nto that of the head of the household to
which their husbands belonged.

*Education.* The training of the Roman youth at this time was mainly of a
practical nature. There was as yet little interest in intellectual
pursuits and no Roman literature had been developed. The art of writing,
it is true, had long been known and was employed in the keeping of records
and accounts. Such instruction as there was, was given by the father to
his sons. It consisted probably of athletic exercises, of practical
training in agricultural pursuits, in the traditions of the state and of
the Roman heroes, and in the conduct of public business through attendance
at places where this was transacted.

At the age of eighteen the young Roman entered upon a new footing in
relation to the state. He was now liable to military service and qualified
to attend the _comitia_. In these respects he was emancipated from the
paternal authority. If he attained a magistracy, his father obeyed him
like any other citizen.

The discipline and respect for authority which was acquired in the family
life was carried with him by the Roman into his public relations, and this
sense of duty was perhaps the strongest quality in the Roman character. It
was supplemented by the characteristic Roman seriousness (_gravitas_),
developed under the stress of the long struggles for existence waged by
the early Roman state. In the Roman the highest virtue was piety
(_pietas_), which meant the dutiful performance of all one's obligations,
to the gods, to one's kinsmen, and to the state. The Romans were
preeminently a practical people, and their practical virtues laid the
foundation for their political greatness.

*The mos maiorum.* We have already referred to the conservatism of the
Romans, and have seen how this characteristic was affected by their
religious beliefs. It was further strengthened by the respect paid to
parental authority and by the absence of intellectual training. In public
affairs this conservatism was shown by the influence of ancestral
custom--the _mos maiorum_. In the Roman government this became a very
potent factor, since the Roman constitution was not a single comprehensive
document but consisted of a number of separate enactments supplemented by
custom and precedent and interpreted in the light thereof.

CHAPTER VIII

ROMAN DOMINATION IN THE MEDITERRANEAN; THE FIRST PHASE--THE STRUGGLE WITH