378 POLITICAL INSTITUTIONS. 



The oldest Roman patricians bore the names of rural clans 

 belonging to these cantons. Whether, when seating them 

 selves on the Palatine hills and on the Quirinal, they pre 

 served their cantonal divisions, is not clear ; though it seems 

 probable a priori. But, however this may be, there is proof 

 that they fortified themselves against one another, as well as 

 against outer enemies. The &quot; mount-men &quot; of the Palatine 

 and the &quot; hill-men &quot; of the Quirinal were habitually at feud ; 

 and even among the minor divisions of those who occupied 

 the Palatine, there were dissensions. As Mommsen says, 

 primitive Borne was &quot; rather an aggregate of urban settle 

 ments than a single city,&quot; And that the clans who formed 

 these settlements brought with them their enmities, is to be 

 inferred from the fact that not only did they fortify the hills 

 on which they fixed themselves, but even &quot; the houses of the 

 old and powerful families were constructed somewhat after 

 the manner of fortresses.&quot; 



So that again, in the case of Borne, we see a cluster of 

 small independent communities, allied in blood but partially 

 antagonistic, which had to cooperate against enemies on such 

 terms as all would agree to. In early Greece the means of 

 defence were, as Grote remarks, greater than the means of 

 attack ; and it was the same in early Borne. Hence, while 

 coercive rule within the family and the group of related 

 families was easy, there was difficulty in extending coercion 

 over many such groups : fortified as they were against one 

 another. Moreover, the stringency of government within 

 each of the communities constituting the primitive city, was 

 diminished by facility of escape from one and admission into 

 another. As we have seen among simple tribes, desertions 

 take place when the rule is harsh ; and we may infer that, in 

 primitive Borne there was a check on exercise of force by the 

 more powerful families in each settlement over the less 

 powerful, caused by the fear that migration might weaken the 

 settlement and strengthen an adjacent one. Thus the cir 

 cumstances were such that when, for defence of the city, co- 



