Chapter 35

44.For more information about Lydus see Bury,Later Roman Empire, ii. 183, and below underMarch 14.

45.They will be found in Bücheler’sUmbrica(containing the processional inscription of Iguvium with commentary and translation), and Henzen’sActa Fratrum Arvalium.

46.Preller’sRömische Mythologie(ed. 3, by H. Jordan) and Marquardt’s third volume of hisStaatsverwaltung(ed. Wissowa) are both masterpieces, not only in matter but in manner.

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

48.‘Hoc paene unum superest sincerum documentum,’ Wissowa,de Feriis, p. 1.

49.This is well illustrated in theActa Fratrum Arvaliumreferred to above.

50.A succinct account of these tendencies will be found in Marquardt, p. 72 foll. There is a French translation of this invaluable volume.

51.A short account of these will be found in the author’s articles in the new edition of Smith’sDictionary of Antiquities, on ‘Sacra,’ ‘Sacerdos,’ and ‘Sacrificium.’ On the domestic rites, there is an excellent book in Italian, which might well be translated:Il Culto privato di Roma antica, by Prof. De-Marchi of Milan, of which only Part I,La Religione nella vita domestica, has as yet appeared.

52.Marquardt,Staatsverwaltung, iii. p. 2.

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

54.F. Tusc. Cf. Mommsen,C. I. L.294 b.

55.NP. Antiat. N. minores 6.

56.F. Antiat. Allif. NP Vall.

57.NP Vall. C. Antiat.C. I. L.294.

58.C. Vall. Antiat.

59.N. Antiat. Cf.C. I. L.294.

60.F. Maff.

61.See Nissen,Italienische Landeskunde, i. 404; Ovid,Fasti, 3. 235—Quid, quod hiems adoperta gelu tunc denique cedit,Et pereunt victae sole tepente nives,Arboribus redeunt detonsae frigore frondes,Uvidaque in tenero palmite 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 laremque parat.Tempora iure colunt Latiae fecunda parentesQuarum militiam votaque partus habet.Here we have the fertility of man, beast, and crop, all brought together: the poet is writing of March 1. The Romans reckoned spring from Favonius (Feb. 7) to about May 10 (Varro,R. R.1. 38); March 1 would therefore usually be a day on which its first effects would be obvious to every one.

61.See Nissen,Italienische Landeskunde, i. 404; Ovid,Fasti, 3. 235—

Quid, quod hiems adoperta gelu tunc denique cedit,Et pereunt victae sole tepente nives,Arboribus redeunt detonsae frigore frondes,Uvidaque in tenero palmite 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 laremque parat.Tempora iure colunt Latiae fecunda parentesQuarum militiam votaque partus habet.

Quid, quod hiems adoperta gelu tunc denique cedit,

Et pereunt victae sole tepente nives,

Arboribus redeunt detonsae frigore frondes,

Uvidaque in tenero palmite 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 laremque parat.

Tempora iure colunt Latiae fecunda parentes

Quarum militiam votaque partus habet.

Here we have the fertility of man, beast, and crop, all brought together: the poet is writing of March 1. The Romans reckoned spring from Favonius (Feb. 7) to about May 10 (Varro,R. R.1. 38); March 1 would therefore usually be a day on which its first effects would be obvious to every one.

62.Sat. 1. 12. 6; Ovid,Fasti, 3. 135 foll.

63.Ovid only mentions one ‘curia’: in Macrobius the word is in the plural. Ovid must, I 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 Quirinal Salii (Preller, i. 357).

64.See below, on the Vestalia in June, p.147.

65.Julius Obsequens, 19.

66.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 ἀποτρόπαιον 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.

67.Mommsen,C. I. L.254.

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

69.By Usener, in his remarkable paper inRhein. Museum, xxx. 215 foll., on ‘Italische Mythen.’ He unluckily made the mistake of supposing that Ovid told this story under June 1 (i. e.nine monthsbefore the supposed birthday of Mars). There is indeed a kind of conjunction of June and Mars on June 1, as both had temples dedicated on that day; but neither of these can well be earlier than the fourth centuryB.C., and no one would have thought of them as having any bearing on the birth of Mars but for Usener’s blunder (Aust,de 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.’

70.The practical Roman mind applied the myth chiefly to the history of itsstate, 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.

71.Aust, as quoted above. The date was probably 379B.C.(Plin.N. H.16. 235).

72.Roscher inLex.s. v. Juno, p. 576.

73.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).

74.Schol. Cruq.on Horace, l. c., and the scholiast on Juvenal, l. c.

75.See e. g. the mysterious scene on a cista from Praeneste given in Roscher,Lex.2407, to which the clue seems entirely lost.

76.Lex.s. v. Mars, 2399; s. v. Juno, 584.

77.Ovid, 3. 351 foll.; Plut.Numa, 13.

78.Dion. Hal. 2. 71.

79.Ovid, l. c. 381 foll.

80.Marq. 430, and note.

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

82.The place is not quite certain. Ambrosch (Studien, 7), who believed them to be part of the armour of the god, placed them in hissacrariumin 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 calledsacrarium Martis. The question is not of the first importance.

83.Dionysius (2. 70. 2) says that each was girt with a sword, and carried in his right hand, λόγχην ἢ ῥάβδον ἤ τι τοιοῦθ ἕτερον. 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 foll.) shows them like a double drumstick, with a knob at each end.

84.See alsoMyth. Lex.s. v. Mars, p. 2404 and Apollo, p. 425.

85.Virg.Aen.4. 143.

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

87.G. B.ii. 157-182; Tylor,Prim. Cult.i. 298 foll. We 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. 1. 8. 21; Tac.Ann.1. 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.

88.G. B.ii. 210.

89.Jordan,Krit. Beiträge, p. 203 foll.

90.Cato,R. R.143.

91.Liv. 1. 20. Cp. 9. 40, where the chosen Samnite warriors woretunicae versicolores. In each case the dress is a religious one, of the same character as that of thetriumphator, and would have its ultimate origin in the war-paint of savages, which probably also has a religious signification. Thetrabeawas the old short cavalry coat.

92.See Marq. 432, andDict. of Antiq.s. v. Salii for details.

93.Fest. 131. The fragments may be seen in Wordsworth’sFragments and Specimens of Early Latin, pp. 564 foll. 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. SeeDict. of Antiq.s. v. Salii. It is curious that Mars is more prominent in the song of the Arval Brothers.

94.Liv. 5. 52. 7.

95.Dionysius, 2. 71.

96.Usener inRhein. 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, κατὰ τὸν τῶν Ἰταλικῶν μηνῶν ἀριθμόν; and Liber glossarum, Cod. Vat. Palat. 1773 f. 40 v.: Ancilia: scuta unius anni.

97.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’sDict. of Antiquities, 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’sReal-Encycl.is disappointing.) 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,Méd. Cons.plate xxiv. 9, 10, andMéd. Imp.ii, no. 467) give the same peculiar shape. The bronze of Domitian,A.D.88 (Cohen,Méd. 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.

98.Jordan, inCommentationes in hon. Momms.p. 365. There could not bferiaeon this day, as it was adies fastus.

99.Fast.3. 429 ‘Una nota est Marti Nonis; sacrata quod illis Templa putant lucos Vediovis ante duos.’

100.Aust,de Aedibus sacris, p. 33.

101.Polyb. 21. 10 (13); Liv. 37. 33.

102.See his article inDict. Ant.He further suggests that in Philocalus’ noteanciliais an adjective, and thatarma anciliameans the shields only, as the spears of Mars do not seem to have been used by the Salii.

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

104.de Feriis, ix. foll. Cp.C. I. L.311.

105.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 with rites; and it was the day on which at one time the consuls entered on office,B.C.222 to 154 (Mommsen,Chron.102 and notes).

106.Wissowa takes both as lustrations of cavalry. Mommsen,C. I. L.332, disapproves of Wissowa’s reasoning about this day.

107.C. I. L.311.

108.C. I. L.254.

109.Cf. Usener’s article on Italian Myths inRhein. 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.

110.Usener, p. 211.

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

112.See above, p.38.

113.Cp. what he says of the Salii singing of Janus κατὰ τὸν τῶν Ἰταλικῶν μηνῶν ἀριθμόν (4. 2).

114.e. g. in Numa 13.

115.Aen.7. 188. Thilo and Hagen seem to think that Servius wrotepeltas(shields) on the evidence of one MS, wrongly, I think.

116.Octavius, 24. 3.

117.What is the meaning ofveterahere?

118.Golden Bough, ii. 208.

119.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 meanold, 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.

120.Lydus is thought to have made a mistake in attributing it to the 15th (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 feel 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 this primitive type, that of theArgei.

121.This was first noticed by Grimm (Teutonic Mythology, Eng. Trans., vol. ii. 764 foll.). Since then Mannhardt (Baumkultus, 410 foll.) and Mr. Frazer (G. B.i. 257 foll. and 264 foll.) 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 past 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.

122.This fusion of two apparently different ideas in a single ceremony has previously been explained by Mr. Frazer, pp. 205 foll. On p. 210 he notices the curious and well-authenticated rite of driving out hunger at Chaeronea (Plutarch,Quaest. Conviv.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. Graec.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 Year’s eve.

123.See above, p.47.

124.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 Idaea: ἱεράτευον δὲ καὶ ταῦρον ἑξέτη ὑπὲρ τῶν ἐν τοῖς ὄρεσιν ἀγρῶν ἡγουμένου τοῦ ἀρχιερέως καὶ τῶν κανηφόρων τῆς μητρόχου· ἤγετο δὲ καὶ ἄνθρωπος κ.τ.λ. For the difficulties of this passage, and suggested emendations, see Mommsen,C. I. L. 312, note on Id. Mart; Marq. 394, note 5. What confusion of cults may not have taken place, either in Lydus’ mind or in actual fact?

125.Both these notes areadditamenta: 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 Feriis, xii). The day is only marked EID inMaff. 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 15th. 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.

126.Ovid,Fasti, 3. 523 foll.

127.‘Via Flaminia ad lapidem primum’ (Vat.): this would be near the present Porta del Popolo, and close to the river.

128.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.

129.Ov. l. c. 541 ‘Occurri nuper: visa est mihi digna relatu Pompa. Senem potum pota trahebat anus.

130.Sat.1. 12. 6. Cp. Lydus,de Mens. 4. 36.

131.Annare perennareis to complete the circle of the year: cp. Suet.Vespas. 5 ‘puella nata nonperennavit.’ 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 adeity of the year, but one whom it would be desirable to propitiate at the beginning of the year.

132.Ov. l. c. 545 foll. Sil. Ital. 8. 50 foll. 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.

133.Aeneas und die Penaten, ii. 717 foll. The cautious Merkel long ago repudiated such fancies; preface to Ovid’sFasti, p. 177.

134.Liv. 1. 2. The Punic Anna is now thought to be a deity = Dido = Elissa: see Rossbach in the new edition of Pauly’sEncyl.i. 2223.

135.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 gaudetAnnae pomiferum nemus Perennae.Illinc Flaminiae SalariaequeGestator patet essedo tacente, &c.There is no explanation ofvirgineo cruore: but I would rather retain it than adopt even H. A. J. Munro’svirgine nequiore. See Friedländer, ad loc.

Et quod virgineo cruore gaudetAnnae pomiferum nemus Perennae.Illinc Flaminiae SalariaequeGestator patet essedo tacente, &c.

Et quod virgineo cruore gaudet

Annae pomiferum nemus Perennae.

Illinc Flaminiae Salariaeque

Gestator patet essedo tacente, &c.

There is no explanation ofvirgineo cruore: but I would rather retain it than adopt even H. A. J. Munro’svirgine nequiore. See Friedländer, ad loc.

136.This seems to be Usener’s suggestion, p. 207.

137.Fasti, 3. 675.

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

139.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).

140.Wissowa (de Feriisx) thinks Ovid’s tale merenugae: but this learned scholar never seems to be able to comprehend the significance of folk-lore.

141.Fasti, 3 661 foll.

142.Varro (L. L.6. 14) calls them ‘sacerdotes Liberi,’ by courtesy, we may presume: and it is noticeable that Ovid describes this old Anna as wearing amitra, which, in Propert. v. (iv.) 2. 31, is characteristic of Bacchus: ‘Cinge caput mitra: speciem furabor Iacchi.’

143.Op. cit. 208.

144.See Pauly,Encycl.vol. i. 2223. This is Wissowa’s opinion.

145.See onJan. 9.

146.Cic.ad Fam.12. 25. 1;Att.9. 9. 4;Auct. Bell. Hisp.31.

147.Varro,L. L.6. 14 ‘In libris Saliorum, quorum cognomen Agonensium, forsitan his dies ideo appellatur potius Agonia.’ So Masurius Sabinus (in Macrob.Sat.1. 4. 15), ‘Liberalium dies a pontificibus agonium Martiale appellatur.’

148.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 foll., and Varro,L. L.6. 14.

149.This is the view of Wissowa inMyth. Lex.s. v. Liber, 2022. Cp. Aust,Lex.s. v. Iuppiter, 662.

150.It is only once attested of Roman worship, viz. in the calendar of the Fratres Arvales (Sept. 1 ‘Iovi Libero, Iunoni Reginae in Aventino,’C. I. L.i. 214); but is met with several times among the Osco-Sabellian peoples.

151.So Hehn,Kulturpflanzen, &c., p. 70 foll. But Hehn 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. Iuppiter, 662.

152.See onApril 23.

153.Ovid,Fasti, 3. 771 foll.

154.Marq.Privatleben, i. 122 note 2.

155.Ovid, l. c., 783 foll.; Marq. l. 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.

156.Marq. op. cit. 124. Libero in Ca[pitolio], Farn. For Iuventas, Dion. Hal. 3. 69, 4. 15.

157.This result is obtained by comparing Ovid,Fasti, 3. 791Itur ad Argeos—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 thesimulacraandsacella), with Gell.N. A.10. 15, who says that the Flaminica Dialis, ‘cum it ad Argeos’ was in mourning dress: also with the fragments of the ‘Sacra Argeorum’ in Varro,L. L.5. 46-54. These have been shown by Jordan (Topogr.ii. 271 foll.) to be fragments of an itinerary, meant for the guidance of a procession, an idea first suggested by O. Müller. The further questions of the route taken, and the distribution of the sacella in the four Servian regiones, are very difficult, and need not be discussed here. See Mommsen,Staatsrecht, iii. 123 foll.

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

Itur ad Argeos—qui sint, sua pagina dicet—Hac, si commemini, praeteritaque die.

Itur ad Argeos—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 thesimulacraandsacella), with Gell.N. A.10. 15, who says that the Flaminica Dialis, ‘cum it ad Argeos’ was in mourning dress: also with the fragments of the ‘Sacra Argeorum’ in Varro,L. L.5. 46-54. These have been shown by Jordan (Topogr.ii. 271 foll.) to be fragments of an itinerary, meant for the guidance of a procession, an idea first suggested by O. Müller. The further questions of the route taken, and the distribution of the sacella in the four Servian regiones, are very difficult, and need not be discussed here. See Mommsen,Staatsrecht, iii. 123 foll.

158.L. L.5. 85 ‘Salii a salitando, quod facere in comitio in sacris quotannis et solent et debent.’

159.i. p. 81 (Keil). Why theComitiumwas the scene does not appear. Preller has suggested a reason (i. 364), which is by no means convincing.

160.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 wordlatrus, which, however, does not assist us here, see Deecke,Falisker, p. 90 (Dies ater = dies alter = postridie).

161.Wissowa,de Feriis, ix.

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