XIII. line books As the recognised and official auspicia declined more CHAP. and more in the general esteem, other kinds of prophecy naturally sprang up; for that decline was by no means due The Sibylto the growth of enlightenment, but to the long-practised and their abuse and consequent contempt into which the national guardians. divination had fallen. The introduction of the Sibylline books may be regarded as the first novelty in the genuine Italian mode of ascertaining the will of the gods; and this innovation was of the greatest influence, because the Sibylline books were officially recognised and consulted by the state. The keepers and interpreters of them formed a regular 'collegium;' their number was increased from two to ten at the time of the Licinian laws,' and they ranked immediately after the augurs. Such authority, however, as the latter and the pontifices enjoyed, was never gained by the decemvirs for sacrifices,' as these keepers of the Sibylline books are called, and the reason is obvious: their services were required, not regularly, like those of the other priests, but only on certain occasions. Besides, the jealousy which a true Roman always had in his heart for what was Greek must have contributed to counteract the influence of the Greek prophecies. The duties of the decemvirs for sacrifices in no way corresponded to their official name, for they had nothing to do with sacrifices in general. Their attention was directed to the worship of those gods who were introduced in consequence of the recommendation of the Sibylline books, and who therefore did not belong to the national gods of Rome and the national religion superintended by the pontifices. The ha The superstition of the people, which was not satisfied Etruscan by the religion of the state, appears to have been abun- divination. dantly nourished by a number of religious adventurers, ruspices. both national and foreign, who made a good living out of the vulgar credulity. Foremost among these in numbers As a part of the reform of the Licinian laws, which shared the consulship between patricians and plebeians, the office of decemviri sacris faciundis, which had charge of the prophetic books, was also shared equally between the two orders of citizens. Liv. vi. 37. BOOK and influence were the Etruscan haruspices, who read the divine will in the entrails of sacrificed animals, and moreover interpreted the signs and propitiated the anger of the gods manifested in lightnings and prodigies. In spite of the competition which naturally existed between these Etruscan haruspices and the genuine Roman prophets, the former were not only tolerated by the state but even employed in the public service, so that they occupied an acknowledged official position by the side of the Roman augurs. They also formed a collegium" similar to those of the pontifices and augurs; they were consulted by the magistrates at the request of the senate; 2 they accompanied the generals in war, and were important personages in the ceremonies connected with public sacrifices and divination; yet their chief practice was in private circles. The augurs were personages of too high standing to be consulted by simple citizens. They served only the state and the magistrates. Thus the haruspices satisfied an actual want by undertaking to offer their services to private families and individuals, by telling them when it was a good time to set out on a journey; whether a proposed bargain was likely to be profitable; if certain persons could be trusted; or if the crops of the coming season would be bad or good. They carried on a profitable trade, and, as they lived upon the superstition of the people, and supported superstition accordingly, they brought discredit upon the whole discipline of divination, and exposed it to the contempt of the educated. Even Cato, surely not one of those who despised the simple faith of 1 Yet there was an essential difference between this collegium and the others. It had no public character, but was a private association, tolerated, indeed, and even patronised by the state, but not established by it and authorised like the collegia of the pontifices, augurs, and decemvirs for sacrifices. This was the cause why the number of members was unlimited, and consequently large beyond comparison. It amounted to sixty, and, as it seems, there were private haruspices (besides those included in the collegium or guild), who, like quacks or unauthorised lawyers, picked up a living in the back streets. 2 Liv. xxvii. 37, 6. Liv. viii. 9; xxv. 16. Liv. iv. 30, 8; xxv. 1, 8. the olden time,' despised them, and it was he who said that it was beyond his power to understand how one haruspex could abstain from laughing when he met another. In later times, however, when Oriental superstition gained ground in Rome, the Syrian and Egyptian soothsayers, and especially the Chaldæan astrologers, became dangerous rivals of the Italian haruspices. CHAP. XIII. tation of portents. In spite of all enlightenment and free-thinking among Interprethe educated, the dense superstition of the vulgar remained undiminished, nor were even those men entirely free from it who had emancipated themselves from the old religious notions. The hereditary forms of the public auspicia remained the same; new ones (for instance, the divination by means of domestic fowls) were added; all uncommon and striking phenomena of nature were looked upon as portents, and noted with the utmost care throughout Italy and reported at Rome, where they were solemnly 'expiated.' It makes a strange impression when we read in the annals of Livy year after year long lists of these portents and prodigies carefully registered. We wonder how this childish fear arising from 'a liver without a head' or 'a calf with five legs' could be entertained by the same men who reasoned so coolly as senators and generals. These men did not avail themselves of the superstition of the vulgar to obtain political ends by means of religious terrors of which they themselves were free. On the contrary, they shared them, and were swayed by them as much as the meanest of the people. For was it not genuine unfeigned religious terror 2 when a consul rushed into the senate with a pale face and reported that the liver of a sacrificial bull had melted in the kettle in an incomprehensible manner; when the assembled fathers were greatly moved by this prodigy, and the other consul increased the impression by announcing that although he had sacrificed three bulls in succession, 1 Cato was a genuine believer in magic, charms, and incantations, and has recorded in his book on agriculture how a dislocated joint can be set right by certain ceremonies accompanied by such wonder-working words as Daries dardaries astartaries dissunapiter,' &c. 2 Liv. xli. 15. BOOK 1 not one of them had a normal liver; when, therefore, the senate resolved to proceed with the sacrifice of larger animals until the gods were propitiated, and when this propitiation was finally accomplished with all except the goddess of health? We cannot conceive it possible that in the year 176 B.C. all those who took part in this scene were acting a farce. The whole period which we have now under review is pervaded by the unbroken influence of primeval genuine Roman superstition, of that 'religio which shudders at the thought of having neglected anything to avert the wrath of the gods. Sacrifices are offered up regularly and abundantly; lectisternia, festivals of supplication and atonement, of thanksgiving and of joy, increase instead of decreasing in number; even the old ceremony of celebrating a 'sacred spring' (ver sacrum) was duly performed in 195 B.C. in pursuance of a solemn vow made by the people and government after the battle on Lake Thrasymenus, and as doubts had arisen about the due performance of all the sacred rites, the ceremony was repeated in the following year with a most scrupulous observance of all that the pontifices considered necessary.3 Temples and games were vowed, and, as if the national supply of religious practices were not sufficient, foreign gods and foreign forms of worship were officially introduced. It would, therefore, be a great mistake to believe that the piety of the Roman people diminished during the Punic wars. It would be wrong to speak of a decline of the old faith and credulity. On the contrary, it is evident that whilst the self-sufficient feeling of righteousness produced by the formal, ceremonial service of the old religion disappeared more and more, a feeling crept over the more enlightened of the people which dis 2 2 Vol. ii. p. 213. 1 Vol. i. P. 153. Liv. xxxiii. 44, 1: Consules priusquam ab urbe proficiscerentur, ver sacrum ex decreto pontificum iussi facere, quod A. Cornelius Mammula prætor fecerat de senatus sententia populique iussu Cn. Servilio C. Flaminio consulibus. Liv. xxxiv. 44, 1: Ver sacrum factum erat priore anno. Id cum P. Licinius pontifex non esse recte factum collegio primum, dei de ex auctoritate collegii patribus renunciasset, de integro faciendum arbitratu pontificum censuerunt. XIII. credited the notion of a mutually binding contract with CHAP. the deity. It seems that religion was more and more felt to be an affair of the heart and the conscience, and that to satisfy the craving for a more spiritual religion it was found necessary to deepen and widen the old channels of religious thought, to direct the mind towards speculations on things divine, and lastly to welcome new religious teachings and practices which appealed more to the feelings, to enthusiasm, even to fanaticism, and to a more intense superstition. rites and super This tendency was favoured by several foreign in- Foreign fluences. The attractions of the Greek religion had long been at work secretly, and were gradually transforming stitions, the Roman notions of the gods and introducing Greek mythology. The solemn reception of Esculapius among the gods worshipped by the state, in the year 291 B.C.,' was the first official sanction of this innovation. But when, in the year 205 B.C., the senate resolved to introduce the service of the Phrygian Mother of the Gods,' 2 the fanaticism of the East was brought as à new element into the religion of Rome. In the unimaginative, sober faith of the Roman peasants and warriors there had been no scope for fervid, religious feelings, for enthusiasm and for asceticism, self-torture and all the extravagances of crazy enthusiasts. With the introduction of the worship of the great Mother of the Gods this new chord was struck. But the coolness and common sense which were still predominant in Rome did not at once allow full swing to the religious fervour of the Eastern modes of worship. The wild extravagance, the wailing and rejoicing, the convulsions, the barbarous music of cymbals and fifes with which the Mother of the Gods was worshipped in Asia Minor, and at a later period in Rome, were still kept within narrow limits, and as yet the most prominent feature of the foreign worship was the representation of dramatic plays during the Megalesia, the annual festival celebrated in her honour. 1 Vol. i. p. 555. 2 Vol. ii. p. 477. Liv. xxix. 10. |