THE FAMILY
=Religion of the Family.=--All the members of a family render worship
to the same ancestors and unite about the same hearth. They have
therefore the same gods, and these are their peculiar possession. The
sanctuary where the Lares[115] were kept was concealed in the house
and no stranger was to approach it. Thus the Roman family was a little
church; it had its religion and its worship to which no others than
its members had access. The ancient family was very different from the
modern, having its basis in the principles of religion.
=Marriage.=--The first rule of this religion is that one should be the
issue of a regular marriage if one is to have the right of adoring the
ancestors of the family. Roman marriage, therefore, is at the start a
religious ceremony. The father of the bride gives her away outside the
house when a procession conducts her to the house of the groom
chanting an ancient sacred refrain, "Hymen, O Hymen!" The bride is
then led before the altar of the husband where water and fire are
presented, and there in the presence of the gods of the family the
bride and groom divide between them a cake of meal.
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