How much the antient 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 quam 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 second 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 army, Liv. viii. 9. x. 7, 28, to repeat over before them the form of words proper to be used, (is verba præire, v. carmen prafari), ibid. & v. 41. which Seneca calls PONTIFICALE CARMEN, Consol. ad Marc. 13. It was of importance that he pronounced the words without hesitation, F'aler. 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. Cis. 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 rites 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 PROCOLLEGIO 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 majority of the tribunes of the commons was requisite, Liv. 46. The people, whose power was supreme in every thing, is est summa potestas omnium rerum, Cic. ibid.) might con

fer

fer 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, Lie. ibid. In some cases the Flamines and Rex. Sacrorum seem to have judged together with the Pontifices, Cic. Doin. 49. and even to have been reckoned of the same college, ibid. 52.

It was particularly the province of the pontifices to judgeconcerning 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 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, (fasto circa forum in albo proposuit), Liv. ix. 46. (See p. 187.) 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 Capitoline marbles, because beautified, and placed in the capital, by Cardinal Alexander Farnese.

In latter times it became customary to add on particular days, after the name of the festival, some remarkable occurrence: Thus on the Lupercalia, it was marked (adscriptum est) that Antony had offered the crown to Caesar, Cic. Phil. ii. 34.To have one's name thus marked (ascriptum) in the Fasti, was reckoned the highest honour, Cic. Ep. ad Brut. 15. Ovid. Fast. i. 9. Tacit. Annal. i. 15. (whence probably the origin of canonization in the church of Rome :) 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, Ovid. Fast. i. 7. (FASTORUM libri appellantur, in quibus totius anni fit descriptio,

scriptio, Festus, quia de consulibus et regibus editi sunt, Isid. vi. 8). The six first of them only are extant.

In antient times the Pontifex M. used to draw up a short account of the public transactions of every year, in a book, (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 tabulām domi, potestas ut esset populo cognoscendi); 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. ii. 12. Gell. iv. 5. as having been composed by the Pontifex Maximus.

The annals composed by the Pontifices before Rome was taken by the Gauls, called also COMMENTARII, perished most of them with the city, Liu. vi. 1. After the time of Sylla the Pontifices seem to have dropt the custotn 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 hkewise stiled ANNALES ; as Cato, Pictor, and Piso, Cic. 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 (oμuaтα), which a person wrote concerning his own actions, were properly called COMMENTARII, Cic. Fam, v. 12. Syll. 16. Verr. v. 21. Suet. Aug. 74. Tib. 61. as Julius Cæsar modestly called the books he wrote concerning his wars, Cic. Brut. 75. Suet. Cæs. 56. and Gellius calls Xenophon's book concerning the words and actions of Socrates, (añoμvnμoveuμaтa, 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. Quinctilian. 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 shert notes or memorandums were set down: Thus Commentarii regis Numa, Liv. i. 31, & 32. Servii Tulli, ib. 60. Eumenis, xl. 11, 6. regum, Cic. Rabir. perd. 5. Cæsaris, Cic. Att. xiv. 14. Trajan, Plin. Ep. x. 106. Hence, a com, mentariis, a clerk or secretary, Gruter. p. 89. Cælius in writing to Cicero, calls the acta publica, or public registers of the city, COMMENTARIUS RERUM URBANARUM, Cic.Fam. viii. 11,

In

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 might be reversed by the people, Ascon. in Cic. pro Mil. 12. Liv. xxxvii. 51. xl. 42.

The Pontifex M. although possessed of so great power is called by Cicero PRIVATUS, Cat i. 2. as not being a magi strate. But some think that the title Pontifex Maximus is here applied to Scipio by anticipation; he not having then obtained that office, according to Paterculus, ii. 3. contrary to the account of Appian, B. Civ. i. p. 359. and Cicero him self elsewhere calls him simply a private person, Off. i. 22. Livy expressly opposes Pontifices to privatus, v. 52.

The Pontifices wore a robe bordered with purple, (toga pratexta), Liv. xxxiii. 28. Lamprid. Alex. Sev. 40. and a woollen cap. (Galerus, pileus vel Tutulus, Festus & Varr. vi. 3.) in the form of a cone, with a small rod (virgula) wrapt round with wool, and a tuft or tassel on the top of it; called APEX, Serv. in Virg. Æn. ii. 683. viii. 664. x. 270. often put for the whole cap, Liv. vi. 41. Cic.legg. i. 1.thus,iratos tremere regum apices, to fear the tiara nodding on the head of an enraged Persian monarch, Horat. Od. iii. 21, 19. or for a woollen bandage tied round the head, which the priests used instead of a cap, for the sake of coolness, Serv. ibid. Sulpicius Galba was deprived of his office on account of his cap having fallen (apex prolapsus), from his head in the time of a sacrifice, Valer. Max. i. 1, 4. Hence apex is put for the top of any thing: as montis apex, Sil. xii. 709. or for the highest honour or orna; ment; as, apex senectulis est auctoritas, Cic. Sen. 17.

In ancient times the Pontifex M. was not permitted to leave Italy, Liv. xxviii. 38, 44. Dio, fragm. 62. The first Pontifex M. freed from that restriction was P. Licinius Crassus, A. U. 618, Liv. Epit. 59, so afterwards Cæsar, Suet. 22.

The office of Pontifex M. was for life, Dio, lxix. 15. on which account Augustus never assumed that dignity while Lepidus was alive, Suet. Aug. 31. which Tiberius, Dio, lvi. 30. and Seneca, de clem. i. 10. impute to his clemency. But with what justice, we may learn from the manner in which Augustus behaved to Lepidus in other respects. For after depriving him of his share in the Triumvirate, A. U. 718. Dio, xlix. 12. and confining him for a long time to Circeji under custody, Suet. 16. Dio, ibid. he forced him to come to Rome, against his will, A. U. 736, and treated him with great indignity, Dio, liv. 15. -After the death of Lepidus, A.

741, Augustus assumed the office of Pontifex Maximus, ibid. 27. Ovid. Fast. iii. 420. which was ever after held by his suc cessors, and the title even by Christian emperors to the time of Gratian, Zosim. iv. 36. or rather of Theodosius; for on one of the coins of Gratian, this title is annexed. When there were two or more emperors, Dio informs us, that one of them only was Pontifex M. liii. 17. but this rule was soon after violated, Capitolin. in Balbin. 8. The Hierarchy of the church of Rome is thought to have been established partly on the model of the Pontifex M. and the college of Pontifices.

The Pontifex M. always resided in a public house, (habi tavit. sc. Cæsar in sacra via, domo publica, Suet. Cæs. 46.) called REGIA, Plin. Ep. iv. 11, 6. (quòd in ea sacra a rege sacrificulo erant solita usurpari, Festus; vel quòd in ea rex sacrificulus habitare consuêsset. Serv. in Virg. Æn. viii. 363.)

-Thus when Augustus became Pontifex Maximus, he made public a part of his house; and gave the REGIA (which Dio calls the house of the Rex sacrorum), to the Vestal Virgins; to whose residence it was contiguous, Dio, liv. 27. whence some suppose it the same with the Regia Numa, the palace of Numa, Ovid Trist. iii. 1. 30. to which Horace is supposed to allude under the name of monumenta regis, Od. i. 2, 13, and Augustus, Suet. 76.-said afterwards to sustain the atrium of Vesta, Ovid. Fast, vi. 263. called ATRIUM REGIUM, Liv. xxvi. 27. Others suppose it different. It appears to have been the same with that regia mentioned by Festus in Equus OCTOBER; in which was the sanctuary of Mars, Gell. iv. 6, Plutarch. 9. Rom. 96. for we learn from Dio that the arms of Mars, . e. the Ancilia, were kept at the house of Cæsar, as being Pontifex M. xliv. 17. Macrobius says that a ram used to be sacrificed in it to Jupiter every Nundina or market-day, by the wife of the Flamen dialis, (FLAMINICA,) Sat. i. 16.

A Pontifex M. was thought to be polluted by touching and even by seeing a dead body; Senec. consol ad Marc. 15. Dio, liv. 28. 85. vi. 31, as was an augur, Tacit. Annal. i. 62. So the high Priest among the Jews, Levit. xxi. 11. Even the sunae of Angustus was removed from its place, that it might not be violated by the sight of slaughter, Dio, Ix. 13. But Die seems to think that the Pontifex M, was violated caly by touching a dead body, liv. 28,

II. AUGURES, antiently called AUSPICES, Plutarch. Q. Rom. 72. whose office it was to foretel future events, chiefly

from