times removed from the temple of Vesta by the virgins, when tumult and slaughter prevailed in the city, Dio, xlii. 31. or in case of a fire, liv. 24. rescued by Metellus the Pontifex M. when the temple was in flames, A. 512. Liv. Ep. xix. Dionys. ii. 66, Ovid. Fast. vi. 437, &c. at the hazard of his life, and with the loss of his sight, Plin. vii. 43. and consequently of his priesthood, Senec. contr. iv. 2. for which, a statue was erected to him in the Capitol, Dionys. ii. 66. and other honours conferred on him, see p. 16.—and 3. to perform constantly the sacred rites of the goddess, Senec. de prov. 5. Their prayers and vows were always thought to have great influence with the gods, Cic. Font. 17. Dio, xlviii. 19. Horat. Od. i. 2, 28. In their devotions they worshipped the god Fascinus to guard them from envy, Plin. xxviii. 4. s. 7.

The Vestal Virgins wore a long white robe, bordered with purple: their heads were decorated with fillets, (infula, SEMaTa, Dionys. ii. 67. viii. 89.) and ribbons, (vitta), Ovid. Fast. iii. 30. hence the Vestalis Maxima is called, VITTATA, SACERDOS, Lucan. i. 597. and simply VITTATA, Juvenal. iv. 10. the head dress, SUFFIBULUM, Festus, described by Prudentius, contra Symmach. ii. 1093.. When first chosen, their hair was cut off and buried under an old lotos or lote-tree in the city, Plin. xvi. 44. s. 85. but it was afterwards allowed to grow.

The Vestal Virgins enjoyed singular honours and privileges. The prætors and consuls, when they met them in the street, lowered their fasces, and went out of the way to shew them respect, Sen. contr. vi. 8. They had a lictor to attend them in public, at least after the time of the triumvirate, Dio, xlvii. 19. Senec contr. i. 2. Plutarch says always, in Numa. They rode in a chariot, (carpente, v. pilento). Tacit. Annal. xii.42. sat in a distinguished place at the spectacles, Id. iv. 16. Suet. Aug. 44. were not forced to swear, Gell. x. 15. unless they inclined, Tacit. Annal. ii. 34. and by none other but Vesta, Senec. ibid. They might make their testament, although under age; for they were not subject to the power of a parent or guardian, as other women, Gell. ibid. They could free a criminal from punishment, if they met him accidentally, Plutarch. in Numa; and their interposition was always greatly respected, Cic. Font. 17. Agr. ii. 36. Tacit. Annal. xi. 32. Suet. Jul. 1. Tib. 2. Vit. 16. Tacit. Hist. iii. 81. They had a salary from the public, Liv. i. 20. Suet. Aug. 31. They were held in such veneration, that testaments and the most important deeds were committed to their care, Suet. Jul. 83.

Aug.

Aug. 102. Tacit. Annal. i. 8. Dio, xlviii. 12, 37, 46. Tacit. Annal. iv. 16. and they enjoyed all the privileges of matrons, who had three children, Dio, lvi. 10.

When the Vestal Virgins were forced through indisposi tion to leave the ATRIUM VESTE, probably a house adjoining to the temple, and to the palace of Numa, REGIA parva NUME; if not a part of it, Ovid. Trist. iii. 1, 30. Fast. vi. 263. where the virgins lived, they were entrusted to the care of some venerable matron, Plin. Ep. vii. 19.

If any Vestal violated her vow of chastity, after being tried and sentenced by the Pontifices, she was buried alive with funeral solemnities in a place called the CAMPUS SCELERATUS, near the Porta Collina, and her paramour scourged to death in the Forum; which method of punishment is said to have been first contrived by Tarquinius Priscus, Dionys. iii. 67. The commission of this crime was thought to forebode some dreadful calamity to the state, and therefore was always expiated with extraordinary sacrifices, Liv. viii. 15. xiv. xxii. 57. Ixiii. Dianys. i. 78. ii. 67. viii. 89. ix. 40. Dio, fragm. 91, 92. Plutarch: q. Rom. 83. Ascon, in Mil. 12. Suet. Dom. 8. Plin. Ep. iv. 11. Juvenal. iv. 10. The suspected virtue of some virgins is said to have been miraculously cleared, Valer. Max. viii. 1, 5. Liv. xxix. 14. Plin. vii. 35.

These were the principal divisions of the Roman priests. Concerning their emoluments the classics leave us very much in the dark; as they also do with respect to those of the magistrates. When Romulus first divided the Roman territory, he set apart what was sufficient for the performance of sacred rites, and for the support of temples, Dionys. ii. 7. So Livy informs us, that Numa who instituted the greatest number of priests and sacrifices, provided a fund for defraying these expences, (unde in eos sumptus erogaretur.) i. 20. but appointed a public stipend (stipendium de publico statuit), to none but the Vestal Virgins, ibid. Dionysius, speaking of Romulus, says, that while other nations were negligent about the choice of their priests, some exposing that office to sale, and others determining it by lot; Romulus made a law that two men, above fifty, of distinguished rank and virtue, without bodily defect, and possessed of a competent fortune, should be chosen from each curia, to officiate as priests in that curia or parish for life; being exempted by age from military service, and by law from the troublesome business of the city, ii. 21.

There

There is no mention of any annual salary. In after ages the priests claimed an immunity from taxes, which the Pontifices and augurs for several years did not pay. At last however the quæstors wanting money for public exigences, forced them, after appealing in vain to the tribunes, to pay up their arrears, annorum, per quos non dederant, stipendium exactum est,) Liv. xxxiii. 43. s. 44. Augustus encreased both the dignity and emoluments (COMMODA) of the priests; particularly of the Vestal Virgins, Suet. Aug. 31. as he likewise first fixed the salaries of the provincial magistrates, Dio, lii. 23. 25. liii. 15. whence we read of a sum of money (SALARIUM;) being given to those who were disappointed of a province. Id. 78, 22. xliii. 4. lxxviii. 22. Tacit. Agric. 42. But we read of no fixed salary for the priests; as for the teachers of the liberal arts, Suet. Vest. 18. Digest. and for others, Suet. Tib. 46. Ner. 10. When Theodosius the Great abolished the heathen worship at Rome, Zosimus mentions only his refusing to grant the public money for sacrifices, and expelling the priests of both sexes from the temples, v. 38. It is certain, however, that suffi cient provision was made, in whatever manner, for the maintenance of those, who devoted themselves wholly to sacred functions. Honour, perhaps, was the chief reward of the dignified priests, who attended only occasionally, and whose rank and fortune raised them above desiring any pecuniary gratification. There is a passage in the life of Aurelian by Vopiscus, c. 15. which some apply to this subject; although it seems to be restricted to the priests of a particular temple; Pontifices roboravit, sc. Aurelianus, i. e. he endowed the chief priests with salaries; decrevit etiam emolumenta ministris, and granted certain emoluments to their servants, the inferior priests who took care of the temples. The priests are by later writers sometimes divided into three classes, the antistites or chief priests, the sacerdotes or ordinary priests, and the ministri, or meanest priests, whom Manilius calls auctoratos in tertia jura ministros, v. 350. but for the most part only into two classes, the Pontifices or Sacerdotes, and the ministri; as in Vopiscus; So in leg. 14. Cod. Theodos. de pagan. sacrif. et templis.

SERVANTS of the PRIESTS.

THE priests who had children, employed them to assist in performing sacred rites: but those who had no children

procured

procured free-born boys and girls to serve them, the boys to the age of puberty, and the girls till they were married. These were called Camilli and Camilla, Dionys. ii. 24.

Those who took care of the temples were called EDITUI or Editumni, Gell. xii. 6. those who brought the victims to the altar and slew them, POPE, Victimariand Cultrarii; to whom in particular the name of MINISTRI was properly applied, Ovid. Fast. i. 319. iv. 637. Met. ii. 717. Virg. G. iii. 488. Juvenal. xii. 14. The boys who assisted the Flamines in sacred rites were called FLAMINII; and the girls, FLAMINIE, Festus. There were various kinds of musicians, Tibicines, Tubicines, Fidicines, &c. Liv. ix. 30.

III. The PLACES and RITES of SACRED THINGS.

THE places dedicated to the worship of the gods were called temples, TEMPLA, (fana, delubra, sacraria, ædes sacra), and consecrated by the augurs; hence called Augusta. A temple built by Agrippa in the time of Augustus, and dedicated to all the gods, was called Pantheon, Dio. liii. 27.

A small temple or chapel was called Sacellum or Edicula. A wood or thicket of trees consecrated to religious worship, was called Lucus, a grove, Plin. xii. 6. Plaut. Amph. v. 1, 42. The gods were supposed to frequent woods and fountains; hence Esse locis superos testatur silva, Lucan. ix. 522.

The worship of the gods consisted chiefly in prayers, vows, and sacrifices.

No act of religious worship was performed without prayer. The words used were thought of the greatest importance, and varied according to the nature of the sacrifice, Valer. Max. i, 1. Hence the supposed force of charms and incantations, (verba et incantamenta carminum), Plin. xxviii. 2. Horat. Ep. i. 1, 34. When in doubt about the name of any god, lest they should mistake, they used to say, QUI QUIS ES, Plaut. Rud. i. 4. 37. Virg. Æn. iv. 577. Whatever occurred to a person in doubt what to say, was supposed to be suggested by some divinity, Plaut. Most. iii. 1, 137. Apulei. de deo Socratis. In the day time the gods were thought to remain for the most

part

Max. i. 6, 13. whereupon the Haruspex Spurinna warne him to beware of the ides of March, ibid. et Suet. Jul. 81. The principal fissure or division of the liver, (fissum jecoris familiare et vitale), was likewise particularly attended to, Cic. Nat. D. iii. 6. Divin. i. 10. ii. 13, 14. as also its fibres or parts, and those of the lungs, ibid. & Virg. G. i. 484. Æn. iv. 6. x. 176.

After the Haruspices had inspected the entrails, then the parts which fell to the gods were sprinkled with meal, wine, and frankincense, and burnt (adolebantur vel cremabantur) on the altar. The entrails were said, Diis dari, reddi et perrici, (quasi porrigi, vel porro jaci), when they were placed on the altars, (cum aris vel flammis imponerentur), Virg. Æn. vi. 252. xii. 214. or when, in sacrificing to the Dii Marini, they were thrown into the sea, ibid. v.774. Hence, if any thing unlucky fell out to prevent a person from doing what he had resolved on, or the like, it was said to happen inter cæsa (sc. exta) ex porrecta, between the time of killing the victim and burning the entrails, i. e. between the time of forming the resolution and executing it, Cic. Att. v. 18.

When the sacrifice was finished, the priest having washed his hands and uttered certain prayers, again made a libation, and then the people were dismissed in a set form; ILICET, or ire licet.

After the sacrifice followed a feast, (Epule sacrificales), which in public sacrifices was sumptuously prepared by the Septemviri Epulones. In private sacrifices, the persons who offered them feasted on the parts which fell to them, with their friends; sacra tulêre suam (partem): pars est data cetera mensis, Ov. Met. 12. 154,

On certain solemn occasions, especially at funerals, a distribution of raw flesh used to be made to the people, called VISCERATIO, Liv. viii. 22. xxxix. 46. xli. 28. Cic. Off. ii. 16. Suet. Cæs. 38, For viscera signifies not only the intestines, but whatever is under the hide : particularly the flesh between the bones and the skin, Serv. in Virg. Æn.' i. 211. iii. 622. vi. 253. Suet. Vitell. 13.

The sacrifices offered to the celestial gods, differed from those offered to the infernal deities in several particulars.

The victims sacrificed to the former were white, brought chiefly from the river Clitumnus, Juvenal. xii. 13. Virg. Georg. ii. 146. in the country of the Falisci, Ovid. Pont. iv. 8, 41. their neck was bent upwards, (sursum reflectabatur), the knife was applied from above, (imponebatur), and the blood was sprinked on the alta, or caught in cups: The victims of

fered