L E C T U R E S O N T H E HIS T O R Y O F R O MA N R ELIG ION

FR OM NUMA T O A UGUSTUS

WILLIAM REGINALD HALLIDAY i B A . B .L tt . . ,

Ra tbbone Profemof of A ncient Hiftory i n tbe Universi ty of Li verpo ol

LI VERPOOL UN ER Y RE S ER IV SIT P S OF LIV POOL LTD . LONDON H ER AND ODD STOUGHTON LTD . MCMXXII Made and Printed m Grea t B n tam

rm treet i er l a nd a t nd n and Pres t m uuc Co LTD . Victo , p , C . T , 5 3 , S L v oo Lo o co WILLIAM FOWLER

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PREFACE .

T m s little book does not aim at maki ng any original contribution to knowledge . It has been

no tes o f t ures written out from the a course l , ‘

- which were actually delivered as pub .ic lectures

o ur o f in Institute Archaeology, but were primarily designed for students in the first o r second year of study in the Honours School o f Classics in

Liverpool University . Their aim was to sum marise very briefly the character and the historical development of Roman reli gion up to the death of Augustus . It had been intended that the story should be completed by a similar course upon the conflict o f reli gions under the Roman l Empire to be given by my friend and col eague ,

Mr . H . A . Ormerod . Unforeseen contingencies have caused What I hope may be only a post po nem ent . These circumstances may be allowed to explain the meagre treatment here allotted to the introduction of Oriental cults and to the antecedents of Emperor worship , for these topics belong essentially to this second chapter in the history of Rome . I have very strictly limited my references both 8 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

So to original authorities and to specialist works . short a survey cannot aim at more than being an introduction to larger works o f a general character in which the further references will be found . I have borrowed freely from all the books mentioned ’ below , and most extensively from Warde Fowler s

Reli i ous Ex eri ence tbe R o ma n Peo le g p of p , a book which it is as delightful as it is profitable to read again and again . It is impossible in the effort to be concise to avoid occasional overstatement and sometimes I may have represented as fact what is disputable

. to hypothesis I have tried , however , be orthodox rather than original , and I hope that in the main these lectures represent sound doctrine . Tw o excellent small books upon Roman religion

no t o ut exist in English , though one if both are ’ . Reli i on o f print . The late Mr . ". B Carter s g of Na m e a nd o ther Essay: covers much the same ’ ground as these lectures Mr . Cyril Bailey s , Tbe R eligi on of A nci ent R ome deals with the f religion o Numa . In addition to the relevant articles in Dictionaries and Encyclopedias mention may also be made o f the introduction to Mr . ’ Bailey s recent edition o f the Third Book o f the ’

Fa rti o f . Tbe Reli i ous L e Ovid Carter s , g if of A nci ent R o me 4 study i n tbe developm ent of PREFACE 9 religi ous consci ousness from the founda ti on of tbe ci ty until tbe dea tb of Gregory tbe Grea t will be n i fou d to provide interesting read ng , though the subj ect o f these lectures forms only a small and relatively unimportant part in h is design . The two great names in this field o f study are

Wi sso w a o f Wi sso w a . those and Warde Fowler , R eligi on a nd Kultus der Romer is published as a ’ o f u Ha ndbucb der Kla ssiscben volume Iwan M ller s ,

' A t rtu n Di e Reli i o n der R om er l e mszci sse scbaft. g by his pupil Aust is probably the best complete history o f Roman religion upon a slightly smaller scale . Everyth i ng that Warde Fowler has written is distinguished by ripe scholarship , sound j udg ment and graceful presentation . Besides the great work already mentioned his Festi va ls of the R o ma n Republi c surveys in detail the religious events of

R o a n d a s Dei t i n the Roman year . With m I e of y tbe la st century of tbe R epubli c should be read the ’ same author s Soci a l Life a t R o me i n tbe Age of R o n Ci cero . The series o f papers collected in ma Essays a nd Interpreta ti ons contain some o f great importance for o ur subj ect . In particular may be mentioned The Latin History o f the word ” " R eli i o o f i g , The origin the Lar Famil aris and The Ca rmen Sa ecula re o f Horace and its ” First Performance . I o HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

The best general account of Roman divination remains that contained in the fourth volume of

é Lecler Histoi re de la Di vi na ti on da ns Bouch q ,

’ ' l A nti ui te a q (Paris , Upon all constitution l questions affecting religion a clear , concise , and learned summary o f the facts may be found in

R o ma n Publi c Li e. Greenidge , f If an excuse be needed for adding this summary o fthe subject to the company of larger and better works it may perhaps be found in the fact that , if classical scholarship is temporarily under a cloud , there is nevertheless an increasing number of k l persons , unskilled or little s i led in the classical languages , who are interested in Greek and Roman

wh o civilisation . There are also many are interested in comparative religion but lack a

a knowledge of the facts . Particularly in Rom n religion these are liable to be led astray by mistaken deductions from poetical mythology . The very modesty o f my scope may perhaps tempt some o f them to make the acquaintance o f the main facts as they are no w known and possibly to pursue farther some of the problems which they raise .

W . R. HALLIDAY .

T HE RS T R UNIVE I Y , LIVE POOL ,

une 1 2 2 . j , 9 CONTENTS

PAG E PREFACE I INTR ODUCTORY

II THE RELIGION OF THE HOUSEHOLD III T HE RELIGION OF THE FAR M IV THE RELIGION OF T HE STATE

Lz m u v T HE RELIGION OF NUMA AND ITS OB"ECTS OF WOR SHIP

VI FR OM T HE ETR USCAN MONAR CHY THE SECOND PUNIC WAR VII THE LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUB LIC

LEC TURE VIII T HE AUGUSTAN REVIVAL INDEX

LECTURE I

I NT R ODUCT O RY

NE o fthe main difficulties in presenting a picture o f Greek religion lies in the multiplicity o f the

Greek states varying in their degree o f civilisation . This particular difli culty does not confront the

nt o f Roman religion . His attention is fixed

sir le e upon a gg i i ag , the seven hills which guard o f the ford the Tiber , and he is concerned with the religious b eliefs and pragti ces of a Single people , a group of peasant farmers whom circum stance and the force o f their o wn character caused to become the conquerors first of Italy and in the end o f the civilised world .

o f o wn . The subj ect , however , has difficulties its

All roads lead to Rome , and alike upon Roman character and upon Roman religion foreign influences were increasingly at work . First Greece a conquered her conqueror , and then Orient l cults ' and modes Of thought invaded the capital Ofthe world in overwhelming force . The Orontes said Iuvenal in the first century o f o ur era has ” long been flowing into the Tiber . xs I 4 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

Change o f circumstance has its reaction upon character and it is a law o f evolution that adapta tion to change is necessary for survival . In itself the history o f the development of these peasant farmers o fCentral Italy into the rulers o fthe world provides an interesting and dramatic spectacle . Hardly less interesting are the changes in national character and belief , which accompanied and were caused by these secular changes , and in

as fact it will be found , indeed was to have been

s expected , that the tages in the history of the development of Roman religion closely correspond with the phases o f the political history o f Rome . The earliest Stratum o f religious belief and practice contains reminiscences of the prehistoric conditions of life when the pioneers settled in the forests o f the Central Appenines and when civilisation and ordered life were limited to the clearings which surrounded their homesteads , and beyond which lay the forest , unknown and t menacing , the domain Of Silvanus , the wild spiri o f the woods . Then in our earliest complete out line Of Roman public worship we see the peasant

i th e households organised into a mil tary state , Rome whose duty it was to defend the Latin plain from the Etruscan powers and the maraud

o f . o f ing tribes hillmen The religion Numa , as

I 6 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

B Tarentum in 2 7 2 . C . led directly to the birth of Latin literature through the agency of a Greek

captive , Livius Andronicus . It led also to the wars with Carthage and so to the emergence o f

Rome at their victorious close as a world power , no longer a city state of peasant proprietors but

the capitalist ruler of an empire . If the political institutions of the city state proved inadequate

to the new burden , it is not surprising that a religious system devised to meet the needs Of a community of farmers had ceased to have much

reality for the masters of the world . The additions which had been made to it were Of the nature of foreign accretions not the products o f organic

growth . In temper and character they were in fact inconsistent with the system which they were designed to supplement and the foreign elements

o ld numi na had swamped the native . The Roman had become identified with the anthropomorphic gods o f Greece and Greek mythology had been D transplanted bodily to Italy . uring the desperate strain o f the war with Hannibal foreign worships had been admitted in increasing numbers by the ’ state s desire to invoke supernatural aid , and their introduction had been welcomed by the anxiety

I I o f individuals . The emotional cults of the East first gained a legal footing in Rome with the INTRODUCTORY 1 7

introduction of the Great Mother , the nature

k— o f 2 0 B . C . goddess Asia Minor , in 5 The last hundred years o fthe Republic represent

o f o f a century chaos the religion the city state , like its political institutions and morals had com

su erstl io n pletely broken down . Scepticism and p t tempered by philosophy not unfairly describes the religion o fthe upper classes and the ordinances o f the established religion o f the state were little more than instruments at the disposal o f the

- political wire puller . Then from chaos emerged the empire and its great founder Augustus by restoring the old forms o f reli gious observance hoped to recapture th e

ancient Roman character , discipline and morals upon which he perceived that Rome ’ s great past

had been securely built . He was unable however to breathe life into a system which had long been dead and imperial Rome in fact became the

o f fli focus a con ct of religions , mainly Oriental in ni origin , from which Christia ty eventually emerged

triumphant . It will be clear from this summary o f o ur subj ect that in studying the earlier stages of Roman religion the evidence of Latin literature

must be handled wi th caution . In fact it will be advi sable to put o ut o f o ur minds all the stories B 1 8 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION about the Roman gods which we have learned from Virgil and Ovid and the other poets . Ultimately these are Greek not Roman in origin and are likely to mislead us into drawing con clusio ns from some later accretion o f Gracco Roman mythology which is Roman only in appearance . In fact it must be admitted that the religion o f Numa has little direct connection with Latin l iterature . Nevertheless its study may prove to be not without value even for those whose interest is primarily in the understanding of Latin litera

Fo r ture or Roman history . Latin literature though derivative is not merely an imitation and through a borrowed medium it yet expresses an independent national character . In the long run ,

o r whether in individuals in societies , character is the mainspring and apart from its intrinsic

o f interest , the study the religious beliefs and practices Of the early Romans reveals something o f the hard rock of disciplined character upon which the fortunes o f that great imperial race were ultimately based . The word religion i s itself the bequest of Latin to the languages o f modern Europe and its history

' 1 ' Reli i o m eans rim aril is instructive . l g p y the

- 1 S ec War ds ler R o man E a a nd Inter reta tio n . 1 . Fow , ss y s p s , pp 7 5 " INTRODUCTORY 1 9

” natural fear o r awe whi ch semi civilised man feels ” in the presence o fwhat he cannot explain . From thi s developed the secondary meaning o f religious duties , the Obligation to perform which is prompted by religi o in its earlier sense . Later it came to mean first the whole sphere o f worship as viewed from the standpoint o f the philosopher and finally a particular and individual competing division o f that sphere o f worship . In these last two senses the word is used to - day as when we speak o f Varieties o f Reli gious Experience o r contrast the reli gion o f Christianity with th at o f Islam it is the first two meanings o f the word however which concern the student o f the religion o f Numa . Religi o then is the feeling o f awe with which the unknown inspired the early settler in Central

Italy . He recognised that there were forces actually o r potentially at work in natural pro cesses and in remarkable natural obj ects o r

o f phenomena . He appreciated the mysteries

o f n o f birth and growth , the a nual ripening the

o r o f corn , Of the fortunate increase his herds , at least so far as to realise that factors not within his control contributed to these essential happenings . In the thunderbolt o r in the lightning a strange and uni ntelligible power was manifested 2 0 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION and as he looked beyond the limits o f his clearing at the forest , he felt the presence in its dark recesses of forces which he did not know but feared . This feeli ng has been recaptured as a sentiment by the most sophisticated o f Latin courtiers in describing the sacred grove upon the

Aventine .

u u ti sub erat i r ili cis u r l c s Aven no n ge mb a ,

’ uo i i r u inest q posses v so d ce e n men .

A glance at that dark mysterious grove would bring to your lips the words There is a numen ” in it . Nurnen is a word fo r which no English equivalent exists . It is etymologically connected with the verb nuere and connotes the idea of will power . It seems to mean that incalculable force the intervention o f which in any process o r action

ff o r l makes the di erence between success fai ure , safety o r disaster . It is this force which arouses

o f reli i o the feeling awe , g in its primary sense , and

o f reli i o o f it is the obj ect g , in its secondary sense

o f to the performance religious duties , harness it ,

i o r as it were , in the serv ce of man to prevent its

Num en adverse operation . however is not a universal concept o f a single force immanent

o f throughout the natural world . Every Obj ect INTRODUCTORY 2 1 awe and every functional action has its particular num en upon which the safety o r success of the

hi . wors pper depends But at the same time , i numi na are not gods . They have no personal ty ; they are not conceived as possessing human shape ; in their sex is indeterminate . Indeed it is only action that numi na manifest themselves and it w as only with their mani festation that the early Roman was interested . Practical and unimaginative , he n remai ed otherwise quite incurious , indulged in no Speculation as to their nature o r origin and i nvented no stories about them . Early Roman reli gion is consequently devoid both o f mythology

o f h e and o f images . It has nothing t aesthetic appeal of Greek anthropomorphism . And if it gives little scope to the artistic imagination , it leaves little room for moral fervour . The early ’ no t Roman , in Cicero s words , did ask the gods to m make hi good but to give him health and wealth . His religion provides no Opportunity for the development o f a personal emotional relation between worshipper and the obj ect of worship as do religious systems in whi ch gods are conceived f upon the analogy o human personali ty .

In fact , the Romans from the very beginning were an unimaginative people ; to compensate

— however they were shrewd , hard headed and 2 2 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

o f practical , by instinct a race lawyers rather than

1 8 a race o f poets o r philosophers . There Indeed a legal almost a contractual air about their whole

to religion . The purpose of acts of worship was secure the aid o f the appropriate numen or numina

in the matter then in hand . It was assumed that provided the proper rites were performed in the right manner at the right time and in the right place there was almost an obligation upon the

power concerned to exercise a favourable activity . If o n the other hand there was the least flaw in

the procedure , however unintentional , the whole

process was invalid . From the outset there was therefore a strong tendency to formalism and a disposition to entrust the performance o f the necessary rites to the expert who knew how they

should properly be performed . Another characteristically Roman feature is the complete lack of individualism in early Roman

religion . Its true subdivisions are the religious

o f o f ’ o f Observances the household , the farm and the state and throughout it is primarily the welfare o fthe appropriate group not that Of an individual

which is the Obj ect of religious ceremonies . Even in the face o f death no hope or fear of personal

immortality confronted the early Roman . The family it is true was immortal but the individua l

LECTURE II

THE R ELIGION OF THE HOUSEHOLD

T HE o f o f unit early Roman society is the family , which the pa ter fa mili a s is the natural represent ative . Upon him the other members depend ; " ” h i s they are in hand , to use the Roman legal phrase , and completely subj ect to his authority . He is the sole trustee and administrator o f family

to property and , in return , it is his duty support and defend it . But true to the instinct of group solidarity , which has already been noticed , the early Roman state may be said to consist o f an aggregate o f families rather than an aggregate

Of individuals . It is the household , not the individual , which supplies the lowest common

o f a mili a multiple society , and the f includes not only father , mother , sons and daughters , but. slaves and serv ants as well . The prIm ItIve household in pre — Roman days lived in a round vvigw am with a central hearth placed beneath a hole in the apex o f the conical

o f roof by which the smoke escaped . Models such houses , which were used as funerary urns , have 2 4 RELIGION OE THE HOUSEHOLD 2 5

been found in the Iron Age cemetery upon the

o f site the Roman Forum , and their form survived

in the circular temple of Vesta . Although in very

early days the Oblong house , which was borrowed

o r perhaps from Greek Etruscan models , took the

o f ul li place this primitive circ ar dwel ng , for long it consisted o fbut a Single room with a roof sloping

inwards to a central vent above the hearth .

With the family and the structure , in which it

lived , the Obj ects of family worship were con

nected— o f i Ianus , the Genius , the Lar the Fam ly,

Vesta and the Penates . These represent , as it were , functions o f the family existence and none o f them were originally invested with any corporeal

form o r thought o f as indi vidual perso nah ti es. Ianus represents the numen o f the door and no jdoubt owes his importance to the insecurity o f

" ’ t h e i early settler s l fe . The do or is the breach in the defences o f the homestead through which evil whether spiritual o r material can most easily

. . hi enter This very natural feeling , w ch has left its mark upon the religious and superstitious

o f in o f practices peoples all parts the world , may ll be i ustrated by Roman burial custom . When the dead were carried o ut fo r burial the corpse was always carried feet first through the door for fear

that the ghost should find hi s way back through it . 2 6 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

if Similarly , a person was falsely reported dead , upon h is return home he might not enter through the door but was made to descend through a hole made for the purpose in the roof . Analogous fears ,

to as will be seen , attached for similar reasons city gates . Of the family cult Of Ianus the details

' to are unfortunately laclnng . It is legitimate suppose that i ts performance will have been peculiarly the business o f the pa ter fa mili as the natural defender of the homestead .

The Genius represents the life o f - the family . The word is etymologically connected with ” i uere g g to beget , and the idea implicit is that o f the procreative force which makes it possible fo r the family to exist or continue . Thus the

a s r marriage bed was called the lectus geni li . Eve y man is a potential father Of a family and hence h as - a Genius , every woman is a potential mother

numen n and has a corresponding a I no . In the course o ftime the Genius came to be thought o fas

o f the spiritual double an individual man , and

fo r this idea was even extended later to cities as ,

o r instance , Genius Romae , the Spiritual essence

o f luck Rome . The fundamental notion however in seems to have been less individual . The dividual ” said the biologist Weissman " is an ” incident in the life o f the germ plasm . Some ' RELIGION OF THE HOUSEHOLD 2 7 what similarly the Genius was originally regarded as the num en o f the life o f the family whi ch continues through the incidents of its successive generations . This force was manifest in the head

o f fo r Of the household , the father the family the time being in any given generation . Upon his birthday the whole household including slaves and freedmen joined in worship o f the Genius

D NO o f . omus , the genius the household doubt this very natural association o f the life o f the family with the life o f the head o f the household helped to promote the indi vidualisation o f the

The later view, which regarded it as the

o f spiritual double an individual man , was also

8d i uo v influenced by the Greek belief in a / , a guardian spirit that accompanied each man from

The Lares have been wrongly thought to represent the spirits o f dead ancestors of the family . This view was current even among Roman antiquaries o f Augustan date but it is

. w as none the less mistaken It derived , as were so many o f the later Roman ideas about their religion , from Greek influences . The Lares were o rIgInally the tutelary powers

I enander K ra . 0 . d r a wn aut mn d i a v r a lo r a r a t M ( ock), F g 5 5 u p p p , £ 696: evo i év ) vo r a ar o r fi lo v d a 9 7 / q , p y y g o fi 7 6s 2 8 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION o f the clearing which the early farmer had re claimed from the forest and they continued in Cicero ’s day to be worshipped on the farm ” within sight o f the house . The ancestors o f the Romans were not a people Of village communities but lived in isolated homesteads surrounded by the family holding . Where the family property met the boundary o f the forest o r that of a ’ neighbour s land the tutelary numi na o f the property were worshipped . Thus arose the worship

Co m itales o f of the Lares p , the Lares the Cross

i . e. . ways , the intersecting boundaries In classical times at such a co mpi tum there was a small shrine containing as many doors as there were properties that met . In each property was an altar set back 1 5 feet from the door to enable the worshipper to perform the necessary rites upon his o w n ground .

The expression however Lares and Penates , as

t cli cbé meaning hear h and home , is a which has descended to our modern speech from the patriotic rhetoric Of ancient Rome and in fact o ne o f the Lares had entered the house , not as a dead ancestor nor as a member of the family in our sense of the word but as a member of the Roman

Fo r fa mili a or household . the Lar Familiaris came indoors with the farm hands and the cult remained the special charge of th e vili ca o r RELIGION OF THE HOUSEHOLD 2 9

’ if bailiff s wife . If the Genius represents the l e force o f the family considered as a group o f blood

relations , the Lar is the luck of the household ,

the economic unit . Upon the new moon , first l quarter and fu l moon as fixed by the calendar , K i . e . upon the alends , Nones and Ides of each

ff . month , the family O ered him worship With this cult the family fortunes were intimately

. all l associated Upon fami y occasions , such as a

o r ff n birth , wedding , funeral , o eri gs were made to the Lar Famili aris and even upon the departure o r return o f a member o f the family from a long journey . Naturally enough the care o f the powers inside the house fell to the housewife and her daughters .

numen These were Vesta , the of the hearth , and num i na o f enus o r the Penates , the the p Store Al cupboard . though In later times images of the

Penates were often set upon the table , neither Vesta no r Penates were originally conceived as possessing corporeal form and , even after Greek influence had become paramount , Vesta was never represented in family cult by any image o r

- statue . At the mid day meal of the early Roman fami ly the table was spread in front o f the hearth in the centre of the single room which was kitchen and living room combined . Beyond the hearth was 30 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

- sa li nurn the store cupboard , upon the table the o r saltcellar and a sacrificial plate (pa tella) with a piece of salt cake upon it . Round the table sat

a mili a the whole f , the farm hands upon the lower benches (subselli a) . At every meal the head of the household threw an offering o f a piece of salted cake from the sacrificial plate i nto the flame of

o f Vesta . This daily ritual prayer and sacrifice at meal time survived in form even into the days of luxury and it remained the practice to Observe a pause in the banquet while an Offering was sent o ut to the kitchen , the meal being resumed only when the news had been brought back that the offering had been made and had been propitiously received .

no t It is unfortunate , though perhaps sur in prising , that we possess so little detailed formation about family worship . Its Observance goes back beyond the beginnings o f Roman history and it persisted unaltered in essentials as long as paganism lasted . Although in the period ’ of Rome s greatness the sense o fhome became lost in the enormous and elaborate households of the

lo t rich , while the miserable Of the urban poor lodged in tenements and cast after death into a common burial pit deprived these unfortunates

Of any real family life , there was always a middle

32 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

stri a o r wh o as the g vampire witch , flies in the ’ shape o f an owl to suck infants blood . In this

the Romans were by no means singular . The danger o f infancy before christening is a

world wide superstition . It is for example during this interval that the Irish peasant mother most dreaded the removal o f her child by the Little

People and the substitution o f a Changeling . At Rome immediately after birth special precautions

Ofl erin were taken against hostile influences . An g

w as made to Picumnus and Pilumnus , two rather Obscure powers connected apparently with fer tili t y, and at night three men armed with an axe ,

a stake and a broom proceeded to the threshold ,

which constituted , as we have already noticed , a point o f danger where hostile influences might

an entry into the house . The men with the r gain faxe and stake struck the threshold in order to

o r Ofi drive away frighten Silvanus , the wild spirit

o f i the forest , while the th rd man swept away with his broom any hostile powers which might

b e trying to get in . Characteristically the religious lawyers of Rome represented these actions as

e fli cacio us numi na— in virtue of three Intercidona ,

the hacking power , Pilumnus , the power of the

stake , and Deverra the sweeping power . The day o f naming the child was observed as a ’ RELIG ION OF THE HOUSEHOLD 33 family feast at which friends brought presents for the child . With the name a boy received the bulla ul hi , a circ ar case containing an amulet , w ch

to a ra etex ta t with the g p , a garment wi h a purple

o f stripe , was worn until the age seventeen , when the boy became a man and put o n the toga virilis. The purple stripe upon the toga was originally intended to serve the same purpose as the bulla

e. i . to avert the Evil Eye and other influences peculiarly dangerous to children . This prophy lactic v1 rtue Of the purple stripe is the reason why the toga pra etex ta at Rome was the dis tinctive dress alike of childhood and of the highest priestly and secular magistracies . The change from childhood to manh ood sigui fied by the change of dress took place usually upon March 1 7th during th e earlier Republic (under the late Republic and Empire , when enrolment in th e citizen army was no longer a matter o fmoment

fo r res o n to the state , the date assuming the p sib ili ties o f manhood varied) and was accompanied by sacrifice and a visit to the Capitolian temple .

Marriage similarly, was sanctified by religion . In

con a rrea ti o its older patrician form , f (the eating

o f together the sacred Spelt), it was definitely a religious ceremony and might almost be called a sacrament . The bride and bridegroom sat upon 0 34 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

two chairs placed together and covered with a lambskin and after making bloodless Offerings to Iupiter they ate together a cake made of the sacred

. i spelt But even in the later form of civ l marriage , coern ti o o f p , the essential act j oining the hands was solemnised with sacrifice . The ceremony of bringing the bride to the husband ’s house was performed with a number o f rites , which find their parallels in European l folk ore . She was forcibly abducted by the bride ’ o wn groom s friends amid lamentations of her , nuts were scattered and ribald songs were sung and upon reaching her new home she was lifted over the threshold . Amongst the numerous minor

o f o f ceremonies marriage , most which are common

o ne to many peoples , characteristically Roman rite is perhaps worth noticing . The girl at marriage " left o ne family fo r another ; sh e passed from

o f the hand her father to that of her husband , ’ from the Lares o f her father s household to the ’ Lares of her husband s . This fact was emphasised by a symbolical action . The bride carried three

o ne o f sh e copper coins , these ceremonially

o ne presented to her husband , to the Lar Familiaris o f her new home and o ne to the Lar

Co m italis o f . p , the presiding Spirit the homestead Throughout their history the Romans practised RELIGION OF THE HOUSEHOLD 35

both burial and cremation . In classical times cremation was the more usual method of disposal o f the corpse though burial was thought to be

the older custom . It was for this reason that when the body was burned a single bone was preserved

and given burial . In fact , however , although in the Bronze Age there is a di stinction o f burial custom corresponding to racial difl erence and the people of the Terrema re burned their dead while li nh the Ita an natives practised i umation , in the

o f cemeteries the early Iron Age the mixed race , which constituted the immediate ancestors o f

o f the Romans , already practised both methods

disposal . In the funeral ceremonies o f early Rome there is no trace of a worship o f the dead man nor

‘indeed o f any belief in personal survival . The ’ jplacing o f Charon s penny in the mouth was a custo m th e L later taken over , together with eschatology which Latin poets have made familiar,

from Greek sources . In the purely Roman cere monies Of funeral the ideas whi ch find expression are the fear common to the majority o f mankind

o f o f of the contagion death , the pathos the last farewell and the continuity o f the life o f the

family . At the moment o f death the heir bent i over the dy ng man to catch his last breath , then 36 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

the eyes of the dead man were closed , and amid hi lamentations , in w ch the dead man was called

by name , the corpse was washed , anointed , dressed

i th e in the robes of the highest off ce , which

deceased had held during life , and laid in state in the a trium with the feet pointing to the door the bier was adorned wi th flowers and wrea ths

and watched by a slave watchman . Fo r a period normally varying from three to e hi sev n days the body thus lay in state . During t s time the fire was extinguished in the house and a bough o f pine o r cypress was erected outside th e door to warn passers by and particularly

religious functionaries , for whom any contact

with death was strictly taboo , that a corpse lay

. The funeral procession took place at ( within l ni ght by torchlight . Accompanied by musicians land professi onal mourners the body was carried ‘ to the grave o r pyre and laid to rest outside the L city walls . The ceremony concluded with the last farewell three times uttered over the tomb

ani m am que sepulch ro

u r u ci em us Co ndim us ct magna s p em m voce .

Funerals in Rome as elsewhere gave occasion fo r extravagant expenditure which sump tuary

laws were powerless to check . Most elaborate RE LIGION OE THE HOUSEHOLD 37 were the public funerals of distinguished states

Of men the ceremonial which , though perhaps of

Etruscan origin , appealed alike to the Roman genius for stately processional ceremonial and to the Roman sense of family continuity . The public funeral took place by day and in the procession ,

i ts which made way to the Forum , all the members of the family living and dead were represented . ’ In th e a trium Of a noble s house were hung the death masks (i magi nes) o f his distinguished ances tors and upon the occasion o f a funeral these were worn by actors clad in the insignia o f the highest office of state to which the ancestors thus imper so nated had respectively attained . At the head a c me the musicians followed by the male choir , which took the place of the professional mourners f o humbler funerals . Behind these were dancers and manumitted slaves o f the deceased . Between them and the bier drove the ancestors imper so nated in the way above described and attended f by the freedmen o the dead man . Upon the bier the corpse w as carried lying in state and Open to the view o r if fo r any reason it was enclosed in a coffin a wooden effigy clad in the official InsIgnia

Of the dead man was displayed . At the Forum a halt was called . The ancestors descended and seated themselves in a circle upon ivory chairs , 38 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION while the next o f kin mounted the rostrum and delivered a laudatory speech . The procession then reformed and continued its way to the place o f burial . After a funeral the living members of the family purified themselves with fire and water and the house , in which the death had taken place , was purified by the sacrifice Of a so w and the sweeping

ll Fo r out o f a refuse . nine days the surviving relatives remained unclean and might not m ix with their fellow citizens . Upon the ninth day an offering took place at the tomb which was followed by a feast at which mourning dress was put Off and the guests were clad in gala attire

(a lba ti) . This concluded the mourning . Upon anniversaries Of death and burial and upon certain fixed dates the relatives visited the tomb and

o f made Offerings salt cake , bread soaked in wine , and flowers . But these rites seem to have been commemorative in character . It was necessary fo r the dead man to receive due rites of burial and incumbent upon his heir to see that they

o ut were carried , but there is no trace in early times of the worship o f an individual dead man . At death the spirit was thought to j oin the unindi vidualised Di Manes . Once more Roman notions are found to Show a natural preference

40 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION an association o f powers o f the underworld with fertility is o f course quite a common phenomenon among primitive peoples .

Two festivals , or series of festivals in honour

e o f the dead were marked in th calendar . The

o f Parentalia in February , the month purification , lasted from February 1 3— 2 1 and were concluded upon February 2 2 nd by the feast of Cara Co gnati o o r Cari sti a , a love feast for the survivors of the family . The motive of the festival seems rather to have been a solemn family commemoration

an r o r than the placation of g y , malevolent spirits o f the dead . th 1 1 th The Lemuria however held upon the 9 ,

1 th o f and 3 May, at a time when the crops were at a critical stage , was definitely a festival Of aversion . About the public ritual of this occasion we possess no information but Ovid has given us an account o f the domestic ceremonial at the conclusion o f which at midnight the father of the family walking barefoot Spat o ut black beans without looking backwards reciting the charm

with these I redeem me and mine . Then after

o f clanking brazen vessels , he dismissed the spirits the dead to their o wn place with the formula nine times repeated : Depart ye Manes o f my ” fathers . LECTURE III

THE RELIGION OF THE FA R M

Fortunatus et ille deos qui novit agrestes .

T HE religion o f the farm like the religion o f the home survived the early religion o f the State . Long after the ordinances o f Numa had become Obsolete in the city the rustic population o f Italy continued to Observe the simple ritual o f t o f heir fathers . Charming little vignettes these

rustic festivals are to be found in the Latin poets , ’ particularly in Tibullus , and Cato s practical treatise upon agriculture has preserved fo r us 1 o some interesting facts . Of the ritual f the farm

it is true that we possess no complete account , but the calendar o f Numa enables us to form an idea ’ Fo r o f the ceremonies Of the farmer s year . the

chief pre - occupation of the festivals there enum er ated is with the welfare o f the crops and herds and the document in fact represents the farmer ’ s calendar taken over by the state and systematised

to suit the needs of the larger communi ty .

1 Readers of Pater will rem em b er th e delightful sketch of rustic religi on in th e i first chap ter of Mari us tb e Ep curean. 41 42 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

A word therefore must be said as to the nature

o f and date of this evidence . A number fragments Of Official Roman calendars have fortunately sur vi ved . The documents themselves are Of imperial date but upon all existing examples a number o f festivals are cut in larger capitals than the rest . There can be no reasonable doubt that these festivals in large capitals represent the Older fixed festivals Of the State preserved apart by Roman conservatism and distinguished from later accretions . By internal evidence this li st can be approximately dated . Quirinus figures among the divinities mentioned and therefore the list must have been drawn up after the incor po ratio n o f the Quirinal settlement in the Roman state . On the other hand there is no mention o f Diana , the goddess of the Latin League , nor o f Iu iter Iuno the great triad Of the Capitol, p , and Minerva . The li st must therefore have been completed before the later monarchy when Rome under her Etruscan rulers became the head o f the Latin League and the worship o fthis Etruscan triad of divinities w as inaugurated . The list of festivals may therefore be claimed to represent with fair completeness the religion o f Numa . The creation o f a calendar indeed followed necessarily from the organisation o f religion by R ELIGION OF THE FARM

the state . It was essential to the welfare of the ll community, especia y to one the religious attitude

so Of which displayed marked a legal bias , that its members should not Offend by the omission o f religious ceremonies upon the proper occasions no r by the commission of acts Of secular business upon holy days . In order that the citizens should have the necessary guidance the pontifices declared upon the Kalends (new moon) o f each month the date upon which the Nones (first quarter) ,

rex sa crorum would fall . Upon the Nones the proclaimed the names and dates o f the religious festivals o f the month and upon what days it was lawful or unlawful to transact secular business . n Originally the k owledge of the calendar , like t o f li m o no l o f hat all re gious law, was the p y the aristocratic college o f priests but inevitably in course Of time announcement was supplemented

0 B . C . by publication . In 3 4 for the first time the calendar was exhibited in the marketplace and

C . o f in 1 89 B . one the consuls adorned the temple Of Hercules and the Mus es with a permanent record Of the dates Of the regular festivals . Finally after the successful adjustment Of the

B . C . lunar to the solar year in 45 , the reformed calendar o f Iuli us C aesar was copied and set up in Rome and other towns , and thanks to the 44 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION survival o f a number o fcomplementary fragments o f these inscriptions we possess the Roman l calendar practical y complete . The first column of these calendars marks the secular weeks from market day to market day . The second column gives the days o f the month and against each o f them in the third i s set a letter to denote the character of the day : F (fa stus) and N (nefa stus) o r IT indicate days upon which secular business might o r might no t be

o t a i s undertaken . C ( c mi i l ) indicates a day upon which business might be transacted in the public

. o f im assemblies Eight days , all which fall mediately before some festival o r before the Ides

to (full moon) , which in every month was sacred

Iu iter endo terci sus . p , are marked EN ( ) Upon these the morning and evening were nefa stus but the middle o f the day was free for secular

a 2 th 2 th afl irs. Against March 4 and May 4 is entered (qua ndo rex comi ti a v i t fas) . Upon these days the king presided in the Co mi ti a Curi a ta for the sanctioning o f wills and other religio - legal business and secular afl airswere there fore prohibited until the assembly had dispersed . The isolated entry (qua ndo stercus 1 dela tam fa s) against "une 1 5 th is explained below .

1 S ee el . . b ow, p 54 RELIGION OF THE FARM 45

The next column contains the older fixed festivals written in large capitals and is followed by a list o f the festivals subsequently added . These and the often valuable comments upon reli gious matters which are found in some examples are always cut in smaller capitals . In the calendar o f Numa then we have a fairly ’ o f complete record the farmer s year which , as the numerical month names of o ur o wn calendar still testify, began in March . In addition to the festivals o f the calendar may be considered some which are known from other sources but do not

no t o f appear in the calendar , because they were more recent date but because the date o f their incidence was not fixed but depended upon the forwardness o f the crops in any given year .

t o f March , the mon h Mars , is the month of ’ the spring s awakening . It opened wi th the ” o f o f a ncili a moving the sacred shields Mars ( ), a ceremonial which began upon March I st and concluded a fortnight later . Upon the first the a ncili a o f , which were large Oblong shields the Shape o f a figure o f eight like those depicted in

Mycenaean art , were taken from the sacrarium Martis in the Regia and borne in procession by the Sa li i to a different fix ed resting place each night until their return to the Regia upon March 2 4th . 46 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

A feature of this procession w as the dancing o f the armed priests wh o were clad in the full war paint o f the early Italian warrior with tall conical caps upon their heads . Their leaping dance ,

tri udium th reeste the p or p , was accompanied by the clashing of rods or spears against the shields and

o f a xa menta the chanting the old Latin hymns ( ), the meaning o f which had become unintelligible to the Roman of the Augustan age . In these hymnsthere is repeated invocation o f Mamurius which is an early form o f Mars . The analogy between these Roman armed priests and the

Ko uretes of Crete , who clashed their weapons " K and invoked eus ouros in a leaping dance , impressed Dionysius o f Halicarnassus as it has impressed modern students of the classical religions and although the analogy would be more helpful if we were better informed in detail

Ko uretes about the , certain facts about their ritual are clear which help to account fo r the

Saliaric dance . Mythology tells h o w they clashed their armour round the infant "eus to protect him from the attack o fthe Titans and the clashing o f armour or the beating o f metal in order to ll make a noise , which wi frighten away evil influences , is a frequent practice in primitive religion all over the world . A late copy o f the

48 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION v irili s and were registered as recruits in the

citizen army .

o f April , the month opening was of some ’ importance in the farmer s year . Upon April 1 th s took place the Fordicidia , a festival in honour o f Mother Earth at which pregnant

cows were sacrificed . The calves were ripped

o f from the bodies the victims and burned . The ashes were then carefully collected and placed

th e enus Vestae in p , the state counterpart to the sto recu b o ard o f p the family, and were used as good medicine in the city celebration o f the

Parilia a few days afterwards .

Upon April 1 9th fell the Cerealia . Ceres in later times w as identified with Demeter but originally sh e was an Italian divinity whose character is evident from the etymologic al

connection o f the name Ceres with crea re. Little i s known about the ritual o f the festival except the curious custom of tying lighted brands to the tails o f a number o f foxes which were

then let loose . It has been supposed that the obj ect in view was to secure the necessary heat

for the growing crops by magical means . Upon April 2 1 st the festival of Parilia was held ’ o f numen h in honour Pales , the of the shep erds

sufli cientl craft , a power which never became y RELIGION OF THE FARM 49 definitely personified for its sex to be a matter o f certainty and hence appears in the Latin poets as male or female indifferently . The older cele bration was no doubt that of the countryside and

t i . l . of h s both Ovid (Fasti iv , 7 35 fo l ) and

. v . . . Tibullus (ii , 79 foll ) have given a lively picture

The steadings were decorated with leaves , branches and wreaths . The sheepfolds were purified with water and swept o ut with a branch while the sheep were fumigated with sulphur . Leaves of

i o f the male ol ve , pine, j uniper or laurel, all which l crack e when burned , were thrown upon the fire and good omens for th e year were deduced from ll m ll the crackling . Mi et and some i et cake were

f a t o f of ered to P les toge her with a pail milk , and the shepherd , facing the east , four times repeated a prayer for the aversion o fevil and for the fertility

o f . hi s vi vo rore the flock He then washed hands , wh ich may mean running water or perhaps more literally the morning dew to whi ch magical properties are frequently attributed in the folk

o f - lore May day . There followed a feast upon milk and must and in conclusion the herds were driven through the bonfire over which the shep

a h herds also leaped, ritual w ich is closely parallel to that o f the Midsummer Fires famili ar

o f l to students European fo klore . In the city 5 o HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION celebration of the Parilia the ashes o f the calves which had been burned at the F o rdicidia were 1 mixed with the blood o f the October horse and then placed upon the fires making a thick smoke which was thought in some way to promote fertility . At the Vinalia on April 2 3rd the wine o f the previous year was ceremonially tasted and at the Robigalia on the 2 5 th a dog was sacrificed to

numen o f Robigus , the mildew , in his grove at the fifth milestone outside Rome in order to avert the blight to which the crops , at the stage which they had now reached , might otherwise be liable

The Floralia were celebrated upon April 2 8th . This festival does not appear in the o ld calendar and the games o f Flora are known to have been

C . instituted in 2 38 B . but Flora is certainly an o ld Italian divinity and the rites connected with the festival, which included the letting loose in

o f the Circus Maximus hares and goats , animals whose fecundity and salacity have frequently a earned them place in fertility magic , and the scrambling for vetches , beans and little medals

o f with Obscene designs , have an appearance great antiquity . It has been suggested that the

w as older festival of Flora a moveable feast , which

1 See el . 6 . b ow, pp 5 , 57 ‘ RELIGION OF THE FARM 5 1 varied in date with the state of the crops in any given year . It was therefore not included in the old calendar until the date o f the festival in

8 B . its new form became fixed in 2 3 C . " ” o f In May, the month growing , the crops were now coming up and at a critical stage . The religious ceremonies o f the month are concerned with the lower world and the aversion o f possible dangers The Lemuria , noticed in the last th 1 1 th 1 chapter , took place upon the 9 , and 3th

2 1 3t and upon the was the Agonia Vediovis , a power whose name may mean the opposite Of ”

Iu iter i . e. o f . p , the power the underworld Upon May 1 sth took place a rite which has been inter prete d upon the analogy of similar practices in European folklore as designed to secure by magical means a sufli ci ency o f moisture for the growing crops . Certain puppets o f human shape made o f wi ckerwork and called Argei were thrown in to the Tiber from the Sub li ci an Bridge by the Vestal

r o f ont s Vi gins in the presence the p ifice . It has sometimes been supposed that thi s ceremonial points to the existence o f a primitive human sacrifi ce which had been mitigated by the sub stitutio n o f puppets fo r the human victims o f an

. no earlier day This is t however very probable . Early Italian religion appears quite free from the 5 2 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION sacrifice o f human beings and the use o f puppets in similar rites o f sympathetic magic is frequent in European folklore under conditions which do not necessarily presuppose substitution fo r human sacrifice . Towards the end o f the month took place the

o f Am ali a moveable festival the b arv . In this the boundaries o f the state were purified by a pro

lustra ti o o f cession of purification ( ), at the head which were driven the triple victims pig, sheep

x o f and o (su vetaurili a) . This lustration o the state represents th e performance by the appointed

ffi o n o f o cials , the Arval Brethren , behalf the larger community o fthe rites which every farmer carried o ut upon his own holding . Cato has

o f preserved for us the ritual the farmer . Three times the procession marched round the boundaries o f the farm , the victims were then sacrificed and a

o f solemn prayer , which a portion may be quoted ,

to . was made Mars Father Mars , I pray and beseech thee to be willi ng and propitious to me and my household and my slaves for the which obj ect I have caused this threefold sacrifice to be driven round my farm and land . I pray thee keep ,

o r avert and turn from us all disease seen unseen , in all desolation , ruin , damage and unseasonable

uence to fl : I pray thee give increase the fruits , ” RELIGION OF THE FARM 5 3

the corn , the vines and the plantations and bring K them to a pro sp ero usissue . eep also in safety the shepherds and their flocks and give good health

. T o and vigour to me , my house and household thi s end it is as I have said— namely fo r the purification and maki ng due lustration o f my

— farm , my land cultivated and uncultivated that I pray thee to bless thi s threefold sacrifice o f 0 sucklings . Father Mars , to this same end I pray thee to bless this threefold sacrifice o f ” sucklings . In this prayer the objects o f the ceremoni al are fi suf ciently indicated . The ritual has had an interesting subsequent hi story fo r the Roman

h o f Church , which in erited much the Roman

fo r genius effective processional ceremonial , adopted the Am b arvalia in the but slightly altered guise of the Rogation Processions and the

o f annual practice beating the bounds , which

ll o f sti survives in parts England , can ultimately be traced back to the Roman May festival . The months o f "une and july were the months o f ripeni ng and harvest ; in August the harvest was safely in and the farmer had leisure for cele b ratin g harvest home . At the beginning Of "une ,

th — 1 th o f 7 5 , before the work harvest began there fell an important festival . All these days 5 4 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

no t ne a sti reli i osi were only f but g as well , that is to say no t only was secular business not per missible but the days were strictly taboo and marriages , for instance , might not take place . Upon june 7th the temple o f Vesta was opened ; upon june 9th were the Vestalia upon june 1 sth the temple was shut and the day is marked " lawful when the dirt has been

o f cleared away . Now the temple Vesta contained

o f the hearth the state , the fire upon which was kept continually burning by the Vestal virgins ,

enus Vesta e and the p , the State counterpart to the sto recu b o ard o f o ne p the household , to which no w as allowed access except the Vestals and the

onti e a s th p f x m xi mu . Upon june 7 the temple was thrown open to the matrons of Rome and during the Vestalia they made procession barefoot to the temple and brought o fl erings o f food to Vesta . The Vestals themselves made offerings Of the sacred cake which it had been their duty to make from the first ears of corn ceremonially picked in

— s May (May 7th 1 4th) . The festival was al o regarded as the holiday of bakers and millers . Upon the 1 5 th the temple was swept o ut thoroughly and the rubbish thrown into the Tiber or placed in a repository upon the

Capitoline Hill . The temple was then closed and

5 6 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION storing o f the harvest while o n the occasion o f the second pair in December the store houses were opened and inspected to ensure that the contents were in good condition . The corn harvest was no w safely stored but

n . there remai ed the vintage The Meditrinalia , 1 l th October , was the autumn vintage festival at which the first must o f the new vintage and the wine o f the year before were ceremonially tasted . In October to o (October 1 5 th) fell what was perhaps the last of the agricultural rites o f the

w as fo r two — year . A race held horsed chariots in

Martins o f the Campus , the parade ground the citizen army j ust outside the city boundary . The near horse of the winning pair was sacrificed with

o fl a spear to Mars . Its tail was cut and carried to the Regia , where the warm blood was dripped upon the hearth . Its head was decked with cakes and the men o f two neighbouring wards o f Rome fought fo r its possession . The victors carried it o ff and hung up the trophy in their ward during the following year . Some of the blood Of the

October horse , as this victim was called , was preserved in the p enus Vesta e and used in con junction with the ashes of the calves burned at the Fordicidia at the city celebration of the

Parilia in the following April . The corn spirit is RELIGION OF THE FARM 5 7 sometimes represented as a horse in European

l o f folk ore , races are a constant feature popular fertili ty festivals and the fight for the possession o f a relic which ensures luck for the coming year 1 is fairly common in all parts o f the world . It would therefore seem reasonable to suppose that the general character o f this festival is that o f the magical promotion o f fertility . From the equinox to the winter solstice was the season o f ploughing and sowi ng respite from toil upon the farm and an opportunity for festival came first at the winter solstice . The Saturnalia ,

1 o f o ur December 7th , the forerunner Christmas celebrations was marked by the interchange o f presents between friends and the domestic merry

i o f acco m mak ng of master and man . Some the panim ents of the feast quite probably owe their origin to later Greek influences and Saturnus came to be identified with the Greek Kronos . His Italian origin however is vindicated by his adj ectival name which denotes the num en o f sowing .

l Th e sacrifice of th e Moslem B aq ar Id festival is in som e resp ects

in ularl li e t at th e t er r e. At e eran a am el ail s g y k h of Oc ob ho s T h c , g y " a ari ned is led int a u li uare. At th e au i i u m m ent a ear c p so , o p b c sq sp c o s o sp in th e h and of a relative of th e Sh ah l s struck into a vital spot b ehind th e ne and ar el h as th e l d ur t rt e re a undred ni e are ck , sc c y b oo b s fo h b fo h k v s t ru t i nt th e ani m al b th e tander and in a t inklin th e ar a e i s h s o y bys s , w g c c s cut u ea uarter th e i t tri in to et a rti n i m a b e e t p , ch q of c y s v g g po o wh ch y k p ” ’ fo r lu durin th e u eedi n ear. r e Herklo t s Isla m i n Ind a ck g s cc g y C ook , i ,

. 1 6 p 2 . 5 8 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

The respite from hard work in the fields lasted until the spring sowing began (about February 7 th ) and the Italian countryside embraced the opportunity with a number of festivals of rustic i merrymak ng . The last in the series was the

2 th 2 6 th Paganalia , january 4 to , which takes its

a i o f name from the p g or local groups homesteads . As before remarked the early Italians were not a people who lived in villages but in isolated farms ; these however were grouped in local districts

a i u to called p g , analogo s the parishes of the Celtic parts o f rural England . The Paganalia was a sowing festival and the powers invoked were

Ceres and Earth . The motive of the ceremonies w as to preserve the seed already sown in the autumn and to assist the spring sowing which was now at hand .

r The last month of the Roman year , Februa y , looked backward to the past year and to its dead . The Parentalia o f February 1 3th to 2 z ud there has already been occasion to mention . Februum means an instrument of purification and the whole month was considered unlucky and o f a 1 gloomy character . Upon February 5 th fell one o f the most curious and difficult of all Roman

n its festivals , which tha ks to accidental association with Iuli us Caesar is also o ne o f the most RELIGION OF THE FARM 5 9

i celebrated . The Lupercal a were celebrated at a cave called the Lupercal upon the Palatine Hill . A sacrifice o f goats and a dog was made together with an Offering o f the sacred cake made by the Vestals from the first fruits of the previous year ’ s

o f harvest . Two youths high rank belonging to the two collegi a of Luperci were smeared with

o f the bloody knife the sacrifice , the blood was wiped off with wool dipped in milk and the youths

o n were made to laugh . They then put the skins o f the goats , which had been sacrificed and ran l round the Palatine Hi l, striking all women , whom they met with strips of skin of the victims o f the sacrifice , which they carried in their hands .

ebrua These strips were regarded as f , instruments o f purification , and the circuit of the Palatine had the character o f a lustration . The beating had also the magical effect of stimulating fertility and to be struck by the Lup erci was a sovereign remedy for the barren . The meaning and origin of these rites had been lost in antiquity and there was doubt even in the Augustan age as to which deities were honoured in the festival . The goats were sacrificed to Faunus and the purificato ry strips of skin were

Iuno . Lu erci associated with The name p , which ” o ff o f may mean the warders wolves , and the 6o HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION magical value attached to the skin o fthe sacrosanct f animal have an air o great antiquity . On the other hand , the smearing rite is Greek in appear ance rather than Latin . Indeed it is probable that the difli culti es o f detail will continue to give rise to conjecture and discussion but the general character o f the festival as a magical purification combined with the promotion o f fertility is 1 generally admitted . With February we have reached the close o f the Roman year and our brief survey o f the principal fixed festivals of the Old calendar has at least sufficed to illustrate the pre - occupation o f this early Roman religion with the processes o f - agriculture and the well being of flocks , herds

no t and crops . That th is should be the case is

o f surprising for the society , the needs which it

l to o f was ca led upon meet , was a community ill peasant farmers . Their religion , it w have been n , oticed , is essentially practical and the festivals are arranged with the practical end in view of taking all requisite and proper means to protect the crops and herds from danger o f every kind and to

1 It is rea na le to u e it eu ner and War e ler t at so b s ppos , w h D b d Fow , h no i n le e lanati n ill a unt fo r all th e erem nie th e u er ali a s g xp o w cco c o s of L p c , b e caus e although they m ay have very early assum ed th e form in whi ch w e n t em t e re re ent ne ert ele th e la t ta e a l n re i u k ow h , h y p s v h ss s s g of o g p v o s d evelopm e nt in which various elem ents of quite difierent o rigin have b een com bined . RELIGION OF THE FARM 6 1

secure their increase and multiplication . It also be noticed how seldom there has been occasion in the course o f o ur survey to mention

- any member o f the G raeco Roman pantheon .

s o f To the discu sion this point , we shall return later . LECTURE IV

THE R ELIGION OF THE STATE

T HE h as Calendar , which provided us with an

o f o f outline the agricultural festivals the year ,

o f is course a state document . It represents the rules laid down by the state for the observance of certain festivals by and o n behalf o f the whole community . But in character many of those festivals are ceremonies of the farm adapted to a larger social group . Thus the Official lustration ’ o f the Am b arvalia is simply the farmer s ritual described by Cato , except that the process is applied to the territory o f the whole community instead o f to the property o f an individual and is carried o ut by state officials and no t by the owner o f the property . In fact the early religion o f Rome consists o f the repetition upon a larger scale o f the rites o f the household and the farm . The question naturally arises as to why the state established a religion o r why it was necessary to organise for the larger community a series o f reli gious Observances modelled upon those o f its

o f constituent social units . Now the note

6 2

64 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

calendar , ritual and priesthood should be drawn up . The house had its secular and spiritual bound aries the limits of the farm were guarded by Lares and Terminus and their whole circuit was annually sanctified by processional purification . Similarly the city was enclosed by a Spiritual boundary , which was annually purified In the Am b urb ium and th e territory o fthe state underw ent lustration l which was sti l symbolically carried out , when Roman territory became to o extended fo r cir

cum am b ulatio n Am b arvali a . W , in the hen a co lo nv was founded a furrow was drawn round

I th e proposed site by a bronze plough drawn by

w. 4a white ox and a white co The sods were turned inwards to form the lIne o f the wall and the furrow constituted the Spiritual counterpart to l th e secular boundary of the city fortifications . The bronze plough may indeed be a ritual sur vi val from the Bronze Age for this ceremony is older than the Etruscan influences to which it is sometimes attributed . There is evidence that in the Bronze Age the people of the Terremare already marked o ut their future settlements with the furrow made by a bronze plough . The line traced by the ploughshare constituted

o merium o f . the p , the ideal boundary the city RELIGION OF THE STATE 6 5

The lustration o f the city followed its li ne and within it lived the divine as well as the human

o f o f inhabitants the city . The Romans historical

di i ndi etes times divided their gods into g ,

di novensides aboriginal deities , and , the gods who

settled later in Rome . With the exception of

omerium Mars , whose altar lay outside the p on

o f Martins di the drill ground the Campus , the i ndigetes were worshi pped inside the po merium while the seats of worship of the later adopted

gods lay outside . The p omeri um then formed an invisible spiritual rampart round the com munity which was broken

only at the gates . Gaps had necessarily to be left in the sacred barrier fo r the passage o f secular traffic and communication consequently when the site o f an intended gateway was reached the plough was lifted and a gap was left unhallowed

. " by the furrow Hence gateways constituted the weak point in the spiritual as well as in the material

o f o f defences a city , just as the door was a point

fo r danger in the house . It was this reason that in the ceremonies o f purification the gates of the town demanded special attention and that at

I uvium inscri g , for instance , as we know from p

ff o f tions , special sacrifices were O ered at each the

three gates .

E 66 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

The life of the state , like the life of the house

sto recu b o ard . hold , centred round a hearth and a p The circular temple o f Vesta contained the state l fhearth upon which the fire might never be al owed to go out except upon March the first . Upon

o f o ld that date , at the end the year and at the

o f beginning the new , the fire was ceremonially extinguished and fresh fire was kindled by the

antique method o frubbing two dry sticks together .

o f o f This course belongs to the class rite , which

ri tes de assa e M . van Gennep has labelled p g at the moment Of passing from the o ld year to the

new the fire of the state , upon which prosperity

depended , was rekindled and thereby given new

vigour for the coming year . The cult of the household hearth was in the charge of the women o f the family ; analogously the hearth o f the " wh o State was tended by the Vestal virgins , were l o ri inall o f g y the daughters the king , who stood the political community in the same relation

a t a a s the p er f mili to the household . In the household the daughters were concerned with th e care of the sto recupb o ard and the cooking ; it I was therefore the duty o f the Vestals to make the sacrificial salt cake (m ola sa lsa) and to keep the contents o f the penus Vesta e to which only the

ont ex m a x imus h ad . p if , besides themselves , access RELIGION OF THE STATE 6 7

The state worship o f Vesta is therefore nothing more than an adaptation to the larger community n o f household ritual . In o e particular the lines o f subsequent development in state and household respectively diverged . In family worship the Penates seem to have increased in importance at the expense o f Vesta in part this may have been due to their mi staken association with the ancestors i o f the fam ly . In the worship o f the state h o w ever the opposite is true . The Penates o f the state are insignificant ; their abode is even called the p enus Vesta e and it i s Vesta who supplies the

S i gni ficant figure . ” I

The house , it will be remembered , was under

numen o f the protection of the its door , Ianus . This cult also the state took over and an archway o r gate at the north east Side o f the Forum was

o f num n the seat its corresponding e . As a State deity Ianus , intelligibly enough , developed a new , wider and more abstract significance . Doors both open and Shut ; consequently Ianus is alterna tivel o r Pa tulci y the opener the closer , cult titles ( Cloesi) which are found already in the Saliaric

F r hymn . o this reason when art was later called upon to represent his image , he was portrayed

ns with tw o faces (bifro ) . The god o f openings is naturally the go d o f beginnings and a series o f 6 8 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

cult titles follow the natural li nes o f development

o s from this idea . As C n evius Ianus controlled the beginnings of human life he was the go d o f

o f o f the first hour the day , the first month after the winter solstice and o f the first day o f the

r month . In the h tu gy o f prayer his name came first and that of Vesta last in the order o f divine

powers invoked . It has already been noticed that the king stands l to the community in the same relation as the

a t Lp erfa mili a s to the household . Within the family

a ter a mili as t the p f had complete au hority, though by custom he was expected in important matters to consult a family council ; the king similarly was required by custom to seek the advice in secular

o f matters the aristocratic council , the senate ,

o f ont in spiritual matters of the board p ifices. The reason why the members o f this board o f reli gious experts should have been called bridge

builders remains completely obscure . After the fall o f the monarchy and throughout the hi story o fthe republic the college o fpontifices represented the highest spiritual authority in the state and

o nti ex max i mus their chairman , the p f , inherited the greater part of the royal prerogatives in

matters of religion .

ius di vi num l b e The , it wil remembered , was RELIGION OF THE STATE 69

not different in nature from civil law o f which it

was indeed a part . No mystic vocation was therefore required o f a p ontifex but knowledge

o f religious law and wisdom in administration . It followed that membership o f the college o f pontifices was no bar to secular office and could in fact be held simultaneously with the highest

magistracies o f the state .

The pontifices held office for life . When a

vacancy occurred the college co - opted a new

member . In dress they were distinguished by the

si nifi toga with the purple Stripe , the religious g cance o f which we have already noticed in co n

necti o n with the dress of childhood , and the tall

a conical hat ( pex) like that worn by the Sa li i .

o f onti ex m a x imus The president the board , p f h lived in the Regia o r royal palace . It was he w o

a rex sa crorum ppointed the Vestal virgins , the

and the fla m i nes. He controlled the adm inis tratio n o f the state religion and inasmuch as all

— legal administration of a semi religious character ,

e. . o r o f g burials , wills , adoptions change status wi from Patrician to Plebeian fell thin his purview, he exercised great authority also over the private " l ives o f citizens .

rex sa crorum The , whose title , like that of the

a co n Archon Basileus at Athens , indicates 7 o HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION stitutio nal survival from the monarchy , inherited some o f the executive religious functions of the king . He was appointed for life upon the nomi

o nt a s nation of the p ifex m x i mu . He was a religious official with certain definite executive duties but without administrative powers . His office implied active personal contact with sacred things and it therefore conferred sacrosanctity upon the person l u of its holder . An equal y logical res lt of its sacred character w as a disability to hold secular

Office . A similar disability for similar reasons attached

fi la men i . e . o fli ciatin to the of ce of f , kindler , g priest . There were three of these priesthoods which descended from very early times— that o f

Iu iter Fla men Di a lis o f Fla men p ( ), that Mars (

Ma rti a li s o f ) and that of Quirinus , the form Mars peculiar to the early settlement of the

F a n i na i s Quirinal hill ( l me Qu ri l ) . The order of their precedence was that in which their names have been given and of the three the Fla men

Di a li s was the first in dignity and importance .

The great antiquity , social importance and sanctity o f his Office is shown by the multitude o f taboos with which his life and that o fhis wife and children was hedged . He might not for instance

o r touch a goat or a dog , eat beans , wheat leavened

7 2 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION verbenarius o f because he carried a bunch herbs , which at once served as a badge o f their inviolable office and at the same time acted as a magical prophylactic against the supernatural dangers to be encountered in a foreign country . The other ( 6 was called ratifying father o f the Roman

a ter a tra tus o uli R oma ns i . e. people (p p p p ) , plenipotentiary representative of the Roman state . In the case o f a dispute arising with another com munity the mission advanced to the borders of the state in question and there the pa ter pa tra tus called Iupiter to witness the j ustice o f the com

o r plaints claims of Rome . This statement was repeated to the first individual who was en countered after crossing the frontier , to the sentinel at the city gate and finally to the magistrate and people in their market place . At Rome the citizen army was mobilised and thirty ’ days interval allowed . If the ultimatum expired without satisfaction being accorded to the Roman

. a ter a tra tus claim , war was then declared The p p once more advanced to the frontier and hurled across it a ritual spear of primitive type (a wooden lance the point o f which had been hardened in the fire) , which had been dipped in blood . This symbolical action constituted a declaration of war . At the making o f treaties the pa ter pa tra tus also R ELIGION OF THE S TATE 7 5

acted as the representative o f Rome . He struck th e sacrificial victim with the sacred flint and gave sanction to the oath o f ratification by in v o ki ng Iupiter to strike down the Roman people di d even as the victim had been struck, if they not Observe the oath which had been taken . It will be noticed that under the Republic there is a marked separation o f administrative and executive religious functions but this was not probably the case under th e monarchy . In all probability the rex not only enjoyed the ad ministrative authority which passed to the p ontifex m a x i m us but performed also those duties o f active participation in the ritual o f cult which fell

r sa crorum subsequently to the ex . He may also have been the chairman o f th e board o f a ugures. According to tradition these had originally been three in number until Numa by adding two further members brought them up to five . We

C . know that in 30 0 B . the board had four members and thi s becomes explicable if it is supposed that th e king had been ex - ofi ci o o n the board but that no arrangements to fill his place had been made after the expulsion o f Tarquin . Simi larly the

’ king s seat upon the bo ard o f pontifi ces was said to have been left vacant . It must be confessed however that there are good grounds for believing 74 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION that Livy was right in thinking that the numbers o f these corporations should properly be three or a multiple o f three . He accounts for there being only four augurs at the date mentioned

0 0 by supposing that two had di ed . In 3 a law was passed increasing the numbers o f both colleges and asserting the eligibility of Plebeians to membership . The total w as eventually fixed ’ at fifteen under Sulla s scheme fo r the general re - organisation o f the magistracies and religious boards and was finally increased to sixteen by

Iuli us Caesar .

, The augurs enj oyed no powers of initiative in the administration or celebration o f cult . Their function was that Of skilled interpreters to explain the signs vouchsafed by heaven upon

o f e. . occasions importance , g , at the consecration

o f of priests , the blessing the farms or the blessing o f the people at the close o f a successful war . The actual right o f observation o f the signs (specti o) was confined to the secular magistrate . The augur ’ s duty was limited to giving expert advice ’ as to the meaning o fsigns so observed . The augur s interpretation , however , was final . In consequence the Office conferred considerable power in pro m o ting or prohibiting political action . Owing to the conception of the augur as a wise expert RELIGION OF THE STATE 75

o f rather than an official any especial holiness , there were no religious taboos o r disabilities attaching to the office and it could be held in conjunction with the highest secular magistracies . Augurs wore the toga pra etex ta and carried as a badge o f their office a curved wand (li tuus)

t um o r with which they marked . out the empl defined area in which the signs were to be mani ’ Li s fested and observed . vy account of the inauguration of Numa gives a picture of the 1 o n traditional procedure . Numa was led to the Capitol from which there w as a commanding view over the city o f Rome and its territory . He was seated upon a stone with his face to the south . The augur with covered head took his seat to the left o f the king wi th the li tuus in h is right hand . After surveying the city and territory o f f Rome and of ering up a prayer , he then marked o ut the templum from east to west and defined the area to the south o f its axis as being

. i the Right , that to the north the Left The k ng thus faced the area in which lucky signs might be observed . The augur then shifted his li tuus ’ to his left hand , laid his right upon Numa s head , and prayed " If it is right that this Numa

l i 1 8 . L vy, I , 76 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

Pompilius , whose head I hold , be king in Rome , allow us to see unmistakable signs within the ” boundaries marked . He then stated what signs he wished to be sent . The Romans distinguished between a uspi ci a i m etri va p , in which a Sign was demanded , and a us i ci a obla ti va p , signs which are sent unsought , f generally of course portents o evil omen . The right o f observing public auspices of the first kind was exclusively reserved fo r secular magistrates

onti ex m a x i mus and the p f , though the skilled services of an augur as assessor might be desirable

o t ori and even necessary . Any citizen and a f r i any magistrate could report the Observance of a chance omen . It should o f course be realised that Roman augury is hardly true divination in the sense o f an attempt to pry into the secrets of the future it is rather o f the nature o f a test as to whether

o f a course action , which has already been decided

o r ffi upon by the state its o cial representative , is approved by the divine powers . The conditions o f the test are laid down and an answer is necessarily obtained , for it is not information but a simple yes or no which i s demanded . It has generally been held that both a ugurium and a uspi cium are etymologically connected with ‘ RELIGION OF THE STATE 77 a nis a bird and that the Oldest method o f Roman augury was that of the observation of the

flight o f birds . The importance attached in the early Republic to the signs afforded by lightning is due no doubt to Etruscan influence and to

Etruria the Romans owed the elaboration , if not

o f o f o f the origin , the method the examination ll the entrails o f the victim o f sacrifice . I am sti inclined to think that the germ o f this method was already present in early Roman religious custom before Etruscan influences became domi nant and is in fact to be found in the practice of examining the liver o f the victim o f sacrifice in order to make sure that it was healthy and normal and therefore a fit and proper offering to

o f o f be made . A comparison the models livers , charts as it were to guide interpretation , which have been found both in Etruria and Babylon , has suggested a Mesopotamian origin for the elaborate form o f this art . There is however a considerable gap o f time and space to be bridged

v between the two civilisations , e en though we may safely admit that the Etruscans probably came to Italy from Asia Minor , and the hypothesis o f a parallel but independent development is not perhaps to be excluded . The college o f augurs became more and more a 78 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

influence in political body exercising political Rome , which they were therefore naturally unwi lling to

o f leave . The methods divination in the field in practice became limited to the examination o f

h o w entrails and the observation of the chickens , which were kept for that purpose , took their food . These methods had the practical advantage of being simple and expeditious . The chickens were

ulla rius carried with the army in coops by the p ,

o f who had charge them , and prudence dictated that they Should be adequately starved to ensure that at the right time they would fall eagerly

o f upon their food , which was the desired Sign ’ heaven s approval . Throughout i ts history the Roman state dis co uraged prophecy and private unauthorised divination . The Marsian magicians , upon whom Ennius pours scorn and the Sabelli an wise women o f Horace were no doubt consulted by private persons but the attitude o f the state towards them was as definitely hostile as it was towards the Chaldeans and Oriental magicians who suc ceeded in more sophisticated times to the position which was earlier occupied by members o f the

o ne less civilised tribes of Italy . There is partial exception . Upon critical occasions when portents occurred for which the pontifi ces were unable to

LECTURE V

THE R ELIGIO N OF NUMA AND ITS O B "ECTS OF WO RSH IP

CE R TAI N features o f early Roman religion will no w be clear which the organisation of religion by the state are likely to accentuate . In the first place the worship o f num i na leaves no room for a personal tie between the worshipper and the

f i s obj ect o worship . The latter indeed an object o f awe and reverence but not of love . It has neither like passions nor like sympathi es with i man . In fact the relig ous duties of which the

o f feeling awe has inspired the performance , constitute the human side o f a contract . The whole conception o f religion is strongly tinged with legal conceptions . This contractual view o f religious obligation inevitably helps to widen the gap between the individual and the obj ect of his worship . The essential duty upon the human side is to secure the performance of the necessary rites , at the proper time , at the proper place , and with exactly accurate formulae . The least mistake in any detail of the performance renders the whole

8 0 RELIGION OF NUMA 8 1

o f o f nugatory . From this conception the nature religious duty it follows that the efficacy o f ceremoni es depends upon knowing how they should rightly be performed . Religion is there fore an expert affair and the performance o f active religious duties is left to the experts . The layman’ s share in religious observance is mainly

i . e. negative , , to abstain from any action which ’ o r might hinder , interfere with vitiate the expert s

o o f performance . N t till the advent the Sibylline books and the Gra ecus ri tus did the people take an active part in the state religion ; their duty w as merely to abstain from di stur bance during th e performance o f sacred rites . Ferii s jurgia am o vento is the only reference in ’ Cicero s imaginary sketch o f the i us di vi num to ”1 the conduct o f the citizen o n festival days . It will be observed that the action o f the state n in taking over , orga ising , and defining religious obligation in the interests o f the community and regularising its administration through properly constituted officials o f the state is a logical co n sequence o f thi s general view o f the nature o f

li o f re gion . D iscipline course it exacted and thus helped to develope an important side of Roman character but clearly from a moral and

1 War e ler Rel . . . 1 . i er De Le . ii 8 1 . d Fow , Exp , p 7 3 C c o, g , , , 9 F 8 2 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

religious point o f view it has its defects . The active duties o f religion and with them inevitably all sense o findividual responsibility are transferred from the layman to the expert . Further the intense emphasis upon the exact correctness o f ritual necessarily involved a rigid conservatism in traditional form . It is obvious , however , that In course o f ti me the meaning o f rites will become obliterated . The words of the hymns traditionally handed down become a mere hocus pocus to the layman , who no longer speaks the language in which they were written , and even the performer will no longer understand the formulae which

B . C . he recites . Indeed in the first century

o f a xa menta hardly a word the , which they

li Sa lii . chanted , can have been intel gible to the Again both the caution natural to minds o f a legal bias and the tendency o f experts to enhance the importance o f their science by elaboration led to the development o f an arid formalism . Long lists o fi ndigi ta menta were drawn up defining the appropriate numi na concerned with every detailed action o f human li fe and religion was wrapped in an artificial complexity which was as elaborately meticulous and as unintelligible to l the layman as that of legal documents .

1 See el . 1 1 . b ow, p 4 " RELIGION OF NUMA 8 3

The result o f the organisation o freligion by th e state upon the lines indicated was that at a particular and that an early stage o f social and political development the Roman religious system was stereotyped . Its practice was widely removed from life in the sense o f any mental activi ty o r personal need o f the individual . Further this gulf between religion and the needs o f life was bound to grow wider until there

Fo r was hardly a real point o f contact . the religion o f Numa was devised to provide for the needs o f a small agricultural society whose only interests were the prospects o f the harvest and o f the summer campaign . It consisted o f a perfectly rigid system , which left no room fo r development o r expansion beyond the mere elaboration o f detail . But Rome could not and did no t in fact remain a small community o f peasant farmers . New needs inevi tably arose from changed social and economic conditions and these a rigid system drawn up to supply needs of a particular and very li mited character was unable to meet . Ho w the new needs were met Wl ll be discussed

o u later . Here it suffices to point t that polytheism is not exclusive . It does no t deny the existence ’ o r o f validity other men s gods . Nor is there 84 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION anything repugnant to Roman religious ideas in l the fee ing that if circumstances arise , which are no t provided fo r by the invocations or rites o f the native religion , help may be sought elsewhere and the state may legitimately supplement its

o f religious system by the adoption foreign rites . The result however o f the introduction and adoption o f foreign cults was the introduction also o f foreign religious ideas and the o ld religi on was strangled by the new influences . It was inevitable that a ritual devised fo r peasant farmers should become more and more divorced from the actualities o f life in an imperial and cosmopolitan

As community . the language changed , the antiquated forms of its liturgy became less and less intelligible . Inevitably the newer elements came to bulk more Important than the old . But further the foreign rites with which the state cult was supplemented were fundamentally in consistent with the older order of native worship . They were antagonistic in essence because the roots o f their origin lay in religious conceptions quite different to those from which the worshi p o f numi na derived . Before passing o n to trace the history o f th is development , it may be worth while to consider a little more closely the obj ects o f early Roman RELIGION OF NUMA 8 5

worship . The following list , copied from the pages o f Wi sso w a , enumerates in alphabetical order the names o f div ine powers belonging to the religion o f Numa . Opposite each name is given the festivals with whi ch it is peculiarly associated .

ti r 1 th . ANNA PERENNA Fes val , Ma ch s

C M C arm entali a u r 1 1 th 1 th . AR ENTA , Jan a y , 5

C ti u Ist . ARNA Fes val, J ne

C C r i ri 1 th . ERES e eal a, Ap l 9

C U Co nsuali a u u t 2 1 5 t r 1 th . ONS S , A g s and Decembe 5

V G i i s r 2 1 5 t . DI A AN ERONA D val , Decembe PALACEK

u r i ru r 1 th . L pe cal a , Feb a y 5 if tum Flo r er (i ) .

ti i s t r 1 th Fon nal , Oc obe 3 .

Furrinali a ul 2 th . , J y 5

iu u r th Ti illum so ro rium Agon m , Jan a y g g ,

October l st .

IUP IT ER o f r t . i i ril The Ides eve y mon h V nal a , Ap rd u t l z 3 and A gus gth ; Medi tri nali a . t r 1 1 th Po lifu ium u th Oc obe ; p g , J ly 5 , ti r 2 rd Fes val on Decembe 3 .

r t i r 2 rd . La en al a, Decembe 3 it i Comp al a .

uri th 1 1 th 1 th Lem a , May 9 , , and 3 .

i r i r 1 th . L be al a , Ma ch 7

E uirri a ru r 2 th r 1 th q , Feb a y 7 and Ma ch 4 ; ti r I st iu rti a Fes val on Ma ch Agon m Ma le, r 1 th ui u tru r l th Ma ch 7 ; Q nq a s , Ma ch g ; Tub ilustrium r 2 rd 2 rd , Ma ch 3 (and 3 t r H r t r 1 th May) ; Oc obe o se, Oc obe 5 ;

Arm ilustrium t r 1 th . Am b arvali a . , Oc obe 9 86 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

E M tr i u ri th MAT R MATUTA a al a , J ne .

NE N e t na i a u rd PTU US N u l z . p , J ly 3

Op s i i i u u t 2 th Op cons v a , A g s 5 ; r l th Decembe g .

ri i ri z l st . PALES , PALATUA Pa l a , Ap l POMONA

U rtu i u u t 1 th . PORTUN S Po nal a , A g s 7

U uiri i ru r 1 th . Q UIRIN S Q nal a , Feb a y 7

R B GU R i i ril 2 th . O I S ob gal a , Ap 5

S S tur i r 1 th . ATURNUS a nal a , Decembe 7

U r i i i ri 1 th ri Sem entivae . TELL S Fo d c d a , Ap l 5 , Fe ae

M r i i ru r 2 rd . TER INUS Te m nal a , Feb a y 3

Ma z i V iu st . VEIO IS Agon m , y t i u th VESTA Ves al a , J ne 9 .

C U i u u t z rd . VOL AN S Volcanal a , A g s 3

U Vo lturnali a u u t a th . VOLTURN S , A g s 7

The feature in this liSt which will first strike

is a reader who familiar with classical literature , is its omissions . Very few of the gods and goddesses with whom classical literature has made him familiar figure in it . There is no mention

fo r o r . example of Diana , Minerva Apollo

e Further the names of gods , which he r cognises , appear to denote powers possessing more limited functions o r functions difl erent to those which are associated with them in Latin literature . Liber for instance is not the god of wine but a fertility

r power . Iupite to j udge by his festivals is primarily

ll Iu i er a vine god . Our reader wi miss p t Optimus

8 8 HI STORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

The religion then o f Numa represents a transition stage from numinism o r animism to deism , from the worship Of functional powers which have neither sex nor personality to that o f divine persons . But here it may be asked whether we have any right to assume this order o f development and suppose that the gods o f o ur th ird class are the result of a process of the n gradual personalisation of umi na . In j ustification it may be pleaded that while the process by which a personali ty may be developed o ut o f the indeterminate concept o f an impersonal force is intelligible , the reverse process is more difli cult to imagine . Further it is perhaps possible in the case of Vesta and Ianus to watch such a development actually taki ng place . The names o f these two divinities place them

numen o in o ur first category . Vesta is the f

numen . the hearth , Ianus the of the door The worship o f both lived as long as paganism survived . Vesta may be said partially to have ’ developed personality . In Cicero s time the fire o n the hearth still was Vesta but undoubtedly his contemporaries thought of Vesta as a goddess o f hearth and home possessing personality and sex ; to the end however she remained so far true to her original character that her temple RELIGION OF NUMA 89

w as never contained an image . Ianus originally

o f l h the door . The place his pub ic wors ip remained an archway in the Forum . But Ianus

o d became the g of beginnings ; he lost , if we

so i o f do o rness. may put it , the l mitations his He was represented in art by the statue of a male figure with two faces and a Roman o f the first

l o B . c. n century , would certai y have understo d by

Ianus a divine male personality . The roots then o f Roman religion appear to lie in animism o r the worship o f powers which

o r . exist in objects activities If this is so , certain negative conclusions follow which are so im t portant that they will bear repetition . Firs ly it is clear that the once popular Aryan theory breaks down completely in the case o f Roman reli gion . Roman objects o f worship cannot

erso nificatio ns o f originate in p the thunder , the

o r no t storm , the dawn the night , if they are

erso nifi a i p c t o nsat all . Abstract functional powers refuse to fall into line with the hypothetical system o f nature worship attributed to the Aryan ancestors o f the peoples who speak dialects o f the

- Indo European language . Roman mythology cannot be highly figurative conversation about the weather fo r the best o f reasons ; there is

m na no Roman mythology . Nu i have no per 90 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

so nali ty. Their worshippers were a practical and unspeculative people ; they were interested only in the activity Of these powers ; they therefore

F r made up no stories about them . o similar reasons it is obvious that Roman religion cannot have its origin in the worship o f the stars . Secondly none of the various forms o fEuh em er i sm can explain the origin o f Roman religion . Euhemerus first promulgated the rationali st theory that gods arose from the grateful memory of the b eneficence o fgreat men who thus became deified l by posterity . But the memory of a "ohn Nicho son , whose personality gave rise to a god worshipped o n o f the North Western Frontier India , could no t give rise to the worship of an impersonal

numen.

Modern Euhemerists sometimes search fo r a universal source o f religion in ancestor - worshi p and claim that it is everywhere the ultimate origin o fhuman religious development . Whatever

no t may be the case elsewhere , their theory is true o f Roman religion It is difli cult to derive ” ” door , Ianus , or even of sowing , Saturnus ,

ens from a dead ancestor . A Roman g had often an ancestral connection with some particular

o f religious cult but its members , unlike those

f no t the Greek yévo q , did claim a common RELIGION OF NUMA 9 1

descent from a god . Further , if we may be allowed to emphasise the point once more , there is no evidence for the individualisation o f the

o f dead in early Rome . The title the collective dead is plural Telluri ac Dis Manib us ran the formula by which a Roman general devoted

NO the enemy to the nether powers . word for the singular spirit o f a dead man exists and later

no t usage , which does appear to be earlier than

B . c. the first century , has to employ the plural R Ma nes fo r the spirit of an individual . ites at Roman tombs do not appear to be in a strict sense acts o f worship but rather acts o f com memoration and until Greek eschatology was introduced into Rome there are no traces o f theories about an after life . Thirdly we have seen that thanks to the abstract nature o f the objects o f worship and the practical

o f hi character the wors pper , there is no Roman mythology . There i s similarly no Roman cos m o o n g y, for the Roman indulged in no specula tions as to how the Obj ects o f his worship came into being . Num i na have no physical relation among themselves nor do they stand in any physical relation to their worshippers . The Greek "eus is the father o f gods and men ; the Roman

Iu iter p is neither . 92 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

To this it will be obj ected that Roman deities

r are often addressed as father o mother . Iupiter

is himself Dies Pater and Tellus is Tellus Mater .

It remains true , however , that until Greek

o f mythology , with its system of a divine family

- inter related gods , was introduced there is no hint o f any similar inter - relation between Roman obj ects o f worship . It is possible that the use of father and mother in invocation need not imply i a physical relationsh p at all , but be merely a

o f propitiatory mode address , as when a Russian ” s hould address his master as Little Father . Fo urth ly some students have attempted to find in early Roman religion a number of grouped

o f pairs wedded deities . The foundation of their argument however is in G raeco - Roman myth ology . If we are right in thinking that Roman gods were developed from numi na and that a numen h as no personality and therefore no sex , we shall be unable to agree with them . Now the indeterminate character o f the sex of the obj ects o f early Roman worship is shown by the caution

num i na o f liturgical formulae in later times . If n possessed sex , it was not k own which it was , and

Si ve m a s si ve em ina o r hence f , whether male female was added to the invocation to make sure that it reached the right quarter . Pales , a rustic RELIGION OF NUMA 93 power which remained uninfluenced by Greek

o r mythology, is indifferently masculine feminine in the Augustan poets .

‘ The chief support of th e th eo ry o f the wedded pairs of divinities rests upon certain phrases which are known to have occurred in sacred formulae

Ne tuni Vi rites such as Lua Saturni , Salacia p ,

uirini . e Q , Nerio Martis It has be n suggested that these words , feminine in gender , represent female counterparts o r wives o f the male powers with whom they are asso ciated and it is quite true that later Roman mythology knew a story o f the

o f . wooing Nerio by Mars But , owing to the untrustworthy nature of the evidence o f m yth o

fo r logy early Roman belief, this is not in itself conclusive and there is evidently an inherent difficulty in reconciling a primitive cult of wedded

o f pairs deities with numinism , which upon other grounds we have been led to regard as the most probable origin of Roman religion . Nor is it by any means clear that these femini ne words originally represented female personalities . There i s reason to believe rather that they may be

fo r abstract qualities . Nerio instance appears to

virtus C erfia Cerfus be equivalent to and Cerus , , ,

mentioned in the formula below, seem to be connected etymologically with creare and to have 94 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

niu something of the same meaning as ge s. Although formulae o f this kind indisputably belong to the

o f to religion Numa , they probably belong its latest stages and represent the product of sacer

dotal elaboration . Such must be the explanation

o f Praesti ta Cerfia Cerfi Martii a phrase like , protecting spirit (feminine) o f the spirit (mas ”1 culine) of Mars .

v The obser ations , which a list of the obj ects of

o f worship early Roman religion has suggested , are no t without a certain negative interest to students o fcomparative religion . They confirm the wisdom

o f that caution , which now prevails among students o f social anthropology in contrast to their pre

decesso rs , in adopting any single hypothesis which i s to explain the origin of every human religious

- system . To several of the master keys which were

once popular , Aryan nature worship , ancestor

o f l worship , the worship wedded pairs of ferti ity

deities , Roman religion refuses to yield .

There is yet another difficult question . Did the early Romans worship animals ? Again if

o f numi na we are right about the character , it is difficult to reconcile with their worship a therio morphic conception Of divinity . I am personally

I i us i n t i di fi ult m a tter ill b e un in War e ler A d sc s o of h s f c w fo d d Fow ,

Rel ious eri en e . 1 S I ll. . Wisso wa . 1 . ig Exp c , pp 49, 4 , fo Cf , p 34

96 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

completely in the dark as to what they were and

what they did . Fo r myself I consider it more probable that the wolf and woodpecker gained their religious importance from becoming associated with Mars rather than th at they were originally themselves

independent objects of worship . The grounds

o f such association are not diffi cult to imagine . Both are wild creatures appropriate to the wild

god and in addition to its martial appearance ,

which Plutarch noticed , the woodpecker is quali fied for association with Mars in h is other aspect

o f o d o f the g spring and growth , for throughout Europe it has been regarded as a bird which brings

the rain . The list o f obj ects o f worship suggested that th e Religion of Numa was at a transition stage from numini sm to deism and in the thi rd class

o f l powers , which can certain y be called gods ,

stand three o f whom something must be said . Although they were no t worshipped in temples no r s represented by image in human shape ,

Iu iter p , Mars and Quirinus are already divine

personalities when first we hear o f them . They occupied in this early religion the prominence

hi Iu iter w ch p , Iuno and Minerva afterwards

enjoyed under the Etruscan kings . To them were - RELIGION OF NUMA 97 attached the three most ancient priesthoods the

fi o f Fla men Di a lis Fla men Ma rti a lis of ces , and

men ui ri na lis Fla Q .

About Quirinus very little is known . In later days he was identified with Romulus but he seems u t originally to have been the pec liar dei y, corres

th e ponding to Mars , of the settlement upon

Quirinal Hill . No doubt he was incorporated into the Roman reli gious system as a consequence o f the political amalgamation o f the two co m m uniti es. It would appear however that he was completely dwarfed by his greater double , Mars . Of the three great fla mi nes that of Quirinus was the j unior and while the Fla m en Di a li s and the Fla m en Ma rti a lis were solely and completely

o f occupied with the cults their respective deities ,

e. . a number of extra duties , g the sacrifice to

Fla men ui ri na lis. Robigus , fell to the Q This has suggested that as the cult o f Quirinus waned in importance , its duties became less exacting ; in consequence the Flamen of Quirinus was enabled to undertake extra duties connected with other l cu ts . Iupiter may have been originally the num en of k the s y . It is certain that from a very early date he was worshipped by all the peoples o f the l Italic Stock . His cult was especial y connected with o 98 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

o ak high places and with the , a tree peculiarly l i o d associated w th the g of lightning . It was perhaps because the days o f full moon provide the longest period o f continuous light that the

Ides were sacred to Iupiter. In his R oma n Idea s of Dei ty Warde Fowler threw o ut a suggestion that the worship o f Iupiter may be a survival o f an aboriginal mono theism to which numinism and the deities sub sequently evolved from numi na were but an

so o f accretion . Difference from great a master his subj ect is always hazardous but here we are outside historical times for which the Opinion of o ne so , who had lived into Roman literature that almost he caught the sentiments o f an ancient

Roman , must always carry a peculiar authority . I confess that I do not find it very easy to accept

this theory of an aboriginal monotheism , in support of which no very cogent evidence can be

to produced and I am inclined doubt , if the

anthropological testimony adduced in its favour , is quite so strong and trustworthy as Warde

Fowler supposed .

Iu iter Under the Etruscan monarchy, p became the chief guardian o f the Roman state but even

It a ear to b e a a t t at th e o ak is m re lia le to b e tru k b I . pp s f c h o b s c y n t i int Warde ler h as lle te li ghtning th an o th er trees . Upo h s po Fow co c d

m e i ntere tin e iden e in Rom an sa . ll. so s g v c Es y s, pp 37 , fo

Io o HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

o f Iu ite r. eretrius cults p As F , the god of the i f a " thunderbolt , he was worshipped an ncient

ak o . e. . upon the Capitol Other cult titles , g

h is Elicius or Fulmen , attest manifestation in the

i Iu i er l ghtning . As p t Lapis he was worshipped i as immanent in a fl nt , possibly a stone celt , which

Iu iter was kept in a shrine , hard by the oak of p

eti a Feretrius. This stone was used by the f les in the ceremonial above described and they swore

‘ r d pe Iovem Lapi em . Mention may also be made o f a very curious and ancient ceremony of rain

- making which w as called a gua eli cium . In time o f drought a procession of matrons with bare feet accompanied by the magistrates without the

o ffi ce - l insignia of their , escorted a stone , ca led

Manali s the Lapis , from the Porta Capena to

Iu iter p Elicius on the Aventine , where water was ceremonially poured over it . Cleam this is in itself a very primitive rite and was intended to cause rain by sympathetic

o f o f magic . The antiquity the procession matrons however may perhaps be questioned . It has a Greek appearance and in fact the evidence for this feature of the ritual is derived from Petronius who is writing not of Rome but of a

South Italian town . At a very early date Iupiter became the god RELIGION OF NUMA 1 9 1 who sanctioned the oath and was invoked as Deus " b Fidius. He thus ecame the god of justice and the power which sanctioned the observance of treaties . HéfiOe h is worship exercised a powerful influence upon the development o f moral and political ideas . There is no evidence , however , that in the religion o f Numa Iupiter occupied the

o f position , which he held later , the chief political

o f deity the Roman state . The festivals associated with his name in the ancient calendar show him to be primarily concerned with the cultivation

. z rd i of the vine The Vinalia April 3 , Vinal a l th Rustica August g , and Meditrinalia October

1 1 th all — o d , are sacred to the sky g and it was his

Fla men Di a lis priest , the , who ceremonially

d a plucked the first grapes at the vi n emi e a uspi ca ti o . Of the problems connected with Mars a very good and clear summary wi ll be found in ’ . to o f Mr Bailey s Introduction his edition Ovid ,

Fasti III . T o o f , a Roman the Augustan age Mars was primarily the god of war and the divine

o f ancestor through Romulus the Roman race . There is evidence that before history can be said to begin his worship was common to the majority f o the Italic peoples . That in the earliest days of Rome he possessed a military aspect is um questionable . His sacred spears were kept in the 1 0 2 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

o f Regia , the palace the king , and before a war the general in command entered the treasury of Mars , shook the spears and shields and called upon Mars

Ma rs v i ila . to watch ( g ) His dancing priests , the

Sa li i , wore the full dress of the ancient Italian

Of warrior . To Mars were sacred the ceremonies the purification o f the arms and army o f the state at the beginning and at the end of the campaigning season (Arm ilustrium March 1 7th ; Tub ilustrium March 2 3rd ; October Horse

October 1 5 th ; Arm ilustrium October l gth ) .

o f lustrum o r o f At the completion each , period

five years , the Roman people were purified by th e threefold offering (suoveta urili a) and for this purpose they met under arms upon the Field

o f o f . Mars , the drill ground the citizen army In this military aspect has been sought the explanation why until the time of Augustus

o ne o f di i ndi etes Mars , though indisputably the g , was worshipped outside not inside the p omerium . War w as not allowed inside the spiritual boun dari es of the city only in the offi cial celebration of victory did the citizen army enter the walls in the triumphal procession to the Capitol and then only after passing under the triumphal arch which purified them from the infection o f

war and slaughter .

1 0 4 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION woodland was at once the numen o f birth and fertility , particularly that of flocks and herds , and was also the power which reigned in the mysterious and dreaded forest which lay beyond i the homestead . To this w ld character he would attribute the development o f the conception o f Mars as the go d of violence and warfare and the exclusion of the worship of Mars outside the p omerium he would explain as an heritage from

i s Mars Silvanus . But it by no means certain that Silvanus was originally a cult title o f Mars and

Mr . Bailey had made some very pertinent eriti cism s of this view . His o w n suggestion i s that Mars was originally

numen o f - a great growth and the growing year ,

as and that , such , his worship fell very naturally to the young warri ors of the tribe . He stresses th e

Sali i Ko uretes analogy between the and the , the " armed priests of Cretan eus , which had attracted

o f the notice Observers in antiquity, and the close and striking analogy between their leaping dances and ritual hymns to which we have already 1 referred . We are here in the region o f conj ecture where certainty is not to be attained but on the whole ’ Mr . Bailey s hypothesis seems to be that which

1 See a e . 6 . bov , p 4 RELIGION OF NUMA 1 0 5

comes nearest to a reasonable solution of the problem without distorting or forcing such frag

s mentary evidence a we possess . LECTURE VI

F R OM THE ETRUSCAN MONAR CHY TO THE PUNIC WAR S

IN the pages o f Livy which narrate the history o f

o f the Second Punic War , the topic religion again and again engages attention . The strain o f that prolonged anxiety o ur generation can but to o well appreciate . Hannibal was at large in Italy

s o f at Trebi , Trasimene and Cannae the armies the state had been not merely defeated but destroyed . Though disaster followed disaster the undaunted spirit o f the Roman people and its leaders did no t despair of the commonwealth and maintained the struggle with grim determination .

But each year which prolonged it , intensified the mental strain and it was but natural that an anxiety so tortured should turn fo r relief to the canvassing o f religious hopes and fears . The records o feach year are marked by the occurrence o f d prodigies , and a regular proce ure inevitably follows their announcement . The Sibylline Boo ks are consulted and upon their recommendation the performance o f certain religious rites are officially

1 0 6

1 0 8 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

size and population no less than in power . Her favourable position at the crossways of the natural

o f routes commerce , which ran up the Tiber from the outside world into Central Italy and from Latium to Etruria by the river crossing ll guarded by the seven hi s , began now to be exploited . With the foreign tyrants came foreign fi merchants and foreign arti cers. The new interests of commerce and handicraft entered the m com unity . These secular changes have naturally their

o f counterpart in the history Roman religion . To the Etruscan kings is due the introduction of temple worship . The simple ritual of the religion o f Numa had been innocent o f temples made with hands . The worship of the early Roman had taken place at sacred groves ; an altar made o f turf or stone and a small shrine (sa cellum) were the most elaborate buildings o fwhich it made use .

The Etruscans , however , whose native civilisation w as in the main a debased Hellenism , introduced the more Splendid housing o f their obj ects of worship in permanent structures highly orna m en ed raeco - t by G Etruscan art . In themselves these new and magnificent homes assisted the individualisation o f Roman numi na and fostered the development o f the conception o f gods as TO THE PUNIC WARS 1 0 9

o o divine personalities . It was natural t that wi th the introduction o f temples came the practice o f representing their divine inhabitants n by statues . Art , as indeed it had already show in

o f Greece , is a powerful factor in the moulding popular conceptions o f the nature o f divinities and for obvious reasons in Greece and Rome , where it rej ected the half - human half - bestial representations of divinity, like those , for example , n k own to Egypt , its influence was strongly anthropomorphic . Another great change in Roman religion also begins to manifest itself in the period o f the l f Etruscan rulers . The new po itical position o Rome necessitated the definition o f the attitude o f the Roman state towards the deities o f conquered o r subordinate communities . To supplement the deficiencies o f the existing state religion which was purely agricultural in character the Romans adopted the cults o f subj ect - peoples and of the foreigners , who were brought in increasing numbers to trade o r to settle in Rome . These influences caused a great multiplication of the objects o f worship and profoundly altered their

Fo r character . the foreign deities tended either to be identified with some existing obj ect o f

hi o f wors p , in which case the older conception the 1 1 0 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION power in question was modified by the addition of new characteristics or features belonging properly to the foreign deity thus identified with it , or by their greater consonance with the new conditions o f society to push the older - fashioned gods into the obscurity of obsoleteness . This was

Fo inevitable . r obvious reasons Rome w as no t to look back no r to become again a primitive agricultural community . All the forces o f development were operative in the opposite direction ; her character was bound increasingly

o n o f to take the colour an imperial , commercial and capitalistic society . These influences which began to be felt under the Etruscan monarchy were Operative through o ut the period o f the early Republic . The changes , which they effected , were promoted by the growing political importance o f the Plebeians and their successful struggle for political equality . Fo r while the older religious system remained almost inevitably in Patrician hands , the cults of w later introduction , associated ith the economic development to which the Plebeians in great measure owed their increased numbers and

f fo r power , af orded an opportunity claiming a Share in the religious administration of the state . The Romans divided their gods into two

1 1 2 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION combination which corresponded to a divine triad

Eturi a widely worshipped in , now took the most prominent place in the state religion . Before the rising importance of this triad the three

o f o ld principal figures the calendar , Mars ,

Quirinus and Iupiter fell into the background .

In particular Mars , though he never altogether surrendered his claim to be the national patron o f the warlike Romans , was supplanted by ’ Iupiter as the god par excellence of Rome s

Iu i Lati aris w as poli tical destiny . p ter the

o f supreme deity the Latin League , of which Rome had now become the acknowledged head ; but in the new temple o n the Capitol was worshipped a yet more powerful and greater

Iu iter Latiari s p than or , indeed , than any other ,

Iu iter p Best and Greatest (Optimus Maximus) , whose cult is , as it were , the religious expression ’ o f Rome s secular aspirations . ’ The assertion o f Rome s political supremacy in the Latin League is also reflected in the

o f D introduction the worship of iana , whose great temple on the Aventine was founded under D the monarchy . iana was later identified with the Greek Artemis , but originally she was a native Italian goddess wh o was worshipped by the members o f the Latin League in the grove " TO THE PUNIC WARS 1 1 3

i of Ari cia . It was this wh ch gave her cult political importance and explains the Significance of the transference of its centre of gravity to

Rome and to Roman control . Ancient polytheism was not of course exclusive in the sense o f disputing the existence and validity of the gods of other peoples . Rome had therefore to decide her policy towards the divine as well as towards the human inhabitants f o the cities which sh e conquered . There are examples where the divine inhabitants o f a beleaguered town were induced to turn traitor to their worshippers . The process was called evoca ti o n , and the best k own example is the

o f Iuno . evocation Regina , the goddess of Veii In the course of the siege the Romans made promise in the due religious form that if the goddess would desert the cause o f her worshippers for that o f the besiegers her cult should be officially established in Rome after the capture 1 o f the town .

1 Th e rm ula evo a tion ill b e und In a r iu S a t . Si fo of c w fo M c ob s , III , 9, 7 deu si dea est cui ulu ci vi tas ue Carth a ini ensi s e st In tutela te ue s, , pop s q g , q m a i m e ille ui ur i h ui us o uli ue tutelam re e i ti re co r vener r ue x , q b s p p q c p s , p o q veni a m que a vobis p e to ut vos populum ci vi ta tem que Carth aginiensem deserati s l a tem la a ra urb e m ue rum relin uati s a ue hi s ab eatis , oc p s c q co q , bsq , ei ue ul ci vi ta ti m etum fo mi di nem o b li vi o nem ini ci atis ro di ti ue q pop o r , p q R o m am ad m e m eo s ue veniati s no stra ue i l a tem la a ra ur q q vob s oc p s c , bs acce tio r ro b atio r ue sit mi hi ue o ulo ue R m an m i li ti b us ue m ei p p q , q p p q o q o o s

ro i tii si ti s ut sciam us i ntelle am us ue . Si i ta feceri ti s vo veo tem la p p , g q , vobis p " ludos ue fac q turum . H 1 1 4 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

In many cases , even where this promise had not been made , the deities of a conquered state were incorporated into the Roman religious system and their cults Officially established in

Rome . Policy in this matter was o f course directed by the pontifices and there is no means o f knowing fo r what reason this incorporation

o r was was not carried o ut in particular cases . It is certain however that in this way some o f the most important cults o f the Republican

Fo period were first introduced into Rome . r example the worship of Fors Fo rtuna came thus

o f Iuturna Lavinium from Etruria , that from ,

o f that Minerva Capta from Falerii , that of

o f Vo rtum na Fcronia from Capua , and that from

Vo lsinii .

The number o f Roman deities therefore tended to increase with the political expansion o f Rome ; there w as further a tendency towards multiplication by the sub - division o f divine l concepts . In part no doubt this multip ication is due to the pseudo - sci entific pedantry o f formalism and the natural tendency of an expert priesthood to elaborate ritual at the expense o f common sense . To this tendency must probably be attributed the long lists o f Indigi ta m enta which assigned to each minute sub - division o f

1 1 6 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION and Libertas have their origin in cult titles of

Iu iter m t p Ho os and Virtus , the military quali ies

a r ex cellence p , were attributes of Mars before they received the honour o f independent deifi

d ifica io n cation . The e t of abstractions came peculiarly easily to a people of the Latin stock whose native religious system was rooted in numinism and whose early formulae might

o n . contain such phrases as that considered p 94. above .

Abstract divinities like Concordia , Spes or c Pietas , the origin of which annot be traced in

o f the cult titles earlier deities , may perhaps be accounted for as deificatio ns prompted by the analogy o f Ho no s and Virtus and the like . Thus far we have been considering new cults which were either introduced by the Etruscan kings , created by Roman religious authorities , o r incorporated with the poli tical incorporation o f their native places in the Roman state . There remain the deities , whose worship came to Rome with the new population o f what had become a civilised centre of an active commercial and

o f urban life . Thus Minerva , the goddess handicraft , came first from Southern Etruria , m probably from Falerii , with the Etruscan work en wh o flocked to Rome under the later monarchy . T O THE PUN IC WARS 1 1 7

l th Her festival , which fell upon March g , coin cided with the Quinquatrus , which had been originally sacred to Mars . Upon this day, arti cum di es fi , the handicraftsmen Of Rome made ’ holiday and their guilds met at Minerva s temple . S O important was this cult that by the ti me of Ovid the association o f Mars wi th this spring festival had almost been forgotten and Quin quatrus had come to be regarded as the festival f o fthe goddess and not o the go d . The patronage of Minerva was originally restricted to handicraft .

sh e Later , however , became identified with Athena and so acquired an extension o f function like the Greek goddess she became the patron

o f . also medicine , literature , art and war V enus no less was an Italian goddess , who came first to Rome from Ardea in her native guise as a deity o f gardens but later suffered metamorphosis under Greek influence . She was identified with

o f Aphrodite and a specific Greek cult , that

o f . Aphrodite Mt Eryx in Sicily , with which the

first Punic War brought Rome into contact , became the parent o f her most important cult (Venus

Erycina) in Rome . With this Sicilian cult came the Aeneas legend which the Iulian family were after wards to turn to political account and Virgil w as

o f to make the theme the great national epic . 1 1 8 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

Two interesting Greek cults penetrated Rome

o f o f in the very early years the Republic , both them indirectly through a Latin source . The

o f worship the Dioscuri , the great Twin Brethren , had come with the colonists of Magna G raecia to Italy . As the guardians of shipping their benevolence was of moment to the settlers from overseas but they were also associated with athletic prowess . In Italy this latter aspect of their activities became the dominant one and they were peculiarly associated with cavalry . Their cult had Spread from the Greeks to the Italian towns and Tusculum in particular had become an important centre of their worship . From

Tusculum , not directly from a Greek source , they were brought to Rome . In consequence they came not as foreigners but as native Italian gods ; their worship was conducted inside the pomerium and their cult was under the direct regulation of the pontifices. As readers of ’ La s Macaulay s y will remember , their advent is associated with a legend o f divine intervention

o f Re illus B . C . in the battle Lake g 499 , and the actual introduction o f the cult may be dated to

B C . 484 .

The cult of another Greek hero , Heracles , came early to Rome . Its introduction is peculiarly

1 2 0 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

the development o f commerce came increasingly close contact with Greek civilisation and in particular the trade in imported corn which became necessary to supply the needs o f the

its enlarged city with new urban population , was largely in the hands of Greek merchants . T o the last Tarquin the familiar story assigns the acquisition of the Sibylline Books . An aged crone presented herself to the king and offered him nine books o f prophecies at an exorbitant price .

Upon the king refusing to satisfy her demands , sh e destroyed three and offered the remainder but for the same sum . The king again refused and after burning three more she offered the three surviving volumes still at an identic al

o f figure . This strange method bargaining impressed the Tarquin he paid the desired price and secured for the state the threeprecious books o f prophecy . These were the Sibylline Books for the aged crone had been in fact the Cumaean

Sibyl herself . The idea o f the divinely inspired prophetess or

Sibyl seems to have had its origin in Ionia . Both in Greece and Asia Minor there early dev eloped a body of prophecies which were assigned to legendary figures and it has been suggested with some probability that these independent founts N T O THE PUN IC WARS 1 2 1 o f oracular inspiration in part developed in opposition to the Dorian oracle o f Apollo at Delphi whose utterances were issued under the strict control of a Dorian priesthood . In Greece proper this independent prophecy is represented

o r no t by male seers like Bakis Musaeus , figures di ssimilar to Merlin o r Thomas the Rhym er in

British history , but in Asia Minor the female type predominated and the legendary vehi cle o f ’ uninfluenced Apollo s inspiration , perhaps not by

o f i n the epic tradition Cassandra , was almost variably a woman . These prophetesses were called Sibyls and the earliest o f them is probably the Sibyl o f Eryth rae The settlers o f Cumae had brought to Italy this Ionian idea ; an imposing grotto in th e neighbourhood o f the town became the chi ef oracular site in Magna G raeci a and was

o regarded as the home f the Cumaean Sibyl . The idea that the state should collect and pre serve i n j ealous secrecy and security prophecies upon the fulfilment o fwhich its fortunes depended was also familiar to the Greeks . Thus for example

C . Pisistratus in the sixth century B . made a collection o f the oracles o f Musaeus which was carefully preserved at Athens and both he and his l sons paid no ittle attention to oracular science . Both in the Greek and in the Etruscan towns o f 1 2 2 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

Italy the secret official preservation o f similar collections books of fate (libri fa ta les) was quite common .

l o f The Siby line Books , the introduction which tradition thus assigns to Cumaean influence in the

o f time the later monarchy, contained a number o f prophecies written in Greek hexameters . The collection was put in charge of two commissioners who were responsible for carrying o ut the

o f consultation the books and , under the general

ont ces o f supervision of the p ifi , for the regulation the foreign cults o f which the introduction was

o f recommended . In 36 7 the board control was increased to ten members half o f whom were to be Plebeian . In the control of rites of foreign origin the vested interests o f the Patricians were not impregnable and therefore the prelude to the claim , successfully put forward thirty years later , to membership of the older religious colleges was the assertion of the right of Plebeians to share in the control o f the Sibylline

o f Books . The numbers the board were even tuall to y raised , probably by Sulla , fifteen members who were known as Qui ndecimv iri sa cri s

a ndis ui ndeci mviri f ciu . The Q had the actual

o f charge the collections , which until the reign of Augustus were lodged in the temple o n the

1 2 4 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

Tarquin , who bought them from the mysterious crone , sent a deputation to Greece to consult

o f the oracle Apollo at Delphi . The first temple f o B . C . Apollo , however , was vowed in 433 , in accordance with the advice o f the Sibylline Books which had been consulted in consequence of a severe pestilence and was not completed until

C . 43 1 B . In 496 the harvest failed and under the stress o f famine the Books were consulted . The Romans were recommended to introduce the worship of the Greek divinities Demeter , Dionysos and Kore who were to be identified with the i Ital an Ceres , Liber and Libera respectively . The temple consequently vowed was completed in

B . C . Dam o h ilus 493 by Greek artists , p and

o r as o f G g us. In similar moments emergency the adoption of other Greek cults was ordered . Thus ,

Em o laio s for example , Hermes p entered Rome under the Latin name of Mercurius and Poseidon was identified with Neptunus. The Greeks gods so introduced assumed in many cases a Latin name but they retained both their native rites and the stories which attached to them in their Greek form . These identifications therefore imply the introduction of foreign

tw o o f i elements in most important Spheres relig on , To THE PUNIC WARS 1 2 5

B C . o f ritual and mythology . In 399 . a winter great severity had been followed by a hot season

Reli i o and plague . g , in its primary sense of ll religious apprehension , was natura y aroused to seek the means o f averting divine wrath by the l forms o freligious ceremonial . The Sibyl ine Books were consulted and fo r the first time the Greek rite of a lecti sternium was celebrated in Rome . A festival o feight days was proclaimed during which

effi ies o f o f the g three pairs deities , Apollo and

Latona , Diana and Hercules , Mercurius and Neptunus were publicly exposed upon couches with tables containing Offerings o f food before them . It will be noticed that the deities concerned in this ceremonial are without exception Greek though some have acquired by identification

Latin names . The ritual is Greek . The completely anthropomorphic character o f the ideas expressed in presenting a banquet to divine beings is

absolutely foreign to the numinism o f early Rome . The popular and spectacular character o f the

rite may also be emphasised . This is even more

su li ca ti ones prominent in the ritual of pp , which were now introduced under Sibylline influence ,

to provide religious help in time of trouble .

su li ca ti o Was When a pp proclaimed , the whole 1 2 6 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

people , men , women and children marched in processions to the temples carrying the sacred laurel branches o f Greek piacular ritual and prostrated themselves before the images of the gods to implore divine assistance . The old Latin idea that religious duty consisted in the metio n lo usly accurate performance o f ritual by Official experts while the part played by the laity is confined to abstention from any action likely to

o r . obstruct negative the result , has disappeared The whole people takes part in these emotional ceremonies and finds in their performance a real distraction and emotional satisfaction in times of

co m great trouble . In fact with the growing plexity o f civilised life the emotional needs o f the individual for religious expression and satisfaction became increasingly urgent and this factor played no small part in the supersession of the o ld Latin formalism by the new and more imaginative Greek ritual as it did again later in the propagation o f the still more personal and emotional cults of the East . The political expansion o f Rome naturally in tensified the influence Of Greek ideas in all

o f departments o f life . The conquest the Greek towns of South Italy was followed by the First

l . Punic War , the war for Sici y From this direct

1 2 8 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION o f alarming prodigies the Sibylline Books were consulted and a lectisterni um and suppli ca ti ones

B . were held . In 2 1 7 C . the disaster of Trasimene

as di w . Lu followed by further prodigies , sacred games on the Greek model , were held and a lectisternium o n a grand scale took place , twelve deities being feasted in pairs . In this year to o was revived an o ld Latin ritual by which a com munity in desperate Straits might win divine

ver sa crum assistance . The sacred spring ( ) was proclaimed which meant that all the produce ,

o f including the children , the spring five years after the date of the ceremony, were to be dedicated to the god , if the state proved then to have sur vived the crisis . In the Old Latin rite such vows o f dedication were made to Mars but Iupiter had now become the national go d o f Rome and upon this occasion it was to the god of the Capitoline temple that the vow was made . In 2 1 6 after Cannae the occurrence of alleged scandals in connection with the Vestal Virgins as well as the announcement o f prodigies testify to the acuteness of popular anxiety .

o f Fabius Pictor , the father Roman history , was sent o n a mission to the god of Delphi and the exceptional strain of the time is reflected in the burying alive o f a pair o f Gauls and a pair o f TO THE PUNIC WARS 1 2 9

to Greeks , for human sacrifice was quite foreign

2 1 B . C . Roman religion in normal times . In 3 we find the authorities taki ng in hand the religious excitement , which the protracted strain of war had produced particularly, it is interesting to notice , among the women of Rome . Private superstitions were rigidly suppressed and a distraction to keep the people quiet and to provide an innocuous o ut let for religious feeling was provided by the found

o f o f Ludi A olli nares ation the Games Apollo , p , a festival o f course upon the Greek model . In

C . fo r 2 0 5 B . when Scipio was appointed the final

o f and decisive effort invading Africa , the cult of the Great Mother o f Asia Minor was brought to

Rome . The black stone which represented her ffi presence was o cially welcomed by Scipio , as representative of the State and for the first time one of the orgiastic cults of the East gained an o fli ci al footing in Rome . The end o f the Second Punic War closes an epoch no t only in the history o f Rome b ut also in

o f D the history Roman religion . uring the period which had elapsed since the monarchy Greek gods and Greek mythology had invaded Rome . Foreign rites had largely superseded the Older religion o f the state and the process had gone so far that the distinction between the o ld gods and the new w as 1 30 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

practically lost . But this worship o f Gracco Roman deities had still a real importance fo r national consciousness and proved a real help throughout the Hannibalic War . At the same time the religious instrument was to some extent deliberately handled by the authorities for secula r purposes . Their Skill was shown in the way in which they steadied popular apprehension and ,

o f i while suppressing hysteria any k nd , provided a suffi cient outlet fo r religious feeling .

1 32 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION show a proper reverence fo r their parents and the Th gods . e text o f th e sermon is that of the new regime , which Augustus was trying to create . It is o f course a sermon and preached upon a familiar rhetorical contrast between the virtuous peasant and the idle , vicious , and urban rich . Nevertheless there is a good deal in its accusations

w o and they ill perhaps repay ur attention . The misery o f the last hundred years o f the

Republic is indisputable . It is a century o f revolutions , civil wars and proscriptions , a period o fcomplete anarchy when neith er life nor property were secure . We are perhaps a little prone to regard the events o f these years of violence as a highly coloured spectacle exciting o ur emotional interest only by the rapidity and violence o f its vicissitudes and to forget the conditions o f life whi ch these political events imply for the i ndivi duals who were so unfortunate as to be their co n temporaries . The peculiar horror of the time , as it has been well said , was that it put the better elements o f society at the mercy o f the worse . ’ The fourth book of Appian s history o f the Civil Wars o r even the implications o f the Lauda ti o Turi a e will give a vivid impression of what it must have been like to be an ordinary decent Roman in

o f x the days the proscriptions , with unmerited e ile LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC 1 33

o r sudden death an ever present menace , and the possibility o fyour nearest relation o r most trusted servant revealing himself without warning as an 1 enemy and an executioner . The Second Punic War had been followed by ’ Rome s conquest o f the East . Her spoils had concentrated in her hands the capital o f the Mediterranean world and her conquests had

flooded th e market with slaves . Luxury and materialism characterised the upper classes and "7 the extended scale o f slavery brought with it i ts

o attendant evils . The plantati n gangs filled Italy with a potential source o f armed disorder and the free Romans of the lower classes degenerated into ” an urban rabble of mean whites . Roman insti

tuti o ns fo r , devised as they had been a City state , failed to meet the demands of administering an

empire . In politics a j ealous and decadent aristocracy struggled to maintain its monopoly o f political privilege against the claims advanced by d the newly arisen capitalists or by the lea ers , who succeeded in organising the violence o f the worth

o w n less m o b to further their political ambitions .

The central government , whatever politicians

its might be in control , was powerless to assert

’ ’ 1 A translation of Appian s Civil Wars will b e found in Appian s R oma n

Hi to r e Cla i al i rar Vo l. IV . Fo r th e a uda t o Turi ce see s y (Lo b ss c L b y), L i

Warde ler So i a l e i n tb e A e o era . 1 f. Fow , c Lif g f Cic , pp 5 9 1 34 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION authority over the commanders o f professional

no t . In armies , with whom it could dispense ’ dividualism was the note o f the age . Sulla s

Sulla ni o f veterans called themselves , the men b o f . Sulla , not soldiers the State Force had een revealed as the sole basis o f authority first in the guise o f mob violence and later in the yet more vicious form of military dictatorship . ( P o f eriods anarchy and insecurity such as these , are likely to be marked by a cynical disregard of all moral laws and by the substitution o f a com bination of scepticism and su erstitio n fo r the

o f discarded sanctions religion , The institutions of the state and the o ld discipline o f family life alike broke down . The moral and religious decay of the period is at once a symptom and a sub

iar sid y cause of its miseries . We have seen that right up to the end of the Second Punic War religion was still a real force

in the life o f the state . It was a religion much

o f . altered , it is true , from the religion Numa Greek mythology had changed the character of

the old Latin obj ects of worship , the most frequent state ceremonies consisted of lectisterni a

su li ca ti ones w and pp , rites which ere foreign not Roman in origin ; the distinction between di i ndigetes and di novensiles had become academic

1 36 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION his agrarian law in the teeth of senatorial opposition . He appealed to the people and dis

o f regarded the veto a tribune , who was put up

o t obstruct the passage o f the bill . His fellow

r consul , Bibulus , proving intractable , was d iven away by Pompey’ s soldiers and as a last resort fell back upon a religious weapon . Every day he gave notice o f watching the heavens and thereby in accordance with technical religious law put a stop to all public business . Caesar , who was not l on y consul but also pontifex maximus , simply ignored the obstruction . The whole incident shows to what a pass the state religion had come and how little real meaning its forms still possessed . l The calendar provides another il ustration . When Caesar took it in hand it was more than tw o months o ut o f the true reckoning . How had this come about 3 Originally the publication of the calendar had been an important duty of the d religious authorities as part o f the ius i vi num . From the beginning the pontifi ces had found a diffi culty in adj usting the lunar to the solar year though such adj ustment was very necessary to the farmer if his agricultural festivals were to

0 B . C . keep in harmony with the seasons . In 45 a Greek system working o n a cycle of four years had been adopted the first and third years contained LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC 1 37

2 2 2 35 5 days , to the second and fourth and 3 hi days were added respectively . T s gave an excess o f four days every four years and to adj ust the discrepancy the pontifi ces had power to make n i tercalation when necessary .

C . onti ces In the first century B . however the p fi used thi s power less to remedy defects in the calendar than to promote poli tical purposes of the

to moment , prolong a command or to delay a

. 0 B . C . o f date For example , in 5 the question intercalation came up . Cicero was anxious that it should be prevented fo r it would mean for hi m another month of exile in h is provincial

hi o n governors p ; Curio , the other hand , was agitating for it in order to prolong his o wn term ’ o f Office and to postpone the date o f Caesar s 1 surrender o f his province .

o f The regulation the calendar , which was in essence a religious duty and an important part o f ius di vi num , had in fact become a mere

- i nstrument for political wire pulling . These examples may illustrate how the forms o f th e state religion were cynically exploited for political purposes and their abuse was pushed to th e extreme o f maki ng religious ordinances

l i er ad um . iii 6 a tran lati n Wil b e und in ean e a nd C c o , F , v , ; s o l fo " s, Lif e tter o i ero . . L s f C c , No 35 1 38 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

ridiculous . Clearly there is little vitality o r genuine religious feeling left in a system so treated . The attitude o f individuals no less betrays the fact that the old sanctions of religion have dissolved .

Lucretius cannot , perhaps , be called an irreligious person . His attack upon religion has itself a genuinely religious fervour and he is a true prophet , although his message to the world is salvation by ’ scientific rationalism . Science in the poet s view is the only true guide ; religion is based upon a series o f fictions which human folly has invented and from this superstition ultimately derive all human ills . Lucretius is of course a great poet and a great thinker but genius , although it cannot fairly be regarded as repfesentative o f its ordinary

i s no t l o f contemporaries , whol y independent its

o f environment . The attack Lucretius at least shows that irreligion was in the air and that the forms o f Roman worship were no t fulfilling the

Spiritual needs of the time .

The contemporary of Lucretius , who dominated the political stage , was Lucius Cornelius Sulla , politically a reactionary doctrinaire wh o was

n to enabled , tha ks to the army at his back , force his constitutional panacea upon his countrymen . In the attainment o f his end he was completely ruthless and indifferent as to the means which

1 40 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

” and bountiful go d offered . The same man was

intensely superstitious . He believed like Napoleon in his star ; he adopted the name o f Fortunate (Feli x) and called his children by names o f good

Fa ustus Fa usta omen , and . He felt the attraction o f the strange and emotional cult o f the Cappa

do ci an goddess , which appealed to him , in much the same way that spiritualism o r some Oriental esoteric faith appears in our own day to attract many who are sceptical about the dogmas o f

Christianity . He attached great weight to ominous occurrences and invariably carried about with him a small golden figure of Apollo . No doubt none o f us is continuously consistent in his religious belief and practice but here the inconsistency is acute . It is marked also in the attitude o f Cicero towards religious matters . Cicero was not only an augur but proud o f his tenure of that dignity . His pride , however , rests rather upon h is natural conservatism and his respect for established institutions than upon religious conviction . As regards the forms of state religion Cicero , as a statesman and a con stitutio nali st , is keenly alive to their political value . He is a buttress of the established Church . But Cicero the philosopher is hampered by no religious bias nor convictions . He debates in a LAST CENTURY O F THE REPUBLIC 1 41

perfectly free way the question whether augury has any validity and h i s book o n di vi nati on

reaches a sceptical conclusion . Cicero , the public

v man , belie ed in an established religion as a useful

c h ilo so element in the constitution Ci ero , the p

pher in his study, had a completely open mind . Of course no human being is consistently either

a philosopher or a statesman . An interesting trio happened to be together at Dyrrachium awaiting the report o f a decisive battle between Caesar and Pompey, Varro , the great antiquarian ,

o f Cato and Cicero . The rumour a prophecy by a Rhodian sailor that Greece would be drenched with blood filled these three ph ilo so

h ers p with a terrified foreboding , which Shortly afterwards was j ustified by the arrival o f the news o f Pharsalia . In moments too of real emotion the man is carried beyond his agnosticism or scepticism . The phenomenon is no t unusual and there are many who are ready, like the Melians in 1 Thucydides , to turn to religion when other helpers flee . Warde Fowler has well brought out ’ the effect upon Cicero o f his beloved daughter s

. Fo r death Cicero , the student , the immortality of the soul is a matter for philosophic debate but

1 u ide 1 . Th cyd s, V, 43 1 42 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION when Tullia dies the bereaved father builds for

no t se u cbrum a nu her a tomb ( p l ) but a shrine (f m) . ” to I wish have a Shrine built , he tells his friend and that wish cannot be rooted o ut o f my heart . I am anxious to avoid any likeness to a

no t so o n tomb , much account of the penalty o fthe law as in order to attain as nearly as possible ”1 to apotheosis . Cicero ’s normal attitude towards religion is

On tbe Na ture o Gods displayed in the treatise f , where he early lays it down that the existence of Gods is necessary to maintain the ordered fabric o f the social system and to sanction the virtues 2 - n which hold society together . In a well k own speech he declares that religious feeling is a characteristic national Roman trait . In piety and in religion and in this o ne science by which we have perceived that all things are ruled and governed

o f by the will the immortal gods , we have sur ”3 passed all races and nations . To this quality Livy through the mouth o f Camillus attributes ’ the source o f Rome s success . Examine the good and bad fortunes of these years in order ; you will find th at when we followed the gods

1 ad A m XII 1 2 an XI 6 I , , , I , d I, 3 , .

2 i er de Na tura Deorum 1 2 . . C c o , , , 3 3 i er de Har. R e . . C c o , sp , 9

1 44 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

With this passage may be compared the dictum o f Quintus Mucius Scaevola which St . Augustine 1 has naturally turned to good account . When

Cicero was a young man , Scaevola was perhaps the most revered figure in Rome . He was not

Ponti ex Max i mus only f , but he was reputed to be the most learned and the greatest of those wh o fi had held the o fli ce . This of cial head of Roman religion laid it down that religion may be divided

: 1 o f into three kinds ( ) the fictions the poets , which are ornamental merely ( 2 ) the religion of philosophy ; (3) the religion o f the state which exists to assist the statesman in the management f o the lower orders . ’ The religion of Cicero s age , as Warde Fowler

o ut h ad has pointed , in fact become completely divorced from life and it is Clear that when its ritual h as come to be openly regarded by its offi cial representatives as consisting of mere forms to be maintained for the benefit of the proletariat or to be manipulated for the purposes o f S statecraft , it has ceased to be a piritual factor in ’ the nation s life . For no religion can continue to exist as a living force when belief in its essential truth is dead o r moribund . i The causes , which had brought Roman rel gion

1 u u tine dc Cw . Dei 2 . A g s , , IV, 7 LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC 1 45

to this pass , though complex are not unintelligible . We have already noticed that the religion o f Numa betrays the legal bias of the national temperament in an exaggerated emphasis upon the importance o fcorrect procedure . The relation o f the individual o r the State towards spiritual powers has almost a contractual character . Any l error , however s ight and irrespective of its motive , n l was held to invalidate the proceedi gs . Re igious ritual was therefore left in the hands of experts formali sm was carried to its logical extreme the i rel gious authorities , like dexterous lawyers , found an escape from di fficulties in the manipulation

o f of regulations . The letter the law became more important than the spirit .

Two well - known examples may bear repeti tion . In the Second Punic War Marcellus , when in command , was carried about in a litter with the blinds drawn in order to prevent the possibili ty o f his seeing anything o f ill B . . omen . In 2 93 C the keeper of the

o f hi sacred chickens , from the behaviour w ch in feeding omens were drawn , falsely reported the omens good . The commander o n hearing o f this ruled that , whatever might have l happened in fact , the omens had been official y reported as good and therefore were good , K 1 46 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION though he punished the chicken keeper by putting him in the front line o f battle . Even the ordinary practice with regard to the 1 no t sacred chickens , as Cicero remarked , is devoid o f disingenuousness . It was a good omen if the birds fell so greedily upon their food that some grains dropped from th eir mouths . It was the rule to secure this desirable assurance by keeping the chickens for days beforehand closely cooped

ar ifici ali t and without food . Such t y is ultimately at variance with commonsense . The develop ment of formalism thus did much to kill reverence fo r religion by making it unreal and even ridiculous . The view that religion supplies an instrument to the statesman may be traced back to the period o f the Second Punic War . We have already noticed the wise directi on o f religious ceremonies by the authorities . Religious fears were allayed by the

o f introduction foreign rites , which in themselves

o f di provided a means popular straction , and at the same time emotionalism and hysteria were put down with a firm hand . A more conscious employment of religion fo r purposes o f political expediency follows the conclusion o f the war with

Hannibal . It was necessary in the interests of

l i er De dam . C c o , , II , 34

1 48 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION his nomination because it was hoped that the innumerable taboos with whi ch this ancient o fli ce was hedged would inevitably keep the young man straight .

Religion , then , in the third aspect given in ’ Scaevo la s analysis , had become by the . first

B . C century , . mere empty ceremonial destitute

o f . real meaning The politicians , who cynically manipulated its rules , had no religious convictions and their dupes were hardly deceived by artifice

so . patent The masses , it is true , are always liable to o f i o r waves rel gious emotion superstition , but it remains impossible " to fool all the people all the time and a religion , which is regarded by its

o f to o leaders as a mere instrument statecraft , is devoid o f sincerity long to deceive the masses . Th e religion described as consisting of the mere ornamental ficti ons o f the poets had no roots in the national temperament Mythology was a foreign accretion and so far from being an organic part o f Roman religion it was in reality i nco n sistent with the religious ideas which numinism represents . Anthropomorphism has its obvious moral weaknesses and it is perhaps even true to say that there are greater possibilities of religious development in the worship of unperso nified spiritual powers than in that o f clear cut anthro LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC 1 49 po m o rph ic deities whose idealised figures may have a more than human beauty but must retain i th e frailties associated with human personal ty . It must be remembered further that at the date when Greek influences became dominant in

its . Rome , Greek religion had passed prime The Greeks themselves had ceased to take their

. i mythology seriously Its immoral stories , wh ch philosophers rej ected as false or attempted to

fo r explain away , afforded topics j est upon the comic stage . But Roman literature was derivative from Greek and in particular Roman comedy took , not merely its inspiration but even its form and subj ect matter directly from the New Greek Comedy in which thi s humorous treat ment o f mythological topics w as a favourite

o f feature . The influence the comic stage upon the Roman lower classes was not less potent th an the influence o f Greek philosophy upon the upper . It was inevitable that the habitual spectacle o f the representation o f gods in

undi nified ludicrous , g and unseemly situations should undermine reverence and sincerity o f ’ o f religious belief . The plot Plautus A mpbi try on will sufficiently illustrate the destructive influence

i . Iu iter wh ch Comedy thus brought to bear p , being seized with love for Alcmena , changed his 1 5 9 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

to o f form that her husband , Amphitryon , while he was doing battle with his enemies in defence

o f . his country Mercury , in the guise of Sosia seconds his father and dupes both master and servant o n their return . Amphitryon storms at h is wife ; charges of adultery too are bandied back and forth between him and Iupiter. Blepharo is appointed arbiter but is unable to decide which is the real Amphitryon . They learn the whole truth at last and Alcmena gives birth to twin sons . The Changed social conditions of the urban poor worked powerfully in the same direction to li undermine be ef in the Old religion . This had been rooted in the family life o f the peasant farmer with its distinctive discipline , corporate sense and Civic virtues . Where in rural Italy the

o ld peasant farmer survived , the rites , which were

o f the religious expression this simple life , were still Observed . But the poor in the Roman capital could no longer be said to possess a family life . Capitalism and slavery had produced an urban proletariat miserably poor but to o proud to work F at servile occupations . o r the environment of family life in the small homestead was substituted existence in a corner o f some crowded tenement and at death the pauper ’s body was cast into a

1 5 2 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

f personal and emotional needs . In times o wide 8 pread temporal anxiety and distress the appeal o f the promise of a better life than this becomes irresistible . The very poor are attracted by hopes of a world in which the inj ustices of this existence will be rectified by divine readjustment . Side by” side with cynical materialism there developed in consequence a sense of anxiety about the soul and an absorbing interest in the prospects o f a future life . Neither the Old Roman religion no r the imported but state - controlled cults were fitted to satisfy this longing . The Pythagorean Orphic societies , whose native home was in Magna

G raeci a , in part supplied the need though they remained unauthorised and private associations which indeed the state had upon an occasion to suppress as subversive of decency and public morals . But still more effective was the appeal of the various emotional cults o f the East which from this period onwards increasingly gained

no adherents in Roman society . It is t surprising that their earliest proselytes were chiefly drawn from the lower orders o r from the ranks o f the

Yo newly emancipated women . u followed the religious rites o f your family and your state and

o r admitted no foreign cults degraded magic , records her husband amongst the peculiar LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC 1 5 3

excellences o f Turia . It will be observed as characteristic th at in the thi rd poem o f the ll first book of Tibullus , Delia turns natura y

to the Egyptian goddess Isis , the poet to the

o ld . No w Roman family gods aid me , goddess , no w— that thou canst heal saith a crowd o f painted panels in thy temples— that my Deli a

ni o f may pay the ghtly vigils her vow , sitting all swathed in linen before thy holy door and twice in the day be bound to chant thy praise with loosened tresses fo r all to mark amid the d Pharian throng . An be it mine many times to ’ stand before the shrine o f my sires Penates and

n as offer ince se , the months come round , to the ”1 Old Lar o f my home . It remains to say something o f the religion o f

T O philosophy . attempt adequately to summarise

th e n o f hi conte t the systems of philosophy , w ch

Rome learned from the Greeks , would demand more space than is at o ur disposal but the main directions in which they influenced the Roman

attitude towards religion must briefly be noted .

Fo r among the upper Classes , the intellectual

h ad aristocracy , philosophy become the successful

No rival o f religion . w the temper of Greek philosophy was directly contrary to that nu

1 i ullu iii - 2 2 tran . Po st ate oeb Clas i al Librar . T b s, I , , 7 3 ( s g , L s c y) 1 5 4 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION reasoning respect for authority and tradition f which had been characteristic o the early Romans . It introduced the spirit of speculation and questioning . It was essentially analytical and acted as a solvent upon institutions which had been built up upon a basis o f unreasoning obedience to i custom and precedent . In Greece itself , wh le maintaining an outward respect for the forms o f civic religion , it had attempted to find a rational , in place o f a religious sanction for conduct . In particular it had rej ected the immoralities o f mythology as falsehoods inconsistent with th e

o f o d goodness g and explained away stories , which appeared too childish to earn the credence of the wise man , as allegorical not literal truths .

B . C . At the beginning of the third century , Euhemerus had suggested a rationalistic ex planation o f the origin o f mythology . The stories o f the gods were in his view distorted history . Great and good kings o f early times had been deified by the grateful recollection of subsequent generations and the Greek gods were in fact

o f k wh o human benefactors man ind , had under

no t gone apotheosis . This view, that gods were merely anthropomorphic but had been actually

o f human beings , clearly cuts at the roots religious belief . It gained considerable acceptance at Rome

1 5 6 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

ever attacked established religion . Whether go d existed or no t in complete remoteness from

ff o f human a airs , the gods received religion were fictions which must be exposed ; for the delusive superstition , which men call religious belief , is the source of fears and angers and passions which are destructive of the good life . That is the theme of Lucretius , the greatest after Virgil of the

Roman poets . The philosophical system however which was most consonant with Roman character , which was interested primarily in conduct rather than

w as . speculation , Stoicism This school , which l b ended Oriental elements with Greek , had been founded at Athens by "eno ( 345 — 2 65 a

Semite from Cyprus . Its doctrines were introduced

Panaetius to the Roman world by , a close friend ,

o f like Polybius , the younger Scipio , whose work was continued in the following century by

o f R " o f Posidonius hodes , who , like eno , was

Semitic origin and was born at Apamea in Syria . The Stoics believed in the existence of G o d whom they identified with Reason and supported their conviction by the argument from design . In their view an ordered universe presupposed the existence of a controlling intelligence j ust as in less perfectly regular human affairs , the existence LAST CENTURY OF THE REPUBLIC 1 5 7 o f o r order and method in a house , gymnasium forum necessarily implies that some controlling intelligence has laid down rules . This Reason o r G o d pervades the whole universe and can be

o n understood as Ceres land , Neptune on the sea

o f and so o n. This view that gods polytheism are aspects o fthe Divine Reason reconciles philosophy

f e wi th the religious practice o th ordinary man . At the same time it will be noticed that its tendency

o f is strongly in the direction monotheism . The ethical position o f the Stoics is determined by the view that what distinguishes man from

o f the lower animals is the possession reason . This is the higher and better part o f his nature and

enlightened self - interest will recommend the fullest possible realisation o f his better and more

rational self . Stoicism therefore preaches social

duty and self - respect but differs markedly from Christianity in leaving no room fo r the idea o f

- self sacrifice . From the position taken up by the Stoics that Reason was the sole reality it followed that the accidents o f existence are unreal and will be

ignored by the Wise Man . Thus by a different route the Wise Man is led round again to an indifference to the chances o f existence and to a

o f form fatalism . 1 5 8 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

Stoicism is severely intellectual in tone and its ideal is the Wise Man . To women it offers no place ; but feminine needs , as we have seen , were supplied from a different source , the emotional religions of the East . Its teaching may be cold and exacting but o f its practical value there can be little question . It did supply an austere standard o f noble conduct and with its emphasis upon courage and self - respect it appealed to what was best in Roman character . We have seen that in this period emotional and individual aspirations and needs make them selves felt , which tended to find satisfaction in foreign religions which held out promise o f ff immortality in a better world . They also a ected philosophy and Neo - Pythagorean and Platonic doctrines were grafted o n to Stoicism . The home o f Pythagoreanism had been in Southern Italy ; its speculations had been much concerned with the question o f immortality of which the solution it suggested was the transmigration of souls or a chain o f incarnations leading up to apotheosis .

ex u Pythagoreanism was revived by Q . S ti s in the — C . first century B . and the Neo Pythagoreans as they were called laid great stress upon the control o fpassions and the attainment of purity as a means o f cultivating the spiritual and real part

LECTURE VIII

THE AUGUSTAN R EVIVAL

IN the last chapter we have considered the decay o f Roman religion and have analysed some of its

. B C to causes In 3 1 . . it apparently had ceased in exist any real sense . Why then did Augustus attempt to revive it i The character of that great man remains an enigma but we shall

in o f probably be safe , rej ecting any attribution prophetic fervour o r burning religious conviction

o t the great founder of the Empire . So far as can be j udged Augustus would seem personally to have been at once cynical and superstitious , certainly not a character with a strong religious sense such as Virgil perhaps may have been . We must look more probably fo r political motives and in religious policy, as elsewhere , we may admire the astonishing dexterity , the long views and the almost uncannily skilful adaptation o f means to his end which characterised Augustus ’ work . The political mission o f Augustus was to carry o ut successfully the ideas o f Iulius Caesar by

1 6 0 AUGUSTAN REVIVAL 1 6 1

l avoiding his mistakes in method . He was cal ed upon to put an end to anarchy and civil war by establishing the strong central authority o f an nl autocrat . This however could o y be carried through with safety and with any prospect o f permanence by the representation that he had restored the republic . His real autocracy was hidden by a screen o f make - believe and his co n fi i ’ sti tutio n was o ne gigantic ct o n. The fiction was necessary but it involved inevitable penalties and Augustus was naturally anxious to make use o f any indirect means o f supporting the permanence of a magistracy , which in constitutional theory hi did not exist . For t s purpose religion supplied

s — a most effective instrument . The name Augustus

o f itself , the meaning which is equivalent to by ” o f the Grace God , with its implications of

Divine Right , was assumed in accordance with this policy . A policy of religious reform had indeed many

r political advantages to recommend it . A istotle h as o f remarked the Greek tyrant , who upon a smaller stage performed a task no t dissimilar to that of Augustus in restoring order to the Roman world Also he should appear to be particularly earnest in the service o f th e gods ; for if men think that a ruler is religious and has a reverence 1 6 2 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION fo r o f snfl erin the gods , they are less afraid g inj ustice at his hands and they are less disposed to conspire against him because they believe ”1 him to have the very gods fighting o n his side

That religion , particularly a national religion , may be a useful prop to autocracy the history o f the Reformation in England is but an example . ’ Augustus , said Tacitus , seduced everyone with the sweetness o f peace It is a god wh o

i has made th s peace for us , sang Virgil . That the world was tired of continuous civil wars ’ in fact contributed no little to Augustus success . These sentiments o f relief and hope Augustus was naturally anxious to encourage and exploit . The theme alike of Virgil and o f the Carmen Sa ecula re is thankfulness that the old bad times are gone and that a new orderly world has been inaugurated by the victory at Actium .

’ w r r t i w The o ld s g ea age beg ns ane , ” r The golden years retu n .

Not really inconsistent with this is the policy o f getting back to early Rome . Roman greatness had been built up upon Roman virtues , themselves the product o f family discipline and reverence

fo r . parents , gods and established institutions

1 ri t tle Poli ti 1 1 a tran . ett. A s o , cs 3 5 s "ow

1 64 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

ness of Rome The same motive explains his attitude towards foreign religions which he sought

to discourage and disparage . This great past was further to be linked up with the yet greater future of which his new

order gave promise . The empire was to be represented as being inthe line of true succession

from early Rome , a genuine development , not

an autocracy arbitrarily imposed . That is the d message o f the Sixth Book of the A enei . Further the thread o f continuity in this development is

supplied by the Iulian family . Augustus is the

lineal descendant of Aeneas , the predestined ’ o f representative Rome s greatness , and through him Augustus is personally linked with the

foundation of Rome . These o r something like them were the ideas ’ 7 in Augustus mind and the measures , which he

took , seem designed firstly to restore an established

o f o ld religion and the forms the Roman worship , secondly to associate his person as closely as possible with this religion and to create a religious

atmosphere , which would help to sanction the real autocracy which had been established under

the cloak o f a constitutional fiction . In pursuance o f this policy he restored the

temples , whose decay Horace had regretted , and ‘ AUGUSTAN REVIVAL 1 6 5

no less than eighty - two were repaired o r rebuilt

ffi h ad o r by him . Sacred O ces , which lapsed

o f become forgotten , were revived . After a gap

seventy - four years the post o f Fla m en Di alis was

Fra tres A rva les again filled . The , an ancient religious brotherhood in charge of the rites upon ’ which the state s agricultural prosperity depended ,

Sa lii o f the , the leaping priests Mars , and the

Lu erci f p , who of iciated at the strange and very

o f Lu erca li a ancient ceremony the p , were among

f o ld the most important o his restorations . These priesthoods had lapsed with the decay o f state

religion , because no political power attached to

o T the exercise f their functions . o make them

attractive , Augustus gave them a social prestige . The emperor himself became a member o f all the higher priestly colleges and the higher priest hoods were restricted to persons o f senatorial

o f status . Members the imperial family held

Offi ce as Arval Brethren . In the same way by emphasising the dignities he endeavoured to counterbalance the disabilities attaching to the

profession of Vestal Virgins . He made the Regia ,

o f the Old royal palace their place residence , gave them the sole right o f driving through the streets o f Rome and in similar ways by enhancing its

o f insignia added to the dignity their office . He 1 6 6 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

n n let it further be k ow , that had he but the good fortune to possess grand—daughters o f a suitable n age , he would certai ly have made them Vestals . Besides these restorations o f buildings and in stitutio ns , Augustus aimed at reviving a rigid exactness in the observance of religious law . He set the example himself o fa scrupulous Observance

o f . religious rules For instance , it was inevitable that he should become p ontifex ma x imus the holder o f this offi ce w as the head o f Roman religious administration and it was afterwards invariably reserved fo r the emperor . But im portant as its acquisition was to him , Augustus n l refused to assume it unconstitutio al y , and

‘ L h o lder e idus 1 B . C . waited until the , p , died in 3

C n In 1 4 B . . when adverse ome s occurred at the

i o f im elect on the curule aediles , Augustus i mediately ordered the candidates to be w thdrawn , the election to be postponed and subsequently to be carried out upon a more fortunate occasion . So far we have been considering restorations ; in some matters Augustus introduced changes o r deliberately encouraged the development of certain

o f cults at the expense of others . In the days the monarchy the king had been the religious head o f the Roman state . Under the Republic the po ntifex m a x i m us had succeeded to this position

1 6 8 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

residence and the emperor’ s family worship

became identified with the prosperity o fthe state . The cults to which Augustus gave a Special prominence were those which were peculiarly associated in the popular mind with h is o w n career o r with the legendary origin o f h is family . A

o d public temple of Apollo , the g to whom he

o f owed the victory Actium , was built upon the private property o f the emperor adjoining his palace on the Palatine . Here dwelt together

Apollo , Vesta and the emperor . As Ovid puts it the one building has three gods .

P c sit h ceb us habet partem ; Vestas pars altera es .

u su erest il i t rtiu i t t Q od p l s , e s pse ene .

St t ti uru raetexta ue uercu a e , Pala nae la s , p q q 1 a no una Stet domus : eter s tres habet deos .

Popular sentiment may not have gone quite to the lengths o f poetic adulation but the associa tion o fthe three in the popular mind was intimate ’ and for Augustus purposes useful . Upon a yet larger scale w as the building o f the

b e Augustan Forum , also upon private land

ri va to solo longing to the emperor (p ), which was in fact a great monument to the glorification o f

o ne his family . It contained three great temples

1 i asti 1 . Ov d , F , IV, 95 A UGUSTAN REVIVAL 1 69

Iulius Iulius dedicated to Divus , the deified

o ne o f Caesar , to Apollo Actium and the third to Mars the Avenger . Mars had not only per m itted Augustus to avenge the murder o f Iulius

o f but , by reason his relationship to Venus from whom the Iuli an clan traced their origin he was also associated with the emperor ’s family as well as , through Romulus , with the foundation of

. Iu i ter o f Rome Since the Etruscan kings , p the

Capitol had been the great national god o f Rome . Some o f his importance Augustus sought now to transfer to these deities who were peculiarly associated with himself . Henceforward members o f the imperial family celebrated their attainment o f manhood in the temple of Mars Ultor not in that o fIupi ter Optimus Maximus . The dedication of the insignia o f triumph and the ceremony o f the driving in o f a nail to mark the conclusion o f a lustrum were similarly transferred to the temple o f Mars .

Again , upon the plea that Apollo was the source ’ o f the Sibyl s inspiration the Sibylline Books were removed from th e custody o f Iupiter on the

‘ Capitol and placed in that o f Apollo o n the

Palatine . The celebration of the Secular Ga mes in "une

C . 1 7 B . is interesting in itself and usefully illustrates 1 70 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

the ideas which inspired this policy . The idea o f recurring cycles of time (sa ecula) was Greek in origin and the passage from a completed period to a new age had first been celebrated in Rome

2 B . C . in 49 Roughly a hundred years after , in

1 6 B . C . 4 , the festival had been repeated to mark

a u the passage of another s ecul m . Although strictly

C . speaking 1 7 B . did not fall into any cyclic relation ’ dates it o f with these previous , was a part Augustus policy to emphasise the belief that the empire ’ inaugurated a new era in the world s history . An oracle was therefore published which revealed that a Great Cycle o ffour periods of one hundred and ten years was now complete and that a new o ne was beginning . The previous secular celebrations had been piacular in character . For three nights running nocturnal sacrifices to Earth and the powers

’ ‘ below had been made at a spot called "a rentum

Ca m us Ma rti ns in the p and the ceremonies , like

o f those the last month of the Roman year , had been directed to the expiation of the sins o f the di past . Augustus gave his Secular Games a fferent

e o orientation . The nocturnal sacrific s t the nether powers were retained but to them was added a daily ceremonial in which special

to wh o prominence was given Apollo , was

1 7 2 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION

o f o ld the greatness the Roman empire , the ideas o ffertility of man and beast asdependent upon the due performance of religious duty, the increase in the birthrate to be expected from Augustus ’ scheme o f o f moral reform by legislation , the connection the imperial family through Aeneas with the fo unda

o f o f tion Rome , the successful wars Augustus and

o f his restoration the antique Roman virtues . The song was written for a double chorus o f boys and girls and it is known that it was sung both upon the Palatine and the Capitol , though whether the whole of it was repeated at both places or whether a part was sung upon one hill

h as and a part upon the other , been a matter of di3pute . The most probable explanation is

o ut perhaps that of Warde Fowler , who points that from both these sites the whole of Rome was visible . He supposes that the whole song was sung through o n both hills and that at each Singing the choruses performed evolutions turning as they sang to face the different points alluded to in the hymn . Augustus thus associated himself with the state

o f religion , emphasised the importance deities especially connected with his family or his career and made his domestic hearth equivalent to the

o f hearth of the state . His title Augustus carried AUGUSTAN REVIVAL 1 7 3 with it religious associations and the poets liken

Iu i ter o r th e him to a terrestrial p even , as in verse

hi o f w ch has been taken for the motto Liverpool , d speak o f him as eus. But poets must not be pressed by a to o literal interpretation . Lucretius had similarly spoken o f Epicurus and Cicero o f

Plato . It will be safer to agree with Warde Fowler , that they represent Augustus no t as a deity but as having the germ of a deity in him which may be ”1 o f developed at his death . But the idea the possibility o f the deificatio n of a living man was in the air and the Stoic doctrine that the element of reason in man was immortal and divine provides ’ a philosophical argument in favour o f the poet s contention . It is hardly an ill egitimate extension o f this V iew to suppose it possible that in the case o f a superman who is more powerful and wi se th an th e rest o fmankind the element of reason so markedly predominates that he i s almost o n a level with divinity . In the eastern portions o f the Mediterranean

— the idea o f the man god was already famili ar . In the Greek world its roots were planted in the practice o f worshipping important personalities as heroes immediately after their death . In the

1 u fi t . A f ll discussion of th e m atter will b e found in th e fourth and f h le ture Warde ler R om a n Ideas o ei t . c s of Fow , f D y 1 74 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION period following the career o f Alexander th e

Great , who himself laid claim to a more than

deificatio n o f mortal origin and status , the power ful human beings had become common in the Hellenistic East When Euhemerus developed

o f his doctrine of the origin gods , he was in fact arguing backwards from the analogy o f the royal Saviours (Satan’s) and Benefactors (Euergeta z) o f his age . The political conditions which had promoted the growth o fthis practice in the Eastern Medi ter ramean had been in some respects not dissimilar to R th o se in l talyduring th e last century o fth e epub li c.

Old institutions had broken down , times were bad and uncertain ; the gods appeared of little real help

o fi ndivi in trouble . The real arbiters of the fate duals appeared to be blind Chance Tye/m) or great and powerful kings . The worship of Chance , whom th e Romans identified with the o ld Italian deity

Fo rtuna , had widely spread in the Roman world and though the idea of deifying an individual dead man or of worshipping a living emperor were

o f neither them native to Italy , the conditions were favourable to their introduction . With the ideas current in the East Romans were of course familiar and provincial governors had upon

- occasion been the recipients o fsemi divine honours .

1 76 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION provided an analogy o f unimpeachable respect ability and native origin for the worship of the

Genius of the emperor by his subjects . Again a part of the o ld ritual o f the farm had consisted in the worship of Lares Co m pitales at the intersection o f the boundaries of properties . This rustic cult has been adapted to the town where the Lares were worshipped at the cross roads . The urban cult was popular in character and was controlled by collegia whose members were drawn from the lower orders . These , with other democratic associations , had been suppressed owing to the unscrupulous use made o f such clubs for political purposes . Augustus now

" reorganised Rome into fourteen regions , each o f which w as subdivided into vi ci . He revived the collegi a compi tum and at the j unctions o f the boundaries o f these subdivisions were erected shrines containing three images . Two represented the Lares ; the third associated with them was the Genius o f Augustus . The third partner in this triad naturally predominated in popular estimation and the three became known as Lares’

Augusti . From Rome the worship of the Lares Augusti

all o f spread over Italy . It gave rise to the order a ugurtaler membership o f which provided a safe 1 " " AUGUSTAN REVIVAL 7 7 outlet fo r the social ambition o fwealthy freedmen who were debarred by their status from holding municipal o fii ce . There is no doubt that in the achievement of his immediate political aim o f creating a religious atmosphere to give support and sanction to the imperial system , Augustus was successful , but a revival o f the o ld Roman religion in any real sense was impracticable . There was in fact no possibility o f breathi ng life into bones so dry .

Augustus , could restore ancient liturgies and priesthoods but he could not recreate the o ld conditions o f life and society which had given

r . Fo r o r them bi th good evil the process , which is nl commo y called progress , is inexorable there is no return and the clock cannot be put back . The o ld o ld Roman religion and the family virtues , which Augustus also sought to recapture , were as impossibly remote as the virtuous and happy peasantry of whom Tiberius Gracchus had

o f dreamed . The institution the empire in itself made a revival o f a city state religion i m

Fo r possible . the empire put an end to free political life and this both in Greece and Rome was the very life blood of city state religion . If it was impossible for a cosmopolitan empire to recapture the social and political envi ronment M 1 78 HISTORY OF ROMAN RELIGION o f no early Roman religion , it was less impossible to recover the intellectual environment o f its worshippers . Philosophy could not be unlearned

so nor could the Romans , even if they had wished , return to the unlettered and simple morality o f their ancestors and forget the iconoclastic specu lation , which they had learned from Greece . Further individualism had come to its o wn and

’ o o could n t n w be dethroned . But for individual ism there was no satisfaction in the o ld civic and

o corporate worship . The demand f the individual

fo r soul religious self expression , the anxieties about the prospect o f a future life or the growing sense o f the need o f salvation could not be stifled .

Indeed , the sense of this personal religious need was made more acute by the loss of political

o f liberty, which diverted the mental activities i men into channels other than those of pol tics ,

to and by the increasing influence of women , whom the ancient forms o f worship had little to

offer . Hence the rapidity with which the Eastern cults Spread from the lower classes of the co s

m o po litan city into the upper strata o f society . o f The variety , similarities and rivalry these Oriental religions however belong more properly to the history o f the Empire and lie beyond the

scope o f these lectures .

1 8 0 m nsx

i uri 1 1 8 . Hir ini . D osc , p , 95

i i nati n . Ho no s 1 1 6 . d v o , 74f ,

i u Iulius 1 6 1 . ra e 8 1 1 1 6 1 1 . D v s , 9, 7 5 Ho c , 7 , 3 , 4, 7

na . u e earl R m an 2 2 . Dodo , 95 ho s , y o , 4, 5

um an a rifi e 1 2 8 1 2 . h s c c , , 9

RT H 8 8 1 0 . EA , 4 , 5 , 7

i i u 1 0 0 . anu 2 6 68 8 88 8 0 . El c s, I s, 5 , 7 , , 7 , , 9, 9

endo tercisus . e 2 8 . , 44 Id s, 9, 9

nniu 8 1 . i ma i ne . E s, 7 , 5 5 g s, 37

- i uru 1 1 . imm rtalit 1 2 1 0 1 1 1 . Ep c s, 5 5 , 7 3 o y, 4 , 5 5 9, 5 f

i ureani m 1 . Indz i ta menta 8 2 1 1 1 1 . Ep c s , 5 5 f g , , 4, 5

u em eru 1 1 . i ndt i tes 6 1 1 1 1 . E h s, 54, 74 g , 5 , , 34

u em eri m 0 1 . nter i na 2 . E h s , 9 , 54 I c do , 3

evo ca tio 1 1 . i 1 . , 3 Is s, 5 3 Iulius a e ar 8 1 1 6 C s , 43, 5 , 74, 35 , 3 ,

B US Prer o n 1 2 8 . I 1 1 1 1 6 1 6 x FA I , 37 . 4 . 47 . 7 . 9. 7 5

Falacer 8 . Iuno 2 6 2 6 1 1 1 1 1 . , 7 , , 4 , 5 9, 9 , , 3

alerii 1 1 1 1 6 . Iu iter 2 0 2 8 1 2 6 F , 4, p , 4 1 7 , 7 1 7 31 7 1 9 1 9 1 9

a mili a 2 0 . 1 1 2 f , 4, 3 ,

a num 1 2 . . Feretrius 1 0 0 . f , 4 I ,

astus . . a i 1 0 0 . f , 44 I L p s,

aunu . . Latiari s 1 1 2 . F s, 5 9 I , 99,

e ruar e ti al 8 . . tim u a im u 8 0 1 1 2 F b y, f s v s of, 5 I Op s M x s , , ,

ebruum 8 . 1 6 . f , 5 , 5 9 9

er nia 1 1 . i us divi num 6 6 8 8 1 1 6 1 . F o , 4 , 3, , , 3 , 37

eti ale 1 . Iuturna 1 1 . f s, 7 , 4

i e 1 1 . F d s, 5

a mi nes 6 UNE Fesr rva rs o r . fl , 9, 97 " , , 5 3

a en Di ali s 0 1 0 1 1 1 6 . Fl m , 7 , 97 , , 35 , 5

Flamen Marti al s 0 . K LENDS 2 6 . i , 7 , 97 A , 9, 4

Fla men ui ri nalzs 0 . K re 1 2 . Q , 7 , 97 o , 4

lami ninu 1 . K o uretes 6 1 0 . F s, 47 , 4 , 4

l ra 0 . K r n . F o , 5 o os, 57 l ralia 0 F o , 5

n 8 P S anner 1 0 0 . Fo s , 7 LA I M s,

rdi id a 8 0 6 . are 2 1 6 1 . Fo c i , 4 , 5 , 5 L s , 7 , 3 , 4, 5 3

F0 1 8 rtuna 1 1 1 . are u u ti 1 6 . Fo , 4, 74 L s A g s , 7

ulm en 1 0 0 . are Co m itales 2 8 1 6 . F , L s p , , 34, 7

uneral . Lar am iliari . f s , 35 f F s , 34

Furrina 8 . at na 1 2 . , 7 L o , 5

a uda tio Turi ae 1 2 1 1 1 1 . L , 3 , 33, 5 , 5 3

EN US 2 2 6 2 2 I ‘ Lavini um 1 1 . G I , 5 1 a 7 ) 9) 94) 7S , 4

en us A u u ti 1 6 . lectisterm a 1 0 1 2 1 2 8 1 . G i g s , 7 , 7 , 5 , , 34

en 0 . lectus eni alzs 2 6 . g s, 9 g ,

rae us rims 8 1 . em uria 0 1 . G c , L , 4 , 5

reat Mo tber 1 1 2 . e i u 1 66 . G , 7 , 9 L p d s,

ee il influen e 1 2 . i er Gr k ph osophy, c of, 7 L b , 47 ,

G o r asus 1 2 . i era 1 2 . g , 4 L b , 4

i era ia . L b l , 47

b arus i ces . i erta 1 1 6 . p , 7 9 L b s,

Her ule 1 1 8 1 1 1 2 . libri a talcs 1 2 2 . c s , 43, , 9, 5 f ,

e m e Em o lai os 1 2 . ti tans . H r s p , 4 , 7 5 INDEX 8 1

li er i in ti n b . G N L 8 . v , d v a o y, 77 PA A A IA, 5

1 0 6 1 2 t a alatine 1 68 1 6 1 2 . Livy. 74. 7 5 . . 7 . 4 P , , 9, 7

Lua ale 8 2 . . 93 P s, 4, 49, 9

u re ti u 1 8 1 6 1 . Panaeti us 1 6 . L c s , 3 , 5 , 7 3 , 5 ludi 8 . Parentalia 0 8 . , 1 2 , 4 , 5

Ludi A olli nares 1 2 . arilia 8 0 6 . p , 9 P , 4 , 5 , 5

u er ali a 1 6 . a ter amili as 2 2 6 6 66 68 . L p c , 5 9, 5 p f , 4, , 3, ,

Lu er i 1 6 1 . a ter atra tus 2 . p c , 5 9, p p , 7 lustratw 2 . enate 2 2 8 2 1 6 1 . , 5 P s, 5 , , 9, 3 , 7 , 5 3

Iustrum 1 0 2 1 6 . enus Vestae 8 6 6 6 6 . , , 9 p , 4 , 5 4, 5 , , 7

etr ni u 1 0 0 . P o s,

W W W 6 . ar ali a 1 1 . , 4 Ph s , 4

- m an 1 . il influen e C reek 1 . god, 7 3 f ph osophy, c of , 5 3 f

ane 2 8 1 l t Pi centini . M s. 3. 3 . 39. 9 . s , 95

ar ellu 1 . i um nu 2 . M c s , 45 P c s , 3

ar e ti al . ieta 1 1 6 . M ch, f s v s of, 45 f P s , m arria e erem nie nne te it ilum nu 2 . g , c o s co c d w h , P s, 3

. i i tratu 1 2 1 . 33 f P s s s, 0 Q

Marrucm i . lat 1 . , 95 P o , 7 3

ar 2 6 6 8 6 ‘ Plat ni m 1 8 1 . M s, 5 1 S31 5 : 5 1 7 1 93a 95 ) 9 o s , 5 , 59

1 0 1 1 1 2 1 1 6 1 2 8 . lautu 1 . 97 , , , , P s, 49

Mars Ulto r 1 6 . le eian 1 1 0 1 2 2 . , 9 P b s, , o

ar lutar 6 1 . M si. 95 P ch , 9 , 39

Ma e t al 1 . l iu 1 1 6 . y, f s iv s of, 5 Po yb s, 43, 5

editrinalia 6 1 0 1 . omeri um 6 6 1 0 2 1 1 1 1 1 8 1 1 . M , 5 , p , 4, 5 , , , , 9

er uriu 1 2 1 2 1 0 . m e 1 6 1 1 . M c s, 4, 5 , 5 Po p y, 3 , 4

iner a 2 8 6 6 1 1 1 1 1 1 1 6 . M t ces 1 68 6 8 " I ” M v , 4 , , 9 , , 4, P ifi a 431 5 1 1 9s 7 ) , 41

1710 14 salsa 6 6 . 1 8 1 2 1 1 6 1 . , 1 , 7 , 35 , 3 , 37 mundus . ontz ex ma mus 66 6 8 6 0 , 39 p f xi , 54, , , 9, 7 ,

u aeu 1 2 1 . 6 1 6 6 I 6 ° M s s, 7 33 7 1 , 7

- m t l rac R m an 1 8 1 . e n 1 2 . y ho ogy, G co o , , 9 Pos ido , 4

i ni u 1 6 . Pos do s, 5 n astw allarius 8 . ef . 44. 54 p , 7

Ne tunus 1 2 1 2 1 . p , 93, 4, 5 , 57

- Nee P t a rean m 1 8 1 . y h go is , 5 , 5 9

eri . uindeci mviri sacri s a ci undis 1 2 2 . N o, 93 Q f ,

ne 2 . Q u uatru 1 1 . No s, 9, 43 inq s, 7 m ensi des 6 1 1 1 1 . Q ur nu 2 8 6 m . , 5 , , 34 i i s. 4 . 7 . 93. 9 . 97 .

um a ° N , 7 3) 7 5

alen ar 1 . c d of, 4 f

reli i n 1 1 1 8 8 6 1 0 R5 5 1 6 6 l 6 1 6 . g o of, 4, 5 , , 3, 9 , 7 }, 45 1 5 5 1 5 s 91 5 1 7 numen 1 6 2 0 2 2 80 8 2 8 88 1 reli o 2 0 1 2 . , , , , , , 7 , , 9 , gi , , 5

2 . reli io as . 9 g s , 54 reli i n um a 1 1 6 g o of N , 4, 5 , 9 ,

n v o r 6 . Ocr o ss , Fssr r ars , 5 0 7

t er r e 0 6 1 0 2 . rex acrorum 6 1 Oc ob ho s , 5 , 5 , s . 43. 9. 7 3. 47

R i alia 0 . ob g , 5

R i u 0 . 391 SS ob g s, 5

R ati n r e i n . Ops, 5 5 ° og o P oc ss o s, 5 3

e . a r i u ra le t n 1 2 1 R m u tu and R . o c s, coll c io s of, o , wo sh p of A g s s , wa lla . 99 1 7 5 .

O i 1 8 H 1 68 R mulus 1 0 1 1 6 . v d . 7 . 49. 7 . 7 . o , 97 , , 9 1 8 2 INDEX

8 11112 1 1 1 11 1 1 W e w men 8 . ul u I ° is o , 7 Tib l s, 491 5 3

ae ulum 1 0 . 1 Mati e ra ne . s c , 7 T o , 95

ala i a . it n 6 . S c , 93 T a s , 4

Salii 6 8 2 1 0 2 1 0 1 0 1 6 . to a aete ta 6 . , 45 , 9, , , 3, 4, 5 g pr x , 33, 9, 7 5

aturnalia . trs udm m 6 S , 57 p , 4 .

samm u’ 8 ° ub ustriu 0 s 57 r 7 1 93 T il m , 1 2 .

ae la Q uintu Mucius 1 . ullia 1 2 . Sc vo , s , 44 T , 4

i i ri anu th e l er 1 2 . u ulum 1 1 8 . Sc p o Af c s, E d , 9 T sc ,

i i ri anu th e un er 1 6 . T cb e 1 . Sc p o Af c s, Yo g , 5 y , 74

e ular am e 1 6 . S c G s, 9 f

se ulcbm m 1 2 . a w s Fu ccu 1 . p , 4 s, 47

er iu ul i u 1 0 . arr 1 1 . S v s T l s , 7 V o, 4

S exti us Q uintu 1 8 . eii 1 1 . , s, 5 V , 3

Sib 1 1 2 0 f. 1 2 1 6 . enu 1 1 1 6 . y , , 3, 9 V s, 7 , 9

i lli ne B 8 1 1 0 6 rz o f 1 6 . var a rum 1 2 8 . S by ooks, , , , 9 s c ,

i a u 1 2 1 0 . e ta 2 2 66 6 68 8 88 S lv ns, 4, 3 , 3 V s , 5 , 9, 54, , 7 , , 7 , , - s e ti c . 8 1 6 1 68 . p c , 74 9, 7 ,

e 1 1 6 . e ta ia . Sp s, V s l , 54

tatue intr u ti n 1 0 . e tal Vir in 1 6 6 6 1 2 8 s s , od c o of, 9 V s g s, 5 , 54, , 9, ,

t i i m 1 6 . 1 6 1 6 6 1 6 . S o c s , 5 f 5 , , 7

tri a 2 . vili o 2 8 . s g , 3 c ,

ina i a 0 1 0 1 . V l , 5 ,

suoveta urzlza 2 1 0 2 . vi ndemiae aus ica tio 1 0 1 . , 5 , p ,

su li ca ti o nes 1 0 1 2 1 2 8 1 . ir il 1 8 1 1 1 60 1 6 2 1 1 . pp , 7 , 5 , , 34 V g , , 7 , , , 7

iri tes . V , 93

Tncrrus 1 6 2 . irtu 1 1 6 . , V s,

Tarm tum 1 0 . i u , 7 Vo ls n , 1 1 4.

ellu 8 1 2 . Vo rtumna 1 1 . T s, 7 , 9 , 9 , 4

em le intr u ti n 1 0 8 . T p s , od c o of,

re t re b u u tu 1 6 6 . WOLF . s o d y A g s s, , 95

tem lum . e er 6 . p , 7 5 woodp ck , 95 , 9

erm inu 6 8 . T s , 4, 7

Terremare 6 . "en 1 6 . , 4 o , 5

e ian e 1 . "eu 6 1 1 0 . Th odos Cod , 3 s, 4 , 9 , 4

u i de 1 1 . Th cyd s, 4