Note 939 — Chapter VIII · THE CALATA COMITIA

The falsification of pedigrees by plebeian families to prove descent from patrician ancestors of the same name is sufficient evidence that the name was retained through the transition; cf. Lange, Kleine Schriften, ii. 7 f. Were not the sacra retained, the transition of an entire gens would mean the destruction of its old religion and the creation of a new one—which is impossible. For this reason it appears that the detestatio sacrorum did not apply to such cases of transition.