Morning journal and courier., 1880-07-27
Business Life in Ancient Rome.

Of manufactures on large scale there were few in Rome, though some of the most prominent nobles owned factories in Italy and the provinces. Even the Emperors did not disdain to be interested in ventures of this kind. M. Aurelius inherited from his mother immense brick factories and even now bricks are found bearing the name of On. Domitius Tullus, the Emperor's great grandfather by adoption. Another Emperor, PertinaX, for three years conducted a felt factory in Ldguria. AS Senators were forbid den to engage in trade, the future Emperor had recourse to the usual eXpedient to bafffe the law. He set up in business trusty freed men and slaves who disposed of his manufac- lures. Other Senators owned potteries or worked mines and quarries.
 But though great quantities of merchandise were supplied by these factories, and the finer fabrics were imported ready-made from the East, most manufactured articles were produced on small scale in the city itself. It was truly beehive of artisans and me- chanics. Bakers tailors, shoemakers, car penters, smiths, dyers, tanners, fullers, pot ters, masons, carvers and host of others here busily piled their trades and earned a modest livelihood. Of shoemakers there were five or six varieties. Even the scul lptor restricted himself to one branch of this art There were artists who produced only Genii or Victories-nay, some whose sole occupa- ton was to insert eyes into statues made by others. Two statues have been found in which the bodies were exact duplicates, though one was surmounted by the head of Augustus, the other by that of Agrippa. Some sculptors, therefore, kept on hand a supply of ready y-u1ade bodies, for which heads were made to order. Of course the price of work so produced was very low, and 8 re- spectable life-size statue of marble or bronze could be got for one hundred and thirty to one hundred and seventy dollars, at a time when from ten to thirty thousand dollars were paid for Phidias or Scopas
 No doubt, many of the mechanics and tradesmen of Rome were slaves but that 8 large number were free citizens must be in ferred from the number and importance of their collegia, or guilds. Their establishment reaches back into hoary antiquity, for they are said to have been founded by Numa Pom pilius. They were associations with corpor- ate rights, whose aim was not only to further the business interests of their members but also to provide them with congenial amuse- ments. Not only each trade had its guild but sometimes each branch of 8 trade For instance there were not only goldsmith and silversmith guilds, but also guild of ring makers. Of their influence on business life, we have no detailed knowledge. We are bet ter informed of their social features. They all worshiped Minerva, the goddess of me- chanical arts, whose festival (March 19 to 23) they scrupulously kept; but, besides each guild had some special patron whose feast WAS C6l6DTaG0Q Dy Gu0Iu WlLu IuuCn pOmp ana display. The bakers, for instance, were the special wards of Vesta, the goddess of the hearth fire ; and on her feast (June 9 they marched forth in procession, accompanied by their asses, which were adorned with gar lands of flowers and loaves of bread.
 The expenses of the artisan were not very large, for living at Rome was cheap. From an edict of the Emperor Diocletian which seems to give the4 maximum prices of labor and merchandise, Forbiger has conjectured that the shop rent cost from $6O to $75 an- nually, while the yearly average pay of journeyman mechanic was from $95 to $125 and board. The annual cost of food he computes at $40 and of clothing at S15 per head The prices of the mcdaniel s pro ducts were correspondinly low, as appears from the following items 1 felt hat, $1; l pair mans gaiters, 30 cents; 1 pair woman's S gaiters, 30 cents; l pair shoes, 36 cents; l pair mans sandals, 26 |; pair slippers, 30; tunic, $16 to $36; toga, $2O to $4S. We must not forget that a shave could be had at the most fashionable shop for cents
 When their earnings were so exceedingly moderate, mechanics were not likely to be- come millionaires. But even under the most adverse circumstances, fortune will smile on her favorites. Of these was Juvenal's bar Der. Much to the disgust of the poet, whose beard he rasped in early manhood, he finally rivalled the richest Senators in wealth. Pliny tells the story of an ugly hunch- backed slave, Clesippus by name, and fuller by trade. At an auction sale of his masters effects he was thrown in with candlestick that was sold to a widow. He gained the favor of his mis- tress, became her heir, and bloomed out in- to millionaire. Thereafter the candlestick was the principal deity of his chapel
 But, apart from these favorites of fortune, the artisans of Rome had a hard struggle for existense. They not only labored and toiled at their trades, but neglected no opportunity to turn an honest penny by other expedients Our modern distlller at times keeps cows and sells swil milk, 1t is said; at Rome every bak- CT utilized his bran by keeping hogs, and these roaming through the streets of the metropolis, formed pleasing feature in the landscape, and difused an exceedingly fra grant aroma. As we find now and then bar Der who trains canaries to distract his vic tims and to put few extra dollars into his purse, so the barbers, cobblers and tailors of Rome educated crows and magpies. Some of these birds have become historical Under Tiberius, raven trained by cobbler flew to the rostra every day and crooked out the names of the Emperor and his nephews, ,Drrl- sus and Germanicus. A neighboring trades man killed the bird through spite he could not have fared worse had he killed it's owner
 He was expelled from the ward and then assassinated, while the murdered net was borne to solemn burial by two blackamoors A crow was the heroine of less tragical story. Its master had drilled it to say, ''Bail Caesar, victorious Emperor p in the hope that Augustus would pay "a handsome price for so loyal bird Often when the scholar proved stupid, the cobbler Agrowled out T have lost my time and my trouble" At last, the birds education being finished, it was taken to the Emperor. It shrieked 'tHail Cesar p most enthusiastically, Ebut to no pur- pose; Augustus obstinately refused to buy the bird. At last, as if conscious, of the situ- ation, the crow crooked out, in disgust, 'I have lost my time and my trouble" It was at once installed in the palace, and the cob bier went home rejoicing
 The Roman tradesman was an object of scorn to the wealthier classes, and the butt of their jokes. He was charged with igno- rance, knaEery and filthy habits. he A fish mongers were taunted with wiping their