Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/155

 CHAP. X. THE GEXS AT ROME AND IN GREECE. 149 the different countries to which its migrations con- ducted. We can catch a, glimpse theiefore of a long period, during which men knew no other form of so- ciety than the family. Then arose the domestic reli- gion, which could not have taken root in a society otherwise constituted, and which must long have been an obstacle to social development. Then also was established ancient private law, which was found later to be in disaccord with the interests of a more extended social organization, but which was in perfect harmony with the state of society in which it arose. Let us place ourselves, in thought, therefore, in the midst of those ancient generations whose traces have not been entirely effaced, and who delegated their beliefs and their laws to subsequent ages. Each family has its religion, its gods, its priesthood. Religious isolation is a law with it; its ceremonies are secret. In death 2ven, or in the existence that follows it, families do not iiiingle; each one continues to live apart in the tomb, from which the stranger is exchuled. Every family lias also its property, that is to say, its lot of land, which is inseparably attached to it by its religion ; its gods — Termini — guard the enclosure, and its jManes keep it in their care. Isolation of property is so obli- gatory that two domains cannot be contiguous, but a band of soil must be left between them, which must be neutral ground, and must renii.iii inviolable. Finally, every family has its chief, as a nation would have its king. It has its laws, which, doubtless, are unwritten, but Avhich religious fliith engraves in the heart of every man. It has its court of justice, above which there is no other that one can appeal to. AVhatever man really needs for his material or moral life the family possesses within itself. It needs nothing from without; it is an organized state, a society that suffices for itseK.