PRIMITIVE CULTURE IN ITALY. By H. J. Rose. (Methuen. '7s.
6d.)—The distinctive feature of this able essay on the background of Roman history is the skill with which anthropological evidence from other regions is made to elucidate the beliefs and usages and laws of ancient Rome. Professor Rase shows, for example, how much of magical practice survived into very late times ; the astrologers whom Juvenal contemned were not new to Rome ; the importance of the spoken word in Roman law was " of the very essence of magic." In a closing chapter he argues that the Romans had no art and no philosophy or science, and that they showed no special aptitude for trade. But, he adds, they had some of the virtues of the savage, they were apt pupils of other civilizations, and they had an instinct for law and order and aa " extraordinary practical genius "—which, we may add, endears them to the Englishman.
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