xvlil Introduction. 



character, others legal, while others — and with 

 these we are most concerned — were purely trade 

 corporations, resembling our own guilds and 

 livery companies. It is not quite clear how they 

 all arose ; the collegia opificmn, however, appear 

 to have sprung into existence in the early days of 

 Rome. Plutarch indeed attributes the origin of 

 these last named to the reign of that more or less 

 mythical personage, Numa, its second king, of 

 whose political measures he Informs us that ''that 

 which is most admired is his division of the 

 populace according to their trades. For whereas 

 the city (as has been said) originally consisted of 

 two races which stood aloof one from the other 

 and would not combine into one, which led to 

 endless quarrels and rivalries, Numa, reflecting 

 that substances which are hard and difficult to 

 combine togfether can nevertheless be mixed and 

 formed into one mass If they are broken up Into 

 small pieces, because then they more easily fit 

 each other, determined to divide the whole mass 

 of the people of Rome into many classes, and 

 thus by creating numerous petty rivalries to 

 obliterate their original and greatest cause of 

 variance. His division was accordinof to their 

 trades, and consisted of the musicians, the gold- 

 smiths, the builders, dyers, shoemakers, carriers, 

 coppersmiths, and potters. All the other trades 

 he united Into one guild. He assigned to each 

 trade Its special privileges, common to all the 

 members, and arranged that each should have Its 



