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. 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. [27] 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. [Illustration: A ROMAN VILLA Wall painting, Pompeii.] GREAT FORTUNES It was an age of millionaires. There had been rich men, such as Crassus, [28] during the last century of the republic; their numbers increased and their fortunes rose during the first century of the empire. The philosopher Seneca, a tutor of Nero, is said to have made twelve million dollars within four years by the emperor's favor. Narcissus, the secretary of Claudius, made sixteen million dollars--the largest Roman fortune on record. This sum must be multiplied four or five times to find its modern equivalent, since in antiquity interest rates were higher and the purchasing power of money was greater than to-day. Such private fortunes are surpassed only by those of the present age. LUXURY AND EXTRAVAGANCE