ROMAN MYTHOLOGY. 149 
Roman Mythology proper begins with the myth of Satwrnus. At first 
the Romans regarded him as the god of husbandry, but when at a late 
period his history was blended with that of Cronos, he was honored as the 
god of Time. As such we see him on a herma (fig. 3), bearded and winged, 
with astar above his head, and a globeinhishand. Identified with Cronos, 
he had of course a similar destiny, dethronement by his son Jupiter. 
Escaping to Italy, he met with a cordial reception from Janus (regarded by 
the Romans as an old Italian king), and obtained for his future residence a 
beautiful tract of land surrounded by mountains. He now built on the 
Capitoline (formerly the Saturnian) Hill the city of Saturnia, while Janus 
established himself on Mount Janiculus. Poets have described his reign as 
the golden age of the human race. Peace, freedom and equality, honesty, 
confidence, and love prevailed throughout the entire brotherhood of men, 
and their whole life was devoted to rational enjoyment. No distinction 
subsisted between the rich and poor, the noble and plebeian ; but happiness 
was universal. To perpetuate the memory of these prosperous times, the 
Saturnalia were founded, a series of festivals which under the emperors 
lasted from the 17th to the 23d of December, though originally they had only 
lasted one day. During their celebration the slaves sat at the table and were 
served by their masters. The most unbounded hilarity prevailed every- 
where; the senate adjourned its sessions; law-suits were suspended; 
punishments were remitted ; no war was proclaimed ; prisoners were set at 
liberty, and friends exchanged presents with the view of cementing their 
friendships. 
With the dethronement of Saturnus began a new order or dynasty of 
gods, into which some that we have mentioned, particularly Saturnus and 
Janus, were admitted, though with important modifications of their posi- 
tions. The Romans always distinguished the ¢nvesible deities (Dit involuti, 
superiores, the veiled or superior gods) who had no special names, from 
those who were closely related to nature and the human race. The latter 
were again divided into two classes, the gods of the first order and the gods 
of the second order. We will now briefly examine the characteristics of 
the most important deities of these two classes. 
. 1. Tur Gops or THe First Orper. 
The gods of the first order were collectively called Diz magni or Dut 
majorum gentium, and included twelve superior and eight inferior gods. 
A. The Twelve Superior Gods. 
Six male and six female deities constituted the divine council whose 
decisions determined the course of all human affairs. These deities corres- 
ponded with the twelve Olympian gods of the Greeks. 
1. Jurrrer (Zeus), the chief and mightiest of all, received among the 
Romans a far more zealous worship than Zeus did among the Greeks. 
When he entered upon the government of the universe all the other gods 
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