The vexa

ous national coinages with their limited circulation. tious import and export duties, levied by different countries and cities on foreign produce, were swept away. Free trade flourished between the cities and provinces of the Roman world. Roman commerce followed, in general, the routes which Phoenicians had dis

covered Principal centu- trade routes ries before. After the annexation of Gaul the rivers of that country became channels of trade between western. Europe and Italy. The conquest of the districts north and south of the Danube opened up an important route between central Europe and the Mediterranean. Imports from the far eastern countries came by caravan through Asia to ports on the Black

A ROMAN FREIGHT SHIP

The ship lies beside the wharf at Ostia. In the afterpart of the vessel is a cabin with two windows. Notice the figure of Victory on the top of the single mast and the decoration of the mainsail with the wolf and twins. The ship is steered by a pair of huge paddles.

Sea. The water routes led by way of the Persian Gulf to the great Syrian cities of Antioch and Palmyra and, by way of the Red Sea, to Alexandria on the Nile. From these thriving commercial centers products were shipped to every region of the empire.1

The importation and disposal of foreign goods at Rome furnished employment for many thousands of traders. Local trading There were great wholesale merchants whose warehouses stored grain and all kinds of merchandise. There were

at Rome

also many retail shopkeepers. They might be sometimes the slaves or freedmen of a wealthy noble who preferred to keep in the background. Sometimes they were men of free birth. The feeling that petty trade was unworthy of a citizen, though strong in republican days, tended to disappear under the empire. The slaves at Rome, like those at Athens,' carried on many industrial tasks. We must not imagine, however, that all the Free laborers manual labor of the city was performed by bondmen. The number of slaves even tended to decline, when there were no more border wars to yield captives for the slave markets. The growing custom of emancipation worked in the same direction. We find in this period a large body of free laborers, not only in the capital city, but in all parts of the empire.

at Rome

The guilds

The workmen engaged in a particular calling frequently formed clubs, or guilds.2 There were guilds of weavers, shoemakers, jewelers, painters, musicians, and even of gladiators. These associations were not organized for the purpose of securing higher wages and shorter hours by strikes or threat of strikes. They seem to have existed chiefly for social and religious purposes. Each guild had its clubhouse for official meetings and banquets. Each guild had its special deity, such as Vesta, the fire goddess, for bakers, and Bacchus, the wine god, for innkeepers. Every year the guildsmen held a festival, in honor of their patron, and marched through the streets with banners and the emblems of their trade. Nearly all the guilds had as one main object the provision of a proper funeral and tomb for deceased members. The humble laborer found some consolation in the thought that he belonged to a club of friends and fellow workers, who after death would give him decent burial and keep his memory green. Free workingmen throughout the Roman world appear to have led reasonably happy lives. They were not driven or enslaved by their employers or forced to labor for long hours in grimy, unwholesome factories. Slums existed, but no sweatshops. If wages were low,

Life of the working classes

1 See page 107.

2 Latin collegia, whence our "college."

so also was the cost of living. Wine, oil, and wheat flour were cheap. The mild climate made heavy clothing unnecessary and permitted an outdoor life. The public baths - great clubhouses stood open to every one who could pay a trifling fee. Numerous holidays, celebrated with games and shows, brightened existence. On the whole we may conclude that

working people at Rome and in the provinces enjoyed greater comfort during this period than had ever been their lot in previous ages.

Great fortunes

It was an age of millionaires. There had been rich men, such as Crassus, during the last century of the republic; their numbers increased and their fortunes rose during the first century of the empire. The philosopher Seneca, a tutor of Nero, is said to have made twelve million dollars within four years by the emperor's favor. Narcissus, the secretary of Claudius, made sixteen million dollars the largest Roman fortune on record. This sum must be multiplied four or five times to find its modern equivalent, since in antiquity interest rates were higher and the purchasing power of money was greater than to-day. Such private fortunes are surpassed only by those of the present age. The heaping-up of riches in the hands of a few brought its 2 See page 183.

1 See pages 263 and 285.

natural consequence in luxury and extravagance. The palaces Luxury and of the wealthy, with their gardens, baths, picture extravagance galleries, and other features, were costly to build and costly to keep up. The money not lavished by a noble on his town house could be easily sunk on his villas in the country. All Italy, from the bay of Naples to the foot of the Alps, was dotted with elegant residences, having flower gardens, game preserves, fishponds, and artificial lakes. Much senseless waste occurred at banquets and entertainments. Vast sums were spent on vessels of gold and silver, jewelry, clothing, and house furnishings. Even funerals and tombs required heavy outlays. A capitalist of imperial Rome could get rid of a fortune in selfish indulgences almost as readily as any modern millionaire not blessed with a refined taste or with public spirit.

evils

1

Some of the customs of the time appear especially shocking. The brutal gladiatorial games were a passion with every one, Some social from the emperor to his lowest subject. Infanticide was a general practice. Marriage grew to be a mere civil contract, easily made and easily broken. Common as divorce had become, the married state was regarded as undesirable. Augustus vainly made laws to encourage matrimony and discourage celibacy. Suicide, especially among the upper classes, was astonishingly frequent. No one questioned another's right to leave this life at pleasure. The decline of the earlier paganism left many men without a deep religious faith to combat the growing doubt and worldliness of the age. Yet this dark picture needs correction at many points. It may be questioned whether the vice, luxury, and wickedness of ancient Rome, Antioch, or Alexandria much exBrighter aspects of Roceeded what our great modern capitals can show. man society During this period, moreover, many remarkable improvements took place in social life and manners. There was an increasing kindliness and charity. The weak and the infirm were better treated. The education of the poor was encouraged by the founding of free schools. Wealthy citizens of the various towns lavished their fortunes on such public works as baths, 1 See page 267.

aqueducts, and temples, for the benefit of all classes. Even the slaves were much better treated. Imperial laws aimed to check the abuses of cruelty, overwork, and neglect, and philosophers recommended to masters the exercise of gentleness and mercy toward slaves. In fact, the first and second centuries of our era were marked by a great growth of the humanitarian spirit.

73. The Græco-Roman World

Just as the conquests of Alexander, by uniting the Orient to Greece, produced a Græco-Oriental civilization, so The new cosnow the expansion of Rome over the Mediterranean mopolitanism formed another world-wide culture, in which both Greek and

The best preserved of Roman temples. Located at Nimes in southern France, where it is known as La Maison Carrée ("the square house"). The structure is now used as a museum of antiquities.

Roman elements met and mingled. A new sense of cosmopolitanism arose in place of the old civic or national patriotism.

This cosmopolitan feeling was the outcome of those unifying and civilizing forces which the imperial system set Unifying and at work. The extension of Roman citizenship civilizing broke down the old distinction between the citizens and the subjects of Rome. The development of Roman

forces