st examine in each case the new content which
was put into them, even though the evidence of that content consists
oftentimes of a mere tendency. The fondness of Augustus for the archaic
is nowhere more clearly exhibited than in one of his earliest religious
acts: the formal declaration of war against Antony and Cleopatra, in
B.C. 32, by means of the Fetiales. The Fetiales were a very ancient
priestly college which acted, under the direction of the Senate, as the
representatives of international law. It was through them that all
treaties and all declarations of war had been made, but it seems
probable that this custom had fallen into desuetude after the Punic
wars, and that accordingly the college had lapsed into insignificance,
if it had not died out altogether. But now as the first step in the
rebuilding of the priesthoods Octavian restored the college to its old
rank and gained also the additional advantage that the people were
impressed with the moral righteousness of their cause against Antony and
Cleopatra, and also with the fact that it was a foreign, _i.e._ an
international war, and not a civil one, in which they were about to
engage. The effect of Octavian's restoration was a lasting one, for from
this time on this priesthood was held in high honour during the whole of
the empire, and the emperors themselves were members of it.

This was a very characteristic beginning to Augustus's activity. It was
primarily the human element to which he was appealing in his religious
changes, and hence the priesthoods needed especial attention. It was not
long after the battle of Actium that he restored another very ancient
priesthood, that of the Arval brothers. This was a very old priesthood
consisting of twelve men who took part in the purification of the land,
the _Ambarvalia_, so called because the ceremony consisted of a solemn
procession around the boundaries of the fields. But as the Roman
territory grew and such a ceremony in the old fashion became impossible
and was carried out merely symbolically by sacrifices at various
boundary points, the Arval brothers lost all their importance, so that
even in these symbolic sacrifices their place was taken by the pontiffs.
Augustus however recognised in this priesthood an effectual means of
emphasising the agricultural side of Roman life, and of connecting the
imperial family with the farming population. The centre of this new
worship was the sanctuary in the sacred grove at t