s under that of a
sword. It was later that they imitated the wooden statues of the
Etruscans and the marbles of the Greeks. Perhaps they did not at first
conceive of the gods as having human forms.

Unlike the Greeks they did not imagine marriage and kinship among
their gods; they had no legends to tell of these relationships; they
knew of no Olympus where the gods met together. The Latin language had
a very significant word for designating the gods: they were called
Manifestations. They were the manifestations of a mysterious divine
power. This is why they were formless, without family relationship,
without legends. Everything that was known of the gods was that each
controlled a natural force and could benefit or injure men.

=Principles of the Roman Religion.=--The Roman was no lover of these
pale and frigid abstractions; he even seemed to fear them. When he
invoked them, he covered his face, perhaps that he might not see them.
But he thought that they were potent and that they would render him
service, if he knew how to please them. "The man whom the gods favor,"
says Plautus, "they cause to gain wealth."

The Roman conceives of religion as an exchange of good offices; the
worshipper brings offerings and homage; the god in return confers some
advantage.[110] If after having made a present to the god the man
receives nothing, he considers himself cheated. During the illness of
Germanicus the people offered sacrifices for his restoration. When it
was announced that Germanicus was dead, the people in their anger
overturned the altars and cast the statues of the gods into the
streets, because they had not done what was expected of them. And so
in our day the Italian peasant abuses the saint who does not give him
what he asks.

=Worship.=--Worship, therefore, consists in doing those things that
please the gods. They are presented with fruits, milk, wine, or animal
sacrifices. Sometimes the statues of the gods are brought from their
temples, laid on couches, and served with a feast. As in Greece,
magnificent homes (temples[111]) were built for them, and diversions
were arranged for them.

=Formalism.=--But it is not enough that one make a costly offering to
the gods. The Roman gods are punctilious as to form; they require that
all the acts of worship, the sacrifices, games, dedications, shall
proceed according to the ancient rules (the rites). When one desires
to offer a victim to Jupiter, one must select a white be