translated book, means chapter or volume, as well as book. The so-called books of Livy are really chapters, each having been originally a separate roll. The original book of the Sibyl was burned in 84 B. C., and was replaced by a second book filled with prophecies collected in the east. The Sibylline priests doubtless obtained profit and influence from the possession of a multitude of vague phrases, some one of which they could apply to every contingency and interpret in accordance with their interests or expectations.

One of the peculiar ecclesiastical ceremonials of Rome, established, according to report, under an order of the Sibylline book, was a lectisternium, or dinner to a party of gods, usually six in number, after some great disaster, when it was considered necessary to offer an extraordinary propitiation to some of the leading deities. On such an occasion, a statue or idol of each invited god was taken from its usual resting-place, washed, anointed, decorated, and placed on a couch, in company with his divine associates before a table laden with an elegant feast. A large temple or the forum was the place preferred for a lectisternium.

Music, both vocal and instrumental, was used in the ecclesiastical ceremonies of Rome, but it was not prominent, nor did it there exert any educational influence. There was no well trained chorus, no office of honor connected with the production of choral music at religious festivals, and no great development of poetry and drama from the choral performances. The example of Athens in these points was not imitated in Rome.

In 181 B. C. an attempt was made to foist a new sacred book upon the Romans. Some laborers digging in the earth near the Capitol found two stone chests, like coffins,

and the lids had inscriptions, one of which said that its box was the coffin of king Numa; and the other said its box contained the sacred book of Numa. The coffin was empty; the other chest contained a book in fourteen chapters, of which seven in Latin related to sacerdotal organization, and seven in Greek treated of the theory of wisdom, and probably related to creed. The senate ordered an examination of the book, and having received a report that the adoption of the book would upset the Roman system of worship, ordered it to be burned. It was burned, and no note of its contents was preserved. The experiment of the Roman Hilkiah was a failure.

The main object of worship in the domestic religion was the lar, a male founder of the family. There was only one lar in a house, but other male ancestors were also objects of adoration. The image of the lar, often a small rude figure of burned clay, gave the name lararium to the room in which it was usually kept, and there, before its customary place, a lamp was kept continually burning. At meals, the figure of the lar was usually set on the table, and before sitting down, and before tasting the main course of the dessert, the master of the house offered to the lar, by throwing into the fire, or upon the hearth, a particle of food and a particle of salt. At every family festival, as after the birth of a child or its return from a distance, when a son reached the years of manhood, when he married, or when he obtained some signal success in life, the lar was crowned with a wreath, as a symbol that he participated in the joy of the family.

SEC. 491. New Faiths.-Under the republic, there was no persecution of unbelief or heresy. The execution of Socrates, and the flights of Anaxagoras and Aristotle, had no parallels on the banks of the Tiber, Conquered coun

tries generally were allowed to retain their gods, their temples, their temple endowments, their priests, and their ecclesiastical ceremonies. The worships of Jehovah, Osiris, Melkarth, and Mithra were not disturbed any more than was necessary in the course of the acquisition of Judea, Egypt, Syria, Pontus, and Mesopotamia. Under the empire, there were prosecutions which partook of the character of persecutions, though their motive was always rather political than ecclesiastical. The druids were hunted down because they used their sacerdotal influence to organize insurrection. Gatherings for Bacchanalian rites and for Egyptian, Jewish, and Christian worship were prohibited repeatedly because their secrecy was considered inconsistent with public policy, and was favorable to immoral practices.

In the last century of the republic, the ancient faith lost much of its credit among the populace, many of whom became converts to the Cilician, Egyptian, Jewish, and afterwards to the Christian religion. The decline of paganism had proceeded far before Christianity was preached to the Greeks. Of the foreign gods introduced into Rome, the most successful in gaining converts there before 60 A. D. was Mithra, whose name appears on the sacred books of the Persians, but who, as known to the Romans, may be considered a divinity of Cilicia and Pontus. About 80 B. C., while the Cilician pirates were powerful, they made Mithra prominent in many cities of the Mediterranean. Our knowledge of the religion of Mithra is very vague, but we know that it included a belief in a future immortal life, and that baptism and communion were among its sacred rites.

The oriental religion, that stood next to that of Mithra in the Eternal City in the time of Augustus, was that of

Isis. This faith, of Egyptian origin, seems to have differed materially from the popular religion in the valley of the Nile, probably because the majority of the Egyptians in Rome were much more intelligent than the rabble in their native land. There are many evidences that the converts to this religion were numerous and that they included many women of wealthy Roman families. One noble Roman lady spent a night in an Egyptian temple in her native city with the god Serapis, as she supposed, but, as it afterwards appeared to her own disgrace, with a libertine, who had bribed the priest. An inscription in Pompeii mentions the fact that a certain Popidius was elected about 65 A. D. to the city council by the members of that body, without the expense usually incurred by the candidates, because he had built a chapel to Isis. The aristocratic character of the population of Pompeii, and the subordination of all the city governments to imperial power, give much significance to an election for such a motive. This religion retained the doctrines of the resurrection of the body, and of its eternal existence with the soul for the just. The worshipers of Isis buried the body, never burned it, nor did they use the process of embalming in Italy.

SEC. 492. Roman Funerals.—The dead were buried or burned, according to the customs of the different families or clans. If burned, the bones were carefully collected, sprinkled with wine and milk, dried and put into perfumed urns, which might be kept in the dwelling or in a building (columbarium) constructed for the purpose, with an opening for each urn.

The patrician families, especially those of much wealth and influence in the state, made their funerals occasions of much display. A public crier went through

the streets where the distinguished people lived, and invited them to participate. The procession was led by hired women mourners, after whom came instrumental musicians; then dancers; then the corpse; next an actor, wearing a mask like the face of the deceased, his dress, his armor, and his official insignia, imitating his walk and appearance as nearly as possible; then other actors wearing the masks, dresses, armor, and official insignia of other deceased men of the family; then the sons with their heads veiled; then other relatives in mourning; and finally, friends. The procession went to the Forum, where the masked actors sat on a platform, while a son or near male relative delivered a funeral oration, which recounted the glorius achievements of the dead man and of his ancestors. Some families preserved many of these funeral orations, which furnished a considerable part of the material for the history of Rome before 250 B. C. It was, says Mommsen, a conception essentially in keeping with "the grave solemnity, the uniform movement, and the proud dignity of Roman life that departed generations should continue to walk as it were corporeally among the living, and that when a burgess, weary of labors and of honors, was gathered to his fathers, these fathers themselves should appear in the Forum to receive him among their number.”1