The Intermountain Catholic. (Salt Lake City [Utah] ;) 1899-1920, 1910-07-16
NOTHING NEW UNDER THE SUN
Suffragists Two Thousand Years Ago
and Flying an Old, Old Story.
Hlondon Exnress.l !

and Flying an Old, Old Story.
(London Expressly
TWO thousand years ago, in Rome, a
party OF suffragiSts broke the windows
! or the senate house, and when sentenced
! to imprisonment Scorned the option of a
! fine. Fashionable ladies left cards on
each other, just as today. And the adj
vent of the flying man was expected at
every moment
Now that we can fly in earnest, we may
| be inclined to say Here at last we have
discovered a new thing; now at last we
can do something that no one ever did
before. We are very proud that we
can telegraph pictures, and telephone
hand-written messages. and do many
such wonders that we acclaim as sym
bols of our civilization. There is no re-
membrance of former things, least of
all OF the eternal truth that if there is
anything whereof it may be said, See,
this is new" it has been already of old.
1t is true enough, there were no taxi
cabs in Rome. But it does not follow that
the first taXicab built was a new thing.
There were suffragists long before any
body had the vote. There was light be-
lore there were suns, moons or stars
witness the. story of the creation. Some
people would say this was a paradox,
but it is very rational to the philoso-
pher; he knows that ideas always exist
before they are revealed and put into
practice, as we are merry before we
laugh.
There is no new thing under the sun.
AT Rome, in the last century, B.. c.,
the social life was as 1t is in London to-
day. Thus, the people were divided into
three main classes-upper, middle and
working-and the poor people numbered
more than 100000 and were in proper
ton to the numbers of the professional
and aristocratic classes as are those in
London who pay no income tax to the
few who can afford that luxury.
How They Lived.
The poor people lived in lodging houses,
three or four stories high, having shops
on the ground floor; rabbit-warrens of
places, these lodging houses were over
crowded quite In the fashionable style
OF London today The rich man enjoyed
his week ends in his country cottage,
an old farmhouse converted to his taste.
At one time a certain man named Cras-
sus owned most of the Roman houses;
he seemed to have been a particularly
smart Spectator, for he would buy up
knowing that the frightened owners
would sell them cheap. Fire brigades
were inefficient in Rome, though there
was plenty of water, which was brought
in underground pipes from a distance of
thirty-six miles.
Crassus was a millionaire; he had about
million and a half invested in land.
There have always been millonaires and
spendthrifts. Caesar, as young man,
owned more than quarter of a mil
lion pounds.
Rich and poor alike invested their saw
ings in joint stock companies, and the
the life of thousands. The Forum was
the center of life in Rome. Going down
to the Forum" was the equivalent Of
going down to Westminster" The por-
ticoes of the stock exchange still stand
in the Forum.
Bankers In Rome would do almost all
that modern bankers will do-from CASH
ing checks to paying money to distant
creditors in Greece or Asia, and making
advances on interest.
The Ways Of Women.
And women in Rome did almost all that
women in London do. The best of hus-
bands would find their wives trying at
times; most virtuous man named Paul |
lus left us his opinion that a woman |
might be excellent in the eyes of her |
neighbors, but that only a husband could
tell where the shoe pinched. Clever wo- |
own worlds, attracting, by their beauty |
and charm, little courts of young men |
and poets-to whom they might lend |
money, or give praise, as suited the mo-
ment.
There. is a little story about Ciceros |
brother, Quintus, which shows that wo- |
men were ever women. He and his wife. |
Pomponia, and their friends were travel |
place belonging to Quintus, who most |
courteOusly asked his wife to invite the |
ladies of the party to come in But |
had irritated her, and she |
burst out before all the party; ~ am
only stranger here" Apparently she
had not been asked by her husband to
see after the luncheon.
There said Quntus, that is what l
have to put up with every day." And,
to make matters worse, Pomponia re-
fused to eat anything.
Women were women, and boys were !
boys 1900 years ago. The sons of the
well-to-do would begin their education at
about the age of Z, either at home with
tutors or at public school. The copy
book maxim then, as now, played its
part in the teaching of writing, and many
a groan went up 1900 years ago as the
wise saws were copied and recopied:
THE miser is the cause of his own
woes" Grave is the anger of an hon
est man." "A scar on your conscience is
as bad as wound "A man dies as
often as he loses his friends" In the
grammar schools the course was literary
and humanistic-very much as at Elton.
The Joys of Life.
Then as now, life was led at high pres
little peace. Worn out with dissipation,
a man would fly from Rome to the coun-
try, only to find himself bored there al
most as soon as he arrived. SO that he
would order out his carriage, and fly
back to the city's whir.
On high days and holidays, just as a
London crowd enjoys itself on Hampstead
Heath, SO they made merry in Rome 1900
years ago stream of people would
pour out from the city to their favorite
playground, and spend the whole day in
'evelry, either in the open air or in tents
md booths. AS they drank they prayed
he gods for as many years of life as
hey could swallow cups of wine They
sang the songs of the theatres; they
ianced; and in the evening they went
lone intoxicated, to rouse the mirth of
,ystanders.
In these and a hundred other respects
,ur social life is seen to be as Rome's
vas. Shall we save ourselves from
2ome's fate?