MAN OF SCIENCE AND PHILOSOPHER. 253 



less to be looked for. But it seems as though the natural 

 ness of the connexion between priestly culture and scientific 

 knowledge led to a re-genesis of it. Mommsen, after stating 

 that there were originally only two &quot; colleges of sacred lore &quot; 

 the augurs and the pontifices, says : 



&quot; The six bridge-builders (pontifices) derived their name from their 

 function, as sacred as it was politically important, of conducting the 

 building and demolition of the bridge over the Tiber. They were 

 the Roman engineers, who understood the mystery of measures and 

 numbers ; whence there devolved upon them also the duty of manag 

 ing the calendar of the state, of proclaiming to the people the time of 

 new and full moon and the days of festivals, and of seeing that 

 every religious and every judicial act took place on the right day . . . 

 Thus they acquired . . . the general oversight of Roman worship and 

 of whatever was connected with it and what was there that was not 

 so connected ? ... In fact the rudiments of spiritual and temporal 

 jurisprudence as well as of historical recording proceeded from this 

 college.&quot; 



A curious parallel, not unsuggestive, is thus displayed. As 

 in Greece the art of bridge-building arose in connexion with 

 the national sanctuaries, and as in Home the building of 

 bridges was the function of a priestly college, the implica 

 tion appears to be that since in those days building a bridge 

 was one of the most difficult of undertakings, it naturally 

 fell into the hands of those who were reputed to have the 

 greatest knowledge and skill the priests. And, probably, 

 the connexion between the priesthood and this piece of ap 

 plied science w r as furthered by the apparent supernatural- 

 ness of the arch a structure which must have seemed to 

 the people incomprehensible. But alike in science and in 

 philosophy, the Romans were the pupils of the Greeks; and 

 hence possibly may have arisen the parallelism between a 

 certain function of the philosopher in Greece and one he 

 exercised in Rome. 



The philosopher &quot; was generally to be found in a large mansion, 

 acting almost like a private chaplain, instructing in ethics those 

 who wished to learn, and attending the death-beds of members of the 

 family.&quot; 



