Chapter 36

162.Mommsen, inC. I. L.312.

163.Mommsen,R. H.i. 78, note 1.

164.Festus, 254 ‘Quinquatrus appellari quidam putant a numero dierum qui fere his (? feriis iis) celebrantur: qui scilicet errant tam hercule quam qui triduo Saturnalia, et totidem diebus Compitalia; nam omnibus his singulis diebus fiunt 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.

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

166.Ovid,Fasti, 3. 809 ‘Una dies media est, et fiunt sacra Minervae,’ &c.

167.Ovid,Fasti, 3. 835 foll.Caelius ex alto qua mons descendit in aequum,Hic ubi non plana est sed prope plana via,Parva licet videas Captae delubra MinervaeQuae dea natali coepit habere suo.As from the note in Praen. we learn that March 19 was also the dedication-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. 42.

167.Ovid,Fasti, 3. 835 foll.

Caelius ex alto qua mons descendit in aequum,Hic ubi non plana est sed prope plana via,Parva licet videas Captae delubra MinervaeQuae dea natali coepit habere suo.

Caelius ex alto qua mons descendit in aequum,

Hic ubi non plana est sed prope plana via,

Parva licet videas Captae delubra Minervae

Quae dea natali coepit habere suo.

As from the note in Praen. we learn that March 19 was also the dedication-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. 42.

168.Preller, i. 342; Usener,Rh. Mus., xxx. 221; Roscher,Myth. Lex.s. v. Mars, 2410;Lyd. de Mens.4. 42; Gell. 13. 23 (fromGellii Annales) is thelocus classicusfor Nerio.

169.Nerio gen. Nerienis (Gell. l. c., who compares Anio Anienis).

170.Ovid,Fasti, 3. 850: ‘fortisacrificare 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.

171.Aul. Gell. l. c.

172.Usener, l. c.,passim.

173.H. Jordan expressed a somewhat different view in hisSymbolae ad hist. Ital. religionum alterae, p. 9. He thinks that ‘volgari opinione hominum feminini numinis cum masculo coniunctionem non potuisse non pro coniugali aestimari.’ But this would seem to imply that theopinio volgariswas a mistaken one: and if so, how should it have arisen but under Greek influence?

174.Mommsen, in a note on the Feriale Cumanum (Hermes, 17. 637), calls themweibliche Hilfsgöttinnen; and this is not far removed from the view I have expressed in the text. The other alternative, viz that we have in these 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 foreign anthropomorphizing influence.

175.Ovid,Fasti, 3. 835 foll.

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

177.Lydus, 4. 42, adds ‘Nerine,’ and further tells us that this was the last day on which theanciliawere ‘moved’ (κίνησις τῶν ὅπλων). The Salii were also active on the 24th (Fest. 278).

178.The note is thus completed by Mommsen from Varro,L. L.6. 31 ‘Dies qui vocatur sic, Quando Rex Comitiavit Fas, is dictus ab eo quod eo die rex sacrificulus itat [we should probably readlitat] ad comitium, ad quod tempus est nefas, ab eo fas’ (see Marq. 323, note 8). The MS. has ‘dicatad comitium.’ If we adoptlitatwith 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 incomitio(see Hartmann,Röm. Kal.162 foll.). The question will be discussed under Feb. 24.

179.Röm. Chronol.p. 241;Staatsrecht, iii. 375.

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

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

182.For the military use, Liv. ii. 64. They were also used insacris SaliaribusPaul. 19, s. v. Armilustrium. Wissowa (de Feriisxv) mentions a relief in which the Salii are preceded bytubicines laureati(published in St. Petersburgh by E. Schulze, 1873).

183.C. I. L.313. He is of opinion that the note was among those ‘non tam a Verrio scriptas quam male ex scriptis eius excerptas.’

184.de Div.i. 17. 30.

185.Varro,L. L.5. 91.

186.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.’ Mommsen,Chron.222. Ovid quaintly forsakes the scholars to claim the month for Venus (Aphrodite),Fasti, 4. 61 foll. I do not know why Mr. Granger should call it the boar-month (fromaper), in hisWorship of the Romans, p. 294.

187.Segetes runcuri, Varro,R. R.I. 30. Columella’s instructions are of the same kind (II. 2).

188.C. I. L.280.

189.Röm. Jahr, 216.

190.February has thirteen, all but two between Kal. and Ides. The Nones and Ides are NP. April has thirteen between Nones and 22nd; or fourteen if we include the 19th, which is NP in Caer. The Ides are NP, Nones N.

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

192.Varro,R. R.1. 1. 6: ‘Item adveneror Minervam et Venerem, quarum unius procuratio oliveti, alteriushortorum.’ Cp.L. L.6. 20 ‘Quod tum (Aug. 19) dedicata aedes et horti ei deae dicantur ac tum fiant feriatiholitores.’ Cf. Preller,Myth.i. 434 foll. 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. 1. 12. 12 quotes Cincius (de Fastis) and Varro to prove that she had originally nothing to do with April, and that there was nodies festusorinsigne sacrificiumin her honour during the month.

193.4. 45 Ταῖς τοίνυν καλάνδαις ἀπριλλίαις αἱ σεμναὶ γυναικῶν ὑπὲρ ὁμονοίας καὶ βίου σώφρονος ἐτίμων τὴν Ἀφροδίτην· αἱ δὲ τοῦ πλήθους γυναῖκες ἐν τοῖς τῶν ἀνδρῶν βαλανείοις ἐλούοντο, πρὸς θεραπείαν αὐτῆς μυρσίνη ἐστεμμέναι, κ.τ.λ. Cp. Macrob. 1. 12. 15.

194.C. I. L.315.

195.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.

196.Fasti, 4. 133-164.

197.Ovid, l. c. 149 foll.

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

199.Quaest. Rom.74.

200.Ovid, l. c., 4. 160 ‘Inde Venus verso nomina corde tenet.’

201.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 Wissowa pointed out in his Essay, ‘de Veneris Simulacris,’ p. 12.

202.See above, p.67, note 2.

203.Religion of the Semites, p. 450 foll.

204.Preller, i. 446.

205.Livy, 29. 10 and 14; Ovid (Fasti, 4. 259 foll.) 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.

206.Preller, ii. 55.

207.Plin.H. N.18. 16; Arnobius, 7. 49.

208.Livy, 29. 10, 14.

209.See above, Introduction, p.7.

210.de Harusp. Resp.12. 24 ‘Qui uni ludi ne verbo quidem appellantur Latino, ut vocabulo ipso et appetita religio externa et Matris Magnae nomine suscepta declaretur.’

211.Dion. Hal. 2. 19. A very interesting passage, in which, among other comments, the historian points out that in receiving the goddess the Romans eliminated ἅπασαν τερθρείαν μυθικήν.

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

213.Gell. 18. 2. 11 (patricii); cp. 2. 24. 2 (principes civitatis). Cp. Lydus, 4. 45; Verrius’ note in Praen., ‘Nobilium mutitationes cenarumsolitae sunt frequenter fieri,’ &c.

214.See Marq. 370 foll. The Ludi eventually extended from the 4th to the 10th inclusive (C. I. L.314).

215.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.

216.Ovid, l. c. 635 ‘Pars cadit arce Iovis. Ter denas 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.

217.Ovid, l. c. 633 ‘Nune gravidum pecus est, gravidae nunc semine terrae; Telluri plenae victima plena datur.’

218.Ovid, l. c. 637.Ast ubi visceribus vitulos rapuere ministri,Sectaque fumosis exta dedere focis,Igne cremat vitulos quae natu maxima Virgo,Luce Palis populos purget ut ille cinis.

218.Ovid, l. c. 637.

Ast ubi visceribus vitulos rapuere ministri,Sectaque fumosis exta dedere focis,Igne cremat vitulos quae natu maxima Virgo,Luce Palis populos purget ut ille cinis.

Ast ubi visceribus vitulos rapuere ministri,

Sectaque fumosis exta dedere focis,

Igne cremat vitulos quae natu maxima Virgo,

Luce Palis populos purget ut ille cinis.

219.See below, p.83.

220.This appears plainly in Ovid’s account (Fasti, 4. 633 foll.), and also in that of Lydus (4. 49): περὶ τὰ σπόριμα ὑπὲρ εὐετηρίας ἱεράτευον. Both doubtless drew on Varro. Lydus adds one or two particulars, that the ἀρχιερεῖς (?) 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.

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

222.Fasti Praen.;C. I. L.235, and Mommsen’s note (where Apr. is misprinted Aug.). ‘[Hoc biduo sacrific]ium maximum Fortunae Prim[i]g. utro eorum die oraclum patet, II viri vitulum I.’

223.Liv. 30. 39; Friedländer in Marq. 500; Mommsen,Münzwesen, p. 642, note;Staatsrecht, i. 586.

224.C. I. L.298.

225.In the Salian hymnduonus cerus = creator bonus(of Janus): cf. Varro, L. L. 7. 26; Mommsen,Unteritalische Dialekten, 133. See articlescerus(Wissowa) andCeres(Birt) inMyth. Lex.; Bücheler,Umbrica, 80 and 99.

226.‘Ceres a creando dicta,’ Serv. Georg. 1. 7. It is worth noting that in Nonius Marcellus, 44,cerriti = larvati, wherecerusseems 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.

227.Arnob. 3. 40, quoting one Caesius, who followed Etruscan teaching, and held that Ceres = Genius Iovialis et Pales. See Preller-Jordan, i. 81.

228.Preller-Jordan, i. 62. They were not even certain whether the Genius Urbis was masculine or feminine; Serv.Aen.2. 351.

229.Henzen,Acta Fr. Arv.p. 48. In later times Ceres took the place of Mars at the Ambarvalia, under Greek influence.

230.So Henzen, l. c. and his Introduction, p. ix.

231.Myth. Lex, s.v. Ceres, 861. 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.’

232.Preller Jordan, ii. 26.

233.Aust,de Aedibus, pp. 5 and 40. Preller-Jordan, ii. 38.

234.Birt (Myth. Lex.862) gives the authorities.

235.Thetriasof itself would prove the Greek origin: cf. Kuhfeldt,de Capitoliis, p. 77 foll.

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

237.Mommsen,Staatsrecht, ii. 2, 468, note.

238.Dion. Hal. 6. 89; 10. 42; Liv. 3. 55 sayssacer Iovi, but the property was to be sold at the temple of Ceres, Liber, and Libera. The corn-stealer also wassacer Cereri.

239.Liv. 10. 23; 27. 6; 33. 25.

240.Mommsen,Hist. i. 284, note. Cp. Schwegler,Röm. Gesch.ii. 275, note 3, who thinks of anaerarium plebisthere. See also i. 606 and ii. 278, note 3. According to Liv. 3. 55 senatus consulta had to be deposited in this temple.

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

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

243.Schwegler,R. G.i. 783 foll.

244.Mommsen,Staatsrecht, ii. 2. 468, note 2, is doubtful as to the date of thecura annonaeof 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 immediatecura, as far as the plebs was concerned, would surely lie with their officers. Two points should be borne in mind here—(1) that the plebeian population to be relieved would be a surplus populationwithin 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.

245.Dion. Hal. 7.1, 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.

246.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. 1. 56 and 2. 9.

247.Mommsen,R. H., bk. i. ch. 13 fin.

248.See 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.

249.Fasti, 4. 681 foll. Ovid does not distinctly say that the foxes were let loose in the Circus, but seems to imply it.

250.‘Factum abiit, monimenta manent; nam vivere captamNunc quoque lex volpem Carseolana vetat.’The best MSS. have ‘nam dicere certam.’ Bergk conjectured ‘namque 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 suggestionnamque ire repertam, comparing, for the use ofire, 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.

250.

‘Factum abiit, monimenta manent; nam vivere captamNunc quoque lex volpem Carseolana vetat.’

‘Factum abiit, monimenta manent; nam vivere captam

Nunc quoque lex volpem Carseolana vetat.’

The best MSS. have ‘nam dicere certam.’ Bergk conjectured ‘namque 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 suggestionnamque ire repertam, comparing, for the use ofire, 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.

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

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

253.Myth. Forsch.107 foll.

254.Ovid’s word isterga, but he must, I think, mean ‘tails.’

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

256.Zoological Mythology, ii. 138.

257.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 foll.). At the same time animals are sometimes burnt in a bonfire: e.g. squirrels, cats, foxes, &c. (G. B.ii. 283). The explanation of Mannhardt, 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 occasionally be done, and stories might arise like that of Carseoli, or even laws forbidding a dangerous practice.

258.InC. I. L.315 this mark is confused with those of the 23rd.

259.The lettersanalso 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 anannus pastorumbeginning on this day. I can find no explanation of it, astronomical or other. Dion. Hal. 1. 88 calls the day the beginning of spring, which it certainly was not.

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

261.‘Palilia tam privata quam publica sunt.’ Varro, ap Schol. in Persium, 1. 75. See on Compitalia, below, p.279.

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

263.L. L.5. 53.

264.There was aflamen Palatualis(Varro,L. L.7. 45, and Fest. 245) and an offeringPalatuar(Fest. 348), connected with aDiva Palatuaof the Palatine, who may have been the urban and pontifical form of Pales.

265.Ovid is borne out or supplemented by Tibull. 2. 5. 87 foll.; Propert. 4. 4. 75 foll.; Probus on Virg.Georg.3. 1; Dionys. 1. 88, &c.

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

267.A. W. F.p. 310. Cp. Frazer,G. B.ii. 246 foll.

268.Chambers’ Journal, July, 1842. For the custom in London, Brand,Pop. Antiquities, p. 307.

269.So I understand Ovid: but in line 742in mediis focismight rather indicate a fire in theatriumof 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.

270.Cp. Hom.Od. 22. 481 Οἶσε θέειον, γρηύ, κακῶν ἄκος, οἶσε δέ μοι πῦρ, Ὄφρα θεειώσω μέγαρον.

271.Tibull. 2. 5. 28 ‘Et facta agresti lignea falce Pales.’ Tib. seems here to 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 we cannot safely conclude that we have here a rude Italian origin of anthropomorphic ideas of the gods.

272.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 was a genuine Italian one; it is found here, in the Terminalia (Ovid,Fasti, 2. 655), and in the worship of Jupiter. See on Sept. 13 and Feb. 23.

273.Fasti, 4. 763 foll.

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

275.‘Conversus ad ortus Die quater, et vivo perlue rore manus.’ Ovid may perhaps be usingrosfor fresh water of any kind; see H. Peter’s note (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.

276.The word iscamellain Ovid,Fasti, 4. 779; cp. Petron.Sat, 135, and Gell.N. A.16 7.

277.Or as Propertius has it (4. 4. 77):‘Cumque super raros foeni flammantis acervosTraiicit immundos ebria turba pedes.’

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

‘Cumque super raros foeni flammantis acervosTraiicit immundos ebria turba pedes.’

‘Cumque super raros foeni flammantis acervos

Traiicit immundos ebria turba pedes.’

278.Ovid,Fasti, 4. 801 foll.; Prop. 4. 4. 73; Varro,R. R.2. 1. 9. Many other references are collected in Schwegler,R. G.i. 444, note 1. 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. 1. 88), a fact which may well carry us back to the earliest Roman age.

279.Ovid,Fasti, 4. 733 foll. ‘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.

280.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.

281.A. W. F.316; Frazer,G. B.ii. 274 foll.

282.Preller-Jordan, i. 268. Soranus is thought to be connected etymologically with Sol. With this, however, Deecke disagrees (Falisker, 96).

283.So called by Virg.Aen.II. 785 and Serv. ad loc. Who the deity really was, we do not know. Apollo here had no doubt a Graeco-Etruscan origin. Deecke (Falisker, 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 wordhirpi.

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

Back to Index Next