"[112]
And so the prudent man secures the assistance of two priests, one to
pronounce the formula, the other to follow the ritual accurately.
Every year the Arval Brothers, a college of priests, assemble in a
temple in the environs of Rome where they perform a sacred dance and
recite a prayer; this is written in an archaic language which no one
any longer comprehends, so much so that at the beginning of the
ceremony a written formulary must be given to each of the priests. And
yet, ever since the time that they ceased to comprehend it, they
continued to chant it without change. This is because the Romans hold
before all to the letter of the law in dealing with their gods. This
exactness in performing the prescribed ritual is for them their
religion. And so they regarded themselves as "the most religious of
men." "On all other points we are the inferiors or only the equals of
other peoples, but we excel all in religion, that is, the worship we
pay the gods."
=Prayer.=--When the Roman prays, it is not to lift his soul and feel
himself in communion with a god, but to ask of him a service.
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