The Roman Family
Ages of Man
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 Daily Life in Ancient Rome By Florence Dupont Translated by Christopher Woodall Blackwell; 1994. ISBN: 0631193952 |
Childhood
Children learned by imitation and corporal punishment all the tasks that would be expected of them as adults. Education wasn't of the adult, serious world, but ludus, game or school. Reading in Latin and Greek was important to work and leisure, but the most important thing for children to be educated in were family values, including such things as fides (loosely, faithfulness), pietas (loosely, piety), and virtus (manliness, courage); the order and importance of each varying with the family. A child's education was, therefore, entirely up to the father. He might teach himself, hire a tutor, or send the child away to school, but if he did so, he would make sure there were guards to take the child to and from, lest he or she be tempted by pederasts.Youth
A girl married between twelve and fourteen after which she was either a matrona or mater familias. Boys had an intermediary stage. Even though he might have married at fourteen, it wasn't until the 17th of March, when a boy was sixteen or seventeen, that he ceased to be a puer, child, and became, instead, a juvenis, young man, which he remained until about the age of thirty. When the red flag for battle was raised, he would enlist as a soldier so he could fight in the ten campaigns he needed before running for office. But even during this period, the father had control over his son and might shut him away in the country lest he be tempted by the vice of the city.Old Age
With infant mortality so high that only fifty percent reached adulthood, the fact that thirteen percent of all those born reached the age of sixty appears quite high. Many lived to be one hundred. A life and diet devoted to building character may have been responsible. In old age, easy to digest foods were served: cooked vegetables, barley porridge, dried fruit, and honey and cheese cakes. The old were encouraged to forego strenuous activity but to pursue intellectual exercises. And when they were too tired for other activities, they could play with grandchildren all of whom had been born under their roof and would soon be venerating them at the Parentalia, the festival of the dead parentes.The Roman Family
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