Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/191

 <JHAP. IV. THE CITY. 185 sary to know the rites to be performed at the founda- tion, for the Messenians had forgotten them. They could not adopt those of the Thebans, or of any other people ; and so they did not know how to build the city. A dream, however, came very opportunely to another Messenian ; the gods commanded him to ascend Mount Ithome, and find a yew tree that stood near a myrtle, and to dig into the earth in that place. He obeyed, and discovered an urn, and in this urn were leaves of tin, on which was found engraved the com- plete ritual of the sacred ceremony. The priests immediately copied it, and inscribed it in their books. They did not doubt that the urn had been deposited there by an ancient king of the Messenians, before the conquest of the country. As soon as they were in possession of the ritual the foundation commenced. First, the priests offered a sacrifice ; they invoked the ancient gods of the Messe- nians, the Dioscuri, the Jupiter of Ithome, and the ancient heroes, ancestors known and venerated. All these protectors of the country had apparently quitted it, according to the belief of the ancients, on the day when the enemy became masters of it. They were en- treated to return. Formulas were pronounced, which, it was believed, would determine them to inhabit the new city in common with the citizens. This was the great object; to fix the residence of the gods with themselves was what these men had the most at heart, and we may be sure that the religious ceremony had no other aim. Just as the companions of Romulus dug a trench and thought to bury the manes of their ancestors there, so the contemporaries of Epaminondas called to themselves their heroes, their divine ancestors, and the gods of their country. They thought that