Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/223

 CHAP. Vll. 'iHE RELIGION OF THE CITY. 217 oratoi began to speak, a prayer was pi'onounced be- fore the silent people. The auspices were also con- Bulted, and if any unfavorable sign appeared in the heavens, the assembly broke up at once.' The tribune, or speaker's stand, was a sacred piace, and the orator never ascended it without a crown upon his head." The place of assembly of the Roman senate was always a temple. If a session had been held else- where than in a sacred place, its acts would have been null and void ; for the gods would not have been pres- ent. Before every deliberation, the president offered a sacrifice and pronounced a prayer. In the hall there was an altar, where every senator, on entering, offered a libation, at the same time invoking the gods.* The Athenian senate was little different. The hall also contained an altar and a sacred fire. A religious ceremony was observed at the opening of each session. Every senator, on entering, approached the altar, and pronounced a prayer. While the session lasted, every senator wore a crown upon his head, as in religious ceremonies."* At Rome, as well as at Athens, courts of justice were open in the city only on such days as religion pro- nounced favorable. At Athens the session of the court was held near an altar, and commenced with a sac- • Aristophanes, Thesmoph., 381, and Scholiast. ' Varro, cited by Aulus Gellius, XIV. 7. Cicero, ad Famil., X. 12. Suetonius, ^M^r., 33. Dion Cassius, LIV. p. C21. Ser- vius, VII. 153. •• Andocides, Be Myst., 44, De Red., 15. Antiphon, Pro Ohor., 45. Lycurgus, in Leocr., 122. Demosthenes, in Meidi- am, 114. Diodorus, XIV. 4.
 * Aristophanes, Acharn., 171.