monial.[922] Other rites followed, _e.g._ the passing round, from
one to another of the brethren, fruits gathered and consecrated on the
previous day, each brother receiving them in his left, _i.e._ lucky
hand, and passing them on with his right; and the singing of the famous
Arval hymn to Mars and the Lares to a rhythmic dance-tune. Then after
another meal and chariot-racing in the neighbouring circus, they
returned to Rome and finished the day with further feasting.[923] A
cynical reader of these Acta might suggest that the appetites of the
good brethren were made more of than their _pietas_; but the feasting
may be just as much a part of the ancient practice as any of the other
curiosities of ritual.

The utensils employed were of the primitive sun-baked clay (_ollae_),
and seem to have been regarded with a veneration almost amounting to
worship.[924] Long ago I had occasion to note how the old form of
piacular sacrifice was used and recorded whenever iron was taken into
the grove, or any damage done to the trees by lightning or other
accident. Once, when a tiny fig-tree sprouted on the roof of the temple,
piacula of all suitable kinds had to be offered to Mars, Dea Dia, Janus,
Jupiter, Juno, Virgines divae, Famuli divi, Lares, Mater Larum, sive
deus sive dea in cuius tutela hic lucus locusque est, Fons, Hora, Vesta
Mater, Vesta deorum dearumque, Adolenda Commolenda Deferunda,--and
sixteen _divi_ of the imperial families![925] As the date of this
extraordinary performance is A.D. 183, nothing can better show the
extent to which the revival of elaborate ritual had been carried by
Augustus, and the amazing tenacity with which it held its ground.

The second part of the activity of the brethren well illustrates the new
element which Augustus adroitly insinuated into the old religious forms:
but I shall not dwell upon it, for the worship of the Caesars in its
developed form is not of either Roman or Italian origin, any more than
the other kinds of cult which were now pressing in from the East; and it
thus lies outside the range of my subject. The revival of this old
priesthood, and doubtless of others, the Salii for example, was turned
to account to mark the sacred character and political and social
predominance of the imperial family. All events of importance in the
life of the Emperor himself and his family were the occasion of vows,
prayers, or thanksgivings on the part of the Fratres; births, marriages,
successions