The feasts celebrated by the Sabians to honor the planets, were fixed under the sign of their exaltation; sometimes under that of their mansion; so the feast of Saturn was celebrated by the Romans in December, under the Capricornus (Goat), mansion of this planet. All the celebrations of the old calendar of the Pontiffs were connected with the rise or setting of some constellation or star, as can be ascertained by reading the _Fastes_ of Ovide. The religious genius of the Romans, and the relations of their celebrations with nature, are more especially seen in the games of the circus. The sun, the moon, the planets, the elements, the universe and its principal parts, were represented with emblems analagous to their nature. In the Hippodrome the sun was seen with steeds which imitated its course in the heavens. The fields of Olympia were represented by a vast arena consecrated to the sun. In the middle there was a temple of this god, crowned with his image. The limits of the course of the sun, the Orient and the Occident, were traced, and marked by limits placed at the extremities of the circus. The races took place from the east to the west seven times, because of the seven planets. The sun, the moon, Jupiter and Venus, had each one a chariot. The Aurigæ or drivers, wore garments representing the colors of the elements. The chariot of the sun was drawn by four steeds, and that of the moon by two. The Zodiac was represented in the circus by twelve gates; and also the revolution of the major and minor Ursas. The sea, or Neptune, the earth, or Ceres, and the other elements, were personified in actors who contended for the prize. The phases of the moon were also celebrated, and particularly the neomeny or new-moon; for temples images and mysteries had been dedicated to the god Month, or Mensis. All the ceremonial of the procession of Isis, described in Apuleo, refers to nature and its parts. The sacred hymns of the ancients had the same object, if we may judge of them by those of Orpheus. Chun, one of the most ancient emperors of China, ordered many hymns to be composed to honor the sun, the moon, the stars, etc. All the prayers contained in the books Zends had the same objects. The poetical chants of ancient authors, who have transmitted to us the theogonies of Orpheus, of Linus, of Hesiod, etc., relate to nature and its agents. Hesiod thus addresses the Muses: "Sing the gods immortal, sons of the earth and of the starry sky; gods born from the bosom of night, and nursed by the Ocean; the bright stars, the immense vault of the firmament, and the gods sprung from them; the sea, the rivers, etc."