the ceremony itself must have been most impressive, and calculated to
remind all who were present of the greatness and goodwill of the supreme
deity who watched over the interests of the State. So too at the
_lustrum_ of the censors, which took place in the Campus Martius every
five years, it is almost certain that the _votum_ of the predecessors in
office was fulfilled by a sacrifice, and a new one undertaken. Here
again we are without the formula, but that there was one we know from a
very interesting passage of Valerius Maximus. He tells us that Scipio
Aemilianus, when as censor he was conducting this sacrifice, and the
_scriba_ (on behalf of the pontifex?) was dictating to him the _solemne
precationis carmen ex publicis tabulis_, in which the immortal gods were
besought to make the prosperity of the Roman State "better and
greater," had the audacity to interrupt him, saying that the condition
of the State was sufficiently good and great: "itaque precor ut eas
(res) perpetuo incolumes servent." This change, Valerius says, was
accepted, and the formula altered accordingly in the _tabulae_.[413]
This story, which is probably genuine and is quite characteristic of
Scipio, must convince an impartial mind that in this votive ceremony
there was enough truth and dignity to suggest a real advance in
religious thought, so far at least as the State was concerned.

The extraordinary _vota_ were innumerable. They were occasioned by
dangers or misfortunes of various kinds, the magistrate undertaking to
dedicate something to the god concerned if the State should have come
safely through the peril. Many temples had their origin in this
practice;[414] we meet also with _ludi_, special sacrifices, or a tithe
of the booty taken in war. In two or three cases Livy has copied the
formula from the _tabulae_ of the pontifices; thus before the war with
Antiochus in 191 B.C., the consul recited the following words after the
pontifex maximus: "Si duellum quod cum Antiocho rege sumi populus
iussit, id ex sententia senatus populique Romani confectum erit; tum
tibi Iuppiter populus Romanus ludos magnos dies decem continuos faciet
... quisquis magistratus eos ludos quando ubique faxit, hi ludi recte
facti, donaque data recte sunto."[415] This document dates from the days
of the decay of the Roman religion, and is, of course, modernised by
Livy; but it may give an idea of what is meant by writers who speak of
an element of bargain or covenant in th