Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/255

 rnAP. XI. THE LAW. 24& victorious gcnernl onglit to perform on re-entering the citv. The code of the Twelve Tables, altliouixh more recent, still contain minute regulations concerning the religious lites of sepulture. The work of Solon was at the same time a code, a constitution, and a ritual ; it regulated the order of sncrilices, and the price of vic- tims, as well as the marriage rites and the worship of the dead. Cicero, in his Laws, traces a plan of legislation which is not entirely imaginary. In the substance as in the form of his code, he imitates the ancient legislators. Now, these are the first laws that he writes: "Let men approach the gods with purity ; let the temples of the ancestors and the dwelling of the Lares be kept up; let the priests employ in the sacred repasts only the prescribed kinds of fooil ; let every one offer to the M.ines the worship that is due them." Assuredly the Ilom:in philosopher troubled himself little about the old religion of the Lares and Manes ; but he was tracing a code in imitation of the nncient codes, and he believed himself bound to insert rules of worship. At Rome it was a recognized truth that no one could be a good pontiff who did not know the law, and, con- versely, that no one could know the law if he did not understand questions relating to religion. The pon- tiffs were for a long time the only jurisconsults. As there was hardly an act of life which had not some relation to religion, it Ibllowed that almost everything was submitted to the decision of these priests, and that they were the only competent judges in an infinite number of cases. All disputes regarding marriage,, divorce, and the civil and religious rights of infints, were carried to their tribunal. They were judges in cases of incest as well as of celibacy. As adoption