Litchfield enquirer. [volume] (Litchfield, Conn.) 1829-current, 1880-08-05
Business Life in Ancient Rome.
BIZ Profssser @. G. Herbermnnna.


Of manufactures on large scale there
were few in Rome, though some of the most
prominent mobiles owned factories in Italy and
the provinces. Even the Emperors did not
disdain to be interested in ventures of this
kind NJ. Aurelius inherited from his mother
immense brick factories; and even now bricks
are found bearing the name of On. Domitius
Tullus, the Emperor's reat-grandfather by
adoption. Another Emperor Pertinax, for
three years conducted felt factory in Lii
guria AS Senators were forbidden to engage
in trade, the future Emperor had recourse to
to the usual expedient to battle the law. He
| set up in business trusty freedmen and slaves
who disposed of his manufactures. 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 pro-
duced on small scale in the city itself. 1t
was truly beehive of artisans and mechanics
| Bakers, tailors, shoemakers, carpenters
| smiths, dyers, tanners, fullers potters, rlasons
| 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 sculptor restricted himself to one
branch of his art There were artists who
| produced only Genii or Victories-nay, some
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 Agrip-
pa. Some sculptors, therefore, kept on hand
a supply of ready made bodies, for which
heads were made to order. OF course, the
| price OF work so produced was very low, and
a respectable life-size statue of marble or
bronze could be got for one hundred and thirty
| m ON hnnHra6 ond nfu dolloro at
when from ten to thirty thousand dollars were
paid for a Phidias or Scopas.
| NO doubt many of the mechanics and
| tradesmen of Rome were slaves; but that
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
| pillus. They were associations with corporate
rights, whose aim was not only to further the
| business interests of their members, but also to
| provide them with congenial amusements.
| Not only each trade had Its guild, but some
| times each branch of a trade. For instance,
there were not only goldsmith and silversmith
| guilds, but also guild of ringmakers. OF
their influence on business life, we have no de-
tailed knowledge We are better informed of
their social features. They all worshipped
| Minerva, the goddess of mechanical arts,
| whose festival March 10 to 23) tt ey scrupu-
| lousy kept but, besides, each gul had some
| special patron, whose feast was celebrated by
them with much pomp and display. The ba-
| kers, for instance, were the special wards Of
| Vesta, the goddess of the hearth fire. and on
| her feast (June 81 they marched forth in pro-
cession, accompanied by their asses, which
| were adorned with garlands 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 the maximum prices of labor
| and merchandise, Forbigger has coniectured
| that the shop rent cost from 500 to $75 an
| nually, while the average yearly pay of
| iourneyman mechanic was from $95 to $125
| and board. The annual cost of food he COM
putes at $40, and of clothing at $15 per head.
| The prices of the mechanics products were
| correspondingly low, as appears from the fol-
| towing items felt hat. 81; pair mans
| CATERS, 30 cents; pair woman's CATERS, 30
cents pair shoes, SO cents; pair mans
| sandals, Sc cents; l pair slippers, 30 cents;
| 1 tunic, $16 to 1886; toga $50 to $48. We
must not forget to mention that shave could
| be had at the most fashionable shop for
| cents
When their earnings were so exceedingly
| moderate mechanics were not likely to become
mllionares. But even under the most adverse
circumstances, fortune will smile on her ia
vorites. OF these was Juvenals barber. Much
to the disgust of the poet, whose beard he had
rasped in early manhood, he finally rivalled
the richest Senators in wealth. Phny tells
the story Of an ugly, hunchbaGked slave,
Clesippus by name, aud fuller by trade. At
an auction sale of his masters effects, he was
thrown in with a candlestick that was sold to
widow. He gained the favor of his mistress,
became her heir, and bloomed out into mil
lonaire. Thereafter the candestick was the
principal deity of his chapel
But, apart from these tavorites of fortune
the artisans of Rome had a hard struggle for
existence. They not only labored and toed at
their trades, but neglected no opportunity to
| turn an honest penny by other expedients.
| Our modern distiller at times keeps cows, and
sells swill milk, it is said at Rome every ba
ker utilized his bran by keeping hogs, and
| these, roaming through the streets of the me-
| tropolis, formed apleasing feature in the land
scape, and diffused an exceedingly fragrant
| aroma AS we find now and then barber
! who trains canaries to distract his victims and
| to put few extra dollars into his purse, so
| the BARRIERS, cobhlers and tailors of Rome
educate crows and magpies. Some of these
birds have become historical. Under Tibe-
RUS raven trained by cobbler flew to the
rostra every day and croaked out the names of
| the emperor and of his nephew, Drusus and
Germanicus. A neighboring tradesman killed
the bird through spite; he could not have
| Jared worse had he killed its owner. He was
expelled from the ward and then assassinated,
| while the murdered pet was borne to solemn
| burial by two blackamOors. A crow was the
| heroine OF less tragical story Its master
had drilled it to say, Hail Caesar, victorious
Emperor" in the hope that Augustus would
pay handsome price for SO loyal bird.
Often, when the scholar proved stupid, the
cobbler growled out, II have lost my time
and my trouble" At last, the birds educa-
ton being finished, it was taken to the EN-
peror. 1t shrieked ''Hail Cesari" m ,st en-
Enthusiastically, but to no purpose Augustus
obstinately refused to buy the bird. At last,
as if CONSCIOUS of the situation, the crow
croaked out, in disgust. II have lost my time
and my trouble" 1t was at once installed in
the palace, and the cobbler went home re-
| joicing.
The Roman tradesman was an object of
scern to the weather. classes and the butt of
their jokes. He was charged with ignorance,
knavery and filthy habits. The fshmongers
we're tainted with wiping their nases on their
sleeves, and the tanners reproached for find
ing no ensive smell in the money which
they earned by their unsavory industry. No
| doubt there was some truth in these accusa-
| tions Still, all the mechanics of the Seven
Hills were far from being unlearned; some ev-
identity relshedpoetry, for on the walls of their
shops lines from Virgil, Ovid and other poets
are found by the modern explorer.
For the most part, the shops adjOned the
dwellings, and men of the same trade often
| dwelt next to each other In the same street.
Low PRICES FOR BurTER-The New York
Tribune, in its market report, explained why
| some butter Is sold for such low prices In
speaking of butter it said 'Light colored goods
| are very hard to dispose of and several lots
we're thought well sold at 8 to 10 cents" If
butter makers would get the top price, they