14 INTBODUCTIOX. frotn a very early time, and they bear witness to the manner of thinking of that time. The contemporary of Cicero speaks a language wliose roots arc very ancient ; this language, in expressing the thoughts of ancient ages, has been modelled upon them, and it has kept the impression, and transmits it from century to century. The primary sense of a root will sometimes reveal an ancient opinion or an ancient usage ; ideas have been transformed, and the recollections of them have van- ished; but the words have remained, immutable wit- nesses of beliefs that have disappeared. The contemporary of Cicero practised rites in the sacrifices, at funerals, and in the ceremony of marriage; these rites were older than his time, and what proves it is, that they did not correspond to his religious belief But if we examine the rites which he observed, or the formulas which he i*ecited, we find the marks of what men believed fifteen or twenty centuries earlier.
