LIFE IN THE ROMAN WORLD OF NERO AND ST. PAUL
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LIFE IN THE ROMAN WORLD OF NERO AND ST. PAUL
PREFACE
The reception accorded to my Life in Ancient Athens has led me to
write the present companion work with an eye to the same class of
readers. In the preface to the former volume it was said: "I have
sought to leave an impression true and sound, so far as it goes, and
also vivid and distinct. The style adopted has therefore been the
opposite of the pedantic, utilizing any vivacities of method which are
consistent with truth of fact." The same principles have guided me in
the present equally unpretentious treatise. I agree entirely with Mr.
Warde Fowler when he says: "I firmly believe that the one great hope
for classical learning and education lies in the interest which the
unlearned public may be brought to feel in ancient life and thought."
For the general reader there is perhaps no period in the history of
the ancient world which is more interesting than the one here chosen.
Yet, so far as I know, there exists no sufficiently popular work
dealing with this period alone and presenting in moderate compass a
clear general view of the matters of most moment. My endeavour has
been to represent as faithfully as possible the Age of Nero, and
nowhere in the book is it implied that what is true for that age is
necessarily as true for any other. The reader who is not a special
student of history or antiquities is perhaps as often confused by
descriptions of ancient life which cover too many generations as by
those--often otherwise excellent--which include too much detail.
I have necessarily consulted not only the Latin and Greek writers who
throw light upon the time, but also all the best-known Standard works
of modern date. It is perhaps scarcely necessary to state that in
matters of contemporary government, administration, and public life my
guides have been chiefly Mommsen, Arnold, and Greenidge; for social
life Marquardt, Friedländer, and Becker-Göll; for topography and
buildings Jordan, Hülsen, Lanciani, and Middleton; nor that the
Dictionaries of Smith and of Daremberg and Saglio have been always at
hand, as well as Baumeister's Denkmäler, and Guhl and Koner's Life
of the Greeks and Romans. The admirable Pompeii of Mau-Kelsey has
been, of course, indispensable. I have also derived profit from the
writings of Prof. Sir W. M. Ramsay in connexion with St. Paul, and
from Conybeare and Howson's Life and Epistles of the Apostle. Useful
hints have been found in Mr. Warde Fowler's Social Life in Rome in
the Age of Cicero, and in Prof. Dill's Roman_ Society from Nero to
Marcus Aurelius_. A personal study of ancient sites, monuments, and
objects of antiquity at Rome, Pompeii, and elsewhere has naturally
been of prime value. Those intimately acquainted with the immense
amount of the available material will best realize the difficulty
there has been in deciding how much to say and how much to "leave in
the inkstand."
For the drawings other than those of which another source is specified
I have to thank Miss M. O'Shea, on whom has occasionally fallen the
difficult task of giving ocular form to the mental visions of one who
happens to be no draughtsman. For the rest I make acknowledgment to
those books from which the illustrations have been directly derived
for my own purposes, without reference to more original sources.
I am especially grateful for the permission to use so considerable a
number of illustrations from the Pompeii of Mau-Kelsey, from
Professor Waldstein's Herculaneum, and from Lanciani's New Tales of
Old Rome.
Table of Contents
LIFE IN THE ROMAN WORLD OF NERO AND ST. PAUL
PREFACE
INTRODUCTION
CHAPTER I
EXTENT AND SECURITY OF THE EMPIRE
CHAPTER II
TRAVEL WITHIN THE EMPIRE
CHAPTER III
A BRIEF SURVEY OF THE PROVINCES
CHAPTER IV
THE IMPERIAL SYSTEM: EMPEROR, SENATE, KNIGHTS, AND PEOPLE
CHAPTER V
NERO THE EMPEROR
CHAPTER VI
ADMINISTRATION AND TAXATION OF THE EMPIRE
CHAPTER VII
ROME: THE IMPERIAL CITY
CHAPTER VIII
STREETS, WATER-SUPPLY, AND BUILDING MATERIAL
CHAPTER IX
THE ROMAN TOWN HOUSE
DINING-TABLE
CHAPTER X
THE COUNTRY HOMESTEAD AND COUNTRY SEAT
CHAPTER XI
ROMAN FURNITURE
CHAPTER XII
SOCIAL DAY OF A ROMAN ARISTOCRAT--MORNING
CHAPTER XIII
SOCIAL DAY OF A ROMAN ARISTOCRAT
CHAPTER XIV
LIFE IN THE MIDDLE AND LOWER CLASSES
CHAPTER XV
HOLIDAYS AND AMUSEMENTS: THEATRE, CIRCUS, AMPHITHEATRE
CHAPTER XVI
THE WOMEN: MARRIAGE, THE ROMAN MATRON, AND HER DRESS
CHAPTER XVII
CHILDREN AND EDUCATION
CHAPTER XVIII
THE ARMY: MILITARY SERVICE: PUBLIC CAREER
CHAPTER XIX
ROMAN RELIGION--STATE AND INDIVIDUAL
CHAPTER XX
STUDY AND SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE AMONG THE ROMANS
CHAPTER XXI
PHILOSOPHY--STOICS AND EPICUREANS
CHAPTER XXII
THE ROMAN PROFUSION OP ART
BASILICA AEMILIA
CHAPTER XXIII
THE LAST SCENE OF ALL--BURIAL AND TOMBS
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