Context: The same divine agencies who caused disease or harm also had the power to avert it, and so might be placated in advance. Divine consideration might be sought to avoid the inconvenient delays of a journey, or encounters with banditry, piracy and shipwreck, with due gratitude to be rendered on safe arrival or return. In times of great crisis, the Senate could decree collective public rites, in which Rome's citizens, including women and children, moved in procession from one temple to the next, supplicating the gods.

Question: What elements had the power of benefit or harm in Roman religion?
Answer: divine agencies

Question: What kind of intervention could be sought to avoid disasters?
Answer: Divine

Question: What was expected when the divine intervention benefited the patron?
Answer: gratitude

Question: What act was decreed in times of crisis in Rome?
Answer: public rites

Question: What was the point of public procession to the god's temples?
Answer: supplicating the gods