1 Earliest Rome

13.3 Cicero's ideal Roman religion
disease, and so was wasted away, tiny, shrivelled and not like a heart at all. But what
reason do you have for thinking that the heart suddenly disappeared at the moment of
sacrifice - if a little while before it had been in the sacrificial bull? Or perhaps, do you
think, the bull lost his heart when he saw that Caesar, in his purple robe, had lost his. 1
Believe me you betray the very citadel of philosophy, when you waste time
defending some little bastion. For by insisting on the truth of soothsaying, you destroy
the whole of physiology.
1. The heart was thought to be the centre of reason (see 13.2a); Cicero implies that by aping
monarchy Caesar had (in our terms) 'lost his head'.
13.3 Cicero's ideal Roman religion
Cicero, On the Laws il.l 9—22
Cicero's dialogue On the Laws, like his On the State, to which it provides a
sequel, is ostensibly a work of political theory. But it is effectively a discussion
of Roman practices and traditions in the light of Greek philosophical ideas. In
this extract Cicero (speaking as a character in his dialogue) offers a 'religious
constitution of his ideal state - which amounts to an idealized version of the
Roman religious institutions of his own day. Because of that idealization it is
probably an unreliable guide to day-to-day contemporary religious practice;
but it shows how a Roman commentator could reflect on his own religious system
as a whole.
See further: Goar (1972) 78-96; Rawson (1973b); (1975) 154-6*.
Let them approach the deities chastely, let them show piety, let them set aside their
wealth. To anyone who acts otherwise, the god himself shall be the avenger.
Let no one have gods of their own, neither new ones nor from abroad, unless
introduced to Rome publicly; let their private worship be for those gods whose worship
they have duly received from their fathers.
In towns let them have shrines. In the countryside, let them have groves and places for
the Lares. 1
Let them preserve the rituals of their families and of their fathers.
Let them worship as deities those who have always been recognized as heavenly beings;
and those who have won a place in heaven through their merits, such as Hercules, Liber,
Aesculapius, Castor, Pollux and Quirinus 2
; and those qualities through which men may
gain access to heaven — Mens , Virtus , Pietas , Fides 3
; of
these virtues let there be shrines, but none of any of the vices. 1
Let them observe the established religious ceremonies.
At the festivals, let them refrain from litigation. 5
Let them celebrate these with their
slaves after their work is finished. Let the cycle of festivals be so established that they fall
at annual intervals. Let the priests offer publicly the prescribed grains and fruits
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