h his
family, and how he managed to emphasise their cult and at the same time
to bring them into close relationship to himself.

From the time of his first introduction into Rome Apollo had stood in a
relation of contrast to Juppiter. Apollo's oracles, the Sibylline books,
had brought in a host of Greek gods whose presence tended inevitably to
lessen the unique position and the unparalleled prestige of Juppiter
Optimus Maximus, the great representative of nationalism in Roman
religion. At first this contrast was scarcely marked, and the very
oracles of Apollo which were destined to undermine Juppiter's
omnipotence were stored in Juppiter's temple and under his protection.
The difference was felt more strongly as the priesthood of the Sibylline
books began to grow in influence alongside of the pontiffs, the priests
of the Juppiter cults. This opposition was emphasised in B.C. 367, when
the priesthood of the oracles was opened to the plebeians, while the
pontiffs were still patricians. At first unquestionably the object of
the patricians was to keep for themselves the more sacred and the then
more important college and to open the lesser priesthood to the
plebeians. But in the struggle of the two orders those things which were
opened to the plebeians grew in importance and entirely overshadowed
those which were so scrupulously hedged about, and the elements which
strove to resist progress were crushed beneath it; and just as the old
assembly, the Comitia Curiata, which the patricians had kept for
themselves, was later of no account compared with the Comitia
Centuriata, which belonged to both orders, so the college of pontiffs
lost significance while the keepers of the oracles gained steadily in
power and influence. But it was not merely because Apollo was the great
leader of the Greek movement in Roman religion that Augustus chose to
honour him. A far more important consideration guided him, for Apollo
was especially attached to the Julian house in all its mythical and
historical fortunes. The first great public evidence of Apollo's favour
in Augustus's career was at the battle of Actium; but while this led to
the first proclamation of the emperor's devotion to Apollo, it was not
Actium which made him a worshipper of the god, but it was because he was
a worshipper of Apollo from the beginning that Actium and all subsequent
tokens of the god's favour were emphasised by him. However much or
little the people of the day may