The Roman Festivals of the Period of the Republic An...

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.

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 hymn duonus cerus = creator bonus (of Janus): cf. Varro, L. L. 7. 26; Mommsen, Unteritalische Dialekten, 133. See articles cerus (Wissowa) and Ceres (Birt) in Myth. 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, 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.

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. The trias of 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 says sacer Iovi, but the property was to be sold at the temple of Ceres, Liber, and Libera. The corn-stealer also was sacer 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 an aerarium 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.

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 the cura 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 cura, 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 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.

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.