The people had lost all its power since the assemblies (the Comitia) were suppressed in the reign of Tiberius.  The population of 2,000,000 souls crowded into Rome was composed only of some thousands of great lords with their slaves and a mob of paupers.  Already the state had assumed the burden of feeding the latter; the emperors continued to distribute grain to them, and supplemented this with donations of money (the congiarium).  Augustus thus donated $140 apiece in nine different distributions, and Nero $50 in three.  At the same time to amuse this populace shows were presented.  The number of days regularly appointed for the shows under the republic had already amounted to 66 in the year; it had increased in a century and a half, under Marcus Aurelius, to 135, and in the fourth century to 175 (without counting supplementary days).  These spectacles continued each day from sunrise to sunset; the spectators ate their lunch in their places.  This was a means used by the emperors for the occupation of the crowd.  “It is for your advantage, Caesar,” said an actor to Augustus, “that the people engage itself with us.”  It was also a means for securing popularity.  The worst emperors were among the most popular; Nero was adored for his magnificent spectacles; the people refused to believe that he was dead, and for thirty years they awaited his return.[146]

The multitude of Rome no longer sought to govern; it required only to be amused and fed:  in the forceful expression of Juvenal—­to be provided with bread and the games of the circus (panem et circenses).

=The Praetorians.=—­Under the republic a general was prohibited from leading his army into the city of Rome.  The emperor, chief of all the armies, had at Rome his military escort (praetorium), a body of about 10,000 men quartered in the interior of the city.  The praetorians, recruited among the veterans, received high pay and frequent donatives.  Relying on these soldiers, the emperor had nothing to fear from malcontents in Rome.  But the danger came from the praetorians themselves; as they had the power they believed they had free rein, and their chief, the praetorian prefect, was sometimes stronger than the emperor.

=The Freedmen of the Emperor.=—­Ever since the monarchy had superseded the republic, there was no other magistrate than the emperor.  All the business of the empire of 80,000,000 people originated with him.  For this crushing task he required assistants.  He found them, not among the men of great family whom he mistrusted, but among the slaves of whom he felt sure.  The secretaries, the men of trust, the ministers of the emperor were his freedmen, the majority of them foreigners from Greece or the Orient, pliant people, adepts in flattery, inventiveness, and loquacity.  Often the emperor, wearied with serious matters, gave the government into their hands, and, as occurs in absolute monarchies, instead of aiding their master, they supplemented him.  Pallas