Page:The history of Rome. Translated with the author's sanction and additions.djvu/256

236 Jupiter and the gods associated with him, the observance of which was, as a rule, the result of a vow made by the general before battle, and therefore usually took place on the return home of the burgess force in autumn. A festal procession proceeded towards the circus staked off between the Palatine and Aventine, and furnished with an arena and places for spectators; in front the whole boys of Rome, arranged according to the divisions of the burgess-force, on horseback and on foot; then the competitors and the groups of dancers whom we have described above, each with their own music; thereafter the servants of the gods with vessels of frankincense and other sacred utensils; lastly the biers with the images of the gods themselves. The spectacle itself was the counterpart of war, as it was waged in primitive times, a contest with chariots, on horseback, and on foot. First there ran the war-chariots, each of which carried in Homeric fashion a charioteer and a combatant; then the combatants who had leaped off; then the horsemen, each of whom appeared after the Roman style of fighting with a horse which he rode and another led by the hand (desultor); lastly, the combatants on foot, naked to the girdle round their loins, measured their mutual powers in racing, wrestling, and boxing. In each species of contest there was but one competition, and that between not more than two competitors. A chaplet rewarded the victor, and the honour in which the simple branch which formed the wreath was held is shown by the law permitting it to be laid on the bier of the victor when he died. The festival thus lasted only one day, and the competitions probably still left time on that day for the real carnival, at which the groups of dancers displayed their art and above all exhibited their farces; and perhaps other representations also, such as competitions in juvenile horsemanship, took place. The honours won in real war