COMPOUND POLITICAL HEADS. 377 



The Romans exemplify the rise of a compound headship 

 under conditions which, though partially different from those 

 the Greeks were subject to, were allied fundamentally. In 

 its earliest-known state, Latium was occupied by village- 

 communities, which were united into cantons ; while these 

 cantons formed a league headed by Alba a canton regarded 

 as the oldest and most eminent. This combination was for 

 joint defence ; as is shown by the fact that each group of 

 clan-villages composing a canton, had an elevated stronghold 

 in common, and also by the fact that the league of cantons 

 had for its centre and place of refuge, Alba, the most strongly 

 placed as well as the oldest. The component cantons of the 

 league were so far independent that there were wars between 

 them ; whence we may infer that when they cooperated for 

 joint defence it was on substantially equal terms. Thus 

 before Rome existed, the people who formed it had been 

 habituated to a kind of life such that, with great subordina 

 tion in each family and clan, and partial subordination within 

 each canton (which was governed by a prince, council of elders, 

 and assembly of warriors), there went a union of heads of 

 cantons, who were in no degree subordinate one to another. 

 &quot;When the inhabitants of three of these cantons, the Ramnians, 

 Titles, and Luceres, began to occupy the tract on which Rome 

 stands, they brought with them their political organization. 



when not at war, pass their time in exei cises fitting them for war, it becomes 

 manifest that at first the daily assembling to carry on these exercises will entail 

 the daily bringing of provisions by each. As happens in those pic-nics in 

 which all who join contribute to the common repast, a certain obligation 

 respecting quantities and qualities will naturally arise an obligation which, 

 repeated daily, will pass from custom into law : ending in a specification of 

 the kinds and amounts of food. Further, it is to be expected that as the law 

 thus arises in an age when food is coarse and unvaried, the simplicity of the 

 diet, originally unavoidable, will eventually be considered as intended as an 

 ascetic regimen deliberately devised. [When writing this I was not aware 

 that, as pointed out by Prof. Paley in Fraser s Magazine, for February, 

 1881, among the Greeks of later times, it was common to have dinners to 

 w^iich each guest brought his share of provisions, and that those who con 

 tributed little and consumed much were objects of satire. This fact increases 

 the probability that the Spartan mess originated as suggested.] 



