Page:The Ancient City- A Study on the Religion, Laws, and Institutions of Greece and Rome.djvu/60

 54 THE FAMILY. DOOK 11. hour of marriage," says one of the ancients, "the wife has no longer anything in common with the domestic religion of her fathers; she sacrifices at the hearth of her husband," ' Marriage is, therefore, a grave step for the young girl, and not less grave for the husband ; for this religion requires that one shall have been boril near the sacred fire, in order to have ihe light to sacrifice to it. And yet he is now about to bring a stranger to this hearth ; with her he will ])errorm the mysterious ceremonies of his worship ; he will leveal the rites and formulas which are the patrimony ot his iamily. There is nothing more precious than this heritage; these gods, these lites, these hymns which he has received from his fathers, are what protect him in this life, and promise him riches, happiness, and virtue. And yet, instead of keeping to himself this tutelary power, as the savage keeps his idol or his amulet, he is going to admit a woman to share it with him. Thus, when we penetrate the thoughts of these an- cient men, we see of how great importance to them was the conjugal union, and how necessary to it was the intervention of religion. Was it not quite necessary thattiie young girl should be initiated into the religion that she was henceforth to follow by some sacred cerejTiony ? Was not a sort of ordination or adoption necessary for her to become a priestess of this sacred fire, to which she was not attached by birth ? Marriage wae this sacred ceremony, which was to produce these important efiects. The Greek and Ro- man writers habitually designate marriage by a word indicative of a religious act.** Pollux, who lived in the ' Steplion of Byzantium, 7r«Toa. ' 0(/i /u//«i, sacrum nupiiale.