Do these creatures prosper? If so, Roman citizenship comes next. They change their names, assume the toga, and their sons or at least their grandsons will be borne along in their high litters toward the Senate House. There is another large group of “Conscript Fathers” who, Calvus angrily tells Gratia, are only crude Celts from Spain, Gaul, or even distant Britain. Another group can only speak Latin with a pronounced North African accent. There is even a certain dark-skinned “Julius” (a good Roman name surely), who wears his broad purple stripe proudly enough, but who,--every one swears,--was born far up the Nile in Egypt--“How did he get the Emperor’s favor!” At first thought, therefore, Rome seems one of the most democratic cities socially in the world. =102. Strict Divisions of Society. The Régime of _Status_.=--But closer acquaintance discloses the fact that Roman society is utterly undemocratic. Wealth to be sure can surmount many barriers, but even a hundred-million sesterces plus imperial patronage cannot _quite_ do everything. The whole Roman Empire is founded not on the basis of human brotherhood and equality, but on “_piety_.” “Pious Æneas” is the hero of the national epic poem. But what in fact is this piety? Not the rendering of due homage to the gods merely, but the bestowing of exact justice upon every man according to his _status_--the great stratum in society in which the law has placed him, and whence he can neither rise nor fall without important formalities. Are you brought into court? Instantly the question is, “What are you?” And on that answer, regardless of guilt or innocence, your fate will largely depend. The Roman Empire in reality is essentially _a régime of status_--giving to every man a certain social and legal due. This accent on _status_ has been increasing ever since Augustus founded his dominion; and it will intensify even more rapidly down to the very end of the Empire. In the 1,500,000 odd people in Rome, there are these six well-defined social classes, each with a distinct legal condition: I. _Slaves_; II. _Freedmen_; III. _Free Provincials_; IV. _Ordinary Roman Citizens, or “Plebeians”_; V. _Equites_; VI. _Senators_. In Rome the third class, of course, is necessarily small, being made up solely of visitors and resident aliens, some of whom, if notables from such free allied towns as Athens, enjoy excellent protection and privileges. Nearly all the freedmen are technically Roman citizens but are still under certain civil and social disabilities. The Plebeians, Equites, and Senators are all reckoned officially as “majores,” persons with superior legal rights, however much the two upper orders may scorn the one inferior. Socially, however, there are many cross sections, with the upper slaves of rich noblemen despising the petty tradesmen, who wear moth-eaten togas, and the higher “Cæsarians” (slaves at the imperial palace) have been known to patronize equites and even senators.