598 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



guished men out of the sacred books. " We know that poems of consider- 

 able extent on historical subjects were in existence." 

 Thus it is clear that in Egypt the priests were at once the biog- 

 raphers and historians. 



Preceding chapters have indirectly shown the primitive con- 

 nections between religion, biography, and history among the 

 Greeks. The laudation of a god's deeds, now lyrical now epical^ 

 rhythmically uttered by his priests, involved with the sacred ele- 

 ment both these secular elements. But a few more specific facts 

 may be added. 



'The history of the Greek families and states came to be systematically 

 represented in a manner edifying according to the sense of the religion of 

 Apollo and dictated by theocratic interests." 



" In and near the sanctuaries the most ancient traditions were pre- 

 served." 



''A list was kept of the priestesses at Argos and an account of the 

 priestly dignity also of the Kings of Sparta . . . and thus arose historical 

 archives." 



And then, after the secularization of rhythmical speeches or songs, 

 first uttered in honor of the gods, the biographico-historical char- 

 acter of their subject-matters is retained and developed. In hex- 

 ameters, first employed by the Delphic priests, Homer, in the Iliad 

 recites a story which, mainly historical, is in no part biographical 

 the wrath of Achilles being its most pronounced motive. And 

 then in the Odyssey, we have a narrative which is almost wholly 

 biographical. But though mainly secularized, these epics have 

 not wholly lost the primitive sacred character ; since the gods are 

 represented as playing active parts. 



As before said, Roman society, so heterogeneous in its compo- 

 sition, had its lines of normal evolution broken by intruding in- 

 fluences. But still we trace some connection between the priest 

 and the historian. According to Duruy and others 

 " The pontiffs were concerned in keeping up the memory of events, as accu- 

 rately as possible. Thus the Romans had the Annals of the Pontiffs, or 

 Annates Maximi, the Fasti Magistratuum, the Fasti Triumphales, the 

 rolls of the censors, etc." 



" Every year the chief Pontiff inscribed on a white tablet, at the head of 

 which were the names of the consuls and other magistrates, a daily record 

 of all memorable events both at home and abroad. These commentaries 

 or registers were afterward collected into eighty books which were entitled 

 by their authors Annates Maximi.'''' 



Further, by its associations, the body of fetiales was apparently 

 shown to have had some sacerdotal character. 



" By the side of these two oldest and most eminent corporations of men 

 versed in spiritual lore may be, to some extent, ranked the college of the 

 twenty state heralds {fetiales, of uncertain derivation), destined as a living 

 repository to preserve a traditionary remembrance of the treaties concluded 

 with neighboring communities." 



