CHAPTER II.

ON THE ORIGIN OF THE ROMAN PEOPLE, AND THEIR POLITICAL AND SOCIAL ORGANIZATION, FROM THE EARLIEST TIMES.

The Romans a Mixed People.—The original inhabitants of Rome were a mixed people, formed by the combination of three distinct races-Latini, Sabini, and Etrusci. While tradition ascribed the actual foundation of the city to a colony of Latins from Alba Longa, under Romulus, their speedy union with a body of Sabines, under Titus Tatius, was universally acknowledged. The same unanimity does not prevail regarding the introduction of EtrusIt seems perfectly clear, however, that this triple union must have taken place before the formation of the constitution usually ascribed to Romulus.

cans.

Populus Romanus. Quirites. The appellation of the united people was Populus Romanus Quirites, or Populus Romanus Quiritium, although, when no great formality was aimed at, the separate designations, Populus Romanus and Quirites, were used indifferently to comprehend the whole.

Original Tribes. The united people was divided into three tribes (tribus), which bore respectively the names-1. Ramnes s. Ramnenses. 2. Tities s. Titienses s. Tatienses. 3. Luceres S. Lucerenses. The name of the first, according to the belief of the later Romans, was taken from Romulus, that of the second from Tatius, and that of the third was connected with the Etruscan word Lucumo, signifying lord or prince. At the head of each tribe was a captain, called Tribunus, and the members of the same tribe were termed, in reference to each other, Tribules.

Curiae. Each tribe was subdivided into ten sections, called Curiae, each distinguished by a name, so that in all there were thirty Curiae. Each had its own chapel-its own place of assembly, called Curia-its own priest, called Curio or Flamen Curialis. The president of the whole thirty priests bore the title of Curio Maximus.

Finally, if we can trust Dionysius, each Curia was subdivided into ten decades or Decuriae, each Decuria having its petty officer, termed Decurio.

Gentes. Familiae.—The Tribes and Curies were made up of clans or houses, each of which was termed a Gens; the individuals composing each Gens being termed, in reference to each other, Gentiles.

Each Gens was made up of a certain number of branches or families, each of which was termed a Familia, and each Familia was composed of individual members.

Praenomen. Nomen. Cognomen. Agnomen, &c.-Gentiles all bore a common name, which indicated the Gens to which they belonged; to this was added a second name, to designate the family, and a third name was prefixed to the two others to distinguish the individual member of the family. According to this arrangement, the name which marked the individual, answering, in some respects, to our Christian name, stood first, and was termed Praenomen; the name which marked the Gens stood second, and was termed Nomen, the name which marked the Familia stood third, and was termed Cognomen.

Thus, in the full designation Publius Cornelius Scipio, Publius is the Prænomen, marking the individual; Cornelius is the Nomen, and marks that he belonged to the Gens Cornelia, Scipio is the Cognomen, and marks that he belonged to that family or branch of the Gens Cornelia called Scipio.

Again, in addition to the ordinary name, a complimentary title was sometimes bestowed by an army, or by the common consent of the citizens, in order to commemorate some great achievement. Thus, Publius Cornelius Scipio, the conqueror of Hannibal, was styled Africanus, and the same epithet was applied to the younger Publius Cornelius Scipio, the destroyer of Carthage. In like manner Q. Caecilius Metellus, in consequence of his successes against Jugurtha, was styled Numidicus. Such an addition to the cognomen was called an Agnomen.

Lastly, a peculiar modification of the name was introduced when an individual passed by adoption out of one Gens into another. The person adopted laid aside his original names and assumed those of the person by whom he was adopted, adding, however, an epithet to mark the Gens out of which he had passed. Thus, C. Octavius Caepias, when adopted by his maternal granduncle, became C. Julius Caesar Octavianus, and hence at different stages in his career he was styled Octavius and Octavianus, both being eventually superseded by the complimentary title of Augustus, bestowed by the Senate, B.C. 27.

The women of a family were, for the most part, distinguished simply by the name of the Gens to which they belonged, without Praenomen or Cognomen. Thus, the daughter of Julius Cæsar was Iulia; of Cicero, Tullia; of Atticus, Pomponia.

Patricii. Patres.-The three tribes of the Ramnes, Tities, and Luceres, divided politically into Curiae, and socially into Gentes and Familiae, formed a privileged class, designated Patres or Patricii, who enjoyed exclusively all political power and all the honours of the state.

Clientes. Patroni.—Each Patrician house had a body of retainers or dependents, the Clientes of the Gens, or of the Familia, or of the individuals to whom they were attached, and the latter were styled Patroni, with reference to their clients; the Patronus and his Clientes bearing a resemblance, in some respects, to the feudal lord and his vassals in the middle ages. But although the Clientes were, in all respects, dependents and inferiors, yet the sway of the Patrons was by no means of a tyrannical or arbitrary character. On the contrary, the duties of Patrons and Clients were strictly reciprocal.

The Patron was bound to expound the laws (promere leges) to his Client to watch over his pecuniary and personal interests as a father over those of his sons-to maintain, in a court of justice, his rights, when injured or assailed, and generally to protect him, both in public and private.

On the other hand, the Client was bound to aid and support his Patron-to furnish a dowry for the daughter, if the father were poor-to raise money for the ransom of the patron himself, or of his children, if taken prisoners in war, for the payment of fines or damages incurred in legal processes, and for the expenditure required for discharging any public office.

The Clientship descended from father to son on both sides; the Client bore the Gentile name of his Patron, and was regarded as appertaining to the Gens, although not strictly forming a part of it.

The obligation of a Patron to protect his Client being regarded as of the most solemn character-the violation of it was a crime which rendered the perpetrator Sacer, i. e., devoted to the infernal gods.

Plebes s. Plebs.-But not only do we hear in early Roman history of the Patricians and their Clients, but from the very infancy of the state we find a body of men termed Plebs or Plebes, who at first belonged to the non-privileged class, and were entirely shut out from all participation in political power, but at length, by slow degrees, and after many desperate struggles, succeeded in placing themselves upon a footing of complete equality with the Patricians. Indeed, the internal history of the city, for nearly two centuries after the expulsion of the kings, is wholly occupied with the contests between the Patricians and the Plebeians.

The views of Niebuhr may be thus briefly expressed :—

1. The Plebs and the Clients were originally entirely distinct. 2. The original population of Rome consisted solely of the Patricians and their Clients.

3. The Plebs was composed of the inhabitants of various Latin towns which were conquered and destroyed, their population being, at the same time, transported to Rome and the surrounding territory. Thus, upon the taking of Alba by Tullus Hostilius, Livy writes

duplicatur civium numerus—and again, when speaking of the conquest of Ancus-secutusque morem regum priorum, qui rem Romanan auxerant hostibus in civitatem accipiendis, multitudinem omnem Romam traduxit.

4. As long as the Patricians and Plebeians remained politically distinct, the former alone, with their clients, were designated as the POPULUS.

The

Hence we find Populus and Plebs very frequently spoken of as different bodies. The numbers of the Plebeians increased with great rapidity, and this body must have included a vast number of families which had been noble and wealthy in the vanquished states, as well as the humble and the poor. Plebeians had their own Gentes and Familiae, the same system of names prevailed among them as among the Patricians, and in some cases the Gentile names were identical. Thus there was a Patrician Gens Claudia with the family names of Pulcher, Nero, and others; and also a Plebeian Gens Claudia with the family name Marcellus.

Amalgamation of the Clientes with the Plebs.-The old Clients were eventually mixed up with and became a portion of the Plebs; but when and by what steps this was effected, are points upon we are entirely ignorant.

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Clients of later times.-But although the Clients became politically merged in the Plebs, the habits and national feelings connected with the Clientela remained. Many of the poorer Romans, and foreigners resident in Rome, gladly placed themselves under the protection of the powerful. Even towards the close of the republic and under the early emperors, the noble Roman loved to be visited each morning by a crowd of humble dependents, and to walk abroad attended by a numerous retinue.

Cities and whole provinces, in like manner, sought, as clients, to secure the good offices of particular families or individuals. The Marcelli were the patrons of Sicily-the Fabii, of the Allobrogesthe Claudii, of Sparta-Cato, of Cyprus and Cappadocia.

Plebs of later times.-After the Plebeians had been admitted to a full participation of all social and political rights, the term Plebs by degrees lost its original signification; it no longer indicated an order or body in the state politically distinct, but was used to denote those members of the community at large whose means were small and whose station was humble. Hence the name was applied to the whole mass of poor citizens, and is frequently employed disparagingly in the sense of the mob or rabble.

Nobiles. Ignobiles. Novi Homines. Ius Imaginum.-It was the custom for the sons or other lineal descendants of those who had held Magistratus Curules to make figures with waxen faces representing their dignified ancestors, and the right bestowed by

such usage was called Ius Imaginum. These Imagines or figures were usually ranged in the public apartment (atrium) of the house; descriptive legends (tituli) were attached to each, and they were exhibited on all great family or Gentile festivals. Persons who possessed one or more of these figures were designated by the title of Nobiles. Those who had no figures of their ancestors, but who had raised themselves to a Curule office, were termed Novi Homines. All who had no figures of their ancestors, and had not, in their own persons, attained to a Curule office, were ranked as Ignobiles. Even after the admission of the Plebeians to full political power, the high offices were, to a great extent, monopolized by a small number of families; these Nobiles looked with very jealous eyes upon every one not belonging to their own class who sought to rise to eminence in the state. Hence the fierce opposition offered to Marius, who was a Novus Homo, and even Cicero, who stood in the same position, was always regarded with coldness and aversion by a large portion of the old Nobiles.

Optimates. Populares.-The Senate and the Nobiles, who may be termed the Aristocratic party, were styled Optimates; the Democratic party were styled Populares; and from the time of the Gracchi until the downfall of the commonwealth, their contests were fierce and incessant.

Local Tribes.—The Plebs received organization and political existence from the institutions of Servius Tullius. One of the most important measures of that great reformer was the division of the whole Roman territory into districts, termed Regiones, and of the whole free Roman population into an equal number of Tribus, each tribe occupying a Region. Altogether there were 30 Regions and 30 tribes, 26 of these being Tribus Rusticae, and 4 Tribus Urbanae : eventually the number of tribes was increased to 35.

The tribes instituted by Servius Tullius must be carefully distinguished from the three Patrician tribes, the Ramnes, Tities, and Luceres, which were henceforward thrown into the shade; and wherever tribes are spoken of in Roman history, we must understand that the Local tribes are meant unless the contrary is specifically stated.

The Regiones Rusticae were divided into a number of small districts, called Pagi, each of which had its Magister Pagi or petty magistrate; and the Pagani, i. e., the members of each Pagus, had a shrine, where each year they celebrated a festival termed Paganalia. In like manner, the Regiones Urbanae were divided into Vici, each Vicus having its Magister and a festival, termed Compitalia. Classes. Centuriae.—The division into tribes comprehended the whole body of free Romans, and was purely local; but Servius made a second distribution, depending entirely upon the fortune of each