MINUCIUS FELIX. 491 .werecollectedby crime,and grew by theterrorsof their ferocity.And thereforethe Romans were not so great becausethey were religious,but becausetheywere sacri legiouswithimpunity. "Nevebtheless, you willsaythatthatverysuperstitionitself gave, increased,and establishedtheirempire fortheKomans, sincethey prevailednot so much by theirvalour as by their religionand piety.Doubtlesstheillustriousand noblejustice of the Komans had itsbeginningfrom the very cradleof the growing empire. Did they not intheirorigin,when gathered togetherand fortifiedby crime, grow by the terrorof their own fierceness? For thefirstpeoplewere assembledtogether as to an asylum. Abandoned people,profligate,incestuous, assassins,traitors,had flockedtogether;and in order that Romulus himself,theircommander and governor,might excel his people in guilt,he committed fatricide.1These are the firstauspicesofthereligiousstate! By and by theycarriedoff, violated,and ruinedforeignvirgins,alreadybetrothed,already destinedfor husbands, and even some young women from theirmarriagevows— a thingunexampled2— and thenengaged in war with theirparents,that is,with theirfathers-in-law, and shed the bloodof theirkindred. What more irreligious, -whatmore audacious,what couldbe saferthan the very con fidenceof crime? Now, to drivetheirneighboursfrom the land, to overthrowthe nearestcities,with theirtemples and altars,to drivethem intocaptivity,to grow up by the losses of othersand by theirown crimes,is the courseof training common to the restof the kings and the latestleaderswith Romulus. Thus, whatever theRomans hold,cultivate,possess, is the spoilof theiraudacity. All theirtemples are built from the spoilsof violence,thatis,from the ruinsof cities, from the spoilsof the gods,from themurders of priests.This is to insultand scorn,to yieldtoconquered religions,toadore them when captive,afterhaving vanquished them. For to adore what you have taken by force,istoconsecratesacrilege, not divinities.As often,therefore,as theRomans triumphed 1 Parricidium. s Virg.JEneid,viii.635.