145 



authentic source, the sacred books of the Pontifice8> The consul 

 having covered his head, touching his chin with his hand, and standing 

 on a spear, repeated the form of prayer given out bj the pontifex : — 



** O Janus, Jnpit«r, Father Mars, Quirinns, Bellona, ye nine gods, ye native 

 gods, ye gods who have power over as and our enemies, ye blessed departed 

 spirits, I pray yon, I entreat yon, I beseech you to grant strength and victory to 

 the Boman people of the Qnirites, and to strike terror, and fear, and death into 

 the enemies of the Roman people of the Qnirites. As I have spoken the words 

 even thos for the Commonwealth of the Boman people of the Qnirites, for the 

 army, legions, and anxiliaries of the Boman people of the Qnirites, do I devote, 

 with myself, the legions and auxiliaries of onr enemies, to the gods of death, and 

 to the earth." 



It is quite clear that this Janus is not the door-keeping god of whom 

 we have spoken. He evidently ranks in the first line of the great 

 national deities, and the guardianship of doors is only one of his 

 secondary attributes. 



He appears in a far more dignified f connexion with the astronomical 

 year. He opens it in the month of January, which is named from him. 

 The first day of this month is his chief festival, though prayers were 

 offered to him on the kalends of every successive month of the year, at 

 twelve altars, corresponding to their number on the hill Janiculum, 

 which was also named after him. In this worship he was united with 

 Juno, the Queen of Heaven, to whom the kalends of every month were 

 sacred, and from whom he received the name Junonius. His principal 

 statue, on the Forum, exhibited on one hand the number 300, on the 

 other 55, or 65,* the number of days in the year ; and as Matutinus 

 Pater, he was adored as the protecting deity on each successive day. 



Whence this connexion with year, month, and day, if the god was 

 originally merely a protector of doors and thoroughfares ? 



In trying to solve this question we must fix our attention on the fact, 

 that in the Latin religious system the deities went in pairs, a god and a 

 goddess having, with some slight variations, the same fimctions assigned 

 to them. Such pairs of gods were Jupiter and Juno, Vulcan and Vesta, 

 Mars and Bellona. The female deity now, corresponding to Janus, was 

 Jana, which, with a slight variation in the pronunciation, is Diana. Her 

 we know well. She was the moon personified and deified, and with this 

 observation our conclusion respecting the natiure of Janus is at hand. 

 There can no longer be any doubt that he represents the sun. An 



• Ut. VIII. 9. 

 f At least, dignified according to oar present notions. 

 t Pliny, Hist Nat. XXXIV. 7, gires the former, no doubt correcter,date; Macrobitis I. 9, 

 the latter. 



