Are there any traces at all of totemism in what we know of the Roman _gentes_? Certainly the traces are very slight; perhaps they are only visible to the eye of the intrepid anthropologist. I give them for what they are worth, merely observing that they do tally, as far as they go, with the totemistic theory. The reader interested in the subject may consult the learned Streinnius's _De Gentibus Romanis_, p. 104 (Aldus, Venice, 1591).
Among well-known savage totems none is more familiar than the sun. Men claim descent from the sun, call themselves by his name, and wear his effigy as a badge.[231] Were there suns in Rome? The Aurelian _gens_ is thus described on the authority of Festus Pompeius: 'The Aurelii were of Sabine descent. The Aurelii were so named from the sun (_aurum_, _urere_, the burning thing), because a place was set apart for them in which to pay adoration to the sun.' Here, at least, is an odd coincidence. Among other gentile names, the Fabii, Cornelii, Papirii, Pinarii, Cassii, are possibly connected with plants; while wild etymology may associate Porcii, Aquilii, and Valerii with swine and eagles. Pliny (_H. N._, xviii. 3) gives a fantastic explanation of the vegetable names of Roman _gentes_. We must remember that vegetable names are very common in American, Indian, African, and Australian totem kin. Of sun names the Natchez and the Incas of Peru are familiar examples. Turning from Rome to Greece, we find the ~genos~ less regarded and more decadent than the _gens_. Yet, according to Grote (iii. 54) the ~genos~ had--(1) _Sacra_, 'in honour of the same god, supposed to be the primitive ancestor.' (2) A common burial-place. (3) Certain rights of succession to property. (4) Obligations of mutual help and defence. (5) Mutual rights and obligations to intermarry in certain cases. (6) Occasionally possession of common property.
Traces of the totem among the Greek ~genê~ are, naturally, few. Almost all the known ~genê~ bore patronymics derived from personal names. But it is not without significance that the Attic demes often adopted the names of obsolescent ~genê~, and that deme names were, as Mr. Grote says (iii. 63), often 'derived from the plants and shrubs which grew in their neighbourhood.' We have already seen that at least one ancient ~genos~, the Ioxidæ, revered the plant which, as the myth ran, befriended their ancestress. One thing is certain, the totem names, and a common explanation of the totem names in Australia, correspond with the names and Mr. Grote's explanation of the names of the Attic demes. 'One origin of family names,' says Sir George Grey (ii. 228), 'frequently ascribed by the natives, is that they were derived from some vegetable or animal being common in the district which the family inhabited.' Some writers attempt to show that the Attic ~genos~ was once exogamous and counted kin on the mother's side, by quoting the custom which permitted a man to marry his half-sister, the child of his father but not of his mother. They infer that this permission is a survival from the time when a man's _father's_ children were not reckoned as his kindred, and when kinship was counted through mothers. Sir Henry Maine (p. 105) prefers M. Fustel de Coulanges' theory, that the marriage of half-brothers and sisters on the father's side was intended to save the portion of the girl to the family estate. Proof of this may be adduced from examination of all the recorded cases of such marriages in Athens. But the reason thus suggested would have equally justified marriage between brothers and sisters on both sides, and this was reckoned incest. A well-known line in Aristophanes shows how intense was Athenian feeling about the impiety of relations with a sister uterine.