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‹Better GutenbergThe Religious Experience of the Roman PeopleLecture VIII — Ritual of the Ius Divinum · 10 of 50Contents›

The Religious Experience of the Roman People

by W. Warde Fowler

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Lecture VIII Ritual of the Ius Divinum

Main object of ius divinum to keep up the pax deorum; meaning of pax in this phrase. Means towards the maintenance of the pax: sacrifice and prayer, fulfilment of vows, lustratio, divination. Meaning of sacrificium. Little trace of sacramental sacrifice. Typical sacrifice of ius divinum: both priest and victim must be acceptable to the deity; means taken to secure this. Ritual of slaughter: examination and porrectio of entrails. Prayer; the phrase Macte esto and its importance in explaining Roman sacrifice. Magical survivals in Roman and Italian prayers; yet they are essentially religious

169-199

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