The Hawaiian gazette., 1881-01-05
9aluaiiaa 6azette.
WEDNESDAY, JANUARY S, 1881.
Business Life in Ancient Rome

=
few in Rome, though some of the most promi-
nent mobiles owned factories in Italy and the
provinces. Even the emperors did not dis
dam to be interested in ventures Of this kind
NJ. Aurelius inherited from his mother i'm
mense brick-factories and even now bricks
are found bearing the name of On. Domitus
Tullus, the ,Emperor's great grandfather by
adoption. Another Emperor, Pertinax, for
three years conducted felt factory in Ligu-
ria. As senators werc forbidden to engage in
trade, the Emperor had recourse TO the usual
expedient to battle the law. He set in bust
ness 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 a small scale in the city ITSELF 1t
was truly beehive of artisans and mechan-
les. Bakers, tailors, shoemakers, carpenters,
smiths, dyers, tanners, fullers, potters, masons,
carvers, and host of others here busily piled
their trades and earned 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 Nictories-nay, some
whose sole occupation 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
Agrppa. Some sculptors, therefore, kept OH
hand supply of ready-made bodies, for
which heads were made TO order OF course,
the price of work so produced was very low,
and respectable life-sized statue of marble
or bronze could be got for EGG to f3i, at a
time when from e. 200 to $4,000 was paid for
Phidias or Scopas.
No doubt many of the mechanics and trades
men of Rome were slaves; but that large
number were free citizens must be inferred
from the number and importance of their COL
legla, or guilds. Their establishment reaches
back into hoary antiquity, for they are said to
have been founded by Numa Pempilius. 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 sometimes each
branch of 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 detailed know
ledge They all worshipped Minerva, the
goddess of mechanical arts, whose festival
March 10 to 23) they scrupulously kept
but, besides, each guild had some special
patron, whose feast was celebrated by them
with much pomp and display The bakers.
for instance, were the special wards of Vesta, |
the goddess of the hearth-fre: and on her |
feast (Jute % they marched forth in process
sion, accompanied by their asses, which were |
adorned with garlands of flowers and loaves |
of bread.
The expenses of the artisan were not very
a rOra FsNr lt,-,,, i
an edlct of the Emperor Diocletian, which |
seems to give the maximum prices of labor
and merchandise, Firbiger has couiectured |
that the shop rent cost from sl2 to sic annu- |
ally, while the average yearly pay of Journey
man mechanic was from EGO to f26 and board.
The annual cost of food he computes at Is.
and OF clothing at f3 per head. The prices Of |
Inc mechanics product were correspondingly
low, as appears from the following items =
felt hat, as; Pair mans CATERS, Is.
PAIR woman's CATERS, l5d.; pair shoes, Is.
3D.; PAIR MANS sandals, 3d.; pair slip
pers, l5d. II tunic, E3 los. to e. los:
osa, FL IS fl0. We must not forget to men,
lon tha< shave could be had at the most
ashi2hable shop for I'd.
When their earnings were so exceedingly
p6derate, mechanics were not likely to be-
come millionaires. But even under the most
adverse circumstances Fortune will smile on
her iavorites. Of these was Juvenal's barber.
Much to the disgust of the poet, whose beard
ne had rasped in early manhood, he finally
1valled the richest Senators in wealth. Plinv
ellis the story of an ugly hunch-backed slave,
Jleslppus by name, and fuller by trade. At
IN auction sale of his masters effects, he
vas thrown in with candlestick that was
old to a widow. He gained the favor of his
became her heir, and bloomed out
nto millionaire. Thereafter the candle
tick was the principal deity in his chapel.
But, apart from these favorites of fortune.
he artisans of Rome had a hard struggle for
xlstence. They not only labored and toiled
t their trades, but neglected no opportunity
o turn an honest penny by other expedients.
)ur modern distiller at times keeps cows, and
ellis swlll milk, 1t is said; at Rome every ,
aker utilised his bran by keeping hogs, and
hese, roaming through the streets OF the
Metropolis, formed pleasing feature in the !
and diffused an exceedingly fra
rant aroma. AS we find now and then a
arber who trains canaries to distract his vic
inns and to put few extra dollars into his
urse, SO the BARRIERS, cobblers, and tailors of
iome educated crows and magpies Some of
lese birds have become historical. Under
lbenus, raven trained by a cobbler flew to
nc rosta every day and croaked out the name
the emperor and of his ncphews, Drusus
nd Germanicus. A neighboring tradesman
llled the bird through spite: he could not !
ave Jared worse had he killed its owner.
10 was expelled from the ward and then {
while the murdered pct was I
orne to solemn burial by two blackamoors.
crow was the heroine of less tragicaI a
DRY. Its master had drilled it to say, "Hail n
esar, victorious Emperor in the hope that
ugustus would pay handsome price for SO
yal bird. Often, when the scholar proved a
upld, the cobbler growled out, 81 | have lost ,
y time and my trouble" At last, the birds 1
iucation being finished, it was taken 20 the
mperor. 1t shrieked, Hail Caesar - most
bun to no purpose; Angus
IS obstlnately refused to buy the bird. At
st, as 1t conscious of the situation, the crow
oaked out, in disgust, al have lost nv time
id my trouble" 1t was at once installed in
lie palace, and the cobbler went home reioic
g.
The Roman tradesman was an object of
'orn TO the wealthier classes, and the butt of 4
elr jokes He was charged with ignorance,
lavery, and filthy habits. The fshmongers
ere tainted with wping their noses on their
ee'es, and the tanners reproached for find
no offensive smell in the money which they
'riied by their unsavory industry. No doubt
ere was some truth in these accusations. n
Ill all the mechanics of the Seven Hills were
T from being unlearned; some evidently
lished poetry, for on the walls of their shops
hes from Virgil, Ovid, and other poets are
und by the modern explorer.
For the most part, the shops adioined the
Tellings, and men of the same trade often
welt next TO each other in the same street. 7
rgfeSso7 c. G.. HsrJeTzaHn,