Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/156

 150 THE FAMILY. BOOK JT. But tliis family of the ancient ages is not reduced to the proportions of the modern family. In larger socie- ties the family separates and decreases. But in the absence of every other social organization, it extends, develops, and ramifies without becoming divided. Several younger branches remain grouped around an older one, near the one sacred fire and the common tomb. Still another element entered into the composition of this antique family. The reciprocal need which the poor has of the rich, and the rich has of the poor, makes servants. But in this sort of patriarchal regime ser- vant and slave were one. We can see, indeed, that the principle of a free and voluntary service, ceasing at the will of the servant, would ill accord with a social state in which a family lived isolated. Besides, the domestic religion did not permit strangers to be ad- mitted into a family. By some means, then, the ser- vant must become a member and an integrant part of the family. This was eflfected by a sort of initiation of the new comer into the domestic worship. A curious usage, that subsisted for a long time in Athenian houses, shows us how the slave entered the family. They made him approach the fire, placed him in the presence of the domestic divinity, and poured lustral water upon his head. He then shared with the family some cakes and fruit.' This ceremony bore a certain analogy to those of marriage and adoption. It doubtless signified that the new comer, a stranger the day before, should henceforth be a member of the family, and share in its religion. And thus the slave ' Demosthenes, in Stepkanum, I. 74. Aristophanes, Phdits, 7G8. These two writers clearly indicate a ceremonj-, but do not describe it. The scholiast of Aristophanes adds a few details.