The quality of life in the Roman Empire depended upon where one fell within society.
During the Pax Romana, the wealthy built huge, lavishly decorated houses and usually had servants or slaves to tend to their every need. The average citizen worked hard and lived reasonably comfortably in modest housing. Despite the riches of the Roman Empire, the largest class lived in what can only be described as poverty.
Children in Rome
Roman children wore pendants called bullas, from the Latin word for "bubble," around their necks. The wealthy wore bullas made of gold, while a typical plebeian bulla was leather.
Roman family life was a patriarchy — that is, the oldest male wielded considerable power over the rest of the family. The patriarch made all of the major decisions for the family.
Culture: social groups transmitted from generation to generation with different habits
Society: set of people who are related to each other.
Politics: part of governing.
They were given a pardon.
As a candidate, Carter himself had said he advocated "pardon" -- a term he preferred over "amnesty." He said, "Amnesty means that what you did was right. Pardon means that
what you did, whether it's right or wrong, you are forgiven
for it. And I do advocate a pardon for draft evaders. ... Now is the time to heal our country after the Vietnam war. ... I hope to bring about an end to the divisiveness that has occurred in our country as a result of the Vietnam war."
On his second day in office, President Carter in fact did pardon draft dodgers. This applied only to civilians who evaded the draft. It did not apply to active duty military personnel who went absent without leave (AWOL) or deserted their units during the war.
