Routledge Revival: Roman Life and Manners Under the Early Empire (1913) (Routledge Revivals)

Every attempted delineation of the manners and customs of Imperial Rome must necessarily include a survey, as exhaustive as may be, of the spectacles, as the best measure of her grandeur, and as indicative in many ways of her moral and intellectual condition.Originally, for the most part, religious celebrations, they became, even in the later Republic, the best means of purchasing popular favour, and, under the Empire, of keeping the populace contented. Augustus, the tale runs, once reproached Pylades the Pantomime for his jealousy of a rival, and Pylades replied: 'It is to your advantage, Caesar, that the people concerns itself about us'. But these spectacles effected more even than the diversion of popular interest; their magnificence was a gauge of the popularity of the sovereign. The emperors, like Louis XIV, knew how admiration aids absolute autocracy; like Napoleon, that the imagination of the people must be excited: splendid festivals were one of their most indispensable and most constant devices. Even Caligula, according to Josephus, was honoured and beloved by the folly of the populace; the women and the youth did not desire his death; distributions of meat, the games and the gladiatorial combats had won their hearts, for such were the delights of the mob: the lavishing of these gifts was nominally due to consideration for the populace, though the gladiatorial combats were only intended to sate the monarch's lust of blood. About the Author Ludwig Henrich Friedlaender (July 16, 1824 Königsberg – December 16, 1909 Straßburg, German Empire) was a German philologist. He was one of the preeminent scholars of Ancient Rome of his time and is known for his research on Roman daily life and customs. He was a Professor at Albertina and served as its Rector 1865/66 and 1874/5. He was also a member of the House of Lords. He studied at the universities of his hometown Königsberg, Leipzig, and Berlin from 1841 to 1845. In 1847 he became privat-docent of classical philology at Königsberg, in 1856 assistant professor, and in 1858 professor. He retired in 1892 to Strasbourg, where he was honorary professor at its university. He was a son of the merchant Hirsch Friedländer (1791–1871) and Emma Levia Perlbach (1801–1863), and was raised Jewish. He later converted to Protestantism. In 1856, he married Laura Gutzeit, daughter of an East Prussian estate owner. Their son Paul Friedländer was a noted chemist. Their daughter Charlotte Friedländer was married to the art historian Georg Dehio. Alfred Bradley Gough (1872–1939) M.A., Ph.D. was a Casberd Scholar of St John’s College, Oxford. He worked as an English Lector in the University of Kiel, 1896-1905. He wrote the books - On the Middle English Metrical Romances of Emare and Constance Saga.