Greece. Those who were asking votes for a public office wore it
white (_candidus_), and therefore were called candidates. The consuls
had it on great days entirely purple and embroidered, and all senators
and ex-magistrates had broader borders of purple. The ladies wore a long
graceful wrapping-gown; the boys a short tunic, and round their necks
was hung a hollow golden ball called a _bulla_, or bubble. When a boy
was seventeen, there was a great family sacrifice to the Lares and the
forefathers, his bulla was taken off, the toga was put on, and he was
enrolled by his own praenomen, Caius or Lucius, or whatever it might be,
for there was only a choice of fifteen. After this he was liable to be
called out to fight. A certain number of men were chosen from each tribe
by the tribune. It was divided into centuries, each led by a centurion;
and the whole body together was called a legion, from _lego_, to
choose. In later times the proper number for a legion was 6000 men. Each
legion had a standard, a bar across the top of the spear, with the
letters on it S P Q R--_Senatus, Populus Que Romanus_--meaning the Roman
Senate and People, a purple flag below and a figure above, such as an
eagle, or the wolf and twins, or some emblem dear to the Romans. The
legions were on foot, but the troops of patricians and knights on
horseback were attached to them and had to protect them.

[Illustration: FEMALE COSTUMES.]

The Romans had in those days very small riches, they held in general
small farms in the country, which they worked themselves with the help
of their sons and slaves. The plebeians were often the richest. They too
held farms leased to them by the state, and had often small shops in
Rome. The whole territory was so small that it was easy to come into
Rome to worship, attend the Senate, or vote, and many had no houses in
the city. Each man was married with a ring and sacrifice, and the lady
was then carried over the threshold, on which a sheepskin was spread,
and made mistress of the house by being bidden to be Caia to Caius. The
Roman matrons were good and noble women in those days, and the highest
praise of them was held to be _Domum mansit, lanam fecit_--she stayed
at home and spun wool. Each man was absolute master in his own house,
and had full power over his grown-up sons, even for life or death, and
they almost always submitted entirely. For what made the Romans so great
was that they were not only brave, but they were p