We have seen the Roman women of primitive times reach great heights of courage and patriotism; we have seen them rise from virtual bondage to a measure of freedom and consideration. In the days of Scipio and the Gracchi they had won the privileges of education, and a certain respect for their intellectual abilities, as well as for their virtues. We find them later not only noted for fine domestic qualities, but patrons of literature, and helpful companions of great husbands and sons. The last days of the Republic saw many strong and capable women, and we begin to trace their influence in large affairs. The instances were not numerous, perhaps, but individual talent asserted itself. With the new intelligence they moved rapidly, as our women have done, and apparently without aggression. But it was not until the privileges of rank offset in a degree the disabilities of sex that the Roman woman reached the height of her power and her honors. No doubt she sometimes schemed for a throne in the interest of a husband or a son, but she often proved herself eminently qualified for her own part in its duties and responsibilities. If her talents and energies sometimes went wrong in the lurid and immoral world in which she found herself, they were more frequently exerted for the general good. SOME FAMOUS WOMEN OF IMPERIAL ROME [Illustration: Decorative image] · Three Types of Roman Womanhood · · Livia · Octavia · Julia · · Corruption of the Age not Due to Women · · Persecution of Virtue · Multiplication of Divorces · · Good Women in Public Life · · Plotina · Julia Domna · Julia Mæsa · · Soæmias · Mamæa · · The Old Type Gives Place to the New · [Illustration: Decorative image] I If one wishes to gain a clear notion of the dominant traits of the Roman woman of twenty centuries ago, there is no better way than to walk observantly through the old galleries where so many of them still live in marble, side by side with the men who made or marred their fortunes. There, graven in stone, one sees at a glance the strength, the passion, the pride, the ambition, that left its stamp upon an age. There too is the weakness, the sensuality, the arrogance, the cruelty, that ruined a life and brought misery upon a generation. Most of these women belonged to a class that held a conspicuous place in the public view by virtue of its position. Some were wicked, a few were great, and many were good though they rarely get the credit of it. To make them live again is not easy, perhaps not possible, but we gather from many a record curious and interesting facts regarding them. Their surroundings are measurably familiar to us. We know how they looked, how they dressed their hair, how they wore their robes, how they carried themselves. With here and there a trait, an act, a passing word, an anecdote, in their relations to men and society, we may compose a picture which, if not exact, will give a fair idea of the manner of women they were.