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THE     ROMAN     FESTIVALS 


PERIOD    OF    THE    REPUBLIC 


THE 


ROMAN   FESTIVALS 


OP  THE 


PERIOD  OF  THE  REPUBLIC 


AN  INTRODUCTION  TO  THE  STUDY  OF  THE 
RELIGION  OF  THE  ROMANS 


'       '      -  BY 

W.'  WARDE   FOWLER,  M.A. 

FELLOW  AND   SUB-RECTOR   OF   LINCOLN   COLLEGE,    OXFORD 


Pontoon 
MACMILLAN   AND    CO.,   LIMITED 

NEW  YORK :    THE  MACMILLAN  COMPANY 

1899 
All  rights  reserved 


B00934 
7.  l.Sff 


OXFORD  !  HORACE  HART 
PRINTER  TO  THE  UNIVERSITY 


FRATRIS    FILIIS 

I  .C  .  H  .  F 

H .G . C. F 

BONAE    SPEI    ADOLESCENTIBUS 


PREFACE 

A  WOED  of  explanation  seems  needed  about  the  form 
this  book  has  taken.  Many  years  ago  I  became  specially 
interested  in  the  old  Roman  religion,  chiefly,  I  think, 
through  studying  Plutarch's  Quaestiones  Romanae,  at  a 
time  when  bad  eyesight  was  compelling  me  to  abandon 
a  project  for  an  elaborate  study  of  all  Plutarch's  works. 
The  '  scrappy '  character  not  only  of  the  Quaestiones,  but 
of  all  the  material  for  the  study  of  Roman  ritual,  suited 
weak  eyes  better  than  the  continual  reading  of  Greek 
text ;  but  I  soon  found  it  necessary  to  discover  a  thread 
on  which  to  hang  these  fragments  in  some  regular  order. 
This  I  naturally  found  in  the  Fasti  as  edited  by 
Mommsen  in  the  first  volume  of  the  Corpus  Inscriptionum 
Latinarum:,  and  it  gradually  dawned  on  me  that  the 
only  scientific  way  of  treating  the  subject  was  to  follow 
the  calendar  throughout  the  year,  and  to  deal  with  each 
festival  separately.  I  had  advanced  some  way  in  this 
work,  when  Roscher's  Lexicon  of  Greek  and  Roman 
Mythology  began  to  appear  in  parts,  and  at  once  con- 
vinced me  that  I  should  have  to  do  my  work  all  over 
again  in  the  increased  light  afforded  by  the  indefatigable 
industry  of  the  writers  of  the  Roman  articles.  I  there- 
fore dropped  my  work  for  several  years  while  the 
Lexicon  was  in  progress,  and  should  have  waited  still 
longer  for  its  completion,  had  not  Messrs.  Macmillan 


viii  PREFACE 

invited  me  to  contribute  a  volume  on  the  Roman 
religion  to  their  series  of  Handbooks  of  Archaeology  and 
Antiquities. 

Having  once  set  out  on  the  plan  of  following  the 
Fasti,  I  could  not  well  abandon  it,  and  I  still  hold  it 
to  be  the  only  sound  one:  especially  if,  as  in  this 
volume,  the  object  is  to  exhibit  the  religious  side  of 
the  native  Eoman  character,  without  getting  entangled 
to  any  serious  extent  in  the  colluvies  religionum  of 
the  last  age  of  the  Republic  and  the  earlier  Empire. 
The  book  has  thus  taken  the  form  of  a  commentary 
on  the  Fasti,  covering  in  a  compressed  form  almost 
all  the  public  worship  of  the  Roman  state,  and  including 
incidentally  here  and  there  certain  ceremonies  which 
strictly  speaking  lay  outside  that  public  worship.  Com- 
pression has  been  unavoidable ;  yet  it  has  been  impossible 
to  avoid  stating  and  often  discussing  the  conflicting 
views  of  eminent  scholars ;  and  the  result  probably  is 
that  the  book  as  a  whole  will  not  be  found  very  inter- 
esting reading.  But  I  hope  that  British  and  American 
students  of  Roman  history  and  literature,  and  possibly 
also  anthropologists  and  historians  of  religion,  may 
find  it  useful  as  a  book  of  reference,  or  may  learn  from 
it  where  to  go  for  more  elaborate  investigations. 

The  task  has  often  been  an  ungrateful  one — one 
indeed  of 

Dipping  buckets  into  empty  wells 

And  growing  old  with  drawing  nothing  up. 

The  more  carefully  I  study  any  particular  festival,  the 
more  (at  least  in  many  cases)  I  have  been  driven  into 
doubt  and  difficulty  both  as  to  reported  facts  and  their 
interpretation.  Had  the  nature  of  the  series  permitted 
it,  I  should  have  wished  to  print  the  chief  passages 
quoted  from  ancient  authors  in  full,  as  was  done  by 


PREFACE  ix 

Mr.  Farnell  in  his  Cults  of  the  Greek  States,  and  so 
to  present  to  the  reader  the  actual  material  on  which 
conclusions  are  rightly  or  wrongly  based.  I  have  only 
been  able  to  do  this  where  it  was  indispensable :  but 
I  have  done  my  best  to  verify  the  correctness  of  the 
other  references,  and  have  printed  in  full  the  entries 
of  the  ancient  calendars  at  the  head  of  each  section. 
Professor  Gardner,  the  editor  of  the  series,  has  helped 
me  by  contributing  two  valuable  notes  on  coins,  which 
will  be  found  at  the  end  of  the  volume:  and  I  hope 
he  may  some  day  find  time  to  turn  his  attention  more 
closely  to  the  bearing  of  numismatic  evidence  on  Roman 
religious  history. 

It  happens,  by  a  curious  coincidence,  that  I  am  writing 
this  on  the  last  day  of  the  old  Roman  year ;  and  the 
lines  which  Ovid  has  attached  to  that  day  may  fitly 
express  my  relief  on  arriving  at  the  end  of  a  very 
laborious  task : 

Venimus  in  portum,  libro  cum  mense  pcracto, 
Naviget  hinc  alia  iam  mihi  linter  aqua. 

W.  W.  F. 

OXFORD  :  Feb.  28,  1899. 


CONTENTS 


PAOB 

INTRODUCTION         .......        •••••> 

CALENDAR       .........        .        .        .     21 

FESTIVALS  OF  MARCH     ..........    33 

„          „   APEII       ..........     66 

,i  „    MAY        ......        .        .        .        .98 

„  „    JUKE  ..........    129 

„  „    JUIT  ..........    173 

„          ,,  AUGUST    ..........  189 

„          ,,   SEFTEMBEK       .........  215 

„  ,,    OCTOBER   ..........  336 

„  ,,    NOVEMBER         .........  352 

„  ,,    DECEMBER         ...        ......  355 

„          „  JAHUABY  ..........  377 

„          ,,    FKBKUAKY        .........  398 

CONCLUSION    ............  333 

NOTES  OH  TWO  COINS     ..........  350 

INDICES  ...         .        .        ........  353 


ABBREVIATIONS. 

The  following  are  the  most  important  abbreviations  which  occur  in 
the  notes : 

C.  I.  L.  stands  for  Corpus  Inscriptionum  Latinarum.  Where  the  volume  is 
not  indicated  the  reference  is  invariably  to  the  second  edition  of  that  part 
of  vol.  i  which  contains  the  Fasti  (Berlin,  1893). 

Marquardt  or  Marq.  stands  for  the  third  volume  of  Marquardt's  Romische 
Staatsterwaltung,  second  edition,  edited  by  Wissowa  (Berlin,  1885).  It  is 
the  sixth  volume  of  the  complete  Handbuch  der  Romischen  Alterthumer  of 
Mommsen  and  Marquardt. 

Preller,  or  Preller-Jordan,  stands  for  the  third  edition  of  Preller's 
Romische  Mythologie  by  H.  Jordan  (Berlin,  1881). 

Myth.  Lex.  or  Lex.  stands  for  the  Ausfiihrliches  Lexicon  der  Oriechischen  uncl 
Romischen  Mythoiagie,  edited  by  W.  H.  Roscher,  which  as  yet  has  only  been 
completed  to  the  letter  N. 

Festus,  or  Paulus,  stands  for  K.  0.  Miiller's  edition  of  the  fragments  of 
Festus,  De  Significations  Verborum,  and  the  Excerpta  ex  Festo  of  Paulus 
Diaconus ;  quoted  by  the  page. 


INTRODUCTION 


I.    THE  ROMAN  METHOD  OF  RECKONING  THE  YEAR'. 

THERE  are  three  ways  in  which  the  course  of  the  year  may 
be  calculated.  It  can  be  reckoned — 

r.  By  the  revolution  of  the  moon  round  the  earth,  twelve 
of  which=354  days,  or  a  ring  (annus),  sufficiently  near  to  the 
solar  year  to  be  a  practicable  system  with  modifications. 

2.  By  the  revolution  of  the  earth  round  the  sun,  i.e.  365 £ 
days  ;   a  system  which   needs  periodical  adjustments,  as   the 
odd  quarter  (or,  more  strictly,  5  hours  48  minutes  48  seconds) 
cannot  of  course   be  counted   in  each  year.     In  this  purely 
solar  year  the  months   are  only  artificial  divisions  of   time, 
and  not  reckoned  according  to  the  revolutions  of  the  moon. 
This  is  our  modern  system. 

3.  By  combining  in  a  single  system   the  solar  and  lunar 
years  as  described  above.     This  has  been  done  in  various  ways 
by  different  peoples,  by  adopting  a  cycle  of  years  of  varying 
length,  in  which  the  resultants  of  the  two  bases  of  calculation 
should  be  brought  into  harmony  as  nearly  as  possible.     In 

1  The  difficult  questions  connected  with  this  subject  cannot  be  discussed 
here.  Since  Mommsen  wrote  his  JRvmische  Chronologic  it  has  at  least  been 
possible  to  give  an  intelligible  account  of  it,  such  as  that  in  the  Diet,  of 
Antiquities  (second  edition),  in  Marquardt's  Slaatsverwaltung,  iii.  281  foil., 
and  in  Bouche-Leclercq,  Pontifes,  p.  230  foil.  There  is  a  useful  summary  in 
H.  Peter's  edition  of  Ovid's  Fasti  (p.  19).  Mommsen's  views  have  been 
criticized  by  Huschke,  DasRiJmischeJahr,  and  Hartmann,  Der  Rom.  Kaknder : 
the  former*  very  unsafe  guide,  and  the  latter,  unfortunately,  an  unfinished 
and  posthumous  work.  The  chief  ancient  authority  is  Censorinus,  De  die 
natali,  a  work  written  at  the  beginning  of  the  third  century  A  D.,  on  the 
ba..->is  of  a  treatise  of  Suetonius. 


2  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

other  words,  though  the  difference  between  a  single  solar  year 
and  a  single  lunar  year  is  more  than  1 1  days,  it  is  possible, 
by  taking  a  number  of  years  together  and  reckoning  them  as 
lunar  years,  one  or  more  of  them  being  lengthened  by  an 
additional  month,  to  make  the  whole  peiiod  very  nearly 
coincide  with  the  same  number  of  solar  years.  Thus  the 
Athenians  adopted  for  this  purpose  at  different  times  groups 
or  cycles  of  8  and  1 9  years.  In  the  Octaeteris  or  8-year  cycle 
there  were  99  lunar  months,  3  months  of  30  days  being  added 
in  3  of  the  8  years — a  plan  which  falls  short  of  accuracy  by 
about  36  hours.  Later  on  a  cycle  of  19  years  was  substituted 
for  this,  in  which  the  discrepancy  was  greatly  reduced.  The 
Roman  year  in  historical  times  was  calculated  on  a  system  of 
this  kind,  though  with  such  inaccuracy  and  carelessness  as  to 
lose  all  real  relation  to  the  revolutions  both  of  earth  and  moon. 
But  there  was  a  tradition  that  before  this  historical  calendar 
came  into  use  there  had  been  another  system,  which  the 
Romans  connected  with  the  name  of  Romulus.  This  year 
was  supposed  to  have  consisted  of  10  months,  of  which  4 — 
March,  May,  July,  October — had  31  days,  and  the  rest  30  ; 
in  all  304.  But  this  was  neither  a  solar  nor  a  lunar  year ; 
for  a  lunar  year  of  10  months=295  days  7  hours  20  minutes, 
while  a  solar  year=365A.  Nor  can  it  possibly  be  explained  as 
an  attempt  to  combine  the  two  systems.  Mommsen  has 
therefore  conjectured  that  it  was  an  artificial  year  of  10 
months,  used  in  business  transactions,  and  in  periods  of 
mourning,  truces1,  &c.,  to  remedy  the  uncertainty  of  the 
primitive  calculation  of  time ;  and  that  it  never  really  was 
the  basis  of  a  state  calendar.  This  view  has  of  course  been 
the  subject  of  much  criticism  '2.  But  no  better  solution  has 
been  found  ;  the  hypothesis  that  the  year  of  10  months  was 
a  real  lunar  year,  to  which  an  undivided  period  of  time  was 
added  at  each  year's  end,  to  make  it  correspond  with  the 
solar  year  and  the  seasons,  has  not  much  to  recommend  it 
or  any  analogy  among  other  peoples.  It  was  not,  then,  the 
so-called  year  of  Romulus  which  was  the  basis  of  the  earliest 
state-calendar,  but  another  system  which  the  Romans  them- 

1  Chron.  48  foil.  ;  Marq.  284  and  notes. 

2  Huschke,  op.  cit.  8  foil.  ;  Hartmann,  p.  13. 


INTRODUCTION  3 

selves  usually  ascribed  to  Numa.  This  was  originally  perhaps 
a  lunar  year ;  at  any  rate  the  number  of  days  in  it  is  very 
nearly  that  of  a  true  lunar  year  (354  days  8  hours  48  minutes) '. 
It  consisted  of  1 2  months,  of  which  March,  May,  July,  October 
had  31  days,  and  the  rest  29,  except  Februaiy,  which  had  28. 
All  the  months  therefore  had  an  odd  number  of  days,  except 
the  one  which  was  specially  devoted  to  purification  and  the 
cult  of  the  dead  ;  according  to  an  old  superstition,  probably 
adopted  from  the  Greeks  of  Southern  Italy  ~,  that  odd  numbers 
were  of  good  omen,  even  numbers  of  ill  omen.  This  principle, 
as  we  shall  see,  holds  good  throughout  the  Roman  calendar. 

But  this  reckoning  of  the  year,  if  it  ever  existed  at  all,  could 
not  have  lasted  long  as  it  stood.  As  we  know  it  in  historical 
times,  it  has  become  modified  by  applying  to  it  the  principle 
of  the  solar  year.  The  reason  for  this  should  be  noted 
carefully.  A  lunar  year,  being  about  n  days  short  of  the 
solar  year,  would  in  a  very  short  time  become  out  of  harmony 
with  the  seasons.  Now  if  there  is  one  thing  certain  about 
the  Roman  religious  calendar,  it  is  that  many  at  least  of  its 
oldest  festivals  mark  those  operations  of  husbandry  on  which 
the  population  depended  for  its  subsistence,  and  for  the 
prosperous  result  of  which  divine  agencies  must  be  propitiated. 
These  festivals,  when  fixed  in  the  calendar,  must  of  course 
occur  at  the  right  seasons,  which  could  not  be  the  case  if 
the  calendar  were  that  of  a  purely  lunar  year.  It  was  there- 
fore necessary  to  work  in  the  solar  principle  ;  and  this  was 
done  3  by  a  somewhat  rude  expedient,  not  unlike  that  of  the 
Athenian  Octaeteris,  and  probably  derived  from  it 4.  A  cycle 
of  4  years  was  devised,  of  which  the  first  had  the  355  days 
of  the  lunar  year,  the  second  355  +  22,  the  third  355  again, 

1  Censorinus,  De  die  natali,  20.  4. 

1  Mommsen  (Cfiron.  13)  believes  it  to  have  been  a  Pythagorean  doctrine 
which  spread  in  Southern  Italy.  Hartmann,  on  the  contrary,  calls  it  an 
old  Italian  one  adopted  by  Pythagoras.  See  a  valuable  note  in  Schwegler, 
Rom.  Gesch.  i.  561,  inclining  to  the  latter  view. 

1  Probably  by  the  Decemvirs,  B.C.  450,  who  are  said  to  have  made  some 
alteration  in  the  calendar  (Macrob.  i.  13.  2i>. 

*  See  Diet.  Ant.  i.  337  and  342.  It  is  highly  probable  that  there  wa- 
a  still  older  plan,  which  gave  way  to  this  at  the  time  of  the  Decemvirate  : 
the  evidence  for  this,  which  is  conjectural  only,  is  stated  by  Mommsen  in 
the  first  chapter  of  his  Chronologic.  The  number  of  days  in  this  cycle  (also 
of  4  years)  is  computed  at  1475,  and  the  average  in  each  year  at  368^. 

B  a 


4  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

and  the  fourth  355+23.  The  extra  periods  of  22  and  23  days 
were  inserted  in  February,  not  at  the  end,  but  after  the  23rd 
(TerminaUa}1.  The  total  number  of  days  in  the  cycle  was 
1465,  or  about  i  day  too  much  in  each  year;  and  in  course 
of  time  even  this  system  got  out  of  harmony  with  the  seasons 
and  had  to  be  rectified  from  time  to  time  by  the  Pontifices, 
who  had  charge  of  the  calendar.  Owing  to  ignorance  on  their 
part,  misuse  or  neglect  of  intercalation  had  put  the  whole 
system  out  of  gear  before  the  last  century  of  the  Eepublic. 
All  relation  to  sun  and  moon  was  lost ;  the  calendar,  as 
Mommsen  says,  '  went  on  its  own  way  tolerably  unconcerned 
about  moon  and  sun.'  When  Caesar  took  the  reform  of  the 
calendar  in  hand  the  discrepancy  between  it  and  the  seasons 
was  veiy  serious  ;  the  former  being  in  advance  of  the  latter 
probably  by  some  weeks.  Caesar,  aided  by  the  mathematician 
Sosigenes,  put  an  end  to  this  confusion  by  extending  the  year 
46  B. c.  to  445  days,  and  starting  afresh  on  Jan.  i,  45  B.  c.J 
—  a  day  henceforward  to  be  that  of  the  new  year— with  a  cycle 
of  4  years  of  365  days3 ;  in  the  last  of  which  a  single  day  was 
added,  after  the  TerminaUa.  This  cycle  produced  a  true  solar 
year  with  a  slight  adjustment  at  short  intervals  ;  and  after  a  few 
preliminary  blunders  on  the  part  of  the  Pontifices,  lasted 
without  change  until  A.  D.  1582,  when  Pope  Gregory  XIII 
set  right  a  slight  discrepancy  by  a  fresh  regulation.  This 
regulation  was  only  adopted  in  England  in  1752,  and  is  still 
rejected  in  Eussia  and  by  the  Greek  Church  generally. 


1  Or,  according  to  Mommsen,  in  alternate  years  after  the  23rd  and 
24th,  i.e.  in  the  year  of  378  days  23  days  were  inserted  after  the 
TerminaUa;  in  the  year  of  377  days  22  days  were  inserted  after  the 
24th  (Regifughtm}.  Thus  February  would  in  the  one  case  have  23,  and 
in  the  other  24  days  ;  the  remaining  5  and  4  being  added  to  the 
intercalated  period.  The  object  of  the  Decemvirs  (if  it  was  they  who 
made  this  change)  in  this  curious  arrangement  was,  in  part  at  least,  to 
keep  the  festival  of  the  god  Terminus  on  its  original  day  (Mommsen, 
Chron.  38).  Terminus  would  budge  neither  from  his  seat  on  the  Capitol 
(Liv.  i.  55)  nor  from  his  place  in  the  calendar. 

1  Probably  in  order  that  the  beginning  of  the  year  might  coincide  with 
a  new  moon  ;  which  actually  happened  on  Jan.  i,  45,  and  was  doubtless 
regarded  as  a  good  omen. 

'  He  added  10  days  to  the  normal  year  of  355:  January,  Sextilis, 
December,  receiving  two ;  April,  June,  September,  November,  one  only. 
These  new  days  were  placed  at  the  end  of  the  months,  so  that  the  days 
ou  which  religious  festivals  fell  might  remain  as  before. 


INTRODUCTION  5 

II.    ORDER  OF  MONTHS  IN  THE  YEAR. 

That  the  Roman  year  originally  began  with  March  is  certain ], 
not  only  from  the  evidence  of  the  names  of  the  months,  whiclv. 
after  June  are  reckoned  as  5th  (Quinctilis),  6th  (Sextilis),  and  so 
on,  but  from  the  nature  of  the  March  festivals,  as  will  be  shown 
in  treating  of  that  month.  In  the  character  of  the  religious 
festivals  there  is  a  distinct  break  between  February  and 
March,  and  the  operations  both  of  nature  and  of  man  take 
a  fresh  turn  at  that  point.  Between  the  festivals  of  December 
and  those  of  January  there  is  no  such  break.  No  doubt 
January  i ,  just  after  the  winter  solstice,  was  even  at  an  early  time 
considered  in  some  sense  as  a  beginning  ;  but  it  is  going  too 
far  to  assume,  as  some  have  done,  that  an  ancient  religious 
or  priestly  year  began  at  that  point 2.  It  was  not  on  January  i, 
but  on  March  i,  that  the  sacred  fire  in  the  Aedes  Vestae  was 
renewed  and  fresh  laurels  fixed  up  on  the  Regia,  the  two 
buildings  which  were  the  central  points  of  the  oldest  Roman 
religion3.  March  i,  which  in  later  times  at  least  was  considered 
the  birthday  of  the  special  protecting  deity  of  the  Romans, 
continued  to  be  the  Roman  New  Year's  Day  long  after  the 
official  beginning  of  the  year  had  been  changed  to  January  i4. 
It  was  probably  not  till  153  B.  c.,  when  the  consuls  began 
to  enter  on  office  on  January  i,  that  this  official  change  took 
place;  and  the  date  was  then  adopted,  not  so  much  for 
religious  reasons  as  because  it  was  convenient,  when  the 
business  of  administration  was  increasing,  to  have  the  consuls 
in  Rome  for  some  time  before  they  left  for  their  provinces 
at  the  opening  of  the  war  season  in  March. 

No  rational  account  can  in  my  opinion  be  given  of  the 
Roman  religious  calendar  of  the  Republic  unless  it  be  taken 
as  beginning  with  March ;  and  in  this  work  I  have  therefore 
restored  the  old  order  of  months.  With  the  Julian  calendar 
I  am  not  concerned  ;  though  it  is  unfortunate  that  all  the 

1  Mommsen,  CJirvn.  220.    In  no  other  Italian  calendar  of  which  we  have 
any  knowledge  is  March  the  first  month  (ib.  218  foil.)  :  but  there  cannot 
be  much  doubt  that  these  too  had  undergone   changes.     Festus   (150), 
representing  Vcrrius  Flaccus,  says,  '  Martius  inensis  initium  fuit  anni  et 
in  Latio  et  post  Romam  conditam,'  &c. 

2  Huschke,  RiJm.  Jahr,  n  foil. 
*  See  below,  under  March  r. 

4  Mommsen,  Cliron.  103  foil. 


6  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

Roman  calendars  we  possess,  including  the  Fasti  of  Ovid, 
date  from  after  the  Julian  era,  and  therefore  present  us  with 
.a  distorted  view  of  the  true  course  of  the  old  Eomaii  worship. 

Next  after  March  came  Aprilis,  the  month  of  opening  or 
unfolding  vegetation  ;  then  Maius,  the  month  of  growing,  and 
Junius,  that  of  ripening  and  peTfecting.  After  this  the  names 
cease  to  be  descriptive  of  the  operations  of  nature ;  the  six 
months  that  follow  were  called,  as  four  of  them  still  are,  only 
by  their  positions  relative  to  March,  on  which  the  whole  system 
of  the  year  thus  turned  as  on  a  pivot. 

The  last  two  months  of  the  twelve  were  January  and 
February.  They  stand  alone  among  the  later  months  in 
bearing  names  instead  of  mere  numbers,  and  this  is  sufficient 
to  suggest  their  religious  importance.  That  they  were  not 
mere  appendages  to  a  year  of  ten  months  is  almost  certain 
from  the  antique  character  of  the  rites  and  festivals  which 
occur  in  them — Agonia,  Carmentalia,  Lupercalia,  Src.  ;  and 
it  is  safer  to  consider  them  as  marking  an  ancient  period 
of  religious  importance  preparatory  to  the  beginning  of  the 
year,  and  itself  coinciding  with  the  opening  of  the  natural  year 
after  the  winter  solstice.  This  latter  point  seems  to  be  in- 
dicated in  the  name  Januarius,  which,  whether  derived  from 
janua,  '  a  gate,'  or  Janus,  '  the  god  of  entrances,'  is  appropriate 
to  the  first  lengthening  of  the  days,  or  the  entrance  of  the  sun 
on  a  new  course  ;  while  February,  the  month  of  purifying  or 
regenerative  agencies  (februa),  was,  like  the  Lent  of  the 
Christian  calendar,  the  period  in  which  the  living  were  made 
ready  for  the  civil  and  religious  work  of  the  coming  year,  and 
in  which  also  the  yearly  duties  to  the  dead  were  paid. 

It  is  as  well  here  to  refer  to  a  passage  of  Ovid  (Fasti,  ii. 
47  foll.\  itself  probably  based  on  a  statement  of  Varro,  which 
has  led  to  a  controversy  about  the  relative  position  of  these  two 
months : 

Sed  tamen  antiqui  ne  nescius  ordinis  erres, 

Primus,  ut  esfc,  lani  mensis  et  ante  fuit. 
Qui  sequitur  lanum,  veteris  fuit  ultimus  anni, 

Tu  quoque  sacrorum,  Termine,  finis  eras. 
Primus  enim  lani  mensis,  quia  ianua  prima  est ; 

Qui  sacer  est  imis  manibus,  imus  erat. 
Postmodo  creduntur  spatio  distantia  longo 

Tempora  bis  quini  continuasse  viri. 


INTRODUCTION  7 

This  plainly  means  that  from  the  time  when  March  ceased 
to  be  the  first  month,  the  year  always  began  with  January  and 
ended  with  February  ;  in  other  words  the  order  was  January, 
Mai'ch,  April,  and  so  on,  ending  with  February  ;  until  the  time 
of  the  Decemvirate,  when  February  became  the  second  month, 
and  December  the  last,  as  at  present,  January  still  retaining 
its  place.  A  little  consideration  of  Ovid's  lines  will,  however, 
suggest  the  conclusion  that  he,  and  his  authority,  whoever  that 
may  have  been,  were  arguing  aetiologically  rather  than  on 
definite  knowledge.  January,  they  thought,  must  always  have 
been  the  first  month,  because  janua,  'a  door,'  is  the  first  thing, 
the  entrance,  through  which  you  pass  into  a  new  year  as  into 
a  house  or  a  temple.  How,  they  would  argue,  could  a  month 
thus  named  have  ever  been  the  eleventh  month?  This  once 
supposed  impossible,  it  was  necessary  to  infer  that  the  place 
of  January  was  the  first,  from  the  time  of  its  introduction, 
and  that  it  was  followed  by  March,  April,  &c.,  February  coming 
last  of  all,  immediately  after  December  ;  and  finally  that  at  the 
time  of  the  Decemvirs,  who  are  known  to  have  made  some 
alterations  in  the  calendar,  the  positions  of  January  and 
February  were  reversed,  January  remaining  the  first  month, 
but  February  becoming  the  second. 

III.  THE  DIVISIONS  OP  THE  MONTH. 

The  Eomans,  with  their  usual  conservatism,  preserved  the 
shell  of  the  lunar  system  of  reckoning  long  after  the  reality 
had  disappeared.  The  month  was  at  all  times  divided  by  the 
real  or  imaginary  phases  of  the  moon,  though  a  week  of  eight 
days  was  introduced  at  an  early  period,  and  though  the  month 
was  no  longer  a  lunar  one. 

The  two  certain  points  in  a  lunar  month  are  the  first  appear- 
ance of  the  crescent '  and  the  full  moon  ;  between  these  is  the 
point  when  the  moon  reaches  the  first  quarter,  which  is  a  less 
certain  one.  Owing  to  this  uncertainty  of  the  reckoning  of  the 
first  days  of  the  month  there  were  no  festivals  in  the  calendars 
on  the  days  before  the  first  quarter  (Nones),  with  a  single 
exception  of  the  obscure  Poplifugia  on  July  5.  The  day  of 

1  Not  the  real  new  moon,  which  is  invisible.  The  period  between  the 
new  moon  and  the  first  quarter  varies. 


8  THE    KOMAN    FESTIVALS 

the  new  moon  was  called  Kalendae,  as  Varro  tells  us,  '  quod 
his  diebus  calantur  eius  mensis  nonae  a  pontificibus,  quintanae 
an  septimanae  sint  futurae,  in  Capitolio  in  curia  Calabra  sic  : 
Dies  te  quinque  calo,  luno  Covella.  Septem  dies  te  calo  luno 
Covella".  All  the  Kalends  were  sacred  to  Juno,  whose  con- 
nexion with  the  moon  is  certain  though  not  easy  to  explain. 

With  the  Nones,  which  were  sacred  to  no  deity,  all  uncer- 
tainty ceased.  The  Ides,  or  day  of  the  full  moon,  was  always 
the  eighth  after  the  first  quarter.  This  day  was  sacred  to 
Jupiter ;  a  fact  which  is  now  generally  explained  as  a  recog- 
nition of  the  continuous  light  of  the  two  great  heavenly  bodies 
during  the  whole  twenty-four  hours2.  On  the  Nones  the  Hex 
sact'orum  (and  therefore  before  him  the  king  himself)  announced 
the  dates  of  the  festivals  for  the  month. 

There  was  another  internal  division  of  the  month,  with 
which  we  are  not  here  specially  concerned,  that  of  the  Eoman 
week  or  nundinal  period  of  eight  days,  which  is  indicated  in  all 
the  calendars  by  the  letters  A  to  H.  TJhe  nundinae  were 
market  days,  on  which  the  rustic  population '  came  into  Rome  ; 
whether  they  were  also  feast  days  (fcriae)  was  a  disputed 
question  even  in  antiquity. 

IV.  THE  DAYS. 

Every  day  in  the  Roman  calendar  has  a  certain  mark 
attached  to  it,  viz.  the  letters  F,  C,  N,  N>,  EN,  Q.R.C.F., 
Q.St.D.F.,  or  FP.  All  of  these  have  a  religious  significance, 
positive  or  negative. 

F,  i.e.  fas  or  faslus,  means  that  on  the  day  so  marked  civil 
and  especially  judicial  business  might  be  transacted  without 
fear  of  divine  displeasure3.  Correctness  in  the  time  as  well  as 
place  of  all  human  actions  was  in  the  mind  of  the  early  Roman 
of  the  most  vital  importance  ;  and  the  floating  traditional  ideas 
which  governed  his  life  before  the  formation  of  the  State  were 

1  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  37.     This  was  the  method  before  the  publication  of  the 
calendar  by  Flavius  :  Macr.  i.  15.  9.     The  meaning  of  Covella  is  doubtful ; 
it  has  generally  been  connected  with  cavus  and  tcot\is,  and  explained  of 
the  '  hollow '  crescent  of  the  new  moon.     See  Roscher,  Lex.  s.v.  luno  586. 

2  Aust,  s.v.  luppiter,  in  Roscher's  Lexicon,  p.  655. 

Varro,  L.  L.  6.  29  '  Dies  fasti,  per  quos  praetoribus  omniu  verba 
(i.e.  do,  dico,  addico)  sine  piaculo  licet  fari.' 


INTRODUCTION  9 

systematized  and  kept  secret  by  kings  and  priests,  as  a  part, 
so  to  speak,  of  the  science  of  government.  Not  till  B.C.  304 
was  the  calendar  published,  with  its  permissive  and  prohibitive 
regulations '. 

C  (comitiaKs)  means  that  the  day  f.o  marked  was  one  on 
which  the  comitia  might  meet2,  and  on  which  also  legal 
business  might  be  transacted,  as  on  the  days  marked  F,  if  there 
were  no  other  hindrance.  The  total  number  of  days  thus 
available  for  secular  business,  i.  e.  days  marked  F  and  C,  was  in 
the  Julian  calendar  239  out  of  365. 

N,  i.  e.  nefastus,  meant  that  the  day  so  marked  was  religiosus, 
vitiosus,  or  ater;  as  Gellius  has  it',  'tristi  omine  et  infames 
impeditique,  in  quibus  et  res  divinas  facere  et  rein  quampiam 
novam  exordiri  temperandum  est.'  Some  of  these  days  received 
the  mark  in  historical  times  for  a  special  reason,  e.  g.  a  disaster 
to  the  State  ;  among  these  were  the  postrhhiani  or  days  following 
the  Kalends,  Nones  and  Ides,  because  two  terrible  defeats  had 
occurred  on  such  days4.  But  most  of  them  (in  all  they  are 
57)  were  probably  so  marked  as  being  devoted  to  lustrations,  or 
worship  of  the  dead  or  of  the  powers  of  the  earth,  and  therefore 
unsuitable  for  worldly  business.  One  long  series  of  such  dies 
nefasti  occurs  Feb.  1-14,  the  time  of  purification;  another, 
April  5-22,  in  the  month  occupied  by  the  rites  of  deities  of 
growing  vegetation  ;  a  third,  June  5-14,  when  the  rites  of  the 
Vestals  preparatory  to  harvest  were  taking  place  ;  and  a  fourth, 
July  1-9,  for  reasons  which  are  unfortunately  by  no  means 
clear  to  us. 

N?  was  not  a  mark  in  the  pre-Julian  calendars,  for  it  was 
apparently  unknown  to  Varro  and  Ovid.  Verrius  Flaccus 
seems  to  have  distinguished  it  from  N,  but  his  explanation 
is  mutilated,  even  as  it  survives  in  Festus8.  No  one  has  yet 
determined  for  certain  the  origin  of  the  sign,  and  discussion  of 
the  various  conjectures  would  be  here  superfluous6.  It  appears 

1  Liv.  9.  46. 

2  Macr.  i.  16.  14.     Cp.  the  mutilated  note  of  Verrius  in  Fasti  Ptaenestini 
(Jan.  3). 

3  Cell.  4.  9.  5.     Varro,  L.  L.  6  29.  30. 
1  Livy,  6.  i.  ii.     Macrob.  i.  16.  22. 

*  Festus  165.  See  Mommsen's  restoration  of  the  passage  in  C.  I.  L. 
290  B.  ;  another,  less  satisfactory,  in  Huschke,  Rom.  Jahr,  240. 

6  Momnuen  (C.  I.  L.  290,  A)  still  holds  to  his  view  that  NP  is  only  an 
old  form  of  N,  brought  into  use  for  purposes  of  differentiation.  His 


10  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

to  distinguish,  in  the  Julian  calendars,  those  days  on  which 
fell  the  festivals  of  deities  who  were  not  of  an  earthly  and 
therefore  doubtful  character  from  those  marked  N.  Thus  in 
the  series  of  dies  nefasti  in  February  and  April  the  Ides  in 
each  case  have  the  mark  N*  as  being  sacred  to  Jupiter. 

EN.  We  have  a  mutilated  note  in  the  calendar  of  Praeneste 
which  indicates  what  this  abbreviation  meant,  viz.  endotercisus 
=  intercisus,  i.e.  'cut  into  parts'1.  In  morning  and  evening, 
as  Varro  tells  us,  the  day  was  nefastus,  but  in  the  middle, 
between  the  slaying  of  the  victim  and  the  placing  of  the  entrails 
upon  the  altar,  it  was  fastus.  But  why  eight  days  in  the 
calendar  were  thus  marked  we  do  not  know,  and  have  no  data 
for  conjecturing.  All  the  eight  were  days  coming  before  some 
festival,  or  before  the  Ides.  Of  the  eight  two  occur  in  January 
and  two  in  February,  the  others  in  March,  August,  October  and 
December.  But  on  such  facts  no  conjectures  can  be  built.  v 

Q.R.C.F.  (Quando  Rex  Comitiavit  Fas)  will  be  explained 
under  March  24  ;  the  only  other  day  on  which  it  occurs  is 
May  24.  Q.St.D.F.  (Quando  stercus  delatum  fas)  only  occurs 
on  June  15,  and  will  there  be  fully  dealt  with. 

FP  occurs  thrice,  but  only  in  three  calendars.  Feb.  21 
(Feralia)  is  thus  marked  in  Caer.  -,  but  is  F  in  Maff.  April  23 
( Vinalia)  is  FP  in  Caer.  but  N?  in  Maff.  and  F  in  Praen. 
Aug.  19  (Vinalia  rustica)  is  FP  in  Maff.  and  Amit,  F  in  Antiat. 
•and  Allif.,  IP  in  Vail.  Mommseii  explains  FP  as  fastus  prin- 
cipio,  i.e.  the  early  part  of  the  day  was  fastus,  and  suggests  that 
in  the  case  of  the  Feralia,  as  the  rites  of  the  dead  were  per- 
formed at  night,  there  was  no  reason  why  the  earlier  part 
of  the  day  should  be  nefastus.  But  in  the  case  of  the  two 
Vinalia  we  can  hardly  even  guess  at  the  meaning  of  the  mark, 
and  it  does  not  seem  to  have  been  known  to  the  Eomans 
themselves. 

criticism  of  other  views  makes  it  difficult  to  put  faith  in  them  ;  but 
I  cannot  help  thinking  that  the  object  of  the  mark  was  not  only  to 
distinguish  the  religious  character  of  the  days  from  those  marked  N,  but 
to  show  that  civil  business  might  be  transacted  on  them  after  the 
sacrificial  rites  were  over,  owing  to  the  rapid  increase  of  legal  business. 
Ovid  may  be  alluding  to  this,  though  confusing  N»  with  EN,  in  Fasti 
i.  jjr,  where  the  words,  'Nam  simul  exta  deo  data  sunt,  licet  omnia 
fari,'  do  not  suit  with  Verrius'  note  on  EN,  but  may  really  explain  NP. 

Fasti  Praen.,  Jan.  10.     Varro,  L.  L.  6.  31.     Macr.  i.  16.  3. 
1  For  the  names  of  the  fragments  of  Fasti,  see  next  section. 


INTRODUCTION  II 


V.    THE  CALENDARS  STILL  SURVIVING. 

The  basis  of  our  knowledge  of  the  old  Roman  religious  year 
is  to  be  found  in  the  fragments  of  calendars  which  still  survive. 
None  of  these  indeed  is  older  than  the  Julian  era  ;  and  all 
but  one  are  mere  fragments.  But  from  the  fragments  and 
the  one  almost  perfect  calendar  we  can  infer  the  character 
of  the  earlier  calendar  with  tolerable  certainty. 

The  calendar,  as  the  Romans  generally  believed,  was  first 
published  by  Cnaeus  Flavius,  curule  aedile,  in  304  B.  c.,  who 
placed  the  fasti  conspicuously  in  the  Forum,  in  order  that 
every  one  might  know  on  what  days  legal  business  might 
be  transacted '  ;  in  other  words,  a  calendar  was  published  with 
the  marks  of  the  days  and. the  indications  of  the  festivals.  After 
this  we  hear  nothing  until  189  B.  c.,  when  a  consul,  M.  Fulvius 
Nobilior,  adorned  his  temple  of  Hercules  and  the  Muses  with 
a  calendar  which  contained  explanations  or  notes  as  well 
as  dates 2.  These  are  the  only  indications  we  have  of  the  way 
in  which  the  pre- Julian  calendar  was  made  known  to  the 
people. 

But  the  rectification  of  the  calendar  by  Julius,  and  the 
changes  then  introduced,  brought  about  a  multiplication  of 
copies  of  the  original  one  issued  under  the  dictator's  edict3. 
Not  only  in  Rome,  but  in  the  municipalities  round  about 
her,  where  the  ancient  religious  usage  of  each  city  had  since 
the  enfranchisement  of  Italy  been  superseded,  officially  at  least, 
by  that  of  Rome,  both  public  and  private  copies  were  made 
and  set  up  either  on  stone,  or  painted  on  the  walls  or  ceiling 
of  a  building. 

Of  such  calendars  we  have  in  all  fragments  of  some  thirty, 
and  one  which  is  all  but  complete.'  Fourteen  of  these 
fragments  were  found  in  or  near  Rome,  eleven  in  munici- 

1  '  Fastos  circa  forum  in  albo  proposuit,  ut  quando  lege  agi  posset 
sciretur,'  Liv.  9.  46.  5  ;  Cic.  Att.  6.  i.  8.  On  the  latter  passage  Mornmsen 
has  based  a  reasonable  conjecture  that  the  Fasti  had  been  already  pub- 
lished in  one  of  the  last  two  of  the  Twelve  Tables,  and  subsequently  again 
withdrawn.  (Chron.  31  and  note.) 

3  Macrob.  i.  12.  16. 

3  C.  I.  L.  207  B.  Petronius  (Cena  30)  suggests  the  way  in  which  copies 
might  be  set  up  in  private  houses.  In  municipia  copies  might  be  made 
and  given  to  the  town  by  private  persons  (so  probably  were  Maff.  and 
Praen.)  or  put  up  by  order  of  the  decuriones. 


12  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

pal  i  ties  such  as  Praeneste,  Caere,  Amiternum,  and  others  as 
far  away  as  Allifae  and  Venusia  ;  four  are  of  uncertain  origin  '  : 
and  one  is  a  curious  fragment  from  Cisalpine  Gaul2.  Most 
of  them  are  still  extant  on  stone,  but  for  a  few  we  have 
to  depend  on  written  copies  of  an  original  now  lost 3.  No  clay 
in  the  Roman  year  is  without  its  annotation  in  one  or  more 
of  these  ;  the  year  is  almost  complete,  as  I  have  said,  in  the 
Fasti  Maifeiaui ;  and  several  others  contain  three  or  four  months 
nearly  perfect 4.  Two;  though  in  a  fragmentary  condition, 
are  of  special  interest.  One  of  these,  that  of  the  ancient 
brotherhood  of  the  Fratres  Arvales,  discovered  in  1867  and 
following  years  in  the  grove  of  the  brethren  near  Rome, 
contains  some  valuable  additional  notes  in  the  fragments  which 
survive  of  the  months  from  August  to  November.  The  other, 
that  of  Praeneste,  containing  January,  March,  April  and  parts 
of  February  and  December,  is  still  more  valuable  from  the 
comments  it  contains,  most  of  which  we  can  believe  with 
confidence  to  have  come  from  the  hand  of  the  great  Augustan 
scholar  Verrius  Flaccus.  We  are  told  by  Suetonius  that 
Verrius  put  up  a  calendar  in  the  forum  at  Praeneste  ,  drawn 
up  by  his  own  hand  ;  and  the  date 6  and  matter  of  these 
fragments  found  at  Praeneste  agree  with  what  we  know  of  the 
life  and  writings  of  Verrius.  It  is  unlucky  that  recent 
attempts  to  find  additional  fragments  should  have  been  entirely 
without  result ;  for  the  whole  annotated  calendar,  if  we 
possessed  it,  would  probably  throw  light  on  many  dark  corners 
of  our  subject. 

To  these  fragments  of  Julian  calendars,  all  drawn  up 
between  B.C.  31  and  A.  D.  46,  there  remain  to  be  added 
two  in  MSS. :  (i)  that  of  Philocalus,  A.  D.  354,  (ii)  that  of 
Polemius  Silvius,  A.  D.  448  ;  neither  of  which  are  of  much 
value  for  our  present  purpose,  though  they  will  be  occasionally 
referred  to.  Lastly,  we  have  two  farmer's  almanacs  on  cubes 

Including  the  Fasti  Maffeiani.  which  is  almost  complete. 

No.  20  in  C.  I.  L.  (Guidizzolenses),  found  at  Guidizzolo  between 
M.  ntua  and  Verona. 

Maffeiani,  Tusculani,  Pinciani,  Venusini. 

Those  of  Caere,  Praeneste,  Amiternum,  and  Antiuin. 

Suet,  de  Grammaticls,  19. 

Circ.  AD.  10 :  cf.  C.  I.  L.  206.  There  are  a  few  additional  notes 
apparently  by  a  later  h:md. 


INTRODUCTION  13 

of  bronze,  which  omit  the  individual  days,  but  are  of  use 
as  showing  the  course  of  agricultural  operations  under  the  later 
Empire1. 

All  these  calendars,  some  of  which  had  been  printed  wholly 
or  in  part  long  ago,  while  a  few  have  only  been  discovered 
of  late,  have  been  brought  together  for  the  first  time  in  the 
first  volume  of  the  Corpus  Inscriptionum  Latinarum,  edited 
by  Mommsen  with  all  his  incomparable  skill  and  learning, 
and  furnished  with  ample  elucidations  and  commentaries.  And 
we  now  have  the  benefit  of  a  second  edition  of  this  by  the 
same  editor,  to  whose  labours  in  this  as  in  every  other 
department  of  Roman  history  it  is  almost  impossible  to 
express  our  debt  in  adequate  words.  All  references  to  the 
calendars  in  the  following  pages  will  bo  made  to  this  second 
edition. 

A  word  remains  to  be  said  about  the  Fasti  of  Ovid  2,  which 
is  a  poetical  and  often  fanciful  commentaiy  on  the  calendar 
of  the  first  half  of  the  Julian  year,  i.e.  January  to  June 
inclusive ;  each  month  being  contained  in  one  book.  Ovid 
tells  us  himself3  that  he  completed  the  year  in  twelve  books ; 
but  the  last  six  were  probably  never  published,  for  they  are 
never  quoted  by  later  writers.  The  first  six  were  written  but 
not  published  before  the  poet's  exile,  and  taken  in  hand  again 
after  the  death  of  Augustus,  but  only  the  first  book  had  been 
revised  when  the  work  was  cut  short  by  Ovid's  death. 

Ovid's  work  merits  all  praise  as  a  literary  performance,  for 
the  neatness  and  felicity  of  its  versification  and  diction  ;  but 
as  a  source  of  knowledge  it  is  too  much  of  a  medley  to  be  used 
without  careful  criticism.  There  is,  however,  a  great  deal  in 
it  that  helps  us  to  understand  the  views  about  the  gods  and 
their  worship,  not  only  of  the  scholars  who  pleased  themselves 
and  Augustus  by  investigating  these  subjects,  but  also  of  the 
common  people  both  in  Rome  and  in  the  country.  But  the 
value  varies  greatly  throughout  the  work.  Where  the  poet 
describes  some  bit  of  ritual  which  he  has  himself  seen,  or  tells 

1  Menologium  rusticum  Colotianum,  and  Men.  rusticum  Vallense  in 
C.  I.L.  280,281. 

:  Merkel's  edition  (1841),  with  its  valuable  Prolegomena,  is  indispens- 
able ;  very  useful  too  is  that  by  H.  Peter,  Leipzig,  1889. 

1  Tristia,  ii.  549. 


14  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

some  Italian  story  he  has  himself  heard,  he  is  invaluable  ; 
but  as  a  substitute  for  the  work  of  Varro  on  which  he  drew, 
he  only  increases  our  thirst  for  the  original.  No  great  scholar 
himself,  he  aimed  at  producing  a  popular  account  of  the  results 
of  the  work  of  scholars,  picking  and  choosing  here  and  there 
as  suited  his  purpose,  and  not  troubling  himself  to  write  with 
scientific  accuracy.  Moreover,  he  probably  made  free  use 
of  Alexandrine  poets,  and  especially  of  Callimachus,  whose 
Actla  is  in  some  degree  his  model  for  the  whole  poem  ;  and 
thus  it  is  that  the  work  contains  a  large  proportion  of  Greek 
myth,  which  is  often  hard  to  distinguish  from  the  fragments 
of  genuine  Italian  legend  wrhich  are  here  and  there  imbedded 
in  it.  Still,  when  all  is  said,  a  student  of  the  Koman  religion 
should  be  grateful  to  Ovid  ;  and  when  after  the  month  of  June 
we  lose  him  as  a  companion,  we  may  well  feel  that  the  subject 
not  only  loses  with  him  what  little  literary  interest  it  can 
boast  of,  but  becomes  for  the  most  part  a  mere  investigation 
of  fossil  rites,  from  which  all  life  and  meaning  have  departed 
for  ever. 

VI.    THE  CALENDAR  OF  THE  KEPUBLIC  AND  ITS  RELIGIOUS 
FESTIVALS. 

All  the  calendars  still  surviving  belong,  as  we  saw,  to  the 
early  Empire,  and  represent  the  Fasti  as  revised  by  Julius. 
But  what  we  have  to  do  with  is  the  calendar  of  the  Republic. 
Can  it  be  recovered  from  those  we  still  possess?  Fortunately 
this  is  quite  an  easy  task,  as  Mommsen  himself  has  pointed 
out '  ;  we  can  reconstruct  for  certain  the  so-called  calendar 
of  Numa  as  it  existed  throughout  the  Republican  era.  The 
following  considerations  must  be  borne  in  mind  : 

i.  It  is  certain  that  Caesar  and  Ih's  advisers  would  alter 
the  familiar  calendar  as  little  as  possible,  acting  in  the  spirit 
of  persistent  conservatism  from  which  no  true  Roman  was 
ever  free.  They  added  10  days  to  the  old  normal  year  of 
355  days,  i.  e.  two  at  the  end  of  January,  August,  and  December, 
and  one  at  the  end  of  April,  June,  September,  and  November ; 
but  they  retained  the  names  of  the  months,  and  their  division 
by  Kalends,  Nones,  and  Ides,  and  also  the  signs  of  the  days, 

1  C.  I.  L.  297  foil,  (de  feriis). 


INTRODUCTION  15 

and  the  names  of  all  festivals  throughout  the  year.  Later 
on  further  additions  were  made,  chiefly  in  the  way  of  glorifica- 
tion of  the  Emperors  and  their  families ;  but  the  skeleton 
remained  as  it  had  been  under  the  Kepublic. 

2.  It  is  almost  certain  that  the  Kepublican  calendar  itself 
had  never  been  changed  from  its  first  publication  down  to  the 
time  of  Caesar.     There  is  no  historical  record  of  any  alteration, 
either  by  the  introduction  of  new  festivals  or  in   any  other 
way.     The  origin  of  no  festival  is  recorded  in  the  history  of 
the  Kepublic,  except  the  second  Carmentalia,  the  Saturnalia, 
and  the  Cerealia l ;  and  in  these  three  cases  we  can  be  morally 
certain  that  the  record,  if  such  it  can  be  called,  is  erroneous. 

3.  If    Julius   and   his    successors    altered    only    by   slight 
additions,  and  if  the  calendar  which  they  had  to  work  on  was 
of  great  antiquity  and  unchanged  during  the  Republic,  how, 
in  the  next  place,  are  we  to  distinguish  the  skeleton  of  that 
ancient  calendar  from  the  Julian  and   post -Julian   additions? 
Nothing  is  easier  ;   in  Mommsen's  words,  it  is  not  a  matter 
of  calculation :   a  glance  at   the  Fasti  is   sufficient.     In   all 
these  it  will  be  seen  that  the  numbers,   names,   and   signs 
of  the  days  were  cut  or  painted  in  large  capital  letters ;  while 
ludi,  sacrifices,  and  all  additional  notes  and  comments  appear 
in  small  capital  letters.     It  cannot  be  demonstrated  that  the 
large  capital  letters  represent  the  Republican  calendar ;    but 
the  circumstantial  evidence,  so  to  speak,   is  convincing.     For 
inscribed  in  these  large  capitals  is  all  the  information  which 
the   Roman    of    the    Republic    would    need ;    the    dies  fasti, 
comitiales,  nefasti,  &c. ;  the  number  of  the  days  in  the  month  ; 
the  position  of  the  Nones  and  the  Ides  and  the  names  of  those 
days  on  which  fixed  festivals  took  place ;   all  this  in  an  ab- 
breviated but  no  doubt  familiar  form.     The  minor  sacrificial 
rites,  which  concerned  the  priests  and  magistrates  rather  than 
the  people,   he   did  not  find  there  ;   they  would    only   have 
confused  him.     The  moveable  festivals,  too,  he  did  not  find 
there,  as  they  changed  their  date  from  year  to  year  and  were 
fixed  by  the  priesthood  as  the  time  for  each  came  round.     The 
ludi,  or  public  games,  were   also  absent  from  the  old  calendar, 
for  they  were,   originally  at   least,   only  adjuncts   to   certain 

1  To  these  \ve  may  perhaps  add  the  Poplifugia  and  Lucaria  in  July,  the 
legends  about  which  we  can  neither  accept  nor  refute. 


l6  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

festivals  out  of  which  they  had  grown  in  course  of  time. 
Lastly,  all  rites  which  did  not  technically  concern  the  State 
as  a  whole,  but  only  its  parts  and  divisions  \  i.  e.  of  gentes  and 
curiae,  of  pagi  (paganalia),  montes  (Septhnonthmi)  and  sacella 
(Sacra  Argeorum),  could  not  be  included  in  the  public  calendar 
of  the  Roman  people. 

But  the  Roman  of  the  Republic,  even  if  his  calendar  were 
confined  to  the  indications  given  by  the  large  capital  letters 
in  the  Julian  calendar,  could  find  in  these  the  essential  outline 
of  the  yearly  round  of  his  religious  life.  This  outline  we  too 
can  reconstruct,  though  the  detail  is  often  wholly  beyond  our 
reach.  For  this  detail  we  have  to  fall  back  upon  other  sources 
of  information,  which  are  often  most  unsatisfactory  and  difficult 
to  interpret.  What  are  these  other  sources,  of  what  value  are 
they,  and  how  can  that  value  be  tested  ? 

Apart  from  the  surviving  Fasti,  we  have  to  depend,  both  for 
the  completion  of  the  religious  calendar,  and  for  the  study  and 
interpretation  of  all  its  details,  chiefly  on  the  fragmentary 
remains  of  the  works  of  the  two  great  scholars  of  the  age  of 
Julius  and  Augustus,  viz.  Varro  and  Verrius  Flaccus,  and  on 
the  later  grammarians,  commentators,  and  other  writers  who 
drew  upon  their  voluminous  writings.  Varro's  book  de  Lingua 
Latina,  though  not  complete,  is  in  great  part  preserved,  and 
contains  much  information  taken  from  the  books  of  the  ponti- 
fices,  which,  did  we  but  possess  them,  would  doubtless  constitute 
our  one  other  most  valuable  record  besides  the  Fasti  them- 
selves 2.  Such,  too,  is  the  value  of  the  dictionary  of  Verrius 
Flaccus,  which,  though  itself  lost,  survives  in  the  form  of  two 
series  of  condensed  excerpts,  made  by  Festus  probably  in  the 
second  century,  A.  D.,  and  by  Paulus  Diaconus  as  late  as  the 
beginning  of  the  ninth ".  Much  of  the  work  of  Varro  and 
Verrius  is  also  imbedded  in  the  grammatical  writings  of  Servius 
the  commentator  on  Virgil,  in  Macrobius,  Nonius,  Gellius,  and 

1  See  Festus,  245  ;  and  Did.  Ant.  s.  v.  Sacra. 

2  Varro's  works,  de  Antiquitatibus  humanis  and  dirinis,  and  many  others, 
only  survive  in  the  fragments  quoted  by  later  authors. 

•*  Paul  the  deacon  was  one  of  the  scholars  who  found  encouragement  at 
the  court  of  Charles  the  Great.  His  work  is  an  abridgement  of  that 
of  Festus,  not  of  Verrius  himself.  On  Verrius  and  his  epitumators,  as 
well  as  on  the  other  writers  who  used  his  glosses,  see  H.  Nettleship's 
valuable  papers  in  Essays  in  Latin  Literature,  p.  201  foil. 


INTRODUCTION  17 

many  others,  and  also  in  Pliny's  Natural  History,  and  in  some 
of  the  Christian  Fathers,  especially  St.  Augustine  and  Ter- 
tullian  ;  but  all  these  need  to  be  used  with  care  and  caution, 
except  where  they  quote  directly  from  one  or  other  of  their  two 
great  predecessors.  The  same  may  be  said  of  Laurentius 
Lydus ',  who  wrote  in  Greek  a  work  de  Mcnsibus  in  the  sixth 
century,  which  still  survives.  To  these  materials  must  be 
added  the  great  historical  writers  of  the  Augustine  age  ;  Livy. 
who,  uncritical  as  he  was,  and  incapable  of  distinguishing  the 
genuine  Italian  elements  in  religious  tradition  from  the 
accretions  of  Greek  and  Graeco-Etruscan  myth,  yet  supplies 
n-  with  much  material  for  criticism  ;  and  Dionysius  of  Hali- 
carnassus.  who  as  a  foreigner  resident  for  some  time  in  Rome, 
occasionally  describes  ritual  of  which  he  was  himself  a  witness. 
The  Roman  lives  of  Plutarch,  and  his  curious  collection  entitled 
linwan  Questions,  also  contain  much  interesting  matter,  taken 
from  several  sources,  e.g.  Jitba.  the  learned  king  of  Mauritania, 
but  as  a  rule  ultimately  referable  to  Varro.  Beyond  these 
(here  is  no  one  author  of  real  importance  ;  but  the  ' plant ' 
of  the  investigator  will  include  of  course  the  whole  of  Roman 
literature,  and  Greek  literature  so  far  as  it  touches  Roman  life 
and  history.  Of  epigraph ical  evidence  there  is  not  much  for 
the  period  of  the  Republic,  beyond  the  fragments  of  the  Fasti ; 
by  far  the  most  valuable  Italian  religious  inscription  is  not 
Roman  but  Umbrian  ;  and  the  Acta  Fratrum  Arvalium  only 
begin  with  the  Empire.  Yet  from  these2,  and  from  a  few 
works  of  art,  however  hard  of  interpretation,  some  light  has 
occasionally  been  thrown  upon  the  difficulties  of  our  subject ; 
and  the  study  of  early  Italian  culture  is  fast  progressing  under 
the  admirable  system  of  excavation  now  being  supervised  by 
the  Italian  government. 

All  this  material  has  been  collected,  sifted,  and  built  upon 
by  modern  scholars,  and  chiefly  by  Germans.  The  work  of 
collecting  was  done  to  a  great  extent  in  the  sixteenth  and 
seventeenth  centuries;  the  rest  of  the  process  mainly  in  the 


1  For  more  information  about  Lydus  see  Bury,  Later  Roman  Empire,  ii. 
183.  and  below  under  March  14. 

2  They  will  be  found  in  Bachelor's  Umbrica  (containing  the  processional 
inscription  of  Iguvium  with  commentary  and  translation),  and  Heuzen's 
Ada  Fratrum  Arvalium. 


l8  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

nineteenth.  The  chief  writers  will  be  quoted  as  occasion 
demands ;  here  can  only  be  mentioned,  honoris  causa,  the 
writings  of  Ambrosch,  Preller,  Schweglei,  Marquardt ',  and  of 
some  of  the  writers  in  the  Mythological  Lexicon,  edited  by 
Koscher.  especially  Professor  Wissowa  of  Berlin,  whose  short 
but  pithy  articles,  as  well  as  his  treatises  de  Fcriis  and  de 
Dis  Indigetibus  are  models  of  scholarly  investigation  '•'.  Of  late, 
too.  anthropologists  and  folk-lorists  have  had  something  to  say 
about  Roman  religious  antiquities ;  of  these,  the  most  con- 
spicuous is  the  late  lamented  Dr.  Mannhardt,  who  applied  a  new 
method  to  certain  problems  both«of  the  Greek  and  the  Roman 
religion,  and  evolved  a  new  theory  for  their  interpretation. 
Among  other  works  of  this  kind,  which  incidentally  throw 
light  on  our  difficulties,  the  most  useful  to  me  have  been  those 
of  Professor  Tylor,  Mr.  Frazer,  Mr.  Andrew  Lang,  and  the  late 
Professor  Robertson  Smith.  In  the  Religion  of  the  Semites, 
by  the  last  named  scholar,  I  seem  to  see  a  deeper  insight  into 
the  modes  of  religious  thought  of  ancient  peoples  than  in  any 
other  work  with  which  I  am  acquainted. 

Yet  in  spite  of  all  this  accumulation  of  learning  and  acumen, 
it  must  be  confessed  that  the  study  of  the  oldest  Roman 
religion  is  still  one  of  insuperable  difficulty,  and  apt  to  try  the 
patience  of  the  student  all  the  more  as  he  slowly  becomes 
aware  of  the  conditions  of  the  problem  before  him.  There  are 
festivals  in  the  calendar  about  which  we  really  know  nothing 
at  all,  and  must  frankly  confess  our  ignorance ;  there  are 
others  about  which  we  know  just  enough  to  be  doubtful ; 
others  again,  in  interpreting  which  the  Romans  themselves 
plainly  went  astray,  leaving  us  perhaps  nothing  but  a  baseless 
legend  to  aid  us  in  guessing  their  original  nature.  It  must  be 
borne  in  mind  that  the  Roman  religion  was  in  ruins  when  the 
Julian  calendar  was  drawn  up,  and  that  the  archaeological 
research  which  was  brought  to  bear  upon  it  by  Varro  and 
Verrius  was  not  of  a  strictly  scientific  character.  And  during 

1  Trailer's  RomiscJie  Mythologie   (ed.  3,  by  H.  Jordan)  and  Marquardt's 
third  volume  of  his  Staatsceritaltung  (ed.  Wissowa)  are  both  masterpieces, 
not  only  in  matter  but  in  manner. 

2  Among  the  others  may  especially  be  mentioned  Aust,  a  pupil  of 
Wissowa,  to  whom  we  owe  the  excellent  and  exhaustive  article   on 
Jupitor  ;  and  R  Peter,  the  author  of  the  article  Fortuna  and  others,  who 
largely  reflects  the  views  of  the  late  Prof.  Reifferscheid  of  Breslau. 


INTEODUCTION  19 

the  last  two  centuries  of  the  Kepublic,  as  the  once  stately 
building  crumbled  away,  it  became  overlaid  with  growths  of 
foreign  and  especially  of  Greek  origin,  under  which  it  now  lies 
hopelessly  buried.  The  ground-plan  alone  remains,  in  the 
form  of  the  calendar  as  it  has  been  explained  above  ;  to  this  we 
must  hold  fast  if  we  would  obtain  any  true  conception  of  the 
religion  of  the  earliest  Roman  State '.  Here  and  there  some 
portion  of  the  building  of  which  it  was  the  basis  can  however 
still  be  conjecturally  restored  by  the  aid  of  Varro  and  Verrius 
and  a  few  other  ancient  writers,  tested  by  the  criticism  of 
modern  scholars,  and  sometimes  by  the  results  of  the  science 
of  comparative  religion.  Such  particular  restoration  is  what 
has  been  attempted  in  this  work,  not  without  much  misgiving 
and  constant  doubt. 

The  fall  of  the  Republic  is  in  any  case  a  convenient  point 
from  which  to  survey  the  religious  ideas  and  practice  of  the 
conquerors  of  the  civilized  world.  It  is  not  indeed  a  more 
significant  epoch  in  the  history  of  the  Roman  religion  than  the 
era  of  the  Punic  wars,  when  Rome  ceased  to  be  a  peninsular, 
and  began  to  be  a  cosmopolitan  state  ;  but  it  is  a  turning-point 
in  the  history  of  the  calendar  and  of  religious  worship  as  well 
as  of  the  constitution.  Henceforward,  in  spite  of  the  strenuous 
efforts  of  Augustus  to  revive  the  old  forms  of  worship,  all 
religious  rites  have  a  tendency  to  become  transformed  or  over- 
shadowed, first  by  the  cult  of  the  Caesars 2 ;  secondly,  by  the 
steadily  increasing  influence  of  foreign  and  especially  of  Oriental 
cults  ;  and  lastly,  by  Christianity  itself3. 

Taking  our  stand,  then,  in  the  year  46  B.C.,  the  last  year 
of  the  pre  Julian  calendar,  we  are  able  in  a  small  volume, 
by  carefully  working  through  that  calendar,  to  lay  a  firm 
foundation  of  material  for  the  study  of  the  religious  life  and 
thought  of  the  Roman  people  while  it  was  still  in  some  sense 
really  Roman.  The  plan  has  indeed  its  disadvantages ;  it 
excludes  the  introduction  of  a  systematic  account  of  certain 
departments  of  the  subject,  such  as  the  development  of  the 
priesthoods,  the  sacrificial  ritual,  the  auspicia,  and  the  domestic 

1  'Hoc  paene  ununa  superest  sincerum  documentum,'  Wissowa,  de 
Perils,  p.  i. 

8  This  is  well  illustrated  in  the  Ada  Fratrum  Anxtlium  referred  to  above. 

*  A  succinct  account  of  these  tendencies  will  he  found  in  Marquardt, 
p.  72  foil.  There  is  a  French  translation  of  this  invaluable  volume. 

G    2 


20  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

practice  of  religious  rites1.  But  if  it  is  true,  as  it  undoubtedly 
is.  that  in  dealing  with  the  Eoman  religion  we  must  begin 
with  the  cult 2,  and  that  for  the  cult  the  one  '  sincerum  docu- 
mentum '  is  to  be  found  in  the  surviving  Fasti,  these  drawbacks 
may  fairly  be  deemed  to  be  counterbalanced  by  distinct 
advantages.  And  in  order  to  neutralize  any  bewilderment  that 
may  be  caused  by  the  constant  variety  of  the  rites  we  shall 
meet  with,  both  in  regard  to  their  origin,  history,  and  meaning, 
some  attempt  will  be  made,  when  we  have  completed  the 
round  of  the  year,  to  sum  up  our  results,  to  sketch  in  outline 
the  history  of  Eoman  religious  ideas,  and  to  estimate  the 
influence  of  all  this  elaborate  ceremonial  on  the  life  and 
character  of  the  Roman  people. 

In  order  to  fit  the  calendar  of  each  month  into  a  single  page 
of  this  work  it  has  been  necessary  to  print  the  names  of  the 
festivals,  and  the  indications  of  Kalends,  Nones,  &c.  in  small 
capital  letters  instead  of  the  large  capitals  in  which  they 
appear  in  the  originals  (see  above,  p.  1 5).  In  the  headings  to 
the  days  as  they  occur  throughout  the  book  the  method  of  the 
originals  will  be  reproduced  exactly,  i.  e.  large  capitals  repre- 
sent in  every  case  the  most  ancient  calendar  of  the  Republic, 
and  small  capitals  the  additamenta  ex  fastis. 

1  A  short  account  of  these  will  be  found  in  the  author's  articles  in  the 
new  edition  of  Smith's  Dictionary  of  Antiquities,  on  'Sacra,'  'Sacerdos,'  ami 
'  Sacnficium.'  On  the  domestic  rites,  there  is  an  excellent  book  in  Italian, 
which  might  well  be  translated:  II  Culto  privato  di  Roma  aniica,  by  Prof. 
De-Msirchi  of  Milan,  of  which  only  Part  I,  La  Religione  nella  vita  domestica, 
has  as  yet  appeared. 

*  Marqnardt,  Staatsrencaifung,  in.  p.  2. 


MENSIS   MARTIUS 


Fasti  antiquissimi. 

Additamenta 
ex  fastis. 

Additamenta  ex 
scriptoribus. 

1       KAL.    IP 
2                      F 

i.  Feriae  Marti. 
luuoni  Luciiiae. 

i  .  M;  1  1  roiial  ia  (?). 

3                C 

4                C 

5                C 

G               IP 

7         KON.    F 

7.  Vediovi. 

F 

9                C 
10                C 

9.    Anna    aucilia 
movent. 

11               C 

12                C 

v 

13             EN 

14               IP 

15        EID.    IP 

16                F 
17                IP 
18                C 

EQUIRRIA 

(  LIBKKALIA 
(     AGONIA 

14  (or  15?).  Feriae 
Marti. 
15.     Feriae     Ainiao 
Fereimae. 

14.  Mamuralia  ^?). 

16  (and  1  7  ?).  Sacra 
Argeorurn. 

19                N 

QUINQUAXBUS 

19.  Feriae  Marti. 

20                C 

21                C 

22                N 

23               IP 

TUBILUSTKIUJ1 

24     Q.K.C.  F 

25                C 

20                  C 

27               IP 

28                C 

29                C 

30                C 
31                 C 

31.  Lunac  in  Avcu- 
tino. 

21 


MEXSIS  APRILIS 


Fasti  antiquissimi. 

Addi/amenta 
ex  fastis. 

Additamenta  ex 
scriptoribus. 

1         KAL.    F 

2                F 
3                C 
4                C 

5         RON.    N 

6               IP 

4.  Matri  Magnae. 
4-10.    Ludi     Mega- 
lesiaci. 
5.  Fortunae  publicae 
citeriori  in  eolle. 

i.  Veneralia(?). 
Fortunae  virili 
in        balneis 
(Verr.Flacc.). 

7               N 

8               N 

9               N 
10              N 
11               N 

9-10  or  10-11.  Ora- 

culum     Fortunae 
patet     (at     Prae- 
neste). 

12               N 

12-19.  Ludi  Cereal  es 

13        EID.    IP 

H               N 

15               JP 

FORDICIDIA 

1G                N 

17               N 

18               N 

19               N 
20               N 

CEUEALIA 

19.      Cereri     Libero 
Liberae. 

21                IP 

22                N 

PAKILIA 

at.  Natalis  urbis 
(PhUoc.). 

23                IP 
24                 C 
25               IP 
26                F 

VINALIA 

ROBIGALIA 

23.  VeneriErycinae. 
lovi. 

25.     SacriQcium    et 
ludi. 

24.  Ferine  Latinae 
(conceptivae) 
usually  about 
this  time. 

27                 C 

28                M> 
29                C 

28.  Ludi   Florae,   to 
V.      Non.       Mai. 
(May  3). 

28.Floralia(Plin.). 

22 


MENSIS   MARTS 


Fasti  antiquissimi. 

Additamenta 
ex  fastis. 

Additamenta  ex 
scriptoribus. 

1         KAL.    F 

2                  F 
3                C 

i.  Laribus  (praestiti- 
bus). 

i.  Dies  natalis  of 
temple  of  Bona 
Dea  ^Ovid). 

4               C 

5                C 

6                C 

7       NON.   JF 

8                F 

9               N 

LEMURIA 

10               C 

11               N 

LEMURIA 

12               IP 

13               N 

LEMURIA 

14                C 

15        BID.    IP 

16                F 

15.  Feriae  Tovi  Mer- 
curio  Maiae. 

15.  Sacra  Argeo- 
rum(0vid,  &c.). 

17                C 

18                C 

19                C 

20                C 

21               *P 

AGONIA 

21.  Vediovi. 

22                N 

23               IP 

24       Q.R.C.    F 

TUBILUSTRIUM 

23.  Volcano. 

25                C 
26                C 

27                C 

25.  Fortunae  publi- 
cae  Populi  Ro- 

IlKUli. 

28                C 

29                C 
30                C 
31                C 

29.  Ambarvalla 
(feriae  concep- 
tivae). 

1  N.  Maff.     Cf.  Mommsen,  C.  I.  L.  294  b. 


MENSIS  IUNIUS 


fasti  antiguissimi. 

Additamenta 
ex  fastis. 

Additamenta  ex 
scriptoribus. 

1        KAL.    N 

2                F 

i.  lunoni  Monetae. 

i.  Kalendae  faba- 
riae          (Plin.) 

Ludi. 

3                C 

3.  Bellonae  in  circo. 

4                C 

5         NON.    N 

5.  Dio  Fidio  in  colic. 

6               N 

7               N 

8                N 
9               N 

* 

VESTALIA 

8.    Menti    in   Capi- 
tolio. 

10               N 

11               N 

MATE  A  LI  A 

12               N 

13        HD.   IP 

14              JN 

13.  Feriae  lovi. 

13.     Quinquatrus 
minusculae. 

15    Q.ST.D.   F 

16                C 

17                C 

18                C 

18.  Annae  sacrum. 

19                C 

20                C 

20.  Summano  ad  cir- 

21                 C 

cum  maximum. 

22                C 

23                C 

24                C 

24.  Forti  Fortunae. 

25                C 

26                C 

27                C 

28                C 

29                F 

1  F.  Tusc.     Cf. 


Mommsen,  C.  1.  L.  294  b. 
24 


MENSIS   QUINTILIS 


Fasti  antiquissimi. 

Adilitamenta 
ex  fastis. 

Additamenta  ex 
scriptoribus. 

1        KAL.    N 

2               N 

3               N 

4               M> 

5                IP 

POPLIPUGIA 

6               N 

6-13.    Ludi   Apolli 

7         KON.    N 

8               N 

nares. 

7.   Nonae   Capro- 
tinae  (Varro). 

9               N 
10                C 

9.  Vitulatio 
(Varro). 

11               C 

12                C 

13                C 

14                 C 

14-19;  Mereatus. 

15        EID.    M» 

16                F 

17                C 

18                C 

18.  Dies  Alliensis. 

19               IP 

LUCAEIA 

20                C 

21               IP 

LUCAKIA 

22                 C 

23                IP 

NEPTUNALLA 

24                 N 

25                IP 

FUKEINALIA 

26                C 

27                C 

28                 C 

29                C 

30                 C 
31                 C 

30.  Fortunae  huius- 
que  dioi  in  cuiupo. 

MEXSIS   SEXTILIS 


Fasti  antiquissimi. 

Additamenta 
ex  fastis. 

Additamenta  ex 
scriptoribus. 

1          KAL.    F 
2                     JP 

3                C 

i.    Spei    ad    forum 
holitoriura. 

i.  Laribus  compi- 
talibus?  (Ovid, 
5.  147). 

4                C 

t 

5         NON.    F 

6l              F 

5.    Saluti    in    collo 
Quir. 

7                C 

8                C 
9               F 

8  (or  9?)  Soli  Indi 
giti  in  colle  Quir. 

10                C 

11               C 

12                C 

13        EID.    M> 

14                F 
15                C 
16                C 

17                IP 
18                C 

PORTUNALIA 

12.   Herculi  invicto 
ad  circ.  max. 
13.  Feriae  lovi. 
Dianae  in  Aven- 
tino. 
Vortumno        in 
Aventino,     &c. 
(see  p.  198;. 

17.  lanoad  t  heat  rum 
Marcelli. 

19*           FP 

VINALIA 

20                C 

21               TP 

22            EN 

CONSTTALIA 

at.  Conso  in  Aven- 
tino. 

23               JP 
24                C 
25               N> 

VOLCANALIA 
OPICONSIVIA 

23.  Volcano  in  circo 

Flumiuio,  &c. 

24.  Mundus  patet 
(Festus). 

26                C 

27               IP 

VOLTURNALIA 

28                 C 

29                F 

N*.  Antiat.     N.  minores  6. 


*  F.  Antiat.  Allif.  N1  Vail. 


MENSIS   SEPTEMBER 


Fasti  antiquissimi. 

Additamenta 
ex  fastis. 

Additamenta  ex 
scriptoribus. 

1        KAL.    F 

2                 P 

3                F 

4                C 

4-12.  Ludi  RomanL 

5         NON.    F 

6                F 

7                C 

8                C 

9                C 

10                C 

11                C 

121              N 

13        EID.    IP 

14                F 

152              N 
16                C 

13.  lovi  epulum. 
Feriae  lovi. 
14.    Equorum    pro- 
batio. 
15-19.  Ludi  Romani 
in  circo. 

17                C 

18                C 

19                C 

20                C 

20-23.  Mercatus. 

21                C 

22                 C 

23                F 

24                C 

25                C 

26                C 

27                C 

28                C 

29                F 

1  IP  Vail.  C.  Antiat.     C.  I.  L.  294. 

37 


1  C.  Vail.  Antiat. 


MENSIS   OCTOBER 


Fasti  antiquissimi. 

Additamenta 
ex  fastis. 

Addilamenta  ex 
scriptoribus. 

1         KAL.    H 

2                F 
3                C 

i.  Tigillo  sororio  ad 
compitum  Acili. 
Fidei  inCapitolio. 

4                C 

5                C 

5.  Muudus  patet. 

G1               C 

7         SON.    F 

8                F 
9                C 

7.  lovi  fulguri. 
lunoni  Ciu'riti  in 
campo. 

10                C 

11               IP 
12                C 

XEDITRINALJA 

13               IP 

14            EN 

FONTLNALIA 

13.  Feriae  FontL 

15        Ell).    JP 

10                F 
17                C 

15.  Feriae  lovi. 

15.     Sacrifice     of 
October     horse 

(Festus). 

18                C 

19              JP 

20                C 

ABMILWSTEIUM 

21                C 

22                C 

23                C 

24                C 

25                C 

26                C 

27                C 

28                C 

29                 C 

30                 C 

31                 C 

1  N.  AiitLit     Cf.  C.  I.  L.  294. 
28 


MENSIS  NOVEMBER 


Fasti  antiquissimi. 

Additamcnta 
ex  fastis. 

Additamenta  ex 
scriptoribus. 

1 

KAL.    F 

2 

F 

3 

C 

4 

c 

4-17.  Ludi  plebeii. 

5 

F 

G 

NON.    F 

7 

C 

8 

C 

9 

C 

10 

C 

11 

12 

c 

c 

13.  Ferine  Tovi. 
lovi  epulum. 

13 

BID.    IP 

1  3  (or  14?).  Feroniae 

14 

F 

in  campo. 
Fortunne     Primi- 

15 
16 

C 
C 

geniae  in  colle. 
14.     Equorum    pro- 
batio. 

17 

C 

18 

C 

18-20.  Mercatus. 

19 

c 

20 

c 

21 

c 

22 

c 

23 

c 

21 

c 

25 

c 

26 

c 

•27 

c 

28 

c 

29 

F 

MENSIS   DECEMBER 


Fasti  antiquissimi. 

Adilitamenta 
ex  fastis. 

Additamenta  ex 
scriptoribus. 

I        KAL.    N 

i  .  Neptuno  )  ad  circ. 

i.    Fortunae   mu- 

Pietati      \    max. 

liebri(Dionys.). 

2               N 

3                N 

3.     Sacra     Bonae 

4                C 

Deae  (Plutarch, 
.  &c.). 

5         NON.    F 

5.    Faunalia   rus- 

6                F 

tica  (Horace). 

7                C 

8                C 

8.   Tiberino    in   in- 

sula. 

9                C 

10                C 

11              IP 
12            EN 

AG[ONIA]  IN. 

12.  Conso  in  Aven- 

ii.  Septimontium 
(Festus  j  Varro). 

tino. 

13        EID.    IP 

13.  Telluri  et  Cereri 

14              F 

in  Carinis. 

15               IP 

COXSUALIA 

16                C 

17               K> 

SATURNALIA 

18                C 

19               IP 

OPALIA 

20                C 

21               IP 

DIVALIA 

22                C 

22.  Laribus  perm  a- 

23               IP 

LARENIALIA 

rinis    in    porticu 
Minuuia. 

24                C 

25                C 

26                C 

27                C 

28                C 

29               F 

MENSIS  IANUARIUS 


Fasti  anliquissimi. 

Additamenta 
ex  fastis. 

Additamenta  ex 
scriptoribus. 

1        KAL.    F 
2                F 

i.Aesculapio  )  iiiin- 
Vediovi       j  sula. 

3                C 
4                C 

3-5  (circa).  Com- 
pitalia  or  ludi 
compitales. 

5       xox.   F 

6                F 

7                C 

8                C 

9              [IP] 

AGONIA 

10            EN 

11               IP 

12                C 

CARMENTALIA 

ir.  'luturnalia' 
Serviub. 

13        EID.    IP 

14             EN 

15               IP 

CARMEJiTALIA 

« 

16                C 

17                C 

18                C 

19                C 

20                C 

21                 C 

22                C 

23                C 

24                C 
25                C 
26                C 

24-26.  Sementi  vae 
or  Paganalia 
(Ovid)  (feriae 
conceptivae). 

27                C 
28                C 

27.   Giistori  et  Pol- 
luci  (dedication  of 
temple). 

29                F 

MEXSIS  FEBRUARIUS 


Fasti  antiquissimi. 

Additamenta 
ex  fastis. 

Additamenla  ex 
scriptoribus. 

1         KAL.    N 

2               N 

i.  lunoni  Sospitae 
(Ovid). 

3               N 

, 

4               N 

5        NOW.    IP 

G                N 

5.  Concordiae  in  arce 

(Praen.). 

7                N 

8               N 

9               N 

10               N 

11               N 

12               N 

13        BID.    IP 

14                N 

13.  Fauno  in  insula 
(Esq.). 

13  21.  Parentalia. 

15               IP 

LUPERCALIA 

16            EN 

17              IP 
18                C 
19                C 

QUIRINALIA 

r7.  Last  day  of 
Fornacalia  (fe- 
ria«  concepti- 
vae).  'Stulto- 
rum  Jeriae  ' 

20            '     C 

(Paulus,  &c.). 

21  l           FP 

FERALIA 

22                C 

23               IP 

TERMINALIA 

24                N 

REGIFUGIUM 

25       '         C 

26             EN 

27               IP 

EQUIRRIA 

28                 C 

F.  Maff. 
32 


MENSIS  MARTIUS. 

THE  mensis  Martius  stands  alone  among  the  Roman  months. 
Not  only  was  it  the  first  in  matters  both  civil  and  religious  down 
to  the  time  of  Julius  Caesar,  but  it  is  more  closely  associated 
with  a  single  deity  than  any  other,  and  that  deity  the  protector 
and  ancestor  of  the  legendary  founder  of  the  city.  It  bears  too 
the  name  of  the  god,  which  is  not  the  case  with  any  other 
month  except  January  ;  and  it  is  less  certain  that  January  was 
named  after  Janus  than  that  March  was  named  after  Mars. 
The  cult  of  Janus  is  not  specially  obvious  in  January  except  on 
a  single  day  ;  but  the  cult  of  Mars  is  paramount  all  through 
March,  and  gives  a  peculiar  character  to  the  month's  worship. 

It  follows  on  a  period  which  we  may  call  one  of  purification, 
or  the  performance  of  piacular  duties  towards  dead  ancestors 
and  towards  the  gods ;  and  this  has  itself  succeeded  a  time  of 
general  festivity  in  the  homestead,  the  group  of  homesteads, 
the  market,  and  the  cross-roads.  The  rites  of  December  and 
January  are  for  the  most  part  festive  and  social,  those  of 
February  mystic  and  melancholy — characteristics  which  have 
their  counterpart  in  the  Christian  Christmas,  New  Year,  and 
Lent.  The  rites  of  March  are  distinct  from  those  of  either 
l»i'i-iod,  as  we  shall  see.  They  again  are  followed  by  those 
of  April,  the  opening  month,  which  are  gay  and  apt  to  be 
licentious  ;  then  comes  the  mensis  Mains  or  month  of  growth, 
which  is  a  time  of  peril  for  the  crops,  and  has  a  certain 
character  of  doubt  and  darkness  in  its  rites  ;  lastly  comes  June, 
the  month  of  maturity,  when  harvest  is  close  at  hand,  and  life 

D 


34  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

begins  to  brighten  up  once  more.  After  this  the  Roman 
months  cease  to  denote  by  their  names  those  workings  of 
nature  on  which  the  husbandman's  fortune  for  the  year 
depends. 

By  a  process  of  elimination  we  can  make  a  guess  at  the  kind 
of  ideas  which  must  have  been  associated  with  the  month 
which  the  Eonians  called  Martius,  even  before  examining  its 
rites  in  detail.  It  is  the  time  when  the  spring,  whose  first 
breath  has  been  felt  in  February,  begins  to  show  its  power  upon 
the  land  l.  Some  great  numen  is  at  work,  quickening  vegeta- 
tion, and  calling  into  life  the  powers  of  reproduction  in  man 
and  the  animals.  The  way  in  which  this  quickening  Power 
or  Spirit  was  regarded  by  primitive  man  has  been  very  care- 
fully investigated  of  recent  years,  and  though  the  variation  is 
endless  both  in  myth  and  in  ritual,  we  may  now  safely  say 
that  he  was  looked  on  as  coming  to  new  life  after  a  period  of 
death,  or  as  returning  after  an  absence  m  the  winter,  or  as 
conquering  the  hostile  powers  that  would  hinder  his  activity. 
Among  civilized  peoples  these  ideas  only  survive  iu  legend  or 
poetry,  or  in  some  quaint  bit  of  rural  custom,  often  semi- 
dramatic,  which  may  or  may  not  have  found  its  way  into  the 
organized  cults  of  a  city-state  of  Greece  or  Italy,  or  even  into 
the  calendar  of  a  Christian  Church.  But  when  these  survivals 
have  been  collected  in  vast  numbers  both  from  modern  Europe 
and  from  classical  antiquity,  and  compared  with  the  existing 
ideas  and  practices  of  savage  peoples,  they  can  leave  no  doubt 
in  our  minds  as  to  the  general  character  of  the  primitive 

1  See  Nissen,  Italienische  Landeskunde,  i.  404  ;  Ovid,  Fasti,  3.  235 — 
Quid,  quod  hiems  adoperta  gelu  tune  denique  cedit, 

Et  pereunt  victae  sole  tepente  nives, 
Arboribus  redeunt  detonsae  frigore  frondes, 

Uvidaque  in  tenero  palinite  gemma  tumet : 
Quaeque  diu  latuit,  nunc  se  qua  tollat  in  auras, 

Fertilis  occultas  invenit  herba  vias. 
Nunc  fecundus  ager :   pecoris  nunc  hora  creandi, 

Nunc  avis  in  ramo  tecta  laremquo  parat. 
Tempora  hire  colunt  Latiae  fecunda  parentes 

Quarum  militiam  votaque  partus  habet. 

Here  we  have  the  fertility  of  man,  beast,  and  crop,  all  brought  together : 
the  poet  in  writing  of  March  i.  The  Romans  reckoned  spring  from 
Favonius  (Feb.  7)  to  about  May  10  (Varro,  R.  R.  i.  38)  ;  March  i  would 
therefore  usually  be  a  day  on  which  its  first  effects  would  be  obvious  to 
every  one. 


MENSIS    MARTIUS  35 

husbandman's  conception  of  the   mysterious  power  at  work 
in  spring-time. 

It  was  this  Power,  we  can  hardly  doubt,  that  the  Latins 
knew  by  the  name  of  Mars,  the  god  whose  cult  is  so  prominent 
throughout  the  critical  period  of  the  quickening  processes.  We 
know  him  in  Koman  literature  as  a  full-grown  deity,  with 
characteristics  partly  taken  from  the  Greeks,  partly  extended 
and  developed  by  a  state  priesthood  and  the  usage  of  a  growing 
and  cosmopolitan  city.  We  cannot  trace  him  back,  step  by 
step,  to  his  earliest  vague  form  as  an  undefined  Spirit,  Power, 
or  numen  ;  it  is  very  doubtful  whether  we  can  identify  him,  as 
mythologists  have  often  done,  with  anything  so  obvious  and 
definite  as  the  sun,  which  by  itself  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
held  responsible  by  primitive  peoples  for  the  workings  of  nature 
at  this  time  of  year.  We  do  not  even  know  for  certain  the 
meaning  of  his  name,  and  can  get  no  sure  help  from  com- 
parative philology.  Nevertheless  there  is  a  good  deal  of 
cumulative  evidence  which  suggests  a  comparatively  humble 
origin  for  this  great  god,  some  points  of  which  we  shall  meet 
with  in  studying  his  cult  during  the  month.  The  whole 
subject  has  been  worked  up  by  Roscher  in  the  article  on  Mars 
in  his  Mythological  Lexicon,  which  has  the  great  advantage 
of  being  based  on  an  entire  re-examination  of  the  Mars-cult, 
which  he  had  handled  in  an  earlier  essay  on  Apollo  and  Mars. 

KAL.  MART.  (MARCH  i).     N5. 

FERIAE    MARTI.       (PRAEN.) 

N    MARTIS.       (PHILOC.) 

lUNfoJNI  LUCINAE  E^SjQUILIIS  QUOD  EO  DIE  AEDES  El  [DEDICAJTA 
EST  PER  MATRONAS  QUAM  VOVERAT  ALBANIA]  .  .  .  VEL 
TTXOR  ...  SI  PUERUM  .  .  .  [ATJQUE  IPSA  M].  .  .  .  (PRAEN.) 

This  was  the  New  Year's  day  of  the  Roman  religious  calendar. 
From  Macrobius l  we  learn  that  in  his  day  the  sacred  fire  of 
Vesta  was  now  renewed,  and  fresh  laurels  fixed  on  the  Regia, 
the  Curiae,  and  the  houses  of  the  flamens  ;  the  custom  therefore 
was  kept  up  long  after  the  first  of  March  had  ceased  to  be  the 

1  Sat.  i.  12.  6;  Ovid,  Fasti,  3.  135  foil. 
D    2 


36  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

civil  New  Year.     Ovid  alludes  to  the  same  rites,  and  adds  the 
Aedes  Vestae  as  also  freshly  decorated  J : 

Neu  dubites,  primae  fuerint  quin  ante  Kalendae 

Martis,  ad  haec  animum  signa  referre  poles. 
Laurea  flaminibus  quae  toto  perstii.it  anno 

Tollitur,  et  frondes  snnt  in  honore  novae, 
lanua  tune  regis  posita  viret  arbore  Phoebi ; 

Ante  tuas  fit  idem,  curia  prisca,  fores. 
Vesta  quoque  ut  folio  niteat  velata  recenti, 

Cedit  ab  Iliacis  laurea  cana  iocis. 

The  mention  of  these  buildings  carries  us  back  to  the  very 
earliest  Rome,  when  the  rex  and  his  sons  and  daughters2 
(Flamines  and  Vestales,  in  their  later  form)  performed  between 
them  the  whole  religious  duty  of  the  community ;  to  these  we 
may  perhaps  add  the  warrior-priests  of  Mars  (Salii).  The  con- 
nexion of  the  decoration  with  the  Mars-cult  is  probable,  if  not 
certain  ;  the  laurel  was  sacred  to  Mars,  for  in  front  of  his 
sacrarmm  in  the  regia  there  grew  two  laurels 3,  and  it  has  been 
conjectured  that  they  supplied  the  boughs  used  on  this  day 4. 

March  i  is  also  marked  in  the  calendar  of  Philocalus  as  the 
birthday  of  Mars  (N  =  natalis  Martis).  This  appears  in  no  other 
calendar  as  yet  discovered,  and  is  conspicuously  absent  in  the 
Fasti  Praenestini ;  it  is  therefore  very  doubtful  whether  any 
weight  should  be  given  to  a  fourth-century  writer  whose 
calendar  had  certainly  an  urban  and  not  a  rustic  basis5.  There 
is  no  trace  of  allusion  to  a  birth  of  Mars  on  this  day  in  Latin 
literature,  though  the  day  is  often  mentioned.  There  was 
indeed  a  pretty  legend  of  such  a  birth,  told  by  Ovid  under 


1  Ovid  only  mentions  one  'curia':  in  Macrobius  the  word  is  in  the 
plural.  Ovid  must,  1  think,  refer  to  the  curia  Saliorum  on  the  Palatine 
(Marq.  431  ,  as  this  was  the  day  on  which  the  Salii  began  their  rites. 
Macrobius  may  be  including  the  curia  of  the  (juirinal  Salii  (Preller, 

i-  357^ 

*  See  below,  on  the  Vestalia  in  June,  p.  147. 
8  Julius  Obsequens,  19. 

*  Roscher,  Myth.  Lex.  s.v.  Mars,  2427.     Roscher  regards  the  use  of  laurel 
in  the  Mars-cult  as  parallel  with  that  in  the  Apollo-cult  and  not  derived 
from  it.     The  point  is  not  however  certain.     The  laurel  was  used  as  an 
dirorpoiraiov  at  the  Robigalia,  which  seems   closely  connected  with   the 
Mars-cult  (Plin.  N.  H.  18.  161) ;  here  it  could  hardly  have  been  taken  over 
from  the  worship  of  Apollo. 

5  Mommsen,  C.  I.  L.  254. 


MENSIS    MAETIUS  57 

May  2  \  which  has  its  parallels  in  other  mythologies;  Juno 
became  pregnant  of  Mars  by  touching  a  certain  flower  of  which 
the  secret  was  told  her  by  Flora  : 

Protinns  haerentem  decerpsi  pollice  florem ; 

Tangitur  et  tacto  concipit  ilia  sinu. 
lamque  gravis  Thracen  et  laeva  Propontidis  intrat 

Fitque  potens  voti,  Marsque  creatus  erat. 

Of  this  tale  Preller  remarked  long  ago  that  it  has  a  Greek 
setting :  it  is  in  fact  in  its  Ovidian  form  a  reflex  from 
stories  such  as  those  of  the  birth  of  Athena  and  of  Kora. 
Yet  it  has  been  stoutly  maintained  *  that  it  sprang  from 
a  real  Italian  germ,  and  is  a  fragment  of  the  lost  Italian 
mythology.  Now,  though  it  is  certainly  untrue  that  the 
Italians  had  no  native  mythology,  and  though  there  are 
faint  traces,  as  we  shall  see.  of  tales  about  Mars  himself,  yet 
the  Latins  at  least  so  rarely  took  these  liberties  with  their 
deities 3,  that  every  apparent  case  of  a  divine  myth  needs  to  be 
carefully  examined  and  well  supported.  In  this  case  we  must 
conclude  that  there  is  hardly  any  evidence  for  a  general  belief 
that  March  i  was  the  birthday  of  Mars  ;  and  that  Ovid's  stoiy 
of  Juno  and  Mars  must  be  looked  on  with  suspicion  so  far  as 
these  deities  are  concerned. 

The  idea  that  Mars  was  born  on  March  i  might  arise  simply 

1  Fasti,  5.  253.  There  is  a  good  parallel  in  Celtic  mythology  :  the  wife 
of  Llew  the  Sun-hero  was  born  of  flowers  (Rhys,  CM.  Myth.  384).  The 
myth  is  found  in  many  parts  of  the  world  (L<ing,  ii.  22,  and  note). 

*  By  Usener,   in    his   remarkable   paper   in  Rhein.    Museum,    xxx.    215 
foil.,  on  '  Italische  Mythen.'   He  unluckily  made  the  mistake  of  supposing 
that  Ovid  told  this  story  under  June  i  (i.e.  nine  months  before  the  supposed 
birthday  of  Mars).     There  i-i  indeed  a  kind  of  conjunction  of  June  and 
Mars  on  June  i,  as  both  had  temples  dedicated  on  that  day ;  but  neither 
of  these  can  well  be  earlier  than  the  fourth  century  B.  c.,  and  no  one 
would  have  thought  of  them  as  having  any  bearing  on  the  birth  of  Mars 
but  for  Usener's  blunder  (Aust,  dc  Aedibus  sacris  Pop.  Rom.  pp.  8  and  10, 
and  his  valuable  note  in  Roscher's  article  on  Mars,  p.  2390).     Usener  also 
adduces  the  derivation  of  Gradivus  in  Fest.  97  '  quia  gramine  sit  ortus.' 

*  The  practical  Roman  mind  applied  the  myth  chiefly  to  the  history  of 
its  state,  and  in  such  a  way  that  its  true  mythic  character  was  lost,  or 
nearly  so.     What    became   in  Greece  mythic   literature    became  quasi- 
history  at  Rome.     Thus  it  is  that  Romulus  is  so  closely  connected  with 
Mars  in  legend :  the  race-hero  and  the  race-god  have  almost  a  mythical 
identity.     The  story  of  the  she-wolf  may  be  at  least  as  much  a  myth  of 
the  birth  of  Mars  as  Ovid's  story  of  Juno,  in  spite  of  the  fatherhood  of 
Mars  in  that  legend. 


38  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

from  the  fact  that  the  day  was  the  first  of  his  month  and  also 
the  first  of  the  year.  It  is  possible  however  to  account  for  it 
in  another  way.  It  was  the  dies  natalis  of  the  temple  of  Juno 
Lucina  on  the  Esquiline,  as  we  learn  from  the  note  in  the  Fasti 
Praenestini ;  and  this  Juno  had  a  special  power  in  childbirth. 
The  temple  itself  was  not  of  very  ancient  date ',  but  Juno  had 
no  doubt  always  been  especially  the  matrons'  deity,  and  in 
a  sense  represented  the  female  principle  of  life 2.  To  her  all 
kalends  were  sacred,  and  more  especially  the  first  kalends 
of  the  year,  on  which  we  find  that  wives  received  presents 
from  their  husbands3,  and  entertained  their  slaves.  In 
fact  the  day  was  sometimes  called  the  Matronalia4,  though 
the  name  has  no  technical  or  religious  sense.  Surely,  if 
a  mother  was  to  be  found  for  Mars,  no  one  could  be  more 
suitable  that  Juno  Lucina ;  and  if  a  day  were  to  be  fixed  for 
his  birth,  no  day  could  be  better  than  the  first  kalends  of  the 
year,  which  was  also  the  dedication-day  of  the  temple  of  the 
goddess.  At  what  date  the  mother  and  the  birthday  were 
found  for  him  it  is  impossible  to  discover.  The  latter  may  be 
as  late  as  the  Empire;  the  former  may  have  been  an  older 
invention,  since  Mars  seems  to  have  been  apt  to  lend  himself, 
under  Greek  or  Etruscan  influence,  somewhat  more  easily  to 
legendary  treatment  than  some  other  deities5.  But  we  may 
at  any  rate  feel  pretty  sure  that  it  was  the  Matronalia  on 
March  i  that  suggested  the  motherhood  of  Juno  and  the  birth 
of  Mars ;  and  we  cannot,  as  Eoscher  does,  use  the  Matronalia 
to  show  that  these  myths  were  old  and  native 6. 

Yet  another  legend  was  attached  to  this  day.  It  was  said 
that  the  original  ancile,  or  sacred  shield  of  Mars,  fell  down 
from  heaven7,  or  was  found  in  the  house  of  Numa8,  on 
March  i.  This  was  the  type  from  which  were  copied  the  other 

1  Aust,  as  quoted  above.    The  date  was  probably  379  u.  c.  (Plin.  N.  H. 
l6-  235). 

2  Roscher  in  Lex.  s.  v.  Juno,  p.  576. 

3  Marq.  571,  where  is  a  list  of  passages  referring  to  these  gifts.     Some 
are  familiar,  e.g  Horace,  Od.  3.  8,  and  Juvenal,  9.  53  (with  the  scholiast 
in  each  case). 

1  Schol.  drug,  on  Horace,  1.  c.,  and  the  scholiast  on  Juvenal,  1.  c. 
5  See  e.g.  the  mysterious  scene  on  a  cista  from  Praeneste  given  in 
Roscher,  Lex.  2407,  to  which  the  clue  seems  entirely  lost. 
8  Lex.  s.v.  Mars,  2399  ;  s.  v.  Juno,  584. 
T  Ovid,  3.  351  foil.  ;  Plut.  Numa,  13.  •  Dion.  Hal.  a.  71. 


MENSIS    MARTIUS  39 

eleven  belonging  to  the  collegium  of  Salii  Palatini ;  in  the 
legend  the  smith  who  did  this  work  was  named  Mamurius, 
and  was  commemorated  in  the  Salian  hymn1.  These  are 
simply  fragments  of  a  tangle  of  myth  which  grew  up  out  of 
the  mystery  attaching  to  the  Salii,  or  dancing  priests  of  Mars, 
and  to  the  curious  shields  which  they  carried,  and  the  hymns 
which  they  sang2;  in  the  latter  we  know  that  the  word  Mamurl 
often  occurred,  which  is  now  generally  recognized  as  being  only 
a  variant  of  the  name  Mars  '.  We  shall  meet  with  the  word 
again  later  in  the  month.  This  also  was  the  first  day  on  which 
the  shields  were  'moved,'  as  it  was  called  ;  i.e.  taken  by  the 
Salii  from  the  sacrarium  Mortis  in  the  Kegia*.  and  carried 
through  the  city  in  procession.  Dionysius  (ii.  70)  has  left  us 
a  valuable  description  of  these  processions,  which  continued 
till  the  24th  of  the  month  ;  the  Salii  leaped  and  danced, 
reminding  the  writer  of  the  Greek  Curetes,  and  continually 
struck  the  shields  with  a  short  spear  or  staff5  as  they  sang 
their  ancient  hymns  and  performed  their  rhythmical  dances. 

The  original  object  and  meaning  of  all  these  strange  per- 
formances is  now  fairly  well  made  out,  thanks  to  the  researches 
of  Miillenhoff,  Mannhardt,  Koscher,  Frazer  and  others.  Koscher, 
in  his  comparison  of  Apollo  and  Mars 6.  pointed  out  the  like- 
ness in  the  spring  festivals  of  the  two  gods.  At  Delphi,  at  the 
Theophania  (yth  of  Bysios  =  March),  there  were  decorations, 
sacrifices,  dances,  and  songs ;  and  of  these  last,  some  were 

'  Ovid,  1.  c.  381  foil.  *  Mnrq.  430,  and  note. 

3  Festus,  p.   131  ;    Usener  in  Rhein    Mus.  xxx.  209  foil.     Wordsworth, 
Fragments  and  Specimens  of  Early  Latin,  p  564  foil.     Jordan  (Preller,  i.  336) 
had  however  doubts  about  the  identification  of  Mars  and  Mamurius. 

4  The  place  is  not  quite  certain.     Ambrocch  (Studien,  7),  who  believed 
them  to  be  part  of  the  armour  of  the  god,  placed  them  in  his  sacrarium 
in   the  king's   house,  with   Serv.    Aen.  7.  603,  and  this   falls   in  with 
Dionysius'  version  of  the  myth,  that  the  shield  was  found  in  Numa's 
house.      With  this  view   Preller   agreed.      Marquardt,    (431)   however, 
believed  they  were  part  of  the  armour  of  the  priests,  and  as  such  were 
kept  in  the  Curia  Saliorum,  which  might  also  be  called  sacrarium  Martis. 
The  question  is  not  of  the  first  importance. 

5  Dionysius  (a.  70.  2)  says  that  each  was  girt  with  a  sword,  and  carried 
in    his    right    hand,    \v-f\rjv   i)   pa@8ov  %    TI    TOIOV&'   trtpov.     Apparently, 
assuming  that  he  had  seen  the  procession,  he  did  not  see  or  remember 
clearly  what  these  objects  were.     A  relief  from  Anagnia  (Annali  del  Inst. 
1869,  70  foil.)  shows  them   like   a  double  drumstick,  with   a  knob   at 
each  end. 

*  See  also  i'yth.  Lex.  s.  v.  Mars,  p.  2404  and  Apollo,  p.  425. 


40  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 


or  invocations  to  the  god  to  appear,  some  -nma-fs. 
or  shouts  of  encouragement  in  his  great  fight  with  the  dragon. 
or  perhaps  intended  to  scare  the  dragon  away.  For  Apollo 
was  believed  to  return  in  the  spring,  to  be  born  anew,  and  to 
struggle  in  his  infancy  with  the  demon  of  evil.  At  other 
places  in  Greece  similar  performances  are  found  ;  at  Delos  ', 
at  Ortygia2  near  Ephesus,  at  Tegyra.  and  elsewhere.  At 
Ortygia  the  Kov/jiji-f?  stood  and  clashed  their  arms  to  frighten 
away  Hera  the  enemy  of  Apollo's  mother  Leto,  in  the  annual 
dramatic  representation  of  the  perilous  labour  of  the  mother 
and  the  birth  of  her  son.  These  practices  (and  similar  ones 
among  northern  peoples)  seem  to  be  the  result  of  the  poetical 
mythology  of  an  imaginative  race  acting  on  still  more  primitive 
ideas.  From  all  parts  of  the  world  Mr.  Frazer  has  collected 
examples  of  rites  of  this  kind  occurring  at  some  period  of  real 
or  supposed  peril,  and  often  at  the  opening  of  a  new  year,  in 
which  dances,  howling,  the  beating  of  pots  and  pans,  brandish- 
ing of  arms,  and  even  firing  of  guns  are  thought  efficacious  in 
driving  out  evil  spirits  which  bring  hurt  of  some  kind  to  man- 
kind or  to  the  crops  which  are  the  fruits  of  his  labour  3.  This 
notion  of  evil  spirits  and  the  possibility  of  expelling  them  is  at 
the  root  of  the  whole  series  of  practices,  which  in  the  hands 
of  the  Greeks  became  adorned  with  a  beautiful  mythical 
colouring,  while  the  Eomans  after  their  fashion  embodied 
them  in  the  cult  of  their  city  with  a  special  priesthood  to 
perform  them,  and  connected  them  with  the  name  of  their 
great  priest  king. 

In  an  elaborate  note4  Mr.  Frazer  has  attempted  to  explain 
the  rites  of  the  Salii  in  the  light  of  the  material  he  has  collected. 
He  is  inclined  to  see  two  objects  in  their  performances:  (r)  the 
routing  out  of  demons  of  all  kinds  in  order  to  collect  them  for 
transference  to  the  human  scapegoat,  Mamurius  Veturius  (see 

1  Virg.  Aen.  4.  143. 

2  Strabo,  639  foil.     The  same  also  appear  in  the  cult  of  Zeus  ;  Preller- 
Robert,  Greek  Myth.  i.  134. 

3  G.  B.  ii.  157-182  ;  Tylor,  Prim.  CuH.  i.  298  foil.     Wo  have  survivals  at 
Rome,  not  only  in  the  periodic  Salian  rites,  but  on  particular  occasions  ; 
Martial  12.  57.  15  (of  an  eclipse)  ;  Ovid,  Fasti,  5    441  ;  Tibull.  i.  8.  21  ; 
Tac.  Ann.  i.  28  (this  was  in  Germany).     I  have  known  the  church  bells 
rung  at  Zermatt  in  order  to  stop  a   continuous  downpour  of  rain  in 
hay-harvest. 

*  0.  B.  ii.  210. 


MENSIS    MARTIUS"  4! 

below  on  March  14),  who  was  driven  out  a  fortnight  later; 
and  (2)  to  make  the  corn  grow,  by  a  charm  consisting  in  leaping 
and  dancing,  which  is  known  in  many  parts  of  the  world.  It 
will  perhaps  be  safer  to  keep  to  generalities  in  matters  of  which 
we  have  but  slender  knowledge ;  and  to  conclude  that  the  old 
Latins  believed  that  the  Spirit  which  was  beginning  to  make 
the  crops  grow  must  at  this  time  be  protected  from  hostile 
demons,  in  order  that  he  might  be  free  to  perform  his  own 
friendly  functions  for  the  community.  Though  the  few  words 
preserved  of  the  Salian  hymns  are  too  obscure  to  be  of  much 
use ',  we  seem  to  see  in  them  a  trace  of  a  deity  of  vegetation  ; 
and  the  prayer  to  Mars,  which  is  given  in  Cato's  agricultural 
treatise,  is  most  instructive  on  this  point2. 

The  Salii  in  these  processions  wertv  clothed  in  a  trabea  and 
tunica  picta 3,  the  '  full  dress '  of  the  warrior  inspired  by 
some  special  religious  zeal,  wearing  helmet,  breastplate,  and 
sword.  They  carried  the  ancile  on  the  left  arm,  and  a  staff 
or  club  of  some  kind  to  strike  it  with4.  At  certain  sacred 
places  they  stopped  and  danced,  their  praesul  giving  them  the 
step  and  rhythm ;  and  here  we  may  suppose  that  they  also 
sang  the  song  of  which  a  few  fragments  have  come  down  to  us, 
where  the  recurring  word  Mamurius  seems  beyond  doubt  to 
be  a  variant  of  Mars5.  Each  evening  they  rested  at  a  different 
place — mansiones  Saliorum,  as  they  were  called — and  here  the 
sacred  arms  were  hung  up  till  the  next  day,  and  the  Salii 
feasted.  They  were  twenty-four  in  number,  twelve  Palatini 
and  twelve  Collini  (originally  Agonales  or  Agonenses),  the 
former  specially  devoted  to  the  worship  of  Mars  Gradivus, 
the  latter  to  that  of  Quirinus6*  The  antiquity  of  the  priest- 

1  Jordan,  Krit.  Beitrage,  p.  203  foil.  2  Cato,  R.  R.  143. 

3  Liv.  i.  20.     Cp.  9.  40.  where  the  chosen  Samnite  warriors  wore  tunicae 
tersicolores.    In  each  case  the  dress  is  a  religious  one,  of  the  same  character 
as  that  of  the  triumphator.  and  would   have   its  ultimate  origin  in  the 
war-paint  of  savages,  which  probably  also  has  a  religious  signification. 
The  trabea  was  the  old  short  cavalry  coat. 

4  See  Marq.  432,  and  Did.  of  Antiq.  s.  Y.  Salii  for  details. 

s  Fest.  131.  The  fragments  may  be  seen  in  Wordsworth's  Fragments  and 
Specimens  of  Early  Latin,  pp.  564  foil.  In  the  chief  fragment  the  name  of 
Janus  seems  almost  certainly  to  occur  (cf.  Lydus,  4.  2) ;  and  in  another 
Lucetius  (  =  Iupiter?).  Juno  and  Minerva  are  also  mentioned.  See  Diet, 
of  Antiq.  s.  v.  Salii.  It  is  curious  that  Mars  is  more  prominent  in  the  song 
of  the  Arval  Brothers. 

•  Liv.  5.  53.  7. 


42  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

hood  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  the  Salii  must  be  of  patrician 
birth,  and  patrimi  and  matrimi  (i.e.  with  both  parents  living) 
according  to  the  ancient  rule  which  descended  from  the  worship 
of  the  household  '. 

It  has  been  suggested  that  the  shields  (ancilia)  which  the 
Salii  carried,  being  twelve  in  number  for  each  of  the  two  guilds, 
represented  the  twelve  months  of  the  year,  either  as  twelve 
suns2  (the  sun  being  renewed  each  month),  or  as  twelve 
moons,  which  is  a  little  more  reasonable.  This  idea  implies 
that  the  number  of  the  Salii  (which  was  the  same  as  that  of 
the  Fratres  Arvales)  was  based  on  the  number  of  months 
in  the  year,  which  is  very  far  from  likely  ;  it  would  seem  also 
to  assume  that  the  shape  of  the  shields  was  round,  like  sun  or 
moon,  which  was  almost  certainly  not  the  case.  According 
to  the  legend,  the  original  shield  fell  on  the  first  new  moon  of 
the  year ;  but  it  is  quite  unnecessary  to  jump  to  the  conclusion 
that  the  others  represent  eleven  other  new  moons.  It  would 
rather  seem  probable  to  a  cautious  inquirer  that  though  an 
incrustation  of  late  myth  may  have  grown  upon  the  Salii  and 
their  carmen  and  their  curious  arms,  no  amount  of  ingenious 
combination  has  as  yet  succeeded  in  proving  that  such  myths 
had  their  origin  in  any  really  ancient  belief  of  the  Komans. 
What  we  know  for  certain  is  that  there  were  twelve  warrior- 
priests  of  the  old  Palatine  city,  and  that  they  carried  twelve 
shields  of  an  antique  type,  which  Varro  compares  to  the 
Thracian  peltae  (L.  L.  7.  43);  shaped  not  unlike  the  body 
of  a  violin,  with  a  curved  indentation  on  each  side  *,  which, 

1  Dionysius,  2.  71. 

a  Usener  in  Rhein.  Mus.  xxx.  218  ;  Roscher,  Lex.  s.v.  Mars  2419,  can  only 
quote  two  very  vague  and  doubtful  passages  from  late  writers  in  support 
of  the  view  that  the  shields  were  symbols  of  the  months :  Lydus  4.  2, 
who  says  that  the  Salii  sang  in  praise  of  Janus,  Kara  rov  TWV  Ira^tKuv 
HT/VUIV  apiOn6v;  and  Liber  glossarum,  Cod.  Vat.  Palat.  1773  f.  40  v.  : 
Ancilia  :  scuta  unius  anni. 

3  For  the  evidence  on  this  point,  and  others  connected  with  the  Salii, 
I  must  refer  the  reader  to  Mr.  G.  E.  Marindin's  excellent  article  'Salii' 
in  the  new  edition  of  Smith's  Did  of  An'iquifies,  the  most  complete  and  at 
the  same  time  sensible  account  that  has  appeared  in  recent  years.  (The 
article  '  Ancilia '  in  the  new  edition  of  Pauly's  lieal-Encyd.  is  dis- 
appointing.) Dionysius,  Varro,  and  Plutarch  are  all  at  one  about  the 
shape  of  the  shields,  and  Mr.  Marindin  is  quite  right  in  insisting  that 
Ovid  does  not  contradict  them.  (See  the  passages  quoted  in  the  article.) 
The  coins  of  Licinius  Stolo  and  of  Antoninus  Pius  (Cohen,  Med.  Cons. 


MENSIS    MARTIUS  43 

when  the  shield  was  slung  on  the  back,  would  leave  space  for 
the  arms  to  move  freely.  In  this  respect,  as  in  the  rest  of  his 
equipment,  the  Salius  simply  represented  the  old  Italian  warrior 
in  his  'war-paint.'  In  the  examples  of  expulsion  of  evils 
referred  to  above  as  collected  by  Mr.  Frazer,  it  is  interesting 
to  notice  how  often  the  expellers  use  military  arms,  or  are 
dressed  in  military  fashion.  This  may  perhaps  help  us  to 
understand  how  attributes  apparently  so  distinct  as  the 
military  and  the  agricultural  should  be  found  united  in  Mars 
and  his  cult. 

NON.  MART.  (MARCH  7).     F. 

.  .  .  [VEDIJOVI.      ARTIS   VEDIOVIS    INTER   DUOS    LUCOS.       (PRAEN.) 

Various  conjectures  have  been  made  for.  correcting  this  note. 
We  may  take  it  that  the  first  word  is  rightly  completed  :  some 
letters  seem  to  have  preceded  it,  and  fcriae  has  been  suggested1, 
but  not  generally  accepted.  The  next  word,  Artis,  must  be 
a  slip  of  the  stone-cutter.  That  it  was  not  Martis  we  are  sure, 
as  Ovid  says  that  there  was  no  note  in  the  Fasti  for  this  day 
except  on  the  cult  of  Vediovis 2.  Even  Mommsen  is  in  despair, 
but  suggests  Aedis  as  a  possibility,  and  that  dedicata  was 
accidentally  omitted  after  it. 

We  do  not  know  when  the  temple  was  dedicated3.  The 
cult  of  Vediovis  seems  to  have  no  special  connexion  with  other 
March  rites  :  and  it  seems  as  well  to  postpone  consideration  of 
it  till  May  21,  the  dedication-day  of  the  temple  in  arcc.  See 
also  on  Jan.  i. 

vn  ID.  MART.  (MARCH  9).     C. 

ARMA  ANCILIA   MOVENT.       (PHILOC.) 

As  we  have  seen,  the  first  '  moving '  of  the  ancilia  was  on 
the  ist.  This  is  the  second  mentioned  in  the  calendars ; 

plate  xxiv.  9,  10,  and  Med.  Imp.  ii,  no.  467)  give  the  same  peculiar  shape. 
The  bronze  of  Domitian,  A.D.  88  (Cohen,  Med.  Imp.  i.  plate  xvii),  and  the 
coins  of  Sanquinius,  B.C.  16  (both  issued  in  connexion  with  ludi  saeculares^, 
on  which  are  figures  supposed  to  be  Salii  with  round  shields,  have 
certainly  been  misinterpreted  (e.  g.  in  Marq.  431).  See  note  at  end  of  this 
work. 

1  Jordan,  in  Commentationes  in  hon.  Mamms.  p.  365.  There  could  not  be 
ferine  on  this  day,  as  it  was  a  diesfastus. 

*  Fast.  3.  439  'Una  nota  est  Marti  Nonis ;  sacrata  quod  illis  Templa 
putant  lucos  Vediovis  ante  duos.'  3  Aust,  de  Aedibus  sacris,  p.  33. 


44  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

the  third,  according  to  Lydus  (4.  42),  was  on  the  23rd 
(Tubilustrium,  q.  v.).  As  the  Salii  seem  to  have  danced 
with  the  shields  all  through  the  month  up  to  the  24th1,  it  has 
been  supposed  that  these  were  the  three  principal  days  of 
'  moving ' ;  and  Mr.  Marindin  suggests  that  they  correspond  to 
the  three  most  important  mansiones  Saliorwn,  of  which  two  were 
probably  the  Curia  Saliorum  on  the  Palatine  and  the  Sacrarium 
Martis  in  the  Regia*. 

PEID.  ID.  MART.  (MARCH  14).     N?. 
EQU1RR[IA].     (MAFF.  VAT.  ESQ.) 

FERIAE    MARTI.       (VAT.) 

SACRUM    MAMURIO.    •  (RUSTIC  CALENDARS  *.) 

MAMURALIA.       (PHILOC.) 

These  notes  involve  several  difficulties.  To  begin  with,  this 
day  is  an  even  number,  and  there  is  no  other  instance  in  the 
calendar  of  a  festival  occurring  on  such  a  day.  Wissowa4, 
usually  a  very  cautious  inquirer,  here  boldly  cuts  the  knot  by 
conjecturing  that  the  Mars  festival  of  this  day  had  originally 
been  on  the  next,  i.  e  the  Ides,  but  was  put  back  one  day  to 
enable  the  people  to  frequent  both  the  horse-races  (Equirria)  and 
the  festival  of  Anna  Perenna  \  The  latter,  he  might  have  added. 
was  obviously  extremely  popular  with  the  lower  classes,  as  we 
shall  see  from  Ovid's  description  ;  and  though  the  scene  of  it 
was  close  to  that  of  the  Equirria,  or  certainly  not  far  away, 
it  is  not  impossible  that  it  may  have  diverted  attention  from 
the  nobler  and  more  manly  amusement.  Wissowa  strengthens 

1  Polyb.  21.  10  (13^ ;  Liv.  37.  33. 

*  See  his  article  in  Diet.  Ant.     He  further  suggests  that  in  Philocalus" 
note  ancilia   is  an  adjective,  and  that  arma  ancilia  means  the   shields 
only,  as  the  spears  of  Mars  do  not  seem  to  have  been  used  by  the  Salii. 

3  The  day  is  of  course  not  given  in  these  almanacs;  but  the  position  is 
between  Isidis  navigium  (March  5)  and  Liberalia  (March  17). 

*  de  Feriis,  ix.  foil.     Cp.  C.  I.  L.  311. 

*  The  usual   sacrifice  to   Jupiter  on  the  Ides   is  also  mentioned  by 
Wissowa  in  this  connexion  ;  but  I  should  hardly  imagine  that  it  would 
have  had  a  sufficiently  popular  character  to  cause  any  such  alteration  as 
he  is  arguing  for.     But  the  first  full  moon  of  the  year  may  have  become 
over-crowded  witli  rites ;  and  it  was  the  day  on  which  at  one  time  the 
consuls  entered  on  office,   B.C.    222    to  154    (Mommsen,   Chron.   102  nnd 
notes). 


MENSIS    MABTIUS  45 

his  argument  by  pointing  out  an  apparent  parallel  between  the 
festival  dates  of  March  and  October.  Here,  as  elsewhere,  in 
the  calendar,  we  find  an  interval  of  three  days  between  two 
festivals,  viz.  between  March  19  (Quinquatrus)  and  March  23 
(Tubilustrium),  and  between  Oct.  15  ('October  horse')  and  Oct.  19 
(Armilustrium).  Now,  as  we  shall  see,  the  rites  of  March  19 
and  Oct.  19  seem  to  correspond  to  each  other1  ;  and  if  there 
were  a  chariot-race  on  March  15,  it  would  also  answer  to  the 
race  on  the  day  of  the  '  October  horse,'  Oct.  1 5,  with  a  three  days' 
interval  as  in  October.  The  argument  is  not  a  very  strong  one, 
but  there  is  a  good  deal  to  be  said  for  it. 

A  much  more  serious  difficulty  lies  in  the  discrepancy 
between  the  three  older  calendars  in  which  we  have  notes  for 
this  day  and  the  almanacs  of  the  later  Empire,  vis.  that  of 
Philocalus  (A.D.  354)  and  the  rustic  calendars.  The  former 
tell  us  of  a  Mars  festival,  with  a  horse-race  ;  the  latter  know 
nothing  of  these,  but  note  a  festival  of  Mamurius,  a  name 
which,  as  we  saw,  occurred  in  the  Saliare  Carmen  apparently 
as  a  variant  of  Mars,  and  came  to  be  affixed  to  the  legendary 
smith  who  made  the  eleven  copies  of  the  ancile.  How  are  we 
to  account  for  the  change  of  Mars  into  Mamurius,  and  of  feriae 
Marti  into  Mamuralia  ?  And  are  we  to  suppose  that  the  later 
calendars  here  indicate  a  late  growth  of  legend,  based  on  the 
name  Mamurius  as  occurring  in  the  Carmen  Saliare,  or  that 
they  have  preserved  the  shadow  of  an  earlier  and  popular  side 
of  the  March  rites,  which  the  State-calendars  left  out  of 
account  ? 

Apparently  Mommsen  holds  the  former  opinion*.  In  his 
note  on  this  day  he  says  that  it  is  easy  to  understand  how  the 
second  Equirria  came  to  be  known  to  the  vulgus  as  Mamuralia 
(i.  e.  so  distinguished  from  the  first  Equirria  on  Feb.  27),  seeing 
that  Mamurius  who  made  the  ancilia  belongs  wholly  to  the  cult 
of  Mars,  and  that  this  day  was  one  of  those  on  which  the  Salii 
and  the  ancilia  were  familiar  sights  in  the  streets  of  Kome.  In 
other  words,  the  Salian  songs  gave  rise  to  the  legend  of  Mamurius, 
and  this  in  its  turn  gave  a  new  name  to  the  second  Equirria 
or  feriae  Marti.  And  this  I  believe  to  be  the  most  rational 

1  Wissowa  takes  both  as  lustrations  of  cavalry.     Mommsen,  C.  I.  L.  332, 
disnpprovcs  of  Wissowa's  reasoning  about  this  day. 
1  C.  I.  L.  311. 


46  THE    KOMAN    FESTIVALS 

explanation  of  our  difficulty,  seeing  that  we  have  no  mention 
of  a  feast  of  Mamurius  earlier  than  the  calendar  of  Philocalus 
in  the  fourth  century  A.D.,  which  cannot  be  regarded  as  in 
any  sense  representing  learning  or  research '. 

But  of  recent  years  much  has  been  written  in  favour  of  the 
other  view,  that  the  late  calendars  have  here  preserved  for  us 
a  trace  of  very  ancient  Koman  belief  and  ritual ".  This  view 
rests  almost  entirely  on  a  statement  of  a  still  later  writer, 
Laurentius  Lydus  of  Apamea,  who  wrote  a  work,  de  Mcnsibus, 
in  the  first  half  of  the  sixth  century  A.  D.,  preserved  in  part  in 
the  form  of  two  summaries  or  collections  of  extracts.  Lydus 
was  no  doubt  a  man  of  learning,  as  is  shown  by  his  other  work, 
de  Magistratibus ;  but  he  does  not  give  us  his  authority  for 
particular  statements,  and  his  second-  or  third- hand  knowledge 
must  always  be  cautiously  used. 

Lydus  tells  us  that  on  the  Ides  of  March  (a  mistake,  it  is 
supposed3,  for  the  i4th — which,  however,  he  should  not  have 
made),  a  man  clothed  in  skins  was  led  out  and  driven  with  long 
peeled  wands  (out  of  the  city,  as  we  may  guess  from  what 
follows)  and  shouted  at  as  '  Mamurius.'  Hence  the  saying,  when 
any  one  is  beaten,  that  they  are  'playing  Mamurius  with  him.' 
For  the  legend  runs  that  Mamurius  the  smith  was  beaten  out 
of  the  city  because  misfortune  fell  on  the  Eomans  when  they 
substituted  the  new  shields  (made  by  Mamurius)  for  those  that 
had  fallen  from  heaven 4. 

This  is  clearly  a  late  form  of  the  Mamurius-myth  :  in  all  the 
earlier  accounts"'  only  one  ancile  is  said  to  have  fallen  from 
heaven.  Lydus  seems  rather  to  be  thinking  of  twelve  original 
ones",  and  twelve  copies — perhaps  of  the  Palatine  and  Colline 
ancilia  respectively.  If  the  form  of  the  myth,  then,  is  of  late 

1  C  I.  L.  254. 

2  Cf.  Usener's  article  on  Italian  Myths  in  EJtein.  Mus  vol.  xxx — a  most 
interesting  and  suggestive  piece  of  work,  which,  however,  needs  to  be 
read  with  a  critical  mind,  and  has  been  too  uncritically  used  by  later 
writers,  e.g.  Roscher  in  his  article  on  Mars.     Frazer  (G.  B.  ii.  208)  adopts 
his  conclusions  about  Mamurius,  but,  with  his  usual  care,  points  out  some 
of  the  difficulties  in  a  footnote.  3  TJsener,  p.  211. 

*  Lydus,  3.  29  and  4.  36.   The  words  are  rather  obscure,  but  the  meaning 
is  fairly  obvious.     See  Usener's  paraphrase,  p.  210. 

*  See  above,  p.  38. 

6  Cp.  what  he  says  of  the  Salii  singing  of  Janus  Kara  rbv  rwv  'I 

^ifVuiv  dptOfjLUl>  (4.  2  . 


MENSIS    MARTIUS  47 

growth,  suspicion  may  well  be  aroused  as  to  the  antiquity  of 
the  rite  it  was  meant  to  explain,  for  with  the  older  type  of 
myth  the  rite  does  not  seem  to  suit.  And  this  suspicion  is 
strengthened  by  the  fact  that  in  the  whole  of  Latin  literature 
there  is  no  certain  allusion  to  a  rite  so  striking  and  peculiar, 
and  only  one  that  can  possibly,  even  by  forcible  treatment,  be 
taken  as  such.  In  Propertius  v  (iv.)  2.  61,  we  have  the 
following  lines,  put  into  the  mouth  of  the  god  Vertumnus : 

At  tibi,  Mamuri,  formae  caelator  aenae, 
Tellus  artifices  ne  premat  Osca  maims, 

Qtii  me  tarn  docilis  potuisti  fundere  in  usus. 
Unum  opus  est :  operi  non  datur  unus  honos. 

Usener  took  this  to  mean,  or  to  imply,  that  Mamurius  was 
driven  out  of  the  city  to  its  enemies  the  Oscans ;  but  how  we 
are  to  get  this  out  of  the  words,  which  will  bear  very  different 
interpretations,  obscure  as  they  are,  it  is  not  easy  to  see.  And 
can  we  easily  believe  that,  with  this  exception,  no  allusion 
should  be  found  to  the  rite  in  either  Latin  or  Greek  writers — 
not  in  Ovid,  Dionysius,  Servius,  Plutarch ',  or  in  the  fragments 
of  Varro,  Varrius,  and  others — if  that  curious  rite  had  really 
been  enacted  year  by  year  before  the  eyes  of  the  Roman  people? 
It  certainly  is  not  impossible  that  it  may  have  slipped  their 
notice,  or  have  been  mentioned  in  works  that  are  lost  to  us  ; 
but  it  is  so  improbable  as  to  justify  us  in  hesitating  to  base 
conclusions  as  to  the  antiquity  of  the  rite  on  the  statement  of 
Lydus  alone. 

There  are  indeed  one  or  two  passages  which  seem  to  prove 
that  skins  were  used  by  the  Salii,  and  that  these  skins  were 
beaten.  Servius 2  says  of  Mamurius  that  they  consecrated  a  day 
to  him,  on  which  '  pellem  virgis  caedunt  ad  artis  similitudinem,' 
i.  e.  on  which  they  imitate  the  smith's  art  by  beating  a  skin. 
So  also  Minucius  Felix3:  'alii  (we  should  probably  read  Salii) 
incedunt  pilcati,  scuta  vetera4  circumferunt,  pelles  caedunt.' 
If  we  may  judge  by  these  passages  of  writers  of  the  second 
century,  there  was  something  done  by  the  Salii  which  involved 
the  beating  of  skins ;  but  if  it  was  a  skin-clad  Mamurius  who 

1  e.g.  in  Numa  13. 

2  Ann.  7.   188.    Thilo  and  Hagen  seem  to  think   that   Servius  wrote 
peltas  (shields)  on  the  evidence  of  one  MS ,  wrongly,  I  think. 

3  Octatius,  24.  3.  *  What  is  the  meaning  of  vetera  here  ? 


48  THE    ROJffAN    FESTIVALS 

was  beaten,  why  is  he  not  mentioned,  and  why  did  they,  as 
Servius  says  (and  the  conlext  shows  that  he  is  speaking  of  him 
with  all  respect),  set  apart  a  day  in  his  honour  ? 

Yet  Lydus'  account  is  so  interesting  from  the  point  of  view 
of  folk-lore,  that  Usener  was  led  by  it  into  very  far-reaching 
conclusions.  These  have  been  so  well  condensed  in  English 
by  Mr.  Frazer  that  niy  labour  will  be  lightened  if  I  may 
borrow  his  account ' : 

'Every  year  on  March  14  a  man  clad  in  skins  was  led  in 
procession  through  the  streets  of  Home,  beaten  with  long  white 
rods,  and  driven  out  of  the  city.  He  was  called  Mamurius 
Veturius2,  that  is,  "the  old  Mars,"  and  as  the  ceremony  took 
place  on  the  day  preceding  the  first  full  moon  of  the  old  Roman 
year 3  (which  began  on  March  i ),  the  skin-clad  man  must  have 
represented  the  Mars  of  the  past  year,  who  was  driven  out  at 
the  beginning  of  a  new  one.  Now  Mars  was  originally  not 
a  god  of  war,  but  of  vegetation.  For  it  was  to  Mars  that  the 
Roman  husbandman  prayed  for  the  prosperity  of  his  corn  and 
vines,  his  fruit-trees  and  his  copses ;  it  was  to  Mars  that  the 
Arval  Brothers,  whose  business  it  was  to  sacrifice  for  the 
growth  of  the  crops,  addressed  their  petitions  almost  ex- 
clusively. .  .  .  Once  more,  the  fact  that  the  vernal  month  of 
March  was  dedicated  to  Mars  seems  to  point  him  out  as  the 
deity  of  the  sprouting  vegetation.  Thus  the  Roman  custom 
of  expelling  the  old  Mars  at  the  beginning  of  the  New  Year  in 
spring  is  identical  with  the  Slavonic  custom  of  "carrying  out 
Death 4,"  if  the  view  here  taken  of  the  latter  custom  is  correct. 

1  Golden  Bough,  ii.  208. 

2  Mr.  Frazer  is  careful  to  point  out  in  a  note  that  Lydus  only  mentions 
the  name  Mamurius.    But  as  we  know  that  Mamurius  was  called  Veturius 
in  the  Salian  hymn,  and  as  Veturius  may  perhaps  mean  old,  it  is  inferred 
that  the  skin-clad  man  was  '  the  old  Mars.'     The  argument  is  shaky ; 
its  only  strength  lies  in  the  Slavonic  and  other  parallels. 

3  Lydus    is    thought    to    have   made   a  mis'.ake   in   attributing  it  to 
the   isth  (Ides)  ;   if  so,   he  may  have  confused  other  matters  in  this 
curious  note.     But  he  is  certainly  explicit  enough  here  (4.  36^,  and  refers 
to  the  usual  sacrifice  to  Jupiter  on  the  Ides,  and  to  '  public  prayers  for 
the  salubrity  of  the  coming  year,'  which  we  may  be  sure  would  be  on  the 
Ides,  and  not  on  a  day  of  even  number.     I  do  not  ft- el  at  all  sure  that 
Lydus  was  wrong  as  to  the  date,  the  more  so  as  the  Ides  of  May  (which 
month  has  a  certain  parallelism  with  March)  is   the  date  of  another 
curious  ceremony  of  th;s  primitive  type,  that  of  the  Argei. 

4  This  was   first  noticed  by  Grimm   (Teutonic  Mythology,   Eng.  Trans., 
vol.  ii.  764  foil.).    Since  then   Mannhardt   (Baumkultus,  410  foil.)   and 


MENSIS    MARTIUS  49 

The  similarity  of  the  Roman  and  Slavonic  customs  has  been 
already  remarked  by  scholars,  who  appear,  however,  to  have 
taken  Mamurius  Veturius  and  the  corresponding  figures  in  the 
Slavonic  ceremonies  to  be  representatives  of  the  old  year  rather 
than  of  the  oLl  god  of  vegetation.  It  is  possible  that  cere- 
monies of  this  kind  may  have  come  to  be  thus  interpreted  in 
later  times  even  by  the  people  who  practised  them.  But  the 
personification  of  a  period  of  time  is  too  abstract  an  idea  to  be 
primitive.  However,  in  the  Roman,  as  in  the  Slavonic  cere- 
mony, the  representative  of  the  god  appears  to  have  been 
treated,  not  only  as  a  deity  of  vegetation,  but  also  as  a  scape- 
goat '.  His  expulsion  implies  this  ;  for  there  is  no  reason  why 
the  god  of  vegetation,  as  such,  should  be  expelled  the  city. 
But  it  is  otherwise  if  he  is  also  a  scape-goat ;  it  then  becomes 
necessary  to  drive  him  beyond  the  boundaries,  that  he  may 
carry  his  sorrowful  burden  away  to  other  lands.  And,  in  fact, 
Mamurius  Veturius  appears  to  have  been  driven  away  to  the 
lands  of  the  Oscans,  the  enemies  of  Rome2.' 

My  examination  of  the  evidence  will,  I  hope,  have  made  it 
clear  why  I  hesitate  to  endorse  these  conclusions  in  their 
entirety  (as  I  did  for  many  years),  interesting  as  they  are. 
I  rather  incline  to  believe  that  the  whole  Mamurius-legend 
grew  out  of  the  Carmen  Saliare,  and  that  we  may  either  have 
here  one  of  those  comparatively  rare  examples  of  later  ritual 
growing  itself  out  of  myth,  or  a  point  of  ancient  ritual, 
such  as  the  use  of  skins — perhaps  those  of  victims —mis- 
interpreted and  possibly  altered  under  the  influence  of  the 

Mr.  Frazer  (G.  S.  i.  257  foil,  and  264  foil.)  have  worked  it  out  and 
explained  it  (see  especially  i.  275).  It  is  generally  believed  that 
Death,  or  whatever  be  the  name  applied  to  the  human  being  or  figure 
expelled  in  these  rites,  signifies  the  extinct  spirit  of  vegetation  of  the 
jwst  year.  I  agree  with  Mr.  Frazer,  as  against  Usener  and  Roscher 
(Lex.  s.  v.  Mars),  that  it  is  not  any  abstract  conception  of  the  year,  or  at 
least  was  not  such  originally. 

1  This  fusion  of  two  apparently  different  ideas  in  a  single  ceremony 
has  previously  been  explained  by  Mr.  Frazer,  pp.  205  foil.  On  p.  210  he 
notices  the  curious  and  well-authenticated  rite  of  driving  out  hunger  at 
Chaeronea  (Plutarch,  Quaest.  Coniiv.  6.  8),  which -would  offer  an  interesting 
parallel  to  the  Roman,  if  we  could  but  be  sure  of  the  details  'of  the  latter. 
Another  from  Delphi  (Plut.  Quaest.  Grace.  12  ,  mentioned  by  Usener,  does 
not  seem  to  me  conclusive;  but  that  of  the  'man  in  cowhide'  from  the 
Highlands  (G.  B.  ii.  145)  is  singularly  like  the  Roman  rite  as  Lydus 
describes  it,  and  took  place  on  New  Yeai's  eve. 

*  See  above,  p.  47. 


50  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

myth.  As  to  Lydus'  statement,  it  is  better  to  suspend  our 
judgement ;  he  may,  for  all  we  know,  have  confused  some 
foreign  custom,  or  that  of  some  other  Italian  town  where  there 
were  Salii,  with  the  ritual  of  a  Koman  priesthood1.  In  any 
case,  his  account  is  too  much  open  to  question  to  bear  the 
weight  of  conjecture  that  has  been  piled  upon  it. 

ID.  MART.  (MARCH  15).     N?. 

FERIAE2    ANNAE    PERENNAE    VIA    FLAM[lNIAJ     AD     LAPIDEM 
PRIMJUM].     (VAT.) 
ANNAE  PER.     (FARN.) 

This  is  a  survival  of  an  old  popular  festival,  as  is  clearly 
seen  from  Ovid's  account  of  it;  but  the  absence  of  any  mention 
of  it  in  the  rustic  calendars  or  in  those  of  Philocalus  and  Silvius 
leads  us  to  suppose  that  it  had  died  out  in  the  early  Empire. 
This  may  be  accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  the  people  came  to 
be  more  and  more  attracted  by  spectacles  and  games  ;  and  also 
by  the  ever-increasing  cosmopolitanism  of  the  city  populace, 
which  would  be  continually  losing  interest  in  old  Koman 
customs  which  it  could  not  understand. 

On  this  day,  Ovid  tells  us s,  the  '  plebs '  streamed  out  to  the 
'  festum  geniale '  of  Anna  Perenna,  and  taking  up  a  position 
in  the  Campus  Marti  us,  not  far  from  the  Tiber4,  and  lying 

1  I  am  the  more  disposed  to  suspect  Lydus'  account,  as  in  the  same 
sentence  he  mentions  a  sacrifice  which  is  conducted  by  priests  of  the 
Magna  Mater  Idaca  :  ifpartvov  8e  KCU  ravpov  l£tTri  vatp  ruv  kv  rofs  opfaiv 
d-ypuiv,  -ftyovuivov  rov  ap\itpt<us  nal  raiv  KavT]<p6pcai>  -rfjs  uijTp6xov  jjytro  8t  KCU 
dvOpajiros  K.r.\.  For  the  difficulties  of  this  passage,  and  suggested  emenda- 
tions, see  Mommsen,  C.I.L.  312,  note  on  Id.  Mart;  Marq.  394,  notes. 
What  confusion  of  cults  may  not  have  taken  place,  either  in  Lydus'  mind 
or  in  actual  fact  ? 

*  Both  these  notes  are  additamenta :  Anna  does  not  appear  in  the  large 
letters  of  the  Numan  calendar.     We  cannot,  however,  infer  from  this  that 
her  festival  was  not  an  ancient  one  ;  for,  as  Wissowa  points  out,  the  same 
is  the  case  with  the  very  primitive  rite  of  the  'October  horse'  (de  ferns,  xii). 
The  day  is  only  marked  EID  in  Maff.  Vat.,  the  two  calendars  in  which 
this  part  of  the  month  is  preserved  ;  i.  e.  the  usual  sacrifice  to  Jupiter  on 
the  Ides  was  indicated  (cp.  Lydus,  4.  36),  and  the  Ides  fixed  for  the  isth. 
The  additional  notes,  according  to  Wissowa,  were  for  the  use  of  the 
priests ;    but,  considering  the  popular   character  of  the   festival,   I  am 
inclined  to  doubt  this  rule  holding  good  in  the  present  instance. 

*  Ovid,  Fasti,  3.  523  foil. 

4  'Via  Flaminia  ud  lapldem  primum'  (Vat.)  :  this  would  be  near  the 
present  Porta  del  Popalo,  and  close  to  the  river. 


MENSIS    MARTIUS  5! 

about  on  the  grass  in  pairs  of  men  and  women,  passed  the  day 
in  revelry  and  drinking '.  Some  lay  in  the  open  ;  some  pitched 
tents,  and  some  constructed  rude  huts  of  stakes  and  branches, 
stretching  their  togas  over  them  for  shelter.  As  they  drank 
they  prayed  for  as  many  years  of  life  as  they  can  swallow  cups' of 
wine ;  meanwhile  singing  snatches  of  song  with  much  gesticu- 
lation and  dancing.  The  result  of  these  performances  was 
naturally  that  they  returned  to  the  city  in  a  state  of  intoxica- 
tion. Ovid  tells  us  that  he  had  seen  this  spectacle  himself2. 

Whether  there  was  any  sacrificial  rite  in  immediate  connexion 
with  these  revels  we  do  not  know.  Macrobius  indeed  tells 
us3  that  sacrifice  was  offered  in  the  month  of  March  to  Anna 
Perenna  '  ut  annare  perannareque  commode  liceat ' 4 ;  and 
Lydus,  that  on  the  Ides  there  were  tvxal  S^oo-tat  imp  rov  vyiewbv 
yeviadat  TOV  fvtavrov  ;  but  we  do  not  know  what  was  the  relation 
between  these  and  the  scene  described  by  Ovid. 

Who  was  the  Anna  Perenna  in  whose  honour  these  revels, 
sacrifices,  and  prayers  took  place,  whatever  their  relation  to 
each  other  ?  Ovid  and  Silius  Italicus R  tell  legends  about  her 
which  are  hardly  genuine  Italian,  and  in  which  Anna  Perenna 
is  confused  with  the  other  Anna  whom  they  knew,  the  sister  of 
Dido.  Hidden  under  such  stories  may  sometimes  be  found 
traces  of  a  belief  or  a  cult  of  which  we  have  no  other  know- 
ledge ;  but  in  this  poetical  medley  there  seems  to  be  only  one 
feature  that  calls  on  us  to  pause.  After  her  wanderings  Anna 
disappears  in  the  waters  of  the  river  Numicius  : 

Corniger  hanc  cupidis  rapuisse  Numicius  undis 
Creditor,  et  stagnis  occuluisse  suis. 

1  See  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  240,  for  the  jovial 
character  of  some  primitive  forms  of  religion,  and  the  absence  of  a  sense 
of  sin. 

2  Ov.  1.  c.  541  'Occurri  nuper  :   visa  est  inihi   digna  relatu  Pompa, 
Senem  potuin  pota  trahebat  anus. 

3  Sat.  i.  12.  6.     Cp.  Lydus,  de  Mens.  4.  36. 

4  Annare  perennare   is   to  complete   the   circle   of  the   year :  cp.  Suet. 
Vespas.  5  '  puella  nata  non  perennavit.'    Anna  Perenna  herself  is  probably 
a  deity  manufactured  out  of  these  words,  and  the  idea  they  conveyed 
(cf.  Janus  Patulcius  and  Clusius,  Carmenta  Prorsa  Postverta)  ;  not  exactly 
a  deity  of  the  year,  but  one  whom  it  would  be  desirable  to  propitiate  at  the 
beginning  of  the  year. 

5  Ov.  I.e.  545  foil.    Sil.  Ital.  8. 50 foil.    Ovid  also  says  that  some  thought 
she  was  the  moon,  'quia  mensibus  impleat  annum'  (3.  657):  but  this 
notion  has  no  value,  except  as  indicating  the  belief  that  she  represented 
the  circle  of  the  year. 

E    2 


52  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

Her  companions  traced  her  footsteps  to  the  bank :  she  seemed 

to  tell  them 

Placidi  sum  nympha  Numici, 
Amne  porenne  latens  Anna  Perenna  vocor. 

This  tale  led  Klausen l  into  some  very  strange  fancies  about 
the  goddess,  whom  he  regarded  as  a  water-nymph,  thinking 
that  all  her  other  characteristics  (e.g.  the  year)  might  be 
explained  symbolically ;  the  running  water  representing  the 
flow  of  time,  &c.  But  it  is  probable  that  she  only  came  into 
connexion  with  the  river  Numicius  because  Aeneas  was  there 
already.  If  Aeneas,  as  Jupiter  Indiges,  was  buried  on  its 
banks2,  what  could  be  more  natural  than  that  another  figure 
of  the  Dido  legend  should  be  brought  there  too  ?  There  does 
not  indeed  seem  to  be  any  reason  for  connecting  the  real  Anna 
Perenna  with  water 3.  All  genuine  Koman  tradition  seems  to 
represent  her,  as  we  shall  see  directly,  as  an  old  woman  ;  and 
when  she  appears  in  another  shape,  she  must  have  become 
mixed  up  with  other  ideas  and  stories.  It  may  perhaps  be 
just  possible  that  on  this  day  some  kind  of  an  image  of  her 
may  have  been  thrown  into  the  Tiber,  as  was  the  case  with 
the  straw  puppets  (Argei)  on  May  15,  and  that  the  ceremony 
dropped  out  of  practice,  but  just  survived  in  the  Numicius 
legend 4.  But  this  is  simply  hypothesis. 

The  fact  is  that,  whatever  else  Anna  Perenna  may  have 
been,  all  that  we  can  confidently  say  of  her  is  that  she  repre- 
sented in  some  way  the  circle  or  ring  of  the  year.  This  is 
indicated  not  only  by  the  name,  which  can  hardly  be  anything 
but  a  feminine  form  of  annus,  but  by  the  time  at  which  her 

1  Aeneas  und  die  Penaten,  ii.  717  foil.  The  cautious  Merkel  long  ago 
repudiated  such  fancies ;  preface  to  Ovid's  Fasti,  p.  177. 

*  Liv.  i.  2.  The  Punic  Anna  is  now  thought  to  be  a  deity  =  Dido 
—  Elissa  :  see  Rossbach  in  the  new  edition  of  Pauly's  Encyd.  i.  2223. 

s  Her  grove  was  not  even  on  the  Tiber-bank,  but  somewhere  between 
the  Via  Flaminia  and  the  Via  Salaria,  i.e.  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the 
Villa  Borghese :  as  we  see  from  the  obscure  lines  of  Martial,  4.  64.  17  (he 
is  looking  from  the  Janiculum) : 

Et  quod  virgineo  cruore  gaudet 
Annae  pomit'erum  nemus  Perennao. 
Ill  i  in'  Flaminiae  Salariaeque 
Gestator  patet  essedo  taceute,  &c. 

There  is  no  explanation  ot  virgineo  cruore  :  but  I  would  rather  retain  it  than 
adopt  even  H.  A.  J.  Munro's  virgine  nequiore.     See  Friedlander,  ad  loc. 
4  This  seems  to  be  Usener's  suggestion,  p.  207. 


MENSIS    MARTIUS  53 

festival  took  place,  the  first  full  moon  of  the  new  year.  The 
one  legend  preserved  about  her  which  is  of  undoubted  Italian 
origin  is  thought  to  point  in  the  same  direction.  Ovid,  wishing 
to  explain  '  cur  cantent  obscena  puellae '  in  that  revel  of  the 
'plebs'  on  the  Tiber-bank,  tells  us l  how  Mars,  once  in  love  with 
Minerva  2,  came  to  Anna  and  asked  her  aid.  It  was  at  length 
granted,  and  Mars  had  the  nuptial  couch  prepared  :  thither 
a  bride  was  led,  but  not  the  desired  one ;  it  was  old  Anna 
with  her  face  veiled  like  a  bride  who  was  playing  the  passionate 
god  such  a  trick  as  we  may  suppose  not  uncommon  in  the  rude 
country  life  of  old  Latium. 

There  is  no  need  to  be  startled  at  the  rude  handling  of  the 
gods  in  this  story,  which  seems  so  unlike  the  stately  and 
orderly  ideas  of  Koman  theology.  It  must  be  borne  in  mind 
that  folk  tales  like  this  need  not  originally  have  been  applied 
to  the  gods  at  all.  They  are  probably  only  ancient  country 
stories  of  human  beings,  based  on  some  rude  marriage  custom 
—  stories  such  as  delighted  the  lower  farm  folk  and  slaves  on 
holiday  evenings ;  and  they  have  survived  simply  because 
they  became  in  course  of  time  attached  to  the  persons  of  the 
gods,  as  the  conception  of  divinities  grew  to  be  more  anthropo- 
morphic. Granted  that  Anna  or  Perenna3  was  the  old  woman 
of  the  past  year,  that  Mars  was  the  god  of  the  first  month, 
and  that  the  story  as  applied  to  human  beings  was  a  favourite 
one,  we  can  easily  understand  how  it  came  to  attach  itself  to 
the  persons  of  the  gods 4. 

Yet  another  story  is  told  by  Ovid  of  an  Anna 5,  in  writing 
of  whom  he  does  not  add  the  name  Perenna.  The  Plebs  had 
seceded  to  the  Mons  Sacer,  and  were  beginning  to  suffer  from 
starvation,  when  an  old  woman  from  Bovillae,  named  Anna, 
came  to  the  rescue  with  a  daily  supply  of  rustica  liba.  This 
myth  seems  to  me  to  have  grown  out  of  the  custom,  to  be 
described  directly,  of  old  women"  selling  liba  on  the  i;th 

1  Fasti,  3.  675. 

*  No  doubt  this  should  be  Nerio  :  see  below  on  March  17. 

3  There  is  some  ground  for  believing  that  the  two  words  implied  two 
deities  on  occasion  or  originally  :  Varro,  Sat.  Menipp.  fr.  506  '  Te  Anna  ac 
Peranna'  (Riese,  p.  219). 

4  Wissowa  (de  Feriis  x)  thinks  Ovid's  tale  mere  nugae :  but  this  learned 
scholar  never  seems  to  be  able  to  comprehend  the  significance  of  folk-lore. 

*  Fasti,  3  66 1  foil. 

'  Varro  (L.  L.  6.  14"  calls  them  'sacerdotes  Liberi,'  by  courtesy,  we  may 


54  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

(Liberalia),  the  custom  having  been  transferred  to  that  day 
through  an  etymological  confusion  between  liba  and  Liberalia, 
Usener,  however,  saw  here  a  connexion  between  Anna  and 
Annona1;  and  recently  it  has  been  suggested  that  a  certain 
Egyptian  Anna,  who  is  said  by  Plutarch  to  have  invented 
a  mould  for  bread-baking,  may  have  found  her  way  to  Home 
through  Greek  channels 2. 


xvi  KAL.  APR.    (MARCH  17).    IP. 

LIB[EEALIA].     (MAFF.  FARN.  RUST.) 
LIB.     AG[ONIA].     LIBERO  LIB.     (CAER.) 
AG[ONIA].     (VAT.) 
LIBERO  IN  CA[PITOLIO].     (FARN.) 

This  is  one  of  the  four  days  "marked  AG.  or  AGON,  in  the 
Fasti  (Jan.  9,  May  21,  Dec.  n)3.  It  is  curious  that  on  this 
day  two  of  the  old  calendars  should  mark  the  Liberalia  only, 
and  one  the  Agonia  only,  and  one  both.  The  day  was  generally 
known  as  Liberalia4 ;  the  other  name  seems  to  have  been  known 
to  the  priests  only,  and  more  especially  to  the  Salii  Collini  or 
Agonenses  \  who  must  have  had  charge  of  the  sacrifice. 
Wissowa  seems  to  be  right  in  thinking  (de  Fcriis  xii)  that 
the  conjunction  of  Liberalia  and  Agonia  is  purely  accidental, 
and  that  the  day  took  its  common  name  from  the  former 
simply  because,  as  the  latter  occurred  four  times  in  the  year, 
confusion  would  be  likely  to  arise. 

Liber  is  beyond  doubt  an  old  Italian  deity,  whose  true 
nature,  like  that  of  so  many  others,  came  to  be  overgrown 
with  Greek  ideas  and  rites.  There  is  no  sign  of  any  connexion 
between  this  festival  and  the  cult  of  Dionysus ;  hence  we 

presume  :  and  it  is  noticeable  that  Ovid  describes  this  old  Anna  as  wear- 
ing a  mitra,  which,  in  Propert.  v.  (iv.)  2.  31,  is  characteristic  of  Bacchus  : 
'Cinge  caput  mitra  :  speciem  furabor  lacchi.' 

Op.  cit.  208. 

See  Pauly,  Encyd.  vol.  i.  2223.     This  is  Wissowa's  opinion. 

See  on  Jan.  9. 

Cic.  ad  Fam.  12.  25.  i  ;  Alt.  9.  9.  4  ;  Auct.  BeU.  Hisp.  31. 

Varro,  L.  L.6.  14  'In  libris  Saliorum,  quorum  cognomen  Agonensium, 
forsitan  hie  dies  ideo  appellatur  potius  Agonia.'  So  Masurius  Sabinus  (in 
Macrob.  Sat.  i.  4.  15),  '  Liberal  him  dies  a  poutificibus  agonium  Martiale 
appellatur.' 


MENSIS    MARTIUS  55 

infer  that  there  was  an  old  Latin  Liber  before  the  arrival  of 
the  Greek  god  in  Italy.  What  this  god  was,  however,  can 
hardly  be  inferred  from  his  cult,  of  which  we  only  know 
a  single  feature,  recorded  by  Ovid '.  He  tells  us  that  old 
women,  sacerdotes  Liberi,  sat  crowned  with  ivy  all  about 
the  streets  on  this  day  with  cakes  of  oil  and  honey  (liba),  and 
a  small  portable  altar  (foculus),  on  which  to  sacrifice  for  the 
benefit  of  the  buyer  of  these  cakes.  This  tells  us  nothing 
substantial,  and  we  have  to  fall  back  on  the  name — always 
an  uncertain  method.  The  best  authorities  seem  now  agreed 
in  regarding  the  word  Liber  (whatever  be  its  etymology)  as 
having  something  of  the  same  meaning  as  genius,  forming 
an  adjective  liberalis  as  genius  forms  genialis,  and  meaning 
a  creative,  productive  spirit,  full  of  blessing,  and  so  generous, 
free,  &c.2  If  this  were  so  it  would  not  bo  unnatural  that  the 
characteristics  and  rites  of  Dionysus  should  find  here  a  stem 
on  which  to  engraft  themselves,  or  that  Liber  should  become 
the  object  of  obscene  ceremonies  which  need  not  be  detailed 
here,  and  also  the  god  of  the  Italian  vine-growers. 

It  is  possible  that  Liber  may  have  been  an  ancient  cult-title 
of  Jupiter ;  we  do  in  fact  find  a  Jupiter  Liber  in  inscriptions, 
though  the  combination  is  uncommon a.  In  that  case  Liber 
may  have  been  an  emanation  or  off-shoot  from  Jupiter,  as 
Silvanus  probably  was  from  Mars4.  But  I  am  disposed  to  think 
that  the  characteristics  of  Liber,  so  far  as  we  know  them,  are 
not  in  keeping  with  those  of  Jupiter ;  and  that  the  process  was 
rather  of  the  opposite  kind,  that  is,  the  cult  of  Liber  in  its 
later  form  became  attached  to  that  of  Jupiter,  who  was  always 
the  presiding  deity  of  vineyards  and  wine-making 5. 

1  See  above,  p.  53,  where  I  have  expressed  a  doubt  whether  this 
custom  originally  belonged  to  the  Liberalia.  It  is  alluded  to  in  Ovid, 
Fasti,  3.  725  foil.,  and  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  14. 

*  This  is  the  view  of  Wissowa  in  Myth.  Lex.  s.  v.  Liber,  2022.    Cp.  Aust, 
Lex.  s.  v.  luppiter,  662. 

1  It  is  only  once  attested  of  Roman  worsh  ip.  viz.  in  the  calendar  of  the 
Fratres  Arvales  (Sept.  i  '  lovi  Libero,  lunoni  Reginae  in  Aventino,' 
'.'  /.  L.  i.  214) ;  but  is  met  with  several  times  among  the  Osco-Sabellian 
peoples. 

4  So  Hehn.  Kidturpjlanzen,  &c.,  p.  70  foil.  But  Helm  is  only  thinking 
of  the  later  Liber,  whom  he  considers  an  'emanation  '  from  Jupiter  Liber 
=  Dionysus,  introduced  with  the  vine  from  Greece.  See  Aust,  Lex.  s.  v. 
luppiter,  662. 

*  See  on  April  23. 


56  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

This  was  also  the  usual  day  on  -which  boys  assumed  the  toga 
virilis  (toga  recta,  pura,  tibcra) :. 

Restat  ut  inveniam  qunre  toga  libera  detur 
Lucifero  pueris,  candide  Bacche,  tuo. 

Sive  quod  es  Liber,  vestis  quoque  libera  per  te 
Sumitur  et  vitae  liberioris  iter1. 

We  know  indeed  that  in  the  late  Republic  and  Empire  other 
days  were  used  for  this  ceremony :  Virgil  took  his  toga  on 
Oct.  15,  Octavian  on  Oct.  18,  Tiberius  on  April  24,  Nero 
on  July  7  2;  but  it  is  likely  that  this  day  was  in  earlier  times 
the  regular  one,  in  spite  of  the  inconvenience  of  a  disparity  of 
age  thence  resulting  amongst  the  tirones.  For  whether  or  no  the 
toga  libera  has  any  real  connexion  with  the  Liberalia.  this  was 
the  time  when  the  army  was  called  out  for  the  year,  and 
when  the  tirones  would  be  required  to  present  themselves3. 
Ovid  tells  us  that  on  this  day  the  rustic  population  flocked 
into  the  city  for  the  Liberalia,  and  the  opportunity  was 
doubtless  taken  to  make  known  the  list  of  tirones,  as  the  boys 
were  called  when  the  toga  was  assumed  and  they  were  ready 
for  military  service. 

They  sacrificed,  it  appears,  before  leaving  home  and  again  on 
the  Capitol,  either  to  Pubertas  or  Liber,  or  both  *. 

On  this  day  also,  according  to  Ovid,  and  also  on  the  previous 
one,  some  kind  of  a  procession  'went  to  the  Argei'5;  by  which 
word  is  meant,  we  may  be  almost  sure,  the  Argeorum  sacella. 
There  were  in  various  parts  of  the  four  regions  of  the  Servian 
city  a  number  of  sacella  or  sacraria,  which  were  called  Argei, 
Argea,  or  Argeorum  sacella 5.  What  these  were  we  never 

1  Ovid,  Fasti,  3.  771  foil.  *  Marq.  Prtratlebcn,  i.  122  note  2. 

3  Ovid,  1.  c.,  783  foil.  ;  Marq.  1.  c.  and  123,  124.  Military  service  began 
anciently  at  seventeen  (Tubero,  ap.  Gell.  10.  28) :  though  even  praetextati 
sometimes  served  voluntarily  (Marq.  op.  cit.  131).  Even  if  not  called  out 
at  once,  the  boys  would  begin  the  practice  of  arms  from  the  assumption 
of  the  toga  virilis. 

*  Marq.  op.  cifc.  124.     Libero  in  Ca[pitolio],  Farn.    For  luventas,  Dion. 
Hal.  3.  69,  4.  15. 

*  This  result  is  obtained  by  comparing  Ovid,  Fasti,  3.  791 

Itur  ad  Argoos — qui  sint,  sua  pagina  dicet — 

Hac,  si  commemini,  praeteritaque  die. 

(where  he  refers  to  his  description  of  the  rite  of  May  15.  and  appears  to 
identify  the  simulacra  and  sacel'a^,  with  Gell.  N.  A.  10.  15,  who  says  that 
the  Flaminica  Dialis,  '  cum  it  ad  Argeos '  was  in  mourning  dress  :  also 


MENSTS    MARTIUS  57 

shall  know  for  certain  ;  but  we  may  be  fairly  sure  that  their 
number  was  twenty-four,  six  for  each  region;  the  same  number 
as  that  of  the  rush  puppets  or  simulacra  also  called  Argei, 
which  were  thrown  into  the  Tiber  by  the  Vestal  Virgins  on 
May  15.  The  identity  of  the  name  and  number  leads  to  the 
belief  that  there  was  a  connexion  between  these  sacella  and  the 
simulacra  ;  but  the  very  difficult  questions  which  arose  about 
both  must  be  postponed  till  we  have  before  us  the  whole  of  the 
ceremonial,  i.  e.  that  of.  May  15  as  well  as  that  of  March  17. 
About  this  last  we  know  nothing  and  can  at  best  attempt  to 
infer  its  character  from  the  ceremony  in  May,  of  which  we 
fortunately  have  some  particulars  on  which  we  can  fully  rely. 

KAL.  xrv  APR.  (MARCH  19).    IP  CAER.  VAT.    N.  MAFF. 
QUINQiVATRUS].     (CAER.  MAFF.  PRAEN.  VAT.  FARN.) 

QUINQUATRIA.       (RUST.    PHIL.    SILV.) 

A  note  is  appended  in  Praen..,  which  is  thus  completed  by 

Mommsen  with  the  help  of  a  Verrian  gloss  (Fest.  254). 
[RECTIUS  TAMEN  ALII  PUTARUNT  DICTUM  AB  EO  QUOD  me  DIES 

F.ST    POST    DIEM    V    IDUS    .    QUOJD   IN    LATIO    POST    [iDUS     DIES 
SIMILI  FERE  RATIONE  DECLIJNAREKTUR. 

FERIAE    MARTI    (VAT.) 

[SALI]  FACIUNT  IN  COMITIO   8ALTUS  [ADSTANTIBUS    POJNTIFICIBUS 

ET  TRIBJUNIS]  cELERfuMJ.     Praen.,   in  which  we  find  yet 
another  note :   ARTIFICUM  DIES  [QUOD  MINERVAE]  AEDIS  IN 

AVENTINO  EO  DIE  EST  [DEDICATAJ. 

The  original  significance  of  this  day  is  indicated  by  the  note 
Feriae  Marti  in  Vat.,  and  also  by  that  in  Praen.,  which  has  been 
amplified  with  tolerable  certainty.  The  Salii  were  active  this 
day  in  the  worship  of  Mars,  and  the  scene  of  their  activity 
was  the  Comitium.  With  this  agrees,  as  Mommsen  has  pointed 
out,  the  statement  of  Varro '  that  the  Comitium  was  the  scene 

with  the  fragments  of  the  '  Sacra  Argeorum '  in  Varro,  L.  L.  5.  46-54. 
These  have  been  sho\yn  by  Jordan  (Topogr.  ii.  271  foil.)  to  be  fragments  of 
an  itinerary,  meant  for  the  guidance  of  a  procession,  an  idea  first  suggested 
by  O.  Muller.  The  further  questions  of  the  route  taken,  and  the  distri- 
bution of  the  sacella  in  the  four  Servian  regiones,  are  very  difficult,  and 
need  not  be  discussed  here.  See  Mommsen,  Stoatsrecht,  Hi.  123  foil. 

1  L.  L.  5.  85  '  Salii  a  salitaudo,  quod  facere  in  comitio  in  sacris  quot- 
annis  et  solent  et  debent.' 


58  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

of  some  of  their  performances,  though  he  does  not  mention 
which.  More  light  is  thrown  on  the  matter  by  the  grammarian 
Charisius ',  who,  in  suggesting  an  explanation  of  the  name 
Quinquatrus  by  which  this  day  was  generally  known,  remarks 
that  it  was  derived  from  a  verb  qninquare,  to  purify,  '  quod  eo  die 
arma  ancilia  lustrari  sint  solita.'  His  etymology  is  undoubtedly 
wrong,  but  the  reason  given  for  it  is  valuable 2.  The  ancilia 
were  purified  on  this  day  (perhaps  by  the  Salii  dancing  around 
them),  and  thus  it  exactly  answers  to  the  Armilustrium  on 
Oct.  19,  just  as  the  horse-races  on  the  Ides  of  March,  if  that 
indeed  were  the  original  day,  correspond  to  the  ceremony  of 
the  '  October  horse ' 3. 

The  object  and  meaning  of  the  lustratio  in  each  case  is  not, 
however,  quite  clear.  Since  in  March  the  season  of  war  began, 
and  ended,  no  doubt,  originally  in  October4,  and  as  the  Salii 
seem  to  be  a  kind  of  link  between  the  religious  and  military 
sides  of  the  state's  life,  we  are  tempted  to  guess  that  the 
lustration  of  the  ancilia  represented  in  some  way  the  lustration 
of  the  arms  of  the  entire  host,  or  perhaps  that  the  latter  were 
all  lustrated  so  as  to  be  ready  for  use,  on  this  day,  and  once 
again  on  Oct.  19  before  they  were  put  away  for  the  winter. 
In  this  latter  case  the  Salii  would  be  the  leaders  of,  as  well  as 
sharers  in.  a  general  purifying  process.  And  that  this  is  the 
right  view  seems  to  be  indicated  by  Verrius'  note  in  the  Prae- 
iiestine  calendar,  from  which  it  is  clear  that  the  tribuni  celcrum 
were  present,  and  took  some  part  in  the  ceremony.  These 
tribuni  were  almost  certainly  the  three  leaders  of  the  original 
cavalry  force  of  the  three  ancient  tribes,  and  they  seem  to  have 
united  both  priestly  and  military  characteristics s ;  and  from 
their  presence  in  the  Comitium  may  perhaps  also  be  inferred 
that  of  the  leaders  of  the  infantry  tribuni  militum.  In  the 
earliest  times,  therefore,  the  arms  of  the  whole  host  may  have 
been  lustrated  in  the  presence  of  its  leaders,  the  Salii,  so  to 

1  i.  p.  81   (KeilX     Why  the  Comitium  was  the  scene  does  not  appear. 
Preller  has  suggested  a  reason  (i.  364),  which  is  by  no  means  convincing. 

2  It  was  adopted   by  Usener  (p.  222,  note  6),   but   has   obtained   no 
further  support.     For  another  curious  etymology  of  the  latter  part  of  the 
word  -atrus,  which,  however,  does  not  assist  us  here,  see  Deecke,  Falisker, 
p.  go  (Dies  aler  =  dies  alter  -postridie). 

3  Wissowa.rfe  Ferns,  ix.  4  Mommsen,  in  C.  I.  L.  312. 
*  Mommsen,  R.  H.  i.  78,  note  i. 


MENSIS    MARTIU9  59 

speak,  performing  the  service ;  but  in  later  times  the  Salii 
alone  were  left,  and  their  arms  alone  lustrated,  though  possibly 
individuals  representing  the  ancient  triluni  celcrum  may  have 
appeared  as  congregation. 

But  this  day  was  generally  known  as  Quinquatrus,  simply 
because  it  was  the  fifth  day  after  the  Ides  '  ;  i.  e.  there  was 
a  space  of  three  days  between  the  Ides  and  the  festival.  Such 
intervals  of  three  days,  either  between  the  Ides  and  the  festival 
or  between  one  festival  and  another,  occur  several  times  in  the 
Roman  calendar2,  though  in  this  instance  alone  the  day  following 
the  interval  appeal's  in  the  calendars  as  Quinquatrus.  The 
term  was  no  doubt  a  pontifical  one,  and  the  meaning  was 
unknown  to  the  common  people  ;  in  any  casj  it  came  to  be 
misunderstood,  and  was  in  later  times  popularly  applied  to  the 
four  days  following  the  festival  as  well  as  the  festival  itself ; 
its  first  syllable  being  taken  to  indicate  a  five-day  period  instead 
of  the  fifth  day  after  the  Ides.  This  popular  mistake  led  to  still 
further  confusion  owing  to  a  curious  change  in  the  religious 
character  of  these  days,  about  the  nature  of  which  there  can 
be  no  serious  doubt. 

The  ipth  came  to  be  considered  as  sacred  to  Minerva3,, 
because  a  temple  to  that  goddess  was  consecrated  on  this  day, 
on  the  Caelian  or  the  Aventine,  or  possibly  both*.  There 
is  no  obvious  connexion  between  Mars  and  Minerva ;  and 
it  is  now  thought  probable  that  Minerva  has  here  simply  taken 

1  Festus,  254  'Quinquatrus  appellari  quidam  putnnt  a  numero  dierum 
qui  fere  his  (^feriis  iis)  celebrantur :  qui  scilicet  errant  tarn  hcrcule 
qua  in  qui  triduo  Saturnalia,  et  totidem  diebus  Compitalia ;  nam  omnibus 
his  singulis  diebus  limit  sacra.  Forma  autem  vocabuli  eius  exemplo 
multorum  populorum  Italicorum  enuntiata  est,  quod  post  diem  quintum 
Iduum  est  is  dies  festus,  ut  apud  Tusculanos  Triatrus,'  &c. 

*  Wissowa,  op.  cit.  viii.     We  find  one  in  April,  between  the  Fordicidia 
(April  15)  and  Cerialia  (April  19). 

3  Ovid,  Fasti,  3.  809  '  Una  dies  media  est,  et  limit  sacra  Minervae,'  &c, 

*  Ovid,  Faxti,  3.  835  foil. 

Caelius  ex  alto  qua  mons  descend  it  in  aequmn, 

Hie  ubi  non  plana  est  sed  prope  plana  via, 
Parva  licet  videas  Captae  delubra  Minervae 

Quae  dea  natali  cot-pit  habere  suo. 

As  from  the  note  in  Praen.  we  learn  that  March  19  was  also  the  dedi- 
cation-day of  Minerva  on  the  Aventine,  there  must  either  be  a  confusion 
between  the  two,  or  both  had  the  same  foundation-day.  About  the  day  of 
Minerva  Capta  there  is  no  doubt ;  for  that  of  Minerva  on  the  Aventine 
see  Aust,  de  Aedibus,  p.  43. 


60  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

the  place  of  another  goddess.  Nerio  — one  almost  lost  to  sight 
in  historical  times,  but  of  whose  early  connexion  with  Mars 
some  faint  traces  are  to  be  found.  Thus  where  we  find 
Minerva  brought  into  close  relation  with  Mars,  as  in  the  myth 
of  Anna  Perenna,  it  is  thought  that  we  should  read  Nerio 
instead  of  Minerva '.  This  conclusion  is  strengthened  by 
a  note  of  Porphyrion  on  Horace  Epist.  ii.  2.  209  '  Maio  mense 
religio  est  nubere,  et  etioin  Martio,  in  quo  de  nuptiis  habito 
certamine  a  Minerva  Mars  victus  est :  obtenta  virginitate 
Neriene  est  appellata.'  As  Neriene  must  =  Nerio2.  this  looks 
much  like  an  attempt  to  explain  the  occurrence  of  two  female 
names,  Minerva  and!  Nerio>  in  the  same  story  ;  the  original 
heroine,  Nerio,  having  been  supplanted  by  the  later  Minerva :I. 

Of  this  Nerio  much,  perhaps  too  much,  has  been  made 
in  recent  years  by  ingenious  scholars.  A  complete  love-story 
has  been  discovered,  in  which  Mars,  at  first  defeated  in  his 
wooing,  as  Porphyrion  tells  us  in  the  passage  just  quoted, 
eventually  becomes  victorious  ;  for  Nerio  is  called  wife  of  Mars 
in  a  fragment  of  an  old  comedy  by  Licinius  Imbrex,  in 
a  passage  of  Plautus,  and  in  a  prayer  put  into  the  mouth 
of  Hersilia  by  Gellius  the  annalist,  when  she  asked  for  peace 
at  the  hand  of  T.  Tatius4.  And  this  story  has  been  fitted 
on,  without  sufficient  warrant,  to  the  Mars-festivals  of  this 
month.  Mars  is  supposed  to  have  been  born  on  the  Kalends, 
to  have  grown  wondrously  between  Kalends  and  Ides,  to  have 
fallen  then  in  love  with  Nerio,  to  have  been  fooled  as  we  saw 
by  Anna  Perenna,  to  have  been  rejected  and  defeated  by  his 
sweetheart,  and  finally  to  have  won  her  as  his  wife  on  the 
i  pth  *".  Are  we  to  find  here  a  fragment  of  real  Italian 
mythology,  or  an  elaborate  example  of  the  Graecizing  anthro- 
pomorphic tendencies  of  the  third  and  second  centuries  B.  c.  ? 

The  question  is  a  difficult  one,  and  lies  rather  outside  the 
scope  of  this  work.  Those  who  have  read  Usener's  brilliant 

1  Prcller,  i.  342;  Usener,  Eh.  Jfws.,  xxx.  221 ;  Roscher,  Myth.  Lex.  s.  T. 
Mars,  2410;  Lyd.  de  Mens.  4.  42;  Gell.  13.  23  (from  Gdlii  Annales)  is  the 
lucus  cJassicus  for  Nerio. 

2  Nerio  gen.  Nerienis  (Gell.  1.  c.,  who  compares  Anio  Anienis). 

8  Ovid,  Fasti,  3.  850  :  '/or#  sacrificare  deae,'  though  clearly  meant  to 
refer  to  Minerva,  is  thought  to  be  a  reminiscence  of  a  characteristic  of 
Nerio  ('  the  strong  one '),  attached  to  her  supplanter. 

4  Aul.  Gell.  I.e.  *  Usener,  1.  c., passim. 


MENSIS    MARTIUS  6l 

paper  will  find  it  hard  to  shake  themselves  free  of  the 
conviction  that  he  has  unearthed  a  real  myth,  unless  they 
carefully  study  the  chapter  of  Aulus  Gellius  which  is  its 
chief  foundation.  Such  a  study  has  brought  me  back  to 
the  conviction  that  Plautus  and  the  others  were  writing 
in  terms  of  the  fashionable  modes  of  thought  of  their  day, 
and  were  not  appealing  to  popular  ideas  of  the  relations 
of  Italian  deities  to  each  other '.  Aulus  Gellius  begins  by 
quoting  a  comprecatio  from  the  book  of  the  Libri  sacerdotunt 
populi  Ttovnani.  '  In  his  scriptum  est :  Luam  Saturni,  Salaciam 
Neptuni,  Horam  Quirini,  Virites  Quirini,  Maiam  Volcani, 
Heriem  lunonis,  Moles  Martis  Nerienemque  Martis.'  A  glance 
at  the  names  thus  coupled  together  is  enough  to  show  that 
Mars  is  not  here  thought  of  as  the  husband  of  Neriene  ;  the 
names  Lua,  Salacia,  &c.,  seem  rather  to  express  some  character- 
istic of  the  deity  with  whose  name  they  are  joined  or  some 
mode  of  his  operation 2 ;  and  Gellius  himself,  working  011  an 
etymology  of  Nerio  which  has  generally  been  accepted  as 
correct,  explains  the  name  thus :  '  Nerio  igitur  Martis  vis 
et  potentia  et  maiestas  quaedam  esse  Martis  demonstratur. ' 
In  the  latter  part  of  his  chapter,  after  quoting  Plautus,  he  says 
that  he  has  heard  the  poet  blamed  by  an  eminent  critic  for  the 
strange  and  false  notion  that  Nerio  was  the  wife  of  Mars ; 
but  he  is  inclined  to  think  that  there  was  a  real  tradition 
to  that  effect,  and  cites  his  namesake  the  annalist  and  Liciuius 
Imbrex  in  support  of  his  view. 

But  neither  annalist  nor  play-writer  can  stand  against  that 
passage  from  the  sacred  books  with  which  he  began  his 
chapter ;  and  if  we  give  the  latter  its  due  weight,  the  value 
of  the  others  is  relatively  diminished.  It  appears  to  me  that 

1  H.  Jordan  expressed  a  somewhat  different  view  in  his  Symbolae  ad 
hist.  Ital.  religionum  aittrac,  p.  9.  He  thinks  that  '  volgari  opinione  homi- 
nuiu  feminini  numinis  cum  masculo  coniunctionem  non  potuisse  lion  pro 
coniugali  aestimari.'  But  this  would  seem  to  imply  that  the  opinio 
volgaris  was  a  mistaken  one  :  and  if  so,  how  should  it  have  arisen  but 
under  Greek  influence? 

•  Mommsen,  in  a  note  on  the  Feriale  Cumanum  (Hermes,  17.  637},  calls 
them  iceibliche  HHfsgottinmn  ;  and  this  is  not  far  removed  from  the  view 
1  have  expressed  in  the  text.  The  other  alternative,  viz  that  we  have 
in  the?e  names  traces  of  an  old  Italian  anthropomorphic  age.  with 
a  mythology,  is  in  my  view  inadmissible.  I  see  in  them  survivals  of 
a  mode  of  thought  about  the  supernatural  which  might  easily  lend  itself 
to  a  fo:e:gn  anthropomorphizing  influence. 


62  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

the  one  represents  the  true  primitive  Italian  idea  of  divine 
powers,  which  with  its  abundance  of  names  offered  excellent 
opportunities  to  anthropomorphic  tendencies  of  the  Graecizing 
school,  while  the  others  show  those  tendencies  actually 
producing  their  results.  Any  conclusion  on  the  point  must 
be  of  the  nature  of  a  guess ;  but  I  am  strongly  disposed 
to  think  (i)  that  Nerio  was  not  originally  an  independent 
deity,  but  a  name  attached  to  Mars  expressive  of  some  aspect 
of  his  power,  (2)  that  the  name  gradually  became  endowed 
with  personality,  and  (3)  that  out  of  the  combination  of  Mars 
and  Nerio  the  Graecizing  school  developed  a  myth  of  which  the 
fragments  have  been  taken  by  Usener  and  his  followers  as 
pure  Eoman. 

Having  once  been  displaced  by  Minerva,  Nerio  vanished 
from  the  calendar,  and  with  her  that  special  aspect  of  Mars — 
whatever  it  may  have  been — which  the  name  was  intended 
to  express.  The  five  days,  1 8th  to  23rd,  became  permanently 
associated  with  Minerva.  The  igth  was  the  dedication-day 
of  at  least  one  of  her  temples,  and  counted  as  her  birthday ] : 
the  23rd  was  the  Tubilustrium,  with  a  sacrifice  to  'dea  fortis,' 
who  seems  to  have  been  taken  for  Minerva,  owing  to  an 
incorrect  idea  that  the  latter  was  specially  the  deity  of 
trumpet-players2.  She  was  no  doubt  an  old  Italian  deity 
of  artificers  and  trade-guilds  ;  but  the  Tubilustrium  was  really 
a  Mars-festival,  and  Minerva  had  no  immediate  connexion 
with  it. 

x  KAL.  APR.  (MARCH  23).     N*. 
TUBILUSTiKIUM].     (CAER.  MAFF.  VAT.  FARN.  MIN.  in.) 

TUBILUSTRIUM.       (PHILOC.) 

Note  in  Praen. :  [FERIAE]  MARTI  \    HIC  DIES  APPELLATUR  ITA, 

QUOD  IN  ATRIO  SUTORIO  TUBI  LUSTRANTUR,  QUIBUS  IN  SACRIS 
UTUNTUR.  LUTATIUS  QUIDEM  CLAVAM  EAM  AIT  ESSE  IN 
RUIN  IS  PALAJTI  IJNCENSI  A  GALLIS  REPERTAM,  QUA  ROMULUS 
URBEM  INAUGURAVERIT. 

1  Ovid,  Fasti,  3.  835  foil. 

2  Wissowa  in  Lex.  s.  v.  Minerva  2986 :    a  model  article,  to  which  the 
reader  must  be  referred  for  further  information  about  Minerva. 

3  Lydus,  4.  42,  adds  '  Nerine,'  and  further  tells  us  that  this  was  the  last 
day  on  which  the  ancilia  were  '  moved '  (KIVTJOIS  riov  oirAwp).     The  Salii 
were  also  active  on  the  24th  (Fest.  278). 


MENSIS    MARTIUS  63 

ix  KAL.  APR.  (MARCH  24).     IP. 

Q.K.C.F.     (VAT.  CAER.) 
Q.REX.C.F.     (MAFF.  PRAEN.) 

Note  in  Praen. :  HUNC  DIEM  PLERIQUE  PERPERAM  INTERPRE- 
TANTES  PUTANT  APPELLARLl]  QUOD  EO  DIE  EX  COMITIO  FUGERIT 
[REX  :  K]AM  NEQUE  TARQUINIUS  ABUT  EX  COMITIO  [URBIS],  ET 
ALIO  QUOQUE  MENSE  EADEM  STJNT  [iDEMQUE  SIGNIFICANT. 
QUJARE  COMITIIS  PERACT1S  IUDICIJA  FIERI  INDICA[RI  IIS  MAGIS 
PUTAMUSJ  '. 

These  two  days  must  be  taken  in  connexion  with  the 
2 3rd  and  24th  of  May,  which  are  marked  in  the  calendars 
in  exactly  the  same  way.  The  explanation  suggested  by 
Mommson  is  simple  and  satisfactory2;  the  24th  of  March  and 
of  May  were  the  two  fixed  days  on  which  the  comitia  curiata 
met  for  the  sanctioning  of  wills 3  under  the  presidency  of  the 
Rex.  The  23rd  in  each  month,  called  Tubilustrium,  would 
be  the  day  of  the  lustration  of  the  tulae  or  tuli  used  in 
summoning  the  assembly.  The  letters  Q.  R.  C.  F.  (quando  rex 
comitiavit  fas)  mean  that  on  the  days  so  marked  proceedings 
in  the  courts  might  only  begin  when  the  king  had  dissolved 
the  Comitia. 

The  tuba,  as  distinguished  from  the  tibia,  which  was  the 
typical  Italian  instrument,  was  a  long  straight  tube  of  brass 
with  a  bell  mouth 4.  It  was  used  chiefly  in  military s  and 

1  The  note  is  thus  completed  by  Mommsen  from  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  31 
'  Dies  qui  vocatur  sic,  Quando  Hex  Comitiavit  Fas,  is  dictus  ab  eo  quod 
eo  die  rex  sacrificulus  itat  [we  should  probably  read  litat]  ad  comitium,  ad 
quod  tempus  est  nefas,  ab  eo  fas'  (see  Marq.  323,  note  8).  The  MS.  lias 
'  dicat  ad  comitium.'  If  we  adopt  litat  with  Hirschfeld  and  Jordan,  we 
are  not  on  that  account  committed  to  the  belief  corrected  in  Praen., 
that  it  was  on  this  day  and  May  24  that  the  Rex  fled  after  sacrificing  in 
comitio  (see  Hartmann,  Rom.  Kid.  i6a  foil.).  The  question  will  be  dis- 
cussed under  Feb.  24. 

*  Horn.  Chronol.  p.  241  ;  Staatsrecht,  Hi.  375. 

3  Gaius,  2.  101  '  Comitia  calata  quae  bis  in  anno  testamentis  faciendis 
destinata  erant.'     Cp.  Maine,  Ancient  Law,  199. 

4  It  may  have  been  of  Etruscan  origin  :  Muller-Deecke.  Etrusker,  ii.  206. 
A  special  kind  of  tuba  seems  to  have  been  used  at  funerals  :   Gell.  N.  A. 
20.  2  ;  Marq.  Privatleben,  i.  341. 

5  For   the   military   use,  Liv.  ii.  64.     They  were   also   used   in   sacris 
Saliaribus  Paul.  19,  s.  v.  Armilustrium.     Wissowa  (de  Feriis  xv)  mentions 
a  relief  in  which  the  Salii  are  preceded  by  tubicines  laureati  (published  in 
St.  Petersburgh  by  E.  Schulze,  1873;. 


64  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

religious  ceremonies ;  and  as  the  comitia  curiata  was  an 
assembly  both  for  military  and  religious  objects,  this  would 
suit  well  with  Mommsen's  idea  of  the  object  of  the  lustration. 
The  Tubilustrium  was  the  day  on  which  these  instruments, 
which  were  to  be  used  at  the  meeting  of  the  comitia  on  the 
following  day,  were  purified  by  the  sacrifice  of  a  lamb. 
Of  the  Atrium  Sutorium,  where  the  rite  took  place,  we  know 
nothing. 

There  are  some  words  at  the  end  of  Verrius'  note  in  the 
Praenestine  Calendar,  which,  as  Mommsen  has  pointed  out1, 
come  in  abruptly  and  look  as  if  something  had  dropped  out : 
'  Lutatius  quidem  clavam  earn  ait  esse  in  ruinis  Pala[ti  ijncensi 
a  Gallis  repertam,  qua  Romulus  urbem  inauguraverit.'  This 
clava  must  be  the  lituus  of  Romulus,  mentioned  by  Cicero2, 
which  was  found  on  the  Palatine  and  kept  in  the  Curia 
Saliorum.  We  cannot,  however,  see  clearly  what  Verrius  or  his 
excerptor  meant  to  tell  us  about  it ;  there  would  seem  to  have 
been  a  confusion  between  lituus  in  the  sense  of  baculum  and 
lituus  in  the  sense  of  a  tula  incurva.  The  latter  was  in  use 
as  well  as  the  ordinary  straight  tuba5  ;  in  shape  it  closely 
resembled  the  clava  of  the  augur,  and  perhaps  the  resemblance 
led  to  the  notion  that  it  was  the  clava  of  Romulus  and  not 
a  tuba  which  was  this  day  purified  with  the  other  tubae. 

We  can  learn  little  or  nothing  from  the  calendar  of  this 
month  about  the  origin  of  Mars,  and  wo  have  no  other  sufficient 
evidence  on  which  to  base  a  satisfactory  conjecture.  But  from 
the  cults  of  the  month,  and  partly  also  from  those  of  October, 
we  can  see  pretty  clearly  what  ideas  were  prominent  in  his 
worship  even  in  the  early  days  of  the  Roman  state.  They  were 
chiefly  two,  and  the  two  were  closely  connected.  He  was  the 
Power  who  must  be  specially  invoked  to  procure  the  safety  of 
crops  and  cattle ;  and  secondly,  in  his  keeping  were  the  safety 
and  success  of  the  freshly-enrolled  host  with  its  armour  and  its 
trumpets.  In  short,  he  was  that  deity  to  whom  the  most 
ancient  Romans  looked  for  aid  at  the  season  when  all  living 
things,  man  included,  broke  into  fresh  activity.  He  repre- 

1  C.  I.  L.  313.    He  is  of  opinion  that  the  note  was  among  those  '  non  tarn 
a  Verrio  scriptas  quain  male  ex  scriptis  eius  exceiptus.' 

2  de  Din.  i.  17.  30.  3  Varro,  L.L.  5.  91. 


MENSIS    MARTIUS  65 

sents  the  characteristics  of  the  early  Koman  more  exactly 
than  any  other  god  ;  for  there  are  two  things  which  we  may 
believe  with  certainty  about  the  Roman  people  in  the  earliest 
times — (i)  that  their  life  and  habits  of  thought  were  those  of 
an  agricultural  race  ;  and  (2)  that  they  continually  increased 
their  cultivable  land  by  taking  forcible  possession  in  war  of 
that  of  their  neighbours. 


MENSIS  APBILIS. 

THERE  can  hardly  be  a  doubt  that  this  month  takes  its  name, 
not  from  a  deity,  but  from  the  verb  aperio  ;  the  etymology  is 
as  old  as  Varro  and  Verrius,  and  seems  perfectly  natural1. 
The  year  was  opening  and  the  young  corn  and  the  young 
cattle  were  growing.  It  was  therefore  a  critical  time  for  crops 
and  herds ;  but  there  was  not  much  to  be  done  by  man  to 
secure  their  safety.  The  crops  might  be  hoed  and  cleaned2, 
but  must  for  the  most  part  be  left  to  the  protection  of  the  gods. 
The  oldest  festivals  of  the  month,  the  Kobigalia  and  Fordicidia, 
clearly  had  this  object.  So  also  with  the  cattle  ;  ovcs  lustrantur, 
say  the  rustic  calendars 3 ;  and  such  a  lustratio  of  the  cattle 
of  the  ancient  Komans  survived  in  the  ceremonies  of  the 
Parilia. 

Thus,  if  we  keep  clear  of  fanciful  notions,  such  as  those  of 
Huschke4,  about  these  early  months  of  the  year,  which  he 
seems  to  imagine  was  thought  of  as  growing  like  an  organic 
creature,  we  need  find  no  great  difficulty  in  April.  We  need 
not  conclude  too  hastily  that  this  was  a  month  of  purification 
preliminary  to  May,  as  February  was  to  March.  Like  February, 
indeed,  it  has  a  large  number  of  dies  ncfasti B,  and  its  festivals 

1  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  33  ;  Censorinus,  2.  20.   Verrius  Flaccus  in  the  heading 
to  April  in  Fasti  Praen. :  .  .  .  '  quia  fruges  flores  animaliaque  et  maria  et 
terrae  aperiuntur.'     Moinmsen,  Chron.  222.     Ovid  quaintly  forsakes  the 
scholars  to  claim  the  month  for  Venus  (Aphrodite),  Fasti,  4.  61  foil.     I  do 
not  know  why  Mr.  Granger  should  call  it  the  boar-month  (from  oper), 
in  his  Worship  of  the  Romans,  p.  294. 

2  Segetes  runcari,  Varro,  R.  R.  i.  30.     Columella's  instructions  are  of  the 
same  kind  (n.  a). 

3  C.  l.L.  280.  *  Eom.  Jahr,  216. 

s  February  has  thirteen,  all  but  two  between  Kal.  and  Ides.  The  Nones 
and  Ides  are  IP.  April  has  thirteen  between  Nones  and  aand  ;  or  fourteen 
if  we  include  the  ipth,  which  is  IP  in  Caer.  The  Ides  are  IP,  Nones  N. 


MENSIS    APRILIS  67 

are  of  a  cathartic  character,  while  March  and  May  have  some 
points  in  common  ;  but  beyond  this  we  cannot  safely  venture. 
The  later  Eomans  would  hardly  have  connected  April  with 
Venus  *,  had  it  been  a  sinister  month  ;  it  was  not  in  April,  but 
in  March  and  May,  that  weddings  were  ill-omened. 

We  may  note  the  prevalence  in  this  month  of  female  deities, 
or  of  those  which  fluctuate  between  male  and  female — a  sure 
sign  of  antiquity.  These  are  deities  of  the  earth,  or  vegetation, 
or  generation,  such  as  Tellus,  Pales,  Ceres,  Flora,  and  perhaps 
also  Fortuna.  Hence  the  month  became  easily  associated  in 
later  times  with  Venus,  who  was  originally,  perhaps,  a  garden 
deity 2,  but  was  overlaid  in  course  of  time  with  ideas  brought 
from  Sicily  and  Greece,  and  possibly  even  from  Cyprus  and  the 
East.  Lastly,  we  may  note  that  the  Magna  Mater  Idaea  found 
a  suitable  position  for  her  worship  in  this  month  towards  the 
end  of  the  third  century  B.  c. 

KAL.  APR.  (APEIL  i).     F. 

VENERALIA  :     LUDI.       (PHILOC.) 

Note  in   Praen.  :    'FREQUENTER   MULIERES   SUPPLICANT   FOR- 

TUNAE  VIRILI,  HUMIL1ORES  ETIAM  IN  BALINEIS,  QUOD  IN  118 
EA  PARTE  CORPOR[ls]  UTIQUE  VIRI  NUDANTUR,  QUA  FEMINARUM 
GRATIA  DESIDERATUR.' 

Lydus3  seems  to  have  been  acquainted  with  this  noteof  Verrius 
in  the  Fasti  of  Praeneste  ;  if  so,  we  may  guess  that  some  words 
have  been  omitted  by- the  man  who  cut  the  inscription,  and 

1  See  the  fragmentary  heading  to  the  month  in  Fasti  Praen.  ;  Ovid,  I.e. ; 
Lydus,  4.  45  ;  Tutela  Veneris,  in  rustic  calendars  ;  Veneralia  (April  i ), 
Philocalus. 

2  Varro,  R.  K  i.  i.  6:  'Item  adveneror  Minervam  et  Venerem,  quarum 
unius  procuratio  oliveti,  alterius  hortoi-um.'     Cp.  L.  L.  6.  20  'Quod  tum 
(Aug.  19)  dedicata  aedes  et  horti  ei  deae  dicantur  i  c  tum  fiant  feriati 
holitores.'     Cf.  Preller,  Myth.  i.  434  foil.     The  oldest  Venus-temple  was  in 
the  low  ground  of  the  Circus  Maximus  (B.C.  295).     Venus,  like  Ceres,  may 
have  been  an  old  Roman  deity  of  the  plebs,  but  she  never  entered  into 
the   State-worship   in   early   times.      Macrob.   i.    12.    12   quotes   Cincius 
(de  Fastis)  and  Varro  to  prove  that  she  had  originally  nothing  to  do  with 
April,  and  that  there  was  no  diesfestus  or  insigne  sacrificium  in  her  honour 
during  the  month. 

3  4.  45  Tais  roivvv  Ka\avSats  a.nf>i\\iats  al  ffffifal  *y v  CIIKUV  vvtp  oftovotas  KCU 
/3iov  auHppovos  (rifj.uv  ^r|V  '  A.<ppoSirr)v  al  5i  TOV  ir^rfOovs  ywaiKts  iv  rots  rwv 
fabpwv  tiaXavfioa   (\OVOVTO,   itpos    Ofpairtiav  avriji   ftvpaiiy    iffTf/jintvai,   K.T.\. 
Cp.  Macrob.  i.  12.  15. 

F    2 


68  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

we  should  insert  with  Mommsen1,  after  'supplicant,'  the  words 
'  honestiores  Veneri  Verticordiae.'  If  we  compare  the  passage  of 
Lydus  with  the  name  Veneralia  given  to  this  day  in  the 
calendar  of  Philocalus,  we  may  guess  that  the  cult  of  Venus  on 
April  i  came  into  fashion  in  late  times  among  ladies  of  rank, 
while  an  old  and  gross  custom  was  kept  up  by  the  humiliores 
in  honour  of  Fortuna  Virilis'2.  This  seems  to  be  the  most 
obvious  explanation  of  the  concurrence  of  the  two  goddesses 
on  the  same  day  ;  they  were  probably  identified  or  amalgamated 
under  the  Empire,  for  example  by  Lydus,  who  does  not  mention 
Fortuna  by  name,  and  seems  to  confuse  her  worship  on  this 
day  with  that  of  Venus.  But  the  two  are  still  distinct  in 
Ovid,  though  he  seems  to  show  some  tendency  to  amal- 
gamation 3. 

Fortuna  Virilis,  thus  worshipped  by  the  women  when 
bathing,  would  seem  from  Ovid  to  have  been  that  Fortuna 
who  gave  women  good  luck  in  their  relations  with  men4. 
The  custom  of  bathing  in  the  men's  baths  may  probably  be 
taken  as  some  kind  of  lustration,  more  especially  as  the  women 
were  adorned  with  myrtle,  which  had  purifying  virtues 5.  How 
old  this  curious  custom  was  we  cannot  guess.  Plutarch6 
mentions  a  temple  of  this  Fortuna  dedicated  by  Servius 
Tullius  ;  but  there  was  a  strong  tendency,  as  we  shall  see  later 
on,  to  attribute  all  Fortuna-cults  to  this  king. 

The  Venus  who  eventually  supplanted  Fortuna  is  clearly 
Venus  Verticordia 7,  whose  earliest  temple  was  founded  in 
114  B.  c.,  in  obedience  to  an  injunction.of  the  Sibylline  books, 
after  the  discovery  of  incest  on  the  part  of  three  vestal  virgins, 
'  quo  facilius  virgin  um  mulierumque  uiens  a  libidine  ad  pudici- 

1  C.Li.  315. 

2  We  shall  find  some  reason  for  believing  that  in  the  early  Republican 
period  new  cults  came  in  rather  through  plebeian  than  patrician  agency 
(see  below,  on  Cerealia).    But  in  the  period  of  the  new  nobilitas  the 
lower  classes  seem  rather  to  have  held  to  their  own  cults,  while  the  upper 
social  stratum   was  more   ready  to  accept  new   ones.     See   below,   on 
April  4,  for  the  conditions  of  such  acceptance.     The  tendency  is  to  be 
explained  by  the  wide  and  increasing  sphere  of  the  foreign  relations  of 
the  Senatorial  government. 

s  Fasti,  4.  133-164. 

*  Ovid,  1.  c.  149  foil. 

s  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  456. 

'  Quaest.  Rom.  74. 

7  Ovid,  1.  c.,  4.  160  '  Inde  Venus  verso  nomina  cprde  tenet.' 


MENSIS    APRILIS  69 

tiam  converteretur1.'  Macrobius  insists  that  Venus  had  originally 
no  share  in  the  worship  of  this  day  or  month 2 ;  she  must 
therefore  have  been  introduced  into  it  as  a  foreigner.  Robert- 
son  Smith 3  has  shown  some  ground  for  the  conjecture  that 
she  was  the  Cyprian  Aphrodite  (herself  identical  with  the 
Semitic  Astarte),  who  came  to  Kome  by  way  of  Sicily  and 
Latium.  For  if  Lydus  can  be  trusted,  the  Roman  ceremony 
of  April  i  was  found  also  in  Cyprus,  on  the  same  day,  witli 
variations  in  detail.  If  that  be  so,  the  addition  of  the  name 
Verticordia  is  a  curious  example  of  the  accretion  of  a  Roman 
cult-title  expressive  of  domestic  morality  on  a  foreign  deity  of 
questionable  reputation 4. 

PRID.  NON.  APR.  (APRIL  4).     C. 

MATR[I]  MAG[NAE].     (MAFF.) 
LUDI  MEGALESIACI.     (PHILOC.) 

Note    in  Praen. :    LUDI   M[ATRI]  D[EUM]   M[AGNAE]   I[DAEAE]. 

MEGALESIA  VOCANTUR  QUOD  EA  DBA  MEGALE  APPELLATUR. 
NOBILIUM  MUTITATIONES  CENARUM  SOLITAE  SUNT  FRE- 
QUENTER FIERI,  QUOD  MATER  MAGNA  EX  LIBRIS  SIBULLINIS 
ARCESSITA  LOCUM  MUTAVIT  EX  PHRYGIA  ROMAM. 

The  introduction  of  the  Magna  Mater  Idaea  into  Rome  can 
only  be  briefly  mentioned  here,  as  being  more  important  for 
the  histoiy  of  religion  at  Rome  than  for  that  of  the  Roman 
religion.  In  B.  c.  204,  in  accordance  with  a  Sibylline  oracle 
which  had  previously  prophesied  that  the  presence  of  this  deity 
alone  could  drive  the  enemy  out  of  Italy,  the  sacred  stone 
representing  the  goddess  arrived  at  Rome  from  Pessinus  in 
Phrygias.  Attains,  King  of  Pergamus,  had  acquired  this 
territory,  and  now,  as  a  faithful  friend  to  Rome,  consented  to 
the  transportation  of  the  stone,  which  was  received  at  Rome 
with  enthusiasm  by  an  excited  and  now  hopeful  people6. 

1  Aust,  de  Aedibus  sacris,  p.  28.  About  a  century  earlier  a  statue  of  this 
Venus  was  said  to  have  been  erected  (Val.  Max.  8.  15.  12;  Plin.  H.  N.  7. 
120),  as  Wisbowa  pointed  out  in  his  Essay,  'de  Veneris  Simulacris,'  p.  12. 

a  See  above,  p.  67,  note  2. 

s  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  450  foil.  *  Preller,  i.  446. 

*  Livy,  29.  10  and  14  ;  Ovid  (Fasti,  4.  259  foil.)  has  a  fanciful  edition 
of  the  story  which  well  illustrates  the  character  of  his  work,  and  that  of 
the  legend-mongers ;  cp.  Preller,  ii.  57. 

'  Preller,  ii.  55. 


70  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

Scipio  was  about  to  leave  with  his  army  for  Africa ;  a  fine 
harvest  followed  ;  Hannibal  was  forced  to  evacuate  Italy  the 
next  year ;  and  the  goddess  did  everything  that  was  expected 
of  her '. 

The  stone  was  deposited  in  the  temple  of  Victory  on  the 
Palatine  on  April  4 2.  The  day  was  made  a  festival ;  though 
no  Roman  festival  occurs  between  the  Kalends  and  Nones  of 
any  month,  the  rule  apparently  did  not  hold  good  in  the  case 
of  a  foreign  worship 3.  Great  care  was  taken  to  keep  up  the 
foreign  character  of  the  cult.  The  name  of  the  festival  was 
a  Greek  one  (Megalesia),  as  Cicero  remarked 4 ;  all  Romans 
were  forbidden  by  a  senatus  consultum  to  take  any  part  in  the 
service  of  the  goddess  \  The  temple  dedicated  thirteen  years 
later  on  April  io6  seems  to  have  been  frequented  by  the 
nobilitas  only,  and  the  custom  of  giving  dinner-parties  on 
April  4,  which  is  well  attested,  was  confined  to  the  upper 
classes7,  while  the  plebs  waited  for  its  festivities  till  the 
ensuing  Cerealia.  The  later  and  more  extravagant  develop- 
ments of  the  cult  did  not  come  in  until  the  Empire8. 

The  story  told  by  Livy  of  the  introduction  of  the  goddess  is 
an  interesting  episode  in  Roman  history.  It  illustrates  the 
far-reaching  policy  of  the  Senate  in  enlisting  Eastern  kings, 
religions,  and  oracles  in  the  service  of  the  state  at  a  critical 
time,  and  also  the  curious  readiness  of  the  Roman  people  to 
believe  in  the  efficacy  of  cults  utterly  foreign  to  their  own 
religious  practices.  At  the  same  time  it  shows  how  careful 
the  government  was  then,  as  always,  to  keep  such  cults  under 
strict  supervision.  But  the  long  stress  of  the  Hannibalic  War 
had  its  natural  effect  on  the  Italian  peoples:  and  less  than 

1  Plin.  H.  N.  18.  16 ;  Arnobius,  7.  49.  a  Livy,  29.  io,  14. 

s  See  above,  Introduction,  p.  7. 

4  de  Harusp.  Resp.  12.  24  '  Qui  uni  ludi  ne  verho  quidem  appellantur 
Latino,   ut  vocabulo  ipso  et  appetita  religio  externa  et  Matris  Magnae 
nomine  suscepta  declaretur.' 

5  Dion.  Hal.  a.  19.    A  very  interesting  passage,  in  which,  among  other 
comments,  the  historian  points  out  that  in  receiving  the  goddess  the 
Romans  eliminated  Sutauav  rtpOptiav  jut>0i/ci)v. 

*  Aust,  de  Aedibus  sacris,  pp.  22  and  49. 

7  Gell.  18.  a.  ir  (patricii)  ;  cp.  2.  24.  a  (principes  civitatis).  Cp.  Lydus, 
4-  45  !  Verrius'  note  in  Praen.,  '  Nobilium  mutitationes  cenarum  solitae 
sunt  frequenter  fieri,'  &c. 

'  See  Marq.  370  foil.  The  Ludi  eventually  extended  from  the  4th  to 
the  loth  inclusive  (C.  I.L.  314). 


MENSIS    APRILIS  7! 

twenty  years  later  the  introduction  of  the  Bacchic  orgies 
forced  the  senate  to  strain  every  nerve  to  counteract  a  serious 
danger  to  the  national  religion  and  morality. 

xvn  KAL.  MAI.     (APRIL  15).     IP. 

FORDflCIDlA]1.       (CAER.    MAFF.    VAT.    PRAEN.) 

This  is  beyond  doubt  one  of  the  oldest  sacrificial  rites  in  the 
Roman  religion.  It  consisted  in  the  slaughter  of  pregnant 
cows  (hordae  or  fordae),  one  in  the  Capitol  and  one  in  each  of  the 
thirty  curiac* ;  i.e.  one  for  the  state  and  the  rest  for  each 
of  its  ancient  divisions.  This  was  the  first  festival  of  the 
curiae;  the  other,  the  Fornacalia,  will  be  treated  of  under 
February  1 7.  The  cows  were  offered,  as  all  authorities  agree, 
to  Tellus3,  who,  as  we  shall  see,  may  be  an  indigitation  of 
the  same  earth  power  represented  by  Ceres,  Bona  Dea,  Dea  Dia, 
and  other  female  deities.  The  unborn  calves  were  torn  by 
attendants  of  the  virgo  vestalis  maxima  from  the  womb  of  the 
mother  and  burnt 4,  and  their  ashes  were  kept  by  the  Vestals 
for  use  at  the  Parilia  a  few  days  later  \  This  was  the  first 
ceremony  in  the  year  in  which  the  Vestals  took  an  active  part, 
and  it  was  the  first  of  a  series  of  acts  all  of  which  are  connected 
with  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  their  growth,  ripening  and 
harvesting.  The  object  of  burning  the  unborn  calves  seems 
to  have  been  to  procure  the  fertility  of  the  corn  now  growing 
in  the  womb  of  mother  earth,  to  whom  the  sacrifice  was 
offered  6. 

1  Or  Hordicidia,  Fest.  102  ;  Hordicalia,  Varro,  R.  R.  2.  5.  6  ;  Fordicalia, 
Lydus,  4.  49.  '  Forda  ferens  bos  est  fecundaque,  dicta  ferendo,'  Ovid,  Fasti, 
4-631. 

*  Ovid,  1.  c.  635  'Pars  cadit  arce  lovis.  Ter  donas  curia  vaccas 
Accipit,  et  largo  sparsa  cruore  madet.'  Cp.  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  15.  Preller, 
ii.  6.  understands  Ovid's  'pars'  as  meaning  more  than  one  cow. 

1  Ovid,   L  c.   633  '  Nunc  gravidum  pecus  est,   gravidae  nunc  semine 
terrae  ;  Telluri  plenae  victima  plena  datur.' 
1  Ovid,  1.  c.  637 

Ast  ubi  visceribus  vitulos  rnpuere  ministri, 

Sectaque  fumosis  exta  dedere  focis, 
Igne  cremat  vitulos  quae  natu  maxima  Virgo, 

Luce  Palis  populos  purget  ut  ille  cinis. 
8  See  below,  p.  83. 

8  This  appears  plainly  in  Ovid's  account  (Fasti,  4.  633  foil.),  and  also  in 
that  of  Lydus  (4.  49) :  irtpi  rcL  ffiropifia  i/irip  tverrjpias  Itpdrfvov.  Both  doubtless 
drew  on  Varro.  Lydus  adds  one  or  two  particulars,  that  the  &p\itptis  (?) 


72  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

Many  charms  of  this  sacrificial  kind  have  been  noticed  by 
various  writers ;  one  may  be  mentioned  here  which  was 
described  by  Sir  John  Barrow,  when  British  Ambassador  in 
China  in  1 804.  In  a  spring  festival  in  the  temple  of  Earth, 
a  huge  porcelain  image  of  a  cow  was  carried  about  and  then 
broken  in  pieces,  and  a  number  of  small  cows  taken  from  inside 
it  and  distributed  among  the  people  as  earnests  of  a  good 
season  \  This  must  be  regarded  as  a  survival  of  a  rite  which 
was  no  doubt  originally  one  of  the  same  kind  as  the  Roman. 


in  ID.  APR.  (APRIL  n).     N. 

On  this  day2  the  oracle  of  the  great  temple  of  Fortuna 
Primigenia  at  Praeneste  was  open  to  suppliants,  as  we  learn 
from  a  fragment  of  the  Praenestine  Fasti  Though  not 
a  Roman  festival,  the  day  deserves  to  be  noticed  here,  as  this 
oracle  was  by  far  the  most  renowned  in  Italy.  The  cult  of 
Fortuna  will  be  discussed  under  June  25  and  Sept.  13.  It  does 
not  seem  to  be  known  whether  the  oracle  was  open  on  these 
days  only  ;  see  R.  Peter  in  Myth.  Lex.  s.  v.  Fortuna,  1545. 


xin  KAL.  MAI.  (APRIL  19).    IP. 

CER[IALIA].       (CAER.    MAFF.    PRAEN.    ESQ.) 
CERERI   LIBERO    (LIBERAE)    ESQ. 

Note :  All  the  days  from  i2th  to  ipth  are  marked  ludi,  ludi 
Cer.,  or  ludi  Ceriales,  in  Tusc.  Maff.  Praen.  Vat.,  taken 
together:  loid.  Cereri  in  Esq.,  where  the  i8th  only  is 
preserved :  loedi  C  in  Caer.  Philocalus  has  Cerealici  c.  m. 
(circenses  missus)  xxiv  on  1 2th  and  i  pth. 

The  origin  of  the  ludi  Cereales,  properly  so  called,  cannot  be 
proved  to  be  earlier  than  the  Second  Punic  War.  The  games 

scattered  flowers  among  the  people  in  the  theatre,  and  went  in  procession 
outside  the  city,  sacrificing  to  Demeter  at  particular  stations  ;  but  he 
may  be  confusing  this  festival  With  the  Ambarvalia. 

1  See  Mannhardt,  Myth.  Forsch.  190  ;  cp.  Frazer,  G.  B.  ii.  43. 

3  Fasti  Praen. ;  C.  I.  L.  235,  and  Mommsen's  note  (where  Apr.  is  mis- 
printed Aug.).  '[Hoc  biduo  sacrific]ium  maximum  Fortunae  Prim[i]g. 
utro  eorum  die  oraclum  patot,  Ilviri  vitulum  I.' 


MENSIS    APRILIS  73 

first  appear  as  fully  established  in  B.C.  202  '.  But  from  the  fact 
that  April  1 9  is  marked  CER  in  large  letters  in  the  calendars 
we  may  infer,  with  Mommsen2,  that  there  was  a  festival  in 
honour  of  Ceres  as  far  back  as  the  period  of  the  monarchy. 
The  question  therefore  arises  whether  this  ancient  Ceres  was 
a  native  Italian  deity,  or  the  Greek  Demeter  afterwards  known 
to  the  Romans  as  Ceres. 

That  there  was  such  an  Italian  deity  is  placed  almost  beyond 
doubt  by  the  name  itself,  which  all  authorities  agree  in 
connecting  with  cerus  =  genius,  and  with  the  cerfus  and 
cerfia  of  the  great  inscription  of  Iguvium 3.  The  verbal  form 
seems  clearly  to  be  creare* ;  and  thus,  strange  to  say,  we 
actually  get  some  definite  aid  from  etymology,  and  can  safely 
see  in  the  earliest  Ceres,  if  we  recollect  her  identification  with 
the  Greek  goddess  of  the  earth  and  its  fruits,  a  deity  presiding 
over  or  representing  the  generative  powers  of  nature.  We 
cannot,  however,  feel  sure  whether  this  deity  was  originally 
feminine  only,  or  masculine  also,  as  Arnobius  seems  to  suggest5. 
Judging  from  the  occurrence  of  forms  such  as  those  quoted 
above,  it  is  quite  likely,  as  in  the  case  of  Pales,  Liber,  and 
others,  that  this  numen  was  of  both  sexes,  or  of  undetermined 
sex.  So  anxious  were  the  primitive  Italians  to  catch  the  ear 
of  their  deities  by  making  no  mistake  in  the  ritual  of  addressing 
them,  that  there  was  a  distinct  tendency  to  avoid  marking  their 
sex  too  distinctly ;  and  phrases  such  as  'sive  mas  sive  femina,' 
'si  deus  si  dea,'  are  familiar  to  all  students  of  the  Roman 
religion 6. 

We  may  be  satisfied,  then,  that  the  oldest  Ceres  was  not 
simply  an  importation  from  Greece.  It  is  curious,  however, 

1  Liv.  30.  39;  Friediander  in  Marq.  500;  Mommsen^  Mumioesen,  p.  642, 
note  ;  Staatsrecht,  i.  586. 

2  C.  I.  L.  298. 

*  In  the  Salian  hymn  duonus  cents  =  creator  bonus  (of  Janus):  cf.  Varro, 
L  L.  7.  26 ;    Mommsen,    Unteritalische    Diulekten,    133.      See   articles   cerus 
(Wissowa)  and  Ceres  (Birt)  in  Myth.  Lex. ;  Biicheler,  Umbrica,  80  and  99. 

*  '  Ceres  a  creando  dicta,*  Serv.  Georg.  1.7.     It  is  worth  noting  that  in 
Nonius  Marcellus,  44,  cerrili  =  larvati,  where  cerus  seems  to  mean  a  ghost. 
If  so,  we  have  a  good  example  of  a  common  origin  of  ghosts  and  gods  in 
the  animistic  ideas  of  early  Italy. 

8  Arnob.  3.  40,  quoting  one  Caesius,  who  followed  Etruscan  teaching, 
and  held  that  Ceres  =  Genius  lovialis  et  Pales.  See  Preller-Jordan,  i.  8r. 

*  Preller-Jordan,  i.  62.    They  were  not  even  certain  whether  the  Genius 
Urbis  was  masculine  or  feminine ;  Serv.  Aen.  a.  351. 


74  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

that  Ceres  is  not  found  exactly  where  we  should  expect  to  find 
her,  viz.  in  the  ritual  of  the  Fratres  Arvales '.  Yet  this  very 
fact  may  throw  further  light  on  the  primitive  nature  of  Ceres. 
The  central  figure  of  the  Arval  ritual  was  the  nameless  Dea 
Dia ;  and  in  a  ritual  entirely  relating  to  the  fruits  of  the  earth 
we  can  fairly  account  for  the  absence  of  Ceres  by  supposing 
that  she  is  there  represented  by  the  Dea  Dia — in  fact,  that  the 
two  are  identical 2.  No  one  at  all  acquainted  with  Italian  ideas 
of  the  gods  will  be  surprised  at  this.  It  is  surely  a  more 
reasonable  hypothesis  than  that  of  Birt,  who  thinks  that  an 
old  name  for  seed  and  bread  (i.  e.  Ceres)  was  transferred  to  the 
Greek  deity  who  dispensed  seed  and  bread  when  she  was 
introduced  in  Rome 3.  It  is,  in  fact,  only  the  name  Ceres  that  is 
wanting  in  the  Arval  ritual,  not  the  numen  itself;  and  this 
is  less  surprising  if  we  assume  that  the  names  given  by  the 
earliest  Eomans  to  supernatural  powers  were  not  fixed  but 
variable,  representing  no  distinctly  conceived  personalities ; 
in  other  words,  that  their  religion  was  pandaemonic  rather  than 
polytheistic,  though  with  a  tendency  to  lend  itself  easily  to  the 
influence  of  polytheism.  We  may  agree,  then,  with  Preller 4, 
that  Ceres,  with  Tellus,  and  perhaps  Ops  and  Acca  Larentia,  are 
different  names  for,  and  aspects  of,  the  numen  whom  the  Arval 
brothers  called  Dea  Dia.  At  the  same  time  we  cannot  entirely 
explain  why  the  name  Ceres  was  picked  out  from  among  these 
to  represent  the  Greek  Demeter.  Some  light  may,  however, 
be  thrown  on  this  point  by  studying  the  early  history  of  the 
Ceres-cult. 

The  first  temple  of  Ceres  was  founded,  according  to  tradition, 
in  consequence  of  a  famine  in  the  year  496  B.  c.,  in  obedience 
to  a  Sibylline  oracle s.  It  was  at  the  foot  of  the  Aventine, 
by  the  Circus  Maximus",  and  was  dedicated  on  April  19,  493, 
to  Ceres,  Liber  and  Libera,  representing  Demeter,  Dionysus, 


1  Henzen,  Ada  Fr.  An.  p.  48.  In  later  times  Ceres  took  the  place  of 
Mars  at  the  Ambarvalia,  under  Greek  influence. 

*  So  Henzen,  1.  c.  and  his  Introduction,  p.  ix. 

3  Myth  Lex.  s.v.  Ceies,  86r.  He  does  not,  however,  dogmatize,  and  has 
little  to  adduce  in  favour  of  his  opinion,  save  the  statement  of  Servius 
(Georg.  1.7)  that  '  Sabini  Cererem  Panem  appellant.' 

*  Preller- Jordan,  ii.  26. 

*  Aust,  de  Aedibus,  pp.  5  and  40.     Preller-Jordan,  ii.  38. 
6  Birt  (Myth.  Lex.  862)  gives  the  authorities. 


MENSIS    APRILIS  75 

and  Persephone  \  Thus  from  the  outset  the  systematized  cult 
of  Ceres  in  the  city  was  not  Roman  but  Greek.  The  temple 
itself  was  adorned  in  Greek  style  instead  of  the  Etruscan  usual 
at  this  period 2.  How  is  all  this  to  be  accounted  for  ? 

Let  us  notice  in  the  first  place  that  from  the  very  foundation 
of  the  temple  it  is  in  the  closest  way  connected  with  the  plebs. 
The  year  of  its  dedication  is  that  of  the  first  secession  of  the 
plebs  and  of  the  establishment  of  the  tribuni  and  aediles 
plebis3.  The  two  events  are  connected  by  the  fact,  repeatedly 
stated,  that  any  one  violating  the  sacrosanctitas  of  the  tribune 
was  to  be  held  sacer  Cereri* ;  we  are  also  told  that  the  fines 
imposed  by  tribunes  were  spent  on  this  temple  *.  It  was  under 
the  care  of  the  plebeian  aediles,  and  was  to  them  what  the 
temple  of  Saturnus  was  to  the  quaestors 6.  Its  position  was  in 
the  plebeian  quarter,  and  at  the  foot  of  the  Aventine,  which 
in  B.  c.  456  is  said  to  have  become  the  property  of  the 
plebs 7. 

Now  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  the  choice  of  Ceres  (with 
her  fellow  deities  of  the  Mas),  as  the  goddess  whose  temple 
should  serve  as  a  centre  for  the  plebeian  community,  had  some 
definite  meaning.  That  meaning  must  be  found  in  the  tradi- 
tions of  famine  and  distress  which  we  read  of  as  immediately 
following  the  expulsion  of  Tarquinius.  These  traditions  have 
often  been  put  aside  as  untrustworthy 8,  and  may  indeed  be  so 
in  regard  to  details  ;  but  there  is  some  reason  for  thinking 
them  to  have  had  a  foundation  of  fact,  if  we  can  but  accept  the 
other  tradition  of  the  foundation  of  the  temple  and  its  connexion 

1  The  trios  of  itself  would  prove  the  Greek  origin  :   cf.  Kuhfeldt,  de 
Capitoliis,  p.  77  foil. 

2  Plin.  H.  N.  35.  154.    The  names  of  two  Greek  artists  were  inscribed 
on  the  temple. 

3  Mom m sen,  Staatsrecht,  ii.2  468,  note. 

4  Dion.  Hal.  6.  89  ;  10.  42 ;  Liv.  3.  55  says  sacer  loci,  but  the  property 
was  to  be  sold  at  the  temple  of  Ceres,  Liber,  and  Libera.    The  corn- 
stealer  also  was  facer  Cereri. 

'-  Liv.  10.  23  ;  27.  6 ;  33.  25. 

6  Mommsen,  Hist.  i.   284,  note.     Cp.    Schwegler,  Rom.    Gesch.  ii.   275, 
note  3,  who  thinks  of  an  aerarivm  plebis  there.     See  also  i.  606  and  ii.  278, 
note  3.     According  to  Liv.  3.  55  senatus  consulta  had  to  be  deposited  in 
this  temple. 

7  Burn,  Rome  and  the  Campagna,  p.    204 ;    Liv.  3.  31  and  32  fin.  ;  cp. 
10.  31. 

8  e.g.  by  Ihne,  vol.  i.  p.  160. 


76  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

with  the  plebs.  It  is  likely  enough  that  under  Tarquinius  the 
population  was  increased  by  '  outsiders '  employed  on  his  great 
buildings.  Under  pressure  from  the  attack  of  enemies,  and 
from  a  sudden  aristocratic  reaction,  this  population,  we  may 
guess,  was  thrown  out  of  work,  deprived  of  a  raison  d'etre,  and 
starved ' ;  finally  rescuing  itself  by  a  secession,  which  resulted 
in  the  institution  of  its  officers,  tribunes  and  aediles,  the  latter 
of  whom  seem  to  have  been  charged  with  the  duty  of  looking 
after  the  corn-supply  2. 

How  the  corn-supply  was  cared  for  we  cannot  tell  for  certain ; 
but  here  again  is  a  tradition  which  fits  in  curiously  with  what 
we  know  of  the  temple  and  its  worship,  though  it  has  been 
rejected  by  the  superfluous  ingenuity  of  modern  German 
criticism.  Livy  tells  us  that  in  B.  c.  492,  the  year  after  the 
dedication  of  the  temple,  corn  was  brought  from  Etruria, 
Cumae,  and  Sicily  to  relieve  a  famine 3.  We  are  not  obliged 
to  believe  in  the  purchase  of  corn  at  Syracuse  at  so  early 
a  date,  though  it  is  not  impossible ;  but  if  we  remember 
that  the  decorations  and  ritual  of  the  temple  were  Greek 
beyond  doubt,  we  get  a  singular  confirmation  of  the  tradition 
in  outline  which  has  not  been  sufficiently  noticed.  If  it  was 
founded  in  493,  placed  under  plebeian  officers,  and  closely 
connected  with  the  plebs ;  if  its  rites  and  decorations  were 
Greek  from  the  beginning ;  we  cannot  afford  to  discard  a  tradi- 
tion telling  us  of  a  commercial  connexion  with  Greek  cities, 
the  object  of  which  was  to  relieve  a  starving  plebeian 
population. 

And  surely  there  is  nothing  strange  in  the  supposition  that 

1  Schwegler,  R.  G.  i.  783  foil. 

2  Mommsen,  Statitsrecht,  ii.a  468,  note  2,  is  doubtful  as  to  the  date  of  the 
euro,  annonae  of  the  plebeian  aediles.     But  Plin.  H.  N.  18.  3.  15  attributes 
it  to  an  aedile  of  earlier  date  than  Spurius  Maelius  (B.C.  438)  ;  and  though 
the  Consuls  may  have  had  the  general  supervision,  the  immediate  cwra, 
as  far  as  the  plebs  was  concerned,  would  surely  lie  with  their  officers. 
Two  points  should  be  borne  in  mind  here — (i)  that  the  plebeian  popula- 
tion to  be  relieved  would  be  a  surplus  population  within  the  city,  not  the 
farmer-population  of  the  country  ;    (2)  that  it  would  probably  be  easier 
to  transport  corn  by  sea  than  by  land,  as  roads  were  few,  and  enemies  all 
around. 

3  Dion.  Hal.  7.  i,  exposes  the  absurdity  of  Roman  annalists  in  attributing 
the  corn-supply  to  Dionysius ;  but  he  himself  talks  of  Gelo.     Cp.  Ihne, 
i.  160.     Ihne  disbelieves  the  whole  story,  believing  it  to  be  copied  from 
events  which  happened  long  afterwards. 


MENSIS    APRILIS  77 

Greek  influence  gained  ground,  not  so  much  with  the  patricians 
who  had  their  own  outfit  of  religious  armour,  but  with  the 
plebs  who  had  no  share  in  the  sacra  of  their  betters,  and  with 
the  Etruscan  dynasty  which  favoured  the  plebs'.  We  may 
hesitate  to  assent  to  Mommsen's  curious  assertion  that  the 
merchants  of  that  day  were  none  other  than  the  great  patrician 
landholders2 ;  we  may  rather  be  disposed  to  conjecture  that 
it  was  the  more  powerful  plebeians,  incapable  of  holding  large 
areas  of  public  land,  who  turned  their  attention  to  commerce, 
and  came  in  contact  with  the  Greeks  of  Italy  and  Sicily.  The 
position  of  the  plebeian  quarter  along  the  Tiber  bank,  and 
near  the  spot  where  the  quays  of  Kome  have  always  been,  may 
possibly  point  in  the  same  direction s. 

To  return  to  the  Cerealia  of  April  19.  We  have  still  to 
notice  a  relic  of  apparently  genuine  Italian  antiquity  which 
survived  in  it  down  to  Ovid's  time,  and  may  be  taken  as 
evidence  that  there  was  a  real  Roman  substratum  on  which 
the  later  Greek  ritual  was  superimposed. 

Every  one  who  reads  Ovid's  account  of  the  Cerealia  will  be 
struck  by  his  statement  that  on  the  igih  it  was  the  practice  to 
fasten  burning  brands  to  the  tails  of  foxes  and  set  them  loose 
to  run  in  the  Circus  Maximus 4 : 

Cur  igitur  inissae  vinctis  ardentia  taedis 

Terga  feraut  volpes,  causa  docenda  mihi  est. 

He  tells  a  charming  story  to  explain  the  custom,  learnt  from 
an  old  man  of  Carseoli,  an  Aequian  town,  where  he  was 
seeking  information  while  writing  the  Fasti.  A  boy  of  twelve 
years'  old  caught  a  vixen  fox  which  had  done  damage  to 
the  farm,  and  tied  it  up  in  straw  and  hay.  This  he  set  on 
fire,  but  the  fox  escaped  and  burnt  the  crops.  Hence  a  law 
at  Carseoli  forbidding  —  something  about  foxes,  which  the 


1  Ambrosch,  Studien,  p.  208.  Tradition  told  that  the  Tarquinii  had 
stored  up  great  quantities  of  corn  in  Rome,  i.e.  had  fed  their  workmen. 
Cp.  Liv.  i.  56  and  a.  9. 

1  Mommscn,  R.  H ,  bk.  i.  ch.  13  fin. 

3  Seo  under  August  13  (below,  p.  198)  for  the  parallel  foundation  of  the 
temple  of  Diana  on  the  Aventine,  which  also  had  a  Greek  and  plebeian 
character. 

*  Fasti,  4.  68r  foil.  Ovid  does  not  distinctly  say  that  the  foxes  were  let 
loose  in  the  Circus,  but  seems  to  imply  it. 


78  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

corruption  of  the  MSS.  has  obscured  for  us1.  Then  he 
concludes : 

Utque  luat  poenas  gens  haec,  Cerialibus  ardet ; 
Quoque  modo  segetes  perdidit,  ipsa  perit. 

We  are,  of  course,  reminded  of  Samson  burning  the  corn  of 
the  Philistines1 ;  and  it  is  probable  that  the  story  in  each  case 
is  a  myth  explanatory  of  some  old  practice  like  the  one  Ovid 
describes  at  Rome.  But  what  the  practice  meant  it  is  not  very 
easy  to  see.  Preller  has  his  explanation  ready 3 ;  it  was 
a  '  sinnbildliche  Erinnerung '  of  the  robigo  (i.  e.  '  red  fox '),  which 
was  to  be  feared  and  guarded  against  at  this  time  of  year. 
Mannhardt  thinks  rather  of  the  corn-foxes  or  corn-spirits  of 
France  and  Germany,  of  which  he  gives  many  instances 4.  If 
the  foxes  were  corn  spirits,  one  does  not  quite  see  why  they 
should  have  brands  fastened  to  their  tails 5.  No  exactly  parallel 
practice  seems  to  be  forthcoming,  and  the  fox  does  not  appear 
elsewhere  in  ancient  Italian  or  Greek  folk-tales,  as  far  as  I  can 
discover.  All  that  can  be  said  is  that  the  fox's  tail  seems  to 
have  been  an  object  of  interest,  and  possibly  to  have  had  some 
fertilizing  power 6,  and  some  curious  relation  to  ears  of  corn. 
Prof.  Gubernatis  believes  this  tail  to  have  been  a  phallic 
symbol7.  We  need  not  accept  his  explanation,  but  we  may 
be  grateful  to  him  for  a  modern  Italian  folk-tale,  from  the 
region  of  Leghorn  and  the  Maremma,  in  which  a  fox  is 
frightened  away  by  chickens  which  carry  each  in  its  beak  an 

1        '  Factum  abiit,  moniinenta  maneut ;   fnam  vivere  captamf 

Nunc  quoque  lex  volpem  Oarseolana  vetat.' 

The  best  MSS.  have  'nam  dicere  certam.'  Bergk  conjectured  'naraque 
icere  captam.'  The  reading  given  above  is  adopted  from  some  inferior 
MSS.  by  H.  Peter  (Leipzig,  1889),  following  Heinsius  and  Riese.  Mr.  S  G. 
Owen  of  Ch.  Ch.,  our  best  authority  on  the  text  of  Ovid,  has  kindly 
sent  me  the  suggestion  namque  ire  repertam,  comparing,  for  the  use  of  ire, 
Ovid,  Am.  3.  6.  20  'sic  aeternus  eas.'  This  conjecture,  which  occurred 
independently  to  myself,  suits  the  sense  and  is  close  to  the  reading  of 
the  best  MSS. 

*  J.  Grimm,  Reinhardt  der  Fuchs,  cclxix  (quoted  by  Peter).     Ovid's  ex- 
planation is  of  course  wrong ;  the  story  is  beyond  doubt  meant  to  explain 
the  ritual,  or  a  law  to  which  the  ritual  gave  rise. 

3  Preller-Jordan,  ii.  43.     See  under  Robigalia. 

*  Myth.  Fwsch.  107  foil. 

*  Ovid's  word  is  terga,  but  he  must,  I  think,  mean  '  tails.' 

*  Mannhardt,  op.  cit.  185      Cp.  Frazer,  Golden  Bough,  i.  408  ;  ii.  3  and  28 
(for  fertilizing  power  of  tail). 

7  Zoological  Mythology,  ii.  138. 


MENSIS    APRILIS  79 

ear  of  millet ;  the  fox  is  told  that  these  ears  are  all  foxes'  tails, 
and  runs  for  it. 

Here  we  must  leave  this  puzzle1 ;  but  whoever  cares  to  read 
Ovid's  lines  about  his  journey  towards   his   native  Pelignian 
country,  his  turning  into  the  familiar  lodging — 
Hospilis  antiqui  solitas  intravimus  aedes, 

and  the  tales  he  heard  there — among  them  that  of  the  fox — 
will  find  them  better  worth  reading  than  the  greater  part  of 
the  Fasti. 

xi  KAL.  MAI.  (APR.   21).     IP.2 

PARflLIA1.       (CAEB.    MAFF.    PRAEN.) 

ROMA    CONDriTA]    FERIAE    CORONATIS    OMNIBUS].      (CAER.) 

N[ATALIS]  URBIS.     CIRCENSES  MISSUS  xxiv.     (PHILOC.) 

[A  note  in  Praen.  is  hopelessly  mutilated,  with  the 
exception  of  the  words  IGNES  and  PRINCIPIO  AN[NI  PAS- 
TORICII  3  ?] 

The  Parilia4,  at  once  one  of  the  oldest  and  best  attested 
festivals  of  the  whole  year,  is  at  the  same  time  the  one  whose 
features  have  been  most  clearly  explained  by  the  investigations 
of  parallels  among  other  races. 

The  first  point  to  notice  is  that  the  festival  was  both  public 
and  private,  urban  and  rustic 5.  Ovid  clearly  distinguishes 

1  It  may  be  as  well  to  note  that  the  custom  of  tying  some  object  in 
straw — wheel,  pole  with  cross-piece,  man  who  slips  out  in  time,  &c. — and 
then  burning  it  and  carrying  it  about  the  fields,  is  common  in  Europe 
and  elsewhere  (Frazer,  G  B.  ii.  246  foil.).     At  the  same  time  animals  are 
sometimes  burnt  in  a  bonfire  :  e.g.  squirrels,  cats,  foxes,  &c.  (G.  B.ii.  283). 
The  explanation  of  Mimnhardt,  adopted  by  Mr.  Frazer,  is  that  they  were 
corn-spirits  burnt  as  a  charm  to  secure  sunshine  and  vegetation.     If  the 
foxes  were  ever  really  let  loose  among  the  fields,  damage  might  occa- 
sionally be  done,  and  stories  might  arise  like  that  of  Carseoli,  or  even 
laws  forbidding  a  dangerous  practice. 

2  In  C.  I.  L.  315  this  mark  is  confused  with  those  of  the  23rd. 

3  The   letters  an  also  appear   in   a  fragment  of  a  lost   note  in   Esq. 
Mommsen  quotes  Ovid,  Fasti,  4.  775,  and  Tibull.  2.  5.  81  for  the  idea  of  an 
annus  pastorum  beginning  on  this  day.     I  can  find  no  explanation  of  it, 
astronomical  or  other.     Dion.  Hal.  i.  88  calls  the  day  the  beginning  of 
spring,  which  it  certainly  was  not. 

4  For  the  form  of  the  word  see  Mommsen,  C.  I.  L.  315.     (In  Varro,  L.  Z. 
6.  15,  it  is  Palilia.)     Preller-Jordan,  i.  416. 

4  '  Palilia  tarn  privata  quam  publica  sunt.'  Varro,  ap  Schol.  in  Persium, 
i.  75.  See  on  Compitalia,  below,  p.  279. 


8o  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

the  two;  lines  721-734  deal  with  the  urban  festival,  735-782 
with  the  rustic.  The  explanations  which  follow  deal  with 
both.  Pales,  the  deity  (apparently  both  masculine  and 
feminine ')  whose  name  the  festival  bears,  was,  like  Faunus, 
a  common  deity  of  Italian  pasture  land.  A  Palatium  was  said 
by  Varro  to  have  been  named  after  Pales  at  Keate,  in  the  heart 
of  the  Sabine  hill-country2 ;  and  though  this  may  not  go  for 
much,  the  character  of  the  Parilia,  and  the  fact  that  Pales 
is  called  rusticola,  pastoricia,  silmcda,  &c.,  are  sufficient  to 
show  the  original  non-urban  character  of  the  deity.  He 
(or  she)  was  a  shepherd's  deity  of  the  simplest  kind,  and 
survived  in  Rome  as  little  more  than  a  name 3  from  the  oldest 
times,  when  the  earliest  invaders  drove  their  cattle  through 
the  Sabine  mountains.  Here,  then,  we  seem  to  have  a  clear 
example  of  a  rite  which  was  originally  a  rustic  one,  and 
survived  as  such,  while  at  the  same  time  one  local  form  of  it 
was  kept  up  in  the  great  city,  and  had  become  entangled 
with  legend  and  probably  altered  in  some  points  of  ritual. 
We  will  take  the  rustic  form  first. 

Here  we  may  distinguish  in  Ovid's  account4  the  following 
ritualistic  acts. 

i.  The  sheep-fold5  was  decked  with  green  boughs  and 
a  great  wreath  was  hung  on  the  gate  : 

Frondibus  et  fixis  decorentur  ovilia  minis, 
Et  tegat  ornatas  longa  corona  fores. 

With  this  Mannhardt 6  aptly  compares  the  like  concomitants 
of  the  midsummer  fires  in  North  Germany,  Scotland,  and 
England.  In  Scotland,  for  example,  before  the  bonfires  were 
kindled  on  midsummer  eve,  the  houses  were  decorated  with 

1  Serv.  Georg.  3.  i :  '  Pales  .  .  .  dea  est  pabuli.  Hanc  .  .  .  alii,  inter  quos 
Varro,  masculino  genere  vocant,  ut  hie  Pales.'  There  can  be  no  better 
proof  of  the  antiquity  of  the  deity  in  Italy. 

IL.L.  5.  53. 

There  was  a  flamen  Palatualis  (Varro,  L.  L.  7.  45,  and  Fest.  245')  and  an 
offering  Palatuar  (Fest.  348),  connected  with  a  Dim  Palatua  of  the  Palatine, 
who  may  have  been  the  urban  and  pontifical  form  of  Pales. 

4  Ovid  is  borne  out  or  supplemented  by  Tibull.  2.  5.  87  foil. ;  Propert. 
4.  4.  75  foil.  ;  Probus  on  Virg.  Georg.  3.  i ;  Dionys.  i.  88,  &c. 

*  It  is  noticeable  that  sheep  alone  are  mentioned  in  the  ritual  as  Ovid 
describes  it 

•  A.  W.  F.  p.  310.     Cp.  Frazer,  (?.  B.  ii.  246  foil. 


MENSIS    APRILIS  8 1 

foliage  brought  from  the  woods  \  The  custom  of  decoration 
at  special  seasons,  May-day,  mid-summer,  harvest,  and  Christ- 
mas, is  even  now,  with  the  exception  of  midsummer,  universal, 
and  is  probably  descended  from  these  primitive  rites,  by  which 
our  ancestors  sought  in  some  mysterious  way  to  influence  the 
working  of  the  powers  of  vegetation. 

2.  At    the    earliest    glimmer    of    daybreak     the    shepherd 
purified  the  sheep.     This  was  done  by  sprinkling  and  sweeping 
the   fold  ;    then   a  fire   was   made   of  heaps  of  straw,   olive- 
branches,  and  laurel,  to  give  good  omen  by  the  crackling,  and 
through  this  apparently  the  shepherds   leapt,   and    the  flocks 
were  driven  V    For  this  we  have,  of  course,  numerous  parallels 
from  all  parts  of  the  world.     Burning  sulphur  was  also  used : 

Caerulei  fiant  vivo  de  sulfure  fumi 
Tactaque  fumanti  sulfure  balet  ovis  3. 

3.  After  this  the  shepherd  brought  offerings  to  Pales,  of 
whom  there  may  perhaps  have  been  in  the  farmyard  a  rude 
image  made  of  wood 4 ;  among  these  were  baskets  of  millet 
and  cakes  of  the  same,  pails  of  milk,  and  other  food  of  appro- 
priate kinds.     The  meal  which  followed  the  shepherd  himself 
appears  to  have  shared  with  Pales 5.    Then  he  prays  to  the  deity 
to  avert  all  evil  from  himself  and  his  flocks  ;  whether  he  or 
they  have  unwittingly  trespassed  on  sacred  ground  and  caused 
the  nymphs  or  fauni  to  fly  from  human  eyes  ;    or  have  dis- 
turbed the  sacred  fountains,  and  used  branches  of  a  sacred  tree 
for  secular  ends.     In  these  petitions  the  genuine  spirit  of  Italian 

1  Chambers'  Journal,  July,  1842.  For  the  custom  in  London,  Brand,  Pop. 
iniquities,  p.  307. 

3  So  I  understand  Ovid  :  but  in  line  742  in  mediis  focis  might  rather 
indicate  a  fire  in  the  atr.um  of  the  house,  and  so  Mannhardt  takes  it.  In 
that  case  the  fire  over  which  they  leaped  (line  805)  was  made  later  on  in 
the  ceremony. 

3  Cp.  Horn.  Od.  22.  481  OTaf  Otdov,  "Yprjv,  KOLKUIV  a«oy,  oifft  Sf  poi  nvp, 
'O<f>pa.  Ottiwaoa  fityapov. 

*  Tibull.  2.  5.  28  '  Et  facta  agresti  lignea  falce  Pales.'    Tib.  seems  here 
be  transferring  a  rustic  practice  of  his  own  day  to  the  earliest  Romans 

of  the  Palatine.  But  he  may  be  simply  indulging  his  imagination  ;  and 
e  cannot  safely  conclude  that  we  have  here  a  rude  Italian  origin  of 
ithropomorphic  ideas  of  the  gods. 

*  Ovid,  Fasti,  4.  743-746,  esp.  '  dapibus  resectis.'    We  can  hardly  escape 
the  conclusion  that  the  idea  of  the  common  meal  shared  with  the  gods 

vas  a  genuine  Italian  one ;  it  is  found  here,  in  the  Tcrminalia  (Ovid, 
Fasti,  a.  655),  and  in  the  worship  of  Jupiter.    See  on  Sept.  13  and  Feb.  23. 


82  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

religion — the  awe  of  the  unknown,  the  fear  of  committing 
unwittingly  some  act  that  may  bring  down  wrath  upon  you — 
is  most  vividly  brought  out  in  spite  of  the  Greek  touches  and 
names  which  are  introduced.  He  then  goes  on  to  his  main 
object l : 

Pellc  procul  morbos :   valeant  hominesque  gregesque, 
Et  valeant  vigiles,  provida  turba,  canes. 

Absit  iniqua  fames.     Herbae  frondesque  supersint, 

Quaeque  lavent  artus,  quaeque  bibantur,  aquae. 
Ubera  plena  premam  :  referat  mihi  caseus  aera, 

Dentque  viam  liquido  vimina  rara  aero. 
Sitque  salax  aries,  conceptaque  semina  coniunx 

Reddat,  et  in  stabulo  multa  sit  agna  meo. 
Lanaque  proveniat  nullas  laesura  puellas, 

Moll  is  et  ad  teneras  quamlibet  apta  manus. 
Quae  precor  eveniant :  et  nos  faciamus  ad  annum 

Pustorum  dominae  grandia  liba  Pali. 

This  prayer  must  be  said  four  times  over2,  the  shepherd 
looking  to  the  east  and  wetting  his  hands  with  the  morning 
dew3.  The  position,  the  holy  water,  and  the  prayer  in  its 
substance,  though  now  addressed  to  the  Virgin,  have  all 
descended  to  the  Catholic  shepherd  of  the  Campagna. 

4.  Then  a  bowl  is  to  be  brought,  a  wooden  antique  bowl 
apparently  *,  from  which  milk  and  purple  sapa,  i.  e.  heated 
wine,  may  be  drunk,  until  the  drinker  feels  the  influence  of  the 
fumes,  and  when  he  is  well  set  he  may  leap  over  the  burning 

heaps : 

Moxque  per  ardentes  stipulae  crepitantis  acervos 
Traiicias  celeri  strenua  membra  pede 5. 

The  Parilia  of  the  urbs  was  celebrated  in  much  the  same 
way  in  its  main  features  ;  but  the  day  was  reckoned  as  the 

1  Fasti,  4.  763  foil. 

2  Four  is  unusual ;  three  is  the  common  number  in  religious  rites. 

8  '  Conversus  ad  ortus  Die  quater,  et  vivo  perlue  rore  manus.'  Ovid  may 
perhaps  be  using  ros  for  fresh  water  of  any  kind  ;  see  H.  Peter's  note 
i  Pt.  II,  p.  70).  But  the  virtues  of  dew  are  great  at  this  time  of  year  (e.g. 
May-day).  See  Brand,  Pop.  Ant.  218,  and  Mannhardt,  A.  W.F.  312.  Pepys 
records  that  his  wife  went  out  to  gather  May-dew  ;  Diary,  May  10.  1669. 

4  The  word  is  camella  in  Ovid,  Fasti,  4.  779;  cp.  Petron.  Sat,  135,  and 
Gell.  N.  A.  16.  7. 

8  Or  as  Propertius  has  it  (4.  4.  77) : 

'Cumque  super  raros  foeni  flammantis  acervos 
Traiicit  immundos  ebria  turba  pedes.' 


MENSIS    APKILIS  83 

birthday  of  Rome,  and  doubtless  on  this  account  it  came  under 
the  influence  of  priestly  organization  '.  It  is  connected  with 
two  other  very  ancient  festivals:  that  of  the  Fordicidia  and 
that  of  the  'October  horse.'  The  blood  which  streamed  from 
the  head  of  the  horse  sacrificed  on  the  Ides  of  October  was 
kept  by  the  Vestals  in  the  Penus  Vestae,  and  mixed  with 
the  ashes  of  the  unborn  calves  burnt  at  the  Fordicidia ;  and 
the  mixture  seems  to  have  been  thrown  upon  heaps  of  burning 
bean-straw  to  make  it  smoke,  while  over  the  smoke  and  flames 
men  and  women  leaped  on  the  Palatine  Hill2.  The  object 
was  of  course  purification  ;  Ovid  calls  the  blood,  ashes,  and 
straw  februa  casta,  i.  e.  holy  agents  of  purification,  and  adds 
in  allusion  to  their  having  been  kept  by  the  Vestals : 
Vesta  dabit  :  Vestae  munere  purus  eris. 

Ovid  had  himself  taken  part  in  the  rite ;  had  fetched  the 
suffimen,  and  leaped  three  times  through  the  flames,  his 
hands  sprinkled  with  dew  from  a  laurel  branch.  Whether 
the  februa  were  considered  to  have  individually  any  special 
significance  or  power,  it  is  hard  to  say.  Mannhardt,  who 
believed  the  'October  horse '  to  be  a  corn -demon,  thought  that 
the  burning  of  its  blood  symbolized  the  renewal  of  its  life 
in  the  spring,  while  the  ashes  thrown  into  the  fire  signified 
the  safe  passage  of  the  growing  crops  through  the  heat  of  the 
summer3;  but  about  this  so  judicious  a  writer  is  naturally 
not  disposed  to  dogmatize.  We  can,  however,  be  pretty  sure 
that  the  purification  was  supposed  to  carry  with  it  protection 
from  evil  influences  both  for  man  and  beast,  and  also  to  aid 
the  growth  of  vegetation.  The  theory  of  Mannhardt,  adopted 
by  Mr.  Frazer,  that  the  whole  class  of  ceremonies  to  which  the 

1  Ovid,  Fasti,  4.  801  foil.  ;  Prop.  4.  4.  73  ;  Varro,  R.  R.  a.  i .  9.  Many 
other  references  are  collected  in  Schwegler,  R.  G.  i.  444,  note  i.  The 
tradition  was  certainly  an  ancient  one,  and  the  pastoral  character  of  the 
rite  is  in  keeping  with  that  of  the  legend.  It  is  to  be  noted  that  the 
sacrificing  priest  was  originally  the  Rex  Sacrorum  (Dionys.  i.  88),  a  fact 
which  may  well  carry  us  back  to  the  earliest  Roman  age. 

*  Ovid,  Fasti,  4.  733  foil.  '  Sanguis  equi  suffimen  erit  vitulique  favilla, 
Tertia  res  durae  culmen  inane  fabae.'  Whether  the  bonfire  was  burnt 
on  the  Palatine  itself  does  not  seem  certain,  but  it  is  a  reasonable 
conjecture. 

3  He  points  out  (p.  316)  that  the  throwing  of  bones  or  burnt  pieces  of 
an  animal  into  the  flames  is  common  in  northern  Europe :  hence  bonfire 
=  bonefire. 

O    2 


84  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

Parilia  clearly  belongs,  i.  e.  the  Easter  and  Midsummer  fires 
and  Need-fires  of  central  and  northern  Europe,  may  best  be 
explained  as  charms  to  procure  sunshine1,  has  much  to  be 
said  for  it,  but  does  not  seem  to  find  any  special  support  in  the 
Roman  rite. 

It  may  be  noted  in  conclusion  that  a  custom  of  the  same 
kind,  and  one  perhaps  connected  with  a  cult  of  the  sun2, 
took  place  not  far  from  Rome,  at  Mount  Soracte  ;  at  what  time 
of  year  we  do  not  know.  On  this  hill  there  was  a  worship 
of  Apollo  Soranus3,  a  local  deity,  to  which  was  attached 
a  kind  of  guild  of  worshippers  called  Hirpi  Sorani,  or  wolves 
of  Soranus 4  ;  and  of  these  we  may  guess,  from  the  legend 
told  of  their  origin,  that  in  order  to  avert  pestilence,  &c.,  they 
dressed  or  behaved  themselves  like  wolves 5.  Also  on  a  parti- 
cular day,  perhaps  the  summer  solstice,  these  Hirpi  ran 
through  the  flames,  '  super  ambustam  ligni  struem  ambulantes 
non  aduruntur  V  and  on  this  account  were  excused  by  a  senatus 
consultum  from  all  military  or  other  service.  A  striking 
parallel  with  this  last  feature  is  quoted  by  Mannhardt,  from 
Mysore,  where  the  Harawara  are  degraded  Brahmins  who 
act  as  priests  in  harvest-time,  and  make  a  living  by  running 
through  the  flames  unhurt  with  naked  soles :  but  in  this  case 
there  seems  to  be  no  animal  representation.  Mannhardt  tries 
to  explain  the  Hirpi  as  dramatic  representations  of  the  Corn- 
wolf  or  vegetation  spirit 7.  On  the  other  hand,  it  is  possible 
to  consider  them  as  survivals  of  an  original  clan  who  worshipped 

1  A.  W.  F.  316 ;  Frazer,  G.  B.  ii.  274  foil. 

2  Preller-Jordan,  i.  268.     Soranus  is  thought  to  be  connected  etymolo- 
gically  with  Sol.    With  this,  however,  Deocke  disagrees  (Fatisker,  96). 

1  So  called  by  Virg.  Aen.  n.  785  andServ.  ad  loc.  Who  the  deity  really 
was,  we  do  not  know.  Apollo  here  had  no  doubt  a  Graeco-Etruscan 
origin.  Deecke  (fali^ker,  93)  thinks  of  Dis  Pater  or  Vediovis ;  quoting 
Servius*  account  and  explanation  of  the  cult.  That  the  god  was  Sabine, 
not  Etruscan,  is  shown  by  the  word  hirpi. 

4  Or  of  Soracte,  if  Soranus  =  Soractnus  (Deecke). 

5  Serv.  I.e.  tells  the  aetiological  legend.     Cp.  Plin.  N.H.  7.  it.     It  has 
been  dealt  with  fully  by  Mannhardt,  A.  W.  F.  318  foil. 

*  Plin.  1.  c.  ;  Varro  Cap.  Serv.  1.  c.)  asserted  that  they  used  a  salve  for 
their  feet  which  protected  them.  The  same  thing  is  said,  I  believe,  of  the 
Harawara  in  India. 

T  According  to  Strabo,  p.  226,  this  fire-ceremony  took  place  in  the 
grove  of  Feronia,  at  the  foot  of  the  hill.  Feronia  may  have  been  a  corn- 
er harvest-deity,  and  of  this  Mannhardt  makes  all  he  can.  We  may  at 
least  guess  that  the  rite  took  place  at  Midsummer. 


MENSIS    APRILIS  85 

the  wolf  as  a  totem  l ;  a  view  adopted  by  Mr.  Lang 2,  who 
compares  the  frm/'-maidens  of  Artemis  at  Brauron  in  Attica. 
But  the  last  word  has  yet  to  be  said  about  these  obscure 
animalistic  rites. 


ix  KAL.  MAI.  (APR.  23).     FP  (CAER.)    IP  (MAFF.) 
P  (PRAEN.)' 

VEIN[ALIA]  (CAER.)     VIN[ALIA]  (MAFF.  PRAEN.  ESQ.) 
Praen.  has  a  mutilated  note  beginning  io[vi],  and  ending 

With  [CUM  LATINI  BELLO  PREMEJRENTUR  A  RUTULIS,  QUIA 
MEZENTIUS  REX  ETRUs[co]fiUM  PACISCEBATUR,  SI  SUBSIDIO 
VENISSET,  OMNIUM  ANNORUM  VINI  FRUCTUM.  (Cp.  FestuS, 

65  and  374,  where  it  appears  that  libations  of  all  new 
wine  were  made  to  Jupiter.) 
VENERI  (CAER.) 

ERUC.       [EXTRJA    PORTAM    COLLINJAM].       (ART.) 


This  day  was  generally  known  as  Vinalia  Priora,  as  distin- 
guished from  the  Vinalia  Kustica  of  August  19.  Both  days 
were  believed  to  be  sacred  to  Venus4  ;  the  earlier  one,  according 
to  Ovid,  was  the  foundation-day  of  the  temple  of  Venus  Erycina, 
with  which  he  connected  the  legend  of  Aeneas  and  Mezentius. 
But  as  both  Varro  and  Verrius  are  agreed  that  the  days  were 
sacred,  not  to  Venus  but  to  Jupiter  8,  we  may  leave  the  legend 
alone  and  content  ourselves  with  asking  how  Venus  came  into 
the  connexion. 

The  most  probable  supposition  is  that  this  day  being,  as 

1  Cp.  the  cult  of  Zeus  Lykaios  in  Arcadia  ;   Farnell,  Cults  of  the  Greek 
Slates,  i.  41. 

2  Myth.,  Ritual,  and  Beligion,  ii.  212. 

*  This  peculiar  notation  is  common  to  this  day  and  Aug.  19  (the  Vinalia 
Rustica),  and  to  the  Feral  ia  (Feb.  21).  See  Introduction,  p.  10. 

4  Ovid,  Fasti,  4.  877,  asks  :  '  Cur  igitur  Veneris  festum  Vinalia  dicant, 
Quaeritis  ?  ' 

s  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  16  ;  Fest.  65  and  374.  The  latter  gloss  is:  'Vinalia 
diem  festum  habebant,  quo  die  vinum  novum  lovi  libabant'  Ovid,  Fasti, 
4.  899,  after  telling  the  Mezentius  story  (alluded  to  in  the  note  in  Praen.), 
adds 

Dicta  dies  hinc  est  Vinalia  :  luppiter  illain 
Vindicat,  et  festis  gaudet  incsse  suis. 


86  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

Ovid  implies,  the  dies  natalis  of  one  of  the  temples  of  Venus  *, 
the  Vinalia  also  came  to  be  considered  as  sacred  to  the  goddess. 
The  date  of  the  foundation  was  181  B.  c.,  exactly  at  a  time  when 
many  new  worships,  and  especially  Greek  ones,  were  being 
introduced  into  Rome 2.  That  of  the  Sicilian  Aphrodite,  under 
the  name  of  Venus,  seems  to  have  become  at  once  popular  with 
its  Graecus  ritus  and  lasdvia  maior3 ;  and  the  older  connexion 
of  the  festival  with  Jupiter  tended  henceforward  to  disappear. 
It  must  be  noted,  however,  that  the  day  of  the  Vinalia  Eustica  in 
August  was  also  the  dies  natalis  of  one  if  not  two  other  temples 
of  Venus4,  and  one  of  these  was  as  old  as  the  year  B.C.  293. 
Thus  we  can  hardly  avoid  the  conclusion  that  there  was,  even 
at  an  early  date,  some  connexion  in  the  popular  mind  between 
the  goddess  and  wine.  The  explanation  is  perhaps  to  be  found 
in  the  fact  that  Venus  was  specially  a  deity  of  gardens,  and 
therefore  no  doubt  of  vineyards 5.  An  interesting  inscription 
from  Pompeii  confirms  this,  and  attests  the  connexion  of  Venus 
with  wine  and  gardens,  as  it  is  written  on  a  wine-jar 6 : 

PRESTA  MI  SIKCERU[M]  ITA  TE  AMET  QUE 
CTTSTODIT  OETU[M]  VENUS. 

The  Vinalia,  then,  both  in  April  and  August,  was  really  and 
originally  sacred  to  Jupiter.  The  legendary  explanation  is 
given  by  Ovid  in  11.  877-900.  Whatever  the  true  explanation 
may  have  been,  the  fact  can  be  illustrated  from  the  ritual 
employed  ;  for  it  was  the  Flamen  Dialis 7  who  '  vindemiam 
auspicatus  est,'  i.  e.  after  sacrificing  plucked  the  first  grapes. 
Whether  this  auspicatio  took  place  on  either  of  the  Vinalia  has 
indeed  been  doubted,  for  even  August  19  would  hardly  seem 

1  Ovid,  Fasti,  4.  871 

Templa  frequentari  Collinae  proxima  portae 
Nunc  decet ;  a  Siculo  nomina  colle  tenent. 

He  seems  to  have  confused  this  temple  with  that  on  the  Capitol  (Aust, 
de  Aedibus,  23). 
8  Liv.  40.  34.  4. 

*  Aust,  ib.  p.  24.     Varro  wrote  a  satire  'Vinalia  irtpl  wppofiia'uav.'  Plutarch 
(<J.  R.  45)  confuses  Vinalia  and  Veneralia. 

4  Festus,  264  and  265  ;  in  the  Vallis  Murcia  (or  Circus  maximus),  and 
the  lucus  Libitinae.  (In  265,  xiii  Kal.  Sept.  should  be  xiv.)  For  the 
date  of  the  former  temple,  293  B.  c.,  Liv.  10.  31.  9. 

1  Varro,  R.  R.  T.  i  ;  Fest.  265  ;  Preller- Jordan,  i.  441. 

•  C.  I.  L.  iv.  2776. 

7  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  16.     See  Myth.  Lex.  s.  v.  luppiter,  704  foil. 


MENSIS    APRILIS  87 

to  suit  the  ceremony  Varro  describes 1 ;  but  the  fact  that  it  was 
performed  by  the  priest  of  Jupiter  is  sufficient  for  our  purpose. 
Of  this  day,  April  23,  we  may  guess  that  it  was  the  one  on 
which  the  wine-skins  were  first  opened,  and  libations  from 
them  made  to  Jupiter.  These  are  probably  the  libations  about 
which  Plutarch 2  asks  '  Why  do  they  pour  much  wine  from  the 
temple  of  Venus  on  the  Veneralia '  (i.  e.  Vinalia)  ?  The  same 
libations  are  attested  by  Verrius  :  '  Vinalia  diem  festum  habe- 
bant  quo  die  vinum  novum  lovi  libabant ' 3.  After  the  libation 
the  wine  was  tasted,  as  we  learn  from  Pliny4 ;  and  it  seems 
probable  that  it  was  brought  from  the  country  into  Rome  for  this 
purpose  only  a  few  days  before.  Varro  has  preserved  an  in- 
teresting notice  which  he  saw  posted  in  vineyards  at  Tusculum : 
'In  Tusculanis  hortis  (MSS.  eortis)  est  scriptum  :  'Vinum  no- 
vum ne  vehatur  in  urbem  ante  quam  vinalia  kalentur ' 6 ;  i.  e. 
wine-growers  were  warned  that  the  new  wine  was  not  to  be 
brought  into  the  city  until  the  Vinalia  had  been  proclaimed  on 
the  Nones.  It  must,  however,  be  added  that  this  notice  may 
have  had  reference  to  the  Vinalia  in  August ;  for  Verrius, 
if  he  is  rightly  reported  by  Paulus6,  gives  August  19  as  the 
day  on  which  the  wine  might  be  brought  into  Rome.  Paulus 
may  be  wrong,  and  have  confused  the  two  Vinalia 7 ;  but  in 
that  case  we  remain  in  the  dark  as  to  what  was  done  at  the 
Vinalia  Rustica,  unless  indeed  we  explain  it  as  a  rite  intended 
to  secure  the  vintage  that  was  to  follow  against  malignant 
influences.  This  would  seem  to  be  indicated  by  Pliny  (H.  N. 
1 8.  284),  where  he  classes  this  August  festival  with  the 
Robigalia  and  Floralia 8,  and  further  on  quotes  Varro  to  prove 

1  Mommsen,  C.  1.  L.  326.  Vindemia  is  the  grape-harvest.  Hartmann, 
Rom.  Kal,  138,  differs  from  Mommsen  on  this  point. 

3  Q.  R.  45.  *  Fest.  65.  *  H.  N.  18.  287. 

*  L.  L.  6.  16.  Hartis  is  Mommsen's  very  probable  emendation  for  sortis  of 
the  MSS.  O.  Miiller  has  sacris,  which  is  preferred  by  Jordan  (Preller, 
i.  196).  6  264. 

7  Mommsen  (C.  I.  L.  326)  thinks  that  there  is  no  mistake  in  the  gloss ; 
but  that  the  Vinalia  Rustica  represent  a  later  and  luxurious  fashion  of 
allowing  a  whole  year  to  elapse  before  tasting  the  wine,  instead  of  six 
months.  From  the  vintage,  however  (end  of  September  or  beginning  of 
October),  to  August  19  is  not  a  whole  year.  See  under  August  19. 

'  'Tria  namque  tempera  fructibus  metuebant,  propter  quod  instituerunt 
ferias  diesque  festos,  Robigalia,  Floralia,  Vinalia.'  That  the  Vinalia  here 
referred  to  is  the  August  one  is  clear,  not  only  from  the  order  of  the 
words,  but  from  what  follows,  down  to  the  end  of  sec.  289.  Sees.  287 


83 

that  its  object  was  to  appease  the  storms  (i.  e.  to  be  expected  in 
September). 

As  regard^  the  connexion  of  the  vine-culture  with  Jupiter, 
it  should  be  observed  that  the  god  is  not  spoken  of  as  Jupiter 
Liber,  but  simply  Jupiter ;  and  though  the  vine  was  certainly 
introduced  into  Italy  from  Greece,  we  need  not  assume  that 
Dionysus,  coming  with  it,  was  from  the  beginning  attached 
to  or  identified  with  Jupiter.  The  gift  of  wine  might  naturally 
be  attributed  to  the  great  god  of  the  air,  light,  and  heat ;  the 
Flamen  Dialis  who  'vindemiam  auspicatus  est'  was  not  the 
priest  of  Jupiter  Liber ;  nor  does  the  aetiological  legend,  in 
which  the  Latins  avoid  the  necessity  of  yielding  their  first- 
fruits  to  the  Etruscan  tyrant  Mezentius  by  dedicating  them 
to  Jupiter,  point  to  any  other  than  the  protecting  deity  of 
Latium  *. 

VII   KAL.  MAI.  (APEIL  25).    IP. 
[ROBJIGALIA.    (CAER.  ESQ.  MAFF.  PRAEN.) 
Note  in  Praen :  FEKIAE  EOBIGO  VIA  CLAUDIA  AD  MILLIARIUM  v 

NE  ROBIGO  FRUMENTIS  NOCEAT.  SACRIFICIUM  EX  LUDI  CUR- 
SORIBUS  MAIORIBUS  MINORIBUSQUE  FIUNT.  FESTUS  EST 
PUERORUM  LENONIORUM,  QUIA  PROXIMUS  SUPERIOR  MERE- 
TRICUM  EST. 

Robigo  means  red  rust  or  mildew  which  attacks  cereals  when 
the  ear  is  beginning  to  be  formed 2,  and  which  is  better  known 
and  more  dreaded  on  the  continent  than  with  us.  This 
destructive  disease  is  not  caused  by  the  sun's  heat,  as  Pliny 3 

to  end  of  288  deal  with  the  Vinalia  priora  parenthetically  ;  in  289  Pliny 
returns  to  the  Vinalia  altera  (or  rustica),  after  thus  clearing  the  ground 
by  making  it  clear  that  the  April  Vinalia  '  iiihil  ad  fructus  attinent.'  He 
then  quotes  Varro  to  show  that  in  August  the  object  is  to  avert  storms 
which  might  damage  the  vineyards.  Monimsen,  C.  I.  L.  326,  seems  to 
me  to  have  misread  this  passage. 

1  Ovid,  Fasti,  877  foil.  :  the  legend  was  an  old  one  for  it  is  quoted  by 
Macrob.  (Sat.  3.  5.  10)  from  Cato's  Ortgines.  See  also  Hehn,  Kulturpjlanzen, 
65  foil.,  who  is,  however,  in  error  as  to  the  identification  of  Jupiter  (Liber) 
with  Ztwj  'E\(v0tptos. 

3  See  Columella,  2.  12;  Plin.  N.H.  18.91;  andarticle,  'Mildew,' in Encycl. 
Brit.  For  the  botanical  character  of  this  parasite  see  Worthington  Smith's 
Diseases  of  Field  and  Garden  Crops,  chs.  21  and  23  ;  and  Hugh  Macmillan's 
Bible  Teachings  from  Nature,  p.  120  foil. 

3  N  H .  1 8.  273  :  cp.  154.  Pliny  thought  it  chiefly  the  result  of  dew 
(cf.  mildew,  German  mehlfftau),  and  was  not  wholly  wrong. 


MENSIS    APRILIS  89 

tells  us  was  the  notion  of  some  Italians,  but  by  damp  acting  in 
conjunction  with  a  certain  height  of  temperature,  as  Pliny 
himself  in  fact  explains  it. 

Eobigus1  is  the  spirit  who  works  in  the  mildew ;  and  it  has 
been  conjectured  that  he  was  a  form  or  indigitation  of  Mars 2, 
since  Tertullian  tells  us  that  '  Marti  et  Kobigini  Numa  ludos 
instituit'3.  This  is  quite  consistent  with  all  we  know  of  the 
Mars  of  the  farm-worship,  who  is  invoked  to  avert  evil  simply 
because  he  can  be  the  creator  of  it 4.  The  same  feature  is  found 
in  the  worship  of  Apollo,  who  had  at  Ehodes  the  cult-title 
f'pvdi&tos*,  or  Apollo  of  the  blight,  as  elsewhere  he  is  Apollo 
Smintheus,  i.e.  the  power  that  can  bring  and  also  avert  the 
pest  of  field-mice. 

Robigus  had  a  grove  of  his  own  at  the  fifth  milestone  on  the 
Via  Claudia  ;  and  Ovid  relates  in  pretty  verses  how,  as  he  was 
returning  from  Nomentum  (doubtless  by  way  of  his  own 
gardens,  which  were  at  the  junction  of  the  Via  Claudia  with 
the  Via  Flaminia  near  the  Milvian  bridge"),  he  met  the 
Flamen  Quirinalis  with  the  exta  of  a  dog  and  a  sheep  to  offer 
to  the  god 7.  He  joined  the  procession,  which  was  apparently 
something  quite  new  to  him,  and  witnessed  the  ceremony, 
noting  the  meri  patera,  the  tuns  acerra,  and  the  rough  linen 
napkin8,  at  the  priest's  right  hand.  He  versified  the  prayer 
which  he  heard,  and  which  is  not  unlike  that  which  Cato 
directs  the  husbandman  to  address  to  Mai's  in  the  lustration  of 
the  farm 9 : 

Aspera  Robigo,  parcas  Ccriulibus  herbis, 
Et  tremat  in  sum  ma  leve  cacumen  humo. 

1  The  masc.  is  no  doubt  correct.  Ovid,  Fasti,  4.  907,  uses  the  feminine 
Robigo,  but  is  alone  among  the  older  writers  in  doing  so :  see  Preller- 
Jordan.  ii.  44,  note  2. 

*  Indigitation  is  the  fixing  of  the  local  action  of  a  god  to  be  invoked,  by 
means  of  his  name,  if  I  understand  rightly  Reifferscheid's  view  as  given 
by  R.  Peter  in  Myth.  Lex.  s.  v.  Indigitamenta,  p.  137.     The  priest  of  the 
Kobigalia  was  the  flamen  Quirinalis:  Quirinus  is  one  form  of  Mars. 

3  de  Spectaculis,  5. 

4  Cato,  R.  R.  141 ;  Proller-Jordan,  i.  340. 

8  Strabo,  613:  see  Roscher,  Apollo  and  Mars,  p.  62.  'EpvaiPq « mildew, 
of  which  (pvOi&T)  is  the  Rhodian  form. 

*  See  Mommsen's  ingenious  explanation  in  C.  I.  L.  316. 

1  Fasti,  4.  901  foil.     The  victims  had  been  slain  at  Rome  and  in  the 
morning  ;  and  were  offered  at  the  grove  later  in  the  day  (see  Marq.  184). 
8  Villis  mantele  solutis  (cp.  Serv.  Aen.  12.  169). 
»  R.  R.  141. 


90  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

Tu  sata  sideribus  caeli  nutrita  secundi 
Crescere,  dum  fianfc  falcibus  apta,  sinas. 


Parce,  precor,  scabrasque  manus  a  messibus  aufer, 
Neve  rioce  cultis :   posse  noccre  sat  est,  &c. 

Ovid  then  asked  the  flamen  why  a  dog — nova  victima — was 
sacrificed,  and  was  told  that  the  dangerous  Dog-star  was  in  the 
ascendant 1 : 

Esfc  Canis,  Icarium  dicunt,  quo  sidere  moto 

Tosta  sitit  tellus,  praecipiturque  seges. 

Pro  cane  sidereo  canis  hie  imponitur  arae, 

Et  quare  pereat,  nil  nisi  nomen  habet. 

In  this,  however,  both  he  and  the  priest  were  certainly 
mistaken.  Sirius  does  not  rise,  but  disappears  on  April  25,  at 
sunset ;  and  it  is  almost  certain  that  the  sacrifice  of  the  dog 
had  nothing  to  do  with  the  star.  The  real  meaning  of  the 
choice  of  victim  was  unknown  both  to  priest  and  poet :  but 
modern  research  has  made  a  reasonable  attempt  to  recover  it 2. 

We  are  told 3  of  a  sacrifice  of  reddish  sucking  whelps,  and  of 
augury  made  from  their  exta,  which  must  have  been  closely 
connected  with  the  Kobigalia,  if  not  (in  later  times  at  least) 
identified  with  it.  Originally  it  was  not  on  a  fixed  day,  as 
is  proved  by  an  extract  from  the  commentarii  pontificum  quoted 
by  Pliny 4 ;  but  it  is  quite  possible  that  for  convenience,  as  the 
religio  of  the  urbs  got  more  and  more  dissociated  from  the 
agriculture  in  which  it  had  its  origin,  the  date  was  fixed  for 
April  25 — the  rites  of  the  Kobigalia  being  of  the  same  kind, 
and  the  date  suitable.  The  whelps  were  red  or  reddish  ;  and 
from  the  language  of  Festus,  quoting  Ateius  Capito,  we  gather 

1  So  we  may  perhaps  translate  91*0  sidere  moto :  but  Ovid  certainly 
thought  the  star  rose  (cf.  904).  Hartmann  explains  Ovid's  blunder  by 
reference  to  Serv.  Oeorg.  i.  218  (Rom.  Kal.  193).  See  also  H.  Peter,  ad  loc. 

"  Mannhardt,  My'h.  Forsch.  107  foil. 

*  Festus,  285  ;  Paul.  45.  It  was  outside  the  Porta  Catularia,  of  which, 
unluckily,  nothing  is  known. 

4  N.  H.  18.  14  '  Ita  est  in  commentariis  pontificum :  Augurio  canario 
agendo  dies  constituantur  priusquam  frumenta  vaginis  exeant  et  ante- 
quam  in  vaginas  perveniant.'  For  '  et  antequam '  we  should  perhaps  read 
'wee  antequam.'  The  vagina  is  the  sheath  which  protects  the  ear  and  from 
which  it  eventually  protrudes  ;  and  it  seems  that  in  this  stage,  which  in 
Italy  would  occur  at  the  end  of  April  or  beginning  of  May,  the  corn  is 
peculiarly  liable  to  'rust.'  (So  Virg.  Oeorg.  i.  151  'Ut  mala  cuJmos  Esset 
robigo':  i.e.  the  stalks  including  the  vagina.')  See  Hugh  Macmillan, 
op.  cit.  p.  121. 


MENSIS    APRILIS  91 

that  this  colour  was  supposed  to  resemble  that  of  the  corn  when 
ripe:  'Rufae  canes  immolabantur,  ut  fruges  flavescentes  ad  raatu- 
ritatem  perducerentur '  (p.  285).  We  should  indeed  naturally 
have  expected  that  the  rufous  colour  was  thought  to  resemble 
the  red  mildew,  as  Mannhardt  explains  it  *  ;  but  we  do  not  know 
for  certain  that  these  puppies  were  offered  to  Robigus.  In  any 
case,  however,  we  may  perhaps  see  in  them  an  animal  represen- 
tation of  the  corn,  and  in  the  rite  a  piece  of  'sympathetic 
magic ' 2,  the  object  of  which  was  to  bring  the  corn  to  its 
golden  perfection,  or  to  keep  off  the  robigo,  or  both.  If  we 
knew  more  about  the  dog-offering  at  the  grove  of  Robigus, 
we  might  find  that  it  too,  if  not  indeed  identical  with  the 
augurium,  had  a  similar  intention. 

The  red  mildew  was  at  times  so  terrible  a  scourge  that  the 
Robigalia  must  in  early  Rome,  when  the  population  lived 
on  the  corn  grown  near  the  city,  have  been  a  festival  of  very 
real  meaning.  But  later  on  it  became  obscured,  and  gave  way 
to  the  races  mentioned  in  the  note  in  the  Praenestine  calendar *, 
and  under  the  later  empire  to  the  Christian  litania  maior,  the 
original  object  of  which  was  also  the  safety  of  the  crops*.  The 
25th  is  at  present  St.  Mark's  day. 

iv  KAL.  MAI.  (APR.  28).    IP. 
LOEDI  FLOR[AE]  (CAEB.)  LUDI  FLOR[AE].    (MAFF.  FRAEN.) 

v    NON.  MAI.  (MAY  3),    C. 

FLORAE  (VEN.). 

On  the  intervening  days  were  also  ludi  (<7.  /.  L.  317). 

Note  in  Praen.  (Apr.  28):   EODEM  DIE  AEDIS  FLORAE,  QTJAE 

REBUS   FLORESCENDIS    PRAEEST,    DEDICATA   EST    PROPTER    STE- 
RILITATEM  FRUGUM. 

1  Mylh.  Farsch.  106.  Mr.  Frazer  ((?.  B.  ii.  59  :  cp.  i.  306)  takes  the  other 
view  of  this  and  similar  sacrifices,  but  with  some  hesitation. 

a  It  must  be  confessed  that  the  occurrence  of  red  colour  in  victims 
cannot  well  be  always  explained  in  this  way ;  e.  g.  the  red  heifer  of  the 
Israelites  (Numbers  xix),  and  the  red  oxen  of  the  Egyptians  (Plut.  Isis  and 
Osiris,  31).  But  in  this  rite,  occurring  so  close  to  the  Cerialia,  where,  as 
we  have  seen,  foxes  were  turned  out  in  the  circus  maximus,  the  colour  of 
the  puppies  must  have  had  some  meaning  in  relation  to  the  growing  crops. 

3  'Ludi  cursoribus  maioribus  minoribusque.'  What  these  were  is  not 
known  :  Mommsen,  C.  I.  L.  317. 

*  Usener.  Religionsgeschichte,  i.  298  foil. 


92  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

This  was  not  a  very  ancient  festival  and  is  not  marked  in 
the  Calendars  in  those  large  letters  which  are  believed  to 
indicate  extreme  antiquity l.  Its  history  seems  to  be  as  follows: 
in  238  B.  c.  in  consequence  of  a  dearth,  the  Sibylline  Books 
were  consulted,  and  games  in  honour  of  Flora  were  held  for 
the  first  time  by  plebeian  aediles  '2 ;  also  a  temple  was  dedicated 
to  her  ad  circum  maximum  on  April  28  of  that  year3.  There 
seems  to  be  a  certain  connexion  between  the  accounts  of  the 
institution  of  the  Floralia  and  the  Cerialia.  Dearth  was  the 
alleged  cause  in  each  case  ;  and  the  position  of  the  temple  of 
Flora  near  that  of  Ceres :  the  foundation  by  plebeian  magistrates, 
in  this  case  the  two  Publicii 4,  who  as  aediles  were  able  to  spend 
part  of  the  fines  exacted  from  defaulting  holders  of  ager  publicvs 
on  this  object B :  and  the  coarse  character  of  the  games  as  Ovid 
describes  them,  all  seem  to  show  that  the  foundation  was 
a  plebeian  one,  like  that  of  the  Cerialia 6. 

There  may,  however,  have  been  something  in  the  nature  of 
ludi  before  this  date  and  at  the  same  time  of  year,  but  not  of 
a  regular  or  public  character.  Flora  was  beyond  doubt  an  old 
Italian  deity7,  probably  closely  related  to  Ceres  and  Venus. 
There  was  a  Flamen  Floralis  of  very  old  standing 8 ;  and  Flora 
is  one  of  the  deities  to  whom  piacula  were  offered  by  the  Fratres 

1  See  Introduction,  p.  15. 

'  Plin.  N.  H.  18.  286;  two  years  earlier,  according  to  Velleius,  i.  14. 
This  is,  I  think,  the  only  case  in  which  a  deity  taken  in  hand  by  the 
decemviri  sacris  faciundis  cannot  be  traced  to  a  Greek  origin  ;  but  the 
characteristics  of  Flora  are  so  like  those  of  Venus  that  in  the  former,  as 
in  the  latter,  Aphrodite  may  be  concealed.  The  games  as  eventually 
organized  had  points  in  common  with  the  cult  of  Aphrodite  at  Hierapolis 
(Lucian,  Dea  Syr.  49 ;  Farnell,  Cults,  ii.  643)  ;  and  it  is  worth  noting  that 
their  date  (173  B.  c.)  is  subsequent  to  the  Syrian  war.  Up  to  that  time 
the  games  were  not  regular  or  annual  (Ovid,  Fasti,  5.  295). 

3  Tac.  Ann.  2.  49  ;  Aust,  p.  17. 

*  Plebis  ad  aediles  :  Ovid,  ib.  v.  287  ;  Festus,  238,  probably  in  error,  calls 
the  Publicii  cunde  aediles. 

*  Ovid,  ib.  5. 277  foil.,  in  which  he  draws  a  picture  of  the  misdoings  of  the 
landholders.     Cp.  Liv.  33.  42,  for  the  temple  of  Faunus  in  insula,  founded 
by  the  same  means. 

'  Ovid,  ib.  5.  352. 

7  Steuding  in  Myth.  Lex.  s.  v.  Flora.  There  was  a  Sabine  month  Flusalis 
(Momms.  Chron.  219)  =  Floral  is,  and  answering  to  July.  Varro  considered 
Flora  a  Sabine  deity  (L.  L.  5.  74). 

'  Varro,  L.  L.  7.  45.  Flora  had  an  ancient  temple  in  colle,  near 
the  so-called  Capitolium  vetus  (,Steuding,  1.  c.),  i.e.  in  the  'Sabiiie 
quarter.' 


MENSIS    APRILIS  93 

Arvales1 — a  list  beginning  with  Janus  and  ending  with  Vesta. 
There  is  no  doubt,  then,  that  there  was  a  Flora-cult  in  Rome 
long  before  the  foundation  of  the  temple  and  the  games  in 
238  ;  and  though  its  character  may  have  changed  under  the 
influence  of  the  Sibylline  books,  we  may  be  able  to  glean  some 
particulars  as  to  its  original  tendency. 

In  the  account  of  Ovid  and  from  other  hints  we  gather — 

1 .  That  indecency  was  let  loose 2  at  any  rate  on  the  original 
day  of  the  ludi  (April  28\  which  were  in  later  times  extended 
to  May   3.     The  numon  of  Flora,  says  Ovid,  was  not  strict. 
Drunkenness  was  the  order  of  the  day,  and  the  usual  results 
followed : 

Ebrius  ad  durum  formosae  limen  amicae 
Can  tat:    habent  unctae  mollia  serta  comae. 

The  prostitutes  of  Rome  hailed  this  as  their  feast-day,  as  well 
as  the  Vinalia  on  the  23rd  ;  and  if  we  may  trust  a  story  told 
by  Valerius  Maximus ",  Cato  the  younger  withdrew  from  the 
theatre  rather  than  behold  the  mimae  unclothe  themselves, 
though  he  would  not  interfere  with  the  custom.  Flora  herself, 
like  Acca  Larentia,  was  said  by  late  writers  to  have  been 
a  harlot  whose  gains  enabled  her  to  leave  money  for  the  ludi4. 
These  characteristics  of  the  festival  were  no  doubt  developed 
under  the  influence  of  luxury  in  a  large  city,  and  grew  still 
more  objectionable  under  the  Empire5.  But  it  is  difficult  to 
believe  that  such  practices  would  have  grown  up  as  they  did 
at  this  particular  time  of  year,  had  there  not  been  some  previous 
customs  of  the  kind  existing  before  the  ludi  were  regularly 
instituted. 

2.  We  find  another  curious  custom  belonging  to  the  last 
days  of  the  ludi,  which  became  common  enough  under  the 
Empire fi,  but  may  yet  have  had  an  origin  in  the  cult  of  Flora. 

1  Hen/en,  Acfa  Fratr.  Are.  146. 

*  Ov.  5-  33*  foil   'Volt  sua  plebeio  sacra  patere  choro.' 

3  Val.  Max.  2.  10.  8.  Steuding  in  Myth.  Lex.  has  oddly  misunderstood 
this  passage,  making  Val.  Max.  write  of  this  custom  as  an  ancient  one, 
whereas  he  clearly  implies  the  opposite.  It  was  no  doubt  the  relic 
of  some  rude  country  practice,  degenerated  under  the  influence  of 
city  life. 

'  Lnctantitis,  Ik  falsa  rdigione,  i.  20. 

5  Aug.  Civ.  Dei,  ii.  27. 

'  Friedlftnder  on  Martial,  8.  67.  4. 


94  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

Hares  and  goats  were  let  loose  in  the  Circus  Maximus  on  these 
days.  Ovid  asks  Flora : 

Cur  tibi  pro  Libycis  clauduntur  rete  *  leaenis 
Imbelles  capreae  sollicitusque  lepus? 

and  gets  the  answer : 

Non  sibi,  respondit,  silvas  cessissc,  sed  hortos 
Arvaque  pugnaci  non  adeunda  ferae. 

If  we  take  this  answer  as  at  least  appropriate,  we  may  add  to 
it  the  reflection  that  hares  and  goats  are  prolific  animals  and 
also  that  they  are  graminivorous.  Flora  as  a  goddess  of 
fertility  and  bloom  could  have  nothing  in  common  with  fierce 
carnivora.  But  we  are  also  reminded  of  the  foxes  that  were 
let  loose  in  the  Circus  at  the  Cerialia2,  and  may  see  in  these 
beasts  as  in  the  foxes  animal  representations  of  the  spirit  of 
fertility. 

3.  Another  custom  is  possibly  significant  in  something  the 
same  way.  From  a  passage  in  Persius  we  learn  that  vetches, 
beans,  and  lupines  were  scattered  among  the  people  in  the 
circus s.  The  commentators  explain  this  as  meaning  that  they 
were  thrown  simply  to  be  scrambled  for  as  food  ;  and  we  know 
that  other  objects  besides  eatables  were  thrown  on  similar 
occasions,  at  any  rate  at  a  later  time4.  But  it  is  noticeable 
that  among  these  objects  were  medals  with  obscene  representa- 
tions on  them ;  and  putting  two  and  two  together  it  is  not 
unreasonable  to  guess  that  the  original  custom  had  a  meaning 
connected  with  fructification.  Dr.  Mannhardt 5  has  collected 
a  very  large  number  of  examples  of  the  practice  of  sprinkling 
and  throwing  all  kinds  of  grain,  including  rice,  peas,  beans,  &c., 
from  all  parts  of  the  world,  in  the  marriage  rite  and  at  the 
birth  of  children  ;  amply  sufficient  to  prove  that  the  custom  is 
symbolic  of  fertility.  Bearing  in  mind  the  time  of  year,  the 
nature  of  Flora,  the  character  of  the  April  rites  generally,  and 

1  H.  Peter  takes  this  to  mean  that  they  were  let  loose  from  a  net  and 
hunted  into  it  again.  See  note  ad  loc.  5.  371. 

*  See  above,  p.  77. 

s  Sat.  5.  177  :  Vigila  et  cicer  ingere  large 

Rixanti  populo,  nostra  ut  Floralia  possint 
Aprici  meminisse  senes. — Cp.  Hor.  Sat.  a.  3.  182. 

*  Friedlander,  Sittengeschichte,  ii.  286 ;  and  his  note  on  Martial,  8.  78. 
5  Kind.  u.  Korn.  351  foil. 


MENSIS    APRILIS  95 

the  occurrence  of  the  women's  cult  of  the  Bona  Dea  on  May  i, 
viz.  one  of  the  days  of  the  ludi,  we  may  perhaps  conjecture 
that  the  custom  in  question  was  a  very  old  one — far  older  than 
the  organized  games — and  had  reference  to  the  fertility  both  of 
the  earth  and  of  man  himself1. 

FERIAE  LATINAE. 

A  brief  account  may  be  here  given  of  the  great  Latin  festival 
which  usually  in  historical  times  took  place  in  April.  Though 
it  was  not  held  at  Kome,  but  on  the  Alban  Mount,  it  was  under 
the  direct  supervision  of  the  Koman  state,  and  was  in  reality 
a  Roman  festival.  The  consuls  on  their  entrance  upon  office  on 
the  Ides  of  March  had  to  fix  and  announce  the  date  of  it 2 ; 
and  when  in  153  B.C.  the  day  of  entrance  was  changed  to 
January  i ,  the  date  of  the  festival  does  not  seem  to  have  been 
changed  to  suit  it.  The  consuls  must  be  present  themselves, 
leaving  spraefcctus  urbi  at  Eome 3 ;  or  in  case  of  the  compulsory 
absence  of  both  consuls  a  dictator  might  be  appointed  Feriarum 
Latinantm  causa.  Only  when  the  festival  was  over  could  they 
leave  Kome  for  their  provinces. 

It  was  therefore  a  festival  of  the  highest  importance  to  the 
Koman  state.  But  the  ritual  will  show  that  it  must  in  fact 
have  been  much  older  than  that  state  as  we  know  it  in  histoiical 
times ;  it  was  a  common  festival  of  the  most  ancient  Latin 
communities 4,  celebrated  on  the  lofty  hill  which  arose  in  their 
midst,  where  dwelt  the  great  protecting  deity  of  their  race.  At 
what  date  Rome  became  the  presiding  city  at  the  festival  we 
do  not  know.  The  foundation  of  the  temple  on  the  hill  was 

1  Another  point  that  may  strike  the  reader  of  Ovid  is  the  wearing  of 
parti-coloured  dress  on  these  days  (5.  355  :   cp.  Martial,  5.  23) — 
Cur  tamen  ut  dantur  vestes  Cerialibus  albae, 

Sic  haec  est  cultu  versicolore  decens  ? 

Flora  answers  him  doubtfully.  Was  this  a  practice  of  comparatively  late 
date  ?  See  Friedlander,  Sittengeschichte  ii.  275. 

*  Mommsen  in  C.  /.  L.  vi.  p.  455  (Tabula  for.  Lat.).   The  day  was  March  15 
from  B.C.  222  to  153;  in  earlier  times  it  had  been  frequently  changed. 
See  Mommsen,  Ckron.  p.  80  foil. 

3  On  this  office  and  its  connexion  with  the/en'ae  see  Vigneaux,  Essaisur 
fhistoire  de  la  praefectura  urbis,  p.  37  foil. 

*  Plin.  H.  N.  3.  69  ;  Dionys.  4.  49.      The  difficult  questions  arising  out  of 
the  numbers  given  by  these  authorities  are  d  scussed  by  Beloch,  Itulischer 
Bund,  178  foil.,  and  Mommsen  in  Hermes,  vol.  xvii.  42  folL 


96  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

ascribed  to  the  Tarquinii,  and  this  tradition  seems  to  be  borne 
out  by  the  character  of  the  foundations  discovered  there,  which 
resemble  those  of  the  Capitoline  temple '.  No  doubt  the 
Tarquinii  may  have  renovated  the  cult  or  even  given  it  an 
extended  significance  ;  but  the  •  Roman  presidency  must  con- 
jocturally  be  placed  still  further  back.  Perhaps  no  festival, 
Greek  or  Roman,  carries  us  over  such  a  vast  period  of  time  as 
this  ;  its  features  betray  its  origin  in  the  pastoral  age,  and  it 
continued  in  almost  uninterrupted  grandeur  till  the  end  of  the 
third  century  A.  D.,  or  even  later2. 

The  ritual  as  known  to  us  was  as  follows'.  When  the 
magistrates  or  (their  deputies)  of  all  the  Latin  cities  taking  part 
had  assembled  at  the  temple,  the  Roman  consul  offered  a  libation 
of  milk,  while  the  deputies  from  the  other  cities  brought  sheep, 
cheeses,  or  other  such  offerings.  But  the  characteristic  rite 
was  the  slaughter  of  a  pure  white  heifer  that  had  never  felt 
the  yoke.  This  sacrifice  was  the  duty  of  the  consul,  who 
acted  on  behalf  of  the  whole  number  of  cities.  When  it  was 
concluded,  the  flesh  of  the  victim  was  divided  amongst  all  the 
deputies  and  consumed  by  them.  To  be  left  out  of  this 
common  meal,  or  sacrament,  would  be  equivalent  to  being 
excluded  from  communion  with  the  god  and  the  Latin  league, 
and  the  desire  to  obtain  the  allotted  flesh  is  more  than  once 
alluded  to4.  A  general  festivity  followed  the  sacrifice,  while 
oscilla,  or  little  puppets,  were  hung  from  the  branches  of  trees 
as  at  the  Paganalia5.  As  usual  in  Italy,  the  least  oversight  in 
the  ceremony  or  evil  omen  made  it  necessary  to  begin  it  all 
over  again  ;  and  this  occasionally  happened fi.  Lastly,  during 
the  festival  there  was  a  truce  between  all  the  cities,  and  it 


1  Aust,  in  Myth.  Lex.  s.  v.  luppiter,  p.  689. 
a  C.  I.  L.  vi.  202  r . 

*  Condensed  from  the  account  given  by  Aust,  1.  c.     Seo  also  Prellcr- 
Jordan,  i.  210  foil.     The  chief  authority  is  Dionys.  4.  49. 

4  e.g.  Liv.  32.  i,  37.  3,  in  which  cases  some  one  city  had  not  received 
its  portion.     The  result  was  an  instauratio  feriarum. 

5  See  below,  p.  294  (Ferine  Sementivae).     Tiie  meaning  of  the  oscilla 
was  not  really  known  to  the  later  Romans,  who  freely  indulged  in  con- 
jectures about  them.     Macrob.  i.  7.  34 ;   Serv.  Georg.  2.  389 ;   Paul.  121. 
My  own  belief  is  that,  like  the  bullae  of  children,  they  were  only  one  of 
the  many  moans  of  averting  evil  influences. 

*  See  the  passages  of  Livy  quoted  above,  and  add  40.  45  (on  account  of 
a  storm)  ;  41.  16  va  failure  on  the  part  of  Lanuvium). 


MENSIS    APKILIS  97 

would  seem  that  the  alliance  between  Rome  and  the  Latins  was 
yearly  renewed  on  the  day  of  the  Feriae  '. 

Some  of  the  lending  characteristics  of  the  Italian  Jupiter  will 
be  considered  further  on 2.  But  this  festival  may  teach  us  that 
we  are  here  in  the  presence  of  the  oldest  and  finest  religious 
conception  of  the  Latin  race,  which  yearly  acknowledges  its 
common  kinship  of  blood  and  seals  it  by  partaking  in  the 
common  meal  of  a  sacred  victim,  thus  entering  into  communion 
with  the  god,  the  victim,  and  each  other 3.  The  offerings  are 
characteristic  rather  of  a  pastoral  than  an  agricultural  age,  and 
suggest  an  antiquity  that  is  fully  confirmed  by  the  ancient 
utensils  dug  up  on  the  Alban  Mount 4.  As  Helbig  has  pointed 
out,  the  absence  of  any  mention  of  wine  proves  that  the  origin 
of  the  festival  must  be  dated  earlier  than  the  introduction  of 
the  grape  into  Italy.  The  white  victim  may  be  a  reminiscence 
of  some  primitive  white  breed  of  cattle.  The  common  meal 
of  the  victim's  flesh  is  a  survival  from  the  age  when  cattle  were 
sacred  animals,  and  were  never  slain  except  on  the  solemn 
annual  occasions  when  the  clan  renewed  its  kinship  and  its 
mutual  obligations  by  a  solemn  sacrament5. 

As  Eome  absorbed  Latium,  so  Jupiter  Latiaris  gave  way 
before  the  great  god  of  the  Capitol,  who  is  the  symbol  of  the 
later  victorious  and  imperial  Rome  ;  but  the  god  of  the  Alban 
hill  and  his  yearly  festival  continued  to  recall  the  early  share 
of  the  Latins  in  the  rise  of  their  leading  city,  long  after  the 
population  of  their  towns  had  been  so  terribly  thinned  that 
some  of  them  could  hardly  find  a  surviving  member  to  represent 
them  at  the  festival  and  take  their  portion  of  the  victim ". 

1  Macrob.  i.  16.  16  'Cum  Latiar,  hoc  est  Latinarum  solemne  concipitur, 
nefas  est  proelium  sumere :  quia  nee  Latinarum  tempore.  quo  publice 
•  juojidam  indutiae  inter  populum  Roinauum  Latinosquo  firmatae  sunt, 
inchoari  bellum  decebat.' 

*  See  under  Sept.  13. 

s  For  the  characteristics  and  meaning  of  the  common  sacrificial  meal 
see  especially  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  Lect.  viii. 

4  Helbig,  Die  Italiker  in  der  Poebene,  71. 

s  Robertson  Smith,  op.  cit.,  278  foil. 

'  Cic.  pro  Plancio,  9.  23. 


MENSIS  MAIUS. 

WAS  the  name  of  this  month  taken  from  a  deity  Maia, 
or  had  it  originally  only  a  signification  of  growing  or  increasing, 
such  as  we  might  expect  in  a  word  derived  from  the  same  root 
as  maior,  maicstas,  &c.?  The  following  passage  of  Macrobius 
will  show  how  entirely  the  Roman  scholars  were  at  sea  in 
their  answer  to  this  question  ] : 

'Maium  Romulus  tertium  posuit.  De  cuius  nomine  inter 
auctores  lata  dissensio  est.  Nam  Fulvius  Nobilior  in  Fastis 
quos  in  aede  Herculis  Musarum  posuit 2  Romulum  dicit  post- 
quam  populum  in  maiores  iunioresque  diuisit,  ut  altera  pars 
consilio  altera  armis  rem  publicam  tueretur,  in  honorem 
utriusque  partis  hunc  Maium,  sequentem  lunium  mensem 
uocasse3.  Sunt  qui  hunc  mensem  ad  nostros  fastos  a  Tuscu- 
lanis  transisse  commemorent,  apud  quos  nunc  quoque  uocatur 
deus  Maius,  qui  est  luppiter,  a  magnitudine  scilicet  ac  maiestate 
dictus4.  Cingius5  mensem  nominatum  putat  a  Maia  quam 
Vulcani  dicit  uxorem,  argumentoque  utitur  quod  flamen 
Vulcanalis  Kalendis  Maiis  huic  deae  rem  diuinam  facit.  Sed 
Piso  uxorem  Vulcani  Maiestam  non  Maiam  dicit  uocari. 
Contendunt  alii  Maiam  Mercurii  matrem  mensi  nomen  dedisse, 
hinc  maxime  probantes  quod  hoc  mense  mercatores  omnes 

1  Sat.  i.  12.  16.  2  See  above,  Introduction,  p.  n. 

3  So  Varro  also  (L.  L.  6.  33).  But  Censorinus  (De  die  natali,  20.  a)  ex- 
pressly ascribes  to  Varro  the  derivation  from  Maia ;  the  great  scholar 
apparently  changed  his  view. 

*  For  lup.  Maius  see  Aust,  in  Myth.  Lex.  s.  v.  luppiter,  p.  650. 

*  This  was  probably  not  the  early  historian    Cincius  Alimentus,  but 
a  contemporary  of  Augustus,   Teuffel,  Hist,  of  Roman  Literature,  sec.   106. 
For  the  flamen  Volcanalis  see  on  Aug  ^3. 


MENSIS    MAIUS  99 

Maiae  pariter  Mercurioque  sacrificant1.  Adfirmant  quidam, 
quibus  Cornelius  Labeo  consentit,  hanc  Maiam  cui  mense  Maio 
res  diuina  celebratur  terrain  esse  hoc  adeptam  nomen  a  magni- 
tudine,  sicut  et  Mater  Magna  in  sacris  uocatur  adsertionemque 
aestimationis  suae  etiam  hinc  colligunt  quod  sus  praegnans 
ei  mactatur,  quae  hostia  propria  est  terrae.  Et  Mercurium 
ideo  illi  in  sacris  adiungi  dicunt  quia  uox  nascenti  honiini 
terrae  contactu  datur,  scimus  autem  Mercurium  uocis  et 
sermonis  potentem.  Auctor  est  Cornelius  Labeo  huic  Maiae 
id  est  terrae  aedem  Kalendis  Maiis  dedicatam  sub  nomine 
Bonae  Deae  et  eandem  esse  Bonam  Deam  et  terrain  ex  ipso 
ritu  occultiore  sacrorum  doceri  posse  confirmat.  Hanc  eandem 
Bonam  deam  Faunamque  et  Opem  et  Fatuam  pontificum  libris 
indigitari,  &c.' 

It  is  clear  from  this  passage  that  the  Romans  themselves 
were  not  agreed,  either  in  the  case  of  May  or  June,  that  the 
name  of  the  month  was  derived  from  a  deity.  No  Roman 
scholar  doubted  that  Martius  was  derived  from  Mars,  the 
characteristic  god  of  the  Roman  race ;  but  Maia  was  a  deity 
known  apparently  only  to  the  priests  and  the  learned.  Had 
she  been  a  popular  one,  what  need  could  there  have  been 
to  question  so  obvious  an  etymology?  And  if  she  were  an 
obscure  one,  how  could  she  have  given  her  name  to  a  month  ? 
As  a  matter  of  fact  March  is  the  only  month  of  which  we  can 
be  sure  that  it  was  named  after  a  god.  Even  January  is 
doubtful,  June  still  more  so.  The  natural  assumption  about 
this  latter  word  would  be  that  it  comes  from  Juno,  more 
especially  as  we  find  in  Latium  the  words  Junonius  and 
Junonalis  as  names  of  months2.  But  if  Junius  came  from 
Juno,  it  must  have  come  by  the  dropping  out  of  a  syllable  ; 
and  this,  in  the  case  of  a  long  and  accented  o,  would  be  at  least 
unlikely  to  happen3.  Nor  can  we  discover  any  sufficient 
reason  why  the  month  of  June  should  be  called  after  Juno ; 
none  at  any  rate  such  as  accounts  for  the  connexion  of  Mars 
with  the  initial  month  of  the  year.  This  is  enough  to  show 

1  i.e.  on  the  Ides:  see  below,  p.  120.  The  connexion  between  Mercurius 
and  Maia  seems  to  arise  simply  from  the  fact  that  the  dedication  of  the 
temple  of  the  former  was  on  the  Ides  of  this  mouth. 

3  Ovid,  Fasti,  6.  59  foil.  ;  Mommsen,  Chron.  218. 

3  The  etymology  was  defended  by  Roscher  in  Fleckeisen's  Jahrbuch  for. 
1875,  and  in  his  luno  und  Hera,  p.  105. 

II    2 


100  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

that  the  derivation  of  June  from  Juno  must  be  left  doubtful ; 
and  if  so,  certainly  that  of  May  from  Maia.  In  the  case  of  this 
month,  not  only  does  the  natural  meaning  of  mensis  Maius 
suit  well  as  following  the  mensis  Aprilis,  but  there  is  no 
cult  of  a  deity  Maia  which  is  found  throughout  the  month. 

Any  one  who  reads  the  passage  of  Macrobius  with  some 
knowledge  of  the  Roman  theological  system  will  hardly  fail 
to  conclude  that  Maia  is  only  a  priestly  indigitation  of  another 
deity,  and  that  the  name  thus  invented  was  simply  taken  from 
the  name  of  the  month  as  explained  above.  This  deity  was 
more  generally  known,  as  Macrobius  implies,  by  the  name  Bona 
Dea,  and  her  temple  was  dedicated  on  the  Kalends  of  May. 

It  is  difficult  to  characterize  the  position  of  the  month 
of  May  in  the  religious  calendar.  It  was  to  some  extent  no 
doubt  a  month  of  purilication.  At  the  Lemuria  the  house  was 
purified  of  hostile  ghosts  ;  the  curious  ceremony  of  the  Argei 
on  the  Ides  is  called  by  Plutarch  the  greatest  of  the  purifica- 
tions ;  and  at  the  end  of  the  month  took  place  the  lust  ratio 
of  the  growing  crops.  We  note  too  that  it  was  considered 
ill-omened  to  marry  in  May,  as  it  still  is  in  many  parts  of 
Europe.  The  agricultural  operations  of  the  month  were  not 
of  a  marked  character.  Much  work  had  indeed  to  be  done 
in  oliveyards  and  vineyards ;  some  crops  had  to  be  hoed  and 
cleaned,  and  the  hay-harvest  probably  began  in  the  latter  part 
of  the  month.  In  the  main  it  was  a  time  of  somewhat  anxious 
expectation  and  preparation  for  the  harvest  to  follow ;  and  this 
falls  in  fairly  well  with  the  general  character  of  its  religious 
rites. 

KAL.  MAI.     (MAY  i.)     F. 
LAR[IBUS].     (VEN.)     L .  (ESQ.) 

This  was  the  day  on  which,  according  to  Ovid1,  an  altar 
and  '  parva  signa '  had  been  erected  to  the  Lares  praestites. 
They  were  originally  of  great  antiquity,  but  had  fallen  into 
decay  in  Ovid's  time  : 

Bina  gemellorum  quaerebam  signa  deorum, 
Viribus  annosae  facta  caduca  morae3. 

1  Fasti,  5.  129  foil.  For  the  doubtful  reading  Curibus  in  131  see  Peter, 
ad  loc.  ;  Preller-Jordan,  ii.  114. 

3  Fasti,  5.  143  ;  Plutarch,  Quaest.  Rom.  51. 


MENSIS    MAIUS  IOI 

Ovid  himself  had  apparently  not  seen  the  signa,  though  he  Icoked 
for  them  ;  and  no  doubt  he  took  from  Yarro  the  description  he 
gives.  They  had  the  figure  of  a  dog  at  their  feet1,  and,  according 
to  Plutarch,  were  clothed  in  dogs'  skins.  Both  Ovid  and  Plutarch 
explained  the  dog  as  symbolizing  their  watch  over  the  city  ; 
though  Plutarch,  following,  as  he  says,  certain  Romans,  preferred 
to  think  of  them  rather  as  evil  demons  searching  out  and 
punishing  guilt  like  dogs.  The  mention  of  the  skins  is  very 
curious,  and  we  can  hardly  separate  it  from  the  numerous 
other  instances  in  which  the  images  of  deities  are  known 
to  have  been  clothed  in  the  skins  of  victims  sacrificed  to  them2. 
We  may  indeed  fairly  conclude  that  the  Lares  were  chthonic 
deities,  and  as  such  were  originally  appeased,  like  Hekate  in 
Greece3,  by  the  sacrifice  of  dogs.  We  have  already  had  one 
example  of  the  dog  used  as  a  victim '.  Two  others  are 
mentioned  by  Plutarch 5 ;  in  one  case  the  deity  was  the 
obscure  Genita  Mana,  and  in  the  other  the  unknown  god  of 
the  Lupercalia,  both  of  which  belong  in  all  probability  to  the 
same  stratum  of  Italian  religious  antiquity  as  the  Lares. 
Whether  we  should  go  further,  and  infer  from  the  use  of  the 
skins  that  the  Lares  were  originally  worshipped  in  the  form  of 
dogs 6,  is  a  question  I  must  leave  undecided  ;  the  evidence 
is  very  scanty.  There  is  no  trace  of  any  connexion  with  the 
dog  in  the  cult  of  the  Lares  domestici 7,  or  Compitales. 

This  is  also  the  traditional  day  of  the  dedication  of  a  temple 
to  the  Bona  Dea,  on  the  slopes  of  the  Aventine,  under  a  big 
sacred  rock.  It  is  thus  described  by  Ovid 8 : 

Est  moles  nativa  loco.     Res  nomina  fecit : 
Appellant  Saxum.     Pars  bona  mentis  ea  est. 

Huic  Remus  institerat  frustra,  quo  tempore  fratri 
Prima  Palatinae  signa  dedistis  aves. 

1  This  appears  on  coins  of  the  gens  Caesia  :  Cohen,  Med.  Cons.  pi.  viii. 
Wissowa,  in  Myth.  Lex.,  s.v.  Lares,  gives  a  cut  of  the  coin,  on  which  the 
Lares  are  represented  sitting  with  a  dog  between  them.     See  note  at  the 
end  of  this  work  (Note  B)  on  the  further  interpretation  of  these  coins. 

2  See  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  414  foil. 

*  Farnell,  Cults,  ii.  515.     Hekate  was  certainly  a  deity  of  the  earth.     Cf. 
Plut.  Q.  R.  68.  *  See  on  Robigalia,  April  25. 

8  Quaest.  Rom.  52  and  in  ;  cf.  Romulus  21. 

*  So  Jevons,  Roman  Questions,  Introduction,  xli. 

7  De-Marchi,  La  Religione  nella  vita  domestica,  48.  Wissowa  (Myth.  Lex,  s.v. 
Lares,  p.  1872;  prefers  the  old  interpretation,  much  as  Plutarch  gives  it. 

*  Fasti,  5.  149  foil. 


102  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

Templa  Patres  illic  oculos  exosa  viriles 

Leniter  acclivi  constituere  iugo. 
Dedicat  haec  veteris  Clausorum  nominis  heres, 

Virgineo  nullum  corpore  passa  virum. 
Livia  restituit,  ne  non  imitata  maritum 

Esset  et  ex  omni  parte  secuta  virum. 

The  allusion  to  Remus  fixes  the  site  on  the  Aventine.  The 
date  is  uncertain  ' ;  so  too  the  alleged  foundation  by  Claudia, 
which  may  be  only  a  reflection  from  the  story  of  the  part 
played  by  a  Claudia  in  the  introduction  of  the  Magna  Mater 
Idaea  to  Rome4.  The  temple,  as  Ovid  says,  was  restored 
by  Livia,  in  accordance  with  the  policy  of  her  husband,  also 
at  an  unknown  date. 

Of  the  cult  belonging  to  this  temple  we  have  certain  traces, 
which  also  help  us  to  some  vague  conception  of  the  nature 
of  the  deity.  It  should  be  observed  that  though  in  one 
essential  particular,  viz.  the  exclusion  of  men,  this  cult  was 
similar  to  that  of  December,  it  must  have  been  quite  distinct 
from  it,  as  the  latter  took  place,  not  in  a  temple,  but  in  the 
house  of  a  magistrate  cum  imperio  :\ 

i.  The  temple  was  cared  for,  and  the  cult  celebrated,  by 
women  only  4.  There  was  an  old  story  that  Hercules,  when 
driving  the  cattle  of  Geryon,  asked  for  water  by  the  cave 
of  Cacus  of  the  women  celebrating  the  festival  of  the  goddess, 
and  was  refused,  because  the  women's  festival  was  going 
on,  and  men  were  not  allowed  to  use  their  drinking- vessels  ; 
and  that  this  led  to  the  corresponding  exclusion  of  women  from 
the  worship  of  Hercules  '\  The  myth  obviously  arose  out 
of  the  practice.  The  exclusion  of  men  points  to  the  earth- 

1  Aust,  De  Aedibus  sacris,  p.  27.  It  was  apparently  before  123  B.  c.,  when 
a  Vestal  Virgin,  Licinia,  added  an  aedicula,  pulvinar,  and  ara  to  it  (Cic.  de 
Domo,  136). 

*  Wissowa,  in  Pauly's  Real-Encydopadie,  s.  v.  Bona  Dea,  690.     See  above, 
p.  69. 

3  See  below,  under  Dec.  3.    There  can  be  hardly  a  doubt  that  this 
December  rite  was  the  one  famous  for  the  sacrilegium  of  Clodius  in  62  B.  c., 
though  Prof.  Beesly  rashly  assumed  the  contrary  in  his  essay  on  Clodius 
\Catiline,  Clodius,  and  Tiberius,  p.  45  note).     Plutarch,  Cic.  19  and  20;  Dio 
Cass.  37.  35. 

*  Ovid,  1.  c.  '  oculos  exosa  viriles.'     Cp.  Ars  Amat.  3.  637.     On  this  and 
other  points  in  the  cult  see  R.  Peter  in  Myth.  Lex.,  and  Wissowa,  1.  c.     The 
latter  seems  to  refer  most  of  them  to  the  December  rite  ;    but  Ovid  and 
Macrobius  expressly  connect  them  with  the  temple.     Macr.  i.  12.  25  folL 

4  Propert.  4.  9 ;  Macr.  i.  12.  28. 


MENSIS    MAIUS  103 

nature  of  the  Bona  Dea ;  the  same  was  the  case  in  the  worship 
of  the  Athenian  Demeter  Thesmophoros.  The  earth  seems 
always  to  be  spiritualized  as  feminine  even  among  savage 
peoples l,  and  the  reason  of  the  exclusion  of  men  is  not  difficult 
to  conjecture,  just  as  the  exclusion  of  women  from  the  worship 
of  Hercules  is  explained  by  the  fact  that  Hercules  represents  the 
male  principle  in  the  ancient  Roman  religion 2. 

2.  Macrobius3  tells  us  that  wine  could  not  be  brought  into 
the  temple  suo  nomine,  but  only  under  the  name  of  milk,  and 
that  the  vase  in  which  it  was  carried  was  called  mellarium, 
i.e.  a  vase  for  honey.     A  legend  grew  up  to  account  for  the 
custom,  to  which  we  shall  refer  again,  that  Faunus  had  beaten 
his   daughter   Fauna   (i.e.  Bona   Dea)   with   a   rod  of  myrtle 
because  she  would  not  yield  to  his  incestuous  love  or  drink 
the  wine  he  pressed  on  her4.     This  may  indicate  a  survival 
from  the  time  when  the  herdsman  used  no  wine  in  sacred  rites, 
but  milk  and  honey  only ;  Pliny  tells  us  of  such  a  time  ',  and 
his  evidence  is  confirmed  by  the  poets.     In   any  case  milk 
would  be  the  appropriate  offering  to  the  Earth-mother,  and 
it  is  hard  to  see  why  it  should  have  been  changed  to  wine, 
unless  it  were  that  life  in  the  city  and  Greek  influence  altered 
the  character  both  of  the  Bona  Dea  and  her  worshippers.     The 
really   rustic   deities  had   milk   offered   them,   e.g.    Silvanus, 
Pales,  and  Ceres.     The   general  inference  from  this  survival 
is  that  the  Bona  Dea  was  originally  of  the  same  nature  with 
these   deities,  but   lost   her  rusticity  when   she  became  part 
of  an  organized  city  worship. 

3.  Myrtle  was  not  allowed  in  this  temple ;  hence  the  myth 
that  Faunus  beat  his  daughter  with  a  myrtle  rod 6.     But  could 

1  Tylor,  Primitive  Culture,  ii.  245  foil. 

*  See  below,  p.  143.     Lex.  Myth.  e.  v.  Hercules,  2258. 

8  Macr.  1.  c.     Plutarch  also  knew  of  this  (Quaest.  Rom.  20). 

4  Otherwise  in  Lactantius,  i.  22.  n,  and  Arnob.  5.  18,  where  Fauna  is 
said  to  have  been  beaten  because  she  drank  wine  ;  no  doubt  a  later  version. 
Lactantius  quotes  Sext.  Clodius,  a  contemporary  of  Cicero. 

5  H.  N.  14.  88.    See  above  on  ferine  Latinae,  p.  97.  Virg.  Eel.  5.  66;  Georg.  i. 
344  ;  Aen.  5.  77.    In  the  last  passage  milk  is  offered  to  the  inferiae  of 
Anchises :  we  may  note  the  similarity  of  the  cult  of  Earth-deities  and 
of  the  dead. 

6  Plut.  Q.  R.  20 ;  Macrob.  1.  c. ;  Lactant.  1.  c.    The  myth  has  been  ex- 
plained as  Greek  (Wissowa,  in  Pauly,  688),  but  its  peculiar  feature,  the 
whipping,  could  hardly  have  become  attached  to  a  Roman  cult  unless  there 
were  something  in  the  cult  to  attach  it  to,  or  unless  the  cult  itself  were 


104  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

the  exclusion  of  myrtle  by  itself  have  suggested  the  beating? 
Dr.  Mannhardt  answers  in  the  negative,  and  conjectures  that 
there  must  have  been  some  kind  of  beating  in  the  cult  itself, 
which  gave  rise  to  the  story1.  Dr.  Mannhardt  never  made 
a  conjecture  without  a  large  collection  of  facts  on  which  to  base 
it ;  and  here  he  depends  upon  a  number  of  instances  from 
Greece  and  Northern  Europe,  in  which  man  or  woman,  or 
some  object  such  as  the  image  of  a  deity,  is  whipped  with  rods, 
nettles,  strips  of  leather,  &c.,  in  order,  as  it  would  seem, 
to  produce  fertility  and  drive  away  hostile  influences.  We 
shall  see  the  same  peculiarity  occurring  at  the  Lupercalia  in 
February2,  where  its  object  and  meaning  are  almost  beyond 
doubt.  Many  of  these  practices  occur,  it  is  worth  noting, 
on  May-day.  If  the  Bona  Dea  was  a  representative  in  any 
sense  of  the  fertility  of  women,  as  well  as  of  the  fructifying 
powers  of  the  earth — and  the  two  ideas  seem  naturally  to 
have  run  together  in  the  primitive  mind — we  may  provisionally 
accept  Dr.  Mannhardt's  ingenious  suggestion.  If  it  be  objected 
that  as  myrtle  was  excluded  from  the  cult  it  could  not  have 
been  used  therein  for  the  purpose  of  whipping,  the  answer 
is  simply  that  as  being  invested  with  some  mysterious  power 
it  was  tabooed  from  ordinary  use,  but,  like  certain  kinds  of 
victims,  was  introduced  on  special  and  momentous  occasions. 

4.  The  temple  was  a  kind  of  herbarium  in  which  herbs  were 
kept  with  healing  properties".  A  group  of  interesting  in- 
scriptions shows  that  the  Bona  Dea  did  not  confine  her  healing 
powers  to  cases  of  women,  but  cured  the  ailments  of  both 
sexes4.  This  attribute  of  the  goddess  is  borne  out  by  the 
presence  of  snakes  in  her  temple,  the  usual  symbol  of  the 
medicinal  art,  and  at  the  same  time  appropriate  to  the  Bona 
Dea  as  an  Earth-goddess5.  It  is  possible  that  this  feature 
is  a  Greek  importation  ;  but  on  the  whole  I  see  no  reason  why 

borrowed  from  the  Greek.  That  the  latter  was  the  case  it  is  impossible 
to  prove ;  and  I  prefer  to  believe  that  both  cult  and  myth  were  Roman. 

1  Mythologische  Forschungen,  115  foil.     Cp.  Frazer,  Golden  Bough,  ii.  213  foil. 

8  Below,  p.  320.     See  also  on  July  7  (Nonae  Caprotinae). 

s  Macrob.  1.  c.  *  Quidam  Medeam  putant,  quod  in  aedo  eius  omne  genus 
herbarum  sit  ex  quibus  antistites  dant  plerumque  medicinas.' 

1  C.  I.  L.  vi.  54  foil. 

*  This  no  doubt  gave  rise  to  the  myth  that  Faunus  'coisse  cum  filia' 
in  the  form  of  a  snake.  Here  again  the  myth  may  possibly  be  Greek, 
but  we  have  no  right  to  deny  that  it  may  have  had  a  Roman  basis. 


MENSIS    MAIUS  105 

the  female  ministrants  of  the  temple  should  not  have  exercised 
such  healing  powers,  or  have  sold  or  given  herbs  at  request, 
even  at  a  very  early  period.  No  doubt  Greek  medicinal  learn- 
ing became  associated  with  it,  but  that  the  knowledge  of  simples 
was  indigenous  in  Italy  we  have  abundant  proof l ;  and  that  it 
should  have  been  connected  with  no  cult  of  a  deity  until  Aescu- 
lapius was  introduced  from  Greece,  is  most  improbable. 

5.  The  sacrifice  mentioned  is  that  of  a  porca 2.  The  pig  is 
also  the  victim  in  the  worship  of  Cares,  of  Juno  Lucina 3 
(as  alternative  for  a  lamb),  and  as  a  piacular  sacrifice  in  the 
ritual  of  the  deity  of  the  Fratres  Arvales  (Dea  Dia) ;  it  seems 
in  fact,  as  in  Greece,  to  be  appropriate  to  deities  of  the  earth 
and  of  women.  There  is  no  reason  to  suppose  that  wherever 
it  is  found  it  had  a  Greek  origin  ;  even  in  the  cult  of  Ceres, 
which,  as  we  saw,  became  early  overlaid  with  Greek  practice 4, 
the  pig  may  have  been  the  victim  before  that  change  took 
place.  But  it  is  a  singular  fact  that  in  the  worship  of  the 
Bona  Dea,  either  at  the  temple  of  the  Aventine,  or  in  the 
December  rite — more  probably  perhaps  in  the  latter — the  victim 
was  called  by  a  name  which  looks  suspiciously  Greek,  viz. 
Damium6.  It  seems  that  there  was  a  deity  Damia  who  was 
worshipped  here  and  there  in  Greece,  and  also  in  Southern 
Italy,  e.  g.  at  Tarentum,  where  she  had  a  festival  called  Dameia6. 
It  looks  as  if  this  Greek  deity  had  at  one  time  migrated  from 
Tarentum  to  Komer  and  become  engrafted  upon  the  indigenous 
Bona  Dea  ;  for  we  are  expressly  told  that  Damia  was  identical 
with  the  Bona  Dea,  and  that  the  priestess  of  the  latter  was  called 
Damiatrix7.  Much  has  been  written  about  these  very  obscure 
names,  without  any  very  definite  result ;.  but  it  seems  to  be 

Snakes  were  kept  in  great  numbers  both,  in  temples  and  houses  in  Italy 
(Preller-Jordan,  i.  87,  385). 

1  Plin.  H.  N.  29  passimr  especially  14,  &c.,  where  Cato  is  quoted  as 
detesting  the  new  Greek  art,  and  urging  his  son  to  stick  to  the  old 
simples ;  some  of  which,,  with  their  absurd  charms,  are  given  in  Cato, 
R.  R.  156  foil.  "  Macrob.  1.  c.  ;  Juv.  Sat.  2.  86. 

-  Marq.  173.      Gilbert  (Gesch.  und  Topogr.  ii.  159,  note)  has  some  im- 
possible combinations  on,  this  subject,  and  concludes  that  the  Bona  Dea 
was  a  moon-goddess.  *  See  above,  p.  72  foil. 

*  Paulus,  68  'Damium  sacrificium,  quod  fiebat  in  operto  in  honorem 
Bonae  deae,   .  .  .   dea  quoque  ipsa   D.unia   et  sacerdos  eius  daiuiatrix 
appellabatur.' 

6  R.  Peter  in  Myth.  Lex.,  s.  v.  Damia  ;  Wissowa,  1.  o. 

7  Paulus,  1.  c. 


106  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

generally  agreed  that  the  form  of  the  word  damiatrix  indicates 
a  high  antiquity  for  the  Graecized  form  of  the  cult,  and  may 
indeed  possibly  suggest  an  Italian  origin  for  the  whole  group 
of  names.  In  this  uncertainty  conjectures  are  almost  useless. 

We  have  seen  enough  of  the  cult  to  gain  some  idea  of  the 
nature  of  this  mysterious  deity,  whose  real  name  was  not 
known,  even  if  she  had  one '.  We  need  not  identify  her  with 
Vesta,  as  some  have  done2,  nor  with  Juno  Lucina,  nor  with  any 
other  female  deity  of  the  class  to  which  she  seems  to  have 
belonged.  She  must  at  one  time  have  been,  whatever  she 
afterwards  became,  a  protective  deity  of  .the  female  sex,  the 
Earth-mother 3,  a  kindly  and  helpful,  but  shy  and  unknowable 
deity  of  fertility.  The  name  Bona  Dea  is  probably  to  be 
regarded  as  one  indigitation  of  the  Earth-spirit  known  by 
a  variety  of  other  names  and  appearing  in  a  number  of  different 
phases.  There  is  indeed  a  remarkable  indefiniteness  about  the 
Italian  female  deities  of  this  class  ;  they  never  gained  what  we 
may  call  complete  specific  distinctness,  but  are  rather  half- 
formed  species  developed  from  a  common  type.  They  form, 
in  fact,  an  excellent  illustration  of  the  nature  of  that  earliest 
stratum  of  Roman  religious  belief  which  has  been  called  pan- 
daemonism — a  belief  in  a  world  of  spiritual  powers  not  yet 
grown  into  the  forms  of  individual  deities,  but  ready  at  any 
moment,  under  influences  either  native  ox  foreign,  to  take  a 
more  definite  shape. 

VII.  ID.  MAI.  (MAY  9).    N. 
LEM[VEIA].     (VEN.  MAFF.) 

V.  ID.  MAT.  (MAY  n).     N. 
LEM[VRIA].     (TUSC.  VEN.  MAFF.) 

III.  ID.  MAI.  (MAY  13).     N. 
LEM[VRIA].     (TUSC.  YEN.  MAFF.) 

The  word  Lemuria  indicates  clearly  enough  some  kind  of 
worship  of  the  dead  ;  but  we  know  of  no  such  public  cult  on 

1  Lactantius,  i.  22  ;  Serv.  Aen.  8.  314. 

4  Preuner,  Hestia-Vesta,  407  foil.     For  Lucina,  Gilbert,  1.  c. 

3  The  combination  of  the  idea  of  female  fecundity  with  that  of  the 
earth  is  of  course  common  enough.  Here  is  a  good  example  from 
Abyssinia  :  '  She  (Atetie)  is  the  goddess  of  fecundity,  and  women  are  her 


MENSIS    MAIUS  107 

these  three  days  except  from  the  calendars.  What  Ovid 
describes  as  taking  place  at  this  time  is  a  private  and  domestic 
rite  performed  by  the  head  of  the  household  l ;  and  Ovid  is  our 
only  informant  in  regard  to  details.  In  historical  times  the 
public  festival  of  the  dead  was  that  of  the  dies  parentales  in 
February,  ending  with  the  Feralia  on  the  2ist.  How,  then, 
is  it  that  the  three  days  of  the  Lemuria  appear  in  those 
large  letters  in  the  ancient  calendars,  which,  as  we  have  seen 2, 
indicate  the  public  festivals  of  the  religious  system  of  the 
Republic  ?  There  is  no  certain  answer  to  this  question.  We 
can  but  guess  that  the  Lemuria  was  at  one  time,  like  the 
Feralia,  a  public  festival,  but  descended  from  a  more  ancient 
deposit  of  superstition  which  in  historical  times  was  buried 
deep  beneath  the  civilization  of  a  developed  city  life  :1.  Ovid 
himself  implies  that  the  Lemuria  was  an  older  festival  than 
the  Feralia4,  and  we  may  suppose  him  to  be  following  Varro 
as  a  guide.  And  if  we  compare  his  account  of  the  grotesque 
domestic  rites  of  the  Lemuria  with  those  of  February,  which 
were  of  a  systematic,  cheerful,  and  even  beautiful  character, 
we  may  feel  fairly  sure  that  the  latter  represents  the  organized 
life  of  a  city  state,  the  former  the  ideas  of  an  age  when  life  was 
wilder  and  less  secure,  and  the  fear  of  the  dead  and  of  demons 
generally  was  a  powerful  factor  in  the  minds  of  the  people. 
If  we  may  argue  from  Ovid's  account,  to  be  described  directly, 
it  is  not  impossible  that  the  Lemuria  may  have  been  one  of 
those  periodical  expulsions  of  demons  of  which  Mr.  Frazer  has 
told  us  so  much  in  his  Golden  Bough  \  and  which  are  performed 
on  behalf  of  the  community  as  well  as  in  the  domestic  circle 
amongst  savage  peoples.  It  is  noticeable  that  the  offering 
of  food  to  the  demons  is  a  feature  common  to  these  practices, 
and  that  it  also  appears  in  those  described  by  Ovid. 

The  difference  of  character  in  the  two  Koman  festivals  of  the 
dead  is  perhaps  also  indicated  by  the  fact  that  the  days  of 
the  Lemuria  are  marked  in  the  calendars  with  the  letter  N, 

principal  votaries ;  but,  as  she  can  also  make  the  earth  prolific,  offerings 
are  made  to  her  for  that  purpose'  (Macdonald,  Religion  and  Myth,  p. 42). 

1  Fasti,  5.  421  foil.  a  See  Introduction,  p.  15. 

*  Huschke  (Rom.  Jahr,  17)  tried  to  prove  that  the  Lemuria  was  the 
'Todtenfest'  of  the  Sabine  city,  the  Feralia  that  of  the  Latin;  but  his 
arguments  have  convinced  no  one.  *  Fasti,  5.  423. 

4  G.  B.  ii.  157  foil. ;  Macdonald,  Religion  and  Myth,  ch.  vi. 


I08  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

while  the  Feralia  is  marked  F  or  FP1.  This  may  perhaps 
point  to  two  different  views  of  the  attitude  of  the  dead  to  the 
living,  affecting  the  character  of  the  festival  days ;  they  are 
friendly  or  hostile,  as  they  have  been  buried  with  due  rites 
and  carefully  looked  after,  or  as  they  have  failed  of  these  dues 
and  are  consequently  angry  and  jealous 2.  The  latter  of  these 
attitudes  is  more  in  keeping  with  the  notions  of  uncivilized 
man,  and  of  a  life  not  as  yet  wholly  brought  under  the  influ- 
ence of  the  civilization  of  the  city-state.  To  be  more  certain, 
however,  on  this  point,  we  must  try  and  discover  the  real 
meaning  of  the  word  lemur. 

The  definition  given  by  Porphyrio  is  'Umbras  vagantes 
hominum  ante  diem  mortuorum  atque  ideo  metuendasV 
Nonius  has  the  following :  '  Lemures  larvae  nocturnae  et  terrifi- 
cationes  imaginum  et  bestiarumV  From  these  passages  it 
would  seem  that  lemures  and  larvae  mean  much  the  same 
thing;  on  the  other  hand  Appuleius5  implies  that  lemures  is 
a  general  word  for  spirits  after  they  have  left  the  body,  while 
those  that  haunt  houses  are  especially  called  larvae.  But  on  a 
question  of  this  kind,  the  philosophical  and  uncritical  Appuleius 
is  not  to  be  weighed  as  an  authority  against  either  Nonius  or 
Porphyrio,  who  may  quite  possibly  be  here  representing  the 
learning  of  the  Augustan  age  ;  and  a  perusal  of  the  whole  of 
his  passage  will  show  that  he  is  simply  trying  to  classify  ghosts 
by  the  light  of  his  own  imagination.  Judging  from  the  hints 
of  the  two  other  scholars,  we  may  perhaps  conclude  that  lemures 
and  larvae  are  to  be  distinguished  as  hostile  ghosts  from  manes, 
the  good  people  (as  the  word  is  generally  explained),  i.  e.  those 
duly  buried  in  the  city  of  ihe  dead,  and  whom  their  living 
descendants  have  no  need  to  fear  so  long  as  they  pay  them 
their  due  rites  at  the  proper  seasons  as  members  of  the  family. 
And  this  conclusion  is  confirmed  by  the  curious  etymology  of 
Ovid 6,  reproduced  by  Porphyrio,  deriving  Lemuria  from  Remus. 

1  Introduction,  p.  10. 

*  Tylor,  Prim.  Cult.  ii.  24.     The  friendly  attitude  is  well  illustrated  in 
F.  de  Coulanges'  La  Cite  antique,  ch.  ii.  *  On  Hor.  Ep.  2.  2.  209. 

4  Non.  p.  135.  Cp.  Festus,  s.  v.  faba:  '  Leinuralibus  iacitur  larvis,'  i.e. 
'the  bean  is  thrown  to  larvae  at  the  Lemuralia.'  Serv.  Aen.  3.  63. 

*  de  Genio   Socrati.',   15.      The  passage   is   interesting,  but   historically 
worthless,  as  is  that  of  Martianus  Capella,  2.  162. 

6  Fasti,  5.  451  foil. ;  Porph.  I.e.  Remus,  as  one  dead  before  his  time, 
would  not  lie  quiet :  '  Umbra  cruenta  Bemi  visa  est  adsistere  lecto,'  &c. 


MENSIS    MAIUS 

whose  violent  death  was  supposed  to  have  been  expiated  by 
the  institution  of  the  festival.  The  difficulty  is  to  see  why, 
if  the  Icmurcs  were  unburied,  evil,  or  hostile  spirits,  a  special 
festival  of  three  days  should  have  been  necessary  to  appease 
or  quiet  them  ;  and  I  can  only  account  for  this  by  supposing 
that  such  spirits  were  especially  numerous  in  an  age  of  un- 
civilized life  and  constant  war  and  violence,  and  that  they 
formed  a  large  part  of  the  whole  world  of  evil  demons  whose 
expulsion  was  periodically  demanded.  It  may  have  been  the 
case  that  at  this  particular  time  in  May,  when  the  days  were 
nefasti  and  marriages  were  ill-omened,  these  spirits  became 
particularly  restless  and  needed  to  be  laid. 

Such  an  explanation  as  this  of  the  Lemuria  is  on  the  whole 
preferable  to  that  which  would  regard  it  as  the  original  Eoman 
festival  of  all  the  dead  ;  for  there  is  now  abundant  evidence 
that  even  in  the  earliest  ages  of  Italian  life  the  practice  of 
orderly  burial  in  necropoleis  was  universal ',  and  this  is 
a  practice  that  seems  inconsistent  with  a  general  belief  in  the 
dead  as  hostile  and  haunting  spirits. 

The  following  is  Ovid's  description  of  the  way  in  which  the 
ghosts  were  laid  at  the  Lemuria  by  the  father  of  a  family.  At 
midnight  he  rises,  and  with  bare  feet2  and  washed  hands, 
making  a  peculiar  sign  with  his  fingers  and  thumbs  to  keep 
off  the  ghosts,  he  walks  through  the  house.  He  has  black 
beans  in  his  mouth,  and  these  he  spits  out  as  he  walks,  looking 
the  other  way,  and  saying,  'With  these  I  redeem  me  and 
mine.'  Nine  times  he  says  this  without  looking  round ; 
then  come  the  ghosts  behind  him,  and  gather  up  the  beans 
unseen.  He  proceeds  to  wash  again  and  to  make  a  noise 
with  brass  vessels  ;  and  after  nine  times  repeating  the  form- 
ula 'manes3  exite  paterni,'  he  at  last  looks  round,  and  the 
ceremony  is  over. 

1  See  e.  g.  Von  Duhn's  paper  on  Italian  excavations,  translated  in  the 
Journal  of  Hellenic  Studies  for  1897. 

3  '  Habent  vincula  nulla  pedes'  (Fasti,  5.  432).  In  performing  sacred  rites 
a  man  must  be  free  ;  e.  g.  the  Flamen  Dialis  might  not  wear  a  ring,  or  any- 
thing binding,  and  a  fettered  prisoner  had  to  be  looked  in  his  house  (Plut. 
Q  R.  in).  Cp.  Numa  in  his  interview  with  Fiiunus  (Ov.  Fasti,  4.  658),  '  Nee 
digitis  annulus  ullus  inest.'  Serv.  Aen.  4.  518  ;  Hor.  Sat.  i.  8.  24. 

3  Manes  must  be  here  used,  either  loosely  by  the  poet,  or  euphemistically 
by  the  house-father. 


110  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

The  only  point  in  this  quaint  bit  of  ritual  which  need  detain 
us  is  the  use  of  beans.  We  have  had  bean-straw  used  at  the 
1'arilia.  and  we  shall  find  that  beans  were  also  used  at  the 
festival  of  the  dead  in  February.  Assuredly  it  is  not  easy  to 
see  what  could  have  made  them  into  such  valuable  'medicine.' 
Beans  were  not  a  newly  discovered  vegetable.  Their  exclusion 
from  the  rites  of  Demeter  must  have  been  of  great  antiquity, 
and  the  notions  of  the  Pythagoreans  about  them  were  probably 
based  on  very  ancient  popular  superstitious '.  No  one,  as  far  as 
I  know,  has  as  yet  successfully  solved  the  problem  why  beans 
had  so  strange  a  religious  character  about  them 2 ;  they  probably 
were  an  ancient  symbol  of  fertility,  but  it  is  impossible  now  to 
discover  how  or  why  the  ideas  grouped  themselves  around 
them,  which  we  so  constantly  find  both  in  Greece  and  Italy. 
If  we  ask  why  the  ghosts  picked  them  up,  or  were  supposed  to 
do  so,  there  is  some  reason  for  believing  that  by  eating  them 
they  might  possibly  hope  to  get  a  new  lease  of  life 3.  Whatever 
was  the  real  basis  of  the  superstition,  it  was  a  widely  spread 
one,  and  ramified  in  more  than  one  direction  ;  the  Roman  priest 
of  Jupiter,  for  example,  might  not  touch  beans  nor  even 
mention  them 4.  In  his  case  the  taboo  was  no  doubt  very  old, 
but  might  have  grown  out  of  some  such  practice  as  that  just 
described,  all  things  ill-omened  and  mysterious  being  carefully 
kept  out  of  his  reach. 

The  days  from  May  7  to  14  were  occupied  by  the  Vestal  Virgins 
in  preparing  the  mold  salsa,  or  sacred  salt-cake,  for  use  at  the 
Vestalia  in  June,  on  the  Ides  of  September,  and  at  the  Luper- 
calia 5.  This  was  made  from  the  first  ears  of  standing  corn  in 

1  It  is  curious  to  find  them  used  for  the  very  same  purpose  of  ghost- 
ridding  as  far  away  as  Japan  (Frazer,  Golden  Bough,  ii.  176).  For  their 
antiquity  as  food,  Helm,  Kulturpjlanzen,  459  ;  Schrader,  Sprachvergleichung, 
362. 

*  A.  Lang,  Myth,  &c.,  ii.  265  ;  Jevons,  Roman  Questions,  Introd.  p.  Ixxxvi ; 
O.  Crusius,  Ehein.  Mus.  xxxix.  164  foil. ;  and  especially  Lobeck,  Aglaoph. 
251  foil.     For  superstitions  of  a  similar  kind  attached  to  the  mandrake 
and  other  plants  see  Sir  T.  Browne's  Vulgar  Errors,  bk.  ii.  ch.  6 ;  Khys, 
Celtic  Mythology,  p.  356  (the  berries  of  the  rowan). 

3  There  was  a  notion  that  beans  sown  in  a  manure-heap  produced  men. 
Cp.  Plin.  H.  N.  18.  118  '  quoniam  mortuorum  animae  sint  in  ea.' 

*  Gell.  10.  15.  2  (from  Fabius  Pictor). 

s  Serv.  Ed.  8.  82 ;  Marq.  343  note.  Mannhardt,  A.  W.  F.  269,  attempts 
an  explanation  of  the  difficulty  arising  here  from  the  fact  that  in  historical 
times  the  calendar  was  some  weeks  in  advance  of  the  seasons,  but  without 
much  success. 


MENSIS    MAIUS  III 

a  primitive  fashion  by  the  three  senior  Vestals,  and  is  no  doubt, 
like  most  of  their  ritual,  a  relic  of  the  domestic  functions  of 
the  daughters  of  the  family.  But  we  must  postpone  further 
consideration  of  the  Vestals  and  their  duties  till  we  come  to  the 
Vestalia  in  June. 


ID.  MAI.     (MAY  15).     M>. 
FER[IAE]  IOVL     MEKCUR[IO]  MAIAE.     (VENUS  \) 

MAIAE  AD  CIRC[UMJ  MJAXIMUMJ.     (CAEE.)      MEKo[uRIo].      (lUSC.) 

The  very  curious  rite  which  took  place  on  this  day  is  not 
mentioned  in  the  calendars ;  it  belonged  to  those  which,  like 
the  Paganalia,  were  publica  indeed  and  pro  populo,  but  repre- 
sented the  people  as  divided  in  certain  groups  rather  than  the 
State  as  a  whole 2.  But  its  obvious  antiquity,  and  the  interesting 
questions  which  arise  out  of  it,  tempt  me  to  treat  it  in  detail, 
at  the  risk  of  becoming  tedious. 

I  have  already  mentioned 3  that  there  was  a  procession  in 
March,  as  we  infer  from  the  sacra  Argeorum  quoted  by  Varro, 
which  went  round  the  sactlla  Argeorum,  or  twenty-four  chapels 
situated  in  the  four  Servian  regions  of  the  city 4.  What  was 
done  at  these  sacetta  we  do  not  know  ;  the  procession  and  its 
doings  had  become  so  obscure  in  Ovid's  time  that  he  could 
dispose  of  it  in  two  lines  of  his  Fasti,  and  express  a  doubt  as 
to  whether  it  took  place  on  one  day  or  two  5.  Nor  do  we  know 
what  the  sacella  really  were.  The  best  conjecture  is  that  of 
Jordan,  who  has  brought  some  evidence  together  to  show  that 
they  were  small  chapels  or  sacred  places  where  holy  things 

1  This  note  is  wrongly  entered  in  the  Fasti  Venusini,  under  May  16. 

2  Festus,  245,  s.  v.  Publica  sacra.     Cp.  Mommsen,  Staatsrecht,  iii.   123. 
Festus  distinguishes  pagi,  monies,  sacetta,  of  which  the  festivals  would  seem 
to  be  the  Paganalia.  Septimontium,  and  sacra  Argeorum,  respectively. 

3  See  under  March  17.     We  arrive  at  the  procession  by  comparing  the 
Varronian  extracts  from  the  sacra  Argeorum  (L.  L.  545)  with  Oellius,  10. 
15.  30,  and  Ovid,  Fasti,  3.  791.     See  a  restoration  of  the  itinerary  of  the 
procession  in  Jordan,  Topogr.  ii.  603. 

4  Sacella  in  Varro  (L.  L.  545)  ;  sacraria,  ib.  548 ;  Argta  in  Festus,  334, 
where  the  word  teems  to  be  an  adjective  ;  Argei  in  Liv.  i.  24  '  loca  sacris 
faciendis,  quae  Argeos  pontificos  vocant.'     The  number  depends  on  the 
reading  of  Varro,  7.  44,  xxiv  or  xxvii ;  Jordan  decided  for  xxiv :  but  see 
Mommsen,  Staatsrecht,  iii.  123. 

*  Fasti,  3.  791. 


112  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

were  deposited  until  the  time  came  round  for  them  to  be  used 
in  some  religious  ceremony 1. 

But  on  May  15  there  was  another  rite  in  which  the  word 
Argei  plays  a  prominent  part ;  and  here  the  details  have  in  part 
at  least  survived.  The  Argei  in  this  case  are  not  chapels,  but 
a  number  of  puppets  or  bundles  of  rushes,  resembling  (as 
Dionysius  has  recorded)  men  bound  hand  and  foot,  which 
were  taken  down  to  the  pons  sublicius  by  the  Pontifices  and 
magistrates,  and  cast  into  the  river  by  the  Vestal  Virgins2. 
The  Flaminica  Dialis,  the  priestess  of  Jupiter,  was  present  at 
the  ceremony  in  mourning.  Th«  number  of  the  puppets  was 
probably  the  same  as  that  of  the  sacdla  of  the  same  name 3. 

Explanations  of  these  rites  were  invented  by  Koman  scholars. 
The  sacella  were  the  graves  of  Greeks  who  had  come  to  Italy 
with  Hercules ;  and  the  puppets  represented  the  followers  of 
Hercules  who  had  died  on  their  journey  and  were  to  return 
home  as  it  were  by  proxy 4.  Apart  from  the  theories  of  the 
learned,  it  was  the  fact  that  the  common  people  at  Rome 
believed  the  puppets  to  be  substitutes  for  old  men,  who  at  one 
time  used  to  be  thrown  into  the  Tiber  as  victims.  Sexagenaries 
de  ponte  was  a  well-known  proverb  which  in  Cicero's  time  was 
explained  by  supposing  that  the  bridges  alluded  to  were  those 
over  which  the  voters  passed  in  the  Comitia 8 ;  but  this  view 
may  at  once  be  put  aside.  Those  bridges  were  certainly  a 
comparatively  late  invention,  while  the  proverb  was  of  remote 
antiquity. 

But,  given  the  details  of  the  rite,  and  the  popular  belief 
about  the  old  men  as  victims,  what  explanation  can  we  hope 
to  arrive  at  ?  We  may  freely  admit  that  no  satisfactory  etymo- 
logy of  the  word  Argei  is  forthcoming ;  but  this  is  perhaps,  in 

1  Jordan,  Topogr.  ii.  271  foil. 

3  Dionysius,  i.  38 ;  Ovid,  Fasti,  5.  621  foil.  ;  Festus,  p.  334,  s.  v.  Sexa- 
genarii  ;  Plutarch,  Q.  R.  32  and  86. 

3  Dionysius  says  there  were  thirty ;  he  had  probably  seen  the  ceremony, 
but  may  have  only  made  a  rough  guess  at  the  number  or  have  thought  of 
the  thirty  Curiae.     Ovid  writes  of  two  :  'Falcifero  libata  seni  duo  corpora 
gentis  Mittite,'  &c.     (Jordan  proposed  to  read  '  senilia  '  for  'seni  duo.') 

4  Festus,  334. 

6  Festus,  1.  c. ;  Cicero,  pro  Eoscio  Amerino,  35.  100.  Sexagenaries  de 
ponte  was  apparently  an  old  saying  (cp.  '  depontani,'  Festus,  75)  ;  the 
earliest  notice  we  have  of  it,  which  comes  from  the  poet  Afranius,  seems 
to  connect  it  with  the  pons  sublicius. 


MENSIS    MAIUS  113 

a  negative  sense,  an  advantage  to  our  inquiry1.  The  Romans 
derived  it  from  the  Greek  'ApytToi  ;  and  to  this  etymology 
Mornmsen  is  now  disposed  to  return.  The  writer  of  the  article 
'Argei'in  the  Mythological  Lexicon  derived  it  from  varfca-s= 
'wolf ' ;  others  have  believed  it  to  come  from  a  root  arg=  'white ' 
or  'shining,'  and  though  the  termination  eus  is  hardly  a  Latin 
one,  it  may  be  that  this  is  the  true  basis  of  the  word  '•*. 

Instead  of  prejudging  the  case  by  fanciful  etymologies,  or  by 
attempting  to  decide  the  question  whether  the  Romans  ever 
practised  the  rites  of  human  sacrifice,  we  will  take  the  leading 
features  of  the  ceremony,  and  see  in  what  direction  they  may 
on  the  whole  direct  us.  That  done,  it  may  be  possible  to  sum 
up  the  debate,  though  a  final  and  decisive  verdict  is  not  to  be 
expected. 

The  features  which  demand  attention  are  (i)  the  processional 
character  of  the  rites  ;  (2)  the  presence  of  the  Pontifices  and 
the  Vestals  ;  (3)  the  mourning  of  the  Flaminica  Dialis  ;  (4)  the 
rush-puppets  and  their  immersion  in  the  Tiber. 

i.  We  can  hardly  doubt  that  there  was  a  procession  to  the 
pons  sublicius,  though  the  fact  is  not  expressly  stated.  We  are 
tempted  to  believe  that  it  visited  each  sacdlum,  and  there 
found,  or  possibly  made,  the  puppet  (simulacrum),  which  thus 
represented  the  district  of  which  the  sacellum  was  the  sacred 
centre ;  and  that  it  then  proceeded,  bearing  the  puppets, 
probably  by  the  Forum  and  Vicus  Tuscus  to  the  bridge 3.  Now 
if  this  feature  can  help  us  at  all — if  we  accept  the  connexion  of 
the  March  and  May  ceremonies  and  their  processional  character — 
it  must  point  in  the  direction  of  the  purification  of  land  or  city, 
on  the  analogy  of  other  Italian  ceremonies  of  the  same  kind. 


1  'The  etymology  will  of  course  explain  a  word,  but  only  if  it  happens 
to  be  right ;  the  history  of  the  word  is  a  surer  guide '  (Skeat).  In  this 
case  we  have  not  even  the  history. 

*  See  Sehwegler,  i  383.  note  ;  Marq.  183.  Mommsen  (Staatsrecht,  iii.  123) 
reverts  to  the  opinion  that  Argei  is  simply  'Apytiot,  and  preserves  a 
reminiscence  of  Greek  captives.  Nettleship,  in  his  Notes  in  Latin  Lexico- 
graphy, p.  271,  is  inclined  to  connect  the  word  with  'arcere,'  in  the  sense 
of  confining  prisoners.  More  fanciful  developments  in  a  paper  by  O.  Keller, 
in  Fleckeisen's  Jahrbuch,  cxxxiii.  845  loll. 

1  The  puppets  may  have  been  made  in  March,  and  then  hung  in  the 
sacella  till  May  :  so  Jordan,  Topvgr.  1.  c.  The  writer  in  Myth.  Lex.  thinks 
that  human  victims  were  originally  kept  in  these  sacella,  for  whom  the 
puppets  were  surrogates. 


114  TIIE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

At  the  end  of  this  month  took  place  the  Ambarvalia,  when  the 
priests  went  round  the  land  with  prayer  and  sacrifice  to  ensure 
the  good  growth  of  the  crops ;  and  we  have  a  remarkable 
instance  of  the  same  kind  of  practice  in  the  celebrated  in- 
scription of  Iguvium.  Not  only  each  city,  but  each  pagus,  and 
even  each  farmer,  duly  purified  his  land  in  some  such  way, 
cleansing  it  from  the  powers  of  evil  and  sterility,  while  at  the 
same  time  the  boundaries  were  renewed  in  the  memories  of  all 
concerned.  Bearing  this  in  mind,  and  also  the  season  of  the 
year,  we  may  fairly  guess  that  the  Argean  processions  had  some 
relation  to  agriculture,  and  to  the  welfare  of  the  precarious 
stock  of  wealth  of  an  agricultural  community. 

2.  The  presence  of  the  Pontifices  and  Vestals. — The  former 
would  be  present,  partly  as  the  representative  sacred  college 
of  the  united  city1,  partly  as  having  under  their  special  care 
the  sacred  bridge  from  which  the  puppets  were  thrown. 
Whether  or  no  the  word  pontifex  be  directly  derived  from 
pons*,  it  is  certain  that  the  ancient  bridge,  with  its  strong 
religious  associations,  was  under  their  care,  and  that  the  river 
was  an  object  of  their  constant  liturgical  attention3.  It  has 
been  suggested  that  the  whole  ceremony  was  one  of  bridge- 
worship  * ;  but  this  view,  as  we  shall  see,  will  hardly  explain 
all  the  facts.  It  leaves  the  March  rites  unexplained,  and  also 
the  presence  of  the  Vestals ;  nor  does  it  seem  to  suit  the 
season  of  the  year. 

The  presence  of  the  Vestals  is  more  significant ;  and  it  was 
they,  as  it  seems,  who  performed  the  act  of  throwing  the 
puppets  from  the  bridge 6.  In  all  the  public  duties  performed 
by  them  (as  we  shall  see  more  fully  in  dealing  with  the 
Vestalia6)  a  reference  can  be  traced  to  one  leading  idea,  viz. 
that  the  food  and  nourishment  of  the  State,  of  which  the 
sacred  tire  was  the  symbol,  depended  for  its  maintenance  on 

1  There  is  an  interesting  modern  parallel  in  Mannhardt,  A.  W.  F.  178. 

1  Varro,  L.  L.  5.  83,  and  Jordan.  Topogr.  i.  398.  The  general  opinion 
seems  now  to  favour  the  view  that  there  was  an  original  connexion  between 
the  pontifices  and  the  pans  sublicius. 

3  Varro,  L.  L.  5.  83  ;  Dionys.  2.  73,  3.  45. 

4  This  was  the  suggestion  of  Mr.   Frazer  in  a  note  in  the  Journal  of 
Philology,  vol.  xiv.  p.  156.     The  late  Prof.  Nettleship  once  expressed  this 
view  to  me. 

*  Paulus,  p.  15  'per  Virgiues  Vestales' ;  Ovid,  Fasti,  5.  6ai. 
'  See  below,  p.  149. 


MENSIS    MAIUS  115 

the  accurate  performance  of  these  duties.  We  have  just  seen 
that  they  spent  the  seven  days  preceding  the  Ides  of  May  in 
preparing  their  sacred  cakes  from  the  first  ripening  ears  of 
corn.  We  shall  see  them  using  these  cakes  in  June,  Sep- 
tember, and  at  the  Lupercalia.  At  the  Parilia  and  the  Fordi- 
cidia  they  also  take  a  prominent  part,  both  of  them  festivals 
relating  to  the  fruitfulness  of  herds  and  flocks ;  so  also  at  the 
harvest  festivals  in  August  of  Ops  Consiva  and  Census.  And 
we  can  hardly  suppose  that  their  presence  at  the  rite  under 
discussion  should  have  a  different  significance  from  that  of 
their  public  service  on  all  other  occasions.  Even  if  we  had  no 
other  evidence  to  go  upon,  we  might  on  the  facts  just  adduced, 
base  a  fair  inference  that  this  ceremony  too  had  some  relation 
to  the  processes  and  perils  awaiting  the  ripening  crops. 

3.  The  Flaminica  Dialis  had  on  this  day  to  lay  aside  her 
usual  bridal  dress,  and  to  appear  in  mourning1.  The  same 
rule  was  laid  down  for  her  during  the  '  moving '  of  the  ancilia 
in  March,  and  during  the  Vestalia  up  to  the  completion  of  the 
purification  of  the  temple  of  Vesta.  It  is  not  easy  to  see 
what  the  meaning  of  this  rule  may  have  been.  On  the  other 
two  occasions  there  is  nothing  to  lead  us  to  suppose  that  it  was, 
some  such  terrible  rite  as  human  sacrifice  which  caused  the 
change  of  costume  ;  we  need  not  therefore  suppose  that  it  was 
so  on  May  15.  But  if  all  three  occasions  are  times  of  puri- 
fication and  the  averting  of  evil  influences :  if  they  each  mark 
the  conclusion  of  an  old  season,  and  the  necessity  of  great 
care  in  entering  on  a  new  one,  we  can  better  understand  it. 
This  was  the  case,  as  we  saw,  when  in  March  the  Salii  were 
pervading  the  city,  and  it  was  so  also  at  the  Vestalia,  which 
was  preparatory  to  the  ingathering  of  the  crops.  Some  such 
critical  moment,  I  think,  the  day  we  are  discussing  must  also 
have  been.  Some  light  may  be  thrown  on  this  aspect  of 
the  question  by  practices  which  have  been  collected  by 
Dr.  Mannhardt  from  Northern  Europe  !,  some  of  which  still 


1  Plut.  QuaesL  Rom.  86  ;  Gell.  10.  15  ;  Marq.  318.  Her  usual  head-dress 
was  the  Jlammeum,  or  bride's  veil.  No  mention  is  made  of  the  Flamen  her 
husband ;  the  prominence  of  women  in  all  these  rites  is  noticeable. 

1  Baumkultus,  155,  411,  416.  The  cult  of  Adonis  has  some  features  like 
that  of  the  Argei :  e.g.  the  puppet,  the  immersion  in  water  and  the 
mourning  (see  Lex.  s.  v.  Adonis,  p.  73  ;  Mannhardt,  A.  W.F.  276). 

I  2 


Il6  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

survive.  I  will  give  a  single  instance  from  Russia.  At 
Murom  on  June  29  a  figure  of  straw,  dressed  in  female 
clothing,  is  laid  on  a  bier  and  carried  to  the  edge  of  a  lake  or 
river ;  it  is  eventually  torn  up  and  thrown  into  the  river,  while 
the  spectators  hide  their  faces  and  behave  as  though  they 
bewailed  the  death  of  Kostroma.  In  another  district  on  the 
same  day  an  old  man  carried  out  of  the  town  a  puppet  repre- 
senting the  spring,  and  was  followed  by  the  women  singing 
mournful  songs  and  expressing  by  their  gestures  grief  and 
despair. 

4.  The  Puppets  and  their  immersion  in  the  Tiber. — There  are 
two  possible  explanations  of  this  curious  practice. 

(i)  The  puppets  were  substitutes  for  human  victims,  and 
probably  for  old  men.  The  evidence  for  this  view  is— first, 
the  Roman  tradition  expressed  in  the  saying  sexagcnarios  de 
ponte1,  and  supported  by  the  fact  that  the  puppets  appeared, 
to  Dionysius  at  least,  like  men  bound  hand  and  foot 2 ;  secondly, 
the  fact  that  human  sacrifice  was  not  entirely  unknown  at 
Rome,  though  there  is  no  trace  of  any  such  custom  regularly 
recurring.  We  may  allow  that  Italy  could  not  have  been 
entirely  free  from  a  practice  which  existed  even  in  Greece,  and 
also  that  the  habit  of  substituting  some  object  for  the  original 
victim  is  common  and  well  attested  in  religious  history  ;  but 
whether  either  the  Argei,  or  the  oscilla  or  maniac,  which  are 
often  compared  with  the  Argei,  really  had  this  origin,  may 
well  indeed  be  doubted  \  Thirdly,  there  is  evidence  that  not 
only  human  sacrifice,  but  the  sacrifice  of  old  men,  was  by  no 
means  unknown  in  primitive  times.  Passing  over  the  general 
evidence  as  to  human  sacrifice,  we  know  that  the  old  and  weak 

1  i.  e.  '  old  men  must  go  over  the  bridge.'     See  Cic.  pro  Roscio  Amerino, 
35,  where  the  old  edition  of  Osenbrflggen  has  a  useful  note.    Also  Varro, 
apud  Lactant.  Inst.  i.  21.  6.     Ovid  alludes  to  the  proverb  (5.  623  foil.) 
•Corpora  post  decies  senos  qui  credidit  annos  Missa  neci,  sceleris  crimine 
damnat  avos.' 

2  Dionys.  i.  38.     But  he  may  have  been  deceived  simply  by  the  appear- 
ance of  the  bindings  of  the  sheaves  or  bundles,  especially  if  he  had  been 
told  beforehand  of  the  proverb. 

*  The  best  known  instances  of  human  sacrifice  at  Rome  are  collected  in 
a  note  to  Merivale's  History  (vol.  iii.  35) ;  and  by  Sachse,  Die  Argeer,  p.  17. 
O.  Miiller  thought  that  it  came  to  Rome  from  Etruria  (Etrusker,  ii.  20). 
For  Greece,  see  Hermann,  Griech.  Alt.  ii.  sec.  27 ;  Stiabo  10.  8.  See  also 
some  valuable  remarks  in  Tylor,  Prim.  CM.  ii.  362,  on  substitution  in 
sacrifice. 


MENSIS    MAIUS  117 

were  sometimes  put  to  death l.  Being  of  no  further  use  in  the 
struggle  for  existence,  they  were  got  rid  of  in  various  ways— 
an  act  perhaps  not  so  much  of  cruelty  as  of  kindness,  and 
under  certain  circumstances  not  incompatible  with  filial  piety2. 
The  chief  objections  to  this  explanation  are — first,  that  it 
obliges  us  to  ascribe  to  the  early  Romans  a  habit  which  seems 
quite  incompatible  with  their  well-known  respect  for  old  age 
and  their  horror  of  parricide  ;  secondly,  that  it  does  not  explain 
why  a  practice,  which  can  hardly  have  ever  been  a  regularly 
recurring  one,  should  have  passed  into  a  yearly  ceremony3. 

(2)  The  rite  was  of  a  dramatic  rather  than  a  sacrificial 
character4,  and  belongs  to  a  class  of  which  we  have  numerous 
examples  both  from  Greek,  Teutonic,  and  Slavonic  peoples. 
In  Greece,  or  rather  in  Egypt,  we  have  the  cult  of  Adonis,  in 
which  a  puppet  is  immersed  in  the  water  amid  wailings  and 
lamentations.  In  Greece  proper  semi-dramatic  rites  are  found 
at  Chaeronea  and  Athens5,  though  somewhat  different  in 
character  to  those  of  the  Argei  and  Adonis.  Tacitus  describes 
the  immersion  in  water  of  the  image  of  the  German  goddess 
Nerthus".  But  most  significant  are  the  many  examples,  of 
which  Mann  hard  t  formed  an  ample  collection,  in  which  puppets 
are  found,  made  as  a  rule  of  straw,  carried  along  in  procession 
and  thrown  into  a  river  or  water  of  some  kind,  often  from 
a  bridge 7.  Sometimes  the  place  of  these  puppets  is  taken  by 
a  sheaf,  a  small  tree,  or  a  man  or  boy  dressed  up  in  foliage  or 

1  Caesar,  B.  G.  6.  16  ;  Tac.  Germ.  9  and  39.  Strabo,  10.  8,  is  interesting, 
as  giving  an  example  of  the  dropping  out  of  the  actual  killing,  while  the 
form  survived.  See  below  on  Lupercalia,  p.  315. 

"  A  point  suggested  to  me  some  years  ago  by  Mr.  A.  J.  Evans. 

3  Sir  A.  Lyall  (Asiatic  Studies,  p.  19)  writes  of  human  sacrifice  as  having 
been  common  in  India  as  a  last  resort  for  appeasing  divine  wrath  when 
manifested   in   some   strange   manner  ;   i.  e.  it   was  never  regular.      So 
Procopius,  BeV.  Goth.  3.   13.     Tacitus,   indeed,  writes   of  'certis  diebus ' 
(Germ.  9),  but  it  is  not  clear  that  he  meant  fixed  recurring  days.   As  a  rule 
in  human  sacrifice  and  cannibalism  the  victims  are  captives,  who  would 
not  be  always  at  hand. 

4  Dionysius  (i.  38)  speaks  of  sacrifice  before  the  immersion  of  the  puppets : 
vpoOuaai'Tfs  Ifpa  ra  Kara  TOVS  Popovs. 

5  The  0oi/Ai/ios  and  <papnxtc6s,  Mannhardt,  Myth.  Forsch.  129  foil. 

'  Germania,  40 ;  Mannhardt,  Baumkultus,  567  foil.  The  evidence  is 
perhaps  hardly  adequate  as  to  detail. 

7  Baumkultus,  chapters  3,  4,  and  5,  which  should  be  used  by  all  who 
wish  to  form  some  idea  of  the  amount  of  evidence  collected  on  this  on« 
head. 


Tl8  tfHE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

fastened  in  the  sheaf1 :  but  in  almost  all  cases  the  object  is 
duck  d  in  water  or  at  least  sprinkled  with  it,  though  now  and 
then  it  is  burnt  or  buried.  The  best  known  example  is  that 
of  the  Bavarian  '  Wasservogel, '  which  is  either  a  boy  or 
a  puppet,  as  the  custom  may  be  in  diff  rent  places  ;  he  or  it 
was  decorated,  carried  round  the  fields  at  Whitsuntide2,  and 
thrown  from  the  bridge  into  the  stream.  So  constant  and 
inconvenient  was  this  kind  of  custom  in  the  Middle  Ages  that 
a  law  of  1351,  still  extant,  forbade  the  ducking  of  people  at 
Erfurt  in  the  water  at  Easter  and  Whitsuntide3.  In  many 
of  these  cases  the  simulacrum  may  have  been  substituted  for 
a  human  being4 ;  but  I  find  none  where  the  notion  of  sacrifice 
survived,  or  where  there  was  any  trace  of  a  popular  belief  that 
the  object  was  a  substitute  for  an  actual  victim.  What  these 
curious  customs,  according  to  Dr.  Mannhardt,  do  really  repre- 
sent, is  the  departure  of  winter  and  the  arrival  of  the  fruitful 
season,  or  possibly  the  exhaustion  of  the  vernal  Power  of 
vegetation  after  its  work  is  done*. 

Two  features  in  these  old  .customs  may  strike  us  as  interest- 
ing in  connexion  with  the  Argei — (i)  The  fact  that  the  central 
object  is  often  either  actually  an  old  man,  or  is  at  least  called 
'the  old  one.'  A  Whitsuntide  custom  at  Halle  shows  us,  for 
example,  a  straw  puppet  called  Dcr  alte 6.  (2)  The  constant  occur- 
rence of  white  objects  in  these  customs  ;  the  puppet  is  called 
'the  white  man  with  the  white  hair,  the  snow-white  husband,' 
or  is  dressed  in  a  white  shirt 7.  In  these  expressions  it  is  per- 
haps not  impossible  that  we  may  find  a  clue  to  the  long-lost 
meaning  of  the  word  Argei.  Can  it  be  that  the  Roman  puppets 
were  originally  called  'the  white  ones,'  i.  e.  old  ones,  from  a  root 

1  Our  Jack-in-the-Green  is  probably  a  survival  of  this  kind  of  rite. 

2  Nearly  all   these   customs  occur  either  at  Whitsuntide  or  harvest. 
Mannhardt  conjectured  that    the   Argei-rite   was    originally  a  harvest 
custom  (A.  W,  F.  269) ;  quite  needlessly,  I  think. 

3  BaumkuUus,  331. 

4  Mannhardt  allows  this,  BaumkuUus,  336  note. 

8  Baumkultus,  358  foil.  His  theory  is  expressed  in  judicious  and  by  no 
means  dogmatic  language.  It  may  bo  that  he  runs  his  Vegetation-spirit 
somewhat  too  hard — and  no  mythologist  is  free  from  the  error  of  seeing 
his  own  discovery  exemplified  wherever  he  turns.  But  the  spirit  of 
vegetation  had  been  found  at  Rome  long  before  Mannhardt's  time  ^see  e.g. 
Preller's  account  of  Mars  and  the  deities  related  to  him). 

8  Baumkultus.  359,  420 ;  Komdamonen,  24. 

7  Baumkultus,  349  foil.,  365,  414. 


MENSIS    MAIUS  119 

arg—  'white ' ' ;  and  that  from  a  natural  mistake  as  to  the  mean- 
ing of  the  word  there  arose  not  only  the  story  about  the  Greek 
victims,  but  also  the  common  belief  about  sexagenarii  being 
thrown  over  the  bridge  ? 

We  have  to  choose  between  the  two  explanations  given  above. 
I  am,  on  the  whole,  disposed  to  agree  with  Dr.  Mannhardt,  and 
in  the  absence  of  convincing  evidence  as  to  the  regular  and 
periodical  occurrence  of  human  sacrifice  in  ancient  Italy,  to 
regard  these  strange  survivals  as  semi- dramatic  performances 
rather  than  sacrificial  rites.  This  view,  however,  need  not 
exclude  the  possibility  of  the  union  of  both  drama  and  sacrifice 
at  a  very  remote  period,  probably  before  the  Latins  settled  in 
the  district. 

The  immersion  in  water,  whether  or  no  it  involved  the  death 
of  a  victim,  is  reasonably  explained,  on  the  basis  of  compara- 
tive evidence,  to  have  been  a  rain-spell 2.  In  the  cases  already 
mentioned  of  Adonis,  Nerthus,  &c.,  this  idea  seems  the  pro- 
minent one.  I  am  inclined  to  think,  however,  that  the  notion  of 
purification  was  also  present — the  two  uniting  in  the  idea  of 
regeneration.  Plutarch  calls  the  Argean  rite  '  the  greatest  of 
the  purifications,'  and  he  is  here  most  probably  reproducing  the 
opinion  of  Varro s.  This  is  indicated  by  the  presence  of  the 
priests  and  the  Vestals,  by  the  processions,  and  by  the  mourn- 
ing of  the  Flaminica  Dialis,  as  we  have  already  seen.  We  may 
regard  the  rite  as  in  fact  a  casting  out  of  old  things,  and  in  that 
sense  a  purification  ;  and  also  at  the  same  time  as  a  spell  or 
earnest  of  rain  and  fertility  in  the  ensuing  year.  The  puppets 

1  Cp.  the  root  cos-,  which  (according  to  Corssen,  Aussprache,  i.  652  note, 
appears  both  in  canus  and  cascus,  and  also  in  the  Oscan  casnar=  'an  old 
man.'  The  word  casnar  is  used  by  Varro  (ap.  Nonium,  86}  for  sexagenarius, 
or  possibly  argeus :  '  Vix  ecfatus  erat  cum  more  maiorum  carnales  ( =  casnales) 
arripiunt  et  de  ponte  deturbant.'  Cf.  Varro,  L.  L.  7.  73  ;  Mommsen,  Unter- 
italische  Diaieklen,  p.  268.  The  root  arg  may  perhaps  have  meant  holy  as  well 
as  old  or  white,  like  the  Welsh  gwen  (Khys,  Celtic  Mythology,  527  note). 

1  Baumkultus,  214-16,  355,  &c.  On  p.  356  is  a  valuable  note  giving 
examples  from  America,  India,  &c.  For  a  remarkable  c&se  from  ancient 
Egypt,  of  which  the  object  is  not  rain,  but  inundation,  see  Tylor,  Prim. 
Cult.  ii.  368.  See  also  Grimm,  Teutonic  Mythology  (E.  T.),  p.  593  foil. 

1  Quaest.  Rom.  86.  This  work  is  undoubtedly  drawn  chiefly  from  Varro's 
writings,  but  largely  through  the  medium  of  those  of  Juba  the  king  of 
Mauretania,  who  wrote  in  Greek  (Earth  de  Jubae  'Onoivnjaiv  in  Plutarcho 
expressis:  GOttingen,  1876). 


120  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

were  perhaps  hung  in  the  sacella  in  the  course  of  the  procession 
in  March,  as  a  symbol  of  the  fertility  then  beginning,  and  cast 
into  the  river  as  '  the  old  ones '  when  that  fertility  had  reached 
its  height l. 

In  the  last  place,  it  might  be  asked  in  honour  of  what  deity 
the  rite  was  performed.  It  is  hardly  necessary,  and  certainly 
is  not  possible,  to  answer  a  question  about  which  the  Romans 
themselves  were  not  agreed.  Ovid  and  Dionysius2  believed  it 
was  Saturnus,  probably  following  an  old  Greek  oracle  which 
was  known  to  Varro*.  Verrius  Flaccus  thought  it  was  Dis 
Pater 4.  Modern  writers  have  concluded  on  the  general  evidence 
of  the  rite  that  it  was  the  river-god  Tiberinus ;  Jordan,  how- 
ever, regarded  the  question  as  irrelevant 5.  We  may  agree  with 
him,  and  at  least  return  a  verdict  of  non  liquet.  If  it  was 
a  sacrificial  act,  the  ancient  river-god  is  indeed  likely  enough  ; 
if  it  was  a  quasi-dramatic  one,  it  does  not  follow  that  any  deity 
was  specially  concerned  in  it.  But  we  may  go  so  far  as  to  guess 
that  it  was  connected  with  the  worship  of  those  vaguely-con- 
ceived deities  of  vegetation  whose  influence  on  the  calendar  we 
have  been  tracing  since  March  i. 

This  same  day  is  marked  in  one  calendar  as  Feriae  lovi, 
Mercuric,  Maiae.  The  conjunction  of  these  deities  is  to  some 
extent  accidental.  In  the  first  place  the  Ides  of  every  month 
were  sacred  to  Jupiter  ;  and  the  addition  of  Mercurius  is  pro- 
bably to  be  explained  simply  by  the  adaptation  of  a  Greek  myth 
which  made  Hermes  the  son  of  Jupiter,  suggesting  the  selection 
of  the  Ides  as  an  appropriate  day  for  the  cult  of  the  Latin 
representative  of  Hermes fi.  Mercurius,  again,  was  associated 
with  Maia,  perhaps  simply  because  the  dedication-day  of  his 
oldest  temple  in  Rome  (ad  circum  maximum)  was  the  Ides 

1  Parallels  in  Baumkultus,  pp.  170,  178,  211.  409.  These  are  examples 
of  May-trees  and  other  objects,  sometimes  decked  out  as  human  beings, 
which  are  hung  up  i-n  the  homestead  for  a  certain  time — e.  g.  in  Austria 
from  May-day  to  St.  John  Baptist's  day,  a  period  closely  corresponding 
both  in  length  and  season  to  that  at  Rome,  from  March  15  to  May  15.  In 
the  church  of  Charlton-on-Otmoor,  near  Oxford,  it  is  hung  on  the  rood- 
screen  from  May  r  onwards. 

1  Ovid,  Fasti,  5.  627  :  Dionys.  r.  38. 

1  See  Macrob.  i.  7.  28.  In  Dionysius'  version,  however,  of  the  line  it  is 
"A(5^s  to  whom  the  sacrifice  is  offered. 

*  Festus,  334.  5  Topogr.  ii.  285. 

*  Ltx.  s.  v.  Mercurius,  p.  2804. 


MENSIS    MAIUS  121 

of  the  Mensis  Maius '.  The  Roman  Mercurius  was  con- 
sidered especially  as  the  god  of  trade,  and  dated,  like  Ceres, 
from  the  time  when  an  extensive  corn  trade  first  began  in 
Rome'2.  It  is  highly  probable  that  the  Tarquinian  dynasty  had 
encouraged  Roman  trade,  and  that  the  increase  of  population 
which  was  the  result,  together  with  the  wars  which  followed 
their  expulsion,  had  occasioned  a  series  of  severe  famines.  To 
this  we  trace  the  Roman  knowledge  of  the  Greek  or  Graeco-Etrus- 
can  Hermes,  through  a  trade  in  corn  with  Sicilian  Greeks  or 
Etruscans,  and  the  appearance  of  the  god  at  Rome  as  Mercurius, 
the  god  of  trade.  His  first  temple  was  dedicated  in  B.C.  495,  and 
as  in  other  cases,  the  dedication  was  celebrated  each  year  by 
those  specially  interested  in  the  worship,  in  this  case  the  merca- 
tores,  who  were  already,  at  this  early  period,  formed  into  an 
organized  guild 3. 

xii  KAL.  IUN.    (MAY  21).     IP. 

AGONJIA]4.     (ESQ.  CAEB.  VEN.  MAFF.) 
VEDIOVL     (VEN.) 

The  other  days  sacred  to  Vediovis  were  January  i  and  the  Nones 
of  March,  from  which  latter  day  we  postponed  the  consideration 
of  this  mysterious  deity,  in  hopes  of  future  enlightenment. 
But  Vediovis  is  wrapped  still,  and  always  will  be,  in  at  least  as 
profound  an  obscurity  for  us  as  he  was  for  Varro  and  Ovid. 

We  have  but  his  name  to  go-  upon,  and  two  or  three  indis- 
tinct traces  of  his  cult.  The  name  seems  certainly  to  be  Vediovis, 
ie  apparently  'the  opposite  of,'  or  'separated  from,'  Jupiter 
(=Diovis);  or,  as  Preller  has  its,  comparing,  like  Ovid,  vegrandia 
farra  ('corn  that  has  grown  badly'),  vescus,  &c.,  Jupiter  in  a 
sinister  sense.  But  this  last  explanation  must,  on  the  whole,  be 
rejected.  It  is  true  that  each  deity  has  a  sinister  or  threatening 

1  Aust,  de  Aedibus  sacris,  p.  5. 

1  It  seems  to  me  probable  that  there  was  a  Mercurius  at  Rome  before  the 
introduction  of  Hermes ;  but  this  cannot  be  proved.  It  seems  likely 
that  the  temple-cult  established  in  495  B.C.  was  really  that  of  Hermes 
under  an  Italian  name,  as  in  the  parallel  case  of  Ceres.  This  was  one 
year  later  than  the  date  of  the  Ceres-temple  (above,  p.  74). 

3  Mercuriales,  or  Mercatores  (Jordan,  Topogr.  i.  i.  278).  They  belonged 
to  the  collegia  of  the  pagi. 

*  See  on  March  17  and  January  9. 

•  i.  262  foil. ;  Ovid,  Fasti,  3.  445  ;  Cell.  N.  A.  5.  12. 


122  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

aspect  as  well  as  a  smiling  one  ;  but  in  no  other  case  was  this 
separately  personified,  and  the  name,  if  its  origin  be  rightly 
given  as  above  (which  is  not  indeed  certain),  might  be  explained 
by  the  well-known  Roman  habit  of  calling  deities  by  their 
qualities  and  their  business  rather  than  by  substantival  names. 
In  this  case  the  name  would  be  negatively  deduced  from  that  of 
one  of  the  few  gods  who  really  had  a  name. 

What  we  know  of  the  cult  is  only  this.  First,  it  was  pecu- 
liar, so  far  as  we  know,  to  Rome  and  Bovillae  ] ;  secondly,  the 
temples  in  Rome  were  in  the  space  between  the  arx  and 
Capitolium,  'inter  duos  lucos'2,  and  another  in  the  Tiber 
island s — two  places  outside  the  Servian  wall,  and  of  importance 
for  the  security  of  the  city ;  thirdly,  the  god  was  represented 
as  young,  holding  arrows,  and  having  a  goat  standing  beside 
him,  on  account  of  which  characteristics  he  was  usually,  accord- 
ing to  Gellius,  identified  with  Apollo4;  fourthly,  the  usual 
victim  was  a  goat  which  was  sacrificed  humano  ritu 5. 

On  such  faint  traces  it  will  be  obvious  that  no  sound  con- 
clusion can  be  based.  The  connexion  with  Bovillae  and  the 
gens  Julia  points  to  a  genuine  Latin  origin.  The  sites  on 
the  Capitol  and  the  island  do  not  lead  to  any  definite  conclusion ; 
in  the  former  the  god  seems  to  have  been  connected  with 
the  so-called  Asylum,  in  the  latter  with  Aesculapius ;  but  both 
these  connexions  may  be  accidental  or  later  developments. 
Preller  conjectured  cleverly  that  Vediovis  was  a  god  of  criminals 
who  might  take  refuge  in  Rome  and  there  find  purification  ; 
but  the  idea  of  an  Asylum,  on  which  this  is  based,  is  Greek, 
and  of  much  later  date  than  any  age  which  could  have  given 
a  definite  meaning  to  such  a  deity.  We  must  here,  as  occasion- 
ally elsewhere,  give  up  the  attempt  to  discover  the  original 
nature  of  this  god. 

1  C.  I.  L.  i.  807  ;  the  dedication  of  an  altar  (Vediovei  Patrei  genteiles 
luliei)  found  at  Bovillae. 

2  Ovid,  Fasti,  3.  429  ;   Gell.   5.  la.      It  was  this  temple  which  had 
May  21  as  its  'dies  natalis.' 

3  Liv.  31.  21.  12  (reading  Vediovi  for  deo  lovi,  with  Merkel  and  Jordan). 

4  Gell.  1.  c. ;  Preller,  i.  264,  and  Jordan's  note. 

5  Gell.  5.  12.    The  meaning  of  the  expression  is  not  clear.    Paulus  (165) 
writes  :  '  Humanum  sacrificium  dicebant  quod  mortui  causa  nebat ' — which 
does  not  greatly  help  us.     Preller  reasonably  suggested  that  the  goat  might 
be  a  subslitutory  victim  in  place  of  a  'homo  sacer'  or  criminal  (i.  265). 


MENSIS    MAIUS  123 


x  KAL.  lux.  (MAY  23).     K?. 

TUBIL[USTEIUM].     (ESQ.  CAER.  YEN.  MAFF.) 
FEB[IAE]  VOLCANO.    (VEN.  AMIT.) 

I  have  already  explained l  the  view  taken  by  Mommsen 
of  the  two  pairs  of  days,  March  23  and  24  and  May  23  and  24, 
accepting  his  theory  that  the  24th  in  each  month  was  the  day 
on  which  wills  could  be  made  and  witnessed  in  the  Comitia 
calata,  and  that  the  23rd  in  each  month  was  the  day  on 
which  the  tubae  were  lustrated  by  which  the  assembly  was 
summoned. 

But  May  23  is  also  .marked  in  .two  calendars  as  feriae 
Volcano ;  and  Ovid  has  noticed  this  in  a  single  couplet 2: 

Proxima  Volcani  lux  est:   Tubilustria  dicunt ; 
Lustrantur  purae,  quas  facifc  ille,  tubae. 

The  difficult  question  of  the  original  character  of  Volcanus 
must  be  postponed  until  we  come  to  his  festival  in  August. 
We  only  need  here  to  ask  whether  Ovid  was  right  in  regarding 
Volcanus  as  the  smith  who  made  the  trumpets.  This  has  been 
strenuously  denied  by  Wissowa 3,  who  goes  so  far  as  to  believe 
that  the  deity  originally  invoked  on  this  day  was  not  Volcanus 
but  Mars— since  the  corresponding  day  in  March  was  a  festival 
of  that  deity— and  that  Volcanus  was  at  an  early  period  thrust 
into  his  place  under  the  influence  of  Greek  notions  of 
Hephaestus  as  a  smith  who  made  armour  and  also  trumpets. 
Wissowa  has,  however,  to  throw  over  the  two  calendars  quoted 
above  (Ven.  Amit.)  in  order  to  support  his  argument — and  so 
far  we  are  hardly  entitled  to  go. 

It  is  safer  to  take  Volcanus  as  an  ancient  Koman  deity  whose 
cult  was  closely  connected  with  that  of  Maia,  or  the  Bona  Dea, 
and  was  prominent  in  this  month  as  well  as  in  August.  The 
Flamen  Volcanalis  sacrificed  to  the  Boiia  Dea  on  May  i  ;  and 
Maia  was  addressed  in  invocations  as  Maia  Volcani  *.  The 
coincidence  of  this  festival  of  his  with  the  Tubilustrium  I  take 
to  have  been  accidental ;  but  it  led  naturally,  as  the  Romans 

1  Above,  p.  63.  *  Fasti,  5   725. 

8  de  Feriis,  XT.  4  Gell.  13.  23. 


124  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

became  acquainted  with  Greek  mythology,   to  the  erroneous 
view  represented  by  Ovid  that  Volcanus  was  himself  a  smith '. 

vin  KAL.  IUN.  (MAY  25).     C. 

FORTUNAE    pfuBLICAEJ    PJOPULl]   BJOMANl]    pJuiRITIUMJ    IN    COLLE 

QUIRIN[ALI].     (CAEK.) 

FOBTUN[AE]  PUBLIC[AE]  P[OPULI]  R[OMANI]  IN  COLL[E].     (ESQ.) 
FORTUN[AE]  PBIM[IGENIAE]  IN  OOL[LE].     (VEN.) 

This  was  the  dedication-day  of  one  of  three  temples  of 
Fortuna  on  the  Quirinal ;  the  place  was  known  as  '  tres  For- 
tunae2.'  The  goddess  in  this  case  was  Fortuna  Primigenia, 
imported  from  Praeneste— of  whom  something  will  be  said  later 
on 3.  The  temple  was  vowed  after  the  Second  Punic  War  in 
B.  c.  204,  and  dedicated  ten  years  later  *.  Our  consideration  of 
Fortuna  may  be  postponed  till  the  festival  of  Fors  Fortuna, 
an  older  Koman  form  of  the  cult,  on  June  24. 

iv  KAL.  IUN.  (MAY  29).     C. 

The  Ambarvalia,  originally  a  religious  procession  round  the 
land  of  the  early  Eoman  community,  the  object  of  which  was 
to  purify  the  crops  from  evil  influences,  does  not  appear  in 
the  Julian  calendars,  not  being  feriae  stativac ;  but  it  is  indicated 
in  the  later  rustic  calendars  by  the  words,  Segetes  lustrantur. 
Its  date  may  be  taken  as  May  29 5:  and  this  fixity  will  not 
appear  incompatible  with  its  character  as  a  sacrum  conccptivum, 
if  we  accept  Mommsen's  explanation  of  the  way  in  which  some 
feasts  might  be  fixed  to  a  day  according  to  the  usage  of  the 
Italian  farmer,  but  of  vaiying  date  according  to  the  civil 
calendar ". 

There  has  been  much  discussion  whether  the  Ambarvalia 

1  The  Hephaestus-myth  has  been  treated  on  the  comparative  method  by 
F.  von  Schroder  (Griech.  Gutter  u.  Heroen,  i.  79  foil.),  and  by  Rapp  in  Mylh. 
Lex.  It  is  of  course  possible  that  it  may  have  been  known  to  the  early 
Italians,  but  what  we  know  of  Volcanus  does  not  favour  this. 

1  Vitruvius,  3.  a.  a  ;  it  was  '  proximo  portam  Collinam.* 

s  See  below,  pp.  165,  223. 

4  Liv.  34.  53  ;  Aust,  de  Aedibus,  p.  20. 

'  This  seems  to  have  been  the  date  among  the  Anauni  of  N.  Italy  as  late 
as  393  A.  t>.  :  see  the  Ada  Martyrum,  p.  536  (Verona,  1 731).  (For  the  Anauni, 
Rushforth,  Latin  Historical  Inscriptions,  p.  99  foil.) 

•  Chron.  70  foil. :  a  difficult  bit  of  calculation. 


MENSIS    MAIUS  125 

was  identical  with  the  similar  festival  of  the  Fratres  Arvales. 
On  the  ground  that  the  acta  fratrum  Arvalium  seemed  to  prove 
a  general  similarity  of  the  two  in  time  and  place,  and  at  least 
in  some  points  of  ritual,  Mommsen,  Henzen,  and  Jordan 
answer  in  the  affirmative '.  On  the  other  side  there  is  no 
authority  of  any  real  weight.  The  judicious  Marquardt 2  found 
a  difficulty  in  the  absence  of  any  mention  in  the  acta  fratrum 
A  rualium  of  a  lustratio  in  the  form  of  a  procession  ;  but  it 
should  be  remembered  (i)  that  we  have  not  the  whole  of  the 
art  a  ;  (2)  that  it  is  almost  certain  that,  as  the  Koman  territory 
continued  to  increase,  the  brethren  must  have  dropped  the  duty 
of  driving  victims  round  it,  for  obvious  reasons.  A  passage 
in  Paulus3  places  the  matter  beyond  doubt  if  we  can  be  sure  of 
the  reading :  'Ambarvaks  hostiae  dicebantur  quae  pro  arvis  a  duo- 
efrc/w(MSS.  duobus)  fratribus  sacrifaantur.'  As  no  duofratrcs  are 
known,  the  old  emendation  duodecim  seems  certain,  but  will  of 
course  not  convince  those  who  disbelieve  in  the  identity  of 
the  Ambarvalia  and  the  sacra  fratrum  Arvalium.  The  question 
is,  however,  for  us  of  no  great  importance,  as  the  acta  do  not 
add  to  our  knowledge  of  what  was  done  at  the  Ambarvalia. 

The  best  description  we  have  of  such  lustrations  as  the 
Ambarvalia  is  that  of  Virgil ;  it  is  not  indeed  to  be  taken  as 
an  exact  description  of  the  Roman  rite,  but  rather  as  referring 
to  Italian  customs  generally : 

In  primis  venerare  deos,  atque  annua  magiiae 
Sacra  refer  Cereri  laetis  operatus  in  herbis, 
Extremae  sub  casum  hiemis,  iam  vere  sereno. 
Turn  pingues  ngni,  et  turn  mollissima  vina ; 
Turn  somni  dulces  densaeque  in  montibus  umbrae. 
Cuncta  tibi  Cererem  pubes  agrestis  adoret, 
Cui  tu  lacte  favos  et  miti  dilue  Baccho, 
Terque  novas  circum  felix  eat  hostia  fruges, 
Omnis  quam  chorus  et  socii  comitentur  ovantes, 
Et  Cererem  clamore  vocent  in  tecta ;   neque  anlo 
Falcem  maturis  quisquam  supponat  aristis, 
Quam  Cereri  torta  redimitus  tempora  quercu 
Det  motus  inconpositos  et  carmina  dicat*. 

1  Mommsen,  1.  c.  Henzen,  Acta  Fr.  Arc.  xlvi-xlviii  ;  Jordan  on  Preller, 
i.  420,  and  Topogr.  i.  289,  ii.  236.  The  latter  would  also  identify  Ambar- 
valia and  Amburbium  ;  but  the  two  seem  clearly  distinguished  by  Servius 
(Ed.  3.  77).  "  p.  200.  Huschke,  Rom.  Jahr,  63. 

3  p.  5.     See  Jordan  on  Preller,  i.  420,  note  a  ;  Marq.  200,  note  3. 

4  Georg.  i.  338  foil. 


126  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

It  is  not  clear  to  what  festival  or  festivals  Virgil  is  alluding 
in  the  first  few  of  these  lines l ;  probably  to  certain  rustic  rites 
which  did  not  exactly  correspond  to  those  in  the  city  of  Rome. 
But  from  line  343  onwards  the  reference  is  certainly  to  Ambar- 
valia  of  some  kind,  perhaps  to  the  private  lustratio  of  the 
farmer  before  harvest  began,  of  which  the  Roman  festival  was 
a  magnified  copy.  His  description  answers  closely  to  the  well- 
known  directions  of  Cato 2 ;  and  if  it  is  Ceres  who  appears  in 
Virgil's  lines,  and  not  Mars,  the  deity  most  prominent  in  Cato's 
account,  this  may  be  explained  by  the  undoubted  extension  of 
the  worship  of  Ceres,  and  the  corresponding  contraction  of  that 
of  Mare,  as  the  latter  became  more  and  more  converted  into 
a  god  of  war  s. 

The  leading  feature  in  the  original  rite  was  the  procession 
of  victims— bull,  sheep,  and  pig— all  round  the  fields,  driven 
by  a  garlanded  crowd,  carrying  olive  branches  and  chanting. 
These  victims  represent  all  the  farmer's  most  valuable  stock, 
thus  devoted  to  the  appeasing  of  the  god.  The  time  was  that 
when  the  crops  were  ripening,  and  were  in  greatest  peril  from 
storms  and  diseases  ;  before  the  harvest  was  begun,  and  before 
the  Vestalia  took  place  in  the  early  part  of  June,  which  was,  as 
we  shall  see,  a  festival  preliminary  to  harvest.  Three  times  the 
procession  went  round  the  land  ;  at  the  end  of  the  third  round 
the  victims  were  sacrificed,  and  a  solemn  prayer  was  offered  in 
antique  language,  which  ran,  in  Cato's  formula  of  the  farmer's 
lustration,  as  follows :  '  Father  Mars,  I  pray  and  beseech  thee 
to  be  willing  and  propitious  to  me,  my  household,  and  my 
slaves ;  for  the  which  object  I  have  caused  this  threefold 
sacrifice  to  be  driven  round  niy  farm  and  land.  I  pray  thee 
keep,  avert,  and  turn  from  us  all  disease,  seen  or  unseen,  all 
desolation,  ruin,  damage,  and  unseasonable  influence  ;  I  pray 
thee  give  increase  to  the  fruits,  the  corn,  the  vines,  and  the 


1  'Extremae  sub  casum  hiemis'  might  possibly  suit  the  Italian  April, 
but  certainly  not  the  Italian  May.  May  i  is  the  earliest  date  we  have  for 
an  agri  lustratio,  i.e.  in  Campania  (C.  1. L.  x.  3792).  "Turic  mollissima 
vina '  may  contain  a  reference  to  the  Vinalia  of  April  23,  when  the  new 
wine  was  first  drank  ;  and  if  that  were  so,  the  general  reference  might  be 
to  the  Cerialia  or  its  rustic  equivalent. 

1  R.  R.  141.  Cp.  Siculus  Flaccus  in  Gromutici  Veteres,  p.  164.  The  lustratio 
should  be  celebrated  before  even  the  earliest  crops  (e.g.  beans)  were  cut. 

1  Henzen,  Acta  Fr.  An.  xlviii. 


MENSIS    MAIUS  127 

plantations,  and  bring  them  to  a  prosperous  issue.  Keep  also 
in  safety  the  shepherds  and  their  flocks,  and  give  good  health 
and  vigour  to  me,  my  house,  and  household.  To  this  end  it 
is.  as  I  have  said — namely,  for  the  purification  and  making  due 
lustration  of  my  farm,  my  land  cultivated  and  uncultivated  — 
that  I  pray  thee  to  bless  this  threefold  sacrifice  of  sucklings. 
O  Father  Mars,  to  this  same  end  I  pray  thee  bless  this  threefold 
sacrifice  of  sucklings '.' 

Not  only  in  this  prayer,  but  in  the  ritual  that  follows,  as  also 
in  other  religious  directions  given  in  the  preceding  chapters, 
we  may  no  doubt  see  examples  of  the  oldest  agricultural  type 
of  the  genuine  Italian  worship.  They  are  simple  rustic 
specimens  of  the  same  type  as  the  elaborate  urban  ritual  of 
Iguvium,  fortunately  preserved  to  us  * ;  and  we  may  fairly 
assume  that  they  stood  in  much  the  same  relation  to  the  Eoman 
ritual  of  the  Ambarvalia. 

Of  all  the  Roman  festivals  this  is  the  only  one  which  can 
be  said  with  any  truth  to  be  still  surviving.  When  the  Italian 
priest  leads  his  flock  round  the  fields  with  the  ritual  of  the 
Litania  major  in  Rogation  week  he  is  doing  very  much  what 
the  Fratres  Arvales  did  in  the  infancy  of  Rome,  and  with  the 
same  object.  In  other  countries,  England  among  them,  the 
same  custom  was  taken  up  by  the  Church,  which  rightly 
appreciated  its  utility,  both  spiritual  and  material ;  the  bounds 
of  the  parish  were  fixed  in  the  memory  of  the  young,  and  the 
wrath  of  God  was  averted  by  an  act  of  duty  from  man,  cattle, 
and  crops.  'It  was  a  general  custom  formerly,  and  is  still 
observed  in  some  country  parishes,  to  go  round  the  bounds  and 
limits  of  the  parish  on  one  of  the  three  days  before  Ascension- 
day  ;  when  the  Minister,  accompanied  by  his  Churchwardens 
and  Parishioners,  was  wont  to  deprecate  the  vengeance  of 
God,  beg  a  blessing  on  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  and  preserve  the 
rights  and  properties  of  the  parish  V 

At  Oxford,  and  it  is  to  be  hoped  in  some  other  places,  this 
laudable  custom  still  survives.  But  the  modern  clergy,  from 

1  Cato,  R.  E.  141.  I  have  availed  myself  of  the  Italian  translation  and 
commentary  of  Prof.  De-Marchi  in  his  work  on  the  domestic  religion  of 
the  Romans,  p.  128  foil. 

3  Bucheler,  Umbrica  ;  Bre'al,  Les  Tables  Euyubines. 

8  Brand,  Popular  Antiquities,  p.  292. 


128  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

want  of  interest  in  ritual,  except  such  as  is  carried  on  within 
their  churches,  or  from  some  strong  distrust  of  any  merry- 
making not  initiated  by  their  own  zeal,  are  apt  to  drop  the 
ceremonies ;  and  there  is  some  danger  that  even  in  Oxford 
the  processions  and  peeled  wands  may  soon  be  things  of  the 
past.  To  all  such  ministers  I  would  recommend  the  practice 
of  the  judicious  Hooker,  as  described  by  his  biographer,  Isaak 
Walton : 

'He  would  by  no  means  omit  the  customary  time  of  pro- 
cession, persuading  all,  both  rich  and  poor,  if  they  desired  the 
preservation  of  Love,  and  their  Parish  rights  and  liberties,  to 
accompany  him  in  his  Perambulation— and  most  did  so;  in 
which  Perambulation  he  would  usually  express  more  pleasant 
Discourse  than  at  other  times,  and  would  then  always  drop 
some  loving  and  facetious  Observations,  to  be  remembered 
against  the  next  year,  especially  by  the  Boys  and  young  people ; 
still  inclining  them,  and  all  his  present  Parishioners,  to  meek- 
ness and  mutual  Kindnesses  and  Love.' 

At  Charlton-on-Otmoor,  near  Oxford,  there  was  a  survival  of 
the  '  agri  lustratio '  until  recent  years.  On  the  beautiful  rood- 
screen  of  the  parish  church  there  is  a  cross,  which  was  carried 
in  procession  through  the  parish J,  freshly  decorated  with 
flowers,  on  May-day ;  it  was  then  restored  to  its  place  on  the 
screen,  and  remained  there  until  the  May-day  of  the  next  year. 
It  may  still  be  seen  there,  but  it  is  no  longer  carried  round, 
and  its  decoration  seems  to  have  been  transferred  from  May- 
day to  the  harvest- festival 2. 

1  I  am  informed  that  it  visited  one  hamlet,  Horton,  which  is  not  at 
present  in  the  parish  of  Charlton ;  of  this  there  should  be  some  topogra- 
phical explanation. 

2  The  cross  is  very  commonly  carried  about  on  the  continent,  and  in 
Holland  the  week  is  called  cross-week  for  this  reason.     But  at  Charlton 
there  seems  to  have  been  a  confusion  between  this  cross  and  the  May- 
queen  or  May-doll ;   for  on  May-day,  1898,  the  old  woman  who  decked  it 
called  it  'my  lady,'  and  spoke  of  'her  waist,1  &c.     I  am  indebted  to  the 
Rev.  C.  E.  Prior,  the  present  incumbent,  for  information  about   this 
interesting  survival. 


MENSIS   IUNIUS. 

KAL   IUN.  (JUNE  i).     N. 

IUNONI    MONETAE    (VEN.) 

FABARICI    c[lRCENSESJ    M[lSSUS\       (PHILOC.) 

ON  the  name  of  the  mensis  Junius  some  remarks  have 
already  been  made  under  May  i.  There  is  no  sure  ground 
for  connecting  it  with  Juno1.  The  first  day  of  June  was 
sacred  to  her,  but  so  were  all  Kalends  ;  and  if  this  was  also 
the  dies  natalis  of  the  temple  of  Juno  Moneta  in  arce,  we 
have  no  reason  to  suppose  the  choice  of  day  to  be  specially 
significant 2.  We  know  the  date  of  this  dedication  ;  it  was 
in  344  B.  c.  and  in  consequence  of  a  vow  made  by  L.  Furius 
Camillus  Dictator  in  a  war  against  the  Aurunci !.  Of  a  Juno 
Moneta  of  earlier  date  we  have  no  knowledge  ;  and,  in  spite 
of  much  that  has  been  said  to  the  contrary,  I  imagine  that 
the  title  was  only  given  to  a  Juno  of  the  arx  in  consequence 
of  the  popular  belief  that  the  Capitol  was  saved  from  the 
attack  of  the  Gauls  (390  B.  c.)  by  the  warning  voices  of  her 
sacred  geese.  What  truth  there  was  in  that  story  may  be 
a  matter  of  doubt,  but  it  seems  easier  to  believe  that  it  had 
a  basis  of  fact  than  to  account  for  it  aetiologically 4.  There  may 

1  What  can  be  said  for  tins  view  may  be  read  in  Reseller's  article 
in  Lex.  s.  v.  luno,  p.  575,  note. 

3  Roscher's  treatment  of  Juno  Moneta  (Lex.  s.  v.  luno,  593)  seems  to  me 
pure  fancy  ;  this  writer  is  apt  to  twist  his  facts  and  his  inferences  to  suit 
a  prepossession — in  this  case  the  notion  of  a  I«pJy  -/a/jos  of  Jupiter  and 
Juno. 

3  Liv.  7.  28;  Ovid,  Fasti,  6.  183  ;  Macrob.  r.  12.  30. 

*  On  this  point  see  Lewis,  Credibility  of  Ear'.y  Roman  Hist.  vol.  ii.  345. 


130  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

well  have  been  an  altar  or  sacdlum '  of  Juno  on  the  arx,  near 
which  her  noisy  birds  were  kept 2  ;  and  when  a  temple  was 
eventually  built  here  in  344  B.C.,  it  was  appropriately  dedicated 
to  Juno  of  the  warning  voice.  From  the  fact  that  part  of  this 
temple  was  used  as  a  mint 3,  the  word  Moneta  gradually  passed 
into  another  sense,  which  has  found  its  way  into  our  modern 
languages 4. 

One  tradition  connected  the  name  of  the  month  with 
M.  Junius  Brutus,  who  is  said  to  have  performed  a  sacrum 
on  this  day  after  the  flight  of  Tarquinius,  on  the  Caelian  Hill  \ 
This  sacrum  had  no  connexion  with  Juno,  and  the  tradition 
which  thus  absurdly  brings  Brutus  into  the  question  shows 
plainly  that  the  derivation  from  Juno  was  not  universally 
accepted  6.  The  real  deity  of  the  Kalends  of  June  was  not 
Juno,  but  an  antique  goddess  whose  antiquity  is  attested  both 
by  the  meagreness  of  our  knowledge  of  her,  and  the  strange 
confusion  about  her  which  Ovid  displays.  Had  Carna  been 
more  successful  in  the  struggle  for  existence  of  Eoman  deities, 
we  might  not  have  been  so  sure  of  her  extreme  antiquity  ; 
but  no  foreign  cult  grafted  on  her  gave  her  a  new  lease  of  life, 
and  by  the  end  of  the  Kepublic  she  was  all  but  dead. 

What  little  we  do  know  of  her  savours  of  the  agricultural 
life  and  folk-lore  of  the  old  Latins.  Her  sacrifices  were 
of  bean-meal  and  lard 7 ;  and  this  day  went  by  the  name  of 
of  Kalendae  fabariae  8,  '  quia  hoc  mense  adultae  fabae  divinis 
rebus  adhibentur.'  The  fact  was  that  it  was  the  time  of  bean- 
harvest  9 ;  and  beans,  as  we  have  already  seen,  were  much 
in  request  for  sacred  purposes.  'Maximus  honos  fabae, 'says 

1  Dionys.,  13.  7,  says,  \T)vts  itpol  irtpl  rov  vtwv  TTJS  "Upas',  but  this  is  no 
evidence  for  an  early  temple  of  Juno  Moneta. 

*  Apparently  she  was  fond  of  such  birds :  crows  also  were  '  in  tutela 
lunonis'  at  a  certain  spot  north  of  the  Tiber  (Paul.  64),  and  at  Lanuvium 
(Preller,  i.  283).  3  Liv.  6.  20. 

*  I  have  assumed  that  Moneta  is  connected  with  moneo  ;  but  there  are  other 
views  (Roscher,  Lex.  593).    Livius  Andronicus  (ap.  Priscian,  p.  679)  helps 
us  to  the  meaning  by  translating  tUvtjitoovvr)  (of  the  Odyssey   by  Moneta. 

5  Macrob.  Sat.  i.  12.  22  and  31.  There  was  no  temple  of  Carna  there, 
but  Tertullianus  (ad  Nat.  2.  9)  mentions  &fanum. 

'  Cp.  also  the  explanation  from  iuniores  (e.  g.  in  Ovid,  Fasti,  6.  83  foil.). 

'  Macrob.  i.  12.  33  'Cui  pulte  fabacia  et  larido  sacrificatur.' 

8  Even  in  the  fourth  century  A.D.  this  was  so:  see  the  calendar  of 
Philocalus. 

"  Colum.  n.  a.  20 ;  Pallad.  7.  3 ;  Hartmann,  Das  Rom.  Kal.  135. 


MENSIS    IUNIUS  131 

Pliny1,  alluding  to  the  value  of  the  bean  as  food,  to  its 
supposed  narcotic  power,  and  its  use  in  religious  ritual.  We 
have  already  found  beans  used  in  the  cult  of  the  dead  and  the 
ejection  of  ghosts  from  the  house 2 ;  and  Prof.  Wissowa  has 
of  late  ingeniously  conjectured  that  this  day  (June  i)  was  con- 
cerned with  rites  of  the  same  kind 3.  He  quotes  an  inscription, 
a  will  in  which  a  legacy  is  left  '  ut  rosas  Carnar[iis]  ducant '  *. 
Undoubtedly  the  reference  here  is  to  rites  of  the  dead  (cf. 
Rosalia),  and  Mommsen  may  be  right  in  suggesting  that  by 
Carnarjiis]  is  meant  the  Kalends  of  June.  But  it  is  going 
a  little  too  far  to  argue  on  this  slender  evidence,  even  if  we 
add  to  it  the  fact  that  the  day  was  nefastus,  that  the  festival 
of  Carna  was  of  the  same  kind  as  the  Parentalia,  Rosalia,  £c. ; 
a  careful  reading  of  Ovid's  comments  seems  to  show  that  there 
were  curious  survivals  of  folk-lore  connected  with  the  day 
and  with  Carna  which  cannot  all  be  explained  by  reference 
to  rites  of  the  dead. 

Ovid  does  indeed  at  once  mislead  his  readers  by  identifying 
Carna  and  Cardea,  and  thus  making  the  former  the  deity 
of  door-hinges,  and  bringing  her  into  connexion  with  Janus  '. 
But  we  may  guess  that  he  does  this  simply  because  he  wants 
to  squeeze  in  a  pretty  folk-tale  of  Janus  and  Cardea,  for  which 
his  readers  may  be  grateful,  and  which  need  not  deceive  them. 
When  he  writes  of  the  ritual  of  Carna6 — our  only  safe  guide — 
he  makes  it  quite  plain  that  he  is  mixing  up  the  attributes 
of  two  distinct  deities.  He  brings  the  two  together  by  con- 
triving that  Janus,  as  a  reward  to  Cardea  for  yielding  to  his 

1  H.  N.  1 8.  117.  2  See  above  on  Lernuria,  p.  no. 

3  de  Feriis,  xiii.  *  C.  I.  L.  iii.  3893. 

*  There  is  re.illy  nothing  in  common  between  the  two  :  see  Wiss-owa  in 
Lex.  s.  v.  Carna,  following  Merkel,  clxv.  What  the  real  etymology  of 
Carna  may  be  is  undecided ;  Curtius  and  others  have  connected  it  with 
cor,  and  on  this  0.  Gilbert  has  built  much  foolish  conjecture  (ii.  19  foil.). 
I  would  rather  compare  it  with  the  words  Garanus  or  Recamnus  of  the 
Hercules  legend  (,Br6al,  Here,  et  Cacus,  pp.  59,  60),  and  perhaps  with 
Gradivus,  Grabovius.  The  name  of  the  '  nj'mph '  Craniie  in  Ovid's 
account  is  in  some  MSS.  Grane  or  Crane.  H.  Peter  (Fasti,  pt.  ii.  p  89^ 
adopts  the  connexion  with  euro  :  she  is  '  die  das  Fleisch  kraftigendt- 
Gottin'  (cp.  Ossipago). 

'  Fasti,  6.  169-182.  Lines  101-130  are  concerned  with  Cardea  ;  130  to 
168,  or  the  middle  section  of  the  comment,  seem,  as  Harqu:irdt  suggested 
(p.  13,  note),  to  be  referable  to  Carna  (as  the  averter  of  striges),  though 
the  charms  fixed  on  the  pastes  show  that  Ovid  is  still  confounding  her  with 
Cardea. 

K    2 


132  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

advances,  should  bestow  on  her  not  only  the  charge  of  cardines, 
but  also  that  of  protecting  infants  from  the  striges ',  creatures 
of  the  nature  of  vampires,  but  described  by  Ovid  as  owls, 
who  were  wont  to  suck  their  blood  and  devour  their  vitals. 
But  this  last  duty  surely  belonged  to  Carna,  of  whom 
Macrobius  says  'Hanc  deam  vitalibus  humanis  praeesse  credunt': 
and  thus  Carna's  attribute  is  conjoined  with  Cardea's.  The 
lines  are  worth  quoting  in  which  Ovid  describes  the  charms 
which  are  to  keep  off  the  striges,  for  as  preserving  a  remnant 
of  old  Italian  folk-lore  they  are  more  interesting  than  the 
doubtful  nature  of  an  obscure  deity  - : 

Protinus  arbutea3  postes  ter  in  ordine  tangit 

Fronde,  ter  arbutea  limina  fronde  notat: 
Spargit  aquis  aditus — et  aquae  medicamen  habebant — 

Extaque  de  porca  cruda  bimenstre  tenet '. 
Atque  ita  'noctis  aves,  extis  puerilibus'  inquit 

'Parcite:  pro  parvo  victima  parva  cadit. 
Cor  pro  corde,  precor,  pro  fibris  sumite  fibras. 

Hanc  animam  vobis  pro  meliore  damus.' 
Sic  ubi  libavit,  prosecta  sub  aethere  ponit, 

Quique  adsint  sacris,  respicere  ilia  vetat*. 
Virgaque  lanalis  de  spina  ponitur  alba6 

Qua  lumen  thalamis  parva  fenestra  dabat. 
Post  illud  nee  aves  cunas  violasse  feruntur, 

Et  rediit  puero  qui  fuit  ante  color. 

Having  told  his  folk-tale  and  described  his  charms,  Ovid 
returns  to  Carna,  and  asks  why  people  eat  bean-gruel  on  the 
Kalends  of  June,  with  the  rich  fat  of  pigs.  The  answer 

1  The  word  strix  is  Greek,  or  at  least  identical  with  the  Greek  word. 
But  the  belief  in  vampires  is  so  widely  spread  (cf.  Tylor,  Prim.  Oult.  ii. 
175  foil.)  that  we  must  not  conclude  hastily  that  it  came  to  Italy  with 
the  Greeks :  it  is  met  with  as  early  as  Plautus  (Pseud.  3.  a.  20).  Cf.  Pliny, 
H.  N.  ii.  232. 

*  Fasti,  6.  155  foil. 

3  The  arbutus  does  not  seem  to  be  mentioned  in  connexion  with  charms 
except  in  this  passage  ;   we  might  have  expected  the  laurel.     BOttichor, 
Baumkultus,  324. 

4  The  sucking-pig  is  sacrificed,  as  we  gather  from  proseda  below  ;  i.  e.  to 
Carna  :  cp.  the  cakes  of  lard  eaten  this  day  (169  foil.). 

*  Cp.  in  the  process  of  ghost-laying  (above,  p.  109)  the  prohibition  to 
look  at  the  beans  scattered. 

'  For  the  blackthorn  'vGerm.  Weissdorn)  see  B6tticher,  Baumkultus,  361. 
Varro,  ap.  Charisium,  p.  117  'fax  ex  spinu  alba  praefertur,  quod  purga- 
tionis  causa  adhibetur.' 


MENSIS    IUNIUS  133 

is  that   the   cult   of  Carna  is  of   ancient  date,  and  that  the 
healthy  food  of  man  in  early  times  is  retained  in  it1. 

Sus  erat  in  pretio  ;  caesa  sue  festa  colebant. 

Terra  fabas  tantum  duraque  farra  dabat. 
Quae  duo  mixta  simul  sextis  quicunque  Kaleudis 

Ederit,  huic  laedi  viscera  posse  negant. 

This  was  undoubtedly  the  real  popular  belief — that  by  eating 
this  food  on  Carna's  day  your  digestion  was  secured  for  the 
year.  Macrobius 2  makes  the  practice  into  a  much  more 
definite  piece  of  ritual.  l  Prayers  are  offered  to  this  goddess/ 
he  says,  '  for  the  good  preservation  of  liver,  heart,  and  the 
other  internal  organs  of  our  bodies.  Her  sacrifices  are  bean- 
meal  and  lard,  because  this  is  the  best  food  for  the  nourishment 
of  the  body.'  Ovid  is  here  the  genuine  Italian,  Macrobius  the 
scholar  and  theologian :  both  may  be  right. 

Whatever,  then,  may  be  the  meaning  or  etymology  of  the 
name  Carna,  we  may  at  least  be  sure  that  the  cult  belongs 
to  the  age  of  ancient  Latin  agriculture 3,  since  it  was  in 
connexion  with  her  name  that  the  popular  belief  survived 
in  Ovid's  time  of  the  virtue  of  bean-eating  on  the  Kalends 
of  June. 

We  learn  from  Ovid  (line  191)  that  this  same  day  was  the  dies 
natalis  of  the  temple  of  Mars  extra  portam  Capenam,  i.  e.  on  the 
Via  Appia — a  favourite  spot  for  the  mustering  of  armies,  and 
the  starting-point  for  the  yearly  transvectio  equitum*.  I  have 
already  alluded  to  the  baseless  fabric  of  conjecture  built 

1  This  is  the  passage  that  must  have  inspired  0.  Crusius  in  his  paper  on 
beans  in  Rhein.  Mus.  xxxix.  164  foil.     '  Beans,'  he  says,  '  were  the  oldest 
Italian  food,  and  like  stone  knives,  &c.,  survived  in  ritual.'     We  want, 
indeed,  some  more  definite  proof  that  they  were  really  the  oldest  food  ; 
and  anyhow  their  use  had  not  died  out  like  that  of  stone  implements. 
(They  were  a  common  article  of  food  at  Athens:  Aristoph.  Knights,  41  ; 
Lysist.  537  and  691.)     But  it  is  not  unlikely  that  their  use  in  the  cult  of 
the  dead  may  be  a  survival,  upon  which  odd  superstitions  grafted  them- 
selves.    For  a  parallel  argument  see  Koscher,  Nektar  und  Ambrosia,  36 ; 
Rhys,  Celtic  Mythology,  356. 

2  Sat.  i.  12.  32. 

8  No  safe  conclusion  can  be  drawn  from  Tertullian's  inclusion  (ad  Nat.  a. 
9)  of  the  fanum  of  Carna  on  the  Gael  inn  among  those  of  di  adrtnticii. 
O.  Gilbert  has  lately  tried  to  make  much  of  this  (ii.  42  foil.),  and  to  find 
an  Etruscan  origin  for  Carna :  but  see  Aust  on  the  position  of  temples 
outside  the  pomoerium  (de  Acdibus  sacris,  47). 

1  Liv.  7.  23  ;  Dionys.  6.  13. 


134  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

on  the  conjunction  of  Mars  and  Juno  on  this  day l  ;  and  need 
here  only  repeat  that  in  no  well-attested  Roman  myth  is  Mars 
the  son  of  Juno,  or  Juno  the  wife  of  Jupiter.  And  it  is  even 
doubtful  whether  June  i  was  the  original  dedication-day 
of  this  temple  of  Mars :  the  Venusian  calendar  does  not 
mention  it,  and  Ovid  may  be  referring  to  a  re-dedication  by 
Augustus2.  There  is  absolutely  no  ground  for  the  myth- 
making  of  Usener  and  Roscher  about  Mars  and  Juno  :  but 
it  is  to  the  credit  of  the  latter  that  he  has  inserted  in  his 
article  on  Mars  a  valuable  note  by  Aust,  in  which  his  own 
conclusions  are  cogently  controverted. 


III.     NON.  TUN.  (JUNE  3).     C. 
BELLON[AE]  IN  CIRC[O]  FLAM[INIO].     (VEN.) 

This  temple  was  vowed  by  the  Consul  Ap.  Claudius  in  an 
Etruscan  war3  (296  B.C.):  the  date  of  dedication  is  unknown. 
In  front  of  the  temple  was  an  area  of  which  the  truly  Roman 
story  is  told 4,  that  being  unable  to  declare  war  with  Pyrrhus 
with  the  orthodox  ritual  of  the  fetiales,  as  he  had  no  land 
in  Italy  into  which  they  could  throw  the  challenging  spear*, 
they  caught  a  Pyrrhan  soldier  and  made  him  buy  this  spot  to 
suit  their  purpose.  Here  stood  the  '  columella '  from  which 
henceforward  the  spear  was  thrown  6. 

The  temple  became  well  known  as  a  suitable  meeting-place  for 
the  Senate  outside  the  pomoerium,  when  it  was  necessary  to  do 
business  with  generals  and  ambassadors  who  could  not  legally 
enter  the  city 7.  But  of  the  goddess  very  little  is  known. 
There  is  no  sufficient  reason  to  identify  her  with  that  Nerio 

1  See  on  March  i,  above,  p.  37. 

*  Aust,  de  Aedibus  sacris,  p.  8.  The  Fasti  Venusini  are  '  omnium  accuratis- 
simi' ;  ib.  p.  43.  Aust  goes  so  far  as  to  doubt  the  true  Roman  character  of 
this  Mars,  and  believes  him  to  be  the  Greek  god  Ares.  See  bis  note  in 
Lex.  2391.  The  date  of  foundation  is  not  certain,  but  was  probably  not 
earlier  than  the  Gallic  war,  388  B.  c.,  if  it  is  this  to  which  Livy  alludes 
in  6.  5.  8. 

3  Liv.  10.  19.  There  was  a  tradition  that  Ap.  Claudius,  Cos.  495  B.  c., 
had  dedicated  statues  of  his  ancestors  in  a  temple  of  Bellona  (Pliny,  N.  H. 
35.  ra).  4  Serv.  Aen.  ix.  53. 

5  Liv.  i.  32. 12  ;  Marq.  422.  '  Ovid,  Fasti,  6.  205  foil. ;  Paulus,  33. 

T  Willems,  Le  Senat  de  la  Republique,  ii.  161. 


MENSIS    IUNIUS  135 

with  whom  we  made  acquaintance  in  March,  as  is  done  too 
confidently  by  the  writer  of  the  article  in  Roscher's  Lexicon  \ 

PRID.  NON.  IUN.  (JUNE  4).     C. 

HERC[ULI]  MAGN[OJ  CUSTO[DI].     (VEN.) 
SACRUM  HERCULI.     (RUST.) 

This  temple  also  was  near  the  Circus  Flaminius  2.  It  was 
a  foundation  of  Sulla's,  82  B.  c.,  and  the  cult  was  Greek, 
answering  to  that  of  'HpcHcXfjs  dXf  QK 


NON.  IUN  (JUNE  5).     N.* 

DIO  FIDIO  IN  COLLE.       (VEN.) 

The  temple  on  the  Quirinal  of  which  this  was  ike  dies  natalis 
is  said  by  Dionysius5  to  have  been  vowed  by  Tarquinius 
Superbus,  and  dedicated  by  Sp.  Postumius  in  B.  c.  466.  But 
that  there  was  a  fanum  or  sacellum  of  this  deity  on  or  near  the 
same  site  at  a  much  earlier  time  is  almost  certain  ;  such 
a  sacellum  '  ad  portam  Sanqualem  '  is  mentioned,  also  by 
Dionysius6,  as  ifpbv  Ator  ILo-rtou,  and  we  know  that  in  many 
cases  the  final  acdes  or  templum  was  a  development  from  an 
uncovered  altar  or  sacred  place. 

Dius  Fidius,  as  the  adjectival  character  of  his  name  shows, 
was  a  genuine  old  Italian  religious  conception,  but  one  that  in 
historical  times  was  buried  almost  out  of  sight.  Among  gods 
and  heroes  there  has  been  a  struggle  for  existence,  as  among 
animals  and  plants  ;  with  some  peoples  a  struggle  between 
indigenous  and  exotic  deities,  in  which  the  latter  usually  win 

1  This  was  originally  suggested  by  Gellius  (13.  23),  'perhaps  not  with- 
out some  reason,'  says  Marquardt  (75).  This  suggestion  has  grown  almost 
into  a  certainty  for  the  writer  in  the  Lexicon,  in  a  manner  very  character- 
istic of  the  present  age  of  research.    There  would  be  some  reason  to  think 
that  Bellona  (or  Duellona)  was  an  ancient  goddess  of  central  Italy,  if  we 
could  be  sure  that  the  inscription  on  an  ancient  cup,  in  the  museum  at 
Florence,  which  may  be  read  '  Belolae  poculum  '  (C.  I.  L.  i.  44),  refers  to 
this  deity.     See  Lex.  s.  v.  Belola. 

2  Ovid,  Fasti.  6.  209.      See  Commentarii  in  honorem  Th.  Mommseni,  262  foil. 
xKlugmann\  and  R  Peter  in  Lex.  s.v.  Here.  p.  2979. 

=  Preller-Jordan,  ii.  296.  '  See  below,  p.  146. 

5  9.  60,  where  Ztvs  niortos-  Dius  Fidius. 

6  4.  58  :   cp.  Liv.  8.  20;  Aust,  de  Aedibus  sacris,  p.  51.     Of  the  porta 
Sanqualis  I  shall  have  a  word  to  say  presently. 


136  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

the  day,  and  displace  or  modify  the  native  species1.  What 
laws,  if  any,  govern  this  struggle  for  existence  it  is  not  possible 
to  discern  clearly  ;  the  result  is  doubtless  the  survival  of  the 
fittest,  if  by  the  fittest  we  understand  those  which  flourish  best 
under  the  existing  conditions  of  society  and  thought ;  but  it 
would  hardly  seem  to  be  the  survival  of  those  which  are  most 
beneficial  to  the  worshipping  race.  Among  the  Komans  the 
fashionable  exotic  deities  of  the  later  Kepublic  and  Empire  had 
no  such  ethical  influence  on  the  character  of  the  people  as  those 
older  ones  of  the  type  of  Dius  Fidius,  who  in  historical  times 
was  known  to  the  ordinary  Eoman  only  through  the  medium  of 
an  old-fashioned  oath. 

Ovid  knows  very  little  about  Dius  Fidius 2 : 

Quaerebam  Nonas  Sanco  Fidione  referrem, 

An  tibi,  Semo  pater :  cum  mihi  Sancus  ait 
'  Cuicunque  ex  illis  dederis,  ego  munus  habebo ; 
Nomina  trina  fero,  sic  voluere  Cures.' 

He  finds  three  names  for  the  deity,  but  two  would  have 
sufficed;  the  only  individual  Semo  known  to  us  is  Sancus 
himself.  The  Semones,  so  far  as  we  can  guess,  were  spirits  of 
the  '  pandaemonic '  age,  nameless  like  the  Lares  with  whom 
they  are  associated  in  the  hymn  of  the  Fratres  Arvales 3 ;  but 
one  only,  Semo  Sancus,  seems  to  have  taken  a  name  and 
survived  into  a  later  age,  and  this  one  was  identified  with  Dius 
Fidius.  Aelius  Stilo,  the  Varro  of  the  seventh  century  A.  u.  c., 
seems  to  have  started  this  identification4.  Varro  does  not 
comment  on  it ;  but  Verrius  accepted  it :  he  writes  of  an  '  aedes 
Sancus,  qui  deus  Dius  Fidius  vocatur'5.  The  evidence  of  in- 
scriptions is  explicit  for  a  later  period  ;  an  altar,  for  example, 
found  near  the  supposed  site  of  his  temple  on  the  Quirinal, 
bears  the  inscription  'Sanco  Sancto  Seinon[i]  deo  fidio  sacrum'6. 

1  Mr.  Lang  (Myth,  Ritual,  &c.,  ii.  191)  has  some  excellent  remarks  on  this 
subject.  *  Fasti,  6.  213. 

3  See  Wordsworth's  Fragments  and  Specimens  of  Early  Latin,  p.  157  'Semunes 
alternos  advocapit  cunctos.'  I  follow  Jordan's  explanation  of  'Semunes,' 
in  Kril.  Beitrage,  204  foil. 

*  Aelius  Dium  Fidium  diccbat  Diovis  filium,  ut  Graeci  Aioaxopov  Casto- 
rem.  et  putabat  huiic  esse  Sancum  ab  Sabina  lingua et  Herculem  a  Graeca ' 
(Varro,  L.  L.  5.  66). 

5  Festus,  241.    This  is  probably  the  sacellum  of  Livy,  8.  22. 

*  C.  /.  L.  vi.  568:  again  (ib.  567),  'Semoni  Sanco  deo  fidio.'     Sancus  is, 
of  course,  a  name,  not  an  adjective :  we  find  Sangus  in  some  MSS.  of 


MENSIS    IUNIUS  137 

And  there  is  nothing  in  the  words  Sancus  and  Fidius  to  forbid 
the  identification,  for  both  point  to  the  same  class  of  ideas — 
that  of  the  bond  which  religious  feeling  places  on  men  in  their 
duties  to,  and  contracts  with,  each  other.  They  are  in  fact 
two  different  names  for  the  same  religious  conception.  It  is 
interesting  to  find  them  both  occurring  in  the  great  processional 
inscription  of  Iguvium  in  Umbria :  Fisus  or  Fisovius  Sancius, 
who  is  there  invoked  next  after  Jupiter,  seems  to  unite  the  two 
deities  in  a  single  name  *.  This  conjunction  would  seem  to 
save  us  from  the  necessity  of  discussing  the  question  whether 
Sancus,  as  has  often  been  insisted  on  by  scholars  both  ancient 
and  modern  '*,  was  really  the  Sabine  form  of  Dius  Fidius ;  for 
if  in  Umbria  the  two  are  found  together,  as  at  Rome,  there  is 
no  reason  why  the  same  should  not  have  been  the  case  through- 
out central  Italy.  The  question  would  never  have  been  asked 
had  the  fluid  nature  of  the  earliest  Italian  deities  and  the 
adjectival  character  of  their  names  been  duly  taken  account  of. 
We  are  all  of  us  too  apt  to  speak  of  this  primitive  spirit-world 
in  terms  of  a  later  polytheistic  theology,  and  to  suppose  that 
the  doubling  of  a  name  implies  some  distinction  of  origin 
or  race. 

Dius  Fidius,  then,  and  Semo  Sancus  are  both  Latin  names  for 
the  same  religious  conception,  the  impersonality  of  which 
caused  it  to  lose  vitality  as  new  and  anthropomorphic  ideas 
of  the  divine  came  into  vogue  at  Rome.  But  there  is  at  least 
some  probability  that  it  survived  in  a  fashion  under  the  name 
of  an  intruder,  Hercules ;  and  the  connexion  with  Hercules 
will  show,  what  we  might  already  have  guessed,  that  the 

Livy,  32.  i.  For  the  well-known  curious  confusion  with  Simon  Magus, 
Euseb.  H.  E.  a.  13. 

1  Breal.  Tables  Eugubines,  71  ;  Bucheler,  Umlrica,  65  foil.  As  Preller 
remarks,  Fisus  stands  to  Fidius  as  Clausus  to  Claudius  (ii.  271).  At 
Iguvium  there  was  a  hill,  important  in  the  rites,  which  bore  this  name — 
ocrt's  fisius. 

9  Aelius  Stilo  ap.  Varro,  1.  c.  ;  Ovid,  1.  c. ;  Propert.  4.  9.  74 ;  Lactantius, 
i.  15.  8  ;  Schwegler,  R.  G.  i.  364 ;  Preller,  ii.  272  ;  0.  Gilbert,  i.  275,  note  ; 
Ambrosch,  Studien,  1,0.  Jcrdan,  however,  in  a  note  on  Preller  (273) 
emphatically  says  that  the  Sabine  orig'n  of  the  god  is  a  fable ;  and  for 
the  illusory  distinction  between  Latins  and  Sabines  in  Rome  see  Mommsen, 
R.  H.  i.  67,  note,  and  Breal,  HercuJe  et  Cacus,  p.  56.  Sancus  was  no 
doubt  a  Sabine  deity  and  reputed  ancestor  of  the  race  (Cato  ap.  Dionys.  2. 
49 :  cp.  4.  58; ;  but  it  does  not  follow  that  he  came  to  Eome  as  a  Sabine 
importation. 


138  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

religious  conception  we  are  speaking  of  was  very  near  akin  to 
that  of  Jupiter  himself. 

There  is  clear  evidence  that  the  best  Eoman  scholars  identified 
not  only  Dius  Fidius  with  Semo  Sancus,  but  both  of  these  with 
Hercules.  Varro,  in  a  passage  already  quoted,  tells  us  that  Stilo 
believed  Dius  Fidius  to  be  the  Sabine  Sancus  and  the  Greek 
Hercules ;  Verrius  Flaccus,  if  .his  excerptors  represent  him 
rightly,  in  two  separate  glosses  identified  all  these  three1. 

Again,  the  Eoman  oaths  me  dius  fidius  and  me  hcrculc  are 
synonymous ;  that  the  former  was  the  older  can  hardly  be 
doubted,  and  the  latter  must  have  come  into  vogue  when  the 
Greek  oath  by  Heracles  became  familiar.  Thus  the  origin  of  me 
hercule  must  be  found  in  a  union  of  the  characteristics  of  Hercules 
with  those  of  the  native  Dius  Fidius.  It  is  worth  noting  that 
in  pronouncing  both  these  oaths  it  was  the  custom  to  go  out 
into  the  open  air2.  Here  is  -a.  point  at  which  both  Hercules 
and  Dius  Fidius  seem  to  come  into  line  with  Jupiter ;  for  the 
most  solemn  oath  of  all  was  per  lovem  (lapidem),  also  taken 
under  the  light  of  heaven s,  as  was  the  case  with  the  oath  at 
the  altar  of  Ztvs  'Epmlos  in  Greece4.  Yet  another  point  of  con- 
junction is  the  ara  maxima  at  the.entrance  to  the  Circus  Maximus, 
which  was  also  a  place  where  'Oaths  were  taken  and  treaties 
ratified 5 ;  this  was  the  altar  of  Hercules  Victor,  to  whom  the 
tithes  of  spoil  were  offered  ;  and  this  was  also  associated  with 
the  legend  of  Hercules  and  Cacus.  In  the  deity  by  whom 
oaths  were  sworn,  and  in  the  deity  of  the  tithes  and  the  legend, 
it  is  now  acknowledged  on  all  hands  that  we  should  recognize 
a  great  Power  whom  we  may  call  Dius  Fidius,  or  Semo  Sancus, 
or  the  Genius  lovius,  or  even  Jupiter  himself".  Tithes,  oaths, 


1  Varro,   L.  L.  5.  66;    Festus,  229   (Propter   viam)  ;  and  Paulus,   147 
(medius  fidius^. 

2  Cp.  Plutarch,  Quaest.  Rom.  28  ('  Why  are  boys  made  to  go  out  of  the 
house  when  they  wish  to  swear  by  Hercules?')  with  Varro,  ap.  Nonium, 
s.  v.  riluis,  and  L.  L.  5.  66. 

3  See  below  on  Sept.  13,  p.  231.    The  silex  was  taken  out  of  the  temple 
of  Jupiter  Feretrius  (Paulus,  92). 

4  Eustath.  ad  Od.  22.  335  ;  Hermann,  Gr.  Ant.  ii.   74.     Cp.  A.   Lang, 
Myth,  &c.  ii.  54  :  'the  sky  hears  us,'  said  the  Indian  when  taking  an  oath. 

5  Dionys.  i.  40. 

'  See  the  opinions  of  Hartung,  Schwegler,  and  Preller,  summed  up  by 
Breal,  Hercule  et  Cacus,  51  foil.;  and  R.  Peter  in  Lex.  a.  v.  Hercules, 
2255  foil. 


MENSIS    IUNIUS  139 

and  the  myth  of  the  struggle  of  light  with  darkness,  cannot  be 
associated  with  such  a  figure  as  the  Hercules  who  came  to 
Italy  from  Greece ;  tithes  are  the  due  of  some  great  god, 
or  lord  of  the  land  ',  oaths  are  taken  in  the  presence  of  the  god 
of  heaven,  and  the  great  nature  myth  only  descends  by  degrees 
to  attach  itself  to  semi-human  figures. 

We  are  here  indeed  in  the  presence  of  very  ancient  Italian 
religious  ideas,  which  wre  can  only  veiy  dimly  apprehend,  and 
for  the  explanation  of  which — so  far  as  explanation  is  possible — 
there  is  not  space  in  this  work.  But  before  we  leave  Dius 
Fidius,  I  will  briefly  indicate  the  evidence  on  which  we  may 
rest  our  belief  (i)  that  as  Semo  Sancus,  he  is  connected  with 
Jupiter  as  the  god  of  the  heaven  and  thunder  ;  and  (2)  that  as 
Hercules  he  is  closely  related  to  the  same  god  as  seen  in 
a  different  aspect. 

i.  In  the  Iguvian  inscription  referred  to  above  Sancius  in 
one  place  appears  in  conjunction  with  lovius2 ;  and,  as  we  have 
seen,  it  is  also  found  in  the  same  ritual  with  Fisu  or  Fisovius. 
In  this  same  passage  of  the  inscription  (which  is  a  manual  of 
ritual  for  the  Fratres  Attidii,  an  ancient  religious  brotherhood 
of  Iguvium),  the  priest  is  directed  to  have  in  his  hand  an  urfita 
(orbita),  L  e.  either  disk  or  globe  ;  and  this  urfita  has  been  com- 
pared :!,  not  without  reason,  with  the  orbes  mentioned  by  Livy 4 
as  having  been  made  of  brass  after  the  capture  of  Privernum 
and  placed  in  the  temple  of  Semo  Sancus.  If  we  may  safely 
believe  that  such  symbols  occur  chiefly  in  the  worship  of  deities 
of  sun  and  heaven,  as  seems  probable,  we  have  here  some 
evidence,  however  imperfect,  for  the  common  origin  of  Sancus 
and  Jupiter. 

Again,  there  was  in  Eoman  augural  lore  a  bird  called 
sanqudlis  avis,  which  can  hardly  be  dissociated  from  the  cult  of 

1  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  233. 

*  Bucheler,  Umbrica,  7  ;  Breal,  Tables  Eugubines,  270. 

*  Preller,  ii.  273,  and  Jordan's  note.     In  M.  Gaidoz's  Etudes  de  Mythologie 
Gauloise,  i.  64,  will  be  found  figures  of  a  hand  holding  a  wheel,  from  Bar- 
le-Duc  (the  wrist  thrust  through  one  of  the  holes),  which  may  possibly 
explain  the  urfita,  and  which  he  connects  with  the  Celtic  sun-god.     In 
this  connexion  we  may  notice  the  large  series  of  Umbrinn  and  Etruscan 
coins  with  the  six-rayed  wheel-symbol  (Mommsen,  Munzwesen,  222  foil.), 
which,  as  Professor  Gardner  tells  me,  is  more  probably  a  sun-symbol  than 
merely  the  chariot-wheel  convenient  for  unskilful  coiners. 

1  8.  20. 


140  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

Sancus ;  for  there  was  also  an  ancient  city  gate,  the  porta 
Sanqualis,  near  the  sacellum  Sancus  on  the  Quirinal '.  Pliny's 
language  about  this  bird  shows  that  this  bit  of  ancient  lore 
was  almost  lost  in  his  time  ;  but  at  the  same  time  he  makes  it 
clear  that  it  was  believed  to  belong  to  the  eagle  family,  which 
played  such  an  important  part  in  the  science  of  augury.  The 
only  concrete  fact  that  seems  to  be  told  us  about  this  bird  is 
that  in  B.  c.  177  one  struck  with  its  beak  a  sacred  stone  at 
Crustumerium — a  stone,  it  would  seem,  that  had  fallen  from 
heaven,  i.  e.  a  thunder-stone  or  a  meteorite 2. 

Bearing  this  in  mind,  we  are  not  surprised  to  find  further 
traces  of  a  connexion  between  Sancus  and  thunderbolts.  There 
was  at  Rome  a  dccuria  of  sacerdotes  bidentales,  in  close  associa- 
tion with  the  cult  of  Sancus.  Three  votive  altars  are  extant, 
dedicated  to  the  god  by  this  dccuria s ;  two  of  them  were  found 
on  the  Quirinal,  close  to  the  site  of  the  sacellum  Sancus.  Now 
the  meaning  of  the  word  lidcntal  shows  that  the  decuria  had 
as  its  duty  the  care  of  the  sacred  spots  which  had  been  struck 
by  thunderbolts  ;  such  a  spot,  which  was  also  called  puteul 
from  its  resemblance  to  a  well  fenced  with  a  circular  wall, 
bore  the  name  bidental,  presumably  because  two-year-old  sheep 
(bidentcs)  were  sacrificed  there 4.  Consequently  we  again  have 
Sancus  brought  into  connexion  with  the  augural  lore  of  lightning, 
which  made  it  a  religious  duty  to  bury  the  bolt,  and  fence  otf 
the  spot  from  profane  intrusion.  Yet  another  step  forward  in 
this  dim  light.  A  bidental  was  one  kind  of  templum,  as  we 
are  expressly  told ft ;  and  the  temple  of  Sancus  itself  seems  to 
have  had  this  peculiarity.  Varro  says  that  its  roof  was  per- 


1  For  the  bird,  Plin.  N.  H.  10.  20;  Festus,  197  s.  v.  oscines,  and  317 
(sanqualis  art's).  Bouche'-Leclereq,  Hist,  de  la  Divination,  iv.  200.  For  the 
gate  cp.  Paulus,  345,  with  Liv.  8.  20 ;  Jordan,  Topogr.  ii.  264. 

*  Liv.  41.  13,  with  Weissenborn's  note.     The  stone  was  perhaps   the 
same  as  one  which  had  shortly  before  fallen  into  the  grove  of  Mars  :it 
Crustumerium  (41.  9). 

3  C.I.L.  vi.  567.  568;  and  Bull,  dett' Inst.,  1881,  p.  38  foil.  (This  last  with 
a  statue,  which,  however,  may  not  belong  to  it:  Jordan's  note  on  Preller, 
ii.  273.)  Wilmanns,  Exen>pla  Inscr.  Lot.  1300. 

*  Marq.  263 ;  B.-Leclercq,  iv.  51  foil.     The  Scholiast  on  Persius,  2.  27, 
is  explicit  on  the  point.    But  Deecke,  in  a  note  to  Muller's  Etrusker  (ii.  275) 
doubts  the  connexion  of  the  decuria  with  bidental  -puteal. 

*  Festus,  s.  v.  Scribonianum  (p.  333 :  the  restoration  can  hardly  be  wrorg) 
'  [quia  nejas  est  integi,  semper  ibi  forami[ne  aper]to  cnelum  patet.' 


MENSIS    IUNIUS  141 

foratum,  so  that  the  sky  might  be  seen  through  it '.  In  a 
fragment  of  augural  lore,  apparently  genuine  though  preserved 
by  a  writer  of  late  date,  the  cadi  templum  seems  to  have  been 
conceived  as  a  dome,  or  a  ball  (orbis)  cut  in  half,  with  a  hole  in 
the  top*.  We  may  allow  that  we  are  here  getting  out  of  our 
depth  ;«but  the  general  result  of  what  has  been  put  forward  is 
that  Sancus  =  Dius  Fidius  was  originally  a  spirit  or  nunien  of 
the  heaven,  and  a  wielder  of  the  lightning,  closely  allied  to  the 
great  Jupiter,  whose  cult,  combined  with  that  of  Hercules,  had 
almost  obliterated  him  in  historical  times. 

Finally,  it  would  seem  that  those  moral  attributes  of  Jupiter 
which  give  him  a  unique  position  in  the  Roman  theology  as 
the  god  of  truth,  order,  and  concord,  belonged  at  one  period 
also  to  Sancus  as  Dius  Fidius  ;  for  in  his  temple  was  kept  the 
most  ancient  treaty  of  which  the  Romans  knew,  that  said  to 
have  been  made  by  Tarquinius  Superbus  with  Gabii,  which 
Dionysius  must  himself  have  seen s,  and  which  he  describes  as 
consisting  of  a  wooden  clypeus,  bound  with  the  hide  of 
a  sacrificed  ox,  and  bearing  ancient  letters.  Here  also  was 
the  reputed  statue  of  Gaia  Caecilia  or  Tanaquil,  the  ideal 
Roman  matron ;  of  which  it  has  been  conjectured,  rashly 
perhaps,  but  by  an  authority  of  weight,  that  it  really  repre- 
sented a  humanized  female  form  of  Dius  Fidius,  standing  to 
him  as  the  Junones  of  women  stood  to  the  Genii  of  men,  or  as 
Juno  in  the  abstract  to  Genius  in  the  abstract  \ 

1  L.  L.  5.  66  *ut  ea  videatur  divum,  id  est  caelum.'     He  connects  the 
word  dhum  with  Dius  Fidius.     See  Jordan  in  the  collection  of  essays  '  ia 
honorem  Th.  Mommseni,'  p.  369. 

2  Martianus  Capella,  i.  45  (p.  47  in  Eyssenhardt's  edition).  See  Nissen's 
explanation  in  Das  Templum,  p.  184,  and  plate  iv.     In  this  account  Jupiter 
occupies  the  chief  place  :  Sancus  is  there,  alone  in  tho  isth  regio.     But 
doubt  has  been  cast  on  Nissen's  view  by  the  discovery  of  an  actual  repre- 
sentation of  the  cadi  templum  (see  Aust,  in  Lex.  s.  v.  lupiter,  668). 

3  Dionys.  4.  58.     In  9.  60  he  says  that  this  temple  was  only  vowed  by 
Tarquinius,  and  not  dedicated  till  466  B.  c.  (Aust,  de  Aedibus sacris,  p.  6) ;  but 
there  must  have  been  a  still  earlier  sanctuary  of  some  kind  (Livy  writes 
of  a  sacellum,  8.  20.  8).     Dionysius  is  interesting  and  explicit ;  he  calls 
Dius  Fidius  Zfi>>  nianot,  and  adds  the  name  207*0*.     The  treaties  next 
in  date,  those  with  Carthage,  were  kept  in  the  aedilium  thesaurus,  close  to 
the  temple  of  Jupiter  Capitolinus  (Polyb.  3.  22  ;  Mommsen,  Staatsrecht,  ii. 
r  (ed.  2 )  481  note).     Here  we  seem  to  see  tho  authority  of  the  ancient 
Dius  Fidius  already  losing  ground. 

4  Plut.  Quaest.  Rom.  30;  Varro,  ap.  Piin.  N.  H.  8.  194;  Festus,  238.     It 
was   Reifferscheid's  conjecture  that  she  was  a  female  Dius  Fidius  (see 


142  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

2.  The  last  sentence  of  the  preceding  paragraph  may  aptly 
bring  us  to  our  second  point,  viz.  the  relation  to  Jupiter  of 
Dius  Fidius  as  =  Hercules.  Those  who  read  the  article  'Dius 
Fidius '  in  Roscher's  Lexicon  will  be  struck  by  the  fact  that  so 
cautious  a  writer  as  Professor  Wissowa  should  boldly  identify 
this  deity,  at  the  very  outset  of  his  account,  with  the  'Genius 
lovis ' ;  and  this  conjecture,  which  is  not  his  own,  but  rather 
that  of  the  late  Professor  Reifferscheid  of  Breslau  ',  calls  for 
a  word  of  explanation. 

More  than  thirty  years  ago  Reifferscheid  published  a  paper 
in  which  he  compared  certain  points  in  the  cults  of  Juno  and 
Hercules,  of  which  we  have  a  meagre  knowledge  from  Roman 
literature,  with  some  works  of  art  of  Etruscan  or  ancient 
Italian  origin  (i.  e.  not  Greek),  and  found  that  they  seemed 
to  throw  new  and  unexpected  light  on  each  other. 

The  Roman  women,  we  are  told 2,  did  not  swear  by  Hercules, 
but  by  '  their  Juno ' ;  the  men  swore  by  Hercules,  Dius  Fidius, 
or  by  their  Genius3.  Women  were  excluded  from  the  cult 
of  Hercules  at  the  ara  maxima 4 ;  men  were  excluded,  not 
indeed  from  the  cult  of  Juno,  but  (as  Reifferscheid  puts  it)  '  from 
that  of  Bona  Dea,  who  was  not  far  removed  from  Juno''.'  At 
the  birth  of  a  child,  a  couch  (lectus)  was  spread  in  the  atrium 
for  Juno,  a  mensa  for  Hercules6.  The  bride's  girdle  (cinguhim) 
seems  to  have  given  rise  to  a  cult-title  of  Juno,  viz.  Cinxia, 
while  the  knot  in  it  which  was  loosed  by  the  bridegroom  at  the 
kctus  genialis  was  called  the  nodus  herculaneus 7. 


Wissowa,  Lex~  1190).   Fest.  241  adds  '  cuius  ex  zona  periclitantes  ramenta 
sumunt.' 

1  BuU.  deff  Inst.,  1867,  352  foil.  Reifferscheid  was  prevented  by  death 
from  working  his  view  out  more  fully  ;  but  R.  Peter  (see  Lex.  s.  v.  Hercules, 
2267)  preserved  notes  of  his  lectures. 

*  Gellius,  ii.  6.  i.      For  Juno  as  female  equivalent  of  Genius  see  article 
1  lunones'  in  Lex.     But  it  does  not  seem  proved  that  this  was  the  old  name, 
and  not  an  idea  of  comparatively  late  times. 

•>  Seneca,  Ep.  12.  2.  *  See  below,  on  Aug.  12,  p.  194. 

5  This  seems  a  weak  point.  Bona  Dea  was  not  more  closely  related  to 
Juno  than  some  others.  I  do  not  feel  sure  that  the  name  Juno  is  not  as 
much  an  intrusion  here  as  Hercules,  and  that  the  real  female  counter- 
part of  Genius,  &c.,  was  not  a  nameless  numen  like  the  Bona  Dea.  The 
rise  of  the  cult  of  Juno  Lucina  may  have  produced  this  intrusion.  It  is 
worth  noting  that  in  Etruria  Minerva  takes  the  place  of  Juno  (Lex.  2266, 
and  the  illustration  on  2267). 

*  Serv.  Eel.  4.  62.  T  Paulus,  63. 


MENSIS    IUNIUS  143 

Now  Reifferscheid  believed  that  he  found  the  same  con- 
junction of  Juno  and  Hercules  in  several  works  of  art,  which 
may  be  supposed  to  be  reflections  from  the  same  set  of  ideas 
which  produced  the  usages  just  indicated.  In  the  most  im- 
portant of  those  there  is  indeed  no  doubt  about  it ;  this  is 
a  mirror  of  Etruscan  workmanship ',  in  which  three  figures 
are  marked  with  the  Latin  names  IOVEI  (Jupiter),  IUNO  and 
HERCELE.  Jupiter  sits  on  an  altar  in  the  middle,  and  with  his 
right  hand  is  touching  Juno,  who  has  her  left  hand  on  his 
shoulder ;  Hercules  stands  with  his  club,  apparently  expectant, 
on  the  left.  From  certain  indications  in  the  mirror  (for  which 
I  must  refer  the  reader  to  the  illustration  on  p.  2259  of 
Roscher's  Lexicon)  Reifferscheid  concluded  that  Jupiter  was 
here  giving  Juno  in  marriage  to  Hercules  ;  and,  in  spite  of 
some  criticism,  this  interpretation  has  been  generally  accepted'2. 
In  other  works  of  art  he  found  the  same  conjunction,  though 
no  names  mark  the  figures  ;  in  these  Hercules  and  Juno,  if 
such  they  be,  appear  to  be  contending  for  the  mastery,  rather 
than  uniting  peacefully  in  wedlock3.  This  conjunction,  or 
opposition,  of  Juno  and  Hercules,  is  thus  explained  by  Reiffer- 
scheid. The  name  Juno  represents  the  female  principle  in 
human  nature  *  ;  the  '  genius '  of  a  woman  was  called  by  this 
name,  and  the  cult  of  Juno  as  a  developed  goddess  shows  many 
features  that  bear  out  the  proposition 5.  If  these  facts  be  so, 
then  the  inference  to  be  drawn  from  the  conjunction  or  opposition 
of  Juno  and  Hercules  is  that  the  name  Hercules  indicates  the 
male  principle  in  human  nature.  But  the  male  principle  is 
also  expressed  in  the  word  Genius,  as  we  see  e.  g.  in  the  term 
lectus  genialis]  Hercules  therefore  and  Genius  mean  the  same 
thing  — the  former  name  having  encroached  upon  the  domain 
of  the  latter,  as  a  Latinized  form  of  Heracles,  of  all  Greek 
heroes  or  divinities  the  most  virile.  And  if  Hercules,  Seino 

1  Gerhard,  Etntskische  Spiege1,  147.  It  is  also  figured  in  Lex.  s.  v. 
Hercules,  2259.  •* 

"  e.  g.  by  every  writer  in  Roscher's  Lexicon  who  has  touched  on  the 
subject.  Jordan  seems  to  have  dissented  (Prel)er,  ii.  284). 

3  The  opposition  or  conflict  of  the  two  is  paralleled  by  the  supposed 
myth  of  the  contention  of  Mars  and  Minerva  (Nerio)  (see  above,  p.  60 ; 
Lex.  2265). 

4  See  article  'lunones'  in  Lex. ;  and  De-Marchi,  La  ReJigione  neUa  tita 
domestica,  p.  70. 

0  Roscher's  article  '  Juno  '  in  Lex.  passim. 


144  THE   ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

Sancus  and  Dius  Fidius  are  all  different  names  for  the  same 
idea,  then  the  word  Genius  may  be  taken  as  equivalent  to  the 
two  last  of  these  as  well  as  to  Hercules'. 

But  why  does  Keifferscheid  go  on  to  tell  us  that  this  Genius, 
i.  e.  Hercules  =  Sancus  =  Dius  Fidius,  is  the  Genius  lovis  ?  How 
does  he  connect  this  many-titled  conception  with  the  great 
father  of  the  sky?  As  a  matter  of  fact,  he  has  but  slender 
evidence  for  this ;  he  relies  on  the  mirror  in  which  he  found 
Jupiter  giving  Juno  to  Hercules,  and  on  the  conjecture  that 
the  Greek  Hercules,  the  son  of  Zeus,  would  easily  come  to 
occupy  in  Italy  the  position  of  Genius,  if  the  latter  were,  in  an 
abstract  form  and  apart  from  individual  human  life,  regarded 
as  the  Genius  of  Jupiter2.  And  in  this  he  is  followed  by 
Wissowa  and  other  writers  in  Koscher's  Lexicon. 

It  would  perhaps  have  been  wiser  not  to  go  so  far  as  this. 
He  has  already  carried  us  back  to  a  world  of  ideas  older  than 
these  varying  names  which  so  often  bewilder  us  in  the  Roman 
worship — to  a  world  of  spirits,  Semones,  Lares,  Cerri,  ghosts 
of  deceased  ancestors,  vegetation  demons,  and  men's  'other 
souls.'  When  he  talks  of  a  Genius  lovis3,  he  is  surely  using 
the  language  of  later  polytheism  to  express  an  idea  which 
belonged,  not  to  a  polytheistic  age,  but  to  that  older  world  of 
religious  thought.  He  is  doing,  in  fact,  the  very  thing  which 
the  Romans  themselves  were  doing  all  through  the  period  of 
the  Republic — the  one  thing  which  above  all  others  has  made 

1  I  cannot  agree  with  Mr.  Jevons  (Introduction  to  History  of  Religion,  p.  186 
foil.)  when  he  makes  the  Roman  genius  a  relic  of  totemism,  simply 
because  genii  were  often  represented  by  serpents.  The  snake  was  too 
universally  worshipped  and  domesticated  to  be  eas-ily  explained  as  a 
totem.  Mr.  Frazer  has  an  interesting  example  from  Zululand,  which  is 
singularly  suggestive  in  connexion  with  the  doctrine  of  Genius  (see 
Oolden  Bough,  ii.  332),  which  can  hardly  be  explained  on  a  totemistic  basis. 
The  doctrine  of  Genius  may  certainly  have  had  its  roots  in  a  totemi^tic 
age  ;  but  by  the  time  it  reaches  us  in  Roman  literature  it  has  passed 
through  so  many  stages  that  its  origin  is  not  to  be  dogmatized  about. 

1  I  cannot  attach  mu£h  weight  to  the  argument  (see  Lex.  2268)  that 
because  Aelius  Stilo  explained  Dius  Fidius  as  Diovis  Filius  he  therefore 
had  in  his  head  some  such  relation  of  Qenius  to  Jupiter. 

*  If  he  had  written  Genius  lovius,  after  the  manner  of  the  Iguvian 
inscription,  with  its  adjectival  forms  which  preserve  a  remini-cence  of 
the  older  spirit-world,  he  might  have  been  nearer  the  maik.  It  may  be 
that  we  get  back  to  Jupiter  himself  as  the  Genius  par  excellence,  but  there 
is  no  direct  proof  of  this.  The  genius  of  a  god  is  a  late  idea,  as  Mr.  Jevons 
po'.nts  out  in  a  note  to  Roman  Questions,  p.  liii. 


MENSIS    IUNIUS  145 

the  study  of  their  religious  ideas  such  a  treacherous  quagmire 
for  the  modern  student. 

vi  ID.  IUN.  (JUNE  8).     N. 

MENTI  IN  CAPITOLIO.       (VEN.  MAFF.  VI  MINORE8.) 

The  temple  of  Mens  was  vowed  by  T.  Otacilius  (praetor)  in 
217  B.  c.,  after  the  battle  of  Trasimenus  '  propter  neglegentiam 
caerimoniarum  auspiciorumque'/and  dedicated  in  215  B.C.,  by 
the  same  man  as  duumvir  aedibus  dedicandis 2.  The  vow  was  the 
result  of  an  inspection  of  the  Sibylline  books,  from  which  we 
might  infer  that  the  goddess  was  a  stranger s.  If  so,  who  was 
she,  and  whence  ?  Seasoning  from  the  fact  that  in  the  same 
year,  in  the  same  place,  and  by  the  same  man,  a  temple  was 
dedicated  to  Venus  Erycina4,  Preller  guessed  that  this  Mens 
was  not  a  mere  abstraction,  but  another  form  of  the  same 
Venus ;  for  a  Venus  Mimnermia  or  Meminia  is  mentioned  by 
Servius 5,  '  quod  meminerit  omnium.' 

However  this  may  be,  the  foundation  of  a  cult  of  Mens  at  so 
critical  a  moment  of  their  fortunes  is  very  characteristic  of  the 
Koman  spirit  of  that  age ;  it  was  an  appeal  to  '  something  not 
themselves  which  made  for  righteousness'  to  help  them  to 
remember  their  caerimoniae,  and  not  to  neglect  their  auspicia. 
It  is  remarkable  that  this  temple  of  Mens  was  restored  by 
M.  Aemilius  Scaurus  probably  amid  the  disasters  of  the  Cimbrian 
war  a  century  later 6. 

vii  ID.  IUN.  (JUNE  7).     N. 

VESTA  APERIT.      (PHILOC.) 

v  ID.  IUN.  (JUNE  9).     N. 
VESTALIA.    (TUSC.  VEN.  MAFF.) 

xvn  KAL.  QUINCT.  (JUNE  15).     N. 

VESTA  CLUDITUR.       (PHILOC.) 

xvii  KAL.  QUINCT.  (JUNE  15).     Q.  St.  D.  F. 
It  would  seem  from  these  notes  in  the  calendars,  and  from 

1  Livy,  22.  9  ;  Ovid,  Fasti,  6.  241  foil.  ;  Aust,  de  Aedibus  sacris,  p.  19. 

*  Livy,  23.  31  and  32  ;  M  irq.  270. 

s  Marq.  358  foil.  ;  Article  'Sibyllini  libri '  in  Did.  of  Antiquities,  ed.  a. 

*  Livy,  22.  9,  10 ;  23  30,  31.  *  Ad  Aen.  i.  720. 

'  Plut.  de  Fort.  Rom.  5.  10  ;  Cic.  Nat.  Dear.  a.  61.  Aust  (de  Aedibus  sacris, 
p.  19)  puts  it  in  B.C.  115,  in  S^aurus'  consulship. 


146  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

passages  in  Ovid  and  Festus1,  that  both  before  and  after  the 
day  of  the  true  Vestalia  there  were  days  set  apart  for  the  cult 
of  the  goddess,  which  were  nefasti  and  also  religiosi2.  Ovid's 
lines  are  worth  quoting ;  he  consults  the  Flaminica  Dialis 3 
about  the  marriage  of  his  daughter  : 

Turn  mihi  post  sacra s  monstratur  lunius  idus 

Utilis  et  nuptis,  utilis  esse  viris, 
Primaque  pars  huius  thalamis  aliena  repe;ta  est, 

Nam  mihi  sic  coniunx  sancta  Dialis  ait ; 
'  Donee  ab  Iliaca  placidus  purgamina  Vesta 

Detulerit  flavis  in  mare  Thybris  aquis, 
Non  mihi  detonsos  crines  depectere  buxo, 

Non  ungues  ferro  subsecuisse  licet, 
Non  tetigisse  virum,  quamvis  lovis  ille  sacerdos, 

Quamvis  perpetua  sit  mihi  lege  datus. 
Tu  quoque  ne  propera.     Melius  tua  filia  nubet 

Ignea  cum  pura  Vesta  nitebit  humo.' 

What  is  the  meaning  of  this  singular  aspect  of  the  Vesta-cult  ? 
Why  should  these  days  be  so  ill-omened  or  so  sacred  that  during 
them  marriages  might  not  be  celebrated,  and  the  priestess  of 
Jupiter  might  not  hold  any  intercourse  with  her  husband,  cut 
her  hair,  or  pare  her  nails  ?  And  what  is  the  explanation  of 
the  annotation  Q.uando]  Stercus]  D[elatum]  F|_as]4,  which  on 
the  1 5th  indicated  the  breaking  of  the  spell,  and  a  return  to 
ordinary  ways  of  life  ?  Before  attempting  to  answer  these 
questions,  it  will  be  as  well  to  say  a  few  words  about  the 
nature  and  probable  origin  of  the  worship  of  Vesta.  Owing  to 
the  remarkable  vitality  and  purity  of  this  cult  throughout  the 
whole  of  Roman  history,  we  do  not  meet  here  with  those 
baffling  obscurities  which  so  often  beset  us  in  dealing  with 
deities  that  had  lost  all  life  and  shape  when  Roman  scholars 
began  to  investigate  them.  And  yet  we  know  that  we  are 
here  in  the  presence  of  rites  and  ideas  of  immemorial 
antiquity. 

1  Ovid,  Fasti,  6.  219  foil. ;  Festus,  250,  s.  v.  Penus  :  '  [Penus  vo^catur  locus 
intimus  in  aede  Vestae,  tegetibus  saeptus,  qui  certis  diebus  circa  Vestalia 
aperitur.  li  dies  leligiosi  habentur.' 

-  For  the  meanings  of  ti^fustus  and  religiosus  see   Introduction,  p.  9  ; 
Marq.  291. 

s  No  doubt  this  was  done,  and  the  lines  composed,  in  order  to  please 
Augustus  and  reflect  the  revival  of  the  old  religio. 

*  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  32. 


MENSIS    IUNIUS  147 

In  an  article  of  great  interest  in  the  Journal  of  Philology 
for  1885',  Mr.  J.  G.  Frazer  first  placed  the  origin  of  the  cult 
in  a  clear  light  for  English  scholars.  By  comparing  it  with 
similar  practices  of  existing  peoples  still  in  a  primitive  con- 
dition of  life,  he  made  apparent  the  real  germ  of  the  institution 
of  the  Vestal  Virgins.  Helbig,  in  his  Italiker  in  der  Poebene 2, 
had  already  recognized  that  germ  in  the  necessity  of  keeping 
one  fire  always  alight  in  each  settlement,  so  that  its  members 
could  at  any  time  supply  themselves  with  the  flame,  then 
so  hard  to  procure  at  a  moment's  notice ;  and  Mr.  Frazer 
had  only  to  go  one  step  further,  and  show  that  the  task 
of  keeping  this  fire  alight  was  that  of  the  daughters  of  the 
chief.  This  step  he  was  able  to  take,  supported  by  evidence 
from  Damaraland  in  South  Africa,  where  the  priestess  of  the 
perpetual  fire  is  the  chiefs  daughter  ;  quoting  also  the  following 
example  from  Calabria  in  Southern  Italy :  '  At  the  present  day 
the  fire  in  a  Calabrian  peasant's  house  is  never  (except  after 
a  death)  allowed  to  die  quite  out,  even  in  the  heat  of  summer  ; 
it  is  a  bad  omen  if  it  should  chance  to  be  extinguished,  and 
the  girls  of  the  house,  whose  special  care  it  is  to  keep  at  least 
a  single  brand  burning  on  the  hearth,  are  sadly  dismayed 
at  such  a  mishap.'  The  evidence  of  the  Koman  ius  sacrum 
quite  confirms  this  modern  evidence ;  the  Vestals  were  under 
the  patria  potestas  of  the  pontifex  maximus,  who  represented 
in  republican  times  the  legal  powers  of  the  Rex,  and  from  this 
fact  we  may  safely  argue  that  they  had  once  been  the  daughters 
of  the  primitive  chief.  The  famines  too,  or  Jcindlers,  as  being 
under  the  potestas  of  the  pontifex,  may  be  taken  as  representing 
the  sons  of  the  primitive  household3.  But  from  various 
reasons  *  the  duties  of  the  flamines  became  obsolete  or  obscure  ; 
while  those  of  the  Vestals  remained  to  give  us  an  almost 
perfect  picture  of  life  in  the  household  of  the  oldest  Latins. 

From  the  first,  no  doubt,  the  tending  of  the  fire  was  in  some 
sense  a  religious  service,  and  the  flame  a  sacred  flame 8.  There 

1  Vol.  xiv,  No.  28  *  p.  53. 

3  Marq.  250.     In  the  Andaman  Islands  both  sons  and  daughters  take 
part  in  the  work  of  maintaining  the  fires  ( Man's  Andaman  Islands,  quoted 
by  Mr.  Frazer,  op.  cit.  p.  153). 

4  See  my  article  'Sacerdos'  in  Diet,  of  Antiquities,  ed.  a. 

s  Vesta  herself  was  originally  simply  the  fire  on  the  hearth  (Frazer, 
op.  cit.  152).  Note  that  the  Same  was  obtained  afresh  each  year  on  March  i, 

L    2 


148  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

must  have  been  many  stages  of  growth  from  this  beginning 
to  the  fully  developed  Vesta  of  the  Kepublic  and  Empire  ; 
yet  we  can  see  that  the  lines  of  development  were  singularly 
simple  and  consistent.  The  sacred  fire  for  example  was 
maintained  in  the  aedes  Vestae,  adjoining  the  king's  house1 
(regia) ;  and  the  penus  Vestae,  which  must  originally  have 
contained  the  stores  on  which  the  family  depended  for  their 
sustenance,  was  always  believed  to  preserve  the  most  sacred 
and  valuable  objects  possessed  by  the  State 2. 

We  return  to  the  Vestalia,  of  which  the  ritual  was  as  follows. 
On  June  7,  the  penus  Vestae,  which  was  shut  all  the  rest 
of  the  year,  and  to  which  no  man  but  the  pontifex  maximus 
had  at  any  time  right  of  entry,  was  thrown  open  to  all 
matrons.  During  the  seven  following  days  they  crowded  to  it 
barefoot 8.  Ovid  relates  his  own  experience 4 : 

Forte  revertebar  festis  Vestalibus  ilia 

Qua  nova  Romano  nunc  via  iuncta  foro  est. 

Hue  pede  matronam  vidi  descenders  nudo  : 
Obstipui  tacitus  sustinuique  gradum. 

The  object  of  this  was  perhaps  to  pray  for  a  blessing  on  the 
household.  On  plain  and  old-fashioned  ware  offerings  of  food 
were  carried  into  the  temple :  the  Vestals  themselves  offered 
the  sacred  cakes  made  of  the  first  ears  of  corn  plucked,  as  we 
saw,  in  the  early  days  of  May 5 ;  bakers  and  millers  kept 
holiday,  all  mills  were  garlanded,  and  donkeys  decorated  with 
wreaths  and  cakes 6. 

Ecce  coronatis  panis  dependet  asellis 
Et  velant  scabras  florida  serta  molas. 

On  June  15  the  temple  (aedes,  not  templum)  was  swept 
and  the  refuse  taken  away  and  either  thrown  into  the  Tiber 

even  in  historical  times,  by  the  primitive  method  of  the  friction  of  the 
wood  of  a  'lucky'  tree  (Festus,  106),  or  from  the  sun's  rays.  We  are 
not  told  which  priest  performed  this  rite. 

1  Middleton,  Borne  in  j88j,  p.  181  foil. 

a  This  belief,  and  the  nature  of  the  treasures,  are  fully  discussed  by 
Marquardt,  p.  251,  with  additions  by  Wissowa. 

s  Cp.  Petronius,  Sat.  44  (of  the  aquaelicium). 

4  Fasti,  6.  395  foil.  s  Above,  p.  no. 

*  As  the  beast  that  usually  worked  in  mills?  There  is  a  Pompeian 
painting  of  this  scene  (Gerhard,  Ant.  Bild.  pi.  6a). 


MENSIS    IUNIUS  149 

or  deposited  in  some  particular  spot *.  Then  the  dies  nefastl 
came  to  an  end  ;  and  the  1 5th  itself  became  fastus  as  soon 
as  the  last  act  of  cleansing  had  been  duly  performed  :  '  Quando 
stercus  delatum  fas.' 

In  this  account  of  the  ritual  of  these  days,  two  features 
claim  special  attention :  ( i )  the  duties  of  the  Vestals  in 
connexion  with  the  provision  of  food  ;  (2)  the  fact  that  the 
days  were  religiosi,  as  is  illustrated  by  the  prohibition  of 
marriage  and  the  mourning  of  the  Flaminica  Dialis.  That 
these  two  features  were  in  some  way  connected  seems  proved 
by  the  cessation  of  the  mourning  when  the  penus  Vestae  was 
once  more  closed. 

i.  It  needs  but  little  investigation  to  discover  that,  though 
the  germ  of  the  cult  was  doubtless  the  perpetual  fire  in  the 
king's  house,  the  cult  itself  was  by  no  means  confined  to 
attendance  on  the  fire  ;  and  this  was  so  probably  from  the 
very  first.  The  king's  daughters  fetched  the  water  from 
the  spring,  both  for  sacred  and  domestic  purposes ;  and  this 
duty  was  kept  up  throughout  Roman  history,  for  water 
was  never  '  laid  on '  to  the  house  of  the  Vestals,  but  carried 
from  a  sacred  fountain2.  They  also  crushed  the  corn  with 
pestle  and  mortar,  and  prepared  the  cakes  for  the  use  of  the 
family — duties  which  survived  in  all  their  pristine  simplicity 
in  the  preparation  of  the  mold  salsa  in  the  early  days  of  May 3 ; 
and  they  swept  the  house,  as  the  Vestals  afterwards  continued 
to  cleanse  the  penus  Vestae,  on  June  1 5.  The  penus,  or  store- 
closet  of  the  house,  was  under  their  charge ;  on  the  state 

1  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  32   'Dies  qui  vocatur  Q.  St.  D.  F.  ab  eo  appellatur 
quod  eo  die  ex  aede  Vestae  stercus  everritur  et  per  Capitolinum  clivum  in 
locum  defertur  certurn.'    It  is  Ovid  who  tells  us  it  was  thrown  into  the 
Tiber  (Fasti,  6.  713). 

2  Jordan,  Tempel  der  Vesta,  p.  63. 

3  The  crushing  of  the  grain  no  doubt  comes  down  from  a  time  when 
there  were  no  mills  (Helbig,  Italiker  in  der  Poebene,  17  and  72).     The  pre- 
paration of  the  cakes  was  also  peculiar,  and  even  that  of  the  salt  which  was 
used  in  them  (Festus,  159;  cp.  Serv.  Ed.  8.  82).     The  latter  passage  is  the 
locus  dassicus  for  all  these  duties :     '  Virgines  Vestales  tres  maximae  ex 
nonis  Maiis  ad  pridie  Idus  Maias  alternis  diebus  (i.e.  on  7th,  pth,  nth?) 
spicas  adoreas  in  corbibus  messuariis  ponunt,  easque  spicas  ipsae  virgines 
torrent,    pinsunt,    molunt,    atque  ita   molitum   condunt.      Ex  eo  farre 
virgines  ter  in   nnno   molam  faciunt,  Lupercalibus,  Vestalibus,   Idibus 
Septembribus,  adiecto   sale   cocto   et   sale   duro.'      For  examples  of  the 
primitive  method  of  cooking  see  Miss  Kingsley's  Travels  in  West  Affica, 
p.  208 ;  and  Sir  Joseph  Banks's  Journal  (ed.  Hooker),  p.  137. 


150  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

of  its  contents  the  family  depended  for  its  comfort  and  pros- 
perity, and  from  the  very  outset  it  must  have  had  a  kind 
of  sacred  character '.  The  close  connexion  of  Vesta  and  her 
ministrants  with  the  simple  materials  and  processes  of  the 
house  and  the  farm  is  thus  quite  plain  ;  and  we  may  trace  it  in 
every  rite  in  which  they  took  any  part.  The  Fordicidia  and 
the  Parilia  in  April  were  directly  concerned  with  the  flocks 
and  herds  of  the  community  ;  in  May  the  festival  of  the  Bona 
Dea  and  the  mysterious  ceremony  of  the  Argei  point  to  the 
season  of  peril  during  the  ripening  of  the  crops.  After  the 
Vestalia  the  Vestals  were  present  at  the  Consualia  and 
the  festival  of  Ops  Consiva  in  August,  which,  as  we  shall  see, 
were  probably  harvest  festivals ;  and  on  the  Ides  of  October 
the  blood  of  the  '  October  horse '  was  deposited  in  their  care 
for  use  at  the  Fordicidia  as  a  charm  for  fertility.  So  constant 
is  the  connexion  of  Vesta  with  the  fruits  of  the  earth,  that 
it  is  not  surprising  that  some  Roman  scholars "  should  have 
considered  her  an  earth  goddess  ;  especially  as,  in  a  volcanic 
region,  the  proper  home  of  fire  would  be  thought  to  be  beneath 
the  earth.  But  such  explanations,  and  also  the  views  of 
modern  scholars  who  have  sought  to  find  in  Vesta  a  deity 
of  abstract  ideas,  such  as  '  the  nourishing  element  in  the  fire n, 
are  really  superfluous.  The  associations  which  grew  up 
around  the  sacred  hearth-fire  can  all  be  traced  to  the  original 
germ,  if  it  be  borne  in  mind  that  the  fire,  the  provision-store, 
and  the  protecting  deities  of  that  store,  were  all  placed  together 
in  the  centre  of  the  house,  and  that  all  domestic  operations, 
sacrificial  or  culinary,  took  place  at  or  by  means  of,  the 
necessary  fire.  'What  is  home  but  another  word  for  cooking?' 

1  Penus  means,  in  the  first  instance,  food.  Cic.  Nat  Deorum,  2.  68  '  Est 
omne  quo  vescuntur  homines  penus.'  Hence  it  came  to  mean  the  store- 
closet  in  the  centre  of  the  house,  of  which  the  Penates  were  the  guardian 
spirits.  Its  sacred  character  is  indicated  in  a  passage  of  Columella 
(R.  R.  12.  4  ;  and  see  my  paper  on  the  toga  praetexta  of  Roman  children, 
in  Classical  Review,  Oct.  1896). 

4  Varro,  ap.  S.  Aug.  de  Civ.  7.  24 ;  cp.  7.  16.  Ovid,  Fasti,  6.  267,  writes, 
'  Vesta  eadem  quae  terra,'  but  more  correctly  in  291,  '  Nee  tu  aliud  Vestam 
quam  vivam  intellige  flammam.'  Some  moderns  derive  Vesta  from  root 
vas  =  l  dwelling,'  and  make  her  the  earth  in  special  relation  to  the 
dwelling ;  e.  g.  O.  Gilbert,  i.  348  note. 

s  Preuner,  Hestia-  Vesta,  p.  221  'Gottheit  des  Feuers,  sofern  religiose, 
ethische  Ideen  sich  in  demselben  abspiegeln,  nicht  des  Feuers  als  blossen 
Elements.'  This  is  surely  turning  the  question  upside  down. 


MENSIS    IUNIUS  151 

Nor  must  we  forget  that  the  living  fire  was  for  primitive  man 
a  mysterious  thing,  and  invested  from  the  first  with  divine 
attributes1. 

2.  The  fact  that  from  the  5th  to  the  i  sth  the  days  were  not  only 
tie  fasti  but  also  religiosi  is  not  easy  to  explain.  It  is  true  that 
in  two  other  months,  February  and  April,  we  find  a  parallel 
series  of  dies  nefasti  in  the  first  half  of  the  month:  in  February 
it  extended  from  the  Kalends  to  the  Lupercalia  (i.'.th),  and 
in  April  from  the  Nones  to  the  Vinalia  (a^rd)",  But  these 
days  in  February  and  April  were  nefasti  in  the  ordinary  sense 
of  the  word,  i.  e.  the  cessation  of  judicial  business,  and  we  are 
not  told  of  them  that  they  were  also  religiosi,  or  that  the 
Flaminica  Dialis  lay  during  them  under  any  special  restrictions, 
as  in  the  days  we  are  speaking  of.  On  the  other  hand,  we  find 
to  our  surprise  that  the  other  days  on  which  this  priestess 
was  forbidden  to  comb  hair  or  cut  nails  were  not  even  nefasti 
in  the  ordinary  sense,  viz.  those  of  the  'moving '  of  the  ancilia 
and  of  the  ceremony  of  the  Argei s :  so  that  we  are  baffled 
at  every  point  in  looking  for  a  solution  to  the  calendar. 

But  there  is  one  fact  that  is  quite  clear,  namely,  that  the 
tempus  nefastum  was  in  some  way  or  other  the  result  of  the 
purification  of  the  aedes  Vestae,  since  it  ceased  at  the  moment 
the  last  act  of  cleansing  was  completed.  Now  it  does  seem  to 
be  the  case  that  among  some  peoples  living  by  agriculture  but 
as  yet  comparatively  uncivilized,  special  importance  is  attached 
to  the  days  immediately  before  harvest  and  the  gathering  of  the 
first-fruits — at  which  time  there  is  a  general  cleaning  out  of 
house,  barns,  and  all  receptacles  and  utensils,  and  following 
upon  this  a  period  of  rejoicing.  Mr.  Frazer,  in  his  Golden 
Bough  has  collected  some  examples  of  this  practice,  though 
he  has  not  brought  them  together  under  one  head  or  given 
them  a  single  explanation.  The  most  striking,  and  at  the 
same  time  the  best  attested,  example  is  as  follows 4 : 

1  Tylor,  Prim.  Cult.  ii.  251  ;  Grimm,  German  Mytho'ogy  (Eng.  trans.), 
p.  60 1  foil. 

1  In  July  also  the  days  were  nefas'.i  from  the  Kalends  to  the  pth  ;  but  to 
the  meaning  of  this  we  have  no  clue  whatever. 

3  See  above,  p.  115. 

4  G.  B.  ii.  75.     In  an  appendix  (p.  373  foil,  and  esp.  382")  will  be  found 
some  other  examples  of  the  same  type  of  ritual.     Cp.  also  ii.  176  (from 
Punjaub),  which  example,  however,  does  not  seem  in  any  way  connected 


152  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

'Among  the  Creek  Indians  of  North  America,  the  lusl', 
or  festival  of  firstfruits,  was  the  chief  ceremony  of  the  year. 
It  was  held  in  July  or  August,  when  the  corn  was  ripe,  and 
marked  the  end  of  the  old  year  and  the  beginning  of  the  new 
one.  Before  it  took  place  none  of  the  Indians  would  eat  or 
even  handle  any  of  the  new  harvest.  .  .  .  Before  celebrating 
the  Busk,  the  people  provided  ^themselves  with  new  clothes 
and  new  household  utensils  and  furniture ;  they  collected 
their  old  clothes  and  rubbish,  together  with  all  the  remaining 
grain  and  other  old  provisions,  cast  them  together  in  one 
common  heap  and  consumed  them  with  fire.  As  a  preparation 
for  the  ceremony  all  the  fires  in  the  village  were  extinguished, 
and  the  ashes  swept  clean  away.  In  particular  the  hearth  or 
altar  of  the  temple  was  dug  up,  and  the  ashes  carried  out.  .  .  . 
Meanwhile  the  women  at  home  were  cleaning  out  their  houses, 
renewing  the  old  hearths,  and  scouring  all  the  cooking  vessels 
that  they  might  be  ready  to  receive  the  new  fire  and  the  new 
fruits.  The  public  or  sacred  square  was  carefully  swept  of 
even  the  smallest  crumbs  of  previous  feasts,  for  fear  of  polluting 
the  first-fruit  offerings.  Also  every  vessel  that  had  contained 
any  focd  during  the  expiring  year  was  removed  from  the 
temple  before  sunset.'  A  general  fast  followed,  we  are  told  ; 
'  and  when  the  sun  was  declining  from  the  meridian,  all  the 
people  were  commanded  by  the  voice  of  a  crier  to  stay  within 
doors,  to  do  no  bad  act,  and  to  be  sure  to  extinguish  and  throw 
away  every  spark  of  the  old  fire.  Universal  silence  now 
reigned.  Then  the  high  priest  made  the  new  fire  by  the 
friction  of  two  pieces  of  wood,  and  placed  it  on  the  altar  under 
the  green  arbour.  This  new  fire  was  believed  to  atone  for 
all  past  crimes  except  murder.  Then  a  basket  of  new  fruits 
was  brought ;  the  high  priest  took  out  a  little  of  each  sort 
of  fruit,  rubbed  it  with  bear's  oil,  and  offered  it  together  with 
some  flesh  to  the  bountiful  spirit  of  fire  as  a  first-fruit  offering 
and  an  annual  oblation  for  sin.  .  .  .  Finally  the  chief  priest  made 
a  speech,  exhorting  the  people  to  observe  their  old  rites  and 
customs,  announcing  that  the  new  divine  fire  had  purged  away 
the  sins  of  the  past  year,  and  earnestly  warning  the  women 

with  harvest.  But  the  practice  of  the  Creek  Indians  is  so  unusually  well 
attested  that  it  deserves  special  attention.  It  is  described  by  no  less  than 
four  independent  authorities  (see  Mr.  Frazer's  note  on  p.  76^. 


MENSIS    IUNIUS  153 

that  if  any  of  them  had  not  extinguished  the  old  fire,  or  had 
contracted  any  impurity,  they  must  forthwith  depart  lest 
the  divine  fire  should  spoil  both  them  and  the  people.' 

The  four  chief  points  in  this  very  interesting  account  are, 
(i)  the  extremely  solemn  and  critical  character  of  the  whole 
ceremonial,  as  indicated  in  the  general  fast ;  (2)  the  idea  of 
the  necessity  of  purification  preparatory  to  the  reception  of 
first-fruits,  a  purification  which  seems  to  extend  to  human 
beings  as  well  as  to  houses,  receptacles,  and  utensils ;  (3)  the 
renewal  of  the  sacred  fire,  which  was  coincident  with  the 
beginning  of  a  new  year ;  (4)  the  solemn  reception  of  the  first- 
fruits.  Comparing  these  with  Roman  usage,  we  notice  that 
the  first  two  are  fully  represented  at  the  Vestalia,  the  one  by 
the  religious  character  of  the  days,  and  the  mourning  of  the 
Flaminica  Dialis,  the  other  by  the  cleansing  of  the  penus 
Vestae,  and  the  careful  removal  of  all  its  refuse.  The  third  is 
represented,  not  at  the  Vestalia,  but  at  the  beginning  of  the 
year  on  March  i,  when  the  sacred  fire  was  renewed,  as  we  saw, 
in  the  primitive  fashion  by  the  friction  of  two  pieces  of  wood, 
and  the  temple  of  Vesta  was  adorned  with  fresh  laurels,  as  was 
the  case  also  with  the  altar  in  the  American  example  just 
quoted.  The  fourth  point  is  represented  neither  in  March  nor 
June,  but  rather  by  the  plucking  of  the  first  ears  of  corn  by  the 
Vestals  before  the  Ides  of  May,  from  which  they  made  the 
sacred  salt-cakes  of  sacrifice. 

Now  we  need  not  go  the  length  of  assuming  that  the  Roman 
ceremonies  of  March,  May  and  June  were  three  parts  of  one 
and  the  same  rite  which  in  course  of  time  had  been  separated 
and  attached  to  different  periods  of  the  year ;  though  this 
indeed  may  not  be  wholly  impossible.  But  we  may  at  least 
profitably  notice  that  all  the  four  striking  features  of  the  Indian 
ceremony  are  found  in  the  cult  of  Vesta,  and  descended  no 
doubt  to  the  later  Eomans  from  an  age  in  which  both  the  crops, 
the  fire  and  the  store-houses  were  regarded  as  having  much 
the  same  sacred  character  as  they  had  for  the  Creek  Indians. 

To  me  indeed  it  had  seemed  probable,  even  before  the 
publication  of  Mr.  Frazer's  Golden  Bough,  that  the  cleansing  of 
the  penus  Vestae  was  nothing  but  a  survival  of  a  general 
purification  of  store-houses,  barns,  utensils,  and  probably  of  all 
the  apparatus  of  farming,  including  perhaps  human  beings, 


154  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

before  the  completion  of  the  harvest  which  was  now  close  at 
hand.  The  date  of  the  Vestalia  is  indeed  too  early  to  let  us 
suppose  it  to  have  been  a  real  harvest  festival,  nor  had  it  any 
of  the  joyous  character  found  in  such  rites  ;  and,  as  we  shall 
see,  the  true  harvest  festivals  are  to  be  found  in  the  month  of 
August.  The  corn  harvest  in  middle  Italy  took  place  in  the 
latter  half  of  June  and  in  July ' ;  and,  as  is  everywhere  still 
the  practice,  the  festivals  proper  did  not  occur  until  the  whole 
work  of  harvesting  was  done.  But  at  the  time  of  the  Vestalia 
the  crops  were  certainly  ripening ;  in  May  we  have  already  had 
the  plucking  of  the  first  ears  by  the  Vestals,  and  the  lustratio 
segetum  which  has  been  described  under  the  head  of  Ambarvalia 
on  May  28. 

I  must  leave  to  anthropologists  the  further  investigation  of 
the  ideas  underlying  the  ritual  we  have  been  examining ;  it  is 
something  to  have  been  able  to  co-ordinate  it  with  rites  which 
are  so  well  attested  as  those  of  the  Creek  Indians,  and  which 
admit  without  difficulty  of  a  reasonable  interpretation 2. 

in  ID.  IUN.  (JUNE  n).     N. 

MAT[KALIA].     (TUSC.  VEN.  MAFF.) 
MATK[I]  MATUT[AE].     (VEN.) 
MATE  ALIA.     (PHILOC.) 

The  temple  of  which  this  day  was  apparently  the  dies  natalis 
dated  from  the  Veientine  War,  396  B.  c.,  and  was  the  result  of 
a  vow  made  by  L.  Furius  Camillus3.  An  earlier  temple  was 
attributed  to  Servius  Tullius ;  but  it  is  extremely  improbable 
that  anything  more  than  a  sacellum  or  altar  existed  at  such  an 
early  date  \  The  cult  of  Mater  Matuta  was  widely  extended  in 
Italy,  and  clearly  of  genuine  and  ancient  Italian  origin  ;  she 
can  be  separated  with  certainty  from  the  Greek  goddess 
Leucothea  with  whom  Ovid  mixes  her  up,  and  from  whom  she 
derived  a  connexion  with  harbours  which  did  not  originally 

1  Nissen,  Landeskunde,  399. 

1  The  whole  of  Mr.  Frazer's  section  on  the  sacramental  eating  of  new 
crops  should  be  read  in  connexion  with  the  Vestalia. 

3  Aust,  de  Aedibus  sacris,  p.  7  ;  Liv.  5.  19  and  23.  The  temple  was  in 
the  Forum  boarium,  near  the  Circus  maximus. 

*  Wissowa  in  Myth.  Lex.  s.  v.  Mater  Matuta,  2463. 


MENSIS    IUNIUS  155 

belong  to  her1.  The  evidence  for  the  wide  spread  of  her  cult 
consists  of  (i)  t\vo  extremely  old  inscriptions  from  Pisaurum  in 
Umbria,  of  which  Mommsen  observes, '  lingua  meram  vetustatem 
spirat ' 2 ;  (2)  certain  inscriptions  and  passages  of  Livy  which 
prove  that  her  worship  existed  among  the  Volsci,  in  Campania, 
and  at  Praeneste 3.  At  Satricum  she  was  apparently  the  chief 
deity  of  the  place  and  probably  also  at  Pyrgi,  the  port  of  Caere 
in  Etruria4.  The  cult  seems  to  have  had  some  marked 
peculiarities,  of  which  one  or  two  fragments  have  come  down 
to  us.  Only  the  wife  of  a  first  marriage  could  deck  the  image 
of  the  goddess 5 ;  no  female  slaves  were  allowed  in  the  temple 
except  one,  who  was  also  diiven  out  of  it  with  a  box  on  the 
ear,  apparently  as  a  yearly  recurring  memorial  of  the  rule  6  ; 
the  sacred  cakes  offered  were  cooked  in  old-fashioned  earthen- 
ware 7 ;  and,  lastly,  the  women  are  said  to  have  prayed  to  this 
goddess  for  their  nephews  and  nieces  in  the  first  place,  and  for 
their  own  children  only  in  the  second8.  All  that  can  be 
deduced  from  these  fragments  is  that  the  Mater  Matuta  was  an 
ancient  deity  of  matrons,  and  perhaps  of  the  same  type  as  other 
deities  of  women  such  as  Carmenta.  Fortuna,  and  Bona  Dea 9. 

1  Ovid,  Fasti,  6.  473  foil.;  Cic.  Nat.  Dear.  3.  48;  Tusc.  i.  28.  Plutarch  (Quaest. 
Rom.  16.  i)  noted  a  likeness  between  her  cult  and  that  of  Leucothea  in  his 
own  city  of  Chaeroneia  ;  an  interesting  passage,  though  quite  inconclusive 
as  to  the  Greek  origin  of  Mater  Matuta.  Plutarch,  like  Servius  (Aen.  5. 
241)  and  others,  has  adopted  Ovid's  legend  of  Ino  by  way  of  explanation 
of  the  identity  of  Leucothea  and  Matuta.  Merkel  (Fasti,  clxxxiv)  believed 
the  cult  to  be  wholly  Greek  ;  Bouche-Leclercq  (Hist,  de  Divination,  iv.  147) 
follows  Klausen  in  identifying  Mater  Matuta  with  Tetliys  t,cf.  Plut. 
Rom.  a'i  and  with  the  deity  of  the  oracle  at  Pyrgi.  But  see  Wesseling  on 
Diod.  Sic.  15,  p.  337  ;  and  Strabo,  Bk.  5,  p.  345. 

*  C.  L  L.  i.  176,  177.  3  Liv.  6.  33.  4  ;  Wissowa,  Lex.  2462. 

4  Diod.  Sic.  15.  14,  p.  337,  and  Wesseling's  note.  The  temple  at  Pyrgi 
was  an  important  one,  and  rich  enough  to  be  plundered  by  Dionysius  I 
of  Syracuse.  But  it  must  be  admitted  that  the  identification  of  the  deity 
of  Pyrgi  with  Mater  Matuta  is  not  absolutely  certain.  Strabo,  1.  c.,  calls 
her  Eileithyia,  Aristotle  (Oecon.  1349  b)  Leucothea  ;  and  it  is  thought  that 
Mater  Matuta  alone  combines  the  characteristics  of  these  two.  If, 
however,  the  goddess  of  Pyrgi  was  the  deity  of  the  oracle,  she  might 
almost  as  well  have  been  a  Fortuna,  like  those  of  Antium  and  Praeneste. 

*  Tertullian,  de  Jlonogam.  17. 

•  Ovid,  Fasti,  6.  481,  with  Plut  Q.  R.  16;  Camtil.  5. 

T  Varro,  L.  L.  5.  106.  Ovid  (482)  writes  ofliba  tosta,  i.  e.  cakes  cooked  in 
pans  rather  than  baked,  like  the  mola  salsa.  See  above,  p.  149 ;  and  cp. 
Ovid,  532  'in  subito  cocta  foco.'  '  Plut.  11.  cc. ;  Ovid,  559  foil. 

•  See  below  on  Jan.  u.      I  cannot  explain  the  rule  that  -a  woman 
prayed  for  nephews  and  nieces  before  her  own  children,  which  is  peculiar 
to  this  cult. 


156  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

The  best  modern  authorities  explain  her  as  a  goddess  of  the 
dawn's  light  and  of  child-birth,  and  see  a  parallel  in  Juno 
Lucina  ]  ;  and  Mommsen  has  pointed  out  that  the  dawn  was 
thought  to  be  the  lucky  time  for  birth,  and  that  the  Koman 
names  Lucius  and  Manius  have  their  origin  in  this  belief2. 
Lucretius  shows  us  that  in  his  day  Mater  Matuta  was  certainly 
associated  with  the  dawn 3 : 

roseam  Matuta  per  oras 
Aetheris  auroram  differt  efc  lumina  pandit. 

We  should,  however,  be  glad  to  be  more  certain  that  Matuta 
was  originally  a  substantive  meaning  dawn  or  morning.  Verrius 
Flaccus 4  seems  to  have  believed  that  the  words  mane,  matums, 
matuta,  manes,  and  manus,  all  had  the  meaning  of  '  good ' 
contained  in  them  -r  so  that  Mater  Matuta  might  after  all  be 
only  another  form  of  the  Bona  Dea,  who  is  also  specially 
a  woman's  deity.  But  this  cult  was  not  preserved,  like  that 
of  Vesta,  by  being  taken  up  into  the  essential  life  of  the  State, 
and  we  are  no  longer  able  to  discern  its  meaning  with  any 
approach  to  certainty. 

It  is  noticeable  that  this  day  was,  according  to  Ovid 5,  the 
dedication  of  a  temple  of  Fortuna,  also  in  foro  toario :  but  no 
immediate  connexion  can  be  discovered  between  this  deity  and 
Mater  Matuta.  This  temple  was  remarkable  as  containing 
a  wooden  statue,  veiled  in  drapery,  which  was  popularly 
believed  to  represent  Servius  Tullius s,  of  whose  connexion  with 
Fortuna  we  shall  have  more  to  say  further  on.  No  one,  how- 
ever, really  knew  what  the  statue  was  ;  Varro  and  Pliny 7  write 
of  one  of  Fortuna  herself  which  was  heavily  draped,  and  may 
have  been  the  one  in  this  temple.  Pliny  says  that  the  statue 
of  Fortuna  was  covered  with  the  togae  praetextae  of  Servius 
Tullius,  which  lasted  intact  down  to  the  death  of  Seianus  ;  and 

1  Preller,  i.  322 ;  Wissowa  in  Lex. 

9  R.  H.  (Eng.  trans.)  i.  162.  3  Lucr.  5.  654. 

4  Paulus,  122  '  Matrem  Matutam  antiqui  ob  bonitatem  appellabant,  et 
maturum  idoiieum  usui,'  &c.     See  also  Curtius,  Gk.  Etym.  i.  408. 

5  Fasti,  6.  569  foil. ;   625  foil. :   cp.  Dionysius,  4.  40.     Ovid  has  three 
fanciful  explanations  of  the  draping. 

*  Ovid,  1.  c.  ;  Dionys.  4.  40. 

7  Varro  ap.  Nonium,  p.  189;  Plin.  N.  H.  8.  194,  197.  See  Schweglcr, 
R.  G.  i.  712,  note  3,  and  a  full  discussion  in  Lex.  by  R.  Peter,  s.  v.  Fortuna, 
p.  1509. 


MENSIS    IUNIUS  157 

it  is  singular  that  Seianus  himself  is  said  to  have  possessed 
a  statue  of  Fortuna  which  dated  from  the  time  of  Servius1, 
and  which  turned  its  face  away  from  him  just  before  his  fall. 
Seianus  was  of  Etruscan  descent,  we  may  remember  ;  Servius 
Tullius,  or  Mastarna,  was  certainly  Etruscan ;  and  among 
Etruscan  deities  we  find  certain  shrouded  gods 2.  These  facts 
seem  to  suggest  that  the  statue  (or  statues,  if  we  cannot  refer 
all  the  passages  above  quoted  to  one  statue)  came  from  Etruria, 
and  was  on  that  account  a  mystery  both  to  the  learned  and  the 
ignorant  at  Kome.  To  us  it  must  also  remain  unexplained*. 

ID.  IUN.  (JUNE  13).     IP. 

FERIAE   IOVI.       (VEN.) 

10  vi.     (TUSC.) 

To  these  notes  in  the  calendars  we  may  add  a  few  lines 
from  Ovid  : 

Idibus  Invicto  sunt  data  templa  lovi. 
Et  iam  Quinquatrus  iubeor  narrare  minores : 
Nunc  ades  o  coeptis,  flava  Minerva,  rneis. 
Cur  vagus  incedit  tota  tibicen  in  urbo  ? 

Quid  sibi  personae,  quid  stola  longa  volunt  ? 

All  Ides,  as  we  have  seen,  were  sacred  to  Jupiter  ;  they  are 
so  noted  in  the  surviving  calendars  in  May,  June,  August, 
September,  October  and  November,  and  were  probably  origin- 
ally so  noted  in  all  the  months  4.  On  this  day  the  collegium 
or  guild  of  the  tibicines  feasted  in  the  temple  of  Jupiter 

1  Dio  Cassius,  58.  7. 

*  Seneca,  Q.  N.  a.  41  ;  Muller-Deecke,  Etrusker,  ii.  83  ;  Dennis,  Etruria,  i, 
Introduction  Ivi.  The  passnge  of  Seneca  is  a  very  curious  one  about  the 
Etruscan  lightning-lore.  O.  Miiller  guesses  that  the  di  involuti  were  Fates 
(Schicksalsgottheiten],  which  would  suit  Fortuna  (cp.  Hor.  Od.  i.  35). 

3  There  is  just  a  possibility  that  it  was  confused  with  a  statue  of 
Pudicitia,  also  in  foro  boario,  and  also  said  to  have  been  veiled  (Festus, 
242).  Varro,  I.e.,  calls  the  goddess  of  the  statue,  Fortuna  Virgo,  and 
Preller  suggested  that  she  was  identical  with  Pudicitia.  The  lines  of 
Ovid  seem  to  favour  this  view  (Fasti,  6.  617  foil.) : 

Vesto  data  tegitur.     Vetat  hanc  Fortuna  mover! 

Et  sic  e  templo  <•-(   ipsa  locuta  suo ; 
'  Ore  revelato  qua  pt  imum  luce  patebit 

Servius,  haec  positi  pritna  pudoris  erit. 
Parcite,  matronae,  vetitas  attingere  vestes : 

Sollemni  satis  est  voce  movere  preces.' 
'  Mommsen  in  C.  I.  L.  i.2  298. 


158  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

Capitolinus  \  The  temple  referred  to  by  Ovid  of  Jupiter 
Invictus  as  having  been  dedicated  on  this  day  may  possibly 
have  been  one  of  two  mentioned  by  Livy  as  dedicated  on  the 
Capitol  in  B.  c.  192  2  ;  but  the  coincidence  of  a  dedication-day 
•with  the  Ides  may  perhaps  suggest  a  higher  antiquity  3. 

For  the  right  meaning  and  derivation  of  the  word  Quin- 
quatrus  the  reader  is  referred  to  what  has  been  already  said 
under  March  19.  June  13  was  usually  called  Quinquatrus 
minusculae,  not  because  it  was  really  Quinquatrus  (i.  e.  five 
days  after  the  Ides),  but  because  through  the  feast  of  the 
tibicines  it  was  associated  with  their  patron  Minerva4,  in 
whose  temple  on  the  Aventine  they  met,  apparently  before 
they  set  out  on  the  revelling  procession  to  which  Ovid  refers  5. 
Varro  makes  this  clear  when  he  writes  'Quinquatrus  minus- 
culae dictae  luniae  Idus  ab  similitudine  maiorum  '6,  i.  e.  it  was 
not  really  Quinquatrus,  but  was  popularly  so  called  because 
the  other  festival  of  Minerva  and  her  followers  bore  that 
name.  Verrius  Flaccus  was  equally  explicit  on  the  point: 
4  Minusculae  Quinquatrus  appellantur  quod  is  dies  festus  est 
tibicinum,  qui  colunt  Minervam  cuius  deae  proprie  festus  dies 
est  Quinquatrus  mense  Martio  ' 7. 

The  revelry  of  the  tibicines,  during  which  they  wore  the 
masks  and  long  robes  mentioned  by  Ovid,  was  explained  by 
a  story  -which  the  poet  goes  on  to  tell,  and  which  is  told 
also  by  Livy  and  by  Plutarch  with  some  variations 8 ;  how 
they  fled  to  Tibur  in  anger  at  being  deprived  by  Appius 

1  Livy,  9.  30  ;  Val.  Max.  a.  5.  4  ;  Varro,  L.  L.  6. 17.  Cp.  C.  I.  L.  vi.  3696 
[Magistri]  quinqfuennales)  [collegi]  teib(icinum)  Rom(anorum)  qui  s(acri8) 
p(ublicis)  p(raesto)  s(unt)  Iov(i)  Epulvoni)  s(acrum). 

a  So  Preller,  i.  198. 

s  Aust,  in  Lex.  a.  v.  luppitor,  680.  Both  here  and  in  his  work  rf* 
Aedibus  sacris,  this  scholar  declines  to  distinguish  between  lup.  Invictus 
and  lup.  Victor. 

4  For  Minerva  as  the  patron  of  all  such  guilds  see  Wissowa  in  Lex. 
a.  v.  Minerva,  2984  foil. 

'  Varro,  L.L.  6.  17.  There  were  three  days  of  revelry,  according  to 
Livy  (9.  30') :  did  they  meet  in  this  temple  on  each  d;iy  ?  The  isth  was 
the  day  of  the  epulum  ;  which  the  other  days  were  wo  do  not  know. 

6  L.  L.  6.  17. 

'  Festus,  149,  s.  v.  minusculae.     Cf  Ovid,  Fasti,  6.  695. 

*  Livy,  1.  c  Plutarch,  Quaest.  Rom.  55,  who  confuses  two  Appii  Claudii, 
and  refers  the  story  to  the  Decemvir  instead  of  to  the  Censor  of  311  B.C. 
Livy  omits  the  very  Roman  trait  (Ov.  673  foil.)  of  the  libertus  feigning  to 
be  surprised  by  his  patronus. 


MENSIS    IUNIUS  159 

Claudius  the  censor  of  their  feast  in  the  Capitol :  how  they 
were  badly  missed  at  Rome,  tricked  and  made  drunk  by  a 
freedman  at  Tibur,  and  sent  home  unconscious  on  a  big  waggon. 
The  story  is  genuinely  Roman  in  its  rudeness  and  in  the  rough 
humour  which  Ovid  fully  appreciates  ;  the  favourite  feature 
of  a  secession  is  seen  in  it,  and  also  the  peaceful  settlement 
of  difficulties  by  compromise  and  contract.  I  see  no  reason 
why  it  should  not  be  the  echo  of  an  actual  event,  though 
in  detail  it  is  obviously  intended  to  explain  the  masks  and 
the  long  rol:es.  These  are  to  be  seen  represented  on  a  coin 
of  the  gens  Plautia  ',  to  which  the  fierce  censor's  milder  col- 
league belonged,  who  negotiated  the  return  of  the  truants. 
Plutarch  calls  the  '  stolae  longae '  women's  clothes  ;  but  it  is 
more  natural  to  suppose  that  they  were  simply  the  dress  of 
Etruscan  pipe-players  of  the  olden  time 2. 

The  story  well  shows  the  universal  use  of  the  tibia  in  all 
sacred  rites ;  the  tibicines  were  indispensable,  and  had  to 
be  got  back  from  Tibur  by  fair  means  or  foul.  As  Ovid  says : 

Cantabat  fanis,  cantabat  tibia  hulls, 
Cantabat  maestis  tibia  funeribus. 

The  instrument  was  probably  indigenous  in  Italy,  and  the 
only  indigenous  one  of  which  we  know.  '  The  word  tibia,' 
says  Professor  Nettleship 3,  '  is  purely  Italian,  and  has,  so  far 
as  I  can  find,  no  parallel  in  the  cognate  languages.'  Miiller, 
in  his  work  on  the  Etruscans,  does  indeed  assume  that  the 
Roman  tibicines  were  of  Etruscan  origin,  which  would  leave 
the  Romans  without  any  musical  instrument  of  their  own. 
The  probability  may  rather  be  that  it  was  the  general  instru- 
ment of  old  Italy,  specially  cultivated  by  the  one  Italian  race 
endowed  with  anything  like  an  artistic  temperament. 

1  Cohen,  Mcd.  PI.  33 ;  Borghesi,  Op.  i.  201  (quoted  by  Marq.  577). 

*  Muller-Deecke,  Llrusker,  ii.  202. 

*  Journal  of  Philology,  vol.  xi.  p.  189.     It  was  a  short  pipe  played  with 
a  reed,  and  no  doubt  almost  the  same  thing  as  the  short  rough  oboes 
which  are  still  favourites  in  Italy,  and  which  are  still  sometimes  played 
two  at  a  time  in  the  mouth  as  of  old.     Their  antiquity  is  vouched  for  by 
the  law  of  the  Twelve  Tables,  which  limited  the  players  at  a  funeral  to 
ten.    See  Professor  Anderson's  article  '  tibia '  in  Did.  of  Ant.  (ed.  a). 


160  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

xii  KAL.  IUN.  (JUNE  20).     C. 
SUMMAN[O]  AD  CIJRC[UM]  MAXIM[UM].     (YEN.  ESQ.  AMIT.) 

To  this  note  may  be  added  that  of  Ovid l  : 

Reddita,  quisquis  is  est,  Summano  templa  feruatur, 
Turn  cum  Romanis,  Pyrrhe,  timendus  eras. 

The  date  of  the  foundation  of  the  temple  of  Sumnianus 
was  probably  between  278  and  275  B.  c. 2 ;  the  foundation 
was  the  result  of  the  destruction  by  lightning,  no  doubt  at 
night,  of  a  figure  of  Jupiter  on  the  Capitol3.  Who  was 
this  Summanus  ?  Ovid's  language,  quisquis  is  est,  shows  that 
even  in  his  time  this  god,  like  Semo  Sancus,  Soranus,  and 
others,  had  been  fairly  shouldered  out  of  the  course  by  more 
important  or  pushing  deities.  In  the  fourth  century  A.  D. 
S.  Augustine  *,  well  read  in  the  works  of  Varro  and  the  Eoman 
antiquarians,  could  write  as  follows :  '  Sicut  enim  apud  ipsos 
legitur,  Bomani  veteres  nescio  quern  Summanum,  cui  nocturna 
fulmina  tribuebant,  coluerunt  magis  quam  lovem  —  sed  post- 
quam  lovi  templum  insigne  ac  sublime  constructum  est, 
propter  aedis  dignitatem  sic  ad  eum  multitudo  confluxit,  ut  vix 
inveniatur,  qui  Summani  nomen,  quod  audire  iam  non  potest. 
se  saltern  legisse  meminerit.'  In  spite  of  the  decay  and  dis- 
appearance of  this  god  we  may  believe  that  the  Christian 
Father  has  preserved  the  correct  tradition  as  to  his  nature 
when  he  tells  us  that  he  was  the  wielder  of  the  lightning 
of  the  night,  or  in  other  words  a  nocturnal  Jupiter.  We 
do  in  fact  find  a  much  earlier  statement  to  the  same  effect 
traceable  to  Verrius  Flaccus 6.  Varro  also  mentions  him  and 
classes  him  with  Veiovis,  and  with  the  Sabine  deities  whom 
he  believed  to  have  been  brought  to  Kome  by  Tatius B.  There 
is,  however,  no  need  to  suppose  with  Varro  that  he  was  Sabine, 
or  with  Muller  that  he  was  Etruscan 7 ;  the  name  is  Latin 

1  Fasti,  6.  731.  *  Aust,  de  Aedibus  sacris,  p.  13. 

*  Not  to  be  confused,  as  in  Livy,  Epit.  14,  with  a  statue  of  Summanus 
himself  on  the  same  temple  (in  fastigio  lovis :  Cicero,  Div.  i.  10). 

4  de  Civ.  Dei,  4.  23. 

8  Festus,  229,  s.v.  Proversum  fulgor:  'Quod  diurna  lovis,  nocturna 
Summani  fulgura  habentur.'  (Cp.  Pliny,  N.  H.  2.  52.)  An  interesting 
inscription  (C.  /.  L.  vi.  206)  runs,  'Summanium  fulgus  coiiditum,'  i.e.  'a 
bolt  which  fell  before  dawn  was  buried  here.' 

'  L.  L.  5.  74.  '  Muller- Deecke,  Etrusktr,  ii.  60. 


MENSIS    IUNIUS  l6l 

and  probably  —  Sub  man  us.  i.  e.  the  god  who  sends  the  lightning 
l>efore  the  dawn. 

It  is  interesting  to  find  the  wheel  symbol  here  again,  as  is 
noticed  by  Gaidoz  in  his  Studies  of  Gallic  Mythology '.  We  can 
hardly  doubt  that  the  Summanalia  which  Festus  explains 
as  'liba  farinacea  in  modum  rotae  ficta  ,'  were  cakes  offered 
or  eaten  on  this  day  :  it  is  hard  to  see  what  other  connexion 
they  could  have  had.  Mr.  Arthur  Evans  has  some  interesting 
remarks 3  on  what  seem  to  be  moulds  for  making  religious 
cakes  of  this  kind,  found  at  Tarentum  ;  they  are  decorated,  not 
only  with  the  wheel  or  cross,  but  with  many  curious  symbols. 
'It  is  characteristic,' he  writes,  'in  a  whole  class  of  religious 
cakes  that  they  are  impressed  with  a  wheel  or  cross,  and  in 
other  cases  divided  into  segments  as  if  to  facilitate  distribution. 
This  symbolical  division  seems  to  connect  itself  with  the  worship 
of  the  ancestral  fire  rather  than  with  any  solar  cult.  In  a  modi- 
fied form  they  are  still  familiar  to  us  as  "hot-cross  buns."' 
Summanus,  however,  does  not  seem  to  have  had  anything  to  do 
with  the  ancestral  fire. 

vni  KAL.  QUINCT.  (JUNE  24).     C. 

FORTI  FORTUNAE  TRANS  TIBERJIM]  AD  MILLIARJUMJ  PRIM^UMJ  ET 

SEXT[UM].     (AM  IT.) 
FORTIS  FORTUNAE.     (VEN.  PHILOC.) 
SACRUM  FORTIS  FORTUNAE.     (RUST.) 

Ovid  writes  of  this  day  as  follows  * : 

Ite,  deam  laeti  Fortem  celebrate,  Quirites  I 

In  Tiberis  ripa  munera  regis  habet. 
Pars  pede,  pars  etiam  celeri  decurrite  cymba, 

Nee  pudeat  potos  inde  redire  domum. 
Ferte  coronatae  iuvenum  convivia  lintres  : 

Multaque  per  medias  vina  bibantur  aquas. 
Plebs  colit  hanc,  qu:a,  qui  posuit,  de  plebe  fuisse 

Fertur,  et  ex  humili  sceptra  tulisse  loco. 
Convenit  et  servis ;   serva  quia  Tullius  ortus 

Constituit  dubiae  templa  propinqua  deae. 

*  fitudes  de  Mythologie  Oauloise,  i.  p.  92.     M.  Gaidoz  looks  on  these  wheel- 
cakes  as  '  emblematic  of  Summanus '  as  a  god  of  sun  and  sky. 

*  Festus,  p.  348.     The  MS.  has  '  finctae.' 

3  Journal  of  Hellenic  Studies,  vol.  vii,  No.  i  (1886),  p.  44  full. 

*  Fasti,  6.  775  foil. 


1 62  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

H.  Peter,  in  his  additional  notes  to  Ovid's  Fasti  \  has  one  so 
lucid  on  the  subject  of  the  temples  of  Fors  Fortuna  mentioned 
in  this  passage  that  I  cannot  do  better  than  reproduce  it. 
'  We  find  three  temples  of  the  goddess  mentioned,  all  of  which 
lay  on  the  further  side  of  the  Tiber.  The  first  was  that  of 
Servius  Tullius  mentioned  by  Varro  in  the  following  passage 2 : 
"Dies  Fortis  Fortunae  appellatus  ab  Servio  Tullio  rege,  quod 
is  fanum  Fortis  Fortunae  secundum  Tiberim  extra  urbem 
Komam  dedicavit  lunio  mense."  The  second  is  one  stated  by 
Livy 3  to  have  been  built  by  the  consul  Spui'ius  Carvilius  in 
460  B.  c.  near  the  temple  of  Servius.  The  third  is  mentioned 
by  Tacitus  *  as  having  been  dedicated  at  the  end  of  the  year 
17  A.  D.  by  Tiberius,  also  on  the  further  side  of  the  Tiber  in 
the  gardens  of  Caesar.  Of  these  three  temples  the  third  does 
not  concern  us  in  dealing  with  Ovid's  lines,  because  it  was 
completed  and  dedicated  long  after  the  composition  of  the 
sixth  book  of  the  Fasti,  perhaps  at  a  time  when  Ovid  was 
already  dead  ;  we  have  to  do  only  with  the  first  two.  Now  we 
find  in  the  Fasti  of  Amiternum 5  the  following  note  on  the  24th 
of  June :  ' '  Forti  Fortunae  trans  Tiberim  ad  milliarium  primum 
et  sextum";  and  this  taken  together  with  Ovid  suggests  that 
either  besides  the  temple  of  Carvilius  there  were  two  temples 
of  Fors  Fortuna  attributed  to  Servius,  or  (and  this  appears  to 
me  more  probable)  the  temple  of  Carvilius  itself  was  taken  for 
a  foundation  of  Servius  as  it  had  the  same  dedication-day  and 
was  in  the  same  locality.  In  this  way  the  difficulties  may  be 
solved.'  I  am  disposed  to  accept  the  second  suggestion  of 
Peter's ;  for,  as  Mommsen  has  remarked  6,  it  is  quite  according 
to  Eoman  usage  that  Carvilius  should  have  placed  his  temple 
close  to  a  much  more  ancient  fanum  of  the  same  deity  ;  i.  e. 
the  principle  of  the  locality  of  cults  often  held  good  through 
many  centuries. 

Many  cults  of  Fortuna  were  referred  to  Servius  Tullius,  but 
especially  this  one,  because,  as  Ovid  says,  it  was  particularly 
a  festival  of  the  plebs  of  which  he  was  the  traditional  hero ; 
and  also  because  it  was  open  to  slaves,  a  fact  which  was 
naturally  connected  with  the  supposed  servile  birth  of  this 

1  p.  104.  2  L.  L.  6r.  7. 

3  Livy,  10.  46.  17.  *  Ann.  2.  41. 

5  See  above,  the  heading  of  this  section.  *  C.  I.  L.  320. 


MENSIS    IUNIUS  163 

king.  The  jollity  and  perhaps  looseness  of  the  occasion  seemed 
to  indicate  a  connexion  between  the  lower  stratum  of  population 
and  the  worship  of  Fortuna :  '  On  foot  and  in  boats,'  says  Ovid, 
'the  people  enjoyed  themselves  even  to  the  extent  of  getting 
drunk.'  We  are  reminded  in  fact  of  the  plebeian  license  of  the 
festival  of  Anna  Perenna  in  March'.  It  is  perhaps  worth 
noting  that  on  June  1 8  the  calendar  of  Philocalus  has  the  note 
Annac  Sacrum,  which  unluckily  finds  no  corroboration  from  any 
other  source.  Whether  it  was  an  early  popular  cult,  whether 
it  was  connected  in  any  way  with  that  of  Fors  Fortuna,  and 
whether  both  or  either  of  them  had  any  immediate  relation  to 
the  summer  solstice,  are  questions  admitting  apparently  of  no 
solution. 

It  has  rarely  happened  that  any  Roman  cult  has  been  dis- 
cussed at  length  in  the  English  language,  especially  by  scholars 
of  unquestionable  learning  and  resource.  But  on  the  subject 
of  Fortuna,  and  Fors  Fortuna,  an  interesting  paper  appeared 
some  years  ago  by  Prof.  Max  Miiller  in  his  volume  entitled 
Biographies  of  Words",  which  I  have  been  at  great  pains  to 
weigh  carefully.  The  skill  and  lucidity  with  which  the 
Professor's  arguments  are,  as  usual,  presented,  make  this  an 
unusually  pleasant  task. 

He  starts,  we  must  note,  with  a  method  which  in  dealing 
with  Italian  deities  has  been  justly  and  emphatically  con- 
demned 3 ;  he  begins  with  an  etymology  in  order  to  discover 
the  nature  of  the  deity,  and  goes  on  to  support  this  by  selecting 
a  few  features  from  the  various  forms  of  the  cult.  This  method 
will  not  of  course  be  dangerous,  if  the  etymology  be  absolutely 
certain  ;  and  absolute  certainty,  so  far  as  our  present  knowledge 
reaches,  is  indeed  what  the  Professor  claims  for  his.  Though 
we  may  doubt  whether  the  science  of  Comparative  Philology 
is  as  yet  old  and  sure  enough  to  justify  us  in  violating  a  useful 
principle  in  order  to  pay  our  first  attentions  to  its  results,  we 
may  waive  this  scruple  for  the  present  and  take  the  etymology 
in  this  case  at  the  outset. 

The  Professor  alludes  to  the  well-known  and  universally 
accepted  derivation  of  Fors  and  Fortuna  from  ferre,  but  rejects 

1  See  above,  p.  50.  *  ch.  L 

3  Marquardt,  p.  a. 

M   2 


164  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

it:  'I  appeal  to  those  who  have  studied  the  biographies  of 
similar  Latin  words,  whether  they  do  not  feel  some  misgiving 
about  so  vague  and  abstract  a  goddess  as  "Dea  quae  fert,"  the 
goddess  who  brings.'  But  feeling  the  difficulty  that  Fortuna 
may  not  indeed  have  been  originally  a  deity  at  all,  but  an 
abstract  noun  which  became  a  deity,  like  Fides,  Spes,  &c.,  in 
which  case  his  objection  to  the  derivation  from  ferre  would  not 
apply,  he  hastens  to  remove  it  by  trying  to  show  from  the 
early  credentials  of  Fortuna,  that  she  did  not  belong  to  this 
latter  class,  but  has  characteristics  which  were  undoubtedly 
heaven-born.  The  process  therefore  was  this:  the  ordinary 
etymology,  though  quite  possible,  is  vague  and  does  not  seem 
to  lead  to  anything ;  is  there  another  to  be  discovered,  which 
will  fulfil  philological  requirements  and  also  tell  us  something 
new  about  Fortuna  ?  And  are  there  any  features  to  be  found 
in  the  cult  which  will  bear  out  the  new  etymology  when  it  is 
discovered  ? 

He  then  goes  on  to  derive  the  word  from  the  Sanskrit  root 
HAER,  '  to  glow,'  from  which  many  names  expressive  of  the  light 
of  day  have  come  :  '  From  this  too  comes  the  Greek  Xupis  with 
the  XapiTfs,  the  goddess  of  morning ;  and  from  this  we  may 
safely  derive  fors,  fortis,  taking  it  either  as  a  mere  contraction, 
or  a  new  derivative,  corresponding  to  what  in  Sanskrit  would 
be  Har-ti,  and  would  mean  the  brightness  of  the  day,  the 
Fortuna  huiusce  diet.' 

So  much  for  the  etymological  argument ;  on  which  we  need 
only  remark,  (i)  that  while  it  may  be  perfectly  possible  in 
itself,  it  does  not  impugn  the  possibility  of  the  older  derivation ; 
(2)  that  it  introduces  an  idea  '  bright,'  hardly  less  vague  and 
unsubstantial  than  that  conveyed  by  '  the  thin  and  unmeaning 
name'  she  who  brings  or  carries  away.  When,  indeed,  the 
Professor  goes  on,  by  means  of  this  etymology,  to  trace 
Fortuna  to  a  concrete  thing,  viz.  the  dawn,  he  is  really  making 
a  jump  which  the  etymology  does  not  specifically  justify.  All 
he  can  say  is  that  it  would  be  'a  most  natural  name  for  the 
brightest  of  all  goddesses,  the  dawn,  the  morning,  the  day.' 

He  looks,  however,  for  further  justification  of  the  etymology 
to  the  cult  and  mythology  of  Fortuna.  From  among  her  many 
cult-names  he  selects  two  or  three  which  seem  suitable.  The 
first  of  these  is  Fortuna  huiusce  did.  This  Fortuna  was,  he 


MENSIS    1UNIUS  165 

tells  us,  like  the  Ushas  of  the  Veda,  '  the  bright  light  of  each 
day,  very  much  like  what  we  might  call  "  Good  morning."  '  But 
as  a  matter  of  fact  all  we  know  of  this  Fortuna  is  that  Aemilius 
Paullus,  the  victor  of  Pydna,  vowed  a  temple  to  her  in  which 
he  dedicated  certain  statues1 ;  that  Catulus,  the  hero  of  Vercellae, 
may  have  repaired  or  rebuilt  it,  and  that  on  July  30,  the  day 
of  the  latter  battle,  there  was  a  sacrifice  at  this  temple 2.  What- 
ever therefore  was  the  origin  of  this  cult  (and  it  may  date  no 
further  back  than  Pydna)  it  seems  to  have  been  specially 
concerned,  as  its  name  implies,  with  the  events  of  particular 
famous  days.  It  is  pure  guesswork  to  imagine  that  its 
connexion  with  such  days  may  have  arisen  from  an  older 
meaning,  viz.  the  bright  light  of  each  day.  Nothing  is  more 
natural  than  the  huiusce  diei,  if  we  believe  that  this  Fortuna 
simply  represented  chance,  that  inexplicable  power  which 
appealed  so  strongly  to  the  later  sceptical  and  Graecized  Roman, 
and  which  we  see  in  the  majority  of  cult-names  by  which 
Fortuna  was  known  in  the  later  Eepublic.  The  advocate  of 
the  dawn-theory,  on  the  other  hand,  has  to  account  for  the  total 
loss  in  the  popular  belief  of  the  nature-meaning  of  the  epithet 
and  cult— a  loss  which  is  indeed  quite  possible,  but  one  which 
must  necessarily  make  the  theory  less  obvious  and  acceptable 
than  the  ordinary  one. 

Secondly,  the  Professor  points  out,  that  on  June  n,  the  day 
of  the  Matralia,  Fortuna  was  worshipped  coincidently  with 
Mater  Matuta — the  latter  being,  as  he  assumes  beyond  doubt, 
a  dawn-goddess.  But  we  have  already  seen  that  this  as- 
sumption is  not  a  very  certain  one  3 ;  and  we  may  now  add 
that  the  coincident  worship  must  simply  mean  that  two 
temples  had  the  same  dedication-day,  which  may  be  merely 
accidental 4. 

But  the  chief  argument  is  based  on  the  cult  of  Fortuna 
Primigenia,  '  the  first-born  of  the  gods,'  as  he  translates  the 
word,  in  accordance  with  a  recent  elaborate  investigation  of  its 


'  Pliny,  N.  H.  34.  54- 

'  Plut.  Marius,  26  ;  Pliny,  I.e.     I  follow  Aust,  de  Aedibus  sacris,  p.  26. 

:t  Above,  p.  156. 

*  Ovid  is  the  only  authority  for  the  worship  of  Fortuna  on  June  n 
(Fasti,  6.  569) ;  it  is  not  mentioned  in  the  calendars  (Tusc.Ven.  Maff.)  which 
have  notes  surviving  for  this  day. 


1 66  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

meaning1.  This  cult  does  indeed  show  very  curious  and 
interesting  characters.  It  belonged  originally  to  Praeneste, 
where  Fortuna  was  the  presiding  deity  of  an  ancient  and 
famous  oracle.  Here  have  been  found  inscriptions  to  Fortuna, 
'  DIOVO[S]  FILEA[I]  PEIMOGENIA[I],'  the  first-born  daughter  of 
Jupiter'2.  Here  also,  strange  to  say,  Cicero  describes8  an 
enclosure  sacred  to  Jupiter  Puer,  who  was  represented  there 
with  Juno  as  sitting  in  the  lap  of  Fortuna  '  mammam  appetens.' 
This  very  naturally  attracted  Prof.  Max  Muller's  keenest 
attention,  and  he  had  no  difficulty  in  finding  his  explanation  : 
Fortuna  is  '  the  first-born  of  all  the  bright  powers  of  the  sky, 
and  the  daughter  of  the  sky  ;  but  likewise  from  another  point 
of  view  the  mother  of  the  daily  sun  who  is  the  bright  child  she 
carries  in  her  arms.'  This  is  charming  ;  but  it  is  the  language 
and  thought,  not  of  ancient  Italians,  but  of  Vedic  poets.  The 
great  Latin  scholar,  who  had  for  years  been  soaking  his  mind 
in  Italian  antiquities,  will  hardly  venture  on  an  explanation  at 
all :  '  haud  ignarus  quid  deceat  eum  qui  Aboriginum  regiones 
attingat4.' 

I  shall  have  occasion  later  on 5  to  say  something  of  this  very 
interesting  and  mysterious  cult  at  Praeneste.  At  present 
I  must  be  content  with  pointing  out  that  it  is  altogether  unsafe 
to  regard  it  as  representative  of  any  general  ideas  of  ancient 
Italian  religion.  As  Italian  archaeologists  are  aware,  Praeneste 
was  a  city  in  which  Etruscan  and  Greek  influences  are  most 
distinctly  traceable,  and  in  which  foreign  deities  and  myths 
seem  to  have  become  mixed  up  with  native  ones,  to  the  extreme 
bewilderment  of  the  careful  inquirer6.  We  may  accept  the 
Professor's  explanation  of  it  with  all  respect  as  a  most  interest- 
ing hypothesis,  but  as  no  more  than  a  hypothesis  which  needs 
much  more  information  than  we  as  yet  possess  to  render  it 
even  a  probable  one. 

By  his  own  account  the  Professor  would  not  have  been  led 
so  far  afield  for  an  explanation  of  Fortuna  if  he  had  not  been 
struck  by  the  apparent  difficulty  involved  in  such  a  goddess 

1  By  H.  Jordan,  Symbolae  ad  historiam  religionum  Italicarum  alterae 
(KQnigsberg,  1885).  See  also  R.  Peter,  in  Lex.  s.  v.  Fortuna,  1542,  and 
Aust,  Lex.  s.v.  luppiter,  647. 

a  C.  I.  L.  xiv.  2863.  3  de  Div.  2.  41.  85. 

*  Jordan,  op.  cit.  p.  12.  5  See  below,  p.  223  foil.,  under  Sept.  13. 

6  Fernique,  fitude  sur  Preneste,  pp.  8  and  139  foil. 


MENSIS    IUNIUS  167 

as  'she  who  brings.'  Towards  the  removal  of  this  difficulty, 
however,  the  late  Mr.  Vigfusson  did  something  in  a  letter  to 
the  Academy  of  March  1 7,  1888  J.  He  equated  Fors  and  Fortuna 
with  the  Icelandic  buror,  from  a  verb  having  quite  as  wide  and 
general  a  meaning  asfero,  and  being  its  etymological  equivalent. 
'  There  is  a  department  of  its  meanings,'  he  tells  us,  '  through 
which  runs  the  notion  of  an  invisible,  passive,  sudden, 
involuntary,  chance  agency'  ;  and  another,  in  which  bera 
means  to  give  birth,  and  produces  a  noun  meaning  birth,  and 
so  lucky  birth,  honour,  &c.  The  two  ideas  come  together 
in  the  Norse  notion  of  the  Norns  who  presided  at  the  birth 
of  each  child,  shaping  at  that  hour  the  child's  fortune 2. 

It  is  rather  to  the  ideas  of  peoples  like  the  early  Teutons  and 
Celts  that  we  must  look  for  mental  conditions  resembling 
those  of  the  early  Italians,  than  to  the  highly  developed 
poetical  mythology  of  the  Vedas ;  and  it  is  in  the  direction 
which  Mr.  Vigfusson  pointed  out  that  I  think  we  should  search 
for  the  oldest  Italian  ideas  of  Fortuna  and  for  the  causes  which 
led  to  her  popularity  and  development.  In  a  valuable  paper, 
to  which  I  shall  have  occasion  to  refer  again,  Prof.  Nettleship 3 
suggested  that  Carmenta  (or  Carmentes)  may  be  explained 
with  S.  Augustine4  as  the  goddess  or  prophetess  who  tells 
the  fortunes  of  the  children,  and  that  this  was  the  reason 
why  she  was  especially  worshipped  by  matrons,  like  Mater 
Matuta,  Fortuna  and  others.  The  Carmentes  were  in  fact 
the  Norns  of  Italy.  Such  a  practical  need  as  the  desire  to 
know  your  child's  fortunes  would  be  quite  in  harmony  with 
what  we  know  of  the  old  Italian  character  ;  and  I  think  it  far 
from  impossible  that  Fortuna,  as  an  oracular  deity  in  Italy, 
may  have  been  originally  a  conception  of  the  same  kind, 
perhaps  not  only  a  prophetess  as  regards  the  children,  but  also 
of  the  good  luck  of  the  mother  in  childbirth.  Perhaps  the 
most  striking  fact  in  her  multifarious  cults  is  the  predominance 
in  them  of  women  as  worshippers.  Of  the  very  Fortuna 
Primogenia  of  whom  we  have  been  speaking  Cicero  tells  us 

1  See  also  his  previous  letter  of  March  3. 

*  He  held  'birth'  and  'fortune'  to  be  words  etymologically  related. 
Cp.  a  communication  from  Prof.  Kluge  in  the  same  number  of  the  Amdemy. 

3  Journal  of  Philology,  vol.  xi.  178  ;  Studies  in  Latin  Literature,  p.  60. 

*  de  Civ.  Dei,  4.  n.     Cp.  Serv.  Aen.  8.  336. 


1 68  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

that  her  ancient  home  at  Praeneste  was  the  object  of  the  special 
devotion  of  mothers l.  The  same  was  the  case  with  Fortuna 
Virilis,  Muliebris,  Mammosa,  and  others. 

If  we  look  at  her  in  this  light,  there  is  really  no  difficulty 
in  understanding  why  what  seems  to  us  at  first  sight  a  very 
vague  conception,  '  the  goddess  who  brings/  should  not  have 
meant  something  very  real  and  concrete  to  the  early  Italian 
mind.  And  again,  if  that  be  so,  if  Fortuna  be  once  recognized 
as  a  great  power  in  ways  which  touched  these  essential  and 
practical  needs  of  human  nature,  we  may  feel  less  astonishment 
at  finding  her  represented  either  as  the  daughter  or  the  mother 
of  Jupiter.  Such  representation  could  indeed  hardly  have  been 
the  work  of  really  primitive  Italians  ;  it  arose,  one  may 
conjecture,  if  not  from  some  confusion  which  we  cannot  now 
unravel,  from  the  fame  of  the  oracle  — one  of  the  very  few 
in  Italy — and  the  consequent  fame  of  the  goddess  whose  name 
came  to  be  attached  to  that  oracle.  Or,  as  Jordan  seems 
to  think,  it  may  have  been  the  vicinity  of  the  rock-oracle  to  the 
temple  of  Jupiter  which  gave  rise  to  the  connexion  between 
the  two  in  popular  belief ;  a  belief  which  was  expressed  in 
terms  of  relationship,  perhaps  under  Greek  influence,  but 
certainly  in  a  manner  for  the  most  part  absent  from  the 
unmythological  Italian  religion.  Why  indeed  in  the  same 
place  she  should  be  mother  as  well  as  daughter  of  Jupiter 
(if  Cicero  be  accurate  in  his  account,  which  is  perhaps  not  quite 
certain)  may  well  puzzle  us  all.  Those  who  cannot  do  without 
an  explanation  may  accept  that  of  Prof.  Max  Mtiller,  if  they 
can  also  accept  his  etymology.  Those  who  have  acquired  what 
Mommsen  has  called  the  '  difficillima  ars  nesciendi,'  will  be 
content  with  Jordan's  cautious  remark,  '  Non  desunt  vestigia 
divinum  numen  Italis  notum  fuisse  deis  deabusve  omnibus  et 
hoc  ipso  in  quo  vivimus  mundo  antiquius  V 

But  Fortuna  has  not  only  been  conjectured  to  be  a  deity 
of  the  dawn  ;  she  has  been  made  out  to  be  both  a  moon- 
goddess  and  a  sun-goddess.  For  her  origin  in  the  moon  there 

1  1.  c.  '  Castissime  colitur  a  matribus.'  One  of  the  ancient  inscriptions 
from  Praeneste  (C.  /.  L.  xi.  2863)  is  a  dedication  '  nationu  cratia '  =  nationis 
gratia,  which  may  surely  mean  '  in  gratitude  for  childbirth,'  though 
Mommsen  would  refer  it  to  cattle,  on  the  ground  of  a  gloss  of  Festus 
IP  167). 

3  Jordan,  op.  cit.  p.  xa. 


MENSIS    IUNIUS  169 

is  really  nothing  of  any  weight  to  be  urged  ;  the  advocate 
of  this  view  is  one  of  the  least  judicious  of  German  specialists, 
and  his  arguments  need  not  detain  us1.  But  for  her  connexion 
with  the  sun  there  is  something  more  to  be  said. 

The  dedication  day  of  the  temple  of  Fors  Fortuna  was 
exactly  at  the  summer  solstice.  It  is  now  St.  John  the 
Baptist's  day,  and  one  on  which  a  great  variety  of  curious  local 
customs,  some  of  which  still  survive,  regularly  occur ;  and 
especially  the  midsummer  fires  which  were  until  recently 
so  common  in  our  own  islands.  Attention  has  often  been 
drawn  to  the  fondness  for  parallelism  which  prompted  the 
early  Christians  to  place  the  birth  of  Christ  at  the  winter 
solstice,  when  the  days  begin  to  grow  longer,  and  that  of  the 
Baptist — for  June  24  is  his  reputed  birthday  as  well  as  festival 
— at  the  summer  solstice  when  they  begin  to  shorten  ;  following 
the  text,  '  He  must  increase  and  I  must  decrease2.'  Certainly 
the  sun  is  an  object  of  special  regard  at  all  midsummer 
festivals,  and  is  supposed  to  be  often  symbolized  in  them 
by  a  wheel,  which  is  set  on  fire  and  in  many  cases  rolled  down 
a  hill 3.  Now  the  wheel  is  of  course  a  symbol  in  the  cult 
of  Fortuna,  and  is  sometimes  found  in  Italian  representations 
of  her,  though  not  so  regularly  as  the  cornucopia  and  the 
ship's  rudder  which  almost  invariably  accompany  her4. 
Putting  this  in  conjunction  with  the  date  of  the  festival 
of  Fors  Fortuna,  the  Celtic  scholar  Gaidoz  has  concluded  that 
Fortuna  was  ultimately  a  solar  deity5.  The  solar  origin  of 
the  symbol  was,  he  thinks,  quite  forgotten  ;  but  the  wheel, 
or  the  globe  which  sometimes  replaces  it,  was  certainly  at  one 
time  solar,  and  perhaps  came  from  Assyria.  If  so  (he 
concludes),  the  earliest  form  of  Fortuna  must  have  been 
a  female  double  of  the  sun. 

1  O.  Gilbert,  Gesch.  u.Topogr.  der  Stadt  Rom,  ii.  260  foil. 

3  St.  John,  iii.  30  ;  St.  Augustine,  Sermo  xii  in  Nativitate  Domini:  'In 
nativitate  Christi  dies  crescit,  in  Johannis  nativitate  decrescit.  Profectum 
plane  facit  dies,  quum  mundi  Salvator  oritur ;  defectum  patitur  quum 
ultimus  prophetarum  nascitur.' 

:l  See  many  examples  in  The  Golden  Bough,  ii.  358  foil.,  and  Brand's 
Popular  Antiquities,  p.  306. 

*  See  R.  Peter,  in  Lex.,  s.v.  Fortuna,  1506. 

5  fitudes  de  Myth.  Qaul.  i.  56  foil.  On  p.  58  we  find,  '  La  Fortune  nous 
parait  done  sortir,  par  1'intermediaire  d'une  image,  d'une  divinit«5  du 
soleiL* 


170  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

All  hints  are  useful  in  Boman  antiquities,  and  something 
may  yet  be  made  of  this.  But  it  cannot  be  accepted  until 
we  are  sure  of  the  history  and  descent  of  this  symbol  in  the 
representations  of  Fortuna  ;  it  is  far  from  impossible  that  the 
wheel  or  globe  may  in  this  case  have  nothing  more  to  do  with 
the  sun  than  the  rudder  which  always  accompanies  it.  In 
any  case  it  can  hardly  be  doubted  that  it  is  not  of  Italian 
origin  ;  it  is  found,  e.  g.  also  in  the  cult  of  Nemesis,  who,  like 
Tyche,  Eilithyia,  and  Leucothea,  is  probably  responsible  for 
much  variation  and  confusion  in  the  worship  .of  Italian  female 
deities1.  As  to  the  other  fact  adduced  by  Gaidoz,  viz.  the  date 
of  the  festival,  it  is  certainly  striking,  and  must  be  given  its 
full  weight.  It  is  surprising  that  Prof.  Max  Miiller  has  made 
no  use  of  it.  But  we  must  be  on  our  guard.  It  is  remarkable 
that  we  find  in  the  Koman  calendars  no  other  evidence  that 
the  Komans  attached  the  same  importance  to  the  summer 
solstice  as  some  other  peoples  ;  the  Koman  summer  festivals 
are  concerned,  in  accordance  with  the  true  Italian  spirit,  much 
more  with  the  operations  of  man  in  dealing  with  nature  than 
with  the  phenomena  of  nature  taken  by  themselves.  It  is 
perhaps  better  to  avoid  a  hasty  conclusion  that  this  festival 
of  Fors  Fortuna  was  on  the  24th  because  the  24th  was  the 
end  of  the  solstice,  and  rather  to  allow  the  equal  probability 
that  it  was  fixed  then  because  harvest  was  going  on.  Colu- 
mella  seems  to  be  alluding  to  it  in  the  following  lines * : 

Sed  cum  maturis  flavebit  messis  aristis 
Allia  cum  cepis,  cereale  papaver  anetho 
lungite,  dumque  virent,  nexos  deferte  maniplos, 
Et  celebres  Fortis  Fortunae  dicite  laudes 
Mercibus  exactis,  h,ilare?que  recurrite  in  hortos. 

The  power  of  Fortuna  as  a  deity  of  chance  would  be  as  im- 
portant for  the  perils  of  harvest  as  for  those  of  childbirth  ; 
and  it  is  in  this  connexion  that  the  Italians  understood  the 

1  For  the  history  of  these  symbols  in  Greek  cults,  and  especially  that 
of  Tyche,  see  a  paper  by  Prof.  Gardner  in  Journal  of  Hellenic  Studies,  vol.  ix: 
p.  78,  on  '  Countries  and  Cities  in  ancient  art.'  The  rudder  seems  to  connect 
Fortuna  with  sea-faring ;  it  is  often  accompanied  by  a  ship's  prow  (R.  Peter, 
Lex.  1507)  ;  in  connexion  with  which  we  may  notice  that  even  in  Italy  her 
cult  is  rarely  found  far  from  the  sea.  Cp.  Horace,  Od.  i.  35,  6  '  dominant 
aequoris.' 

*  10.  311  foil. ;  Marq.  578. 


MENSIS    IUNIUS  lyi 

meaning  of  that  cornucopia  which  is  perhaps  her  most  constant 
symbol  in  art '. 

Lastly,  there  is  a  formidable  question,  which  may  easily  lead 
the  unwary  into  endless  complications,  and  on  which  I  shall 
only  touch  very  briefly.  How  are  we  to  explain  the  legendary 
connexion  between  the  cult  of  Fortuna  and  Servius  Tullius? 
That  king,  the  so-called  second  founder  of  Rome,  was  said,  as  we 
have  seen,  to  have  erected  more  than  one  sanctuary  to  Fortuna, 
and  was  even  believed  to  have  had  illicit  dealings  with  the 
goddess  herself2.  The  dedication-day  of  Fors  Fortuna  was 
said  to  have  been  selected  by  him,  and,  as  -Ovid  describes  it,  was 
a  festival  of  the  poorer  kind  of  people,  who  thus  kept  up  the 
custom  initiated  by  the  popular  friend  of  the  plebs. 

Since  the  Etruscan  origin  of  Servius  Tullius  has  been  placed 
beyond  a  doubt  by  the  discovery  of  the  famous  tomb  at  Vulci, 
with  the  paintings  of  Gales  Vibenna  released  from  his  bonds 
by  Mastarna  s,  which  has  thus  confirmed  the  Etruscan  tradition 
of  the  identity  of  Mastarna  and  Servius  preserved  by  the 
emperor  Claudius  in  his  famous  speech 4,  it  would  seem  that 
we  may  consider  it  as  highly  probable  that  if  Servius  did  really 
institute  the  cult  of  Fortuna  at  Eome,  that  cult  came  with  him 
from  Etruria.  This  by  no  means  compels  us  to  look  on 
Fortuna  as  an  Etruscan  deity  only  ;  but  it  seems  to  be  a  fact 
that  there  was  an  Etruscan  goddess  who  was  recognized  by  the 
Romans  as  the  equivalent  of  their  Fortuna5.  This  was  Nortia, 
a  great  deity  at  Volsinii,  as  is  fully  proved  by  the  remains 
found  there K ;  and  we  may  note  that  the  city  was  near  to  and  in 
close  alliance  with  Vulci,  where  the  tomb  was  found  containing 
the  paintings  just  alluded  to.  Seianus,  a  native  of  Volsinii7, 
was  supposed  to  be  under  the  protection  of  this  deity,  and, 
as  we  have  already  seen,  to  possess  an  ancient  statue  of  her. 

1  B.  Peter,  Lex.  1505.     She  is  also  often  represented  with  a  modius,  and 
with  ears  of  corn.      Cp.  Horace,  I.e.  (of  the  Fortuna  of  Antium)  :    'Te 
pauper  ambit  sollicita  prece  Ruris  colonus.' 

2  Ovid,  Fasti,  6.  573  foil.     Schwegler,  R.  a.  i.  711  foil.  ;  Preller,  ii.  180. 
8  Dennis,  Cities  and  Cemeteries  of  Etruria,  vol.  ii.  p.  506 ;   Qardthausen, 

4  Mastarna,'  figures  the  painting  (plate  i). 

4  Tac.  Ann.  ii.  24 ;  the  fragments  of  the  original  speech  are  printed  from, 
the  inscription  at  Lyons  in  Mr.  Furneaux's  Annals  of  Tacitus,  vol.  ii.  p.  aio. 

5  Juvenal,  10.  74,  and  note  of  the  Scholiast. 

*  Muller-Deecko,  Etrusker,  ii.  52  ;  Dennis,  Cit.  and  Cem.  ii.  24. 
7  Juvenal,  I.e. 


172  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

In  her  temple  a  nail  was  driven  every  year  as  in  the  temple 
of  Jupiter  Capitolinus  *,  and  hence  some  have  concluded  that 
she  was  a  goddess  of  time.  It  cannot,  however,  be  regarded  as 
certain  whether  this  nail-driving  was  originally  symbolical 
only,  or  at  all,  of  time ;  it  may  quite  as  well  remind  us  of  the 
famous  Fortuna  of  Antium  and  the  '  clavos  trabales '  of 
Horace's  Ode 2.  However  this  may  be,  it  is  a  fair  guess,  though 
it  must  be  made  with  hesitation,  that  the  Fortuna  of  Servius 
was  the  equivalent  of  this  Nortia,  to  whom  the  Koman  plebs 
gave  a  name  with  which  they  were  in  some  way  already 
familiar.  Mastarna  continued  to  worship  his  native  deity  after 
he  was  settled  in  Rome  ;  and  the  plebs  continued  to  revere 
her,  not  because  of  his  luck,  which  was  indeed  imperfect, 
but  simply  because  she  was  his  protectress 3.  If  we  try  to  get 
beyond  this  we  lose  our  footing ;  and  even  this  is  only 
conjecture,  though  based  upon  evidence  which  is  not  entirely 
without  weight. 

1  See  below  on  Sept.  13,  p.  234. 

*  Miiller-Deecke,  ii.   308.      Gaidoz,  op.  cit.  p.   56,  on  the  connexion 
between  Fortuna,  Necessitas,  and  Nemesis. 

3  Gerhard,  Agathodaemon,  p.  30,  has  other  explanations. 


MENSIS    QUINCTILIS. 

THE  festivals  of  this  month  are  so  exceedingly  obscure  that 
it  seems  hopeless  to  try  to  connect  them  in  any  definite  way 
with  the  operations  either  of  nature  or  of  man.  We  know  that 
this  was  the  time  when  the  sun's  heat  became  oppressive  and 
dangerous  ;  statistics  show  at  the  present  day  that  the  rate 
of  mortality  rises  at  Rome  to  its  greatest  height  in  July  and 
August,  as  indeed  is  the  case  in  southern  latitudes  generally. 
We  know  also  that  harvest  of  various  kinds  was  going  on  in 
this  month:  'Quarto  intervalio  inter  solstitium  et  caniculam 
plerique  messem  faciunt,'  writes  Varro  (R.  It.  i.  32).  We 
should  have  expected  that  the  unhealthy  season  and  the 
harvest  would  have  left  their  mark  on  the  calendar  ;  but  in  the 
scantiness  of  our  information  we  can  find  very  few  traces  of 
their  influence.  We  here  lose  the  company  of  Ovid,  who 
might,  in  spite  of  his  inevitable  ignorance,  have  incidentally 
thrown  some  ray  of  light  upon  the  darkness  ;  but  it  is  clear 
that  even  Varro  and  Verrius  knew  hardly  anything  of  the 
almost  obsolete  festivals  of  this  month.  The  Poplifugia,  the 
Lucaria,  the  Neptunalia,  and  the  Furrinalia,  had  all  at  one  time 
been  great  festivals,  for  they  are  marked  in  large  capitals  in 
the  ancient  calendars  ;  but  they  had  no  more  meaning  for  the 
Koman  of  Varro's  time  than  the  lesser  saints'-days  of  our 
calendar  have  for  the  ordinary  Englishman  of  to-day.  The 
ludi  Apollinares,  of  much  later  date,  which  always  maintained 
their  interest,  did  not  fall  upon  the  days  of  any  of  these  festivals, 
or  obliterate  them  in  the  minds  of  the  people  ;  they  must  have 
decayed  from  pure  inanition — want  of  practical  correlation 
with  the  life  and  interests  of  a  great  city. 


174  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

in  NON.  QUINCT.  (JULY  5).     JP. 

POPLIFiUGIA].     (MAFF.  AMIT.  ANT.) 
FERIAE  iovi.     (AMIT.) 

The  note  'feriae  Iovi'  in  the  calendar  of  Amiternum  is 
confirmed  in  a  curious  way,  by  a  statement  of  Dio  Cassius  \ 
who  says  that  in  B.C.  42  the  Senate  passed  a  decree  that  Caesar's 
birthday  should  be  celebrated  on  this  day  '2,  and  that  any  one 
who  refused  to  take  part  in  the  celebration  should  be  'sacer 
Iovi  et  Divo  lulio.'  But  we  know  far  too  little  of  the  rites  of 
this  day  to  enable  us  to  make  even  a  guess  at  the  meaning 
of  its  connexion  with  Jupiter.  It  is  just  worth  noting  that  two 
days  later  we  find  a  festival  of  Juno,  the  Nonae  Caprotinae ; 
the  two  days  may  have  had  some  connexion  with  each  other, 
being  separated  by  an  interval  of  one  day,  as  is  the  case  with 
the  three  days  of  the  Lemuria,  the  two  days  of  the  Lucaria 
in  this  month,  and  in  other  instances  3 ;  and  their  rites  were 
explained  by  two  parts  of  the  same  aetiological  story — viz. 
that  the  Eomans  fled  before  the  Fidenates  on  the  5th,  and 
in  turn  defeated  them  on  the  7th*.  But  we  are  quite  in  the 
dark  as  to  the  meaning  of  such  a  connexion,  if  such  there  was. 
Nor  can  we  explain  the  singular  fact  that  this  is  the  only  festival 
in  the  whole  year,  marked  in  large  capitals  in  the  calendars, 
which  falls  before  the  Nones5. 

There  is  hardly  a  word  in  the  whole  calendar  the  meaning 
of  which  is  so  entirely  unknown  to  us  as  this  word  Poplifugia. 
Of  the  parallel  one,  the  Eegifugium  in  February,  something 
can  be  made  out,  as  we  shall  see 6 ;  and  it  is  not  unlikely  that 
the  ritualistic  meaning  concealed  in  both  may  be  much  the 
same.  But  all  attempts  to  find  a  definite  explanation  for 
Poplifugia  have  so  far  been  fruitless,  with  the  single  exception 

1  Bk.  47. 18.     We  owe  the  reference  to  Merkel,  Praef.  in  Ovidii  Fasios,  clix. 

2  His  real  birthday  seems  to  have  been  the  lath,  which  was  already 
occupied  by  the  ludi  Apollinares. 

3  Mommsen  in  C.  I.  L.  321  (on  July  7). 
*  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  18 ;  Marq.  325. 

8  See  Introduction,  p.  7.  This  anomaly  led  Huschke  to  the  inadmis- 
sible supposition  that  this  was  the  single  addition  made  to  the  calendar  of 
Numa  in  the  republican  period.  He  accepts  Varro's  explanatory  story, 
Rom.  Jahr,  p.  224. 

6  See  below,  p.  327. 


MENSIS    QUINCTILIS  175 

perhaps  of  that  of  Schwegler  \  who  himself  made  the  serious 
blunder  of  confounding  this  day  with  the  Nonae  Caprotinae. 
It  is  true  that  the  two  days  and  their  rites  were  confused  even 
in  antiquity,  but  only  by  late  writers 2 ;  the  calendars,  on  the 
other  hand,  are  perfectly  plain,  and  so  is  Varro  3,  who  proceeds 
from  the  one  to  the  other  in  a  way  that  can  leave  no  doubt  that 
he  understood  them  as  distinct. 

The  simple  fact  is  that  the  meaning  of  the  word  Poplifugia 
had  wholly  vanished  when  the  calendar  began  to  be  studied. 
Ingenuity  and  fancy,  as  usual,  took  the  place  of  knowledge, 
and  two  legends  were  the  result — the  one  connecting  the  word 
with  the  flight  of  the  Eomans-from  an  army  of  their  neighbours 
of  Fidenae,  after  the  retirement  of  the  Gauls  from  the  city4 ; 
the  other  interpreting  it  as  a  memorial  of  the  flight  of  the 
people  after  the  disappearance  of  Komulus  in  the  darkness 
of  an  eclipse  or  sudden  tempest 6.  The  first  of  these  legends 
may  be  dismissed  at  once ;  the  large  capitals  in  which  the 
name  Poplifugia  appears  in  the  fragments  of  the  three  calendars 
which  preserve  it,  are  sufficient  evidence  that  it  must  have 
been  far  older  than  the  Gallic  invasion6.  The  second  legend 
might  suggest  that  the  story  itself  of  the  death  of  Romulus  had 
grown  out  of  some  religious  rite  performed  at  this  time  of 
year ;  and  it  was  indeed  traditionally  connected  with  the 
Nones  of  this  month  ~.  But  that  day  is  unluckily  not  the  day 
of  the  Poplifugia,  which  it  is  hardly  possible  to  connect  with 
the  disappearance  of  Komulus.  There  may,  however,  have 
been  a  connexion  between  the  rites  of  the  two  days,  as  has 
been  pointed  out  above ;  and  this  being  so,  it  is  worth  while 
to  notice  a  suggestion  made  by  Schwegler,  in  spite  of  the  fact 
that  he  confused  the  two  days  together.  He  saw  that  the 
disappearance  of  Eomulus  was  said  to  have  occurred  while  he 
was  holding  a  lustratio  of  the  citizens8,  and  concluded  that 

1  R.  0.  i.  532 :  see  Mommsen's  criticism  in  C.  I.  L  321  f. 

8  Macrob.  6.  n.  36;  Plut.  Rom.  29,  CamiU.  33.  See  also  0.  Muller's 
note  on  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  18.  »  L.  L.  6.  18. 

4  This  is  Varro's  account ;  the  Etruscans  are  a  variant  in  Macrobius,  1.  c. 

*  Dionys.  a.  56  ;  Plut.  A'om.  29.  See  Lewis,  Credibility  of  Early  Roman 
History,  i.  430. 

0  Introduction,  p.  15.  7  Cic.  de  Rep.  i.  16 ;  Plut.  Rom.  27. 

8  Liv.  i.  16  'Ad  exercitum  recensendum.'  Lustratio  came  to  be  the 
word  for  a  review  of  troops  because  this  was  preceded  by  a  religious  lustratio 
pupvli. 


176  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

the  Poplifugia  may  have  been  an  ancient  rite  of  lustration — 
an  idea  which  other  writers  have  been  content  to  follow  without 
always  giving  him  the  credit  of  it  \ 

Such  a  rite  may  very  well  be  indicated  by  the  following 
sentence  of  Varro2 — the  only  one  which  gives  us  any  solid 
information  on  the  question  :  Aliquot  huius  diei  vestigia  fugae  in 
sacris  apparent,  de  quilus  rebus  antiquitatum  libri  plura  referunt. 
It  seems  not  unreasonable  to  guess  that  the  rite  was  one  of 
those  in  which  the  priest,  or  in  this  case,  as  it  would  seem,  the 
people  also,  fled  from  the  spot  after  the  sacrifice  had  been 
concluded.  As  the  slayer  of  the  ox  at  the  Athenian  Bouphonm 
(which  curiously  enough  took  place  just  at  this  same  time 
of  year)  fled  as  one  guilty  of  blood,  so  it  may  possibly  have 
been  that  priest  and  people  at  Koine  fled  after  some  similar 
sacrifice,  and  for  the  same  reason  *.  Or  it  may  have  been  that 
they  fled  from  the  victim  as  a  scapegoat  which  was  destined  to 
carry  away  from  the  city  some  pollution  or  pestilence.  It  is 
interesting  to  find  at  Iguvium  in  Umbria  some  '  vestigia  fugae, ' 
not  of  the  people,  indeed,  but  of  victims,  at  a  lustratio  populi 
which  seems  to  have  had  some  object  of  this  kind 4.  Heifers 
were  put  to  flight,  then  caught  and  killed,  apparently  in  order 
to  carry  oif  evils  from  the  city 6,  as  well  as  to  represent  and 
secure  the  defeat  of  its  enemies.  Such  performances  seem 
especially  apt  to  occur  at  sickly  seasons 6 ;  and  as  the  unhealthy 
season  began  at  Eome  in  July7,  it  is  just  possible  that  the 
Poplifugia  was  a  ceremony  of  this  class. 

NON.  QUINCT.  (JULY  7).     N. 

This  day  does  not  appear  as  a  festival  in  the  old  calendars ; 
but  the  late  one  of  Silvius8  notes  it  as  Ancillarum  Feriae,  or 

1  e.  g.  Gilbert,  i.  290  ;  Marq.  325. 

8  L.  L.  6.  1 8.  Details  have  vanished  with  the  great  work  here  quoted, 
the  Antiquitales  dimnae. 

s  Schwegler  suggested  the  parallel,  i.  534,  note  20.  For  the  Bouphonia 
see  especially  Mannhardt,  Myth.  Forsch.  68.  For  other  such  rites,  Lobeck, 
Aglaophamus,  679,  680.  4  Biicheler,  Umbrica,  114. 

5  The  idea  of  the   scapegoat   was   certainly  not   unknown   in  Italy  ; 
Bucheler  quotes  Serv.  (Aen.  2. 140)  '  Ludos  Taureos  a  Sabinis  propter  pesti- 
lentiam  institutes  dicunt,  ut  lues  publica  in  has  hostias  rerteretur.'     See  on 
the  Regifugium,  below,  p.  328. 

6  See  examples  in  Frazer,  Golden  Bough,  ii.  160  foil.     The  one  from  the 
Key  Islands  is  interesting  as  including  a  flight  of  the  people. 

7  Nissen,  Landeskunde,  406.  8  C.  I.  L.  p.  269. 


MENSIS    QUINCTILIS  177 

Feast  of  Handmaids,  and  adds  the  explanatory  story  which 
is  found  also  in  Plutarch  and  Macrobius1.  The  victorious 
Fidenates  having  demanded  the  surrender  of  the  wives  of  the 
Romans,  the  latter  made  over  to  them  their  ancillae,  dressed  in 
their  mistresses'  robes,  by  the  advice  of  a  certain  Philotis,  or 
Tutula2,  one  of  the  handmaids.  Ausonius  alludes  to  the 
custom  that  gave  rise  to  the  story : 

Festa  Caprotinis  memorabo  celebria  Nonis 
Cum  stola  matronis  dempta  teget  famulas3. 

Plutarch  also  tells  us  that  on  this  day  the  ancillae  not  only 
wore  the  matron's  dress,  but  had  license  for  what  may  be 
described  as  a  game  of  romps ;  they  beat  each  other,  threw 
stones  at  each  other,  and  scoffed  at  the  passers  by ". 

This  last  point  supplies  us  with  a  possible  clue  both  to  the 
origin  of  the  custom  and  the  explanatory  legend.  One  of  the 
most  frequent  customs  at  harvest-time  used  to  be,  and  still  is 
in  some  places,  for  the  harvesters  to  mock  at,  and  even  to  use 
roughly,  any  stranger  who  appears  on  the  field  ;  frequently 
he  is  tied  up  with  straw,  even  by  the  women  binding  the 
sheaves,  and  only  released  on  promise  of  money,  brandy,  &c.  ; 
or  he  is  ducked  in  water,  or  half-buried,  or  in  pretence 
beheaded 5.  The  stranger  in  such  cases  is  explained  as  repre- 
senting the  spirit  of  the  corn ;  the  examples  collected  by 
Mannhardt  and  Mr.  Frazer  seem  fairly  conclusive  on  this 
point6.  The  wearing  of  the  matron's  dress  also  seems  to  be 
a  combination  of  the  familiar  practices  of  the  winter  Saturnalia 
with  harvest  customs,  which  in  various  forms  is  by  no  means 
uncommon7,  though  I  have  not  found  a  case  of  exchange  of 
dress  after  harvest. 

1  Macrob.  i.  n.  36  ;  Plut.  Camitt.  33. 

2  Aug.  de  Civ.  Dei,  4.  8.  8  de  Feriis,  9. 
4  The  last  point  is  in  Camill.  33-6  :  cp.  Rom.  29.  6. 

4  The  bearing  of  these  customs  on  the  Nonae  Caprotinae,  and  on  the 
Greek  story  of  Lityerses,  was  suggested  by  Mannhardt,  Myth.  Forsch.  32. 
Mr.  Fn)zer  gives  a  useful  collection  of  examples,  G.  B.  ii.  363  foil.  The 
custom  survives  in  Derbyshire  (so  I  am  told  by  Mr.  S.  B.  Smith,  Scholar 
of  Lincoln  College),  but  only  in  the  form  of  making  the  stranger  'pay  his 
footing.'  •  0.  B.  i.  381. 

T  It  was  the  custom,  says  Macrobius  (i.  10)  '  ut  patres  familiarum,  frugi- 
bus  et  fructibus  iam  coactis,  passim  cum  servis  vescerentur,  cum  quibus 
patientiam  laboris  in  colendo  rure  toleraverant.'  The  old  English  harvest- 
er mell-supper,  had  all  the  characteristics  of  Saturnalia  (Brand,  fop.  Antiq. 
337  foil.). 


178  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

Thus  it  would  seem  possible  that  we  have  here  a  relic 
of  Italian  harvest-custom  ;  and  this  is  confirmed  by  the  state- 
ment of  Tertullian  that  there  was  on  this  day  a  sacrifice  to  the 
harvest-god  Census1,  at  his  underground  altar  in  the  Circus 
Maximus,  of  which  we  shall  have  more  to  say  under  Aug.  21 
(Consualia).  It  is  worth  noting  here  that  just  as  the  legend  of 
the  Rape  of  the  Sabines  was  connected  with  the  Consualia2, 
so  the  analogous  story  of  the  demand  of  the  Fidenates  for 
Roman  women  is  associated  with  the  Ancillarum  Feriae,  and 
the  day  of  the  sacrifice  to  Consus.  This  not  only  serves  to 
connect  together  the  two  days  of  Consus- worship,  but  suggests 
that  harvest  was  a  favourable  opportunity  for  the  practice 
of  capturing  wives  in  primitive  Italy,  when  the  women  were 
out  in  the  fields,  and  might  be  carried  off  by  a  sudden  in- 
cursion. 

This  day  was  also  known  as  Nonae  Caprotinae,  because  the 
women,  presumably  those  who  had  been  helping  at  the  harvest, 
both  bond  and  free 3,  sacrificed  to  Juno  Caprotina  under  a  wild 
fig-tree  (caprificus)  in  the  Campus  Martius*.  Juno  Caprotina 
was  a  Latin  goddess,  of  great  renown  at  Falerii5,  where  the 
goat  from  which  she  took  her  name  appeal's  in  the  legend  of 
her  cult.  The  character  of  Juno  as  the  representative  of  the 
female  principle  of  human  life6  suits  well  enough  with 
the  prominence  of  women  both  in  the  customs  and  legends 
connected  with  the  day  ;  and  the  fig-tree  with  its  milky  juice, 
which  was  used,  according  to  Macrobius,  in  the  sacrifice  to 
Juno  instead  of  milk,  has  also  its  significance  7.  Varro  adds 
that  a  rod  (virga)  was  also  cut  from  this  tree 8,  without  telling 

1  Tertullian,  de  Spect.  5.  2  See  below,  p.  208. 

3  This  point— the  union  of  free-  and  bond-women  in  the  sacrifice — seems 
to  prove  that  Nonae  Caprotinae  and  ancillarum  feriae  were  only  two 
names  for  the  same  thing.     Macrobius  connects  the  legend  of  the  latter 
with  the  rite  of  the  former  (i.  ir.  36). 

4  Plut.  Row.  29.    Varro,  L.  L.  6.  18  writes  '  in  Latio.' 

*  Deecke,  Die  Falisker,  89;  Roscher,  in  Lex.  s.  v.  Juno,  p.  599. 

•  See  above,  p.  143. 

7  One  naturally  compares  the  ficus  Ruminalis  and  the  foundation-legend 
of  Rome. 

8  It  is  curious  that  the  practice  in  husbandry  called  caprifcatio,  or  the 
introduction   of  branches  of  the  wild   tree   among  those   of  the  culti- 
vated fig  to  make  it  ripen  (Plin.  N.  H.  15.  79;  Colum.  n.  2)  took  place 
in  July  ;  and  it  strikes  me  as  just  possible  that  there  may  have  been 
a  connexion  between  it  and  the  Nonae  Caprotinae. 


MENSIS    QUINCTILIS  179 

us  for  what  purpose  it  was  used  ;  and  it  has  been  ingeniously 
conjectured  that  it  was  with  this  that  the  handmaids  beat  each 
other,  as  Plutarch  describes,  to  produce  fertility,  just  as  at  the 
Lupercalia  the  women  were  beaten  with  strips  cut  from 
the  skins  of  the  victims  (amiculum  Junonis).  But  this  is 
mere  conjecture,  and  Varro's  statement  is  too  indefinite  to  be 
pressed 1. 

vin  ID.  QUINCT.  (JULY  8).     N. 

'Piso  ait  vitulam  victoriam  nominari,  cuius  rei  hoc  argu- 
mentum  profert,  quod  postridie  nonas  lulias  re  bene  gesta, 
cuin  pridie  populus  a  Tuscis  in  fugam  versus  sit  (unde  Populi- 
fugia  vocantur),  post  victoriam  certis  sacrificiis  fiat  vitulatio*.' 

I  must  be  content  with  quoting  this  passage,  and  without 
comment ;  it  will  suffice  to  show  that  the  meaning  of  the  word 
'vitulatio'  was  entirely  unknown  to  Koman  scholars,  Why 
they  should  not  have  connected  it  with  vitulus  I  know  not: 
we  may  remember  that  in  the  Iguvian  ritual  vituli  seem  to  have 
pel-formed  the  function  of  scapegoats3.  If  the  vitulatio  is  in 
any  way  to  be  connected  with  the  Poplifugia,  as  it  was  indeed 
in  the  legend  as  given  by  Macrobius  above,  it  may  be  worth 
while  to  remember  that  that  day  is  marked  in  one  calendar  as 
'  feriae  lovi,'  and  that  the  vitulus  (heifer)  was  the  special  victim 
of  Jupiter  *. 

PBID.  NON.  QUINCT. — in  ID.  QUINCT.     (JULY  6-13). 

LUDI   APOLUNARES. 

All  these  days  are  marked  'ludi'  in  Maff.  Amit.  Ant.  ;  the 
6th  '  ludi  Apoll'ini],'  and  the  isth  4ludi  in  circo.' 

These  games5  were  instituted  in  212  B.  c.,  for  a  single 
occasion  only,  at  the  most  dangerous  period  of  the  war  with 
Hannibal,  when  he  had  taken  Tarentum  and  invaded  Cam- 
pania. Kecourse  was  had  to  the  Sibylline  books  and  to  the 
Italian  oracles  of  Marcius,  and  the  latter  answered  as  follows 6 : 

1  Mannhardt,  Myth.  Forsch.  1.  c. 

4  Macrob.  3.  2.  n  and  14.  Macrobius  also  quotes  Varro  in  the  isthbook 
of  his  Res  Ditinae  '  Quod  pontifex  in  sacris  quibusdam  vitulari  soleat,  quod 
Graeci  traiavifav  vocant.'  Perhaps  we  may  compare  visceratio  :  Serv.  Aen. 
5-215. 

J  Above,  p.  176.  *  Marq.  170. 

*  See  Marq.  384,  and  Lex.  B.  v.  Apollo  447.  °  Liv.  25.  12. 

N  2 


l8o  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

'  Hostes  Romani  si  expellere  voltis,  vomicamque  quae  gentium 
venit  longe,  Apollini  vovendos  censeo  ludos,  qui  quotannis 
Apollini  fiant,'  &c.  The  games  were  held,  as  we  may  suppose, 
on  the  analogy  of  the  ludi  plebeii,  originally  on  the  rath  day 
of  the  month1,  and  were,  in  course  of  time,  extended  back- 
wards till  in  the  Julian  calendar  we  find  them  lasting  from  the 
6th  to  the  1 3th.  They  had  a  Greek  character  from  the  first ; 
they  were  superintended  by  the  Decemviri  sacris  faciundis,  who 
consulted  the  Sibylline  books  and  organized  the  ritual  of  foreign 
cults ;  and  they  included  scenic  shows,  after  the  Greek  fashion, 
as  well  as  chariot  races 2. 

It  was  matter  of  dispute  whether  in  this  year,  212,  Apollo 
was  expected  to  show  his  favour  to  Rome  as  a  conqueror  of 
her  foe  or  as  an  averter  of  pestilence  in  the  summer  heats ; 
both  functions  were  within  his  range.  But  in  208  we  are  told 
that  the  ludi  were  renewed  by  a  lex,  made  permanent,  and 
fixed  for  July  1 3  in  consequence  of  a  pestilence 3 ;  and  we  may 
fairly  assume  that  this  was,  in  part  at  least,  the  cause  of  their 
institution  four  years  earlier.  What  little  we  know  of  the 
traditions  of  Apollo-worship  at  Rome  points  in  the  same 
direction.  His  oldest  temple  in  the  Flaminian  fields,  where, 
according  to  Livy,  a  still  more  ancient  shrine  once  stood 4,  was 
vowed  in  432  B.  c.  in  consequence  of  a  pestilence ;  and  the  god 
had  also  the  cult-title  Medicus B.  The  next  occasion  on  which 
we  meet  with  the  cult  is  that  of  the  first  institution  of  a  lecti- 
sternium  in  397  B.  c.,  Livy's  account  of  which  is  worth 
condensing 6.  That  year  was  remarkable  for  an  extremely  cold 

1  The  MSS.  of  Livy  (27.  23)  have  a.  d.  iii  Nonas,  no  doubt  in  error  for 
a.  d.  iii  Idus.  Merkel,  Praef.  xxviii.  ;  Mommsen,  C.  I.  L.  321. 

*  Liv.  25. 12  ;  26. 33  ;  Festus,  326  ;  Cic.  Brutus,  20,  78,  whence  it  appears 
that  Ennius  produced  his  Thyesles  at  these  ludi.    Cp.  the  story  in  Macrob. 

i.  17-  25- 

*  Liv.  27.  23. 

4  Liv.  3.  63.  This  older  shrine  Livy  calls  Apollinar.  The  temple  that 
followed  it  was  the  only  Apollo-temple  in  Rome  till  Augustus  built  one 
on  the  Palatine  after  Actium;  this  is  clear  from  Asconius,  p.  81  ^ad  Cic. 
in  toga  Candida),  quoted  by  Aust,  de  Aedibus  sacris,  7.  It  was  outside 
the  Porta  Carmentalis,  near  the  Circus  Flaininius.  A  still  more  ancient 
Apollinar  is  assumed  by  some  to  have  existed  on  the  Quirinal ;  but  it 
rests  on  an  uncertain  emendation  of  0.  Miiller  in  Varro,  L.  L.  5.  52. 

*  Liv.  40.  51.      The  Romans  seem  originally  to  have  called  the  god 
Apello,  and  connected  the  name  -with  pellere.    Paulus,  22  ;  Macrob.  i.  17.  15. 

*  Liv.  5.  13. 


MENSIS    QUINCTILIS  j8l 

winter,  which  was  followed  by  an  equally  unhealthy  summer, 
destructive  to  all  kinds  of  animals.  As  the  cause  of  this 
pestilence  could  not  be  discovered,  the  Sibylline  books  were 
consulted  ;  the  result  of  which  was  the  introduction  of  a  lecti- 
sternium,  at  which  three  couches  were  laid  out  with  great 
magnificence,  on  which  reposed  Apollo  and  Latona,  Diana  and 
Hercules,  Mercurius  and  Neptunus,  whose  favour  the  people 
besought  for  eight  days. 

The  cult  of  Apollo,  though  thus  introduced  in  its  full  magni- 
ficence at  Kome  in  historical  times,  was  '  so  old  in  Italy  as 
almost  to  give  the  impression  of  being  indigenous1.'  Tradition 
ascribed  to  Tarquinius  Superbus  the  introduction  from  Cumae 
of  the  Sibylline  oracles,  which  were  intimately  connected  with 
Apollo-worship  ;  and  that  Etruscan  king  may  well  have  been 
familiar  with  the  Greek  god,  who  was  well  known  in  Etruria 
as  Aplu 2,  and  who  was  worshipped  at  Caere,  the  home  of  the 
Tarquinian  family,  which  city  had  a  '  treasury '  at  Delphi a. 
The  Komans  themselves,  according  to  a  tradition  which  is  by 
no  means  improbable,  had  very  early  dealings  with  the  Delphic 
oracle. 

It  does  not  seem  certain  that  Apollo  displaced  any  other 
deity  when  transplanted  to  Kome.  It  has  been  thought  that 
the  obscure  Veiovis  became  clothed  with  some  of  Apollo's 
chai*acteristics,  but  this  is  extremely  doubtful4.  The  mysterious 
deity  of  Soracte,  Soranus,  is  called  Apollo  by  Virgil s ;  this, 
however,  is  not  a  true  displacement,  like  that,  e.  g.,  of  the 
ancient  Ceres  by  the  characteristics  of  Demeter,  but  merely 
a  poetical  substitution  of  a  familiar  name  for  an  unfamiliar  one 
which  was  unquestionably  old  Italian. 

It  does  not  seem  probable  that  in  the  Republican  period  the 
cult  of  Apollo  had  any  special  influence,  either  religious  or 
ethical,  for  the  Koman  people  generally.  It  was  a  priestly 
experiment — a  new  physician  was  called  in  at  perilous  times, 
according  to  the  fashion  of  the  Koman  oligarchy,  either  to  give 
advice  by  his  oracles,  or  to  receive  honours  for  his  benefits  as 
o\«£»ca/cor.  It  is  in  the  age  of  Augustus  that  the  cult  begins  to 

1  Lex.  s.v.  Apollo,  446.  *  Muller-Deecke,  Etrusker,  il.  69. 

s  Strabo,  p.  214  ;  Herodotus,  I.  167. 

4  Jordan  on  Preller,  i.  265. 

5  Am.  ii.  785  'Summe  deum,  sancti  custos  Soractis  Apollo,'  &c. 


1 82  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

be  important ;  the  family  of  the  Caesars  was  said  to  have  had 
an  ancient  connexion  with  it  \  and  after  the  victory  at  Actium, 
where  a  temple  of  Apollo  stood  on  the  promontory,  Augustus 
not  only  enlarged  and  adorned  this  one,  but  built  another  on 
the  Palatine,  near  his  own  house,  to  Apollo  Palatinus.  But 
for  the  '  Apollinism '  of  Augustus,  and  for  the  important  part 
played  by  the  god  in  the  lud i  saecularcs  of  B.  0.17,!  must  refer 
the  reader  to  other  works 2. 


xiv  KAL.  SEXT.  (JULY  19).     K?. 
LUCAK[IA].     (MAFF.  AMIT.) 

xii  KAL.  SEXT.     (JULY  21).     IP. 
LUCAE[IAj.     (MAFF.  AMIT.) 

Here,  as  in  the  next  two  festivals  we  have  to  consider,  we 
are  but  'dipping  buckets  into  empty  wells.'  The  ritual,  and 
therefore  the  original  meaning  of  this  festival,  is  wholly  lost 
to  us,  as  indeed  it  was  to  the  Romans  of  Varro's  time.  Varro, 
in  his  list  of  festivals,  does  not  even  mention  this  one  ;  but  it 
is  possible  that  some  words  have  here  dropped  out  of  his  text s. 
The  only  light  we  have  comes  at  second-hand  from  Verrius 
Flaccus  *.  '  Lucaria  festa  in  luco  colebant  Eomani,  qui  per- 
magnus  inter  viam  Salariam  et  Tiberim  fuit,  pro  eo,  quod  victi 
a  Gallis  fugientes5  e  praelio  ibi  se  occultaverint.'  This  passage 

1  Serv.  Aen.  10.  316  'Omnes  qui  secto  matris  venire  procreantur.  ideo 
sunt  Apollini  consecrati,  quia  deus  medicinae  est,  per  quam  lucem  sorti- 
untur.  Unde  Aesculapius  eius  fingitur  films :  ita  enim  cum  [esse]  pro- 
creatum  supra  (7.  761)  diximus.  Caesarum  etiam  lain  ilia  ideo  sacra 
retinebat  Apollinis,  quia  qui  primus  de  eorum  familia  fuit,  exsecto  matris 
ventre  natus  est.  Unde  etiam  Caesar  dictus  est.' 

*  A  concise  account  by  Roscher,  Lex.  s.  v.  Apollo  448  ;  Boissier,  Religion 
Romaine,  i.  96  foil.  ;  Gardthausen,  Augustus,  vol.  ii,  p.  873.     For  the  ludi 
saeculares  see  especially  Mommsen's  edition  of  the  great  but  mutilated 
inscription  recently  discovered  in  the  Campus  Martius  (Eph.  Epigr.  viii. 
i  foil.);  Diels,  Sibyliin.  Blatter,  p.  109  foil.;   and  the  Carmen  Saeculare  of 
Horace,  with  the  commentaries  of  Orelli  and  Wickham. 

3  L.  L.  6.  18  fin.  and  19  init. 

*  Festus.  119.  s.  v.  Lucaria. 

*  The  battle  of  the  Allia  was  fought  on  the  i8th,  the  day  before  the  first 
Lucaria.     This  no  doubt  suggested  the  legend  connecting  the  two,  especi- 
ally as  the  Via  Salaria,  near  which  was  the  grove  of  the  festival,  crossed 
the  battle-field  some  ten  miles  north  of  Rome. 


MENSIS    QUINCTILIS  183 

reminds  us  of  the  story  explanatory  of  the  Poplifugia,  and 
might  suggest,  as  in  that  case,  an  expiatory  sacrifice  and  flight 
of  the  people  from  a  scapegoat  destined  to  carry  away  disease. 
But  here  we  know  of  no  vestigia  fugae  in  the  cult,  such  as  Varro 
tells  us  were  apparent  at  the  Poplifugia. 

The  only  possible  guess  we  can  make  must  rest  on  the  name 
itself,  taken  together  with  what  Festus  tells  us  of  the  great 
wood  once  existing  between  the  Via  Salaria  and  the  Tiber,  in 
which  the  festival  was  held — a  wood  which  no  doubt  occupied 
the  Pincian  hill,  and  the  region  afterwards  laid  out  in  gardens 
by  Lucullus,  Pompeius,  and  Sallust  the  historian.  Lucaria  is 
formed  from  lucar  as  Lemuria  from  lemur,  and  lucar,  though 
in  later  times  it  meant '  the  sum  disbursed  from  the  ac-rarium  for 
the  games1,'  drawn  probably  from  the  receipts  of  the  sacred 
groves,  may  also  at  one  time  itself  have  meant  a  grove.  An 
inscription  from  the  Latin  colony  of  Luceria  shows  us  lucar 
in  this  sense  2 : 

IN  •  HOCE  •  LUCARID  •  STIRCUS  •  NE  •  IS  •  PUNDATID,   &C. 

Now  there  can  be  no  doubt  about  the  great  importance  of 
woods,  or  rather  of  clearings  in  them,  in  the  ancient  Italian 
religion.  ' Nemus  and  lucus,'  says  Preller3,  'like  so  many  other 
words,  remind  us  of  the  old  Italian  life  of  woodland  and 
clearing.  Nemus  is  a  pasturage,  lucus  a  "light "  or  clearing 4,  in 
the  forest,  where  men  settled  and  immediately  began  to  look  to 
the  interests  of  the  spirits  of  the  woodland,  and  especially  of 
Silvanus,  who  is  at  once  the  god  of  the  wild  life  of  the  wood- 
land and  of  the  settler  in  the  forest — the  backwoodsman.' 
The  woods  left  standing  as  civilization  and  agriculture  advanced 
continued  to  be  the  abodes  of  numina,  not  only  of  the  great 
Jupiter,  who,  as  we  shall  see,  was  worshipped  in  groves  all 
over  Italy8,  and  of  Diana,  who  at  Aricia  bore  the  title  of 
Nemorensis,  but  of  innumerable  spirits  of  the  old  worship, 

1  See  Friedlander  in  Marq.  487  ;  Plutarch,  Q.  E.  88. 
8  Mommsen  in  Ephemeris  Epigraphica,  ii.  205. 

3  i.  in  ;  Liv.  24.  3  ;  Cato,  ap.  Priscian,  629.  Much  useful  matter  bearing 
on  luci  as  used  for  boundaries,  asyla,  markets,  &c.,  will  be  found  in  Kudorff, 
Gromatici  Vcteres,  ii.  260. 

4  'Light'  is  not  uncommon  in  England  for  a  'ride1  or  clearing  in 
a  wood. 

'•"  Below,  pp.  222,  and  228. 


184  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

Fauni,  Silvani,  and  other  manifestations  of  the  idea  most 
definitely  conceived  in  the  great  god  Mars1.  But  men  could 
not  of  course  know  for  certain  what  spirits  dwelt  in  a  wood, 
whose  anger  might  be  roused  by  intrusion  or  tree-felling  ;  and 
old  Cato,  among  his  many  prescriptions,  material  and  religious, 
gives  one  in  the  form  of  an  invocation  to  such  unknown  deities 
if  an  intrusion  had  to  be  made.  It  is  worth  quoting,  and  runs 
as  follows 2 :  '  Lucum  conlucare  Eomano  more  sic  oportet.  Porco 
piaculo  facito.  Sic  verba  concipito :  Si  Deus,  si  Dea  es,  quoium 
illud  sacrum  est,  uti  tibi  ius  siet  porco  piaculo  facere,  illiusce 
sacri  coercendi  ergo.  Harumce  rerum  ergo,  sive  ego,  sive  quis 
iussu  meo  fecerit,  uti  id  recte  factum  siet.  Eius  rei  ergo  te 
hoc  porco  piaculo  immolando  bonas  preces  precor,  uti  sies 
volens  propitius  mihi,  domo  familiaeque  meae,  liberisque 
meis.  Harumce  rerum  ergo  macte  hoc  porco  piaculo  im- 
molando esto.' 

Applying  these  facts  to  the  problem  of  the  Lucaria,  though 
necessarily  with  hesitation,  and  remembering  the  position  of 
the  wood  and  the  date  of  the  festival,  we  may  perhaps  arrive 
at  the  following  conclusion  ;  that  this  was  a  propitiatory 
worship  offered  to  the  deities  inhabiting  the  woods  which 
bordered  on  the  cultivated  Roman  ager.  The  time  when  the 
corn  was  being  gathered  in,  and  the  men  and  women  were  in 
the  fields,  would  be  by  no  means  unsuitable  for  such  propitia- 
tion. It  need  not  have  been  addressed  to  any  special  deity, 
any  more  than  that  of  Cato,  or  as  I  believe,  the  ritual  of  the 
Lupercalia  s ;  it  belonged  to  the  most  primitive  of  Roman  rites, 
and  partly  for  that  reason,  partly  also  from  the  absorption  of 
land  by  large  private  owners4,  it  fell  into  desuetude.  The 
grove  of  the  Fratres  Arvales  and  the  decay  of  their  cult  (also 

1  On  the  whole  subject  of  the  religious  ideas  arising  from  the  first  culti- 
vation of  land  in  a  wild  district  I  know  nothing  more  instructive  than 
Robertson  Smith's  remarks  in  Religion  of  the  Semites,  Lecture  iii.  ;  I  have 
often  thought  that  they  throw  some  light  on  the  oiigin  of  Mars  and  kindred 
numina.  The  most  ancient  settlements  in  central  Italy  are  now  found  to 
be  on  the  tops  of  hills,  probably  once  forest-clad  (see  Von  Duhn's  paper  on 
recent  excavations,  Journal  of  Hellenic  Studies,  1896,  p.  125).  For  a  curious 
survival  of  the  feeling  about  woods  and  hill-tops  in  Bengal,  see  Crooke, 
Religion,  &c.,  in  India,  ii.  87. 

*  R.  R.  139.  For  piacula  of  this  kind  see  also  Henzen,  Ada  Fratr.  An. 
136  foil. ;  Marq.  456.  3  See  below,  p.  312. 

4  See  a  passage  in  Frontinus  (Grom.  Vet.  i.  56 :  cp.  a.  263). 


MENSIS    QUINCTILIS  185 

addressed  to  a  nameless  deity)  offers  an  analogy  on  the  other 
side  of  Rome,  towards  Ostia. 

Such  a  hypothesis  seems  not  unreasonable,  though  it  is  hased 
rather  on  general  than  particular  evidence.  It  is  at  any  rate 
better  than  the  wild  guessing  of  one  German  inquirer,  who  is 
always  at  home  when  there  is  no  information.  Huschke l 
believes  that  the  words  Lucaria  and  Luceres  (the  ancient  Eoman 
tribe  name)  are  both  derived  from  lucus  because  the  Lucaria 
take  place  in  July,  which  is  the  auspication-month  of  the 
Luceres.  And  there  are  two  days  of  this  festival,  because  the 
Luceres  owed  protection  both  to  the  Romani  and  Quirites 
(Rhamnes  and  Tities)  and  therefore  worshipped  both  Janus  and 
Quirinus. 

x  KAL.  SEXT.     (JULY  23).     IP. 
NEPT[UNALIA].     (PINC.  MAFF.) 

PEKIAE  NEPTUNO.      (PINC.  ALLIF.) 

The  early  history  of  Neptunus  is  a  mystery,  and  we  learn 
hardly  anything  about  him  from  his  festival.  We  know 
that  it  took  place  in  the  heat  of  summer,  and  that  booths  or 
huts  made  of  the  foliage  of  trees  were  used  at  it,  to  keep  the 
sun  off  the  worshippers  —  and  that  is  all2.  Neither  of  these 
facts  suggests  a  sea-god,  such  as  we  are  accustomed  to  see  in 
Neptune ;  yet  they  are  hardly  strong  enough  to  enable  us  to 
build  on  them  any  other  hypothesis  as  to  his  character  or 
functions.  Nor  does  his  name  help  us.  Though  it  constantly 
appears  in  Etruscan  art  as  the  name  of  a  god  who  has  the 
characteristics  of  the  Greek  Poseidon,  it  is  said  not  to  be  of 
genuine  Etruscan  origin  \  If  this  be  so,  the  Etruscans  must 

J  Rom.  Jahr,  p.  221,  and  note  81  on  p.  222. 

*  Festus,  377  'Umbrae  vocantur  Neptunalibus  casae  frondeae  pro  taber- 
naculis.'  Wissowa  (Lex.  s.v.  Neptunus,  202)  compares  the  <r/«a3«j  of  the 
Spartan  Carneia  (also  in  the  heat  of  summer),  described  in  Athenaeus, 
4-  141 F. 

8  Miiller-Deecke,  Etrusker,  ii.  54,  with  Deecke's  note  51  b.  The  Etruscan 
forms  are  Nethunus  and  Nethuns.  The  form  of  the  word  is  adjectival  like 
Portunus,  &c. ;  but  what  is  the  etymology  of  the  first  syllable?  We  are 
reminded  of  course  of  Nepe  or  Nepete,  an  inland  town  near  Falerii ;  and 
to  this  district  the  cult  seems  specially  to  have  belonged.  Messapus, 
'  Neptunia  proles.'  leads  the  Falisci  and  others  to  war  in  Virg.  Aen.  7.  691, 
and  Halcsus,  Neptuni  filius,  was  eponymous  hero  of  Falerii  (Deecke, 


l86  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

have  borrowed  it  from  some  people  who  already  used  it  of 
a  sea-god  when  the  loan  wras  made ;  but  one  does  not  see  why 
this  great  seafaring  people  should  have  gone  outside  the 
language  of  their  own  religion  for  a  name  for  their  deity  of 
the  sea. 

In  the  ancient  cult-formulae  preserved  by  Gellius  \  Neptunus 
is  coupled  with  a  female  name  Salacia ;  and  of  this  Varro  writes 
'  Salacia  Neptuni  a  salo ' — an  etymology  no  doubt  suggested  by 
the  later  identification  of  Neptunus  with  Poseidon.  Salacia  is 
in  my  opinion  rather  to  be  referred  to  salax  ('  lustful,'  &c.),  and, 
like  Nerio  Martis  •',  to  be  taken  as  indicating  the  virile  force  of 
Nt-ptunus  as  the  divine  progenitor  of  a  stock s.  This  seems  to 
be  confirmed  by  the  fact  that  this  god  was  known  as  Neptunus 
pater,  like  Mars,  Janus,  Saturnus,  and  Jupiter  himself4 ;  all 
of  whom  are  associated  in  cult  or  legend  with  the  early  history 
of  Latin  stocks. 

When  Neptunus  first  meets  us  in  Roman  history,  he  has 
already  put  on  the  attributes  of  the  Greek  Poseidon  ;  this  was 
in  B.  c.  399,  at  the  first  lectisternium,  where  he  is  in  company 
with  Apollo  and  Latona,  Diana  and  Hercules,  and  is  specially 
coupled  with  Mercurius  (= Hermes)5.  What  characteristics  of 
his  suggested  the  identification,  either  here  or  in  Etruria,  we 
cannot  tell.  We  find  no  trace  of  any  evidence  connecting  him 
with  the  sea  ;  and  the  coupling  with  Hermes  need  mean  no 
more  than  that  both  this  god  and  Poseidon  found  their  way  to 
Rome  through  the  medium  of  Greek  trade. 

It  has  recently  been  conjectured  6  that  the  object  of  both 
the  Lucaria  and  Neptunalia  was  to  avert  the  heat  and  drought 

Falisker,  103).  There  is  no  known  connexion  of  Neptunus  with  any  coast 
town. 

1  13.  23.  2 :  cp.  Varro,  L.  L.  5.  72. 

a  See  above,  p.  60. 

s  Cp.  Serv.  Aen,  5.  724  '(Venus)  dicitur  et  Salacia,  quae  proprie  mere- 
tricum  dea  appellata  est  a  voteribus.' 

4  Gell.  5.   12  ;    Henzen,  Act.  Fratr.  Arv.  124.     Wissowa,  in  his  article 
'  Neptunus,'  goes  too  far,  as  it  seems  to  me,  when  he  asserts  that  the 
'pater'  belonged  to  all  deities  of  the  oldest  religion.     See  below,  p.  220. 

5  Liv.  5.   13.  6 ;  Dionys.  12.  9.     Wissowa,  Lex.  s.  v.  Nept.  203,  for  his 
further  history  as  Poseidon. 

*  Wissowa  in  Lex.  1.  c.  I  doubt  if  much  can  be  made  of  the  argument 
that  the  Neptunalia  on  the  23rd  is  necessarily  connected  with  the  Lucaria 
on  the  1 7th  and  igth — i.  e.  three  alternate  days,  like  the  three  days  of 
the  Lemuria  in  May. 


MENSIS    QUINCTILIS  187 

of  July,  and  to  propitiate  the  deities  of  water  and  springs,  of 
whom  Neptunus  (judging  from  his  identification  with  Poseidon) 
may  possibly  have  been  one ;  but  this  is  no  more  than  a  vague 
guess,  which  its  author  only  puts  forward  '  with  all  reserve.' 


vni  KAL.  SEXT.     (JULY  25).     IP. 
FURR[INALIA].     (PINC.  ALLIF.  MAFF.) 

FERIAE    FURRINAE.       (PINC.    ALLIF.) 

It  seems  to  be  the  lesson  of  the  festivals  of  July  that  there 
was  an  early  stage  of  the  Roman  religion  which  had  lost  all 
meaning  for  the  Romans  themselves  when  they  began  to  inquire 
into  the  history  of  their  own  religion.  Of  this  last  festival  of 
the  month  we  know  no  single  item  in  the  cult,  and  therefore 
have  nothing  substantial  to  guide  us.  It  seems  almost  certain 
that  even  Varro  and  Verrius  Flaccus'  knew  nothing  of  the 
festival  but  its  name  as  it  stood  in  the  calendar.  Nor  did  they 
know  anything  of  the  goddess  Furrina  or  Furina.  Varro  is 
explicit;  he  says  that  she  was  celebrated  'apud  antiques,'  for 
they  gave  her  an  annual  festival  and  a  flamen,  but  that  in 
his  day  there  were  hardly  .a  dozen  Romans  who  knew  either 
her  name  or  anything  about  her. 

Varro  is  no  doubt  right  in  arguing  from  the  festival  and  the 
flamen  to  the  ancient  honour  in  which  she  was  held  ;  and  these 
facts  also  tend  to  prove  that  she  was  a  single  deity,  and  quite 
distinct  from  the  Furiae  with  whom  the  later  Romans  as  well 
as  the  Greeks  naturally  confounded  her — an  inference  which 
is  confirmed  by  the  long  /u,  indicated  by  the  double  r  in  the 
calendars 2. 

There  is  therefore  nothing  but  the  etymology  to  tell  us 
anything  about  the  goddess,  and  from  this  source  we  cannot 
expect  to  learn  anything  certain.  Preller  plausibly  suggested 
a  connexion  with  fur,  furvus,  and  fuscus,  from  a  root  meaning 

1  Varro,  L.  L.  5.  84  '  Furinalis  (flamen)  a  Furina  quoius  etiam  in  fastis 
Furi miles  feriae  sunt ' :  cp.  6.  19  '  Ei  sacra  instituta  annua  et  flamen  attri- 
butus  :  nunc  vix  nomen  notum  paucis.' 

*  See  Wissowa's  short  and  sensible  note  in  Lex.  a.  v.  Furrina.  For  the 
confusion  with  Furiae,  Cic.  de  Nat.  Dear.  3.  46  ;  Plut.  C.  Gracch.  17  ;  Lex. 
B.  v.  Furiae.  Jordan,  in  Preller,  ii.  70,  is  doubtful  on  the  etymological 
question. 


l88  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

dark  or  secret ;  and  if  this  were  correct  she  might  be  a  deity 
of  the  under-world  or  of  the  darkness.  Bticheler  in  his 
Umbtica1  suggested  a  comparison  with  the  Umbrian  furfare= 
februare  ('to  purify'),  which  will  at  least  serve  to  show  the 
difficulty  of  basing  conclusions  on  etymological  reasoning. 
Jordan  conjectured  that  the  festival  had  to  do  with  the  averting 
of  dangerous  summer  heat2 — a  conclusion  that  is  natural 
enough,  but  does  not  seem  to  rest  on  any  evidence  but  its  date. 
Lastly,  Huschke 3,  again  in  his  element,  boldly  asserts  that  the 
Furrinalia  served  to  appease  the  deities  of  revenge  who  hailed 
from  the  black  region  of  Vediovis — wrongly  confusing  Furrina 
and  the  Furiae.  It  will  be  quite  obvious  from  these  instances 
that  it  is  as  hopeless  as  it  is  useless  to  attempt  to  discover  the 
nature  of  either  goddess  or  festival  by  means  of  etymological 
reasoning. 

1  p.  71.  *  In  Preller,  ii.  lar.  '  R5m.  Jahr,  221. 


MENSIS    SEXT1LIS. 

AUGUST  is  with  us  the  month  when  the  corn-harvest  is 
begun ;  in  Italy  it  is  usually  completed  in  July,  and  the  final 
harvest-festivals,  when  all  the  operations  of  housing,  &c.,  have 
been  brought  to  a  close,  would  naturally  have  fallen  for  the 
primitive  Koman  farmer  in  the  sixth  month.  The  Kalends  of 
Quinctilis  would  be  too  early  a  date  for  notice  to  be  given  of 
these  ;  some  farmers  might  be  behindhand,  and  so  cut  off  from 
participation.  The  Kalends  of  Sextilis  would  do  well  enough  ; 
for  by  the  Nones,  before  which  no  festival  could  be  held,  there 
would  be  a  general  cessation  from  labour.  No  other  agri- 
cultural operations  would  then  for  a  time  be  specially  incumbent 
on  the  farmer '. 

Before  the  Ides  we  find  no  great  festival  in  the  old  calendar, 
though  the  sacrifice  on  the  1 2th  at  the  ara  maxima  was  without 
doubt  of  great  antiquity.  The  list  begins  with  the  Portunalia 
on  the  1 7th ;  and  then  follow,  with  a  day's  interval  between 
each,  the  Vinalia  Kustica,  Consualia,  Volcanalia,  Opeconsivia, 
and  Volturnalia.  The  Vinalia  had  of  course  nothing  to  do  with 
harvest,  and  the  character  of  the  Portunalia  and  Volturnalia  is 
almost  unknown  ;  but  all  the  rest  may  probably  have  had 
some  relation  to  the  harvesting  and  safe-keeping  of  crops,  and 
the  one  or  two  scraps  of  information  we  possess  about  the 
Portunalia  bear  in  the  same  direction.  Deities  of  fire  and 
water  seem  to  bo  propitiated  at  this  time,  in  order  to  preserve 
the  harvest  from  disaster  by  either  element.  The  rites  are 

1  Varro,  R.  R.  i.  33,  lias  only  the  following  :  '  Quinto  intervallo,  inter 
caniculam  et  aequinoctiuin  auctumuale  oportet  stramenta  desecari,  «t 
acervos  construi,  aratro  oflringi,  frondem  caedi,  prata  irri.ua  iteruin 
secari.' 


190  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

secret  and  mysterious,  the  places  of  worship  not  familiar 
temples,  but  the  ara  maxima,  the  underground  altar  of  Census, 
or  the  Regia  ;  which  may  perhaps  account  for  the  comparatively 
early  neglect  and  decadence  of  some  of  these  feasts.  We  may 
also  note  two  other  points :  first,  the  rites  gather  for  the  most 
part  in  the  vicinity  of  the  Aventine,  the  Circus  Maximus,  and 
the  bank  of  the  Tiber  ;  which  in  the  earliest  days  must  have 
been  the  part  of  the  cultivated  land  nearest  the  city l,  or  at  any 
rate  that  part  of  it  where  the  crops  were  stored.  Secondly, 
there  is  a  faint  trace  of  commerce  and  connexion  between 
Rome  and  her  neighbours — Latins  and  Sabines — both  in  the 
rites  and  legends  of  this  month,  which  may  perhaps  point  to 
an  intercourse,  whether  friendly  or  hostile,  brought  about  by 
the  freedom  and  festivities  of  harvest  time. 

NON.  SEXT.  (Auo.  5).  F.     (TP.  ANT.) 

SALUTI    IN    COLLE    QUIRINALE    SACBIFICIUM    PUBLICUM.       (VALL.) 
SALUTI    IN    COLLE.       (AMIT.    ANT.) 
NATALIS    SALUTIS.       (PHILOC.) 

The  date  of  the  foundation  of  the  temple  of  Salus  was  302  B.C., 
during  the  Samnite  wars  2.  The  cult  was  probably  not  wholly 
new.  The  Augurium  Salutis,  which  we  know  through  its 
revival  by  Augustus,  was  an  ancient  religious  performance  at 
the  beginning  of  each  year,  or  at  the  accession  of  new  consuls, 
which  involved,  first  the  ascertaining  whether  prayers  would 
be  acceptable  to  the  gods,  and  secondly  the  offering  of  such 
prayers  on  an  auspicious  day  \  Two  very  old  inscriptions  also 
suggest  that  the  cult  was  well  distributed  in  Italy  at  an  early 
period 4.  Such  impersonations  of  abstract  ideas  as  Salus,  Con- 
cordia,  Pax,  Spes,  &c.,  do  not  belong  to  the  oldest  stage  of 
religion,  but  were  no  doubt  of  pontifical  origin,  i.  e.  belonged 
to  the  later  monarchy  or  early  republic 5.  We  need  not  suppose 

1  This  is  the  natural  position  for  the  ager  of  the  oldest  community  on 
the  Palatine.  The  Campus  Martius  was  believed  to  have  been  'king's 
land'  of  the  later  developed  city  (Liv.  2.  5). 

1  Liv.  10.  i.  9;  Aust,  de  Aedibus  sacris,  p.  10. 

3  Marq.  377  ;  Dio  Cass.  37.  24  and  25  ;  Tac.  Ann,  12.  23. 

*  C.I.  L.  i.  49  and  1 79. 

5  See  Preller,  ii.  228;  and  article  'Sacerdos'  in  Diet,  of  Antiquities,  new 
edition. 


MENSIS    SEXTILIS  19! 

that  they  were  due  to  the  importation  of  Greek  cults  and  ideas, 
though  in  some  cases  they  became  eventually  overlaid  with 
these.  They  were  generated  by  the  same  process  as  the  gods 
of  the  Indigitamenta l — being  in  fact  an  application  to  the  life 
of  the  state  of  that  peculiarly  Roman  type  of  religious  thought 
which  conceived  a  distinct  numen  as  presiding  over  every  act 
and  suffering  of  the  individual.  This  again,  as  I  believe,  in 
its  product  the  Indigitamenta,  was  an  artificial  priestly  ex- 
aggeration of  a  very  primitive  tendency  to  see  a  world  of 
nameless  spirits  surrounding  and  influencing  all  human  life. 

The  history  of  the  temple  is  interesting 2.  Not  long  after  its 
dedication  its  walls  were  painted  by  Gaius  Fabius,  consul  in 
269  B.  c.,  whose  descendants,  among  them  the  historian,  bore 
the  name  of  Pictor,  in  commemoration  of  a  feat  so  singular  for 
a  Roman  of  that  age s.  It  was  struck  by  lightning  no  less  than 
four  times,  and  burnt  down  in  the  reign  of  Claudius.  Livy 4 
tells  us  that  in  180  B.  c.,  by  order  of  the  decemviri  a  supplicatio 
was  held,  in  consequence  of  a  severe  pestilence,  in  honour  of 
Apollo,  Aesculapius,  and  Salus  ;  which  shows  plainly  that  the 
goddess  was  already  being  transformed  into  the  likeness  of 
the  Greek  'Y-ytfta,  and  associated  rather  with  public  health 
than  with  public  wealth  in  the  most  general  sense  of  the 
word. 


vi  ID.  SEXT.  (Aua.  9).     F.  (ALLIF.)    IP.  (AMIT.  MAFF.  ETC.) 

SOLI    INDIGITI    IN    COLLE    QUIRINALE.       (AMIT.    ALLIF.) 
SOL[ls]    INDIGITIS    IN    COLLE    QUIRINALE  SACRIFICIUM   PUBLICUM. 
(VALL.) 

There  was  an  ancient  worship  of  Sol  on  the  Quirinal,  which 
was  believed  to  be  of  Sabine  origin.  A  Soils  pulvinar  close  to 
the  temple  of  Quirinus  is  mentioned,  and  the  Gens  Aurelia 
was  said  to  have  had  charge  of  the  cult 5. 

1  On  this  difficult  subject  see  Did.  of  Antiquities,  ». v.  Indigitamenta; 
and  the  long  and  exhaustive  article  by  R.  Peter  in  Reseller's  Lexicon  (which 
is,  however,  badly  written,  and  in  some  respects,  I  think,  misleading). 

8  See  the  valuable  summary  of  Aust  (in  ten  lines). 

3  Plin.  N.  H.  35.  19.  *  40.  19. 

4  Paulus,  23;   Quint il.   i.  7.   la  ;  Varro,  L.  L.  5.  52  (from  the   'sacra 
Argeorum '),  if  we  read  '  adversum  Solis  pulvinar  cis  aedem  Salutis.'    The 


THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

But  the  Sol  of  August  9  is  called  in  the  calendars  Sol  Indiges. 
What  are  we  to  understand  by  this  word,  which  appears  in 
the  names  Di  Indigetes,  Jupiter  Indiges,  or  Indigetes  simply  ? 
The  Roman  scholars  themselves  were  not  agreed  on  the  point ; 
the  general  opinion  was  that  it  meant  '  of  or  belonging  to 
a  certain  place,'  i.  e.  fixed  there  by  origin  and  protecting  it  \ 
This  view  has  also  been  generally  adopted,  on  etymological  or 
other  grounds,  by  modern  writers,  including  Preller2.  Recently 
a  somewhat  different  explanation  has  been  put  forward  in  the 
Mythological  Lexicon,  suggested  by  Reifferscheid  in  his  lectures 
at  Breslau.  According  to  this  view,  Indiges  (from  indu  and 
root  ag  in  agere)  was  a  deity  working  in  a  particular  act,  busi- 
ness, place,  &c.,  of  men's  activity,  and  in  no  other ;  it  is  of 
pontifical  origin,  like  its  cognate  indigitamenta,  and  is  therefore 
not  a  survival  from  the  oldest  religious  forms 3. 

The  second  of  these  explanations  does  not  seem  to  help  us 
to  understand  what  was  meant  by  Sol  Indiges  ;  and  its  exponent 
in  the  Lexicon,  in  order  to  explain  this,  falls  back  on  an  in- 
genious suggestion  made  long  ago  by  Preller.  In  dealing  with 
Sol  Indiges,  Preller  explained  Indiges  as  =  index,  and  con- 
jectured that  the  name  was  not  given  to  Sol  until  after  the 
eclipse  which  foretold  the  death  of  Caesar,  comparing  the  lines 
of  Virgil  (Georg.  i.  463  foil.) : 

Sol  tibi  signa  dabit.     Solem  quis  dicere  falsum 
Audeat?  ille  ctiain  caecos  instare  tumultus 
Saepe  monet,  fraudemque  et  operta  tumescere  bella. 
Ille  et  lain  exstincto  miseratus  Caesare  Romam : 
Cum  caput  obscura  nitidum  ferrugine  texit, 
Impiaque  aetornam  timuerunt  saecula  noctem. 

Preller  may  be  right ;  and  if  he  were,  we  should  have  no 
further  trouble  in  this  case.  In  the  pre-Julian  calendar,  on 
this  hypothesis,  the  word  Indiges  was  absent.  This  is  also  the 
opinion  of  the  last  scholar  who,  so  far  as  I  know,  has  touched 

name  is  said  to  be  connected  with  the  Umbrian  and  Etruscan  god  of  light, 
Usil,  a  word  thought  to  be  recognizable  in  Aurelius  ( =  Auselius,  Varro, 
1.  c.),  and  in  the  Ozeul  of  the  Salian  hymn  (Wordsworth,  Fragments  and 
Specimens  of  Early  Latin,  p.  564  foil.). 

1  So  e.  g.  Virgil,  Georg.  i.  498  '  Di  patrii  indigites  et  Romule  Vestaque 
Mater.'  Peter,  in  Lex.  a.  v.  Indigitamenta,  132. 

*  i.  325.  »  Lex.  a.  v.  Indigitamenta,  137. 


MENSIS    SEXTILIS  193 

the  question  ;  but  Wissowa ',  with  reason  as  I  think,  reverts 
to  the  first  explanation  given  above  of  the  word  Indiges('of 
or  belonging  to  a  certain  place '),  and  believes  that  the  word, 
when  added  to  Sol  in  the  Julian  calendar,  was  simply  meant 
to  distinguish  the  real  indigenous  Sun-god  from  foreign  solar 
deities. 

PBID.  ID.  SEXT.  (Aua.   12).     C. 

HERCULI    IKVICTO    AD    CIRCUM    MAXIMUM],       (ALLIF.    AMTT.) 

[HEBCULI   MAGNO    CUSTODI    IN    CIRCO    FLAMIN  10]    (VALL.)   is 
generally  taken  as  a  confusion  with  June  4  2.] 

This  is  the  only  day  to  which  we  can  ascribe,  on  the  evidence 
of  the  calendars,  the  yearly  rites  of  the  ara  maxima,  and  of  the 
aedes  Herculis  in  the  Forum  boarium.  These  two  shrines  were 
close  together ;  the  former  just  at  the  entrance  of  the  Circus 
maximus,  the  latter,  as  has  been  made  clear  by  a  long  series  of 
researches,  a  little  to  the  north-east  of  it3.  We  are  led  to 
.suppose  that  the  two  must  have  been  closely  connected  in 
the  cult,  though  we  are  not  explicitly  informed  on  the  point. 

The  round  temple  indicates  a  very  ancient  worship,  as  in  the 
case  of  the  aedes  Vestae,  and  the  legends  confirm  this.  The 
stoiy  of  Hercules  and  Cacus,  the  foundation-legend  of  the  cult, 
whatever  be  its  origin,  shows  a  priesthood  of  two  ancient 
patrician  families,  the  Potitii  and  Pinarii 4.  Appius  Claudius, 
the  censor  of  312  B.  c.,  is  said  to  have  bribed  the  Potitii,  the 
chief  celebrants,  to  hand  over  their  duties  to  public  slaves  ; 
but  in  the  yearly  rites,  consisting  chiefly  in  the  sacrifice  of 
a  heifer,  these  were  presided  over  by  the  praetor  urbanus, 
whose  connexion  with  the  cult  is  attested  by  inscriptions6. 
That  there  was  at  one  time  a  reconstruction  of  the  cult, 

1  Wissowa,  de  Bomanorum  Indige'ibus  et  Notensidibus  (Marburg,  1892). 
3  Merkel,  Praef.  in  Ov.  Fastos,  cxxxv  ;  Mommsen,  C.  I.  L.  324. 

3  Lex.  s.  v.  Hercules,  2903  foil.,   where  K.  Peter  has  summarized  and 
criticized  all  the  various  opinions. 

4  Liv.  i.  7. 

5  Dionys.  i.  40,  who  says  that  the  duties  were  performed  hy  slaves  in 
his  day.     See  Lex.  2925  for  a  long  list  of  conjectures  about  this  part  of  the 
legend.   The  Potitii  never  occur  in  inscriptions  ;  and  I  think  with  Jordan 

Preller,  ii.  291)  that  the  name  is  imaginary,  invented  to  account  for  the 
functions  of  the  slaves. 

6  C.  /.  L.  vi.  312-319,  found  on  the  site  of  the  aedes. 


194  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

especially  in  the  direction  of  Greek  usage,  seems  indeed  probable; 
for  the  praetor  wore  a  laurel  wreath  and  sacrificed  with  his 
head  uncovered  after  the  Greek  fashion '.  But  there  is  enough 
about  it  that  was  genuine  Koman  to  prove  that  the  foundation - 
legend  had  some  of  its  roots  in  an  ancient  cult ;  e.  g.  at  the 
sacred  meal  which  followed  the  previous  sacrifice  in  the  evening, 
the  worshippers  did  not  lie  down  but  sat,  as  was  the  most 
ancient  practice  both  in  Greece  and  Italy2.  Women  were 
excluded,  which  is  in  keeping  with  the  Italian  conception  of 
Hercules  as  Genius,  or  the  deity  of  masculine  activity  *.  The 
sacrifice  was  followed  by  a  meal  on  the  remainder,  which  was 
perhaps  an  old  practice  in  Italy,  as  in  Greece.  In  this  feature,  as 
in  two  others,  we  have  a  veiy  interesting  parallel  with  this  cult, 
which  does  not  seem  to  have  been  noticed,  in  the  prescription 
given  by  Cato  for  the  invocation  of  Mars  on  behalf  of  the 
farmers  cattle  *.  After  prescribing  the  material  of  the  offering 
to  Mars  Silvanus,  he  goes  on  as  follows :  '  Earn  rem  divinam 
vel  scrvus,  vel  liber  licebit  facial.  Ubi  res  divina  facta  erit,  statim 
ibidem  consumito.  Mulier  ad  earn  rem  divinam  ne  adsit,  neve 
videat  quomodo  fiat.  Hoc  votum  in  annos  singulos,  si  voles, 
licebit  vovere.'  Here  we  have  the  eating  of  the  remainder5, 
the  exclusion  of  women,  and  the  participation  in  the  cult  by 
slaves ;  the  exclusion  of  women  is  very  curious  in  this  case, 
and  seems  to  show  that  such  a  practice  was  not  confined  to 
worships  of  a  sexual  character.  It  is  also  worth  noting  that 
just  as  Cato's  formula  invokes  Mars  Silvanus,  so  in  Virgil's 
description  of  the  cult  of  the  am  maxima 6,  we  find  one  special 
feature  of  Mars-worship,  namely  the  presence  of  the  Salii 7.  It 
is  hardly  possible  to  suppose  that  Virgil  here  was  guilty  of 
a  wilful  confusion :  is  it  possible,  then,  that  in  this  cult  some 

1  Macrob.  3.  12.  a  ;  Varro,  L.  L  6.  15.  The  uncovered  head  also  occurs 
in  the  cult  of  Saturnus  ;  and  R.  Peter  argues  that  the  custom  may  after  all 
be  old-Italian  (Lex.  2928). 

"  Marquardt,  Privatalterthumer,  vol.  i,  p.  291. 

3  See  above,  p.  142  foil.      Plut.  Qu.  Rom.  60;   Macrob.  i.  12.  38.     In 
<J.  R.  90  Plutarch  notes  that  no  other  god  might  be  mentioned  at  the 
sacrifice,  and  no  dog  might  be  admitted. 

*  de  Re  Ruslica,  83. 

4  The  word  was  profanatum,  opposed  to  poUuctum  (see  Marq.  149). 

*  Aen.  8.  281  foil. 

7  Salii  are  found  in  the  cult  of  Hercules  also  at  Tibur  :  Macrob.  3.  la.  7. 
See  a  note  of  Jordan  in  Preller,  i.  353. 


MENSIS    SEXTILIS  195 

form  of  Mars  is  hidden  behind  Hercules,  and  that  the  Hercules 
of  the  ara  maxima  is  not  the  Genius  after  all,  as  modern 
scholars  have  persuaded  themselves  ? 

But  what  marks  out  this  curious  cult  more  especially  from 
all  others  is  the  practice  ot  offering  on  the  ara  maxima  'decumae' 
or  tithes,  of  booty,  commercial  gains,  sudden  windfalls,  and  so 
on '.  The  custom  seems  to  be  peculiar  to  this  cult,  though  it 
is  proved  by  inscriptions  of  Hercules-cults  elsewhere  in  Italy — 
e.  g.  at  Sora  near  Arpinum,  at  Keate,  Tibur,  Capua  and  else- 
where 2.  But  these  inscriptions,  old  as  some  of  them  are, 
cannot  prove  that  the  practice  they  attest  was  not  ultimately 
derived  from  Eome.  At  Home,  indeed,  there  is  no  question 
about  it ;  it  is  abundantly  proved  by  literary  allusions,  as  well 
as  by  fragments  of  divine  law3.  Was  it  an  urban  survival 
from  an  old  Italian  rural  custom,  or  was  it  an  importation  from 
elsewhere  ? 

In  favour  of  the  first  of  these  explanations  is  the  fact  that 
the  offering  of  first-fruits  was  common,  if  not  universal,  in 
rural  Italy4.  They  are  not,  indeed,  known  to  have  been 
offered  specially  to  Hercules ;  but  the  date,  Aug.  1 2,  of  the 
sacrifice  at  Kome  might  suggest  an  original  offering  of  the  first- 
fruits  of  the  Koman  ager,  before  the  growth  of  the  city  had 
pushed  agriculture  to  some  distance  away.  Now  first-fruits 
are  the  oldest  form  of  tribute  to  a  god  as  'the  lord  of  the  land,' 
developing  in  due  time  into  fixed  tithes  as  temple-ritual  becomes 
more  elaborate  and  expensive 5.  In  their  primitive  form  they 
are  found  in  all  parts  of  the  world,  as  Mr.  Frazer  has  shown 
us  in  an  appendix  to  the  second  volume  of  his  Golden  Bough 6. 
It  is  certainly  possible  that  in  this  way  the  August  cult  of  the 
ara  maxima  may  be  connected  with  the  general  character  of 
the  August  festivals ;  that  the  offering  of  the  first-fruits 
of  harvest  gave  way  to  a  regulated  system  of  tithes 7,  of  which 

1  Lex.  2931  foil. ;  C.  I.  L.  i.  149  foil. 

*  The  examples  are  collected  by  R.  Peter  in  Lex.  2935. 

*  Festu8,  253,  s.  v.  pollucere  meroes ;  Plut.  Qu.  Rom.  18 ;  Vita  Sutlae,  35 ; 
Crassi,  2  ;  Lex.  2032  foil. 

*  Marq.  469  ;  Festus,  p.  318,  s.  v.  sacrima. 

8  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  233. 

*  G.  B.  ii.  373  foil. 

7  In  the  legend  Hercules  gave  a  tenth  part  of  his  booty  to  the 
inhabitants  of  the  place  (Dionys  i.  40). 

o  a 


196  THE    KOMAN    FESTIVALS 

we  find  a  survival  in  the  offerings  of  the  tenth  part  of  their 
booty  by  great  generals  like  Sulla  and  Crassus.  As  the  city 
grew,  and  agriculture  became  less  prominent  than  military  and 
mercantile  pursuits,  the  practice  passed  into  a  form  adapted 
to  these — i.  e.  the  decumae  of  military  booty  or  mercantile 
gain '. 

But  there  is  another  possibility  which  must  at  least  be 
suggested.  The  myth  attached  to  the  ara  maxima  and  the 
Aventine,  that  of  Hercules  and  Cacus,  stands  alone  among 
Italian  stories,  as  the  system  of  tithe-giving  does  among  Italian 
practices.  We  may  be  certain  that  the  practice  did  not  spring 
from  the  myth ;  rather  that  an  addition  was  made  to  the 
myth,  when  Hercules  was  described  as  giving  the  tenth  of  his 
booty,  in  order  to  explain  an  unusual  practica  Yet  myth  and 
practice  stand  in  the  closest  relation  to  each  other,  and  the 
strange  thing  about  each  is  that  it  is  unlike  its  Italian  kindred. 

Of  late  years  it  has  become  the  fashion  to  claim  the  myth  as 
genuine  Italian,  in  spite  of  its  Graeco-Oriental  character,  on 
the  evidence  of  comparative  mythology 2 :  but  no  explanation 
is  forthcoming  of  its  unique  character  among  Italian  myths,  all 
of  which  have  a  marked  practical  tendency,  and  a  relation  to 
some  human  institution  such  as  the  foundation  of  a  city.  They 
are  legends  of  human  beings  and  practices  :  this  is  an  elemental 
myth  familiar  in  different  forms  to  the  Eastern  mind.  Again, 
the  Hercules  of  the  myth  has  nothing  in  common  with  the 
genuine  Italian  Hercules,  whom  we  may  now  accept  as 
=  genius,  or  the  masculine  principle— as  may  be  seen  from  the 
sorry  lameness  of  the  attempt  to  harmonize  the  two 3.  Beyond 
doubt  there  was  an  Italian  spirit  or  deity  to  whom  the  name 
Hercules  was  attached  :  but  there  is  no  need  to  force  all  the 
forms  of  Hercules  that  meet  us  into  exact  connexion  with 
the  genuine  one.  We  have  seen  above  that  the  Hercules 
of  the  ara  maxima  may  possibly  have  concealed  Mars  himself, 
in  his  original  form  of  a  deity  of  cattle,  pasture,  and  clearings. 
But  there  is  yet  another  possible  explanation  of  this  tangled 
problem. 

The  Eoman  form  of  the  Cacus-myth,  in  which  Cacus  steals 

1  See  Mommsen  in  C.  I.  L.  i.  150. 

"  e.  g.  in  Breal,  Hercule  et  Cacus. 

3  See  Lex.  2286  (R.  Peter,  quoting  Reifferscheid). 


MENSIS    SEXTILIS  197 

the  cattle  from  Hercules,  and  tries  to  conceal  his  theft  by 
dragging  them  backwards  into  his  cave  by  their  tails,  has 
recently  been  found  in  Sicily  depicted  on  a  painted  vase, 
whither,  as  Professor  Gardner  has  suggested,  it  may  have  been 
brought  by  way  of  Cyprus  by  Phoenician  traders ]  ;  and  the 
inference  of  so  cautious  an  archaeologist  is,  apparently,  that 
the  myth  may  have  found  its  way  from  Sicily  to  the  Tiber. 
Nothing  can  be  more  probable  ;  for  it  is  certain  that  even 
before  the  eighth  century  B.  c.  the  whole  western  coast  of 
Italy  was  open  first  to  Phoenician  trade  and  then  to  Greek. 
And  we  are  interested  to  find  that  the  only  other  traces  of  the 
myth  to  be  found  in  Italy  are  located  in  places  which  would 
be  open  to  the  same  influence.  From  Capua  we  have  a  bronze 
vase  on  which  is  depicted  what  seems  to  be  the  punishment  of 
Cacus  by  Hercules 2 ;  and  a  fragment  of  the  annalist  Gellius 
gives  a  story  connecting  Cacus  with  Campania,  Etruria,  and 
the  East 3.  At  Tibur  also,  which  claimed  a  Greek  origin, 
there  is  a  faint  trace  of  the  myth  in  an  inscription  4. 

Now  assuming  for  a  moment  that  the  myth  was  thus 
imported,  is  it  impossible  that  the  anomalies  of  the  cult  should 
be  foreign  also?  That  one  of  them  at  least  which  stands  out 
most  prominently  is  a  peculiarly  Semitic  institution ;  tithe- 
giving  in  its  systematized  form  is  found  in  the  service  of  that 
Melcarth  who  so  often  appears  in  Hellas  as  Herakles 5.  The 
coincidence  at  the  Aventine  of  the  name,  the  myth,  and  the 
practice,  is  too  striking  to  be  entirely  passed  over — especially 
if  we  cannot  find  certain  evidence  of  a  pure  Italian  origin,  and 
if  we  do  find  traces  of  all  three  where  Phoenicians  and  Greeks 
are  known  to  have  been.  We  may  take  it  as  not  impossible 
that  the  ara  maxima  was  older  than  the  traditional  foundation 
of  Rome,  and  that  its  cult  was  originally  not  that  of  the 
characteristic  Italian  Hercules,  but  of  an  adventitious  deity 
established  there  by  foreign  adventurers. 

1  Journal  of  Hellenic  Studies,  vol.  xiii.  73.  Professor  Gardner  is  inclined  to 
consider  the  myth  as  Phoenician  rather  than  Greek,  and  attached  to  the 
Phoenician  Melcarth  —  Herakles.  The  vase  is  in  the  Ashmolean  Museum, 
and  was  found  by  the  Keeper,  Mr.  Arthur  Evans. 

*  Mon.  delC  Inst.  v.  25.  But  the  character  of  the  vase  is  archaic  Ionian, 
as  Prof.  Gardner  tells  me  ;  Lex.  2275. 

3  H.  Peter,  Fragmenta  Hist.  Rom.  p.  166  (=  Solinus,  i.  7). 

4  C.  I.  L.  xiv.  3555 ;  Lex.  2278. 

'  Robertson  Smith,  op.  cit.  pp.  228  foil.,  and  additional  note  F. 


198  THE    EOMAN    FESTIVALS 

ID.  SEXT.  (Aua.   13).     IP. 
FER[IAE]  lovi.     (AMIT.  ALLIF.) 

DIANAE   IN   AVENTINO.       (AMIT.    VALL.    ANT.    ALLIF.) 
SACRUM    DEANAE.       (RUST.)          NATALIS    DIANES.       (PHILOC.) 
VORTUMNO    IN    AVENTINO.       (AMIT.    ALLIF.) 
HERCJJLI     INVICTO    AD    PORTAM   TRIGEMINAM.       (ALLIF.) 
CASTORI    POLLUCI    IN    CIRCO    FLAMINIO.       (AMIT.    ALLIF.) 
FLORAE   AD    cflRCUMj   MAXIMUM.       (ALLIF.) 

All  Ides,  as  we  have  seen,  were  sacred  to  Jupiter ;  and  it 
does  not  seem  that  there  is  here  any  further  significance  in  the 
note  'feriae  lovi.'  Though  there  was  a  conjunction  here  of 
many  cults,  this  day  was  best  known  as  that  of  the  dedication 
of  the  temple  of  Diana  on  the  Aventine,  which  was  traditionally 
ascribed  to  Servius  Tullius.  There  are  interesting  features  in 
this  cult,  and  indeed  in  the  worship  of  this  goddess  throughout 
Latium  and  Italy.  For  the  most  famous  of  all  her  cults,  that 
of  Aricia l,  I  need  only  refer  to  Mr.  Frazer's  Golden  Sough — the 
most  elaborate  and  convincing  examination  of  any  ancient 
worship  that  has  yet  appeared.  Of  the  goddess  in  general  it 
will  be  sufficient  to  say  here  that  whatever  be  the  etymology 
of  her  name  or  the  earliest  conception  of  her  nature — and  both 
are  very  far  from  certain — she  was  for  the  old  Latins  second  only 
to  Jupiter  Latiaris  in  the  power  she  exercised  of  uniting  com- 
munities together  and  so  working  in  the  cause  of  civilization. 
This  was  the  case  with  the  cult  on  the  Aventine,  as  it  was  also 
with  that  at  Aricia 2. 

About  the  political  origin  of  the  temple  on  the  Aventine 
tradition  was  explicit3.  Livy  says  that  Servius  Tullius  per- 
suaded the  chiefs  of  the  Latins  to  build  a  temple  of  Diana  in 
conjunction  with  the  Romans  ;  and  Varro  calls  it  '  commune 
Latinorum  Dianae  templum.'  The  'lex  templi,' or  ordinance 
for  the  common  worship  of  Romans  and  Latins,  was  seen  by 
Dionysius — so  he  declares — written  in  Greek  characters  and 

1  The  day  of  the  festival  at  Aricia  is  thought  to  have  been  also  Aug.  13 
(Lex.  s.  v.  Diana,  ioo6\ 

4  Beloch,  Italischer  Bund,  180 ;  Cato  (ap.  Priscian,  7.  337,  ed.  Jordan,  p.  41) 
gives  the  names  of  the  towns  united  in  and  by  the  Arician  cult — Aricia, 
Tusculum,  Lanuvium,  Laureutum,  Cora,  Tibur,  Pometia,  Ardea. 

3  Liv.  i.  45     Dionys.  4.  26 ;  Varro,  L.  L.  5.  43. 


MENSIS    SEXTILIS  199 

preserved  in  the  temple '.  The  horns  of  a  cow 2,  hung  up  in 
front  of  this  temple,  gave  rise  to  legends,  one  of  which  is 
preserved  by  Livy,  and  seems  to  bring  the  Sabines  also  into 
the  connexion.  This  temple  was,  then,  from  the  beginning  in 
some  sense  extra-Roman,  i.  e.  did  not  belong  to  the  purely 
Roman  gentile  worship.  And  it  had  other  characteristics  of 
the  same  kind  ;  it  was  specially  connected  with  the  Plebs  and 
with  slaves,  and  as,  in  the  case  of  the  neighbouring  temple 
at  Ceres,  there  was  a  Greek  character  in  the  cult  from  the 
beginning. 

I.  The  Connexion  with  the  Plebs.    The  position  on  the  Aventine 
would  of  itself  be  some  evidence  of  a  non-patrician  origin  ;  so 
also  the  traditional  ascription  to  Servius  Tullius  as  the  founder. 
More  direct  evidence  seems  wanting 3,  but  it  is  not  impossible 
that  the  temple  marks  a  settlement  of  Latins  in  this  part  of 
the  city. 

II.  The  Connexion  with  Slaves.     The  day  was  a  holiday  for 
slaves  4,   perhaps  after  the  work  of  harvest.     There  was  one 
other  Latin  goddess,  Feronia,  who  was  especially  beloved  by 
emancipated   slaves 5 ;  and   as   Feronia  was  a  deity  both  of 
markets  and  harvests,  there  is  something  to  be  said  for  the 
suggestion  °  that  both  slave  holidays  and  slave  emancipation 
would  find  a  natural  place  on  occasions  of  this  kind.     It  would 
seem   also  that  this  temple  was  an  asylum  for  runaway  or 
criminal  slaves — a   fact    which   slips   out   in   Festus'  curious 
reproduction  of  a  gloss  of  Verrius  Flaccus 7 :  '  Servorum  dies 
festus    vulgo    existimatur   Idus    Aug.,    quod   eo   die   Servius 
Tullius,  natus  servus,  aedem  Dianae  dedicaverit  in  Aventino, 
cuius    tutelae   sint    cervi,    a    quo   celeritate   fugitives   vocent 
servos.'     The    stag,   as    the   favourite    beast   of  Diana,    may 


1  Dionys.  1.  c.     See  Jordan,  Krit.  BeitrSge,  253. 

2  So  Liv.  1.  c. :  other  temples  of  Diana  had  deers'  horns,  according  to 
Plutarch,  Q.  R.  4.     The  cow  was  Diana's  favourite  victim  (Marq.  361); 
but  we  cannot  be  sure  that  this  was  not  a  feature  borrowed  from  the  cult 
of  Artemis  (Farnell,  Greek  Cults,  ii.  593). 

*  The  passages  from  Livy  quoted  by  Steuding  (Lex.  1008)  are  hardly  to 
the  point,  as  the  cult  is  not  mentioned  in  them. 

*  Plut.  Q.  R.  100. 

*  Serv.  Aen.  8.  564  :  cp.  Liv.  22.  i,  26.  II. 
8  Mannhardt,  A.  W.  F.  328  foil. 

7  Festus,  343,  '  Servorum  dies.' 


200  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

perhaps   have   a   Greek   origin ;  but   the   inference  from  the 
false  etymology  remains  the  same. 

III.  The  Greek  Character  in  the  Cult.  As  in  the  case  of 
Ceres,  the  temple-foundations  of  this  age  might  naturally  have 
a  Greek  character,  owing  to  the  foreign  relations  of  the 
Etruscan  dynasty  in  Rome  '.  We  have  already  noticed  the  lex 
templi,  said  to  have  been  written  in  Greek  characters.  It 
is  a  still  more  striking  fact  that  there  was  in  this  temple 
a  £oai/o;',  or  wooden  statue  of  Diana,  closely  resembling  that 
of  Artemis  at  Massilia,  which  was  itself  derived  from  the 
famous  temple  at  Ephesus2.  The  transference  to  Diana  of 
the  characteristics  of  Artemis  was  no  doubt  quite  natural  and 
easy ;  for,  hard  as  it  is  to  distinguish  the  Greek  and  Italian 
elements  in  the  cult,  we  know  enough  of  some  at  least  of  the 
latter  to  be  sure  that  they  would  easily  lend  themselves  to 
a  Greek  transformation.  This  transformation  must  have 
begun  at  a  very  early  period,  for  in  B.  c.  398  we  find  Diana 
already  associated  with  Apollo  and  Latona,  in  the  first  lecti- 
sternium  celebrated  at  Rome,  where  she  certainly  represented 
Artemis  '. 

On  the  whole  this  temple  and  its  cult  seem  a  kind  of  anti- 
cipation of  the  great  temple  on  the  Capitol,  in  marking  an 
advance  in  the  progress  of  Rome  from  the  narrow  life  of 
a  small  city-state  to  a  position  of  influence  in  Western  Italy. 
The  advance  of  the  Plebs,  the  emancipation  of  slaves,  the  new 
relations  with  Latin  cities,  and  the  introduction  of  Greek 
religious  ideas  are  all  reflected  here.  New  threads  are  being 
woven  into  the  tissue  of  Roman  social  and  political  life. 

The  close  relation  of  Diana  to  human  life  is  not  very  difficult 
to  explain.  Like  Fortuna,  Juno  Lucina,  Bona  Dea,  and  others, 
she  was  a  special  object  of  the  worship  of  women  ;  she  assisted 
the  married  woman  at  childbirth  * ;  and  on  this  day  the  Roman 

1  See  above,  p.  75. 

8  Strabo,  Bk.  4,  p.  180 ;  Farnell,  Greek  Cults,  ii.  529  and  552. 

3  Liv.  5.  13  :  Apollo  and  Latona,  Diana  and  Hercules,  Mercurius  and 
Neptunus. 

4  Lex.   1007.     The  excavations  at  Nemi  have  produced  several  votive 
offerings  in  terra-cotta  of  women  with  children  in  their  arms.     Cp.  Ovid, 
Fasti,  3.  269.     Plutarch  tells  us  (Q.  R.  3)  that  men  were  excluded  from 
a  shrine  of  Diana  in  the  Yicus  Patricius  ;  but  of  this  nothing  further  is 
known. 


MENSIS  SEXTILIS  2OI 

women  made  n  special  point  of  washing  their  heads 7 — an 
unusual  performance,  perhaps,  which  has  been  explained  by 
reference  to  the  sanctity  of  the  head  among  primitive  peoples2. 
But  Diana,  like  Silvanus,  with  whom  she  is  found  in  con- 
nexions,  was  no  doubt  originally  a  spirit  of  holy  trees  and 
woods,  i.  e.  of  wild  life  generally,  who  became  gradually 
reclaimed  and  brought  into  friendly  and  useful  relations  with 
the  Italian  farmer,  his  wife,  and  his  cattle  *. 

This  was  also  the  dies  natalis  of  another  temple  on  tho 
Aventine,  that  of  Vortumnus,  which  was  dedicated  in  B.  c.  264 
by  the  consul  M.  Fulvius  Flaccus  \  About  the  character  of 
this  god  there  is  fortunately  no  doubt.  Literature  here  comes 
to  our  aid,  as  it  too  rarely  does:  Propertius6  describes  him 
elaborately  as  presiding  over  gardens  and  fruit,  and  Ovid 7  tells 
a  picturesque  story  of  his  love  for  Pomona  the  fruit>goddess, 
'whose  antiquity  at  Home  is  proved  by  the  fact  that  she  had 
a  flamen  of  her  own  ".  The  date,  August  1 3,  when  the  fruit 
would  be  ripe,  suits  well  enough  with  all  we  know  of  Vor- 
tumnus. 

The  god  had  a  bronze  statue  in  the  Vicus  Tuscus,  and  perhaps 
for  that  reason  was  believed  to  have  come  to  Kome  from 
Etruria9.  But  his  name,  like  Picumnus,  is  beyond  doubt 
Latin,  and  may  be  supposed  to  indicate  the  turn  or  change  in 
the  year  at  the  fruit-season 10 ;  and  if  he  really  was  an  immi- 
grant, which  is  possible,  his  original  cult  in  Etruria  was  not 
Etruscan  proper,  but  old  Italian. 

Three  other  dedications  are  mentioned  in  the  calendars  as 
occurring  on  Aug.  13:  to  Hercules  invictus  ad  portam  trige- 

1  Plut.  Q.  R.  100 ;  Jevons,  Introduction,  p.  Ixviii. 

2  Frazer,  Golden  Bough,  i.  187. 

3  C.  I.  L.  vi.  656,  658. 

4  Frazer,  0.  B.  i.  105  :  cp.  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semifes,  p.  128 
foil.     Serv.  Qeorg.  3.  332  '  Ut  omnis  quercus  lovi  est  consecrata,  et  omnis 
Incus  Dianae.'  (Hor.  Od.  i.  21.)  The  reclaiming  of  Diana  from  the  woodland 
to  the  homestead  is  curiously  illustrated  by  an  inscription  from  Aricia 
(Wilmanns,  Exempla,  1767)  in  which  she  is  identified  with  Vesta. 

4  Aust,  de  Aedibus  socris,  p.  15.  •  5.  (4.)  a. 

7  Metaph.  14.  623  foil.  ;  Preller,  i.  451. 

*  Varro.  L.  L.  7.  45.  A  god  Pomonus  (gen.  Puemones)  occurs  in  the 
Iguvian  ritual  (Bucheler,  Umbrica,  158;  who  may  have  been  identical  with 
Vortumnus. 

'  Varro,  L.  L  5.  46. 

10  Preller,  i.  452,  and  Jordan's  note. 


202  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

minam  ;  to  Castor  and  Pollax  in  circo  Flaminio  ;  and  to  Flora 
ad  circum  maximum.  Of  these  cults  nothing  of  special  interest 
is  known,  and  the  deities  are  treated  of  in  other  parts  of  this 
work. 

xvi  KAL.  SEPT.     (Aua.  17).     £P. 
PORT[UNALIA].     (MAFF.  AMIT.  VALL.) 

TIBERINALIA.       (PHILOC.) 

FERIAE    PORTUKO.       (AMIT.    AKT.) 

PORTUNO    AD    PONTEM    AEMILIUM.       (AMIT.    TALL.    ALLIF.) 

IANO   AD    THEATRUM    MARCELLI.       (VALL.    ALLIF.) 

Who  was  Portunus,  and  why  was  his  festival  in  August  ? 
Why  was  it  at  the  Pons  Aemilius,  and  where  was  that  bridge  ? 
Can  any  connexion  be  found  between  this  and  the  other  August 
rites  ?  These  questions  cannot  'be  answered  satisfactorily  ;  the 
scraps  of  evidence  are  too  few  and  too  doubtful.  We  have 
here  to  do  with  another  ancient  deity,  who  survives  in  the 
calendars  only,  and  in  the  solitary  record  that  he  had  a  special 
flamen.  This  flamen  might  be  a  plebeian  ',  which  seems  to 
suit  with  the  character  of  other  cults  in  the  district  by  the' 
Tiber,  and  may  perhaps  point  to  a  somewhat  later  origin  than 
that  of  the  most  ancient  city  worships. 

There  are  but  two  or  three  texts  which  help  us  to  make  an 
uncertain  guess  at  the  nature  of  Portunus.  Varro 2  wrote 
'  Portunalia  et  Portuno,  quoi  eo  die  aedes  in  portu  Tiberino 
facta  et  feriae  institutae.'  Mommsen  takes  the  portus  here  as 
meaning  Ostia  at  the  mouth  of  the  Tiber,  and  imagines  a  yearly 
procession  thither  from  Borne  on  this  day s.  This  of  course  is 
pure  hypothesis  ;  but  if,  as  he  insists,  portus  is  rarely  or  never 
used  for  a  city  wharf  on  a  river  such  as  that  .at  Kome,  we  may 

1  Festus,  217,  s.v.  persillum.  All  we  know  of  his  duties  is  that  ho 
'unguit  arma  Quirini' ;  the  word  for  the  oil  or  grease  he  used  was  '  per- 
sillum.' Quirinus  had  his  own  flamen,  who  might  be  supposed  to  do  this 
office  for  him  ;  hence  Marq.  (328  note)  inferred  that  the  god  in  this  case 
was  a  form  of  Janus,  Janus  Quirinus.  But  there  is  no  other  sound  evi- 
dence for  a  Janus  Quirinus,  though  Janus  and  Portunus  may  be  closely 
connected. 

»  L.  L.  6.  19. 

*  C.  I.  L.  325.  He  thinks  that  the  atria  Tiberina  mentioned  by  Ovid 
(Fasti,  4.  329)  were  a  station  on  the  route  of  the  procession. 


MENSIS    SEXTILIS  203 

perhaps  accept  it  provisionally ;  but  in  doing  so  we  have  to 
yield  another  point  to  Mommsen,  viz.  the  identity  of  Portunus 
and  Tiberinus.  In  the  very  late  calendar  of  Philocalus  this 
day  is  called  Tiberinalia,  and  from  this  Mommsen  infers  the 
identity  of  the  two  deities '. 

But  it  may  be  that  the  original  Portunus  had  110  immediate 
connexion  either  with  river  or  harbour.  We  find  a  curious 
but  mutilated  note  in  the  Veronese  commentary  on  Virgil  - : 
'  Portunus,  ut  Varro  ait,  deus  port'uum  porta  rumque  praeses. 
Quare  huius  dies  festus  Portunalia,  qua  apud  veteres  claves  in 
focum  add.  .  .  .  mare  institutum.'  Huschke 3  here  conjectured 
'addere  et  infumare,'  and  inferred  that  we  should  see  in 
Portunus  the  god  of  the  gates  and  keys  which  secured  the 
stock  of  corn,  &c.,  in  storehouses.  Wild  as  this  writer's  con- 
jectures usually  are,  in  this  case  it  seems  to  me  possible  that 
he  has  hit  the  mark.  If  the  words  '  claves  in  focum '  are 
genuine,  as  they  seem  to  be,  we  can  hardly  avoid  the  conclusion 
that  something  was  done  to  keys  on  this  day ;  perhaps  the  old 
keys  of  veiy  hard  wood  were  held  in  the  fire  to  harden  them 
afresh 4.  It  is  worth  noting  that  according  to  Verrius 5  Portunus 
was  supposed  'clavim  manu  tenere  et  deus  esse  portarum.' 
This  would  suit  very  well  with  Jharvest-time,  when  barns  and 
storehouses  would  be  repaired  and  their  gates  and  fastenings 
looked  to— more  especially  as  it  is  not  unlikely  that  the  word 
portus  originally  meant  a  safe  place  .of  any  kind,  and  only  as 
civilization  advanced  became  specially  appropriated  to  harbours6. 
This  appropriation  may  have  come  about  through  the  medium 
of  storehouses  near  the  Tiber ;  and  it  was  long  ago  suggested 
by  Jordan  that  these  were  under  the  particular  care  of 
Portunus 7. 

1  Mommsen  has  not  convinced  other  scholars,  e.  g.  Jordan  on  Preller. 
ii.  133,  and  Marq.  328,  who  points  out  that  if  Volturnus  is  an  old  name 
for  the  Tiber,  that  river-god  was  already  provided  with  a  flamen  (Voltur- 
nalis\  and  a  festival  in  this  month  (see  below  on  Volturnsilia).  I  am 
disposed  to  think  that  Mommsen's  critics  have  the  best  of  the  argument. 

On  Atn.  5.  241. 

Rom.  Jahr,  p.  250.    Jordan  restored   the  passage  thus:    'Quo  apud 
ve  ores  aedes  in  portu  et  feriae  institutae'  (Preller,  i.  178  note). 

See  Marquardt,  PrivataUei-thiimer,  p.  226. 

Paul  us,  56. 

In  Festus,  233,  portus  is  said  to  have  been  used  for  a  house  in  the 
Twelve  Tables. 

7  Topogr.  i.  430  ;  Marq.  agrees  (327  note). 


204  TH£    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

If  Portunus  were  really  a  god  of  kevs  and  doors  and  store- 
houses, it  would  be  natural  to  look  for  some  close  relation 
between  him  and  Janus.  But  what  can  be  adduced  in  favour 
of  such  a  relation  does  not  amount  to  much ]  ;  and  it  may  have 
been  merely  by  accident  that  this  was  the  dedication-day  of 
a  temple  of  Janus  '  ad  theatrum  Marcelli ' y. 


xiv  KAL.  SEPT.  (Auo.  19).  FP.     (MAFF.  AMIT.)  F. 
(ANT.  ALLIF.)  K*.     (VALL.S) 

VINfALIA].     (MAFF.  VALL.  AMIT.  ETC.) 
FERIAE  lovi.     (ALLIF.) 

VENERI   AD    CIRCUM    MAXIMUM.       (VALL.) 

The  '  Aedes  Veneris  ad  Circum  Maximum '  alluded  to  in  the 
Fasti  Vallcnses  was  dedicated  in  295  B.  c.,  and  the  building 
was  begun  at  the  expense  of  certain  matrons  who  were  fined 
for  adultery4.  As  has  been  already  explained,  no  early  con- 
nexion can  be  proved  between  Venus  and  wine  or  the  vintage 5 ; 
though  both  August  19  and  April  23,  the  days  of  the  two 
Vinalia,  were  dedication-days  of  temples  of  the  goddess. 

The  difficult  question  of  the  two  festivals  called  Vinalia  has 
been  touched  upon  under  April  23,  The  one  in  August  was 
known  as  Vinalia  Kustica",  and  might  naturally  be  supposed 
to  be  concerned  with  the  ripening  grapes.  It  has  been  con- 
jectured 7  that  it  was  on  this  day,  which  one  calendar  marks  as 
a  festival  of  Jupiter,  that  the  Flamen  Dialis  performed  the 
auspicatio  vindemiae,  i.  e.  plucked  the  first  grapes,  and  prayed 
and  sacrificed  for  the  safety  of  the  whole  crop8.  If  it  be 

Preller,  i.  177 

It  was  a  late  foundation,  vowed  by  C.  Duilius  in  the  First  Punic  War 
(B  c.  260).  When  rebuilt  by  Tiberius  (Tac.  Ann.  2.  49)  the  dedication- 
day  became  Oct.  18.  See  Aust,  de  Aedibus  sacris,  p.  18. 

See  above  on  April  23,  p.  85. 

Livy,  10.  31  ;  Aust,  de  Aedibus  sacris,  p.  12. 

See  above,  p.  86.  •  Paulus,  264. 

Preller,  i.  196  ;  Marq.  333  note. 

Varro,  L.  L.  6.  16  '  Vinalia  a  vino  ;  Hie  dies  lovis,  non  Veneris ;  luiius 
rei  cura  non  levis  in  Latio  ;  nam  aliquot  locis  vindemiae  primum  a  sacer- 
dotibus  public  ae  fiebant,  ut  Romae  etiam  mine  ;  nam  flnmen  Dialis  auspi- 
catur  vindemiam,  et  ut  iussit  vinum  legere,  agna  lovi  facit,  inter  quoius 
exta  caesa  et  porrecta  flamen  primus  vinum  legit.'  But  this  note,  coming 
between  others  on  the  Cerialia  and  Bobigalia,  clearly  refers  to  April  23, 


MENSIS    SEXTILIS  205 

argued  that  August  23  was  too  early  a  date  for  such  a  rite, 
since  the  vintage  was  never  earlier  than  the  middle  of 
September,  we  may  remember  that  the  Vestal  Virgins  plucked 
the  first  ears  of  corn  as  early  as  the  first  half  of  May  for  the 
purpose  of  making  sacred  cakes,  some  weeks  before  the  actual 
harvest '. 

But  it  is  certainly  possible  that  both  Vinalia  have  to  do  with 
wine,  and  not  with  the  vintage.  Festus  says  that  this  day 
was  a  festival  because  the  new  wine  was  then  first  brought 
into  the  city 2 ;  and  this  does  not  conflict  with  Varro 3,  who 
tells  us  that  on  this  day  fiunt  feriati  oUtores — for  it  would 
naturally  be  a  day  of  rejoicing  for  the  growers.  Mommsen, 
with  some  rrason,  refers  these  passages  to  the  later  custom  of 
not  opening  the  wine  of  the  last  vintage  for  a  year 4,  in  which 
case  the  year  must  be  understood  roughly  as  from  October  to 
August.  He  would,  in  fact,  explain  this  second  Vinalia  as 
instituted  when  this  later  and  more  luxurious  custom  arose,  the 
old  rule  of  a  six  months'  period  surviving  in  the  April  cere- 
mony. If  we  ask  why  the  August  Vinalia  are  called  Kustica, 
Mommsen  answers  that  the  country  growers  were  now  at  liberty 
to  bring  in  their  wine. 

It  is  difficult  to  decide  between  these  conflicting  views. 
When  an  authority  like  Mommsen  bids  us  beware  of  connecting 
the  Vinalia  Rustica  with  the  auspicatio  vindemiae,  we  feel 
that  it  is  at  our  peril  that  we  differ  from  him.  He  is  evidently 
quite  unable  to  look  upon  such  a  date  as  August  19  as  in  any 
way  associated  with  the  vintage  which  followed  some  weeks 
later.  Yet  I  cannot  help  thinking  that  this  association  is  by 
no  means  impossible  ;  for  the  grapes  would  by  this  time  be 
fully  formed  on  the  vines,  and  the  next  few  weeks  would  be 
an  anxious  time  for  the  growers  \  Ceremonies  like  that  of  the 

and  the  latter  part  of  it  must  be  taken  as  simply  explaining  '  huius  rei 
cura  non  levis'  without  reference  to  a  particular  day. 

1  See  above,  p.  no.  *  p.  264. 

3  L.  L.  6.  20.  The  passage  in  6.  16,  quoted  above,  ends  thus :  '  In  Tus- 
culanis  hortis  (sortis  in  MS.)  est  scriptum  :  Vinum  novum  ne  vehatur  in 
urbem  antequam  Vinalia  calentur,'  which  may  reler  to  a  notice  put  up  in 
the  vineyards.  Another  reading  is  '  sacr:s.' 

*  C.  I.  L.  316  and  326  ;  Varro,  R.  R.  i.  65. 

5  Cf.  Pliny,  N.  H.  18.  284  'Tria  namque  tempora  fructibus  metuebant, 
propter  quod  instituerunt  feriasdiesque  festos,  Robigalia.Floralia,  Vinalia.' 
I  do  not  see  why  the  Vinalia  here  should  not  be  the  Vinalia  Rustica. 


206  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

Auspicatio,  intended  to  avert  from  crops  the  perils  of  storm  or 
disease,  are  known  sometimes  to  take  place  when  the  crops  are 
still  unripe.  I  have  already  alluded  to  the  proceedings  of  the 
Vestals  in  May.  Mr.  Frazer,  in  an  Appendix  to  his  Golden 
Bough  \  gives  a  curious  instance  of  this  kind  from  Tonga  in  the 
Pacific  Ocean,  where  what  we  may  call  the  auspicatio  of  the 
Yam-crop  took  place  before  the  whole  crop  was  fit  for  gathering. 
It  was  celebrated  'just  before  the  yams  in  general  are  arrived 
at  a  state  of  maturity  ;  those  which  are  used  in  this  ceremony 
being  planted  sooner  than  others,  and  consequently  they  are 
the  firstfruits  of  the  yam  season.  The  object  of  this  offering 
is  to  ensure  the  protection  of  the  gods,  that  their  favour  may 
be  extended  to  the  welfare  of  the  nation  generally  and  in 
particular  to  the  productions  of  the  earth,  of  which  yams  are 
the  most  important.' 

xii  KAL.  SEPT.  (Auo.  21).     IP. 

CONS^UALIAJ.       (PINC.    MAFF.    VALL.    ETC.) 
CONSO   IN    AVENTINO    SACRIFICIUM.       (VALL.) 

There  was  a  second  festival  of  Consus  on  Dec.  1 5 ;  but  the 
note  'Conso  in  Aventino'  there  appears  three  days  earlier, 
Dec.  12.  The  temple  on  the  Aventine  was  a  comparatively 
late  foundation2;  but  as  the  cult  of  this  old  god  became 
gradually  obscured,  it  seems  to  have  been  confused  with  the 
most  ancient  centre  of  Census-worship,  the  underground  altar 
in  the  Circus  maximus,  '  ad  primas  metas ' 3.  It  is  with  this 
latter  that  we  must  connect  the  two  Consualia.  What  the 
altar  was  like  we  do  not  exactly  know ;  it  was  only  uncovered 
on  the  festival  days.  Dionysius  calls  it  a  rfpfvos,  Servius 
a  'templum  sub  tecto';  and  Tertullian,  who  explicitly  says 
that  it  was  'sub  terra,'  asserts  that  there  was  engraved  on  it 
the  following  inscription :  '  Consus  consilio,  Mars  duello,  Lares 
coillo*  potentes.'  Wissowa  remarks  that  this  statement  'is  not 

Cp.  Virg.  Georg.  2.  419  'Et  iam  maturis  metuendus  luppiter  uvis.'  Hart- 
mann,  Rom.  Kal.  137  foil. 

1  Vol.  ii.  379.  3  B.  c.  272  (Festus,  209  ;  Aust,  p.  14). 

3  For  this  altar,  Tertull.  Spec*.  5  and  8 ;  Dionys.  i.  33  ;  Tac.  Ann.  12.  24 ; 
S*rv.  Aen.  8.  636. 

4  No  correction  of  this  word  seems  satisfactory  :  see  Mommsen,  C.  1.  L. 
326. 


MENSIS    SEXTJLIS  207 

free  from  suspicion  ' ;  and  we  may  take  it  as  pretty  certain  that 
if  it  was  really  there  it  was  not  very  ancient.  The  false 
etymology  of  Consus,  and  the  connexion  of  Mars  with  war, 
both  show  the  hand  of  some  comparatively  late  interpreter  of 
religion ;  and  the  form  of  the  inscription,  nominative  and 
descriptive,  is  most  suspiciously  abnormal. 

For  the  true  etymology  of  Consus  we  are,  strange  to  say, 
hardly  in  doubt ;  and  it  helps  us  to  conjecture  the  real  origin 
of  this  curious  altar.  Consus  is  connected  with  '  condere ' ', 
and  may  be  interpreted  as  the  god  of  the  stored-up  harvest ; 
the  buried  altar  will  thus  be  a  reminiscence  of  the  very  ancient 
practice — sometimes  of  late  suggested  as  worth  reviving  for 
hay  —  of  storing  the  corn  underground 2.  Or  if  this  practice 
cannot  be  proved  of  ancient  Italy,  we  may  aptly  remember  that 
sacrifices  to  chthonic  deities  were  sometimes  buried ;  a  practice 
which  may  in  earliest  times  have  given  rise  to  the  connexion 
of  such  gods  with  wealth — when  agricultural  produce  rather 
than  the  precious  metals  was  the  common  form  of  wealth  3. 
Or  again  we  may  combine  the  two  interpretations,  and  guess 
that  the  corn  stored  up  underground  was  conceived  as  in  some 
sense  sacrificed  to  the  chthonic  deities. 

If  these  views  of  the  altar  are  correct,  we  might  naturally 
infer  that  the  Consualia  in  August  was  a  harvest  festival  of 
some  kind.  Plutarch 4  asks  why  at  the  Consualia  horses  and 
asses  have  a  holiday  and  are  decked  out  with  flowers ;  and  such 
a  custom  would  suit  excellently  with  harvest-home.  Unluckily 
in  the  only  trace  of  this  custom  preserved  in  the  calendars,  it 
is  attributed  to  the  December  festival,  and  is  so  mutilated  as 
to  be  useless  for  detail 5. 

1  Wissowa,  Lex.  s.  v.  Consus,  926. 

"  Suggested  by  Mommsen,  C.  I.  L.  326,  and  accepted  by  Wissowa.  Un- 
luckily Golumella  (i.  6),  in  alluding  to  the  practice,  says  nothing  of  its 
occurrence  in  Italy.  The  alternative  explanation  was  suggested  to  me 
by  Robertson  Smith  (Religion  of  the  Semites,  107) :  see  also  a  note  in  Mtiller- 
Deecke,  Etrusker,  ii.  100  ;  and  below  on  Terminalia  (p.  325). 

3  The  underground  altar  »f  Dis  Pater  in  the  Campus  Martius,  at  which 
the  ludi  saeculares  were  in  part  celebrated  (Zosimus,  a.  i),  may  have  had 
a  like  origin. 

*  Qu.  Rom.  40  :  cf.  Dionys.  i.  33. 

•  Fast.  Praen. ;  C.  I.  L.  237. 


208  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

FERIAE  CONSO  EQUI  ET  [ifULI  FLOKIBU8  CORONANTUKJ. 
QUOD  IN  EIUS  TU[TELA  BUNT]. 
[iTAJQUE  REX  EQUO  [VECTUSJ. 

The  amplifications  here  are  Mommsen's,  the  first  two  based 
on  Plutarch's  statement.  It  is  a  difficulty,  as  regards  the  first, 
that  the  middle  of  December  would  be  a  bad  time  for  flowers : 
perhaps  this  did  not  occur  to  the  great  scholar.  I  would 
suggest  that  either  Verrius'  note  is  here  accidentally  misplaced, 
or  that  the  lacunae  must  be  filled  up  differently.  In  any  case 
I  do  not  think  we  need  fear  to  refer  Plutarch's  passage  to  the 
Consualia  of  August,  and  therefore  to  harvest  rejoicings  on 
that  day. 

The  connexion  of  the  Consus-cult  with  horses  was  so 
obvious  as  to  give  rise  eventually  to  the  identification  of  the 
god  with  Poseidon  Hippios.  It  is  certain  that  there  were 
horse-races  in  the  Circus  maximus  at  one  of  the  two  Consualia, 
and  as  Dionysius '  connects  them  with  the  day  of  the  Rape  of 
the  Sabines,  which  Plutarch  puts  in  August,  we  may  be  fairly 
sure  that  they  took  place  at  the  August  festival.  Mules  also 
raced — according  to  Festus  *,  because  they  were  said  to  be  the 
most  ancient  beasts  of  burden.  This  looks  like  a  harvest 
festival,  and  may  carry  us  back  to  the  most  primitive  agri- 
cultural society  and  explain  the  origin  of  the  Circus  maximus  ; 
for  the  only  other  horse-races  known  to  us  from  the  old  calendar 
were  those  of  Mars  in  the  Campus  Martius  on  Feb.  27  and 
March  I33.  We  may  suppose  that  when  the  work  of  harvest 
was  done,  the  farmers  and  labourers  enjoyed  themselves  in 
this  way  and  laid  the  foundation  for  a  great  Roman  social 
institution  *. 

Once  more,  it  is  not  impossible  that  in  the  legendary  con- 
nexion of  the  Rape  of  the  Sabine  women  with  the  Consualia5 
we  may  see  a  reflection  of  the  jollity  and  license  which  accom- 
panies the  completion  of  harvest  among  so  many  peoples. 

1  a.  31,  where  lie  says  that  they  were  kept  up  in  his  own  day  :  cf.  Strabo, 
Bk.  5.  3.  a.  a  p.  148. 

3  Friedlander  in  Marq.  482.  For  the  connexion  of  games  with  harvest 
see  Mannhardt,  Myth.  Forsch.  172  foil. 

*  Varro  (ap.  Non.  p.  13)  quotes  an  old  verse  which  seems  to  the  point 
here  :  '  Sibi  pastores  ludo  iaciunt  coriis  connialia.' 

s  Varro,  Z.  L.  6.  20;  Serv.  Aen.  8.  636;  Dionys.  2.  31  ;  Cic.  Rep.  a.  12. 


MENSIS    SEXTILIS  209 

Eomulus  was  said  to  have  attracted  the  Sabines  by  the  first 
celebration  of  the  Consualia.  Is  it  not  possible  that  the  meeting 
of  neighbouring  communities  on  a  festive  occasion  of  this  kind 
may  have  been  a  favourable  opportunity  for  capturing  new 
wives ]  ?  The  sexual  license  common  on  such  occasions  has 
been  abundantly  illustrated  by  Mr.  Frazer  in  his  Golden 
Bough 2. 

Before  leaving  the  Consualia  we  may  just  remark  that 
Consus  had  no  flamen  of  his  own,  in  spite  of  his  undoubted 
antiquity ;  doubtless  because  his  altar  was  underground,  and 
only  opened  once  or  perhaps  twice  a  year.  On  August  21 
his  sacrifice  was  performed,  says  Tertullian 3,  by  the  Flamen 
Quirinalis  in  the  presence  of  the  Vestals.  This  flamen  seems 
to  have  had  a  special  relation  to  the  corn-crops,  for  it  was  he 
who  also  sacrificed  a  dog  to  Eobigus  on  April  25  *,  to  avert  the 
mildew  from  them;  and  thus  we  get  one  more  confirmation 
from  the  cult  of  the  view  taken  as  to  the  agricultural  origin  of 
the  Consualia. 


x  KAL.  SEPT.  (Auo.  23).     IP. 
VOLCANALIA.     (PINC.  MAFF.  VALL.  ETC.) 

VOLCANO   IN   CIRCO   FLAMINIO.      (VALL.) 
VOLCANO.       (PINC.) 

(A  mutilated  fragment  of  the  calendar  of  the  Fratres  Arvales 
gives  QTJIR[INO]  IN  COLLE,  VOLK[ANO]  IN  COMIT[IO],  OPI  OPI- 
FEB[AE]  IN  .  .  . ,  [NYMPJHIS  (?)  IN  CAMPO). 

Of  the  cult  of  this  day,  apart  from  the  extracts  from  the 
calendars,  we  know  nothing,  except  that  the  heads  of  Roman 
families  threw  into  the  fire  certain  small  fish  with  scales, 
which  were  to  be  had  from  the  Tiber  fishermen  at  the  '  area 
Volcani ' 5.  We  cannot  explain  this  ;  but  it  reminds  us  of 
the  fish  called  vnacna,  with  magical  properties,  which  the  old 

1  See  above,  p.  178.  *  Vol.  ii.  171  foil.,  372  foil. 

'  de  Spect.  8.  *  See  above,  p.  89  ;  Ovid,  Fasti,  4.  908. 

5  Festus,  p.  210,  s.  v.  piscatorii  ludi  (Varro,  L.  L.  6  ao\  The  latter  uses 
the  word  '  nnimalia,'  and  does  not  mention  fish.  The  fish  were  apparently 
sacrificed  at  the  domestic  hearth  ;  but  it  is  doubtful  whether  Volcanus 
was  ever  a  deity  of  the  hearth-fire  (see  Schwegler,  R.  G.  i.  714  ;  Wissowa, 
de  Feriis,  xlv). 

P 


210  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

woman  offered  to  Tacita  and  the  ghost-world  at  the  Parentalia1. 
Fish-sacrifices  were  rare ;  and  if  in  one  rite  fish  are  used  to 
propitiate  the  inhabitants  of  the  underworld,  they  seem  not 
inappropriate  in  another  of  which  the  object  is  apparently  to 
propitiate  the  fire-god,  who  in  a  volcanic  countiy  like  that  of 
Eome  must  surely  be  a  chthonic  deity. 

The  antiquity  of  the  cult  of  Volcanus  is  shown  by  the  fact 
that  there  was  a  Flamen  Volcanalis 2,  who  on  May  i  sacrificed 
to  Maia,  the  equivalent,  as  we  saw,  of  Bon  a  Dea,  Terra,  &c. 
With  Volcanus  we  may  remember  that  Maia  was  coupled  in  the 
old  prayer  formula  preserved  by  Gellius  (13.23) — Maia  Volcani 
From  these  faint  indications  Preller  *  conjectured  that  the 
original  notion  of  Volcanus  was  that  of  a  favouring  nature- 
spirit,  perhaps  of  the  warmth  and  fertilizing  power  of  the 
earth.  However  this  may  be,  in  later  times,  under  influences 
which  can  only  be  guessed  at,  he  became  a  hostile  fire-god, 
hard  to  keep  under  control.  Of  this  aspect  of  him  Wissowa 
has  written  concisely  at  the  conclusion  of  his  little  treatise  de 
Feriis.  He  suggests  that  the  appearance  of  the  nymphs*  in 
the  rites  of  this  day  indicates  the  use  of  water  in  conflagrations, 
and  that  Ops  Opifera  was  perhaps  invoked  to  protect  her  own 
storehouses.  The  name  Volcanus  became  a  poetical  word  for 
devouring  fire  as  early  as  the  time  of  Ennius,  and  is  familiar  to 
us  in  this  sense  in  Virgil6.  After  the  great  fir«  at  Rome  in 
Nero's  time  a  new  altar  was  erected  to  Volcanus  by  Domitian, 
at  which  (and  at  all  Volcanalia)  on  this  day  a  red  calf  and  a  boar 
were  offered  for  sacrifice  \  At  Ostia  the  cult  became  celebrated ; 
there  was  an  '  aedes '  and  a  '  pontifex  Volcani '  and  a  '  praetor 
sacris  Volcani  faciundis.'  In  August  the  storehouses  at  Ostia 
would  be  full  of  new  grain  arrived  from  Sicily,  Africa,  and 
Egypt,  and  in  that  hot  month  would  be  especially  in  danger 
from  fire ;  an  elaborate  cult  of  Volcanus  the  fire-god  was  there- 
fore at  this  place  particularly  desirable. 

1  See  below,  p.  309  ;  Ovid,  Fasti,  a  571  foil. 

2  See  above  on  May  23,  p.  123  ;  Varro,  L.  L.  5.  84 ;  Macrob.  i.  12.  18  ; 
C.  I.  L.  vi.  1628. 

s  «•  149- 

*  In  the  mutilated  note  in  Fast.  Praen.  given  above.  For  Wissowa's 
views  as  to  the  mistake  of  supposing  Volcanus  to  have  been  a  god  of  smiths, 
bee  above,  p.  123  (May  23). 

5  Ennius,  Fragm.  5.  477 ;  Virg.  Aen.  5.  662.  «  C.  I.  L.  vi.  826. 


MENSIS    SEXTILIS  211 

The  aedes  Volcani  in  circo  Flaminio  was  dedicated  before 
215  B.  c. ;  the  exact  date  is  not  known ].  Its  position  was 
explained  by  Vitruvius 2  as  having  the  object  of  keeping  con- 
flagrations away  from  the  city.  Mr.  Jevons,  in  his  Intro- 
duction to  a  translation  of  Plutarch's  Quacstiones  Romanae3, 
has  argued  from  this  position,  outside  the  pomoerium,  and 
from  a  doubtful  etymology,  that  the  cult  of  Volcanus  was 
a  foreign  introduction ;  but  the  position  of  the  temple  is  no 
argument,  as  has  been  well  shown  by  Aust4,  and  the  chief 
area  Volcani,  or  Volcanal,  was  in  the  Comitium,  in  the  heart 
of  the  city 5. 

ix  KAL.  SEPT.  (AuG.  24).     MUNDUS  PATET. 

This  does  not  appear  in  the  calendars.  We  learn  from 
Festus 6  that  on  this  day,  on  Oct.  5,  and  Nov.  8,  the  '  mundus ' 
was  open.  This  mundus  was  a  round  pit  on  the  Palatine,  the 
centre  of  Roma  quadrata7 — the  concave  hollow  being  perhaps 
supposed  to  correspond  to  the  concave  sky  above8.  It  was 
closed,  so  it  was  popularly  believed,  by  a  '  lapis  manalis ' 
(Festus  s.  v.).  When  this  was  removed,  on  the  three  days 
there  was  supposed  to  be  free  egress  for  the  denizens  of  the 
underworld  9. 

I  am  much  inclined  to  see  in  this  last  idea  a  later  Graeco- 
Etruscan  accretion  upon  a  very  simple  original  fact.  O.  Mtiller 
long  ago  suggested  this — pointing  out  that  in  Plutarch's 
description  of  the  foundation  of  Roma  quadrata  the  casting 
into  the  trench  of  first-fruits  of  all  necessaries  of  life  gives  us 
a  clue  to  the  original  meaning  of  the  mundus.  If  we  suppose 

Liv.  24.  10.  9.  3  Vitruv.  i.  7.  i. 

Roman  Questions,  xviii.  *  de  Aedibus  sacris,  p.  47  foil. 

What  this  was  we  do  not  really  know :  there  were  several  of  them 
(Preller,  ii.  150). 

Fest.  154,  from  Ateius  Capito ;  Macrob.  i.  16.  17. 

Plut.  Rom.  ii  ;  Ovid,  Fasti,  4.  821.     Plutarch  wrongly  describes  it  as 
being  in  the  Comitium. 

*  This  seems  to  be  meant  by  Cato's  words  quoted  by  Festus,  1.  c. '  Mundo 
nomen  impositum  est  ab  eo  mundo  quod  supra  nos  est.  . .  eius  inferiorem 
partem  veluti  consecratam  dis  Manibus  clausam  omni  tempore  nisi  his 
diebus  (i.  e.  the  three  above  mentioned)  maiores  c[ensuerunt  habendam], 
quos  dies  etiam  religiosos  iudicaverunt.' 

9  Fest.  128.  So  Varro,  ap.  Macrob.  i.  16. 18  '  Mundus  cum  patet,  deorum 
tristium  atque  inferum  ianua  patet.'  Lex.  s.  v.  Dis  Pater,  1184;  Preller, 
ii.  68. 

r  2 


212  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

that  it  was  thepenus  of  the  new  city — a  sacred  place,  of  course — 
used  for  storing  grain,  we  can  see  why  it  should  be  open  on 
Aug.  24  \  Nor  is  it  difficult  to  understand  why,  when  the 
original  use  and  meaning  had  vanished,  the  Graeco-Etruscan 
doctrine  of  the  underworld  should  be  engrafted  on  this  simple 
Roman  stem.  Dis  and  Proserpina  claim  the  mundus :  it  is 
'  ianua  Orci,'  'faux  Plutonis'2 — ideas  familiar  to  Eomans  who 
had  come  under  the  spell  of  Etruscan  religious  beliefs. 

vni  KAL.  SEPT.    (Auo.   25).     N*. 
OPIC[ONSIVIA].     (ALLIF.  MAFP.  VALL.) 
OPICID.     (PINC.)     The   last   two   letters  must   be  a  cutter's 

error. 
FERIAE  OPI  ;    OPI  CONSIV.   IN  EEGiA.     (ARv.)     The   last  four 

words  seem  to  belong  to  Aug.  26  (see  Mommsen  ad  loc.). 

This  festival  follows  that  of  Consus  after  an  interval  of  three 
days;  and  Wissowa*  has  pointed  out  that  in  December  the 
same  interval  occurs  between  the  Consualia  (isth)  and  the 
Opalia  (i9th).  This  and  the  epithet  or  cognomen  Consiva, 
which  is  fully  attested4,  led  him  to  fancy  that  Ops  was  the 
wife  of  Consus,  and  not  the  wife  of  Saturnus,  as  has  been 
generally  supposed  both  in  ancient  and  modern  times 8.  We 
may  agree  with  him  that  there  is  no  real  evidence  for  any 
primitive  connexion  of  Saturnus  and  Ops  of  this  kind  ;  as  far 
as  we  can  tell  the  idea  was  adopted  from  the  relation  of  Cronos 
and  Khea.  But  there  was  no  need  to  find  any  husband  for 
Ops  ;  the  name  Consiva  need  imply  no  such  relation,  any  more 
than  Lua  Saturni,  Moles  Martis,  Maia  Volcani,  and  the  rest 6,  or 
the  Tursa  lovia  of  the  Iguvian  inscription  so  often  quoted. 
Both  adjectival  and  genitive  forms  are  in  my  view  no  more 

1  Miiller-Deecke,  Etrusker,  ii.  100.  Plutarch  is  explicit  :  avapxai  re  TTOVTUV, 
offois  vofiy  n%v  us  va\ois  (\pa>vTot  <f>van  £J  ws  dvayKalfus,  dirtTtdijaav  tvrav&a. 
See  above  on  the  Consualia  for  the  practice  of  burying  grain,  &c. 

*  Macrob.  i.  16.  17.    For  similar  ideas  in   Greece  see  A.  Mommsen, 
Heortologie,  345  foil. 

3  de  Perils,  vi.  4  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  21  ;  Ftstus,  187. 

*  Varro,  L.  L.  5.  57  and  64  ;  Festus,  186  ;  Macrob.  i.  10. 19.     So  Preller, 
ii.  20.     The  keen-sighted  Ambrosch  had,  I  think,  a  doubt  about  it  (Studien, 
149),  and  about  the  conjugal  tie  generally  among  Italian  deities.     See  his 
note  on  p.  149. 

*  Gell.  13.  23.    Ops  Toitesia  (if  the  reading  be  right)  of  the  Esquiline  vase 
(Jordan  in  Preller,  ii.  22)  may  be  a  combination  of  this  kind  (toitesia,  conn, 
tutus  ?J  :  cf.  Ops  opifera. 


MENSIS    SEXTILIS  213 

than  examples  of  the  old  Italian  instinct  for  covering  as  much 
ground  as  possible  in  invoking  supernatural  powers1;  and 
this  is  again  a  result  of  the  indistinctness  with  which  those 
powers  were  conceived,  in  regard  both  to  their  nature  and 
function.  A  distinct  specialization  of  function  was,  I  am 
convinced,  the  later  work  of  the  pontifices.  Ops  and  Consus 
are  obviously  closely  related ;  and  Wissowa  is  probably  right 
in  treating  the  one  as  a  deity  'messis  condendae,'and  the  other 
as  representing  the  '  opima  frugum  copia  quae  horreis  conditur.' 
But  when  he  goes  further  than  this,  his  arguments  ring 
hollow 2. 

Of  the  ritual  of  the  Opiconsivia  we  know  only  what  Varro 
tells  us 3 :  '  Opeconsiva  dies  ab  dea  Ope  Consiva,  quoius  in  Kegia 
sacrarium,  quod  ideo  actum  (so  MSS.)  ut  eo  praeter  Virgines 
Vestales  et  sacerdotem  publicum  introeat  nemo.'  Many  con- 
jectures have  been  made  for  the  correction  of  '  quod  ideo 
actum  ' 4  ;  but  the  real  value  of  the  passage  does  not  depend  on 
these  words.  The  Kegia  is  the  king's  house,  and  represents 
that  of  the  ancient  head  of  the  family  :  the  sacrarium  Opis  was 
surely  then  the  sacred  pcnus  of  that  house — the  treasury  of  the 
fruits  of  the  earth  on  which  the  family  subsisted.  It  suits 
admirably  with  this  view  that,  as  Varro  says,  only  the  Vestals 
and  a  'publicus  sacerdos '  were  allowed  to  enter  it— i.  e.  the 
form  was  retained  from  remote  antiquity  that  the  daughters  of 
the  house  were  in  charge  of  it 5 — the  master  of  the  house  being 
here  represented  by  the  sacerdos— the  rex  sacrorum  or  a 
pontifex.  In  this  connexion  it  is  worth  while  to  quote 
a  passage  of  Columella6  which  seems  to  be  derived  from  some 
ancient  practice  of  the  rural  household  :  '  Ne  contractentur 
pocula  vel  cibi  nisi  aut  ab  impube  aut  certe  abstinentissimo 
rebus  venereis,  quibus  si  fuerit  operatus  vel  vir  vel  femina 

1  Wissowa  himself  goes  so  far  as  to  say  that  male  and  female  divinities 
were  joined  together  '  non  per  iustum  matrimonium  sed  ex  officioruui 
adfinitate,'  op.  cit.  vi. 

2  Op.  cit.  vii. ;  Mommsen,  C.  I.  L.  327  declines  to  follow  him  here. 

3  L.  L.  6.  20.    The  MSS.  read  Ope  Consiva :  so  Mommsen  in  C.  L  L.  327. 
Wissowa  adopts  the  other  form. 

1  See  Mommsen,  1.  c.,  and  Marquardt,  212. 

*  See  on  Vestalia  above,  p.  147,  and  Marq.  251. 

'  Colum.  12  4.  Cited  in  De-Marchi,  II  Culto  private  di  Roma  Antica  (Milan, 
i8g6\  p.  56.  See  my  paper  in  Classical  Review  for  Oct.  1896:  vol.  x. 
p.  317  foil. 


214  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

debere  eos  flumine  aut  perenni  aqua  priusquam  penora  con- 
tingant  ablui.  Propter  quod  his  necessarium  esse  pueri  vel 
virginis  ministerium,  per  quos  promantur  quae  usus  postula- 
verit.' 

vi  KAL.  SEPT.    (Auo.  27).     JP. 
VOLTlUKNALIA].     (ALLIF.  MAFF.  VALL.) 

FERIAE   VOLTTTRNO.       (ABV.  INTER   ADDITA    POSTERIORA.) 
VOLTURNO    FLUMINI   SACRIFICIUM.       (VALL.) 

Of  this  very  ancient  and  perhaps  obsolete  rite  nothing  seems 
to  have  been  known  to  the  later  Latin  scholars,  or  they  did 
not  think  it  worth  comment.  Varro  mentions  a  Flamen 
Volturnalis,  but  tells  us  nothing  about  him.  From  the  occur- 
rence of  the  name  for  a  river  in  Campania  it  may  be  guessed 
that  the  god  in  this  case  was  a  river  also  ;  and  if  so,  it  must 
be  the  Tiber.  This  is  Mommsen's  conclusion,  and  the  only 
difficulty  he  finds  in  it  is  that  (in  his  view)  Portunus  is  also  the 
Tiber '.  Why  did  he  not  see  that  the  same  river-god,  even  if 
bearing  different  names,  could  hardly  have  two  flamines? 
I  am  content  to  see  in  Volturnus  an  old  name  for  the  Tiber, 
signifying  the  winding  snake-like  river2,  and  in  Portunus 
a  god  of  storehouses,  as  I  have  explained  above. 

Here,  then,  we  perhaps  have  a  trace  of  the  lost  cult  of  the 
Tiber,  which  assuredly  must  have  existed  in  the  earliest  times — 
and  the  flamen  is  the  proof  of  its  permanent  importance. 
When  the  name  was  changed  to  Tiber  we  do  not  know,  nor 
whether  '  Albula '  marks  an  intermediate  stage  between  the 
two  ;  but  that  this  was  the  work  of  the  pontifices  seems  likely 
from  Servius 3,  who  writes  '  Tiberinus  ...  a  pontificibus  in- 
digitari  solet.'  Of  a  god  Tiberinus  there  is  no  single  early 
record. 

It  should  just  be  mentioned  that  Jordan 4,  relying  on 
Lucretius,  5.  745,  thought  it  probable  that  Volturnus  might 
be  a  god  of  whirlwinds ;  and  Huschke 5  has  an  even  wilder 
suggestion,  which  need  not  here  be  mentioned. 

1  C.  1.  L.  327.  *  Preller,  ii.  142.  *  Aen.  8.  330. 

4  In  Preller,  ii.  143.  la  the  passage  of  Lucretius  Volturnus  is  coupled 
with  Auster  :  '  Inde  aliae  tempestates  ventique  secuntur,  Altitonam  Vol- 
turnus et  Auster  fulmine  pollens.'  Columella  (ii.  2.  65)  says  that  some 
people  use  the  name  lor  the  east  wind  (cp.  Liv.  22.  43). 

8  Rom.  Jahr,  251. 


MENSIS  SEPTEMBER 

THE  Calendar  of  this  month  is  almost  a  blank.  Only  the 
Kalends,  Nones  and  Ides  are  marked  in  the  large  letters  with 
which  we  have  become  familiar ;  no  other  festival  is  here 
associated  with  a  special  deity.  But  the  greater  part  of  the 
month  is  occupied  with  the  ludi  Komani  (sth  to  igih)1,  and 
the  1 3th  (Ides),  as  we  know  from  two  Calendars,  was  not 
only,  like  all  Ides,  sacred  to  Jupiter,  but  was  distinguished 
as  the  day  of  the  famous  'epulum  Jovis,'  and  also  as  the  dies 
natalis  of  the  great  Capitoline  temple. 

The  explanation  of  the  absence  of  great  festivals  in  this 
month  is  comparatively  simple.  September  was  for  the 
Italian  farmer,  and  therefore  for  the  primitive  Koman  agri- 
cultural community,  a  period  of  comparative  rest  from  urgent 
labour  and  from  religious  duties  ;  for  no  operations  were  then 
going  on  which  called  for  the  invocation  of  special  deities  to 
favour  and  protect.  A  glance  at  the  rustic  calendars  will 
show  this  well  enough 2.  The  messes  which  figure  in  July  and 
August  have  come  to  an  end,  and  the  vintage  does  not  appear 
until  October.  There  is  of  course  work  to  be  done,  as  always, 
but  it  is  the  easy  work  of  the  garden  and  orchard.  '  Dolia 
picantur:  poma  legunt:  arborum  oblaqueatio.'  Varro,  who 
divides  the  year  for  agricultural  purposes  into  eight  irregular 
periods,  has  little  to  say  of  the  fifth  of  these,  i.  e.  that  which 
preceded  the  autumn  equinox.  '  Quinto  intervallo  inter  cani- 

1  This  represents  the  length  which  the  ludi  had  attained  in  Cicero's 
time  (Verr.  i.  10.  31).  September  4  was  probably  added  after  Caesar's 
death  (Mommsen  in  C.  /.  L.  328;. 

a  C.  /.  L.  281. 


21 6  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

culam  et  aequinoctium  autumnale  oportet  stramenta  desecari, 
et  acervos  construi,  aratro  offringi,  frondem  caedi,  prata  irrigua 
iterum  secari1.' 

This  was  also  the  time  when  military  work  would  be  coming 
to  an  end.  In  early  times  there  were  of  course  no  lengthy 
campaigns ;  and  such  fighting  as  there  was,  the  object  of  which 
would  be  to  destroy  your  enemies'  crops  and  harvest,  would 
as  a  rule  be  over  in  August.  Even  in  later  times,  'when  cam- 
paigns were  longer,  the  same  would  usually  be  the  case ;  and 
the  performance  of  vows  made  by  the  generals  in  the  field, 
and  also  their  vacation  of  office,  would  naturally  fall  in  this 
month.  We  find,  in  fact,  that  the  ludi  which  occupied  so 
large  a  number  of  September  days,  had  their  origin  in  the 
performance  of  the  vota  of  kings  or  consuls  after  the  close  of 
the  wars2;  and  we  have  evidence  that  the  Ides  of  September 
was  the  day  on  which  the  earliest  consuls  laid  down  their 
office3.  There  was,  in  fact,  every  opportunity  for  a  lengthened 
time  of  ease  ;  the  people  were  at  leisure  and  in  good  temper 
after  harvest  and  victory ;  even  the  horses  which  took  part  in 
the  games  were  home  from  war  service  or  resting  from  their 
labours  on  the  farm4. 

It  is  not  strictly  within  the  scope  of  this  work  to  describe 
the  ludi  Romani,  which  in  their  fully  organized  form  were  of 
comparatively  late  date ;  but  their  close  connexion  with  the 
cult  of  Jupiter  affords  an  opportunity  for  some  remarks  on 
that  most  imposing  of  all  the  Roman  worships. 

The  ludi  Romani  came  in  course  of  time,  as  has  been  said 
above,  to  extend  from  the  5th  to  the  I9th  ;  they  spread  out  in 
fact  on  each  side  of  the  Ides s,  the  day  on  which  took  place  the 
'  epulum  Jovis '  in  the  Capitoline  temple.  As  this  day  was  also 

1  R.  R.  i.  33. 

2  See  Mommsen's  masterly  essay  in  his  R&mische  Forschungen,  vol.  ii. 
p.  42  foil.     Aust,  in  Myth.  Lex.  s.v.  luppiter,  732. 

3  Mommsen,  Rom.  Chronol.  86  foil. 

4  The  '  equorum  probatio,'  preliminary  to  the  races  in  the  circus,  took 
place  on  the  day  after  the  Ides  :  see  above,  p.  27. 

5  Mommsen  (C.  I.  L.  328,  and  Rom.  Forsch.  ii.  43  foil.)  points  out  that 
the  real  centre-point  and  original  day  of  the  ludi  proper  was  the  day  of  the 
great  procession  (pompa)  from  the  Capitol  to  the  Circus  maximus  ;  and 
that  this  was  probably  the  isth,  two  days  after  the  epulum,  because 
the  i4th,  being  postriduanus,  was  unlucky,  and  that  day  was  also  occupied 
by  the  'equorum  probatio.'   ^See  Fasti  Sab.,  Maff.,  Vail.,  Amit.  and  Antiat.) 


MENSIS    SEPTEMBER  2IJ 

the  dies  natalis  of  the  same  temple,  and  that  on  which  the  nail 
was  driven  into  the  wall  of  the  cella  Jovis a,  we  have  a  very 
close  connexion  between  the  ludi  and  the  cult  of  Jupiter.  The 
link  is  to  be  found  in  the  fact  that  in  the  ludi  votivi,  which 
were  developed  into  ludi  Romani,  the  vows  were  made  and 
paid  to  the  supreme  god  of  the  State 2.  We  have  from  a  later 
time  the  formula  of  such  a  vow  preserved  by  Livy '.  'Si 
duellum  quod  cum  rege  Antiocho  sumi  populus  iussit  id  ex 
sententia  senatus  populique  Eomani  confectum  erit,  turn  tibi, 
luppiter,  populus  Romanus  ludos  magnos  dies  decem  continues 
faciet,  donaque  ad  omnia  pulvinaria  dabuntur  de  pecunia, 
quantam  senatus  decreverit:  quisquis  magistratus  eos  ludos 
quando  ubique  faxit,  hi  ludi  recte  facti  donaque  data  recte 
sunto.' 

The  epulum  Jovis,  thus  occurring  in  the  middle  of  the  ludi, 
is  believed  by  some  writers  to  have  originally  belonged  to 
the  Idea  of  November  and  to  the  ludi  plebeii,  as  it  does  not 
happen  to  be  alluded  to  by  Livy  in  connexion  with  the  ludi 
Komani,  and  our  first  notice  of  it  in  September  is  in  the 
Augustan  calendars4.  But  it  is  surely  earlier  than  B.C. 
230,  the  received  date  of  the  ludi  plebeii,  and  of  the  circus 
Flaminius  in  which  they  took  place.  We  may  agree  with  the 
latest  investigator  of  the  Jupiter-cult  that  the  origin  of  the 
epulum  is  to  be  looked  for  in  a  form  of  thanksgiving  to 
Jupiter  for  the  preservation  of  the  state  from  the  perils  of  the 
war  season,  and  that  no  better  day  could  be  found  for  it  than 
the  foundation- day  of  the  Capitoline  temple8.  This  epulum 
was  one  of  the  most  singular  and  striking  scenes  in  Roman 
public  life.  It  began  with  a  sacrifice ;  the  victim  is  not 
mentioned,  but  was  no  doubt  a  heifer,  and  probably  a  white 

1  See  below,  p.  234.     For  the  dies  natalis,  see  Aust,  in.  Lex.  s.v.  luppiter, 
p.  707  ;  Plutarch,  Poplic.  14. 

2  Mommsen,  Rom.  Forseh.  1.  c. 

8  Livy,  36.  2.  3.  The  passage  refers  to  ludi  magni,  i.  e.  special  votive 
games,  vowed  after  the  fixed  organization  of  the  ludi  Romani  ;  but  it  is 
none  the  less  illustrative  of  the  latter,  as  they  originated  in  votive  games. 

*  So  Marq.  349  and  note  ;  Mommsen  in  C.  I.  L.  329,  335.  I  follow 
Aust,  Lex.  s.  v.  luppiter,  732^  The  '  epulum  Minervae '  of  the  rustic 
calendars  is  but  slender  evidence  for  an  ancient  and  special  connexion 
of  the  goddess  with  this  day ;  but  Mommsen  thinks  that  the  epulum 
'magis  Minervae  quam  lovis  fuisse.* 

s  Aust,  1.  c. 


2l8  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

one1.  Then  took  place  the  epulum  proper2,  which  the  three 
deities  of  the  Capitol  seem  to  have  shared  in  visible  form  with 
the  magistrates  and  senate.  The  images  of  the  gods  were 
decked  out  as  for  a  feast,  and  the  face  of  Jupiter  painted  red 
with  minium,  like  that  of  the  triumphator.  Jupiter  had 
a  couch,  and  Juno  and  Minerva  each  a  sella,  and  the  meal 
went  on  in  their  presence  \ 

Now  an  investigator  of  the  Roman  religious  system  is  here 
confronted  with  a  difficult  problem.  Was  this  simply  a  Greek 
practice  like  that  of  the  lectisternium,  and  one  which  began 
with  the  Etruscan  dynasty  and  the  foundation  of  the  Capitoline 
temple  with  its  triad  of  deities  ?  Or  is  it  possible  that  in  the 
cult  of  the  Roman  Jupiter  there  was  of  old  a  common  feast  of 
some  kind,  shared  by  gods  and  worshippers,  on  which  this 
gorgeous  ritual  was  eventually  grafted  ? 

Marquardt  has  gone  so  far  as  to  separate  the  epulum  Jovis 
altogether  from  the  lectisternia,  and  apparently  also  from  the 
inundation  of  Greek  influence4.  It  answers  rather,  he  says, 
to  such  domestic  rites  as  the  offering  to  Jupiter  Dapalis 
described  thus  by  Cato  in  the  De  Re  Eustica 5 :  '  Dapem  hoc 
modo  fieri  oportet.  lovi  dapali  culignam  vini  quantum  vis 
polluceto.  Eo  die  feriae  bubus  et  bubulcis,  et  qui  dapem 
facient.  Cum  pollucere  oportebit,  sic  facies.  lupiter  dapalis, 
quod  tibi  fieri  oportet,  in  domo  familia  mea  culignam  vini 
dapi,  eius  rei  ergo  macte  hac  illace  dape  pollucenda  esto. 
Manus  interluito.  Postea  vinum  sumito.  lupiter  dapalis, 
macte  istace  dape  pollucenda  esto.  Macte  vino  inferio  esto. 
Vestae,  si  voles,  dato 6.  Daps  lovi  assaria  pecuina,  urna  vini 
lovis  caste.' 

1  Aust,  Lex.  B.  v.  luppiter,  670,  735. 

4  In  Capitolio  (Gellius,  12.  8.  a  ;  Liv.  38.  57  5).  For  the  collegium  of 
epulones,  which  from  196  B.C.  had  charge  of  this  and  other  public  feasts, 
see  Marq.  347  foil. 

3  Val.  Max.  2.  i.  a ;  Plin.  N.  H.  33.  in  ;  Aust,  1.  c.  ;  Preller,  i.  120. 

4  Marq.  348. 

8  B.  R.  132.  Festus  (68)  explains  daps  as  '  res  divina  quae  fiebat  aut 
hibernu  semente  aut  verna,'  and  Cato  directs  the  farmer  to  begin  to  sow 
after  the  ceremony  he  describes.  I  do  not  clearly  understand  whether 
Marquardt  intended  also  to  connect  the  epulum  Jovis  of  Nov.  13  with  the 
autumn  sowing. 

8  I  am  unable  to  offer  any  explanation  of  these  words,  though  half 
inclined  to  suspect  that  Vesta  was  the  original  deity  of  this  rite  of  the 
farm,  and  that  Jupiter  and  the  wine-offering  are  later  intrusions. 


MENSIS    SEPTEMBER 

I  confess  that  I  do  not  see  wherein  lies  the  point  of  the 
comparison  of  this  passage  with  the  ceremony  of  the  epulum  ; 
and  Marquardt  himself  does  not  attempt  to  elaborate  it.  There 
is  no  mention  here  of  a  visible  presence  of  Jupiter  in  the  form 
of  an  image,  which  is  the  one  striking  feature  of  the  epulum. 
Marquardt,  as  it  seems  to  me,  might  better  have  adduced  some 
example  from  old  Italian  usage  of  the  belief  that  the  gods  were 
spiritually  present  at  a  common  religious  meal — a  belief  on 
which  might  easily  be  engrafted  the  practice  of  presenting 
them  there  in  actual  iconic  form.  Ovid,  for  example,  writes 
thus  of  the  cult  of  the  Sabine  Vacuna ' : 

Ante  focos  dlim  scamnis  considere  longis 

Mos  erafc,  et  mensae  credere  adesse  decs. 
Nunc  quoque  cum  fiunt  antiquae  sacra  Vacunae, 

Ante  Vacunales  stantque  sedentque  focos. 

Or  again  in  the  sacra  of  the  curiae,  if  Dionysius  reports  them 
rightly2,  we  find  a  clear  case  of  a  common  meal  in  which  the 
gods  took  part.  He  tells  us  that  he  saw  tables  in  the  '  sacred 
houses '  of  the  curiae  spread  for  the  gods  with  simple  food  in 
very  primitive  earthenware  dishes.  He  does  not  mention  the 
presence  of  any  images  of  the  gods,  but  it  is  probable  from  his 
interesting  description  that  each  curia  partook  with  its  gods  of 
a  common  meal  of  a  religious  character,  and  one  not  likely  to 
have  come  under  Greek  influence 3. 

This  last  example  may  suggest  a  hypothesis  which  is  at 
least  not  likely  to  do  any  serious  harm.  Let  it  be  remembered 
that  each  curia  was  a  constituent  part  of  the  whole  Roman 
community.  We  might  naturally  expect  to  find  a  common 
religious  meal  of  the  same  kind  in  which  the  whole  state  took 
part  through  its  magistrates  and  senate.  This  is  just  what  we 
do  find  in  the  epulum  Jovis,  though  the  character  of  its  cere- 
monial is  different ;  and  it  is  certainly  possible  that  this 
epulum  had  its  origin  in  a  feast  like  that  which  Dionysius 
saw,  but  one  which  afterwards  underwent  vital  changes  at  the 

1  Fasti,  6.  307.     For  Vacuna  see  Preller,  i.  408. 

*  Bk.  a.  23  (cp.  a.  50)  ;  Marq.  195  foil.  For  a  comparison  of  Greek  and 
Roman  usage  of  this  kind  see  de  Coulanges,  La  Cite  antique,  p.  132  foil. 

3  He  compares  this  common  meal  with  those  of  the  irpvravtia  of  Greek 
cities,  and  also  with  the  </><5ma  at  Sparta.  But  it  is  most  unlikely  that 
the  practice  of  the  curiae  should  have  had  any  but  a  native  origin. 


220  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

hands  of  the  Etruscan  dynasty  of  Roman  kings.  I  am  strongly 
inclined  to  believe  that  it  was  under  the  influence  of  these 
kings  that  the  meal  came  to  take  place  on  the  Capitol,  and  in 
the  temple  of  Jupiter,  Juno,  and  Minerva,  which  they  intended 
to  be  the  new  centre  of  the  Roman  dominion l ;  and  to  them 
also  I  would  ascribe  the  presence  at  the  feast  of  the  three 
deities  in  iconic  form.  It  may  be  that  before  that  critical  era 
in  Roman  history  the  epulum  took  place  not  on  the  Capitol 
but  in  the  Regia,  which  with  the  temple  of  Vesta  hard  by 
formed  the  oldest  centre  of  the  united  Rome  ;  and  that  the 
presence  of  Jupiter  *  or  any  other  god  was  there  a  matter  of 
belief,  like  that  of  Vacuna  with  the  Sabines,  and  not  of  the 
actual  evidence  of  eyesight. 

But  this  conjecture  is  a  somewhat  bold  one ;  and  it  seems 
worth  while  to  take  this  opportunity  of  examining  more 
closely  into  the  cult  of  Jupiter,  with  the  object  of  determining 
whether  the  great  god  was  apt,  in  any  part  of  Italy  but 
Etruria,  to  lend  himself  easily  to  anthropomorphic  ideas  and 
practices 3. 

The  cult  of  Jupiter  is  found  throughout  Italy  under  several 
forms  of  the  same  name,  with  or  without  the  suffix  -piter 
=  pater,  which,  so  far  as  we  can,  guess,  points  to  a  conception 
of  the  god  as  protector,  if  not  originator,  of  a  stock.  This 
paternal  title,  which  was  applied  to  other  deities  also,  does  not 
necessarily  imply  an  early  advance  beyond  the  '  daemonistic ' 
conception  of  divine  beings ;  it  rather  suggests  that  some  one 
such  being  had  been  brought  into  peculiarly  close  relations 
with  a  particular  stock,  and  does  no  more  than  indicate 
a  possibility  of  further  individual  development  in  the  future  '. 

1  See  cap.  7  of  Ambrosch's  Studien ;  and  cp.  cap.  i  on  the  Regia  as  the 
older  centre. 

a  I  may  relegate  to  a  footnote  the  further  conjecture  that  the  original 
deity  of  the  epulum  was  Vesta.  We  know  that  this  Sept.  13  was  one  of 
the  three  days  on  which  the  Vestals  prepared  the  mola  salsa  (Serv.  Eel. 
8.  32).  We  cannot  connect  this  mola  salsa  with  the  cult  of  Jupiter  on  this 
day,  for  the  Vestals  have  no  direct  connexion  with  that  cult  at  any  period 
of  the  year  ;  but  it  is  possible  that  it  was  a  survival  from  the  time  when 
the  common  meal  took  place  in  the  Regia. 

3  See  Aust's  admirable  and  exhaustive  article  on  Jupiter  in  Reseller's 
Lexicon. 

4  Robertson  Smith  (Religion  of  the  Semites,  42  foil.)  seems  to  trace  the  idea 
back  to  an  actual  physical  fatherhood.     Mr.  Farnell,  on  the  other  hand 
(Cu.'te  ofilie  Greek  States,  i.  49),  believes  that  in  the  case  of  Zeus  it  expresses 


MENSIS    SEPTEMBER  221 

The  '  father '  in  this  case  has  no  wife,  though  we  find  the  word 
'mater'  applied  to  goddesses1  ;  Juno  is  undoubtedly  the 
female  principle,  but  she  is  not,  as  has  so  often  been  imagined, 
the  wife  of  Jupiter.  The  attempt  to  prove  this  by  arguing 
from  the  Flamen  Dialis  and  his  wife  the  Flaminica  cannot 
succeed :  the  former  was  the  priest  of  Jupiter,  but  his  wife 
was  not  the  priestess  of  Juno2.  There  is  indeed  a  certain 
mysterious  dualism  of  male  and  female  among  the  old  Italian 
divinities,  as  we  know  from  the  locus  classicus  in  Gellius 
(N,  A.  13.  23.  2);  but  we  are  not  entitled  to  say  that  the 
relation  was  a  conjugal  one  3. 

Before  we  proceed  to  examine  traces  of  the  oldest  Jupiter  in 
Rome  and  Latium  let  us  see  what  survivals  are  to  be  found  in 
other  parts  of  Italy. 

In  Umbria  we  find  Jovis  holding  the  first  place  among  the 
gods  of  the  great  inscription  of  Iguvium,  which  beyond  doubt 
retains  the  primitive  features  of  the  cult,  though  it  dates 
probably  from  the  last  century  B.  c. ,  and  records  rites  which 
indicate  a  fully  developed  city-life4.  His  cult-titles  here  are 
Grabovius,  of  which  the  meaning  is  still  uncertain,  and  Sancius. 
which  brings  him  into  connexion  with  the  Semo  Sancus  and 
Dius  Fidius  of  the  Romans.  The  sacrifices  and  prayers  are 
elaborately  recorded,  but  there  is  no  trace  in  the  ritual  of 
anything  approaching  to  an  anthropomorphic  conception 
of  the  god,  unless  it  be  the  apparent  mention  of  a  temple h. 
No  image  is  mentioned,  and  there  is  no  sign  of  a  common 
meal.  The  titles  of  the  deities  too  have  the  common  old- 
Italian  fluidity,  i.e.  the  same  title  belongs  to  more  than  one 
deity6.  Everything  points  to  a  stage  of  religious  thought  in 
which  the  personality  of  gods  had  no  distinct  place.  The 

'  rather  a  moral  or  spiritual  idea  than  any  real  theological  belief  concern- 
ing physical  or  human  origins.'  In  Italy,  I  think,  the  suffix  pater 
indicates  a'  special  connexion  with  a  particular  stock,  and  one  rather  of 
guardianship  ttian  of  actual  fatherhood.  See  above  on  Neptunalia. 

'   See  Jordan's  note  on  Preller,  i.  56. 

1  See  my  paper  in  Classical  Review,  vol.  ix.  474  foil. 

3  Wissowa,  de  Feriis,  p.  6,  in  the  true  spirit  of  Italian  worship,  concludes 
that  it  was  '  non  per  iustum  matrimonium,  sed  ex  officiorum  affinitate.' 

*  Biicheler,  Umbrica  ;  Brenl,  Les  Tables  Eugubines. 

5  Tab.  i  B.  ^Biichtler,  p.  a,  takes  it  as  a  temple  or  sacellum  of  Juno'. 

6  Grabovius  is  an  epithet  of  Mars  ;  Sancius  of  Fisius  ;  Jovius  or  Juviua 
of  more  than  one  deity. 


222  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

centre-point  of  the  cult  seems  to  be  a  hill,  the  ocris  fisius, 
within  the  town  of  Iguvium,  which  reminds  us  of  the  habits 
of  the  Greek  Zeus  and  the  physical  or  elemental  character — 
unanthropomorphized — which  seems  to  belong  to  that  earlier 
stage  in  his  worship  *. 

It  is  on  a  hill  also  that  we  find  the  cult  among  the 
Sabellians.  An  inscription  from  Kapino  in  the  land  of  the 
Marrucini  tells  us  of  a  festal  procession  in  honour  of  'lovia 
loves  patres  ocris  Tarincris,'  Le.  Jovia  (Juno?)  belonging  to 
the  Jupiter  of  the  hill  Tarincris 2. 

Among  the  Oscan  peoples  the  cult-title  Lucetius  is  the  most 
striking  fact.  Servius 3  says  :  '  Sane  lingua  Osca  Lucetius  est 
luppiter  dictus  a  luce  quam  praestare  hominibus  dicitur.' 
The  same  title  is  found  in  the  hymn  of  the  Roman  Salii4, 
and  is  evidently  connected  with  lux;  Jupiter  being  beyond 
doubt  the  giver  of  light,  whether  that  of  sun  or  moon.  So 
Macrobius 6 :  l  Nam  cum  lovem  accipiamus  lucis  auctorem, 
unde  et  Lucetium  Salii  in  carminibus  canunt  et  Cretenses  Am 
rrjf  rffiepav  vocant,  ipsi  quoque  Eomani  Diespitrem  appellant  ut 
diei  patrem.  lure  hie  dies  lovis  fiducia  vocatur,  cuius  lux 
non  finitur  cum  solis  occasu,  sed  splendorem  diei  et  noctem 
continuat  inlustrante  luna, '  &c.  The  Ides  of  all  months,  i.  e. 
the  days  of  full  moon,  were  sacred  to  Jupiter.  But  in  all 
ceremonies  known  to  us  in  which  the  god  appears  in  this 
capacity  of  his,  there  is,  as  we  might  expect,  no  trace  whatever 
of  a  personal  or  anthropomorphic  conception. 

The  Etruscan  Tina,  or  Tinia,  is  now  generally  identified, 
even  etymologically,  with  Jupiter6.  The  attributes  of  the 
two  are  essentially  the  same,  though  one  particular  side  of 
the  Etruscan  god's  activity,  that  of  the  lightning-wielder,  is 
specially  developed.  But  Tina  is  also  the  protector  of  cities, 
along  with  Juno  and  Minerva  (Cupra  and  Menvra) ;  and  it  is 
in  connexion  with  this  function  of  his  that  we  first  meet 
with  a  decided  tendency  towards  an  anthropomorphic  con- 

1  Farnell,  op.  cit.  i.  50  and  notes. 

4  Mommsen,  Unieritalische  Dialekten,  341  ;  Lex.  637.  The  Jupiter  Cacunus 
of  C.  I.  L.  6.  37 1  and  9.  4876  also  points  to  high  places,  and  there  are  other 
examples. 

3  Aen.  9.  567.  *  Wordsworth,  Fragments  and  Specimens,  p.  564. 

*  Sat.  i.  15.  14. 

'  Deecke,  Etruakische  Forschungen,  iv.  79  foil. 


MENSIS    SEPTEMBER  223 

ception.  Even  here,  however,  the  stimulus  can  hardly  be  said 
to  have  come  from  Italy.  'The  one  fact,'  says  Aust1,  'which 
is  at  present  quite  clear  is  that  the  oldest  Etruscan  repre- 
sentations of  gods  can  be  traced  back  to  Greek  models.  Tinia 
was  completely  identified  in  costume  and  attributes  with  the 
Greek  Zeus  by  Etruscan  artists.'  The  insignia  of  Etruscan 
magistrates  were  again  copied  from  these,  and  have  survived 
for  us  in  the  costume  of  the  Koman  triumphator a,  and  in  part 
in  the  insignia  of  the  curule  magistrate,  i  e.  in  sceptrum,  sella, 
toga  palmata,  &c.,  and  in  the  smearing  of  the  face  of  the 
triumphator  with  minium. 

Coming  nearer  to  Rome  we  find  at  Falerii,  a  town  subject  to 
Roman  and  Sabellian  as  well  as  Graeco-Etruscan  influence,  the 
curious  rite  of  the  If  pas  ydnos  described  by  Ovid  (A  mores, 
3.  13),  and  found  also  in  many  parts  of  Greece8.  In  this 
elaborate  procession  Juno  is  apparently  the  bride,  but  the 
bridegroom  is  not  mentioned;  At  Argos,  Zeus  was  the  bride- 
groom, and  the  inference  is  an  obvious  one  that  Jupiter  was 
the  bridegroom  at  Falerii.  But  this  cannot  be  proved,  and  is 
in  fact  supported  by  no  real  evidence  as  to  the  old-Italian 
relation  of  the  god  and  goddess.  The  rite  is  extremely 
interesting  as  pointing  to  what  seems  to  be  an  early  pene- 
tration of  Greek  religious  ideas  and  practices  into  the  towns 
of  Western  Italy ;  but  it  has  no  other  bearing  on  the  Jupiter- 
question,  nor  are  we  enlightened  by  the  little  else  we  know  of 
the  Falerian  Jupiter  *. 

But  at  Praeneste,  that  remarkable  town  perched  high  upon 
the  hills  which  enclose  the  Latin  Campagna  to  the  north,  we 
find  a  very  remarkable  form  of  the  Jupiter-cult,  and  one 
which  must  be  mentioned  here,  puzzling  and  even  inexplicable 
as  it  certainly  is.  The  great  goddess  of  Praeneste  was  Fortuna 
Primigenia — a  cult-title  which  cannot  well  mean  anything  but 
first-born R ;  and  that  she  was,  or  came  to  be  thought  of  as,  the 
first-born  daughter  of  Jupiter  is  placed  beyond  a  doubt  by  an 

1  Lex.  s.  v.  luppiter,  p.  634. 

*  Servius  Ed.  10.  27  ;  Diet,  of  Antiquities  fed.  a\  s.v.  Triumphus. 

3  Farnell,  i.  184  foil.  See  also  Dion.  Hal.  i.  ai.  a  ;  Deecke,  Die  Falisker, 
p.  88  ;  Lex.  s.v.  Juno,  591  ;  Roscher,  Jvno  und  Hera,  76. 

*  Lex.  643. 

s  H.  Jordan,  Symbolae  ad  historiam  reltgionum  Italicarum  alterae.  K6nigsberg, 
1885. 


224  TUE    R<>MAN    FESTIVALS 

inscription  of  great  antiquity  first  published  in  1882  '.  But 
this  is  not  the  only  anomaly  in  the  Jupiter- worship  of 
Praeneste.  There  was  another  cult  of  Fortuna,  distinct, 
apparently,  from  that  of  Fortuna  Primigenia,  in  which  she 
took  the  form  not  of  a  daughter  but  of  a  mother,  and,  strange 
as  it  may  seem,  of  the  mother  both  of  Jupiter  and  Juno.  On 
this  point  we  have  the  explicit  evidence  of  Cicero  (de  Divina- 
tione,  2.  85),  who  says,  when  speaking  of  the  place  where  the 
famous  'sortes'  of  Praeneste  were  first  found  by  a  certain 
Numerius  Suffustius :  '  Is  est  hodie  locus  saeptus  religiose 
propter  lovis  pueri  (sacellum?)  qui  lactens  cum  lunone  Fortunae 
in  gremio  sedens,  castissime  colitur  a  matribus.'  Thus  we 
have  Fortuna  worshipped  in  the  same  place  as  the  daughter 
and  as  the  mother  of  Jupiter ;  and  nowhere  else  in  Italy  can 
we  find  a  trace  of  a  similar  conception  of  the  relations  either 
of  these  or  any  other  deities.  We  cannot  well  reject  the 
evidence  of  Cicero,  utterly  unsupported  though  it  be :  we 
must  face  the  difficulty  that  we  have  here  to  account  for  the 
occurrence  of  a  Jupiter  who  is  the  child  of  Fortuna  and  also 
apparently  the  brother  of  Juno,  as  well  as  of  a  Jupiter  who  is 
the  father  of  Fortuna. 

As  regards  this  last  feature,  the  fatherhood  of  Jupiter, 
Jordan  says  emphatically " — and  no  scholar  was  more  careful  in 
his  judgements — that  in  the  whole  range  of  Italian  religions 
'  libeiorum  procreatio  nulla  est  unquam ' :  and  ho  would 
understand  'filia'  in  the  inscription  quoted  above  in  a  meta- 
phorical rather  than  a  physical  sense.  Yet  however  we 
choose  to  think  of  it,  Mommsen  is  justified  in  remarking3  on 
the  peculiarly  anthropomorphic  idea  of  Fortuna  (and  we  may 
add  of  Jupiter)  at  which  the  Latins  of  Praeneste  must  have 
arrived,  in  comparison  with  the  character  of  Italian  religion 
generally. 

1  '  Orceria  •  Numeri  •  nationu  •  cratia  •  Fortuna  •  Diovo  •  filei  •  primocenia  • 
donom  dedi '  (C.  I.  L.  xiv.  2863).  There  are  later  inscriptions  in  which 
she  appears  as  '  lovis  (or  lovi)  puero,'  in  the  sense  of  female  child  (C.  I.L. 
xiv.  2862,  2868).  The  subject  is  discussed  by  Mommsen  in  Hermes  for 
1884,  p.  455,  and  by  Jordan  op.  cit.  See  also  Lex.  s.  v.  Fortuna,  1542  foil., 
and  s.  v.  luppiter,  648. 

"  Symbolue,  i.  p.  8,  and  cp.  12.  For  the  apparent  parallel  in  the  myth  of 
the  birth  of  Mars  see  on  March  i. 

s  Hermes,  1884,  p.  455  foil. 


MENSIS    SEPTEMBER  225 

Even  more  singular  than  this  is  the  sonship  of  Jupiter  and 
the  fact  that  he  appeared  together  with  Juno  in  the  lap  of 
Fortuna  'mammae  appetens.'  Cicero's  language  leaves  no 
doubt  that  there  was  some  work  of  art  at  Praeneste  in  which 
the  three  were  so  represented,  or  believed  to  be  represented. 
Yet  there  are  considerations  which  may  suggest  that  we  should 
hesitate  before  hastily  concluding  that  all  this  is  a  genuine 
Italian  development  of  genuine  Italian  ideas. 

1.  Italy  presents  us  with   no   real   parallel   to   this  child- 
Jupiter,  though  in  Greece  we  find  many.    Jordan  has  mentioned 
three  possible  Italian  parallels,  but  rejected  them  all:  Caeculus 
Volcani,  the  legendary  founder  of  Praeneste,  Hercules  bullatus, 
and  the  beardless  Veiovis.     The  attributes  of  the  last-named 
are  explained  by  a  late  identification  with  Apollo * ;  Hercules 
bullatus   is   undoubtedly   Greek :    the   story  of  the  birth  of 
Caeculus  is  a  foundation-legend,  truly  Italian  in  character,  but 
belonging  to   a  different   class   of  religious  ideas  from  that 
we  are  discussing.     To  these  we  may  add  that  the  boy-Mars 
found   on  a  Praenestine  cista  is  clearly  of  Etruscan   origin, 
as  is  shown  by  Deecke  in  the  Lexicon,  s.  v.  Maris. 

2.  Cicero's  statement  is  not  confirmed  by  any  inscription 
from  Praeneste.     Those  which  were  formerly  thought  to  refer 
to  lupiter  Piter"2  are   now  proved   to  belong  to  Fortuna   as 
lovis  puer  (  =  filia}.     It  is  most  singular  that  Fortuna  should 
be  thus  styled  lovis  puer  in  th«  same   place  where  Jupiter 
himself  was  worshipped  as  puer;   still  more  so  that  in  one 
inscription   (2868)  the  cutter   should   have   dropped  out   the 
's'  in  lovis,   so  that  we  actually  read  lovi  pucro.      It  may 
seem   tempting  to  guess  that  the  name  Jupiter  Puer  arose 
from  a  misunderstanding   of  the   word  puer  as   applied   to 
Fortuna :  but  the  evidence  as  it  stands  supplies  no  safe  ground 
for  this. 

3.  The  fact  that  Cicero  describes  a  statue  is  itself  suspicious, 
in  the  absence  of  corroborative  evidence  of  any  other  kind 3 : 

1  Gellius,  N.  A.  5.  12 ;  Ovid,  Fasti,  3.  429  foil. ;  and  see  above  on  May  21. 
For  Hercules,  Jordan  1.  c.  and  his  note  on  Preller,  ii.  298.  For  Caeculus, 
Wissowa,  in  Lex.  a.  v.  a  C.  I.  L.  xiv.  2862  and  2868. 

3  The  trio,  signa  of  Liv.  23.  19,  placed  '  in  aede  Fortunae '  by  M.  Anicius 
after  his  escape  from  Hannibal,  with  a  dedication,  may  possibly  have  been 
those  of  Fortuna  and  the  two  babes  (Preller,  ii.  192,  note  i)  :  but  this  is 
very  doubtful. 


226  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

for  it  suggests  that  the  cult  may  have  arisen,  and  have  taken 
its  peculiar  form,  as  a  result  of  the  introduction  of  Greek 
or  Graeco-Etruscan  works  of  art.  In  Praeneste  itself,  and 
in  other  parts  of  Latium  and  of  Campania,  innumerable  terra- 
cottas have  been  found  l,  of  the  type  of  the  Greek  KovporpoQos, 
i.  e.  a  mother,  sitting  or  standing,  with  a  child,  and  occasionally 
two  children2  in  her  lap.  These  may,  indeed,  be  simply 
votive  offerings,  to  Fortuna  and  other  deities  of  childbirth  : 
but  such  objects  may  quite  well  have  served  as  the  foundation 
from  which  the  idea  of  Fortuna  and  her  infants  arose.  There 
is  a  passage  in  Servius  which  seems  to  me  to  show  a  trace  of 
a  similar  confusion  elsewhere  in  this  region  of  Italy.  '  Circa 
hunc  tractum  Campaniae  colebatur  pucr  luppitcr  qui  Anxyrus 
dicebatur  quasi  avev  £vpov,  id  est  sine  novacula :  quia  barbam 
nunquam  rasisset :  et  luno  virgo  quae  Feronia  dicebatur  V 
True,  the  Jupiter  of  Anxur  is  a  boy  or  youth 4,  not  an  infant : 
but  the  passage  serves  well  to  show  the  fluidity  of  Italian 
deities,  at  any  rate  in  regard  to  the  names  attached  to  them. 
That  this  pucr  Iiippiter  was  originally  some  other  deity, 
and  very  possibly  a  Greek  one,  I  have  little  doubt :  while 
Juno  Virgo,  Feronia,  Fortuna,  Proserpina,  all  seem  to  slide 
into  each  other  in  a  way  which  is  very  bewildering  to  the 
investigator 5.  This  is  no  doubt  owing  to  two  chief  causes — 
the  daemonistic  character  of  the  early  Italian  religion,  in 
which  many  of  the  spiritual  conceptions  were  even  unnamed ; 
and,  secondly,  the  confusion  which  arose  when  Greek  artistic 
types  were  first  introduced  into  Italy.  Two  currents  of 
religious  thought  met  at  this  point,  perhaps  in  the  eighth 
and  following  centuries  B.  c. ;  and  the  result  was  a  whirlpool, 
in  which  the  deities  were  tossed  about,  lost  such  shape  as 
they  possessed,  or  got  inextricably  entangled  with  each  other. 
The  French  student  of  Praenestine  antiquities  writes  with 
reason  of  'the  negligence  with  which  the  Praenestine  artists 

1  Jordan,  Symtolae,  10 ;  Lex.  s.  v.  Fortunae,  1543  ;  Fernique,  fitude  sur 
Preneste,  78. 

2  Gerhard,  Antike  Bilduxrke,  Tab.  iv.  no.  i,  gives  an  example  :  the  children 
here,  however,  are  not  babes,  and  the  mother  has  her  arms  round  their 
necks.     It  seems  more  to  resemble  the  types  of  Leto  with  Apollo  and 
Artemis  as  infants  (Lex.  a.  v.  Leto,  1973),  as  Prof.  Gardner  suggests  to  me. 

3  Ad  Aen.  7.  799.  t  *  Lex.  s.  v.  Iiippiter,  640. 
*  See  Fernique,  Etude  sur  Preneste,  pp.  79-81. 


MENSIS    SEPTEMBER  227 

placed  the  names  of  divinities  and  heroes  on  designs  borrowed 
from  Greek  models,  and  often  representing  a  subject  which 
they  did  not  understand1.' 

4.  And  lastly,  there  is  no  doubt  that  Praeneste,  in  spite 
of  its  lofty  position  on  the  hills,  was  at  an  early  stage  of  its 
existence  subject  to  foreign  influences,  like  so  many  other 
towns  on  or  near  the  western  coast  of  central  Italy.  This 
has  been  made  certain  by  works  of  art  found  in  its  oldest 
tombs 2.  Whether  these  objects  came  from  Greece,  Phoenicia, 
Carthage,  or  Etruria,  the  story  they  tell  is  for  us  the  same, 
and  may  well  make  us  careful  in  accepting  a  statement  like 
that  of  Cicero's  without  some  hesitation.  There  was  even 
a  Greek  foundation-legend  of  Praeneste,  as  well  as  the  pure 
Italian  one  of  Caeculus 3.  Evidence  is  slowly  gathering  which 
points  to  a  certain  basis  of  fact  in  these  foundation-stories — 
of  fact,  at  least,  in  so  far  as  they  seem  to  indicate  that  the 
transformation  of  the  early  Italian  community  into  a  city 
and  a  centre  of  civilization  was  coincident  with  the  era  of 
the  introduction  of  foreign  trade. 

While,  then,  we  cannot  hope  as  yet  to  account  for  the 
singular  anomaly  in  the  Jupiter- cult,  which  is  presented  to 
us  at  Praeneste,  we  may  at  least  hesitate  to  make  use  of  it 
in  answering  the  main  question  with  which  we  set  out — viz. 
how  far  we  can  find  in  the  cult  of  the  genuine  Italian  Jupiter 
any  tendency  towards  an  anthropomorphic  conception  of  the 
god.  Before  we  return  to  Rome  a  word  is  needed  about  the 
Latin  Jupiter.  The  Latin  festival  has  already  been  described 4 : 
it  will  be  sufficient  here  to  point  out  that  none  of  its  features 
show  any  advance  towards  an  anthropomorphic  conception  of 
Jupiter  Latiaris.  The  god  here  is  of  the  same  type  as  at 
Iguvium,  one  whose  sanctuary — whatever  it  may  originally 
have  been — is  in  a  grove  on  a  hill-top5,  the  conspicuous 
religious  centre  of  the  whole  Latin  stock  inhabiting  the  plain 
below.  Of  this  stock  he  is  the  uniting  and  protecting  deity ; 

1  Fernique,  op.  cit.  p.  79. 

*  Fernique,  139  foil.  Wissowa  writes  of  Praeneste  as  'a  special  point 
of  connexion  between  Latin  and  Etruscan  culture  '  (Lex.  s.  v.  Mercurius, 
2813). 

3  Plutarch,  Parallela,  41.  4  See  at  end  of  April,  p.  95. 

'"  Liv.  i.  31.  3  '  visi  etiam  audire  vocem  ingentem  ex  summi  cacuminis 
luco,  ut  patrio  ritu  sacra  Albani  facerent.' 


228  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

and  when  once  a  year  his  sacred  victim  is  slain,  after  offerings 
have  been  made  to  him  by  the  representatives  of  each  member 
of  the  league,  it  is  essential  that  each  should  also  receive  (and 
probably  consume  through  its  deputies)  a  portion  of  the  sacri- 
ficial flesh  (carnem  petere).  This,  the  main  feature,  and  other 
details  of  the  ritual,  point  to  a  survival  from  a  very  early  stage 
of  religious  culture,  and  one  that  we  may  fairly  call  aniconic. 
The  victim,  a  white  heifer,  the  absence  of  wine  in  the  libations, 
and  the  mention  of  milk  and  cheese  among  the  offerings,  all 
suggest  an  origin  in  the  pastoral  age  ;  and  it  would  seem 
that  foreign  ideas  never  really  penetrated  into  this  worship  of 
a  pastoral  race.  The  objects  that  have  been  found  during 
excavations  near  the  site  of  the  ancient  temple  *  show  that, 
as  in  the  worship  of  the  Fratres  Arvales  and  in  that  of  the 
curia°,  so  here,  the  most  antique  type  of  sacred  vessels  remained 
in  use.  Undoubtedly  there  was  in  later  times  a  temple,  and 
also  a  statue  of  the  god z :  and  it  is  just  possible  that,  as 
Niebuhr  supposed3,  these  were  the  goal  of  an  ancient  Alban 
triumphal  procession,  older  than  the  later  magnificent  rite  of 
the  Capitol.  But  we  know  for  certain  that  the  ancient  cult 
here  suggests  neither  gorgeous  ritual  nor  iconic  usage.  We 
see  nothing  but  the  unadorned  practices  of  a  simple  cattle- 
br^feding  people. 

Coming  now  once  more  to  Rome  itself,  where  of  course  we 
have  fuller  information,  fragmentary  though  it  be,  we  find 
sufficiently  clear  indications  of  an  ancient  cult  of  Jupiter 
showing  characteristics  of  much  the  same  kind  as  those  we 
have  already  noticed  as  being  genuine  Italian. 

In  the  first  place  the  cult  is  associated  with  hills  and  also 
with  trees.  It  is  found  on  that  part  of  the  Esquiline  which 
was  known  as  lucus  Fagutalis  or  Fagutal :  here  there  was 
a  sacellum  lovis  'in  quo  fuit  fagus  arbor  quae  lovis  (so  MSS.) 
sacra  habebatur  * ' :  and  the  god  himself  was  called  Fagutalis. 

1  e.g.  the  vases  of  very  primitive  make  (Henzen,  Ada  Fralr.  Arc.  30). 

3  Liv.  27.  ii  (B.C.  209). 

J  Niebuhr,  Hist,  of  Rome,  ii.  37.  Strong  arguments  are  urged  against 
this  view  by  Aust,  Lex.  696. 

*  Paul.  Diac.  87.  The  lucus  is  mentioned  in  the  corrupt  fragments  of  the 
Argean  itinerary  (see  on  May  15)  in  Varro,  L.  L.  5.  50  (see  Jordan,  Topogr. 
ii.  242) :  where  I  am  inclined  to  think  the  real  reading  is  '  Esquiliis  cis 
lovis  lucum  fagutalem ' ;  '  luppiter  Fagutalis'  in  Plin.  N.  H.  16.  37; 
a  'vicus  lovis  Fagutalis,'  C.  /.  L.  vi.  452  (no  A.  D.). 


MENSIS    SEPTEMBER  229 

Not  far  off  on  the  Viminal,  or  hill  of  the  osiers,  there  was  also 
an  altar  of  Jupiter  Viminius,  which  we  may  suppose  to  have 
been  ancient1.  The  mysterious  Capitolium  vetus  on  the 
Quirinal  may  be  assumed  as  telling  the  same  tale,  though  in 
historical  times  the  memory  of  the  cult  there  included  Minerva 
and  Juno  with  Jupiter,  i.e.  the  Etruscan  'Trias.'  Lastly,  on 
the  Capitol  itself  was  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Feretrius,  reputed 
to  be  the  oldest  in  Rome2.  It  was  attributed  to  Romulus, 
who,  after  slaying  the  king  of  the  Caeninenses,  dedicated  the 
first  spolia  opima  on  an  ancient  oak  'pastoribus  sacram,'  and 
at  the  same  time  '  designavit  templo  lovis  fines  cognomenque 
addidit  deo.'  The  oak,  we  may  assume,  was  the  original 
dwelling  of  the  god,  and  upon  it  were  fixed  the  arms  taken 
from  the  conquered  enemy  as  a  thank-offering  for  his  aid:!. 
In  this  case  we  seem  to  be  able  to  guess  the  development  of 
the  cult  from  this  beginning  in  the  tree-worship  of  primitive 
'pastores.'  The  next  step  would  be  the  erection  of  an  altar 
below  the  tree,  in  a  small  enclosure,  i.  e.  a  sacellum  of  the 
same  kind  as  those  of  the  Argei  or  the  Sacellum  Larum 4.  The 
third  stage  would  be  the  building  of  the  aedes  known  to  us  in 
history,  which  Cornelius  Nepos  says  had  fallen  into  decay  in 
his  time,  and  was  rebuilt  by  Augustus  on  the  suggestion  of 
Atticus.  Even  this  was  a  very  small  building,  for  Dionysius 
saw  the  foundations  of  it  and  found  them  only  fifteen  feet  wide. 
This  oldest  cult  of  Jupiter  was  completely  overshadowed  by 
the  later  one  of  the  Etruscan  Trias — the  aniconic  by  the  iconic, 
the  pure  Italian  by  the  mongrel  ritual  from  Etruria. 

That  this  Jupiter  Feretrius8  was  the  great  Jupiter  of  pre- 
Etruscan  Eome  seems  to  be  proved  by  his  connexion  with 
oaths  and  treaties,  in  which  he  resembles  the  god  of  the  Latin 

1  For  luppiter  Viminiua  and  his  ara,  Fest.  376. 

*  Liv.  i.  10  ;  Dionys.  a.  34  ;  Propert.  5.  (4  )  10. 

3  For  other  examples  of  this  practice  see  BOtticher,  Baumkultus,  pp.  73 
and  134  ;  Virgil,  Aen.  10.  423,  and  Servius,  ad  loc.  ;  Statius,  Theb.  a.  707. 

4  Corn.  Nep.  Atticus,  ao ;  cf.  Mommsen,  Res  Gestae  LHvi  Augus'i,  p.  53 ;  Dion. 
Hal.  2.  34.  4.     This  is  apparently  what  Livy  alludes  to  in  i.  10,  attributing 
it,  after  Roman  fashion,  to  Romulus :  '  Tempi um  his  regionibus,  quas  modo 
aniino  metatus  sum,  dedico  sedem  opimis  spoliis.'    For  a  discussion  of  the 
shape  of  this  temple  see  Aust,  in  Lex.  s.  v.  luppiter,  673.     He  is  inclined  to 
attribute  it  (679}  to  the  A.  Cornelius  Cos&us  who  dedicated  the  second 
spolia  opima  in  B.C.  428  (Liv.  4.  20'. 

*  The  meaning  of  the  cult-title  is  obscure  ;  Lex.  s.  v.  luppiter,  673. 


230  THE    KOMAN    FESTIVALS 

festival.  To  him  apparently  belonged  the  priestly  college  of 
the  Fetiales,  who  played  so  important  a  part  in  the  declaring 
of  war  and  the  making  of  treaties  :  at  any  rate  it  was  from  his 
temple  that  the  lapis  silex  and  the  sceptrum  were  taken  which 
accompanied  them  on  their  official  journeys1.  It  has  been 
supposed  that  this  lapis  silex  was  a  symbol  of  the  god  himself, 
like  the  spear  of  Mars  in  the  Eegia,  and  other  such  objects  of 
cult2.  'We  recognize  here  the  primitive  forms  of  a  nature- 
worship,  in  which  the  simple  flint  was  sufficient  to  bring  up 
in  men's  minds  the  idea  of  the  heavenly  power  of  lightning 
and  thunder,'  i.e.  the  flint  if  struck  would  emit  sparks  and 
remind  the  beholder  of  lightning.  Unluckily  the  existence  of 
a  stone  in  this  temple  as  an  object  of  worship  is  not  clearly 
attested.  Servius  (Aen.  8.  641)  says  that  the  Fetials  took  to 
using  a  stone  instead  of  a  sword  to  slay  their  victims  with, 
'quod  antiquum  lovis  signum  lapidem  silicem  putaverunt 
esse.'  The  learned  commentator  makes  a  mistake  here  which 
will  be  obvious  to  all  archaeologists,  in  putting  the  age  of  iron 
before  that  of  stone ;  but  it  has  not  been  equally  clear  to 
scholars  that  he  by  no  means  implies  his  belief  that  Jupiter 
was  ever  worshipped  under  the  form  of  a  stone.  He  only  says 
that  the  Fetials  fancied  that  this  was  so:  and  the  whole 
passage  has  an  aetiological  colouring  which  should  put  us  on 
our  guard 3.  It  is  not  supported  by  any  other  statement  or 
tradition, except  an  allusion  in  S.  Augustine4  to  a  'lapis Capito- 

1  Paul.  Diac.  92  ;  Serv.  Aen.  12.  206. 

"  Aust,  in  Lex.  676  .  .  The  idea  is  that  of  Helbig  in  his  Ilaliker  in  der 
Poebene,  91  foil.  Cp.  Schwegler,  Rom.  Gesch.  i.  68r,  and  Preller,  i.  248  foil. 
H.  Nettleship,  Essays  in  Latin  Literature,  p.  35,  and  Strachan-Davidson 
(.Polybius,  Prolegomena,  -viii)  discuss  the  oath  per  lovtm  lapidem  usefully. 
Nettleship  saw  that  the  passage  of  Servius  is  the  only  one  which  'gives 
any  real  support '  to  the  notion  that  the  god  was  represented  by  a  stone  ; 
and  Strachan-Davidson  notes  the  aetiological  method  of  Servius. 

3  Cp.  his  note  on  the  '  sceptrum '  (Aen.  12.  206),  which  he  explains  as 
being  the  substitute  for  a  'simulacrum'  of  Jupiter.  Was  this  'simulacrum* 
a  stone  ?  If  so  he  would  have  said  so.  Obviously  he  knew  little  or 
nothing  about  these  cult-objects. 

*  de  Civ.  Dei  2.  29.  S.  Augustine  couples  it  with  the  focus  Vestne,  as 
something  well  known  :  and  this  could  not  be  said  at  that  time  of  any 
object  in  the  temple  of  Jupiter  Feretrius.  The  epithet  Capitolinus  would 
suit  the  stone  of  Terminus  far  better  ;  and  this  is,  in  fact,  made  almost 
certain  by  Servius'  language  when  speaking  of  Virgil's  '  Capitoli  immobile 
saxum '  (Aen.  g.  448),  which  he  identifies  with  the  '  lapidem  ipsum  Ter- 
mini.' Doubtless  if  we  could  be  sure  that  such  a  stone  existed,  we  might 
guessthat  it  was  anaerolite  (Strachan-Davidson,  p.  76,  who  quotes  examples). 


MENSIS    SEPTEMBER  231 

linus,'  which  is  surely  the  stone  of  Terminus  (see  below) :  and 
by  the  oath  'per  lovem  lapidem,'  which  has  been  interpreted 
by  some  as  meaning  'Jupiter  in  the  form  of  a  stone.'  But 
this  interpretation  is  at  least  open  to  grave  doubt ;  and  in  the 
absence  of  clearer  evidence  for  the  '  luppiter  lapis '  of  the  temple 
it  is  better  to  understand  the  oath  as  being  sworn  by  the  god 
and  also  by  the  stone,  '  two  distinct  aspects  of  the  transaction 
being  run  together,'  in  a  way  not  uncommon  in  Latin 
formulae '. 

It  only  remains  to  conjecture  what  the  '  silex '  or  '  lapis ' 
was  "which  the  Fetials  took  from  the  temple  together  with  the 
sceptrum.  Helbig  has  attempted  to  prove  that  it  was  not 
a  survival  of  the  stone  age,  e.g.  an  axe  of  stone.  Had  that 
been  so,  he  argues,  the  Roman  antiquaries,  who  were  acquainted 
with  such  implements2,  would  have  noticed  it:  and  those 
who  describe  the  rites  of  the  Fetials  would  have  stated  that  the 
stone  was  artificially  sharpened.  But  this  negative  argument 
is  not  a  strong  one ;  and  I  am  rather  inclined  to  agree  with 
the  suggestion  of  Dr.  Tylor3.  that  it  was  a  stone  celt  believed 
to  have  been  a  thunder-bolt.  There  may  indeed  have  been 
more  than  one  of  these  kept  in  the  temple,  for  in  B.C.  201  the 
Fetials  who  went  to  Africa  took  with  them  each  a  stone4  (privos 
lapides  siliccs)  along  with  their  '  sagmina,'  &c.  This  fact  seems 
to  me  to  prove  that  the  silices,  like  the  sagmina  and  sceptrum, 
were  only  part  of  the  ritualistic  apparatus  of  the  Fetials  \  and 
not  objects  in  which  the  god  was  supposed  to  be  manifested. 
The  idea  that  he  was  originally  worshipped  in  the  form  of 
a  stone  may  well  have  arisen  from  this  use  of  stones  in  the 
ritual,  especially  if  those  stones  were  believed  to  be  in  some 
way  his  handiwork6.  We  may  think  then  of  the  cult  of 

1  So  Nettleship,  1.  c.  :  and  Strachan-Davidson,  1.  c. 

3  He  quotes  Plin.  N.  H.  37. 135  '  cerauniae  nigrae  rubentesque  et  similes 
securibus.' 

s  Communicated  to  Mr.  Strachan-Davidson,  and  mentioned  by  him  in 
a  note  (op.  cit.  p.  77).  An  instance  in  Ret/el,  History  of  Mankind,  vol.  i. 
p.  175.  The  other  suggestion,  that  it  was  a  meteoric  stone,  is  also  quite 
possible  :  for  Greek  examples,  see  SchOmann,  Griech.  Alterthumer,  ii.  171  foil. 

4  Liv.  30.  43. 

5  We  may  compare  the   'orbita'   of  the  cult  of  Jupiter  Sancius  at 
Iguvium  :  Biicheler,  Umtrica,  141.     See  above,  p.  139. 

6  It  may  be  as  well  to  say,  before  leaving  the  subject,  that  I  certainly 
agree  with  Mr.  Strachan-Davidson  that  the  ordinary  oath,  'per  lovein 


232  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

Jupiter  Feretrius  as  an  example  of  primitive  tree-worship,  but 
we  are  not  justified  in  going  further  and  finding  him  also  in 
the  form  of  a  stone. 

There  is  yet  another  stone  that  may  have  belonged  to  the 
earliest  Roman  cult  of  Jupiter,  but  the  connexion  is  not 
very  certain.  'The  (rite  of)  Aquaelicium,'  says  Festus',  'is 
when  rain  is  procured  (elicitur)  by  certain  methods,  as  for 
example  when  the  lapis  manalis  is  carried  into  the  city.'  This 
stone  lay  by  the  temple  of  Mars,  outside  the  Porta  Capena ;  we 
learn  from  other  passages  that  it  was  carried  by  the  ponti- 
fices  ",  but  we  are  not  told  what  they  did  with  it  within  the 
walls.  It  has  been  ingeniously  suggested  that  this  rain-spell, 
as  we  may  call  it,  was  a  part  of  the  cult  of  Jupiter  Elicius,  to 
whom  there  was  an  altar  close  by  under  the  Aventine8,  the 
cult-title  being  identical  with  the  latter  part  of  the  word 
'  aquaelicium 4. '  We  may  agree  that  the  stone  had  nothing  to 
do  with  the  temple  of  Mars,  which  happened  to  be  near  it,  and 
also  that  any  such  rain-spell  as  this  would  be  more  likely  to 
belong  to  the  cult  of  Jupiter  than  of  any  other  deity.  The 
heaven-god,  who  launches  the  thunder-bolt,  is  naturally  and 
almost  everywhere  also  the  rain-giver5:  and  that  this  was 
one  of  the  functions  of  Jupiter  is  fully  attested,  for  later  times 
at  least6. 

But  it  must  be  confessed  that  the  evidence  is  very  slight  ~ : 
and  it  is  as  well  here  to  remember  that  the  further  we  probe 
back  into  old  Italian  rites,  the  less  distinctly  can  we  expect  to 
be  able  to  connect  them  with  particular  deities.  The  formula 

lapidem,'  where  the  swearer  throws  the  stone  away  from  him  (described 
by  Polybius,  3.  25),  has  nothing  to  do  with  the  ritual  of  the  Fetials. 

1  Festup,  p.  2.  Cp.  128,  where  this  stone  is  distinguished  from  the 
other,  which  was  the  '  ostium  Orci.'  Serv.  Aen.  3.  175. 

a  Serv.  1.  c.  Marquardt,  and  Aust  following  him,  add  the  matrons  with 
bare  feet  and  the  magistrates  without  their  praetexta  :  but  this  rests  on 
the  authority  of  Petronius  (Sat.  44),  who  surely  is  not  writing  of  Borne, 
where  the  ceremony  was  only  a  tradition,  to  judge  by  Fest.  p.  a. 

3  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  94. 

*  0.  Gilbert,  ii.  154:   adopted  by  Aust,  658,  who   adds  some   slight 
additional  evidence  :  e.  g.  the  '  lovem  aquam  exorabant  *  of  the  passage 
from  Petronius. 

*  Tylor,  Prim.  Cult.  ii.  235-7  '•  f<>r  the  Greek  Zeus,  Farnell,  Cults,  i.  44  foil. 
'  Preller,  i.  190.     I  cannot  say  that  I  find  evidence  earlier  than  the 

passage  of  Tibullus,  i.  7.  26  (Jupiter  Pluvius). 

7  Note  that  the  Flamen  Dialis  is  not  mentioned  along  with  the  Ponti- 
fices  by  Servius,  1.  c. 


MENSIS    SEPTEMBER  233 

'  si  deus,  si  dea  es '  should  always  be  borne  in  mind  in  attempt- 
ing to  connect  gods  and  ceremonies.  And  this  ceremony,  like 
that  of  the  Argei '  (which  also  wants  a  clearly-conceived  deity 
as  its  object),  is  obviously  a  survival  from  a  very  primitive 
class  of  performances  which  Mr.  Frazer  has  called  acts  of 
'sympathetic  magic2.'  I  am  indebted  to  the  Golden  Bough  for 
a  striking  parallel  to  the  rite  of  the  lapis  manalis,  among 
many  others  which  more  or  less  resemble  it.  '  In  a  Samoan 
village  a  certain  stone  was  carefully  housed  as  the  repre- 
sentative of  the  rain-making  god  :  and  in  time  of  drought 
his  priests  earned  the  stone  in  procession  and  dipped  it  in 
a  stream3.'  What  was  done  with  the  lapis  manalis  we  are 
not  told,  but  it  is  pretty  plain  from  the  word  'manalis,'  and 
from  the  fragments  of  explanation  which  have  come  down  to 
us  from  Roman  scholars,  that  it  was  either  the  object  of  some 
splashing  or  pouring,  or  was  itself  hollow  and  was  filled  with 
water  which  was  to  be  poured  out  in  imitation  of  the  desired 
rain4.  Such  rites  need  not  necessarily  be  connected  by  us 
with  the  name  of  a  god  :  and  the  Jupiter  Elicius,  with  whom 
it  is  sought  to  connect  this  one,  was  always  associated  by  the 
Romans  not  with  this  obsolete  rite,  but  with  the  elaborated 
science  of  augury  which  was  in  the  main  Etruscan 5. 

But  this  discussion  has  already  been  carried  on  as  far  as 
the  scope  of  this  work  permitsk  It  may  be  completed  by  any 
one  who  has  the  patience  to  work  through  Aust's  exhaustive 
article,  examining  his  conclusions  with  the  aid  of  his  abundant 
references  ;  but  I  doubt  if  anything  will  be  found,  beyond  what 
I  have  mentioned,  whieh  bears  closely  on  the  question  with 
which  we  set  out.  That  question  was,  whether  the  distinctly 
anthropomorphic  treatment  of  Jupiter  in  the  '  epulum  lovis ' 
could  be  explained  by  any  native  Italian  practice  in  his  cult  (as 

1  See  on  May  15. 

3  Golden  Bough,  i.  u  foil.  ;  Grimm,  Teutonic  Mythology,  595  foil.  ;  abundant 
examples  in  the  works  of  Mannhardt,  see  indices. 

*  From  Samoa,  by  G.  Turner,  p.  145. 

*  Compare   together   Nonius,   547.   10 ;   559.    19  (s.  v.  trulleum),   from 
Varro;    Festus,    128,   s.  v.  'manalis  lapis,'  from  Verrius  Flaccus.      The 
suggestion  that  the  stone  was  hollow  is  0.  Gilbert's. 

*  Aust,  Lex.  657,  who  believes  the  Romans  to  have  been  mistaken.    The 
locus  classicus  is  Ovid,  Fasti,  3.  285  foil. ;  a  more  rational  account  in  Liv. 
i.  20 ;  Plin.  N.  H.  a.  140.    Note  the  position  of  the  altar  of  this  Jupiter, 
i.  e.  the  Aventiue. 


234  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

Marquardt  tried  to  explain  it),  or  must  be  referred  with  Aust 
to  foreign,  i.  e.  Graeco-Etruscan,  influence.  I  am  driven  to 
the  conclusion  that  Aust  is  probably  right.  There  is  no  real 
trace  in  Italy  of  an  indigenous  iconic  representation  of  Jupiter. 
Trees  and  hills  are  apparently  sacred  to  him,  and  possibly 
stones,  though  this  last  is  doubtful :  we  find  a  sacrificial  meal 
at  the  Latin  festival,  but  no  sign  that  he  takes  part  in  it  as  an 
image  or  statue.  Elsewhere,  as  at  Praeneste,  peculiar  repre- 
sentations of  him  arouse  strong  suspicions  of  foreign  iconic 
influence.  I  think,  on  the  whole,  that  the  Italian  peoples 
owed  the  sacred  image  to  foreign  works  of  art :  and  that  the 
'  epulum  lovis '  was  introduced  from  Etruria  by  the  Etruscan 
dynasty  wrhich  built  the  Capitoline  temple.  It  may,  indeed, 
have  been  engrafted  upon  an  earlier  sacrificial  meal  like  that 
of  the  feriae  Latinae,  or  that  of  the  curiae,  or  the  rustic  one  of 
Jupiter  dapalis:  but,  if  so,  the  meal  was  one  at  which  the 
ancient  Eomans  were  content  .to  believe,  as  Ovid  says,  that  the 
gods  were  present,  and  did  not  need,  like  the  Greeks,  the  evidence 
of  their  eyes  to  help  out  their  belief.  Their  gods  were  still 
aniconic  when  the  wave  of  foreign  ideas  broke  over  them. 
We  may  say  of  the  earliest  Koman  cult  of  Jupiter  what 
Tacitus  asserts  of  the  Germans  of  his  day : :  '  nee  cohibere 
parietibus  deos  neque  in  ullam  humani  oris  speciem  adsimulare 
ex  magnitudine  caelestium  arbitrantur  :  lucos  ac  nemora  con- 
secrant,  deorumque  nominibus  appellant  secretum  illud  quod 
sola  reverentia  vident.' 

September  13  was  also  the  day  on  which,  according  to  Livy2 
and  Verrius  Flaccus 3,  a  nail  (clavus)  was  driven  annually  by  the 
'  Praetor  maximus '  into  the  wall  of  the  cella  of  Minerva  in  the 
Capitoline  temple,  in  obedience  to  an  old  lex  which  was  fixed 
up  on  the  wall  of  the  temple  adjoining  this  same  cella.  But 
Mommsen's  trenchant  criticism 4  of  the  locus  classicus  for  this 
subject  in  Livy  has  made  it  almost  certain  that  the  Eoman 
scholars  were  here  in  error :  that  the  ceremony  was  not  an 
annual  one,  but  took  place  once  in  a  century,  in  commemora- 

1  Germania,  9.  *  7.  3.  *  Festus,  55. 

4  In  Rom.  Chronologie,  p.  175  foil.  Preller  (i.  258)  had  already  seen  that 
the  ceremony  was  a  religious  one.  but  believed  it  to  be  annual,  and  used  for 
the  reckoning  of  time. 


MENSIS    SEPTEMBER  235 

tion  of  a  vow  made  in  463  B.  c.,  to  commemorate  the  great 
pestilence  of  that  year,  which  carried  off  both  the  consuls  and 
several  other  magistrates ' :  that  it  had  no  special  connexion 
with  the  cult  of  Jupiter,  and  was  not  intended,  as  is  generally 
supposed,  to  mark  the  years  as  they  passed.  The  nail  is  really 
the  symbol  of  Fortuna  or  Necessitas ;  the  rite  was  Etruscan, 
and  was  also  celebrated  at  Volsinii  in  the  temple  of  the 
Etruscan  deity  of  Fate ;  when  brought  to  Kome  it  was  very 
naturally  located  in  the  great  temple  of  the  Etruscan  Trias,  the 
religious  centre  of  the  Roman  state.  Originally  a  dictator 
was  chosen  (i.e.  Praetor  maximus)  davi  figcndi  causa;  and 
when  the  dictatorship  was  dropped  after  the  Second  Punic 
War,  the  ceremony  was  allowed  to  fall  into  oblivion.  Later 
on  the  Roman  antiquarians  unearthed  and  misinterpreted  it, 
believing  it  to  have  been  a  yearly  rite  of  which  the  object 
was  to  mark  the  succession  of  years.  This  brief  account 
of  Mommsen's  view  may  suffice  for  the  purpose  of  this 
work :  but  the  subject  is  one  that  might  with  advantage 
be  reinvestigated. 

1  'An  sich  hat  derNagel  gewiss  mit  dem  Jahre  nichts  zu  thun,  sondern 
steht  in  seiner  natiirlichen  und  wohlbekannten  Bedeutung  der  Schicksals- 
festung,  in  welcber  er  als  Attribut  der  grausen  Nothwendigkeit  (saeva 
Necessitas),  der  Fortuna,  der  Atropos  bei  rfimischen  Schriftstellern  und 
auf  italischen  Bildwerken  begegnet.'  Mommsen,  op.  cit.  179.  He  allude.", 
of  course,  to  Horace,  Od.  i.  35,  and  3.  24,  and  to  the  Etruscan  mirror 
mentioned  by  Preller  (p.  259) :  see  Gerhard,  Etr.  Spiegel,  i.  176.  But  tho 
interpretation  of  this  mirror,  as  given  by  Preller,  seems  to  me  very 
doubtful. 


MENSIS  OCTOBER. 

IN  the  Italy  of  historical  times,  the  one  agricultural  feature 
of  this  month  was  the  vintage.  The  rustic  calendars  mark 
this  with  the  single  word  vindemiae*.  The  vintage  might 
begin  during  the  last  few  days  of  September,  but  October  was 
its  natural  time,  though  it  is  now  somewhat  earlier  :  this  point 
is  clear  both  from  Varro  and  Pliny 2.  But  the  old  calendars 
have  preserved  hardly  a  trace  of  this ;  and  in  fact  the  only 
feast  which  we  can  in  any  way  connect  with  wine  making  (the 
Meditrinalia  on  the  1 1  th)  is  obscure  in  name  and  its  ritual 
unknown  to  us.  We  may  infer  that  the  practice  of  viticulture 
was  a  comparatively  late  introduction ;  and  this  is  borne  out 
by  such  facts  as  the  absence  of  wine  in  the  ritual  of  the  Latin 
festival3,  and  the  words  of  a  lex  regia  (ascribed  to  Numa) 
which  forbade  wine  to  be  sprinkled  on  a  funeral  pile 4.  Pliny 
also  expressed  a  decided  opinion  that  viticulture  was  multo 
serior :  and  lately  Hehn ft  has  traced  it  to  the  Italian  Greeks  on 
etymological  grounds.  It  can  hardly  have  become  a  common 
occupation  in  Latium  before  the  seventh  or  possibly  even  the 
eighth  century  B.  c. 

Probably  if  Ovid  had  continued  his  Fasti  to  the  end  of  the 
year  we  might  have  learnt  much  of  interest  about  this  month : 
as  it  is,  we  have  only  scraps  of  information  about  a  very  few 

1  c.  i.  L.  i'.  281. 

8  Varro,  E.  R.  i.  34.  Pliny,  N.  H.  18. 315  :  ' Vindemiam  antiqui  nunquam 
exist! ma vere  maturam  ante  aequinoctium,  iam  passim  rapi  cerno.'  Sec. 
319  '  lustuni  vindemiae  tempus  ab  aequinoctio  ad  Vergiliarum  occasum 
dies  xliii.' 

3  See  above,  p.  97. 

*  Pliny,  N.  H.  14.  88  'Vino  rogum  ne*respargito.'    Cp.  18.  24. 

8  Kulturpflanzen,  &c.,  p.  65. 


MENSIS    OCTOBER  237 

primitive  rites,  only  one  of  which  can  be  said  to  be  known  to 
us  in  any  detail ;  and  the  interpretation  of  that  one  is  extremely 
doubtful. 


KAL.  OCT.  (OCTOBER  i).    N. 

[FIDEI]  IN  CAPITOLIO.     TIGILL[O]  SOBOR[IO]  AD  COMPITUM 
ACILI.     (ARV.) 

The  sacrifice  here  indicated  to  Fides  in  the  Capitol  is  clearly 
the  one  which  Livy  ascribes  to  Numa ' :  '  Et  soli  Fidei  sol- 
leinne  instituit.  Ad  id  sacrarium  flamines  bigis,  curru 
arcuato  (i.e.  'covered')  vehi  iussit,  manuque  ad  digitos  usque 
involuta  rem  divinam  facere:  significantes  fideni  tutandam, 
sedemque  eius  etiam  in  dextris  sacratam  esse.'  Dionysius  also 
mentions  the  foundation,  without  alluding  to  the  peculiar 
ritual,  but  dwelling  on  the  moral  influence  of  the  cult  both  in 
public  and  private  life 2. 

The  personification  of  a  moral  idea  would  hardly  seem  likely 
to  be  as  old  as  Numa  ;  yet  there  are  points  in  the  ritual  which 
suggest  a  high  antiquity,  apart  from  tradition.  It  was  the 
three  chief  flamines  who  thus  drove  to  the  Capitol — i.  e.  those 
of  Jupiter,  Mars,  and  Quirinus  ;  these  at  least  were  the  three 
who  had  been  just  instituted  by  Numa  (Liv.  i.  20),  and  to  them 
Livy  must  be  referring.  As  has  been  often  pointed  out,  the 
presence  of  flamines  at  a  rite  is  always  evidence  of  its  antiquity ; 
and  in  this  case  they  may  have  represented  the  union  of  the 
two  communities  of  Septimontium  and  Quirinal  in  a  common 
worship  on  the  Capitol,  this  central  point  being  represented  by 
the  Flarnen  Dialis.  The  curious  fact  that  the  right  hands  of 
these  flamens  were  wrapped  up  to  the  fingers  in  white  cloth 
is  another  obvious  sign  of  antiquity,  and  is  explained  as  meaning 
that  the  right  .hand,  which  was  given  to  another  in  pledging 
one's  word,  then  as  now  '.  was  pure  and  clean,  as  was  the  mind 
of  the  pledger 4.  A  sacred  object,  statue  or  victim,  was  often 

1  i.  21.  Dion.  Hal.  2.  75.  The  significance  of  this  covered  vehicle  seems 
to  be  unknown. 

3  Many  passages  might  be  collected  to  bear  out  Dionysius'  remarks  :  the 
reader  may  refer  to  Preller,  i.  250  foil. 

3  Pliny,  N.  H.  xi.  250.     So  'dextram  fidemque  dare.' 

4  Wissowa,  in  Lex.  e.  v.  Fides,  Preller.  i.  251.     Serv.  Aen.  i.  292  and  8. 
636  :  but  Serv.  in  the  latter  note  says  '  Quia  fides  tecta  esse  debet  et  velata.' 


238  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

thus  wrapped  or  tied  with  fillets  (vittae) ;  and  the  nv<mn  in  the 
Eleusinian  mysteries  seem  to  have  worn  a  crocus-coloured  band 
on  the  right  hand  and  right  foot '.  The  statue  of  the  goddess 
in  her  temple  had  probably  the  right  hand  so  covered,  if  at 
least  we  are  at  liberty  so  to  interpret  the  words  of  Horace, 
'  albo  Fides  velata  panno ' 2. 

A  word  about  the  tigillum  sororium3.  What  this  was,  and 
where  it  was,  can  be  made  out  with  some  certainty ;  beyond  that 
all  is  obscure.  It  was  a  beam,  renewed  from  time  to  time,  let 
into  the  opposite  walls  of  a  street  which  led  down  from  the 
Carinae  to  the  Vicus  Cyprius,  now  the  via  del  Colosseo*.  It 
remained  till  at  least  the  fourth  century  A.  D.  It  is  now  generally 
explained  as  a  primitive  Janus-arch,  apparently  on  the  ground 
that  one  of  the  altars  below  it  was  to  Janus  Curiatius 5.  As  it 
seems,  however,  to  have  been  a  single  beam,  without  supports 
except  the  street  walls6,  I  am  unable  to  understand  this  con- 
clusion ;  and  as  the  Koman  antiquaries  never  supposed  it  to  be 
such,  we  can  hardly  do  so  safely.  They  believed  it  to  be  a 
memorial  of  the  expiation  undergone  by  the  legendary  Horatius 
for  the  murder  of  his  sister.  Acquitted  by  the  people  on 
appeal,  he  had  to  make  religious  expiation,  and  this  he  did 
by  the  erection  of  an  altar  to  Janus  Curiatius,  and  another 
to  Juno  Sororia7,  and  by  passing  under  a  yoke,  which  was 
afterwards  represented  by  the  tigillum. 

We  may  leave  the  tigillum  as  really  inexplicable,  unless  we 
are  to  accept  the  suggestion  of  Koscher 8,  that  the  germ  of  the 
legend  is  to  be  found  in  the  practice  of  creeping  through  a  split 

1  Libanius,  Ded.  19 ;  Photius,  s.  v.  Kpotcow  (Botticher,  Baumkidtus,  p.  43) 
ol  ftvarai  els  <paal  Kpuicy  rrjv  Sf£idv  X('Pa  Ka*  r^v  ifuSa  dvaSovvrat, 

*  Hor.  Od.  i.  35.  21. 

3  The  authorities  for  this  and  the  altars  connected  with  it  are  Livy,  i. 
26 ;  Dion.  Hal.  3.  22  ;  Festus,  297  and  Paul.  307  ;  Aur.  Viet.  4.  9 ;  Schd. 
Bob.  ad  Oic.  p.  277  Orelli ;  Lydus  de  Mensibus,  4.  i. 

*  Kiepert  u.  Huelsen,  Formae  urbis  Bomae  antiquae,  p.  92  and  map  i  ; 
Jordan,  Tapogr.  ii.  100. 

s  So  Roscher,  in  Lex.  s.  v.  lanus,  21 ;  Gilbert,  Topogr.  i.  180,  who  would 
make  it  the  'porta  lanualis '  of  Macrob.  I.  19.  17,  wrongly. 

*  It  is  always  in  the  singular,  e.g.  '  Transmisso  per  viam  tigillo,'  Livy, 
1.  c.     Dionys.  writes  as  if  it  were  originally  a  iugum,  i.  e.  two  uprights  and 
a  cross-beam,  but  does  not  imply  that  it  was  so  in  his  day. 

7  The  altars  are  mentioned  by  Festus,  Dionyg.,  and  Schol.  Bob. 

*  Lex.  s.v.  Janus,  21;   quoting  Grimm,  Deutsche  Myth.  (E.  T.  1157, 
quotation  from  White's  Selbome). 


MENSIS    OCTOBER  239 

tree  to  get  rid  of  spell  or  disease.     The  two  altars  demand 
a  word. 

Livy's  language  seems  to  suggest  that  these  were  in  the  care 
of  the  gens  Horatia l :  '  Quibusdam  piacularibus  sacrifices  factis, 
quae  deinde  genti  Horatiae  tradita  sunt.'  If  so,  perhaps  the 
whole  legend  of  Horatius,  or  at  any  rate  its  connexion  with 
this  spot,  arose  out  of  this  gentile  worship  of  two  deities,  of 
whom  the  cult-titles  were  respectively  Curiatius  and  Sororia. 
The  coincidence  of  Janus  and  Juno  is  natural  enough  ;  both 
were  associated  with  the  Kalends 2.  But  the  original  meaning 
of  their  cult-titles  at  the  Tigillum  remains  unknown.  All  we 
can  say  is  that  the  Janus  of  the  curiae  and  the  Juno  of  a  sister 
may  certainly  have  given  point  to  a  legend  of  which  the  hero 
was  acquitted  by  the  Comitia  Curiata  for  the  murder  of 
a  sister3. 

3  NON.  OCT.  (OCTOBER  5).     C. 

This  was  one  of  the  three  days  on  which  the  mundus  was 
open:  see  on  August  24. 

NON.  OCT.  (OCTOBER  7).     F. 

IOVI  FULGURI,  IUNONI  CURRITI  4  IN  CAMPO.       (ARV.  PAUL.) 

Of  these  worships  in  Rome  nothing  else  is  known.  luno 
Curitis  is  the  goddess  of  Falerii,  whose  supposed  if  pas  ydpos  was 
referred  to  above 5. 

v  ID.  OCT.  (OCTOBER  u).     IP. 
MEDITRilNALIA].     (SAB.  MAFF.  AMIT.) 
FEBIAE  lovi.     (AMIT.) 

This  was  the  day  on  which  the  new  wine  was  tasted.  There 
is  no  real  evidence  of  a  goddess  Meditrina.  The  account  in 

1  Marquardt,  584. 

2  Macrob.  i.  9.  16  '  [lanum]  lunonium  quia  non  solum  mensis  lanuarii 
sed  mensium  omnium  ingressum  tenentem  :   in  dicione  autem  lunonis 
sunt  omnes  Kalendae.' 

3  This  Juno  may  be  the  'Weibliche  Genius  einer  'Frau,'  as  Roscher 
suggests  (8.v.  Janus,  22;   a.  v.  Juno,  598,  he  seems  to  think  otherwise"1. 
But  as  she  is  connected  with  Janus,  I  should  doubt  it.      For  an  explana- 
tion of  'lanus  Curiatius'  cp.  Lydus,  I.e.  tyopos  tvftvSiv. 

1  Curriti  Arv.  :  Q  uiriti]  Paul.  '  p.  223. 


240  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

Paulus  is  as  follows:  'Mos  erat  Latinis  populis,  quo  die  quis 
primum  gustaret  mustum,  dicere  ominis  gratia  "Vetus  novum 
vinum  bibo,  veteri  novo  morbo  medeor."  A  quibus  verbis 
etiam  Meditrinae  deae  nomen  conceptum,  eiusque  sacra  Medi- 
trinalia  dicta  sunt1.'  Varro  had  already  given  the  same 
account:  '  Octobri  mense  Meditrinalia  dies,  dictus  a  medendo, 
quod  Flaccus  flamen  Martialis  dicebat  hoc  die  solitum  vinum 
novum  et  vetus  libari  et  gustari  medicamenti  causa:  quod 
facere  solent  etiam  nunc  multi  quom  dicunt:  Novum  vetus 
vinum  bibo,  novo  veteri  vino  morbo  medeor.' 

Note  a.  A  parallel  practice  of  tasting  both  old  and  new 
crops  is  to  be  found  in  the  ritual  of  the  Fratres  Arvales,  who 
in  May  '  fruges  aridas  et  virides  contigerunt,'  i.  e.  the  old  grain 
and  the  new  *. 

Note  &.  The  belief  that  the  new  wine  (mustum)  was  whole- 
some and  non-inebriating  is  discussed  charmingly  by  Plutarch 
(Quaest.  Conv.  vii.  i). 

Note  c.  Mommsen,  C.  I.  L.  i2.  332,  points  out  that  the 
real  deity  here  concerned  was  doubtless  Jupiter:  see  under 
Vinalia,  p.  86. 

in  ID.  OCT.  (OCTOBER  13).     IP. 
FONT[INALIA].     (SAB.  MAFF.  AMIT.  MIN.  ix.) 

FERIAE  FONT!.       (AMIT.) 

All  we  know  of  this  very  ancient  festival  is  contained  in 
a  few  words  of  Varro3:  'Fontinalia  a  Fonte,  quod  is  dies 
feriae  eius  ;  ab  eo  turn  et  in  fontes  coronas  iaciunt  et  puteos 
coronant.' 

The  holiness  of  wells  and  springs  is  too  familiar  to  need 
illustration  here.  The  original  object  of  the  garlanding  was 
probably  to  secure  abundant  water. 

It  is  generally  assumed  that  there  was  a  god  Fons  or  Fontus, 
to  whom  this  day  was  sacred.  There  was  a  delubrum  Fontis 4 ; 
an  ara  Fonti  on  the  Janiculum 5 ;  and  a  porta  Fontinalis  in  the 
Campus  Martius.  Fons  also  appears  with  Flora,  Mater  Larum, 

1  Paulus,  123 ;  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  21.  *  Cic.  N.  D.  Hi.  20. 

*  Henzen,  Act.  Fr.  An.  pp.  n,  12,  14.  *  Preller.  i.  176. 

8  L.  L.  vi.  22.     Cp.  Festus,  85. 


MENSIS    OCTOBER  24! 

Summanus,  &c.,  in  the  ritual  of  the  Fratres  Arvales1.  The 
case  seems  to  be  one  of  those  in  which  multiplicity  passes  into 
a  quasi-unity:  but  Fons  did  not  survive  long  in  the  latter 
stage. 

ID.  OCT.     (OCT.   15).     IP. 

EQtJUS   AD    NIXAS    FIT.       (PHILOC.) 

No  calendar  but  the  late  one  of  Philocalus  mentions  the 
undoubtedly  primitive  rite  of  horse-sacrifice  which  took  place 
on  this  day.  Wissowa  has  tried  to  explain  this  difiiculty, 
which  meets  us  elsewhere  in  the  Calendar,  e.  g.  on  the  Ides 
of  May  (Argei),  June  i  (festival  of  Carna) 2.  Where  two  festivals 
fell  on  the  same  day,  both  would  not  be  found  in  calendars 
which  were  meant  for  the  use,  not  of  the  pontifices  themselves, 
but  of  the  unlearned  vulgar  ;  for  the  latter  would  not  be  able 
to  distinguish,  or  to  get  one  clear  name  for  the  day,  and 
confusion  would  result.  Now  all  Kalends  and  Ides  were  sacred 
to  Juno  and  Jupiter  respectively;  all  other  rites  falling  on 
these  days  would  stand  a  chance  of  being  omitted,  unless 
indeed  they  were  noticed  in  later  annotations  such  as  we  find 
cut  in  smaller  letters  in  the  Fasti  Praenestini  and  others. 

Luckily  the  entry  in  Philocalus'  calendar  is  supplemented 
sufficiently  from  other  sources.  The  earliest  hint  we  get  comes 
from  the  Greek  historian  Timaeus,  and  is  preserved  in  a 
fragment  of  the  twelfth  book  of  Polybius*.  Timaeus  after 
the  Greek  fashion  connects  the  horse-sacrifice  with  the  legend 
of  Troy  and  the  wooden  horse :  but  he  also  tells  us  the 
important  detail  that  on  a  certain  day  a  war-horse  was  killed 
with  a  spear  in  the  Campus  Martius1.  The  passage  is  no  doubt 
characteristic  of  Timaeus,  both  in  regard  to  the  detail,  and  the 

1  Henzen,  Ada  Fr.  Arc.  146.     The  deities  to  whom  piacula  are  here  to  be 
sacrificed  are  deities  of  the  grove  of  the  Brethren  :   hence  I  should  con- 
clude that  this  Fons  simply  represented  a  particular  spring  there. 

2  de  Feriis,  &c.,  p.   xi.      To  me  this  explanation  does  not  seem  quite 
satisfactory,  though  it  seems  to  be  sanctioned  by  Mommsen  (C.  I.  L.  i". 
332,  note  on  Id.  Oct.  sub  fin.).     It  is  however  undoubtedly  preferable  to 
the  view  I  had  taken  before  reading  Wissowa's  tract,  that  the  omission 
was  due  to  an  aristocratic  neglect  of  usages  which  only  survived  among 
the  common  people  and  had  ceased  to  concern  the  whole  community. 

3  Polyb.  xii.  4°. 

4  'Ev  ?)|U<'pa  rtvl  KaTcucovrifav  iirirov  WOAfJtWr^f  vpu  rqr  jroAtwj  iv  ry 

.    This  is  quoted  from  "TO.  vtpl  Hi>pp6i>." 


242  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

mythology  which  Polybius  despised.  But  though  we  do  not 
know  that  Timaeus  was  ever  at  Rome,  we  may  hope  that 
he  was  correct  in  the  one  particular  which  we  do  not  learn 
from  other  sources,  viz.  the  slaughter  of  the  horse  with  the 
sacred  weapon  of  Mars. 

Fuller  information  conies  from  Verrius  Flaccus,  as  represented 
in  the  epitomes  of  Festus  and  Paulus  Diaconus '.  On  this  day 
there  was  a  two-horse  chariot  race  in  the  Campus  Martius  ; 
and  the  near  horse  of  the  winning  pair  was  sacrificed  to 
Mars— killed  with  a  spear,  if  we  may  believe  Timaeus.  The 
place  is  indicated  in  Philocalus'  calendar  as  '  ad  nixas,'  L  e.  the 
ciconiae  nixae,  which  seem  to  have  been  three  storks  carved  in 
stone  with  bills  crossing  each  other7:  this  however  was  non- 
existent under  the  Republic.  The  real  scene  of  the  sacrifice  must 
have  been  an  old  'ara  Martis,'  and  that  there  was  such  an 
altar  in  the  Campus  we  know  for  certain,  though  we  cannot 
definitely  fix  its  position 3.  The  tail  of  the  horse  was  cut  off 
and  carried  with  speed  to  the  Regia  so  that  the  warm  blood 
might  drip  upon  the  focus  or  sacred  hearth  there.  The  head 
also  was  cut  off  and  decked  with  cakes ;  and  at  one  time  there 
was  a  hard  fight  for  its  possession  between  the  men  of  the  two 
neighbouring  quarters  of  the  Via  Sacra  and  the  Subura.  If 
the  former  carried  off  the  prize,  they  fixed  it  on  the  wall  of  the 
Regia  ;  if  the  latter,  on  the  turris  Mamilia 4. 

1  Fest.  178  'October  equus  appellatur,  qui  in  campo  Martio  mense  Oct. 
immolatur  quotannis  Marti,  bigarum  victricum  dexterior.  De  cuius  capite 
11011  levis  contentio  solebat  esso  inter  Suburanenses  et  Sacravienses,  ut  hi 
in  regiae  pariete,  illi  ad  turrim  Mamiliam  id  figerent ;  eiusdemque  coda 
tanta  celeritate  perfertur  in  regiam,  ut  ex  ea  sanguis  distillet  in  focum 
participandae  rei  divinae  gratia,  quern  hostiae  loco  quidam  Marti  bellico 
deo  sacrari  dicunt,'  &c.  Then  follow  three  examples  of  horse-sacrifices. 
Paul.  179  adds  no  fresh  information.  Paul.  220  '  Panibus  redimibant 
caput  equi  immolati  idibus  Octobribus  in  campo  Martio,  quia  id  sacri- 
ficium  fiebat  ob  frugum  eventum,  et  equus  potius  quam  bos  iminolabatur, 
quod  hie  bello,  bos  frugibus  pariendis  est  aptus.'  i,The  meaning  of  these 
last  words  will  be  considered  presently.)  Cp.  Plutarch,  Qu.  Rom.  97  ; 
probably  from  Verrius,  perhaps  indirectly  through  Juba.  Plut.  by  a 
mistake  puts  the  rite  on  the  Ides  of  December. 

a  See  note  in  Preller's  Regionen  der  Stadt  Rom,  p.  174.  They  are  placed 
by  Kiepert  and  Hiilsen  (map  2)  close  to  the  Tiber  and  near  the  Mausoleum 
of  Augustus,  and  a  long  way  from  the  old  ara  Martis.  Perhaps  the  posi- 
tion of  the  latter  had  changed  as  the  Campus  came  to  be  built  over. 

3  Livy,  35.  10 ;  40.  45  (the  censors  alter  their  election  sat  in  Campo  on 
their  curule  chairs  '  ad  aram  Martis ').  Roscher,  Lex.  s.  v.  Mars,  2389. 

*  What  this  was  is  not  known :    some  think  a  kind  of  peel-tower. 


MENSIS    OCTOBER  243 

It  is  probable J,  though  not  quite  certain,  that  the  congealed 
blood  from  the  tail  was  used,  together  with  the  ashes  of  the 
unborn  calves  sacrificed  on  the  Fordicidia,  as  '  medicine '  to  be 
distributed  to  the  people  at  the  Parilia  on  April  21. 

The  rite  of  the  '  October-horse '  had  been  adequately 
described  and  in  some  degree  explained  by  Preller,  Marquardt, 
Schwegler,  and  others 2,  before  the  late  Dr.  Mannhardt  took 
it  in  hand  not  long  before  his  death3.  Mannhardt  studied 
it  in  the  light  of  his  far-reaching  researches  in  folk-lore,  and 
succeeded  in  treating  it  as  all  such  survivals  should  be  treated, 
i.  e.  in  bringing  it  into  relation  with  the  practices  of  other 
peoples — not  so  much  by  way  of  explaining  its  original  meaning 
precisely,  as  in  order  to  make  some  progress  by  its  help 
towards  an  understanding  of  the  attitude  of  primitive  man 
to  the  supernatural.  His  conclusions  have  been  generally 
accepted,  and,  with  very  slight  modifications,  are  to  be  found 
in  Mr.  Frazer's  Golden  Bough  (ii.  64),  and  in  Roscher's  article 
'  Mars'  in  the  Mythological  Lexicon  (2416).  Eecently,  however, 
they  have  been  called  in  question  by  no  less  a  person  than 
Prof.  Wissowa 4  of  Berlin,  who  seems  to  take  a  different  view 
of  the  Mars-cult  from  that  at  which  we  thought  we  had  at  last 
safely  arrived  :  it  may  be  as  well  therefore  to  give  yet  another 
account  of  Mannhardt's  treatment  of  the  question,  and  to 
follow  his  track  somewhat  more  elaborately  than  Mr.  Frazer. 
It  does  not  of  course  follow  that  he  has  said  the  last  word ;  but 
it  is  as  well  to  begin  by  making  clear  what  he  has  said. 

i.  This  is  the  last  of  the  series  of  harvest  festivals,  as  we  may 
call  them  generically.  We  have  had  the  Ambarvalia  and 
the  plucking  of  the  first  ears  by  the  Vestals  in  May :  the 
Vestalia  in  June s ;  the  festivals  of  Census  and  Ops  Consiva 
in  August ;  and  lastly  we  find  this  one  coming  after  all  the 
fruits  of  the  land  have  been  gathered  in.  In  this  respect  it 
is  parallel  to  the  Pyanepsia  and  Oschophoria  of  the  Greeks, 

Possibly  a  tower  in  quadriviis :    cf.  definition  of  compitum  in  Schol.  Pers. 
4.28. 

I  Ovid,  Fash',  4.  731  foil. ;  Prop.  5.  (4.)  r.  19.   See  on  Parilia  and  Fordicidia. 

II  Preller,  i.  366 ;  Marquardt,  334  ;  Schwegler,  Rom.  Gesch.  11.46  ;  Eoscher, 
Apollo  und  Mars,  64  foil 

3  Mythologische  Forschungen,  156-201. 

*  de  Fern's,  ix. 

8  I  add  this  (see  on  Vest  alia).     Mannhardt  had  not  handled  it. 

B  2 


244  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

to  the  Jewish  feast  of  Tabernacles ',  and  to  the  true 
Michaelmas  harvest-festivals  of  modern  Europe,  which  follow 
at  an  interval  the  great  variety  of  quaint  harvest  customs 
which  occur  at  the  actual  in-gathering.  Even  now  in  the 
Koman  Campagna  there  is  a  lively  festival  of  this  kind  in 
October. 

It  should  be  noticed  that  the  harvest  character  of  the  rite 
was  suggested  to  Mannhardt  by  the  passage  from  Paulus  (220), 
from  which  we  learn  that  the  head  of  the  sacrificed  horse  was 
decked  with  cakes,  like  those  of  the  live  draught-animals  at  the 
Vestalia  and  Consualia  and  feriae  Sementivae  [q.  v.].  This, 
Paulus  adds,  was  done  '  quia  id  sacrum  fiebat  ob  frugum 
eventum,'  which  last  words  can  hardly  mean  anything  but 
'on  account  of  the  past  harvest  V  There  are,  I  may  add,  two 
points  open  to  doubt  here,  which  Mannhardt  does  not  point  out : 
(i)  the  reason  here  given  may  be  only  a  guess  of  Verrius', 
and  not  one  generally  understood  at  Rome 3.  (2)  The  con- 
cluding words  of  the  gloss  seem  to  make  no  sense,  a  fact  which 
throws  some  doubt  on  the  whole  passage.  The  rite  is  'ob 
frugum  eventum,'  yet  'a  horse,  and  not  an  ox,  is  the  victim, 
because  a  horse  is  suited  for  war,  and  an  ox  is  not  V  However 
this  may  be  understood,  we  need  not  quarrel  with  the  con- 
clusion s,  that  the  real  meaning  of  the  adornment  was  to  show 
that  the  head  was  an  object  possessed  of  power  to  procure 
fertility — an  inference  confirmed  by  the  eagerness  of  the 
rival  city-quarters  to  get  possession  of  it. 

2.  The  sacrificed  horse  represented  a  Corn-spirit.  The  Corn- 
spirit  was  Mannhardt's  chief  discoveiy,  and  its  various  forms 
are  now  familiar  to  English  readers  of  Frazer's  Golden  Sough, 
and  of  Farnell's  Cults  of  the  Greek  States.  Almost  eveiy  common 
animal,  wild  or  tame,  may  be  found  to  represent  the  Corn-spirit 
at  harvest-time  in  one  locality  or  another,  where  the  nomadic 

1  Levit.  23  fin. 

2  Had  they  referred  to  the  crops  of  the  next  season  we  might  have 
expected  '  ob  bonum  frugum  eventum.' 

3  So  Wissowa,  de  Feriis,  ix.     He  thinks  that  it  was  only  an  attempt  1o 
explain  the  panes  :  but  he  is  wrong  in  insisting  that  the  Vestalia  (where, 
as  we  saw,  the  same  decoration  occurs)  had  nothing  to  do  with  '  frugum 
eventus.' 

4  To  me  it  looks  as  if  some  words  had  dropped  out  of  the  text,  perhaps 
after  the  word  eventum  ;  see  the  passage  quoted  above,  p.  242,  note  i. 

*  Given  in  Mannhardt's  next  section,  p.  169. 


MENSIS    OCTOBER  245 

age  has  given  place  to  an  agricultural  one  ;  or  a  man,  woman, 
boy  or  puppet  represents  the  animal,  and  so  indirectly  the  Corn- 
spirit  l.  Mannhardt  produces  from  his  stores  of  folk-lore  many 
instances  in  which  the  horse  thus  figures,  including  the  hobby- 
horse which  in  old  England  used  to  prance  round  the  May-pole. 
Those  examples,  however,  are  not  strong  enough  to  convince 
us  that  the  October  horse  was  a  Corn-spirit,  though  they  prove 
well  enough  that  the  Corn-spirit  often  took  this  shape2. 
But  we  must  remember  that  he  is  only  suggesting  an  origin 
in  the  simple  rites  of  the  farm,  indicating  a  class  of  ideas 
to  which  this  survival  may  be  traceable a. 

He  does,  however,  produce  an  example  which  has  one  or  two 
features  in  common  with  the  Roman  rite,  only  in  this  case  the 
animal  is  a  goat  instead  of  a  horse.  In  Dauphine  a  goat  is 
decked  with  ribbons  and  flowers  and  let  loose  in  the  harvest- 
field.  The  reapers  run  after  it,  and  finally  the  farmer  cuts 
off  its  head  *,  while  his  wife  holds  it.  Parts  of  its  body  (we 
are  not  told  whether  the  head  is  among  them)  are  kept  as 
'  medicine '  till  the  next  harvest.  So  too  the  head,  and  also 
the  tail  and  the  blood,  of  the  October  horse  were  the  seat  of 
some  great  Power  ;  but  whether  this  was  a  vegetation-spirit 
does  not  seem  satisfactorily  shown. 

3.  The  chariot-race  was  an  elaborated  and  perhaps  Graedzed 
form  or  survival  of  the  simple  race  of  men  and  women  so  often 
met  with  in  the  harvest-field,  often  in  pursuit  of  a  representative  of 
the  Corn-spirit. 

Mannhardt  gives  exanjples  from  France  and  Germany  of 
races  in  pursuit  of  cock,  calf,  kid,  sheep,  or  whatever  shape 
may  be  the  one  in  vogue  for  the  Corn-spirit ;  often  the  animal 
is  in  some  way  decorated  for  the  occasion.  Two  of  a  rather 
different  kind  may  be  mentioned  here,  though  they  occur,  not , 
on  the  harvest-field,  but  at  Whitsuntide  and  Easter  respectively ; 

1  See  under  May  15  (Argei). 

*  Mannhardt  has  not  suggested  what  scorns  not  impossible,  that  the 
horse  represented  Mars  himself — in  which  case  we  might  allow  that  Mars 
was,  among  other  things,  a  vegetation  deity. 

3  See  his  language  at  the  top  of  p.  164. 

*  He  ingeniously  suggests  that  these  cases  of  decapitation   may  be 
explained  by  the  old  custom  of  cutting  off  the  corn-ears  so  as  to  leave 
almost  the  whole  of  the  stalk.     (See  his  Korndtimonen,  p.  35.)    That  this 
method  existed  in  Latium  seems  proved  by  a  passage  in  Livy,  aa.  i  '  Antii 
meteutibus  cruentas  in  corbem  spicas  cecidisso.' 


246  THE    KOMAN    FESTIVALS 

but  they  show  how  horse-races  may  originate  in  the  customs 
of  the  farm.  In  the  Hartz  the  farm-horses,  gaily  decorated, 
are  raced  by  the  labourers  for  possession  of  a  wreath,  which 
is  hung  on  the  neck  of  the  winning  horse.  In  Silesia  the 
finest  near  horse  of  the  team,  decorated  by  the  girls,  is  ridden 
(raced?)  round  the  boundary  of  the  farm,  and  then  round 
a  neighbouring  village,  while  Easter  hymns  are  sung.  We 
have  already  noticed  the  racing  of  horses  and  mules  at  the 
Consualia  iri  August :  according  to  Dionysius,  these  too  were 
decked  out  with  flowers  \  Mannhardt  makes  also  a  somewhat 
lengthy  digression  to  point  out  the  possibility  that  in  the 
original  form  of  the  Passover  (on  which  was  afterwards  en- 
grafted the  Jahvistic  worship  and  the  history  of  the  escape 
from  Egypt)  a  race  or  something  of  the  kind  may  be  indicated 
by  the  custom  of  eating  the  victim  with  the  loins  girt. 

There  is  undoubtedly  a  possible  origin  for  the  horse-racing 
of  Greeks  and  Romans  in  the  customs  of  the  farm  at  different 
seasons  of  the  year,  and  I  accept  Mannhardt's  view  so  far,  with 
a  probability,  not  certainty,  as  to  the  Corn-spirit.  We  may 
perhaps  be  able  to  trace  the  development  of  the  custom  a  little 
further  in  this  case. 

4.  The  horse's  head,  fixed  on  the  Eegia  or  the  turns  Mamilia, 
is  the  effigy  of  the  Corn-spirit,  which  is  to  bring  fertility  and  to  keep 
off  evil  influences  for  the  year  to  come 2. 

Examples  of  this  practice  of  fixing  up  some  object  after 
harvest  in  a  prominent  place  in  farm  or  village  are  so  numerous 
as  almost  to  defy  selection,  and  are  now  familiar  to  all 
students  of  folk-lore 3.  Sometimes  it  is  a  bunch  of  corn 
or  flowers,  as  in  the  Greek  Eiresione 4,  and  to  this  day  at 
Charlton-on-Otmoor,  where  it  is  placed  over  the  beautiful  rood- 
screen  in  the  church.  Such  bunches  are  often  called  by 
the  name  of  some  animal ;  occasionally  their  place  is  taken 
by  the  effigy  of  an  animal's  head,  e.  g.  that  of  a  horse 5,  which 
in  course  of  time  becomes  a  permanency. 

5.  The  cutting  off  the  tail  is  explained  by  the  idea  that  a  remnant 

Dion.  Hal.  i.  33,  who  compares  an  Arcadian  Hippokrateia. 

Op.  cit.  p.  182. 

See  Golden  Bough,  i.  68  foil.,  and  Mannhardt,  A.  W.  F.  214  foil. 

Mannhardt,  A.  W.  F.  I.e. 

Mannhardt,  Baumkullus,  167. 


MENSIS    OCTOBER  247 

of  the  "body  of  the  representative  of  the  Corn-spirit  is  sufficient  to 
produce  this  spirit  afresh  in  the  vegetation  of  the  coming  year. 

The  examples  Mannhardt  quotes  are  numerous,  and  only  gain 
force  when  brought  together :  I  must  refer  the  reader  to  his 
work  for  them '.  The  word  tail  not  only  occurs  frequently  in 
harvest  customs  (e.  g.  the  cutter  of  the  last  sheaf  is  called  the 
wheat-tail  or  barley-tail  -),  but  there  is  little  doubt  that  virtue 
was  believed  to  reside  in  a  tail3.  Who  knows  but  that  the 
preservation  of  the  fox's  brush  by  fox-hunters  has  some  origin 
of  this  kind  ? 

6.  The  use  made  of  the  blood,  which  was  kept  and  mixed 
with  the  ashes  of  the  unborn  calves  of  the  Fordicidia,  and  with 
sulphur  and  bean-straw  as  a  medicine  to  be  distributed  to  the 
people  at  the  Parilia,  tells  its  own  story  without  need  of 
illustration  (see  on  April  15  and  21).  The  blood  was  the  life4; 
the  fire  and  sulphur-fumes  were  to  purify  and  avert  eviL  Both 
men  and  beasts  leapt  over  the  fire  into  which  this  mixture 
was  thrown  at  the  Parilia,  to  gain  new  life  and  strength,  and 
to  avert  the  influences  which  might  retard  them. 

Finally,  Mannhardt  has  some  remarks  on  the  origin  of  the 
rite,  which  were  suggested  by  Schwegler  and  Ambrosch\ 
The  Campus  Martius,  the  scene  of  the  sacrifice,  was  originally 
terra  regis,  cultivated  for  him  by  the  people 6.  When  the  king 
was  the  chief  farmer,  the  horse's  head  was  carried  to  his  house 
(regia)  and  fixed  thereon,  and  the  tail  allowed  to  drip  on  to  his 
hearth.  When  the  neighbouring  community  of  the  Subura  was 
united  with  that  of  the  Palatine,  the  seat  of  the  oldest  community, 
the  remembrance  of  their  duality  survived  in  the  contest  for 
the  head :  if  the  men  of  the  Subura  won  it,  they  fixed  it  on  the 
turris  Mamilia,  which  may  have  been  the  dwelling  of  their  own 
chief.  Such  contests  are  even  now  well  known,  or  have  7  but 

1  p.  185  foil.  The  tail  in  Roman  ritual  was  '  offa  penita.'  Marq.  335, 
note  i. 

3  In  Silesia,  &c.,  the  word  is  Zdl,  Z61,  which  I  suppose  =  tail. 

*  Golden  Bough,  ii.  65.     Jevons,  Introduction  to  Plut.  Q.  R.  p.  Ixix.     He 
quotes  an  example  from  Africa. 

4  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  (he  Semites,  Lect.  ix.    In  this  case,  according 
to  M.,  it  was  the  life  of  the  Corn-spirit—so  of  generation  in  general. 

*  Schwegler,  R.  G.  i.  739  ;  Ambrosch,  Studien,  200  folL 

*  Evidence  for  this  in  Liv.  i  2  ;  Serv.  Aen.  9.  274. 

T  See  e. g.  Crooke's  Folklore  of  Northern  India,  vol.  ii.  pp.  176  and  3ar. 
Crooke  looks  on  these  fights  (.he  should  have  said,  the  possession  of  the 


248  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

lately  disappeared  ;  and  some  of  them  may  owe  their  origin  to 
a  fight  for  the  Corn-spirit.  Mannhardt  gives  some  examples — 
one  very  curious  one  from  Granada,  and  one  from  Brittany. 
At  Derby,  Hawick,  Ludlow,  and  other  places  in  this  country, 
they  or  the  recollection  of  them  may  still  be  found. 

On  the  whole  we  may  agree  with  him  that  the  rite  was  in 
its  origin  one  of  the  type  to  which  he  has  referred  it — a  final 
harvest  festival  of  the  Latin  farm.  There  is  yet,  however, 
a  word  to  be  said.  He  does  not  treat  it  from  the  point  of  view 
of  the  Koman  calendar,  and  thus  fails  to  note  the  turn  it  took 
when  Latin  farmers  became  Eoman  citizens.  Wissowa,  on  the 
other  hand,  takes  the  calendar  as  his  sole  basis  for  judging  of 
it,  and  with  a  strange  perversity,  as  it  seems  to  me,  brushes 
Mannhardt's  conclusions  aside,  and  would  explain  the  rite  simply 
as  a  sacrifice  to  the  god  of  war '.  Now  doubtless  it  had  come  to 
be  this  in  the  organized  city-calendar,  as  Mars  himself  began 
to  be  brought  into  prominence  in  a  new  light,  as  the  iuvenes 
of  the  community  came  to  be  more  and  more  employed  in  war 
as  well  as  agriculture,  and  as  the  Campus  Martius  came  to  be 
used  as  an  exercising-ground  for  the  armed  host.  The  Calendars 
show  us  a  curious  correspondence  between  the  beginning  and 
the  end  of  the  season  of  arms,  i.  e.  the  middle  of  March  and  the 
middle  of  October,  which  leaves  little  doubt  of  the  change  which 
had  taken  place  in  the  accepted  character  of  the  rites  of  the  two 
periods  by  the  time  the  Numan  calendar  was  drawn  up.  This 
correspondence  has  already  been  noted  - ;  it  may  be  here  briefly 
referred  to  again. 

On  March  14 s  there  was  a  horse-race  in  the  Campus  Martius  ; 
on  the  i  pth  (Quinquatrus)  was  the  lustratio  armorum  for  the 
coming  war-season,  as  is  seen  from  the  fact  that  the  ancilia  of 
the  Salii  at  least — if  not  all  arms— were  lustrata  on  that  day4. 

object  which  is  the  cause  of  the  fight)  as  charms  for  rain  or  fertility. 
So  in  the  plains  of  N.-W.  India,  '  plenty  is  supposed  to  follow  the  side 
which  is  victorious.' 

1  Veram  huius  sacri  rationem  inter  veteres  ii  viderunt  quorum  senten- 
tiam  ita  refert  Festus  'equum  hostiae  loco  Marti  bellico  deo  sacrari' 
(de  Feriis,  p.  x\  a  See  under  March  14  and  19. 

J  Wissowa  thinks  it  was  originally  the  isth  (Ides)  ;  but  Mommsen 
dissents  in  his  note  on  Oct.  15  (C.  T.  L.  332).  It  is  the  only  feast-day  in 
the  calendar  which  is  an  even  number.  Perhaps  it  was  changed  because  of 
the  popularity  of  the  revels,  &c.,  on  the  Ides. 

4  Charisius,  p.  81 ;  Marq.  435. 


MENSIS    OCTOBER  249 

So  too  on  October  15  there  was  a  horse-race,  as  we  have  seen, 
in  the  Campus  Martius,  and  on  the  ipth  we  find  the  Armi- 
lustrium  in  the  oldest  calendars  \  a  name  which  tells  its  own 
tale.  The  inference  is  that  the  horse-races  on  Oct.  15  and 
March  1 4  had  much  the  same  origin,  and  it  is  just  this  which 
induces  Wissowa  to  slight  Mannhardt's  explanation  of  the 
former.  He  thinks  that  on  each  day  the  horses,  like  the  arms, 
were  lustrated  (p.  x.),  i.  e.  before  the  war-season  began,  and  after 
it  was  over.  This  is  likely  enough  ;  but  might  not  the  same 
have  been  the  case  with  the  horses  of  the  farm  ?  The  Roman 
farmer's  year  began  with  March,  and  the  heavy  work  of 
carrying,  £c.,  would  be  over  in  October.  I  am  disposed  to 
think  that  we  must  look  on  organized  war-material  as  a  develop- 
ment later  than  the  primitive  times  to  which  Mannhardt  would 
carry  us  back,  a  side  of  Roman  life  which  only  in  course  of 
time  became  highly  specialized. 

We  must  never  forget  that  the  oldest  Roman  calendar  is  the 
record  of  the  life  of  an  agricultural  people.  So  much  is  clear 
on  the  face  of  it ;  and  in  some  instances,  as  in  the  Ambarvalia, 
Vestalia,  Consualia,  and  in  the  October  rite  we  have  been 
discussing,  something  of  the  original  intent  can  be  made  out 
from  researches  into  modern  folk-lore  or  savage  custom.  Yet 
this  calendar  is  at  the  same  time  the  table  of  feasts  of  a  fully 
developed  city-state,  and  in  the  process  of  its  development  the 
original  meaning  of  the  feasts  was  often  lost,  or  they  were 
explained  by  some  mythical  or  historical  event,  or  again  they 
themselves  may  have  changed  character  as  the  life  of  the  people 
changed  from  an  agricultural  to  a  political  one.  In  the  rite  of 
the  October  horse  we  may  see  an  agricultural  harvest  custom 
taking  a  new  shape  and  meaning  as  the  State  grew  to  be 
accustomed  to  war,  just  as  Mars,  originally  perhaps  the  protector 
of  man,  herds,  and  crops  alike,  becomes  -  it  may  be  even  before 
Greek  influence  is  brought  to  bear  upon  him — the  deity  of 
warriors  and  war-horses,  of  the  yearly  renewed  strength  of 
a  struggling  community2.  It  is  looking  with  modern  eyes  at 

1  This  point  of  the  parallel  was  first  noticed  by  Wissowa,  who.  as  just 
noted,  believes  the  day  of  Equirria  to  have  been  in  each  case  the  Ides. 

*  An  apt  illustration  of  this  aspect  of  Mars,  in  combination  with  the 
older  primitive  form  of  ritual,  is  supplied  by  the  strange  sacrifice  by 
Julius  Caesar  of  two  mutinous  soldiers,  recorded  by  Dio  Cassius,  43.  24. 


250  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

the  institution  of  an  old  world  if  we  try  to  separate  the  Roman 
warrior  from  the  Roman  husbandman,  or  the  warlike  aspect  of 
his  god  from  his  universal  care  for  his  people. 


xrv  KAL.  Nov.  (OCTOBER  19).     IP. 
ARM[ILUSTRIUMJ.     (ARV.  SAB.  MAFP.  AMIT.  ANT.) 

The  first  three  letters  of  this  word,  which  alone  appear  in  the 
calendars,  are  explained  by  Varro  and  Verrius :  '  Armilustrium 
ab  eo  quod  in  armilustrio  armati  sacra  faciunt .  .  .  ab  ludendo 
autlustro,  quod  circumibant  ludentes  ancilibus  armati1.'  This 
passage  may  be  taken  as  referring  both  to  March  19  and  Oct.  19, 
and  as  showing  that  the  Salii  with  the  sacred  shields  were 
active  on  both  days.  This  can  also  be  inferred  from  the  fact 
that  in  190  B.  c.  a  Roman  army,  on  its  march  into  Asia,  had  to 
halt  at  the  Hellespont,  'quia  dies  forte,  quibus  ancilia  moventur, 
religiosi  ad  iter  inciderant ' 2 — its  commander  Scipio  being  one 
of  the  Salii.  It  can  be  shown  that  this  was  in  the  autumn,  as 
the  army  did  not  leave  Italy  till  July  15*.  It  may  be  taken 
as  certain,  then,  that  this  was  the  last  day  on  which  the  Salii 
appeared,  and  that  arma  and  ancilia  were  now  purified  4,  and 
put  away  for  the  winter. 

There  are  no  festivals  in  any  way  connected  with  Mars  from 
this  day  to  the  Roman  new  year,  March  i.  As  Roscher  has 
remarked,  his  activity,  like  that  of  Apollo,  is  all  in  the  warm 
season — the  season  of  vegetation  and  of  arms.  His  priests, 
who  seem  in  their  dances,  their  song,  and  their  equipment,  to 
form  a  connecting  link  between  his  fertilizing  powers  and  his 
warlike  activity,  are  seen  no  more  from  this  day  till  his  power 
is  felt  again  on  the  threshold  of  spring. 

They  were  offered  to  Mars  in  the  Campus  Martius  by  the  Flamen  Martialis 
in  the  presence  of  the  Pontifices,  and  their  heads  were  nailed  up  on  the  Regia. 
(Hence  Marq.  infers  that  it  was  this  flamen  who  sacrificed  the  October 
horse.)  Caesar  was  in  Rome  in  October  of  the  year  to  which  D.  C. 
attributes  this  deed,  B.C.  46. 

1  L.  L.  6.  62.  Cp.  Festus,  19  'Armilustrium  festum  erat  apud  Romanes, 
quo  res  divinas  armati  faciebant  ac  dum  sacrificarent  tubis  canehant.' 
See  on  March  19  and  23. 

-  Liv.  37.  33.  7.     Cp.  Polyb.  at.  10.  la. 

8  Marq.  437,  note  i.     The  suggestion  was  Huschke's,  Earn.  Jahr,  363. 

*  Charisius,  pp.  8r.  so  (Keil),  for  lustratio  in  March.    The  word  Armi- 
lustrium, used  for  this  day,  speaks  for  itself. 


MENSIS    OCTOBER  25! 

We  learn  from  Varro  '  that  the  place  of  lustralio  on  this  day 
was  the  Aventine  'ad  circum  maximum.'  I  can  find  no  explana- 
tion of  this :  we  know  of  no  Mars-altar  in  that  part  of  Rome, 
which  was  the  seat  of  the  cults  of  Hercules  and  Census.  It 
was  probably  the  last  point  in  a  procession  of  the  Salii 2. 

1  L.  L.  5. 153. 

3  We  have  a  faint  indication  that  they  reached  the  pons  sublicius,  which 
was  quite  near  to  the  Circus  maximus.  See  Marq.  433,  note  8. 


MENSIS   NOVEMBER. 

OF  all  the  months  in  the  Eoman  year  November  is  the  least 
important  from  a  religious  point  of  view.  It  was  the  month 
of  ploughing  and  sowing — not  of  holiday-time  l ;  then,  as  now, 
it  was  a  quiet  month,  and  in  the  calendars,  with  the  exception 
of  the  ludi  plebeii,  not  a  festival  appears  of  any  importance. 
Later  on,  the  worship  of  Isis  gained  a  hold  upon  the  month 2, 
which  remained  open  to  intruders  long  after  city-life  had  taken 
the  place  of  November  agricultural  operations. 

The  ludi  plebeii,  as  a  public  festival,  date  from  220  B,  c.  ;  they 
took  place  in  the  Circus  Flaminius,  which  was  built  in  that 
year3 ;  they  and  the  epulum  lovis  (Nov.  13)  are  first  mentioned 
by  Livy  four  years  later.  The  epulum  has  already  been  dis- 
cussed in  connexion  with  the  ludi  Komani.  The  plebeian 
games  were  probably  at  first  on  a  single  day  (Nov.  13),  and 
were  gradually  extended,  like  the  ludi  Eomarii ;  finally,  they 
lasted  from  Nov.  4  to  Nov.  17*. 

The  8th  was  one  of  the  three  days  on  which  the  mundus  was 
open :  see  under  Oct.  5. 

ID.  Nov.  (Nov.  13).     H>. 

FERONIAE  IN  CAMPO 5.     (ABV.,  a  later  addition  to  the  original.) 
FOBTUNAE  FRiMiGENiAE  IN  coLLE.     (ARV.,  a  later  addition  to 
the  original.) 

This  is  the  only  mention  we  have  of  Feronia  in  Rome.  She 
was  a  goddess  of  renown  in  Latium  and  central  Italy,  but 

1  Rustic  calendars :  '  Sementes  triticariae  et  hordiar[iae].*  Varro,  R.  R. 
1-34- 

"  Mommsen  in  C.  I.  L.  i.s  333. 
3  Friedlander  in  Marq.  499  ;  Liv.  23.  30. 

*  See  the  table  in  C.  1.  L.  i.a  335. 

*  Probably  these  notes  belong  to  the  Ides.     In  the  Arval  calendar  the 


MENSIS    NOVEMBER  253 

never  made  her  mark  at  Rome,  as  did  others  of  her  kind  — 
Diana,  Fortuna,  Ceres,  Flora — all  of  whom  appear  there  with 
plebeian  associations  about  them,  as  not  belonging  to  the 
earliest  patrician  community l.  It  is  curious  to  find  this  Feronia 
too  in  the  calendar  only  in  the  middle  of  the  ludi  plebeii,  and 
probably  on  the  day  which  was  the  original  nucleus  of  the 
games.  We  may  either  date  the  cult  from  the  establishment 
of  the  ludi  or  guess  that  it  was  there  before  them,  and  was 
subsequently  eclipsed  by  the  cult  of  Jupiter. 

The  latter  is  perhaps  the  more  probable  conjecture  ;  for  the 
little  that  we  know  of  the  cult  elsewhere  points  to  a  possible 
origin  of  the  games  which  has  not,  so  far  as  I  know,  been 
noticed.  They  took  place,  be  it  remembered,  in  the  Circus 
Flaminius,  which  was  in  the  Campus  Martius ;  where  also  was 
this  cult  of  Feronia.  Now  the  most  famous  shrine  of  Feronia 
in  Italy,  that  of  Trebula  Mutusca,  was  the  centre  of  a  great 
fair  or  market  held  on  the  feast-days  of  the  goddess 2,  and  on 
the  whole  her  attributes  seem  to  be  those  of  a  deity  of  fertility 
and  plenty 3.  Is  it  impossible  that  she  had  also  some  share  in 
a  fair  in  the  Campus  Martius  long  before  the  establishment  of 
the  ludi  ? 

The  connexion  of  Feronia  with  the  plebs  seems  suggested  not 
only  by  her  position  in  the  calendar,  but  by  the  devotion  of 
libertini 4.  In  the  year  217  B.  c.  the  Roman  freedwomen 
collected  a  sum  of  money  as  a  gift  to  Feronia 5 ;  though  this 
offering  need  not  be  taken  as  destined  for  the  Roman  goddess, 
but  rather  for  her  of  Soracte,  to  whom  first-fruits  and  other 
gifts  were  frequently  offered.  The  temple  of  Feronia  at 
Terracina  was  specially  devoted  to  the  manumission  of  slaves, 
of  which  the  process,  as  described  by  Servius,  presents  at  least 
one  feature  of  special  interest ;.  Manumissions  would  take 

entry  is  opposite  the  i4th,  but  from  its  position  may  be  really  meant  as  an 
additional  note  to  the  Ides.  There  is  no  other  example  of  religious  rites 
on  a  day  after  Ides.  (Henzen,  Arv.  240 ;  C.  /.  L.  i.2  296.)  The  same  was 
the  case  with  all  '  dies  postriduani.' 

1  See  under  Cerialia  and  Floralia. 

a  Liv.  i.  30.  Roman  merchants  were  seized  by  the  Sabines  in  this 
market  (Dion.  Hal.  3.  32). 

*  Steuding  in  Lex.  s.  v.  Feronia;  Liv.  26   n.     I  cannot  see  any  reason 
to  connect  her  with  November  sowing,  as  Steuding  does,  p.  1480. 

*  Serv.  Aen.  8.  564.  *  Liv.  22.  i. 

*  The  cutting  of  the  hair,  and  putting  on  of  the  pileus.    See  Robertson 
Smith,  Religion  of  Semites,  p.  307. 


254  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

place  on  public  occasions,  such  as  markets,  when  the  necessary 
authorities  and  witnesses  were  to  be  easily  found,  and  the 
temple  of  the  market-goddess  was  at  hand ;  and  this  may  be 
the  original  point  of  relation  between  this  cult  and  the  Eoman 
plebs,  which  was  beyond  doubt  by  the  third  century  B.  c. 
largely  composed  of  descendants  of  manumitted  slaves. 

The  conjunction  of  Feronia  on  this  day  with  Fortuna  Primi- 
genia  (in  colle)  is  curious,  as  both  were  goddesses  of  Praeneste, 
where  Feronia  in  legend  was  the  mother  of  Erulus,  a  daemon 
with  threefold  body  and  soul,  who  had  to  be  killed  three  times 
by  Evander1.  The  date  of  the  introduction  of  this  cult  of 
Fortuna  at  Rome  is  204  B.  c. 2 

1  Serv.  Aen.  1.  c.     The  myth  must  be  Graeco- Etruscan. 

2  Liv.  29.  36.    The  dedication  was  194  B.  c.  (lav.  34,  53). 


MENSIS  DECEMBER 

IN  the  middle  of  winter,  until  well  on  in  January,  the 
Roman  husbandman  had  comparatively  little  to  do.  Varro  1 
writes  of  sowing  lilies,  crocuses,  &c.,  and  of  cleaning  out 
ditches  and  pruning  vines,  and  such  light  operations  of  the 
farm.  Columella 2  tells  us  that  the  autumn  sowing  should  be 
ended  by  the  beginning  of  December,  though  some  sow  beans 
in  this  month ;  and  in  this  he  agrees  with  the  rustic  calendars 
which  mention,  besides  this  operation,  only  the  manuring  of 
vineyards  and  the  gathering  of  olives. 

It  is  not  unnatural,  then,  that  we  should  find  in  this  '  slack 
time ' 3  several  festivals  which  are  at  once  antique  and  obscure, 
and  almost  all  of  which  seem  to  carry  us  back  to  husbandly 
and  the  primitive  ideas  of  a  country  life.  On  the  night  of  the 
3rd  or  thereabouts  was  the  women's  sacrifice  to  the  Bona  Dea ; 
on  the  sth  the  rustic  Faunalia  in  some  parts  of  Italy,  though 
probably  not  in  Rome  ;  on  the  i  sth  the  winter  Consualia  ;  on 
the  1 7th  the  Saturnalia ;  and  on  the  i  gth  the  Opalia ;  and  so 
on  to  the  Compitalia  and  Paganalia.  All  this  is  in  curious 
contrast  with  the  absence  of  festivals  in  the  busy  month  of 
November. 

WOMEN'S  SACRIFICE  TO  THE  BONA  DEA. 

This  fell,  in  the  year  63  B.  c.,  on  the  night  between  Dec.  3 
and  4,  if  we  may  trust  Plutarch  and  Dio  * ;  but  the  date  does 

1  R.  JR.  i.  35.  a  ;  Colum.  a.  8.  a.  *  xi.  a. 

3  Cp.  Hor.  Od.  3.  18,  9-12.     Ovid  (Fasti,  3.  57)  says  of  December — 
Yester  (i.  e.  Faustuli  et  Larentiae)  honos  veniet,  cum  Larentalia  dicam  ; 

Acceptus  Geniis  ilia  December  habet. 

Is  this  only  an  allusion  to  Larentia  and  Faustulus,  or  also  to  the  general 
character  of  the  month  and  its  festivals  ? 
*  Plut.  Cic.  19 ;  Dio  Cass.  37.  35. 


256  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

not  seem  to  have  been  a  fixed  one  \  The  rite  does  not  appear 
in  the  calendars,  and,  though  attended  by  the  Vestals,  did  not 
take  place  in  the  temple  of  the  goddess,  but  in  the  house  of 
a  consul  or  praetor,  'in  ea  domo  quae  est  in  imperioV  It 
seems  to  have  been  in  some  sense  a  State  sacrifice,  i.  e.  it  was 
'  pro  populo  Komano '  (according  to  Cicero) ;  but  it  was  not '  pub- 
lico  sumptu  '3,  and  it  was  never  woven  into  the  calendar  by  the 
pontifices,  or  it  could  hardly  have  occurred  between  the  Kalends 
and  the  Nones.  Its  very  nature  would  exclude  the  interference 
of  the  pontifical  college,  and  there  would  be  no  need  to  give 
public  notice  of  it. 

The  character  of  the  goddess  and  her  rites  have  already  been 
discussed  under  May  i.  All  that  need  be  said  of  the  December 
sacrifice  is  that  it  was  clearly  a  survival  from  the  time  when 
the  wife  of  the  chief  of  the  community — himself  its  priest — 
together  with  her  daughters  (represented  in  later  times  by  the 
Vestals),  and  the  other  matrons,  made  sacrifice  of  a  young  pig 
or  pigs 4  to  the  deity  of  fertility,  from  all  share  in  which  men 
were  rigorously  excluded.  It  must  have  been  originally 
a  perfectly  decorous  rite,  and  so  have  continued  to  the  famous 
sacrilege  of  Clodius ;  it  was  only  under  the  empire  that  it 
became  the  scene  of  such  orgies  as  Juvenal  describes  in  his 
second  and  sixth  satires 5. 

NON.  DEC.  PEC.  5).     F. 

Here  we  have  another  festival  unknown  to  the  calendars, 
the  Faunalia  rustica,  as  it  has  been  called.  Our  knowledge  of 
it  comes  from  the  familiar  ode  of  Horace  (iii.  1 8),  and  from  the 
comments  of  the  scholiasts  thereon  : 

Faune,  Nympharum  fugientum  amator, 
Per  meos  fines  et  aprica  rura 
Lenis  incedas  abeasque  parvis 
Aequus  alumnis, 

1  Cic.  ad  Att.  i.  is,  and  15.  25. 

*  Cic.  de  Harusp.  resp.  17.  37  'fit  per  Virgines  Vestales,  fit  pro  populo 
Romano,  fit  in  ea  domo  quae  est  in  imperio.'  In  62  B  c.  it  was  in 
Caesar's  house,  and  apparently  m  the  Regia,  if  as  pontifi.x  inaximus  he 
resided  there.  See  Marq.  346,  note  i ;  250,  note  2. 

3  Fest.  245  publica  sacra  are  '  quae  publico  sumptu  pro  populo  fiunt.'     See 
my  article  '  Sacra'  in  Diet,  of  Antiquities. 

4  Juvenal,  2.  86.  «  a.  83  foil. ;  6.  314  foil. 


MENSIS    DECEMBER  257 

Si  tener  pleno  cadit  haedus  anno, 
Larga  nee  desunt  Veneris  sodali 
Vina  craterae,  vetus  ara  multo 

Fumat  odore. 

Ludit  herboso  pecus  omne  campo 
Cum  tibi  Nonae  redeunfc  Deceinbres ; 
Festus  in  pratis  vacat  otioso 

Cum  bove  pagus ; 
Inter  audaces  lupus  errat  agnos  ; 
Spargit  agrestes  tibi  silva  frondes; 
Gaudet  invisam  pepulisse  fossor 

Ter  pede  terrain. 

No  picture  could  be  choicer  or  neater  than  this  :  for  once  it  is 
a  treat  to  have  our  best  evidence  in  the  form  of  a  perfect  work 
of  art.  We  are  for  a  moment  let  into  the  heart  and  mind  of 
ancient  Italy,  as  they  showed  themselves  on  a  winter  holiday. 
There  is  an  ancient  altar— not  a  temple — to  a  supernatural 
being  who  is  not  yet  fully  god,  who  can  play  pranks  like  the 
4  Brownies '  and  do  harm,  but  is  capable  of  doing  good  if  duly 
propitiated.  On  the  Nones  of  December,  possibly  of  other 
months  too l,  he  is  coaxed  with  tender  kid,  libations  of  wine, 
and  incense2;  the  little  rural  community  of  farmers  (pagus), 
with  their  labourers,  take  part  in  the  rite,  and  bring  their  cattle 
into  the  common  pasture,  plough-oxen  and  all.  Then,  after 
the  sacrifice,  they  dance  in  triple  measure,  like  the  Salii  in 
March. 

Horace  is  of  course  describing  a  rite  which  was  entirely 
rural,  as  the  word  pagus  would  indicate  sufficiently,  apart  from 
other  features.  Unless  he  were  the  god  of  the  Lupercalia, 
which  is  open  to  much  doubt3,  Faunus  was  not  introduced 
into  the  city  of  Rome  till  196  B.  c.,  when  the  aediles  very 
appropriately  built  him  a  temple  in  the  Tiber-island  with  money 
taken  as  fines  from  defaulting  pecuarii*,  or  holders  of  public 
land  used  for  cattle-runs.  We  may  assume  that  his  settlement 
in  the  city  was  suggested  by  the  pontifices,  and  that  we  have 
here  a  case  of  the  transformation  of  a  purely  rustic  cult  into  an 
urban  one  by  priestly  manipulation.  It  is  not  impossible  that 

1  Probua  on  Virg.  Georg.  i.  10  '  In  Italia  quidam  annuum  sacrum, 
quidam  menstruum  celebrant.' 

1  The  word  is  'odore,'  i.e.  sweet  herbs  of  the  garden  (Marq.  169  and 
note). 

*  See  on  Lupercalia,  p.  313.  *  lav.  33.  42. 

8 


258  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

the  idea  that  Faunus  was  the  deity  of  the  Lupercalia  came  in 
about  the  same  time '.  Both  priests  and  annalists  got  hold  of 
him,  and  did  their  best  to  rob  him  of  his  true  character  as 
an  intelligible  and  useful  god  of  woodland  and  pasture.  He 
became  a  Kex  Aboriginum2,  and  the  third  on  the  list  of 
mythical  kings  of  Latium '.  He  became  identified  with  the 
Greek  Pan.  But,  in  spite  of  all  their  efforts,  Faunus  would 
not  tamely  accept  his  new  position.  We  hear  no  more  of  the 
aedes  in  the  island  :  the  Koman  vulgus  do  not  seem  to  have 
recognized  him  at  the  Lupercalia,  and  his  insertion  in  the  legends 
had  no  political  effect.  The  fact  that  not  a  single  inscription 
from  Home  or  its  vicinity  records  his  name  shows  plainly  that 
he  never  took  the  popular  fancy  as  a  deity  with  city  functions : 
and  the  absence  of  inscriptions  in  the  country  districts  also, 
in  most  singular  contrast  to  the  ubiquitous  stone  records  of 
Silvanus-worship,  seems  to  show  that  he  remained  always 
much  as  wild  as  he  was  before  the  age  of  inscriptions  began, 
while  the  kindred  deity  was  adopted  into  the  organized  life  and 
culture  of  the  Italian  and  provincial  farmer 4. 

It  may  be  as  well,  before  "leaving  the  subject  of  this  singular 
being,  to  sum  up  under  a  very  few  heads  what  is  really  known 
about  him.  But  so  little  is  known  about  the  cult  of  Faunus  — 
and  indeed  it  can  hardly  be  said  that  any  elaborate  cult  ever 
grew  up  around  him — that  it  may  be  legitimate  for  once  first  to 
glance  at  the  etymological  explanations  of  his  name  which  have 
been  suggested  by  scholars. 

(i)  Faunus  is  connected  with  favere,  and  means  'the  kind  or 
propitious  one,'  like  Faustus  and  Faustulus,  and  as  some  think, 
Favonius s  and  Fons.  This  derivation  was  known  to  Servius 6 : 
'quidam  Faunos  putant  dictos  ab  eo  quod  frugibus  faveant.' 

1  The  earliest  hint  of  the  connexion  of  Faunus  with  Evander  and  the 
Palatine  legend  is  found  in  a  fragment  of  Cincius  Alimentus,  who  wrote 
at  this  time  (H.  Peter,  Fragm.  Hist.  Lat.  41,  from  Servius,  Georg.  i.  10). 

2  Dion.  Hal.  i.  31 ;    Suet.  Vitett.  i.    Cp.  for  a  more  truly  Italian  view, 
Virgil,  Aen.  8.  314  foil. 

*  Aen.  7.  45  foil.    The  order  was  Saturnus,  Picus,  Faunus,  Latinus. 

4  Wissowa  in  Lex.  s.  v.  Faunus,  1458  :  who,  however,  does  not  sufficiently 
explain  the  contrast.  Silvanus  became  tutor  finium,  and  custos  hortuli 
(cp.  Groniatici  Veteres.  p.  302).  It  was  probably  this  turn  given  to  his  cult 
which  saved  him  from  the  fate  of  Faunus.  He  takes  over  definite  duties 
to  the  cultivator,  while  Faunus  is  still  roaming  the  country  in  a  wild  state. 

*  Bouch6-Leclercq.  Hist,  de  la  Divination,  iv.  122. 

*  Ad  Georg.  i.  10. 


MENSIS    DECEMBER  259 

It  is  not  in  itself  inconsistent  with  what  we  know  of  the  rural 
Faunus,  or  with  analogous  supernatural  beings,  like  the  '  good 
people.'  It  was  accepted  by  Preller  and  Schwegler,  and  has 
affected  their  conclusions  about  Faunus  ;  e.  g.  Schwegler  based 
on  it  the  view,  now  generally  held,  that  Evander  is  a  Greek 
translation  of  Faunus '. 

(2)  Faunus  is  from  /an,  i.  e.  the  speaker,  or  foreteller.    This 
too  was  known  to  Latin  scholars :  thus  Isidorus  (perhaps  from 
Varro2),    'fauni  a  fando,  OTTO  rJjs  ^wi/ijs   dicti,   quod  voce   non 
signis  ostendere  viderentur  futura.'     It  was  revived  not  long 
ago  by  the  late  Prof.  Nettleship:  'Once  imagine  Faunus  as 
a    "speaker,"   and   all   becomes   clear.     He   is   not   only  the 
composer  and  reciter  of  verses  "',  but  generally  the  seer  or  wise 
man,  whose  superior  knowledge  entitles  him  to  the  admiration 
and  dread  of  the  country  folk  who  consult  him.     But  as  his 
real  nature  and  functions  are  superseded,  his  character  is  mis- 
conceived :  he  becomes  a  divinity,  the  earliest  king  of  Latium, 
the  god  of  prophecy,  the  god  of  agriculture.'     We  may  compare 
with  this  Scaliger's  note  on  Varro,  L.  L.  7.  36 :  '  The  Fauni 
were  a  class  of  men  who  exercised,  at  a  very  remote  period,  the 
same  functions  which  belonged  to  the  Magi  in  Persia,  and  to 
the  Bards  in  Gaul.' 

(3)  Faunus  may=Favonius,  which  itself  may  come  from  the 
same  root  as  Pan  (i.  e.  pu  =  purify).     Thus  Faunus,  like  Pan, 
might  be  taken  as  a  mythological  expression  of  the  'purifying 
breeze,'  the  god  of  the  gentler  winds4.     The  characteristics  of 
Faunus  are  of  course  veiy  like  those  of  Pan ;  but  as  it  is  no 
easy  matter  to  determine  how  far  those  of  the  Italian  were 
taken  over  by  the  Roman  Jitterati  from  the  Greek  deity,  and 
as  the  etymology  itself  is  confessedly  a  questionable  one,  this 
conjecture  must  be  left  to  take  its  chance. 

But  the  first  two  are  worth  attending  to,  and  each  finds  some 
support  in  what  we  know  of  Faunus  from  other  sources.  Let 
us  see  in  the  next  place  what  this  amounts  to. 

(i)  There  is  fairly  strong   evidence  that  Faunus  was  not 

1  Schwegler,  Rom.  Oesch.  i.  351. 

*  Varro,  L.  L.  7.  36  '  Faunos  in  silvestribus  locis  traditum  est  solitos 
fari  futura.'     Servius  identifies  Faunus  and  Fatuus  ;  ad  Aen.  6.  775. 

3  'Versibus  quos  olim  Fauni  vatesque  canebant.'  Ennius  in  Varro, 
L.  L  7.  36.  See  Nettleship,  Essays  in  Latin  Literature,  p.  50  foil. 

*  Mannhardt,  A.  W.  F.  113  foil. 

8  2 


260  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

originally  conceived  as  a  single  deity,  but  as  multiplex.  Varro 
quotes  the  line  of  Ennius : 

Versibus  quos  olim  Fauni  vatesque  canebnnt, 

and  comments  thus1 :  'Fauni  dii  Latinorum,  ita  ut  Faunus  et 
Fauna  sit.'  The  evidence  of  Virgil,  always  valuable  for  rural 
antiquities,  is  equally  clear : 

Et  vos  agrestum  praesentia  numina,  Fauni, 

Ferte  siinul  Faunique  pedem  Dryadesque  puellae*. 

Servins  has  an  interesting  note  on  these  lines  :  why,  he  asks, 
does  the  poet  put  Faunus  in  the  plural,  when  there  is  but  one  ? 
We  might  be  tempted  to  think  Virgil  wrong  and  his  com- 
mentator right,  the  poet  representing  Greek  ideas  and  the 
scholar  Italian,  but  for  a  still  more  curious  note  of  Probus 
on  the  same  passage  :  '  Plures  (Fauni)  existimantur  esse  etiam 
praesentes :  idcirco  rusticis  persuasum  est  incolentibus  earn 
partem  Italiae  quae  suburbana  est,  saepe  eos  in  agris  conspici.' 
My  belief  is  that  these  words  give  us  the  genuine  idea  of  Faunus 
in  the  rustic  mind,  surviving  in  central  Italy  long  after  he  had 
been  appropriated  as  a  conventional  Eoman  deity.  We  seem 
in  the  case  of  Faunus  to  be  able  to  catch  a  deity  in  the  pro- 
cess of  manufacture — of  elevation  from  a  lower,  multiplex, 
daemonistic  form,  to  a  higher  and  more  uniform  and  more 
rigid  one.  Yet  so  excellent  a  scholar  as  Wissowa  holds 
exactly  the  opposite  view,  that  there  was  but  one  Faunus,  and 
that  his  multiplication  is  simply  the  result  of  Eoman  acquain- 
tance with  Pan  and  the  Satyrs3.  It  would  have  been  more 
satisfactory  if  he  had  given  us  an  explanation  from  his  point  of 
view  of  the  passage  of  Probus  just  quoted,  or  had  shown  us 
how  these  Greek  notions  could  have  penetrated  into  the  rural 
parts  of  Italy. 

(2)  Another  point  which  comes  out  distinctly — unless  our 
Eoman  authorities  were  wholly  misled — is  the  ivoodland  character 
of  the  Fauni.  A  passage  of  Varro,  of  which  I  quoted  the  first 

1  L.  L.  7.  36. 

3  Geoig.  i.  10.  The  introduction  of  the  Greek  Dryads  may  be  thought 
to  throw  suspicion  upon  the  Latinity  of  these  Fauni  of  Virgil.  But  in 
Aen.  8.  314,  the  similar  conjunction  of  Fauni  and  Nymphae  is  followed 
by  words  which  seem  to  mark  a  true  Italian  conception. 

3  Lex.  s.v.  Faunus,  1454. 


MENSIS    DECEMBER  261 

words  just  now,  goes  on  thus :  '  hos  versibus  quos  vocant 
Saturnios  in  silvestribus  locis  traditum  est  solitos  fari  futura, 
a  quo  fando  Faunos  dictos.'  This  seems  to  be  a  genuine 
Italian  tradition.  Virgil  was  not  talking  Greek  when  he  wrote l 

Haec  nemora  indigenae  Fauni  Nymphaeque  tenebant 
Gensque  virum  truncis  et  duro  robore  nata, 
Queis  neque  mos  neque  cultus  erat,  &c. 

The  poet  imagines  an  ancient  race,  sprung  from  the  trees  them- 
selves: a  'genus  indocile  et  dispersum  montibus  altis/  living 
on  the  forest-clad  hills 2,  to  whom  foreign  invaders  brought 
the  means  of  civilization.  Why  should  not  this  tradition  be 
a  native  one  ?  It  is  singularly  in  accord  with  the  most  recent 
results  of  Italian  excavation  ;  for  it  is  now  absolutely  certain 
that  the  oldest  inhabitants  of  central  Italy  dwelt  on  the  hill-tops, 
and  that  the  first  traces  of  foreign  influence  only  occur  in  lower 
and  later  settlements n.  The  valleys  were  still  undrained  and 
malarious.  These  earliest  inhabitants  who  have  left  their 
traces  for  the  excavator,  or  a  still  older  race  scattered  on  the 
hills  after  their  invasion,  may  have  been  the  traditional  repre- 
sentatives of  what  Preller  has  called  'the  period  of  Faunus  V 
regarded  by  the  later  civilization,  from  their  wild  and  woodland 
habits,  as  half  demons  and  half  men.  The  name  of  the  kindred 
Silvanus  tells  its  own  tale  ;  and  his  actual  connexion  with  trees 
was  even  closer  than  that  of  Faunus 5. 

(3)  A  third  well-attested  point  is  the  attribution  to  Faunus 
or  the  Fauni  of  power  for  good  or  evil  over  the  crops  and  herds, 
as  we  have  seen  it  already  implied  in  Horace's  ode.  Por- 
phyrion6  in  his  commentary  on  this  ode  tells  us  that  Faunus, 
on  the  Nones  of  December,  wishes  the  cattle,  which  are  under 
his  protection,  to  be  free  from  danger.  Just  before  this  passage 
he  had  spoken  of  him  as  '  deum  inferum  et  pestilentein,'  thus 

1  Aen.  8.  314. 

2  Cp.  Ovid,  Fasti,  3.  315  'Di  sumus  agrestes  et  qui  dominemur  in  altis 
Montibus,'  &c.     Cp.  Preller,  i.  386. 

3  Monumenti  Antichi,   vol.  v.  (Barnabei).      Von    Duhn,    translated    in 
Journal  of  Hellenic  Studies,  1896,  p.  120  foil. 

*  Rom.  Myth.  i.  104  foil. 

5  Virg.  A  en.  8.  60  r,  and  Serv.'s  note:   '  Prudentiores  dicunt  eum  esse 
V\IKOV  Bt6v,  hoc  est  deum  v\rjs.'  Silvanus  may  have  been  a  true  tree-spirit ; 
Mannhardt,  A.  W.  F.  118  foil.  ;  Preller,  i.  392. 

6  Vol.  i.  335,  ed.  Hauthal. 


262  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

giving  us  the  dark  and  hurtful  side  of  his  power  as  well  as  the 
bright  and  gracious.  The  same  combination  of  the  powers  of 
doing  and  averting  harm  is  seen  in  Mars,  as  we  have  already 
learnt  from  the  hymn  of  the  Arval  Brethren  and  the  formula 
of  pi-ay ers  preserved  by  Cato '. 

Under  this  head  may  be  mentioned  the  belief  that  both 
Faunus  and  Silvanus  were  dangerous  for  women,  an  idea  which 
finds  expression  in  the  significant  word  incubus,  so  often  applied 
to  them  *.  We  may  perhaps  find  a  reason  for  the  identification 
of  Faunus  as  god  of  the  Lupercalia  in  the  most  striking  feature 
of  the  festival — the  pursuit  of  the  women  by  the  creppi,  who 
struck  them  with  thongs  in  order  to  render  them  productive 3. 

(4)  The  last  characteristic  of  tho  Fauni  to  be  noticed  is  that 
they  had  the  power  of  foretelling  the  future.  The  verse  of 
Ennius  already  quoted  is  the  earliest  literary  evidence  we  have 
of  this  ;  but  the  quaint  story  of  the  capture  of  Picus  and 
Faunus  by  Numa4,  who  caught  them  by  making  them  drunk 
with  wine  at  the  fountain  where  they  came  to  drink,  and 
compelled  them  as  the  price  of  their  liberty  to  reveal  the  art  of 
staying  a  disaster,  has  an  unmistakeable  old-Italian  ring.  The 
idea  seems  to  have  been,  not  that  Faunus  was  a  'god  of 
prophecy,'  as  Preller  seems  to  fancy,  but  that  there  was  an 
ancient  race  of  Fauni,  who  might  be  coaxed  or  compelled  to 
reveal  secrets.  Sometimes  indeed  they  '  spoke '  of  their  own 
accord  ;  when  a  Eoman  army  needed  to  be  warned  or  encouraged 
on  its  march,  their  voice  was  heard  by  all  as  it  issued  from 
thicket  or  forest.  Cicero  and  Livy 5  write  of  these  voices  with 
a  distinctness  which  (as  it  seems  to  me)  admits  of  no  suspicion 
that  they  are  inserting  Greek  ideas  into  Eoman  annals. 

There  are  also  traces  to  be  found  of  a  belief  in  the  existence 
of  local  woodland  oracles  of  Faunus  and  his  kind.  It  was  in 
a  grove  sacred  to  Faunus  that  Numa,  in  Ovid's  vivid  description 6, 

1  See  above,  p.  126.  It  may  be  noticed  that  the  Bona  Dea,  whose  solemn 
rite  occurs  also  at  the  beginning  of  this  month,  was  identified  with  Fauna, 
the  female  form  of  Faunus  (R.  Peter,  in  Lex.  s.v.  Fauna)  ;  i.e.  their 
powers  for  good  and  evil  were  thought  to  be  much  alike. 

*  Preller,  i.  381  and  reff.  »  See  under  Lupercalia,  p.  320. 

4  Ovid,  fasti,  3.  291  foil.     I  am  glad  to  see  that  Wissowa  accepts  this 
story  as  genuine  Italian  (Lex.  s.v.  1456). 

5  Cic.  deDiv.  1. 101  ;  Livy,  a.  7  (Silvanus),  and  Dion.  Hal.  5.  16  (Faunus) 
of  the  battle  by  the  wood  of  Arsia. 

*  Fasti,  4.  649  foil. 


MENSIS    DECEMBER  263 

slew  two  sheep,  the  one  to  Faunus,  the  other  to  Sleep,  and  after 
twice  sprinkling  water  on  his  head,  and  twice  wreathing  it 
with  beech-leaves,  stretched  himself  on  the  fleeces  to  receive 
the  prophetic  inspiration  as  he  slumbered.  Almost  every  touch 
in  this  story  seems  to  me  to  be  genuine ;  and  especially  the  condi- 
tions necessary  to  success — the  continence  of  the  devotee,  and  the 
removal  of  the  metal  ring  from  the  finger.  Virgil,  with  some- 
thing more  of  foreign  adornment,  tells  in  exquisite  verse  what 
is  really  the  same  story  as  Ovid's  '.  And  a  later  poet  writes  of 
a  sacred  beech-grove,  where  under  like  conditions  of  temperance, 
&c.,  the  shepherds  might  find  the  oracles  of  Faunus  inscribed 
on  the  bark  of  a  beech-tree 2.  All  this  reminds  us  of  Dodona 
and  the  oldest  Greek  oracles :  we  have  here  the  quaint  methods 
of  primitive  shepherds,  appealing  to  prophetic  powers  localized 
in  particular  woodland  spots.  Roman  exigencies  of  state  drew 
by  degrees  the  whole  of  the  secrets  of  fore-knowledge  into  the 
hands  of  a  priestly  aristocracy,  with  its  fixed  doctrine  and 
methods  of  divination  ;  but  the  country  folk  long  retained  their 
faith  in  the  existence  of  an  ancient  race,  possessed  of  prophetic 
power,  which  haunted  forest  and  mountain. 

These  four  points,  taken  together,  i.  e.  the  multiplicity  of 
the  Fauni,  their  woodland  character,  and  their  supposed  powers 
of  productivity  and  prophecy,  seem  by  no  means  to  exclude  the 
possibility  of  the  human  origin  suggested  long  ago  by  Scaliger, 
and  recently  by  Prof.  Nettleship,  though  I  would  shape  the 
explanation  somewhat  differently.  Wild  men  from  the  hills 
and  woods,  for  example,  might  well  be  supposed  to  be  possessed 
of  supernatural  powers,  like  the  gipsies  of  modern  times 5.  And 
the  striking  absence  of  any  epigraphical  survivals  of  a  definite 
cult  may  possibly  be  explained  by  a  persistence  of  the  belief  in 
the  Italian  mind  that  Faunus  was  never  really  and  truly  a  god, 
but  one  of  a  race  with  some  superhuman  attributes— a  link  in 
the  chain  that  always  in  antiquity  connected  together  the 
human  and  the  divine.  Horace's  ode  shows  the  divine  element 
predominating ;  some  local  Faunus  has,  so  to  speak,  been  caught 
and  half  deified ;  and  yet,  even  then,  the  process  is  hardly 
complete. 

1  Am.  7.  81  foil.  *  Calpurnius,  Ed.  i.  8  foil. 

*  Cp.  Tylor,  Primitive  Culture,  i.  341  foil. ;  Sir  A.  Lyall,  Asiatic  Studies, 

Cll.  2. 


264  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

There  is,  however,  another  explanation  of  conceptions  of  this 
kind  to  which  I  must  briefly  allude,  which  was  based  by 
Dr.  Mannhardt  on  an  exhaustive  examination  of  the  attributes 
of  creatures  like  the  Fauni,  as  they  occur  in  various  parts  of 
Europe  and  elsewhere '.  The  general  result  of  his  investigation 
may  be  stated  thus.  Spirits  which  seem  to  have  their  origin  in 
woods  and  mountains  find  outward  expression  for  their  being 
in  the  wind  ;  so  also  do  those  which  seem  to  have  their  origin 
in  corn  and  vegetation  generally.  We  thus  find  three  in- 
gredients in  their  composition  :  (i)  trees,  (2)  corn,  (3)  wind. 
We  have  only  to  think  how  the  invisible  wind  moves  the 
branches  of  the  trees,  or  bows  the  corn  before  it,  to  see  how 
closely,  in  the  eyes  of  men  used  to  attribute  life  to  inanimate 
things,  the  idea  of  the  wind  might  run  together  with  that  of 
objects  to  which  it  seems  to  give  motion  and  life.  The  result 
of  its  mysterious  agency  is  the  growth  of  a  variety  of  creatures 
of  the  imagination,  often  half  bestial,  like  Pan  and  the  Russian 
Ljeschi,  sometimes  entirely  animal,  like  the  Eye -wolf  and 
many  another  animal  corn-spirit  now  familiar  to  readers  of 
Frazer's  Golden  Bough ;  sometimes  entirely  human,  like  Silvanus, 
perhaps  Faunus  himself2,  or  the  Teutonic  'wild  man  of  the 
woods.'  Mannhardt  endeavours,  not  wholly  without  success, 
to  bring  the  attributes  of  Faunus  into  harmony  with  this  theory, 
His  prophetic  vox  comes  from  the  forest  in  which  the  wind 
raises  strange  noises  ;  his  relation  to  crops  and  flocks  is  parallel 
to  that  of  many  other  spirits  who  can  be  traced  to  a  woodland 
origin  ;  and  the  word  Favonius,  used  for  the  western  moist 
and  fertilizing  breeze,  is  kindred,  if  not  identical,  with  Faunus  ; 
and  so  on. 

This  theory,  resting  as  it  does  on  a  very  wide  induction  from 
unquestionable  facts,  beyond  doubt  explains  many  of  the 
conceptions  of  primitive  agricultural  man  ;  whether  it  can  be 
applied  satisfactorily  to  the  Italian  Faunus  is  perhaps  less 
evident.  At  present  I  rather  prefer  to  think  of  the  Fauni  as 
arising  from  the  contact  of  the  first  clearers  and  cultivators  of 

1  Antike  TFa'rf-  und  Fddkvlte,  p.  152. 

*  See  the  cuts  of  two  bronze  statuettes  which  Wissowa,  following 
Reifferscheid.  believed  to  represent  the  un-Graecized  Italian  Faunus,  at 
the  end  of  the  article  'Faunus'  in  Lex.  1460.  But  it  is  at  least  very 
doubtful  whether  Reifferscheid  was  right  in  his  opinion. 


MENSIS    DECEMBER  265 

Italian  soil  with  a  wild  aboriginal  race  of  the  hills  and  woods. 
But  on  such  questions  certainty  is  impossible,  and  dogmatism 
entirely  out  of  place. 

in  ID.  DEC.  (Dec.   n).     !PP. 
AG.    IN.    .    .    .    (AMIT.).     AG[ONIA]   (MAFF.    PRAEN.   ANT.) 

SEPTIMONTIA    (PHILOC.).       8EPTIMONTIUM,    GUID.    SILV.1 

For  Agonia  see  on  Jan.  9..  This  (Dec.  u)  is  the  third  day 
on  which  this  mysterious  word  appears  in  the  calendars.  The 
AG.  IN.  of  the  Amiternian  calendar  was  conjectured  by  Mommsen 
in  the  first  edition  of  0.  /.  L.,  vol.  i,  to  indicate  'Agonium 
Inui ' 2 ;  but  in  the  new  edition  he  withdraws  this ;  '  ab  incertis 
coniecturis  abstinebimus.'  This  is  done  in  deference  to  Wissowa, 
who  has  pointed  out  that  there  is  no  other  case  in  the  calendars 
of  a  festival-name  inscribed  in  large  letters  being  followed 
immediately  by  the  name  of  a  deity 3.  We  must  fall  back  on 
the  supposition  that  AG.  IN.  ...  is  simply  a  cutter's  error  for 
the  AGON,  of  three  other  calendars. 

It  is  impossible  to  determine  what  was  the  relation  between 
this  agonium,  or  solemn  sacrifice,  and  the  Septimontium  or 
Septimontiale  sacrum,  which  appears  only  in  very  late  calendars, 
or  whether  indeed  there  was  any  relation  at  all.  It  is  not 
absolutely  certain  that  the  so-called  Septimontium  took  place 
on  this  dry.  It  was  only  a  conjecture  of  Sculiger's  (though 
a  clever  one)  that  completed  the  gloss  in  Festus  on  the  word 
'  Septimontium ' 4  (Septimontium  dies  ap'pellatur  mcnse  (Decemlri 
qui  dicitur  infastis  agonaliu.  The  word  Septimontium  suggested 
itself,  as  the  gloss  occurred  under  letter  S.  Other  support  for 
the  conjecture  i&  found  in  the  two  late  calendars,  and  in 
a  fragment  of  Lydus s,  who  connects  the  two  ceremonies. 

But  even  if  Scaliger's  conjecture  be  right,  it  does  not  follow 
that  the  Agonium  was  identical  with  or  was  part  of  the  Septimon- 
tiale sacrum.  The  latter  does  not  appear  in  the  old  calendars, 

1  By  an  error  Silvius  has  entered  it  on  the  xath. 
1  For  Inuus  f-ee  on  Lupercalia,  and  Livy,  i.  5. 

3  de  FeritSj  xii.     His  other  argument,  that  Inuus  is  not  a  nomen,  but 
a  cognomen,  is  less  satisfactory.     Can  we  always  be  sure  which  is  which  ? 
(e.g.  Saturnus,  Janus). 

4  Festus,  p.  340. 

4  de  Mensibus,  p.  118,  ed.  Bekk. ;  quoted  by  Mommsen,  C.  I.  L.  i'.  336. 


266  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

as  it  was  not  'pro  populo,'  but  only  'pro  montibus '  (see  below) ; 
and  if  it  was  there  represented  by  the  word  Agonium,  it  is  not 
easy  to  see  how  the  latter  should  have  found  its  way  into  the 
calendar.  It  seems  better  to  conclude  that  the  two  were  distinct. 

About  the  Septimontium  itself  we  have  just  enough  informa- 
tion to  divine  its  nature,  but  without  details.  The  word  is 
used  by  Varro  both  in  a  topographical  and  a  religious  sense : 
'Ubi  nunc  est  Horna,  erat  olim  Septimontium  ;  nominatum  ab 
tot  montibus,  quos  postea  urbs  muris  comprehenditV  Here 
he  implies  that  the  old  name  for  Rome  was  Septimontium  ;  but 
this  is  only  a  guess  based  on  the  name  of  the  festival :  '  Dies 
Septimontium  nominatur  ab  his  septem  montibus,  in  quis  sita 
urbs  est ;  feriae  nonpopuli  sed  montanorum  modo,  ut  Paganalia, 
quae  sunt  aliquoius  pagi  V 

The  monies  here  meant  are  the  three  divisions  of  the  Palatine, 
viz.  Palatium,  Cermalus,  Velia  ;  the  three  of  the  Esquiline,  viz. 
Mons  Oppius,  Mons  Cispius,  and  the  Fagutal,  together  with  the 
lower  ground  of  the  Subura 3.  T  believe  that  Mommsen  is 
right  in  thinking  that  these  were  never  political  divisions — in 
other  words,  that  they  were  not  originally  distinct  communities1, 
but  probably  religious  divisions  of  a  city  which  began  on  the 
Palatine,  and  gradually  took  in  new  ground  on  the  Esquiline. 
The  same  process  can  be  traced  at  Falerii,  and  at  Narce  a  few 
miles  above  it ;  what  we  seem  to  see  is  not  the  accretion  of 
villages — not  O-VKOIKIO-^O? — but  the  extension  of  a  city  from  one 
strong  position  to  another 6.  This  is  especially  clear  at  Narce, 
where  it  is  distinctly  proved  by  the  pottery  found  in  the 
excavations,  that  the  hill  (Monte  li  Santi)  subsequently  added 
to  the  original  city  was  not  co-eval  with  the  latter  as  a  settle- 

1  L.  L.  v.  41.  *  Ibid.  vi.  24. 

1  Antistius  Labeo,  ap.  Festum,  348 :  '^Septimontio,  ufc  ait  Antistius  Labeo, 
hisce  montibus  feriae.  Palatio,  cui  sacrificium  quod  fit  Palatuar  dicitur. 
Veliae,  cui  item  sacrificium,  Fagutali,  Suburae,  Cermalo,  Oppio,  Cispio 
monti.'  Before  'Cispio'  the  MS.  has  '  Caelio  monti,'  which  must  be 
a  copyist's  blunder.  The  Subura  ds  by  courtesy  a  wows;  also  a  pagus 
(Festus,  309%  a  regio  (ib.\  and  a  tribus  (ib.). 

4  Staatsrechtj  iii.  1 12.  O.  Gilbert  has  made  a  great  to-do  about  the  develop- 
ment of  these  communities;  Qesch.  u.  Topogr.  i.  39  foil.  But  where  else 
will  he  find  three  distinct  settlements  in  a  space  as  small  as  that  of  the 
Palatine  ?  The  discoveries  at  Falerii  and  Narce  would  have  saved  him  the 
labour  of  much  web-spinning.  Plutarch,  Q.  R.  69,  has  (accidentally 
perhaps)  expressed  the  matter  rightly. 

*  Monumenti  Antichi,  vol.  v.  p.  15  foil. 


MENSIS    DECEMBER  267 

ment ;  i.  e.  that  it  was  the  absorption  by  an  older  settlement 
of  a  probably  uninhabited  position  which  hei'e  took  place,  and 
not  the  synoecizing  of  distinct  political  communities '.  In  the 
later  Rome  the  montani  of  the  seven  districts,  together  with 
the  pagani,  or  inhabitants  of  what  had  originally  been  the 
farm-country  around  Rome,  formed  the  united  city2.  It  is 
most  interesting  to  find  that  the  earliest  divisions,  i.  e.  of  the 
montes,  were  imitated  in  the  foundation  of  some  colonies  — 
we  should  find  them  probably  in  many  if  we  had  the  necessary 
information s. 

All  we  know  of  the  cult  of  the  montani  on  this  day  is  as 
follows:  (i)  There  was  a  sacrifice  on  the  Palatium  (which 
seems  to  have  been  the  first  in  dignity  of  the  montes)  by  the 
Flamen  Palatualis 4  ;  but  we  do  not  know  to  what  deity,  and 
can  only  guess  that  it  was  Pales,  or  Palatua s.  (2)  On  this 
day  no  carts  or  other  vehicles  drawn  by  beasts  of  burden  were 
allowed  in  the  city,  as  we  learn  from  Plutarch,  who  asks  the 
reason  of  this,  and  gives  some  quaint  answers ".  But  the 
explanations  are  useless  to  us,  and  we  cannot  even  guess  whence 
Plutarch  drew  his  knowledge  of  the  fact,  unless  it  was  from 
personal  observation.  Let  us  remember,  however,  that  this  was 
a  feast  of  montani :  is  it  not  likely  that  this  was  a  survival  from 
a  time  when  the  farm-waggons  of  the  pagani  really  never 
ascended  to  the  'hills'? 

PRID.  ID.  DEC.  (DEC.   12).    EN. 

CONSO    IN   AVENTINJp].       (AM1T.) 

xviii  (ANTE  CAES.  xvi7)  KAL.  IAN.  (DEC.   15).    IP. 
CONS[UALIA].      (MAFF.   PRAEN.    AMIT.  ANT.)  FERIAE   CONSO 

(PRAEN.    AMIT.) 

For  these  see  on  Aug.  21.  If  the  conclusions  there  arrived 
at  are  sound  we  might  guess  that  these  winter  rites  of  Census 

1  Mon.  Ant.  p.  no  foil.  (Barnabei).  a  Cic.  de  Domo,  28.  74. 

3  At  Ariminum,  and  Antioch  in  Pisidia  (Mommsen,  Stuatsrecht,  iii.  113, 
notel . 

4  Festus,  348,  cp.  245.  *  Preller,  i.  414. 

*  Q.  R.  69.  Plutarch  docs  not  say  in  what  parts  of  the  city  the  vehicles 
were  forbidden.  The  feast  existed  in  his  day,  and  indeed  long  afterwaids 
(Tertull.  Idololutr.  10).  It  seems  to  have  become  a  general  feast  of  the  whole 
people.  7  Macrob.  i.  10.  a. 


268  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

arose  from  the  habit  of  inspecting  the  condition  of  the  corn- 
stores  in  mid-winter 1.  It  is  this  day  that  has  the  note  attached 
to  it  in  the  Fasti  Praenestini,  'Equi  et  [muli  floribus  coronantur] 
quod  in  eius  tu[tela]  .  .  .  itaque  rex  equo  [vectus?],'  which  was 
commented  on  under  Aug.  21.  See  also  under  Aug.  25 
(Opeconsivia) ;  Wissowa,  s.  v.  Consus,  in  Lex.  Myth. ;  and  clc 
Feriis,  vi  foil. 

xvi  (ANTE  CAES.  xiv2)  KAL.  IAN.  (DEC.   17).     IP. 

SATURNALIA.     (MAFF.  AMIT.  GUID.  BUST.  PHILOC.) 
FERIAE  SATUKNO.     (MAFF.  AMIT) 
SATUEN[O]  AD  FO[KUM].     (AMIT.) 

FERIAE    SERVORUM.       (siLV.) 

This  was  the  original  day  of  the  Saturnalia s,  and,  in  a  strictly 
religious  sense,  it  was  the  only  day.  The  festival,  in  the  sense 
of  a  popular  holiday,  was  extended  by  common  usage  to  as 
much  as  seven  days 4 :  Augustus  limited  it  to  three  in  respect 
of  legal  business,  and  the  three  were  later  increased  to  five 5. 

Probably  no  Roman  festival  is  so  well  known  to  the  general 
reader  as  this,  which  has  left  its  traces  and  found  its  parallels 
in  great  numbers  of  mediaeval  and  modern  customs  6,  occur- 
ring about  the  time  of  the  winter  solstice.  Unfortunately, 
it  is  here  onee  more  a  matter  of  difficulty  to  determine  what 
features  in  the  festival  were  really  of  old  Latin  origin,  in  spite 
of  information  as  to  detail,  which  is  unusually  full ;  for  both 
Saturnus  himself  and  his  cult  came  to  be  very  heavily  overlaid 
with  Greek  ideas  and  practice. 

1  See  below  on  Saturnalia,  p.  271. 

2  Macrob.  i.  10.  2.     Macr.  tolls  us  that  after  the  change  some  people  in 
error  held  the  festival  on  the  igth,  i.  e.  on  the  day  which  was  now  xiv 
K .  Ian. 

1  Hartmann,  Der  Rom.  Kalender,  p.  203  foil.,  thinks  it  was  originally  one 
of  the  feriae  conceplivae,  like  the  Compitalia,  Paganalia,  &c.,  and  only 
became  fixed  (statifae)  when  it  was  reorganized  in  217  B.  c.  But  if  so, 
why  is  it  marked  in  the  calendars  in  large  letters  ?  And  Hartmann 
himself  points  out  (p.  208)  that  Dec.  17  is  the  first  day  of  Capricornus,  i.e. 
the  coldest  season,  which  in  the  oldest  natural  reckoning  would  be  likely 
to  fix  the  day  (Colum.  ir.  a.  94). 

4  Macr.  I.e.  ;  Cic.  Att.  13.  52.  5  Mommsen,  C.  I.  L.  i.  337. 

*  Frazer,  Golden  Bough,  ii.  172  ;  Brand,  Popular  Antiquities,  ch.  13  ;  Usener, 
Rdigionsgeschichtliche  Untcrsuchungen,  i.  214  foil.  See  for  Italy,  Academy,  Jan. 
20,  1888. 


MENSIS    DECEMBER  269 

That  Saturnus  was  an  old  agricultural  god  admits,  however, 
of  no  doubt ;  the  old  form  of  the  word  was  probably  Saeturnus, 
which  is  found  on  an  inscription  on  an  ancient  vase ',  and  this 
leads  us  to  connect  him  with  serere  and  satio  ;  and  popular  tradi- 
tion attributed  to  him  the  discovery  of  agricultural  processes  -. 
But  the  Roman  of  the  historical  age  knew  very  little  about  him, 
and  cared  only  for  his  Graecized  festival ;  like  Faunus,  he  is 
the  object  of  no  votive  inscriptions  in  Rome  and  its  neighbour- 
hood " ;  and  this  conclusively  proves  that  he  was  never  what 
may  be  called  popular  as  a  deity.  As  the  first  king  of  Lutium 
there  were  plenty  of  legends  about  him,  or  as  the  first  civilizer 
of  his  people,  the  representative  of  a  Golden  Age 4 ;  but  no 
one  has  as  yet  thoroughly  investigated  these r>,  with  a  view  to 
distinguish  any  Italian  precipitate  in  the  mixture  of  elements 
of  which  they  certainly  consist.  We  are  still  without  the 
invaluable  aid  of  the  contributors  to  Roscher's  Lexicon. 

More  promising  at  first  sight  is  the  tradition  which  connects 
him  in  Rome  itself  with  the  Capitoline  hill.  Varro  tells  us 
positively  that  this  hill  was  originally  called  Mons  Saturnius  ; 
and  that  there  was  once  an  oypidum  there  called  Saturnia,  of 
which  certain  vestiges  survived  to  his  own  time,  including 
a  'fanum  Saturni  in  faucibus,'  i.  e.  apparently  the  ara  Saturni 
of  which  Dionysius  records  that  it  was  at  the  'root  of  the  hill,' 
by  the  road  leading  to  the  summit G,  in  fact  on  the  same  spot 
where  stood  later  the  temple  of  which  eight  columns  are  still 
•standing.  Close  to  this,  it  may  be  noted,  was  a  sacellum  of 
Dis  Pater 7,  the  Latinized  form  of  Plutus ;  in  the  temple  was 
the  aerarium  of  later  Rome 8,  and  built  into  the  rock  behind,  the 
chambers  of  records  (tabularia).  But  it  would  be  idle  to  found 
upon  these  facts  or  traditions  any  serious  hypothesis  as  to 
the  original  nature  of  the  Roman  cult  of  Saturn  ;  all  attempts 

1  C.  L  L.  i.  48.  But  Prof.  Gardner  tells  me  that  the  reading  Saet.  is 
not  certain. 

3  Macrob.  i.  10.  19  foil.  ;  r.  7.  24  and  25  ;  Marq.  p.  n  note  3.    The  con- 
junction of  Ops  with  him  in  this  function  is  rejected  Brightly,  I  think)  by 
Wissowa,  de  Feriis,  iv.     But  see  below  on  Opalia. 
•  s  Jordan's  note  on  Preller,  ii.  10.  *  e.g.  Virg.  Aen.  8.  321. 

*  See,  however,  Schwegler,  R.  G.  i.  223  foil. 

*  Varro,  L.  L.  5.  42  ;    Dion.  Hal.  i.  34  (cp.  6.  1}  ;   Fest.  322  ;  Solinus,  r. 
13  ;  Servius,  Aen.  2.  115  ;  Middleton,  Rome  in  i8Sj,  p.  166. 

7  R.  Peter,  s.  v.  Dis  in  Lex.  1181  ;  Macr.  i.  u.  48. 
"  Lucan,  3.  153  ;  Middleton,  op.  cit.  167. 


270  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

must  fail  in  the  bewildering  fog  of  ancient  fancy  and  ancient 
learning.  Saturnus  belongs,  like  Janus,  with  whom  he  was 
closely  connected  in  legend  ',  to  an  age  into  whose  religious 
ideas  we  cannot  penetrate,  and  survived  into  Koman  worship 
only  through  Greek  resuscitation2,  and  in  the  feast  of  the 
Saturnalia.  All  we  seem  to  see  is  that  he  is  somehow  con- 
nected with  things  that  are  put  in  the  earth 3 — seed,  treasure, 
perhaps  stores  of  produce ;  to  which  may  just  be  added  that 
the  one  spot  in  Rome  at  all  times  associated  with  him  is  close 
to  the  marJcet,  and  that  market-days  (nundinae)  were  said  to  be 
sacred  to  him 4.  The  temple  of  Janus  is  also  close  by,  and  it  is 
not  impossible  that  both  these  ancient  gods  had  some  closer 
relation  to  the  Forum  and  the  business  done  there  than  we  can 
at  present  understand  with  our  limited  knowledge.  Neither 
of  them,  it  may  be  noted,  had  a  flamen  attached  to  his  cult ; 
from  which  we  may  infer  that  they  did  not  descend  from  the 
primitive  household  or  the  earliest  form  of  community,  but 
rather  represented  some  place  or  process  common  to  several 
communities,  such  as  a  forum  and  the  business  transacted 
there6.  It  is  precisely  such  gods  who  figure  in  tradition  as 
kings,  not  of  a  single  city,  but  of  Latium. 

But  to  turn  to  the  festival ;  if  the  god  was  obscure  and 
uninteresting,  this  was  not  the  case  with  his  feast.  It  seems 
steadily  to  have  gained  in  popularity  down  to  the  time  of  the 
empire,  and  still  maintained  it  when  Macrobius  wrote  the 
dialogue  supposed  to  have  taken  place  on  the  three  days  of  the 
Saturnalia,  and  called  by  that  name.  Seneca  tells  us  that  in 
his  day  all  Rome  seemed  to  go  mad  on  this  holiday 6.  Probably 
its  vogue  was  largely  due  merely  to  the  accident  of  fashion, 

1  Preller,  ii.  13  ;  i.  182. 

*  The  temple  was  traditionally  dated  B.  c.  497  (Livy,  a.  at)  ;  cp.  Aust, 
de  Aedibus  sacris,  p.  4 :    so  too  the  festival,  though  both  had   an  older 
origin  (Ambrosch.  Stud.  149).    The  latter  was  reorganized  in  Greek  fashion 
in  obedience  to  a  Sibylline  oracle  in  B.O.  217  (.Livy,  22.  i). 

3  Plut.  Q.  B.  34  notes  the  cult  of  such  gods  when  all  fruits  have  been 
gathered. 

*  Macr.  i.  8.  3  and  i.  16.  30  (also,  but  probably  in  error,  attributed  to 
Jupiter).    Plut  <?.  JR.  42,  and  Poplic.  12,  states  it  distinctly  ;  but  there  is 
no  indication  of  the  source  from  which  he  drew. 

8  Cp.  the  legendary  connexion  of  both  with  ship-building  and  the 
coining  of  money ;  though  it  is  of  course  possible  that  this  was  simply 
suggested  by  the  Janus-head  and  the  ship  of  early  Roman  coins. 

'  Seneca,  .Ep.  1 8.  i.     Martial  is  full  of  Saturnalian  allusions ;  e.g.  12.62. 


MENSIS    DECEMBER  27 1 

partly  perhaps  to  misty  ideas  about  the  Golden  Age  and  the 
reign  of  Saturn '  ;  but  it  seems  to  be  almost  a  general  human 
instinct  to  rest  and  enjoy  oneself  about  the  time  of  the  winter 
solstice,  and  to  show  one's  good- will  towards  all  one's  neigh- 
bours 2.  In  Latium,  as  elsewhere,  this  was  the  time  when  the 
autumn  sowing  had  come  to  an  end,  and  when  all  farm-labourers 
could  enjoy  a  rest*.  Macrobius  alludes  also  to  the  completion 
of  all  in-gathering  by  this  date  :  '  Itaque  omni  iam  fetu  agrorum 
coacto  ab  hominibus  hos  deos  (Saturnus  and  Ops)  coli  quasi 
vitae  cultioris  auctores  V  The  close  concurrence  of  Consualia, 
Opalia,  and  Saturnalia  at  this  time  seems  to  show  that  some 
final  inspection  of  the  harvest  work  of  the  autumn  may  in  reality 
have  been  coincident  with,  or  have  immediately  preceded,  the 
rejoicings  of  the  winter  solstice. 

There  are  several  well-attested  features  of  the  Saturnalia  as 
it  was  in  historical  times  *.  On  Dec.  1 7  there  was  a  public 
sacrifice  at  the  temple  (formerly  the  am)  of  Saturn  by  the 
Forum  6,  followed  by  a  public  feast,  in  breaking  up  from  which 
the  feasters  shouted  '  lo  Saturnalia ' 7.  During  the  sacrifice 
Senators  and  Equites  wore  the  toga,  but  laid  it  aside  for  the 
convivium,  which  reminds  us  of  the  ritual  of  the  Fratres  Arvales, 
except  that  the  toga  was  in  the  latter  case  the  praetexta8.  These 
proceedings  of  the  first  and  original  day  of  the  festival  might 
seem  pretty  clearly  to  descend  from  the  religion  of  the  farm, 
yet  the  convivium  is  said  by  Livy  to  have  been  introduced  as 
late  as  217  B.  c. ". 

1  Popularized,  of  course,  by  the  poets :  Virg.  Georg.  ii.  538 ;  Tibull.  i.  3. 

35,  &c- 

3  Was  this  one  of  the  reasons  why  Christmas  was  fixed  at  the  winter 
solstice  ?  Cp.  John  Chrysostom,  torn.  iii.  497  e :  quoted  by  Usener, 
op.  cit.  p.  217. 

3  Varro,  R.  R.  i.  35.  a  '  Dum  in  xv  diebus  ante  et  post  brumam  ut 
pleraque  ne  facias.'     Columella,  a.  8.  2,   seems  to  follow  Varro.     Virg. 
Georg.  i.  211  extends  the  time  'usque  sub  extremum  brumae  intractabilis 
inibrem'  (cp.  Serv.  ad  loc.). 

4  Sat.  i.  10.  19  and  22,  and  Dion.  Hal.  3.  32  ;  Plut.  Q.  R.  34. 

*  See  Marquardt's  excellent  summary  in  Staatsverwaltung,  iii.  357,  and 
Preller,  ii.  15  foil. 

'  Dion.  Hal.  6.  i.    Fasti  Amit.  Dec.  17.    We  do  not  know  who  was  the 
sacrificing  priest ;  perhaps  the  Bex  Sacrorum,  or  a  magistrate. 
7  Macrob.  i.  10.  18. 

*  Martial,  14.  i  ;  at  least  this  seems  to  be  the  inference  from  'Synthesi- 
bus  dum  gaudet  eques  dominusque  senator.'     Cp  6.  24. 

'  Livy,  22.  i.  19  '  lectisternium  imperatum  et  convivium  publicum.' 


272  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

On  the  1 8th  and  igth,  which  were  general  holidays,  the  day 
began  with  an  early  bath  ' ;  then  followed  the  family  sacrifice 
of  a  sucking  pig,  to  which  Horace  alludes  in  familiar  lines : 

Cras  genium  mero 
Curabis  et  porco  bimenstri 
Cum  film ul is  operuin  solutis2. 

Then  came  calls  on  friends,  congratulations,  games,  and  the 
presentation  of  gifts  3.  All  manner  of  presents  were  made,  as 
they  are  still  at  Christmas  :  among  them  the  wax  candles  (cerei) 
deserve  notice,  as  they  are  thought  to  have  some  reference,  like 
the  yule  log,  to  the  returning  power  of  the  sun's  light  after  the 
solstice.  They  descended  from  the  Saturnalia  into  the  Christ- 
mas ritual  of  the  Latin  Church  *.  The  sigillaria,  or  little  paste 
or  earthenware  images  which  were  sold  all  over  Rome  in  the 
days  before  the  festival s,  and  used  as  presents,  also  survived 
into  Christian  times  ;  thus,  in  the  ancient  Romish  Calendar, 
we  find  that  all  kinds  of  little  images  were  on  sale  at  the  con- 
fectioners' shops,  and  even  in  England  the  bakers  made  little 
images  of  paste  at  this  season d.  What  was  the  original  mean- 
ing of  the  custom  we  do  not  know  ;  but  it  reminds  us  of  the 
oscilla  of  the  Latin  festival  and  the  Compitalia  \ 

But  the  best  known  feature  of  the  Saturnalia  is  the  part 
played  in  it  by  the  slaves,  who,  as  we  all  know,  were  waited  on 
by  their  masters,  and  treated  as  being  in  a  position  of  entire 
equality.  The  earliest  reference  to  this  is  in  a  fragment  of 
Accius,  quoted  by  Macrobius  8 : 

lamque  diem  celebrant,  per  agros  urbesque  fere  cranes 
Exercent  epulas  laeti,  famulosque  procurant 
Quisque  sues :   nostrique  itidem,  et  mos  traditus  illino 
Iste,  ut  cum  dominis  famuli  epulentur  ibidem. 

But  even  this  custom,  as  Marquardt  points  out,  may  not  have 
been  of  genuine  Latin  origin :  '  Though  the  Romans  looked 

1  Tertull.  Apol.  43. 

3  Odea,  3.  17.  Cp.  Martial.  14.  70.  The  pig-offering  indicates  an  earth- 
deity:  Henzen,  Acta  Fratr.  Arc.  p.  22  ;  Marq.  173. 

3  Martial,  bk.  14,  is  the  locus  dassicus  for  all  this. 

4  Brand,  Pop.  Ant.  183. 

*  Macr.  i.  10.  24  ;  n.  49.     In  the  latter  passage  he  says  'quae  homines 
pro  se  atque  suis  piaculum  pro  Dite  Saturno  facerent.' 

'  Brand,  180. 

7  Marq.  192,  and  the  passages  there  quoted. 

*  Sat.  i.  7.  37.     For  later  evidence  see  Marq.  588. 


MENSIS    DECEMBER  273 

on  it  as  a  reminiscence  of  the  Golden  Age  when  all  men  were 
equal,  it  may  have  begun  with  the  lectisternium  of  217  B.  c., 
for  such  entertainments  were  a  characteristic  of  lectisternia.' 
When  we  turn,  however,  to  the  same  author's  account '  of  the 
Greek  forms  of  religion  introduced  through  the  Sibylline  oracles, 
of  which  the  lectisternium  was  one,  we  do  not  find  slaves 
included  in  the  ritual  of  any  of  them.  There  was  no  general 
exclusion  of  outsiders  or  women,  but  nothing  is  said  of  slaves. 
And  on  the  whole  we  may  still  perhaps  consider  the  other 
explanation  possible,  that  the  slaves  here  represent  the  farm- 
servants  of  olden  time,  whatever  social  position  they  may  have 
held,  who  at  the  end  of  their  year's  work  were  allowed  to  enjoy 
themselves  'exaequato  omnium  iure.' 


xiv  (ANTE  CAES.  xn)  KAL.  DEC.  (DEC.    19).     IP. 
OPAL[IA].     (MAFF.  AMIT.) 

FEEIAE  OPI :    OPI  AD  FORUM.       (AMIT.) 

For  Ops  see  on  Aug.  25,  when  the  sacrifice  was  in  the  Eegia, 
the  significance  of  which  I  endeavoured  to  explain.  Here  it  is 
'ad  forum,'  which  has  lately  aroused  a  little  unfruitful  dispute. 
Is  the  temple  of  Saturn  meant,  which  was  also  described  as 
'  ad  forum '  in  the  same  calendar  ?  This  is  still  the  view  of 
Mommsen  2,  who  seems  to  hold  the  old  opinion  that  there  was 
a  sacellum  Opis  attached  to  the  aedes  Saturni,  or  that  this  aedes 
was  dedicated  to  both  deities s.  H.  Jordan  made  up  his  mind 
that  '  ad  forum  '  meant  the  Regia 4 ;  but  this  is  not  supported  by 
any  similar  entry  in  the  Fasti.  Aust  and  Wissowa  believe  that 
Ops  had  a  separate  temple  'ad  forum,'  of  which  all  traces  are 
lost,  as  has  happened  with  many  others 5  ;  and  the  latter,  as 
we  have  already  seen,  disbelieves  in  any  connexion  between 
Saturnus  and  Ops.  attributing  it  entirely  to  Greek  influence. 

However  this  may  be,  the  one  interesting  fact  about  the 

1  p.  50,  and  note  13.  *  C.  I.  L.  i1.  337. 

3  O.  Gilbert  (i.  247  note)  holds  this  latter  view. 

•  Ephem.  Epigr.  i.  37.  Wissowa  (de  Feriis,  v]  points  out  that  all  such 
entries,  in  which  the  god's  name  in  the  dative  is  followed  by  the  place  of 
sacrifice,  apply  to  consecrated  temples  only — and  the  Regia  was  not  one. 

5  Aust,  de  Aedibus  sacris  Populi  Romani,  p.  40.  Wissowa,  L  c.,  who  should 
not,  I  think,  write  of  an  aedes  inforo. 


274  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

temple— or  whatever  it  was— is  that  it  was  '  ad  forum.*  The 
conjunction  of  Saturnus  and  Ops  at  this  place  and  time  must 
surely  indicate  some  connexion  of  function  between  the  two. 
But  what  it  was  is  not  discoverable  ;  under  Saturnalia  I  have 
merely  suggested  the  direction  in  which  we  may  look  for  it. 


xn  (ANTE  CAES.  x).  KAL.  IAN.  (DEC.  21).    JP. 
DIVA[LIA].    (MAFF.  PBAEN.) 

Praen.  adds  a  terribly  mutilated  note,  which  Mommsen  thus 
fills  up  from  stray  hints  in  Varro,  Pliny  (following  Verrius),  and 
Macrobius x : 

FERIAE  I>rVA[E  ANGERONAE,  QUAE  AB  ANGINAE  MORBOJ  APPELL- 
[ATUR,  QUOD  REMEDIA  EIUS  QUONDAM]  PRAE[CEPIT.  STATUE- 
RUNT  EAM  ORE  OBLIGATO]  IN  ARJA  VOLUPIAE,  UT  QUI  NOJSSET 

N[OMEN]  OCCUL[TUM  URBIS,  TACERET.  SJUNT  TAMEN,  [QUI  FIERI 
ID  SACRUJM  AIUNT  OB  AN[NUM  NOVUM  ;  MANIJFESTUM  ESSE 
[ENIM  PRINCIPIUJM  [A]NNI  Novfij. 

The  date  given  by  Pliny  and  Macrobius  proves  that  Angerona 
was  the  deity  of  the  Divalia  ;  but  the  etymology  of  the  latter  is 
useless,  and  the  statement  of  Pliny  as  to  the  statue  with  the 
mouth  gagged  and  sealed  fails  to  give  us  any  clue  to  the  nature 
or  function  of  the  goddess2.  Angerona  is,  in  fact,  the  North 
Pole  of  our  exploration :  no  one  has  ever  reached  her,  and 
probably  no  one  ever  will.  The  mention  of  Volupia  by  Macro- 
bius gives  no  help  ;  she  is  only  elsewhere  mentioned  as  one 
of  the  numina  of  the  Indigitamenta  by  Augustine 3.  The  only 
possible  clue  is  that  of  which  Mommsen  has  taken  advantage  in 
the  veiy  clever  completion  of  Verrius'  last  words,  viz.  the  fact 
that  this  day  (2ist)  is  the  centre  one  of  the  winter  solstice. 

1  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  23  '  Angeronalia  ab  Angerona,  cut  sacrificium  fit  in 
curia  Acculeia  et  cuius  feriae  publicae  is  dies.'      Pliny,  N.  H.  3.  5.  65 
'Nomen  alterum  dicere  [nisi]  arcanis  caerimoniarum  nefas  habetur  ;  .  .  . 
non    alienum   videtur  hoc   loco   exemplum   religionis   antiquae   ob   hoc 
maxime  silentium  institutae ;    namque  diva  Angerona,  cui  sacrificatur 
a.d.  xii  Kal.  Ian.,  ore  obligate  obsignatoque  simulacrum  habet.'     Macr. 
Sat.  i.  10  'xii  (Kal.  Ian.)  feriae  sunt  divae  Angeroniae,  cui  pontifices  in 
sacello  Volupiae  sacrum  faciunt ;  quam  Verrius  Flaccus  Angeroniam  dici 
ait,  quod  angores  ac  sollicitudines  animorum  propitiata  depellat.' 

2  See  Wissowa,  s.v.  Angerona,  Lex.  350. 
*  Civ.  Dei,  4.  8. 


MENSIS    DECEMBER  275 

He  here  even  allows  himself  an  etymology,  and  derives  Angero- 
nalia  '  ab  angerendo,  id  est  ano  TOV  di>a<f>(p«rdai  TOV  rfitov ' :  quoting 
Plutarch  (de  Isidc,  ch.  52)  for  similar  Egyptian  ideas  of  the 
sun  s  birth  at  this  time.  Though  the  etymology  may  be  doubt- 
ful, the  inference  from  the  date  of  the  festival  is  certainly 
acceptable,  in  the  absence  of  anything  more  definite  :  and  the 
'  Praenestine  fragments '  clearly  suggest  the  word  '  annus. ' 


x  (ANTE  CAES.  vin)  KAL.  IAN.  (DEC.  23).  IP. 
LAE[ENTALIAj.     (MAFF.  PRAEN.) 

Here  again  Praen.  has  a  valuable  note,  which,  in  this  case,  is 
fairly   well   preserved :   FEKIAE   icvi.      ACCAE  LAKENTIAE. 

.  .  .  HANC  ALII  KEMI  ET  ROM[uLI  NUTRICEM  ALIl]  MERETRI- 
CEM,  HERCULIS  SCORTUM  [FUISSE  DICJUNT :  PARENTARI  El 
PUBLICE,  QUOD  p[oPULUJtt]  RJOMANUMJ  HE[REDEM  FECEJRIT 
MAGNAE  PECUNIAE,  QUAM  ACCEPEjfiAT  TESTAMEJNTO  TARUTILI 
AMATORIS  SUI  \ 

As  regards  the  feriae  lovi  we  are  utterly  in  the  dark. 
Macrobius  explains  it  thus :  *  lovique  feriae  consecratae,  quod 
aestimaverunt  antiqui  animas  a  love  dari  et  rursus  post  mortem 
eidem  reddi,'  which  is  obviously  a  late  invention.  I  can  see 
no  possible  connexion  of  Jupiter  with  the  Larentalia,  and  believe 
the  conjunction  to  be  accidental. 

Mommsen  writes :  '  De  origine  Larentalium  ipsiusque  Laren- 
tinae  indole  ac  natura  parum  constat.'  He  himself  has  investi- 
gated the  myth  of  Acca  Larentia  in  a  memorable  essay 2,  and 
we  may  take  his  opinion  on  the  Larentalia  as  at  present  con- 
clusive. It  is  to  be  noted,  however,  that  the  view  he  formerly 
held  as  to  the  impossibility  of  connecting  Larentia  and  Lares 3 
is  not  re-asserted  in  the  new  edition  of  the  Corpus  (vol  i) ;  the 
connexion,  he  says,  may  be  right,  but  does  not  help  us  to 
explain  the  'feriae  lovi'  or  the  parentatio  (performance  of 
funeral  rites)  at  the  grave  of  Larentina  (or  Larentia). 

This  parentatio  seems  to  me  the  one  thing  known  to  us  about 

1  Macrob.  Sat.  i.  10.  n  ;  Fest.  119 ;  and  Lact.  Inst.  i.  20.  4  mention  the 
Larentalia. 

'  Horn.  Farschungen,  vol.  ii.  p.  i  foil.     See  also  Roscher,  s.v.  in  Lex.  5. 
3  Cp.  Ovid,  Fasti,  3.  55. 

X  2 


276  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

the  Larentalia  which  can  possibly  aid  us.  We  are  told  by  Varro 
that  it  took  place  in  the  Velabrum,  '  qua  in  Novam  viam  exitur, 
ut  aiunt  quidam,  ad  sepulcrum  Accae  V  The  Flamen  Quiri- 
nalis  took  part  in  it,  and  the  Pontifices 2.  Now  the  Parentalia 
took  place  in  February.  Is  it  possible  that  this  is  a  survival 
from  a  time  when  it  was  in  December — a  survival,  because  it 
was  at  the  tomb  of  a  semi-deity,  and  was  a  public  function 3  ? 
It  is  very  curious  that  we  have  a  record  of  a  private  parentatio 
wilfully  transferred  from  February  to  December,  and  probably 
to  this  day.  Cicero,  in  a  mutilated  passage  from  which  Plutarch 
has  apparently  drawn  one  of  his  '  Eoman  Questions,'  seems  to 
have  stated  that  Dec.  Brutus  (consul  138  B.C.)  used  to  do  his 
parentatio  in  December  *.  Whether  Cicero  was  here  alluding  to 
the  Larentalia  we  do  not  know  ;  but  Plutarch  notes  the  fact  of 
the  parentatio  of  Larentia  in  December,  and  is  led  thereby  to 
write  the  quaestio  next  in  order  on  the  story  of  Larentia 5.  Was 
the  learned  Brutus  simply  a  pedant,  changing  his  parentatio  to 
a  date  which  he  believed  to  be  the  real  original  one,  or  had  he 
some  special  reason  for  connecting  his  family  with  December 
and  Larentia  ? 

However  we  may  answer  this  question,  there  is,  perhaps, 
a  bare  possibility  that  the  Larentalia  was  originally  a  feast  of 
the  dead  of  the  old  Eome  on  the  Palatine,  preserved  in  the 
calendar  of  the  completed  city  only  through  the  reputed  sur- 
vival of  the  tomb  of  Larentia  in  the  Velabrum  at  the  foot 
of  the  rock. 

1  L.  L,  6.  23.     The  passage  is  in  part  hopelessly  corrupt. 

*  Gellius,  N.  A.  7.  7  ;  for  the  Flamen  Quir.  cf.  Gilbert,  i.  88.     Cic.  Ep. 
ad  Brut.   i.   15.  8.    Varro,  I.e.  says  vaguely  'sacerdotes   nostri.'      Plut. 
Romulus,  4,  gives  o  ^ov  'Apeos  Itpws,  wrongly. 

3  '  Sacerdotes  nostri  publice  parentant '  ( Varro,  1.  c.). 

*  Cic.  de  Legibus,  a.  21.  54 ;  Plut.  Q.  R.  34. 

*  Plutarch  is  often  led  on  in  this  work  from  one  question  to  another  by 
something  he  finds  in  the  book  he  is  consulting  for  the  first. 


MENSIS    IANUABIUS. 

THE  period  of  winter  leisure  which  began  for  the  agriculturist 
in  December  continued  into  January.  From  the  solstice  to 
Favonius  (i.  e.  Feb.  7)  is  Varro's  eighth  and  last  division  of  the 
agricultural  year,  in  which  there  is  no  hard  work  to  be  done 
out  of  doors  (jR.  R.  i.  36  :  cf.  Virg.  Georg.  i.  312  ;  Colum.  xi.  2). 
So  too  the  rustic  calendars;  'palus  aquitur,  salix  harundo 
caedetur.'  Columella  tells  us,  however,  that  if  the  weather  be 
favourable,  it  may  be  possible  from  the  Ides  of  January  '  aus- 
picari  culturarum  officia.'  We  have  seen  that  in  December  this 
easy  time  was  occupied  with  a  series  of  religious  rites  of  such 
extreme  antiquity  that  their  meaning  was  almost  entirely  lost 
for  the  Eoman  of  later  ages.  After  the  solstice  this  series 
cannot  be  said  to  continue :  the  calendars  have  only  three 
festivals  in  January  marked  with  large  letters,  the  Agonia  on 
the  9th,  and  the  two  Carmentalia  on  the  1 1  th  and  i  sth.  On 
the  other  hand,  there  were  two  feriae  conceptivae  in  this  month 
which  do  not  appear  in  the  calendars  ;  the  Compitalia  (which 
might,  however,  fall  before  the  beginning  of  the  month),  and 
the  Paganalia  towards  the  end  of  it.  Both  these  were  originally 
festive  meetings  in  which  rural  folk  took  part  together,  and  seem 
to  indicate  that  agricultural  labours  had  not  yet  really  begun. 

KAL.  IAN.  (JAN.   i).     F. 
[AESCUJLAPIO,  VEDIOVI  IN  INSULA.     (PRAEN.) 

This  temple  of  Vediovis  was  vowed  by  the  praetor  L.  Furius 
Purpureo  in  200  B.  c.,  and  dedicated  six  years  later  *.  For  this 

1  Livy,  31.  21  ;  34.  53.  The  MSS  have  '  deo  lovi '  in  the  former  passage, 
and  '  lovi s '  in  the  second ;  but  it  is  almost  certain  that  Vediovin  in  the 


278  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

obscure  deity  see  on  May  21.  The  connexion  between  him  and 
Aesculapius  (if  there  were  any)  is  unexplained.  The  latter  was 
a  much  older  inhabitant  of  the  Tiber  island  (291  B.C.),  and 
became  in  time  the  special  deity  of  that  spot  ',  which  is  called 
by  Dionys.  (5.  13)  v^aos  tvpfytGr]?  'A.(TK\r/irinv  if pd.  Is  it  possible 
that  an  identification  of  Vediovis  with  Apollo 2 — so  often  a  god  of 
pestilence — brought  the  former  to  the  island  seat  of  the  healing 
deity  ?  The  connexion  between  Apollo  and  Aesculapius  is  well 
known. 

Another  invasion  of  the  island  took  place  almost  at  the  same 
time.  In  194  B.  c.  a  temple  of  Faunus  was  dedicated  there 
which  had  been  vowed  two  years  earlier 3 ;  and  it  may  be 
worth  noting  that  Faunus  also  had  power  to  avert  pestilence 
and  unfruitfulness,  as  is  seen  in  the  story  of  Numa  and  the 
Faunus-oracle.  (Ovid,  Fasti,  4.  641  foil.) 

On  Jan.  i,  under  the  later  Republic,  i.  e.  after  the  year 
153  B.  c.,  in  and  after  which  the  consuls  began  their  year  of 
office  on  this  day,  it  was  the  custom  to  give  New  Year  presents 
by  way  of  good  omen,  called  strenae  *  ;  a  word  which  survives 
in  the  French  etrennes.  It  is  likely  enough  that  the  custom 
was  much  older  than  153  B.C.:  the  word  was  said  to  be 
derived  from  a  Sabine  goddess  Strenia,  whose  sacellum  at  the 
head  of  the  Via  Sacra  is  mentioned  by  Varro  (L.  L.  v.  47  5), 
and  from  whose  grove  certain  sacred  twigs  were  carried  to  the 
arx  (in  procession  along  the  Sacred  Way  ?)  at  the  beginning  of 
each  year 6.  But  we  are  not  told  whether  this  latter  rite  always 
took  place  on  Jan.  i,  or  was  transferred  to  that  day  from  some 
other  in  153  B.C. 

deity  referred  to.     See  Mommsen  in  C.  L  L.  i".  305  for  the  confusion  in 
these  passages,  and  in  Livy,  35.  41.     (Cp.  Ovid,  Fasti,  i.  291-3.) 

1  Livy,  Epit.  u,  and  10.  47  ;  Preller,  ii.  241  ;  Plut.  Q.  R.  94  ;  Jordan, 
in  Comm.  in  hon.  Momms.  p.  349  foil. 

1  See  under  May  ai.     Deecke,  Falisker,  96. 

1  Ljvy,  33-  42,  34-  53  ;  Jordan,  1.  c. 

4  These  and  their  later  history  are  the  subject  of  a  most  exhaustive 
treatise  by  Martin  Lipenius,  in  Graevius'  Thesaurus,  vol.  xii,  p.  405.  See 
also  Marq.  Privatleben,  i",  245.  For  the  sentiment  implied  in  the  strenae 
see  Ovid,  Fasti,  i.  71  foil,  and  175. 

*  Cp.  Fest.  290. 

Symmachus,  ep.  10.  35  'Ab  exortu  paene  urbis  Martiae  strenarum 
usus  adolevit.  auctoritate  Tatii  regis,  qui  verbenas  i'elicis  arboris  ex  luco 
Strenuae  anni  novi  auspices  primus  accepit.' 


3  LUDI    i 

4  LUDI     > 

5  LUDI     I 


MENSIS    IXNUARIUS  279 

in  NON.  IAN.-NON.  IAN.  (JAN.   3-5).     C. 

LUDI  (     ,. 

PHILOC.)  LUDI  COMPITALES  ' 

(COMITALIS,  MS.) 

The  Compitalia  were  not  feriae  stativae  until  late  in  the 
Empire,  and  then  perhaps  only  so  by  tradition1.  They  took 
place  at  some  date  between  the  Saturnalia  (Dec.  1  7)  and  Jan.  5  ; 
and  we  may  infer  from  Philocalus  and  Silvius  as  quoted  above 
that  the  tendency  was  to  put  them  late  in  that  period.  Not 
being  a  great  state-festival,  they  could  be  put  between  Kalends 
and  Nones. 

The  original  meaning  of  compitum  is  explained  by  the 
Scholiast  on  Persius,  4.  28  2  'Compita  sunt  loca  in  quadriviis, 
quasi  turres,  ubi  sacrificia,  finita  agricultura,  rustici  celebra- 
bant.  .  .  .  Compita  sunt  non  solum  in  urbe  loca,  sed  etiam 
viae  publicae  ac  diverticulae  aliquorum  confinium,  ubi  aediculae 
consecrantur  patentes.  In  his  fracta  iuga  ab  agricolis  ponuntur, 
velut  emeriti  et  elaborati  operis  indicium3.'  From  this  we 
gather  that  where  country  cross-roads  met,  or  where  in  the 
parcelling  out  of  agricultural  allotments  one  semita  crossed 
another4,  some  kind  of  altar  was  erected  and  the  spot  held 
sacred.  This  is  quite  in  keeping  with  the  usage  of  other 
peoples  :  the  '  holiness  '  of  cross-roads  is  a  well-known  fact  in 
folk-lore8.  It  may  be  doubted,  however,  whether  the  Scholiast 
is  right  in  his  explanation  of  the  '  fracta  iuga,'  which  may  rather 
have  been  used  as  a  spell  of  some  kind,  than  as  '  emeriti  operis 
indicium.'  Thus  Crooke  6  mentions  an  Indian  practice  of  fixing 

1  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  25  'quotannis  is  dies  concipitur'  (for  the  right  reading 
of  the  rest  of  the  passage  see  Mommsen,  C.  I.  L.  305^  Macrobius  (i.  16. 
6)  reckons  them  as  conceptivae,  in  the  fourth  century  ;  Philoc.  and  Silv. 
may  bo  representing  a  traditional  date  for  a  feast  which  was  iure  concepiivus. 
So  Momms.  Cp.  Gell.  10.  24.  3,  where  the  formula  for  fixing  £he  date  is 
given  ;  and  Cic.  in  Pis.  4.  8.  It  was  the  praetor  (urban  us  ?)  who  in  this 
case  made  the  announcement. 

4  Cp.  Philargyrius,  Georg.  2.  382  '  [compita]  ubi  pagan  i  agrestes  buccina 
convocati  solent  certa  inire  consilia'  ;  no  doubt  discussion  about  agricul- 
tural matters. 

3  Cp.  Ovid,  Fasti,  i.  665,  of  the  Paganalia  :  'Rusticus  emeritum  palo 
suspendat  aratrum.'  vCp.  Tibull.  ii.  i.  5.)  Such  features  were  perhaps 
common  to  all  these  rustic  winter  rejoicings. 

*  Orom.  Vet.  302.  20  foil. 

5  For  Greece  see  Farnell,  Cults,  ii.  561  and  598. 

*  Folklore  in  Northern  India,  i.  77. 


280  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

up  a  harrow  perpendicularly  where  four  roads  met,  apparently 
Avith  the  object  of  appeasing  the  rain-god. 

In  the  city  of  Kome  the  compita  were  the  meeting-places  of 
vlci  (streets  with  houses),  where  sacella  were  erected  to  the 
Lares  compitales1 — two  in  each  case.  For  the  inhabitants 
of  the  vici  which  thus  crossed  each  other,  the  compitum  was 
the  religious  centre ;  and  thus  arose  a  quasi-religious  organiza- 
tion, which,  as  including  the  lowest  of  the  population  and  even 
slaves 2,  became  of  much  importance  in  the  revolutionary  period 
in  connexion  with  the  machinery  of  electioneering.  The 
'  collegia  compitalicia  '  were  abolished  by  the  Senate  in  B.  c.  64, 
and  reconstituted  in  B.  c.  58  by  a  bill  of  Clodius  de  collegiis. 
Caesar  again  prohibited  them,  and  the  ludi  compitalicii  with 
them  ;  but  the  latter  were  once  more  revived  by  Augustus  and 
made  part  of  his  general  reorganization  of  the  city  and  its 
worship 3. 

The  Compitalia,  which  the  Komans  ascribed  to  Servius 
Tullius  or  Tarquinius  Superbus4,  was  probably  first  organized 
as  part  of  the  religious  system  of  the  united  city  in  the  Etruscan 
period,  though  it  doubtless  had  its  origin  in  the  rustic  ideas 
and  practice  of  which  we  get  a  glimpse  in  the  passage  quoted 
from  the  Scholiast  on  Persius.  Two  features  of  it  seem  to  fit 
in  conveniently  with  this  conjecture:  (i)  that  already  mentioned, 
that  even  the  slaves  had  a  part  in  it,  as  well  as  the  plebs ; 
(2)  the  fact  that  the  magistri  vicorum,  who  were  responsible  for 
the  festival,  wore  the  toga  praetcxta  on  the  day  of  its  celebra- 
tion4— which  looks  like  a  Tarquinian  innovation  in  an  anti- 
aristocratic  sense. 

v  ID.  IAN.  (JAN.  9).     IP? 

AGON.  (MAFF.  PRAEN.)  A  mutilated  note  in  Praen.  gives 
the  word  Agonium. 

It  may  be  doubted  whether  the  Koman  scholars  themselves 

1  Marq.  203  ;  Dion.  Hal.  4. 14  ;  Ovid,  Fasti,  a.  615  and  5.  140.  Wissowa 
(Myth.  Lex.  s.v.  Lares,  p.  1874)  would  limit  them  in  origin  to  the  pagi  out- 
side the  septem  monies,  as  the  latter  had  their  own  sacra. 

*  Dion.  Hal.  4.  14  oil  TOVS  t\tv6(povs  dAAd  roiis  Sov\.ovs  (raft  (i.e.  Serv. 
Tull.)  TToptivai  rf  KOI  avvitpovpytiv,  wy  Kf%apiffiJiiirt]S  rois  rjpcaai  TTJS  ruv  Qtpa- 
•auvriav  virripfaias  (Cic.  pro  Sestio,  15.  34). 

3  Marq.  204  ;  Rusthforth,  Latin  Historical  Inscriptions,  p.  59  folL 

4  Pliny,  N.  H.  36.  204  ;  Macrob.  i.  7.  34  ;  Dion.  I.e. 

5  Asconius,  p.  6,  K.  Sch.     Livy,  34.  7.  2. 


MENSIS    IANUARIUS  281 

knew  for  certain  what  was  meant  by  AGON,  and  whether  the 
explanations  they  give  are  anything  better  than  guesses  based 
on  analogy  \  Ovid  calls  the  day  'dies  agonalis ': 

lanus  agonali  luce  piandus  erit  (Fasti,  i.  318). 
Nomen  agonalem  credit  habere  diem  (Ibid.  i.  324). 

and  gives  a  number  of  amusing  derivations  which  prove  his 
entire  ignorance.  Festus2  gives  Agonium  as  the  name  of  the  day 
(which  agrees  with  Verrius  in  Fast.  Praen.),  and  says  that 
agonia  was  an  old  word  for  hostia.  Varro  calls  the  day 
'agonalis'3 ;  Ovid  in  another  place  Agonalia*.  A  god  Agonius 
mentioned  by  St.  Augustine5  is  probably  only  an  invention 
of  the  pontifices.  The  fact  is  that  the  Eomans  knew  neither 
what  the  real  form  of  the  word  was,  nor  what  it  meant.  The 
attempt  to  explain  it  by  the  apparitor's  word  at  a  sacrifice, 
agone  ?  (shall  I  slay  ?)  is  still  approved  by  some,  but  is  quite 
uncertain  6. 

The  original  meaning  of  the  word,  if  it  ever  were  in  common 
use,  must  have  vanished  long  before  Latin  was  a  written 
language.  The  only  traces  of  it,  besides  its  appearance  in  the 
calendars,  are  in  the  traditional  name  for  the  Quirinal  hill, 
Collis  Agonus,  in  its  gate,  '  porta  agonensis,'  and  its  college  of 
Salii  agonenses 7.  It  would  seem  thus  to  have  had  some  special 
connexion  with  the  Colline  city. 

The  same  word  appears  in  the  calendars  for  three  other  days, 
March  1 7  (Liberalia),  May  2 1  (Agon.  Vediovi),  Dec.  1 1  (Septi- 
niontium) ;  but  it  is  impossible  to  make  out  any  connexion 
between  these  and  Jan.  9.  Nor  can  we  be  sure  that  the 
sacrifice  (if  such  it  was),  -indicated  by  Agon,  had  any  relation 
to  the  other  ceremonies  of  the  days  thus  marked 8.  On  Jan.  9 

1  SoWissowa,  de  Feriis,  xii  note.  Cp.  his  article  'Agonium'  in  the  new 
edition  of  Pauly's  Rcal-EncycL 

*  p.  10.  Cp.  Ovid,  Fasti,  i.  331  'Et  pecus  ahtiquus  dicebat  agonia  sermo.' 
3  He  uses  the  plural:  'Agonales  (dies)  per  quos  rex  in  regia  arietem 

immolat'  (L.  L.  6.  12).     But  only  Jan.  9  seems  to  be  alluded  to. 

*  Fasti,  i.  325 :  cf.  Macrob.  i.  16.  5. 

*  Civ.  Dei,  4. 1 1. 16.  Ambrosch  (Studien,  149)  thinks  it  possible  that  Agonius 
may  have  been  a  god  of  the  Colline  city. 

*  Biicheler,  Umbrica,  p.  30.    B.  apparently  sees  in  the  TJmbrian  '  sakreu 
perakneu'  an  equivalent  to  'hostias  agonales.'     The  Iguvian  ritual   is 
certainly  the  most  likely  document  to  be  useful ;  it  at  least  shows  how 
large  was  the  store  of  sacrificial  vocabulary. 

7  Fest  p.  10.     For  the  Salii,  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  14. 

*  Wissowa,  de  Feriis,  xii. 


282  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

Ovid  does  indeed  say  that  Janus  was  'agonali  luce  piandus,'and 
on  May  2 1  the  Fasti  Venusini  add  a  note  '  Vediovi '  to  the  letters 
AGON  ;  but  there  is  no  distinct  proof  that  the  agonium  was 
a  sacrifice  to  Janus  or  to  Vediovis.  We  are  utterly  in  the 
dark '. 

On  this  day  the  Rex  sacrorum  offered  a  ram  (to  Janus?) 
in  the  Regia.  Ovid  says2  that  though  the  meaning  of  Agon 
is  doubtful, 

ita  rex  placare  sacrorum 
Numina  lanigerae  coniuge  debet  ovis. 

It  is  provokingly  uncertain  whether  this  ram  was  actually 
sacrificed  to  Janus  :  Varro  does  not  say  so,  and  Ovid  only 
implies  it s.  But  we  may  perhaps  assume  it  on  the  ground  that 
once  at  least  in  the  ritual  of  the  Fratres  Arvales  *  the  ram  is 
mentioned  as  Janus'  victim. 

If  this  be  so,  we  are  carried  back  by  this  sacrifice  to  the  very 
beginnings  of  Rome,  and  get  a  useful  clue  to  the  nature  of  the 
god  Janus.  The  Rex  sacrorum  was  the  special  representative  in 
later  times  of  the  king  ;  the  king,  living  in  the  Regia,  was  the 
equivalent  in  the  State  of  the  head  of  the  household.  The  two 
most  important  and  sacred  parts  of  the  house  are  the  door 
(ianua,  ianus),  and  the  hearth  (vesta) 5,  and  the  numina  inhabit- 
ing and  guarding  these  are  Janus  and  Vesta,  who,  as  is  well 
known,  were  respectively  the  first  and  the  last  deities  to  be 
invoked  at  all  times  in  Roman  religious  custom.  The  whole 
house  certainly  had  a  religious  importance,  like 'every  thing  else 
in  intimate  relation  to  man ;  and  Macrobius  is  not  romancing 
when  he  says  (quoting  mythici)  '  Regnante  lano  omnium  domos 

1  When  Varro  writes  (L.  L.  6. 12)  that  the  dies  agonales  are  those  in  which 
the  Rex  sacrorum  sacrifices  a  ram  in  the  Regia,  he  may  be  including  all  the 
four  days,  and  not  only  Jan.  9.  I  think  this  is  likely  ;  but  we  only  know 
it  of  Jan.  9. 

1  Fasti,  i.  333.  Varro  L.  L.  6.  ra  '  Agonales  (dies)  per  quos  rex  in  regia 
arietem  immolat.' 

8  Cp.  lines  318  and  333. 

*  Henzen,  144.     An  'agna'  is  the  only  other  animal  sacrifice  we  know 
of  to  Janus  (Roscher,  in  Lex.  42). 

*  Roscher,  in  Lex.  s.  v.  Ianus,  29  foil.  (cp.  for  much  interesting  kindred 
matter,  De-Marchi,  II  Culto  private,  p.  20  foil.).     Roscher's  attempt  to  find 
an  analogy  between  the  Forum  and  the  house  is  interesting,  but  unluckily 
the  positions  'adForum'  of  the  '  Ianus  geminus'  and  the  'aedes  Vestae'  do 
not  exactly  answer  to  those  of  the  door  and  hearth  of  a  Roman  house. 


MENSIS    IANUAK1US  283 

religione  et  sanctitate  fuisse  munitas V  But  the  door  and  the 
hearth  were  of  special  importance,  as  the  folk-lore  of  eveiy 
people  fully  attests  ;  and  it  is  hardly  possible  to  avoid  the  con- 
clusion that  we  must  look  for  the  origin  of  Janus  in  the  ideas 
connected  with  the  house-door,  just  as  we  have  always  found 
Vesta  in  the  fire  on  the  hearth.  Whatever  be  the  true  ety- 
mology of  Janus,  and  however  wild  the  interpretations  of  his 
nature  and  cult  both  in  ancient  and  modern  times,  we  shall 
always  have  firm  ground  to  stand  on  if  we  view  him  in  relation 
to  the  primitive  worship  of  the  house 2.  There  is  hardly  an 
attribute  or  a  cult-title  of  Janus  that  cannot  be  deduced  with 
reason  from  this  root-idea. 

The  old  Eoman  scholars,  who  knew  as  little  about  Janus  as 
we  do,  started  several  explanations  of  a  cosmical  kind,  which 
must  have  been  quite  strange  to  the  average  Roman  worshipper. 
He  was  a  sun-god  s,  and  his  name  is  the  masculine  form  of 
Diana  (=  moon) ;  he  was  the  mundus,  i.e.  the  heaven,  or  the 
atmosphere 4.  These  were,  of  course,  mere  guesses  character- 
istic of  a  pedantic  age  which  knew  nothing  of  the  old  Roman 
religious  mind.  If  Janus  ever  had  been  .a  nature-deity,  his 
attributes  as  such  were  completely  worn  away  in  historical 
times,  or  had  lost  their  essential  character  in  the  process  of 
constant  application  to  practical  matters  by  a  prosaic  people. 
How  far  the  Roman  of  the  Augustan  age  understood  his  great 
deorum  deus  may  be  gathered  from  Ovid's  treatment  of  the 
subject,  itself  no  doubt  a  poetical  version  of  the  learned  specu- 
lation of  Varro  and  others.  The  poet  '  interviews '  the  deity 
with  the  object  of  finding  out  the  lost  and  hidden  meaning  of 
his  most  obvious  peculiarities,  and  the  old  god  condescends  to 
answer  with  a  promptness  and  good  temper  that  would  do 
credit  to  the  victims  of  the  modern  journalist.  The  curious 
thing  is  that  the  real  origin,  humble,  simple,  and  truly  Latin, 

1  Sat.  i.  9.  a ;  Procopius,  B.  G.  i.  25,  who  says  that  'Janus  belonged  to 
the  gods  whom  the  Romans  in  their  tongue  called  Penates,'  seems  to  be 
alluding  to  the  same  connexion  of  this  god  and  the  house. 

3  We  owe  this  explanation  of  Janus  chiefly  to  Roscher's  article,  and 
Roscher  himself  owed  it  to  the  fact  that  his  study  of  Janus  for  the  article 
was  a  second  and  not  a  first  attempt.  In  Hermes  der  Windgott  (Leipzig, 
1878)  he  had  arrived  at  a  very  different  and  a  far  less  rational  conclusion. 
The  influence  of  Mannhardt  and  the  fnlk-lorists  set  him  on  the  right  track. 

3  Nigidius  Figulus  in  Macrob.  L  9.  8. 

*  See  Roscher,  Lex.  44. 


284  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

escaped   the   observation   both    of    the    interviewer   and    the 
deity. 

Before  I  state  more  definitely  the  grounds  on  which  this 
simple  explanation  of  Janus  is  based,  it  will  be  as  woll  to  deal 
shortly  with  the  more  ambitious  ones. 

1.  The  theory  that  Janus  was  a  sun-god  has  the  support  of 
Eoman  antiquarians ',  and  was  probably  suggested  by  them  to 
the  moderns.     Nigidius  Figulus,  the  Pythagorean  mystic,  seems 
to  have  been  the  first  to  broach  the  idea :  we  have  no  evidence 
that  Varro  gave  his  sanction  to  it.     It  was  Nigidius  who  first 
suggested  the  idea  of  the  relation  of  Janus  to  Diana  (Dianus, 
Diana  =  Janus,  Jana),  which  found  much  favour  with  Preller 
and  Schwegler 2  at  a  time  when  neither  comparative  philology 
nor  comparative  mythology  were  as  well  understood  as  now. 
But  the  common  argument,  both  in  ancient  and  modern  times, 
has  been  that  which  Macrobius  quotes  from  certain  speculators 
whom  he  does  not  name :  '  lanum  quidam  solem  demonstrari 
volunt,  et  ideo  geminum  quasi  utriusque  ianuae  coelestis  poten- 
tem,  qui  exoriens  aperiat  diem,  occidens  claudat,'  &c.     It  is 
obvious  that  this  is  pure  speculation  by  a  Eoman  of  the  cosmo- 
politan age :  it  is  an  attempt  to  explain  the  Janus  geminus  as 
the  representation  of  one  of  the  great  forces  of  nature.     But  it 
has  nothing  to  do  with  the  ideas  of  the  early  Italian  farmer. 

2.  The  theory  that  Janus  was  a  god  of  the  '  vault  of  heaven  ' 
was  also  started  by  the  ancients,  as  may  be  seen  from  the 
chapter  of  Macrobius   quoted  above.      Recently  it  has   been 
adopted  by  Professor  Deecke  in  his  Etruscan  researches 3.     He 
seems  to  hold  that  Janus  in  Etruria,  as  a  god  of  the  arch  of 

1  Macrob.  i.  9.  9  ;  Lydus,  de.  Mensibus,  4.  6  (who  quotes  Lutatius). 

3  Schwegler,  E.  G.  i.  218  foil.;  Preller,  i.  168  foil.  The  etymology  is 
weak  ;  the  god  and  goddess  have  nothing  common  in  cult  or  myth  ;  it  is 
not  certain  that  Diana  was  originally  the  moon ;  and  the  great  Italian 
deities  are  not  coupled  together  in  this  way. 

3  ii.  125  foil.  Cf.  Muller's  Etrusker  (ed.  Deecke),  ii.  58  foil.  Muller,  with 
his  usual  good  sense,  concluded  from  the  evidence  that  the  Latin  Janus 
was  a  god  of  gates ;  but  he  thought  that  an  Etruscan  deity  of  the  vault  or 
arch  of  heaven  had  been  amalgamated  with  him.  This  is  not  impossible,  if 
there  was  really  such  an  Etruscan  god  ;  and  Deecke  finds  him  in  Ani, 
who  in  Etruscan  theology  seems  to  have  had  his  seat  in  the  northern  part 
of  the  heaven  (Mart.  Capell.  i.  45)  where  Janus  was  also  represented  in  the 
templum  of  Piacen/a  (Lex.  a.  v.  Janus,  p.  28).  But  this  must  remain 
a  doubtful  point,  even  though  Lydus  (4.  2)  tells  us  that  Varro  said  that 
the  god  napd  &OVOKOIS  ovpavb 


MENSIS    IANUARIUS  285 

heaven,  was  represented  on  arches  and  gates  in  that  country, 
and  came  to  Rome  when  the  Romans  learnt  the  secret  of  the 
arch  from  the  Etruscans.  That  the  Romans  were  the  pupils  of 
the  Etruscans  in  this  particular  seems  to  be  true  ;  but  if  Janus 
only  came  to  Rome  with  the  arch  (Deecke  says  in  Numa's  time) 
it  is  hard  to  see  how  he  could  have  so  quickly  gained  his  pecu- 
liar place  in  Roman  worship  and  legend.  I  cannot  think  that 
Deecke  has  here  improved  on  the  conclusions  of  his  predecessor. 

Speculations  about  Janus  as  a  heaven-god  have  been  pushed 
still  further.  Here  is  a  passage  from  a  book  which  is  almost 
a  work  of  genius1,  yet  embodies  many  theories  of  which  its 
author  may  by  this  time  have  repented  :  '  He  who  prayed 
(in  ancient  Italy)  began  his  prayer  looking  to  the  East,  but 
ended  it  looking  to  the  West.  Herein  we  find  expressed  the 
conception  of  the  unity  and  indivisibility  of  Nature  ;  whose 
symbol  is  the  most  characteristic  figure  of  the  Italian  religion, 
the  double-headed  Janus,  the  highest  god,  and  the  god  of  all 
things,  all  times,  and  all  gods.  He  unites  the  dualistic  opposites 
which  complete  the  world — beginning  and  end,  morning  and 
evening,  outgoing  and  ingoing.  He  is  the  god  of  the  year, 
which  finds  its  completion  in  its  own  orbit,  and  as  he  is  the 
god  of  time,  so  he  is  the  god  of  the  Kosmos,  which  like  a  circle 
displays  both  beginning  and  end  at  once.'  He  then  quotes 
a  passage  from  Messalla,  which  Macrobius  has  preserved,  in 
support  of  this  astonishing  product  of  the  rude  mind  of  the 
primitive  Roman2.  Of  this  Messalla  we  only  know  that  he 
was  consul  in  53  B.C.,  and  that  (as  Macrobius  tells  us)  he  was 
augur  for  fifty-five  years,  in  the  course  of  which  period,  after 
the  fashion  of  his  day,  he  wrote  works  of  which  the  object 
was  to  find  a  philosophic  basis  for  the  quaint  phenomena 
of  the  Roman  religion.  His  speculations  on  the  double  head  of 
Janus  cannot  help  us  to  discover  the  primitive  nature  of  our 
deity ;  Janus  may  have  been  the  ancient  heaven-god  of  the 
Latins,  but  these  guesses  are  the  product  of  a  spurious  and 
eclectic  Greek  philosophy. 

3.  There  is  another  possible  explanation  of  Janus,  which 
is  not  mentioned  in  Roscher's  article,  but  is  perhaps  worth 
as  much  consideration  as  the  two  last.  Professor  Rhys,  in 

1  Nissen,  Templum,  p.  228.  a  Macrob.  i.  9.  16. 


286  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

his  Hibbert  Lectures  on  Celtic  Mythology  \  somewhat  casually 
identified  Janus  with  the  Celtic  god  Cernunnos,  whom  he 
considers  to  be  the  Gallic  deity  called  by  Caesar  Dis  Pater. 
The  one  striking  fact  in  favour  of  this  equation  is  that  Cer- 
nunnos was  represented  as  having  three  faces,  and  like  Janus. 
as  a  head  without  a  body — the  lower  portion  of  the  block 
being  utilized  for  other  purposes2.  He  seems  to  have  been 
a  chthonic  deity,  and  is  compared  to  and  even  identified  by 
Rhys  with  Heimdal  of  the  Norsemen  and  Teutons,  who  was 
the  warder  or  porter  of  the  gods,  and  of  the  underworld  3,  who 
sits  as  the  '  wind-listening '  god,  whose  ears  are  of  miraculous 
sharpness,  who  is  the  father  of  man,  and  the  sire  of  kings. 
Both  Cernunnos  and  Heimdal  are  thought  further  to  have  been, 
like  Janus,  the  fans  et  origo  of  all  things.  According  to  Caesar 
the  Gauls  believed  themselves  to  be  descended  from  their 
deity ;  and  both  the  Celtic  and  Scandinavian  gods  seem  to  have 
had,  like  the  Roman,  some  connexion  with  the  divisions  of 
time. 

It  must  be  allowed  that  these  two  gods  taken  together  supply 
parallels  to  Janus'  most  salient  characteristics  ;  and  even  to  one 
or  two  of  the  less  prominent  and  more  puzzling  ones,  such  as 
the  connexion  with  springs4.  It  is  not  impossible  that  all 
three  may  have  grown  out  of  a  common  root  ;  but  in  the  cases 
of  Cernunnos  and  Heimdal  it  does  not  seem  any  longer  possible 
to  trace  this,  owing  to  heavy  incrustations  of  poetical  mythology. 
In  the  case  of  the  Roman,  the  chance  is  a  better  one,  in  spite  of 
philosophical  speculation,  ancient  and  modern. 

We  return  from  philosophers  and  mythologists  to  early 
Rome.  The  one  fact  on  which  we  must  fix  our  attention  is 
that  on  the  north-east  of  the  forum  Romanum  was  the  famous 
Janus  geminus,  which  from  representations  on  coins  5  we  can 
see  was  not  a  temple,  but  a  gateway,  with  entrance  and  exit 
connected  by  walls,  within  which  was,  we  may  suppose,  the 
double-headed  figure  of  Janus  which  is  familiar  on  Roman 
coins.  The  same  word  janus  is  applied  to  the  gate  and  to  the 

p.  93  foil.  ;  Goes.  B.  <?.  6.  18. 

M.  Mowat  thought  that  this  was  Janus  naturalized  in  Gaul ;  but  with 
Prof.  Ehys  (p.  81  note)  I  cannot  but  think  this  unlikely. 
See  Corpus  Poeticum  Boreale,  ii.  465. 
Roscher,  in  Lex.  18  ;  Rhys,  1.  c.  88. 
Reseller,  Lex.  17  ;  Jordan,  Topogr.  x.  a.  351. 


MENSIS    IANUARIUS  287 

numen  who  guarded  it,  lived  in  it.  and  was  as  inseparable  from 
it  as  Vesta  from  the  fire  on  the  hearth 1.  The  word  does  not 
seem  to  have  been  used  for  the  gate  of  a  city,  but  for  the  point 
of  passage  into  a,  space  within  a  city,  such  as  a  market,  or 
a  street.  At  Eome  there  were  several  such  jani 2 ;  probably 
two  or  more  leading  into  the  forum,  as  well  as  the  more  famous 
one,  which  alone  appears  to  have  had  a  strictly  religious  signi- 
fication3. The  connexion  of  the  god  with  entrances  is  thus 
a  certainty,  though  we  are  puzzled  by  his  apparent  absence  from 
the  gates  of  the  city  *.  The  double  head  would  signify  nothing 
transcendental,  but  simply  that  the  numen  of  the  entrance 
to  house  or  market  was  concerned  both  with  entrance  and  exit. 
It  is  not  peculiar  to  Italy,  or  to  Janus,  but  is  found  on  coins 
in  every  part  of  the  Mediterranean  (Koscher,  Lex.  53  foil.):  in 
no  case,  it  is  worth  noting,  does  the  double  head  represent 
any  of  the  great  gods  of  heaven,  such  as  Zeus,  Apollo,  &c.,  but 
Dionysus,  Boreas,  Argos,  unknown  female  heads5,  &c.  Its 
history  does  not  seem  to  have  been  worked  out ;  but  we  can  be 
almost  sure  that  it  does  not  represent  the  sun,  and  has  no 
relation  to  the  arch  of  heaven. 

Now  keeping  in  mind  the  fact  that  Janus  is  the  guardian 
spirit  of  entrances,  let  us  recall  again  the  fact  that  he  was  the 
first  deity  in  all  invocations  both  public  and  private 6,  and  that 
Vesta  was  the  last 7.  Vesta  in  the  house  was,  as  Cicero  expresses 
it,  '  rerum  custos  intimarum ' ;  she  presided  over  the  pene- 
tralia— the  last  part  of  the  house  to  which  any  stranger  could 
be  admitted  ;  exactly  the  opposite  position  to  that  of  Janus 

1  Cic.  De  Nat.  Dearum,  a.  27/67  '  Transition es  perviae  iani,  foresque  in 
liminibus  profanarum  aedium  ianuae  nominantur.'  Cp.  Macrob.  i.  9.  7. 

a  On  the  whole  question  see  Jordan,  Topogr.  i.  a.  215  foil.  Ovid  (Fasti, 
i.  257)  asks  the  god  '  Cum  tot  sint  iani,  cur  stas  sacratus  in  uno?' 

5  From  Falerii  came  another  janus,  with  a  four-headed  simulacrum, 
which  was  set  up  in  the  Forum  transitorium  (Macr.  i.  9.  13  ;  Jordan, 
Top.  i.  2.  348). 

*  Preller  made  an  attempt,  which  Roscher  approves,  to  identify  Portu- 
nus  with  Janus,  Portunus  being,  according  to  Varro,  'Deus  portuum 
portarumque  praeses'  (Interpr.  Veron.  Aen.  v.  241).     But  see  on  Aug.  17. 

*  The  nearest  approach  to  Janus  is  the  Hermes  Ovptuos  or  arp<xf>aTos 
(single  head  only?)  and  Hermes  with  two,  three,  or  four  heads  at  the 
meeting-points  of  streets.    These  are  points  which  suggested  to  Roscher 
in    his    older  work    an    elaborate    comparison  of  Hermes   and   Janus 
(p.  119  foil.). 

*  See  Marq  25.  26  and  notes. 

7  Cic.  N.  D.  2.  27  ;  Preller,  ii.  170, 


288  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

at  the  entrance '.  Both  deities  retained  at  all  times  the  essential 
mark  of  primitive  ideas  of  the  supernatural :  they  resided  in, 
and  in  a  sense  were,  the  doorway  and  the  hearth  respectively. 
What  we  know  of  the  priests  who  served  them  tells  the  same 
tale  of  an  origin  in  the  house,  and  the  family — the  foundation 
of  all  Italian  civilization.  Vesta  was  served  by  her  sacred 
virgins,  and  these,  we  can  no  longer  doubt,  were  the  later 
representatives  of  the  daughters  of  the  head  of  the  family, 
or  the  headman  of  the  community  - ;  the  innermost  part  of  the 
house  was  theirs,  the  care  of  the  fire,  the  stores  (penus),  and  the 
cooking.  To  the  father,  the  defender  of  the  family,  belonged 
naturally  the  care  of  the  entrance,  the  dangerous  point,  where 
both  evil  men  and  evil  spirits  might  find  a  way  in.  And 
surely  this  must  be  the  explanation  of  the  fact  that  no  priest  is 
to  be  found  for  Janus  in  the  Eoman  system  but  the  Rex 
sacrorum  3,  the  lineal  representative  of  the  ancient  religious 
duties  of  the  king,  and  therefore,  we  may  infer  with  certainty, 
of  those  of  the  primitive  chief,  and  of  the  head  of  the  house- 
hold 4.  In  the  most  ancient  order  of  the  priesthoods,  the  Kex 
sacrorum  carne  first,  just  as  Janus  was  the  first  of  all  the  gods h : 
then  came  the  three  great  Flamines,  and  then  the  Pontifex 
maximus,  in  whose  care  and  power  were  the  Vestals.  Translating 
the  order  into  terms  of  the  primitive  family,  we  have  first  the 
head  of  the  house,  next  the  sons,  and  lastly  (as  women  do  not 
appear  in  these  lists),  the  daughters  represented  by  the  later 
priesthood,  to  which  they  were  legally  subordinated.  The 
order  of  the  gods,  the  order  of  the  priests,  and  the  natural 
position  of  the  entrance  to  the  house,  all  seem  to  lead  us  to  the 
same  conclusion,  that  the  beginning  of  Janus  and  his  cult  are 


1  For  the  evidence  of  this  position  of  Janus  in  the  cults  of  the  house  see 
Roscher,  Lex.  32  ;  it  is  indirect,  but  sufficiently  convincing. 

2  See  my  article  '  Vestales '  in  Diet,  of  Antiquities,  ed.  a. 

3  Marq.  321  foil.     Besides  the  sacrifice  in  the  Regia  on  Jan.  9,  the  Rex 
and  his  wife,  the  Regina  sacrorum,  sacrificed  to  Juno  in  the  Regia  on  the 
Kalends  of  every  month,  and  apparently  also  to  Janus  (Junonius   to  whom 
there  were  twelve  altars  (in  the  Regia  ?)  one  for  each  month.     Macr.  i.  9. 
16  and  r.  15.  19. 

4  For  the  father  as  the  natural  defender  of  the  family,  see  Westermarck, 
Hist,  of  Human  Marriage,  ch.  3. 

*  Festus,  185  '  Maximus  videtur  Rex,  dein  Dialis,  post  hunc  Martialis, 
quarto  locoQuirinalis,  quinto  pontifex  maximus.'  For  the  corresponding 
place  of  Janus,  Liv.  8.  9.  6 ;  Cato,  R.  R.  134  ;  Marq.  26. 


MENSIS    IANUARIUS  289 

to  be  sought,  and  may  be  found,  in  the  early  Italian  family 
dwelling. 

We  may  agree  with  Eoscher,  who  has  worked  out  this  part 
of  the  subject  with  skill,  that  this  position  of  Janus  in  the 
worship  of  the  family  and  the  state  is  the  origin  of  all  the 
practices  in  which  he  appears  as  a  god  of  beginnings.  For 
these  the  reader  must  be  referred  to  Koscher's  article ',  or  to 
Preller,  or  to  Mommsen,  who  sees  in  this  aspect  of  the  god,  and 
rightly  no  doubt,  that  which  chiefly  reflects  the  notion  of  him 
held  by  the  ordinary  Koman.  He  was  himself  the  oldest  god, 
the  beginner  of  all  things,  and  of  all  acts 2 ;  to  him  in  legend 
is  ascribed  the  introduction  of  the  arts,  of  agriculture,  ship- 
building, &c.3.  He  is  an  object  of  worship  at  the  beginning 
of  the  year,  the  month,  and  the  day 4.  All  this  sprang,  not 
from  an  abstract  idea  of  beginning — an  idea  which  has  no 
Roman  parallel  in  being  sanctified  by  a  presiding  deity,  but 
from  the  concrete  fact  that  the  entrance  of  the  house  was  the 
initium,  or  beginning  of  the  house,  and  at  the  same  time  the 
point  from  which  you  started  on  all  undertakings. 

Such  developments  of  the  original  Janus  were  no  doubt 
as  old  as  the  State  itself.  In  the  Salian  hymn  he  is  already 
'deorum  deus'r>,  and  'duonuscerus'0,  which Festus  tells  us  meant 
creator  bonus.  But  even  in  the  State  there  are,  as  we  have  seen, 
sufficiently  clear  traces  of  his  original  nature  to  forbid  us  to 
attribute  these  titles  to  any  lofty  and  abstract  philosophical 
ideas  of  religion. 

The  known  cult-titles  of  Janus  are  for  the  most  part  explicable 
in  the  same  way.  Geminus,  Patulcius,  Clusius,  and  Matutinus, 
speak  for  themselves.  Junonius  probably  arose  from  the  con- 
currence of  the  cults  of  Janus  and  Juno  on  the  Kalends  of  each 
month,  as  Macrobius  tells  us7.  Consivius8  is  explained  by 
Roscher  as  connected  with  serere,  and  used  of  Janus  as  creator 
(beginner  of  life:  cf.  duonus  cents).  Curiatius,  Patricius,  and 

1  Lex.  37  foil.  ;  Preller,  r.  166  foil. ;  Mommsen,  R.  H.  i.  173. 

2  *E(popos  irdarjs  irpo£ews,  says  Lydus,  4.  a,  quoting  Varro  ;  cp.  Ovid,  Fasti, 
i.  165  foil. 

3  Plut.  Q.  R.  22. 

*  Mncrob.  i.  9.  16  ;  Horace,  Sat.  ii.  6.  20  foil. 

5  Macrob.  r.  9.  14. 

6  Varro,  L.  L.  7.  26 ;  Feat.  122.  7  Macr.  i.  9.  16. 

'  Macr.  1.  c.  Wissowa  (de  Feriis,  vi)  says  the  true  form  is  cons«vius  ; 
but  the  etymology  holds. 

U 


290  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

Quirinus1  are  titles  arising  from  the  worship  of  the  god  in 
gentes,  curiae,  and  the  completed  state,  and  have  no  significance 
in  regard  to  his  nature. 


in  ID.  IAN.  (JAN.  1 1).    IP. 
KAKM'ENTALIA].     (PRAEN.  MAFF.) 

xvin  KAL.  FEB.  (JAN.  15).    JP. 
KAE[MENTALIA].     (PRAEN.  MAFF.  PHIL.  CAER.) 

The  full  name  of  the  festival  is  supplied  by  Philoc.  and  Silv. 
There  is  a  much  mutilated  note  in  Praen.  on  Jan.  1 1  which 
is  completed  by  Mommsen  thus2:  '  [Feriae  Carmenti  .  .  .  quae 
partus  curat  omniaque]  futura ;  ob  quam  ca[usam  in  aede  eius 
cavetur  ab  scorteis  tan  quam]  omine  morticino.' 

The  first  point  to  be  noticed  here  is  that  the  same  deity  has 
two  festival  days,  with  an  interval  of  three  days  between  them. 
There  is  no  exact  parallel  to  this  in  the  calendar,  though  there 
are  several  instances  of  something  analogous3.  The  Lemuria 
are  on  May  9,  n,  13  ;  but  here  are  three  days,  and  no  special 
deity.  Kindred  deities  have  their  festivals  separated  by  three 
days,  as  Census  and  Ops  (Aug.  21,  25);  and  we  may  compare 
the  Fordicidia  and  Cerealia  on  April  15  and  19,  and  the 
Quinquatrus  and  Tubilustrium.  both  apparently  sacred  to  Mars, 
on  March  19  and  23.  All  festivals  occur  on  days  of  uneven 
number ;  and  if  there  was  an  extension  to  two  or  more  days, 
the  even  numbers  were  passed  over4.  But  the  Komans  did  not 
apparently  consider  the  two  Carmentalia  to  be  two  parts  of  the 
same  festival,  but  two  different  festivals,  or  they  would  not 
have  tried  to  account  as  they  did  for  the  origin  of  the  second 
day.  It  was  said  to  have  been  added  by  a  victorious  general 
who  left  Eome  by  the  Porta  Carmentalis  to  attack  Fidenae 5,  or 
by  the  matrons  who  had  refused  to  perform  the  function  of 
women,  in  anger  at  being  deprived  by  the  Senate  of  the  right  of 

1  Reseller,  Lex.  21,  26,  40. 

8  C.  I.  L.  i.  307,  on  the  evidence  of  Ovid,  Fast.  i.  629  and  Varro,  L.  L. 
7.84. 

s  Wissowa,  de  Feriis,  viii.  *  Mommseu,  C.  L  L.  i.  288. 

*  Fast.  Praen.  on  Jan.  15  (mutilate!).  Cp.  Ovid,  Fast.  i.  619,  and  Plut. 
<J.  R.  56.  Festus,  245. 


MENSIS    IANUARIUS  29! 

riding  in  carpenta  ;  and  who,  when  the  decree  was  withdrawn, 
testified  their  satisfaction  in  this  curious  way. 

It  does  not  seem  possible  to  discover  the  real  meaning  of  the 
double  festival.  It  has  been  suggested l  that  the  two  days  re- 
present the  so-called  Roman  and  Sabine  cities,  like  the  two  bodies 
of  Salii  and  Luperci.  This  guess  is  hardly  an  impossible  one, 
but  it  is  only  a  guess,  and  has  nothing  to  support  it  but  a  casual 
statement  by  Plutarch  that  the  Carmentalia  were  instituted  at 
the  time  of  the  synoikismos  of  Latin  and  Sabine  cities  l. 

There  is  fortunately  little  doubt  about  the  nature  of  Carmenta 
and  the  general  meaning  of  the  cult.  In  all  the  legends  into 
which  she  was  woven3  her  most  prominent  characteristic  is 
the  gift  of  prophecy ;  she  is  the  '  vates  fatidica,'  &c., 

Cecinit  quae  prima  futures 
Aeneadas  magnos  et  nobile  Pallanteum. 

So  Ovid,  at  the  end  of  his  account  of  her : 

At  felix  rotes,  ut  dis  gratissima  vixit, 
Possidet  hunc  lani  sic  dea  mouse  diem. 

The  power  is  expressed  in  her  very  name,  for  carmen  signifies 
a  spell,  a  charm,  a  prophecy,  as  well  as  a  poem.  Now  there 
is  clear  evidence  that  either  women  alone  had  access  to  the 
temple  at  the  Porta  Carmentalis,  or  that  they  were  the  chief 
frequenters  of  it ;  and  they  are  even  said  to  have  built  a  temple 
themselves4.  Where  we  find  women  worshipping  a  deity  of 
prophecy  we  may  be  fairly  sure  that  that  deity  also  has  some 
influence  on  childbirth.  'The  reason,'  writes  the  late  Prof. 
Nettleship ",  '  why  the  Carmentes  are  worshipped  by  matrons 
is  because  they  tell  the  fortunes  of  the  children'— and  also, 

1  By  Huschke,  Rom.  Jahr,  199.     There  was  probably  more  than  one 
Carmenta  (Gell.  16.  16.  4),  if  we  consider  Porrima  and  Postverta  as  two 
forms  of  the  goddess ;  and  the  two  days  may  have  some  relation  to  this 
duality.    Perhaps  there  were  two  altars  in  the  temple.    Ovid,  Fasti,  i.  627. 

2  Plut.  Romulus,  a  i. 

3  See  Wissowa  in  Lex.  Myth.  i.  851 ;  Ovid.  Fasti,  i.  461  foil.  ;  Virg.  Aen. 
8.  336.    The  eighth  Aeneid,  it  may  be  remarked,  should  be  learnt  by  heart 
by  all  investigators  into  Roman  antiquity. 

*  Plut.  Q.  R.  56  :  cp.  Dion.  Hal.  i.  31.  1-9,  from  whom  Plutarch  may 
have  drawn  his  information,  directly  or  perhaps  through  Juba.  For  the 
temple  they  built  cp.  Gell.  18.  7.  a.  If  this  temple  be  a  different  one 
from  that  under  the  Capitol,  it  may  suggest  an  explanation  of  the  double 
festival. 

5  Studies  in  Latin  Literature,  p.  48  foil.  ;  Journal  of  Philology,  xi.  178. 

U  2 


292  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

surely,  because  they  tell  the  fortunes  of  the  women  in  child- 
birth '. 

I  am  inclined  to  agree  with  my  old  tutor  that  the  Carmentes 
may  originally  have  been  wise  women  whose  skill  and  spells 
assisted  the  operation  of  birth.  I  do  not  think  we  can  look  for 
an  explanation  of  the  titles  Porrima  and  Postverta  elsewhere 
than  in  the  two  positions  in  which  the  child  may  issue  from  the 
womb,  over  each  of  which  a  Carmentis  watched 2  ;  and  there 
is  in  fact  no  doubt  that  Carmenta  was  a  birth-goddess  \  The 
argument  then  would  be  that  the  spiritual  origin  attributed 
to  superior  knowledge  transforms  the  owner  of  the  knowledge 
into  a  divine  person.  As  Sir  A.  Lyall  says4  (of  the  genesis 
of  local  deities  in  Berar),  'The  immediate  motive  (of  deifica- 
tion) is  nothing  but  a  vague  inference  from  great  natural 
gifts  or  from  strange  fortunes  to  supernatural  visitation,  or 
from  power  during  life  to  power  prolonged  beyond  it.' 

Of  the  cult  of  Carmenta  we  know  hardly  anything.  She 
had  a  flamen  of  her  own 5,  like  other  ancient  goddesses,  Palatua, 
Furrina,  Flora.  His  sacrificial  duties  must  have  been  confined 
to  the  preparing  of  cereal  offerings,  for  there  was  a  taboo  in 
this  cult  excluding  all  skins  of  animals — all  leather — from  the 
temple. 

Scortea  non  illi  fas  est  inferre  sacello6, 
Ne  violent  puros  exanimata  focos. 

Varro  writes  '  In  aliquot  sacris  et  sacellis  scriptum  habemus: 
Ne  quid  scorteum  adhibeatur  ideo  ne  morticinum  quid  adsit.' 
We  could  wish  that  he  had  told  us  what  these  sacra  and  sacella 
were 7 ;  as  it  is  we  must  be  content  to  suppose  that  a  goddess 

1  See  on  Fortuna,  above,  p.  167. 

2  Ovid,  Fast.  i.  633  ;  Varro  in  Gell.  16.  6.  4.    Nettleship  takes  a  different 
view  of  these  words'.     But  see  Wissowa  in  Lex.  i.  853 ;  Preller,  i.  406. 

3  St.  Augustine,  C.  D.  4.  n  '  In  illis  deabus  quae  fata  nascent  ibus  canunt 
et  vocantur  Carmentes.' 

4  Asiatic  Studies,  p.  20. 

5  Cic.  Brut.  14.  56 ;  C  I.  L.  vi.  3720  ;  and  Eph.  Ep.  iv.  759.     The  rite  of 
Jan.  1 1  is  called  'sacrum  pontificale'  by  Ovid  (Fast.  i.  462),  whence  we  infer 
that  the  pontifices  had  a  part  in  it  as  well  as  the  flamen. 

'  Ovid,  Fast.  i.  629.  Cp.  Varro,  L.  L.  7.  84.  This  passage  of  Varro  may 
possibly  raise  a  doubt  whether  the  taboo  did  not  arise  from  a  mistaken 
interpretation  of  the  words  scortum  and  pellicula,  as  Carmenta  was  especially 
worshipped  by  matrons. 

7  The  more  so  as  we  have  no  inscriptions  relating  to  Carmenta.  Though 
her  Ihiminium  continued  to  exist  under  the  Empire,  she  herself 


MENSIS    IANUARIUS  293 

of  birth  could  have  nothing  to  do  with  the  slaughter  of 
animals. 

The  position  of  the  temple  was  at  the  foot  of  the  southern 
end  of  the  Capitol,  near  the  Porta  Carmentalis  \  where,  accord- 
ing to  Servius,  she  was  said  to  have  been  buried  (cp.  Acca 
Larentia,  Dec.  23).  It  is  noticeable  that  the  festivals  of  this 
winter  period  are  connected  with  sites  near  the  Capitol  and 
Forum  ;  we  have  already  had  Saturnus,  Ops,  and  Janus. 

If  the  reader  should  ask  why  a  goddess  of  birth  should  be 
specially  worshipped  in  the  depth  of  winter,  he  may  perhaps 
find  a  reason  for  it  after  reading  the  third  chapter  of  Wester- 
marck's  History  of  Human  Marriage.  As  far  as  we  can  judge 
from  the  calendar,  April  was  the  month  at  Rome  when 
marriages  and  less  legal  unions  were  especially  frequent 2 ; 
during  May  and  the  first  days  of  June  marriages  were  not 
desirable3.  In  January  therefore  births  might  naturally  be 
expected. 

Ovid  tells  us  (i.  463)  that  Julurna  was  also  worshipped  on 
Jan.  ii4;  but  whether  in  any  close  connexion  with  Carmenta 
we  do  not  know.  They  are  both  called  Nymphs;  but  from 
this  we  can  hardly  make  any  inference.  Juturna  was  certainly 
a  fountain-deity :  I  can  find  no  good  evidence  that  this  was  one 
of  Carmenta's  attributes.  The  fount  of  Juturna  was  near  the 
Vesta-temple &,  and  therefore  close  to  the  Forum :  its  water  was 
used,  says  Servius,  for  all  kinds  of  sacrifices,  and  itself  was  the 
object  of  sacrifice  in  a  drought.  All  took  part  in  the  festival 
who  used  water  in  their  daily  work  ('  qui  artificium  aqua 
exercent').  But  the  Juturnalia  appears  in  no  calendar,  and 
Aust  is  no  doubt  right  in  explaining  it  only  as  the  dedication- 
festival  of  the  temple  built  by  Augustus  in  B.  c.  2 6. 

practically  disappeared.  I  am  inclined  to  guess  that  her  attributes  were 
to  some  extent  usurped  by  the  more  popular  and  plebeian  Fort una. 

1  Solinus,  i.  13 ;  Serv.  Am.  8.  336  and  337. 

2  See  especially  under  April  i  and  28,  the  days  of  Fortuna  virilis  and 
Flora. 

3  Ovid,  Fasti,  6.  223  foil. 

4  Juturnalia,  Serv.  Aen.  12.  139. 

*  Jordan,  Topogr.  i.  2.  370  ;  Wissowa  in  Lex.  s.  v.  luturna. 

*  Aust,  de  Aedibus  sacris,  p.  45. 


294  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

FEBIAE    SEMENTIVAE1.       PAGANALIA. 

Under  date  of  Jan.  24-26,  Ovid2  writes  in  charming  verse 
of  the  feriae  conceptivae  called  Sementivae  (or  -tinae),  which  from 
his  account  would  seem  to  be  identical  with  the  so-called 
Paganalia 3.  Just  as  the  Compitalia  of  the  city  probably  had 
its  origin  in  the  country  (see  on  Jan.  3-5),  though  the  rustic 
compita  were  almost  unknown  to  the  later  Komans,  so  the 
festival  of  sowing  was  kept  up  in  the  city  ('a  pontificibus  dictus,' 
Varro,  L.  L.  6.  26)  as  Semen  tinae,  long  after  the  Koman 
population  had  ceased  to  sow.  In  the  country  it  was  known — 
so  we  may  guess — by  the  less  technical  name  of  Paganalia4, 
as  being  celebrated  by  the  rural  group  of  homesteads  known  as 
the  pagus, 

As  to  the  object  and  nature  of  the  festival,  let  Ovid  speak  for 

himself : 

State  coronati  plenum  ad  praesaepe  iuvenci : 

Cum  tepido  vestrum  vere  redibit  opus. 
Rusticus  emeritum  palo  suspendat  aratrum  * : 

Omne  reformidat  frigida  volnus  humus. 
Vilice,  da  requiem  terrae,  semente  peracta : 

Da  requiem  terrain  qui  coluere  viris. 
Pagus  agat  festum  :   pagum  lustrate,  coloni, 

Et  date  paganis  annua  liba  focis. 
Placentur  frugum  matres,  Tellusque  Ceresque, 

Farre  suo,  gravidae  visceribusque  suis. 
Officium  commune  Ceres  et  Terra  tuentur: 

Haec  praebet  causam  frugibus,  ilia  locum. 

Ceres  and  Tellus,  '  consortes  operis,'  are  to  be  invoked  to  bring 
to  maturity  the  seed  sown  in  the  autumn,  by  preserving  it  from 
all  pests  and  hurtful  things  ;  and  also  to  assist  the  sower  in  his 

1  Sementinae,  according  to  Jordan  in  Prell.  a.  5,  note  2. 

3  Fasti,  i.  658  foil. 

*  Paganicae  (feriae),  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  26.  Varro  seems  to  separate  the 
two  :  after  mentioning  the  Sementinae,  which  he  says  was  '  sationis  causa 
susceptae,'  he  goes  on  '  Paganicae  eiusdem  agriculturae  susceptae,  ut 
haberent  in  agris  omnes  pagi,'  &c.  But  the  distinction  is  perhaps  only  of 
place  ;  or  if  of  time  also,  yet  not  of  object  and  meaning. 

4  So  Marq.   199,   and  Hartmann,  Rom.  Kal.   203.     Preller  thinks  the 
Sementinae  were   in  September,  before  the  autumn  sowing ;  and  it  is 
possible  that  there  were  two  feasts  of  the  name,  one  before  the  autumn, 
another  before  the  spring,  sowing.     Lydus  (de  Mens.  3.  3)  speaks  of  two 
days  separated  by  seven  others;  on  the  former  they  sacrificed  to  Tellus 
(Demeter),  on  the  latter  to  Ceres  (Kopi;) ',  two  successive  mmdinae  (market- 
days)  are  here  meant. 

5  Cp.  Scholiast  on  Persius,  4.  28 ;  and  see  under  Compitalia,  Jan.  3-5. 


MENSIS    IANUARIUS  295 

work  in  the  spring  that  is  at  hand.  This  at  least  is  how 
I  understand  the  lines  (68r,  682) : 

Cum  serimus,  caelum  ventis  aperite  serenis ; 
Cum  latet,  aetheria  spargite  semen  aqua. 

Or  if  it  be  argued  that  both  these  lines  may  very  well  refer 
to  the  spring,  it  is  at  least  certain  that  the  poet  understood  the 
festival  to  cover  the  past  autumn  sowing : 

Utque  dies  incerta  sacro,  sic  tempora  certa, 
Si-minibus  iactis  est  ubi  fetus  ager1. 

Varro  tells  us 2  that  the  time  of  the  autumn  sowing  extended 
from  the  equinox  to  the  winter  solstice  ;  after  which,  as  we 
have  seen,  the  husbandmen  rested  from  their  labours  in  the 
fields,  and  enjoyed  the  festivals  we  have  been  discussing  since 
Dec.  1 7  (Consualia).  The  last  of  these  is  the  Paganalia,  i.  e.  the 
one  nearest  in  date,  if  we  may  go  by  Ovid,  to  the  time  for 
setting  to  work  at  the  spring  sowing,  which  began  on  or 
about  Feb.  7  (Favonius)  '.  It  would  thus  be  quite  natural  that 
this  festival  should  have  reference  not  only  to  the  seed  already 
in  the  ground,  but  also  to  that  which  wTas  still  to  be  sown. 
If  Ovid  lays  stress  on  the  former,  Varro  and  Lydus  seem  to  be 
thinking  chiefly  of  the  latter 4. 

Ovid  has  told  us  what  was  the  nature  of  the  rites.  According 
to  him,  Ceres  and  Tellus  were  the  deities  concerned,  and  with 
this  Lydus  agrees.  We  need  not  be  too  certain  about  the 
names5,  considering  the  'fluidity'  and  impersonality  of  early 
Koman  numina  of  this  type ;  but  the  type  itself  is  obvious. 
There  were  offerings  of  cake,  and  a  sacrifice  of  a  pregnant  sow  ; 
the  oxen  which  had  served  in  the  ploughing  were  decorated 
with  garlands ;  prayers  were  offered  for  the  protection  of  the 
seed  from  bird  and  beast  and  disease.  If  we  may  believe 

1  Ovid,  i.  661.  *  R.  R.  i.  34;  Plin.  N.H.  18.  204. 

s  Cp.  Varro,  R.  R.  i.  29,  36.     Cp.  the  Rustic  Calendars  for  February. 

4  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  26  '  sationis  causa' ;  and  Lydus  says  that  the  feast  could 
not  be  '  stativae,'  because  the  ap\^  <r*°pov  cannot  bo  fixed  to  a  day.   Lydus' 
reason  is  not  a  good  one,  if  the  sowing  did  not  begin  till  Feb.  7  ;  but  it  is 
plain  that  he   understands  the   rites   as  prophylactic.     I  may  note   that 
Columella  seems  to  know  little  about  spring  sowing  (n.  a:  cp.  a.  8). 
Mommsen,  R.  H.  ii.  364,  says  that  spring  sowing  was  exceptional. 

5  See  under  Cerialia,  April  19. 


296  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

a  note  of  Probus' ],  oscilla  were  hung  from  the  trees,  as  at  the 
Latin  festival,  &c.,  doubtless  as  a  charm  against  evil  influences. 

vi  KAL.  FEB.  (Jan.  27).     C. 

AEDIS  [CASTORIS  ET  POJLLUCIS  DEDICAJTA  EST  .  .   .].       (PRAEN.) 

Mommsen's  restoration  of  this  note  in  the  Fasti  of  Praeneste 
is  based  on  Ov.  Fast.  i.  705-8: 

At  quae  venturas  praecedet  sexta  Kalendas, 

Hac  sunt  Ledaeis  templa  dicata  dels. 
Fratribus  ilia  dels  fratres  de  gente  deorum 

Circa  luturnae  composuere  lacus. 

But  Livy  *  gives  the  Ides  of  July  as  the  day  of  dedication, 
and  a  difference  of  learned  opinion  has  arisen3.  July  15, 
B.C.  496,  is  the  traditional  date  of  the  battle  of  Lake  Kegillus, 
and  the  temple  was  dedicated  B.C.  484 — the  result  of  the 
Consul's  vow  in  that  battle4.  Mommsen  infers  that  Livy 
confused  the  date  of  the  dedication  with  that  of  the  battle,  and 
that  Jan.  27  is  right.  Aust  and  others  differ,  and  refer  the 
latter  date  to  a  restoration  by  Tiberius,  probably  in  A.  D.  65. 
The  mistake  in  Livy  is  easy  to  explain,  and  Mommsen's 
explanation  seems  sufficient8.  Three  beautiful  columns  of 
Tiberius'  temple  are  still  to  be  seen  at  the  south-eastern  end 
of  the  Forum,  near  the  temple  of  Vesta,  and  close  to  the 
lacus  Juturnae,  where  the  Twins  watered  their  steeds  after 
the  battle7. 

The  veiy  early  introduction  of  the  Dioscuri  into  the  Roman 
worship  is  interesting  as  being  capable  of  unusually  distinct 
proof.  They  must  have  been  known  long  before  the  battle 

1  Ad  Virg.  Oeorg.  a.  385  ;  Marq.  200  and  192,  where  the  old  explanation 
(Macr.  i.  7.  34)  seems  to  be  adopted,  that  these  were  substitutes  f  >r 
human  or  other  victims  (cp.  BOtticher,  Baumkultus,  80  foil.}.  We  have 
uo  clear  evidence  for  this,  and  I  am  not  disposed  to  accept  it. 

*  2.  42.     So  Plut.  Cm-id.  3. 

8  Momms.  C.I.L.  i.  308;  Jordan,  Eph.  Ep.  i.  236;  Aust,  de  Aedibus 
sacris,  43. 

4  Dion.  HaL  6.  13 ;  Liv.  a.  20. 

8  Suetonius,  Tib.  20 ;  Aust,  op.  cit.  p.  6. 

*  Weight  must,  however,  be  given  to  the  fact  that  the  transvectio 
equitum  took  place  on  July  15.    Aust,  43,  and  Furtwangler  in  Lex.  s.  v. 
Dioscuri. 

7  Middleton,  Ancient  Borne,  p.  174  ;  Lanciani,  Ruins  and  Excavations  of 
Ancient  Rome,  p.  271  foil. 


MENSIS    IANUARIUS  297 

of  the  Regillus ;  and  they  took  a  peculiarly  firm  hold  on  the 
Roman  mind,  as  we  see  from  the  common  oaths  Edepol, 
Mecastor,  from  their  representation  on  the  earliest  denarii1, 
from  their  connexion  with  the  equites  throughout  Roman 
history,  and  from  the  great  popularity  of  their  legend,  which 
was  reproduced  in  connexion  with  later  battles 2.  The  spread 
of  the  cult  through  Southern  Italy  to  Latium  and  Etruria 
(where  it  was  also  a  favourite)  is  the  subject  of  a  French 
monograph 3. 

1  Mommsen,  Munzwesen,  301,  559. 

2  Pydna,  Cic.  N.  D.  3.  5.  n  ;  Verona  (101  B.C.),  Plut.  Mar.  26.      The 
most  famous  application  of  the  story  is  in  the  accounts  of  the  great  light 
between  Locri  and  Kroton  at  the  river  Sagra  :  this  was  probably  the 
origin  of  the  Italian  legends.     See  Preller,  ii.  301. 

3  Albert,  le  Culte  de  Castor  et  Pollux  en  Italic,  1883.     Cp.  Furtwangler,  I.e. 


MENSIS  FEBRUAB1US 

THE  name  of  the  last  month  of  the  old  Roman  year  is  derived 
from  the  word  februum,  usually  understood  as  an  instrument 
of  purification '.  This  word,  and  its  derivatives  were,  as  we 
shall  see,  best  known  in  connexion  with  the  Lupercalia,  the 
most  prominent  of  the  festivals  of  the  month.  Now  the 
ritual  of  the  Lupercalia  seems  to  suggest  that  our  word  '  purifi- 
cation '  does  not  cover  all  the  ground  occupied  by  the  '  religio  ' 
of  that  festival ;  nor  does  it  precisely  suit  some  of  the  other 
rites  of  February.  We  are  indeed  here  on  difficult  and 
dangerous  ground.  Certainly  we  must  not  assume  that  there 
was  any  general  lustration  of  the  whole  people,  or  any  period 
corresponding  in  religious  intent  to  the  Christian  Lent, 
which  in  time  only  is  descended  from  the  Eoman  February. 
Assuredly  there  were  no  such  ideas  as  penitence  or  forgiveness 
of  sins  involved  in  the  ritual  of  the  month.  Let  so  much 
be  said  for  the  benefit  of  those  who  are  only  acquainted  with 
Jewish  or  Christian  history. 

What  at  least  is  certain  is  that  at  this  time  the  character 
of  the  festivals  changes.  Since  the  middle  of  December  we 
have  had  a  series  of  joyful  gatherings  of  an  agricultural  people 
in  homestead,  market-place,  cross-roads  ;  now  we  find  them 
fulfilling  their  duties  to  their  dead  ancestors  at  the  common 

1  Paulus,  85  'Quaecumque  purgamenti  causa  in  quibusque  sacrifices 
adhibentur,  februa  appellantur.  Id  vero  quod  purgatur,  dioitur  februatum.' 
The  verb  februare  also  occurs.  Vario  (L.  L.  6.  13)  says  that  februum  was 
the  Sabine  equivalent  for  pur g amentum  :  'Nam  et  Lupercalia  februatio,  «t 
in  Antiquitatum  libris  demonstravi '  (cp.  6.  34).  Ovid  renders  the  word 
by  'piamen*  (Fasti,  2.  19).  Februus,  a  divinity,  is  mentioned  in  Macr.  i. 
13.  3  ;  he  is  almost  certainly  a  later  invention  (see  Lex.  Myth.  s.  v.).  The 
etymology  of  the  word  is  uncertain. 


MENSIS    FEBRUARIUS  299 

necropolis,  or  engaged  in  a  mysterious  piacular  rite  under  the 
walls  of  the  oldest  Kome.  The  Parentalia  and  the  Lupercalia 
are  the  characteristic  rites  of  February ;  we  shall  see  later 
on  whether  any  of  the  others  can  be  brought  into  the  same 
category.  If  pleasure  is  the  object  of  the  mid-winter  festivals, 
the  fulfilment  of  duties  towards  the  gods  and  the  manes  would 
seem  to  be  that  of  the  succeeding  period. 

From  an  agricultural  point  of  view  February  was  a  somewhat 
busy  month  ;  but  in  the  time  of  Varro  the  work  was  chiefly 
the  preparatory  operations  in  the  culture  of  olives,  vines  and 
fruit-trees 1.  The  one  great  operation  in  the  olde&t  and  simplest 
agricultural  system  was  the  spring  sowing.  Spring  was  under- 
stood to  begin  on  Feb.  7  (Favonius) 2,  and  it  is  precisely  at  this 
point  that  the  rites  change  their  character.  We  are  in  fact 
close  upon  the  new  year,  when  the  powers  of  vegetation  awake 
and  put  on  strength  ;  but  the  Eomans  approached  it  as  it  were 
with  hesitation,  preparing  for  it  carefully  by  steady  devotion  to 
work  and  duty,  the  whole  community  endeavouring  to  place 
itself  in  a  proper  position  toward  the  numina  of  the  land's 
fertility,  and  the  dead  reposing  in  the  land's  embrace. 

Before  taking  the  rites  one  by  one,  it  will  perhaps  be  as  well 
to  say  a  word  in  general  about  the  nature  of  Roman  expiatory 
rites,  in  order  to  determine  in  what  sense  we  are  to  understand 
those  of  February. 

The  first  point  to  notice  is  that  these  rites  were  applicable 
only  to  involuntary  acts  of  commission  or  omission — an  offence 
against  the  gods  (nefas)  if  wittingly  committed,  was  inexpiable. 
In  this  case  the  offender  was  impius,  i.  e.  had  wilfully  failed  in 
his  duty  ;  and  him  no  rites  could  absolve 3.  But  by  ordinary 
offences  against  the  gods  we  are  not  to  understand  sin,  in  the 
Christian  sense  of  the  word  ;  they  were  rather  mistakes  in 

1  Varro,  R.  R.  i.  29.     Cp.  Colum.  xi.  a  ;  and  the  rustic  calendars. 

a  Varro,  R.  R.  i.  28.     See  above,  p.  295. 

s  This  is  very  distinctly  stated  by  Cicero  (de  Legibus,  i.  14.  40  '  In  decs 
impietatum  nulla  expiatio  est':  cp.  2.  9.  22  'Sacrum  commissum  quod 
neque  expiari  poterit,  impie  commissum  est').  Even  the  tailor  in 
Horace's  ode  (i.  28),  whose  duty  does  not  seem  exactly  binding,  is  told, 
if  he  omits  it,  '  teque  piacula  nulla  resolvent.'  On  the  general  question, 
cp.  De-Marchi,  La  Religione  nella  vita  domestica,  246 ;  and  Marq.  257.  The 
pontifex  Scaevola  'asseverabat  prudentem  expiari  non  posse '  (Macrob.  i. 
16.  10).  Ovid's  account  (Fasti,  2.  35  foil.)  is  that  of  a  layman  and  a  modern, 
but  not  less  interesting  for  that  reason. 


300  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

ritual,  or  involuntary  omissions — in  fact  any  real  or  supposed  or 
possible  errors  in  any  of  a  man's  relations  to  the  numina  around 
him.  He  might  always  be  putting  himself  in  the  wrong  in 
regard  to  these  relations,  and  he  must  as  sedulously  endeavour 
to  right  himself.  In  the  life  of  the  '  privatus '  these  trespasses  in 
sacred  law  would  chiefly  be  in  matters  of  marriages  and  funerals 
and  the  regular  sacrifices  of  the  household  ;  in  the  life  of  the 
magistrate  they  would  be  mistakes  or  omissions  in  his  duties  on 
behalf  of  the  State l.  Whether  in  private  or  public  life,  they 
must  be  duly  expiated.  It  is  needless  to  point  out  how  power- 
ful a  factor  this  belief  must  have  been  in  the  growth  of  a  con- 
science and  of  the  sense  of  duty  ;  or  how  stringent  a  '  religio ' 
was  that  which,  assuming  that  a  man  could  hardly  commit  an 
offence  except  unwittingly,  made  the  possible  exceptional  case 
fatal  to  his  position  as  a  member  of  a  community  which 
depended  for  its  wholesome  existence  on  the  good  will  of  the 
gods. 

Kemembering  that  among  the  divine  beings  to  whom  it  was 
most  essential  for  each  family  to  fulfil  its  duties,  were  the 
di  manes,  or  dead  ancestors  and  members  of  the  family,  we  see 
at  once  that  February  with  its  Parentalia  was  an  important 
month  in  the  matter  of  expiatoiy  rites.  Ovid,  though  suggest- 
ing a  fancy  derivation  for  the  name  of  the  month,  expresses 
this  idea  clearly  enough : 

Aut  quia  placatis  sunt  tempora  pura  sepulcris 
Turn  cum  ferales  praeteriere  dies8. 

But  the  other  etymology  given  by  the  poet  is,  as  we  have 
seen,  the  right  one,  and  may  bring  us  to  another  class  of 
piacula,  of  which  we  find  an  example  this  month  in  the 
Lupercalia. 

Mensis  ab  his  dictus,  secta  quia  pelle  Luperci 
Omne  sol um  lustrant,  idque  piamen  habent  *. 

Not  only  was  the  Koman  most  careful  to  expiate  involuntary 
offences,  and  also  to  appease  the  wrath  of  the  gods,  if  shown  in 
any  special  active  way,  e.  g.  by  lightning  and  many  other 
prodigia4,  but  he  also  sought  to  avert  evil  influences  before- 

1  Varro,  Ir.  L.  6.  30  '  Praetor  qui  turn  (i.  e.   die  ncfasto)  fatus  est,  si 
imprudens  fecit,  piaculari  hostia  facta  piatur  ;  si  prudens  dixit,  Q.  Mucius 
ambigebat  eum  expiari  ut  impium  non  posse." 

2  Fasti,  a.  33.  3  ib  3I 
4  See  Marq.  259 ;  Bouch^-Leclercq,  Les  Pontifes,  101  foil. 


MENSIS    FEBRUARIUS  301 

hand,  which  might  possibly  emanate  from  hostile  or  offended 
numirta.  This  religious  object  is  well  illustrated  in  the  sacrifice 
of  the  hostia  praecidanea,  which  was  offered  beforehand  to  make 
up  for  any  involuntary  errors  in  the  ritual  that  followed l.  But 
it  is  also  seen  in  numerous  other  rites  of  which  we  have  had 
many  examples  ;  all  those,  for  instance,  which  included  a  lus- 
tratio.  We  generally  translate  this  word  by  'purification';  but 
it  also  involves  the  ideas  of  intercession,  and  of  the  removal  of 
unseen  hostile  influences  which  may  be  likely  to  interfere  with 
the  health  and  prosperity  of  man,  beast,  or  crop.  At  such  rites 
special  victims  were  sometimes  offered,  or  the  victim  was  treated 
in  a  peculiar  manner  ;  we  find,  perhaps,  some  part  of  it  used  as 
a  charm  or  potent  spell,  as  the  strips  of  skin  at  the  Lupercalia, 
or  the  ashes  of  the  unborn  calves  at  the  Fordicidia,  or  the  tail 
and  blood  of  the  October  horse 2.  To  the  first  of  these,  at  least, 
if  not  to  the  other  two,  the  word  februum  was  applied,  and  we 
may  assume  it  of  the  others  :  also  to  many  other  objects  which 
had  some  magical  power,  and  carry  us  back  to  a  very  remote 
religious  antiquity.  Ovid  gives  a  catalogue  of  them R : 

Februa  Komani  dixere  piamina  patres, 

Nunc  quoque  dant  verbo  plurima  signa  fid  era. 
Pontifices  ab  rege  petunt  et  flamine  lanas, 

Quis  veterum  lingua  februa  nomen  erat. 
Quaeque  capit  lictor  domibus  purgamina  fternisf  * 

Torrida  cum  mica  farra,  vocantur  idem. 
Nomen  idem  ramo,  qui  caesus  ab  arbore  pura 

Casta  sacerdotum  tempora  fronde  tegit. 
Ipse  ego  flaminicam  poscentem  februa  vidi : 

Februa  poscenti  pinea  virga  data  est. 
Denique  quodcunque  est,  quo  corpora  nostra  piantur, 

Hoc  apud  intonsos  nomen  habebat  avos. 

Objects  such  as  these,  called  by  a  name  which  is  explained  by 
piamen,  or  purgamentum ,  must  have  been  understood  as  charms 
potent  to  keep  off  evil  influences,  and  so  to  enable  nature  to 
take  its  ordinary  course  unhindered.  Only  in  this  sense  can  we 
call  them  instruments  of  purification. 

1  Marq.  180 ,  Bouche-Leclercq,  178. 

3  See  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  p.  406. 

3  Fasti,  2.  19  foil. 

4  This  difficult  line  has  occasioned  much  conjecture,  and  seems  still 
inexplicable.     See   Merkel,  Fasti,   clxvi  foil.  ;    and  De-Marchi,    op.   cit. 
p.  246. 


302  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

The  use  of  the  februa  in  the  Lupercalia  was,  as  we  shall  see, 
to  procure  fertility  in  the  women  of  the  community.  Here 
then,  as  well  as  in  the  rites  of  the  Fornacalia  and  Parentalia. 
is  some  reason  for  calling  the  month  a  period  of  purification  ; 
but  only  if  we  bear  in  mind  that  at  the  Parentalia  the  process 
consisted  simply  in  the  performance  of  duties  towards  the  dead, 
which  freed  or  purified  a  man  from  their  possible  hostility  ; 
while  at  the  Lupercalia  the  women  were  freed  or  purified  from 
influences  which  might  hinder  them  in  the  fulfilment  of  their 
natural  duties  to  their  families  and  the  State.  Beyond  this 
it  is  not  safe  to  go  in  thinking  of  February  as  a  month  of 
expiation. 

KAL.  FEB.     IUNONI  SOSPITAE.     N. 

This  was  the  dedication-day  of  a  temple  of  the  great  Lanuvian 
goddess,  Juno  Sospita,  in  the  Forum  olitorium  *.  It  was  vowed 
in  the  year  197  B.  c.  by  the  consul  Cornelius  Cethegus,  but 
had  fallen  into  decay  in  Ovid's  time 2.  For  the  famous  cult  of 
this  deity  at  Lanuvium,  see  Koscher,  in  Lex.  s.  v.  luno,  595. 

ID.  FEB.  FAUNO  [I]N  INSULJA].     C.  /.  L.  vi.  2302.     IP. 

This  temple  was  vowed  almost  at  the  same  time  as  the  last. 
^96  B.  c.,  by  plebeian  aediles  ;  it  was  built  by  fines  exacted  from 
holders  of  ager  publicus  who  had  not  paid  their  rents  \  See 
under  Dec.  5,  p.  257. 

FORNACALIA  :  FERIAE  CONCEPTIVAE,  ending  Feb.  1 7. 

I  have  drawn  attention  to  the  change  in  the  character  of  the 
festivals  at  this  season.  But  before  we  go  on  to  the  Parentalia 
and  Lupercalia,  which  chiefly  mark  this  change,  we  have  to 
consider  one  festival  which  seems  to  belong  rather  to  the  class 
which  we  found  in  December  and  January.  This  was  the 

1  Aust,  De  Aedibus  sacris,  pp.  at,  45.  48.  On  this  last  page  are  some 
useful  remarks  on  the  danger  of  drawing  conclusions  as  to  the  indigenous 
or  foreign  origin  of  deities  from  the  position  of  their  temples  inside  or 
outside  the  pomoerium. 

3  Fasti,  2.  55  foil. 

5  Livy,  33.  42  ;  34. 53.  Jordan,  in  Commentationes  in  hon.  Momms.  359  foil. ; 
Aust,  op.  cit.  p.  20. 


MENSIS    FEBRUARIUS  303 

Fornacalia,  or  feast  of  ovens ;  one  which  does  not  appear  in  the 
calendars,  as  it  was  a  moveable  feast  (conceptivae) ;  and  one 
which  was  a  sacrum  publicum  only  in  the  sense  of  being  pro 
curiis,  as  the  Paganalia  were  pro  pagis,  the  Septimontium  pro 
montibus,  and  the  Argean  rite  pro  sacellis '.  Each  curia  con- 
ducted its  own  rites,  under  the  supervision  of  its  curio  and  (for 
the  last  day)  of  the  Curio  Maximus 2 :  the  great  priests  of 
the  State  had  no  official  part  in  it.  In  this  it  differs  in  some 
degree  from  the  Fordicidia  (April  15),  the  other  feast  of  the 
curiae,  which  appears  in  three  of  our  calendars,  and  in  which 
the  Pontifices  and  Vestals  took  some  part5. 

This  is  not  the  place  to  investigate  the  difficult  question  of 
what  the  curiae  really  were.  So  much  at  least  is  clear,  that 
while,  like  the  montes,  pagi,  and  sacella  (argea),  they  were 
divisions  of  the  people  and  the  land,  they  were  more  important 
than  the  others,  in  that  they  formed  the  basis  of  the  earliest 
political  and  military  organization 4.  It  need  hardly  be  said  that 
each  curia  had  also  itself  a  religious  organization  :  their  places 
of  assembly,  though  not  temples,  were  quasi-religious  buildings5, 
used  for  sacred  purposes*  but  furnished  with  hearth  and  eating- 
room  like  an  ordinary  house  B.  We  hear  also  of  tables  (mensae, 
Tparr(£w)  'in  quibus  immolabatur  lunoni  quae  Curis  appellata 
estV  There  is  no  need  to  assume  any  etymological  connexion 
between  Curis  and  Curia 8 ;  but  the  cult  of  the  goddess  of  the 
spear  is  interesting  here,  as  seeming  at  once  to  illustrate  the 
military  importance  of  the  curiae,  the  power  of  the  pater- 
familias 9,  and  the  necessity  of  continuing  the  family  through 

1  See  Diet,  of  Antiq.  s.v.  sacra.  Fest.  245  a  'Publica  sacra,  quae  publico 
uumptu  pro  populo  limit :  quaeque  pro  montibus,  pagis,  curiis,  sacellis.' 

*  Ovid,  Fasti,  a.  527.     See  under  Quirinalia. 

3  See  on  April  15.  There  must  have  been  at  one  time  a  tendency  to 
amalgamate  the  two  kinds  of  sacra  publica.  The  argei  were  also  attended 
by  Pontifices  and  Vestals.  I  should  conjecture  that  the  Pontifices  claimed 
supervision  over  rites  in  which  they  had  originally  no  official  locus  staiuli, 
and  brought  the  Vestals  with  them. 

*  Mommsen,  Siaatsrecht,  iii.  i.  89  foil. 

5  'If pal  OIKICU,  Dion.  Hal.  2.  23  ;  Fest.  174  b  ;  Marq.  195. 
'  Dion.  Hal.  2.  23. 

7  Ib.  2.  50.     The  Latin  words  are  from  Paul.  64. 

8  Jordan,  on  Preller,  i.  278  note.     Roscher,  in  Lex.  s.  v.  luno,  596.    Curis 
=  hasta  in  Sabine  ;  Fest.  49  ;  Roscher,  1.  c.  ;  Ovid,  Fasti,  2.  477. 

*  Cp.  the  parting  of  the  bride's  hair  with  a  spear,  Marq.  vii.  44  and  note 
5  ;   Plut.  Q.  R.  87  ;  BOtticher,  Baumkultus,  485  ;  Schwegler,  R.  O.  i.  469. 


304  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

the  fertility  of  woman,  an  idea  which  we  shall  come  upon  again 
at  the  Lupercalia  '.  Lastly,  each  curia  had  its  own  curio,  or 
religious  superintendent,  and  its  own  flamen,  and  at  the  head 
of  all  the  curiae  was  the  Curio  Maximus  ;  officers  who  coincide 
with  the  general  character  of  the  curiae  in  being  (like  the  heads 
of  families)  not  strictly  priests,  but  capable  of  religious  duties, 
for  the  performance  of  which  they  are  said  to  have  been 
instituted  2. 

The  ritual  of  the  Fornacalia  has  been  evolved  with  difficulty, 
and  without  much  certainty,  from  a  few  passages  in  Ovid, 
Dionysius,  Varro,  Festus,  and  Pliny3.  We  seem  to  see — i.  An 
offering  in  each  private  house  in  each  curia  :  it  consisted  of  far, 
i.  e.  meal  of  the  oldest  kind  of  Italian  wheat,  roasted  in  antique 
fashion  in  the  oven  which  was  to  be  found  in  the  pistrina  of 
each  house,  and  made  into  cakes  by  crushing  in  the  manner 
still  common  in  India  and  elsewhere4.  2.  A  rite  in  which 
each  curia  took  part  as  a  whole.  This  is  deduced  from  the  fact 
that  on  the  i7th  (Quirinalia)  any  one  who  by  forgetfulness  or 
ignorance  had  omitted  to  perform  his  sacra  on  the  day  fixed  by 
the  curio  for  the  meeting  of  his  own  curia,  might  do  so  then 
at  a  general  assembly  of  all  the  thirty  curiae 8.  This  was  the 
reason  why  the  Quirinalia  was  called  '  stultorum  feriae.'  It  has 
also  been  conjectured  that  the  bounds  of  each  curia  were  beaten 
on  this  day,  on  which  its  members  thus  met :  for  Pliny  says 
'Numa  et  Fornacalia  instituit  farris  torrendi  ferias  et  aeque 

1  The  same  connexion   between   curiae  and  the  armed  deity  of  the 
female  principle  is  found  at  Tibur  (Serv.  Aen.  i.  17),  '  in  sacris  Tibur- 
tibus  sic  precantur  :  luno  curritis  (sic)  tuo  curru  clipeoque  tuere  meos 
curiae  vernulas,'  Jordan,  in  Hermes,  8.  217  foil.    Possibly  also  at  Lanuvium 
(Lex.  s.v.  luno,  595). 

2  Varro,  L.  L.  5.  83  and  155  ;  Marq.  195. 

3  This  has  been  done  by  O.  Gilbert  (Gesch.  und  Topogr.  2.  129  foil.),  ah1 
author  who  is  not  often  so  helpful.     He  is  followed  by  Steudiiig,  in  Lex. 
Myth.  s.  v.  Fornax. 

4  Paul.  93  (cp.  83),  '  Fornacalia  feriao  institutae  sunt  farris  torrendi 
gratia  quod  ad  fornacem  quae  in  pistrinis  erat  sacrificium  fieri  solebat.' 
Dionysius  was  probably  referring  to  this  when  he  wrote  (2.  23)  that  he 
had  himself  seen  ancient  wooden  tables  spread  with  rude  cakes  of  primitive 
fashion  in  baskets  and  dishes  of  primitive   make.     He  also  mentions 
xapvaiv  nvwv  iirapxas  (cp.  Ovid,  I.e.  520),  which  might  indeed  suggest 
a  feast  of  curiae  at  a  different  time  of  year.     For  the  far,  see  Marq.  vii. 
399  foil.     The  cakes  were/ebri«a,  according  to  Ovid  ;  see  above,  p.  301. 

3  Comp.  Ovid,  I.e.  with  Fest.  354;  Paul.  316 ;  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  13  ;  Plut. 
Q.  B.  89. 


MENSIS    FEBRUAK1US  305 

religiosas  terminis  agrorum\'  3.  What  happened  on  the  Quiri- 
nalia  Ovid  shall  tell  us  himself2: 

Curio  legitimis  mine  Fornacalia  verbis 
Muximus  indicit,  nee  stata  sacra  facit ; 

Inque  foro,  multa  circum  pendente  tabella, 
S'gnatur  certa  curia  quaeque  nota : 

Stultaque  pars  populi,  quae  sit  sua  curia,  nescit, 
Sed  facit  extrema  sacra  relata  die. 

It  should  be  noted  that  no  certain  connexion  can  be  made  out 
between  Quirinus  and  curia,  and  I  imagine  it  was  only  accident 
or  convenience  that  made  this  day  the  last  of  the  Fornacalia 3. 
Ovid's  words  '  nee  stata  sacra  facit '  seem  to  me  to  imply  that 
the  Curio  Maximus  carefully  abstained  from  using  a  formula 
of  announcement  likely  to  confuse  the  '  stultorum  feriae '  with 
the  Quirinalia,  which  was  always  on  the  same  day.  But  it  may 
well  have  been  the  case  that  by  usage  the  two  coincid  d. 

Ovid's  lines  make  it  clear  that  on  the  i7th  (as  a  rule)  the 
Forum  was  the  scene  of  a  general  meeting  of  curiae,  each  of 
which  had  a  certain  space  assigned  it,  indicated  by  a  placard. 
Is  it  possible  that  this  was  merely  a  survival  of  the  assembly  of 
the  armed  host  in  comitia  curiata,  now  used  only  for  religious 
purposes?  If  so,  the  tendency  to  fix  it  on  the  festival  of 
Quirinus  might  find  a  natural  explanation. 

The  meaning  and  object  of  the  Fornacalia  are  very  far  from 
being  clear.  Preller  4  fancied  it  was  the  occasion  of  the  first 
eating  of  the  fruits  of  the  last  harvest :  but  it  is  hardly  possible 
to  imagine  this  postponed  as  late  as  February.  On  the  other 
hand  Dionysius'  description 5,  already  quoted,  of  what  he  saw 
in  the  curiae,  would  suit  this  well  enough  if  it  could  be  set  down 
to  a  suitable  time  of  year :  it  suggests  a  common  meal,  in  which 
ti»c)  first-fruits  are  offered  to  the  god,  while  the  worshippers  eat 
of  the  new  grain.  But  this  cannot  have  been  in  February. 
Steuding  (in  the  Lex.)  suggests  that  the  object  was  to  thank 
the  gods  for  preserving  the  corn  through  the  winter,  and  to 

1  H.  N.  18.  8  ;  Lange,  Rom.  Alt.  i2.  245.  2  Fasti,  a.  527  foil. 

3  That  it  was  so  is  proved  by  Fest.  254,  and  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  13.  It  must 
have  been  a  custom  fairly  well  fixed. 

'  ii.  9- 

*  a.  23,  'Eyw  yovv  iOtcujafujv  iv  l(pai<;  OIK  ais  SccVrva  irpoKtifj.fva  Otots  iirl 
rpairt'^ais  (v\ii>cus  apxcuieats,  iv  Kavrjffi  ical  TrivaxiaKois  Kipaptuis  u\<f>irtuv  (M^as 
Hal  TToTrara  nal  fta?  Kin  teapvuv  riviav  iirapxas  &c. 

X 


306  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

pray  for  the  welfare  of  the  seed  still  in  the  ground  (i.  e.  in  a 
lustratio).  Ovid  says  (though  Steuding  does  not  quote  him) 

Facta  dea  est  Fornax  :   laeti  Fornace  colon! 
Grant,  ut  fruges  temperet  ilia  suas '. 

But  neither  Steuding's  conjecture,  nor  the  German  parallels  he 
appeals  to,  teem  convincing.  I  am  rather  inclined  to  think 
that  the  making  of  cakes  in  each  household  was  simply  a  pre- 
liminary to  the  sacra  that  followed  in  the  curia,  i.  e.  each  family 
brought  its  contribution  to  a  common  religious  meal.  The 
roasting  was  naturally  accompanied  by  an  offering  to  the  spirit 
of  the  oven 2  (fornax) ;  hence  the  name  Fornacalia.  The  object 
of  the  sacra  in  the  curia  is  doubtful ;  but  they  probably  had 
some  relation  to  the  land  and  its  fertility,  in  view  of  the  new 
year  about  to  begin.  Of  the  final  meeting  of  all  the  curiae  in 
the  forum  I  have  already  suggested  an  explanation  :  the  phrase 
'  stultorum  feriae '  was,  in  my  opinion,  of  late  origin,  and  illus- 
trates the  diminishing  importance  of  the  curiate  organization 
after  the  admission  of  plebeians 3. 


ID.  FEB.  (FEB.  13).     IP. 

VIRGO    VESTALIS    PAKENTAT.       (PHIL.) 
PARENTATIO    TUMULORUM    INCIPIT.       (siLV.) 

The  dies  parentales,  or  days  of  worshipping  the  dead  (placandis 
Manibus),  began  at  the  sixth  hour  on  this  day,  and  continued 
either  to  the  2ist  (Feralia),  or  the  22nd  (cara  cognatio)*.  The 
parentatio  of  the  Vestal  was  at  the  tomb  of  Tarpeia,  herself 
a  YestaP.  Undoubtedly,  the  Feralia  (2ist)  was  the  oldest 
and  the  best  known  of  these  days,  and  the  only  one  which  was 
a  public  festival:  it  appears  in  three  calendars  (Caer.  Maff. 
Farn.)  in  large  letters.  Yet  there  is  reason  for  believing  that 
even  the  Feralia  was  not  the  oldest  day  for  worshipping  the 

1  Fasti,  2.  525.     What  does  Ovid  mean  by  fruges  ? 

2  Paul.  93,  quoted  above  ;  Ovid,  1.  c.  525.     Fornax  as  a  spirit  may  be  at 
least  as  old  as  those  of  other  parts  of  the  house,  Janus,  Vesta,  Limentinus, 
&c. 

3  Mommsen,  Bom.  Forschungen,  i.  149  foil. 

1  Lydus,  de  Mens.  4.  24.     Lydus  gives  the  22nd  as  the  final  day ;  Ovid, 
Fasti,  a.  569,  gives  the  aist  (Feralia,. 
*  Dion.  Hal.  a.  40. 


MENSIS    FEBKUAEIUS  307 

manes :  it  was  in  part  at  least  a  dies  fastus,  and  none  of  the 
dies  parentales  are  marked  N  in  the  calendars ;  and  this, 
according  to  Mommsen ',  shows  that  the  rites  of  those  days 
were  of  later  origin  than  those  of  the  Lemuria  (May  9-13), 
which  are  all  marked  N.  This  seems  also  to  have  been  the 
opinion  of  Latin  scholars 2. 

Whatever  the  Lemuria  may  have  been,  it  is  certain  that  the 
Parentalia  were  not  days  of  terror  or  ill-omen  ;  but  rather  days 
on  which  the  performance  of  duty  was  the  leading  idea  in  men's 
minds.  Nor  was  the  duty  an  unpleasant  one.  There  was 
a  general  holiday:  the  dead  to  be  propitiated  had  been  duly 
buried  in  the  family  tomb  in  the  great  necropolis,  had  been 
well  cared  for  since  their  departure,  and  were  still  members  of 
the  family.  There  was  nothing  to  fear  from  them,  so  long 
as  the  living  members  performed  their  duties  towards  them 
under  the  supervision  of  the  State  and  its  Pontifices 3.  They 
had  their  iura,  and  the  relations  between  them  and  their  living 
relations  were  all  regulated  by  a  ius  sacrum :  they  lived  on  in 
their  city  outside  the  walls  of  the  city  of  the  living 4,  each 
family  in  their  own  dwelling :  they  did  not  interfere  with  the 
comfort  of  the  living,  or  in  any  way  show  themselves  hostile 
or  spiteful.  Such  ideas  as  these  are  of  course  the  result  of 

1  C.  1.  L.  i2.  309 :  cf.  297  (Introduction,  p.  9).  The  Lupercalia  (isth)  is  an 
exception  ;  but  for  reasons  connected  with  that  festival.  The  aist  (Feralia) 
is  F  P  (Caer.)  F  (Maff.).  See  Introduction,  p.  10.  F  P,  according  to 
Mommsen,  -  fastus  principio. 

a  If  Ovid  reflects  it  rightly  in  Fasti,  5.  419  foil.  Cp.  Porph.  on  Hor. 
Ep.  2.  2.  209.  See  on  Lemuria,  above,  p.  107. 

*  On  the  vast  subject  of  the  jus  Manium  and  the  worship  of  the  dead, 
the  following  are  some  of  the  works  that  may  be  consulted :    Marq.  307 
foil.,  and  vii.  350  foil. ;  De-Marchi,  II  Cu'.to  Private,  p.  180  foil. ;  Roscher,  Lex. 
articles  Manes  and  Inferi ;   Bouche-Leclercq,  Pontifes,  147  foil. ;   Rohde, 
Psyche,  p.  630  foil.     Two  old  treatises  still  form  the  basis  of  our  know- 
ledge :  Gutherius,   de  iure  Manium,  in  Graeviua'  Thesaurus,  vol.  xii.  ;   and 
Kirchmann,  de  Funeribus  (1605).     Valuable  matter  has  still  to  be  collected 
(for  later  times)  from  the  Corpus  Inscriplionum. 

*  This  was  the  universal  practice  in  Italy  from  the  earliest  times,  so 
far  as  we  have  as  yet  learnt  from  excavations.     For  the  question  whether 
burial  in  or  close  to  the  house,  or  within  the  city  walls,  preceded  burial 
in  necropoleis,  see  Classical  Review,  for  February,  1897,  p.  32  foil.     Servius 
(Ad  Ann.  5.  64;  6.  152;  cp.  Isidorus,   15.  n.  i)  tells  us  that  they  once 
buried  in  the  house,  and  there  were  facts  that  might  suggest  this  in  the 
cult  of  the  Lares,  and  in  the  private  ghost-driving  of  the  Lemuria ;  but 
we  cannot  prove  it,  and  it  is  not  true  of  the  Romans  at  any  period.     Not 
even  the  well-known  law  of  the  XII  Tables  can  prove  that  burial  ever 
regularly  took  place  within  the  existing  walls  of  a  city. 

X  2 


308  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

a  well  developed  city  life ;  experience  has  taught  the  citizen 
how  his  conduct  towards  the  Di  Manes  can  best  be  regulated 
and  organized  for  the  benefit  of  both  parties.  The  Parentalia 
belong  to  a  later  stage  of  development  than  the  Lemuria, 
though  both  have  the  same  original  basis  of  thought.  The 
Parentalia  was  practically  a  yearly  renewal  of  the  rite  of  burial. 
As  sacra  privata  they  took  place  on  the  anniversary  of  the  death 
of  a  deceased  member  of  the  family,  and  it  was  a  special  charge 
on  the  heir  that  he  should  keep  up  their  observance  \  On  that 
day  the  family  would  go  in  procession  to  the  grave,  not  only  to 
see  that  all  was  well  with  him  who  abode  there,  but  to  present 
him  with  offerings  of  water,  wine,  milk,  honey,  oil,  and  the 
blood  of  black  victims 2 :  to  deck  the  tomb  with  flowers  :\ 
to  utter  once  more  the  solemn  greeting  and  farewell  (Salve, 
sancte  parens),  to  partake  of  a  meal  with  the  dead,  and  to 
petition  them  for  good  fortune  and  all  things  needful.  This 
last  point  comes  out  clearly  in  Virgil's  picture  : 

Poscamus  ventos,  atque  haec  me  sacra  quotannis 
Urbe  velit  posita  templis  sibi  ferre  dicatis. 

The  true  meaning  of  these  lines  is,  as  Henry  quaintly  puts 
it 4,  '  Let  us  try  if  we  cannot  kill  two  birds  with  one  stone,  and 
not  only  pay  my  sire  the  honours  due  to  him,  but  at  the  same 
time  help  ourselves  forward  on  our  journey  by  getting  him 
to  give  us  fair  winds  for  our  voyage.' 

As  we  have  seen,  the  dies  parentales  began  on  the  i3th  ; 
from  that  day  till  the  2ist  all  temples  were  closed,  marriages 
were  forbidden,  and  magistrates  appeared  without  their  in- 
signia5. On  the  22nd  was  the  family  festival  of  the  Caristia, 
or  cara  cognatio :  the  date  of  its  origin  is  unknown,  but  Ovid  6 

1  Cic.  De  Legg.  a.  48.     Cp.  Virg.  Am.  5.  49  : 

lamque  dies,  ni  fallor,  adest,  quern  semper  acerbum, 
Semper  honoratum — sic  di  voluistis — habebo. 

"  Marq.  311  foil. 

*  Purpureosque  iacit  flores,  Virg.  Aen.  5.  79.     Cp.  Cic.  pro  Floeco,  38.  95. 

4  Aeneidea,  3.  15.  He  well  compares  Lucan,  9.  990.  Tylor,  Prim.  Cult. 
ii.  33a-  Aeneas  is  here,  as  always,  the  true  type  of  the  practical  Roman. 

4  Marq.  311  and  reff. 

6  Fasti,  2  617  foil.  Among  the  calendars  it  is  only  mentioned  in  those 
of  Philocalus  and  Silvius,  and  in  the  rustic  calendars.  Valerius  Maximus 
is  the  next  writer  after  Ovid  who  mentions  it :  a.  i.  8.  Cp.  C.  I.  L.  vi. 
10234.  Martial  calls  it  '  lux  propinquorum '  (9.  55,  cp.  54).  For  an  inter- 


MENSIS    FEBRUAKIUS  309 

writes  of  it  as  well  established  in  his  time,  and  it  may  be  very 
much  older.  He  describes  it  as  a  reunion  of  the  living 
members  of  the  family  after  they  have  paid  their  duties  to 

the  dead : 

Scilicet  a  tumulis  et  qui  periere,  propinquis 

Protinus  ad  vivos  ora  referre  iuvat ; 
Postque  tot  amissos  quicquid  de  sanguine  restat, 
Aspicere,  et  generis  dinuinerare  gradus. 

It  was  a  kind  of  love-feast  of  the  family,  and  gives  a  momen- 
tary glimpse  of  the  gentler  side  of  Roman  family  life.  All 
quarrels  were  to  be  forgotten l  in  a  general  harmony  :  no  guilty 
or  cruel  member  may  be  present2.  The  centre  of  the  worship 
was  the  Lares  of  the  family,  who  were  'incincti,'  and  shared 
in  the  sacred  meal3. 

We  might  naturally  expect  that,  especially  in  Italy — so 
tenacious  of  old  ideas  and  superstitions — we  should  find 
some  survival  of  primitive  folk-lore,  even  in  the  midst  of  this 
highly  organized  civic  cult  of  the  dead.  Ovid  supplies  us  with 
a  curious  contrast  to  the  ethical  beauty  of  the  Caristia,  in 
describing  the  spells  which  an  old  woman  works,  apparently  on 
the  day  of  the  Feralia  4.  '  An  old  hag  sitting  among  the  girls 
performs  rites  to  Tacita :  with  three  fingers  she  places  three 
bits  of  incense  at  the  entrance  of  a  mouse-hole.  Muttering 
a  spell,  she  weaves  woollen  threads  on  a  web  of  dark  colour, 
and  mumbles  seven  black  beans  in  her  mouth.  Then  she 
takes  a  fish,  the  maena,  smears  its  head  with  pitch,  sews  its 
mouth  up,  drops  wine  upon  it,  and  roasts  it  before  the  fire  :  the 
rest  of  the  wine  she  drinks  .with  the  girls.  Now,  quoth  she, 
we  have  bound  the  mouth  of  the  enemy : 

Hostiles  linguas  inimicaque  vinximus  ora, 
Dicit  discedens,  ebriaque  exit  anus.' 

In  spite  of  the  names  of  deities  we  find  here,  Tacita  and  Dea 

esting  conjecture  as  to  the  special  meaning  of  carus,  see  Luttcs  quoted  in 
De-Marchi,  op.  cit.  214,  note  a. 

1  Val.  Max.  I.e.  and  Silvius'  Calendar. 

3  Ovid,  Fasti,  a.  623, 

Innocui  veniaut :  procul  hinc,  procul  impius  esto 
Frater,  et  in  partus  mater  acerba  suos. 

s  Ovid,  Fasti,  a.  633-634.  On  such  occasions  the  Lares  were  clothed 
in  tunics  girt  at  the  loins  ;  see  a  figure  of  a  Lar  on  an  altar  from  Caere  in 
Baumeister,  Denkm&ler,  vol.  i.  p.  77. 

*  Fasti,  a.  571  foil. 


310  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

Muta1,  and  of  the  pretty  story  of  the  mother  of  the  Lares 
which  the  poet's  fancy  has  added  to  it,  it  is  plain  that  this  is  no 
more  than  one  of  a  thousand  savage  spells  for  counteracting 
hostile  spirits2.  The  picture  is  interesting,  as  showing  the 
survival  of  witchcraft  in  the  civilized  Kome  of  Ovid's  time,  and 
reminds  us  of  the  horrible  hags  in  Horace's  fifth  epode  ;  but  it 
may  be  doubted  whether  it  has  any  real  connexion  with  the 
Feralia.  Doubtless  its  parallel  could  be  found  even  in  the 
Italy  of  to-day8. 

XV.  KAL.  MART.  (FEB.  15).     IP. 
LUPEE(CALIA).     (CAER.    MAFF.    FARN.    PHILOO.   SILV.    AND 

BUSTIC  CALENDARS.) 

There  is  hardly  another  festival  in  the  calendar  so  interesting 
and  so  well  known  as  this.  Owing  to  the  singular  interest 
attaching  to  its  celebration  in  B.C.  44,  only  a  month  before 
Caesar's  death,  we  are  unusually  well  informed  as  to  its  details  ; 
but  these  present  great  difficulties  in  interpretation,  which  the 
latest  research  has  not  altogether  overcome  \  I  shall  content 
myself  with  describing  it,  and  pointing  out  such  explanations  of 
ritual  as  seem  to  be  fairly  well  established. 

On  Feb.  1 5  the  celebrants  of  this  ancient  rite  met  at  the  cave 
called  the  Lupercal,  at  the  foot  of  the  steep  south-western 
corner  of  the  Palatine  Hill — the  spot  where,  according  to  the 
tradition,  the  flooded  Tiber  had  deposited  the  twin  children 
at  the  foot  of  the  sacred  fig-tree f>,  and  where  they  were 
nourished  by  the  she-wolf.  The  name  of  the  cave  is  almost 

1  Line  583.     See  Wissowa  in  Lex.  s.v.  Dea  Muta. 

s  See  e.  g.  Crooke,  Folklore  of  Northern  India,  ch.  5  (the  Black  Art),  and 
especially  pp.  264  foil. 

5  See  e.g.  Leland,  Etruscan  Roman  remains  in  popular  legend,  pp.  3  and  195 
foil. 

*  The  chief  attempts  are  those  of  Unger,  in  Rhein.  Mus.,  1881,  p.  50,  and 
Mannhardt  in  his  Mythologische  Forschungen,  pp.  72-155.  The  former  is 
ingenious,  but  unsatisfactory  in  many  ways;  the  latter  conscientious,  and 
valuable  as  a  study  in  folk-lore,  whether  its  immediate  conclusions  be 
right  or  wrong.  See  also  Schwegler,  R.  G.  i.  356  foil.  ;  Preller,  i.  387  foil. ; 
and  article  s.v.  in  Diet,  of  Antiquities  (2nd  edition) ;  Marq.  442  foil.  The 
ancient  authorities  are  Dion.  Hal.  i.  32.  5,  79,  80 ;  Ovid,  Fasti,  a.  267 
foil. ;  Plutarch,  Cues.  61,  Rom.  21  ;  Val.  Max.  2.  2.  9  ;  Propert.  5.  (4.)  i.  26; 
and  many  other  passages  which  will  be  referred  to  when  necessary. 

4  Dion.  Hal.  i.  32.  5. 


MENSIS    FEBRUARIUS  311 

without  doubt  built  up  from  lupus,  'a  wolf ' ' ;  but  we  cannot  be 
equally  sure  whether  the  name  of  the  festival  is  derived  directly 
from  Lupercal,  or  on  the  analogy  of  Quirinalia,  Volcanalia, 
and  others,  from  Lupercus,  the  alleged  name  of  the  deity 
concerned  in  the  rites,  and  also  of  the  celebrants  themselves  2. 
In  any  case  we  are  fairly  justified  in  calling  this  the  wolf- 
festival  ;  the  more  so  as  the  wolf  was  the  sacred  animal  of 
Mars,  who  was  in  a  special  sense  the  god  of  the  earliest  settlers 
on  the  Palatine 3. 

The  first  act  of  the  festival  seems  to  have  been  the  sacrifice 
of  goats  (we  are  not  told  how  many),  and  of  a  dog 4 ;  and  at 
the  same  time  were  offered  sacred  cakes  made  by  the  Vestals, 
from  the  first  ears  of  last  year's  harvest.  This  was  the  last 
batch  of  the  mold  salsa,  some  of  which  had  been  used  at  the 
Vestalia  in  June,  and  some  on  the  Ides  of  September5. 

Next,  two  youths  of  high  rank,  belonging,  we  may  suppose, 
one  to  each  of  the  two  collegia  of  Luperci  (of  which  more 
directly),  were  brought  forward ;  these  had  their  foreheads 
smeared  with  the  knife  bloody  from  the  slaughter  of  the 
victims,  and  then  wiped  with  wool  dipped  in  milk.  As  soon 
as  this  was  done  they  were  obliged  to  laugh.  Then  they  girt 
themselves  with  the  skins  of  the  slaughtered  goats,  and  feasted 
luxuriously6;  after  which  they  ran  round  the  base  of  the 
Palatine  Hill,  or  at  least  a  large  part  of  its  circuit,  apparently 
in  two  companies,  one  led  by  each  of  the  two  youths.  As 
they  ran  they  struck  at  all  the  women  who  came  near  them 
or  offered  themselves  to  their  blows,  with  strips  of  skin  cut 
from  the  hides  of  the  same-  victims  ;  which  strips,  as  we  have 
seen,  were  among  the  objects  which  were  called  by  the  priests 
febtva. 


1  Jordan,  Kritische  Beitruge,  164  foil.  Unger's  attempt,  after  Serv.  Aen. 
8-  343.  to  derive  the  word  from  luo  ^to  purify')  is  generally  rejected. 

*  Wissowa,  Lex.  (s.  v.  Lupercus)  takes  the  latter  view,  but  rightly,  as 
I  think,  rejects  the  deity. 

3  Virg.  Aen.  8.  630  '  Mavortis  in  antro.'  Roscher,  in  Lex.  s.  v.  Mars, 
2388  ;  Preller,  i.  334. 

*  Plut.  Bom.  21.     After  mentioning  the  goats,  he  says,  iStov  5J  rrjs  lupTrjs 
T&  nal  Kvva  Ovfiv  TOVS  hovtrtpitovs  (Cp.  Q.  R.  in). 

s  Marq.  165.     See  above,  p.  no. 

'  So  Val.  Max.  I.e.  From  Ovid's  version  of  the  aetiological  story  of 
Romulus  and  Remus  (Fasti,  2.  371  loll.)  we  might  infer  that  the  feasting 
took  place  after  the  running. 


312  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 


Here,  in  what  at  first  sight  looks  like  a  grotesque  jumble, 
there  are  two  clearly  distinguishable  elements  ;  (i)an  extremely 
primitive  ritual,  probably  descended  from  the  pastoral  stage 
of  society  ;  (2)  a  certain  co-ordination  of  this  with  definite  local 
settlements.  The  sacrifices,  the  smearing  and  wiping,  the 
wearing  of  the  skins,  and  the  striking  with  the  februa,  all  seem 
to  be  survivals  from  a  very  early  stage  of  religious  conceptions  ; 
but  the  two  companies  of  runners,  and  their  course  round  the 
Palatine,  which  apparently  followed  the  most  ancient  line 
of  the  pomoerium,  bring  us  into  touch  with  the  beginning 
and  with  the  development  of  urban  life.  Surviving  through 
the  whole  Kepublican  period,  with  a  tenacity  which  the  Koman 
talent  for  organization  alone  could  give  it,  the  Lupercalia  was 
still  further  developed  for  his  own  purposes  by  the  dictator 
Caesar,  and  thenceforward  lived  on  for  centuries  under  his 
successors  into  the  age  of  imperial  Christianity. 

Let  us  now  examine  the  several  acts  of  the  festival,  to  see 
how  far  they  admit  of  explanation  under  the  light  of  modern 
research  into  primitive  ideas  and  ritual. 

It  began,  as  we  saw,  with  the  sacrifice  of  goats  and  a  dog. 
Unluckily  we  cannot  be  sure  of  the  god  to  whom  they  were 
offered,  nor  of  the  sacrificing  priest.  According  to  Ovid  l  the 
deity  was  Faunus  ;  according  to  Livy  it  was  a  certain  mysterious 
Inuus,  of  whom  hardly  anything  else  is  known 2,  though  much 
has  been  written.  There  was  no  Lupercus,  as  some  have  vainly 
imagined  ;  much  less  any  such  combination  as  Faunus  Lupercus, 
which  has  been  needlessly  created  out  of  a  passage  of  Justin  \ 
Liber  is  suggested  by  Servius 4 ;  who  adds  that  others  fancied  it 
was  a  'bellicosus  deus.'  Eecently  Juno  has  been  suggested, 
because  the  strips  which  the  runners  carried  were  called 
'  lunonis  amiculum '  *.  Thus  it  is  quite  plain  that  the  Koman 
of  the  literary  age  did  not  know  who  the  god  was.  The 

1  '  Cornipedi  Fauno  caesa  de  more  capella'  (Fasti,  2.  361).  Cp.  5.  101. 
So  Plut.  Rom.  1.  c. 

8  Livy,  i.  5.  Unger  (p.  71  foil.)  has  much  to  say  about  Inuus  in  the 
worst  style  of  German  pseudo-research.  See  Lex.  s.v.  (Steuding). 

3  Schwegler,  i.  351  foil. ;  Justin,  43.  i.  I  had  long  ago  arrived  at  this 
conclusion,  and  was  glad  to  see  it  sanctioned  by  Wissowa  in  Lex.  s.  v. 
Lupercus. 

*  Aen.  8.  343  :   the   only  reason   given  is  that  the  goat  was  Liber's 
victim. 

*  Arnobius,  2.  23.    See  Mannhardt,  85 ;  Huschke,  Bom.  Jahr,  12. 


MENSIS    FEBRUARIUS  313 

common  idea  that  he  was  Faunus  is  discredited  by  Livy's 
account  and  his  mention  of  Inuus,  and  also  by  the  fact  that 
Faunus  is  not  associated  with  urban  settlements :  and  may 
easily  be  accounted  for  by  the  myth  of  Evander  and  the 
Arcadians,  whose  Pan  Lycaeus  was  of  course  identified  with 
Faunus l,  or  by  the  girding  of  the  Luperci  with  skins,  which 
made  them  resemble  the  popular  conception  of  the  Fauni2. 
Possibly  the  name  was  a  secret ;  for  theie  was  a  tendency  to 
avoid  fixing  a  god's  name  in  ritual,  in  order  to  escape  making 
mistakes,  and  so  offending  him.  '  lure  pontificum  cautum  est 
ne  suis  nominibus  dii  Romani  appellarentur,  ne  exaugurari 
possintV  We  must  also  remember  that  the  Lupercalia  un- 
doubtedly descends  from  the  very  earliest  period  of  the  Roman 
religion,  when  the  individuality  of  deities  was  not  clearly 
conceived,  and  when  their  names  were  unknown,  doubtful,  or 
adjectival  only.  In  fact,  we  need  not  greatly  trouble  ourselves 
about  the  name  of  the  god  :  his  nature  is  deducible  to  some 
extent  from  the  ritual.  The  connexion  with  the  Palatine,  with 
the  wolf,  and  with  fructification,  seems  to  me  to  point  very 
clearly  in  the  direction  of  Mars  and  his  characteristics. 

It  would  be  almost  more  profitable  if  we  could  be  sure  of  the 
sacrificing  priest ;  but  here  again  we  are  in  the  dark.  Ovid 
says,  '  Flamen  ad  haec  prisco  more  Dialis  erat 4 ' ;  but  it  is  im- 
possible that  this  priest  could  have  been  the  sacrificer  (though 
Marquardt  committed  himself  to  this),  for  he  was  expressly 
forbidden  to  touch  either  goat  or  dog5,  which  seem  to  have 
been  excluded  from  the  cult  of  Jupiter.  Even  in  the  case 
of  such  exceptional  piacula-  as  this  no  doubt  was,  we  can  hardly 
venture  without  further  evidence  to  ascribe  the  slaughter  of  the 
sacred  animal  to  the  great  priest  of  the  heavenly  deity  in  whose 
cult  it  was  tabooed.  Plutarch  says  that  the  Luperci  them- 
selves sacrificed 6 ;  and  this  is  more  probable,  and  is  borne  out 

1  Schwegler,  i.  354  foil.  :  the  general  result  is  given  in  Lex.  s. v.  Evander, 
vol.  i.  1395.  Evander  himself— Faunus.  It  is  possible  that  there  may  be 
some  basis  of  truth  in  the  Arcadian  legend :  we  await  further  archaeo- 
logical inquiry. 

3  See  on  Dec.  5  ;  and  Lex.  B.V.  Faunus,  p.  1458. 

3  Serv.  Aen.  2.  351.  The  whole  passage  is  very  interesting.  See  on 
Dec.  21  ;  and  Bouche-Leclercq,  Poniifus,  38  and  49. 

*  Fasti,  a.  282  ;  Marq.  443. 

8  Plut.  Q.  R.  in  ;  Cell.  10.  15;  Arnob.  7.  ai. 

•  Rom.  21 :  quoted  above,  p.  311.    Val.  Max.  1.  c.  seems  also  to  imply  it : 


314  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

by  comparison  with  other  cases  in  which  the  priest  clothes 
himself,  as  the  Luperci  did,  in  the  skin  of  the  victim.  It  does 
not  indeed  seem  certain  that  the  two  youths  who  thus  girt 
themselves  had  also  performed  the  sacrifice  ;  but  they  represent 
the  two  collegia  of  Luperci,  and  lead  the  race  ',  as  Romulus  and 
Remus  did  in  the  explanatory  legend. 

As  regards  the  victims,  there  is  here  at  least  no  doubt  that 
both  goat  and  dog  were  exceptional  animals  in  sacrifice  2,  and 
that  their  use  here  betokens  a piacular  rite  of  unusual  'holiness.' 
Thus  their  offering  is  a  mystic  sacrifice,  and  belongs  to  that 
'  small  class  of  exceptional  rites  in  which  the  victim  was  drawn 
from  some  species  of  animals  that  retained  even  in  modern 
times  their  ancient  repute  of  natural  holiness3.'  It  is  exactly 
in  this  kind  of  sacrifice  that  we  find  such  peculiar  points  of 
ritual  as  meet  us  in  the  Lupercalia.  '  The  victim  is  sacrosanct, 
and  the  peculiar  value  of  the  ceremony  lies  in  the  operation 
performed  on  its  life,  whether  that  life  is  merely  conveyed  to 
the  god  on  the  altar  (i.e.  as  in  burnt-sacrifices)  or  is  also 
applied  to  the  worshippers  by  the  sprinkling  of  the  blood,  or 
some  other  lustral  ceremony4.'  The  writer  might  very  well 
have  been  thinking  of  the  Lupercalia  when  he  wrote  these 
lines.  The  meaning  of  these  rites  was  originally,  as  he  states 
it,  that  the  holiness  of  the  victim  means  kinship  to  the  wor- 
shippers and  their  god,  '  that  all  sacred  relations  and  all  moral 
obligations  depend  on  physical  unity  of  life,  and  that  physical 
unity  of  life  can  be  created  or  reinforced  by  common  participa- 
tion in  living  flesh  and  blood.'  We  may  postpone  consideration 
of  this  view  as  applied  to  the  Lupercalia  till  we  have  examined 
the  remaining  features  of  the  ceremony. 

After  the  sacrifice  was  completed,  Plutarch 5  tells  us  that  the 

'Facto  sacrificio  caesisque  capris,  epularum  hilaritate  ac  vino  largiore 
provecti,  divisa  pastoral!  turba,  cincti  pellibus  immolatarum  hostiarum, 
iocantes  obvios  petiveiunt.' 

1  Even  this  point  is  not  quite  certain  ;  but  see  Hartung,  Eel.  der  Romer, 
ii.  178,  and  Mannhardt,  78. 

2  Ox,  sheep  and  pig  were  the  usual  victims ;  the  dog  was  only  offered 
to  Robigus  (see  on  April  25),  to  the  Lares  Praestites  and  to  Mana  Geneta  ; 
the  goat  only  to  Bacchus  and  Aesculapius,  foreign  deities  (Marq.  172).    The 
goat-skin  of  Juno  Sospita  is  certainly  Greek:  Lex.  s.v.  luno,  595.     The 
goat  was  a  special  Hebrew  piaculum  (^Robertson  Smith,  448  ;  cf.  4531. 

*  Robertson  Smith,  379.  4  Ib.  381. 

'  Bom.    21    ol    ftlv   jjiMffiivg   fM.\aipa    rov   pfr&irvv    Otyydfovffiv,  trfpot   5' 


MENSIS    FEBRUARIUS  315 

foreheads  of  the  two  youths  were  touched  with  the  bloody 
knife  that  had  slain  the  victims,  and  the  stain  was  then  wiped 
off  with  wool  dipped  in  milk,  after  which  the  youths  had  to 
laugh.  This  has  often  been  supposed  to  indicate  an  original 
human  sacrifice  ',  the  he-goats  being  substituted  for  human 
victims,  and  the  death  of  the  latter  symbolized  by  the  smearing 
with  their  blood.  This  explanation  might  be  admissible  if 
this  were  the  only  feature  of  the  ceremony  ;  but  it  is  so  entirely 
out  of  keeping  with  those  that  follow  —  the  wearing  of  the 
skins  and  the  running  —  that  it  is  preferable  to  look  for  another 
before  adopting  it.  At  the  same  time  it  may  be  observed  that 
no  reasonable  hypothesis  can  be  ruled  out  of  court  where  our 
knowledge  of  the  rite  is  so  meagre  and  so  hard  to  bring 
satisfactorily  into  harmony  with  others  occurring  among  other 
peoples  2. 

There  is  a  curious  passage  in  Apollonius  Rhodiuss,  where 
purification  from  a  murder  is  effected  by  smearing  the  hands 
of  the  murderer  with  the  blood  of  a  young  pig,  and  then 
wiping  it  off  «AXou  xurXoto-t  ;  and  the  Scholiast  on  the  lines 
describes  a  somewhat  similar  method  of  purification  which  was 
practised  in  Greece.  This  would  raise  a  presumption  that  the 
youths  were  not  originally  the  victims  at  the  Lupercalia,  but 
rather  the  slayers  ;  and  that  they  had  to  be  purified  from  the 
guilt  of  the  blood  of  the  sacrosanct  victim  *.  When  this  was 
done  they  became  one  with  the  victim  and  the  god  by  the 
girding  on  of  the  skins,  and  were  able  to  communicate  the  new 
life  thus  acquired  in  the  course  of  their  lustratio  of  the  city  by 
means  of  the  strips  of  skin  to  the  women  who  met  them.  This 
explanation  is  open  to  one  or  two  objections  ;  for  example,  it 
hardly  accounts  for  the  laughter  of  the  youths,  unless  we  are 


dirofia.Trovffti'  fvOvs  tpiov  Pt@p€yntvov  ya\anri  irpocr<pe  povrts.     Tf\av  Si  Sfi  rd. 
fffipi'Kia  fjifrd  rfjv  diruftafiv. 

1  So  Schwegler.  I.e.  and  reff.  in  Marq.  443  notes  11-13.  Dion.  Hal.  (i. 
32)  compared  the  human  sacrifice  in  the  cult  of  Zeus  Lycaeus  in  Arcadia. 
See  Farnell,  Cults,  i.  40  foil. 

*  We  ought  to  have  the  whole  history  of  the  Lupercalia  if  we  are  to 
explain  it  rightly  ;    it  is  impossible   to  guess  through  what  stages  and 
changes  it  may  have  passed. 

3  4.  478  (quoted  in  a  valuable  section  (23^  of  Hermann's  Qottesdienstliche 
Alterthiimer  der  Griechen). 

*  For  exampks  of  this  idea  see  under  Feb.  24  (Regifugium)  ;  Robertson 
Smith,  286  ;  Mannhardt,  Myth.  Forsch.  58  foil. 


316  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

to  suppose  that  it  was  an  expression  of  joy  at  their  release  from 
blood-guiltiness l.  And  we  have  indeed  no  direct  evidence  that 
the  youths  were  ever  themselves  the  sacrificers,  though  the 
collateral  evidence  on  this  point,  as  I  have  already  said,  seems 
to  be  fairly  strong2.  Yet  I  cannot  but  think  that  the  true 
significance  of  the  essential  features  of  the  ceremony  is  to  be 
looked  for  somewhere  in  the  direction  thus  indicated. 

There  is,  however,  another  explanation  of  the  application  of 
the  bloody  knife,  the  wiping,  and  the  laughing,  which  Mann- 
hardt  proposed,  not  without  some  modest  hesitation,  in  his 
posthumous  work  s.  In  his  view  these  were  symbolic  or  quasi- 
dramatic  acts,  signifying  death  and  renewed  life.  The  youths 
were  never  actually  killed,  but  they  were  the  figures  in  a  kind 
of  acted  parable.  The  smearing  with  blood  denoted  that  they 
partook  of  the  death  of  the  victim  4 ;  the  wiping  with  milky 
wool  signified  the  revival  to  a  new  life,  for  milk  is  the  source  of 
life.  The  laughing  is  the  outward  sign  of  such  revival :  the  dead 
are  silent,  cannot  laugh  "'.  And  the  meaning  of  all  this  was  the 
death  and  the  revival  of  the  Vegetation-spirit.  I  have  already 
more  than  once  profited  by  Mannhardt's  researches  into  this 
type  of  European  custom,  and  they  are  now  familiar  to  English- 
men in  the  works  of  Mr.  Frazer,  Mr.  Farnell,  and  others. 
Undoubtedly  there  are  many  bits  of  grotesque  custom  which 
can  best  be  explained  if  we  suppose  them  to  mean  the  death  of 
the  Power  of  growth  at  harvest-time,  or  its  resuscitation  in  the 
spring,  perhaps  after  the  death  of  the  powers  of  winter  and 
darkness.  But  whether  the  Lupercalia  is  one  of  these  I  cannot 
be  so  sure.  These  rites  do  not  seem  to  have  any  obvious 
reference  to  crops,  but  rather  to  have  come  down  from  the 

1  It  may  indeed  be  misrepresented  by  Plutarch  (who  is  the  only  writer 
who  mentions  it),  and  may  have  been  originally  an  o\o\vyri.  For  the 
confusion  of  mournful  and  joyful  cries  at  a  sacrifice  see  Robertson 
Smith,  411. 

*  Robertson  Smith  notes  (p.  396)  that  young  men,  or  rather  lads,  occur 
as  sacriflcers  in  Exodus  xxiv.  5. 

3  p.  91  foil. 

4  Mannbardt  is  not  lucid  on  this  point ;  he  was  evidently  in  difficulties 
(PP-  97-99).     He  seems  clear  that  the  application  of  the  blood  produces 
an   identity  between  victim  and  youths  ;   but  in  similar  cases  it  is  not 
through  death  that  victim,  god,  and  priest  become  identical,  but  through 
the  life-giving  virtue  of  the  blood.     The  blood-application  must  surely 
moan  the  acquisition  of  new  life  ;  but  he  makes  it  symbolic  of  death. 

5  Frazer,  G.  B.  ii.  242. 


MENSIS    FEBRUARIUS  317 

pastoral  stage  of  society :  and  it  is  not  in  this  case  the  fields 
which  are  lustrated  by  the  runners,  but  the  urbs  and  its 
women  l.  And  the  earlier  parts  of  the  ritual  bear  the  marks 
of  a  piaculum  so  distinctly  that  it  seems  unnecessary  and 
confusing  to  introduce  into  it  a  different  set  of  ideas. 

There  is  a  similar  divergence  of  opinion  in  explaining  the 
next  feature,  the  wearing  of  the  skins  of  the  victims2. 
Dr.  Mannhardt  believed  that  this  was  one  of  the  innumerable 
instances  in  which,  at  certain  times  of  the  year,  animals  are 
personated  by  human  beings,  e.  g.  at  Christmas,  at  the  beginning 
of  Lent  (Carnival),  and  at  harvest.  These  he  explained  as 
representations  of  the  Vegetation-spirit,  which  was  conceived 
to  be  dead  in  winter,  to  come  to  life  in  spring,  and  at  harvest 
to  die  again,  and  which  was  believed  to  assume  all  kinds  of 
animal  forms.  This  has  been  generally  accepted  as  explaining 
several  curious  rites  both  in  Greece  and  Italy,  e.  g.  that  of  the 
Hirpi  Sorani  at  Soracte  not  far  from  Eome3.  But  it  is 
a  question  whether  it  will  equally  well  explain  the  Luperci 
and  their  goat-skins.  In  this  case  Mannhardt  is  driven  to 
somewhat  far-fetched  hypotheses ;  he  derives  Lupercus  from 
lupus-hircus*  (p.  90),  and  suggests  that  the  two  collegia  repre- 
sented respectively  wolves  and  goats,  according  to  the  view  of 
the  Vegetation-spirit  taken  by  the  two  communities  of  Palatine 
and  Quirinal 5.  But  this  solution,  the  result  of  a  bias  in  favour 
of  his  favourite  Vegetation-spirit,  does  not  strike  us  as  happy, 
and  Dr.  Mannhardt  himself  does  not  seem  well  pleased 
with  it 6. 

It  would  seem  safer  to. take  this  as  one  of  the  many  well- 

1  Mannhardt  seems  to  have  felt  this  difficulty  (p.  86),  and  to  have  tried 
to  overcome  it,  but  without  success. 

*  I  here  omit  the  feasting,  as  it  is  by  no  means  certain  at  what  point  of 
time  it  took  place.  If  the  victims  themselves  were  eaten,  it  would  be 
part  of  the  sacrificial  act  and  would  precede  the  running  ;  but  this  is  not 
common  in  the  case  of  such  piacula.  and  one  victim,  we  must  remember, 
was  a  dog.  It  is  more  likely  that  Val.  Max.  is  here  wrong  (see  above, 
p.  311,  note  6). 

3  See  Mannhnrdt,  Antike  Wold-  und  Feldkulte,  318  foil.,  and  for  other 
examples,  Frazer,  G.  B.  ii.  i  foil.  ;  Preller-Robert,  Oriech.  Myth.  i.  144  (Zeus- 
festival  on  Pelion). 

4  After  Schwegler,  i.  361  ;  rejected  by  Marq.  (439,  note  4). 

5  p.  lor.     The  'wolves'  represent  of  course  the  Palatine  city. 

'  See  his  eminently  modest  and  sensible  remarks  at  the  end  of  his  5th 
section,  p.  113. 


31 8  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

known  piacula  in  which  the  worshipper  wears  the  skin  of 
a  very  holy  victim,  thereby  entering  sacramentally  into  the 
very  nature  of  the  god  to  whom  the  victim  is  sacrificed1. 
Whether  or  no  we  are  to  look  for  the  origin  of  these  practices 
in  a  totemistic  age,  is  a  question  that  cannot  be  discussed 
here ;  and  there  is  no  sign  of  totemism  in  the  Lupercalia 
save  this  one2. 

But  if  this  be  the  right  explanation,  what,  we  may  ask,  was 
meant  by  the  name  Luperci  ?  If  it  meant  wolves,  are  we  not 
rather  thrown  back  on  Mannhardt's  theory  ?  To  this  it  may 
be  answered ;  (i)  that  no  classical  author  suggests  that  the 
runners  were  looked  upon  as  representing  wolves ;  by  the 
common  people  we  are  told  that  they  were  called  creppl\ 
the  meaning  of  which  is  quite  uncertain,  though  it  has  been 
explained  as  =  capti,  and  as  simply  arising  from  the  fact  that 
the  runners  were  clad  in  goat-skins*.  There  is  in  fact  no 
necessary  connexion  at  all  between  the  skins  and  the  name 
Luperci.  If  that  name  originally  meant  wolf-priests,  its 
explanation  is  to  be  found  rather  in  connexion  with  the  wolf 
of  Mars,  and  the  cave  of  the  she-wolf,  than  in  the  skins  of  the 
sacrificed  goats,  which  were  worn  by  only  two  members  of 
the  two  collegia  bearing  the  name. 

We  must  now  turn  our  attention  to  the  last  features  of  the 
festival ;  the  course  taken  by  the  runners  round  the  Palatine 
Hill,  and  the  whipping  of  women  with  the  strips  of  sacred 
skin.  The  two  youths,  having  girded  on  the  skins  (though 
otherwise  naked)  and  also  cut  strips  from  them,  proceeded  to 
run  a  course  which  seems  almost  certainly  to  have  followed 
that  of  the  pomoerium  at  the  foot  of  the  Palatine.  The  starting- 
point  was  the  Lupercal,  or  a  point  near  it,  and  Tacitus 5  has 

1  Robertson   Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  416  foil. ;   Encycl.  Brit.    art. 
'Sacrifice';  and  for  the  Lupercalia,  Academy,  Feb.  n,  1888,  where  a  tote- 
mistic origin  is  suggested. 

2  See  also  Lobeck,  Aglaoph.  pp.  183  6 ;  Lang,  Myth,  Ritual  and  Religion, 
vol.  ii.  177  (cp.   106)  and  reff.,  213  ;  Did.  of  Antiquities,  art.  'Sacrificium,1 
p.  584. 

3  Festus,  p.  57  '  Creppos,  id  est  lupercos,  dicebant  a  crepitu  pellicu- 
larum,'  &c. 

*  Preller,  i.  389.     On  this  Jordan  has  added  no  comment. 

5  Ann.  ia.  24  ;  Jordan,  Topogr.  i.  163  foil.,  has  examined  Tacitus's  account 
•with  great  care.  Tacitus  starts  the  pomoerium  from  the  Forum  boarium, 
while  Dkmysius  and  Plutarch  start  the  runners  from  the  Lupercal  j  but 
the  two  are  close  together. 


MENSIS    FEBRUARIUS  319 

described  the  course  of  the  pomoerium  as  far  as  the  '  sacellum 
Larum  forumque  Romanum  ' :  in  his  day  it  was  marked  out  by 
stones  ('  cippi ').  We  are  concerned  with  it  here  only  so  far  as 
it  affects  the  question  whether  the  running  was  a  lustratio  of 
the  Palatine  city.  The  last  points  mentioned  by  Tacitus,  the 
'sacellum  Larum,  forumque  Romanum1,'  show  plainly  that 
the  course  was  round  the  Pal.itine  from  south-west  to  north- 
east, but  they  do  not  bring  the  runners  back  to  the  point  from 
which  they  started,  and  complete  the  circle ".  Varro  is,  however, 
quite  clear  that  the  running  was  a  lustratio :  '  Lupercis  nudis 
lustratur  antiquum  oppidum  Palatinum  gregibus  humanis 
cinctum.'  The  passage  is  obscure,  and  attempts  have  been 
made  to  amend  it ;  but  there  can  be  no  doubt  that  it  points  to 
a  religious  ceremony 3. 

This  lustratio,  then,  as  we  may  safely  call  it,  was  at  the  same 
time  a  beating  of  the  bounds  and  a  rite  of  purification  and 
fertilization.  Just  as  the  peeled  wands  of  our  Oxford  bound- 
beaters  on  Ascension  Day*  may  perhaps  have  originally  had 
a  use  parallel  to  that  of  the  febma,  so  the  parish  boundaries 
correspond  to  the  Roman  pomoerium.  We  have  already  had 
examples  of  processional  bound-beating  in  the  rites  of  the 
Argei  and  the  Ambarvalia ;  in  all  there  is  the  same  double 
object— tho  combination  of  a  religious  with  a  juristic  act; 
but  the  Lupercalia  stands  alone  in  the  quaintness  of  its  ritual, 
and  may  probably  be  the  oldest  of  all. 

Before  we  go  on  to  the  februa  and  their  use,  mention  must 
be  made  of  a  difficulty  in  regard  to  the  duality  of  the  collegia 
of  Luperci  and  the  runners.  These  have  been  supposed  to 
have  originated  from  two  gentile  priesthoods  of  the  Fabii  and 


1  The   reading    is   not    quite   certain ;    the   MSS.    have   ( Larum    de 
forumque.' 

2  The  Sacellum  Larum  has  generally  been  supposed  to   be  that   in 
summit  sacra  via  (Jordan,  op.  cit.  ii.  269).     Kit-port  and  Huelsen  make 
it  the  sacellum  or  ara  Larum  praestitum  at  the  head  of  the  Vicus  Tuscus. 

3  L.  L.  6.  34.      Mommsen  proposed  'a  regibus  Romanis  moeuibus  cine- 
turn.'    But  it  is  safer  to  keep  to  the  MS.  reading  and  make  the  best  of  it. 
Jordan  sees  in  the  words  a  'scurrilous '  allusion  to  the  luperci. 

*  For  modern  practices  of  the  kind  in  England  see  Brand,  Popular 
Antiquities,  ch.  36  ;  and  for  Oxford,  p.  209.  As  Brand  puts  it,  the  beaters 
(i.e.  ministers,  churchwardens,  &c.),  'beg  a  blessing  on  the  fruits  of  the  earth, 
and  preserve  the  rights  and  boundaries  of  their  parish.'  The  analogy  with 
the  old  Italian  processions  is  very  close. 


320  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

Quinctii * ;  and  as  we  know  that  the  gens  Fabia  had  a  cult  on 
the  Quirinal z,  it  is  conjectured  that  the  Luperci  Fabiani 
represented  the  Sabine  city,  and  the  Quinctiales  the  Romans 
of  the  Palatine,  just  as  we  also  find  two  collegia  of  Salii,  viz. 
Palatini  and  Collini 3.  If,  however,  the  running  of  the  Luperci 
was  really  a  lustratio  of  the  Palatine,  we  must  suppose  that  the 
lustratio  of  the  Quirinal  city  by  its  own  Luperci  was  given  up 
and  merged  in  that  of  the  older  settlement 4 ;  and  such  an 
abandonment  of  a  local  rite  would  be  most  surprising  in 
Roman  antiquity.  It  is  true  that  there  is  no  other  explanation 
of  the  existence  of  the  two  guilds  ;  but  we  may  hesitate  to 
accept  this  one,  if  we  have  to  pay  for  it  by  so  bold  a 
hypothesis 5. 

The  last  point  to  be  noticed,  the  whipping  with  the  strips 
of  skin6,  might  have  attracted  little  notice  as  a  relic  of 
antiquity  in  the  late  Republic  but  for  the  famous  incident  in 
the  life  of  Caesar,  when  Antonius  was  one  of  the  runners.  We 
have  it  on  excellent  evidence,  not  only  that  the  runners  struck 
women  who  met  them  with  the  strips,  but  that  they  did  so 
in  order  to  produce  fertility7.  Such  an  explanation  of  the 
object  would  hardly  have  been  invented,  and  it  tallies  closely 
with  some  at  least  of  a  great  number  of  practices  of  the  kind, 
which  have  teen  investigated  by  Mannhardt8.  His  parallels 

1  So  C.  I.  L.  6.  1933  '  lupercus  Quinctialis  vetus.'  See  Mommsen,  Forsch. 
i.  117.  Unger,  however  (p.  56  toll.),  argues  for  the  form  Quintilianus, 
as  it  appears  in  Fest.  87,  and  Ovid,  Fasti,  2.  378 ;  and  also  denies  that  the 
names  indicate  gentile  priesthoods.  But  his  arguments  depend  on  a 
doubtful  etymology.  See  Marq.  440,  note. 

a  Liv.  5.  46.  Mommsen  connects  the  name  Kaeso,  which  is  found 
in  both  gentes,  with  the  cutting  of  the  strips  at  the  Lupercalia.  The 
Fabii  in  Ovid's  story  (361  foil.)  are  led  by  Remus,  and  the  Quintilii  by 
Romulus. 

3  See  under  March  i,  p.  41. 

4  So  Mannhardt,  101,  who  tries  to  explain  it  as  we  have  seen. 

*  Gilbert,  Gesch.  wnd  Topogr,  i.  86,  note,  tries  to  make  out  that  the  Fabii 
belonged  to  the  Palatine  proper ;  and  the  other  guild,  not  to  the  Quirinal, 
but  to  the  Cermalus,  and  thus  also  to  account  for  the  fact  that  in  Ovid's 
story  the  Fabii  come  first  to  the  feast ;  but  all  this  is  pure  guesswork. 

6  Plut.  Rom.  21  and  Goes.  6r  ;  Ovid,  Fasti,  a.  425  foil. ;  Paul.  57  ;  Liv. 
fragm.  12  (Madvig) ;  Serv.  Aen.  8.  343.     All  these  passages  make  it  clear 
that  the  object  was  to  procure  fertility  in  women.     Nic.  Damasc.,  Vita 
Caesaris  21,  does  not  specify  women  (cp.  Dion.  Hal.  i.  8o\ 

7  Liv.  1.  c.  and  Serv.  1.  c.  are  explicit  on  this  point. 

*  Op.  cit.  113  foil,  and  his  Baumkutttis,  p.  251  foil,  (see  alsoFrazer,  G.  B.  ii. 
214  and  232  foil.).   An  example  of  the  same  kind  of  practice  in  India  is  in 


MENSIS    FEBRUAEIUS  321 

nre  not  indeed  all  either  complete  or  convincing ;  but  the 
collection  is  valuable  for  many  purposes,  and  the  general 
result  is  to  show  that  whipping  certain  parts  of  the  body  with 
some  instrument  supposed  to  possess  magic  power  is  efficacious 
in  driving  away  the  powers  of  evil  that  interfere  with  fertiliza- 
tion. Whether  the  thing  beaten  be  man,  woman,  image,  or 
human  or  animal  representative  of  the  Vegetation-spirit,  the 
object  is  always  more  or  less  directly  to  quicken  or  restore 
the  natural  powers  of  reproduction  ;  the  notion  being  that  the 
hostile  or  hindering  spirit  was  thus  driven  out,  or  that 
the  beating  actually  woke  up  and  energized  the  power.  The 
latter  is  perhaps  a  later  idea,  rationalized  from  the  earlier. 
In  any  case  the  thongs,  as  part  of  the  sacrosaact  victim,  were 
supposed  to  possess  a  special  magical  power1  ;  and  the  word 
applied  to  them,  februa,  though  not  meaning  strictly  instru- 
ments of  purification  in  our  sense  of  the  word,  may  be  translated 
cathartic  objects,  since  they  had  power  to  free  from  hostile 
influences  and  quicken  natural  forces.  And  those  who  wielded 
them  were  regarded  in  some  at  least  as  priests  or  magicians  ; 
they  were  naked  but  for  the  goat-skins,  and  probably  had 
wreaths  on  their  heads2.  Their  wild  and  lascivious  behaviour 
as  they  ran  is  paralleled  in  many  ceremonies  of  the  kind  3. 

It  is  singular  that  a  festival  of  a  character  so  rude  and  rustic 
should  have  lived  on  in  the  great  city  for  centuries  after  it  had 
become  cosmopolitan  and  even  Christian.  This  is  one  of  the 
many  results  due  to  the  religious  enterprise  of  Augustus,  who 
rebuilt  the  decayed  Lupercal,  and  set  the  feast  on  a  new 
footing 4.  It  continued  to  exist  down  to  the  year  494  A.  D. 
when  the  Pope,  Gelasius  I,  changed  the  day  (Feb.  1 5)  to  that 
of  the  Purification  of  the  Virgin  Mary  ft. 

Crooke,  Religion  and  Folklore,  vol.  i.  p.  100.  See  under  May  i  (Bona  Dea), 
p.  104. 

1  They  were  also  called  '  amiculum  lunonis'  (Fest.  85  :  cp.  Ovid,  Fasti,  a. 
427  foil.) ;  Juno  here,  as  so  often,  representing  the  female  principle.  Farnell 
(Cults,  i.  100)  aptly  compares  with  this  the  Athenian  custom  of  carrying 
Athena's  aegis  round  Athens,  and  taking  it  into  the  houses  of  married 
women. 

*  Lactantius,  Inst.  i.  ai.  45,  describes  them  as  'nudi,  uncti,  coronati, 
personati,  aut  luto  obliti  currant';  but  we  have  no  certain  confirmation 
from  earlier  sources  except  as  to  the  nakedness  (Ovid,  Fasti,  2.  267). 

3  '  locantes  obvios  petiverunt'  (Val.   Max.).    Mannhardt,  MyJi.  Forsch. 
140  foil. 

4  Mon.  Ancyr.  iv.  a  ;  Marq.  446.        s  Baronius,  Annol.  Eccles.  viii.  60  foil. 


322  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 


xin  KAL.  MART.  (Feb.   17).     M>. 
QUIR~LINALIA].     (CAEB.  MAFF.  FABN.  PHILOC.) 

QUIRING  IN  COLLE.       (FARN.  CAEB.) 

How  the  festival  of  Quirinus  came  to  be  placed  at  this  time 
I  cannot  explain :  we  know  nothing  of  it,  and  cannot  assume 
that  it  was  of  an  expiatory  character,  like  the  Lupercalia 
preceding  it,  and  the  Feralia  following.  Of  the  temple  'in 
colle'  we  also  know  nothing1  that  can  help  us.  We  have 
already  learnt  that  this  day  was  called  '  stultorum  feriae,'  and 
why  ;  but  the  conjunction  of  the  last  day  of  the  sacra  of  the 
curiae  with  those  of  Quirinus  is  probably  accidental ;  we 
cannot  safely  assume  any  connexion  through  the  word  '  curia. ' 
The  name  Quirinalia  was  familiar  enough 2 ;  but  it  may  be  that 
it  only  survived  through  the  stultorum  feriae. 

The  Roman  of  the  later  Republic  identified  Quirinus  with 
Romulus ;  Virgil,  e.g.  in  the  first  Aeneid  (2 9 2) speaks  of  '  Remo 
cum  fratre  Quirinus3.'  We  have  no  clue  to  the  origin  of  this 
identification.  It  may  have  been  suggested  by  the  use  of  the 
name  Quirites ;  but  neither  do  we  know  when  or  why  that 
name  came  to  signify  the  Roman  people  in  their  civil  capacity, 
and  the  etymology  of  these  words  and  their  relation  to  each 
other  still  entirely  baffles  research 4. 

There  is,  however,  a  general  agreement  that  Quirinus  was 
another  form  of  Mars,  having  his  abode  on  the  hill  which  still 
goes  by  his  name.  That  Mars  and  Quirinus  were  ever  the 
same  deities  was  indeed  denied  by  so  acute  an  inquirer  as 
Ambrosch 5 ;  but  he  denied  it  partly  on  the  ground  that 
no  trace  of  the  worship  of  Mars  had  been  found  on  the 
Quirinal ;  and  since  his  time  two  inscriptions  have  been 
found  there  on  the  same  spot,  one  at  least  of  great  antiquity, 

1  Aust,  de  Aedibus  sacns,  p.  1 1 ;  Jordan,  Eph.  Epigr.  iii.  238. 

*  e.  g.  Cic.  ad  Quint.  Frair.  a.  3.  a. 

*  See  other  references  in  Preller,  i.  374,  note.     Ambrosch  (Sttulien,  169, 
note  50)  observes  that  Cicero  (de  Off.  3.  10)  writes  with  a  trace  of  scepticism : 
'  Romulus  fratre  interempto  sine  controversia  peccavit,  pace  vel  Quirini 
vel  Romuli  dixerim.' 

*  See  Jordan  on  Preller,  i.  369.    The  article  'Quirinus'  in  Myth.  Ltx. 
has  not  yet  appeared  as  I  write. 

*  Studien,  169. 


MENSIS    FEBKUAKIUS  323 

•which  indicate  votive  offerings  to  Mars  and  Quirinus  respec- 
tively1. From  these  Mommsen  concludes  that  Quirinus  was 
at  one  time  worshipped  there  under  the  name  of  Mars  ; 
which  involves  also  the  converse,  that  Mars  was  once  wor- 
shipped under  the  adjectival  cult-title  Quirinus.  Unluckily 
Mars  Quirinus  is  a  combination  as  yet  undiscovered  ;  and 
as  the  existence  of  a  patrician  Flamen  Quirinalis  distinct 
from  the  Flamen  Martialis  points  at  least  to  a  very  early 
differentiation  of  the  two,  it  may  be  safer  to  think  of  the  two, 
not  as  identical  deities,  but  rather  as  equivalent  cult-expressions 
of  the  same  religious  conception  in  two  closely  allied  com- 
munities 2. 

That  the  Quirinal  was  the  seat  of  the  cult  of  Quirinus  admits 
of  no  doubt  ;  and  the  name  of  the  hill,  which  we  are  told  was 
originally  Agonus  or  Agonalis  *,  arose  no  doubt  from  the  cult  4. 
Here  were  probably  two  temples  of  the  god,  the  one  dating 
from  B.  c.  293,  and  having  June  29  as  its  day  of  dedication  ; 
the  other  of  unknown  date,  which  celebrated  its  birthday  on 
the  Quirinalia8.  A  'sacellum  Quirini  in  colle'  is  also  men- 
tioned at  the  time  of  the  Gallic  invasion  6  (this  was  perhaps  the 
predecessor  of  the  temple  of  June  29),  and  also  the  house  of  the 
Flamen  Quirinaiis  which  adjoined  it.  To  the  Quirinal  also 
belong  the  Salii  Agonenses,  Collini,  or  Quirinales,  who  cor- 
respond to  the  Salii  of  the  Palatine  and  of  Mars  7.  And  here, 

1  C.  I.  L.  i.  4i=vi.  475  and  i.  630  =  vi.  565.  The  older  one  is  attributed 
by  Mommsen  to  the  consul  P.  Cornelius  of  B.  c.  236  :  '  P.  Corn^elios]  L.  f. 
coso[l]  probfavit]  Mar^te  sacrom].'  The  other,  '  Quirino  L.  Aimilius 
L.  f.  praitor,'  must  be  set  down  to  an  Aemilius  praetor  in  204,  191,  or  190. 
The  inference  is  that  Mars  became  known  as  Quirinus  in  that  spot  at  the 
end  of  the  third  century  B  c.  It  is  worth  noting  that  the  legendary  smith, 
Mamurius,  had  a  statue  on  the  Quirinal  (Jord.  Top.  ii.  125). 

*  This  is  much  what  Dion.  Hal.  2.  48  says  was  one  view  held  in  his 
time  :  OVK  Ixovras  tlirtiv  ri>  die  pt  fits  tin  'Aprjs  (arlv  tire  trtpos  rts  o/xoias"'Ap« 


3  See  on  Jan.  9.     Fest.  254. 

*  Gilbert,  i.  283,  points  out  that  in  the  Argean  itinerary  (Jord.  Top. 
ii.  237  foil.)  one  of  tlie  divisions  of  the  Quirinal  bears  the  name,  and  infers  the 
gradual  spread  of  the  cult  of  Quirinus  over  the  whole  hill  ;  but  he  insists 
that  it  was  introduced  from  the  Palatine.     The  general  result  of  his  wild 
but  ingenious  combinations  is  to  infer  a  religious  conquest  of  the  Quirinal 
from  the  Palatine. 

5  Aust,  op.  cit.  pp.  ii  and  33.     Mommsen,  C.  /.  L.  i.  310,  takes  the  one 
of  unknown  date  as  the  older. 

*  Aust,  op.  cit.  51,  where  for  Liv.  4.  21  read  Liv.  5.  40. 
7  Preller,  i.  356. 

Y  2 


324  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

lastly,  seems  to  belong  the  mysterious  Flora  or  Horta  Quirini, 
whose  temple,  according  to  Plutarch l,  was  '  formerly '  always 
open.  About  the  cult  of  Quirinus  on  his  hill  we  know,  however, 
nothing,  except  that  there  were  two  myrtles  growing  in  front 
of  his  temple,  one  called  the  patrician  and  the  other  the 
plebeian 2,  and  to  which  a  curious  story  is  attached.  Preller 3 
noted  that  these  correspond  to  the  two  laurels  in  the  sacrarium 
JIartis  in  the  Kegia,  and  conjectured  that  each  pair  symbolized 
the  union  of  the  state  in  the  cults  of  the  two  communities. 

Of  the  duties  of  the  Flamen  Quirinalis  we  have  already  seen 
something 4 :  unluckily  they  throw  little  or  no  new  light  on  the 
cult  of  Quirinus.  He  was  concerned  in  the  worship  of  Robigus, 
of  Consus,  and  of  Acca  Larentia,  all  of  them  ancient  cults  of 
agricultural  Kome  ;  and  he  seems  to  have  been  in  close  con- 
nexion with  the  Vestal  Virgins 8.  These  are  just  such  duties 
us  we  might  have  expected  would  fall  to  the  Flamen  of  Mars  j 
and  probably  the  two  cults  were  much  alike  in  character. 


vii  KAL.  MART.  (FEB.  23.)    JP. 
TER[MINALIAj.     (CAEK.  MAFF.  KUST.  PHILOO.  SILV.) 

Was  there  any  connexion  between  the  Terminalia  and  the 
end  of  the  year  ?  The  Roman  scholars  thought  so ;  Varro G 
writes,  '  Terminalia  quod  is  dies  anni  extremus  constitutus ; 
duodecimus  enim  fuit  Februarius,  et  quum  intercalatur,  in- 
feriores  quinque  dies  duodecimo  demuntur  mense.'  So  Ovid, 

Tu  quoque  sacrorum,  Termine,  finis  eras. 

But  Terminus  is  the  god  of  the  boundaries  of  land,  and  has 
nothing  to  do  with  time ;  and  the  Terminalia  is  not  the  last 
festival  of  the  year  in  the  oldest  calendars.  The  Romans  must 
have  been  misled  by  the  coincidence  of  the  day  of  Terminus 
with  the  last  day  before  intercalation.  The  position  in  the 

1  Q.  B.  46  ;  Ennius  ap.  Nonium  120 ;  Gell.  13.  23. 

*  Plin.  H.  N.  15.  120.  3   i.  373. 

4  See  under  April  25,  Aug.  21,  Dec.  23.    Marq.  335  ;  Schwegler,  i.  334. 

5  Liv.  5.  40,  7  and  8. 

•  L.  L.  6.  13.    According  to  Macrob.  (i.  13.  15)  the  five  last  days  of 
February  were  added  after  the  intercalation,  in  older  that  March  might 
lollow  on  Feb.,  and  not  on  the  intercalated  days. 


MENSIS    FEBRUARIUS  325 

year  of  the  rites  to  be  described  seems  parallel  to  that  of 
the  Compitalia  and  Paganalia,  which  were  concerned  with 
matters  of  common  interest  to  a  society  of  farmers:  and  we 
may  remember  that  Pliny l  said  of  the  Fornacalia  that  it 
was  '  farris  torrendi  feriae  et  aeque  religiosae  terminis  agrorum.' 

The  ritual  of  the  Terminalia  in  the  country  districts  is 
described  by  Ovid  *.  The  two  landowners  garlanded  each  his 
side  of  the  boundary-stone,  and  all  offerings  were  double 3.  An 
altar  is  made ;  and  fire  is  carried  from  the  hearth  by  the 
farmer's  wife,  while  the  old  man  cuts  up  sticks  and  builds 
them  in  a  framework  of  stout  stakes.  Then  with  dry  bark  the 
fire  is  kindled  ;  from  a  basket,  held  ready  by  a  boy  4,  the  little 
daughter  of  the  family  thrice  shakes  the  fruits  of  the  earth  into 
the  fire,  and  offers  cakes  of  honey.  Others  stand  by  with 
wine ;  and  the  neighbours  (or  dependants)  look  on  in  silence 
and  clothed  in  white.  A  lamb  is  slain,  and  a  sucking-pig, 
and  the  boundary- stone  sprinkled  with  their  blood  ;  and  the 
ceremony  ends  with  a  feast  and  songs  in  praise  of  holy 
Terminus. 

This  rite  was,  no  doubt,  practically  a  yearly  renewal  of  that 
by  which  the  stone  was  originally  fixed  in  its  place.  The  latter 
is  described  by  the  gromatic  writer  Siculus  Flaccus5.  Fruits 
of  the  earth,  and  the  bones,  ashes,  and  blood  of  a  victim  which 
had  been  offered  were  put  into  a  hole  by  the  two  (or  three) 
owners  whose  land  converged  at  the  point,  and  the  stone  was 
rammed  down  on  the  top  and  carefully  fixed.  The  reason 
given  for  this  was  of  course  that  the  stone  might  be  identified 
in  the  future,  e.  g.  by  an  arbiter,  if  one  should  be  called  in  * ; 
but  it  also  reminds  us  of  the  practice  of  burying  the  remains 

1  H.  N.  18.  8.     See  above,  p.  304.  *  Fasti,  a.  643  foil. 

Te  duo  diversa  domini  pro  parte  coronant, 

Binaque  serta  tibi  binaque  liba  ferunt. 

*  This  must   be  a   son   of  the  family.     We   have,  therefore,  in   this 
charming  picture  the  predecessors  of  the  Rex,  the  Regina  sacrorum,  the 
namines,  and  the  Vestal  Virgins. 

Stat  puer  et  manibus  lata  canistra  tenet. 
Inde  ubi  ter  fruges  medios  immisit  in  ignes, 

Porrigit  incisos  filia  parva  favos. 

De-Marchi,  p.  231,  gives  a  cut  of  a  painting  at  Hereulaneum  which  may 
represent  a  scene  of  this  kind. 

*  Gromatici  veteres,  i.  141.     See  Rudorff  in  vol.  ii.  236  for  an  interesting 
discussion  of  the  religio  terminoruin  and  its  ethical  and  legal  results. 

*  Rudorff,  1.  c.  237. 


326  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

of  a  victim1,  and  the  use  of  the  blood  shows  the  extreme 
sanctity  of  the  operation. 

That  the  stone  was  regarded  as  the  dwelling-place  of  a  numen 
is  proved  by  the  fact  that  it  was  sprinkled  with  blood  and  gar- 
landed 2 ;  and  the  development  of  a  god  Terminus  is  perfectly 
in  keeping  with  Roman  religious  ideas.  It  is  more  difficult  to 
determine  what  was  the  relation  of  this  Terminus  to  the  great 
Jupiter  who  was  so  intimately  associated,  as  we  have  seen ", 
with  the  idea  of  keeping  faith  with  your  neighbours.  Was  he 
the  numen  originally  thought  to  occupy  the  stone,  and  is  the 
name  Terminus,  as  marking  a  distinct  deity,  a  later  growth? 
I  am  disposed  to  think  that  this  was  so  ;  for  we  saw  that  there 
is  some  reason  to  believe  that  Jupiter  did  not  disdain  to 
dwell  in  objects  such  as  trees  and  stones,  and  there  is  no  need 
to  look  to  Greece  for  the  origin  of  his  connexion  with  boundaries4. 
But  Jupiter  and  Terminus  remained  on  the  whole  distinct ;  and 
a  Jupiter  Terminus  or  Terminalis  is  first  found  on  the  coins  of 
Varro  the  great  scholar,  probably  in  B.  c.  76  5. 

The  close  connexion  of  the  two  is  seen  in  the  legend  that 
when  Jupiter  was  to  be  introduced  into  the  great  Capitoline 
temple,  from  the  Capitolium  vetus  on  the  Quirinal,  all  the  gods 
made  way  for  him  but  Terminus 6 : 

Quid  nova  cum  fierent  Capitolia  ?  nempe  deorum 
Cuncta  lovi  cessit  turba,  locumque  dedit. 

Terminus,  ut  veteres  memorant,  inventus  in  aede 
Kestitit,  et  magno  cum  love  templa  tenet. 

This,  as  Preller  truly  observes,  is  only  a  poetical  way  of 
expressing  his  stubbornness,  and  his  close  relation  to  Jupiter, 
with  whom  he  continued  to  share  the  great  temple.  It  seems 
certain  that  there  was  in  that  temple  a  stone  supposed  to  be 


1  Jevons,  Introduction  to  the  History  of  Religion,  149. 

*  Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  187  folL 

3  See  under  September,  p.  229  foil.     I  may  here  notice  the  very  curious 
'  oraculum  '  in  Grom.  Vet.  p.  350  (ex  libris  Vegoiae)  which  connects  Jupiter 
with  the  introduction  of  termini  in  Etruria. 

4  Ztiu  optos  he  is  called  by  Dion.  Hal.  (a.  74),  where  the  cult  is  ascribed 
to  Numa.     Farnell,  Cults  of  the  Greek  States,  i.  159. 

*  Aust,  in  Myth.  Lex.  s.  v.  luppiter,  668. 

"  Fasti,  2.  667  ;  Liv.  r.  55  ;  Serv.  Aen.  g.  448.  Augustine,  C.  D.  4.  23,  adds 
Mars,  and  Dion.  Hal.  3.  69  luventus  to  Terminus,  who  could  not  be 
'  exauguratus.' 


MENSIS    FEBRUARIUS  327 

that  of  Terminus,  over  which  there  was  a  hole  in  the  roof '  : 
for  all  sacrifice  to  Terminus  must  be  made  in  the  open  air. 

Nunc  quoque,  se  supra  ne  quid  nisi  sideia  cernat, 
Exiguum  templi  tecta  foramen  habent2. 

Precisely  the  same  feature  is  found  in  the  cult  of  Semo 
Sancus  or  Dius  Fidius3,  who  was  concerned  with  oaths  and 
treaties  ;  and  of  Hercules  we  are  told  that  the  oath  taken 
in  his  name  must  be  taken  out  of  doors4. 

Of  the  stone  itself  we  know  nothing.  It  is  open  to  us  to 
guess  that  it  was  originally  a  boundary-stone,  perhaps  between 
the  ager  of  the  Palatine  city  and  that  of  the  Quirinal.  The 
mons  Capitolinus  seems  to  have  been  neutral  ground,  as  we 
may  guess  by  the  tradition  of  the  asylum  there ;  it  was 
outside  the  pomoerium,  and  in  the  early  Republic  was  the 
property  of  the  priestly  collegia8.  It  was,  therefore,  a  very 
appropriate  place  for  a  terminus  between  two  communities6. 

From  Ovid  (679  foil.)  we  gather  that  there  was  a  terminus- 
stone  at  the  sixth  milestone  on  the  via  Laurentina,  at  which 
public  sacrifices  were  made,  perhaps  on  the  day  of  the  Termi- 
nalia:  this  was  probably  at  one  time  the  limit  of  the  ager 
Romanus  in  that  direction. 


vi   KAL.  MART.  (FEB.  24).     N. 
REGrIF[UGIUM].    (CAER.  MAFF.  PHILOC.)   REGIFUGIUM,  CUM 

TARQUINIUS  SUPERBU8  FERTUR  AB  URBE  EXPULSUS.   (SILV.) 

This  note  of  Silvius  is  based  on  a  very  old  and  natural 
misapprehension.  Ovid 7,  and  probably  most  Romans,  believed 

1  Serv.  Aen.  9.  448  '  Unde  in  CHpitolio  prona  pars  tecti  patet,  quae 
lapidem  ipsum  Termini  spectat.'  This  is  the  '  Capitoli  immobile  saxum  ' 
of  Virgil  ;  see  above,  p.  230. 

*  Ovid,  1.  c.  671.  *  See  above,  p.  140.    Varro,  L.  L.  5.  66. 

4  Plut.  Q.  R.  28.  5  Ambrosch,  Studien,  199  foil. 

'  It  would  exactly  correspond  to  the  spot  of  sacred  ground  on  which 
the  terminus-stone  stood  between  two  properties  (Rudorff,  1.  c.).  In  the 
latter  case,  it  is  worth  noting,  the  sacrifices  and  sacrificers  are  doubles, 
as  with  the  Salii,  Luperci,  &c.,  of  the  two  Roman  settlements.  Mr.  Granger 
(Worship  of  Vie  Romans,  163)  suggests  that  this  stone  was  'a  relic  from  the 
original  dwellers  by  the  Tiber,'  i.e.  pro-Roman.  But  the  question  is,  How 
did  the  Romans  come  to  associate  it  with  Terminus  ? 

1  Fasti,  2.  685  foil.  He  is  probably  following  Varro  and  common  opinion, 
which  latter  Verrius  refers  to  (Paul.  279)  '  Regifugium  sacrum  dicebant, 


328  THE    KOMAN    FESTIVALS 

that  the  expulsion  of  Tarquin  was  commemorated  on  this  day. 
There  is,  however,  strong  indirect  evidence  to  show  that  the 
'flight  of  the  king'  on  Feb.  24  was  something  very  different. 

1.  We  have  already  had  a  'flight  of  the  people  '  (Poplifugia) 
on  July  5  ;  and  we  saw  that  this  was  probably  a  purificatory 
rite  of  which  the  meaning  had  been  lost — the  sacrifice  perhaps 
of  a  sacred  animal  followed   by  the  flight   of  the  crowd  as 
from  a  murder.     It  seems  impossible,  at  any  rate  unwise,  to 
separate  Poplifugia  and  Regifugium  in  general  meaning,  for 
there  is  no  other  parallel   to  them   in  the   calendar.     Both 
were  explained  historically  by  the  Eomans,  because  in  both  the 
obscure  (and  perhaps  obsolete)  religious  rite  was  inexplicable 
otherwise  ;  and  we  must  also  endeavour  to  treat  both  on  the 
same  principle. 

2.  It  seems  pretty  clear  that  Verrius  Flaccus  did  not  believe 
in  the  historical  explanation  of  the  Kegifugium.     In  Festus, 
page  278,  we  find  a   mutilated  gloss  which  evidently  refers 
to  this  day,  and  is  thus  completed  by  Mommsen  l  : — 

[Eegifugium  notatur  in  fastis  dies  a.d.]  vi  Jcal.  [Mart,  qui 
creditor  sic  dict]us  quid  [eo  die  Tarquinius  rex  fugerit  ex  urbe]. 
Quod  fal[sum  est ;  nam  e  castris  in  exilium  abisse  eum  r]ettu\e- 
runt  annales.  Rectius  explicabit  qui  regem  e]t  Salios 2  [hoc  die  .  .  . 
facere  sacri\ficiwn  in  [comitio  eoque  perfecto  ilium  incle  fugere 
n]overit.  .  . 

It  may  be  said  that  this  is  all  guesswork,  and  no  evidence  ; 
but  it  is  borne  out  by  the  following  passage  in  Plutarch's  sixty- 
third  Roman  question : 

"Ea-Tt  yovv  TIS  tv  dyopa  6v<ria  Trpos  ra  \fyofjifvm  KOJLHJT/W  irdrptos,  YJV 
6vcras  6  ftacri\(vs  Kara  ra^or  anticri  (ptvyw  e£  dyopdt. 

Whence  Plutarch  drew  this  statement  we  cannot  tell.  He 
does  not  give  the  day  on  which  the  sacrifice  and  flight  took 

quo  die  rex  Tarquinius  fugerit  e  Koma.'  The  word  dicebant  seems  to  show 
that  this  was  not  Verrius'  own  opinion. 

1  C.  I.  L.  i.  289.    This  gloss  is  no  doubt  the  equivalent  in  Festus  to  that 
of  Paulus  just  quoted  ;  but  the  leading  word  Kegifugium  is  lost.     I  have 
only  quoted  so  much  as  is  needed  for  our  purpose.     For  other  completions 
of  the  gloss  see  Miiller,  Festus,  1.  c.,  and  Huschke,  Rom.  Jahr,  p.  166. 

2  If  this  gloss  really  refers  to  Feb.  24,  the  presence  of  the  Salii  is  diffi- 
cult to  account  for,  as  their  period  of  activity  begins  in  March.    Frazer  in 
an  interesting  note  (G.  B.  ii.  210")  suggests  that  the  use  of  the  Salii  was  to 
drive  away  evil  demons  ;  if  the  Regifugium  was  a  solemn  piaculum,  and 
the  victim  a  scapegoat,  this  explanation  might  serve  for  Feb.  24. 


MENSIS    FEBRUARIUS  329 

place ;  and  Huschke l  has  denied  that  he  refers  to  the 
Eegifugium  at  all.  He  believes  that  Plutarch  is  thinking 
of  the  days  marked  Q.  E.  C.  F.  (March  24  and  May  24),  on 
which  Varro  says,  or  seems  to  say,  that  the  Eex  sacrorum 
sacrificed  in  the  Comitium 2 ;  and  this  may  have  been  so,  for 
the  note  in  the  Fasti  Praenestini  on  March  24  shows  that 
there  was  a  popular  misinterpretation  of  Q.  E.  C.  F,  which 
took  the  letters  to  mean,  '  quod  eo  die  ex  cotnitio  fugerit  rex.' 
In  this  confusion  we  can  but  appeal  to  the  word  Eegifugium, 
which  is  attached  to  Feb.  24  only.  Taking  this  together  with 
Plutarch's  statement,  and  remembering  the  great  improbability 
of  the  historical  explanation  being  the  true  one,  we  are  justified 
in  accepting  Mommsen's  completion  of  the  passage  in  Festus, 
and  in  concluding  that  there  was  really  on  Feb.  24  a  flight 
of  the  Eex  after  a  sacrifice. 

And  this  view  is  strengthened  by  the  frequent  occurrence  of 
sacerdotal  flights  in  ancient  and  primitive  religions.  These 
were  first  collected  by  Lobeck3,  and  have  of  late  been 
treated  of  and  variously  explained  by  Mannhardt,  Frazer,  and 
Eobertson  Smith 4.  The  best  known  examples  are  those  of  the 
Bouphonia  ('ox  murder')  at  Athens,  in  which  every  feature 
shows  that  the  slain  ox  was  regarded,  '  not  merely  as  a  victim 
offered  to  a  god,  but  in  itself  a  sacred  creature,  the  slaughter  of 
which  was  sacrilege  or  murder'5;  and  the  sacrifice  of  a  bull-calf 
to  Dionysus  at  Tenedos,  where  the  priest  was  attacked  with 
stones,  and  had  to  flee  for  his  life 6.  We  do  not  yet  know  for 
certain  whether  the  origin  of  these  ideas  is  to  be  found  in 
totemism,  or  in  the  sanctity  of  cattle  in  the  pastoral  age,  or 
in  the  representation  of  the  spirit  of  vegetation  in  animal  form. 
The  second  of  these  explanations,  as  elucidated  by  Eobertson 
Smith,  would  seem  most  applicable  to  the  Athenian  rite ;  but 
in  the  case  of  the  Eoman  one,  we  do  not  know  what  the  victim 


1  Edm.  Jahr,  166  foil. 

2  L.  L.  6.  31,  where  Hirschfeld  has  conjectured   '  litat  ad  comitium  ' 
for  the  MS.  '  dicat.' 

3  Aglaophamus,  676. 

4  Mannhardt,  Myth.  Forsch.  58  foil. ;  Fnizer,  Golden  Bough,  ii.  35  foil.  ; 
Robertson  Smith,  Religion  of  the  Semites,  286  foil.     Cp.  Lang,  Myth,  Riiual 
and  Religion,  ii.  233  foil.     See  also  Farnell,  Cults  of  the  Greek  States,  i.  88  foil., 
who  agrees  in  the  main  with  Robertson  Smith. 

*  Frazer,  1.  c.  •  Aelian,  A'.  A.  la.  34. 


330  THE    KOMAN    FESTIVALS 

was.  It  is  also  just  possible,  as  Hartung  long  ago  suggested  \ 
that  the  victim  was  a  scapegoat  carrying  away  pollution,  and 
therefore  to  be  avoided ;  but  I  do  not  find  any  example  of 
flight  from  a  scapegoat,  among  the  many  instances  collected 
by  Mr.  Frazer  (Golden  Bough,  ii.  182  foil.). 


in  KAL.  MART.  (FEB.   27).     IP. 
EOJUIRRIA].     (MAFF.  CAER.  :   cp.  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  13). 

We  have  no  data  whatever  for  guessing  why  a  horse-race 
should  take  place  on  the  last  day  of  Februaiy,  or  why  there 
should  be  two  days  of  racing,  the  second  being  March  14. 
This  has  not,  however,  prevented  Huschke 2  from  making  some 
marvellous  conjectures,  in  which  ingenuity  and  learning  have 
been  utterly  thrown  away. 

We  saw 3  that  the  oldest  races  of  this  kind  were  connected 
with  harvest  rejoicings  ;  and  Mannhardt4  suggested  that  they 
originated  in  the  desire  to  catch  the  spirit  of  vegetation  in 
the  last  sheaf  or  in  some  animal  form.  Races  also  occur  in 
various  parts  of  Europe  in  the  spring — e.g.  at  the  Carnival, 
at  Easter,  and  at  Whitsuntide ;  and  of  these  he  says  that  they 
correspond  with  the  others,  and  that  the  idea  at  the  bottom 
of  them  is  '  die  Vorstellung  des  wetteifernden  Fruhlingsein- 
zuges  der  Vegetationsdamonen.'  However  this  may  be,  we 
cannot  but  be  puzzled  by  the  doubling  of  the  Equirria,  and  are 
tempted  to  refer  it  to  the  same  cause  as  that  of  the  Salii 
and  Luperci5. 

That  both  were  connected  with  the  cult  of  Mars  is  almost 
beyond  question.  They  were  held  in  the  Campus  Martius, 
and  were  supposed  to  have  been  established  by  Komulus  in 
honour  of  Mars 6 ;  and  we  have  already  had  an  example  of  the 
occurrence  of  horses  in  the  Mars-cult.  It  would  seem,  then, 

1  Eelig.  der  Bomer,  ii.  35.     Cp.  Gilbert,  i.  343,  note.     The  presence  of  the 
Salii  (see  above,  p.  328),  if  a  fact,  would  be  in  favour  of  this  explanation. 

2  Rom.  Jahr,  199.  3  See  on  Aug.  21  (Consualia). 
4  Myth.  Forsch.  170  foil. ;  Baumkultus,  382  foil. 

•  This,  though  with  impossible  combinations,  is  what  Huschke  does 
(199,  note  53).     Feb.  37  is  the  Roman,  March  14  the  Quirinal  Equirria,  in 
his  view.    That  the  Quiriualia  falls  in  February  may  perhaps  give  some 
support  to  the  view. 

•  Varro,  L.  L.  6.  13  ;  Fest.  81.     See  under  Oct.  15. 


MENSIS    FEBRUARIUS  331 

that  the  peculiar  features  of  the  worship  of  Mars  began  even 
before  March  r.  Preller  noticed  this  long  ago1,  and  suggested 
that  even  the  Lupercalia  and  the  Quirinalia  have  some  relation 
to  the  Mars-cult,  and  that  these  fall  at  the  time  when  the  first 
beginnings  of  spring  are  felt — e.g.  when  the  first  swallows 
arrive2.  We  may  perhaps  add  the  appearance  of  the  Salii 
at  the  Kegifugium  to  these  foreshadowings  of  the  March  rites. 
Ovid  seems  to  bear  out  Preller  in  his  lines  on  this  day 3 : 

lamque  duae  restant  noctes  de  mense  secundo, 
Marsque  citos  iunctis  curribus  urget  equos : 

Ex  vero  positum  permansifc  Equirria  nomen, 
Quae  deus  in  Campo  prospicit  ipse  suo. 

lure  venis,  Gradive.     Locum  tua  tempora  poscunt, 
Signatusque  tuo  nomine  mensis  adest. 

I   may  aptly  add  Ovid's  next  couplet,  now  that  we  have 
at  last  reached  the  end  of  the  Koman  year: — 

Venimus  in  porturn,  libro  cum  mense  peracto. 
Naviget  hinc  alia  iam  mihi  linter  aqua. 

1  i.  361- 

8  So  Ovid,  on  Feb.  26,  writes  (a.  853^. : 

Fallimur,  an  veris  praenuntia  venit  hirundo, 

Et  metuit  ne  qua  versa  recurrat  hiems  ? 

This  would  be  early  now  for  central  Italy;  but  Columella,  ir.  a,  gives 
Feb.  23  as  the  date. 
*  Fasti,  a.  857  foil. 


CONCLUSION 

AT  the  end  of  the  introductory  chapter  a  promise  was  made 
that  when  we  had  completed  the  round  of  the  year,  we  would 
sum  up  our  results,  sketch  in  outline  the  history  of  Roman 
religious  ideas,  and  estimate  the  influence  of  all  this  elaborate 
ceremonial  on  the  life  and  character  of  the  Eoman  people. 
This  undertaking  I  must  now  endeavour  to  fulfil,  though  with 
doubt  and  diffidence  ;  for  even  after  the  most  careful  examina- 
tion of  the  Calendar,  both  the  character  and  the  history  of  the 
Roman  religious  system  must  still  in  great  degree  remain 
a  mystery.  With  such  knowledge  however  as  may  have  been 
gleaned  in  the  preceding  pages,  the  reader  may  be  able  to 
appreciate  or  criticize  a  few  conclusions  of  a  more  general 
character. 

The  Roman  religion  has  been  ably  discussed  in  general 
terms  by  several  writers  of  note  in  the  centuiy  just  closing. 
Mommsen's  chapters  in  the  early  books  of  his  Roman  History 
are  familiar  to  every  one.  The  introduction  to  Marquardt's 
volume  on  our  subject  is  indispensable ;  and  Preller,  less 
exact  perhaps,  but  more  sympathetic  and  inspiring,  still  holds 
the  field  with  the  opening  chapters  of  his  work  on  Roman 
Mythology.  To  these  classical  works  may  be  added  the 
section  on  the  Roman  religion  in  the  second  volume  of  the 
Religionsgeschichte  of  Chantepie  de  la  Saussaye,  and  the  first 
chapter  of  Boissier's  work  on  the  Roman  religion  from 
Augustus  onwards.  Professor  Granger's  Worship  of  the  Romans 
ivlso  contains  here  and  there  some  suggestive  remarks,  though  as 
a  rule  these  are  not  based  upon  any  elaborate  investigation  of 
the  cult.  Lastly  I  may  mention  a  small  but  valuable  treatise, 


CONCLUSION  333 

published  as  long  ago  as  1837  by  Leopold  Krahner,  on  the 
history  of  the  decay  of  the  Roman  religion  down  to  the  time 
of  Augustus,  which  fell  into  my  hands  many  years  ago,  and 
is  in  almost  every  sentence  of  value  to  the  student  of  Roman 
history. 

In  all  these  works  the  one  point  insisted  on  at  the  outset 
is  this :  that  the  Romans  were  more  interested  in  the  cult  of 
their  deities,  that  is,  in  the  ritual  and  routine  by  which  they 
could  be  rightly  and  successfully  propitiated,  than  in  the 
character  and  personality  of  the  deities  themselves.  This  is 
indeed  a  truth  which  has  been  abundantly  borne  out  in  our 
examination  of  the  Calendar,  and  might  be  further  illustrated 
in  almost  every  public  act  of  procedure  in  the  Roman  State. 
Cicero  himself  expresses  it  well  in  the  second  book  of  his 
De  Natura  Deorum  (2.  3.  8)  '  Si  conferre  volumus  nostra  cum 
externis,  ceteris  rebus  aut  pares  aut  etiam  inferiores  reperiemur, 
religione,  id  est  cultu  deorum,  multo  superiores.'  The  second 
book  of  his  work  De  Legibus  is  also  an  invaluable  witness  to 
the  conviction,  lasting  on  even  in  an  age  of  scepticism  and 
indifference  among  the  educated,  that  the  due  performance 
of  sacred  rites  was  a  necessary  function  of  the  State,  on  which 
its  very  existence  depended.  The  Christian  Fathers,  some  of 
whom,  like  St.  Augustine  and  Tertullian,  were  men  of  learning 
who  had  studied  the  voluminous  works  of  Varro,  were  well 
aware  of  this  character;  and  Tertullian  in  a  curious  passage 
went  so  far  as  to  suggest  that  the  Devil  had  here  perpetrated 
an  imitation  or  parody  of  the  minute  ritual  of  Leviticus '.  So 
far  as  externals  go,  the  comparison  he  suggested  is  a  useful 
one ;  but  there  is  an  essential  difference  in  the  religious  spirit 
which  lay  at  the  root  of  the  two  ceremonial  systems— a  dif- 
ference that  makes  it  impossible  that  any  work  should  be 
written  on  the  Roman  religion  as  inspiring  for  the  student 
of  religious  history  as  The  Religion  of  the  Semites  so  often 
quoted  in  these  pages. 

This  elaborate  Roman  ceremonial  consisted  in  the  main  of 
sacrifices  of  different  kinds,  conducted  with  an  endless  but 
ordered  variety  of  detail,  of  prayers,  processions,  and  festivities, 
the  object  of  which  was  either  to  obtain  certain  practical 
results,  to  discover  the  will  of  the  gods,  or  to  rejoice  with  the 

1  Tertullian,  de  Praeacriptionibus  Hoereticorum,  40. 


334  TIIE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

divine  inhabitants  of  the  city  over  the  prosperous  event  of 
some  undertaking.  When  we  survey  it  in  the  Calendar  as 
a  whole,  it  seems  to  fall  naturally  into  three  divisions,  which 
correspond  with  and  illustrate  the  development  of  the  State 
from  its  constituent  materials.  The  Calendar  contains  in  fact 
in  a  fossilized  condition  the  remains  of  three  different  strata 
of  religious  or  social  development. 

(1)  Here  and  there  we  find  survivals  of  what  we  can  only 
regard   as    the   most   primitive   condition   of  human   life   in 
ancient  Latium :  that  of  men  dwelling  on  forest-clad  hill-tops, 
surrounded  by  a  world  of  spirits,  some  of  which  have  taken 
habitation  in,  or  are  in  some  sort  represented  by,  objects  such 
as  trees,  animals,  or  stones.     Examples  of  such  objects  are  the 
oak  of  Jupiter  Feretrius,  the  sacred  fig-tree  of  Rumina,  the  stone 
of  Terminus  with  its  buried  sacrifice,  and  the  wolf,  the  wood- 
pecker, and  spear  of  Mars.     To  this  earliest  stratum  may  also 
belong  in  their  ultimate  origin  those  quaint  sacrificial  or  semi- 
dramatic  rites  of  which  we  have  had  examples  in  the  Lupercalia, 
the  Fordicidia,  and  the  Parilia.     The  casting  of , the  Argei  into 
the  Tiber  may  perhaps  also  be  reckoned  here,  though  connected 
later  on  with  certain  divisions  of  the  developed  city  of  which 
the  meaning  and  origin  are  lost  to  us.     This  primitive  popula- 
tion knew  also  of  charms  and  spells  and  omens,  not  reduced 
indeed  as  yet  to  a  definite  system,   of  which   the   Calendar 
naturally  supplies  hardly  any  indications,  while  in  Ovid  and 
Cato  not  a  few  survivals  meet  us.     But  the  investigation  of 
the   oldest   culture   of  central   Italy   is   more   especially   the 
province  of  archaeology,  and  to  the   archaeologists,  who  are 
now  in  Italy  doing  excellent  and  elaborate  work,  I  must  be 
content  to  leave  it. 

(2)  We  next  come  conjecturally  to  clearly-defined  evidence 
of  a  period  in  which 'the  ordered  processes  of  agriculture,  and 
the  settled  life  of  the  farm-house,  are  the  distinctive  features. 
We  have  the  beginnings  of  a  calendar  in  the  observation  of 
the  quarters  of  the  moon  and  their  connexion  with  the  deities 
of  light.     We  have  the  discipline  of  the  house,  represented  in 
the   cult   of  Vesta  the  hearth-spirit,   under  the   care   of  the 
daughters  of  the  family,  while  the  sons  as  flat/nines  have  their 
special  sacrificial  duties,  the  head  of  the  house  presiding  over 
all,  and  having  as  his  own  special  department  the  worship  of 


CONCLUSION  335 

the  spirit  of  the  door-way  (Janus).  The  occupations  of  the 
family  are  reflected  in  the  series  of  festivals  which  represent 
the  processes  and  perils  of  pastoral  and  agricultural  industry : 
e.  g.  the  Robigalia,  Ambarvalia,  Vestalia,  Consualia,  Opicon- 
sivia,  Vinalia,  Saturnalia,  and  Terrainalia :  this  last  indicating 
also  the  idea  of  property,  whether  of  the  community  or  the 
individual.  We  have  also  clear  traces  of  the  union  of  farms 
in  a  group  (pagus) ;  for  the  Paganalia  still  survived  in  the 
full-grown  city,  and  both  at  the  Saturnalia  and  Compitalia 
the  households  met  together  at  the  winter  period  of  ease  and 
rejoicing. 

(3)  The  further  development  of  social  life  is  also  reflected 
in  the  annual  rites  we  have  been  investigating.  We  see  the 
aggregation  of  small  communities  in  the  Septimontium,  in 
the  Fornacalia  or  feast  of  the  Curiae,  possibly  also  in  the 
ritual  of  the  twenty-four  or  twenty-seven  Sacella  Argeorum, 
round  which  a  procession  seems  to  have  gone  in  March  and 
May.  The  Parentalia  again  is  the  systematized  cult  of  the 
dead  in  their  own  city,  outside  the  walls  of  the  city  of 
the  living.  The  Lares  Praestites,  worshipped  on  May  i,  are 
the  guardian  spirits  of  the  whole  community.  The  Regia,  the 
dwelling  of  the  king,  is  its  political  and  religious  centre,  with 
its  sacrarium  of  Mars,  the  peculiar  deity  of  the  stock,  and  with 
the  house  and  hearth  of  Vesta  close  by,  now  grown  to  be  the 
symbol  of  the  State's  vitality.  The  Vestals  and  Flamines  have 
become  priests  of  special  worships  in  an  organized  state,  and 
at  the  head  of  all  is  the  Rex,  still  specially  concerned  with  the 
cult  of  Janus,  but  representing  in  his  priestly  capacity  the 
whole  community.  The  steadily  increasing  tendency  to  organize, 
a  tendency  rooted  in  the  very  fibre  of  this  people,  is  producing 
colleges  of  pontifices  and  augurs,  to  assist  by  associated  effort 
in  making  sure  of  the  laws  of  intercourse  with  the  unseen 
world,  and  of  the  best  methods  of  divining  its  will  and 
intention.  And  lastly,  not  only  have  we  found  in  the  festivals 
traces  of  the  growth  and  systematization  of  the  life  of  the  city, 
but  in  the  great  Latin  festival  we  have  also  religious  evidence 
of  the  early  tendency  of  the  cities  of  Latin  blood  to  combine  in 
some  sort  with  each  other. 

We  have  thus  reached  what  has  been  called  by  Preller  the 
period  of  Numa,  the  king  with  whose  name  and  personality 


336 


THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 


the  Eomans  always  associated  the  redaction  of  the  Fasti  and 
the  state-organization  of  their  religion :  a  personality  so  clearly 
conceived  by  them  as  to  bear  witness  at  once  to  its  own 
historical  reality,  and  to  their  conviction  of  the  vital  importance 
of  his  work.  Before  we  go  further,  let  us  pause  here  to 
interrogate  the  Calendar  as  to  the  nature  of  the  divine  beings 
who  in  these  same  stages  of  development  were  the  objects  of 
popular  worship.  The  simplest  way  to  do  this  will  be  to 
present  a  table  showing  the  list  of  the  most  ancient  festivals, 
with  the  deities  concerned  in  them,  so  far  as  they  can  be 
identified,  in  a  parallel  column: — 


Festivals. 

KALENDS 

IDES 

EQUIRRIA 

LIBERALIA 

FORDICIDIA 

CERIALIA 

PARILIA 

ROBIGALIA 

LEMURIA 

ARGEORUM  SACRA 

AGONIA 

VESTALIA 

MATRALIA 

POPLIFUGIA 

LUCARIA 

NEPTUNALIA 

FURRINALIA 

PORTUNALIA 

VINALIA 

CONSUALIA 

VOLCANALIA 

OPICONSIVIA 

MEDITRINALIA 

FONTINALIA 

AGONIA 

CONSUALIA 

SATURNALIA 

OPALIA 

DIVALIA 

LARENTALIA 

AGONIA 

CARMENTALIA 

LUPERCALIA 

QUIRINALIA 

FERAL  I A 

TERMINALIA 

REGIFUGIUM 


Deities. 

JUNO. 

JUPITEB, 

MARS. 

LIBER. 

TELLUS? 

CERES. 

PALES  ? 

ROBIGUS. 

Ghosts  (unburied). 

Unknown. 

VEDIOVIS  ? 

VESTA. 

MATER  MATUTA. 

Unknown. 

>? 

NEPTUNUS. 

FURRINA  ? 

PORTUNUS. 

JUPITER. 

CONSUS. 

VOLCANUS. 

OPS  CONSIVA. 

Unknown. 

FONS  ? 

Unknown. 

CONSUS. 

SATURNUS. 

OPS. 

ANGERONA  ? 

LARENTIA  ? 

JANUS  ? 

CARMENTA. 

Unknown. 

QUIRINUS. 

BURIED  ANCESTORS. 

TERMINUS. 

Unknown. 


CONCLUSION  337 

Here  it  will  be  noticed  that  in  those  festivals  which  seem  to 
be  survivals  from  the  oldest  stratum  of  civilization  (the  period 
of  Faunus,  as  Preller  has  named  it),  viz.  the  Lupercalia,  Parilia, 
Fordicidia,  Argeorum  Sacra,  the  deities  concerned  are  either 
altogether  doubtful,  or  so  wanting  in  clearness  and  prominence 
as  to  be  altogether  subordinate  in  interest  to  the  details  of  the 
ceremony.  The  Parilia  and  Fordicidia  were  believed  in  later 
times  to  have  belonged  to  Pales  and  Tellus ;  but  our  authority 
for  the  grounds  of  such  belief  is  not  strong,  and  as  a  matter 
of  fact  these  two,  together  with  the  sacrifice  of  the  October 
horse,  were  interconnected  by  details  of  antique  ceremonial, 
rather  than  separately  defined  by  their  relation  to  particular 
numina.  In  other  festivals  which  may  have  possibly  come 
down  from  the  oldest  period,  the  deity  is  almost  entirely  lost. 
Here  is  good  evidence  of  the  indistinctness  of  the  Koman  con- 
ception of  the  divine  ;  the  cult  appealed  to  this  people  as  the 
practical  method  of  obtaining  their  desires,  but  the  unseen 
powers  with  whom  they  dealt  in  this  cult  were  beyond  their 
ken,  often  unnamed,  and  only  visible  in  the  sense  of  being 
seated  in,  or  in  some  sort  symbolized  by,  tree  or  stone  or 
animal.  They  are  often  multiplex,  like  the  Fauni,  Silvani, 
Lares,  Penates,  Semones,  Carmentes ;  or  they  run  into  each 
other,  like  Bona  Dea,  Maia,  Tellus,  Ceres,  Dea  Dia,  and  others. 
Only  the  great  deity  of  the  stock  stands  out  at  all  clearly ; 
Father  Mars  of  the  Romans ;  Father  Diovis  of  the  whole  Latin 
race ;  to  these  we  may  perhaps  add  the  Hercules  or  Genius, 
and  Juno,  representing  respectively  the  male  and  female 
principles  of  human  life. 

In  the  second  and  third  of  the  strata  which  the  Calendar 
offers  to  the  excavator,  representing  the  ordered  life  of  the 
household  and  afterwards  of  the  city,  we  still  find  much  of  the 
same  indistinctness.  Vesta  indeed,  the  spirit  of  the  hearth-fire, 
becomes  clearly  though  not  personally  delineated  ;  so  too,  but 
in  a  less  degree,  does  Janus  the  spirit  of  the  doorway.  Two 
other  groups  of  spirits  also  occupy  the  house ;  the  Lares,  who 
may  have  been  the  spirits  of  dead  ancestors  duly  buried,  and 
the  Penates  or  spirits  of  the  store -chamber;  both  of  them 
becoming  sufficiently  clear  in  the  popular  conception  to  be 
represented  by  images  at  a  very  early  period.  But  in  the 
round  of  ancient  festivals,  some  at  least  of  the  so-called  gods, 

z 


338  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

so  far  as  we  can  guess  at  their  original  nature,  hardly  deserve 
that  name.  Liber  and  Ceres  seem  to  have  been  originally 
general  names  for  an  ill-defined  class  of  spirits ;  Robigus  is  the 
spirit  of  the  mildew ;  Census  and  Ops  are  not  personalities, 
but  numina  protecting  the  gathered  harvest,  as  Saturnus  pro- 
bably protected  the  sown  seed.  The  Compitalia  was  concerned 
only  with  the  Lares  Compitales,  spirits  of  the  crossways ;  in 
the  Paganalia  we  have  but  very  indistinct  information  as  to  the 
object  of  worship.  The  Vinalia,  marking  a  later  and  more 
skilled  agricultural  process,  seems  on  the  other  hand  always 
to  have  been  clearly  connected  with  Jupiter  himself. 

Thus  in  the  so-called  period  of  Numa,  the  period  of  the 
earlier  monarchy  and  the  first  organization  of  the  city-state, 
the  religious  life  of  the  community  had  become  highly 
systematized  in  respect  of  the  cult,  of  the  priest  in  charge  of 
it,  and  the  ius  which  governed  all  the  citizens  in  their  relation 
to  the  world  of  divinities.  Of  any  real  change  however  in  the 
character  of  these  divinities,  of  any  approach  to  polytheism  in 
the  way  of  an  increased  individuality  of  conception,  of  iconic 
representation,  or  definite  temple-worship,  the  Calendar  then 
drawn  up  supplies  no  certain  evidence.  There  may  indeed 
have  been  a  tendency  towards  a  clearer  definition  of  numina, 
arising  from  the  very  fact  of  the  definite  organization  of  prayer 
and  sacrifice,  and  of  the  allotment  of  cults  to  particular  priest- 
hoods or  families.  There  may,  even  at  that  early  stage  in 
Roman  history,  have  been  an  influence  at  work  on  the  Roman 
mind,  coming  from  Etruria  and  Greece,  where  polytheism 
found  its  nourishment  in  works  of  art  and  mythological  fancy. 
These  ai  e  possibilities  of  which  we  must  take  account,  but  the 
Calendar  has  nothing  positive  to  tell  us  of  them. 

It  is  when  we  advance  to  the  later  monarchy,  which  we 
may  speak  of  without  hesitation  as  an  Etruscan  dynasty,  that 
we  find  a  change  beginning,  both  in  the  forms  and  objects  of 
the  cult,  which  marks  an  epoch  in  Roman  religious  history. 
The  oldest  Calendar,  that  of  the  large  letters  in  the  Fasti,  tells 
us  of  course  nothing  of  this.  But  in  the  additamenta  ex  fastis, 
and  in  later  literary  allusions,  we  have  a  considerable  body  of 
material  to  help  us  in  following  out  the  character  and  conse- 
quences of  this  change.  It  is  at  this  point,  or  rather  at  the 
end  of  the  monarchy,  that  we  begin  to  hear  of  the  building 


CONCLUSION  339 

of  real  temples,  as  distinct  from  luci,  sacella,  arae,  or  fana  ;  of 
the  introduction  into  these  of  statues  of  the  gods,  of  the  Graecus 
ritus  in  sacrifice,  and  of  the  appearance  of  new  deities,  some  of 
them  apparently  connected  with  new  elements  of  population. 

This  epoch  is  most  clearly  marked  by  the  building  of  the 
great  temple  on  the  Capitol  of  Jupiter,  Juno,  and  Minerva, 
an  Etruscan  Trias,  perhaps  ultimately  of  Greek  origin,  whose 
statues,  as  we  have  seen,  were  invited  in  true  polytheistic 
fashion  to  partake  of  a  feast  every  year  on  the  Ides  of 
September,  the  dies  natalis  of  the  temple.  This  temple  was 
dedicated  in  B.  c.  509,  directly  after  the  expulsion  of  Tarquinius 
Superbus.  The  next  of  which  we  hear  is  that  of  the  old 
Roman  Saturnus  (B.C.  497),  now  strangely  represented  by  a 
fettered  statue,  and  worshipped  henceforward  Graeco  ritu,  with 
the  head  uncovered.  Next  comes  Mercurius  (B.  c.  495),  a  god 
unknown  to  the  most  ancient  Fasti ;  then  Ceres,  the  Greek 
Demeter  under  a  familiar  Italian  name  (B.C.  493);  next  For- 
tuna  with  a  statue  (B.C.  486),  an  imported  goddess,  to  whom 
Servius  Tullius,  if  tradition  can  be  trusted,  had  already  erected 
temples.  To  this  same  age  belongs  probably  the  temple  of 
Diana  on  the  Aventine,  with  a  Greek  £6avav  •  and  the  intro- 
duction of  Apollo-worship  as  a  popular  cult.  If  we  follow  the 
catalogue  of  dedications  during  the  two  centuries  following  the 
abolition  of  the  monarchy ',  we  find  that  out  of  fourteen  of 
which  the  dates  are  known  to  us,  six  are  Greek  or  Graeco- 
Etruscan,  three  more  admit  before  long  a  non-Roman  ritual 
under  the  influence  of  the  duoviri  sacris  faciundis,  and  fivo  are 
known  to  have  contained  statues  from  an  early  period.  Only 
three,  those  of  Dius  Fidius,  of  Juno  Lucina,  and  of  Mater  Matuta, 
can  be  said  to  have  been  genuine  Roman  foundations.  Without 
doubt  a  great  change  is  here  indicated  which  has  come  over 
the  Roman  religion,  both  in  cult  and  theology.  New  elements 
of  population,  new  relations  with  conquerors  or  conquered, 
new  commercial  enterprise,  new  experiences  of  war,  famine, 
and  pestilence,  bring  in  new  deities,  suggest  recourse  to  new 
divine  aids.  The  old  Rome  is  almost  a  thing  of  the  past ;  the 
cults  and  deities  of  the  Numan  period  no  longer  suffice,  and 
are  perhaps  already  beginning  to  be  forgotten ;  the  oldest 

1  Collected  by  Aust  in  his  work  de  Aedibvs  sacnV,  pp.  4  foil. 
Z  2 


340  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

priesthoods  begin  to  give  place  in  all  except  empty  externals 
to  the  semi-political  colleges  of  pontifices  and  augurs,  and  to 
the  important  new  foundation  of  duoviri  sacris  faciundis ;  the 
old  Italian  ritual  of  simple  apparatus  and  detailed  ceremony 
is  becoming  overshadowed  by  the  showy  ceremonial  of  lecti- 
sternia  and  supplicationes. 

Was  there  no  reaction,  we  may  well  ask,  against  a  tendency 
so  expansive  and  denationalizing  ?  I  answer  this  question  with 
hesitation,  for  so  far  as  I  am  aware  it  has  never  yet  been  fully 
investigated.  But  I  am  strongly  disposed  to  believe  that  there 
was  such  a  reaction  in  the  third  century  B.  c.,  in  the  period,  that 
is,  between  the  Samnite  wars  and  Hannibal's  invasion  of  Italy. 
This,  unlike  the  preceding  century,  was  a  period  of  almost 
uniform  success  of  the  Roman  arms,  and  one  in  which  the 
State  was  at  no  time  in  serious  peril ;  and  the  temptation  to 
have  recourse  to  strange  divinities,  as  a  patient  betakes  himself 
to  new  physicians,  would  not  present  itself  to  the  minds  of  the 
senate  or  the  priesthoods.  If  we  pursue  the  history  of  the 
temple-foundations  of  this  period,  under  Aust's  invaluable 
guidance,  the  result  is  very  remarkable.  Between  304  and 
217  B.C.  we  know  the  dates  of  twenty-five  foundations;  and 
of  these  no  less  than  twenty  are  in  honour  of  indigenous,  or 
at  least  what  I  may  perhaps  call,  home-made  deities.  No 
doubt  there  is  a  growing  tendency  to  identify  Roman  gods 
with  Greek ;  but  this  does  not  show  itself  plainly  till  the  end 
of  the  century,  and  the  only  genuine  Greek  foundation  is  that 
of  Aesculapius,  the  consequence  of  a  severe  pestilence  in  293  B.C. 
Three  or  four,  e.g.  those  of  Fors  Fortuna,  Minerva  Capta,  and 
Feronia,  were  probably  of  non-Roman  origin ;  but  they  were 
transplanted  from  the  near  neighbourhood  of  Rome  and  may 
almost  count  as  indigenous. 

In  contemplating  the  Roman  foundations  of  this  period  we 
are  struck  by  certain  indications  of  the  activity  of  the  pontifices, 
as  distinguished  from  the  duoviri  sacris  faciundis;  i. e.  the 
activity  of  that  college  of  priests  whose  special  charge  was 
the  Roman  religion  proper,  and  who  were  only  indirectly  con- 
cerned with  foreign  introductions.  For  example,  we  may  note 
with  interest  a  group  of  four  agricultural  deities,  to  whom 
temples  were  dedicated  in  the  eight  years  between  272  and 
264  B.C.,  the  years,  that  is,  of  the  pacification  and  settlement 


CONCLUSION  341 

of  Italy  after  the  invasion  of  Pyrrhus1.  These  deities  were 
Census,  Tellus,  Pales,  and  Vortumnus.  Owing  to  the  loss  of 
Livy's  second  decade  we  cannot  be  very  certain  of  the  imme- 
diate object  of  these  foundations ;  but  wo  may  guess  that  they 
had  a  definite  meaning  in  connexion  with  the  events  of  the 
time,  and  that  they  were  chiefly  the  work  of  the  pontifical 
college.  Less  distinct  perhaps,  but  still  worth  noticing,  is 
a  group  of  foundations  in  honour  of  deities  connected  with 
water2,  i.e.  to  Tempestates,  Juturna  and  Fons,  which  seem 
to  have  had  some  reference  to  the  naval  operations  of  the  First 
Punic  War.  The  temple  of  Juturna  was  vowed  by  Lutatius 
Catulus  in  the  battle  at  the  Aegates  Insulae  in  241  B.C.  ;  that 
to  the  Tempestates  by  Cornelius  Scipio,  when  the  fleet  was 
almost  destroyed  near  Corsica  in  259  B.C.  ;  and  that  of  Fons 
in  the  Corsican  war  in  231  B.C.  It  was  characteristic  of  the 
Eoman  mind,  and  of  the  pontifical  methods,  thus  to  connect 
the  spirits  of  the  springs  in  Rome  with  those  of  the  sea  and 
its  tempests. 

It  is  at  this  time  also  that  we  notice  the  appearance  of 
abstractions  resolved  into  deities,  such  as  Salus,  Spes,  Fides, 
Honos  et  Virtus,  Concordia,  and  Mens.  These,  as  I  have  said 
elsewhere3,  are  not  genuine  old  Roman  cults,  but  pontifical 
creations  in  the  spirit  of  the  old  Roman  impersonal  and 
daemonic  ideas  of  divine  agency.  In  connexion  with  these 
I  may  mention  the  conviction  which  has  grown  upon  me  in 
the  course  of  these  investigations,  that  it  was  in  this  reactionary 
period,  as  we  may  call  it,  that  the .  pontifices  drew  up  that 
extraordinary  list  of  deities,  classified  according  to  their 
functions  in  relation  to  man  and  his  activity  and  suffering, 
which  we  know  as  the  Indigitamcnta.  This  seems  to  me 
characteristic  of  the  period,  inasmuch  as  it  was  probably  based 
on  the  old  Roman  ideas  of  divine  agency,  now  systematized 
by  something  like  scientific  terminology  and  ordered  classifica- 
tion. It  is  the  old  national  belief  in  the  ubiquity  of  the  world 
of  spirits,  now  edited  and  organized  by  skilled  legal  theologians. 
But  it  would  be  beyond  the  province  of  this  work  to  venture 
further  into  this  tangled  question. 

From  the  Hannibalic  war  to  the  end  of  the  Republic  is  the 

1  Aust,  op.  cit ,  p.  14,  note  i.  '  Aust,  op.  cit.,  p.  15,  note  i. 

*  Above,  p.  190. 


342  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

period  of  the  decay  and  downfall  of  the  old  Roman  religion. 
This  period  need  not  detain  us  long ;  it  has  been  no  part  of 
my  plan  to  exhibit  this  religion  on  its  death-bed,  for  the  Fasti 
do  not  admit  us  to  that  scene.  They  show  us  a  living  and 
genuine,  not  a  spurious  and  enfeebled  religious  life.  A  few 
salient  facts  shall  suffice  as  illustrations  of  the  slow  process  of 
this  dissolution. 

At  the  very  outset  of  the  period  we  mark  the  solemn 
introduction  into  Rome  of  Cybele,  the  Magna  Mater  Idaea, 
and  the  stone  which  was  supposed  to  represent  her ;  and  we 
are  thus  warned  that  even  the  Greek  cults,  with  all  their 
adjuncts  of  art  and  mythology,  are  no  longer  sufficient  for 
Roman  needs.  The  State  is  once  more  in  peril,  and  the  far- 
reaching  struggle  with  Hannibal  has  brought  her  into  touch 
with  new  peoples  and  cults.  The  Greeks  do  indeed  continue 
to  be  the  chief  invaders  of  the  Roman  religious  territory,  but 
the  religion  they  bring  with  them  is  a  debased  one.  The 
extraordinary  rapidity  with  which  the  orgiastic  rites  of 
Dionysus  spread  over  Italy  in  186  B.C.  proves  at  once  that 
the  Italian  religious  forms  were  wearing  out,  and  that  the 
Greek  substitute  was  no  longer  a  wholesome  one  \  From 
this  time  forward  the  lower  strata  of  population  show  a 
tendency  to  run  after  exciting  Oriental  forms  of  worship, 
which  neither  the  attempted  restoration  of  the  old  religion 
by  Augustus,  nor  the  subsequent  rapid  growth  of  Christianity, 
could  entirely  and  permanently  check.  Among  the  educated 
classes  the  old  beliefs  were  being  eaten  away  by  the  acids  of 
a  second-hand  philosophy.  The  Greeks  had  long  begun  to 
inquire  into  the  nature  of  the  gods,  and  they  passed  on  their 
disintegrating  criticism  to  their  conquerors.  Euhemerus,  the 
arch-destroyer  of  ancient  faiths,  became  known  to  the  Romans 
through  a  translation  by  Ennius  at  the  beginning  of  the  second 
century  B.  c. ;  and  it  took  only  another  century  and  a  half  to 
produce  the  sceptical  and  eclectic  treatise  of  Cicero,  De  Natura 
Deorum. 

Again,  nothing  is  more  characteristic  of  this  period  than  the 
contempt  and  neglect  into  which  the  old  priesthoods  gradually 
fell ;  Rome  now  swarmed  with  a  mongrel  population  that 
knew  little  of  them  and  cared  less.  In  the  year  209  B.  c.  even 

1  See  especially  the  speech  of  the  consul  Postumius  in  Livy  39.  15. 


CONCLUSION  343 

the  priesthood  of  Jupiter  was  filled  by  the  youthful  black 
sheep  of  an  old  patrician  family,  apparently  for  no  other 
reason  than  the  hope  that  so  objectionable  a  character  might 
be  reformed  by  the  many  quaint  restrictions  imposed  upon  the 
office '.  Of  the  flamines  in  general,  of  the  Fratres  Arvales, 
Salii.  Sodales  Titii,  and  others  of  the  ancient  priesthoods  we 
henceforward  hear  little  or  nothing  until  the  revival  of  learning 
and  religion  in  the  Augustan  age.  Old  forms  continued  to 
be  used,  but  mainly  for  political  purposes,  like  the  obnuntiatio 
or  observation  of  lightning ;  and  only  those  religious  offices 
which  had  considerable  political  power  continued  to  be  sought 
after  by  men  of  light  and  leading. 

Temples  continued  to  be  vowed  and  built,  especially  in  the 
earlier  part  of  this  period ;  but  their  cults  are,  with  few 
exceptions,  of  Greek  origin,  or  are  new  and  fanciful  forms  of 
old  worships,  such  as  the  Lares  Permarini,  Venus  Verticordia, 
Fortuna  Equestris,  Ops  Opifera,  Fortuna  Huiusce  Diei.  Before 
the  fall  of  the  Kepublic  a  great  number  of  the  old  temples  had 
fallen  almost  irretrievably  into  decay  ;  Augustus  tells  us  in  his 
record  of  his  own  reign  that  he  restored  no  less  than  eighty-two 
of  them.  This  too  is  the  period  when  the  identification  of 
Roman  gods  with  Greek  became  a  general  fashion ;  a  process 
which  had  begun  long  before,  but  originally  with  a  genuine 
meaning  and  object,  not  as  the  sport  of  a  sceptical  society 
educated  in  Greek  speculation.  Salus  takes  the  attributes  of 
Hygieia,  Mater  Matuta  becomes  Leucothea,  Faunus  Pan, 
Sancus  Hercules,  Carmenta  Nicostrate,  Neptunus  Poseidon, 
the  god  of  Soracte,  Apollo  Soranus  ;  and  even  the  greater  gods 
like  Mars,  Diana,  and  others  assume  more  and  more  the 
likeness  and  mythical  adornmpnt  of  their  supposed  Greek 
equivalents. 

The  civil  troubles  of  the  age  of  revolution  completed  the 
work  of  disintegration.  Men  became  careless,  reckless,  self- 
regarding  ;  the  8fiai8aifinvln  of  which  Polybius  could  say  only 
just  before  the  revolution  began,  that  more  than  anything 
else  it  served  to  knit  the  Roman  state  together,  was  lost  to 
view  in  the  tumult  of  political  passion  and  personal  greed. 
Not  indeed  that  it  was  altogether  extinct ;  that  could  nevei; 
be,  and  never  has  been  the  case  in  Italy.  Augustus,  who 
1  See  a  paper  by  the  author  in  Classical  Review,  vol.  vii.  p.  193  foil. 


344  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

came  by  degrees  to  know  the  people  he  governed  better  than 
any  statesman  in  Italian  history,  was  well  aware  that  to 
inspire  the  Koman  world  once  more  with  confidence,  he  must 
bring  the  religious  instinct  into  play  again.  The  task  he  thus 
set  himself  he  accomplished  with  extraordinary  skill  and  tact ; 
the  old  religion  seemed  to  live  again,  the  old  priesthoods  were 
revived,  the  old  minutiae  of  worship  were  restored.  He  did 
what  he  could  to  bring  to  life  again  even  the  spirit  and  the 
principles  of  the  old  religio ;  and  in  the  Carmen  Saeculare  of 
Horace,  written  to  his  order  at  a  moment  when  he  wished 
to  make  these  things  obvious  to  the  eyes  of  all  Komans,  we 
probably  have  the  best  succinct  exposition  of  them  to  be 
found  in  Koman  literature1.  But  of  the  Augustan  revival, 
and  of  the  reasons  why  it  could  not  be  permanent,  I  must 
forbear  here  to  speak  further. 

I  have  yet  to  say  a  few  words  in  answer  to  the  interesting 
question  whether  the  religious  system  we  have  been  examining 
had  any  appreciable  influence  on  the  character  of  the  Eoman 
people :  whether  it  contributed  to  build  up  that  virtus  of  the 
State  and  the  individual  which  enabled  them  to  subdue  and 
govern  the  world,  as  the  pietas  of  Aeneas  in  the  poem  armed 
him  for  the  subjugation  and  civilization  of  the  wild  Italian 
tribes.  The  question  may  at  first  sight  seem  a  superfluous 
one,  since  the  religion  of  a  people  is  rather  the  expression 
of  its  own  genius  for  dealing  with  the  perplexities  of  human 
life,  than  a  vera  causa  in  determining  its  character ;  yet  it  is 
worth  asking,  for  it  is  unquestionable  that  the  peculiar  turn 
taken  by  a  nation's  religious  beliefs  and  practices  does  in 
course  of  time  come  to  react  upon  its  character  and  morals. 

It  has  often  been  said  of  the  Eoman  religion  that  it  had 
nothing  to  do  with  righteousness,  and  was  without  ethical 
value.  The  admirable  criticism  of  it  given  by  Mommsen  in 
the  first  volume  of  his  History  may  originally  have  suggested 
this  view ;  but  if  so,  the  copyists  have  exaggerated  the  opinion 
of  the  master  in  one  particular  point,  failing  to  give  due  weight 
to  the  general  tenor  of  his  exposition.  However  this  may  be, 

1  Note  for  example  the  way  in  which  Horace  has  contrived  to  introduce 
in  combination  the  ideas  of  the  fertility  of  crops  and  herbs,  of  marriage 
and  the  increase  of  population,  of  public  morality  and  prosperity. 


CONCLUSION  345 

we  certainly  are  now  always  invited  to  conclude  that  this 
great  people,  which  in  its  dealings  with  human  beings  dis- 
covered an  extraordinary  genius  for  expansion  and  adaptation, 
in  its  attitude  to  the  supernatural  remained  cooped  up  within 
curiously  narrow  mental  limits,  drawing  no  real  sustenance 
either  from  its  primitive  beliefs  or  its  quaint  and  detailed 
practice.  The  current  views  of  this  kind  have  just  lately 
been  so  well  summed  up  in  an  admirable  English  work  on  the 
latest  age  of  Eoman  society  and  thought,  that  I  cannot  do 
better  than  borrow  a  few  sentences  from  it '  : — 

'  The  old  Eoman  theology  was  a  hard,  narrow,  unexpansive 
system  of  abstraction  and  personification,  which  strove  to 
represent  in  its  Pantheon  the  phenomena  of  nature,  the 
relations  of  man  in  the  State  or  in  the  clan,  every  act  and 
feeling  and  incident  in  the  life  of  the  individual.  Unlike  the 
mythologies  of  Hellas  and  the  East,  it  had  no  native  principle 
of  growth,  or  adaptation  to  altered  needs  of  society  and  the 
individual  imagination.  It  was  also  singularly  wanting  in 
awe  and  mystery.  The  religious  spirit  which  it  cultivated 
was  formal,  timid,  and  scrupulous.  .  .  .  The  old  Roman 
worship  was  businesslike  and  utilitarian.  The  gods  were 
partners  in  a  contract  with  their  worshippers,  and  the  ritual 
was  characterized  by  the  hard  and  literal  formalism  of  the 
legal  system  of  Rome.  The  worshipper  performed  his  part 
to  the  letter  with  the  scrupulous  exactness  required  in  pleadings 
before  the  praetor.  To  allow  devotional  feeling  to  transgress 
the  bounds  prescribed  by  immemorial  custom  was  "super- 
stitio."' 

It  is  impossible  to  deny  that  there  is  much  truth  in  all  this  ; 
yet  I  may  venture  to  express  a  doubt  whether  it  contains  the 
whole  truth.  The  fact  is  that  the  subject  needs  a  more 
historical  treatment,  and  perhaps  also  something  of  the  his- 
torical imagination,  to  do  it  full  justice. 

In  the  earliest  periods  of  Roman  civilization,  those  of  the 
family  and  the  beginnings  of  the  State,  the  Roman  attitude 
towards  the  supernatural  was,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  a  real 
contributing  cause  towards  the  formation  of  virtus.  It  was 
not  merely  an  attitude  of  business  and  bargaining.  So  far 

1  It  gives  me  pleasure  to  quote  this  passage  from  Roman  Society  in  the 
last  century  of  the  Western  Empire  (p.  63)  by  my  old  friend  Professor  Dill. 


346  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

as  we  know  it,  the  common  form  of  address  to  the  gods  was 
not  'send  me  what  I  want — sun,  rain,  victory,  &c.,  and  you 
shall  then  have  these  gifts  ' ;  but  '  I  give  you  these  sacrifices 
and  expect  you  to  do  your  part ;  in  taking  all  this  trouble 
to  act  correctly  by  you,  I  establish  a  right  as  against  you.' 
It  is  true  that  in  one  particular  form  of  dealing  with  the  gods, 
the  vow,  or  solemn  undertaking  (votum),  the  transaction  wears 
more  the  character  of  a  definite  bargain  ;  if  the  god  will  do 
certain  things,  he  shall  then  have  his  reward.  So  Cloanthus 
in  Virgil  addresses  the  gods  of  the  sea ' — 

Di,  quibus  imperium  est  pelagi,  quorum  aequora  curro, 
Vobis  laetus  ego  hoc  candentem  in  litore  taurum 
Constituam  ante  aras,  wti  reus,  extaque  salsos 
Proiciam  in  fluctus  et  vina  liquentia  fundam. 

But  the  votum  was  the  exception,  not  the  rule  ;  it  was  a 
promise  made  by  an  individual  at  some  critical  moment,  not 
the  ordered  and  recurring  ritual  of  the  family  or  the  State.  It 
takes  its  peculiar  form  simply  because  the  maker  of  the  vow 
is  not  at  the  particular  moment  in  a  position  to  fulfil  it.  The 
normal  attitude  of  the  Roman  in  prayer  and  sacrifice  was  not 
this ;  it  is  much  more  exactly  expressed  in  the  formula  of  the 
farmer's  prayer  already  quoted  in  these  pages  :  '  Father  Mars, 
I  pray  and  beseech  thee  be  willing  and  propitious  to  me,  my 
household,  and  my  slaves  ;  for  the  which  object  I  have  caused 
this  threefold  sacrifice  to  be  driven  round  my  farm  and  land.' 
This  is  the  usual  and  natural  attitude  of  all  peoples  in  sacri- 
ficing to  their  gods,  and  is  far  from  being  peculiar  to  Kome  ; 
but  it  was  the  nature  of  the  Eoman  to  express  it  in  a  more 
formal  and  definite  way  than  others,  and  this  led  to  an  out- 
ward religion  of  formulae  which  has  done  much  to  obscure  for 
us,  as  indeed  for  the  Eomans  themselves,  the  real  thought 
underlying  them. 

These  exact  formulae  of  invocation  and  sacrifice  were  really 
the  outward  expression  of  a  fear  of  the  unknown,  and  its  power 
to  hinder  and  injure  man  ;  for  the  old  Roman  did  not  know 
his  gods  intimately,  inasmuch  as  they  took  no  human  shape, 
and  did  not  dwell  in  buildings  made  by  hands.  We  have 
illustrated  this  ignorance  of  his  again  and  again,  and  the 

1  A  en.  5.  235. 


CONCLUSION  347 

vagueness  and  fluidity  of  the  religious  conceptions  of  the 
Roman  mind.  The  remedy  for  this  weakness  was  found,  as 
with  the  Jews,  in  a  remarkable  formularity  of  ritual,  both 
as  regards  time,  placQ,  and  method  of  worship :  in  a  series 
of  elaborate  prescriptions  drawn  up  by  experts,  going  even  so 
far  as  to  anticipate  the  consequence  of  an  unintentional 
omission  or  error  by  piacular  acts.  This  in  time,  and  under 
State  organization,  became  a  science,  and  finds  its  parallel  in 
the  science  of  legal  formulae.  But  there  was  a  difference 
between  the  twjo  sciences,  even  for  the  Roman.  In  religious 
acts,  the  human  mind  is  dealing  with  the  unseen  and  un- 
known, not  with  human  beings  who  can  be  calculated  with 
or  outwitted.  His  fear  of  the  unknown  was  thus  for  the 
primitive  Roman  a  wholesome  discipline ;  and  his  attitude 
towards  it  he  aptly  and  characteristically  called  religio,  because 
it  bound  him  to  the  performance  of  certain  regulated  duties, 
calculated  to  keep  his  footsteps  straight  as  he  walked  daily 
in  this  unseen  world :  duties  which  even  in  the  family  and 
clan  must  have  been  to  some  extent  systematized,  and  which 
when  the  city-state  was  reached  took  the  definite  form  of 
a  calendar  of  public  prayers,  sacrifices,  and  festivities. 

Now  surely  in  this  motive  of  fear,  thus  remedied  by  exact 
ritual,  we  may  trace  a  true  civilizing  element — the  idea  of 
Duty,  Pietas,  which  as  Cicero  defined  it,  was  '  iustitia  erga 
deos':  righteous  dealing  towards  the  gods,  in  expectation  of 
righteous  treatment  on  their  part.  And  he  would  be  a  bold 
man  who  should  assert  that  '  iustitia  erga  deos  '  had  no  effect 
in  inducing  the  habit  of  '  iustitia  erga  homines ':  in  other 
words  that  it  could  not  react  upon  conduct.  In  the  pietas  of 
the  one  typical  Roman  in  literature  both  these  elements  are 
equally  present.  The  pietas  of  Aeneas  is  a  sense  of  duty 
towards  god  and  man  alike ;  to  his  father,  his  son,  and  his 
people,  as  well  as  to  the  will  of  the  gods,  and  to  that  solemn 
mission  which  is  at  once  the  religion  of  his  life  and  the  key 
to  the  great  Roman  poem  '.  This  is  indeed  that  same  sense 
of  duty  and  responsibility  which  governed  every  Roman  in 
authority  in  the  best  days  of  the  State,  whether  paterfamilias, 
patronus,  priest,  or  magistrate,  and  which  was  the  motive 
power  in  the  working  of  a  constitution  which  lasted  for  cen- 

1  See  Nettleship,  Essays  in  Latin  Literature,  pp.  103,  104. 


348  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

turies,  though  only  resting  on  a  basis  of  trust.  In  this  pieias, 
it  is  true,  we  find  no  sense  of  contrition  for  sin,  no  humbling 
of  the  individual  self  before  an  almighty  Governor  of  the 
world ;  but  we  do  find  a  very  sensitive  conscientiousness, 
arising  from  the  dread  of  neglect  or  trespass  in  the  discharge 
of  religious  observance,  in  the  trust  committed  by  family  or 
State  to  its  constituted  representative.  And  this  trust  included 
also  the  discharge  of  duties  to  other  men,  the  neglect  of  which 
might  bring  down  the  anger  of  the  Unknown,  and  even  compel 
the  surrender  of  a  criminal  as  sneer  to  an  offended  deity.  We 
find  abundant  evidence  of  this  aspect  of  the  religio  in  the 
language  of  solemn  oaths  and  treaties,  and  especially  in  con- 
nexion with  the  cult  of  the  great  Jupiter. 

I  maintain  then  that  in  this  Eoman  religion,  in  spite  of 
its  dryness  and  formality,  there  was  a  distinct  ethical  and 
civilizing  element.  And  in  conclusion  I  may  perhaps  raise  the 
question  whether  it  was  really,  as  has  been  so  often  asserted, 
such  a  conception  of  the  unseen  as  could  never  admit  of 
elevation  and  expansion.  A  religion,  which  in  its  best  and 
simplest  forms,  could  bind  men  together  in  the  orderly  dutiful 
life  of  family,  gens,  state,  and  federation,  could  hardly,  if  left 
to  itself,  have  speedily  become  an  inanity,  even  though  based 
on  the  motive  of  fear  rather  than  that  of  brotherly  love.  But 
this  religion,  as  the  State  became  more  fully  matured,  came 
under  the  influence  of  two  retarding  causes.  First,  its  ritual, 
always  obnoxious  to  formularism,  was  gradually  deprived  of 
its  meaning  by  great  priesthoods  which  from  causes  which 
need  not  be  here  discussed  became  powerful  political  agencies. 
Secondly,  the  contact  with  a  mature  system  of  polytheism, 
adorned  and  in  some  sort  materialized  by  art  and  literature, 
drew  away  the  mind  of  the  simple  and  wondering  Roman  from 
the  task  of  developing  his  religious  ideas  in  his  own  way. 
When  a  new  world  of  thought  broke  on  the  conquering  Roman 
of  the  Republic,  his  own  religious  motives  were  already  drying 
up  under  the  influence  of  a  powerful  State- organization.  His 
pietas  lived  on  after  a  fashion  for  centuries,  but  more  and  more 
it  lost  that  hold  on  the  conscience,  that  appeal  to  trust  and 
responsibility,  which  had  once  promised  it  a  vigorous  life 
and  growth.  While  foreign  gods  and  cults  attracted  his 
attention  and  admiration,  or  appealed  to  his  sense  that  there 


CONCLUSION  349 

was  no  quarter  from  which  supernatural  aid  might  not  be 
called  in  for  the  advancement  of  his  State,  they  failed  to  bind 
his  conscience  with  the  wholesome  motives  which  lay  at  the 
root  of  his  old  native  religio.  And  neither  in  the  reaction 
of  the  fourth  century  B.C.,  nor  in  the  protests  of  an  austere 
Cato  in  the  second,  nor  in  the  elaborate  revival  of  Augustus, 
much  less  in  any  later  effort  of  philosopher  or  autocrat  to 
return  to  the  old  ways,  was  any  permanent  resuscitation  of 
discipline  or  conduct  possible.  The  problem  of  giving  a  real 
religion  to  the  world-state  into  which  the  Koman  dominion 
had  then  grown,  was  not  to  be  solved  either  by  Koman  pietas 
or  Hellenic  polytheism. 


NOTES  ON  TWO  COINS. 

A.   DENARIUS  OF  P.  LICINIUS  STOLO  (p.  42). 

Obv.  AVGVSTVS   TR   POT      Augustus,  laureate,  on  horse- 
back to  r. 

Rev.    P.  STOLO        Helmet    (apex)    between    two    shields. 
IIIVIR 


The  forms  of  the  helmet  and  shields  are  very  archaic  and 
interesting,  appearing  to  point  to  a  very  early  period.  The 
helmet  bears  a  marked  likeness  to  that  worn  on  Egyptian 
monuments  by  the  Shardana,  one  of  the  races  that  invaded 
Egypt  about  the  thirteenth  century  B.C.  The  shield  seems  to 
consist  of  two  small  round  bosses  connected  by  an  oval  boss. 
It  is  strikingly  like  the  Mycenaean  shield  as  shown  on  a 
number  of  monuments,  and  far  earlier  than  the  so-called 
Boeotian  shield  which  was  common  in  Greece  from  the  sixth 
century  onwards.  The  Roman  writers  themselves  seem  to 
have  been  puzzled  by  this  shape  (Marindin,  article  '  Salii '  in 
Smith's  Diet.  Antiq.),  and  there  can  be  little  doubt  that  it  came 
down  from  a  time  when  the  'Mycenaean'  civilization  was 
common  to  Greece  and  Italy. 


NOTES    ON    TWO    COINS  351 

The  figure  on  the  coins  of  M.  Sanquinius  (Babelon,  Mon.  de 
la  Repub.  Horn.  ii.  4 1 7),  who  wears  a  horned  helmet  and  long 
tunic  and  carries  a  herald's  staff  and  round  shield,  has  been 
identified  by  several  authorities  as  one  of  the  Salii.  This, 
however,  is  certainly  wrong.  Both  on  this  coin,  and  later 
coins  of  Domitian,  the  personage  is  closely  connected  with  the 
Ludi  Saeculares.  Dr.  Dressel,  in  the  Ephem.  Epigr.  viii.  314, 
maintains  him  to  be  a  herald  proclaiming  the  festival.  This 
would  admirably  suit  the  caduceus  ;  but  the  decorations  of  the 
helmet  seem  to  me  to  be  not  plumes,  as  Dr.  Dressel  thinks, 
but  horns,  like  those  on  the  headpiece  of  Juno  Lanuvina.  In 
any  case  the  person  is  no  Salius. 


B.    DENARIUS  OF  L.  CAESIUS  (p.  101). 

Obv.  Youthful  bust  1.,  hair  disordered,  striking  with  thunder- 
bolt. Behind,  a  monogram. 

Rev.  L.  CAESI  Two  young  male  figures  seated  to  r.  Each 
has  drapery  wrapped  round  waist,  and  grasps  a  spear.  Between 
them,  a  dog,  which  one  of  them  caresses.  In  field,  in  mono- 
grams, LARE  Above,  head  of  Vulcan  and  pinchers  (moneyer's 


mark).  The  monogram  of  the  obverse  was  read  by  Mommsen 
AP  for  Apollo  ;  but  the  closed  P  was  not  at  that  time  in  use: 
the  interpretation  of  Montagu  (Numismatic  Chronicle,  1895, 
p.  162)  as  Roma  is  therefore  to  be  preferred.  The  head  appears 
to  be  that  of  Vedius  or  Vejovis,  whose  statue  at  Koine  carried 
in  the  hand  a  sheaf  of  arrows,  which  would  naturally  be  con- 
fused with  the  Greek  thunderbolt.  Other  heads  of  Vejovis 
on  Roman  coins,  as  those  of  the  Gens  Fonteia,  are  more 
Apolline  in  type,  with  long  curls  and  laurel-wreath. 

The  two  seated  figures  of  the  reverse  are  identified  by  the 
inscription  as  Lares.  They  are  clearly  assimilated  to  the  Greek 
Dioscuri,  early  adopted  at  Rome.  The  dog,  however,  which 


352  THE    ROMAN    FESTIVALS 

sits  between  them  is  an  attribute  properly  belonging  to  them. 
Dr.  Wissowa  in  Koscher's  Lexicon  (p.  1872)  says  that  they  are 
clad  in  dogs'  skins  ;  this,  however,  is  certainly  not  the  case,  an 
ordinary  cloak  or  chlamys  falls  over  their  knees. 

This  representation  of  the  Lares  stands  by  itself,  the  deities 
are  frequently  represented  in  later  art,  especially  wall-paintings 
and  bronze  statuettes,  but  their  type  is  that  of  boys  who  hold 
cornucopiae  or  drinking  vessel,  and  are  fully  clad. 

P.  G. 


INDEX  OF  SUBJECTS 


Acca  Larentia,  74,  93,  275,  276,  324. 

Aedes  Herculis :  see  Forum  Boariiun. 

Aedes  Vestae  :  see  Vesta. 

Aediles,  plebeian,  75,  76,  92. 

Aesculapius,  105,  191,  278 ;  con- 
nexion with  Vediovis,  122,  278  ; 
temple,  278,  340. 

Agonia  :  December,  265,  281  ; 
January,  277,  280-2  ;  March,  54, 
281  ;  May,  121,  281. 

Agonus  (or  Agonalis),  323. 

Agriculture:  festivals, 3,  71,  79-82, 
85-8,  88-91,  113-4,  124-8,  145- 
54,  204-6,  206-9,  212-4,  aS6-8. 
268-73,  324-7,  335. 

Alban  Mount :  Feriae  Latinae  held 
at>  95-  97.  227-8  ;  temple  of 
Jupiter  Latiaris,  95-6,  228. 

Ambarvalia,  114,  124-8,  154. 

Anoilia,  38-9,  41-3,  45-6,  250 ; 
lustration, 57-9, 248, 250;  moving, 

39.  4i,  43-4,  "5- 
Ancillamm  Feriae,  176-8. 
Angerona,  274-5  ;  goddess  of  Diva- 

lia,  274,  336. 

Anna  Peienna :  festival,  44,  50-1, 
53,  163  ;  legends,  51-4,  60;  popu- 
larity with  lower  classes,  44,  50-1 ; 
representative  of  year,  52-3. 

Aphrodite  :  connexion  with  Venus, 
69,  86. 

Aplu,  181. 

Apollo,  89,  191,  250 ;  comparison 
with  Mars,  39  40  ;  connexion 
with  Aesculapius,  278 ;  with 
Vediovis,  122,  181,  225,  278 ; 
coupled  with  Latona,  181,  186, 
200;  festivals,  173,  179-81;  func- 


tions, 180,  278 ;  Medicus,  180 ; 
restoration  of  worship  by  Augus- 
tus, 180  (n.  4),  181-2  ;  Soranu?, 
84,  181  ;  temples,  180,  182  ; 
worship,  117,  179-82,  339. 

April :  character,  6,  9,  33,  66-7  ; 
connexion  with  Venus,  67,  69  ; 
festivals,  66-97  ;  origin  of  name, 
*>»  33.  66 ;  prevalence  of  female 
deities,  67. 

Ara  Maxima  :  see  Circus  Mr.ximus. 

Argei :  see  also  Sacella  Argeorum, 
150, 151 ;  explanations  of  custom, 
114,  116-20;  mourning  of  Fla- 
minica  Dialis,  112,  115,  119,  151  ; 
origin  of  name,  112-3;  118-9; 
puppets  thrown  into  Tiber,  52, 
57,  100,  111-20;  substitution  for 
human  victims,  112,  115,  116-7, 
119. 

Armilustrium,  45,  58,  249,  250-1. 

Army  :  importance  of  curiae,  303, 
305 ;  mustering,  133. 

Artemis,  200. 

Asylum,  122,  183  (n.  3),  327  ;  con- 
nexion with  Vediovis,  122. 

Attains,  King  of  Pergamus,  69. 

August :  character,  189-90  ;  festi- 
vals, 189  214. 

Augustus,  revival  of  religion,  19, 
181-2,  190,  280,  342,  343-4,  349. 

Aventine :  plebeian  quarter,  75  6, 
199  ;  temples,  59,  74-6,  101-5, 

158,    198-200,   201,    206,    232,    267, 

339- 

Beans  :  harvest,  130,  255  ;  use  as 
food,  132-3  ;  use  in  ritual,  83, 


A  a 


254 


INDEX    OF    SUBJECTS 


109-10,  131  ;  religious  character, 
91,  no,  130-1. 

Beating  bounds,  see  Lustrations ; 
productive  of  fertility,  104,  178- 
9,  262,  302,  311,  315,  318-21. 

Bellona,  134-5. 

Birds  :  used  in  augury,  139-40. 

Bona  Dea,  95 ;  connexion  with 
Dainia,  105-6;  with  Maia,  99, 
100,  123,  210  ;  earth  goddess,  71, 
103,  104,  106 ;  functions,  104-5, 
1 06;  men  excluded  from  wor- 
ship, 102-3,  142,  256  ;  myrtle  not 
allowed  in  temple,  103-4  :  tem- 
ple, 101-5  ;  women's  sacrifice, 
255-6;  worship,  102-6,  150. 

Bouphonia,  176,  329. 

Brutus,  M.  Junius,  130. 

Caesar  (Julius):  birthday,  174; 
calendar,  4,  5-6,  n,  14-5. 

Cakes  :  see  also  Salt-cake  ;  heads  of 
animals  decked  with,  148,  242, 
244  ;  sacrifices,  53-5,  155,  161, 

295,  304. 

Calendar :  see  a'so  Year,  248-50 ; 
authorities  on,  13-4, 16-9;  diver- 
gences, 36,  45,  241,  265-6; 
Julian  :  see  Caesar;  marks  of  days, 
8-10 ;  republican,  14-20  ;  secrecy, 
8-9,  ii  ;  surviving,  5-6,  11-4. 

Campus  Martius,  247-8 ;  festivals, 
50-1 ;  races,  44-5,  208,  242,  249, 
330 ;  sacrifice  of  October-horse, 
241-3,247-9. 

Capitolium,  129-30,  327  ;  connexion 
with  Saturnus,  269-70  ;  temples, 
43,  85,  129-30,  145,  157-8,  214, 
216-7,  229,  291,  293,  326-7. 

Caprotinae,  Nonae  :  see  Nones. 

Cardea  :  confusion  with  Carna, 
131-2. 

Caristia,  308  9. 

Carmenta.  167,  291-3 ;  festival, 
277,  290-3  ;  temple,  291,  293. 

Carrnentalia,  15,  277,  290-3. 

Carmentes  :  see  Carmenta. 

Carna,  130  ;  confusion  with  Cardea, 
131-2  ;  festival,  130-3. 

Castor  and  Pollux  :  see  Dioscuri. 

Cerealia,  15,  72  3,  77  9,  92;  foxes 
loosed  in  Circus  Maximus,  77  9, 
94;  plebeian  character,  70,  77,92. 

Ceres,  73  4,  295,  338  ;  connexion 
with  Drinettr,  73,  74,  181  ;  with 


plebeians,  74-7,  92 ;  festival, 
7a~3)  77-9t  92>  294-6 ;  goddess 
of  crops,  67,  71,  73,  126  ;  Greek 
influence  on,  73,  75-6,  105  ;  sac- 
rifices, 103,  105,  295 ;  temple, 
74-6,  93. 

Cernunnos  :  identification  with 
Janus.  286. 

Character  of  Romans,  65 ;  influence 
of  religion  on,  344-9. 

Charlton-on-Otmoor :  lustration  of 
fields,  128,  246. 

Circus  Flaminius  :  games,  217,  252, 
253  ;  temples,  134,  135,  180,  202, 
211. 

Circus  Maximus,  190 ;  altar  of 
Census,  178,  190,  206-7,  209; 
Ara  Maxima,  138, 189, 190, 193-7; 
festivals,  77-8,  94  ;  races,  208  ; 
temples,  92,  160,  202,  204. 

Cnaeus  Flavius,  n. 

Coins,  350-2  ;  heads  on,  286-7, 351. 

Comitia  Curiata  :  meetings,  63,  64, 
123.  305. 

Comitium,  57-8. 

Compitalia,  255,  277,  279-80,  294, 

335-  338. 

Conhualia,  115,  178,  189,  206-9,  290; 
Vestal  Virgins  present,  115,  150  ; 
winter,  267-8. 

Consuls :  connexion  -with  Feriae 
Latinae,  95,  96 ;  entrance  on 
office,  5,  95,  190,  278  ;  laying 
down  of  office,  216. 

Census,  324,  338 ;  altar  in  Circus 
Maximus,  178,  190,  206-7,  2O9  > 
connexion  with  horses,  207-8 ; 
with  Ops,  212-3;  festivals,  115, 
178,  206-9,  267-8  ;  temple,  206, 
267. 

Corn  :  supply,  76  ;  trade,  121  ; 
wolf  :  see  Corn-spirit. 

Corn-spirit:  animal  representation, 
78,  83,  90-1,  94,  244-5,  264;  death 
and  renewal  of  life,  83, 118,  246-7, 
316-7 ;  human  representation, 
177,  245  ;  races  in  rites,  245-6, 
330  ;  rites  to  aid  growth  of  corn, 
41, 83-4 ;  rites  to  propitiate,  90-1, 
244-8. 

Creek  Indians  :  festivals  of  first- 
fruits,  152-3. 

Cross-roads,  279-80. 

Curiae,  16,  71,  303  4  ;  festivals, 
71-2,219,302-6,335;  flamen,304. 


INDEX    OF    SUBJECTS 


355 


Curio  Maximus,  303-4. 
Curis,  303. 

Damia  :  connexion  with  Bona  Dea, 
105-6. 

Days:  calendar  marks  in,  8-ro; 
market,  8  ;  number  in  months, 
2-3. 

Dead:  ancestor  worship,  161,275-6, 
300,  308-9  ;  burial,  108,  109, 
307  ;  cult  chiefly  in  February,  3, 
6»  33>  ic?>  299>  30°;  festivals, 
106-10,  131,  275-6,  306-10  ;  offer- 
ings, 308  ;  spirits  :  see  Ghosts. 

Dea  Dia,  71,  105  ;  centre  of  ritual 
of  Fratres  Arvales,  74,  105  ;  con- 
nexion with  Ceres,  74. 

December,  7  ;  character,  255 ;  festi- 
vals, 33,  255-76. 

Deities  :  abstractions  resolved  into, 
190-1,  341  ;  chthonic,  207,  210, 
2 1 1-2  ;  dualism  of  male  and 
female,  61-2,  212-3,  221  >  female, 
67,  71,  74,  106  ;  fluctuation  be- 
tween male  and  female,  67,  73  80, 
232-3  ;  images :  see  Images  ;  im- 
personality, 106,  137,  139,  213; 
221-2,295,311,337 ;  multiplicity, 
144,  167,  241, 259-60,  291-3,  337 ; 
prayers  :  see  Prayers  ;  symbols, 
122,  139,  161,  169,  170,  230,  235  ; 
women's :  see  Women. 

Delphi :  Roman  dealings  with,  181. 

Demeter,  103,110;  connexion  with 
Ceres,  73,  74,  181. 

Demons  :  see  Evil  spirits. 

Diana :  connexion  with  Artemis, 
200  ;  coupled  with  Hercules,  181, 
186;  festival,  198-200;  functions, 
198,  200-1  ;  Nemorensis,  183 ; 
temples,  198-200,  339. 

Dionysus :  connexion  with  Liber, 
54-5,  74,  88 ;  introduction  of  cult 
into  Italy,  88,  342  ;  sacrifice  at 
Tenedos,  329. 

Dioscuri,  296-7,  351 ;  temples,  202, 
296. 

Dis  Pater,  120.  212,  269. 

DiusFidius,  327  ;  antiquity,  135  6; 
connexion  with  Genius  Jovis, 
142-5  ;  with  Hercules,  137-9, 
142-4  ;  with  Jupiter,  138-41, 221 ; 
with  Semo  Sancus,  136-8,  144  ; 
temple.  135,  136,  141. 

Divalia,  274-5. 


Dogs  :  connexion  with  Lares  prae- 
stites,  toi,  351-2;  sacrifices,  89- 
91,  101,  209,  311,  312,  314. 

Earth  :  deities,  67,  71,  74,  103,  104, 
106,  256,  294-5;  spiritualized  as 
feminine,  103,  106. 

Epulum  Jovis  :  see  Jupiter. 

Equirria,  44-6,  330-1. 

Esquiline  :  cults,  228  ;  divisions, 
266  ;  temples,  38. 

Etruscans :  influence  on  Roman 
religion,  171-2,  185-6,  200,  219- 
20,  222-3,  229>  234~5>  338-40  5 
trias,  218,  220,  229,  235,  239. 

Evil  spirits :  expulsion,  40-1,  43, 
107;  human  scapegoat,  40- 1, 46-9. 

Fairs,  253. 

Fasti :  see  Calendar ;  Ovid's,  see 
Ovid. 

Fauna,  103. 

Faunalia,  255,  256-8. 

Faunus,  103, 257-8 ;  connexion  with 
Lupercalia,  257-8,  262,  312-3 ; 
with  Pan,  258,  259,  313  ;  deriva- 
tion of  name,  258-9 ;  festival, 
256  8;  functions,  80,  261-3,  278 ; 
multiplicity,  259-60,  313  ;  origin, 
257-8,  259,  261,  263-5;  temples, 
257-8,  278,  302 ;  woodland  char- 
acter, 260-1. 

Favonius,  258,  259,  264  ;  Feb.  7th. 
277,  299. 

February,  3,  4,  6,  7 ;  character,  6, 
66,  299;  festivals,  3,  6,  33,  298- 
331  ;  origin  of  name,  6,  298. 

Feralia,  10,  107,  306,  309-10. 

Feretrius :  see  Jupiter. 

Feriae  Latinae,  95-7,  227-8,  335. 

Feriae  Sementivae,  294-6. 

Feronia,  199,  252-4  ;  temple,  253. 

Fertility:  customs  to  produce,  94-5, 
104,  178-9,  262,  302,  311,  315, 
318-21. 

Festivals,  15,  18-9,  44,  336 ;  agricul- 
tural, 3,  71,  79-82,  85-8,  88-91, 
113-4,  124-8,  145-54,  204-6,206- 
9,  212-4,  256-8,  268  73,  324-7, 
335  ;  of  curiae,  16,  71-2,  219, 
302  6,  335;  domestic,  107,  306- 
10 ;  harvest,  124-8,  145-54,  189- 
90,  I95-6,  2°7-9,  2i2-4,  243-4, 
294-6 ;  marked  in  calendars,  15-6 ; 
men's,  102-3, 142, 194;  of  monies, 


A  a  2 


356 


INDEX    OF    SUBJECTS 


16,  265-7,  335  ;  moveable,  15,  95, 
124,  255-6,  277,  279,  294,  303 ; 
pagi,  16,  257,  294-6,  335;  pastoral, 
96-7 ;  patrician,  68  (n.  2),  70 ; 
plebeian,  44,  50-1,  68,  70,  92,  163, 
I7It  253;  of  sacella,  16,  111-20, 
335  ;  survival  of,  127-8,  312,  321 ; 
times  of,  7,  59,  70,  169-70,  174, 
189,  256,  290 ;  transition  from 
rustic  to  urban :  see  Religion ; 
women's,  38,  67-8,  102-3,  142, 
148,  154-6,  178-9,  255-6,  291. 

Fetiales,  230-1 ;  declaration  of  war, 
134,  230  ;  lapis  silex,  230-1. 

Fidenates  :  legends  about,  174,  175, 
177,  178. 

Fides,  237  ;  festival,  237  8. 

Fig-tree  of  Rumirui,  310,  334. 

Fire:  deities,  189,  209-10;  sacred 
fire  of  Vesta  :  see  Vesta. 

Firstfruits :  gathering.  151-3;  offer- 
ing, 195,  21 1-2. 

Fisovius  Sancius :  see  Fisus. 

Fisus,  137,  139. 

Flamines,  35,  288,  335,  342  3;  anti- 
quity of  deity  proved  by,  92,  187, 
201,  237;  Flamen  Carmentalis, 
292;  Flamen  curiae,  304;  Flamen 
Dialis,86-8, 204. 221, 313 ;  Flamen 
Floralis,  92;  Flamen  Furinalis, 
187  ;  Flamen  Martialis,  237,  323  ; 
Flamen  Palalualis,  267  ;  Flamen 
Pomonalis,  201 ;  Flamen  Portu- 
nalis,  202;  Flamen  Quirinalis,  89, 
209,  237,  276,  333,  334 ;  Flamen 
Volcanalis,  123.  210;  Flamen  Vol- 
turnalis,  214 ;  Flaminica  Dialis, 
56  (n.s),  112,  115,  I46,  149,  151, 
153,  221 ;  representative  of  sons 
of  the  family,  36,  147,  288,  334. 

Flora,  92  3,  240,  324  ;  festivals,  91- 
5;  functions,  67,  93,  94;  temples, 
92,  202,  324. 

Floralia,  91-5;  haiea  and  goats 
loosed  in  Circus  Maximus,  94. 

Fons  (or  Fontus),  240-1,  258  ;  tem- 
ple, 341. 

Fontinalia,  240-1. 

Fordicidia,  71-2,  83,  243;  character, 
66,  115,  150;  share  of  Vestal  Vir- 
gins in,  71,  83,  115,  150. 

Fornacalia,  302-6,  335. 

Fors  Fortuna  :  see  Fortuna. 
•7  Fortuna,  67  ;  connexion  with  Jupi- 
ter, 166, 168,  223-5;  with  Nortia, 


171-2  ;  with  Servius  Tullius,  68,^ 
156  7,  162,  171-^;  explained  as*" 
dawn-goddess,  164-6 ;  explained 
as  moon-goddess,  1 68-9 ;  explained 
as  sun-goddess,  168-71;  festivals, 
67-9  ;  161-72 ;  Fors,  124,  161-3, 
340;  functions,  -167-8,  *i7o-i  ; 
huiusce  diei,  164-5,  343  ;  origin  of 
name,  163-4,  166-7;  Primigenia, 
72,  124, 165-6,  167-8,  223^4,  254  ; 
statues,  156-7,  339  ;  symbols,  169, 
170-1 ;  te"mpies.  68,  72,  124,  156- 
7,  161-2,  166,  339,  343;  Virilis, 
68 ;  women  especially  worship, 
167-8 ;  worshipped  at  Praeneste, 
72,  124,  166,  168,  223. 
Forum  :  meeting  of  curiae  in,  305, 
306;  temples,  271,  273-4.  296, 

339 
Forum  Boarium :  Aedes  Herculis, 

193 ;  temples,  154,  156-7,  339. 
Forum  Olitorium  :  temple,  302. 
Foxes,  78 ;  loosed  at  Cerealia,  77-9 ; 

94. 
Fratres  Arvales,  42  ;  Acta  Fratrum 

Arvalium.  17,  125;  calendar,  12; 

decline  of,  184-5,  343  ;  ritual  of, 

48,  74,  92  3,  105,  125,  127,  136, 

240-1.  271,  282. 
Freedwomen :  worship  of  Feronia, 

253- 
Furiae :    confusion   with   Furrina, 

187,  188. 

Furrina  (or  Furina),  187-8. 
Furrinalia,  173,  187-8. 

Gaia  Caecilia,  141. 

Games  (ludi),  15,  50  ;  Apollinares, 
173,  179-80;  Cereales,  72-3;  com- 
pitales,  279-80  ;  Florae,  91-5  ; 
horse  races,  44-5,  58,  91,  180, 
208,  242,  245-6,  248-9  ;  Megale- 
siaci,  69-71  ;  plebeii,  180,  217, 
252,  253;  Romani,  215,  216-7, 
252 ;  saeculares,  182. 

Gates :  see  Porta. 

Geese  :  sacred  to  Juno,  129-30. 

Genita  Mana,  101. 

Ghosts  :  purification  of  house  from, 
100, 109-10, 131 ;  classification  of, 
108-9. 

Gods :  see  Deities. 

Guilds,  62,  121 ;  tibicines,  157-8. 

Harawara,  84. 


INDEX    OF    SUBJECTS 


357 


Hares  :  loosed  at  Floralia,  94. 

Harvest,  154,  189;  customs,  177-8, 
245-6 ;  festivals,  124-8,  153-4, 
189-90,  195-6,  207-9. 

Healing  deities,  104-5,  J8°>  I9I» 
278. 

Heimdal :  equation  with  Janus,  286. 

Hephaestus,  123. 

Hercules  :  connexion  with  Dius 
Fidius  or  Semo  Sancus,  I37--9, 
142-4;  with  Genius.  143-4, 194-5, 
196,  337 ;  with  Juno,  142-4 ; 
with  Mars,  194-5,  196 ;  coupled 
with  Diana,  181,  186;  Invictus, 
201;  legends,  102,  112,  138,  193, 
196-7  ;  representative  of  male 
principle,  103,  143,  194  ;  temples, 
135,  201;  Victor,  138;  worship, 
193-7  5  worship  confined  to  men, 
loa,  103,  142,  194. 

Hermes,  120-1  ;  connexion  with 
Mercury,  iai,  186. 

Hirpi  Sorani  :  rites  at  Soracte,  84, 

317- 

Horatius  :  legend,  238-9. 
Horses  :  connexion  of  Census  with, 

207-8  ;  of  Mars  with,  330  ;  decked 

with  flowers,  207-8 ;  heads  decked 

with  cakes,  242,  244. 
Horta  Quirini,  324. 

Ides,  8  ;  sacred  to  Jupiter,  8,   10, 

120,  157,  198,  215,  241. 
Iguvium  :  inscription  found  at,  17, 

II4,   127,   137,    139,   176,  231. 

Images  and  statue*  ef  gods,  81,  141, 

156-7,  200,  201,  218,  228,  239. 
Indigitamenta,  71, 191,192,274,341. 
Indigites,  192. 
Inuus,  312-3. 
Isis  worship,  252. 

January,  5-7  ;  character,  6,  33,  277  ; 
consuls  enter  office  in,  5,  95,  278  ; 
festivals,  6,  277-97 »  origin  of 
name,  6,  7,  33,  99. 

Janus,  270 ;  connexion  with  Cardea, 
131-2  ;  with  January,  6,  33,  99  ; 
with  Saturnus,  270 ;  with  tigil- 
lum  sororium,  238-9;  with  Vesta, 
282-3,  287-8,  334-5  ;  cult-titles, 
289-90;  geminus,  286;  god  of 
entrances,  282-3,  286-9,  335,  337  ; 
origin  of  cult,  282-9  >  ^«'x  8ac* 
rorum  connected  with  worship 


of.  282,  288,  334-5  ;  temples,  204, 
270. 

July,  2,  3.  173;  festivals,  174-88. 

June:  character,  6,  33;  festivals, 
130-72  ;  origin  of  name,  6,  99- 
loo  ;  129-30. 

Juno,  312  ;  Caprotina,  178  ;  con- 
nexion with  Boiia  Dea,  142 ; 
with  Hercules,  142-4 ;  with  June, 
99-100,  129 ;  with  Jupiter,  134, 
218,  221,  223-5  >  with  Mars,  37-8, 
133-4  »  with  tigillum  sororium, 
238-9 ;  cult  at  Praeneste,  166, 
224  ;  Curitis,  223,  239 ;  festivals, 
174,  178-9 ;  Kalends  sacred  to, 
8,  38,  129,  239,  241  ;  Lucina,  38, 
105,  156;  Moneta,  129  30  ;  one 
of  Etruscan  trias,  218,  220,  229, 
235, 339 ;  representative  of  female 
principle,  38,  141,  143,  178,  221, 
321  (n.  i),  337 ;  Sospita,  302 ; 
temples,  38,  157-8,  215,  216-7, 
302,  326-7. 

Jupiter,  97,220  1,313  ;  Capitolinus, 
97,  158 ;  cella  Jovis,  217  ;  con- 
nexion with  Dius  Fidius  or  Semo 
Sancus,  138-41,  221  ;  with  For- 
tuna,  166, 168,  223-5;  with  Juno, 
134,  218,  221,  223-5  ;  with 
Mercurius.  120  ;  with  Terminus, 
326-7  ;  with  wine,  55,  88,  240  ; 
Elicius,  232,  233 ;  epulum  Jovis, 
215,  216,  217-20,  233-4,  253; 
Fagutalis,  228 ;  Feretrius,  229-30, 
232,  334J  festivals,  85-8,  157-9, 
174,  216-20,  375,  338;  Fulgur, 
239  ;  functions,  55,  88,  97,  141, 
322,  229-30,  232, 326 ;  Ides  sacred 
to,  8,  10,  120,  157,  198,  215,  241  ; 
Indiges,  192  ;  Invictus,  158 ; 
Latiaris,  97,  198,  227-8 ;  Liber, 
55,  88 ;  Lucetius,  222 ;  one  of 
Etruscan  trias,  218,  220,  229, 235, 
339  ;  Puer,  cult  at  Praeneste,  166, 
224-7  ;  stones  connected  with, 
230-3,  234  ;  temples,  95-6, 157-8, 
315,  216-7,  228,  229,  233,  326-7, 
339  >  Viminius,  229  ;  worship  in 
groves,  183,  227  ;  worship  in 
Italy,  221-3  i  worship  on  hills, 
95,  222,  227,  234. 

Juturna,  293  ;  temple,  341. 

Kalends,  8  ;  sacred  to  Juno,  8,  38  ; 
129,  239,  241. 


358 


INDEX    OF    SUBJECTS 


Kings,  36,  63,  282 ;  represented  by 
Pontifex  Maximus,  147.  288  ; 
represented  by  Rex  sacrorum,  8, 
213,  282,  288. 

Lapis  :  see  Stones. 

Larentalia,  275-6. 

Larentia :  see  Acca  Larentia. 

L:ires,  136,  309,  337  ;  compitales  or 

domestic!,    101,   338;  praestites, 

100  -i,  335. 

Latin  Festival :  see  Feriae  Latinae. 
Latins,  common  worship  of  Romans 

and,  95-7,  198  9,  335. 
Latona,  coupled  with  Apollo,  181, 

1 86,  200. 

Laurel,  83  ;  sacred  to  Mars,  35-6. 
Lectisternium,  180-1,  186.  200,273  ; 

connexion  with  epulumJovis.2i8. 
Lemuria,  100,  106-10,  131,  174,  290. 
Leucothea,  154. 
Liber,   312,   338 ;   connexion   with 

Dionysus,  54-5,  74>  88. 
Libera,  74. 
Liberalia,  54-6 ;  cakes  used  at,  53-4, 

55- 

Litania  Maior,  91,  127. 

Lucaria,  15  ^n.  i),  173,  174,  182-5, 
186-7. 

Luceres.  185. 

Ludi :  see  Games. 

Lupercal,  310-1,  318. 

Lupercalia,  298,  299,  310-21 ;  deity 
of,  257-8,  262,  312-3;  sacrifices 
at,  101,  311,  312-4 ;  salt-cake 
used,  no,  115,  311 ;  whipping  to 
produce  fertility,  104,  179,  262, 
302,  311,  315,  318-21. 

Luperci,  311,  312-3,  319-20;  deriva- 
tion of  name,  311,  317. 

Lupercus,  311,  312. 

Lupines,  94. 

Lustrations.  68,  83-5,  298 ;  aedes 
Vestae,  148-9, 151-4  ;  Argei,  100, 
113-4,  115,  119;  arms,  58-9,  248- 
9, 250  i ;  bound- beating,  1 14, 125- 
8,  304.  319;  crops,  100,  114,  124- 
8,  154  ;  ghosts,  100  ;  Lupercalia, 
315-6,  319-21;  people,  175-6; 
processions,  in,  113-4,  125-6, 
3355  rites,  299-302;  sheep,  8t ; 
shields,  58-9,  248,  250  ;  trumpets, 
63-4,  "3- 

Magna  Mater  Idaea:  festival,  67,69- 
71;  introduction  into  Rome,  67, 


69-70,  102,  342  ;  stone  represent- 
ing, 69-70,  342  ;  temple,  70. 

Maia,  98-100 ;  connexion  with  Bona 
Dea,  99,  100,  123,  129 ;  with  Mer- 
curius,  98-9,  120 ;  with  Volcanus, 
123,  210. 

Mamuralia,  45-50. 

Mamurius :  expulsion  of  Mamurius 
Veturius.  40-1,  46-9;  festival,  44- 
50  ;  smith,  39,  45-6  ;  variant  for 
Mars,  39,  41,  45. 

Manes,  108,  300,  308. 

March,  2,  3 ;  beginning  of  year,  5, 
33,  38  ;  connexion  with  Mars,  33- 
5,  48,  64-5,  99  ;  festivals,  5,  35- 
65  ;  New  Year's  Day,  5,  35-43* 
278  ;  origin  of  name,  33,  99. 

Marcus  Fulvius  Nobilior,  n. 

Market  days,  8. 

Marriages,  293  ;  customs,  142  ;  ill- 
omened  in  March  and  May,  60, 67, 
loo,  109,  293 ;  prohibited,  146, 
308. 

Mars,  53,  60,  313  ;  birthday,  5,  36- 
8,  60 ;  comparison  with  Apollo, 
39  40  ;  connexion  with  Hercules, 
194-5,  196 ;  with  Juno,  37-8, 
133-4;  with  March,  33-5,  48, 
•  64-5,  99 ;  with  Minerva,  53,  59- 
60,  62 ;  with  Nerio,  60-2,  186 ; 
with  Quirinus,  322-3;  withRobi- 
gus,  89,  324  ;  with  Romulus,  33, 
37  in.  3)  5  with  Silvanus,  55,  194  ; 
festivals,  44-6,  57-63, 123,241-50; 
29°,  313.  330-1 ;  functions,  34-5, 
41,  43,  64-5,  89,  248-9,  250,  262  ; 
god  of  powers  of  vegetation  and 
reproduction,  34-5  ;  41,  48-9,  64, 
126-7,  196 ;  Greek  influence,  35, 
37 ;  laurel  sacred  to,  35-6 ;  origin, 
34-5,  64;  priests:  see  Salii ;  Sac- 
rarium  Martis,  39,  44,  324,  335  ; 
shields :  see  Ancilia ;  temples,  133- 
4,  232;  war-god,  126,  207,  248, 
249. 

Mater  Larum,  240. 

Mater  Matuta,  154-6,  165. 

Matralia,  154-6,  165. 

Matronalia,  38. 

May,  2,  3  ;  character,  6,  33,  100 ; 
festivals,  33,  98-128 ;  origin  of 
name,  6,  33,  98-100. 

Meals :  see  also  Epulum  Jovis  ;  sac- 
rificial, 81,96-7.  194,  218-20.  308, 
309- 


INDEX    OF    SUBJECTS 


359 


Meditrinalia,  236,  239-40. 

Megalesia,  69-71. 

Men  :  exclusion  from  cults,  102-3, 
142,  256 ;  oaths  of,  138-9,  142. 

Mens,  145. 

Mercurius :  connexion  with  Hermes, 
121,  186 ;  with  Jupiter,  120 ;  with 
Maia,  98  9,  120;  coupled  with 
Neptunus,  181,  186;  god  of  trade, 
121  ;  temples,  121,  339. 

Mildew :  see  Rust. 

Minerva :  connexion  with  Mars, 
53>  59-6o,  62 ;  with  Nerio ;  59-62 ; 
festivals,  59,  62,  158 ;  goddess  of 
trumpet  players,  62,  158 ;  nail 
driven  into  cella  of,  234-5  ;  one 
of  Etruscan  trias,  218,  220,  229, 
235,  339  5  temples,  59, 157-8,  215, 
216-7.  326-7,  339. 

Mola  salsa :  see  Salt-cake. 

Monies,   266-7  5     festivals    of,    16, 

265-7,  335- 
Months,  5-7,  33-4;  divisions.  7-8; 

lunar,  7  ;  names,  5-7,  33-4,  99- 

100;  number  of  days,  2-3;  solar,  i. 
Mundus,  211-2  ;  open,  211-2,  239, 

252. 
Myrtle,  68 ;  excluded  from  temple 

ofBonaDea.  103-4. 

Nails  driven  into  temples,  172,  217, 

234-5- 

Nemesis,  170. 

Neptunalia,  173,  185-7. 

Neptunus,  185-7  i  connexion  with 
Poseidon,  185,  186,  187  ;  with 
Salacia,  186 ;  coupled  with  Mer- 
curius, 181,  186;  functions,  185, 
187. 

Nerio,  134-5 ;  connexion  with  Mars, 
60-2,  186  ;  with  Minerva,  59-62. 

Nerthus,  117. 

New  Year :  see  March. 

Nones,  7,  8;  Nonae  Caprotinae,  174, 

175,  !78-9. 

Nortia,  235 ;  connexion  with  For- 
tuna.  171  2. 

November :  character,  252  ;  festi- 
vals, 252-4. 

Numa :  connexion  with  calendar, 
4»  335-6;  legends,  262-3,  278. 

Numbers  :  lucky  and  unlucky,  3. 

Oak  of  Jupiter  Feretrius,  229,  232, 
334- 


Oaths,  138  9,  142,  231,  297,  327  ; 
Jupiter's  connexion  with,  139, 
229-30.  326  ;  taken  at  Ara  Maxi- 
ma, 138-9. 

Octaeteris  cycle,  2-3. 

October,  2,  3 ;  character,  236-7  ; 
festivals,  237-51. 

October-horse,  45,  58,  241-50;  blood 
kept  by  Vestal  Virgins,  83,  150, 
243,  247  ;  corn-spirit  represented 
by,  83,  244-8 ;  races,  45,  58.  242, 
245-6;  sacrifice  of,  83.  241-2. 

Opalia,  255,  273-4. 

Opeconsivia,  115,  150,  189,  212-4, 
290. 

Ops,  74,  338  ;  connexion  with  Con- 
sus,  212-3;  with  Saturnus,  212, 
273-4 !  Consiva,  212 ;  festival, 
115,  150,  212-4,  273-4;  Opifera, 
210 ;  temple,  273-4. 

Oracles :  Faunus,  262-3. 

Oscilla  :  see  Puppets. 

Ovid :  Fasti,  6-7,  13,  14,  36-7,  173, 
236  7. 

Paganalia,  16,  294-6,  335,  338. 

Pagus,  257,  294,  335  ;  festivals,  16, 
257,  294-6,  335,  338. 

Palatine:  divisions,  266;  Lupercal : 
see  Lupercal ;  mundus  :  see  Mun- 
dus ;  rites  celebrated,  276,  310-2, 
318-9 ;  temples,  70,  180  (n.  4,, 
182  ;  union  with  Subura,  247. 

Palatua,  267. 

Pales,  67,  80,  267  ;  festival,  79-85 ; 
offerings,  81,  103. 

Pan  :  connexion  with  Faunus,  258, 

259)  3i3- 
Parentalia,     210,     276,     299,    300, 

306-10,  335. 
Parilia,  66,   79-85,    no,   243.   247  ; 

character,  66,  115,  150;  share  of 

Vestal  Virgins  in,  71,  83,  115. 
Penates,  337. 
Persephone,  75. 
Picumnus,  201. 
Pinarii,  193. 
Plebeians  :  festivals,   44,  50-1,  68, 

70,  92,    163,    171,    253  ;    quarter, 

75,     77  5    secession,     53,     75-7 ; 

temples,  75-6,  92,  199. 
Pomona,  201. 
Pons  sublicius,  Argei  thrown  from, 

112,  113-4. 
Pontifices,     114;     decline,    3423; 


360 


INDEX    OF    SUBJECTS 


growing  importance.  339-41  ; 
influence  on  religion,  190-1,  192, 
213,  214,  257-8,  341  ;  Pontifex 
Maximus,  147,  288  ;  priestesses, 
105-6 ;  share  in  festivals,  112, 
114,  276. 

Poplifugia,  7,  15  (n.  i),  173,  174-6, 
179.  183,  328. 

Porta  :  Agonensis,  281  ;  Capena, 
J33j  232>  Carmentalis,  180  ^n.  3), 
290,  291,  293  ;  Fontinalis,  240 ; 
Sanqualis,  135,  140 ;  Trigemina, 
201. 

Portunalia,  189,  202-4. 

Portunus,  202-4,  2I4- 

Poseidon :  connexion  with  Neptu- 
nus,  185,  186,  187  ;  Hippios,  208. 

Potit:i,  193. 

Praeneste,  254  ;  cult  of  Fortuna, 
72,  124.  166, 168,  223-4,  254  ;  cult 
of  Jupiter  Puer,  166,  224-7  > 
foreign  influence,  166,  227. 

Prayers,  81-2,  89-90,  126-7,  133, 
155,  184,  191,  295,  308,  346. 

Presents  given  at  festivals,  38,  272, 
278. 

Priests :  see  Pontifices. 

Primig-inia  :  see  Fortuna. 

Proserpina,  212. 

Prostitutes,  festival  of,  93. 

Punic  Wars,  19,69-71,  179;  insti- 
tution of  festivals  and  temples 
due  to,  19,  69,  179,  341,  342. 

Puppets :  Argfi  thrown  into  Tiber, 
111-20;  oscilla  hung  on  trees, 
96,  r  1 6,  296. 

Purification:  see  Lustration. 

Pythagoreans,  no. 

Quinctilis :  see  July. 

Quinquatrus,  45,57-62,  290;  minus- 

culae,  157-9. 
Q -urinal,  237,  281,  322  ;    cults,  229, 

322-4 ;    temples,    124,    135,    136, 

141,  190-1,  322,  324. 
Quirinalia,  304-5,  322-4. 
Quirinus,  305,  322-4  ;  temples,  191, 

322,  323. 
Quirites,  322. 

Races  :  see  Games. 

Regia,  190,  213,  220,  282,  335; 
laurel  fixed  on,  5,  35  ;  sacrarium 
Martis  in,  39,  44,  324,  335  ;  sacra- 
rium Opis  in,  213. 


Regifugium,  174,  327-30,  331. 
Religion,  1  8-2OJ  authorities^  332-3; 
.based  dncuftC  20,  333-4.;  daemo- 
nistic  character,  7*4,  io67i37,  139, 

213,  221-2,  226-7,  232-3,  295,  313; 

decline,   341-3  ; 


encet  171-2,  210-20,  229,  234-5  ', 


Greek  intiu- 


.  191,   i94? 

248-9,273^3^2^^43;  influence  on 
characTer7344-9  ;  Oriental  influ- 
ence, 19,  252  ;  pontifices'  influ- 
ence, 190-1,  192,  213,  2i£,  257-8, 
341  ;  reaction  against  foreign 
'  340-1,  ^^jrepTesenta; 

tive  of  "stagea  uf  growlh,  334-8  ; 
1-eTival  by  Augustus:  see  Augustus; 
transition  from  aniconicto  iconic, 
219-20,  229,  233-4  :  transition 
from  rustic  to  urbant  oo,  91,  103, 
tqJ3^?  1  8-50*^53^8/279'  80,  294. 

Reproduction,  spirit  fiee"Cofn-spirit. 

Rex  sacrorum,  8,  335  ;  connexion 
with  Janus  worship,  282,  288, 
334-5  >  representative  of  king, 
8,  213,  282,  288  ;  representative 
of  head  of  household,  213,  282, 
288,  334. 

Robigalia,  66,  88-91. 

Robigus,  324,  338  ;  connexion  with 
Mars,  89,  324  ;  festival,  88-91. 

Romulus,  4  ;  connexion  with  Mars, 
33»  37  (n-  3)  J  with  Quirinus,  322  ; 
legends,  175-6,  229,  310. 

Rust,  red,  88-9,  91. 

Sabine  women,  legend.  178,  208-9. 

Sacella  Argeorum,  16,  56-7,  111-2, 

335  »  procession  round,  56,   in, 

"3-4-  335- 

Sacrifices,  51.  54,  56,  62,  86,  209, 
267,  313-4  ;  bean  meal  and  lard, 
T3°>  *33  ;  boar,  210;  bull,  126; 
cakes,  53-5,  155,  161,  295,  304  ; 
cereals,  292-3  ;  cheese,  96,  228  ; 
cow,  71  ;  dog,  89-91,  101,  209, 
311,  312,  314  ;  fig-tree,  178  ;  fish, 
209-10  ;  flight  after,  176,  328, 
329-30  ;  goat,  122,  311,  312,  314  ; 
heifer,  96,  179.  193,  217,  228  ; 
honey,  309,  325;  horse,  241-2; 
human,  relics  of,  112,  115,  116-7, 
"9>  315;  kid,  257;  lamb,  64, 
i°5>  325  J  milk>  81,  96,  103,  228, 


INDEX    OF    SUBJECTS 


361 


309 ;  millet,  81  ;  oil,  309 ;  pig, 
105,  126,  256,  272,  325;  proces- 
sion of  victims,  126  ;  ram,  282  ; 
red  calf,  210  ;  sacrificial  meal,  81, 
96-7,  194,  228;  salt-cake  (mola 
salsa),  no,  115,  148,  311  ;  sheep, 
89,  96,  126 ;  sow,  295  ;  water, 
309  ;  wine,  87,  103,  257,  309,  325. 

Salacia,  186. 

Salii,  36,  39-43,  58,  194,  250,  331, 
334  ;  Agonenses,  41,  54,  281, 323  \ 
Carmen  Saliare,  39,  41,  45,  49, 
289 ;  Collini,  41,  54,  320,  323 ; 
mansiones  Saliorum,  41,  44 ; 
number,  41,  42 ;  Palatini,  41, 
320,  323  ;  shields  :  see  Ancilia  ; 
skins  worn  by,  47-8,  49-50. 

Salt-cake  (mola  salsa) :  made  by 
Vestal  Virgins,  uo-i,  115,  148, 
r49>  I53i  205,  3"  ?  used  at  Ides 
of  September,  no,  115,  311  ;  used 
at  Lupercalia,  no,  115,  311 ;  used 
at  Vestalia,  no,  115,  148,  311. 

Salus,  190-1,  343. 

Sancus  :  see  Semo  Sancua. 

Saturnalia,  15, 177,  255,  268-73,335. 

Saturn  us,  120,  268-71  ;  connexion 
with  Ops  Consiva,  212,  273-4  > 
festival,  268-73;  functions,  270, 
338 ;  temples,  71,  273-4,  339- 

Scapegoat,  176 ;  Mamurius  Vetu- 
rius,  40-1,  46-9. 

Seianus :  owner  of  statue  of  For- 
tuna,  156-7,  171. 

Semo  Sancus,  160,  327  ;  connexion 
with  Dius  Fidius,  136-8,  144 ; 
functions,  139-41. 

Semones,  136. 

Senate,  134. 

September:  characterr2i5~6;  festi- 
vals, 215-35. 

Septimontium,  16,  265-7,  335. 

Servius  Tullius,  280 ;  connexion 
with  Fortuna,  68,  156-7,  162, 
171-2,  339  ;  Etruscan  origin,  157, 
171  ;  founder  of  temples,  68,  162, 

198-9,  339- 

Sextilis :  see  August. 

Sheep :  fold  decorated,  80-1  ;  lus- 
tration, 81  ;  sacrifice,  89,  96,  126. 

Sibylline  books,  68,  69,  74,  92,  93, 
145,  *79>  181. 

Silvanus,  55,  103,  258,  261,  262 ; 
connexion  with  Mars,  55,  194. 

Sinus,  90. 


Slaves,  155  ;  deities  of,  199,  253-4  ; 

festivals  open  to,  38, 162-3,  J78-9, 

193,    194,    199-200,   272-3,    280; 

manumissions,  253-4. 
Snakes,  104. 
Sol  Indiges,  191-3. 
Soranus,  160  ;  Apollo,  84,  181. 
Sosigenes,  4. 
Spells,  80-1,  83,  84,  96, 109-10,  150, 

243,   279-80,   296,   301,   309-10; 

rain,  119-20,  232-3. 
Spirits :  dead,  see  Ghosts ;  evil,  see 

Evil  spirits. 
Statues :  see  Images. 
Stones,    sacred,    140 ;    lapis    silex, 

230-2  ;  manalis,  211,  232-3  ;  oath 

per   lovem    lapidem,     138,   231 ; 

representing  Magna  Mater  Idaea, 

69  70,    342 ;     Terminus,    230-1, 

326-7,  334- 
Strenia,  278. 

Stultorum  feriae,  304-6,  322. 
Subura,  247,  266. 
Summanalia,  161. 
Summanus,  160-1.  241. 
Sun,  84  ;  deities  of,  35,  168-70,  191- 

3,  283-4  i  symbols  of,  139,  169-70. 
Supplicatio,  191. 

Tacita,  210,  309-10. 

Tanaquil,  141. 

Tarquinii,  75-6,  121,  280,  327-8; 
worships  introduced  by,  96,  181. 

Tellus,  67,  71,  74,  294  5  ;  festivals, 
71-2,  294-6  ;  sacrifices,  71,  295. 

Tempestates,  temple,  341. 

Temples,  339-43 ;  of  Aesculapius  in 
insula,  278,  340;  Apollo  at  Ac- 
tium,  182 ;  Apollo  in  Flaminian 
fields,  180  ;  Apollo  Palatinus  on 
the  Palatine,  180  (n.4),  182;  Bel- 
lona  in  Circo  Flaminio,  134 ;  Bona 
Dea  on  the  Aventine,  101-5 ; 
Carmenta  at  Porta  Carmentalis, 
291,  293;  Castor  and  Pollux  ad 
Forum,  296 ;  Castor  and  Pollux  in 
Circo  Flaminio,  202 ;  Ceres,  Liber, 
and  Libera  on  the  Aventine,  74-6, 
339  i  Census  on  the  Aventine, 
206,  267  ;  Diana  on  the  Aventine, 
198-200,  339  ;  Dius  Fidius  on  the 
Quirinal,  135,  136,  141  ;  Faunus 
in  insula,  257-8,  278  ;  Feronia  at 
Tarracina,  253  ;  Flora  ad  Circum 
Maximum,  92,  202 ;  Flora  or 


362 


INDEX    OF    SUBJECTS 


Horta  QuirSni  on  Quirinal,  324; 
ForsFortuna  trans  Tiberim,  161- 
2i  339  5  Fortuna  in  Foro  Boario, 
156-7,  339;  Fortuna  HuiusceDiei, 
l65>  343  >  Fortuna  Primigenia  at 
Praeneste,  72 ;  Fortuna  Primi- 
genia on  the  Quirinal,  124 ;  For- 
tuna Virilis,  68  ;  Hercules  near 
the  Circus  Flaminius,  135  ;  Her- 
cules Invictus  ad  portam  trigemi- 
nain.  201  ;  Janus  ad  Theatrum 
Marcelli,  204 ;  Juno  Lucina  on 
the  Esquiline,  38 ;  Juno  Moneta 
in  arce,  129-30 ;  Juno  Sospita  ad 
Forum  Olitorium,  302  ;  Jupiter, 
Juno,  and  Minerva  in  Capitolio, 
157-8,  215,  216-7,  326-7,  339; 
Jupiter  Elicius  under  the  Aven- 
tine,  232 ;  Jupiter  Feretrius  in 
Capitolio,  229  ;  Jupiter  Invictus, 
158;  Jupiter  Latiaris  on  the 
Alban  Mount,  95- 6,  228;  Juturna, 
341  ;  Magna  Mater  Idaea,  70 ; 
Mars  extra  Portam  Capenam,  133- 
4,  232 ;  Mater  Matuta  in  Foro 
Boario,  154 ;  Mens  in  Capitolio, 
145 ;  Mercurius,  121, 339;  Minerva 
on  the  Aventine,  59,  158;  Ops  ad 
Forum,  273-4  >  Quirinus  in  Colle, 
191,  322 ;  round,  193 ;  Salus  on 
the  Quirinal,  190-1  ;  Saturnus  ad 
Forum,  271,  273-4,  339;  Sum- 
manus  ad  Circum  Maximum,  160 ; 
Tempestates,  341 ;  Vediovis  in 
arce,  43 ;  Vediovis  in  insula,  122, 
277  ;  Vediovis  inter  duos  lucos, 
122  ;  Venus  ad  Circum  Maximum, 
204  ;  Venus  Erycina  in  Capitolio, 
85,  I45;  Venus  Verticordia,  68, 
343 ;  Victory  on  the  Palatine,  70  ; 
Volcanus  in  Circo  Flam  in  io,  211 ; 
Vortumnus  on  the  Aventine,  201, 

341- 

Terminalia,  4,  324-7,  335. 
Terminus,    324,     326-7 ;    festival, 

324-7  ;  stone,  230-1,  326-7,  334. 
Theatrum  Marcelli,  204. 
Tiber,  worship,  214. 
Tiber  island  :  temples,  122,  257-8, 

277,  278,  340. 
Tiberinus,  120,  303,  214. 
Tibicines :  see  Trumpets. 
Tigillum  sororium,  238-9. 
Tina  (or  Tinia),  222-3. 
Tirones,  56. 


Tithes:  offered  on  Ara  Maxima,  138 ; 

J95-7  !  offered  to  Hercules  Victor, 

138-9. 

Toga  virilis,  assumption  of,  56. 
Totemism,  84-5,  101,  231-2,  334. 
Treaties :    Dius   Fidius'  connexion 

with,   141 ;    Jupiter's  connexion 

with,  229-30,  326;  making,  229- 

30;   ratified  at  Ara  Maxima,  138. 
Tree-worship,  228-9,  232,  234. 
Tribuni :  celerum,  58-9  ;  militum, 

58 ;  plebis,  75. 
Trumpets,   63-4,    159 ;    lustration, 

63-4,  123 ;  players,  62,  157-9. 
Tubilustrium,  44,  45,  62-4,  123,  290; 

connexion    with    Minerva,    62 ; 

festival  of  Mars,  62,  290. 

Vediovis,  121-2,  160,  225,  277-8 ; 
connexion  with  Apollo,  122,  181, 
225,  277 ;  festivals,  43,  121-2, 
277-8  ;  temples,  43,  122,  277. 

Vegetation  spirit :  see  Corn-spirit. 

Veneralia.  67-9. 

Venus :  connexion  with  April,  67, 
69  ;  with  Fortuna,  68 ;  with  wine, 
86, 204 ;  Erycina,  85, 145 ;  festivals, 
167-8,  85-6 ;  functions,  67,  86 ; 
Greek  influence,  67,  69,  86 ; 
Mimnermia  (or  Meminia),  145  ; 
temples,  68,  85-6,  145,  204,  343  ; 
"Verticordia,  68-9,  343. 

Vesta  :  aedes,  148-9,  151-4,  335 ; 
connexion  with  Janus,  282-3, 
^287-8,  334-5;  festival,  145-54; 
functions,  150;  hearth-goddess, 
J47-8,  150,  282-3,  287-8,  334, 
337  ;  laurels  fixed  on  aedes,  5,  36, 
^53  5  penus  Vestae,  83,  148,  149- 
5°j  I53)  288  ;  origin  of  cult,  146-8, 
149,  282-3 ;  sacred  fire,  5,  35,  114, 
M7-8,  150-1,  153- 

Vestalia,  145-54;  character,  115, 
126,  154  ;  mourning  of  Flaminica 
Dialis.  115,  146,  149,  151,  153; 
salt-cake  used,  no,  115,  148. 

Vestal  Virgins,  36,  68-9,  306,  324, 
335  >  festivals  shared  in,  52,  57, 
71,  85,  112,  114-15,  150,  256; 
functions,  147,  149-51,  288;  re- 
presentative of  daughters  of 
family,  36,  in,  147,  149,  213,  256, 
288,  334  ;  salt-cake  made  by,  no- 
i,  115,  148,  149,  153,  205,  311. 

Vet<-hes,  94. 


INDEX    OF    SUBJECTS 


363 


Victory,  temple  of,  70. 

Viminal,  cults  on,  229. 

Vinalia,  10,  338;  connexion  with 
Jupiter,  85,  86-8,  338;  with 
Venus,  85-6,  204  ;  Priora,  85-8  ; 
Rustica,  10,  85,  86,  87,  189,  204-6. 

Vitulatio,  179. 

Volcanalia,  189,  209-11. 

Volcanus,  209-11  ;  connexion  with 
Maia,  123,  210 ;  festivals,  123, 
209-10;  functions,  123-4,  210 ; 
temple,  an. 

Volturnalia,  214. 

Volturnus.  214. 

Volupia,  274. 

Vortumnus,  201,  341. 

War:  conduct  of,  216;  declaration 
of,  134,  230  ;  gods  of,  126,  134-5, 
207,  248,  249. 

Water  :  deities  of,  187,  189. 

Weddings :  see  Marriages. 

Weeks :  eight  days,  7,  8. 

Wells  and  springs  :  sanctity,  240. 

Wheel  symbol,  161,  169-70. 


Wills:  sanctioned  by  Comitia  Cu- 
riata,  63,  123. 

Wine:  festivals,  85-8,  204-6,  236, 
239-40;  introduction  of  vine  into 
Italy,  88,  97,  236 ;  Jupiter's  con- 
nexion with,  55,  88,  240  ;  Venus' 
connexion  with,  86,  204;  vintage, 
236. 

Wolf :  corn  ;  see  Corn-spirit ;  sacred 
to  Mars,  31 1,  334. 

Women,  262 ;  deities  of,  38,  68,  102- 
3,  106,  155-6,  167-8,200-1,291-3; 
excluded  from  worship  of  Her- 
cules, 102, 103, 142, 194;  festivals, 
38,  67-8,  102-3,  142,  148,  154-6, 
178-9,  255-6,  291 ;  oaths,  142 ; 
rites  to  produce  fertility,  94-5, 
104,  178-9,  262,  302,  s'ti,  315, 
318-21. 

Woods,  importance  in  religion, 
183-4. 

Year:  beginning,  5-7,  35-6,  278; 
lunar,  1-3  ;  method  of  reckoning, 
1-4  ;  solar,  1-3. 


INDEX   OF   LATIN  WORDS 


Aedes,  135. 
Agone?  281. 
Agonia,  281. 
Amiculum      lunonis, 

179,  3ia,  321  (n.  i). 
Ancile,  38,  41,  42.  43, 

46,  58,  248,  250. 
Annare  perennare,  51. 
Annus,  i,  52. 
Aperio,  66. 
Argea,  56. 
Argei,  52,  56,  57,  in 

(n.4),  112, 113,118-9. 
Asylum,  122, 183  (n.  3), 

327- 

Augurium  Salutis,  190. 
Auspicatio  vindemiae, 

204,  205. 

Baculum,  64. 
Balineum,  67. 
Bidental,  140. 
Bidentes,  140. 
Bulla,  96  (n.  5). 

Caeli  templum,  141. 
Camella,  82  (n.  4). 
Caprificatio,  178  (n.  8). 
Cara     cognatio,     306, 

308. 

Cardo,  132. 
Carmen,  291. 
Carpentum,  291. 
Casnar,  119  (n.  i). 
Cerei,  272. 
Cerfia,  73. 
Cerfus,  73. 
Cerus,  73. 


Cingulum,  142. 

Februum,  6,   83,  298, 

Cippus,  319. 

301,  311,321- 

Clava,  64. 

Feriae,  8. 

Clavis,  203. 

Flamen,  36,  147. 

Clavus,  234,  235. 

Foculus,  55. 

Clypeus,  141. 

Focus,  242. 

Collegium,  157. 

Forda,  71. 

Columella,  134. 

Fornax,  306. 

Comitialis,  9. 

Fur,  187. 

Compitum,    279,   280, 

Furfare,  188. 

294. 

Furvus,  187. 

Condere,  207. 

Fuscus,  187. 

Covella,  8  (n.  i). 

Creare,  73. 

Genialis,  55. 

Creppi,  262,  318. 

Genius,  55. 

Curia,  16,  71,  303. 

Curio,  304. 

Hostia      praecidanea, 

Damiatrix,  105,  106. 
Damium,  105. 
Decumae,  195,  196. 
Decuria,  140. 
Dies   parentales,    107, 
306. 

Edepol,  297. 
Endotercisus,  10. 
Equorum  probatio,  216 
(n-  5). 

Fabariae  kalendae ,  130. 
Fanum,  135. 
Far,  304. 
Fari,  259. 
Fas  (or  Fastus),  8. 
Favere,  258. 
Februare,      188,     298 
(n.  i). 


301. 

Herbarium,  104. 
Horda,  71. 

Impius,  299. 
Incinctus,  309. 
Incubus,  262. 
Indiges,  192,  193. 
Indigitamenta,       191, 
192,  341. 

Janua,  6,  7,  282. 
Janus,  6,  282,  286,  287. 

Lapis          Capitolinus, 

230-1. 
Lapis     manalis,     211, 

232,  233. 

Lapis  silex,  230,  231. 
Larva,  108. 
La  u  re  a.  36. 


INDEX    OF    LATIN    WORDS 


365 


Leetisternium,        181, 

200,  218,  273. 
Lectus    genialis,    142, 

143- 

Lemur,  108,  109,  183. 
Lex  templi,  198. 
Liba,  53,  55,  155  (n.  7). 
Liberalis,  55. 
Litania  maior,  91,  127. 
Lituus,  64. 
Lucar,  183. 
Lucus,  183,  185. 
Ludi,  15. 
Lupus,  311. 
Lustratio.  58,  66,   175 

(n.8  ,  176,  301. 

LUX,  222. 

Maena,  209,  309. 
Mane,  156. 
Manes,  108,  109,  156. 
Maniae,  IX& 
Mansiones     Salioruin, 

4i,  44- 
Manus,  156. 
Matrimus,  42. 
Maturus,  156. 
Matuta,  156. 
Mecastor.  297. 
Me  dius  iiclius,  138. 
Me  hercule,  138. 
Mellarium,  103. 
Mercator,  xai. 
Minium,  218,  223. 
Minusculus,  158. 
Mola  salsa,    no,    149, 

155  (n-  7)»  3"- 
Moneta,  129,  130. 
Montanus,  267. 
Monies,  16,  266-7. 
Mundus,  21 1-2,  283. 
Musium,  240. 

Nefas,  299. 
Nefastus.  9,  151. 
Nemus,  183. 
Nodus       herculaneus, 

142. 

Numen,  34,  35,  183. 
Nundinae,  8,  270. 

Obnuntiatio,  343. 
Ocris  iisiu.s,  222. 


Off  a  penita,  247  (n.  i). 
Orbis,  139,  141. 
Oscilla,  96,  116,  296. 

Paganus,  267. 

Pagus,  16,  114,  257, 

294,  335- 

Palatuar.  80  (n.  3). 
Parentatio,    275,    276, 

306. 

Patrimus,  42. 
Pecuarius,  257. 
Penus,    148,    149,    150 

(n.  i),  153,  212,  213, 

288. 
Per  lovem  (lapidem), 

138,  230  (n.a),  231. 
Persillum,  202  ^n.  i). 
Piamen,  301. 
Pietas,  347-8. 
Pistrina,  304. 
Pomoerium,  133  (n.  3), 

134,  an,  302  (n.  i), 

319,  S2?- 

Pompa,  216  (n.  51. 
Pontifex,  114. 
Portus,  202,  203. 
Postriduanus,  9. 
Primigenia,  165,  223. 
Purgamentum,  301. 
Puteal,  140. 

Quadrata  (Roma),  211. 
QuandoRexCoinitiavit 

Fas,  10,  63. 
Quando  Stercus  Dela- 

t mil    Fas,    io>    146, 

149. 
Quiuquare,  58. 

Regia,  148. 

Religio,  298,  300,  347. 
Religiosus,  9,  151. 
Robigo,  78,  88,  89. 
Ros,  82  (n.^;. 

Sacella  Argeorum,  16, 

56,  in. 
Sacellum.  in,  112, 113, 

!3°,  135,  154- 
Sacer,  75,  174,  348. 
Sacra    Argeorum,    10, 

in. 


Sacrosanctitas,  75. 
Salax,  186. 
Salum,  186 
Sanqualis  avis,  139. 
Sapa,  82. 
Satio,  269. 
Sceptrum,  230. 
Serere.  269,  289. 
Sexagenaries  de  ponte, 

112,  116. 
Sigillaria,  272. 
Simulacrum,  57,   113, 

118. 

Solis  pulvinar.  191. 
Stolae  longae,  159. 
Strenae,  278. 
Strix,  132. 
Stultorum  feriae,  304, 

306. 

Suffimen,  83. 
Summanalia,  161. 

Tabularia,  269. 
Tibia,  63,  159. 
Tigillum  sororium, 

237,  238. 
Tiro,  56. 
Toga  libera,  56. 
Trabea,  41. 
Transvectio    equitum, 

133,  296  (n.  6  . 
Tribunus  celerum,  58, 

59- 

Tribunus  militum,  58. 
Tuba,  63,  64,  123. 
Tunica  picta,  41. 

Urfita,  139. 

Vegrandia  farra,  121. 
Vescus,  121. 
Vesta,  282. 
Vestal  is,  36. 
Vestigia     fugae,     176, 

183. 

Vicus,  280. 
Vindemia,  86,  88,  204, 

205,  236. 
Virga,  178. 
Visceratio,  179. 
Vitulatio,  179. 
Vitulus,  179. 
Votum,  346. 


INDEX  OF  LATIN  AUTHORS  QUOTED 


APPULEIUS, 

PAGE 

CICERO, 

PAGE 

de  Genio  Socratis,  15          . 

.     1  08 

de  Nat.  Deor.,  2.  27.  67   . 

287 

ARNOBITJS, 

2.  6l               .            . 

145 

adv.  Nationes,  3.  40          . 

•     73 

2.  68 

150 

„             7-  21 

.  312 

.    3.  20 

240 

„             7-  49 

.     70 

3-   46 

187 

AUGUSTINUS  (ST.), 

3-  48          . 

155 

de  Civ.  Lei,  2.  27      .         . 

•    93 

de  Divinatione,  i.  10 

1  60 

„          a.  29     . 

.  230 

„            i.  17.  30  » 

64 

ff          4-    8      . 

177,  274 

„                  I.   101 

262 

ii          4-  "      . 

167,  292 

„            2.  41 

166 

„          4-  23      • 

1  60,  326 

de  Legibus,  i.  14.  40 

299 

AUSONIUS,  de  Feriis,  9 

.  177 

2.  3.  8    . 

333 

„         a.  21.  54 

276 

a.  48      . 

308 

CAESAR,  Bell.  Gatt.,  6.  16   . 

117,  286 

de  Officiis,  3.  10       .         .         . 

322 

CALPURHIUS,  Ed.  T.  8  foil. 

.  263 

de  RepubL,  1.  16 

175 

CATO, 

„             2.   12         . 

208 

de  Re  Rustica,    83  .         . 

.  194 

Brutus,  14.  56 

292 

»             132  . 

.  218 

„       20.  78 

180 

»            J39  • 

.  184 

Ep.  ad  Att.,  i.  12    .         .         . 

256 

»            141  .- 

89,  126 

6.  i.  8       .         . 

it 

„            156  foil.    . 

.  105 

„            9.  9.  4       . 

54 

up.  Dionys.  a.  49     . 

•  137 

ii            13.52       . 

268 

op.  Priscian.  7.  337  .         . 

.  198 

M            15-25 

256 

CENSORINUS, 

ad  Fam.  12.  25 

54 

de  Die  Natali,  2.  20 

.     66 

ad  Q.  Fratr.,  2.  3.  a  . 

322 

„             20.  4 

•      3 

COLUMELLA, 

„                   20.  2 

•     97 

de  Re  Rustica,  a.  8.  a       .   255, 

271 

ClCEEO, 

„                  2.   12 

88 

de  Harusp.  Resp.,  12.  24  . 

.     70 

„             10.311      . 

170 

»               n-  37    • 

•  256 

„                   II.  2  .    178,  2I4, 

299 

pro  Roscio  Amer.,  35.  100  . 

112,    Il6 

„                  12.  4 

213 

in  Verrem,  i.  10.  31 

•  215 

CORNELIUS  NEPOS, 

de  Domo,  28.  74       .        . 

.  267 

Alticus,  20      .... 

229 

in  Pisonem,  4.  8               . 

•  279 

pro  Flacco,  38.  95    .        . 

.  308 

ENSIUS,  Fragm.,  5.  477 

2IO 

INDEX    OF    LATIN    AUTHOKS    QUOTED 


FESTUS  &  PAULUS*  (ed.  Muller).i>AGE 

FESTUS  &  PAULUS  (ed.  Muller)  .  PAG1; 

P.      2.  Aquaelicium       .         .  232 

326.  Thymelici  ludi  .        .  180 

5.  Ambarvales  hostiae  .  125 

333.  Scribonianum    .         .  140 

19.  Arniilustrium    .         .  250 

334.  Sexagenaries  de  ponte  1  1  1 

22.  Apellinem          .         .  180 

340.  Septimontium    .        .  265 

23.  Aureliam  familiam   .  191 

343.  Servorum  dies  .        .   199 

33.  Bellona            -  .        .  134 

348.  Summanalia      .        .  161 

45.  Catularia  porta  .        .    90 

Septimontium    .         .  266 

56.  Claudere    .        .        .  203 

374.  Vinalia       .         .         .85 

63.  Cingulum  .        .        .  142 

377.  Umbrae     ...  185 

64.  Corniscae  .        .        .  130 

Curiales  mensae         .  303 

GAIUS,  2.  101    .         .        .         .63 

68.  Damium    .        .        .  105 

GELLIUS,  A., 

Daps           .        .        .  218 

Noctes  Atticae,  4.  9.  5       .        .      9 

75.  Depontani        •  .        .112 

„                 5.  12   .    122,   1  86,  225 

85.  Fontinalia          .        .  240 

„             10.  15 

Februarius  mensis 

56,  no,  115,  313 

298,  321 

„             10.  24.  3  .         .  279 

87.  Fagutal      .        .        .  228 

„            ii.  6.  i     .        .  142 

92.  Feretrius   .        .    138,  230 

„                  12.  8.  2       .             .   2l8 

93.  Fornacalia          .        .  304 

»         13-  23 

97.  Gradivus   .        .        .37 

123,  186,  212 

119.  Larentalia          .        .  275 

„             16.  7         .         .     8a 

122.  Mater  Matuta    .        .  156 

„              16.  16.  4   .         .  291 

123.  Meditrinalia      .        .  240 

,,              18.  2.  ii   .          .     70 

128.  Ma  nal  is  lapis     .        .  211 

„             18.  7.  2     .         .  291 

150.  Marti  us  mensis  .        .      5 
154.  Mundus     .        .        .211 

„                  20.  2             .            .      63 

GROMATICI  AUCTOKES  (ed.  Rudorff.), 

165.  Nefasti  dies        .        .      9 

„                vol.  i.  56  .  184 

178.  October  equus    .         .  242 

„     141  .  325 

179.  October  equus    .        .  242 

,                     „     164.  126 

197.  Oscines       .        .        .  140 

,                     „     302.  258 

209.  Picta  toga  .        .        .  206 
210.  Piscatorii  ludi   .         .  209 

,                     „     350.  326 
,                 vol.  ii.  263  .   184 

217.  Persillum  .        .        .  202 
229.  Propter  via  in      .         .138 

HORACE, 

0(1      I     21                                                       2O  I 

Proversum  fulgor       .  160 

I     28                                                      .    2QQ 

233.  PoVtus         .         .         .  203 
238.  Praebia      .        .        .141 

i-  35       •    157,  i7°>  235,  238 
38                                          08 

241.  Praebia      .        .    •     .  136 

.     o         .          .          .          .     jo 

242.  Pudicitiae  Signum     .  157 

3-  J7       •        .•        •         •  a7a 
3x8                                          2^6 

245.  Publica  Sacra   16,  in,  256 
Palatualis  flamen       .     80 
253.  Pollucere  merces        .  195 

•      M.U                    •                        .                       •                         •      ~J** 

Sat,  i.  8.  24  .         .        .         .  109 
„     2.  6.  20  foil.   .         .         .  289 

254    Quinquatrus       .         .     59 

ISIDOKUS,    15.    II.  I      .            .            .   307 

Quirinalia  .         .  304,  322 

264.  Kustica  Vinalia  .     86,204 

JULIUS  OBSEQ.UENS,  19        .        .36 

278.  Regifugium        .     62,  328 

JUVENAL, 

297.  Sororium  tigillum      .  238 

Sat.,  2.  83  foil.        .        .        .256 

309.  Subura       .         .         .  266 

„     2.  86       .         .         .    105,  256 

316.  Stultorum  feriae        .  304 

„     6.  314  foil.      .                  .  256 

322.  Saturnia     .         .         .  269 

„     9-  53       •        •        •        .38 

1  Both  excerptors  being  contained  in  the  same  volume,  they  are  here 
combined  for  convenience. 


368 


INDEX    OF    LATIN    AUTHORS    QUOTED 


LACTANTIUS, 

PAGE 

LlVY, 

PAC.B 

In$t.  (de  Falsa  Rcligione), 

24.  3   . 

.      .  I83 

i.  15.  8 

•  137 

25.  13 

•  179 

OS.  27  5 

26.  II   .    . 

.   199,  253 

i.  21.  45   ... 

y*JJ    i  *J 

•  32I 

33   • 

.  180 

IO3.  106 

27.  6   .    . 

*7S 

LlVY, 

»^> 

/  • 
ii 

fw 
.  228 

Bk.  i.  a 

52,  247 

23   . 

.  180 

5 

265,  312 

29.  10   .    . 

.    .  69 

7 

•  193 

14 

.    .  69 

10    ... 

.  229 

36   .    . 

•  254 

ID    .      . 

•  175 

3°-  39 

•  73 

20    ... 

4i,  233 

43 

.  231 

24    ... 

.  in 

31-  21 

.  277 

26    ... 

.  238 

32.  i   . 

•  96,  137 

31-3  • 

.  227 

33-  25 

•  75 

32.  12 

•  134 

42 

257,  278.  302 

45   • 

.  198 

34-  53 

124,  277,  302 

55   • 

.   4 

35-  10   • 

.  242 

a.  5   • 

.  191 

36.  2   . 

.  217 

21    ... 

.  270 

37-  33 

44,  96,  250 

3.  31,  32  fin.  . 

•  75 

38.  57   • 

.218 

55 

•  75 

39-  15 

•  343 

63   ... 

.  180 

40.  34.  4  . 

.  86 

4.  20 

.  229 

45 

.    .  96 

5-  13       •  l8°, 

1  86,  200 

51 

.  180 

19   ... 

•  154 

41-  13 

.    .  140 

23   ... 

•  154 

16 

.    .  96 

40   ... 

•  323 

LUCAN,  3.  153  . 

.    .  269 

52   ... 

.  41 

LUCRETIUS,  5.  654 

.    .  156 

85   ... 

.  187 

6.  5   .    •    • 

•  134 

MACROBIUS, 

20    ... 

.  13° 

Saturnalia  i.  7.  34 

.  96,  296 

33   ... 

•  155 

„    i.  8.  3 

.  270 

7-  3   • 

•  234 

„     .  9.  a 

.  283 

23   ... 

•  133 

„     .  9.  16 

.  285  289 

28   .    .    . 

.  129 

„      .  10.   2 

.  267 

8.  9   •    •    • 

.  288 

„       .  10.  II 

•  275 

20    ... 

141,  135 

,     .  10.  19 

.  271 

22    ... 

.  136 

,     .".  36 

.    .  178 

9-  30 

.  158 

.11.48 

.  269 

40    ... 

.  41 

,     .11.49 

.  272 

46    ... 

9,  it 

,      .  12.  6 

35,  5r 

xo.  19   ... 

.  134 

,       .  12.  12 

.    .  67 

23  ... 

•  75 

,       .  12.  l6 

11,98 

31.9  . 

86,  204 

,      .  12.  l8 

.     .  2IO 

46  ... 

.  162 

,      .  12.  22 

.  130 

n.  (Epit.') 

.  278 

,       .  12.  25 

.     .  1O2 

14.  (Epit.) 

.  160 

,       .  12.  30 

.  129 

21.   I    ... 

•  *99 

,     •  12.  33 

•  134 

22.   I    .     .  245, 

253,  271 

.  12.  38 

.  194 

9   • 

.  145 

,     .  15-  9 

.   8 

33-  7  • 

.  211 

,     •  J5-  H 

.  222 

33-  19   • 

.  225 

,     .  16.  3 

.     .   IO 

31 

•  H5 

.16.  5 

.  28l 

MACKOBIUS, 

Saturnalia    .  16.  14         , 
16.  16 
16.  17  &  18, 
16.  22 

16.  30 

17-  15 

17.  25 
19.  17 

3-    2.  ii 

3-      2.  I4 

3-  13.      3  , 

3-    5-  10 
MARTIAL,  4.  64.  17    . 
5-23 
8.67.   4    .        , 

14-  i  . 

MARTIANUS  CAPELLA  i.  45  , 

2.  162 

MINUCIUS  FELIX, 

Octavius  24.  3          .         , 

OVID  Fasti  i.  318 

324       • 

333  • 

585  .         . 

629  . 

661  . 

,  658  folL 

,  681  . 

1.  705  . 

2.  19  foil. 

2.  31 

3.  33       • 

2.  47  foil. 

3.  50 

a.    55  foil- 

2.  267  foil. 

a.  371  foil. 

2.  425  Ml. 

a.  525  . 
a.  527  foil. 
2.  571 

2.  617  foil. 

2.  623 

2.  643  foil. 

2.  667          . 

2.  671 

2.  853          . 

2.  858  foil. 

3.  57  • 
3-  *35  • 
3-  235  • 
3-  647  • 


.TIN 

AUTHORS    QUOTED 

369 

PAGE 

PAGE 

9 

OVID,  Fasti  3.  771  foil. 

. 

•    56 

97 

»        3-  79i 

. 

•     56 

211 

3-  835  foil. 

. 

•     59 

9 

„        4.  633  foil. 

. 

•     71 

270 

„        4.  68  1  foil. 

. 

•     77 

1  80 

„        4-7"      • 

. 

.     78 

1  80 

ii         4-  733      • 

. 

•     83 

238 

i>         4-  737      • 

. 

.     80 

179 

,i         4-  739      • 

. 

.     81 

179 

„         4-  763      . 

. 

.     82 

194 

ii         4-  87*       . 

• 

.    86 

88 

„         4.  899      . 

. 

•     85 

52 

„        4.  901  foil. 

. 

89-90 

95 

ii        4-  939      • 

» 

.     90 

93 

ii         5-  I29  foil. 

. 

.     100 

271 

„        5.  149  foil. 

. 

.    101 

284 

ii        5-  255      • 

. 

•     37 

108 

ii        5-  33i  foil. 

. 

•    93 

»        5-  37  *      « 

. 

.     94 

47 

ii        5-  419  foil. 

• 

•  307 

i,        5-  431      • 

• 

.  109 

281 

ii        5-  725      . 

. 

.  123 

281 

ii        6-  155  folL 

. 

•  132 

281 

,i        6.  213      . 

, 

.  136 

282 

„        6.  219  foil. 

. 

.  146 

291 

i          6.  307      . 

. 

.  319 

292 

6.  395  foil. 

-, 

.  148 

295 

,          6.  617       . 

, 

•  157 

294 

,          6.  650      . 

. 

.  157 

295 

,          6.  659      . 

. 

•  159 

296 

i          6.  731       . 

. 

.    100 

301 

,          6.  775  foil. 

. 

.  161 

300 

Trist.  2.  549  . 

• 

•     13 

300 

Ars  Amat.  3.  637    . 

• 

.    IO2 

6 

Metamorph.  14.  623  foil. 

. 

.    2OI 

324 

302 

310 

PALLADIUS, 

3" 

de  Re  Rustica  7.3.   . 

• 

.    J30 

320 

PERSIUS,  Sat.  5.  177  . 

• 

.     94 

306 

PLISIUS, 

305 

Hist.  Nat.  2.    52     . 

. 

.  160 

3«>9 

„              2.    140       . 

• 

.  233 

309 

„          3-    69     . 

'. 

•     95 

3°9 

ii          7-    ii     • 

. 

.     84 

325 

„               7.   120       . 

. 

.     69 

326 

,           8.  194     . 

• 

.   156 

327 

,         10.    20    . 

• 

.  140 

331 

,         ii.  250    . 

. 

•  237 

331 

,         ii.  232    . 

. 

.   132 

255 

14.    88     . 

103  &  236 

36 

i         15-    79     • 

.    178 

34 

„         16.  235     . 

. 

•     38 

51 

„        18.      8     . 

. 

3°5,  335 

B 

b 

37° 


INDEX    OF    LATIN    AUTHORS    QUOTED 


PLIMIUS, 

PAGE 

SERVIUS, 

PACK 

Hist.  Nat.  18.    15     .         . 

•       76 

ad  Virg.  Aen.    8.  314     . 

.     107 

„        18.    16    . 

.        70 

i,               8.  336     . 

167,   293 

„        18.    24     . 

.    236 

„               8.  641     . 

.     230 

.     88 

n               9-    53     • 

•     154 

„         18.  117     . 

.  131 

ii               9-  448     . 

230,   327 

„        18.  118     . 

.  no 

„             lo.  316     . 

.     l82 

„        18.  273  foil.     . 

.     88 

ii             12.  139     . 

•    293 

„        18.284     . 

87,  205 

„                   12.  206       . 

•    230 

,i        18.315     . 

.  236 

SENECA  (M.  ANNAEUS), 

,,        29  passim        . 

.  105 

Ep.  12.  a        .        .        . 

.     142 

,,        34-    54     •        • 

.  165 

„    18.  i 

n        35-    19     • 

.  19* 

Quaest.  Nat.  2.  41    . 

•     157 

,.        35-  154    • 

.    75 

SILIUS  ITALICUS,  8.  50  foil. 

•        51 

„        36.  204    . 

.  280 

STATIUS,  Tlieb.  2.  707 

.    229 

„_     joe 

.    231 

PORPHYRIO, 

.    «o 

on  Hor.  Epist.  2.  2.  209  . 

60,  108 

SUETONIUS, 

PBOBUS, 

Vespasianus  5          .        . 

•        51 

on  Virg.  Georg.  x.  10 

25,  260 

Vitellius  i        .         .         . 

.    258 

PBOPEBUUS,  4.    i.  26 

.  310 

de  Grammaticis  19  . 

.       12 

4-4-77       • 

.     82 

SYMMACHUS,  Epist.  10.  35  . 

.    278 

4-    4-  75 

.     80 

4.    9-  74 

•  137 

TACITUS, 

4-  10. 

.  229 

Germania,  9   .        .        . 

.    234 

5  (4)-  i.    9   • 

•  243 

Annals,    2.  49         .         . 

.    204 

5  (4).  2.  61    . 

•    47 

„        11.24 

.    171 

„        12.23 

.    190 

QUINTILIAH,  I.  7.  12  .        . 

.  191 

„        12.24 
TERTULLIAN, 

206,  318 

Apol.  42          ... 

.    272 

SEE  vi  us, 

ad  Nat.  2.  9  .         .        . 

130,   133 

ad  Virg.  Ed.        3-77     • 

.  125 

de  Monogam.    17      .         . 

•     155 

„                 4-  62     . 

.  142 

de  Spectaculis,  5       . 

89,    I78 

n                 8.  32     . 

.  220 

8        .         . 

2O6,  209 

„                 8.  82     . 

.   no 

de  Praescript.  Haeret.  451  . 

-  333 

ii              lo-  27     . 

.  223 

TIBULLUS, 

,,    Georg.  i.       7      . 

74 

ii             y                i 
,,                    I.      IO       . 

/  T 
.   258 

„                     2.  385       . 

•    207 

1,                     2.  389       . 

^  i 

.      06 

81 

l>                     3.         I        . 

•y+f 

.     80 

2.  s.  81  . 

.    2OI 

80 

,,    Aen.     i.  292     . 

•  337 

ii                i.  720     . 

•  145 

VALERIUS  MAXIM  us, 

„                     2.  IIS 

.     260 

310  foil. 

If                                 *j 
y,                     2.   140       • 

•    «wy 

.  176 

218 

»>                a-  351      • 

/v 

.   108 

8.  IS    2. 

60 

11               3-  175     • 

.  232 

VARRO, 

n               4-  5i8     . 

.  109 

de  Lingua  Latino, 

,i              5-  241     . 

•  155 

5.  41          .         .        . 

.  266 

i»              5-  724     . 

.  186 

43        -.         • 

.   198 

„              7-  603     . 

-     39 

4°           55,  57,  i" 

,  201,  323 

•i              7-  799     • 

.  226 

50 

.    228 

INDEX    OF    LATIN    AUTHORS    QUOTED 


371 


VARRO, 

VARRO, 

de  Lingua  Latino, 

PAGE 

de  Re  Rustica, 

PACK 

57 

64,  212 

35         ... 

255,  271 

66 

136,   141,  327 

36         ... 

.    277 

72 

.  186 

65          ... 

.    205 

74 

«         .  160 

go 

*T 
83 

.    114 

5.    6    . 

»«t 

.           .    2IO 

Sat.  Menipp.  fragm.,  506  . 

•     53 

85                       '.                   '. 

•    57 

op.  Charisium,  117  . 

.  132 

91 

.        .    64 

ap.  Aug.  Civ.  Dei,  7.  24   . 

.  150 

106 

.  155 

ap.  Nonium,    13     .         . 

.  208 

153 

.  251 

189     .        . 

.  156 

6.    12             . 

.  282 

VELLETOS  PATERCULUS, 

ZJ1 

.        .  298 

14 

53-55 

VIRGIL, 

15          . 

70,  79,  194 

Eel.   5.        66        .        . 

.  103 

16 

85,  86,  204 

Georg.    i.     10        .         . 

.  260 

17 

.         -   158 

»          J5r        •         • 

•     9° 

18 

.    174,  182 

„             211 

.  271 

19 

.    202 

„         338  foil. 

.   125 

20         .        . 

.       67.  205 

»         344 

.  103 

21              .            . 

.             .    212 

„          419 

.  206 

22             .. 

.    240 

,,         462  foil. 

.  192 

23 

.    274 

„         498 

.  192 

24 

.    266 

,,     2.538        . 

.  271 

25 

.    279 

Aen.    i.  292  .         .        . 

.  322 

26 

•    295 

»       5-49 

.  308 

27 

.      8 

»»             77        •• 

.   103 

29 

.      8 

»             79        •        • 

.308 

30 

9.  3°o 

>»           255 

.  346 

31 

10,  63,  329 

„           662        .. 

.  2IO 

33 

.    146,  149 

„        7.    45  foil. 

.    058 

33 

.     66 

„               8  i  foil. 

.    263 

34 

.  319 

„            691         .. 

.    I85 

62 

.  250 

„       8.  281 

.    194 

94 

.  232 

„            314  foil. 

.    258 

7.  26         .        . 

•     73 

>t            331         •         • 

.    269 

44 

.  in 

„            600         .. 

.   261 

45 

80,  92,  2OI 

,,            630        .        . 

•  3" 

de  Re  Rustica, 

„      10.423 

.  229 

i.    i                   • 

67,  86 

»      "-785 

84,  181 

28.  29    .         . 

.  299 

VlTRUVIUS, 

30 

.     66 

I.  7.   I     . 

.   211 

00              - 

.   189,  216 

00 

34 

.  236 

B  b  2 


INDEX  OF  GREEK  AUTHORS  QUOTED 


329 
315 


AELIAK,  Hist.  Anim.  12.  34 

APOLLONIUS  RHODIUS,  4.  478 

ARISTOPHANES, 

Knights,  41     .         .         .         .133 

Lysistrata,  537          .         .         .  133 

,,69!          ...  133 

ARISTOTLE,  Oecon.,  p.  1349  b       .  155 


PAGE          DlONYSIUS  OF  HiLl  CARN ASSUS,        PAGE 


69        .  .  .  .        56,  326 

14  .  .  .     280,  282 

15 56 

26        .             .             .             .            .199 
40 156 

49 95 

58  •                               135,  141 

5-  13  *                                    .  278 

Dio  CASSITJS,                                                     16  .                                 .  262 

37-  35    •        •        •        •   102,  255          6.     r  .                             269,  274 

47-i8 174                13  .                              133,  296 

55-77 296  89 75 

58.  7 157          7«     i 76 

DlODOBUS  SlCULUS,    p.   337  9.   60  .  .  .     135,  141 

(IS-  14) 155         10.  42 75 

DIONYSIUS  OF  HALICAKNASSUS,  12.     9 186 

1.  21 223         13.     7 130 

31 258 

32 310      EusTATHrns, 

33  .  .    206,  246  ad  Horn.  Od.  22.  335       .         .  138 

34  •  •  269 

38  .                          .    112,  116  LUCIAN,  Dea  Syria  49         .  .     92 

40  .                         .  138,  193  LYDUS,  LAURENTTOS, 

79,8o  .           310  „                3.    3     .  294 

88  .                          .  79, 80, 83  „                3. 29     .  46,  50 

2.  19  .                          .        .     70  „                4.    a  41, 284,  289 
23  •                          .   305,  313  »                4-  24     .  .  306 
3i  •                          •           229  „                4.  36     .  46,  50 

40 306  „  4.  42     .  60,  62 

48 323  >»  4-  45     •  67 

50 303  „  4-  49     •  7i 

70 39  Fragm.  p.  118,  ed.  Bekker  .  265 

7i 38 

73 114  NICOLAUS  DAMASCENUS, 

75 237  Vita  Caesaris  21  .            320 

3-22 238 

S2 271  PLUTARCH, 

45 114  Romulus    4    .         .  .  276 


INDEX    OF 

GREEK 

AUTHORS    QUOTED 

373 

PLUTARCH, 

PAGE 

PLTJTABCIT, 

PAGE 

Romulus,ii    . 

.    2TI 

Quaestiones  Romanae, 

„            21      .       101,  291, 

310,  314 

i               i       55     • 

.    158 

„            27      . 

175  foil. 

> 

,       56     . 

.    290 

„            29     ... 

175  foil. 

i 

,      60     . 

•    194 

Camillus  33    . 

175  foil. 

> 

,       68     . 

.    TOI 

Poplicola  14    .         . 

.  217 

; 

i       69     • 

266  foil. 

CoriolanuK  3    .         .         . 

.  296 

> 

,       74      • 

.       69 

C.  Graccftws  17         . 

.  187 

> 

,       86      . 

115,  "9 

Mantis  26       ... 

165,  297 

II 

,       87     • 

•  3°3 

Cicero  19  &  20          .         . 

I°2,  255 

II 

i       90     • 

•  194 

Caesar  61       .        .        . 

•    310 

>» 

i       94     • 

.  278 

^Kaesftones  Graecae  12 

•     49 

II 

»       97     • 

.  242 

„         Gtmvtvtttfes  6.  8 

.     49 

J> 

,     in     . 

•  3" 

»>              i>           7-  1 

.  240 

ParaUela  41    . 

.  227 

„         Romanae  3 

.    200 

de  Fortuna  Romanorum  5. 

10   .  145 

if 

4      • 

199,   201 

de  Iside  et  Osiride  31        . 

.     91 

»> 

16     . 

•  *55 

POLYBIUS,  12.    4b      .         . 

.  241 

i> 

18     . 

.  195 

„               21.  10 

44,  250 

i» 

20 

.  103 

PROCOPIUS, 

ii 

22 

.  289 

de  Bell.  Goth.  i.  25  . 

.  283 

it 

28       . 

138,  327 

i.             3-  13  • 

.  117 

11 

30       . 

.  141 

i 

34      • 

270,  276 

STRABO, 

i 

40     . 

.  207 

p.  180  (Bk.  4.  5)    . 

.    200 

i 

42     . 

.  270 

p.  226  (Bk.  5.  9)   . 

84,  155 

i               > 

45     - 

86,87 

p.  613  (Bk.  13.  64) 

.  89 

i               i 

46     . 

.  324 

p.  639  foil.  (Bk.  14.  20)  . 

.    40 

i               » 

5i     • 

.    100 

p.  660  (Bk.  10,  8) 

.  "7 

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