The altar at Bath. The base and the sculptured corner blocks are original; the rest of the Roman stone must have been re-used elsewhere during the Middle Ages. At the top left of the photograph can be seen the stone statue base which is inscribed with Memor’s name.

When you have read this story, answer the questions at the end.

Salvius cum Memore anxius colloquium habet. servus ingressus ad
Memorem currit.

servus:domine, rēx Cogidubnus hūc venit. rēx togam
praetextam ōrnāmentaque gerit. magnum
numerum armātōrum sēcum dūcit.5
Memor:rēx armātōs hūc dūcit? togam praetextam gerit?
Salvius:Cogidubnus, nōs suspicātus, ultiōnem petit.
Memor, tibi necesse est mē adiuvāre. nōs enim
Rōmānī sumus, Cogidubnus barbarus.
intrat Cogidubnus. in manibus epistulam tenet, ā Cephalō scrīptam.10
Cogidubnus:Memor, tū illās īnsidiās parāvistī. tū iussistī
Cephalum venēnum comparāre et mē necāre. sed
Cephalus, lībertus tuus, mihi omnia patefēcit.
Memor:Cogidubne, id quod dīcis, absurdum est. mortuus
est Cephalus.15
Cogidubnus:Cephalus homō magnae prūdentiae erat. tibi nōn
crēdidit. invītus tibi pāruit. simulac mandāta ista
dedistī, scrīpsit Cephalus epistulam in quā omnia
patefēcit. servus, ā Cephalō missus, epistulam mihi
tulit.20
Memor:epistula falsa est, servus mendācissimus.
Cogidubnus:tū, nōn servus, es mendāx. servus enim, multa
tormenta passus, in eādem sententiā mānsit.
Salvius:Cogidubne, cūr armātōs hūc dūxistī?
Cogidubnus:Memorem ē cūrā thermārum iam dēmōvī.25
Memor:quid dīcis? tū mē dēmōvistī? ego innocēns sum.
Salv …

Questions

1Who is described as anxius?

2From the slave’s words (lines 3–5), how do Memor and Salvius know that Cogidubnus’ visit is not an ordinary one (two reasons)?

3What is Salvius’ explanation for Cogidubnus’ visit (line 7)?

4Why does he think Memor should help him?

5What accusation does Cogidubnus make against Memor (lines 11–12)?

6Why is Memor certain that Cogidubnus is unable to prove his accusation (lines 14–15)?

7What proof does Cogidubnus have? How did it come into his possession (lines 17–20)?

8Why is Cogidubnus convinced that the slave is trustworthy?

9What question does Salvius ask Cogidubnus?

10Why do you think that he has remained silent up to this point?

11What answer does Cogidubnus give to Salvius’ question?

12Why does Salvius interrupt Memor’s response to that answer?

13Salvius tells Cogidubnus: nimium audēs (lines 29–30). How has he explained that comment in the words he says immediately before it?

14What two other accusations does he make?

15What order does Salvius say he has received? Who has sent it (lines 33–36)?

16ista ōrnāmenta … humī iaciō (lines 41–42). What is Cogidubnus doing when he says these words? Why do you think he does this?

17How are the attitudes or situations of Memor, Salvius, and Cogidubnus different at the end of this story from what they were at the beginning? Make one point about each character.

Sacrifices and Presents to the Gods

In our stories Cogidubnus sacrificed a lamb to Sulis Minerva in the hope that the goddess would be pleased with his gift and would restore him to health. This was regarded as the right and proper thing to do in such circumstances. From earliest times the Romans had believed that all things were controlled by nūmina (spirits or divinities). The power of numina was seen, for example, in fire or in the changing of the seasons. To ensure that the numina used their power for good rather than harm, the early Romans presented them with offerings of food and wine. After the third century b.c., when Roman spirits and agricultural deities were incorporated into the Greek pantheon (system of gods), this idea of a contract between mortals and the gods persisted.

To communicate their wishes to the gods, many Romans presented an animal sacrifice, gave a gift, or accompanied their prayers with promises of offerings if the favors were granted. These promises were known as vōta. In this way, they thought, they could keep on good terms with the gods and stand a better chance of having their prayers answered. This was true at all levels of society. For example, if a general was going off to war, there would be a solemn public ceremony at which prayers and expensive sacrifices would be offered to the gods. Ordinary citizens would also offer sacrifices, hoping for a successful business deal, a safe voyage, or the birth of a child; and in many Roman homes, to ensure the family’s prosperity, offerings of food would be made to Vesta, the spirit of the hearth, and to the larēs and penātēs, the spirits of the household and food cupboard.

An emperor, as Chief Priest, leads a solemn procession. He covers his head with a fold of his toga. A bull, a sheep, and a pig are to be sacrificed.

People also offered sacrifices and presents to the gods to honor them at their festivals, to thank them for some success or an escape from danger, or to keep a promise. For example, a cavalry officer stationed in the north of England set up an altar to the god Silvanus with this inscription:

C. Tetius Veturius Micianus, captain of the Sebosian cavalry squadron, set this up as he promised to Silvanus the unconquered, in thanks for capturing a beautiful boar, which many people before him tried to do but failed.

Another inscription from a grateful woman in north Italy reads:

Tullia Superiana takes pleasure in keeping her promise to Minerva the unforgetting for giving her her hair back.

Often people promised to give something to the gods if they answered their prayers. Thus, Censorinus dedicated this thin silver plaque to Mars-Alator, in order to fulfill a vow.

A model liver. Significant areas are labeled to help haruspices interpret any markings.

Such attempts to discover the future were known as divination. Another type of divination was performed by priests known as augurēs (augurs), who based their predictions on observations of the flight of birds. They would note the direction of flight and observe whether the birds flew together or separately, what kind of birds they were, and what noises they made.

The Roman State Religion

Religion in Rome and Italy included a bewildering variety of gods, demigods, spirits, rituals and ceremonies, whose origin and meaning was often a mystery to the worshipers themselves. The Roman state respected this variety but particularly promoted the worship of Jupiter and his family of gods and goddesses, especially Juno, Minerva, Ceres, Apollo, Diana, Mars, and Venus. They were closely linked with their equivalent Greek deities, whose characteristics and colorful mythology were readily taken over by the Romans.

In this sculpture of a sacrifice, notice the pipe-player, and the attendants with the decorated victim.

A priest’s ritual headdress, from Roman Britain.

The rituals and ceremonies were organized by colleges of priests and other religious officials, many of whom were senators, and the festivals and sacrifices were carried out by them on behalf of the state. Salvius, for example, was a member of the Arval Brotherhood, whose religious duties included praying for the emperor and his family. The emperor always held the position of Pontifex Maximus or Chief Priest. Great attention was paid to the details of worship. Everyone who watched the ceremonies had to stand quite still and silent, like Plancus in Stage 17. Every word had to be pronounced correctly; otherwise the whole ceremony had to be restarted. A pipe-player was employed to drown out noises and cries, which were thought to be unlucky for the ritual.

Three sculptures from Bath illustrate the mixture of British and Roman religion there.

Above: a gilded bronze head of Sulis Minerva, presumably from her statue in the temple, shows the goddess as the Romans pictured her.

Top right: three Celtic mother-goddesses.

Right: Nemetona and the horned Loucetius Mars.

Religion and Romanization

The Roman state religion played an important part in the Romanization of the provinces of the empire. The Romans generally tolerated the religious beliefs and practices of their subject peoples unless they were thought to threaten their rule or their relationship with the gods, which was so carefully fostered by sacrifices and correct rituals. They encouraged their subjects to identify their own gods with Roman gods who shared some of the same characteristics. We have seen at Aquae Sulis how the Celtic Sulis and the Roman Minerva were merged into one goddess, Sulis Minerva, and how a temple in the Roman style was built in her honor.

Emperor Augustus as Pontifex Maximus.

Another feature of Roman religion which was intended to encourage acceptance of Roman rule was the worship of the emperor. In Rome itself, emperor worship was generally dis-couraged, while the emperor was alive. However, the peoples of the eastern provinces of the Roman empire had always regarded their kings and rulers as divine and were equally ready to pay divine honors to the Roman emperors. Gradually the Romans introduced this idea in the west as well. The Britons and other western peoples were encouraged to worship the genius (protecting spirit) of the emperor, linked with the goddess Roma. Altars were erected in honor of “Rome and the emperor.” When an emperor died, it was usual to deify him (make him a god), and temples were often built to honor the deified emperor. One such temple, that of Claudius in Camulodunum (Colchester), was destroyed, before it was even finished, during the revolt led by Queen Boudica in a.d. 60. The historian Tacitus tells us that this temple was a blatant stronghold of alien rule, and its observances were a pretext to make the natives appointed as its priests drain the whole country dry.

In general, however, the policy of promoting Roman religion and emperor worship proved successful in the provinces. Like other forms of Romanization it became popular with the upper and middle classes, who looked to Rome to promote their careers; it helped to make Roman rule acceptable, reduced the chance of uprisings, and gave many people in the provinces a sense that they belonged to one great empire.

Atlas holding the globe inscribed with constellations.

Astrology

Many Romans were content with the official state religion but some found greater satisfaction in other forms of belief. Many took part in both the state religion and some other kind of worship without feeling any conflict between the two. One very popular form of belief was astrology. Astrologers, like the one in Barbillus’ household in Unit 2, claimed that the events in a person’s life were controlled by the stars and that it was possible to forecast the future by studying the positions and movements of stars and planets. The position of the stars at the time of a person’s birth was known as an hōroscopos (horoscope) and regarded as particularly important. Astrology was officially disapproved of, especially if people used it to try to determine when their relatives or acquaintances were going to die, and from time to time all astrologers were banished from Rome. It was a particularly serious offense to inquire about the horoscope of the emperor. Several emperors, however, were themselves firm believers in astrology and, like Barbillus, kept astrologers of their own.

Word Study

AComplete the following analogies with words from the Stage 23 Vocabulary Checklist:

1venīre : īre : : ___ : resistere

2fortis : ignāvus : : ___ : benignus

3verbum : dīcere : : ___ : iubēre

4exitium : dēlēre : : ___ : parcere

5ingressus : intrāre : : ___ : dīcere

6pecūnia : numerāre : : discus : ___

7sānāre : interficere : : remedium : ___

BGive a definition for each of the following derivatives of cēdō, cēdere, cessī:

CCopy the following words. Then put parentheses around the Latin root from this Stage contained inside these derivatives; give the Latin word and its meaning from which the derivative comes.

For example:   conservation   con(serva)tion   servāre – to save

Stage 23 Vocabulary Checklist!

nimium, nimiī, n.	too much
ōrnō, ōrnāre, ōrnāvī, ōrnātus	decorate
pāreō, pārēre, pāruī (+ dat)	obey
potēns, potēns, potēns,
gen. potentis	powerful
prāvus, prāva, prāvum	evil
regressus, regressa, regressum	having returned
scio, scīre, scīvī	know
tālis, tālis, tāle	such
tamquam	as, like
umquam	ever
venēnum, venēnī, n.	poison
venia, veniae, f.	mercy

This bronze statuette represents a Romano-British worshiper bringing offerings to a god.