[Transcriber's note: This book makes use of the Roman denarius symbol.Because this symbol is not available in Unicode, it has been replaced bythe ROMAN NUMERAL TEN (U+2169) with a COMBINING LONG STROKE OVERLAY(U+0336) in the UTF-8 version.]
Kennedy Professor of the Latin Language and Literature in PrincetonUniversity
Printed in the United States of America
Dedicated to J. H. A.
This book, like the volume on "Society and Politics in Ancient Rome,"deals with the life of the common people, with their language andliterature, their occupations and amusements, and with their social,political, and economic conditions. We are interested in the common peopleof Rome because they made the Roman Empire what it was. They carried theRoman standards to the Euphrates and the Atlantic; they lived abroad astraders, farmers, and soldiers to hold and Romanize the provinces, or theystayed at home, working as carpenters, masons, or bakers, to supply thedaily needs of the capital.
The other side of the subject which has engaged the attention of theauthor in studying these topics has been the many points of similaritywhich arise between ancient and modern conditions, and between theproblems which the Roman faced and those which confront us. What policyshall the government adopt toward corporations? How can the cost of livingbe kept down? What effect have private benefactions on the character of apeople? Shall a nation try to introduce its own language into theterritory of a subject people, or shall it allow the native language to beused, and, if it seeks to introduce its own tongue, how can it bestaccomplish its object? The Roman attacked all these questions, solved someof them admirably, and failed with others egregiously. His successes andhis failures are perhaps equally illuminating, and the fact that hisattempts to improve social and economic conditions run through a period ofa thousand years should make the study of them of the greater interest andvalue to us.
Of the chapters which this book contains, the article on "The Origin ofthe Realistic Romance among the Romans" appeared originally in ClassicalPhilology, and the author is indebted to the editors of that periodicalfor permission to reprint it here. The other papers are now published forthe first time.
It has not seemed advisable to refer to the sources to substantiate everyopinion which has been expressed, but a few references have been given inthe foot-notes mainly for the sake of the reader who may wish to followsome subject farther than has been possible in these brief chapters. Theproofs had to be corrected while the author was away from his own books,so that he was unable to make a final verification of two or three of thecitations, but he trusts that they, as well as the others, are accurate.He takes this opportunity to acknowledge his indebtedness to Dr. DonaldBlythe Durham, of Princeton University, for the preparation of the index.
Frank Frost Abbott.
Einsiedeln, Switzerland
September 2, 1911