Accounts of the Roman religion in recent standard works; a hard
and highly formalised system. Its interest lies partly in this
fact. How did it come to be so? This the main question of
the first epoch of Roman religious experience. Roman religion
and Roman law compared. Roman religion a technical subject.
What we mean by religion. A useful definition applied to the
plan of Lectures I.-X.; including (1) survivals of primitive or
quasi-magical religion; (2) the religion of the agricultural family;
(3) that of the City-state, in its simplest form, and in its first
period of expansion. Difficulties of the subject; present position
of knowledge and criticism. Help obtainable from (1) archaeology,
(2) anthropology . . .
Survivals at Rome of previous eras of quasi-religious experience.
Totemism not discernible. Taboo, and the means adopted of
escaping from it; both survived at Rome into an age of real
religion. Examples: impurity (or holiness) of new-born infants;
of a corpse; of women in certain worships; of strangers; of
criminals. Almost complete absence of blood-taboo. Iron.
Strange taboos on the priest of Jupiter and his wife. Holy or
tabooed places; holy or tabooed days; the word religiosus as
applied to both of these
Magic; distinction between magic and religion. Religious authorities
seek to exclude magic, and did so at Rome. Few survivals of
magic in the State religion. The aquaelicium. Vestals and
runaway slaves. The magical whipping at the Lupercalia. The
throwing of puppets from the pons sublicius. Magical processes
surviving in religious ritual with their meaning lost. Private
magic: excantatio in the XII. Tables; other spells or carmina.
Amulets: the bulla; oscilla
Continuity of the religion of the Latin agricultural family. What the
family was; its relation to the gens. The familia as settled on
the land, an economic unit, embodied in a pagus. The house as
the religious centre of the familia; its holy places. Vesta,
Penates, Genius, and the spirit of the doorway. The Lar
familiaris on the land. Festival of the Lar belongs to the
religion of the pagus: other festivals of the pagus. Religio
terminorum. Religion of the household: marriage, childbirth,
burial and cult of the dead
Beginnings of the City-state: the oppidum. The earliest historical
Rome, the city of the four regions; to this belongs the surviving
religious calendar. This calendar described; the basis of our
knowledge of early Roman religion. It expresses a life agricultural,
political, and military. Days of gods distinguished from
days of man. Agricultural life the real basis of the calendar;
gradual effacement of it. Results of a fixed routine in calendar;
discipline, religious confidence. Exclusion from it of the barbarous
and grotesque. Decency and order under an organising
priestly authority
Sources of knowledge about Roman deities. What did the Romans
themselves know about them? No personal deity in the religion
of the family. Those of the City-state are numina, marking a
transition from animism to polytheism. Meaning of numen.
Importance of names, which are chiefly adjectival, marking
functional activity. Tellus an exception. Importance of priests
in development of dei. The four great Roman gods and their
priests: Janus, Jupiter, Mars, Quirinus. Characteristics of each
of these in earliest Rome. Juno and the difficulties she presents.
Vesta
THE DEITIES OF THE EARLIEST RELIGION:
GENERAL CHARACTERISTICS
No temples in the earliest Rome; meaning of fanum, ara, lucus,
sacellum. No images of gods in these places, until end of regal
period. Thus deities not conceived as persons. Though masculine
and feminine they were not married pairs; Dr. Frazer's
opinion on this point. Examination of his evidence derived
from the libri sacerdotum; meaning of Nerio Martis. Such
combinations of names suggest forms or manifestations of a
deity's activity, not likely to grow into personal deities without
Greek help. Meaning of pater and mater applied to deities;
procreation not indicated by them. The deities of the Indigitamenta;
priestly inventions of a later age. Usener's theory of
Sondergötter criticised so far as it applies to Rome
Main object of ius divinum to keep up the pax deorum; meaning of
pax in this phrase. Means towards the maintenance of the pax:
sacrifice and prayer, fulfilment of vows, lustratio, divination.
Meaning of sacrificium. Little trace of sacramental sacrifice.
Typical sacrifice of ius divinum: both priest and victim must be
acceptable to the deity; means taken to secure this. Ritual of
slaughter: examination and porrectio of entrails. Prayer; the
phrase Macte esto and its importance in explaining Roman sacrifice.
Magical survivals in Roman and Italian prayers; yet they
are essentially religious
Vota (vows) have suggested the idea that Roman worship was bargaining.
Examination of private vows, which do not prove this; of
public vows, which in some degree do so. Moral elements in
both these. Other forms of vow: evocatio and devotio.
Lustratio: meaning of lustrare in successive stages of Roman experience.
Lustratio of the farm and pagus; of the city; of the
people (at Rome and Iguvium); of the army; of the arms and
trumpets of the army: meaning of lustratio in these last cases,
both before and after a campaign
Recapitulation of foregoing lectures. Weak point of the organised
State religion: it discouraged individual development. Its
moral influence mainly a disciplinary one; and it hypnotised the
religious instinct.
Growth of a new population at end of regal period, also of trade and
industry. New deities from abroad represent these changes:
Hercules of Ara Maxima; Castor and Pollux; Minerva. Diana
of the Aventine reflects a new relation with Latium. Question
as to the real religious influence of these deities. The Capitoline
temple of Jupiter, Juno, and Minerva, of Etruscan origin. Meaning
of cult-titles Optimus Maximus, and significance of this great
Jupiter in Roman religious experience
Plan of this and following lectures. The formalised Roman religion
meets with perils, material and moral, and ultimately proves
inadequate. Subject of this lecture, the introduction of Greek
deities and rites; but first a proof that the Romans were a really
religious people; evidence from literature, from worship, from
the practice of public life, and from Latin religious vocabulary.
Temple of Ceres, Liber, Libera (Demeter, Dionysus, Persephone);
its importance for the date of Sibylline influence at Rome.
Nature of this influence; how and when it reached Rome. The
keepers of the "Sibylline books"; new cults introduced by
them. New rites: lectisternia and supplicationes, their meaning
and historical importance
Historical facts about the Pontifices in this period; a powerful
exclusive "collegium" taking charge of the ius divinum. The
legal side of their work; they administered the oldest rules of
law, which belonged to that ius. New ideas of law after
Etruscan period; increasing social complexity and its effect on
legal matters; result, publication of rules of law, civil and
religious, in XII. Tables, and abolition of legal monopoly of
Pontifices. But they keep control of (1) procedure, (2) interpretation,
till end of fourth century b.c. Publication of Fasti
and Legis actiones; the college opened to Plebeians. Work of
Pontifices in third century: (1) admission of new deities, (2)
compilation of annals, (3) collection of religious formulae.
General result; formalisation of religion; and secularisation of
pontifical influence
Divination a universal practice: its relation to magic. Want of a
comprehensive treatment of it. Its object at Rome: to assure
oneself of the pax deorum; but it was the most futile method
used. Private divination; limited and discouraged by the State,
except in the form of family auspicia. Public divination;
auspicia needed in all State operations; close connection with
imperium. The augurs were skilled advisers of the magistrates,
but could not themselves take the auspices. Probable result of
this: Rome escaped subjection to a hierarchy. Augurs and
auspicia become politically important, but cease to belong to
religion. State divination a clog on political progress. Sinister
influence on Rome of Etruscan divination; history of the haruspices
Tendency towards contempt of religious forms in third century B.C.;
disappears during this war. Religio in the old sense takes its
place, i.e. fear and anxiety. This takes the form
of reportingxviprodigia; account of these in 218 B.C., and of the prescriptions
supplied by Sibylline books. Fresh outbreak of religio after
battle of Trasimene; lectisternium of 216, without distinction of
Greek and Roman deities; importance of this. Religious panic
after battle of Cannae; extraordinary religious measures, including
human sacrifice. Embassy to Delphi and its result; symptoms
of renewed confidence. But fresh and alarming outbreak
in 213; met with remarkable skill. Institution of Apolline
games. Summary of religious history in last years of the war;
gratitude to the gods after battle of Metaurus. Arrival of the
Great Mother of Phrygia at Rome. Hannibal leaves Italy
Religion used to support Senatorial policy in declaring war (1) with
Philip of Macedon, (2) with Antiochus of Syria; but this is not
the old religion. Use of prodigia and Sibylline oracles to secure
political and personal objects; mischief caused in this way.
Growth of individualism; rebellion of the individual against the
ius divinum. Examples of this from the history of the priesthoods;
strange story of a Flamen Dialis. The story of the
introduction of Bacchic rites in 186 B.C.; interference of the
Senate and Magistrates, and significance of this. Strange
attempt to propagate Pythagoreanism; this also dealt with by
the government. Influence of Ennius and Plautus, and of translations
from Greek comedy, on the dying Roman religion
Religious destitution of the Roman in second century b.c. in regard
to (1) his idea of God, (2) his sense of Duty. No help from
Epicurism, which provided no religious sanction for conduct;
Lucretius, and Epicurean idea of the Divine. Arrival of Stoicism
at Rome; Panaetius and the Scipionic circle. Character of
Scipio. The religious side of Stoicism; it teaches a new doctrine
of the relation of man to God. Stoic idea of God as Reason,
and as pervading the universe; adjustment of this to Roman
idea of numina. Stoic idea of Man as possessing Reason, and
so partaking the Divine nature. Influence of these two ideas on
the best type of Roman; they appeal to his idea of Duty, and
ennoble his idea of Law. Weak points in Roman Stoicism: (1)
doctrine of Will, (2) neglect of emotions and sympathy. It
failed to rouse an "enthusiasm of humanity"
Early Pythagoreanism in S. Italy; its reappearance in last century
b.c. under the influence of Posidonius, who combined Stoicism
with Platonic Pythagoreanism. Cicero affected by this revival;
his Somnium Scipionis and other later works. His mysticism
takes practical form on the death of his daughter; letters to
Atticus about a fanum. Individualisation of the Manes; freedom
of belief on such questions. Further evidence of Cicero's
tendency to mysticism at this time (45 B.C.), and his belief in a
future life. But did the ordinary Roman so believe? Question
whether he really believed in the torments of Hades. Probability
of this: explanation to be found in the influence of
Etruscan art and Greek plays on primitive Roman ideas of the
dead. Mysticism in the form of astrology; Nigidius Figulus
Virgil sums up Roman religious experience, and combines it with
hope for the future. Sense of depression in his day; want of
sympathy and goodwill towards men. Virgil's sympathetic outlook;
shown in his treatment of animals, Italian scenery, man's
labour, and man's worship. His idea of pietas. The theme of
the Aeneid; Rome's mission in the world, and the pietas needed
to carry it out. Development of the character of Aeneas; his
pietas imperfect in the first six books, perfected in the last six,
resulting in a balance between the ideas of the Individual and
the State. Illustration of this from the poem. Importance of
Book vi., which describes the ordeal destined to perfect the pietas
of the hero. The sense of Duty never afterwards deserts him;
his pietas enlarged in a religious sense
Connection of Augustus and Virgil. Augustus aims at re-establishing
the national pietas, and securing the pax deorum by means of the
ius divinum. How this formed part of his political plans.
Temple restoration and its practical result. Revival of the
ancient ritual; illustrated from the records of the Arval Brethren.
xviii
The new element in it; Caesar-worship; but Augustus was content
with the honour of re-establishing the pax deorum. Celebration
of this in the Ludi saeculares, 17 B.C. Our detailed knowledge
of this festival; meaning of saeculum; description of the ludi,
and illustration of their meaning from the Carmen saeculare of
Horace. Discussion of the performance of this hymn by the
choirs of boys and girls
Religious ingredients in Roman soil likely to be utilised by Christianity.
The Stoic ingredient; revelation of the Universal, and
ennobling of Individual. The contribution of Mysticism; preparation
for Christian eschatology. The contribution of Virgil;
sympathy and sense of Duty. The contribution of Roman
religion proper: (1) sane and orderly character of ritual, (2)
practical character of Latin Christianity visible in early Christian
writings, (3) a religious vocabulary, e.g. religio, pietas, sanctus,
sacramentum. But all this is but a slight contribution; essential
difference between Christianity and all that preceded it in Italy;
illustration from the language of St. Paul