When Orestes arrived at Athens after the murder of his mother, he found the people, assembled round their king, about to hold the sacred feast.

Similar feasts were held and numerous victims were slaughtered in Xenophon's time.

[198] At these meals the guests were crowned with garlands and the vessels were of a special form and material, such as copper or earthenware, no doubt dating from the antique past.

[199] As regards the importance and necessity of being present at the Gentile sacrificial feast, the same author states: "The Capitol was blockaded by the Gauls; but Fabius left it and passed through the hostile lines, clad in religious garb, and carrying in his hand the sacred objects; he was going to offer a sacrifice on the altar of his _gens_ which was situated on the Quirinal.

In the second Punic war another Fabius, he who was called the buckler of Rome, was holding Hannibal in check; it was assuredly of the greatest importance to the Republic that he should not leave his army; he left it, however, in the hands of the imprudent Minucius; it was because the anniversary day of the sacrifice of his _gens_ had come and it was necessary that he should hasten to Rome to perform the sacred rite." In Greece the members of the _gens_ were known by the fact that they performed communal sacrifices together from a remote period.