Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/254

 248 THE CITY. BOOK III. These ore the ])r:ncipnl questions that wcie addressed to one who was about to bccoino a iiiagistr.itc. It appeared that men did not trouble themselves about his character or his knowledge. They tried especially to assure themselves t h:it ho was qualilie I for the priest- ly office, and that the religion of the city would not be compromised in his hands. This soit of examination was also in use at Tiomo. We have not, it is true, any information as to the ques- tions which the consul was required to nnswer. But it is enough to know that this examination was made by the pontiffs.* CHAPTER XI. The Law. Among the Greeks and Romans, as among the Hin- dus, law was at first a j)art of religion. The ancient codes of the cities were a collection of rites, liturgical directions, and pi'ayers, joined with legislative regula- tions. The laws concerning property and those con- cerning succession were scattered about iu the midst of rules for sacrifices, for burial, and for the worship of the dead. What remains to us of the oldest laws of Rome, which were called the Royal Laws, relates as often to the worship as to the relations of civil life. One for- bade a guilty woman to ap])roach the altars; another forbade certain dishes to be served in the sacred re- pasts; a third prescribed what religious ceremony a • Dionysius, II. 73.