248

NYMPHS RIVER DEITIES - WINDS, ETC.

female deities, who presided over all parts of the earth: over mountains, Oreides; woods, Dryades, Hamadryades, Napaa; rivers and fountains, Naiades vel Naiades; the sea, Nereides, Oceanitides, &c. -Each river was supposed to have a particular deity, who presided over it; as, Tiberinus over the Tiber, Virg. En. viii. 31. 77. Ēridănus over the Po; taurino vultu, with the countenance of a bull, and horns; as all rivers were represented. (quòd flumina sunt atrocia, ut tauri, Festus; vel propter impetus et mugitus aquarum, Vet. Schol. in Horat. Od. iv. 14. 25. Sie tauriformis volvitur Aufidus,) Virg. G. iv. 371. Ovid. Met. ix. pr. Elian. ii. 33. Claudian. cons. Prob. 214, &c. The sources of rivers were particularly sacred to some divinity, and cultivated with religious ceremonies, Senec. Ep. 41. Temples were erected; as to Clitumnus, Plin. Ep. viii. 8., to Ilissus, Pausan. i. 19.; small pieces of money were thrown into them, to render the presiding deities propitious; and no person was allowed to swim near the head of the spring, because the touch of a naked body was supposed to pollute the consecrated waters, ibid. & Tacit. Ann. xiv. 22. Thus no boat was allowed to be on the lacus Vadimonis, Plin. Ep. viii. 20., in which were several floating islands, ibid. & Plin. ii. 95. s. 96. Sacrifices were also offered to fountains; as by Horace to that of Bandusia, Od. iii. 13., whence the rivulet Digentia probably flowed, Ep. i. 18. 104.

Under the SEMONES were also included the judges in the infernal regions, MINOS, Eăcus and Rhadamanthus; CHARON, the ferryman of hell, (PORTITOR, Virg. Æn. vi. 298. PORTHMEUS, -eos, Jusvenal. iii. 266.) who conducted the souls of the dead in a boat over the rivers Styx and Acheron, and extracted from each his portorium or freight (naulum), which he gave an account of to Pluto; hence called PORTITOR; the dog CERBERUS, a three-headed monster, who guarded the entrance of hell.

The Romans also worshipped the virtues and affections of the mind, and the like; as Piety, Faith, Hope, Concord, Fortune*, Fame, [Mens, Ovid. F. vi. 245. Cic. de N. D. iii. 36. Liv. xxii. 10.] &c, Cic. Nat. D. ii. 23., even vices and diseases, Id. Legg. ii. 11. Nat. D. iii. 25. Juvenal. i. 115.; and under the emperors likewise foreign deities; as Isis, Osisis, Anubis, of the Egyptians, Lucan. viii. 831.; also the winds and the tempests: Eurus, the east wind; Auster or Notus, the south wind; Zephyrus, the west wind; Boreas, the north wind; Africus, the south-west; Corus, the north-east; and ÆOLUS, the god of the winds, who was supposed to reside in the Lipari islands, hence called Insula Eolia: AURE, the air-nymphs or sylphs, &c.t

The Romans worshipped certain gods that they might do them good, and others that they might not hurt them; as Averruncus and Robigus. There was both a good Jupiter and a bad; the former was called DiJovis (a jurando), or Diespiter, and the latter, VEJOVIS, or VEDIUS, Gell. v. 12. But Ovid makes Tejoris the same with Jupiter parvus, or non magnus, Fast. iii. 445. &c.

• Her temple at Antium was of great celebrity. — Hər. Od. i. 11.

+ The Hora, Goddesses of the Seasons, daughters of Jupiter and Themis. (Oriid F. v. 217.) A temple was built to Tempestas by L. Scipio, who conquered Corsica, A. U. C. 495. — Id. F. vi, 198.

II. MINISTRI SACRORUM, THE MINISTERS OF SACRED THINGS.*

THE ministers of religion, among the Romans, did not form a distinct order from the other citizens. (See p. 96.) They were usually chosen from the most honourable men in the state.

Some of them were common to all the gods (omnium deorum sacerdotes); others appropriated to a particular deity (uni alicui numini addicti). Of the former kind were,

I. The PONTIFICES (a posse facere, quia illis jus erat sacra faciendi; vel potius a ponte faciendo, nam ab iis sublicius est factus primùm et restitutus sæpe, cùm ideo sacra et uls et cis Tiberim fiant, Varr. L. L. iv. 15. Dionys. ii. 73. iii. 45.) were first instituted by Numa, Liv. iv. 4. Dionys. ii. 73., chosen from among the patricians; four in number ["i.e. half for the Ramnes, half for the Tities," Nieb. 1. p. 258.], till the year of the city 454, when four more were created from the plebeians, Liv. x. 6. Some think, that originally there was only one Pontifex; as no more are mentioned in Livy, i. 20. ii. 2. Sylla increased their number to fifteen, Liv. Ep. 89. They were divided into MAJORES and MINORES, Cic. Harusp. R. 6. Liv. xxii. 57. Some suppose the seven added by Sylla and their successors to have been called minores; and the eight old ones, and such as were chosen in their room, MAJORES. Others think the majores were patricians, and the minores plebeians. Whatever be in this, the cause of the distinction certainly existed before the time of Sylla, Liv. ib. The whole number of the Pontifices was called COLLEGIUM, Cic. Dom. 12.

The Pontifices judged in all causes relating to sacred things; and, in cases where there was no written law, they prescribed what regulations they thought proper. Such as neglected their mandates, they could fine, according to the magnitude of the offence. Dionysius says, that they were not subject to the power of any one, nor bound to give an account of their conduct even to the senate, or people, ii. 73. But this must be understood with some limitations; for we learn from Cicero, that the tribunes of the commons might oblige them, even against their will, to perform certain parts of their office, Dom. 45., and an appeal might be made from their decree, as from all others, to the people, Ascon. in Cic. Mil. 12. It is certain, however, that their authority was very great, Cic. Dom. i. 51. Harusp.

"That the Etrurians, or Tuscans, first initiated the Romans into the mysteries and ceremonies of religion, is very clear, from the following passage of Livy, who is speaking of Cære, a town in Etruria: Sacrarium populi Romani, diversorium sacerdotum, ac receptaculum sacrorum.' From this circumstance of religious rites being particularly paid by the inhabitants of Cære to the gods, the word cæremonia seems to have been derived.”— Encyc. Metrop.

+"Cicero indeed says, that Numa instituted five pontiffs (de Rep. ii. 14.); but here he reckons the chief pontiff among the major pontiffs, among whom he was not included. Had their number been five, the Ogulnian law would have added just as many plebeians, not four merely; especially as five was the plebeian number. After that law was passed, including the chief pontiff, they made nine, like the augurs; being the same multiple of the number of the original tribes; hence Sylla augmented them

R. 10. It particularly belonged to them to see that the inferior priests did their duty, Dionys. ibid. From the different parts of their office, the Greeks called them ἱεροδιδάσκαλοι, ἱερονόμοι, ἱεροφύλακες, ἱεροφάνται, Sacrorum doctores, administratores, custodes, et interpretes, ibid.

From the time of Numa, the vacant places in the number of Pontifices were supplied by the college, Dionys. ii. 73., till the year 650; when Domitius, a tribune, transferred that right to the people, Suet. Ner. 2. Cic. Rull. ii. 7. Vell. ii. 12. Sylla abrogated this law, Ascon. in Cic. Cacil. 3.; but it was restored by Labienus, a tribune, through the influence of Julius Cæsar, Dio. xxxvii. 37. Antony again transferred the right of election from the people to the priests, Dio. xliv. fin.; thus Lepidus was chosen Pontifex M. irregularly, ibid., furto creatus, Vell. ii. 61. In confusione rerum ac tumultu, pontificatum maximum intercepit, Liv. Epit. 117. Pansa once more restored the right of election to the people, Cic. Ep. ad Brut. 5. After the battle of Actium, permission was granted to Augustus to add to all the fraternities of priests as many above the usual number as he thought proper; which power the succeeding emperors exercised, so that the number of priests was thenceforth very uncertain, Dio. li. 20. liii. 17. The chief of the Pontifices was called PONTIFEX MAXIMUS; (quod maximus rerum, quæ ad sacra, et religiones pertinent, judex sit, Festus: Judex atque arbiter rerum divinarum atque humanarum, Id. in ORDO SACERDOTUM ;) which name is first mentioned by Livy, iii. 54. He was created by the people, while the other pontifices were chosen by the college, Liv. xxv. 5., commonly from among those who had borne the first offices in the state, ibid. The first plebeian Pontifex M. was T. Coruncanius, Liv. Ep. xviii.

This was an office of great dignity and power. The Pontifex M. was supreme judge and arbiter in all religious matters, Liv. i. 20. ix. 46. He took care that sacred rites were properly performed; and, for that purpose, all the other priests were subject to him, Liv. ii, 2. He could hinder any of them from leaving the city, although invested with consular authority, Lir. Ep. xix. l. xxxvii. 5. Tacit. Annal. iii. 51. 58., and fine such as transgressed his orders, even although they were magistrates, Liv. ibid. xl. 2. 42. Cic. Phil. xi. 8.

How much the ancient Romans respected religion and its ministers we may judge from this; that they imposed a fine on Tremellius, a tribune of the commons, for having, in a dispute, used injurious language to Lepidus the Pontifex M. (Sacrorumque quàm magistratuum jus potentius fuit), Liv. Ep. xlvii. But the Pontifices appear, at least in the time of Cicero, to have been, in some respects, subject to the tribunes, Cic. Dom. 45.

It was particularly incumbent on the Pontifex M. to take care of the sacred rites of Vesta, Ovid. Fast. iii. 417. Gell. i. 12. Senec. Contr. i. 2. If any of the priestesses neglected their duty, he reprimanded, Liv. iv. 44., or punished them, xxviii. 11., sometimes by a sentence of the college, capitally, Cic. Har. resp. 7. Legg. ii. 9. Liv. viii. 15. xxii. 57.

The presence of the Pontifex M. was requisite in public and solemn religious acts; as when magistrates vowed games, or the like, Liv. iv. 27. xxxi. 9. xxxvi. 2., made a prayer, Suet. Cl. 22., or dedicated a temple, Liv. ix. 46.; also, when a general devoted himself for his

FASTI KALENDARES, CONSULARES.

251

army, Liv. viii. 9. x. 7. 28., to repeat over before them the form of words proper to be used, (iis verba præire, v. carmen præfari,) ibid. & v. 41., which Seneca calls PONTIFICALE CARMEN, Consol, ad Marc. 13. It was of importance that he pronounced the words without hesitation, Valer. Max. viii. 13. 2. He attended at the Comitia; especially when priests were created, that he might inaugurate them, Liv. xxvii. 8. xl. 42.; likewise when adoptions or testaments were made, Tacit. Hist. i. 15. Gell. v. 19. xv. 27. Cic. Dom. 13. Plin. Pan. 37. At these the other pontifices also attended: hence the Comitia were said to be held, or what was decreed in them to be done, apud pontifices, vel pro collegio pontificum, in presence of, ibid. Solennia pro pontifice suscipere, to perform the due sacred rights in the presence, or according to the direction, of the Pontifex Maximus, Liv. ii. 27. Any thing done in this manner was also said Pontificio jure fieri, Cic. Dom. 14. And when the Pontifex M. pronounced any decree of the college in their presence, he was said PRO COLLEGIO RESPONDERE, Cic. pro Dom. 53. The decision of the college was sometimes contrary to his own opinion. He however was bound to obey it, Liv. xxxi. 9. What only three pontifices determined was held valid, Id. resp. Har. 6. But, in certain cases, as in dedicating a temple, the approbation of the senate, or of a majority of the tribunes of the commons, was requisite, Liv. ix. 46. The people, whose power was supreme in every thing, (cujus est summa potestas omnium rerum, Cic. ibid.) might confer the dedication of a temple on whatever person they pleased, and force the Pontifex M. to officiate, even against his will: as they did in the case of Flavius, Liv. ibid. In some cases the Flamines and Rex Sacrorum seemed to have judged together with the Pontifices, Cic. Dom. 49., and even to have been reckoned of the same college, ibid. 52.

It was particularly the province of the pontifices to judge concerning marriages, Tacit. Annal. i. 10. Dio. xlvii. 44.

The Pontifex Maximus and his college had the care of regulating the year and the public calendar, Suet. Jul. 40. Aug. 31. Macrob. Sat. i. 14., called FASTI [SACRI or] KALENDARES, because the days of each month, from kalends to kalends, or from beginning to end, were marked in them through the whole year, what days were fasti, and what nefasti, &c., Festus; the knowledge of which was confined to the pontifices and patricians, Liv. iv. 3., till C. Flavius divulged them (fastos circa forum in albo proposuit), Liv. ix. 46. (See p. 165.) In the Fasti of each year were also marked the names of the magistrates, particularly of the consuls, Liv. ix. 18. Valer. Max. vi. 2. Cic. Sext. 14. Att. iv. 8. Pis. 13. Thus, enumeratio fastorum, quasi annorum, Cic. Fam. v. 12. Tusc. i. 28., FASTI memores, permanent records, Horat. Od. iii. 17. 4. iv. 14. 4., picti, variegated with different colours, Ovid. Fast. i. 11., signantes tempora, Id. 657. Hence a list of the consuls, engraved on marble, in the time of Constantius, the son of Constantine, as it is thought, and found accidentally by some persons digging in the Forum, A. D. 1545, are called FASTI CONSULARES, or the Capitolian marbles, because beautified, and placed in the Capitol, by Cardinal Alexander Farnese.

In later times it became customary to add, on particular days,

252

FAMI-ANKALES — COMMENTARII.

on the Lupercalia, it was marked (adscriptum est) that Antony had offered the crown to Cæsar, Cic. Phil. ii. 54.-To have one's name thus marked (adscriptum) in the Fasti, was reckoned the highest honour, Cic. Ep. ad Brut. 15. Orid. Fast. i. 9. Tacit. Ann. i. 15. (whence, probably, the origin of canonisation in the church of Itome); as it was the greatest disgrace to have one's name erased from the Fasti, Cic. Sext. 14. Pis. 13. Verr. ii. 53. iv. fin. Tacit.

Annal. iii. 17.

The books of Ovid, which describe the causes of the Roman festivals for the whole year, are called FASTI, Orid. Fast. i. 7. (FASLORUM libri appellantur, in quibus totius anni fit descriptio, Festus; quis de consulibus et regibus editi sunt, Isid. vi. 8.) The first six of them only are extant.

An ancient times, the Pontifex M. used to draw up a short account of the public transactions of every year in a book, [or rather on a whited table) (in album efferebat, vel potius referebat,) and to expose this register in an open place at his house, where the people might come and read it; (proponebat tabulam domi, potestas ut esset populo cognoaccidi,) which continued to be done to the time of Mucius Scævola, who was slain in the massacre of Marius and Cinna. These records were called, in the time of Cicero, ANNALES maximi, Cic. Orat. i. 12. Giell, iv. 5, as having been composed by the Pontifex Maximus.

The annals composed by the Pontifex before Rome was taken by the Gauls, called also COMMENTARII, perished most of them with the Quy, Zax vici. After the time of Sylla, the Pontifices seem to have dropped the custom of compiling annals: but several private persons composed historical accounts of the Roman affairs; which, from their resemblance to the pontifical records in the simplicity of their narration, they likewise styled ANNALS; as Cato, Pictor, and Piso, Cie. ibid. Liv, i, 44, 55, ii. 40. 58. x. 9. 37, &c. Dionys. iv. 7. 15. Gell. i, 19. Hortensius, Vell. ii. 16. So also Tacitus.

The memoirs (iqunuara) which a person wrote concerning his own actions were properly called COMMENTARII, Cic. Fam. v. 12. Syll. 16. Fer. v. 21. Suet. Aug. 74. Tib. 61. [ Tac. Hist. iv. 40.], as Julius Cæsar modestly calls the books he wrote concerning his wars, Cic. Brut. 75. Suet. Caes. 56.; and Gellius calls Xenophon's book concerning the words and actions of Socrates (doμμoveμata) Memorabilia Socratis, xiv. 3. But this name was applied to any thing which a person wrote or ordered to be written as a memorandum for himself or others, (quæ commeminisse opus esset, notes to help the memory;) as the heads of a discourse which one was to deliver, Cic. Brut. 44. Quinc tilian. iv. 1. 69. x. 7. 30., notes taken from the discourse or book of another, Id. ii. 11. 7. iii. 8. 67., or any book whatever, in which short notes or memorandums were set down: thus, Commentarii regis Numæ, Liv. i. 31, 32., Servii Tullii, ib. 60., Eumenis, xl. 11. 6., regum, Cic. Rabir. perd. 5., Cæsaris, Cic. Att. xiv. 14., Trajani, Plin. Ep. x. 106. Hence a commentariis, a clerk or secretary, Gruter, p. 89. Cœlius, in writing to Cicero, calls the acta publica, or public registers of the city, COMMENTARIUS RERUM URBANARUM, Cic. Fam. viii. 11.

In certain cases the Pontifex M. and his college had the power of life and death, Cic. Har. resp. 7. Legg. ii. 9.; but their sentence