The age-herald., 1900-03-29
ccc.ai Life Under the Caesars

Among the interesting discussions at the Nineteenth Century club at the meeting yesterday with Miss Lucille Smith, was that relating to the Social Life Under the Caesars" the following extracts being taken from one of the papers that were read
 'The true and natural formations of so- ciety are the wants and fears of individ- uals. Taking Blackwell's definition in the range of our present subject let us tinue it The wants and fears of an in- dividual are the outgrowth of his environ ment his environment is a matter of cir constance created by a sovereign will. Caesars was the sovereign will which moulded the social life with which we have to deal Let us glance at the environment which eneompassed Rome under the first great Julius Caesar. Foreign conquests had brought almost every known element of the world to Rome. The r-haired, blue-eyed Saxons from the far isle of Britain, the fierce barbarians from across the Rhine, the fiery Gaus, and the dark-skinned, al- mond-eyes children of the east crowded its streets, and the tongues of all nations
 were mingled with this influx. Especially from the east came much of Rome's degen- eracy.
 "The republic only lived in name. The
 basis on which the republic stood, the old Roman virtue, integrity, patriotism and faith in the gods, was gone, swept away
 by the tide of luxury, sefshness. and fn- morality, produced by th.s long series of foreign conquest and robberes, in which the Roman people had engaged. The days of liberty were at end. The senate had lost its force, and was now tool in the hands of a powerful, all ambitious genius; a genius that dominated through love or fear-a vast domain Henceforth the hs- tory of the republic is biographical rather than historical. Life under Caesar was one of opulence and ease He sought to ingratiate himself in the hearts of the people as a public benefactor. Splendid games and tables attested the generosity of the conque-or His triumph" celebrat- ing his many victories, eclipsed, far eclipsed anything Rome had ever before seen. Cap ture princes from all parts of the world were in the procession. Beneath his stand ards marched soldiers from every part of the world.
 "At the theater and the arena there was an endless round of shows and combats. To quote from famous historian:
 Above the comibats of the amphitheater
 foated for the first time the awning of
 silk, the immense va1arium of thousand eolors woven from the rarest and richest products of the east to protect the people | from the sum-
 Tn the midst of this splendor and festiv- l ity was glaring immorality-the immorali- l ty that perva6es and vitiates all from tho l palace to the hut. Women were divorced l for political causes and used as polit.cal l pawns. custom peculiar to the time was l the assuming of black by all ranks of per- | sons at any unhappy dissenslon or msfor- | tune to the state Honor was paid to the | dead in a manner that appears singular | to us. It is said that upon the death of | the daughter of Julius Caesar he enter l tained the people at twenty-two thousand l tables and with numerous shows of gladia- 1 tors and naval fights.
 "We now come to the reign of Augustus | Caesar. The hundred years of strife that l ended in the battle of Octium left the Ro- l man republic exhausted and helpless in the hands of one strong and powerful enough | to remould the crumbling fragments, and
 th. state ready to totter, was saved for | another five hundred years. In treating of | the social life under Augustus Caesar, we
 find little improvement in morals, but a
 great advance in literature, art, and archi-
 lecture; so much that this is known as l the golden age of Latin literature. Au- l gustus was the patron of all the fine arts, l and it was his boast that he found Rome a
 city of brick, and left it city of marble. l Never before did the world enjoy so long a period of peace. The gates of tlhe temple | of Janus, open in time of war, and closed
 in time of peace. were three times closed | "In this peaceful atmosphere society was | enriched by the immortal works of Horace, | Livy, Virgil, and Ovid."