For the present it may be added that our conception of the meaning of the word “slave” must not be that attached to its modern use.  Many such slaves were men of great special or general ability, or men of high culture, especially if Greeks, Syrians, Jews, or Egyptians.  They were frequently superior to their masters, and subsequently, as free citizens, added much to either the refinement or the over-refinement of Roman life.  Perhaps it is as well, in passing, to point out that the later Roman people was in no small degree descended from all this aggregation of foreigners and emancipated slaves, and that we must speak with the greatest reservation when we describe the modern Roman as a direct descendant of the ancient stock who fought with Hannibal and subjugated the world.

CHAPTER V

NERO THE EMPEROR

Roughly then this is the situation at the centre of government.  Sumptuously housed on the Palatine Hill—­the origin of our word “palace”—­is His Highness Claudius Nero, Head of the State, Commander-in-Chief of the Forces, Empowered to act as Tribune of the People, and Head of the State Religion:  in modern times commonly called “the Emperor.”  Every day and night his palace is surrounded by a regiment of the Imperial Guards, and attached to his person is a special corps for bodyguard, and orderlies.  In practice, whatever be the theory, he possesses the control of legislation and appointments; upon him practically depends all recognised distinction of social rank.  Down below, to the side of the Forum, is the Senate-House, in which there gathers, twice each month, and oftener if summoned, the great deliberative body which, in spite of all disturbances, civil wars, and limitations or broadenings of its power, is the continuation of the assembly of grave Roman fathers who first met some eight hundred years before.  These men, who are of birth and wealth and commonly of sound public training, are the nominal upholders and directors of the commonwealth, still left to perform many functions and to administer the more peaceful provinces in their own way—­especially if they relieve the emperor of trouble—­but in practice controlled by His Highness whenever and however it suits his purpose.  They and the emperor form a partnership in authority, but the Senate is very distinctly the junior partner.  They lend him advice or sanction when he seeks it, and they sometimes act as a break on his impetuosity.  It is not well to alienate them, for they are proud; they are jointly, sometimes individually, powerful; and their moral weight with army and public is not to be despised.

Thus stands the central government, while socially there follows the order of the Knights, depending for their rank upon the emperor, and in many cases serving in his employ.  Below these the populace, of whose rights and liberties the emperor is an official champion to whom theoretically any Roman citizen can appeal against a sentence of death or against cruel wrong.  It is hard to conceive of a stronger position for one man to hold.