[98] "Lectisternia," feasts in which the images of the gods were laid on pillows in the streets, and all kinds of food set before them. [99] According to Livy (vii. 2), theatrical exhibitions were introduced in the year 392 A. U. C. Before that time, he says, there had only been the games of the circus. The Romans sent to Etruria for players, who were called "histriones," "hister" being the Tuscan word for a player. Other particulars are added by Livy. [100] See the _Republic_, book iii. [101] Comp. Tertullian, _De Spectac._ c. 22. [102] The Egyptian gods represented with dogs' heads, called by Lucan (viii. 832) _semicanes deos_. [103] The Fever had, according to Vives, three altars in Rome. See Cicero, _De Nat. Deor._ iii. 25, and Ælian, _Var. Hist._ xii. 11. [104] Cicero, _De Republica_, v. Compare the third _Tusculan Quæst._ c. ii. [105] In the year A.U. 299, three ambassadors were sent from Rome to Athens to copy Solon's laws, and acquire information about the institutions of Greece. On their return the Decemviri were appointed to draw up a code; and finally, after some tragic interruptions, the celebrated Twelve Tables were accepted as the fundamental statutes of Roman law (_fons universi publici privatique juris_). These were graven on brass, and hung up for public information. Livy, iii. 31-34. [106] Possibly he refers to Plautus' _Persa_, iv. 4. 11-14. [107] Sallust, _Cat. Con._ ix. Compare the similar saying of Tacitus regarding the chastity of the Germans: "Plusque ibi boni mores valent, quam alibi bonæ leges" (_Germ._ xix.). [108] The same collocation of words is used by Cicero with reference to the well-known mode of renewing the appetite in use among the Romans. [109] _Æneid_, ii. 351-2. [110] 2 Cor. xi. 14. [111] Cicero, _C. Verrem_, vi. 8. [112] Cicero, _C. Catilinam_, iii. 8. [113] Alluding to the sanctuary given to all who fled to Rome in its early days. [114] Virgil, _Æneid_, i. 278. BOOK THIRD. ARGUMENT. AS IN THE FOREGOING BOOK AUGUSTINE HAS PROVED REGARDING MORAL AND SPIRITUAL CALAMITIES, SO IN THIS BOOK HE PROVES REGARDING EXTERNAL AND BODILY DISASTERS, THAT SINCE THE FOUNDATION OF THE CITY THE ROMANS HAVE BEEN CONTINUALLY SUBJECT TO THEM; AND THAT EVEN WHEN THE FALSE GODS WERE WORSHIPPED WITHOUT A RIVAL, BEFORE THE ADVENT OF CHRIST, THEY AFFORDED NO RELIEF FROM SUCH CALAMITIES. 1. _Of the ills which alone the wicked fear, and which the world continually suffered, even when the gods were worshipped._