[129] Cicero speaks of the temples which were raised to him by the people of Cilicia, of which county he was governor.
[130] Every important town had its market for slaves as for cattle and horses. The slave to be sold was exhibited on a platform with a label about his neck indicating his age, his better qualities and his defects.
[131] In the Casina of Plautus.
[132] Athenæus, who makes this statement, is probably guilty of exaggeration.—ED.
CHAPTER XXII[ToC]
TRANSFORMATION OF LIFE IN ROME
Greek and Oriental Influence.—Conquest gave the Romans a clearer view of the Greeks and Orientals. Thousands of foreigners brought to Rome as slaves, or coming thither to make their fortune, established themselves in the city as physicians, professors, diviners, or actors. Generals, officers and soldiers lived in the midst of Asia, and thus the Romans came to know the customs and the new beliefs and gradually adopted them. This transformation had its beginning with the first Macedonian war (about 200 B.C.), and continued until the end of the empire.