TABLE OF THE ROMAN MONTHS.

285

sc. ante, or Pridie Kalendarum Januarii, marked shortly, Prid. Kal. Jan.; the day before that, or the 30th of December, Tertio Kal. Jan. sc. die ante, or ante diem tertium Kal. Jan.; and so through the whole year: thus,

A TABLE of the KALENDS, NONES, and IDES.*

Apr. June, Month. Sept. Nov.

Kalendas, or tertio (die) Kalendarum. The day before any of the three principal days was pridie (i. e. priore die) Kalendas, or Kalendarum, Nonas or Nonarum, Idus or Iduum. Another mode of expression was, to use a preposition and an accusative case. Thus, for tertio Nonas, they would say, ante diem tertium Nonas, which was written a. d. III. Non. This form is very much employed by Livy and Cicero. It was even used objectively, and governed of the prepositions in and ex. We thus meet in ante tertium Nonas, and ex ante diem Nonas, in these authors. Another preposition thus employed is ad, we meet ad pridie Nonas."— Keightley's Fasti, P. xx.

"As the Romans called the second day before the Calends, &c., tertio, the third

286

BISSEXTILIS DIES CIVILIS, NATURALIS.

In leap year, that is, when February has twenty-nine days, which happens every fourth year, both the 24th and 25th days of that month were marked sexto Kalendis Martii or Martias; and hence this year is called BISSEXTILIS.

The names of all the months are used as substantives or adjectives, except Aprilis, which is used only as a substantive.

The Greeks had no kalends in their way of reckoning, but called the first day of the month, vovunvía, or new moon; hence ad Græcas Kalendas solvere, for nunquam, Suet. Aug. 87.

The day among the Romans was either civil or natural.

The civil day (DIES CIVILIS) was from midnight to midnight. The parts of which were, 1. Media nox; 2. Media noctis inclinatio, vel de media nocte; 3. Gallicinium, cock-crow, or cock-crowing, the time when the cocks begin to crow; 4. Conticinium, when they give over crowing; 5. Diluculum, the dawn; 6. Mane, the morning; 7. Antemeriadianum tempus, the forenoon; 8. Meridies, noon or midday; 9. Tempus pomeridianum, vel meridiei inclinatio, afternoon; 10. Solis occasus, sunset; 11. Vespera, the evening; 12. Crepusculum, the twilight, (dubium tempus, noctis an diei sit: Ideò dubiæ res creperæ dicta, Varr. L. L. vi. 4.) 13. Prima fax, when candles were lighted, called also primæ tenebræ, Liv. Prima lumina, Horat.; 14. Concubia nox, vel concubium, bedtime, Liv. xxv. 9.; 15. Intempesta nox, or silentium noctis, far on in the night; 16. Inclinatio ad mediam noctem, Censorin. de Die Nat. c. 24.

The natural day (DIES NATURALIS) was from the rising to the setting of the sun. It was divided into twelve hours, which were of a different length at different seasons: Hence hora hiberna for brevissima, Plaut. Pseud. v. 2. 11.

The night was divided into four watches, (vigilia prima, secunda, &c.) each consisting of three hours, which were likewise of a different length at different times of the year: Thus, hora sexta noctis, midnight; Septima, one o'clock in the morning; Octava, two, &c. Plin. Ep. iii. 4.*

Before the use of dials (horologia solaria vel sciaterica) was known at Rome, there was no division of the day into hours; nor does that word occur in the Twelve Tables. They only mention sunrising and sunsetting, before and after mid-day, Čensorin. 23. According to Pliny, mid-day was not added till some years after, vii. 60., an accensus of the consuls being appointed to call out that time (accenso consulum id pronunciante), when he saw the sun from the senatehouse, between the Rostra and the place called GRÆCOSTASIS, Plin. ibid., where ambassadors from Greece and other foreign countries used to stand, Varr. L. L. iv. 32. Cic. ad Q. Fr. ii. 1.

Anaximander or Anaximènes, of Miletus, is said to have invented

quarto, &c., it is necessary, in accommodating their dates to our calendar, to add one to the number of the Nones and Ides; and two to the number of days in the month for the Calends, and then to subtract the number of the day; e. gr. to find the Roman date of July 21st: 33-21 = xii. Cal. Sextiles.". · Zump's Lat. Gr. p. 427.

* At the equinox, the Roman hours would answer to our own in the following

DIES FESTI, PROFESTI, INTERCISI

FERIE.

287

dials at Lacedæmon in the time of Cyrus the Great, Plin. ii. 76. The first dial is said to have been set up at Rome by L. Papirius Cursor [in the porch of the temple of Quirinus] A. U. 447, and the next near the Rostra, by M. Valerius Messala the consul, who brought it from Catăna in Sicily, in the first Punic war, A. U. 481, Plin. vii. 60. Gell. ex Plaut. iii. 3.* Hence, ad solarium versari, for in foro, Cic. Quint. 18. Scipio Nasica first measured time by water, or by a clepsydra, which served by night as well as by day, A. U. 595. ibid. (See p. 214.) The use of clocks and watches was unknown to the Romans.+

DIVISION OF DAYS, AND ROMAN FESTIVALS.

DAYS among the Romans were either dedicated to religious purposes (DIES FESTI), or assigned to ordinary business (dies PROFESTI). There were some partly the one, and partly the other, (dies INTERCISI, [or endotercisi, endo or indu, being the old form for in] i.e. ex parte festi, et ex parte profesti), half-holidays.

On the Dies Festi, sacrifices were performed, feasts and games were celebrated, or there was at least a cessation from business. The days on which there was a cessation from business were called FERIÆ, holidays, Cic. Legg. ii. 8. Divin. i. 45., and were either public or private.

Public Feriæ or festivals were either stated (STATE), or annually fixed on a certain day by the magistrates, or Priests (CONCEPTIVE), or occasionally appointed by order of the consul, the prætor, or Pontifex Maximus (IMPERATIVE).

The stated festivals were chiefly the following:

1. In January, AGONALIA, in honour of Janus, [to whom a ram was offered by the Rex Sacrorum] on the 9th (v. Id.) Ovid. Fast. i. 318. &c., and also on the 21st of May; CARMENTALIA, in honour of Carmenta, the mother of Evander, on the 11th (111. Id.) Ovid. ibid. 461. [Also on the 15th, or 18. Kal. Febr., Ovid. Fast. i. 617.] But this was a half-holiday (intercisus); for after mid-day it was dies profestus, a common work-day. On the 13th (Idibus) a wether (vervex vel ovis semimas, -ăris) was sacrificed to Jupiter, Ovid. Fast. i. 588. On this day the name of AUGUSTUS was conferred on Cæsar Octavianus, ibid. 590.- On the first day of this

"Although this dial, being calculated for a different meridian, could not mark the time with precision at Rome, it was not the less conformed to during an entire century, until Q. Marcus Philippus, who was censor along with Paulus Æmilius, erected one more correct."-Sketches of the Institutions, &c. of the Romans, p. 156.

"Vitruvius (ix. 9.) attributes the invention of water-clocks to Ctesibius, a native of Alexandria, who lived in the time of the two first Ptolemies. To form an idea of them, we must imagine a basin filled with water, which was emptied in twelve hours, by means of a small hole in the bottom, into another vessel, of equal capacity, in which the water rose by degrees around a column on which the hours were marked perpendicularly. They were usually ornamented with a small figure, made of cork, which floated on the surface, and pointed to the characters on the column. These clocks differed from those invented in Greece, which the ancients denominated Clepsydra; which consisted of a glass, of a pyramidal or conic form, perforated at the base, and which, being filled with a liquid, denoted the time, as it subsided, by means of lines traced on the sides."-Ibid. p. 156.

288

FESTIVALS IN JANUARY, FEBRUARY, MARCH.

month people used to wish one another health and prosperity (omnia fausta), Plin. xxviii. 2. s. 5. [Ovid. Fast. i. 175.], and to send presents to their friends. (See p. 55.) Most of the magistrates entered on their office, and artists thought it lucky to begin any work they had to perform (opera auspicabantur), Senec. Ep. 83. Ovid. et Martial. passim.

2. In FEBRUARY, FAUNALIA, to the god Faunus, on the 13th (Idibus)*; LUPERCALIA, to Lycæan Pan, on the 15th (xv. kal. Mart.); QUIRINALIA, to Romulus, on the 17th+; FERALIA, (quod tum epulas ad sepulchra amicorum ferebant, vel pecudes feriebant, Festus,) to the Dii Manes, on the 21st (Ovid says the 17th or 18th), and sometimes continued for several days: after which friends and relations kept a feast of peace and love (charistia) for settling differences and quarrels among one another, if any such existed, Valer. Max. ii. 1. 8. Ovid. Fast. ii. 631.‡; TERMINALIA, to Terminus [on the 23d]; REGIFUGIUM, vel regis fuga, in commemoration of the flight of King Tarquin, on the 24th; EQUIRIA, horseraces in the Campus Martius, in honour of Mars, on the 27th. §

3. In March, MATRONALIA, celebrated by the matrons for various reasons, but chiefly in memory of the war terminated between the Romans and Sabines, Ovid. Fast. iii. 170., on the first day; when presents used to be given by husbands to their wives, Plaut. Mil. iii, 197. Tibul. iii. 1. Suet. Vesp. 19.; Festum ANCILIORUM, on the same day, and the three following [Ovid. Fast. iii. 259.], when the shields of Mars were carried through the city by the Salii, who used then to be entertained with sumptuous feasts; whence Saliares dapes vel cœnæ, for lautæ, opipăræ, opulenta, Horat. Od. i. 37.||; LIBERALIA, to Bacchus, on the 18th (xv. kal. Apr.), when young men [or boys who had completed their 15th year] used to put on the Toga virilis, or manly gown; QUINQUATRUS, -uum, vel Quinquatria, Ovid. Fast. iii. 810. Gell. ii. 21., in honour of Minerva, on the 19th, at first only for one day, but afterwards for five; whence they got their name [Juv. x. 115.]. At this time boys brought presents to their masters, called Minervalia. On the last day of this festival, and also on the 23d March (x. kal. April.), the trumpets used in sacred rites were purified (lustrabantur) by sacrificing a lamb; hence it was called TUBILUSTRIUM, vel -IA, Ovid. Fast. iii. 849. v. 725.; HILARIA, in honour of the mother of the gods, on the 25th.

On this day also, according to Ovid, Fast. ii. 195., the slaughter of the Fabii on the banks of the Cremera was commemorated, B. C. 477.

From the flight and consternation of the people on the disappearance of Romulus, this day was called Populifugium, Ovid. Fast. ii. 496. Fit fuga rex patriis astra petebat equis. The Quirinalia were also called Stultorum festa, Ibid. ii. 513.

Rites were also performed on this day to the goddess Muta or Tacita, Ovid. Fast. ii. 571.

S The Fornacalia, an indictive festival, in honour of Fornax, a rustic deity, who presided over the baking of bread, was celebrated in this month, Ovid. Fast. ii. 525.

It was not considered lucky to marry on the Kalends of March, Ovid. Fast. iii. 393. Another Equiria took place on the 14th, or prid. Id. Also the festival of Anna Perenna, on the Ides, iii. 523. For an account of this deity, see Anthon's ed. of Lempriere. On this day J. Cæsar was slain, A. U. C. 709. "The senate decreed that in future this day should be called Parricidium, and that no senate should ever sit on it, Suet. Cæs. 88."- Keightley on Ovid. Fast. iii. 697.

¶ On the 30th (tertio Kal. Apr.) was a festival to Janus, Concord, Health, and

FESTIVALS IN APRIL AND MAY.

289

4. In April, MEGALESIA, or Megalenses, to Cyběle, the great mother of the gods, on the 4th or 5th; CEREALIA, or Ludi Cereales, to Ceres, on the 7th [they continued to the 19th]; FORDICIDIA, on the 15th, when pregnant cows were sacrificed (fordæ boves, i. e. gravidæ, quæ in ventre ferunt), Ovid. Fast. iv. 5. 632. PALLILIA vel Parilia to Pales, the 21st.* (See p. 1.) On this day Cæsar appointed Circensian games to be annually celebrated ever after, because the news of his last victory over Labienus and the sons of Pompey at Munda in Spain had reached Rome the evening before this festival, Dio. xliii. 42.†; ROBIGALIA, to Robigust, that he would preserve the corn from mildew (a rubigine), on the 25th; FLORALIA, to Flora or Chloris (ut omnia bene deflorescerent, shed their blossoms, Plin. xviii. 29.), begun on the 28th, and continued to the end of the month [to the 3d of May], attended with great indecency, Lactant. i. 20. 10. Scholiast. in Juvenal. vi. 249., which is said to have been once checked by the presence of Cato, Senec. Ep. 97. Martial. i. 3. & præf. Valer. Max. ii. 10. 8.

5. In May, on the kalends, were performed the sacred rites of the Bona Dea, by the Vestal Virgins, and by women only (cùm omne masculum expellebatur), Juvenal. vi. 339., in the house of the consuls and prætors, for the safety of the people, Dio. xxxvii. 35. 45. § On this day also an altar was erected (constituta), and a sacrifice offered to the Lares called Præstites (quod omnia tuta præstant), Ovid. Fast. v. 133.; on the 2d, COMPITALIA, to the Lares in the public ways, at which time boys are said anciently to have been sacrificed to Mania the mother of the Lares; but this cruel custom was abolished by Junius Brutus, Macrob. Sat. i. 7.; on the 9th, LEMURIA, to the Lemures, hobgoblins, or spectres in the dark, which were believed to be the souls of their deceased friends (manes paterni).|| Sacred rites were performed to them for three nights, not successively, but alternately,

Peace. On the 31st (prid. Kal.) to Luna or Diana, on the Aventine..
Fast. iii. 879.

66

Ovid.

'On this day the country people, the earliest inhabitants of Rome, besought from the goddess of shepherds, protection and increase for their flocks, and pardon for the involuntary violation of consecrated spots; and purified themselves by passing through a straw fire, as our ancestors used to kindle fires on May-day."— Nieb. i. p. 190.

On the 23d (ix. Kal. Mai.) were celebrated the Vinalia, in honour of Jupiter, or, according to some, of Venus. Ovid. Fast. iv. 863.

"Or rather to Robīgo, a goddess, Ovid. Fast. iv. 911. &c."— Dr. Adam. "As she is said to have been the same with Ops, and a pregnant sow was the victim offered to her (Festus s. v. Damium), which was also the victim to Tellus (Hor. Ep. ii. 1. 143.), I think it extremely probable, that Bona Dea was only one of the names of the goddess of the earth. — Keightley on Ovid. Fast. v. 148. The sacred rites to this Deity, were probably borrowed from the Eleusinian mysteries. These were instituted by Romulus, to appease the manes of his brother Remus, and were anciently called Remuria. – Ovid. Fast. v. 479.

1

Romulus obsequitur, lucemque Remuria dixit

Illam, qua positis justa feruntur avis.

Aspera mutata est in lenem tempore longo

Litera, quæ toto nomine prima fuit.

Mox etiam Lemures animas dixere silentum ;

Hic verbi sensus, vis ea vocis erat.

On this festival the temples of the gods were shut, and marriages prohibited.

U