Excerpt from The Religious Life of Ancient Rome: A Study in the Development of Religious Consciousness From the Foundation of the City, Until the Death of Gregory the Great The eight chapters of this book were originally eight lectures delivered before the Lowell Institute in Boston during January, 1911. Though they have been slightly recast, their character as lectures has been preserved, even at the risk of retaining statements which are more dogmatic than one would make in a book of essays writ ten to be read. But the theory of religious evolution here developed is put forth in the hope that it may arouse thought and discussion; and to this end a positive state ment seems desirable. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.