Public ledger. [volume] (Memphis, Tenn.) 1865-1893, 1875-08-28
Roman
All the Year ROund.l

nj 'he lear hOund.l
The household Of a wealthy Roman
comprised many varieties of domestics
Ihere were singers, buffoons dancers. as
wen as cooks and characters and rum
ming footmen. The Lutte player was "a
necessary as the carptor or butler. whet.
ting his official carving knife for the dis.
section OF the roasted sucking MIC
stuffed with leeks and amber0r;s tbet
was the f~avorite dish of his most pohle
master. The very bath necessitated the
keeping up Of a group of attendants
skilltul with the strigil, cunning as to the
exact temperature of the tepidarium.
dett at those shampooing exercises
which were as highly pEzed as among
The Easterns of to-day. The freedmen
formed a special class of retainers. an.
swerIng TO the trusty non-commissioued
officers of a we'll disciplined army. and
their attachment TO the master who set
them free really appears to have been
genuine. In the hour Of adversely the
Roman found no friend SO true. Pom.
pey, left deserted by the remnant of his
host, might wander away to die ia OBJ.
security; Cato might open his veins in the
bath sooner than sue for pardon from
the victorious foe; in both cases the "a.
Vorlte freedman, like some faithful doc.
was with his lord to the last. This caste
OF enfranchised thralls, ready at any
risk to do their masters bidding. repre-
sented the sturdy clients, who, ia earlier
time, used their voices or clubs for Clau-
dius or Fabius As for the ordinary
slavss-whose plump forms and unthink-
ing laughter, as they lounged at the gate
OF MemmiuS or Plancus, must often have
stirred the envy of the gaunt Qurites,
whose tattered togas aud patched san
dals contrasted with the spotless robes
and shoes of Spanish leather worn by
their political inferiors-they we're pre-
clsely such as, under the artificial condi-
tons of their existence, they might have
been predieated to be. Fat and indolent
they were, for food was plenteous and
homework light. That they lied and pil-
tered, that they spied and slandered. was
no more than might be looked for.
Every man and woman of the crew had
his or her own scheme for future life.
which generally entailed the amassing
of a little hoard Of ill-got money. Mmni.
Gus would buy his freedom and keep a
tavern in the Suburb. Phillis, who has
quantities Of the cast off fnery of the
ladies Julia and Flavia. her young mis-.
t%resses, prudently plans to set up a small
shop for the retail of frippery. Fat
Menus has not marketed so many years
for his noble patron without putting to-
gether a considerable lump of savings.
and aspires to be a purveyor of British
oysters and t%rufles from Gaul, or per
chance TO let lodgings at the fashion
able bathing place of Bale. None of
these persons were very serupulous as to
the mesns by which they clawed together
the sesterces that we're indispensable for
the carrying out Of their pet projects.
Alter all, Roman masters and mistresses
we're human, and, as such, gullible. The
drudges who worked in the scorchinp
sunshine or drenching rain, under the
driver whip, had a hard time of it, GER
tainly; bat those who crouched aud
fawned, spaniellike, within doors. were
often able to find the length of nv lord
the Senator'S .bnskined foot. Nonus
knew, to a nicely. the overcharge to
which the p%roconsul would submit, and
how to ask a boon when the choice Chan
wine had warmed his masters heart into
a vague good nature. Lady Flavia, al
though she had an ugly trick Of pinehing
and slapping, when displeased, and
would sometimes make a pin-cushion of
her maids arm, after the wont of Roman
ladies in their cspricious moods, was
very free with her money, and not in
quisitive as 10 the fate of a lost bracelet
or missing fbula Her sister, Lady
Julia, paid high to have her letters pri.
vately carried to young Flaccus, Of whom
her parents d%isapproved. All these and
other f~railties brought in grist to the
mill, and gave hope to the parasites and
haDgers-on of Roman grandeur.