ntary deposit thus formed which was to fertilise the soil of
patriotism which had grown so barren in the civil wars. But while
Augustus was broad-minded enough to realise the value of the influence
of literature, he did not fail to recognise that men could not live by
myths alone, that they must be surrounded by visible cult acts and
tangible temples of the gods in order that their faith might be aided by
sight and their life filled with action. Literature was to encourage
patriotism, and patriotism was the foundation for the spiritual
restoration of the state religion, but the state itself must by legal
enactment prepare the outward form which the religious activity was to
take. The question of the sincerity of Augustus in these religious
reforms is a very difficult one to answer. If the essence of religion
consisted in acts and not in belief, in works and not in faith, Augustus
was a devoutly religious man. Beyond that we cannot go, for our judgment
is hampered not only by ignorance of the facts but by our inability to
free ourselves from the modern standpoint in the interpretation of the
few facts that we do know. There can be no question of the emperor's
fitness for the task so far as priestly learning went, for he was from a
very early age a member of three priesthoods: a pontiff, an augur, and
a guardian of the Sibylline books. With characteristic modesty however
he refrained from becoming Chief Pontiff until in B.C. 12 the death of
Lepidus, the discarded member of the Second Triumvirate, left the
position vacant.

One who understands the political reforms of Augustus will have no
difficulty in understanding his reorganisation of religion, for they
were both undertaken with the same general underlying principles and
along similar lines. In both cases innovations and novelties were
strenuously avoided, except of course those of a merely administrative
character. In each case a successful effort was made to have it appear
as if the old institutions of the republic were being reinstated,
whereas as a matter of fact the form alone was old with its age
artificially emphasised occasionally by an archaistic touch, while the
content was quite new. The real result in each case was the
strengthening of the monarchy and the emphasising of the divine right of
the Julian house. In our study of Augustus's restoration of religion we
must not be content therefore with chronicling the old forms which were
re-established, but we mu