Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/216

 210 THE CITY. BOOK 111. terest, nor agreement, nor habit creates the social bond ; it is this holy communion j^iously acconijiUshed in the presence of the gods of the city. 2. The Festivals and the Calendar. In all ages and in all societies, man has desired to honor his gods by festivals; he has established that there should be days during which the religious senti- ment should reign in his soul, without being distracted by terrestrial thoughts and labors. In the number of days that he has to live he has devoted a part to the gods. Every city had been founded with rites which, in the thoughts of the ancients, had had the effect of estab- lishing the national gods within its walls. It was necessary that the virtue of these rites should be le- juvenated each year by a new i-eligious ceremony. This festival they called the birthday; all the citizens were required to celebrate it. Whatever was sacred gave occasion for a festival. There was the festival of the city enclosure, ambur- halia^ and that of the territorial limits, ambarvdlia. On those days the citizens formed a grand procession, clad in white, and crowned with leaves; they made the circuit of the city or territory, chanting pra}ers; at the head walked priests, leading victims, which they sacrificed at the close of the ceremony." Afterwards came the festival of the founder. Then each of the heroes of the city, each of those souls that men invoked as protectors, claimed a worship. Rom- ulus had his, and Servius Tullius, and many others, ' TibuUus, II. 1. Festus, v. Amburbiales.