Easton High School - Eastonia Yearbook (Easton, ME)

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EASTONIA 7 women of his day. He describes the women who fall in love with actors and gladiators, harp-player and flute- playersg those who alfect Greek and profess to be quite ignorant of Lating those who tyranize over weak husbands and those who have eight husbands within five years. He tells of their love of finery, their love of gossip and their pride of birth. At Rome education was not compulsory but it was general. The fees at the elementary schools were low, not more than 15 s. a year. Under' the Empire men of the highest rank sent their children to public schools. Mem- bers of the Imperial family were always taught at home. The schools were held in porticoes opening on the street, and the noise of the classes was often a nuisance to the neighbors. Children began to attend school at the age of seven. School began before dawn and each boy brought his own lamp. It was the custom in the early days of the Roman State for the senators to bring their sons to the senate so that they might learn how the affairs of the commomwealth were managed. And that no harm should ensue to the city, the boys promised that they should not tell anything, which they had heard in the House. One day the son of a certain senator was questioned by his mother concerning the Senate. The boy, remembering how he had promised to remain silent about such matters, refused to tell it. But being questioned so closely he at last told her that the Senate debated whether something might not be done, whereby there should be more harmony in familiesg and whether, should it be judged expedient to make any change, this should be to order that a husband should have more wives than one, or a wife more husbands than one. This woman told all the women of her ac- quaintance, and told them not to allow any such thing. The next day the Senate was astonished to see so great a multitude of women near the doors who besought them not to make any change, or. if any, certainly not to permit a man to have more wives than one. Then the boy told

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,X EASTONIA N , , Roman Life and Manners ' Under the Empire, Rome wore a. very diiferent ap- pearafice from' that which she presented in the days of the Republic. We 1 ' 'Most of the strangers who came to Rome were adven- turers who lived by their wits. Rome was a great hunting iield - for' ad-veiiturers and knights of fortune. A large portion ofthis foreign population was slaves, a class which formed' more than half the total population of Rome. The price of slavesfwas cheap. A young male slave could be bought-for about 520, a girl six years old for about 58. Thelconrlition of the slaves was often very deplorable. This Was-thecase with the immense gangs which specula- Qtors employednngiiidustry and manufacture. The outbreak of epidemics at Rome was a constant ,occurrencesfogerious pestilences broke out in 23 and 22 B. C.g,in 65 D. after the great fire, and in 79 A. D., just after theferuption of Vesuvius. On this last occasion, 10,000 deaths sometimes occurred in a day: Moreover, living at Rome was very dear compared with other towns of Italy. The city Was full of poor people in straightened circumstances, trying to keep up appearances. Men who made a great show were often bankrupt. Besides this great drawback of dear prices, the man of modest means found everything adverse to comfort and tranquillity in Rome. During the day the ordinary traiiic made the streets very noisy, and at night there was the rumbling of vehicles, which were not allowed to pass through the streets by day. VValking in the street was dangerous necessity for a man, who could not afford to be carried in a litter. He ran the risk of being struck in the side by planks of timber, of being trodden on by a soldier's hob- nailed shoes, of being crushed to death by a wagon-load of stone. As to the morality of Roman society, Juvenal devotes his longest satire to a description of the depravity of the

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8 EASTONIA how he had devised this story when he was questioned by his mother. After this the Senate would not allow boys to con1e to the House. While this general education was going on, the boy was learning to read, write and cipher. The boy learned writing by following with a pen, forms of letters engraved on tablets of wood. The Roman boy must have found Arithmetic very hard. It is diiiicult to imagine how a sum in division or multiplication could have been done, with the Roman numerals. Acquaintance with Greek began at a11 early age and we read of a Greek maid being kept to exercise young children in talking the language. Great stress was laid on elocution. The master would read passages aloud and the pupils would repeat them after him and practice the right emphasis. A boy had commonly finished his education when he put on a man's gown. There were two kinds of houses in Rome, domus and insula The domus was a private house generally inhabit- ed by one family and not more than one story above the ground. The iusula was a building of three or four stories, let out in Hats or rooms. The insula was so called be- cause it stood like an island surrounded by streets. The ground floor was usually let out in shops. The upper stories had windows, and sometimes balconies, from which people could shake hands across the narrow streets. These houses were badly bnilt by speculators. They were gen- erally built of wood and were constantly falling or being burnt down. The first meal of the day among the Romans was breakfast, generally taken about the third hour. It was very light, consisting of bread, seasoned with salt or honey, or dipped in wine. School-boys had their breakfast, which consisted of a sort of pancake, before daylight. The next meal was the same as our lunch. This was taken at the sixth hour, and might consist of several courses of fish, flesh and fowl, or be as simple as a piece of bread. The regular l1our for dinner, the chief meal of the day, was the