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2 <the supreme being or heaven) and faces the north. The platform Is laid with marble stones, fotrming nine concentric circles; the innner circle consists of nine stones, cut so as to fit with close edges round the central stone, which is a per fect circle. Here, the emperor kneels, snd is surrounded first by the circles of the terraces and their enclosing walls and then by the circle of the horizon. Hie then seems to him self and to his court to be in the center of the universe, and turning to the north, nssuming the attitude of a subject, he acknowledges In prayer and by his posi tion that he Is Inferior to heaven, and to heaven alone. Round him on the pave ment are the nine circles of as many heavens, consisting of nine stones, then eighteen, then twenty-seven, and so on in multiples of nine till the square of nine, the favorite number of Chinese philosophy, is reached in the outermost circle of eighty- one stones. CAIN'S UNLUCKY OFFERING And so back to the central plains of Asia—the very cradle of the Aryan race —and there too isfound the festival idea. It is not possible to trace it. There are Jewish scholars wh* express the opin ion that when Cain "brought of the fruits of the ground as an offering to the Lord," he was celebrating a harvest festival. Whether this be true or not, certain it is that the Jewish feast of first fruits was considered one of the most important of the year, and there are historical stu dents who do not hesitate to claim that the festival of first fruits was borrowed from the Egyptians. Jacob and his family went diown into Egypt B. C. 1700. but the monuments of B. C. 2500 repre sent processions, with music and danc ing, bearing sheaves of grain, bags of corn and flagons of oil and wine, on their way to the temple to offer up thanksgiv ing for a bounteous harvest. In Nineveh, too, there is a bas-relief upon one of the palace walls, executed ■with great care and painstaking skill, It represents a procession, headed by several musicians with trumpets, cym bals and drums, and composed of men bearing bundles of grain, baskets of grapes and other fruits and receptacles ■which appear to contain bread and other kir.ds of food. In the rear are young men and women, boys and girls, dancing and leaping with every appear ance of exuberant joy. The road they are pursuing leads to a temple in the distance, and in the sky appears a repre sentation nf the monn The harvest moon and the harvest festival have al ways gone together. THE GRECIAN FESTIVALS BASED ON LOVE OF NATURE AND A NATURAL RELIGION The Time When the Good Greek Was a Model of Excellence and the Bad One a Scoundrel "Glory of warrior, glory of orator, glory of song, Paid with a voice flying by to be lost on an, endless sea." —Tennyson. They are flown. Beautiful fictions of our fathers, wove In Superstition's web when Time was young And fondly loved and cherished; they are flown Before the wand of Science." —Thomas Carrlngton. It is no exaggeration to say that the cult of the nineteenth century would be poor indeed were it not indlssolubly linked to ancient Greece. We go to Rome for law, but behind stand Lycurgus and Solon; to Germany for philosophy, but. behind stand Plato and Aristotle; to Italy for art, but behind there are Phidias and Praxiteles; to England for belles-lettres, but behind there is Homer. Of the carliercivilizationsanclent Hellas ance of knowledge; to unbind thought was the first to systematize its inherit and send it out to free all lands. And so the feasts or festivals of Greece, at which representatives of the different Greek nationalities assembled, attained, together with Hellenic culture, the most widespread! diffusion and belong to the most striking phenomena presented in the history of human development, not only from their external form, but also because of their intrinsic objects. There Is to be found In them the true charac teristic of the Aryan race, namely, the appreciation of Individuality. At no time or place had this been valued to the same extent; and though the Greeks did not comprehend this principle as fully as other peoples of the same race have since done, yet their appreciation of it was so decidedly marked that without consider ing it it Is not possible to comprehend the significance o' Greek life or influence. Insignificant as the prise of victory WSJ —a wieath, a vase or a tripod—so great was the honor that the mere mention of It was even deemed worthy a place in history. Greece possessed no such priesthood as existed in other countries. In case of need, andt indeed always to a great ex tent, each individual was his own priest, and the roaster of the house was the priest of tlae family. There was no ortho dox creed to be taught and preserved; only the aftcient traditional gods were to be venerated, arid the state permitted each man to have his own conception of them. There) were, indeed, established priests and priestesses, who represented the state as a whole, but they had no especial privileges, nor even a special consecration; they were merely officials and temple serv ants. The Greek recog nized no mediator between himself and his gods. There was, however, a deity for almost every department of human labor. When Paul visited Athens the statues of the gods were so numerous that a law had been made to prevent the further multiplication of deities, no mnn being permitted to set up a new god without permission from the Areopagus. It was on this charge, of sotting forth a strange god that Paul was taken into court and enabled to make his famous speech to the Athenians. Of all this multiplicity of deities Ceres (Demetor) received the most universal and loyal worship. Every city in Greece had a special temple anil) altar in her honor. The name, Ceres, is from 1 lie stem "ucr" (Sanskrit "kri"), to make, and by rnetonomy the word comes to mean "corn" in the Latin. Demeter means Mother Earth. As the goddess of sowing and reaping, of harvest and agriculture in general, Ceres is connect ed, through her daughter, Proserpine (goddess of spring), queen of hades; with the holy ceremmonies and rites of death and the lower world. "Sacred Goddess, Mother Earth, Thou from whose immortal bosom GoUi, and men, and beasts, have birth, Leaf and blade, and bud and blossom. Breathe thine influence most divine On thine own child, Proserpine." Of the institutions founded in honor of Ceres were the mysteries celebrated at Eleusis, concerning Which we know that, In the presence of Individuals in itiated in the secret ritual, scenes were enacted which represented the alterna tion of life and death in nature and the resurrection and Immortality of man. OUR LOCAL PROTOTYPE In seeking for the prototype of La Fi esta, we have to go to the Athenian festival, where many similarities may be found to exist between the seat and center of ancient culture and the City of the Angels of .today. - Athens, or to be literally correct, Athenae, was founded B. C. 1556 by Cecrops and an Egyptian colony. It was called Cecropia, from its founder, and afterwards Athenae, in honor of Athene, the Grecian name of Minerva. Max Muller derives Athene from the root "ah," which yields the Sanskrit "ahana" and the Greek "Daphne"—the dawn Athene is therefore the dawn-goddess, but she is also the goddess of wisdom, because "the goddess who caused people to wake was involuntarily conceived as the goddess who caused people to know." (Science of Language, 1:548-551.) The relation between the awakening of the day and the awakening of thought is also preserved In the name of Minerv a, it being connected with the Latin 'mens," Greek "menos, Sanskrit "manas"—mind; also with the Latin "mane"—morning. Athene (Minerva) was a virgin god> dess, and sprang from the brain of Jove, agleam with the panoply of war; she is the goddess of the lightning and of the storms, and also of wisdom, of skill, of contemplation, of spinning and weaving, of agriculture and of horticulture. She is the protectress of cities, and Athens, iter own city, was awarded to her as the prize of a peaceful contest with Neptune, who also aspired to It. In the reign of Cecrops, the first king of Athens, the two deities had contended for the posses sion of the city. The gods decreed that it should be awarded to the one who pro duced the gift most useful to mortals. Neptune struck the ground with his tri dent, and the horse sprang forth, em blem of war and carnage; Athene pro duced the olive, emblem of peace and prollflcness. The gods awarded the city to the goddess, and after her it was named. Athene (Minerva), then, is eminently a goddess of peace; armed in the pano ply of war, but having no sympathy with me picutictuwiio • ■ ~ — *• ~ cause of right and Justice, and then, as Pallas-Athene, she made the heavens reverberate with her cries. In such guise she inspired to deeds of valor and patriotic devotion. "Can tyrants but by tyrants conquered be And Freedom find no champion and no child. , , _ . „ Such as Columbia saw arise, when she Sprung forth a Pallas, armed and unde filed." Among other of the characteristics of the tutelary deity of Athens must not be forgotten her zeal for navigation. Her care of the Argonauts, which caused the Argo to be built with some of the oaks of the forest of Dodona, and they being gifted with prophecy, gave warning of coming calamity, made her the patron ess of all those who "go down Into the deep In ships." A SPRING BETOICINQ In Honor of the Time When Nature Awoke "Oh, the waking of a morrow! the farewell The ofd Vpast forever, and a new tryst we A aew*tryst, a new hope; what wasdream- But^stenVh there sobbing- In the old heart of Karth? "A hush of recollection for the old things A backward look where once the royal crimson crown was shed; An upward gaze 'twixt budding boughs. with hnnd on mossy girth— And good-bye to what lies hidden In the deep heart of Earth.' aeep neat VIRG , NIA W , CLOUD. As might be supposed, the fesnival in honor of Athene was observed by the citizens of Athens with every mark of honor, pomp and circumstance. It was irstituted by Erechtheus, sixth king of Athens, who is also sometimes credited with having first introduced the mys teries of Ceres at Eleusis. He died B. C. 1X47. This festival of "Athenaea" was afterwards broadened out and elabo rated with great splendor by Thes-us. who caused it to be observed by all the tribes of Attica, whom he had united into one state, of which Athens was the capital. The festivals were two: The great Panathenaea, which W»SObserved every fifth year, beginning on the date equiva lent to our 7th of July; and the lesser Pan uthenaca, kept annually, beginning on the Cth of May. Ten presidents, chosen from the ten tribes, conducted the af fairs of the festival, which was carried out with great splendor and certain ex ceptional features. On the evening of the first day there was a race with torches, in which men on foot, and afterward on horseback, con tended. The second combat was gym nical, and feats of strength and bodily dexterity were displayed. The last was n musical contention, first instituted by Pericles, who rebuilt the temple of Athene, which had b. en destroyed by the Persians. Phrynls of Mitylene was the first who obtained the victory by I laying upon the harp; but there were other musical Instruments upon which they played in concert, such as llutcs, etc. The poets contended in four play?, the last of which was a satire. There was also at Synium a sham naval fight. Whoever obtained the victory in nny of these games was rewarded with a vessel of oil, which he was permitted to dispose of in whatever manner he pleased; and it was unlawful for any other person to transport that commodity. The conqueror was also crowned with a wreath of olives grown in the groves of Academus, sacred to Athene in remembrance or the tragical end of liallirhotius, the sun of Neptune, who cut his legs in attempting to cut down the olive which had given victory to Athene In preference to Ml father when these two deities contended for the pa tronage of Athens. There was also a called Pyrrhiehia, performed by youths clad in armor, in imitation of Athene, and gladiators were introduced at later date, when Athens b. came tributary to Rome. During the cc lebration no one was per mitted to appeal' in elyad garments, and X any one transgressed he was punished according to the discretion of the presi dent of the games. After these preliminary exercises the religious rites were celebrated with great sple:.dor. The whole empire partici pated by sending of their products for sacrifice in the temple. On th*great day of the feast there was a grand procession or parade of the priests, the sacrificial assistants of every kind, the- representa tives of every part of the empire, the cavalry and foot soldier:, —in fact of th population of Attica and a great part of its dependencies. An eatiyas the third century before Christ the custom w as in troduced of carrying in the procession Athene's sacred garment. It was woven by a select number of virgins, superin tended by two others not above 17 years of age nor under 11. whose garments were white, set off with ornaments of cold. The "peplus." or garment, was of a white color, without sleeves, and embroidered with gold. Upon it were described the achievements of the god dess, and the exploits of Jupiter and the other gods were also represented, and In Its conveyance much ceremonial was ob served. WAS IT A CABLE ROAD? In the "ceramicus," without the city, there was an engine built in the form of a ship, upon which Athene's garment was hung as a sail. This naval model was drawn, not by horses, but by "subter ranean machines," to the temple of Ceres Eleuslnla, and from thence to the cita del, where the "peplus" was placed upon Athene's statue, which was laid upon a bed woven or strewed with flowers. Persons of all ages, of every sex and quality, attended the procession, which was led by old men and women, carrying olive branches In their hands, who were known as "bearers of the green toughs." Next followed men of full age, with shields and spears. They were attended by the "foreigners," who carried small boats as a token of their origin, and these were called the "boat-bearers." After them came the women, attended by the wives of the foreigners, distinguished as "water-bearers," from the vessels they carried in their hands. Next to these came young men, crowned with millet and singing hymns to the goddess, and after them followed select virgins of the noblest families, called "basket-bear ers," because they carried baskets in whleh were certain things necessary for the celebration. These virgins were at tended by the daughters of the foreign ers, who carried umbrellas and the little seats from which they were called "seat carriers." The boys brought up the rear, clothed in coats generally worn at pro cessions. The subject of the frieze at the Par thenon is an idealized treatment of this great procession, and a considerable number of these sculptures are now In the British museum, among those know n ns the "Elgin marbles." Of the other noted festivals of Greece may be merely mentioned the Olympia, in Ells; the' P'-th'ar. gamer celebrated in the vicinity of Delphi; the Isthmian, on the Corinth- Inn isthmus, and the Nemean, at Nemea, a city of Argolis. In all of the games the exercises were divided into flva classes: Running. leaping, wrestling, throwing the quoit and hurling the jave lin or boxing. Besides these exercises of bodily strength and agility, there were contests in music, poetry and eloquence. Thus the games furnished musi cians and authors the best opportunities to present their productions to the pub lic, and the fame of the victors was spread far and wide. The Greeks did their best to exclude Asiatic wealth and luxury, still it is learned from Aristophanes that vanity prevailed among them and that even in times of greatest need the women were much concerned about their personal adornment. CONTRASTS OF GRECIAN CHAR ACTER Under a democracy of the annual archons the Athenians signalized them selves by their valor in the field, munifi cence and cultivation of the fine arts. But there are few instances in the histo ry of Athens that can be cited in proof that the Jealousy and frenzy of the peo ple did not persecute and disturb the peace of the man who had fought their battles and exposed his life in defense of the country . In stich a short space of time it was marvelous what a number of truly illustrious citizens lived, equally celebrated for their learning and their humanity. Plutarch says that the good men whom Athens produced were the most Just and equitable In the world; but that Its bad citizens —and needless to say they were in the preponderance— could not be surpassed in any age or country for their impiety, perfldiousness or cruelty. Two years ago, when an attempt was made to revive the Olympic games at Athens, the celebration was spoken of and written about as a "continuance of the splendid traditions of the race." In this strain also is mui-h being said at present about thp "glorious inheritance" cf the race." In that most delightful musical absurdity of Gilbert and Sullivan, "The Pirates of Penz ance," a character is Introduced who laid the flattering unction to his soul that in becoming possessed of o well appointed domain he had also ac quired the rlirht to pose as a scion of the aristocratic family, the llneamentß of whose ancestors looked down scornfully from the walls upon him. The Greeks are in much the same position today as the hero of the comic opera who bought his ancei»t«rs by the batch. They are not really Greeks at all, but a hybrid combination of Slav, Turk and sundry other ethnic strains. Whatever of right, whatever of justice, whatever of bravery inheres in the Greek of today is alto gether apart from the Greek of classic times, and the talk of his emulating the heroic deeds of his ancestors is vastly wide of the actual fact. THE ROMAN SPECTACLE IN CONQUERING THE WORLD ALIEN GODS WERE ANNEXED The Spirit of Utilitarianism That Lator Degenorated Into Bloodthirstiness "Self reverence, self knowledge, self con trol, Thes(< ihree alone lead life to sovereign power." TKN'N VSO.V—OE.VON K. "It Is the nature of tyranny and rapacity nevar to lrarn moderation. . . From cruel men they ar« transformed to savage beasts, with no other vestiges of reason, left but what serves to furnish the inven tions and refinemeats of ferocious subll -ty, for purposes of which beasts are incapa ble and at which friends would blush." BURKE. The practical Benso of tho Romans was especially apparent in their religion In the Greek view the god's, though placed above man, were yet his compac tors in a beneficent scheme of existence as well as subjects for the exercise of hi, imaginative faculty; to the Roman hi gods were alien p wers, whom he ac knowledged as such becauae he con ceived of man also, primarily, as a pow er, and whose favor he wished to gal because he needed their assistance. I! was deeply religious, because his sens of dependence w-as great; but the main TOS ANGELES HERALD: SUNDAY MORNING. APRIL 25, 189? element of his character w as his decis | Ive will. Without Imagining that be j lief In supernatural powers could render I him independent of external clrcum ' stances, he accepted It In order to gain his definite ends. Therefore he con . cerned himself only about the substance; the forms were indifferent, and he freely borrowed them from others when he himself was unable to create them. The old Roman religion can hardly be said to have had a mythology in the Oreek sense. As early *s the times of the kings the Greek Olympus began to migrate into Latium and to transform it self into a system devoid of myths. With I the exception, perhaps, of the double- I faced Janus, the Romans could scarcely show a national deity. But they adopt ed the gods of other countries besides Greece, and their tendency in this di rection became continually stronger. Their utilitarian sense was so sharply developed, indeed, that when besieging a city they venerated its gods in order to win them for allies. The priests oc cupied a different position to those of Greece, although here, too, they were neither a hereditary caste nor a dis tinct class. Their office was a public position, to be obtained like other pub lic employments, or was legally associated with some of the higher mag istrates. Only a few priests, such as the "augurs" and "flamens," held office for life. According to Juvenal, the Roman pop ulace cared for only two things—bread and the public shows. How far the lat ter resulted from a lack of the former is a moot point. Without bread the peo ple could not exist; without the shows they would have felt their lives were not worth living. The circus and the amphi theater were Indeed an absolute neces sity, both to the people and to the gov ernment. To the people they furnished the means of passing idle days in pleas ure and excitement; to the government they gave the opportunity of diverting the minds of the people from political nffa'irs and of supplying them with less dangerous food for rivalry and discussion. "Allow them. Caesar," sal* Pylades, "to excite themselves about us, for then they do not think about politics." The participation of the priests was re quired at the public festivals with which the calendai was well provided* During their continuance the senate, courts and schools were closed, no criminals could be punished, slaves were granted a h<*M day ar.d allowed many liberties, friends interchanged gifts and fairs were held in the public squares. The public games had here, as elsewhere, a religious origin. Romulus was said to have instituted them, but Tarquinlus Prlcus made them permanent by founding the Circus Max i:nus. Where 380.000 Reveled in the Gladi atorial Contests "Where are the braveries, fresh or frayed? The plumes, the armour—friend or foe? The rloth of gold, the rare brocade, The mantles glittering to and fro? The pomp, ths pride, the royal show? The cr!e« of war and festival? The youth. the trraee. the charm, the glow? Into the night go on^and This building occupied the VallisMur ciae (the site of a prehistoric altar to Dca Murcia-Venus), between the Pala tine and Avcntlne. It was restored in nD7 and 171 B. C, when the stalls erected for chariots and horses are first men tioned. It was enlarged by Julius Caesar, and a ten-foot broad canal crimed between the lowest tier of seats and the course, as a precaution for the ppeetators' safety when exhibitions of fighting with wild beasts, such as were afterward confined to the amphitheater, took place. When the exhibitions were removed and the canal was no longer necessary, Nero filled it up. Only the lower seats were of stone, the others being of wood, and 1 this, from the lia bility to fire, accounts for the numerous restorations to which the building was subject, and also explafnsthe falling of the seats, by which a large number of people were killed in the time of Antoni- I nus Pius. Under Domitian, after a fire, I the circus was rebuilt wholly In stone I and marble, and lastly it was enlarge* by Constantine. In Its later state it had | a marble facade, with three external ' tiers of arches with engaged columns, ■ and inside sloping tiers of marble seats. ; It held at different periods 150,000, 250,000 i and 350.000 people. Down the middle of the course ran a 1 low wall, bearing obelisks, Images and ornamental shrines. On It also were seven figures of dolphins and seven oval objects, one of which was taken down at every round in the race, so that spec tators might see readily how the contest proceeded. The public games were in fact an imi -1 tation of the national games of Greece, ; but in time they underwent a change ; which markedly showed the difference between the Roman and Greek charac '• ters. The earliest games were called the "ludi Romani"; they being a city ccl i ebratien with religious ceremonies. Be ! rides other similar ones, a festival of the plebeians—"ludi plebeii"—is referred to. : Eventually games were added expressly in honor of the gods. The care of the public games original ly belonged to the consuls, and later to the "aedlles," and the expenses were de frayed from the public treasury. The "aediles," however, finding that their importance and repute were increased by the brilliancy of the shows, contrib uted also from their own funds. Custom in time made an obligation of this vol untary gift, and the tax at last grew so heavy that no one was willing to accept the aedlleshlp. The emperors, had ac cordingly to distribute the burden among other officials, but took upon themselves the greatest part of the ex pense. The games themselves, at flist very simple, bore from the beginning a military character. They consisted prin cipally of boxing and horse and chariot raclrg. But the popular taste was too coarse to be satisSed with feats of strength or sham battles. A VENT FOR INNATE BRUTALITT It has beer, remarked that ataste of the wolf's milk which nourished its found ers runs through the entire history of Rome. Cembals between professional gladiators were first introduced at the funeral of Junius Brutus (264 B. C), but they had been customary in other parts •if Italy befare that time. These replaced the »ham fights and offered what the people above all wanted, the sight of blood. Further to Indulge this sanguin ary taste, combats of wild beasts were Introduced, for which the fiercest ani nals were Imported from Asda and Af ica. To render the spectacles mere ex citing, slaves and criminal* were pitted gainst the beasts. Not to be outdone, he gladiators hired themselves out for he deadly combats. They fought In alr3 or in bodies, heavily or lightly rmod, mounted on horseback or seated chariots, for these demoralizing ..musements were reduced to a system, i Under the empire the spectacles sup AN IMPOSLUG EDIFICE plied In some measure the place of the "comltia" under the republic, for they ; afforded the only opportunity for the citizens to meet together in the mass and express their opinion on any subject. When literature was gagged, political meetings and secret societies suppressed, and even private speech was guarded I for fear of the "delator," there still re mained the license of the circus and the , amphitheater, which enable the Roman people to make its will known, and often to wrest compliance from a reluctant emperor. The shouts of the assembled thousands, carefully organised beforo : hand, on several occasions procured the revocation of an unpopular edict or the | punishment of a hated minister. Thus I Tiberius was induced by the shouts of the populace to restore a statue which he had removed from the baths of Ag rlppa and set up in his own palace. But not all the emperors were so com pliant. Augustus refused to repeal his marriage law in deference to the popu lar clamor, and Calus even seized and put to death the ringleaders of a similar demonstration. In general, however, no restrictions were put upon the license which the people arrogated to them selves in the circus and the amphithea ter, and which increased In the later pe riods of the empire. Tertulllan even speaks of the ridicule and abuse being directed against the emperor himself as being a common oc currence at the games; but of this no trace Is found in the first century- Such demonstrations were organized before hand, and where the people were not of one mind rival shouts would be raised. Private malice, too, was also sometimes indulged by shouting scandalous Insinu ations at the games, but this was re garded as an offense and was punished as a very malicious form of libel. ALL PLAT AND NO WORK But if the games were a political neces sity of the time, they played also an Im portant part as the amusement of an idle population. Thoir Importance in occu pying the attention and Ailing in the life of the metropolis may be gauged when it is remembered that the festivals were constantly increasing. Under Tiberius they had reached eighty-seven days, and before the end of the century prob ably exceeded one hundredi And these numbers only represent the regular fes tival days. In addition there were the extraordinary fetes, which were not in frequent and were sometimes prolonged to an Inordinate length of time Thus the opening of the Coliseum was cele brated by a fete of one hundred days, and Trajan, A. D. 106, gave one which lasted one hundred and twenty-three days. Such was the life which the rulers of the world chose for themselves, and which the subject provinces had to sup port by the tribute levied upon the fruits of their labor. In the empire honor was done to Min erva during the Qutnquatria. a festival which continued for five days, beginning on the ISth of March. The first day sac rifices and oblations were presented, but, however, without the effusion of blood. On the second, third and fourth days shows of gladiators were exhibited, and on the fifth day there was a solemn pro cession through the streets of the city. On the days of, the celebration scholars obtained holidays, and it was usual for them to offer prayers to Minerva for learning and wisdom, which the goddess patronized; and upon their return to school they presented their master with a gift which bore the name of "Mlner val." Plays were also enacted and dis putations were held upon literary sub jects. These latter exercises, however, were but poorly sustained, they not re flecting the spirit of the people to any great extent, the gladiatorial shows to for greater extent affording gratification to the public whose brutal instincts were fostered by the varied debasing exhi bitions. The festival of Mlnervalla, also, WSJ overshadowed by the Floralla, games given in honor of Flora, goddess of flow ers and gardens, which begun on April 28th and continued to May 3d. The cele bration was instituted about the time of Romulus, but it was not celebrated with regularity until 680 years later. The origin of the goddess Flora Is somewhat obscure. She was worshiped by the Sabines long before the founda tion of Rome,and likewise among the Phoenicians, who built Marseilles long before the existence of the capital of Italy. Tatius first raised a temple to her in Rome. She is said to have married Zephyrus, and that she received from him the privilege of presiding over flow ers and of enjoying perpetual youth. The distinguishing feature of the games given in her honor at Rome was the un bounded licentiousness observed by all the participants. It is told of Cato that, desiring to be present at the celebration, when he saw that deference- for his pres ence interrupted the feast, he retired, not choosing to remain and witness the degradation practised in a public thea ter. His behavior so captivated the degenerate Romans that the venerable senator was treated with the most un common applause as he retired. THE CARNIVAL IDEA CRUELTY AND FOLLY A EXTIN GUISHING FEATURE But Encouraged, Under Protest From the Church, as an Incentive to Trade and Commerce "It becomes extremely hard to disentan gle nur Idea of the cause from the effect by which we know it."—Burke. "ThH life a theatre we well may call, Where every actor must perform with an: Or laugh It through, and make a farce of •Jli Or learn to bear with grace his tragic part." —Bland's Greek Anthology. "The injury of prodigality leads to this, that he that will not economize will have to agonize."—Confucius. With the introduction of Christianity, or, more precisely, when Peter, accom panied by Paul, went to Rome and founded there achurch over which he pre sided as bishop for 25 years (from the first year of the reign of Claudius, 41 A. D. to 67 A. D.), eventually suKerlng mar tyrdom in the same year and on the same day as St. Paul, in the persecution under Nero, the ax was laid at the root of the old mythological festival* Bo long as Christianity was the religion It an obscure sect and of a persecuted minority in the Roman state, lying also under the suspicion of political disaf fection, its influence upon the every-day life of the nation was inslgnifloant. But with the firm establishment and recogni tion of the church at Seme, a gradual but very certain change began. The spirit of compromise, which has so gen erally characterized the dealings of the church with the world at large, also dls- I tingulshed It in Its attitude toward the prevailing festivals. The primitive church, not finding It wise or practica- I tie to oppose the celebrations that formed part of the national life, fitted them into its system and assigned to , them a meaning connected with Its own practices and observances. The Bacchanalian festivals of an- I tlquity were celebrated by the Romans, | who adopted them from older nations, ' twice in the year, Indicating the connec tion of those rites with the phenomena of the solar system, in the winter and In - the summer. It was a vintage festival, and was held In the month of March. The Lupercalian festival, In honor of Pun and Ceres, observed In February, was the companion celebration, at which the greatest license was observed, and which received the earliest effective at tention of the church. Pope Gelaslus I, who died in 400, strove to supersede the two great festivals by substituting for them the festival of the Purification of the Blessed Virgin, with special Illumin ations of candles on the altar—"Candle mas." The word February (connected with "Februare") denotes purification, and in this month the purification of the people took place; the rites of the Luper calla, which were succeeded by the Bac chanalia, were were celebrated on the 16th, and included the lighting of can dles, in allusion to those used by Ceres In her search for Proserpine. In such manner and under such guise is sup posed to have appeared the carnival Idea of modern times. THE CARNIVAL DEFINED The word "carnival" is as hopelessly In dispute, however, as that of "feast." The Italian vocabularies are contradic tory In their definitions. The most rea sonable explanation of the origin of the word is that it is taken from the Italian "carnevaie," explained either by the help of the medieval Latin "carne leva rlum," "carnileva men," as "removal of flesh"; or from the Latin, "currus-navalls" — boat on wheels — from a usage of the processlnr.6 already noticed In the celebration of the Grecian Panathenaea. The explanation from the Italian "came"—flesh—plus the Latin "vale"—farewell —is mere folk ety mology. The popular understanding of the word, as signifying the last few days of license and feasting betore the beginning of Lent, am?-as a sort of vale dictory consolation for the pri*itions about to follow, is not the proper mean ing of the term, and is hardly yet so un derstood In Italy. There It is very com monly taken to signify the whole of the time between the first day of the year to Shrove Tuesday, inclusive. But neither is that absolutely correct. Car nival time properly begfns on January 7th. the day following the feast of the Epiphany, and lasts until midnight on Shrove Tuesday. Of all the dictionary mongers who arc hopelessly at out, Ferrario Is probably more nearly cor rect when he maintains that the word was originally the same with "carnalia," indicating an origin much earlier than ecclesiastical observance, and used in the same way as Saturnalia, Liberalla, Lupercalla, etc. In any case it Is as an exciting prelude to the austerities of the Lenten season that carnival is known. While the Grecian festivals were held in honor of the gods, and incidentally to develop the physique, manhood and patriotism of the nation, the Roman celebrations had a more utilitarian basis. As has been stated, the Roman legions had no scru ples against crying All Hail! to a foreign god—not out of an abundance of rever ence, but simply as a means to ingratiate themselves with this stranger god, who might serve their material aims. So their celebrations were of complex char acter. They were sops thrown to the populace to keep them quiet; the ele ment of worship, while present, was of a very material kind, and festival times f.ttraotod strangers from afar and en couraged trade in eertaln directions In consequence of thus aiding the ma terial resources of Rome, the govern ment of the popes, while lamenting the excesses, perhaps, took active steps to promote and encourage the carnival ob servance. The Roman carnival was especially splendid during the papacy of the great Farnese pope, Paul III— 1534-1549—days when Rome was still overflowing with wealth, surrounded by tributary Christendom. In 1545 the cel ebration was marked by special mag nificence. PAGEANT AND SPORTS The sports consisted of three divisions: The races in theCorso (which, formerly named Via Lata, took Its present name from them), the spectacular pape ar.ts of the "agona" (now the Piazza Navona) and of the Testacclo. The rejoicing con tinued for eight days, and each day there were races In which ran old and young, toys, Jews, horses, buffaloes and asses, the prizes consisting of a banneret termed "pallo." In those days, however, the principal feature of the carnival was the "glnoehi," or sports of the Agona, and the Monte Testacclo. The former consisted of a monster procession of which that age was so proud. A de tailed account may be found In a manu script preserved in the Albanl library, entitled: ' A True Progression of the Festival of Agone and Testacclo Celebrated by the Gentleman of Rome on the Thursday and Monday of Carnival In ]sio According to the practice of the ancient Romans, Together with a True De scription of the Triumphal Cars In describing the spectacle of Monte Testacclo Crcscimbenl says: "All the positions were crowded with people, and there was a great number of stands and scaffoldinga In the midst is the large open meadow which was entirely sur rounded by infantry and cavalry. Along came the procession, and then com menced the great hunting match, in which thirteen bulls were slain, and six cars were sent down from Monte Testac clo, on each of which was a red standard and a live pig, in scrambling for which no less efforts were made than In slay ing the bulls. Among the many liv eried companies seen was one of thirty six mountebanks, clad in red, with iron shod poles in their hands; and these were the first to assail the bulls. Put the most splendid thing seen was a company of six cavaliers, consisting of the Cardinal Far nese, the Cardinal Santa Flora, the duke of Camerlno, the duke of Melt), the count of Santa Flora and the prince of Mace donia. These were dressed as knights of old, and their garments wefe of gold and silver and silk, with embroidery and lace, and needlework upon needlework — such an elegance that I have neither the patience nor the courage to describe it! Their horses, too, were adorned with the same splendor, and they performed such feats of horsemanship (these car dinals!) that the people thought It a miracle! Then three races were run, the first for riderless horses, with a ban ner of gold brocade for the prise; the second for riderless horses, with a ban i ncr of crimson velvet for the prise; and the third for mares, the prize being a I banner of purple velvet. On the last day | of the carnival there was a race of asses | and buffaloes, and as usual there was : reveling and tumult in abundance. At ! night there was a comedy In the Caff a relli palace." THE PAPAL PATRONAGE Of the popes who were patrons and promoters of carnival celebration, Paul II was one of the most notable. In his time the Jews of Rome were compelled to pay a yearly sum of 1130 golden flor ins, which was expended on the carnival. There is also extant a decree of Paul II minutely providing for and encouraging the diversions which were to take place. Among other things his Holiness orders that four rings of silver gilt should be provided for the burghers and the re tainers of of the nobles to practice riding at the ring. The pope also orders a va riety of races, the expense to be defrayed from the papal exchequer—one to be run by the Jews, another for Chrlitian chil dren, another for Christian young men, another for sexagenarians, a fifth for asses and a sixth for buffaloes. Under Julius 111 bull-baiting took place in the forum, with elaborate and magnificent accessories, and enormous suppers were given in the palace of the conservatorl, In the capltol, where seven cardinals, together with the Duke Orazlo Farnese, supped at one table, and all the ladies by themselves at another. Paul IV used to keep carnival by Inviting all the sacred college to dine with him, but the vigorous Slxtus V, elected In 1585, kept It In different fashion. Finding that the license permitted gave rise to much abuse, he prepared for the celebra tion, to the no small dismay of the Ro mans, by having erected sundry gibbets in conspicuous places, as well as whip ping post.s —the former as a hint to rob bers and cut-throats, the latter as a reminder for minor offenders. It was Slxtus. too, who reformed the evil cus tom of throwing flour at passengers, permitting only flowers or "confetti." Clement IX used, on the other hand, to shut himself every year during carni val time In the convent of St. Sabina, that at least he might not see what he could not avoid tolerating. Gregory XIII, in celebrating the Jubilee year in 1575, forbade all carnival observance, ordering all the money usually expended for the purpose by the apostolic chamber shouUl be used to assist poor pilgrims. Other of the popes have similarly suspended carnival, and In ISOSPIus VII. forbade any manifestation on account of the French Invasion, nor would he permit any to take place in 1809, notwithstanding that the French in the occupation of the city had proclaimed the celebration of the carnival. Of course the pope had no power to enforce his wish, but It is strangely suggestive, as indicating the feeling of the people, that the corso re mained deserted and all the stores closed. A VENETIAN DAY During Carnival When the Doge Har ried the Sea "A« for Venice and her people, merely born to bloom and drop, Here on earth they bore their fruitage, mirth and folly was the crop; What of soul was left, I wonder, when the kissing had to stop." —R. BROWNING. While the principal cities of Italy cel ebrated the carnival In varying degrees of magnificence, that held at Venice, during the days of the republic, present ed exceptionally Interesting features. There the carnival had six month* of every year to riot in, and attracted Idlers from all parts of the vorld. and these thronged the city with a motley com pany—dominoes, harlequins, pantaloni, liiustrissiml and illustrisslme, and per- haps the doge himself, who had the right of Incognito when ho wore a mask of wax at his button-hole. The crusades, from which the Inhabit ants of other countries gained nothing but relics and wounds, brought to the rising republic of the Adriatic a large Increase of wealth, dominion and knowl edge. Their moral a/id geographical po sition enabled the Venetians to profit alike by the barbarism of the west and by the civilization of the east. Venetian ships covered every sea; Venetian fac tories arose on every shore; the tables of the Venetian money-changers were set in every city; manufactures flour- ished and banks were established. In literature and art Venice was the link] between Italy and Greece. Its eastern colonists learned the Greek tongue; and the fall of the Greek empire brought its banished men of science and letters. On May 20, 998, the Doge Pletro , Orscolo defeated the piratical Naren- I tines at sea, and annexed all Istrla, a3 far as Dalmatia, to the republic. Hay ■ ir.g thus given security of trade, he con | stltuted himself protector of the sea from Trieste to Albania, and it was to sym bolize this dominion that Venice insti- the superb ceremonial of the I ci pousals of tho doge with the Adriatic, which was annually observed on Ascen si n day. Not, however, until 200 years later was it that Pope Alexander 111 blessed the famous espousals and con firmed the republic in the possession of the sea forever. A description of the famous ceremony by a noted writer gives one a rather poor idea of republican simplicity In the days when Venice was at the zenith of its power. ESPOUSALS OF THE DOGE At midday, having heard mass in the chapel of the collegio, the doge descend ed the giant's stairs, issued from the porta del carta (the gate of the ducal palace opening on the piazzetta next St. Mark's) and passed the booths of the mercers and glass vendors erected for the carnival fair beginning the same evening. He was preceded by eight | standard-bearers with the flags of the republic—red, white, blue and purple— I given by Pope Alexander 111 to the) Doge Ziani. Six trumpets of silver, borne by as many boys, mixed their notes with the clangor of the bells of the city. Behind came the retinues of the ambas sadors, in sumptuous liveries, and the llfty comandadorl, in their flowing blue robes and red caps; then followed musi cians and the squires of the doge, In black velvet; then the guards of the doge, two chancellors, the secretary of the pregadi, a deacon clad in purple and bearing a wax taper, six canons, three parish priests in their sacerdotal robee, and the doge's chaplain dressed In crim son. The grand chancellor was known by his crimson vesture. Two squire* bore the doge's chair and the cushion of cloth of gold. And the doge—the rep resentative and not the master of his country; the executor, and not the maker of the laws; citizen and prince, revered and guarded, sovereign of individuals, servant of the state—came clad in a long mantle of ermine, cassock of blue and vest and hose of "tocca d'oro" (a gauze of gold and silver), with the gold en bonnet on his bead, under the urn*,