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The Romans paid extraordinary attention to the construction of roads. They were carried in various directions throughout the whole extent of the vast empire, and were formed with such solidity as still to remain in many places in perfect repair.

CHAPTER XXXIV.

Rome-Divisions of the People.

In the early ages of its history, when Rome was but thinly inhabited, whoever fixed their abode within its limits, obtained the right of citizens; but as the power and extent of the empire increased, and the dignity of a Roman citizen began to be more regarded, this privilege was more sparingly conferred.

The citizens were divided into three tribes, and each tribe into ten curiæ; but the number of tribes was afterwards augmented to thirty-five, and they were separately classed, in order to distinguish between the actual residents of the city and those subjects of the commonwealth who lived wholly without its limits.

The people were, at first, only separated into two ranks, the patrician and plebeian; but the order of equites, or knights, was afterwards added, and at a still later period, slaves were introduced. The population was, therefore, composed of four classes,-patricians, knights, plebeians, and slaves.

The patrician order consisted of those families whose ancestors had been members of the senate

in the earliest periods of the regal or consular government.

The equestrian order arose out of an institution ascribed to Romulus, who is said to have selected one hundred young men from each of the tribes, to serve on horseback as his personal guard.

The plebeian order was composed of the lowest class of freemen. They were divided into country plebeians and city plebeians. The latter consisted not only of the poorer mechanics and laborers, but of a multitude of idlers, whose turbulence was a constant source of disquietude to the govern

ment.

Among this degraded class arose seditions and conspiracies; and the final overthrow of the republic and the extinction of liberty, may be, to a considerable extent, attributed to the increasing strength, and number, and turpitude, of this description of the plebeians. This, however, can be applied only to the lowest class of them. Many of the most estimable citizens were to be found in that order, and not a few rose from it to high offices, and some to the first dignities of the state.

Men became slaves by being taken in war, by being born in a state of servitude, or by being reduced to that condition as a punishment; and they were not entitled to any privileges of freemen, nor considered as citizens.

They really possessed no political rights, and were by law rendered incapable of acquiring property, or of giving evidence in a court of justice; and were viewed in no other light than the chattels or property of their masters.

There was a constant market for slaves at Rome, and regular dealers in the trade of selling

them. They were, usually, exposed in a state of nudity, and wore a label on the neck descriptive of their qualities, and seem to have been transferred in much the same manner as cattle.

Masters possessed absolute power over them, and were authorized to put them to death at pleasure, a right often most inhumanly exercised. The laws in regard to them were extremely harsh and rigorous, and one of them provided, that, if a master of a family were slain in his own house, and the murderers were not discovered, all his domestic slaves were liable to be put to death. Tacitus records an instance of four hundred having thus suffered in one family.

Slaves were frequently liberated by their masters, and at that time their heads were shaved and they received a cap as a badge of their liberty, of which it has become the emblem. They then assumed the name of their master, which they preferred to their own, and were ever after called his freedmen.

CHAPTER XXXV.

Rome-Form of Government.

TRADITION describes the original constitution of Rome, as having been purely monarchical; but it was essentially a military democracy, founded on the rude basis of a barbarous horde, submitting, for their common interest, to the dominion of one chieftain; and, by encroaching on the neighboring states, enlarging their territory and their power,

until they acquired the consistence of a nation, and assumed a regular form of government.

Romulus was first elected king and supreme magistrate by the inhabitants. The regal power subsisted for two hundred and forty-three years, under seven kings. The last of these was Tarquin, who, with his family, was expelled on account of his tyranny and cruelty.

The kings were elective, and limited in their power; they could neither enact laws, nor make war or peace, without the concurrence of the senate and people. Their badges were a white robe with stripes of purple, and fringed with the same color, a golden cross, an ivory sceptre, and a curule, or state chair.

The power of the people in Rome was elicited in their public assemblies. It was theirs to enact laws, elect magistrates, to decide concerning war and peace, and to try persons guilty of certain heinous offences. An assembly of the whole Roman people was called Comitia.

The senate was the grand council of the empire; they were also a body of magistrates entrusted with the power of putting the laws into execution.

The senators were originally chosen from the most distinguished citizens, and their number was then confined to one hundred; but it afterwards gradually extended to a thousand, and the knights and plebeians were indiscriminately admitted."

The senate was consulted on everything pertaining to the administration of the state, except the creation of the magistrates, the passing of laws, and the determination of war and peace. In many respects the mode of debating, voting, and passing decrees in the senate, appears to have

them. They were, usually, exposed in a state of nudity, and wore a label on the neck descriptive of their qualities, and seem to have been transferred in much the same manner as cattle.

Masters possessed absolute power over them, and were authorized to put them to death at pleasure, a right often most inhumanly exercised. The laws in regard to them were extremely harsh and rigorous, and one of them provided, that, if a master of a family were slain in his own house, and the murderers were not discovered, all his domestic slaves were liable to be put to death. Tacitus records an instance of four hundred having thus suffered in one family.

Slaves were frequently liberated by their masters, and at that time their heads were shaved and they received a cap as a badge of their liberty, of which it has become the emblem. They then assumed the name of their master, which they preferred to their own, and were ever after called his freedmen.

CHAPTER XXXV.

Rome-Form of Government.

TRADITION describes the original constitution of Rome, as having been purely monarchical; but it was essentially a military democracy, founded on the rude basis of a barbarous horde, submitting, for their common interest, to the dominion of one chieftain; and, by encroaching on the neighboring states, enlarging their territory and their power,

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