New-York tribune., 1909-10-02
II Charming Study Of Men and
4, Women IN 4ncient Rome.

n b.
This little book made up OF the authors fugi-
tive contributions to various periodicals. is uni
fed by the point OF view whsch he shares with
such scholars as Boissier and Samuel Din. II is
a charming book the work Of a specialist who
is also a man Of letters. Professor Abbott is
keenly alive to the fact Of which Signor Ferrero
had made so much that there are many points
OF contact between the ancient world and the
civilization OF our own time, and he studies his
Roman types as though they were living men
and women. But he does not emulate the Ital-
ian historians prediction for rather heightened
statement. He is content to preserve tone
which II not at all bookish is at any rate very
quiet. the easy. genial tone of cultivated man
who could not he sensational any more than he
could be pedantiC We lay stress upon the win
ming manner in which he presents his subjects
because. as Mr.. Fowler has Justly said in his
recent book on social life in Rome in the time
of Cicero. classical learning and education will
only make progress as the general reader is
made to feel genuine interest in ancient life
and thought. For the stimulation of such an in
terest in such a reader books like this one of
Professor Abbott's are invaluable
Take, for example the first Of these essays, the
one in which he treats Of municipal politics i'm
Pompeii He turns for his clues TO the election
notices left by the bill posters the walls Of
the town arilessly vivid souvenirs of OLD can
didacies and faction fights. They not in
themselves extraordinarily luminous but the
author nevertheless cd1trives TO make them
yield some interesting light. Thus he shows
that they justify the assumption that the Pom
peian campaign was not carried along on such
issues as clean streets. paving. public buildings.
police protection, water supply. public contracts
and so on. The questions were those. rather, of
local pride. personal popularity and gild pol
II, Hr5eF lgrvl,sl la
touched. but it gives the reader a surprisingly
good sense Of how the politicians probably
worked out their destinies. Instructive too. is
The Story OF Two OgaTches.' in which he
exposes the fobles Of the Roman Senate illus
trating with demure humor the pointed resem-
bance between il and our own august body.
OF even livelier interest are the two chapters on
Roman women. The parallel here between
cient and modern conditions is more apparent
than real. but the author is careful not 10 force
il, being content TO exhibit a few manifestations
under the Roman Republic Of that feminine
energy which has always been cropping ou;
across the ages. There were women who prac-
tised medicine. but they were not numerous nor
were they Of the highest class. Moreover. they
would appear 10 have followed their profession
only among members Of their own sex. A few
OF their sisters turned to the law, and small
repute for their pains. Indeed, the Roman
70 any extent outside the familiar round of
household duties save the humblest occupa-
tious. But the hiEh-born matron not
stranger 10 business enterprise Professor Alb
bott states that she largely interested in
the making Of bricks. and adds that the stamps
which these bore often gave the names of very
distinguished women, some Of them of imperial
rank
what, then. did the Roman woman do TO lib
tion? In the first place, she little by little i'm
proved her status in respect to marriage and
property rights. She also came personally into
the political arena on more than one occasion,
but it be noted that the instances cited by
the author chiefly relate TO matters Of dress and
the like. her serious influence in the domain of
public affairs was exerted through social chan
nels. Professor Abbott presents noble type in
the person OF CoInelia- the mother OF the Grac-
Chi who a patriotic force. and turns the
other siGe of the medal 10 US in a capital por-
trait Of Cloda. whose intrgues were Of such
terrible import 10 Cicero. His sketches of Julia,
the daughter OF Cesar, who married Pompey,
and Octavia, the wife Of Antony, greatly
strengthen his assertion that the Roman woman
heavily counted, when she gave her mind TO It,
IN The course Of large affairs. The essay on the
place Of the theatre as a public institution is
suggestive. He shows how it afforded the re-
opinion on public personages, an opportunity de-
MED him elsewhere by the brutal methods Of
oressional politicians and their paid followers
An allusion on the stage, Of the sort which we
would to-day call topical" was instantly taken
l5 by the audience. and as statesmen constantly
frequentcd the playhouse their entrances We're
perfect pretexts for the loud expression Of ap-
proval contempt
Professor abbott includes several excellent
studies Of a literary nature in his book notably
two on Petronius and Persius, but the least con-
vinciDg Of all his pages those in which he
seeks place the attitude Of the common peO-
pie toward literature in more favorable light
than that which il has hitherto enjoyed. Some
Of his points plausibIy made, but he is
little speCious when lac touches the question
% whether aesthetic taste and brutal instincts
are ever found together and goes on to say: Il
think in this connection we ought to remember
the religious origin Of the gladiatorial contests,
we ought 10 remember that the people who took
such "A passionate delight in them had been ac-
customed to see them and 10 hsar Of them from
infancy on and came to regard them as the
Suaniard looks AT the bull fight" II will take
more than special pleading like this, and
testimony TO gentle feeling than is found in the
chsrming epitaphs quoted by Professor Abbott,
20 remove the well founded conviction that the
taste of the Roman popuace not precisely
for the things Of the mind. Only in this essay,
however. does the author provoke dissent from
his judgment Throughout the rest Of the book
he is sound in his guidance he is divert
ing. We can pay no better tribute to his es
says than by saying that we wish they were
longer
4 PRETTY R.iTTLE.