In general the Romans are very superstitious and very ritualistic. His conception of the world, in a sense it can be called animist because they believe that everything is pervaded by a divine force which justifies its development and virtuality, leads them to constantly be aware of the signs that manifest the will of the gods or announce the future. And this in turn requires constantly celebrate rites and ceremonies which discover the future and the will of the gods and spirits in order to propitiate his favor or stop their anger. So they do not undertake any action without consulting those signs.<\/b><\/p>\n
\n\tThis idea was expressed consistently by Pliny the Younger<\/em> at the beginning of his “Panegyric of Trajan” 1.1:<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tRight and wisely, senators, our forefathers instituted that the actions and speeches must begin with prayers, because the men can’t receive the auspices legally, can’t receive them prudently at all without the help, without advice and without the glory of the immortal gods.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \n\tBene ac sapienter, patres conscripcti, maiores instituerunt ut rerum agendarum ita dicendi a precationibus capere, quod nihil rite, nihil providenter homines sine deorum inmortalium ope, consilio, honore auspicarentur.<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tThe Romans considered themselves the most religious people of all, as Cicero<\/em> himself says in his De Natura Deorum (On the Nature of the Gods) 2.8:<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tAnd if we want to compare our stuff with foreigners, we see that in the other aspects we are equal or even lower, but in religion, that is, in the worship of the gods we are much higher<\/em><\/strong>.<\/p>\n \n\tet si conferre volumus nostra cum externis, ceteris rebús aut pares aut etiam inferiores reperiemur, religione id est cultu deorum multo superiores.<\/em><\/p>\n \n\tIf we understand religious people as "rites practitioner", we must to share the statement of Cicero<\/em>.<\/p>\n \n\tAbout the Roman rites I will speak more fully on another occasion, but we should know now a summarized example to assess its importance in the Roman religion. This is the ritual what the paterfamilias<\/em> (father and head of the Roman family) has to perform in the festivals of the dead called Lemuria<\/em>, rite what in his time has lost all understanding but that is still practiced "religiously" as did their ancestors, never better applied this adverb, and which the poet Ovid<\/em> tells us in his Fasti, 5, 419-492<\/em>:<\/p>\n \n\tAt midnight the father (paterfamilias) rises, bare feet up and, clicks the thumb with the other fingers to ward off ghosts; washes his hands three times in a fountain; puts into your mouth black beans which then pulls back saying nine times: 'I throw these beans, with them I rescued me and mine' without turning back, touching the water again, sounds a bronze object and asks the shadow (the deceased) to exit home saying nine times 'Manes of my parents, get out'. So it is quiet.<\/em><\/p>\n \n\t(Look at the times he repeats the formula: three or nine times)<\/p>\n \n\tJulius Caesar<\/em>, who among the many roles and titles that he had, held also the Pontifex Maximus<\/em> (The greatest pontiff), ie one of the most senior religious authorities, was not particularly devout and respectful of fate and omens when they involved an obstacle in their projects: neither heard the blind seer (it is curios that often a physical blind have clairvoyance of the future) who warned him to take care of the Ides of March<\/em> nor attended the premonitory dream of his wife Calpurnia the day on he was killed.<\/p>\n \n\tBut that does not mean he was not as superstitious as their fellow citizens. Pliny<\/em> tells us in HN 28,4(21) <\/em>how pronounced three times a magic formula always riding on a war chariot following a mishap that had on one occasion:<\/p>\n \n\tIt is said that the dictator Caesar, after having had an accident with your vehicle, always, before you sit down, what do we now know that many, used to seek their safety by repeating three times a spell.<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n \n\tCaesarem dictatorem post unum ancipitem vehiculi casum ferunt semper, ut primum consedisset, id quod plerosque nunc facere scimus, carmine ter repetito securitatem itinerum aucupari solitum<\/em>. (Plin. Naturalis Historia, Lib. 28, 4, (21).<\/p>\n \n\tThe spell should not always be effective because Dio Cassius tells us how celebrating their first win of the four that won, that for his victories in Gaul, was broken the axle of the car and had to await the arrival of a replacement . It was a bad omen, a bad sign that Caesar sought to correct gaiting with his knees up the steps of the Temple of Jupite<\/em>r where the victorious general ended his parade:<\/p>\n \n\tDio Cassius tells us so in Roman History 43, 21, 1-2:<\/p>\n \n\tNow on the first day of the triumph a portent far from good fell to his lot: the axle of the triumphal car broke down directly opposite the temple of Fortune built by Lucullus, so that he had to complete the rest of the course in another. On this occasion, too, he climbed up the stairs of the Capitol on his knees, without noticing at all either the chariot which had been dedicated to Jupiter in his honour, or the image of the inhabited world lying beneath his feet, or the inscription upon it; but later he erased from the inscription the term "demigod."<\/strong><\/em> (translated by Earnest Cary)<\/p>\n \n\tMaybe someone thinks that these rituals and superstitious practices were unique to ancient religions, but any will easily notice how number three<\/em> is still present in our current customs and rituals. Probably the magical and mystical value of the number “three<\/em>” is conferred to it because the three represents the union of opposites: one front and opposite the two, the three becomes the synthesis.<\/p>\n \n\tAlso known is the importance of the "three<\/em>" in Indo-European cultures<\/em> in which societies are organized into three estates or parts: priests, warriors, artisans. These organization is reflected in all cultures from Europe to India.<\/p>\n \n\tEvidence of this is also the group of deities in triads<\/em> or groups of three gods: Jupiter, Juno, Minerva in Rome, Brahma, Vishnu, Shiva in India.<\/p>\n \n\tIs there any relationship between this religious custom of triads and acceptance of the Christian Trinity<\/em>?<\/p>\n \n\tBut back to the ritual, is not how many present people too repeated three times few sentences or phrases such as "Ave Maria" or the sign of the cross? Do not Pope and priest bless three times the faithful? Would not it be just as effective a heartfelt prayer than its three times repetition?<\/p>\n