68 STORY OF THE ROMAN PEOPLE
and offered up a cow , a pig, and a sheep . Then the guests cried , Feliciter ! Feliciter ! that is, Good wishes ! or May you be hap py ! and the feast began . At nightfall the bride pretended to cling to her mo ther, while the bride groom tore her away and carried her to her new home. This show of force was perhaps in memory of the stealing of the Sabine women in the days of Romulus . The jour ney to the home of the bridegroom was not a solitary one by any means , for anybody followed who chose . Torch -bearers led the procession , men played on flutes, and the people sang songs . There were always many boys in the company , for the bridegroom carried a supply of nuts to scatter among them . This was to show that he was throwing away all childish things . At the threshold the bride paused , for there the evil goddesses called the Furies were supposed to dwell . If she were to stumble , it would be a most unlucky omen ; and therefore she was always lifted into the atrium . On the following day the wedding guests came together again , for now it was the turn of the bridegroom to give a
a
Le Roux
A ROMAN BRIDE
feast. The household gods were not forgotten , and the bride offered a sacrifice to them to show that she was now a mem ber of her husband's family and joined in the worship of his ancestors .
It is no wonder that the Romans wanted the gods to favor their enterprises, for they undertook works of great magni tude . As has been said before , they did not hesitate to set to work to drain a lake by means of a tunnel, the building of which would be no small undertaking even with modern machinery . The Cloaca Maxima, the great sewer built by Tarquinius Priscus , is twenty - five cen turies old and still does its work . They built channels under ground and mighty aqueducts on lofty arches above ground to bring fresh water into the city . In the reign of Tarquinius Priscus, they built the Circus Maximus, a race - course in a valley, with seats ris ing in tiers on the slopes of the hills . This was large enough to hold many thou sand spectators. The Romans were also famous builders of roads. If a city came under their rule , they immediately
THE EARLY REPUBLIC 69
THE ROMANS OF
FESTIVAL IN HONOR OF FLORA , THE GODDESS OF FLOWERS
built a direct road to it . The most famous of the Roman roads is the one leading from Rome to Capua. It is called the Vi'a Ap'pi-a , or Ap'pi- an Way , because it was built while Appius Claudius Cæcus was censor . The roadway was first covered with broken stone and cement ; then upon this were laid exceedingly large blocks of hard rock , cut so smooth and square that the pavement seems almost as if made in one piece.
The one aim of the Romans was to make Rome powerful; and the chief object of these roads was to enable them to march bodies of soldiers to any given place without delay . Therefore they did not trouble themselves to search out easy grades for their roads; they made them as straight as pos sible . If a valley was in the way , they built lofty viaducts across it. If a mountain stood before them , they dug a tunnel through it . If it had not been for these roads , the Romans could never have held Italy under their rule ; but every con quered city knew that at the suspicion of a revolt , the terrible
70 STORY OF THE ROMAN PEOPLE
TVagner
CHARIOT RACE , CIRCUS MAXIMUS