might keep it by offering a sheep and calling it a deer; and if he could not or would not get an animal of flesh and blood, one made of dough or paper was accepted by the priest as a satisfactory substitute."

SEC. 487. Jupiter.-Like other cities among the peoples of the Latin as well as of the Greek blood, Rome had her tutelary divinity, to whom she paid special reverence in his temple on the Capitol hill. For centuries great care was taken that his distinctive title of Stator, which was considered indicative of his attributes, and an indispensable part of his name, should be concealed, so that no enemy should be enabled to command his attention and then entice him away.1

In the time of Cicero these fears seem to have disappeared, for in his second oration against Catiline, he said publicly, "Thou, Jupiter, whose religion was established with the foundation of this empire, whom we truly call stator." When a crown was offered to Cæsar, then chief pontiff, and he was hailed as a king, he replied, “I am not king; the only king of the Romans is Jupiter." The coarse conception of the gods entertained by leading statesmen in the earlier period of the historical republic may be inferred from the following offer made to Jupiter Stator in 192 B. C. by the consul Acilius Glabrio, when praying for divine aid in the war against the Syrian king, Antiochus: "If the war which the people have resolved to wage against king Antiochus shall have been carried to the end, according to the wish of the senate and of the Roman people, then shall the Roman people for ten days celebrate to thee, O Jupiter, great games; and at all the shrines of the gods, gifts shall be offered out of the sum which the senate shall have appointed; and whatever magistrate shall celebrate these games, whenever and

wherever he may celebrate them, they shall be reputed as celebrated according to divine law, and the gifts shall be considered to be duly offered.""

When besieging hostile cities, the early Romans made a practice of reciting the following ritual for the purpose of enticing the tutelary divinity of the enemy to desert those who had long been his worshipers. After a solemn ceremonial a priest said: "O thou great one who hast this city under thy protection, I pray thee, I adore thee, I ask of thee as a favor to abandon this city and this people, to quit these temples, these sacred places, and having separated thyself from them to come to Rome, to me and to mine. May our city, our temples, and our sacred places be more agreeable and more dear to thee. Take us under thy protection. If thou doest this, I will found a temple in thy honor."3

The captive in war, spared by the Romans, was required to say: "I give my person, my city, my land, the water that flows over it, my boundary gods, my temples, my movable property, everything which pertains to the gods—these I give to the Roman people." The sacred fire of the conquered city was extinguished; the worship of its tutelary divinity in that place was prohibited; and its god was annexed to Rome.

In 292 B. C. a pestilence raged in Rome, and the senate, in hope of relief from the Greek god of medicine, Æsculapius, sent a deputation to his temple in Epidaurus, to invite him to establish himself in their city. When the deputation had made its request to the assembled priests in the Esculapian temple, one of the serpents kept there came forward, left the sacred grounds, and crawled to the seashore, where it entered the trireme of the Romans. When the vessel touched at Antium, the depu

tation went ashore to visit a temple of Esculapius there, and the serpent also went, and there it remained three days, before it returned to the trireme, which then went on to Rome. Having arrived there, the trireme landed on the southern bank of the Tiber, but the serpent crawled over the outer side of the boat and swam to the island, where it made its home. There the Roman temple of Esculapius was built. It is worthy of note that this conduct of the incarnate god Æsculapius happened in the legendary period of the republic; but it was credited by historians and poets, and believed by the multitude under the empire.

SEC. 488. Pontiffs.—Although ecclesiastical influence was not prominent, the state had a religion, the priests of which were regarded as officers of the government. These priests belonged to five main classes. First were the pontiffs (pontifices), under a chief pontiff (pontifex maximus), who was the highest sacerdotal official. There were five pontiffs, including the chief, until 302 B. C.; and after that year, nine. Their position was held for life, and when a vacancy occurred, the surviving members of the board by a majority vote, designated a successor. They were divided into ranks, with different privileges, those who had served longest having the higher places. The board of pontiffs had books of ecclesiastical ceremonial and of sacerdotal disciplinary law; and the chief pontiff made a record of notable events, including consular elections, disasters, and wonders.

The main duty of the board of pontiffs was to supervise the sacred festivals and holy days of the state; and for this purpose they prepared an annual calendar, fixed the days for the beginning and the end of the year, and as there were only 355 days in the normal Roman year

under the system maintained from the foundation of the republic till the reign of Julius Cæsar, the pontiffs intercalated a month occasionally, so as to prevent the beginning of the year from running through all the seasons. The calendar of the pontiffs designated certain days as lucky or unlucky, on which acts of public worship, and the commencement of important enterprises, were or were not permissible. The calendar also fixed the days when the senate might sit, when the assembly of the people could be held to vote for officers or for laws. The pontiffs, following ancient custom, put eight days in a week, the eighth days, or nundines, being holidays, on which the peasants in the vicinity of the city usually went to the capital. On the first day of every month the pontiffs made public announcement of the date of the next nundine, and of all the public festivals in the month. The luckiness and unluckiness of the days, and their suitability for the public assembly, were secrets of the pontifical board until 304 B. C., when a clerk published a calendar, in which the business character of every day was marked; and from that time, the pontiffs had no control over the sacredness of the days, save in the intercalated periods.

The pontiffs had general supervision over ecclesiastical ceremonies. Without their consent no temple or altar could be consecrated in Roman territory to public worship. When application was made to them, they examined whether the site, the building, and the persons designated for the priesthood were satisfactory, and whether the endowment was sufficient to maintain the institution permanently in creditable style. It was considered impious to set apart a place to the service of a god and then abandon it or allow it to go to ruin.

The pontiffs formed parts of the courts which had jurisdiction in cases of wills, sacrilegious crime, and sacerdotal law; and it seems that these courts were the first to adopt precise forms of pleadings, many features of which were afterwards copied in the other Roman courts. It was part of the duty of the pontiffs to examine all candidates for the priesthood, and to install those who were successful, or to authorize their installation. The chief pontiff was one of the highest officials of the state, and a member of the senate. All the pagan emperors held this office.

Plutarch says: "The chief pontiff is the interpreter of the decrees of Heaven and diviner, or, rather, hierophant. He not only presides over the sacrifices of the state, but also supervises those made by individuals, and takes care that the rules of worship are not violated. Finally, he teaches what everyone must do to honor and appease the gods." Livy tells us that "all religious acts, whether public or private, were subject to the decision of the pontiff. Thus the people, when in doubt, knew to whom they should address their inquiries; and thus the disorders that might have arisen from the neglect of the national rites, or from the introduction of foreign modes of worship, were prevented. He also regulated funerals, prescribed the methods of appeasing the spirits of the departed, and indicated which, among the prodigies of lightning and other startling natural phenomena, required expiation."

SEC. 489. Augurs.—The augurs, of whom there were at first three and afterwards nine, were an official board, the members of which held for life, and, by a majority vote, elected persons to fill vacancies in their number. It was their duty to examine the auspices on all important