The haruspices prophesied from the entrails of the sacrificial victims, from smoke and flame, as well as from accidental occurrences. In special cases application was made to foreign oracles, particularly to those of Greece. The flamens were priests serving individual gods, whose names they bore. The highest in rank, the priest of Jove, or Flamer Dialis, had a lictor in his suite and enjoyed great authority, but he was subject to very peculiar restrictions. He was not allowed to mount a horse, to stay over night outside the city, to swear an oath, to be with an army, or to witness the business of daily life. He could not be divorced from his wife, and when she died he had to resign his office. The Vestal Virgins, who were at first four and afterward six in number, had charge of the sacred fire. They enjoyed high reputation, and were held to the strictest chastity, for violation of which they were severely punished.' They were at liberty to resign their office after thirty years of service.
Sacrces and sacrifices of the Romans were similar to those of the Greeks. They were divided into such as had for their object supplication, propitiation, and thanksgiving, or, with regard to the person sacrificing, into public and family sacrifices, or, as regards the time, into occasional and annual. The most magnificent offerings (fil. 3o, fig. 8) were made after a successful campaign, and they often formed part of the triumphal procession of the victorious general. Some families were obliged to make private offerings each year to certain deities, and the priests, though their intervention was not necessary at such rites, watched over the celebration of them.
The participation of the priests was required at the public festivals with which the Roman calendar was well provided. We mention only the Saturnalia, from which some of our Christmas festivities have sprung.
They were of a joyous character and celebrated the recurrence of the winter solstice. In the beginning they occupied but a single day in the month of December, but later on their celebration was extended over several days. During their continuance the Senate, courts, and schools were closed, no criminal could be punished, slaves were granted a holiday and allowed many liberties, friends interchanged gifts, and fairs were held in the public squares.
Entertainments : Public public games had a religious origin. Romulus is said to have instituted them, but Tarquinius Priscus made them permanent by founding the Circus Maximus, from which all the later games received the name circus. Though probably derived from the Etruscans, they were in fact an imitation of the national games of the Greeks. In course of time they underwent a change which indeed more than anything else shows the difference between the Roman and the Greek character. The earliest games were called the hull Romani; they were no doubt a city celebration associated with religious ceremonies. Besides other similar ones, a festival of the plebeians (lucli filcbcii) is referred to. Eventually, games were added expressly in honor of the gods. We have already spoken (p. 215) of funeral games. Finally, wealthy individuals arranged games and shows to amuse the populace and to gain its favor. The popular taste for these entertainments in
creased as they lost their original character, and at last became a ruling passion. Under the Empire they served as the best means to distract the degenerate populace from public affairs, but while these entertainments effected that purpose they still further debased the people.
The care of the public games originally belonged to the consuls, and later on to the ediles, who also had charge of the markets and of traffic in general. The expenses were defrayed from the public treasury; but the ediles, finding that their importance and repute were increased by the brilliancy of the shows, contributed also from their own funds. Custom in time made an obligation of this voluntary gift, and the tax at last grew so heavy that no one was willing to accept the mdileship. The empe rors had accordingly to distribute the burden among other officials, but took upon themselves the greatest part of the expense. The games them selves, at first very simple, bore from the beginning a military character. They consisted principally of boxing and horse- and chariot-races. But the popular taste was too coarse to be satisfied with feats of strength or sham battles.
It has been remarked with some truth that a taste of the wolf's milk which nourished its founders runs through the entire history of Rome. Combats between professional gladiators were first introduced at the funeral of Junius Brutus (264 B. c.), but they had been customary before that time in other parts of Italy. These gradually replaced the sham fights, and offered, what the people above all wanted, the sight of blood. Further to indulge this sanguinary taste, combats of wild beasts were introduced, for which the fiercest animals were imported from Asia and Africa. To render the spectacles more exciting, slaves and criminals were pitted against the beasts, and under the emperors, as is notorious, Christians were subjected to the same cruelty. But the gladiators were not to be outdone; they too hired themselves out for deadly combats (p1. 3o, fig. 6). They fought in pairs or in bodies, heavily or lightly armed, mounted on horses or seated in chariots, for these demoralizing amuse ments were reduced to a regular system. The consul (p1. 29, fig. 14) gave the sign to begin by waving a white kerchief. The person who held the games decided whether the vanquished combatant should be spared or put to death. Gradually that privilege passed to the people, who decreed death to the defeated gladiator by turning down their thumbs, or mercy by waving their kerchiefs.' It may be here mentioned that the Romans, in feeble imitation of the Greeks, also made attempts to introduce musical contests, and, notwith standing the essential inanity of these performances, persisted in retain ing them a long time. Scenic games were peculiar to their civilization, but these too were soon shaped after Greek models. They appear to have originated in the peasant-dances and burlesques which were performed in connection with the early martial games.