetous, +and the cowardly were enabled to gain their ends and preserve their +safety only by becoming caterers to and companions in their masters' +lusts.</p> + +<p>It is very easy, however, for a student of history to encourage an +exaggerated idea of Roman depravity, even as it was in the days of +Messalina and Poppsea. Whence do we obtain our picture of the Rome of +those times? Partly from historians; but very largely from such writers +as Juvenal, Petronius, and Apuleius. The historians confined their +accounts to the prominent people of their times, and it not unfrequently +happened that the most prominent and successful were the least +commendable from the moral standpoint. The moralists necessarily placed +the worst in the boldest relief, in order to ensure a more telling +effect. Seneca held such writers up to ridicule, when he said: "Morals +are gone; evil triumphs; all virtue, all justice, is disappearing; the +world is degenerating. This is what was said in our fathers' days, it is +what men say to-day, and it will be the cry of our children." And yet, +the world does not grow worse. As for the society portrayed by Petronius +and Apuleius, these men sought their characters among the low pothouses +and the brothels of Rome. The morals of the ordinary Roman home must not +be judged by a scene either in a house of ill fame or in the palace of a +crazy and dissolute tyrant, any more than the common life of Herculaneum +or Pompeii is to be conjectured solely from the obscene pictures found +on the walls of their ruined dwellings.</p> + +<p>In this present chapter, the women we shall cite are chiefly those who +were ennobled in their deaths rather than in their lives. That is to +say, though they lived well, had it not been for their brave manner of +dying their names would not have been preserved in history.</p> + +<p>As has been said, Roman society was not wholly corrupt, even though an +adulterous Messalina, an unprincipled Poppæa, or a cruel and ambitious +Agrippina, shared the throne. Contemporary with these were women who +still with pure hands and sincere hearts invoked the ancient goddess of +chastity. There were those who had mother love for their children, but +were free from deadly ambition. Among the more ordinary homes were many +that were graced with the same family loyalty and tender affection as +beautify our homes to-day.</p> + +<p>The young women of the days of Claudius were not obliged to search in +the musty annals of past times for examples of feminine honor and +virtue. They had all known Antonia, the virtuous daughter of Octavia and +Antony, who, like Agrippina, had honored her widowhood by a long and +irreproachable chastity. Yet the maidens of Messalina's age may have +been the less attracted by the example of Antonia because, while she +retained the old Roman purity of morals, she also exemplified the old +Roman severity of manners. Claudius, her son, never ceased to stand in +awe of her, and during his childhood her severity to him was such that +it is supposed that it helped to induce his imbecility. When her +daughter Livilla had been betrayed into crime by means of the arts of +Sejanus, Antonia was even more inexorable than Tiberius, against whom +the plot had been laid, and she caused the young woman to be starved to +death. It was not an instance of cruelty, it was simply the old Roman +justice, in which personal or even maternal feeling was allowed no +place. Antonia's goodness was not of the attractive kind. We must +imagine her as a proud, puritanical old matron, who made herself a +terror to wrong doers. She courageously rebuked her grandson Caligula +for his enormities; but the young ruffian, who possessed neither the +mind nor the conscience to respect age or kinship, in return caused +Antonia to be put to death--though it is possible that the actual deed +may have been her own.</p> + +<p>It was asked of old: "Can a clean thing come out of an unclean?" The +affirmative answer to this question is found in the person and character +of Octavia, the daughter of Messalina the infamous. Indeed, the axiom +that "like produces like" cannot be applied to moral character; so many +instances are met with of bad offspring from noble parentage and +virtuous children from immoral antecedents that they cannot be regarded +as exceptions to the rule.</p> + +<p>Octavia was fortunate in nothing but her character. She was the +plaything of a relentlessly adverse fate. The whole of her short life is +an illustration of the fact that goodness of disposition does not +protect its possessor from the worst evils of existence. That this young +girl remained virtuous amid the whirl of immorality in which she was +reared, with no lovable example and no motherly advice, is a proof of +the invincibility of a good disposition if nature has woven it into a +human character.</p> + +<p>As a little child, Octavia had been petted and fondled by her father, +the poor old Emperor Claudius, who, dull and phlegmatic as he was, would +have been a good-hearted man if he had not been thrust into a position +for which he was totally unfitted. He loved to take Octavia and her +little brother Britannicus to the theatre and hold them with a father's +pride before the admiring eyes of the people. This was all the love that +Octavia ever knew. One of her earliest and saddest experiences was to be +sent by Messalina out upon the road to Ostia, to meet Claudius and plead +vainly for that unworthy mother's life. Then Agrippina came to the +palace; and with her in the double capacity of empress and stepmother, +Octavia found no cause of thankfulness for the change. Hitherto she at +least had not been used as a mere tool to effect some other's political +ambitions. Her father Claudius had betrothed her to Lucius Silanus, a +celebrated and favorite Senator. Had this match been allowed to remain +undisturbed, it is possible that Octavia's lot might have been peaceful +and happy; but a false charge against Silanus was trumped up by the +perfidious Vitellius, so that the former was degraded from the Senate, +and immediately afterward he committed suicide, Octavia lived on and +encountered the terrible misfortune of being betrothed to Nero, whom +Seneca was advising to "compensate himself with the pleasures of youth +without compunction." Agrippina threw Octavia to her son, just as a rope +might be tossed to a mountain climber to enable him to ascend a +difficult pass; when its use has been served, it is looked upon as a +piece of mere cumbersome baggage. So Nero considered his wife, after he +had obtained the Empire. When he expressed his dislike for her, the +plain-spoken Burrhus said: "Very well, send her away; but of course you +will give up her dower with her;" which was nothing less than the throne +of Claudius.</p> + +<p>Had Octavia been supported by some all-powerful and sympathetic relative +like Augustus, she might have survived and have shown as great patience +with the vices of Nero as her ancestral namesake showed with those of +Antony; but she was left unprotected amidst numerous opposing forces +which, when not aimed with deadly hatred against her, were indifferent +to her welfare, with the consequence that she was speedily and +mercilessly crushed.</p> + +<p>The first woman who took the place which Octavia never held in Nero's +affections was the Greek freedwoman Acte. The wild young emperor would +have divorced his wife and married the Greek forthwith, but he was still +under the domination of the powerful Agrippina. This first thwarting of +the imperial will was the beginning of Agrippina's downfall. It was not +long before she and the young wife saw a fearful presage of their own +fate when the young Britannicus fell dead upon the banquet floor, +poisoned by the diabolical art of Nero's instrument, Locusta. Octavia, +though so young, was not entirely ignorant as to what the perils of her +situation demanded. She had received early lessons in a terrible school. +Consequently, when Nero declared to the alarmed guests that her brother +was habitually afflicted with the falling sickness, she disguised her +sisterly grief and composedly retained her place at the banquet.</p> + +<p>But the time came when Agrippina had also fallen a victim to her son's +inhumanity, and Nero, responsible to no human being, had become enamored +by the more attractive fascinations of a more unprincipled woman than +Acte. "Why does not Nero," the tyrant asks of himself, "banishing all +fear, set about expediting his marriage with Poppæa? Why not put away +his wife Octavia, although her conduct is that of a modest woman, since +the name of her father and the affection of the people have made her an +eyesore to him?" With Poppæa urging him on and the villainous Tigellinus +exercising his diabolical ingenuity to find a plausible excuse, it was +not long before the courage of Nero was equal to the audacious act of +driving from the imperial palace the woman through connection with whom +he had his right of tenure there. Octavia was divorced by process of +law, under the allegation that she was barren. At first she was awarded +the house of Burrhus and the estate of Plautus, whom Nero had recently +put to death. The divorce being sought by her husband for no fault of +hers, he was obliged, if the strict letter of the law had been observed, +to give up with her the whole of her dowry; but for men like Nero, who +execute the laws, a mere pretence of legality suffices. Poppæa had +brazenly endeavored to trump up a far more serious charge against the +woman she injured; but it could not be made to hold. She bribed one of +Octavia's domestics to assert that her mistress had participated in an +amour with Eucerus, an Alexandrian flute player; but this accusation was +so preposterously inconsistent with Octavia's well-known character that, +even though they tortured her servants, they could gain no evidence +which they dared to set before the people in substantiation of the +charge. There could be no stronger testimony to the amiability and +lovableness of Octavia, as well as to the purity of her character, than +the fidelity with which her servants defended her reputation from all +aspersions, even while they were undergoing the most intense torture. +One brave maid, while being examined upon the rack, spat in the face of +Tigellinus, who was urging a confession, and declared aloud that "the +womb of Octavia was purer than his mouth." It was among slaves like +these that the first Christian martyrs were found; women who gave their +bodies to the most excruciating torture, but could not be induced to +deny their faith.</p> + +<p>Soon after Octavia's divorce, she was banished into Campania, where she +was kept in close confinement, and a guard of soldiers was placed over +her. But though the Senate and the nobility had become absolutely +enslaved to the imperial tyrant's will, there was always the people to +reckon with. The common women talked loudly but sympathetically of +Octavia's persecuted innocence. The men took up the cry; they made it +heard in the theatre and they scribbled it upon the walls. The people +could not be individualized. They had not but one neck, as Caligula had +so maliciously wished. Their number and individual insignificance +rendered it possible for them to express their mind with impunity. Nero +hastened to recall Octavia to the city.</p> + +<p>That was a day of proud but dangerous joy for the unfortunate young +empress. At least she had the satisfaction of knowing that all the world +believed in her innocence. In their happiness, the multitude went to the +Capitol and thanked all the gods for her return. They threw down the +statues of Poppæa, and wherever they could find one of Octavia they +wreathed It with flowers and removed it to the Forum or to some temple. +They even went to the palace to applaud Nero for bringing back his +banished wife, but were driven thence by the soldiery.</p> + +<p>AH this served only to incite Poppæa to take the most desperate +measures. She approached Nero with such artful insinuations in regard to +the possibility of the people's revolting in favor of Octavia, and at +the same time with a pretence of such meek submissiveness in regard to +her own personal fortunes, that the emperor was induced both by fear and +passion to take the course which she desired.</p> + +<p>A method of getting rid of Octavia without incurring danger was not easy +to devise; but Nero had at his court a man who was a genius in the art +of removing formidable impediments. Anicetus had proved his ability upon +Agrippina. He was not only resourceful, but absolutely without either +honor or conscience. It was not alone necessary that Octavia should be +destroyed, but her death must take on the semblance of a justified +punishment. There was none who could or would testify aught against her. +Nero summoned Anicetus and told him "that he alone had saved the life of +his prince from the dark devices of his mother; now an opportunity for a +service of no less magnitude presented itself, by relieving him from a +wife who was his mortal enemy. There was no need of force or arms; he +had only to admit of adultery with Octavia!" The dastardly freedman +forthwith began to boast among his friends of the favors he received +from the young empress. On being summoned to a council of the friends of +Nero, he made a pretended confession. He was condemned to banishment to +Sardinia, where he lived in great luxury until he died a natural death.</p> + +<p>Nero published an edict in which he stated that Octavia had been +discovered seeking, through the corruption of Anicetus, the admiral, to +engage the fleet in a conspiracy, and that her infidelity was clearly +proved. Octavia was sent to the island of Pandataria. Tacitus says: +"Never was there any exile who touched the hearts of the beholders with +deeper compassion. Some there were who still remembered to have seen +Agrippina the Elder banished by Tiberius; the more recent sufferings of +Julia were likewise recalled to mind--that Julia who had been confined +there by Claudius. But they had experienced some happiness, and the +recollection of their former splendor proved some alleviation of their +present horrors." Everything in Octavia's life that promised pleasure +had been turned to gall. Her home recalled the scenes of her father's +poisoning and her brother's murder; her marriage rights had been first +usurped by a handmaid and then by a woman known to be of infamous +character; and now even her memory was to be stained with the imputation +of a crime which was more intolerable to her than death itself. There is +no sadder picture in all history than that of this girl,--she was only +twenty,--after her short life of uninterrupted sorrow and unstained +innocence, thrown among centurions and common soldiers, who dared not +help her even if a feeling of pity entered their hearts. They commanded +her to die; but she had not the strength or the courage of Antonia. She +pleaded that she was now a widow, and that the emperor's object having +been gained he had no cause to fear anything from her. She invoked the +name of Agrippina, and said "that had she lived, her marriage would have +been made no less wretched, but she would not have been doomed to +destruction." When those in charge saw that it was hopeless to expect +that she would take the unpleasant task off their hands, they bound her +and opened her veins; but, the blood flowing too slowly, her death was +accelerated by the vapor of a bath heated to the highest point. After +life was extinct, they severed her head from her body and carried it to +Poppaea, in order that she might see that the deed by which she was made +Empress of Rome was surely accomplished.</p> + +<p>The abject Senate, when they learned that the whole matter was thus +concluded, decreed that offerings should be made at the temples, as a +thanksgiving for the deliverance of the emperor from the dangers which +had threatened him through the conspiracy of his wife. Tacitus declares +that he records this circumstance "in order that all those who shall +read the calamities of those times, as they are delivered by me or any +other authors, may conclude, by anticipation, that as often as a +banishment or a murder was perpetrated by the prince's orders, so often +thanks were offered to the gods; and those acts which in former times +were resorted to in order that prosperous occurrences might be +distinguished, were now made the tokens of public disasters."</p> + +<p>These were the days of the martyrs. During this reign, the burning +bodies of Christians lighted the gardens of the malevolent tyrant, +innocent women and tender girls were exposed to fierce beasts in the +arena, and by their sufferings were made to contribute interest to a +Roman holiday. These died for their faith. They died gladly, in the +belief that their pains and faithfulness were to be rewarded with an +unfading crown in a land beyond the skies. They cheered each other in +the face of death, and they were comforted by those friends who were +still at liberty with the promise of a meeting where no tyrant's hand +could harm them. Octavia was not of this faith. It is probable that she +knew nothing of the strange doctrines which were making converts among +the Roman slaves. Yet there was no martyr more innocent than herself, +none more worthy of canonization. There was none whose purity and whose +fidelity to the principles which were cherished by high souls could +present a better claim for the victor's palm and the martyr's crown than +her own. Octavia knew nothing of the Christian hope of immortality; her +religious faith at the best could teach her no more than the vague +surmise that possibly in some dreary under world the shades of mortals +retained a melancholy consciousness. Yet a consistent justice at the +present day cannot do other than place side by side the persecuted girl +from the imperial palace and the Christian slave maiden whose blood +dripped from the jaws of the beasts of the arena, and believe that +whatever consolation eternal fate provided for the one was equally +shared in by the other.</p> + +<p>As we have said, the first woman to attract the affections of Nero, +which were never turned toward Octavia, was Acte. She had probably been +brought as a slave from Asia. How old she was when Nero first knew her +it is impossible for us to conjecture, but it is likely that she was +somewhat older than the youthful emperor; it frequently happens that a +boy's first love is aroused by a woman his superior in age. Then, too, +Acte was at this time a freedwoman. Liberty was often gained by female +slaves by means of the charms of their persons; but this result was not +likely to be secured before those charms were fully matured. So profound +was Nero's passion for Acte that, had he not been with difficulty +restrained, he would have divorced Octavia forthwith and married the +Greek. He is said to have induced men of consular rank to swear that she +was of royal descent. It is by no means impossible that such an +assertion should be true; for the slave markets which supplied Rome were +to a large extent recruited by kidnapped children, picked up wherever +they might be found. It is remarkable that not a word that is +detrimental to the character of Acte is recorded in history. Indeed, we +know but very little about her, though she has always been regarded with +a sort of poetical approbation. There is no evidence of her having used +her power with the emperor for the injury of an enemy. She seems to have +been modest and unassuming, and it is certain that her love for Nero was +sincere; for it not only outlasted his, but remained true to the latest +hour of his life. When all others had forsaken the fallen prince whom +they had fawned upon, it was Acte who tenderly cared for his remains.</p> + +<p>Tacitus represents her as warning Nero from his early evil +extravagances. She remained queen of his affections for four years,--the +best four years of his reign,--and it is said that when he turned from +her to Poppaea she sank into a profound melancholy. Upon all this has +been founded the surmise that Acte was a Christian; but it is nothing +more than conjecture. Whatever may have been the facts in regard to +this, in the little glimpses we obtain of her presence in the awful +tragedies of her age we catch the outline of one whom we are assured +must have been a good woman--a woman innately pure, but forced into +contact with vice by circumstances over which she had no control.</p> + +<p>There are numerous examples from history to prove that in the dissolute +reign of Nero feminine goodness was not a rarity; but there are no +pictures of pure light-heartedness and gladsome simplicity such as were +known in the older days. Everything was sombre; death was in the air; +the only gayety was that found in the scenes of reckless profligacy. It +was an age of extremes; on the one side, unrestrained profligacy; on the +other, fear and sorrow occasioned by a tyrant's cruel caprice. It was an +age in which all the experiences of life were intensified. Human life +of the period can only be pictured in high lights and deep shadows; +everything must be shown in strong relief. The fortune of nearly all the +good women of this time whose names we know was to suffer patiently and +die heroically.</p> + +<p>Like Acte, the noble matron Pomponia Græcina has been credited by +tradition with having found consolation for the sorrows of the times in +that new faith which was undermining old Rome, both literally in the +catacombs and figuratively in the rapidity with which it was making +converts; but we know not with certainty. It would be unjust to paganism +and untrue to history to claim every instance of moral superiority for +the modern faith. Still, Græcina was accused of yielding to foreign +superstitions. This may have been owing to the peculiarities of her +manner. She had been the close friend of that Julia, daughter of Drusus, +whom Messalina had forced to kill herself. From this time on, for the +space of forty years, Græcina wore nothing but mourning, and was never +seen to smile. Sienkiewicz founds the plot of his Neronian novel on the +idea that Græcina was a Christian; but there are no facts by which this +supposition can be verified. When the charge of entertaining foreign +superstitions was laid against her, she was, in accordance with the +ancient law, consigned to the adjudication of her husband. Plautius +assembled her kindred, and, in compliance with the institutions of early +times, having in their presence made solemn inquisition into the +character and conduct of his wife, adjudged her innocent. She survived +to a great age and was always held in high estimation by the people, but +she never recovered from her melancholy.</p> + +<p>When the noble Thrasea had been condemned to death by Nero, the officer +who brought the tidings found him walking in the portico of his house. +He had already opened his veins, and as he stretched out his arms the +blood began to flow. Calling the quæstor to him, and sprinkling the +blood upon the floor, he said: "Let us make a libation to Jove the +Deliverer. Behold, young man, and may the gods avert the omen, but you +are fallen upon such times that it may be useful to fortify your mind by +examples of unflinching firmness." Arria, his wife, wished to share her +husband's fate, but he bade her live for their daughter's sake.</p> + +<p>There were many women who presented examples of the same unflinching +firmness for the encouragement of their own sex. The mother of Thrasea's +wife, whose name was also Arria, exhibited a strength of mind and a +magnanimity of spirit equal to that of the noblest Romans in the best +days of the Republic. Duruy recounts two episodes in the career of this +noble woman which illustrate all we have claimed for her as one of the +best of her sex.</p> + +<p>"Arria's husband, Cæcina Pætus, and his son were affected with a serious +malady; the son died. His mother took such measures respecting the +funeral that the father knew nothing of it. Every time she entered his +room she gave him news of the sufferer,--he had not slept badly, or +perhaps he was recovering his appetite; and when she could no longer +restrain her tears she went out for a moment, and then returned with dry +eyes and a calm face, having left her grief behind her. At a later +period, her husband, being concerned in the conspiracy of Scribonianus, +was captured and taken to Rome. He was put on board a ship, and Arria +begged the soldiers to allow her to go with him, 'You cannot refuse,' +she said to them, 'to a man of consular rank a few slaves to wait on him +and dress him; I alone will do him these services.' As they continued +inexorable, she hired a fishing boat and followed across the Adriatic +the vessel in which her husband was conveyed. At Rome, she met the wife +of Scribonianus, who attempted to speak to her. 'How can I listen to +you,' she said to her, 'who have seen your husband killed in your arms, +and who are still alive?' Foreseeing the condemnation of Pætus, she +determined not to survive him. Thrasea, her son-in-law, begged her to +give up this determination. 'Is it your wish, then,' he said to her, 'if +I should be compelled to die, that your daughter should die with me?' +'If she shall have lived as long and as united a life with you as I with +Pætus, it is my wish,' was the reply. Her family watched her carefully, +to prevent her fatal design. 'You are wasting your time,' she said; 'you +will make me die a more painful death, but it is not in your power to +prevent me from dying.' Thereupon she dashed her head against the wall +with such violence that she fell down as if dead. When she recovered her +senses, she said to them: 'I have already warned you that I should find +some means of death, however hard, if you denied me an easy one.' We +cannot wonder that, to decide her hesitating husband, she struck herself +a fatal blow with a poniard; then handed him the weapon, saying: 'Pætus, +it gives no pain.'"</p> + +<p>Pliny gives an account of an incident showing similar conjugal devotion +and self-sacrificing courage. "I was sailing lately," says he, "on our +Lake Larius, when an elderly friend pointed out to me a house, one of +whose rooms projected above the waves. 'From that spot,' he said, 'a +townswoman of ours threw herself out with her husband. The latter had +long been ill, suffering from an incurable ulcer. When she was convinced +that he could not recover from his disease, she exhorted him to kill +himself, and became his companion in death--nay, rather his example and +leader, for she tied her husband to her and jumped into the lake.'" This +was a woman of the common citizens; we do not even know her name. +Modern times have no examples to show of a closer marital sympathy than +this. Our ideas compel us to deprecate the act of self-destruction; but +we cannot question, or more than rival, such devotion. The like degree +of faithfulness between married couples was common among the Romans; and +this was their manner of showing it.</p> + +<p>We have, more than once, seen the statement advanced in all seriousness +by well-informed writers and public speakers that marital affection, in +the modern understanding of the expression, was almost unknown among the +ancients. The object of the contention is to enhance the appreciation of +the effects of Christianity; but the argument is as absurdly +inconsistent with history as it is with common sense. True, Christianity +discourages conjugal unions in which that affection does not exist, but +it does not create it; nor was there anything whatever in pagan customs +or institutions to prevent the existence of the warmest and purest +affection between husband and wife. The sole conditions in the ancient +world that militated against pure and constant married love were the +customary unions of expediency and the inferior position of the wife. As +to the first of these customs, it is by no means unknown in the modern +world and to Christian times; in regard to the second, the Roman wife in +the period with which we are now engaged was almost equally as well off +as her modern descendant.</p> + +<p>Principles of virtue, honor, and duty of a high order had been +inculcated through many generations of ancient Romans; and it could not +be otherwise than that these would reappear and manifest themselves with +invincible insistence, even in the most corrupt days of the Empire. What +higher or more dignified sense of duty could there be than that +exhibited by the lady who had determined to send substantial relief to +a friend of hers, banished by Domitian? It was represented to her that +this money would be certain to fall into the tyrant's hands, and that +hence she would be only wasting her means and gratifying the unworthy. +"It is of little consequence to me," she said, "if Domitian steal it; +but it is of great moment for me to send it." She possessed the sublime +conviction that she was responsible to her consciousness of what +friendship demanded, even though she might be certain of the miscarriage +of her efforts.</p> + +<p>There were also women whose spirits were stirred by the love of freedom, +and who were willing to do and dare and suffer in the attempt to wrest +the nation from a tyrant's grasp. Among those who have sacrificed their +own lives at the altar of Liberty, the Roman woman can claim +representatives.</p> + +<p>We are told that into the conspiracy against Nero which was headed by +Caius Piso, "senators, knights, soldiers, and even women entered with +the ardor of competition." The plot was to attack Nero while he was +singing upon the stage, though it was considered by some that it would +be a better plan to set his house on fire and then despatch him while he +was excitedly hurrying about unattended by his guards. "While the +conspirators were hesitating, and protracting the issue of their hopes +and fears, a woman named Epicharis--and how she became acquainted with +the affair is involved in mystery, nor had she ever manifested a concern +for worthy objects before--began to animate the conspirators, and goad +them on by reproaches; but at length, disgusted by their dilatoriness, +while sojourning in Campania, she tried every effort to shake the +allegiance of the officers of the fleet at Misenum, and engage them in +the plot."</p> + +<p>But, though an enthusiastic conspirator, Epicharis proved herself an +unwary recruiting agent. She especially applied herself to an old +acquaintance named Proculus, who confided to her the fact that he had +been one of the party concerned in the assassination of the emperor's +mother, and that he was dissatisfied with the reward he had received for +such eminent service, he being only a minor officer in the fleet. He +added that it was his settled purpose to be revenged, should a fitting +opportunity present itself. Epicharis did not wait to consider the +unwisdom of incontinently intrusting the knowledge of the whole plot to +a man of insufficient principle to prevent him from looking upon the +murder of a defenceless woman as an exploit to be liberally rewarded. +Moreover, it is likely that she inadvertently had dropped some hint of +what was in her mind, and Proculus lured her on by suggesting the +possibility of himself as a convert. Epicharis first gave him the whole +plot, and then set about persuading him to join it. She recounted all +the atrocities of the emperor; and concluded with the remark "that Nero +had stripped the Senate of all its powers; but," she added, "measures +had been taken to punish him for overturning the constitution; and +Proculus had only to address himself manfully to the work and bring over +to their side the most energetic of the troops, and he might depend upon +receiving suitable rewards."</p> + +<p>One indiscretion she did not commit: she did not divulge the names of +the conspirators. So, when Proculus laid information before the +emperor--thinking doubtless that this was a readier path to reward than +any plot of assassination of which a woman would be cognizant--his +evidence was of little avail; but Nero considered it best to detain +Epicharis in prison, in anticipation of anything that might occur.</p> + +<p>The conspirators at last concluded to perpetrate their design at the +Cirensian games. Lateranus, a man of determined spirit and gigantic +strength, was to approach the emperor as a suppliant and, apparently by +accident, throw him down. Scævinus was to perform the principal part +with a dagger he had procured from the temple of Fortune for the +purpose. Piso was to wait at the temple of Ceres until he was summoned +to the camp, which he was to enter attended by Antonia, the daughter of +Claudius Cæsar,--a woman of an entirely opposite character to that of +her grandmother, after whom she was named,--and who, it was hoped, would +conciliate the favor of the people. How deeply Antonia was involved in +this plot it is impossible to say. It appears improbable, as Tacitus +remarks, that she should have lent her name and hazarded her life in a +project from which she had nothing to hope.</p> + +<p>It was through the dagger mentioned above, and also the cupidity of a +woman, that the whole conspiracy came to light. Scævinus impatiently +ordered his freedman Milichus to put the weapon to the grindstone and +bring it to a sharp point. Milichus, putting together this and other +preparations he witnessed, guessed the project that was on foot. He told +his suspicions to the emperor. Scævinus was arrested; but his bearing +was so confident that the accuser would have broken down had not the +wife of Milichus reminded him that "Natalis had taken part in many +secret conversations with Scævinus, and that both were confidants of +Piso." Then followed numerous arrests, confessions, and accusations, +each conspirator endeavoring to lighten the burden of his own guilt by +revealing how many there were who shared it. Lucan the poet even +informed against his own mother, Atilla.</p> + +<p>Amid all this disaster, there was one spirit that remained undaunted, +one tongue that could not be persuaded by promises or compelled by +torment to confess and thus implicate others. Epicharis had been held +in custody from the time of her unguarded enthusiasm in Campania. Nero +recollected her, and commanded that she should be put to the torture. +"But," says the historian, "neither stripes, nor fire, nor the rage of +the tormentors, who tore her with the more vehemence, lest they should +be scorned by a woman, could vanquish her." Thus the first day of +torture was passed without producing any effect upon her. "The day +following, as she was being brought back to suffer the same torments, +riding in a chair, for all her members being disjointed, she could not +support herself, taking off the girdle that bound her breast, she tied +it in a noose to the canopy of the chair, and, placing her neck in it, +hung upon it with the weight of her whole body, and thus forced out the +slender remains of life. A freedwoman, by thus screening strangers and +persons almost unknown to her, though pressed to divulge their names by +the most extreme torture, exhibited an example which derived augmented +lustre from the fact that freeborn persons, men, Roman knights, and +Senators, untouched by the instruments of inquisition, all betrayed +their dearest pledges of affection."</p> + +<p>Among the many who suffered from the discovery of this conspiracy was +Seneca, the aged philosopher and the former tutor of Nero. It is +probable that he was innocent; but he had incurred Nero's displeasure, +and the tyrant was glad of the opportunity to destroy him with seeming +justice. The parting of Seneca with his wife and her conduct at the time +well merit the pains which the historian has taken with the recital. +Embracing his wife, he implored her to "refrain from surrendering +herself to endless grief; but to endeavor to mitigate her regret for her +husband by means of those honorable consolations which she would +experience in the contemplation of his virtuous life." Paullina, +however, expressed her determination to die with her husband, and called +for the assistance of the executioner to open her veins. Seneca, proud +of her devotion and as willing to see her acquire the glory of such an +act as he was to be assured that she was safe from the hard usages of +the world, replied: "I had pointed out to you how to soften the ills of +life; but you prefer the renown of dying. I will not envy you the honor +of the example. Though both display the same unflinching fortitude in +encountering death, still the glory of your exit will be superior to +mine." Then they had the veins of their arms opened at the same moment; +but being unable to bear up under the excessive torture, and afraid lest +the sight of his sufferings should overpower her, Seneca persuaded his +wife to retire into another room.</p> + +<p>When Nero heard what was being done, having no dislike to Paullina, and +not willing to incur the odium of a double death and one so affecting, +he ordered her wounds to be dressed and the flow of blood stanched. She +survived but a few years, and these were devoted to the memory of her +husband. It is also said that an excessive paleness was the continuous +witness to the sacrifice to conjugal devotion which she had done her +best to make.</p> + +<p>Not so fortunate was Servilia, a young woman of twenty who, at this +time, was arraigned before the Senate, charged with having distributed +sums of money among the magi. Servilia was the daughter of Soranus, who +had been Proconsul of Asia. There was no accusation against Servilia's +father more severe than that he was a friend of Plautus, whom Nero, for +reasons utterly unjust, but entirely satisfactory to himself, had caused +to be executed. Tacitus suggests the picture of her trial: the consuls +on the judgment seat in the presence of the assembled Senate; on one +side of that tribunal, an old, gray-haired man who for many years has +served his country with honor and integrity; on the other side, the +daughter, so young and yet widowed, for her husband has been sent into +banishment, and hence is as dead to her. The thought that she, who had +endeavored to aid and comfort her father, had only added to his dangers +is so oppressive that she has not the heart to look at him. The accuser +questions her: "Did you not sell your bridal ornaments, and even the +chain off your neck, to raise money for the performance of magic rites?" +Instead of answering, the unfortunate girl falls to the floor, embracing +the altar, as though hoping that divine aid would be given, where human +mercy was not to be expected. At last she gathers voice, and is able to +falter: "I have used no spells; nor did I seek aught by my unhappy +prayers than that you, Cæsar, and you, fathers, would preserve this best +of fathers unharmed. It was with this object alone I gave up my jewels, +my raiment, and the ornaments belonging to my station; as I would have +given up my blood and life, had the magi required them. To those men, +till then unknown to me, it belongs to declare whose ministers they are, +and what mysteries they use; the prince's name was never uttered by me, +save as one speaks of the gods. Yet to all this proceeding of mine, if +guilty it be, my most unhappy father is a stranger; and if it is a +crime, I alone am the criminal." Then Soranus pleads for his daughter. +Her age is so tender that she could not have known Plautus, whose friend +they accuse himself of being. Do they impeach him for mismanagement of +his province? Let it be so; yet his daughter had not accompanied him to +Asia. Her only crime was too much filial piety, too great solicitude for +her father. He would gladly submit to whatever fate awaited him, if only +they would separate her case from his. Overcome with emotion, the old +man totters forward with outstretched hands to embrace his daughter, +who springs to meet him; but the stern lictors interpose the fasces and +deny them this sad comfort.</p> + +<p>The Senate exercises a heartless clemency; Servilia and Soranus are +allowed to choose their own deaths. This faithful daughter, for seeking +by means of her religion to aid her father, is privileged to die with +him. With them also perished Thrasea, who had added to his crime of +disbelieving in the deification of Poppæa that of neglecting to +sacrifice for the preservation of Nero's beautiful voice!</p> + +<p>A strikingly magnificent feature of the old Roman character is the +manner in which these people met death. This was the one virtue which +the Romans, down to the latest period of the decadence, did not cease to +retain. In the most dissolute times, the Roman might live badly, but at +least he could die bravely. This was the one opportunity always left +when atonement might be made for the errors of life. In this ability to +meet death with calm fortitude the women shared no less than the men. +The maids and matrons of Rome were habituated by training and by their +best traditional examples to look upon the possibility of exit from the +world as an ever ready refuge from unendurable ills. Lucretia was for +Roman matrons an ideal in her death as well as in her life; and they +seem to have found it less irksome to follow her in the former respect +than in the latter.</p> + +<p>In the endeavor to show how, even in the days of Nero, when wickedness +reached its climax, virtue and honor and devotion were not utterly gone +out of the world, it has been necessary to adopt as illustrations some +of the saddest of the many tragedies of human history. Neither side of +any true picture of this period can be a pleasing one. Human life in the +city of Rome during the middle of the first century of our era was for +the most part either insane or sad. To exult in unrighteousness or +mourn in bereavement was the lot of every prominent personage; for there +were few quiet, honorable folk whom the hand of tyranny did not touch +through their friends. Therefore, in the endeavor to show the better +side of the life of this time, the necessity has been forced upon us to +illustrate how the prevailing remnant of the ancient virtue was +manifested in the devotion of women to their stricken husbands and +friends, and in the firm manner in which they met their own death.</p> + +<p>That which belongs to the ordinary routine of woman's life did not +undergo any change during this period. The status of woman remained +unaltered; her manners, customs, and occupations were the same. There +was no progress. It was like the conditions existing in a home during a +terrific electrical storm; all other interests are in abeyance until it +is over.</p> + +<p>This statement, however, applies more particularly to the city of Rome +and to Italy. In the outlying parts of that country and in the +provinces, the storm was hardly felt. Women who lived out of the sight +of Nero and whose male friends did not hold office were secure from +imperial cruelty and caprice. Their lives ran on in the ordinary manner +of civilization. They were betrothed and married according to the +ancient ceremonies; for customs changed slowly away from the metropolis. +They worshipped the old gods, though they heard now and again of a +certain sect of fanatical people who courted their own destruction from +the officials, if not from Olympus, by denouncing the ancient worship. +They managed their homes and their slaves, read their books, as we have +seen in the case of Calpurnia, the wife of Pliny, and visited the +amphitheatre. The only anxieties of the women who belonged to the +unofficial class were those incidental to the rule of the proconsuls who +were sent to govern them in the name of the emperor. Sometimes these +men were lustful; frequently they were tyrannical; they were always +rapacious. The people were oppressed to meet the demands of the tax +collectors; but these were ills that were always with them and +represented a condition of affairs that was normal.</p> + +<p>In his biography of his father-in-law, Agricola, who was himself a +provincial, Tacitus says: "He married Domitia Decidiana, a lady of +illustrious descent, from which connection he derived credit and support +in his pursuit of greater things. They lived together in admirable +harmony and mutual affection, each giving the preference to the other; +a conduct equally laudable in both, except that a greater degree of +praise is due to a good wife, in proportion as a bad one deserves the +greater censure." What more touching expression of family affection can +there be found than the words Tacitus wrote in respect to Agricola's +death? Apostrophizing him, he says: "But to myself and your daughter, +besides the affliction of losing a parent, the aggravating affliction +remains that it was not our lot to watch over your sickbed. With what +attention should we have received your last instructions, and graven +them on our hearts! This is our sorrow. Everything, doubtless, O best of +parents, was administered for your comfort and honor, while a most +affectionate wife sat beside you; yet fewer tears were shed upon your +bier, and in the last light which your eyes beheld, something was +wanting." There is nothing in modern times superior to this in chaste +and cultivated sympathy.</p> + +<p>Seneca also, who was born at Cordova, describes his mother as having +been "brought up in a strict home"; and he assures us that his aunt, +during the sixteen years that her husband governed Egypt, was "unknown +in the province," so devoted was she to her family and home duties. +There was also Polla, the wife of Lucan, whose inconsolable grief at her +husband's death was so beautifully described by Statius. We read also of +Minicius Macrinus, who lived thirty-nine years with his consort without +a single cloud ever rising between them; while Martial tells us of +Spurinna, a man of consular family loaded with years and honors, who +lived in the country with his aged wife, each resting in the other's +affection, and finishing together "the evening of a fair life."</p> +<a name="c12" id="c12"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>XII</h3> + +<h3>UNDER THE FLAVIANS</h3> + +<p>Such sober-minded people as had survived the reign of Nero hailed the +tyrant's death as a deliverance, though they had no guaranty of the +inauguration of a better state of things. No conceivable change could be +otherwise than for the better. At first sight, it seems marvellous that +the better class of Romans endured so long and with such supineness a +shameful monstrosity like the government of Nero; but it must be +remembered that no government is other than the majority of the people +desire, or better than they deserve. The mass of the people in the +capital were satisfied to have an imperial mountebank ruling over them. +Politics had ceased to interest them, they having wholly forfeited their +liberties. They cared naught for the fortunes of the Empire, so long as +the wheat ships came regularly from Alexandria. The only vestige of +independence they retained was the privilege of shouting with impatience +when the games were delayed; there were no further rights they cared to +demand when Nero, dining in his box at the amphitheatre, threw his +napkin from behind the curtains as a signal that he had finished and +that the sport might commence. With such a populace as this, the nobler +spirits in the city could hope to accomplish nothing. Their only +recourse was to glorify their passive sufferings and their death with +stoical calmness and undismayed pride. How hopeless it was to expect the +inauguration of a revolt among the common people of Rome is shown by the +attitude of these people toward Nero's memory after his death. For a +long time, his tomb was continually decked with flowers. Sometimes, his +admirers placed his image upon the rostra, dressed in robes of state; +again, they would publish proclamations in his name, as though he were +yet alive and would shortly return and avenge himself upon his enemies. +Occasionally, there were rumors of his reappearance, for the reality of +his death was doubted in many quarters, and the undisguised satisfaction +with which these reports were received is evidence that the Roman people +generally were not yearning for reform.</p> + +<p>But those who were absent in the provinces, being neither under the +immediate power of Nero nor partners in his excesses, did not endure +with such complacence the shame he put upon the Roman name. Men like +Galba and Vespasian heard with great indignation from scoffing +foreigners how, at Rome, they had seen the emperor acting Orestes or +even Canace on the stage. These men could not endure the thought of +serving under a ruler who competed with a slaveborn pantomimist. Revolt +flamed up among the legions in various parts of the Empire; the guards +at Rome joined in it; and when Galba came, who had been proclaimed +emperor, they gladly welcomed him.</p> + +<p>Rome was shaken in the very foundations of her constitutional ideals. +The discovery of the possibility that an emperor could be created away +from the city marked the entering of the wedge which was eventually to +bring about the disintegration of the Empire. The legions had come +clearly to realize that the gift of the Empire was in their hands. The +Senate was henceforth supernumerary. The city was no longer to be +viewed with that superstitious reverence which had made men deem nothing +sacred or authoritative that had not issued therefrom; it was the +centre, but no longer the source of Empire. It soon came to pass that +"Roman" signified wide-spreading national inclusion rather than, as +heretofore, racial exclusion; even a Jew might now claim to be a freeborn +Roman citizen, though he had never seen the Capitol.</p> + +<p>In consequence of opposing claims to the succession, Italy was once more +torn with civil strife, an experience from which she had been free ever +since the days of the last Triumvirate. Within eighteen months three +emperors were created and destroyed.</p> + +<p>Our story, however, does not deal with emperors or with the political +history of Rome, except as it is necessary to refer to it as a +background for, or an explanation of, the conduct of the women who are +herein introduced. Women played no important part in the disturbances +which shook the Empire after the death of Nero, and which thus differed +from many of the previous revolutions in the State; yet it is entirely +consistent with the plan of this work to mention the women who were +connected with the principal actors.</p> + +<p>Galba, who was an old man when he came to the throne, had been in his +youth a great favorite of the Empress Livia. By her he had been advanced +in fortune and position. His mother's name was Mummia Achaica, the +daughter of Catulus; but she probably died when he was very young, and +he owed the benefits of his training to Ocellina, his stepmother, who +was a very remarkable woman in more than one respect. Beautiful and very +wealthy, she herself made the advances in courtship to Galba's father. +The elder Galba became consul and was of considerable importance in the +State; but he was a very short man and deformed. There is an +interesting story to the effect that once, when Ocellina was pressing +her suit, Galba, in order that if there were to be any disillusionment +on her part in regard to himself it might take place before he gave her +his hand, took off in her presence the <i>toga</i> which hid the deformity of +his back. The incident shows a praiseworthy ingenuousness of disposition +on the part of Galba; it also indicates, what is of more interest to us, +the fact that Roman ladies were not unaccustomed to making matrimonial +advances in person and with unmistakable directness of purpose. Galba, +the future emperor, was adopted by Ocellina as her own son; and it is +safe to assume that the honesty of his character was in a large degree +the result of her training as well as an inheritance from his father.</p> + +<p>Galba was married to Æmilia Lepida, a descendant of the triumvir; but +she died during the reign of Claudius, and he never afterward married, +even though he was ardently sought by Agrippina the Younger, who had +been cuffed by his mother-in-law for seeking to usurp the place of +Lepida while the latter still lived.</p> + +<p>During the short eight months of his reign, Galba was almost entirely +ruled by the influence of Titus Vinius and Piso Licinianus, both of whom +perished with him, the latter having been designated by him as his +successor. Vinius met a fate which he richly deserved, and which, +unfortunately for many Romans, he escaped, though barely, in the days of +Caligula. At that time, he disgraced himself as the accomplice and +paramour of Cornelia, the wife of his commander, Sabinus, she who +paraded the camp at night in the dress of a common soldier. Cornelia, +however, expiated her crime by her devotion to her husband in his +misfortune at a later day. Vinius attained to fortune by means of +methods which are well illustrated by the indignity to which he +submitted his daughter Crispina at the hands of the depraved Tigellinus. +During Galba's reign, the people, believing Nero to have been incited to +his worst acts by Tigellinus, demanded the latter's execution, Vinius +preserved him from their rage, and thereupon Tigellinus gave a splendid +banquet as a thanksgiving for his deliverance. This entertainment +Crispina attended, accompanied by her father, who allowed her to receive +from their host an immense sum of money. Tigellinus on the same occasion +commanded his chief concubine to take from her own neck an extremely +valuable necklace and place it upon that of Crispina. But she was soon +compelled to expend her ill-gotten gains in a most pitiable manner. +After the death of Galba, Piso, and Vinius, the soldiers amused +themselves by carrying their heads about the city on the points of +spears. When Crispina and Verania, the wife of Piso, visited the camp +for the purpose of imploring the heads of their relatives, in order that +they might be disposed of with funereal honor, Crispina was not allowed +to take that of her father until she had purchased it at a cost of +twenty-five thousand drachmas.</p> + +<p>Otho, who had been the husband of Poppæa Sabina, was the next emperor; +but his reign lasted less than four months, and his only praiseworthy +act is the noble manner in which he died. Then came the brief and +shameful reign of Vitellius. Rome needed only to come under the rule of +a glutton to have exhibited by turn upon her throne a monstrous example +of every form of vice to which human nature can become addicted.</p> + +<p>This man was the son of that Vitellius who had so shamelessly flattered +Messalina and so basely deserted her in her extremity of need. His +mother's name was Sextilia, and she is reported to have been a most +excellent and respectable woman, whose character was formed on the +model of the ancient morals. Her death is said to have been brought +about by her son, in order that the prediction of a German prophetess +might be certain of fulfilment, she having told him that, he would reign +in security, if he survived his mother. He is accused of having denied +her proper nourishment during her illness. Suetonius, however, adds, +"that being quite weary of the woeful state of affairs, and apprehensive +of the future, she obtained without difficulty a dose of poison from her +son."</p> + +<p>Petronia was the first wife of Vitellius. A separation took place which +was probably mutually agreed upon, for Petronia bequeathed her property +to their son; first requiring, however, that he be released from his +father's authority, Vitellius agreed to this; but shortly after, the son +died by poison believed to have been administered by his father. A woman +named Galeria Fundano became the second wife of Vitellius; but of her +nothing more is known than that Tacitus speaks of her gentle +disposition.</p> + +<p>With Vitellius, to reign meant merely to feast royally. In this, +however, he was only the leading and most noteworthy exponent of a vice +characteristic of his time. Gluttony, among the Romans, had come to be +exalted to an art; and, in proof that the women of those days were not +exempt from it, historians inform us that it was common for individuals +of the female sex to be afflicted with the gout. Suetonius thus +describes the kind of feasting to which Vitellius accustomed the +nobility of Rome: "At a supper given him by his brother, on the day of +his arrival in Rome, there were served two thousand rare fishes and +seven thousand birds. But Vitellius threw into the shade all this +profusion by using on his own table a huge dish, which he named the +Shield of Minerva. In it were livers of plaice, brains of pheasants and +peacocks, flamingoes' tongues, roe of lamprey, and a thousand other +things which the ships of war had sought from the remotest border of +the Euxine to the Pillars of Hercules."</p> + +<p>This dish of Vitellius was made of silver. What its exact weight was we +do not know; but inasmuch as a freedman of Claudius had constructed one +of five hundred pounds weight, which was evidently inferior, we can well +believe the ancient writer when he tells us that the Shield of Minerva +was of such prodigious size that a special furnace had to be constructed +for its manufacture. It was kept as a monument of extravagance until the +time of Hadrian, who caused it to be melted.</p> + +<p>The brief reign of Vitellius was closed in a paroxysm of civil strife, +which ended within the walls of the city itself. For more than a hundred +years,--ever since the sack of Perusia, in which Fulvia played so +prominent a part,--the women of Italy had been free from the bitter +experiences of war. They knew nothing of the cruelties and atrocities +which followed in the wake of ancient battle, except from stories told +by grandmothers at nightfall. Now they were to suffer those evils +themselves.</p> + +<p>In warfare, more than in any other experience, man reverts to his +original barbarous, or rather purely animal, type. It is noticeable also +that in war, and especially in civil war, women regain some of that +ferocity which characterizes the female of the lower types of animals. +In the reign of terror during the French Revolution, there were many +women who showed themselves as bloodthirsty as any of the men who +composed the Committee of Public Safety. So, in the struggles which +accompanied the short-lived reigns of these three Roman emperors there +were many women who engaged in the battles; and there were some who +distinguished themselves by conduct not often exhibited to the discredit +of the female sex. Triaria, for example, who was the wife of Lucius +Vitellius, the brother of the emperor, is described as having been a +woman of the most furious spirit. When Dolabella, who had married +Petronia, was in danger of his life, Triaria warned a friend who sought +to save him that it would not be good for that friend to seek the +exercise of clemency; and when Tarracina was sacked by the Vitellian +soldiers, this same Triaria, armed with the sword of a soldier, urged on +the men to murder and rapine.</p> + +<p>In the final strife between the forces of Vitellius and Vespasian, the +city of Cremona, which was held by the former, was besieged. Tacitus +informs us that, in their zeal for the cause which their city had +adopted, some of the women of Cremona took part on the field of battle +and were slain. In view of what followed at the taking of their city, +they were fortunate in their lot. "Forty thousand men," says the +historian, "poured into it. The number of drudges and camp followers was +still larger, and more addicted to lust and cruelty. Neither age nor +dignity served as a protection; deeds of lust were perpetrated amidst +scenes of carnage, and murder was added to rape. Aged women who had +passed their prime, and who were useless as booty, were made the objects +of brutal sport. Maidens were contended for by ruffians who ended by +turning their swords against each other."</p> + +<p>The bloodshed and rapine were carried into the city of Rome itself. When +he saw that his case was hopeless, the ignoble, indolent Vitellius +wished to abdicate; but this neither his soldiers nor the people would +allow him to do. Flavius Sabinus was prefect of the city, and he, with +the soldiers of the Vespasian party, took refuge in the Capitol. There +were women who voluntarily took their places with these besieged men. +Among them was Verulana Gratilla, who, having neither children nor +relatives, followed the fortunes of the war for no other apparent reason +than the pleasure she derived from scenes of carnage. In this conflict +the Capitol was fired and the temple of the Empire reduced to ashes. +Yet, while all these things were occurring, the common people of Rome, +indifferent as to whether they were ruled by Vitellius or Vespasian, +looked on as if they were at a gladiatorial show. It was to them nothing +more than a spectacle, except that it was also an occasion for absolute +lawlessness and an incitement to frenzied indulgence in everything +vicious. So brutalized were the people that, while in some parts of the +great city the streets were filled with heaps of slain, in other parts, +to which the conflict did not extend, there prevailed revelry of the +most frantic kind, in which shameless women took a leading part.</p> + +<p>The legions of Vespasian conquered; and with his enthronement Rome +returned to peace and sanity. The enormities in which she had indulged +since the reign of Augustus were for the time expiated.</p> + +<p>In the Flavians, a new and healthy dynasty came to the throne of the +Cæsars, though not later than the third reign, that of Domitian, it also +was to succumb to the effects of the possession of unbounded power. +Vespasian had come from an obscure family living at Reate in the Sabine +country. His father had collected the revenue in the province of Asia, +where his statue had been erected with the inscription: <i>The Honest Tax +Collector</i>. His mother, whose name was Vespasia Polla, was descended +from a good Umbrian family. Tertulla, his grandmother by his father's +side, had charge of his education, and her memory was always held by him +in the highest regard; much more than appears is suggested in the remark +of Suetonius that, after his advancement to the Empire, Vespasian loved +to visit the place where he spent his childhood. The house and all the +surroundings were kept exactly in the same condition, so that amid +unchanged scenes he might live over again his boyhood days. It was a +simple country house, with no pretension to the splendor in which the +great mansions of the city vied with each other; yet it was artistic.</p> + +<p>In those times, not even the simplest farmstead was without its +statuary; and we may well believe that, as Tertulla, in the courts of +Phalacrine, superintended the education of the future builder of the +Colosseum, she could point to examples of sculptured beauty to +illustrate those ideas of art which were included in every Roman's +training. In the great common room, where the work of the house was +done, and where, on winter evenings, the slaves were kept busy with +useful occupations, Polla presided, as had the matrons of the old days. +In the atrium she entertained her rural neighbors in simple style; and +there also she sometimes lectured her son, who greatly displeased her by +his tardiness in putting off his boyish ways. She was ambitious for him, +and longed to hurry him away to Rome, that in the stir of the city or +the camp he might win renown for the Vespasian name. Polla little +understood that the time her son spent, idly, as she supposed, watching +the teams and cattle about the drinking troughs of the inner court, was +fortifying him to withstand the moral dangers of a court of another +sort. The rugged, straightforward, simple-mannered soldier, who honored +festival occasions by drinking from a silver cup which he treasured as a +keepsake from his grandmother, was such an emperor as the Romans had not +before seen the like of.</p> + +<p>Flavia Domitilla was the wife of Vespasian; but she did not survive to +participate with him in the imperial dignity. Of her life and character +we know little. There is in existence but one likeness of her--a +colossal head found near Puteoli and now preserved in the Campana +Museum. This gives her the appearance of a strikingly handsome woman, +with a suggestion of pride, but not too powerful to overcome the aspect +of good nature. Suetonius says that she was at first the mistress of +Statilius Capella, a Roman knight. It may seem strange that a man of +Vespasian's character should marry a woman who had sustained such a +former relation; but in those times, wives with a past history in which +their present husbands had played no part were not so rare that they +were even remarkable. Domitilla enjoyed by birth all the legal +privileges of a Latin woman, but she was not a citizen of Rome until a +suit had been brought by her father for her in the courts. Possibly this +suit was instituted in regard to her inheritance of property; for the +privileges of citizenship, as they related to women, consisted of the +ability to receive legacies and bequeath property, and to form such +matrimonial unions as would be held valid when brought into question in +matters concerning property. It is very likely that the explanation of +the fact that Domitilla is spoken of as the mistress rather than the +wife of Statilius is to be found in the further fact that, he being a +Roman knight and she not yet a citizen of Rome, legal marriage could not +take place between the two. Suetonius tells us that after the death of +Domitilla, Vespasian renewed his union with his former concubine Cænis, +the freedwoman and former amanuensis of Antonia, whom he treated, even +after he became emperor, almost as if she had been his legal wife; and +it is safe for us to suppose that, had he been legally able to do so, +Vespasian would have made Cænis Empress of Rome.</p> + +<p>Domitilla bore her husband three children: Titus and Doraitian, who +became emperors in succession, and Domitilla, who died before her father +attained to the purple.</p> + +<p>The salutary influence of Vespasian's character was soon made apparent +in the improvement of Roman morals. He was not an energetic reformer; +but he curtailed those abuses which were most flagrant, and himself set +an example which those who desired his favor found it to their advantage +to follow. He expelled from the Senate those who were extraordinarily +vicious in their lives, and among them one who had, by request of Nero, +contended with a Greek girl in the arena. He required the Senate to pass +a decree that any woman who entered into a liaison with the slave of +another person should be herself considered a slave--a law which +indicates to what lengths the license of women had carried them during +the preceding reigns.</p> + +<p>One act of cruelty to a woman stains the records of this reign. An +insurrection had been stamped out in Belgium; but Sabinus, the leader, +had made his escape. His house was burned; still he could easily have +escaped into Germany, but that he was unwilling to leave his young wife, +Eponia, unprotected as well as homeless. "He concealed himself in an +underground hiding place, whose entrance was known only to two faithful +freedmen. He was believed to be dead; and his wife, sharing the opinion +of those around her, had been for three days plunged in inconsolable +affliction. Being secretly informed, however, that Sabinus was alive, +she concealed her delight, and was conducted to his place of refuge, +where in the end she determined also to remain. After seven months, the +husband and wife ventured to emerge, and made a journey to Rome for the +purpose of soliciting pardon. But being warned in season that the +petition would be in vain, they left Rome without seeing the emperor, +and again sheltered themselves in their subterranean refuge. Here they +lived together during nine years. Being at last discovered, Sabinus was +taken to Rome, where Vespasian ordered his execution. Eponia had +followed her husband, and she threw herself at the emperor's feet. +'Cæsar,' she cried, showing her two sons, who were with her, 'these have +I brought forth and nourished in the tombs, that two more suppliants +might implore thy clemency.' Those present were moved to tears, and even +Vespasian himself was affected; but he remained inflexible. Eponia then +asked to die with him whom she had been unable to save. 'I have been +more happy with him,' she said, 'in darkness and under ground, than thou +in supreme power,' Her second request was granted her. Plutarch met at +Delphi one of their children, who related to him this sad and touching +story." Why this usually tolerant and always sensible emperor should +have been so inexorable on this occasion is a mystery.</p> + +<p>There is another instance recorded, in which a woman of different +character, presenting a petition of another kind, received an +acquiescent response. A lady of rank pretending, as Suetonius puts it, +to be desperately enamored of Vespasian,--it must have been that she +hoped to achieve a permanent relationship with the widowed +emperor,--requested that which it would have been more consistent with +her modesty to have avoided. In addition to granting her petition, +Vespasian made her a present of four hundred thousand sesterces. When +his steward asked how he would have the sum entered in his accounts, he +replied: "For Vespasian's being seduced." Considering, however, the +parsimonious character which the historian attributes to this emperor, +we are more inclined to think that the sum must have been entered on the +credit side of the ledger.</p> + +<p>Vespasian died in A.D. 79. The humor--which is the same thing as saying +the sanity--of the man is manifested in his remark, as he felt his life +ebbing away: "Well, I suppose I shall soon be a god." Pliny says of +him, "Greatness and majesty produced in him no other effect than to +render his power of doing good equal to his desire." Suetonius declares: +"By him the State was strengthened and adorned."</p> + +<p>In this same year occurred the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum. +These two cities, by the manner in which they were by one event both +destroyed and preserved, have afforded us so much material for the study +of Roman home life that a reference to them is entirely in accord with +the plan of this book. Among the Romans, even more so than among +ourselves, woman's life was home life. As we look into those Pompeian +houses, which the catastrophe of a day rendered impregnable to the siege +of centuries, we see in reality before us much which the scraps of +information afforded by the ancient writers fail to make intelligible. +By a singular good fortune, we are in possession of the narrative +furnished by a trustworthy eyewitness of the disaster which overwhelmed +Pompeii; it is contained in the two letters which Pliny the Younger +wrote to Tacitus, informing him how Pliny and his mother watched the +eruption of Vesuvius while his uncle was perishing in the attempt to +rescue the wife of a friend and at the same time to satisfy his spirit +of inquiry. We will not recite the well-known account, except as it +refers to the women who, if for no other reason than that it was their +fate or fortune to be present on this memorable occasion, deserve a +mention in the history of Roman women. Pliny says: "On the twenty-fourth +of August, about one in the afternoon, my uncle was desired by my mother +to observe a cloud which appeared of a very unusual size and shape.... +This extraordinary phenomenon excited his philosophical curiosity to +take a nearer view of it. He ordered a light vessel to be got ready, and +gave me the liberty, if I thought proper, to attend him. I preferred to +continue my studies.... As he was coming out of the house, he received a +note from Rectina, the wife of Bassus, who was in the utmost alarm at +the imminent danger which threatened her; for her villa being situated +at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, there was no way to escape but by sea; +she earnestly entreated him, therefore, to come to her assistance. He +accordingly changed his first design, and what he began with a +philosophical turn of mind he pursued with heroic purpose. He ordered +the galleys to put to sea and himself went on board, with an intention +of assisting not only Rectina, but several others, for villas stand +extremely thick upon that beautiful coast." In this design he was +unsuccessful; so he went to what is now called Castellamare, in the Gulf +of Naples. While there he was suffocated by the poisonous gases which +accompanied the eruption. In a second letter, Pliny describes his mother +and himself seeking to escape from the effects of a "black and dreadful +cloud, bursting with an igneous, serpentine vapor, darting out a long +train of fire, resembling flashes of lightning, but much larger.... Soon +the cloud seemed to descend, and cover the whole ocean, as indeed it +entirely hid the island of Caprese and the promontory of Misenum. My +mother strongly conjured me to make my escape, at any rate, which, as I +was young, I might easily do; as for herself, she said, her age and +corpulency rendered all attempts of that sort impossible. However, she +would willingly meet death, if she could have the satisfaction of seeing +that she was not the occasion of mine. But I absolutely refused to leave +her, and taking her by the hand I led her on, she complying with great +reluctance, and with many reproaches to herself for retarding my +flight.... Darkness overspread us, not like that of a cloudy night, or +when there is no moon, but of a room when it is shut up and all the +lights are extinct. Nothing was then to be heard but the shrieks of +women, the screams of children, and the cries of men. Some calling for +their children, others for their parents, others for their husbands, and +only distinguishing each other by their voices; one lamenting his own +fate, another that of his family; some wishing to die from the very fear +of dying; some lifting their hands to the gods; but the greater part +imagining that the last and eternal night was come, which was to destroy +the gods and the world together.... Heavy showers of ashes rained upon +us, which we were obliged every now and then to shake off, otherwise we +should have been crushed and buried in the heap." The mother and the son +escaped, however, and returned to Misenum, where in the midst of still +threatening danger they awaited news of the intrepid and fated +naturalist.</p> + +<a name="ill5" id="ill5"></a> +<p class="mid"><img alt="" src="images/005.png"><br> +<b><i> + A POMPEIAN HOUSE<br> + From a water-color by M. Hoffbauer, after a restoration by Jules Bouchot<br> + from Pliny's description.</i></b></p> +<blockquote> +<b><i> This interior, called the house of Pansa, is surrounded by + three streets and an alley. The view is from the vestibule. + In the centre is a basin, formed to receive water which fell + from the roof through an opening which also gave light + to the rooms, the doors and portières of which are seen on + each side. Near to the basin was the altar for the household + god; the space beyond this was the dining room, which + led to the peristyle, reception room, and garden. As in the + atrium, rooms opened into the peristyle and other parts. + + The ground-floor exteriors were usually rented for shops. + Trade by the Roman nobility was always considered degrading, + especially if not extensive, says Cicero; they + therefore traded by making their slaves or freedmen the + ostensible merchants.</i></b> +</blockquote> + +<p>Two-fifths of the city of Pompeii have now been cleared, and we can see +the external conditions of the Roman woman's life as it would have been +impossible for modern times to conceive them had it not been for that +ancient catastrophe. We can see the streets as they were in the days of +Agrippina; we can look into the shops where the women of ancient Italy +sought bargains across the marble counters; we can go to the temples +where they worshipped, to the theatre where they were thrilled and +amused; indeed, we have a theatre ticket, with the number of the seat +and the name of the play. Best of all, we can enter houses almost +intact, and examine the environments of that home life which in all ages +is the special domain of woman. No account of woman can be made complete +without a study of her home, and for this reason we quote freely from M. +Boissier's fine description of the Pompeian residence. "The principal +rooms are all on the ground floor. The richest inhabitants build +themselves houses situated on four streets, thus occupying the whole +block. If they were economical, they cut off from this large plot of +ground some strips, which they let for a good sum; and we sometimes find +shops occupying the whole exterior of the house. While with us the front +is reserved for the best rooms, in Pompeii it was given up to business +purposes, or else closed with thick walls, in which there were no +openings. The whole house, instead of looking toward the street, faces +the interior. It communicates with the outer world only by the entrance +door, kept strictly closed and guarded; there are few windows, and these +only in the upper stories. Families wished to live in private, far from +the indifferent and from strangers.... The head of the house did not +desire to look into the street, and he was specially averse to having +persons in the street look into his house. Even within the mansion he +had divisions and distinctions. The part into which he welcomed his +visitors was not that to which he retired with his family; and it was +not easy to penetrate into this sanctuary, separated from every other +part by corridors, closed by doors or hangings, and guarded by porters. +The owner received when he wished, he remained in seclusion when so +inclined; and in case any client, more troublesome and obstinate than +usual, lingered in the vestibule to meet him on his way out, he had a +back door on a narrow street, which permitted him to escape....</p> + +<p>"If the rooms are not large, they are numerous. The Roman used his +residence as he did his slaves; he had different rooms for each event of +the day, as he had servants for every necessity of life. Each room in +his house is made precisely for the use to which it is destined. He is +not satisfied, as we are, with a single dining room; he has them of +various sizes, and he uses one or another at different seasons of the +year, or according to the number of friends whom he wishes to +entertain. The chamber where he takes his siesta during the day and that +to which he retires to sleep at night are very small, admitting light +and air only through the door, which is not a disadvantage in the South, +where coolness is promoted by darkness. Besides, he is there only while +he is asleep; for the rest he has his <i>atrium</i> and his <i>peristylium</i>.</p> + +<p>"Here he prefers to stay when he is at home. He is here not only with +his wife and children, but under the eyes of his servants, and sometimes +in their society. In spite of his fancy for seclusion and isolation, of +which I have spoken, he does not shun their company; for the family of +antiquity is more extensive than ours. It embraces, while recognizing +their inferiority, the slave and the freedman; so that the master, in +living with them, feels himself among his own people. These open and +closed <i>atria</i>, where the family spends its time, are found in all +Pompeian houses without exception; they are indispensable to furnish +light for the rest of the dwelling. Consequently, all persons, even the +poorer classes, took pleasure in ornamenting them tastefully, and +sometimes with profusion. If the extent of ground permitted it, various +shrubs were planted, and a few flowers were made to grow."</p> + +<p>Rome had for its next emperor Titus, who, in the two years of his reign, +showed himself the best and wisest ruler Rome had ever known. "I have +lost a day," he said, when at evening he could not remember having +afforded anyone assistance. He inherited his father's good sense, he had +profited by the elder's experience, and he came to the throne after +having tasted and become satiated with the vices common to his age. He +first married Arrisidia, the daughter of a knight. Of her we know +nothing further. After her death, he took to wife Marcia Furnilla, a +woman of very noble family, but probably of ignoble mind, for he +divorced her, and retained the custody of their daughter. This was a +Julia, who was true to the character common to the imperial women of +that name. We shall have occasion to discuss her a little later.</p> + +<p>The woman with whose history the name of Titus was chiefly connected and +who exerted more influence upon his life than any other was Berenice, +the daughter of Agrippa the Great. She was a Jewess by race, but Roman +in sympathy as well as by allegiance; and for character she may well be +classed with such Roman ladies as Poppaea or Julia the daughter of +Augustus. She was first married to Herod of Chalcis; but he died, and +for a long while she remained a widow in the company and under the +protection of her brother Agrippa. During this time, the pair paid a +visit to Rome, and while on the way stopped at Cæsarea, where Festus was +governor. Here Berenice listened to the Apostle Paul, as he made his +eloquent plea in answer to his accusers and appealed to the tribunal of +Caesar. Berenice's continued widowhood, joined with the known laxity of +her morals, caused ugly stories to be set afloat regarding her relations +with her brother; whereupon she induced Polemon, King of Cilicia, to +become a proselyte to Judaism and marry her. This marriage seems to have +been unsatisfactory to both parties, for Berenice soon returned to +Jerusalem, and Polemon recanted from his Jewish faith. At this time, +Titus was with his father in Judea, and, though Berenice was much older +than he, the young Roman was fascinated by her extraordinary beauty, so +much so that he took her with him on his return to Rome. She was given +apartments in the palace, and there, to all appearance, she lived with +Titus as his wife. In fact, he would have made her his wife indeed, had +it not been for the strong prejudices of the Romans against foreign +alliances; but when he succeeded to the throne, rather than that his +rule should be impaired by any scandal, he sent Berenice away, though +the separation was the source of poignant grief to them both.</p> + +<p>Titus died twenty-six months after he came to the throne, and his +brother Domitian--who, unfortunately for the history of Rome, possessed +a healthier constitution as well as an inferior disposition--reigned in +his stead. Domitian has been called the second Nero, the character of +his reign being very similar to that of Nero's rule. This unworthy son +of Vespasian had disgraced his youth by vicious extravagances of all +kinds; but, on coming to the throne, he seemed to have reformed. This, +however, was only temporary. As has been remarked, on the day of +coronation there are few bad monarchs. All begin well; but the majority +of despots end badly.</p> + +<p>Domitian even began his reign as a reformer. He constituted himself +censor. In this capacity his attention was turned first to the college +of Vestal Virgins, who had so far forgotten the character which was the +prime essential to their office that they had become notorious for the +licentiousness of their conduct. Three of these priestesses received an +order to make away with themselves. Cornelia, the chief Vestal and the +worst offender, was condemned to suffer the prescribed punishment of +entombment. In the story of her death there is an incident worthy of +note as illustrating the effrontery which may be developed in a woman by +a habitual though unwarranted assumption of superior holiness. As she +was descending to the tomb, Cornelia's veil caught on the steps; when an +official offered to disentangle it, the Vestal in a horrified manner +bade him desist, as her consecrated character could not endure the +profane touch of a man.</p> + +<p>Domitian, moreover, passed an edict prohibiting to prostitutes the use +of the <i>lectica</i>, or travelling chair; they also lost the right of +receiving legacies or inheriting estates. But this enthusiasm for +morality was short-lived, and his censorship never interfered with his +own indulgences or extended to his own family. The empress of that day +was Domitia Longina, who seems to have been a woman who would find the +extravagances of Nero's libidinous entertainments entirely consistent +with her character and tastes. She fell desperately in love with Paris, +the famous actor of the time. In consequence she was divorced; but her +husband, unable to endure the separation, recalled her on the pretence +that it was demanded by the people. Her influence over the emperor is +perhaps further indicated by the fact that we hear of nothing sinister +having happened to Paris; but the Senator Helvidius, who, under the +character of OEnone, held Domitia up to scorn in a farce which he wrote, +was put to death. There is in existence a bust of Domitia Longina, but +the sole reflection which her appearance suggests is the amount of labor +and care which must have been demanded of her slaves in the production +of the innumerable tiny curls in which her hair is arranged. During the +lifetime of Titus, his daughter Julia was offered to Domitian in +marriage, the example of Agrippina and Claudius having established the +legality of a union between an uncle and a niece. But at this time +Domitia ruled the heart of the future emperor. Afterward, the unhappy +Julia was induced to enter into a criminal intercourse with Domitian, +and lost her life in an attempt to destroy its proof. This was a danger +which was frequently incurred by married women, in order to prevent the +birth of legitimate offspring. Large families in wealthy houses were +exceedingly rare. In the Museum of the Vatican there is a statue of +Julia, represented as the goddess Clemency. There is also in existence a +profile engraved upon stone, as well as a bust which is preserved in +the Uffizi Gallery. It requires but a glance at these likenesses to +enable one to understand why the Greeks called Julia "The New Juno."</p> + +<p>During the reign of Domitian, the Colosseum, the building of which had +been commenced by Vespasian, was completed and opened. In this immense +amphitheatre there were seats for eighty-seven thousand spectators, and +fifteen thousand more were able to find standing room. In its arena, +during each year, hundreds of men--gladiators, criminals, and +Christians--fought and fell in mortal agony for the amusement of those +great audiences, of which women formed a goodly proportion. There sat +the empress in a front box which was especially designed for the +Vestals; and it frequently happened that the scene upon which the eyes +of those ladies rested was the mangling of the bodies of Christian women +by the claws and teeth of ferocious beasts.</p> + +<p>Women also voluntarily took their places in the arena. Races in the +<i>stadium</i> between young girls were frequent, nor was it a thing entirely +unknown for women to engage in the deadly sport of the gladiators. +Sometimes they faced the wild animals; and at times they even took the +trident and the net of the <i>retiarii</i> and tried their skill against the +swordsmen. Juvenal has his fling at Mævia, who, "with breast exposed, +grasps the hunting spear and transfixes the Tuscan boar." The satirist +also exercises his grim humor on the picture of a woman practising the +art of fencing. "Who has not beheld the wounds of the wooden post, which +she dints with courageous foil, and attacks with her shield, and goes +against with skilful precision? A matron most preeminently worthy to +dance to the trumpet at the indecent Floral games. Perhaps, however, she +is meditating a more serious purpose, and intends to engage in real +earnest at the amphitheatre, for hire. What modesty can a woman show +that wears a helmet, eschews her sex, and delights in feats of +strength?"</p> + +<p>It would have been a marvel if Domitian had been allowed to end his life +otherwise than by violent means. Suetonius accuses Domitia of being +privy to her husband's assassination, but does not explain in what way +she took part in it. Suetonius had a rare nose for scandal, and always +believed the worst. The emperor was killed by a freedman, a steward of +Domitilla.</p> + +<div class="poem"><div class="stanza"> +<p class="i14"> "When he dreadful to the rabble grew,</p> +</div></div> + +<p>Again in the death of this tyrant we see how the woman love for an +innocent babe will survive every vice of the grown man. There was in the +palace a woman named Phyllis, who had been Domitian's nurse. She was the +only one who showed any respect for the dead emperor. First, she had his +body interred at his villa in the Latin Way; then, when she found a safe +opportunity, she burned the remains and, carrying the ashes to the +mausoleum of the Flavian family, mingled them with those of Julia, whose +nurse she had also been.</p> + +<p>The Empress Domitia seems to have survived her husband many years; for +an inscription, the date of which corresponds with the year 140, +mentions that one of her freedmen, after building a temple to her, +offers the <i>decuriones</i> of Gabii fifteen thousand sesterces, the income +of which was to be spent in keeping the building in repair and in +celebrating the birthday of his mistress.</p> + +<p>The period of Roman history which we have traversed in our study of +woman shows the ancient pagan Empire at its best materially and at its +worst morally. We are about to enter upon a new epoch. We shall speedily +begin to notice premonitions of decline, but we shall not again witness +such an absolute and all-prevalent abandonment of the requirements of +morality. From the days of Cæsar Augustus down to the end of the reign +of Domitian, all that is recorded of Roman women, with a few noble +exceptions, is little more than a wearisome repetition of instances of +astonishing sensuality. Why was it that the women of this period +indulged to such an unnatural and unrestrained degree the grosser +appetites? It was not because they were unacquainted with the most +emphatic precepts of morality. Their ancestors had idealized feminine +chastity as it has been exalted among no other people in the history of +the world. The virtue of temperance was taught by their philosophers in +the most eloquent language; and the diatribes of their satirists are +evidence that the Roman conscience was not wholly at rest in regard to +the excesses which were prevalent. How then are we to account for this +monotonous orgy of libidinosity?</p> + +<p>So far as the question concerns the emperors, there is but one answer: +it is found in their unbounded power, in which, their will being +responsible to no one, they were absolutely at liberty to indulge +caprice or lustful impulse to the extent of their personal capabilities. +When, as was natural in the circumstances, the characters of these +potentates were warped in the wrong direction, their influence, not to +speak of their tyrannical power, was incalculably detrimental to female +virtue. But the real underlying cause for the sensuality of the women +whom we have brought into review was the utter purposelessness of their +lives, joined to an entire lack of all spiritual impulses in the +direction of self-respect. The Roman woman's life during the period +under discussion was one of absolute ease and unbounded luxury, although +the possibility of abject physical misery, in the form of banishment or +a violent death, always hovered near. Luxury is always conducive to +sexual incontinence; and, as is well known, customary peril engenders +recklessness. The minds of the Roman women were not fortified by +adequate spiritual impressions to offset these impulses. Such ideas of +chastity as were inherited from the ancient customs were not founded on +a belief in the dignity of womanhood, but rather on the conception of +marriage as a property right held by the husband in the person of the +wife. Adultery was the infringement of the husband's property rights, +rather than an injury to a woman's personal worth to herself. When +divorce for political reasons became common, the sense of the validity +of those rights grew correspondingly dim. A woman, seeing that she was +married not for her person, but for the sake of her friends, came +herself to set little store by that which to her husband was not the +chief item in the contract. The arid formalism of her religion also gave +but little support to any restraining instincts of self-respect. It +needed a new religion to enable woman to rediscover in herself a +spiritual nature, which could be tainted and injured by the abuse of the +body.</p> + +<a name="ill6" id="ill6"></a> +<p class="mid"><img alt="" src="images/006.png"><br> + <b><i> + THE CHIEF VESTAL<br> + After the painting by Henri P. Motte</i></b></p> + +<blockquote> +<b><i>Vestals were believed by the Romans to be the guaranties for the + existence of the Empire. To these priestesses was paid a respect as + great if not greater than any Roman official might claim. Anyone + offering insult was punished with death. Whenever a Vestal appeared + in public, she was preceded by a lictor, before whom everyone + made way, even the highest officer of the State. The faces + were always lowered in her presence..... Domitian constituted + himself censor; his attention was turned first to the college of Vestal + Virgins, who had become notorious for licentiousness. Three priestesses + received an order to make away with themselves. Cornelia, + the chief Vestal and the worst offender, was condemned to suffer the + punishment of entombment. As she was descending to the tomb, + Cornelia's veil caught on the steps; when an official offered to + disentangle it, the Vestal in a horrified manner bade him to desist, + as her consecrated character could not endure the profane touch of a man. + </i></b> +</blockquote> +<a name="c13" id="c13"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>XIII</h3> + +<h3>THE SUNSET GLOW OF PAGANISM</h3> + +<p>Gibbon expresses the opinion that in no period of the world's history +has the human race been happier or more prosperous than during the time +which elapsed between the reigns of Domitian and Commodus. There is not +a little that may be said in support of this remarkable conclusion. +Under Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines, the Empire enjoyed the +calm and brilliant evening following a long day of bitter strife and +perilous turmoil, and preceding the moral darkness of the rule of the +tyrants under whom paganism was fated to expire.</p> + +<p>During this period, Italy and the interior provinces of the Empire were +entirely free from the rude alarms of war. The home of that day was as +secure from violence as it is among ourselves at the present time. No +wife or daughter had occasion unavailingly to beg the life of husband or +father from the jealous or timid cruelty of a self-indulgent ruler. In +the home circle, there was no foreboding dread of proscription. The +terrible laws regarding <i>crimen majestatis</i>, under which so many +cruelties had been perpetrated and so many families unjustly bereaved, +were held in abeyance. Pliny writes to Trajan: "It is said, sir, that a +woman and her sons have been buried in the same place where your statue +is set up." This, under some of the former emperors, would have been a +grave matter; a woman was executed under Domitian because she disrobed +before a statue of the emperor. But Trajan writes: "You should not have +hesitated about such a question, for you know very well that I do not +propose to make my name respected by terror and by accusations of +treason. Dismiss this charge, which I shall not consider."</p> + +<p>The people were prosperous. The vast extent of the Roman dominion, with +its thoroughly organized and centralized government and its easy means +of communication, interchanged a wonderful abundance and variety of the +products of industry and commerce. At no time previous to the discovery +of America did housewife ever draw the supplies for her table and her +wardrobe from such widely separated quarters of the earth's surface as +did the Roman woman in the time of Hadrian. As a modern historian has +said: "The world was opened; the most secluded places had become +accessible; all things circulated without let or hindrance. It was free +trade, with its advantageous results in abundance and low prices. All +the produce of the world came into Rome by the Tiber. The women of the +Bernese Oberland bought their ornaments of a jeweller in Asia Minor, and +thought less of it than we of procuring rugs from Smyrna or Damascus."</p> + +<p>The people also were protected by salutary laws. The women of that day, +when they went to the shops and purchased by weight or measure, were +assured of honest dealing. There were standards kept in the municipal +cities, and every tradesman was obliged to have his weights and measures +tested by them; he was also subject to unannounced inspection. Never +were wise laws more perfectly executed. How thoroughly the mind of +Trajan was imbued with the idea that his mission was to administer the +Empire for the benefit of the people is shown by his correspondence +with Pliny. Hadrian spent almost the whole of his reign in travelling +from one province to another, in order that he might not only satisfy +his curiosity, but also secure good government by personal inspection.</p> + +<p>The people also enjoyed a fair semblance of liberty. True, they were not +free. The rule of the Antonines was as absolute as that of the first +Cæsars; but the emperors of the period we are describing, ostentatiously +and to the great contentment of the people, professed to administer the +laws only as they were enacted by the Senate and to be themselves +governed by the constitution. It was but a phantom of liberty, truly; +but when has the world really seen more? The five emperors who followed +Domitian exercised their absolute power under the guidance of virtue and +wisdom; and, whether or not it were an honorable peace, the people were +contented and happy.</p> + +<p>The effect of this wise, strong, all-pervading government must have been +made especially apparent in the woman's world of that time. There are no +gains for women in war. The glory sought by man is no compensation for +the wife's anxiety entailed by her fear of bereavement. In the hazards +of foreign strife or the dangers of civil turmoil, woman may exemplify +those possibilities of her character which reveal themselves in the +heroism of devotion or resignation; but the normal qualities of her +nature do not expand as in the quiet comfort of a home life where safety +is assured.</p> + +<p>In the history of Roman women, down to the period which we have now +reached, there has been no opportunity to ascertain what the combined +influences of culture and peace might accomplish. In the ancient +Republic, culture of any appreciable degree was absent and life was +continuously strenuous. In later days, when Roman hardihood was first +touched by Greek civilization, and the love of letters began to find a +place in woman's life, the Roman matron, though admirable and +statuesque, was too heroic in her virtue to be altogether attractive. A +writer of a later day--than whom none more keenly regretted the ancient +purity--felt this. "Let her be more chaste than any single Sabine that, +with hair dishevelled, rushed between the combatants and brought the war +to a close; let her be a very phoenix upon earth, rare as a black swan; +who could tolerate a wife in whom all excellencies are concentrated! I +would rather, far rather, have a country maiden from Venusia than you, O +Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, if along with your estimable virtues +you bring as part of your dower a haughty and disdainful brow, and +reckon as a portion of your fortune the triumphs of your house! Away, I +beg, with your Hannibal and Syphax conquered in his camp, and march with +all your Carthage!"</p> + +<p>Equally unconducive to a feminine life combining sweetness with nobility +were those later times, when danger was always imminent from a tyrant's +lust or jealousy. Agrippina, travelling with Germanicus in expeditions +against the Teutonic tribes, might earn the title "Mother of the Camps"; +menaced by Tiberius, she might strengthen her mind in anticipation of +the inevitable storm with the stern fortitude becoming to a Roman matron +of the house of Augustus; but with years and affliction comes an +unamiable sourness of disposition. Livia, Agrippina, and Antonia were +women of the most unquestionable virtue; but they were ungentle in their +manner and capable of extreme harshness in their methods. We know them +fairly well; but there is no indication of their interesting themselves +in any such womanly work as those public charities which graced the +reign of Trajan, and with which we may be reasonably certain that +Plotina, his noble consort, actively sympathized. With assured security +of life, woman's heart expanded and her sympathies widened. Faustina, +the wife of Aurelius, may not have been irreproachable; but she is +represented in the position of the Lady Bountiful by the side of her +husband in the public distributions. Under these noble emperors, a +social conscience was developed; and there was nothing to prevent or +disturb any of the genial graces of the home life, which are only +possible when women are respected and happy.</p> + +<p>During this period, the legal condition of the Roman woman was also +greatly ameliorated. The acute sense of justice which actuated these +emperors could not neglect this result of civilization. On one occasion, +a matron stopped Hadrian in the street and begged leave to submit to him +a matter in which she was suffering injustice. He refused to be delayed. +"Why, then, are you emperor?" she bitterly exclaimed. This appealed to +him; for he was conscious that he had no right to govern unless he +allowed the salutary influence of his rule to extend to all alike.</p> + +<p>A man and a woman, who, though they had cohabited, were not legally +married, disputed as to the possession of their child in order to +receive its share of the public allowance. "With whom do you live?" +asked Hadrian of the child. "My mother," was the answer. "You rascal," +said the emperor to the man, "you have no right to this allowance."</p> + +<p>"I implore you," cried another woman, "to order that a part of my son's +allowance be given to me." "But, my lord," said the son, "I do not +acknowledge her to be my mother." "Then," answered Hadrian, "I shall not +acknowledge you as a citizen."</p> + +<p>These, it may be, were only casual incidents; but they indicate the sort +of rule under which Rome had come, and they must have formed powerful +precedents in future rulings in such cases. Laws were also passed which +helped to relieve the burden of legal injustice which from the first had +rested upon the Roman woman. A father had it always in his power to +compel his son to put away his wife, and could thus, if he chose, +shatter the life of a faithful, loving woman and drive her from her +home. Marcus Aurelius amended this tyrannical law, so that it could only +be executed for great and just cause. Under the old code, a child was +always subject to the condition of his mother at his birth; hence, if a +free woman, after conception, was relegated to servitude by sentence of +law, her child was born a slave. Hadrian decreed that if a woman was +free at any time during her pregnancy, her child should be free. This +would seem to be more of a relief to the child so born than to the +mother; but, apart from the mother sympathy, the parent of a free son +would be much more likely to regain her own liberty. This emperor also +decided that women should have the power to dispose of the whole of +their property by will, on obtaining the consent of their guardians. It +was soon afterward decreed that such a will should be valid without such +consent, and this made the property rights of the Roman woman as +untrammelled as such laws have been in any country, almost down to the +present time. There was also a modification of the law of inheritance, +so that women were allowed to take from their sons; but to avail herself +of this new law a freedwoman must have had no less than four children.</p> + +<p>This material comfort and security of life would, of itself, hardly +suffice to substantiate Gibbon's opinion as to the superior happiness of +this particular period of the world's history; but there was something +more. Human life is not rendered felicitous solely by the abundance of +the things which a people possesses; there must be the power to make +the most of and enjoy them. It is with the life of a nation as it is +with that of an individual--the happiest age is that immediately +previous to the beginning of decadence; prior to that, the attention and +energy are wholly taken up with the process of acquiring. The Roman +Empire was now, as it were, balanced and resting on the summit of its +greatness.</p> + +<p>With one or two exceptions, never in the history of the world has so +large a proportion of the citizens of a nation been capable of so fully +appreciating the highest mental enjoyments. Art in those days was +closely inwoven with the life of the people; they lived artistic lives. +The women of that day moved habitually among those objects which the +ladies of our time go to museums to admire. Their eyes were every day +accustomed to rest upon the beautiful structures and statuary which are +the wonder and the models of modern times. Every home, however modest, +had about it much of the artistic; every public building was a +magnificent example of architecture. Nothing was purely utilitarian, for +life was not sordid. With an ample supply of the necessaries and +luxuries of existence, and perfect protection through wise and +beneficently administered laws, this added grace and beauty which +pervaded everything lacked little to make the life of women in the days +of Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines broader and happier than it has +been in any other period, ancient or modern.</p> + +<p>There were, however, two classes of persons which must not be left out +of the estimate; and it may be suggested that a proper understanding of +the conditions of their existence may detract greatly from the foregoing +appreciation of the period under discussion: these are the slaves and +the poor. But, inasmuch as what has been said is of the nature of a +comparison, it can be justly answered that the poor we have always with +us, and until recently the institution of slavery has been a cherished +one. At any rate, it was rare that a Roman slave woman was ill fed, +while compulsory hunger is by no means uncommon in modern times.</p> + +<p>Since so large a portion of those Roman slaves were women, it will be +quite pertinent to our subject if we take a glance at this institution +of slavery as it existed in the ancient world.</p> + +<p>It is estimated that at one time no less than one-fifth of the +population of Rome was in a condition of compulsory servitude. The +number was kept up by birth, by the slave market, and by war. In ancient +times, the creditor could sell the family of the debtor; the father also +could dispose of his children in the same manner. These barbarous +measures, however, were less resorted to as manners grew milder, though +the laws permitting them were not repealed until the time of Diocletian. +Parents had the legal right to expose their unwelcome children, and +whoever chose to take the abandoned infants owned them as slaves; but +Trajan granted to such children the perpetual right of claiming their +freedom, on condition that they could prove that of their parents.</p> + +<p>By the ancient law, the slave was nothing but a chattel. He possessed no +rights, he had no will of his own, he was not a person, and could not +seek protection from the law. Over him his master owned absolute power +of life and death. Women slaves were wholly subject to their owner's +will. They might be required to bear offspring for the mere sake of +increasing their master's number of servants, with absolutely no regard +to any sentiment they might cherish relative to such a matter. A slave +could not legally marry; and for many centuries no union of that nature +was held to have any binding force. When it is considered that a large +proportion of the slaves owned by Roman masters were secured as the +spoils of war, or by kidnapping, and consequently included many persons +of both sexes who were well born and educated, it is seen how peculiarly +cruel was slavery in those times.</p> + +<p>Gradually, principles of humanity prevailed in the softening of this +condition, and it is probable that instincts of humanity on the part of +the majority of owners induced them to do better than the law demanded. +In the house of Columella, every slave woman who had three children was +set free from labor, and she who had more was emancipated. During the +period of the Antonines, laws were passed prohibiting masters from +selling slaves to fight in the arena unless these had been convicted of +some crime by public authority. They were not allowed to be left by will +with the understanding that they were to fight with beasts. The killing +of slaves became punishable as for murder; and even the slave's honor +came to be protected, for a complaint could be lodged against the master +for an attempt on the slave's modesty. Regard was also paid to the +natural feelings of these unfortunate persons; for while those in a +condition of slavery could not legally marry, yet, where the nuptial +union had been formed it was not permitted that the husband and wife +should be separated by sale. Thus we see that the Roman slaves, from a +condition of absolute inhumanity in the days of the early Republic, came +in the time of the Antonines to be so hedged about with the protection +of the law that there was left little to be desired save the possession +of their own persons. Still, it is not meant to be asserted that even in +this mild period there was not ample scope for cruelty on the part of +barbarous or ill-natured owners. Juvenal describes with great +indignation how women would cause their female attendants to be +unmercifully whipped. But a just complaint of intolerable treatment +was, in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, legal ground for compelling the +emancipation of the slave, or at least for providing him or her with a +kinder owner.</p> + +<p>Paganism has often been accused of having paid no attention whatsoever +to public charities. On the contrary, during the period with which we +are now occupied institutions of poor-relief were founded and were as +remarkable for the wisdom with which they were organized as for the +spirit of beneficence which they manifested. There was abundance of +evidence in Pliny's time to show that his beautiful words were not mere +rhetoric: "It is a duty to seek out those who are in want, to bring them +aid, to support, and make them in a sense one's own family." Has the +modern spirit anything better to say than this sentence which was +inscribed upon a tomb: <i>Therc is in life but one beautiful thing, and +this is beneficence.</i> The Romans of the Antonine period put this +sentiment into practical operation in more ways than one. Nerva +conceived the project of rendering State aid to poor parents to enable +them to rear their children. Trajan, his successor, adopted this scheme +and developed it on a magnificent scale. As early as the year 100, there +were, in the city of Rome, as we learn from Pliny, no less than five +thousand children who received this assistance. So much consideration +was shown in the arrangement for this distribution, that it was ordered +that the apportionment of the sick or absent should be reserved until it +was sent for. From the Inscription of Veleia, one of the longest which +have come down to us, and the table of the Bæbiani for the apportionment +of food among the poor, we learn of the poor-relief system under which +two hundred and sixty-four boys and thirty-six girls were supported. +"The boys received annually one hundred and ninety-two sesterces +[$9.20], the girls one hundred and forty-four [$6.90]. The foundation +was established for a definite number of children, a number that did not +change so long as the foundation was not increased; but the assistance +varied, doubtless with the price of provisions, in different localities; +thus, at Veleia, sixteen sesterces per month; at Tarracina, twenty." The +writer of the above demonstrates by authorities and examples that from +sixteen to twenty sesterces per month was sufficient to support a Roman +child. He continues:</p> + +<p>"It cannot be affirmed that the institution was in a general measure +established in the whole of Italy; but coins, inscriptions, and even +sculptures, enable us to discover it in many places. Thus the +bas-reliefs of the Arch of Beneventum represent men carrying boys on +their shoulders, and four women, their heads adorned with mural crowns, +conducting young girls to Trajan. Do these women represent the four +towns of the vicinity, or are they the symbol of all the cities of Italy +which had profited by the same benefaction? The second hypothesis is the +more probable, and Dion confirms it.</p> + +<p>"Provincial cities and wealthy individuals followed the example given by +the emperors; this pagan society, which ameliorated the lot of the +slave, which was mindful of the destitution of its poor, thus showed +before its downfall that it possessed within itself powers of renewal +sufficient to save it, had it not been ruined by bad legislation."</p> + +<p>This annuity did not cease with the end of Trajan's reign. Hadrian +increased the length of time through which the boys and girls were to +receive it. It is noticeable that fewer girls than boys were assisted, +and, while the latter received the pension until the age of eighteen, it +was taken from the girls at the age of fourteen. It must be confessed +that this introduced a suspicion of utilitarianism into the +beneficence, girls at that time being considered of less advantage to +the State than their brothers; but Antoninus, who was a man of peace and +who would have much liked to be able to dispense with the army, in honor +of his wife increased the number of girls on the lists for support; +while on the death of the second Faustina, Marcus Aurelius followed his +predecessor's example. Private persons, and especially ladies, also +established foundations of this kind. To provide for a hundred children +at Tarracina, Cælia Macrina bequeathed one million sesterces; Hispalis +profited in a similar way by the legacy of a wealthy lady resident. The +spirit in which the times viewed this subject is shown in the words of +Paulus: "Donations," says he, "may be made to the city, either for its +adornment or for its honor; and among the things which honor a city the +most is the practice of giving support to infirm old men and to young +children of both sexes." There is also proof that in many cities +physicians were salaried by the municipality and required to render +gratuitous assistance to the poor.</p> + +<p>It is a fact exceedingly to be regretted that, while we find so much +that is admirable in this period by means of which the female portion of +society was benefited and for the existence of which much credit is +undoubtedly owing to the noble women of the time, yet the records of +individual women are extremely unsatisfactory. In the first place, they +are very meagre. Unfortunately, there are no such brilliant and copious +histories of the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian as of those of the +previous and less worthy emperors. Of individual women, apart from those +of the imperial house of this period, we know nothing. The records of +the empresses and of their female relatives exhibit a similarity to the +scandalous accounts of their predecessors which is sadly monotonous and +entirely unworthy of the otherwise wonderfully improved conditions. It +is doubtful whether or not the characters of the Faustinas could be +rehabilitated if trustworthy evidence were obtainable; but, even if that +were possible, there would still be nothing to secure for them equal +moral rank with their noble husbands. There is a fine exception, +however, in the character of Plotina, the wife of Trajan. In the Vatican +Museum there is a bust of this noble woman. It shows a lady advanced in +years, but with a countenance charmingly suggestive of intelligence and +moral dignity.</p> + +<p>Trajan was a plain, honest soldier, who, when he was proclaimed emperor +on the death of Nerva, entered the city on foot and recognized his old +friends as he passed on his way to the palace. Plotina Pompeia +accompanied him; and as she mounted the steps of the imperial abode, she +turned to the people and said: "Such as I am entering here, I desire to +be when I leave here." She must have been then in the prime of her +womanhood; for her husband reigned nineteen years, and she outlived him. +Her life in the palace, unlike that of the majority of her predecessors, +was distinguished by her unassailable virtue, her affability, and her +charitable activity on behalf of the poor and needy. We may safely be +assured that though the charitable scheme already described was +developed by the mind of her husband, he was stimulated thereto by the +gracious counsel of Plotina. She accompanied her husband on his +expedition in the East, and was with him when he died in Cilicia, whence +she carried his ashes to Rome. Under Hadrian she still continued to +enjoy all the honors and titles of a Roman empress.</p> + +<p>The accession of Hadrian to the throne is surrounded by a mystery which +must forever remain impenetrable. Gibbon repeats the gossip which the +ancient historians handed down as veritable fact, when he says: "We may +readily believe that the father of his country hesitated whether he +ought to intrust the various and doubtful character of his kinsman +Hadrian with sovereign power. In his last moments, the arts of the +Empress Plotina either fixed the irresolution of Trajan, or boldly +supposed a fictitious adoption; the truth of which could not be safely +disputed, and Hadrian was peaceably acknowledged as his lawful +successor." Dion asserted on the authority of his father, who was +Governor of Cilicia, where Trajan died, that the adoption never took +place and that Plotina forged the letters which were sent to Rome, +apparently from Trajan, informing the Senate of his choice. Some even +went so far as to say that, the moment after the emperor's death, he not +having named Hadrian, Plotina caused a man to be placed in his bed to +simulate his dying voice saying that he appointed Hadrian his successor.</p> + +<p>This is a flimsy story, and rather suggests the triviality of the minds +of those who concocted it than it impairs the character of Plotina. +Hadrian had married Sabina, the daughter of Matilda, who was in turn the +daughter of Marciana, Trajan's sister. Moreover, the emperor had +showered favors upon him, and appointed him to the highest offices. To +whom else should Trajan leave the Empire? Nevertheless, it is probable +that Hadrian was greatly liked by the powerful empress, and she may have +shown a deep interest in the adoption of the youth by her husband. In +courts, where there are of necessity jealousy and rival ambitions, from +such innocent facts will formidable scandals grow. Every other mention +of her is evidence against the insinuation that the maternal affection +of Plotina for Hadrian was tinctured with love of a stronger nature.</p> + +<p>Hadrian's mother was a native of Cadiz. How she was held in the esteem +of her imperial son is indicated in the following letter which he wrote +her: "All hail, very dear and excellent mother. Whatever you ask of the +gods for me, I ask the same for you. By Hercules, I am delighted that my +acts seem to you worthy of praise. To-day is my birthday; we must take +supper together. Come, then, well dressed, with my sisters. Sabina, who +is at our villa, has sent her share for the family repast."</p> + +<p>Through the meagre and inconclusive accounts we have of the private +affairs of Hadrian, the allegation is circulated that his life with +Sabina was far from being an amicable one. The empress was said to be of +a morose and sour disposition, and Hadrian is even accused of having rid +himself of her by the help of poison. The latter is a calumny unworthy +of serious attention. It is altogether impossible to believe that, even +if the chasm between the two were as wide as is reported, the emperor +would not have sought relief in divorce rather than in murder. However +praiseworthy may have been Hadrian's character as an emperor, if Sabina +stood upon her rights as a wife, she had every reason for holding him in +supreme contempt; for common as may have been the vice to which there +seems to be little doubt Hadrian was addicted, it is difficult to +believe that any woman retaining the least respect for herself could at +the same time retain any regard for such a husband. The state of affairs +between this imperial couple may have been very unpleasant; but at least +a semblance of harmony was preserved. Hadrian even protected his wife; +when Suetonius the historian in some way failed in proper respect for +Sabina, the emperor immediately banished him from the court. The empress +also seems to have accompanied her husband on many of his extensive +journeys. We have an interesting proof and record of her having been +with him in Egypt. She ascended the Nile as far as Thebes and visited +the statue of Memnon, the son of Aurora, who was reported to sing every +morning in honor of his radiant mother's return. Balbilla the poetess +caused three of her verses to be engraved on the leg of the statue, in +which she records this visit. They are dated the twentieth and +twenty-first of November, 130. It seems that the god did not show proper +respect for Sabina, nor did he in the least stand in awe of "the angry +countenance of the empress," for on the occasion of her first visit he +was not in a singing mood.</p> + +<p>From her portraits, one would not judge Sabina to have been of a morose +and bitter disposition. There is in the Vatican a statue of the empress +represented as Venus Genitrix, while there is also a bust of her in the +Capitol Museum. If these are faithful likenesses, it is as difficult to +believe that Sabina was of an unamiable disposition as it is to +understand Hadrian's preference for Antinous. In connection with this +subject Gibbon says that, down to the time of Hadrian, Claudius was the +only emperor whose taste in love matters was at all correct. This being +the case, it is only just to say that, if example could afford it, the +empresses had ample excuse for the most flagrant irregularities recorded +of them.</p> + +<p>Antoninus Pius was adopted by Hadrian and designated his successor, +without the aid of any woman whatsoever--except that Sabina failed to +provide an occupant for the throne by the act of maternity.</p> + +<p>The wife of Antoninus was Annia Galeria Faustina. She had borne him four +children; but at the time of his accession only one daughter, named +after her mother, survived. The annals of the period of this reign are +extremely meagre and unsatisfactory. It has been said that while the +unanimous praises that are bestowed upon the virtues of Antoninus earn +for him in pagan history the place held by Saint Louis among Christian +kings, his political career is so uncertain that, as emperor, he +appears before us a half-effaced figure, whose outlines are wholly +indistinct.</p> + +<p>Faustina the Elder did not live long to enjoy the dignity of empress; +but in private life she had established for herself such a reputation, +if all accounts be true, that she simply added one more to the list of +immoral empresses who had disgraced the palace. Yet it must be admitted +that these reflections upon her character are extremely ill-founded, and +indeed there is evidence to the contrary which tends to make them seem +absurd. Fronto, a philosopher of the period, pronounced a eulogy upon +her, concerning which Antoninus wrote: "In the discourse which thou hast +devoted to my Faustina I have found even more truth than eloquence. For +it is the fact--yes, by the gods! I would rather live with her on the +desert island of Gyaros than without her in the palace." This is not +merely affection; from a man of Antoninus's character, it indicates an +esteem which it would have been impossible for him to cherish, or even +express, had Faustina been the wanton that the unreliable memoirs of the +time describe her.</p> + +<p>After the death of his wife, Antoninus refused to marry again, though he +consoled himself with a concubine; he would not impart to another woman +the honors and the position which he had rejoiced to share with +Faustina. Indeed, such devoted affection is shown in the manner in which +this emperor revered the memory of his deceased wife, that it would be +one of the beautiful things in history were it not for the fact that the +suspicion fastened upon her reputation, though very improbable, cannot +be entirely eradicated, for lack of evidence to the contrary. Antoninus +built a temple to her honor, and after his death the Senate +reconsecrated it: <i>To the god Antoninus and to the goddess Faustina</i>. +The emperor also did what was far more advantageous to his people, and +was an equal proof of his love for Faustina: he established in the name +of his wife a charitable foundation for the support and education of +girls. There is in existence a medal bearing the empress's image, and on +the reverse a representation of Antoninus surrounded by young children, +with this inscription: <i>Puelloe Faustinianoe</i>.</p> + +<p>When Hadrian appointed Antoninus as his successor, he obliged the latter +to adopt as his son Marcus Annius Verus, known in history and in +philosophy as Marcus Aurelius. The mother of Marcus Aurelius was Domitia +Lucilla, a lady of consular rank and a descendant of Domitius Afer. She +seems to have been a woman in every way an ornament to these better +times. In his <i>Meditations</i>, the imperial philosopher acknowledges that +from his mother he inherited "piety, and beneficence, and abstinence not +only from evil deeds, but even from evil thoughts; and further, +simplicity of life far removed from the habits of the rich." One would +like to dwell on the character of this sweet-natured, pure-hearted +Lucilla. It would be an inestimable boon to the interests of history and +also of moral philosophy if we had a biography of the mother of a good +emperor; but unfortunately the pitiable historians of the time have +given us instead scandals regarding Faustina. There are, however, one or +two little incidents recorded which warrant us in the belief that if we +only knew more of her life we should have in Lucilla a name and a +portrait worthy of a place among those of the most honored women of the +world. She encouraged her son in his philosophic studies; but when his +enthusiasm carried him to such an excess of self-discipline that he +purposed to sleep on bare boards, his mother prevailed on him to indulge +himself with the luxury of a sheepskin rug.</p> + +<p>Marcus Aurelius expresses his thankfulness that "though it was my +mother's fate to die young, she spent the last years of her life with +me." In one of his letters to Fronto, he describes a day spent in the +country during the vintage. "When I returned home," he says, "I studied +a little, but not to much advantage. I had a long talk with my mother, +who was lying on her couch." Those talks with a mother from whom he had +learned to hate the thought of evil were of inestimable value to his +character, and thus have not been wholly lost to the world.</p> + +<p>On one occasion, Lucilla was noticed by Antoninus Pius in the act of +earnest prayer before the image of Apollo. "What think you she is +praying for so intently?" insinuated a mischief maker named Valerius +Omulus; "it is that you may die, and her son reign in your stead." +Antoninus ignored the base suggestion in silent contempt. It is very +possible that Lucilla was praying for her son's reign, but for the +worthiness of its character rather than for the speediness of its +commencement.</p> + +<p>Unfortunately, though it may not be necessary to believe all that is +said against her, it is at least very apparent that Faustina the wife of +Marcus Aurelius was not such a woman as Lucilla his mother. Gibbon sums +up in the following paragraph the whole story as it may be gleaned from +the very indifferent ancient authorities:</p> + +<p>"Faustina, the daughter of Pius and the wife of Marcus, has been as much +celebrated for her gallantries as for her beauty. The grave simplicity +of the philosopher was ill calculated to engage her wanton levity, or to +fix that unbounded passion for variety which often discovered merit in +the meanest of mankind. The Cupid of the ancients was, in general, a +very sensual deity; and the amours of an empress, as they exact on her +side the plainest advances, are seldom susceptible of much sentimental +delicacy, Marcus was the only man in the Empire who seemed ignorant or +insensible of the irregularities of Faustina; which, according to the +prejudices of every age, reflected some disgrace on the injured husband. +He promoted several of her lovers to posts of honor and profit, and, +during a connection of thirty years, invariably gave her proofs of the +most tender confidence and of a respect which ended not with her life. +In his <i>Meditations</i>, he thanks the gods who had bestowed on him a wife +so faithful, so gentle, and of such a wonderful simplicity of manners. +The obsequious Senate, at his earnest request, declared her a goddess. +She was represented in her temples with the attributes of Juno, Venus, +and Ceres; and it was decreed that, on the day of their nuptials, the +youth of either sex should pay their vows before the altar of their +chaste patroness."</p> + +<p>It would be a preposterous undertaking to accept a brief for Faustina; +and yet, judging such evidence as we have in the light of common sense, +one is inclined to acquit her of some charges, or at least to demand for +her a verdict of "not proven." Who are the witnesses against her? +Capitolinus, who wrote the life of Marcus Aurelius, is one. He wrote in +the time of Diocletian, one hundred and twenty years after the events. +Surely the lapse of time will to a certain degree depreciate the value +of the evidence; and then Capitolinus is an exceedingly poor biographer. +Dion Cassius is the principal witness; but it is very apparent that Dion +Cassius was accustomed to report indiscriminately every bit of scandal +he heard about anybody. He was constitutionally malignant. It is very +doubtful if any modern jury, knowing his character, would convict a +petty thief on the evidence of Dion Cassius. Because Commodus, the son +of Faustina, developed an abnormal love for bloody sports and manifested +a strong regard for the heroes of the arena, malicious tongues asserted +that he was the son of a gladiator; but the strong resemblance which may +be traced in the statues and bust of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus is +sufficient to refute this part of the charge. This likeness is also +attested by Fronto, who, though he may have desired to compliment the +emperor, was assuredly a man of too much character to adopt this +particular method if he knew Faustina to be the woman she is +represented. Then again, if her habits were as vicious as they are +described, it is absolutely inconceivable that her husband should have +remained in ignorance of the fact; it would imply that he must have been +nothing more or less than an imbecile, which Marcus Aurelius decidedly +was not. If, on the other hand, he knew of his wife's promiscuous +amours, it is incredible that he should have had the effrontery to laud +his wife's faithfulness and virtue before the public; it is +inconceivable that he should have manifested toward her such confidence +and esteem in their private relations. Our judgment is influenced more +by the treatment she received from her husband than by the venomous +testimony of Dion.</p> + +<p>One of the charges against Faustina is that she abetted the conspiracy +of Avidius Cassius by offering him her hand in the event of her +husband's being slain. This even the biographer of Cassius denies, and +quotes a letter of Faustina's in proof.</p> + +<p>There must, however, have been some cause for these reports of the +empress's conduct, even though they are greatly exaggerated. We may take +it for granted that Faustina was not worthy of her noble husband. It is +very possible that she had little regard for his philosophical maxims +and less liking for his austerities. She may have been more forcibly +attracted by the handsome appearance and gay manner of Verus, her +husband's colleague in the Empire; but that she was so absolutely +wanton as the ancient anecdotists describe requires no contravention of +the principles of historical criticism to disbelieve.</p> + +<p>The letters of Faustina to Marcus Aurelius were preserved by Vulcatius +Gallicanus, and Victor Duruy says they are those of an empress, a wife, +and a mother. She often accompanied her husband on his many trying +expeditions, and thus gained from the soldiers the title of "Mother of +the Camps." It was on such a journey, at the foot of Mount Taurus, that +she died. There has been preserved a bas-relief which represents +Faustina carried by a winged being in human form from the funeral pyre +to heaven; the emperor sits below and points out to his daughter the +apotheosis of her mother, while he himself follows the departing figure +with affectionate eyes. At the theatre, her statue, formed of gold, was +placed in the position which she had been accustomed to occupy. To honor +her memory, a new foundation for the support of the daughters of +indigent parents was instituted; and at the Villa Albani there is +another bas-relief, which represents Faustina surrounded by young girls +and distributing among them corn, which they receive in the folds of +their dresses.</p> + +<p>In the period of the Antonines, paganism was at its best. It was then +afforded a magnificent opportunity to show how far in the direction of +social progress and moral development the human race could be carried +under its influence. It was on its trial before the evolutionary forces +of the universe. What is the verdict? That paganism has disappeared +cannot be said; for much that was essential to the system is still +inherent in the prevailing religion of the civilized world to-day. But +how did the ancient system of religion respond to the quest for those +influences which make for human happiness, both for the man and the +woman--for here there can be no distinction? There is much in the old +system, as it answers for itself in the period under discussion, that is +extremely satisfactory, much that will compare most favorably with like +conditions in modern times. We have seen how a social conscience was +evolved, and how most admirable methods were adopted for the purpose of +supporting poor girls and boys. It has been noticed how in this period +life was secure, happy, and beautiful. The conditions of slavery were +ameliorated, so that involuntary servitude became, in some respects, +less severe than it was in Christian lands during the last century. +Woman's legal position was greatly improved, affording her an +independence, all things considered, which she did not enjoy during the +Middle Ages. This banner age of paganism was also capable of producing +such men as Pliny and the Antonines. Unfortunately, history lacks such +records as would reveal the best examples of the women who graced this +period. Instead of the noblest, we have only the most conspicuous. We +are shown the Faustinas, because they lived in the palace; but, +notwithstanding the excellence of the husbands of these women, it is +true that a palace is the least promising soil for the cultivation of +moral beauty. Yet in Plotina and Lucilla we find such characters as +warrant the belief that in humbler walks there were many women whose +lives would not have suffered severe criticism if they had been tried by +the principles of the modern morality.</p> + +<p>Much was accomplished under the ancient system; but the time exhibited +the best possibilities of paganism. It could do no better; and it soon +prepared to leave the field in the possession of a victor. It could not +soften the heart and thus dispense with its cruelties. It could not +emancipate all its slaves; it contained in itself no indictment of +slavery. It recognized that all men are of one blood, but it did not +evolve the idea of universal brotherhood or the Golden Rule. It had no +argument for morality which could appeal to the unphilosophic common +multitude. In these things it was weighed and found wanting; for these +reasons it could not perpetuate itself.</p> +<a name="c14" id="c14"></a> +<br><br> + +<h3>XIV</h3> + +<h3>THE PASSING OF PAGANISM</h3> + +<p>From the reign of Commodus must be dated the beginning of the Decline. +From now on, two influences are at work undermining the structure of the +ancient Empire; we see the double process of disintegration and +conversion. Pagan civilization had finished its day and must make way +for the dawn of a new era. The Roman Empire fell to pieces because the +sword, which was the only bond by which its heterogeneous conquests +could be held together, became insubordinate to the political authority. +After the second century, the army was rarely led to new foreign +victories. It became the instrument of revolt; it bartered the Empire, +and supported or assassinated adventitious claimants for the throne at +its wild caprice. At last, the old Roman spirit having entirely +departed, the barbarians made an easy prey of the decaying body.</p> + +<p>In the meantime the gods, who, so far as their effective existence was +concerned, had been long since discredited, were deposed from the minds +of an increasing number of the people, to make room for a new and purer +faith. But the rise of Christianity did not follow the brilliant day of +paganism without an intervening night. Literature, art, and the science +of domestic and social life deteriorated, as European society fell to +the rude habits of the dark ages of feudalism. In this closing chapter, +it is our purpose to follow the fortunes of pagan woman life down to the +time when, under Constantine, Christianity became the State religion.</p> + +<p>In the accession of Commodus is seen the return to the rule of that +despotism, joined with moral insanity, from which Rome had been free +since the days of Domitian. The Empire was again allowed to take care of +itself, while the emperor occupied himself with abominable indulgences +and murderous executions.</p> + +<p>Under the preceding emperors, moral courtiers had been in favor. Now, +the opposite example was set, and the women as well as the men were much +more eager to rush into profligacy than they had been, under Marcus +Aurelius, to take up philosophy. The two empresses were leaders in the +new fashion. Crispina, the wife of Commodus, either carried her +intrigues too far or in some other way made herself obnoxious to her +husband, for she was banished to Capri and shortly afterward put to +death. It is noticeable that the worst men were the quickest to punish +laxity in the conduct of their own wives. They were more suspicious; +they had a more alert sense of amorous possibilities; they were in a +better position to discover clues; and they were devoid of conscience, +which, at least, might have dictated to them a policy of fair play.</p> + +<p>Lucilla, the daughter of Marcus Aurelius and the sister of Commodus, +inherited nothing of her grandmother's character with her name. Atavism +in her case was not effectual. She had been the spouse of her father's +colleague, Verus, and she retained her imperial honors from this +connection; so that she occupied the emperor's box at the theatre and +had the sacred fire, the symbol of majesty, carried before her as she +passed through the streets. Her lovers were numerous.</p> + +<p>Apart from such failings as those sensual indulgences so customary among +the Romans, the reign of Commodus for the first three years was fairly +respectable. He had as yet shown no symptom of mercilessness; but one +night, as he was traversing an ill-lighted passage in the palace, a +Senator rushed upon him with the words: "The Senate sends you this." The +threat saved the emperor's life, the guards at once overpowering the +assassin. The plot owed its origin to Lucilla. Dissatisfied with the +second place in the Empire, the misguided woman designed, upon the death +of her brother, to place on the throne one of her lovers, with whom she +would reign in concert. That her destined accomplice was not Claudius +Pompeianus, her respectable though somewhat aged husband, may be assumed +from the fact that he was not privy to the plot. Lucilla was punished +with exile and, later, with death. From this time, Commodus gave rein to +his cruel disposition without restraint; the slightest suspicion on his +part, or an insinuation on that of his favorites, sufficed to authorize +an execution. Rome had once been at the mercy of a buffoon who was +deluded with the idea that he possessed a heavenly voice; she was now +ravaged by a gladiator who believed himself to be a second Hercules. His +extravagance being enormous, and the execution of the rich being the +easiest way to recuperate the treasury, many women as well as men lost +their lives on account of their wealth.</p> + +<p>Among the possessions of one of his victims, Commodus discovered a very +beautiful woman, with whom he at once fell desperately in love. There is +in the Cabinet de France a bronze medallion representing the features of +Commodus and Marcia conjoined in profile. There are also other +indications that this woman, whom the emperor made his concubine, was +accorded almost the honors of an empress. She is traditionally credited +with having been a Christian; but, though she may have favored +Christianity, and probably it was to her influence that its adherents +owed their safety during this reign, her own life did not so closely +correspond with the teaching of that faith as to render her worthy of +the title of Christian.</p> + +<p>Marcia endeavored to dissuade her imperial lover from some of his +bloodthirsty purposes, and as a reward he placed her own name with that +of two of his chief officials on his tablets which contained the list of +the fated. These tablets were discovered under his pillow and fell into +Marcia's hands. She realized that desperate measures were immediately +demanded. Consulting with the others whose lives were threatened, they +decided that she should administer to the emperor poison in his wine. +This she did; but, doubtful as to the effect, they introduced a young +wrestler, who strangled Commodus in his sleep. No assassination planned +by a female mind was ever more excusable than this. The act saved Marcia +her life, and rid the world of one in comparison with whom the monsters +slain by Perseus were desirable neighbors.</p> + +<p>For a time the Empire went begging for a ruler. Pertinax, a man who from +being the son of a charcoal dealer had raised himself to the position of +consul, was chosen by the assassins of Commodus; but Pertinax was not +eager for the exalted but dangerous position of emperor. He offered it +to some of the Senators, but they declined the magnificent gift with +thanks. The soldiers, finding in their camp a Senator whom they +preferred to Pertinax, proposed to make him emperor; but he escaped and +ran away from the city. Pertinax was at last induced to accept; and +could he have retained the rule, Rome would have entered again upon a +period like that of Trajan. He refused to allow his wife to take the +title of Augusta, judging that she had done nothing to earn it. He put +up to auction the inmates of the seraglio of Commodus, in order to +replenish the empty treasury, giving, however, their liberty to those +who had been forcibly abducted from their homes. But his government was +too rigid for the prætorian guard, and they ended it by assassinating +him after a reign of only eighty days.</p> + +<p>There was in Rome at this time a woman named Manlia Scantilla. She was +the wife of a Senator, by name Julianus, who possessed immense wealth +and had filled all the highest offices of the State. After the murder of +Pertinax, Manlia heard that the prætorian guards were offering the +Empire to the highest bidder. Her household was at the moment sitting +down to a sumptuous banquet. Manlia and her daughter, carried away by +their ambition, urged Julianus not to miss so favorable an opportunity +to seat himself on the throne and to clothe them in the imperial purple; +if wealth was the only qualification, Julianus possessed it. He hurried +to the camp, and while the father-in-law of the dead Pertinax made his +offers from within he raised them from without the ramparts. At last the +Empire was knocked down to him for six thousand two hundred and fifty +drachmas [about one thousand two hundred and fifty dollars] to each +prætorian. After he had received the oaths of his new guards and had +been presented to the Senate, he went to the palace. There he saw, still +untouched, the frugal meal which had been prepared for Pertinax. +Contemptuously sneering at this, he commanded a banquet to be served +that was worthy of an emperor, at which he, Manlia, and their friends, +while regaling themselves, were entertained by the performances of +Pylades, a celebrated dancer. Their occupancy of the palace, however, +was brief. The people were disgusted, and the legions in the provinces +were roused to furious indignation. Pescennius Niger, commanding in +Syria, was proclaimed emperor by his soldiers, and Septimus Severus +received the same honor in Upper Pannonia. The latter marched upon Rome, +and Julianus was soon convinced that his high-priced glory was not a +good bargain. He was without support, though he endeavored to maintain +the regard of the prætorians by executing Marcia, who had slain their +darling Commodus; but the guards who had sold him the Empire were not +minded to sacrifice themselves by maintaining him in its possession. +They made no resistance when the Senate passed a decree of deposition +and death against Julianus, at the same time acknowledging Severus as +emperor. The former was beheaded, after reigning sixty-six days.</p> + +<p>Once more Rome was to have an emperor worthy of the name. The manner in +which Severus was received in the city was a good omen for his reign. +"At the city's gates," says Dion Cassius, "Severus dismounted from his +horse, and laid aside his military dress before entering Rome; but his +whole army followed him into the city. It was the most imposing sight I +ever saw. Throughout the city were garlands of flowers and laurel +wreaths; the houses, adorned with hangings of different colors, were +resplendent with the fire of sacrifices and the light of torches. The +citizens, clad in white, filled the air with acclamations, and the +soldiers advanced in martial order, as if at a triumph. We Senators +headed the procession, wearing the insignia of our rank."</p> + +<p>With the enthronement of Septimus Severus, there came to the city as his +wife one of the most remarkable women of Roman history. Julia Domna was +a native of Emesa in Syria, but at the same time a Roman subject. +Severus had lost his first wife while he was governor in Gaul; and while +he was commanding in Syria he became acquainted with the daughter of +Bassianus, priest of the Sun. It was not alone Julia's beauty that +captivated him, though the bust and the noble stola-clad statue which +are still preserved at Rome warrant the opinion that a single man of any +susceptibility might well have excused in himself the lack of any other +consideration. Severus, however, was a student of omens and divination, +and well versed in the science of astrology. Julia's nativity had been +cast, and the stars indicated that she was to be the wife of a +sovereign. This decided Severus. He concluded that he could not do +better than link his fortunes with those of a young lady who, though +poor at present, had in prospect a future so promising. Julia Domna +deserved all that the stars could predict for her. With the attractions +of her person were united unusual powers of mind. It is said of her that +she was capable of great boldness of purpose and equal prudence in +putting her plans into effect; and to her is attributed also a strength +of mind that is uncommon in her sex. Severus held her in the highest +regard, and she was so accustomed to accompany him on his expeditions +that she also earned that title which the soldiers always bestowed on +such ladies--"The Mother of the Camps." On inscriptions she was spoken +of as <i>domina</i>--the mistress. The number of these inscriptions proves +the popularity of Julia among the Greeks also, by whom she was honored +as "a new Demeter."</p> + +<p>This empress was a patroness of letters; her friends were principally +among the learned and the students of philosophy. Severus himself, we +are told, greatly admired one of the ladies of her circle because she +could read and understand Plato. It is extremely pleasant, after a long +list of empresses the records of whose frailties are exceedingly +monotonous, to imagine Julia Domna engaged in the study of the highest +problems of life and befriending such men as Ulpian and Galen. She thus +earned for herself the title of Julia the Philosopher. There is every +reason to believe that Diogenes Laertius dedicated to her his <i>History +of the Greek Philosophers</i>. The book is dedicated to a woman who greatly +admired the Academy; but as the name and the dedicatory epistle are +missing, it is not absolutely certain whether it was Arria, mentioned in +an earlier chapter, or the empress, who was thus honored. There is no +doubt, however, that Julia engaged Philostratus to write for her the +life of Apollonius of Tyana, the great Pythagorean thaumaturgist.</p> + +<p>The great historian of the Decline of the Roman Empire says that while +the grateful flattery of these learned men has extolled the virtues of +the wife of Severus, "if we may credit the scandal of ancient history, +chastity was very far from being the most conspicuous virtue of the +Empress Julia." But Gibbon rarely questions an allegation of this sort; +on the other hand, Dion Cassius, who zealously reports every such +accusation, is, for a wonder, silent on this. Julia's intellectual +tastes, not to speak of her four children, would be likely to preclude +her falling into any gross immoralities.</p> + +<p>Associated with the empress in the palace were her sister and two +nieces, all bearing like her the name Julia. Her sister, Julia Mæsa, was +no less remarkable than the empress; and in later days, by placing her +grandsons on the throne, she presided over the destinies of the Empire +as no other woman had hitherto done. Julia Soæmias is represented on +coins as the Heavenly Virgin; but if the statement of Lampridius in +regard to her mundane frailties is to be credited, her lightly adorned +statue as Venus was more in character. Then there was Julia Mammæa, who +reared one of the best, though not of the strongest, men who attained to +the purple, and who, by her influence over his mind, held the reins of +government greatly to the immediate profit of the Empire.</p> + +<p>Another lady of the court which surrounded Julia Domna was Plautilla, +the daughter of Plautianus the prefect. Plautianus was the emperor's +relative, and by him vested with powers almost equal to his own. He was +an ambitious man, and, while probably faithful to his master, sought to +secure his own position by marrying his daughter to the young prince +Caracalla. This marriage was forced upon Caracalla much against his +will, and proved disastrous to Plautilla; but it was an astoundingly +magnificent affair. Dion relates that he saw the dowry of the bride +carried into the palace, and declares that it was enough for fifty +kings' daughters. The same historian tells of many tyrannous +extravagances which Plautianus allowed himself on this occasion; but +when he informs us that the latter caused one hundred freeborn Romans, +many of them husbands and fathers of families, to be mutilated, in order +that his daughter might be attended by a retinue of eunuchs in the +Oriental fashion, our sense of what is possible, even in the most +despotic circumstances, rebels. The ancient anecdotist further says that +"the thing was not known until after Plautianus's death." It is surely +inconceivable that the wives of these victims should have allowed such a +thing to pass in silence.</p> + +<p>Caracalla threatened the destruction of his bride and her father when he +should come to the throne. The latter part of this menace he put into +effect without waiting for his father's death. Plautilla seems not to +have been blameless in the matter. Her father made himself the enemy of +the empress and her son, and Plautilla with him turned the indifference +of her husband into positive hatred. The imperial family was rent with +discord. Julia Domna did not endeavor to conciliate the powerful +favorite, and he sought her ruin by means of the new laws which had been +passed against conjugal infidelity. If Dion may be believed in the +matter, the prefect went so far as to subject women of noble family to +torture, in order to procure evidence against the empress. This attempt +does not seem to have been successful, and Caracalla soon found an +opportunity to avenge the attempt to injure the reputation of his +mother. Surprising his father with an accusation of treason on the part +of the prefect, he caused the latter to be struck down before the +emperor had time to ascertain the truth. Shortly afterward, Plautilla +was exiled to Lipari; and when her husband came to the throne he caused +her to be put to death.</p> + +<p>Under Severus were decreed a number of laws which affected the life and +the status of women. He had a strong sense of justice. When persons were +banished, the law required that their property should be confiscated. On +one occasion, when a mother and her son were about to suffer that +punishment, the mother begged that enough might be taken from her +possessions to afford her son the bare necessaries of life. The son also +pleaded that from his property his mother might receive the same mercy. +This mutual solicitude touched the emperor, and he said: "I cannot +change the law; but it shall be as you desire."</p> + +<p>He decreed that the husband who did not avenge his murdered wife should +forfeit whatever of her dowry would otherwise legally fall to him. He +also commanded that women who deprived their husbands of the hope of +children by producing abortion should be condemned to temporary exile.</p> + +<p>There were many women who, in slavery, were reduced to the necessity of +earning money for their owners by their own prostitution. This was their +only means of securing their liberty. It was made a misdemeanor for +anyone to reproach them for this misfortune, nor was it allowed that any +woman should be forced against her will to adopt a life of infamy. Women +were also prohibited from fighting in the arena. The laws against +adultery were rendered more severe; but, from what we can learn of the +times, this did not result in any marked effect upon social morality.</p> + +<p>There was in existence a law forbidding provincial officials, and even +their sons, to take wives from the province to which they were +appointed. This was a wise measure; for it is easy to see how these +officials, by the power afforded them through their position, might, in +order to secure rich dowries, compel unwilling brides to accept their +suit. Nevertheless, such marriages at times did take place. In order to +enforce the spirit of the law, and to protect provincials from official +tyranny in this respect, Severus ordered that an official who had +married a wealthy heiress in his province should not be allowed to +inherit from her.</p> + +<p>Since Rome had possessed a standing army it had always been the rule +that the soldiers should not be permitted to marry. The consequence was +that the camps were surrounded by crowds of profligate women, as well as +other women who had become the constant companions of soldiers but could +not be legally married. Severus repealed this law and allowed the +legionaries to contract legitimate marriages. Anyone who is cognizant of +the effect of the residence of a garrison of unmarried soldiers in a +European town can understand what a salutary influence this enactment of +Severus would have upon general morality.</p> + +<p>The principal thing in the life of Severus for which he can be justly +criticised with severity is his appointment of Caracalla as one of his +successors, and thus allowing his parental affection to overcome his +judgment of what was good for the Empire.</p> + +<p>On their father's death, Caracalla and his greatly superior brother Geta +were made joint emperors; but they were jealous of each other and could +not agree. They proposed to divide the Empire. "But will you also divide +your mother?" asked Julia; and with many exhortations she dissuaded them +from resorting to this impracticable scheme.</p> + +<p>Rome was once more to be harassed by the fury of a youthful monster. +Caracalla concluded that one emperor would suffice. In order to carry +out his purpose, he agreed to meet his brother in their mother's +apartments and there discuss terms of reconciliation. While he was +conversing with Geta, some centurions rushed into the room; and though +his mother tried to protect her younger son with her arms, Caracalla +urged the assassins to their work, and the empress herself was wounded +and also covered with Geta's blood. Afterward, when the murderer found +his mother in the midst of her female friends weeping over the fate of +his brother, he threatened them all with death. This menace was indeed +executed upon Fadilla, a surviving daughter of Marcus Aurelius. Milman +says: "The most valuable paragraph of Dion, which the industry of M. Mai +has recovered, relates to this daughter of Marcus, executed by +Caracalla. Her name, as appears from Fronto, as well as from Dion, was +Cornificia. When commanded to choose the kind of death she was to +suffer, she burst into womanish tears; but remembering her father +Marcus, she thus spoke: 'O my hapless soul, now imprisoned in the body, +burst forth! be free! Show them, however reluctant to believe it, that +thou art the daughter of Marcus.' She then laid aside all her ornaments, +and, preparing herself for death, ordered her veins to be opened." Many +other women died at this time because they were supposed to be +sympathizers with Geta.</p> + +<p>It would have been an unnatural thing and a disgrace to humanity if +Caracalla himself had escaped the assassin's hand. His fate came to him +in his twenty-ninth year, as he was on a pilgrimage to the temple of the +Moon; and Macrinus, who began life as a slave and was at one time a +gladiator, reigned in his stead.</p> + +<p>The Empress Julia Domna did not long outlive her son. Hers had been a +strange career. From a humble position she had been raised to that of +the highest lady in the world; and she had been a power in her time. +During the reign of Caracalla, though she could not restrain his +enormities, she had really administered the Empire. With her exaltation +had also come the most bitter sorrow. One son had been killed in her +arms by the other; and now the fratricide had fallen by the assassin's +weapon. She was at Antioch when she heard of her son's death. The news +wounded her both as a mother and also as an empress; one who had been +the servant of her husband was now to rule over her. Though Macrinus +treated her with great consideration, life seemed no longer tolerable, +and she resolved to starve herself to death. This resolution was not +less easy to form, inasmuch as she was suffering from an incurable +disease. There are some intimations that she first thought it possible +to raise herself to the throne and reign, as did some of her famous +female contemporaries in the East; but she soon carried out the project +dictated by hopelessness and starved herself to death.</p> + +<p>After the death of Julia Domna, the other three Julias were commanded to +return to Emesa, where was the temple of the Sun, in which the father of +the family had been a priest. They were allowed to carry with them +their wealth; and this gold they soon found a means of using to the +overthrow of Macrinus. Soæmias had a son named Bassianus, and Mammæa +also had a son, who is most favorably known as the Emperor Alexander.</p> + +<p>Bassianus was consecrated to the priesthood of the Sun. Macrinus had +made the mistake of stationing a great many troops at Emesa, where he +had sent these women, with minds full of dislike for himself and a house +full of gold which they might use to his disadvantage. The soldiers fell +in love with the young Bassianus, as they viewed his fine figure arrayed +in the magnificent robes of his priestly office. Mæsa spread the idea +among these legionaries that Bassianus was the son of the murdered +Caracalla; the men thought they could detect a likeness, and Mæsa gave +them large quantities of gold in order to improve their vision. Then +they were sure that Bassianus bore a strong likeness to Caracalla, who +must therefore have been his father. Mæsa had no more compunction about +sacrificing her money than she had about casting an imputation upon her +daughter's honor; she considered that the Empire would make amends for +both, if she could only secure it. Bassianus--who was afterward known by +the name of his god, Elagabalus--was but a youth of fifteen; he was sent +by his grandmother to the camp, with wagons filled with gold. After +distributing these arguments, he was proclaimed emperor under the name +of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, it being supposed that this honor to the +great philosopher would gain him favor with the people; and never was a +better name adopted for the furtherance of a base purpose.</p> + +<p>This was a conspiracy of women; but, owing to the corrupt character and +the power of the soldiery, it succeeded. Macrinus made one hesitating +effort to maintain his position on the throne; he scattered donations, +and his troops fought a battle with those of Elagabalus. The latter +were on the point of being defeated, when Mæsa and Soæmias threw +themselves into the fight, and by their courage and ardor reheartened +the soldiers and thus gained the day.</p> + +<p>Macrinus was not a bad emperor. He was considering plans of reform which +would have been greatly for the benefit of the people; but he was +removed to make way for the dissolute, effeminate Syrian priest of the +Sun. There is a cameo of the time, which represents Elagabalus riding in +a chariot drawn by two women who are crawling on their hands and knees. +Mæsa and Soæmias assuredly did debase themselves in dragging such an +emperor to the palace. His impure religion, added to his natural +disposition, his absolute power, and his youth, made of his reign the +very apotheosis of lust. The Senate received an emperor arrayed in the +silken robes of his priesthood to a Syrian god, adorned with a tiara, +necklaces, and bracelets, with his eyebrows tinged and his cheeks +painted like those of an Oriental woman.</p> + +<p>His grandmother and her two daughters accompanied him to Rome. These +women differed in their character, and consequently in their conception +of how Elagabalus and themselves should employ the newly gained power. +Mæsa had been trained under the strict rule of Severus. She knew how +moderation and attention to the welfare of the Empire was the course +most likely to bring good results to the ruler and his family. The +administration she proposed to keep in her own hands; but she desired +her grandson at least to keep himself within the bounds of that liberty +which in those times was considered decent. Soæmias, on the other hand, +encouraged the young profligate in the belief that it was his right to +indulge himself in any manner which his inclination warranted and his +power made possible. Her advice seemed to him the more sensible, and he +acted accordingly. He allowed his grandmother to take full charge of +all public matters, only requiring that she should not interfere with +him in his pleasures. Mæsa had her seat in the Senate, near that of the +Consuls; and for the first time Rome was confessedly under the rule of a +woman. To his mother Elagabalus gave an appointment which was in accord +with her tastes; she was made president of the woman's senate, which +determined for the matrons their rank, costumes, and the quantity and +nature of ornaments which each might wear according to her social +position. Mammæa, however, kept in retirement, and endeavored as far as +possible to shield her son from the contamination which surrounded them +and also from the dangers of public notice.</p> + +<p>The astounding follies of this reign, the licentiousness, the tyrannies, +especially as they affected women, cannot better be summed up than in +this picture drawn by Gibbon: "Elagabalus lavished away the treasures of +the people in the wildest extravagance, his own voice and that of his +flatterers applauded a spirit and magnificence unknown to the tameness +of his predecessors. To confound the order of seasons and climates, to +sport with the passions and prejudices of his subjects, to subvert every +law of nature and decency, were in the number of his most delicious +amusements. A long train of concubines, and a rapid succession of wives, +among whom was a Vestal virgin, ravished by force from her sacred +asylum, were insufficient to satisfy the impotence of his passions. The +master of the Roman world affected to copy the dress and manners of the +female sex, preferred the distaff to the sceptre, and dishonored the +principal dignities of the Empire by distributing them among his +numerous lovers, one of whom was publicly invested with the title and +authority of the emperor's, or, as he more properly styled himself, of +the empress's husband."</p> + +<p>What a fall was this from the stern independence and the grand morality +of the Romans who knew the mother of the Gracchi! The Roman Senators had +become the slaves of a youth who pretended to be a dissolute woman; the +best ladies of the Empire, however virtuously inclined, had no +protection for their honor and no redress for their injuries, if they +attracted the fancy of the emperor or his favorites. The ancient gods +and goddesses, who, though the creations of superstitious imagination, +had inspired the Romans in their struggle for empire and in that manner +had aided them in securing it, were made the courtiers of the Syrian +Sun-god, represented by a shapeless black stone.</p> + +<p>The shrewd Mæsa saw that it would be impossible for Elagabalus to retain +the throne and at the same time insult prejudices which were still dear +and deep-rooted in the minds of the otherwise indifferent Romans. She +determined, however, still to keep her family in power. The means +thereto she found in her other grandson, Alexander, the son of Mammæa. +By employing the argument that the high priest of the Sun should be +uninterrupted in his heavenly calling and in his pleasures by the +affairs of the world, she induced Elagabalus to adopt his cousin and +invest him with the dignity of Cæsar.</p> + +<p>Mammæa had encouraged the natural disposition of her son, who was +inclined to amiability and uprightness; he speedily became a great +favorite with the people and, what was to more purpose, with the +soldiery. The son of Soæmias was not so blinded by his follies but that +he saw with envy the growing popularity of his younger colleague; but +instead of seeking to emulate his cousin in the good graces of the +people by reforming his own life, he determined to remove his rival +after the customary Roman fashion. But the watchful Mammæa so hedged her +son about with faithful servants that Elagabalus, who was weak-minded +enough to talk of all his purposes, could find no instrument capable of +penetrating this armor of a mother's care.</p> + +<p>At last the emperor ordered the Senate to degrade Alexander from the +dignity of Cæsar, while at the same time he sent assassins to murder +him. The latter, for the reason already stated, failed in their errand; +and the Senate received the command in silence and indignation. The +soldiers were furious. They commanded the boys to be brought before the +Senate, and charged that body to protect the one and see to the +reformation of the manners of the other. The soldiers reproving the +conduct of their emperor represents exactly the position which the +supposed chief ruler of the Roman world now occupied. He was the subject +of the army.</p> + +<p>The rivalry between the two princes soon came to a crisis, and Mammæa, +in order to save her son, set herself against her sister. Each of the +two women endeavored to incite the prætorians against the other. Mammæa +won; and Soæmias and her infamous son were slain.</p> + +<p>Alexander was raised to the supreme position; but, being a dutiful and +obedient youth, he allowed those two noble women, his grandmother and +his mother, to hold the reins of government and also to advise him in +his own personal conduct. The former, however, soon died, and Mammæa was +constituted sole regent.</p> + +<p>Mammæa was a woman who exhibited in herself the highest type of +intelligence, as well as an honorably regulated life. She was a +patroness of all learning and a student of philosophy. It was her desire +to become acquainted with all theories concerning the highest problems +of human existence; so much so that she sent for Origen, the +best-educated Christian of his time, in order that she might satisfy her +curiosity in regard to the teachings of that rapidly spreading faith. +She did not, however, become a Christian; even had she been convinced of +the truth of Origen's doctrines, her position demanded of her a policy +which, viewed from an entirely mundane standpoint, she could not afford +to abandon. She had provided her son with instructors who were not only +noted for their learning, but also for their unquestioned integrity. +Herodian says: "The statues of the gods which Elagabalus had taken away +were at once restored to their places. Those officials who had +unworthily obtained office were dismissed and their places filled by the +most capable citizens. In order to preserve the emperor from the +mistakes which might be caused by absolute authority, the ardor of +youth, or by some of the vices natural to his family, Mammæa strictly +guarded the entrance to the palace, and allowed no man to gain admission +whose morals were of bad repute."</p> + +<p>Mammæa not only guarded her son, but, in his name and so far as the +palace was able to reserve any real authority from the power of the +camp, she ruled the Empire. She was wise and broad-minded enough to care +nothing for the title and pageantry of rule; indeed, the indications +seem to be that she was more anxious to reëstablish good government than +to hold the reins herself. Herodian says that she made an effort to +bring back good morals and the ancient dignified demeanor. She caused to +be chosen sixteen Senators, the most eminent for experience and +integrity of life, to form an imperial council, and without their +approval no measures were carried into execution. The people, the army, +the Senate, the historian assures us, were delighted with this new form +of government, which replaced the most insolent of tyrannies by a sort +of aristocracy. From the time of Commodus to that of Constantine, Rome +had no better government than that which was inspired by the genius and +ability of Mammæa; and if the organization and the subordination which +existed in the time of Trajan had still prevailed, the rule of this +remarkable woman would have equalled in uprightness and beneficence that +of any period in the history of the Empire.</p> + +<p>The care of Mammæa in the education of her son was rewarded by its good +effect upon his character. Virtue for him never lost its charm, and a +fearless advocacy of the right made him respected by all. He inscribed +over the entrance to his palace, and had the heralds proclaim when +criminals were chastised, these words, which it is probable his mother +may have learned from her interview with Origen: <i>Do not to another what +you would not have done to yourself</i>.</p> + +<p>While Mammæa was not jealous of public honors and titles, she was +avaricious in regard to the affections of her son; there she could not +endure a rival. With her consent, he married the daughter of a +patrician; but his love for his young wife, as much as his respect for +his father-in-law, caused Mammæa to have the latter executed on a charge +of treason and to banish the empress into Africa. It is somewhat +derogatory to the character of Alexander if, as Dion assures us, he +lamented the fate of his wife but durst not oppose it. How his second +wife fared with his mother we do not know. Her name was Sallustia +Orbiana. On a medallion she is represented as wearing a diadem; the +other side of the medal is inscribed with the words <i>FECVNDITAS +TEMPORVM</i>, and there Orbiana is shown seated, while Fecundity, kneeling +before her, holds a horn of plenty and carries two children.</p> + +<p>The faults of Mammæa were avarice and her insistence upon dominating +over her son after he had attained the years of manhood; and these +errors in the end brought about the ruin of herself and Alexander. The +people were glad of a respite after the excesses of Caracalla and +Elagabalus; but they were not prepared for an empress-regent who spent +nothing on entertainments and gave no donations, or for an emperor whose +policy was formed on Plato's <i>Republic</i>. Julian, who characterized the +Cæsars, represents Alexander Severus sitting sadly on the steps of the +hall where the emperors and the gods are banqueting; Silenus mocks at +him and at his mother, who hoards her treasure; while Justice consents +to chastise his murderers, but has little sympathy for "the poor fool, +the great simpleton, who in a corner bewails his misfortune."</p> + +<p>Only a strong man who could manage the army as Severus had done could +save himself in the Rome of that day. When Maximin, a barbarian of +immense personal strength and lifelong military experience, headed a +revolt in the army, the soldiers were quite ready to believe that the +Empire had long enough been ruled by "a parsimonious woman and a +pusillanimous boy." While on an expedition, the emperor endeavored to +maintain peace by making presents of gold to the Germans; this, above +all things, was displeasing to soldiers who, besides being eager to ply +their trade, expected to gain gold by war rather than by it to purchase +peace. The emperor was slain in his tent, after reigning thirteen years, +and his mother, who had been at all times the real ruler, perished with +him.</p> + +<p>Alexander had favored the enemies of the ancient gods, and even decided +to the advantage of the Christians when there occurred a dispute in +regard to some land in Rome which they claimed in opposition to certain +innkeepers. "It is better," he said, "that this spot should be occupied +by a house of prayer than by a house of debauchery." Mammæa has even +been claimed for Christianity; but on her coins she was represented as +the beneficent Juno, and at her death the Senate decreed her apotheosis. +The end of paganism was not yet. It was to prove its lingering vitality +by its fierce and final death struggles under Decius and Diocletian.</p> + +<p>From this time there was a quick succession of emperors, most of whom +were slain almost as soon as created. The State was becoming constantly +more disorganized. Every province desired its own emperor; and down to +the time of Diocletian, civil war was almost constant. Morals did not +improve, and families took on more and more the appearance of Oriental +establishments. We read of one emperor, Carinus, in the course of a few +months taking successively no less than nine wives, each of whom was +divorced to make room for the next. In his time, the palace was filled +with dancers and prostitutes, who were even invited to the imperial +table. Though morality suffered in the palace and among the nobility, +among the common and middle-class people there was working a leaven +which provided a new and more effective argument for the ancient purity +of manners.</p> + +<p>The status and condition of women underwent no legal change during this +period. Their manner of life remained very much the same, for in those +days there were no inventions such as in modern times change the whole +aspect of social life within fifty years; but all the time there was +passing away from among the people that ancient spirit which we now +speak of as classic. Art was depreciating; the old religion was living +on its past. Imagination was dead, and consequently creation had ceased. +Paganism, that had learned to satisfy itself with the black stone of +Elagabalus, had no need of art. Statues were still made, temples were +frequently built; but there was no original genius. The Christianity of +that early time did not favor art. In literature, the educated had also +to depend on the past, except as they were satisfied with productions +so inferior that nothing save accident can explain their preservation. +The old Roman largeness of life was no more, and even the joyousness +which had associated itself with some phases of paganism had departed. +The twilight preceding the dark ages was deepening; the cycle of history +was again falling toward the lowest point of its orbit.</p> + +<p>In the Museum of the Capitol, there is one bust of an empress in which +it is easy to fancy that one sees typified the spiritlessness of the +life of the woman of the period. It is that of the Empress Salonina, the +wife of Gallienus. The face is finely featured, but profoundly sad; it +reminds one more of a pictured saint of the Middle Ages than of a pagan +Roman empress. The hair, parted in the middle, hangs in a plain loop +behind; there is none of that gay and frequently bizarre dressing which +characterized the heads of the women of a former time. We can account +partly for Salonina's sad demeanor. Her husband brought home one Pipa, +the fair-haired daughter of a barbarian king; this Pipa he not only made +his concubine, but seated her on the throne, beside the empress. +Salonina could only console herself with her empty honors, and occupy +her mind with researches into the mazy philosophy of the Neo-platonists. +It has been thought, on account of a medal bearing her image and the +words <i>in pace</i>, that she became a Christian; but, though undoubtedly +she was greatly interested in the tenets of Christianity, and though her +husband, it may be by her advice, published a decree of toleration in +regard to the growing faith, the Church could not have admitted one who +built a temple to a pagan goddess and never abjured the practice of the +old religion. The countenance of Salonina is a type of the face of the +ancient life, out of which the light has departed and which has not yet +become illumined by the hope inherent in the new faith.</p> + +<p>Religious ideas were now greatly confused. There were many who were not +prepared to abandon the old gods and who were yet impressed with the new +doctrine. One lady built a chapel in which she burnt incense before +statues of Jesus, Pythagoras, Homer, and others. Frequently, in the +persecutions, noble women were obliged to offer sacrifices in order to +prove to the judges that they were not Christians. In many cases, the +historians of the new religion claimed for adherents those who were only +tolerant inquirers. Even in those days, the high position which a lady +held made the bishops anxious to claim her as an adherent, before her +conduct had become conformed to the Christian requirements.</p> + +<p>The ancient deities were ready to take their departure, since even those +who consistently supported the State religion retained but little faith +in them; but Diocletian proved himself not only a firm ruler but also a +lover of the old system. His decree ran: "The Christians oppose +themselves to the laws of the State, which enjoin the worship of the +gods; let them either sacrifice or suffer the penalty." Even the +imperial household was to be put to the test, and it is believed that it +was with reluctance that the emperor's wife and daughter burned the +grains of incense.</p> + +<p>In the province governed by Constantius, however, the edict was carried +out with great lukewarmness; and soon the son of Constantius sat on the +throne of Diocletian, and by his side was the Christian Helena. In this +woman we see the transition from paganism to the new religion. Yet there +is no clear record of her conversion; there is no mark in her life to +indicate that it was in any moral sense created anew. So it was with +Roman society. Women intrigued and took part in sensual indulgence and +cruel revenge after Constantine had seen the Cross in the sky, just as +they had done before. The new doctrine was a leaven which required many +centuries to spread; but in the meantime the ancient paganism, with all +its grandeur and all its weakness, had disappeared, just as the ancient +type of Roman womanhood had given place to a new womanhood of +conglomerate nationality, with more privilege but not more character.</p> + +<p>In the days of Valentinian, when the pagan worship was definitely +prohibited, the orator Symmachus represented the old religion as an aged +matron pleading thus for tolerance: "Most excellent princes, fathers of +your country, pity and respect my age, which has hitherto flowed in an +uninterrupted course of piety. Since I do not repent, permit me to +continue in the practice of my ancient rites. Since I am born free, +allow me to enjoy my domestic institutions. This religion has reduced +the world under my laws. These rites have repelled Hannibal from the +city and the Gauls from the Capitol. Were my gray hairs reserved for +such intolerable disgrace? I am ignorant of the new system I am required +to adopt; but I am well assured that the correction of old age is always +an ungrateful and ignominious office."</p> + +<p>The history of the Roman woman we have essayed to recount has run +contemporaneously with the life of this worship of the old gods. What +she was that religion largely made her. In it she found inspiration for +her brave deeds; its ideals were the expression of her love of beauty; +it strengthened her fortitude in times of trial; and when we remember +her frailties, charity must also remind us that, apart from her own +nature and the custom of her time, this religion was all that she had.</p> + +<br><br> +<h3>CONTENTS</h3> + +<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" border="0" + style="width: 100%; text-align: left;" summary="content"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td style="vertical-align: top; width: 8%;"> + <br> + <a href="#c1">I</a><br> + <a href="#c2">II</a><br> + <a href="#c3">III</a><br> + <a href="#c4">IV</a><br> + <a href="#c5">V</a><br> + <a href="#c6">VI</a><br> + <a href="#c7">VII</a><br> + <a href="#c8">VIII</a><br> + <a href="#c9">IX</a><br> + <a href="#c10">X</a><br> + <a href="#c11">XI</a><br> + <a href="#c12">XII</a><br> + <a href="#c13">XIII</a><br> + <a href="#c14">XIV</a> + </td> + <td style="vertical-align: top; width: 92%;"> +<a href="#pre">PREFACE</a><br> +THE WOMAN OF LEGENDARY ROME<br> +NOBLE MATRONS OF THE REPUBLIC<br> +WOMAN'S PART IN RELIGION<br> +THE PASSING OF OLD ROMAN SIMPLICITY<br> +ROMAN MARRIAGE<br> +WOMAN UNDER JULIUS CÆSAR<br> +THE ROMAN WOMAN IN POLITICS<br> +THE ROMAN WOMAN INI LITERATURE<br> +WOMAN AT HER WORST<br> +THE WOMEN OF DECADENT ROME<br> +GOOD WOMEN OF NERO'S REIGN<br> +UNDER THE FLAVIANS<br> +THE SUNSET GLOW OF PAGANISM<br> +THE PASSING OF PAGANISM + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> +</table> + +<br><br> + +<h3>LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS</h3> + +<table cellpadding="2" cellspacing="2" border="0" + style="width: 100%; text-align: left;" summary="content"> + <tbody> + <tr> + <td style="vertical-align: top; width: 50%;"> +SUBJECT + </td> + <td style="vertical-align: top; width: 50%;"> +ARTIST + </td> + </tr> + <tr> + <td style="vertical-align: top; width: 50%;"> + <a href="#ill1">Tullia, daughter of Servius</a><br> + <a href="#ill2">The Convert</a><br> + <a href="#ill3">The "new" woman in Rome</a><br> + <a href="#ill4">A Roman banquet</a><br> + <a href="#ill5">A Pompeian house</a><br> + <br> + <br> + <br> + <a href="#ill6">The chief vestal</a><br> + </td> + <td style="vertical-align: top; width: 50%;"> + <i>E. Hildebrand</i><br> + <i>G. R. C. Boulanger</i><br> + <i>G. R. C. Boulanger</i><br> + <i>Albert Baur</i><br> + <i>From a water-color by M.<br> + Hoffbauer, after a restoration<br> + by Jules Bouchot from<br> + Pliny's description</i><br> + <i>Henri P. Motte</i> + </td> + </tr> + </tbody> +</table> + +<p> </p> +<p> </p> +<hr class="pg" noshade> +<p>***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROMAN WOMEN***</p> +<p>******* This file should be named 32356-h.txt or 32356-h.zip *******</p> +<p>This and all associated files of various formats will be found in:<br> +<a href="http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/2/3/5/32356">http://www.gutenberg.org/3/2/3/5/32356</a></p> +<p>Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed.</p> + +<p>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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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: Roman Women + Woman: In All Ages and in All Countries, Volume 2 (of 10) + + +Author: Alfred Brittain + + + +Release Date: May 12, 2010 [eBook #32356] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-646-US (US-ASCII) + + +***START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROMAN WOMEN*** + + +E-text prepared by Thierry Alberto, Rénald Lévesque, and the Project +Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreaders Europe (http://dp.rastko.net) + + + +Note: Project Gutenberg also has an HTML version of this + file which includes the original illustrations. + See 32356-h.htm or 32356-h.zip: + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32356/32356-h/32356-h.htm) + or + (http://www.gutenberg.org/files/32356/32356-h.zip) + + + + + +WOMAN + +VOLUME II + +In All Ages and in All Countries + +ROMAN WOMEN + +by + +Rev. ALFRED BRITTAIN + + + + + + + +Philadelphia +George Barrie & Sons, Publishers + +Copyright, 1907 by George Barrie & Sons +Entered at Stationers' Hall, London + + + + +[Illustration 1: +TULLIA, DAUGHTER OF SERVIUS +_After the painting by E. Hildebrand_ + +_We have had the good queen, now we encounter the +bad..... Tullia was of that type of which Shakespeare +has given a picture in Lady Macbeth..... +Lucius, her husband, with an armed band, repaired to the +Senate and seated himself on the throne. King Servius +appeared, but no one thought it worth while to hinder +Lucius from throwing the aged ruler down the steps of +the Senate house; which me manfully did. + +Tullia was the instigator of this_ coup d'etat; _and +impatient to learn its success, drove to the Forum, and, +calling her husband from the Senate chamber, was the +first to hail him as king. But Lucius commanded her +to return home; and the tradition runs that as she was +going thither her chariot wheels passed over the dead +body of her royal father._] + + + + +PREFACE + +The student of history does not proceed far in his researches before he +discovers that human nature is a fixed quality. Other lands, other +manners; other times, other customs. But the man behind the manner is +essentially the same; the woman under the changed custom is not thereby +rendered essentially different, any more than she is by a varying of +costume. The women of ancient Rome exemplified the same virtues, and +were impelled by the same foibles as are the women of to-day. And the +difference in environment, the vanished conditions of Roman life, gain +large scientific interest from the fact that they did not result in any +dissimilarity of fundamental character. If, by the most violent exercise +of the imagination, it were possible to transport a female infant of the +twentieth century, and cause her to be reared among the women of the +Augustan age, she would fit as naturally into her surroundings as she +would into the present society of London or of New York. Her legal +status would be different; her moral conceptions would be unlike those +of the present age; her duties, pleasures, privileges, and limitations +would combine to make the accidents of life very different. But +underneath all this, the same humanity, the same femininity, the same +habits of mind are revealed. Herein is the chief use of history--above +that of gratifying natural curiosity--the ascertaining how human nature +will comport itself under varying conditions. The author hopes that the +following pages, wherein the Roman woman is taken as an illustration, +will be found of use to the student of the science of humanity, and not +uninteresting to the reader inquisitive as to the manner of the ancient +civilization. + + ALFRED BRITTAIN. + + + + +I + +THE WOMAN OF LEGENDARY ROME + +The conditions which governed the life of woman in the earliest days of +Roman history are too far removed from the searchlight of historical +investigation for us to essay to indicate them with any degree of +fulness and accuracy of detail. While it is true that the ancient +writers have bequeathed to us records of historic events from the very +founding of their nation, the source of their information is very +questionable and its authenticity extremely doubtful. Rome did not +cultivate literature until very late in her history; she was too greatly +preoccupied in her role of conquering the world. At a time when every +Greek was acquainted with the noblest poetry produced by his gifted +race, Rome had not produced a single writer whose name has been +preserved. And if at that time she had possessed any men of letters, it +is quite certain that there were few of her citizens who would have been +able to read their works. Hence, when the first attempt was made to +write her history, the authors depended principally for their material +on traditions and legends which, as is the case with all such lore, had +gained greatly in marvellousness at the expense of historical value. In +addition to these sources, it is probable that during the early +centuries annals were kept of the principal happenings in the State. +According to Cicero, they were written at the end of each year by the +high priest. These records were used by the first historians; and it is +likely that the latter were not so greatly restrained, by their literary +conscience, from enlarging on the material, as they were tempted, +according to the power of their imagination, to present a picture both +interesting and satisfactory to the national pride. In many cases, as +where the exact words of their characters are reported, the ancient +historians evidently deemed that any deficiencies in the matter of proof +were abundantly atoned for by the explicitness of the information given. + +As to the historical value of legends, that is a question upon which +modern writers are inclined to disagree. Since the inauguration of the +higher criticism, it has been the fashion for extremists entirely to +disown any belief in the _dramatis personae_ of ancient traditions. They +claim that the names and the actions thus celebrated usually represent +natural forces and historic evolutions; though, to the ordinary student, +this would seem to require a remarkable amount of poetic inventiveness +on the part of an undeveloped people. Moreover, it is not, perhaps, +without reason that the student often looks upon the manner in which +modern scholars reject the traditional contributions of the old +historians as being a little arbitrary. What traveller has not found his +patience sorely tried, while viewing with reverence the reputed site of +some heroic or sacred occurrence of far-off days, as he recalled to +memory the fact that the latest authorities hold that, while the thing +might have taken place a few miles to the east or a short distance to +the north, it, for certain erudite but unconvincing reasons, could not +possibly have occurred on the spot where it has been located by the +continuous belief of centuries? + +The story of Rome from its founding to the end of the regal period, as +it is told in the ancient classics, is no longer accepted as history. It +is, for the most part, classified with those mythical creations with +which an uncultured people endeavor to account for the origin and the +evolution and revolutions of their race. Yet, passing over the +marvellous and the manifestly impossible, why may we not at least claim +the right to believe the compilers of these ancient legends, when they +tell us of certain names that were great in the beginning of their +nation? Modern criticism may be right in asserting that it is not likely +that the city on the Tiber was called Roma because a man named Romulus +selected an uninhabited site and built upon it. Yet why may we not be +allowed to believe that in those early times there was one hero so +strong and masterful that he came to be known as preeminently the "Man +of Rome"? The character may have been a real one, even though the city +gave him his name, instead of the reverse, as later generations +surmised. And inasmuch as there is an Alexandria, not to speak of +innumerable modern "villes" with well-known surnames for prefixes, it +need not be thought a thing entirely incredible that the ancient city +was really called after the man who established its importance. + +It is the habit of modern historians to look with suspicion upon stories +such as those which form our sole material for any personal illustration +in this present chapter, because they are of a kind so generally found +in the legends of all nations. But may not the multiplication of these +long-lived narratives, instead of disproving the intrinsic truth of any +given one, simply serve to illustrate the fact that, human nature being +a permanent factor, the doings of men under similar circumstances, in +any age or locality, will be marked by a uniformity of character? For +our present purpose, however, if in such twilight as is given by +long-preserved monuments and ancient relics, we choose to fancy that we +perceive, moving about in their daily life, the feminine forms of +traditional lore, the combination will only serve to form a more human, +and really not less accurate, picture. + +The limits of our subject do not require that we should go back so far +as the epoch of Aeneas, the hero of Troy; nor need we take into +consideration the part which he and Lavinia, his wife, may have played +upon the Latin shores. Their traditional coming to Italy simply serves +to indicate the fact that nearly all the tribes which inhabited the +country at the commencement of Roman history were of the same branch of +the great Aryan race as the Greeks. The Romans were the brothers of the +Greeks. The former were of that same lithe, supple-bodied, +straight-featured type which the wonderful art of the latter has +enthroned, for all the ages, as the noblest realization of ideal +physical beauty. + +But when we consider the rude conditions under which life was passed, it +is probable that the highest examples of feminine grace would, in many +respects, be open to severe criticism from the civilized and artificial +taste which has prevailed in after ages. Those were the days of Arcadian +simplicity, which poetry has peopled with sweet and enticing Phyllises +and Chloes, whose only occupation was to listen to the pipings of +languishing shepherds. But, in reality, though life was simple and wants +were few, the women, as in all semi-civilized communities, gave an +overplus of labor in return for the special exertions of the men in the +chase and the combat. Hence, though the poetic conception may be +alluring, we are compelled to believe that the reality possessed but few +advantages that could arouse the envy of a modern village maiden. The +woman of earliest Rome was wholly a product of nature, endowed only +with the unfailing charms of femininity, which were solely reinforced +with the perfect health and vigor which come from a simple life. + +Of such a type we may imagine Rhea Sylvia, the legendary mother of +Romulus and Remus. She was the daughter of a king, but one who was not a +monarch in the later significance of the title. Of kings there were many +in the Latium of those days. The title meant merely the patriarch of a +clan, or the head man of a small city. The regal abode was probably a +small, round structure, built of wood and roofed with straw. It may have +consisted of only one room, with a hole in the ceiling to admit light +and allow the smoke to escape. Of furniture there was little more than +rude tables and grass or leaf covered couches, together with the Lares, +or household gods. But though life conditioned by such meagre +accessories was simple, it was by no means idle, and there existed no +such contempt for labor and handicraft among the Latin tribesmen as grew +up in later times. The king himself followed the plow, while his wife +and daughters were busy with the distaff and spindle, the hand loom and +the needle. It was the duty of the women to spin the wool and to make +all the clothing for the household. Education consisted solely of the +training in the requirements of this simple life, and was provided by no +school other than the daily experience which the boys and girls gathered +among their elders. The art of writing was in the earliest days not +entirely unknown, though, during long years of slow development, it was +employed only in painting public records on leaves and skins; or, if +greater permanence was required, the records were scratched upon tablets +of wood. The amusements of the people consisted mainly of the festivals +and athletic games which were held in honor of the gods. If it might +only be believed that this life was as pleasant as it is pictured by +Virgil, it would be easy to sympathize with the poet when he declares +that he pined for such an existence himself. "The husbandman cleaves the +earth with the crooked plow.... Winter comes: the Sicyonian berry is +pounded in the oil presses; and the autumn lays down its various +productions.... Meanwhile, the sweet babes twine around their parents' +necks; his chaste family maintain their purity. The swain himself +celebrates festal days; and extended on the grass, where a fire is in +the middle, and where his companions crown the bowl, invokes thee, O +Lanaeus, making libation. On an elm is set forth to the masters of the +flock prizes to be contended for with the winged javelin; and they strip +their rustic bodies for the friendly struggle." Elsewhere the poet +describes a home scene, where the man is working by the light of the +winter fire: "Meanwhile, his spouse, cheering by song her tedious labor, +runs over the webs with the shrill shuttle; or over the fire boils down +the liquor of the luscious must, and skims with leaves the tide of the +trembling cauldron. This life of old the ancient Sabines followed; this, +Remus and his brother strictly observed; thus Etruria grew in strength; +and thus too did Rome become the glory and beauty of the world." + +Unlike their sisters of Greece, the women of Rome were never secluded; +yet their duties and responsibilities were strictly confined to domestic +bounds. Here, however, while the husband was master, the wife was +mistress. She took equal part with him in the worship of the family +Lares, which worship was a prominent feature in every Roman household; +and if he were a priest, she, by her marriage to him, became a +priestess. But, except in certain religious institutions, she had not +the slightest active connection with State or public affairs. That is, +she had no such connection in theory and according to law; but it was in +Rome as it has been in all ages and in all countries: there were no laws +or customs that could prevent a woman who possessed gifts of mind and +cherished ambitious projects from gaining some tool by means of whom her +hand might turn the affairs of State to her will. + +To this strenuous class of women, however, Rhea Sylvia did not belong. +Her euphonious name has been preserved, not because of any active +influence which she wielded over the destinies of men, but because, +through the simple function of motherhood, she introduced into the +history of the world a strong man. She was the daughter of Numitor, to +whom his father had bequeathed the kingdom of the Sylvian clan. But +Amulius, another son, had driven his brother into exile, and, in order +to secure himself in his usurpation, had put all his nephews to death. +Rhea was spared, probably on account of the fact that the law did not +allow women to reign, and hence her existence held no threat. +Nevertheless, since of the women of princely houses are born possible +claimants to thrones. Amulius deemed it best that some preventive +measure should be taken. He evidently did not wish to commit unnecessary +barbarities; and he also liked, if possible, to cover his +self-protective actions with a gloss of seeming generosity. Rhea Sylvia +should be the priestess of Vesta. Hers should be the honorable duty of +guarding the perpetual fire which burned on the sacred hearth of the +city. Thus she, as was befitting the daughter of Numitor, would be held +in as high regard among the people as the queen herself. Incidentally, +this would also preclude the possibility of any grandson appearing to +claim the throne of the exiled Numitor; for the Vestals were most +rigidly pledged to a life of constant virginity. But how often have the +gods, and sometimes even Nature herself, thwarted the most cunningly +devised schemes of men! Upon this truism Amulius must have reflected, +when, without any previous declaration of her intention, Rhea Sylvia +introduced to the community a sturdy pair of twins. She declared that +Mars was the father of her offspring; either, as Livy discreetly +remarks, because she believed it to be so, or because a god seemed the +most creditable author of her offence. In those times, the possibility +and the frequent occurrence of such matches were devoutly believed, and +the first historians freely availed themselves of this belief to enhance +the glory of their race, or of a powerful family, by establishing for it +the reputation of a divine origin. The idea of superhuman parentage was +also a convenient means by which to account for, and sometimes excuse, +the unusual character and extraordinary deeds of ancient heroes. In +those days, when men's faith was simple and uncritical, belief in divine +incarnation presented no serious difficulty. + +It is evident, however, that Amulius was not greatly impressed with a +sense of the sacredness of the children of the warrior-god. He threw the +mother into prison, and ordered her sons to be drowned in the Tiber. +But, as is usually and fortunately the case in legendary history, this +order was intrusted to one who was either too pitiful or too careless to +give it thorough execution. The infants, in their cradle or upon a rude +raft, were set afloat on the river, which was at that time in flood; the +waters, however, quickly subsided, and the boys were left alive on dry +ground. Their cries attracted a shepherd named Faustulus, and by him +they were carried to his home, where they were reared by his wife +Laurentia. This woman is given a bad name by the ancients. They say +that she was also called Lupa; and Lupa being the name applied to a +woman of unchaste character, as well as the term used to designate a +she-wolf, in this manner the sceptics accounted for the marvellous story +of the sons of Rhea being suckled by a wolf. But whatever may have been +the failings of Laurentia, if there be any truth whatever in the legend, +she made atonement by preserving the life of the founder of Rome. We +will not follow these traditions in their well-known details. Whether or +not Romulus was indeed the first to select the site of the city which +was to spread over seven hills by the Tiber and from them dominate the +world is as impossible to determine as it would be unimportant to our +subject if ascertained. The purpose before us is solely to inquire what +part and lot woman had in the founding of the infant State. That her +role was mainly a passive one may be taken for granted, as being in +accordance with the status of the weaker sex in the childhood of every +race and nation. + +The ancient historians, who accepted the Romulus legend without +question, portray for us the growing town, so sturdily and rapidly +advancing in power and fame as to excite the wonder and the jealousy of +neighboring communities. One cause to which is attributed this +prosperity is interesting, since it led to a famous episode in which +women played a leading though an unwilling part. We are told that +Romulus opened within, the bounds of the city an asylum, or place of +refuge, where fugitives from justice or from servitude were received +under the protection of the gods. This attracted new citizens in great +numbers, but such as contributed nothing to the respectability of the +new State. The new-comers were, almost entirely, unmarried men; and soon +the paucity of women in Rome gave cause for grave concern. Romulus had +appointed a number of the leading citizens, whom he named as Senators, +to assist him in the government. But it was not in the power of these +city fathers to aid him materially in securing a continued growth of the +community, unless wives could be provided. Ambassadors were despatched +to the neighboring States, requesting treaties of alliance, and +especially begging the privilege of intermarriage. Owing, doubtless, to +the questionable character of the newly acquired inhabitants of Rome, +this was a favor which no city was disposed to grant. Everywhere the +ambassadors were confronted with the suggestion that an asylum be opened +for women also, for only by such a plan could suitable mates be obtained +for the men of Rome. Another reason, however, why wives were hard to +obtain was the fact that women were comparatively scarce throughout +Latium. The custom of exposing female infants to death was prevalent +there, as in many other ancient races, daughters being looked upon as a +source of weakness and expense to a family, as sons were a gain and a +strength. Wives, however, being a necessity, the fathers of boys often +secured as brides for their sons girls as soon as they were born. This +laid upon the parents of the latter the obligation to spare their lives +and rear them. There is no evidence that the purchase of wives was ever +a custom among the Romans. Indeed, the opposite was from time immemorial +the practice; a dower went with the bride. Hence it is easy to see why +the Latin fathers were unwilling to bestow their daughters,--who were +not likely to remain on their hands for lack of suitors,--and especially +the dowers that went with them, upon the adventurous young men who had +sought at Rome asylum from justice or vengeance. + +But in those ages, and especially in such a matter as the winning of +wives, diplomacy was a resource not wholly depended upon. Among the +marriage ceremonies of later times, there was a custom of parting the +hair of the Roman bride with a spear. In this we find a reminiscence of +the period when marriage by capture was resorted to when there seemed +urgent necessity. Thus Romulus determined that what could not be gained +by fair means should be obtained by the best method which came to hand. +At the festival of the god Consus, appropriately the deity who presided +over hidden deliberations, the seizure of the Sabine maidens was planned +and carried out; and thus the Romans took to themselves wives. How +closely this well-known story corresponds with facts, of course, cannot +be determined. Possibly many of its details are attempts of later ages +to account for wedding customs, the origin of which had been forgotten. +But it is very probable that marriage by capture was common in the +embryonic civilization of early Rome. And there may have been one +occasion when this rude method of wooing was adopted in so flagrant and +wholesale a manner that it led to a war with the Sabines, by which the +remembrance of the event was perpetuated in the traditions of the +people. Michelet, commenting on this story in his brilliant manner, +says: "The progress of humanity is striking. Springing in India from +mystical love, the ideal of woman assumes in Germany the features of +savage virginity and gigantic force; in Greece, those of grace and +stratagem, to arrive among the Romans at the highest pagan morality, to +virgin and conjugal dignity. The Sabines only follow their ravishers on +compulsion, but, become Roman matrons, they refuse to return to the +paternal mansion, disarm their fathers and their husbands, and unite +them in one city." Plutarch says that it was in order to obtain +forgiveness that the Romans assured certain privileges to their wives. +No labor other than spinning should be demanded of them; they should +take the inside of the path; nothing indecent should be done or said in +their presence; they should not be summoned before the criminal judges; +and their children should wear the _pretexta_ and the _bulla_. Thus in +the time of the Greek historian the barbarism of the old times was +forgotten, and to the primitive constitution was attributed all the +civilization which it required centuries to bring about. + +As fair Helen brought woe to Troy, so the abduction of the Sabine +maidens was followed by the bitter vengeance of their indignant +masculine relatives. If we may believe the old historians, the women +soon became reconciled to their enforced condition as wives of the +Romans. Doubtless the writers drew this conclusion more from their +knowledge of the yielding disposition of feminine nature than from any +precise acquaintance with the facts. It being totally uncustomary for +the woman to be allowed any decision in the matter, it was a thing of +small importance to her whether she was taken by her husband, without +either her consent or that of her father, or whether she was given by +her father to her husband, equally without being consulted. + +The Sabines waited patiently for a favorable opportunity; and when it +came, they attacked the Romans with good success. They even gained +possession of the strongest fortifications of the city. But, according +to the legend, they could not have won such advantage had it not been +for the love of gaud of Tarpeia, the daughter of one of the captains of +Romulus. Tatius, the King of the Sabines, induced her to open for him +the gates, promising as a reward the golden bracelets which his soldiers +wore upon their left arms. It is noticeable that the difficulties which +must have surrounded an interview between the king and the maiden are +discreetly ignored by the tradition. She agreed to open the gate, on the +pretence of going forth to draw water for the sacrifice, and the Sabine +men were thereupon to rush in. Everything took place as arranged, except +that the misguided Tarpeia received much more than she had bargained +for. Her request was for "that which they wore upon their left arms," +not remembering the fact that upon that arm they also carried their +shields. The soldiers, as they entered, either through haste, or because +they hated treachery though willing to avail themselves of it, threw at +her their shields as well as their bracelets, and the girl was crushed +to death beneath their weight. A part of the hill which the Sabines thus +gained was ever afterward called the Tarpeian Rock; and it became a +place of execution, traitors being hurled from its summit. There is much +about this story which justifies the suspicion that it arose from, or at +least was adopted by, a desire on the part of the Romans to explain a +defeat, rather than from any verifiable historical foundation. It looks +like a case of the natural vanity of warlike men saving itself by means +of an ungallant slur on the characteristic vanity of women. + +Taking the account as it stands, matters were now very serious for the +Romans. The enemy had gained the citadel, and a bloody conflict ensued. +But the women whose abduction had brought on these troubles were also to +be the means of making peace. As the battle was raging, the two armies +were astounded to behold the Sabine women rushing from the homes of the +Romans, not to make their escape, but to throw themselves between the +combatants. With tears, they entreated their fathers and brothers to +hear them. Their plea was voiced by a captive named Hersilia, who some +historians hold was the wife of that Hostilius who afterward became King +of Rome, while others claim that she had been taken by Romulus himself. +Plutarch gives us her speech--of course, drawing from his own +imagination, though he is not far from what might have been the truth; +for anyone may guess what would be likely on such an occasion. She said: +"It is true we were ravished away unjustly and violently by those whose +wives we now are; but that being done, we are bound to them by the +strictest bonds, so that it is impossible for us not to weep and tremble +at the danger of the men whom once we hated. You now come to force away +wives from their husbands, and mothers from their children. Which shall +we call the worse, their love making or your compassion? Restore to us +our parents and kindred, but do not rob us of our husbands and children. +We entreat you not to make us twice captive." Whereupon, the Sabines +learning that their daughters were not yearning to be rescued, and +having no other good reason for carrying on the fight, a truce was +declared. With a zealous determination to leave nothing unaccounted for, +the tradition relates how the women took their kindred into the city and +proudly exhibited the comforts and indulgences they enjoyed with their +husbands, whose wooing had been so unmannerly. This might well be, as +the Sabines were a pastoral people and unaccustomed to what were to them +the luxuries of city life. So peace was made; and we are told that it +was in commemoration of this event that the ladies of Rome ever +afterward celebrated the festival of the Matronalia on the first of +March. It was their custom to ascend in the morning in procession to the +temple of Juno, and place at the feet of the goddess the flowers with +which their heads were crowned. In the evening, in memory of the tokens +of gratitude which the Sabine women received from their Roman husbands, +they remained at home, adorned in their best attire, waiting for the +customary gifts of their husbands and friends. At a date far later, we +find Tibullus debating with himself, in an exquisite little poem, what +gift he shall send to his beloved Neaera on the Calends of March. With +the customary valuation which an author sets upon his own productions, +he decides that he can give her nothing more acceptable than a copy of +his poems, beautifully bound and adorned. + +Every nation has its traditional Golden Age, a period to which the +poetic philosophers of degenerate after times love to refer in the +assumption that then all things were at their best and men were +perfectly happy. So all Roman ideals of civic concord are concentrated +in and derived from the legendary reign of Numa Pompilius. He is +described as not seeking the kingdom, but preferring the pleasures of +reflection in a quiet life with Tatia, his like-minded and noble wife. +But the honor was forced upon him, and he reigned in the spirit of a +true philosopher. He formulated laws and established a system of morals +in accordance with principles worthy of Marcus Aurelius. To him is given +the credit of organizing the religious institutions of the Romans, and +especially the college of Vestal Virgins. We have seen that, before his +time, to certain maidens was assigned the duty of guarding the sacred +fire, and at the same time their virgin purity. But Numa was said to +have formulated the rules of the order, to have assigned precisely its +duties, and to have built a house for Vesta. But there is not the least +doubt that around the name Numa have clustered, and to him have been +attributed, many advances in civilization which were the growth of +centuries. This seems especially probable in view of the fact that Numa +was a Sabine, one of the pastoral race which was naturally less advanced +in culture than the people who were gathered in cities. + +What improvement may have found its way into the conditions of feminine +life during this period, it is difficult to determine. The useful arts +are said to have grown greatly in favor. Numa is credited with having +instituted guilds for the encouragement of flute blowers, goldsmiths, +coppersmiths, carpenters, fullers, dyers, potters, and shoemakers. Life +would thus become more comfortable, and also be brightened by that which +was pleasurable and ornamental. This supposes an enlargement of the +sphere of the home, a consequent increasing of the interests and +responsibilities of the women, and a softening effect upon their nature. +There is also an indication that, as in ancient Germany, though the +women may have had no part in the direct government of the State, yet +the counsels of certain of their sex were followed by the lawmakers with +a reverence akin to religion. There is a strong suggestion of feminine +influence in the legends concerning the marital relations of Numa. +Plutarch relates that Tatia, Numa's estimable first wife, was separated +from him by death after thirteen years of wedded felicity, and that +after this he never married again, but sought to console himself by +melancholy ramblings in the fields and woods. This gave rise to the +story that, in a certain grove, he was accustomed to meet the goddess +Egeria, who not only favored him with her love, but also endowed him +with the wisdom to perform his duties with marvellous success. On the +other hand, Livy, who probably knew neither more nor less about it, says +that Numa consecrated this grove, with its grotto and spring of living +water, to the Muses, who were accustomed there to meet his wife Egeria. +Whether this Egeria is to be regarded as a mortal woman, perhaps the +lawful wife of the king, or, what is considerably less likely, a divine +being, cannot be decided from these traditions. But they surely have a +value in that they indicate the willingness of the earliest Romans to +attribute excellence in statesmanship on the part of their best men to +the inspiration of members of the fair and gentle, sex. + +After the death of Numa, the Romans elected as their king Tullus +Hostilius, and thus a turbulent warrior succeeded the peace-loving +lawgiver. In this reign, instead of the poetic anachronism which +portrays an abnormally advanced civilization, we are brought back again +to earth and to history and to a more accurate description of the +progress of the people. Much is revealed in the story by which Livy, in +his inimitable manner, accounts for the Sororium Tigillium, or the +Sister's Post, a monument which he says was existent in his own day. +Here we not only encounter the terrible right of the father of a family +over the lives of his children, but we also see that the tender +instincts of a woman's love were accounted as nothing in comparison with +loyalty to the family and her duty of hatred to the enemies of the +State. The heroic Horatius, single-handed after the death of his +brothers, had slain the three champions of the Alban army, and thus +provided the first taste of the delight of subjugation to the city which +was destined to become the mistress of the world. In the triumphal +return to Rome, Horatius marched foremost of all the army, carrying +before him the spoils of the three Alban brothers. As they neared the +Porto Capena, the Roman women came forth to welcome the victors home. +Among the rest came Horatia, the sister of the youthful conqueror. As +she ran to embrace him, she noticed upon his shoulder a familiar robe; +in fact, it was a soldier's tunic which she had wrought with her own +hands for one of the vanquished Curiatii, to whom she had been +betrothed. The truth flashed upon the damsel's mind in an instant. Her +lover was dead, and that by the hand of her brother. With tears and +lamentations, she began to call upon the name of her betrothed. Possibly +with her cries of grief she joined bitter upbraidings of her brother, +who had saved himself and Rome at the cost of her bereavement. His +sister's lamentations, in the midst of his own triumph and the great +public rejoicing, so greatly angered the excited youth that he drew his +sword and stabbed her to the heart. As he did this, he cried: "Go with +thy unseasonable love; go and rejoin thy betrothed, thou who forgettest +thy dead brothers, and him who remains, and thy country! So perish every +woman who shall dare to lament the death of an enemy!" This atrocious +murder raised, of course, a profound sensation among the people. They +did not know which ought to outweigh the other: his awful crime or his +brilliant exploit for the public good. The king appointed duumvirs to +try him. By these he was condemned to be beaten with rods, within or +without the walls of the city, and then to be hanged. + +But the law gave to Horatius the right of appeal to the people, and in +this second trial he found an effective advocate in his own father. The +old man declared that he considered his daughter deservedly slain. Were +it not so, he said, he would by his own authority as father have +inflicted punishment on his son. It seems probable, however, that +Horatius senior took this course of argument, not because he did not +regret his daughter, but because he hoped thereby to save himself from +being bereft of all his children. "Go, lictor," he said, "bind those +hands which but a little while since, being armed, established +sovereignty for the Roman people. Strike him within the town, if thou +wilt, but in presence of these trophies and spoils; without the town, +but in the midst of the tombs of the Curiatii. Into what place can you +lead him where the monuments of his glory do not protest against the +horror of his punishment?" The tears of the father and the intrepidity +of the son won for the latter absolution; but the father was commanded +to make expiatory sacrifices, and these were ever afterward continued in +the Horatian family. As a further punishment, a beam was laid across the +street and the young man made to pass under it, with veiled head, as +under a yoke. + +Chronologically, this seems to be the appropriate place to introduce +some reference to another race which, to no small extent, affected the +early history of Rome and also the status of the Roman woman. From +Etruria came the ancestor of the Tarquins, that proud dynasty which +provided two legends of the extreme opposite types of women: Tullia, the +cruel and ambitious queen, and Lucretia, the ideal of conjugal +faithfulness. Tanaquil, the never-forgotten helpmeet of an able man, +also came from this people. + +The Etruscans have ever been a puzzle to historians and one of the +principal enigmas in ethnology. Entirely unlike the Hellenic or Italiote +races in appearance as well as in customs, even the ancients were at a +loss to surmise whence this remarkable people originated. Dionysius +says, "they claimed alliance with no people in the world." Inquiry +regarding them would not be so interesting, were it not that they have +left such an abundance of proofs of their proficiency in art and +advancement in civilized industry. At the time of which we are writing, +they possessed the very respectable beginning of a literature. We have +nearly two thousand of their inscriptions; but hardly a word are we able +to interpret, for the Etruscan language is to-day what the Egyptian +hieroglyphics were before Champollion. These people were the artists and +the manufacturers for all Italy. In the museums of Europe are to be seen +specimens of their art, such as statues, beautifully ornamented vases, +bas-reliefs, and jewelry, which can but excite the wonder of the +beholder by the richness of their execution. Their tombs have been +found to contain great quantities of such treasures, which they were in +the habit of burying with their chiefs. Reclining on one of these tombs +are the carved effigies of a man and his wife, represented as though +resting upon a couch. If these figures give as correct an idea of the +appearance of the Etruscans as they indicate artistic ability, they were +a thickset people, with retreating foreheads, aquiline noses, and eyes +rather oblique--all suggestive of the Asiatic type. The barbarous +religious ideas of the Etruscans rendered the race gloomy and +fatalistic. Their priests were supposed to be experts in divining the +future; and their gods often required to be propitiated with human +sacrifices. Their civilization had a powerful effect upon that of Rome. +In Etruria women were treated with a respect unusual among the races of +that time; and it may have been owing to this influence that the women +of Rome enjoyed so much more liberty than their sisters of Greece. On +the other hand, to the Etruscans' characteristic delight in cruel sports +has been attributed the introduction of gladiatorial contests in the +arena at Rome. + +The traditional account of the origin of the Tarquin family is very +uncertain historical data, the founder being represented as the son of a +foreigner in Tarquinii, a city of Etruria, and his name Lucumo; while +history seems to indicate that the _lucumon_ was an Etruscan chief +magistrate. However, we will take the legendary account as it stands. In +it we are told that Lucumo had married a noble maiden of Tarquinii, +called Tanaquil, a name that in after times became a household word +among the Romans. When they wished to hold before their daughters the +ideal of a good housewife, they exhorted them to emulate Queen Tanaquil. +She was also called Caia Caecilia, "the good spinner"; and to her memory +and industry all young brides paid honor. From what is told of her, +however, she seems rather to have been an extraordinary type of the +women whose ambitions urge their husbands in the quest of high political +position and whose wise intuitions help to support their spouses in +those positions when attained. + +These Etruscans were wealthy; but Lucumo could hope for no place of +influence in Etruria, for the reason that he was the son of a foreigner. +It is to Tanaquil, however, that the credit is given of having persuaded +him to migrate to Rome. We can imagine her argument to have been that, +in the new State, where all the nobility were of recent origin and where +men were elevated for merit rather than for family descent, the courage +and energy of her husband would give him the best chances of success. +The story relates that, as they were about to enter Rome, an eagle +swooped down from the skies and seized Lucumo's cap in its talons. After +flying around the chariot with loud screams, to their great astonishment +the bird replaced the cap on the man's head. In those times, the +movements of birds were looked upon as the surest kind of omens, as +indeed they were so regarded for centuries afterward; and among the +first historians, the tradition of the entrance into Rome of a man +destined to be its king, in which there was no mention made of an omen, +would simply indicate a defect in the narrative which literary justice +would require them to make good. Tanaquil, availing herself of the +science of augury, in which the Etruscans were especially expert, +declared that this was a sign that the highest honors were to be heaped +upon her husband's head. Down to very late times, Romans, even those of +the keenest intellect, were largely influenced in their actions and +decisions by such signs; and it is easy to see how omens might seem +valid, inasmuch as they contributed in no small degree to their own +fulfilment by encouraging or depressing those who thoroughly believed in +them. + +[Illustration 2: +_THE CONVERT +After the painting by G. R. C. Boulanger +The noble matron Pomponia Graecina has been credited +by tradition with having found consolation for the sorrows +of the times in that new faith which was undermining +old Rome, both literally in the catacombs and figuratively +in the rapidity with which it was making converts; +but we know not with certainty..... Graecina was +accused of yielding to foreign superstitions. This may +have been owing to the peculiarities of her manner. She +had been the close friend of that Julia, daughter of Drusus, +whom Messalina had forced to kill herself. From this +time on, for the space of forty years, Graecina wore nothing +but mourning, and was never seen to smile..... When +the charge of entertaining foreign superstitions was laid +against her, she was, in accordance with the ancient law, +consigned to the adjudication of her husband..... She +was adjudged innocent._] + + +In the city, our legendary Etruscan changed his name to Lucius +Tarquinius Priscus. His riches and talents soon availed with the Romans, +and he was appointed guardian to the king's children. When Ancus died, +Tarquin succeeded in persuading the people to elect him to the throne; +and he was not mistaken in his estimation of his own fitness for that +position, for his rule was in every way beneficial. He enlarged the +territory of the State and undertook many worthy public works. To this +period is attributed the building of the great subterranean sewers for +draining the city. Lasting, though inelegant, monuments these; for after +twenty-five centuries have passed away, and after so many Romes have +arisen and fallen above them, the _cloacae_ of Tarquinius Priscus still +remain and admirably serve their purpose. The historians further tell us +that this Etruscan introduced into the kingly style a magnificence +hitherto unknown in Rome. This was especially manifested in his +embroidered robes, which were the skilful work of Tanaquil the Spinner. +Here was a queen who might have been taken for the model of the virtuous +woman depicted in the Book of Proverbs. The heart of her husband could +safely trust in her. She did him good and not evil all the days of her +life. "She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands." +But Tanaquil was as well qualified to assist her husband in his +political projects as to array him in a manner befitting his station. +This is evidenced by her behavior at his death, which took place at the +hand of assassins. We will allow Livy to relate in his own words what +happened, "When those who were around had raised up the king in a dying +state, the lictors seized on the men who were endeavoring to escape. +Upon this followed an uproar and concourse of the people, wondering +what the matter was. Tanaquil, during the tumult, orders the palace to +be shut up, thrusts out all who were present; at the same time, she +sedulously prepares everything necessary for dressing the wound, as if a +hope still remained; yet, in case her hopes should disappoint her, she +projects other means of safety. Sending immediately for Servius,--who +had married her daughter,--after she had showed him her husband almost +expiring, holding his right hand, she entreats him not to suffer the +death of his father-in-law to pass unavenged, or his mother-in-law to be +an object of insult to their enemies. 'Servius, she said, 'if you are a +man, the kingdom is yours, not theirs, who, by the hands of others, have +perpetrated the worst of crimes. Exert yourself, and follow the guidance +of the gods. Now awake in earnest. We, too, though foreigners, have +reigned. Consider who you are, not whence you have sprung. If your own +plans are not matured by reason of the suddenness of this event, then +follow mine.' When the uproar and violence of the multitude could +scarcely be withstood, Tanaquil addressed the populace from the upper +part of the palace through the windows facing the new street--for the +royal family resided near the temple of Jupiter Stator. She bids them be +of good courage; tells them that the king was stunned by the suddenness +of the blow; that the weapon had not sunk deep into his body; that he +was already come to himself again; that the wound had been examined, the +blood having been wiped off; that all the symptoms were favorable; that +she hoped they would see him very soon; and that, in the meantime, he +commanded the people to obey the orders of Servius Tullius. That he +would administer justice, and perform all the functions of the king. +Servius comes forth with the trabea and the lictors, and, seating +himself on the king's throne, decides some cases, but with respect to +others pretends that he will consult the king. Therefore, the death +being concealed for several days, though Tarquin had already expired, +he, under pretence of discharging the duties of another, strengthened +his own interest. Then, at length, the matter being made public, and +lamentations being raised in the palace, Servius, supported by a strong +guard, took possession of the kingdom by the consent of the Senate, +being the first who did so without the orders of the people." + +Of course, however much or little of all this may have really taken +place, the effect of the account is greatly heightened by the brilliant +imagination of the historian. But we believe that at least there is +enough historical truth in it to show that the early Romans did not +consider able statecraft on the part of women an entire impossibility. +In regard to Tanaquil's after career as queen-dowager, the legends are +totally and regrettably silent; and it is left to us to surmise without +data as to how the new king held his own with such an extraordinarily +clever mother-in-law; but, from what has just been related, he would +seem to have had both the wisdom to appreciate her counsels and the +ability to put them into effect. + +The Tarquinian dynasty was prolific of remarkable women; and in the +legendary history they are set over against each other in sharp +contrast. We have had the good queen, now we encounter the bad. Again it +is the story of a woman who was ambitious, but this time of one who +possessed no moral sentiment to soften her methods, whose respect for +that which is honorable in woman weighed nothing against her desire for +position. Expediency being furthered by cruelty, she could easily +overcome her feminine instincts. She was an exaggerated specimen of that +type of which Shakespeare has given an unfading picture in Lady +Macbeth. More than this, Tullia represented for the Romans the very acme +of wickedness. All feminine virtue with them culminated in filial +obedience and marital faithfulness; Tullia murdered her husband and +plotted against her father, and was accessory to his death. The Romans +were not abstract thinkers; and it is more than likely that this legend +is an accumulation, in one imaginary concrete example, of all feminine +depravity, rather than a veritable account of a historic personage. Yet +we have no good reason to doubt that there was a vicious Tullia, on +whose character this ideal of wickedness was erected. + +Servius, the good king, had two daughters, Tullia being the younger. +These young women were married to the two sons of Tarquinius Priscus, +Lucius and Aruns; the eider daughter being given to the elder son. The +consequence of this arbitrary choice on the part of the parents was that +a most contrary assortment was made. A stirring and prideful man found +himself coupled with a woman of easy, good-natured disposition; and a +man of contented mind and contemplative habits was afflicted with a +high-spirited and ambitious wife. The haughty Tullia could not endure +the thought that there was no material in her husband either for daring +or energetic action. She gave her regard to Lucius, who, as she +considerately informed Aruns, was worthy to be called a man. She went so +far as to intimate to Lucius that if the gods had been possessed of +sufficient good judgment to have given her the only man who could +appreciate her abilities she would soon see the crown in her own house, +instead of in that of her father. This inspired the young man; and they +both agreed that the mistakes of the deities should be rectified. It +soon conveniently happened that two deaths gave the opportunity for a +reassortment; and the nuptials of Lucius and Tullia were quickly +celebrated. + +Having thus far hurried forward the matter, it was not in the nature of +the woman to wait patiently for death to make vacant the throne of the +aged Servius. She said that she wanted a husband who would rather +possess a throne than hope for it. She stimulated Lucius's courage by +asking why he allowed himself to be called a prince, if he had not the +spirit to take his own. She suggested that, his grandfather having been +a merchant, perhaps it would be as well for him to return to Tarquinii, +the original home of the family, and engage in the same peaceful +occupation; which is evidence that the facile keenness of a woman's +power of expression is not a development of modern education. Being thus +encouraged, Lucius, as probably many another statesman has done, +considered it more advisable to take the chances of public strife than +to live in the certainty of domestic unrest. The time seeming +propitious, he repaired with an armed band to the Senate house and +seated himself on the throne. King Servius appeared, but no one thought +it worth while to hinder Lucius from throwing the aged ruler down the +steps of the Senate house; which he manfully did. + +Tullia was the instigator of this _coup d'etat_; and impatient to learn +its success, she drove to the Forum, and, calling her husband from the +Senate chamber, was the first to hail him as king. But Lucius commanded +her to return home; and the tradition runs that as she was going thither +her chariot wheels passed over the dead body of her royal father as it +lay in the narrow street. More of the story of this Roman +personification of filial iniquity we are not told, except that, in +accordance with the inevitable rule of legendary history, she met the +Nemesis of her crimes on a later day. The manner of it we shall see in +the expulsion of her family from Rome. + +The reign of Lucius Tarquin, surnamed Superbus on account of his +extraordinary pride, was strong and tyrannous; but its effect was the +aggrandizement of Rome and the increase of her power in Italy. He is +credited with some extensive public works, the chief of which was the +Capitol. This temple he erected upon the hill which had from time +immemorial been held sacred to Jove; for thereupon the people had +ofttimes beheld the deity, as Virgil says, "with his right hand shaking +his black shield, and summoning the storm clouds to him." For his +architectural undertakings the Roman king hired skilled Etruscan +workmen, which indicates that his own subjects were as yet laggards in +the pursuit of the arts and sciences. Indeed, everything goes to show +that the only infant industries which the Romans zealously cultivated at +this time were warfare and such agriculture as was necessary to supply +the wants of their abstemious life. For their few artistic needs, they +depended almost entirely upon the other Italian cities, which in these +respects were further advanced. + +In the traditional history of the reign of Tarquin Superbus there is +included a legend concerning the Sibyl of Cumae. Of those mysterious +women called Sibyls, ten were reputed to have flourished in various +parts of the ancient world. She of Cumae was said to have lived one +thousand years; seven hundred of which had expired when Aeneas came to +Italy and profited by her advice. The probable fact is that there +existed a school, or at any rate a succession, of pythonesses at Cumae, +and it is borne out by the fact that to the Sibyl are given no less than +seven different names by various ancient authors. These prophetic women +used to write their predictions on leaves, which they placed at the +entrance of their grotto; and it was very necessary to secure these +leaves before they were dispersed by the wind, since, once scattered, +they could never again be brought together. It seems, however, that the +pythonesses at times transmitted their wisdom in a more substantial +manner; for the Sibyl who came to the palace of Tarquin brought with her +nine volumes, which she offered for sale at a very high price. On the +monarch's refusal to buy them, she burned three of the books, and +demanded the same amount for the remaining six. Tarquin declined to +purchase these, and she immediately committed three more to the flames, +asking the same sum of money for the remainder. This extraordinary +conduct so excited the king's curiosity that he bought the books; and +the Sibyl vanished, never again to be seen. It is very appropriate that +the last of the Sibyls should disappear just as we begin to find +verifiable history taking the place of traditional lore. + +What the contents of these books were, or whether the king found reason +very greatly to regret that he did not accept the Sibyl's first offer of +the whole nine, we do not know. That they were highly valued by the +Roman people is shown by the fact that a college of priests was +instituted to have the care of them; and they remained in existence +until the time of Sylla, when they were destroyed in the flames of the +Capitol. The Sibylline verses now extant are universally deemed to be +spurious. + +The name of Tarquin has been placed on the world's roll of dishonor +because of the part one of his family played in that sad story which +describes how the rule of the kings of Rome came to an end under a cloud +of blackness and blood. The tragedy of Lucretia is one of those pictures +which are preserved forever on account of their simplicity and +naturalness. The figures are almost titanic in their strength; but they +will be recognized as typical of humanity in all time. The actions are +coarse, because they proceed from the fundamental virtues and vices +which are never separate from the hearts of men and women. The great +English dramatist has idealized the workings of thought and conscience +in the principal actors; but there was really nothing except bare, +unadorned humanism in every situation. There was the tyranny which +always accompanies unbridled power; there was the honest soldier's +outspoken pride in the unrivalled beauty and goodness of his wife at +home; there was the brutal animalism of the man who heeded no higher +instincts; there was the wounded heart that saw no hope but to retrieve +honor at the expense of life; there were ensuing grief and revenge. In +all this there is nothing subtle, nothing strange, to human knowledge. +It simply masses together all the general experiences of the universal +man. Yet here is one of the world's most notable dramas; and the picture +is interesting, because it portrays with strong colors in one scene all +the great motives and traits which sway and color human life. + +Lucretia was the daughter of a Roman noble, and she was the wife of +Collatinus, one of the Tarquinian family. The Roman army was investing +the city of Ardea, the capital of the Rutulians; and the young princes +had too little to occupy their time, as the sequel shows, to keep them +out of mischief. One day, they were drinking and conversing in the tent +of Sextus, the king's son. Soldier fashion, being occupied with wine, +their talk turned on the subject of women. Each man extolled the +superior charms of his own wife or betrothed. Their conversation +doubtless did not range beyond lawful wedded mates, or those who were +such in prospect; for in the Rome of those days there existed no class +of demi-monde, nor, indeed, were there many women whose reputation for +chastity would be liable to criticism even in the freedom of a soldiers' +camp. Life then was austere, and morality was intensive rather than +extensive. The gallant contention waxed more and more enthusiastic among +the comrades, until Collatinus said that there needed to be no dispute +about the matter; that it could be easily seen in a few hours how far +his Lucretia exceeded all the rest. Whereupon he challenged them all to +ride to Rome and let the matter be decided as each one found his wife +occupied on his unexpected arrival. To this they agreed, and immediately +galloped to Rome, which they reached in the dusk of the evening. The +king's sons found their wives spending their time in luxurious +entertainments; whether or not they agreed on any one as being superior +to the others, we are not told. But Collatinus's home was some miles out +in the country, so that it was visited last of all. Late as it was, they +found Lucretia, with her maids, spinning wool in the atrium, or middle +hall of the house. Collatinus and his friends were gladly welcomed by +the industrious Lucretia, and were provided with bountiful +entertainment; and they were not slow to vote that she had easily won +the contest. But the beauty of Lucretia's person and mind had made far +too deep an impression on Sextus, the son of Tarquin. Throughout the +journey back to camp he was revolving in his mind how he might again +make a visit to the house at Collatia, in which he did not desire the +company of its master. + +A few days later, Sextus appeared at Lucretia's door and met a kindly +welcome, in which her pure mind mingled no misgiving. There were no +locks on the inner doors of the Roman house; for, as Shakespeare makes +poor Lucretia tell her story: + + "... to the dreadful dead of dark midnight, + With shining falchion in my chamber came + A creeping creature with a flaming light, + And softly cried, 'Awake, thou Roman dame, + And entertain my love; else lasting shame + On thee and thine this night I will inflict, + If thou my love's desire do contradict.'" + +His threat was to murder both the lady and one of her male slaves, and +to place them so that it would appear that he had killed them to avenge +the honor of Collatinus. Thus we may see how poor Lucretia could truly +plead: + + "Mine enemy was strong, my poor self weak, + And far the weaker with so strong a fear; + My bloody judge forbad my tongue to speak; + No rightful plea might plead for justice there; + His scarlet lust came evidence to swear + That my poor beauty had purloin'd his eyes, + And when the judge is rob'd, the prisoner dies." + +The next day, she sent messengers to call her husband and her father. +They hastened to her at once, the former bringing with him Brutus, who +was to be the leader in liberating Rome from the infamous race of +Tarquin. When Lucretia had told her story, she made her relatives first +swear that the criminal should not go unpunished. To this they savagely +pledged themselves; but they tried to console her with the fact that, +her mind being pure, she had incurred no guilt. Lucretia replied; "It +remains for you to see to what is due to Tarquin. As for me, though I +acquit myself of guilt, from punishment I do not discharge myself; nor +shall any Roman woman survive her dishonor in pleading the example of +Lucretia." Thus saying, she drew a knife which she had concealed in her +garments, and plunged it into her heart. + +Brutus, while they were all overcome with grief, gently drew the weapon +from the wound; and holding it up, dripping as it was with Lucretia's +life blood, he cried: "By this blood, most pure before the pollution of +royal villainy, I swear, and I call you, O gods, to witness my oath, +that I shall pursue Lucius Tarquin the Proud, his wicked wife, and all +their race, with fire and sword, and all other means in my power; nor +shall I ever suffer them or any other to reign at Rome." In this oath +Collatinus and the others joined. They carried the dead body of Lucretia +to Rome, and succeeded in giving the populace the last incentive +necessary to drive out the already hated Tarquins. Thus the misfortunes +of noble Lucretia brought vengeance upon the wickedness of Tullia; for +the historian says that "she fled from her house, both men and women +cursing her wherever she went and invoking on her the Furies, the +avengers of parents." + +What portion of these stories of the women of legendary Rome may be +accepted as fact, and what must be relegated to the realm of fiction, it +is not within the capacity of research to ascertain. Probably we shall +not be far wrong if we consider these legends as moralizings founded on +facts. Tullia represented to the Romans all the viciousness against +which women were warned; in Lucretia, there were accumulated all the +virtues to which a woman was taught to aspire. They were pictorial moral +discourses; and, just as the moral character of a modern age might be +discovered from the sermons of the period, so these legends represent +what was lowest and highest in the ethical conceptions of earliest +Rome. + + + + +II + +NOBLE MATRONS OF THE REPUBLIC + +After the revolution, of which the tragedy of Lucretia was the +traditional cause and which ended forever monarchical rule in Rome, our +subject begins to emerge from the haziness of legendary narratives into +the clearer light of veritable history. It now becomes possible for us +to catch glimpses of the women of Rome, living and moving amid scenes +that were real and under conditions which undoubtedly prevailed. + +Roman society at the beginning of the Republic was most distinctly and +rigidly classified. Not only were the people divided by the +circumstances of birth into separate classes, but the law preordained +for every person his precise station, his duties, his privileges, and +his limitations. The citizen could no more go beyond these than he could +transfer himself into another order of creation; for law, in Rome, was +as absolute as it was rigid. Speaking generally, there were two orders, +the patrician and the plebeian. A common opinion of the old writers was +that out of the influx of adventurers who crowded to Rome at its +founding Romulus chose one hundred Senators, their qualification being +that they could name their fathers. Their children were called +patricians. In the third century before Christ, when the plebeians had +wrested many privileges and offices from the unwilling higher class, +Publius Decius, himself a plebeian, uses this theory of the origin of +the patricians to great advantage. Contending in debate for the right of +his order to serve in the priesthood, he said: "Have ye never heard that +the first-created patricians were not men sent down from heaven, but +such as could cite their fathers; that is, nothing more than freeborn? +Well, I can cite my father; he was a consul; and my son will be able to +cite a grandfather." This excessive pride which Roman citizens took in +the fact that they could trace their paternity through more or less +generations must not be understood as reflecting, in any way, upon the +character of the early matrons; it arose simply from the fact that they +could so surely name their ancestry as to eliminate possibility of +descent from one of the common herd of unenfranchised inhabitants. + +These latter were the plebeians. This class was made up of the +descendants of the ancient people who of old had inhabited the country, +ordinary foreigners who were attracted to the city, and the children of +captives who had been given their liberty. At first, the plebeians +enjoyed no rights whatever. They lived, it is true, under the shelter of +the walls of the city, but on the outside. They possessed no right of +suffrage, and were not allowed to interfere in any public affair. But +they were free. They held property and engaged in handicrafts and in +commerce. It soon came to pass that the increase of their number and +their importance rendered their repression by the nobles more and more +difficult. Under King Servius the plebeians became citizens; and, as is +the case in every land, the internal history of Rome contains nothing +more interesting than the indomitable and successful struggle of this +lower class to wrest ever larger privileges from the tenacious rulers. +It was not, however, until B.C. 444 that equality of rights had made +sufficient progress for matrimonial alliances to be countenanced between +patricians and plebeians. By the commencement of the Christian era all +practical distinction between these two classes had vanished. + +In addition to the two principal orders, there was that of the clients. +These were in reality vassals, who preferred dependence on the great and +wealthy to living independently in a precarious liberty. They were +called by the names of their patrons and were numbered in the latter's +tribe. By enactments of law, the patron was made responsible for the +support and protection of his clients. In return, the patrician could +depend upon his clients to fight his battles, support his cause, and +prove themselves loyal retainers of his house in both good fortune and +evil. The subservience of these clients, and the conscienceless zeal +with which they furthered the designs, even the most wicked, of their +masters, are well illustrated in the part which Marcus Claudius played +in the persecution of Virginia by the decemvir Appius. Another dependent +class was that of the slaves. At first the number of these was +comparatively small; but as the conquering arms of Rome spread over the +world her avaricious sway, the captives dragged in barbarous triumph to +the city grew out of all proportion to the population. They enjoyed +fewer rights and suffered under a regime more inhuman than in any other +slaveholding nation in history. + +That which distinguished one class from another in early Roman society +had nothing whatever to do with the character of the occupation of the +people comprising it. The noblest of the early patricians, as well as +the commonest plebeians, tilled the soil with their own hands; nor did +they disdain to engage in trade, or even in the letting of money on +usury. Wealth was no more a consideration than occupation in +determining to which order a man or a woman belonged. In course of time, +the plebeians, despite the patricians' unneglected privilege of +practising robbery under due process of law, numbered many families of +great wealth; but no man could therewith purchase entrance to the higher +class. It was the blood line that marked these distinctions; it was +ancestry alone that could give the patent of nobility. Nor is it +surprising that a people who believed in the divine origin of some of +their tribes should acknowledge superior rights as attached to a +well-authenticated pedigree. + +In most societies, the advantages of class are more markedly displayed +in the life of the women than in that of the men. This does not appear +to have been the case in the early times of the Roman Republic. In fact, +it is difficult to see how difference in class greatly distinguished the +patrician matron from her plebeian sister. Neither had any legal part +whatever in State affairs or in any public functions, excepting those of +a religious nature. The duties of each were confined to the home, and no +woman was relieved from the obligation of personal and diligent +industry. On the epitaphs of many noble women were praises for their +chastity and their proficiency in spinning. Indeed, the evidence seems +to indicate that any other qualities than these two, and that of +fertility, were deprecated rather than admired by the Romans of this +period. The only advantages which a patrician woman could possess were +her natural pride in the privileges of her family and what honor was +reflected upon her from the positions held by her male relatives. The +term "Head of the Family" never had so tyrannical a meaning as in most +ancient Rome. It was a place which a woman could not hold. The husband +was all in all; no one else was recognized by law. Wife, children, +clients, and slaves were alike persons without will of their own. They +were _mancipia_, under the hand of the father. He it was who answered +for them to the State and who judged them. If a wife was accused of +crime, she was committed to her husband for judgment. And this was the +law even down to the time of Nero, when Pomponia Graecina, charged with +embracing a foreign superstition, was "consigned to the adjudication of +her husband." A man could even condemn his wife to death for certain +offences, such as the violation of her marriage vows, or even for +forging false keys in order to steal his wine. At her husband's death, +the wife could not claim any of his property if he had bequeathed it to +another, even though it were willed to an entire stranger. In this +severely disciplined society, the woman never escaped from guardianship. +She was looked upon as belonging to the family rather than to the State. +The latter consisted only of men, to whom the women were merely +necessary accessories. No one thought that a woman possessed any claim +or right to independence of individuality. She was always under a +master: her father, when she was a girl; her husband, when she was +married; and her nearest male relative, if she became a widow. If she +obtained any share in her father's property or in that of her husband, +she could not transfer or bequeath it without the consent of her male +guardian, unless she were a Vestal; nor could she marry without the same +consent. + +But, however dependent her position may have been, whether maid or +matron, the Roman woman was always treated with reverence. The _stola_, +the characteristic robe of the matron, corresponding to the toga of the +male citizen, always ensured for its wearer respect, it being not merely +an article of attire, but also an insignia which could only be retained +by strict rectitude of life, market days or assembly days. In the +villa--a miserable cabin made of mud, rafters, and branches--not a day, +not a moment, was lost. Horace does not draw a more agreeable picture of +ancient city manners. He tells us that "at Rome, for a long time a man +knew no other pleasure and no other festival than to open his door at +dawn, to explain the law to his clients, and to lay out his money on +good security. They learned from their elders, and taught beginners, the +art of increasing their savings." But when it is remembered that Cato +was a sour and miserly Puritan, who adopted austerity as his pose, and +that Horace was a poet, not untouched with cynicism, who lived in a +society in which the charm of simple enjoyments was entirely forgotten, +we may consider both pictures, though from differing causes, slightly +overdrawn. Nevertheless they serve to indicate how circumscribed was the +life of the wives of the early Romans. + +Those strong-minded, intense, practical people were not, however, +without their entertainments. Music, both vocal and instrumental, was +cultivated. There were religious festivals, in which processions of boys +and maidens sang pious hymns. We also learn from Cicero that it was the +custom for the guests at a feast to sing the praises of their great men +to the sound of the flute. It is easy for us to imagine a home scene in +which Veturia, the mother of the youthful Cnaeus Martius, tells over +again to the inquiring boy those inspiring stories which he has heard +chanted by his father's hearth and which are to prepare him to emulate +heroic deeds at Corioli and earn for himself an honorable name. + +But, habitually solemn and grave as were those old Romans, they were +also much addicted to amusements of a coarse and grotesque nature. Even +in their religious processions they included monstrous mechanical +shapes, with formidable teeth and huge jaws which, by their opening and +closing, frightened the women and children, to the great enjoyment of +the men. Hideous masks were also worn for the same purpose. In fact, so +little refinement characterized the minds of the people of these times, +that they could find entertainment in only the rudest and coarsest of +jests. Farces, which were nothing more than the absurd antics and +personal witticisms of buffoons, had been introduced from Atella. But +the beginning of Roman drama may be dated from B.C. 364, when, on +account of a pestilence which devastated the city, Etruscan actors were +imported to institute scenic games in honor of the gods. The pestilence +ended; and consequently the games, being regarded as the efficacious +remedy, were retained. These games consisted of combined dances and +songs, which were accompanied by appropriate but not altogether proper +gestures. Later, there was instituted the floral festival, the purpose +of which was to induce the goddess of spring to grant that all the +flowers which decked the fields at the time of blossoming should be +represented by fruit in the harvest. In these games, dancing girls +appeared upon the stage; and we may draw our own conclusions from the +fact that in the time of Cato the scene was regarded as too frivolous +for the eyes of so grave a personage. But the most popular of all the +early festivals was that of Anna Perenna, the goddess of life. In this, +restraint was abandoned. To drink extravagantly, and to listen to a +recitation of the mistakes of Mars in taking a hideous goddess for the +beautiful Minerva, were regarded as works of piety. Young girls were +required to sing this story, which was full of the coarsest allusions. +But the ancients did not consider the requirements of modesty in the +same light as we do. They did not esteem that innocence born of +ignorance, in which modern times deem it sacrificed to honor was the +signal for the expulsion of tyranny. + +It was not alone in the incitement of the populace to measures for her +protection that the influence of woman was felt in matters of State. +There were occasions when by her means calamities were averted, as well +as times when civil strife was for her sake produced. The memory of the +good service done for the city by Veturia, the mother, and Volumnia, the +wife of Coriolanus, was never allowed to fade. + +In the history of this brave and haughty warrior we have a picture of +Roman political life. Rough politics they were; rock-faced episodes, +befitting the character of the times, in which men knew nothing of +_finesse_, and when appeal was made directly from reason to brute force +and to the natural feelings of men. Perhaps it would be bordering on +literary impiety to think that Shakespeare, in his Coriolanus, has not +given the best interpretation possible of this fragment from the old +Republic; but it is not one of his greatest pieces, because the material +is lacking in those human qualities which are necessary to arouse +profound interest. It is a drama with but one motive--filial respect. +Yet the most is made of this; and the great dramatist has succeeded in +vivifying the principal characters. In the portrayal of the mother of +Coriolanus we see a matron who is worthy of such a son; the wife's part +is that of passive resignation to the will of stronger spirits. Mrs. +Jameson, in her _Characteristics of Women_, says: "In Volumnia, +Shakespeare has given us the portrait of a Roman matron, conceived in +the true antique spirit, and finished in every part. Although Coriolanus +is the hero of the play, yet much of the interest of the action and the +final catastrophe turn upon the character of his mother, and the power +she exercised over his mind, by which, according to the story, 'she +saved Rome and lost her son.' Her lofty patriotism, her patrician +haughtiness, her maternal pride, her eloquence, and her towering spirit, +are exhibited with the utmost power of effect; yet the truth of female +nature is beautifully preserved, and the portrait, with all its vigor, +is without harshness." We may well believe that Veturia--whom, following +Plutarch, Shakespeare calls Volumnia--was a woman who could say: "When +yet he was tender-bodied, and the only son of my womb ... I was pleased +to let him seek danger where he was like to find fame. To a cruel war I +sent him, whence he returned, his brows bound with oak." And when the +wife tremblingly inquires: "But had he died in the business, madam--what +then?" it was in the mother to reply: "Then, his good report should have +been my son." This is in accord with the Greek historian's statement +that Coriolanus fought heroically, not only for glory and the passion of +battle, but to win the meed of praise from his mother. + +The action in the story of Veturia and her son is entirely political. +The balance of power between the patricians and the plebeians was very +narrow, especially when hardship aroused the latter to make inquiry into +the claims of the former. A famine was more than sufficient to incite +the lower order to threaten the privileges of the upper class; and Rome +was at that time suffering from a scarcity of corn. The populace was not +entirely convinced by Menenius's parable that the whole duty of the +patrician order consisted in being the belly of the State organism. The +people clamored; their tribunes saw in this an opportunity to gain +increased powers; the Senators were inclined to be subservient. But the +haughty spirit of Coriolanus would yield nothing of the ancient +privileges. For his mother's sake, he sought the consulship; +nevertheless, he angered the commons, though he could not gain the +office without their suffrages. The stress became so great that his +patrician friends could not prevent his exile. He left Rome, only to +return to wreak vengeance at the head of a Volscian army. This enemy +being already a menace to Rome, the defection of the great leader to +their ranks placed the disordered city at their mercy. Then it was that +the Romans remembered that though women were incapacitated for political +action and were unable to fight, yet they were powerful factors in the +appeal to those feelings of the human heart whence flow justice and +pity. The arguments of ambassadors and the behests of the priests had +not availed; the authorities were constrained to adventure what might be +effected by the tears of the women for whom alone, of all that was +Roman, Coriolanus retained any regard. His mother and his wife were +implored to make the last appeal. This plan had come by inspiration into +the mind of Valeria, sister of the great Publicola, as she was praying +with the other matrons in the temple of Jupiter. Veturia and Volumnia, +leading the two sons of Coriolanus, went forth to the Voiscian camp. As +they drew near, Coriolanus, though resolved to remain obdurate, showed +himself not lacking in filial respect; he advanced to meet them, +ordering the fasces to be lowered in the presence of his mother. The +Roman historians clothe Veturia with noble dignity as she makes her +appeal. "Before I receive your embrace, let me know if I have come to an +enemy or to a son; whether I am in your camp a captive or a mother. Has +length of life and a hapless old age reserved me for this--to behold you +an exile and an enemy?... So then, had I not been a mother, Rome would +not be besieged; had I not a son, I might have died free in a free +country." The spirit of this is truly Roman. Even the women were trained +to force the claims of blood and the natural affections into a place +secondary to the duty of loyalty to the State. This appeal; joined with +the embraces of his wife and the lamentations of the other matrons, +prevailed over the anger of Coriolanus; and again Rome was saved by the +Roman women. As a reward, a monumental temple was erected by the men of +the city, and dedicated to Female Fortune. + +It was not alone as peacemakers that the Roman matrons served the public +interests of the city. On more than one occasion the treasury was +rendered efficient by means of their generous contributions. More than +once the golden ornaments of the wives became auxiliary to the iron arms +of their husbands, and in one instance they accomplished that which the +latter could not achieve. When the Gauls burned the city, and were only +turned from the citadel by the payment of one thousand pounds of gold, +with the sword of Brennus thrown on the Gallic side of the scale to +insure good weight, the amount could not have been raised but for the +self-sacrifice of the matrons. In gratitude for this, the Conscript +Fathers voted that thenceforth funeral orations might be made for women. +The gold was afterward repaid to the women out of Etrurian plunder. +Again, when, in accordance with the vow of Camillus, a tribute was to be +presented to Apollo, the matrons brought what they possessed of the +precious metal, it was especially honored by being made into a golden +bowl, which was carried to Delphos. On this occasion also they were +rewarded; for the Senate conferred on them the privilege of riding to +public worship and to the games in covered chariots, and on other +errands in open carriages. The historian introduces this latter +information with "they say"; whether or not, previous to this, the Roman +ladies had been obliged to walk is left to be surmised without further +evidence. + +Some Idea of what those golden ornaments were may be gathered from the +account of a voluntary contribution which was made in Rome at a later +period. Funds were required to equip a fleet against Philip of Macedon, +the ally of Hannibal. Laevinus the consul, urging upon his fellow +Senators the duty to set an example of public generosity, says: "Let us +bring into the treasury to-morrow all our gold, silver, and coined +brass, each reserving rings for himself, his wife and children, and a +bulla for his son; and he who has a wife or daughters, an ounce weight +of gold for each. Let those who have sat in a curule chair have the +ornaments of a horse, and a pound weight of silver, that they may have a +salt-cellar, and a dish for the service of the gods ..." Notwithstanding +the fact that, in response to this appeal, the needs of the fleet were +abundantly provided for, the indication is that at this period, about +B.C. 280, the decorative tastes of the Roman ladies had in no wise +acquired that luxuriousness with which they afterward became +characterized. There was no ornament so common as the ring, the place of +which, in these early times when only one was worn, was the third finger +of the left hand. It was used for the purpose of sealing letters and +papers, and long before the end of the Republic the custom arose of +setting rings with precious stones. Indeed, the people of the early +Republic were not unacquainted with most exquisite work of the +goldsmiths' art; but there was still prevalent that consciousness of the +surpassing value of personal excellences which could afford to be +independent of outward adornment, and of which Cornelia's reference to +her sons as her jewels was a surviving echo. + +But the times were soon to change. Hitherto we have seen the Roman +matrons living the simple, diligent, unsophisticated lives of women who +were fitting mates for men who held to the plow for support, but dared +not let drop the sword. Until then, Rome had been nothing but a city +struggling for existence--sometimes a precarious existence. Instances +there were when her fortunes waned almost to the vanishing point; when +the tide of progress seemed to hang at the ebb. The god of victory, +though honored as the tutelary deity of Rome, was frequently partial to +her Italian neighbors; her walls were entered and her houses razed by +the barbarian Gauls; and once she was at the point of being deserted by +her citizens, the majority of whom could hardly be restrained by the +ideals of religion from removing the State and the Capitol to Veii. Yet +her star of empire persisted and, despite temporary eclipses, remained +in the ascendant. + +How did those centuries of varying civic fortune affect the status of +the women? They were, by the necessities of their circumstances, trained +to endure hardship. The temple of Janus was never closed, for warfare +was unceasing; and it was usual for the widow's wailing death dirge to +be embittered by the fact that the husband had been slain in his +strength and prime. Slavery and outrage, the concomitants of barbarous +warfare, were always included within the possibilities of a Roman +matron's fate. Under such circumstances civilization necessarily +advanced slowly; it is only as life and liberty and leisure are secured +that existence can acquire the social graces. Hence the probability is +that, during the first two and a half centuries of the Republic,--that +is, until Rome was fully launched upon her career of conquest,--the +position and the habits and manner of life of the women did not greatly +change. It is true that there was a continuous internal development of +the State; but this manifested itself in an accentuation of those laws +which reveal the hardness of the old Roman character, rather than in any +tendency toward the easement of the individual lives of the citizens. +Never has personal privilege been so completely subjugated to State +prerogative. The laws, which were rigidly--even slavishly--interpreted +according to the letter and never according to the spirit, considered +the individual from the standpoint of his value to the State, and rarely +from that of his own rights. The woman's value to the State was entirely +submerged in that of her husband. Therefore, we find that it was only +with the greatest difficulty that edicts granting privileges to woman +could be passed, unless it were in payment for some special act of +loyalty on her part to the State. Hard and inflexible in their ideas of +life were those old Romans, practical and unsentimental in their +relations with each other, narrow in their conceptions, proud to +arrogance of their State, and reverencing only their institutions. + +But in course of time they broke through their insularity with the force +of their own arms. Victorious contact with other States gave them a +larger acquaintance with the fruits of civilization, and the spoils of +conquest afforded them the means to enjoy it. Hence, during the latter +half of the republican period we see life in Rome rapidly undergoing a +change. As typical of this new state of things, as it affected the +character, status, and condition of women, there is only one woman whom +we need to select. In Cornelia, the daughter of Scipio Africanus and the +wife of Sempronius Gracchus, is found the ideal of Roman femininity of +that day. She was in every way worthy of her patrician ancestry, which +had produced a greater number of eminent men than any other family, +twenty-one consulships being held by the Cornelii in eighty-six years. +Cornelia lived in a Rome which we can understand and appreciate; we +begin to recognize social features upon which the imagination can lay +hold and from them piece together some idea of the reality. Hitherto +the data has been too foreign and too meagre for any great success in +this; but when we read of Cornelia providing herself with a country +house, riding to public worship, listening to the gossip of her friends +respecting each other's jewelry, and interesting herself in Greek +literature, we discover that the main features of a Roman matron's life +were not essentially dissimilar from those which characterize polite +feminine society in our own time. Indeed, there is more to evoke our +sympathetic appreciation in the Rome of B.C. 150 than in the Europe of +A.D. 1000 or in the Asiatic civilizations of to-day. We feel more at +home in the patrician villas than in the mediaeval castles; just as we +find more that is applicable to modern life in the Roman poets than we +do in the bards of chivalry. In studying the period when the ancient +civilization of Italy was at its best, we discover habits of thought, +bits of life, and social customs, which really startle us with their +similitude to those to which we ourselves are accustomed. + +The city, in the time of Cornelia, showed few outward signs of the +magnificence it was to acquire under the emperors. The houses were +mostly of brick, though domestic architecture had become quite ambitious +in its character, Cornelia herself having built, as has been said, a +very expensive villa at Misenum; those of the wealthy were filled with +costly furniture and precious works of art, which the Romans first +learned to admire in the countries which they subdued; and having +acquired a taste for beautiful things, they made no scruple of +appropriating them. Rome had now grown wealthy with the spoils of her +extensive victories, and, as always comes to pass with the advent of +riches, there had been brought about a great differentiation in the +condition of the population. Polybius gives us a picture of the +extravagant style in which Aemilia, the mother of Cornelia, appeared in +public. "When she left home to go to the temple," says he, "she seated +herself in a glittering chariot, herself attired with extreme luxury. +Before her were carried with solemn ceremony the vases of gold and +silver required for the sacrifice, and a numerous train of slaves and +servants accompanied her." And this notwithstanding the Oppian law, +which limited matrons to a half-ounce of gold on their wearing apparel +and prohibited them from riding in carriages in the city, and which had +not yet been repealed. As this modish lady passed through the streets of +Rome with her brilliant retinue, exciting the envy of other matrons, and +bestowing gracious recognition upon white-robed, stately patricians, she +must have beheld as many signs of abject, suffering poverty as are +prevalent in our own great cities. By this time, the plebeian order had +been raised to equal legal privilege with the patrician, and society had +now come to be divided into the enormously rich and the extremely poor. +The former rendered their position secure by means of extortion in the +provinces; the condition of the latter was made hopeless by the fact +that all labor was performed by slaves. A state of things unknown to the +old times was now prevalent in Rome: men and women were idle, willingly +or perforce, according to their circumstances. + +The position of women had also changed. They were now beginning to make +a stand for their rights--a thing undreamed of in the old days. The +father of the family was no longer allowed to execute his arbitrary +power entirely unquestioned. Livy narrates an incident which illustrates +this development and bears interestingly upon the character of Aemilia +and the history of Cornelia. He relates that "the Senators, happening to +sup one day in the Capitol, rose up together and requested of Africanus, +before the company departed, to betroth his daughter to Gracchus; the +contract was accordingly executed in due form, in the presence of this +assembly. Scipio, on his return home, told his wife Aemilia that he had +concluded a match for her younger daughter. She, feeling her female +pride hurt, expressed some resentment at not having been consulted in +the disposal of their common child, adding that, even were he giving her +to Tiberius Gracchus, her mother ought not to be kept in ignorance of +his intention; to which Scipio, rejoiced that her judgment concurred so +entirely with his own, replied that she was betrothed to that very man." + +It has been well said that the words which Plautus puts into the mouth +of Alcmena may be applied to the character of Cornelia, who was thus +bestowed by her great father upon a no less worthy man: "My dower is +chastity, modesty, and the fear of the gods; it is love to my kindred; +it is to be submissive to my husband, kind toward good people, helpful +to the brave." She also received a _dot_, an accompaniment of marriage +which was beginning to be highly considered among the matrons of Rome as +of more practical value than the above-mentioned moral qualities. It +consisted of fifty talents of gold. But the time had not yet arrived +when the riches of virtue and goodness were entirely unappreciated; +there were still matrons who could enter, with faces neither brazen nor +abashed, the temple erected to chastity; and upon the tombs of many of +them might have been truthfully inscribed, as upon that of Claudia: +_Gentle in words, graceful in manner, she loved her husband devotedly; +she kept her house, she spun wool_. Among these chaste matrons Cornelia +excelled; her fame remains as that of the highest type of the +pure-principled, noble-minded, cultured Roman matron. She lived in +entire sympathy with her husband; and we may well believe that it was +partly owing to her influence that the generous Sempronius Gracchus +found it in himself to command an army enlisted from among the slaves, +and to emancipate them upon the battlefield as a reward for the bravery +which his leadership incited. + +Plutarch, in his lives of the sons of Gracchus, repeats a story which, +though characterized by the superstitions of the times, indicates in +what estimation Cornelia was held by her husband and all who knew her. +It relates that Gracchus once found in his bed chamber a couple of +snakes, and that the soothsayers, being consulted concerning the +prodigy, advised that he should neither kill them both nor let them both +escape; adding that if the male serpent were killed, Gracchus would die, +and, if the female, Cornelia would perish. Therefore, as he extremely +loved his wife, he thought that it was much more his part, who was an +old man, to die than it was hers, who as yet was but a young woman; so +he killed the male serpent and let the female escape. Soon after this, +he died, leaving his wife and the twelve children which she had borne to +him. "Cornelia, taking upon herself all the care of the household and +the education of her children, approved herself so discreet a matron, so +affectionate a mother, and so constant and noble-spirited a widow, that +Tiberius seemed to all men to have done nothing unreasonable in choosing +to die for such a woman; who, when King Ptolemy himself proffered her +his crown and would have married her, refused it, and chose rather to +live a widow. In this state she continued, and lost all her children, +except one daughter, who was married to Scipio the Younger, and two +sons, Tiberius and Caius." The daughter, Sempronia, seems to have been +in every respect unlike her mother. Unattractive and childless, she +neither loved nor was loved by her husband; and, indeed, suspicion was +cast upon her of having brought about his death. + +Cornelia was well equipped to undertake the education of her children. +What is told of her indicates a woman who was alert to advance with all +that was progressive in her time. The spirit of literature had but +recently attained its reincarnation, and that for the first time upon +Roman soil. It was begotten, as it was again fifteen centuries later, by +the immortal genius of Greek poesy. The Romans conquered Greece +physically; but Hellenic learning subjugated Roman ideas. The Scipios +were the ardent supporters of Greek culture; and in this, as in all +other respects, Cornelia took a foremost position among the +representatives of her gifted family. + +She provided for her children the most erudite of Greek masters, and +spared no efforts in training their minds in the love of all that was +graceful and cultured. In the justly renowned eloquence of her sons, +there was recognized a gift which they inherited from their mother, as +was testified by Cicero, who had seen her letters. She possessed the +ability and also the courage to incite them to noble deeds for their +country. It was probably not so much ambition for herself as for them +which caused her to reproach her sons with the fact that she was still +known as the widow of Scipio and not as the Mother of the Gracchi. But +they lost no time in earning for her, both on account of their deeds on +the battlefield and by their devotion to the civil affairs of the State, +the distinction of this latter title. + +The Roman Republic had so far degenerated as to submit to be governed by +an oligarchy consisting of a few proud and wealthy families--the worst +of all forms of government. The Senators were flagrantly using their +power to accumulate enormous riches and to monopolize the land by +seizing upon the public domain. Middle-class independence was rapidly +diminishing, and the growing masses of the people were oppressed by a +poverty from which they had no means of freeing themselves. The Gracchi +sought to relieve these evils by passing laws limiting the amount of +land which might be held by one person, and offsetting the power of the +nobility by securing the economic independence of the people. The +Gracchi were reformers; and they each in turn attained to dictatorial +power. But though they secured the enactment of their measures, they +could not put them into effect; and in the end,--as is frequently the +case with reformers,--because they were far-sighted enough to see evil +in that which the majority of the rulers considered good, there was +nothing for them but martyrdom. This they suffered in turn: Caius taking +up the work where Tiberius was compelled, by assassination, to +relinquish it. + +The parting of Caius from his wife on the morning of his own death is a +scene from a heroic tragedy. He could not be persuaded to arm himself, +with the exception of a small dagger underneath his toga. As he was +going out, Licinia stopped him at the threshold, holding him by one hand +and their little son by the other. She pleaded that he would not expose +himself to the murderers of his brother. "Had your brother," she urged, +"fallen before Numantia, the enemy would have given back what then had +remained of Tiberius; but such is my hard fate, that I probably must be +a suppliant to the floods or the waves, that they would somewhere +restore to me your relics. For since Tiberius was not spared, what trust +can we place either in the laws or in the gods?" But Caius, gently +withdrawing himself from her embraces, departed; and Licinia, falling in +a faint, was carried as though dead into the house of her brother +Crassus. + +Cornelia bore the death of her two sons with her characteristic nobility +of mind. She removed to her seaside home at Cape Misenum; and there she +surrounded herself with learned men, and especially delighted in +entertaining the exponents of Greek literature. She was held in the +highest esteem by all; and her friends desired no greater privilege than +to listen to her reminiscences of her father, Scipio Africanus. She +would proudly add: "The grandsons of that great man were my children. +They perished in the temple and grove sacred to the gods. They have the +tombs that their virtues merited, for they sacrificed their lives to the +noblest of aims,--the desire to promote the welfare of the people." Such +was Cornelia; and she was the noblest of the matrons of the Republic. No +greater thing can be said of her than that she gloried most in the +reflected honor which came upon her as being the mother of the Gracchi; +yet she has been deservedly given a high place among the great and good +women of all time. + + + + +III + +WOMAN'S PART IN RELIGION + +In these modern times and in Christian countries, we are accustomed to +seeing religious matters take a more prominent place in the life of the +women than in that of the men. This is because our form of religion +concerns itself more with the emotions and with those subjects which +appeal to sentiment than it does with the practical affairs of life. +Wherever the details or the appliances of worship are brought into +intimate relation with the common occupations in which a people are +engaged, it at once becomes less peculiarly the province of women. For +instance, where there is union between Church and State, according to +the extent to which that union exists, and owing to the fact that women +are to a large extent shut out of the management of State affairs, the +Church more particularly engages the attention of the male portion of +the population. Also, where, as in Asia, an undertaking is supposed to +be liable to miscarriage unless entered into conformably with the +prevailing religious rites, men are less likely to be negligent in +paying their respects to the gods. When, as in mediaeval Europe, every +phase of human activity was under the supervision of the Church, the +arts finding in it a large proportion of their subject matter, and +every transaction needing its sanction, woman's influence in religion +was much less predominant than it now is. All of which goes to show that +there is less of material self-seeking in feminine worship than in that +of men. + +Never was the intimate relation between the material and the spiritual +more strongly accentuated than in ancient Rome. The acts of the gods and +goddesses were a part of the lives of the people. Nothing existed or +came to pass in State, society, or private life without its cause being +attributed to the supernatural. The consequence was that every Roman +citizen looked upon the worship of his deities as a practical duty, the +neglect of which entailed practical consequences. At the same time, the +possession by woman of an important place in religion was assured, not +only by her nature, but also by the fact that reverence for the +supernatural was conjoined with every phase of life. Worship was no less +a private interest than a public affair. It entered into everything. +Consequently, a woman's religious duties and privileges were exactly +coextensive with the activities of her life. According to Roman +theology, the supernatural world was the precise counterpart of the +natural world. Everything had its special deity. There were the powerful +gods and goddesses who presided over the national interests, over war +and peace, prosperity and chastisement, counsel and justice; there were +the divinities who were to be depended upon for the natural phenomena, +the seasons, the weather, germination, and harvest; there were also +minor spirits upon whose pleasure depended the success of every human +action. + +According to the Roman conception, nothing took place without the +assistance of some special divinity whose province it was to further +that particular form of activity. It is said that Varro, at the close of +the era of the Republic, was able to enumerate thirty thousand of these +gods and goddesses. Roman life, public and private, was never for a +moment dissociated from religion. The Senate met for deliberation in the +temple of Jupiter; an important part of the general's duty on the +battlefield was to invoke the god of war; the infliction of punishment +on wrong-doers was a sacrifice to offended deity; all public +entertainments were held in honor of the gods; all the ordered events in +an individual's life were religious ceremonies; for even a family meal +was not supposed to be partaken of without a portion being set apart for +the household gods; and always on entering a house reverence was first +made to the Lares. Hence it necessarily followed that the part woman +took in religion was commensurate with her part in Roman life. It can +hardly be said that her position in this respect was a subordinate one. +If Mars, the god of battle, was the central object of Roman worship, an +equal devotion was paid to Vesta at the communal hearth which symbolized +the existence and the well-being of the city; and as it was more +particularly the province of men to invoke the warlike deity, so from +among the women, who were the home-keepers, were selected the honored +guardians of the sacred fire. It is also important to observe another +fact. Though there were priests appointed to conduct the ceremonies of +public worship, they were in no sense intermediaries. Every suppliant +addressed himself directly to the divinity. He might consider it to his +advantage to consult the professional men, who were skilled in the +knowledge of how most persuasively to approach the gods; but the act of +intercession was each person's own affair, and did not need the +intervention of a proxy. Therefore, the women were as free to address +the gods as were the men; and, in fact, in the many matters which +concerned their sex particularly, and in other things in which it +seemed fitting, they alone could properly do so. + +Bespeaking the favor of a particular deity consisted in paying that god +more or less extra attention; generally it was a very simple process. +There is in existence a painting, found at Rome, which represents two +women offering incense to Mars, their husbands probably being absent +with the army. Each of these matrons has brought a portable altar, and +into the rising flames, before a small figure of the deity, they are +dropping the fragrant oblation. This sacrifice may have taken place in +the open air; probably in the Forum. Thus easy was it for women to pay +their devotions and to invoke protection for those in whose welfare they +were interested. The practical Romans looked upon their relations to the +deities as partaking somewhat of the nature of commerce; for a certain +amount of attention they were justified in expecting a corresponding +amount of protection. They even practised what might truly be called +pious frauds upon the powers whom they worshipped. In certain cases, it +seemed to them that, inasmuch as the gods could not make use of the +reality, an inexpensive substitute might well take its place. For +instance, it is a relief to know that the yearly sacrifice of men which +the Vestals made to Father Tiber from the Sublician Bridge had nothing +in it more human than representations of men made out of osiers; but +when we read of the heads of poppies and even onions being presented to +Jupiter, in order that he might practise his thunderbolts upon them, +instead of upon the heads of the citizens, the instinct of +self-preservation is more apparent than is the reasoning faculty which +they attributed to the god. The Romans studied economy in their +religion. Their meat offerings constituted the family meal; and a pig +seemed to them the more proper object to sacrifice to the gods, in that +its flesh was a favorite article of diet with themselves. + +In many instances, the Romans committed, as they believed, the fortunes +of the State to the religious zeal of the women. There were several +divine protectresses whose worship was the exclusive duty of the gentler +sex. The most important of all was Vesta; to permit her sacred flame to +expire was one of the greatest of public calamities. The fact that these +offices held by women were looked upon by the Romans as of exceeding +importance could but reflect a dignity upon womanhood and enhance the +respect in which the sex was held. In fact, though women held no +recognized place in civil and State affairs, in religion they attained +much nearer to equal rights with the men. If a man were a priest, his +wife was a priestess. So firmly did women assert the authority gained +through possession of religious office, that in the reign of Tiberius it +was deemed necessary to pass a law that in things sacred the priestess +of Jupiter should be subject to her husband. + +One of the most interesting features of Roman religion was the worship +of Vesta and the institution of an order of virgins devoted to her +service. Nothing more clearly illustrates than this the fact that Roman +religion was suggested by racial customs. A study of the earliest +history of the Aryan race shows that during the migrations of the tribes +it would naturally fall to the duty of the young girls to kindle the +camp fire whenever their people stopped to rest; and as the primitive +method of procuring fire by rubbing together dry sticks rendered this no +easy matter, it was important to preserve the flame when once it was +produced. Then, too, the camp fire signified much; it stood for comfort, +sustenance, health, family, and social community; it was either the +source or the representation of the best in primeval life. The bright +flame was to the tribesmen a beneficent deity, a goddess, of course; +for by it the work of women was especially furthered--a chastity-loving +goddess, for what so pure as fire? Hence the idea that virgins, such as +those who enkindle the useful flame, should attend the communal hearth +consecrated to the honor of the divinity and symbolical of the life of +the tribe. + +Numa Pompilius, the second of Rome's legendary kings, is said, as +already mentioned, to have instituted the college of the Vestal Virgins +and to have formulated the rules of the life to which they were bound. +It seems probable, however, that the order was more ancient than even +the city itself; reaching back, as has been indicated, to the +prehistoric time when the ancestors of the Latin tribes migrated from +the common Aryan home. At first the Roman Vestals were four in number, +two for each of the original Roman tribes, the Ramnes and the Tities; +after the addition of the Luceres, the number was increased to six. +Maidens were made Vestals when between six and ten years of age. +Whenever a vacancy occurred, the chief pontiff chose twenty girls from +the patrician order, care being taken to select only those who were in +perfect health, free from the least physical blemish, and showing +promise of future beauty. Then the casting of lots was resorted to, in +order that the goddess herself might have an opportunity to designate +which of the number should be selected as her priestess. The maiden to +whom fell this fortune gave her right hand to the pontiff, who said: "I +take thee; thou shalt be priestess of Vesta, and shalt perform the +sacred rites for the safety of the Roman people." Then the girl was +conducted to the house of the sacred virgins, who cut off her hair and +clothed her in the white robes of the order. The ceremony in many +respects corresponded to that of the modern nun in taking the veil. The +term of consecration was thirty years, thus giving the votaries ten +years in which to learn their duties, ten for the practice of them as +serving members, and ten in which they governed the order and enjoyed +the highest honors in its gift. After thirty years, the Vestals were at +liberty to return to their families, or to marry, if they so desired; +but advantage was rarely taken of this permission, they preferring the +service of the goddess to whom they had vowed their virginity. + +The principal duty of the Vestals was to preserve the fire which burned +day and night on the altar of their divinity. If through rare mischance +it became extinguished, it was the rule that the sacred flame might only +be rekindled by rubbing together pieces of wood from a particular tree +which was resorted to with great and solemn ceremony. Later, however, +there was adopted the method of concentrating the rays of the sun in a +vase of burnished metal. The Vestals had other important functions, +chief of which were the offering of certain sacrifices and the +protection of records and important documents as well as of the +venerable relics of the city. These were preserved in the most secret +part of the temple; and among them were the fetiches which were said to +have been brought to Troy by Dardanus, and from Troy to Italy by Aeneas. +These were believed by the Romans to be the guaranties for the existence +of the Empire. No one but the Chief Vestal was permitted to enter the +inner sanctuary, where they were kept. It is no wonder that, as the +functions committed to their charge were believed to be fraught with +such tremendous import to the State, to these priestesses was paid a +respect as great if not greater than any Roman official might claim. +They were most carefully guarded against insult or offence, anyone +offering such being punished with death. Whenever a Vestal appeared in +public, she was preceded by a lictor, before whom everyone made way, +even the highest officer of the State. The fasces were always lowered in +her presence. She was free from that guardianship by male relatives to +which all other Roman women were subject. Consequently, a Vestal not +only could receive legacies, but also enjoyed an untrammelled right in +the disposal of her property. In a court of justice she could make a +deposition without being required to take the oath. At all public games +and religious banquets she had the seat of honor. If a criminal, even on +the way to execution, met her by accident in the street, he was +immediately set free. + +On the other hand, if their privileges were great, the discipline was +severe. If they transgressed the minor rules of the order, chastisement +was administered by the Chief Vestal. If she herself were the offender, +or if the offence were something of so serious a nature as permitting +the extinction of the sacred fire, the delinquent maiden was stripped +and then scourged by the chief pontiff in the gloom of a darkened room. +If a Vestal broke her vow of chastity, a horrible death awaited her. In +a place called _campus sceleratus_--the accursed field--an underground +chamber was prepared. This chamber was carefully furnished with a bed, a +lamp, a small quantity of oil, bread, water, and milk. The victim was +placed upon a bier and borne with funeral pomp to the place of doom. +There, in the presence of the multitude, after the priest had uttered +certain prayers, the Vestal descended into her living tomb. The vault +was quickly covered, and then roofed with brick; the earth was replaced +and carefully levelled; thus all traces of the death chamber were +obliterated, and the unfortunate victim was left to her fate. The +witnesses of the execution turned away from the spot in the belief that +the death of the criminal would avert dire evils from themselves and +their families. + +Though it may be they are not sufficiently well attested to preclude the +doubt that the innocent were sometimes sacrificed, it is interesting to +note that there are occasions on record when Vesta came to the rescue of +her servants. Dionysius relates how, when Aemilia was about to be +punished for intrusting the sacred fire to a novice, who let it go out, +the Vestal, having first prayed to the goddess, tore a strip from her +robe and cast it upon the ashes, when the fire immediately blazed up. +Tuccia, who was accused of violating her vow of continence, appealed to +the goddess and said: "O Vesta, if I have ever approached thee with +clean hands, grant me a sign to prove my innocence." Then, as though by +inspiration, she took a sieve, and going to the Tiber brought it back +full of water, thus showing that miracles are never lacking in any +religion when its votaries in after ages have sufficient faith to +believe in them. This occurrence was made the subject of the engraving +on the seal of the order, a specimen of which has been preserved to the +present time. In the fourth century before Christ, Postumia was charged +with a like offence. She succeeded in proving her innocence without +summoning the gods as witnesses; but the chief pontiff, "by the +instruction of the college, commanded her to refrain from indiscreet +mirth, and to dress with more regard to sanctity than elegance." + +The temple of Vesta stood at the east end of the Forum, the site being +well authenticated by the ruins which remain. Tradition held that the +first temple was built by Numa; this was destroyed in B.C. 390, when the +city was burned by the Gauls. It was afterward rebuilt no less than four +times, always on the exact site, the same form and size being adhered +to. It was small and circular in shape, the domed roof being supported +on columns which surrounded the inner wall. In the interior was the +low, round altar where burned continually the sacred fire, to the care +of which the virgin priestesses were devoted. The house in which the +Vestals resided stood behind the temple, toward the Palatine hill. A few +years ago, excavations were made in the accumulated soil at the foot of +the hill, and a rich reward was gained in the discovery of this house, +in a remarkably fine state of preservation. It has the large atrium, +common to ancient Roman houses, and into which the rooms open from all +sides. The stairs remain, and many of the rooms on the upper floor are +still intact. That the Vestals lived in luxurious style is attested by +the richness of the decorations and by the remains of bathrooms and +hot-air flues. The latter were used for heating Roman buildings from a +furnace, very much in the same manner as the method to which we are +accustomed. That which interests us far more than anything else about +this house, however, is the fact that there were found in it a large +number of statues representing the Vestals themselves. Each statue +originally stood upon a pedestal bearing the name and a dedicatory +inscription. Presumably, the faces and the figures do not flatter the +sacred maidens, for they are neither beautiful nor graceful; but they +give us their names, and, what is perhaps of still greater interest, +they represent the Vestal dress. This consisted of a long gown, with a +cord around the waist, knotted in front. Over this there is a large +mantle, so arranged as to be drawn over the head like a hood; this falls +in great folds, with heavy tassels at the corners. Around the head is +the characteristic diadem-like band of wool which always distinguished +the Vestals, and was to them what the veil is to a nun. The feet are +covered with boots of some soft material. The inscriptions on the +pedestals are dated, the latest date being that of A.D. 364. This +pedestal is particularly interesting because of the fact that the +Vestal's name has been defaced, not, however, by an act of purposeless +vandalism. It was evidently done with deliberate intent to obliterate +the name; for the initial "C" has been left, in order that, though she +were disowned, the identity of the offending virgin might not be +forgotten. She was Claudia, who became a convert to the Christian faith. + +The glorification of virginity in the Vestal order must have helped to +sustain the high moral tone which prevailed among the women of early +Rome. They constantly beheld, in the very centre of the civic life, a +group of maidens who held a position of surpassing honor as a reward for +absolute purity of character. Although celibacy was not esteemed for its +own sake, nor in any instance save that of the votaries of Vesta and +Ceres, in them it could but be effective as an example of virtue. And +when to the sanctity essential to the office was added the personal +reputation of those virgins whose fame for holiness was augmented by +many years of devotion, the influence must have been all in favor of +good morals. What need, it may pertinently be asked, had the Roman women +to worship at the shrine of the goddess of chastity, when they had +Occia, who, as Tacitus informs us, presided over the Vestals for +fifty-seven years with the greatest sanctity? That such an example was +not more effective than it really was must be attributed to the fact +that the maids and matrons of Rome considered, as is quite consistent +with human wont in all times, that the supererogatory virtue of the +Vestals atoned for any deficiencies in their own. It may be that this +attribution of a vicarious character thereto partly accounts for the +high valuation set upon Vestal virginity. And though a time came when an +untarnished reputation was contentedly dispensed with elsewhere, it was +still rigidly demanded in the house of Vesta. + +Yet, despite all this care, the order was not entirely immune from the +counteracting influence of the times. As Roman morals relaxed, it became +a less infrequent thing for scandals derogatory to the reputation of the +Vestals to be whispered through the city. Toward the close of the +Republic, an intrigue with one of these maidens was considered by the +young nobility as all the more attractive on account of the difficulty +and danger accompanying it; and there is evidence to support the belief +that the attempt was not always unsuccessful. When Rome became infected +with the turpitude which marked its decadence, the college of Vesta did +not escape. There were occasions, however, down to the latest pagan +times, when the priestesses were violently brought to a consciousness of +the requirements of their office; as when Domitian severely punished +them for delinquencies which, strange to say, had been overlooked by +Vespasian and Titus. + +Another cult closely affecting the feminine portion of Roman society was +the worship of Ceres, one of the twelve great deities of the Capitol. +She was the goddess of corn and the harvest, the mythical daughter of +Saturn and Vesta, and, like her divine mother, demanded a virgin +priestess; and the women who were devoted to her service enjoyed +privileges almost equal to those of the Vestals. The Romans paid her +great adoration, and her festival, lasting eight days, was celebrated by +the matrons every year during the month of April. They bore lighted +torches, in commemoration of the myth which describes the goddess as +lighting torches at the flames of Mount Aetna, to go in search of +Proserpine, her daughter, who had been carried off by Pluto. It was +required of all the matrons who took part in her mysteries that they +should undergo an initiation; to attend the festival without first being +initiated was punishable with death. + +As the Roman women worshipped Vesta and Ceres, so they also paid +reverence to Bona Dea, the good goddess, who blessed matrimonial unions +with fruitfulness. In her character, as conceived in the earliest times, +was exemplified that chastity which at first was estimated so highly and +later abandoned so lightly. The myth regarding her states that, after +her marriage, she was seen by no man except her husband. In allusion to +this, her festival was celebrated at night by the Roman matrons, in the +houses of the highest officers of the State. On such occasions, the man +of the house left his abode in the evening, and with him was sent forth +every male creature. All the statues of men that were in the house were +carefully veiled, and for that night the women were in sole possession. +As to the nature of the ceremonies, we have no very definite +information; for, though they were not always safe from male intrusion, +the matrons seem at least to have succeeded well in preserving the +secret of their mysteries; but, as the Roman method of doing honor to +the gods always included entertainment for the worshippers, we may take +it for granted that the festival of Bona Dea consisted principally of +banqueting, music, and games. It is alleged, however, that in later +times these developed into practices far less innocent. + +Juvenal says: "The secrets of Bona Dea are well known. When the music +excites them and they are inflamed with it and the wine, these Maenads of +Priapus rush wildly around, and whirl their locks and howl." Then he +goes on to accuse the participators in these celebrations of the most +depraved excesses. But Juvenal's shafts of satire are not so greatly +characterized by the sharpness of their point as by the force with which +they are launched; and it is very apparent that, in order to make his +invectives tell, he never hesitated in resorting to exaggeration. While +all authorities agree that the rites employed in the worship of Bona Dea +were accompanied in later times by unlicensed conduct on the part of the +matrons, history gives no very conclusive proof of the veracity of the +accusation. There is the intrusion of Clodius in the house of Julius +Caesar on such an occasion; but to cite this as evidence does not +materially substantiate the charge, for the only woman who seemed +willing to consent to his presence was Pompeia, and she did not have an +opportunity to meet him, as the others very promptly drove him from the +house. + +The continual degeneration of Roman morals will compel us later on to +depict a social life in which there is little to relieve the monotony of +misconduct; hence it is only giving the Roman woman the full advantage +of everything that may be said in her favor, if we glance back at an +incident which happened in the times when virtuous matrons were still +the rule and not the exception. In B.C. 295, the Senate, in order to +avert evils predicted by the omens, decreed that two days should be +spent in religious devotions. Livy relates that at this time a +disagreement arose among the matrons who were worshipping at the Temple +of Patrician Chastity. It is illustrative of the fact that it is +difficult for women--though possibly the criticism should not be +confined to their sex--to be faultless in essentials without being +censorious in indifferent matters. We will allow the Roman historian to +tell the story in his own fashion. "Virginia, daughter of Aulus, a +patrician, but married to Volumnius the consul, a plebeian, was excluded +by the other matrons from sharing in the sacred rites, because she had +married out of the patrician order. A short altercation ensued, which +was afterward, through the intemperance of passion incident to the sex, +kindled into a flame of contention. Virginia boasted with truth that +she had a right to enter the Temple of Patrician Chastity, as being of +patrician birth and chaste in her character, and, besides, the wife of +one husband, to whom she was betrothed a virgin, and, moreover, she had +no reason to be dissatisfied either with her husband, his exploits, or +his honors. To her high-spirited words she added importance by an +extraordinary act. She enclosed with a partition a part of her house, of +a size sufficient for a small shrine, and there erected an altar. Then, +calling together the plebeian matrons, and complaining of the injurious +behavior of the patrician ladies, she said: 'This altar I dedicate to +Plebeian Chastity, and exhort you that the same degree of emulation +which prevails among the men of the State on the point of valor may be +maintained by the women on the point of virtue; and that you contribute +your best care that this altar may have the credit of being attended +with a greater degree of sanctity and by chaster women than the other, +if possible.' Solemn rites were performed at this altar under almost the +same regulations as those of the more ancient one, no person being +allowed the privilege of taking part in the sacrifices unless a woman of +approved chastity, and who was the wife of one husband." + +Livy goes on to relate that the plebeian shrine did not maintain the +high standard set by its founder; for it afterward received women who +were very far from living up to the rules originally laid down. It +eventually passed out of existence; but that the patrician temple of +chastity stood as a rebuke to the license of later generations is shown +by Juvenal when he says: "With what sort of scorn Tullia snuffs the air +when she passes the ancient altar of chastity." + +The piety of the Roman women added many to the great number of temples +erected for the worship of the gods, and sacred edifices consecrated to +goddesses were numerous. Sometimes temples were built by the State for +the especial use of women. After the wrath of Coriolanus was appeased by +women's instrumentality, the Temple of Female Fortune was presented to +them as a reward. Another temple was consecrated to _Fortuna virilis_. +The function of this goddess at first was to preserve to wives the +affections of their husbands; but, as times changed, the divinity also +forfeited her former good character, and degenerated into a patroness of +the most unprincipled coquettes. This temple is one of the ancient +edifices which have been preserved and turned to modern uses; for over a +thousand years it has served as a Christian church, under the name of +Saint Mary of Egypt. It belongs to Armenians of the Roman Catholic faith +who reside in Rome; and the thought suggests itself that that +vicissitude is not entirely inappropriate which has brought to pass that +the temple, where ancient courtesans sought the aid of the goddess of +chance, is now dedicated to Mary, the famous penitent of Egypt. + +It was customary in imperial Rome for temples to be erected in honor of +the emperors, but the memory of only one woman was ever thus celebrated; +and in this case the devotion of the husband, rather than worthiness on +the part of his wife, is indicated. This was the temple of Faustina, +built after her death by the noble Antoninus Pius. If the historians of +the time can be relied upon in the matter, there were no qualities in +Faustina save her beauty which her imperial husband could justly +commemorate. But Antoninus thought differently; and, in the history of +the emperors, there is certainly nothing so affecting as the sanctity in +which, to the day of his death, he held her memory. However faulty +Faustina may have been, surely she was as worthy of being deified as +most of the emperors who received that honor. This, undoubtedly, was +the thought of her husband, who was too much of a philosopher to believe +seriously in any of the Roman deities, human or supernatural. He simply +adopted the popular method in his desire to pay the highest honor +possible to his wife. This temple, parts of which still remain, was also +used as a church during the Middle Ages; but its chief interest at the +present day is found in the numerous ancient scribblings that have been +discovered upon its columns and their bases. + +During the earlier years of the Republic, religion had an extremely good +effect upon the morals of the people. Men dared not invoke the aid of +Jove in an unjust cause; women could hope for favors at the hands of +Vesta, Ceres, or Bona Dea only by pledging the rectitude of their +conduct. But as the people lived continually in the fear of the gods, +their religion was more effective as a police institution than it was +productive as a source of comfort. As is inevitable with all religions, +the spirit demanded new forms before the people became conscious that +the old were outgrown; and the time came when Roman worship became +nothing more than tiresome, uninteresting ceremonies, which were +conducted with incredibly slavish care respecting niceties of ritual. +This ceased to appeal to the heart, and could no longer commend itself +convincingly to the mind. Hence, when foreign deities and new forms of +worship came to Rome in the triumphal processions of the victorious +generals, the people were ready to receive them with that hope which +always welcomes untried possibilities. + +A new deity ushered into their well-filled pantheon always seemed to the +Romans a valuable acquisition. A god in Rome was a god for Rome; and to +extend cordial hospitality to all known divinities was a part of the +national policy. As the conquering armies carried the fame of Rome +further in the world, the women at home had an ever-widening range of +divinities at whose altars they might make supplication for the success +of the warriors. The city at last became as cosmopolitan in its pantheon +as in its population. If the matrons tired of, or were disappointed +with, time-honored Vesta and Ceres, they might turn to the +passion-exciting rites of the Syrian Astarte, to the weird ceremonies of +the Phrygian Cybele, or to the more intellectual mysteries of the +Egyptian Isis. When Veii was captured, the most highly valued spoil was +the statue of Matuta; and as fortune had forsaken the city, the goddess +seemed content to depart with it. So at least the Romans believed; for +they asserted that when the deity was asked if she were willing to take +up her abode at Rome, she assented with a perceptible nod of the head. +This was considered a piece of good fortune of almost equal worth with +the gain of the city. The worship of Matuta being more peculiarly the +function of the women, the fact that they outdid the men in their +rejoicing is thus accounted for, history informing us that they crowded +the temples to give thanks even before the people were ordered to do so +by the Senate. Only married women, and of these only the freeborn, were +allowed in the temple of Matuta, except when they carried thither their +children for the blessing of the goddess. + +But the first marked deterioration of the ancient Roman worship through +the influence of foreign rites occurred with the advent of the Idaean +Mother. In B.C. 203, the Romans, at the command of the Sybilline +oracles, sent to Asia Minor for the famous Phrygian deity Cybele, the +mythical mother of the gods. The Senate was required to appoint the most +virtuous man in the Republic to the duty of receiving the image of the +goddess. This honor was awarded to Publius Scipio; but it was reserved +to a matron to derive from the incident a more lasting fame and a +greater present advantage. The women of Rome went to Ostia to escort the +deity to the city. The legend narrates that the vessel bearing the image +ran upon a shoal at the mouth of the Tiber, and all efforts to get it +off proved ineffectual. One of the noblest of the matrons present was +Claudia Quinta. Whether justly or otherwise, this lady had been brought +under suspicion in regard to her conduct. Seeing in the predicament of +the goddess a grand opportunity, she adventured her reputation upon a +daring chance for vindication. Making her way to the side of the vessel, +it being close to the bank, she supplicated the divine mother to bear +witness to her virtue by following the persuasion of her chaste hands. +Then she fastened her girdle to the prow of the boat, and, to the wonder +of all and to the overthrow of her slanderers, the vessel easily yielded +to her slight exertion. As a proof of the truth of this, following +generations could point to the statue of Claudia which the men of the +time erected at the door of the temple of Cybele. + +Victor Duruy, commenting on the change wrought by these new divinities, +says, "they gave a new cast to the religious convictions of people to +whom a very crude form of worship had so long sufficed. Born in the +scorching East, these deities required savage rites and pious orgies. +Dramatic spectacles, intoxicating ceremonies, affected violently the +dull Roman mind, and excited religious frenzy; for the first time the +Roman felt those transports which, according to the character of the +doctrine and the condition of the mind, produce effects diametrically +opposite,--absolute purity of life, or the excess of debauchery +sanctified by religious belief." Lucretius bears testimony to the truth +of this in the vivid picture he draws of the extravagancies which +characterized the festival of Cybele. He describes her attendants in +their pageants through the streets, dancing with ropes, leaping about to +the sound of horrid music, while blood streams from their self-inflicted +wounds. How this affected the women may be gathered from Juvenal, who +pictures this furious chorus entering a house, and the priest +threatening the matron with coming disasters, which she willingly seeks +to avert with costly offerings. In another place he refers to the temple +of "the imported mother of the gods" as being frequented by the +abandoned women, who took part in the orgies performed in her honor. +That the women were more addicted than the men to the worship of foreign +deities is perhaps suggested by a passage in Tibullus. The poet is away +from Rome, and sick. He complains: "There is no Delia here, who, when +she was about to let me go from the city, first consulted all the +gods.... Everything prognosticated my return, yet nothing could hinder +her from weeping and turning to look after me as I went.... What does +your Isis for me now, Delia? What avail me those brazen sistra of hers +so often shaken by your hand? Now, goddess, succor me; for that man may +be healed by thee is proved by many a picture in thy temples. Let my +Delia, dressed in linen, sit before thy sacred doors, performing vigils +vowed for me; and twice a day, with hair unbound, let her recite thy due +praises. But be it my lot to celebrate my native Penates, and to offer +monthly incense to my ancient Lar." + +But the most injurious of all the foreign superstitions was the +Bacchanalian cult, which was introduced into Rome during the second +century before Christ by a lowborn Greek from Etruria. He professed +himself to be a priest in charge of secret nocturnal rites. By appealing +to the very worst propensities of which human nature is capable, he +soon gathered around him a large following of men and women, and these +included representatives of the noblest families. They engaged in +certain religious performances; but the chief attraction was an +unrestrained indulgence in wine, feasting, and passion. Naturally, this +organization also became a hotbed for every sort of crime, including +murder and conspiracy. Owing to the pledge of secrecy extorted from the +initiates, the contagion had spread to a prodigious extent before it +came to the notice of the Senate. In the manner of its discovery, we +have an interesting drama which throws light, not only upon the matter +itself, but also reveals somewhat of the position of a certain class of +Roman women, of which history takes little personal account. + +Publius Aebutius was a young man of knightly rank, whose father was dead +and whose mother, Duronia, had married again. His stepfather, having +abused the property of Aebutius, and being unwilling to give an account, +conspired with the unnatural mother so to manage that her son would not +be in a position to demand an accounting. They agreed that the +Bacchanalian rites were the only way to effect the ruin of the young +man. Accordingly, his mother informed him that during his sickness she +had vowed that, if through the kindness of the gods he should recover, +she would initiate him into the rites of the Bacchanalians. She +instructed him for ten days how to prepare himself, and promised that on +the tenth she would conduct him to the place of meeting. The youth very +innocently agreed to this, thinking that it was only the due of the gods +by whose favor he enjoyed his restored health. All would have gone as +his mother desired, had it not been for the fact that he had formed a +strong attachment for a courtesan named Hispala Fecenia. This young +freedwoman was of a character far superior to the mode of life into +which she had been forced while still a slave. Hispala knew more of the +world than did Aebutius; and when he informed her that he was about to be +initiated into the rites of the Bacchanalians, she declared that it +would be better for him and also for her to lose their lives than that +he should do such a thing. She told him that when she was a slave she +had been taken to those rites by her mistress, though since her +emancipation she had been exceedingly careful to avoid the place. She +said that she knew it to be the haunt of all kinds of debauchery. Before +they parted, the young man gave her his solemn promise that he would +keep clear of those rites. The result of his adherence to this was that +his mother and stepfather drove him from home, and he was goaded into +telling the whole affair to the Consul Postumius, after first taking +counsel with his aunt Aebutia. + +After certain inquiries, Hispala was brought into the presence of the +consul, to whom she gave a full account of the origin of the mysteries. +She said that, at first, the rites were performed only by women. No man +was admitted. At that time, they had three stated days in the year on +which persons were initiated, but only in the daytime. The matrons then +used to be appointed priestesses in rotation. Paculla Minia, a +Campanian, when priestess, rearranged the whole system, alleging that +she did so by the direction of the gods. She introduced men, the first +being her own sons; she changed the time of celebration from day to +night; and instead of three days in the year, appointed five days in +each month for initiation. From the time that the rites were made thus +common, and the licentious freedom of the night was added, there was +nothing wicked, nothing flagitious, that had not been practised among +them. To think nothing unlawful was the grand maxim of their religion. + +After Hispala had made this revelation, Postumius proceeded to lay the +whole matter before the Senate. A vigorous prosecution of the +Bacchanalians ensued; and it was found that over seven thousand men and +women had taken the oath of the association, thus proving that the rapid +growth of a religion gives no assurance of the truth of its doctrines or +the purity of its principles. Those who were found to be most deeply +stained by evil practices were put to death; many put an end to +themselves, so as to avoid punishment at the hands of the authorities; +the others were imprisoned. The women who were condemned were delivered +to their relations, or to those under whose guardianship they were, to +be punished in private; but if there did not appear any proper person of +the kind to execute the sentence, the punishment was nevertheless +inflicted, but in private and by a person appointed by the court. + +The Senate also passed a vote, on the suggestion of the Consul +Postumius, that the city quaestors should give to both Aebutius and +Hispala a certain goodly sum of money out of the public treasury, as a +reward for discovering the iniquitous Bacchanalian ceremonies. Aebutius +was exempted from compulsory service in the army; and to Hispala it was +granted that she should enjoy the unique privileges of disposing in any +way she chose of her property; that she should be at liberty to wed a +man of honorable birth, and that there should be no disgrace to him who +should marry her; and that it should be the business of the consuls then +in office, and of their successors, to take care that no injury should +ever be offered to her. + +Though the Bacchanalian abuses were thus strenuously dealt with by the +Roman authorities, this and other like parasitical growths which +fastened themselves upon the religious instincts of the people were not +to be shaken off. Among the many noxious developments that crept over +and eventually choked the life out of the sturdy ancient stock, we find +every vicious substitute for religion known to the ante-Christian world. +During the decadence of Rome, the ancient national religion became +disintegrated and almost wholly superseded. Many of the empresses +patronized the foreign orgiastic cults; and, taking the many-sided +development of Roman religion as a whole, the strange spectacle is +presented of a remarkable improvement in philosophy accompanying a great +deterioration in morals. On the one hand, there were those who were +struggling to a conception of the transcendental nature of the deity and +the unity of nature; on the other hand were those who were doing in the +name of the gods everything that is considered unworthy of humanity. And +in all the evil fructification of base conceptions of religion, as well +as in the knowledge of the higher philosophy, woman had her full share. +No Roman woman was irreligious, however great the obliquity of her moral +character, though sometimes her piety took a form so bizarre that the +fact outruns imagination. Agrippina the Younger, for an example, was +created priestess to the deified Claudius, whom she had cajoled into +marrying her despite the fact that he was her uncle. + +It must not be imagined, however, that because Roman religion developed +these excesses through the infusion of Oriental superstitions, it came +to be devoid of those uplifting influences which are the province of +faith in the divine. There were never wanting those who, loving the +good, the beautiful, and the true, supported their aspirations by their +belief in the providence of deity; and the doctrine of a future life, +though held only with much vacillation by the philosophers, was +continually resorted to for comfort by the multitude. How widespread +were these ideas, and how greatly similar to our own were the thoughts +of those ancient Romans, are matters lost sight of by people who need no +further reason for dismissing a religion from their consideration than +the mere fact that it is pagan. Plutarch, who defended the dogma of the +unity of God, of His providence, and of the immortality of the soul, +wrote to his wife: "You know that there are those who persuade the +multitude that the soul, when once freed from the body, suffers no +inconvenience nor evil." The more positive, though less philosophical, +faith of the people is illustrated by the words a mother carved upon the +sepulchre of her child: "We are afflicted by a cruel wound; but thou, +renewed in thy existence, livest in the Elysian fields. The gods order +that he who has deserved the light of day should return under another +form; this is a reward which thy goodness has gained thee. Now, in a +flowery mead, the blessed, marked with the sacred seal, admit thee to +the flock of Bacchus, where the Naiades, who bear the sacred baskets, +claim thee as their companion in leading the solemn processions by the +light of the torches." Except for somewhat of the imagery, and the pagan +names, this woman's faith might easily be accepted as Christian. + + + + +IV + +THE PASSING OF OLD ROMAN SIMPLICITY + +With the spread of her foreign conquests, Rome herself was subjugated +by a rapid revolution in thought and habit. From the middle of the +second century before Christ, we look in vain for the old Republic. +Religion, manners, morals, occupations, amusements--all have changed. +The old-time Roman character is passing away, like a tide, through the +narrowing channel of the ever-decreasing number of those who cling to +the ancient ideals. Morality has started upon that ebb of which the days +of Caligula and Nero saw the lowest mark to which a civilized people +ever fell. The Romans could not withstand the temptations incidental to +conquest. Physically invincible, they were not armed against the onset +of foreign vices. The State grew inordinately wealthy by pillage and +exaction; a single campaign yielded booty to the value of nine million +six hundred thousand dollars. Scipio wept when he took Carthage; for +well he knew that his people were in no way prepared to assume such +extensive dominion, except at the cost of national character. Polybius +says that after the conquest of Macedon men believed themselves able to +enjoy in all security the conquest of the world and the spoils thereof. + +But wealth was not the sole constituent of the harvest gathered in by +Roman swords. After the transmarine wars, new ideas and Greek learning +became common among a people who were not adapted, as the Greeks, to +mere theorizing, but carried out their thoughts, whether for good or +ill, to the full extent of their powers. The consequence was that Rome +plunged with deadly earnestness into newly acquired vices; and the novel +teachings of Hellenism, instead of elevating the minds of the people, +served only to create indifference to the ancient divinities. "You ask," +says Juvenal, "whence arise our disorders? A humble life in other days +preserved the innocence of the Latin women. Protracted vigils, hands +hardened by toil, Hannibal at the gates of Rome, and Roman citizens in +arms upon her walls, guarded from vice the modest dwellings of our +fathers. Now we endure the evils of a long peace; luxury has fallen upon +us, more formidable than the sword, and the conquered world has avenged +itself upon us by the gift of its vices. Since Rome has lost her noble +poverty, Sybaris and Rhodes, Miletus and Tarentum, crowned with roses +and scented with perfumes, have entered our walls." All the ancient +writers agree upon the same verdict. The old austerity of life was more +the result of poverty than of conscience; the simple habits of the first +centuries of the Republic were cherished only so long as there were no +means to render them more luxurious. Had wealth come to Rome through +industry, the slower process, which alone develops the power of +appreciation, would have fitted the people to make good use of their +better fortune. + +But riches surprised them; and we see ostentatious depravity quickly +taking the place of a pure, though meagre, life. To quote again from +Polybius, who himself was carried from Macedon to Rome as a prisoner of +war: "Most of the Romans live in strange dissipation. The young allow +themselves to be carried away by the most shameful excesses. They are +given to shows, to feasts, to luxury and disorder of every kind, which +it is too evident they have learned from the Greeks during the war with +Perseus." Cato calls attention to the new manners with that bitter scorn +which was so strong in the old Roman. "See this Roman," he says; "he +descends from his chariot, he pirouettes, he recites buffooneries and +jokes and vile stories, then sings or declaims Greek verses, and then +resumes his pirouettes." Imitation of the Greeks was zealously adopted +in the education of the young. Scipio Aemilianus says: "When I entered +one of the schools to which the nobles send their sons, great gods! I +found there more than five hundred young girls and lads who were +receiving among actors and infamous persons lessons on the lyre, in +singing, in posturing; and I saw a child of twelve, the son of a +candidate for office, executing a dance worthy of the most licentious +slave." The school here referred to must not be understood as the +regular institution for the imparting of knowledge to Roman children; +the purpose of that described seems to have been the cultivation of what +the Romans had come to regard as genteel accomplishments. There were +other schools for instruction in reading, writing, and the usual +branches of knowledge. These schools also were as free of access to +girls as to boys, and were always conducted as private enterprises +rather than by the State. + +The remarkable revolution in thought and manners which Hellenism +introduced into Rome could not fail profoundly to affect the existence +of woman. That she was not far behind man in "running to every excess of +riot" is abundantly shown by the historians and other writers of the +time. In that city which was once remarkable for the purity of its +morals, houses of ill repute became plentiful. These were occupied +principally by women who had been slaves, but had gained their liberty +by the sacrifice of their honor. Houses of this character are the scenes +of nearly all the comedies of Plautus and Terence, who found all their +material in Rome, though they located the brothels of which they write +at Athens and used Greek names for their characters. Prostitution, +however, was not confined to the freedwomen; women of all classes were +necessarily drawn into the vortex of degeneracy. Notwithstanding the +fact that in B.C. 141 the Senate made a serious effort to resist the +increasing looseness of morals, going so far as to build a temple to +Venus Verticordia, the Venus who was supposed to convert women's hearts +to virtue, the character of the times devoted the whole sex too +zealously to Aphrodite for anything noteworthy to result from the appeal +to her nobler namesake. + +Yet it must not be imagined that all the new impulses which came from +victorious contact with foreign lands had no other than a detrimental +effect upon the life of the women of Rome. The changes which were taking +place provided a door to liberty, though to very many it meant nothing +else but an egress to unrestrained license. In any case, the horizon of +the Roman woman's outlook became greatly extended; her mind expanded as +it busied itself about an increasing number of subjects, and the range +of her activities was materially widened. As her husband now had other +interests besides those of the warrior, the citizen, and the +agriculturist, in the last of which she had alone been allowed a +recognized part, a larger field was now provided in which she might be +his companion; henceforward she became less an appendage and more an +equal. Not, however, because new laws were passed in her favor; indeed, +the laws were framed rather with the purpose of overcoming the results +of those circumstances which were effecting her emancipation. But it is +impossible to overcome a development which is the natural result of +conditions that are welcomed by the people; so, in the new society by +which the old order was superseded in Italy, women soon learned how, by +means of legal fictions, they might accomplish ends which were still +illegal. It is altogether a new woman that we find in the last century +of the Republic, taking the place of the old-time matron. She drives +about the city in an equipage befitting her wealth and position; she +entertains in her sumptuous home learned men, with whom she studies the +Greek authors; she brings such influence to bear on the Senate as to +cause laws to be passed in her favor; she frequently intrigues in +matters political; she is not unaccustomed to divorce and remarriage; +and, thus engaged, she leaves the spinning of wool, the occupation from +time immemorial esteemed honorable by matrons, entirely to her domestics +and her slaves. + +These great changes in the status of woman did not take place without a +protest. They were the occasion of serious contentions in the Senate and +of bitter reproaches on the part of the lovers of the old-fashioned +ways, Hellenism being blamed for the mischief, on one occasion all Greek +philosophers were driven from the city; but that was like removing the +old seed after the well-matured plant had grown to depend upon its own +roots. The people of Rome were in reality divided into three classes in +respect to the new order of things. There were the younger men and women +of the nobility, who welcomed the change, but who were intoxicated with +the novel pleasures to which wealth gave them access, and into which +they rushed with an utter disregard of propriety. Among them, however, +were some thoughtful souls,--a class of a better character,--who, while +they most cordially entertained that which Hellenism had to teach them +in regard to a broader style of life, knew how to winnow the chaff from +the grain and to feed their minds with the latter. These found their +best representatives in the Scipio family, all of whom were zealous +patrons of Greek learning. As we have noticed in a previous chapter, +Cornelia, the daughter of Scipio Africanus, maintained her house at +Misenum in a most liberal manner, making it a centre of erudition and +gathering around her many of the learned men of her time. In opposition +to both these classes were men whose type may be found in all ages, who +were uncompromising in their conservatism and who could see nothing but +a presage of national disaster in every change from the old methods of +life. Their complete idea of what a woman should be and do was expressed +in the formula: "She is virtuous; she stays at home; she spins wool." +This party was ably headed by Cato the Censor, who was entirely +incapable of understanding why the women of his day should desire +anything other than that which satisfied their feminine antecedents in +the poverty-pinched times of the early Republic. + +The ultra-conservative ideal was, of course, incapable of realization, +though there was still in the minds of the people a large residuum of +sentiment which could be employed in its favor; but when the times are +ready to change, the most powerful appeal is futile. The wiser course +was taken by the Scipios and the Gracchi, who endeavored to steer the +new movement in the way of betterment and reform. This, if successful, +would have conserved the ancient principles by adapting them to the new +conditions, and Rome would have maintained her moral greatness while +still enhancing her material prestige; but the momentum given by the +haste of the people to acquire what as yet they knew not how to enjoy +carried Roman society past every turn in the right direction. +Consequently, the mother of the Gracchi was honored as a prodigy of +female excellence rather than, as she might have been, an example of +what Roman matrons might become in the new liberty. Then began the +loosening of moral restraint, by which Rome fell to a condition of +savagery which was rendered all the more horrible by the presence of the +material concomitants of civilization. + +It must be remembered, however, that the common people of any age or +country change their customs more slowly than do the more favored +classes. Unfortunately, the historians have never regarded the lives of +people of the ordinary populace as being worthy of record; hence, we +have the names and the doings of only the women of the Roman nobility. +Were it otherwise, it is probable that we should discover that among the +matrons of the middle class in Italy there were in each generation many +who maintained, in their quiet lives, the virtue of the ancient ideals, +until the time came when their life principle was reinforced by new +teaching, not from Greece, but from Galilee. Doubtless also, such as +these were more greatly encouraged to perseverance by the stern +conservatives who upheld the past--a model which they at least could +comprehend--than they were by the high-minded progressivists, who led in +paths which were as yet untried. For this reason, it may be well for us +to take a glance at the home of Cato, who sturdily antagonized the new +movement and was the uncompromising opposer of every effort to alter the +fashion of female life. He was the valedictorian of ancient Roman +simplicity. That the common people were in sympathy with him is shown by +the fact that they erected his statue in the Temple of Health, and, +instead of recounting his exploits in battle, simply placed upon the +pedestal an inscription saying that he was Cato the Censor, who +vigilantly watched over the moral health of the State. + +If the house of Cato is to be regarded as an example of the ancient +manner of life, the suspicion is forced upon us that the young Roman +women of the time must have been thankful that in the great statesman's +home they saw the last of the old regime. It was a small house, situated +on the censor's lands in the Sabine country, where the luxuriousness of +the city was unknown. Here his wife dwelt, superintending the +agricultural and domestic activities, while her husband was absent at +Rome or in the wars. We may be sure that Cato's wife remained at home; +this her husband's antipathy to expense sufficiently guarantees. The man +who sold his horse, which had carried him through a severe campaign, +because he would not charge the State with the cost of conveying it from +Spain, would doubtless, by reason of the extra expense, refrain from +giving his wife an invitation to join him in his official residence at +the metropolis. Moreover, detesting the growing profligacy of the times, +he had no mind to bring her into contact with that luxury which, as +censor, he strove so mightily to eradicate. For amusement, she was +obliged to content herself with the rustic festivals, which were more +cheerful than exciting, and knew nothing of the terrible scenes of the +circus and the amphitheatre, which the fashionable ladies of the city +were accustoming themselves to witness with a calmness unbecoming to +their sex. Her religious devotions were performed before the household +gods and in the simple country shrines, if not with as great +satisfaction, certainly with as good effect as they might have been in +the splendid temples at Rome. In the conduct of her house were observed +the strictest rules of frugality. There was no waste; everything which +the family could not use was sold, if only for a farthing. + +Rectitude, justice, and thrift were the only ideals followed in this +home. If Cato's wife possessed anything of the artistic in her +temperament, she enjoyed little opportunity for its indulgence. Her +husband was very far from the opinion that the gods and goddesses were +more easily propitiated by devotions paid before beautiful Grecian +statuary than when represented by the ill-shaped images of Roman +creation. In the otherwise undecorated atrium were the Penates and the +Lares--small and homely figures indeed, but endowed with all the +accumulated glory of the family; for to them was attributed all the +success of the past, and, if faithfully reverenced, as they were likely +to be in such a household, they were pledges for the prosperity of the +future. Religion must have been of especial value in Cato's family, for +its offices were the only form of sentiment that was given any freedom +of expression; all else was under the ban of the most arid practicality. +There were no old retainers who, by many years of devoted service, had +gained an established place in the affections of those upon whom they +waited; and if the mistress had been inclined to cherish such natural +regard, it was ruthlessly ignored, it being a rule with her husband to +sell his slaves for anything they would bring, as soon as they became +old and infirm. Even the bondwomen at whose breasts his children had +been nursed had for him, no other than a monetary value. The signs of +affection were, in his judgment, the marks of weakness. What a +barren-hearted puritan he must have been who could expel an honored +citizen from the Senate for no other reason than that he had kissed his +own wife in the presence of their daughter! And what a husband, who +could make his boast that he had never caressed his wife--presumably, +he meant under circumstances where others might witness such flagitious +conduct--except on the occasion of a severe thunderstorm, when he was +obliged to resort to that means of soothing her! This was evidently, +however, an affectation; for Cato admitted that it was a pleasure to him +when Jove thundered. It is apparent that his idea of the good old Roman +manner of treating a wife did not recognize the need of indulgence; and +it is not likely that one who himself took great pride in wearing the +most inexpensive quality of clothing, and was, as we shall see, the +inveterate enemy of costliness and changing fashion in woman's attire, +ever gratified his wife with a present of wearing apparel from the +city--unless she, like himself, could rate the worth of an article by +the cheapness of the bargain. Yet it is on record that he was an +excellent husband, and that he greatly appreciated his wife, whom he +married for her noble nature, despite the fact that she brought him but +a small dowry and was not of a family high in position. Doubtless his +good qualities were appreciated by his wife, especially if she was meek +enough in disposition to submit willingly to an unceasing surveillance +and interference in the minutest household matters, even, as Plutarch +informs us, to the bathing and dressing of the infants. + +Such was the family of Cato. It was modelled after what he conceived to +be the best traditions of Roman society before it became corrupted by +the pernicious foreign influence. He governed his own household by those +same stern principles which he sought by precept, example, and authority +to enforce upon the Roman people of his time. But his home was the last +survival of the old simplicity. An age had dawned when Roman matrons +were to become more of a factor in public life and would no longer be +satisfied to abide in the shadow of domestic routine. In their newly +gained liberty they ran to the furthest extreme of unreasonableness; but +Cato's ideas were too illiberal for nature. + +During the early part of the second century before Christ, there was +enacted around the Forum a scene such as never before had been witnessed +or dreamed of in Rome. Crowds of matrons were there assembled to +implore, and to gain by their importunity, the repeal of a law which +curtailed their expenditure on dress. This was the Oppian law, which had +been passed a few years previously, during the Second Punic War, when +money was needed for the public service, and the people, not excluding +the women, had responded with unbounded enthusiasm. The law in question +decreed that "No woman should possess more than half an ounce of gold, +or wear a garment of various colors, or ride in a carriage drawn by +horses, in a city or any town or any place nearer thereto than one mile, +except on occasion of some public religious solemnity." It is assumed by +all writers that the half-ounce of gold to which the women were +restricted put a restraint, beyond that limit, on the ornamentation of +their dress; this is based on the very natural supposition that whatever +of the precious metal they possessed would surely be displayed upon +their persons. It is a little doubtful whether the decree concerning +vehicles was inserted into the measure in order that the horses might be +placed at the disposal of the army, or whether this was a crafty +interpolation for the purpose of restricting the growing ostentation of +the ladies. However, the law had been passed without any objection, so +far as is known, from the women. But patient, uncomplaining submission +on the part of the Roman women to their male guardians, whether +collective or individual, was now becoming a thing of the past. They +could neither make nor repeal laws; but they were no longer afraid to +bring their influence to bear on those in whom lay that power. Champions +of their cause were found in the two plebeian tribunes, and these moved +in the Senate for the repeal of the Oppian law. Then ensued such a +turmoil as if Hannibal were again menacing the gates of Rome, except +that there was no unanimity of mind as to what should be done. This, +however, only describes the attitude of the men; the women were united +and, what is more, they were determined. They adopted what has become a +common method in modern times; not that of forwarding to the legislators +a numerously signed petition,--which is always a stronger protest than +an effective influence,--but the more powerful one of pertinacious +"lobbying." Crowds of women, reinforced by many who came in from the +country towns and villages, thronged the streets leading to the Forum +and importuned the men who were to decide the matter in which they were +concerned. But they found an inexorable opponent in the redoubtable +Cato. Livy gives us what he conceives the forceful orator to have said +on the occasion: + +[Illustration 3: +_THE "NEW" WOMAN IN ROME +After the painting by G. R. C. Boulanger +In the new society by which the old order was superseded in Italy, +women soon learned how, by means of legal fictions, they might +accomplish ends which were still illegal. It is altogether a new woman +that we find in the last century of the Republic, taking the place of +the old-time matron. She drives on the Appian Way and about the +city in an equipage befitting her wealth and position; her naked +African slaves wear silver collars and beat off the beggar boys, if +she halts to purchase flowers; she entertains in her sumptuous home +learned men, with whom she studies the Greek authors; she brings +such influence to bear on the Senate as to cause laws to be passed in her +favor; she frequently intrigues in matters political; she is not +unaccustomed to divorce and remarriage; and, thus engaged, she leaves +the spinning of wool, the occupation from time immemorial esteemed +honorable by matrons, entirely to her domestics and her slaves._] + +"If, Romans, every individual among us had made it a rule to maintain +the prerogative and authority of a husband with respect to his own wife, +we should have less trouble with the whole sex. But now, our privileges, +overpowered at home by female contumacy, are, even here in the Forum, +spurned and trodden under foot; and because we are not able to withstand +each separately, we now dread their collective body.... It was not +without painful emotions of shame that I, just now, made my way to the +Forum through the midst of a band of women. Had I not been restrained by +respect for the modesty and dignity of some individuals among them, +rather than of the whole number, and been unwilling that they should be +seen rebuked by a consul, I should have said to them: 'What sort of +practice is this, of running into public, besetting the streets, and +addressing other women's husbands? Could not each have made the same +request to her husband at home?. Are your blandishments more seducing in +public than in private, and with other women's husbands than your own? +Although, if the modesty of matrons confined them within the limits of +their own rights, it did not become you, even at home, to concern +yourselves about what laws might be passed or repealed here.' Our +ancestors thought it not proper that women should perform any, even +private, business, without a director; but that they should ever be +under the control of parents, brothers, or husbands. We, it seems, +suffer them now to interfere in the management of State affairs, and to +introduce themselves into the Forum, into general assemblies, and into +assemblies of election. For, what are they doing at this moment in your +streets and lanes? What but arguing, some in support of the motion of +the plebeian tribunes, others for the repeal of the law? Will you give +the reins to their intractable nature, and their uncontrolled passions, +and then expect that they themselves should set bounds to their +lawlessness, when you have failed to do so? This is the smallest of the +injunctions laid on them by usage or the laws, all of which women bear +with impatience. They long for liberty, or rather, to speak the truth, +for unbounded freedom in every particular. For what will they not +attempt, if they now come off victorious? + +"Recollect all the institutions respecting the sex, by which our +forefathers restrained their undue freedom, and by which they subjected +them to their husbands; and yet, even with the help of all these +restrictions, you can hardly keep them within bounds. If, then, you +suffer them to throw these off one by one, to tear them all asunder, +and, at last, to set themselves on an equal footing with yourselves, can +you imagine that they will be any longer tolerable by you? The moment +that they have arrived at an equality with you, they will have become +your superiors. But, forsooth, they only object to any new law being +made against them; they mean not to deprecate justice, but severity. +Nay, their wish is that a law which you have admitted, established by +your suffrages, and confirmed by the practice and experience of so many +years to be beneficial, should now be repealed; that is, by abolishing +one law you should weaken all the rest. No law perfectly suits the +convenience of every member of the community; the only consideration is, +whether, upon the whole, it be profitable for the greater part.... I +should like, however, to know what this important affair is which has +induced the matrons thus to run out into public in this excited manner, +scarcely restraining from pushing into the Forum and the assembly of the +people.... What motive, that even common decency will allow to be +mentioned, is pretended for this female insurrection? Why, say they, +that we may shine in gold and purple; that, both on festal and common +days, we may ride through the city in our chariots, triumphing over +vanquished and abrogated law, after having captured and wrested from you +your suffrages; and that there may be no bounds to our expenses and our +luxury. + +"Often have you heard me complain of the profuse expenses of the +women--often of those of the men; and that not only of men in private +stations, but of the magistrates; and that the State was endangered by +two opposite vices--luxury and avarice, those pests which have been the +ruin of all great empires. These I dread the more, as the circumstances +of the commonwealth grow daily more prosperous and happy. As the Empire +increases, as we have now passed over into Greece and Asia, places +abounding with every kind of temptation that can inflame the passions, +so much the more do I fear that these matters will bring us into +captivity, rather than we them. Believe me, those statues from Syracuse +were brought into this city with harmful effect. I already hear too many +commending and admiring the decorations of Athens and Corinth, and +ridiculing the earthen images of our Roman gods that stand on the fronts +of their temples. For my part, I prefer these gods--propitious as they +are, and I hope will continue to be, if we allow them to remain in their +own mansions.... When the dress of all is alike, why should any one of +you fear lest she should not be an object of observation? Of all kinds +of shame, the worst, surely, is the being ashamed of frugality or of +poverty; but this law relieves you with regard to both; since that which +you have not it is unlawful for you to possess. This equalization, says +the rich matron, is the very thing that I cannot endure. Why do I not +make a figure, distinguished with gold and purple? Why is the poverty of +others concealed under this cover of a law, so that it should be thought +that, if the law permitted, they would have such things as they are not +now able to procure? Romans, do you wish to excite among your wives an +emulation of this sort, that the rich should wish to have what none +other can have; and the poor, lest they be despised as such, should +extend their expenses beyond their means? Be assured that when a woman +once begins to be ashamed of what she ought not to be ashamed of, she +will not be ashamed of what she ought. She who can will purchase out of +her own purse; she who cannot will ask her husband. Unhappy is the +husband, both he who complies with the request, and he who does not; +for what he will not give himself he will see given by another.... So +soon as the law shall cease to limit the expenses of your wife, you +yourself will never be able to do so. Do not suppose that the matter +will hereafter be in the same state in which it was before the law was +made on the subject. It is safer that a wicked man should never be +accused than that he should be acquitted; and luxury, if it had never +been meddled with, would be more tolerable than it would be when, like a +wild beast, irritated by being chained, it is let loose. My opinion is +that the Oppian law ought, on no account, to be repealed." + +The women, however, were not without their champion. In a debate on some +ordinary affair of State, Lucius Valerius the Tribune would have been an +inconsiderable antagonist for Cato; but, on this occasion, what he +lacked in oratorical prestige was atoned for in that he had by far the +more reasonable side of the argument. The fact that it was the custom of +the Roman historians to compose, rather than report, the addresses of +their orators renders any comparison of these two Senatorial speeches on +woman's rights entirely uninteresting. Valerius is made to say: "Shall +our wives alone reap none of the fruits of the public peace and +tranquillity? Shall we men have the use of the purple? Shall our +children wear gowns bordered with the same color, and shall we interdict +the use of it to women alone? Shall your horse, even, be more splendidly +caparisoned than your wife is clothed?" An appeal to the sympathy of the +voters is made, as the matrons of Rome are represented as "seeing those +ornaments allowed to the wives of the Latin confederates, of which they +themselves have been deprived. They will behold those riding through the +city in their carriages, and decorated with gold and purple, while they +are obliged to follow on foot.... This would hurt the feelings even of +men, and what do you think must be its effect on weak women, whom even +trifles can disturb? Neither offices of State nor of the priesthood, nor +triumphs, nor badges of distinction, nor military presents, nor spoils, +may fall to their share. Elegance of appearance, and ornaments, and +dress--these are the women's badges of distinction; in these they +delight and glory; these our ancestors called the women's world." + +The Oppian law was repealed, and Cato, as if he wished to escape the +sight of the resulting disasters which he anticipated, took the command +of a fleet of war vessels and sailed away to Spain. How the new liberty +affected his own wife we are left to surmise; which is not difficult, in +view of the opening sentences of his address. + +While we are on the subject of the extraordinary fight of the women for +the repeal of this sumptuary law, it will not be inappropriate to take a +glance at the female dress of the time. There is ample evidence to show +that the women of ancient Rome were as prone to changing fashions as are +the ladies of our own day; but for several centuries the various parts +of their attire remained very much the same, the varying style affecting +chiefly the material and the quality. The costume of a Roman lady +consisted of three principal garment?,--the under tunic, the stola, and +the _palla_. + +The under tunic was simply a sleeveless chemise, which was worn next to +the body. Stays, of course, were utterly unknown to the ancients, as is +shown by their statuary, which in these times affords us our only +opportunity of knowing what a naturally developed female figure is like. +A bosom band, or, as it was called, a strophium, made of leather, was +frequently worn above the tunic. + +The stola was a white garment with sleeves, which covered only the upper +part of the arm; it was fastened above the shoulder with a clasp. The +_stola_ hung in large folds reaching to and covering the feet; around +the bottom was sewn a broad flounce, called the _instita_. Above this +_instita_ was a purple band, which was the only color, other than white, +ever used for the _stola_, except a colored stripe or sometimes gold +around the neck. Among the Romans, the _stola_ had a serious +significance, beyond its use as an article of attire. Only matrons of +unsullied reputation were permitted to wear it. Women of tarnished +character were obliged to wear a dark-colored _toga_, somewhat similar +to that of the men; we find Horace speaking of the _togata_,--in +contradistinction to the matrons, and Tibullus writes of the prostitute +with her _toga_. + +The _palla_, the out-of-doors garment, was to the women what the _toga_ +was to the men. This was a large, white, and probably square, robe, or +mantle,--later on, colors became fashionable,--and the complex manner of +wearing it may best be understood by an examination of Roman statuary. +The feet were protected by sandals in the house, and shoes for street or +public wear; these were greatly ornamented. The shoes were of various +colors, generally white, but frequently green or yellow, and fastened +with red strings. + +The Roman ladies, like those of modern times, exercised great care in +the dressing and arranging of their hair; and it is not to be denied +that they frequently sought, by artificial means, to rectify mistakes +which they deemed nature had made in the selection of color. In the time +of Juvenal, blonde seems to have had the preference. The ordinary style +was to carry the hair in smooth braids to the back of the head and there +fasten it in a knot, as usually seen in the statues. In ancient Rome the +curling iron was no less an intimate and indispensable friend of the +lady of fashion than it is at present; by this and other means, too +intricate for explanation by the uninitiated, marvellous creations were +produced. The satirist says: "Into so many tiers she forms her curls, so +many stories high she builds her head; in front you will look upon an +Andromache, behind she is a dwarf,--you would imagine her another +person." History reveals no age in which attention to personal adornment +was not such an intimate characteristic of female nature that women, +when unendowed with remarkable beauty, have been able to refrain from +unwisely seeking to attract notice by disfiguring themselves. + +The Roman women wore ornaments in considerable profusion. These +consisted principally of necklaces, arm bands, finger rings, and ear +rings. Generally they were of gold, set with precious stones, and the +workmanship was often of a most exquisite character. A necklace was +found at Pompeii which was made of a band of plaited gold; on each half +of the clasp there is a well-executed frog, and on the edges where the +clasp joined were rubies, one of which still remains in its setting; +suspended to the necklace are seventy-one small, artistically shaped +pendants. Very many specimens of the jewelry worn by the women of +ancient Rome are still in existence, and they indicate fine artistic +taste on the part of the wearers, as well as great ability in design and +execution on that of the makers. + +On the dressing table of the fashionable Roman lady there appeared a +wealth and a variety of cosmetics and costly essences in boxes and +receptacles delicately formed of ivory and precious metals, as well as +many other appliances for the toilet; so that her advantages in these +respects were probably in no way inferior to those of her fair +successors in modern times. An age was drawing near which, among many +other examples of its monstrous luxuriousness, gave birth to efforts to +enhance feminine attractiveness--efforts which doubtless were as futile +as they were foolish. + +The time, however, had already come when, notwithstanding that their +manners were under the eye of such a censor as Cato, the women of Rome +had entirely and forever abandoned their old simplicity of life. In the +_Epidicus_ of Plautus, written at about the time of the disturbance over +the Oppian law, the matrons were represented on the stage as though +decked out with valuable estates; the cost of a cloak was the price of a +farm. + +The new woman had begun to make her appearance in Rome. This proverbial +phenomenon, so greatly talked of in our own time, is by no means a +modern discovery. She is a principal and an inevitable accompaniment of +progress in every age and race. She is either a natural evolution or a +monstrosity, according to the social conditions of her time. When +progress is normal and national development healthy, a more enlightened +and more sanely independent type of woman is continually appearing; but +so naturally and so quietly does she step into the higher position for +which she has been enabled to prepare herself that her coming is without +observation. On the other hand, where society is decadent, where +abnormal growths are favored by the heat of unrestrained passions, and +where volcanic revolutions in a nation may exalt characters which belong +to the shades of inferiority to positions of high conspicuity, there +appear feminine wonders upon earth; and men's hearts fail them for fear, +as they await with consternation the things which are shortly to come to +pass. Rome, during the latter years of the republican period, was in a +condition favorable to the production of anything bizarre and +phenomenal. The new wealth, the new learning, the new idleness, and the +new vices were fit soil for the production of a new woman who would +astonish the world for all time with her capacity for every excess of +moral insanity. + +We do not, however, mean to allege that with the greater privileges and +increased freedom which entered into woman's life the old virtues and +time-honored excellences entirely disappeared. As Cornelia graced with +her learning and dignity the Rome of Cato's day, so did Caecilia with her +charity and her goodness the Rome of Cicero. That orator was undoubtedly +prejudiced in her favor on account of the great kindness she showed to +Roscius, his client; but he could not have eulogized this matron as he +did, had not public opinion concurred with him in setting her up as a +model for all other women. "An incomparable woman," her accomplished +relations had no less honor conferred on them by her character than she +received by their dignity. Thus an unbroken chain of noble-minded +matrons may be traced through the darkest days of Rome's decadent +morality. Nevertheless, though virtue did not cease to be exemplified by +the few, or to be extolled by the writers, the growing depravity of the +times made it constantly easier for unprincipled and impudent women to +find their conduct accepted as the ordinary rule of life. + +One chief cause--perhaps it is more correct to call it an +accompaniment--of the breaking-down of the ancient ideals is found in +the increasing tendency to deprecate the indissolubleness of marital +bonds. Divorce became common and easy, so that the student of Roman +biography finds it increasingly difficult to trace his characters +through the many involutions of their various matrimonial alliances. +Pompey married five times. Concerning his first two wives, Plutarch +makes the following comment: "Sylla, admiring the valor and conduct of +Pompey, ... sought means to attach him to himself by some personal +alliance, and his wife Metella joining in his wishes, they persuaded +Pompey to put away Antistia, and marry Aemilia, the stepdaughter of +Sylla, she being at that very time the wife of another man, living with +him, and with child by him. These were the very tyrannies of marriage, +and much more agreeable to the times under Sylla than to the nature and +habits of Pompey, that Aemilia, great with child, should be, as it were, +ravished from the embraces of another for him, and that Antistia should +be divorced with dishonor and misery by him for whose sake she had just +before been bereft of her father--for Antistius was murdered in the +Senate because he was suspected to be a favorer of Sylla for Pompey's +sake. Antistia's mother, likewise, after she had seen all these +indignities, made away with herself, a new calamity to be added to the +tragic accompaniments of this marriage; and that there might be nothing +wanting to complete them, Aemilia herself died, almost immediately after +entering Pompey's house, in childbed." + +Down to a very late date, a divorce is not met with in the annals of +Rome; but with what unconcern the undoing of the marriage knot came to +be regarded is well illustrated in the life of Cato the Younger. +Attilia, his first wife, was put away for misconduct. Then he married +Marcia, against whose reputation no blighting wind of scandal ever +raged. Among the dearest friends of her husband was Hortensius, known as +a man of good position and excellent character. Evidently, as the sequel +shows, in all seriousness he sought to persuade Cato that the latter's +daughter Portia, who was married to a man to whom she had borne two +children, might be given to him. His argument was that she, as a fair +plot of land, ought to bear fruit; but that it was not right that one +man should be provided with a larger family than he could support, +while another had none. Cato answered that he loved Hortensius very +well, and much approved of uniting their houses; but he could not +approve of forcibly taking away his daughter from her husband. Then +Hortensius was bold enough to request that Cato, who, he thought, had +enough children, should relinquish to him his own wife. Cato, seeing +that he was in earnest, consented to do this, stipulating first that his +wife's father should be consulted. No objection being raised in that +quarter, a marriage was performed between Marcia and Hortensius, Cato +assisting at the ceremony. In all this there is no mention made of +Marcia's consent being given or even asked. Some years afterward, Cato, +wanting someone to keep his house and take care of his daughters, took +Marcia again, Hortensius being now dead and having left her all his +estate. Caesar, upon this, reproached Cato with covetousness; "for," he +said, "if he had need of a wife, why did he part with her? And if he had +not, why did he take her again? unless he gave her only as a bait to +Hortensius, and lent her when she was young, to have her again when she +was rich." The historian answers this by quoting the verse of Euripides: + + "'To speak of mysteries-the chief of these + Surely were cowardice in Hercules.' + +"For," he says, "it were much the same thing to reproach Hercules for +cowardice and to accuse Cato of covetousness." The explanation of this +singular action, the cold nature which Cato inherited from his +grandfather the Censor being taken into consideration, seems to lie in +the fact that the Roman idea of the necessary guardianship over women +precluded any just conception of their rights in the disposal of their +own persons. The giving and the taking of a woman in marriage was +wholly the business of her father and her suitor; nothing was required +of her in the transaction save thankful obedience. Cato was perfectly at +liberty to give away his wife, if he so desired; this right was +guaranteed to him by the simple fact that she was his property. + +For the same reason, while chastity on the part of the wife was regarded +as an absolute essential, the same virtue was by no means considered as +necessary to the good character of the man. The demand for purity in the +wife was largely based on the idea of proprietary rights which the +husband had in her person; hence the man could divorce the woman for +infidelity, but the reverse was not conceded. Plautus introduces upon +the stage two matrons, one of whom complains of her husband, and the +other consoles and exhorts her thus: "Listen to me. Do not quarrel with +your husband; let him love whom, and let him do what, he pleases, since +you have everything you want at home; keep in mind the fearful sentence: +'Begone, woman!'" + +The new era which had dawned in Rome brought a certain freedom of +circumstances and activity within the reach of women; but it did not +give them in the marriage contract any more liberty than they had of +old. The only women who were allowed the disposal of their own persons +were the courtesans. There are many evidences that these were not +regarded with the disrespect in which their class is held in modern +times. For an example, Flora, who was famous in the last days of the +Republic, received on account of her exquisite beauty the high honor of +having her statue dedicated to the temple of Castor and Pollux; which +may be regarded as a kind of precedent for artists who in an Italy of a +much later date employed their mistresses as models for their Madonnas. +That this class of women did not hesitate to place a high value upon +themselves is proved by the instance of Tertia, to whom Verres presented +a Sicilian city. Lucretius speaks of the cost of their favors, giving us +also an interesting picture of the gayly dressed wanton: + + "Amply though endowed. + His wealth decays, his debts with speed augment, + The post of duty never fills he more, + And all his sick'ning reputation dies. + Meanwhile rich unguents from his mistress laugh, + Laugh from her feet sott Sicyon's shoes superb; + The green-rayed emerald o'er her, dropt in gold, + Gleams large and numerous; and the sea-blue silk; + Deep-worn, enclasps her. + What his sires amassed + Now flaunts in ribbands, in tiaras flames + Full o'er her front, and now to robes converts + Of Chian loose, or Alidonian mould; + While feasts and festivals of boundless pomp, + And costliest viands, garlands, odors, wines, + And scattered roses ceaseless are renewed." + +The Voconian law, which had been enacted in the days of the elder Cato, +the purpose of which was the prevention of large accumulations of +property in female hands, did not prevent women from becoming rich in +the manner suggested above. A man might give away all his property while +alive; the law only vetoed excessive legacies. By its provisions, no +woman was allowed to receive by inheritance property exceeding the value +of one hundred thousand sesterces. "Since with the growing power of the +Empire the riches of private persons were increasing, fear was felt lest +the minds of women, being rather inclined by nature to luxury and the +pursuit of a more elegant routine of life, and deriving from unbounded +wealth incentives to desire, should fall into immoderate expenses and +luxury, and should subsequently chance to depart from the ancient +sanctity of manners, so that there would be a change of morals no less +than of the manner of living." These were the reasons for the enactment +of this measure. It was the kind of law which was dear to the heart of +the Censor, and it was with great delight that he lent his aid to its +passage. The people were a little doubtful as to its justice; but Cato +put an end to all hesitation by inveighing, with his usual asperity, +against the tyranny of women and their insufferable insolence when +opulent. He complained that oftentimes, when they brought a rich dowry +to their husbands, they kept back a large part of the money, and then +made loans to their husbands as though these were mere debtors. The +historian says that this assertion, enforced with a loud voice and good +lungs, moved the people to indignation, and they voted to pass the law. +It was exceedingly characteristic of the sentiments of the ancient +Romans to be convinced by Cato as he strenuously objected to that in +women which he strongly advocated as a rule for men. + +There are two feminine names which, though belonging to women who were +contemporaries, well represent different aspects of the transition from +the old Rome of uncultured simplicity to the new Rome of immoral +refinement. One is Cornelia, who was the fifth wife of Pompey the Great; +the other is Clodia, the sister of Clodius the Turbulent. One conjoined +the new learning with the ancient purity of life, the other united +luxurious living with an abandoned career; one was a worthy successor of +her worthy namesake of a former generation, the other was a forerunner +of the amazing female characters of the most depraved days of the +Empire. + +Cornelia, like the mother of the Gracchi, belonged to the renowned +family of the Scipios. Though but a very young woman when she was +married to Pompey, she had already been the wife of that son of Crassus +who was slain in Parthia. That her first marriage was a happy one may be +argued from the fact that when Pompey fell into misfortune, and she, for +some sentimental reason, imagined herself as uniting him to woes which +rightly belonged to her own fate, she reproached herself for not having +followed the husband of her youth in his death, as she had designed. + +Plutarch informs us that the young lady possessed other attractions +besides those of youth and beauty. She was highly educated, as might be +expected in a daughter of Metellus Scipio; she was an accomplished +performer upon the lute; she understood geometry, and was accustomed to +listen with profit and appreciation to lectures on philosophy. The +historian takes great satisfaction in informing us also that, with all +this, she had escaped that pretentiousness and unamiability which too +frequently spoiled the effect of learning in women of unusual +acquirements. + +Owing to the terrible civil strife which afflicted Rome in the last days +of the Republic, and to Pompey's leading share in it, Cornelia's home +was frequently the martial camp of her husband. The Empire of Rome had +grown to be the whole extent of civilization, and Cornelia's learning +found ample opportunity, through her travels, to become reinforced by +that liberality of mind which is the result of wide observation. She +appears to have gained the high regard of her husband's army; for once, +after a struggle with Caesar, in which Pompey was for the moment +victorious, some of the soldiers, of their own accord, sailed to Lesbos +to carry to her the joyful tidings that the war was ended. Her pleasure +in this news was of short duration; for it was soon to be her unhappy +lot to accompany her husband to Egypt, in his flight from the +all-subduing Caesar. There she witnessed his assassination by the +perfidious hands from which he sought protection. + +It is unfortunate that the after career of Cornelia is lost sight of by +history; but even this silence in a manner speaks in her favor; for, +while the natural nobility of her character could not suffer by the +quenching of the strong light which shone around Pompey, there is some +warrant for assurance, in the very fact that her doings were not the +subject of comment, that her life continued honorable. + +Clodia was a woman of altogether different character. She was of the +great Claudian _gens_; and no member of that powerful family ever lived +so quietly as not to be the subject of discourse in Rome. To be one of +the Claudii meant to be impetuous and dominant, either in good or in +evil. It was a Vestal of this family who, when her father was refused a +triumph by the Roman people, placed herself in his chariot so as to +prevent his being interrupted in his progress through the city. Clodia, +studied from the point of heredity, might have been either good or bad; +but she would have contravened all precedents in her family had she not +been extreme in one or the other. As it was, she made a fitting sister +for that Clodius who stormed in Rome during the days of Cicero and kept +the city by the ears, both on account of his ambitions and his +ill-considered exploits. + +Clodia was married to Quintus Metellus, to whom Cicero affords a most +honorable tribute; but she did not allow the fact of her marriage to +place any restraint upon the licentiousness of her conduct. Her +luxurious house by the Tiber was a meeting place, not for men of +learning, but for all the idle, fashionable, and dissolute young men of +the city. Her reputation has been pilloried forever by the eloquent +advocate in his defence of Marcus Coelius. This young man was accused of +having attempted to poison Clodia, in order to rid himself of the +necessity of paying back some gold he was said to have borrowed from +her. The real truth appears to be that this prosecution was mainly +instituted by Clodia, who considered herself slighted by Coelius, who +had been her lover, but whose ardor was waning. The character and manner +of life of this irrepressible young Roman matron may be gathered from +the following arraignment of her in Cicero's oration. "If I am to +proceed in the old-fashioned way and manner of pleading, then I must +summon up from the Shades below one of those bearded old men,--not men +with those little bits of imperials which she takes such a fancy to, but +a man with that long, shaggy beard which we see on the ancient statues +and images,--to reproach the woman, and to speak in my stead, lest she +by any chance get angry with me. Let, then, some one of her own family +rise up, and above all others that great blind Claudius of old time. For +he will feel the least grief, inasmuch as he will not see her. And, in +truth, if he can come forth from the dead, he will deal with her thus; +he will say: 'Woman, what have you to do with Coelius? Why have you been +so intimate with him as to lend him gold, or so much an enemy as to fear +his poison? Was he a relation? A connection? Was he a friend of your +husband? Nothing of the sort. What was the reason, then, except some +folly? Even if the images of us, the men of your family, had no +influence over you, did not even my own daughter, that celebrated +Claudia Quinta, admonish you to emulate the praise belonging to our +house from the glory of its women? Did not that Vestal Claudia recur to +your mind, who embraced her father while celebrating his triumph, and +prevented his being dragged from his chariot by a hostile tribune of the +people? Why had the vices of your brother more weight with you than the +virtues of your father, of your grandfather, and others In regular +descent ever since my own time--virtues exemplified not only in the men, +but also in the women? Was it for this that I broke the treaty which was +concluded with Pyrrhus, that you should every day make new treaties of +most disgraceful love? Was it for this I made the Appian Way, that you +should travel along it escorted by other men besides your husband?'" + +This reincarnation of the severe old ancestor ought to have been +sufficient to strike terror and repentance into any woman's heart. But +Cicero was more concerned with exonerating Coelius than he was about +reforming Clodia, and doubtless he had more hope of convicting her of +being a follower of undue courses than he had of converting her from her +ways. So he goes on: "But if you wish me to deal more courteously with +you, I will put away that harsh and almost boorish old man; and out of +these kinsmen of yours here present I will take some one, and, before +all, I will select your youngest brother, who is one of the best-bred +men of his class, who is exceedingly fond of you, and who, on account of +some childish timidity, I suppose, and some groundless fears of what may +happen by night, always, when he was but a little boy, slept with you, +his eldest sister. Suppose, then, that he speaks to you in this way: +'What are you making this disturbance about, my sister? Why are you so +mad? You saw a young man become your neighbor; his fair complexion, his +height, his countenance, and his eyes made an impression on you; you +wished to see him oftener; you were sometimes seen in the same gardens +with him, being a woman of high rank; you are unable with all your +riches to detain him, the son of a thrifty and parsimonious father. He +rejects you, he does not think your presents worth so much as you +require of him. Try someone else. You have gardens on the Tiber, and you +carefully made them in that particular spot to which all the youths of +the city come to bathe. From that spot you may every day pick out people +to suit you. Why do you annoy this one man who scorns you?'" + +If the orator was just in all that he insinuates against her, Clodia, +the wealthy, fashionable, and doubtless beautiful daughter of the great +patrician family, was well qualified to be the high priestess of +Aphrodite for the city of Rome. + + + + +V + +ROMAN MARRIAGE + +The position of woman in ancient Rome was always one of honor and +respect. A Roman matron enjoyed many more social privileges and a much +greater independence than did the Greek wife. In Athens the women were +treated as children; and the more respectable their character, the more +completely were they shut out from the social life and the public +amusements of the men. In Rome, on the contrary, though the wife was +subordinate to her husband and, as a rule, did not make herself +conspicuous in public affairs, she was in no way secluded, and was +everywhere treated with the highest respect. In the home, she was the +mistress of the whole household economy, supervising the instruction of +the children and governing the domestic slaves. She stood side by side +with her husband, sharing in all his dignities, and in all matters +pertaining to the family wielding an authority second only to his. +Somewhere between the civilizations of Greece and Rome was the boundary +line, starting from which the status of woman degraded to the Oriental +or developed into the Occidental type. In the one case, subject to the +jealous veil, the espionage of eunuch slaves, the debasing, +soul-benumbing servilities of the harem; in the other, living in the +open, the sole mate of one man, and, subject to her husband alone, +clothed with all authority in her home. While Greece looked to the East, +and subjected her women to some of those customs which characterized the +harems of Babylon, Rome was essentially Western, and its women enjoyed a +goodly portion of dignity and honor. Both Greeks and Romans were of the +same branch of the great Aryan race, and the indications are that in the +earliest times their women enjoyed equal freedom; but Greece, to a +certain extent, fell under the influence of Semitic ideas, which saw in +the wife a voluptuous possession to be jealously guarded. The Roman +woman, on the other hand, was taught to prize and protect her own +virtue. + +The comparatively free and respected position of the matrons of +republican Rome accounts in no small degree for the glory and greatness +of the State. Where woman is treated as a slave, there is no genuine +love of liberty. Great men can only be born of noble mothers; and +nobility, feminine as well as masculine, can only flourish in freedom. +Veturia and Cornelia were mistresses in their homes; they knew no +restraint in their goings save the requirements of honor, they were +respected by their husbands and reverenced by all men; therefore, in +ways natural to such mothers, they were able to fit their sons for deeds +worthy of men. + +In the Roman house there were no secluded women's quarters corresponding +to those of eastern nations; and the Roman women walked abroad, +frequented the public theatres, and took their places at festive +banquets with the men, Conelius Nepos, writing on this subject, says: +"What Roman is ashamed to bring his wife to a feast; and does she not +occupy the best room in the house, and live in the midst of company? But +in Greece the case is far otherwise; for a wife is neither admitted to a +feast, except among relations, nor does she sit anywhere but in the +innermost apartment of the house, which is called the gynaeconitis, and +into which nobody goes who is not connected with her by near +relationship." The most important room in the Roman house was the +atrium. Here, in the midst of her slaves, the mistress pursued her +domestic occupations; here was placed the _lectus genialis_ or +_adversus_, in ancient times the real, afterward the symbolical, bridal +bed, her own proper seat of honor. + +Notwithstanding this independent position of the women, Roman marriage, +if it be judged by the strict letter of its laws and customs, was not +very indulgent to the weaker sex. But, as we have indicated in preceding +chapters, the power of the father of the family was much greater in +theory than it was in reality. Roman wedlock was of two kinds: +_matrimonium justum_ and _non justum;_ that is, marriage in due form, +and marriage without the perfect ceremonies. The first required the +right on either side to fulfil a lawful marriage according to the +ancient rites. In the earliest times, equality of condition was +demanded, patricians and plebeians being allowed to marry only in their +own class. After B.C. 445, this restriction was removed; but it was +still necessary that both parties to the contract should be citizens. +But even in cases where the ancient rites were not permitted, marriage, +if it took place, was regarded as none the less lawful and binding. +Among the Romans, first cousins were not allowed to marry, though in the +days of the emperors the restrictions of consanguinity were not strictly +adhered to; Agrippina was married to Claudius, who was her uncle. + +A contract of legal marriage was made in three different ways, called, +respectively, _usus, confarreatio,_ and _coemptio. Us us,_ or usage, was +when a woman, with the consent of her parents or guardians, lived with a +man a whole year without dowry, whom he cannot portion off to anyone. +And Horace says that "Queen Money, when she gives a spouse with an ample +dowry, seems to give at the same time beauty, nobility, friends, and +conjugal fidelity." Juvenal supposes someone to argue that Cesennia, a +woman of his time, is, by her husband's showing, the best of wives. But +he answers: "She brought him a thousand sestertia; that is the price at +which he calls her chaste. It is not with Venus's quiver that he grows +thin, or with her torch that he burns. It is from that his fires are +fed; from her dowry it is that the arrows are sent. She has purchased +her liberty; therefore, even in her husband's presence she may exchange +signals, and answer her billets-doux. A rich wife, with a covetous +husband, has all a widow's privileges." + +In the early days of the Republic, dowries were very small. The +daughters of the greatest men, says Valerius Maximus, often brought +nothing in marriage save the glory of their fathers or of their +families. Scipio, when commanding in Spain, petitioned the Senate to +allow him to return, so that he might arrange the marriage of his +daughter. The Senators, in order that the State might not be deprived of +the services of so able a general, refused his request, but took upon +themselves the duty of marrying the maiden. They chose for her a +husband, and assigned to her from the public treasury a marriage portion +of eleven thousand ases. This doubtless was at the time considered +ample, though Seneca, in the later days of luxury, declared that it +would not suffice to purchase a mirror for the daughter of a freedman. +In those same early days, when wealth was reckoned in small figures, a +woman called Megulla was surnamed Dotata, or "The Great Fortune," +because she had fifty thousand ases, less than eight hundred dollars of +our money. But as wealth increased, the marriage portions of the women +became correspondingly great, until in the time of Martial a dowry +equivalent to three-quarters of a million dollars was not uncommon. The +wife's dowry was, of course, at the disposal of her husband; but his +right to it ceased in case of the dissolution of the marriage, except +when the wife sought divorce without just cause, in which case the +husband was allowed to keep a sixth of the dowry for each of their +children, to the amount of three-sixths. If, however, the wife died +before her husband, and left no children, her dowry reverted to her +father, so that he might not suffer the double affliction of losing both +his money and his daughter. Sometimes the wife reserved to herself a +part of the marriage portion, in order that she might have something to +spend for which she had not to give account to her husband; occasionally +also, there went with the bride a slave, who, it was stipulated, was not +to be subject to the husband's disposal or command. The wife of +Apuleius, who married him when she was a widow and possessed four +million sesterces in her own right, transferred only three hundred +thousand in the marriage settlement. This power of the wife to own +personal property of a non-distrainable character afforded the Roman an +opportunity, such as is frequently seized to-day by men on the verge of +bankruptcy, to secure his assets by making them over to his wife. + +It often happened, of course, that a maiden's family, though honorable, +was not in such circumstances that she could base her hopes of marriage +upon the tempting bait of a rich dowry. Then her personal qualities were +her sole reliance. In the later days of the Republic, Roman parents seem +to have been fully appreciative of the desirability of a liberal +education for their daughters. Even in the most wealthy families, before +the days when Roman society entered upon its decadence, the girls were +zealously instructed in those domestic duties which would prepare them +to become good housewives. In addition to this, they were thoroughly +trained in both Greek and Latin literature, especial attention being +given to the poets. Their accomplishments also included music, singing, +and dancing; for these, says Statius, helped to procure a husband. But +we may be certain that in those times, as in the present, the natural +anxiety of many a mother caused her to resort to other arts besides that +of music, in order to provide a good match for her none too much sought +after daughter. If the comedies are to be credited, that which the +father's wealth could not accomplish it was hoped might be attained +through the mother's wiles. "Look at the mothers," says one of Terence's +characters; "they are carefully occupied in lowering their daughters' +shoulders, in drawing in their waists to make them look slender. Is +there one of them who is inclined to be stout? The mother immediately +exclaims, 'she is an athlete,' and diminishes the girl's meals until, in +spite of constitutional tendencies, she has rendered her daughter as +thin as a spindle." + +A girl, by means of either her real or artificial qualities, has won the +regard of some young Roman; let us witness, so far as they may be +ascertained from the ancient authors, the ceremonies of her betrothal +and nuptials. The consent of the parents of both parties must first be +obtained. If the suitor is regarded with favor, the father of the maiden +says: "I give up to you my dear daughter, and may it be happy for me, +for you, and for her." Then the betrothal or espousal takes place. This +is a family festival; everyone connected with the house makes it a +holiday. The relatives are invited to share in the rejoicing and also to +witness the contract of engagement. The Roman maiden did not engage +herself to be married in the manner Ruskin complained of as +characterizing modern times,--by moonlight, starlight, gaslight, +candlelight, or anything but daylight. Her engagement was a solemnity +which took place under the eyes of all her relatives and as many friends +as her father cared and could afford to invite. The inevitable augurs +are also present, in order that they may ascertain, by examining the +entrails of some bird, whether or not the Fates will be propitious. +Their verdict will largely depend upon the manner in which they are +treated by the parties concerned; for Cato declared that he never could +understand how two members of this profession could look each other in +the face without laughing. One wonders if any Roman girl ever availed +herself of the science of these gentlemen to escape an undesirable +suitor; for in the minds of most of the people the superstition was so +firmly implanted that if an augur could have been induced to perceive +misfortune in the auspices, that would have been sufficient to prevent +the engagement. But we will suppose that the signs are pronounced +favorable. A _stipula_, or straw, is broken between the parties, +signifying that a contract is made. The agreement is also put in +writing, for the sake of future reference. The man gives the maiden a +plain iron ring, which he places upon the finger next to the smallest on +the left hand, there being a belief that a nerve runs from that finger +directly to the heart. He also gives presents to those who have made +themselves useful in helping to bring about the engagement, and he +receives a present from the girl. The contract of betrothal was not +irrevocable; but for either party to withdraw from it was much more +likely to result in a suit at law than is the case at the present time; +and the Roman had the advantage over the jilted man in our day, in that +it was not considered that damages for a breach of promise were properly +due only to a woman. Marriage engagements were frequently of long +continuance among the Romans; for sometimes even infants were betrothed. +The minimum age at which the marriage could legally take place was +twelve for the girl and fourteen for the man. + +The selection of the wedding day was a matter in which more than the +inclination and the convenience of the parties concerned had to be +considered; the important thing was to choose a fortunate day. Ovid +says: "There are days when neither widow nor virgin may light the torch +of Hymen; she who is married then will surely die." The Calends, the +Ides, and the Nones were especially to be avoided. The whole month of +May was considered particularly unfavorable, because it was devoted to +the propitiation of the Lemurs, or the evil spirits. It was a common +saying that no good woman would marry in the month of May. February was +also avoided. June, on the contrary, of all the months in the year, was +believed to be the most propitious for marriages, but not until after +the Ides, or the thirteenth day. Ovid states, on the authority of the +wife of the _flamen dialis_, that for a fortunate marriage it was +necessary to wait until the refuse from the Temple of Vesta had been +carried by the Tiber to the sea; and this was not supposed to be +accomplished until the thirteenth of June. + +The friends of our couple have decided upon a day which, in the common +opinion, has no predilection for mischief. Everything necessary for the +performance of the marriage ceremonies is provided. These ceremonies are +of the nature of ancient usages rather than legal requirements. They are +intensely symbolical, and are calculated to impress upon the minds of +the bride and bridegroom a lively sense of the duties belonging to the +new relationship into which they are entering. + +This Roman bride is relieved of one grave anxiety which usually +accompanies the anticipatory pleasure in an approaching modern wedding. +It is not necessary for her to give any thought as to the color and +fashion of her wedding dress. This was always the same among the Romans; +and even if that worn by the maiden whose marriage is now being +described should happen to be an heirloom from her great-grandmother, +she need not fear that it is out of style. It consists of a long white +robe, woven in a particular manner. If the circumstances of her family +have improved, she may perhaps sew a purple fringe around the border; +but that is absolutely the only change allowed. This robe will be +fastened around her waist with a woollen girdle, white wool being always +a symbol of chastity. This will be tied in a Hercules knot, to loose +which, at the end of the ceremonies, will be the husband's privilege. +Her hair, allowed to fall around her shoulders, on the wedding morn is +parted with the head of a spear. Plutarch and other writers say that +this custom had its origin in the rape of the Sabines, and betokened the +fact that the first Roman marriages were brought about by capture, and +that it accordingly also indicated that a wife should be in subjection +to her husband. Over her head the bride wears a yellow or flame-colored +veil, this hue being held to be of good significance. Her brow is also +crowned with a chaplet of vervain, gathered and wreathed by her own +hands, for this herb signifies fecundity. Her shoes are also of yellow, +and so constructed as to make her appear taller than her real height. + +Thus attired, the bridal party go first to the temple, for the purpose +of offering sacrifice, as Virgil says, "above all, to Juno, whose +province is the nuptial tie." The victim considered as most appropriate +is a hog; and care is to be taken to throw the gall of the animal as far +away as possible, with the hope that in like manner all bitterness will +be put far away from this conjugal union. Then, if the ceremony of +_confarreatio_ is used, the couple, having returned to the bride's home, +are seated side by side, with a sheepskin covering both chairs; by which +it is signified that although the man and the woman occupy two different +parts of the house, they are nevertheless united by a common bond. The +chief priest now gives the wedded pair the sacred cake, which they eat +together in token of the fact that they are henceforth to share with +each other the necessaries of life. Although the modern wedding cake has +developed into something far more elaborate than the simple Roman wafer +of flour, water, and salt, the probability is that the former had its +origin in the latter. + +The appearance of the star Venus in the sky is the signal for the +bride's departure to her new home. In a formal manner, her father hands +her over to her husband's family, for he only can sever the bond which +holds her to his guardianship. Henceforth her husband has the right by +law to exercise over her that authority which has been held by her +father. There is a pretence made of taking her by force from the arms of +her mother or her sisters, in memory of the violent abduction of the +Sabine women. Then the bridal party walk in procession to the husband's +house. Preceding them, lighting the way, are four married women carrying +torches. The bride is directly attended by three boys, in selecting whom +the important thing to be borne in mind is to take only those who have +both parents living, otherwise it would be an extremely bad omen. Two of +these support her by the arms, while the other carries a flambeau of +white pine before her to dissipate all lurking enchantments and dispel +all evil incantations. Then follow maid-servants with a distaff, a +spindle, and wool, intimating that she is to labor at spinning, as did +the Roman matrons of the old time. After these comes a boy, who for this +occasion is named Camillus; his office is to carry in an open basket +other instruments for feminine work; and especially it has been +remembered to include playthings and toys for the bride's prospective +children. All the relatives and friends join in this festive procession. +In place of the rice which in these days accompanies the adieus bestowed +on a newly wedded pair, the Roman bride was the target for all the jests +and raillery which the wit of the spectators might suggest. When she +reaches her new home, the bridegroom, standing in the doorway, which is +decked with garlands of flowers, inquires who she is. Her reply is: +"Where thou art Caius, there am I Caia;" thus beautifully intimating +that comradeship in all things which is the ideal of marriage. Then, +after the bride has anointed the doorposts with the fat of swine in +order to turn away all enchantments, she is lifted over the threshold, +which, being consecrated to Vesta, it would be a bad omen for the bride +to touch with her foot. Her husband now presents her with the keys, for +she is henceforth to be intrusted with the management of his house. Both +touch fire and water, in token that they together share these essentials +of life and well-being. A yoke is placed about their necks, symbolizing +that which they have taken upon themselves in their marriage; from this +comes the word _conjugium_. The first joint act of the bride and +bridegroom is to unite in the worship of the household gods, the husband +thus introducing his wife to the guardian spirits of his home--the most +sacred things of his family. She is henceforth to be associated with him +in his domestic worship, and she has become a sharer in the inheritance +of fame left by his ancestors, who are venerated in the adoration of +their Manes. These solemn observances being ended, now follows the +banquet. At this, the bride reclines on the same divan with her husband +at the head of the table; for she is already hostess where he is host. +Now has come the opportunity for boisterous hilarity. The solemnities +are all completed, and the remaining time is wholly given up to the +merriment which is always deemed a fitting accompaniment to the first +adventure of a couple among the changes and chances of the marriage +state. All the guests join in singing the Thalassius,--a chant in which +every bridegroom is congratulated on being as fortunate in his lot as +was that traditional Quirite who obtained the brightest flower of the +Sabine maidens. + +The banquet being ended, the bride is conducted by the matrons to the +nuptial chamber, which is always the atrium, or the central room of the +house. Here is placed the _lectus genialis_, richly adorned and covered +with flowers. The bridegroom throws nuts among his former companions, as +a sign that he is now forsaking the life of his boyhood for the +responsibilities of man's estate. After his departure, the young people +entertain the newly married couple by singing outside the door +fescennine verses, in which is indulged a liberty of expression to which +modern ears are unaccustomed. + +Commonly, the songs chanted at the celebration of Roman marriages had no +literary merit whatever, and were chiefly characterized by their +grossness; but sometimes these occasions inspired the genius of the best +poets, from which resulted some of the most beautiful Latin verse. +Catullus has three such pieces. In his _Nuptial Song_, youths and +maidens are represented as contending with each other in improvised +versification. Hesperus, the evening star, is reproached by the virgins +and lauded by the young men as being the signal for the bride to leave +her mother's arms for those of her husband. In the last chorus, both +parties unite in exhorting the young wife to use complaisance with her +husband, and not to "strive against two parents who have bestowed their +own rights along with thy dowry on their son-in-law." _The Marriage of +Peleus and Thetis_, the longest of the poems of Catullus, may not have +been intended to be sung at a wedding; though that is a question on +which classic scholars are not agreed. It treats of marriage, however, +in a very interesting and original fashion; and may throw some light on +Roman customs, notwithstanding the fact that the characters introduced +are the offspring of the gods. "The mansion, in every part of its +opulent interior, glitters with shining gold and silver; white are the +ivory seats; goblets gleam on the tables; the whole dwelling rejoices in +the splendor of regal wealth. In the midst of the mansion is placed the +genial couch of the goddess, inlaid with polished Indian tooth, and +covered with purple dyed with the shell's rosy juice. This coverlet, +diversified with figures of the men of yore, portrays the virtues of +heroes with wondrous art." Then follows the principal part of the poem, +which is a description of the pictures worked upon the tapestry of the +bed. The subject of these is the history of Ariadne. We are to imagine +the poet standing by the couch and pointing out the incidents portrayed, +with their causes and consequences. This being concluded, the gods, and +especially the Parcae, are introduced to the marriage feast; and the +latter, as they spin their thread, "utter soothsaying canticles." + +Catullus has given us a veritable example of the Roman wedding song in +his epithalamium on the marriage of Manlius and Julia. Of this Julia we +know nothing further than that she was of the Cotta family; Manlius was +of the illustrious lineage of the Torquati. If only there were historic +warrant for believing that this couple were as charming in their +personalities as they are described in this poem, and that all the good +wishes therein expressed did really materialize, the marriage of Manlius +and Julia might stand for all time as the _summum bonum_ of wedded +felicity. A few stanzas from Lamb's translation will serve to illustrate +the character of the epithalamium, and will also fairly indicate the +place and nature of sentiment in the Roman conception of the marriage +relation. + + "When Venus claim'd the golden prize, + And bless'd the Phrygian shepherd's eyes; + No brighter charms his judgment sway'd + Than those that grace this mortal maid; + And every sigh and omen fair + The nuptials hail, and greet the pair. + + "Propitiate here the maiden's vows, + And lead her fondly to her spouse; + And firm as ivy clinging holds + The tree it grasps in mazy folds, + Let virtuous love as firmly bind + The tender passions of her mind. + + "Ye virgins, whom a day like this + Awaits to greet with equal bliss, + Oh! join the song, your voices raise + To hail the god we love to praise. + O Hymen! god of faithful pairs; + O Hymen! hear our earnest prayers. + + "Invoked by sires with anxious fear, + Their children's days with bliss to cheer; + By maidens, who to thee alone + Unloose the chaste, the virgin zone; + By fervid bridegrooms, whose delight + Is stay'd till thou hast bless'd the rite. + + "Raise, boys, the beaming torches high! + She comes--but veil'd from every eye; + The deeper dyes her blushes hide; + With songs, with paeans greet the bride! + Hail, Hymen! god of faithful pairs, + Hail, Hymen! who hast heard our prayers. + + "Riches, and power, and rank, and state, + With Manlius' love thy days await; + These all thy youth shall proudly cheer, + And these shall nurse thy latest year. + Hail, Hymen! god of faithful pairs! + Hail, Hymen! who hast heard our prayers. + + "Oh! boundless be your love's excess, + And soon our hopes let children bless; + Let not this ancient honor'd name + Want heirs to guard its future fame; + Nor any length of years assign + A limit to the glorious line. + + "Let young Torquatus' look avow + All Manlius' features in his brow; + That those, who know him not, may trace + The knowledge of his noble race; + And by his lineal brow declare + His lovely mother chaste as fair. + + "Now close the doors, ye maiden friends; + Our sports, our rite, our service ends. + With you let virtue still reside, + O bridegroom brave, and gentle bride, + And youth its lusty hours employ + In constant love and ardent joy." + +The bluntly practical disposition of the Romans reveals itself even in +their attitude toward that phase of human life which preeminently +furnished scope for romance. In their expressions concerning marriage, +its physical basis is acknowledged with unnecessary frankness. No +vestige is found among them of any pretence of belief in that exalted +communion which, though it is probably nothing more than an imaginary +refinement, is commonly talked of as Platonic love. There is no +idealizing of the amatory emotions,--such as we are accustomed to in +novels which are not "realistic"--thereby affording an opportunity to +ignore the lower aspect. + +A woman, after marriage, retained her former name; but it was joined to +that of her husband, as, for example, Julia Pompeii, Terentia Ciceronis. +She was also called _domina_, the mistress. On the day after her +marriage, the Roman bride, by a sacrifice which she offered to the +Lares, formally took possession of her position as mistress of the +household. Then she assumed the control of the servants and slaves, +setting them their tasks and taking upon herself the superintendence of +all things in the home. By unwritten law, no servile work was required +of the Roman matron, unless she were so poor as not to own a slave. She +might spin, and, indeed, it was to her credit if she thus diligently +employed herself, for this was an occupation which the most cherished +traditions would not permit the noblest to despise. It was carried on in +the atrium, where the matron sat surrounded by her husband's ancestral +images and where she received her friends. When she went abroad, she was +known to be a matron because of her _stola_; the inner side of the walk +was given to her by every Roman citizen she might happen to meet; and if +anything indecent was said or done in her presence, it was an offence +which might be punished by law. + +In the earliest times, the dissolution of the marriage bond was of +extremely rare occurrence, for the praiseworthy reason that the manners +of the people were such that there seldom arose an occasion for divorce. +In those first ages, however, the laws concerning this matter were +characterized by an exceeding severity and unfairness to the woman. In +no case was she allowed to divorce her husband; though she might be put +away by him, not only for conjugal infidelity and such crimes as using +drugs to prevent the possibility of childbearing, or for deceiving him +by the introduction of fictitious children, but even if she +counterfeited his keys or surreptitiously drank his wine, and, in the +earliest times, if she drank wine at all. Carvilius is said to have been +the first Roman to put away his wife; but it is difficult to believe +that, notwithstanding the fact that laws providing for such a proceeding +existed from the time of the kingdom, no divorce really took place until +B.C. 231. Probably certain circumstances connected with this divorce +gave it such notoriety that it was the first which impressed itself upon +the attention of the historians. It is said that Carvilius, though he +loved his wife, divorced her on account of barrenness, he having, with +many other citizens, made a vow to marry for the sake of offspring. + +In later times, the women gained the right to secure divorce; and as +morals began to show the signs of decadence, there was nothing so +indicative of the terrible laxity which prevailed as the trivial causes +for which husbands and wives were allowed to separate. Incompatibility +of temperament was the common complaint. In the ancient and nobler +times, there was a small temple dedicated to Viriplaca, the marital +peacemaker; and when a difference occurred between husband and wife, +they met and entered into explanations before the goddess, usually with +the result of a restoration of harmony; but Viriplaca was gradually +forgotten, and matrimonial chaos ensued. + +When this laxity came to be the prevailing rule, the wife who was rich +and, moreover, inclined to be in any way disagreeable held her husband +at her mercy. If he divorced her without any considerable fault of hers, +or if they parted by mutual consent, she took her dowry and left him +with the children. If, as was very likely to be the case, he had married +her for her property, he was obliged to be submissive. Plautus says: +"The portionless wife is subject to her husband's will; wives with +dowries are as executioners for their husbands." Martial, inveighing +against a miserly woman who will not furnish her husband with a new +cloak as a New Year's gift, says: "Why, Proculeia, do you cast off your +husband in the month of January? This is not in your case a divorce; it +is a good stroke of business." During the worst times, the law +restricted the number of divorces obtainable by an individual to eight. +If we are to believe Juvenal, there were women who were sufficiently +enterprising to reach the limit in five years. The satirist describes +them as leaving the doors only recently adorned, the tapestry used for +the marriage festival still hanging on the house, and the branches still +green upon the threshold. Seneca says that in his time it had come to +such a pass that women reckoned the years, not by the names of the +consuls, but by the husbands they had divorced. + +Yet, notwithstanding--perhaps it would be more correct to say, on +account of--this excessive willingness on the part of the women to enter +into contracts of marriage, it became necessary in the time of the first +empire to decree severe penalties against celibacy; and bonuses were +awarded to those in whose families children were born. Even as early as +B.C. 121, Metellus the Censor, complaining in the Senate of the +increasing tendency to avoid the responsibilities of matrimony, said: +"Could we exist without wives at all, doubtless we should rid ourselves +of the plague they are to us; since, however, nature has decreed that we +cannot dispense with the infliction, it is best to bear it manfully, and +rather look to the permanent conservation of the State than to our own +passing comfort." + +In a condition of society in which the most conspicuous women were +unrestrained by any worthy ideals of the responsibilities of wifehood, +and where men were at liberty, and found abundant opportunity, to +gratify their basest propensities with no fear of any reproof other than +being made the subject of humorous allusion, it is not to be wondered at +that the latter were inclined to shun the cares and the vicissitudes of +marriage. Juvenal claimed that a good wife was rarer than a white crow; +and Pliny held that celibacy alone afforded an unobstructed road to +power and fortune. The former's terrible sixth satire was written as a +warning against matrimony. "And yet you are preparing your marriage +covenant, and the settlement, and betrothal, in our days; and are +already under the hands of the master barber, and perhaps have already +given the pledge for her finger. Well, you used to be sane, at all +events! You, Postumus, going to marry! Say, what Tisiphone, what snakes, +are driving you mad? Can you submit to be the slave of any woman, while +so many halters are to be had? so long as high and dizzy windows are +accessible, and the Aemilian bridge presents itself so near at hand?" +The women are accused of every enormity known in that Rome where vice +attained such proportions as have never been approached in any +civilization in the history of the world. But it is contrary to the +office of the satirist to present a true picture of the whole. Writing +of vice, he sees nothing but iniquity; of the good he has nothing to +say, for it is not in his province. That even then there were good women +we know full well. Julia, the aunt of Caesar; Octavia, faithful to her +marriage vows despite the ill returns she received from Mark Antony; +Agrippina, the beloved and faithful wife of the noble Germanicus; Livia +also, the wife of Augustus, whose matrimonial fidelity--whatever may +have been her character in other respects--no suspicion ever assailed. +If these women, in their high stations, could exemplify all the best +traditions of the matrons of the old time, we may be sure that there +were innumerable good wives in the commoner ranks. + +Out on the Appian Way, there is to be seen one of the strangest +monuments that a grotesque fancy ever devised. It is the tomb of Marcus +Vergilius Eurysaces, who was baker to the _apparetores_. The monument +consists of a row of great cylinders representing measures for grain. +Upon these, in three tiers, are huge kneading troughs, placed with their +mouths turned outward. Above is a frieze representing various incidents +connected with the baker's trade. There is evidence that originally +there was a similar monument standing by the side of this, for an +inscription was found which reads: _Antistia was my wife; she was the +best woman alive; of whose body the remains which are left are in this +bread basket_. Here was a man of the people who appreciated his wife. +Doubtless Antistia was a good woman, and lived happily with the baker, +just as there were myriads of other faithful pairs whose names are not +recorded on monuments nor have any place in history. + +And yet, even the highest Roman standards of morality were not such as +have been evolved through many centuries of inculcation of Christian +principles. Among the best of the pagan Romans, concubinage was looked +upon as a defensible institution. The laws in regard to citizenship shut +out a large class of women from the privilege of marriage with freeborn +Romans; as, for instance, the daughters of foreigners who had not been +naturalized. These could only become mistresses or enter into +left-handed marriages. If a citizen who was unmarried wished to live +with such a woman, of course no ceremony was needed; there was nothing +binding about the union, and at the same time it was not considered to +be in any wise indecent. On more than one tomb there is found an +inscription to "the beloved concubine," Acte held this relationship with +the Emperor Nero; and to her credit it surely must be allowed that she +was the only person near him against whom he did not maliciously turn, +and who seemed to have with him some slight influence for good. +Antoninus Pius, one of the very best of the Roman emperors, when his +beloved Faustina died, took a concubine. He would not marry again, +because he did not wish to bring his four children under the uncertain +care of a stepmother. And having before him the domestic history of more +than one imperial family in which were exhibited the tender mercies of +such a stepmother as was Livia the wife of Augustus, Antoninus may well +be excused for his precaution. What was the name of the woman he took we +do not know, nor are we informed as to her character; only, Marcus +Aurelius says: "I am thankful to the gods that I was not longer brought +up with my father's concubine." + + + + +VI + +WOMAN UNDER JULIUS CAESAR + +Rome was now riven and torn by cataclysms of civil strife. The +foundations of the Republic were shaken by the explosion of new social +forces, the growth of which was naturally attendant upon the spread of +conquest, and which could no longer be confined within the narrow limits +of the old constitution. Marius, Sylla, Pompey, and Caesar--these are the +names around which gathers the history of the pains and death groans of +the expiring Republic. Crimson was the color of each political party; +and the blood of opponents was the means used for its exhibition. Rome +had become too great for her ancient civic constitution: she was +restlessly awaiting the arrival of a man who could thrust himself above +all opposition, and in his own person unify the government. Imperialism +or anarchy must necessarily follow such a Republic as Rome had become in +the closing century of the pre-Christian era. + +During those fierce political disturbances and bloody revolutions, how +did woman fare? She was by no means secure in that quiet, unmolested +round of conjugal duty and domestic life which had so long been hers by +right. In the sanguinary civil wars and murderous proscriptions which +resulted from the ambitions of the leaders, life for the Roman people +was of extremely uncertain tenure. It is easy to surmise what the women +of many Italian cities suffered when whole populations were put to the +sword under the merciless Sylla. Death, outrage, and slavery became so +common that there was developed in the Roman women that indifference to +the sight of human suffering which appears to us as nothing less than +monstrous. Under Sylla, wives were accustomed to being simultaneously +robbed of their husbands and their sustenance; as in the case of that +peaceful citizen who, finding his own name in the lists of the +proscribed, exclaimed: "My Alban farm has informed against me," and was +immediately thereafter slain. + +The political changes of the time wrought no marked alteration in the +status of the women; that is, no legislation was enacted which, in any +special manner, bore upon their condition and privileges. Certain +developments did take place in the manner of life of the women of Rome; +but these were the natural results of the character of the times. The +weakening of moral principle which we have noticed in a preceding +chapter continued with accelerated rapidity. The bounds set by +traditional honor were overthrown with increasing recklessness, and the +habits of many of the upper-class women carried the sex still further +beyond the limits of old-fashioned morality. + +In this period we also See the women beginning to lay their hands to +that particular sort of political work to which they are adapted. In the +days of the Gracchi, it had become possible for a bright and +intellectual lady to draw around her learned men, grammarians, and +philosophers; we shall now see such women, who have other ambitions, +gathering politicians, and sometimes conspirators, in their atriums. +There was Sempronia, for example, who was of the family of the Gracchi +and the wife of Decimus Brutus. In her house Catiline was in the habit +of meeting his followers for the purpose of plotting his conspiracy. Of +her character and attainments Sallust gives us this interesting +description: "A woman who had committed many crimes, with the spirit of +a man. In birth and beauty, in her husband and her children, she was +extremely fortunate; she was skilled in Greek and Roman literature; she +could sing, play, and dance, with greater elegance than became a woman +of virtue, and possessed many other accomplishments that tend to excite +the passions. But nothing was ever less valued by her than honor or +chastity. Whether she was more prodigal of her money or her reputation, +it would have been difficult to decide. She had frequently, before this +period, forfeited her word, forsworn debts, been privy to murder, and +hurried into the utmost excesses by her extravagances and poverty. But +her abilities were by no means despicable; she could compose verses, +jest, and join in conversation either modest, tender, or licentious. In +a word, she was distinguished by much refinement of wit and much grace +of expression." She seems to have been the equal of Cornelia in ability, +and her reverse in character; which, perhaps, illustrates the degeneracy +of the times as much as it does the special turpitude of this particular +woman. + +The Romans were learning the political uses of a salon. The women began +to acquire the knowledge that, for those who have access to the powerful +male leaders, much may be accomplished by a fair face if backed by an +active brain, even though the ballot be denied. The way was being +prepared for a Livia and an Agrippina. The women were forced to take a +greater interest in politics, for the simple reason that politics had +become a most hazardous business. Their husbands might be riding in +triumph one day, and finding their names in the lists of the proscribed +the next; hence, it often happened that only by mingling in political +intrigues could the wives secure their own safety and that of those to +whom they were united by affection. The times had changed. In the old +days, the women were accustomed, with patriotic ardor, to encourage +their male relatives as they marched out against the public enemy, and +they bravely devoted their sons to the welfare of the State; but in the +times of which we are now treating, those did the best service who +possessed the wit to discover a plot. It was to a courtesan named Fulvia +that Cicero was indebted for the detection of the Catiline conspiracy. + +In the general estimation of the men, however, the chief political use +which women might serve was to reinforce, by marriage, the strained +relations between rival politicians. Accordingly, the daughter of a +powerful leader would be married and divorced, passed from one man to +another, with almost as much facility as a detachment of light cavalry +might appear first in one part and then in another of a battlefield. +These enforced marriages for political purposes had the effect of so +training the women that, in the succeeding generations, they could with +all the greater levity sever the bonds of matrimony for their own +capricious ends. With what nonchalant freedom women made such entrance +into the hazardous arena of public life is indicated in the story of +Valeria. She was a sprightly young lady, who had been divorced from her +husband. One day, in the theatre, as she passed behind Sylla on the way +to her seat, she stopped for a moment and plucked a little bit of wool +from the dictator's cloak. This caused him to turn and regard her with +some wonderment. Whereupon she said: "Surely, sir, you cannot object if +in picking a little thread from your garment I also desired to share a +small portion of your good fortune." She went on to her seat; but it +soon became apparent that Sylla was not displeased. During the +performance, the lady was of more interest to him than the gladiatorial +spectacle, and it was not long before a marriage was arranged. + +This made the fifth time that Sylla had wedded. Just previously to his +thus romantically making the acquaintance of Valeria he had lost by +death Caecilia Metella, to whom reference has heretofore been made, and +who was one of the best women of her time. Kind and compassionate by +nature, she often successfully interceded for the lives of men whom her +relentless husband had foredoomed. At her death, though there is every +indication that he held her in the highest regard, his action was +peculiar and extremely characteristic of the man. Because the priest of +Venus Victrix, to which goddess he was especially devoted, forbade him +to allow his house to be polluted by mourning, while Metella was on her +deathbed he sent her a bill of divorce and caused her to be removed to +the home of one of her relatives. Yet, after her death he went so far as +to transgress his own law against funeral expense, and provided the most +elaborate obsequies in her honor. + +Sylla was absolutely without conscience in his employment of marriage +and divorce for political ends. Metella's daughter by her first husband +had been married to Glabrio the Censor. The dictator saw a more useful +ally in young Cnaeus Pompeius, who was already married to Antistia; +therefore, he commanded Glabrio and Pompeius to divorce their wives, and +the latter to take Aemilia, his stepdaughter. Piso, also at his +suggestion, had divorced his wife Annia. But when Sylla attempted to +employ the same tactics with Caesar, he made the discovery that he had +encountered a man of altogether different metal. The latter had married +Cornelia, the daughter of Cinna. They had one child, a little daughter +named Julia, who afterward became the wife of Pompey. When Caesar was +ordered by the all-powerful dictator to divorce Cornelia, he absolutely +refused, preferring death to subjection to such tyranny. There is every +warrant for belief that Cornelia was worthy of the devotion of her +husband, which she enjoyed to the day of her death. + +Caesar was a turning point in the course of Roman history, a crisis in +the history of the world. His labors affected an epoch, and the tragedy +of his passing is a memory which can never be relinquished by the human +mind. Yet, inasmuch as a man's greatness is always in large measure +attributable to the character of the times in which he lives, the same +conditions which he seizes to raise himself to the highest position +serve also to surround him with other men who approach him in that +wisdom strength, and valor which are developed by the common +environment. Caesar was first in a community of heroic souls. Pompey, +Mark Antony, Brutus, Cato, and Cassius, all exhibit in their character +and their powers a greater or lesser participation in those qualities +which made Caesar preeminent. This is none the less true also of the +women of the day; the times wrought greatness of soul in them to as +liberal a degree as in the men. Hazard, ambition, and high enterprise +carried the women of this period far in the development of those +qualities which are brought out by such means. Portia, Calpurnia, +Fulvia, Julia, and Cornelia were fit companions for their renowned +masculine associates. + +Hence, independent of how little or how much the feminine participants +in this great world-drama may appear upon the stage, we may be certain +that when they are seen we have before us some of the most remarkable +women in history, if for no other reason than that they are connected +with the plot of that drama. + +The attention is naturally first drawn to those women who were most +intimately connected with Julius Caesar. To Aurelia, the daughter of M. +Aurelius Cotta, was destined the honor of bringing into the world the +man who was to bear one of the three most renowned names in its military +history. She lost her husband, Caius Julius, while their son was yet a +boy; but, from what is known of her character, it is evident that she +was not unequal to the task of superintending alone the completion of +young Caesar's education. It was undoubtedly to her influence that he +owed the development of those traits which are most pleasing in his +greatness. Tacitus is sufficient authority for this, likening as he does +Aurelia to the mother of the Gracchi. She was one of the few surviving +representatives of that matronal dignity and virtue which beautified the +austerity of the earlier days of the Republic. Her house, small and +frugally managed, was situated under the Esquiline and Viminal hills, in +that low part of Rome called the Subura. It was not a fashionable +quarter; in fact, it was a street of shops and taverns. It resounded +with the clamor of traffic and the noise of such broils and revelry as +are usual in the vicinity of pothouses. At the top of the street, there +was a depressed, open space, called the Lacus Orphei because of a statue +of Orpheus which stood there. To this spot, which must have made an +admirable playground, Aurelia was in the habit of sending a slave to +look for the young Csesar when the shades of night fell on the unlighted +streets. It is also likely that she as frequently, and with much more +satisfaction, caused him to be looked for in the Vicus Sandaliarius, a +street running parallel with her own, where were the booksellers' shops. + +In her unpretentious residence, with its plebeian surroundings, Aurelia +kept house for her son. When he brought home Cornelia, the daughter of +Cinna the Consul, as his bride, his mother decked the threshold and +prepared the modest atrium for the nuptial ceremonies. Here was born the +little Julia, the only child that ever blessed the home of Caesar. + +When the order came from Sylla that, if he would preserve his life and +serve his best interests, Caesar must put away his wife so as to be free +to form a matrimonial union with the dictator's party, there is no doubt +that Aurelia's virtuous counsel supported her son's courage in refusing +to comply with so tyrannical a command. The result was that Caesar was +obliged to leave the city, hardly escaping the assassin's hand; and the +two women were left for two years to comfort each other as best they +could in the absence of a husband and a son. That they were impoverished +by the rapacious Sylla--who, when he could not touch the person of an +enemy, contented himself with seizing his property--we know. Fortunate +were they if their lives were not still more embittered by the knowledge +of those vile slanders which came from Bithynia, for the disproof of +which there is no evidence needed beside the character of him whose name +was so maliciously besmirched. + +After two years of loneliness, these devoted women were made happy by +receiving the exile home. From that time on, Aurelia's maternal pride +was satisfied by beholding the star of her son's fortunes, though at +times beclouded by rivalry, always ascending and brightening. He rose +from one office to another, until the day came when she saw him elected +chief pontiff over the heads of two candidates who were his superiors in +age, rank, and wealth. On this election he had staked everything. If he +failed, his debts would overwhelm him. In the morning, as he left the +little house in the Subura, kissing his mother good-bye, he had said: +"Mother, I will return home pontiff, or not at all." How anxiously she +must have awaited the result! All through the day, she heard his name +shouted with approbation by the people on the street; and in the +evening, he returned to inform her that she must move with him to the +palace of the pontificate on the Via Sacra. + +Cornelia was no longer there to share in Aurelia's pride and Caesar's +good fortune. During the year B.C. 68, Caesar had pronounced two funeral +panegyrics. One was for his aunt, Julia, the wife of that unpolished but +indomitable soldier, Marius. Little is known of this lady; but at Les +Baux, in Provence, there is a monument on which are represented Marius +and Julia, and between them--suggestive it may be of private trials +endured by the latter--Martha, the Syrian prophetess, who accompanied +and advised Marius in all his adventurous undertakings. The second +funeral oration delivered by Caesar was for his faithful wife Cornelia. +Matrons so young as she were not often honored with a panegyric at their +obsequies; and it testifies no less to the worth of her character than +to her husband's devotion that he, in this instance, transgressed the +custom with the approval of the people. + +It was not long, however, before Aurelia was called upon to welcome a +new bride of her son, this time to the magnificence of the pontifical +abode. Marriage was looked upon by the best Romans as a citizen's duty; +and for a man to abbreviate his widowed regrets was not regarded as +censurable conduct; though, on the other hand, the constancy of widowed +matrons was held in the highest honor. The Romans, notwithstanding their +aptitude for law, cared little for consistency in their distribution of +privileges between men and women. + +Caesar's second wife was Pompeia, the granddaughter of Sylla, whose +family Aurelia had but little cause to love. What the mother's attitude +toward the new bride was we do not know. Two things are certain from the +narrative of the sequel to this marriage: Aurelia continued to maintain +the position of _domina_ in the house of her son, for it was she who had +charge of the ceremonies of the Bona Dea which Clodius interrupted by +his intrusion; and the inferences are all against the innocence of +Pompeia, for, had she been faithful, Clodius would not have ventured +into the house at such a time. She was divorced by Caesar; but he took no +active part in the proceedings against Clodius. When called upon to +testify, he contented himself with the declaration that he knew nothing +about the affair; which was true in a sense, inasmuch as he was not +present. The matter might have been hushed, had it not been for the +matrons, who could not brook that their sacred mysteries should be thus +invaded. Terentia, the wife of Cicero, was especially persistent. She +was a woman who interfered in political matters to such a degree that, +when her husband was consul, she was spoken of sarcastically as being +his colleague. Having a private grudge against Clodius, she so incited +Cicero that the powerful advocate completely refuted the defendant's +strong plea of an alibi. + +Caesar's testimony that he was uninformed as to what had happened at his +house was not satisfactory to the prosecutor, who shrewdly inquired: +"Why, then, did you divorce Pompeia?" The reply was: "Caesar's wife must +be above suspicion!"--a reply haughty enough to be characteristic of the +man, and deemed a sufficient check to all further cross-examination. +But, viewing the whole situation from our standpoint, it is impossible +to refrain from the comment that, if Caesar had been equipped with +anything corresponding to a modern conscience, he could scarcely have +had the effrontery to utter such a saying. Just and generous as he was, +he was incapable of entertaining the idea that there should be but one +code of morals for the woman and the man. If Caesar's wife had said: "The +husband of Pompeia must be above suspicion," it would have appeared as +ridiculous to her contemporaries as it was impossible of realization. + +We may well give as little heed as did Caesar himself to the calumnious +stigma upon his name which disgraces the pages of the historians and the +verse of Catullus. Yet, setting this aside as unworthy of credence, +evidence seems to prove abundantly his propensity for those gallantries +which were considered among the least reprehensible immoralities by the +men of his time. The names of many women were connected with that of the +great soldier in a manner which is detrimental to the reputation of all +concerned. Unless higher criticism of a most radical and partial kind is +adopted in the study of the ancient historians, we must take their word +that ladies of the highest quality surrendered to Caesar's attractions. +It is said that Pompey was wont to refer to the chief pontiff as +Aegisthus; and that when he spoke of him it was with a sigh which was +elicited not so much on account of Caesar's greater success in affairs of +State as by his rivalry in the affections of Mucia, who, like +Clytemnestra, was won by the pontiff while her husband was absent in +war. Posthumia, wife of Servius Sulpicius, Lollia, wife of Aulus +Gabinius, and Tertulla, wife of Marcus Crassus, come under the same +indictment. The husbands named were close friends of the man who shared +with them in their conjugal rights, as well as climbed over their +shoulders in political ascendency; and they served him well in the +furtherance of his latter-mentioned projects. It has been argued that if +Caesar's conduct had really been as blameworthy as is alleged, he could +not have retained the amity of these men; but the argument proves +nothing. What if he were a sufficient adept in policy--a thing not +unknown in the history of human experience--to be able to command the +hands and the heads of the husbands through the hearts of their wives? + +There was one woman who had for Caesar a passionate attachment which was +returned by him with an ardent and lasting affection in which political +ambition played no part. This was Servilia, the half-sister of Cato and +the mother of Marcus Brutus. Unfortunately, this lady's regard for her +powerful lover did not carry with it the confidence and the friendship +of her brother and her son. Modem writers, notably Froude and Baring +Gould, strive to eliminate everything of an unworthy nature from the +mutual affection which is known to have existed between Servilia and +Caesar; but their argument is devoid of historical proof. Much as we may +be inclined to eradicate from the character of the great Roman +everything that is unpleasant, it will not do to ignore or explain away +every tittle of evidence that has been handed down by the ancient +authorities on this subject. It may have been but the unfounded surmise +of the gossips that it was a billet-doux from his sister which caused +Cato to demand of Caesar, during an acrimonious Senatorial debate, that +he make known the contents of a note the latter had just received; +nevertheless, we have it on the authority of Plutarch that Caesar +believed Brutus to be his own son. In this the great Imperator may very +easily have been mistaken; but as to the fact that he had reason to +believe in the possibility of such a thing, surely the conclusions of +modern writers should have less weight than the plain statements of the +ancient historians, which are the sole and only source of any knowledge +whatsoever that we may have on the subject. It is true that slanderers +were even coarser-minded and less restrained among the Romans of those +days than they are in our own time; and among them Cicero was as +preeminently conscienceless as he was clever. Hence, it is not necessary +for us to take seriously his pun on the name of Servilia's daughter, +when, remarking on the low price at which Servilia obtained some lands +from Caesar, he says: "Between ourselves, Tertia [or, a third] was +deducted," intimating that the mother profited by her daughter's +dishonor. + +Calpurnia, the daughter of L. Calpurnius Piso, was the third wife of +Caesar. For fourteen years she occupied the Regia, the pontifical +residence, as its _domina_. Thus she was the highest lady in Rome and in +the Empire. That she became the consort of Caesar for reasons of +expediency is very probable; but that she was possessed of a deep and +lasting affection for her husband, which was reciprocated by him with +tender regard, is shown by their conduct on the eve of his death. During +the years of Calpurnia's union with Caesar, though he crowded them with +events of tremendous import in the history of Rome, nothing whatever is +recorded of his wife. Her name has come down to us untarnished with any +scandal; which, considering the fact that the historians of that time +incorporated such stories in their records on the least possible +warrant, is a very strong testimony to the purity of her life, which was +devoted to furthering the interests of Caesar among his friends, caring +for his home during his many and lengthened absences, and ministering to +his comfort in the short respites which his innumerable cares afforded +him. All that we really know of her character is revealed in his time of +danger, in which everything is to her credit. + +In the plot of _Julius Caesar_, Shakespeare, with historical accuracy, +introduces only two feminine characters: Calpurnia and Portia, the +latter the worthy wife of the noblest of the conspirators. Were they +friends, these two ladies, as their husbands were supposed to be? Did +they visit each other and engage in the discussion of those topics which +were then current in the atriums and gardens of Rome? Did Calpurnia +sometimes spend an afternoon with Portia in her house on the Aventine; +and though somewhat chilled by the austere and philosophical demeanor of +the descendant of the Censor, yet cordially invite her to the more +magnificent palace of Caesar? This we do not know. Possibly the terrible +event which was in store cast a shadow upon any intercourse which the +women may have had; especially since Cato, the brother of Portia, had +found in Calpurnia's marriage occasion for denunciation, for the reason +that her father was immediately thereupon made consul. + +Of the two women, Portia is much the better known; and, though she may +not really have been superior to the wife of Caesar, she may justly be +taken as the best representative of the noblest type of Roman matron of +that period. In her we see the effect of stoical training on the +character of a normal woman. There have been many women of greater +firmness of mind, more self-control, more power to witness and take part +in fearsome deeds without a tremor of the lips, or a blanching of the +countenance. These are abnormal women, in whose character nature had +mingled an undue amount of the masculine element. But in Portia we have +no Lady Macbeth; she did not and could not have instigated her husband +to bloody deeds. Her character was of itself gentle and most womanly; +her conduct was the result of education. She herself admitted that, if +she were stronger than her sex, it was the result of being "so fathered +and so husbanded." Her philosophy taught her to strive for stoical +firmness, but she ever found in herself nothing but a woman's strength. +This is seen in the historian's account, and is wonderfully brought out +by Shakespeare in the scene in which he portrays her almost dying for +news from the Capitol. + + "PORTIA.--I prithee, boy, run to the senate-house; + Stay not to answer me, but get thee gone: + Why dost thou stay? + + LUCIUS.--To know my errand, madam. + + PORTIA.--I would have had thee there, and here again, + Ere I can tell thee what thou shouldst do there.-- + O constancy, be strong upon my side! + Set a huge mountain 'tween my heart and tongue! + I have a man's mind, but a woman's might. + How hard it is for women to keep counsel!-- + Art thou here yet? + + LUCIUS.--Madam, what should I do? + Run to the Capitol, and nothing else? + And so return to you, and nothing else? + + PORTIA.--Yes, bring me word, boy, if thy lord look well, + For he went sickly forth: and take good note + What Caesar doth, what suitors press to him. + Hark, boy! what noise is that? + + LUCIUS.--I hear none, madam. + + PORTIA.--Prithee, listen well; + I heard a bustling rumour, like a fray, + And the wind brings it from the Capitol. + +Then, after the conversation with the soothsayer: + + "I must go in.--Ay me, how weak a thing + The heart of woman is! O Brutus, + The heavens speed thee in thine enterprise!-- + Sure, the boy heard me.--Brutus hath a suit, + That Caesar will not grant--O, I grow faint:-- + Run, Lucius, and commend me to my lord; + Say, I am merry: come to me again, + And bring me word what he doth say to thee." + +All this feeling and acute anxiety she doubtless underwent; not however, +from sympathy with the motive and purpose of Brutus, though she believed +in these as fully as he did, but for sheer and simple love of her +husband. By nature she was no stoic--as no true woman has ever been or +can be; but she had trained herself in the estimation of self-control +and dignified endurance as moral excellences of the highest value. There +were other women in Rome who, like Portia, had studied and adopted as +their rule of life the principles of Zeno. We can see them walking +amidst the frivolity of their times with the hauteur of too conscious +superiority. It was a part which, if taken up by women at all, they must +necessarily overdo. The principles of their philosophy might carry them +far, even to death "after the high Roman fashion"; but whether the +stoicism was only a mask of pride or a real grandeur of character, there +was always some point at which the woman's heart showed itself. A man, +whether bent on sentimental or serious purposes, needed not to stand +greatly in awe of those stoical Roman ladies. + +School herself in dignified impassiveness as she might, every thought of +Portia's mind, as well as every impulse of her heart, betrayed her +philosophy. Her affectionate solicitude allowed no sigh escaping the +breast of her lord, no absent-mindedness clouding his brow and boding +care, to escape her observation. It was plain to her that Brutus had +some great trouble weighing upon his mind. She longed to share its +knowledge, not for the gratification of curiosity, but because she could +not endure to be deemed by her husband anything less than his loyal +comrade. But was she worthy to be the custodian of her husband's +secrets? Doubtless she was assured that they related to State affairs. +It was not the custom among the Romans to put freeborn women to the +torture; yet Portia, before she would ask to know her husband's mind, +would test her power of enduring pain. Let Plutarch present the picture +in his own fashion: + +"Now Brutus, feeling that the noblest spirits of Rome, for virtue, +birth, or courage, were depending upon him, and surveying with himself +all the circumstances of the dangers they were to encounter, strove +indeed as much as possible, when abroad, to keep his uneasiness of mind +to himself, and to compose his thoughts; but at home, and especially at +night, he was not the same man, but sometimes against his will his +working care would make him start out of his steep, and other times he +was taken up with further reflection and consideration of his +difficulties, so that his wife that lay with him could not choose but +take notice that he was full of unusual trouble, and had in agitation +some dangerous and perplexing question. Portia, as was said before, was +the daughter of Cato, and Brutus, her cousin-german, had married her +very young, though not a maid, but after the death of a former husband. +This Portia, being interested in philosophy, a great lover of her +husband, and full of an understanding courage, resolved not to inquire +into Brutus's secrets before she had made trial of herself. She turned +all her attendants out of her chamber; and taking a little knife, such +as they use to cut nails with, she gave herself a deep gash in the +thigh; upon which followed a great flow of blood, and, soon after, +violent pains and a shivering fever, occasioned by the wound. Now when +Brutus was exceedingly anxious and afflicted for her, she, in the height +of her pain, spoke thus to him: 'I, Brutus, being the daughter of Cato, +was given to you in marriage, not like a concubine, to partake only in +the common intercourse of bed and board, but to bear a part in all your +good and all your evil fortunes; and for your part, as regards your care +for me, I find no reason to complain; but from me, what evidence of my +love, what satisfaction can you receive, if I may not share with you in +bearing your hidden griefs, or be admitted to any of your counsels that +require secrecy and trust? I know very well that women seem to be of too +weak a nature to be trusted with secrets; but surely, Brutus, a virtuous +birth and education, and the company of the good and honorable, are of +some force in the forming of manners; and I can boast that I am the +daughter of Cato and the wife of Brutus, in which two titles though +before I put less confidence, yet now I have tried myself, and find I +can bid defiance to pain.' Having spoken these words, she showed him her +wound, and related to him the trial she had made of her constancy; at +which, being astonished, he lifted up his hands to heaven, and begged +the assistance of the gods in his enterprise, that he might show himself +a husband worthy of such a wife as Portia." + +From that time, she shared the secret of Brutus in his direful purpose; +moreover, her heart and mind were oppressed with the added burden of +anxiety for him. + +Another woman in Rome had once waited with great impatience while her +husband thrust the ruler from his throne; and though the plot meant the +death of her own father, Tullia could ride to the Senate chamber to +ascertain with her own eyes if everything were in satisfactory progress. +But there is no comparison to be drawn between Tullia and Portia. There +is nothing to indicate that the latter was in the least stirred by +ambition. She simply believed in her husband to the extent that if it +were he who purposed assassination, she must deem it justified. Yet she +could not ask: "Is Caesar yet gone to the Capitol?" without danger of +swooning. + +At the Imperator's palace, there was another woman whose mind was +troubled with dire misgivings, and who feared that which Portia +impatiently awaited to hear was done. Calpurnia's womanly instinct was +quicker than the suspicion of Caesar and his friends. She was not given +to superstitious fears; but now even the very air seemed portentous of +coming disaster. She dreamed, and cried out in her sleep: "They murder +Caesar." + +Thus has the great dramatist, in a manner which it would be folly to +imitate or replace, depicted the scene: + + "CALPURNIA.--What mean you, Caesar? Think you to walk forth? + You shall not stir out of your house to-day. + + CAESAR.--Caesar shall forth. The things that threaten'd me + Ne'er look'd but on my back; when they shall see + The face of Caesar, they are vanish'd. + + CALPURNIA.---Caesar, I never stood on ceremonies, + Yet now they fright me. There is one within, + Besides the things that we have heard and seen, + Recounts most horrid sights seen by the watch. + O Caesar! these things are beyond all use, + And I do fear them. + + CAESAR.-- What can be avoided, + Whose end is purpos'd by the mighty gods? + Yet Caesar shall go forth; for these predictions + Are to the world in general as to Caesar. + + CALPURNIA.---When beggars die, there are no comets seen; + The heavens themselves blaze forth the death of princes. + +The wife is supported in her plea by the warnings of the augurs; and +Caesar has decided to allow Mark Antony to say he is not well. But +Decius, the false coward, comes, and for his private satisfaction, +because Caesar loves him, he is told that: + + "Calpurnia here, my wife stays me at home: + She dream'd to-night she saw my statua, + Which, like a fountain with an hundred spouts, + Did run pure blood; and many lusty Romans + Came smiling, and did bathe their hands in it. + And these does she apply for warnings and portents. + And evils imminent; and on her knee + Hath begged that I will stay at home to-day." + +Decius easily puts a better interpretation upon the vision; and he +changes Caesar's mind by cunningly suggesting how the Senate may sneer +at being adjourned until "another time, + + When Caesar's wife shall meet with better dreams." + +So he leaves her sadly to reflect that his "death, a necessary end, + + Will come when it will come." + +Of Calpurnia we learn nothing more save that her wisdom made her quick +to place her husband's papers in the hands of Mark Antony, who so +successfully took upon himself the task of avenging the death of his +friend. + +Portia fled from Italy with her husband, and it was well for her that +she did so; for under the Triumvirate there was inaugurated a reign of +terror which caused the people of Rome to recall the bloody +proscriptions of Sylla, and in which the wife of Caesar's murderer would +hardly have been secure. Hatred, greed, and all evil passions were let +loose. It became easy for heirs to hasten to the possession of legacies +by having the owners' names placed on the lists of the proscribed. The +toga was given to children, in order that their property, they being +then considered of age, might come into their own possession; then they +were condemned to death. + +During this reign of terror, the citizens of Rome were cowed by the +soldiery into abject silence and inactivity; but, to their honor, it is +recorded that the women did not suffer so resignedly the despoiling of +their goods. A heavy contribution was levied upon fourteen hundred of +the richest matrons. Led by Hortensia, the daughter of the orator, these +ladies went to the Forum and appeared in the presence of the +Triumvirate. Hortensia spoke. "Before presenting ourselves before you" +she said, "we have solicited the intervention of Fulvia; her refusal +has obliged us to come hither. You have taken away our fathers, our +children, our brothers, our husbands; to deprive us of our fortune also +is to reduce us to a condition which befits neither our birth, nor our +habits, nor our sex; it is to extend your proscriptions to us. But have +we raised soldiers against you, or sought after your offices? Do we +dispute the power for which you are fighting? From the time of Hannibal, +Roman women have willingly given to the treasury their jewels and +ornaments; let the Gauls or the Parthians come, and there will be found +in us no less patriotism. But do not ask us to contribute to this +fratricidal war which is rending the Republic; neither Marius, nor Cinna, +nor even Sylla during his tyranny, dared to do so." The triumvirs were +inclined to drive the matrons from the Forum; but the people began to be +stirred, so they yielded and set forth another edict, reducing to four +hundred the number of women who were to be taxed. + +Much of this cruelty was instigated by a woman whom Hortensia mentions. +Antony, whose amatory experiences were as varied as they were numerous, +was at one time engaged in an intrigue with Fulvia, then the wife of +Clodius. She afterward became Antony's wife. Here was a woman the exact +opposite of Portia; a resentful, stubborn, masculine woman, "in whom," +says Velleius Paterculus, "there was nothing feminine but her body." It +is told of her that when Cicero was murdered, his head was brought to +her, and she drove her bodkin through the tongue which had so bitterly +rated her and her husband. On another occasion, the head of one of the +proscribed was brought to Antony. "I do not know it," he said; "let it +be taken to my wife." It was the head of a citizen of whom nothing worse +is known than that he had refused to sell a farm which Fulvia desired to +obtain. Plutarch relates that Antony was obliged to resort to all sorts +of boyish tricks in order to keep Fulvia in good humor. Among other like +stories which he says were current, he gives the following, relating to +the triumvir's sudden return to Rome: "Disguising himself, he came to +her by night, muffled up as a servant that brought letters from Antony. +She, with great impatience, before she receives the letter, asks if +Antony were well, and instead of an answer he gives her the letter; and, +as she was opening it, he takes her about the neck and kisses her." The +historian gives this characterization of Fulvia: "a woman not born for +spinning or housewifery, nor one that could be content with ruling a +private husband, but prepared to govern a first magistrate, or give +orders to a commander-in-chief. So that Cleopatra was under great +obligations to her for having taught Antony to be so good a servant, he +coming to her hands tame and broken into entire obedience to the +commands of a mistress." Evidently, we must regard Mark Antony as being +the great historical type of the "henpecked" husband; there is, however, +no occasion for sympathy; his punishment was no greater than he +deserved. The chief misfortune lay in the fact that Fulvia died, and +thus made room for the noble and much-abused Octavia, whom he afterward +married. + +Let us return to Portia. There is a beautiful incident related of her +final parting from Brutus in the island of Nisida. She was overcome with +grief, but refrained from showing it for fear that it might shake her +husband's fortitude. But in passing through a hall, a picture which she +there saw accidentally betrayed her. It was a representation of Hector +parting from Andromache when he went to engage the Greeks. He was in the +act of giving his little son Astyanax into her arms, while she fixes her +tearful eyes for the last time upon her husband. Portia could not look +upon this piece, so suggestive of her own circumstances, without +weeping; and every day, as long as she remained in the place, she went +to gaze upon it. It was on one of those occasions that Acilius, a friend +of Brutus, repeated from Homer the lines where Andromache speaks to +Hector: + "'But, Hector, you + To me are father and are mother too, + My brother, and my loving husband true.'" + +Brutus, sadly smiling, replied, "But I must not answer Portia, as Hector +did Andromache: + + "'Mind you your loom, and to your maids give law.' + +For though the natural weakness of her body hinders her from doing what +only the strength of men can perform, yet she has a mind as valiant and +as active for the good of her country as the best of us." + +As to the time and manner of Portia's death, the ancient writers are not +fully agreed? But the best authenticated account is that which is thus +represented by Shakespeare: + + "BRUTUS.--O Cassius! I am sick of many griefs. + + CASSIUS.--Of your philosophy you make no use, + If you give place to accidental evils. + + BRUTUS.--No man bears sorrow better; Portia is dead. + + CASSIUS.--Ha!--Portia? + + BRUTUS.--She is dead. + + CASSIUS.--How 'scap'd I killing, when I cross'd you so? + O insupportable and touching loss!--Upon + what sickness? + + BRUTUS.--Impatient of my absence, + And grief that young Octavius with Mark Antony + Had made themselves so strong;--for with her death + These tidings came.--With this she fell distract, + And, her attendants absent, swallow'd fire." + +In Portia and Brutus we see that close and mutual sympathy, than which +marriage in any period of the world's history has nothing better to +show. The ancient historians took great delight in eulogizing her +character and praising her qualities. They are a unit in the belief +that, in all points, she was worthy to be the consort of him whom Antony +justly honored as "The noblest Roman of them all." + + + + +VII + +THE ROMAN WOMAN IN POLITICS + +In the disordered conditions which followed the death of Caesar, the old +Roman constitution lost what little force it had seemed to retain under +the preceding dictators. The offices of the State remained the same in +name, and were still supposed to be filled by men who were freely chosen +by the people; but all were under the hand of a power which the Senate +dared not resist, and in which the people, weary of the bloody +contentions of the oligarchy, were willing to acquiesce so long as bread +and games were forthcoming. This power was the army. Whosoever +controlled the army found the interpretation of his own political rights +not difficult. The forces of the Empire were in the hands of three men: +Lepidus, who commanded the legions which at the opportune moment were +near Rome; Antony, who was the idol of the people; and the young +Octavius, who stood on the vantage of his relationship to the great +Caesar, These men divided the world among themselves; but, in the end, +Octavius, by the steadiness of his mind, the fixity of his purpose, and +the scope of his executive ability, won for himself the Empire. During +the years of civil war and political turmoil which accompanied these +changes, much in the Roman social construction which had hitherto been +beneath found its way to the surface. It was a struggle in which any +strength, skill, or art that enabled its possessor to best his fellows +meant political advantage. Though deficient in strength, women, having a +certain skill peculiar to their sex and being especially adapted to the +practice of those arts by means of which political situations are +managed from behind the scenes, became much more influential in State +affairs than formerly. Their prominence grew as the government narrowed +down from the free Senate to the person of the emperor. Women have +always been powerful in a monarchical or an imperial court, but have +never enjoyed any notable political rights in a republic. + +The period which we are now studying is rich in the names of women who, +standing around Caesar's throne, often found means to further or thwart +the designs of its occupant. Among them we may select Livia, not for the +dignity of her character or the ability of her mind,--though she was not +lacking in either of these qualities,--but because of her position as +the Augusta and her long life, she, better than any other, serves to +represent the women who were influential in Roman public affairs. Though +if Fulvia had lived and Antony had been discreet, Rome might have been +governed by a woman, and Fulvia instead of Livia would have been the +type we should have chosen. While her husband was following Cleopatra to +Egypt, a prisoner to her fascinations, Fulvia had control of the consuls +and was making war against Octavius. If this ambitious, strong-minded +woman, who held reviews of the troops with a sword at her side, had been +possessed of sufficient funds, Octavius might never have won the purple; +but the only means by which the army could be held were wasted by her +husband in monstrous extravagances. Defeated in her schemes through the +non-cooperation of her husband, Fulvia became ill through vexation and +shame, and died about B.C. 39. + +Livia possessed an entirely different character from that which +dominated Fulvia; yet, being of the Claudian race,--that family which, +as Niebuhr says, "in all ages distinguished itself alike by a spirit of +haughty defiance, by disdain for the laws, and iron hardness of +heart,"--it would have been strange if Livia had not made her influence +felt in the house of Caesar and to the sorrow of those who stood in her +way. When Livia first met Octavius, she was eighteen years old and the +wife of Tiberius Claudius Nero, a man probably much older than herself. +The varying aspects of the Civil War made it difficult for a man who +sought before all things his own security to know which cause to +support. Ill luck seemed to prompt Claudius Nero in his choice; first he +threw in his lot with Brutus and Cassius, though he was indebted to +Caesar for many favors; then, after the defeat of these, he joined Antony +against Augustus. The consequence was that he spent much time in the +endeavor to rectify his mistakes of policy by fleeing from one commander +to another. In all these journeyings and adventures his wife accompanied +him, carrying with her their young child Tiberius, who was destined to +become Emperor of Rome. At times she was exposed to great danger; for +instance, in Lacedaemon, during an escape by night from their enemies, +the forest through which they were passing was on fire, and her hair and +clothing were scorched by the flames. Claudius Nero succeeded in gaining +a pardon from Octavius, and he and his wife returned to Rome. Whether +this grace resulted from the representations he made in his own defence, +or from the interest excited by Livia in the mind of Octavius, history +does not inform us; but certain conclusions are unavoidable, inasmuch as +Octavius compelled Claudius Nero to divorce his wife so that he himself +might marry her. + +In order that this marriage might take place, a double divorce was +necessary; for Octavius was already united to Scribonia, by whom he had +a daughter, Julia, the only child that was ever born to him. He had +married Scribonia for purposes of political expediency. At the time of +his marriage he was only twenty-three years old, while his bride was his +senior by many years and had already lost two husbands by death. The +object of this marriage was to win for Octavius the support of Libo, the +brother of Scribonia, and through him his son-in-law Sextus Pompeius, +who was a man of great influence. This purpose being served, the young +ruler found himself at the same time secure in his position and tired of +the marital alliance which he had formed for the sake of that security. +He alleged perversity of character and incompatibility of temperament--- +the only charges he could prefer--in Scribonia, and sent her a letter of +separation only a few days after his child had been born. + +"By this act," says Adolf Stahr, as quoted by S. Baring Gould, "Octavius +himself strewed the seeds of discord which were to disturb fatally the +concord of the imperial family, not only during his own life, but far +beyond it, Scribonia would have been no woman not to have felt deadly +hatred toward that woman in whom she saw the robber of her honor, the +wrecker of her happiness, the overthrower of her ambition, and by means +of whom a new family forced its way into that place which should have +been hers and usurped her claims and her hopes. As the mother of Julia, +the only daughter of the sovereign, as the ancestress of Julia's +children and grandchildren, she remained, in spite of the separation, +the head of the Julian race, the dynasty called to sovereignty. No +wonder, then, that henceforth she stood in hostile opposition to the +Claudian Livia and her two children. This deadly animosity between the +two family branches of the imperial house was reflected more than two +generations later in the memoirs of the great-grandchild of Scribonia, +the second Agrippina, wife of the Emperor Claudius, and mother of Nero, +the source whence, poisoned as it was with fiercest hate toward Livia +and her son, the Emperor Tiberius, Tacitus drew the colors with which he +painted both one and the other in his _Annals_." + +There is good ground for believing that the marriage of Octavius and +Livia was a love match. Though the new bride was descended from one of +the most aristocratic and powerful families of Rome, her relatives were +not especially prominent at that time; so it would seem that the +triumvir's regard for her was not regulated by the calculations of +expediency. Livia possessed not only beauty, but also the character of +mind which was likely to charm a man with the disposition of Octavius. +She was quick to understand and appreciate his intelligent purposes and +far-reaching achievements. There was between the two that sympathy which +is the absolute requisite of a happy marriage. + +As to Livia's personal attractions, Ovid assures us that she had the +features of Venus and the manners of Juno. Making not a little allowance +for the flattery made necessary by the position of the courtier, and +some for the license of the poet, we may still believe that the wife of +the first emperor was a very beautiful woman. There are yet in existence +a great many representations of her. She was the first Roman woman to +have her face displayed upon the coin of the realm; but we cannot accept +these images as portraits, though they bear her name. There is one Roman +medal, however, which represents Livia in old age; consequently, we may +safely consider it as authentic. No picture of the youthful loveliness +which captivated Octavius has been preserved; but there is in the Louvre +a magnificent statue which represents Livia as the goddess Ceres. There +is much character in the face, and there is a sufficient resemblance to +Tiberius to authorize the belief that it really portrays his mother. The +form and features are those of a matron on the declining side of thirty. +The figure is majestic, possibly made more so than the original for +reasons complimentary to the divinity; yet it seems to justify Ovid's +account of the Juno-like manners of the Augusta. The charm of youthful +beauty has not yet deserted the face. The eyes, so far as can be judged +from the cold, colorless marble, were lustrous and large; the mouth, +with its short upper lip, was capable of both power and variety of +expression, and doubtless aided Livia to obtain her will of Augustus as +much by its silent eloquence as by its articulate enunciation. To the +slight arch of the Roman nose she of course could claim a national +right. + +Three months after her marriage to Octavius, Livia gave birth to her +second son. On this occasion, Caesar wrote in his journal: "To-day my +wife bore me a boy, whom I caused to be sent to his father Nero." But +Nero dying soon afterward, and having in his will left this child--who +was named Drusus--and also the latter's brother Tiberius to the +guardianship of Octavius, the children were again restored to Livia and +trained as the sons of her imperial husband. + +Livia's marriage with Octavius, whatever may be said of the +circumstances under which it was brought about, was a happy one. For +fifty-two years they lived together, a period ending only with +Octavius's death; and upon her character as a wife there was never cast, +even by those whose hatred she excited, the slightest reflection. In +the midst of a corrupt and luxurious society, she lived in accordance +with those chaste and simple principles which governed the matrons of +the early Republic. It is said that her husband commonly wore clothing +which was wrought by the hands of his wife and the other female members +of his family. While, however, the house of Octavius was conducted after +the old-fashioned method, Livia was by no means such a political +nonentity as had been the matron of ancient times. She was obedient to +her husband, and in all things subservient to his wishes, even going so +far--if Suetonius is to be credited in the matter--as to more than +condone his wandering inclinations of an amorous nature. Livia knew how +to manage the first man who was able to capture and hold the government +of the Roman Empire. Her tact and good sense, conjoined with his +affection, enabled her to wield an influence over the emperor which had +its effect in the weightiest affairs of State. Her counsel was usually +in the interest of kindness and forbearance; more than once, when he was +inclined to exercise severity in the punishment of his enemies, she won +him to gentler methods. That he frequently sought her advice in +important political matters, we know; and it is on record that +sometimes, when he wished to consult her on subjects of grave moment, he +would first write out that which he desired to say, in order that he +might present his ideas as clearly and correctly as possible. + +The picture given us of Livia by the ancient historians is of a double +and somewhat inconsistent character. The wife of Augustus was a model of +uprightness and honor; the empress shown us by Tacitus as seeking to +bring to pass her own designs in regard to the succession was heartless +and unprincipled. Here are the conclusions drawn by Merivale, and they +form a verdict in which probably most students of Roman history will +agree: "In her second home, she directed all her arts to securing her +position, and became, perhaps, in no long course of time, as consummate +a dissembler and intriguer as Octavius himself. While, indeed, she +seconded him in his efforts to cajole the Roman people, she was engaged, +not less successfully, in cajoling him. Her elegant manners, in which +she was reputed to exceed the narrow limits allowed by fashion and +opinion to the Roman matrons, proved no less fascinating to him than her +beauty. Her intellect was undoubtedly of a high order; and when her +personal charms failed to enchain his roving inclinations, she was +content with the influence she still continued to hold over his +understanding The sway she acquired over him in the first transports of +courtship she retained without change or interruption to the day of his +death." + +Before we turn our attention to the history of Livia's efforts to secure +the succession for her son Tiberius, let us fill out the picture in +which she stands by placing in it some of the noted women by whom she +was surrounded. First and foremost, there is Octavia, the half-sister of +Caesar Augustus. For this noble woman the ancient writers have nothing +but the most enthusiastic praise. Plutarch briefly describes her as a +"wonder of a woman." Fortunately, we know more of her than is expressed +in that superlative phrase. Her mother's name was Atia, and she was a +few years older than Octavius. The historian above quoted claims for her +so much beauty that she did not suffer in that respect in comparison +with her great Egyptian rival, Cleopatra; but the figures of her which +are extant hardly support the claim. Nor was she clever like Cleopatra; +indeed, she had little to recommend her except her relationship with the +powerful Octavius, her sterling goodness, and the sweet amiability of +her character. For this reason her marriage to Antony was as great a +failure in the purpose for which it was intended--the winning of the +triumvir from his infatuation--as it was a misfortune to herself. That a +woman like Octavia should be united to such a man as Mark Antony did not +seem to the ancients such a tragedy as it appears to us; and probably +the sister of Octavius endured with an unconcern incomprehensible to us +the knowledge that her husband had been the lover of many women, some +even of the most abandoned sort. + +For a while, Octavia did exercise a restraining influence over her +wayward husband; and though she could not gird on a sword and harangue +the legions, as did Fulvia, more than once by her prudence and good +sense she helped Antony materially in his time of need. It also seems +that while his wife was by his side he was able to withstand any +propensity that was in him to go down into Egypt. Plutarch recounts that +Antony having a misunderstanding with Octavius, the two were about to +oppose their forces in civil strife at Tarentum. Octavia, however, +obtained leave of her husband to visit the camp of her brother; "and as +she was on her way she met Caesar, with his two friends Agrippa and +Maecenas, and, taking these two aside, with urgent entreaties and much +lamentation she told them that from being the most fortunate woman upon +earth she was in danger of becoming the most unhappy; for as yet +everyone's eyes were fixed upon her as the wife and sister of the two +great commanders, but, if rash counsels should prevail, and war ensue, +'I shall be miserable,' said she, 'without redress; for on what side +soever victory falls, I shall be sure to be a loser.'" Caesar was +overcome by these entreaties, and advanced in a peaceable temper to +Tarentum, where he was entertained by Antony. "And when at length an +agreement was made between them ... Octavia further obtained of her +husband twenty light ships for her brother, and of her brother a +thousand foot for her husband. So, having parted good friends, Caesar +went immediately to make war with Pompey to conquer Sicily," and Antony +repaired to Syria, where he once more met the Egyptian queen; and from +this infatuation Octavia was never again able to win him. + +Yet this admirable woman did not cease to fulfil her part as a dutiful +and helpful wife. When her husband returned from his disastrous +expedition against the Parthians, having lost a great part of his forces +and all his supplies, he received a message from Octavia asking where +she might meet him. The answer received by her was a peremptory and +unfeeling command not to proceed further than Athens, as he was about to +start on a new expedition. Displeased though she was, being fully aware +of the cause wherefore she was not welcome, she wrote again, asking to +know to what place she should send the soldiers, money, and presents she +had brought for his use. + +On her return to Rome, Caesar, incensed at the treatment his sister had +received, commanded her to leave Antony's house and repudiate all +further connection with him. This she steadfastly refused to do. She +continued to live in her husband's house until she was obliged to leave +by his own command. Then she took with her own children those of Fulvia; +and after the death of Antony, she even welcomed to her home the +daughter which had been born to him by her Egyptian rival, and it was +impossible for the Romans to perceive that she gave less motherly care +to the young Cleopatra than she bestowed upon her own offspring. + +Judging by what we know of her, no age has produced a more beautiful +character than that of Octavia. In her were exemplified the fairest of +those qualities which are especially inculcated by the principles of +Christianity. Goodness, long-suffering, forbearance, and gentleness: +these were exhibited in her life to a degree which after ages refused to +believe possible under paganism; which goes to show that the idea that +the noblest graces of character could not ripen previous to the present +era is an unwarranted assumption. It arises from the fact that in the +accounts we have of the ancient world there is more said of the exercise +and the consequences of violent passions and human depravity than there +is of pure love and kindly forbearance; but this may be accounted for by +the well-attested axiom that peaceful lives furnish no history. If +Octavia, living in the very centre of all the varied influences which +fomented around the Palatine Hill, could maintain a pure and noble +character, we may be very sure that the women who followed her example +in the humbler walks of life were not so few as the Pagan satirists and +the Christian apologists combine in leading us to suppose. There is no +record of Octavia's having taken part in any of those activities by +which Livia and other feminine members of the Caesarian household +endeavored to affect the course of political events. When all hope of +there being any male issue of Augustus to inherit his rule was +abandoned, the chance that Octavia's son by her first husband would be +the next emperor seemed to become a certainty. Of her bereavement in his +death we will speak later on. As the women with which this chapter deals +were all of one family, and consequently were at home under the same +roof, and, moreover, as the art of building had at this time attained +its perfection at Rome, it will enable us to form a better picture of +the life of these women if we see them in the house, their peculiar +sphere. + +About the time that Augustus married Livia, he built for himself a new +residence. The Domus Augustana was erected on the Palatine Hill, and +from the fact that this site was adopted for the imperial abode the +magnificent structures reared upon it were called palaces; thus a word +of differentiation was provided for the dwelling houses of the rulers. +Livia's palace was not a large building, judging from what was +considered necessary at a time when rich families were served by +hundreds of slaves; but Livia was married to a man who was quite willing +to have others of a lower rank outstrip him in extravagant living, so +long as he had the power to decide whether or not it were best for the +interests of the State that they be allowed to live at all; and as the +Augusta had some influence in these decisions, she may have been able +contentedly to visit the wife of Maecenas, who lived in a house of far +greater magnificence than her own. As the better class of Roman abodes +were all constructed after the same general plan, it is not difficult, +in imagination, out of the materials of information which we possess, to +reerect upon its ruins, which still exist, the Domus Augustana. + +The portico which adorned the outside extended the whole length of the +front of the house, and possibly around the sides. It was a colonnade of +native travertine--some of the later occupants of the imperial throne +were hardly satisfied with the costliest marble. The vestibule was a +large apartment, which was always freely open to clients and callers. +The _Salve_ inscribed or worked in mosaic upon the threshold of the +outer door expressed the generous hospitality which characterized all +Roman dwellings of that time. From the vestibule another door led to the +_atrium_, the most important room in the house. It was large, and +decorated with all the splendor which the wealth of the owner could +warrant, and with such beauty as his taste might dictate. It was +roofed, with the exception of an opening in the centre, called the +_compluvium_, through which was admitted the rain water into a cistern +in the floor. In the early times the _atrium_ was the common room of the +family, and in it were carried on the domestic occupations presided over +by the mistress of the house, but in the days of Livia it was the +audience chamber of the owner. The walls of this apartment were highly +decorated with landscape paintings, or else lined with beautiful +marbles. Some of the paintings which covered the walls of the Domus +Augustana have been preserved, and in the great spaces through which +they were seen their brilliant colors must have been very effective. + +Opening from the _atrium_ was the _tablinum_; here were the family +archives, the statues, pictures, and other ancestral relics. Around +these great apartments ware smaller chambers, which were commonly used +for the lodging of guests, though it is probable that Livia's +establishment included a house set apart for this purpose. Behind the +apartments we have described, and reached through _fauces_, or narrow +passages, was the real interior and private portion of the palace. First +there came the peristyle. This was a large, oblong court, open to the +sky in the middle and surrounded by a colonnade of polished marble +pillars. The centre of this court was filled with shrubs and flowers, +grown in great boxes of earth; and the beauty and comfort of this +charming "drawing room" were enhanced by the cool fountains of water +with which Rome was so bountifully supplied. Here was Livia's forum. +Here was the fitting stage where she displayed those gifts of mind and +graces of person which never lost their potent influence with her +husband and gave her title of Augusta a real political significance. + +Opening from the peristyle was the _triclinium_, or dining hall. It was +here that the extravagance of the Romans was especially exhibited. In +_La Palais de Scaurus_, by Mazois, there is a pen picture of a +_triclinium_, every detail of which is authenticated by ancient +authorities. It reveals a luxury and a disregard of expense to which our +day furnishes no parallel. But the banquet hall of the Augustan house +was not equipped in so costly a fashion; there was still cherished some +remembrance of the ancient Sabine simplicity. + +In addition to the apartments mentioned, there were spacious halls and +salons used for such purpose as that of a picture gallery or a library. +The bed chambers were usually placed between the outer walls of the +house and the more important rooms; the only remarkable features about +them were their smallness and inconvenience. There was an upper story, +which was used principally for sleeping apartments, and probably there +were no windows opening to the street except on this second floor. The +rear part of the house was given up to the kitchen, the bakery, and the +mill for grinding flour. Above all, in a literal and also commendatory +sense of the word, was the solarium. This was a delightful retreat on +the roof, furnished with plants, flowers, and fountains. + +It was to such an abode as this that Livia came, and there brought her +influence to bear on one of the most brilliant epochs of the world's +history. After her repudiation by Antony, Octavia and her children also +came to reside at the Domus Augustana; and there lived also the little +Julia, the daughter of Scribonia and Octavius. + +How early in her career Livia commenced laying her plans for the +succession of her son to the imperial rule, we do not know; nor is there +any certainty as to the extent of her culpability in carrying them out. +It is most likely that her hope that she might bear a son to Augustus +who would have an indisputable claim to the heritage allowed her at +first to view with complacency the already existing putative but more +removed successors. Time wore on, and her expectations failed of +realization. Her sons, Tiberius and Drusus, were growing up, and both +were manifesting those qualities which showed them worthy of taking the +reins of government. The habit of exercising an influence in the affairs +of State, through the confidence placed in her by her husband, made the +prospect of having to relinquish that power, in the event of the death +of Augustus, constantly more intolerable; but the woman who was called +"a female Ulysses" was likely to win her way. + +Julia, though the only child born in the purple, might not inherit the +imperial sceptre, being a woman. But Octavia had a son of her first +marriage, named Marcellus, of whom Augustus was especially fond. While +he was but a youth of seventeen, Julia, then fourteen years old, was +given to him in marriage; and thus it was hoped the succession would be +continued by means of the union of the daughter and the nephew of the +emperor. These anticipations were doomed to disappointment, as Marcellus +died shortly after the marriage. One historian, Dion Cassius, informs us +that it was whispered about that Livia was responsible for the death of +Julia's husband, being jealous because Caesar heaped upon him favors +which were denied to her own sons; but, while relating this, the +historian claims that it was a groundless accusation. However, we have +it on the authority of so trustworthy a witness as Seneca that Octavia, +in this sad bereavement, for once was unworthy of herself. He says that +"she turned to hate all mothers, and the angry passion of her sorrow was +directed principally against Livia, because that now the hope and +prospects that had belonged to her own son were transferred to the son +of Livia." Such unreasoning grief in this otherwise noble woman was a +mark of common human frailty; but it does not present so pleasing a +picture as that memorable scene in which Virgil, at the command of +Augustus, read before Octavia the sixth book of his Aeneid, in which he +has commemorated Marcellus. Grief-stricken and dejected as she was, +Octavia probably gave but little attention to the opening lines; but her +interest was aroused as the poet proceeded to describe Aeneas's visit to +the under world, where dwelt those who had been dearest to her, and +whither she knew herself to be rapidly tending. When she heard the +lines-- + + "This youth, the blissful vision of a day, + Shall just be shown on earth, then snatched away," + +she was startled by the description of her own son, and, hiding her +face, she burst into tears; and when the poet uttered the words "_Tu +Marcellus eris_," which he had wisely withheld to the end of the +passage, she could endure no more and swooned because of the intensity +of her sorrowful emotion. The information that she ordered Virgil to be +presented with ten thousand sesterces for every line of the passage +relating to her son is interesting, but does not add particularly to the +beauty of the scene. Shortly after this, occurred her death. Augustus +caused certain public buildings which he was at this time erecting to be +dedicated in honor of his sister. + +Now that Julia was married, she was freed to some extent from that +severe discipline in which Augustus deemed it necessary to bring up the +girls of his family. Her training had been very strict. She had even +been obliged, at a time when other girls of far inferior birth were +perfecting themselves in more fashionable accomplishments, to assist her +aunt and her stepmother in spinning wool for her father's clothes. She +was denied any freedom of intercourse with the youths of her own age. +Augustus once wrote to a young nobleman: "You have not behaved with +proper respect in paying a visit to my daughter at Baiae." But natural +inclination, always stronger than discipline in determining the +direction of a moral career, led Julia into evil courses. For many +years, however, her father saw nothing less innocent in her conduct than +that wit and gayety of spirit which he easily condoned. She well knew +how to turn the edge of the mild rebukes of a fond parent. On one +occasion, seeing her surrounded at a public exhibition by a number of +the young fashionables of the city, and noticing that she did not +maintain that dignity of deportment which he thought becoming in the +daughter of an emperor, Augustus wrote her a letter expressing his +displeasure and holding up before her the example of Livia, who +encouraged in her company none but "grave and reverend signiors." Julia +had a ready reply; this was the note scribbled on a tablet and sent back +to her father: "These young men will also have become old fogies by the +time I am an old woman." One day, later in her life, her father found a +slave engaged in plucking the gray hairs from his daughter's head. This +operation suddenly ceased on his entrance, and he feigned not to have +noticed it. Then he asked abruptly: "Julia, which would you rather +be--gray or bald?" "Why, father, gray, of course," "You little liar," +replied Augustus, "see here," and he held up some of the gray hairs +which had fallen on her dressing gown. + +Shortly after the death of Marcellus, Julia was again married, this time +to the great warrior Agrippa, the staunch friend of her father. This +also was distinctly a political marriage. Julia was eighteen, Agrippa +was forty-two, while at the time of betrothal he was already wedded to +Marcella, the daughter of Octavia. The usual divorce severed these +bonds, and Marcella was given to Antonius, the son of the triumvir. Both +Octavia and Scribonia were desirous of this matrimonial readjustment. +They probably saw that Julia needed a firm disciplinarian like Agrippa +to keep the questionable proclivities of her character from attaining +too exuberant a freedom. It is also likely that they hoped that this +union would result in heirs who would frustrate the expectations of +Livia and her sons. But to their check thus played, Livia, in due time, +answered with a decisive mate. To Julia and Agrippa there were born +three sons and one daughter, named respectively Lucius, Caius, Agrippa +Posthumus, and Julia. Thus Tacitus relates the denouement: "Augustus had +adopted Lucius and Caius into the Caesarian family; and although they had +not yet laid aside the puerile garment, his ambition was strong to see +them declared princes of the Roman youth, and even mentioned for the +consulship; at the same time, he affected to decline these honors for +them. Upon the death of Agrippa, they were cut off, either by a decease +premature but natural, or by the arts of their stepmother Livia: Lucius +on his journey to the armies in Spain, Caius on his return from Armenia, +ill of a wound. And as Drusus had been long since dead, Tiberius Nero +was the only surviving stepson. On him every honor was accumulated, he +was adopted by Augustus as his son and a colleague in the Empire ... and +this was brought about, not by the secret machinations of his mother, as +heretofore, but at her open suit. For over Augustus, now aged, she had +obtained such absolute sway that he had banished his only surviving +grandson, Agrippa Posthumus, a person of clownish brutality, with great +bodily strength, but convicted of no heinous offence." + +Julia had by this time worked out her own condemnation. Those stories of +her flagrant misconduct which for years had been part of the common +gossip of the baths and porticoes of the city at last reached the ears +of her father. He tried not to believe them. Gazing fondly upon his only +child, he said; "Just like her I am sure that Claudia must have looked, +of whom our forefathers told that she was slandered. But she proved her +innocence." Those to whom he said this listened respectfully; but behind +his back they sneered. After Agrippa's death, Julia had made another +political marriage. Tiberius had been compelled to put away his wife, +Vipsania, the daughter of Agrippa, whom he dearly loved,--she was +probably the only human being for whom this morose man ever had any real +affection,--and was forced, much against his will, to replace her by +Agrippa's widow. Tiberius knew Julia as her father did not; and, rather +than live with her, he betook himself to a voluntary exile in Rhodes. By +thus doing, he seemed to frustrate all his mother's plans for his +advancement; but she, with deadly persistency, determined that there +should be in Caesar's family no other candidate for the imperial +position, which must soon be vacated. There is some hint of Julia's +misdoings coming to light through the discovery of a plot, in which +Livia had no part, to shorten the emperor's days; but there is no proof, +nor does it seem probable, that Julia was a conspirator against her +father's life. She was probably the tool of others. Augustus, however, +was constrained to institute an investigation, which revealed to him all +the turpitude of his daughter's conduct; she was banished to an island +in the Bay of Naples, and there strictly guarded until the day of her +death. + +The case of Julia gives no occasion for pity, except for the gray-haired +old man who had lost by death all those upon whom he had rested his +ambitious hopes for the future of his house. None were left save +Livia,--probably Augustus himself never for a moment entertained a +suspicion that his wife was the cause of his misfortunes,--Tiberius, +whom he never loved, and this woman, whom he wished had died in her +infancy. And yet the edge is taken from any sympathy one might have for +Augustus, when it is remembered that, notwithstanding his stern demand +for chastity on the part of the women of his own family and all of noble +birth, his own conduct, if Suetonius reports truthfully, was no better +than that of his daughter. But to condemn licentiousness in their women +and to practise it themselves did not seem to the men of Rome to be +either illogical or inconsistent. + +Julia represented the prevalent social conditions of her time. +Licentiousness, like a cancer, was eating into the heart of Roman +society; and this was to grow still worse. It must be admitted also that +female degeneracy kept pace with the increase of woman's influence in +the political world. Livia and Agrippina the Elder were exceptions; but +the rule was, and has been in all history, that the activity of women in +State affairs was accompanied by an abundance of meretricious amatory +intrigues. It is a remarkable fact that in the history of the Roman +woman--and possibly this statement might be given a much wider +application--there is no instance where any individual woman designedly +helped to bring about the enactment of a law for the public weal. Female +politics always had for their object the advancement of the female +politician's own personal interests or those of some male favorite. And +women could never have favorites outside their own families with safety +to their honor. Whenever women have sought high favors either from men +or for men, their personal charms have ever been their principal +argument and illicit love their chief inducement. + +One of the most radical of the early changes made in the Roman +constitution was brought about by the piqued vanity of a woman. Fabius +Ambustus, a man of power and renown in the ancient Republic, had two +daughters. One of them was married to a patrician named Sulpicius, while +the other was espoused to Stolo, a plebeian tribune. This office was the +highest to which at the time a man of plebeian birth could lawfully +aspire. One day the wife of Stolo, being at her sister's house, was +startled by the sound of the lictor's staff at the door--a mode of +announcement to which plebeian ears were unaccustomed. Being laughed at +by Sulpicia, she went to her own home in high dudgeon, and henceforth +neither Fabius Ambustus nor Stolo could gain any relief from her +complaints until they had brought it to pass that the Senate consented +to the conferring of magisterial office upon plebeians, with the +consequence that her husband also might be attended by a lictor with his +axe and rods. The story is important because it illustrates the greater +portion of the Roman woman's interest in politics. + +Livia was now the sole woman of influence in the imperial palace. +Scribonia had voluntarily accompanied her daughter into exile; and the +daughter of Julia, who had inherited both her mother's name and her +failings, was banished from the city. It was not difficult now for Livia +to secure the adoption of Tiberius by Augustus as his son and also as +his heir. This, however, was not done without causing some misgivings in +the minds of the Romans, who, as Tacitus says, feared to be under +bondage to a woman "with the ungovernable spirit peculiar to her sex." + +On the nineteenth of August, A.D. 14, Livia and the intimate friends of +Augustus were gathered around the emperor's deathbed. "Tell me," said +the great emperor, "have I played well my part?" Posterity has never +questioned the nature or the truth of their answer. Then he said: "Let +all applaud and clap their hands." His last words, which throw more +light on the character of this great woman than all the good and bad +that is said of her, were: "Livia! live mindful of our union; and now, +farewell." + +The Augusta had sent urgent messengers to recall her son; and she caused +the people to be kept in ignorance of the true condition of her husband +until the news of his death and of the succession of Tiberius could be +announced at the same time. But, although she had labored so +persistently, and, if the historians are correct, so unscrupulously, for +the accession of her son, with the death of Augustus, Livia's power also +came to an end. Tiberius was impatient of any female interference, even +that of his mother. She was made priestess of the deified Augustus; but +Tiberius declared that public honors should be adjudged to women with +extreme moderation, and he refused to allow a lictor to be appointed for +her service. Still, after a fashion of his own, he treated her with the +greatest respect until the day of her death; and he always allowed her +politic counsels to have considerable weight in his decisions, well +aware that no one else would so jealously guard his interests. + +There is one incident which redounds to the credit of Tiberius, whose +sadly damaged reputation needs everything that can be said in his favor, +and which is worth noticing because it not only illustrates his manner +of dealing with the imperious Augusta, but also indicates the kind of +purposes for which the political power of influential women was +exercised. Livia, presuming on her position, demanded that Piso should +be punished for insulting her by suing Urgulania, one of her favorites, +for the payment of money which was clearly due to him. Tiberius refused +so unjust a request, but gave his mother to understand that no less a +person than himself would plead her cause before the judges. He +fulfilled his word by loitering so long on his way to the court that by +the time he reached it the judges had awarded the claimant his right, so +that the empress found no way open by which she could save her friend +except by paying the money herself. + +Livia's old age was embittered to herself, and still more discredited +with many of her contemporaries, by a new phase of the old feud which +had for so long rent the imperial family. Agrippina, the daughter of +Julia and Agrippa, had been married to Germanicus, the son of Antonia +and the elder Drusus. In the wedded life of these two was exemplified an +excellence of conjugal union that was almost perfect. Germanicus was a +brave and able soldier and a man whose moral character was far superior +to the standard of his time. Agrippina was a woman whose purity of life +was worthy of the principles which guided the matrons of the ancient +Republic, but whose disposition would not permit her to relinquish any +privilege which was open to the women of the new times and warranted by +her position. + +Livia's grudge against Agrippina seems to have been a continuation of +the old discord between the Claudian and the Julian branches of the +governing house. Each of these women had her adherents, who by their +machinations and recriminations made peace an utter stranger in the +imperial palace. Livia, however, possessed a threefold advantage over +Agrippina: the latter was precluded by her nature from adopting against +an enemy any nefarious design--a scruple of which history has been able +to discover no trace in the conduct of the former lady; the Augusta was +strongly supported in her dislike by the Emperor Tiberius; and Agrippina +was away from Rome a great part of the time. She elected to accompany +her husband, even on his most dangerous expeditions. On one occasion, +when their lives were threatened by the mutinous legions and he urged +her to depart to safer quarters, she proudly answered that, being the +granddaughter of the deified Augustus, she was not so degenerate as to +shrink from danger. + +To what extent this animosity between the two ladies was carried it is +difficult to determine. Some historians claim that it resulted in +placing another awful crime to Livia's account. Germanicus died in +Seleucia in the thirty-fourth year of his age, of some mysterious +malady; and there were many who at once whispered that Livia had been +the means of bringing about his death by poisoning. But there is no +proof of this, and a careful study of the known facts causes it to seem +improbable. There was no motive for such an act, beyond the fact that +the husband of Agrippina was exceedingly popular with the army and the +people; but this was offset by his undoubted and enthusiastic devotion +to Tiberius. The facts, so far as they are now ascertainable, are these: +Piso, who was Proconsul of Syria, was instigated by his wife Plancina to +acts of disrespect and animosity against Germanicus and Agrippina. This +woman, who was of an exceedingly masculine temperament,--as is shown +among other things by her habit of taking part in the exercises of the +cavalry,--was a great favorite with Livia and shared her closest +confidence. Plancina is said to have kept about her a woman named +Martina, who had an evil reputation as being expert in the use of +poisonous drugs, but of whose existence nothing more is known than the +little that is told in this connection, Germanicus, on his deathbed, +declared that he was cut short in his career by the dark devices of a +woman. The news of his decease did not affect Livia with the same degree +of sorrow as it did the populace; which fact tended to strengthen +suspicion in the minds of the latter. But all this proves nothing, even +though Piso, despairing of acquittal, destroyed himself during his +trial, after having written a letter protesting his innocence. Nor does +the fact that Plancina was protected by Livia furnish any proof that the +aged and much-maligned empress was guilty of instigating the crime, if +crime it was. + +Agrippina, after the body of her husband had been burned on the funeral +pyre, set forth in the depth of winter on her journey to Rome with his +ashes. At every port where the fleet touched she received a sad but an +imposing ovation. All the friends of her husband crowded to Brundusium, +where she was to disembark; but they could not agree as to whether she +should be received in respectful silence or with some more demonstrative +expression of their sympathy. Tacitus thus depicts the affecting scene: +"Nothing was settled when the fleet came sweeping slowly in, not rigged +out in sprightly fashion, but wearing the ensigns of sadness. When, +however, the widow descended from the ship, bearing the funeral urn in +her hand, accompanied by her two infants and with her eyes steadily +fixed on the ground, one simultaneous groan burst from the entire +assemblage." Neither Tiberius, nor Livia, nor Antonia, the mother of +Germanicus, attended the funeral. Tacitus gives the reasons that were +alleged, but does not decide which was nearest the truth. "Tiberius and +Livia either thought public lamentation beneath their dignity, or else +they feared lest if folk peered into their faces their hypocrisy would +be discovered. Whether sickness detained Antonia, or overmuch sorrow and +inability to go through the ceremony, is not known. I would rather +believe that she was held back by Tiberius and Livia, who did not leave +the palace, that they might seem to mourn in private." + +Agrippina had been exhorted by her dying husband, "as she would cherish +his memory, and for the sake of their children, to divest herself of her +unyielding spirit, and humble herself to Fortune in the storm of her +displeasure; and, on her return to the city, not to irritate, in a +competition for the mastery, those who were more than a match for her." +Such advice given to a Roman matron would have appeared unnecessary to +the men of the old regime; but there was now a throne in Rome, and +consequently women jostled each other for the place of power behind it. + +Agrippina needed just such counsel; but her nature would not allow her +to profit by it. Irreproachable in her life, her virtues were not +beautified by the divine gift of good humor; and she possessed no +philosophy. Her mind was of that sort, more common among women than men, +in which an idea having once been entertained is henceforth unassailable +and undetachable by reason. Than this class of mind there is nothing +more exasperating in human knowledge, and it is not to be wondered at +that she irritated Tiberius. These two angered each other on every +occasion of their meeting: the emperor by his cruel persecution of +Agrippina's friends, and she him both by her air of martyrdom and by her +evident and constant suspicion that he was planning some nefarious +project against herself. + +There lacked not ambitious men at the time who were ready to gather +around the noble widow on the pretence of siding with her in her +complaints against the emperor; they even sought to raise a party for +the advantage of her children. She probably lent herself to some extent +to these schemes, but not in sufficient degree to bring upon herself the +violence of the suspicious and resentful Tiberius. Nevertheless, all her +sons perished, except Caligula, whom a destiny unkind to the Roman +people protected from the fate of his brothers. + +Sejanus, the all-powerful favorite of the emperor, adroitly fanned the +ever-smoldering animosity which naturally existed between Tiberius and +Agrippina. He warned her to beware of poison, after having informed +Tiberius that the matron suspected that the emperor had designs on her +life. So, when the emperor politely handed her fruit, calling her +attention to its excellence, she silently passed it to the slaves. "Can +I avoid," he exclaimed to Livia, "treating this woman with harshness, +when she accuses me to my face of seeking to poison her?" + +The favorite Sejanus aimed at removing every heir to the imperial +throne, in order that at the death of Tiberius he might rule in name, as +he already did in effect. To achieve this end, he first seduced Livilla, +the wife of the son of Drusus Tiberius; then he procured by her means +the death of Drusus and asked Livilla in marriage. This the emperor +refused. At length,--not, however, until after Agrippina's sons had been +destroyed,--Antonia, the mother of Livilla, was constrained to write to +Tiberius of the conspiracy of Sejanus, and by her means he was brought +to justice. Livilla was starved to death by the command of her mother. + +Livia seems to have been at all times an obedient and submissive wife. +She was honored by the confidence of her husband. She shared in the +knowledge of his deepest political projects, and her advice was asked in +regard thereto. But there is no indication that she ever sought to +dictate. It was otherwise, however, with Tiberius. Whether Livia +considered that a mother's prerogative was more commanding than that of +a wife, or that a larger share of the rule might be claimed by her on +account of the fact that she had secured it for Tiberius, certain it is +that the latter found there was not enough room for himself and the +Augusta in the imperial palace. Suetonius informs us that on one +occasion, when Tiberius had haughtily objected to his mother's sharing +the government with him, Livia produced some letters which Augustus had +written to her complaining of the pride and arrogance of Tiberius. The +discovery that his mother had treasured these letters against him for so +many years so wounded the emperor that he immediately left the city, and +he never again saw his mother except for a few hours on one occasion. + +It is said that during her last days, when there was little more to hope +for and nothing else to do, Livia strove to defend Agrippina from the +machinations of Sejanus and the hatred of Tiberius. For twenty years she +had done somewhat to relieve the hardship of her daughter-in-law Julia's +exile; but she never sought to have her recalled. Tacitus says that, +having secretly overthrown her stepchildren in their prosperity, it was +her custom to make an open show of compassion toward them in their +adversity. + +Livia the Augusta died in A.D. 29, at the age of eighty-five. The +verdict of the historian is that she had been a stepmother to the +commonwealth of Rome; and this perhaps expresses her politics better +than any other term that could be employed. A faithful wife, a fond +mother, she had relentlessly witnessed the removal of every obstacle in +the way of Tiberius. For the sake of her son, she had done and suffered +everything; for the people, she had done nothing. Her powerful influence +had at all times been directed by her emotions; and if we should carry +the study to the end of the Empire, bringing into review all the +consorts and female associates of the emperors, this would still be the +summary of the story of the Roman woman in politics. + +Tiberius refused to permit the apotheosis of Livia; but after his death +the highest honors which a superstitious people could devise were paid +to her memory. Claudius caused her to be deified, and the worship of +Livia was constituted one of the functions of the Vestals. An idealized +statue of her was placed in the temple of Augustus. Medals were +impressed with the image of her head, and it was ordered that when the +women of Rome had occasion to swear, it should be "By Livia." + +On the whole, the Roman people, who understood Livia's character better +than it is possible for us to do at this late day, judged her very +kindly. Her virtues, which were conjugal and domestic, were always +popularly respected, though not generally followed. Her pride and cruel +vices were readily condoned, because they were considered indispensable +to the policy of rulers. Her husband was a successful statesman; he +maintained his position on the throne and accomplished much for the best +interests of the Empire. Livia was a successful politician; she kept the +people enamored of her supremacy, but furthered no interests save those +of herself and her son. + +Soon after the death of Livia, Agrippina was banished to the island of +Pandataria, where her mother Julia had been confined for so many +repentant years. It seems that her redoubtable spirit would not allow +her to submit to this tyranny without a struggle; and so brutal were the +soldiers in enforcing the emperor's command upon her who had once been +known as "The Mother of the Camps," that she lost the sight of one of +her eyes. After four years of miserable exile, she ended her life in the +"high Roman manner" by voluntary starvation. + +In the Capitol Museum there is a seated figure of Agrippina. It is one +of the noblest pieces of statuary in the world. In it is seen none of +that feminine sweetness which endeared the young wife of Germanicus to +the hearts of the Roman legions; but there is that proud consciousness +of moral dignity which Livia could not rival and that imperial manner +which Tiberius could not cow. It is a sad, strong-hearted woman. One +could fancy that a composite of all the noblest Roman matrons might have +made just such a picture. Or it might be the goddess Roma, in whose +personification are included the femininity of her daughters and also +the sternness of her sons. + +In the daughter of Germanicus we have another Agrippina, who was a much +more adroit politician than her mother. She was shrewder even than +Livia, and more unprincipled; and was favored beyond parallel in +position, for she was daughter by adoption of Tiberius, mother of Nero, +sister of Caligula, and wife of Claudius. The last mentioned relation +gave her a much more effective position of vantage than Livia had +enjoyed--first, on account of Claudius's incapacity, and also because +the Romans had allowed themselves to drift further away from the old +republican ideas. Hereafter we shall study the character of Agrippina +and shall be compelled to place her among those notorious women who +helped to make the Neronian age the most corrupt period in the world's +history. Here we notice but briefly her political ambitions. She managed +the emperor, securing with slight persuasion the appointment or the +dismissal of the most important State officers. She established colonies +in her own name. Nor was she satisfied to remain merely the power behind +the throne. When Caractacus the British king was carried prisoner to +Rome, and for his courageous bearing gained for himself his wife and his +brothers from the emperor, the prisoners did homage not only to +Claudius, but also to Agrippina. The empress occupied a second throne +and received an equal share of the gratitude of the prisoners and the +plaudits of the people. Here was seen, as Tacitus remarks, a spectacle +strange and unauthorized by any former custom. A woman had never before +presided over the Roman ensigns. Agrippina boldly claimed to be a +partner in the Empire which her ancestors had wrested from the ancient +republican suffrage. + +It was with Agrippina the Second as it had been with Livia, every +political aspiration was concentrated upon one object--the elevation of +her own son to the imperial rule, and all the activities emanating from +her energetic, resourceful nature were employed in hewing a path for +Nero's advancement. Woe befell the persons who stood in that path or +seemed likely at any time to have it in their power and inclination to +impede that advancement. They were ruthlessly cut down in that +unrelenting manner of which only an ambitious woman is capable. There +were no public works, nothing broad-minded, no thought of the common +good: the sole motif of the Roman woman in politics was personal +preferment. + + + + +_VIII_ + +THE ROMAN WOMAN IN LITERATURE + +There was in ancient Rome a street called Argiletus, which we learn from +Martial was occupied principally by booksellers. Here those works which +are cherished not alone for their antiquity, and some others possibly as +good but which in the misfortunes of many centuries have disappeared, +were bought fresh from their authors' hands and sold to the eager lovers +of literature. Here, when a new piece by Virgil or Horace was announced, +the reading public would flock, urged by the most commendable form of +curiosity known to the cultured human mind. Here hundreds of scribes +were employed in the multiplication of copies of those classics over +which in later days have labored scores of generations of youthful +students, with deep regret that those classics were not written in their +own mother tongue. Those shops, or _taberna libraria_, were the lounging +places of the famous men who created this literature and of those who +did good service to posterity by constituting themselves the patrons of +the geniuses of their age, who otherwise would have been as indigent and +as barren as are the neglected authors of our own times. The men and +women who received an ancient author in the name of a poet are entitled +to receive a poet's reward. In the shops of Secundus and the Sosii +brothers, the literati of Rome and their admirers gathered to indulge in +that most fascinating of all conversational intercourse: book talk. + +While it is probable that the presence of women was not so marked and +frequent in these haunts of the cultured fraternity as it is in the book +shops and publishing houses of modern times, this does not signify that +the ladies of Rome did not take a deep and influential interest in +literature. Did not Augustus dedicate a public library in the name of +his sister Octavia? There was in the Roman world a reading public so +great as to appear to us nothing less than marvellous in view of the +lack of the printing press; but slaves who could be set to copying were +plentiful, and if a lady wished a copy of the poems of Propertius or +Catullus she could procure it for a small sum in the street Argiletus, +or she could borrow it from a friend and have it transcribed at home. + +Great attention was paid to the education of girls in Greek and Latin +literature. Even those of the poorer class received this instruction; +for such an accomplishment, especially if assisted by personal +attractions, often availed in place of a rich dowry to secure a +desirable match. Women also were not rare who, like Sempronia, could +write verses of sufficient merit to be mentioned by the serious +historians of their times, though unfortunately their productions have +not been preserved to us. Mommsen, commenting on the flood of literature +which characterized the period of the commencement of the Empire, +assures us that "The female world also took a lively part in these +literary pursuits; the ladies did not confine themselves to dancing and +music, but by their spirit and wit ruled conversation and talked +excellently on Greek and Latin literature; and when poetry laid siege to +a maiden's heart, the beleaguered fortress not seldom surrendered +likewise in graceful verses. Rhythm became more and more the fashionable +plaything of the big children of both sexes." + +If it can be shown that the law of the "survival of the fittest" +operates with any degree of inevitability in the preservation of books, +we shall be obliged to conclude that few of the writings that owed their +existence to the lady authors of ancient Rome were remarkable for their +merit. It is difficult even to indulge a natural desire to be gallant by +assuming that to the accidents of time may be attributed the loss of +much that was worthy of preservation; for the number of female writers +who are mentioned in contemporary works as having attained to any great +degree of excellence in authorship is remarkably limited. Some, however, +there are. Pliny says: "Pompeius Saturninus has lately read to me some +letters he says are from his wife. I fancied myself listening to Plautus +or Terence in prose. Whether they are his wife's, as he affirms, or his +own, as he denies them to be, he is entitled to equal credit: in the one +case, for producing such compositions; in the other, for transforming +his wife, a mere girl when he married her, into such a learned and +finished woman." Martial also tells of a young woman who, he says, had +the eloquence of Plato, the austerity of the Porch, and composed verses +worthy of a chaste Sappho. Sidonius Apollinaris recites a list of Latin +poetesses; but of them all there is only one whose work may be read at +the present time. We do not refer to Balbilla, who wisely engraved her +verses and also her genealogy upon the leg of the statue of Memnon; the +fact that these have endured is attributable solely to the lasting +nature of the medium upon which they were written. + +Sulpicia, the only Roman poetess whose work is still extant and well +authenticated, lived in the time of the Emperor Domitian. She came of a +famous patrician family, many members of which had been able men of +affairs in their time. She was a great and highly respected friend of +the poet Martial, to whose two epigrams on herself and her husband we +are indebted for almost all that we know of this talented woman. Her +husband's name was Calenus; and with him she lived for fifteen years, in +a felicity of reciprocated conjugal affection which, notwithstanding the +degeneracy of the age, seems to have been ideal. Martial bears testimony +not only to her surpassing ability as a votary of the poetic muse, but +also to the fact that in her life and character she exemplified a purity +such as would beautify any age or society. + +There is in existence but one poem known to have been written by +Sulpicia; it was called forth by an act of tyranny which she rebuked +with as much beauty as spirit. During the reign of Domitian, the +philosophers were banished from Rome by edict of the emperor. Those +against whom this measure was particularly directed were of the Stoic +school; this fact helps to explain the cause of their expulsion and also +the poem which Sulpicia wrote upon the occasion. Their tenets inculcated +an independence of thought and manner which was entirely at variance +with that servility which could allow the people to rest peacefully +under the despotism of such a ruler as was Domitian. The philosophers +were considered, and probably justly so, a menace to the government of +the tyrant. Whether Sulpicia was directly connected with these people +and whether she was included in the edict of banishment, we do not know; +in any case, it is quite clear that her sympathies were entirely with +the expelled philosophers. Her satire on this incident bewails the +weakness that had evidently fallen upon the Roman race, causing men to +submit so easily to such tyranny as that to which her friends were +subjected. She asks if "the Father of the Gods" is about to allow the +Romans to revert to primeval barbarism, "to stoop again to acorns and +the pure stream"; or if he has forsaken them for the care of other +nations. She declares that "adversity alone is salutary for a State," +"for when the love of country urges them to defend themselves by arms, +and to regain their wives, held prisoners with their household gods, +they combine like wasps when their home and citadel is assaulted." Then +she implores her divine patroness that at least her husband may not be +unwilling to abandon this inglorious ease and to leave Rome and its +vicinity, since all the good and estimable have been driven from it. The +poem is a noble, high-spirited production; and it proves Sulpicia to +have been a woman of extraordinary intelligence and a fearless exponent +of principles and ideas which the majority of men in her time found it +more convenient to forget. + +Sulpicia was also the author of a poem on conjugal affection which is +most highly commended by Martial; but unfortunately it has been lost. +Indeed, from the reference in the beginning of her satire to her +"thousand sportive effusions," we gather that she was a prolific writer +and that all her poetry was not of the philosophic or didactic kind. + +With this brief reference to Sulpicia, our account of woman's creative +participation in Roman literature must end for want of material. The +real part which the women of the Roman world played in the formation of +the literature of their time must be sought rather in the view which the +authors present of their character and the inspiration which the poets +drew from their love and friendship. That is to say, we meet the Roman +woman in the poetic art of her nation as the model and also as the +motive, but not as the artist. But it is very essential that we should +give attention to both these phases of feminine life. Hitherto we have +dealt only with historic personages, and those of the highest class; to +obtain a complete view of the Roman woman, it is necessary to see her in +that broader light in which she is sketched by the makers of other +literature than history. And in order that our attention may not be +confined to the women of one class, we must take notice of those ladies +of whom the poets sing and to whom they address their effusions. + +First let us consider the woman drawn by Roman creative art. In her +image, as it is portrayed in literature, we see the real person of flesh +and blood, as she appeared to the literary artists. Virgil says: "Woman +is a fickle and ever changeable creature;" and yet he must have found in +the women of his time the qualities with which he endowed Queen Dido. +She is a Roman woman, because she is the creation of a Roman. She is an +ideal queen; yet one who governs her kingdom in the same manner in which +a noble matron presided over the activities of her household, +"dispensing justice and laws to her subjects" from the middle room, or +atrium, of the temple, and "in equal portions distributing their tasks +or settling them by lot." Furthermore, she is a true woman. She is the +sole contribution of Roman poetry to that gallery of imaginary men and +women who, having their existence only in literature, are immortal +because they faithfully represent the real. In Dido, Virgil, though he +calls her a Sidonian, shows how a woman of pagan Rome could love; and +how, her heart being broken and her pride injured by rejection, she +could die in the high-spirited manner peculiar to her prideful race. + +But in all Latin poesy there is no other character such as Dido. When we +turn to Plautus and Terence, we learn a great deal about women, but we +encounter none that live and move and have a being. These authors did +not lay their scenes in the houses of the patricians or in the seats of +the mighty; they show us a class of women that we have not hitherto met. +Having studied the highest, we now turn to the lowest stratum of Roman +society. We are introduced to a class of people who traffic in female +beauty; and much insight is gained into that laxity of morals which was +countenanced both by the laws and customs of ancient Rome. Here we are +informed of the multitude of girls who were carefully trained and +educated, both in mind and person, that they might make profit for their +owners by the prostitution of their charms. We meet these girls as they +are being sent to school in order that, at the same time, their +intellects may be developed and their commercial value enhanced. In +these plays, we are shown the women of the brothel; and we are less +astounded at the greatness of their number than we are at the +complacency with which their existence was tolerated in Roman society. +These women were principally unfortunates who had been captured in war +or were born in slavery, and the only redeeming feature in the picture +of their situation is the intimation that now and again one, by signal +success in a bad business, might hope to earn her freedom. + +It is said that because a sacrifice of virtue is made by one class of +women, the members of another class are enabled to live purely. If we +accept Juvenal's description of the character of the Roman women as a +true one, it must be concluded that the morality of the more fortunate +ladies gained little by the immorality of those who were courtesans +perforce or by profession; but in satire it is essential to fasten upon +the worst, and to hold it up to public ridicule as representative of the +whole. There is no balance, no justice, no offsetting the indecent by +that which is noble and good. The Roman woman was not at any period +such a morally deformed creature as Juvenal paints her; nor could the +ladies who patronized literature have been quite so disagreeable as he +would have us believe. It is certain that he was not blessed with a +patroness, or, in his description of the Roman "bluestocking," the +shafts of satire would not have been embittered with so much prejudice. +Yet, as indicating how some men regarded the devotion to belles-lettres +which was affected by the women, we will quote what the great satirist +says on the subject. After depicting some monstrously disagreeable +females, he declares: + + "But she is more intolerable yet, + Who plays at critic when at table set: + Calls Virgil charming, and attempts to prove + Poor Dido right in venturing all for love. + From Maro and Maeonides she quotes + The striking passages, and, while she notes + Their beauties and defects, adjusts her scales, + And accurately weighs which bard prevails. + The astonished guests sit mute; grammarians yield, + Loud rhetoricians, baffled, quit the field; + Even auctioneers and lawyers stand aghast, + And not a woman speaks.--So thick and fast + The wordy shower descends, that you would swear + A thousand bells were jangling in your ear, + A thousand basins clattering. Vex no more + Your trumpets and your timbrels, as of yore, + To ease the laboring moon; her single yell + Can drown their clangor, and dissolve the spell + She lectures too in Ethics, and declaims + On the Chief Good!--but, surely, she who aims + To seem too learned, should take the male array; + A hog, due offering, to Sylvanus slay, + And, with the Stoic's privilege, repair + To farthing baths, and strip in public there. + Oh, never may the partner of my bed + With subtleties of logic stuff her head; + Nor whirl her rapid syllogisms round, + Nor with imperfect enthymemes confound. + Enough for me. If common things she know, + And boast the little learning schools bestow. + I hate the female pedagogue, who pores + O'er her Palaemon hourly; who explores + All modes of speech, regardless of the sense, + But tremblingly alive to mood and tense; + Who puzzles me with many an uncouth phrase + From some old canticle of Numa's days; + Corrects her country friends, and cannot hear + Her husband solecize without a sneer." + +It may be that the horror of learned women which was affected by Juvenal +arose from his realization of that proverb which declares the inability +of two who are engaged in the same trade to maintain intimate and happy +relations. Whether or not he was so unfortunate as to learn this by +personal experience, we have no means of ascertaining; but it is certain +that while many of the Roman authors gained inspiration and influence +from the women with whom they were connected, others discovered in their +matrimonial relations a want of harmony unfavorable to the cultivation +of the muse. In Terentia, for example, Cicero was burdened with a wife +who entirely lacked that power of sympathy which is the glory of +womanhood. Terentia did not appreciate her brilliant husband; and she +could not anticipate the honor in which she might have been held by +posterity, had she proved herself the devoted wife of so famous a man. +But, after all has been said, she probably knew Cicero better than he is +known by posterity. He alleged that she was so overbearing that at last +he was compelled to divorce her; but in Terentia the old adage was +justified which says that what is one man's poison is another man's +pleasure, for, being repudiated by Cicero to the great relief of +himself, she was at once accepted by the historian Sallust; and in as much +as there appears to have been no other motive for their union, it seems +probable that the bond between them was that of sentiment. + +Then there was that other Terentia, who was such a trial to the patience +of Maecenas, the great patron of literature in the days of Augustus. Her +he repudiated so often, and yet received back so regularly, that it was +said of him that he had been married a thousand times, and yet all the +while had but one wife. + +There was another class of women which furnished many of the names +intimately connected with Roman poetry, not for what these women +themselves did, but because of their intimate relations with the poets. +As the exquisite tracery of primordial ferns is sometimes found embedded +in the carboniferous strata, so these women, whose names would otherwise +have perished with their generation, were, by the chances of their birth +and fortune, brought into connection with literary men, and their memory +has thus been preserved in Latin poesy. It is to Martial himself that we +are indebted for the information that, returning to his country home +after many years of absence in Rome, he finds comfort for the lack of +his urban pleasures and conveniences in the society of Marcella, a lady +of uncommon intellectual development and grace of person. Her relation +to the poet was rather that of patroness than mistress. It would seem +unimportant either way; yet she assisted in the production of literature +more durable than the Empire, and her name is known to posterity. + +Every reader of Horace knows of Lydia, Glycera, Phyllis, and Barine. Who +were they? To have found them in that ancient Rome, it would have been +necessary to go, not to houses such as have been described as the homes +of the imperial women, but to those _insulae,_ or huge tenements, in +which the great mass of the people lived. There these women inhabited +one room or many, according as their poverty or wealth would warrant. +The latter depended largely upon their youth and beauty; for these women +were light-o'-loves, who were inured to the changes and chances of their +position, and could turn from one lover to another with as few heart +pangs as were suffered by their inconstant friends. In many cases, they +were the daughters of unnaturalized foreigners, whom Roman citizens +could not marry and to whom no lot other than that of the mistress was +open. That such women were the intimates of Horace is revealed by the +manner in which he descants in his Satires on the danger attending +liaisons with married women--so also is the sincerity of that affection +to which he swears in his Odes. Speaking of those ladies who were not +eligible for marriage bonds, he says: "When I am in the company of such +an one, she is my Ilia and Aegeria; in short, I give her any tender +name." + +The favorite of Horace seems to have been Lydia, of whose undistinguished +fame he tells, but does not inform us on what account she was famous. +Among the amorous epistles in which he addresses her, there is more than +one that reveals his jealous knowledge of the fact that he is not the +sole recipient of her favors. As a punishment for her occasional +inhospitable treatment of him, he writes an insulting ode in which it is +averred that she has grown too old for lovers and that her slumbers will +no more be disturbed by the serenade. Horace possessed the ability, and +did not lack the meanness, to castigate these women in his poetry after +the most shameful manner; and that not for their moral delinquencies, +but because of the suspension of their preferences for himself. Witness +the manner in which he gloats over the fading of the charms of Lyce, who +had sometime disdained his advances: "Wrinkles and snowy hair render +you odious. Now neither Coan purples nor sparkling jewels restore those +years which winged time has inserted in the public annals. Whither is +your beauty gone? Alas! or whither your bloom? Whither your graceful +deportment? What have you remaining of her, of her who breathed loves +and ravished me from myself? Happy in accomplishments next to Cynara, +and distinguished for an aspect of graceful delicacies. But the Fates +granted but a few years to Cynara, intending to preserve Lyce for a long +time, to rival in years the aged raven; that the fervid young fellows +might see, not without excessive laughter, that torch, which once so +brightly scorched, now reduced to ashes." + +As a finale at once to his love epistles and amorous relationships, he +invites Phyllis to an entertainment in his country villa on Maecenas's +birthday; and among the provisions for this festive occasion he mentions +a caskful of Albanian wine, upward of nine years old, besides parsley +for the weaving of chaplets, and ivy to bind her hair. "Come, then, last +of my loves: learn with me such measures as you may recite with your +lovely voice; our gloomy cares shall be mitigated with an ode." + +Through Ovid we learn of Corinna, who was his mistress and the heroine +of his love elegies; but his passion for her was no more sincere than we +should expect from that manual of libertinism--his _Ars amatoria_. This +work is the glorification of animalism and indirectly a defamation of +woman. It assumes with the most undisguised frankness that the root and +source of the principal part of the attention which men pay to women is +their availability for the purpose of satisfying amatory desire, and it +alleges the theory that any woman will capitulate the citadel of her +honor, if only it be besieged with indefatigableness and resource. It +was by such poetry as this that the women of Rome were prepared for that +carnival of vice into which they threw themselves with such frenzied +abandonment in the days of Claudius and Nero. In the eroticism of Latin +poetry is revealed a society in which illicit love is put to the +experiment; in Roman history is made manifest the resulting moral chaos. + +The master of this school was Catullus; and he immortalized one Lesbia, +who was the principal heroine in his love poems. It has been said by one +of the best-informed students of Roman literature that the poems of +Catullus to Lesbia are unique in Roman letters for the intensity and +self-oblivion of the passion they portray. We learn from Apuleius that +Clodia was the real name of Lesbia; and it is supposed that the latter +name was given her by her lover because of his admiration of the Lesbian +poetess. Many have concluded from the statement of Apuleius that Lesbia +was the notoriously fascinating sister of Clodius, the woman whom Cicero +so mercilessly pilloried before the judges; but the possibility of this +seems to be precluded by the fact that Catullus incited a poem to Cicero +in which he terms him the "best of all advocates "--a courtesy which +hardly could have been overlooked or forgiven by the woman to whom the +advocate had given such ample cause for hatred. + +Many of Catullus's brightest pieces are addressed to Lesbia; but all are +touched by the poet's consciousness of her inconstancy. At last she +leaves him, and he bids her adieu in the lines which have thus been so +beautifully rendered by Moore: + + "Comrades and friends, with whom where'er + The Fates have willed through life I've roved, + Now speed ye home, and with you bear + These bitter words to her I've loved. + + "Tell her from fool to fool to run, + Where'er her vain caprice may call; + Of all her dupes, not loving one, + But ruining and maddening all. + + "Bid her forget--what now is past-- + Our once dear love, whose ruin lies + Like a fair flower, the meadow's last, + That feels the ploughshare's edge, and dies." + +In Cynthia, whose love and beauty inspired the pen of Propertius, is +seen the sympathetic helpmate as well as the mistress. She was the +granddaughter of Lucius Hostius, who wrote a poem on the Illyrian War. +She inherited her ancestor's love of literature, and there consequently +existed between her and Propertius that fellowship in poetic labor which +is the most perfect companionship known to human experience. Though of +the highest type of that class of women, she was a courtesan; which +accounts for the fact that the poet could not, as he desired, make her +his lawful wife. Her house was situated in the Suburra, which was the +centre of "Bohemian" life in Rome and the quarter especially favored by +women of her class. The intimacy between her and Propertius lasted for +six years; but, notwithstanding their sympathetic tastes, those years +were not passed in unbroken concord. Cynthia, besides other faults, +seems to have possessed a violent temper, and in some outburst of this +Propertius was banished. After this, though their friendship was +renewed, neither was faithful to the other. During the illness which +preceded her death, they were again reconciled to each other, which +fact, more than anything else, indicates the hold that Cynthia must have +had upon the sincere affection of the poet. In the seventh poem of his +last book, Propertius gives an account of a dream he had of Cynthia +after her death; and from certain allusions therein contained it may be +inferred that she left to him the duty of disposing of her property and +arranging her funeral. + +Women like Cynthia were not in any degree conspicuous among their +contemporaries; they were nothing more than ciphers in the estimation of +those great ladies who took a part in the game of politics. They are +only known to us because their names chanced to be embalmed in the +writings of the men whose companions they were; but from this distance, +whence the names of the women of Rome may be seen as divested of that +fictitious glory which was a mere accident of their birth, a Cynthia +gains more interest from her connection with a poet than does a Julia +from her relation to an emperor. + +These women look out at us from the _insulae_ in which were massed the +common people. We catch glimpses of their fair faces and hear somewhat +of their sportive talk, but unfortunately we know little of their lives. +History has not individualized the woman of the common people; +literature has dressed her up in all her finery, and has posed her in +natural but unusual situations. Delia, Nemesis, and Neaera, women whose +love and whose loss Tibullus sang in such passionate strains, though +human enough, as is attested by their fickleness, are credited with +those charms which have their existence only in the imagination of a +poet and in a lover's fancy. + +Tibullus, unlike Horace, took his love affairs too seriously; +consequently, owing to the character of the women to whom he became +attached, they brought him more grief than pleasure. The first object of +his affection was Delia, whose real name, according to Apuleius, was +Plania. "She belonged," says Milman, "to that class of females of the +middle order, not of good family, but above poverty, which answered to +the Greek hetaerae." Tibullus longed to retire with her to the +undisturbed seclusion of the country. For her sake he rejected a +flattering offer from his great patron Messala, who desired the poet's +companionship on a martial expedition. "The bonds of a fair girl hold me +captive, and I sit like a gatekeeper before her obdurate door. I care +not to be praised, my Delia; only let me be with thee, and I am content +to be called slow and spiritless." It would have been very surprising if +the poet had been able to retain the fidelity of Delia by such arguments +as these. The time had not yet come when the women of Rome did not love +soldierly valor; the time never came when they were not influenced by +the hope of a participation in the spoils of conquest. Shortly after the +rejection of Messala's offer, the poet seems to have been obliged to +leave the city; and when he returns, he finds that Delia has married; +upon which, in the imagery of poetic numbers, he drowns his grief in +wine. However, he soon recalls to his mind the fact that a husband is +not necessarily an insurmountable barrier between himself and the lady. +She must be taught how to elude observing eyes. He pretends--the wish +probably being father to the thought--that he has a magic which will +render them invisible. "Chant thrice, spit thrice after reciting the +charm; your husband will be unable to believe the testimony of his own +eyes." But Delia could not remain faithful even to such a pertinacious +lover. What a moving scene is that in the fifth elegy of the first book! +It is worthy of quotation, if for no other reason than that in it the +poet recites the efficacious means which he has employed for the +recovery of Delia, who has been ill. + + "What can atone, my fair, for crimes like these? + I'll bear with patience, use me as you please. + Yet, by Love's shafts, and by your braided hair, + By all the joys we stole, your suppliant spare. + When sickness dimmed of late your radiant eyes, + My restless, fond petitions won the skies. + Thrice I with sulphur purified you round, + And thrice the rite, with songs, the enchantress bound; + The cake, by me thrice sprinkled, put to flight + The death-denouncing phantoms of the night; + And I nine times, in linen garbs arrayed, + In silent night, nine times to Trivia prayed. + What did I not? Yet what reward have I? + You love another, your preserver fly." + +The Romans most firmly believed that there was efficacy in odd numbers. + +In the seventh elegy, the poet complains that he has been caught in his +own trap; for Delia is practising upon himself those arts by which he +has taught her to deceive her husband. Then he appeals to her husband to +assist him in watching her and keeping her from others. This appears to +be a rather bold step; but, considering the class to which Delia +belonged, it is likely that her intimacy with Tibullus was no news to +her spouse. The address to him is nothing more than a most exquisite +piece of persiflage. From this time on, however, we hear no more of +Delia. + +The poet now turns to Nemesis, with whom he is no more fortunate. +Besides being fickle, she is avaricious; from which fault Tibullus tries +to save her, possibly not altogether without a thought of the limitation +of his own means. "The girl who is good-natured and not avaricious, +though she live a hundred years, shall be wept for before the blazing +pyre; and some aged man, revering the memory of his old love, shall +yearly deck her reared tomb with flowers, and say as he leaves it: 'Rest +well and placidly, and light be the earth above thy quiet bones!'" + +The third book of elegies is dedicated to Neaera. On the first of March, +it was customary for the Roman women to expect presents from their +husbands and lovers. Tibullus was betrothed to Neaera, and was +confronted with the question as to what he should send her for a New +Year's gift. The Muses inform him that the lovely are won with song; +hence he determines to send her a book of his own poems. It was made of +the finest paper; and upon the cover--which was yellow, the color sacred +to marriage--the recipient's name was beautifully inscribed, with the +dedication: _Your husband that will be, chaste Neaera, sends you this +little gift and begs you to accept it_. + +To what degree Neaera prized the volume is not known; but Tibullus was no +more fortunate with her than he had been with the others. In a dream it +is revealed to him that: "She who is celebrated in thy songs, the +beautiful Neaera, prefers to be the bride of another." "Ah, cruel sex! +woman, faithless name!" exclaims the poet; and then: "But she may be won +yet; their minds are changeable." + +The fourth book of poems published under his name was probably not +written by Tibullus. Eleven of these poems relate to the love of +Sulpicia, a Roman lady of high station, and the daughter of Valeria, the +sister of Messala. She had fallen in love with a youth named Cerinthus, +and these poems tell the story. It is thought by many that Sulpicia was +the author of them and that, in fact, some of them are nothing other +than her own letters to her lover. These "letters" are very short; but, +if this supposition is correct, they are the only love poems by a Roman +woman that have survived. + +Thus she writes to Cerinthus from her couch, to which she is confined by +a racking fever: + + "On my account, to grief a ceaseless prey, + Dost thou a sympathetic anguish prove? + I would not wish to live another day, + If my recovery did not charm my love; + For what were life, and health, and bloom to me, + Wore they displeasing, beauteous youth! to thee?" + +There is another Roman woman who may be counted on the list of authors, +and whose writings, had they only been preserved, would have proved of +exceeding interest. This was the brilliant and accomplished Agrippina +the Younger; a woman who was as finished a scholar as she was an +experienced and successful politician. She wrote her _Memoirs_, not so +much from a desire to make a contribution to history as to use them to +blacken the character of the enemies of her house. She dipped her pen in +the venom of hate and envy, and she found her material in the scandalous +stories which floated about Rome, growing daily more exaggerated from an +origin which no one knew. From this work of Agrippina, Suetonius and +Tacitus doubtless drew much of the information which in their more +serious productions blackens the character of Tiberius. It is also +likely that, if it had not been for the facile and unrestrained pen of +her successor, Messalina would have been known to us as a far less +disreputable woman than she is made to appear. + +Although there is no writing of Agrippina's extant, we do have what +purports to be the speech in her defence which she made when accused by +Junia Silana with a design of inciting Plautus to effect a change in the +State, and, by marrying him, to regain her power in the commonwealth, +which Nero had taken out of her hands. In it all we see nothing but the +backbitings of two rancorous old women; but it was represented to Nero +as a horrible affair. Nero's fears were so excited that it was with +difficulty that he could be induced to allow his mother to survive until +morning and have an opportunity to make her own defence. We have her +speech as it is given by Tacitus. Possibly it is the historian's own +composition; but it is exactly what we might expect from the fierce old +empress-mother. And as it is certain that Seneca and Burrhus, to whom +it was addressed, would have with them shorthand writers, it is not +improbable that Tacitus took it from the official records. "I wonder +not," said Agrippina, "that Silana, who never bore a child, should be a +stranger to the affections of a mother; for, in truth, children are not +so easily renounced by their parents, as adulterers are changed by a +profligate. Nor, because Iturius and Calvisus, after having consumed +their whole fortunes, as a last resource pay back to an old woman their +services in undertaking my accusation, as an equivalent for their hire, +does it follow that I am to be branded with the infamy, or that Caesar +should conceive the guilt of parricide. As to Domitia, I would thank her +for all the efforts of her enmity to me, if she strove to exceed me in +kindness to her nephew, my Nero. At present, by the ministration of +Atimetus, her minion, and the merry-andrew Paris, she is framing a farce +to fit for the stage. Where was she when I by my counsels obtained the +adoption of her nephew and my son into the Claudian house? when I +advanced his cause in every way necessary for getting him the +Empire?--Admiring her fishponds at Baiae." If this is Agrippina's +composition, there is certainly no lack of force in it and she was +preeminently an adept in the use of innuendo. We would like to have seen +those _Memoirs_. + +To turn to a pleasanter subject and introduce a more amiable, though +less picturesque, character. While there were few women authors, there +were many ladies who knew how to appreciate the work of their literary +husbands; matrons who, in the bonds of legal marriage, were companions +to their husbands in learning as well as in other things. Pliny has left +us a most beautiful pen portrait of his young wife. He tells how, to +please him more, she studied polite literature, learned his books by +heart, set his verses to music, and accompanied them on her lyre. "How +great is her anxiety," he says, "when she sees me going to speak in +court, and how great her joy when I have spoken! She sets messengers +about to report to her what favor and applause I have excited, and what +is the result of the trial. Then whenever I recite she sits hard by, +separated only from us by a curtain, and catches up with eager ears the +praise bestowed on me." + + + + +IX + +WOMAN AT HER WORST + +In the course of this study there have come within our view some of the +noblest women of whom the history of the world can boast. We have seen +women of exalted purity in high positions, stately, dignified matrons, +women renowned for intellect and noble spirit, women who have bravely +endured unmerited suffering; we have also noted the women of the common +people, and the gay ladies who ministered to love and laughter. But our +account will be incomplete, the picture will not be a true one, unless +it also represents the worst that human nature has produced, women +stained with some of the basest crimes recorded in the annals of human +depravity. It is a story in which the sober truth can only be told in +superlative terms. What Scipio feared and Cato endeavored to prevent +came to pass; and at the time when Rome centred in herself all the power +and glory of the world, she also reached the climax of the vice and +degradation of all ages. + +The moral conditions which characterized the period between the reigns +of Tiberius and Nero are, in these days, impossible of adequate +comprehension. It was a continuous Saturnalia, a perpetual reign of +terror, a paroxysm of indecency. What renders the situation so amazing +and so difficult to describe is its strange mixture of civilization and +savagery, of art and anarchy. The atrocious cruelties which render the +history of that time so terrible and the lust which makes it so +revolting are not attributed to half-clad barbarians or ignorant +Asiatics; they were participated in by men and women whose outward life +was marked and distinguished by all the signs and appointments of +culture. The Julias and the Poppaeas of the age were women who lived in +beautiful houses; they were surrounded by a magnificence of art such as +never since has been witnessed; they were the students of a literature +which the world has never ceased to admire. Nor was the extravagant +wickedness of the time a revolt against law; on the contrary, everything +was done in accordance with legal forms. Vistilia, the wife of a Roman +knight, in order that she might be unrestrained in her lasciviousness, +went before the aediles and proclaimed herself a prostitute, the law +considering that prostitutes were sufficiently punished by merely thus +avowing their shame. Even when the innocent children of Sejanus were put +to death for the misdeeds of their father, the little girl--who asked +what she had done that was wrong and if they were going to whip +her--must be outraged by the executioner before he strangled her; for it +was unlawful to inflict capital punishment upon virgins. While such +things were being perpetrated, the ladies of Rome were studying the +Greek philosophers, reading their own Virgil, and improving their +diction by an acquaintance with the elegant periods of Cicero. It was an +age in which the arts of civilization were entirely divorced from the +best impulses of humanity, an age when the highest mental attainments +were joined with the lowest moral conditions. The depraved Messalina was +contemporary with the philosophic Seneca; the conscienceless Agrippina +the Younger was a student of letters and an author. + +It is easy to perceive that the cruelty and lust which render the +history of the first two centuries of the Christian era so lurid are +simply the natural developments from preceding conditions. The +proscriptions and massacres of Sylla and the two triumvirates could but +produce a society which would witness bloodshed with apathy, if not with +delight. The total disregard of the sacredness of matrimonial vows, when +political purposes were to be served, necessarily resulted in a +generation of women among whom chastity was a matter of indifference and +honor a thing unknown. Given a society thus, by heritage and training, +predisposed to inhumanity and licentiousness, and it only needed the +presence of favorable conditions for the introduction upon the imperial +stage of a company of women upon whose actions the world has ever since +gazed with profound amazement. Such conditions were then present in Rome +in such a degree as they have never been at any other time or among any +other people. The age was propitious and the circumstances were ripe for +a climax in human depravity. The spoil of the conquered world provided +Rome with incalculable riches; the Empire was the prize of him who could +win and hold it, and of her who could maintain her position by the side +of the ruler; power and the absence of restraint gave free rein to +impulses which the existent conditions necessarily rendered evil. This +was the _entourage_ of the women of Rome under the first emperors. The +ladies of the nobility were trained and urged to cruelty and +prostitution by the exigencies of their position; the women of the +common class, for whom tributary bread and sanguinary spectacles were +freely provided, were impelled in the same direction by example and +idleness. + +The acme of female turpitude was attained by Messalina, whose name has +ever since served as a byword for unparalleled incontinence. Valeria +Messalina was the great-granddaughter of Octavia, the sister of +Augustus, both on her father's and her mother's side; thus in her veins +united a twofold stream of the sacred Julian blood, which fact she never +allowed herself to forget while insisting upon her demands, though it +had no restraining effect upon her conduct. When only sixteen years of +age, she became the third wife of the feeble, half-imbecile Claudius; +one of her predecessors was Plautia Urgulanilla, the daughter of that +proud Urgulania whose debts Livia Augusta had been compelled to pay. +Plautia was divorced for "scandalous lewdness" and on the suspicion of +murder, after she had given birth to two children, the youngest of whom +Claudius exposed, being convinced that it had no just claims upon his +paternal authority. But his honor as a husband was far less safe with +Messalina than it had been with Plautia. That she should have any +affection for the doddering, gormandizing old man--he was nearly +fifty--was hardly to be expected. During the first three years after the +marriage, her position was comparatively private, her husband having no +expectation of attaining to the imperial throne. + +During the reign of the demented Caligula, the women of the court +present no figure of political importance, and are not interesting +except as they illustrate the depravity of the times. This emperor was +possessed with an exaggerated idea of the divinity that was inherent in +the Augustan race. Therefore he deemed that, like the kings of Egypt, he +should conserve that dignity by marrying his own sister. Suetonius will +have us believe that all three of the sisters of Caligula were +dishonored by their brother; but Drusilla was his favorite. She had been +given to Cassius Longinus, but Caligula took her from him and kept her +as though she were his lawful wife. He made a will appointing her +heiress of his private estates and also of the Empire; and at her death +he ordered for her a public mourning, and threatened capital punishment +against any person who should laugh or bathe or seek any amusement +during the period. It was also declared that she had been received among +the heavenly deities; and as Panthea, the universal goddess, her worship +was enjoined upon all the cities of Italy and the provinces. + +The other sisters, Agrippina and Julia, became involved in a conspiracy +with Marcus Aemillius Lepidus against the life of their brother; and +when the plot was discovered, though the lives of these women were +spared,--probably owing to Caligula's intense respect for the Julian +blood,--their property was confiscated and they were both sent into +exile. Agrippina, however, was first compelled to perform a most +unpleasant office. The family of Lepidus begged that his ashes might +rest in the family mausoleum at Rome, and the disordered mind of +Caligula recalled a journey which his mother had made, bearing the ashes +of Germanicus. So he forced Agrippina, who had schemed to marry Lepidus +in the hope of gaining for him the succession, to carry the urn that +contained his remains from Germany to Rome, and never once allowed her, +night or day, to rest from bearing her burden. + +Of the wives of Caligula, Suetonius says: "Whether in repudiating them +or retaining them he acted with greater infamy, it is difficult to say." +Being at the wedding of Caius Piso with Livia Orestilla, he ordered the +bride to be carried to his own house; but within a few days divorced +her, and two years after banished her, because, as was thought, upon her +divorce she had returned to her former husband. Lollia Paulina, who was +married to a man of consular rank in command of an army, having been +mentioned to Caligula as much resembling her grandmother, who had been +a famous beauty, the emperor suddenly called her from the province where +she resided with her husband, and married her; but he soon repudiated +her, interdicting her from ever afterward marrying another man. He loved +with a most passionate and constant affection Caesonia, who was neither +handsome nor young, and who was the mother of three daughters by another +man; but she was a woman of excessive wantonness. He would frequently +exhibit her to the soldiers, riding by his side, dressed in a military +cloak, with shield and helmet. To his friends he showed her in a guise +far less elaborate and much more improper. After she had borne a child +to him, she was honored with the title of wife. Caligula named the +infant Julia Drusilla, and, carrying it around the temples of all the +goddesses, he laid it on the lap of Minerva, from whom he begged the +care of bringing up and instructing this daughter. He considered her as +his own child, for no better reason than that her temper was so savage +that even in infancy she would attack with her nails the faces and eyes +of the children at play with her. + +Caesonia could hardly have enjoyed her position, especially on those +occasions when her demoniacal husband would amuse himself with the idea +of having it in his power to sever her neck at any time that it might +please him so to do. She was killed at the time of his assassination; +and, fortunately, her vicious offspring perished with her. The manner in +which Caesonia met her death seems to indicate that the woman not only +possessed courage, but also that she cherished some sort of affection +for her husband. The conspirators hesitated over the question as to +whether she should share his fate; but it was only for a few minutes. It +was believed by many that it was through her love philtres and +licentious practices that his mind had become disordered and that +therefore she was, in a sense, the author of his evil doings. It being +determined that she should die, the men who went in search of her found +Caesonia embracing the body of Caligula as it lay upon the ground, and +they heard her bewailing the fact that he had not been governed by her +advice. Whether that advice had been to restrain himself in his madness, +or to follow with vengeful measures a clue which she had given him in +regard to the conspiracy, those who heard her could not decide. Their +minds were predisposed to believe in the latter explanation. When she +saw Lupus, the man who had her death in charge, approaching, she sat up, +all besmeared as she was with her husband's blood, and, baring her +throat, requested the assassin not to be awkward in finishing the +tragedy. She received the death stroke cheerfully, and the little +daughter, who was by her mother's side, perished by the same sword. + +To his own intense astonishment, Claudius suddenly found himself +proclaimed and accepted as Emperor of the Romans. There is no evidence +to show that Messalina had anticipated this change of fortunes any more +than had her husband. Finding herself, however, in the position of +empress, she had no mind to do otherwise than maintain herself secure in +its enjoyment. The times were such that this could be done only by means +of merciless expedients. This fact should constantly be kept in mind as +we study the women of imperial Rome. No individual can be governed by +the ideas that are prevalent in the society in which he lives and, at +the same time, dispense with the methods ordinarily employed by that +society. The Romans of the period which we are now reviewing believed +that the best, as well as the easiest, way in which to placate an enemy +or to outwit a rival was to destroy him. Messalina had no desire to do +better than her surroundings warranted; in fact, she represents the +climax of immorality. There were two causes which led her freely to +dispense destruction among her associates. First, there were plenty of +women who would gladly have rivalled her in the affection of the amorous +Claudius; and while she did not in the least reciprocate her husband's +affection, its retention was necessary to the maintenance of her +position. Again, her innumerable amours were constantly furnishing +weapons against herself, and it was only by inspiring dread that she +could restrain her enemies from making use of them to her own +destruction. + +In such a position as she found herself, and among such surroundings, it +is not surprising that Messalina was bad. Raised, when only a mere girl, +to a dizzy height; flattered and sought after by all the most dissolute +of the imperial court; the wife of a doting husband who, as she quickly +discovered, was absolutely under her influence; all this would have +tested a woman in whose character good impulses were perceptibly +present. So far as can be learned, Messalina possessed no such impulses; +on the contrary, everything in her contributed to the strength of the +evil influences of her environment. Her glaring immoralities, combined +with the consummate art with which she contrived to befool her husband, +have rendered this woman's history a monument of conjugal infidelity for +all the ages. + +We may be fairly certain as to Messalina's personal appearance, for +there are a number of cameos and busts of her in existence, though, of +course, some of these are ideal and others are not well executed. Baring +Gould, who has made a careful study of the sculptured portraits of the +Caesarian family, regards it as certain that in the onyx cameo which is +in the Cabinet of Antiques at Vienna and in the bust now preserved in +the Uffizi Palace we have what may be considered correct representations +of Messalina. Of the former, he says: "The hair is arranged in small +curls covered with a species of crown wreathed with corn. This is the +usual mark of the deification of an empress as Ceres. The brow is low, +the nose straight and a little retrousse at the end, the mouth +remarkable for the thinness of the lips; the chin is not prominent, and +a peculiar feature is the slope from the chin to the throat, forming a +marked contrast in formation to that of Livia opposite. The mouth turns +down, but there is a slight contraction in the corner." Of the bust, he +tells us: "The profile there has a remarkable likeness to the +type-giving face on the cameo. The hair is in curls, but hangs down in +plaits behind, the brow is low, the eyes full, and the mouth with its +thin lips and cruel expression seems thoroughly to express the character +of the woman as known to us by history. The head is flat. There is +insolence in the mouth, and a curl in the corner, noticeable also in the +gem. One eye is larger than the other. They are not in line. The nose +has been restored, so that we cannot compare it with that on the cameo. +The rest agrees perfectly, though the slope from the chin is not so +perceptible in the bust owing to the difference in position of the head. +The brows are straight, not arched. Not only are the eyes of different +shapes, but the chin is on one side. The end of the chin is square, the +mouth is small, the lips fuller on the left side than on the right, and +the right corner drawn up. The expression of the face is different when +seen from each side, owing to the singular lack of uniformity in the +sides of the face. In the same gallery is a so-called young Britannicus, +and the resemblance of this child, as far as the formation of the lower +part of the head goes, to the Messalina above described is remarkable. +Still more remarkable is that of the beautiful statue in the Lateran, +where the resemblance is very close. The boy's lips are fuller, but the +whole structure of the jaws and chin, and the curl of the lower lip, +are the same as in the Messalina of Florence. If this be Britannicus, +then the bust at Florence is that of his mother; and it is hard to say +who else can be intended by this charming statue in military costume. + +"A medical man of large experience, who at my request studied the bust +of Messalina in the Florence gallery, informs me that it is that of a +woman physically unsound; the flattening of the top of the head +indicates an imperfect mental development, and the general aspect of the +face, evidently a close study from life without any attempt at hiding +blemishes and idealizing, is that of a woman whose span of life would +naturally be short. There would probably be malformation of the chest. +The face is that of one with feverish blood, whose flame of life burnt +too fast. The face is not in itself sensual, nor at all animal, but it +is insolent and cruel. The low, flat brow as well as the low, flat head +show that she was deficient in all the higher and nobler qualities. In +this bust the formation of the throat is peculiar. M. Mayor remarks: +'Thin lips, evil smile, ears hardly visible, jaw advancing and +remarkably massive, eyes close together, profoundly sunk under their +arcade, nostrils fine and flexible, lips asymmetrical, the upper lip +lifted on the right, as in a beast prepared to bite, the same +characteristic feature observed in Caligula and commented on by Darwin. +Facial asymmetry. The left eye highest and furthest from the nose (the +same noticeable in Nero and Claudius, etc.). The look cruel rather than +voluptuous. An ironical smile, the by no means uncommon mask worn by +pathological corruption and nymphomania,'" M. Meniere, in a book +entitled _Medical Studies from the Latin Poets_, also gives it as his +opinion that Messalina was a victim of nymphomania. He says: "At the +Salpetriere, there are Messalinas, cases which have absolutely nothing +to do with morals." This probably may safely be accepted as the true +explanation of the case, if one can rid one's mind of two suspicions. +The first of these is that this much-talked-of asymmetry may be nothing +other than inferior or careless artistic work. The sculptor may not have +been able, or he may not have given himself the time, to carve both +sides of the face so absolutely alike as to defy the criticism of sharp +scientists, bent on discovering a cause for the poetical effect found in +Juvenal and others. The mention of the satirist suggests our second +suspicion, which is that in his astonishing account of the criminal +appetites of Messalina he is straining after effect. + +Now, in regard to the first of these suspicions, we have the assurance +of eminent students of art that, in their sculpture, the Romans were +exceedingly jealous of exact representation. Viktor Rydberg says: "It is +impossible to reproach the Roman art of portraiture with flattery. It +gave what the Romans insisted on--rigid fidelity to nature. It made no +exception in favor of the Caesars and their house, not even for the +women. Proofs of this almost repulsive fidelity to nature are to be +found. An empress, arrived at a more than mature age, is to be +represented as Venus. It is possible that she would be glad to decline +the honor. She belongs to that period in life when old ladies drape +their withered beauties; but she has duties as Caesar's spouse, and must +resign herself to her fate. The goddess of love was the ancestress of +the Julian race; and so her attributes, but not her beauty, descend to +the empress. The artist has to immortalize her undraped charms, and he +does it with almost brutal frankness, so that the little cupid, with +finger to his mouth, at her feet, seems to sigh: 'Oh! for a curtain.'" +All this may be very true of particular instances; but we know that +there were cases when the artist did idealize, as would any sculptor who +would place the head of a Caesar on the trunk of a Greek god, if he were +so required. Again, at no period of the world's history has the +fraternity of artists been undiversified by members of varying ability, +and the task of representing Messalina may have fallen into the hands of +an inferior workman. Yet, after all, it is quite possible that the +asymmetry in question may have characterized the face of the voluptuous +empress; still, it should require something more than a little +inequality of feature in a statue not absolutely identified to cause to +accept, without a large grain of salt, Juvenal's statement in regard to +the wife of Claudius. That Messalina was in the habit of stealing forth +from the imperial palace at night to occupy a booth in a brothel as a +common demirep under the name of Lycisca is almost too improbable for +credence. It is possible that in this Juvenal enlarges on some allusion +made by Agrippina the Younger, who wrote the empress's memoirs and who +was never a friend to Messalina. + +The palace of Claudius was full of freedmen--men who had been +emancipated from slavery and had found the means to amass wealth and +attain influence--and of Greek adventurers. These men performed services +for the emperor and his wife which as yet were not submitted to by the +aristocratic or even the equestrian families. Such men as these had been +the only associates of Claudius before his advancement, and they +retained great influence with him during his reign. Messalina also was +obliged to consider them. Their silence, in regard to her intrigues, had +to be purchased; she was obliged to ally herself with them, in order +that she might retain her influence over her husband; their selling of +appointments and taking of bribes she had to countenance; and at last +she fell into their toils and was brought to ruin by their +machinations. + +At the commencement of the reign of Claudius, the two sisters of +Caligula, Julia and Agrippina, were recalled from exile and their +property restored to them. They were the daughters of Germanicus, +descendants of the great Augustus; therefore, it was not long before +they were the centre of a clique of dissatisfied nobles. Julia, who was +as unprincipled as she was beautiful, seemed to attract the attention of +Claudius. This was an offence which Messalina could not brook. Whatever +might be the extent of her own failings, she could not afford to run the +slightest risk of encountering a rival in the affections of the emperor. +It is remarkable, in an age of unparalleled laxity of morals, that when +means were sought by which to bring about the destruction of an enemy, +an accusation of adultery was usually successful. Those Romans were +human enough to condemn in others what they condoned in themselves. +Think of Messalina preaching of morals! She preferred charges of +incontinence against Julia, and induced the easily influenced emperor to +send the unfortunate woman back to exile, where she was quickly followed +by an assassin under the orders of the empress. This incident is all the +more memorable on account of the fact that Seneca, whose conduct never +very closely conformed to his teaching, was accused of being the +accomplice of Julia and was banished at the same time. The fate of her +sister was a warning to Agrippina. She saw how necessary it was to use +wariness in order that she might not offend, or at least that she might +not fall under the power of the empress; and Messalina, though she far +outdid her in vice, was no match for the clever politician, Agrippina. + +It would prove as tiresome as it would be unprofitable to recount all +the instances with which history illustrates Messalina's cruelty and +licentiousness; and even though our object be to show to what depths of +iniquity woman may descend under certain conditions, we will only refer +to a few incidents in the empress's profligate career. The first victim +of her power and criminality was her own stepfather, Silanus; Suetonius +conjectures that the reason for her resentment against her relative was +that he disdained her improper advances. The manner of his taking-off +was unique and indicates a genius for the invention of plots which may +well be envied by the modern romancist. One morning, Narcissus, a +favorite freedman, rushed into the presence of Claudius, showing signs +of the intensest alarm. He had dreamed that the emperor had been killed +by the hand of Silanus. Soon afterward, Messalina appeared and inquired +with much perturbation of manner as to the safety of her husband. Her +rest had been broken and her mind alarmed by a dream similar to that of +Narcissus. Other things were insinuated which seemed to warrant this +great and concurrent alarm on the part of the emperor's friends, so +that, his fears being thus cunningly worked upon, he at once gave orders +for the execution of Silanus. + +Messalina was bent on acquiring for herself two desirable pieces of +property. One was the beautiful gardens which had been commenced by +Lucullus, and completed on a most magnificent scale by Valerius +Asiaticus; the other was Mnester, a famous actor of that time. The +gardens were owned by Asiaticus; and Poppaea, who was one of the most +beautiful women of her day, seemed to interest the actor more than did +the empress. The latter determined to remove both these hindrances to +her desires at one stroke. She bribed Suillus, a man in high position +and notoriously venal, to accuse Asiaticus and Poppaea of being engaged +in an improper intrigue. Against the former, charges of a baser nature +were included and acts prejudicial to the safety of the emperor were +insinuated. Tacitus informs us that the unfortunate man was not allowed +a hearing before the Senate, but was tried privately in a chamber of the +palace and in the presence of Messalina. When speaking in his own +defence, he wrought so powerfully upon the feelings of Claudius that he +would certainly have been acquitted; but Messalina, who could not +restrain her own tears, as she left the room, whispered to Vitellius: +"Let not the accused escape." Then followed an exhibition of perfidy in +which it is doubtful if a mere Judas would have been unprincipled enough +to take the leading part. Vitellius began in the most sympathetic manner +to plead with the emperor--who was already meditating the acquittal of +Asiaticus--to remember the great services which had been rendered by the +accused to the State, and to exercise clemency by allowing Asiaticus to +choose his own mode of death; a sort of clemency to which Claudius +readily consented. Thus Messalina's purpose was so far attained. "She +hastened herself to accomplish the doom of Poppaea, by suborning persons +to drive her to a voluntary end by the terrors of imprisonment; a +catastrophe of which the emperor was so utterly unapprised, that a few +days after, as her husband Scipio was at table with him, he asked why he +had not brought his wife. Scipio answered that she was no more." + +The Vitellius who accomplished the above described piece of finesse with +such diplomacy was the father of the future emperor of the same name. +His chief characteristic was his extraordinary facility and lack of +conscience in the use of flattery. When asked by Caligula if Vitellius +had not seen the emperor in conversation with Diana, Vitellius answered +that it was not permitted to mere mortals like himself to witness the +intercourse of deities. On one occasion, in the presence of Claudius, he +begged the gift of one of Messalina's slippers. His request being +granted by the empress, he placed his acquisition in his bosom, and ever +afterward, at opportune moments, would draw it forth and kiss it in most +devoted fashion. Thus he strongly entrenched himself in the favor of +Messalina, and the modesty of his request did not lower him in the +estimation of her husband. + +In April of A.D. 47 occurred the centenary festival of the founding of +Rome. Vitellius saluted the emperor with: "May you often repeat these +celebrations." During the games, there took place an incident which was +of special interest to Agrippina, the rival of Messalina, and which +might easily have ended disastrously for her. The respective sons of +these two women appeared in one of the games. Britannicus was then six +years of age and Nero was nine; it was the first appearance of the +latter upon that stage which it was afterward his unworthy ambition to +hold. On this occasion, the populace were so inconsiderate as to place +Agrippina and her son in a position of great jeopardy by showing for +them the most enthusiastic partiality, while Britannicus was received in +that silence which denoted ill will to his mother. + +Messalina was at this time meditating an enterprise which eclipsed all +her former exploits and which she probably thought would conclusively +determine her own future and that of her son. Thus Tacitus recounts the +story: "She was so vehemently enamored of Caius Silius, the handsomest +of the Roman youth, that she obliged him to divorce his wife, Julia +Silana, a lady of high quality, and had him to herself. Nor was Silius +blind to the danger and the malignity of his crime; but, as it was +certain destruction to decline her suit, and there were some hopes of +beguiling Claudius, and great rewards being held out to him, he was +content to enjoy the present advantages and take the chance of what +might happen thereafter. The empress proceeded not stealthily, but went +to his house frequently, with a numerous train, accompanied him +incessantly abroad, loaded him with presents and honors; and at last, as +if the fortune of the Empire had been transferred with the emperor's +wife, at the house of Silius were now seen the slaves, freedmen, and +equipage of the prince." + +All this time, Claudius, ignorant of the conduct of his wife,--a fact +which must be attributed to the complete subjection under which he was +held by Messalina and the freedmen,--was exercising the functions of +moral censor and rebuking the people for the immorality of their +conduct. What a spectacle to men, not to speak of the ancient deities, +must have been the Roman government of those days! It is easy to see the +connection between the licentiousness of the times and the decline of +the State. + +Messalina, a course of the most promiscuous and unrestrained +licentiousness having produced satiety, now proceeded to an act of which +the emperors had many times set the example: she repudiated Claudius, +and united herself with matrimonial solemnities to Silius. Caius +Caligula had dismissed one wife to make room for another with scant if +any ceremony; but for a woman to do the same thing was another matter. +Tacitus says: "I am aware that it will appear fabulous that any human +beings should have exhibited such recklessness of consequences; and +that, in a city where everything was known and talked of, anyone, much +more a consul-elect, should have met the emperor's wife, on a stated +day, in the presence of persons called in to seal the deeds, and that +she should have heard the words of the augurs, entered the house of the +husband, sacrificed to the gods, sat down with the guests at the nuptial +banquet, and in every way comported herself as though she had been +given away in a marriage entirely lawful. But I would not dress up my +narrative with fictions to give it an air of marvel, rather than relate +what has been stated to me or written by my seniors." + +There are indications which seem to warrant the belief that if this +affair had succeeded in its object it would not have appeared so +thoroughly atrocious in the eyes of those who recorded it. The whole +matter is shrouded in that mystery which often characterizes the +transactions of rulers. Suetonius declares that it is beyond all belief +that Claudius himself, at the marriage of Messalina with Silius, should +have actually signed the writings relative to her dowry, induced thereto +by the design of diverting from himself and transferring to another the +effect of certain bad omens relative to the husband of Messalina. But, +considering the superstition of the time, of which Claudius had an +abundant share, and the cunning with which Messalina appears to have +been endowed, it seems entirely probable that here we have the key of +the whole situation. As is suggested by Victor Duruy, Claudius, timid +and credulous as he was, doubtless assured himself in accordance with +the formalistic notions of those times, or was persuaded by others, that +destiny would be satisfied with a marriage accomplished in conformity +with legal formulas, but a union only in name. He expected that thereby +he would save himself, and at the same time his honor might be avenged +by the death of Silius, thus fulfilling the oracle. + +But Messalina and her lover had other plans. By working on the old +emperor's fears, she had induced him to sign the writing, so that +afterward it might appear as though he had given his consent to his own +repudiation. Presuming on her Julian descent, she may have persuaded +herself that, once wedded to the young patrician and consul-elect, +together they might wrest the government from the feeble hand of +Claudius and share the imperial dignity. + +While the emperor was away at Ostia, the nuptials were consummated. The +marriage was solemnized in due and ample form, including all the ancient +rites. Silius may have pretended to drag the seemingly unwilling bride +from the embraces of her friends; but the yellow wedding veil was not +necessary to hide any blushes that were likely to flush the cheek of +Messalina. That the ceremonies were executed in due form may be +concluded from the fact that Mnester, the popular actor, took part in +them, probably as director. + +If Messalina counted on the fidelity of the freedmen, to whose +friendship she had many times confided her safety, she erred: for on +this occasion they fatally betrayed her. When Claudius was not being +guided by his wife for her own purposes, he was under the control of the +freedmen; what their position under Silius might be was problematical. +Narcissus, the most active of these courtiers, hurried at once to Ostia, +taking with him Calpurnia and Cleopatra, two women who had witnessed the +marriage. It was necessary that he should thoroughly arouse the +phlegmatic emperor and bring upon Messalina speedy destruction, or his +own doom would be accomplished. "The marriage has been made public," he +said. "Unless you act promptly, Silius will be master of Rome." He +induced Claudius to transfer the command of the praetorians to himself +for a day. He hurried the emperor back to the city, taking every +precaution that the latter should not be left alone with Messalina's +friends and that she herself should not be afforded the opportunity of a +personal interview. + +This unwonted suddenness of action on the part of the emperor was +precisely what Messalina and Silius did not anticipate. Instead of +intrenching themselves by energetic preparations, they wasted the time +in voluptuous revelry. It was the season of the grape harvest, and all +Rome was engaged in the customary celebration of the vintage. Messalina, +in the gardens of the palace, was enacting a Bacchanalian scene. Men +were treading the grapes and wine was flowing into casks; women in the +scant attire of Bacchantes were dancing around them; and Messalina, with +the symbolic thyrsus in her hand, joined in the revelry, accompanied by +Silius, who was crowned with ivy. The utmost licentiousness of speech +and action was the order of the day. At last, Vettius Valens, who +himself had been a lover of the empress, climbed to the top of a high +tree. "What can you see from up there?" someone shouted. "I see," he +replied, "a storm coming from Ostia." It was prophetic of what was soon +to fall upon the chief participators in the scene. Rumors, quickly +followed by the couriers of the emperor, announced that the latter was +approaching in great indignation. Messalina was immediately deserted by +all. The revellers went their own ways, and Silius repaired to the Forum +as though with no thought but to attend to his official duties. The +empress, thoroughly awakened at last to the gravity of her situation, +began to make preparations for her defence. She saw that her only hope +was in the easy, vacillating disposition of Claudius; she had never yet +failed to manage him, and her assurance was great. Sending forth her two +children, Octavia and Britannicus, to meet their father, she next +induced Vibidia, the chief of the Vestals, to obtain audience with the +emperor and implore his pardon for his guilty wife. + +Deserted by all the court with the exception of three persons, Messalina +traversed the city on foot; and finding on the outskirts one of the +carts used to convey the rubbish of the streets and gardens, she got +into it and started forth to meet her outraged husband. Coming within +hearing of the emperor, she began to call upon him to listen to the +mother of his children; but Narcissus drowned her voice with the story +of her crime and placed in the hands of Claudius a paper reciting all +Messalina's adulteries, so that, reading it, his eyes might not be +turned upon his wife. Vibidia pleaded with the emperor that he should +not allow the empress to be destroyed without a hearing; but she was +sent away by the freedman, who advised her to attend to the proper +duties of her vocation. + +Had it not been for the hasty manner in which this affair was brought to +a fatal termination by Narcissus, Messalina would probably have won a +pardon from her doting husband. It is true that when the emperor was +taken to the house of Silius and there shown valuable furniture, +heirlooms from his own palace, his indignation was great; he allowed +himself to be conducted to the camp, where he made a short speech to the +soldiers and constituted them judges of the criminals; but after having +partaken of a sumptuous repast, his good nature, or rather his +indifference, returned, and he ordered his servants to go and "acquaint +the miserable woman that to-morrow she may plead her cause." The +freedman knew that if Messalina obtained the opportunity to talk with +the emperor, her alluring methods would save her life, and Claudius +would turn to make common cause with her against her accusers. Narcissus +therefore hurried forth and commanded the tribune on duty to "despatch +the execution," for such, he said, was the emperor's command. + +The soldiers found Messalina in the gardens of Lucullus, lying upon the +ground, and by her side her mother, Lepida, who was seeking to persuade +her wretched daughter not to wait for the executioner, but to die +becomingly by her own hand. This, however, the woman had not the +courage to do. At times, she would recite to her mother the speeches +with which she hoped to justify herself to her husband, and then she +would give way to imprecations and vain lamentations. Thus she was +employed when the door was burst open and the soldiers and Narcissus +appeared before her. The freedman indulged his spite and taunted her +with insolent reproaches. Then the unhappy woman, accepting the dagger +from her mother's hand, held it to her breast, but dared not strike; so +the tribune, in mercy as well as in justice, despatched her with his +sword. The news was carried to Claudius that "Messalina was no more"; +and without asking how she died or by whose hand, he called for a cup of +wine and continued the feast. + +Silius made no attempt to exonerate or defend himself, but simply asked +for a speedy death. With him died a number of other illustrious knights, +their offence being like his, though not so public or so heinous. +Mnester the actor thought to save his life by reminding the emperor that +it was by the latter's own command that he had been obliged to submit to +the orders of Messalina; but though this plea caused some hesitation in +the mind of Claudius, it was overruled by the merciless freedmen. It was +thus also with Traulus Montanus, a young man of remarkable beauty; he +could urge that only on one occasion had he been summoned to the +apartments of the empress, and then immediately cast off; this plea, +however, did not avail to save him. + +It has been our purpose in this chapter to show how, in the midst of +artistic surroundings, in a polished society, at a time when poetical +and philosophical literature was universally cultivated, women, by the +enormity of their excesses, touched the lowest depth of moral +depravity. All that appeared necessary was to piece together the +fragmentary information provided by the ancient historians and so +present a picture of this single astounding character, Messalina. She +was the ultimity of feminine vice. She did not stand alone; but in her +there was a unique combination of extraordinary political power, +unbounded opportunity for lawlessness, and inordinate concupiscence. + +But one human life is not sufficient in which to display all the +possible varieties of moral unrestraint. Messalina died, and Agrippina +reigned in her stead. In the daughter of Germanicus was exemplified a +character very different from that of the woman we have just dismissed. +Agrippina was less wanton, but she was not more womanly. Messalina +sacrificed human life in caprice, Agrippina assigned men to death in +cold calculation. The aim of the one was pleasure, the object of the +other was power. Messalina was a most unworthy mother; Agrippina +contravened every other womanly instinct in order that her son might +reign. + +After Messalina's death, Claudius declared before the praetorians: "As I +have been unhappy in my marriages, I am resolved henceforth to remain +single; and if I should not, I give you leave to stab me." But he was +not able to persist in this resolution; there were many women who, for +the sake of bearing the name of empress, sought matrimonial union with +him. Agrippina, however, had marked that position for her own, and she +was intellectually the strongest, as well as one of the most beautiful +women in Rome. She was now thirty-four years of age. It was no new +undertaking for her to bestir herself in the search for a husband. At +the age of thirteen she had been married to Cnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus; +but he had died in A.D. 40, leaving her with Nero, their only child. On +her retum from exile at the beginning of Claudius's reign, she had +endeavored to form a union with a powerful patrician named Galba, who +had a wife then living; but for her pains she got her face slapped by +Galba's mother-in-law. She was soon married, however, to an orator +called Passienus, who was a man remarkable for his wit, wealth, and good +nature. He died before Agrippina had set her hopes upon a marriage with +Claudius. + +It was Agrippina's determination to be empress, in order that her son +might be emperor. Some years previous, an astrologer had said of the boy +that he would reign, but that he would be the death of his mother. "Let +me die, then," said she, "so he but reign." + +Her marriage with Claudius would be illegal and incestuous, he being her +uncle. But Agrippina aroused the emperor's desire for the match by the +endearments for which her relationship provided the opportunity, and the +complacent Senate passed an enactment that henceforth such marriages +should be lawful. Before the nuptials were celebrated, Agrippina +obtained the promise of the hand of Octavia, the daughter of Claudius by +Messalina, for her son, thus doubly securing her position; this was done +despite the fact that Octavia had already been betrothed to another man. +Being thus able to have her way before marriage, it is not wonderful +that after that event Claudius should be wholly under his wife's rule. +Tacitus says: "From this moment the city assumed a different character, +and a woman had the control of everything. She, however, did not, like +Messalina, mock and trample upon the interests of the State in the +extravagance of her lewdness. The despotism exercised was as thorough as +though it were under the direction of a man. In her public conduct she +was grave and rigid, frequently haughty and overbearing. No departure +was observable in her domestic deportment, unless it were necessary to +support her power; but an insatiable thirst for money was veiled under +the pretext of its being used to maintain the imperial authority." + +As an instance of Agrippina's cruelty, it may be mentioned that she +brought about the condemnation of Lollia, who had been her rival for the +hand of Claudius, and compelled the unfortunate woman to destroy +herself. Calpurnia, another illustrious lady, she also doomed to ruin, +for no other reason than that the emperor once made a casual remark upon +her beauty. + +The advancement of her son was the object ever before the eyes of +Agrippina; for this she lived and for the attainment of this +consummation she spared no promising effort, whether lawful or +otherwise. Through the influence of Pallas, one of the favorite +freedmen, she brought it to pass that her son was adopted by the emperor +as his own, and the historians aver that as a reward for this service +Pallas received favors which belonged solely to Claudius. Step by step, +Nero was preferred, and at the same time the son of Messalina and the +emperor was depreciated. Britannicus seems to have been a boy of spirit. +Because he persisted in addressing her son by the name Ahenobarbus +[Brazenbeard], Agrippina placed over him tutors whose duty it was to +teach him to respect the decree of the Senate, by which the more +honorable name of Nero had been conferred on her offspring. Still, +everything did not go forward quite to Agrippina's satisfaction. She +found in Narcissus almost as great an enemy as had Messalina, and even +the emperor was somewhat uncertain in his favor; on one occasion, he was +heard to mutter something to the effect that he seemed fated to suffer +the iniquities of his wives, and then to punish them. Nero was now +seventeen years of age, and through the shrewd policy of his mother had +not only been named by the emperor as his successor, but had been +generally recognized as the heir-apparent by the people; it needed only +the death of Claudius to raise him to the imperial throne. + +New wants create new professions. In despotic governments, the lives of +certain persons are often too prolonged in the opinion of others who +have their own purposes to pursue, and there never have been lacking +those who in such a juncture could make themselves extremely useful. In +the time of Agrippina there lived a woman named Locusta, who, as Tacitus +informs us, was a famous artist in the mixing of drugs. Her skill seems +always to have had for its object, not the cure of patients who were +confided to her care, but their judicious taking-off. The +above-mentioned historian informs us that Agrippina allowed this woman +to employ her art upon Claudius; and as no other writer approximate to +that age seeks to purge the empress of this accusation, it must be +reckoned to her account. "In fact," says Tacitus, "all the particulars +of this transaction were soon afterward so thoroughly known, that the +writers of those times are able to recount how the poison was poured +into a dish of mushrooms, of which he was particularly fond; but whether +it was that his senses were stupefied, or from the wine he had drunk, +the effect of the poison was not immediately perceived." Agrippina +therefore became dismayed; but as her life was at stake, she thought +little of the odium of her present proceedings, and called in the aid of +Xenophon the physician, whom she had already implicated in her guilty +project. It is believed that he, as if he purposed to assist Claudius in +his efforts to vomit, put down his throat a feather besmeared with +deadly poison. + +After the death of Claudius, Agrippina discovered that the day was +ill-omened, so that she hesitated to have her son proclaimed. The fact +of the emperor's death was therefore kept a secret for some hours. The +people were so far imposed upon that they believed that Claudius was +approving and desired to be entertained. Buffoons were Produced, who +played their antics and cracked their jokes in the presence of the +corpse; the empress, in the meantime, feigning to be overcome with +grief, was clasping the young Britannicus in her arms and declaring that +he was the very image of his father. + +At noon, it being the thirteenth of October in the year 4, the death of +Claudius was announced, and Nero was received by the soldiers with +shouts of joy. The Senate confirmed his accession, and that night, when +the tribune asked the new emperor for the watchword, he gave "the best +of mothers." + +Claudius, unless the Roman historians are to be considered entirely +unworthy of credence, had been murdered by his wife; but, +notwithstanding this fact and also that she had despised him while he +lived, she hastened to propose his apotheosis as soon as he was dead. +How much those divine honors which were decreed to deceased members of +the imperial family meant to the Romans may be gathered from the +fragments which have been preserved of a satire written by Seneca at +this time; the satire also indicates the contempt into which the ancient +religion had fallen. Seneca claims that from him who saw Drusilla, the +sister of Caligula, ascend into heaven, he derived his information as to +what happened in Olympus when "a respectable-looking old man, with +shaking head, lame foot, and some kind of threat upon his lips" +[Claudius] arrived thither. The Olympian Senate, notwithstanding the +labors of Hercules on his behalf, voted that Claudius was not to be +admitted. + +After the inauguration of Nero's reign, there followed for the Empire +five years of what seemed to the people, so accustomed were they to the +worst horrors in the name of government, a wise and upright +administration. Nero was to a certain extent under the influence of +Seneca and Burrhus, men who perhaps were as good as any of their time. +Credit must be given Agrippina for having at least selected the best men +she could find to take charge of the education of her son. Nevertheless, +during those five years occurred her own murder and that of Britannicus. +After the death of the latter, Locusta--for whom Nero had found ample +employment--was permitted to retire to the enjoyment of the immense +wealth with which she had been rewarded for her services to those in +power; it was stipulated, however, that she should train other women in +the practice of her art. + +Agrippina had done and suffered much to secure the Empire for her son; +but she never contemplated that he would reign alone while she lived. +She expected to occupy a throne by his side. Her officious dominance +soon became intolerable to the young emperor. He also fell under the +fascination of the beautiful but unprincipled Poppaea, who refused to +share his palace with so jealous and imperious a mother-in-law. Bitter +must have been the reflections of Agrippina when she found herself not +only disappointed of this part of her ambition, but also saw that her +son was impatiently awaiting her death. Indeed, he was devising means to +bring it to pass; but she who was herself so well practised in the +methods of assassination was not an easy victim. The sword was too open +a method, and she was believed to have prepared herself, by taking +antidotes, against all kinds of poisons. But there was a genius at the +court. Anicetus, an enfranchised slave, now commander of the fleet, +could construct a vessel that would fall to pieces at sea at any given +moment. Agrippina was invited to join her son at Baise. He was all +affection and again seemed willing to commit himself to her influence. +A magnificent vessel was provided to convey her to and from the villa +where he had provided an entertainment. As she was returning over the +smooth waters, lighted by the brilliant stars, the roof of the cabin, +which had been weighted with lead, suddenly fell in, killing a man who +belonged to her train. Agrippina and Aceronia, her woman attendant, +escaped from this part of the prearranged accident; but the boat then +upsetting, they were thrown into the sea. Aceronia, in order that she +might be rescued, cried out that she was the emperor's mother, and she +was immediately killed by oars and boathooks in the hands of the crew. +Her mistress, however, suspecting at once the real nature of what had +taken place, remained quiet, and swam until she was picked up by passing +boats and conveyed to her own villa. + +At the prospect of his mother's death, Nero exclaimed: "At last I shall +reign"; but when the news reached him that the cunningly contrived +shipwreck had proved a failure, his fury knew no bounds. At that +juncture, a messenger arrived from Agrippina to say that his mistress +had been preserved--she deemed it prudent to appear to take it for +granted that her son was not implicated in the attempt upon her life. +While the messenger was speaking, Anicetus picked up a dagger from the +floor and pretended that the man had dropped it; it was then declared +that Agrippina must have sent him to assassinate her son. A party of men +were at once sent to her villa. They broke into her bedchamber. "If you +are come for murderous purposes," she cried, "I will not believe that it +is by the order of my son." She was quickly despatched with many wounds. + +In the busts and medal portraits of Agrippina that have been preserved +we see a face remarkably suggestive of refinement of character. Looking +at that face and remembering the accusations which have been laid +against her, one is naturally inclined to take up a brief in her +defence. It does not seem possible that she could have been guilty of +these crimes; nor, indeed, in other times and circumstances would it +have been possible. It was not a depraved will like that of Messalina +that led Agrippina to the adoption of evil courses. The causes were +several. She was proud; she had an insatiate craving for power; above +all, her unyielding will was wholly bent on the project of placing her +son upon the imperial throne. Had she lived at a time when violent +measures were not permissible, her methods would probably have been more +humane; but her ambition would doubtless have been as great and her +determination as tenacious. In her age, murder was a common expedient +for clearing the way to a prize. In her time, female modesty was a +quality almost impossible to be retained, and but little valued in those +few by whom it was preserved. To acquit Agrippina of murder and +unchastity would be not only to fault history but to impute to the +empress an innocence which in the nature of the case it was impossible +she should possess. + + + + +X + +THE WOMEN OF DECADENT ROME + +At the period with which we are now engaged, the vast majority of the +people of Rome were giving their attention to one all-absorbing +occupation--that of amusing themselves. The wealthy had little else to +do; the chief industries of the poor contributed to this end. Never in +the history of the world has a nation been so completely given over to +pleasure. Production was almost entirely limited to such occupations as +had for their object the extravagant supply of the luxuries of art and +entertainment; common necessaries, such as wheat, were extorted from the +provinces. Agriculture had become almost unknown in Italy. The rich men +no longer, like the great republican patricians, prided themselves on +their skill in tilling the soil; it better suited their tastes, and was +more lucrative, to farm taxes. "We have abandoned the care of our ground +to the lowest of our slaves," said Columelia, "and they treat it like +barbarians. We have schools of rhetoricians, geometers, and musicians. I +have even seen where they teach the lowest trades, such as the art of +cooking, or of dressing the hair; but nowhere have I found for +agriculture a teacher or a pupil. Meanwhile, even in Latium, that we may +avoid famine, we must bring our corn from foreign countries and our +wine from the Cyclades, Boetica, and Gaul." The land had come to be held +almost wholly by the few who were exceedingly rich. Their interests were +in Rome. For the country they cared nothing, except as it provided them +with luxurious retreats where they might, for a short space, renew their +enervated faculties after the dissipations of the city. Their land they +gave up to pasture and cattle raising, as being more profitable and +requiring less care than tilling the soil. Thus there was no employment +or means of subsistence for poor freedmen in the country; and so they +flocked to the cities, crowding the wretched _insulae_, or tenements, and +depending mainly upon the free distributions of corn for their living. +The mass of the people, however, were drawn to Rome and the other great +Italian cities as much by their desire to participate in the feverish +life of the times as they were driven thither by lack of employment in +the country. These were the people who amused Nero by fighting for +places in the Great Circus; these were the people who howled for bread +and for games, and rewarded an ample supply of the same by supporting +tyrants in their monstrous excesses. When it is remembered that all +domestic labor, as well as all work belonging to many other branches of +industry, was performed by slaves, we are necessarily left to suppose +that the proletariat of Rome had little with which to occupy itself +beyond the public exhibitions and the pothouses, of which there existed +an enormous number; great numbers of men were, however, required for the +immense armies which garrisoned the provinces. + +Of the domestic life of the common people of Rome we have only the most +meagre information. We know that they inhabited huge tenements, in which +small apartments were rented at excessive rates. Housekeeping in these +tenements must have been conducted on a very simple scale, as one of the +comic writers pictures a poor family moving to other quarters and +carrying all their effects in their hands at one journey. Yet the men +who issued thence wore the _toga_ of the Roman citizen, tattered though +it might be and having no other significance than the mere fact that its +wearers were not slaves. For these men there was little occupation +except wandering about the city in search of amusement and the +opportunity to make a little gain by any means that came to hand. Of +course, there were trades and commerce, the workshop and the store; but +slavery made it impossible for a large proportion of the impecunious +citizens of Rome to make an honorable living by means of their own +labor. There was a larger army of the unemployed than our modern cities +can show. Yet the Roman government, laying tribute as it did upon the +whole civilized world, could keep the citizens of Rome from starving. +For the women, beyond their simple domestic duties, the field of honest +industry was yet more limited. They were employed as professional +mourners to sing songs of lamentation at funerals; they could work at +some few mechanical trades, such as cloth weaving; they could keep a +shop. Occasionally, there was a woman of exceptional talent who made +large profits by means of decorative art; among the wall pictures of +Pompeii there is one which represents a female artist engaged in +painting upon canvas a figure of Bacchus from a statue which serves her +for a model. We read of Iaia, who, though a Greek, lived in Rome and of +whom Pliny says that she was very successful in painting portraits, and +especially in engraving female figures upon ivory. One matron found a +unique occupation; she made large sums yearly by fattening and selling +thrushes for the tables of epicures. But the majority of women who were +able to make a living did so by virtue of their personal attractions and +by ministering to the voluptuousness of the wealthy, as harp players, +dancers, and in other avocations still more questionable. + +During the reign of Nero, there were no wars of any great moment. The +old Roman passion for territorial expansion was in abeyance. The +government was concentrated in the person of a man whose ambitions were +histrionic rather than military. Nero was part actor, part clown, wholly +debased; what could be expected from the associates of such a man, or +from the people who tolerated him? If it be true that every nation has +the government of which it is deserving, then the officers and people of +the Roman Empire in Nero's time must be accounted as subordinates and +supernumeraries in a fatuous burlesque which frequently deepened into +mad tragedy. The way to the emperor's favor was not through victorious +conflicts with the enemies of the State, but by means of the lavishment +of fulsome applause of his own imbecile performances in the theatre and +the circus. Nero never entered Rome in military triumph, as had his +predecessors, followed by wagons filled with plunder and a train of +captives who had been formidable to the State; he was content to win +crowns from a debased people who hypocritically admired his voice and +his acting, and to triumphantly enter Rome as conqueror in the Grecian +games. "He made his entry into the city riding in the same chariot in +which Augustus had triumphed. For the occasion he wore a purple tunic +and a cloak embroidered with golden stars, having on his head the crown +won at Olympia, and in his right hand that which was given him at the +Parthian games; the rest were carried in a procession before him, with +inscriptions denoting the places where they had been won, from whom, and +in what plays or performances. A train followed him with loud +acclamations, crying out that they were the emperor's attendants, and +the soldiers of his triumph. He suspended the sacred crowns in his +chambers, about his beds, and caused statues of himself to be erected, +in the attire of a harper, and had his likeness stamped upon coins, in +the same dress. He offered his friendship or avowed open enmity to many, +according as they were lavish or sparing in giving him their applause." +Thus the Roman historian describes the order of that day, and from this +we may judge of the environment of the principal women of Rome in those +times. + +Virtue and womanly dignity were inconsiderable qualities in the days of +Nero. The ladies of the court could only attain and hold their positions +by means of their personal attractions and by taking part in excesses +from which every vestige of virtue was eradicated. Prostitution had now +become fashionable. It is possible to give Messalina the benefit of a +doubt as to whether or not she were a mere freak of nature. Agrippina +was monstrously ambitious and as merciless as a tigress whose young are +threatened; but she adopted the only means which her times afforded. In +Poppaea, however, we see the typical woman of decadent Rome--of ordinary +intellect, intensely voluptuous, and devoid of natural affection. + +Poppaea was the daughter of that beautiful but wanton lady of the same +name whom Messalina had forced to seek death by her own hand. In this +instance, heredity claimed its vindication; to the daughter descended +the loveliness of person and also the lax principles which characterized +the mother. "This woman," says Tacitus, "possessed everything but an +honest mind. Her wealth was equal to the dignity of her birth; she had a +fascinating conversation, and was not deficient in wit. She observed an +outward decorum, but in her heart was wanton; she rarely appeared in +public, and when she did she wore a veil, either because she did not +want to glut people's eyes with her beauty, or because she thought a +veil became her." It is said of her that she employed all the recipes at +that time known--and they were very numerous--to prevent the inroads +which age will make. She covered her face with a mask when out of doors, +in order to shield it from the sun; and when at last her mirror informed +her that the charms of that face were beginning to wane, she cried: "Let +me die rather than lose my beauty!"--a wish by no means unnatural, for +in the game which she so desperately played her beauty was her only +stake. Nero married her solely for her loveliness of person. The +conjugal fidelity which stands the test of changing years was not then +common; and the law did not enforce it upon the unwilling. Juvenal +doubtless truly pictures the contretemps which women like Poppsea had to +fear: + + "Sertorius what I say disproves, + For though his Bibula is poor, he loves. + True! but examine him; and on my life, + You'll find he loves the beauty, not the wife. + Let but a wrinkle on her forehead rise, + And time obscure the lustre of her eyes; + Let but the moisture leave her flaccid skin, + And her teeth blacken, and her cheeks grow thin; + And you shall hear the insulting freedman say: + 'Pack up your trumpery, madam, and away! + Nay, bustle, bustle; here you give offence, + With snivelling night and day;--take your nose hence!'" + +We have no very trustworthy representation of Poppaea's appearance. There +are in existence medals showing her reputed portrait, especially a Greek +coin with the head of Nero on one side and that of his wife on the +other; but as the former is certainly not a good likeness, it is +Reasonable to suppose that the other is no better. Her face, as it is +here portrayed, is of the ideal Greek type--straight brows, and nose +almost in a line with the forehead. There is also a bust in existence, +which, according to archaeological students, may be held to represent +either the mythical Clytie or the famous wife of Nero. Her hair is said +to have been remarkably beautiful. It was very abundant and of a golden +amber color. Nero composed verses upon it. + +There were serious obstacles between Poppaea and the imperial throne +which she speedily manifested an ambition to share--obstacles which, in +more virtuous days, or among women possessing the slightest degree of +modesty, would have been absolutely insurmountable; but with the rulers +of Rome in those times nothing was impossible except self-control for +the sake of honor. Nero was married to Octavia, the daughter of +Messalina and Claudius. Poppaea was also married. She had been divorced +from Rufus Crispinus, a Roman knight, to whom she had borne a son, and +was now joined in matrimony to Otho, the profligate confidant of the +young emperor. There are indications that Otho was fond of his +unprincipled wife. She was the choicest treasure in his magnificently +furnished house. He boasted of her beauty to Nero, and excited the young +ruler's pride as well as his passion by telling him that though he were +the emperor he could not vie with his subject in the possession of such +an example of female loveliness. He even permitted Nero to visit his +wife, but, in his self-esteem, did not count upon the result. Otho +maintained Poppaea in inordinate splendor; but he was not the emperor. He +could give her incalculable riches; but he could not make her the +mistress of the world. Poppaea saw her opportunity. She lavished upon +Nero all the powers of her coquetry; she intimated that she was smitten +with regard for him; she allowed him to flatter himself that he had won +her. But she would hear of nothing but marriage. Nero was at her feet; +but, having so far attained her end, she would listen to no +protestations until he removed all hindrances to their union. She would +be empress or nothing. With her beauty for a bait, she led Nero on to +the committal of the most heinous crimes. Agrippina was murdered because +Poppaea taunted Nero with being under the care of a governess. "Why did +he delay to marry her?" Tacitus represents her as asking. "Had he +objections to her person or her ancestry? Or was he dissatisfied because +she had given proof of her fertility? Did he doubt the sincerity of her +affection? No; the truth must be that he was afraid that if she were his +wife she would expose the insolence and the rapaciousness of his mother. +But if Agrippina would bear no daughter-in-law who was not virulently +opposed to her son, she desired to be sent to Otho. She was ready to +withdraw to any quarter of the earth, rather than behold the emperor's +degradation." Otho, in order that he might be out of the way, had been +appointed Governor of Lusitania. + +It was some time after the death of Agrippina before Octavia was +removed, first by repudiation and then by death. We shall have occasion +to notice the character of this estimable woman in a later chapter. In +the meantime, the emperor did not have to wait wholly unrewarded by the +favors of Poppaea. He was entirely under her influence; but the memory of +the remorse which had seized him after the murder of his mother +restrained him, for a while, from adding to that crime another of equal +atrocity. Again, however, Poppaea cunningly worked upon his fears, +insinuating that unless he reinstated Octavia, whom he hated, as +empress, the people would give her another husband, whom they would make +emperor. This sealed Octavia's doom; shortly afterward, her head was +brought to Rome and laid at the feet of her infamous successor, Poppaea +was at last the empress in name as well as in fact; and when she +presented Nero with a daughter, he made a mockery of the title by naming +ner, as well as the child, Augusta. But the little one soon died, and +the Senate was obliged to console the father by decreeing that his +infant daughter had become a goddess. + +All the historians agree that subsequent to his connection with Poppaea, +Nero deteriorated in his character, or at least in his conduct. The +influence of the woman seemed to bring out and encourage the worst that +was in him. For Poppaea, however, there was compensation; her principal +gain, in her own estimation, may perhaps be best typified by the palace +which Nero built. She cared little for political power; imperial +magnificence was the attraction that enticed her. Surely never did woman +have her wish in this respect so completely gratified as did the wife of +Nero! He built himself a house, having first destroyed many another in +order to furnish a site. The author of _Rome of To-day and Yesterday_ +says: "It was upon the palace for the emperor that Severus and Celer, +the first architects ever mentioned by name in Roman history, lavished +all the resources of his boundless wealth and their skill. It seems so +extravagant to say that the Golden House extended over an area of nearly +a square mile in the very midst of the city, that if there had not been +left, from point to point, remains of it over a considerable part of +this area, the statement of the old writers to that effect would not +have seemed worthy of belief." By the Golden House is, of course, not +meant one continuous building; but there was an enclosure by means of +three colonnades, each a mile in length, and an entrance portico +somewhat narrower on the side opposite the Forum. Within this enclosure +were great courts resembling parks, fountains, and fishponds, besides +the residence buildings and baths. "In parts," says Suetonius, "this +house was entirely overlaid with gold and adorned with jewels and +mother-of-pearl. The supper rooms were vaulted, and compartments of the +ceilings, inlaid with ivory, were made to revolve and scatter flowers; +moreover, they were provided with pipes which shed essences on the +guests. The chief banqueting room was circular, and revolved +perpetually, night and day, in imitation of the motion of the celestial +bodies. The baths were supplied from the sea and from Albula. Upon the +dedication of this magnificent house, when finished, all Nero said in +approval of it was: 'Well, now at last I am housed as a man should be!'" + +Amidst this magnificent splendor, Poppaea lived. We will endeavor to +recount her manner of living as closely as we may, in order that we may +know what was the ideal existence in the estimation of the majority of +the women of her time. + +The chief concern of Poppaea, as of all the women of that period whom age +or nature had not unkindly relieved of this responsibility, was the +preservation of her beauty. The Roman authors have mercilessly laid bare +the methods and mysteries to which their ladies resorted for this +purpose. No pains or discomforts were avoided in order to retain the +freshness of complexion which was apt, in the dissipated life of the +palace, quickly to disappear. Poppaea is reputed to have invented many +cosmetics and face washes, and especially a mask which was worn at +night, which was composed of dough mixed with ass's milk; while for the +purpose of removing wrinkles another mask, composed of rice, was worn, +Juvenal mocks at the appearance of the ladies with their faces thus +encased, "ridiculous and swollen with the great poultice." He suggests +that what is fomented so often, anointed with so many ointments, and +receives so many poultices, ought to be considered a sore rather than a +face. It was held to be of great importance that these applications +should be washed off with ass's milk, and the old writers assert that +Poppaea kept large herds of these animals in order that she might bathe +in their warm milk every day. The Roman ladies were by no means averse +to assisting nature in augmenting their charms; they used white and red +paints with artistic effect. These were ordinarily moistened with +saliva, possibly on account of the Roman superstition in regard to the +efficacy of lustration. The brows and eyelashes were frequently dyed; +and so careful were the women to render nature all the assistance +possible, that even the delicate veins of the temples were heightened in +their effect by a faint touch of blue. The teeth had always received +most careful attention. There were many pastes and powders known to the +Roman beauty. Artificial teeth made of ivory had been in use from very +ancient times, for in the laws of the Twelve Tables there was one which +prohibited the deposition of gold in the graves of the dead, excepting +the material used for the fastening of false teeth. "You have your hair +curled, Galla," says Juvenal, "at a hair dresser's in Suburra Street, +and your eyebrows are brought to you every morning. At night, you remove +your teeth as you do your dress. Your charms are enclosed in a hundred +different pots, and your face does not go to bed with you." Many +instances are recorded of the costliness of the attire of these Roman +ladies. They wore silk which was sold at its weight in gold. There was a +kind of muslin so transparent that it was known as "woven air." Tunics +were ornamented with figures embroidered in gold thread, and encrusted +with pearls and precious stones. Pliny relates that he saw Lollia +Paulina wearing a dress which was covered with emeralds and pearls from +her head to her feet. She carried with her the receipts to show that +upon her person she wore a value of forty million sesterces; and this +was not her best dress, for the occasion was only a second-class +betrothal feast. At an entertainment given by Claudius on Lake Fucinus, +Agrippina wore a garment which was woven entirely of gold thread. + +The women of Poppaea's day seem to have been fully acquainted with the +benefits to be derived from physical exercise. Agrippina, as we have +seen, could swim with no less expertness than Cloelia of ancient renown. +Indeed, Juvenal pictures the women breaking the ice and plunging into +the river in the depth of winter, and diving beneath the eddies of the +Tiber at early dawn. This, however, was for religious and propitiatory +reasons. The same satirist refers with evident disapproval to women +exercising with heavy dumb-bells in the same fashion as did the men when +preparing for the bath. It is apparent that in this age women deemed it +to be in keeping with their rights to share, as closely as nature would +permit, in the pursuits and the privileges of the men; just as there +were men who, beyond the boundary set by nature, usurped the position +which belonged to women. + +We have spoken of the bath; and it being so large a feature in Roman +city life and so good an illustration--though the most innocent--of the +luxury of the times, it will not be amiss to afford a little space to +its description. + +The Golden House and many of the palaces of the wealthy contained baths +which, while not on so large a plan as the public _thermae_, were +doubtless even more luxuriously appointed. We will take, however, the +public baths for our example. In the period of the early Republic, the +Romans, though scrupulously cleanly as the warmth of their country +required, contented themselves with washing in the Tiber. Every ninth +day was deemed sufficient for a complete immersion. As the arts of +civilization advanced, tubs were placed in the houses, and a daily bath +before the evening meal became customary. The first aqueduct for the +conveyance of water into the city was built by Appius Claudius about +B.C. 310. Seven or eight others were afterward constructed, notably that +of Agrippa; so that no city was ever better supplied with water than was +ancient Rome. This made possible the public baths, which early made +their appearance and which must have been such a boon to the people. At +first these baths were solely for lavatory purposes, and were neither so +magnificent nor so much a social feature as they afterward became. +Seneca relates that at first the aediles superintended not only the +decorum of the bathers, but also the temperature of the baths. Under +Augustus, these public conveniences began to be characterized with that +magnificence of structure in which all the emperors delighted. A great +many of these buildings were erected in various parts of the city; as +many as eight hundred have been enumerated. Some of these were +marvellous, not only for their dimensions, but also for the costliness +of the material and the artistic decorations. The baths of Caracalla +were adorned with two hundred columns of the finest marble and furnished +with sixteen hundred seats of marble, and it is said that eighteen +thousand persons might conveniently bathe there at one time. Yet these +were excelled both in size and magnificence by the Thermae Dioclesianae. +The gift of these establishments was one of the means by which the +emperors kept themselves in favor with the people. For a trifling sum, a +citizen of any degree could repair to this scene of magnificence and +luxury, where there were crowds of slaves to minister to his comfort in +a style which might arouse the envy of the proudest Oriental monarch. +Besides the various kinds of hot and cold baths, swimming tanks, etc., +there were stately porticoes for games and exercise, there were +gymnasiums, magnificent galleries for the exhibition of specimens of +painting and sculpture, and frequently there were libraries where the +studious might rest and read after the refreshing luxury of the baths. +The bathrooms proper were duplicated in each establishment, one part +being open for the use of the men, the other set apart for the women. +There is a hint, however, that, during the reign of some of the worst of +the emperors, this propriety was not always strictly adhered to. Unless +the Latin writers wilfully calumniate their own times, it was not a +thing unknown for both men and women, in the private baths of palatial +residences, to be waited on by slaves of the opposite sex. + +Whether or not Poppaea condescended to make use of the public baths, it +is impossible to ascertain. It is certain, however, that the emperors +frequently joined the multitude in their sports and lavations. At two +o'clock each day, the opening of the baths was announced by the ringing +of a bell. Everybody repaired thither; it was the common rendezvous for +gossip, recreation, and amusement. Authors frequently read at the baths +their new productions to those of the crowds who cared to listen. Much +of the afternoon was spent in this manner. Before taking the bath, +exercise was indulged in, a favorite form of which was ball playing. +Then one entered the _caldarium_, in which hot air was diffused by means +of pipes leading from a furnace in the basement; then came the +_tepidarium_, always followed by a plunge in cold water. While bathing, +the skin was rubbed or scraped with a silver instrument called a +_strigula_. The Romans concluded the toilet by rubbing the body with +odoriferous ointments, and, thus refreshed and anointed, proceeded to +the banquet. + +In the early days of the Republic, meals were prepared with care, but +there was no sumptuousness, no art. The first signs of Asiatic luxury +made themselves noted on the table; delicacy and profusion were carried +to excess, resulting in extravagance and gluttony. The cook, who had +anciently been the lowest of the slaves, came to be the most important +officer in the establishments of the rich; that which at first was only +a low and necessary employment came to be a difficult and a highly +esteemed art. The price of a cook, says Pliny, was rated at as much as +would have formerly sufficed for the expense of a triumph, and a fish +was bought at the price anciently paid for a cook. + +To make provision for banquets seems to have been more the province of +the master of a Roman house than it was that of the mistress. There is a +great contrast between the position of a Roman matron and that of a +modern lady in this respect; the responsibility for the entertainment of +guests did not so peculiarly rest upon the former as it does upon the +latter. We frequently read of banquets given by men in the account of +which no mention whatever is made of the wife, and these were ordinary +occasions when there can be no doubt as to her presence. The guests were +usually invited solely in the master's name. In Petronius's account of +Trimalchio's Feast, he represents one guest asking another who is the +woman that so often scuttles up and down the room. He is told that she +is Fortunata, Trimalchio's wife, that she counts her money by the +bushel, but that she has an eye everywhere, and when you least think to +meet her she is at your elbow. Her propensity for petty management seems +to have been stronger than her love for the entertainment; for another +visitor coming in later asks "why Fortunata sits not among us?" The host +replies: "Till she has gotten her plate together and has distributed +what we leave among the servants, not a sup of anything goes down her +throat." But that this was unusual is shown by the inquirer threatening +to leave unless the mistress sat down with them. + +We have elsewhere described the Roman dining hall, or _triclinium_. +Doubtless the Golden House had many of these splendid salons. Lucullus, +who was famous for the enormous expense at which he lived, called each +of his numerous dining halls by the name of some divinity, and every +hall had a set rate of expense at which an entertainment in it was +given; so that when he ordered his household steward to prepare a +banquet in a certain salon, the servant knew exactly what to provide and +at how great a cost his master wished to entertain. It is told that +Cicero and Pompey once met Lucullus in the Forum and invited themselves +to supper with him. They declared that they wished to share the meal of +which he himself would partake if he were without company, and they +would not allow him to give any directions to the servants, only +permitting him to order his steward to prepare the table in the +Triclinium Apollo. The man knew exactly what to do, and the supper was a +great surprise to the guests, for a banquet in that hall was never +served at an expense of less than fifty thousand drachmas [nearly nine +thousand dollars]. + +In order that we may obtain as complete a picture as possible of the +Roman woman's life, we must attend in imagination one of those banquets +which she attended in reality. + +On entering the dining hall, we notice that around the table,--or +tables, for there will be many if the company is a large one,--in place +of chairs, are couches with an abundance of soft pillows. These couches +are placed on three sides of the table; for it was the custom of the +Romans to recline at their meals. When this custom was first introduced +from Asia, the women did not think that it comported with their modesty +to adopt this new style, and until the end of the Republic they retained +the old habit of sitting at table, while the men lay on the couches; but +at the time of Poppaea women had entirely relinquished this relic of +their former scrupulousness of demeanor and were accustomed to follow +the habit for which the lassitude resulting from the bath prepared them +and which these prolonged feasts made necessary for comfort. + +Having taken our places at the table, our attention is first drawn to +the fact that all the slaves, as they move about the room on their +various errands, are singing in a low voice. This is the custom of the +house; at the banquet everything must be done to the sound of music. All +the guests receive a crown or a wreath of flowers, which is worn upon +the head during the feast. Roses are to be seen everywhere in great +profusion. We are first served with some dishes which are designed to +excite rather than appease the appetite; these consist of dormice +covered with honey and pepper, hot sausages, and a large pannier filled +with both white and black olives. On the dishes in which these viands +are served we notice not only the host's name, but also the number of +ounces of silver of which the utensils are composed. An ostentatious +display of excellence was always sought after by the Romans. + +A banquet must always begin with eggs; so, having picked a little of the +afore-mentioned dainties to sharpen our hunger, the repast really +commences. A table is brought in, on which we see a large hen, carved in +wood, sitting as on a nest. The slaves search in the straw and bring +forth the eggs, which are handed around. The host, after examining these +simple articles of diet, says that he commanded to have them placed +under a hen for a short time, but he is afraid that they are half +hatched. Just as we are inclined to put ours aside, we discover that +what appears to be the shell is nothing but paste, and, breaking it +open, find inside a delicately cooked little bird of the wheatear +species. We must be prepared for such culinary surprises. Then the music +strikes up, and the slaves clear the table, dancing instead of walking. +If a slave drops a valuable dish, she will not be scolded so much for +the loss as she will be if she stops to pick up the fragments, as though +the loss were of consequence. Wine is now brought in. It is contained in +sealed glass vessels, each with a label setting forth the age of the +vintage. Wine is plentiful; it is even passed to us in place of water in +which to wash our hands. + +Now the viands are brought on in bewildering variety; and the marvellous +conceits of the cook baffle description. Here is an immense silver +charger, around which are carved the signs of the zodiac; and upon each +sign there is something suited to it, either in reality or its image in +pastry: a lobster, a goose, two pilchards, etc. There is a splendid +fish, and upon the sides of the dish are four little images which spout +a delicious sauce. + +There must also be somewhat to amuse us; for this banquet is to be of +long continuance, and there is a limit to one's eating. A lengthy +interval occurs, during which a company of actors, women as well as men, +take their places in the lower part of the hall, which is left clear for +the purpose, and there enact a farce which ridicules the follies of the +times and causes us much laughter. Other women perform upon the harp; +some exhibit their marvellous acrobatic skill; and one girl, clothed +only in a diaphanous, silky robe which reveals more of her person than +it hides, performs a dance which is as remarkable for its grace as for +its immodesty. We may be glad that we are not treated to a gladiatorial +combat, as has sometimes been the case in this same house. + +After these entertainments have been concluded, an enormous dish is set +before us, and in it a great boar. On his tusks hang two baskets, one +filled with dates, the other with almonds. About him are little pigs +made of sweetmeats. They are presents which we are to carry away with +us; for it is always the custom for the men at a banquet to carry some +part of it home to those women of their families who have not been +present. To our great astonishment, when the servant makes a hole in the +side of this boar, as though to carve it, there fly out a number of +blackbirds, which continue to flutter about the room until they are +again captured. + +While we are beguiling our time with wine and conversing with the ladies +present, a large and entire hog is brought upon the table. Whereupon our +host, having examined the animal closely, expresses it as his belief +that it has not been disembowelled by the cook. That officer being sent +for, he confesses that in his haste that part of the preparation had +truly been forgotten. He is ordered to be flogged, and the executioners +prepare to carry out the command upon the spot in the presence of us +all; but mercy is implored for him by the women, and his master contents +himself by ordering him to finish his work there upon the table. At +this, the cook takes a knife and cuts open the hog's belly, and there +immediately tumble out a heap of delicious sausages of various kinds and +sizes. This done, all the slaves cheer their master, and a present of +silver is made to the cook. + +While we are discussing this and the various other interesting episodes +of the feast, we are startled by the ceiling giving a great crack, and, +as we gaze up in considerable alarm, the main beam opens in the middle. +A large aperture appears, from which descends a great disk and upon it +are hung many beautiful presents for the guests, also fruits of various +kinds which when touched throw out a delicious liquid perfume. + +Thus, eating and conversing and viewing these wonders and the various +performances of the entertainers, the feast begun in the early evening +has endured until the night has grown late. Wine has been flowing +without stint, and its effect is to be seen among the company. The +ladies present have indulged with almost as great freedom as the men. +Tongues have become loosened and stories are told and allusions made +which might bring the blush to some cheeks, were they not already +flushed with wine. The feast is likely to end in a revel. Men take the +wreaths of flowers from the heads of the women and dip them in the wine, +which they then drink as a mark of gallantry. There is no longer need +for the actors and female entertainers; the male guests play the +buffoon, and matrons, throwing aside their robes, dance, though possibly +with less grace, certainly with no more modesty than did the +professional women who had been hired for that purpose. Pranks are +played upon those who have fallen into an intoxicated stupor. Some are +roaring bacchic songs, some are loudly arguing concerning politics, +giving vent to opinions for which they may have to give an account to +the emperor on another day; some are brawling, while others are +conversing with the women in such unrestrained fashion as leaves no room +for wonder at the numerous matrimonial readjustments which are +characteristic of these times. + +[Illustration 4: +_A ROMAN BANQUET +After the painting by Albert Baur +Around the tables, in place of chairs, are couches with an +abundance of soft pillow. These couches are placed on three sides of +the table; for it was the custom of the Romans to recline at their +meals. When this custom was first introduced from Asia, the +women did not think that it comported with their modesty to adopt +this new style, and until the end of the Republic they retained the +old habit of sitting at table.... After these entertainments have +been concluded, an enormous disk is set, and in it a great boar. +On his tusks, hang two baskets, one filled with dates, the other with +almonds. About him are little pigs made of sweetmeats; they are +presents to be carried away; it is the custom for men at a banquet +to carry some part of it to those women of their families who have +not been present..... when the servant makes a hole in the side +of this boar, as though to carve it, out fly a number of blackbirds, +which continue to flutter about the room until recaptured._] + +These are some of the features of such banquets as those to which the +women of Poppaea's time were accustomed. We have drawn our description +principally from Petronius's inimitable account. Though in Trimalchio's +Feast there was, so far as it appears, no other woman besides his wife, +yet we know from other sources that the presence of women at such +entertainments was common. There is no evidence to the effect that they +were in the habit of leaving the _triclinium_ before the unrestrained +indulgence in wine had made their presence there entirely inconsistent +with any ideas of strict propriety; indeed, if the poets are to be +credited, it often happened that love making of an ardent nature was +carried on in the confusion which marked the termination of these +feasts. + +Poppaea had married an imperial actor. Even at so late a period as the +days of Julius Caesar, a citizen lost his civic rights by appearing on +the stage; but now the whole Roman Empire bent in fulsome adulation +before a crazy ruler who strained a wretched voice to sing _Canace in +Labor_. The Forum had become silent; the temples were frequented, but +with little faith or sincerity on the part of the worshippers. The +public life of Rome centred in the theatre and the circus. "After the +market place has been designed," says Vitruvius, "a very healthy spot +must be chosen for the theatre, where the people can witness the dramas +on the feast days of the immortal gods." In the days of Nero, the Roman +people did not wait for a religious motive in order that they might +indulge in shows which were certainly morally unhealthy, however +salubrious may have been the site of the theatre. The most popular and +best remunerated public servants were actors and actresses, dancing +women and female musicians. Mommsen, commenting on the condition of +theatrical art at an earlier time than that of Nero, says: "There was +hardly any more lucrative trade in Rome than that of the actor and the +dancing girl of the first rank. The princely estate of the tragic actor +Aesopus amounted to two hundred thousand pounds sterling; his still more +celebrated contemporary Roscius estimated his annual income at six +thousand pounds, and Dionysia the dancer estimated hers at two thousand +pounds." Later he adds, as indicating what was popular at the time: "It +was nothing unusual for the Roman dancing girls to throw off at the +finale the upper robe and to give a dance in undress for the benefit of +the public." + +There is in existence an epitaph of a girl named Licinia Eucharis, who +is reputed to have been the first female to appear on the public Greek +stage in Rome. She died at the age of fourteen; but, notwithstanding her +tender years, she was "well instructed and taught in all arts by the +Muses themselves." + +The theatrical displays of the Romans had always been characterized by +vulgarity and coarseness. The ancient Atellan farces were as full of +obscenity as were the fescennine songs of broad allusions. This being +so, even in the days when the Roman people deified chastity, it +naturally follows that unbounded license must have prevailed in the +degenerate days of the Empire. The surfeited taste of the licentious +populace was gratified by hordes of women as well as men, who strove to +give new piquancy to their exhibitions by the shamelessness of their +performances. + +There is some evidence, however, to show that now and again there was an +actress who endeavored to "elevate the stage." Horace reports that when +Arbuscula was hissed by the people, though doubtless she was giving a +good performance, she had the courage to retort: "It is enough for me +that the knight Maecenas applauds"; but such a spirit was unusual, and +the Roman theatre continued to deteriorate. As is always the case in +such matters, the demand created the supply; but the supply also renewed +and strengthened the taste from which sprung the demand. Watching some +gladiators who had been condemned to mortal combat, a Roman argued with +Seneca that they were criminals and deserved their fate. "Yes," answered +the philosopher; "but what have you done that you should be condemned to +witness such an exhibition?" + +The moralist's stricture on their amusements was not concurred in by the +great mass of his female compatriots. Patrician and plebeian, rich and +poor, the women of Rome craved the realistic scenes of the theatre and +the terrible excitements of the circus with as much avidity as did the +men. Augustus had ordered that women should not be present at the +exhibitions of wrestlers, and that they should only be allowed to +witness gladiatorial combats from the upper and remote part of the +theatre; but in the days of Nero, the sex was placed under no such +restrictions. Augustus also severely punished an actor who allowed a +married woman, dressed as a boy, to wait upon him at table; but +afterward it became common for patrician ladies to be the paramours of +gladiators and pantomimists, with no fear of punishment save the +immortal lashings of the poetic satirists. These lashings, it is +evident, had no deterrent effect; despite the sarcasms of Juvenal, the +Aelias and Hispullas continued to be enamored of tragic actors. Hippia, +though the wife of a Senator, accompanies a gladiator to Alexandria. She +dines among the seamen, walks the deck in a rolling sea, and delights to +take a hand at the ropes. What was the attribute that captivated her? +Sergius was not handsome; "but then, he was a swordsman. The sword made +its wielder as beautiful as Hyacinthus. It was this she preferred to her +children, her native land, and her husband. It is the steel of which +women are enamored. This same Sergius, if he were discharged from the +arena, would be no better than her husband in her eyes." + +In the times of the most dissolute emperors, the people of Rome lived +chiefly to attend the theatre and the circus; after bread, all they +asked for was shows. There were theatres in Rome capable of seating +eighty thousand persons. We may imagine such a concourse waiting while +Nero dines in their presence in the imperial box, and allays their +impatience by shouting: "One more sup, and then I will present you with +something that will make your ears tingle." But it is likely that the +Roman ladies of noble birth were wont to hear the announcement of Nero's +performances with little anticipatory pleasure. They dared not absent +themselves, for there were spies who would report to the emperor their +failure to attend; and, being present, they were compelled to submit to +the infliction of the whole of the wretched exhibition; for on such +occasions the doors were absolutely closed against all egress. So +thoroughly was this rule carried out that there are reports of infants +having been born in the theatre while Nero was displaying his skill as +an actor. More than that, it was never known when or under what +circumstances the lightning of his malicious displeasure would fall upon +some unlucky head. Once, when he was playing and singing in the theatre, +he observed a married lady dressed in the shade of purple which he had +prohibited. He pointed her out to his officers, and she was not only +stripped of her raiment, but her property was also practically +confiscated by means of fines. + +Yet doubtless the fact that they were afforded the strange privilege of +witnessing the acting of an emperor did serve to arouse the interest of +the blase Roman populace. Legitimate histrionic art had become for them +tiresome, as it always does where luxury and pampered idleness tend to +blunt the artistic conscience. Nothing less than libidinous vaudeville, +in which matrons of noble birth were by bribes or threats induced to +take part, could create the least sensation. Realistic performances were +more popular still. The actors in these were found in the dungeons, +therefore they were not costly and required little training. A much +truer idea of agony is obtained by watching a man really suffer than by +seeing it mimicked by an actor; and if the piece to be staged includes a +death, why not provide the audience with the opportunity of seeing a +criminal die in the manner designated? These were the scenes to which +the women of Rome grew accustomed, with the result that, for the +evil-disposed, bloodshed was no more than a pastime, while for the +better-natured it at least enabled them to look upon their own death +with diminished terror. But the favorite exhibition with the Roman +populace was the sanguinary gladiatorial encounter. Ten thousand men +were constantly kept and trained, that the people might witness their +combats to the death with each other or with ferocious animals. These +combats were to be seen in greater perfection at a later day than that +of Poppaea, in the Colosseum--the most stupendous show place ever erected +by man, and in which was exemplified the most enormous wickedness that +has disgraced the name of humanity. In the central space was "the sand," +the arena, often red and soaked like a battlefield with human blood. +Around this was a gilded fence to prevent the animals or the more +desperate men from rushing with deadly hate upon the unfeeling audience. +Behind that stood the marble _podium_, on which were placed the imperial +seats and those of the nobility. Then came, tier above tier, the seats +of the commoner people, who ofttimes made the vast edifice resound with +their roar--more dreadful than that of the forest king: "To the lions!" +In the front seats and behind them sat women, beautiful of face but +hardened in disposition, who, when a man was mortally wounded, cried: +"_hoc habet_ [he has it!]" with an excitement as unsympathetic as that +which delighted their male companions; and who, when an unfortunate +combatant lowered his arms in token of defeat, were as likely to point +their thumbs downward, in sign that the unfortunate man was forthwith to +be despatched, as to raise them in token of mercy. + +So long as Petronius, the man of taste, was the "arbiter" of Nero's +amusements, the people of Rome were not called upon to witness the most +outrageous examples of imperial depravity. Yet it must be confessed +that, if the women described in the _Satyrikon_ are to be accepted as +being typical of the majority of the Roman ladies, their morals could +not suffer much by the influence even of a Nero. Tigellinus incited the +emperor to greater lengths of profligacy than he otherwise would have +reached. Tacitus describes the feast given by Tigellinus, for which "he +built, in the lake of Agrippa, a raft which supported the banquet, which +was moved to and fro by other vessels drawing it after them. He had +procured fowl and venison from remote regions, and fish from far-off +seas. Upon the margin of the lake were erected brothels, filled with +ladies of distinction, and over against them other women whose +profession was apparent by the scantiness of their attire. As soon as +darkness came on, the surrounding dwellings echoed with the music, and +in the groves brilliant lights revealed everything that was obscene and +improper." + +During the reign of the dissolute emperors, the virtue of women was but +little respected. Nero denied that any person was sincerely chaste. If a +woman of any social prominence in those days desired to retain her +honor, her beauty was her greatest misfortune. No ties or obligations, +not even the sanctity of the Vestals, were respected by the lustful +tyrants. If a man rejoiced in a beautiful and modest wife, she might +any day be requested to appear at the palace; and the husband, if he +would preserve his life, was compelled to bear the dishonor in silence. +Occasionally, however, there was a woman who showed more spirit; +Mallonia publicly upbraided Tiberius for his wickedness, and then went +home and killed herself. But the condition of morals was such that there +were a great many wives and husbands who did not regard such tyranny +with any special degree of horror. Piso, who was put to death for his +conspiracy against Nero, had robbed his friend Domitius Silius of his +wife, who was, the historian informs us, a depraved woman and void of +every recommendation but personal beauty; but "both concurred, her +husband by his passiveness, she by her wantonness, to blazon the infamy +of Piso." + +Among these characters there was but little of that chaste love which +glorifies the marriage bond. Poppaea could have had no regard for the +despicable Nero; her sole concern was that she might be empress, and +maintain herself in that exalted position. The emperor prized nothing in +his wife except her incomparable beauty; and he placed her beside +himself on the throne only because it was necessary that Caesar should +have legitimate heirs. + +As to the character of Poppaea, Josephus credits her with being very +religious, and Tacitus says that she was much given to consulting with +soothsayers and eastern charlatans. Yet it may have been that, +notwithstanding her wild profligacy and shameless ambition, Poppaea felt +the vacuity of the glittering show by which she was surrounded, and that +at times a restless conscience compelled her to grope among the tangled +mysteries of the spiritual life. At the same time, it has been +suspected--and the suspicion is not totally without warrant--that the +Roman Jews, in their bitter animosity against the Christians, were +aided by the empress in instigating that persecution which rendered the +reign of Nero so superlatively infamous. + +It was rare for an imperial consort to come to other than a violent end; +and Poppaea was no exception to the rule. Her death was the act, though +unpremeditated, of her husband. One day, she found fault with him for +returning later than she desired from a chariot drive. Angered by her +upbraidings and brutal by nature, he kicked her, and, being in a +condition of pregnancy at the time, she shortly afterward died of the +blow. It is said that her body was not consumed by fire, as was the +custom of the Romans, but embalmed in Jewish fashion and placed in the +tomb of the Julian family. She was, however, given a splendid funeral; +and there is no stronger witness to the terrible moral apathy which +characterized the times than the fact that her murderous husband +delivered on the occasion a laudatory oration. From the rostrum, he +magnified "her beauty and her lot, in having been the mother of an +infant enrolled among the gods." There being nothing else in her +character to extol, he treated her gifts of fortune as having been so +many virtues. It is impossible to doubt that the ancient historian is +correct when he asserts that though the people were obliged to put on an +appearance of mourning, they could but rejoice at the death of this +woman, when they remembered her lewdness and her cruelty; and although, +as Pliny tells us, all Arabia did not produce in a whole year as many +spices as were consumed at the funeral of Poppaea, there was no incense, +material or eulogistic, by which it was possible to overcome the evil +odor of her life. + +The reign of Nero was typical of other ages that were to follow. The +Roman people were to drink still deeper of the dregs of servility, and +they were to become yet more morally apathetic, before they would awaken +to better things. Poppaea was simply a woman of her time, and she was +followed by generations of women, both of high and low degree, who were +like-minded with herself. Imperial prostitutes and plebeian courtesans +run riot through all the long drawn out decadence of the Roman Empire; +but, although a veritable picture of the Roman woman could not be given +without the inclusion of such types as those delineated in this and the +preceding chapter, we will at least spare ourselves and the reader +further recital of vice and crime by confining the exemplification to +this one period. We have not refrained from including the worst features +and employing the darkest colors that history warrants, in order that, +to use the expression of Tacitus, we may not have to repeat instances of +similar extravagance. + +Although Nero was a monster of iniquity, he was not denied the +disinterested love of women. That strange, strong passion which holds +woman's heart to the most unworthy objects and feeds itself with +idealizations made the name of Nero dear to some when it was execrated +by all the world besides. And when at last he was driven from the +throne, and, uttering the words: "I yet live, to my shame and disgrace," +drove the suicidal dagger through his throat, there were women who +tenderly cared for that body which sycophantic courtiers extolled while +it lived and neglected when it was dead and powerless. His nurses Ecloge +and Alexandra, who had cared for him when he was an innocent boy, and +that Acte who had been his first love and who had never entirely lost +her influence over him, laid his ashes in the tomb of his fathers, and +grieved over a death which gave to the world at large great cause for +rejoicing. + + + + +XI + +GOOD WOMEN OF NERO'S REIGN + +The immoralities which characterized the reigns of some of the first +emperors must be considered as abnormal outbreaks rather than as +permanent conditions. The element of corruption is always present in the +social body. As a rule, it reveals itself only to those who look for it +in the slums and prisons and criminal haunts, but at times and under +certain conditions it breaks out with excessive virulence, and, to adopt +a Biblical figure, there seems to be no soundness in the whole body. +Such conditions were present during the period we have been studying. +Many circumstances combined to bring all the corruption and immorality +which are usually veiled or disguised into prominent view and to make +them fashionable. The accidents of birth placed upon the imperial throne +men who were morally insane; consequently, the evil-disposed found +themselves in a paradise of crime, while the ambitious, the covetous, +and the cowardly were enabled to gain their ends and preserve their +safety only by becoming caterers to and companions in their masters' +lusts. + +It is very easy, however, for a student of history to encourage an +exaggerated idea of Roman depravity, even as it was in the days of +Messalina and Poppsea. Whence do we obtain our picture of the Rome of +those times? Partly from historians; but very largely from such writers +as Juvenal, Petronius, and Apuleius. The historians confined their +accounts to the prominent people of their times, and it not unfrequently +happened that the most prominent and successful were the least +commendable from the moral standpoint. The moralists necessarily placed +the worst in the boldest relief, in order to ensure a more telling +effect. Seneca held such writers up to ridicule, when he said: "Morals +are gone; evil triumphs; all virtue, all justice, is disappearing; the +world is degenerating. This is what was said in our fathers' days, it is +what men say to-day, and it will be the cry of our children." And yet, +the world does not grow worse. As for the society portrayed by Petronius +and Apuleius, these men sought their characters among the low pothouses +and the brothels of Rome. The morals of the ordinary Roman home must not +be judged by a scene either in a house of ill fame or in the palace of a +crazy and dissolute tyrant, any more than the common life of Herculaneum +or Pompeii is to be conjectured solely from the obscene pictures found +on the walls of their ruined dwellings. + +In this present chapter, the women we shall cite are chiefly those who +were ennobled in their deaths rather than in their lives. That is to +say, though they lived well, had it not been for their brave manner of +dying their names would not have been preserved in history. + +As has been said, Roman society was not wholly corrupt, even though an +adulterous Messalina, an unprincipled Poppaea, or a cruel and ambitious +Agrippina, shared the throne. Contemporary with these were women who +still with pure hands and sincere hearts invoked the ancient goddess of +chastity. There were those who had mother love for their children, but +were free from deadly ambition. Among the more ordinary homes were many +that were graced with the same family loyalty and tender affection as +beautify our homes to-day. + +The young women of the days of Claudius were not obliged to search in +the musty annals of past times for examples of feminine honor and +virtue. They had all known Antonia, the virtuous daughter of Octavia and +Antony, who, like Agrippina, had honored her widowhood by a long and +irreproachable chastity. Yet the maidens of Messalina's age may have +been the less attracted by the example of Antonia because, while she +retained the old Roman purity of morals, she also exemplified the old +Roman severity of manners. Claudius, her son, never ceased to stand in +awe of her, and during his childhood her severity to him was such that +it is supposed that it helped to induce his imbecility. When her +daughter Livilla had been betrayed into crime by means of the arts of +Sejanus, Antonia was even more inexorable than Tiberius, against whom +the plot had been laid, and she caused the young woman to be starved to +death. It was not an instance of cruelty, it was simply the old Roman +justice, in which personal or even maternal feeling was allowed no +place. Antonia's goodness was not of the attractive kind. We must +imagine her as a proud, puritanical old matron, who made herself a +terror to wrong doers. She courageously rebuked her grandson Caligula +for his enormities; but the young ruffian, who possessed neither the +mind nor the conscience to respect age or kinship, in return caused +Antonia to be put to death--though it is possible that the actual deed +may have been her own. + +It was asked of old: "Can a clean thing come out of an unclean?" The +affirmative answer to this question is found in the person and character +of Octavia, the daughter of Messalina the infamous. Indeed, the axiom +that "like produces like" cannot be applied to moral character; so many +instances are met with of bad offspring from noble parentage and +virtuous children from immoral antecedents that they cannot be regarded +as exceptions to the rule. + +Octavia was fortunate in nothing but her character. She was the +plaything of a relentlessly adverse fate. The whole of her short life is +an illustration of the fact that goodness of disposition does not +protect its possessor from the worst evils of existence. That this young +girl remained virtuous amid the whirl of immorality in which she was +reared, with no lovable example and no motherly advice, is a proof of +the invincibility of a good disposition if nature has woven it into a +human character. + +As a little child, Octavia had been petted and fondled by her father, +the poor old Emperor Claudius, who, dull and phlegmatic as he was, would +have been a good-hearted man if he had not been thrust into a position +for which he was totally unfitted. He loved to take Octavia and her +little brother Britannicus to the theatre and hold them with a father's +pride before the admiring eyes of the people. This was all the love that +Octavia ever knew. One of her earliest and saddest experiences was to be +sent by Messalina out upon the road to Ostia, to meet Claudius and plead +vainly for that unworthy mother's life. Then Agrippina came to the +palace; and with her in the double capacity of empress and stepmother, +Octavia found no cause of thankfulness for the change. Hitherto she at +least had not been used as a mere tool to effect some other's political +ambitions. Her father Claudius had betrothed her to Lucius Silanus, a +celebrated and favorite Senator. Had this match been allowed to remain +undisturbed, it is possible that Octavia's lot might have been peaceful +and happy; but a false charge against Silanus was trumped up by the +perfidious Vitellius, so that the former was degraded from the Senate, +and immediately afterward he committed suicide, Octavia lived on and +encountered the terrible misfortune of being betrothed to Nero, whom +Seneca was advising to "compensate himself with the pleasures of youth +without compunction." Agrippina threw Octavia to her son, just as a rope +might be tossed to a mountain climber to enable him to ascend a +difficult pass; when its use has been served, it is looked upon as a +piece of mere cumbersome baggage. So Nero considered his wife, after he +had obtained the Empire. When he expressed his dislike for her, the +plain-spoken Burrhus said: "Very well, send her away; but of course you +will give up her dower with her;" which was nothing less than the throne +of Claudius. + +Had Octavia been supported by some all-powerful and sympathetic relative +like Augustus, she might have survived and have shown as great patience +with the vices of Nero as her ancestral namesake showed with those of +Antony; but she was left unprotected amidst numerous opposing forces +which, when not aimed with deadly hatred against her, were indifferent +to her welfare, with the consequence that she was speedily and +mercilessly crushed. + +The first woman who took the place which Octavia never held in Nero's +affections was the Greek freedwoman Acte. The wild young emperor would +have divorced his wife and married the Greek forthwith, but he was still +under the domination of the powerful Agrippina. This first thwarting of +the imperial will was the beginning of Agrippina's downfall. It was not +long before she and the young wife saw a fearful presage of their own +fate when the young Britannicus fell dead upon the banquet floor, +poisoned by the diabolical art of Nero's instrument, Locusta. Octavia, +though so young, was not entirely ignorant as to what the perils of her +situation demanded. She had received early lessons in a terrible school. +Consequently, when Nero declared to the alarmed guests that her brother +was habitually afflicted with the falling sickness, she disguised her +sisterly grief and composedly retained her place at the banquet. + +But the time came when Agrippina had also fallen a victim to her son's +inhumanity, and Nero, responsible to no human being, had become enamored +by the more attractive fascinations of a more unprincipled woman than +Acte. "Why does not Nero," the tyrant asks of himself, "banishing all +fear, set about expediting his marriage with Poppaea? Why not put away +his wife Octavia, although her conduct is that of a modest woman, since +the name of her father and the affection of the people have made her an +eyesore to him?" With Poppaea urging him on and the villainous Tigellinus +exercising his diabolical ingenuity to find a plausible excuse, it was +not long before the courage of Nero was equal to the audacious act of +driving from the imperial palace the woman through connection with whom +he had his right of tenure there. Octavia was divorced by process of +law, under the allegation that she was barren. At first she was awarded +the house of Burrhus and the estate of Plautus, whom Nero had recently +put to death. The divorce being sought by her husband for no fault of +hers, he was obliged, if the strict letter of the law had been observed, +to give up with her the whole of her dowry; but for men like Nero, who +execute the laws, a mere pretence of legality suffices. Poppaea had +brazenly endeavored to trump up a far more serious charge against the +woman she injured; but it could not be made to hold. She bribed one of +Octavia's domestics to assert that her mistress had participated in an +amour with Eucerus, an Alexandrian flute player; but this accusation was +so preposterously inconsistent with Octavia's well-known character that, +even though they tortured her servants, they could gain no evidence +which they dared to set before the people in substantiation of the +charge. There could be no stronger testimony to the amiability and +lovableness of Octavia, as well as to the purity of her character, than +the fidelity with which her servants defended her reputation from all +aspersions, even while they were undergoing the most intense torture. +One brave maid, while being examined upon the rack, spat in the face of +Tigellinus, who was urging a confession, and declared aloud that "the +womb of Octavia was purer than his mouth." It was among slaves like +these that the first Christian martyrs were found; women who gave their +bodies to the most excruciating torture, but could not be induced to +deny their faith. + +Soon after Octavia's divorce, she was banished into Campania, where she +was kept in close confinement, and a guard of soldiers was placed over +her. But though the Senate and the nobility had become absolutely +enslaved to the imperial tyrant's will, there was always the people to +reckon with. The common women talked loudly but sympathetically of +Octavia's persecuted innocence. The men took up the cry; they made it +heard in the theatre and they scribbled it upon the walls. The people +could not be individualized. They had not but one neck, as Caligula had +so maliciously wished. Their number and individual insignificance +rendered it possible for them to express their mind with impunity. Nero +hastened to recall Octavia to the city. + +That was a day of proud but dangerous joy for the unfortunate young +empress. At least she had the satisfaction of knowing that all the world +believed in her innocence. In their happiness, the multitude went to the +Capitol and thanked all the gods for her return. They threw down the +statues of Poppaea, and wherever they could find one of Octavia they +wreathed It with flowers and removed it to the Forum or to some temple. +They even went to the palace to applaud Nero for bringing back his +banished wife, but were driven thence by the soldiery. + +AH this served only to incite Poppaea to take the most desperate +measures. She approached Nero with such artful insinuations in regard to +the possibility of the people's revolting in favor of Octavia, and at +the same time with a pretence of such meek submissiveness in regard to +her own personal fortunes, that the emperor was induced both by fear and +passion to take the course which she desired. + +A method of getting rid of Octavia without incurring danger was not easy +to devise; but Nero had at his court a man who was a genius in the art +of removing formidable impediments. Anicetus had proved his ability upon +Agrippina. He was not only resourceful, but absolutely without either +honor or conscience. It was not alone necessary that Octavia should be +destroyed, but her death must take on the semblance of a justified +punishment. There was none who could or would testify aught against her. +Nero summoned Anicetus and told him "that he alone had saved the life of +his prince from the dark devices of his mother; now an opportunity for a +service of no less magnitude presented itself, by relieving him from a +wife who was his mortal enemy. There was no need of force or arms; he +had only to admit of adultery with Octavia!" The dastardly freedman +forthwith began to boast among his friends of the favors he received +from the young empress. On being summoned to a council of the friends of +Nero, he made a pretended confession. He was condemned to banishment to +Sardinia, where he lived in great luxury until he died a natural death. + +Nero published an edict in which he stated that Octavia had been +discovered seeking, through the corruption of Anicetus, the admiral, to +engage the fleet in a conspiracy, and that her infidelity was clearly +proved. Octavia was sent to the island of Pandataria. Tacitus says: +"Never was there any exile who touched the hearts of the beholders with +deeper compassion. Some there were who still remembered to have seen +Agrippina the Elder banished by Tiberius; the more recent sufferings of +Julia were likewise recalled to mind--that Julia who had been confined +there by Claudius. But they had experienced some happiness, and the +recollection of their former splendor proved some alleviation of their +present horrors." Everything in Octavia's life that promised pleasure +had been turned to gall. Her home recalled the scenes of her father's +poisoning and her brother's murder; her marriage rights had been first +usurped by a handmaid and then by a woman known to be of infamous +character; and now even her memory was to be stained with the imputation +of a crime which was more intolerable to her than death itself. There is +no sadder picture in all history than that of this girl,--she was only +twenty,--after her short life of uninterrupted sorrow and unstained +innocence, thrown among centurions and common soldiers, who dared not +help her even if a feeling of pity entered their hearts. They commanded +her to die; but she had not the strength or the courage of Antonia. She +pleaded that she was now a widow, and that the emperor's object having +been gained he had no cause to fear anything from her. She invoked the +name of Agrippina, and said "that had she lived, her marriage would have +been made no less wretched, but she would not have been doomed to +destruction." When those in charge saw that it was hopeless to expect +that she would take the unpleasant task off their hands, they bound her +and opened her veins; but, the blood flowing too slowly, her death was +accelerated by the vapor of a bath heated to the highest point. After +life was extinct, they severed her head from her body and carried it to +Poppaea, in order that she might see that the deed by which she was made +Empress of Rome was surely accomplished. + +The abject Senate, when they learned that the whole matter was thus +concluded, decreed that offerings should be made at the temples, as a +thanksgiving for the deliverance of the emperor from the dangers which +had threatened him through the conspiracy of his wife. Tacitus declares +that he records this circumstance "in order that all those who shall +read the calamities of those times, as they are delivered by me or any +other authors, may conclude, by anticipation, that as often as a +banishment or a murder was perpetrated by the prince's orders, so often +thanks were offered to the gods; and those acts which in former times +were resorted to in order that prosperous occurrences might be +distinguished, were now made the tokens of public disasters." + +These were the days of the martyrs. During this reign, the burning +bodies of Christians lighted the gardens of the malevolent tyrant, +innocent women and tender girls were exposed to fierce beasts in the +arena, and by their sufferings were made to contribute interest to a +Roman holiday. These died for their faith. They died gladly, in the +belief that their pains and faithfulness were to be rewarded with an +unfading crown in a land beyond the skies. They cheered each other in +the face of death, and they were comforted by those friends who were +still at liberty with the promise of a meeting where no tyrant's hand +could harm them. Octavia was not of this faith. It is probable that she +knew nothing of the strange doctrines which were making converts among +the Roman slaves. Yet there was no martyr more innocent than herself, +none more worthy of canonization. There was none whose purity and whose +fidelity to the principles which were cherished by high souls could +present a better claim for the victor's palm and the martyr's crown than +her own. Octavia knew nothing of the Christian hope of immortality; her +religious faith at the best could teach her no more than the vague +surmise that possibly in some dreary under world the shades of mortals +retained a melancholy consciousness. Yet a consistent justice at the +present day cannot do other than place side by side the persecuted girl +from the imperial palace and the Christian slave maiden whose blood +dripped from the jaws of the beasts of the arena, and believe that +whatever consolation eternal fate provided for the one was equally +shared in by the other. + +As we have said, the first woman to attract the affections of Nero, +which were never turned toward Octavia, was Acte. She had probably been +brought as a slave from Asia. How old she was when Nero first knew her +it is impossible for us to conjecture, but it is likely that she was +somewhat older than the youthful emperor; it frequently happens that a +boy's first love is aroused by a woman his superior in age. Then, too, +Acte was at this time a freedwoman. Liberty was often gained by female +slaves by means of the charms of their persons; but this result was not +likely to be secured before those charms were fully matured. So profound +was Nero's passion for Acte that, had he not been with difficulty +restrained, he would have divorced Octavia forthwith and married the +Greek. He is said to have induced men of consular rank to swear that she +was of royal descent. It is by no means impossible that such an +assertion should be true; for the slave markets which supplied Rome were +to a large extent recruited by kidnapped children, picked up wherever +they might be found. It is remarkable that not a word that is +detrimental to the character of Acte is recorded in history. Indeed, we +know but very little about her, though she has always been regarded with +a sort of poetical approbation. There is no evidence of her having used +her power with the emperor for the injury of an enemy. She seems to have +been modest and unassuming, and it is certain that her love for Nero was +sincere; for it not only outlasted his, but remained true to the latest +hour of his life. When all others had forsaken the fallen prince whom +they had fawned upon, it was Acte who tenderly cared for his remains. + +Tacitus represents her as warning Nero from his early evil +extravagances. She remained queen of his affections for four years,--the +best four years of his reign,--and it is said that when he turned from +her to Poppaea she sank into a profound melancholy. Upon all this has +been founded the surmise that Acte was a Christian; but it is nothing +more than conjecture. Whatever may have been the facts in regard to +this, in the little glimpses we obtain of her presence in the awful +tragedies of her age we catch the outline of one whom we are assured +must have been a good woman--a woman innately pure, but forced into +contact with vice by circumstances over which she had no control. + +There are numerous examples from history to prove that in the dissolute +reign of Nero feminine goodness was not a rarity; but there are no +pictures of pure light-heartedness and gladsome simplicity such as were +known in the older days. Everything was sombre; death was in the air; +the only gayety was that found in the scenes of reckless profligacy. It +was an age of extremes; on the one side, unrestrained profligacy; on the +other, fear and sorrow occasioned by a tyrant's cruel caprice. It was an +age in which all the experiences of life were intensified. Human life +of the period can only be pictured in high lights and deep shadows; +everything must be shown in strong relief. The fortune of nearly all the +good women of this time whose names we know was to suffer patiently and +die heroically. + +Like Acte, the noble matron Pomponia Graecina has been credited by +tradition with having found consolation for the sorrows of the times in +that new faith which was undermining old Rome, both literally in the +catacombs and figuratively in the rapidity with which it was making +converts; but we know not with certainty. It would be unjust to paganism +and untrue to history to claim every instance of moral superiority for +the modern faith. Still, Graecina was accused of yielding to foreign +superstitions. This may have been owing to the peculiarities of her +manner. She had been the close friend of that Julia, daughter of Drusus, +whom Messalina had forced to kill herself. From this time on, for the +space of forty years, Graecina wore nothing but mourning, and was never +seen to smile. Sienkiewicz founds the plot of his Neronian novel on the +idea that Graecina was a Christian; but there are no facts by which this +supposition can be verified. When the charge of entertaining foreign +superstitions was laid against her, she was, in accordance with the +ancient law, consigned to the adjudication of her husband. Plautius +assembled her kindred, and, in compliance with the institutions of early +times, having in their presence made solemn inquisition into the +character and conduct of his wife, adjudged her innocent. She survived +to a great age and was always held in high estimation by the people, but +she never recovered from her melancholy. + +When the noble Thrasea had been condemned to death by Nero, the officer +who brought the tidings found him walking in the portico of his house. +He had already opened his veins, and as he stretched out his arms the +blood began to flow. Calling the quaestor to him, and sprinkling the +blood upon the floor, he said: "Let us make a libation to Jove the +Deliverer. Behold, young man, and may the gods avert the omen, but you +are fallen upon such times that it may be useful to fortify your mind by +examples of unflinching firmness." Arria, his wife, wished to share her +husband's fate, but he bade her live for their daughter's sake. + +There were many women who presented examples of the same unflinching +firmness for the encouragement of their own sex. The mother of Thrasea's +wife, whose name was also Arria, exhibited a strength of mind and a +magnanimity of spirit equal to that of the noblest Romans in the best +days of the Republic. Duruy recounts two episodes in the career of this +noble woman which illustrate all we have claimed for her as one of the +best of her sex. + +"Arria's husband, Caecina Paetus, and his son were affected with a serious +malady; the son died. His mother took such measures respecting the +funeral that the father knew nothing of it. Every time she entered his +room she gave him news of the sufferer,--he had not slept badly, or +perhaps he was recovering his appetite; and when she could no longer +restrain her tears she went out for a moment, and then returned with dry +eyes and a calm face, having left her grief behind her. At a later +period, her husband, being concerned in the conspiracy of Scribonianus, +was captured and taken to Rome. He was put on board a ship, and Arria +begged the soldiers to allow her to go with him, 'You cannot refuse,' +she said to them, 'to a man of consular rank a few slaves to wait on him +and dress him; I alone will do him these services.' As they continued +inexorable, she hired a fishing boat and followed across the Adriatic +the vessel in which her husband was conveyed. At Rome, she met the wife +of Scribonianus, who attempted to speak to her. 'How can I listen to +you,' she said to her, 'who have seen your husband killed in your arms, +and who are still alive?' Foreseeing the condemnation of Paetus, she +determined not to survive him. Thrasea, her son-in-law, begged her to +give up this determination. 'Is it your wish, then,' he said to her, 'if +I should be compelled to die, that your daughter should die with me?' +'If she shall have lived as long and as united a life with you as I with +Paetus, it is my wish,' was the reply. Her family watched her carefully, +to prevent her fatal design. 'You are wasting your time,' she said; 'you +will make me die a more painful death, but it is not in your power to +prevent me from dying.' Thereupon she dashed her head against the wall +with such violence that she fell down as if dead. When she recovered her +senses, she said to them: 'I have already warned you that I should find +some means of death, however hard, if you denied me an easy one.' We +cannot wonder that, to decide her hesitating husband, she struck herself +a fatal blow with a poniard; then handed him the weapon, saying: 'Paetus, +it gives no pain.'" + +Pliny gives an account of an incident showing similar conjugal devotion +and self-sacrificing courage. "I was sailing lately," says he, "on our +Lake Larius, when an elderly friend pointed out to me a house, one of +whose rooms projected above the waves. 'From that spot,' he said, 'a +townswoman of ours threw herself out with her husband. The latter had +long been ill, suffering from an incurable ulcer. When she was convinced +that he could not recover from his disease, she exhorted him to kill +himself, and became his companion in death--nay, rather his example and +leader, for she tied her husband to her and jumped into the lake.'" This +was a woman of the common citizens; we do not even know her name. +Modern times have no examples to show of a closer marital sympathy than +this. Our ideas compel us to deprecate the act of self-destruction; but +we cannot question, or more than rival, such devotion. The like degree +of faithfulness between married couples was common among the Romans; and +this was their manner of showing it. + +We have, more than once, seen the statement advanced in all seriousness +by well-informed writers and public speakers that marital affection, in +the modern understanding of the expression, was almost unknown among the +ancients. The object of the contention is to enhance the appreciation of +the effects of Christianity; but the argument is as absurdly +inconsistent with history as it is with common sense. True, Christianity +discourages conjugal unions in which that affection does not exist, but +it does not create it; nor was there anything whatever in pagan customs +or institutions to prevent the existence of the warmest and purest +affection between husband and wife. The sole conditions in the ancient +world that militated against pure and constant married love were the +customary unions of expediency and the inferior position of the wife. As +to the first of these customs, it is by no means unknown in the modern +world and to Christian times; in regard to the second, the Roman wife in +the period with which we are now engaged was almost equally as well off +as her modern descendant. + +Principles of virtue, honor, and duty of a high order had been +inculcated through many generations of ancient Romans; and it could not +be otherwise than that these would reappear and manifest themselves with +invincible insistence, even in the most corrupt days of the Empire. What +higher or more dignified sense of duty could there be than that +exhibited by the lady who had determined to send substantial relief to +a friend of hers, banished by Domitian? It was represented to her that +this money would be certain to fall into the tyrant's hands, and that +hence she would be only wasting her means and gratifying the unworthy. +"It is of little consequence to me," she said, "if Domitian steal it; +but it is of great moment for me to send it." She possessed the sublime +conviction that she was responsible to her consciousness of what +friendship demanded, even though she might be certain of the miscarriage +of her efforts. + +There were also women whose spirits were stirred by the love of freedom, +and who were willing to do and dare and suffer in the attempt to wrest +the nation from a tyrant's grasp. Among those who have sacrificed their +own lives at the altar of Liberty, the Roman woman can claim +representatives. + +We are told that into the conspiracy against Nero which was headed by +Caius Piso, "senators, knights, soldiers, and even women entered with +the ardor of competition." The plot was to attack Nero while he was +singing upon the stage, though it was considered by some that it would +be a better plan to set his house on fire and then despatch him while he +was excitedly hurrying about unattended by his guards. "While the +conspirators were hesitating, and protracting the issue of their hopes +and fears, a woman named Epicharis--and how she became acquainted with +the affair is involved in mystery, nor had she ever manifested a concern +for worthy objects before--began to animate the conspirators, and goad +them on by reproaches; but at length, disgusted by their dilatoriness, +while sojourning in Campania, she tried every effort to shake the +allegiance of the officers of the fleet at Misenum, and engage them in +the plot." + +But, though an enthusiastic conspirator, Epicharis proved herself an +unwary recruiting agent. She especially applied herself to an old +acquaintance named Proculus, who confided to her the fact that he had +been one of the party concerned in the assassination of the emperor's +mother, and that he was dissatisfied with the reward he had received for +such eminent service, he being only a minor officer in the fleet. He +added that it was his settled purpose to be revenged, should a fitting +opportunity present itself. Epicharis did not wait to consider the +unwisdom of incontinently intrusting the knowledge of the whole plot to +a man of insufficient principle to prevent him from looking upon the +murder of a defenceless woman as an exploit to be liberally rewarded. +Moreover, it is likely that she inadvertently had dropped some hint of +what was in her mind, and Proculus lured her on by suggesting the +possibility of himself as a convert. Epicharis first gave him the whole +plot, and then set about persuading him to join it. She recounted all +the atrocities of the emperor; and concluded with the remark "that Nero +had stripped the Senate of all its powers; but," she added, "measures +had been taken to punish him for overturning the constitution; and +Proculus had only to address himself manfully to the work and bring over +to their side the most energetic of the troops, and he might depend upon +receiving suitable rewards." + +One indiscretion she did not commit: she did not divulge the names of +the conspirators. So, when Proculus laid information before the +emperor--thinking doubtless that this was a readier path to reward than +any plot of assassination of which a woman would be cognizant--his +evidence was of little avail; but Nero considered it best to detain +Epicharis in prison, in anticipation of anything that might occur. + +The conspirators at last concluded to perpetrate their design at the +Cirensian games. Lateranus, a man of determined spirit and gigantic +strength, was to approach the emperor as a suppliant and, apparently by +accident, throw him down. Scaevinus was to perform the principal part +with a dagger he had procured from the temple of Fortune for the +purpose. Piso was to wait at the temple of Ceres until he was summoned +to the camp, which he was to enter attended by Antonia, the daughter of +Claudius Caesar,--a woman of an entirely opposite character to that of +her grandmother, after whom she was named,--and who, it was hoped, would +conciliate the favor of the people. How deeply Antonia was involved in +this plot it is impossible to say. It appears improbable, as Tacitus +remarks, that she should have lent her name and hazarded her life in a +project from which she had nothing to hope. + +It was through the dagger mentioned above, and also the cupidity of a +woman, that the whole conspiracy came to light. Scaevinus impatiently +ordered his freedman Milichus to put the weapon to the grindstone and +bring it to a sharp point. Milichus, putting together this and other +preparations he witnessed, guessed the project that was on foot. He told +his suspicions to the emperor. Scaevinus was arrested; but his bearing +was so confident that the accuser would have broken down had not the +wife of Milichus reminded him that "Natalis had taken part in many +secret conversations with Scaevinus, and that both were confidants of +Piso." Then followed numerous arrests, confessions, and accusations, +each conspirator endeavoring to lighten the burden of his own guilt by +revealing how many there were who shared it. Lucan the poet even +informed against his own mother, Atilla. + +Amid all this disaster, there was one spirit that remained undaunted, +one tongue that could not be persuaded by promises or compelled by +torment to confess and thus implicate others. Epicharis had been held +in custody from the time of her unguarded enthusiasm in Campania. Nero +recollected her, and commanded that she should be put to the torture. +"But," says the historian, "neither stripes, nor fire, nor the rage of +the tormentors, who tore her with the more vehemence, lest they should +be scorned by a woman, could vanquish her." Thus the first day of +torture was passed without producing any effect upon her. "The day +following, as she was being brought back to suffer the same torments, +riding in a chair, for all her members being disjointed, she could not +support herself, taking off the girdle that bound her breast, she tied +it in a noose to the canopy of the chair, and, placing her neck in it, +hung upon it with the weight of her whole body, and thus forced out the +slender remains of life. A freedwoman, by thus screening strangers and +persons almost unknown to her, though pressed to divulge their names by +the most extreme torture, exhibited an example which derived augmented +lustre from the fact that freeborn persons, men, Roman knights, and +Senators, untouched by the instruments of inquisition, all betrayed +their dearest pledges of affection." + +Among the many who suffered from the discovery of this conspiracy was +Seneca, the aged philosopher and the former tutor of Nero. It is +probable that he was innocent; but he had incurred Nero's displeasure, +and the tyrant was glad of the opportunity to destroy him with seeming +justice. The parting of Seneca with his wife and her conduct at the time +well merit the pains which the historian has taken with the recital. +Embracing his wife, he implored her to "refrain from surrendering +herself to endless grief; but to endeavor to mitigate her regret for her +husband by means of those honorable consolations which she would +experience in the contemplation of his virtuous life." Paullina, +however, expressed her determination to die with her husband, and called +for the assistance of the executioner to open her veins. Seneca, proud +of her devotion and as willing to see her acquire the glory of such an +act as he was to be assured that she was safe from the hard usages of +the world, replied: "I had pointed out to you how to soften the ills of +life; but you prefer the renown of dying. I will not envy you the honor +of the example. Though both display the same unflinching fortitude in +encountering death, still the glory of your exit will be superior to +mine." Then they had the veins of their arms opened at the same moment; +but being unable to bear up under the excessive torture, and afraid lest +the sight of his sufferings should overpower her, Seneca persuaded his +wife to retire into another room. + +When Nero heard what was being done, having no dislike to Paullina, and +not willing to incur the odium of a double death and one so affecting, +he ordered her wounds to be dressed and the flow of blood stanched. She +survived but a few years, and these were devoted to the memory of her +husband. It is also said that an excessive paleness was the continuous +witness to the sacrifice to conjugal devotion which she had done her +best to make. + +Not so fortunate was Servilia, a young woman of twenty who, at this +time, was arraigned before the Senate, charged with having distributed +sums of money among the magi. Servilia was the daughter of Soranus, who +had been Proconsul of Asia. There was no accusation against Servilia's +father more severe than that he was a friend of Plautus, whom Nero, for +reasons utterly unjust, but entirely satisfactory to himself, had caused +to be executed. Tacitus suggests the picture of her trial: the consuls +on the judgment seat in the presence of the assembled Senate; on one +side of that tribunal, an old, gray-haired man who for many years has +served his country with honor and integrity; on the other side, the +daughter, so young and yet widowed, for her husband has been sent into +banishment, and hence is as dead to her. The thought that she, who had +endeavored to aid and comfort her father, had only added to his dangers +is so oppressive that she has not the heart to look at him. The accuser +questions her: "Did you not sell your bridal ornaments, and even the +chain off your neck, to raise money for the performance of magic rites?" +Instead of answering, the unfortunate girl falls to the floor, embracing +the altar, as though hoping that divine aid would be given, where human +mercy was not to be expected. At last she gathers voice, and is able to +falter: "I have used no spells; nor did I seek aught by my unhappy +prayers than that you, Caesar, and you, fathers, would preserve this best +of fathers unharmed. It was with this object alone I gave up my jewels, +my raiment, and the ornaments belonging to my station; as I would have +given up my blood and life, had the magi required them. To those men, +till then unknown to me, it belongs to declare whose ministers they are, +and what mysteries they use; the prince's name was never uttered by me, +save as one speaks of the gods. Yet to all this proceeding of mine, if +guilty it be, my most unhappy father is a stranger; and if it is a +crime, I alone am the criminal." Then Soranus pleads for his daughter. +Her age is so tender that she could not have known Plautus, whose friend +they accuse himself of being. Do they impeach him for mismanagement of +his province? Let it be so; yet his daughter had not accompanied him to +Asia. Her only crime was too much filial piety, too great solicitude for +her father. He would gladly submit to whatever fate awaited him, if only +they would separate her case from his. Overcome with emotion, the old +man totters forward with outstretched hands to embrace his daughter, +who springs to meet him; but the stern lictors interpose the fasces and +deny them this sad comfort. + +The Senate exercises a heartless clemency; Servilia and Soranus are +allowed to choose their own deaths. This faithful daughter, for seeking +by means of her religion to aid her father, is privileged to die with +him. With them also perished Thrasea, who had added to his crime of +disbelieving in the deification of Poppaea that of neglecting to +sacrifice for the preservation of Nero's beautiful voice! + +A strikingly magnificent feature of the old Roman character is the +manner in which these people met death. This was the one virtue which +the Romans, down to the latest period of the decadence, did not cease to +retain. In the most dissolute times, the Roman might live badly, but at +least he could die bravely. This was the one opportunity always left +when atonement might be made for the errors of life. In this ability to +meet death with calm fortitude the women shared no less than the men. +The maids and matrons of Rome were habituated by training and by their +best traditional examples to look upon the possibility of exit from the +world as an ever ready refuge from unendurable ills. Lucretia was for +Roman matrons an ideal in her death as well as in her life; and they +seem to have found it less irksome to follow her in the former respect +than in the latter. + +In the endeavor to show how, even in the days of Nero, when wickedness +reached its climax, virtue and honor and devotion were not utterly gone +out of the world, it has been necessary to adopt as illustrations some +of the saddest of the many tragedies of human history. Neither side of +any true picture of this period can be a pleasing one. Human life in the +city of Rome during the middle of the first century of our era was for +the most part either insane or sad. To exult in unrighteousness or +mourn in bereavement was the lot of every prominent personage; for there +were few quiet, honorable folk whom the hand of tyranny did not touch +through their friends. Therefore, in the endeavor to show the better +side of the life of this time, the necessity has been forced upon us to +illustrate how the prevailing remnant of the ancient virtue was +manifested in the devotion of women to their stricken husbands and +friends, and in the firm manner in which they met their own death. + +That which belongs to the ordinary routine of woman's life did not +undergo any change during this period. The status of woman remained +unaltered; her manners, customs, and occupations were the same. There +was no progress. It was like the conditions existing in a home during a +terrific electrical storm; all other interests are in abeyance until it +is over. + +This statement, however, applies more particularly to the city of Rome +and to Italy. In the outlying parts of that country and in the +provinces, the storm was hardly felt. Women who lived out of the sight +of Nero and whose male friends did not hold office were secure from +imperial cruelty and caprice. Their lives ran on in the ordinary manner +of civilization. They were betrothed and married according to the +ancient ceremonies; for customs changed slowly away from the metropolis. +They worshipped the old gods, though they heard now and again of a +certain sect of fanatical people who courted their own destruction from +the officials, if not from Olympus, by denouncing the ancient worship. +They managed their homes and their slaves, read their books, as we have +seen in the case of Calpurnia, the wife of Pliny, and visited the +amphitheatre. The only anxieties of the women who belonged to the +unofficial class were those incidental to the rule of the proconsuls who +were sent to govern them in the name of the emperor. Sometimes these +men were lustful; frequently they were tyrannical; they were always +rapacious. The people were oppressed to meet the demands of the tax +collectors; but these were ills that were always with them and +represented a condition of affairs that was normal. + +In his biography of his father-in-law, Agricola, who was himself a +provincial, Tacitus says: "He married Domitia Decidiana, a lady of +illustrious descent, from which connection he derived credit and support +in his pursuit of greater things. They lived together in admirable +harmony and mutual affection, each giving the preference to the other; +a conduct equally laudable in both, except that a greater degree of +praise is due to a good wife, in proportion as a bad one deserves the +greater censure." What more touching expression of family affection can +there be found than the words Tacitus wrote in respect to Agricola's +death? Apostrophizing him, he says: "But to myself and your daughter, +besides the affliction of losing a parent, the aggravating affliction +remains that it was not our lot to watch over your sickbed. With what +attention should we have received your last instructions, and graven +them on our hearts! This is our sorrow. Everything, doubtless, O best of +parents, was administered for your comfort and honor, while a most +affectionate wife sat beside you; yet fewer tears were shed upon your +bier, and in the last light which your eyes beheld, something was +wanting." There is nothing in modern times superior to this in chaste +and cultivated sympathy. + +Seneca also, who was born at Cordova, describes his mother as having +been "brought up in a strict home"; and he assures us that his aunt, +during the sixteen years that her husband governed Egypt, was "unknown +in the province," so devoted was she to her family and home duties. +There was also Polla, the wife of Lucan, whose inconsolable grief at her +husband's death was so beautifully described by Statius. We read also of +Minicius Macrinus, who lived thirty-nine years with his consort without +a single cloud ever rising between them; while Martial tells us of +Spurinna, a man of consular family loaded with years and honors, who +lived in the country with his aged wife, each resting in the other's +affection, and finishing together "the evening of a fair life." + + + + +XII + +UNDER THE FLAVIANS + +Such sober-minded people as had survived the reign of Nero hailed the +tyrant's death as a deliverance, though they had no guaranty of the +inauguration of a better state of things. No conceivable change could be +otherwise than for the better. At first sight, it seems marvellous that +the better class of Romans endured so long and with such supineness a +shameful monstrosity like the government of Nero; but it must be +remembered that no government is other than the majority of the people +desire, or better than they deserve. The mass of the people in the +capital were satisfied to have an imperial mountebank ruling over them. +Politics had ceased to interest them, they having wholly forfeited their +liberties. They cared naught for the fortunes of the Empire, so long as +the wheat ships came regularly from Alexandria. The only vestige of +independence they retained was the privilege of shouting with impatience +when the games were delayed; there were no further rights they cared to +demand when Nero, dining in his box at the amphitheatre, threw his +napkin from behind the curtains as a signal that he had finished and +that the sport might commence. With such a populace as this, the nobler +spirits in the city could hope to accomplish nothing. Their only +recourse was to glorify their passive sufferings and their death with +stoical calmness and undismayed pride. How hopeless it was to expect the +inauguration of a revolt among the common people of Rome is shown by the +attitude of these people toward Nero's memory after his death. For a +long time, his tomb was continually decked with flowers. Sometimes, his +admirers placed his image upon the rostra, dressed in robes of state; +again, they would publish proclamations in his name, as though he were +yet alive and would shortly return and avenge himself upon his enemies. +Occasionally, there were rumors of his reappearance, for the reality of +his death was doubted in many quarters, and the undisguised satisfaction +with which these reports were received is evidence that the Roman people +generally were not yearning for reform. + +But those who were absent in the provinces, being neither under the +immediate power of Nero nor partners in his excesses, did not endure +with such complacence the shame he put upon the Roman name. Men like +Galba and Vespasian heard with great indignation from scoffing +foreigners how, at Rome, they had seen the emperor acting Orestes or +even Canace on the stage. These men could not endure the thought of +serving under a ruler who competed with a slaveborn pantomimist. Revolt +flamed up among the legions in various parts of the Empire; the guards +at Rome joined in it; and when Galba came, who had been proclaimed +emperor, they gladly welcomed him. + +Rome was shaken in the very foundations of her constitutional ideals. +The discovery of the possibility that an emperor could be created away +from the city marked the entering of the wedge which was eventually to +bring about the disintegration of the Empire. The legions had come +clearly to realize that the gift of the Empire was in their hands. The +Senate was henceforth supernumerary. The city was no longer to be +viewed with that superstitious reverence which had made men deem nothing +sacred or authoritative that had not issued therefrom; it was the +centre, but no longer the source of Empire. It soon came to pass that +"Roman" signified wide-spreading national inclusion rather than, as +heretofore, racial exclusion; even a Jew might now claim to be a freeborn +Roman citizen, though he had never seen the Capitol. + +In consequence of opposing claims to the succession, Italy was once more +torn with civil strife, an experience from which she had been free ever +since the days of the last Triumvirate. Within eighteen months three +emperors were created and destroyed. + +Our story, however, does not deal with emperors or with the political +history of Rome, except as it is necessary to refer to it as a +background for, or an explanation of, the conduct of the women who are +herein introduced. Women played no important part in the disturbances +which shook the Empire after the death of Nero, and which thus differed +from many of the previous revolutions in the State; yet it is entirely +consistent with the plan of this work to mention the women who were +connected with the principal actors. + +Galba, who was an old man when he came to the throne, had been in his +youth a great favorite of the Empress Livia. By her he had been advanced +in fortune and position. His mother's name was Mummia Achaica, the +daughter of Catulus; but she probably died when he was very young, and +he owed the benefits of his training to Ocellina, his stepmother, who +was a very remarkable woman in more than one respect. Beautiful and very +wealthy, she herself made the advances in courtship to Galba's father. +The elder Galba became consul and was of considerable importance in the +State; but he was a very short man and deformed. There is an +interesting story to the effect that once, when Ocellina was pressing +her suit, Galba, in order that if there were to be any disillusionment +on her part in regard to himself it might take place before he gave her +his hand, took off in her presence the _toga_ which hid the deformity of +his back. The incident shows a praiseworthy ingenuousness of disposition +on the part of Galba; it also indicates, what is of more interest to us, +the fact that Roman ladies were not unaccustomed to making matrimonial +advances in person and with unmistakable directness of purpose. Galba, +the future emperor, was adopted by Ocellina as her own son; and it is +safe to assume that the honesty of his character was in a large degree +the result of her training as well as an inheritance from his father. + +Galba was married to Aemilia Lepida, a descendant of the triumvir; but +she died during the reign of Claudius, and he never afterward married, +even though he was ardently sought by Agrippina the Younger, who had +been cuffed by his mother-in-law for seeking to usurp the place of +Lepida while the latter still lived. + +During the short eight months of his reign, Galba was almost entirely +ruled by the influence of Titus Vinius and Piso Licinianus, both of whom +perished with him, the latter having been designated by him as his +successor. Vinius met a fate which he richly deserved, and which, +unfortunately for many Romans, he escaped, though barely, in the days of +Caligula. At that time, he disgraced himself as the accomplice and +paramour of Cornelia, the wife of his commander, Sabinus, she who +paraded the camp at night in the dress of a common soldier. Cornelia, +however, expiated her crime by her devotion to her husband in his +misfortune at a later day. Vinius attained to fortune by means of +methods which are well illustrated by the indignity to which he +submitted his daughter Crispina at the hands of the depraved Tigellinus. +During Galba's reign, the people, believing Nero to have been incited to +his worst acts by Tigellinus, demanded the latter's execution, Vinius +preserved him from their rage, and thereupon Tigellinus gave a splendid +banquet as a thanksgiving for his deliverance. This entertainment +Crispina attended, accompanied by her father, who allowed her to receive +from their host an immense sum of money. Tigellinus on the same occasion +commanded his chief concubine to take from her own neck an extremely +valuable necklace and place it upon that of Crispina. But she was soon +compelled to expend her ill-gotten gains in a most pitiable manner. +After the death of Galba, Piso, and Vinius, the soldiers amused +themselves by carrying their heads about the city on the points of +spears. When Crispina and Verania, the wife of Piso, visited the camp +for the purpose of imploring the heads of their relatives, in order that +they might be disposed of with funereal honor, Crispina was not allowed +to take that of her father until she had purchased it at a cost of +twenty-five thousand drachmas. + +Otho, who had been the husband of Poppaea Sabina, was the next emperor; +but his reign lasted less than four months, and his only praiseworthy +act is the noble manner in which he died. Then came the brief and +shameful reign of Vitellius. Rome needed only to come under the rule of +a glutton to have exhibited by turn upon her throne a monstrous example +of every form of vice to which human nature can become addicted. + +This man was the son of that Vitellius who had so shamelessly flattered +Messalina and so basely deserted her in her extremity of need. His +mother's name was Sextilia, and she is reported to have been a most +excellent and respectable woman, whose character was formed on the +model of the ancient morals. Her death is said to have been brought +about by her son, in order that the prediction of a German prophetess +might be certain of fulfilment, she having told him that, he would reign +in security, if he survived his mother. He is accused of having denied +her proper nourishment during her illness. Suetonius, however, adds, +"that being quite weary of the woeful state of affairs, and apprehensive +of the future, she obtained without difficulty a dose of poison from her +son." + +Petronia was the first wife of Vitellius. A separation took place which +was probably mutually agreed upon, for Petronia bequeathed her property +to their son; first requiring, however, that he be released from his +father's authority, Vitellius agreed to this; but shortly after, the son +died by poison believed to have been administered by his father. A woman +named Galeria Fundano became the second wife of Vitellius; but of her +nothing more is known than that Tacitus speaks of her gentle +disposition. + +With Vitellius, to reign meant merely to feast royally. In this, +however, he was only the leading and most noteworthy exponent of a vice +characteristic of his time. Gluttony, among the Romans, had come to be +exalted to an art; and, in proof that the women of those days were not +exempt from it, historians inform us that it was common for individuals +of the female sex to be afflicted with the gout. Suetonius thus +describes the kind of feasting to which Vitellius accustomed the +nobility of Rome: "At a supper given him by his brother, on the day of +his arrival in Rome, there were served two thousand rare fishes and +seven thousand birds. But Vitellius threw into the shade all this +profusion by using on his own table a huge dish, which he named the +Shield of Minerva. In it were livers of plaice, brains of pheasants and +peacocks, flamingoes' tongues, roe of lamprey, and a thousand other +things which the ships of war had sought from the remotest border of +the Euxine to the Pillars of Hercules." + +This dish of Vitellius was made of silver. What its exact weight was we +do not know; but inasmuch as a freedman of Claudius had constructed one +of five hundred pounds weight, which was evidently inferior, we can well +believe the ancient writer when he tells us that the Shield of Minerva +was of such prodigious size that a special furnace had to be constructed +for its manufacture. It was kept as a monument of extravagance until the +time of Hadrian, who caused it to be melted. + +The brief reign of Vitellius was closed in a paroxysm of civil strife, +which ended within the walls of the city itself. For more than a hundred +years,--ever since the sack of Perusia, in which Fulvia played so +prominent a part,--the women of Italy had been free from the bitter +experiences of war. They knew nothing of the cruelties and atrocities +which followed in the wake of ancient battle, except from stories told +by grandmothers at nightfall. Now they were to suffer those evils +themselves. + +In warfare, more than in any other experience, man reverts to his +original barbarous, or rather purely animal, type. It is noticeable also +that in war, and especially in civil war, women regain some of that +ferocity which characterizes the female of the lower types of animals. +In the reign of terror during the French Revolution, there were many +women who showed themselves as bloodthirsty as any of the men who +composed the Committee of Public Safety. So, in the struggles which +accompanied the short-lived reigns of these three Roman emperors there +were many women who engaged in the battles; and there were some who +distinguished themselves by conduct not often exhibited to the discredit +of the female sex. Triaria, for example, who was the wife of Lucius +Vitellius, the brother of the emperor, is described as having been a +woman of the most furious spirit. When Dolabella, who had married +Petronia, was in danger of his life, Triaria warned a friend who sought +to save him that it would not be good for that friend to seek the +exercise of clemency; and when Tarracina was sacked by the Vitellian +soldiers, this same Triaria, armed with the sword of a soldier, urged on +the men to murder and rapine. + +In the final strife between the forces of Vitellius and Vespasian, the +city of Cremona, which was held by the former, was besieged. Tacitus +informs us that, in their zeal for the cause which their city had +adopted, some of the women of Cremona took part on the field of battle +and were slain. In view of what followed at the taking of their city, +they were fortunate in their lot. "Forty thousand men," says the +historian, "poured into it. The number of drudges and camp followers was +still larger, and more addicted to lust and cruelty. Neither age nor +dignity served as a protection; deeds of lust were perpetrated amidst +scenes of carnage, and murder was added to rape. Aged women who had +passed their prime, and who were useless as booty, were made the objects +of brutal sport. Maidens were contended for by ruffians who ended by +turning their swords against each other." + +The bloodshed and rapine were carried into the city of Rome itself. When +he saw that his case was hopeless, the ignoble, indolent Vitellius +wished to abdicate; but this neither his soldiers nor the people would +allow him to do. Flavius Sabinus was prefect of the city, and he, with +the soldiers of the Vespasian party, took refuge in the Capitol. There +were women who voluntarily took their places with these besieged men. +Among them was Verulana Gratilla, who, having neither children nor +relatives, followed the fortunes of the war for no other apparent reason +than the pleasure she derived from scenes of carnage. In this conflict +the Capitol was fired and the temple of the Empire reduced to ashes. +Yet, while all these things were occurring, the common people of Rome, +indifferent as to whether they were ruled by Vitellius or Vespasian, +looked on as if they were at a gladiatorial show. It was to them nothing +more than a spectacle, except that it was also an occasion for absolute +lawlessness and an incitement to frenzied indulgence in everything +vicious. So brutalized were the people that, while in some parts of the +great city the streets were filled with heaps of slain, in other parts, +to which the conflict did not extend, there prevailed revelry of the +most frantic kind, in which shameless women took a leading part. + +The legions of Vespasian conquered; and with his enthronement Rome +returned to peace and sanity. The enormities in which she had indulged +since the reign of Augustus were for the time expiated. + +In the Flavians, a new and healthy dynasty came to the throne of the +Caesars, though not later than the third reign, that of Domitian, it also +was to succumb to the effects of the possession of unbounded power. +Vespasian had come from an obscure family living at Reate in the Sabine +country. His father had collected the revenue in the province of Asia, +where his statue had been erected with the inscription: _The Honest Tax +Collector_. His mother, whose name was Vespasia Polla, was descended +from a good Umbrian family. Tertulla, his grandmother by his father's +side, had charge of his education, and her memory was always held by him +in the highest regard; much more than appears is suggested in the remark +of Suetonius that, after his advancement to the Empire, Vespasian loved +to visit the place where he spent his childhood. The house and all the +surroundings were kept exactly in the same condition, so that amid +unchanged scenes he might live over again his boyhood days. It was a +simple country house, with no pretension to the splendor in which the +great mansions of the city vied with each other; yet it was artistic. + +In those times, not even the simplest farmstead was without its +statuary; and we may well believe that, as Tertulla, in the courts of +Phalacrine, superintended the education of the future builder of the +Colosseum, she could point to examples of sculptured beauty to +illustrate those ideas of art which were included in every Roman's +training. In the great common room, where the work of the house was +done, and where, on winter evenings, the slaves were kept busy with +useful occupations, Polla presided, as had the matrons of the old days. +In the atrium she entertained her rural neighbors in simple style; and +there also she sometimes lectured her son, who greatly displeased her by +his tardiness in putting off his boyish ways. She was ambitious for him, +and longed to hurry him away to Rome, that in the stir of the city or +the camp he might win renown for the Vespasian name. Polla little +understood that the time her son spent, idly, as she supposed, watching +the teams and cattle about the drinking troughs of the inner court, was +fortifying him to withstand the moral dangers of a court of another +sort. The rugged, straightforward, simple-mannered soldier, who honored +festival occasions by drinking from a silver cup which he treasured as a +keepsake from his grandmother, was such an emperor as the Romans had not +before seen the like of. + +Flavia Domitilla was the wife of Vespasian; but she did not survive to +participate with him in the imperial dignity. Of her life and character +we know little. There is in existence but one likeness of her--a +colossal head found near Puteoli and now preserved in the Campana +Museum. This gives her the appearance of a strikingly handsome woman, +with a suggestion of pride, but not too powerful to overcome the aspect +of good nature. Suetonius says that she was at first the mistress of +Statilius Capella, a Roman knight. It may seem strange that a man of +Vespasian's character should marry a woman who had sustained such a +former relation; but in those times, wives with a past history in which +their present husbands had played no part were not so rare that they +were even remarkable. Domitilla enjoyed by birth all the legal +privileges of a Latin woman, but she was not a citizen of Rome until a +suit had been brought by her father for her in the courts. Possibly this +suit was instituted in regard to her inheritance of property; for the +privileges of citizenship, as they related to women, consisted of the +ability to receive legacies and bequeath property, and to form such +matrimonial unions as would be held valid when brought into question in +matters concerning property. It is very likely that the explanation of +the fact that Domitilla is spoken of as the mistress rather than the +wife of Statilius is to be found in the further fact that, he being a +Roman knight and she not yet a citizen of Rome, legal marriage could not +take place between the two. Suetonius tells us that after the death of +Domitilla, Vespasian renewed his union with his former concubine Caenis, +the freedwoman and former amanuensis of Antonia, whom he treated, even +after he became emperor, almost as if she had been his legal wife; and +it is safe for us to suppose that, had he been legally able to do so, +Vespasian would have made Caenis Empress of Rome. + +Domitilla bore her husband three children: Titus and Doraitian, who +became emperors in succession, and Domitilla, who died before her father +attained to the purple. + +The salutary influence of Vespasian's character was soon made apparent +in the improvement of Roman morals. He was not an energetic reformer; +but he curtailed those abuses which were most flagrant, and himself set +an example which those who desired his favor found it to their advantage +to follow. He expelled from the Senate those who were extraordinarily +vicious in their lives, and among them one who had, by request of Nero, +contended with a Greek girl in the arena. He required the Senate to pass +a decree that any woman who entered into a liaison with the slave of +another person should be herself considered a slave--a law which +indicates to what lengths the license of women had carried them during +the preceding reigns. + +One act of cruelty to a woman stains the records of this reign. An +insurrection had been stamped out in Belgium; but Sabinus, the leader, +had made his escape. His house was burned; still he could easily have +escaped into Germany, but that he was unwilling to leave his young wife, +Eponia, unprotected as well as homeless. "He concealed himself in an +underground hiding place, whose entrance was known only to two faithful +freedmen. He was believed to be dead; and his wife, sharing the opinion +of those around her, had been for three days plunged in inconsolable +affliction. Being secretly informed, however, that Sabinus was alive, +she concealed her delight, and was conducted to his place of refuge, +where in the end she determined also to remain. After seven months, the +husband and wife ventured to emerge, and made a journey to Rome for the +purpose of soliciting pardon. But being warned in season that the +petition would be in vain, they left Rome without seeing the emperor, +and again sheltered themselves in their subterranean refuge. Here they +lived together during nine years. Being at last discovered, Sabinus was +taken to Rome, where Vespasian ordered his execution. Eponia had +followed her husband, and she threw herself at the emperor's feet. +'Caesar,' she cried, showing her two sons, who were with her, 'these have +I brought forth and nourished in the tombs, that two more suppliants +might implore thy clemency.' Those present were moved to tears, and even +Vespasian himself was affected; but he remained inflexible. Eponia then +asked to die with him whom she had been unable to save. 'I have been +more happy with him,' she said, 'in darkness and under ground, than thou +in supreme power,' Her second request was granted her. Plutarch met at +Delphi one of their children, who related to him this sad and touching +story." Why this usually tolerant and always sensible emperor should +have been so inexorable on this occasion is a mystery. + +There is another instance recorded, in which a woman of different +character, presenting a petition of another kind, received an +acquiescent response. A lady of rank pretending, as Suetonius puts it, +to be desperately enamored of Vespasian,--it must have been that she +hoped to achieve a permanent relationship with the widowed +emperor,--requested that which it would have been more consistent with +her modesty to have avoided. In addition to granting her petition, +Vespasian made her a present of four hundred thousand sesterces. When +his steward asked how he would have the sum entered in his accounts, he +replied: "For Vespasian's being seduced." Considering, however, the +parsimonious character which the historian attributes to this emperor, +we are more inclined to think that the sum must have been entered on the +credit side of the ledger. + +Vespasian died in A.D. 79. The humor--which is the same thing as saying +the sanity--of the man is manifested in his remark, as he felt his life +ebbing away: "Well, I suppose I shall soon be a god." Pliny says of +him, "Greatness and majesty produced in him no other effect than to +render his power of doing good equal to his desire." Suetonius declares: +"By him the State was strengthened and adorned." + +In this same year occurred the destruction of Pompeii and Herculaneum. +These two cities, by the manner in which they were by one event both +destroyed and preserved, have afforded us so much material for the study +of Roman home life that a reference to them is entirely in accord with +the plan of this book. Among the Romans, even more so than among +ourselves, woman's life was home life. As we look into those Pompeian +houses, which the catastrophe of a day rendered impregnable to the siege +of centuries, we see in reality before us much which the scraps of +information afforded by the ancient writers fail to make intelligible. +By a singular good fortune, we are in possession of the narrative +furnished by a trustworthy eyewitness of the disaster which overwhelmed +Pompeii; it is contained in the two letters which Pliny the Younger +wrote to Tacitus, informing him how Pliny and his mother watched the +eruption of Vesuvius while his uncle was perishing in the attempt to +rescue the wife of a friend and at the same time to satisfy his spirit +of inquiry. We will not recite the well-known account, except as it +refers to the women who, if for no other reason than that it was their +fate or fortune to be present on this memorable occasion, deserve a +mention in the history of Roman women. Pliny says: "On the twenty-fourth +of August, about one in the afternoon, my uncle was desired by my mother +to observe a cloud which appeared of a very unusual size and shape.... +This extraordinary phenomenon excited his philosophical curiosity to +take a nearer view of it. He ordered a light vessel to be got ready, and +gave me the liberty, if I thought proper, to attend him. I preferred to +continue my studies.... As he was coming out of the house, he received a +note from Rectina, the wife of Bassus, who was in the utmost alarm at +the imminent danger which threatened her; for her villa being situated +at the foot of Mount Vesuvius, there was no way to escape but by sea; +she earnestly entreated him, therefore, to come to her assistance. He +accordingly changed his first design, and what he began with a +philosophical turn of mind he pursued with heroic purpose. He ordered +the galleys to put to sea and himself went on board, with an intention +of assisting not only Rectina, but several others, for villas stand +extremely thick upon that beautiful coast." In this design he was +unsuccessful; so he went to what is now called Castellamare, in the Gulf +of Naples. While there he was suffocated by the poisonous gases which +accompanied the eruption. In a second letter, Pliny describes his mother +and himself seeking to escape from the effects of a "black and dreadful +cloud, bursting with an igneous, serpentine vapor, darting out a long +train of fire, resembling flashes of lightning, but much larger.... Soon +the cloud seemed to descend, and cover the whole ocean, as indeed it +entirely hid the island of Caprese and the promontory of Misenum. My +mother strongly conjured me to make my escape, at any rate, which, as I +was young, I might easily do; as for herself, she said, her age and +corpulency rendered all attempts of that sort impossible. However, she +would willingly meet death, if she could have the satisfaction of seeing +that she was not the occasion of mine. But I absolutely refused to leave +her, and taking her by the hand I led her on, she complying with great +reluctance, and with many reproaches to herself for retarding my +flight.... Darkness overspread us, not like that of a cloudy night, or +when there is no moon, but of a room when it is shut up and all the +lights are extinct. Nothing was then to be heard but the shrieks of +women, the screams of children, and the cries of men. Some calling for +their children, others for their parents, others for their husbands, and +only distinguishing each other by their voices; one lamenting his own +fate, another that of his family; some wishing to die from the very fear +of dying; some lifting their hands to the gods; but the greater part +imagining that the last and eternal night was come, which was to destroy +the gods and the world together.... Heavy showers of ashes rained upon +us, which we were obliged every now and then to shake off, otherwise we +should have been crushed and buried in the heap." The mother and the son +escaped, however, and returned to Misenum, where in the midst of still +threatening danger they awaited news of the intrepid and fated +naturalist. + +[Illustration 5: +_A POMPEIAN HOUSE +From a water-color by M. Hoffbauer, after a restoration by +Jules Bouchot from Pliny's description. + +This interior, called the house of Pansa, is surrounded by +three streets and an alley. The view is from the vestibule. +In the centre is a basin, formed to receive water which fell +from the roof through an opening which also gave light +to the rooms, the doors and portieres of which are seen on +each side. Near to the basin was the altar for the household +god; the space beyond this was the dining room, which +led to the peristyle, reception room, and garden. As in the +atrium, rooms opened into the peristyle and other parts. + +The ground-floor exteriors were usually rented for shops. +Trade by the Roman nobility was always considered degrading, +especially if not extensive, says Cicero; they +therefore traded by making their slaves or freedmen the +ostensible merchants._] + +Two-fifths of the city of Pompeii have now been cleared, and we can see +the external conditions of the Roman woman's life as it would have been +impossible for modern times to conceive them had it not been for that +ancient catastrophe. We can see the streets as they were in the days of +Agrippina; we can look into the shops where the women of ancient Italy +sought bargains across the marble counters; we can go to the temples +where they worshipped, to the theatre where they were thrilled and +amused; indeed, we have a theatre ticket, with the number of the seat +and the name of the play. Best of all, we can enter houses almost +intact, and examine the environments of that home life which in all ages +is the special domain of woman. No account of woman can be made complete +without a study of her home, and for this reason we quote freely from M. +Boissier's fine description of the Pompeian residence. "The principal +rooms are all on the ground floor. The richest inhabitants build +themselves houses situated on four streets, thus occupying the whole +block. If they were economical, they cut off from this large plot of +ground some strips, which they let for a good sum; and we sometimes find +shops occupying the whole exterior of the house. While with us the front +is reserved for the best rooms, in Pompeii it was given up to business +purposes, or else closed with thick walls, in which there were no +openings. The whole house, instead of looking toward the street, faces +the interior. It communicates with the outer world only by the entrance +door, kept strictly closed and guarded; there are few windows, and these +only in the upper stories. Families wished to live in private, far from +the indifferent and from strangers.... The head of the house did not +desire to look into the street, and he was specially averse to having +persons in the street look into his house. Even within the mansion he +had divisions and distinctions. The part into which he welcomed his +visitors was not that to which he retired with his family; and it was +not easy to penetrate into this sanctuary, separated from every other +part by corridors, closed by doors or hangings, and guarded by porters. +The owner received when he wished, he remained in seclusion when so +inclined; and in case any client, more troublesome and obstinate than +usual, lingered in the vestibule to meet him on his way out, he had a +back door on a narrow street, which permitted him to escape.... + +"If the rooms are not large, they are numerous. The Roman used his +residence as he did his slaves; he had different rooms for each event of +the day, as he had servants for every necessity of life. Each room in +his house is made precisely for the use to which it is destined. He is +not satisfied, as we are, with a single dining room; he has them of +various sizes, and he uses one or another at different seasons of the +year, or according to the number of friends whom he wishes to +entertain. The chamber where he takes his siesta during the day and that +to which he retires to sleep at night are very small, admitting light +and air only through the door, which is not a disadvantage in the South, +where coolness is promoted by darkness. Besides, he is there only while +he is asleep; for the rest he has his _atrium_ and his _peristylium_. + +"Here he prefers to stay when he is at home. He is here not only with +his wife and children, but under the eyes of his servants, and sometimes +in their society. In spite of his fancy for seclusion and isolation, of +which I have spoken, he does not shun their company; for the family of +antiquity is more extensive than ours. It embraces, while recognizing +their inferiority, the slave and the freedman; so that the master, in +living with them, feels himself among his own people. These open and +closed _atria_, where the family spends its time, are found in all +Pompeian houses without exception; they are indispensable to furnish +light for the rest of the dwelling. Consequently, all persons, even the +poorer classes, took pleasure in ornamenting them tastefully, and +sometimes with profusion. If the extent of ground permitted it, various +shrubs were planted, and a few flowers were made to grow." + +Rome had for its next emperor Titus, who, in the two years of his reign, +showed himself the best and wisest ruler Rome had ever known. "I have +lost a day," he said, when at evening he could not remember having +afforded anyone assistance. He inherited his father's good sense, he had +profited by the elder's experience, and he came to the throne after +having tasted and become satiated with the vices common to his age. He +first married Arrisidia, the daughter of a knight. Of her we know +nothing further. After her death, he took to wife Marcia Furnilla, a +woman of very noble family, but probably of ignoble mind, for he +divorced her, and retained the custody of their daughter. This was a +Julia, who was true to the character common to the imperial women of +that name. We shall have occasion to discuss her a little later. + +The woman with whose history the name of Titus was chiefly connected and +who exerted more influence upon his life than any other was Berenice, +the daughter of Agrippa the Great. She was a Jewess by race, but Roman +in sympathy as well as by allegiance; and for character she may well be +classed with such Roman ladies as Poppaea or Julia the daughter of +Augustus. She was first married to Herod of Chalcis; but he died, and +for a long while she remained a widow in the company and under the +protection of her brother Agrippa. During this time, the pair paid a +visit to Rome, and while on the way stopped at Caesarea, where Festus was +governor. Here Berenice listened to the Apostle Paul, as he made his +eloquent plea in answer to his accusers and appealed to the tribunal of +Caesar. Berenice's continued widowhood, joined with the known laxity of +her morals, caused ugly stories to be set afloat regarding her relations +with her brother; whereupon she induced Polemon, King of Cilicia, to +become a proselyte to Judaism and marry her. This marriage seems to have +been unsatisfactory to both parties, for Berenice soon returned to +Jerusalem, and Polemon recanted from his Jewish faith. At this time, +Titus was with his father in Judea, and, though Berenice was much older +than he, the young Roman was fascinated by her extraordinary beauty, so +much so that he took her with him on his return to Rome. She was given +apartments in the palace, and there, to all appearance, she lived with +Titus as his wife. In fact, he would have made her his wife indeed, had +it not been for the strong prejudices of the Romans against foreign +alliances; but when he succeeded to the throne, rather than that his +rule should be impaired by any scandal, he sent Berenice away, though +the separation was the source of poignant grief to them both. + +Titus died twenty-six months after he came to the throne, and his +brother Domitian--who, unfortunately for the history of Rome, possessed +a healthier constitution as well as an inferior disposition--reigned in +his stead. Domitian has been called the second Nero, the character of +his reign being very similar to that of Nero's rule. This unworthy son +of Vespasian had disgraced his youth by vicious extravagances of all +kinds; but, on coming to the throne, he seemed to have reformed. This, +however, was only temporary. As has been remarked, on the day of +coronation there are few bad monarchs. All begin well; but the majority +of despots end badly. + +Domitian even began his reign as a reformer. He constituted himself +censor. In this capacity his attention was turned first to the college +of Vestal Virgins, who had so far forgotten the character which was the +prime essential to their office that they had become notorious for the +licentiousness of their conduct. Three of these priestesses received an +order to make away with themselves. Cornelia, the chief Vestal and the +worst offender, was condemned to suffer the prescribed punishment of +entombment. In the story of her death there is an incident worthy of +note as illustrating the effrontery which may be developed in a woman by +a habitual though unwarranted assumption of superior holiness. As she +was descending to the tomb, Cornelia's veil caught on the steps; when an +official offered to disentangle it, the Vestal in a horrified manner +bade him desist, as her consecrated character could not endure the +profane touch of a man. + +Domitian, moreover, passed an edict prohibiting to prostitutes the use +of the _lectica_, or travelling chair; they also lost the right of +receiving legacies or inheriting estates. But this enthusiasm for +morality was short-lived, and his censorship never interfered with his +own indulgences or extended to his own family. The empress of that day +was Domitia Longina, who seems to have been a woman who would find the +extravagances of Nero's libidinous entertainments entirely consistent +with her character and tastes. She fell desperately in love with Paris, +the famous actor of the time. In consequence she was divorced; but her +husband, unable to endure the separation, recalled her on the pretence +that it was demanded by the people. Her influence over the emperor is +perhaps further indicated by the fact that we hear of nothing sinister +having happened to Paris; but the Senator Helvidius, who, under the +character of OEnone, held Domitia up to scorn in a farce which he wrote, +was put to death. There is in existence a bust of Domitia Longina, but +the sole reflection which her appearance suggests is the amount of labor +and care which must have been demanded of her slaves in the production +of the innumerable tiny curls in which her hair is arranged. During the +lifetime of Titus, his daughter Julia was offered to Domitian in +marriage, the example of Agrippina and Claudius having established the +legality of a union between an uncle and a niece. But at this time +Domitia ruled the heart of the future emperor. Afterward, the unhappy +Julia was induced to enter into a criminal intercourse with Domitian, +and lost her life in an attempt to destroy its proof. This was a danger +which was frequently incurred by married women, in order to prevent the +birth of legitimate offspring. Large families in wealthy houses were +exceedingly rare. In the Museum of the Vatican there is a statue of +Julia, represented as the goddess Clemency. There is also in existence a +profile engraved upon stone, as well as a bust which is preserved in +the Uffizi Gallery. It requires but a glance at these likenesses to +enable one to understand why the Greeks called Julia "The New Juno." + +During the reign of Domitian, the Colosseum, the building of which had +been commenced by Vespasian, was completed and opened. In this immense +amphitheatre there were seats for eighty-seven thousand spectators, and +fifteen thousand more were able to find standing room. In its arena, +during each year, hundreds of men--gladiators, criminals, and +Christians--fought and fell in mortal agony for the amusement of those +great audiences, of which women formed a goodly proportion. There sat +the empress in a front box which was especially designed for the +Vestals; and it frequently happened that the scene upon which the eyes +of those ladies rested was the mangling of the bodies of Christian women +by the claws and teeth of ferocious beasts. + +Women also voluntarily took their places in the arena. Races in the +_stadium_ between young girls were frequent, nor was it a thing entirely +unknown for women to engage in the deadly sport of the gladiators. +Sometimes they faced the wild animals; and at times they even took the +trident and the net of the _retiarii_ and tried their skill against the +swordsmen. Juvenal has his fling at Maevia, who, "with breast exposed, +grasps the hunting spear and transfixes the Tuscan boar." The satirist +also exercises his grim humor on the picture of a woman practising the +art of fencing. "Who has not beheld the wounds of the wooden post, which +she dints with courageous foil, and attacks with her shield, and goes +against with skilful precision? A matron most preeminently worthy to +dance to the trumpet at the indecent Floral games. Perhaps, however, she +is meditating a more serious purpose, and intends to engage in real +earnest at the amphitheatre, for hire. What modesty can a woman show +that wears a helmet, eschews her sex, and delights in feats of +strength?" + +It would have been a marvel if Domitian had been allowed to end his life +otherwise than by violent means. Suetonius accuses Domitia of being +privy to her husband's assassination, but does not explain in what way +she took part in it. Suetonius had a rare nose for scandal, and always +believed the worst. The emperor was killed by a freedman, a steward of +Domitilla. + + "When he dreadful to the rabble grew, + Him, who so many lords had slain, they slew." + +Again in the death of this tyrant we see how the woman love for an +innocent babe will survive every vice of the grown man. There was in the +palace a woman named Phyllis, who had been Domitian's nurse. She was the +only one who showed any respect for the dead emperor. First, she had his +body interred at his villa in the Latin Way; then, when she found a safe +opportunity, she burned the remains and, carrying the ashes to the +mausoleum of the Flavian family, mingled them with those of Julia, whose +nurse she had also been. + +The Empress Domitia seems to have survived her husband many years; for +an inscription, the date of which corresponds with the year 140, +mentions that one of her freedmen, after building a temple to her, +offers the _decuriones_ of Gabii fifteen thousand sesterces, the income +of which was to be spent in keeping the building in repair and in +celebrating the birthday of his mistress. + +The period of Roman history which we have traversed in our study of +woman shows the ancient pagan Empire at its best materially and at its +worst morally. We are about to enter upon a new epoch. We shall speedily +begin to notice premonitions of decline, but we shall not again witness +such an absolute and all-prevalent abandonment of the requirements of +morality. From the days of Caesar Augustus down to the end of the reign +of Domitian, all that is recorded of Roman women, with a few noble +exceptions, is little more than a wearisome repetition of instances of +astonishing sensuality. Why was it that the women of this period +indulged to such an unnatural and unrestrained degree the grosser +appetites? It was not because they were unacquainted with the most +emphatic precepts of morality. Their ancestors had idealized feminine +chastity as it has been exalted among no other people in the history of +the world. The virtue of temperance was taught by their philosophers in +the most eloquent language; and the diatribes of their satirists are +evidence that the Roman conscience was not wholly at rest in regard to +the excesses which were prevalent. How then are we to account for this +monotonous orgy of libidinosity? + +So far as the question concerns the emperors, there is but one answer: +it is found in their unbounded power, in which, their will being +responsible to no one, they were absolutely at liberty to indulge +caprice or lustful impulse to the extent of their personal capabilities. +When, as was natural in the circumstances, the characters of these +potentates were warped in the wrong direction, their influence, not to +speak of their tyrannical power, was incalculably detrimental to female +virtue. But the real underlying cause for the sensuality of the women +whom we have brought into review was the utter purposelessness of their +lives, joined to an entire lack of all spiritual impulses in the +direction of self-respect. The Roman woman's life during the period +under discussion was one of absolute ease and unbounded luxury, although +the possibility of abject physical misery, in the form of banishment or +a violent death, always hovered near. Luxury is always conducive to +sexual incontinence; and, as is well known, customary peril engenders +recklessness. The minds of the Roman women were not fortified by +adequate spiritual impressions to offset these impulses. Such ideas of +chastity as were inherited from the ancient customs were not founded on +a belief in the dignity of womanhood, but rather on the conception of +marriage as a property right held by the husband in the person of the +wife. Adultery was the infringement of the husband's property rights, +rather than an injury to a woman's personal worth to herself. When +divorce for political reasons became common, the sense of the validity +of those rights grew correspondingly dim. A woman, seeing that she was +married not for her person, but for the sake of her friends, came +herself to set little store by that which to her husband was not the +chief item in the contract. The arid formalism of her religion also gave +but little support to any restraining instincts of self-respect. It +needed a new religion to enable woman to rediscover in herself a +spiritual nature, which could be tainted and injured by the abuse of the +body. + +[Illustration 6: +_THE CHIEF VESTAL +After the painting by Henri P. Motte +Vestals were believed by the Romans to be the guaranties for the +existence of the Empire. To these priestesses was paid a respect as +great if not greater than any Roman official might claim. Anyone +offering insult was punished with death. Whenever a Vestal appeared +in public, she was preceded by a lictor, before whom everyone +made way, even the highest officer of the State. The faces +were always lowered in her presence..... Domitian constituted +himself censor; his attention was turned first to the college of Vestal +Virgins, who had become notorious for licentiousness. Three priestesses +received an order to make away with themselves. Cornelia, +the chief Vestal and the worst offender, was condemned to suffer the +punishment of entombment. As she was descending to the tomb, +Cornelia's veil caught on the steps; when an official offered to +disentangle it, the Vestal in a horrified manner bade him to desist, +as her consecrated character could not endure the profane touch of a man._] + + + + +XIII + +THE SUNSET GLOW OF PAGANISM + +Gibbon expresses the opinion that in no period of the world's history +has the human race been happier or more prosperous than during the time +which elapsed between the reigns of Domitian and Commodus. There is not +a little that may be said in support of this remarkable conclusion. +Under Nerva, Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines, the Empire enjoyed the +calm and brilliant evening following a long day of bitter strife and +perilous turmoil, and preceding the moral darkness of the rule of the +tyrants under whom paganism was fated to expire. + +During this period, Italy and the interior provinces of the Empire were +entirely free from the rude alarms of war. The home of that day was as +secure from violence as it is among ourselves at the present time. No +wife or daughter had occasion unavailingly to beg the life of husband or +father from the jealous or timid cruelty of a self-indulgent ruler. In +the home circle, there was no foreboding dread of proscription. The +terrible laws regarding _crimen majestatis_, under which so many +cruelties had been perpetrated and so many families unjustly bereaved, +were held in abeyance. Pliny writes to Trajan: "It is said, sir, that a +woman and her sons have been buried in the same place where your statue +is set up." This, under some of the former emperors, would have been a +grave matter; a woman was executed under Domitian because she disrobed +before a statue of the emperor. But Trajan writes: "You should not have +hesitated about such a question, for you know very well that I do not +propose to make my name respected by terror and by accusations of +treason. Dismiss this charge, which I shall not consider." + +The people were prosperous. The vast extent of the Roman dominion, with +its thoroughly organized and centralized government and its easy means +of communication, interchanged a wonderful abundance and variety of the +products of industry and commerce. At no time previous to the discovery +of America did housewife ever draw the supplies for her table and her +wardrobe from such widely separated quarters of the earth's surface as +did the Roman woman in the time of Hadrian. As a modern historian has +said: "The world was opened; the most secluded places had become +accessible; all things circulated without let or hindrance. It was free +trade, with its advantageous results in abundance and low prices. All +the produce of the world came into Rome by the Tiber. The women of the +Bernese Oberland bought their ornaments of a jeweller in Asia Minor, and +thought less of it than we of procuring rugs from Smyrna or Damascus." + +The people also were protected by salutary laws. The women of that day, +when they went to the shops and purchased by weight or measure, were +assured of honest dealing. There were standards kept in the municipal +cities, and every tradesman was obliged to have his weights and measures +tested by them; he was also subject to unannounced inspection. Never +were wise laws more perfectly executed. How thoroughly the mind of +Trajan was imbued with the idea that his mission was to administer the +Empire for the benefit of the people is shown by his correspondence +with Pliny. Hadrian spent almost the whole of his reign in travelling +from one province to another, in order that he might not only satisfy +his curiosity, but also secure good government by personal inspection. + +The people also enjoyed a fair semblance of liberty. True, they were not +free. The rule of the Antonines was as absolute as that of the first +Caesars; but the emperors of the period we are describing, ostentatiously +and to the great contentment of the people, professed to administer the +laws only as they were enacted by the Senate and to be themselves +governed by the constitution. It was but a phantom of liberty, truly; +but when has the world really seen more? The five emperors who followed +Domitian exercised their absolute power under the guidance of virtue and +wisdom; and, whether or not it were an honorable peace, the people were +contented and happy. + +The effect of this wise, strong, all-pervading government must have been +made especially apparent in the woman's world of that time. There are no +gains for women in war. The glory sought by man is no compensation for +the wife's anxiety entailed by her fear of bereavement. In the hazards +of foreign strife or the dangers of civil turmoil, woman may exemplify +those possibilities of her character which reveal themselves in the +heroism of devotion or resignation; but the normal qualities of her +nature do not expand as in the quiet comfort of a home life where safety +is assured. + +In the history of Roman women, down to the period which we have now +reached, there has been no opportunity to ascertain what the combined +influences of culture and peace might accomplish. In the ancient +Republic, culture of any appreciable degree was absent and life was +continuously strenuous. In later days, when Roman hardihood was first +touched by Greek civilization, and the love of letters began to find a +place in woman's life, the Roman matron, though admirable and +statuesque, was too heroic in her virtue to be altogether attractive. A +writer of a later day--than whom none more keenly regretted the ancient +purity--felt this. "Let her be more chaste than any single Sabine that, +with hair dishevelled, rushed between the combatants and brought the war +to a close; let her be a very phoenix upon earth, rare as a black swan; +who could tolerate a wife in whom all excellencies are concentrated! I +would rather, far rather, have a country maiden from Venusia than you, O +Cornelia, mother of the Gracchi, if along with your estimable virtues +you bring as part of your dower a haughty and disdainful brow, and +reckon as a portion of your fortune the triumphs of your house! Away, I +beg, with your Hannibal and Syphax conquered in his camp, and march with +all your Carthage!" + +Equally unconducive to a feminine life combining sweetness with nobility +were those later times, when danger was always imminent from a tyrant's +lust or jealousy. Agrippina, travelling with Germanicus in expeditions +against the Teutonic tribes, might earn the title "Mother of the Camps"; +menaced by Tiberius, she might strengthen her mind in anticipation of +the inevitable storm with the stern fortitude becoming to a Roman matron +of the house of Augustus; but with years and affliction comes an +unamiable sourness of disposition. Livia, Agrippina, and Antonia were +women of the most unquestionable virtue; but they were ungentle in their +manner and capable of extreme harshness in their methods. We know them +fairly well; but there is no indication of their interesting themselves +in any such womanly work as those public charities which graced the +reign of Trajan, and with which we may be reasonably certain that +Plotina, his noble consort, actively sympathized. With assured security +of life, woman's heart expanded and her sympathies widened. Faustina, +the wife of Aurelius, may not have been irreproachable; but she is +represented in the position of the Lady Bountiful by the side of her +husband in the public distributions. Under these noble emperors, a +social conscience was developed; and there was nothing to prevent or +disturb any of the genial graces of the home life, which are only +possible when women are respected and happy. + +During this period, the legal condition of the Roman woman was also +greatly ameliorated. The acute sense of justice which actuated these +emperors could not neglect this result of civilization. On one occasion, +a matron stopped Hadrian in the street and begged leave to submit to him +a matter in which she was suffering injustice. He refused to be delayed. +"Why, then, are you emperor?" she bitterly exclaimed. This appealed to +him; for he was conscious that he had no right to govern unless he +allowed the salutary influence of his rule to extend to all alike. + +A man and a woman, who, though they had cohabited, were not legally +married, disputed as to the possession of their child in order to +receive its share of the public allowance. "With whom do you live?" +asked Hadrian of the child. "My mother," was the answer. "You rascal," +said the emperor to the man, "you have no right to this allowance." + +"I implore you," cried another woman, "to order that a part of my son's +allowance be given to me." "But, my lord," said the son, "I do not +acknowledge her to be my mother." "Then," answered Hadrian, "I shall not +acknowledge you as a citizen." + +These, it may be, were only casual incidents; but they indicate the sort +of rule under which Rome had come, and they must have formed powerful +precedents in future rulings in such cases. Laws were also passed which +helped to relieve the burden of legal injustice which from the first had +rested upon the Roman woman. A father had it always in his power to +compel his son to put away his wife, and could thus, if he chose, +shatter the life of a faithful, loving woman and drive her from her +home. Marcus Aurelius amended this tyrannical law, so that it could only +be executed for great and just cause. Under the old code, a child was +always subject to the condition of his mother at his birth; hence, if a +free woman, after conception, was relegated to servitude by sentence of +law, her child was born a slave. Hadrian decreed that if a woman was +free at any time during her pregnancy, her child should be free. This +would seem to be more of a relief to the child so born than to the +mother; but, apart from the mother sympathy, the parent of a free son +would be much more likely to regain her own liberty. This emperor also +decided that women should have the power to dispose of the whole of +their property by will, on obtaining the consent of their guardians. It +was soon afterward decreed that such a will should be valid without such +consent, and this made the property rights of the Roman woman as +untrammelled as such laws have been in any country, almost down to the +present time. There was also a modification of the law of inheritance, +so that women were allowed to take from their sons; but to avail herself +of this new law a freedwoman must have had no less than four children. + +This material comfort and security of life would, of itself, hardly +suffice to substantiate Gibbon's opinion as to the superior happiness of +this particular period of the world's history; but there was something +more. Human life is not rendered felicitous solely by the abundance of +the things which a people possesses; there must be the power to make +the most of and enjoy them. It is with the life of a nation as it is +with that of an individual--the happiest age is that immediately +previous to the beginning of decadence; prior to that, the attention and +energy are wholly taken up with the process of acquiring. The Roman +Empire was now, as it were, balanced and resting on the summit of its +greatness. + +With one or two exceptions, never in the history of the world has so +large a proportion of the citizens of a nation been capable of so fully +appreciating the highest mental enjoyments. Art in those days was +closely inwoven with the life of the people; they lived artistic lives. +The women of that day moved habitually among those objects which the +ladies of our time go to museums to admire. Their eyes were every day +accustomed to rest upon the beautiful structures and statuary which are +the wonder and the models of modern times. Every home, however modest, +had about it much of the artistic; every public building was a +magnificent example of architecture. Nothing was purely utilitarian, for +life was not sordid. With an ample supply of the necessaries and +luxuries of existence, and perfect protection through wise and +beneficently administered laws, this added grace and beauty which +pervaded everything lacked little to make the life of women in the days +of Trajan, Hadrian, and the Antonines broader and happier than it has +been in any other period, ancient or modern. + +There were, however, two classes of persons which must not be left out +of the estimate; and it may be suggested that a proper understanding of +the conditions of their existence may detract greatly from the foregoing +appreciation of the period under discussion: these are the slaves and +the poor. But, inasmuch as what has been said is of the nature of a +comparison, it can be justly answered that the poor we have always with +us, and until recently the institution of slavery has been a cherished +one. At any rate, it was rare that a Roman slave woman was ill fed, +while compulsory hunger is by no means uncommon in modern times. + +Since so large a portion of those Roman slaves were women, it will be +quite pertinent to our subject if we take a glance at this institution +of slavery as it existed in the ancient world. + +It is estimated that at one time no less than one-fifth of the +population of Rome was in a condition of compulsory servitude. The +number was kept up by birth, by the slave market, and by war. In ancient +times, the creditor could sell the family of the debtor; the father also +could dispose of his children in the same manner. These barbarous +measures, however, were less resorted to as manners grew milder, though +the laws permitting them were not repealed until the time of Diocletian. +Parents had the legal right to expose their unwelcome children, and +whoever chose to take the abandoned infants owned them as slaves; but +Trajan granted to such children the perpetual right of claiming their +freedom, on condition that they could prove that of their parents. + +By the ancient law, the slave was nothing but a chattel. He possessed no +rights, he had no will of his own, he was not a person, and could not +seek protection from the law. Over him his master owned absolute power +of life and death. Women slaves were wholly subject to their owner's +will. They might be required to bear offspring for the mere sake of +increasing their master's number of servants, with absolutely no regard +to any sentiment they might cherish relative to such a matter. A slave +could not legally marry; and for many centuries no union of that nature +was held to have any binding force. When it is considered that a large +proportion of the slaves owned by Roman masters were secured as the +spoils of war, or by kidnapping, and consequently included many persons +of both sexes who were well born and educated, it is seen how peculiarly +cruel was slavery in those times. + +Gradually, principles of humanity prevailed in the softening of this +condition, and it is probable that instincts of humanity on the part of +the majority of owners induced them to do better than the law demanded. +In the house of Columella, every slave woman who had three children was +set free from labor, and she who had more was emancipated. During the +period of the Antonines, laws were passed prohibiting masters from +selling slaves to fight in the arena unless these had been convicted of +some crime by public authority. They were not allowed to be left by will +with the understanding that they were to fight with beasts. The killing +of slaves became punishable as for murder; and even the slave's honor +came to be protected, for a complaint could be lodged against the master +for an attempt on the slave's modesty. Regard was also paid to the +natural feelings of these unfortunate persons; for while those in a +condition of slavery could not legally marry, yet, where the nuptial +union had been formed it was not permitted that the husband and wife +should be separated by sale. Thus we see that the Roman slaves, from a +condition of absolute inhumanity in the days of the early Republic, came +in the time of the Antonines to be so hedged about with the protection +of the law that there was left little to be desired save the possession +of their own persons. Still, it is not meant to be asserted that even in +this mild period there was not ample scope for cruelty on the part of +barbarous or ill-natured owners. Juvenal describes with great +indignation how women would cause their female attendants to be +unmercifully whipped. But a just complaint of intolerable treatment +was, in the reign of Marcus Aurelius, legal ground for compelling the +emancipation of the slave, or at least for providing him or her with a +kinder owner. + +Paganism has often been accused of having paid no attention whatsoever +to public charities. On the contrary, during the period with which we +are now occupied institutions of poor-relief were founded and were as +remarkable for the wisdom with which they were organized as for the +spirit of beneficence which they manifested. There was abundance of +evidence in Pliny's time to show that his beautiful words were not mere +rhetoric: "It is a duty to seek out those who are in want, to bring them +aid, to support, and make them in a sense one's own family." Has the +modern spirit anything better to say than this sentence which was +inscribed upon a tomb: _Therc is in life but one beautiful thing, and +this is beneficence._ The Romans of the Antonine period put this +sentiment into practical operation in more ways than one. Nerva +conceived the project of rendering State aid to poor parents to enable +them to rear their children. Trajan, his successor, adopted this scheme +and developed it on a magnificent scale. As early as the year 100, there +were, in the city of Rome, as we learn from Pliny, no less than five +thousand children who received this assistance. So much consideration +was shown in the arrangement for this distribution, that it was ordered +that the apportionment of the sick or absent should be reserved until it +was sent for. From the Inscription of Veleia, one of the longest which +have come down to us, and the table of the Baebiani for the apportionment +of food among the poor, we learn of the poor-relief system under which +two hundred and sixty-four boys and thirty-six girls were supported. +"The boys received annually one hundred and ninety-two sesterces +[$9.20], the girls one hundred and forty-four [$6.90]. The foundation +was established for a definite number of children, a number that did not +change so long as the foundation was not increased; but the assistance +varied, doubtless with the price of provisions, in different localities; +thus, at Veleia, sixteen sesterces per month; at Tarracina, twenty." The +writer of the above demonstrates by authorities and examples that from +sixteen to twenty sesterces per month was sufficient to support a Roman +child. He continues: + +"It cannot be affirmed that the institution was in a general measure +established in the whole of Italy; but coins, inscriptions, and even +sculptures, enable us to discover it in many places. Thus the +bas-reliefs of the Arch of Beneventum represent men carrying boys on +their shoulders, and four women, their heads adorned with mural crowns, +conducting young girls to Trajan. Do these women represent the four +towns of the vicinity, or are they the symbol of all the cities of Italy +which had profited by the same benefaction? The second hypothesis is the +more probable, and Dion confirms it. + +"Provincial cities and wealthy individuals followed the example given by +the emperors; this pagan society, which ameliorated the lot of the +slave, which was mindful of the destitution of its poor, thus showed +before its downfall that it possessed within itself powers of renewal +sufficient to save it, had it not been ruined by bad legislation." + +This annuity did not cease with the end of Trajan's reign. Hadrian +increased the length of time through which the boys and girls were to +receive it. It is noticeable that fewer girls than boys were assisted, +and, while the latter received the pension until the age of eighteen, it +was taken from the girls at the age of fourteen. It must be confessed +that this introduced a suspicion of utilitarianism into the +beneficence, girls at that time being considered of less advantage to +the State than their brothers; but Antoninus, who was a man of peace and +who would have much liked to be able to dispense with the army, in honor +of his wife increased the number of girls on the lists for support; +while on the death of the second Faustina, Marcus Aurelius followed his +predecessor's example. Private persons, and especially ladies, also +established foundations of this kind. To provide for a hundred children +at Tarracina, Caelia Macrina bequeathed one million sesterces; Hispalis +profited in a similar way by the legacy of a wealthy lady resident. The +spirit in which the times viewed this subject is shown in the words of +Paulus: "Donations," says he, "may be made to the city, either for its +adornment or for its honor; and among the things which honor a city the +most is the practice of giving support to infirm old men and to young +children of both sexes." There is also proof that in many cities +physicians were salaried by the municipality and required to render +gratuitous assistance to the poor. + +It is a fact exceedingly to be regretted that, while we find so much +that is admirable in this period by means of which the female portion of +society was benefited and for the existence of which much credit is +undoubtedly owing to the noble women of the time, yet the records of +individual women are extremely unsatisfactory. In the first place, they +are very meagre. Unfortunately, there are no such brilliant and copious +histories of the reigns of Trajan and Hadrian as of those of the +previous and less worthy emperors. Of individual women, apart from those +of the imperial house of this period, we know nothing. The records of +the empresses and of their female relatives exhibit a similarity to the +scandalous accounts of their predecessors which is sadly monotonous and +entirely unworthy of the otherwise wonderfully improved conditions. It +is doubtful whether or not the characters of the Faustinas could be +rehabilitated if trustworthy evidence were obtainable; but, even if that +were possible, there would still be nothing to secure for them equal +moral rank with their noble husbands. There is a fine exception, +however, in the character of Plotina, the wife of Trajan. In the Vatican +Museum there is a bust of this noble woman. It shows a lady advanced in +years, but with a countenance charmingly suggestive of intelligence and +moral dignity. + +Trajan was a plain, honest soldier, who, when he was proclaimed emperor +on the death of Nerva, entered the city on foot and recognized his old +friends as he passed on his way to the palace. Plotina Pompeia +accompanied him; and as she mounted the steps of the imperial abode, she +turned to the people and said: "Such as I am entering here, I desire to +be when I leave here." She must have been then in the prime of her +womanhood; for her husband reigned nineteen years, and she outlived him. +Her life in the palace, unlike that of the majority of her predecessors, +was distinguished by her unassailable virtue, her affability, and her +charitable activity on behalf of the poor and needy. We may safely be +assured that though the charitable scheme already described was +developed by the mind of her husband, he was stimulated thereto by the +gracious counsel of Plotina. She accompanied her husband on his +expedition in the East, and was with him when he died in Cilicia, whence +she carried his ashes to Rome. Under Hadrian she still continued to +enjoy all the honors and titles of a Roman empress. + +The accession of Hadrian to the throne is surrounded by a mystery which +must forever remain impenetrable. Gibbon repeats the gossip which the +ancient historians handed down as veritable fact, when he says: "We may +readily believe that the father of his country hesitated whether he +ought to intrust the various and doubtful character of his kinsman +Hadrian with sovereign power. In his last moments, the arts of the +Empress Plotina either fixed the irresolution of Trajan, or boldly +supposed a fictitious adoption; the truth of which could not be safely +disputed, and Hadrian was peaceably acknowledged as his lawful +successor." Dion asserted on the authority of his father, who was +Governor of Cilicia, where Trajan died, that the adoption never took +place and that Plotina forged the letters which were sent to Rome, +apparently from Trajan, informing the Senate of his choice. Some even +went so far as to say that, the moment after the emperor's death, he not +having named Hadrian, Plotina caused a man to be placed in his bed to +simulate his dying voice saying that he appointed Hadrian his successor. + +This is a flimsy story, and rather suggests the triviality of the minds +of those who concocted it than it impairs the character of Plotina. +Hadrian had married Sabina, the daughter of Matilda, who was in turn the +daughter of Marciana, Trajan's sister. Moreover, the emperor had +showered favors upon him, and appointed him to the highest offices. To +whom else should Trajan leave the Empire? Nevertheless, it is probable +that Hadrian was greatly liked by the powerful empress, and she may have +shown a deep interest in the adoption of the youth by her husband. In +courts, where there are of necessity jealousy and rival ambitions, from +such innocent facts will formidable scandals grow. Every other mention +of her is evidence against the insinuation that the maternal affection +of Plotina for Hadrian was tinctured with love of a stronger nature. + +Hadrian's mother was a native of Cadiz. How she was held in the esteem +of her imperial son is indicated in the following letter which he wrote +her: "All hail, very dear and excellent mother. Whatever you ask of the +gods for me, I ask the same for you. By Hercules, I am delighted that my +acts seem to you worthy of praise. To-day is my birthday; we must take +supper together. Come, then, well dressed, with my sisters. Sabina, who +is at our villa, has sent her share for the family repast." + +Through the meagre and inconclusive accounts we have of the private +affairs of Hadrian, the allegation is circulated that his life with +Sabina was far from being an amicable one. The empress was said to be of +a morose and sour disposition, and Hadrian is even accused of having rid +himself of her by the help of poison. The latter is a calumny unworthy +of serious attention. It is altogether impossible to believe that, even +if the chasm between the two were as wide as is reported, the emperor +would not have sought relief in divorce rather than in murder. However +praiseworthy may have been Hadrian's character as an emperor, if Sabina +stood upon her rights as a wife, she had every reason for holding him in +supreme contempt; for common as may have been the vice to which there +seems to be little doubt Hadrian was addicted, it is difficult to +believe that any woman retaining the least respect for herself could at +the same time retain any regard for such a husband. The state of affairs +between this imperial couple may have been very unpleasant; but at least +a semblance of harmony was preserved. Hadrian even protected his wife; +when Suetonius the historian in some way failed in proper respect for +Sabina, the emperor immediately banished him from the court. The empress +also seems to have accompanied her husband on many of his extensive +journeys. We have an interesting proof and record of her having been +with him in Egypt. She ascended the Nile as far as Thebes and visited +the statue of Memnon, the son of Aurora, who was reported to sing every +morning in honor of his radiant mother's return. Balbilla the poetess +caused three of her verses to be engraved on the leg of the statue, in +which she records this visit. They are dated the twentieth and +twenty-first of November, 130. It seems that the god did not show proper +respect for Sabina, nor did he in the least stand in awe of "the angry +countenance of the empress," for on the occasion of her first visit he +was not in a singing mood. + +From her portraits, one would not judge Sabina to have been of a morose +and bitter disposition. There is in the Vatican a statue of the empress +represented as Venus Genitrix, while there is also a bust of her in the +Capitol Museum. If these are faithful likenesses, it is as difficult to +believe that Sabina was of an unamiable disposition as it is to +understand Hadrian's preference for Antinous. In connection with this +subject Gibbon says that, down to the time of Hadrian, Claudius was the +only emperor whose taste in love matters was at all correct. This being +the case, it is only just to say that, if example could afford it, the +empresses had ample excuse for the most flagrant irregularities recorded +of them. + +Antoninus Pius was adopted by Hadrian and designated his successor, +without the aid of any woman whatsoever--except that Sabina failed to +provide an occupant for the throne by the act of maternity. + +The wife of Antoninus was Annia Galeria Faustina. She had borne him four +children; but at the time of his accession only one daughter, named +after her mother, survived. The annals of the period of this reign are +extremely meagre and unsatisfactory. It has been said that while the +unanimous praises that are bestowed upon the virtues of Antoninus earn +for him in pagan history the place held by Saint Louis among Christian +kings, his political career is so uncertain that, as emperor, he +appears before us a half-effaced figure, whose outlines are wholly +indistinct. + +Faustina the Elder did not live long to enjoy the dignity of empress; +but in private life she had established for herself such a reputation, +if all accounts be true, that she simply added one more to the list of +immoral empresses who had disgraced the palace. Yet it must be admitted +that these reflections upon her character are extremely ill-founded, and +indeed there is evidence to the contrary which tends to make them seem +absurd. Fronto, a philosopher of the period, pronounced a eulogy upon +her, concerning which Antoninus wrote: "In the discourse which thou hast +devoted to my Faustina I have found even more truth than eloquence. For +it is the fact--yes, by the gods! I would rather live with her on the +desert island of Gyaros than without her in the palace." This is not +merely affection; from a man of Antoninus's character, it indicates an +esteem which it would have been impossible for him to cherish, or even +express, had Faustina been the wanton that the unreliable memoirs of the +time describe her. + +After the death of his wife, Antoninus refused to marry again, though he +consoled himself with a concubine; he would not impart to another woman +the honors and the position which he had rejoiced to share with +Faustina. Indeed, such devoted affection is shown in the manner in which +this emperor revered the memory of his deceased wife, that it would be +one of the beautiful things in history were it not for the fact that the +suspicion fastened upon her reputation, though very improbable, cannot +be entirely eradicated, for lack of evidence to the contrary. Antoninus +built a temple to her honor, and after his death the Senate +reconsecrated it: _To the god Antoninus and to the goddess Faustina_. +The emperor also did what was far more advantageous to his people, and +was an equal proof of his love for Faustina: he established in the name +of his wife a charitable foundation for the support and education of +girls. There is in existence a medal bearing the empress's image, and on +the reverse a representation of Antoninus surrounded by young children, +with this inscription: _Puelloe Faustinianoe_. + +When Hadrian appointed Antoninus as his successor, he obliged the latter +to adopt as his son Marcus Annius Verus, known in history and in +philosophy as Marcus Aurelius. The mother of Marcus Aurelius was Domitia +Lucilla, a lady of consular rank and a descendant of Domitius Afer. She +seems to have been a woman in every way an ornament to these better +times. In his _Meditations_, the imperial philosopher acknowledges that +from his mother he inherited "piety, and beneficence, and abstinence not +only from evil deeds, but even from evil thoughts; and further, +simplicity of life far removed from the habits of the rich." One would +like to dwell on the character of this sweet-natured, pure-hearted +Lucilla. It would be an inestimable boon to the interests of history and +also of moral philosophy if we had a biography of the mother of a good +emperor; but unfortunately the pitiable historians of the time have +given us instead scandals regarding Faustina. There are, however, one or +two little incidents recorded which warrant us in the belief that if we +only knew more of her life we should have in Lucilla a name and a +portrait worthy of a place among those of the most honored women of the +world. She encouraged her son in his philosophic studies; but when his +enthusiasm carried him to such an excess of self-discipline that he +purposed to sleep on bare boards, his mother prevailed on him to indulge +himself with the luxury of a sheepskin rug. + +Marcus Aurelius expresses his thankfulness that "though it was my +mother's fate to die young, she spent the last years of her life with +me." In one of his letters to Fronto, he describes a day spent in the +country during the vintage. "When I returned home," he says, "I studied +a little, but not to much advantage. I had a long talk with my mother, +who was lying on her couch." Those talks with a mother from whom he had +learned to hate the thought of evil were of inestimable value to his +character, and thus have not been wholly lost to the world. + +On one occasion, Lucilla was noticed by Antoninus Pius in the act of +earnest prayer before the image of Apollo. "What think you she is +praying for so intently?" insinuated a mischief maker named Valerius +Omulus; "it is that you may die, and her son reign in your stead." +Antoninus ignored the base suggestion in silent contempt. It is very +possible that Lucilla was praying for her son's reign, but for the +worthiness of its character rather than for the speediness of its +commencement. + +Unfortunately, though it may not be necessary to believe all that is +said against her, it is at least very apparent that Faustina the wife of +Marcus Aurelius was not such a woman as Lucilla his mother. Gibbon sums +up in the following paragraph the whole story as it may be gleaned from +the very indifferent ancient authorities: + +"Faustina, the daughter of Pius and the wife of Marcus, has been as much +celebrated for her gallantries as for her beauty. The grave simplicity +of the philosopher was ill calculated to engage her wanton levity, or to +fix that unbounded passion for variety which often discovered merit in +the meanest of mankind. The Cupid of the ancients was, in general, a +very sensual deity; and the amours of an empress, as they exact on her +side the plainest advances, are seldom susceptible of much sentimental +delicacy, Marcus was the only man in the Empire who seemed ignorant or +insensible of the irregularities of Faustina; which, according to the +prejudices of every age, reflected some disgrace on the injured husband. +He promoted several of her lovers to posts of honor and profit, and, +during a connection of thirty years, invariably gave her proofs of the +most tender confidence and of a respect which ended not with her life. +In his _Meditations_, he thanks the gods who had bestowed on him a wife +so faithful, so gentle, and of such a wonderful simplicity of manners. +The obsequious Senate, at his earnest request, declared her a goddess. +She was represented in her temples with the attributes of Juno, Venus, +and Ceres; and it was decreed that, on the day of their nuptials, the +youth of either sex should pay their vows before the altar of their +chaste patroness." + +It would be a preposterous undertaking to accept a brief for Faustina; +and yet, judging such evidence as we have in the light of common sense, +one is inclined to acquit her of some charges, or at least to demand for +her a verdict of "not proven." Who are the witnesses against her? +Capitolinus, who wrote the life of Marcus Aurelius, is one. He wrote in +the time of Diocletian, one hundred and twenty years after the events. +Surely the lapse of time will to a certain degree depreciate the value +of the evidence; and then Capitolinus is an exceedingly poor biographer. +Dion Cassius is the principal witness; but it is very apparent that Dion +Cassius was accustomed to report indiscriminately every bit of scandal +he heard about anybody. He was constitutionally malignant. It is very +doubtful if any modern jury, knowing his character, would convict a +petty thief on the evidence of Dion Cassius. Because Commodus, the son +of Faustina, developed an abnormal love for bloody sports and manifested +a strong regard for the heroes of the arena, malicious tongues asserted +that he was the son of a gladiator; but the strong resemblance which may +be traced in the statues and bust of Marcus Aurelius and Commodus is +sufficient to refute this part of the charge. This likeness is also +attested by Fronto, who, though he may have desired to compliment the +emperor, was assuredly a man of too much character to adopt this +particular method if he knew Faustina to be the woman she is +represented. Then again, if her habits were as vicious as they are +described, it is absolutely inconceivable that her husband should have +remained in ignorance of the fact; it would imply that he must have been +nothing more or less than an imbecile, which Marcus Aurelius decidedly +was not. If, on the other hand, he knew of his wife's promiscuous +amours, it is incredible that he should have had the effrontery to laud +his wife's faithfulness and virtue before the public; it is +inconceivable that he should have manifested toward her such confidence +and esteem in their private relations. Our judgment is influenced more +by the treatment she received from her husband than by the venomous +testimony of Dion. + +One of the charges against Faustina is that she abetted the conspiracy +of Avidius Cassius by offering him her hand in the event of her +husband's being slain. This even the biographer of Cassius denies, and +quotes a letter of Faustina's in proof. + +There must, however, have been some cause for these reports of the +empress's conduct, even though they are greatly exaggerated. We may take +it for granted that Faustina was not worthy of her noble husband. It is +very possible that she had little regard for his philosophical maxims +and less liking for his austerities. She may have been more forcibly +attracted by the handsome appearance and gay manner of Verus, her +husband's colleague in the Empire; but that she was so absolutely +wanton as the ancient anecdotists describe requires no contravention of +the principles of historical criticism to disbelieve. + +The letters of Faustina to Marcus Aurelius were preserved by Vulcatius +Gallicanus, and Victor Duruy says they are those of an empress, a wife, +and a mother. She often accompanied her husband on his many trying +expeditions, and thus gained from the soldiers the title of "Mother of +the Camps." It was on such a journey, at the foot of Mount Taurus, that +she died. There has been preserved a bas-relief which represents +Faustina carried by a winged being in human form from the funeral pyre +to heaven; the emperor sits below and points out to his daughter the +apotheosis of her mother, while he himself follows the departing figure +with affectionate eyes. At the theatre, her statue, formed of gold, was +placed in the position which she had been accustomed to occupy. To honor +her memory, a new foundation for the support of the daughters of +indigent parents was instituted; and at the Villa Albani there is +another bas-relief, which represents Faustina surrounded by young girls +and distributing among them corn, which they receive in the folds of +their dresses. + +In the period of the Antonines, paganism was at its best. It was then +afforded a magnificent opportunity to show how far in the direction of +social progress and moral development the human race could be carried +under its influence. It was on its trial before the evolutionary forces +of the universe. What is the verdict? That paganism has disappeared +cannot be said; for much that was essential to the system is still +inherent in the prevailing religion of the civilized world to-day. But +how did the ancient system of religion respond to the quest for those +influences which make for human happiness, both for the man and the +woman--for here there can be no distinction? There is much in the old +system, as it answers for itself in the period under discussion, that is +extremely satisfactory, much that will compare most favorably with like +conditions in modern times. We have seen how a social conscience was +evolved, and how most admirable methods were adopted for the purpose of +supporting poor girls and boys. It has been noticed how in this period +life was secure, happy, and beautiful. The conditions of slavery were +ameliorated, so that involuntary servitude became, in some respects, +less severe than it was in Christian lands during the last century. +Woman's legal position was greatly improved, affording her an +independence, all things considered, which she did not enjoy during the +Middle Ages. This banner age of paganism was also capable of producing +such men as Pliny and the Antonines. Unfortunately, history lacks such +records as would reveal the best examples of the women who graced this +period. Instead of the noblest, we have only the most conspicuous. We +are shown the Faustinas, because they lived in the palace; but, +notwithstanding the excellence of the husbands of these women, it is +true that a palace is the least promising soil for the cultivation of +moral beauty. Yet in Plotina and Lucilla we find such characters as +warrant the belief that in humbler walks there were many women whose +lives would not have suffered severe criticism if they had been tried by +the principles of the modern morality. + +Much was accomplished under the ancient system; but the time exhibited +the best possibilities of paganism. It could do no better; and it soon +prepared to leave the field in the possession of a victor. It could not +soften the heart and thus dispense with its cruelties. It could not +emancipate all its slaves; it contained in itself no indictment of +slavery. It recognized that all men are of one blood, but it did not +evolve the idea of universal brotherhood or the Golden Rule. It had no +argument for morality which could appeal to the unphilosophic common +multitude. In these things it was weighed and found wanting; for these +reasons it could not perpetuate itself. + + + + +XIV + +THE PASSING OF PAGANISM + +From the reign of Commodus must be dated the beginning of the Decline. +From now on, two influences are at work undermining the structure of the +ancient Empire; we see the double process of disintegration and +conversion. Pagan civilization had finished its day and must make way +for the dawn of a new era. The Roman Empire fell to pieces because the +sword, which was the only bond by which its heterogeneous conquests +could be held together, became insubordinate to the political authority. +After the second century, the army was rarely led to new foreign +victories. It became the instrument of revolt; it bartered the Empire, +and supported or assassinated adventitious claimants for the throne at +its wild caprice. At last, the old Roman spirit having entirely +departed, the barbarians made an easy prey of the decaying body. + +In the meantime the gods, who, so far as their effective existence was +concerned, had been long since discredited, were deposed from the minds +of an increasing number of the people, to make room for a new and purer +faith. But the rise of Christianity did not follow the brilliant day of +paganism without an intervening night. Literature, art, and the science +of domestic and social life deteriorated, as European society fell to +the rude habits of the dark ages of feudalism. In this closing chapter, +it is our purpose to follow the fortunes of pagan woman life down to the +time when, under Constantine, Christianity became the State religion. + +In the accession of Commodus is seen the return to the rule of that +despotism, joined with moral insanity, from which Rome had been free +since the days of Domitian. The Empire was again allowed to take care of +itself, while the emperor occupied himself with abominable indulgences +and murderous executions. + +Under the preceding emperors, moral courtiers had been in favor. Now, +the opposite example was set, and the women as well as the men were much +more eager to rush into profligacy than they had been, under Marcus +Aurelius, to take up philosophy. The two empresses were leaders in the +new fashion. Crispina, the wife of Commodus, either carried her +intrigues too far or in some other way made herself obnoxious to her +husband, for she was banished to Capri and shortly afterward put to +death. It is noticeable that the worst men were the quickest to punish +laxity in the conduct of their own wives. They were more suspicious; +they had a more alert sense of amorous possibilities; they were in a +better position to discover clues; and they were devoid of conscience, +which, at least, might have dictated to them a policy of fair play. + +Lucilla, the daughter of Marcus Aurelius and the sister of Commodus, +inherited nothing of her grandmother's character with her name. Atavism +in her case was not effectual. She had been the spouse of her father's +colleague, Verus, and she retained her imperial honors from this +connection; so that she occupied the emperor's box at the theatre and +had the sacred fire, the symbol of majesty, carried before her as she +passed through the streets. Her lovers were numerous. + +Apart from such failings as those sensual indulgences so customary among +the Romans, the reign of Commodus for the first three years was fairly +respectable. He had as yet shown no symptom of mercilessness; but one +night, as he was traversing an ill-lighted passage in the palace, a +Senator rushed upon him with the words: "The Senate sends you this." The +threat saved the emperor's life, the guards at once overpowering the +assassin. The plot owed its origin to Lucilla. Dissatisfied with the +second place in the Empire, the misguided woman designed, upon the death +of her brother, to place on the throne one of her lovers, with whom she +would reign in concert. That her destined accomplice was not Claudius +Pompeianus, her respectable though somewhat aged husband, may be assumed +from the fact that he was not privy to the plot. Lucilla was punished +with exile and, later, with death. From this time, Commodus gave rein to +his cruel disposition without restraint; the slightest suspicion on his +part, or an insinuation on that of his favorites, sufficed to authorize +an execution. Rome had once been at the mercy of a buffoon who was +deluded with the idea that he possessed a heavenly voice; she was now +ravaged by a gladiator who believed himself to be a second Hercules. His +extravagance being enormous, and the execution of the rich being the +easiest way to recuperate the treasury, many women as well as men lost +their lives on account of their wealth. + +Among the possessions of one of his victims, Commodus discovered a very +beautiful woman, with whom he at once fell desperately in love. There is +in the Cabinet de France a bronze medallion representing the features of +Commodus and Marcia conjoined in profile. There are also other +indications that this woman, whom the emperor made his concubine, was +accorded almost the honors of an empress. She is traditionally credited +with having been a Christian; but, though she may have favored +Christianity, and probably it was to her influence that its adherents +owed their safety during this reign, her own life did not so closely +correspond with the teaching of that faith as to render her worthy of +the title of Christian. + +Marcia endeavored to dissuade her imperial lover from some of his +bloodthirsty purposes, and as a reward he placed her own name with that +of two of his chief officials on his tablets which contained the list of +the fated. These tablets were discovered under his pillow and fell into +Marcia's hands. She realized that desperate measures were immediately +demanded. Consulting with the others whose lives were threatened, they +decided that she should administer to the emperor poison in his wine. +This she did; but, doubtful as to the effect, they introduced a young +wrestler, who strangled Commodus in his sleep. No assassination planned +by a female mind was ever more excusable than this. The act saved Marcia +her life, and rid the world of one in comparison with whom the monsters +slain by Perseus were desirable neighbors. + +For a time the Empire went begging for a ruler. Pertinax, a man who from +being the son of a charcoal dealer had raised himself to the position of +consul, was chosen by the assassins of Commodus; but Pertinax was not +eager for the exalted but dangerous position of emperor. He offered it +to some of the Senators, but they declined the magnificent gift with +thanks. The soldiers, finding in their camp a Senator whom they +preferred to Pertinax, proposed to make him emperor; but he escaped and +ran away from the city. Pertinax was at last induced to accept; and +could he have retained the rule, Rome would have entered again upon a +period like that of Trajan. He refused to allow his wife to take the +title of Augusta, judging that she had done nothing to earn it. He put +up to auction the inmates of the seraglio of Commodus, in order to +replenish the empty treasury, giving, however, their liberty to those +who had been forcibly abducted from their homes. But his government was +too rigid for the praetorian guard, and they ended it by assassinating +him after a reign of only eighty days. + +There was in Rome at this time a woman named Manlia Scantilla. She was +the wife of a Senator, by name Julianus, who possessed immense wealth +and had filled all the highest offices of the State. After the murder of +Pertinax, Manlia heard that the praetorian guards were offering the +Empire to the highest bidder. Her household was at the moment sitting +down to a sumptuous banquet. Manlia and her daughter, carried away by +their ambition, urged Julianus not to miss so favorable an opportunity +to seat himself on the throne and to clothe them in the imperial purple; +if wealth was the only qualification, Julianus possessed it. He hurried +to the camp, and while the father-in-law of the dead Pertinax made his +offers from within he raised them from without the ramparts. At last the +Empire was knocked down to him for six thousand two hundred and fifty +drachmas [about one thousand two hundred and fifty dollars] to each +praetorian. After he had received the oaths of his new guards and had +been presented to the Senate, he went to the palace. There he saw, still +untouched, the frugal meal which had been prepared for Pertinax. +Contemptuously sneering at this, he commanded a banquet to be served +that was worthy of an emperor, at which he, Manlia, and their friends, +while regaling themselves, were entertained by the performances of +Pylades, a celebrated dancer. Their occupancy of the palace, however, +was brief. The people were disgusted, and the legions in the provinces +were roused to furious indignation. Pescennius Niger, commanding in +Syria, was proclaimed emperor by his soldiers, and Septimus Severus +received the same honor in Upper Pannonia. The latter marched upon Rome, +and Julianus was soon convinced that his high-priced glory was not a +good bargain. He was without support, though he endeavored to maintain +the regard of the praetorians by executing Marcia, who had slain their +darling Commodus; but the guards who had sold him the Empire were not +minded to sacrifice themselves by maintaining him in its possession. +They made no resistance when the Senate passed a decree of deposition +and death against Julianus, at the same time acknowledging Severus as +emperor. The former was beheaded, after reigning sixty-six days. + +Once more Rome was to have an emperor worthy of the name. The manner in +which Severus was received in the city was a good omen for his reign. +"At the city's gates," says Dion Cassius, "Severus dismounted from his +horse, and laid aside his military dress before entering Rome; but his +whole army followed him into the city. It was the most imposing sight I +ever saw. Throughout the city were garlands of flowers and laurel +wreaths; the houses, adorned with hangings of different colors, were +resplendent with the fire of sacrifices and the light of torches. The +citizens, clad in white, filled the air with acclamations, and the +soldiers advanced in martial order, as if at a triumph. We Senators +headed the procession, wearing the insignia of our rank." + +With the enthronement of Septimus Severus, there came to the city as his +wife one of the most remarkable women of Roman history. Julia Domna was +a native of Emesa in Syria, but at the same time a Roman subject. +Severus had lost his first wife while he was governor in Gaul; and while +he was commanding in Syria he became acquainted with the daughter of +Bassianus, priest of the Sun. It was not alone Julia's beauty that +captivated him, though the bust and the noble stola-clad statue which +are still preserved at Rome warrant the opinion that a single man of any +susceptibility might well have excused in himself the lack of any other +consideration. Severus, however, was a student of omens and divination, +and well versed in the science of astrology. Julia's nativity had been +cast, and the stars indicated that she was to be the wife of a +sovereign. This decided Severus. He concluded that he could not do +better than link his fortunes with those of a young lady who, though +poor at present, had in prospect a future so promising. Julia Domna +deserved all that the stars could predict for her. With the attractions +of her person were united unusual powers of mind. It is said of her that +she was capable of great boldness of purpose and equal prudence in +putting her plans into effect; and to her is attributed also a strength +of mind that is uncommon in her sex. Severus held her in the highest +regard, and she was so accustomed to accompany him on his expeditions +that she also earned that title which the soldiers always bestowed on +such ladies--"The Mother of the Camps." On inscriptions she was spoken +of as _domina_--the mistress. The number of these inscriptions proves +the popularity of Julia among the Greeks also, by whom she was honored +as "a new Demeter." + +This empress was a patroness of letters; her friends were principally +among the learned and the students of philosophy. Severus himself, we +are told, greatly admired one of the ladies of her circle because she +could read and understand Plato. It is extremely pleasant, after a long +list of empresses the records of whose frailties are exceedingly +monotonous, to imagine Julia Domna engaged in the study of the highest +problems of life and befriending such men as Ulpian and Galen. She thus +earned for herself the title of Julia the Philosopher. There is every +reason to believe that Diogenes Laertius dedicated to her his _History +of the Greek Philosophers_. The book is dedicated to a woman who greatly +admired the Academy; but as the name and the dedicatory epistle are +missing, it is not absolutely certain whether it was Arria, mentioned in +an earlier chapter, or the empress, who was thus honored. There is no +doubt, however, that Julia engaged Philostratus to write for her the +life of Apollonius of Tyana, the great Pythagorean thaumaturgist. + +The great historian of the Decline of the Roman Empire says that while +the grateful flattery of these learned men has extolled the virtues of +the wife of Severus, "if we may credit the scandal of ancient history, +chastity was very far from being the most conspicuous virtue of the +Empress Julia." But Gibbon rarely questions an allegation of this sort; +on the other hand, Dion Cassius, who zealously reports every such +accusation, is, for a wonder, silent on this. Julia's intellectual +tastes, not to speak of her four children, would be likely to preclude +her falling into any gross immoralities. + +Associated with the empress in the palace were her sister and two +nieces, all bearing like her the name Julia. Her sister, Julia Maesa, was +no less remarkable than the empress; and in later days, by placing her +grandsons on the throne, she presided over the destinies of the Empire +as no other woman had hitherto done. Julia Soaemias is represented on +coins as the Heavenly Virgin; but if the statement of Lampridius in +regard to her mundane frailties is to be credited, her lightly adorned +statue as Venus was more in character. Then there was Julia Mammaea, who +reared one of the best, though not of the strongest, men who attained to +the purple, and who, by her influence over his mind, held the reins of +government greatly to the immediate profit of the Empire. + +Another lady of the court which surrounded Julia Domna was Plautilla, +the daughter of Plautianus the prefect. Plautianus was the emperor's +relative, and by him vested with powers almost equal to his own. He was +an ambitious man, and, while probably faithful to his master, sought to +secure his own position by marrying his daughter to the young prince +Caracalla. This marriage was forced upon Caracalla much against his +will, and proved disastrous to Plautilla; but it was an astoundingly +magnificent affair. Dion relates that he saw the dowry of the bride +carried into the palace, and declares that it was enough for fifty +kings' daughters. The same historian tells of many tyrannous +extravagances which Plautianus allowed himself on this occasion; but +when he informs us that the latter caused one hundred freeborn Romans, +many of them husbands and fathers of families, to be mutilated, in order +that his daughter might be attended by a retinue of eunuchs in the +Oriental fashion, our sense of what is possible, even in the most +despotic circumstances, rebels. The ancient anecdotist further says that +"the thing was not known until after Plautianus's death." It is surely +inconceivable that the wives of these victims should have allowed such a +thing to pass in silence. + +Caracalla threatened the destruction of his bride and her father when he +should come to the throne. The latter part of this menace he put into +effect without waiting for his father's death. Plautilla seems not to +have been blameless in the matter. Her father made himself the enemy of +the empress and her son, and Plautilla with him turned the indifference +of her husband into positive hatred. The imperial family was rent with +discord. Julia Domna did not endeavor to conciliate the powerful +favorite, and he sought her ruin by means of the new laws which had been +passed against conjugal infidelity. If Dion may be believed in the +matter, the prefect went so far as to subject women of noble family to +torture, in order to procure evidence against the empress. This attempt +does not seem to have been successful, and Caracalla soon found an +opportunity to avenge the attempt to injure the reputation of his +mother. Surprising his father with an accusation of treason on the part +of the prefect, he caused the latter to be struck down before the +emperor had time to ascertain the truth. Shortly afterward, Plautilla +was exiled to Lipari; and when her husband came to the throne he caused +her to be put to death. + +Under Severus were decreed a number of laws which affected the life and +the status of women. He had a strong sense of justice. When persons were +banished, the law required that their property should be confiscated. On +one occasion, when a mother and her son were about to suffer that +punishment, the mother begged that enough might be taken from her +possessions to afford her son the bare necessaries of life. The son also +pleaded that from his property his mother might receive the same mercy. +This mutual solicitude touched the emperor, and he said: "I cannot +change the law; but it shall be as you desire." + +He decreed that the husband who did not avenge his murdered wife should +forfeit whatever of her dowry would otherwise legally fall to him. He +also commanded that women who deprived their husbands of the hope of +children by producing abortion should be condemned to temporary exile. + +There were many women who, in slavery, were reduced to the necessity of +earning money for their owners by their own prostitution. This was their +only means of securing their liberty. It was made a misdemeanor for +anyone to reproach them for this misfortune, nor was it allowed that any +woman should be forced against her will to adopt a life of infamy. Women +were also prohibited from fighting in the arena. The laws against +adultery were rendered more severe; but, from what we can learn of the +times, this did not result in any marked effect upon social morality. + +There was in existence a law forbidding provincial officials, and even +their sons, to take wives from the province to which they were +appointed. This was a wise measure; for it is easy to see how these +officials, by the power afforded them through their position, might, in +order to secure rich dowries, compel unwilling brides to accept their +suit. Nevertheless, such marriages at times did take place. In order to +enforce the spirit of the law, and to protect provincials from official +tyranny in this respect, Severus ordered that an official who had +married a wealthy heiress in his province should not be allowed to +inherit from her. + +Since Rome had possessed a standing army it had always been the rule +that the soldiers should not be permitted to marry. The consequence was +that the camps were surrounded by crowds of profligate women, as well as +other women who had become the constant companions of soldiers but could +not be legally married. Severus repealed this law and allowed the +legionaries to contract legitimate marriages. Anyone who is cognizant of +the effect of the residence of a garrison of unmarried soldiers in a +European town can understand what a salutary influence this enactment of +Severus would have upon general morality. + +The principal thing in the life of Severus for which he can be justly +criticised with severity is his appointment of Caracalla as one of his +successors, and thus allowing his parental affection to overcome his +judgment of what was good for the Empire. + +On their father's death, Caracalla and his greatly superior brother Geta +were made joint emperors; but they were jealous of each other and could +not agree. They proposed to divide the Empire. "But will you also divide +your mother?" asked Julia; and with many exhortations she dissuaded them +from resorting to this impracticable scheme. + +Rome was once more to be harassed by the fury of a youthful monster. +Caracalla concluded that one emperor would suffice. In order to carry +out his purpose, he agreed to meet his brother in their mother's +apartments and there discuss terms of reconciliation. While he was +conversing with Geta, some centurions rushed into the room; and though +his mother tried to protect her younger son with her arms, Caracalla +urged the assassins to their work, and the empress herself was wounded +and also covered with Geta's blood. Afterward, when the murderer found +his mother in the midst of her female friends weeping over the fate of +his brother, he threatened them all with death. This menace was indeed +executed upon Fadilla, a surviving daughter of Marcus Aurelius. Milman +says: "The most valuable paragraph of Dion, which the industry of M. Mai +has recovered, relates to this daughter of Marcus, executed by +Caracalla. Her name, as appears from Fronto, as well as from Dion, was +Cornificia. When commanded to choose the kind of death she was to +suffer, she burst into womanish tears; but remembering her father +Marcus, she thus spoke: 'O my hapless soul, now imprisoned in the body, +burst forth! be free! Show them, however reluctant to believe it, that +thou art the daughter of Marcus.' She then laid aside all her ornaments, +and, preparing herself for death, ordered her veins to be opened." Many +other women died at this time because they were supposed to be +sympathizers with Geta. + +It would have been an unnatural thing and a disgrace to humanity if +Caracalla himself had escaped the assassin's hand. His fate came to him +in his twenty-ninth year, as he was on a pilgrimage to the temple of the +Moon; and Macrinus, who began life as a slave and was at one time a +gladiator, reigned in his stead. + +The Empress Julia Domna did not long outlive her son. Hers had been a +strange career. From a humble position she had been raised to that of +the highest lady in the world; and she had been a power in her time. +During the reign of Caracalla, though she could not restrain his +enormities, she had really administered the Empire. With her exaltation +had also come the most bitter sorrow. One son had been killed in her +arms by the other; and now the fratricide had fallen by the assassin's +weapon. She was at Antioch when she heard of her son's death. The news +wounded her both as a mother and also as an empress; one who had been +the servant of her husband was now to rule over her. Though Macrinus +treated her with great consideration, life seemed no longer tolerable, +and she resolved to starve herself to death. This resolution was not +less easy to form, inasmuch as she was suffering from an incurable +disease. There are some intimations that she first thought it possible +to raise herself to the throne and reign, as did some of her famous +female contemporaries in the East; but she soon carried out the project +dictated by hopelessness and starved herself to death. + +After the death of Julia Domna, the other three Julias were commanded to +return to Emesa, where was the temple of the Sun, in which the father of +the family had been a priest. They were allowed to carry with them +their wealth; and this gold they soon found a means of using to the +overthrow of Macrinus. Soaemias had a son named Bassianus, and Mammaea +also had a son, who is most favorably known as the Emperor Alexander. + +Bassianus was consecrated to the priesthood of the Sun. Macrinus had +made the mistake of stationing a great many troops at Emesa, where he +had sent these women, with minds full of dislike for himself and a house +full of gold which they might use to his disadvantage. The soldiers fell +in love with the young Bassianus, as they viewed his fine figure arrayed +in the magnificent robes of his priestly office. Maesa spread the idea +among these legionaries that Bassianus was the son of the murdered +Caracalla; the men thought they could detect a likeness, and Maesa gave +them large quantities of gold in order to improve their vision. Then +they were sure that Bassianus bore a strong likeness to Caracalla, who +must therefore have been his father. Maesa had no more compunction about +sacrificing her money than she had about casting an imputation upon her +daughter's honor; she considered that the Empire would make amends for +both, if she could only secure it. Bassianus--who was afterward known by +the name of his god, Elagabalus--was but a youth of fifteen; he was sent +by his grandmother to the camp, with wagons filled with gold. After +distributing these arguments, he was proclaimed emperor under the name +of Marcus Aurelius Antoninus, it being supposed that this honor to the +great philosopher would gain him favor with the people; and never was a +better name adopted for the furtherance of a base purpose. + +This was a conspiracy of women; but, owing to the corrupt character and +the power of the soldiery, it succeeded. Macrinus made one hesitating +effort to maintain his position on the throne; he scattered donations, +and his troops fought a battle with those of Elagabalus. The latter +were on the point of being defeated, when Maesa and Soaemias threw +themselves into the fight, and by their courage and ardor reheartened +the soldiers and thus gained the day. + +Macrinus was not a bad emperor. He was considering plans of reform which +would have been greatly for the benefit of the people; but he was +removed to make way for the dissolute, effeminate Syrian priest of the +Sun. There is a cameo of the time, which represents Elagabalus riding in +a chariot drawn by two women who are crawling on their hands and knees. +Maesa and Soaemias assuredly did debase themselves in dragging such an +emperor to the palace. His impure religion, added to his natural +disposition, his absolute power, and his youth, made of his reign the +very apotheosis of lust. The Senate received an emperor arrayed in the +silken robes of his priesthood to a Syrian god, adorned with a tiara, +necklaces, and bracelets, with his eyebrows tinged and his cheeks +painted like those of an Oriental woman. + +His grandmother and her two daughters accompanied him to Rome. These +women differed in their character, and consequently in their conception +of how Elagabalus and themselves should employ the newly gained power. +Maesa had been trained under the strict rule of Severus. She knew how +moderation and attention to the welfare of the Empire was the course +most likely to bring good results to the ruler and his family. The +administration she proposed to keep in her own hands; but she desired +her grandson at least to keep himself within the bounds of that liberty +which in those times was considered decent. Soaemias, on the other hand, +encouraged the young profligate in the belief that it was his right to +indulge himself in any manner which his inclination warranted and his +power made possible. Her advice seemed to him the more sensible, and he +acted accordingly. He allowed his grandmother to take full charge of +all public matters, only requiring that she should not interfere with +him in his pleasures. Maesa had her seat in the Senate, near that of the +Consuls; and for the first time Rome was confessedly under the rule of a +woman. To his mother Elagabalus gave an appointment which was in accord +with her tastes; she was made president of the woman's senate, which +determined for the matrons their rank, costumes, and the quantity and +nature of ornaments which each might wear according to her social +position. Mammaea, however, kept in retirement, and endeavored as far as +possible to shield her son from the contamination which surrounded them +and also from the dangers of public notice. + +The astounding follies of this reign, the licentiousness, the tyrannies, +especially as they affected women, cannot better be summed up than in +this picture drawn by Gibbon: "Elagabalus lavished away the treasures of +the people in the wildest extravagance, his own voice and that of his +flatterers applauded a spirit and magnificence unknown to the tameness +of his predecessors. To confound the order of seasons and climates, to +sport with the passions and prejudices of his subjects, to subvert every +law of nature and decency, were in the number of his most delicious +amusements. A long train of concubines, and a rapid succession of wives, +among whom was a Vestal virgin, ravished by force from her sacred +asylum, were insufficient to satisfy the impotence of his passions. The +master of the Roman world affected to copy the dress and manners of the +female sex, preferred the distaff to the sceptre, and dishonored the +principal dignities of the Empire by distributing them among his +numerous lovers, one of whom was publicly invested with the title and +authority of the emperor's, or, as he more properly styled himself, of +the empress's husband." + +What a fall was this from the stern independence and the grand morality +of the Romans who knew the mother of the Gracchi! The Roman Senators had +become the slaves of a youth who pretended to be a dissolute woman; the +best ladies of the Empire, however virtuously inclined, had no +protection for their honor and no redress for their injuries, if they +attracted the fancy of the emperor or his favorites. The ancient gods +and goddesses, who, though the creations of superstitious imagination, +had inspired the Romans in their struggle for empire and in that manner +had aided them in securing it, were made the courtiers of the Syrian +Sun-god, represented by a shapeless black stone. + +The shrewd Maesa saw that it would be impossible for Elagabalus to retain +the throne and at the same time insult prejudices which were still dear +and deep-rooted in the minds of the otherwise indifferent Romans. She +determined, however, still to keep her family in power. The means +thereto she found in her other grandson, Alexander, the son of Mammaea. +By employing the argument that the high priest of the Sun should be +uninterrupted in his heavenly calling and in his pleasures by the +affairs of the world, she induced Elagabalus to adopt his cousin and +invest him with the dignity of Caesar. + +Mammaea had encouraged the natural disposition of her son, who was +inclined to amiability and uprightness; he speedily became a great +favorite with the people and, what was to more purpose, with the +soldiery. The son of Soaemias was not so blinded by his follies but that +he saw with envy the growing popularity of his younger colleague; but +instead of seeking to emulate his cousin in the good graces of the +people by reforming his own life, he determined to remove his rival +after the customary Roman fashion. But the watchful Mammaea so hedged her +son about with faithful servants that Elagabalus, who was weak-minded +enough to talk of all his purposes, could find no instrument capable of +penetrating this armor of a mother's care. + +At last the emperor ordered the Senate to degrade Alexander from the +dignity of Caesar, while at the same time he sent assassins to murder +him. The latter, for the reason already stated, failed in their errand; +and the Senate received the command in silence and indignation. The +soldiers were furious. They commanded the boys to be brought before the +Senate, and charged that body to protect the one and see to the +reformation of the manners of the other. The soldiers reproving the +conduct of their emperor represents exactly the position which the +supposed chief ruler of the Roman world now occupied. He was the subject +of the army. + +The rivalry between the two princes soon came to a crisis, and Mammaea, +in order to save her son, set herself against her sister. Each of the +two women endeavored to incite the praetorians against the other. Mammaea +won; and Soaemias and her infamous son were slain. + +Alexander was raised to the supreme position; but, being a dutiful and +obedient youth, he allowed those two noble women, his grandmother and +his mother, to hold the reins of government and also to advise him in +his own personal conduct. The former, however, soon died, and Mammaea was +constituted sole regent. + +Mammaea was a woman who exhibited in herself the highest type of +intelligence, as well as an honorably regulated life. She was a +patroness of all learning and a student of philosophy. It was her desire +to become acquainted with all theories concerning the highest problems +of human existence; so much so that she sent for Origen, the +best-educated Christian of his time, in order that she might satisfy her +curiosity in regard to the teachings of that rapidly spreading faith. +She did not, however, become a Christian; even had she been convinced of +the truth of Origen's doctrines, her position demanded of her a policy +which, viewed from an entirely mundane standpoint, she could not afford +to abandon. She had provided her son with instructors who were not only +noted for their learning, but also for their unquestioned integrity. +Herodian says: "The statues of the gods which Elagabalus had taken away +were at once restored to their places. Those officials who had +unworthily obtained office were dismissed and their places filled by the +most capable citizens. In order to preserve the emperor from the +mistakes which might be caused by absolute authority, the ardor of +youth, or by some of the vices natural to his family, Mammaea strictly +guarded the entrance to the palace, and allowed no man to gain admission +whose morals were of bad repute." + +Mammaea not only guarded her son, but, in his name and so far as the +palace was able to reserve any real authority from the power of the +camp, she ruled the Empire. She was wise and broad-minded enough to care +nothing for the title and pageantry of rule; indeed, the indications +seem to be that she was more anxious to reestablish good government than +to hold the reins herself. Herodian says that she made an effort to +bring back good morals and the ancient dignified demeanor. She caused to +be chosen sixteen Senators, the most eminent for experience and +integrity of life, to form an imperial council, and without their +approval no measures were carried into execution. The people, the army, +the Senate, the historian assures us, were delighted with this new form +of government, which replaced the most insolent of tyrannies by a sort +of aristocracy. From the time of Commodus to that of Constantine, Rome +had no better government than that which was inspired by the genius and +ability of Mammaea; and if the organization and the subordination which +existed in the time of Trajan had still prevailed, the rule of this +remarkable woman would have equalled in uprightness and beneficence that +of any period in the history of the Empire. + +The care of Mammaea in the education of her son was rewarded by its good +effect upon his character. Virtue for him never lost its charm, and a +fearless advocacy of the right made him respected by all. He inscribed +over the entrance to his palace, and had the heralds proclaim when +criminals were chastised, these words, which it is probable his mother +may have learned from her interview with Origen: _Do not to another what +you would not have done to yourself_. + +While Mammaea was not jealous of public honors and titles, she was +avaricious in regard to the affections of her son; there she could not +endure a rival. With her consent, he married the daughter of a +patrician; but his love for his young wife, as much as his respect for +his father-in-law, caused Mammaea to have the latter executed on a charge +of treason and to banish the empress into Africa. It is somewhat +derogatory to the character of Alexander if, as Dion assures us, he +lamented the fate of his wife but durst not oppose it. How his second +wife fared with his mother we do not know. Her name was Sallustia +Orbiana. On a medallion she is represented as wearing a diadem; the +other side of the medal is inscribed with the words _FECVNDITAS +TEMPORVM_, and there Orbiana is shown seated, while Fecundity, kneeling +before her, holds a horn of plenty and carries two children. + +The faults of Mammaea were avarice and her insistence upon dominating +over her son after he had attained the years of manhood; and these +errors in the end brought about the ruin of herself and Alexander. The +people were glad of a respite after the excesses of Caracalla and +Elagabalus; but they were not prepared for an empress-regent who spent +nothing on entertainments and gave no donations, or for an emperor whose +policy was formed on Plato's _Republic_. Julian, who characterized the +Caesars, represents Alexander Severus sitting sadly on the steps of the +hall where the emperors and the gods are banqueting; Silenus mocks at +him and at his mother, who hoards her treasure; while Justice consents +to chastise his murderers, but has little sympathy for "the poor fool, +the great simpleton, who in a corner bewails his misfortune." + +Only a strong man who could manage the army as Severus had done could +save himself in the Rome of that day. When Maximin, a barbarian of +immense personal strength and lifelong military experience, headed a +revolt in the army, the soldiers were quite ready to believe that the +Empire had long enough been ruled by "a parsimonious woman and a +pusillanimous boy." While on an expedition, the emperor endeavored to +maintain peace by making presents of gold to the Germans; this, above +all things, was displeasing to soldiers who, besides being eager to ply +their trade, expected to gain gold by war rather than by it to purchase +peace. The emperor was slain in his tent, after reigning thirteen years, +and his mother, who had been at all times the real ruler, perished with +him. + +Alexander had favored the enemies of the ancient gods, and even decided +to the advantage of the Christians when there occurred a dispute in +regard to some land in Rome which they claimed in opposition to certain +innkeepers. "It is better," he said, "that this spot should be occupied +by a house of prayer than by a house of debauchery." Mammaea has even +been claimed for Christianity; but on her coins she was represented as +the beneficent Juno, and at her death the Senate decreed her apotheosis. +The end of paganism was not yet. It was to prove its lingering vitality +by its fierce and final death struggles under Decius and Diocletian. + +From this time there was a quick succession of emperors, most of whom +were slain almost as soon as created. The State was becoming constantly +more disorganized. Every province desired its own emperor; and down to +the time of Diocletian, civil war was almost constant. Morals did not +improve, and families took on more and more the appearance of Oriental +establishments. We read of one emperor, Carinus, in the course of a few +months taking successively no less than nine wives, each of whom was +divorced to make room for the next. In his time, the palace was filled +with dancers and prostitutes, who were even invited to the imperial +table. Though morality suffered in the palace and among the nobility, +among the common and middle-class people there was working a leaven +which provided a new and more effective argument for the ancient purity +of manners. + +The status and condition of women underwent no legal change during this +period. Their manner of life remained very much the same, for in those +days there were no inventions such as in modern times change the whole +aspect of social life within fifty years; but all the time there was +passing away from among the people that ancient spirit which we now +speak of as classic. Art was depreciating; the old religion was living +on its past. Imagination was dead, and consequently creation had ceased. +Paganism, that had learned to satisfy itself with the black stone of +Elagabalus, had no need of art. Statues were still made, temples were +frequently built; but there was no original genius. The Christianity of +that early time did not favor art. In literature, the educated had also +to depend on the past, except as they were satisfied with productions +so inferior that nothing save accident can explain their preservation. +The old Roman largeness of life was no more, and even the joyousness +which had associated itself with some phases of paganism had departed. +The twilight preceding the dark ages was deepening; the cycle of history +was again falling toward the lowest point of its orbit. + +In the Museum of the Capitol, there is one bust of an empress in which +it is easy to fancy that one sees typified the spiritlessness of the +life of the woman of the period. It is that of the Empress Salonina, the +wife of Gallienus. The face is finely featured, but profoundly sad; it +reminds one more of a pictured saint of the Middle Ages than of a pagan +Roman empress. The hair, parted in the middle, hangs in a plain loop +behind; there is none of that gay and frequently bizarre dressing which +characterized the heads of the women of a former time. We can account +partly for Salonina's sad demeanor. Her husband brought home one Pipa, +the fair-haired daughter of a barbarian king; this Pipa he not only made +his concubine, but seated her on the throne, beside the empress. +Salonina could only console herself with her empty honors, and occupy +her mind with researches into the mazy philosophy of the Neo-platonists. +It has been thought, on account of a medal bearing her image and the +words _in pace_, that she became a Christian; but, though undoubtedly +she was greatly interested in the tenets of Christianity, and though her +husband, it may be by her advice, published a decree of toleration in +regard to the growing faith, the Church could not have admitted one who +built a temple to a pagan goddess and never abjured the practice of the +old religion. The countenance of Salonina is a type of the face of the +ancient life, out of which the light has departed and which has not yet +become illumined by the hope inherent in the new faith. + +Religious ideas were now greatly confused. There were many who were not +prepared to abandon the old gods and who were yet impressed with the new +doctrine. One lady built a chapel in which she burnt incense before +statues of Jesus, Pythagoras, Homer, and others. Frequently, in the +persecutions, noble women were obliged to offer sacrifices in order to +prove to the judges that they were not Christians. In many cases, the +historians of the new religion claimed for adherents those who were only +tolerant inquirers. Even in those days, the high position which a lady +held made the bishops anxious to claim her as an adherent, before her +conduct had become conformed to the Christian requirements. + +The ancient deities were ready to take their departure, since even those +who consistently supported the State religion retained but little faith +in them; but Diocletian proved himself not only a firm ruler but also a +lover of the old system. His decree ran: "The Christians oppose +themselves to the laws of the State, which enjoin the worship of the +gods; let them either sacrifice or suffer the penalty." Even the +imperial household was to be put to the test, and it is believed that it +was with reluctance that the emperor's wife and daughter burned the +grains of incense. + +In the province governed by Constantius, however, the edict was carried +out with great lukewarmness; and soon the son of Constantius sat on the +throne of Diocletian, and by his side was the Christian Helena. In this +woman we see the transition from paganism to the new religion. Yet there +is no clear record of her conversion; there is no mark in her life to +indicate that it was in any moral sense created anew. So it was with +Roman society. Women intrigued and took part in sensual indulgence and +cruel revenge after Constantine had seen the Cross in the sky, just as +they had done before. The new doctrine was a leaven which required many +centuries to spread; but in the meantime the ancient paganism, with all +its grandeur and all its weakness, had disappeared, just as the ancient +type of Roman womanhood had given place to a new womanhood of +conglomerate nationality, with more privilege but not more character. + +In the days of Valentinian, when the pagan worship was definitely +prohibited, the orator Symmachus represented the old religion as an aged +matron pleading thus for tolerance: "Most excellent princes, fathers of +your country, pity and respect my age, which has hitherto flowed in an +uninterrupted course of piety. Since I do not repent, permit me to +continue in the practice of my ancient rites. Since I am born free, +allow me to enjoy my domestic institutions. This religion has reduced +the world under my laws. These rites have repelled Hannibal from the +city and the Gauls from the Capitol. Were my gray hairs reserved for +such intolerable disgrace? I am ignorant of the new system I am required +to adopt; but I am well assured that the correction of old age is always +an ungrateful and ignominious office." + +The history of the Roman woman we have essayed to recount has run +contemporaneously with the life of this worship of the old gods. What +she was that religion largely made her. In it she found inspiration for +her brave deeds; its ideals were the expression of her love of beauty; +it strengthened her fortitude in times of trial; and when we remember +her frailties, charity must also remind us that, apart from her own +nature and the custom of her time, this religion was all that she had. + + + + +CONTENTS + + PREFACE + I THE WOMAN OF LEGENDARY ROME + II NOBLE MATRONS OF THE REPUBLIC + III WOMAN'S PART IN RELIGION + IV THE PASSING OF OLD ROMAN SIMPLICITY + V ROMAN MARRIAGE + VI WOMAN UNDER JULIUS CAESAR + VII THE ROMAN WOMAN IN POLITICS + VIII THE ROMAN WOMAN INI LITERATURE + IX WOMAN AT HER WORST + X THE WOMEN OF DECADENT ROME + XI GOOD WOMEN OF NERO'S REIGN + XII UNDER THE FLAVIANS + XIII THE SUNSET GLOW OF PAGANISM + XIV THE PASSING OF PAGANISM + + + + +LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS + + SUBJECT ARTIST + + Tullia, daughter of Servius _E. Hildebrand_ + The Convert _G. R. C. Boulanger_ + The "new" woman in Rome _G. R. C. Boulanger_ + A Roman banquet _Albert Baur_ + A Pompeian house _From a water-color by M. + Hoffbauer, after a restoration + by Jules Bouchot from + Pliny's description_ + The chief vestal _Henri P. Motte_ + + + +***END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ROMAN WOMEN*** + + +******* This file should be named 32356.txt or 32356.zip ******* + + +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: +http://www.gutenberg.org/dirs/3/2/3/5/32356 + + + +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. 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