ast, sprinkle
salted meal on its head, and strike it with an axe; one must stand
erect with hands raised to heaven, the abode of Jupiter, and
pronounce a sacred formula. If any part of the ceremonial fails, the
sacrifice is of no avail; the god, it is thought, will have no
pleasure in it. A magistrate may be celebrating games in honor of the
protecting deities of Rome; "if he alters a word in his formula, if a
flute-player rests, if the actor stops short, the games do not conform
to the rites; they must be recommenced."[112]

And so the prudent man secures the assistance of two priests, one to
pronounce the formula, the other to follow the ritual accurately.

Every year the Arval Brothers, a college of priests, assemble in a
temple in the environs of Rome where they perform a sacred dance and
recite a prayer; this is written in an archaic language which no one
any longer comprehends, so much so that at the beginning of the
ceremony a written formulary must be given to each of the priests. And
yet, ever since the time that they ceased to comprehend it, they
continued to chant it without change. This is because the Romans hold
before all to the letter of the law in dealing with their gods. This
exactness in performing the prescribed ritual is for them their
religion. And so they regarded themselves as "the most religious of
men." "On all other points we are the inferiors or only the equals of
other peoples, but we excel all in religion, that is, the worship we
pay the gods."

=Prayer.=--When the Roman prays, it is not to lift his soul and feel
himself in communion with a god, but to ask of him a service. He is
concerned, then, first to find the god who can render it. "It is as
important," says Varro, "to know what god can aid us in a special case
as to know where the carpenter and baker live." Thus one must address
Ceres if one wants rich harvests, Mercury to make a fortune, Neptune
to have a happy voyage. Then the suppliant dons the proper garments,
for the gods love neatness; he brings an offering, for the gods love
not that one should come with empty hands. Then, erect, the head
veiled, the worshipper invokes the god. But he does not know the exact
name of the god, for, say the Romans, "no one knows the true names of
the gods." He says, then, for example, "Jupiter, greatest and best, or
whatever is the name that thou preferrest...." Then he proposes his
request, taking care to use always the clearest expressions so