The workmen engaged in a particular calling frequently
formed clubs, or guilds. [26] There were guilds of weavers, shoe-makers,
jewelers, painters, musicians, and even of gladiators. These associations were
not organized for the purpose of securing higher wages and shorter hours by
strikes or threat of strikes. They seem to have existed chiefly for social and
religious purposes. Each guild had its clubhouse for official meetings and
banquets. Each guild had its special deity, such as Vesta, the fire goddess,
for bakers, and Bacchus, the wine god, for innkeepers. Every year the guildsmen
held a festival, in honor of their patron, and marched through the streets with
banners and the emblems of their trade. Nearly all the guilds had as one main
object the provision of a proper funeral and tomb for deceased members. The
humble laborer found some consolation in the thought that he belonged to a club
of friends and fellow workers, who after death would give him decent burial and
keep his memory green.
[26] Latin collegia, whence our
"college."
LIFE OF THE WORKING CLASSES
Free workingmen throughout the Roman world appear to have
led reasonably happy lives. They were not driven or enslaved by their employers
or forced to labor for long hours in grimy, unwholesome factories. Slums
existed, but no sweatshops. If wages were low, so also was the cost of living.
Wine, oil, and wheat flour were cheap. The mild climate made heavy clothing
unnecessary and permitted an outdoor life. The public baths-- great
clubhouses—stood open to every one who could pay a trifling fee. Numerous
holidays, celebrated with games and shows, brightened existence. On the whole
we may conclude that working people at Rome and in the provinces enjoyed
greater comfort during this period than had ever been their lot in previous
ages.
