The independent-reporter. [volume] (Skowhegan, Me.) 1909-1955, 1910-10-27
CAESAR GAVE US
NEWSPAPERS
An Institution Older
Than We Supposed
Lack of Printing Press Accounts for
Terseness of Roman Style.

1t is 2O1 years ago since the start
ing of the first London newspaper,
and the fact turns ones thoughts back
to the origin of an institution that
goes much further back than might
nave been supposed, says the Pali
Mall Gazette.
If to our first parents we owe our
desire for knowledge, then 1t Is to
Caesar that we owe the first western
ATTEMPT to satiate that desire by
means of newspaper. 1t was a
daily record of not only Official news,
but also of small scandal; the latest
notice news, the arrivals in the city,
even the gossip of the countryside.
There were also extracts from the
latest speech of Cicero and the fresh
est epigrams of Martial. These last
appeared by way of advertisement OF
the authors latest works, before they
should appear in collected form ana
be sold along with the latest thing OF
Oyids or those improper little novels
that came from Greece, in the nne
shops which bordered the Forum
edge and stretched round the Palatlne
hill.
Ii would certainly have bored no
one to have strolled with Horace, that
little fat man who, as Suetonius tells
us, waddled rather than walked his
mind wallowing in the curiosities OF
life, and ever alert, since that mem
orable afternoon, when he was first
buttonholed lest he should meet the
famous bore lying in wait at some
street corner. 1t would have been
delightful to see the little mans eyes
light up with pleasure at the sight OF
friend who he knew would listen to
his latest bit of eroticism, or waddle
along beside him down the Appian
way through the clear afternoon.
Again, who would not lounge in the
silk-curtained forum surrounded by the
masterpieces of Praxiteles, and there
discuss the news that had just been
posted on the rostrum, exhibited for
the instruction of the crowd as to the
dongs of their betters? Then you
would have sauntered out, in all pro-
liability, to join the married women
as they, too, promenaded in the usual
Roman fashion.
1t was this simple promenade that
delighted the Romans and in Caesars
camp SO astonished the Veronans that
they thought the promenaders crazy
and offered to lead them to their
tents. In the city it had its object.
There was much to discuss, many in
teresting people to meet. Here were
the. fine shops which edged the Via
Sacra, shops in which you could buy
perfect silks and xylons for a few
sesterces, also the essences and UNI
guents SO necessary when the gong
of bronze announced the opening of
the bath. There were also the yellow
wigs for those who. by decree of the
Eddie, had obtained the "licentia stu
pr." the right to the antique livery
OF shame, and were, as much, civilly
dead since the publication of the
XII Tables. Useful drugs, too, were
ON sale in the porphyry arcades,
through which fashion strolled-hem
lock, aconite, mandragora and can
tharides. 1t was there wealth passed
in its chariots smart men who smell
ed the cinnamon instead of war; no
bles, matrons and cocottes. To these,
as well as to the crowd of the city,
and the provinces, Caesar, the Consul,
gave news.
Fortunately at that period the very
name of China, with her corruption,
her printing press. her powder and
her tea, was unknown. The Acta Di-
urna, or Daily News, was the work
of litterarii-handwork careful and
elegant, whether written with the
stylus on papyrus or inscribed on a
wall coated with chalk talbum.) AS
we have seen it pictured in that
thrd-rate city, Pompeii. the citizens
stand around, agog with interest.
This lack of printing press was sure
ly fortunate circumstance, since 1t
goes far to account for the epigram
mate terseness of Latin style for the
delightful endeavor to express in
one syllable, what the garrulous take
a couple of phrases to misinterpret.
Huebener, in his dissertation on
"The Acta Diurna," has collected 45
passages from ancient authors, all of
which relate to these "Acta POpuli."
which is only another name for this
newspaper. They are all
of a nature to interest the public,
reading or otherwise, even today. For
tunately, they are told In Latin, In
which language they had best re-
main. The more ordinary relate to
public affairs, the sayings and doing
of political personages, notably Gaze
sar's refusal of the title of King. the
detection OF Lepidus and the more no.
table cases before the courts.
Both Pliny and Ascanius relate the
case of Scaurus as having been fully
reported. Dion Cassius relates the
avidity with which men read OF the
to which important per-
sons had been condemned and the
anxiety of the crowd to know whether
they met their end as gentlemen, or
towards. Tacitus mentions the news
paper account of Claudius Pomer-
aniifm, the extension OF the circum-
ference of the city by erection Of a
new wall. Lampridius tells us that
he got his idea of the fulsOme adula-i
tlon with which the senate acclaimed
Alexander Severus from the current
issue of this daily paper, a document
which must have been, approximately
speaking. 100 years old when Lampri-
dius saw 1t and mendacious at that.
There were extracts from new laws
decisions relating to provinces. and,
passages from the dis