_Questions for Examination_.
1. How did the religion of the Romans differ from that of the Greeks?
2. Was the Roman religion connected with the government?
3. How was the right of taking the Auspices abused?
4. Who were the augurs?
5. From what did the augurs take omens?
6. What were the forms used in taking the auspices?
7. Who were the aruspices?
8. What other priests had the Romans?
9. What was the duty of the vestal virgins?
10. Did the vestals enjoy great privileges?
11. How were the vestals punished for a breach of their vows?
12. Why was the Roman constitution very permanent?
13. Whence arose the confusion in the religious system of the Romans?
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The reader will find an exceedingly interesting account of the
deities peculiar to the Romans, in Mr. Keightley's very valuable work
on Mythology.
2:
The poet Ennius, who was of Grecian descent, ridiculed
very successfully the Roman superstitions; the following fragment,
translated by Dunlop, would, probably, have been punished as
blasphemous in the first ages of the republic:--
For no Marsian augur (whom fools view with awe,)
Nor diviner, nor star-gazer, care I a straw;
The Isis-taught quack, an expounder of dreams,
Is neither in science nor art what he seems;
Superstitious and shameless they prowl through our streets,
Some hungry, some crazy, but all of them cheats.
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