Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/275

 CHAP. XIV. TUE MUNICIPAL SPIRIT. 269 have its particular code, since each had its own re- ligion, and the law flowed from the religion. Each was required to have its sovereign tribunal, and there could be no judicial tribunal superior to that of the city. Each had its religious festivals and its calendar; the months and the year could not be the same in two cities, as the series of religious acts was different. Each had its own money, which at first was marked with its religious emblem. Each had its weights and measures. It was not admitted that there could be anything com- mon between two cities. The line of demarcation was so profound that one hardly imagined marriage possible between the inhabitants of two different cities. Such a union always appeared strange, and was long con- sidered illegal. The legislation of Rome and that of Athens were visibly averse to admitting it. Nearly everywhere children born of such a marriage were con- founded with bastards, and deprived of the rights of citizens. To make a marriage legal between inhabit- ants of two cities, it was necessary that there should be between those cities a particular convention — jus connubu, imyafilu. Every city had about its territory a line of saci'ed bounds. This was the horizon of its national religion and of its gods. Beyond these bounds other gods reigned, and another worship was practised. The most salient characteristic of the history of Greece and of Italy, before the Roman conquest, is the excessive division of property and the spirit of isola- tion in each city. Greece never succeeded in forming a single state ; nor did the l^atin or the Etruscan cities, or the Samnite tribes, succeed in foi-ming a compact body. The incurable division of the Greeks has been attributed to the nature of their country, and we are told that the