144 



on the Roman Capitol. In the works of the chissical Latin poets, in 

 Horace, Virgil, and Ovid, as well as in the chief temples of Imperial 

 Rome, we find Greek Myths and Greek Gods almost as dominant as in 

 ^schylus or Pindar, or in the shrines of the Athenian Acropolis. The 

 ancient national Deities were unsung by the national bards, their dignity 

 and power were unheeded, their attributes and meaning dimmed by igno- 

 rance or indifference, nay, the very names of some were forgotten, or had 

 become mere sounds without meaning.* 



In this general crumbling away of the old national religion a great 

 service was rendered to the contemporaries of Cicero and Augustus by 

 the historical researches of the great Varro. This distinguished antiquary, 

 in a comprehensive and learned work, collected all the fragments, 

 then extant, of ancient myths and rites, and taught the Romans how 

 their fathers had thought, prayed, and worshipped in the olden time. 

 We have been unfortunately deprived of tliis work in the general wreck 

 of ancient literature ; but it seems that the information which it con- 

 tained, found its way into all the grammarians, commentators of Virgil, 

 Christian fathers, and others, who touched upon this subject, and it is 

 thus, that many valuable fragments have been saved to throw some light 

 on that most interesting subject, the religion of early republican Rome. 



One of the ancient Italian deities, whose worship in later times had 

 dwindled into insignificance, was Janus, known chiefly, and almost 

 exclusively, as the guardian and protector of doors. His name was 

 identical with that of a passage or gate ; f especially, such buildings 

 were called Jani, which having the appearance of gates or arches, 

 spanned the public thoroughfares in several places, without, as it appears, 

 serving any practical purpose. | Three such Jani were erected on the 

 forum, some on the vegetable market and in other parts of Rome. 

 Some of them, as for instance, the celebrated Janus Bifrons, near the 

 Forum, contained the well known double-faced statue of the god Janus, 

 but they were not, properly speaking, temples, except in so far as every 

 consecrated spot was a templum ; nor were they gates, for they were 

 never closed. 



A derivation from the word Janus is janun,^ a door, equivalent with 



• Schol. Cruq. in Hor. Ep. 1, 10, 49, Vacuna apod Sabinos plnrimum colitnr. Quidam 

 Dianam.nonnulU Cererern esse dixerunt; alii Venerem, alii Victoriam, deam vacationis, quod 

 faciat vacare a curig. Sed Varro MineiTam dicit, quod ca maxime hi gaudeot, qui sapientiee 

 racaot 



+ Traiisitiones perviee, iani. Cic. N. D 2,27. 

 t Such a Janus is Temple Bar, in London. 

 S By the difference in gender and termination, two different though cognate things havA 

 been expressed, as, in Greek, 6 ttvXwi/ and t] TruXr/ ; in French, le portail and la parte ; 

 in German, da» Thor and die Thiire. 



