Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/211

 CHAP. VII. THE KELIGION OF THE CITY. 205 •of the gods. It was a long time before they conceived the Divinity as a supreme power. Every family had its <lomostic religion, every city had its national religion. A city was like a little church, all complete, which had its gods, its dogmas, and its worship. These beliefs appear very crude to us, but they were those of the most intellectual people of ancient times, and have ex- ercised upon this people and upon the Romans so im- portant an influence that the greater part of their laws, of their institutions, and of their history is from this source. CHAPTER VII. The Religion of the City. 1 . The Public Repasts. We have already seen that the principal ceremony of the domestic worship was a repast, which they called a sacrifice. To eat food prepared upon an altar was, to all appearance, the first form which men gave to the religious act. The need of putting themselves in communion with the divinity was satisfied by this repast, to which they invited him, and of which they gave him his part. The principal ceremony of the city worship was also a repast of this nature ; it was partaken of in common by all the citizens, in honor of the protecting divinities. The celebrating of these public repasts was universal in Greece ; and men believed that the safety of the city depended upon their accomplishment.' ' 2u}ri'qia ruiv noXiov avyStmra. Athcnaeus, V. 2.