Roman Antiquities, and Ancient Mythology Part 5

The _fratres ambarvales_, twelve in number, were those priests who offered up sacrifices for the fertility of the ground. The _curiones_ performed the rites in each curia.

_Feciales_ (_Heralds_) were a college of sacred persons, into whose charge all concerns relating to the declaration of war or conclusion of peace, were committed.

Their first inst.i.tution was in so high a degree laudable and beneficial, as to reflect great honour on Roman justice and moderation. It was the primary and especial duty of the heralds, to inquire into the equity of a proposed war: and if the grounds of it seemed to them trivial or unjust, the war was declined--if otherwise, the senate concerted the best measures to carry it on with spirit.

Feciales were supreme judges in every thing relating to treaties. The head of their college was called Pater Patratus.

All the members of this college, while in the discharge of their duty, wore a wreath of vervain around their heads; and bore a branch of it in their hands, when they made peace, of which it was an emblem.

Their authority and respectability continued until the l.u.s.t of dominion had corrupted the policy of the Romans; after which their situations were comparative sinecures, and their solemn deliberations dwindled into useless or contemptible formalities.

Among the flamines or priests of particular G.o.ds, were, 1st. _flamen dialis_ the priest of Jupiter. This was an office of great dignity, but subjected to many restrictions; as that he should not ride on horseback, nor stay one night without the city, nor take an oath, and several others.

2d. The _salii_, priests of Mars, so called, because on solemn occasions they used to go through the city dancing, dressed in an embroidered tunic, bound with a brazen belt, and a _toga pretexta_ or _trabea_; having on their head a cap rising to a considerable height in the form of a cone, with a sword by their side, in their right hand a spear or rod, and in their left, one of the ancilia or shields of Mars.--The most solemn procession of the salii was on the first of March, in commemoration of the time when the sacred shield was believed to have fallen from heaven in the reign of Numa.

3d. The _luperci_, priests of Pan, were so called, from a wolf, because that G.o.d was supposed to keep the wolves from the sheep. Hence the place where he was worshipped was called lupercal, and his festival lupercalia, which was celebrated in February, at which the luperci ran up and down the city naked, having only a girdle of goat skin round their waists, and thongs of the same in their hands, with which they struck those they met.

It is said that Antony, while chief of the luperci, went according to concert, it is believed, almost naked into the forum, attended by his lictors, and having made an harangue to the people from the rostra, presented a crown to Caesar, who was sitting there, surrounded by the whole senate and people. He attempted frequently to put the crown upon his head, addressing him by the t.i.tle of king, and declaring that what he said and did was at the desire of his fellow citizens; but Caesar perceiving the strongest marks of aversion in the people, rejected it, saying, that Jupiter alone was king of Rome, and therefore sent the crown to the capitol to be presented to that G.o.d.

CHAPTER XIII.

_Religious Ceremonies of the Romans._

The Romans were, as a people, remarkably attached to the religion they professed; and scrupulously attentive in discharging the rites and ceremonies which it enjoined.

Their religion was Idolatry, in its grossest and widest acceptation. It acknowledged a few general truths, but greatly darkened these by fables and poetical fiction.

All the inhabitants of the invisible world, to which the souls of people departed after death, were indiscriminately called _Inferi_. _Elysium_ was that part of h.e.l.l (_apud Inferos_,) in which the good spent a spiritual existence of unmingled enjoyment, and _Tartarus_ (pl. -ra) was the terrible prison-house of the d.a.m.ned.

The worship of the G.o.ds consisted chiefly in prayers, vows, and sacrifices. No act of religious worship was performed without prayer; while praying, they stood usually with their heads covered, looking towards the east; a priest p.r.o.nounced the words before them;--they frequently touched the altars or knees of the images of the G.o.ds; turning themselves round in a circle towards the right, sometimes putting their right hand to their mouth, and also prostrating themselves on the ground.

They vowed temples, games, sacrifices, gifts, &c. Sometimes they used to write their vows on paper or waxen tablets, to seal them up, and fasten them with wax to the knees of the images of the G.o.ds, that being supposed to be the seat of mercy.

l.u.s.trations were necessary to be made before entrance on any important religious duty, viz. before setting out to the temples, before the sacrifice, before initiation into the mysteries, and before solemn vows and prayers.

l.u.s.trations were also made after acts by which one might be polluted; as after murder, or after having a.s.sisted at a funeral.

In sacrifices it was requisite that those who offered them, should come chaste and pure; that they should bathe themselves, be dressed in white robes, and crowned with the leaves of the tree which was thought most acceptable to the G.o.d whom they worshipped.

Sacrifices were made of victims whole and sound (_Integrae et sanae_.) But all victims were not indifferently offered to all G.o.ds.

A white bull was an acceptable sacrifice to Jupiter; an ewe to Juno; black victims, bulls especially, to Pluto; a bull and a horse to Neptune; the horse to Mars; bullocks and lambs to Apollo, &c. Sheep and goats were offered to various deities.

The victim was led to the altar with a loose rope, that it might not seem to be brought by force, which was reckoned a bad omen. After silence was proclaimed, a salted cake was sprinkled on the head of the beast, and frankincense and wine poured between his horns, the priest having first tasted the wine himself, and given it to be tasted by those that stood next him, which was called _libatio_--the priest then plucked the highest hairs between the horns, and threw them into the fire--the victim was struck with an axe or mall, then stabbed with knives, and the blood being caught in goblets, was poured on the altar--it was then flayed and dissected; then the entrails were inspected by the aruspices, and if the signs were favorable, they were said to have offered up an acceptable sacrifice, or to have pacified the G.o.ds; if not, another victim was offered up, and sometimes several. The parts which fell to the G.o.ds were sprinkled with meal, wine, and frankincense, and burnt on the altar. When the sacrifice was finished, the priest, having washed his hands, and uttered certain prayers, again made a libation, and the people were dismissed.

Human sacrifices were also offered among the Romans: persons guilty of certain crimes, as treachery or sedition, were devoted to Pluto and the infernal G.o.ds, and therefore any one might slay them with impunity.

Altars and temples afforded an asylum or place of refuge among the Greeks and Romans, as well as among the Jews, chiefly to slaves from the cruelty of their masters, and to insolvent debtors and criminals, where it was considered impious to touch them; but sometimes they put fire and combustible materials around the place, that the person might appear to be forced away, not by men, but by a G.o.d: or shut up the temple and unroofed it, that he might perish in the open air.

CHAPTER XIV.

_The Roman Year._

Romulus divided the year into ten months; the first of which was called March from Mars, his supposed father; the 2d April, either from the Greek name of Venus, (Af??d?ta) or because trees and flowers open their buds, during that month; the 3d, May, from Maia, the mother of Mercury; the 4th, June, from the G.o.ddess Juno; 5th, July, from Julius Caesar; 6th, August, from Augustus Caesar; the rest were called from their number, September, October, November, December.

Numa added two months--January from Ja.n.u.s, and February because the people were then purified, (_februabatur_) by an expiatory sacrifice from the sin of the whole year: for this anciently was the last month in the year.

Numa in imitation of the Greeks divided the year into twelve lunar months, according to the course of the moon, but as this mode of division did not correspond with the course of the sun, he ordained that an intercalary month should be added every other year.

Julius Caesar afterwards abolished this month, and with the a.s.sistance of Sosigenes, a skilful astronomer of Alexandria, in the year of Rome 707, arranged the year according to the course of the sun, commencing with the first of January, and a.s.signed to each month the number of days which they still retain. This is the celebrated Julian or solar year which has been since maintained without any other alteration than that of the new style, introduced by pope Gregory, A. D. 1582, and adopted in England in 1752, when eleven days were dropped between the second and fourteenth of September.

The months were divided into three parts, _kalends_, _nones_ and _ides_.

They commenced with the _kalends_; the _nones_ occurred on the fifth, and the _ides_ on the thirteenth, except in March, May, July, and October, when they fell on the seventh and fifteenth.

In marking the days of the month they went backwards: thus, January first was the first of the _kalends_ of January--December thirty-first was _pridie kalendas_, or the day next before the _kalends_ of January--the day before that, or the thirtieth of December, _tertio kalendas Januarii_, or the third day before the _kalends_ of January, and so on to the thirteenth, when came the ides of December.

The day was either civil or natural; the civil day was from midnight to midnight; the natural day was from the rising to the setting of the sun.

The use of clocks and watches was unknown to the Romans--nor was it till four hundred and forty-seven years after the building of the city, that the sun dial was introduced: about a century later, they first measured time by a water machine, which served by night, as well as by day.

Their days were distinguished by the names of _festi_, _profesti_, and _intercisi_. The _festi_ were dedicated to religious worship, the _profesti_ were allotted to ordinary business, the days which served partly for one and partly for the other were called _intercisi_, or half holy days.

The manner of reckoning by weeks was not introduced until late in the second century of the christian era: it was borrowed from the Egyptians, and the days were named after the planets: thus, Sunday from the Sun, Monday from the Moon, Tuesday from Mars, Wednesday from Mercury, Thursday from Jupiter, Friday from Venus, Sat.u.r.day from Saturn.

_A Table of the Kalends, Nones, and Ides._

Days of| Apr, June, | Jan, August, | March, May, | Month. | Sept, Nov. | December. | July, Oct. | February.

1 Kalendae. Kalendae. Kalendae. Kalendae.

2 IV. Nonas. IV. Nonas VI. IV. Nonas.

3 III. III. V. III.

4 Pridie. Pridie. IV. Pridie.

5 Nonae. Nonae. III. Nonae.

6 VIII. Idus VIII. Idus. Pridie. VIII. Idus.

7 VII. VII. Nonae. VII.

8 VI. VI. VIII. Idus. VI.

9 V. V. VII. V.

10 IV. IV. VI. IV.

11 III. III. V. III.

12 Pridie. Pridie. IV. Pridie.