§26. Adfines.--Persons connected by marriage only were called _adfīnēs_, as a wife with her husband's cognates and he with hers. There were no formal degrees of _adfīnitās_, as there were of _cognātiō_. Those adfīnēs for whom distinctive names were in common use were: _gener_, son-in-law; _nurus_, daughter-in-law; _socer_, father-in-law; _socrus_, mother-in-law; _prīvignus_, _prīvigna_, step-son, step-daughter; _ritricus_, step-father; _noverca_, step-mother. If we compare these names with the awkward compounds that do duty for them in English, we shall have additional proof of the stress laid by the Romans on family ties: two women who married brothers were called _iānītrīcēs_, a relationship for which we do not have even a compound. The names of blood relations tell the same story: a glance at the table of cognates will show how strong the Latin is here, how weak the English. We have "uncle," "aunt," and "cousin," but between _avunculus_ and _patruus_, _mātertera_ and _amita_, _patruēlis_ and _cōnsōbrīnus_, we can distinguish only by descriptive phrases. For _atavus_ and _tritavus_ we have merely the indefinite "forefathers." In the same way the language testifies to the headship of the father. We speak of the "mother country" and "mother tongue," but to the Roman these were _patria_ and _sermō patrius_. As the _pater_ stood to the _fīlius_, so stood the _patrōnus_ to the _cliēns_, the _patriciī_ to the _plēbēiī_, the _patrēs_ (=senators) to the rest of the citizens, and _Iūpiter_ (Jove the Father) to the other gods of Olympus. §27. The Family Cult.--It has been said (§23) that _agnātiō_ was the closest tie known to the Romans. The importance they attached to the agnatic family is largely explained by their ideas of the future life. They believed that the souls of men had an existence apart from the body, but not in a separate spirit-land. They conceived of the soul as hovering around the place of burial and requiring for its peace and happiness that offerings of food and drink should be made to it regularly. Should these offerings be discontinued, the soul would cease to be happy itself, and might become perhaps a spirit of evil. The maintenance of these rites and ceremonies devolved naturally upon the descendants from generation to generation, whom the spirits in turn would guide and guard. [Illustration: FIGURE 2. LUCIUS JUNIUS BRUTUS]