Read Ebook: Pinnock's improved edition of Dr. Goldsmith's History of Rome by Taylor W C William Cooke Annotator Goldsmith Oliver Pinnock William Editor

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When the plebeians endeavoured to procure the repeal of the laws which prohibited the intermarriage of the patricians and plebeians, the principal objection made by the former was, that these rights and obligations of the gentes would be thrown into confusion.

This was also the case with the Irish tanists, or chiefs of septs; the people elected a tanist, but their choice was confined to the members of the ruling family.

They were called "patres nunorum gentium," the senators of the inferior gentes.

There were certain sacrifices which the Romans believed could only be offered by a king; after the abolition of royalty, a priest, named the petty sacrificing king, was elected to perform this duty.

The Romans were previously acquainted with that great principle of justice, the right of trial by a person's peers. In the earliest ages the patricians had a right of appeal to the curiae; the Valerian laws extended the same right to the plebeians.

The senators were called conscript fathers, either from their being enrolled on the censor's list, or more probably from the addition made to their numbers after the expulsion of the kings, in order to supply the places of those who had been murdered by Tarquin. The new senators were at first called conscript, and in the process of time the name was extended to the entire body.

THE ROMAN TENURE OF LAND--COLONIAL GOVERNMENT.

From all this it is evident that an agrarian law only removed tenants who held from the state at will, and did not in any case interfere with the sacred right of property; but it is also plain that such a change must have been frequently inconvenient to the individual in possession. It also appears, that had not agrarian laws been introduced, the great body of the plebeians would have become the clients of the patricians, and the form of government would have been a complete oligarchy.

The chief means to which the Romans, even from the earliest ages, had recourse for securing their conquests, and at the same time relieving the poorer classes of citizens, was the establishment of colonies in the conquered states. The new citizens formed a kind of garrison, and were held together by a constitution formed on the model of the parent state. From what has been said above, it is evident that a law for sending out a colony was virtually an agrarian law, since lands were invariably assigned to those who were thus induced to abandon their homes.

Before discussing the subject of the Roman constitution, we must observe that it was, like our own, gradually formed by practice; there was no single written code like those of Athens and Sparta, but changes were made whenever they were required by circumstances; before the plebeians obtained an equality of civil rights, the state neither commanded respect abroad, nor enjoyed tranquillity at home. The patricians sacrificed their own real advantages, as well as the interests of their country, to maintain an ascendancy as injurious to themselves, as it was unjust to the other citizens. But no sooner had the agrarian laws established a more equitable distribution of property, and other popular laws opened the magistracy to merit without distinction of rank, than the city rose to empire with unexampled rapidity.

FOOTNOTES:

The Licinian law provided that no one should rent at a time more than 500 acres of public land.

The league by which the Latin states were bound was more favourable than that granted to the other Italians

THE ROMAN RELIGION.

FOOTNOTES:

The reader will find an exceedingly interesting account of the deities peculiar to the Romans, in Mr. Keightley's very valuable work on Mythology.

For no Marsian augur Nor diviner, nor star-gazer, care I a straw; The Isis-taught quack, an expounder of dreams, Is neither in science nor art what he seems; Superstitious and shameless they prowl through our streets, Some hungry, some crazy, but all of them cheats. Impostors, who vaunt that to others they'll show A path which themselves neither travel nor know: Since they promise us wealth if we pay for their pains, Let them take from that wealth and bestow what remains

THE ROMAN ARMY AND NAVY.

The people erected scaffolds in the forum and circus, and all other parts of the city where they could best behold the pomp. The spectators were clad in white garments; all the temples were open, and full of garlands and perfumes; and the ways cleared and cleansed by a great many officers, who drove away such as thronged the passage, or straggled up and down.

FOOTNOTES:

This is virtually the same account as that given by Niebuhr, but he excludes the accensi and cavalry from his computation, which brings down the amount to 3600 soldiers.

ROMAN LAW--FINANCE.

The receipts were all paid into the national treasury, and the senate had the uncontrolled direction of the general expenditure, as well as the regulation of the amount of imposts. The officers employed to manage the affairs of the revenue, were the quaestors, chosen annually, and under them the scribes, who held their situations for life. Those who farmed the public revenue were called-publicans, and were generally persons of equestrian dignity; but in the remote provinces they frequently sublet to other collectors, who were guilty of great extortion. The latter are the publicans mentioned in the New Testament.

FOOTNOTES:

Niebuhr, however, is of opinion, that judicial officers were elected by the "comitia curiata," from the earliest ages.

This privilege was conceded to the plebeians by the Valerian law, but must have been possessed by the patricians from the earliest times; for Horatius, when condemned for the murder of his sister, in the reign of Tullus Hostilius, escaped by appealing to the comitia curiata. The Valerian law had no sanction, that is, no penalty was annexed to its transgression; and during the two centuries of patrician usurpation and tyranny, was frequently and flagrantly violated. On this account the law, though never repealed, was frequently re-enacted.

The formula "to devote his head to the gods," used to express the sentence of capital punishment, was derived from the human sacrifices anciently used in Rome; probably, because criminals were usually selected for these sanguinary offerings.

The lands absolutely assigned to the plebeians free from rent, were the most remarkable species of Quiritary property. It was so called from the Quirites, who formed a constituent part of the Roman people, and whose name was subsequently given to the entire.

THE PUBLIC AMUSEMENTS AND PRIVATE LIFE OF THE ROMANS.

The inferiority of the Romans to the Greeks in intellectual acquirements, was no where more conspicuous than in their public amusements. While the refined Grecians sought to gratify their taste by music, the fine arts, and dramatic entertainments, the Romans derived their chief pleasure from contemplating the brutal and bloody fights of gladiators; or at best, such rich shows and processions as gratify the uneducated vulgar. The games in the circus, with which the Romans were so delighted, that they considered them of equal importance, with the necessaries of life, consisted of athletic exercises, such as boxing, racing, wrestling, and gladiatorial combats. To these, chariot-racing was added under the emperors, and exhibitions of combats between wild beasts, and, in numerous instances, between men and beasts.

FOOTNOTES:

GEOGRAPHY OF THE EMPIRE AT THE TIME OF ITS GREATEST EXTENT.

FOOTNOTES:

The student will find the particulars of the ancient state of these countries detailed more fully in Mitchell's Ancient Geography.

See Pinnock's Grecian History.

END OF THE INTRODUCTION.

HISTORY OF ROME

OF THE ORIGIN OF THE ROMANS.

Nu'mitor, who took possession of the kingdom in consequence of his father's will, had a brother named Amu'lius, to whom were left the treasures which had been brought from Troy. 4. As riches too generally prevail against right, Amu'lius made use of his wealth to supplant his brother, and soon found means to possess himself of the kingdom. Not contented with the crime of usurpation, he added that of murder also. Nu'mitor's sons first fell a sacrifice to his suspicions; and to remove all apprehensions of being one day disturbed in his ill-gotten power, he caused Rhe'a Sil'via, his brother's only daughter, to become a vestal.

FROM THE BUILDING OF ROME TO THE DEATH OF ROMULUS.

FOOTNOTES:

This symbol of authority was borrowed from his neighbours, the Istrurians.

More properly in honour of Con'sus, a deity of Sabine origin, whom the Romans, in a later age, confounded with Neptune.

A town of Latium, near Rome.

A city of the Sabines, between Rome and the Anio, from whence its name,--Ante Amnem.

A town of Etruria, near Veii.

FROM THE DEATH OF ROMULUS TO THE DEATH OF NUMA POMPILIUS, THE SECOND KING OF ROME.--U.C. 38.

FOOTNOTES:

Nu'ma Pompil'ius was the fourth son of Pompil'ius Pom'po, an illustrious Sab'ine. He had married Ta'tia, the daughter of Ta'tius, the colleague of Rom'ulus, and on the death of his wife, gave himself up entirely to solitude and study.

More probably at Quirium, the Sabine town which was united with Rome.

The age of Nu'ma is scarcely more historical than that of Rom'ulus, but the legends respecting it are fewer and partake less of extravagance. Indeed, he had himself discouraged the songs of the bards, by ordering the highest honours to be paid to Tac'ita, the Came'na or Muse of Silence. His memory was best preserved by the religious ceremonies ascribed to him by universal tradition. The later poets loved to dwell on his peaceful virtues, and on the pure affection that existed between him and the nymph Egeria. They tell us that when the king served up a moderate repast to his guests on earthen-ware, she suddenly changed the dishes into gold, and the plain food into the most sumptuous viands. They also add, that when he died, Egeria melted away in tears for his loss, and was changed into a fountain.

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