The Worship of the Romans. By Frank Granger, D.Lit. (Methuen
and Co.)—Dr. Granger adds the words, "Viewed in relation to the Roman Temperament," and so explains the stand- point which he occupies in his investigation of this subject. Naturally he quotes largely from the classical writers, and quotes for the most part justly and effectively. We may doubt, however, whether the Ibis of Ovid can be quoted as a genuine testimony to Roman belief in a ghostly punishment of the wicked. The Ibis was adapted from a poem of the Alexandrian Callimachus directed against a literary rival, Apollonius Rhodius. A great amount of curious matter on what may be called folk-lore and the belief in supernatural existence, is brought together in this volume. What- ever the Romans' scepticism in regard to the State religion, they were not by any means without belief in powers that transcended natural experience. Cicero himself poses as, rather than really is, a sceptic, and the younger Pliny had evidently a strong faith in apparitions (the earliest revenant in existence is described by him), omens, dreams, and the like. "Nature Worship," "Divina- tion and Prophecy," "Holy Places and Idolatry," and "The Sacred Drama," are among the subjects to which he has devoted his chapters.
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