94 THE VICES AND VIRTUES OF ROME 



danger. Marriage — the stern old type of marriage — 

 was threatened. Woman was in revolt against the 

 beneficent rule of her husband. Early Roman litera- 

 ture tells us much about these developments. 



A great deal of admiration has been wasted on the 

 virtues of these earlier Romans. The old ideal was 

 that the father was absolute master in his own house. 

 The law did not cross his threshold. When a female 

 child was born he pleased himself whether it was to 

 be retained or no. He had power of life and death 

 over his wife, children, and slaves. Therefore, while 

 it is true that the older Roman women were very 

 virtuous, it was a virtue exacted under fear of death. 

 The woman was her husband's property, and must 

 not be soiled. The men were not forbidden to amuse 

 themselves with the female slaves, or with the 

 courtesans who now appeared. The women, rightly, 

 rebelled. They demanded freedom, education, and 

 political rights. There was a fierce agitation for 

 " woman's rights " as early as the second century b.c. 

 We must add, however, that the older Romans did 

 not use their drastic powers to any grave extent. 

 Women were as generally loved and kindly treated as 

 elsewhere. Even cruelty to slaves was not common. 



Thus Rome fought its way through the inevitable 

 struggles of civilization, complicated by a long and 

 terrible series of wars with Carthage for the mastery 

 of the Mediterranean and a long and devastating 

 Civil War due to the ambitions of its generals and 

 politicians. As in the case of Greece, we find a 

 curiously modern note in its struggles. Nearly all 

 the great controversies of modern times were aflame 

 in ancient Athens and Rome — ethical, religious, 

 political, economic, educational, feminist, etc. The 



