Again, Augustus, by his will left, after legacies to his relations and friends,t more than £350,000 to be divided viritim among the people of Rome, £83,000 for the ten thousand Prætorians, £15,000 for the city militia, and £4 3s. 4d. each to the legionary soldiers. Those legacies would require nearly two millions sterling. Nero spent in presents alone more than eighteen millions sterling during his reign of fourteen years. Vitellius is said to have squandered seven millions and a half ster. ling in his reign of less than a year.§ and that the 46,602 insula would hold a | paigns." This fund was afterwards kept population of nearly five millions. As up by taxes. there were 1,780 palaces, we may be sure that the total population of the city was, as Lipsius and others have calculated, more than five millions. It may be said that the number of houses, of both kinds, in the reign of Theodosius is no guide to the number in the reigns of Tiberius, Claudius, Nero, and Antoninus. If that be true, the argument is still good for the reign of Theodosius; but we might expect that the migration under Constantine in the fourth century would have reduced the population of Rome. The enormous growth of the population of Constantinople is ascribed by Gibbon mainly to the great emigration from Rome of opulent senators, officials, tradesmen, and slaves. If there was so vast an exodus in the reign of Constantine, it is probable that the population of five millions in the reign of Theodosius was not greater than that under Tiberius or Hadrian, or at least during the second century. These are, of course, examples of the wealth of emperors, but of emperors in their private capacity, on which no public claim could be made. We shall, however, arrive at a similar conclusion as to the wealth of Rome from other considerations. Seneca, a man of vile character, yet of almost saintly reputation (so different was his life from his writings), was worth at least two millions and a half sterling. Yet Nero said to him: "You know that there are very many men in this city, and these by no means your equals in accomplishments, who possess still It more. As to the freedmen, who are wealthier than the richest citizens, I am ashamed to speak." ¶ Much of Seneca's wealth came from the lavish gifts of Nero; but he derived a great revenue from the extortionate interest which he charged for loans in the provinces. In fact, a rebellion was caused in Britain by Seneca's usuries. It is difficult to compare the realized wealth and the annual income of Rome with that of London. We can only pick out isolated facts and indicate the conclu sions which they seem to warrant. may be well to begin with the private fortunes of the emperors, who for a long time rejected any kingly title and claimed to be only citizens elected to high office, as Principes Senatus, Tribuni Plebis, and Imperatores; not as civil rulers, but only as commanding the armies of the State. Most of them began their reigns with large fortunes. They had, indeed, to provide from the various revenues for all the expenses of government; but the surplus of receipts over expenditure was constantly very large, and that surplus was as completely under their control as if it had been private property. Neither Senate nor people had any voice in the matter. Before the Empire was fully established, Augustus says, "In the consulship of M. Lepidus and L. Arruntius I paid 100,700,000 sesterces (about £900,000), in the name of Tiberius Cæsar and myself, into the military treasury for the fund designed to pay bounties and pensions to soldiers who had served twenty or more cam. Claudius Felix was a freedman. Yet he was the governor of Judæa who judged St. Paul. His brother Pallas also was a freedman of Claudius. He is said by Tacitus to have possessed two millions and a half sterling. A present of £130,o00** was voted by the Senate.ft Yet he had formerly been a slave of Antonia, the mother of Claudius. It is to him that • Arnold, p. 101. Tac., Ann., xiv. 55. Juvenal refers when he says that if con- | Cilicia, found himself the richer, in one tent with a modest competence, "Ego year, by £20,000; and he was, perhaps, possideo plus Pallante et Licinio." Nar- the only pro-consul who ever handed over cissus, another freedman of Claudius, is said to have been worth more than three millions and a quarter sterling. Lucius Cornelius Balbus, a native of Spain, a Roman citizen and senator, and a friend of Tacitus, was considered to be worth two millions and a half sterling. Dio says that he left by his will about 16s. 8d. to every man in Rome: "Populo Romano vicitim legavit denarios viginti quinque." This alone would require about £800,000. P. Licinius Crassus Dives, whose name is coupled by Juvenal with that of the freedman Pallas as a memorial of wealth, said that he would consider no man rich who was unable to equip an army and keep it in the field. Yet he is credited with only two millions sterling. This sum, however, is probably much below the truth, for he had among his slaves five hundred architects and builders. It seems probable that, like many rich Romans, whether senators or freedmen, he invested large sums in building and in buying house property. As another proof of wealth Lipsius quotes from Pliny some instances of the price paid for slaves. Thus, Daphnis, who seems to have been a great linguist, was sold for three hundred and seventy thousand sesterces, about £3,500,"grande pretium in uno fluxo et mortali homine, et quem solus Grammatici titulus commendebat."* Suetonius says that Laelius Præconensis was sold for about £1,760. Seneca says that Calvisius had many slaves employed as readers, and that each of them had been bought for "centum millibus" nearly £840.† Let us take some other illustrations at random. When L. Calpurnius Piso was appointed governor of Macedonia for one year, he drew for his outfit from the public treasury eighteen million sesterces or £150,000. He did not want the money for that purpose; everything required by a pro-consul was supplied to him by the province. Piso simply took the money for himself, and lent it out in Rome at high interest. C. Verres was charged by Cicero with having robbed Sicily of £350,000 in three years, besides many valuable works of art. He practically admitted his guilt by retiring from Rome without attempting any defence. Cicero, when governor of the poor province of Pliny, Hist. Nat., Book viii. † Lipsius de Mag. Rom. Book iv. his surplus to the State. There can be no doubt that Cicero and the younger Pliny received large sums from their clients while those clients were still living. Balbus is not likely to have secured the argument "pro Balbo " for a mere trifle; and the gratitude of Sicily, for the prosecution of Verres, undoubtedly took a very substantial form. Apart from all such honoraria, it is recorded that both Cicero and the younger Pliny received legacies from clients to the amount of £170,000. Gibbon tells us on the authority of Olympiodorus, that several of the richest senators had an income of £160,000 a year- - without computing the stated pro vision of corn and wine, which, if sold, would have realized another £50,000. Gibbon continues: "An income of one thousand or fifteen hundred pounds of gold (£40,000 to £60,000) might be considered as no more than adequate to the dignity of the senatorian_rank. But the wealth of such men as Pompey, Julius Cæsar, Lepidus, Lucullus, Mæcenas, and other magnates, must have been much greater than that of an ordinary senator. The wealth and luxury of the rich is almost incredible. The carruca (coaches} of the Romans were often of solid silver, curiously carved and engraved; while the trappings of the horses were embossed with silver and gold.t Pliny says that many Romans had more silver plate on their sideboards than Scipio Africanus brought from Carthage. According to Pliny's own estimate, that would be about £14,000; and this we should probably adopt, although Livy says that Scipio brought back £300,000. Juvenal tells a well-known story of the mullet which weighed eight pounds and was sold for nearly £50.§ Several of the prætors in the reign of Honorius are said to have spent on public games alone £50,000, £90,000, £180,000. If we suppose the smallest sum to be correct, it is more than any lord mayor of London would like to spend. So much for the senators, who may be compared with the nobles of England. The equites, also, who occupied the same kind of position as our knights and squires, were a very wealthy class. From this class governors of provinces were some Decline and Fall, cap. 31. ↑ Pliny, Hist. Nat., xxxiii. 50. Juv., Sat. iv. 15. OVER be times chosen. Pontius Pilate was a notable example. Others were commissioners of revenue in the imperial, and sometimes in the senatorial, provinces. But the great bulk of the equites were engaged in farming the taxes. Sometimes a single knight would farm the taxes of a small province; but as a rule the work was undertaken by societates (companies). The taxes were farmed for five years, and the terms were fixed by auction. Security for the due payment of the amount offered at the auction had to be provided. The equites thus employed were called publicani (the publicans of the New Testa ment); and, as the story of Zacchæus and other publicans prove, they often extorted more than was legally due, and became extremely rich. When harvests and trade were good they made very large profits; and, in all cases, they were able to escape loss by illegal extortions. "If I have wronged any man I restore fourfold," Zacchæus said; but very few of the publicani reached this altitude of equitable dealing. | However, I am only concerned now to show that the equites as a class must have been very rich. They had to give security for, and provide the punctual payment of, about fifty millions sterling a year. It is a common saying. even Gibbon repeats it that there was no middle-class in Rome-only a luxurious aristocracy, and a clamoring crowd of plebeians. Such a generalization must be wide of the mark. It is impossible that the necessities and luxuries required by so great and wealthy a community could have been provided for without a large middle-class of bankers, money-lenders, manufacturers, and shopkeepers. Many of the bankers and money. lenders were equites; but many more were private citizens and freedmen. The probable number of this last class has scarcely been fairly considered; but it must have been very great, and in most cases the freedman had to earn a large part of his living by commerce or by in. dustry. The amount of money invested abroad by the negotiatores was so great that the war with Mithridates seriously affected public credit in Rome. Cicero says that in Gaul not a single payment passed from hand to hand without the intervention of a negotiator. Three hundred of them were formed into a council or society by Cato, at Thapsus in Africa.t These men had to pay to Cæsar a fine of nearly £17,000 for Arnold, p. 81. ↑ Cic., pro Fonteio i. supporting the cause of Pompey, while the bankers at Adrumetum were fined £42,000 for the same reason.* Banking has always been considered an occupation more honorable than mere trade. But trade also must have been considerable. It was chiefly carried on by freedmen. It will be sufficient to give a single example. The trade in silks and pearls passing through Alexandria is said to have amounted to £1,300,000 a year. £560,000 was obtained from silks, which were sold at their weight in gold (about £40 a pound.)† Amber was imported from the Baltic, and diamonds from Bengal. Of other trades, such as wool and iron, we have few particulars. But it is quite clear that there must have been a class of wealthy merchants to carry on the trade of imports to Rome. A fleet of one hundred and twenty vessels brought goods from Arabia, the Red Sea, and Ceylon. Of mere shopkeepers there are naturally very few notices in the histories written by Romans. It was beneath the dignity of Latin historians to make any mention of traders. It was beneath the dignity of a Roman citizen to keep a manufactory or a shop. Cicero says, "Nec enim quicquam ingenuum potest habere officina."+ But shops and manufactories were keptmostly by freedmen or Syrians or Greeks - and we have many particulars of every kind of trade, although little mention of the traders. One barber is mentioned twice by Juvenal, Patricios omnes opibus quum provvcet unus Quo tondente gravis juveni mihi barba sona bat Difficile est saliram non scribere.§ He is mentioned again as the owner of innumerable villas. So, too, Juvenal twice refers to Crispinus, a household slave brought from Egypt, then a freedman and a shoemaker, then a favorite with the emperor; an exemplar of every vice, and the most fastidious epicure in Rome. He greatly increased his wealth by the purchase or the building of villas and by buying land in the city. Both men must have made money by trade before they could speculate in lands and houses. Demetrius and other silversmiths in Ephesus may be taken as examples of wealthy traders. In short, there was, of necessity, both in Rome and in the prov * See Merivale ii. 367. ↑ Gibbon, cap. ii. t Cir. Off. i. 42. Juv., Sat. i. 24. 66 inces, a large and often wealthy middle | were others. The earliest was built by class. It makes a good antithesis to say Curio, and was of wood. The first amphi that all was luxurious splendor or squalid theatre of stone was that built in the poverty; but it is very far from being Campus Martius by Statilius Taurus. true. The common people, who are sup- Another was built by Julius Cæsar, and posed to have been so miserably poor, another by Nero.* There were three deserve the epithet used by Gibbon. principal theatres, called after Pompeius They were lazy plebeians.' Poor in Magnus, Cornelius Balbus, and Marcellus, hard cash they probably were; but that the last built by Augustus in honor of was because they would not work. And his favorite nephew. Many thousands of they would not work regularly, because gladiators were employed at the amphithat was thought to be the duty of slaves, theatres; so many that at one time they and because, without work, they had so rebelled, and carried on a serious war many of the blessings of life provided for against the Republic. Three thousand them. Bread was given daily to two hun- dancers and as many singers daily amused dred thousand citizens, at the rate of a the public. If there were seats at places three-pound loaf for each. Formerly it of amusement for five hundred thousand had been given in corn, at the rate of five people at once, Gibbon's estimate of the modii (pecks) a month; but, as the people total population as one million seven hundid not like the labor of grinding and bak-dred and fifty thousand is absurd. ing, it was afterwards supplied in loaves Such, then, was the condition of the from public baking ovens. Under the Roman poor. Food and wine and oil, later Empire bacon was distributed to the baths, theatres, and amphitheatres, were poor for five months in every year. In provided either free or at extremely low this way about thirty-two thousand hun- charges. There was no Union workhouse, dredweights were given away every year. no labor test. Newspapers were circuWine was sold on very easy terms. The lated regularly not only in Rome, but commodities not given away were very cheap.t Wine was sixteen pence a gallon; bacon a little more than three halfpence a pound; and oil three half-pence a gallon. But the oil required for lighting and for the bath was given away; Africa alone was compelled to contribute, as part of its taxation, more than three hundred thousand gallons every year. Besides all this, every Roman had the use of the public baths on payment of about half a farthing. These were not such structures as we call public baths, but superb buildings, lined with Egyptian granite and Nubian marble. Warm water was poured into the capacious basins through wide mouths of bright and massive silver. The most magnificent baths were those of Caracalla, which had seats of marble for more than sixteen hundred people; and those of Diocletian, which had seats for three thousand people. For the further delectation of the people there were theatres and amphitheatres. Gibbon says that there were sometimes four hundred thousand spectators at the amphitheatres alone. The Colosseum could only seat one hundred thousand.§ There Gibbon, cap. 4•. Cor., Theod., viii. 4, 17.. Ramsay, Rom. Antiquities, p. 357. in all the camps and the provinces "per provincias et per exercitus." It may safely be inferred that both in population and in wealth the city of Rome under the Empire was fully equal to modern London; while in the magnificence and beauty of its public buildings, in the splendor of its gratuitous entertainments, and in the profusion of its liberality towards the poor, it was much superior. It may, perhaps, be objected to these conclusions that they affect the capital cities only, and that after Rome, Italy had; no cities or towns to compare with Glasgow, Manchester, Liverpool, Birmingham. But even this would not be the exact truth. There were very large and opulent cities in Italy besides Rome—cities such as Venice, Milan, Naples, Tarentum, Pompeii, Baiae. In fact, Italy, when the last recorded census was taken, contained about seven million citizens all adult males. Adding the wives and children, we have a population of thirty millions. Adding the liberti, the libertini, the foreign residents, and the slaves, we have a total population of more than sixty millions. EDWARD J. GIBBS, M.A. * Ramsay, Rom. Antiquities, p. 48. See the speech of Capito Cossutianus against Thrasca.-Tac., Ann., xiv. 32. AUNT ANNE.* Copyright, 1892, by Harper & Brothers. CHAPTER XV. (continued.) "HERE'S a four-wheeler," Walter said, as he stopped one. "This is quite an adventure, only," he added gently, "you don't look up to much, Aunt Anne." "I shall be better soon," she said, and dropped into silence again. She looked almost vacantly out of window as they went along, and they were afraid to ask questions, for they felt that things had not gone well with her. Presently she turned to Florence. Did you say the children were at home, my love?" "Yes, dear." The old lady looked out of window again at the green trees in the park and, when they came to them, almost furtively at the shops in Oxford Street. Then she turned to Florence. "My love," she said, "I must take those dear children a little present. Would you permit the cabman to stop at a sweetmeat shop; we shall reach one in a moment." "Oh, please don't trouble about them, dear Aunt Anne." "I shouldn't like them to think I had forgotten them," she pleaded. No, and they shan't think it," Walter said, patting her hand. "Hi! stop, cabby; Stay in the cab, Aunt Anne, I'll go and get something for them." In a few minutes he reappeared with two boxes of chocolates. I think that's the sort of thing," he said. She looked at them carefully, opened them, and examined the name of the maker. "You have selected them most judiciously, dear Walter," she answered. "That's all right. Now we'll go on." She looked at the boxes once more and put them down satisfied. "It was just like you, to save me the fatigue of getting out of the cab," she said to her nephew. I hope the children will like them, they were always most partial to chocolates. You must remind me to reimburse you for them presently, my dear." And once more she turned to the window. "Aunt Anne, are you looking for any one?" Walter asked presently. and that he would pass William Rammage's house." "That worthy was at Cannes the other day I saw." "He is there till next month," she explained, and then they were all silent until they reached the end of their journey. It was impossible to talk much to Aunt Anne, it seemed to interrupt her thoughts. Silence seemed to have become a habit to her, just as it had to Alfred Wimple. She was a little excited when they stopped at the house, and lingered before the entrance for a moment. Almost sadly she looked up at the balcony on which she had sat with Alfred Wimple, and slowly her left eye winked, as if many things had happened since that happy night, of which only she had a knowledge. They sat her down in an easy-chair, and gave her tea, and made much of her, and asked no questions, only showed their delight at having her with them again. Gradually the tender old face looked happier, the sad lines about the mouth softened, and once there was quite a merry note in her voice, as she laughed and said, "You dear children, you are just the same." It did them good to hear her favorite remarks once more. Then Catty and Monty were brought in, and she kissed them and patronized them and gave them their chocolates and duly sent them away again, just as she always used to do. "I began to work a little hood for Catty," she said, "but I never finished it; it was not that I was dilatory, but that my eyes are not as good as they were." She said the last words sadly, and Florence looking up quickly wondered if they were dimmed from weeping. "Poor Aunt Anne," she said soothingly; "but you are not as lonely as formerly?" "No, my love, but Alfred has a great deal of work to do. It keeps him constantly at his chambers, and his health not being good he is obliged to go out of town very often, so that unwillingly," and she winked sadly, "he is much away from me." "What work is he doing?" Walter asked. "My dear," she said, with gentle dig. nity, "you must forgive me for not an"No, my love, but I thought the cab-swering that question, but I feel that he man was going through Portman Square, would not approve of my discussing his private affairs." Aunt Anne. A Novel. By Mrs. W. K. Clifford, author of "Love Letters of a Worldly Woman," etc. Post 8vo, cloth, ornamental, $1.25. Published by Harper & Brothers, New York. "Have you comfortable rooms ia "Florence asked, to change the town? subject. |