624 THE NATURE OF ROMAN MYTHOLOGY
and Propertius (to name the three most important poets in this respect) and in
the prose writers Cicero, Varro (a polymath and antiquarian who died at the age
of eighty-nine in 27 B.c.), and Livy. The outline of other legends can be recov-
ered from what is known of the cults and rituals of Roman divinities. Especially
important in this respect is Ovid's Fasti, in which he describes the festivals of
the first six months of the Roman calendar. He tells many legends of the gods,
while describing their cults and explaining the origins of their rituals.
Legends attached to the early history of Rome are the Roman equivalent of
saga. A few of these are associated with specific local heroes, of whom the most
important are Aeneas and Romulus. A large group of legends associated with
the early history of Rome idealized the past, and their central figures exemplify
Roman virtues. Such idealizing was especially practiced in the time of Augus-
tus (who reigned from 27 B.C. to A.D. 14), a period of reconstruction and revival
of the supposed principles of the early Romans. All the authors named here as
sources for Roman mythology were contemporaries of Augustus, and of them,
only Varro (fifty-three years older than Augustus) and Cicero (forty-three years
older) died before the Augustan reconstruction had begun. Thus the definition
of myth as a "traditional tale" has a special coloring in Roman mythology. Livy
justifies the process of idealization in the "Preface" to his history (sects. 6-10):
I do not intend to accept or deny the truth of traditional legends about events
before and during the founding of the city. These are more suitable for poetic
fables than for reliable historical records. But one can excuse ancient legends be-
cause they make the origins of the city more august by uniting human and di-
vine actions. If any nation has the right to consider its origins sacred and to as-
cribe them to the gods, it is the Roman people, for they claim that Mars is their
ancestor and the father of the founder [Romulus].THE ITALIAN GODS
JANUS, MARS, AND BELLONA
Among the gods of the Roman state, Janus takes first place; in formal prayers
to the gods he was named first. He is a very ancient deity, and he has an equiv-
alent in the Etruscan god, Culsans. He is the god who presides over beginnings,
and in this connection we preserve his name in the month that begins our year.
It is likely, however, that in his earliest form he was connected with water, es-
pecially with crossing places and bridges. Thus in the city of Rome there were
five shrines to Janus, all placed near crossings over the river or watercourses,
and he was intimately connected with the boundaries of the earliest settlements
at Rome, the approaches to which required crossing the Tiber or one of its trib-
utary brooks. As the city expanded, these early crossing-places lost their im-
portance, and Janus' original functions were obscured. Yet they can be detected
in later times; the gates of his shrine near the Argiletum entrance to the Forum
were open in time of war and closed in time of peace. They were closed by Au-