e is SAO = SERO, _to sow_. Saturn
is the god of planting and sowing.

3. OPS, goddess of the harvest.

4. MARS. Originally an agricultural god, dangerous to crops; afterwards
god of war.

5. SILVANUS, the wood god.

6. FAUNUS, an old Italian deity, the patron of agriculture.

7. TERMINUS, an old Italian deity, the guardian of limits and boundaries.

8. CERES, goddess of the cereal grasses.

9. LIBER, god of the vine, and of wine.

10. BONA DEA, the good goddess. The worship of the good goddess was
imported from Greece in later times; and perhaps its basis was the worship
of Demeter. The temple of the good goddess was on Mount Aventine. At her
feast on the 1st of May all suggestions of the male sex were banished from
the house; no wine must be drunk; the myrtle, as a symbol of love, was
removed. The idea of the feast was of a chaste marriage, as helping to
preserve the human race.

11. MAGNA MATER, or Cybele. This was a foreign worship, but early
introduced at Rome.

12. FLORA. She was an original goddess of Italy, presiding over flowers
and blossoms. Great license was practised at her worship.

13. VERTUMNUS, the god of gardens, was an old Italian deity, existing
before the foundation of Rome.

14. POMONA, goddess of the harvest.

18. PALES. A rural god, protecting cattle. At his feast men and cattle
were purified.

The Romans had many other deities, whose worship was more or less
popular. But those now mentioned were the principal ones. This list shows
that the powers of earth were more objects of reverence than the heavenly
bodies. The sun and stars attracted this agricultural people less than the
spring and summer, seedtime and harvest. Among the Italians the country
was before the city, and Rome was founded by country people.

Sec. 3. Worship and Ritual.

The Roman ceremonial worship was very elaborate and minute, applying to
every part of daily life. It consisted in sacrifices, prayers, festivals,
and the investigation by augurs and haruspices of the will of the gods and
the course of future events. The Romans accounted themselves an
exceedingly religious people, because their religion was so intimately
connected with the affairs of home and state.

The Romans distinguished carefully between things sacred and profane. This
word "profane" comes from the root "fari," _to speak_; because the gods
were supposed to speak to men by symbolic events. A _fane_ is a place thus
consecrated by some