rical times, and again before the
_cena_, the chief meal of the day.[518] On Kalends, Nones, Ides, and on
all _dies festi_ a _corona_ was placed on the hearth, and prayer was
made to the Lar; we know that this was so in the old Roman home, because
in the second century B.C. Cato instructs the _vilicus_ to discharge
these duties on behalf of the absent or non-resident owner.[519] Before
the flocks were taken out to summer pasture, and doubtless when they
returned, some religious service (so we should call it) was held,[520]
just as in the Catholic cantons of Switzerland the blessing of God is
asked when the cows first ascend to the alpine pastures, and again when
they leave them for the valleys. Before a journey the later Romans
prayed for good fortune;[521] in the old times travelling was of course
unusual, and when it did occur the traveller was surrounded by so many
spiritual as well as material dangers that _special_ religious measures
must have been taken, as by fetials or armies on entering foreign
territory. The survival of the same kind of belief and practice is also
seen in private life in the religious commendations of some authors at
the outset of their literary work; Varro, for example, at the beginning
of his work on agriculture, calls on all the agrarian deities (_iis deis
ad venerationem advocatis_) before he goes on to mention even the
bibliography of his subject.[522] Livy in the last sentence of his
preface would fain imitate the poets in calling on the gods to bless and
favour his undertaking. And in all time of their tribulation, even if
not in all time of their wealth, the pious Romans sought help from the
deities from whom help might be expected; if, at least, the many
instances occurring in Roman poetry may point to a practice of the
ordinary individual and family.[523] So too, if we may judge by many
passages in the plays of Plautus and Terence,[524]--if here we have
genuine Roman usage, as is probable,--the feeling of dependence on a
Power manifesting itself in the affairs of daily life is shown also in
the expression of _thankfulness_ which followed success or escape from
peril. Gratitude was not a prominent characteristic of the Roman, but I
have already remarked on the presence of it in the practice of the
_votum_, and there is at least some evidence that it was recognised as
due to benignant deities as well as human beings.[525]

In public life, throughout Roman history, the forms of religious