on the plains in the winter, but in summer on the hills, to which the herdsmen drive their cattle along certain drove-roads till they reach the unfenced domains belonging to the state.  There they form a camp of huts or wigwams under a “head man,” and surround their charges with strong fierce dogs, whose business it is to protect them, not only from thieves, but also from the wolves which were then common on the Apennines—­where, indeed, bears also were to be met.  There was no want of occupation in the country in the time of haymaking, of the vintage, or of olive-picking.  Even the city unemployed could gather a bunch of grapes or pick an olive, just as they can with us, or just as the London hop-picker can take a holiday and earn a little money in Kent.  In the vineyards, where the vines commonly trailed upon low elms and other trees, various vegetables grew between the rows, as they still do about Vesuvius; on the hills were olive-groves, which cost almost nothing to keep in order, and which supplied the “butter” and the lamp-oil of the Mediterranean world.

[Illustration:  FIG. 75.—­TOOLS ON TOMB.]

We need not waste much compassion upon the life of the Roman working class.  It is true that there was then no doctrine of the “dignity of labour,” but that there was reasonable pride taken in a trade reputably maintained is seen from the frequent appearance of its tools upon a tombstone.  In respect of the mere enjoyment of life, the labourers, of the Roman world were, so far as we can gather, tolerably happy.  They had abundant holidays, mostly of religious origin; but, like our own, so frequently added to, and so far diverted from religious thoughts, that they were more marked by jollity and sport than by any solemnity of spirit.  The workmen of a particular calling formed their guilds, “city companies,” or clubs, in the interests of their trade and for mutual benefit.  There was a guild of bakers, a guild of goldworkers, and a guild of anything and everything else.  Each guild had its special deity—­such as Vesta, the fire-goddess, for the bakers, and Minerva, the goddess of wool-work, for the fullers—­and it held an annual festival in honour of such patrons, marching through the streets with regalia and flag.  Doubtless the members of a guild acted in concert for the regulation of prices, although the Roman government took care that these clubs should be non-political, and would speedily suppress a strike if it seriously interfered with the public convenience.  The ostensible excuse for a guild, and apparently the only one theoretically accepted by the imperial government, was the excuse of a common worship.  It is at least certain that the emperors jealously watched the formation of any new union, and that they would promptly abolish any which appeared to have secret understandings and aims, or to act in contravention of the law.  In the towns which possessed local government the municipal authorities were still elected by the people; and the