99       99       99       99       99  
----------------------------------------
---------------------                   
,transcriber's ,note3                   
,,np ligature in the table on page #hi  
is shown in this              document  
as ,,np4 ,bold words are surrounded with
 's4                                    
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---------------------         99        
99       99       99       99     ,,the 
,,religion ,,of ,,ancient ,,rome  ,by   
,,cyril ,,bailey1 ,m4,a4 ,,fellow ,,and 
,,tutor ,,of ,,balliol ,,college1       
,,oxford   ,,london ,,archibald         
,,constable  ,,co ,,ltd  #aijg     ,i   
wish to express my warm thanks to ,mr4  
,w4 ,warde ,fowler for his kindness in  
reading my proofs1 and for many valuable
 hints and suggestions4    ,c4,b4       
,,balliol ,,college1   ,jan #beth1      
#aijg4     ,,contents   ,,chap4         
,,page  ,i4 ,,introduction--,,sources   
,,and ,,scope                           
#a  ,,ii4 ,,the ',,antecedents' ,,of    

,,roman ,,religion                      
#d  ,,iii4 ,,main ,,features ,,of ,,the 
,,religion ,,of ,,numa                  
#ab  ,,iv4 ,,early ,,history ,,of       
,,rome--,,the ,,agricultural ,,community
          #ca  ,v4 ,,worship ,,of ,,the 
,,household                             
#cf  ,,vi4 ,,worship ,,of ,,the ,,fields
                                        
#eh  ,,vii4 ,,worship ,,of ,,the ,,state
                                        
#ge  ,,viii4 ,,auguries ,,and ,,auspices
                                    #if 
,,ix4 ,,religion ,,and                  
,,morality--,,conclusion                
#ajc     ,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,ancient
 ,,rome   ,,chapter ,i                  
,,introduction--,,sources ,,and ,,scope 
,the conditions of our knowledge of the 
native religion of early ,rome may      
perhaps be best illustrated by a        
parallel from ,roman archaeology4 ,the  
visitor to the ,roman ,forum at the     
present day1 if he wishes to reconstruct
 in imagination the ,forum of the early 

,republic1 must not merely 'think away' 
many strata of later buildings1 but1 we 
are told1 must picture to himself a     
totally different orientation of the    
whole3 the upper layer of remains1 which
 he sees before him1 is for his purpose 
in most cases not merely useless1 but   
positively misleading4 ,in the same way1
 if we wish to form a picture of the    
genuine ,roman religion1 we cannot find 
it immediately in classical literature2 
we must banish from our minds all that  
is due to the contact with the ,east and
 ,egypt1 and even with the other races  
of ,italy1 and we must imagine1 so to   
speak1 a totally different mental       
orientation before the great influx of  
,greek literature and ,greek thought1   
which gave an entirely new turn to      
,roman ideas in general1 and in         
particular revolutionised religion by   
the introduction of anthropomorphic     
notions and sensuous representations4   
,but in this difficult search we are not
 left without indications to guide us4  

,in the writings of the savants of the  
late ,republic and of the ,empire1 and  
in the ,augustan poets1 biassed though  
they are in their interpretations by    
,greek tendencies1 there is embodied a  
great wealth of ancient custom and      
ritual1 which becomes significant when  
we have once got the clue to its        
meaning4 ,more direct evidence is       
afforded by a large body of inscriptions
 and monuments1 and above all by the    
surviving ,calendars of the ,roman      
festival year1 which give us the true   
outline of the ceremonial observances of
 the early religion4  ,it is not within 
the scope of this sketch to enter1      
except by way of occasional             
illustration1 into the process of       
interpretation by which the patient work
 of scholars has disentangled the form  
and spirit of the native religion from  
the mass of foreign accretions4 ,i      
intend rather to assume the process1 and
 deal1 as far as it is possible in so   
controversial a subject1 with results   

upon which authorities are generally    
agreed4 ,neither will any attempt be    
made to follow the development which the
 early religion underwent in later      
periods1 when foreign elements were     
added and foreign ideas altered and     
remoulded the old tradition4 ,we must   
confine ourselves to a single epoch1 in 
which the native ,roman spirit worked   
out unaided the ideas inherited from    
half-civilised ancestors1 and formed    
that body of belief and ritual1 which   
was always1 at least officially1 the    
kernel of ,roman religion1 and          
constituted what the ,romans            
themselves--staunch believers in their  
own traditional history--loved to       
describe as the ',religion of ,numa4'   
,we must discover1 as far as we can1 how
 far its inherited notions ran parallel 
with those of other primitive religions1
 but more especially we must try to note
 what is characteristically ,roman alike
 in custom and ritual and in the motives
 and spirit which prompted them4        

,,chapter ,,ii  ,,the ',,antecedents'   
,,of ,,roman ,,religion   ,in every     
early religion there will of course be  
found1 apart from external influence1   
traces of its own internal development1 
of stages by which it must have advanced
 from a mass of vague and primitive     
belief and custom to the organised      
worship of a civilised community4 ,the  
religion of ,rome is no exception to    
this rule2 we can detect in its later   
practice evidences of primitive notions 
and habits which it had in common with  
other semi-barbarous peoples1 and we    
shall see that the leading idea in its  
theology is but a characteristically    
,roman development of a marked feature  
in most early religions4  #a4           
,magic4--,anthropology has taught us    
that in many primitive societies        
religion--a sense of man's dependence on
 a power higher than himself--is        
preceded by a stage of magic--a belief  
in man's own power to influence by      
occult means the action of the world    

around him4 ,that the ancestors of the  
,roman community passed through this    
stage seems clear1 and in surviving     
religious practice we may discover      
evidence of such magic in various forms4
 ,there is1 for instance1 what          
anthropology describes as 'sympathetic  
magic'--the attempt to influence the    
powers of nature by an imitation of the 
process which it is desired that they   
should perform4 ,of this we have a      
characteristic example in the ceremony  
of the aquaelicium1 designed to produce 
rain after a long drought4 ,in classical
 times the ceremony consisted in a      
procession headed by the pontifices1    
which bore the sacred rain-stone from   
its resting-place by the ,porta ,capena 
to the ,capitol1 where offerings were   
made to the sky-deity1 ,iuppiter1 but#a 
from the analogy of other primitive     
cults and the sacred title of the stone 
7lapis manalis71 it is practically      
certain that the original ritual was the
 purely imitative process of pouring    

water over the stone4 ,a similar        
rain-charm may possibly be seen in the  
curious ritual of the argeorum sacra1   
when puppets of straw were thrown into  
the ,tiber--a symbolic wetting of the   
crops to which many parallels may be    
found among other primitive peoples4 ,a 
sympathetic charm of a rather different 
character seems to survive in the       
ceremony of the augurium canarium1 at   
which a red dog was sacrificed for the  
prosperity of the crop--a symbolic      
killing of the red mildew 7robigo72 and 
again the slaughter of pregnant cows at 
the ,fordicidia in the middle of ,april1
 before the sprouting of the corn1 has a
 clearly sympathetic connection with the
 fertility of the earth4 ,another       
prominent survival--equally             
characteristic of primitive peoples--is 
the sacredness which attaches to the    
person of the priest-king1 so that his  
every act or word may have a magic      
significance or effect4 ,this is        
reflected generally in the ,roman       

priesthood1 but especially in the       
ceremonial surrounding the flamen       
,dialis1 the priest of ,iuppiter4 ,he   
must appear always in festival garb1    
fire may never be taken from his hearth 
but for sacred purposes1 no other person
 may ever sleep in his bed1 the cuttings
 of his hair and nails must be preserved
 and buried beneath an arbor felix--no  
doubt a magic charm for fertility--he   
must not eat or even mention a goat or a
 bean1 or other objects of an unlucky   
character4  #b4 ,worship of ,natural    
,objects4--,a very common feature in the
 early development of religious         
consciousness is the worship of natural 
objects--in the first place of the      
objects themselves and no more1 but     
later of a spirit indwelling in them4   
,the distinction is no doubt in         
individual cases a difficult one to     
make1 and we find that among the ,romans
 the earlier worship of the object tends
 to give way to the cult of the         
inhabiting spirit1 but examples may be  

found which seem to belong to the       
earlier stage4 ,we have1 for instance1  
the sacred stone 7silex7 which was      
preserved in the temple of ,iuppiter on 
the ,capitol1 and was brought out to    
play a prominent part in the ceremony of
 treaty-making4 ,the fetial1 who on that
 occasion represented the ,roman people1
 at the solemn moment of the            
oath-taking1 struck the sacrificial pig 
with the silex1 saying as he did so1    
',do thou1 ,diespiter1 strike the ,roman
 people as ,i strike this pig here      
to-day1 and strike them the more1 as    
thou art greater and stronger4' ,here no
 doubt the underlying notion is not     
merely symbolical1 but in origin the    
stone is itself the god1 an idea which  
later religion expressed in the         
cult-title specially used in this       
connection1 ,iuppiter ,lapis4 ,so again1
 in all probability1 the termini or     
boundary-stones between properties are  
in origin the objects--though later only
 the site--of a yearly ritual at the    

festival of the ,terminalia on ,february
 the #bcrd1 and they are1 as it were1   
summed up in 'the god ,terminus1' the   
great sacred boundary-stone1 which had  
its own shrine within the ,capitoline   
temple1 because1 according to the       
legend1 'the god' refused to budge even 
to make room for ,iuppiter4 ,the same   
notion is most likely at the root of the
 two great domestic cults of ,vesta1    
'the hearth1' and ,ianus1 'the door1'   
though a more spiritual idea was soon   
associated with them2 we may notice too 
in this connection the worship of       
springs1 summed up in the subsequent    
deity ,fons1 and of rivers1 such as     
,volturnus1 the cult-name of the ,tiber4
  #c4 ,worship of ,trees4--,but most    
conspicuous among the cults of natural  
objects1 as in so many primitive        
religions1 is the worship of trees4     
,here1 though doubtless at first the    
tree was itself the object of           
veneration1 surviving instances seem    
rather to belong to the later period    

when it was regarded as the abode of the
 spirit4 ,we may recognise a case of    
this sort in the ficus ,ruminalis1 once 
the recipient of worship1 though later  
legend1 which preferred to find an      
historical or mythical explanation of   
cults1 looked upon it as sacred because 
it was the scene of the suckling of     
,romulus and ,remus by the wolf4        
,another fig-tree with a similar history
 is the caprificus of the ,campus       
,martius1 subsequently the site of the  
worship of ,iuno ,caprotina4 ,a more    
significant case is the sacred oak of   
,iuppiter ,feretrius on the ,capitol1 on
 which the spolia opima were hung after 
the triumph--probably in early times a  
dedication of the booty to the spirit   
inhabiting the tree4 ,outside ,rome1    
showing the same ideas at work among    
neighbouring peoples1 was the 'golden   
bough' in the grove of ,diana at        
,aricia4 ,nor was it only special trees 
which were thus regarded as the home of 
a deity2 the tree in general is sacred1 

and any one may chance to be inhabited  
by a spirit4 ,the feeling of the country
 population on this point comes out     
clearly in the prayer which ,cato       
recommends his farmer to use before     
making a clearing in a wood3 ',be thou  
god or goddess1 to whom this grove is   
sacred1 be it granted to us to make     
propitiatory sacrifice to thee with a   
pig for the clearing of this sacred     
spot'2 here we have a clear instance of 
the tree regarded as the dwelling of the
 sacred power1 and it is interesting to 
compare the many similar examples       
which#b ,dr4 ,frazer has collected from 
different parts of the world4  #d4      
,worship of ,animals4--,of the worship  
of animals we have comparatively little 
evidence in ,roman religion1 though we  
may perhaps detect it in a portion of   
the mysterious ritual of the            
,lupercalia1 where the ,luperci dressed 
themselves in the skins of the          
sacrificed goats and smeared their faces
 with the blood1 thus symbolically      

trying to bring themselves into         
communion with the sacred animal4 ,we   
may recognise it too in the association 
of particular animals with divinities1  
such as the sacred wolf and woodpecker  
of ,mars1 but on the whole we may doubt 
whether the worship of animals ever     
played so prominent a part in ,roman    
religion as the cult of other natural   
objects4  #e4 ,animism4--,such are some 
of the survivals of very early stages of
 religious custom which still kept their
 place in the developed religion of     
,rome1 but by far the most important    
element in it1 which might indeed be    
described as its 'immediate antecedent1'
 is the state of religious feeling to   
which anthropologists have given the    
name of ',animism4' ,as far as we can   
follow the development of early         
religions1 this attitude of mind seems  
to be the direct outcome of the failure 
of magic4 ,primitive man begins to see  
that neither he nor his magicians really
 possess that occult control over the   

forces of nature which was the supposed 
basis of magic3 the charm fails1 the    
spell does not produce the rain and when
 he looks for the cause1 he can only    
argue that these things must be in the  
hands of some power higher than his own4
 ,the world then and its various        
familiar objects become for him peopled 
with spirits1 like in character to men1 
but more powerful1 and his success in   
life and its various operations depends 
on the degree in which he is able to    
propitiate these spirits and secure     
their co-operation4 ,if he desires rain1
 he must win the favour of the spirit   
who controls it1 if he would fell a tree
 and suffer no harm1 he must by suitable
 offerings entice the indwelling spirit 
to leave it4 ,his 'theology' in this    
stage is the knowledge of the various   
spirits and their dwellings1 his ritual 
the due performance of sacrifice for    
purposes of propitiation and expiation4 
,it was in this state of religious      
feeling that the ancestors of ,rome must

 have lived before they founded their   
agricultural settlement on the          
,palatine3 we must try now to see how   
far it had retained this character and  
what developments it had undergone when 
it had crystallised into the ',religion 
of ,numa4'  ,,footnotes3  #a ,frazer1   
,golden ,bough1 vol4 i4 pp4 #ha ff4  #b 
,golden ,bough1 vol4 i4 pp4 #aha-ahe4   
,,chapter ,,iii  ,,main ,,features ,,of 
,,the ,,religion ,,of ,,numa   #a4      
,theology4--,the characteristic         
appellation of a divine spirit in the   
oldest stratum of the ,roman religion is
 not deus1 a god1 but rather numen1 a   
power3 he becomes deus when he obtains a
 name1 and so is on the way to acquiring
 a definite personality1 but in origin  
he is simply the 'spirit' of the        
'animistic' period1 and retains         
something of the spirit's               
characteristics4 ,thus among the        
divinities of the household we shall see
 later that the ,genius and even the    
,lar ,familiaris1 though they attained  

great dignity of conception1 and were   
the centre of the family life1 and to   
some extent of the family morality1     
never quite rose to the position of     
full-grown gods2 while among the spirits
 of the field the wildness and          
impishness of character associated with 
,faunus and his companion ,inuus--almost
 the cobolds or hobgoblins of the       
flocks--reflects clearly the old        
'animistic' belief in the natural       
evilness of the spirits and their       
hostility to men4 ,the notion of the    
numen is always vague and indefinite3   
even its sex may be uncertain4 ',be thou
 god or goddess' is the form of address 
in the farmer's prayer already quoted   
from ,cato3 'be it male or female' is   
the constant formula in liturgies and   
even dedicatory inscriptions of a much  
later period4  ,these spirits are1 as we
 have seen1 indwellers in the objects of
 nature and controllers of the phenomena
 of nature3 but to the ,roman they were 
more4 ,not merely did they inhabit      

places and things1 but they presided    
over each phase of natural development1 
each state or action in the life of man4
 ,varro1 for instance1 gives us a list  
of the deities concerned in the early   
life of the child1 which1 though it     
bears the marks of priestly elaboration1
 may yet be taken as typical of the     
feeling of the normal ,roman family4    
,there is ,vaticanus1 who opens the     
child's mouth to cry1 ,cunina1 who      
guards his cradle1 ,edulia and ,potina1 
who teach him to eat and drink1         
,statilinus1 who helps him to stand up1 
,adeona and ,abeona1 who watch over his 
first footstep1 and many others each    
with his special province of protection 
or assistance4 ,the farmer similarly is 
in the hands of a whole host of         
divinities who assist him at each stage 
of ploughing1 hoeing1 sowing1 reaping1  
and so forth4 ,if the numen then lacks  
personal individuality1 he has a very   
distinct specialisation of function1 and
 if man's appeal to the divinity is to  

be successful1 he must be very careful  
to make it in the right quarter3 it was 
a stock joke in ,roman comedy to make a 
character 'ask for water from ,liber1 or
 wine from the nymphs4' ,hence we find  
in the prayer formulae in ,cato and     
elsewhere the most careful precautions  
to prevent the accidental omission of   
the deity concerned3 usually the        
worshipper will go through the whole    
list of the gods who may be thought to  
have power in the special circumstances2
 sometimes he will conclude his prayer  
with the formula 'whosoever thou art1'  
or 'and any other name by which thou    
mayest desire to be called4' ,the numen 
is thus vague in his conception but     
specialised in his function1 and so     
later on1 when certain deities have     
acquired definite names and become      
prominent above the rest1 the worshipper
 in appealing to them will add a        
cult-title1 to indicate the special     
character in which he wishes the deity  
to hear3 the woman in childbirth will   

appeal to ,iuno ,lucina1 the general    
praying for victory to ,iuppiter        
,victor1 the man who is taking an oath  
to ,iuppiter as the deus ,fidius4 ,as a 
still later development the cult-title  
will1 as it were1 break off and set up  
for itself1 usually in the form of an   
abstract personification3 ,iuppiter1 in 
the two special capacities just noted1  
gives birth to ,victoria and ,fides4    
,the conception of the numen being so   
formless and indefinite1 it is not      
surprising that in the genuine ,roman   
religion there should have been no      
anthropomorphic representations of the  
divinity at all4 ',for #agj years1'     
,varro tells us1 taking his date from   
the traditional foundation of the city  
in #ged ,b4,c41 'the ,romans worshipped 
their gods without images1' and he adds 
the characteristic comment1 'those who  
introduced representations among the    
nations1 took away fear and brought in  
falsehood4' ,symbols of a few deities   
were no doubt recognised3 we have       

noticed already the silex of ,iuppiter  
and the boundary-stone of ,terminus1    
which were probably at an earlier period
 themselves objects of worship1 and to  
these we may add the sacred spears of   
,mars1 and the sigilla of the           
,state-,penates4 ,but for the most part 
the numina were without even such       
symbolic representation1 nor till about 
the end of the regal period was any form
 of temple built for them to dwell in4  
,the sacred fire of ,vesta near the     
,forum was1 it is true1 from the        
earliest times enclosed in a building2  
this1 however1 was no temple1 but merely
 an erection with the essentially       
practical purpose of preventing the     
extinction of the fire by rain4 ,the    
first temple in the full sense of the   
word was according to tradition built by
 ,servius ,tullius to ,diana on the     
,aventine3 the tradition is significant1
 for ,diana was not one of the di       
indigetes1 the old deities of the       
',religion of ,numa1' but was introduced

 from the neighbouring town of ,aricia1 
and the attribution to ,servius ,tullius
 nearly always denotes an ,etruscan#c or
 at any rate a non-,roman origin4 ,there
 were1 however1 altars in special places
 to particular deities1 built sometimes 
of stone1 sometimes in a more homely    
manner of earth or sods4 ,we hear for   
instance of the altar of ,mars in the   
,campus ,martius1 of ,quirinus on the   
,quirinal1 of ,saturnus at the foot of  
the ,capitol1 and notably of the curious
 underground altar of ,consus on what   
was later the site of the ,circus       
,maximus4 ,but more characteristic than 
the erection of altars is the connection
 of deities with special localities4    
,naturally enough in the worship of the 
household ,vesta had her seat at the    
hearth1 ,ianus at the door1 and the     
'gods of the storehouse' 7,penates7 at  
the cupboard by the hearth1 but the same
 idea appears too in the state-cult4    
,hilltops1 groves1 and especially       
clearings in groves 7luci7 are the most 

usual sacred localities4 ,thus ,quirinus
 has his own sacred hill1 ,iuppiter is  
worshipped on the ,capitol1 ,vesta and  
,iuno ,lucina have their sacred groves  
within the boundaries of the city1 and  
,dea ,dia1 ,robigus1 and ,furrina       
similar groves at the limits of ,roman  
territory4 ,the record of almost every  
,roman cult reveals the importance of   
locality in connection with the di      
indigetes1 and the localities are       
usually such as would be naturally      
chosen by a pastoral and agricultural   
people4  ,such were roughly the main    
outlines of the genuine ,roman          
'theology4' ,it has no gods of human    
form with human relations to one        
another1 interested in the life of men  
and capable of the deepest passions of  
hatred and affection towards them1 such 
as we meet1 for instance1 in the        
mythology of ,greece1 but only these    
impersonal individualities1 if we may so
 call them1 capable of no relation to   
one another1 but able to bring good or  

ill to men1 localised usually in their  
habitations1 but requiring no artificial
 dwelling or elaborate adornment of     
their abode2 becoming gradually more and
 more specialised in function1 yet      
gaining thereby no more real protective 
care for their worshippers--a cold and  
heartless hierarchy1 ready to exact     
their due1 but incapable of inspiring   
devotion or enthusiasm4 ,let us ask next
 how the ,romans conceived of their own 
relations towards them4  #b4 ,the       
,relation of ,gods and ,men4--,the      
character of the ,roman was essentially 
practical and his natural mental        
attitude that of the lawyer4 ,and so in 
his relation towards the divine beings  
whom he worshipped there was little of  
sentiment or affection3 all must be     
regulated by clearly understood         
principles and carried out with formal  
exactness4 ,hence the ius sacrum1 the   
body of rights and duties in the matter 
of religion1 is regarded as a department
 of the ius publicum1 the fundamental   

constitution of the state1 and it is    
significant1 as ,marquardt has observed1
 that it was ,numa1 a king and lawgiver1
 and not a prophet or a poet1 who was   
looked upon as the founder of the ,roman
 religion4 ,starting from the simple    
general feeling of a dependence on a    
higher power 7religio71 which is common 
to all religions1 the ,roman gives it   
his own characteristic colour when he   
conceives of that dependence as         
analogous to a civil contract between   
man and god4 ,both sides are under      
obligation to fulfil their part3 if a   
god answers a man's prayer1 he must be  
repaid by a thank-offering3 if the man  
has fulfilled 'his bounden duty and     
service1' the god must make his return3 
if he does not1 either the cause lies in
 an unconscious failure on the human    
side to carry out the exact letter of   
the law1 or else1 if the god has really 
broken his contract1 he has1 as it were1
 put himself out of court and the man   
may seek aid elsewhere4 ,in this notion 

we have the secret of ,rome's readiness 
under stress of circumstances1 when all 
appeals to the old gods have failed1 to 
adopt foreign deities and cults in the  
hope of a greater measure of success4   
,the contract-notion may perhaps appear 
more clearly if we consider one or two  
of the normal religious acts of the     
,roman individual or state4 ,take first 
of all the performance of the regular   
sacrifices or acts of worship ordained  
by the state-calendar or the celebration
 of the household sacra4 ,the pietas of 
man consists in their due fulfilment1   
but he may through negligence omit them 
or make a mistake in the ritual to be   
employed4 ,in that case the gods1 as it 
were1 have the upper hand in the        
contract and are not obliged to fulfil  
their share1 but the man can set himself
 right again by the offering of a       
piaculum1 which may take the form either
 of an additional sacrifice or a        
repetition of the original rite4 ,so1   
for instance1 when ,cato is giving his  

farmer directions for the lustration of 
his fields1 he supplies him at the end  
with two significant formulae3 'if1' he 
says1 'you have failed in any respect   
with regard to all your offerings1 use  
this formula3 ,father ,mars1 if thou    
hast not found satisfaction in my former
 offering of pig1 sheep1 and ox 7the    
most solemn combination in rustic       
sacrifices71 then let this offering of  
pig and sheep and ox appease thee3 but  
if you have made a mistake in one or two
 only of your offerings1 then say1      
,father ,mars1 because thou hast not    
found satisfaction in that pig 7or      
whatever it may be71 let this pig       
appease thee4' ,on the other hand1 for  
intentional neglect1 there was no       
remedy3 the man was impius and it rested
 with the gods to punish him as they    
liked 7deorum iniuriae dis curae74  ,but
 apart from the regularly constituted   
ceremonies of religion1 there might be  
special occasions on which new relations
 would be entered into between god and  

man4 ,sometimes the initiative would    
come from man3 desiring to obtain from  
the gods some blessings on which he had 
set his heart1 he would enter into a    
votum1 a special contract by which he   
undertook to perform certain acts or    
make certain sacrifices1 in case of the 
fulfilment of his desire4 ,the whole    
proceeding is strictly legal3 from the  
moment when he makes his vow the man is 
voti reus1 in the same position1 that   
is1 as the defendant in a case whose    
decision is still pending2 as soon as   
the gods have accomplished their side of
 the contract he is voti damnatus1      
condemned1 as it were1 to damages1      
having lost his suit2 nor does he       
recover his independence until he has   
paid what he undertook3 votum reddidi   
lubens merito 7',i have paid my vow     
gladly as it was due'7 is the           
characteristic wording of votive        
inscriptions4 ,if the gods did not      
accomplish the wish1 the man was of     
course free1 and sometimes the contract 

would be carried so far that a          
time-limit for their action would be    
fixed by the maker of the vow3 legal    
exactness can hardly go further4  ,or   
again1 the initiative might come from   
the gods4 ,some marked misfortune1 an   
earthquake1 lightning1 a great famine1 a
 portentous birth1 or some such         
occurrence would be recognised as a     
prodigium1 or sign of the god's         
displeasure4 ,somehow or other the      
contract must have been broken on the   
human side and it was the duty of the   
state to see to the restoration of the  
pax deum1 the equilibrium of the normal 
relation of god and man4 ,the right     
proceeding in such a case was a         
lustratio1 a solemn cleansing of the    
people--or the portion of the people    
involved in the god's displeasure--with 
the double object of removing the       
original reason of misfortune and       
averting future causes of the divine    
anger4 ,the commercial notion is not    
perhaps quite so distinct here1 but the 

underlying legal relationship is        
sufficiently marked4  ,if then the      
question be asked whether the relation  
between the ,roman and his gods was     
friendly or unfriendly1 the correct     
answer would probably be that it was    
neither4 ,it was rather what ,aristotle 
in speaking of human relations describes
 as 'a friendship for profit'3 it is    
entered into because both sides hope for
 some advantage--it is maintained as    
long as both sides fulfil their         
obligations4  #c4 ,ceremonial4--,it has 
been said sometimes that the old ,roman 
religion was one of cult and ritual     
without dogma or belief4 ,as we have    
seen this is not in origin strictly     
true1 and it would be fairer to say that
 belief was latent rather than          
non-existent3 this we may see1 for      
instance1 from ,cicero's dialogues on   
the subject of religion1 where in       
discussion the fundamental sense of the 
dependence of man on the help of the    
gods comes clearly into view3 in the    

domestic worship of the family too cult 
was always to some extent 'tinged with  
emotion1' and sanctified by a belief    
which made it a more living and in the  
end a more permanent reality than the   
religion of the state4 ,but it is no    
doubt true that as the community        
advanced1 belief tended to sink into the
 background3 development took place in  
cult and not in theology1 so that by the
 end of the ,republic1 to take an       
example1 though the festival of the     
,furrinalia was duly observed every year
 on the #beth of ,july1 the nature or   
function of the goddess ,furrina was1 as
 we learn from ,cicero1 a pure matter of
 conjecture1 and ,varro tells us that   
her name was known only to a few        
persons4 ,nor was it mere lapse of time 
which tended to obscure theology and    
exalt ceremonial3 their relative        
position was the immediate and natural  
outcome of the underlying idea of the   
relation of god and man4 ,devotion1     
piety--in our sense of the term--and a  

feeling of the divine presence could not
 be enjoined or even encouraged by the  
strictly legal conception on which      
religion was based3 the                 
'contract-notion' required not a 'right 
spirit' but right performance4 ,and so  
it comes about that in all the records  
we have left of the old religion the    
salient feature which catches and       
retains our attention is exactness of   
ritual4 ,all must be performed not      
merely 'decently and in order1' but with
 the most scrupulous care alike for     
every detail of the ceremonial itself1  
and for the surrounding circumstances4  
,the omission or misplacement of a      
single word in the formulae1 the        
slightest sign of resistance on the part
 of the victim1 any disorder among the  
bystanders1 even the accidental squeak  
of a mouse1 are sufficient to vitiate   
the whole ritual and necessitate its    
repetition from the very beginning4 ,one
 of the main functions of the ,roman    
priesthood was to preserve intact the   

tradition of formulae and ritual1 and1  
when the magistrate offered sacrifice   
for the state1 the pontifex stood at his
 side and dictated 7praeire7 the        
formulae which he must use4 ,almost the 
oldest specimen of ,latin which we now  
possess is the song of the ,salii1 the  
priests of ,mars1 handed on from        
generation to generation and repeated   
with scrupulous care1 even though the   
priests themselves1 as ,quintilian      
assures us1 had not the least notion    
what it meant4 ,nor was it merely the   
words of ceremonial which were of vital 
importance3 other details must be       
attended to with equal exactness4       
,place1 as we have seen1 was an         
essential feature even in the conception
 of deity1 and it must have required all
 the personal influence of ,augustus and
 his entourage to reconcile the people  
of ,rome1 with the ancient home of the  
goddess still before their eyes1 to the 
second shrine of ,vesta within the      
limits of his palace on the ,palatine4  

,the choice of the appropriate offering 
again was a matter of the greatest      
moment and was dictated by a large      
number of considerations4 ,the sex of   
the victim must correspond to the sex of
 the deity to whom it is offered1 white 
beasts must be given to the gods of the 
upper world1 black victims to the       
deities below4 ,mars at his ,october    
festival must have his horse1 ,iuno     
,caprotina her goat1 and ,robigus his   
dog1 while in the more rustic festivals 
such as the ,parilia1 the offering would
 be the simpler gift of millet-cakes and
 bowls of milk3 in the case of the ,bona
 ,dea we have the curious provision that
 if wine were used in the ceremonial1 it
 must1 as she was in origin a pastoral  
deity1 always be spoken of as 'milk4'   
,the persons who might be present in the
 various festivals were also rigidly    
determined3 men were excluded from the  
,matronalia on ,march #a1 from the      
,vestalia on the #ith of ,june1 and from
 the night festival of the ,bona ,dea3  

the notorious escapade of ,clodius in   
#fb ,b4,c4 shows the scandal raised by a
 breach of this rule even at the period 
when religious enthusiasm was at its    
lowest ebb4 ,slaves were specifically   
admitted to a share in certain festivals
 such as the ,saturnalia and the        
,compitalia 7the festival of the        
,lares71 whereas at the ,matralia 7the  
festival of the matrons7 a female slave 
was brought in with the express purpose 
of being significantly driven away4     
,the general notion of the exactness of 
ritual will perhaps become clearer when 
we come to examine some of the festivals
 in detail1 but it is of extreme        
importance for the understanding of the 
,roman religious attitude1 to think of  
it from the first as an essential part  
in the expression of the relation of man
 to god4  #d4 ,directness of            
,relation--,functions of ,priests4--,in 
contrast to all this precision of       
ritual1 which tends almost to alienate  
humanity from deity1 we may turn to     

another hardly less prominent feature of
 the ,roman religion--the immediateness 
of relation between the god and his     
worshippers4 ,not only may the          
individual at any time approach the     
altar of the god with his prayer or     
thank-offering1 but in every community  
of persons its religious representative 
is its natural head4 ,in the family the 
head of the household 7pater familias7  
is also the priest and he is responsible
 for conducting the religious worship of
 the whole house1 free and slave alike3 
to his wife and daughters he leaves the 
ceremonial connected with the hearth    
7,vesta7 and the deities of the         
store-cupboard 7,penates71 and to his   
bailiff the sacrifice to the powers who 
protect his fields 7,lares71 but the    
other acts of worship at home and in the
 fields he conducts himself1 and his    
sons act as his acolytes4 ,once a year  
he meets with his neighbours at the     
boundaries of their properties and      
celebrates the common worship over the  

boundary-stones4 ,so in#d the larger    
outgrowth of the family1 the gens1 which
 consisted of all persons with the same 
surname 7nomen1 not cognomen71 the      
gentile sacra are in the hands of the   
more wealthy members who are regarded as
 its heads2 we have the curious instance
 of ,clodius even after his adoption    
into another family1 providing for the  
worship of the gens ,clodia in his own  
house1 and we may remember ,virgil's    
picture of the founders of the gentes of
 the ,potitii and the ,pinarii          
performing the sacrifice to ,hercules at
 the ara maxima1 which was the          
traditional privilege of their houses4  
,when societies 7sodalitates7 are formed
 for religious purposes they elect their
 own magistri to be their religious     
representatives1 as we see in the case  
of the ,salii and the ,luperci4         
,finally1 in the great community of the 
state the king is priest1 and with that 
exactness of parallelism of which the   
,roman was so fond1 he--like the pater  

familias--leaves the worship of ,vesta  
in the hands of his 'daughters1' the    
,vestal virgins4 ,and so1 when the      
,republic is instituted1 a special      
official1 the rex sacrorum1 inherits the
 king's ritual duties1 while the        
superintendence of the ,vestals passes  
to his representative in the matter of  
religious law1 the pontifex maximus1    
whose official residence is always the  
regia1 ,numa's palace4 ,the state is but
 the enlarged household and the head of 
the state is its religious              
representative4  ,if then the approach  
to the gods is so direct1 where1 it may 
be asked1 in the organisation of ,roman 
religion is there room for the priest8  
,two points about the ,roman priesthood 
are of paramount importance4 ,in the    
first place1 they are not a caste apart3
 though there were restrictions as to   
the holding of secular magistracies in  
combination with the priesthood--always 
observed strictly in the case of the rex
 sacrorum and with few exceptions in the

 case of the greater flamines--yet the  
pontifices might always take their part 
in public life1 and no kind of barrier  
existed between them and the rest of the
 community3 ,iulius ,caesar himself was 
pontifex maximus4 ,in the second place  
they are not regarded as representatives
 of the gods or as mediators between god
 and man1 but simply as administrative  
officials appointed for the performance 
of the acts of state-worship1 just as   
the magistrates were for its civil and  
military government4 ,in origin they    
were chosen to assist the king in the   
multifarious duties of the              
state-cult--the flamines were to act as 
special priests of particular deities1  
the most prominent among them being the 
three great priests of ,iuppiter 7flamen
 ,dialis71 ,mars1 and ,quirinus2 the    
pontifices were sometimes delegates of  
the king on special occasions1 but more 
particularly formed his religious       
consilium1 a consulting body1 to give   
him advice as to ritual and act as the  

repositories of tradition4 ,in later    
times the flamines still retain their   
original character1 the pontifices and  
especially the pontifex maximus are     
responsible for the whole organisation  
of the state-religion and are the       
guardians and interpreters of religious 
lore4 ,in the state-cult then the       
priests play a very important part1 but 
their relation to the worship of the    
individual was very small indeed4 ,they 
had a general superintendence over      
private worship and their leave would be
 required for the introduction of any   
new domestic cult2 in cases too where   
the private person was in doubt as to   
ritual or the legitimacy of any         
religious practice1 he could appeal to  
the pontifices for decision4 ,otherwise 
the priest could never intervene in the 
worship of the family1 except in the    
case of the most solemn form of marriage
 7confarreatio71 which1 as it conferred 
on the children the right to hold       
certain of the priesthoods1 was regarded

 itself as a ceremony of the            
state-religion4  ,in his private worship
 then the individual had immediate      
access to the deity1 and it was no doubt
 this absence of priestly mediation and 
the consequent sense of personal        
responsibility1 no less than its        
emotional significance1 which caused the
 greater reality and permanence of the  
domestic worship as compared with the   
organised and official cults of the     
state4  ,,footnotes3  #c ,etruscan      
builders were according to tradition    
employed on the earliest ,roman temples4
  #d ,this is all open to doubt1 but see
 ,de ,marchi1 ,il ,culto ,privato1 vol4 
ii4     ,,chapter ,,iv  ,,early         
,,history ,,of ,,rome--,,the            
,,agricultural ,,community   ,after this
 sketch of the main features which we   
must expect to find in ,roman religion1 
we may attempt to look a little more in 
detail at its various departments1 but  
before doing so it is necessary to form 
some notion of the situation and        

character of the ,roman community3      
religion is not a little determined by  
men's natural surroundings and          
occupations4 ,the subject is naturally  
one of considerable controversy1 but    
certain facts of great significance for 
our purpose may fairly be taken as      
established4 ,the earliest settlement   
which can be called ',rome' was the     
community of the ,palatine hill1 which  
rises out of the valleys more abruptly  
than any of the other hills and was the 
natural place to be selected for        
fortification3 the outline of the walls 
and sacred enclosure running outside    
them 7pomoerium7 may still be traced1   
marking the limits of 'square ,rome'    
7,roma quadrata71 as the historians     
called it4 ,the ,palatine community no  
doubt pursued their agricultural labours
 over the neighbouring valleys and      
hills1 and gradually began to extend    
their settlement till it included the   
,esquiline and ,caelian and other lesser
 heights which made up the              

,septimontium--the next stage of ,rome's
 development4 ,meanwhile a kindred      
settlement had been established on the  
opposite hills of the ,quirinal and     
,viminal1 and ultimately the two        
communities united1 enclosing within    
their boundaries the ,capitol and their 
meeting-place in the valley which       
separated them--the ,forum4 ,in this way
 was formed the ,rome of the ,four      
,regions1 which represents the utmost   
extent of its development during the    
period which gave rise to the genuine   
,roman religion4 ,all these stages have 
left their mark on the customs of       
religion4 ,roma quadrata comes to the   
fore in the ,lupercalia3 not merely is  
the site of the ceremony a grotto on the
 ,palatine 7,lupercal71 but when the    
,luperci run their purificatory course  
around the boundaries1 it is the circuit
 of the ,palatine hill which marks its  
limits4 ,annually on the #aath of       
,december the festival of the           
,septimontium was celebrated1 not by the

 whole people1 but by the montani1      
presumably the inhabitants of those     
parts of ,rome which were included in   
the second settlement4 ,finally1 the    
addition of the ,quirinal settlement is 
marked by the inclusion among the great 
state-gods of ,quirinus1 who must have  
been previously the local deity of the  
,quirinal community4  ,but more         
important for us than the history of the
 early settlement is its character4 ,we 
have spoken of early ,rome as an        
agricultural community3 it would be more
 exact and more helpful to describe it  
as a community of agricultural          
households4 ,the institutions of ,rome1 
legal as well as religious1 all point to
 the household 7familia7 as the original
 unit of organisation3 the individual1  
as such1 counted for nothing1 the       
community was but the aggregate of      
families4 ,domestic worship then was not
 merely independent of the religion of  
the community3 it was prior to it1 and  
is both its historical and logical      

origin4 ,yet the life of the early      
,roman agriculturalist could not be     
confined to the household3 in the       
tilling of the fields and the care of   
his cattle he meets his neighbour1 and  
common interests suggest common prayer  
and thanksgiving4 ,thus there sprung up 
the great series of agricultural        
festivals which form the basis of the   
state-calendar1 but were in origin--as  
some of them still continued to be--the 
independent acts of worship of groups of
 agricultural households4 ,gradually1 as
 the community grew on the lines we have
 just seen1 there grew with it a sense  
of an organised state1 as something more
 than the casual aggregation of         
households or clans 7gentes74 ,as the   
feeling of union became stronger1 so did
 the necessity for common worship of the
 gods1 and the state-cult came into     
being primarily as the repetition on    
behalf of the community as a whole of   
the worship which its members performed 
separately in their households or as    

joint-worshippers in the fields4 ,but   
the conception of a state must carry    
with it at least two ideas over and     
beyond the common needs of its members3 
there must be internal organisation to  
secure domestic tranquillity1 and--since
 there will be collision with other     
states--external organisation for       
purposes of offence and defence4        
,religion follows the new ideas1 and in 
two of the older deities of the fields  
develops the notions of justice and war4
 ,organisation ensues1 and the general  
conceptions of state-deities and        
state-ritual are made more definite and 
precise4  ,it will be at once natural   
and convenient that we should consider  
these three departments of religion in  
the order that has just been            
suggested--the worship of the household1
 the worship of the fields1 the worship 
of the state4 ,but it must not be       
forgotten that both the departments     
themselves and the evidence for them    
frequently overlap4 ,the domestic       

worship is not wholly distinguishable   
from that of the fields1 the state-cult 
is1 as we have seen1 very largely a     
replica of the other two4 ,the evidence 
for the domestic and agricultural cults 
is in itself very scanty1 and we shall  
frequently have to draw inferences from 
their counterparts in the state4 ,above 
all1 it is not to be supposed that any  
hard and fast line between the three    
existed in the ,roman's mind2 but for   
the purposes of analysis the distinction
 is valuable and represents a historical
 reality4     ,,chapter ,v  ,,worship   
,,of ,,the ,,household   #a4 ,the       
,deities4--,the worship of the household
 seems to have originated1 as has been  
suggested1 in the sense of the          
sacredness of certain objects closely   
bound up with the family life--the door1
 the protection against the external    
world1 by which the household went out  
to work in the morning and returned at  
evening1 the hearth1 the giver of warmth
 and nourishment1 and the               

store-cupboard1 where was preserved the 
food for future use4 ,at first1 in all  
probability1 the worship was actually of
 the objects themselves1 but by the time
 that ,rome can be said to have existed 
at all1 'animism' had undoubtedly       
transformed it into a veneration of the 
indwelling spirits1 ,ianus1 ,vesta1 and 
the ,penates4  ,of the domestic worship 
of ,ianus no information has come down  
to us1 but we may well suppose that as  
the defence of the door and its main use
 lay with the men of the household1 so  
they1 under the control of the pater    
familias1 were responsible for the cult 
of its spirit4 ,vesta was1 of course1   
worshipped at the hearth by the women1  
who most often used it in the           
preparation of the domestic meals4 ,in  
the original round hut1 such as the     
primitive ,roman dwelt in--witness the  
models which he buried with his dead and
 which recent excavations in the ,forum 
have brought to light--the 'blazing     
hearth' 7such seems to be the meaning of

 ,vesta7 would be the most conspicuously
 sacred thing2 it is therefore not      
surprising to find that her simple cult 
was the most persistent of all          
throughout the history of ,rome1 and did
 not vary from its original notion4     
,even ,ovid can tell the inquirer 'think
 not ,vesta to be ought else than living
 flame1' and again1 ',vesta and fire    
require no effigy'--notions in which he 
has come curiously near to the          
conceptions of the earliest religion4   
,the ,penates in the same way were at   
first 'the spirits'--whoever they might 
be--who preserved and increased the     
store in the cupboard4 ,then as the     
conception of individual deities became 
clearer1 they were identified with some 
one or other of the gods of the country 
or the state1 among whom the individual 
householder would select those who      
should be the particular ,penates of his
 family3 ,ceres1 ,iuno1 ,iuppiter1      
,pales would be some of those chosen in 
the earlier period4 ,nor are we to      

suppose that selection was merely       
arbitrary3 the tradition of family and  
clan1 even possibly of locality1 would  
determine the choice1 much as the       
patron-saints of a church are now       
determined in a ,roman ,catholic        
country4  ,two other deities are very   
prominent in the worship of the early   
household1 and each is a characteristic 
product of ,roman religious feeling1 the
 ,lar ,familiaris and the ,genius4 ,the 
,lares#e seem to have been in origin the
 spirits of the family fields3 they were
 worshipped1 as ,cicero tells us1 'on   
the farm in sight of the house1' and    
they had their annual festival in the   
,compitalia1 celebrated at the          
compita--places where two or more       
properties marched4 ,but one of these   
spirits1 the ,lar ,familiaris1 had      
special charge of the house and         
household1 and as such was worshipped   
with the other domestic gods at the     
hearth4 ,as his protection extended over
 all the household1 including the       

slaves1 his cult is placed specially in 
the charge of the bailiff's wife        
7vilica74 ,he is regularly worshipped at
 the great divisions of the month on    
,calends1 ,nones1 and ,ides1 but he has 
also an intimate and beautiful          
connection with the domestic history of 
the family4 ,an offering is made to the 
,lar on the occasion of a birth1 a      
wedding1 a departure1 or a return1 and  
even--a characteristically ,roman       
addition--on the occasion of the first  
utterance of a word by a son of the     
house3 finally1 a particularly solemn   
sacrifice is made to him after a death  
in the family4  ,the ,genius is perhaps 
the most difficult conception in the    
,roman religion for the modern mind to  
grasp4 ,it has been spoken of as the    
'patron-saint' or 'guardian-angel1' both
 of them conceptions akin to that of the
 ,genius1 but both far too definite and 
anthropomorphic3 we shall understand it 
best by keeping the 'numen' notion      
clearly in mind and looking to the      

root-meaning of the word 7genius        
connected with the root of gignere1 to  
beget74 ,it was after all only a natural
 development of the notions of 'animism'
 to imagine that man too1 like other    
objects1 had his indwelling spirit--not 
his 'soul' either in our sense of moral 
and intellectual powers1 or in the      
ancient sense of the vital              
principle--but rather as the derivation 
suggests1 in origin simply the spirit   
which gave him the power of generation4 
,hence in the house1 the sphere of the  
,genius is no longer the hearth but the 
marriage-bed 7lectus genialis74 ,this   
notion growing somewhat wider1 the      
,genius comes to denote all the full    
powers1 almost the personality1 of      
developed manhood1 and especially those 
powers which make for pleasure and      
happiness3 this is the origin of such   
common phrases as genium curare1 genio  
indulgere1 meaning practically to 'look 
after oneself1' 'to indulge oneself4'   
,every man1 then1 has this 'spirit of   

his manhood' in his ,genius1 and        
correspondingly every woman her ,iuno1  
or spirit of womanhood1 which are       
worshipped on the birthdays of their    
owners4 ,no doubt later the ,genius was 
accredited with powers over the fortune 
and misfortune of his possessor1 but he 
never really developed anything like the
 independence of a god1 and remained    
always rather a numen4 ,the individual  
revered his own ,genius1 but the        
household cult was concerned1 as one    
would expect1 with the ,genius of the   
master of the house1 the pre-eminent    
,genius of the family4 ,its special     
locality was1 for the reason just       
noticed1 the marriage-bed and its       
symbol1 the house-snake1 kept as a      
revered inmate and cherished in the     
feeling that evil happening to it meant 
misfortune to the master4 ,the festival 
of the ,genius was naturally the        
master's birthday1 and on that day      
slaves and freedmen kept holiday with   
the family and brought offerings to the 

,genius domus4 ,it is a significant     
fact1 and may serve to bring out the    
underlying notion1 that in later        
paintings1 when anthropomorphism and    
sensuous representation held sway over  
all ,roman religion1 though the other   
gods of the household were depicted     
after the manner of ,greek deities1 the 
,genius is either represented by his    
symbolic snake or appears with the human
 features and characteristics of the    
head of the house1 his owner4  ,the     
spirit-gods then of the door and the    
hearth1 the specially chosen deities of 
the store-cupboard1 the particular      
field-power presiding over the          
household1 and the spirit of the        
master's personality were the gods of   
the early home1 and round their worship 
centred the domestic religion4 ,we must 
attempt to see what was its relation to 
family life4  #b4 ,religion and the     
,family ,life4--,we have already noticed
 the main occasions of regular sacrifice
 to the deities of the household1 the   

offerings to the ,lar on ,calends1      
,nones1 and ,ides1 to the ,genius on the
 master's birthday1 and so on1 and we   
are enabled to form a fair picture of   
the rites from paintings which1 although
 of later date1 undoubtedly represent   
the continuous tradition of domestic    
custom4 ,in a wall-painting at          
,herculaneum1 for instance1 we have a   
picture of the pater familias1          
represented with veiled head 7according 
to regular ,roman custom7 and the       
cornucopia of the ,genius1 making       
sacrifice at a round altar or hearth4   
,opposite him stands the flute-player   
7tibicen7 playing to drown any          
unpropitious sound1 while on either side
 are two smaller figures1 presumably the
 sons1 acting as attendants 7camilli71  
and both clad 7succincti7 in the short  
sacrificial tunic 7limus72 one carries  
in his left hand the sacred dish        
7patera71 and in his right garlands or1 
more probably1 ribbons for the          
decoration of the victim3 the other is  

acting as victimarius and bringing the  
pig for sacrifice1 but the animal is    
hurrying with almost excessive eagerness
 towards the altar1 no doubt to show    
that there is none of the reluctance    
which would have been sufficient to     
vitiate the sacrifice4  ,but from our   
point of view such formal acts of       
worship are of less importance than the 
part played by religion in the daily    
life of the household4 ,there is        
evidence both for earlier and later     
periods that the really 'pious' would   
begin their day with prayer and         
sacrifice to the household gods1 and    
like ,virgil's ,aeneas1 typically pius  
in all the meanings of the word1 would  
'rouse the slumbering flame upon the    
altar and gladly approach again the ,lar
 and little ,penates whom he worshipped 
yesterday4' ,but this was perhaps       
exceptional devotion1 and the daily     
worship in the normal household centred 
rather round the family meal4 ,in the   
old and simple house the table would be 

placed at the side of the hearth1 and1  
as the household sat round it1 master   
and man together1 a part of the meal1   
set aside on a special sacred dish      
7patella71 would be thrown into the     
flames as the gods' portion4 ,sometimes 
incense might be added1 and later a     
libation of wine3 when images had become
 common1 the little statuettes of ,lares
 and ,penates would be fetched from the 
shrine 7lararium7 and placed upon the   
table in token of their presence at the 
meal4 ,even in the luxurious1           
many-roomed house of the imperial epoch1
 when the dining-table was far from the 
kitchen-hearth1 a pause was made in the 
meal and an offering sent out to the    
household-gods1 nor would the banquet   
proceed until the slave had returned and
 announced that the gods were favourable
 7deos propitios73 so persistent was    
this tradition of domestic piety4       
,prayer might be made at this point on  
special occasions to special deities1   
as1 for instance1 before the beginning  

of the sowing of the crops1 appeal was  
made to ,iuppiter1 and a special portion
 of the meal 7daps7 was set aside for   
him4 ,the sanctification of the one     
occasion when the whole household met in
 the day cannot fail to have had its    
effect on the domestic life1 and1 even  
if it was no direct incentive to        
morality1 it yet bound the family       
together in a sense of dependence on a  
higher power for the supply of their    
daily needs4  ,we observed incidentally 
how the small events of domestic life   
were given their religious significance1
 particularly in connection with the    
worship of ,lar and ,genius1 but to     
complete the sketch of domestic         
religion1 we must examine a little more 
closely its relation to the process of  
life1 and especially to the two         
important occasions of birth and        
marriage4 ,in no department of life is  
the specialisation of function among the
 numina more conspicuous than in        
connection with birth and childhood4    

,apart from the general protection of   
,iuno ,lucina1 the prominent divinity of
 childbirth1 we can count in the records
 that have come down to us some twenty  
subordinate spirits1 who from the moment
 of conception to the moment of birth   
watched1 each in its own particular     
sphere1 over the mother and the unborn  
child4 ,as soon as the birth had taken  
place began a series of ceremonies1     
which are of particular interest1 as    
they seem to belong to a very early     
stage of religious thought1 and have a  
markedly rustic character4 ,immediately 
a sacred meal was offered to the two    
field-deities1 ,picumnus and ,pilumnus1 
and then the ,roman turned his attention
 to the practical danger of fever for   
the mother and child4 ,at night three   
men gathered round the threshold1 one   
armed with an axe1 another with a stake1
 and a third with a broom3 the two first
 struck the threshold with their        
implements1 the third swept out the     
floor4 ,over this ceremony were said to 

preside three numina1 ,intercidona      
7connected with the axe71 ,pilumnus     
7connected with the stake1 pilum71 and  
,deverra 7connected with the act of     
sweeping74 ,its object was1 as ,varro   
explains it1 to avert the entrance of   
the half-wild ,silvanus by giving three 
unmistakeable signs of human            
civilisation2 we shall probably not be  
wrong in seeing in it rather an actual  
hacking1 beating1 and sweeping away of  
evil spirits4 ,on the ninth day after   
birth1 in the case of a boy1 on the     
eighth in the case of a girl1 occurred  
the festival of the naming 7solemnitas  
nominalium74 ,the ceremony was one of   
purification 7dies lustricus is its     
alternative title71 and a piacular      
offering was made to preserve the child 
from evil influences in the future4     
,friends brought presents1 especially   
neck-bands in the form of a half-moon   
7lunulae71 and the golden balls 7bullae7
 which were worn as a charm round the   
neck until the attainment of manhood4   

,of the numerous petty divinities which 
watched over the child's early years we 
have already given some account4 ,in    
their protection he remained until he   
arrived at puberty1 about the age of    
seventeen1 when with due religious      
ceremony he entered on his manhood4 ,at 
home1 on the morning of the festival1 he
 solemnly laid aside the bulla and the  
purple-striped garb of childhood 7toga  
praetexta7 before the shrine of the     
household gods1 and made them a         
thank-offering for their protection in  
the past4 ,afterwards1 accompanied by   
his father and friends and clad now in  
the toga virilis1 he went solemnly to   
the ,capitol1 and1 after placing a      
contribution in the coffers of          
,iuventas--or probably in earlier times 
of ,iuppiter ,iuventus--made an offering
 to the supreme deity ,iuppiter         
,capitolinus4 ,the sacred character of  
the early years of a young ,roman's life
 could hardly be more closely marked4   
,though confarreatio was the only       

essentially religious form of marriage1 
and was sanctified by the presence of   
the pontifex maximus and the flamen     
,dialis1 yet marriage even in the less  
religious ceremony of coemptio was      
always a sacrum4 ,it must not take place
 on the days of state-festivals         
7feriae71 nor on certain other dies     
religiosi1 such as those of the         
,vestalia or the feast of the dead      
7,parentalia74 ,both the marriage itself
 and the preliminary betrothal          
7sponsalia7 had to receive the divine   
sanction by means of auspices1 and in   
the ceremonies of both rites the        
religious element1 though bound up with 
superstition and folk-customs1 emerges  
clearly enough4 ,the central ceremony of
 the confarreatio was an act partly of  
sacrifice1 partly1 one might almost say1
 of communion4 ,the bride and bridegroom
 sat on two chairs united to one another
 and covered with a lambskin1 they      
offered to ,iuppiter bloodless offerings
 of a rustic character 7fruges et molam 

salsam71 they employed in the sacrifice 
the fundamental household necessaries1  
water1 fire1 and salt1 and themselves   
ate of the sacred spelt-cake 7libus     
farreus71 from which the ceremony       
derived its name4 ,the crucial point in 
the more civil ceremony of coemptio was 
the purely human and legal act of the   
joining of hands 7dextrarum iunctio71   
but it was immediately followed by the  
sacrifice of a victim1 which gave the   
ceremony a markedly religious           
significance4 ,the customs connected    
with the bringing of the bride to the   
bridegroom's house--so beautifully      
depicted in ,catullus'                  
,epithalamium--her forcible abduction   
from her parents1 the ribaldry of the   
bridegroom's companions1 the throwing of
 nuts as a symbol of fecundity1 the     
carrying of the bride over the          
threshold1 a relic probably of primitive
 marriage by capture1 the untying of the
 bridal knot on the bridal couch--are   
perhaps more akin to superstition than  

religion1 but we may notice two points  
in the proceedings4 ,firstly1 the three 
coins 7asses7 which the bride brought   
with her1 one to give to her husband as 
a token of dowry1 one to be offered at  
the hearth to her new ,lar ,familiaris1 
one to be offered subsequently at the   
nearest compitum 7a clear sign of       
connection between the household ,lar   
and those of the fields72 and secondly1 
an echo of the feature so marked all    
through domestic life1 the crowd of     
little numina1 who took their part in   
assisting the ceremony4 ,there was      
,domiduca1 who brought the bride to the 
bridegroom's house1 ,iterduca1 who      
looked after her on the transit1 ,unxia1
 who anointed her1 ,cinxia1 who bound   
and unbound her girdle1 and many others4
  ,this sketch of the household worship 
of the ,romans will1 ,i hope1 have      
justified my contention that there was  
in it an element more truly 'religious' 
than anything we should gather from the 
ceremonies of the state4 ,the ideas are 

simpler1 the numina seem less cold and  
more protective1 the worshippers more   
sensible of divine aid4 ,when we have   
looked at the companion picture of the  
farmer in the fields1 we shall go on to 
see how the worship of the agricultural 
household is the prototype and basis of 
the state-cult1 but first we must       
consider briefly the very difficult     
question of the relation of the living  
to the dead4  #c4 ,relation of the      
,living and the ,dead4--,the worship of 
the spirits of dead ancestors is so     
common a feature in most primitive      
religions that it may seem strange even 
to doubt whether it existed among the   
,romans1 but1 although the question is  
one of extreme difficulty1 and the      
evidence very insufficient1 ,i am       
inclined to believe that1 though the    
living were always conscious of their   
continued relation to the dead1 and     
sensitive of the influence of the powers
 of the underworld1 yet there was not1  
strictly speaking1 any cult of the dead4

 ,let us attempt briefly to collect the 
salient features in ritual1 and see to  
what conclusion they point as to the    
underlying belief4  ,one of the most    
remarkable facts in domestic worship is 
that1 whereas the moment of birth and   
the other great occasions of life are   
surrounded with religious ceremony and  
belief1 the moment of death passes      
without any trace of religious          
accompaniment3 it is as though the dying
 man went out into another world where  
the ceremonials of this life can no more
 avail him1 nor its gods protect him4   
,as to his state after death1 opinion   
varied at different times under         
different influences1 but the simple    
early notion1 connected especially with 
the practice of burial as opposed to    
cremation1#f was that his spirit just   
sank into the earth1 where it rested and
 returned from time to time to the upper
 world through certain openings in the  
ground 7mundi71 whose solemn uncovering 
was one of the regular observances of   

the festal calendar3 later1 no doubt1 a 
more spiritual notion prevailed1 though 
it never reached definiteness or        
universality4 ,one idea1 however1 seems 
always to be prominent1 that the        
happiness of the dead could be much     
affected by the due performance of the  
funeral rites2 hence it was the most    
solemn duty of the heir to perform the  
iusta for the dead1 and if he failed in 
any respect to carry them out1 he could 
only atone for his omission by the      
annual sacrifice of a sow 7porca        
praecidanea7 to ,ceres and ,tellus--to  
the divinities of the earth1 be it      
noticed1 and not to the dead themselves4
 ,the actual funeral was not a religious
 ceremony2 a procession was formed      
7originally at night7 of the family and 
friends1 in which the body of the dead  
was carried--accompanied by the busts   
7imagines7 of his ancestors--to a tomb  
outside the town1 and was there laid in 
the grave4 ,the family on their return  
proceeded at once to rites of           

purification from the contamination     
which had overtaken them owing to the   
presence of a dead body4 ,two ceremonies
 were performed1 one for the            
purification of the house by the        
sacrifice of a sow 7porca praesentanea7 
to ,ceres accompanied by a solemn       
sweeping out of refuse 7exverrae71 the  
other the lustration of their own       
persons by fire and water4 ,this done1  
they sat down with their friends to a   
funeral feast 7silicernium71 which1     
,cicero tells us1 was regarded as an    
honour rather to the surviving members  
of the family than to the dead1 so that 
mourning was not worn4 ,two other       
ceremonies within the following week1   
the feriae denicales and the novendiale 
sacrum1 brought the religious mourning  
to a close4 ,not that the dead were     
forgotten after the funeral3 year by    
year1 on the anniversaries of death and 
burial1 and on certain fixed occasions  
known by such suggestive titles as 'the 
day of roses' and 'the day of violets1' 

the family would revisit the tomb and   
make simple offerings of salt cake 7mola
 salsa71 of bread soaked in wine1 or    
garlands of flowers3 there is some      
trace1 on such occasions1 of prayer1 but
 it would seem to be rather the         
repetition of general religious formulae
 than a petition to the dead for        
definite blessings4  ,such are the      
principal features of the family ritual 
in relation to their dead2 but if we are
 to form any just notion of belief1 we  
must supplement them by reference to the
 ceremonies of the state1 which here1 as
 elsewhere1 are very clearly the        
household-cult 'writ large4' ,in the    
,calendars we find two obvious          
celebrations in connection with the     
dead1 taking place at different seasons 
of the year1 and consisting of          
ceremonies markedly different in        
character4 ,in the gloomy month of      
,february--associated with solemn       
lustrations--occurs the festival known  
popularly 7though not in the ,calendars7

 as the ,parentalia or dies ,parentales1
 that is1 the days of sacrifice in      
connection with the dead members of the 
family 7parentes1 parentare74 ,it begins
 with the note on ,february #ac1 ,virgo 
,vestalis parentat1 and continues till  
the climax1 ,feralia1 on ,february #ba4 
,during these days the magistrates laid 
aside the insignia of their offices1 the
 temples were shut1 marriages were      
forbidden1 and every family carried out 
at the tombs of its relatives ceremonies
 resembling those of the sacra privata4 
,the whole season closed on ,february   
#bb with the festival of the ,caristia  
or cara cognatio1 a family reunion of   
the survivors in a kind of 'love-feast1'
 which centred in the worship of the    
,lar ,familiaris4 ,here we seem to have 
simply1 as in the family rites1 a       
peaceful and solemn acknowledgment by   
the community as a whole of the still   
subsisting relation of the living and   
the dead4 ,on the #ith1 #aath1 and #acth
 of ,may occurs the ,lemuria1 a ceremony

 of a strikingly different order4 ,once 
again temples are shut and marriages    
forbidden1 but the ritual is of a very  
different nature4 ,the ,lemures or      
,larvae--for there seems to be little   
distinction between the two names--are  
regarded no longer as members of the    
family to be welcomed back to their     
place1 but as hostile spirits to be     
exorcised4#g ,the head of the house     
rises from bed at midnight1 washes1 and 
walks barefoot through the house1 making
 signs for the aversion of evil spirits4
 ,in his mouth he carries black         
beans--always a chthonic symbol--which  
he spits out nine times without looking 
round1 saying1 as he does so1 ',with    
these ,i redeem me and mine'3 he washes 
again1 and clanks brass vessels         
together2 nine times he repeats the     
formula1 'depart1 ,manes of our fathers'
 7no doubt using the dignified title    
,manes euphemistically71 and then       
finally turns round4 ,here we have in a 
quite unmistakeable manner the feeling  

of the hostility of the spirits of the  
dead3 they must be given their          
appropriate food and got out of the     
place as quickly as possible4 ,some     
scholars have attempted to explain the  
difference between these two festivals  
on the assumption that the ,parentalia  
represents the commemoration of the duly
 buried dead1 the ,lemuria the          
apotropaic right for the aversion of the
 unburied1 and therefore hostile        
spirits2 but ,ovid has given a far more 
significant hint1 when he tells us that 
the ,lemuria was the more ancient       
festival of the two4  ,so far we have   
had no indication of anything           
approaching divinity in connection with 
the dead or the underworld as distinct  
from the earth-goddesses1 but the       
evidence for it1 though vague and       
shadowy1 is not wanting4 ,certain       
mysterious female deities1 ,tarpeia1    
,acca ,larentia1 ,carna1 and ,laverna1  
of whom late aetiological myth had its  
own explanation1 have1 in all           

probability1 been rightly interpreted by
 ,mommsen as divinities of the lower    
world3 the commemorative 'sacrifice at  
the tomb1' which we hear of in          
connection with the first two1 was in   
reality1 we may suppose1 an offering to 
a chthonic deity at a mundus4 ,a rather 
more tangible personality is ,vediovis1 
who three times a year has his          
celebration 7,agonia not feriae7 in the 
,calendar3 he1 as his name denotes1 must
 be the 'opposite of ,iove1' that is1   
probably1 his chthonic counterpart1 a   
notion sufficiently borne out by his    
subsequent identification with the      
,greek ,pluto4 ,finally1 of course1     
there is that vague body1 the ,di       
,manes1 'the good gods1' the principal  
deities of the world of the dead2 to    
them invocations are addressed1 and they
 have their place in the formulae of the
 parentalia and the opening of the      
mundi4#h ,in connection with them1      
acting as a link with the female        
deities1 we have the strange goddess    

,genita ,mana1 the 'spirit of birth and 
death4'  ,controversy is acute as to the
 interpretation of these facts1         
especially in regard to the question    
whether or no the spirits of the dead   
were actually worshipped4 ,i would      
hazard the following reconstruction of  
history as consistent with what we      
otherwise know of ,roman religion1 and  
with the evidence before us4 ,from the  
earliest times the ,roman looked upon   
his dead relations as in some sense     
living1 lying beneath the earth1 but    
capable alike of returning to the world 
above and of influencing in some vague  
way the fortunes of the living1         
especially in relation to the crops     
which sprung from the ground in which   
they lay4 ,at first1 when his religion  
was one of fear1 he regarded the dead as
 normally hostile1 and their presence as
 something to be averted2 this is the   
stage which gave birth to the ,lemuria4 
,as civilisation increased1 and the     
sense of the unity of household and     

community developed1 fear1 proving      
ungrounded1 gave place to a kindlier    
feeling of the continued existence of   
the dead as members of household and    
state1 and even in some sense as an     
additional bond between the living3 this
 is the period which produced the sacra 
privata and the ,parentalia4 ,when the  
numen-feeling began to pass into that of
 deus1 in the first place a connection  
was felt between the spirits of the dead
 and the deities of the earth associated
 with the growth of the crops1 in the   
second the notion that the underworld   
must have its gods as well as the world 
above1 produced the shadowy female      
deities and ,vediovis4 ,lastly1 the same
 kind of feeling which added ,parentalia
 to ,lemuria developed the vague general
 notion of the ,di ,manes1 not the      
deified spirits of the dead1 but        
peaceful and on the whole kindly        
divinities holding sway in the world of 
dead spirits1 yet accessible to the     
prayers of the living4 ,the dead1 then1 

were not themselves worshipped1 but they
 needed commemoration and kindly gifts1 
and they had in their lower world       
deities to whom prayer might be made and
 worship given4  ,,footnotes3  #e ,it is
 right to state that there is a totally 
different theory1 according to which the
 ,lares were the spirits of the dead    
ancestors and the ,lar ,familiaris an   
embodiment1 as it were1 of all the      
family dead4  #f ,it is significant that
 even when the dead were cremated1 one  
bone was carefully preserved in order to
 be symbolically buried4  #g ,we may    
note that1 though it is a state         
festival1 our information is solely of  
rites in individual households4  #h     
,their mention in sepulchral            
inscriptions dates from the time of the 
,empire1 when a new conception of their 
nature had sprung up4     ,,chapter ,,vi
  ,,worship ,,of ,,the ,,fields   ,the  
life of the early ,roman in the fields1 
his activities1 his hopes and fears1 are
 reflected in the long list of          

agricultural festivals which constitute 
the greater part of the celebrations in 
the ,calendar1 and follow closely the   
seasons and occupations of the          
agricultural year4 ,we are1 of course1  
in the ,calendar dealing1 to speak      
strictly1 with the worship of the state1
 and not with the semi-private festivals
 of groups of farmers1 but in many      
instances1 such as the ,robigalia1 the  
state seems only to have taken over the 
cult of the farmers1 preserving         
carefully the site on which the         
celebration took place2 in others1 such 
as the ,terminalia and the ,parilia1 it 
seems to have established1 as it were1 a
 state-counterpart of a rite performed  
independently at many rustic centres3 in
 both cases we are justified in         
inferring the practice of the early     
,roman agriculturalist4 ,we shall see   
that in most cases these festivals are  
associated--though often loosely        
enough--with the worship of a particular
 divinity4 ,sometimes1 however1--as in  

the case of the ,lupercalia--it is very 
difficult to discover who this divinity 
was2 in other festivals1 such as the    
,robigalia1 it looks as if the eponymous
 deity was a comparatively late         
development4 ,we may1 therefore1        
suppose1 on the analogy of what we have 
already seen to be the general lines of 
development in ,roman religion1 that the
 festivals in origin centred round a    
purpose rather than a personality1 and  
were addressed 'to all spirits whom it  
might concern'2 and that later1 when the
 deus notion was on the increase1 they  
either attached themselves to some god  
whose personality was already distinct1 
as the ,vinalia were attached to        
,iuppiter1 or 'developed' a deity of    
their own4 ,among these deities1        
strictly functional as a rule and       
existing only in connection with their  
special festival1 we shall notice the   
frequent recurrence of a divinity pair1 
not1 of course1 mythologically related  
as husband and wife1 but representing1  

perhaps1 the male and female aspects of 
the same process of development4  ,the  
festivals divide themselves naturally   
into three groups3 those of ,spring1    
expressive of the hopes and fears for   
the growing crops and herds2 those of   
,summer1 the festivals of fulfilment1   
including the celebration of harvest2   
and those of ,winter1 the festivals of  
sowing1 of social rejoicing1 and in the 
later months of purificatory            
anticipation of the coming year4  #a4   
,festivals of ,spring4--,the old ,roman 
year--as may be seen clearly enough from
 the names of the months still known by 
numbers1 ,september1 ,october1          
etc4--began in ,march3 according to     
tradition ,romulus reckoned a year of   
ten months altogether1 and ,numa added  
,january and ,february4 ,the ,spring    
months properly speaking may be reckoned
 as ,march1 ,april1 and ,may4 ,in ,march
 there were in the developed ,calendar  
no festivals of an immediately          
recognisable agricultural character1 but

 the whole month was practically        
consecrated to its eponymous deity1     
,mars4 ,now1 to the ,roman of the       
,republic1 ,mars was undoubtedly the    
deity associated with war1 and his      
special festivals in this month are of a
 warlike character3 on the #ith the     
priests 7,salii7 began the ancient      
custom of carrying his sacred shields   
7ancilia7 round the town from one       
ordained resting-place to another3 on   
the #aith1 ,quinquatrus1 the shields    
were solemnly purified1 and on the #bcrd
 the same ceremony was performed with   
the war-trumpets3 the ,equirria         
7horse-races7 of ,march #ad may have had
 an agricultural origin--we shall meet  
with races later on as a feature of     
rustic festivals--but they were         
certainly celebrated in a military      
manner4 ,yet there is good reason for   
believing that ,mars was in origin      
associated not with war1 but with the   
growth of vegetation3 he was1 as we     
shall see1 the chief deity addressed in 

the solemn lustration of the fields     
7,ambarvalia71 and if our general notion
 of the development of religion with the
 growing needs of the agricultural      
community crystallising into a state be 
correct1 it may well be that a deity    
originally concerned with the interests 
of the farmer took on himself the       
protection of the soldier1 when the     
fully developed state came into         
collision with its neighbours4 ,if so1  
we may well have in these recurring     
festivals of ,mars the sense1 as ,mr4   
,warde ,fowler has put it1 of 'some     
great numen at work1 quickening         
vegetation1 and calling into life the   
powers of reproduction in man and the   
animals4' ,possibly another agricultural
 note is struck in the ,liberalia of the
 #agth3 though the cult of ,liber was   
almost entirely overlaid by his         
subsequent identification with          
,dionysus1 it seems right to recognise  
in him and his female counterpart1      
,libera1 a general spirit of            

creativeness4  ,the character of ,april 
is much more clearly marked3 the month  
is filled with a series of              
festivals--all of a clearly agricultural
 nature--prayers for the crops now in   
the earth1 and the purification of the  
men and animals on the farm4 ,the series
 opens with the ,fordicidia on the      
#aeth1 when pregnant cows were          
sacrificed3 their unborn calves were    
torn from them and burnt1 the ashes     
being kept by the ,vestal ,virgin in    
,vesta's storehouse 7penus ,vestae7 for 
use at the ,parilia4 ,the general       
symbolism of fertility is very clear2   
the goddess associated with the festival
 is ,tellus1 the earth herself1 and the 
local origin of these festivals is shown
 in the fact that not only was the      
sacrifice made for the whole people on  
the ,capitol1 but separately in each one
 of the curiae4 ,the ,fordicidia is     
closely followed by the ,cerealia on the
 #aith--the festival of another         
earth-goddess 7,ceres1 creare7--more    

especially connected with the growth of 
corn4 ,a very curious feature of the    
ritual was the fastening of fire-brands 
to the tails of foxes1 which were then  
let loose in what was afterwards the    
,circus ,maximus3 a symbol possibly1 as 
,wissowa thinks1 of sunlight1 possibly  
of the vegetation-spirit4 ,but the most 
important of the ,april ceremonies is   
undoubtedly the ,parilia of the #bast1  
the festival of the very ancient rustic 
numen1 ,pales4 ,ovid's#i description of 
the celebration is so interesting and so
 full of the characteristic colour of   
the ,roman rustic festivals that ,i may 
perhaps be pardoned for reproducing it  
at greater length4 ',shepherd1' he says1
 addressing the rustic worshipper1 'at  
the first streak of dawn purify thy     
well-fed flocks3 let water first        
besprinkle them1 and a branch sweep     
clean the ground4 ,let the folds be     
adorned with leaves and branches        
fastened to them1 while a trailing      
wreath covers the gay-decked gates4 ,let

 blue flames rise from the living       
sulphur and the sheep bleat loud as she 
feels the touch of the smoking sulphur4 
,burn the male olive-branch and the pine
 twig and juniper1 and let the blazing  
laurel crackle amid the hearth4 ,a      
basket full of millet must go with the  
millet cakes3 this is the food wherein  
the country goddess finds pleasure most 
of all4 ,give her too her own share of  
the feast and her pail of milk1 and when
 her share has been set aside1 then with
 milk warm from the cow make prayer to  
,pales1 guardian of the woods4' ,the    
poet then recites a long prayer1 in     
which the farmer first begs forgiveness 
for any unwitting sins he may have      
committed against the rustic deities1   
such as trespassing on their groves or  
sheltering his flocks beneath their     
altar1 and then prays for the aversion  
of disease and the prosperity of crops1 
flocks1 and herds4 ',thus must the      
goddess be won1 this prayer say four    
times turning to the sunrise1 and wash  

thy hands in the running stream4 ,then  
set the rustic bowl upon the table in   
place of the wine-bowl1 and drink the   
snowy milk and dark must1 and soon      
through the heaps of crackling straw    
leap in swift course with eager limbs4' 
,all the worshippers then set to leaping
 through the blazing fires1 even the    
flocks and herds were driven through1   
and general hilarity reigned4 ,many     
points of detail might be noticed1 such 
as that in the urban counterpart of the 
festival1 which ,ovid carefully         
distinguishes from the country          
celebrations1 the fire was sprinkled    
with the ashes from the calves of the   
,fordicidia and the blood of ,mars'     
,october horse--another link between    
,mars and agriculture4 ,but it is most  
interesting to note the double character
 of the ceremony--as a purification of  
man and beast on the one hand1 and on   
the other a prayer for the prosperity of
 the season to come4 ,three special     
festivals remain in ,april4 ,at the     

,vinalia 7priora7 of the #bcrd1 the     
wine-skins of the previous year were    
opened and the wine tasted1 and1 we may 
suppose1 supplication was made for the  
vintage to come1 the festival being     
dedicated to the sky-god1 ,iuppiter4 ,at
 the ,robigalia of the #beth the        
offering of a dog was made for the      
aversion of mildew 7robigo71 to ,robigus
 7who looks like a developed eponymous  
deity7 at the fifth milestone on the    
,via ,claudia--the ancient boundary of  
,roman territory4 ,the ,floralia of the 
#bhth does not occur in the old         
,calendars1 probably because it was a   
moveable feast 7feriae conceptivae71 but
 it is an unmistakeable petition to the 
numen ,flora for the blossoming of the  
season's flowers4  ,may was a month of  
more critical importance for the welfare
 of the crops1 and therefore its        
festivals were mostly of a more sombre  
character4 ,the #ith1 #aath1 and #acth  
were the days set apart for the         
,lemuria1 the aversion of the hostile   

spirits of the dead1 of which we have   
already spoken1 and a similarly gloomy  
character probably attached to the      
,agonia of ,vediovis on the #bast4 ,but 
of far the greatest interest is the     
moveable feast of the ,ambarvalia1 the  
great lustration of the fields1 which   
took place towards the end of the month3
 the date of its occurrence was no doubt
 fixed according to the state of the    
crops in any given year4 ,as the        
individual farmer purified his own      
fields for the aversion of evil1 so a   
solemn lustration of the boundaries of  
the state was performed by special      
priests1 known as the ,arval brethren   
7fratres ,arvales74 ,with ceremonial    
dancing 7tripudium7 they moved along the
 boundary-marks and made the farmer's   
most complete offering of the pig1      
sheep1 and ox 7suovetaurilia73 the      
fruits of the last year and the new     
harvest 7aridae et virides7 played a    
large part in the ceremonial1 and a     
solemn litany was recited for the       

aversion of every kind of pest from the 
crops4 ,in ,virgil's account the prayer 
is made to ,ceres1 and we know that in  
imperial times1 when the ,ambarvalia    
became very closely connected with the  
worship of the imperial house1 the      
centre of the cult was the              
earth-goddess1 ,dea ,dia2 but in the    
earliest account of the rustic ceremony 
which we possess in ,cato1 ,mars is     
addressed in the unmistakeable character
 of an agricultural deity4 ',father     
,mars1 ,i pray and beseech thee that    
thou mayest be gracious and favourable  
to me1 to my home1 and my household1 for
 which cause ,i have ordained that the  
offering of pig1 sheep1 and ox be       
carried round my fields1 my land1 and my
 farm3 that thou mayest avert1 ward off1
 and keep afar all disease1 visible and 
invisible1 all barrenness1 waste1       
misfortune1 and ill weather3 that thou  
mayest suffer our crops1 our corn1 our  
vines and bushes to grow and come to    
prosperity3 that thou mayest preserve   

the shepherds and the flocks in safety1 
and grant health and strength to me1 to 
my home1 and my household4' ,we have    
perhaps here another rustic ceremony    
addressed in origin to all numina1 whom 
it might concern1 and1 as it were1      
specialising itself from time to time in
 an appeal to one definite deity or     
another1 but it is also clear evidence  
of an early agricultural association of 
,mars4 ,the ,ambarvalia is one of the   
most picturesque of the field           
ceremonies1 and a peculiarly beautiful  
and imaginative description of it may be
 found in the first chapter of ,pater's 
,marius the ,epicurean4  ,in ,june and  
,july the farmer was waiting for the    
completion of the harvest1 and the great
 state-festivals of the period are not  
agricultural4  #b4 ,festivals of the    
,harvest4--,in ,august the farmer's     
hopes are at last realised1 and the     
harvest is brought in4 ,the season is   
marked by two closely connected         
festivals on the #bast and #beth in     

honour of the old divinity-pair1 ,consus
 7condere71 the god of the storehouse   
and ,ops1 the deity of the wealth of    
harvest4 ,at the ,consualia1 an offering
 is made by the flamen ,quirinalis1     
assisted by the ,vestal virgins1 at an  
underground altar in the ,circus        
,maximus1 specially uncovered for the   
occasion3 here we have probably not so  
much the notion of a chthonic deity1 as 
a relic of the simple practices of an   
early agricultural age1 when the crops  
were stored underground4 ,the beasts who
 had taken part in the harvest were     
released from their labours during the  
day1 and were decorated with flowers3   
the festival included a race of mules1  
the regular ,italian beasts of burden4  
,four days after this general festivity 
occurred the second harvest-ceremony of 
the ,opiconsivia1 held in the shrine    
7sacrarium7 of the ,regia1 and attended 
only by the pontifex maximus and the    
,vestal virgins4 ,this is clearly the   
state-harvest of the regal period1 the  

symbolic storing of the state-crops in  
the sacred storehouse of the palace by  
the king and his daughters4 ,both       
festivals are significant1 and we shall 
meet with ,consus and ,ops again in     
close connection in ,december4 ,the     
,portunalia of the #agth may have been  
another harvest-home1 if we can believe 
the old authorities1 who tell us that   
,portunus was a 'god of doors' 7portae74
  ,the ,vinalia ,rustica of ,august #ai 
we cannot sufficiently interpret through
 lack of information3 it cannot1 of     
course1 have been the festival of the   
vintage1 for it is too early3 it may    
have been a propitiatory ceremony for   
the ripening grapes1 in which case it   
was probably connected with the         
auspicatio vindemiae1 in which the      
flamen ,dialis 7note again the          
association of ,iuppiter and the vine7  
solemnly plucked the first grapes2 or it
 may be a festival of wine1 not vines1  
in which case its main feature would    
most likely be the opening of the last  

year's vintage4  ,september contains no 
great festival1 and the harvest-season  
closes on ,october #aa with the         
,meditrinalia--the nearest approach to a
 thanksgiving for the vintage4 ,on that 
day the first must of the new vintage   
and the wine of the old were solemnly   
tasted1 apparently as a spell against   
disease1 the worshipper using the       
strange formula1 ',i drink the new and  
the old wine1 with new wine and old ,i  
heal 7medeor7 disease4' ,this ceremony  
gave its name to the festival and was   
the cause of the subsequent evolution of
 an eponymous deity1 ,meditrina1 but    
there is little doubt that in origin    
here1 as in the other wine-festivals1   
the deity concerned was at first        
,iuppiter4 ,among the other rustic      
ceremonies of the month we may notice   
the festival of springs 7,fontinalia7 on
 ,october #ac3 wells were decorated with
 garlands and flowers flung into the    
waters4  #c4 ,festivals of the          
,winter4--,the winter-festivals cannot  

be summed up under one general notion so
 easily as those of spring or summer1   
but they fall fairly naturally into two 
groups--the festivals immediately       
connected with agricultural life and    
those associated with the dead and the  
underworld or with solemn purification4 
,the main action of the farmer's life   
during the winter is1 of course1 the    
sowing of the next year's crop1 which   
was commemorated in the ancient festival
 of the ,saturnalia on ,december #ag4   
,though the ,saturnalia is perhaps the  
most familiar to us of all the ,roman   
festivals1 partly from the allusions in 
the classics1 especially in ,horace1    
partly because it is no doubt the source
 of many of our own ,christmas          
festivities1 it is yet almost impossible
 now to recover anything of its original
 ,roman character4 ,greek influence set 
to work on it very early1 identifying   
,saturnus with ,cronos and establishing 
him in a ,greek temple with all the     
accompaniments of ,greek ritual4 ,all   

the familiar features of the            
festival--the freedom and license of the
 slaves1 the giving of presents1 even   
the wax-candles1 which are the prototype
 of those on our own                    
,christmas-tree--are almost certainly   
due to ,greek origin4 ,we are left with 
nothing but the name ,saturnus          
7connected with the root of semen1      
serere7 and the date to assure us that  
we have here in reality a genuine ,roman
 festival of the sowing of the crops4   
,of a similar nature--marking1 as ,ovid 
tells us1 the completion of the         
sowing--was the feriae sementivae or    
,paganalia1 associated with the         
earth-goddesses1 ,ceres and ,tellus4    
,meal-cakes and a pregnant sow were the 
offerings1 the beasts who had helped in 
the ploughing were garlanded1 and prayer
 was made for the seed resting in the   
ground4 ,a curious feature of the winter
 worship is the repetition of festivals 
to the harvest deities1 ,consus and     
,ops1 separated by the same interval of 

three days1 on ,december #ae and #ai3 it
 may be that we have here an indication 
of the final completion of the harvest1 
or1 as ,mr4 ,warde ,fowler has          
suggested1 a ceremonial opening of the  
storehouses1 to see that the harvest is 
not rotting4 ,among the other country   
festivals of the period we may notice   
that of ,carmenta1 on the #aath and     
#aeth of ,january3 she seems to have    
been in origin a water-numen1 but was   
early associated with childbirth3 hence 
the rigid exclusion of men from her     
ceremonies and possibly the taboo on    
leathern thongs1 on the ground that     
nothing involving death must be used in 
the worship of a deity of birth4 ,the   
repetition of her festival may possibly 
point to separate celebrations of the   
communities of ,palatine and ,quirinal4 
,at this time1 too1 occurred the rustic 
ceremonies at the boundaries            
7,terminalia7 and the offering to the   
,lares at the 'marches' 7,compitalia71  
of which we have spoken in treating of  

the worship of the house4  ,the other   
group of winter-festivals is of a much  
more gloomy and less definitely rustic  
type1 though they clearly date from the 
period of the agricultural community4   
,of the ,feralia of ,february #ba1 the  
culmination of the festival of the      
kindred dead 7,parentalia71 we have     
already spoken4 ,the ,larentalia is a   
very mysterious occasion1 and was       
supposed by the ,romans themselves to be
 an offering 'at the tomb' of a         
legendary ,acca ,larentia1 mistress of  
,hercules4 ,but we have seen reason to  
think that ,larentia was in reality a   
deity of the dead1 and the 'tomb' a     
mundus3 if so1 we have another link     
between the winter season and the       
worship of the underworld4 ,there       
remains the weird festival of the       
,lupercalia on ,february #ae1 to which  
we have had occasion to refer several   
times1 and which has become more        
familiar to most of us than other ,roman
 festivals owing to its political use by

 ,mark ,antony in #dd ,b4,c4 ,as we have
 argued already1 it seems to belong to  
the very oldest stratum of the ,palatine
 settlement1 and we may therefore       
appropriately close this account of the 
early festivals with a somewhat fuller  
description of it4 ,the worshippers     
assembled at the ,lupercal1 a cave on   
the ,palatine hill3 there goats and a   
dog were sacrificed1 and two youths     
belonging to the two colleges of ,fabian
 and ,quintian 7or ,quintilian7 ,luperci
 had their foreheads smeared with the   
knife used for the sacrifice and wiped  
with wool dipped in milk--at which point
 it was ordained that they should laugh4
 ,then they girt on the skins of the    
slain goats and1 after feasting1 ran    
their course round the boundaries of the
 ,palatine hill1 followed each by his   
own company of youths1 and striking     
women on their way with strips1 known as
 februae or ,iunonis amicula1 cut from  
the goats' hides4 ,here we have a       
summary of many of the important points 

which we have noticed in the rustic     
festivals3 from the pre-,roman stratum  
comes the idea of communion with the    
sacrificed animal in the smearing of the
 blood and the wearing of the skin1 and 
also the magic charm involved in the    
striking of the women to procure        
fertility3 it is typical of the true    
feeling of ,roman religion that we      
cannot with any certainty tell what     
deity was associated with the rite1     
though probably it was ,faunus3 the     
rustic character of the ceremony is     
indicated by the bowl of milk in which  
the wool was dipped and the sacrifice of
 goats3 the idea of lustration is       
clearly marked in the course round the  
boundaries3 the original ,palatine      
settlement stands out in the limits of  
that course and the site of the         
,lupercal1 and the later synoecismus is 
seen in the1 presumably subsequent1     
addition of the second college of       
,luperci4 ,a careful study of the       
,lupercalia as an epitome of the        

character and development of the ,roman 
agricultural festivals1 though it would 
not show the brighter aspect of some of 
the spring and summer celebrations1     
would yet give a true notion of the     
history and spirit of the whole4        
,,footnotes3  #i ,ov41 ,fast41 iv4 #gce4
     ,,chapter ,,vii  ,,worship ,,of    
,,the ,,state   ,since1 in the matter of
 religion1 the ,roman state is in the   
main but the agricultural household     
magnified1 we shall not1 in considering 
its worship1 be entering on a new       
stratum of ideas1 but rather looking at 
the development of notions and          
sentiments already familiar4 ,to deal1  
however1 with the state-worship in full 
would not only far exceed the limits of 
this sketch1 but would lead us away from
 religious ideas into the region of what
 we might now call 'ecclesiastical      
management4' ,i propose therefore to    
confine myself to two points1 firstly1  
the broadening of the old conceptions of
 the household and the fields and their 

adaptation to the life of the state1 and
 secondly--to be treated very shortly   
and as an indication of the ,roman      
character--the organisation of religion4
  #a4 ,development of the ,worship of   
,house and ,fields4--,here we shall find
 two main characteristics4 ,the state in
 the first place1 as we have several    
times hinted in anticipation1           
establishes its own counterpart of the  
household and rustic cults and adapts to
 its own use the ideas which they       
involve3 in the second1 and particularly
 in connection with some of the         
field-deities1 it evolves new and very  
frequently abstract notions1 foreign to 
the life of the independent country     
households1 but necessary and vital to  
the life of an organised community4 ,let
 us look first at the fate of the       
household deities4  ,ianus4--,we left   
,ianus as the numen of the house-door3  
he passes into the state exactly in the 
same capacity3 the state too has its    
'door1' the gate at the north-east      

corner of the ,forum1 and this becomes  
the seat of his state-cult--the door    
which1 according to ,augustan legend1 is
 opened in the time of war and only shut
 when ,rome is at peace with all the    
world4 ,but reflection soon gets to work
 on ,ianus3 a door has two sides1 it can
 both open and shut2 therefore1 as early
 as the song of the ,salii1 he has      
developed the cult-epithets ',opener1'  
',shutter' 7,patulci1 ,cloesi71 and as  
soon as he is thought of as anything    
approaching a personality he is         
'two-headed' 7bifrons71 as he appears in
 later representations4 ,the door again 
is the first thing you come to in       
entering a house3 the 'door-spirit'     
then1 with that tendency to abstraction 
which we shall see shortly in other     
cases1 becomes the god of beginnings4   
,he watches over the very first         
beginning of human life in his character
 of ,consevius2 to him is sacred the    
first hour of the day 7pater matutinus71
 the ,calends of every month1 and the   

first month of the year 7,ianuarius72 to
 him too is offered by the rex sacrorum 
the first sacrifice of the year1 the    
,agonium on the #ith of ,january4 ,in   
this capacity1 moreover1 his name comes 
first in all the formulae of prayer1 and
 he is looked upon--not indeed as the   
father of the gods--for that is a much  
too anthropomorphic notion--but as what 
we might now term their 'logical        
antecedent'3 divum deus1 as the song of 
the ,salii quaintly puts it1 principium 
deorum1 as later interpretation         
explained it4 ,yet through all he       
remains the most typical ,roman deity3  
he does not acquire a temple till #bag  
,b4,c41 nor a bust until quite late1 nor
 is he ever identified with a ,greek    
counterpart4 ,in his capacity as pater  
matutinus he has a native female        
counterpart in ,matuta1 a dawn-deity1   
who becomes a protectress in childbirth1
 and as such is the centre of the       
matrons' festival1 the ,matralia of     
,june #aa4  ,vesta4--,the history of    

,vesta is perhaps less romantic1 but it 
affords a more exact parallel between   
household and state4 ,in the primitive  
community the king's hearth is not      
merely of symbolical importance1 but of 
great practical utility1 in that it is  
kept continually burning as the source  
of fire on which the individual         
householder may draw3 hence it is the   
duty of the king's daughters to care for
 it and keep the flame perpetually      
alight4 ,in ,rome the temple of ,vesta  
is the king's hearth1 situated1 as one  
would expect1 in close proximity to the 
regia4 ,the fire is kept continually    
blazing except on the #ast of ,march of 
every year1 when it is allowed to go out
 and is ceremonially renewed4 ,the      
,vestal virgins1 sworn to perpetual     
virginity and charged with the          
preservation of the sacred flame1 are   
'the king's daughters1' living in a kind
 of convent 7atrium ,vestae7 and under  
the charge of the king's representative1
 the pontifex maximus4 ,it is their duty

 too1 as the natural cooks of the sacred
 royal household1 to make the salt cake 
7mola salsa7 to be used at the year's   
festivals and to preserve it and other  
sacred objects1 such as the ashes of the
 ,fordicidia1 in the storehouse of      
,vesta 7penus ,vestae74 ,in the month of
 ,june from the #gth to the #aeth1 with 
a climax on the #ith1 the day of the    
,vestalia1 the matrons who all the year 
round have tended their own hearths1    
come in solemn procession bare-footed to
 make their homely offerings at the     
state-hearth1 and the virgins meanwhile 
offer the cakes that they have made4    
,for eight days the ceremony continues1 
during which time the bakers and millers
 keep holiday2 the days are religiosi   
7marriages are unlucky and other taboos 
are observed7 and also nefasti 7no      
public business may be performed72 until
 the ceremony closes on the #aeth1 with 
the solemn cleansing of the temple and  
the casting of the refuse into the      
,tiber1 and then the normal life of the 

state may be renewed--,q4 ,st4 ,d4 ,f4  
7,quando ,stercus ,delatum ,fas7 is the 
unique entry in the ,calendars4 ,this is
 all less imaginative than the          
development of ,ianus1 but the          
underlying feeling is intensely ,roman  
and there could be no clearer idea of   
the natural adaptation of the           
household-cult to the religion of the   
state4  ,penates1 ,lares1 and           
,genius4--,the other household deities  
too have their counterpart1 though not  
so prominently marked1 in the worship of
 the state4 ,the magistrates1 on        
entering office1 took oath by ,iuppiter 
and the ,di ,penates populi ,romani     
,quiritium1 and that the conception was 
as wide in the state as in the household
 is shown by the fact that on less      
formal occasions the formula appears as 
,iuppiter et ceteri di omnes immortales4
 ,the ,penates of the state then would  
include all the state-deities2 but that 
their original character is not lost    
sight of we can see from the statement  

of ,varro that in the penus ,vestae 7the
 'state storehouse'7 were preserved     
their sigilla--not apparently sensuous  
representations1 but symbolic objects1  
such as we have seen before in cases    
like that of the silex of ,iuppiter4    
,the ,lares again find their counterpart
 in the ,lares ,praestites of the state1
 and their rustic festival1 the         
,compitalia1 has its urban reproduction1
 which1 as it involved considerable     
license on the part of populace and     
slaves1 was often in the later period of
 the ,republic a cause of serious       
political disturbance4 ,even the        
,genius1 though rather vaguely1 passes  
over to the state and we hear of the    
,genius populi ,romani or the ,genius   
urbis ,romae1 with regard to which      
,servius quotes from an inscription on a
 shield the characteristic addition1    
sive mas sive femina3 in much later     
times we find the exact counterpart of  
the domestic worship of the ,genius of  
the pater familias in the cult of the   

,genius of the ,emperor--the foundation 
of the whole of the imperial worship4   
,we have observed already how the cults 
of the fields were taken over by the    
state and their counterparts established
 in the great festivals of the          
,calendar4 ,naturally enough most of the
 deities concerned1 existing only for   
the part they played in these festivals1
 retained their original character      
without further development4 ,but with a
 few it was different3 it was their fate
 to acquire new characteristics and new 
functions1 and1 developing with the     
needs of the community1 to become the   
great gods of the state3 of these we    
must give some brief account4           
,iuppiter4--,we have known ,iuppiter    
hitherto either in connection with      
certain very primitive survivals1 or in 
the genuine ,roman period as a          
sky-numen1 concerned with the           
grape-harvest in the two ,vinalia and   
the ,meditrinalia1 and the recipient at 
the family meal of a daps as a general  

propitiation before the beginning of the
 sowing4 ,as sky-god he passes to the   
state3 ,lucetius 7lux7 is his title in  
the song of the ,salii and to him are   
sacred the ,ides of every month--the    
time of the full moon1 when there is    
most light in the heavens by night as   
well as day4 ,in his agricultural       
connection he has his wine-festivals in 
the state as in the country1 and the    
household daps becomes the more         
elaborate epulum ,iovis1 in which the   
whole community1 as it were1 entertained
 him at a banquet4 ,as a sky-deity1 too1
 he is particularly concerned with the  
thunderbolt and the lightning-flash     
7,iuppiter ,fulmen1 ,fulgur71 and to him
 are sacred the always ominous spots    
which had been struck by lightning      
7bidentalia73 with the more alarming    
occurrence of lightning by night he has 
a special connection under the          
cult-title ,iuppiter ,summanus4 ,but as 
the little community grew1 and          
especially perhaps after the union of   

the two settlements1 the worship of     
,iuppiter ,feretrius1 associated with   
the sacred oak upon the ,capitol--the   
hill between ,palatine and              
,quirinal--comes more and more into     
prominence as a bond of union and the   
central point of the state's religious  
life3 it tends indeed to take the place 
of priority1 which had previously been  
occupied by ,ianus4 ,the community goes 
to war with its neighbours1 and after a 
signal victory the spolia opima must be 
dedicated on the sacred oak3 indeed     
,iuppiter is in a special sense with    
them in the battle and must now be      
worshipped as the 'stayer of rout'      
7,stator7 and the 'giver of victory'    
7,victor74 ,war is a new province of the
 state's activity1 but1                 
characteristically enough1 it does not  
evolve its own numen1 but enlarges the  
sphere of the somewhat elastic spirits  
already existing4 ,so too in the        
internal organisation of the state there
 is felt the need of a religious        

sanction for public morality1 and       
,iuppiter--though vaguely at            
first--takes on him the character of a  
deity of justice4 ,in this connection he
 is primarily the god of oaths3 we have 
seen how his sacred silex was used in   
the oath of treaty3 it is also the most 
solemn witness to the oath of the       
citizen4 ,iuppiter ,lapis becomes       
specially the ,dius ,fidius1 a          
cult-title which subsequently sets up   
for itself and produces a further       
offshoot in the abstract ,fides4        
,finally1 towards the end of our period 
the ,iuppiter of the ,capitol emerges   
triumphant1 as it were1 from his        
struggle with his rivals and1 with the  
new title of ,iuppiter ,optimus         
,maximus1--the 'best and greatest1' that
 is1 of all the ,iuppiters--takes his   
place as the supreme deity of the ,roman
 state and the personification of the   
greatness and majesty of ,rome itself4  
,to his temple hereafter the ,roman     
youth will come to make his offering    

when he takes the dress of manhood2 here
 the magistrates will do sacrifice      
before entering on their year of office3
 here the victorious general will pass  
in procession with the spoils of his    
victory3 on the walls shall be suspended
 treaties with foreign nations and      
offerings sent by subject princes and   
states from all quarters of the world3  
all that ,rome is to be1 will be1 as it 
were1 embodied in the sky-spirit of the 
sacred oak1 the god of justice and of   
victory in war4  ,iuno4--,iuppiter      
carries with him into the state-worship 
his female counterpart1 ,iuno1 with his 
own characteristics1 in a certain       
degree1 and his own privileges4 ,she is 
,lucina and ,fulgura as he is ,lucetius 
and ,fulgur3 white cows are her         
offerings as white steers are his3 as   
the ,ides are sacred to ,iuppiter1      
so--though they are not a festival--are 
the ,calends to ,iuno4 ,but from the    
first she shows a certain independence  
and develops on lines of her own4 ,in   

the curious ceremony of the fixing of   
the ,nones 7the first quarter of the    
month71 held on the ,calends in the     
curia ,calabra1 she seems to appear as a
 moon-goddess3 the rex sacrorum1 after a
 report from a pontifex as to the       
appearance of the new moon1 announces   
the result in the formula3 ',i summon   
thee for five 7or seven7 days1 hollow   
,iuno' 7dies te quinque septem kalo1    
,iuno ,covella3 hence the name          
,kalendae74 ,but far more               
prominently--either as a female divinity
 herself1 or1 as some think1 owing to   
the supposed influence of the moon on   
female life--does ,iuno figure as the   
deity of women1 and especially in       
association with childbirth and         
marriage4 ,as ,lucina she is1 as we have
 seen1 the presiding deity of           
childbirth1 and her festival on the #ast
 of ,march1 though not in the ,calendars
 7because confined to women and not     
therefore a festival of the whole       
people71 attained immense popularity    

under the title of the ,matronalia4 ,she
 has too a general superintendence of   
the rites of marriage1 and the various  
little numina1 who play so prominent a  
part in the ceremonies1 tend to attach  
themselves to her as cult-titles4 ,the  
festival of the servant-maids in honour 
of ,iuno ,caprotina on the #gth of ,july
 shows the same notion of ,iuno as the  
women's goddess1 which appears again in 
common parlance when women speak of     
their ,iuno1 just as men do of their    
,genius4 ,later on ,iuno acquires the   
characteristics of majesty 7,regina7 and
 protection in war 7,curitis1 ,sospita71
 partly no doubt as ,iuppiter's         
counterpart1 but more directly through  
the introduction of cults from          
neighbouring ,italian towns4            
,mars4--,we have seen reason to believe 
that in the earlier stages of ,roman    
religion ,mars was a numen of           
vegetation1 but though the ,ambarvalia  
was duly taken over into the state-cult 
and attained a very high degree of      

importance1 yet there can be no doubt   
that in the state-religion ,mars was    
pre-eminently associated with war4      
,iuppiter might help at need in averting
 defeat and awarding victory1 but it was
 with ,mars that the general conduct of 
war rested4 ,his sacred animal is the   
warlike wolf1 his symbols the spears and
 the sacred shields 7ancilia71 which    
during his own month 7,martius7--the    
#ast of which is his special            
festival--his priests 7,salii7 wearing  
the full war-dress 7trabea and tunica   
picta7 carry with sacred dance and song 
round the city4 ,his altar is in the    
,campus ,martius1 outside the city-walls
 and therefore within the sphere of the 
imperium militiae1 and the other        
festivals associated with him are of a  
warlike character3 the races of the     
war-horse 7,equirria7 on ,march #ad and 
,february #bg1 and the great race on the
 ,ides of ,october1 when the winner was 
solemnly slain3 the lustration of the   
arms at the ,quinquatrus on ,march #ai  

and the ,armilustrium of ,october       
#ai--;at the beginning and end of the   
campaigning season3 and the lustration  
of the war-trumpets on the #bcrd of     
,march and the #bcrd of ,may4 ,but above
 all in honour of ,mars is held the     
great quinquennial lustrum associated   
with the census1 when the people are    
drawn up in military array around his   
altar in the ,campus ,martius and the   
solemn offering of the suovetaurilia 7is
 this a faint relic of his agricultural 
character87 after being carried three   
times round the gathered host1 is       
offered on his altar in prayer for the  
military future of the state4 ,hardly   
any god in the state-cult has his       
character so clearly marked1 and we may 
regard ,mars as a deity who1 taking on  
new functions to suit the needs of the  
times1 almost entirely lost the traces  
of his original nature4                 
,quirinus4--,iuppiter and ,mars then    
became the great state-deities of the   
developed community and to them is      

added1 as the contribution of the       
,colline settlement1 their own          
particular deity1 ,quirinus4 ,he1 like  
them1 has his own flamen2 like ,mars he 
has his ,salii1 and his festival finds  
its place in the ,calendars on ,february
 the #agth4 ,but of his ritual and      
character we know practically nothing3  
the ritual was obscured because his     
festival coincided with the much more   
popular festival of the curiae1 the     
stultorum feriae3 of his character1 we  
can only conjecture that he was to the  
,colline settlement what ,mars was to   
the ,palatine1 whereas later after the  
complete amalgamation he seems to have  
been distinguished from ,mars as        
representing 'armed peace' rather than  
war--an idea which is borne out by the  
associations of the closely allied word 
,quirites4 ,be that as it may1 we have  
in ,iuppiter1 ,mars1 and ,quirinus the  
great state-triad of the synoecismus1   
who held their own until at the         
beginning of the next epoch they were   

supplanted by the new ,etruscan triad of
 the ,capitol1 ,iuppiter1 ,iuno and     
,minerva4  #b4 ,organisation4--,it might
 perhaps be thought that the            
organisation of religion is a matter    
remote from its spirit1 and is not      
therefore a suitable subject for        
discussion1 where the object is rather  
to bring out underlying motives and     
ideas3 but in dealing with the ,roman   
religion1 where ceremonial and legal    
precision were so prominent1 it would be
 even misleading to omit some reference 
to the very characteristic manner in    
which the state1 taking over the rather 
chaotic elements of the agricultural    
worship1 organised them into something  
like a consistent whole4 ,its most      
complete achievement in this direction  
was without doubt the regulation of the 
religious year4 ,we have spoken many    
times of the ,calendars 7,fasti73 it is 
necessary now to obtain some clearer    
notion of what they were4 ,in ,rome     
itself and various ,italian towns have  

been found some thirty inscriptions1 one
 almost complete 7,maffeiani71 the      
others more or less fragmentary1 giving 
the tables of the months and marking    
precisely the character and occurrences 
of every day in the year4 ,we may take  
as a specimen the latter half of the    
month of ,august from the ,fasti        
,maffeiani4  ,a4 ,,eid4 ,,np4           
,c4 ,,volc4 ,,np4 ,b4 ,f4               
,d4 ,c4 ,c4 ,c4                  ,e4    
,,opic4 ,,np4 ,d4 ,c4                   
,f4 ,c4 ,e4 ,,port4 ,,np4         ,g4   
,,volt4 ,,np4 ,f4 ,c4                   
,h4 ,,np4 ,g4 ,,vin4 ,f4,p4             
,a4 ,f4 ,h4 ,c4                  ,b4 ,f4
 ,a4 ,,cons4 ,,np4         ,c4 ,c4 ,b4  
,,en4                ,in the first      
column are given the nundinal letters of
 the days1 showing their position in the
 eight days' 'week' from one market day 
7nundinae7 to the next4 ,in the second  
column are noted first the great        
divisions of the month1 ,calends1       
,nones1 and ,ides1 and then the         

religious character of each individual  
day is indicated by certain signs1 whose
 explanations throw a good deal of light
 on ,roman religions notions4 ,it will  
be seen that the letters of most        
frequent occurrence are ,f1 ,c1 and ,n  
7or in our extract ,,np73 these         
correspond to the broad distinction     
between days profane and sacred4 ,f     
7fastus7 denotes a day on which the     
business of the state may be performed1 
on which the praetor may say 7fari7 the 
three words1 do1 dico1 addico1 which    
summed up the decisions of the ,roman   
law3 ,c 7comitialis7 marks a day on     
which the legislative assemblies        
7comitia7 may be held3 it is by         
implication ,f as well4 ,n 7nefastus71  
on the other hand1 denotes the sacred   
day1 consecrated to the worship of the  
gods1 on which therefore state-business 
may not be transacted3 similarly the    
very mysterious and much disputed sign  
,,np1 whether it differs in precise     
signification from ,n or not1 certainly 

marks a day of sacred character4 ,,en1  
which occurs once in this extract 7from 
endotercisus1 the old ,latin form of    
intercisus7 signifies a 'split' day     
7dies fissus71 the beginning and end of 
which were sacred1 while the middle     
period was free for business4 ,in the   
second column also 7in large letters in 
some of the other ,calendars7 are named 
the feriae publicae1 the great annual   
state-festivals1 fixed for one          
particular day 7feriae stativae73 such1 
in this case1 are the ,portunalia1      
,vinalia1 and ,consualia4  ,these fasti 
were exhibited in the ,forum and on the 
walls of temples1 and the conscientious 
,roman could have no possible difficulty
 in finding out when he might lawfully  
transact his business and what festivals
 the state was observing3 of the #cee   
days of the old ,calendar #aa were      
fissi1 #bce were fasti 7#aib            
comitiales71 and #aji nefasti4 ,we may  
remark as curious features in the       
,calendar1 denoting rigid adherence to  

principle1 that with one exception1 the 
,poplifugia of ,july #e1 no festival    
ever occurs before the ,nones1 that with
 two exceptions1 the ,regifugium of     
,february #bd and the ,equirria of the  
#adth of ,march1 no festival falls on an
 even day of the month1 and that there  
is a marked avoidance of successive     
feast-days3 even the three days of the  
,lemuria allow an interval of a day     
between each4  ,in the matter of ritual 
and observance1 state-organisation--and 
its absence--are alike significant4 ,of 
the general exactness of ritual and its 
specific variations on different        
occasions a fair notion has perhaps     
already been gathered2 it may help to   
fill out that notion if we can put      
together a sketch of the normal process 
of a sacrifice to the gods4 ,before the 
sacrifice began the animal to be offered
 was selected and tested3 if it had any 
blemish or showed any reluctance1 it was
 rejected4 ,if it were whole and        
willing1 it was bound with fillets      

7infulae7 around its forehead1 and long 
ribbons 7vittae7 depending from them4   
,it was then brought to the altar 7ara7 
by the side of which stood a portable   
brazier 7foculus74 ,the                 
celebrant--magistrate or priest--next   
approached dressed in the toga1 girt    
about him in a peculiar manner 7cinctus 
,gabinus71 and carried up at the back so
 as to form a hood 7velato capite73 the 
herald proclaimed silence1 and the      
flute-player began to play his          
instrument4 ,the first part of the      
offering was then made by the pouring of
 wine and scattering of incense on the  
brazier3 it was followed by the         
ceremonial slaughter 7immolatio7 of the 
animal4 ,the celebrant sprinkled the    
victim with wine and salted cake1 and   
made a symbolic gesture with the knife4 
,the victim was then taken aside by the 
attendants 7victimarii71 and actually   
slaughtered by them3 from it they       
extracted the sacred parts 7exta71      
liver1 heart1 gall1 lungs1 and midriff1 

and after inspecting them to see that   
they had no abnormality--but not in the 
earlier period for purposes of          
augury--wrapped them in pieces of flesh 
7augmenta71 cooked them1 and brought    
them back to the celebrant1 who laid    
them as an offering upon the altar1     
where they were burnt4 ,the rest of the 
flesh 7viscera7 was divided as a sacred 
meal between the celebrant and his      
friends--or in a state-offering among   
the priests1 and probably the           
magistrate4 ,we cannot refrain from     
remarking here the extreme precision of 
ritual1 the scrupulous care with which  
the human side of the contract was      
fulfilled and the--almost               
legal--division of the victim between   
gods and men4 ,but though the ritual was
 so exact1 one must not be led away by  
modern analogies to suppose that there  
was ever anything like a rigid          
constraint on the private citizen for   
the observance of festivals4 ,the       
state-festivals were in the strictest   

sense offerings made to the gods by the 
representative magistrates or priests1  
and if they were present1 all was done  
that was required3 the whole people had 
been1 by a legal fiction1 present in    
their persons4 ,no doubt the private    
citizen would often attend in large     
numbers at the celebrations1 especially 
at the more popular festivals1 but from 
some1 such as the ,vestalia1 he was     
actually excluded4 ,on the other hand1  
though it did not demand presence1 the  
state did--at least                     
theoretically--demand the observance of 
the feast-day by private individuals4   
,the root-notion of feriae was a day set
 apart for the worship of the gods1 and 
on it therefore the citizen ought to do 
'no manner of work4' ,the state observed
 this condition fully in the closing of 
law-courts and the absence of           
legislative assemblies1 and in theory   
too the private citizen must refrain    
from any act which was not concerned    
with the worship of the gods1 or        

rendered absolutely necessary1 as1 for  
instance1 if 'his ox or his ass should  
fall into a pit4' ,but it is            
characteristic of ,rome that the state  
did not seek for offence1 but only      
punished it if accidentally seen3 on a  
feast-day the rex sacrorum and the      
flamines might not see work being done2 
they therefore sent on a herald in      
advance to announce their presence1 and 
an actual conviction involved a         
money-fine4 ,perhaps more scrupulously  
than the feriae were observed the dies  
religiosi1 days of 'abstinence1' on     
which certain acts1 such as marriage1   
the beginning of any new piece of work1 
or the offering of sacrifice to the     
gods1 were forbidden3 such1 in the      
oldest period1 were the days on which   
the mundus was open1 or the temple of   
,vesta received the matrons1 the days   
when the ,salii carried the ancilia in  
procession1 and the periods of the two  
festivals of the dead in ,february and  
,may2 but for eluding their observance  

too devices were not unknown4  ,in the  
state-organisation of religion1 then1 we
 seem to see just the same features from
 which we started3 as a basis the legal 
conception of the relation of god to    
man1 as a result the extreme care and   
precision in times and ceremonials1 as a
 corollary in the state the idea of     
legal representation and the consequent 
looseness of hold on the action of the  
individual4     ,,chapter ,,viii        
,,auguries ,,and ,,auspices   ,so far we
 have been considering the regular      
relations of man and god1 seen in       
recurring or special offerings1 in vows 
and in acts of purification and         
lustration--all based on the            
contract-notion1 all endeavours on man's
 part to fulfil his bounden duty1 that  
the gods may be constrained in turn to  
theirs4 ,but so strong was the feeling  
of divine presence and influence in the 
,roman's mind1 that he was not content  
with doing his best by these regular    
means to secure the favour of the gods1 

but wished before undertaking any       
business of importance to be able to    
assure himself of their approval4 ,his  
practical common-sense evolved1 as it   
were1 a complete 'code'--in the flight  
and song of birds1 in the direction of  
the lightning-flash1 in the conduct of  
men and animals--by which he believed   
that the gods communicated to him their 
intentions3 sometimes these indications 
7auspicia7 might be vouchsafed by the   
gods unasked 7oblativa71 sometimes they 
would be given in answer to request     
7impetrativa73 but as to their meaning1 
there could be no doubt1 provided they  
were interpreted by one skilled in the  
lore and tradition of augury4 ,we may   
observe here1 though our evidence is    
much slighter1 the same three stages    
which we have noticed in the sacrificial
 worship1 the homely domestic auspices1 
the auguries of the agricultural life1  
and the organised system in the state4  
,in the household the use of auspices   
was in origin at any rate very general  

indeed3 ',nothing1' ,cicero tells us1   
'of importance used to be undertaken    
unless with the sanction of the         
auspices' 7auspicato74 ,the right of    
interrogating the will of the gods1     
rested1 as one might expect1 with the   
master of the house1 assisted no doubt  
by the private augur as the repository  
of lore and the interpreter of what the 
master saw4 ,but of the details of      
domestic augury we know but little4     
,cato in one passage insists on the     
extreme importance of silence for the   
purpose1 and ,festus suggests that this 
was secured by the master of the house  
rising in the depths of the night to    
inspect the heavens4 ,we have seen      
already that the taking of the auspices 
played an important part in the         
ceremonies of betrothal and marriage1   
and that the indications of the divine  
will might be very varied we may gather 
from a story in ,cicero4 ,an aunt       
wishing to take the auspices for her    
niece's betrothal1 conducted her into an

 open consecrated space 7sacellum7 and  
sat down on the stool of augury 7sella7 
with her niece standing at her side4    
,after a while the girl tired and asked 
her aunt to give her a little of the    
stool3 the aunt replied1 ',my child1 ,i 
give up my seat to you'3 nothing further
 happened and this answer turned out in 
fact to be the auspicious sign3 the aunt
 died1 the niece married the widower and
 so became mistress of the house4  ,of  
augury in agricultural life we have some
 indication in the annual observance of 
the 'spring augury' 7augurium           
verniserum7 and the midsummer ceremony  
of the augurium canarium1 which seems to
 have been a combination of the offering
 of a red dog 7possibly to avert mildew7
 and an augury for the success of the   
crops4 ,to the rustic stratum possibly  
belongs also the augurium salutis       
populi1 though later it was a yearly act
 celebrated whenever the ,roman army was
 not at war and so became connected with
 the shutting of the temple of ,ianus4  

,the state greatly developed and        
organised the whole system of auguries  
and auspices4 ,the college of augurs    
ranked second only in importance to the 
pontifical college1 and their duties    
with regard to both augury and auspice  
are sufficiently clear4 ,like the       
pontifices in relation to cult1 they are
 the storehouse of all tradition1 and to
 them appeal may be made in all cases of
 doubt both public and private3 they    
were jealous of their secrets and in    
later times their mutual consciousness  
of deception became proverbial4 ,the    
right of augury--in origin simply the   
inspection of the heavens--was theirs   
alone1 and it was exercised particularly
 on the annual occasions mentioned and  
at the installation of priests1 of which
 we get a typical instance in ,livy's   
account of the consecration of ,numa4   
,the auspices on the other hand--in     
origin 'signs from birds' 7avis1        
spicere7--were the province of the      
magistrate about to undertake some      

definite action on behalf of the state  
whether at home or on the field of      
battle4 ,here the augur's functions were
 merely preparatory and advisory4 ,it   
was his duty to prepare the templum1 the
 spot from which the auspices are to be 
taken--always a square space1 with      
boundaries unbroken except at the       
entrance1 not surrounded by wall or     
necessarily by line1 but clearly        
indicated 7effatus7 by the augur1 and   
marked off 7liberatus7 from the         
surroundings3 in the comitia and other  
places in ,rome there were permanent    
templa1 but elsewhere they must be      
specially made4 ,the magistrate then    
enters the templum and observes the     
signs 7spectio73 if there is any doubt  
as to interpretation--and seeing the    
immense complication of the traditions  
7disciplina71 this must often have been 
the case--the augur is referred to as   
interpreter4 ,the signs demanded        
7impetrativa7 were originally always    
connected with the appearance1 song or  

flight of birds--higher or lower1 from  
left to right or right to left1 etc4    
,later others were included1 and with   
the army in the field it became the     
regular practice to take the auspices   
from the feeding of the sacred chickens 
7pulli73 the best sign being obtained   
if1 in their eagerness to feed1 they let
 fall some of the grain from their beaks
 7tripudium solistimum7--a result not   
difficult to secure by previous         
treatment and a careful selection of the
 kind of grain supplied to them4 ,but   
besides this deliberate 'asking for     
signs1' public business might at any    
moment be interrupted if the gods       
voluntarily sent an indication of       
disapproval 7oblativa73 the augurs then 
had always to be at hand to advise the  
magistrates whether notice should be    
taken of such signs1 and1 if so1 what   
was their signification1 and they even  
seem to have had certain rights of      
reporting themselves 7nuntiatio7 the    
occurrence of adverse ones4 ,the sign of

 most usual occurrence would be         
lightning--sometimes such an unexpected 
event as the seizure of a member of the 
assembly with epilepsy 7morbus          
comitialis7--and we know to what lengths
 political obstructionists went in later
 times in the observation of fictitious 
signs1 or even the prevention of        
business by the mere announcement of    
their intention to see an unfavourable  
omen 7servare de caelo74 ,the           
complications and ramifications of the  
augur's art are infinite1 but the main  
idea should by now be plain1 and it must
 be remembered that the kindred art of  
the soothsayer 7haruspex71 oracles1 and 
the interpretation of fate by the       
drawing of lots 7sortes7 are all later  
foreign introductions3 auspice and      
augury are the only genuine ,roman      
methods for interpreting the will of the
 gods4  ,here then in household1 fields1
 and state1 we have a second type of    
relation to the gods1 running parallel  
to the ordinary practice of sacrifice   

and prayer1 distinct yet not            
fundamentally different4 ,as it is man's
 function to propitiate the higher      
spirits and prevent1 if possible1 the   
wrecking of his plans by their          
opposition1 so it is his business1 if he
 can1 to find out their intentions      
before he engages on any serious        
undertaking4 ,as in the ius sacrum his  
legal mind leads him to assume that the 
deities accept the responsibility of the
 contract1 when his own part is         
fulfilled1 so here1 like a practical man
 of business1 he assumes their          
construction of a code of communication1
 which he has learned to interpret4 ,in 
its origin it is a notion common to many
 primitive religions1 but in its        
elaboration it is peculiarly and        
distinctively ,italian1 and1 as we know 
it1 ,roman4     ,,chapter ,,ix          
,,religion ,,and                        
,,morality--,,conclusion   ,it might be 
said that a religion--the expression of 
man's relation to the unseen--has not   

necessarily any connection with         
morality--man's action in himself and   
towards his neighbours3 that an         
individual--or even a nation--might     
perfectly fulfil the duties imposed by  
the 'powers above1' without being       
influenced in conduct and character4    
,such a view might seem to find an apt  
illustration in the religion of ,rome3  
the ceremonial pietas towards the gods  
appears to have little to do with the   
making of man or nation4 ,but in the    
history of the world the test of        
religions must be their effect on the   
character of those who believed in them3
 religion is no doubt itself an outcome 
of character1 but it reacts upon it1 and
 must either strengthen or weaken4 ,we  
are not therefore justified in          
dismissing the ',religion of ,numa'     
without inquiry as to its relation to   
morality1 for on our answer to that     
question must largely depend our        
judgment as to its value4  ,we are of   
course in a peculiarly difficult        

position to grapple with this problem   
through lack of contemporary evidence4  
,the ,rome we know1 in the epochs when  
we can fairly judge of character and    
morality1 was not the ,rome in which the
 ',religion of ,numa' had grown up and  
remained unquestioned3 it had been      
overlaid with foreign cults and foreign 
ideas1 had been used by priests and     
magistrates as a political instrument1  
and discounted among the educated       
through the influence of philosophy4    
,but we may remember in the first place 
that even then1 especially in the       
household and in the country1 the old   
religion had probably a much firmer hold
 than one might imagine from literary   
evidence1 in the second that national   
character is not the growth of a day1 so
 that we may safely refer permanent     
characteristics to the period when the  
old religion held its own4  ,it may be  
admitted at once that the direct        
influence on morality was very small    
indeed4 ,there was no table of          

commandments backed by the religious    
sanction3 the sense of 'sin1' except    
through breach of ritual1 was           
practically unknown4 ,it is true that in
 the very early leges regiae some notion
 of this kind is seen--a significant    
glimpse of what the original relation   
may have been3 it is there ordained that
 the patron who betrayed his client1 or 
the client who deceived his patron1     
shall be condemned to ,iuppiter2 the    
parricide to the spirits of his dead    
ancestors1 the husband who sells his    
wife to the gods of the underworld1 the 
man who removes his neighbour's landmark
 to ,terminus1 the stealer of corn to   
,ceres4 ,all these persons shall be     
sacri3 they have offended against the   
gods and the gods will see to their     
punishment4 ,but these are old-world    
notions which soon passed into the      
background and the state took over the  
punishment of such offenders in the     
ordinary course of law4 ,nor again in   
the prayers of men to gods is there a   

trace of a petition for moral blessings3
 the magistrate prays for the success   
and prosperity of the state1 the farmer 
for the fertility of his crops and      
herds1 even the private individual1 who 
suspends his votive-tablet in the       
temple1 pays his due for health or      
commercial success vouchsafed to himself
 or his relations4 ',men call ,iuppiter 
greatest and best1' says ,cicero1       
'because he makes us not just or        
temperate or wise1 but sound and healthy
 and rich and wealthy4' ,still less1    
until we come to the moralists of the   
,empire1 is there any sense of that     
immediate and personal relation of the  
individual to a higher being1 which is  
really in religion1 far more than       
commandments and ordinances1 the        
mainspring and safeguard of morality3   
even the conception of the ,genius1 the 
'nearest' perhaps of all unseen powers1 
had nothing of this feeling in it1 and  
it may be significant that1 just because
 of his nearness to man1 the ,genius    

never quite attained to god-head4 ,as   
far as direct relation is concerned1    
religion and morality were to the ,roman
 two independent spheres with a very    
small point of contact4  ,nor even in   
its indirect influence does the formal  
observance of the ,roman worship seem   
likely at first sight to have done much 
for personal or national morality4      
,based upon fear1 stereotyped in the    
form of a legal relationship1           
religio--'the bounden obligation'--made1
 no doubt1 for a kind of                
conscientiousness in its adherents1 but 
a cold conscientiousness1 devoid of     
emotion and incapable of expanding      
itself to include other spheres or      
prompt to a similar scrupulousness in   
other relations4 ,the rigid and constant
 distinction of sacred and profane would
 incline the ,roman to fulfil the       
routine of his religious duty and then  
turn1 almost with a sigh of relief1 to  
the occupations of normal life1 carrying
 with him nothing more than the sense of

 a burden laid aside and a pledge of    
external prosperity4 ,even the religious
 act itself might be without moral      
significance3 as we have seen1 the      
worshipper might be wholly ignorant of  
the character1 even the name of the     
deity he worshipped1 and in any case the
 motive of his action was naught1 the   
act itself everything4 ,nor again had   
the ,roman religion any trace of that   
powerful incentive to morality1 a       
doctrine of rewards and punishments in a
 future life3 the ideas as to the fate  
of the dead were fluctuating and vague1 
and the ,roman was in any case much more
 interested in their influence on       
himself than in their possible          
experiences after death4  ,the divorce  
then between religion and morality seems
 almost complete and it is not strange  
that most modern writers speak of the   
,roman religion as a tiresome ritual    
formalism1 almost wholly lacking in     
ethical value4 ,and yet it did not      
present itself in this light to the     

,romans themselves4 ,cicero1 sceptic as 
he was1 could speak of it as the cause  
of ,rome's greatness2 ,augustus1 the    
practical politician1 could believe that
 its revival was an essential condition 
for the renaissance of the ,roman       
character4 ,have we1 in our brief       
examination of its characteristics1 seen
 any features which may suggest the     
solution of this apparent antagonism8   
,was there in this formalism a life     
which escapes us1 as we handle the dry  
bones of antiquarianism8  ,in the first 
place there may be a danger that we     
underrate the value of formalism itself4
 ,it spells routine1 but routine is not 
without value in the strengthening of   
character4 ,the private citizen1 who    
conscientiously day by day had carried  
out the worship of his household gods   
and month by month observed the sacred  
abstinence from work on the days of     
festival1 was certainly not less fitted 
to take his place as a member of a      
strenuous and well-organised community1 

or to serve obediently and quietly in   
the army on campaign4 ,even the         
magistrate in the execution of his      
religious duties must have acquired an  
exactness and method1 which would not be
 valueless in the conduct of public     
business4 ,and when we pass to the      
origin of this formalism--the legal     
relation--the connection with the ,roman
 character becomes at once more obvious4
 ,the 'lawgivers of the world1' who     
developed constitution and code to a    
systematised whole such as antiquity had
 not dreamed of before1 imported1 we may
 say if we like1 their legal notions    
into the sphere of religion3 but we must
 not forget the other side of the       
question4 ,the permanence and success of
 this greater contract with higher      
powers--the feeling that the gods did   
regard and reward exact fulfilment of   
duty--cannot have been without re-action
 on the relations of the life of the    
community3 it was1 as it were1 a higher 
sanction to the legal point of view3 a  

pledge that the relations of citizen and
 state too were rightly conceived4      
',there is1' says ,cicero1 speaking of  
the death of ,clodius in the language of
 a later age1 'there is a divine power  
which inspired that criminal to his own 
ruin3 it was not by chance that he      
expired before the shrine of the ,bona  
,dea1 whose rites he had violated'3 the 
divine justice is the sanction of the   
human law4 ,even in the fear1 from which
 all ultimately sprang1 there was a     
training in self-repression and         
self-subordination1 which in a more     
civilised age must result in a valuable 
respect and obedience4 ,the descendants 
of those who had made religion out of an
 attempt to appease the hostile numina1 
feeling themselves not indeed on more   
familiar terms with their 'unknown      
gods1' but only perhaps a little more   
confident of their own strength1 were   
not likely to be wanting in a           
disciplined sense of dependence and an  
appreciation of the value of respect for

 authority1 which alone can give        
stability to a constitution4 ,if fear   
with the ,romans was not the beginning  
of theological wisdom1 it was yet an    
important contribution to the character 
of a disciplined state4  ,but1 as ,i    
have hinted in the course of this sketch
 more than once1 the answer to this     
problem1 as well as the key to the      
general understanding of the ,roman     
religion1 is to be found in the worship 
of the household4 ,if we knew more of   
it1 we should see more clearly where    
religion and morality joined hands1 but 
we know enough to give us a clue4 ,there
 not only are the principal events of   
life1 birth1 adolescence1 marriage1     
attended by their religious sanction1   
but in the ordinary course of the daily 
round the divine presence and the       
dependence of man are continually       
emphasised4 ,the gods are given their   
portion of the family meal1 the         
sanctified dead are recalled to take    
their share of the family blessings4    

,the result was not merely an           
approach--collectively1 not             
individually--to that sense of the      
nearness of the unseen1 which has so    
great an effect on the actions of the   
living1 but a very strong bond of family
 union which lay at the root of the life
 of the state4 ,it would be difficult to
 find a clearer expression of the notion
 than in the fact that the same word    
pietas1 which expresses the due         
fulfilment of man's duty to god1 is also
 the ideal of the relations of the      
members of a household3 filial piety    
was1 in fact1 but another aspect of that
 rightness of relation1 which reveals   
itself in the worship of the gods4 ,no  
doubt that1 in the city-life of later   
periods1 this ideal broke down on both  
sides3 household worship was neglected  
and family life became less dutiful4    
,but it was still1 especially in the    
country1 the true backbone of ,roman    
society1 and no one can read the opening
 odes of ,horace's third book without   

feeling the strength of ,augustus'      
appeal to it4  ,and if we translate     
this1 as we have learned to do1 into    
terms of the state1 we can get some idea
 of what the ,romans meant by their debt
 to their religion4 ,as the household   
was bound together by the tie of common 
worship1 as in the intermediate stage   
the clan1 severed politically and       
socially1 yet felt itself reunited in   
the gentile rites1 so too the state was 
welded into a whole by the regularly    
recurring annual festivals and the      
assurance of the divine sanction on its 
undertakings4 ,it might be that in the  
course of time these rites lost their   
meaning and the community no longer by  
personal presence expressed its service 
to the gods1 but the cult stood there   
still1 as the type of ,rome's union to  
the higher powers and a guarantee of    
their assistance against all foes3 the  
religion of ,rome was1 as it has been   
said1 the sanctification of             
patriotism--the ,roman citizen's highest

 moral ideal4 ,it has been remarked1    
perhaps with partial truth1 that the    
religion of the ,a,eneid--in many ways a
 summary of ,roman thought and          
feeling--is the belief in the fata      
,romae and their fulfilment4 ,the very  
impersonality of this conception makes  
it a good picture of what religion was  
in the ,roman state4 ,it was not1 as    
with the ,jews1 a strong conviction of  
the rightness of their own belief and a 
certainty that their divine protectors  
must triumph over those of other        
nations1 but a feeling of the constant  
presence of some spirits1 who1 'if haply
 they might find them1' would1 on the   
payment of their due1 bear their part in
 the great progress of right and justice
 and empire on which ,rome must march to
 her victory4 ,it was the duty of the   
citizen1 with this conception of his    
city before his eyes1 to see to it that 
the state's part in the contract was    
fulfilled4 ,from his ancestors had been 
inherited the tradition1 which told him 

the when1 where1 and how1 and in the    
preservation of that tradition and its  
due performance consisted at once       
,rome's duty and her glory4 ',if we     
wish1' says ,cicero1 'to compare        
ourselves with other nations1 we may be 
found in other respects equal or even   
inferior2 in religion1 that is in the   
worship of the gods1 we are far         
superior4' ,the religion of ,rome may   
not have advanced the theology or the   
ethics of the world1 but it made and    
held together a nation4     ,,works     
,,bearing ,,on ,,the ,,early ,,religion 
,,of ,,rome   ,the ,golden ,bough1 7#bnd
 ,ed474 ,j4,g4 ,,frazer4  ,history of   
,rome1 ,,book ,i4 ,,chap ,,xii4 ,,th4   
,,mommsen4  ,die ,religion der ,roemer4 
,e4 ,,aust4  ,religion und ,kultus der  
,roemer4 ,g4 ,,wissowa4  ,il ,culto     
,privato di ,roma ,antica1 ,,part ,i4   
,a4 ,,de-,,marchi4  ,the ,roman         
,festivals4 ,w4 ,,warde ,,fowler4  ,the 
,religion of ,numa4 ,j4,b4 ,,carter4    
,printed by ,t4 and ,a4 ,,constable1    

,printers to ,his ,majesty   at the     
,edinburgh ,university ,press         99
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