8. The pontiffs and fla'mens, as the superior priests were designated,
enjoyed great privileges, and were generally men of rank. When the
republic was abolished, the emperors assumed the office of pontifex
maximus, or chief pontiff, deeming its powers too extensive to be
entrusted to a subject.

9. The institution of vestal virgins was older than the city itself,
and was regarded by the Romans as the most sacred part of their
religious system. In the time of Numa there were but four, but two
more were added by Tarquin; probably the addition made by Tarquin was
to give the tribe of the Lu'ceres a share in this important
priesthood. The duty of the vestal virgins was to keep the sacred fire
that burned on the altar of Vesta from being extinguished; and to
preserve a certain sacred pledge on which the very existence of Rome
was supposed to depend. What this pledge was we have no means of
discovering; some suppose that it was the Trojan Palla'dium, others,
with more probability, some traditional mystery brought by the
Pelas'gi from Samothrace.

10. The privileges conceded to the vestals were very great; they had
the most honourable seats at public games and festivals; they were
attended by a lictor with fasces like the magistrates; they were
provided with chariots when they required them; and they possessed the
power of pardoning any criminal whom they met on the way to execution,
if they declared that the meeting was accidental. The magistrates
were obliged to salute them as they passed, and the fasces of the
consul were lowered to do them reverence. To withhold from them marks
of respect subjected the offender to public odium; a personal insult
was capitally punished. They possessed the exclusive privilege of