Everything that was known of the gods was that each
controlled a natural force and could benefit or injure men.
=Principles of the Roman Religion.=--The Roman was no lover of these
pale and frigid abstractions; he even seemed to fear them. When he
invoked them, he covered his face, perhaps that he might not see them.
But he thought that they were potent and that they would render him
service, if he knew how to please them. "The man whom the gods favor,"
says Plautus, "they cause to gain wealth."
The Roman conceives of religion as an exchange of good offices; the
worshipper brings offerings and homage; the god in return confers some
advantage.[110] If after having made a present to the god the man
receives nothing, he considers himself cheated. During the illness of
Germanicus the people offered sacrifices for his restoration. When it
was announced that Germanicus was dead, the people in their anger
overturned the altars and cast the statues of the gods into the
streets, because they had not done what was expected of them. And so
in our day the Italian peasant abuses the saint who does not give him
what he asks.
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