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same root as "fulgeo," to shine. He was an old Italian deity. His temple is mentioned as existing B. c. 491.

6. FONTUS, the god of fountains. The Romans valued water so highly, that they erected altars and temples to this divinity, and had a feast of fountains (Fontinalia) on October 13th. There were also goddesses of fountains, as Lympha Juturna, the goddess of mineral springs. Egeria is the only nymph of a fountain mentioned in Roman mythology.

7. DIVUS PATER TIBERINUS, or Father Tiber, was of course the chief river god. The augurs called him Coluber, the snake, from his meandering and bending current.

8. NEPTUNUS. The origin of this word has been a great puzzle to the learned, who, however, connect it with nebula, a cloud, as the clouds come from the sea. He had his temple and his festivals at Rome.

Other deities connected with the powers of nature were PORTUNUS, the god of harbors; SALACIA, a goddess of the salt sea; TRANQUILLITAS, the goddess of calm weather.

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1. VESTA, an ancient Latin goddess, and one of the oldest and most revered. She was the queen of the hearth and of the household fire. She was also the protector of the house, associated with the Lares and Penates. Some offering was due to her at every meal. She sanctified the home.

Afterward, when all Rome became one vast family, Vesta became the goddess of this public home, and her temple was the fireside of the city, in which burned. always the sacred fire, watched by the vestal virgins. In this worship, and its associations, we find the best side of Roman manners, the love of home, the respect for family life, the hatred of impurity and immodesty. She was also called "the mother," and qualified as Mater Stata, that is, the immovable mother.

2. The PENATES and LARES. These deities were also peculiarly Roman. The Lar, or Lares, were supposed to be the souls of ancestors which resided in the home and guarded it. Their images were kept in an oratory or

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domestic chapel, called a Lararium, and were crowned by the master of the house to make them propitious. The paterfamilias conducted all the domestic worship of the household, whether of prayers or sacrifices, according to the maxim of Cato, "Scito dominum pro tota familia rem divinam facere." * The Penates were beings of a higher order than the Lares, but having much the same offices. Their name was from the words denoting the interior of the mansion (Penetralia, Penitus). They took part in all the joys and sorrows of the family. To go home was "to return to one's Penates." In the same way, "Lar meus meant "my house"; "Lar conductus," "a hired house"; "Larem mutare" meant to change one's house. Thus the Roman in his home felt himself surrounded by invisible friends and guardians. No other nation, except the Chinese, have carried this religion of home so far. This is the tender side of the stern Roman character. Very little of pathos or sentiment appears in Roman poetry, but the lines by Catullus to his home are as tender as anything in modern literature. The little peninsula of Sirmio on the Lago di Garda has been glorified by these few words.

3. The GENIUS. The worship of the genius of a person or place was also peculiarly Italian. Each man had his genius, from whom his living power and vital force came. Tertullian speaks of the genius of places. On coins are found the Genius of Rome. Almost everything had its genius, - nations, colonies, princes, the senate, sleep, the theatre. The marriage-bed is called genial, because guarded by a genius. All this reminds us of the Fravashi of the Avesta and of the Persian monuments. Yet the Genius also takes his place among the highest gods.

III. Deities of the human soul:

1. MENS, Mind, Intellect.

2. PUDICITIA, Chastity..

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3. PIETAS, Piety, Reverence for Parents.

4 FIDES, Fidelity.

"De re rustica"; quoted by Merivale in the Preface to The Conversion of the Roman Empire.

5. CONCORDIA, Concord.

6. VIRTUS, Courage.

7. SPES, Hope.

8. PALLOR or PAVOR, Fear.

9. VOLUPTAS, Pleasure.

IV. Deities of rural and other occupations:1. TELLUS, the Earth.

2. SATURNUS, Saturn. The root of this name is SAO = SERO, to sow. Saturn is the god of planting and sowing. 3. OPS, goddess of the harvest.

4. MARS. Originally an agricultural god, dangerous to crops; afterwards god of war.

5. SILVANUS, the wood god.

6. FAUNUS, an old Italian deity, the patron of agricul

ture.

7. TERMINUS, an old Italian deity, the guardian of limits and boundaries.

8. CERES, goddess of the cereal grasses.

9. LIBER, god of the vine, and of wine.

10. BONA DEA, the good goddess. The worship of the good goddess was imported from Greece in later times; and perhaps its basis was the worship of Dêmêtêr. The temple of the good goddess was on Mount Aventine. her feast on the 1st of May all suggestions of the male sex were banished from the house; no wine must be drunk; the myrtle, as a symbol of love, was removed. The idea of the feast was of a chaste marriage, as helping to preserve the human race.

11. MAGNA MATER, or Cybele. This was a foreign worship, but early introduced at Rome.

12. FLORA. She was an original goddess of Italy, presiding over flowers and blossoms. Great license was practised at her worship.

13. VERTUMNUS, the god of gardens, was an old Italian deity, existing before the foundation of Rome.

14. POMONA, goddess of the harvest.

18. PALES. A rural god, protecting cattle. At his feast men and cattle were purified.

The Romans had many other deities, whose worship

was more or less popular. But those now mentioned were the principal ones. This list shows that the powers of earth were more objects of reverence than the heavenly bodies. The sun and stars attracted this agricultural people less than the spring and summer, seedtime and harvest. Among the Italians the country was before the city, and Rome was founded by country people.

§ 3. Worship and Ritual.

The Roman ceremonial worship was very elaborate and minute, applying to every part of daily life. It consisted in sacrifices, prayers, festivals, and the investigation by augurs and haruspices of the will of the gods and the course of future events. The Romans accounted themselves an exceedingly religious people, because their religion was so intimately connected with the affairs of home and state.

The Romans distinguished carefully between things sacred and profane. This word "profane " comes from the root “fari," to speak; because the gods were supposed to speak to men by symbolic events. A fane is a place thus consecrated by some divine event; a profane place, one not consecrated.* But that which man dedicates to the gods (dedicat or dicat) is sacred, or consecrated.+ Every place which was to be dedicated was first "liberated" by the augur from common uses; then "consecrated" to divine uses by the pontiff. A "temple" is a place thus. separated, or cut off from other places; for the root of this word, like that of " tempus" (time) is the same as the Greek réuvo, to cut.

The Roman year was full of festivals (feria) set apart for religious uses. It was declared by the pontiffs a sin to do any common work on these days, but works of necessity were allowed. These festivals were for particular gods, in honor of great events in the history of Rome, or of rural occurrences, days of purification and atonement,

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* From the same root come our words "fate,' 'fanatic," etc. "Fanaticum dicitur arbor fulmine icta."- Festus, 69. + From " sacrare or consecrare." Hence sacrament and sacerdo

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family feasts, or feasts in honor of the dead. The old Roman calendar was as carefully arranged as that of modern Rome. The day began at midnight. The following is a view of the Roman year in its relation to festivals:

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January.

1. Feast of Janus, the god of beginnings.

9. Agonalia.

11. Carmentalia. In honor of the nymph Carmenta, a woman's festival.

16. Dedication of the Temple of Concord.

31. Feast of the Penates.

February.

1. Feast of Juno Sospita, the Savior: an old goddess. 13. Faunalia, dedicated to Faunus and the rural gods. 15. Lupercalia. Feast of fruitfulness.

17. Fornacalia. Feast of the oven goddess Fornax.

18 to 28. The Februatio, or feast of purification and atonement, and the Feralia, or feast of the dead. Februus was an old Etrurian god of the under-world. Also, the Charistia, a family festival for putting an end to quarrels among relations.

23. Feast of Terminus, god of boundaries. Boundarystones anointed and crowned.

March.

1. Feast of Mars. Also, the Matronalia. The Salii, priests of Mars, go their rounds, singing old hymns.

6. Feast of Vesta.

7. Feast of Vejovis or Vedius, i. e. the boy Jupiter.
14. Equiria, or horse-races in honor of Mars.
15. Feast of Anna-Perenna, goddess of health.

17. Liberalia, Feast of Bacchus. Young men invested with the Toga-Virilis on this day.

19 to 23. Feast of Minerva, for five days. Offerings made to her by all mechanics, artists, and scholars.

The word "calendar" is itself derived from the Roman " Kalends," the first day of the month.

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