Page:The City-State of the Greeks and Romans.djvu/105

III bodyguard while with the army; likewise the liberty of sacrificing as many cattle in their expeditions as seems to them good, and the right of having the skins and chines of the slaughtered animals for their own use.

"Such are their privileges in war; in peace their rights are as follows. When a citizen makes a public sacrifice, the kings are given the first seat at the banquet; they are served before any of the other guests, and have a double portion of everything. They lead the libations, and the hides of the sacrificed beasts are their perquisite. Every month on the first day, and again on the seventh of the first decade, each king receives a beast without blemish at the public cost, which he offers up to Apollo; likewise a medimnus of meal, and of wine a Laconian quart. In the athletic contests they have always the seat of honour; they appoint the citizens who have to entertain foreigners. ... They have the whole decision of certain causes, which are these, and these only; — When a maiden is left the heiress of her father's estate, and has not been betrothed by him to any one, they decide who is to marry her; in all matters concerning the public highways, they are judges; and if a person wants to adopt a child, he must do it before the kings. They likewise have the right of sitting in council with the twenty-eight senators; and if they are not present, then the senators nearest of kin to them have their privileges, and give two votes as representing the kings, beside their own as councillors."

In this picture we see, as it were, an ancient and hallowed building, with all the graceful details of its architecture still preserved; a building which was once the central point of the common life of the State, but is now comparatively little used except for religious purposes.

The king is here still high-priest for the community; but his priesthood is limited to two special worships. The religious system has been organised