All the inhabitants of the invisible world, to which the souls of people departed after death, were indiscriminately called Inferi. Elysium was that part of hell (apud Inferos,) in which the good spent a spiritual existence of unmingled enjoyment, and Tartarus (pl. -ra) was the terrible prison-house of the damned.
The worship of the gods consisted chiefly in prayers, vows, and sacrifices. No act of religious worship was performed without prayer; while praying, they stood usually with their heads covered, looking towards the east; a priest pronounced the words before them;—they frequently touched the altars or knees of the images of the gods; turning themselves round in a circle towards the right, sometimes putting their right hand to their mouth, and also prostrating themselves on the ground.
They vowed temples, games, sacrifices, gifts, &c. Sometimes they used to write their vows on paper or waxen tablets, to seal them up, and fasten them with wax to the knees of the images of the gods, that being supposed to be the seat of mercy.
Lustrations were necessary to be made before entrance on any important religious duty, viz. before setting out to the temples, before the sacrifice, before initiation into the mysteries, and before solemn vows and prayers.
Lustrations were also made after acts by which one might be polluted; as after murder, or after having assisted at a funeral.
In sacrifices it was requisite that those who offered them, should come chaste and pure; that they should bathe themselves, be dressed in white robes, and crowned with the leaves of the tree which was thought most acceptable to the god whom they worshipped.
Sacrifices were made of victims whole and sound (Integræ et sanæ.) But all victims were not indifferently offered to all gods.
A white bull was an acceptable sacrifice to Jupiter; an ewe to Juno; black victims, bulls especially, to Pluto; a bull and a horse to Neptune; the horse to Mars; bullocks and lambs to Apollo, &c. Sheep and goats were offered to various deities.
The victim was led to the altar with a loose rope, that it might not seem to be brought by force, which was reckoned a bad omen. After silence was proclaimed, a salted cake was sprinkled on the head of the beast, and frankincense and wine poured between his horns, the priest having first tasted the wine himself, and given it to be tasted by those that stood next him, which was called libatio—the priest then plucked the highest hairs between the horns, and threw them into the fire—the victim was struck with an axe or mall, then stabbed with knives, and the blood being caught in goblets, was poured on the altar—it was then flayed and dissected; then the entrails were inspected by the aruspices, and if the signs were favorable, they were said to have offered up an acceptable sacrifice, or to have pacified the gods; if not, another victim was offered up, and sometimes several. The parts which fell to the gods were sprinkled with meal, wine, and frankincense, and burnt on the altar. When the sacrifice was finished, the priest, having washed his hands, and uttered certain prayers, again made a libation, and the people were dismissed.
Human sacrifices were also offered among the Romans: persons guilty of certain crimes, as treachery or sedition, were devoted to Pluto and the infernal gods, and therefore any one might slay them with impunity.