other that had exclusive charge
of him for the first seven years of his life, and had much to say to the
ordering of his life afterwards. For Roman mothers were not shut up like
their sisters in Greece, but played no small part in affairs--witness
the histories or legends (for it matters not for this purpose whether
they are fact or fiction) of the Sabine wives, of Tullia, who stirred up
her husband to seize a throne, or Veturia, who turned her son Coriolanus
from his purpose of besieging Rome. At seven began the education which
was to make him a citizen and a soldier. Swimming, riding, throwing the
javelin developed his strength of body. He learned at the same time to
be frugal, temperate in eating and drinking, modest and seemly in
behavior, reverent to his elders, obedient to authority at home and
abroad, and above all, pious towards the gods. If it was the duty of
the father to act as priest in some temple of the State (for the
priests were not a class apart from their fellow-citizens), or to
conduct the worship in some chapel of the family, the lad would act as
_camillus_ or acolyte. When the clients, the dependents of the house,
trooped into the hall in the early morning hours to pay their respects
to their patron, or to ask his advice and assistance in their affairs,
the lad would stand by his father's chair and make acquaintance with his
humble friends. When the hall was thrown open, and high festival was
held, he would be present and hear the talk on public affairs or on past
times. He would listen to and sometimes take part in the songs which
celebrated great heroes. When the body of some famous soldier or
statesman was carried outside the walls to be buried or burned, he would
be taken to hear the oration pronounced over the bier.

At one time it was the custom, if we may believe a quaint story which
one of the Roman writers tells us, for the senators to introduce their
young sons to the sittings of their assembly, very much in the same way
as the boys of Westminster School are admitted to hear the debates in
the Houses of Parliament. The story professes to show how it was that
one of the families of the race of Papirius came to bear the name of
_Praetextatus_, i.e., clad in the _praetexta_ (the garb of boyhood), and
it runs thus:--"It was the custom in the early days of the Roman State
that the senators should bring their young sons into the Senate to the
end that they might learn in their early days how grea