elopment and in the final form of his character. As sky-god he was
connected with atmospheric phenomena (rain and lightning) and so
naturally with wine and other crops. But as chief god of the state he
speedily rose above these connections, and as Optimus Maximus became the
representative of all Roman virtues. Along with this native development
he was in later times more or less identified with Zeus. By his side
stood the national deity Quirinus, who remained a local patron and never
rose to large proportions. Related to him are Sancus and Dius Fidius,
who represented some primitive conceptions similar to those belonging to
his early form, but they did not develop into great gods. These three
were practically absorbed by him, but the history of this process is
obscure.

+799+. Janus, the guardian of the entrance to the house (_janua_)--a
function of prime importance in early times, had a prominent place in
the cult. He was invoked at the beginning of the day, the month, and the
year; in the Salian hymn he is called "god of gods" and "good creator";
he was served by the rex sacrorum, who was the first in priestly
dignity. He may thus have been a chief god in the oldest Latin
scheme.[1374] Yet he seems never to have come to stand for anything
intellectually or morally high except in late philosophical thought.
Though the guardian of public as well as private houses, he was not the
patron of the city. He remained in the cult a sort of family and clan
god, and represented only the ideas of a primitive mode of life, the
great role being assigned to the sky-god.[1375]

+800+. To judge from the old rituals Mars was in the earliest time of
which there is any record a god of vegetation. The Arval Brothers, who
were charged with the care of crops, addressed their petitions to him,
and it was to him that the Roman husbandman prayed for a blessing on his
labors.[1376] What may have been his still earlier character we have no
means of determining with certainty. The view that he was originally a
god of the fructifying sunlight[1377] seems to rest mainly on a
precarious etymology, the derivation of his name from a stem _mar_
meaning 'to shine'; but it does not appear that ancient peoples
attributed the growth of crops to the sun.[1378] Analogy would rather
lead us to regard him as an old local deity, naturally connected with
vegetation. However this may be, the importance of agriculture for the
life of the community raised him to a