To allow entrance to
the enclosure, it is necessary that the founder break the ditch at
certain points, and he does this by lifting the plough and carrying it
an instant; the interval made in this manner remains profane and it
becomes the gate by which one enters. Rome itself was founded
according to these rites. It was called Roma Quadrata, and it was said
that the founder had killed his brother to punish him for crossing the
sacred furrow. Later the limits of Roman colonies and of camps, and
even the bounds of domains were always traced in conformity with
religious rules and with geometrical lines.
The Roman religion was half Etruscan. The Fathers of the church were
right, therefore, in calling Etruria the "Mother of Superstitions."
THE ITALIAN PEOPLE
=Umbrians and Oscans.=--In the rugged mountains of the Apennines, to
the east and south of the Roman plain, resided numerous tribes. These
peoples did not bear the same name and did not constitute a single
nation. They were Umbrians, Sabines, Volscians, AEquians, Hernicans,
Marsians, and Samnites. But all spoke almost the same language,
worshipped the same gods, and had similar customs.
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