Roman life in the days of Cicero | Page 2

leather if he was not of gentle
birth.) This he wore till he assumed the dress of manhood. Then he laid
it aside, possibly to assume it once more, if he attained the crowning

honor to which a Roman could aspire, and was drawn in triumph up the
slope of the Capitol. He was nursed by his mother, or, in any case, by a
free-born woman. It was his mother that had exclusive charge of him
for the first seven years of his life, and had much to say to the ordering
of his life afterwards. For Roman mothers were not shut up like their
sisters in Greece, but played no small part in affairs--witness the
histories or legends (for it matters not for this purpose whether they are
fact or fiction) of the Sabine wives, of Tullia, who stirred up her
husband to seize a throne, or Veturia, who turned her son Coriolanus
from his purpose of besieging Rome. At seven began the education
which was to make him a citizen and a soldier. Swimming, riding,
throwing the javelin developed his strength of body. He learned at the
same time to be frugal, temperate in eating and drinking, modest and
seemly in behavior, reverent to his elders, obedient to authority at home
and abroad, and above all, pious towards the gods. If it was the duty of
the father to act as priest in some temple of the State (for the priests
were not a class apart from their fellow-citizens), or to conduct the
worship in some chapel of the family, the lad would act as camillus or
acolyte. When the clients, the dependents of the house, trooped into the
hall in the early morning hours to pay their respects to their patron, or
to ask his advice and assistance in their affairs, the lad would stand by
his father's chair and make acquaintance with his humble friends. When
the hall was thrown open, and high festival was held, he would be
present and hear the talk on public affairs or on past times. He would
listen to and sometimes take part in the songs which celebrated great
heroes. When the body of some famous soldier or statesman was
carried outside the walls to be buried or burned, he would be taken to
hear the oration pronounced over the bier.
At one time it was the custom, if we may believe a quaint story which
one of the Roman writers tells us, for the senators to introduce their
young sons to the sittings of their assembly, very much in the same way
as the boys of Westminster School are admitted to hear the debates in
the Houses of Parliament. The story professes to show how it was that
one of the families of the race of Papirius came to bear the name of
Praetextatus, i.e., clad in the praetexta (the garb of boyhood), and it
runs thus:--"It was the custom in the early days of the Roman State that

the senators should bring their young sons into the Senate to the end
that they might learn in their early days how great affairs of the
commonwealth were managed. And that no harm should ensue to the
city, it was strictly enjoined upon the lads that they should not say
aught of the things which they had heard within the House. It happened
on a day that the Senate, after long debate upon a certain matter,
adjourned the thing to the morrow. Hereupon the son of a certain
senator, named Papirius, was much importuned by his mother to tell the
matter which had been thus painfully debated. And when the lad,
remembering the command which had been laid upon him that he
should be silent about such matters, refused to tell it, the woman
besought him to speak more urgently, till at the last, being worn out by
her importunities, he contrived this thing. 'The Senate,' he said, 'debated
whether something might not be done whereby there should be more
harmony in families than is now seen to be; and whether, should it be
judged expedient to make any change, this should be to order that a
husband should have many wives, or a wife should have more
husbands than one.' Then the woman, being much disturbed by the
thing which she had heard, hastened to all the matrons of her
acquaintance, and stirred them up not to suffer any such thing. Thus it
came to pass that the Senate, meeting the next day, were astonished
beyond measure to see a great multitude of women gathered together at
the doors, who besought them not to make any change; or, if any,
certainly not to permit that a man should have more wives than one.
Then the young Papirius told the story how