The evening telegraph. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1864-1918, 1869-02-16
TIE ANCIENT CITY.

was, more strictly even than with the Hindoo
Of the present day, also an act Of religious
worship. Society was a confederation Of
families, each family being under the absO-
lnte jurisdiction OF q patriarch, or pdter, who
was both king and priest in his own family.
Every family had its own gods, its own
Dn Names (Iheoi phthenioi muchioD, the souls
and tombs of its own ancestors, its own
hearth h-worship-almost everything belong
ing to the family was protected by religious
sAhotity. The house was temple, its hearth
was sacred the threshold was sacred, the walls
were sacred, the very boundary-stones were
sacred, and in later times became dtvinitles'
Every meal was partaken of as sacred rlte;
marriage was q sacred rite, which required ior
celebration no holier place of worship than
the house itself, aud no priests OF greateE
sAnctitv than the fathers OF each household.
Eaoh family, however, was divided into TWO
aastes-the patricians, the eiPaTIdeS, anu tno
alients (tbe Thetcs), formed of the descendants
of the domest and slaves OF the fanny. ~
Athens the client caste disappeared under tnS
leoislation of SolOD; but at Rome, as ls wen
kn5wn. they remained mp TO later period.
The multiplication OF families IN the course OF
generations produced the gems (genoS), each
member of which worshipped the same com
mon ancestor of the gems. Hence IL was that
females who married out OF one gems
into another no longer formed portion
Of the former, ana u6lLLSl bLO hOA AAOA
descendants could inherit FROM her own ances-
tral family - since she was initiated into
another family worship, the preservation OF
which was the chief care OF primitive leglsla-
ton, and it was inconceivable that any one
could inherit from gems who was not bound
TO maintain its family worship. The gems
might thus in the course of ages comprise
many thousands OF individuals, not yet suih-
cient to form a State, When, however, the
GkokA Hrst oil va
there was an immense obstacle. How could
families form any union who worshipped
as chief deity of their race different diVini-
ties for the very presence of stranger
was a PROCLAMATION OF the household hearth
Of the household gods The difficulty
vas avoided by the choice of divinity who
could be worshipped alike by all the families
joining in a confederation, with fresh set OF
rites not interfering with, but in addition to,
the domestic rites of the household divinites.
This confederation was the cUria or phratriG,
and it's religious worship was modelled pre-
aisely after the fashion of the old domestic re-
leion. The curia or phrdtria, brotherhood
(Sanscrit, brdtaar, frater), lad its protecting
deity, and the chief religious rite was that OF
eating meal prepared in common on Tue
altar Of the god. The considerations Of the
phrqtriG were further similarly confederated
anew In the tribe. That which had been
done for the tribe could be done by further
confederation to form city; and new deity
could be selected for the city, and rites insti-
tinted in which all the tribes might Join.
Thus, the whole State was knit together in
eOmpact organism by the bonds of religious
rites and common presiding deities. The bond
of union between members of the same city
was worship Of the same city god, IheoS poll
els--the bond of union between members of
the same tribe was worship of the same tribe
god, Ihe0S phulioS-the bond Of union between
members OF the same phrGtriG was worship
of the same IheOS phrdtriOS, JHRO CUriG!SS-the
bond of union between members of the same
family was worship of the same family gods,
1keoi patro3i, DH geatiles-and in public life,
as in private life, every act was performed
under religious auspices, aud its magistrates
were all priests.
The city being thus constituted under Iel-
gious auspices the next thing to do was TO
found the toIca for its habitation--for no act,
public or private, could be conceived as law
ful without religious COnseCratiOn-nO town
could be formed, as modern towns have been
founded, by casual aggOmeration OF chance
0omeTs. All the records which tell US of the
founding of Greek and Roman cities prove that
the foundation of city was the result OF pre-
ViOus design and confederation, performed at
place and on day determined by the CON
sultation of religious auspices.
The day OF the foundation wac known in
every city, and was kept as a sacred festival;
and during the brief existence of 8 Roman
republic in 1849, they celebrated the f5te Of
the foundation of the city of Rome. Whether
the story Of Romulus be true or not, the
account Of the rites performed at the founding
OF the city of Rome must have been in har-
mony with those which were generally prac-
tised on such occasions. After Etruscan fashion,
Romulus consulted the auguries in the fight of
blrds-he offered saoriice-he and his asso-
olates lit q tire Of brushwood, and leaped across
the purifying flames, to intimate that the people
OF The new city must be pure. ROmulus, with
his head yelled and in sarcerdotai costume,
chanting prayer, traced tho limits Of the
oity with plough, and this furrOw was
sacred, just as the walls of house were
sacred. Remus, the story is, leaped in deri-
sion across the sacred furrow. He had thus
committed an impious act; he had profaned
the city at the very moment of its birth and
it could only be purified by the blood OF the
offender. The walls, indeed, of the city were
considered go sacred that no one had right
even to touch them without the permission of
the pontif; hencs the pomarium, the sacred
space on each side, which no plough might
pass over and no editce prOfane.
30 impossible, indeed, was IL considered TO
found aeiy without the proper religious rites,
that, according to Paussnias, the Messenian5,
when brought back into their country by
Bpaminondas to found city, were in despair
how to begin it, having forgotten their here
ditary rites of foundation, until q Messeniau
opportunity had q revelation by dream OF an
urn buried on the new site, containing plates
Of metal on which the whole ritual for found
ing Messenian city was engraved.
The city when bnilt was placed under the
protection of the gods Of the spot, to whom no
stranger was allowed to pay worship; and Il
was imagined no city could be taken till the