CHAPTER IX

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ROME.

“Within this grove, upon this wooded hill,” He said, “some deity his dwelling made; But who or what, none knows. The Arcadians Think they have seen great Jove himself, when oft With his right hand he shook his darkening shield, And called his clouds around him. VIRGIL.

When fierce gales bowed the high pines, when blazed The lightning, and the savage in the storm Some unknown godhead heard, and, awe-struck, gazed On Jove’s imagined form. SOTHEBY.

Long before Rome was founded Italy was peopled with an industrious class of farmers. But we have scarce any records of those early times. Some of their gigantic buildings, lakes and canals remain, but these are almost all that is left. The religious ideas of these early settlers entered into and, to a great extent, moulded the religion of the Romans. The people of Italy did not have the same vivid imaginations and lively fancies as the people of Greece. Their early worship seems to have been of a more serious character than that of the Greeks. Their gods were freer from moral taint, and virtue rather than vice was required in followers of the Roman religions. The poetic art was little cultivated among them, or for that matter, in Rome of a later day. But Rome soon began to borrow from Greece, and to appropriate her gods, heroes and myths. There are no Italian myths corresponding to those of Greece. In Virgil and Ovid a few adventures of the Italian gods are related, but these are plainly imitations or slight modifications of the Greek stories.

THE ETRUSCAN RELIGION.

Before they became acquainted with Greece, the Romans looked to the Etruscans as their instructors in religious things. The disposition of the Etruscans was melancholy and serious; their form of government a rigid aristocracy, administered by an hereditary race or caste of priestly nobility. Their system was founded on some peculiar views of the world and its periods, and on the art of learning the will of the supernal powers by the thunder, the lightning, and other aerial phenomena. The rules and principles of this science were contained in books ascribed to a subterranean dæmon named Tages, who, the Tuscan legend said, had risen up, a babe in form, an aged man in wisdom, from under the soil before the plow of a peasant of Tarquinii as he was at his work, and who instructed the people in divination.

According to the doctrine of the Etruscans there were two orders of gods, the one superior, _veiled_ and nameless, with whom the supreme god took counsel when about to announce by lightning any change in the present order of things. The other consisted of twelve gods, six male and as many females, his ordinary council. These were called by the common name of _Consentes_ or _Complices_ (the Latin of the Etruscan word), according to Varro, because they are born and die together. The general Etruscan word for a god was Æsar.

The supreme god of the Tuscans, answering to the Zeus of the Greeks, the Jupiter of the Romans, was named Tina. A goddess named Kupra was called by the Romans Juno; and another, named Menerfa or Menrfa, was the original of the Minerva of Rome. These three deities had always contiguous temples on the citadel of every Etruscan city. Hence the united temples of Jupiter, Juno and Minerva, which crowned the capitol at Rome.

A goddess named Nortia, answering to the Roman Fortuna, was worshiped at the Tuscan cities of Sutri and Volsinii. Vertumnus also was one of the principal deities of Etruria. The Tuscan god of the under-world, or rather the ruler of the dead, it is said, was named Mantus, and there was a goddess called Mama of a similar nature. The Lares, or household gods, which form so conspicuous a feature of the Roman religion, it is probable, belonged originally to the Etruscan system of worship.

THE SABELLIAN RELIGION.

The rigid virtues of a portion of the Sabellian race, particularly the Sabines, were always the theme of praise at Rome. Grazing and agriculture were the chief employments of these hardy tribes, and their religion was intimately connected with these arts; and consequently, we may suppose, bore much resemblance to that of the Latins. It has always been asserted that a great portion of the Roman religion was of Sabine origin.

The Sabines adored Sancus and Sabus or Sabinus, as the founders of their nation. Mamers or Mars was also one of their deities; an erect lance was the symbol before which he was worshiped. The Marsian portion of this race were as celebrated for their skill in detecting the will of the gods by the flight and voice of the birds, as the Etruscans for discerning it in the electric phenomena of the sky.

THE GODS OF THE ROMANS.

There are very many gods in the Roman mythology, of these some twenty have been called the select gods. These are Janus, the two-faced sun-god; Jupiter (Diovis-pater or Father-Jove); Saturnus, the god of agriculture; Genius, or the god of production; Mercurius, the god who presided over the business of the market and over trade in general. Apollo was a god introduced from the Greek mythology. Mars was the god of war. Vulcan was the god of fire. Neptune was the god of the sea. Sol and Luna were the sun and moon god and goddess. Orcas was the god of death, like the Hades of the Greeks, or Yama of the Hindus. Father Liber was the god of the harvest. Tellus was the god of the earth. Ceres was the goddess of grain. Juno was the wife of Jupiter. Diana was the moon-goddess. Minerva was the goddess of arts. Vesta was the goddess of the household. Venus was the goddess of birth.

FATHER JOVE.

The word Jove appears to have meant, originally, God. It corresponds to Zeus of the Greeks and Dyaus of the Hindus. Jove or Jupiter was the especial protector of the city of Rome. The chief Jupiter was called the Capitoline Jupiter. In his temple adorning the Capitol in Rome were also statues of Juno and Minerva. Jupiter Elicius was so named, we are told, from the following circumstance. In the time of Numa there occurred great thunderstorms and rains. The people and their king were terrified, and the latter had recourse to the counsel of the nymph Egeria. She informed him that Faunus and Picus could instruct him in the mode of appeasing Jupiter, but that he must employ both art and violence to extract the knowledge from them. Accordingly by her advice he placed bowls of wine at a fountain on Mount Aventine, whither they were wont to come to drink, and concealed himself in a neighboring cavern. The rural gods came to the fount, and finding the wine drank copiously of it, thus illustrating in a striking manner the sensuous, character always supposed to dwell in these deities. They immediately fell asleep, and Numa, quitting his retreat, came and bound them. On awaking, they struggled, but in vain, to get free; and the pious prince, apologizing for what necessity had obliged him to do, entreated that they would inform him how Jupiter was to be appeased. They yielded to his prayer, and on loosing them drew down the thundering Jupiter by their charms. He descended on the Aventine hill, which trembled beneath the weight of the deity. Numa was terrified, but recovering he implored the god to give a remedy against the lightning. The ruler of the thunder assented, and in ambiguous terms conveyed the relief: “Cut a head,”--“of an onion from my garden” subjoined the king,--“of a man,”--“the topmost hairs” quickly replied Numa.--“I demand a life,”--“of a fish.” The deity smiled, and said that his weapons might thus be averted, and promised a sign at sunrise the following morning.

[Illustration: JUPITER TONANS.]

At dawn the people assembled before the doors of the king. Numa came forth, and, seated on his maple throne, looked for the rising of the sun. The orb of day was just wholly emerged above the horizon, when a loud crash was heard in the sky; thrice the god thundered without a cloud; thrice he sent forth his lightnings. The heavens opened, and a light buckler came gently wafted on the air, and fell to the ground. Numa, having first slain a heifer, took it up and named it _Ancile_. He regarded it as the pledge of empire; and having had eleven others made exactly like it by the artist Mamurius, to deceive those who might attempt to steal it, committed them to the care of the priests named Salii.

Jupiter was named Feretrius or _Bearer_, as the spoils of the enemy’s general, if slain by a Roman commander, were _borne_ to him. He was also called Victor and Stator, as the giver of victory and stayer of flight. We also meet with Jupiter Pistor, whose altar was on the capitol, and Jupiter Tonans, the author of thunder. In the usual Roman manner, an historical origin was given to all these names. Jupiter was called Lucetius, as the author of light (_lucis_), and Diespiter, _i.e._, Dies Pater, or Father of Day or of Light.

THE MATRON GODDESS.

Juno was the feminine of Jove--from Jovino we have the word Juno. Juno was one of the great deities of Rome and had a share in the worship of the magnificent temple on the capitol. One Juno was called Juno Moneta, and her temple was finally made the mint, or coining place for money. Female slaves swore by the Juno of their mistress. As the patroness of married women, Juno was named Matrona. She presided over marriage. Whenever a child was born a piece of money was deposited in her temple’s treasury. In July of each year Juno was honored by a sacrifice. Juno Sospita, the _Protectress_, was represented with a goat-skin about her, a spear in her hand, and a small shield on her arm. Juno was generally represented armed, and the Romans usually divided the hair of a virgin-bride with a small spear-point, thus invoking the protection of this goddess.

THE GODDESS OF SCHOOLS.

All mental work was done under the direction of Minerva. Her statues were placed in the schools, and in March of each year the school-boys had five days as holidays in her honor. At the end of this vacation and festival the boys gave their school-master a present called a Minerval. Minerva’s chapel was under the same roof as Jupiter’s and Juno’s on the Capitoline hill at Rome.

THE GODDESS OF THE HEARTH.

Vesta presided over the public and private hearth. In Vesta’s temple at Rome a sacred fire was kept burning by six virgin-priestesses called Vestals. The Romans believed that if they let this fire go out, the city’s safety would be destroyed. When, through the neglect of the Vestals, it did go out, they were severely punished and the fire was relighted by the rays of the sun. In Vesta’s temple there was no statue of the goddess. At her festival in June, plates of meat were sent to the Vestals to be offered up, the mill-stones were decked with flowers and the animals working the mills went about crowned with violets and with cakes strung about their necks.

CERES AND LIBER.

Ceres presided over seeds and harvests. She was the goddess of the farmers. The country-folks before beginning harvest kept feasts to Ceres, when they brought offerings of honey-combs covered with wine and milk, and an animal to be slain in sacrifice. The offerings were taken three times around the corn-field, the country people following, crowned with oak leaves and dancing and singing. These festivals were of the most joyous character.

Liber means Deliverer. The god who had this name was united with Ceres in worship at Rome. The Romans worshiped their gods and goddesses generally in groups of three; thus, Jupiter, Juno and Minerva in the Capitoline temple; and Ceres, Liber and (the female) Libera in the temple at the foot of the Aventine. In the Capitoline temple the patricians or higher classes worshiped. In the Aventine temple the plebians or common people worshipped. There was much gross vileness connected with all the festivals of Liber.

THE GOD OF BEGINNINGS.

Janus gives his name to January, the first month of the year. He was the sun-god, and was usually worshiped at the beginning of any action. He was regarded as the “opener of the day.” Gates and doors were placed under the care of Janus, and their keeper is even to-day called a janitor. Janus was represented with a key and a staff, and was named the Opener and the Shutter. Janus has two faces. An ancient statue of Janus stood in the Forum at Rome of which the fingers were so formed that one hand represented three hundred in Latin characters (CCC.), and those of the other, fifty-five (LV.), making together the number of days in the ancient lunar year.

[Illustration: JANUS]

Under the Capitol, near to the Forum, in Rome, stood a short arch-way with a gate at each end. In times of peace these gates were kept shut, in times of war they were left open. In this arch-way a statue of Janus stood. There was a tradition at Rome that once, when the enemies of Rome had attempted to enter the city by this gate, the god Janus had caused a stream of boiling water to gush forth from the earth, and so drove them away.

ROME’S LESSER GODS.

Besides the gods above referred to, there were gods and goddesses of councils of war, of funerals, of thieves of the dawn, of fortune, of fields and cattle, of fruits and flowers, and of a host of other things. But of all minor gods, the Penates and Lares received most honor. These were the domestic gods. The Penates were so named from the place in which they were worshiped, the household pantry. They were supposed to look after the welfare of the family. There were four classes of beings from which men selected their Penates, those of heaven, the sea, the under-world, and lastly, from the deified souls of deceased ancestors. The deified spirits of departed ancestors were called the Lares, and they were supposed to watch over the fortunes of their descendants. The Chinese also, from the earliest times, have in a similar manner worshiped their departed ancestors.

THE ROMAN EMPIRE.

As Rome conquered the world the gods of the conquered nations were gradually incorporated with their own. Thus an immense and involved system was brought together. Soon, however, the gigantic structure was to topple over before the coming of Christianity, as Dagon had fallen before the coming of the ark of Jehovah in ancient times. Just at this time, the Roman Empire was in the most favorable condition for the introduction of Christianity. Within its limits there was a general peace, great military roads were built, piracy was suppressed, commerce and traffic generally increased, and travel was made safe and easy. Both the Latin and Greek languages were spread over east and west. But one other point of preparation was of greater importance. The deep and wide-spread corruption, brought about by the heathen religions, seemed to be beyond human remedy. Corruption, cruelty, sensuality and the most, unnatural wickedness prevailed. The description Paul gives in his letter to the Romans of the general life of the people has been confirmed again and again. He says:

“Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, and changed the glory of the uncorruptible God into an image, made like to corruptible man, and to birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. Wherefore God also gave them up to uncleanness, through the lusts of their own hearts, to dishonor their own bodies between themselves: who changed the truth of God into a lie, and worshiped and served the creature more than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. For this cause God gave them up unto vile affections: for even their women did change the natural use into that which is against nature: and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another: men with men working that which is unseemly, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was meet. And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient; being filled with all unrighteousness, fornication, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, implacable, unmerciful: who, knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them.”

The investigations of the ruins of Pompeii and Herculaneum, the long buried cities, and the common accounts of historians of Paul’s day, all show that this picture was not at all overdrawn. There was a most terrible need of Christianity just then to save the empire from falling to pieces by reason of its rottenness. Milman most graphically pictures the change that Christianity gradually wrought in the religious condition of Rome. He says: “Christianity was gradually withdrawing some of all orders, even slaves, out of the vices, the ignorance, the misery of that corrupted social system. It was even instilling feelings of humanity, yet unknown or coldly commended by an impotent philosophy, among men and women whose infant ears had been habituated to the shrieks of dying gladiators; it was giving dignity to minds prostrated by years, almost centuries, of degrading despotism; it was nurturing purity and modesty of manner in an unspeakable state of depravation; it was enshrining the marriage-bed in a sanctity long almost entirely lost, and rekindling to a steady warmth the domestic affections; it was substituting a simple, calm and rational faith for the worn-out superstitions of heathenism; gently establishing in the soul of man the sense of immortality, till it became a natural and inextinguishable part of his moral being.”

With this striking description of the historian, compare the poetic lines of Matthew Arnold:

“On that hard pagan world disgust And sated loathing fell; Deep weariness and sated lust Make human life a hell. In his cool hall with haggard eyes The Roman noble lay, He drove abroad in furious guise Along the Appian way. He made a feast, drank fierce and fast, And crowned his hair with flowers; No easier, nor no quicker passed The impracticable hours.”

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