PĀGI

were fortified places in the neighbourhood of Rome, to which the country-people might retreat in case of a hostile inroad. Each of the country tribes is said to have been divided by Numa into a certain number of pagi; which name was given to the country adjoining the fortified village, as well as to the village itself. There was a magistrate at the head of each pagus, who kept a register of the names and of the property of all persons in the pagus, raised the taxes, and summoned the people, when nece ary, to war. Each pagus had its own sacred rites, and an annual festival called Paganalia . The pagan i , or inhabitants of the pagi, had their regular meetings, at which they pa ed resolutions. The division of the country-people into pagi continued to the latest times of the Roman empire. The term Pagani is often used in opposition to milites, and is applied to all who were not soldiers, even though they did not live in the country. The Christian writers gave the name of pagan i to those persons who adhered to the old Roman religion, because the latter continued to be generally believed by the country-people, after Christianity became the prevailing religion of the inhabitants of the towns.