Curiosities & wonders > Titus Livius' Roman history

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TITUS LIVIUS’
Book V.
* then, my fellow-citizens, abandon all these gods, both
* public and private ? How very difl'erent does this
* scheme of yours appear, from what was acted by the
* noble youth, C. Fabius, to the admiration of the ene-
* my as well as yours, who came down from the citadel,
4 amidst the darts of the enemy, and performed a reli-
* gious ceremony upon the Cluirinal hill, peculiar to
4 the Fabian family ? Is it criminal in a private family
4 to neglect the performance of religious duties in time
* of war; and do you think it can be lawful for a whole
* community to abandon their public sacred rites, and
* their gods in time of peace ? For the priest and fla-
* mens to be less strict in the performance of the public
* ceremonies of religion, than for a private person, of
" those peculiar to his family ?
‘ But, perhaps it may be alledged, that these cere-
‘ monies may be performed at Veii, or priests sent from
* thence to perform them. But neither of these can be
* done, without a violation of our ceremonies. For, not
1 to mention all the sacred ceremonies, or the gods, spe-
‘ cifically: in the festival of Jupiter, can the bed be
4 spread any where else, but in the capitol ? Need I men-
4 tion the eternal fire of Vesta, and the statue safely pre-
4 served in her temple, as a pledge of empire ? Need 1
4 mention your Ancilia, or Mars Gradivus, and father
4 Romulus? And would you, have all these sacred things,
4 which were coeval with the city and some of them of
4 a date much more ancient, to be abandoned in a pro-
4 fane place ? Only mark the difference between our an-
4 cestors and us. They transmitted to us a tradition,
4 that some of our solemnities should be performed upon
4 Mount Alba and Lavinium.
4 Now, was it an act of devotion to bring religious
4 ceremonies from hostile cities to ourselves at Rome,
4 and shall we, without involving ourselves in the guilt
4 of sacrilege, carry them hence to Veii, a hostile city?
4 Will you only call to mind, how often Our sacred ce-
4 remonies have been performed a-new, because some
4 ancient' regulation, either through carelessness or ac-
4 cident, had been omitted. What .other circumstance,
4 was it of late, after the prodigy of the Alban lake, but
4 the renewal of the sacred auspices, that relieved the
4 commonwealth, oppressed as it was with the war with