Page:Greek and Roman Mythology.djvu/173

 THE ROMAN GODS 159 ulus and Eemus ; for the war god himself was their father, and, accordingly, the ancestor of the warlike Romans. 206. Quirmus, the chief god of the Sabines, who settled on the Quirinal hill, was so closely related to the old Latin Mars that the worship of the two gods easily blended. Yet side by side with the flamen Mdrtialis (Mars's especial priest) there continued to exist a sepa- rate flamen Quirinalis; and besides the Palatine Salii of Mars there were twelve Salii peculiar to Quirinus, who had their abode on the Quirinal. While Mars was regarded as the father of Eomulus, Quirinus was after- wards identified with Eomulus himself. That he was also considered a tribal god seems to be indicated fur- ther by the festival customs of the Quirinalia, which were celebrated on the 17th of February. Janus: Ovid, Fast. i. 64 sg., ii. 49 sg., vi. 119; Vergil, Aen. vii. 180, 610, viii. 357; Horace, Epis. ii. 1, 255; Milton, Par. L. xi. 127 : " With him the cohort bright Of watchful cherubim ; four faces each Had, like a double Janus. Vesta ; Vestal Virgins : Fire worship was a special feature of Indo-European religious conception. We find this tendency more or less marked in all the representatives of the race. From the smothered spark to the orb of day, adoration was given to this all- purifying, changing element. The Hindu looked upon the fire as an intercessory priest that would carry his oblation to heaven. In the Persian religion fire was the mysterious symbol demanding veneration. This idea is emphasized in the Avesta. In the tomb of Darius at Naqshi Rustam, opposite the figure of the king is the altar with the sacred fire blazing. This same conception of the sanctity of fire gave rise to the story of Prometheus among the Greeks, and established the holy fire at the Roman temple of Vesta. The first hymn of the Rig Veda describes the priesthood of fire, from which the few following stanzas are translated. Rig Veda i. 1 :