SABINE WOMEN STOPPING THE FIGHT
handed down from the time of Romulus , were quite different from those of to-day . For instance , the father of a family owned his wife and children as much as he owned his sword or his house , and he could do what he liked with them . If he wished to sell them as slaves , or even to put them to death , there was no law to prevent.
A group of families claiming to be the descendants of a common ancestor was known as a gens , or clan . The head of each gens was called a pater, the Latin word for father, and therefore the members of these early clans came to be known as pa-tri'cians . They were the aristocrats of Rome . All
the patricians were divided into three large groups called tribes, each tribe consisting of ten smaller groups called curi -c .
Besides these patricians there were slaves and clients . The slaves were few in number and were chiefly house servants . The clients were for the most part strangers who had come to Rome , or else freedmen , that is , slaves who had become free. They depended upon some patrician to act as their patron, that is , to befriend them in whatever way a man of power and standing could aid one of lower rank . In return , they acted as humble friends to him . If they were poor , they worked on his land ; if they became rich , they made him generous gifts. The patricians were not all wealthy by any means, and to make money in trade seemed to them a dis grace. Through their clients , however, they could carry on trade without humiliating themselves.
Besides patricians , slaves , and clients , there was a great multitude of people in Rome who were known as ple-be'ians , from plebs, a Latin word meaning common folk . They were people , or the descendants of people , who had come to Rome later than the patrician families. Some were freedmen , some had fled to the city for refuge, and some had probably been conquered in war . They were not forbidden to carry on trade , but most of them worked on the land .
The patricians had many rights which the plebeians did not share . The patrician alone might marry into a patrician family , or leave his property by will to whomever he chose. No plebeian was allowed these rights . The patrician was the only voter , and he alone was allowed to hold office. Neither
slaves , clients , nor plebeians were regarded as citizens . The patrician was the only citizen .
The government of Rome was carried on by the king, the senate , and the citizens . The king acted as priest , ruler, and commander ; that is , he was the religious head of the Romans, he governed them in time of peace , and he led them to battle in time of war . He had a right to name his successor . The senate was composed of elderly men selected from the heads of the patrician families . It took its name from the Latin word senex , meaning an old man . No resolution could become law without its approval. The senate also acted as special adviser to the king ; and if he died without naming a succes sor , it had power to nominate a sovereign . The citizens , that is , the patricians , took part in the government by voting in the assembly of the curiæ known as the co -mi'ti-a cu -ri -a'ta . Each of the thirty curiæ had one vote . Laws might be proposed in this assembly either by the assembly itself or by the king , but , as has been said , they must be approved by the senate . No king , whether named by the preceding ruler or nominated by the senate , could take pos session of the throne until the comitia curiata had given its consent .
-
These were some of the customs that are said to have flour ished in early Rome . The little village grew in power and in number of inhabitants until Romulus had become an old man . When the time had drawn near for him to be taken to the gods, he called his people to a sacred festival . A terrible thunderstorm arose , and it became so dark that they could not see one another's faces . When the light had come again ,