Barton County democrat. [volume] (Great Bend, Kan.) 1885-1915, 1891-07-02
ROME UNDER THE cHsARs.

ROME UNDER THE CESARS.
The Learned Professions Much the Same as
at Present.
The doctors, schoolmasters, lecturers
and professors of the capital were gen.
orally Greeks. who, in fact, monopo-
lied to a great extent all the learned
professions with the exception of the
bar. Some of these Greeks were of
servile extraction; others had come
over to Rome for the sake of profit and
fame. Some were even actually slaves,
whose fees and payments belonged de
jure to their master, though they were
often allowed to retain part of them as
peculium. This. to some extent. low
cred the estim alton of the learned pro-
LESSONS, and deferred citizens of good
families from entering them-one of
the unhappy consequences of slavery.
The bar was, as we have said, the chief
exception. The profession of advocate
was one Of the chief roads to success
open to the aspiring young Roman. His
education had been largely directed to
the art of rhetoric, and the fame of the
orator was the most common object of
ambition in his class As a rule, her did
not trouble himself much with the in
tricacies of the law, but gave his whole
attention to public speaking. 1t often
happened that an advocate had no spe-
cial knowledge of the legal question at
issue, but trusted entirely to his elo-
quence to win him his case. We shall
be less surprised at this when we re-
member the great latitude allowed to
pleaders in ancient times, and the
prominence in all the eXtant speeches
of invective and defamation as COM
pared with legal argument and evil
dence. 1t was customary, however, for
the orator to retain the services of a
pragmaticus-a lawyer of lower grade
in estimation-who was prepared to
give advice on legal questions.
The best days of Roman oratory were
passed when Augustus made himself
master of the empire. Rome never pro-
duced second Cicero, or even second
Hortensius. This falling off was partly
due to the loss of liberty that attended
the end of the republic, but partly,
also, to the increased difficulty with
which poor and unknown man could
make his way to the front Juvenal de-
clares Indignantly that in his day even
Cicero would not earn ten dollars at the
spicuous gold ring. The man who
wishes to succeed, he says, must be
seen in the streets, borne in litter by
mum Der of young Modes. making pur-
chases of plate and ''murra" vases and
beautiful slaves; he must wear a bril-
liant robe of purple, and live in a SPLEEN
did house with an equestrian statue of
himself in the vestibule. Such a man
do ho HI oil o6
by law for his pleading; but eloquence
is rarely found, he says, with a thread
bare coat While an Emilius, with his
noble name and his wealth, can ask ten
thousand sesterces for single plead
ing, the poor and obscure orator can
only get one aureus for four, and even
that is reduced by the attorneys fees.
A jockey at the circus could make more
than hundred pleaders. We can hard
ly be surprised if some of these ill-paid
barristers were led to take up ques-
tionable cases and to endeavor to make
a name by quackery. It does not APP
pear that the first ever caused much
scruple to Roman lawyer, nor should
we condemn, in the circumstances, the
deception of wearing a hired ring to give
the appearance of wealth, nor the Gus
tom of employing claqueurs to applaud
thh good points of a speech. If success
as pleader was once achieved the ora
tors prospects were very brilliant
Some of the most prominent new
men," both in our century and that
| which preceded it, owed their elevation
to this cause. The name of the famous
advocate was on every ones lips; his
| house was besieged by friends and eli
ents, and he might make large fortune
by his practice.
In fact, the legal profession was gen
orally looked upon as lucrative one.
| Martial was advised by a friend to
! plead instead of writing poetry, in or
der to make his fortune. The poet
gives the same advice to Valerius FLAG
| Gus These statements are not all in
| compatible with the lugubrious ac-
count of Juvenal. She successful
| pleaders were few, the ''briefiess bar
| risters" were many. For these last it
| might be the best chance to follow the
poets advice, and, leaving the migrate
full capital, seek an opening in Gaul OF
| Africa, or even among the Britons, who
were learning eloquence from the
l.ready-tongued Gauls. The. other al.
I Tentative was to stay at home and exc
| out the profits of pleading. by giving
| lectures. Those who were less success.
full as pleaders sometimes made a repu.
tation as teachers Aof rhetoric, and we
| hear. of distinguished advocates giving
instructions in oratory after. ceasing te
| practice. We shall probably come te
the conclusion that except for the
| greater importance attached at Rome
to the study of eloquence. the condi
tons of the legal profession bore 6
close resem blance to the state of thing:
| at the present day.-Once a Week.
CURIOUS COMBAT.