The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic

part in the declaring of war and the making of treaties: at any rate it

was from his temple that the _lapis silex_ and the _sceptrum_ were taken which accompanied them on their official journeys[997]. It has been supposed that this _lapis silex_ was a symbol of the god himself, like the spear of Mars in the Regia, and other such objects of cult[998]. ‘We recognize here the primitive...