Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/410

 404 THE REVOLUTIONS. BOOK IV. law had been for a moment the only barrier wliieh separated the two orders. Thenceforth the patrician blood and plebeian blood were mingled. As soon as equality was conquered in private life, the great difficulty was overcome, and it seemed natural that equality should also exist in politics. The plebs then asked why the consulship was closed to them, and they saw no reason why they should be withheld from it. There was, however, a very potent reason. The consulship was not simply a command ; it was a priest- hood. To be a consul it was not sufficient to offer guarantees of intelligence, of courage, of probity ; the consul must also be able to perform the ceremonies of the public worship. It was necessary that the rites should be duly observed, and that the gods should be satisfied. Now, the patricians alone possessed the sa- cred character which pemiitted them to pronounce the prayers, and to call down the divine protection upon the city. The plebeian possessed nothing in common with the worship; religion, therefore, forbade him to be consul — nefas pleheium consuhm fieri. We may imagine the surprise and indignation of the patricians, when plebeians claimed for the first time the right to be consuls. Religion itself appeared to be menaced. The nobles took a great deal of pains to make the plebs understand this; they told them how important religion was to the city, that religion had founded the city, and that it presided over all public acts, diiected the deliberative assemblies, and gave the republic its magistrates. They added, that this religion was, according to ancient customs {more ma- jorum)^ the patrimony of the patricians, that its rites could be known and practised only by them, and, in fine, that the gods would not accept the sacrifice of a