ar.[710]

We may realise in accounts like these how far we have left behind us the
old Roman religion we discussed in earlier lectures. That religion did
not any longer supply the material needed; it was not suited to be the
handmaid of a political or military policy; it was a real religion, not
invented for political purposes, to use Polybius' language, but itself a
part of the life of the State, whether active in war, or law, or
politics. In the ceremonies I have just been describing almost all the
features are foreign,--the _pulvinaria_, the haruspices, perhaps even
the _Iovis epulum_; and we feel that though the _religio_ in the minds
of the people is doubtless a genuine thing, yet the means taken to
soothe it are far from genuine,--they are _mala medicamenta_, quack
remedies. Such is the method by which a shrewd, masterly government
compels the obedience of a _populus religiosus_. After long experience
of such methods, can we wonder that Polybius could formulate his famous
view of religion, or that a great and good Roman lawyer, himself
pontifex maximus, could declare that political religion stands quite
apart from the religion of the poets, or that of the philosophers, and
must be acted on, whether true or false?[711]

The reporting of _prodigia_ goes on with astonishing vigour in this
period, and seems to have become endemic. I only mention it here (for we
have had quite enough of it already) because the question arises whether
it is now used mainly for political purposes, or to annoy a personal
rival or enemy. This does not appear clearly from Livy's accounts, but
in an age of personal and political rivalries, as this undoubtedly was,
it can hardly have been otherwise. Certain it is that the interests of
the State were grievously interfered with in this way. The consuls at
this time, and until 153 B.C., did not enter on office until March 15,
and they should have been ready to start for their military duties as
soon as the levies had been completed; instead of which, they were
constantly delayed by the duty of expiating these marvels. In 199
Flamininus, whose appointment to the command in Macedonia had of course
annoyed the friends of the man he was superseding, was delayed in this
way for the greater part of the year, and yet he is said to have left
Italy at an earlier date than most consuls.[712] Thus the change to
January 1 for the beginning of the consular year, which took place in
153 B.C., was an unavoida