In these modern times and in Christian countries, we are accustomed to
seeing religious matters take a more prominent place in the life of the
women than in that of the men. This is because our form of religion
concerns itself more with the emotions and with those subjects which
appeal to sentiment than it does with the practical affairs of life.
Wherever the details or the appliances of worship are brought into
intimate relation with the common occupations in which a people are
engaged, it at once becomes less peculiarly the province of women. For
instance, where there is union between Church and State, according to
the extent to which that union exists, and owing to the fact that women
are to a large extent shut out of the management of State affairs, the
Church more particularly engages the attention of the male portion of
the population. Also, where, as in Asia, an undertaking is supposed to
be liable to miscarriage unless entered into conformably with the
prevailing religious rites, men are less likely to be negligent in
paying their respects to the gods. When, as in mediæval Europe, every
phase of human activity was under the supervision of the Church, the
arts finding in it a large proportion of their subject matter, and
every transaction needing its sanction, woman's influence in religion
was much less predominant than it now is. All of which goes to show that
there is less of material self-seeking in feminine worship than in that
of men.
Never was the intimate relation between the material and the spiritual
more strongly accentuated than in ancient Rome. The acts of the gods and
goddesses were a part of the lives of the people. Nothing existed or
came to pass in State, society, or private life without its cause being
attributed to the supernatural. The consequence was that every Roman
citizen looked upon the worship of his deities as a practical duty, the
neglect of which entailed practical consequences. At the same time, the
possession by woman of an important place in religion was assured, not
only by her nature, but also by the fact that reverence for the
supernatural was conjoined with every phase of life. Worship was no less
a private interest than a public affair. It entered into everything.
Consequently, a woman's religious duties and privileges were exactly
coextensive with the activities of her life. According to Roman
theology, the supernatural world was the precise counterpart of the
natural world. Everything had its special deity. There were the powerful
gods and goddesses who presided over the national interests, over war
and peace, prosperity and chastisement, counsel and justice; there were
the divinities who were to be depended upon for the natural phenomena,
the seasons, the weather, germination, and harvest; there were also
minor spirits upon whose pleasure depended the success of every human
action.
According to the Roman conception, nothing took place without the
assistance of some special divinity whose province it was to further
that particular form of activity. It is said that Varro, at the close of
the era of the Republic, was able to enumerate thirty thousand of these
gods and goddesses. Roman life, public and private, was never for a
moment dissociated from religion. The Senate met for deliberation in the
temple of Jupiter; an important part of the general's duty on the
battlefield was to invoke the god of war; the infliction of punishment
on wrong-doers was a sacrifice to offended deity; all public
entertainments were held in honor of the gods; all the ordered events in
an individual's life were religious ceremonies; for even a family meal
was not supposed to be partaken of without a portion being set apart for
the household gods; and always on entering a house reverence was first
made to the Lares. Hence it necessarily followed that the part woman
took in religion was commensurate with her part in Roman life. It can
hardly be said that her position in this respect was a subordinate one.
If Mars, the god of battle, was the central object of Roman worship, an
equal devotion was paid to Vesta at the communal hearth which symbolized
the existence and the well-being of the city; and as it was more
particularly the province of men to invoke the warlike deity, so from
among the women, who were the home-keepers, were selected the honored
guardians of the sacred fire. It is also important to observe another
fact. Though there were priests appointed to conduct the ceremonies of
public worship, they were in no sense intermediaries. Every suppliant
addressed himself directly to the divinity. He might consider it to his
advantage to consult the professional men, who were skilled in the
knowledge of how most persuasively to approach the gods; but the act of
intercession was each person's own affair, and did not need the
intervention of a proxy. Therefore, the women were as free to address
the gods as were the men; and, in fact, in the many matters which
concerned their sex particularly, and in other things in which it
seemed fitting, they alone could properly do so.
Bespeaking the favor of a particular deity consisted in paying that god
more or less extra attention; generally it was a very simple process.
There is in existence a painting, found at Rome, which represents two
women offering incense to Mars, their husbands probably being absent
with the army. Each of these matrons has brought a portable altar, and
into the rising flames, before a small figure of the deity, they are
dropping the fragrant oblation. This sacrifice may have taken place in
the open air; probably in the Forum. Thus easy was it for women to pay
their devotions and to invoke protection for those in whose welfare they
were interested. The practical Romans looked upon their relations to the
deities as partaking somewhat of the nature of commerce; for a certain
amount of attention they were justified in expecting a corresponding
amount of protection. They even practised what might truly be called
pious frauds upon the powers whom they worshipped. In certain cases, it
seemed to them that, inasmuch as the gods could not make use of the
reality, an inexpensive substitute might well take its place. For
instance, it is a relief to know that the yearly sacrifice of men which
the Vestals made to Father Tiber from the Sublician Bridge had nothing
in it more human than representations of men made out of osiers; but
when we read of the heads of poppies and even onions being presented to
Jupiter, in order that he might practise his thunderbolts upon them,
instead of upon the heads of the citizens, the instinct of
self-preservation is more apparent than is the reasoning faculty which
they attributed to the god. The Romans studied economy in their
religion. Their meat offerings constituted the family meal; and a pig
seemed to them the more proper object to sacrifice to the gods, in that
its flesh was a favorite article of diet with themselves.
In many instances, the Romans committed, as they believed, the fortunes
of the State to the religious zeal of the women. There were several
divine protectresses whose worship was the exclusive duty of the gentler
sex. The most important of all was Vesta; to permit her sacred flame to
expire was one of the greatest of public calamities. The fact that these
offices held by women were looked upon by the Romans as of exceeding
importance could but reflect a dignity upon womanhood and enhance the
respect in which the sex was held. In fact, though women held no
recognized place in civil and State affairs, in religion they attained
much nearer to equal rights with the men. If a man were a priest, his
wife was a priestess. So firmly did women assert the authority gained
through possession of religious office, that in the reign of Tiberius it
was deemed necessary to pass a law that in things sacred the priestess
of Jupiter should be subject to her husband.
One of the most interesting features of Roman religion was the worship
of Vesta and the institution of an order of virgins devoted to her
service. Nothing more clearly illustrates than this the fact that Roman
religion was suggested by racial customs. A study of the earliest
history of the Aryan race shows that during the migrations of the tribes
it would naturally fall to the duty of the young girls to kindle the
camp fire whenever their people stopped to rest; and as the primitive
method of procuring fire by rubbing together dry sticks rendered this no
easy matter, it was important to preserve the flame when once it was
produced. Then, too, the camp fire signified much; it stood for comfort,
sustenance, health, family, and social community; it was either the
source or the representation of the best in primeval life. The bright
flame was to the tribesmen a beneficent deity, a goddess, of course;
for by it the work of women was especially furthered--a chastity-loving
goddess, for what so pure as fire? Hence the idea that virgins, such as
those who enkindle the useful flame, should attend the communal hearth
consecrated to the honor of the divinity and symbolical of the life of
the tribe.
Numa Pompilius, the second of Rome's legendary kings, is said, as
already mentioned, to have instituted the college of the Vestal Virgins
and to have formulated the rules of the life to which they were bound.
It seems probable, however, that the order was more ancient than even
the city itself; reaching back, as has been indicated, to the
prehistoric time when the ancestors of the Latin tribes migrated from
the common Aryan home. At first the Roman Vestals were four in number,
two for each of the original Roman tribes, the Ramnes and the Tities;
after the addition of the Luceres, the number was increased to six.
Maidens were made Vestals when between six and ten years of age.
Whenever a vacancy occurred, the chief pontiff chose twenty girls from
the patrician order, care being taken to select only those who were in
perfect health, free from the least physical blemish, and showing
promise of future beauty. Then the casting of lots was resorted to, in
order that the goddess herself might have an opportunity to designate
which of the number should be selected as her priestess. The maiden to
whom fell this fortune gave her right hand to the pontiff, who said: "I
take thee; thou shalt be priestess of Vesta, and shalt perform the
sacred rites for the safety of the Roman people." Then the girl was
conducted to the house of the sacred virgins, who cut off her hair and
clothed her in the white robes of the order. The ceremony in many
respects corresponded to that of the modern nun in taking the veil. The
term of consecration was thirty years, thus giving the votaries ten
years in which to learn their duties, ten for the practice of them as
serving members, and ten in which they governed the order and enjoyed
the highest honors in its gift. After thirty years, the Vestals were at
liberty to return to their families, or to marry, if they so desired;
but advantage was rarely taken of this permission, they preferring the
service of the goddess to whom they had vowed their virginity.
The principal duty of the Vestals was to preserve the fire which burned
day and night on the altar of their divinity. If through rare mischance
it became extinguished, it was the rule that the sacred flame might only
be rekindled by rubbing together pieces of wood from a particular tree
which was resorted to with great and solemn ceremony. Later, however,
there was adopted the method of concentrating the rays of the sun in a
vase of burnished metal. The Vestals had other important functions,
chief of which were the offering of certain sacrifices and the
protection of records and important documents as well as of the
venerable relics of the city. These were preserved in the most secret
part of the temple; and among them were the fetiches which were said to
have been brought to Troy by Dardanus, and from Troy to Italy by Æneas.
These were believed by the Romans to be the guaranties for the existence
of the Empire. No one but the Chief Vestal was permitted to enter the
inner sanctuary, where they were kept. It is no wonder that, as the
functions committed to their charge were believed to be fraught with
such tremendous import to the State, to these priestesses was paid a
respect as great if not greater than any Roman official might claim.
They were most carefully guarded against insult or offence, anyone
offering such being punished with death. Whenever a Vestal appeared in
public, she was preceded by a lictor, before whom everyone made way,
even the highest officer of the State. The fasces were always lowered in
her presence. She was free from that guardianship by male relatives to
which all other Roman women were subject. Consequently, a Vestal not
only could receive legacies, but also enjoyed an untrammelled right in
the disposal of her property. In a court of justice she could make a
deposition without being required to take the oath. At all public games
and religious banquets she had the seat of honor. If a criminal, even on
the way to execution, met her by accident in the street, he was
immediately set free.
On the other hand, if their privileges were great, the discipline was
severe. If they transgressed the minor rules of the order, chastisement
was administered by the Chief Vestal. If she herself were the offender,
or if the offence were something of so serious a nature as permitting
the extinction of the sacred fire, the delinquent maiden was stripped
and then scourged by the chief pontiff in the gloom of a darkened room.
If a Vestal broke her vow of chastity, a horrible death awaited her. In
a place called _campus sceleratus_--the accursed field--an underground
chamber was prepared. This chamber was carefully furnished with a bed, a
lamp, a small quantity of oil, bread, water, and milk. The victim was
placed upon a bier and borne with funeral pomp to the place of doom.
There, in the presence of the multitude, after the priest had uttered
certain prayers, the Vestal descended into her living tomb. The vault
was quickly covered, and then roofed with brick; the earth was replaced
and carefully levelled; thus all traces of the death chamber were
obliterated, and the unfortunate victim was left to her fate. The
witnesses of the execution turned away from the spot in the belief that
the death of the criminal would avert dire evils from themselves and
their families.
Though it may be they are not sufficiently well attested to preclude the
doubt that the innocent were sometimes sacrificed, it is interesting to
note that there are occasions on record when Vesta came to the rescue of
her servants. Dionysius relates how, when Æmilia was about to be
punished for intrusting the sacred fire to a novice, who let it go out,
the Vestal, having first prayed to the goddess, tore a strip from her
robe and cast it upon the ashes, when the fire immediately blazed up.
Tuccia, who was accused of violating her vow of continence, appealed to
the goddess and said: "O Vesta, if I have ever approached thee with
clean hands, grant me a sign to prove my innocence." Then, as though by
inspiration, she took a sieve, and going to the Tiber brought it back
full of water, thus showing that miracles are never lacking in any
religion when its votaries in after ages have sufficient faith to
believe in them. This occurrence was made the subject of the engraving
on the seal of the order, a specimen of which has been preserved to the
present time. In the fourth century before Christ, Postumia was charged
with a like offence. She succeeded in proving her innocence without
summoning the gods as witnesses; but the chief pontiff, "by the
instruction of the college, commanded her to refrain from indiscreet
mirth, and to dress with more regard to sanctity than elegance."
The temple of Vesta stood at the east end of the Forum, the site being
well authenticated by the ruins which remain. Tradition held that the
first temple was built by Numa; this was destroyed in B.C. 390, when the
city was burned by the Gauls. It was afterward rebuilt no less than four
times, always on the exact site, the same form and size being adhered
to. It was small and circular in shape, the domed roof being supported
on columns which surrounded the inner wall. In the interior was the
low, round altar where burned continually the sacred fire, to the care
of which the virgin priestesses were devoted. The house in which the
Vestals resided stood behind the temple, toward the Palatine hill. A few
years ago, excavations were made in the accumulated soil at the foot of
the hill, and a rich reward was gained in the discovery of this house,
in a remarkably fine state of preservation. It has the large atrium,
common to ancient Roman houses, and into which the rooms open from all
sides. The stairs remain, and many of the rooms on the upper floor are
still intact. That the Vestals lived in luxurious style is attested by
the richness of the decorations and by the remains of bathrooms and
hot-air flues. The latter were used for heating Roman buildings from a
furnace, very much in the same manner as the method to which we are
accustomed. That which interests us far more than anything else about
this house, however, is the fact that there were found in it a large
number of statues representing the Vestals themselves. Each statue
originally stood upon a pedestal bearing the name and a dedicatory
inscription. Presumably, the faces and the figures do not flatter the
sacred maidens, for they are neither beautiful nor graceful; but they
give us their names, and, what is perhaps of still greater interest,
they represent the Vestal dress. This consisted of a long gown, with a
cord around the waist, knotted in front. Over this there is a large
mantle, so arranged as to be drawn over the head like a hood; this falls
in great folds, with heavy tassels at the corners. Around the head is
the characteristic diadem-like band of wool which always distinguished
the Vestals, and was to them what the veil is to a nun. The feet are
covered with boots of some soft material. The inscriptions on the
pedestals are dated, the latest date being that of A.D. 364. This
pedestal is particularly interesting because of the fact that the
Vestal's name has been defaced, not, however, by an act of purposeless
vandalism. It was evidently done with deliberate intent to obliterate
the name; for the initial "C" has been left, in order that, though she
were disowned, the identity of the offending virgin might not be
forgotten. She was Claudia, who became a convert to the Christian faith.
The glorification of virginity in the Vestal order must have helped to
sustain the high moral tone which prevailed among the women of early
Rome. They constantly beheld, in the very centre of the civic life, a
group of maidens who held a position of surpassing honor as a reward for
absolute purity of character. Although celibacy was not esteemed for its
own sake, nor in any instance save that of the votaries of Vesta and
Ceres, in them it could but be effective as an example of virtue. And
when to the sanctity essential to the office was added the personal
reputation of those virgins whose fame for holiness was augmented by
many years of devotion, the influence must have been all in favor of
good morals. What need, it may pertinently be asked, had the Roman women
to worship at the shrine of the goddess of chastity, when they had
Occia, who, as Tacitus informs us, presided over the Vestals for
fifty-seven years with the greatest sanctity? That such an example was
not more effective than it really was must be attributed to the fact
that the maids and matrons of Rome considered, as is quite consistent
with human wont in all times, that the supererogatory virtue of the
Vestals atoned for any deficiencies in their own. It may be that this
attribution of a vicarious character thereto partly accounts for the
high valuation set upon Vestal virginity. And though a time came when an
untarnished reputation was contentedly dispensed with elsewhere, it was
still rigidly demanded in the house of Vesta.
Yet, despite all this care, the order was not entirely immune from the
counteracting influence of the times. As Roman morals relaxed, it became
a less infrequent thing for scandals derogatory to the reputation of the
Vestals to be whispered through the city. Toward the close of the
Republic, an intrigue with one of these maidens was considered by the
young nobility as all the more attractive on account of the difficulty
and danger accompanying it; and there is evidence to support the belief
that the attempt was not always unsuccessful. When Rome became infected
with the turpitude which marked its decadence, the college of Vesta did
not escape. There were occasions, however, down to the latest pagan
times, when the priestesses were violently brought to a consciousness of
the requirements of their office; as when Domitian severely punished
them for delinquencies which, strange to say, had been overlooked by
Vespasian and Titus.
Another cult closely affecting the feminine portion of Roman society was
the worship of Ceres, one of the twelve great deities of the Capitol.
She was the goddess of corn and the harvest, the mythical daughter of
Saturn and Vesta, and, like her divine mother, demanded a virgin
priestess; and the women who were devoted to her service enjoyed
privileges almost equal to those of the Vestals. The Romans paid her
great adoration, and her festival, lasting eight days, was celebrated by
the matrons every year during the month of April. They bore lighted
torches, in commemoration of the myth which describes the goddess as
lighting torches at the flames of Mount Ætna, to go in search of
Proserpine, her daughter, who had been carried off by Pluto. It was
required of all the matrons who took part in her mysteries that they
should undergo an initiation; to attend the festival without first being
initiated was punishable with death.
As the Roman women worshipped Vesta and Ceres, so they also paid
reverence to Bona Dea, the good goddess, who blessed matrimonial unions
with fruitfulness. In her character, as conceived in the earliest times,
was exemplified that chastity which at first was estimated so highly and
later abandoned so lightly. The myth regarding her states that, after
her marriage, she was seen by no man except her husband. In allusion to
this, her festival was celebrated at night by the Roman matrons, in the
houses of the highest officers of the State. On such occasions, the man
of the house left his abode in the evening, and with him was sent forth
every male creature. All the statues of men that were in the house were
carefully veiled, and for that night the women were in sole possession.
As to the nature of the ceremonies, we have no very definite
information; for, though they were not always safe from male intrusion,
the matrons seem at least to have succeeded well in preserving the
secret of their mysteries; but, as the Roman method of doing honor to
the gods always included entertainment for the worshippers, we may take
it for granted that the festival of Bona Dea consisted principally of
banqueting, music, and games. It is alleged, however, that in later
times these developed into practices far less innocent.
Juvenal says: "The secrets of Bona Dea are well known. When the music
excites them and they are inflamed with it and the wine, these Mænads of
Priapus rush wildly around, and whirl their locks and howl." Then he
goes on to accuse the participators in these celebrations of the most
depraved excesses. But Juvenal's shafts of satire are not so greatly
characterized by the sharpness of their point as by the force with which
they are launched; and it is very apparent that, in order to make his
invectives tell, he never hesitated in resorting to exaggeration. While
all authorities agree that the rites employed in the worship of Bona Dea
were accompanied in later times by unlicensed conduct on the part of the
matrons, history gives no very conclusive proof of the veracity of the
accusation. There is the intrusion of Clodius in the house of Julius
Cæsar on such an occasion; but to cite this as evidence does not
materially substantiate the charge, for the only woman who seemed
willing to consent to his presence was Pompeia, and she did not have an
opportunity to meet him, as the others very promptly drove him from the
house.
The continual degeneration of Roman morals will compel us later on to
depict a social life in which there is little to relieve the monotony of
misconduct; hence it is only giving the Roman woman the full advantage
of everything that may be said in her favor, if we glance back at an
incident which happened in the times when virtuous matrons were still
the rule and not the exception. In B.C. 295, the Senate, in order to
avert evils predicted by the omens, decreed that two days should be
spent in religious devotions. Livy relates that at this time a
disagreement arose among the matrons who were worshipping at the Temple
of Patrician Chastity. It is illustrative of the fact that it is
difficult for women--though possibly the criticism should not be
confined to their sex--to be faultless in essentials without being
censorious in indifferent matters. We will allow the Roman historian to
tell the story in his own fashion. "Virginia, daughter of Aulus, a
patrician, but married to Volumnius the consul, a plebeian, was excluded
by the other matrons from sharing in the sacred rites, because she had
married out of the patrician order. A short altercation ensued, which
was afterward, through the intemperance of passion incident to the sex,
kindled into a flame of contention. Virginia boasted with truth that
she had a right to enter the Temple of Patrician Chastity, as being of
patrician birth and chaste in her character, and, besides, the wife of
one husband, to whom she was betrothed a virgin, and, moreover, she had
no reason to be dissatisfied either with her husband, his exploits, or
his honors. To her high-spirited words she added importance by an
extraordinary act. She enclosed with a partition a part of her house, of
a size sufficient for a small shrine, and there erected an altar. Then,
calling together the plebeian matrons, and complaining of the injurious
behavior of the patrician ladies, she said: 'This altar I dedicate to
Plebeian Chastity, and exhort you that the same degree of emulation
which prevails among the men of the State on the point of valor may be
maintained by the women on the point of virtue; and that you contribute
your best care that this altar may have the credit of being attended
with a greater degree of sanctity and by chaster women than the other,
if possible.' Solemn rites were performed at this altar under almost the
same regulations as those of the more ancient one, no person being
allowed the privilege of taking part in the sacrifices unless a woman of
approved chastity, and who was the wife of one husband."
Livy goes on to relate that the plebeian shrine did not maintain the
high standard set by its founder; for it afterward received women who
were very far from living up to the rules originally laid down. It
eventually passed out of existence; but that the patrician temple of
chastity stood as a rebuke to the license of later generations is shown
by Juvenal when he says: "With what sort of scorn Tullia snuffs the air
when she passes the ancient altar of chastity."
The piety of the Roman women added many to the great number of temples
erected for the worship of the gods, and sacred edifices consecrated to
goddesses were numerous. Sometimes temples were built by the State for
the especial use of women. After the wrath of Coriolanus was appeased by
women's instrumentality, the Temple of Female Fortune was presented to
them as a reward. Another temple was consecrated to _Fortuna virilis_.
The function of this goddess at first was to preserve to wives the
affections of their husbands; but, as times changed, the divinity also
forfeited her former good character, and degenerated into a patroness of
the most unprincipled coquettes. This temple is one of the ancient
edifices which have been preserved and turned to modern uses; for over a
thousand years it has served as a Christian church, under the name of
Saint Mary of Egypt. It belongs to Armenians of the Roman Catholic faith
who reside in Rome; and the thought suggests itself that that
vicissitude is not entirely inappropriate which has brought to pass that
the temple, where ancient courtesans sought the aid of the goddess of
chance, is now dedicated to Mary, the famous penitent of Egypt.
It was customary in imperial Rome for temples to be erected in honor of
the emperors, but the memory of only one woman was ever thus celebrated;
and in this case the devotion of the husband, rather than worthiness on
the part of his wife, is indicated. This was the temple of Faustina,
built after her death by the noble Antoninus Pius. If the historians of
the time can be relied upon in the matter, there were no qualities in
Faustina save her beauty which her imperial husband could justly
commemorate. But Antoninus thought differently; and, in the history of
the emperors, there is certainly nothing so affecting as the sanctity in
which, to the day of his death, he held her memory. However faulty
Faustina may have been, surely she was as worthy of being deified as
most of the emperors who received that honor. This, undoubtedly, was
the thought of her husband, who was too much of a philosopher to believe
seriously in any of the Roman deities, human or supernatural. He simply
adopted the popular method in his desire to pay the highest honor
possible to his wife. This temple, parts of which still remain, was also
used as a church during the Middle Ages; but its chief interest at the
present day is found in the numerous ancient scribblings that have been
discovered upon its columns and their bases.
During the earlier years of the Republic, religion had an extremely good
effect upon the morals of the people. Men dared not invoke the aid of
Jove in an unjust cause; women could hope for favors at the hands of
Vesta, Ceres, or Bona Dea only by pledging the rectitude of their
conduct. But as the people lived continually in the fear of the gods,
their religion was more effective as a police institution than it was
productive as a source of comfort. As is inevitable with all religions,
the spirit demanded new forms before the people became conscious that
the old were outgrown; and the time came when Roman worship became
nothing more than tiresome, uninteresting ceremonies, which were
conducted with incredibly slavish care respecting niceties of ritual.
This ceased to appeal to the heart, and could no longer commend itself
convincingly to the mind. Hence, when foreign deities and new forms of
worship came to Rome in the triumphal processions of the victorious
generals, the people were ready to receive them with that hope which
always welcomes untried possibilities.
A new deity ushered into their well-filled pantheon always seemed to the
Romans a valuable acquisition. A god in Rome was a god for Rome; and to
extend cordial hospitality to all known divinities was a part of the
national policy. As the conquering armies carried the fame of Rome
further in the world, the women at home had an ever-widening range of
divinities at whose altars they might make supplication for the success
of the warriors. The city at last became as cosmopolitan in its pantheon
as in its population. If the matrons tired of, or were disappointed
with, time-honored Vesta and Ceres, they might turn to the
passion-exciting rites of the Syrian Astarte, to the weird ceremonies of
the Phrygian Cybele, or to the more intellectual mysteries of the
Egyptian Isis. When Veii was captured, the most highly valued spoil was
the statue of Matuta; and as fortune had forsaken the city, the goddess
seemed content to depart with it. So at least the Romans believed; for
they asserted that when the deity was asked if she were willing to take
up her abode at Rome, she assented with a perceptible nod of the head.
This was considered a piece of good fortune of almost equal worth with
the gain of the city. The worship of Matuta being more peculiarly the
function of the women, the fact that they outdid the men in their
rejoicing is thus accounted for, history informing us that they crowded
the temples to give thanks even before the people were ordered to do so
by the Senate. Only married women, and of these only the freeborn, were
allowed in the temple of Matuta, except when they carried thither their
children for the blessing of the goddess.
But the first marked deterioration of the ancient Roman worship through
the influence of foreign rites occurred with the advent of the Idæan
Mother. In B.C. 203, the Romans, at the command of the Sybilline
oracles, sent to Asia Minor for the famous Phrygian deity Cybele, the
mythical mother of the gods. The Senate was required to appoint the most
virtuous man in the Republic to the duty of receiving the image of the
goddess. This honor was awarded to Publius Scipio; but it was reserved
to a matron to derive from the incident a more lasting fame and a
greater present advantage. The women of Rome went to Ostia to escort the
deity to the city. The legend narrates that the vessel bearing the image
ran upon a shoal at the mouth of the Tiber, and all efforts to get it
off proved ineffectual. One of the noblest of the matrons present was
Claudia Quinta. Whether justly or otherwise, this lady had been brought
under suspicion in regard to her conduct. Seeing in the predicament of
the goddess a grand opportunity, she adventured her reputation upon a
daring chance for vindication. Making her way to the side of the vessel,
it being close to the bank, she supplicated the divine mother to bear
witness to her virtue by following the persuasion of her chaste hands.
Then she fastened her girdle to the prow of the boat, and, to the wonder
of all and to the overthrow of her slanderers, the vessel easily yielded
to her slight exertion. As a proof of the truth of this, following
generations could point to the statue of Claudia which the men of the
time erected at the door of the temple of Cybele.
Victor Duruy, commenting on the change wrought by these new divinities,
says, "they gave a new cast to the religious convictions of people to
whom a very crude form of worship had so long sufficed. Born in the
scorching East, these deities required savage rites and pious orgies.
Dramatic spectacles, intoxicating ceremonies, affected violently the
dull Roman mind, and excited religious frenzy; for the first time the
Roman felt those transports which, according to the character of the
doctrine and the condition of the mind, produce effects diametrically
opposite,--absolute purity of life, or the excess of debauchery
sanctified by religious belief." Lucretius bears testimony to the truth
of this in the vivid picture he draws of the extravagancies which
characterized the festival of Cybele. He describes her attendants in
their pageants through the streets, dancing with ropes, leaping about to
the sound of horrid music, while blood streams from their self-inflicted
wounds. How this affected the women may be gathered from Juvenal, who
pictures this furious chorus entering a house, and the priest
threatening the matron with coming disasters, which she willingly seeks
to avert with costly offerings. In another place he refers to the temple
of "the imported mother of the gods" as being frequented by the
abandoned women, who took part in the orgies performed in her honor.
That the women were more addicted than the men to the worship of foreign
deities is perhaps suggested by a passage in Tibullus. The poet is away
from Rome, and sick. He complains: "There is no Delia here, who, when
she was about to let me go from the city, first consulted all the
gods.... Everything prognosticated my return, yet nothing could hinder
her from weeping and turning to look after me as I went.... What does
your Isis for me now, Delia? What avail me those brazen sistra of hers
so often shaken by your hand? Now, goddess, succor me; for that man may
be healed by thee is proved by many a picture in thy temples. Let my
Delia, dressed in linen, sit before thy sacred doors, performing vigils
vowed for me; and twice a day, with hair unbound, let her recite thy due
praises. But be it my lot to celebrate my native Penates, and to offer
monthly incense to my ancient Lar."
But the most injurious of all the foreign superstitions was the
Bacchanalian cult, which was introduced into Rome during the second
century before Christ by a lowborn Greek from Etruria. He professed
himself to be a priest in charge of secret nocturnal rites. By appealing
to the very worst propensities of which human nature is capable, he
soon gathered around him a large following of men and women, and these
included representatives of the noblest families. They engaged in
certain religious performances; but the chief attraction was an
unrestrained indulgence in wine, feasting, and passion. Naturally, this
organization also became a hotbed for every sort of crime, including
murder and conspiracy. Owing to the pledge of secrecy extorted from the
initiates, the contagion had spread to a prodigious extent before it
came to the notice of the Senate. In the manner of its discovery, we
have an interesting drama which throws light, not only upon the matter
itself, but also reveals somewhat of the position of a certain class of
Roman women, of which history takes little personal account.
Publius Æbutius was a young man of knightly rank, whose father was dead
and whose mother, Duronia, had married again. His stepfather, having
abused the property of Æbutius, and being unwilling to give an account,
conspired with the unnatural mother so to manage that her son would not
be in a position to demand an accounting. They agreed that the
Bacchanalian rites were the only way to effect the ruin of the young
man. Accordingly, his mother informed him that during his sickness she
had vowed that, if through the kindness of the gods he should recover,
she would initiate him into the rites of the Bacchanalians. She
instructed him for ten days how to prepare himself, and promised that on
the tenth she would conduct him to the place of meeting. The youth very
innocently agreed to this, thinking that it was only the due of the gods
by whose favor he enjoyed his restored health. All would have gone as
his mother desired, had it not been for the fact that he had formed a
strong attachment for a courtesan named Hispala Fecenia. This young
freedwoman was of a character far superior to the mode of life into
which she had been forced while still a slave. Hispala knew more of the
world than did Æbutius; and when he informed her that he was about to be
initiated into the rites of the Bacchanalians, she declared that it
would be better for him and also for her to lose their lives than that
he should do such a thing. She told him that when she was a slave she
had been taken to those rites by her mistress, though since her
emancipation she had been exceedingly careful to avoid the place. She
said that she knew it to be the haunt of all kinds of debauchery. Before
they parted, the young man gave her his solemn promise that he would
keep clear of those rites. The result of his adherence to this was that
his mother and stepfather drove him from home, and he was goaded into
telling the whole affair to the Consul Postumius, after first taking
counsel with his aunt Æbutia.
After certain inquiries, Hispala was brought into the presence of the
consul, to whom she gave a full account of the origin of the mysteries.
She said that, at first, the rites were performed only by women. No man
was admitted. At that time, they had three stated days in the year on
which persons were initiated, but only in the daytime. The matrons then
used to be appointed priestesses in rotation. Paculla Minia, a
Campanian, when priestess, rearranged the whole system, alleging that
she did so by the direction of the gods. She introduced men, the first
being her own sons; she changed the time of celebration from day to
night; and instead of three days in the year, appointed five days in
each month for initiation. From the time that the rites were made thus
common, and the licentious freedom of the night was added, there was
nothing wicked, nothing flagitious, that had not been practised among
them. To think nothing unlawful was the grand maxim of their religion.
After Hispala had made this revelation, Postumius proceeded to lay the
whole matter before the Senate. A vigorous prosecution of the
Bacchanalians ensued; and it was found that over seven thousand men and
women had taken the oath of the association, thus proving that the rapid
growth of a religion gives no assurance of the truth of its doctrines or
the purity of its principles. Those who were found to be most deeply
stained by evil practices were put to death; many put an end to
themselves, so as to avoid punishment at the hands of the authorities;
the others were imprisoned. The women who were condemned were delivered
to their relations, or to those under whose guardianship they were, to
be punished in private; but if there did not appear any proper person of
the kind to execute the sentence, the punishment was nevertheless
inflicted, but in private and by a person appointed by the court.
The Senate also passed a vote, on the suggestion of the Consul
Postumius, that the city quæstors should give to both Æbutius and
Hispala a certain goodly sum of money out of the public treasury, as a
reward for discovering the iniquitous Bacchanalian ceremonies. Æbutius
was exempted from compulsory service in the army; and to Hispala it was
granted that she should enjoy the unique privileges of disposing in any
way she chose of her property; that she should be at liberty to wed a
man of honorable birth, and that there should be no disgrace to him who
should marry her; and that it should be the business of the consuls then
in office, and of their successors, to take care that no injury should
ever be offered to her.
Though the Bacchanalian abuses were thus strenuously dealt with by the
Roman authorities, this and other like parasitical growths which
fastened themselves upon the religious instincts of the people were not
to be shaken off. Among the many noxious developments that crept over
and eventually choked the life out of the sturdy ancient stock, we find
every vicious substitute for religion known to the ante-Christian world.
During the decadence of Rome, the ancient national religion became
disintegrated and almost wholly superseded. Many of the empresses
patronized the foreign orgiastic cults; and, taking the many-sided
development of Roman religion as a whole, the strange spectacle is
presented of a remarkable improvement in philosophy accompanying a great
deterioration in morals. On the one hand, there were those who were
struggling to a conception of the transcendental nature of the deity and
the unity of nature; on the other hand were those who were doing in the
name of the gods everything that is considered unworthy of humanity. And
in all the evil fructification of base conceptions of religion, as well
as in the knowledge of the higher philosophy, woman had her full share.
No Roman woman was irreligious, however great the obliquity of her moral
character, though sometimes her piety took a form so bizarre that the
fact outruns imagination. Agrippina the Younger, for an example, was
created priestess to the deified Claudius, whom she had cajoled into
marrying her despite the fact that he was her uncle.
It must not be imagined, however, that because Roman religion developed
these excesses through the infusion of Oriental superstitions, it came
to be devoid of those uplifting influences which are the province of
faith in the divine. There were never wanting those who, loving the
good, the beautiful, and the true, supported their aspirations by their
belief in the providence of deity; and the doctrine of a future life,
though held only with much vacillation by the philosophers, was
continually resorted to for comfort by the multitude. How widespread
were these ideas, and how greatly similar to our own were the thoughts
of those ancient Romans, are matters lost sight of by people who need no
further reason for dismissing a religion from their consideration than
the mere fact that it is pagan. Plutarch, who defended the dogma of the
unity of God, of His providence, and of the immortality of the soul,
wrote to his wife: "You know that there are those who persuade the
multitude that the soul, when once freed from the body, suffers no
inconvenience nor evil." The more positive, though less philosophical,
faith of the people is illustrated by the words a mother carved upon the
sepulchre of her child: "We are afflicted by a cruel wound; but thou,
renewed in thy existence, livest in the Elysian fields. The gods order
that he who has deserved the light of day should return under another
form; this is a reward which thy goodness has gained thee. Now, in a
flowery mead, the blessed, marked with the sacred seal, admit thee to
the flock of Bacchus, where the Naiades, who bear the sacred baskets,
claim thee as their companion in leading the solemn processions by the
light of the torches." Except for somewhat of the imagery, and the pagan
names, this woman's faith might easily be accepted as Christian.